#I want to look at it but it's got a restricted number of views and it wouldn't be right to deprive her of any of those

[flawseer]

In your last ask, you mentioned misgivings with Book 10's ending, and especially how it pertains to Winter. I absolutely agree, and I know why, but I wanna hear your thoughts on it, too: What's up with Book 10?

The following is a (very long) examination of my personal feelings with regards to the WoF second story arc finale. While it is based on what is in the text, this analysis will be interpretive and fill in blanks with my own thoughts. Keep that in mind.

Hahhhh... okay. Since mentioning it in my last post I’ve gotten several requests to talk about my feelings regarding the second arc finale. There’s probably no way around it then.

If you haven’t read that last post (it was admittedly very long, and so will this one be), I talked briefly about why I didn’t like that part of the story. I have to warn you now, this will likely be the most negative and dour post in the history of this blog. In a few parts it will sound like I hate Wings of Fire, and I want to say now, while I still have the chance, that I don’t. I love this series, thinking about its setting and characters brings me joy.

I also—very emphatically—want to make it clear that I have no ill will against Tui T. Sutherland. I’ve looked around other people’s stuff a bit and there are a huge number of posts wishing violence upon her or threatening her for doing things to her series that people don’t agree with. That is NOT what I am doing here, shit like that is NOT okay! While I will be critical of her choices, I still respect her effort of bringing this vibrant, wonderful world of dragons to all of us.

Also, obligatory last disclaimer: If you liked the finale, that is okay. You are valid for feeling that way. I’m here to share my point of view, not to demand people agree with everything I say. Just be warned that you most likely won’t enjoy what I have to say. If you don’t think you can handle that kind of criticism, this is your guilt-free opportunity to stop reading.

Otherwise, let's get into it.

CW: Discussion of parental abuse, depression, disease, and extreme acts of violence.

In defense of the finale

Before I start to systematically disassemble this narrative and get lost in a quagmire of negativity, let’s talk a bit about the circumstances that brought forth this part of the story. The plot of this arc was a mess from the moment animus magic was unshackled from the restrictions it had in the first arc, and from then on there was no longer any conceivable way to end this story in a clean way. Sutherland had created an invincible, unbeatable, omnipotent villain; he could read minds, see the future with perfect clarity, and anything he could imagine he could conjure into existence at any time with no cost to himself and no drawbacks. She was likely wracking her brain about how to resolve this impossible conundrum. What we got wasn’t good, but I believe nothing could have been. The foundation was rotting and by the fifth book it couldn’t bear the weight of the plot anymore.

The thing about animus magic in arc 2 is that it is so potent, so all-powerful, and so free of restraint that everyone who uses it also HAS to be a simpleton, or they would be able to break the plot immediately and become god. From the moment Darkstalker broke out of that mountain, he could have said “Any and all spells that are cast with the intention to harm me, interfere with my plans, or do something I don’t consent to will not work, from now on until forever”, and he would have instantly won. The strawberry would have fizzled out. The Darkstalker-blocking earrings would not have been created, and no one could have saved the Icewings. On the flipside, Turtle or Anemone could have said “I enchant the concept of animus magic itself to no longer obey Darkstalker”, and his threat would have been neutered. Point is, powers as potent and easy to use as this really need limitations, or they will quickly eat your plot alive.

I don’t envy the situation Sutherland was in at the time at all. If you’re an author, that kind of thing is a nightmare. It really is no wonder she decided to blow up animus magic for good in her next arc, even if I would have preferred it to get more healthy restrictions instead of killing it outright.

The Darkstalker age regression thing

Everyone has talked this part to death already, but if I am to write a thorough analysis of my feelings regarding this finale, I’m going to have to talk about it as well. I’m sorry if I end up repeating a lot of things you’ve already heard.

This final fate of Darkstalker, to have his memories wiped and be reset to an infant, is really uncomfortable. As far as I am aware, though correct me if I’m wrong, Sutherland said in an interview that she didn’t want Darkstalker to die because, in her view, he did not deserve to. We can debate here about the philosophical question of whether anyone is truly deserving of death, and the merits of “justice” and “punishment”, but in general, Wings of Fire did not seem to have any issues killing off its villains prior if they committed suitably terrible acts. That makes this moment stand out as noteworthy.

Who is Darkstalker then--and if we assume villains can be “deserving” and “not deserving” of death--what about him speaks in his favor, or against? The guy had a pretty crappy childhood, coming from a broken home (there is that inadequate parent theme again). He genuinely loved his sister and felt protective of her, and whenever he liked someone he wanted them to be happy and feel affirmed. The thing that Queen Diamond does to his mother is awful and he is justified in hating her for it. He is also portrayed as rather sympathetic in Moon Rising. When he asks Moon to find his scroll for him and not to leave him, he is not manipulating her, he is sincerely begging for her help. He is stuck somewhere underground, trapped in darkness, in a space so tiny that he can’t move. He remains that way for months, lonely and sad. If you just focus on these aspects, it’s easy to understand why he has so many fans who want him to see healthy and happy.

On the flipside, while he is dedicated to the happiness of his friends, he doesn’t always go for the most ethical way to achieve it. He tries to brainwash said friends without their consent whenever they exhibit behaviors he doesn’t like, or when he thinks he knows better and wants to “fix” them. He has very little regard for other people’s autonomy, lies to his loved ones with alarming frequency, and is unhealthily attached to the idea of power. Those things are certainly not good, but they are his character flaws. These are his demons; everyone has them and they make him a person. If this was all there was to it, he might still be a villain, but I’d argue he’d not be wholly irredeemable.

But there are things about him that take him beyond the pale. Things that go beyond the realm of just being misunderstood, or easily excusable.

He is possessive. He wants Clearsight and Fathom for himself, and for them to listen to him primarily. When Indigo makes it clear she doesn’t like him and cautions Fathom against trusting him, he deceives his friends and traps Indigo in a wood carving, just so he can isolate Fathom from his support network and manipulate him easier. He alters Clearsight’s mind to make her more agreeable and stop her from holding him accountable for his actions; while he thinks he loves her, he only loves an idealized version of her that is wholly devoted to and unquestioning of him. This is why, when he later forcibly overwrites Fierceteeth’s existence to recreate her (which is another horrific thing), he tries to excise the parts he finds undesirable to create a perfect version of his lover. But this caricature he has created in his head is not and can never be Clearsight, which frustrates his attempts.

He is vengeful. Not against people who have actually wronged him, like Queen Diamond. That would be questionable, but understandable. What makes this unacceptable is his frequent targeting of innocent people who just happen to be related to the person who wronged him in some esoteric way. He enchants a secret murder knife that kills random Icewings regardless of who they are or what they think about the Queen, just because the one who took his mother from him happened to share their tribe. He hates Turtle and wishes death upon him in Moon Rising just because he is a green Seawing, like Fathom was. And then there is the big one: He tries to kill all the Icewings who are alive in the present day, where Queen Diamond is long dead and none of them have ever even met her. Even his mother, who suffered from Diamond’s actions the most and has the most reason to hate her, is horrified and calls him out on that one.

And lastly, he is sadistic. He revels in torturing those he hates. He forces his father to disembowel himself, while the latter is fully aware and powerless to resist AND the man’s traumatized daughter is watching. Later he sends a magical plague to kill every single living Icewing sans one.

It should be noted that Darkstalker possesses virtually infinite magical power; whatever he declares, with very few exceptions, will happen. Even if he wanted them dead, he had the power to prevent unnecessary suffering. He could have said “Arctic, fall dead instantaneously”, or “Every Icewing will fall asleep and pass away peacefully,” but he didn’t. He wanted them to feel pain and pass away in the most wretched, agonizing ways he could imagine.

So what he chose to do instead is—and I want you to picture this for a moment—Darkstalker sat down, calmly, and said “Henceforth every living Icewing, excepting Prince Winter and those of hybrid blood, will fall ill with an incurable disease. This disease will cause heavy internal bleeding and make its victims cough up blood and waste away for a few days, followed by certain death.”

This spell does not discriminate with regards to who its victims are. The book glosses over the implications, but imagine the ramifications. Young children are notoriously frail, how many newborns got infected and died because of this? How many families were torn apart because they couldn’t get the magic earrings fast enough? Or accidentally got one earring less than there were family members and had to decide who has to die?

Most of the Icewings were physically cured by the earrings, but an experience like that sticks with you for the rest of your life. Somewhere surely, a dragonet watched as his mother put the earring on him and then slowly wasted away because she didn’t have one for herself.

It’s really easy to overlook how horrific this spell is because it isn’t shown or dwelt on. But the trauma, grief, and suffering it caused must have been immeasurable.

And none of those victims have ever even met the person Darkstalker wanted to get revenge on. None of those deaths meant anything to anyone.

The attempted death toll and scale of the calamity here puts even Scarlet to shame. The ones who come closest to it were Queen Battlewinner and Morrowseer with their attempted Rainwing extermination. All three of those died for what they did. Gives you some food for thought for sure.

Peacemaker’s burden

Despite just airing all of his dirty laundry and declaring him an irredeemable villain, I actually do have a lot of sympathy for Darkstalker still. His story is really sad. He was a child born with an amount of power that nobody should possess, and it corrupted him to the point where it destroyed his life before it began. His parents were always fighting and no matter how good his intentions were, he was unable to understand why he couldn’t hold on to his friends and relationship. He kept making mistakes, then made bigger mistakes to fix those, until his hands were covered in blood and he couldn’t stop anymore. My belief is that, after he wakes up in the present and realizes Clearsight is dead, he loses his reason for living and becomes completely lost in his grief.

Therefore, my opinion is that it would have been appropriate for him to die. If not to punish him, then to finally grant him reprieve from all that rage and pain, and let him rest. I think that would have been a dignified end.

But instead he got turned into a baby. ... And then they decided to magically erase his father’s blood from him? I don’t know what it is, but something about that Icewing erasure makes my skin crawl?

The thing that turns this baby twist from weird into highly unsettling is the context. Darkstalker’s mind is erased, then modified into a new person via animus magic. This is the technique a lot of this arc’s villains used to victimize Hailstorm, Queen Ruby, Peril, Kinkajou, Fierceteeth, and Winter. The same technique is now used again, by the heroes, which is a dangerous thing to have your protagonists do if you want them to remain morally upright.

It is also very reckless, because in almost all of these instances, animus mind alteration has been shown to be very unreliable. The spells seem to wear down over time and are susceptible to partial breaking upon encountering certain strong stimuli. Hailstorm—while trapped as Pyrite—seems to retain trace amounts of his former memories, which is why Pyrite is subconsciously drawn to Winter and clings to him all the time. Ruby is able to ignore half of her conditioning because her familial love for her son partially overpowers the magic. Qibli is just straight up able to reason his way out of it.

The thing to note here is that spells of this nature require a very meticulous approach; you can’t half-ass your reprogramming or the victim will just think their way past it. If you alter someone’s mind, the wording of the spell must be ironclad, lest you risk it wearing down over time and even break.

Luckily we have nothing to fear in that regard, because the spell that created Peacemaker was written by a Rainwing with a total of four days of literacy training. No one better mention the name Clearsight to the new baby Nightwing, or next month is going to be rather interesting.

But that’s just speculation on my part. Let’s assume that, somehow, this spell isn’t as unstable as all the others. Somehow Kinkajou threaded all the needles, and masterfully dodged every conceivable pitfall to pen the perfect incantation, despite having been illiterate just a few weeks prior. This one is built to last and Darkstalker is sealed away really thoroughly, for good.

That is still absolutely terrible and morally dubious, because now you have Peacemaker, who for all intents and purposes is a COMPLETELY innocent little kid, saddled with this huge burden of being the certifiable reincarnation of a genocidal ancient wizard. He’s gonna grow up thinking things like “Mommy gets real quiet whenever the topic of the Icewing tragedy is brought up,” and “Why does Auntie Moon look at me like that? One time she accidentally called me a weird name, who is Darkstalker?” “What is this ‘Clearsight’ name my mind-reading friends from the village found in Mommy’s mind?”

In a village that will be full of mind-readers soon, eventually the secret will come out, and Peacemaker is going to learn what was done to him. A huge, messy load of undeserved baggage was forced onto this completely separate, innocent entity. He will be devastated. Whether he then chooses to forgive them for this remains to be seen. To be honest, he would be well within his right not to, and turn resentful.

Poor kid.

Qibli’s callousness

I love Qibli, he is one of my favorite characters. This happens to be his book, and the fact that I fundamentally dislike half of it makes me rather sad. If anything, I hope this tells you that I’m not just hating on it for my personal amusement. I really wanted to like this. I tried to, and I couldn’t.

Qibli is really weird in this one, to be honest. He is suddenly made to be co-dependent on Moonwatcher, fawning over her every third paragraph, saying how much he loves her, how he is an incomplete and dysfunctional wreck without her, how it physically pains him to be apart from her, oh if only the stars would grant his wish and split the mountains apart so that he may fly to his princess, his muse, his goddess of ebony wit. It gets so old.

And it’s not Qibli. He never acted this clingy towards Moonwatcher. It’s more intense than even Winter gets about Moon, and Winter was actually depicted with a crush on her in book 6. Qibli was always just a supportive element, eager to befriend Moon but never desperate, like he is going to keel over if he is separated from his true love five minutes longer. These very frequent love declarations feel so forced coming out of him. It strikes me like it was just written in service of the love triangle. Maybe if we make him confess his love every four seconds readers will overlook the fact that they had no proper romantic build-up.

You might rightly accuse me of bias. I have previously admitted I am fond of Qibli/Winter as a romantic pairing, on the surface this seems like I am just not happy with my pet ship being blocked by Moonwatcher. But I assure you, I am actually pretty flexible and accommodating even towards pairings that contradict my preferences. I have no issues with Winter/Moonwatcher, for example, because the possibility was properly established and they have good romantic chemistry in Winter Turning. In theory, I would have no problem with Qibli/Moonwatcher either if it was ever set up as an interesting romantic dynamic. But to me, it seems like Qibli is written as a good, supportive friend to Moon for four books, only to pivot hard into “Moon moon moon moon moon moon swoon” at the last second, and it just reads to me as obnoxious.

I got distracted. This section is called “Qibli’s callousness”, and I haven’t even talked about the main part.

Qibli and Winter have excellent chemstry together, whether you read it as romantic or platonic—both of these interpretations have merit and are set up. They’re always the highlight of any scene they’re in. Throughout the story arc you get the impression that these two really get on each other’s nerves, but they bond and grow into really strong friends who bicker a lot but have each other’s backs when it counts.

Then there is a scene where Qibli casually tells Winter that he wouldn’t object if someone wanted to mind-control away some of Winter’s more objectionable traits.

This is genuinely a terrible thing to say to your friend. Like, it crosses a line and ceases to be harmless banter; you’re just telling them that there is something you hate about them so much that you wish they were someone else. Winter actually WAS mind-controlled earlier and felt (and proably still feels) guilty about having attacked Qibli in that state. And now Qibli says “Hey, I wouldn’t mind if someone did that to you again! Hue hue!”

It is awful, BUT I don’t necessarily object to Qibli saying this here. Qibli is in the middle of his character arc at this moment, so he is expected to be flawed. He is making a mistake by thoughtlessly telling Winter this horrid thing, and it seems like a believable continuation of his current character track. This is a reasonable development as long as the plot acknowledges that it’s a mistake.

Spoilers: The plot doesn’t acknowledge that it’s a mistake. Qibli never has a scene after where he reflects upon what he said and apologizes to Winter. When Darkstalker has Qibli trapped in his mountain jail and mind-wipes Qibli’s grandfather into a toddler (hey, wait a minute), Qibli gets visibly disturbed. Like, this is so off-putting to him that he gets queasy and Darkstalker hastily changes the spell. That could have been a great way to bring this back. Like in the epilogue, have Qibli track down Winter and tell him about disturbing baby grandpa theater and how he realized that wiping people’s minds is actually messed up and should have never said that to him.

But he doesn’t. He just lets Winter go, allowing him to believe he is broken and needs magical intervention to be tolerable. It leaves me to think that maybe he’s still okay with it, and fantasizing about rewriting his friend’s mind. Great.

Moonwatcher’s character death

You will find as this goes on that, I get the impression that the second half of this book takes all of the wonderful, endearing characters I have learned to love throughout the story and replaces them with really mean, or stupid, or otherwise inaccurate caricatures.

Moonwatcher’s relationship with Darkstalker gets plenty of setup and development in Moon Rising. You get the sense that these two could be great friends if their circumstances were a little different. It does a great job at making you think maybe Darkstalker is just misunderstood; maybe Moon should free him from his predicament.

Then at the end of Escaping Peril comes the emotional gut punch. Darkstalker actually IS a villain. He callously admits to Moonwatcher that he used his magic to make his own father gruesomely disembowel himself. Moonwatcher is horrified and disgusted that he would do that. There is no circumstance in which something like that would ever be okay. She ends the scene awash in tears because the person she thought was her friend is a murderer and a sadist. This is good, that is a natural reaction to what she was just told.

A few hours from there, in Talons of Power, Turtle finds Moon again and she is completely cool with Darkstalker walking free, despite crying her eyes out after feeling so betrayed earlier. That may seem strange, but this is still good because later, Darkstalker’s mind control plot is discovered. This scene was obviously written to set that up, Moon is mind-controlled into forgetting that Darkstalker could do something that morally reprehensible, and thus forgives him. This is also completely in line with his characterization in Legends: Darkstalker. It’s a kind of stunt he would pull to get Clearsight to shut up about him slipping into villainy.

In my earlier post I alluded to a moment where Moon is set to narrative auto-pilot and says something so rampantly off-kilter that it does irreversible, permanent damage to her character. It happens here, in the second half of book 10. Qibli gives Moon the Darkstalker protection earring, and Moon, somehow, says “I’m not being mind-controlled, Darkstalker really is my friend.”

I get what the plot tries to do here. It’s taking this concept of mind-control and adding a nuance, in an attempt to flesh out Darkstalker and give his character depth. He is ready to control everyone in the world, but for Moon, who is his best friend in this era, he wants her to remain herself. Perhaps this is his attempt at attonement for playing with Clearsight’s mind and driving her away from him. It is very touching in a way, viewed in isolation.

Unfortunately, it does not work with the full context of all the books. Because Moon is in auto-pilot mode right now, her main character trait is “Darkstalker=Friend,” so naturally she would speak in support of him. But this revelation has devastating retroactive consequences. The earlier scene that was written with Moon under mind-control is now altered into her having been in her right mind! She is completely okay with Darkstalker’s admittance to cold-blooded torture and evisceration, within hours of being so shocked by it that it made her cry and ready to denounce him. That is such a quick turnaround it’s giving me whiplash. And what’s more it turns Moon from a principled, upstanding girl into a sociopath who casually accepts gruesome torture and murder if it is committed by someone she likes.

Did Sutherland forget about the scene two books ago, where Darkstalker’s actions were so inconceivably horrid for Moon to learn of that she started crying? It baffles me that this made it into the final version. Her saying she was never mind-controlled makes Moon come off as so awful. This torture-excusing lunatic is not the same kind-hearted and insightful character I followed in all the other books.

Kinkajou’s character derailment

The world is a sad place when I have to question the way Kinjajou is written. Fortunately she is mostly fine, despite her having the biggest excuse to act out-of-character since she’s the victim of a mind-altering spell. Her only real moment of “what!?” comes at the end.

I already talked about her role in casting the spell that regresses Darkstalker into an infant. But I didn’t mention how her being the source of it is questionable in itself.

The clue is in the first paragraph of this section: She herself has experienced the effects of invasive mind-alteration. She was cursed by Anemone in the previous book to be in love with Turtle, and kind of half-struggles kind of not with it, it’s really strange. Turtle is appropriately horrified and acts like really awful things are happening, but then it’s mostly played lightly for some reason. My assumption is that Sutherland introduced this plot point, but then realized how uncomfortable this premise really is and tried to downplay it until the story got to a point where it could get done away with.

But I think the takeaway is still supposed to be that this was a horrid thing to do (which it absolutely is), and that Kinkajou will have to spend a lot of time trying to untangle her real emotions from the fake ones the spell created.

The point is: Kinkajou knows first-hand how awful it is to do something like that to another person. Ideally she should never even conceive of the idea to cast a spell like that, but if we’re really set on this Darkstalker baby thing and it has to happen, she should at least be a bit hesitant about it. And afterwards she should struggle with the guilt of having resorted to it. Not celebrate it and be proud, like it’s funny.

The assassination of Winter’s future

Now we come to the part I’ve alluded to previously; the part where all of these threads converge to utterly destroy one character and drive him to the brink of ruin. Let’s talk about Winter.

Prince Winter is the son of Tundra and Prince Narwhal, hatching in the same clutch as his sister Icicle. He spent his formative years being unfavorably compared to said sister—who easily took to traits that Icewing royalty considers desirable—whereas Winter struggled greatly to embody those same ideals. He was just a little too kind, too merciful, too gentle. As a result he often had to endure abuse from his parents, who made him feel like he was defective.

Because he was young and didn’t have any other frame of reference, he embraced this abusive narrative and began to drive himself with a vigor unreasonable for someone of his age. He scraped and cloyed for every bit of credit he could get, obsessing over advancing up the circle rankings in an attempt to “purge” the wrongness out of himself. To make his parents as proud of him as they were of Icicle.

This never worked. He was always seen as the runt, poised to embarrass the family name. Whatever he did, no matter how hard he strived, there was always something he could have done better.

The only real source of love and affirmation in his life was his older brother, Hailstorm. Where everyone else only saw what Winter wasn’t, Hailstorm embraced his brother despite of his “failings” and was openly affectionate with him. When Winter was with him, it was okay to not think about rankings all the time, and just be himself for a bit. I assume Hailstorm fulfilled a similar role for Icicle as well, which is why both of them love him dearly, and Icicle destroys her own life to bring him back.

Winter also has a fascination with scavengers, possibly because they are small and perceived as useless, like he himself is. He likely feels a kinship with them and observes them being craftier and more adept than everyone else sees them. This is therapeutic for him, to see that a thing can have merit even if no one wants to see it.

One day, he and Hailstorm sneak into Skywing territory so Winter can catch a scavenger as a pet. This excursion turns hostile when they are discovered by a roaming Skywing troop and faced with the prospect of capture, possibly execution. In a gambit to save Winter from this fate, Hailstorm mirrors the words of his parents, calling Winter pathetic and useless, so the Skywings will not think of him as a threat and show mercy. His act succeeds in convincing the Skywings, but it also convinces Winter, who does not understand Hailstorm only said these things to save his life. He returns home—believing his brother hated him all along—to face the wrath of his furious family for losing them “the desirable son”.

For all of his life, these themes have repeated themselves and haunted him. “I was born wrong and defective,” “I am unlovable,” “No one wants me.”

A few months after the war ends, Winter is one of the five Icewings enrolled in the newly founded Jade Mountain Academy. Shortly after departing, he unexpectedly returns home, having successfully rescued his older brother and bringing him back. He is made to believe that this erases his mistakes, his mother even pays him a backhanded compliment, an uncharacteristically “nice” gesture. He is promoted to the top of the rankings, finally his parents are proud of him.

But of course it is all a trick. The “adoration” afforded to him was all a ploy. Secretly, his parents abused power and tradition to arrange for Winter’s death. They force him into a lethal trial they intentionally rigged against him, all to finally erase that stain on their family’s honor.

Winter finally realizes the true nature of his parents’ opinion of him. Even when he succeeds, and does everything right, he is still defective, unlovable, and unwanted. He will never be anything else to his family. And so he leaves his homeland, pretending he is dead, resigned to live in hiding forever.

During this time, while at the brink of despair, Winter is able to draw strength from one source: His new friends from the academy. He vocalizes that, for all the abuse he suffered at the hands of his birth family, he fervently believes that THEY would never do anything like that to him. They chose to stuck with him, even when he was awful, and told him he was not hopeless. He was not a mistake; he could be deserving of love.

So naturally, he returns to them; they accept him readily, are willing to be his new surrogate family. When he almost burns to death at a later point, they fear and weep for him. When Qibli sets out to confront his own abusive family, Winter, despite being mind-controlled into a placid potato at the time, feels concerned enough for his friend’s safety to insist to come along (returning the favor of them accompanying him in his time of need in book 7). When Darkstalker’s mind control forces Winter to attack Qibli, he is shown ashamed and guilty of it once the control wears off again.

They bicker and struggle, and make mistakes, they break up but always come back together again. Time and time again the one thing that is always reinforced: When the cards are down, Winter loves his friends, and they love him. They would never intentionally hurt each other, or give up on each other.

I want you to keep in mind how wholesome, and loving, and mutually supportive this ramshackle band of misfits has been portrayed to this point... Because we’re moving on to the arc 2 finale, and it will do everything it can to corrupt all of it and consign Winter to a life of misery.

We arrive at aforementioned scene, where Moonwatcher receives her earring. Just a little bit prior, Winter had learned that Darkstalker unleashed a magical plague onto his people in an attempt to wipe them out. Now here is Moonwatcher, revealing that she is not under any spell, and has aligned herself with this guy willingly, speaking fondly of him as if he was a dear friend who never did any wrong. Winter takes this badly and accidentally breaks a vase; the narrative lingers on this moment and really tries to sell us on how unreasonable Winter’s reaction is, how he is overreacting, but let’s examine that interpretation for a moment.

Moonwatcher doesn’t yet know about the attempted Icewing genocide, but she DOES know about Darkstalker being okay with casting spells to inflict immeasurable torture upon those he hates. WE know that she knows this, so her stance here is already suspect. Yet she goes on to praise Darkstalker and refer to him as a friend. Look at this from Winter’s perspective. This “friend” of Moonwatcher just tried to kill his entire tribe, and he actually succeeded in killing his aunt, Queen Glacier, a person Winter greatly respects. Winter is currently unable to return to his homeland for fear of being branded a traitor. Even if he could return, he knows his obstinate and spiteful family would prevent him from attending the funeral, meaning he is not even afforded the basic dignity of saying farewell to his aunt. The aunt whom Darkstalker murdered by making her vomit her own blood until she withered away in her bed. And here is Moon, absolving the person who did this to Glacier from his appalling actions, despite knowing full well what Darkstalker is capable of and choosing to look away.

I don’t know about you, but I think I can forgive the grieving, emotionally overwhelmed boy for shattering a little pottery after hearing his trusted friend—who held his hand when he was dying—say that the guy who makes people disembowel themselves and wipes out entire countries may be misunderstood and not so bad. I think I would have a similar reaction. In fact, I would never want to talk to her ever again.

There is no way I can read this scene in which Moon doesn’t come off as either an absolute lunatic, or critically stupid and callous. In fact, based on her earlier behavior I half-expect her to get over the news of the attempted Icewing massacre in a couple hours, saying “Eh, it’s kinda bad, but you just have to do these kinds of things sometimes, you know? I’m sure he had his reasons.”

Then there is the part where Qibli makes his off-color comment about how Winter’s brain could really use a good wash. I already went into how it could have worked but didn’t. But with the timing here, we’ve already had Moon spit on their friendship, so as Winter’s other closest friend, it naturally follows that Qibli also craps on his feelings.

Consider the context: Winter comes from an abusive household where his parents forcibly tried to change him away from who he was to purge the “wrongness” from him. When they betray him and he narrowly escapes their attempt on his life, he re-affirms his belief in his friends, and the knowledge that they wouldn’t treat him like that gives him the strength he needs to keep going. But now, Qibli asserts that Winter DOES need to be altered, thereby AGREEING with Winter’s abusive parents, rendering Winter’s affirmation from book 7 erroneous. Qibli WOULD treat him like that if it made Winter less “intolerable”.

Neither Moonwatcher nor Qibli ever make an attempt to repair this rift. Winter is left betrayed and alone.

Stuff happens, and the forces of the Nightwings and Icewings come to blows over Jade Mountain. With his two closest friends having written him off and his support network eroded, Winter relapses into thinking he is worthless, seeks validation in unquestioning patriotism, and realigns himself with his abusive family by throwing himself into the battle. Nobody wants him to, in fact his parents still hate him for it, but whatever. His father dies and his mother blames him for it.

Meanwhile Turtle, Anemone, and Qibli are cooking up a solution to the battle problem. They have the idea to make everyone’s minds connect in a huge empathy wave for a few moments, which I think is a pretty interesting idea for what it’s worth. But then they teleport both armies back to their homes, and the spell sweeps Winter up with them, taking him out of the rest of the finale and bringing him to the Ice Kingdom. The characters say “whoops” but aren’t further concerned with the situation. It’s all a big laugh.

Let me remind you that Winter is currently considered not welcome on Icewing territory. His family, whom he was sent back with, is extremely abusive and vindictive. His friends know this. Said parents have previously arranged for him to be killed, and are still on record as wanting him dead. His friends KNOW this. And now he is alone with them and a gaggle of other royal Icewings who all are extremely pissed off at him for ruining their sacred trial site.

It is very possible that he is being torn apart and mauled by an enraged mob right now. He could be forced into captivity and flayed. Maybe the interim regent is sentencing him to death and getting the rope ready. There is a million different horrible things that could be happening to Winter right now, while he is trapped alone with people who hate him, things his friends would be reasonably able to anticipate. And nobody is doing anything to get him out of there, to suggest bringing him back, even though it would only take a single spoken sentence to do so! They aren’t even concerned!

Then the climax happens, strawberry thing and all, and we get the coup de grâce. After all is said and done, the group decides that Winter is untrustworthy, and that they must protect the secret of Darkstalker’s fate from him, because they fear if he knew he would kill Peacemaker.

Moon, who read Winter’s mind in book 6 and reached out to him about how the “ruthless Icewing warrior” persona in his head is a facade and how she sees he has a gentle and good heart... Moon, who in book 7 finds out about Winter’s secret deal to kill Glory and STILL trusts him, who calls out his bullshit to his face because she KNOWS how kind-hearted Winter is and that he would never resort to murder... Moon who, again, held his hand while he was dying... thinks that the dragon she has reminded of his compassionate nature time and time again would kill an innocent child.

This is disgusting. Moon believing that is so far off the mark with regards to anything this group has embodied or done for any of the last 4 books, that my only conclusion can be that these are different characters. Maybe the Nightwing library collapsed on top of original Moon, and when Darkstalker magiced her back to health she came back wrong or something. I don’t know.

So after all of this, Winter is left alone. He somehow escaped from the Ice Kingdom; luckily there is a timeskip so we can just gloss over the horrible situation he was put in by his friends. He thinks about Jade Mountain. He reflects on everything that happened, how his parents never really loved him... How they hated him so much they tried to kill him... How he despaired, but found solace in his friends who loved him for who he was.... How those friends then betrayed him too and magiced him away... How they didn’t care about what happened to him... And he decides he is done. He won’t bother going back. A few people, probably Sunny, reach out to tell him he is welcome back, but he says “it wouldn’t be fair to other Icewings if an exile took up a bed”. The decision isn’t hard to make, after all there is nothing left for him there. Everyone has written him off, moved on and left him behind.

Kinkajou visits sometimes, tries to stay in touch, but that’s just how she is. Maybe the others sent her to check on whether he’s going to become troublesome. They don’t trust him. Better to keep an eye on him, he might kill the baby.

With nowhere else to go, Winter moves to Sanctuary, a place for rejects like him. I picture him standing there, at the edge of a cliff staring blankly into the distance. He is completely alone; no one wants to go near him or talk to him beyond the bare necessities. He could probably make new friends with the Talons of Peace if he tried, but there is no point. Why should someone like him have friends? It wouldn’t work. They’d just decide he is too inconvenient to be around. Sooner or later they would just tell him to leave anyway. It's better not to try, so he doesn't get hurt again.

And slowly it dawns on him. His parents had been right all along. It was never them, or the others, it was him. He is the problem. The Icewings said it, Qibli said it, Moonwatcher said it. There is just something fundamentally wrong with him.

He is defective. He is unlovable. Nobody wants him. He will never be anything, or have anyone. And so he stands at the cliff, looking over the broken vase fragments of his life... This is who he is. Prince Winter. A mistake.

And quietly, where no one knows or cares, he does the only thing he has left to do... he begins to weep.

As it is written, the tale of Winter is the story of a boy who is told he is wrong for being alive. He closes his ears and tries to keep walking forward, desperate to prove that he is not an error, that he has merit. But this book comes out and it unmistakably says that he doesn’t. He is nothing, and he deserves to have nothing.

And I just cannot accept that.

Why did this have to happen?

I think that the author was really struggling with the ending of this book. I’ve said before how much of a corner she wrote herself into with such an invincible villain. I think she came up with the strawberry idea as a solution to this problem. But as she was writing it, the characters kept fighting her. It was not a natural solution, not a decision the characters—as they were established—would ever make.

So concessions had to be made to force the issue. Established traits had to be bent slightly to make this plot work. The farther she went, the worse it got. The concessions piled up and turned into contrivances. Eventually the characters were no longer acting like themselves. Their bonds got stretched too far and some snapped. It’s a very tragic pitfall that occurs with long-running series.

I think Sutherland must have also been tired. Writing an entire book is a monumental task, and writing 6 connected ones even moreso. She also comes out with these things really quickly. Maybe she was burnt out? Maybe she wanted to be done and her attention lapsed. Maybe that’s why she forgot that Moon knew about the disemboweling. It seems reasonable to believe when you consider that the next story arc would make a relatively clean break from the problems of this arc, especially with regards to the magic system.

But I don’t know what ultimately happened, so I can only speculate. I reiterate, I bear no ill will against Sutherland for writing this. Even if I kind of hate everything about this finale, and very vocally wish it would be different, I don’t want this examination to generate (or reawaken) any hatred towards her, or to attack her personally. I understand the pain of an artist who gets trapped with something for too long and has to find the means, any means, to see it through to the end. I criticize the story, but I could never hate anyone for that.

But for me, I do not consider this half of the book as part of the story. The characters act too unnaturally for it to have happened. So to me, it didn’t. We don’t know what happened, maybe Darkstalker is still out there. Maybe they dealt with him. Maybe what actually happened is my crappy and self-indulgent rewrite of the ending which I will never show to anyone because it would be really embarrassing.

But whatever actually ended up happening, I am sure Winter never ended up at that cliff, pondering how worthless and meaningless his life was. He is currently at Jade Mountain, surrounded by friends who love him, and bickering with Qibli about the correct solution to their advanced calculus assignment that is due tomorrow.

Is there anything left to say?

Probably.

I didn’t talk about Anemone yet. You know, in the epilogue she enchants herself a bracelet that makes her “not be so mean all the time”. I find that creepy. To me it reads as Anemone voluntarily brainwashing herself with magic to erase her negative traits instead of growing past them naturally because she finds them undesirable and wants to work to change for the better. I would ordinarily assume that this is an overreaction on my part, and I’m just reading the scene wrong. But no, we just got through a part where the heroes brainwashing someone is treated as an unequivocal good and worthy of celebration, so I think my reading may actually be spot on. Why are we letting the little kid alter her own brain without supervision? Hello? Tsunami? Someone intervene maybe? This cannot be healthy.

Turtle stands out to me as the one bright spot in all of this. He (and Peril, but she’s mostly out of focus) remain as the only main characters of this arc who don’t have any mind-boggling out-of-character moments or sudden streaks of uncharacteristic callousness. I really like the part where Qibli goes to free Turtle from his captivity and plans to give him an earful about the comically unhelpful messages he’s been sending him. But when Turtle asks if what he did was helpful, Qibli sees how beaten down and exhausted Turtle is, and wordlessly drops his frustration to tell him “Yeah, they were helpful.” That is the true Qibli shining through for a moment, showing that he cares about the well-being of his friends.

Do I hate the pairing of Qibli/Moonwatcher? No. Well, I DO hate how it happened in the book, and how the story tried to assassinate Winter’s character to resolve the love triangle and make it happen. I don’t hate it on principle though. If you are a fan of Qibli/Moonwatcher and want to write fanfics about it, please do! I absolutely encourage you to do that! Maybe you can fix this mess and turn it into something that’s actually properly handled!

Mightyclaws keeps the power that Darkstalker granted him past the finale. That means all the spells that Darkstalker cast are technically still active. Does that mean the Icewings have to wear earrings for the rest of their lives? Do they get sick again if they take them off? Is Peril forever cursed to think of Darkstalker as a cool old uncle and has to somehow reconcile how everyone else thinks of him? How did the Nightwings relinquishing their powers work, do they have to wear the earrings forever too now?

And there is one more thing to mention.

My confession

You may have already intuited this, if you’ve been following the content of my blog. It is very heavily skewed towards the first and second arcs of the series. I would now like to confess something.

When I read the second half of book 10, I found it so disillusioning, Winter’s fate so upsetting... that I put down the series then and there. And I haven’t picked it back up since.

That’s right, I have not read arc 3. I don’t know if that makes me a fake fan. I know pretty much everything that happens in it, the controversial twist at the end, Pyrrhia coming back into the story later, Snowfall getting brainwashed by a piece of jewelry until she cares about a plot that had nothing to do with her or the fate of the Icewings, etc..

It’s not out of malice, or because it’s a new continent. The opposite in fact; I would have greatly prefered a clean break with a new setting—Bug-themed dragons in a slightly more contemporary, developed environment sounds fascinating and full of potential. I don’t hate Pantala or the new characters.

I just... I can’t really do this again. I can’t handle the thought of Pyrrhia coming back post-Darkstalker, with Winter showing up and talking to these guys again like nothing happened, seeming like a different person, joking around with them like his entire character wasn’t dragged through a mountain of manure to make the plot bend a certain way. I think as long as this is the ending that the story is continuing from, seeing that would just make me miserable.

Maybe I will just stay in the parts of the story that I fell in love with. And imagine a version of reality in which Pantala is allowed to exist on its own, where Swordtail was the fourth POV character of arc 3, where Queen Wasp stayed the villain throughout, and Snowfall got her own legends book about how she reformed Icewing society and fixed all the shit that poisoned Winter’s life, so future generations don’t have to suffer through the same stuff he did.

~~~~~

If you’re still with me, thank you for reading this far. I think this is everything I ever thought about the finale of the second story arc, so now I never have to talk about it again. Writing this was difficult. I found it crushing at times. This will probably stand as the only overtly negative post I have ever made on this blog. I love Wings of Fire, and I want to celebrate it. To add to it, not tear it down.

I hope this wasn’t too boring, or painful, or frustrating, or soul-crushing to read through. I’ll see you later, hopefully with a more constructive post.

[isfjmel-phleg]

People usually request very boring-sounding articles to be interlibrary-loaned, but today our film professor wants one called "The Power of Vulnerability: Connecting Families Using Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse," which is about using that movie in a counseling context and sounds fascinating, so I'm impressed.

[preservationofnormalcy]

[My name is Meghan Hendricks, and I’m about to do something stupid.]

[I’ve scheduled my work to be sent to my superior in the federal government’s oversight committee unless I stop it in one week. A dead woman’s hand. It’ll be somewhat fruitless - I’ve begun to suspect that my work will be restricted, censored, and buried like most other things the Office does.

A lot of the people I talk to are exculpatory of the Office, even if they say they have questions or concerns. I think most of them mean it. I don’t think it’s brainwashing. I think in such a tighly knit community as the supernatural world people feel a more genuine sense of belonging than they might otherwise. A werewolf helping werewolves is going to understandably try and defend the hand that deals the help, even if they’ve bit it in the past. But one thing I’ve learned as I’ve been peeling up rocks and seeing what scurries away is that something isn’t right. Something is hiding in plain sight.

Most people don’t know about it. They can feel the shape of it, the outline the absence of something makes. Some people, however, do know. At least a little. I’ve seen them avoid questions, look away, end interviews. I can see it in their eyes. They know enough to not want to know more.

All of that brings me here, to the backwoods of upstate New York. I’m dressed in all black, wearing a mask and gloves. My clothing smells of peppermint, and in my bag is a bottle of peppermint oil. It stung my eyes and, before I got the dilution right, burned my skin. I look in my car’s rear view mirror and it hits me that I look ridiculous. I don’t know for sure why the factory foreman Barry warned me about the peppermint, but I had a theory. 

For the last few minutes I’d seen the shape rising into the air, the metal tower with red lights up its length. That was where I needed to be. The highway was thankfully bare, at this time of night. As was the turn-off onto an unmarked gravel road, only distinguishable by the Office’s symbol on a plastic sign, held up on a thin metal spike. I’d learned by now that the broader public couldn’t see the Office logos and signage until they’d been exposed to the extranormal, something the Office calls “memetic masking.” I was, in their terminology, memetically inoculated, and it was that fact that ironically helped me find the path. The gravel road went into the forest, but I pulled over past the road’s entry, into the small area of grass down past the turnoff. I pulled a tarp from my car and threw it over the vehicle, once again feeling ludicrous…and frankly, a little scared. 

The hike was about twenty minutes, mostly uphill on a gentle incline, the numbers station being built on a hill. I’d done worse, but not in a while. I could see pretty well in the light of the full moon, a fact that made me a little more nervous. I walked along the edge of the gravel road, in the dark - hiking onto a government facility, my nerves went wild. Every shift of leaves meant an agent clad in camo, every whip of wind causing a noise that made me think of the things I’d seen since I began this assignment. Not this assignment, I had to remind myself. This wasn’t part of it. Not really.

I saw the fence in the distance first - an eight foot chain link fence that stretched as far as I could see in either direction. Past the fence, I could see dark buildings, giant spools of wire, and above it all the metal tower of the station. I hadn’t exactly planned for this, even though I knew it was more than likely. The handheld cutters in my back pocket were ready, but something in me didn’t want to cut the links, even if I fully intended to pass the fence. Getting in some other way could be a blunder, accidental. Cutting the chain meant intent.]

C] 1 15 12 24 2 12 12 21 16 26 1 15 12 22 21 19 6 26 2 25 3 16 3 22 25

[The voice almost made me vomit. I spun and saw a man. Disheveled, haggard, an unkempt beard and long hair. Older, in his 50’s, but being dirty and ragged made him look even older. He didn’t even look at me, mumbling numbers so fast I could only understand them later once I slowed them down in my recording. After his string of digits he stood there, looking at the fence, then back to me. In the moon’s light I saw his dirty, torn jumpsuit, the logo for the Office on the man’s arm and chest, along with an embroidered nametag - Cecil.]

M] Wh- who are you? What are you doing here? 

C] 4 12 25 16 23 23 12 11 22 2 1 1 15 12 23 8 25 1 22 13 2 26 1 15 8 1 18 21 22 4 26 16 1 26 9 25 22 18 12 21

[His stare was distant, vacant. It was a shock when his hand moved suddenly, pointing upward to the moon. It took me a second to realize what he was saying, and when I did, it confirmed my suspicions.]

M] Here? Now? 

C] 1 15 12 6 19 19 23 2 21 16 26 15 15 16 20 13 22 25 19 16 3 16 21 14 1 15 25 22 2 14 15 16 1

[With that, he turned and walked away. He looked back once, pausing as if making sure I was following - which, despite my better judgment, I did. I attempted to ask him some more questions, trying to understand who he was or why he was here, but he didn’t respond. Not even with his numbers. 

After a moment of walking by the fence, we walked away from it, down the hill. A steep path, rocky and unstable, that he navigated with ease. It was only after climbing down past a tree and a rocky face that I noticed “Cecil” backtracking up a few steps. A huge drainage pipe jutted out from the hillside, hidden from above by rocks and plants. A piece of wood in the pipe was the only flimsy protection, and without hesitation Cecil pulled it aside and bent over to climb inside. Here I was, in the middle of the woods, about to climb into a dirty tunnel to a strange old man’s bunker. 

I could hear a match catch fire just as I stepped down onto a concrete floor and stood up past the metal pipe. The space was small, a concrete box that ended in a pile of rubble. It must have been the entrance to an underground section of the complex at one point, but now was only a covered shelter. A camp stove, a bed, an orderly pile of refuse. He was living hard out here, but he was living. Cecil put the match into an old oil lantern and held it up to one wall. ]

C] 13 16 21 16 1 12 2 21 16 3 12 25 26 12 13 16 21 16 1 12 1 22 22 19 26 4 12 19 22 22 18 12 11 9 12 6 22 21 11

[All over the concrete wall, pasted or taped, were papers. Mainly old documents from the Office, with the Office logo watermarked on their corners. Many of them featured heavy black redaction bars. Some were torn, upside down. Cut in patterns, circled with heavy marker lines. I’d seen things like this in movies, of course. The stereotypical red string and thumbtacks on corkboard. This was different, however. When I looked over the collage I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t a man trying to figure things out. He’d already figured it out, in his own way, and this was some kind of…archive. Memorial. A reminder. I looked at him, and he looked down to the floor. In shame? Sorrow? I couldn’t tell. I scanned the wall again, trying to find some order.  

‘Numbers Station 23 Decommissioned By Order Of Reality Compliance Council.’ ‘Bulletin From Director Walker On Directive 61722.’ ‘Los Angeles–’ the last one was torn off.]

C] 26 15 12 16 26 14 22 21 12 13 22 25 12 3 12 25 26 15 12 11 16 11 21 22 1 11 16 12

M] What is all this? Who ARE you?

C] 1 15 12 23 25 16 21 10 16 23 8 19 16 1 6 4 16 19 19 8 3 12 21 14 12 15 12 25

M] Listen, I – I don’t want numbers. Can you speak?

C] 15 16 26 13 2 1 2 25 12 16 26 2 21 18 21 22 4 8 9 19 12 8 21 11 1 15 2 26 16 21 13 16 21 16 1 12

M] You used to work for the Office…at the numbers station? This numbers station? Is that why you can only –

C] 4 12 18 16 19 19 12 11 25 12 8 19 16 1 6 1 22 26 1 22 23 15 16 20

[I must admit to some frustration. I scan the wall again. None of it made sense. Clearly it did to Cecil, otherwise he wouldn’t have saved all of this. Was the numbers station related to…what happened to my brother? Phrases leap out at me: ‘reality compliance’, ‘the equation’, ‘project dammerung.’ That last one was…all over. There were scraps, shreds with the phrase, but all of it redacted.]

M] What is this? Project Dammerung? 

C] 2 19 1 16 20 8 1 12 4 12 8 23 22 21 13 22 25 1 15 12 2 19 1 16 20 8 1 12 13 12 8 25

M] I don’t…I don’t have time for this. You know why I’m here. Are you going to help me, or not?

[Cecil was silent for once, looking around hesitantly, and finally back to the floor. I give him a moment to respond, and when he remains silent, I take in a breath.]

M] Right. Thank you, Mister…Cecil. I’ll…

[He raises his hand, almost as if he wanted to grab my arm, but was too timid. Raising the lantern to a section of the wall, he gestured to a particular document, from Office Security, or O-Sec. A photo of a serious-looking Asian-American man, Corporal Han. Most of the document was blacked out. Was this a warning? I take in the wall one last time, and drop my bag so I can reach for my camera. A polaroid - no digital trail, no getting the photos developed. With a click I snapped a photo of the wall. 

A noise distracted me. I turned, and Cecil was going through my bag.]

M] Uhh…sir? Cecil? 

[He stopped, looking up at me in almost surprise, as if he’d forgotten I was even there. ]

C] 1 15 12 12 20 16 26 26 8 25 6 26 14 25 8 21 11 11 8 2 14 15 1 12 25 4 16 19 19 1 8 18 12 15 16 26 23 19 8 10 12

[He slid the bag back over to me. I couldn’t figure out what he was looking for, but it didn’t matter now. I needed to get out of there. I put the camera back in, quickly checking that nothing was missing, and backed up towards the pipe.]

M] I know you showed me this for a reason. I’ll figure out how it all adds up, I promise. 

[I enter the pipe again, leaving the old man holding his lantern.]

M] Thank you.

[When I turn away, he looks to his wall one more time. 

I emerge alone into the moonlight, attempting the climb back up the hill. Though I had more scraps of information, I was back at square one, or so I thought. When I reached the top and made it back to the fence, I saw a section of the chain link that had broken, detached from the pole nearby and bent away, covered in a bush that only kept it half hidden. This must be where Cecil still entered the facility. 

The gap in the fence opened up into what seemed to be a storage yard, the place I’d seen past the fence earlier. Piles of tarp-covered metal or wood beams, spools of wire as tall as I was. In the moonlight, I could see poles dotting the yard, cables stretched between them, each one bearing a floodlight. Though everything had been organized and put away securely, I got the feeling no one official had been here in a long time. Leaves covered most surfaces, and cobwebs shone in the dim light along the roof of a nearby shed. 

Again, it struck me that I didn’t know what I was doing. Any information or leads would be in the building past the storage yard, and surely that had better security? Cameras, keycard locks - what was I even doing here? Walking through the yard, almost lost in thought - the tower of the station rose into the night sky in the distance, red lights along its length. They almost looked like eyes along the body of some thin creature, frozen against the stars. 

And then, lights near the station building. I stood still for a moment, uncomprehending until a pair of floodlights on poles a short distance away snapped on, then the next set. The lights were turning on this way, towards me. I had seconds to react, and I did what I’d practiced. In my bag’s side pocket was a plastic bag, containing a gross mess of wet cotton balls, soaked in diluted peppermint oil. Despite my panic, I threw them in all directions, slinging a handful of them in a wide arc, and then hid before the lights were on in my section of the yard. I could hear the electric buzz of the floodlights snapping on just as I ducked behind a row of wire spools, trying to stop my racing heart.

As I debated my options - running, waiting out the lights…maybe they were on a timer? I heard footsteps approaching, crunching on the leaves and pine needles that had accumulated over the unattended years.  When they got closer, I tried to peek through the center of one of the spools I was hiding behind. I saw his uniform first, O-Sec, Office Security. A large man, built like a weightlifter - could see the black shine of a gun in his right hand and my heart leapt into my throat. It was the man from Cecil’s mural, Corporal Han. Was he the officer assigned to this site? I should have known the Office would still have security even on decommissioned stations like this.]

H] I know you’re here. 

[He stopped in a large open area, looking around at the stacks of materials around him, the sheds and tarps - all hiding places.]

H] Normally, I might blame teenagers. Kids getting a kick out of trespassing on Office property. We had one group a few months ago, teenagers. Two humans, a fae and a vampire. They all forgot their vamp friend couldn’t enter without permission. Fun night.

[He paused, letting the silence fall again. I could see him look around, eyes scanning the yard and narrowing. He sniffed the air in a way that seemed…odd.]

H] But judging by the smell…I think you know what you’re doing. You came in with an idea of what was going on. Either you’re a professional, or someone told you…

[He carefully walked, passing behind a small shed and out of my view. I panicked that I lost track of him for a moment, but then there was a sickening sound. Like flesh stripping and bones crunching, and Han’s voice hissing. Then a sound that echoed through the yard, the sound of a hand - no, a claw, grabbing onto the edge of the shed’s corrugated metal wall, digging in and tearing the metal. A shape followed it. A long maw of shining teeth, white fur. A raised canine lip in a familiar but terrifying gesture of anger and aggression, a low rumble as the muzzle raised, and smelled the air. Then, a whine, another growl, sneezing and huffing as the muzzle retreated behind the shed again, out of my view. Another crunch, a growl, and Han staggered past the shed. Haggard, sweating, panting softly, looking incensed.]

H] And if someone told you, I’m going to have a nice, long…conversation with them. 

[He tried to collect himself, catch his breath, run a hand through his hair. He pulled a bandana from a pocket of his uniform, pulling it over his mouth and nose.]

H] You have one minute. One minute until I call backup. You can hide from me, but can you run from a dozen of us? Most of them won’t have my…shortcomings. 

[My heart was pounding. My head was swimming. My fingers were going numb. I couldn’t claim innocence, not when they found out who I was. Could I make a break for it? All of the ways out seemed to be past him, and if he was what he seemed to be, it would be a short chase. It would end up better for me if I surrendered now, but what happens after that? I’d never work again…or worse.]

H] Cecil?

[Han’s voice was confused, concerned. I snapped around to watch through a gap in the spools as Cecil approached, holding a bottle. The bottle of peppermint oil. He must have taken it earlier when he was looking through my bag.]

C] 1 15 12 18 21 16 14 15 1 9 12 8 25 26 1 15 12 14 2 16 19 1 15 12 16 26 25 16 14 15 1

H] Cecil, what did I tell you about–

[Han took in a breath through the cloth, and exhaled, clearly frustrated. His voice was sharp, low, but his face softened, and there was a soft click as he put his gun away.]

H] Why the peppermint, man? You know what that does to my nose. Were you just trying to sneak around without me knowing? 

[Cecil looked at the bottle, then dropped it.]

C] 26 22 20 12 26 1 16 19 19 13 12 12 19 23 15 8 21 1 22 20 23 8 16 21

H] Are you taking your medicine? Probably not. Let’s….let’s get you back home. Not that bunker, home. 

[Cecil seemed to hesitate, but Han put a hand on his upper arm.]

H] You know you can’t be here. Come on. If you come with me to the station I’ll ask someone to bring you dinner when they come pick you up. Okay?

C] 25 12 8 19 16 1 6 4 8 26 13 22 2 21 11 4 8 21 1 16 21 14

[The older man lowered his head, but followed Han as the guard turned and walked back towards the station - but not before looking around, deciding on the row of spools I was hiding behind, and nodding, jerking his head towards the direction of the gap in the fence.

I didn’t need to be told twice. Once Han and Cecil were out of sight, I ran to the exit. I don’t remember much of the next several minutes - running a roundabout way through the forest, coming to the edge, following that until I found my car. I didn’t allow myself time to decompress. I slammed the keys into the ignition and pulled out onto the highway. 

The tears came just as it started to rain, and I drove until it became difficult to continue. I had gained nothing from this. Nothing but a panic attack and a long-lasting nightmare, a recurring dream with claws, spools of wire, and the scent of peppermint. ]

[imiya]

Tilly & Finley Wild Manes Review

since i got a hold of these girlies lets investimigate- apologies for overexposure

first, individual pics of each of them. here's finley:

who is themed after a pool party, of course. when i bought her at target, the self checkout display called her Isla, which makes sense as a working name for her... island.

she is white with grey hooves and a muzzle. she has blue eyeshadow with green eyes and blonde eyebrows, matching her blonde hair with a purple streak.

i will color correct these photos for the wiki, but for now, here's the raw photo of her clothes

all of the clothes are unhemmed and simply printed-on fabric with two velcro connections. my finley also had a plastic tab keeping the front attatched (which i snipped so i could remove it). you can see her mermaid tail and flamingoes on her clothes. the clothing is very thin, i don't think it might fray any time soon, but it does seem lazy for a fashion horse toy. thankfully, the hair makes up for it, we'll get there later.

each of these horses came with a brush and a non-brush accessory. finley's is wearable! she has a visor made with this magenta translucent plastic. i didn't take any pictures of it on her, but it does indeed fit on her head.

she comes with this purple brush, which you can tell is hers because of the flamingo printed on it.

and now a quick tilly rundown...

she's a brown horse with a brown muzzle and hooves, red eyeshadow, yellow eyes, and blonde eyebrows. her hair is more of a dirty blonde than finley, and her color streak is described as "periwinkle". the self checkout register called her Serena, which... yeah, i can see why they may have changed that. a little on the nose.

as you can see by her brush's symbol, she's very clearly tennis-themed. her accessory is unfortunately not wearable, instead it's a water bottle with a tennis racket printed on

horse gotta hydrate

if that all wasn't clear enough, her outfit has a tennis racket on it, too! there is no hemming, the "collar" is printed on. her outfit looks like a blue polo and a teal skirt.

okay, now the part people actually wanted to see. what the heck the figures look like

it's gettin' hot in here, so take off all your clothes...

both finley and tilly have the same exact model! i assume the horses (ponies? horses. fillies?) all have the same bodies. i think i can feel a few spots where the plastic feels slightly more rubbery/pliable than the others, so i do fear we may see discoloration as time goes on.

all of the legs are articulated at the shoulder or "hip" (sorry horse fans, it's a knee or something?), but only the front left leg is articulated in multiple places.

thank you girls, finley has her leg fairly straightened out whereas tilly has it bent. i haven't noticed the joints being unusually difficult to maneuver or maintain position, which bodes well for pictures. i did have a little bit of trouble getting them to balance in my photobox (likely because the bottom bows inwards a bit), but the little extra range of motion is nice. you can also twist the joints a little bit, but not super extremely.

but can she sit?

sort of? i know horses don't really naturally "sit" very well, but she still looks goofy. her neck doesn't move forwards so it's not a very great-looking pose for her to hold, but she can balance like this on her own.

hey, look at me when i'm talkin to you

thanks. side view of her in that same pose.

her head can turn, it's on a ball join, i believe it's similar to the g4.5/g5 mlp joints but a little more restrictive. i intend to dismantle a finley for research, so ill be able to share that when the time comes. it can rotate and move up and down slightly.

more motion... one of the back legs is in a mid-walk position which made her a little awkward to balance. you can see the company name and "made in china" stamp on the inside of this leg.

it's not very clear in this image, but there's a stamp with numbers and letters on her stomach. i don't know what this means, as finley had the same code! you can also see the hooves have horseshoes with "WM" (wild manes) on them.

before we get into the manes of the wild manes, a quick little look at their eyes.

the paint looks great! it's not stippled like i've seen on a few other dolls recently. the eyes are also sculpted in, so we hopefully won't have wild misplacement like we do on the newer MLPs. they both have stars and two eye shines, and the eyelashes are the same. the only differences here are the colors.

okay. mane time.

the hair is SUPER soft. i agree with the replier who said it's Kiwi Nylon. i am very happy that the hair is so nice and hope that the others in this set are the same way! the way it's packaged in the box makes it so there are three or four rubber bands holding it in place, and it leaves the hair with the "memory" of that. i did wash and condition the hair in these photos, which also seemed to help with the small qualms i had with the hair right out of the box. it seemed a little oily and tilly had a doubled-over plug. finley didn't seem to have any rooting troubles!

all of the hair is a few rows up the back of the head with a section for bangs. you can see that they wove tilly's bangs with the longer hair that's part of her mane to hide the parting in her head, which is likely expected for a doll but a cool detail. her bangs are NOT gelled down!

here you can see five to six rows of hair on the back of the head. it's not a lot of surface area, but the hair seems thickly rooted for what it is!

here i've parted the mane on Finley so you can see the hair a little more clearly. it looks like the streaks of hair are only on the outside of the rooting.

i've been a little afraid to peel back finley's bangs lest they become unsalvagable, but here's finley's bangs peeled back.

there's still a few rows here. when i dismantle her, hopefully i can showcase her rooting pattern more clearly.

i think that's all the pictures i've taken of them so far... i got these girls at Target, and you can order them as well as Bailey and Cocoa off their site right now! i'll be updating the fandom wiki with pictures of the accessories and hopefully the rest of the girls are as high quality as these ones!

[babyjakes]

ever green, evermore | 2. the little garden fairy.

〈 disclaimer: this blog posts content not suitable for individuals under the age of 18. minors are strictly prohibited from viewing, sharing, or interacting with this blog. for more information on this blog's commitment to protecting minors, read our full statement here. 〉

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summary | loving husbands jake and ari had always believed they were all each other could ever want or need. but one unusual summer, when their world is turned upside-down by an uncanny girl from down the street, they find that having someone to love, nurture, and care for together is the missing piece that finally completes their perfect family and lives.

characters | caretaker!jake jensen, daddy!ari levinson, wrenley beauchamp (original character)

warnings | mentions/depictions of domestic and sexual violence, mental health themes: anxiety/panic disorders, trauma and post-traumatic-stress, eating disorders (restrictive subtype), therapeutic methods and tools: exposure, age regression.

As soon as his rugged boots hit the pale gravel of the driveway, something stirred within Jake. Lifting his head up to look around, his eyes were immediately drawn to the lush bunches of green and petals filling the rows of wooden boxes before him; furrowing his brow, the man paused in confusion. “Ari?”

Closing the driver’s side door behind him, the older, larger man walked over to stand at Jake’s side. “Yeah- you okay, honey?” Ari asked, his eyes following the blonde’s gaze to look over the garden. “Oh right- I was gonna tell you, I think someone’s been stopping by to tend to the garden.”

“Oh?” Jake asked as he approached the collection of plants, his hesitancy stemming more from amazement than anything else. Carefully eyeing the row closest to him, which happened to be one of his favorites: his bright yellow tulips, Ari’s suspicions were immediately confirmed for him. “You’re right; someone’s definitely been in here. Unless you were the one who got rid of all the weeds.” Considering the fact that he’d been gone for four and a half weeks, Jake normally would’ve expected to return to a decent amount of new prickly growth. But looking over all the boxes as he walked slowly along the rows, he couldn’t find a single stem that was out of place; whoever had done the job was more diligent than even he would have been. 

“No, wasn’t me- but here they are,” Ari responded, now standing over by the waste bin at the end of the workbench. Walking over to join him, Jake’s eyes widened at the sight waiting in the black garbage bag. The weeds, plentiful in number, sat tied together with some sort of string in neat little bundles at the bottom of the bin; clearly, their removal had been no accident. “Whoever it was, I think they were watering too. Some days I’d come out and the soil would already be damp, even in the middle of the afternoon.”

“Fascinating,” Jake whispered, turning back to look over the plants once more. “They look… greener than I remember.” Pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, the man’s expression once again turned to a look of bewilderment. He was stumped. He couldn’t think of anyone who might do such a thing. The couple’s closest neighbors were well down the road, over a large hill, and he hadn’t ever talked much with any of them. In fact, most of them he hadn’t met at all. “You didn’t see anyone?” 

“Nope, and I tried to check a few times a day. I was curious. Maybe it was a magical little garden fairy,” the brunette teased lightly, reaching out to rub the younger man’s shoulder. Turning to face him, Jake’s pensiveness melted away as he smirked playfully at the thought. “I should probably head in and start on dinner, don’t wanna be sitting down to eat too late,” Ari murmured, planting a kiss on his husband’s forehead. “You gonna stay out here for a bit?”

“No, I’ll come in and help you,” Jake decided, rubbing the back of his neck as he sighed. “I’m gonna wait ‘til tomorrow to figure this out. Right now I just wanna get inside, get some food in my stomach, maybe curl up with you on the couch-”

“Mm, that sounds good to me, sweetheart,” Ari hummed, his lips lingering against Jake’s forehead as he wrapped his arms around his smaller frame, pulling him in close. “Missed you so much, handsome, ‘m so glad you’re back.”

“Missed you more,” Jake breathed into his shoulder, soaking in the warmth of his familiar embrace.

At breakfast the next morning, as Ari stood between the sink and the island counter in the home’s large U-shaped kitchen and pulled freshly washed dishes out of the dishwasher, Jake sat with his usual cup of coffee at the dining table, his eyes focused on long runs of code and fragmented data typed out in one of his countless tech manuals. “That one any good?” the brunette asked as he wiped another glass clean with the white cloth in his hand before reaching up to store it away in the overhead cabinets. 

“Yeah, better plot than the last one,” Jake joked as he scribbled a few illegible notes in the margin before flipping the page, the eraser of the pencil mindlessly finding its way between the man’s rosy lips. 

“Honey,” Ari warned with a chuckle, causing the blonde to immediately remove the already half-chewed nub from his mouth. The older man never seemed to miss a thing when it came to watching over his partner. By now, he knew all of his little quirks, and though Jake would have been a little embarrassed to admit it, Ari’s constant attentiveness and borderline overprotectiveness did give him a nice feeling of security. He loved feeling cared for, which was something his husband did very well. “You want some real food? I can cook you up some eggs before I get started in the office.” 

“No, that’s okay,” Jake declined casually as he took a sip from his burgundy mug, the lead of his pencil falling back down to meet the white of the page as he jotted more notes. “Think I’m gonna bake some muffins this morning, I’ve been craving something sweet. We got any fruit in the fridge?”

“Fresh box of blueberries from the farmer’s market,” Ari replied with a grin as he kicked up the dishwasher door to close it, hanging the towel over the bar of the handle. “You want me to take the stuff out for you?”

“Sure, thanks,” Jake agreed gratefully as his eyes skimmed line after line of the random letters and numbers through the thick frames of his glasses. “This stuff rots the brain, I swear,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Ari murmured as he began pulling ingredients from the cupboards, placing them out on the counter next to the sink. “Baking’ll be a good break for your head. You just got back yesterday, bud. Hate to see you diving back in already.”

“It’s fine,” Jake tried to assure him, more than anything just wanting to get to the end of the section so he could have a nice place to pause and close the book.

“Hey, have you thought any more about the garden?” Ari asked curiously as he looked over at the blonde, lips curling up in an affectionate smile as he noticed the familiar look of concentration settled into his features. Ari loved everything about Jake; he could sit and watch him do his work for hours. There were so many little things he did that the doctor just found so precious, so endearing. Ari didn’t know many people as smart as himself, but Jake had to be one of the few exceptions. And it was a different kind of smart, one which the older man found so fascinating. In his eyes, Jake had the most beautiful brain on earth, so vast and full of information; it never failed to amaze and impress him. 

“Yeah- muffins are part of the plan,” Jake revealed as his eyes shifted from the left page to the right, earning a questioning look from Ari. “I’m gonna spend my day in the kitchen; that way, I can keep an eye on out front. If I finish up these last few paragraphs, I’ll be caught up on work through the end of the week. Gonna hang out in here, maybe crank up some tunes- you know, get the groove goin’.”

“Mhm, I see,” Ari nodded with another smile as he finished gathering everything his husband would need for the muffins. After looking over the pile on the counter, the man made his way over to the kitchen table to stand at Jake’s side, wrapping his arms around the blonde’s head and leaning down to plant a kiss in his hair. “That sounds like a good plan, my love. I’ll try to finish work early today so I can come join you; we can cook up a nice dinner together. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds perfect, honey. Thank you,” Jake breathed as he turned to wrap his arms around his lover’s waist, taking a moment to rub his face lovingly against the soft cotton of the man’s shirt. “You let me know if you need somethin’, okay? I’ll be around all day, not doing much. If I can bring you coffee or a snack or anything, just holler.”

“I will, sugar. You take such good care’a me,” Ari hummed, giving the top of his head one more kiss before letting go. “And you come and tell me if you spot anything, alright? I’m curious to see just who this little garden fairy is.”

And though he waited patiently and hoped, that first Monday home went by without a single stir through the window. As did the next day, and even another. Jake did his best to keep himself busy, pulling out the old record player he and Ari kept stored in the hall closet along with the cardboard box that stored their combined vinyl collection. Grooving along to all of his old favorites, he passed the time with various activities: baking, reading, tinkering around with his tech gadgets- by the time Thursday came around, he even resorted to giving the kitchen a full, thorough cleaning, though Ari had just done a deep clean the week before. He wasn’t sure what was taking the mystery gardener so long; he couldn’t imagine how they would’ve found out about his return, or that they would even know he was the owner of the garden to begin with. 

By the time Friday morning came, the man’s hopes were dwindling. But even still, after pouring his usual cup of coffee, he once again settled down in his seat at the kitchen table, flipping open his laptop with a soft groan as he wasn’t exactly looking forward to logging back into his work browser. 

Taking the first sip from his mug, Jake’s face scrunched up as he choked lightly on the unusually bitter taste of the brew. “Needs cream,” he mumbled to himself, rising from his chair with the mug in his hand. And just as he made his way over to the refrigerator to retrieve the carton, he saw it through the large double windows behind the sink: by the roses, pale yellow watering can in hand, stood a small creature, a girl- and as he watched in amazement, Jake honestly thought could have been imagining her entirely by the way she almost seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. She was just as his husband had suggested: like a magical being from a storybook. “Little garden fairy,” Jake hummed to himself in awe as he continued to observe the young girl; aside from her lack of glittering wings, everything about her matched the title. Her small, delicate frame, the petite features of her soft face. Her flowing locks of sand dollar hair, caressed by the golden light of the morning. Her white sundress blowing gently in the breeze, the garment’s simple look and color giving off an air of complete innocence. Her silver ballet flats with long ribbons laced up around her calves- she can’t be real, Jake thought to himself as he stood, frozen, still trying to process what was right before his eyes. Though even after blinking a few times to clear his vision, there she remained, in all her wonder and beauty. 

Keeping his movements slow to avoid gaining her attention through the window, Jake took a step back, swallowing down a lump in his throat. He was nervous; he didn’t know what exactly to expect, but this was far off from whatever he had been imagining. Dumping his coffee down the drain, he placed the mug at the bottom of the sink, trying to plan out his next moves wisely. He wanted to go alert Ari, but he was worried the girl could disappear at any moment, and then he would’ve lost his chance. “I have to go say hi,” he finally told himself, turning to leave the kitchen. “I have to thank her for taking care of things while I was away.”

Though he was certain she couldn’t see him as he passed through the living room towards the front door, Jake still made an effort to keep quiet as he slipped on his shoes before heading out into the mild morning air, keeping his footing light against the beige gravel of the walkway. Just as she came into view from behind the edge of the house’s navy blue siding, the man halted, taking another few moments to just observe undetected. 

The girl now stood at the other end of the rows of boxes, her steady hands carefully sprinkling water over the last of the daffodils from the watering can. Jake didn’t recognize it as one of theirs, bringing him to the conclusion that she must’ve brought it herself. A glint of metal caught the man’s eye as he watched; eyes trailing over, he discovered an unfamiliar bike stationed by the foot of the driveway, just past the entrance to the garden. It was a unique looking bike, ivory in color, with two rear wheels that held a large basket between them. She must live nearby, Jake thought to himself as he turned his attention back to the girl who was still at work, humming softly to herself as she gazed down lovingly at the plants below her.

Gathering his courage, Jake decided to finally make his presence known, taking another step forward before clearing his throat. “Hey…” he began, trying to shake the nerves from his voice. “So you’re the one who’s been takin’ care’a things around here, huh? I’m glad I finally get to meet you,” he greeted with a friendly smile, though it quickly turned to a look of great concern at the girl’s reaction. 

As soon as she heard the man’s voice, she jumped, her watering can flying out of her hands as she let out a gasp. When her wide eyes landed on him, Jake was startled to see that they quickly filled with tears, a frightened whimper sounding from the poor girl as she cowered back instinctively. Cornered, bumping up against the shaded racks of flower boxes behind her, she could do nothing but fall to her knees, her bottom lip wobbling feverishly as she shook like a leaf under the stranger’s gaze. 

“Oh, oh hey-” Jake stumbled, extending a hand out as an offering of peace. The girl only shrunk back from the motion, tears beginning to flood her cheeks as her chest rose and fell sporadically with uneven breaths. Frowning, the man took a few careful steps forward, trying to lower himself a little to avoid towering over her. “Hey, I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to startle you.” Big eyes blinking quickly, she couldn’t manage any words. All she could do was struggle for air; recognizing her inability to speak, Jake softened his voice. “Hey, it’s alright. You wanna take some deep breaths with me?” he offered, his sensitive response to the panicked girl coming much more naturally than one might’ve expected. The truth was, though, that he was actually an expert at this. “It’s alright,” he murmured again, starting the grounding exercise just like he always did, “you’re alright. Let’s go slow- here, in… and out…”

“In… and out…” Jake had spoken the same words years ago to a similar cowering figure- that of his beloved little sister Claire, who he had grown up helping care for. She had developed a severe anxiety disorder early on in life from an incident at school, making her prone to episodes of debilitating fear that looked a lot like what was playing out before Jake’s very eyes there in the garden. Though he had been a growing boy himself, often times he was the only person who could manage to calm his sister down; with his gentle tone and demeanor, he was a natural at soothing her unwieldy mind. And though he knew nothing about this girl who was now sobbing quietly before him, something inside of Jake told him that his years of practice growing up might come in handy as he tried to de-escalate the situation at hand. “In… and out, you’re okay- it’s okay, sweetheart. There’s no need to cry, nothing to cry about here.”

Little hands clutched in fists over her chest, the girl let out a weak whimper, lips trembling as she tried to form words, though at first all she could manage was a jumbled mess of incoherent syllables. “I-I… I’m… I…” Raising his brow, Jake’s expression softened further at the first sound of her voice. “I… I’m so sorry,” she finally managed after a few more shaky breaths, more tears bursting from her pale blue eyes; now able to get a closer look, Jake could see that they were quite the unique shade of silver, almost giving off the tiniest bit of lavender in the mid-morning sun. She had just about the cutest features decorating her delicate face, soft patches of freckles dotting all over her little button nose, and pale pink lips that glittered faintly from what looked to be a light layer of gloss. Rosy cheeks flushed from her tears, the girl rubbed at her eyes, her bottom lip puffing out unthinkingly as she peered up warily at the man before her.

“Hey- it’s okay, no need to apologize,” Jake told her soothingly as he slowly took another few steps in her direction, not failing to notice the way she once again shrunk back from his approach. Bending down to sit a safe few feet away from the stranger, he cleared his throat, his eyes struggling to catch her gaze as she glanced around nervously. “Remember to keep breathing,” he said softly, his gentle reminder seeming to provide at least a little comfort to the girl as she gave him a small nod. “I’m sorry for frightening you,” Jake apologized again, his voice swelling with sincerity, “I didn’t mean to- oh sweetie, you’re alright,” he continued to hum his comforting words as his heart couldn’t help but break at the sight of the poor thing still trembling. “I was just so excited to finally meet you- I’ve been wanting to thank you for all the work you’ve done in the garden,” he tried to explain. “I was away for a few weeks; usually when I come back, the place is in need of some serious TLC. But thanks to you, things are thriving now more than ever. You’ve got a real green thumb on you,” he told her with a warm smile, trying to convey just how appreciative he was.

Blinking a few times at the man’s words, the girl nodded again hesitantly, almost seeming doubtful that Jake would really be thanking her for her service. “Oh, I… of c-course, sir,” she stumbled a bit more over her words. With the urge to almost lean in just to hear her better, Jake realized this little garden fairy already had him wrapped around her finger; there was just something about her voice, so sweet and mild, that did him in. “I-I’m sorry for coming in and… and messing with things without asking for permission. I just… I wasn’t sure if anyone was here to take care of it,” she rambled nervously. 

Shaking his head reassuringly, Jake promised her, “That’s okay, believe me. You’ve been such a big help. You’re welcome here any time.”

Eyes growing a little wider as the rest of her tears finally subsided, the girl’s voice grew slightly in amazement as she asked, “Really? Oh, th-thank you so much, sir. That’s so kind of you- I’ve always dreamed of having a big garden just like this, but I’ve got no room for it at home.”

“Well, I would never turn down an extra pair of hands around here,” Jake chuckled softly, “especially ones as skilled as yours. I’m Jake, by the way. I don’t think I caught your name.” 

“It’s n-nice to meet you, Mr. Jake,” the girl greeted with the softest of smiles, her eyes shining with a pleasant sense of friendliness. “I’m Wrenley- you can call me Wren. I live just down the road from here, over the big hill,” she told him, nodding in the direction that the road followed. 

“Wren” Jake repeated the name back to her, a certain fondness evident in his voice as he returned her smile. “The pleasure’s all mine. Here, can I help you up?” he asked, extending his hand out as he spoke.

With just the smallest hint of a wince, Wren hesitated, eyes drooping warily at the offer. Picking up on her uncertainty, Jake softened his voice once more. “Here, let me back up a bit,” he suggested as he retracted his hand and scooted back a few steps, rising to his feet. Carefully standing after him, the girl only came up to his shoulders as they faced each other; she was quite a tiny little thing, and as he continued to look at her, a question began to rise out of Jake before he even realized he was speaking. “How old are you, Wren?” 

Cheeks reddening, her small voice replied, “Twenty, sir. I’ll be twenty-one in the fall.”

“I see,” Jake nodded, not sure how much more he could ask without coming across as nosy. “Are you in school, then? Or do you work?” Though they lived out in the countryside, there was a chance that she went into one of the nearby towns to attend college or work a job. The closest was a short drive away, convenient for things like buying groceries and seeing a doctor every once and a while. 

“I-I’m taking university courses online,” Wren explained. “I’m very lucky; my boyfriend makes enough to let me focus on my studies instead of working. What about you, sir?”

Not wanting to go too deep into his occupation, Jake simply said, “I work for the government. Tech stuff, nothing special. Sometimes I get to take trips to help out the higher-ups. You live with your boyfriend, then?” The girl nodded. “That’s nice. I live here with my husband, Ari. You should meet him, sometime. He’s been just as impressed with your gardening work as I have.” At the mention of meeting another stranger, it was unmistakable that Wren began to tremble slightly once more; expression softening sympathetically, Jake reassured her, “Only when you’re ready, of course.”

Nodding gratefully, Wren seemed to pause, opening her mouth as if she was getting ready to say something. But when no words came out, she simply deflated a little, apologizing, “I-I’m sorry, sir. I… I don’t know how to explain, I…” Listening intently, Jake nodded, patiently waiting for her to continue. “I’m… I just have a hard time with… with people. I get so nervous and…” Words trailing off, she lowered her head slightly. 

“Hey,” Jake smiled softly, trying to give the flighty girl a reassuring look, “that’s okay, sweetheart. You know, I actually have a sister who’s a little bit like you. She has a hard time with people too; sometimes she gets really overwhelmed and needs to do some breathing to calm down.” A look of recognition appeared on Wren’s face at the man’s words, followed by a bit of relief as she nodded knowingly. “So I understand, and I’m always happy to help if things are getting to be too much. You don’t have to be sorry for that; I know it’s out of your control.”

“Th-thank you, sir,” Wren breathed, her shaking dying down a bit as she admitted, “it’s nice to meet someone who... you know, who gets it. When I… when I got scared earlier, I… no one’s ever reacted that way before. You’re very kind, sir. Your sister is lucky to have you.” Hearing the underlying sadness in her voice, Jake’s heart broke a little bit for the girl. It sounded like maybe she had been treated less kindly by others in the past, which he just hated to imagine. 

“There’s no need to thank me, sweet thing. You’re safe with me, okay?” he assured her, and one thing was certain: he really meant it. Though he had only just met her, Jake already knew that she was a special girl, and all he wanted was to be someone to her like he was to Claire, someone who could help when she needed it. He just hoped she’d let him.

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[meraki-yao]

Would you know why Nick was allowed to post a lot of pics of IDOY ( I counted nearly 40 considering around 4 posts and 10 pics each) but could hardly post of rwrb? I assumed since both are under Amazon they'd have the same restrictions but perhaps not ( though I don't understand where the difference lies) .. he said he can't post pics of him in costume but I don't think any of the IDOY pics he's posted during filming were in costume either .. they were all random cast and crew pics out of costume (maybe some of the tattoos).. so I was wondering why it was different for rwrb

I... don't know. I mean when thinking on how to answer this I was trying to make some educated guess, but I realized I was running into walls.

I get why Amazon/Prime would put so much effort on the press and promo for TIOY: you got it being a book adaptation, you got the star power with Nick and Anne (and 1D/Harry Styles to a certain extent), you got the tried and true formula of a heterosexual rom-com, you got the trope of an older woman with a younger man that's certain going to attract a certain big demographic, so at least on the surface, it's a winning formula, so they went out with the promo, including Nick posting about it. I think a little more about it might be the costume: Hayes, as a celebrity, wears essentially want Nick already wears, it's not that distinct, as opposed to Henry who's a freaking prince.

But my question is I have no freaking idea how Amazon/Prime view RWRB. You would think they would hold it in high regard, somewhat equally to TIOY. And look at what they did for marketing, with the book quest, premieres, karaoke bus, fan screening, character Instagrams and stuff. You can say that yeah, they did see it as an important project, and did a lot with marketing/promotion (or at least what they could do with the strike going on) to hype it up more.

But then we come to the question of production: As much as I love it and as much as it's minor, there are some meh green screens (see all the new reports and the DNC, heck in the DNC wide shot, it's literally just models, the "Alex" figure is still), and Matthew was told it was overperforming, meaning the expectations weren't that high. I tried to search for the exact number for the budget of the movie, but couldn't, and realized that streaming media doesn't calculate profit the way theatre releases do because there's no "box office".

I think I went off a tangent? Anyways, back to your question, why couldn't Nick post RWRB photos? Well, if we say that RWRB was seen as an important project, then my best guess is that by keeping set and behind-the-scenes and costumed photos secret, they can build up hype by keeping the audience hooked, willing to wait and check for updates to see more. My other guess is that they wanted to use some of the photos Nick took as promotional material themselves: if you look at the photos posted on the official rwrb Instagram page around September to October, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes/set photos, that wouldn't look to out of place if it was in one of the cast member's phone gallery. The selfie of Nick/Henry with Taylor's atrocious plastic yellow sunglasses was definitely from Nick's phone. I briefly thought on the negative side if they didn't care about rwrb, maybe they just didn't give a damn or something, but upon further inspection that doesn't make sense. Even if they underestimate the movie, it doesn't make sense for them to hoard photos. (which is also why I cannot for the life of me understand why their hoarding the deleted scenes when there are clearly so many)

...so apparently I can't answer a question without it turning into an essay WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Charlie Cox on Treason's big twist and what that means for season 2

"It genuinely was shocking."

BY DAVID OPIE  27 DEC 2022 (X)

Treason finale spoilers follow.

Following that painful cancellation, Daredevil's now been "Born Again" in Marvel's upcoming show, and Charlie Cox's relationship with Netflix has been born again too in Treason, his new spy series that everyone's dad has probably binged by now already over this festive season.

But if you have watched all of Treason by now, you'll know it's so much more than just your bog-standard MI6 caper. Although there's a lot of shady dealings and betrayal too — hey, it's in the title! — Matt Sharman's script is smart enough to subvert these tropes in ways you genuinely wouldn't expect.

Digital Spy caught up with Charlie Cox ahead of Treason's release to discuss the show's unusual love triangle and why that surprise ending is so "bittersweet".

What was it like coming back to Netflix for this after Daredevil ended?

Well, it’s really interesting, because it’s a very different team. None of the people that I worked with previously were on this show. And also, with COVID restrictions, there’s not many producers on set in the way that they were in the past.

But I felt very grateful and thankful that Netflix was still willing to hire me. I had a really, really good experience.

It was really fun to film in London, back where I grew up. I don’t live in London anymore, so it was such a thrill to be on amazing sets and locations all over London, and to be back home where I started acting, near my mum and dad who still live here, and stuff like that. So it was a really wonderful experience, top to bottom, actually.

How did those COVID restrictions impact filming for Treason?

I mean, it’s kind of hard to say. In my experience, it did impact filming a lot. But you kind of get used to that happening now.

I got a call at some point saying I was a close contact, and that was 15 days or something, because I ended up getting it. That was 15 days where they couldn’t shoot one of the lead actors. So what that does from an insurance point of view and a budget point of view, must be an absolute nightmare for the producers.

So, yeah, it did impact us, and we had a number of those shutdowns. It’s just a new landscape that we have to live with, you know?

Treason involves a love triangle of sorts between Adam, his wife, and his ex, who also happens to be a spy, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Can you talk us through that unique dynamic they share?

Matt Charman, the writer and showrunner, is so brilliant. He takes something that you feel like there’s a very obvious, dramatic version of a device. But then he kind of twists it in a way that makes it more – I think – more truthful, and therefore more interesting.

So whereas with a traditional love triangle… The root of that would be a disloyalty; there’s been a form of deception involved, at least emotionally, between the characters.

Whereas actually, with Adam, the situation is more truthful, and therefore more complex. He loves Maddy. He has not been unfaithful to his wife. He wants nothing more than for her to feel safe and loved and looked after and all of those things. But this former colleague of his, an asset of his, who comes into their life, there were also feelings there. It was not a black-and-white situation of using someone emotionally in order to get close to them.

I think they were probably in love, or they certainly had a very romantic affair. And although obviously his loyalty lies with his wife, he’s trying to be understanding and fair to a past relationship that also meant something. I think that’s what makes it a little bit different and unique. It was those little details that drew me to these scripts.

The whole cast is great, but we particularly enjoyed watching you play out that intense confrontation with Ciarán Hinds, who plays Adam's ex-boss, in episode three. Can you talk us through filming that pivotal moment?

So working with Ciaran is just such a delight because he’s so brilliant, but he’s also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and he’s such a generous person and actor. It’s just a joy to be on set with him, and on camera with him. He has tremendous gravitas.

My memory of that scene, and also my memory of the story at that point, is: Adam is being accused of something of which he is innocent. But there are smaller facts within that story that are true.

So it’s a bit like when someone accuses you of something you didn’t do, but they did catch you out on one technicality which you have to admit is true, and then it makes you look guilty ubiquitously. So finding a way to perform that – and, also, what you’re learning at that point is that the man that Adam is talking to is a man that he has, at some point, admired, respected, and who has mentored him.

He’s probably loved him like a father, and now that image has crumbled in front of him. What he sees is a corrupt, kind of incredibly Machiavellian-type villain. So the emotions that he’s experiencing in that moment are incredibly varied and confusing and convoluted. And at the same time, he’s the one that’s trying to convince the other of his innocence. It’s a bizarre kind of dynamic. But that’s what makes Matt Charman such a good writer.

Treason's final episode takes a surprise left turn by suddenly killing your character off, even though Adam had been the lead up until that point. What was your reaction to reading that in the scripts?

Well, I knew going in that Adam wasn’t going to survive the first season. So I knew that was coming. But I did think it was handled really beautifully. I did think it was handled in a way where it genuinely was shocking, certainly in reading it.

Anything like that that breaks the mould a bit, I’m excited by. I’ve no concerns about playing a character that doesn’t survive. In many ways, it’s often better. It makes your future a little bit clearer, because when you survive the end of the season, you then have to wait and find out if you’re going to do another one, and blah blah blah.

Whereas if you’re dead, you can kind of crack on with your career [laughs].

But I had such a good time on the job. I enjoyed the people so much, and the story so much, and working and living in London so much. Obviously it’s bittersweet in that regard, that if they do do a second season, I won’t be able to be involved.

More importantly, I just want to make good stories. That was something that I thought was going to be different to a lot of stories in the genre, and if it makes it stand out and people enjoy the show more because of it, I think that’s a positive.

What was it like filming Adam's death scene?

I remember, we started it, and then we got a COVID case, and we had to abandon it and come back to it much, much later. Like a month later or something. So we shot it in kind of two separate parts.

But no, it was fun, because we hadn’t done a huge amount of action on this show. There had been very minor moments where there had been running and panting and jumping and hitting people. There’s almost none of that.

So it was fun to have a little bit of that, with guns and running. That stuff is often… If you do too much of it, it gets really tedious, and you feel like, "I just want to do some acting." But some of it – little glimpses here and there, make it really enjoyable.

You mentioned the possibility of a second season earlier. Do you think there is a chance that Treason could return, even though it's been billed as a limited series?

I don’t know. I’m the wrong person to ask. I’ve got no idea. Maybe there was never any chance, and they don’t want that. I have no idea. I literally have no idea.

~*~

[anselll]

didn't expect to make it this far but now that im here idrk what to do except relapse lolol.

when im hungry i just make a cup of tea to drink instead and now i get to experiment with blending my own tea, im getting pretty adept at it i think. jasmine and honeysuckle is good for sweet cravings

ahhh i feel like ive been gone for so long and i don't know any of the new tags haha. anyways im feeling super hyped to get back into the groove after so long.

I've put on a bit of muscle since i last was serious about restricting and i'm not keen to lose it, so instead of measuring myself with a scale (muscle weighs more than fat so targeting both muscle & fat would be quickest way for me to make the silly little number go down and i dont want that) i'm just gonna go off of my appearance. i wanna get hot for summer! i even got a bellybutton piercing recently, and i do like how it looks already, i think it could look even better if my stomach were flatter. my arms are kinda pudgy, and while building muscle under has helped define them, i could tighten them up yknow? my legs are the same. theres a lot i wanna optimize about myself.

ive grown and learned a lot since last i was in a headspace like this. learned a lot about myself, the world, everything. my view on bodies and identity changed, everything kind of fell into place. my body is a series of mechanisms and vessels that i can control through what i feed it, yknow?

[unohanadaydreams]

Okay finally posting the last of Pernida fight. Truly don't understand how I forgot these in the drafts.

Surely part of this is working smarter and not harder in terms of not wanting to start from absolute scratch on a new Nemuri, but the look on his face makes me think there is absolutely sentiment behind this as well. He looks desperate.

He is putting himself in immense danger by doing this. He's risking following Nemu in death by getting this close. And he does it anyway.

I love my fucking stupid, idiot, moron repressed asshole. He is SO stupid. It is TOO LATE. ITS TOO LATE!!!!

But he's taking back her cerebrum anyway.

What I get out of this is that Nemu essentially had an extra thyroid working overtime to keep her above board? And although this going unchecked once the cerebrum is removed would overwork the heart for sure, it’s more likely to shrivel and restrict the body but I get an explosion is cooler.

The conclusion of this fight is rushed considering the lengthy build up. And instead of going into anything about the Soul King or Pernida, we are left with nothing. Which is so disheartening.

Idk it’s just unfulfilling. It felt like something was building re: Mayuri viewing Pernida like a new kind of being to study to exhaustion but realizing too late that he’s just a Quincy. And he’s already studied them to exhaustion. But still fucked up and got Nemu killed and almost died himself because he refused to RECOGNIZE that. And he refused to recognize this battle for what it is: just trying to get out alive versus a being that has mastered evolution in a way that Mayuri has not scraped. He wasn't being cautious or prepared or observant--he was being reckless & DUMB. (Pernida was out there absorbing Mayuri's brain cells lmao)

Pernida doesn’t seem so stupid that he wouldn’t have realized that Mayuri encouraging him to eat Nemu meant something. He had already evolved pretty far. That said, I do appreciate Nemu's involvement.

I think maybe they just realized this fight was taking a lot of panels more than what they’d anticipated lmao.

I was just really hoping this battle was going to open up some kind of pathway to more on the Soul King or Pernida's backstory of any kind. But no!

Not complaining too much since this was bountiful Mayuri character moments. But also plot my beloved, I miss you.

My guess is that they got the extra thyroid treatment and since they are actual souls and not fake souls, it’s both keeping their cells refreshes enough to ensure they’re not dead but also refreshing too fast for a real soul to live normally? It's matching more what would happen to a body (shriveling and restricting), I guess.

And for Toshiro, who is ALREADY being crushed by immense power from his zanpakuto, I can imagine this would be really affecting.

Otherwise idk how he made them alive again lmao. I’m purely spit balling.

Has he though? We don’t get a lot of time with Ururu and Jinta but they seem more like individuals than Nemu ever did. Although, I guess we don’t know if they were made from scratch like Nemu, only that they were made similarly.

And Pernida was also not made from scratch.

So on this point, maybe he's right?

But it still feels like a major fucking cope lmao.

Over all, this battle is such a tragedy for Mayuri's emotional development. He distances himself from the next Nemuri and you can tell he took this as a lesson to not care or love.

Instead of learning the word moderation, he just swings the other way and treats Nemuri like she's subject number 8. Like Kubo is really batting 1000 with these tragic lessons. Kenpachi & Mayuri will be worse but better for Soul Society for it. And that's really all that matters.

Also Mayuri with bangs in his eyes and sweat dripping down his face and a half-hearted smile on his face LSKDJFPO:WIEJFP:OIAJSD:PLFKJ:SALDKEJFEKLJ

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989)

There will never be another film like The Wizard of Speed and Time. Even if Mike Jittlov hopped in a time machine, reassembled the original cast, used the same equipment, the same locations and shot the film using the same techniques on the same budget, it could never be duplicated. Difficult to track down unless you know where to find it - at which point it becomes ridiculously easy to view - it’s got that “lightning in a bottle” quality.

Based on his original short film, writer, cinematographer, animator, composer Mike Jittlov plays himself as he attempts to create a short film highlighting his DIY special effects techniques for a TV network special. He’s a complete unknown and more than a little odd, prompting the executives to place a bet on whether Jittlov will meet the deadline.

A childlike sense of enthusiasm, giddiness and pleasant naivete radiates from every frame of The Wizard of Speed and Time. As you might’ve guessed, Mike Jittlov is essentially playing himself. He creates and then sells the film he made in 1979 to a system which has stomped all potential for off-the-wall thinkers and radicals with its unions, business models and rules. He’s ambitious and gullible. Of course making a movie isn’t as easy as he expects it to be. Although the obstacles standing in his way are recognizable to us onlookers as completely necessary - although perhaps a little restrictive - he nonetheless brings you to his side. You want nothing more than for him to overcome the odds and show the world what wild abandon can do.

You know the movie is going to get made because you’re watching the movie the real-life Mike Jittlov made. This makes his triumphs feel like your own. The meta aspect turns The Wizard of Speed and Time into an experience rather than a story you simply watch. If he can make his dream come true, so can you. You can “see the strings” in all of the special effects sequences - that’s to say you know how they were done - but it doesn’t matter. Your jaw drops seeing them because you know this man did it all on his own. More than that; he invented the techniques. Particularly striking is the stop-motion animation - the best of which features Jittlov himself as the titular Wizard.

This picture is inspirational and hilarious. It’s big and wild and colourful and cheerful and clever. Watch it a half-dozen times and I bet you’ll still discover previously unseen jokes tucked away in the corners of the screen. Rather than self-congratulating and self-important, it’s a humble little picture that never takes itself too seriously and takes every opportunity to make fun of how crazy it is.

The number of successful gags makes the film’s lack of a proper DVD release even more disappointing. You want to be able to pause and take a look at what’s written on those sheets of paper on the wall in the background, or turn on subtitles to make sure you don’t miss a thing while the room is filled with laughter. Be honest; you’d never heard of this movie before and it’s largely faded away… except to the die-hard fans who, frustrated with the studio’s utter lack of enthusiasm when it came to a new home release, created a version you can find online - all with Jitlov's approval.

The Wizard of Speed and Time isn’t just a movie. It’s has romance, humour, likeable characters, crowd scenes, chase scenes, special effects, etc. but they're used in wholly original ways. To watch it is to open up an old cardboard box in your attic and rediscover your favourite toy all over again. (On VHS, May 10, 2019)

[ldysmfrst]

Breaking and Entering (2) - Mikhail

Status: Ongoing Series

Chapter number: 2 of unknown

Word count for Chapter: 3,384

Word count for Story: 6,653

Genre: Werewolf

There are no chapter titles, but each chapter will have a name listed that indicates which POV the chapter is from. Mindlinks are in italics. Conversations with their inner wolf are in bold italics.

A little about the author: I am a mother of two beautiful children. One of which is special needs, and on 3/28, they lost 75% of their vision. I started a Patreon if you feel the heart to donate towards helping with the medical costs of appointments, medication, and modifications to the house, which insurance doesn't cover.

Warnings: (I am not good at this, but I will try. Let me know if I missed anything!!) NOT BETA READ!! This story will have a bit of angst, fluff, smut, f/m, and m/m. This chapter does mention sibling death and A/b/o dynamics.

BREAKING AND ENTERING MASTER LIST

LDYSMFRST MASTER LIST

Wake up, train with warriors, train with my father, then train with healers, watch the perimeter with the guards, take school lessons with tutors, and finally sleep again. Oh, and eating does happen somewhere within all of that. This routine has been my life since I was ten years old. 

The only things that changed were the subjects of my studies with the tutors and the intensity of my training. As I got older, the training with my father became more about attending meetings with him in his office. He said it was time to focus less on teaching me how to do the job and more on showing me how to do the job right. 

My father’s office is in the tallest building in Lunar Ridge. It is on the top floor, and even though the floor has three offices and a waiting room, every wall is glass. The building was made strategically with protection in mind. It has five levels, and all the outer walls are glass, allowing the guards to see the town without restriction.

My father wanted a 360-degree view without much obstruction. Unlike the lower levels with transparent walls, this floor was built with one-way glass, similar to those in interrogation rooms. 

He also had them put some film on the inner walls that could turn dark at the push of a button for very private meetings. He refused to compromise his ability to have privacy when needed, even with his desire to have a clear view of the pack grounds.

For my father, it’s all about control and safety. 

For me, it's a reminder of the weight that would soon be on my shoulders. 

To my close friends, I called my father's office “the looking glass” because it allowed me to watch all the other kids come and go over the last several years. 

That is when it hit me: I was not like everyone else my age, as most typically attend schools outside of their houses with teachers and classmates. 

The school I saw from my looking glass, Lunar Ridge High, was quiet in the last two months because of a summer break. According to my father, I never had this period of freedom from studies because I was “behind” in my lessons. Therefore, I didn't have the luxury to go on a break. 

I missed watching the students fill the walkways, clumping together, laughing, and rushing to their classrooms to learn the next thing—a world that I, Mikhail, had never experienced.

That's me, Mikhail Stanislavic Dushenko, the only living son of Alpha Stanislav and the next Alpha to rule over the Lunar Ridge Pack. 

When my older brother, Stefan, was killed by the nearby pack, my carefree life turned upside down. Let me give you a bit of background. 

If you couldn't tell by my name, my family comes from Russia. My great-grandfather led his pack to this small ghost of a town and turned it into the lively town you see today.

Why did he move the Lunar Ridge Pack here? That is a long story, but basically, my great-grandparents pissed off the Royal Council of Russia. My great-grandparents refused to promise my grandfather's life as a gift of peace to The Alliance between the werewolves and the vampires. That choice meant the pack was no longer under the protection of the Royal Council. 

This act of defiance started a free-for-all to claim the pack and the territory. Alpha Dmitry, my great-grandfather, offered to take whoever wanted to live free with him to America to stop the pack from being taken over or killed. Most of the pack fled with Alpha Dmitry, and those who didn't escape were never heard from again.

We don't know what happened to them. Anything really could have happened to those who stayed behind. They could have joined another pack, were forced to serve the Royal Council, or were murdered.

My older brother was next in line when a border patrol went wrong. 

My father, Alpha Stanislav, and his best friends, Beta Christopher, and Gamma Jonathan, had taken Stefan out for a run. They went along the borders to show him exactly how far our territory went for the hundredth time. Following the edges of the province, they passed by the falls, went through some mountain ranges, and back around the forest, ending at the packhouse near the main road of Lunar Ridge.

It should have been a typical run.

During their run, they smelled a trespasser and thought it would be easy for the four of them to scare off the invader. Splitting up, they searched for the trespasser, and my brother found the source of the scent. 

This was a fatal mistake that changed the lives of everyone. 

The lone trespasser stood on the edge of Lunar Ridge territory, surrounded by others covered in mud, masking their scent. With his haunches raised using every inch of height he could muster, Stefan let out a warning howl, telling them to turn around and return to the other side of the border, less than fifty feet away. 

The hidden gang of invaders lunged at Stefan. They clawed, bit, and dragged him to the edge of our territory, pinning him down and causing him to howl in pain and agony. 

When our father reached them, the group leader eyed him coldly as he bit down and ripped Stefan's head from his body, then ran away like cowards. Howling in heartbreak, our father collapsed, holding my brother as Christopher and Jonathan secured the border with the rest of the guards, who came at the sound of Stefan’s last howl.

We recently discovered why this happened during a summit meeting with some of the surrounding pack leaders. The Alpha of the Blood Stone Pack had decided to take over the nearby packs to make a super pack. The tragic day was when that pack decided to test our borders. Turns out we weren’t the only pack that had their border tested. 

While the other packs had several injuries, Stefan had been the only casualty… so far. 

This is why my life changed when I was thirteen. 

My job now is to take over as Alpha of the Lunar Ridge Pack. 

Alphas were trained at the first sign of their wolf. Typically, they meet their wolf around three to four years old but don't shift until about six, like other males who meet and shift closer together. They are expected to take over their pack at age 21; by then, we should have found our mate, our Luna, and are ready to share the responsibility with them. During training, the Alpha and Luna pick out their Beta and Gamma for their council and learn to work together. 

This was different for me. 

My father is now older than most reigning Alphas because Stefan would have taken over years ago. As soon as I found my mate when she turned 18 and, by the blessings of the Moon Goddess, had learned to shift, I would need to take over. Then, the six of us would have to jump in head first and learn as we go.

Unlike the Blood Stone Pack and a few other packs stuck in traditional ways, not everyone in our pack was a shifter. Some in our pack have been moonmatched to humans, and because of this interspecies relationship the Moon Goddess has created, not all of their offspring were pups. 

It took some time, but we have figured out that males will meet their wolves and shift around the age of six, and females will meet their wolves and shift at 18 if either gender has a wolf to meet. 

After connecting with their wolf, everyone starts training to make the shift smooth and painless.

It is also mandatory for all pack members, regardless of gender and with a wolf or not, to take an introductory warrior class so that no one is defenseless.

Meeting your wolf tends to scare most individuals. 

Imagine a typical day, then the feeling like every movement you make is being watched by someone you cannot see. You can feel their presence, but the “meet” does not happen until they think you are ready to be with them. Sometimes, it's immediate; for others, it can take up to a month or more, and then afterward, you are never alone. 

During basic training, you learn to keep control and not allow your wolf's instincts to take over. 

Shifting—now that was a whole other experience. The males had to do it on their own; it was one of the few traditions that we followed. When they survived the fever and did their first shift without help, the Alpha and the rest of the pack would recognize this as their first showing of strength and potential. 

The smoother and faster the change, the more likely you would be a warrior. If not, you were a healer. Males were only assigned a station at age sixteen once they were fully mature. 

Females, however, rarely survived a shift alone.

This wasn’t because of the mindset that females are the weaker gender of a species. No, it was because females went through so many more changes at this time. Not only did they get their wolf, but they also went through another version of gaining their womanhood as wolves.

To help save the lives of the females in our pack, we always held a massive celebration for their coming of age. This increased the possibility of finding their moonmate. If they found their moonmate, he would help her through their first few shifts by removing some pain and lowering their fevers but using the new connection with their mate. Completing the mating bond happened at another time to not overwhelm the female.

If the female did not find their mate during the celebration, they had a choice. They could stay and try to survive the shift on their own, or they could leave the pack and travel to nearby packs in hopes of finding their mate before the fever sets in during the first full moon after their 18th birthday. 

All females with wolves underwent advanced warrior training and learned to fight with their wolves to some extent. By the time their training was over, their wolf had reached full maturity. Then, they were assigned a station to serve the pack best. 

Their stations were simple: warrior, healer, or omega. 

An omega station was any job not classified in the other two stations, such as a baker or receptionist. It is only assignable to she-wolves that do not fit the other classifications or the human mates within the pack. 

A healer station would be a position such as a nurse or a surgeon. A warrior station meant they would do patrols and act as the pack police. 

Unlike other nearby traditional packs, we allow our females to become warriors as they make exceptional leaders and work well in stealth-required situations. 

Being the younger son of an Alpha, I was more or less forgotten by everyone except my mother, Luna Ekaterina. Since I was five years younger than Stefan, I was too young to be his beta. Since Stefan was the oldest, I would never be the Alpha. 

When my wolf first came to me, it was the night of my fourth birthday. His name is Borya. Since I was not essential to the pack because of Stefan, I was left to my own devices. I became best friends with my wolf and soon could easily switch between who was in charge of my physical body. 

I was only five and a half when the fever hit, and it was time for my first shift. 

My mother wanted to be there, but I wanted to do it alone like everyone else did it. I didn’t care that it was happening earlier than anyone else. It was excruciating but only lasted a few moments. When I explained it to my mother, she said it must have been because my wolf and I were so close already, and there wasn't much to shift between us.

She thought that during the shift, I was forced to only make a physical change, not a mental or emotional change, because of how close my wolf and I were.

My training always seemed to get in the way of my brother, but I did whatever I could to keep up and prove myself. It wasn't long before I could shift as quickly as the adult warriors, and I was the fastest wolf in the pack.

Still, I held no importance to the pack. 

Shortly after, my father forbade me from training with the warriors because I was “too young” and it was not right for me to “show off.” Stefan was upset with me for being so in tune with my wolf and outshining him in training.  

In hindsight, having me stop training was a waste of time. 

After Stefan's death, the pack and my father looked to me to take over. I was a teenage boy with only two years of training as a warrior and zero years as an Alpha. 

My father should have been able to step down as the Alpha when I was sixteen. However, according to pack law and, well, werewolf law, I could not even think about taking over until I found my moonmate when she turned eighteen. 

So far, my father has had me attend every coming-of-age celebration since Stefan would have taken over. I was eighteen as of last week, though no one seemed to care except my mom and my only two friends. 

Borya and I could feel our mate was near, but we had no clue who or where she was. I was hoping she would make herself known soon. 

With triple training over the past five years, meeting a she-wolf was difficult.

Today, my father called me into his office at 7 a.m. because he had something important to tell me. As I stood in his office, I looked down below and saw a few students had started milling about, meaning school was back in session. 

Finally, the time in my father's office wouldn't be so dull anymore. 

I was early to the meeting and was watching the students below when my father, Beta Christopher, and Gamma Jonathan arrived. They were typically found together as they were the current pack counsel. 

This time, however, they were also accompanied by Gamma Jonathan's son-in-law, Mitchell, and Aliaksandr. Mitchell had been coming around more often. This was due to his only daughter turning eighteen over the summer break and being moonmatched to Mitchell. Since the matching, the two had become close.

You could see the pride that Jonathan had for Mitchell. 

I had gotten to know Mitchell over the summer after the moonmating, and we had become friends. I had decided that Mitchell, well Mitch, would become my Gamma. It was perfect that he was moonmatched to my father's Gamma's daughter, and he was right behind me in scoring strategy and strength in warrior training. 

Aliaksandr, however, was one of the only werewolves who could enter and fill the room with power that could practically parallel my own. He is my age, but he met his wolf, Zakhar, when protecting his little sister when he was five. He and his sister were trying to hide from the Hunter, who had broken into their house and killed their human mother. Zakhar went berserk and forced the shift with Aliaksandr. 

When the Hunter came to get his sister, Zakhar chased him out of the house and down the block. Afterward, his Alpha thought it best to separate his sister and him. It was well known that berserkers could become feral if they stayed around the one they were protecting when they went berserk. To avoid him becoming feral, my father allowed him to move into the packhouse and start training, which was shortly after I started my training the first time around. 

When I started training the second time, he worked with me during our free time to help me catch up. He always pushed me to do my best. After we started training together again, it was easy to see Aliaksandr would be my Beta. Someone as strong as him could easily lead the pack while I traveled for pack business or take over in my stead should I become injured.

The three of us have a powerful connection that rivals the Lunar Ridge Pack's current counsel, which is fantastic. However, we are still teenagers, and we goof off and tease each other but train like there is no tomorrow. We are comfortable enough with each other not to use formalities. We each have nicknames that we use, but if anyone else does it, they are in trouble. 

"Hello, Father,” I slightly bend at the waist, moving my hair off my neck and showing it to him. When my father nodded, I continued, “Beta Chris, Gamma Jon, and my counsel, anyone else joining us this morning?" I ask teasingly, looking past them. 

"No, it's just us, Misha. We have something we want to talk to you about," my father replied. “Your training has gone smoothly. You have an aptitude for being an Alpha, which your mother saw from the beginning, and you have chosen wisely for your counsel."

I smiled at Aliaksandr and Mitch, "Thank you, Father. I am doing my best for the honor of our pack and my brother. I want them to feel protected and cared for by the Dushenkos as they have always been."

"We got this, Miky," chimed in my Beta with a broad smile while elbowing Mitch in the side and earning a glaring smirk from me. Aliaksandr is the only person alive who gets away with calling me Miky.

"There is more to being an Alpha than being a protector. You have to know your pack. Most of your training has been with the wolves in the era of your brother, Stefan. You have been pushed to be a replacement for Stefan, but you are not. You are your own Alpha, and you, blessed by the Moon Goddess, have found your counsel that is your age and yet still advanced enough to be in their positions.”

“However, you need to relate with the pack  of your ages. You must in order to know how to protect, guide, and command them," my father paused, looking down at the students below and taking a deep breath. His eyes clouded over as he glanced at his counsel, to which they nodded. I knew they were mind-linking to each other.  

I looked to Mitch and Aliaksandr for any hint.

Hey guys, what is going on? Is everything okay?

Yeah, Misha, just let Alpha Stanislav finish what he has to say. It will all make sense soon, so don't worry. We will be right there with you the whole way. Mitch told me with a severe and straight face. 

What the heck was happening? Why are we all here? And now I am worrying since I was told not to. 

"Son," my father called me out of my inner thoughts.

"Yes, Papa? What is happening? Is everything okay?"

"Starting today, you are a senior at Lunar Ridge High. Your classes start in ten minutes."

"What? Seriously? I am going to high school. What about my training? Why now?" I ask in rapid fire. My face contorted in confusion.

"Enough!" boomed my father’s Alpha voice.

"Yes, Alpha Stanislav,” I said, dropping to a knee, “It just comes as a surprise."

Gamma Jonathan sighed and stepped forward. "You see, Misha, you haven't had a chance to bond with the pack—at least not the pack at your age. Your training is done. You are the best warrior, healer, and student we have seen in a long time. You must find your mate, and you must know your pack."

"It's time, Misha. Aliaksandr or Mitchell will be in each of your classes. Mingle and get to know everyone. You have seen them," my father said as he turned to look at the students gathering below. 

“Now it's time to join them. Make them proud, make me proud, and, most importantly, make Stefan proud."

((edited 9/14/24))

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[fiorserpen]

[ 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 ] : sender and receiver are finally sharing a passionate kiss. ( toshi and aggie owo )

it's been a couple of months since they admitted their feelings for each other. it's difficult finding the peace and time to spend together, but agatha fully acknowledged she knew what she was getting into when outright admitting her feelings for japan's number one hero, all might himself. their relationship had to be kept a secret, too, but she figured as such before telling how she felt. it sucks and it's awful at times, but... she understands. agatha does her best to make the most of the time they can spend together. not in public dates, but private dinners she cooks for the two.

she makes meals based on what he said he needed the most, citing it was what kept him going, what kept him strong. agatha was more than happy to follow his dietary restrictions; she's sure most, if not all, have them. dessert was usually out of the question, but tonight, agatha made something small and delectable, something that still applied to what toshinori needed.

she picks up the dishes, the silverware and the glasses as their idle chitchat continues, setting the dishes down in the sink to soak. agatha hears his comment on the wonderful meal and she turns, smiling sweetly at him. " n-no need to thank me, toshi. i-i w-was more than happy to c-cook for us. " she moves closer, resting her hand on his shoulder. his features seem to soften as he gazes up at her and whenever he does that, it sends her heart all aflutter. her cheeks flush as her gaze flickers elsewhere. " i'm j-just glad we get to— t-to s-spend time together again, e-even if it's only f-f-for a l-little while. " agatha looks at him again, meeting his gaze before her own wanders over his features. his handsome, chiseled features... she looks away again. damn it, she has to stop letting her mind wander whenever he's here!

agatha's gaze flickers down to his hand as she sees it come into view, looking to him when he cups her jaw. her heart is fluttering all over again, her cheeks flushing more. she looks to his other hand as it takes hers and gently pulls her into his lap. " t-toshi— "

" shh, shh. let's just make the most of tonight, agatha. " he softly tells her, his thumb caressing her cheek.

her heart skips a beat and she gives a tentative nod, draping her arms over his shoulders, her fingers gently brushing over his hair as she gazes up at him. there have been many instances where they nearly kissed, their lips mere inches away, but one thing or another got in the way and interrupted them. agatha hesitates to even try. what if something else interrupts them? he's the number one hero, after all, he's always available, always on call. does she really have him all to herself in this moment? well, if her mind never stops racing, she'll never kiss him.

agatha's hand moves to grasp his tie and she pulls him down, closing her eyes as she finally kisses him, her heart beating wildly against her ribs. she moans softly against toshinori's lips as she feels him wrap his arms around her frame and she deepens the kiss. she comes back up for air after a moment, panting softly.

" i-i— i've been w-wanting so badly to k-kiss you, toshi. " agatha admits breathlessly, looking up at him. " i... i'm afraid i— " she bites her lower lip, her thoughts a jumbled, flustered mess. " i-i want m-more. "

[dzthenerd490]

Tales: GATE Part 6

Thankfully the drive wasn't bad at all, everyone ended up taking turns driving the MGDB-4 "bulldogs" and those that weren't were handling the directions or just talking. Right now, it was Kaneki who was mapping out the directions. He was using a Foundation Computer Screen Pad that showed all the land mapped out by the long-distance Foundation drones. Kaneki was simply drawing out the best routes and sending a live feed to Itami's helmet as he drove. Itami still wasn't used to having a computer screen on the visor of his helmet. It showed him so much information while also giving him a clear view of what was in front of him, though it did help to think of it as a videogame. 

While Kaneki kept reviewing the map, he noticed Lelei looking over his shoulder, he then helped her to understand how he was reading it and how it worked. Though when concerning the Computer Screen Pad in general, he tried to explain that too, but Lelei didn't get it so as anything other than magic; so, he just went with that. MTF High Commander Yōsai, who was in the front alongside Xio, noticed Kaneki and Lelei talking and smiled at the sight. 

"Ah, it always feels good to watch Youngsters fall in love, ey Kaito?" Yōsai looked at the rearview mirror to confirm and sure enough he got Kaito's attention. They were speaking in japanese hence why Kaneki blushed, but Lelei was left in confusion.

"Hm, though it seems you got lucky and found someone yourself, I heard she's your age yeah?"

"Shut up Hoshi, your high position doesn't mean you can be arrogant."

"Hmph, would have been your position if you hadn't screwed up 70 years ago."

"Tch, a hundred years later and still a brat." Yōsai chuckled while Kaito just grunted in annoyance. Itami and his group who accidentally listened were shocked to hear them throw around such high numbers of age such as 70 and 100 as if it was no big deal. Even Xio who could understand everything, was surprised to hear that Kaito was possibly as old as MTF High Commander Yōsai. Especially Rory who was seemingly teasing Tuka about something in their native language. Kaito noticed this and after hearing what they were saying he looked at them in shock. Rory then smiled at Kaito and Tuka looked at him while blushing in embarrassment, Kato quickly looked the other way also blushing in embarrassment. 

Itami noticed this and felt jealous for not knowing what they were talking about, it was clearly a lively conversation and he wanted details. Itami then turned to Kaneki and saw how he was wearing one of those translation collars. He was currently using it to switch between the native language and Japanese to both talk to Lelei and teach her some more Japanese on the side. 

"Hey Sasaki-san?"

"Hm? What is it Itami-san?"

"Any chance I could get a translation collar?"

"Oh, sorry, tech like that is restricted for Level 2 Clearance Personnel and above."

"Wah? Wait what Level Clearance am I?"

"Uh... well you're in MTF Sigma-66 so it's hard to say. But you're definitely lower than Level 1 Clearance... which essentially means you're banned from all gear except for what we give you." Itami was shocked to hear this but just sighed as he knew there was nothing else he could do. 

"Woah hey, what the hell?" Xio then stopped the vehicle, in front of the road it could be seen that their eventual destination had black smoke. 

"Shit, Kaneki and Lelei, you're going to want to see this!" Kaneki and Lelei moved forward to get a better look, Kaneki used his binoculars to see what was happening though even when heavily enhancing the view he just saw smoke. He then gave them to Lelei in hopes she would understand better, though he had to help her use them as she wore them in reverse. 

"Hm... it's not the season for bush fires, some people must have set up a fire but it's too big?" Suddenly Rory stepped forward past them and smiled at the sight of the smoke.

"Rory? What's wrong?"

"The stench of blood. A battle has taken place here." Xio and Yōsai looked at one another and then to Lelei with concern.

"Lelei? Do you think it's a mistake to come here?" Lelei looked to Xio, then to MTF High Commander Yōsai, then to Kaneki. She was sure that so long as they were here everything would be fine. Besides, if they left now then things wouldn't go according to her plan to finally repay the SCP Foundation for all the good they did for her and the others. 

"We'll be fine, with Rory here, they won't dare attack us. We just need to show we mean no harm." MTF High Commander Yōsai shrugged while Captain Xio just sighed and started driving again.

"I'm trusting my men with your decision, Lelei. Don't let me down, okay?" Lelei felt a pain in her heart after hearing that, but she was sure this would work out in the end. 

***

They made it to the gates, though the entrance was anything but friendly. The gates were closed, the baristas were aimed right at them, and a man at the gates demanded to know who they were. 

"Uh Lelei I'm going to have to insist we try somewhere else."

"Please wait Xio, this town is our best option, at least allow me to go up there and talk to them." 

"I can't allow that!" Lelei and Xio turned to Yōsai who quickly joined in on the conversation. 

"Sorry Lelei but you're essential to the mission. Second of all you are considered a VIP within the G Class personnel. To allow you to enter danger is punishable by death within the Foundation or worse demotion to D Class. Though regardless of rankings I can't risk your lives for any reason, please let us think of another option."

"But Commander, if I, a native of this world, don't tell them that we mean them no harm then what else can we do? You all are not native here so they will naturally assume they are your enemies only I can break this misunderstanding."

"Hey hold it Lelei!" Soon Tuka bumped into the conversation.

"Why are you so adamant on us doing trading in this city? You realize these people saved us, right? If they think it's trouble here, then let's just leave and find another one."

"But it has to be this one, the SCP Foundation wants to have secret ties with the empire. There's no better place to start here. All I have to do is speak on their behalf and the Empire will learn not to harm the SCP Foundation anymore."

"... Ugh, fine. But I'm coming too!"

"No, you are not!" MTF High Commander Yōsai was now getting visibly angry at the two of them which shook Tuka and possibly Lelei thought it was hard to tell as her expression did change. 

"There is no way in hell I am allowing two Class G civilians, especially VIPs like yourselves, to face possible hostiles!"

"You don't need to worry Yōsai, I'll be going with them!" Rory then happily sat up thinking it would reassure Yōsai.

"SIT DOWN RORY!" Instead, to her shock, he was red with anger. Rory normally took orders from no one, but Rory found Yōsai, as a fellow immortal, interesting so she decided to listen. MTF High Commander Yōsai groaned with disappointment, but then looked to Xio as she placed her hand on his shoulder. 

"High Commander, with all due respect, they are right. We should let the locals do the talking; it is the whole point of Operation Blind Spot."

"... ugh... damn it, alright fine, but I'm coming with you! Captain Zapata you're with me, you too Trooper Itami! On the double!" Itami was shocked at first but felt it was right for him to go as he thought it would be cruel to leave Yōsai to be the sole protector of the girls, so he got out of the vehicle with everyone else. He also decided to be extra manly by going in the front to take any potential arrows, though most of his courage came from the fact that his armor was bulletproof. Though with all the notifications blinking on his visor and not knowing how to control them he quickly took off his helmet which greatly annoyed Yōsai.

"Itami, what are you doing? Get back here." 

"Ah, don't worry Sir- I mean High Commander! Ahem, I'm just making sure to be the human shield."

"Itami don't be an idiot, also put your damn helmet on!"

"Don't worry Sir, I think I can actually see better without it."

"Itami, I'm serious! You never know when something might-" Suddenly the door swung open, and Princess Pina came out. She swung the door open so fast that Itami was hit on the face and fell down to the ground flat instantly. 

"Hit you on the head..."

"I'M GLAD YOU ALL CAME! ESPECIALLY YOU RORY THE REAPER! PLEASE SAVE US WITH YOUR... Your... divine... power... What's wrong, why are you all so quiet?"

"Uh, ma'am, as much as I would love to talk to your superiors, can you please get off of my subordinate?" Pina looked down and saw that she was standing on Itami's unconscious body, more specifically on his crotch. She quickly started panicking as she knew that any negotiations, she had quickly broken down by her unintentionally attacking the enemy. 

"Don't start dancing on him you moron, just get off of him!"

"Uh Captain? What's exactly going on over there?" As Xio got the transmission from Kaneki, she looked back to the others. Pina was sweating with fear as Rory and Tuka were tending to Itami. Meanwhile Lelei and Yōsai were watching the chaos though Yōsai seemed to be struggling to hold back his laughter. 

"Uh... yeah just give us a minute or a two... hundred."

***

After things finally calmed down Pina properly apologized for accidentally hitting Itami in the face. Though to their shock Pina revealed herself to be the princess of the very empire they were trying to connect to through the shadows. Technically this is not a part of Operation: Blind Spot but Yōsai in particular saw this as an opportunity. After explaining the situation to them Yōsai realized how they could take advantage to ensure the operation was a success. Yōsai told Princess Pina that they were a mercenary group that had managed to employ all sorts of talent from around the world hence why they had Rory, Tuka, Lelei and were in possession of strange looking weapons. Pina didn't buy it but pretended she did. First, she couldn't begin to think of what the truth was; second, she was really desperate for outside help. 

Thus, the two groups decided to work together in exchange for certain rewards that would be discussed later. Pina didn't like the sound of that last part so all she could do was mentally pray that they wouldn't ask for her enslavement or the city of Italica. Pina requested that Yōsai and Xio have their troops positioned at the South Gate, Xio then ordered Itami to relay this information and have everyone meet them at the Gate. 

It didn't take long for them to get the MGDB-4's on the outside of the gate and have their turrets set to defensive mode. Meanwhile everyone was stationed on the edges of the gates looking out in the distance or taking their time getting ready. This wasn't in their mission at all, but things rarely go according to plan within this world, so everyone was kinda used to it at this point. So instead of complaining everyone just decided to help the princess in her plan to defend the town. Gaining favors from the empire was part of the operation anyways, and it did feel good to see the people of Italica's morals raise knowing they were getting help. 

"Hey! We got scouts out in the distance." Xio looked to where one of her troopers were pointing in the distance, after using her binoculars she saw there were three men on horseback. 

"I got them Captain, just say the word." One of her snipers got out his rifle, she knew he could headshot all three of them instantly but...

"Nah, let them go. For all we know they have Thaumaturgic abilities, or perhaps more free magic-based abilities like Lelei. Even if that's not the case they could still be encouraged to get specialized shields or armor that are thick enough to stop bullets."

"Think you're giving them too much credit, boss."

"Hey, don't give me that crap! One of the ways you survive in the Foundation is that you prepare for everything, even the impossible." The Trooper sighed but did as Xio ordered, Itami noticed this and looked to his men who seemed a little too relaxed. 

"Hey! Take what Captain Zapata said to heart! In unknown territory anything is possible. So don't slack off!" The Sigma-66 units nodded and continued preparing their guns and other defensive weapons but now with more enthusiasm. 

"Thank you Itami."

"Of course, boss."

"How are things going?" High Commander Yōsai had just walked up from the stare to their level on the wall. 

"Going a little too well sir, we could get attacked right now and the turrets could do most of the work for us so everyone's taking it easy."

"Ha, that's assuming these hostiles don't have pet dragons or have mages like Lelei among them."

"I said something similar to the men earlier so they picked up the pace a little, Itami helped with that."

"I see, good work you two, if this battle goes well then with favors owed by the princess of the Empire, Operation Blind Spot will go more smoothly than expected."

"That's assuming it will go well." Kuwahara walked up to the three of them and bowed to Xio and Yōsai. 

"What's on your mind Trooper Kuwahara?"

"High Commander with all due respect I have to express some concerns."

"Feel free to tell me, at the Foundation we consider those who cast aside such concerns as fools."

"Thank you, High Commander. I am concerned about the bad state Italica is in, their defenses too. They put a barricade behind the gate as a twofold system. They know the gate will give out and are just looking to buy time. That's also why they have torches everywhere to ensure that when one gate falls the others can rush in and help. Which is going to be required since there's only about 5000 people in this town so-"

"Trooper Kuwahara. I don't mean to be rude but get to the point."

"... Why are we only stationed at this Gate? And why on the gate when we're rifle men. It's almost like-"

"We're bait? Yeah, pretty much."

"Ah, you knew!"

"Yup, her plan is to trick the enemy into thinking with our low numbers compared to the other gates that we're weak and can't defend. So, they'll come charging in and will have to be dealt with us. It's a very savage strategy to implement, especially on your newly formed allies, she's a princess of the Empire alright."

"Hmph, I don't disapprove since we are helping the people by doing this but why go with it High Commander?"

"You can just call me Yōsai, and its mainly to test the strength of this world. Granted the Foundation has already gone through two battles with the forces of this world but according to our sources they didn't all belong to the Empire. So, we need to assess all the strength of all potential enemies that exist within this world."

"Hm... awfully aggressive Yōsai. Don't you think so?"

"Yes, but it's the most effective way to get results as fast as possible. Within the Foundation, you find that results matter more than how they are obtained, or at least that's how the O5 sees it, faceless bastards." Both Kuwahara and Itami felt the disappointment in Yōsai's voice, neither of them wanted to press further. 

"Hm. noble, but very foolish." Everyone then turned to Rory who was looking over the edge of the wall with Lelei and Tuka behind her. 

"I mean its noble of you to want to risk yourself to protect the innocent people of Italica but it's foolish to be following the princess after knowing she's just using you as bait. So, what's the reason for listening to her?"

"We don't really get any better options Rory."

"You do, just kill the princess and declare Italica new territory of the SCP Foundation."

"We're not conquerors Rory, we already have land in this world we don't need more."

"So, you're really just doing it to help the princess?"

"Pretty much." Rory just sighed as she shrugged in confusion. Yōsai smiled at her but then noticed Itami still not wearing his helmet and started getting annoyed again.

"Itami for god's sake put your damn helmet on!"

"Uh, sorry sir but wearing it for too long hurts my head. All the blinking lights are messing with my vision."

"You were supposed to activate the regulation mode on it before putting it on. Didn't you bother reading the manual?"

"There's a manual?" Yōsai sighed in disappointment while Xio slapped him across the head. She then proceeded to show him how to activate the regulation mode on his helmet while he hastily tried to follow what she was saying. Rory walked up to Itami and held his helmet for him so that he could follow Xio's instructions more carefully. 

"Hm, if our motives sound too pure then just know that we're doing this because we want the princess to owe us a favor or two afterwards."

"Oh? and what would those favors lead to?"

"Hm... well I guess it's okay to tell. We want the princess to be one of our inside voices within the Empire to be able to control it without having any physical influence." Rory looked up at Xio with a face slightly changed with shock, she didn't like the sound of that but still wanted to hear Xio out.

"Why would you want that?"

"To make sure the Empire forgets the Foundation exists."

"Why?"

"In our world, the anomalous isn't supposed to exist. Dragons and magic also exist in our world, but no one knows they do." Itami looked at Xio in shock which grabbed both Xio and Rory's attention.

"See? The SCP Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that common people don't have to worry about the horrors that reside in the shadows. We mainly work to ensure they don't even know they exist in the first place. It should be no different for this world, though there's one thing regarding the anomalous we must always keep from the public. It's that the Foundation is technically an anomaly as well. So, in this world as well, we will be sure to make the Foundation nothing more than a nightmare to the empire that will be forgotten in a week or so. Though in reality we'll just be in the darkness watching everything through unseen eyes."

"Hm... falsehood and deceit will contaminate your soul."

"You disapprove?"

"Very much so. Emroy is the god of war; he doesn't condemn killing of people. However, your motivations are essential. Those who kill without honesty as to why, are to be damned."

"Hmph, everyone in the Foundation is already damned to hell, we just accepted that as part of the job. We die in the dark so you can live in the light." Rory felt a strange power form those words, it was almost like the same energy given when a soul's flower through her after death though not as powerful.

"... Are you sure the Foundation worships no gods?"

"None whatsoever, why?" Rory just smiled as she just found something extremely interesting about the Foundation. 

"Hm, pay it no mind, now then back to topic, you did say you plan to achieve this unholy act of secrecy by winning this battle?"

"We're not entirely sure yet, but if these marauders turn out to be just as easy to kill as all the other enemies we've faced then yeah. The princess will have to think twice before saying no to us." Finally, Itami got the Helmet on regulation mode, so he put it back on, finally his visor was clear of useless notifications and info. He then stood up to join in on the conversation.

"Ah, so showing her that it's better to be friends than enemies, that's the message we want to convey to the princess, right?"

"... essentially yeah." Rory's smile returned and started twirling around while raising her arms in the air. 

"Haha! How very interesting! Complete terror! To strike complete and utter terror into the very being of that princess! She and those who join her will always fear the darkness you reside in and fear upsetting the SCP Foundation for she knows that if she dares disobey, you will drag her to the deepest domain of Hardy!"

"Ah! Rory, I don't really think that's what Xio meant, right Captain?"

"Actually, Rory was more on the mark than you were Itami." Itami lost his colors as he was frozen in shock, meanwhile Rory faced Xio and raised her dress slightly to bow with grace. 

"I take back what I said, as Emroy is the lord of darkness, I'm sure it will please him that your organization is so willing to use his domain to reside and grow in power. As one of Emroy's Apostles I will be sure to assist you in establishing your veil of darkness. Feel free to reside in all the darkness in the world and control the light from within."

"Hm, we prefer to call it the veil of normalcy, though some others call it the veil over the anomalous world, but I guess that has a nice ring to it as well." Rory laughed at that but nodded in agreement Xio then extended his hand and Rory took it and shook. It seemed that Rory was going to be an ally to the Foundation much longer than expected. 

***

Later that night, the units under Xio and Itami had turned on night vision on their visors to be on the lookout for enemies. But no one was coming, in fact, the whole field in front of them was completely barren. 

"What the heck? where did they all go?"

"Did they give up?"

"Nah, they're probably trying to get more resources or bigger weapons, I bet they're planning on coming tomorrow night."

"Hm... something about this doesn't feel right."

"Captain! Over at the east gate!" Xio and the others looked to where one of her troopers were pointing and sure enough the east gate lit its enemy torches.

"Shit, come on everyone we're moving out."

"Wha- but Captain! We haven't received any orders from the princess!" Xio then glared at Itami in disappointment, actually scaring him. 

"Itami, do you honestly think that the princess has time to send us a message? Right now, she's probably hoping we'll make it there in time which we won't if you keep wasting time."

"But Captain-" Itami raised his hands to keep Kurokawa from speaking and nodded to Xio. Everyone then got off the wall and ran to the east gate as fast as possible. Thankfully there was one MGDB-4 still on the inside of Italica so Xio, Itami, Yōsai, Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Kaneki, and Kaito all rode on it while everyone else kept running. However, as they were getting closer to the battlefield Rory started moaning and twitching around. 

"Uh, Rory? What are you doing?"

"She can't help it, she's an Apostle of Emroy so naturally when people die in battle their souls flow through her while ascending to the afterlife. As she feels their energy flow through her it gives her strength but also... pleasure apparently." Rory then moaned loudly again making everyone in the car blush in embarrassment. Itami seemed to mutter something to which Xio slapped him hard on the head, he still felt it despite the helmet being bulletproof. Once they were very close Rory suddenly busted out of the MGDB-4 heavily damaging the roof and the turret. 

"Rory! You little-! Augh! Xio goes after her!" Xio smiled and jumped out of the hole in the roof, spun in the air, and landed perfectly on the ground. She looked up to see Rory charging into the battle and swinging her axe around slaughtering tens of the marauders at once. Xio was surprised someone as short as Rory could handle such a large weapon but more importantly, she shouldn't fall behind. She ran beyond the barricade and into the marauders, as soon as they surrounded her, she unleashed her hidden blades. In mere seconds she slashed the vital points of their body parts in between their armor with great speed and precision. Even when she missed and hit the armor her hidden blades were strong enough to pierce the armor meaning none of them were lucky enough to survive her wrath. In 5 seconds, all the marauders around her fell to the ground so she ran to the group to kill more. 

Kaneki got out of the MGDB-4 first and started firing at the marauders that got over the barricades. The number of marauders attempting this quickly grew out of fear of Rory and Xio who were slaughtering hundreds. Lelei noticed this and helped but not the way Kaneki expected as she blasted an explosive fireball at them all, killing most of them but also destroying the barricade. Though it technically didn't matter as now the rest were too afraid to try to go that way now.

The other marauders that weren't trying to hopelessly fight Rory or Xio ran to the other Italica soldiers using each other to get over the pikes and traps in the barricades. Those that actually managed to get over were trying to ambush the Italica soldiers but were suddenly decapitated. Even Rory and Xio were shocked by this they weren't anywhere close to the marauders and whoever did it was so fast they couldn't be seen.

"Haha, it's been a while since I've been in a battle as wild as this one. Though I think this is the first battle I actually enjoyed attending." Everyone then turned to the outside of the barricades where the Italica soldiers were and saw Yōsai standing with a bloody Katana which he quickly swung the blood off of. Princess Pina was next to him who seemed dazed, it was obvious he was extremely fast in not only killing the marauders but also dragged Pina there.

Itami and Kaito were still by the MGDB-4 and were sniping down any remaining marauders. Tuka was helping and surprisingly able to keep up with them as her enchanted arrows were able to fly quickly and follow her targets ensuring that, like them, she didn't miss once. Itami was expecting this battle to go on for a while but to his shock it ended extremely quickly. In a mere 30 minutes most of the marauders were dead and those left surrendered out of overwhelming fear.

Though that was just the marauders on the ground those still outside of Italica were unaware of what happened and planned on flooding in to ambush them. Then there were those that were those on the wall firing arrows or throwing knives at them. Itami quickly tried to protect Tuka, but Kaito beat him to the punch and hid her behind the MGDB-4. Kaneki used his own body to cover Lelei, which got him hit by all the arrows. Xio actually did the same with Rory, and so did Yōsai with Pina, actually making her blush as a result. 

Though unsurprisingly the arrows did nothing to any of them as their armor was already bullet proof. Though Itami wasn't convinced hence why he panicked despite the arrows bouncing off his armor. Itami and the marauders on the gate were shocked by this thought for the marauders their problems had only begun. 

Kuribayashi was the first of the others to get there, she quickly started punching through them or hitting them with the butt of her rifle. They tried hitting her with arrows or stabbing her with their swords but it all either bounced off or broke without leaving so much as a scratch on her armor. As soon as Kuribayashi noticed this she smiled and continued to rampage through the marauders. With her bulletproof armor and near indestructible gun she was unstoppable and could rampage as much as she wanted. MTF High Commander Yōsai let go of Pina and as he did, he saw Kuribayashi taking down the marauders on the wall all by herself.

"Huh, and here I thought she was a whining brat that only ever complained. Perhaps I've been a little too harsh on her." Suddenly a SFH-2 ″Raven" flew by with its incredible speed, Yōsai knew what this meant and quickly picked up Pina to her shock.

"Ah! They arrived just in time! Apologizes your majesty, but you're going to want to see this!" Yōsai then used his incredible speed to rush towards the wall, up the stairs, and onto the ledge. Finally, he let Princess Pina down where she was still a little dizzy. When her vision finally cleared, she saw on the outside of Italica walls an army of hundreds of marauders. However, they weren't focused on getting inside the city anymore, instead they were focused on Raven. Princess Pina looked at it as well and was shocked to see such a creature if that's what it even was.

"Is... Is that a Wyvern?"

"Hahaha, no, something much worse." Suddenly three objects dropped from the Raven and it flew away as its job was done. The three objects revealed themselves to be three red giants. They all had crimson red armor and stood taller than any man in she knew or will know. They looked a little similar yet were completely different from one another.

One was skinny looking and had what looked to be a cat tail and cat ears. Another had a kakugasa, with his armor greatly resembling samurai armor and with a hilt that looked abnormally large to be for a single blade. The last one looked more like a large robotic angel with large mechanical bird wings on its back. 

"What... what are those things?!"

"They are Mobile Task Force Alpha-1 "Red Right Hand", courtesy of the Foundation." Pina looked to Yōsai in shock, she knew Yōsai was holding back information about the nature of the Foundation, but she wasn't expecting it to be anywhere near to this degree. Suddenly the three stood up and in response the leader of the marauders ordered everyone to attack them. The Cat Alpha-1 unit was the first to attack, she unleashed her claws and sliced through the marauders, easily ripping them apart. The Samurai Alpha-1 unit grabbed a large Katana hilt and placed it on his hilt after he pulled it out. The hilt was attached to a large katana shaped superheated chainsaw. He quickly slashed through as many marauders as he could, quickly cutting all who were unfortunately in his path, leaving nothing but pieces of burnt corpses. Then the last one unleashed his wings and flew into the air. he flew towards the marauders farthest away and started shooting at them with his assault rifle arm bracelets. As for those he didn't hit, he flew just low enough to allow his wings to slice through them at high speed. 

One of the marauders had tears in their eyes as they quickly lost all hope, they fell to their knees and begged for mercy as they could do nothing else. The Cat Alpha-1 unit noticed this and simply walked past him and slaughtered other marauders. The few survivors were able to notice this and quickly fell to the ground in surrender hoping their comrades would do the same while they could. After about 5 minutes the battle was finally over and of the hundreds of marauders from before, now there were only about thirty, all on the ground in surrender. 

"Monsters... All three of them hold a unique terror. Like the legendary ancient dragons." Pina was so shocked she forgot about Yōsai who heard what she said and was now in deep thought because of it. 

"Hm, that actually makes me wonder, Xio and Itami's squads together were able to hold back the Fire Dragon. I wonder if a single Alpha-1 unit could take them down." Princess Pina again looked to Yōsai in shock, but she then looked back to the Alpha-1 units which were seemingly stationary. I knew they weren't mercenaries, she thought to herself, if I had to guess they're probably an empire and most likely... the same one that conquered Alnus Hill. We can't make enemies out of them; I'll have to beg them to forgive the empire for its previous two attacks as well as the assault of the alliance. I might have to bow my head, but... Suddenly the Cat Alpha-1 unit stared at Pina spooking her, to which Yōsai laughed.

"Haha! It looks like Neko might like you!"

"Neko?"

"She's a member of the Japanese Division of Alpha-1. Probably the strongest might I add."

"Division?! As in there's more than one group of Alpha-1 units! More than three?!"

"More than three? This is just a squad, your majesty, we have at least a hundred Alpha-1 units. Though of course that's just Alpha-1 we have nearly thousands of different Mobile Task Forces all filled with either tens or thousands of units." Pina then froze in shock which actually concerned Yōsai. Oops... perhaps I said too much, he thought, but then again if she's going to be one of our inside people for the Empire then it might be good to let her know as much as she can. 

***

With the battle over Princess Pina and her court of Italica met with the Foundation at the capital of the city. There MTF High Commander Yōsai along with Captain Xio, Itami, and a few others form Xio's unit and Sigma-66. Though Kaneki, Kaito, Rory, Lelei, and Tuka weren't there as they were instead currently trading the wyvern scales with a local merchant. Pina was filled with dread as she knew they had no power to demand anything from the Foundation but still as a princess of the Empire she had to at least try to establish some dominance here. Now was no longer a battle of weapons and blood, now was a battle of words and wits.

"Ahem, first off on behalf of the Empire we'd like to thank the Mercenary group known as the Ess-Cee-Pee Foundation for saving Italica, surely songs and stories will be told of your exploits for generations." Yōsai and Xio looked at one another, though neither of them was afraid as soon the misunderstanding would be cleared. 

"But first things first, let us discuss the spoils of war, first off I understand as the victors all weapons and resources obtained are yours, however we would like to request possession of the prisoners."

"Actually, it's perfectly fine if you take the marauders' stuff as well as imprison them, though we would like to request possession of at least 5 of them for intel gathering. Besides that, do whatever you want with them." Pina was confused that they would only request five prisoners, but she shook it out of her head for now. Itami and his group were shocked at how Yōsai was willing to let the empire just do what they wanted to war with poisoners.

"Actually, Princess Pina, there's something more pressing we need to discuss." Pina gulped in fear as she really didn't like the sound of that at all. 

"As you said people will most likely begin talking about the Foundation and the amazing things it can accomplish, however we can't allow that." Everyone on Pina's side tensed up as this almost sounded like a declaration of war. 

"Please be at ease, I can hear your heart beating in fear. Actually, it might bring more confusion if I keep talking about it, so how about we just show you the contract." Yōsai turned to Kaneki who walked up to Hamilton, one of Pina's knights, and handed her a Foundation Computer Screen Pad. She was confused on how it worked and tried to understand it which almost led her to breaking it, so Kaneki had to quickly take it back. Instead, he just stood in front of Pina and held it up for her to read. 

***

Document of Agreement: SCP Foundation and Saderan Empire

- The Foundation is allowed to take any 5 Captives form this battle. Their property, rights, and treatment are now under the jurisdiction of the Foundation and the Empire has no right to interject lest this contract be void. 

- The City of Italica is to be recognized as a Trading Port for the Foundation allowing Foundation staff to enter and leave without restriction. Class G Personnel who enter are to be treated as VIP's and never harmed by Imperial forces. 

- Blood samples are to be regularly taken from civilians. The purpose being to understand if Amnestic treatment will have any negative effects besides memory loss. 

- The Empire is to remain silent of all Foundation activity and actively assist the Foundation in ensuring that the public never knows the Foundation exists. 

- Failure to meet any of the agreements above will lead to the termination of the Imperial family and the swift replacement with a new emperor. This time, one more loyal to the Foundation and its dedication to the remaining in the shadows. 

Please write your signature here

X________________________________

***

Pina was wide eyed in shock; she could barely understand what most of it was saying but the parts she did understand nearly gave her a heart attack. This was not the worst-case scenario she was expecting but she could definitely tell it wasn't better. From what she could understand, she was being asked to essentially erase everything that happened today from history yet still allow the Foundation to come and go as they please. Furthermore, if she didn't do this, they wouldn't hesitate to wipe out the imperial family and replace them with puppets for the Foundation. At this point Pina thought that Italica being bled dry of its treasures, being turned into Foundation territory, or heck many the enslavement of herself and the people of Italica was a mercy compared to this. 

Still, she knew she couldn't say no; if she ever tried to, there was nothing to stop those monsters in red armor from destroying everything she held dear. She saw what they were capable of killing an entire army in mere moments and with such violent efficiency. Pina swallowed her pride and raised her pen but then Kaneki quickly panicked and raised the pad away from her. After carefully explaining, Pina just pressed her finger on the signature line and with her fingerprint the agreement was set. 

***

With the agreement set; Pina, her escorts, and the other representatives of Italica waved the Foundation goodbye as they left the city. Everyone was cheering though Pina and her closest escorts like Hamilton and Grey knew the truth. Even if they wore no collars, even if they were not bound by chains, even if they won the spoils of the war; as of this moment, they were slaves of the Foundation. Pina was still a princess of the Empire but now she was going to have to do whatever the Foundation told her to, meaning she might have to directly challenge her father the emperor. 

"Princess? What should we do?"

"Hm, gather the people and ensure no one speaks of what happened today, tell them it's an imperial order, bribe them, anything."

"Princess there no way we can-"

"You think I don't know that?! Of course, it's an impossible task but we must try! If we don't the Empire will be doomed! You saw how efficient a few soldiers in black were not to mention... those monsters in red. with just one they could wipe out the Empire within a week. No, possibly in less time." Grey and Hamilton looked at Pina in fear, she noticed this and managed to calm down because of it. 

"You're afraid? Good! Consider that the motivation you need to get this task done! As of this moment the Foundation that claimed Alnus Hill doesn't exist! In fact, Alnus Hill doesn't exist either! It never did! I don't know how I'll get the rest of the Imperial court to comply without revealing the Foundation, but I will get it done if it's the last thing I do!" Suddenly gun shots could be heard in the distance. Pina was confused and got Grey's telescope and looked out only to see Foundation soldiers fighting against her Rose Order of Knights. 

"... oh gods... we're all going to die."

.

Part 7

Part 5

.

Tales: Gate

[dknuth]

Budapest - More Sights

The views from along the river are impressive.

On the Buda side, there is the Royal Palace on Capital hill.

On the Pest side it's the Parliament building.

There are also a number of interesting bridges over the river. The chain bridge is my favorite.

The chains are massive. Note that there are two parallel chains that are NOT connected.

Looking at it I realized that each chain was supporting every other floor beam. Great redundancy: only half the bridge is supported by each chain and each chain has a dozen eye-bars!

Lions make a nice addition.

Further downstream is a steel truss painted green. It is thought to be very beautiful, but I don't see anything that beautiful about it.

We took a riverboat ride at night. The boat had an enclosed lower level and an upper level with just a roof. Of course I wanted the upper level so I wouldn't be looking through dirty windows. But just as we were boarding it started raining lightly. We hadn't gotten underway very long before it turned into a downpour. I stuck it out for a while, but then the boat turned back and we got the wind blowing in on us. So we headed down to the dry room below, but not before getting a few photos.

It was still pretty clear for the photo of the Palace, but for the Parliament, the air was full of water.

By the time we got back to the dock it had stopped again, so we didn't have to walk back in the rain.

We stopped along the was to see the Ferris Wheel in the nearby park. In France cities seemed to have carousels, I think the Ferris Wheels is much more impressive.

On our last day, we went to the Dohány Street Synagogue. It's very impressive. It's surrounded by trees that make it very difficult to photograph from any one angle.

So I grabbed one off Flickr from before the trees were as large.

The interior is even more impressive.

It's the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world, seating 3,000 people. We took a tour that promised more in-depth information and it really did. Our guide talked about the history of Judaism in Hungary especially in Budapest. It was built between 1854 and 1859. In that time period, the Hungarian government relaxed restrictions on Jews allowing them to participate in all levels of society and all fields of practice. This resulted in a huge influx of Jews to Hungary where they could live much fuller lives.

But by the 1930's the anti-semitism in Europe came to Hungary. The Synagogue was bombed in 1939 by a pro-Nazi party, the Arrow-Cross.

Restrictions started coming back. In 1944, as the Nazis were already clearly losing the war, Hungary exported over 400,000 Jews to the Nazi death camps. Budapest resisted much longer and so over 100,000 Jews in Budapest were saved from the death camps.

But as the Soviets conquered Budapest they also killed many of the remaining Jews.

The gardens around the synagogue have a number of memorials to those who died, some fighting in the Hungarian in WWI, others in the Death Camps, and others killed in Budapest.

These plaques are for those killed in the ghetto of Budapest.

This tree honors those killed in the death camps. Survivors can request a leaf engraved for each family member that died.

This stained glass panel represents the horror in the form of a snake winding through the image, but the light at the top representing the death of that snake in the light.

It was a moving representation of the horrors of the 20th century and also of the continuing hope of the community,

With that, we ended our stay in Budapest. It's a lovely city that has seen some of the worst of the 20th Century and rebuilt beautifully.

It would be worthwhile to spend more time here.

[grad603kaede]

Week 2: Printing Technologies & Media

Photoshop

Now - version 24

Started - black and white

Mike McQuade - collage/digital collage

Massimo Morandi - Rotonda del Festical 2015, printed in 2 colours. Green first than blue.

Offset printing CMYK in order

Vasilis Marmatakis 2017 - removing instead of adding.

RBG vs CMYK

Mainly for print design

RGB is for screen

CMYK is for print

3 colour process - yellow, red then blue taken in 3 photos.

Printing process - 1 cyan, 2 magenta, 3 yellow, 4 black

Suzanne Dean - created book cover. Used RGB to create CMYK.

Image made to change to CMYK when printing.

Some filters don't work on CMYK/RGB.

Colour & consistency

Podpunkt - limited colour palette -> more presentable, it's not too into our face. Its got simple line drawings -> milky blue, pink, accent of purple/violet. It's simple.

Nya Upplagan - strict grid, limited colour palette (different but similar), colours more settled.

CMYK

RGB is impossible to print, so CMYK mode helps to show what it would look like in RGB.

All work must be proofed.

Double check by printing, go back and adjust. Never trust your eyes as it differs in lighting such as screen and ambient.

cmd + Y - Preview of CMYK

Colour correcting!

Adjustment layer to go back and edit. Think about how we can present an image.

Contrast - the difference between light and dark pixels.

Levels - is a histogram, how much colour is available. Left is black, and the more you move to the centre the image becomes darker. White on the left, moving to the centre increases more white in the image.

Curves - valuation is smoother, histogram is reversed.

Opacity - pressing the number changes the opacity. 5 = 50%

Free hand - add -> shift, subtract -> alt, multiple -> shift & alt.

Polygonal - shift -> angle of the line.

Magnetic - caps lock -> changes the curser. [ -> increase in width, ] -> decrease in width.

Smart object - it allows you to do whatever on photoshop.

Object selection - select object -> select & mask -> view

Magic wand - increase tolerance for more tone. Contiguous -> selects entire colour, deselect -> only in certain yellow.

when using elliptical marquee tool -> alt + drag = starts from the centre.

cmd + spc = select & drag to zoom in and out

shift + cmd + I = invert selection

cmd + dlt = deletes the selected area

Unsplash for free images

creativepro.com for photoshop cheatsheets

SAVE BOTH PS FILE AND FLATTENED IMAGE!

A2 Tasks

In class, I was able to experiment with selection tools such as object selection, magic wand and lasso tool. I am used to using magic wand and magnetic lasso tool so it was useful to learn how to use other tools available as well. I also learnt more about the magnetic lasso tool, and how the curser changes into a circle when the capslock is on.

The selection and lasso tool were helpful when I was trying to remove the background from the speakers image.

Brochure Examples

I have researched some brochure examples, which help me understand what other creative options I can explore. I have looked through Pinterest for brochure design, typography layouts, and different ways to fold a brochure.

Below are some examples I want to focus on because I like the use of space in the three examples, the pop of colour in the images and the highlighting of the critical messages on the brochure.

Starting Point

The two images below are of several examples I have sketched, exploring different ways to display speakers and designers in my brochure. As mentioned on my blog, I wanted to include a pop of colour with a black and white photo and highlight the important part of the brochure.

The two sketches show how and where wanted to place the speakers on my brochure. However, it was challenging to do so because I felt the placement layout was restricted and needed to be more open.

Designer's images

I wanted to focus mainly on cropping images of the designers by removing the background and keeping the colours black and white to create a contrast with a pop of colour.

I have experimented with different shapes and layers and filtered with red, black and white images to visualise what could work and include on my brochure.

[rz-rosszogg]

The American public lives in mass media blackout of bullshit.

This morning I watched ABC America, first an interview of retired and very old looking CIA director Patreus, who's theories about Russia are something that came to him in a dream..we can imagine the rubbish in that guy's head. Then, the ABC gave us a roundtable contribution of regular US media clowns..all attacking Russia with fantastic views, without much solid evidence..all propaganda and misinformation. It becomes clear after a few minutes that these people don't know much about the reality in Ukraine, or in Russia.

But I wonder what type of average American would believe the stories these people spin? Only a childlike mentality would believe such rubbish anywhere in the world. In Australia we laughed at US media for 50 years.. and the circus show now continues with ever increasing laughing at these childish adults, who are so far removed from reality.

US propaganda really takes the cake...enjoy, while it lasts.

Because...there is a brink coming on:

A nuclear war is cooking .. and it will be WW3. Not just restricted to Ukraine, as Patreus argued that if Russia attacked Zelensky with nukes, Nato would take out all Russian forces in Ukraine and the Black sea. And he argues that Russia will do nothing about it, afterwards. He is crazy. First, Nato doesn't have such capabilities, Second, Russia doesn't have to attack with nukes.. It has won that contest in the East already, militarily and economicly.

We watched an interview with Zelensky's troops, yesterday, which contradict recent western reports that Zelensky has taken empty small Lyman. These reports are Fake, as most of his reports are always. He isn't in a military battle to win conventionally, but rather in order to win by Propaganda..and much it is about getting more money from stupid US and EU politicians, to borrow for him.. which, public tax payers will have to pay back. The western bill, already exceeded $120 billion. Yesterday, Zelensky's soldiers reported, that they only got to the boundary signs of Lyman, but never captured the town.. regardless of some Russian forces transfering to a different battle. The local militia defends Lyman, still. The Lyman battle has been going on for many weeks..always ending with the same results.. Zelensky pushed back, on each attack and loosing half of his troops doing endlessly repeating the same silly attack, for no military value, other than propaganda. It was similar propaganda and exuberant statements as in Izium..which they still don't control fully..much fighting with local government militia going on now, all around Izium. These two locations are used for propaganda purposes, to continue to extract money from US and EU tax payers...saying: "Look, we can actually win something." But it's untrue, and all in vain, even if it was true. Zelensky has been loosing about 450 soldiers everyday, across all battlefields. That's on average, and somedays he has lost over a thousand. That's a lot of young boys that won't live..but Zelensky is of foreign stock.. henceforth he cares nothing for Ukrainian lives..only cares to please his master Biden and get paid well for his efforts to deliver Ukraine on a plate to US domination. Disgusting fellow.

At the moment with all Zelensky's reinforcements from Poland and Germany, and all recent enlistments of Ukrainians who don't want to fight for him, but are forced by military martial law, his forces outnumber the Russian forces 2:1.. but that's shortly about to change, as more and more Russian special forces reservists finish their refresher training in number of camps near the border. By mid-late November Russian forces will be ready to start a new offensive which will clean out Zelensky completely, hopefully by the second half of winter. We estimate, that then the opposing forces would equal each other..and that's bad news for the west, because everyone knows that Russian troops are far superior than that Zelensky melee of all sorts.

In all battles, across all battlelines, Russia is holding well it's defences, and destroying the Zelensky army..bit by bit. That belting and reduction of enemy forces is a common sense Russian strategy, before the winter offensive starts. The more troops they take out now, the less resistance they will face, when the major attack starts.

For the rest of the world..we wait for Peace..We wait for these cold war geriatric thoughts from the US, to die..and let the whole world live in Peace. These stupid US Propaganda oldies, will self destruct, die, rather than accept Peace equality with Russia and with China.

But guess what..We don't need these degeneratives. All we need is to ignore them, and do what brings true Peace and Equality..bit by bit, every opposing effort towards US governing counts and accumulates momentum and strength.. Only then real quality life can be achieved.