#The road to redemption is a hard and arduous one | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sketching-shark · 2 years ago

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I honestly wish for s3 that the episodes were longer than 11 minutes, so we could get some good development.

Anyway. I kinda like how they handled Macaque's START at redemption (whether he continues on it remains to be seen). I don't consider it full redemption because of the crap he pulled (regardless of circumstances), but it's a start. And Wukong apologizing to MK was great, not as emotional as I thought it'd be, but I was content. And, in regards to MK, the kid appears very understanding and forgiving, and I personally think a lot smarter emotionally than people give him credit for. (Also the fact he put Macaque in time out made me laugh so hard)

I will say it does feel like something in Macaque did change, maybe after getting his ass kicked by possessed Wukong, he realized "well shit, if I wanna live guess revenge isn't gonna help me, I'm just gonna die again". I need more backstory into what happened between them because I feel like A LOT would be explained (not excused, obviously) knowing that info. I want to analyze this monkey's psyche.

Also apologies for this being all over the place �� I tend to ramble

Hey no worries @ladyzerodark ! I get where you're coming from & definitely agree that the season 3 special would work best as the START to Macaque's redemption arc rather than its totality. Kind of like I agree that Sun Wukong apologizing to Xiaotian works well as a BEGINNING to an arc of the Monkey King working hard to be the best shifu he can be rather than his apology being a one-and-done kind of deal. Like it's more and more clear that Xiaotian is quite forgiving & wants to give people the chance to change for the best rather than freezing them out of his life or always going straight for the ultra-violence (even though he is very clearly willing to use said ultra-violence to end a bad situation if needed), but tbh in that regard I often feel like the most satisfying stories about redemption/improvement are those that give more weight to the choices & behaviors of the person working to become better rather than treating it as an afterthought to acts of forgiveness. Changing your behavior is hard and arduous process--especially if there's trauma underlying it--but it's still possible & can give you and the people you love a level of peace of peace that didn't seem possible. And seeing the road to get there, making choice after choice to be better even when it's really difficult, can make for really powerful tales.

But that's precisely where I feel a lot of "redemption" stories fall completely flat or become downright insulting and damaging. Like so many seem to be set up in such a way where character A is just dishing out one act of forgiveness/second chance after another even though character B refuses each and every one of them, getting worse and worse & hurting more and more people to the point where you're left like "wow! You could have literally saved a lot of lives if you just murked this a-hole instead of giving them YET ANOTHER chance to be slightly less horrible than they currently are!" And I'm not saying that that kind of story is inherently bad; I think you could do a lot of interesting stuff in terms of exploring how love for one person can blind you to their actions, explore what might happen when explanations for bad behavior becomes excuses for said behavior, and explore the positives and detriments of the concepts of forgiveness and redemption as a whole. What we often get, however, is stories where even after a character is in the deep pit of their moral event horizon and has consistently taken every single opportunity they could to hurt/kill/maim for their own goals, suddenly all of a sudden in the 25th hour they'll be like "okay no longer evil now I want to be loved" & we're just supposed to forget everything they've done. Like what.

BUT ANYWAY, coming back from my own rant about this story type & with apologies for my own act of being all over the place, I feel like even though it was kind of jarring to see how quick Xiaotian was to leave a door open for Macaque given everything this shadow basturd has put him & his loved ones through it definitely was a good move in my book that Macaque isn't a part of team Monkie & that he still clearly has a lot of hostility with SWK. They were allies in an extreme situation, but they still have a LOT of stuff to work out before they could be considered friends, if ever. It will be interesting to see where Monkie Kid will go from here in terms of what they might do with SWK and Macaque's development, but yeah fingers crossed that as you said they treat the s3 special more as the BEGINNING to acts of conscious self-improvement rather than the end point for these two monkeys.

That said, I have to have a laff both at your completely possible idea that Macaque's going to lighten up his attempts at bloody revenge because he's starting to like Xiaotian as a person but mainly because he's now fully aware of just how much SWK has been holding back, and as per usual at the way all of their backstory is treated as such a mystery even though you can turn to JTTW right now & read all about the Six-Eared Macaque's attempt to murder-replace the Monkey King asdfewadf. Yes yes I'm sure they'll add a lot more complexity to the situation in Monkie Kid but honestly it's been a source of constant amusement for me to see people going to JTTW to get a sense of other Monkie Kid characters' backgrounds & motivations but when it comes to Mr. Macaca the popular fandom reaction seems to be "suddenly I could not read <3". IDK why this is. Maybe because it makes Macaque seem a lot less forgivable & SWK's disdain a lot more understandable if the shadow monkey's backstory is still the og classic of "beat up the Tang monk & held SWK's monkey family captive & tried to murder-replace the Monkey King & maybe also cannibalized at least one monkey." Maybe it's because shipping him with SWK is made much more creepy given that basically his entire appearance in JTTW was running around in a SWK fursuit and insisting he was the one and only Monkey King lmao. But at least for me it's starting to get kind of baffling to see the extent to which people just WILL NOT even acknowledge that Macaque's role in JTTW was as SWK's evil twin, or all the reasons that SWK would be enraged at Macaque as a result. We'll see I guess, but personally I'm hoping that they keep in the og background because I think it would make for a really interesting and unique struggle between SWK & Macaque if Macaque's story was "my hatred & admiration of you reached the point where I decided to be you except better & I've now spent centuries living with the fallout of my entire identity revolving around someone I've grown to loathe but I have no idea how to live otherwise," while SWK, after rotting in self-imposed exile for 500 years, seems to have made some hesitant steps to live and grow beyond his past by taking on Xiaotian as his tudi only for that to get almost immediately effed up by both his own errors & a whole host of yaoguai turning against Xiaotian for being SWK 2.0, so that now the Monkey King is left in a state of "why the @#$#!* would you want to be me?!" and/or perhaps worst of all for both of them "yeah man go for it you couldn't possibly be worse at being me than I was."

But yeah in conclusion keeping in at least elements of the og classic could make the background of these two monkeys quite the interesting conundrum far beyond ye olde trope of "you were my friend but then you weren't so I made that everyone's problem until they forgave me for my violent bullshite at the last possible second."

#monkie kid #message answered #monkie kid sun wukong #monkie kid xiaotian #monkie kid six eared macaque

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corwynnasmith · 5 years ago

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In honor of posting the first chapter of Put That Kid Down’s sequel, What You Wanted, I’m gonna give everyone what they never wanted.

Volatile, untested writing tips on making your murdery character sympathetic from an amateur! (These can also be used for making sympathetic villains, with or without murder, but I’m just going to focus here because my most morally screwed characters are usually the protagonists).

1. You can introduce the character in a non-murder, positive context. First impressions matter! Don’t start off a supposedly sympathetic character waist deep in entrails and gore. (Though you could pull that off with a joke, if you’re cool enough.) This could be through:

1a. A #gooddeed. Help a child get a kite from a tree. Save a worm from drowning. Etc. This gives a positive impression of the character that can cause readers to forgive flaws more easily down the road. Like murder.

1b. A relatable situation. Get stuck holding the door open for a whole line of people. Worry about what to get their never satisfied mother for mother’s day. Etc. This makes the character more human, less murder machine. People look for reasons in humans, and don’t immediately write them off just because they do terrible, terrible things.

1c. A positive relationship & interaction. Pet the cat they take very good care of and call “Baby.” Hug a friend goodbye with a thanks for the advice. Etc. This is a Redeeming Connection that can make people look a bit harder at the character for explanation when they show their true colors, instead of shoving them in the murder box right off the bat. HOWEVER this one can backfire into making them seem more terrible if manipulation/deceit is the basis or SEEMS TO BE the basis of the relationship. (The Murder Beard Syndrome - ‘I’m not your ordinary serial killer because I have a real FRIEND’ becomes ‘they are definitely just a serial killer using that person for cover’ - so be careful).

1d. Miscellaneous because I bet you can come up with more, am I right, folks?

2. You can give your character a plausible reason. Sure, we all want to occasionally write a rebel without a cause, but characters that murder for seemingly no reason can be a hard sell outside certain groups (know your audience lol). This can be:

2a. An actual Good Reason. The people killed by your character are in a kill or be killed situation with no real alternative. Or they are infected with something that cannot be cured (coughzombiescough). Or they are being forced to by an outside power. Or it’s a mercy kill, even. Etc.

2b. A seemingly good reason. This reason can be explained. It may not be the best option or the most moral option (or even a moral option at all), but it has weight. For example, killing prisoners of war. This is not good morally, but from a utilitarian standpoint, can be explained. Revenge schemes also follow this viewpoint - taking vengeance can be explained, even if it’s morally iffy to bad.

2c. A bad reason. I know I just said MAKE IT PLAUSIBLE. I know I just said that. But hear me out. This works best when combined with (3) below, and is seen in the popular show Dexter. Your character wants to murder people for a reason, but it’s a bad reason and they should feel bad.* For example, they crave something about the murder, like it relieves a stress or gives them a sense of control. This could even be the character that just finds killing fun, though that is a thin line to tread. Maybe your character can’t stand rudeness or hears certain people’s life force like a thin, high pitched noise and is just trying to make it quiet (though that is almost 2b). So many bad reasons out there. Run free.

*Feeling bad is not actually a requirement. See Dexter again, in the beginning.

3. Give your character a code. This doesn’t have to be a moral code, but the closer it fits to the popular sense of morality, the more sympathetic your character will be. This lends itself well to vigilante killers, which tend to hover between 2b and 2c regarding motivation.

4. Remember your character needs a life outside killing / doing terrible things. In order for anyone to have a fully fleshed character, there needs to be depth. Hobbies, jobs, dreams, fears, goals that aren’t necessarily geared towards (in this case) murder. A past and a future. Relationships, good and bad. Of course, throwing in random tangents to your plot could through your readers for a loop, so it’s best to work these things in as actual plot elements. For example...

4a. Introductions. Does your character need to meet someone plot relevant? Have them attend the same sewing circle - you know, the one they joined because they didn’t want the skills passed on by their beloved elder to go to waste! The same business meeting where you reveal your character’s work ethic / passion for their job! Speed dating to show your character’s desire for love! Etc.

4b. Complications.** It isn’t a story if your character never struggles! Introduce a relationship as a barrier to getting terrible things done due to obligations, hilarious and inconvenient timing on the part of the loved or hated one, or simply scheduling problems where your character’s calendar is #toofullforcrime. Maybe tear your character between two conflicting goals, the first being your murder-adjacent plot and the second being a passion for a hobby/job/relationship/etc. Have fun with it! Torment them!

4c. Facilitations!** Sometimes, things go right! Maybe your character needs to infiltrate an organization, so they use their skills gained from a certain hobby or past employment to ingratiate themselves with the target organization! Every hobby has a potential application in murder and villainy if you just try hard enough.

**If you use a hobby, job, relationship, etc. as a facilitation or complication, it is best to have it be mentioned briefly as part of a daily/weekly routine, or during the plot’s “downtime” before having it spring out of the box in its True Form as a plot element. This makes the story seem planned ahead gasp. However, having it spring out of the ether can be a good reveal for it if you’re aiming for comedy or shock value.

5. Judge your audience’s Taboo Level / know your audience. Or choose your own Taboo Level. Draw a line somewhere. This is not a line your character has chosen, or will mention, or even knows about. These are just actions your character will not be doing in the story. Some Evil Deeds are instant death for a character’s sympathy standings, based on your audience’s values. Some almost universal ones*** are:

5a. Betraying the Connection to Humanity. Unless your story is about descent into madness / darkness specifically, your character taking the very thing that made everyone sympathetic to them and murdering/destroying/giving up on it can be Very Bad without a strong redemption arc planned. (If it is about the descent, then this is the turning point that makes your story lol) This can be played off as Very Dramatic instead if it’s for a good reason / seemingly good reason. Popular ones would be:

For Your Own Good

Because I Don’t Deserve You

The Connection is Actually Evil

The Connection is Accidentally Killing the Character

Etc.

5b. You- you should be able to come up with this list on your own lol Please just know your audience and also your own limits. And whether or not you’re willing to take the chance the behavior might be normalized by your depiction, too.

6. Emotions are important. What your character is thinking and feeling and telling themselves about what they’re doing are key to sympathy. If the POV permits, you can have some thoughts and feelings floating around, but it’s best to show it. Let your audience sleuth out the truth through your character’s body language, actions, word choice, tone, etc. You can, of course, explain the cues as you give them, like a nervous fidget or an impatient glance. If your readers can’t understand your character, ever, they will not empathize. They will not care. Don’t just have a string of actions one after the other - let your character react.

7. Have fun with it. If you don’t like what you’re writing, chances are your readers won’t, either. I know writing itself is hard and arduous, so maybe you won’t have fun with the actual writing, but the end story should be something you want to read. You can keep these tips in mind or throw them out the window as long as you’re writing for yourself. (But Cor, you JUST SAID- yes, keep your audience in mind for readability/understanding/values, but when it come to the actual story and its characters - those are yours).

Keep writing!

#writing #writing tips #making a sympathetic villain #making a sympathetic murderer #PTKD #put that kid down #there's a sequel lol #I just meant to announce it and I made this monster post #villains #writing villains #morally ambiguous character #unwanted advice

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cthulhu-lulu · 5 years ago

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The Miscreants

Nymphadora (Adora/Dora) Bell

Drow/Cleric (Grave Domain) AC: 18

STR: 18(+4) DEX: 16(+3) CON: 12(+1) INT: 14(+2) WIS: 16(+3) CHA: 16(+3)

Plague Doctor with Morticia Addams Aesthetic when she’s not working

Silver tongue comes in handy when Team Dumbass’ shenanigans inevitably go south

Married to Desiree, the two have been through a lot, but have finally managed to be reunited after many arduous years

Has published a series of smutty novels that have sold quite well

Raven familiar named Nigel Hoots (“I wanted an Owl”) who delivers cryptic messages to Dora in a language she can’t understand

“Digging one’s way out of a mountain of corpses after watching one’s wife be experimented on by deranged wizards does tend to limit one’s tolerance for bullshit. Now move aside.”

“Don’t fret, my lovelies, I’m a doctor”

Spiritual Weapon takes the form of a Teapot

Distinguished Lesbian

Desiree Bell

Drow/Cleric (Grave Domain) AC: 16

STR: 19(+4) DEX: 12(+1) CON: 19(+4) INT: 9(-1) WIS: 14(+2) CHA: 13(+1)

Former researcher/botanist

Insists that she used up all the luck she had when she met Adora, and has been happily married for 89 years.

Team Dumbass founder

Likes shopping for frilly dresses, botany, going with her wife to fancy brothels, and getting into fights in taverns

Raven Familiar named Percival Periwinkle the Duke of Purple Pearls

The party has watched Desiree pull some of the weirdest objects out of her Bag of Holding (“Is that a clockwork Raven? Why do you have that?”, ”So Percy has a friend!”)

Spiritual Weapon takes the form of a Teacup

Disaster Bisexual

Lavish

Tiefling/Bard (School of Glamour) AC: 13

STR: 7(-2) DEX: 15(+2) CON: 13(+1) INT: 17(+3) WIS: 13(+1) CHA: 20(+5)

Nymphadora’s publisher/editor who now travels with the wives on their adventures

Acts as the groups accountant, and keeps plenty of gold in the budget for paying off guards and city officials to forgive any mischief Team Dumbass finds themselves in

Goes with Adora on spa dates

Works tirelessly to keep the party from letting their egos get too big

“No, no, Dora, let them go, I want to see where this leads”

(to Team Dumbass) “Now, what did we learn?”

Can burn you down to your foundation with a cutting remark

Distinguished Gay

Aurykke

Fire Genasi/Cleric (Forge Domain) AC: 19

STR: 12(+1)/19(+4) DEX: 16(+3) CON: 15(+2) INT: 9(-1) WIS: 14(+2) CHA: 10(+0)

Former blacksmith turned adventurer after being hired by Adora to rescue a merchant’s son from bandits

May have caught feelings for Adora after watching her literally pound a bandit leader’s head through a stone table with her bare hands.

Starts fights that she knows she can’t win herself, but knows that Team Dumbass always protects their own!

Acts tough, secretly craves all the cuddles (which the party is more than happy to provide)

Spiritual Weapon takes the form of a pink anvil

Functional Bisexual

Coriander Bride-Stealer

Half-Elf/Paladin (Oath of Redemption) AC: 21

STR: 11(+0)/29(+9) DEX: 16(+3) CON: 13(+1) INT: 7(-2) WIS: 11(+0) CHA: 17(+3)

There is a popular song about her called ‘The Paladin Thief’ which tells the tale of an evil paladin stealing away an elven princess from a human prince (It was actually an arranged marriage, and the princess begged Cora to help her escape, which she did)

She really hates that song

Forgets that being sneaky means she can’t keep using Thundering Smite to dispatch enemies, proceeds to do so anyway

Ride or die for her friends, tries really hard to steer Team Dumbass towards good decisions, fails spectacularly

Is doing her best

Disaster Lesbian

Ol’ Banjo

Human/Barbarian (Path of the Totem Warrior) + Wizard AC: 18

STR: 19(+4) DEX: 17(+3) CON: 20(+5) INT: 14(+2) WIS: 10(+0) CHA: 12(+1)

Former farmer, Wife passed away a few years ago after 60 blissful years of marriage, decided to live out the last of his days adventuring and living life to the fullest, believing that he will be reunited with her when his time on the mortal world comes to an end

Has 13 daughters, 3 adopted sons, and 26 grandchildren. Remembers all of their names

His eldest daughters spent years teaching him how to read and write, now writes each of them letters every week to practice. His eldest (Willow/Wizard) gave him a spellbook, which he works tirelessly to fill with fun spells to show his grandkids

Team ‘Loving your Wife’, Honorary member of Team Dumbass

His grandchildren decorated his straw hat and glaive with pretty ribbons and flowers, which he is immensely proud of

Plants fruit trees in every town he visits and along every road he travels, in memory of his beloved wife (‘Always give to those whom have less than you do, so they may prosper’)

Loves Bathhouses and spa dates with Adora and Lavish

Distinguished Bisexual

Boos the Newt

Lightfoot Halfling/Monk (Way of the Drunken Master) AC: 18

STR: 11(+0) DEX: 18(+4) CON: 15(+2) INT: 9(-1) WIS: 17(+3) CHA: 16(+3)

Punches Good

Kicks Good

What more do you need?

“Ask your doctor if These Hands™ are right for you”

Disaster Gay

Mud

Firbolg/Fighter (Champion) AC: 12

STR: 20(+5) DEX: 11(+0) CON: 16(+3) INT: 5(-3) WIS: 11(+0) CHA: 10(+0)

Full name Asmodeus, former chef who wound up in jail with Boos after a particularly wild night at a fancy Inn, bailed out by Desiree who was looking for a cook to hire at the time. Travels with the party because ‘Y’all seem like decent folks’

Heart of Gold

“Uh, ma’am, you’re usin’ an awful lot of fancy words there…”

Team Dumbass Mascot

Amazing cook

Just a Cow-Boy riding along with his friends

Sexual preferences set to ‘No thanks’

Berlana the Bunker

Hill Dwarf/Rogue (Scout) AC: 14

STR: 13(+1) DEX: 17(+3) CON: 19(+4) INT: 15(+2) WIS: 10(+0) CHA: 7(-2)

Hired by Adora to help explore a cursed tower, ended up sleeping with Aurykke after the quest was complete. Decided to keep traveling with the party because Adora pays really well, plus medical and dental are free.

“I’ll find every trap in this place, intentionally or otherwise!”

Honorary member of Team Dumbass

Can drink anyone under the table, insists that she can ‘Make better ale than this with my eyes closed!’, Has gotten the party banned from A LOT of taverns

Insists she’s keeping records of all her expenses, and will present them to Adora once her employment is complete. She isn’t

Functional Lesbian

@sugarskullgrin @likeabirdinflight

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dontcallmecarrie · 5 years ago

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I deeply agree with your opinion on Howard Stark. You treat him more fairly and give him more chances than I would.

sorry for the delay in replying, I had a lot of Stuff Going Down Really Fast and didn’t realize this got saved as a draft instead of posted for an embarrassingly long time

I’d love to say something about my hit-and-miss knowledge about comics, but really it’s just because I know someone who is uncomfortably similar to him in real life, which...on the plus side, that means I feel I have a fairly solid grasp of his character. On the other hand, I’m also paranoid af about making sure Howard is a distinct character, specifically so I don’t project my own issues onto him. It helps that the MCU’s given so much backstory as to his character […especially when compared to his wife].

I’m also not a fan of character bashing in general. Add that to my take on Howard, my own knowledge of American history, and my love of worldbuilding, and ta-da! Let’s just say I had a…very interesting time fleshing out how I would write him.

Please note, though, that I’m not sure I’m giving him as many chances as it may seem: in most of my AUs, there’s not really a lot of room for reconciliation between father and son. I kinda addressed that in my rant […which, after a good night’s rest, I was only mildly embarrassed by rather than mortified], but long story short I’m actually a very big fan of the idea that forgiveness isn’t the be-all end-all.

In more than one of my AUs, Tony and Howard are going to be estranged, and that’s okay. Hollywood loves to push this narrative of one big happy family at the cost of the emotional burden placed on the abused in said households, so in my fics you might see some ‘yeah they haven’t spoken in more than twenty years and counting’/ ‘Hank Pym wishes he could be this level of petty’ scenarios.

Because in my AUs, actions have consequences: they don’t get hand-waved away, characters have to earn their happily ever after. In this case, the narrative’s attempts to brush aside Howard’s neglect are going to run right into the reality of the situation, and Tony’s not going to go ‘well, you said you loved me that one time to a camera so I guess that makes 17 years of neglect okay’ anytime soon.

Even more specifically, in the few AUs where Howard does get redeemed/ finally starts to build a relationship with his son, it’s going to be a very long and arduous road. Exhibit A: in Live Through The Rain, Howard’s going to have a very, very hard time of it.

Because not only is he still reeling from the discovery that his wife of nearly two decades isn’t who he thought she was, but that his son— his only son, his pride and joy […though he never said a word about it to the kid], who’s supposed to be his legacy— literally could not care less about him.

Even worse, Tony genuinely considers Steve to be his ‘true son’, because of all the time he spent looking for him, and keeps brushing him off whenever he tries to reconnect with him.

Tony’s his son, but he’s a stranger in all but name— and that only gets compounded when Maria arrives, and Tony goes from icy distance to all warmth and smiles on the turn of a dime.

That’s not the only reason Howard’s going to have a hard time, though: Tony and Maria are going to be super salty and give him hell for everything he’s missed, and the worst part is, it’s not even intentional. No, it’s just family banter and inside jokes he doesn’t get like ‘just like last Christmas’ and ‘oh, another kidnapping? How many is that by now?’ and the way Tony proudly introduces his intern to Maria but not him and the pitying looks he gets from the Avengers when they see it.

…and if he doesn’t clean up his act sharpish, Howard’s also going to find out that Maria had been looking into divorcing him when Tony turned 18.

Just— his redemption arc’d be character development boot camp, on steroids. It’d be an incredible struggle for Howard, as he realizes he needs to get his shit together and reassess his priorities and what his actions have shown. Realizes that he’s actually been toeing the line for abusive, sometimes, and eases off the alcohol when he realizes Tony doesn’t trust him to be in the same room as minors when he has a glass in hand [and that’s not even mentioning how much that realization stings]. Finds out that due to his behavior, Tony honestly, genuinely thinks that Stark Industries was his pride and joy, because he was at work whenever he wasn’t looking for Steve.

It’d be bitter pill after bitter pill, with vinegar acting as a chaser— because in less than 5 minutes, Howard's life went from zero to 60 and hasn’t let up since.

Everything he ‘knows’ is wrong; his wife has been slowly falling out of love for years now, his only kid grew up and he missed it almost completely, and he’s stuck in a world that’s completely passed him by. The only ones even remotely sympathetic are the Avengers, and some of the SHIELD staff— and even then, it varies.

...so, yeah. tl;dr: the way I treat Howard isn’t actually very nice, especially in the long term.

#I got an ask!#Naught replies #replies #Howard Stark #if you're going to be evil might as well do it right meta #meta #behind the scenes #Live Through The Rain #Just Hide Behind Your Pride #thinking aloud

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themadamelibrarian · 6 years ago

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Chapters: 8/8 Fandom: Supernatural Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Gabriel/Lucifer/Sam Winchester (Implied) Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Gabriel, Lucifer, Sam Winchester Additional Tags: trigger warning: self-harm, Nesting, Angels Nesting, mentions of torture, Traumatized!Lucifer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Season 11 Divergence, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Fluff, First Kiss, Bunker Life Series: Part 1 of Loving Heart Summary: Lucifer wakes up after being ejected from Castiel's vessel and back into his temporary one, now made for him. Realizing that the Winchesters, Castiel, and Gabriel aren't going to hurt him or kill him for the things he's done to them is a long arduous path that leads him on the road to redemption.

Share this story and show support for the creator!

Tagging: @copperseraphim @thenanahunter @truxblooded @lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell

Chapter 1

When God gave Lucifer a second chance, Lucifer woke up in Nick’s vessel, with Gabriel and Castiel peering at him.

“He’s awake,” Castiel reported clinically.

“Good observation, Cassie, tell me something I don’t already know,” Gabriel said dryly before reaching out to stroke Lucifer’s hair. The elder archangel recoiled from the touch, causing his brother to frown.

“Luci? Luci, it’s okay,” Gabriel tried to soothe the skittish archangel, but the Devil wasn’t having any of it. He got out of the bed and began backing away from the two angels. He felt weaker, slightly more human in this vessel. He didn’t see the confusion in the baby blue eyes of Castiel, nor the worry in the amber eyes of Gabriel- all he saw was anger and hurt, and he was sure that they were going to hurt him.

Gabriel cautiously advanced and Lucifer turned to run, and run he did until he smacked straight into Sam Winchester.

Oh no. He’s going to hurt me. He struggled in the now stronger man’s grip, whimpering.

“Gabe?” Sam called, gently rubbing Lucifer’s back to try to calm him down, but Lucifer knew better. This was a torture method. Get him all nice and relaxed and trusting before unleashing unspeakable pain.

“Oh, good, you have him.”

Lucifer flinched and tried to get out of Sam’s grip.

“Hey, hey, relax, shh, it’s okay,” Sam tried to soothe.

Giant gold wings came into Lucifer’s line of vision and he screamed at the sight, whining.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on here?”

Oh fuck, Dean Winchester’s here, he was going to wish he was dead, he was one of Alastair’s best pupils.

“Lucifer. Look at me,” Dean said calmly

Lucifer hiccuped and turned to look at the elder Winchester and gave a whimper of fear.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” he asked, reaching out to stroke Lucifer’s cheek. The Devil shrank back from the Righteous Man and his touch.

“What? You don’t wanna be touched?”

“Please don’t hurt me,” Lucifer whispered.

Dean gave a kind smile. “Oh, Lucifer, we’re not going to hurt you,” he said gently.

Lucifer’s lower lip wobbled, unable to be certain of Dean’s intentions, shaking in Sam’s arms. He was cold, very cold.

“Cas, go grab a blanket,” Dean said. “We got you, Lucifer, okay? Nothing bad is going to happen to you, alright?”

Lucifer shook his head, not understanding. He was in a room with people who he had hurt or killed or tortured to insanity or any combination thereof, and they weren’t going to hurt him? That made no sense!

A thick, warm blanket was draped around his shoulders and Gabriel tucked him in close, trying to calm down the squirming Lucifer. “Hey, hey, Luci, it’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you, I promise,” he whispered.

Tears rolled down Lucifer’s cheeks and Castiel gently wiped them away. “What did Father do?” he whispered.

“I think God made him more human and less angel, so he’s feeling human emotions,” Sam whispered. “And he’s feeling like, since he hurt us, we’re going to hurt him.”

Dean nodded. “Well, we’re just gonna have to show him that we’re not. God gave us a direct order.”

Lucifer wasn’t hearing any of this, he was planning his escape.

The excitement from everything caused him to faint.

He woke up several hours later to a pitch black room, night having fallen while he was asleep. He let out a blood-curdling scream.

Gabriel flew in, his golden wings blazing with light. “What’s the matter, Luci?” he asked in concern.

Lucifer backed away, moving as far from Gabriel as possible, scared of the light and the shadows and his brother.

Gabriel sat down on the opposite end of the bed. “Come here, Luci,” he coaxed. “I won’t harm you, I promise.”

Lucifer shook his head stubbornly.

“Come on,” Gabriel coaxed. “Come cuddle with me.”

It took several minutes and Gabriel hiding his wings (after turning on a light) and lots of gentle coaxing before Lucifer finally made his hesitant journey to Gabriel, who hauled him into his lap. After some prompting, Lucifer buried his face into Gabriel’s shoulder, crying softly.

“What’s the matter, Luci?” the golden angel asked.

The fallen angel sniffled and shook his head, not saying. He didn’t want to say that he was afraid of the dark, afraid that he’d open his eyes again and be back in the Cage, being tortured again or that there was going to be demons there who hated him and were out for his blood. He didn’t want to admit that he expected Dean there with an archangel's blade, or Sam hyped up on demon blood to destroy him forever, waiting in the shadows for their revenge.

He didn’t want to admit that he felt human.

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Gabriel hummed. “Just stay right here, okay?”

Lucifer hesitated, then nodded.

Gabriel hummed a familiar tune as Lucifer clung to him and cried quietly. Never once did his younger brother mention that he was crying or anything. Just sat there, holding Lucifer, humming.

Lucifer fell asleep clutching his brother tight.

The next few days were hard on everyone. Lucifer wasn’t responding to anyone really. It took a lot of coaxing and a lot of gentle, soothing words that nothing bad was going to happen to him to even get him to allow soft, gentle touches. He woke up every night and screamed, but refused to tell whoever came to comfort him why he did so, or why he shook and tried to move as far away from the comforter as possible when they came in.

It was Sam, surprisingly, who was able to pry the reason out of the skittish Devil one day, about a week after Lucifer opened his eyes.

“Lucifer. What’s wrong?” he asked, straight up and simple, his eyes going into the mournful puppy look.

Lucifer burst into tears. “Why aren’t you guys hurting me? Why are you taking care of me? What did I do to deserve this?? I don’t deserve this!”

Sam came over and wrapped his arms around Lucifer. The archangel struggled slightly, not sure what he did to warrant hugging and essentially snuggling, but he went with it, and he sobbed into Sam’s shirt.

“You deserve it because you don’t believe that we do care for you,” Sam said after a while, once Lucifer’s sobs died into sniffles and chokes of air. “You deserve it because you have thought, all this time, that the world was against you, that your family was against you. Because you went through eons of torture. Because, Lucifer, your family loves you.”

“Then. . . then why? Why did they cast me out? Why did they betray me?”

“Do you think they wanted to?” Sam asked gently.

Lucifer thought about it and shrugged. “I dunno.”

“I bet,” Sam hummed, shifting so Lucifer was situated on his lap more, “that when God made you Fall, He cried. That when Michael threw you into the Cage, he wanted to kill himself. That when Gabriel ran, it was because he couldn’t stand to see the two people he looked up to try to tear each other to shreds.” He held Lucifer close. “They felt like they had no choice, just like you felt like you had no choice.”

Lucifer sniffled and nodded. “Gabs,” he murmured, using the nickname he used for his brother when he was a fledgling.

“You want Gabriel?” Sam clarified.

“Gabs,” he nodded.

Gabriel appeared and he made grabby hands for his brother. Sam and Gabriel shared indulgent, understanding smiles as Sam transferred the needy angel to the not so needy (at this moment) angel.

“Hey there, Luci,” Gabriel said, chuckling as Lucifer buried his nose into his neck. “You doing okay?”

Lucifer shrugged and held onto his brother. Gabriel chuckled and kissed his temple. “You do you, okay?”

Lucifer nodded and relaxed for the first time in his brother’s arms. Gabriel won’t hurt me. Gabriel cares about me. He didn’t dare to use the word “love” because he was pretty sure that the archangel holding him did not love him. He stabbed him and tried to kill him, for Father’s sake. No one would love him after that.

Gabriel heard his brother’s thoughts and sighed quietly, giving a small shrug to Sam. He didn’t know how to tell or show his older brother that despite the attempted murder, he did love his brother. He really didn’t.

Sam had no clue either, but he deemed that Gabriel had the situation under control and left.

#madamelibrarian's writing #my writing #Gabriel #Sam Winchester #Lucifer #Sabrifer - Implied #Destiel - background #Castiel #Dean Winchester

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mtvswatches · 6 years ago

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Crazy Ex Girlfriend 4x01 I Want to Be Here

Stray thoughts

1) Welcome to my first recap of the last season of CEG! I Hope you enjoy this (and if enough people are interested, I might recap the previous three seasons… eventually��) This is both a recap and a first reaction. I haven’t seen the episode yet so I will be writing my thoughts as I watch the episode for the first time. Yay!!

2) Okay, first comment: I love how they’ve changed the titles from “...Josh...” (or Jeff or Nathaniel or Trent…) to “I…”. I think it’s a clear indication of where this season is heading. Rebecca will finally grasp this concept of self-love, self-esteem, and identity. Your life needs to be your own before you can share it with someone, and I hope this is the philosophy that Rebecca embraces this season.

3) I’ve grown to like Nathaniel a lot, but he still needs to continue his journey on this show. He’s made a lot of progress, but the fact that he thinks Rebecca should prioritize him/their relationship over her own mental health and responsibilities and that he may think Rebecca pleading guilty reads as her not loving him enough shows that he still has a long way to go. This whole thing – Rebecca going to prison – has nothing to do with Nathaniel or her feelings for him. Yes, she did throw Trent over the balcony in order to save Nathaniel, but that’s it. Pleading insanity would’ve meant taking the easy way out, which has been Rebecca’s M.O. when it came to facing the music. Until last season, of course. A lot of her decisions were affected by her mental illness, but she truly needed to own up to everything she’d done and take responsibility for it. I get why Nathaniel might not agree with her decision, but he still should’ve stood by her side.

4) Okay, one of the reasons I love this show…

JUDGE: Everybody, just calm down. That's why I brought you into chambers to tell you that I can't accept Miss Bunch's guilty plea. For starters, it wasn't even really a plea. It was more of a speech filled with, uh, irrelevant details that you delivered to this lady with your back to me, and then I find out that you're in a romantic relationship with your actual lawyer, who I'm guessing is also in…

EVERYONE: Real estate.

This is such a beautiful way to deconstruct a trope without taking away from how effective and pivotal that scene was. Yes, as in most movies, Rebecca delivered a speech that moved most of the people in the courtroom as she pleaded guilty. Would this be acceptable in a real courtroom in real life? Obviously not. It was a great character moment for Rebecca, who obviously couldn’t help but have her Hero moment or Grand Gesture or whatever as the protagonists of movies are bound to do so. Of course, she’s not actually in a movie, so her speech, as beautiful and poignant as it was, won’t fly. Let’s not overlook the fact that all the lawyers attempting to defend Rebecca have ZERO experience in this type of cases, which is yet another thing that wouldn’t happen in real life and the show clearly points it out.

5) And I get where Paula’s coming from. Again, Rebecca needed to make a Grand Gesture because she’s still in this movie mindset by which in order to get Redemption you need to make a Great Sacrifice. In real life, it doesn’t really work that way. We find redemption in small – yet meaningful – acts. It’s a long, arduous journey, it cannot be accomplished with one great, over-sweeping act. Yes, what Rebecca did at the end of last season was, indeed, a grand gesture. But by their very nature gestures are merely an indication of good intentions that need to be followed and validated by other actions.

6) “I want to go to jail” “Jail is what I deserve” Let’s see how long this “gesture” lasts... (I’m guessing not long…)

7) Was this… a nipple slip?

Or is that shadowy thingy her fingers/hands?

8) Now, Rebecca and Nathaniel do have a lot in common…

NATHANIEL: It's not a pansy-ass camping trip. It's an intense outdoor survivalist excursion. That's why it's called Death Wish Adventures.

GEORGE: Love that name. Sounds therapeutic.

NATHANIEL: Oh, it is, it is. And for the low, low price of $100,000, I pay this company to beat me up, drive me out to the middle of the woods, and leave me alone to fend for myself.

Isn’t this pretty much what Rebecca is doing with her prison sentence? An over-the-top, uncalled-for reaction to a situation?

9) “I’m not killing myself, George! I’m going on a Death Wish Adventure!” *stabs bag with the machete* OMG the irony!

10) “How did I miss it, Hector?” Because…

11) Josh is basically taking the opposite route…

JOSH: Yeah, maybe I also have a disorder.

HECTOR: What, dude?

JOSH: Yeah, think about it. Okay, those things about Rebecca, they're not the only things I've missed, like, in life. I didn't realize being a priest would be such a bummer. I didn't realize I was dancing at a gay bar for, like, a month. I didn't realize your mom doesn't like it when I whistle in the shower. (…)

HECTOR: Maybe. Or maybe you're a little oblivious, self-absorbed, and need to be more aware of the world around you.

JOSH: No. Disorder.

HECTOR: Or..

JOSH: Disorder. I have one. I wonder which one.

Most of the things he’s “missed” are things that only call for… very basic common sense? But Josh is choosing to take the easy way out. It’s easier to blame our all bad decisions and poor judgment on a mental disorder than to accept the fact that maybe we’re just a big fat dum-dum.

Could he really have a disorder, though? I don’t know.

12) I just love how Rebecca’s cellmate is reading Webster’s Dictionary because why the hell not, right?

13) Oh, this scene…

First, OF COURSE Rebecca took the chance to get the leading role in this number (as opposed being a backup singer like she was in camp, if I remember correctly.) Not only that, but this is actually the first time we’ve seen her sing FOR REAL. As great as EVERY single song in this show is, all of them are “performed” – so to speak – in the characters’ minds. They are not real. The characters are not really breaking into song because, well, that’s just not what happens in the real world. We know that music and songs (and storytelling, to a certain extent) are part of Rebecca’s coping mechanism. So it’s disheartening yet realistic that she’s not actually talented. How hard must have been for Rachel to sing sort of badly?

14) Uh. The phrase “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” just came to mind. How is doing musical theatre – something she’s loved her entire life – penance?

15) This killed me…

And of course, he doesn’t read the first THREE results, he just goes “Ooh! QUIZ!!”

Yes, this will surely solve all your problems, Josh. I mean, who wouldn’t trust the diagnosis offered on a website that also gives you a quiche recipe, right? Sounds legit!

16) I think that Rebecca might have mistaken “penance” with “reward”…

17) And the first musical number!

I truly loved this number, I was watching it with the biggest smile on my face because I was enjoying so much what they were doing here. I mentioned before how I loved the fact that for the first time we got to see Rebecca singing for real, in a real-life context, where everyone is aware that she’s singing and participating in her song. What’s Your Story? is a great blend of that and the typical CEG musical number. Whereas Rebecca is definitely in her own mind, the people around her are pretty much in the here and now of the real world, with very natural reactions to her actions. This is how people would react to someone breaking into song in the real world and trying to romanticize or glamorize things that shouldn’t be, like crime. This is her big Chicago number, yet the criminals in the room, including herself, hardly deserve to be called that. Two shoplifters, a girl whose boyfriend’s meth was found in her car’s glove compartment and a “murderer” who had accidentally killed a teenager while texting and driving. There’s nothing glamorous about this. It’s sad, pathetic even. But of course, that’s only because they, unlike Rebecca, are not good storytellers. And this is how Rebecca is confronted with the reality of her “grand gesture.” She thinks she’s doing this great sacrifice because she’s decided to do her “penance” and spend some time in jail even though the judge did not accept her plea. To the others, she’s just a privileged idiot who thinks this is just a game and who is wasting their time.

Side note: I love the blink-and-you-miss-it tidbit with the two shoplifters and their respective sentences for the SAME crime… the difference being their skin color. And I love how the white lady simply apologizes and walks away.

18) Bless Hector and Heather!

HEATHER: Look, Josh, I really respect your search for self, but these are actual disorders people suffer from, and you're treating it like you're just, like, identity shopping.

HECTOR: Yeah, it's kind of gross.

So much YES. I love this show.

19) Nathaniel’s been in the woods for like four hours and he’s already eating roaches?

20) Nathaniel is season 1 Rebecca and George is season 1 Paula, right?

21) OMG I just called this!!

REBECCA: You know what? I have something to tell you. I figured out something huge. I am privileged.

HEATHER: That just occurred to you just right now?

22) OMG please tell me that we will get see bits of Terrier Chef???

23) Trent woke up from his comma and confessed everything??? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

24) BLESS YOU HEATHER!

REBECCA: What did you expect? I came here to pay penance, and I have not done that yet. I did the opposite of that. I was selfish and I tried to force my own narrative on these women, and steal their stories for my own purposes. And for what? For what? For a Lin-Manuel Miranda tweet?

VALENCIA: Oh, he is so inspirational. Did you know he grew that ponytail just for that show?

HEATHER: What? Okay, Rebecca, I hate to break it to you, but you know, whatever you do in here, nothing is gonna change the fact that you're a rich white lawyer lady who pled guilty for dramatic effect.

25) And bless Valencia, too! (Girl Group 4eva!)

VALENCIA: Uh-uh-uh, honey, you staying here doesn't help anyone who's been wronged, just like your guilty plea didn't help anyone you'd wronged.

This is precisely what I was trying to say when I talked about how small Rebecca’s grand gesture actually was. She wasn’t actively doing anything to make up for her wrongdoings, other than painting herself the victim, yet again.

26) I think staying in jail is yet another way of avoiding responsibility for her actions while convincing herself of the opposite, don’t you think? Like, I can totally imagine someone calling Rebecca out for something she’s done, and her going “I WENT TO JAIL FOR THAT! WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?”, you know? And, idk, maybe don’t go to jail and actually try to make things better with real, tangible actions towards the people you’ve wronged? Just a thought!

27) Second song!!

Ugh, what a great way to convey this very human emotion of self-pity and self-absorption… I think we’re all guilty of this, at one point or another. When we feel like shit, it kind of makes us feel worse and better to believe no one can understand what we’re going through because no one in the history of humanity has ever felt this way before. (I do think that’s true in one sense, but that’s beside the point right now.) Believing that at the very least we’re unique in having these crappy feelings is a bit comforting. We’re telling ourselves “if anything else, you’re special because of this, because no one else has ever felt like you feel right now.” The thing is, we should actually find comfort in knowing the opposite - that many people before us have felt and many people after us will feel – if not exactly then something very close to - what we’re feeling because, well, we’re all human. Many people have felt this, many people have dealt with these feelings, conquered them, coped with them. And so can we. That’s the thought that we should find comforting.

So it’s nice that even though Rebecca, Nathaniel, and Josh indulge in this moment of self-pity and self-centeredness, they do come to the realization that there are people who care enough about them to want them to get better, even if they can’t really understand what they’re going through. Nathaniel turns to his only friend, Josh turns to the drunk lady at the bar (but listens to Heather and Hector’s advice in doing so,) and Rebecca leaves prison and joins her friends.

28) Dr MAN Akopian! OMG!

29) Bless this show, bless this fucking show!

JOSH: But so if-if I don't have a disorder, what can I do? Because something is clearly wrong.

DR MAN AKOPIAN: You can do exactly what you're doing sitting here with me. Look within. Josh, it's not about checking a box and getting a fancy label, or 12, for what's bothering you. Instead, you can think about the choices you make and why you make them.

JOSH: That sounds hard.

DR MAN AKOPIAN: Yeah, yeah. But don't worry. It will take a long time.

30) OMFG, this show, oh god how I’ve missed this show!!!

REBECCA: Everything I do is wrong, by definition. Because of my privilege.

VALENCIA: Okay, that's it. I've had enough. Rebecca, if I hear you say the word "privilege" one more time… You have privilege. I'm glad you acknowledge it. So now you have a choice. Do something good for the world that actually helps people, or shut up. But stop whining.

This is such an important message, so important! Rebecca was yet again using her privilege to victimize herself and avoid taking responsibility/action. Yes, you are privileged. What really matters is what you do with your privilege, how you use it to help those who are unprivileged. Otherwise, you’ll be falling again into the empty gestures pattern…

31) Kudos to Nathaniel for apologizing and admitting that he shouldn’t have skedaddled when Rebecca didn’t do exactly what he wanted her to do.

32) But… they’re at very different stages of their journey… Like I said, Nathaniel probably mirrors Season 1 or Season 2 Rebecca, and Rebecca is a bit ahead of him… so yeah, it doesn’t really make much sense for them to be together right now. So I think telling Nathaniel to leave was a very brave decision for Rebecca and one that she wouldn’t have been able to do not that long ago.

33) Why was Darryl eating imaginary ceviche, though?

34) Quick! What’s the music that plays when Paula asks her “what’s next, Cookie?” That’s killing me!!

35) Good for you, Rebecca!

REBECCA: So when I'm not forcing my opinions and entitlement on everybody else… Sorry for that… I'm actually a pretty good lawyer.

And I don't know much about criminal cases, but I can study up and with your permission, I would love to try and help you and any of the other women in here.

36) OF COURSE!!!

37) As usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!

#Crazy Ex Girlfriend #CEG #Rebecca Bunch #Rachel Bloom #CEG 4X01 #recap #mine #MTVSwatches #please forgive me if there are many typos or grammar mistakes #I didn't proofread this #I wanted to post it asap #CEG recap

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keeninghearts · 6 years ago

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There's the gentle patter of rain that accompanies her footsteps, one that belies how the earth beneath her was worn to muck, the tired trails of refugees, the tedious clank of soldiers, the marches that plowed these roads, the voices that crackled like thunder horizon by horizon. All gone now, though - as Bthemetz walks through soft grasses and sharp hills of Eastern Skyrim, there is only the changing weather and the windchill. Not a community in fear. Not a world dragged out into the sun.

Kagrenac had spoken vaguely of where she was from - to the North, or the West of somewhere, where it was taken, when the Nords came. She spoke of abandoned watchtowers and empty structures like discarded bones breaking into the horizon. Bthemetz hadn't imagined this would become commonplace - Bthemetz hadn't imagined that wildflowers would grow among the brass. The world would move on without them.

"What purpose is there in wallowing here?"

She appears shrouded in heavy colours, deep blue, wine red, rich purple silks with gold edges that glint with the still melting snow. The jeweled detailing, as always, is immaculate, so much so that Bthemetz has a hard time distinguishing whether she's an elaborate illusion or a mere figment of her imagination.

"Not wallowing," says Bthemetz.

"Merely admiring the decrepit ruins, then?" asked Kagrenac. "Never pegged you for a sightseer. Thought it was too voyeuristic for your taste."

"Shut up."

She was never actually this cruel.

"I'm capable of being very cruel."

"I said - shut up."

And she did, for a time. And Bthemetz found a patch of shade where the trees towered above the ruins, and knelt, in silence.

"Oh no - don't tell me you're trying to atone."

"No - it's not -"

"-That this is part of some arduous journey in search of an authentic redemption for all your sufferings - but my darling -"

"Do you listen?"

"There's no one to redeem you! They're all gone! Redemption is meaningless removed from the context of the community you wronged - you destroyed - you utterly annihilated-"

"Did you ever listen?"

"I loathe you. You make me sick. You hold up all these lofty ideals but all they ever cost is the destruction of everything."

"Youre not real."

"I know I'm not real! That's the problem!"

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artsymk-blog · 8 years ago

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The Makings of a Shard - Sister Claire fanfiction (on-going)

No one really talks of empathy as being dangerous or magical. It is to understand another’s frame of reference, an important aspect of societal collaboration, and nothing more. But that isn’t true: empathy is the strongest magic a person can have, and the most dangerous to the one who wields it.

Thomasine was a loving person who cared with all her being. She was much beloved in her town simply for her kindness and willingness to help wherever she could. When others suffered, she desperately tried to ease their pain. When they expressed joy, she radiated in kind. She had always been empathic, so quick to understand, to feel what others felt, and take it in like it was hers. To empathize with others, to take a bit of that burden, was a calling she was born with. She had the makings to be a remarkable healer, to take pain away as mama and papa had done all those years ago. The trouble is: no one taught her how to let it go.

She would never learn how to use her magic effectively, nevermind safely. No one in town knew how to teach such a thing. How do you even begin to express letting go, releasing energy, an exhale not for breath? So she held onto what was never her burden, obsessively focusing on them in the attempt to distinguish which were hers, and which she felt responsible for hoarding.

When she was little, old enough to walk and talk, old enough to realize communication moved beyond feelings and expressions, she was able to articulate how she had healed the little bird’s foot, and how she in turn would have to walk with a cane for the rest of her short life. And so Thomasine grew from a sweet albeit consistently hurting child with wild dark hair, vibrant gray eyes, and sun kissed skin, to a very young woman with premature gray hairs along her scalp, a stormy gaze, and the resulting bronze complexion that occurred from being outside often. At puberty, what was initially whispers, the pain she could not reach nor heal, became as clear as the church bells ringing at noon. There were so many voices calling out, crying out It hurts it hurts it hurts Help me help me help Please Her guardian, Mrs. Hubert, would find her calling out in her sleep, her nightdress and bed sheets slick with perspiration, tears streaming from her face, helplessness radiating from her wordless sobs. It progressed to sleepless nights, to limping back and forth to the window in the attempt to pinpoint where the pain was, to muttered conversations with no one. By the time the Helsings were notified of her affliction and the Bright One was in the early stages of her celebrity, Thomasine had left to find what called out to her. She left to help the shards. -- Mother Abraham was taking in Mrs. Hubert’s kitchen with interest. The short woman’s hands were shaking, causing milky tea to splatter on the dining room table. “W-we suspected she could hear shards, but when the nightmares started, we just d-didn’t know h-how to help her,” Mrs. Hubert cried. “A-and then we heard about The Bright One, h-how she helped shards. But Thomasine never grew horns when she helped others... s-she j-just -” “- Kept it inside unless the pain was physically manifested, yes?” Mother Abraham responded kindly. Mrs. Hubert put down her tea and reached for a handkerchief. Her otherwise lovely ashen hands were white with tension. She blew her nose. “Yes.” “Has she ever witnessed a shard?” Abraham asked, observing the artwork hung around the room. They were all Thomasine’s, vivid with color and defined by emotion. Stunning work, really, Abraham lamented. “N-no. Her parents were gifted healers who routinely traveled,” Mrs. Hubert said, the tears resuming. “Their caravan was found two hundred kilometers north from here, with ob-obvious signs of shard activity among the debris. G-god, she was so young...,” she paused, wiping her tears. “Since then we put up wards every five kilometers, enough for our people to travel to Revelation without concern. They’re regularly replaced. It’s why the children are allowed to play so far out in the neighboring meadows and forests: w-we don’t have shards. Haven’t since... since...” “I see,” Abraham murmured. “It’s all my fault,” Mrs. Hubert wailed. “We should have done something the minute she showed us her foot after healing that bird. W-we didn’t know w-who to reach out to... she’s a good girl, a loving girl.�� There was pleading in the woman’s eyes. Abraham patted the older woman’s hand sympathetically. Both women were mothers to children not biologically theirs, but their suffering was nevertheless an awful thing to see. “We’ll see what we can do, Mrs. Hubert,” Mother Abraham said, getting up from the table. “I have brought my best trackers. Wherever she is, we’ll find her, and we’ll help in any way we can.” Mrs. Hubert nodded once before gathering her teacup, shaking terribly, hiccuping with grief. Unable to do more for the woman, Abraham put her teacup in the sink and left the house where her entourage was waiting. The sky lions were popular with the town’s children, who were petting them gently and feeding them cured meat. “Helsings,” she called out, mounting her sky lion, “to the air.” The sky lions broke into a gallop before taking flight, their strong wings creating currents and dust storms by the townspeople below. “What’s our heading, Mother?” a Helsing called to her. “Two hundred kilometers north. And quickly.” -- Contrary to popular belief, Thomasine could walk quickly when she wanted to. Her limp wasn’t painful, just awkward to move around. The cane provided support, a third leg used strictly for balance. She hated the pity she was given for it. All it did was make her feel sorry for herself. It took away the focus of what was really important, like helping others. What was painful was the buzzing in her mind, the growing anxiety that consumed her. When it got this bad, it made it hard to focus on anything else. She traveled along the road, noting with pride the wards strategically placed every five kilometers. Redemption’s warders were a large team of talented individuals constantly going back and forth 200 kilometers in every direction, like circular breathing as they renewed and revitalized the wards. Outward, inward. Rest. Outward, inward. Rest. She had been traveling for two weeks now, and the wards were getting scarce. She was nearing the edge of where safety ended, and where the shards began. Thomasine shivered, but not from cold. The pain was calling, and it was getting louder. She walked to a clearing where a gurgling creek dominated the center. It was a beautiful light, hitting the trees with a marvelous golden hue, the branches forming clustered rays that caused the ground to shine in contrast to the shaded canopy of the forest. She sighed in awe, taking in as much detail as possible. If she did more work around the town when she returned, perhaps she could buy gold leaf to recreate the scene as an “I’m sorry for worrying you” present for Mrs. Hubert. Her heart hurt. Mrs. Hubert must be very worried by now. There was a large flat boulder along the creek where she rested. The water was the perfect temperature to press on her neck, and crystal clear to drink. Being near water was calming for Thomasine. It ebbed the pain, if only a little. She pulled from her sack dried oat thins, a handful of freshly picked berries, and her map. Judging by the markers, she was just another hour or so away from the shrine. When her parents had died, the ward team cleaned up what they could and made a permanent shrine out of the least damaged caravan. It became tradition for any warder going in that direction to leave a small trinket or offering as good luck for a shardless day. She had only gone the once to pay her respects and say goodbye. There hadn’t been much to send back. The berries were plump and red with a sickly sweet flavor and a bitter aftertaste. They helped cover the oat thins’ blandness, a nice change of pace. After lunch she washed her laundry and laid it out to dry on the rock under the high noon sun, and laid down. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself a brief respite. --

Thomasine awoke in agony, clutching her abdomen. She called out wordlessly and turned over, retching and coughing, clawing her way to the water. She bent forward on her knees and elbows, and used her free hand to cup a mouthful of water to her drying lips.

Swallowing the water felt like glass in her throat, a sensation she did not want to experience in a hurry. It did nothing to help with the increasing dehydration. If anything, it made the pain worse.

Everything about her felt sharp: the pain, her heightened senses, the way the environment looked. Everything she touched hurt her to do so, even her own hands grasping at her stomach in the attempt to knead the nausea and pangs of discomfort. She crawled back to her sack and pulled out what medicines she had, which wasn’t much. Aside from the minor injuries anticipated in such a journey, she wasn’t prepared for anything serious.

And that was her first mistake, she reflected, coughing into her hand. She hadn’t really thought about how serious this actually was.

And that was her second mistake, she again reflected, noting the dark blood in her palm. She hadn’t really paid attention to which wild berries were safe to eat.

She had nothing to aid her, nothing to cure whatever toxins were coursing through her body from a handful of berries she found along the road. All Thomasine could do was lie there, feverishly sweating, her limbs growing heavy, and the sharpness of the world slowly becoming fuzzy. Clutching her sack close to her, she curled around it in a fetal position, and fell into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Less than ten kilometers away, a shard sensed someone dying badly. They turned to the direction of the torment and began their arduous creep forward.

There. Thirty kilometers away. There you are.

Mother Abraham turned her sky lion due east, urging the beast to fly harder. The other Helsings followed, pushing their steads to match hers.

Thomasine had a week’s head start, albeit on foot and with more breaks than the typical traveler, but a week was a week regardless. Mother Abraham had brought the best with her, and even the sky lions sensed the urgency to get to their target. So on they flew, their great wings powering through the sky in long, consistent beat. Indeed, the young woman had a week’s head start, with no actual knowledge of traveling in the wild, no idea what terror a shard inflicted on itself and others. The moment the Helsing left Mrs. Hubert’s home, a home surrounded by the artwork of such a compassionate and loving person, she knew she wasn’t bringing back Thomasine alive.

She was going to find, and dispatch, a new shard.

---

#sister claire #writing #fanfiction #fanart #sister claire oc #shard

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jbuffyangel · 8 years ago

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The Shift Begins: Arrow 5x10 Review (Who Are You?)

Wow. I mean... WOW. "Who Are You" was an amazing episode.

Probably my favorite of the season. I liked it even more than 5x08 and I LOVED 5x08. It had unbelievably tight pacing, great action, strong (and necessary) character development, wall to wall Olicity and fabulous subtle LL shade. It integrated the new characters almost seamlessly too.

Y'all... I even liked Wild Dog.

But best of all? The shift has started for Oliver and Felicity.

Let's dig in...

Olicity (and Bl*ck S*ren)

Storytelling is never an easy journey, especially in television. It is a long, arduous, sometimes infuriating, and at times boring, process. It can also be exhilarating and heart wrenching. Our emotions fluctuate as does our investment. Watching a television show as it airs, with a 23 episode season, is full of ups and down. There will be good episodes. There will be bad episodes. It's a roller coaster ride.

But every once and awhile there's that fantastic episode. The one that shines above all the rest. The loopty loop. The diamond in the rough so to speak. The episode that makes all the patience worth it.

"Who Are You" is that kind of episode. There's a significant amount of pay off from the set up of the beginning of Season 5, but also for those of us who've been religiously watching for five years. The shift in Oliver and Felicity's dynamic started tonight and it's launching them in an entirely new trajectory. And it's exactly where we need to go.

"Laurel's" return isn't really all that much about Laurel. I mean... it IS, but I've always said that as long as they bring KC back for specific ways, this guest contract can be extremely effective. As irritated as I was at how quickly Arrow brought KC back after we JUST said goodbye to Laurel, this was an effective use. It highlighted the emotional shift between Oliver and Felicity, by examining their vastly different perspectives on what Laurel's return means. It's not even about Laurel. This is about world view.

For Oliver, it's a miracle. Listen, as cover stories go, Bl*ck S*ren's was a spectacularly bad one. Sure the "time travel" excuse works, especially when you throw in Sara and the Wave Rider, but once you dig into the details a bit it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE.

Details Felicity rapidly picked up on and Oliver was blind to.

For Felicity, it was too good to be true, so she was suspicious. It was too good to be true for Oliver, but rather than be his pessimistic, distrustful self, he just embraced it full on. It wasn't just that Oliver believed Laurel was a miracle. He needed her to be one.

Whereas for Felicity, we can finally see the events of the last four years finally taking a toll on her. She's sees the darker underbelly of this supposed "miracle" because history has taught her that when something is too good to be true on Arrow... it normally is.

Felicity: After the past four years it's hard for me to accept good news.

But the fact that Oliver is essentially throwing caution to the wind, ignoring all signs, and embracing the freaking rainbows, is such a freaking massive character shift, it's almost mind boggling. This is the Oliver Queen version of Rainbow Brite.

It's also a massive character shift for Felicity to be the one who is not hopeful. To be the one who is suspicious and distrustful.

So, it's strange when it's Felicity who wants to throw the party celebrating Laurel's return. Have you ever seen a less enthusiastic party? Nobody wants to celebrate Laurel's return.

Of course, Felicity isn't celebrating Laurel's return. She's getting her Nancy Drew on with an elaborate ruse in the form of a “Welcome home Laurel” party.

She's using the party to analyze "Laurel" more and then, literally analyze her, by using her glass for a DNA analysis. Did you notice that "Laurel" almost reached for the glass of champagne instead of the glass of water? Somebody forgot to do their homework! Tsk tsk.

To Bl*ck S*ren’s credit, she figures out Felicity’s on to her almost as as quickly as Felicity figures it out.

You pretended to be Laurel for a hot minute Bl*ck S*ren. Slow your roll. Although, maybe a minute was long enough.

Of course, Oliver shows up just as Bl*ck S*ren is attacking Felicity and Rory.

HE RUNS TO FELICITY'S SIDE.

Oliver needs to know she's safe; to know that she's not hurt. He uses his special “hey.”

Like he’s done so many times before...

Felicity reassures Oliver, but

He can't even take his eyes off of her. Felicity is his only concern.

Words are never enough for Oliver in these situations. He needs to touch Felicity. He needs to feel her. The physical connection is the only way Oliver can reassure himself. Oliver has done this again

and again

This is no different. As much as some things change... some things never do.

They grip each other's forearms, as Oliver holds Felicity steady, but he doesn't help her stand up. In point of fact, there's absolutely no reason for the two of them to be holding onto each other so tightly and for so long other than ALL THE FEELINGS. And, once again, Olicity is surrounded in green light. The ever present, unbreakable connection. For Oliver to feel, in her bones, that she is safe. It's his tether. The same tether Oliver needs. The same tether he will always need.

These two wreck me.

After a nasty run in with Prometheus, Bl*ck S*ren reaches out to Oliver and the team arranges a meet by that god awful statue.

Don't worry, it's on its last legs.

This when we see the shift in Oliver and Felicity clash.

Honestly, his crabby voice is even hotter when he’s crabby with Felicity.

Oliver is trusting Bl*ck S*ren. He believes she can offer intel and he tells the team NOT to move on her. Felicity argues with him, but Oliver holds firm. Felicity pretends to agree, but then she switches "the boys" (there's no limit to how much I love that Felicity called them that) to a separate channel. In one of the best lines of the episode, Felicity tells the boys to "light her up."

Commence the fist pumping.

My parents have had similar arguments, with my mother issuing orders that differ from my father's to me and my two sisters. So, Oliver and Felicity are Mom and Dad of Team Arrow, and "the boys" are trial run triplets. Come fight me.

But you know what my sisters and I did? We listened to our mom. And that's exactly what Curts, Rene and Rory are going to do. Where Mama goes so goes your nation.

Of course, the team jumps the literal gun and spooks Bl*ck S*ren, prompting her to unleash her sonic scream and, in the process, DESTROYS LAUREL'S STATUE. This calls for the Numfar Dance of Joy.

Goodbye statue. We knew thee for a short time and yet we shall not miss thee.

Loyal little children that they are, Curtis, Rory and Rene try to cover for Felicity, but she comes clean with Oliver. She gave them the order to go. What I love about this is Felicity's isn't sorry about what she did. She firmly believes she was right.

QUEEN.

This is the start of that split in tactics we've been hearing about. Felicity liked that the team listened to HER. They followed HER orders. They used HER tactics. When Oliver wouldn't listen and do things Felicity's way, she ploughed right through him. This is very S1-S3 Oliver Queen esque behavior. It strongly points to Felicity setting up her own team to go after Prometheus once she grows tired of Oliver's opposition to her tactics and his approach.

And this is all about approach. Felicity doesn't trust Bl*ck S*ren and, while Oliver recognizes there's good reason not to trust her, he can't let go of the hope that there's a piece of goodness in Bl*ck S*ren. That there's a piece of Laurel in her.

Felicity believes Oliver has blinders on. Is Felicity right? Yes. But oh... isn't it wonderful to see him so doggedly optimistic? So blindly and stupidly hopeful. That's what heroes do. That's who heroes are. And that's the question Arrow is really asking.

It's the question Oliver asked Bl*ck S*ren, but it's really the question he is asking himself. It's the question Diggle and Felicity are asking themselves as well. We decide, every day, who we are, with every choice we make. Our souls, are simply a reflection of the circumstances we are presented, the choices we make and the consequences of those choices. Which then lead to more circumstances and more choices. And so on and so on and so on and before you know it, you've built a lifetime of choices. And in their wake is the legacy you leave.

Oliver believes if you change the circumstances, you are giving someone the chance to choose again. He wants to give Bl*ck S*ren love, trust, compassion and hope because maybe she hasn't been given those things before. Maybe that's the shift that will make all the difference for Bl*ck S*ren to choose again, and be someone else. It's certainly something Oliver has felt in his own life. It's the gift Diggle and Felicity gave him and Oliver is trying to pay it forward. It's the question that haunts him, especially in light of Prometheus and Billy, because it is Oliver's choices that led to the creation of Prometheus. He believes it led to Billy's death. If Oliver could just change the circumstances... would he do it all differently? He's offering Bl*ck S*ren the redemption he so desperately craves. Not just for Laurel's death, but for every mistake he's ever made.

Oliver, Felicity and Diggle have all chosen to be heroes, but now it's about choosing what kind of hero they are going to be. Every season, Oliver misses a piece to his evolution to the Green Arrow. This time, this season, he's finally starting to see the whole picture.

And for Felicity as well. This is not just about Billy. He was just the last straw in a house made of straw. She has suffered so much. She has endured so much pain and loss. Felicity has always taken the higher road. She's always been the believer, but she's really asking herself, "Where has all that belief gotten me?" Felicity is tired of losing. She is tired of hurting. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So, Felicity is adapting. She's going to fight fire with fire this time and maybe it'll yield a different result. Maybe this will make the pain go away.

Felicity works out some major rage, by beating the crap out of punching bag. Oliver comes in and ever so softly, in that gentle voice reserved only for her, tells her to extend her wrist. Y'all he just gave her a training tip. And that sweet little smile he gives, scrunching up his nose, when Felicity says “Ow” because he can’t handle her adorableness? Fabulous. IS THIS REAL LIFE?

Felicity can't even stand to hear Oliver use "Laurel's" name. Bl*ck S*ren isn't Laurel. She's a bad guy and she's thrown in with the Big Bad. Felicity isn't interested second chances. She doesn't want to hear about how Oliver is trying to save Bl*ck S*ren . She's using Oliver just like Prometheus did. Felicity wants Oliver to stop Bl*ck S*ren before anyone else gets hurt... before he gets hurt.

But Oliver pushes back just as hard. If there's anything the past five years has taught Oliver, there is so much in this world he doesn't understand. Instead of closing himself off to that, Oliver is trying to expand his world view. He's trying to be more accepting, more understanding, more compassionate. He needs to reach Bl*ck S*ren because once upon a time, not so long ago, someone came along and reached for Oliver.

Someone changed Oliver's circumstances.

Someone gave Oliver a second chance at life.

Felicity.

(And Diggle too). But what's so heartbreaking about this scene, is that Oliver is still Oliver. He can be obtuse, oblivious to the what's right in front of him. As he waxes poetic about changing Bl*ck S*ren's circumstances, he fails to recognize that Felicity's circumstances have changed to. And those circumstances are changing Felicity.

Felicity: You think you can save her?

Bl*ck S*ren is just a symptom of a much larger problem that is brewing between Oliver and Felicity. This shift in dynamic has a purpose.

This line is an important callback to the same line Helena said to LL in Season 2 when she was facing her island. Eventually, every character on Arrow goes to the Island. Every character lets the darkness in, because we all have a dark side. That’s just being human. Felicity is the last to go to her island because of who she is. She’s the strongest among them and because of that strength was able to hold onto her light. But everyone has a breaking point and Felicity has found hers. The darkness is setting up shop. There will come a time when it will be Felicity who needs to be saved. Only, she won't want to be. Felicity won't want Oliver to reach her, or anyone else who loves her. Yet, Oliver remains doggedly determined about Bl*ck S*ren. Imagine the determination he will have for Felicity. Oliver will reach her. There won't be a choice. Not when it comes to Felicity.

But the darkness never comes out. It always stays. It will always be something Felicity has to face, understand, and overcome. Just like every character on Arrow, but most especially Oliver. The key is that she has the person who brings out the best in her. The person who harnesses her light - OLIVER. This brings another level of connection to their relationship. It’s equal emotional support... and that is one area Felicity has always done the heavy lifting. This shift is necessary.

Whooo! Both are bringing their zinger A game.

But first, we have to allow Felicity to go down this darker path. We have to allow Felicity to get lost, so she can be found. This season is all about Oliver and Felicity walking in each other's shoes. Oliver is being the light, the source of hope and belief. And Felicity... is taking matters into her own hands. She's going to protect those she loves, especially when they cannot protect themselves. Felicity lost Billy to Prometheus' deception. That deception caused Oliver incalculable guilt and pain. Felicity can't save Billy, but she will save Oliver. She will protect him, especially when Oliver cannot protect himself. Felicity will protect Oliver even though she knows he will disagree with her methods.

It's a very Oliver Queen like move. Why is it so important we walk in our partner's shoes? Why is it so important we understand their perspective on a deeper level. Because it's the catalyst to change. It ignites our compassion, our understanding... and our forgiveness.

Felicity faces off with Bl*ck S*ren, and I have to say, it's an exceptional scene. Emily Bett Rickards is bringing this unflinching, uncompromising, darkened steel to Felicity Smoak. It's fantastic and Emily is chewing up this meaty storyline. They are only going to give her more and it's only going to get better. I feel it in my gut.

Honestly, this scene with Bl*ck S*ren is straight out of fanfiction.

Although, that "taller" remark fell a little flat. Is LL taller than Felicity? Does Oliver have a height preference I was unaware of? I was so confused.

Maybe some fanfiction authors should send the Arrow writers some better zingers. They did pull their ace though, a line I am sure they have been waiting a loooong time to say.

I cackled. Arrow having the balls to make fun of their exceptionally horrible romantic backstory with L*uriver will never get old with me.

Felicity knows what's really going on with Oliver. He feels guilty over Laurel's death and Bl*ck S*ren is a shot at redemption for him. Felicity Smoak knows Oliver Queen in his bones. Yes, I know what I did there.

Bl*ck S*ren escapes and Oliver is basically WTF because they followed Cisco's specs and no one ever escapes from The Flash! Felicity levels with Oliver. Bl*ck S*ren didn't escape. She let her go.

Oliver uses his angry voice. It's super hot. The exchange goes something like this:

Felicity: Don't worry. I put nano tech in Bl*ck S*ren's water. We'll be able to track her.

Oliver: (in his hot angry voice) That's a horrible idea. WORST IDEA EVER.

Felicity: Hey buddy, you taught me how. You did the same thing with Anarky!

Oliver: Oh. (whispers) Damn it.

Awkward pause...

Oliver: (in his deep angry voice that keeps getting hotter) Can we have the room please?

It would be at this time I shouted at my television, "For hot, angry sex! SAY FOR HOT ANGRY SEX!"

He didn't say it. Damn it! The boys have to leave and Wild Dog is bummed. He wants to watch Mom and Dad fight.

HA! Sucker!!! We get to stay. Muhahaha.

But hot angry Oliver doesn't yell. He immediately softens.

Felicity does not soften, however. In fact, the gloves are off.

It is the first time Oliver is really realizing how far Felicity is willing to go to get to Prometheus.

Felicity risked her life and not only is it worrying to Oliver... it's scaring the crap out of him.

SHOTS FIRED! I didn't take this as Felicity blaming Oliver for Billy's death. It's clear that she doesn't. It is, however, a condemnation on Oliver's attempt at the moral high ground. He's killing again. Morally justified? Perhaps. Goodness knows Felicity has advocated for Oliver killing the Big Bads before and she certainly has no problem putting Prometheus in the ground now. However, Felicity doesn't believe Oliver has the right to argue the moral high ground. He's taken the darker path too. He's doing whatever is necessary and so is she.

And yes, maybe, there was a little dig in there. If Oliver was holding to his "don't kill" code then he would have never tried to kill Prometheus... and Billy would be alive. Change the circumstances... change the choice... change the result. She's uses his Bl*ck S*ren argument against him, and twists the knife a little as she does it. This is an angry, frustrated, grieving Felicity. This is Felicity in pain.

Oliver promises justice for Billy, but Felicity jumps in with yet another zinger. Felicity NEVER refers to LL as Oliver’s ex, so she is really angry. And maybe Bl*ck S*ren’s digs got to her a little.

Honest to God, I thought he was going to kiss her. The way she's inches away from Oliver, challenging him. Remember, Oliver has a thing for strong women!

Yes, they are fighting but it's been so long since she stood this close to him. It's almost like Felicity is daring him to. Oliver glances down at her lips and hesitates. Then, he takes a deep breath, almost like he's holding it, willing himself not to just lean in and...

Is it warm in here? Wowza.

This one of the reasons I didn't mind the more subtle touch with Oliver and Felicity's scenes in 5A. Sometimes, when you pull back on characters it's almost like recharging a battery. Then, when you let them loose again the chemistry is electric. It's shooting sparks on steroids.

That was this scene. This is the push/pull dynamic we've been waiting for between Oliver and Felicity. Neither of them is backing down and it is so hot. As they say, opposites attract, but what's so interesting is that they've role reversed. The believer versus the cynic. The hopeful versus the disillusioned. The light versus the dark. Yet, the role reversal still maintains their opposite corners. This is a fight Oliver and Felicity have had before... many times. Only this time they are walking in the other's shoes.

Felicity and Oliver both take a step back, retreating to their separate corners, if not to just break the physical temptation, but allow themselves a moment to regroup.

Oliver watches the video between Felicity and Bl*ck S*ren and acknowledges what we all know... Felicity Smoak knows him best.

He comes towards her again, only this isn't a confrontation. Oliver has softened. He extends an olive branch. Oliver acknowledges that Bl*ck S*ren isn't their Laurel. Their Laurel is gone and they are never going to get her back. (This is yet another big blazing sign to the LL fandom that she is gone forever). But that's why Bl*ck S*ren is so important to Oliver. He's acknowledging that Felicity is right. He failed Laurel. This is a shot at redemption for Oliver. Without Bl*ck S*ren there's no chance of that. Or is there? We'll get to that later, but right now, Oliver feels like he's failed so many he's lost without the chance to fix it. Felicity is arguing it's an illusion, but Oliver argues back it's an illusion he needs right now.

And then he just says, "Okay?"

It's soft, gentle and pleading. This isn't Oliver demanding. This is Oliver asking. This is Oliver asking Felicity to please do this... for him.

That goes both ways. If it's Oliver asking... Felicity will do it.

This is an exceptionally beautiful, heart wrenching scene, because at the core of this is Oliver and Felicity's relationship. Oliver failed Felicity on a massive level. All he wanted to do was fix it, but he couldn't. She shut the door on them forever. Oliver feels he's lost any chance of redemption with Felicity as well. Oliver needs to reach for Bl*ck S*ren because he can't with Laurel, Moira, Robert, Tommy, Shado, Billy (even Prometheus in a way)... and most especially Felicity.

OR CAN HE? The whole point of this Dark Felicity story line is to offer Oliver that chance at redemption. It will open the door both Oliver and Felicity feel is long closed. Oliver will reach for Felicity the same way he's reaching for Bl*ck S*ren, only this time it will not be an illusion of what he lost, but the real thing. When Oliver reaches for Felicity she will eventually reach back.

Oliver puts Felicity in the field because Curtis needs help with the tech that'll stop Bl*ck S*ren's scream. Felicity is helping Curtis. The world makes sense again. Also, Felicity in the field so ...

Oliver and Prometheus face off.

Prometheus informs Oliver he can either stop him or save Felicity. It's 100% ridiculous that Prometheus thinks there's a choice. Dude, you need to watch Arrow.

Take it away Damon Salvatore.

Bl*ck S*ren goes after Felicity.

Can't you hear all those horrid anti Felicity fans cheering? This line is the writers thumbing their nose at that incessant request however.

See, this is why I love Arrow. Never have I seen a show so unabashedly play favorites. Bl*ck S*ren is the bad guy. Arrow won't let the bad guy win. Hell will freeze over before Arrow lets Bl*ck S*ren, or any version of LL, kill Felicity. Hell will freeze over before Arrow ever chooses LL over Felicity. There's no choice to make with them either.

Oliver chooses Felicity because DUH. Once again, they are enveloped in green light. The tether, the connection, the impossible dream, the minute and far away, is always there.

Oliver gives Bl*ck S*ren the hard sell. Yet, even when presented with love and compassion, Bl*ck S*ren still chooses evil.

Thus, cementing her as a real and true bad guy. The force of her sonic scream blows Oliver and Felicity backwards.

Oliver grabs Felicity and she holds on for dear life.

Once they hit the ground, Oliver shields Felicity with his ENTIRE BODY.

He even covers her ears with his arms, giving absolutely no thought to his own life. He couldn't protect her from the bullets.

He couldn't protect her from Havenrock

or Billy's death.

But he will protect her from this.

THIS is the kind of Olicity stunt we know and love. Welcome back old friend.

Curtis saves the day with his tech (more on that in a bit) and no truer statement was ever made...

And because Arrow is unabashedly Team Felicity, they give us this glorious gif:

There will be no end to the reblogging of this gif. This gif gives us life.

And if you think Arrow doesn't know the underlining meaning behind this scene, trust me, they know. That's why they put it there. It's the proverbial "shove it" to all the anti Felicity fans. Also, I may only refer to Bl*ck S*ren as pumpkin from now on.

And of course, because she is a total cupcake with extra frosting, Felicity excitedly tells Oliver she listened to his training tip and kept her wrist straight.

But Arrow is not done. No sir! Oliver can't hide the pride and heart eyes. Doesn't even bother trying.

OLIVER IS US Y'ALL! I mean, we always knew he was Team Felicity, on account of him choosing Felicity over Laurel every chance he got, but I thoroughly enjoy a little anti Bl*ck S*ren shade coming from him after we've heard him wax poetic about her for the last 40 minutes.

And then... Felicity and Oliver find a peaceful truce. They haven't resolved their issues at all. In fact, they are just ramping up. However, Felicity concedes that what she did was reckless and put the guards' life at risk. Oliver acknowledges that her plan worked. They almost got Prometheus.

See, this is why when Arrow finally pulls the trigger on an Olicity that stays together it will work wonderfully. There is enough "drama" between these two characters just based on their personalities and approaches to life. The push/pull dynamic is where the heat comes from. You can have Olicity fight and face drama without constantly keeping them apart. What's beautiful about them is even when they disagree, they have each other's backs. They are a team. And they will always find their way back to one another.

Felicity is sorry about Laurel.

Oliver is sorry about Billy.

The love in her voice fills the bunker. We can actually see Oliver’s heart stop.

Just stop fighting it y’all.

Oliver tells Felicity that "Laurel" isn't back in Central City. He's moved her to ARGUS lock up. He's keeping her close, because he still hasn't given up hope that he can reach her.

Between The Wars by Allman Brown

Between the wars we dance

Between the wars we left

Don't wake me yet

We're still what's left

Hasn't happened, hasn't happened yet

Between the wars we stay

Fading echoes spin away

Lost in memories, in memories

We're still what's left

Hasn't happened, hasn't happened yet

It's important that Felicity asked specifically about "Laurel." Note, she doesn't use the name Bl*ck S*ren. It's a tiny little acknowledgment that Oliver's hope is worth something.

In fact, it's worth everything.

And this is the line. The line that tells us exactly where Arrow is headed with Olicity. This is the line that we will hold on to when times get darker between them... and they will. We are just beginning this dark arc for Felicity. But this line already signals the door is already opening in Felicity. It will be Oliver's optimism, his light, that will help lead Felicity out of the dark and back to him. And when she does, Oliver will be ready for her. He will be the man she's always deserved.

And thus... the shift begins.

Flashbacks

We're back in Russia! Remember Russia? Honestly, I totally forgot what was happening in Russia, so it was good Flashback Ollie did a little recap for me.

Basically, Oliver is getting the crap beat out of him by Pakhan, who's upset that he failed at blowing up Kovar's casino. Instead, Oliver put his own interests (killing Kovar) above the Bratva. Oliver thinks Pakhan is a two faced, lying, SOB, because Kovar is a government agent and the deal he made with Pakhan also betrays the Bratva.

Pahkan argues that Oliver fails to see the bigger picture. For all Oliver knows, Pakhan could be double crossing Kovar that in serves the Bratva.

Arrow has struggled with tying in the flashbacks fluidly with present day, but they did a little better in this outing. Pahkan does a nice little psychoanalysis on Oliver, post ass kicking. The photo of Laurel falls out of Oliver's pocket, and Pahkan mistakes Laurel for Whatshername. It's important to note that Oliver didn't bother telling Pahkan Whatshername's real name because I'm pretty sure, like me, Oliver has forgotten what it is. When Oliver explains that she's not the woman he's here to avenge, Pahkan is a little, "Dude. How many do you have a thing with" and thus becomes my flashback spirit animal.

Oliver explains he couldn't return to Laurel because he's become a monster she wouldn't recognize. Well... that and you were the douchebag that cheated on Laurel with her sister and then her sister died, but that's just details.

Pakhan has an interesting take on things. He believes Oliver is blaming himself for the darkness inside of him, when really, it is just a product of his time on Lian Yu. It's the circumstances that created the darkness... not Oliver. Pakhan believes that ultimately, Lian Yu, made Oliver who he is today. Otherwise he'd still be a total asshat.

This feels accurate. It's the Bratva way of looking at the road not traveled, similar to what Oliver did in 5x08. Pakhan is pushing Oliver to view his darkness as a positive, to turn it into nectar, by committing himself fully to the Bratva. It's a slightly messed up version of unconditional love and acceptance. It's an illusion of family, but one Oliver needs. Just like he needs the illusion that Bl*ck S*ren is Laurel.

Here's the problem with Pahkan's take. Yes, in many ways Oliver's darkness is a byproduct of his circumstances. However, that eliminates any responsibility on Oliver's part. He still had choices to make. Just like Bl*ck S*ren made choices. Just like Felicity made choices. Oliver shouldn't be hating himself as much as he does for his darkness, but he doesn't get off scot free either - which is what Pahkan is selling him right now.

There is a happy medium here and Oliver will find it in present day. He'll let go of the guilt, but understand that he is still responsible for the choices he makes regardless of circumstance. Which is why, in the end, he will toe the moral line no matter what happens.

Tina Boland: The New Black Canary

Arrow removes the god awful statue of Laurel and Felicity wonders if they are doing the right thing. Perhaps they should rebuild it.

It is absolutely the right thing to remove that eye sore and you should absolutely not rebuild it.

Oliver has a much more poetic response than my, "Sweet Mother of Moses NO!" He's starting to realize legacy isn't about statues. A legacy is a living and breathing thing. He hasn't done enough to honor his promise to Laurel. He's determined to find a woman worthy of the BC title. That's how Oliver finds redemption in her loss. That's how she never truly dies. Laurel's legacy lives on in the people who loved her and those who continue to her fight.

Are they making Laurel more important in her death than she ever was on the show? Yes, absolutely. This is not going to change my friends. This is why they killed her. Her death served more purpose than her life. The good news is we're moving on from the LL piece of the BC chapter. Even better, Olicity is going to find the new BC. Arrow is ready to shift the story to somewhere new.

As we predicted, and as it was spoiled, the new character Tina was introduced at the end of the episode. She has the sonic scream just like Bl*ck S*ren did. So, obviously she's a meta human. It's possible Arrow has another origin planned. Her sonic scream sounded different than either LL's or Bl*ck S*ren’s. But Tina could be connected to Central City and the particle explosion. I'm wondering if Wild Dog is from Central City. Granted, I can’t tell if Wild Dog knows Tina in the promo, but if he does then maybe he’s hiding from her for a reason.

I'm wondering because the amazing @callistawolf was quick to point out to me the scene where Wild Dog remarks about everyone's blasé reaction to Laurel's return. Oliver tells him the Lance sisters have a habit of coming back to life and Wild Dog is floored this has happened before.

This is a thinly veiled reference to the Canaries coming back to life. I believe there's a Wild Dog connection with Tina. Perhaps they were in a relationship or she’s a family member. It's possible Wild Dog believes Tina died in the explosion. It could explain his angry reaction to the metas in the crossover (Thanks Sara!) In any event, I believe Oliver's "warning," for lack of a better word, to Wild Dog, about Lance women coming back to life, is that tradition will continue with the new BC. Wild Dog's BC.

I thought it was a great introduction to Tina. Her desire to protect women is a call back to Sara's crusade, the one who started it all... The Original Canary. So this isn't just about Laurel. It's about honoring the history of the Canaries on Arrow.

I enjoyed Juliana Harkavy's delivery and her physicality. It was just a brief glimpse, but I liked what I saw so far. The promo looked awesome. Wouldn't it be wonderful to love Arrow's BC? Fingers crossed!

John Diggle

Diggle wasn't in the episode a ton. "Who Are You" was mostly set up for his bigger storyline coming up. Diggle isn't running this time, but he's not giving up like last time either. He's ready to fight the charges. Again, this is about the kind of man, the kind of hero, John Diggle wants to be. And he doesn't want to be the kind of man who lets his demons get the better of him. John Diggle is a man who stands up and fights and he's finding that piece of himself again.

Adrian Chase

Oliver was able to bring in Adrian Chase and I have to say the gelling of this new character was seamless. Arrow did an excellent job of explaining away that pesky detail about Adrian not being a military attorney. The scene in which he instructs Diggle to punch him to delay his transfer and transfer him to civilian court was GENIUS.

There was a moment, between Adrian and Oliver that's worth noting as well. Adrian told Oliver it was important to keep what happened with Billy and Prometheus a secret. He essentially said secrets are the only way to justice. This could be a veiled reference to Adrian Chases' comic book history. SPOILERS.

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

Adrian Chase is Vigilante in the comics. However, in the comics his identity is revealed and Adrian commits suicide. It's an incredibly dark resolution to this character. Since this season is all about legacy, and Oliver deciding who he is and what kind of hero he wants to be, I think this line is very important. It points the direction where Adrian is going. The amazing @callistawolf, has long believed Oliver will reveal himself as The Green Arrow, Tony Stark style. If Adrian Chase, The Vigilante, believes secrets are the only way to justice, and is ultimately destroyed by that belief, then he represents a lesson Oliver has to learn. The point is to push Oliver towards a new way of doing things. Oliver can no longer find justice through secrets either. I'm going to meta on this more later because there's a lot there. Stay tuned.

Curtis Holt and Wild Dog

Y'all... I liked Wild Dog this episode. I was agreeing with Wild Dog. I assure you it was a disquieting feeling.

But then he called Felicity "blondie," infuriated me

and all was right with the world again.

I appreciate Arrow’s references to Rene being an acquired taste. That’s the writers acknowledging many of us can’t stand him. The reason Wild Dog was easier to take this episode is because he stopped being a dick for the majority of the episode.

In fact, it was Curtis calling Rene on his general asshatness that triggered the shift in character. So, lets keep that up Arrow. Less dick-douche and more compassionate friend. That’s a taste more to my liking.

Curtis lost his husband and is generally tired of getting his assed kicked. He's tired of failing at being a vigilante. He feels he's lost everything with nothing to show for it.

Arrow used the newbies extremely effectively this episode. Now that they've set the characters up, and we've gotten to know them, they can shift focus back to the main characters and the newbies can become solid B storylines. This is an excellent example of that.

Curtis is the new LL when it comes to fighting. Arrow isn't doing that great of a job at showing his progression. We sort of jumped to kicking ass in about an episode, complete with parkour moves, but at least they've settled on this "Mr. Terrific gets beat up" theme with every fight. It's an acknowledgment that he has the longest way to go training wise.

Curtis worked amazingly well last season on Arrow because they played to the character's strengths: his humor and chemistry with Emily Bett Rickards, and his technical abilities. My biggest frustration with the evolution into Mr. Terrific is that Arrow seemed to abandoned his technical abilities. Instead of being the Cisco of Arrow, like I hoped, he was taking over areas of Felicity's expertise. Forcing her to act out of character to make it work sometimes.

That was all fixed in "Who Are You" and played heavily into Curtis' arc. Wild Dog wisely told him that instead of focusing on what he can't do (fighting), focus on what he can do (genius inventor).

So, it's Curtis who comes up with the tech to stop Bl*ck S*ren and he ultimately saves the day. Let's stay on this road with him Arrow. Make a clear division of duties between Curtis and Felicity. Let Curtis be Arrow's Cisco and slowly move him along on the Mr. Terrific training. I don't think they'll stop Curtis from becoming Mr. Terrific, but I'll be happy if this slows the train down and refocuses his character like they did in this episode.

Stray Thoughts

Where you lookin’ Oliver? Felicity’s eyes are higher up.

I almost didn't notice Thea wasn't in the episode. That is how bad it's gotten with her lack of storyline. Let's fix that Arrow.

Flashback Ollie actually referring to LL's photograph is something new and different.

Don't try to understand The Flash Wild Dog.

Best Curtis line of the night. Close secod was "Heard what? Just kidding. Pretty sure people in Florida heard that.”

Bl*ck S*ren's black lipstick is so distracting. I dislike it very much.

Oliver should have explained his friendship with Diggle to Adrian this way, "John Diggle is my Yoda. We have the bromance to end all bromances. Save my lobster."

Anti crime unit is still a thing? Billy was part of the anti crime unit? Ugh. I'm trying to remember Billy's 10 minutes on screen, but it's hard.

John Diggle... why is your voice so handsome? Also your face? I ask the important questions.

"I'm use to it." Has anything more accurately summed up Olicity? I think not.

Wig is still worse than Oliver's bloody face.

Felicity has a hard time swearing. Because she's a cupcake

"More tinkering. Less fighting." STOP MAKING SENSE WILD DOG. YOU ARE FREAKING ME OUT.

Talia Al Ghul has arrived! She's pretty. She looks like Nyssa. I am jazzed. My Batman roots demand it

516 notes · View notes

rolandfontana · 5 years ago

Text

A Prison Odyssey: Albert Reed’s Road to Redemption

Albert Reed, Jr.

As he shuffled from one maximum-security facility to the next, Albert Reed Jr.’s quarter-century-long journey through America’s prison system provided him with a window into the system’s failures: violence, substance abuse, the lack of opportunities for rehabilitation.

And he came away with a bracing message.

“We have to get to the roots, to uplift the people inside who are serving these sentences,” says Reed, who was among the 2,200 inmates released from prison following the December, 2018 signing of the First Step Act.

“There are a lot of people in there who do want to come out and be productive, who realize the error of their ways. I can honestly say that.”

He told his story in an extended interview with The Crime Report.

Like many who end up in the criminal justice system, Reed was faced with tragedy early in life.

He grew up in a middle-class family in Greenburgh, N.Y., but things took a turn for the worse when Reed’s family moved to White Plains, an adjacent town in New York’s Westchester County. Reed’s father died of cancer in 1976 when he was seven years old. The loss of income forced his family to move into a nearby housing project.

Reed’s mother, who struggled to raise three kids on her own, turned to drugs. She would eventually pass away 10 years later.

With no one else to rely on, Reed began selling drugs to provide for his two sisters.

‘The Walls Were Closing In’

“I felt like I had no options,” he recalls. “The walls were closing in.”

At the age of 19, he was charged with his first offense in 1989, for selling $20 dollars’ worth of cocaine to an undercover cop.

His second offense came in 1991 for cocaine possession, while he was attending Denmark Technical College in South Carolina. Reed would actually win class president during his time there, but dropped out after he received his second charge and was put on probation.

Reed’s third strike came in 1994. He was now 24, and was caught in possession of 193 grams of crack cocaine and two Ziploc bags of marijuana.

That year, the same year as the birth of Reed’s daughter, the Three Strikes Law came into effect as part of President Bill Clinton’s Violent Crime Control and Prevention Act. The provision was one of several controversial aspects of the bill, which mandated life sentences for a third serious violent or drug trafficking offense.

Instead of taking the plea deal, Reed went to trial.

“I didn’t want to take a plea deal and get 30 years,” he recalled. “At that point, it seemed like a lifetime to me. “

Reed lost the trial, and received a life sentence.

Reed says he’ll never forget what the judge told him after the trial.

“He said, ‘Work on your case while you’re in there, and they may change the laws one day.’ I thought he was joking,” says Reed. “This guy just gave me a life sentence!”

After arriving in prison, however, Reed quickly realized that the judge’s advice may have been his only hope for survival.

Reed was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa. He was shocked as the reality set in that he would be there for the rest of his life. Once he reached the general population after about a month of an arduous screening process, he immediately took to the law library.

Reed says it was a painstaking process, going through legal texts regarding topics like possession and illegal searches and seizures.

After a few months at Lewisburg, Reed says he witnessed a stabbing, in which the officer in charge did little to interfere except tell the inmate to stop.

“It was gruesome…It was an eye-opening experience. It made it that much more prescient for me to get up out of there,” says Reed.

Poor Conditions, Unsafe Environments

It’s difficult to get accurate data on U.S. prison violence because of the lack of a unified national database. But recent reports have indicated poor conditions like overcrowding and understaffing at certain facilities are creating unsafe and even violent environments, including incidents of guards failing to help inmates under attack.

After a month of being separated from the general population without being told why, he was charged in a prison setting with a murder he said he didn’t commit.

He was then transferred to the ADX maximum security facility in Colorado, where he would spend the next six years.

“I had this thing follow me the rest of my time in my prison bid, where I’m looked at as a killer. It affected my ability to seek educational opportunities,” says Reed.

Even if Reed hadn’t received this alleged erroneous charge, the 1994 Crime Bill effectively eliminated funding for Pell Grants for inmates in both Federal and State prisons.

Throughout his incarceration, Reed’s requests to be transferred to lower security facilities, which had better educational opportunities, were denied multiple times.

Undeterred, however, Reed tried to make the best of his time. He was a frequent visitor to the prison law library, and as he read books his family sent him, he gave himself an education, expanding on the GED and limited college education he obtained before being incarcerated.

“Learning about all these topics, philosophy, history, political science, when you’re faced with nonsense at every turn, that’s what kept me sane,” says Reed.

Participating in whatever meager educational opportunities the prisons had, Reed saw the transformative effects education can have. It showed him the will that people have to better themselves, which he describes as life-altering experiences.

“I’ve seen guys who can’t read, who didn’t know their ABC’s, struggle and actually accomplish something by becoming literate, or getting their GED, things we take for granted.”

When the prison had no budget, the inmates would set up their own classes, and pull the lessons from online, and get the curriculum approved by the prison’s Education Department. Reed taught GED classes himself, covering topics like budgeting, banking and checking.

(L-R) MiAngel Cody, lawyer at the Decarceration Collective, Albert Reed, and Brittany Barnett, lawyer at the Buried Alive Project .

Despite these workarounds, educational facilities were often hard to access because of prison lockdowns. Reed recalls that at the last facility where he was confined—the U.S. Penitentiary in Pollock, La.,—the prison never stayed open for more than ten days at a time. The prison’s Education Department was only open for about a month of his five-month stay.

The chance to self-educate helped Reed survive the grim realities of life “inside.” Gang culture, drug abuse and horrific living conditions made daily existence a struggle.

K2 was the drug most widely used by the inmates, according to Reed. Reed, who never used drugs himself, says when he was in the United States Penitentiary at Big Sandy, Ky., “Every day was lockdown. Guys would smoke and trip out. The prison had to shut down just to stop guys from having to go to the infirmary or put in restraints.”

To Reed, it felt like living in a mental hospital—but one with few facilities to deal with inmates’ troubled mental health. Despite a 2014 initiative by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand mental health programs, quality of care remains grossly insufficient, according to a recent report by The Marshall Project.

A Letter Opens the Door

Reed’s luck would finally change 23 years into his sentence, when he received a letter from the Buried Alive Project, a criminal justice reform organization working together with The Decarceration Collective to lobby against harsh sentencing legislation such as Three Strikes Laws.

The letter promised to use the just-enacted federal First Step Act to secure his release, and requested all Reed’s documents. Reed was finally able to make contact with attorney MiAngel Cody, who founded The Decarceration Collective. She filed a motion for his release in March.

Later that month, an officer came to his cell telling him he was going home.

“He said, ‘You ready?’ I said ‘yeah I’m ready!’ Other inmates were banging on the doors in their units, yelling ‘Al’s going home!’”

His first night out of prison in a quarter of a century was memorable. Reed was picked up by his older sister, and they went to see his younger sister, who was shocked and brought to tears when she first saw him later that night.

Reed was able to attend his daughter’s baby shower, and he became a grandfather a month after his release.

Reed, who recently turned 50, lives with his older sister in a house in Gaithersburg, Md., and has reestablished a former relationship he had with someone before he was sent to prison in 1994. After working as a basketball camp counsellor this summer, where he was able to share his story with the kids and parents there, he realized a new mission: counseling at-risk youth who are buffeted by the same forces that led him astray when he was growing up.

Reed directs most of his energy, however, at getting his consulting firm off the ground. He wants to help former inmates and others pursue their dreams by providing connections to future employment before they are released from prison.

Such connections increase the odds that the often bumpy path towards integration into society will be successful—odds that are usually against most individuals in the U.S. prison system, Reed says.

But before launching his new life he had a more solemn duty to perform. Returning to White Plains for an aunt’s funeral, Reed visited the cemetery where his mother was buried—and put flowers on her grave.

“I finally felt,” he says, “like I made it home.”

Dane Stallone is a contributing writer to The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers.

A Prison Odyssey: Albert Reed’s Road to Redemption syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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asessay-blog · 7 years ago

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Essay范文：The influence of Christianity on English literature

以下是Asessay为大家整理一篇essay范文，这篇论文讨论了基督教对英国文学的影响。宗教和文学的关系密不可分。特别是基督教文学，它的宗教经典《圣经》对英国作家的影响至今不衰。宗教与文学同属于人类意识形态文化的范畴，都是人精神领域发展到强盛时期的产物，标志着人们具有了通过自己的想象和思维再造一个完全不同于现实世界的精神世界的强大能力。

The relationship between religion and literature is inseparable. In particular, the influence of Christian literature on British writers remains. Both religion and literature belong to the category of human ideology and culture, which is the product of the development of human spiritual field into the period of prosperity, which indicates that people have the powerful ability to recreate a spiritual world completely different from the real world through their own imagination and thinking. There is a close relationship between the concept of English literature and the concept of Christianity, and as readers we may not believe in Christ, but understanding Christianity is of great significance to us in-depth understanding of British literary works. This paper tries to analyze the influence of Christianity on English literature and the deep relationship between Christianity and English literature by taking Shakespeare and Bunyan as examples.

The influence of Christian literature, especially the Bible of Christian religious classics, on British writers has not been bad. The Bible is both a classic of Judaism and a literary confluence of the Jewish people, Christianity takes its historical legends, religious stories, folk customs, vows, chants, love poems and so on, and integrates with his Gospel stories and Apostles ' Traces to form a biblical story and become a source of endless creation of literary works in later generations.

Many great thinkers, writers, and artists have drawn nourishment from the Bible in search of material. Understanding Christianity and its intrinsic connection with British literature can help us better understand literary works.

Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the world, has been greatly influenced by Christianity. The authoritative accounts of his life have not been circulated so much that it is difficult to accurately judge Shakespeare's religious beliefs. But one's work is the truest reaction of his faith. From Shakespeare's works, we can feel that he is deeply influenced by Christian culture and has a strong Christian consciousness. The Bible gives Shakespeare endless nourishment, which is widely seen in Shakespeare's plays. In his comedy, historical drama, tragedies, poems and 14 lines of poetry, he has hundreds of times quoted the biblical sentences, expressing the recognition of many Christian ideas.

Shakespeare in the works more than once expressed that people should pursue the existence of transcendental significance, that is, beyond the eternal meaning of earthly existence. In many of his works, we can see that the greatest writer in English literature has his own thoughts on life and transcendent existence. In the face of the eternal topic of life and death, Shakespeare believes that human beings are limited, so that the value of life infinite is the meaning of living.

John Bunyan is a writer of the late British Renaissance and Shakespeare. He was born poor, a tinker's son and a puritan. Bunyan Juvenile Army, after the war, youth and endured many years of faith crisis, even because of religious beliefs suffered 12 years of prison. It was during this period that Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim's Course" in the pure mind and pious writing manner, which was hailed as "the guide of the Spiritual Journey".

Bunyan the world of his own life with a religious eye, and found too many evils in the world, and he was so helpless. Yet he gained confidence in his faith and found a way to redeem himself. He hopes to bring this confidence and sentiment to the people around, light more people's hearts, and thus wrote "Pilgrim's Course."

He wants to use this book to tell people that the journey to heaven is the day that people experience in the world, and that the Christian process symbolizes the course of human pursuit of a better future. A good traveler, desperation, will be blinded by ignorance and there will be despair, but with indomitable spirit will eventually reach the end. Bunyan describes the human condition with a wonderful irony. It is hoped that the Puritan standard will purify the British society of the 17th century.

Many works of English literature have obvious religious feelings, and some of the inner spirit of Christianity can be clearly embodied in many works of English literature. For the affirmation of the original sin, the recognition of atonement, the promotion of benevolence is often the theme of the work. The concepts of good and evil, sin and redemption in Christianity have been repeatedly quoted by many authors in various forms. The following articles will be discussed from three aspects of original sin, atonement and benevolence.

Christianity believes that life is sinful, and this crime is embodied in the greed and desires that are hard to resist. Christianity believes that the original sin is the man's free will to deviate from God's result, the person's life is to atone for the sins, in order to wash the life brings evil. Taking Shakespeare's drama as an example, Shakespeare's understanding of human nature is consistent with Christianity, depending on the existence of human guilt and the belief that evil originates from the free will of man. But it is fundamentally different from Christianity: Christianity believes that the salvation of humanity can only rely on God, while Shakespeare's play embodies the free will of people can help people achieve their own salvation. Shakespeare plays the evil as the destructive force in the free will, although the destructive power can not completely save the person, but the inner drive of free will makes a sense of awe to the universe, the promotion of human nature and spiritual transcendence.

In Shakespeare's works, especially the dramatic works, where the plot unfolds, chasing its roots are due to people's original sin.

In "Pilgrim's Journey", Christians have two purposes: one is to unload the back on the back filled with the burden of life fear and evil, the second is to go through arduous hardships to reach the holy city. The souls of the pilgrim are gradually experiencing repentance and conversion, resist the temptation of refuge, endure the rigorous test of the love of the Lord, and finally reach the four stages of the consummation of faith and righteousness, according to the Christian Salvation Program and Salvation doctrine, this development process is the journey of a man's soul on the path of salvation. It vividly recreates the saints from this Life to eternity of the sacred Faith Road, but also vividly demonstrated the people for an ideal and arduous journey of life.

Redemption is one of the most important themes in the Bible. Christianity holds that man is separated from God because of sin, that life is bound by sin, that sin makes a man a slave, and that salvation is redeemed by self, and that one is released. From a Christian point of view atonement, God is the Redeemer, only God can release the people from sin.

The Salvation view advocated by Shakespeare is obviously different from Christianity. Christianity believes that salvation depends on the grace of God, while Shakespeare's play embodies the power of the free will of man. There's also Shakespeare. As a representative of humanist writers, he thinks that human rationality can develop the good side of will, and the free will of man is strong enough to make people realize their salvation, to restrain the will of evil, to achieve spiritual purity and freedom.

"Pilgrim's Journey" in the book borrowed the form of fables and dreams, through the metaphor of Christ's image to explain his religious thought, the Christian spirit to examine secular society.

以上Essay范文由Asessay所发，未经许可谢绝转载,违者必究。essay代写,paper代写，report代写等各方面课业问题可直接联系相关客服，客服QQ:1635676033

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rolandfontana · 5 years ago

Text

Albert Reed’s Road to Redemption

Albert Reed, Jr.

And he came away with a bracing message.

“There are a lot of people in there who do want to come out and be productive, who realize the error of their ways. I can honestly say that.”

He told his story in an extended interview with The Crime Report.

Like many who end up in the criminal justice system, Reed was faced with tragedy early in life.

Reed’s mother, who struggled to raise three kids on her own, turned to drugs. She would eventually pass away 10 years later.

With no one else to rely on, Reed began selling drugs to provide for his two sisters.

‘The Walls Were Closing In’

“I felt like I had no options,” he recalls. “The walls were closing in.”

At the age of 19, he was charged with his first offense in 1989, for selling $20 dollars’ worth of cocaine to an undercover cop.

Reed’s third strike came in 1994. He was now 24, and was caught in possession of 193 grams of crack cocaine and two Ziploc bags of marijuana.

Instead of taking the plea deal, Reed went to trial.

“I didn’t want to take a plea deal and get 30 years,” he recalled. “At that point, it seemed like a lifetime to me. “

Reed lost the trial, and received a life sentence.

Reed says he’ll never forget what the judge told him after the trial.

“He said, ‘Work on your case while you’re in there, and they many change the laws one day.’ I thought he was joking,” says Reed. “This guy just gave me a life sentence!”

After arriving in prison, however, Reed quickly realized that the judge’s advice may have been his only hope for survival.

Reed says it was a painstaking process, going through legal texts regarding topics like possession and illegal searches and seizures.

After a few months at Lewisburg, Reed says he witnessed a stabbing, in which the officer in charge did little to interfere except tell the inmate to stop.

“It was gruesome…It was an eye-opening experience. It made it that much more prescient for me to get up out of there,” says Reed.

Poor Conditions, Unsafe Environments

After a month of being separated from the general population without being told why, he was charged in a prison setting with a murder he said he didn’t commit.

He was then transferred to the ADX maximum security facility in Colorado, where he would spend the next six years.

“I had this thing follow me the rest of my time in my prison bid, where I’m looked at as a killer. It affected my ability to seek educational opportunities,” says Reed.

Even if Reed hadn’t received this alleged erroneous charge, the 1994 Crime Bill effectively eliminated funding for Pell Grants for inmates in both Federal and State prisons.

Throughout his incarceration, Reed’s requests to be transferred to lower security facilities, which had better educational opportunities, were denied multiple times.

“Learning about all these topics, philosophy, history, political science, when you’re faced with nonsense at every turn, that’s what kept me sane,” says Reed.

“I’ve seen guys who can’t read, who didn’t know their ABC’s, struggle and actually accomplish something by becoming literate, or getting their GED, things we take for granted.”

When the prison had no budget, the inmates would set up their own classes, and pull the lessons from online, and get the curriculum approved by the prison’s Education Department. Reed taught classes himself, covering topics like budgeting, banking and checking.

The chance to self-educate helped Reed survive the grim realities of life “inside.” Gang culture, drug abuse and horrific living conditions made daily existence a struggle.

K2 was the drug most widely used by the inmates, according to Reed. Reed, who never used drugs himself, says, “Every day was lockdown. Guys would smoke and trip out. The prison had to shut down just to stop guys from having to go to the infirmary or put in restraints.”

A Letter Opens the Door

Later that month, an officer came to his cell telling him he was going home.

“He said, ‘You ready?’ I said ‘yeah I’m ready!’ Other inmates were banging on the doors in their units, yelling ‘Al’s going home!’”

Reed was able to attend his daughter’s baby shower, and he became a grandfather a month after his release.

Such connections increase the odds that the often bumpy path towards integration into society will be successful—odds that are usually against most individuals in the U.S. prison system, Reed says.

“I finally felt,” he says, “like I made it home.”

Dane Stallone is a contributing writer to The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers.

Albert Reed’s Road to Redemption syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

0 notes