#I would add more but raws characters aren’t introduced yet

[sleeping-donkey]

Rating the kyuushi cast based on how likely I can beat them in a fight

Ronald: 5/10. This guy can actually fight well and I’d probably get beat up real bad but his mental fortitude is fragile so I can just wreck him emotionally. I’d whip out some celery and he’d scramble all the way back to his parents. oh wait

Draluc: 100/10. He’s old as dust I could breathe out carbon dioxide and he’d crumble apart. I don’t even need to take a swing just pour some Fanta on him and he’d die. Like yeah he has infinite revival but what can he possibly do if I chuck his ass in the sea.

John: 0/10. How could I possibly dare. And even if I did try I’d only have all the residents of Shin Yokohama jumping on me with iron bats in hand. The next day you’ll see me on the news for getting pummeled to death.

Kameya: 7/10. That slimy bastard can eat my fist this man can never win a fistfight. Just one punch and I can knock him out good. The only reason why it’s a 7/10 is because he’s a paparazzi and you know he has survived multiple murder attempts and parkoured his way out of death. Also I don’t wanna get blackmailed.

Handa: 5.5/10. Can fight as well as Ronald, and I’m even more dead if he boosts himself with blood tablets. But I assure you he won’t be getting the last laugh once I marry his mom.

Hinaichi: 4/10. She isn’t in the VRC for nothing. However, I’ll have you know that I also didn’t become a closeted furry for nothing. This is the part where I whip out my RM54.34 penguin onesie and make her crap her pants.

Sagyou: 4/10 He’s good with guns. The only way I could possibly beat him is if he’s like, right next to me. Which basically means I’m dead.

Hiyoshi: 3/10 Again, another person who’s good with guns. Plus with all the experience he’s gotten from his previous jobs, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

Maria: 1/10. She can manhandle a bear have you ever seen anybody more perfect? I made it a 1/10 because I would 100% allow her to choke me to death.

Ta chan: 1/10. I would also let her beat me to death. Though I’d probably cry after a few minutes in because of her incredibly detailed personal insults.

Satetsu: 6/10. Absolutely can punch you to the sun but is too nice to do so. I call him a pussy and he starts sobbing and dry heaving. I win by default.

Shott: 5/10. His hooks can maul me for sure. I’d probably win if I start kinkshaming him tho.

Draus: 2/10. I will die from his fatherly wrath. I think the only way out would be I just make ur wife jokes. Also if I marry his son.

Grandpa: 0/10. Have you seen that guy. I could stand 10 ft away from him minding my own business and that old man would still drag me all the way to the Bermuda Triangle just for lols.

[fanfics4all]

Torture

Request: Yes / No 

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Harry Potter x Fem!Lupin!Reader 

Word count: 4190 (Probably could have gotten to the torture party quicker, but I just had to add backstory lol)

Warnings: Torture obviously, and Dobby’s death

Y/N: Your Name 

Y/N/N: Your Nickname

A/N:  Bingo card made by @slyttherins​

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you! 

Masterlist 

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

Harry and I have been together since he and Cho broke up. Now we were in our seventh year and everything was going to hell. Professor Snape had killed Dumbledore and was now in charge of Hogwarts. I feared going back to school, but I feared for Harry more. So, when the summer was coming to an end and my older brother Remus said he was going with the Order to Harry’s I immediately demanded to go with him. 

“Y/N/N, it’s dangerous.” He said. 

“This is my boyfriend’s life in danger. I am coming with you.” I said, standing my ground. 

“Y/N/N… if anything happened to you Mum and Dad would kill me.” He sighed. 

“If anything happens to you or Harry, you won’t have to worry about Mum and Dad.” I threatened. 

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to stay home with Edward, is there?” He sighed again. 

“Not a thing. And if you go without me I’ll just follow you.” I shrugged and he sighed once again. 

“Fine, fine. You can join me, but you better not leave my side.” He said and I smiled. 

“Thank you!” I said and hugged him. 

Before we went off to Harry’s house, The Order met up to discuss what would be happening. You-Know-Who was searching for Harry. He was going to go after him and we needed to act first. We were the only line of defence for Harry and I was going to fight for both our lives till the very end. Once the plan was in order we all got on our brooms and headed for Harry. When we all landed Harry opened the door and I ran up to him, throwing my arms around him and holding him tightly. He hugged me back and I leaned up to kiss him. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked shocked. 

“Did you honestly think I would just sit around while your life was in danger?” I laughed and walked into the room with the others. 

“I tried to get her to stay home, but she’s stubborn.” Remus said and I smiled. 

“All righ’ ‘arry? Yeh look fit.” Hagrid said with a smile. 

“Yeah, he’s ruddy gorgeous. What say we get undercover before someone murders him.” Mad-Eye said in his usual rough tone. 

“I thought you were looking after the Prime Minister, Kingsley?” Harry asked. 

“You’re most important.” Kingsley answered. Harry smiled and Bill Weasley walked in, extending his hand to Harry. 

“Hello, Harry. Bill Weasley.” He introduced himself. 

“Wasn’t alway this handsome.” Fred joked. 

“Dead ugly.” George joined in. 

“True enough. Owe it all to a werewolf by the name of Greyback. Hope to repay the favor one day.” Bill said. Fleur walked in next to him and kissed his cheek. 

“You are still beautiful to me, William.” She said. 

“Just remember, Fleur, once you’re married, Bill takes his steaks on the raw side now.” Remus said, finally walking into the room with Tonks. 

“My husband, the joker. By the way, wait until you hear the news! Remus and I are-” 

“Alright, alright! You’ll all have time for a cozy catch-up later! We’ve got to get the hell out of here and soon!” Mad-Eye cut her off. He dropped a sack by his feet and turned to Harry. 

“Potter, you’re underage, which means you’ve still got the Trace on you.” He said. 

“The Trace?” Harry asked. 

“You sneeze and the Ministry will know who wipes your nose. Point is, we have to use those means of transport the Trace can’t detect, brooms, thestrals, and the like. We’ll go in pairs. That way if anyone’s out there waiting for us- and I reckon there will be- they won’t know which Harry Potter is the real one.” He explained. 

“The real one?” Harry asked. 

“I believe you’re familiar with this particular brew.” He said, pulling out a flask. 

“No! Absolutely not!” Harry exclaimed. 

“I told you he’d take it well.” Hermione sighed. 

“If you think I’m going to let people risk their lives for me-” 

“Never done that before, have we?” Ron joked, cutting him off. 

“This is different. Taking that. Becoming me- no.” Harry said. 

“Well, none of us really fancy it, mate.” Fred said. 

“Yeah, imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as scrawny, specky git forever.” George joked. 

“Reckon Y/N would love having more than one Harry.” Fred added and I rolled my eyes. 

“Piss off, the both of you.” I said and they laughed. 

“Everyone here’s of age, Potter, and they’ve all agreed to take the risk.” Mad-Eye said. 

“Technically, I’ve been coerced. Mundungus Fletcher, Mr. Potter. I’ve always been a huge admirer.” Mundungus introduced and just about everyone rolled their eyes. 

“Nip it, Mundungus! Alright, Granger, as discussed.” Mad-Eye said. Hermione nodded slightly and grabbed a bit of Harry’s hair and pulled. 

“Blimey, Hermione!” Harry groaned. 

“Straight in here, if you please.” Mad-Eye said, holding open the flask. Smoke rushed out the top and he handed it to George first. 

“For those of you who haven’t taken Polyjuice Potion before, fair warning. It tastes like goblin piss.” Mad-Eye said. 

“Have a lot of experience with that, do you, Mad-eye?” Fred joked. Mad-Eye’s eye rotated towards Fred. 

“Just trying to defuse the tension.” Fred said. George took the first sip, then Fred, Ron, Hermione, Fleure, Mundungus, and finally it was passed to me. 

“Y/N? No! Lupin, you can’t seriously be alright with this!” Harry said, before I could take a sip. Everyone else was already transforming. 

“I’m not, but like I said, she’s stubborn.” Remus sighed. 

“Who’s she gonna ride with?” He asked and everyone was silent. That was something they haven’t figured out yet. 

“I’ll go on my own. They won’t expect it and probably will just leave me be.” I shrugged. 

“Absolutely not!” Remus said. 

“It would look less specious than two Harrys riding together.” I pointed out. 

“Very well.” Mad-Eye nodded. 

“What? You can’t be serious! What if she gets hurt? There’s no one with her to protect her!” Remus said. 

“She can’t go on her own!” Harry said. 

“Y/N, are you willing to take the risk?” Mad-Eye asked and everyone looked my way. 

“If it means Harry is safe, then of course.” I answered. 

“She agrees, now hurry up and drink so we can get on with this.” He said. Before my brother or boyfriend could stop me I took a gulp of the awful potion and handed the flask back to Mad-Eye. I soon also looked like Harry. 

“Wow, we’re identical!” Fred and George said together. 

“Not yet you aren’t.” Mad-Eye said. He walked over to the sack he dropped earlier and dumped out eight pairs of identical clothing. 

“Don’t you have something a bit more sporty, do you?” George asked. 

“Yes, don’t fancy this colour at all.” Fred agreed. 

“Fancy this, you’re not you, so shut it and strip.” He said to the twins and turned to Harry. 

“You’ll need to change too, Potter.” He said. All of us started stripping, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was a bit awkward. 

“Bill, look away… I’m ‘ideous.” Fleur said dramatically and I rolled my eyes. 

“I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo!” Ron said with a smirk. 

“Harry, your eyesight really is awful.” Hermione said, wobbling a bit. 

“Don’t worry Harry, I still love you.” I said and he smiled. 

“Blimey. I almost forgot!” Mad-Eye rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a bunch of glasses. 

“Right then. We’ll be pairing off. Each Potter will have a protector, except for Y/N, As for you, Harry…” Mad-Eye started. 

“Yes?” Everyone but me answered, again I rolled my eyes. 

“The real Harry! Where the devil are you, anyway?” He asked. 

“Here.” Harry said, walking towards him. 

“You’ll ride with Hagrid.” He finished. 

“Brought yeh here sixteen years ago when you were barely bigger than a Bowtruckle. Seems only righ’ I should be the one ter take yeh away.” Hagrid said and I smiled at how sentimental he could be. 

“Yeah, it’s all very touching. Let’s go.” Mad-Eye said and stormed out of the house. Everyone got on their brooms and thestrals, while Hagrid got on his motorbike. As the real Harry walked out of the house Hagrid tapped the sidecar for him. Instead of going to him he walked over to me. 

“Please be careful, love.” He whispered. 

“I’ll be fine. And if for some reason I’m not then you and Remus can tell me you told me so.” I smirked. 

“Harry, we need ter go!” Hagrid called him. 

“Go, I’ll see you soon.” I smiled and he nodded. He got in Hagrid’s sidecar and everyone looked towards Mad-Eye. 

“Good luck, everyone. On the count of three. One… two…” Before he could finish Hagrid’s bike came to life and off he went. Everyone flew to the skies and split off. It wasn’t long until an uneasy feeling filled the air. Death Eaters dropped from the clouds and started surrounding us. Green flashes lit up the sky as they tried to hit us. I glanced ahead and saw the real Harry was getting away. Everyone was splitting off more and I found myself alone. I couldn’t see anyone ahead or behind me, no one was around to help me if I needed it. I pushed those thoughts away. This is for Harry. This is so he’s safe. Suddenly three Death Eaters came out of nowhere and shot a spell at my broom. My broom stopped flying and was now pulling me towards the ground. Fear gripped my heart as the wind harshly hit my face. I suddenly stopped falling and was grabbed by one of the Death Eaters. 

“Think he’s the real one?” The one holding me asked. 

“No, they wouldn’t let the real Potter go off on his own.” Another answered. 

“Doesn’t matter if he’s the real one or not, he could have information. Let’s take him with us. Bellatrix will get ‘im to talk.” The last one said. My eyes widened and my throat went dry. Harry and Remus were going to kill me if Bellatrix didn’t first. 

I didn’t say a word as we arrived at Malfoy Manor. I knew the potion was going to wear off soon and they would know exactly who I was. Just as we were arriving at the large gate I could feel myself turning back into myself. 

“Oi, looks like you was right, this ain’t the real Potter.” The one gripping my arm said. 

“She’ll still be of some use.” Another said. We walked up to the gate and standing on the other side was Bellatrix, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy. Bellatrix walked forward and the Death Eater holding me pushed me against the metal bars. 

“She was a fake Potter, but we thought she might have information.” One said. 

“Bring her in.” Bellatrix said with an evil smirk. I was roughly brought into the Manor and pushed down to my knees. 

“Call Draco, he might know who she is to Potter.” Bellatrix said. She kneeled down in front of me and roughly pulled my chin up to I was facing her. 

“Tell me dearie, why were you left all on your own?” She asked, but I said nothing. 

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” She asked with a smirk. We heard footsteps enter the room and I saw Draco. His eyes widened slightly and I saw worry swimming in them. 

“Draco, I was hoping you would know who our guest is.” Bellatrix said, turning to face him and letting go of my face. 

“S-She went to Hogwarts.” He answered. It was obvious he was scared and that he didn’t want to give me up. 

“We know that much, but who is she to Potter?” She asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Draco stared at me for a moment and gulped. 

“Now Draco, all you need to do is tell us. She could be the key to keeping the Dark Lord from killing all of us.” His Father said. It was now my turn to gulp. Sure Draco was a huge git to my boyfriend and friends, but he oddly never said anything about me. Always just questioning why I was with Harry. Perhaps it was because I was nice to him despite everything he did. 

“I’m Y/N Lupin. Harry’s girlfriend.” I answered and everyone looked at me in shock, Draco especially. 

“See dear, that wasn’t so hard.” Bellatrix said, her smirk growing and seeming to get more evil. 

“If you simply answer all my questions then no harm will come to you.” She said, walking closer to me again. 

“I will not betray my friends, family, or boyfriend.” I answered with a hard stare. 

“Then this will be a very hard time for you.” She said, her fake kindness dropping. 

She wasn’t lying when she said that. At first it was just little cuts with her knife. It was painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle. However, she was just warming up. She then moved on to the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Even when the spell was over the pain still lingered for a little while. That lasted a month or so, I’m not entirely sure, but once she realized that I wouldn’t be talking by that means she moved on. She said she didn’t want to damage me to the point I couldn’t say anything. Nothing she was doing was working and I could tell she was getting frustrated. That’s when she had her brilliant idea. She brought me up from the cellar and standing there was Lucius, Narcissa, and Grayback. I felt my blood run cold and boil at the same time. He was the man that hurt my poor brother at the age of five! 

“I’m sure you know Fenrir well.” Bellatrix smirked. She pushed me to the ground and held me down. 

“Now, I’m going to let him do the same thing he did to your brother, unless you tell me what I want to know.” She said. 

“Where is Harry Potter?” She asked. 

“Now that you’ve all taken over the Ministry, he could be anywhere.” I answered. I didn’t know where he would be at this point. I didn’t know what the plan was. 

“Liar!” She shouted and started carving something into my arm. 

“Tell me where he is!” She shouted at me. 

“I don’t know!  Please! I don’t know!” I cried out in pain. 

“You are a pathetic little liar. Fenrir!” She called and got off me. 

“I think it’s time you gave her a little gift.” She said, that evil smirk appearing on her face once again. 

“With pleasure.” He smirked. He crawled over to me and sniffed me. He laughed and licked the blood that split from my arm. 

“I’m going to enjoy this.” He said and bit into the same arm that Bellatrix carved into. I screamed and cried as his sharp teeth drug into my skin. He was suddenly pulled off me and Narcissa was there placing something on my arm. 

“Wormtail! Come lock our new little puppy up. I suspect she’ll become hungry soon.” Bellatrix smirked. I was pulled off the ground and brought back down to the cellar. Wormtail locked a metal collar around my neck and smirked. 

“Be a good dog and keep the howling down.” He said and left with a laugh. 

It wasn’t long after he left that I started transforming. I thought the Cruciatus Curse was the worst pain I’ve ever felt, but that was wrong. Transforming into a werewolf was way more painful. It felt as though all my bones were breaking and shifting into different places. It felt like my mind was going hazy and I had no control over myself. I felt the hunger hit me and the need to hunt became strong. I tried to run, but the collar around my neck kept me in place. I screamed, growled, and howled trying to get out of the chains and to something to eat. When I realized that I couldn't, I started hurting myself. I clawed at my neck and arms, ripping the skin from my body. That was the longest night of my life. And the next few days I felt incredibly ill and weak. It didn’t help that they were hardly feeding me anymore. 

That was how it went from then on. They didn’t bother torturing me for information anymore, I was now torturing myself. They had done the worst to me and now were just leaving me with my own thoughts. Remus would blame himself for this. I know he was going to say how he should have tried harder to make me stay home. Or how he should have made sure he was with me the night we all split up. I knew Harry would blame himself too. He’d say how it was his fault all this happened. All because I was with him. 

“Y/N?” Someone asked quietly and I looked up to see Draco. He was standing over me and I pushed myself closer to the wall. 

“Please, don’t come any closer…” I whispered. 

“What did they do to you?” He asked, kneeling down, but not coming extremely close. 

“They made me like my brother…” I answered and his eyes widened. 

“Grayback?” He asked and I nodded. 

“They’ve kidnapped Luna, they’re bringing her here.” He said. 

“They’re keeping her with me? I’ll kill her!” I cried. 

“No, you won’t. You’re locked up and can’t get to her, she’s smart enough to not come near you.” He said. 

“I’ll bring you something to eat later tonight, I know they’re starving you.” He said. 

“Why do you care so much?” I asked. 

“You’re one of the only people who was ever nice to me.” He answered with a small smile and stood up. 

“I’ll see you tonight.” He said and left. 

Just as Draco said, Luna was thrown into the cellar with me. She looked at me with wide eyes and came towards me. 

“Y/N?” She asked. 

“Luna, stay away.” I said. 

“Why? Why are you in chains?” She asked confused. 

“I-I’m a werewolf now… So please just stay away.” I begged. 

“Oh Y/N, I’m so sorry.” She said and took a few steps my way. 

“Please Luna! Just stay back, I don’t want to hurt anyone.” I cried. 

“You’re not in your wolf for now Y/N, you won’t hurt me.” She smiled and came to sit next to me. 

“I don’t know when the full moon is…” I whispered. 

“Then I’ll stay away at night, but you need a friend right now.” She said and hugged me. It was the first kind touch I had since I got here. She was right, I needed that. 

A month went by and as promised Luna stayed away from me each night to be safe. When the night was finished and I was back to human Luna came to comfort me. She helped keep me distracted and even helped Draco when he came to check on me. The two of them patched up my wounds that I had given myself. Luna was sitting with me and talking about something her Dad had written about in their paper. I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept drifting off to Harry and my brother. 

“What are we gonna do? We can’t leave Hermione alone with her!” A new voice said and Luna and I looked at each other confused. 

“Ron?” She asked as she got up and looked around the corner. 

“Harry?” She asked and my heart skipped a beat. 

“Luna?” Harry asked and a few tears fell down my face. 

“Y/N is here too, just this way.” She said. She came back around the corner with Ron and Harry following her. 

“Y/N!” Harry said, his face looking a bit odd, but it was definitely him. He ran up and hugged me and I held him back. 

“What happened to you? Why are you locked up like this?” He asked, worry clear in his voice 

“They tried to get me to tell them where you were…” I answered. 

“What did they do to you?” He asked again. 

“Grayback…” I whispered and his eyes widened. 

“You’re…” He couldn’t finish his sentence. 

“I’m just like Remus now…” I whispered. 

“I’m so sorry Y/N.” He said and pulled me to him. 

“We’ll get you out of here, I promise. 

“There’s no way out of here. We’ve tried everything. It’s enchanted.” Ollivander said. He was here before I was, same with Griphook. Harry pulled up his pant leg and pulled out a piece of mirror. 

“You’re bleeding, Harry. That’s a curious thing to keep in your sock.” Luna said. 

“Help us.” He whispered to it. Then quickly put it away as footsteps grew closer. Ron and Harry ran towards the door as it opened. 

“Let her go!” Ron growled. 

“Shut up! Get back!” Wormtail growled at them. 

“You, goblin, come with me.” He said and then they left. 

“Aah!” A new voice said suddenly. 

“Dobby? What are you doing here?” Harry asked. 

“Dobby has come to rescue Harry Potter, of course.” He answered. 

“Dobby will always be there for Harry Potter.” He added. 

“You can apparate in and out of this room? Could you take us with you?” Harry asked. 

“Of course, sir. I’m an elf.” Dobby answered like it was obvious. 

“Works for me.” Ron said. 

“Dobby, I want you to take Luna, Y/N, and Mr. Ollivander-” 

“Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth.” Ron cut him off. 

“Trust me.” He added. 

“Whenever you’re ready, sir.” Luna said. 

“Sir? I like her very much.” Dobby said and they made their way over to me. 

“Meet me at the top of the stairs in ten seconds.” He said and Luna grabbed my hand. We were suddenly out of the cellar and on a beach. There was a little cottage that was quite cute, I wondered who it belonged to. Luna kneeled next to me and smiled. 

“Are you alright?” She asked. I felt my neck and the chain was no longer on my neck, but I felt some blood dripping down from where it dug into my skin. 

“I should be, but I shouldn’t be around anyone. The next full moon could be soon for all I know.” I said, slightly freaking out at just the thought of hurting my friends. 

“Shh Y/N, we’re free and safe now. Just enjoy that.” She smiled. I suppose she was right, but Harry wasn’t with us yet. 

It wasn’t that long until the others arrived. Their landing was a little rougher than ours, however. 

“You’re alright. We’re safe. We’re all safe.” Ron said to Hermione. 

“Harry Potter.” Dobby said and we all looked at him. 

“Dobby. Dobby! No, just… hold on.” Harry said and ran to him, holding him in his arms. 

“Hold on. Look, just hold on, okay?” Harry begged. 

“We’ll fix you. Hermione will have something. In your bag, Hermione? Hermione? What is it? Help me!” Harry begged, but she didn’t move. 

“Such a beautiful place… to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend… Harry Potter.” Dobby said, his last words he’ll ever speak. No one moved except for Luna. 

“We should close his eyes, don’t you think?” She said, kneeling next to them. Harry nodded and she gently closed his eyes. 

“There. Now he could be sleeping.” She said. 

“I want to bury him. Properly, without magic.” He said and everyone nodded. I got up and made my way  to him. 

“I’ll help you.” I said and he nodded. We all buried him without magic, but in the end it was just Harry and I left at his grave. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you. I should have stopped you from taking that stupid potion.” He said and I shook my head. 

“Stop it. This isn’t your fault.” I said. 

“Yes it is Y/N, it is entirely my fault! You were brought into this mess because of me!” He said and I hushed him with a kiss. 

“Stop it. I love you Harry Potter and I would have done this no matter what. You and Remus are going to blame yourselves for the rest of your lives, but I will not ever blame either of you.” I said and he went to say something, but I stopped him with a kiss. 

“Whatever it is, don’t say it.” I said and he sighed. 

“Remus is going to kill me.” He said and I shook my head. 

“Not if he knows what’s good for him.” I said. That was when everything turned around. I was safe and with Harry and my friends. I’d allow myself these few moments of peace before the full moon came to ruin it again. But for now, I need to focus on the good. I needed to be happy that I was reunited with Harry and my friends.

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs-blog1 @schisbro87 @lover-of-books-and-teas @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches2 @genius2050 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies​ @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp​ @rachelxwayne​ @in-slytherin-we-trust​ @accio-rogers​ @sambucky8​ @bruisedfists-and-splitlips @answer-the-sirens​ @andreasworlsboring101​ @vanessa-kom-skaikru​ @impulse-anchor​ @vamora​

[thevindicativevordan]

Metallo

I wanted to talk about one of my favorite DC villains, a guy who I’ve always thought was incredibly cool. A guy who I’ve thought makes a really awesome contrast for Superman. A guy who has never been in stories that have utilized his potential in my eyes:

Let’s talk about Metallo.

Metallo’s Background

He’s one of Superman’s oldest Rogues, and also one of the Rogues who has gone through the most revamps. The Golden Age Superman fought a guy called Metalo aka George Grant who created a suit of armor made out of the strongest metal on Earth (something that would resurface in the Grant Morrison revamp during the New 52) and a super strength serum that made him Superman’s physical equal. In an odd way he was an evil proto-Iron Man/Post Crisis Lex Luthor:

The John Corben take wouldn’t show up until the 1950s, created by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino. This was the foundation for the modern conception of Metallo:

Right off the bat Corben was positioned as an Anti-Superman, predating Bizarro who wouldn’t show up until later. Corben worked as a journalist to cover up his real activities as a murderer and thief. An accident that nearly killed him and crippled his human body, forced him to accept a deal with a scientist to transfer his mind to a new artificial body. The scientist transferred his mind into an android body covered in synthetic bulletproof skin, gifting Corben with super strength. The synthetic skin idea would be used in Byrne’s revamp and the DCAU incarnation. He was initially powered by uranium, but was told he would need Kryptonite to fuel himself permanently. Corben would also act as a romantic rival for Clark via wooing Lois with his pretense of being Superman’s secret identity.

Ultimately John Corben would die in his debut issue, after mistaking a museum prop for the actual Kryptonite he needed to power himself. I often wonder if the character might have been better off if he had not been killed off in his debut, similarly to how the Joker was saved from dying in his debut by editorial. There were many intriguing ideas present in Corben’s creation: He was a romantic rival for Clark Kent, he used his journalism in a similar if villainous way as Superman did, and he was powered by the very thing that could kill Superman while still possessing enough raw strength to stand on equal terms with the Man of Steel. If they had kept him around, fleshed him out more, might Metallo have enjoyed more long term respect?

 Regardless, Corben’s death paved the way for the third Metallo: His brother Roger Corben.

Roger likewise had a lot of interesting ideas that would eventually get folded into the modern Metallo. He was not a petty thief, but had a personal vendetta with Superman over the death of his brother. Superman accidentally caused the very accident that crippled Roger, adding to the man’s feud. Roger was also a leader within the Skull organization, rather than the small time criminal his brother was. This Metallo’s design would form the basis for the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank revamp during Secret Origin, and I suspect the Johns conception of Metallo as a member of a wider organization and whose transformation was caused by Superman has it’s roots here.

Sadly the take on a more fleshed out Metallo would not last. The Roger Corben version of Metallo would meet his end with the rest of the Pre-Crisis Superman Rogues Gallery in the seminal Alan Moore story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Enter John Byrne:

During his Post-Crisis revamp of the Supermythos, Byrne returned to the John Corben take of a petty thief injured in an accident, who is rebuilt by a mad scientist Professor Vale. Byrne added his own twist though, with the scientist believing Superman to be the first scout in a full blown Kryptonian takeover of Earth, and specifically crafted Metallo to be an Anti-Superman weapon powered by Kryptonite. Metallo was to be humanity’s defense against the threat of Superman, an idea that would be revisited in Johns’ and Morrison’s revamps. Unfortunately petty thieves don’t make for great heroes, and Metallo killed Vale, ultimately coming into conflict with Superman not over any desire to protect humanity, but to simply eliminate a thorn in his side.

This incarnation of Metallo has basically served as the basis for his appearance in outside media, with a design that blatantly draws on the popular Terminator films.

This version of Metallo would also acquire a variety of powers thanks to making a deal with Neron that included the ability to transform parts of his body into weapons, transfer his consciousness into any technological or mechanical device, and manipulate his size:

Personally I’ve always loved that powerset upgrade, and think it’s crucial it sticks. It let him kick the shit out of Superman AND Batman in Loeb Superman/Batman, which basically solidified for me that this dude was a badass you didn’t want to mess with. Shame he’s never come close to matching that initial impression since.

The DCAU mostly used the Byrne revamp’s take, but they did change a few aspects which would end up carrying over to the mainline version. Most important was the replacing of Vale with Lex Luthor as the mind behind Metallo’s creation, something that would be incorporated in both Johns and Morrison’s later revamps.

One aspect that they introduced that didn’t carry over, that was still utilized to great effectiveness in the show, was that Corbyn’s transformation had robbed him of most physical sensation. He couldn’t taste, smell, touch, all the little things that made us human, and that drove him nuts. Ultimately he would learn that Lex was responsible for what happened to him, and he would swear a grudge against both Lex and Superman. Malcom McDowell was a fantastic choice to play Metallo, and is still the guy I “hear” when I read Metallo’s dialogue.

Now we come to the guy who crafted the next big revamp of Metallo: Geoff Johns.

This version of Metallo incorporated a ton of aspects from the multiple revamps that had preceded it, in much the same way Secret Origin did to Superman as a whole, while also adding a few new twists that I consider essential to the character now.

Like the DCAU, Luthor was the one who transformed Corben into Metallo. Like the Roger Corben take, this John Corben was accidentally crippled in a fight with Superman that gave him a personal vendetta against the Man of Steel.  Similar to Byrne, this Metallo was created to be an Anti-Superman weapon. Corben and Lois had had a brief romantic relationship, similar to the original debut of Corben. Johns even incorporated some of the Golden Age Metallo by having Corben suit up in a mech suit made of “Metallo”, the strongest metal on Earth to fight Superman before the accident. Johns also added a key bit of lore that I love, that Corben served as a soldier under General Sam Lane, and became the man’s surrogate son, the child he always wanted as opposed to Lois and Lucy. Here Corben is motivated to fight Kal-El by a mix of xenophobia, need to impress his father figure, desire to impress Lois, and a simple dose of blood lust.

The last major revamp came from Grant Morrison during the New 52:

Morrison kept a lot of the Johns revamp: Corben was a soldier serving under Sam Lane, he had a brief romantic relationship with Lois, he was distrustful of Superman’s heroics, and his transformation into Metallo was connected to Lex. However Corben was a much more sympathetic figure under Morrison than under Johns, genuinely believing Superman to be a threat, he volunteered to be merged with the Metal-0 superweapon (another callback to the original Metalo) to defend humanity, but Brainiac hijacked his cybernetics and turned him into a weapon. 

While Metallo would get another visual revamp for Rebirth, posted in the first image, Corben has more or less stayed within the confines that Byrne/Johns/Morrison established.

How I would use Metallo

I said earlier that Metallo is a guy I loved that I’ve never thought has lived up to his potential. He’s a villain with a lot of cool ideas, he’s a villain who has been continuously used by a lot of my favorite writers, but he’s never lived up to the Anti-Superman characterization that’s baked into him. Too often he’s just been a glorified henchman, or a petty thug, rarely if ever challenging Superman except in the most basic physical sense. I think that’s a great disservice to the ability of the character to be a much more important Rogue. That writers so often refuse to focus on him or any of the Rogues beyond Lex also hasn’t done him any favors. Instead of creating countless new OCs that are tossed aside by the next writer, someone needs to come on board with a passion for revamping the classics.

A lot of Superman’s Rogues suck not because they aren’t cool or don’t bring any interesting ideas, but because the ideas don’t do a good job in contrasting with Superman’s attributes. Metallo is a great example of this, look at all the interesting ideas creators have crafted around him, yet none of them have really been able to push those ideas as a way to explore and contrast Superman, so we get basic “Metallo tries to kill Superman, fails, Superman sends him back to jail” stories. That’s a failure of creativity in my eyes. I think that by choosing from some of the revamps listed above, a better, cooler, more interesting Metallo can be crafted.

The basics as established by Byrne/Johns/Morrison are great! The essential ideas that should be incorporated from all of the revamps listed above are:

1. Corben needs to have a military background as in Johns/Morrison. The petty thief origin is too dull, there’s nothing really to be mined there from a characterization standpoint. As a soldier Corben can serve as an interesting critique and contrast of Superman as an icon of America. The “American Way” has always been a dicey add-on to the original “Truth and Justice” motto. Often it’s been used to cast Superman as an obedient stooge of the government, as he was in The Dark Knight Returns, a characterization that has dogged him ever since. I think Corben can serve as an interesting character to explore Superman’s relationship with the American military-industrial complex. I would have Corben be what said complex wants Superman to be, at least in the beginning: A human WMD they can aim and fire, who will always follow orders no matter how reprehensible they are, who has a firm “America First” mindset. That way you can contrast the mainline Superman, and show that Superman is not that while also establishing what “The American Way” means in his eyes. Or you can have Superman drop that aspect of his motto in-universe, out of disgust for how his government perverts it. Either option is fine with me, I didn’t mind when Superman renounced his American citizenship.

2. If Lois often has to end up working with Clark’s exes, whether it’s Lana, Diana, or whoever, I think it’s only fair that Clark has to end up facing down an ex from Lois’ past. It’s important to show that Lois had a life before Clark showed up, and I think Corben is a good way to explore some of that. He’s the possessive ex-boyfriend who doesn’t respect Lois’ personal space and is convinced he can “win her back” via sheer determination. You can also compare and contrast the way Clark courted Lois, did Clark occasionally make the same pigheaded assumptions as Corben did? Corben debuted as a romantic rival for Superman, and I think that aspect still has merit. I also like his status as Sam’s surrogate son, it adds for some nice tension with Clark’s father-in-law that the guy he actually wanted to marry Lois was transformed into a weapon to kill the guy who ended up being his son-in-law. 

3. Corben is a true believer in the threat Superman poses, and is willing to take on the transformation into Metallo to protect humanity. It’s xenophobia yes, but with all the Evil Superman stories going around, it’s hard not to sympathize at least a little bit with Corben’s viewpoint, which tie into a deeper attribute of Corben’s I think needs to be brought up: Corben should be a sympathetic villain. I wouldn’t make him a bloodthirsty psycho, Superman has plenty of those. Corben should have villainous valor, willing to tackle on whatever threats to humanity are out there, whether Superman or others. I would make Corben instead someone who has the genuine desire to protect humanity, but lacks Superman’s concern for collateral damage. In that way you could contrast the two’s brand of “heroics”, Superman’s loyalty to humanity as a whole over one nation, and concern with protecting lives first and foremost, Corben’s desire to protect humanity’s future for the “greater good” even if it costs a few lives in the here and now and loyalty to America above all else. 

4. I like the idea of Superman being inadvertently responsible for the accident that cripples Corben and mandates his transformation. It adds to his sympathy, helps justify why Superman might continue to believe Corben could find redemption (he wants Corben to change and also wants to find a way to earn Corben’s forgiveness one day), and provides a good personal reason for why Corben would hate Superman, blaming Supes for his current state. I would also have him blame Sam and Lex as well, but he would subdue those resentments for as long as he remained working for the military. Only after he finally snaps would he target those two.

5. Finally I would keep the ability to shapeshift his body into weapons, and to manipulate technology. I would have Corben emulating Adam Jensen from Deus Ex, able to “hack” tech around him for his own purpose, armed with a variety of weapons that make him a huge threat not just to Superman but to everyone. Finally I would get rid of the Kryptonite heart. I’m tired of every battle with Metallo going the same way: He shows up, blasts Superman with kryptonite radiation, Superman lies on the ground gasping in pain, Metallo stands around gloating like a moron instead of finishing Supes off, Supes beats him by tricking him or by someone else intervening. I want to see Metallo as an Anti-Superman weapon realized beyond jus the Kryptonite. How about incorporating the DCAU version’s lack of feeling, so that Metallo doesn’t feel pain from Superman’s blows or his powers? How about giving him an internal temperature controller, so he can’t be melted by heat vision or frozen by arctic breath? How about an invisibility cloak that hides him from Superman’s vision, sound mufflers that let him sneak up on Supes even with his hearing, basically go WILD with his Anti-Superman status, let us see a real fight between someone who can counter each of Superman’s powers! You have Kryptonite Man and Lex for the villains who mainly make use of Kryptonite against Superman, I think Metallo should go in a different direction. Morrison making it so that “Metal-0″ was already powerful enough to hurt Superman is all the justification you need as to why he still poses a threat in my opinion.

I’ll go over the basic arc I’d want to see him undergo and the kinds of stories I think he’s positioned to tell in another post.

[duchessfics]

A Second Chance

(https://humanveil.tumblr.com/post/184864859382)

Narcissa x Reader

Requested by Anon: idk if you write for her but i saw you put her on your characters i would kiss list so if u can would you do something about narcissa? like you introduce her to your friends and when she’s in the bathroom they say she’s too old for you and she hears you defend her and when you get home she gets insecure and you comfort her and just like uhh idk i love her sm and finally someone else recognizes how pretty she is. anyway if you do it ty and if you don’t write for her sry i’ll request elsewhere ly.

Warning(s): None

Summary: You go out to dinner to introduce your friends to your fiance, however their reaction is not as inviting as you expected. As a result Narcissa questions if this is the right thing, but you reassure her that it is.

Word Count: 2115

A/n: I know this isn’t AHS, but I did want to write this request. I promise I have some more AHS coming up so if you aren’t a fan of this there will be some more content soon.

Ok...to preface this story I should mention two things: 

#1 I know Narcissa can be a polarizing character. I did put her on my list of characters I would kiss, but that doesn’t mean I condone everything she does (although she did low-key save Harry which was kind of cool). 

#2 *moves to hide behind chair before whispering* I haven’t read the books. 😬 HP stans please don’t come after me, I promise I don’t mean to offend if I get something wrong. That’s why I didn’t include magic, because I didn’t want to try to write something that I don’t really know much about. To the Anon who requested this I hope you like it. Tbh it’s a little out of my wheelhouse of writing, but I don’t think it turned out that bad. 😅

“You’re sure you want to go out tonight? They won’t be upset if it’s just me.”

You pose the question for what has to be the tenth time as you observe your fiancé making the finishing touches on her coiffure showing off both her dark and light hair. Narcissa’s reflection looks at you and she replies, “I’m sure.”

Then her coffee brown eyes look down to the vanity’s table and she picks up one of her necklaces with a smirk playing on her lips as she teases, “I’m starting to think you’re more nervous than me.” Before she can ask, you come up behind her and latch her necklace that sparkles with small diamonds. At the same time, you explain, “I just want my friends to see what an amazing woman you are.”

She turns around and rises before cupping your face with her cool hands. Her smile helps to settle the nerves that have been building up and she softly soothes, “It’ll be okay, darling.” The calm reassurance brings you back to reality and you let out a sigh before admitting, “You’re right. I’m overthinking it.”

She takes her hands away and nods with a smile, but her face shows understanding, not condemnation. Then Narcissa takes your hand and asks, “Ready?” After taking a deep breath, you nod and answer, “Yes.” So you both step out of your bedroom and make your way to the local restaurant for dinner��

When you enter the building, the hostess shows you to your reserved table where two of your best friends sit. They greet you with familiar smiles, but when they see Narcissa behind you, their welcoming expressions falter. That reaction makes the pit in your stomach feel even heavier. But you hope they’ll keep an open mind. 

After sitting down next to your fiancé you take her hand under the table and give a reassuring squeeze. She gives you a small smile and you turn to your friends before stating, “This is my fiancé, Narcissa.”

Both of them remain cordial when greeting her, but you don’t miss their clenched jaws or stiffness throughout the whole meal. Even the conversations are strained and difficult to keep pleasant. Fortunately, years of experience with purebloods did teach Narcissa to keep face and remain as polite as the situation warranted. 

On the other hand, you can’t hardly eat your meal with how anxious you feel. You love your friends, but you also love Narcissa and seeing them act this way towards her is foreign to you. Maybe it’s too soon to go out with others. Perhaps the stigma around purebloods is still impacting daily relations.

After finishing her meal, your fiancé politely excuses herself to use the washroom. Before she walks away you see her small, reassuring smile. But as soon as she’s out of earshot, one of your friends grows serious and asks in a low voice,

“You’re seriously going to marry her?”

Her condescending tone makes you bristle up and you icily reply, “Yes. I’m going to marry her.”

That’s when your other friend chimes in, “But what about her helping Voldemort? Or how her family was almost all deatheaters, including herself?” 

Your body pulsates with heat at their accusations and your heart feels betrayed at their lack of understanding.

“Narcissa will be the first to admit that her past beliefs and actions were not honorable and deals with the shame and guilt of that. But that’s all she knew at the time. She’s changed since then. And while she isn’t perfect, her understanding and acceptance towards those outside of pureblood status is very much improved.” You retort.

However, they still look skeptical and one asks, “But what about Lucius? Or Bellatrix? She’s just left them all behind?” 

Then your other friend adds, “And what about her age, y/n? She could nearly be your mother.”

By now angry tears smart at your eyes and a lump of emotions crawls up your throat. But you swallow that down and answer, “She was loyal to them because it felt safe. Narcissa isn’t stupid. She witnessed what happened to Sirius and Andromeda. And she would have never left her son behind. As for her age, I don’t recall ever mentioning that factor between you and your partners.”

You take a breath to calm your temper and soften your voice before admonishing, “I thought I could trust you with this. I thought you would be supportive and understanding.” 

Both avoid your eyes, but don’t offer up apologies. So you mutter, “I’ll just pay for our meals and leave.” Just after you say that, Narcissa comes back around. She gives you a half-hearted smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. You try to give an encouraging smile back, but it falls flat. So after you pay your bill you say a quick goodbye to your friends before going home…

Once you’re back in your house, Narcissa lets her pleasant façade crumble away and says, “I think I’m going to retire for the night.” 

Right away you look to her and ask, “Are you feeling alright? I could draw a bath or get you some evening tea.” However, she shakes her head and carelessly brushes her lips against yours before responding, “That’s alright, darling. I think I’m just worn out from the day.”

She does look tired, but there is something more hidden in the dark depths of her eyes. Before you can investigate further, she backs away and soothes, “Don’t feel like you need to come up yet.” And before you can respond she’s already halfway up the stairs. 

She must have heard what they said. But should you respect her wish to be left alone? If she seems upset at you following her to the bedroom, you’ll leave. So you make your way up the stairs to see her removing her jewelry in front of her vanity.

Even though you know she heard you enter, Narcissa keeps her eyes focused on the mirror as you ask, “Narcissa, did you hear everything that they said today?” 

She lets out a breath and looks down to her hands that now rest on the table. Then she assures you, “It’s no big deal. Maybe they’re right though. Maybe you shouldn’t stay here with me.”

That suggestion breaks your heart and you rush up to her, cupping her face with your hands. She lets you guide her to face you and once her dark brown eyes meet yours you soothe, “They spoke out of turn and only retold the past. But they weren’t right to be concerned.” For a second, you see the raw emotion in her eyes, but she turns out of your hold and walks into the closet to change.

Rather than cornering her, you speak loud enough for her to hear, “They spoke their feelings and perspective. And while that is valid, that doesn’t make it the whole truth.”

Narcissa remains quiet, so you venture closer to the closet doorway and see her turned away from you, wearing a silk, forest green nightgown. She neatly places her clothes into the hamper and when she turns around to see you in the doorway, her eyes widen in surprise. But her neutral expression returns, and she comes up to you before weakly assuring you, “Y/n, I’m just tired.” But even she doesn’t seem convinced. 

Rather than trying to keep reasoning with her you decide to take a different approach and respond by taking her hand and leading her over to the bed. While you walk she asks, “What are you doing?” But you silently climb onto the bed and guide her to do the same.

Once you’re both on the bed, you guide Narcissa to lean against your chest. Then you pull the covers up over you both and hold her close to you. She remains a little stiff and asks again, “What are you doing, darling?”

You bury your face in the crook of her neck and her soft tendrils tickle against your skin as you inhale her familiar scent. The first note that fills your nose is her rose perfume that she told you she’s worn since Draco was 8 years old and told her she smelled good. Then there’s a hint of earthy pine that’s present even without stepping into the woods. And underlying all of this is a hint of wintergreen mint that almost feels physically cooling and reminds you of snowy days in winter.

“Please talk to me, Narcissa. I want to know what you’re feeling right now.” You gently murmur in her ear and keep your lips close enough to press along the delicate skin just behind it.

She stays silent; however, you feel her body begin to relax into yours. Her breathing is a little shaky and you know making herself so vulnerable is not something that comes naturally. So you let her unfurl in her own time, providing a reassuring embrace and soft kisses of encouragement.

Eventually she whispers, “What if they are right? What if any good that I do won’t be enough to outweigh my past?” 

You slowly run your palm up and down her exposed arm and even though you know the answer to this question, you ask, “Do you feel bad about your past beliefs and actions?”

The question causes her to turn and look at you before she nearly pleads, 

“Yes. I…to be quite frank, I fucked up. I can see how horrible my actions were and I do feel bad.”

By now her eyes are glassy with unshed tears and she whimpers, “If it hadn’t been for Draco…I couldn’t let him get hurt and I didn’t trust Lucius to make sure of that.”

You tuck a loose piece of her hair behind her ear and she looks down, with one single tear sliding down her cheek. So you use your thumb to brush away the tear and soothe, “Then it isn’t about measuring the weight of all your good and bad actions. You’ve learned from past errors and grown. That’s half the battle.”

Her gaze meets yours and you continue with a small smile, “No person is only good or only bad, sweetheart. That line of distinction between the two runs through us.” 

To emphasize, you skim your pointer finger down the center of her chest. She looks at the digit and you conclude, “What matters is how we respond to those impulses. And I struggle with that battle too. Everyone does.” Then you pull your finger away and hug her close. She hugs you back and her voice reverberates against your shoulder that she’s curled into when she softly says, 

“Thank you, y/n.”

You press a kiss to the crown of her head while replying, “You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Then she backs up enough to kiss you. 

Her lips softly melt against yours and she immediately opens up to you, moving her hands to capture your face between them. You mirror her movements, cherishing this intimate moment and letting her lips and tongue guide you along in a delicate dance.

When you part, both of your chests rise and fall as you catch your breath. That’s when you notice the familiar flush of Narcissa’s cheeks is present once more. So you ask, “How about some tea to warm you up?” She nods and slips out of bed after you do. 

Before she walks into the washroom, you inquire, “Do you want cream or sugar with it?” Your fiance pauses for a moment. Then her eyes light up mischievously and her lips curve into a suggestive smile as she purrs, “I do, but not the kind you’re thinking of.”

Your eyes widen but you grin at the insinuation and she continues, “After all, I wasn’t able to get any dessert after dinner and you know how insatiable my sweet tooth can be.” Narcissa’s darkened orbs sparkle with coyness making your body heat up at her behavior. 

Then you let out a small giggle and respond, “Well I think I can provide what you desire. Tonight’s special is better than the selection of desserts anywhere else.”

The bold claim makes her chuckle and she tells you, “I look forward to it.” Then she starts to step away, but you say her name and take her hand. 

She looks back to you with wide eyes and you murmur, “I love you, Narcissa.” The statement causes her cheeks to turn even pinker and she gives you a shy smile as she replies, “I love you too, y/n.”

You release her hand and both of you linger for a moment as if dreading being apart for even a couple minutes. But you do part ways, assured with the knowledge that you’ll be reunited soon enough and have each other until the end.

Tagged: @marilynroselleprentiss, @saviorinsilk, @chokemepaulson, @versonstar, @find-me-a-constellation, @cordwliagoode, @psychobitchtess, @midnight-lestrange, @mysweetdelia, @venablesbitch, @peachesandlesbians, @nerdaroo, @cordeliafoxxe​

Let me know if you would like to be tagged in later works!

[culebratia]

Honest opinions on horror villains

Okay so I love horror villains and horror in general. Most of them are really interesting and have a sort of grotesque charm to them that I can’t really describe, it draws you to them and pulls you into wanting more. But there are some horror villains that are either overrated and underrated, and today I’m here to discuss some of them! (I’d like to reiterate that I don’t hate any of these characters, I actually like them all! But I’m just talking in a general perspective and my view on their popularity and the actual movie they come from.)

LESLIE VERNON

* overrated.

* okay, I know, people are going to get upset at me over this. This was an amazing movie, they said. It’s so new and different from the others, they said. And I completely understand that! It’s unique and inventive and I love the whole premise of the movie, but goddamn did it bore me..

* I like Leslie Vernon as a character, but I don’t love him like I do with other characters. He’s cool! I adore his slasher design, but his personality bores me a little bit at times. There are some points where my emotions and feelings on the guy are a little bit like a rollercoaster — up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s crazy.

* once again, I like the concept of his movie, but the way it was presented in a filmmaking point of view is underwhelming.

ART THE CLOWN

* underrated.

* there are three movies I know of with Art in them: The 9th Circle, All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifer. And all of them are equally shit, which is to be expected since it was written and directed by a young guy who specialises in special effects. But damn was Art interesting to watch.

* there are some points in the movies where I think “why couldn’t he have starred in a better made film?” because if that were so, he’d get so much more publicity! Art is an absolutely terrifying demon clown creature, way more scary than Pennywise, and people from around the world should know his name! He’s the only character in all the movies who actually has good actors.

* shitty movie, fantastic character. I hope to see more of him.

MICHAEL MYERS

* overrated by a milestone.

* look, I’m all for Michael Myers. He’s hot, lemme tell you that. But he’s a really boring character. It’s all the same (apart from the 3rd movie)! Michael returns to his hometown to find and kill Laurie, killing a whole other group of people who she happens to be involved with at some time during the movie.

* when I watch a horror movie, I want to have the villain to have some sort of character. At least with Jason, you can see some emotion in him which defines him as a whole! But with Michael? He’s a clean slate, and that is soo uninteresting.

* first two movies were great, others were unneeded honestly.

BILLY LENZ

* underrateeeeed.

* stinky attic boy needs some love. He is what started the slasher genre for peats sake and yet everyone overlooks him as a horror villain. Let me tell you, that phone scene in the beginning was absolutely fucking terrifying when I first watched it, and it’s still unsettling to this day even after I’ve watched it a million fucking times.

* we never even got to see Billy’s face properly throughout the whole movie and yet he made such an impact on everyone who ever watched Black Christmas! And that ending scene? Perfect cliffhanger. (The remake was shit compared to the original)

* great movie, great character, needs more credit.

BRAHMS HEELSHIRE

* overrated.

* bet y’all are shocked at this aren’t you? He’s the character I most often write for. But that’s really because he’s heavily requested. I actually don’t really like him all that much, too much exposure I guess. I mean I have nothing against his character as a whole, he’s attractive to me and interesting but I don’t actually know.

* now the movie is something I do know about though: bullshit. Absolutely terrible. A basic plot line (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing sometimes, it just needs to be played out right) and a director which results to cheap jump scares because apparently that’s ‘scary’. The movie as a whole is so predictable and it never scared me once when I went to watch it at the cinema. I can understand why people like it though.

* decent(?) character, bad movie.

OTIS DRIFTWOOD + family

* underrated.

* okay this might have something to do with my weakness for Bill Moseley, scarily cute women and clowns, but man do I love the Firefly family. Each and every character, even the ones we barely see, within the family is so perfectly polished and unique, and I love Rob Zombie for it. He can’t write dialogue for shit but man do I love his horror villains.

* although the first movie was very confusing at some points. Like, what?? What was with that ending? It was a very good movie in my opinion and was actually pretty horrifying. It used things that disgust us and manipulated that to terrify every single one of its viewers and that’s perfect. Hated the protagonists though.

* fantastic movie, great villains, shitty protagonists,

FREDDY KRUEGER

* overrated.

* now don’t get me wrong, I love Freddy, I grew up loving Freddy. He’s witty and fun to watch, maybe not like Chucky, but after a while he gets so repetitive that it gets really really annoying. Couldn’t they think of something unique and interesting for him to say instead of him just calling everyone a bitch??

* the writing becomes boring after a while, the directors add so many unnecessary features, weaknesses and powers we had no clue even existed up until this very point, and it’s overall not a very good franchise when you get into it. I enjoyed the first and seventh movie a lot, but all of the other ones didn’t really excite me all that much.

* okay character, okay movie, but isn’t worth all the attention.

NUBBINS SAWYER, DRAYTON SAWYER, CHOP-TOP SAWYER + GRANDPA SAWYER

* un👏🏽der👏🏽ra👏🏽ted

* these boys deserve just the same amount of attention that Leatherface does. I know that Bubba is a really cool character, and he deserves attention too! But that doesn’t mean that his family get to be left out. Each and every single one of them helped shape the Texas Chainsaw franchise to what it is today, and honestly it wouldn’t have been as amazing without them in it.

* Texas Chainsaw has so many metaphors within it nobody really goes into. When we first meet Nubbins and he’s kicked out of the van, Franklin very obviously points out “would you be able to do that?” referring to Nubbins slicing his hand up, and later on we see Franklin blowing raspberries at his friends due to the fact that he couldn’t go upstairs because of his disability, which is exactly what Nubbins was doing when he couldn’t get into the van. This area is the director exploring the ways that people could so easily turn into madness without people realising it.

* Drayton Sawyer is your average looking fellow who runs the Sawyer household, but he is not average at all. He’s sadistic, witty, hypocritical, and surprisingly still a Christian. He claims that he “doesn’t like to do the killing” and yet he’s shown constantly poking and prodding at the final girls like they’re some caged animals, living only for the pleasure of himself. The fact that he’s an elderly man basically screams “wolf in sheeps clothing”, because usually when you see an elderly person, you assume them to be kind and wise, whereas, Drayton can’t even spell ‘sex’ correctly.

* Chop-Top wasn’t present in the first movie sadly, but it’s explained why, which is understandable in a filmmaking perspective. He is probably the most terrifying character out of the bunch. He’s impulsive, disgusting, and absolutely fucking insane. Whether or not this is due to his time in Vietnam I don’t know, but man does it make a great affect. And that time in the movie where he was introduced? It was absolutely heavenly. No one in today’s horror industry would build up suspense like that and cause so much raw fear from a petty jump scare. The fact that he carries around his damn brothers corpse like he’s puppet, treating him like he’s still a living being adds onto the scare factor as well.

* great villains, good movies, everything after TCSM2 wasn’t really very good though.

Okay, now that’s over and done with! Let me show you my top ten favourite horror villains (from actual horror movies), you’ll either be completely shocked or completely not! :)

Pinhead — love the creature design. Fantastic personality and concept. Annoyed he’s not a woman.

Bubba Sawyer — baby boy needs love. And affection. And kisses. And basically anything positive. We must protect him.

Chop-Top Sawyer — terrified me when I first saw him as a kid. I wanna fuck Bill Moseley. I love his personality. Wish his movie came out.

Captain Spaulding — funny ass motherfucker. Always cracks me up. I want him to be my daddy.

Hannibal Lecter — interesting in a psychological perspective. Has a way to make your skin crawl without doing much.

Art the Clown — scarier than Pennywise. I wish his movies were better. Why didn’t Terrifier make it obvious he was a demon?

Otis Driftwood — boy’s a hottie. But please stop fucking corpses. Once again, Bill Moseley.

Stu Macher — first fictional crush. He’s my irl type of guy. I dated a guy like him once.

Jennifer Check — movie was ahead of its time. Legit was about having a succubus gf. Lesbian scene was hot. I’m gay for Meagan Fox.

Billy Lenz — terrifying phone calls. Nasty boi. The remakes will never be as great as the OG Black Christmas.

Anyways, so that’s it! It’s past midnight currently so I might just go to bed lol but whatever. I’ve wanted to write this out for a whiiile but decided to just get it over with now. I’ll say it all again: every character I write for, I like, I just have different levels of like, so please no hate over this. Thanks!

[bayside-smoking-blues]

Ok so. Since Hypnosis Mic has a Visual Kei lover in its cast now (I’m talking about Jyushi, of course), I’ve decided to make a post in this blog to introduce some Visual Kei bands to the ones who aren’t familiar with the style. I’m not a pro myself but I love J-rock/VK since I was like 12 so I know my share of bands... Here are some I hc that Jyushi would love too!

Ah, before you ask "Cain, why didn't you add (insert band here) in the post?" the answer is most likely:

I don't know it.

I know it but have never stopped to actually listen to it so I don't feel comfortable recommending it. X JAPAN

I don't listen to it. the GazettE

I chose not to bc I couldn't post 77349072409273 bands so I selected just a few since this post is just an introduction to the style after all.

I forgot.

This post is gonna be kinda long and have some pictures and links to videos and songs and a small introduction about the bands, so I’m gonna put it under a Read More!

Kagrra,

Kagrra, (神樂 Kagura) was a band formed in 1998 by Isshi (vocals, flute), Akiya (guitar), Shin (guitar, koto), Nao (bass) and Izumi (drums). Their major debut was in 2004 with the single Urei. Their lyrics were in the style of Heian era poetry, their costumes frequently incorporated traditional Japanese clothing styles, and traditional Japanese instruments and drum rhythms were used in some of their songs. On November 10, 2010, it was announced that Kagrra, would be disbanding. As a final request, the members asked that fans refer to it as a "demise" rather than a disbandment. The band released one last CD and held a final tour. The CD, entitled Hyakki Kenran, was released on February 2, 2011. Their final tour began on February 13, 2011 and ended on March 3, 2011. On July 25, 2011, it was announced that vocalist Isshi died in his home on July 18, 2011. He was 32 years old. (Source: Wikipedia)

Some PVs/songs:

Urei (2004)

Utakata (2006)

Uzu (2008)

_

Plastic Tree

Plastic Tree, also known as PuraTuri (プラトゥリ) or Pura (プラ) is a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 1993 by Ryutaro Arimura (vocals, backup guitar), Akira Nakayama (guitar), Tadashi Hasegawa (bass) and Shin* (drums). Early in their career, their music had heavy visual kei influences. As time went on, their sound seemed to change and evolve with every album. Plastic Tree combine alternative rock with art rock, electronic, and heavy metal. Their sound is a blend of raw melody, with the occasional orchestral backing track. However, the band does not think that they should be placed into any specific genre. Plastic Tree claim that their sound has been considerably influenced by British bands such as Radiohead and The Cure.

*Shin has been replaced by other two drummers since their debut, and their current drummer is Kenken Sato. (Source: Wikipedia) 

Ghost (2006)

Makka na Ito (2007)

Replay (2008)

_

Girugamesh

Girugamesh (ギルガメッシュ Girugamesshu) was a Japanese visual kei rock band, formed in 2003 by Cyrien who was soon replaced by Satoshi Ishikawa (vocals), Hotaru, who was soon replaced by Nii (guitar), Shu (bass) and Яyo (drums). The band’s name is derived from the Final Fantasy character. They disbanded on July 10, 2016. Their music has elements of alternative metal, alternative rock, nu metal, industrial rock and metalcore. (Source: Wikipedia)

Vermillion (2007)

Break Down (2008)

Asking Why (2008)

_

Nightmare

Nightmare (ナイトメア Naitomea) was a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in 2000. It has consisted of Yomi (vocals), Sakito (guitar, backing vocals), Hitsugi (guitar), Ni~ya (bass, backing vocals) and Ruka (drums, percussion) for the majority of their career. They enjoyed mainstream success with the inclusion of their songs "the WORLD" and "Alumina" in the Death Note anime and are onsidered a major act in the visual kei scene. (Source: Wikipedia)

the WORLD (2006)

DIRTY (2007)

Raison d’être (2007)

_

DIR EN GREY

DIR EN GREY is a Japanese metal band formed in 1997, it consists of Kyo (vocals), Kaoru (guitar), Die (guitar), Toshiya (bass) and Shinya (drums). Numerous stylistic changes have made the genre of their music difficult to determine, though it is generally considered to be a form of metal. Originally a visual kei band, the members later opted for more subtle attire, but have continued to maintain a dramatic image on stage. (Source: Wikipedia)

Note: Diru's sound has changed A LOT through the years. I'll focus this post in their early works because it's when they had their VK era.

Cage (1999) (tw: this video contains gore and hints of BDSM)

Schwein no Isu (1999)

Bottom of the death valley (2002)

_

DELUHI

DELUHI was a Japanese visual kei metal band formed in 2008 by Juri (vocals), Leda (guitar), Aggy (bass) and Sujk (drums). The band announced that they would take a hiatus starting on 1 December 2010, following the completion of their concert at Shibuya O-East. However, on 1 April 2011 DELUHI announced that they would disband after their final tour in July 2011. (source: Wikipedia and Visual Kei Wiki)

Two Hurt (2009)

Revolver Blast (2009)

Hybrid Truth (2011)

_

An Cafe

Antic Café (アンティック-珈琲店- Antikku Kafe, nicknamed An Cafe) is a Japanese pop rock band formed in 2003 by Miku (vocals), Kanon (bass), Bou (guitar) and Teruki (drums). In 2007 Bou left the band and Takuya (guitar) and Yuuki (keyboard) joined. Their visual image is oshare kei (a style derived from visual kei) and they describe their music as "Harajuku Dance Rock". The group has released five full-length albums, one compilation album, and four EPs. On September 1, 2009, the band announced that after their live show on January 4, 2010 at the Nippon Budokan, they would suspend activities and put the group on hiatus, however they stated they will not disband. On April 1, 2012, after two-year break, the team announced the resumption of activity. In June 2018, the band announced the departure of all members but Miku and a hiatus beginning in January 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)

Smile Ichiban Ii Onna (2006)

Kakusei Heroism ~The HERO without a NAME~ (2007)

JIBUN (2016)

_

The post is gonna end here! But there are many, many more good visual kei (or not) j-rock bands out there! I can give more recs if you’re interested! :3

Ah, before the post ends, I’ll link the video from Amaterasu by the band Kiryu, which I don’t know much about yet but I love this song and their style and I think Jyushi and Kuko would enjoy it too! 

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 115: Adventures in Light Distortion

”There's no time.”

Steven recently had a really long day. It began with checking out an art exhibit at the barn, and ended in a spaceship grappling with his mother’s dark and secret past. It had its moments, like fusing into Smoky Quartz, but all in all it was life-changingly bad. It’s not fair that another such day has come for him so soon, but here he is.

We don’t have a moment to waste as this follow-up to Steven’s Dream opens, because every second spent on Earth is a second where Greg is speeding further from it. Steven is already blaming himself for the abduction, adding a more personal sense of rush to the affair. The irony is that while Blue Diamond’s actions aren’t his fault, the guilt he harbors causes serious mistakes that are his fault. But considering the dire circumstances, who could blame him? 

Even the exposition here is swift and economical, as Garnet gives Amethyst and Pearl the lowdown on our last episode and Pearl dusts off her old Pearlsplaining cap from Season 1 to tell us about the Zoo. As is standard to this show, we learn important plot details while developing the character relaying them: in this case, on top of being a great showcase of Pearl’s nerves (“Amethyst, turn into a chair, I need to sit down!”), we add new wrinkles to her past. Her terror is informed by how anxious she was at seeing the palanquin in Steven’s Dream, and that brief moment of her eyes darting away from “When I still served...Homeworld” speaks volumes. We’ll go into more detail later about the implications of the Zoo and Pink Diamond’s efforts to help Earth through half-measures before going full Rose, but for now, it’s a terrific beat in retrospect that Pearl only knows where Greg was taken because she served the creator of his new prison.

With the Gems all caught up, we get straight to business prepping for takeoff, and it’s here that Steven makes his first two mistakes. First, he brushes off Peridot, the planet’s most qualified expert in modern Gem space travel. He doesn’t even invite her along, despite how obviously helpful she would be. Impatience trumps any sense of caution, and while it doesn’t make much sense for him to leave a helpful ally behind even in his frazzled state, her inability to grasp the importance of the situation (mixing serious travel concerns with pointless aesthetic quibbles) perhaps makes her a liability in his mind. Regardless, his second mistake is even bigger when it comes to his personal life, and it also involves leaving someone behind.

Yes, there’s no time to waste. So no, he probably shouldn’t have waited for Connie. He even tasks her with defending Beach City, showing that he does value her as a fighter as well as a friend. By itself, this probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But alongside his second foray into space down the line, it’s understandable that Connie starts to think that Steven doesn’t take her as seriously as he should. While there’s truth to that, the bigger issue is that Steven thinks that he alone should bear the burden of his perceived mistakes, and while it’s only hinted at now, that sense of martyrdom only gets worse as his guilt grows. This is a throwaway moment in the episode, but has major ramifications down the line.

And then we’re off! I’m honestly not into the gag of Pearl still not getting that 70 years is a long time for humans—it works early on, such as in Space Race, but she definitely would know better by now—and it’s joined by her not knowing the word for “birthday” despite several episodes introducing her to the concept. She’s grown a lot, and at times the show doesn’t seem to want to reflect this when an easy joke can be made. But at least she’s good at winding her way through a variety of space rocks, including tiny sentient ones.

Upon remembering the whole reality warping element of modern Gem space travel, Steven makes another hasty decision in boosting the speed, despite acknowledging that it might kill him. I mean, he makes a joke about how syrup can go with his new pancaked form, but it’s still an acknowledgment that self-sacrifice is a badge he’s proud to wear. And while it’s obviously a good thing that he survives, it can’t be healthy for his self-image to be proven right when he takes actions that might hurt or kill himself to help others.

Perhaps not wanting to delve too deeply into that topic quite yet, we get an extended comedy bit about the weird distortions the Gems face as physics gets wonky, as well as a small lesson about how light constructs work (complete with unusually cartoony diagrams, such as the one above comparing heights). I’m surprised by how effective the humor is; it’s not riotously funny to me or anything, but considering the stakes it really ought to feel annoying and in the way, and it works just fine. Part of the reason is that there’s nothing else to do while we’re waiting for the ship to arrive, so nothing feels interrupted. But I also appreciate it because it finally starts to show how destructive Steven’s rashness can be.

Activating the gravity engine was a choice that was reckless, but made sense: Steven needed to get to his dad in fewer than 70 years. But frantically pressing buttons he doesn’t understand to fix the Gems, instead of letting a more experienced hand figure it out, is almost frustratingly dumb. I say “almost” because it’s crystal clear by now that Steven is losing it, and the sight gags of our growing and shrinking Gems can’t hide that something is going to go wrong. When it inevitably does, and Steven is alone for the first time since Greg’s abduction, all that manic energy collapses into the grief he’s been trying to put at bay.

After the little visualized diagrams and the distorting forms of the Gems, we get an even more impressive animation-exclusive sequence: the striking use of onion skinning to convey the mindbending speed of the ship. Together with the ruby red lighting and the immediate disappearance of the Gems’ bodies, the tone lurches from one form of alarm to another. What was once a frenzied dash to fix things becomes a life-threatening race against the clock, and allows for one of the best performances of Zach Callison’s tenure on the show.

Steven has panicked before, but the greatest asset of this episode is Callison’s ability to crank it up a notch and sell the sheer stupefying terror of not knowing what to do in a crisis. He’s amazing throughout the episode as he practically hyperventilates his lines without delving into overdramatic emoting, but his despair as he’s left all alone on a doomed ship is heartwrenching.

It takes a strong performer and good, earnest writing to make a scene like this work, because verbally laying out all of your problems could come across as just telling instead of showing, and openly weeping can falter in any number of ways. It could’ve been melodramatic, it could’ve been overly childish, it could’ve been incoherent, and instead it’s a raw and moving outburst of sorrow after an episode where huge tears were a reaction to danger instead of emotion.

It’s also a great choice to follow up this moment of anguish with quieter determination. Instead of narrating his newfound resolve as he tries again to turn off the warp speed, this time eventually succeeding, the sequence is wordless and tense. Steven doesn’t need to tell us why he’s trying so hard, and after such a strong speech there’s no need to gild the lily when visuals work on their own.

The return of the Gems coincides with the return of regular light and animation, creating a palpable sense of relief despite it being sort of a given that they weren’t really going to kill off three main characters in this episode. Garnet provides Steven some much-needed reassurance, and while it doesn’t solve his martyr complex forever, it’s a welcome capper to the episode.

The logistics of an episode that’s literally just getting our characters from one place to another can’t be easy to navigate. If the crew wanted, we could’ve used that warp speed to jump straight to the action. Still, despite moving faster than light, it’s nice to slow down from the huge cliffhanger of Steven’s Dream to let our hero have a moment to collect his thoughts. Now that the initial shock has had a chance to pass, we can proceed with the rescue operation with a competent Steven that isn’t unrealistically okay with how things are going, and as a bonus we get our second episode since Bubbled that explores Steven’s increasingly sacrificial mindset. Everything working out for the best may seem like a neat way to finish Adventures in Light Distortion, but we’ll see the downsides in time.

Future Vision!

Yes, Steven leaving Connie behind is a catalyst for the Breakup Arc. But perhaps more importantly, they combine with Garnet similarly tasking Peridot and Lapis to protect Beach City to form the Crystal Temps!

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

A perfectly good entry in the Steven Universe catalog, bolstered by an amazing performance from Zach Callison, but ultimately an episode that isn’t too special on its own. It needs Steven’s Dream to pack its full punch, and the victory at the end is just reaching our next episode safely. Still, I like it!

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[discyours]

I watched that new HBO show Euphoria. All the episodes that are currently out at least (I believe the first season is halfway done). I didn’t expect it to be good but it was on the homepage of a streaming service and what can I say, the controversy had me curious. 

The LGBT representation in this show actually pleasantly surprised me. It wasn’t entirely positive nor entirely realistic, but it felt a lot different than what you usually see in media. The existence of homophobia/transphobia wasn’t ignored by any means, but it also wasn’t the main point. Characters were trans/gay/bi over being victims of transphobia/homophobia, if that makes sense. The trans character was also handled quite... uniquely? Most media treats trans women like trans first, trans women second. This show treated her like a woman first, trans woman second. 

I don’t find it entirely realistic that everybody treats her this way and that absolutely nobody sees or refers to her as a man, but honestly who cares? Sometimes LGBT people deserve stories that aren’t just about them being treated in ways that upset them. I don’t believe this portrayal is harmful to anyone, and the main concern I saw a lot of people having that she’d be portrayed as attractive to straight men and lesbians didn’t come true at all. The main female character she has somewhat of a relationship dynamic with is never referred to as a lesbian, and she’s shown to use gay dating apps while reminding the men that she meets on there that they aren’t actually straight. 

The portrayal of mental illness was okay. I hate it when OCD is introduced with the cliché counting thing, but it’s an understandable plot device and I found the main character to be realistic enough for her to be relatable. The way addiction was portrayed seemed pretty realistic to me too, but maybe I don’t have enough personal experience to be a good judge of that. 

The fucking mental hospital though. I swear I’ve never seen a psychiatric ward being portrayed without a token chronic masturbator and this show did not rise above that. They pulled out all the stops to show us that this is a Scary Bad Place that our main character does not belong in. The long white halls with harsh lighting, the significantly older residents, the fact that just about everyone except the guy that pulled his dick out seemed to be heavily sedated. They tried so hard to show us that Jules did not even remotely belong here with all these crazy people, and that fucking pissed me off. First of all, a depressed 11 year old would not end up in the same ward as a chronic masturbator in his late teens. There are residential wards for mentally ill children! Putting an 11 year old character in with a bunch of teenagers is just a plot device to show us how tragically depressed this character already was at such an exceptionally young age when really that shit is not even remotely special. A man or even an adolescent who is acting out violently and committing sex offences (yes public masturbation counts) would either be in (juvenile) prison or a criminal mental health ward. Again, never the same place as a depressed 11 year old. 

Mental hospitals truly are awful places in my experience, which just makes it all the more infuriating when people resort to cheap gimmicks to show that they’re unpleasant. It’s common for psychiatric wards (ESPECIALLY ones for children or adolescents) to be made as “homely” as possible. No plain white walls, no furniture that screams “psych ward”. It’s still traumatising to be locked up in a place that has flowers painted on the walls, in fact the shallowly “welcoming” environment can add to the discomfort. Most people who go to mental hospitals have “normal” mental illnesses like depression, PTSD, OCD, or unmanaged bipolar disorder. That last one is the only common condition that’s likely to cause someone to be sedated when they first come in, mass sedation of psychiatric patients is no longer common practice and portraying it as such is harmful. 

So those are all the specific points I had thoughts on, now for the overall premise of the show. 

Who decided that we needed yet another TV show about teenagers’ sex lives? 

This obsession with high schoolers’ crazy drugged up sex adventures has never been okay and I can’t believe that it’s still a thing. I’ve seen some people praising it as being “realistic” and “raw” and something parents need to watch the be aware of what their kids are really up to, but fucking hell dude. This show is literally just sexualising teenagers for adult consumption. Credit where credit is due, it is handled differently than most shows. To be blunt I’ve noticed that this show features a fucking record amount of penises. 5 episodes and I’ve seen literally countless of them, with maybe two or three (partially) naked girls in comparison? Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it feels like a conscious decision was made to stay away from the traditionally eroticised aspects of heavily sexualised TV shows to instead show the... less visually appealing parts of it. I’m pretty biased when it comes to finding dicks gross though so who knows. 

Either way, it’s showing teenagers as being very very heavily sexual and that’s as harmful as it was the first time someone decided that making 20-something actors roleplay as high schoolers to fuck onscreen was a good idea. High schoolers do not look like this and most of them definitely don’t act like this. More harmful messages about the sexuality of minors is the last thing society needs. 

[alpacannot]

So, I’m finally getting around to rewriting my Reaper Saga books, with the newly renamed “Reaper”. The past, like, four times I’ve tried to rewrite this book, I’ve always stuck with the same general opening chapter, introducing Tris, her work, and the other characters fairly quickly, allowing them to talk about themselves. This time, I’ve tried for a slightly different approach, which I like more. It took me forever to write it though, partly because I’m rusty (I haven’t written anything fiction related since 2016) and partly because I just wanted to skip to the good stuff. It was tempting to just copy in the original prologue, but I’m super pleased with how this new first chapter is starting. It’s not done, and I haven’t proofed it yet, but I was so excited that I just had to share it. So, without further ado, here’s the first, unedited bit of “Reaper” chapter 1:

“Tristan Sieghard—for crimes against humanity and for exposing the Afterlife, we, the Highers and the Gatekeeper, sentence you to death and eternal damnation in the deepest pits of Hell.” The Highest’s voice echoed throughout the assembly hall as several Runners drug her away from the crowd gathered inside the seemingly far-too-small room. Alex avoided her gaze, his brows pinching together. She wanted to shout out, “You could have stopped this!”, but she knew that she had chosen this. It was her neglect that ultimately caused her downfall. But, at least she was brave enough to act, to seek out justice for their daughter. He was by far the worse parent, choosing to do nothing.

******

I awoke with a jolt, sitting bolt upright and drenched in sweat. The same nightmare haunted me, the screeching of tires across asphalt ringing in my ears. My throat was raw from screaming. Glancing to my right, three blinking red numbers drilled into my eyes—4:27 a.m. “Fantastic,” I muttered, dragging myself out of bed and untangling the mess of slightly damp covers from around my legs. My mouth was dry, and my tongue felt like lead. Scrubbing the sleep from my eyes, I forced myself into the shower, letting the scalding water beat against my back. No pain was enough to drag me into reality though. I sat there, dead to the world, until the water ran cold, after which I pushed myself up and out.

I coiled my curls on top of my head, giving up on looking presentable. The dark bags under my eyes said what my mouth couldn’t: I wasn’t well. I grimaced at my reflection, at my body’s betrayal. Stumbling towards my closet, my numb fingers clutched at my work clothes: black and white and garish red. I looked like a corpse every day, which was ironic considering I spent every working hour turning other people into corpses. As I fumbled with the buttons, I tried once again to desperately return to reality, but the memories clouded my eyes, refusing to let me escape.

Realizing that the day was already a loss but determined to earn my keep in some way, I gradually made my way to the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, and left my apartment. Locking my door presented everlasting problems for my still unresponsive hands, but I eventually managed to secure my door. Stopping to collect myself once more, I reveled in the silence of the hall. Still, my peace was short lived as the muffled sounds of music rang out from the adjacent apartment. I longed for the effortlessness with which PJ lived his carefree life. I knew that it hadn’t come easy to him—after all, he hadn’t always been this unburdened. He, too, had had his fair share of trauma and regrets. It seemed like everyone here did.

Trudging down the endless, blank hallways, I finally arrived at the front of my department. The room was virtually empty, save the night security guard, who was unsurprised to see me. He barely glanced up from his book, nodded in my direction, and continued reading. It wasn’t unusual for me to be in the office during the wee hours of the morning. The first few days, he was suspicious, but as the days turned into weeks, he stopped commenting on my odd hours. Always the first to arrive and the last to leave—not because I was an overachiever, but because work was safe. When I went home, my mind was cut lose, free to torment me.

I flicked on the lights, illuminating the long stretch of cubicles. Even during normal working hours, the desks were usually devoid of people—overflowing with paperwork, but not a single living soul in sight. I ruffled through the stack of reports on my desk, mostly reference files that had yet to be signed off and returned to the Keepers. Grabbing my pen, I began to furiously sign any remaining legal work, tucking the death certificates in the back of their respective manilla folders. Neatly stacking the completed files in the outgoing basket on my desk, I rang for a Runner and sat back as I waited for their arrival. As expected, they were waiting in front of my desk in a matter of seconds.

“Two Pink Card files today. The rest are all Blue Card.” The Runner nodded and whisked away the folders, disappearing from view in a flurry of fabric and papers. I ran a hand through the tangle of still-damp curls that had slowly begun their escape from the knot on the top of my head. Now what am I going to do? The new files won’t come in for another hour at least, I thought. As if on cue, Alex came striding through the glass doors.

“Another early day?” he asked, as if this wasn’t a common occurrence.

“Of course. Just like every other day.” With an unusual grace for someone so large, he sat on my now empty desk, folding his long legs. He took up the whole space, making my already cramped office even tinier. I had never felt more miniscule. His long, thin fingers tapped rhythmically on his biceps, drawing attention to the muscles there. If I didn’t know him better, I would have thought he was trying to intimidate me.

“What about you? What are you doing here so early, Alex?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You know, the usual. Pink Card Keepers never rest.”

I choked back a laugh, but it sounded like a strangled animal. “Are you kidding? Pink Cards only cover what Yellow and Blue Cards don’t, which has been like next to nothing these days.” His eyes tightened at the corners—I’d struck a nerve for sure. Just like that, he relaxed, returning to his usual joking self.

“Well, I was called in early this morning—two new Pink Card only files were brought in a few minutes ago. I wonder who could have sent them in?” I feigned innocence, but I felt bad for waking him up. I wasn’t sure why those files couldn’t wait until normal hours. I had just assumed that they’d wait on someone’s desk until everyone else clocked in.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t know they would wake you up for them—they’ve never done that before?”

“It’s fine. You know how anxious they are to get Pink Card work wrapped up, especially dangerous people like those two. The sooner the paperwork is done, the sooner HR can get them in Hell and away from all the innocent souls.” He paused, waiting for me to react, but my numb brain wasn’t truly processing anything. “Well, I better get to work then. Those files aren’t going to seal themselves.” With that, he turned to leave. At the double doors, he stopped, looked back, and winked at me before continuing on his way.

Hours later, other Reapers started filing in. Today’s files were brought by the Runners, although I’d barely noticed them. Honestly, the Runners were like phantoms—there one minute and gone the next. Opening the first packet, I skimmed over the list of humans I would be Reaping today: Bethany Jones—Blue Card, Amanda Howard—Blue Card, Lydia Ramirez—Yellow Card. The list went on and on. No one in particular stood out to me, and I grimaced—today’s Reaping wouldn’t take me but a few hours. I would be home alone with my thoughts for a majority of the work day.

PJ strode in, interrupting my stream of melancholy thoughts. His curly hair was slightly disheveled, a lazy smile on his face. “Whatcha’ think about today’s Reapings?” he asked.

PJ was in charge of assembling the list of Reapings and preparing the proper paperwork—as long as the files were within his level of clearance. PJ was relatively new to this work still, stagnating at Blue Card Keeper since graduation. Together with Chris, my designated Yellow Card Keeper, and Alex, PJ was my behind-the-scenes crew. On the off chance that I worked extended assignments on Earth, he got to read my reports and add them to that person’s file, but I hadn’t worked an extended assignment in years. In fact, I wasn’t sure PJ ever saw the other’s when prepping my work. During extended assignments, he would work closely with Chris, but I wasn’t sure the two had ever actually met before. In fact, I hardly ever saw Chris.

PJ snapped his fingers at me, drawing me from my internal monologue. “Are you listening? I asked what you thought about today’s Reapings.” I shook my head, forcing myself to focus.

“I’m a little bummed out actually. I don’t see anything that will keep me working for very long today, so I’ll be going home early. Which I know sounds great to you considering you’ll be here late working on the files because almost all of them are Blue Card, but it’s a real downer for me,” I explained when I saw him opening his mouth to protest. He grinned at me.

“You owe me. Dinner tonight. Your place. I want to talk to you about this new guy I met the other day!”

“If it’s a new love interest, I’d love to hear about it, although I’m a little miffed about cooking. However, since it’s a short day for me, I suppose I can make dinner tonight. Now get out of here—I have work to do, and so do you.” I playfully swatted at him. PJ always brought out the best in me and made it easier for me to shake off my early morning melancholy.

“See you tonight!” he called out as he all but skipped through the doors.

[delicateisfearless-blog]

Stranger Things Review |Season One

So I have just finished the first season of stranger things and I loved it. I had considered watching it in the past, but I thought it would be not as good or just another Riverdale (no shade! But they do drag some things out!!) But I think because the show has like eight episodes that's why it wasn't all over the place. Like the way it was written and the way it was shown to us was just perfect. I felt that we did see all the important characters equally, other shows have a hard time doing that but I really think this show did pretty well at keeping us with everyone each episode.

I would love to talk about every part of this first season but that would take days if I did that and I really need to start on season two. So I'll try to make this review as short and sweet as possible.

The Mother Who Believed

Joyce was one of the characters that truly stuck out this first season. Not only is she the first one to believe all the stuff that is happening, but she believed--or she knew that Will was alive. She isn't selfish in finding her son, she wants him back but she still told El to let her know if she couldn't handle being there long. Despite the fact her life is far from perfect she is a good mother who loves her boys and that's clear.

The females written this season (Joyce, El, and Nancy) were all strong women and I loved that. They had vulnerable moments for sure but that doesn't take away anything. Strong women can show emotion, they can be vulnerable. Joyce wasn't the woman who wanted to be saved, she figured out Lonnie and got him out of there.

Joyce is played by Winona Ryder who I first remember seeing in Bettlejuice as Lydia. (If y'all haven't seen that movie your tasteless af. I don't make the rules y'all!) I think if somebody else had taken on Joyce, then the character wouldn't have been brought to life as much as Winona plays her. Winona honestly had me bawling my eyes out in so many scenes, her talent is just saw raw, real and beautiful.

Even when she was in the most dire of situations she still refused to cower in fear. She didn't care. She had one job to do and that was to bring Will home. And at the end that's what exactly happens, I was crying when he came back and she had me in absolute tears---I'm crying writing this.

The Sister That Lost

Nancy was my favorite character this entire season. I knew before I actually watched that she would be, it was this vibe I got with her. The character isn't by any means perfect---she's this teenaged girl who just wants the guy and to matter. She's a teenager so she is intended to not always make the most calculated decisions, but still she was a major badass this season.

I think Nancy is a little naive in the beginning and even Barb sees that. But I think after she takes the next step with Steve The Shamer (sorry I'm still salty he and his friends pulled that sh*t!), Barb going missing, and the argument with Jonathan makes her realize that she is in fact being naive with chasing after somebody with horrible taste in friends.

There's this scene in the finale where she is smiling at the boys all being reunited. She's smiling but you see it fall and in that moment I just knew she thought Barb, and how she couldn't be reunited with her because she was gone. Her one true friend was dead and she had lost.

What I loved most about Nancy is that she wasn't scared. When it came down to it she went along with Jonathan---it was even her idea to go through with it--she wanted to get rid of it. I do think apart of her wanted to do it to protect Mike, but it was clear the main reasoning was justice for Barb.

The Superhero

El is introduced as this girl with these magnificent powers. She doesn't really know much about the world or what a lot of things mean. She starts learning stuff through Mike by starting off with friend. She doesn't really talk much but we do learn a lot about her as the episodes go on.

We see the brilliant and talent Millie Bobby Brown give off a spectacular performance as we see flashbacks to what she went through and just why she's trying to leave it all behind. I think Winona Ryder was the powerful actress this season, but Millie isn't far behind. When Mike pushes her away from him you see just how hurt she is and that she doesn't really understand. Her portrayal of El was just heartbreaking. She took on this role of this tragic girl who has had to deal with some horrible monsters and gave her hope, and then she lost that hope because she knew she had to take away the monster that was hurting her friends.

The Heartbroken Man

Jim Hopper is a character I wasn't sure what to think of at first. He came off as arrogant but we soon learn that he's this man that is completely lost and heartbroken in the world. As the season progresses we see more of Hopper and we learn that he has lost his daughter Sarah due to cancer.

In his flashbacks we see what appears to be a strong man who is positive. But when we see him by himself he is this broken man crying on hospital stairs because she's sick. I think what drives him to want to save Will is his daughter, it's as if he has this second chance to save somebody's child from dying.

I really fell in love with the character by the end of the season. He was great, a true asset to the series. Without him I don't think they would have had that chance to get Will back. He and Joyce really made a great team and I loved watching them work together.

Oh you should know that David Harbour going to be in the new Hellboy and Blackwidow. I have no idea if Hellboy is out yet but if you like the actor wait for them, I know so many people have waited for Blackwidow movie for years and the fact he's in it might add to the excitement.

The Photographer

Jonathan is a character that I was looking out for. I knew a spoiler and I was scared to watch the scene because I was afraid I would cringe. It's the scene where Steve breaks his camera, it was a well acted scene between the two males who are clearly after Nancy's heart. I think what Jonathan did was um a stranger thing to do--get it?

But he's weird. He's a weirdo, but I don't want to call anyone out here. (Riverdale.) This is how you write a weird socially awkward character. You have them act like this (not the camera thing, that's got nothing to do with being socially awkward.) But there are scenes where we see Jonathan putting up signs and you can just tell this is how he is. You don't need him to proclaim it outloud as him "being weird" you just know he is.

I actually really liked the Jonathan character once we got past the photos. He is this guy who helps around the house, cooks and tries to bring in extra cash. You see just how much family means to him---we see just how different his home life is compared to Nancy's. Nancy's family for sure isn't suffering but they aren't really all that close, but we see that Jonathan had a bond with his brother where they would listen to music together. I think the only thing in common is that there's complication between parents.

And as the season progressed I found myself loving him and Nancy over Nancy and Steve. I am looking forward to what's next for them in season two seeing as it was hinted in the finale something will arise between them at some point.

The Self-Sabotaging Jerk

Steve Harrington. I didn't really like him this season. I thought that he was pretty awful to Nancy this season. I'm not saying he didn't have his "good guy" moments. But he laughed when his friends cracked jokes and mocked her for taking the next step with him and then the slutshaming thing just really didn't set well with me either.

In the finale when he is cuddled up next to Nancy I felt nothing. I didn't feel happy they were together, it just felt like him slutshaming her was overlooked. I know she most likely forgave him by this point but I still didn't feel happy by it. But people said he will grow on me eventually. So I'm not saying I'll never like him, I just feel disappointed in him is all.

I think his problem is that he self sabotages good things in his life. I think he does this by wanting to be in with the right crowd and feel accepted into that life. But I think most likely based on some of the scenes that almost losing Nancy and getting punched he realized that he can't be that person anymore.

I did feel bad for him in the scene where his friends are being horrible to him. I think that's the most I felt bad for him, I didn't care about his selfish worries after Barb went missing. But I am open to seeing what they do with the character and how they'll get me to fall in love with him.

Boys On A Mission

The Party consists of the boys: Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas. And now El seems to be a member but seeing as I've discussed her already I'll leave her out of this one. So Mike is very loud in personality and I think that's what people love about the character. I didn't expect to like the character as much as I did, but the thing about this show is you don't hate the main characters, or I couldn't at least. They are all complicated and as the series goes you kind of see that. I did think Mike was a little selfish and didn't consider how his friends (mainly Lucas) was dealing with everything. But I still love the character and the actor did such a good job with the character.

I did kind of feel like Lucas and Dustin weren't really going to be that significant at first which is crazy because they do in fact appear a lot. I think what made me believe that is because Mike did become really involved with El, so I could understand why Lucas was jealous at first. But the fact that Mike became obsessed with El didn't take away Dustin or Lucas, they were still there. Annoyed but still there.

I do think Lucas was harsh with her but I understand that he was scared to trust letting anyone else into the party. Dustin has a very follow the leader type personality but that won't stop him from telling his friends like it is or calling them out on their sh*t.

Will is very interesting. He is bullied for being more I guess feminine and called fairy. Although he is possibly on the feminine side (we didn't really see much of him. He was barely in the season seeing as he was in the Upside Down) but that doesn't necessarily mean he is gay. I think the fact that showing this character be called these names and in his brother's room listening to music to block it out was one of the saddest things. Whether or not the character is gay doesn't matter, it's great if he is it's fine if he isn't. I think this character is a example to what is against toxic masculinity, guys thinks it's weak to cry or do more feminine stuff.

I think the lengths the party would go for one another is beautiful and what true friendship looks like. And I can't wait to see what's in store for these buds in season 2!

And with that...

So I think I covered all the important characters. Maybe I should have said something on Karen Wheeler... So right quick I had seen people talking about her before as not being the best mother. But she actually was a pretty good mother, she spent the entire season trying to get her children to open up to her and she worried about them nonstop. So Karen was a pretty good mother and I actually really liked her. My favorite mom on the show is still Joyce, but Karen is a close second.

And with that I just want to say that this season was one of the best I've ever seen of any show in this type of genre. Thank you and have a beautiful time and I hope to be on season 3 in a few days :)))))

[jo-the-schmo]

Red, Dead, Reflections Ch.2

Chapter 1

A/N: Finally! Chapter 2! Remember how I kept saying I was trying to get to a certain part and that’s why it was taking so long? Well, I decided to keep that until the next chapter because it was taking so long and I was already pushing a hefty word count as is. Also, the writing in this chapter isn’t as good as chapter 1 and I’m sorry about that. I’ll do my best to make chapter 3 more enjoyable. I tried really hard with this one but it just didn’t stick. It happens to all of us. I hope you still like it, though! 

Word count: 9,150 (I’m so sorry)

Warnings: Blood, animal death, explicit language, mentions of racism (not expanded, I’m white, I don’t want to be disrespectful) 

Summary: At the age of 23, you and your pseudo-family perform a heist gone wrong, leading you into a dangerous position. Discover your own history, the story of those around you, and gain new relationships along the way in this (eventual) choose your own adventure. 

Tags!: @zoilalove213 @eccentricc-catt 

A/N pt.2: THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO LIKED CHAPTER 1! Special thanks to those who wanted to be tagged and those who gave me nice reviews, I love you guys so much! I’m also super sorry that this chapter is mostly character introductions and being on the mountain. I promise you’ll get off this mountain soon! I refuse to have y’all still up there at any point during chapter 4. Hopefully that’ll make up for this gross writing. If the read more function still isn’t working, I’m gonna break Tumblr in half. 

Edit: Holy shit I’m a moron, I forgot to add the title omg I’m a fucking moron

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize

Warmth enraptured your being, wrapping around you. Your eyes fluttered open, the first thing you saw was a fire a few feet away from you. That and the pile of blankets on top of you would explain the all-consuming heat. Where am I now? You heard a light patter coming towards you. You threw the blankets off to ready yourself, worried it could be someone trying to get the upper hand on you. You were surprised to see a small figure with dark hair, who had frozen himself in place. It was a little boy. You raised your hand to surrender.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You took a deep breath, you lowered your arms when he resumed his approach.

“Don’t worry, I’m not scared.” He hopped up to sit next to you. It just occurred to you that you had been laying on a cot. “Uncle Arthur says you’re a friend, so I wanted to watch out for you.” So that wasn’t a dream.

“Oh, well that’s very nice of you. What’s your name, buddy?” You took on a softer tone, it made you sound more feminine, but you weren’t worried about that.

“Jack Marston. My momma’s been helping to take care of you. Her and Uncle Hosea. They said your name was James?”

“Yes, sir.” You smiled. You thought it better to be safe and keep up the act.

“Uncle Dutch wants to say hi to you now that you’re awake. I can take you to him.” He jumped up, he seemed to be excited that someone new was around You conceded and pried yourself from the cot. Your chest ached. I’ll have to loosen this band again soon, no more sleeping in this thing. Your wig felt askew, so you quickly moved it back in place before the two of exited the room. You left the cabin with Jack, he led you to another one close by. You passed by a woman with long brunette hair who sent you a curious glance. Jack grabbed your hand and pulled you through the door, there was a parade of men all around.

“Ah, it seems our young gentle-friend has awoken from his slumber.” Dutch announced, everyone looked in your direction. No matter how tough you were, a group of this many people would intimidate you. You recognized Arthur and Micah on opposite sides of the room. Jack tugged on your arm again, prompting you to take a few cautious steps into the herd of questioning eyes.

“Is one of you Hosea by chance?” You asked, already slightly out of breath. You still felt exhausted, and your head was killing you. An older man with a stripped scarf stepped forward, a warm smile on his face.

“That would be me, young man.” You weakly gripped his shoulder, partly for a support and partly to show appreciation.

“Jack told me you were one of the people to take care of me, thank you.” His smile widened.

“Oh, it was no trouble, young man.” He looked over at Dutch. “You were right, Dutch. Boy’s got good manners.”

“I told ya you’d like him!” He bellowed humorously. “Young Jack, could you please help Mr. West over here by me?” Jack nodded, ushering you over to the man in the dense black coat. Dutch wrapped an arm around your shoulder to keep you steady, but it was also so that he could present you to the crowd of men in front of you. “Now, gentlemen. This here is James West. He’s a fellow from California who’ lost his way. But make no mistakes, Mr. Morgan and I have both seen the carnage this boy can cause with just his bare hands. We believe that he was captured by those nasty O’Driscolls and took quite the beating because of it. Unfortunately for both us and poor James here, it seems that the injuries he sustained have given him some memory loss.” Memory loss? “He couldn’t even believe what year it was. But he is coherent enough to remember his name and state of residence.” He looked over at you. “Now young man, we know this could be difficult, but you could you try and tell us the last thing you recall.”

These people were insane, or at least you thought they were. You wouldn’t know until you got off this mountain and found some other people, which was clearly not happening any time soon. For now, this was your situation. You were stuck on some mountain in the middle of who-knows-where with bunch of people who thought the year was 1899 and that you were some man who experienced enough blunt-force head trauma to get some mild amnesia. You were never one to bite the hand that feeds you, so you made an executive decision. Play along until you can get to safety.

“I was…with my friends.” These people were willing to kill, so there was no way crime bothered them any. “We were robbing a bank, it went wrong.” You recalled the image of Eli, Austin, and Miguel running away from the scene.  “I got hit…and that’s all I remember.” The only parts you were excluding were the fact that you were shot multiple times and that it was 2019.

“Robbing a bank, huh?” You peaked his interest. “So, you’re an outlaw then, Mr. West.”

“You could call me that, I suppose.”

“Can you shoot?” Micah chimed.

“Oh, I can more than shoot, pal.” This guy rubbed you the wrong way, and you could see a sort of look of approval from Arthur after you said that.

“Wonderful! That means you may repay us for our kindness. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I’ll call for you when the time comes. For now, I’d like for you to get situated among our presence. Go on now, introduce yourself to everyone.” Dutch gave a firm pat on the back, your chest tightened. Gasping for air, you checked around the room. There was a room with a door nearby, you stumbled inside, hearing the suspicious whispers of the men behind you hushed by the closing of the door. 

You pressed your back against the wood to keep it shut, stripping out of your jacket and shirt. Your ribs ached while you fumbled around. Eventually, you were able to unwind the band almost fully, the long appendages hanging loosely around your form with your left arm holding the rest of it in place. Your whole chest felt like it was on fire.

“This is what you get for leaving it on, idiot.” You whispered to yourself. You weren’t sure what you were going to do. There were a bunch of people out there waiting for you to come out and you were trapping yourself inside with your secret. “I just need a minute…shit, that hurts.”

You saw your reflection in the window across from you. Well, sort of. It was more like a clouded outline. But you could see the shift in color where the band had been wrapped. Your skin was raw. You could also see two bruises that blended into each other on your forehead, and a dark one on the bridge of your nose. That guy really got you. You pushed yourself off the door, already wincing from the anticipation of needing to bind your chest again. You readjusted and began to wrap. Not so tight this time. You would just be walking around today, there shouldn’t be an issue of it staying in place. You finally managed to get it mostly back together and went to pick up your shirt when you heard the door knob turning. You scrambled to the ground, throwing your jacket over your back. You were surprised to only see Hosea walk in and shut the door behind him. The look in his eyes was knowing and curious. You stood to your feet, arms invisible from underneath the jacket. He looked at your shirt on the ground.

“It seems my suspicions were correct. You aren’t being entirely honest with us, James.” His tone wasn’t worrying, but you thought you’d better explain yourself, fast.

“I’m so sorry, it wasn’t my intention to-“

“Don’t worry about it, son.” He interrupted, leaving you confused. You turned around, using your hand to clasp the jacket closed, hiding yourself from view.

“What?”

“I’ve met many folks in my life, young man. I won’t ask what your situation is, I don’t believe that’s my place yet. But I won’t speak a word of this, just a secret between us.” You breathed a sigh of relief, at least you knew now that one of these men was decent.

“Thank you, Hosea. I really appreciate this, you have no idea.”

“I think I can get some of the picture.” He smiled. “You’re an outlaw, sonny. An outlaw is whoever they want to be.” He turned back towards the door. “Now I’m supposed to be in here checking on you, making sure you aren’t up to anything.”

“That’s fair.” You chuckled.

“So, I have to stay in here with you until you’re ready, but I’ll give you your privacy, don’t worry.” You were thankful that one of these people may be able to keep you on everyone’s good side.

“That’s very kind of you, I can’t thank you enough for this.” You made sure to hurry up and get your shirt and jacket back on. You fixed two of the pins for your wig while you were at it. You were glad Hosea seemed smart enough, you wouldn’t take his kindness for granted, no matter how crazy these people seemed. But you had to be more careful. This wasn’t a time for everyone to be finding out you were not only lying, but the vast list of other things wrong with your situation. The further you could separate yourself from what you had gotten up to the better. These men were killers, but they weren’t you.

“Are you ready, James?” Hosea asked.

“Yes, is everyone still out there?”

“I believe only Dutch and Arthur stayed behind. Arthur and I are supposed to introduce you to everyone.” You nodded, he opened to door and you followed him out to where Dutch and Arthur were talking.

“Ah, thank goodness! What came over you, friend?” Dutch questioned.

“I believe we pushed him too far with the questions, Dutch. He lost his head for a moment.” Hosea excused.

“Yes, I’m sorry for that rude exit. Not sure what happened entirely.” You tried to reassure.

“I see, perhaps we should let the boy rest a bit longer.”

“Thank you, sir, but there’s no need. I don’t wanna be a bother, the least I could do is help around, be of some use.” Now was the time to suck up. You had to repay your debt to him and gain his trust. He liked your answer. He was clearly the leader of the group, and from the few interactions you’d had, you could tell they were tight knit. If you wanted to get off this mountain and not end up like those men at the cabin, you’d have to play into their hand.

“That’s a good man right there, I think we struck luck with this one!” He gestured between Arthur and Hosea. “Could you two show him around, we want him to get acquainted with everyone in camp before we get any further.” They agreed and led you back outside.

“Okay, Hosea, where should we start first?” Arthur asked, fixing his gloves.

“Well, I have some business to discuss with Miss Grimshaw, so I would prefer we find her first.”

“Will Jack’s mom be there? He said she was looking out for me too and I’d like to thank her personally for that.”

“She may be, but we are sure to run into her soon, so don’t fret.” Hosea said. Your group walked trudged through the snow to get to a wooden cabin. You saw mostly women inside, including the brunette who looked at you earlier and Mrs. Adler.

“Fine weather we’re having, ladies.” Arthur joked.

“Yeah, real funny.” A blonde woman rolled her eyes.

“It was. Anyhow, this here is James West. I know y’all have been real curious about him.” You followed their lead and walked over to the group of women. An older woman came forward with her hands on her hips.

“This here is Miss Grimshaw, James. You best respect her, Dutch may want to think we’re his people but we’re really hers.” Hosea’s eyes wrinkled at his own humor.

“Of course, thank you for showing me kindness, Miss Grimshaw.” You made sure to sound serious. You weren’t planning on disrespecting anyone, let alone someone who seemed so important. She cracked a grin and pinched your cheeks. You almost squeaked in surprise, but you managed to hold it in.

“Boy’s got a prettier face than you, Arthur! How old are ya?” She teased.

“23, Miss, that is if my memory serves.”

“Ah, we got ourselves a young one! He’ll be able to do some mighty fine work once he’s back in order. You be sure to repay our kindness, ya got that, young man?”

“With pleasure, Miss. I always repay my debts.” That was certainly true in most cases.

“You also best be careful-“ She grabbed the edge of your jacket and yanked you closer. She lowered her voice in your ear. “Don’t try anything with my girls, ya hear? If I find out you’ve been disrespectful to any of them, my face will be the last thing you see.” She let go to gauge your reaction.

“Of course, Miss Grimshaw. I would never dream of overstepping my bounds. You have my word.” You bowed your head at her as a sign of honest intentions. Her smile returned.

“Fantastic!” She hooked her arm around yours  and lead you closer to the women. “I’ll introduce you then.” She pointed to the blonde with the whole body eyeroll. “The smart mouth is Karen Jones.”

“Howdy.” She waved. Next to her was a red head.

“That one’s Molly O’Shea.” Miss Grimshaw looked at the woman with warm, dark skin in a yellow skirt. “That’s Tilly Jackson, don’t let her sweet talk ya.”

“Hello.” Tilly said with energy in very voice. It suddenly dawned on you that these people were surprisingly less racist than to be expected out of anyone who thinks it’s 1899. You felt lucky for that one. It would tear you up to discover that anyone was being treated badly. These guys may have lost their minds, but intolerance wasn’t something that you tolerated. Especially after everything in your life.  

“That’s Mary-Beth.” She pointed out the brunette from outside, she smiled sweetly up at you.

“Nice to meet you.” She went back to writing after hitting you with that same glance from earlier. The last woman looked up from what she was doing, she was wearing a black hood over her head. “Abigail Marston, she’s my hardest worker.” You recognized the name.

“Are you Jack’s, mother?” You asked.

“Yes, I am.” You carefully stepped over and kneeled down to the level she was sitting at.

“He told me you were one of the people to take care of me while I was out, I wanted to thank you personally for your generosity.” You bowed your head and stood up. “Thank you, Mrs. Marston.”

“Well ain’t you just the definition of a gentleman.” Arthur was clearly trying to tease you, boys were usually like that.

“Don’t get anywhere in life without being kind to those who are kind to you.”

“Fair enough.” You were glad he agreed. You turned your attention back to the women.

“It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is James West, by the way. I know Arthur already said that, but I try my best to be polite.” Try is the operative word here. Karen whispered to Mary-Beth and Tilly.

“Arthur, take James over to meet the boys and make a good second-impression. I have to speak to Miss Grimshaw for a moment on matters of housing. I’ll meet you over there.” Hosea said as he pulled Miss Grimshaw aside. Arthur lazily waved you over and you made sure not to delay this. You looked back at the group as you walked.

“Thank you for your time, it was nice to meet all of you.” Arthur let you walk out first. The wind hit you like a truck. Arthur held your shoulder to keep you in place and make sure you wouldn’t blow away.

“Ya alright there, partner?” You steadied yourself, he released his grip.

“Yeah, I’m good. Not used to this kind of cold. Thanks for the help.”  

“Everyone went back to their cabin after your episode.” The two of you marched toward the cabin you had woken up in. There was muffled yet loud conversation happening inside. The second the door opened, everyone got quiet. “Hello again, gentlemen.” The room sounded with a few ‘hey Arthur’s before going back down again, everyone was locking eyes on you. It wasn’t a good idea to hide behind Arthur and let him do the talking, they’d prefer you explain yourself.

“Hello everyone.” You stepped around the bulky blue coat, throwing yourself into the spotlight. “My head was unwell back there, I apologize for that. My name is James West, I’d like to help you in anyway I can. I’d hate to mooch off of your hospitality.” They seemed to approve of your answers so far.

“Well don’t be shy, ya idiots, introduce yourself, shake the boy’s hand or somethin’.” Arthur really did have no filter, huh? The first person to approach you was a man wearing a giant black hat and an equally frightening mustache. He took your hand in an eager handshake, which surprised you to say the least.

“Reverend Swanson, Orville Swanson.” Ah, a holy man, a bit ironic for the situation, isn’t it? You coughed and got your voice back into place.

“Good to meet ya, Reverend.” You pushed past him and put yourself in the center of 3 men who were sitting near each other. The youngest one stood up first. He looked to be around your age but definitely younger, which made you kinda mad that everyone was acting like you were so young. That told you they were trying to prove a point.

“Lenny Summers, nice meeting ya.” You gave him a firm handshake. You felt surprisingly comfortable with him, since he was about your age, time to lighten the mood.

“Summers? Don’t’cha mean Winters?” You pointed at the window that was mostly boarded up but showed some of the snow outside through the cracks. He held in some kind of sound, only a little creak escaping. You considered that to be a win in Y/N’s a Comedy Master, Volume VI. The other two squinted there eyes, but you could tell they were hiding their amusement. Lenny sat down, the man with very interesting facial hair stood up. It didn’t look bad on him, you were just confused as to what you’d classify it as for a second. If anything, the hat was what threw you off the most. It suddenly dawned on you that a lot of these guys would look better without their hats. You paused that thought for a moment.

“Javier Escuella. Pleasure.” He smirked.

“It’s good to meet you, Javier.” His handshake was not as hesitant as Lenny’s was by comparison, but it was fairly quick. The last man in the semi-circle stood. And he was a giant. You had seen him earlier but for some reason his height and just overall existence didn’t hit you until that moment. He had the longest hair of anyone in the room. Maybe you’d be able to get out of wearing the wig over time. With some lying, obviously. You held your hand out to him first.

“James, it’s nice to meet you.” His handshake was unexpectedly gentle.

“Charles, Charles Smith.” His voice was also softer than you’d have predicted. You supposed he didn’t need to compensate for presence so there wasn’t a point in being loud. You could tell right off the bat that he was a quiet type, but you were used to that from Miguel, so it didn’t matter much. You turned away to face the 3 other men on the other side of the room. You already knew the blonde one.

“Micah, right?” You asked. You didn’t particularly want to get near him, but you conceded and held your hand out. He squeezed your hand just a little too hard, you did the same in return, and a little too much energy was put into it. He was still mad about your first encounter with him in the cabin. “Good to finally get a proper introduction.”

“Yeah, right.” You made the mental note that he was for sure an asshole and to watch out for him. A different man grabbed your attention, he didn’t seem pleased.

“My name is Simon Pearson, I’m the cook around here, and with you and that new woman hanging about, you better be helping enough to get your share.” You remember Arthur mentioning him. You shook his hand with both of yours to signify peacemaking.

“Of course, sir. I’ll do more than my share. I’m always willing to help.” You were aware that a lot of the things you were saying were repetitive, but that was usually how mass introductions went. A man with a very full beard was the last one at the moment. “Hello, I’m James West.”

“Bill.” He answered simply. Okay, not in the talking mood right now. Got it. You heard Arthur’s voice again.

“John’s out of commission at the moment, we won’t be worried about that dumbass.” You heard a familiar patter on the floor coming in your direction.

“James!” Jack rammed into your leg before you got a chance to react. He almost knocked you off balance.

“Woah, hey there, buddy.” You knelt down in front of him to get on his level. “What have you been up to? On patrol?” He seemed to be the only kid here, that’s gotta be stressful on him.

“Yeah! Been waiting outside Papa’s room since you’re awake now.” He informed.

“Wow, strong and vigilant? You’re a real power house there, little man.” You balled your hands into fists and lightly bopped him on the chest, one with each hand. “Pow, pow!” You exaggerated onomatopoeically. You could tell this was more interaction than he was used to. You were more than happy to brighten his mood.

“Uncle Dutch says you’re a good fighter.”

“Uncle Dutch would be right, gotta hit ’em with that one-two!” You hit him two more times, a wide smile on his face. He mimicked the way you blocked your face with your hands. His small fist gingerly punched your forearm. “Come on! You can do better than that, buddy!” You stood up, bouncing and shifting your weight between your feet. He tried to do the same, but it came out more as an awkward skip-in-place. “See? You’re a natural, little dude! A little practice and you could pin all of us.” He hit your knee a couple times, making little ‘psh’ sounds when he did.

“Will you teach me?” He was elated, you weren’t sure how long you’d be with them, but it seemed like you’d be up here for a while. Might as well, it also might win you bonus points with the others. But in all honesty, you weren’t thinking about that much.

“Sure thing, buddy.” He was really happy for that answer. “But…” He paused. You swooped down and picked him up, resting him on your shoulder in a fireman’s carry. “Lesson number one, never let your opponent take you off guard, or something unexpected might happen.” You were suddenly very aware that you weren’t alone in the room. You got so distracted by Jack that you forgot that you were in a room full of people. Jack squirmed around, laughing with the kind of energy you’d expect from a kid without child interaction and stuck on a recluse mountain with a bunch of sad-sack adults.

“Uncle Arthur! Javier!” He took a breath between fits of giggles. “You’re upside down!”

“Alright, little dude.” You made sure to be gentle as you set him back down to his feet. “I’ll teach some more later, okay?” You looked over, everyone was staring at you with varying looks about them Confusions, amusement, conjecture. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, how could any of you say no to this face?” You ruffled Jack’s hair. “That’s an objectively sweet face that you can’t say no to.”

“I don’t know ‘bout sweet, but he’s rambunctious that’s for sure.” Arthur commented with the knowing nods of several men as their response. You crossed your arms as Jack ran off to do something else.

“How long have you all been stuck up here?”

“A few days,” Charles started, “A few bad days at that.”

“We’re running low on supplies, food most importantly.” Pearson added. “I haven’t been able to do my job properly since we got up here, ever since Blackwater.” Blackwater? You wanted to ask, but the look on everyone’s faces told you you’d be overstepping your bounds. You decided to go a different direction.

“I know we’re in the middle of winter, but there’s gotta be animals, yeah?”

“Everyone I’ve sent out as come up empty-handed.”

“No, James is right. There’s game on this mountain, we just aren’t finding it.” Charles gestured to his wrapped hand. “And this certainly isn’t making me feel better about it. I’m going hunting.” He stood and walked over to a corner where some things were sitting.

“Yer hand’s burnt, you won’t be able to shoot.” Arthur’s accent slurred. Charles was about to say something, but you cut him off.

“Yeah, and? His hands don’t need to work for tracking. Just send someone else up there with him who can kill.”

“That’s a great idea! You and Arthur can go with him!” Pearson sassed, “That man’s been irritable with nothing to do.” Arthur grumbled in response.

“I’d be more than happy to help,” You really wanted to get back in your element. All this social work was more Austin and Gina’s speed. “but I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be.”

“You ever been hunting?” Charles went and handed a bow to Arthur.

“Something like that.”

“That’s better than nothing in my opinion. Come on, you can borrow one of the others’ horses.” Someone walked in.

“You can take mine. Silver Dollar should be pretty tame for you.” It was Hosea.

“Meet us there my ass, old man.” The blue-clad cowboy mocked.

“Apologies, got a bit held up with preparations. Charles, Arthur, bring back something good and make sure the kid gets the hang of things.” Hhhhhh, Hosea you’re really nice, but please don’t call me kid. Now wasn’t the time for corrections, you could do that later. They agreed and motioned for you to follow them outside.

The window was starting to slow down, which was more than welcome in your opinion. The snow crunched lightly, the way it does when multiple people have already walked on it. You missed California’s ridiculous heat. Despite the air being cold though, it was much easier to breathe than that smog. Your eyes burned from the sun reflecting off the plush snow. This is fucking blinding, how can any of you see ever? The three of you approached what was, basically to you, a herd of horses. They mounted their horses on silence, you approached a grey one.

“I’m going to assume this is Silver Dollar?” Arthur nodded to confirm your suspicions. You pulled yourself up and adjusted. Alright, just a group of guys going huntin’, just a couple of dudes, some good’ol’boys…how do I make this thing go? You looked up to try and learn through observation. Okay, I’ll just…give him a little- you lightly tapped your heel against the side of the horse, he came to a trot, following behind Charles. Don’t show any fear, they can sense it. Just be chill and respect the animal, and he’ll do the same for you. You at least would hope that for the time being.

Charles and Arthur picked up the pace, so you followed suit, not nearly as fast, but you were at least keeping up. There was a gaping silence that didn’t bother you. It finally gave you a chance to take in your surroundings. To say that the scenery was breathtaking would be an understatement. You weren’t sure if you had seen anything more beautiful in your entire life. Why had you never gone this far out? It seemed like a good a place as any to hide away, other than the blizzards. Charles broke that silence all too soon.

“What did you mean earlier? About hunting.” He clarified. You recalled your answer from earlier.

“Yeah, I was wonderin’ ‘bout that.” Arthur added. You tried to think of a way to phrase this without giving too much away.

“It wasn’t so much hunting as it was scavenging at that point. Can’t hunt something that’s already dead. Tracks and all.”

“Scavengin’?”

“Times were…desperate.” You decided to leave it at that for the time being.

“Have you ever tracked a deer?” Charles asked.

“Not a deer, but if you point some out to me, I should be able to find it pretty easily.”

“Good, we’ll need 2. You and Arthur get one each.” It wasn’t long before you passed through a stream and then came upon a clearing where Charles told you two to slow down. You followed in his example when he dismounted. “We’ll need to continue on foot from here.” He pointed at a trail of imprints in the ground. “Think you can find that?”

“Yeah, no problem.” You followed along it, just walking for a few steps to make an assessment. “She definitely isn’t far. The snow is deep, and the tracks are undisturbed.” You had never been out looking for food in the snow, but it seemed easier than dry ass California. You stopped to look ahead, listened closely. You could hear another part of the stream you passed earlier. Animals get thirsty too. “Alright, get down low, don’t wanna make too much noise.” Arthur seemed reluctant, but Charles was pleased with your competence. It was odd to slink around in broad daylight, but there was no helping it. You saw one in the distance.

“Arthur, ready yourself.” Charles took the lead now, inching the group a few feet closer. It was a buck. But there did seem to be a few others scattered about. If y’all were quick, this should only take a few more minutes.

“This is probably a good time to remind you both that I’ve never used a bow for hunting or anything like that, so maybe Arthur should handle this one.” You whispered.

“Don’t worry, they’ll scatter once Arthur shoots. We’ll have to track them a bit further. Shouldn’t take long, though.” You were crouched down in between the two of them, Arthur was lining up his shot. “Aim for the neck.” It was only a moment later that you a quick, air splitting sound. The buck fell to the ground. The rest of the deer, having heard him collapse, scattered themselves about just as Charles said they would. “Okay, go ahead and haul that one. James and I will keep going to save us a few minutes.”

“You got it.” He sighed, standing upright and walking over to the now dead animal after handing you the bow with a few arrows in its quiver. Now separated, you and Charles continued to skulk about. Most of them ran upstream, so that was your best guess on where to go. Luckily, Charles was still leading, and you were satisfied to see he took the same direction you were taking. A doe was in the distance, you could already see her heavy breathing from running when Charles had you stop.

“Okay, draw your bow.” You slid the arrow weakly into place. “Don’t over extend the string, but don’t be too free with it either.” You tried to do what he said, Your dominant hand held the arrow in place, the other gripped the wooden curve. You drew back. “A little more.”

“Like this?” You corrected yourself.

“Yes, but don’t fire yet.” His hand reached forward, grasping at the base of the bow just under where yours was located. You let him guide your aim to the side. He stopped moving but kept his position.

“Now?”

“Take a deep breath.” Inhale. “Release when you breathe out.” Exhale.

You let loose. The arrow flew through and made the doe squeal and fall to her side. The rest of the group fled. Leaving the body behind. You mentally high-fived yourself. Hell yeah!

“You did a good job. Come on, it’s time to collect.” Both of you stood, roaming towards the carcass.

“Thank you for your patience.” You replied with a smirk. You’d like to say the sight of something dead was what made you feel sick, but it was the blood. You chose to believe it was the way the color popped against the pure snow. The way it looked like cherry cough syrup or Kool-Aid left a terribly familiar taste at the back of your throat. But you decided not to show hesitation. Weakness will show more of you than any words people can claw from you. The words rang in your head. You pulled the arrow out of its windpipe.

“I’ll carry it back to horses.”

“But your hand-“

“I don’t need one hand to use the other’s arm.” His tone was more relaxed than it had been before, less formal. He hefted the body and carried it over his shoulder. “Come, Arthur’s bringing over the horses.” And he was. Arthur was a little over five yards away. You were surprised by how little time you all spent doing this. With both deer slumped on the back of Charles and Arthur’s horses, you started the ride back to camp. I’m kinda getting the hang of this. It’s kinda like driving a living motorcycle, but it can go slow without cruising.

It seems you spoke too soon, as a sudden howl in the distance caused Silver Dollar to buck you off. Your back hit the ground, Arthur hopped down. He held the reins of his horse to make sure they wouldn’t run off. You hurried to your feet.

“Arthur-“

“I know, I’ll handle it.”

“I’ll lead the horses a little a ways while you deal with them.” Charles took Arthur’s reins and then turned to look at you. “James, you-“ The barking was getting louder, grey spikes of fur were sprinting towards your group. You knew there was no way you could get back on and start moving in time.

“Go on ahead, I’ll be fine!” Besides, this was your field of expertise in one way. Hunting wasn’t your strong-suit, but defense sure as hell was. You darted off to the side, swinging your jacket off, raising the shoulders as far as your arms could reach while running. You let out a loud scream as one approached you, not out of fear, but to make it fear you. It still charged toward you with less ferocity. You managed to kick it in the side and ran, side-stepping your way to Arthur. A shot rang out, one of the three wolves fell over, dead. The other flanked and clamped its maw on Arthur’s arm. His gun fell to the ground. You rolled to grab it.

You pulled the hammer back and fired at the beast the second Arthur was able to force himself free. Pull back, turn. You used your opposite hand to grab your wrist and steady your arm. One last shot pounded just as the wolf you had kicked was about to pounce. Arthur clutched onto his right arm, bloody holes blotting through. You picked up your jacket and shook the snow off before sliding it back on.

“You’re a good shot, boy. I know who’s getting a gun as soon as we get off this damn mountain.” He laughed, ignoring the pain that should be in his arm.

“I make it a habit of having one, so yeah.” You flipped the revolver in your hand, handle facing Arthur. He took it and tipped his hat to you.

“Thank’ya, Mr. West.”

“It’s no trouble. You probably could’ve handled them, you aren’t the damsel type.” Charles trotted back over with Silver Dollar and whatever horse Arthur was riding trailing behind him.

“You two handled that quickly.”

“You mean James handled that quickly. All I went and did was get my arm bit.”

“One outta three ain’t bad.” You retorted.

“Y’know I knew someone who died from getting bit.”

“You’re not gonna die from a little wolf bite, Arthur.” Charles sighed.

“But you don’t know that!” Arthur was surprisingly funny for someone who looks so sad. Then again, it shouldn’t be that shocking to you. Charles snorted but did not give further response. You and Arthur got back on the saddles and began the journey to their camp.

“You’ll be fine as long as that thing didn’t have rabies. Just keep it clean and dry for the time being.”

“They call me Rabid Morgan.” Arthur stared into the distance.

“They say you can see his red eyes from a mile away.” Charles joined.

“Rabid Man Morgan, the shredder of limbs, no matter whomst they belong.” You let a chuckle slip.

“Dutch and Hosea are gonna think you’re dying if they hear all this talk.” His long hair shook in motion with his head.

“All the more reason to keep talkin’ if ya ask me.”

“Well, I’m calling you that from now on. I’m never going to explain what it means.” You warned.

“Perfect.” You had barely noticed how close to the camp you’d gotten. Good conversation makes for easy travel, you supposed. Pearson was the first to greet you at his station.

“Sounds like a bunch of gossiping milkmaids are invading the camp.”

“Never heard of laughter, Mr. Pearson?” You teased. You were aware you were acting a bit too comfortable, but this would give you a good idea of where to draw the line.

“Not that I recall. You bring anything useful for me?” You slid off the side and took initiative of hoisting the doe onto your shoulders. It was heavier than you expected, but you were able to get it into the open area Pearson directed you towards. Albeit, you didn’t do it as gracefully as Charles had or how Arthur was doing it now, but you did it, nonetheless.

“Ever skinned a de-“ Charles was interrupted,

“WEST YOU SACK OF SHIT!” by the obnoxious wailing of a blonde idiot. Micah was stomping his way through the snow, eyes burning into you. You squinted in distrust of the situation. By the time he was two feet from you, you’d expected him to slow down.

“What do you want Mi-“ But he didn’t. He shoved you back, making you hit a cleared part of Pearson’s desk. He pulled you forward by the collar of your jacket and the center of your shirt.

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are gettin’ special privileges around here, but ya best watch yerself and how you carry. I got my eye on you.” He was trying to assert his fragile dominance over you.

“I don’t know what you’re on about, dickhead. But if you don’t get your filthy paws off of me in the next two seconds, I’m gonna make sure we have matching bruises.” You wrinkled your nose.

“Micah, put the poor boy down right now!” You heard Dutch’s voice coming closer but didn’t break eye contact with Micah. He threw you further onto the table before turning away from you.

“You seriously trust this runt, Dutch? Look at him. Maggot’s got lies smeared all over his face.”

“And you’ve got brown smeared all over your nose, back up.” You practically vaulted off the table, using your forearm and pressure to Micah’s chest to force him back.

“The god damn kid get’s his own space but not any of the others who been here longer? Here I am having to-“

“Don’t call me kid, ever again. Unless you want a broken neck.” Nothing got to you more than that, especially when someone was using it the way he was. Your stare was enough to pierce skin. Arthur grabbed Micah’s shoulder.

“And I’d thank you kindly to not even try and finish that sentence. We already heard you whine earlier. The way I see it, yer at least two against one right now, and that ain’t even including everyone here that would beat you the first chance they got. I don’t care how tough you think you are, those aren’t good odds. So, I suggest you shut that trap of a mouth you have.” His voice was low, there seemed to be some history behind that response, but you couldn’t think about that too much right now. Micah shook away his touch, pushing past Dutch and Charles, he mumbled something to himself as he stormed off. You could feel the pressure of your jaw clenching and your nails digging into your palm.

You paced about, narrowly avoiding the deer corpses around you. Remember to breathe, Y/N. You can’t pass out again. Control yourself. You’re alright. No point in getting mad over the stupid, you’ll scream all day. You wanted to destroy something. You couldn’t stand people like him, it ripped at your gut like a beast starving for your insides. You took a few deep breaths before pacifying yourself enough to address the men around you.

“Forgive me, gentlemen. That situation was a bit too tense for me to bear.” You tried to resist the urge to pull at your hair, considering it wasn’t your hair.

“You reacted better than most people would, nothing to apologize for.” Arthur was steadfast in watching Micah leave. Dutch stepped forward and held you still with both hands just under the joint of your shoulder. He had to bend down a bit to get at eye level with you.

“He can be rough around the edges, but you’ll get used to him. I can see that fire in your eyes, boy. There ain’t nothing wrong with it, but I’d like you to hold that fire close for a few hours more.” He sounded like Austin, which was simultaneously comforting and nerve-wracking. He traded glances with the two men you had rode back with but staying in the same position. “While you boys were gone, I had some of the others ride out to scour the area, and we’ve struck gold.” He stood up straight, still holding onto you. “The O’Driscolls have a camp a little a ways from here. Mrs. Adler informed me of some of the talk that was happening in her house, and apparently there was word of a train.”

“A train?” You questioned.

“That’s right, young man. We need money.” Doesn’t everybody? “I only send my best men for these jobs, but I wanna see how good you really are, Mr. West.”

“Oh, he’s good. Even Arthur was impressed.” Charles elbowed Arthur’s arm.

“That true, son?”

“I saw him kill two wolves today. Only used a bullet for each. Hit ‘em both right here-“ He tapped the middle of his forehead with index finger. “-so, yeah, I’d wager he’s pretty good.” A grin stretched across Dutch’s face.

“Fantastic, let’s hope your as good at shootin’ O’Driscolls as you are at shootin’ wild animals.” He gave you an affirming pat on the bicep. “Ah hell, who am I kiddin’? They’re the same thing.” He turned to walk out, calling back to all of you before being out of earshot. “Ill see you gentlemen in the morning, we leave at 10 o’clock!” The excitement was clear in his speech.

This place was weird. These people were fucking weird. The more you stayed here, the more convincing these people seemed. What the hell was their deal? They acted like normal people, not like cultists or anything. How did they think it was 1899? It would make sense if they’d been on the mountain for years, but they just got here not too long ago. It gave you a headache just thinking about it. You needed to ask more questions without seeming eager to leave.

“Sorry about Micah, he’s like that with almost everyone.” Charles’s voice broke your thoughts.

“I’m fine. He’s lucky Dutch stepped in. I don’t let anyone push me around.” Anymore.

“You’re on edge. There’s not much to do up here but work. You can help Arthur skin the pelts. Might help distract you.” He suggested, pulling what looked like a hunting knife from his belt. You took it reluctantly, knowing you’d need something to do to keep yourself from losing it. You got down on one knee, waiting to follow Arthur’s lead. Time to talk.

“How far are we from Blackwater?” You pretended to know what that place was.

“Not far enough if you ask me.” Pearson complained. “Then again, we left a lot down there.”

“Like food?” Arthur muttered.

“A comedian as always, Mr. Morgan.” Pearson was not amused.

“What happened to you guys over there?” They were hushed by that question for a second.

“I don’t think any of us are entirely sure.” Charles contemplated for a moment. “But now we’re wanted. Every last one of us. We won’t be able to go back for some time.” His eyes met yours, halting the slide of the blade. “I hope that doesn’t interfere with you staying with us for the time being.” You were sad that you weren’t bothered by this, not in the slightest. People being hunted didn’t even phase you.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I let it.” You sighed, you let your guard slip. “I’ve been on the run since I was 19. This doesn’t change anything.” You immediately caught your mistake. Shit. No, it’s fine. They still don’t know who I am. I’m fine. But something suddenly struck you. How could these people be on the run from the law if they thought it was the 19th century?

“What got you?” Arthur asked. It floored you mentally, no one had ever asked you that question. Mostly because you never told anyone who didn’t already know. It wasn’t something you exactly go around flaunting. Him and Charles could see the alarm in your expression.

“Just…” How do you say it? “I made some bad choices.” You don’t. You hurried to finish the carving, wanting to get out of the conversation as fast as possible. You could tell they wanted to press but, lucky for you, decided against it. You rolled the fur up and hooked the cadaver onto a bare wall next to Arthur’s. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” You kept your head down as you walked away.

This wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. You had to think of a way to get back to the others. Where would you go once you got off the mountain? What would even happen when the others got off? There was no way they could avoid cities. You could hardly believe their entire reality hadn’t broken already. Blackwater had to be a town or something. And they were running from the law. The more you heard and thought, the more it didn’t add up. You got lost in that pensive side of yourself.

Something hit your chest, well, someone. You saw the book fall before the girl. It was the brunette you met earlier, you thought Mary-Beth was her name. She was quiet when she fell initially, but as she leaned forward on her elbows, she let out a grunt of pain. You snapped out of your trance and quickly bent closer to her, holding out your hand.

“I’m so sorry, miss.” She took your hand, the back of hers facing up to the sky. You pulled her up halfway and used your other hand to press the space between her shoulder blades. You did this to avoid pulling her too hard as helped her back to her feet. Once she was balanced, you let go and snatched her book from the snow. Fortunately, it fell cover side down. “I should have been looking where I was going. Are you alright?”

“I’m alright, thank you, Mr. West.” She took the book as you presented it to her. “I should’ve been paying attention too.” Her eyes squinted, inspecting you closely, like she was trying to figure something out.

“Well, I’m still sorry.” Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. You took a step back and turned away.

“Wait!” She grabbed your wrist. “Hosea wanted us to let you know Miss Grimshaw set up a space for you.” You looked back at her.

“A space?”

“Yes! He told us about how common it is for people in your condition to episodes, especially in their sleep. So, he had us make something for privacy.” Seems a few of your questions were answered.

“Is that what Micah was upset about earlier?”

“Yes, I’m sorry about him. He doesn’t know when to keep himself in check most of the time.” She pulled you toward the cabin you had been placed in. When you walked in, Bill and Javier were the only ones in the main room. You attention immediately went to what looked like a make shift tent at the right end of the room. It looked like what would happen if you split a tent in half and let it rest against a wall. Or like something a few kids would make, not in terms of quality but rather conceptually. It was very well done by blanket fort standards.

“Wow, Mary-Beth, that looks really nice.” You did appreciate the effort genuinely. You reminded yourself to thank Hosea for saving you some trouble. “How many of you worked on this?”

“It was mostly Tilly, Karen, and I. I wasn’t sure if you were much or a writer, but I left an extra pencil and a few sheets of paper to keep yourself entertained.”

“Thank you so much, this is very nice of all of you to do for me.” You smiled at her. “Be sure to let me know if there’s anything you need, I’d feel bad if I didn’t repay you all in some way.” Your request tickled her fancy.

“You sound kinda like Arthur.”

“That a good thing?”

“Yes, I’d reckon so.” Her expression was tender and thoughtful. “I’ll let the girls know you appreciate our hard work. Hosea said you should rest to not create any more discomfort.” She pivoted back towards the door. “Oh! And be sure to eat something in the morning. No telling when the last time you ate was…Actually, I’ll see if I can drop any off to you when it’s ready.”

“You don’t need to do that, you all have done-“

“Nonsense! I’m surprised you were well enough to go out in the condition Dutch said you were in. ‘Sides, y’all are going out again tomorrow, right?”

“Well, yes, but-“

“But nothing! You go and rest right now, young man!” You couldn’t tell if she was older than you, but she sure didn’t look it. Regardless, you conceded.

“Yes, ma’am.” She left you to your own devices, Javier and Bill were focusing on their own activities. You took it upon yourself to crawl into the makeshift tent. It was wide enough for the cot you woke up on. The blanket making the fake wall and roof was high enough for you to sit on the cot but not much else. It was a good thing that’s all you’d need.

You sat down in the middle, letting the blanket curtain to hide you from everyone else. Taking off your coat and lifting up your shirt, you felt joy well up in your chest, joy mixed with a stiff pain. Even with it barely being able to stay up, it was still painful to keep the fabric wrapped around you. You could feel your skin rejoice as you removed it. Once the manila colored cloth was all unbound and sitting on your lap, you let your shirt fall back down. You decided to hide it under the cot for the time being. You were surprised to find a canteen and the items Mary-Beth had mentioned earlier. Thankfully, the contents of the canteen was water, which you happily swigged. You laid back on the cot. This was the first time you’d gotten conscious alone time.

Okay, time to figure this out. I was shot 6 times. I should be dead. But somehow, I ended up on a mountain in winter. I was trapped in a barn and rescued by these guys who think it’s 1899. What’s weird is that Mrs. Adler didn’t object to that, even though she was introduced to everyone the same night I was. None of this is adding up…

You massaged your temples.

If I’m gonna start thinking crazy, I might as well go all out right now. I’m either dead or I traveled back in time. And either way, I can’t do anything about it. Death is inescapable and time isn’t tangible, it isn’t even real. I’ll have to take this one goal at a time… Damnit!

You wanted to cry. Not because you felt sorry for yourself, but for them. Miguel, Eli, what would they do without you? You knew Austin would be fine, and Gina would have the others for support. But Eli and Miguel relied on you to a certain extent. You were their glue. That’s one of the reasons you never left, even though you should have. You should have left a long time ago. There was no way to tell them you were okay, or at least as okay as you could be.

No! There’s no way that’s the answer. I can’t believe it…not yet. You didn’t allow yourself the indulgence of shedding tears. You had to be strong until you could get back to them. You just had to figure out what was happening. But there was no way you’d be learning anything new from these people. You couldn’t get out of this place without their help. You were a lot of things, but you weren’t a defeatist. Going out without a plan in this kind of temperature was a death sentence if you weren’t already dead. You didn’t want to be stupid and take that kind of risk.

If I play along, I might have a chance.

And that’s all I need.

[toroimports-blog]

10 Best Vape Juice Package Designs

by Toro Imports

We love packaging design here at Toro Imports — as a smoke and vape wholesaler, we know how important design can be to make products appealing to potential consumers. Ugly packaging means slow-moving product, and a great design conveys a strong message. When a company introduces products with great design, it conveys the message that the company has good communication, a quality product, strong branding, a good understanding of its customers, and that it cares about the presentation of their product. 

Vape juice bottles are items that customers tend to collect, after all. Who wants to add an ugly bottle to their collection? So, without further ado, here are 10 of our favorite vape juice brands with great packaging:

10. Vapetasia

Vapetasia is a brand with a fun aesthetic. The vaper demographic tends to be young, edgy, alternative adults who grew up with the Internet, Adult Swim cartoons, and skater brands like Savage, Thrasher, and Stussy. Vapetasia does a terrific job of encapsulating everything that this demographic finds nostalgic and fun without directly exploiting that nostalgia.

The mascot for the Killer Kustard line of vape juices by Vapetasia reminds us of the heroes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as a character that is personified food with a thick black outline and expressive features.

The Vapetasia logo itself is also fun, having two variations — the cloud which has icons from all of its juice brands:

and the simple, iconic Vapetasia name. I have found that people wear Vapetasia branded swag freely, simply because even outside of its context as an e-juice brand, it is a groovy look.

9. Enfuse - Pulp

We admit a personal bias here, because Enfuse is a brand local to Toro Imports HQ here in Houston, Texas. However, there’s a lot to be said for its logo and packaging design for their line of Pulp e-Juices.

While the Enfuse logo is simple and conveys what the brand is, the packaging for Pulp reminds us of packaging for food and beverages. The Pulp packaging is classic, readable, and beautifully conveys the flavor with its mostly bi-chromatic color scheme that makes the box itself into a watermelon and lemon hybrid.

The packaging is bright, appealing, and while not as cartoonish and playful as Vapetasia, still has its own crisp, minimal illustrations that make the bottles fun to collect as well as delicious to vape

8. Naked100

Naked100 is one of those brands that you can count on consistently flying off the shelves. Each bottle has a very minimal aesthetic that strives not to give the consumer more visual information than they require — the brand name, the e-juice line, nicotine strength, flavor, etc. 

No additional design elements are ever added to the packaging, which makes the brand unassuming, yet very stylish.

Naked100’s sans-serif font and minimal aesthetic remind us of Apple or Google, strong brands that also strive not to over-design their products. The brand is also careful not to under-design their packaging, either: all of their juices come in an eco-friendly glass bottle with very pale, subtle colors on the labels.

Aside from their innovative flavors, Naked’s sophisticated and thoughtful packaging makes it stand out from the competition as one of the best juices out there.

7. Nasty Juice

On the opposite side of the design spectrum from Naked100 is Nasty Juice. According to their company bio, Nasty Juice is a company founded on the idea of being an “obnoxious e-juice brand” with an “empowered sense of X-rated […] playfully daring spirit”. Standing out from other vape juice brands on this list, Nasty Juice vocally prides itself on its “exquisite advertising and top notch packaging”, which it easily accomplishes.

Nasty Juice, like Vapetasia, understands its alternative, millennial consumer base, diving into design language of skater brands and hip-hop aesthetic. Nasty Juice, much like RAW Rolling Papers, even produces its own skateboard decks and apparel with their signature fun illustrations. We love Nasty Juice not only because they are hugely popular, but because their thoughtful packaging and branding earns the popularity.

Just look at this guy. Nasty as can be.

While each of their line of Nasty Juices have unique packaging, every single bottle is easily identifiably Nasty™.

6. Nasty Juice x Kilo Collab

We just had to bring it back to Nasty Juice, because this collaboration between Nasty Juice and Kilo is absolutely stellar. 

Nasty Juice tends towards its high-contrast, pop culture skater illustrations, while Kilo has a high detail, classical, almost baroque style of packaging. When you combine the two, you get this line of amazing illustrations and packages that remind us of Alphonse Mucha and vintage tobacco ads.

The packaging for the Nasty Juice x Kilo collaboration, to us, shows enormous respect and love for their consumers, knowing that the swag and bottles would be a lot of fun for fans of the individual brands to own. Kilo has a great aesthetic in its own right, but when combined with the powerhouse that is Nasty Juice, they come together to make a gorgeously detailed piece of artwork on every bottle.

5. Alternativ by Marina Vape Co.

Marina Vape Co. is a company that understands the other side of its consumer base that Nasty Juice and Vapetasia don’t quite reach — the sophisticated, yet edgy adults who are also likely big fans of the design of Naked100 bottles. While not quite as minimal as Naked100, the Alternativ juice line by Marina Vape Co. has a strong, informed design language of its own. Each juice is named after Greek letters, while using typography and design elements that are very much from the advanced digital age.

Alternativ e-Juices Alpha through Omega do a beautiful job of showcasing the transcendence of nicotine consumption from traditional smoking to high-tech vaping techniques, while also alluring the consumer with its fruity color schemes.

Like Naked100, the Alternativ vape juice packaging is not over designed, and only has some design elements that aren’t directly giving you information. We love the classy, stylish look of this juice line

4. Fresh Pressed by California Grown E-Liquids

Going back to fun and illustrative, yet a little more modern, Fresh Pressed juices by California Grown E-Liquids reminds us of Enfuse Vapory’s Pulp juices. The logo condenses its flavors into one succinct space, and the entire aesthetic makes the juice line feel very “fresh”, as it claims to be.

The finish on Fresh Pressed bottles is glossy with contrasting metallic and glossy shine, and the illustrations are minimal, yet very appealing.

We are particularly big fans of the high-contrast packaging used for the Fresh Pressed line of Salts. Using its flowery, decorative logo splashed against a matte black background, this packaging is downright sexy.

3. Levels

While the packaging design for Levels is not very illustrative like other brands on this list, it is indeed thoughtful and intriguing. Utilizing design language of the 80’s such as Neon signage color schemes and fonts, Levels understands that its bottles need to earn their place in a customer’s vape juice collection.

This juice brand is for fans of the Terminator, the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror, and the more seasoned of their target demographic who actually lived through the 80’s. 

What impresses us about the packaging for this juice brand is how it conveys a feeling, a time, and a place while giving us very little visual information besides lines and color, with no real change in color values or shading.

2. Coastal Clouds

Coastal Clouds is a hugely popular brand that positively flies off the shelves — in part, we believe, due to their amazing packaging and illustrations.

Like Marina Vape Co., Coastal Clouds utilizes a maritime design aesthetic, making consumers feel like they are inhaling fresh fruit right by the seaside. Coastal Clouds manages to work in the digital age information and inherent newness of vapor products in their vintage packaging feel seamlessly. 

The old-school shape of the label and logo are vectorized, as are the illustrations of the flavors each bottle contains. The color schemes are muted, not overbearing, yet still ‘pop’.

Each design element on the bottle is perfectly balanced with the other elements. While some brands like Nasty Juice can tend to ‘crowd’ the information on their packaging against their vivid, detailed illustrations, all of the information on Coastal Clouds packaging is perfectly legible and beautifully described.

Also, they’re delicious.

1. Psycho Unicorn by Puff Labs

Psycho Unicorn earns first place on our list for design for making us stop and stare every time we pass their bottles in our store. We are suckers for vaporwave aesthetic here at Toro Imports, as is most of their demographic — making Psycho Unicorn by Puff Labs a clever play in packaging design.

One of the latest and greatest crazes in fashion and art nowadays is Glitch and Vaporwave. Psycho Unicorn perfectly merges design language from the 80’s and 90’s, a nostalgia factor for both sides of the vaping demographic spectrum. The illustrations for Psycho Unicorn are as appealing as they are hilarious, which shows that although they understand the importance of great packaging design, they don’t take themselves so seriously that they can’t inject humor in their product.

Psycho Unicorn is stylish, fun, and shows a deep understanding of their consumer base, which makes it our #1 favorite packaging design for vape juices.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Golden Kamuy re-reading: CHAP 13: ‘Guardian spirit’

Trasposed in: Episode 4 ‘Grim reaper’

Currently the story is at: Chap 182: ‘The things about my father that I didn’t know’ (scanlated), Chap 183 ‘Catching up with the wolf’ (raw)

CHAP 13: ‘Guardian spirit’

We don’t have a standard cover for this chapter. The story resumes with Sugimoto and Asirpa going to a river, Sugimoto still carrying the cub along and even giving it a toy.

It’s worth to mention that in the anime what follow is placed in Episode 4, ‘Grim reaper’.

Asirpa explains Sugimoto how the trap to capture fishes works then tells him to help her clean the fishes Sugimoto forgot his knife at Asirpa’s house. Asirpa scolds him and hurries him to get it.

What's interesting is that Asirpa is going to change through the story. Here she sounds bossy and scolding-prone but later on she’ll grow to become more patient and accepting. She’s an evolving character through and through.

Back to Sugimoto he tries to go for a different way in an attempt to reach Asirpa’s home faster and is stopped by an Ainu who tells him not to even move a muscle.

Although Sugimoto doesn’t attack him, it’s clear his first instinct is to think the other is being either rude or aggressive toward him (the background behind him darkens and, even if he asks ‘what do you want?’ he’s not really doing it because he’s curious.

The man though tells him not to touch the cord at his feet, explaining him it’s an arrow trap in which the tip of the arrow are covered in aconite root poison which caused long time suffering instead than instant death… then describes how his cousin ended up hit by one and died.

Realizing the man saved his life Sugimoto thanks him and, at this point, the man introduces himself as Makanakkuru, Osoma’s father and Asirpa’s uncle.

In the anime Sugimoto somehow knew the man was related to Osoma, though in the manga that’s not the case.

Makanakkuru claims he’d been worried about Asirpa even since she’s been going into the mountains alone after her father’s death.

Makanakkuru goes on saying he feels reassured now that a strong guy like Sugimoto is with her, though Sugimoto corrects him saying it’s actually Asirpa who’s saving him most of the time (which is true even if you might have not noticed it because Sugimoto got a lot of action scenes that impress a viewer).

This tiny part is cut in the anime, which, I guess, likes to make Sugimoto look stronger and more capable than the manga actually depicts him to be so as to remark his role as hero.

It’s worth to note how Makanakkuru’s behaviour doesn’t match with what would be a nowaday ordinary uncle behaviour as, in ptesent time, normally a uncle would worry his young niece is spending such a long time alone into the mountains with an unknown man.

He would suspect the man might have dark intention toward his niece and, if he were to know the man instead had involved the niece in a gold hunt, this wouldn’t reassure him in the slightest.

Asirpa’s relatives instead feel safe a man is with her, let her come and go as she please and even consider said men as a potential love interest. They aren’t being mean or uncaring of their niece, those were just times in which people felt and act differently from how they do now.

Back to the story Makanakkuru agrees that Asirpa is a smart girl, therefore, if she likes Sugimoto, this means Sugimoto is probably not a bad guy.

Sugimoto apologizes about his earlier reaction explaining he believed people wouldn’t be friendly with a Japanese.

Note how, when he’ll be in the fake Ainu village and will believe people aren’t being friendly with him, he’ll react with less hostility than what he did now. Sugimoto is a character who grows and change through the story, here he’s still not fully understanding why Ainu might not be friendly and, although he doesn’t mean to cause troubles, when he thinks they could be not friendly he slips into sort of viewing them as enemies. As time will go by and he'll know them better he'll automatically stop doing so.

Makanakkuru will retell us the story about how the people in his village were hoarding the gold to fight the Japanese, which caused Asirpa’s father and his six comrades to be killed. He then goes on and said their ancestors gathered all that gold and kept it untouched for decades and then some men decided to use it to buy weapons. Sugimoto asks him if he has any idea about who could have killed them and he claims he hasn’t, adding that everyone believes it was the wrath of the god of water.

Fundamentally he explains that Ainu cares for the water of the river to the point they don’t use it for laundry or washing away excrements. Panning for the gold caused the water to get dirty so he thinks that soiling the water just to get weapons for war shouldn’t have been done. The gold ended up possessed by an evil spirit and cursed. As he finished his speech we’re shown Abashiri prison and Nopperabō.

Now there are absolutely no visual hints Asirpa’s uncle might know more than what he says.

If we want, this is maybe the only strange thing about it. As said before, from Asirpa’s grandmother’s tale we know there was only a man who knew about were the gold was, and it’s likely it was Asirpa’s grandfather. It’s odd the old man would have passed his knowledge to Wilk and not to his own son when he died, one year before the gold was stolen, but well, it’s possible.

We know that Kiro believed Wilk was on his side in using the gold for his teammates… and we know that Wilk claimed he didn’t kill the other six Ainu. Although Kiro’s fingerprints were found on the Ainu belongings (or so Tsurumi says) it seems hard to think he might have killed them, as he probably believed whose were his allies since they wanted to rebel to the Japanese too.

Kiro believes Wilk betrayed him… but actually when Wilk was caught he was carrying some gold and trying to reach his teammates in Russia as they had agreed... so that might not have been the case. Kiro had no reason to lie about his belief that Wilk had betrayed him so… what if Kiro had been tricked into thinking Wilk killed the Ainu and betrayed him when it actually had been someone else who decided to punish them in place of the god of water for trying to use the gold to wage war?

After all Ainu villages are small. It’s strange Asirpa’s uncle knew nothing about the whole gold plot. And I really, really would like to know who assumed Wilk was death and declared him as such just by watching at his remains and how Kiro discovered how Wilk was alive and in Abashiri prison instead, since the Ainu weren’t informed about this. Sure, Kiro was in the 7th but not under Tsurumi so from where he got that info?

But well, all these are speculations and, as said before, there are no visual clues that make Makanakkuru look suspicious. Even if we assume there were more people involved than just Wilk ad Kiro, it can be we haven’t met them yet.

We’ll see.

By the way the anime adds a tiny bit in which we’re explained by Makanakkuru how ‘aca’ means father in Ainu language.

Timeskip and we’ve Sugimoto and Asirpa go back to Huci’s house bringing lot of fishes. Sugimoto is confused by how Huci seems to place a fish on the back of her neck so Asirpa explains him she’s doing an offering to her guardian spirit, whom Ainu believes comes in and out through the back of their neck, and how, when you receive something, you’re supposed to share it with your guardian spirit.

According to Ainu every person has one form the moment they’re born. Asirpa goes on explaining there are various types of guardian spirits and they believe they’re what causes personalities and abilities to differ as well as control their fate.

She also adds that some Ainu can see them and her grandmother is among them and that she claims Sugimoto has a very powerful one to which Sugimoto reacts by thinking it’s his guardian spirit that makes him immortal.

Sugimoto then points out to how he never saw Asirpa offering something to her guardian spirit, to which Asirpa replies it’s something only old folk do. Sugimoto complains about how kids are in these days, which is a not so subtle hint about how, despite being so polite and respectful with her (he calls her ‘Asirpa-san’), he sees Asirpa as just a KID.

Once the food is ready Sugimoto is about to eat it when he decides to give it to his guardian spirit, gaining Huci’s approbation. One of the good sides of Sugimoto is that he’s very willing to embrace Ainu traditions, saying what Asirpa tells him to say or doing what he sees the other doing. After praising the food he’s being given, Sugimoto decides to add Miso to it, getting scolded by Asirpa who still thinks it’s poop.

What’s worse is that Sugimoto offers it to her grandmother, who offers it to her guardian spirit, which causes Asirpa, who thinks Sugimoto has just caused to have her grandmother offer poor to her guardian spirit, to threaten him with an Ainu punishment rod called Sutu. The scene causes Asirpa’s grandmother to smile, hinting again at how she approves Sugimoto and Asirpa’s ‘relation’ whom she’d like to turn into something serious.

Back to the story, while in the manga there’s a box explaining what a Sutu is, in the anime they had Asirpa doing it but she’s much more vague as she says it’s to punish the wicked while in the manga it’s said is to punish criminals.

The scene switches and we see the men of the 7th staring at the horizon. The First Lieuntenant Tsurumi is informed that, due to the snowfall continuing to search (likely for Tamai and the rest) would be difficult as the falling snow will cover their tracks.

Tsurumi replies that since those four were experienced mountaineers, especially Tanigaki, he thinks it would be hard for them to end up being lost or stranded.

At this point Tsurumi is joined by captain Wada, who’s furious because Tsurumi took HIS men out without his permission.

In the manga isn’t that clear but we’ll see the man with Wada is Tsukishima.

Wada summarizes the situation. Tsurumi has one of his men in critical conditions (Ogata) and four missing (Tamai, Okada, Noma and Tanigaki), plus he’s been secretly taking weapons an ammunitions from Asahikawa. Long story short, Wada is furious with him for all this.

It’s worth to note that, although Wada doesn’t appear like a nice guy, his concerns for his men is praiseworthy and his worry for the weapons Tsurumi is taking are legittimate. Of course, it’s a little hard to correctly judge him considering how few pages of him we have, it can be he’s just annoyed Tsurumi overstepped his bounds but...

Also, we’re to wonder if Tamai went to search for whoever injured Ogata under Tsurumi’s orders or following his own plan. Both are possible as Tsurumi might have been curious to know how Ogata got injured but Tamai could have been curious as well and might have decided to act on his own. Personally I think Tamai acted on his own.

Anyway at this point we discover that during the battle of Mudken Tsurumi got a head injury that caused him to lose part of his frontal lobe and that makes it leak a bit.

Wada, still angry, wonders how he could keep his ranking with such an injury, as he should have been dismissed from service. Wada is right, who reported such serious injuries should have been freed from Army obligation but, the way Wada put it implies he wants to use this to kick Tsurumi out, claiming he can’t cover for him any longer and that there’s no more place for Tsurumi in the Army. The result is that, although Wada is right, he seems a jerk who’s taking it out on an injured man. We automatically tend to side with Tsurumi, even if it’s Tsurumi who did the wrong things, not Wada.

And now... a break here.

We’ll learn later that Tsurumi’s family was wealthy, allowing him to receive a certain education, but afterward it fell in disgrace. We don’t really know what moves Tsurumi, only he wants to establish a military state in Hokkaido of which he wants to be the leader. It’s however possible deep down all he wants is to return his family to its original splendour.

If that’s the case remaining in the Army it’s his only hope. If he were to be sent home, as injured as he is, only a life of misery would wait him. Therefore Wada’s words should have come particularly unpleasant.

If we assume also that Wada might come from a wealthy family instead, and how he’s clearly not scared of Tsurumi and Tsurumi has apparently nothing to blackmail him it gets easier to understand why Tsurumi will act as it’ll follow.

On the other side, Tsurumi lost his wife and daughter in Russia, possibly because someone in the army tattled out Tsurumi was Hanazawa in disguise, so maybe what's also moving Tsurumi is the wish of revenge toward someone in the army... so not only he really need to remain in it but might hate whoever is in it thinking they could be among the ones who betrayed him.

In fact, as Wada points his finger at Tsurumi, Tsurumi bites that finger off, hard enough it rips it away from Wada’s hand and then spit it in Wada’s face, which I'll say is a clearly spiteful act. Tsurumi blames his actions to his wound, which causes him to have troubles controlling his temper but that, putting that aside, he’s the picture of good health, warriors take pride in scars (which was, if I’m not wrong, part of the samurai mentality and a hint Tsurumi’s family might have been among them) and claims his scar makes him look dashing.

However it’s also worth mentioning Tsurumi’s daughter was killed by a bullet going through her head as a baby. This might have disfigured her, but it also might have affected Tsurumi’s perception of beauty.

Now, while it’s possible Tsurumi’s reaction was caused by his wound… somehow it doesn’t seem believable as he calms down immediately (we’ll see Sugimoto completely losing control), giving me more the impression of Tsurumi doing as he pleased and then blaming it on the wound.

Tsurumi’s behaviour is undoubtedly over the top here and there (not always though) so Wada calling him a lunatic makes sense but it would be interesting to know how he was previously (as Hasegawa he seemed a pretty calm and collected guy but, of course, he was playing a role) and if it’s all an act to impress the viewers or not. Tsurumi is an amazing intelligence officer after all and acting in a certain way might have the purpose of spreading false information on his mental state. Hard to say, though, for me, I like to think his behaviour is genuine.

Anyway… biting off the finger of a superior officer is a SERIOUS offence in the Army, one that allows Wada to sentence Tsurumi to death.

Wada then says ‘fire at will’ which means the soldiers should kill Tsurumi. Tsukishima though (yes, it’s Tsukishima even if at the time he was drawn a little differently) blasts Wada’s head away.

Tsurumi then tells his men to strip Wada of his uniform and bury him.

Afterward he gives a pretty speech about how their comrades in Manchuria are buried under cold barren stones, on how they still haven’t received reparation from Russia and how the soldiers defending the frontier were left with nothing but barren worthless land and therefore their war isn’t over.

Now… if you skip Tsurumi’s pretty speech what they’re doing is: insubordination, murder, rebellion and, fundamentally, betrayal of the Army and the Japanese government.

It’s true Sugimoto doesn’t know all the details but it’s fun how he insists Ogata is a traitor because he left the 7th when fundamentally even if he had remained in the 7th he would have been one so, in short, he wasn’t given that many options.

It’s also worth to point out how Wada insisted on Ogata’s condition being serious. We tend to forget it because we didn’t see him in the hospital, and when he showed up, apart from the scars on his cheeks he seemed fine and dandy, but it seems his own condition after his meeting with Sugimoto was seriously bad and his recover pretty miraculous.

By the way, as already mentioned, in the anime this whole 7th division bit was placed in the previous episode (the 3rd) so of course it’s skipped in the 4th.

Now, if there’s something I’ve always wondered that is the reason to have Wada exist. Why had Tsurumi asked Tsukishima to lead him there and then killed him first chance he got? Was Wada behind Ogata and Tamai’s rebellion?

So far it’s hard to say but I think it could be an interesting perspective.

Well, this is all for this chapter. See you at the next if I’ll manage to re-read it.

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2018, Part V

We’re finally here. Thank you for reading. Or at least scrolling around to the movies that you care about. GREAT MOVIES

12. Minding the Gap (Bing Liu)- In part because it's produced by Steve James, Minding the Gap's easy short-hand is "Hoop Dreams for skateboarding." Because most of the film's pleasures come from following the subjects over the course of five or six years, that makes sense. What differs is that director Bing Liu is so young, which makes this a promising film if a less definitive one than James's feature debut. It’s trying to do so much, but it never feels calculated or constructed as it expands. Boldly, Liu seems to suggest that people don't really change that much, that what drives them or gnaws at them just manifests itself in different ways. The cycle of abuse ends up being a common element for the three skaters, and, as Liu admits on camera, domestic violence is the reason he made the film. (The treatment of it is raw, a blunt object when a more delicate instrument might work better.) He got the hard part right though: delicately getting us to care about people who sometimes don't care about themselves. 11. A Quiet Place (John Kransinski)- Strong early Shyamalan vibes from this lean chiller. Krasinski's directing debut, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, didn't do much for me, and I skipped his obligatory man-comes-back-to-hometown-because-his-mom's-dying follow-up. But the filmmaking really impressed me here just by understanding how to set the table of this kind of movie. A close-up on an important nail sticking out of a floorboard here, an effortless explanation of a rule there. The hang-up for a film this high-concept is that you get distracted by all of the unanswered questions. (How did he get a printer quiet enough to print out all of those radio call signals?) But this world is fleshed out enough, especially an eerie dinner sequence, to bypass that kind of stuff for me. More than anything, there's a sort of elasticity of shot selection that serves the suspense. A tender early scene in which the central couple is dancing while wearing headphones goes on for maybe twice as long as one might expect. So later, the cross-cuts and smash-cuts have even more weight because the camera was allowed to linger earlier. Here's maybe the biggest reason for the movie's success: The characters are all slightly smarter than the audience, whereas the temptation might have been to go the other way with it. 10. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)- I don't know if I can add anything to the discourse on this meditative yet ambitious film. I do think one early scene points at what makes it special for the genre. When T'Challa is first named king, he has to be drained of the Black Panther powers to fight anyone who wishes to challenge the throne. A member of an outsider tribe challenges him and nearly beats him. It shows a) the world-building of this noble, fair culture, b) the existence of this fully developed clan that will be important later, c) just how human T'Challa is if his reign can come so perilously close to ending just as it has begun. Every scene like that has a logical purpose. Of course, once Killmonger, the best, most realistically motivated Marvel villain of all time, gets introduced, we return to that method of challenging the throne, and writers Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole aren't afraid to let the worst possible thing happen to T'Challa. What occurred forty-five minutes earlier makes this fight seem like a fait accompli. And it's in this sort of narrative detail that the film is able to work up to its thematic purpose. The first half is about, to quote T'Chaka, whether a good man can be a good king. But the second half is about the responsibility of goodness. Show me where Iron Man bit off that much. 9. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski)- Although it takes place mostly in one location during one day, Support the Girls has a bigger world going on in its margins. We hear it on radios, or we see it in the people taking a pitstop in Double Whammies while they're on their way somewhere better. But the force that's really encroaching on the characters' insulated environment is Mancave, the national chain that threatens to put them out of business. "They have commercials and everything," one character complains, and we get snatches of those commercials that were presumably directed by Andrew Bujalski himself. It's ten seconds of content maybe, shot in a bigger, broader style than the modest approach of the rest of the film. But the key to understanding how far Bujalski has come is realizing that he is no longer making fun of the people in the commercial, even if they're jacked bros screaming for a boxing match. That portrayal is amplified, sure, but Bujalski is mature enough now to not ridicule those people. It's okay that they're just not the people he's interested in. He's supernaturally empathetic toward the rogue's gallery of people he is interested in, who spin the ordinary challenges of the working class into something extraordinary. The sunniest member of the team is played by Haley Lu Richardson, who deserves special recognition as the indefatigable Maci. I can't think of parts that are much different from her roles in this, Columbus, and Split, to the extent that people probably don't realize they're played by the same woman, but she rules in every single one. The sky is the limit for her. When a workplace is described as "a family," it's usually just a way for the boss to take advantage of workers when the "family" designation does nothing to help them: "I know I shouldn't ask you to work off the clock, but can you help me out as a FAMILY MEMBER?" Occasionally though, it does feel like a family when people work closely to one another for hours on end and depend upon one another for real life needs. This movie is about what happens when a work family is both control and support.

8. Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)- The trailer for Children of Men advertises itself as "from the director of The Prisoner of Azkaban and Y Tu Mama Tambien," and I remember an audience giggling at that strange CV. For one thing, at the time people didn't understand yet why someone would brag about contributing to a Harry Potter movie. But to pair that children's picture with either a Spanish title they hadn't heard of or a movie that they knew was sexually explicit? Who was this guy? Roma is who he is. I like some of his other films more--I would argue that his approach hurts the performances here--but it seems impossible for him to make anything this personal again. The baldly emotional highs that it reaches come not only from the direct simplicity of the story but also from the sophisticated perspective with which it's being downloaded directly from Cuaron's memory. (It's also, accidentally or purposefully, quite a political film at this moment in time. It insists, sometimes in the dialect of Mixtec, that these people around us silently washing dishes or picking up dog poo are, in fact, part of our family.) There's a moment when one brother throws something at another's head, barely missing, and they both stop in their tracks with fear about how tragically things could have ended up. My dad experienced a similar moment in his childhood, and he would tell the same story about Uncle Steve throwing a shoe at him any time we passed the wooden door with a dent in it at my grandma's house. What a tiny moment to live on for decades, in tangible and intangible ways. Cuaron claims that all of these moments shape us, and taking us to the moon was only a warm-up for resurrecting them for us. 7. Happy As Lazzaro (Alice Rohrbacher)- Alice Rohrwacher won the screenplay award at Cannes, probably because her script for Happy As Lazzaro is fundamentally unpredictable. Games of checkers are unpredictable though. That word doesn't quite cover the way the viewer is forced to guess at something as elemental as "What year is this taking place?" And none of the twists and turns of the storytelling--I refuse to spoil--would gel if Rohrwacher as a director wasn't teaching you how to watch the film the whole time with a rich, warm, light touch. Considering the purity of this vision as a fable, buoyed by realistic labor concerns on the other hand, it's a pity that people are calling Birdbox "crazy" when something like this is just a few clicks down on that service. 6. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)- When assessing The Favourite, the easy temptation is to say that because it isn't stuffy, because of its scabrous wit or its intimate filming techniques, that it "isn't your mother's chamber drama." It is invigorating, but in a lot of ways, the film isn't saying anything that the average Masterpiece Theater production doesn't. Instead it takes cultural touchstones about the emptiness of power and distorts them, much like the fish-eye lenses that Yorgos Lanthimos favors to photograph the palace. It says an easy thing in a hard way, with conviction to burn. Lanthimos seems freed by not having to write the screenplay, and every decision of his is rooted in making things more narrow. The barrel distortion of the fish-eye seems apt for this idea, but so do the secret passageways that Queen Anne gets wheeled through to avoid the lower rungs of the estate. Of course there's no outside world to intrude upon her majesty. But there's even an inner world to the inner world. (It's impossible to watch Olivia Colman's gonzo depiction of Anne's incurious indolence and not think of Trump.) I'm convinced that Emma Stone can do anything, and the final shot, an all-timer, only validates that suspicion. 5. Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (Gus Van Sant)- You have to check out every Gus Van Sant movie, even after a few missteps, because you never know: He might take the emotional climax that you didn't even know you wanted and score it to inter-diegetic "Still Rock 'N Roll to Me," thus grounding real poignance with even realer goofiness.I'll admit that the bar is low, but this is probably the most authentic, least treacly movie ever made about addiction recovery. Van Sant, who wrote, directed, and edited, tells the story with patient command. We take Joaquin Phoenix for granted at this point, but everybody on the poster is exceptional. And Udo Kier gets to say, "Pop, pop. It's always about penises." INSTANT CLASSICS

4. A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper)- In one scene Cooper's Jackson Maine wears a black leather jacket under a brown leather vest, and the movie itself risks that kind of hat-on-a-hat silliness and redundancy. But instead it comes off as the best kind of big swing, a comforting and warm serving of Old Hollywood. Cooper's camera knows how to embrace silence and let the leads play off each other to craft raw, touching performances. Sometimes the close-ups are so intense and focused that, when he cuts back to a master, it's disorienting to be reminded that there are other people in that space, in the world at all.The movie's deficiencies come from "Wait, how much time has passed?" moments in the writing, problems that I always have had with Eric Roth projects. But it's easy to get swept up in a movie of moments that believes so much in itself.

3. Mission: Impossible- Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)- The pattern of Mission: Impossible- Fallout is: infodump that explains the stakes and the strategy of what we're about to see, followed by an action sequence that is somehow even more thrilling than the one that came before it. Imagine a really interesting day of grade school classes, in which you learned, like, multiplication, followed by recess every other period. As for T.C., what more could you possibly want out of a human being?

2. Wildlife (Paul Dano)- When Jerry, Jake Gyllenhaal's groundskeeper of pathetic pride, figures out that his boss is about to fire him in front of his son, he smiles and, through clenched teeth, asks if this talk can happen tomorrow. Part of him actually believes that postponing the meeting will help; maybe the boss's temper will cool overnight. But this is a man who is bound by the same desperate spirit as his wife Jeanette, who muses, "Tomorrow something will happen that will make us feel different." When people are living day-to-day, clinging to their dignity--he refers to himself as a "small person" at one point--tomorrow really does offer a regenerative power. Those characters are the same-pole magnets that inform this coming-of-age tale, and the subtext of the film is "Can you believe Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal have a fourteen-year-old son?" It works for the 1960 setting because these are people who defined themselves before they knew who they were, and they'll now do anything to re-define themselves as brave/sexy/valuable. But it works for the actors too. Gyllenhaal in particular is tender and heartbreaking in a true supporting role, allowing himself to look his age, framing himself with the dad akimbo arms. But Mulligan's fake confidence is great too, especially in a scene in which she nearly begs her husband to let her work. Something tells me that I should credit a director for coaxing two career best performances from two great actors. Some people just have it, and Paul Dano does.

1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)- In 1998 I dragged my father to see Paul Schrader's Affliction, a movie that was kind of about my father's father. When the end credits rolled on that bleak, wrenching film, my dad turned to me and said, "I feel like I have to take a shower." We walked around a nearby hotel and talked for an hour, not that he was able to articulate why he was so shaken. We discussed the difference between entertainment and art and what makes a piece of either successful. Even though he hated the experience, he couldn't deny that it was an experience. He kept on saying, "That's not why I go to the movies." And no matter what I, fifteen at the time, told him, he couldn't understand that's exactly why I go to the movies. First Reformed had the same mesmerizing effect as the best of Schrader's work: When I exited the building, I stumbled into the sunlight because I had been trapped in someone else's mind for almost two hours.

Part of that effect comes from the narrative device of Reverend Toller's journal, which plants us in his headspace from the beginning. Part of it comes from the intimate scale of the film, which features only a handful of locations. But if what I'm explaining seems small, then I'm doing a bad job. The canvas expands. Schrader insists that our care for the environment is our most immediate responsibility; this film historian has no problem with planting the film at 2017 in dialogue. And that emphasis is matched only by his disdain for how big business encroaches on personal aspects of our lives. There's even a scene that tries to account for a recent rise in extremism among young people. As if to prove that he isn't being pedantic, he has one character communicate one of those ideas, letting you assume that role is his mouthpiece, then he has another character reply with something just as convincing. First Reformed weaves in those elements, but it's ultimately a character piece that humanizes the type of person we think we know but for which we have no frame of reference. In Ethan Hawke's piercing performance, we see a Reform minister who punishes himself actively and passively for what he thinks are sins. He uses faith as an armor and as an excuse, being so of the mind and--as another character puts it--"in the garden" that he denies himself medical care. No matter what anyone else tells him, he is convinced of one of the tenets that Schrader could never shake from his Calvinist upbringing: There's nothing you can do to save yourself.

[velveteenau-blog1]

Mixing Pop Vocals

Reading Time 6-7 Minutes

I - Love - Mixing. Even when working on the production end of a track, my brain tends to make decisions with the mix already in mind. Often, the biggest challenge in the mix stage is getting the vocals to sit in the right place within the music. The sweet spot tends to be crisp sounding but not too thin. Leaving an abundance of lows/mids can create mud but removing too much can make things sound brittle and harsh. For me, it’s all about finding the perfect balance between the highs and lows for each unique vocalist to get the perfect end result. Over the years I’ve tweaked my process a million different ways, and it continues to evolve. The plugins I use specifically will certainly change from time to time but they always serve a similar purpose.

I should mention I always start by mixing the instrumental layers first, and work the vocals into that. As you read on, you will see that I prefer to work in moderate steps using multiple inserts on the same track. I find subtle nipping and tucking along the way leads to a present and rich vocal without sounding over compressed or EQ’d. I like to think of it as a “correct, enhance, correct, enhance” process - but it’s never set in stone!

Step 1 - General Clean Up

I always start by touching up the most obvious issues with multiband compression, this ensures they aren’t further exaggerated as we compress the vocal down the line. Recently I’ve been loving the Waves ‘F6 Floating Band Dynamic EQ’ for this. It’s got a real time spectral analyzer which helps locate trouble spots and can be very surgical if needed. I prefer multiband compression rather than EQ to start as it only reduces the desired frequencies when they cross the threshold set, thus not affecting the vocal everywhere at all times.

Every voice is different but there tends to be three spots I look at first. I’ll sweep through these bands with a sharp Q to find the exact area in need of correction. 150-300hz (this is where chest boom/mud usually swells up), 600hz-1k (controlling mid-range honk can really make a vocal sound more pleasant to the ears especially when the singer belts) and 2.5-7khz (harsh edge and sibilance usually live here). I’ll also roll off around 80hz and below seeing as there is no information we want down there anyways. The width of the Q and amount of reduction will change in every scenario. Trust your ears and compress until things no longer pop out.

Step 2 - Introduce Compression

At this point I’m just looking for transparent, medium speed, soft knee compression to get the party started. I really like Waves ‘Rvox’ for this - it’s quick, easy and affective. I’m usually looking for about 4-6 DB of gain reduction at peak moments to level out the performance without adding any character. Think of it as rounding out the edges and beginning to control dynamics.

Step 3 - Surgical EQ

Now that we’ve done a little tonal clean up and started to fatten the voice up, further subtractive EQ is usually done next. I tend to focus back in on the low mids, carving out trouble spots with a super tight ‘Q’ that are still sticking out to much. I’m looking for precision, not character so the stock Avid ‘EQ III’ works great. Sometimes to get a nice, crisp vocal, the best move is to remove the thicker low/mids to make the whole package feel brighter and more present, before reaching to boost the highs. This also frees up sonic space for for the vocals to sit around the bass, synths, drums and other competing frequencies. Depending on the sonics of the over all song, I may also boost 16 khz and above to add a little “air” if the track calls for it.

Step 4 - Compression Part 2

At this stage in the game my goal is to further compress without affecting the transients. I’m still not looking to add any character and slow attack is key. Some of my mixer friends may think I’m crazy for this but my next go-to is Waves ‘Renaissance Axx’. Touted as a guitar compressor, I love it on vocals. Setting the attack as slow as possible, I can further reduce things another 3-6 DB on peaks with almost no audible compression. What really makes this plugin great is that the auto make up gain brings out the quieter moments nicely.

Step 5 - Final Correction

The first 4 steps have lead to a clean, present, compressed vocal without sounding squashed and lifeless. Dynamic yet controlled. This final corrective step will vary with the sonic character of the voice. Depending on the singers timbre you may find it’s a little on the sibilant side (sharp “s” and “t” sounds etc) or it may still feel a little to thick in the low mids. Regardless of the problem I usually reach for Wave ‘C4 multiband compressor’. It works great as a broad stroke tool when de-essing or further controlling low mids.

I should add I rely heavily on volume automation to correct the worst offenders of sibilance. Subtle fader moves can easily fix most of the stand out problems and that way you avoid shaving off to much top end with something like the ‘C4’ or any de-esser for that matter.

Step 6 - Let’s Get Tasty - Compression 3.0

This is when I like to reach for a compressor that will add some warmth and flavour to the mix. My current favourite for this is the UA 1176. World renowned for its tonal characteristics it’s been my favourite addition to my vocal chain as of late. Usually, but not always, with a medium attack and slightly quicker release. Since our peaks have been rounded out and controlled in the first 2 steps of compression, I usually look for about 3 DB of average reduction here. The pre-levelled signal can handle a bit more of this coloured compression seeing as it isn’t peaking nearly as much as a raw vocal would. This allows for a more steady compression sound and the character this compressor brings!

Step 7 - Final Touch - Special EQ

If the compressor was adding salt to the pallet, here’s comes the pepper. I like to treat this last step as broad stroke enhancements. Usually focused on adding that last little bit of top end air and presence. Lately I’ve been loving the UA Pultec EQ for this. Using a nice broad Q, voice depending, I’ll boost the 10, 12 or 16 kHz bands to taste.

Step 8 - Everybody on the (sub) Bus!

For me, the last, but very important step is the bus treatment. I always group my vocals based on parts or sections through their own sub bus. Lead vocals and select harmonies/doubles. BGs grouped by parts, “oohs and ahhhs”, counter melodies, vocal vamps etc. I usually end up with 4/5 sub-groups of vocals being sent to their own aux.

On those busses I look for bus compression to glue together all the vocal layers and affects (reverbs, delays etc. which i didn’t dive into in this post). The UA Neve 33609 was a game changer in this regard. It is nothing short of amazing at doing just that.

Following the compressor I like a channel strip like the SSL 4KE. It’s modelled from input to fader so it adds that certain “je ne sais quois” even if I’m not using the EQ or compressor. That said as the mix grows and evolves, I lean on this strip for further adjustments as required.

The Takeaway

There is absolutely no right or wrong way to go about mixing. The gift and curse of this part of the gig is that it is usually completely subjective, especially in the process one uses. Even as I write this, I’m contemplating new plugins to add to my mix chain. It never ends! Have fun, try new things, trust your ears and come up with as many efficiencies as you can to allow yourself to focus on being creative. Happy mixing!

Links to Equipment and Software Used

Waves F6 Dynamic EQ

Waves Renaissance Vox

Avid EQ III

Waves Renaissance Axx

Waves C4 Multiband Compressor

UAD 1176

UAD Pultec EQ

UAD Neve 33609

UAD SSL 4KE Strip

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandon Unis is part owner of Cylinder Sound & Film in Toronto and co-producer in the duo Towers. He works as a mixer, engineer, producer and songwriter and has one co-write certified gold in Canada.

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[suzunofuu]

Beware of the long post. I’m going to talk “briefly” about what’s wrong with how Inazuma Eleven treats its narrative and characters.

Look, one of the problems with how they treat characters is that they don't know how to develop them without giving them several minutes of screen time and long monologues.

Subtlety is essential when you have these many characters. It's not impossible to introduce everyone and tell everyone's stories, you just have to focus on what you want to tell first and who's gonna grow at which time and, most importantly, stop being afraid of spending more than two episodes treating someone's topic.

Not everyone's issues can be treated at once, and not everyone can have an issue all the time. That's why I think the aliea arch did a good job at representing many characters' growth and their outcomes: you have a brief presentation of the character, the character does something that's related to their purpose, they start to act in consequence of their need to achieve aforesaid purpose, and have an outcome when they reach it or can't reach it. All of this doesn't happen in one episode, it stretches during the whole season in a way everyone has space to go through these steps. And it works really well. (I said 'purpose' but I mean their plot's “finish line”. I mean their story as a whole.)

This arch also shows the main problem with IE. You present two characters with much potential like are Nagumo and Suzuno (check how I'm going to keep mentioning the ones I love the most during the whole post) as a big threat/big deal, yet they literally disappear after the chaos match? Like, literally. Gemini Storm and Epsilon are mentioned during the season and reappear in the third. Nagumo and Suzuno do reappear too, but it means nothing to the story.

I already talked about it on another post, how unsustainable it is Midorikawa and Hiroto's appearance in third season, how it is not coherent that everyone is okay with having them around as if they hadn't destroyed schools and people's lives. Ignoring this (which I fucking CAN'T), and ignoring the fact they are mere stand arounds, they contribute to the story. Poorly, but they do. If you suddenly saw your ex-team mate who you were going to dominate the world with at the final match of an important tournament, you'd expect that to be a good subplot to develop during the four damn episodes they dedicated to the match. But, no. “Oh, wow, our ex-mates, damn! How can it be possible for them to still exist if we didn't even think about their whereabouts when the academy was destroyed? Oh, the match is over, we aren't going to talk to them. It's not like we have issues to discuss.” Of course.

It's obvious that not every character can have a full development. They fight against a lot of teams all the time, if they had to give everyone a good backstory or time to show us that backstory this would become a Detective Conan 2.0: neverending. But the characters of the main team deserve that treatment, even if they're not the main three. And so do their potential enemies, those that the season focuses on.

What am I trying to say with all this?

Don't throw in characters “a lo loco” without repairing in who they are besides a forward, midfielder or a kid with an attitude. The essence of the show is already there, we all feel the passion for football and the power of friendship. You really don't have to keep reinforcing those ideas.

Please learn to be subtle. The audience isn't stupid. Kids aren't stupid. You don't have to be stilted, but don't be obvious. It'll make the show poor and too easy to watch and understand. (Note: if you're introducing difficult concepts, tho, like the goddamn time travel, DO SPEND some time explaining how that works. This is a kid's show, after all. They're not scientists.)

Quit the fanservice already, and if you're doing it, do it right. I'm not talking about introducing pretty boys that they know will be liked, or having x and y interact just because (which actually works because they are a team and have to talk to everyone in it). I'm referring to when they see that a character works and is loved, and they keep making them come back to the show without a purpose or a purpose so weak they leave three episodes later. This isn't about when they team up with x ex friend so they can help them grow, no. What doesn't work is having Fubuki as a main character the whole second season and putting him around in the third because “oh, he's a strong boy, we all love him, he's not going to be relevant at all but hey, here, see him in the background, he looks pretty.” ????? No.

Stop the flashbacks. They don't work. They don't have a reason to be there. At first they didn't use them much and only ever did when they were needed, but somehow they've become essential to the narrative? One thing is how you structure the different scenes and another is flashbacking the whole damn time to explain things that wouldn't have needed explanation if you told the story lineally. Example: in Chrono Stone, when they go to the museum and Tenma has a flashback of how the bear told them how they were going to infiltrate in it. That's an absurd and stupid way to use flashbacks. Fubuki remembering the avalanche that killed their family because he heard a loud sound IS an acceptable way of doing so.

They want the general story to develop, and the general story follows Endou, Kidou and Gouenji (in the original) and for their story to flow they need several screen time minutes and long dialogues. That's poor. That's so very poor. Showing someone's reaction to an event is enough to know how they are feeling and to understand their future actions. Use this for the smaller characters while the others take all the screen time, if you want. But there's ways and ways to talk about everyone and not make it feel rushed.

What happens in IEGO is that they get distracted with the situation the character’s are in instea of telling their stories. It’s more important that fifth sector controls soccer than the characters’ reactions to soccer being controlled. (In this season it doesn’t show much, but with chrono stone and galaxy it becomes super absurd.) Also, IEGO (and you’ll have to forgive me for saying this but it’s the impression it gave me) wants to include the characters of the originals with such intent that they lose all focus on anyone at all. I think they wanted to talk about them so much they forgot they actually had new characters and stories. I won’t ever complain that I get to see them as adults but, please, if you’re introducing them at least give them a purpose? Don’t have them show around just because you want to prove they’re alive and how they’ve phisically changed.

Examples of good treatment of the characters: I'm always going to defend ie originals because they started (narratively) very well. They didn't rush into it. They gave space for the characters to find their way into Raimon and, consequently, into the main plot. Fubuki in season 2, my best and most abvious example. We didn’t know anything about him, but he wormed his way into the plot, slowly, evidencing his trauma and desires at the right moments. Hiroto, too. He appeared briefly in one episode, and from them we started to see him more and more, learning about his purposes, getting to know who he is, until they finally fought aginst him and discovered the pile of trash the poor kid and his mates had to carry on their shoulders.

Example of subtlety: Kurimatsu left the team after Kazemaru did, discouraged by learning they still had to keep fighting and that his friends couldn't bear with the situation anymore. He didn't have much screen time (except when he "sees" Kazemaru on the field when he's not actually there, and I would have cut that part because his conflict already worked without needing to exteriorize it that much) but you could tell he was struggling due to Kazemaru's departure. When he left, you already knew he was going to, and you hadn't needed a full episode to explain it: focusing on his expression while everything happened was enough.

Example of rushing into presenting a character: Kariya. They throw him in the team in one episode, pisses Kirino off, we see a brief flashback of him kicking a football in the next episode and suddenly he being a nuisance and a total arse to Kirino can be forgotten and forgiven. Makes sense? No. He had great potential and they wasted it.

Example of characters with great potential that got lost within the main plot: Hakuryuu and Shuu. What's more interesting for a film, seeing some kids train the same way they constantly do in the show, or see the backstories of two new characters that, well, have had it difficult in life? One is a spirit or ghost or whatever who had his sister be sacrificed and the other has been brutally abused so he would become strong. Yet seeing Shindou flop off a giant leaf to a river is more interesting. Shuu and Hakuryuu were better off not existing than existing for no reason. I like them so much and they were mistreated so badly.

One last note: the dialogues don't have to be explanatory of what's happening in the scene. They can be, but if you can avoid it, goddamn avoid it. Audiovisual media's strong point is that it can tell stories without the need of words. Take advantage of that. Use it to reinforce someone's backstory or actual mind state. “I'm so sad Gouenji-kun my family is dead”... this is raw and totally unbelievable. When you have trauma you don't go throwing it around the way you talk about how much you love your dog. You want to talk about it, but do so in a subtler way. It works best because it adds reality to the way the characters work, it's understandable for the audience, and it doesn't make the dialogues suck.

And one last LAST note: treat the girls better. For fuck's sake, treat the girls better. You reach a huge audience that includes young women and all you're showing them is that they are weak and only have a place in football as managers. I'll quote Megane (who I despise to unbearable levels): "it's a girl's team, they'll be easy to defeat!" What the fuck. What the fucking fuck. Fortunately the girls prove them wrong. And fortunately Touko exists, who is not the same stereotype as the other girls. And fortunately Haruna has a different behavior than the others. And fortunately Ulvida kick's everyone's asses, and Rika is a girl of color, and Midori is quite manly, etc. But besides that? Girly girls doing girly things and posing in a girly way and being weaker than the boys. NO. I want one of them to smash Gouenji into the fucking ground and beat the shit out of his big ego. I love him, but he can't be indestructible.

That's all I got to say as of now.