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familiarscars · 24 days ago

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Drive You Insane | Noah Sebastian 01

adult content | minors do NOT interact.

⋆ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. Noah Sebastian X psychiatrist!Reader.

⋆ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒. A mysterious new patient arrives at the Grimshade sanatorium and you have been tasked with taking care of his case.

⋆ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆(𝐒). disturbing environment, violence, unconventional treatments, manipulation, questionable relationships, explicit sex and profanity.

It's okay to not agree with the characters' attitudes during the fic. It's good to remember that the story is fiction from the author's sick mind and of course they will make dubious decisions according to my fantasies. Nothing is done to be compared to reality.

Grimshade Sanatorium, an isolated island of Blackridge in southern Canada.

It had been six long hours by plane from your city, three hours by boat, and now an hour and a half crammed into a private car with closed windows, traveling along a bumpy road that bordered a cliff as it climbed the hill. Your heart threatened to leap out of your chest at any moment, and your hands were sweating so much that they alternated between hot and cold.

You adjusted your glasses on the bridge of your nose after checking the map for the eighth time, dividing your attention between the aged paper in your fingers and the fog outside that made it impossible to figure out where you were. From what you could decipher, Grimshade Sanatorium was at the top of a hill, while the rest of the island was shrouded in dark, untamed vegetation. There was a single small town miles away from your lodging, and reaching it seemed daunting given the path ahead.

At that moment, you hoped you wouldn’t need anything from it anytime soon.

When you chose psychiatry as your specialization, you never imagined how difficult it would be to find a job in the field, especially as a newly graduated professional. It was tough for reputable clinics to give you a vote of confidence, given your youth and limited experience beyond mandatory internships and extracurricular activities in college.

Everything changed when a letter from Grimshade Sanatorium arrived—a glimmer of hope. You had applied to so many places you’d forgotten about that one. They sent a notice on vintage paper, resembling a direct invitation from Hogwarts, which you found amusing yet intriguing due to the details.

They were looking for a psychiatrist for the ward housing inmates awaiting their final sentences—many of them serving their time as residents. It wasn’t exactly what you had envisioned, especially after researching Grimshade and discovering it functioned like a maximum-security prison for the most dangerous, mentally unstable criminals.

“This is where the road ends for cars, I’m afraid. You’ll have to continue on foot,” the driver said over his shoulder, turning to look at you in the back seat.

Your slightly wide-eyed gaze shifted between the dark dirt road ahead and his drooping eyes beneath his cap. You didn’t want to let on that you felt a faint shiver running up your spine.

“I don’t know how to get there alone,” you said, trying to mask the panic in your voice. “Okay, I have a map, but what are the chances it won’t confuse me? Is there somewhere I can get Wi-Fi or better cell service to use GPS?”

Rebert—that’s how he introduced himself—merely furrowed his brows and shook his head briefly, as if the words that had left your lips were absurd.

“With all due respect, miss, but a cellphone on Blackridge Island is the most useless device you could own. There’s no signal tower; we barely manage to watch TV or get news from the outside world,” he chuckled.

“What do you mean?” you asked, frowning as you adjusted yourself in the seat. “How do people communicate here?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

Probably through letters and carrier pigeons, like a century ago.

“I need to ask one more thing. If I need to go into town, how can I call a taxi or get transportation?”

“When you get to this very intersection, you’ll see cars like mine heading toward the town. Since you’re a Grimshade employee, you’ll have unrestricted access with your ID badge. Just pay attention to the schedules and days of the week; town visits are limited to avoid coinciding with the arrival of new inmates.”

“They seem very strict about security,” you said, flexing your lips in mild surprise.

“Given the abominable creatures they house there, perhaps their measures aren’t strict enough. Strict is how I chain my dog to a post to keep him from running away. Those killers shouldn’t even have the privilege of eating and sleeping in that place,” Rebert said with a tone of contempt that left you slightly uncomfortable.

You hated when people spoke about patients that way, no matter who they were. But your beliefs and values didn’t matter much now.

“Well...” You cleared your throat, grabbing your coat and bag from the seat beside you, slinging it over your shoulder. “Thanks for the ride and the tips, Rebert.”

“Not at all, miss.”

You hauled your suitcase out of the trunk, grunting at its weight, and dragged it toward the narrower stone path. In the distance, you heard Rebert’s car pulling away, its tires crunching against the gravel. Ahead, you could make out the mansion after a steep climb, with old tree branches and dry leaves forming an archway over the path.

The journey was silent, with nothing but the sounds of nature—the raspy chirping of birds—accompanied by the soft rush of water from the cracked concrete fountain decorating the front of the sanatorium as you crossed its gates. You walked slowly around it, grimacing as you noted the general state of neglect on the facade.

The circular driveway around the fountain had cracked and darkened tiles, and the mansion’s paint was as old as the building itself, appearing white under layers of creeping vines and cracks that altered its color. You couldn’t help wrinkling your nose at the sight, the chirping of birds replaced by the distant clang of heavy metal and muffled screams as you approached.

“You must be the new doctor!” A cheerful male voice addressed you from behind, startling you as you turned fully. “I’m Travis Rune, head psychiatrist of the custody ward. I’ve been assigned to welcome you to Grimshade!”

For a moment, you considered refusing the hand he extended toward you. He could’ve arrived a little earlier and helped you carry your heavy suitcase up the hill. On the other hand, the blond man with perfectly aligned hair and broad shoulders seemed far too pleasant to snub.

“Thank you! Have you been here long, Dr. Rune?” you asked, prompting a smile as Travis gestured with his chin for you to follow him inside.

“Please, call me Travis. We’re colleagues now.” He smiled, looking at you over his square glasses, winking one strikingly blue eye.

“That’s precisely why I prefer to keep things formal,” you said without intending to sound rude, though the words slipped out as you continued assessing the mansion’s interior.

A grand staircase led to the second floor, where nurses bustled about, and various patients were being moved from one place to another—some restrained, others not. Passing by a woman banging her head against the staircase railing, Travis led you upstairs, signaling to another staff member to take care of your suitcase.

“We’ve divided Grimshade into wings and levels. You’ll identify them by the bracelets on each patient’s wrist,” he explained as you moved down the corridor, ignoring the shouting coming from one of the consulting rooms. “Level One: green bracelet. Elderly patients abandoned by their families in our asylum. Their needs are managed by the nursing staff, so you won’t have contact with them.”

You absorbed the information, looking from side to side, thinking that abandoning a family member in a place like this was the ultimate proof of someone’s character.

"Level two: yellow wristbands. Patients of random age groups with mild mental disorders also abandoned by their families, or severe cases requiring institutionalization. They are monitored by the mental health team and have a monthly consultation with me for medication adjustments."

"So, they pay to be here?" Perhaps it was a naïve question, but you needed to know.

"Their families pay an annual fee and cover the costs of keeping them here. Unless it's a custody patient, we don’t treat anyone for free, if that’s what you’re wondering."

If they had so many patients and all of them paid to be here, why keep the sanatorium in the state of an ancient asylum? You wondered as you walked past a leak dripping water from the ceiling onto your hair.

"Understood, Dr. Rune."

He seemed quite young.

Okay, he was definitely good-looking and had a pleasant way of speaking. The age gap between you and him couldn’t have been more than two years. He was definitely the kind of guy you might have had a crush on in university, without the slightest reciprocation given the countless other, more interesting options he probably had. Not that you were particularly extroverted or social, especially when it came to interacting with men.

Locking yourself up at home with your face buried in books might not have been the best idea after all.

"Last but not least, level three: red wristbands. Custody patients awaiting trial or serving sentences at the sanatorium. We use treatment to extract information that can assist authorities and contribute to investigations."

He pointed toward a consultation room where a man in a dress shirt was speaking to a girl with her head down.

"Because these are highly dangerous criminals who can’t coexist with other patients, we keep them in a separate wing, which we call the Hidden."

Dr. Rune turned the next corner, and you followed him. As you passed through the doors and descended the stairs leading to the outside, the cold hit your face, and it was impossible not to cross your arms, trying to pull your sleeves further down.

You thought the scenery couldn’t get any worse, but with each step, it became darker. As you passed through gates and two guards, it felt like stepping into a TV prison show, walking along a corridor of iron cells.

A strong stench burned your nostrils, and the screams of patients mixed with the sound of something hitting the iron were enough to make your ears ring.

"This place is the reason you’re here. Our last professional resigned, and we urgently needed to fill the position before the next evaluation cycle started," Travis shrugged as he walked.

Your confidence dropped by a few percentage points upon realizing that your hiring was out of sheer desperation. Fine, you’d deal with that later.

"They resigned?" you asked, raising an eyebrow, dodging a stream of urine aimed in your direction by a patient. "Not exactly motivating to hear that on the first day."

"It’s a tough ward; it’s not for everyone." He smiled, and you hesitated immediately. "Besides the patient files you’ll handle, you’ll need to prepare for a new detainee arriving soon."

"A new detainee?" For the first time, your question sounded genuinely intrigued.

"He’s being tried for a brutal murder. There’s little information about the case, like his motivation or even confirmation that he did it. He hasn’t spoken a word since it happened, and the judge concluded he’s not mentally sound." Travis rolled his eyes. "They dump any trash here, and it’s up to us to sort through it. Along the way, we see if we can help at all."

He was definitely fed up with this job.

"So, let me guess... you think I can make him talk?" you asked, playing with a hint of innocence as you watched Travis stop in the corridor.

"I don’t think someone as inexperienced as you can go that far, no offense." He spoke with a touch of sarcasm. "We just want you to follow protocol with him, and I’ll handle the rest."

Something prickled at the back of your neck at the way he dismissed your years of study as absolutely nothing just because your resume wasn’t as extensive as his. Your hands curled into fists, your fingers pressing into your palms, and you took a deep breath before responding.

"Of course, Dr. Rune."

The tour of the Hidden was over, and you were exhausted. Travis left you at the door of your small room with its jammed window and dusty ceiling fan. Before leaving, he emphasized the importance of being well-rested to receive the new patient the next day. After your shower, you wanted to call your mother and let her know you had arrived safely on the island after hours of travel, but without any signal, no matter where you moved in the room, this mission was impossible. Tossing the phone onto your pillow, you promised yourself you’d give her an update as soon as you had a break and could visit the town.

With a tired sigh, you sat at the desk next to the bed, drying your hair with a towel while flipping through patient files. You weren’t sleepy yet, and without the entertainment of the internet, all you could do was work.

Patient File 1: Ash A., 39 years old - Admission: June 2019 Preliminary Diagnosis: Severe psychopathy; dissociative disorder.

History: Ash was admitted after being declared legally insane during the trial for a series of brutal murders. He worked as a taxidermist, and his obsession with preserving "human perfection" led him to conduct grotesque experiments on his victims, all meticulously chosen. He claimed he was "saving" their souls by preserving them in an "immortal" form. During initial sessions, he displayed a complete lack of remorse and a disturbingly detailed recounting of his actions. Current State: Apathetic during interactions, except when discussing his “art.” Shows no signs of rehabilitation or acknowledgment of the atrocities committed.

You raised your eyebrows and jotted down notes in your notebook before moving to the next file.

Patient File 2: Mariene G., 27 years old - Admission: October 2021 Preliminary Diagnosis: Schizoaffective disorder with violent tendencies.

History: Mariene was found in a state of shock next to the body of her older brother, stabbed 23 times. Apparently, she believed he was a demonic entity trying to steal her soul. According to family testimony, Mariene began exhibiting paranoid behavior months earlier, hearing voices instructing her to protect herself "at all costs." In one interview, she stated she "had no choice" and that "his eyes burned like embers."

Current State: Alternates between periods of lucidity and paranoia. Aggressive during confrontations, requiring constant supervision.

“Mariene is a pretty name…” you murmured, assessing the photo of the woman with blonde eyebrows.

Patient File 3: Brady P., 52 years old - Admission Date: January 2020

Preliminary Diagnosis: Antisocial personality disorder; extreme persecution mania.

History: Brady was a former financial executive who believed he was being pursued by a "secret society" responsible for monitoring his every move and manipulating his life. This paranoia culminated in a public attack at a shopping mall, where Brady set fire to three stores and stabbed two security guards, claiming they were "infiltrators." He maintains that each act was a measure of self-preservation against an invisible enemy.

Current State: Rarely sleeps, claiming that "they will find him" if he closes his eyes. Displays consistent delusions despite intensive medication.

With the third file finished, you exhaled sharply, letting your lips vibrate, imagining what could have driven the previous psychiatrist to resign, leaving this position open for you.

Patient File 4: Noah S., 24 years old - Admission Date: February 2024

Preliminary Diagnosis: Psychogenic catatonia associated with borderline personality disorder and severe dissociative episodes.

History: Noah was found at dawn in a grove near the university campus, kneeling beneath a large tree. Above him hung the mutilated body of his ex-girlfriend, Rachel E., 23 years old, suspended by her ankles and bearing signs of extreme violence: deep cuts marked her skin, symbols carved into her torso, and her frozen expression suggested a slow and painful death.

Noah was covered in blood, both his own and Rachel’s. When approached by police, he remained motionless, staring blankly at her hanging body. Initial investigations revealed the two had been seen together the night before at a rival fraternity party where, according to witnesses, a heated argument occurred. The circumstances of the crime raised questions of premeditation and symbolic rituals, but Noah never provided an explanation. From the moment of his capture, Noah had not spoken a single word. Extensive psychiatric evaluations concluded that his muteness and apathy were not conscious choices but the result of a profound dissociative state combined with severe trauma. During the trial, his inert posture and lack of defense led to an insanity plea and his transfer to Grimshade Sanitarium.

Current State: Noah remains in complete silence, minimally interacting with his surroundings. Nurses’ reports mention he is often found staring into space for hours, particularly near windows or trees. His only movements thus far have been sudden bursts of rage when provoked.

Closing the file, the feeling lingered — a deep chill seemed to originate from the center of your chest, raising the hair on your arms. Noah’s face in the photograph seemed almost alive, his intense, furrowed gaze carrying something impossible to name. For a moment, you wondered what it would be like to stand face-to-face with someone harboring such silence and horror within.

But your curiosity wouldn’t have to last long — you would meet him tomorrow.

The day began with an unusual restlessness. The hot water from the shower didn’t dissipate the cold that seemed to settle in your nape, and Noah’s face from the photograph lingered like a shadow, even with your eyes closed. It was as though the intensity of his gaze was imprinted on your mind, and more than once, you caught yourself trying to divert your thoughts — unsuccessfully — while instinctively clutching your thighs.

The tattoos — intricate and dark — covering his neck and peeking from the collar of his shirt didn’t help, drawing attention to themselves. Something about that man disturbed you more than any other patient you had encountered, and the feeling only grew as you prepared, choosing an outfit that projected professionalism, though a hint of nervousness threatened to show.

Descending to reception, you found Dr. Rune waiting with a calm smile and a hot coffee. You thanked him, holding the cup with both hands, trying to savor the warmth as a fleeting comfort. Walking together toward the outside, he explained some logistical details, but his words soon faded as a growing noise filled the corridor.

Crossing the main entrance doors, you stopped abruptly, startled by the scene unfolding before you. Journalists crowded like a compact swarm, camera flashes firing in rapid succession, and visibly overwhelmed security guards struggling to contain the horde. It was a chaotic visual and auditory assault, intensifying with each passing second.

“I should’ve warned you,” Travis murmured beside you, noting your expression. “Not only is his case infamous, but Noah comes from a very influential family. The owners of Blackridge, basically. They have fortune, power... and apparently no hurry to help their precious son.”

“They’re not trying to prove his innocence?” you asked innocently.

“All signs point to them wanting to stay out of the case due to the exposure. We’re in the isolated area, but Blackridge’s noble district is so conservative it’s believed that land still exists in a time capsule that hasn’t evolved.”

“That sounds... complicated.”

“Just another piece of gossip about a random patient.”

The information landed heavily, given Travis’s mocking tone, and you tried to ignore him.

“They won’t back off anytime soon,” Rune commented, his eyes scanning the commotion with a weary expression. “Be prepared — this will complicate things inside as well. Friends of mine at the penitentiary said this guy has an ego to match.”

The chaos ahead seemed to swell with the arrival of the convoy. You barely had time to process everything — the blinding flashes, the cacophony of voices shouting questions — when the door of the central car opened. Two guards stepped out first, taking rigid positions, before pulling Noah out.

He emerged with a surprising posture. There was no resistance in his movements, but neither was there submission. With his chin raised, his face remained expressionless, his eyes fixed on an undefined point on the horizon, avoiding the cameras with a determination that seemed almost practiced. The tattoos, now more visible, climbed along the side of his neck and hinted beneath the collar of his gray shirt, creating an almost hypnotic contrast against his pale skin.

Noah seemed unperturbed, untouchable, as though the swarm of journalists and flashes were nothing more than a breeze around him. But then, something shifted. His firm steps faltered for an instant, almost imperceptibly, and he stopped abruptly.

That’s when you realized: he was looking directly at you.

The air around you seemed to freeze under the weight of his gaze, as overwhelming as in the photograph, but now there was something more — an intensity that seemed to pierce through you, as if examining something far beyond what others could see. His eyes were a blend of ice and fire, fixed on you with such deliberate focus that your stomach involuntarily tightened.

The moment lasted only seconds but felt like an eternity. One of the guards touched Noah’s shoulder impatiently, and he resumed walking as if nothing had happened. Yet, the impact of that brief exchange lingered.

“He usually doesn’t react to anything,” Travis remarked beside you, his voice low but tinged with curiosity. “That was... strange.”

Strange.

The word felt insufficient to describe what you had just experienced. As Noah was led inside, you remained frozen, trying to understand why that fleeting instant made your skin tingle, as though something inevitable was about to happen.

You were in the asylum’s forest, each step swallowed by the oppressive silence, broken only by the crunch of dry leaves beneath your feet. The air was dense, almost suffocating, and you knew you weren’t alone. Something—or someone—was behind you.

Your breaths were shallow and quick, every fiber of your being urging you to run, yet your legs felt rooted to the ground. Then, you heard it.

A whisper, far too close, as though it came from inside your mind:

“Run.”

The word was a command, and you obeyed without hesitation. Your body lunged forward, crashing through trees and brush with an urgency that felt primal. But the ground seemed to fight against you, each step more laborious than the last. Heat built between your thighs—confusing, strange—mixing with the adrenaline surging down your spine.

When the sound of footsteps behind you intensified, the adrenaline peaked. You could no longer think, only run, but you knew it was futile. He was too close.

Suddenly, something yanked your hair with brutal force, jerking you backward. A scream tore from your lips as your back collided with the rough surface of a tree. The pain of bark scraping against your exposed skin was eclipsed by his presence—a towering, menacing shadow.

His face was obscured, hidden in darkness, but the patterns on his neck were unmistakable. You recognized the intricate lines of tattoos that had haunted your thoughts all day. The broad shoulders and the strength with which he gripped your jaw confirmed your deepest fear.

It was Noah.

He tilted his head, studying you with a terrifying calm. The sound of his breathing was heavy, almost animalistic. Before you could react, he pressed his body against yours, pinning you between the tree and his overwhelming presence.

The heat pulsing between your thighs became unbearable, tangled in terror and tension. You tried to speak, but the words lodged in your throat as he gripped your neck with a possessive firmness, his fingers digging into your skin.

And then, like a violent wave, you woke up.

Your heart pounded against your ribs, breaths coming in ragged gasps, and cold sweat drenched your skin. The darkness of your room was suffocating, though not as much as the weight of that dream. It wasn’t merely fear—it was something deeply visceral, almost tangible, making your skin crawl and your entire body rebel against what you had just experienced.

That man was going to drive you insane.

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robogalaxies · 4 months ago

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☎️ - The Unneeded But Happily Researched Crumbs Of Everything We Know About The Commissioner

“If anything happens… I’ll deny I ever knew you.”

The Commissioner is, as we all know, a mystery, and I hope it stays that way, but I put it upon myself to wrangle every little tidbit of information we have on him outside of giving cases! I do this solely because of three things:

I have nothing better to do

I find myself strangely endeared to his character (i.e. I do a gay little "favorite character" clap every time I hear him mentioned)

I want to share all my random knowledge with you all because I go digging for it in every S&M media there is

I'll be dividing this up into 4 sections for ease of access: comics lore, games lore (HtR, Telltale, TTIV), cartoon lore, and misc. lore. Some things MAY be assumptions based on other characters' reactions to what he MIGHT be saying or say about him, sure, but I will source all information on where to find it & provide images when they can be easily provided!~ If anything new comes up or I have forgotten something, I'll update. Until then... hope you love both hyperlinks and "at least I laughed at it" style commentary! ☎️

Comics Lore

The introduction of The Commissioner, as with everyone else! Small tidbits of his quite understated character outside of being The Phone are here, obviously, including:

the Commissioner's one and only speech bubble! (Bad Day on The Moon)

the beginnings of the implied "I love you" statements towards Sam & Max with an "XOXO" on a postcard (Bad Day on The Moon)

he shows SOME disdain towards Sam & Max's attitudes towards achieving their goals, being the one specifically to tell them to go on a road trip (On the Road #1, "Prisoners of The Casbah")

Games Lore

Hit the Road

The Commissioner is barely a character in this game (big surprise, right?) and you do not get much information on him minus the bare minimum of "he is Sam & Max's boss," so there's not much to be said here. In fact, I don't know why I mentioned it. Great game, though, go play it! Now! I'll wait until you get back :)

Save The World

Welcome back! There're only minor silly tidbits here, but they're needed for this comprehensive list. Everything is worth mentioning about a character with nothing to his name but "The Commissioner." I mean, you're reading this post, right?

wears bifocals! 👓 ("The Mole, The Mob, and The Meatball")

was once in contact with & worked with Harry Moleman, as he sent him to be the mole for the Toy Mafia. Crossover of the century... I wonder if he knows how far poor Harry has fallen ("The Mole, The Mob, and The Meatball")

Takes Sam & Max out for dinner sometimes, apparently, if they do well enough on their cases! Squirrel Garden sounds disgusting, but I'd be jazzed too if they also had the free breadsticks ("The Mole, The Mob, and The Meatball")

likely just a quick jab, so I don't really know why I'm putting it here other than humor, but Max apparently doesn't trust him! I hope that gets solved; Commissioner is sorta signing his meager paychecks ("Bright Side of The Moon")

Beyond Time and Space

The middle child of the Telltale trilogy, this game has barely anything in terms of tidbits given that he really only assigns the beginning cases in 1 out of 5 episodes, and even then, that doesn't give a single thing away. Despite this, there's gotta be one or two tidbits we should learn, right? Sure!

is aware of Sam's insistence on answering the phone & seemingly asks straight up why he didn't answer (What's Up, Beelzebub?)

Can confirm an "I love you" towards Max... d'aww! (What's Up, Beelzebub?)

The Devil's Playhouse

The Commissioner barely shows up or is referenced in this game, mainly due to the story existing outside of the common framing of "assigning cases," but we learn two small yet revealing tidbits:

British Columbian! 🇨🇦 (The City That Dares Not Sleep)

Has provided books on cultural and racial sensitivity for Sam & Max because they kept "reducing people to obvious stereotypes." (The City That Dares Not Sleep)

This Time, It's Virtual!

The phone exists yet again... but in your VR HEADSET! Some fairly funny Commissioner lore in this one even if you, like almost everyone I've seen in this fandom, dislike or even hate this game:

His family is in hiding, and I'm assuming Witness Protection?! Must come with the territory (phone call after completing first three Freelance Training segments in-game)

Can confirm an "I love you" of some sort said to Sam ... d'aww! (phone call after completing first three Freelance Training segments in-game)

Signs off even official, legal wanted posters with "The Commissioner," asking people to seek the help of Freelance Police & associates himself as PART of the Freelance Police!

signs your certificate at the end of the game, which mentions the Illuminati in conjunction with his name for some reason! What kind of policing are we running here....??

Cartoon Lore

Truly, the 90s cartoon is where most Commissioner lore lies if we take into consideration all of these happen within the same universe, which we likely shouldn't. This being said, the cartoon provides us with the only picture we have of the guy (see post photo above the cut). Alongside this, we also get a LOT more information than any other media:

before we even start the information in the ACTUAL cartoon, Sam & Max say within the show's initial Bible believe he's out to kill them, in some way, saying they're the "troubled, ungrateful sons he never had." That's so sweet ... in a way. As well, there's a very small section dedicated to the Commissioner as a character, though not much is said that we don't already know (Sam & Max Cartoon Series Bible)

has Geek's number, or at least a number to the Sub-Basment of Solitude, as he calls it more than once over the course of the series, which makes me wonder how well he may or may not know Geek! Like a grandniece or something (episodes 1, "The Thing That Wouldn't Stop It" & 3b, "They Came from Down There")

cried over the story of Sam & Max having to get rid of John, their beloved alligator son... must be a shared parental instinct (episode 6a, "That Darn Gator")

apparently sends sticker books in case briefings on a semi-regular basis, as Sam comments that he "loves when the Commissioner does that" as if it has happened before - how whimsical! (episode 6b, "We Drop at Dawn")

confirms the Commissioner as a legitimate police commissioner alongside being Sam & Max's boss (episode 6b, "We Drop at Dawn")

seemingly very fussy if not given his private bathroom and honor bar. Fancy stuff, Commissioner, & he apparently allows Sam and Max up there! Or not, they just sorta bust in. Whatever! Sharing is caring (episode 6b, "We Drop at Dawn")

the Commissioner has a DAUGHTER! and somehow, Sam & Max got invited to her WEDDING! I think she's beautiful and I hope she doesn't resent her special day getting ruined (episode 11a, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang")

that iconic, signed, chest only photo given with the solemn, loving, promise of "If anything ever happens, I'll deny I ever knew you," followed by Max crying that it's "It's just... so him." - what a loving, tender and slightly bordering on oddly familial relationship he has with Sam and Max... stop, I'll start crying! (episode 13, "The Final Episode")

Misc. Lore

These are lore tidbits that are present in mediums either outside of the media itself, belong in a game that is not technically part of the larger S&M canon, or has to do with out of media context, but should be included anyway because why not!

gifts Sam & Max a new floaty pen from a different United State every Christmas ... but not really anything else! (Poker Night 2)

Sam & Max discuss the Commissioner's power in response to doubt about his existence, claiming "Don’t you know he’s everywhere? He knows we’re talking about him right now!" - which is sort of scary, but I'll let it slide because it implies that the Commissioner's surveillance is of a much higher caliber than we initially thought and that is BANGER (in-character interview for Telltale, found here on Steve Purcell's Sam & Max FB page)

He's affectionate yet surly & I'm sure all those "I love you" statements contribute to that! D'aww... (Skunkape Origin Video)

Voiced by a member of Bay Area Sound, Julian Kwasneski, in the Telltale trilogy! Talked about and even has a LINE recited in this specific developer commentary! We love a mysterious boss who sounds like an adult in Peanuts.

God bless the guy, he had a rash! Does this matter? No. Will it ever matter? Likely not, as it was from the sadly cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police trailer. Sighs. At this point, you can tell I'm just adding whatever mentions we get of the guy. Makes me giggle, though.

Conclusion...?

In the end, the Commissioner is a mystery, and always WILL be a mystery. Hell, I sort of never want to know as it will ruin every single thing I have worked so hard to archive, but it is fun to comb through the different canons! Of course, it is likely any of this can be tossed out or considered non-canon in the blink of an eye because Sam & Max always loves to give a middle finger to character details if they don't affect the main plot & likely a lot of these are mere gags. The Commissioner is phone, and always will be only phone. However, it's always in my best interest to try to find ANYTHING to push back the curtain even the tiniest inch, and I hope my efforts were worth it. Now, to sign off, just press that phone! You got it, you got it! ☎️

#sam and max #sam & max #freelance police #the commissioner (sam & max)#if you sincerely read all of this... thank you. my god. thank you

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thisismynamenowxpoetry · 1 year ago

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ATTENTION GEN Z, I know we hate poetry, but please, if you've ever felt alone, or hated technology, or hated Gen Alpha, please read this, repost, do whatever, but please, this was written for all of you <3

The news this morning

Was talking about how we go to Chat GPT

For therapy

And advice

And my mother said it’s just because we don’t know how

To communicate face to face

When why should we?

You shoved an iPad into our faces

The second we were old enough to comprehend it

You put on the TV

And we believed the characters were speaking live

And they could see us

Through those pixels

Why shouldn’t we turn to a computer

To give us answers

When it’s that that gave us the issues to begin with?

Why shouldn’t we

Chat with a computer

About nothing and everything

When it is that

That made us feel so isolated?

People wonder

Why we’re so concerned about Gen Alpha

And it’s obvious

When we think about it

It’s not because they’re growing up too fast

It’s because we know what it’s like

To have wires shoved into our veins

And now

Now they were born with them

Already pulsing through their blood

We don’t want them to make the same mistakes we did

But I think it’s too late,

They’re already turning into what we don’t want

Anyone

To ever be

And it’s scary to watch,

We know what technology has done to us

And we don’t want to watch anyone else

Succumb to it like we did

We are the last generation

Who went outside to play

And know what birds sound like

And wish to break their phones

We are the last generation

That will ever

Ever

Have a normal childhood

Now we can just watch

As the depression rates get higher

And more young children know what suicide is

Too early

And learn how to self harm

And lose their innocence

And be scared of men

And not care for dolls

We are scared of them

But we’re scared for them

Of course we turn to AI to talk to

Our parents don’t get it,

They can barely find opening hours for a shop,

While we can find a 10-step guide on how to murder,

Or build a bomb,

And guides on how to manipulate your body

And everything is at our fingertips

This is generational trauma that they have created

We can watch someone shooting their brains out

And we can receive photos from anyone

And why do we know what everything we shouldn’t worry about is?

We had COVID

And we turned to screens

And went on TikTok

And created trends

And it felt like a community

Until everyone was there

And we couldn’t do anything

And we got addicted

And we can’t turn back

We started with chat rooms

And we found like minded-people

And it was always “sweetie, be careful of creeps on the internet”

And now it’s just

“Be in bed by 10”

But we’ll keep scrolling

And we all have friends who live half the world away

And if you mention that

Someone has to ask if you’ve called yet

And “have you seen their face?”

We can look at anything

There are guides for everything

We know where Kim K was two minutes ago

And why do I feel pressure to always have something on my story?

We talk to robots

Because no adults will ever know

How sick we feel

Before we go on our phones

No adults can know

How we’ve seen every scar

And depression become a trend

And we have to use the hashtag actuallyautistc

No adults will know

How there are video essays on anything

And we shouldn’t know about everyone that has been raped

Or murdered

And we shouldn’t have wikihow

On how to be attractive

It started as a joke,

How stupid is this thing I found?,

But we keep reading it

And we start to believe it

Why would we read books?

Technology is constantly advancing

Everything is irrelevant in months

And we must be careful not to be cancelled

And a dress can divide a nation

We don’t want to watch Gen Alpha

Leap so blindy into their screens

Trusting what they read,

We want to keep it for us,

We have to live with it,

And as much as they suck,

It is our fault for staying

And posting everything

We are a sad generation with happy pictures

And a face full of makeup

And we’re just perpetuating stereotypes

And you can’t like something unless you’re obsessed

We can know the cure for any medical condition

But there is no guide on how to destory our screens

And lives

And I know I’m fifteen

But this is ruining mine,

And so many others' lives.

We don’t want to see little kids

On their mums phones

And my mother defends it,

Saying mums just need a minute to breathe,

But please

Anything else

I don’t want to see a baby already addicted to CocoMelon

We don’t want to see

More people falling into a hole

And we know it’s why we’re sad

But nobody else should have to go through it,

That’s for us,

That’s an us problem

I saw a six year old

Using Drunk Elephant

And swearing in her GRWM

And none of that is fair,

How are we letting this slide?

But we can’t do anything

Because we don’t want to admit there’s a problem

We can learn anything about Hitler

And anything about Meryl Streep

And it can be within the same two fucking clicks

I remember

When my age on TikTok clocked over to 15

A few days before my actual birthday

And it was then

That all I saw was suicide notes,

And self harm scars

And how to hide things from your parents guides

And abuse stories

There was no going back,

Every other person whose a teenage girl on the app

Is probably met with the same things as me

The algorithm

Is designed to show you a positive video

Every few scrolls

Just to keep you hooked,

And it works,

It’s a science,

It works to a T

We can know where any friend is

And read receipts plague us

And anything will be screenshot

And used against you

School thought taking away our phones

Would fix this,

Like it’s a magical cure,

When all it’s teaching us

Is how addicted we are,

And how best to hide an earbud

And we need music to concentrate!

Or course we do,

We have constant stimulation

It is never quiet

There is always a voice talking

We are getting mad at kids for being on a phone

When we all know

We’re just mad that it is actually happening

And we can’t warn them

And no one will listen

Because how could it be that bad?

In ten years

People who grew up with technology

Are going to end up with something like PTSD

Because we can’t let go of it

We can’t put it down,

We can get an essay written for us in seconds,

And Dall-E can make anything for us

So of course we’ll talk to AI,

It’s better than talking to a real person

And acting like we’re okay,

We’d rather sit behind a screen

And control sims

And listen to music

So we can’t hear our minds

Every time I scroll through

I’m met with tales of girls who get killed by their fathers,

Every time I scroll through

I’m showen another 7 second video

With sad litte text

On sad little faces

We want to escape,

We want to tear our veins out,

Rip the wires,

Shove them back in to our body

After we re-wire our brains,

Of course,

Because we can diagnose ourselfs with any mental illness

That we see fit

Because there has to be something wrong with you

We will never go back,

It is impossible

We have Whispers from Pinterest

And sad purple quotes

Lining our camera roll

Which should highlight our happy moments

But is just videos of us crying

It has ruined relationships,

How dare we follow another guy,

How dare he like another girl's photo?

We have our music right there

We don’t have to learn lyrics,

We can play any instrument,

We must like Taylor Swift,

We must have Kanye West

Everything is a trend

And your clothes must match your aesthetic

And you have to be funny

Or smart

Or creative

And how dare we burn out?

How dare we burn out

When if we didn’t rot in our beds

Scrolling aimlessly

Would solve half our problems?

There is no fix now,

We have to watch them grow up

Knowing they’ll ask what this-big-word is

Before they’re even five

Because an ad came up on mummy’s phone

And “what’s a vape?”

And “am I fat?”

All we can do now

Is listen to our sad songs

And act like social media

Didn’t ruin our perceptions

On everything.

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alexanderflowerbird · 2 months ago

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DAY 17 A good weekend, but not a great weekend for writing lol I was SO busy. I did get a lot done though, I spent some wonderful time with my sister and my niece, I managed to organize my storage unit [I did all the work of going through what I wanted to keep vs what I wanted to throw away only to discover they don't have dumpsters on the property so... that's a problem to tackle another day], I went to the library and picked up some new books, I spent time with many people I love and I got some really cool new pens in the mail. I figured out some more characters for Blood Sun Territory, and I think I have the skeleton of the story all ironed out and ready to go. Back on the horse this coming week! I'm only 8k away from the month goal of 30K, but I'm hoping to over shoot it simply because I'm having a good time writing. But I have an excerpt for you, even if this weekend I've been away from my computer doing in the world things. It's a short little excerpt, just Dolcezza and Malachi talking about an interesting plant and the challenges of the territory and it's ever changing ecosystem. I know how their gonna travel, and more excitingly, I've figured out the little ways in which they begin to fall in love. Teeheheheheheee love making my barbies kiss. Taglist: @theskeletonprior @thelittlestspider @badscientist @tragedycoded If you'd like to be part of my taglist, please interact with this post

Malachi has never seen anything like it. Of course it is possible that he simply isn’t worldly enough, that this sort of enormous blooming cactus could be found outside of the territory existing as it is for a thousand years, sacred and well known to some, foreign and strange to others like him. He grew up in the sterility of the suburbs and grew into something of a city boy, so maybe it’s not this place that’s manifested this odd, entrancing flora, but nature itself and its unending creativity. He starts moving towards it and Dolcezza looks up in time to deter him.

“Don’t you go over there.” He warns, stooping to pick up a rock that barely fits in his fist. “We all learn the land together, some things get learned the hard way. I’ll spare you that. Pretty, ain’t it?” He says, also looking out on the bulbous, many bodied cactus, its enormous spines reaching out from between hundreds of blue and purple flowers. Dolcezza throws the rock hard and when it hits the cactus, there is a meaty thud followed by the woosh of wings, the flowers dispersing in a burst, fluttering in a swarm. Malachi gasps. They aren’t flowers at all, but insects, their wings perfect emulations of petaled flowers. The cactus’ spines react too, and about a dozen of them fire off from the cactus, launching a few feet before impaling the earth. The swarm divides into masses, fluttering towards the launched spines, but when they seem to find nothing of interest pinned by those deadly barbs, they gather upon the cactus again, settling gently, renewing its beauty from deadly and hostile to elegantly floral.

“Those butterflies like blood, they hang round the cactus cuz once it shoots somethin’ they can drink up the blood spilt and feed on the kill. They are gorgeous, but most shit out here that might draw ya in with its prettiness is more trouble than it’s worth.”

“How’d you find that out?”

“Like I told ya. The hard way. Some horticulturalist fella hired me years back, wanted to study out here and see if any of the new plants had medicinal potential or what have you. Got one of them spikes right through his gut trying to collect the butterflies for study. We both thought they were flowers, at the time.”

“Did he die?” Malachi asks, reflexively pressing his hand over his stomach in a sympathetic jolt of discomfort. He could’ve taken one of those spikes to the gut too, if Dolcezza hadn’t stopped him.

“Nah, he had a rough time of it though. Doctor in town has seen more than a war medic by now; before the blood sun most she’d get up to is curing colds, delivering babies- now she’s got much more to do than that any given day.”

#blood sun territory #fuck nano update #original story #writeblr #queer fiction

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thathartleykat · 1 year ago

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A very lengthy letter before the series' departure.

Hey, everyone, Hartley here.

By June of 2023, it would be my 4th year in the Hilda community, and i'm still in disbelief that i've been active in the community for this long, as well as the animated series is coming to an end tomorrow.

I have been wanting to post this since then, but i've been extremely busy in my life, as well as my personal computer was broken for almost an entire year - hence why my activity in the community also got died down a little bit.

I have a lot of things to say to everyone, from people in the community to the people who worked on the show, as well as the past, present and future, so for the convenience of your reading, i'll divide what i want to say into chapters.

I. About me & how i got into the show ( Trigger warning: Deaths ) I've rarely talked about this to anyone, but... I live by myself, and there's a good chance i might not be around for much longer. It's sort of the reason why i got into Hilda from the first place.

I first found out about Hilda in October 2018 when i was browsing on Tumblr, but never really watched it until May 2019, when a friend of mine gave me a month free subscription of Netflix. I started to go down the list of things i wanted to watch on the platform, and when it came to Hilda, i never thought i would get fixated on the show. Well, guess where we're at now?

I was stunned by the show's colorful vibes, amazing plot writing and how the show built the characters and mythologies, especially how they portrayed the mentality of the children in the show when the kids interact with each other or with adults.

The one thing that i also extremely adore in the show is the relationship between Hilda and Johanna... because it deeply reminds me of my parents when they were still alive. I had a similar life and relationship with them. Every time i see Hilda and her mum together, it always makes me remember about my former childhood life, how kind my parents were to me, and how i wanted to be the adventurous kid that never disappoints them.

I had a pretty good life until my parents got cancer when i was 11 years old - the same age with Hilda in first & possibly second season. Things got worse since then, and they passed away a few years after that.

Now i'm pretty much alone, with a good chance that i might follow them, so if i ever just disappear without telling anything, well... at least i had a good run, i never thought i'd make it this far anyway.

The show had made a significant change on my life, as well as some of my future decisions and helped me through hard times.

It would be an understatement to say this series meant a lot for me.

Because of this, and the feeling of the show doesn't get enough attention that it deserves, i've been dedicating myself for the last few years to help the show and its community thrive.

II. About the animated series Sometimes, i feel really sad that they couldn't have done more for it. - As someone who lives in Vietnam, it's really sad to see the show lacks Vietnamese subtitles and audio language - despite there being a huge number of Netflix users in the country. Due to this, the series basically got hidden from anyone who's watching with their Netflix's interface language set to Vietnamese, which makes the show really hard to be recommended to anyone here. At the same time, many other animated series on the platform have either or both of those. - A lot of merchandise of the franchise has either never saw the day or short-lived. Hilda's GUND plushies only lived for 1.5 years, and by my count, there were 3 Hilda board games that got reported to the news, but never got released. - Hilda video games. The only official Hilda game we ever got was Hilda Creatures, and sadly, the company that made the game went defunct in April 2022, dragging Hilda Creatures along with it. - Netflix. Batch releasing the show and giving it the bare minimum marketing. The same thing happened with Jojo and we all know what happened to its hype. - The mishandling of social media pages, which led to Hilda's Facebook page got hacked for an entire month during May 2023, as well as a lack of interaction posts after season 1 to keep the community up.

I really wish the show got better treatment in a lot of stuff, but at the same time, i'm grateful for the crew's work to get the series this far. One of the directors at one point confirmed that the show got pitched to various networks like Cartoon Network, Disney, Children BBC, Nick... and no one accepted the show until Netflix came along. If Netflix never took the show in, or if it was another network that got it ( which i suspect it'd change the direction of the show by a lot ), where would we be now...?

Though the show will definitely not be reminded by Netflix every now and then as other networks do, but at least it is going out with a bang. Really wish the show would become a sleeper hit at some point in the future.

III. About the community Genuinely, it's one of the most amazing communities i've ever been in. People who are younger, same age, or even parents who are much older than me... I had amazing experiences with all of them. I've made many friends from here, which sometimes makes me wish our community would stay the same like this forever after the series ends.

Honestly, i don't know what else i could say about everyone, other than thanking you guys for making my days within the community, as well as your efforts in making it an amazing place for me and everyone else to stay in.

IV. About the future Well, i've been thinking about it quite a lot.

After the animated series ends, i'll try my best to continue sticking around in the community and do a lot more stuff for it. The franchise will still seem to continue for at least some more time, with the upcoming release of the new prequel Hilda comic series, "Hilda and Twig".

I'd be selfish for saying this, but if the current state of animations improves in the future... I'd want to see Hilda's world return as animation at some point - either following the same blue-haired girl that we all know and love, or just a spin-off from an entirely different character. It's hard to imagine how the worldbuilding we've seen in the last 12 years, where "there's so much we've never seen, so much we don't know" and "there's mystery everywhere you look" would potentially disappear after this... I really hope i would see it again, as well as be around long enough to see it.

As of now, this chapter is about to come to an end. So before it does, i want to say thanks to everyone who has been involved in this show.

Thank you Luke Pearson, the people who made Hilda the series possible, and especially - you. Whether you worked on it or are just simply a fan of the show, you have my sincere gratitude for all the great things that happened to the series in the last 4 years.

This is Hartley, and i hope everyone enjoys Season 3.

#hilda #hilda the series #hilda netflix #cartoon #netflix #hilda comic #comic #animation

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rileychester · 2 years ago

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I wonder if the reason that Fred, Joan, and the rest of the Thursdays aren’t mention in Morse are not just because either they haven’t been invented, since they are an Endeavour character invention. Or because of a horrible fall out or death.

But simply because that happens in life.

I’m sure we all have people in our life that we love and are/were like family, but that we barely see or talk to anymore.

Look at Lewis and Morse, Lewis was like a son to Morse, the same relationship that Morse had with Thursday. But Lewis was a married man with children and even though Lewis and Morse were close and cared for each other deeply. Lewis was still a family man first and foremost. He had responsibilities and connections outside of Morse and often Morse was on his own with his booze, crosswords, and records.

Yes, in many ways the Thursdays are family to Morse. But they have Sam to focus on now, whose going through his own crisis. Jim is marrying Joan and becoming an actual son-in-law. It also looks like Jim and Fred get along well and interact well as future in-laws, so that does change Morse and Fred’s dynamic a bit. Since Fred has both a blood son and a son-in-law to interact with now. Morse will always be important and like a son to Fred, but he will have male family members to have solid relationships with now.

Their priorities are shifting, suddenly their daughter is settled with a nice bloke who they both like and respect. And their son needs them to focus on him and what he’s going through. The Thursday’s marriage has suffered sometimes because Fred would focus on Morse before his family. Win might have put her foot down and reminded him that he had a family who needed him too? So Fred decides his family over Morse if he can’t have them both in the same way?

With Joan and Jim, they are going to be married and being a newlywed couple doing newlywed couple things such as romantic moments, learning to keep house, spending time with other couple/married friends. Jim has his mason duties, they both have work, Jim will be moving up in the ranks over Morse. They might end up having children and then they will be busy with having kids, wanting to spend time with other people who have kids as couples often do.

Plus this is Morse we are talking about, he still calls Joan, Miss Thursday even after asking her to marry him and all they have been though. She’s marrying his friend Jim Strange who Morse likes, respects, and Jim has been a good friend to Morse. A gentlemen like Morse would never do anything to mess with the relationship between Jim and Joan, they would be married and he would be respectful of that. Morse would consider that a road not traveled and probably drawl a line in the sand.

He would probably remain their friend, but the relationships would change and Morse is the type to let the awkwardness fester and the divides to grow. It’s not like they were going out for drinks and dinner before hand. I’m sure Morse would hang out every so often with them and come to the odd holiday dinner. But I think Morse being Morse would separate himself from them because they are a new family unit and he’s the odd duck out.

#endeavour morse #endeavour #itv endeavour #endeavour itv #endeavour series 9

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litsnobconfessions · 5 days ago

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Literary Trash Talk: Why The Beach is Avatar's Weakest Episode

Unpopular opinion time. I Hate. The Beach.

No, not the place where the water meets the shore--l love that. I'm talking about season 3, episode 5 of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Look, I know "The Beach" is a fan favorite. And I'm probably not going to change your mind here, and quite frankly, you probably won't change mine. But that doesn't mean it's not worth analyzing its flaws. At the very least, it might help me get it out of my system because I tend to get particularly frustrated with things I dislike when either (1) I don't see what others see in it or (2) I think it could have been a lot better with a little more effort. "The Beach" fits both of those. This has been a long time coming.

First off, it's completely episodic. I've already mentioned my creative writing teacher who said "if it's worth putting in once, it's worth putting in twice," but... almost nothing from this episode shows up again? Except for like... the location? And did we need an entire episode to introduce the royal family's old vacation house?

Aside from that, we have Combustion Man, and we have Zuko admitting that he's angry at himself. But Combustion Man appears in the following episode, so you don't miss anything if you skip it. And while it's satisfying to see Zuko admit that he's angry at himself, I don't think that two minutes is that goundbreaking. Not in a plot arc that's been brewing for two and a half seasons. Honestly, it feels like "The Great Divide," in that someone new to the show could skip over it and probably never realize it was there. But "The Great Divide" is dominated by these animation shifts, which make it visually interesting, and someone (the Gan Jins and the Zhangs) make clear progress in the story. In contrast, the evil teenagers who arrive at the beach end as... evil teenagers who destroy people's houses because they feel like it?

But let's dig a little deeper, starting with Zuko and Mai. They have a fight in this episode which, to me, feels like it comes out of nowhere. The last we saw them, they were being hella cute, and Zuko was loving on Mai for hating the world. And now, suddenly, they're mad at each other? I know this is because Zuko is angry, but from what we've seen, Mai is his grounding force right now. His relationship with her is what makes him feel good. So I think it would have made more sense for us to see at least one or two scenes before this where he is angry around her, even if he's not angry at her.

I also don't really buy the scene where Zuko tries to give Mai the seashell? Like... he just reaches over and grabs this seashell and he's like, "I got this for you." Yeah, you worked real hard for that, Zuko.

Except, Zuko does work hard for things. That's a major part of his character. And other times that we've seen him show kindness it's very deliberate and well thought out--he gives Lee the knife in "Zuko Alone." He makes tea for his uncle. He firebends for a girl he barely knows, so she can see this fountain she loves! He's known Mai all his life. I think he would have some idea of what she likes. And he would be deliberate about his gift-giving. Honestly, to me, this plays out like he's already done something to anger her, and he's trying to frantically make an apology. Only, I don't remember that happening. Is there an episode I'm missing?!

I also don't really see him getting jealous just because the guy says, "oh, you all came early, huh?" Again, he knows Mai; she's his grounding force. I can see him getting annoyed, but not jumping to the conclusion that Mai must like this dude she has literally never interacted with. Again, if we had seen some kind of jealousy or other conflict between them, I would buy it, but it comes out of nowhere.

I do buy him getting angry when he spills the food. We've seen Zuko get angry at minor slights before. And I believe that that would lead into his jealousy when he immediately sees Mai talking to another guy. Likewise, the blowout they have at the party is believable, though I do kind of wish Mai had said just about anything other than "it's over" because they get back together in like... five minutes... so it kind of takes the teeth out of the dramatic moment. In the show's defense, they are teenagers, and teenagers do break up and make up this quickly. But as a storyteller, I think it would have been stronger if there has been a longer period of lead up or cool down.

I also think the complaints they have about one another are valid. Mai tells Zuko that he's been angry all the time and wants to know what that's about. And Zuko yells at Mai for not being emtionally expressive, which to me reads as him telling her she's bad at communication. I've been there with partners--where they just say "meh" to everything, and I don't actually know what I'm doing right or wrong. But again, this episode is the only time we see them struggling with these conflicts.

When I talked about "The Great Divide," I said that the reason I think Sokka and Katara's argument works, even though it begins and ends in the same episode, is that we've seen them fight before, and we'll see them fight again. Katara's argument with Toph in "The Runaway" works for the same reason--it's part of a larger pattern. But there is not larger pattern of Zuko and Mai fighting.

Honestly, to me, it feels like the creators decided they needed to fight to prove it's a real relationship, but I don't think that's true. Consider Hiccup and Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon. They don't have a big blow-out argument like this. They're just cutesy and supportive over the course of three films. ATLA could have done the same with Zuko and Mai, and honestly, I think it would have made the show better. Because Zuko has had a healthy relationship with probably him mom, and his uncle, and that's it. Mai's relationship with Azula is obviously not healthy. Her relationship with her family is also possibly unhealthy? Based on what she tells us in this episode? If that's true, then having a proper healthy relationship could potentially contribute to the decisions they make later in the story.

And this brings me to Mai's family drama. She tells us here that her mother told her she needed to be quiet and not express her opinion so her father could rise in the ranks. Honestly, this felt obvious to me, but maybe it wouldn't be to a kid, so I'll give them credit there. The bigger problem is that we see Mai's parents in exactly one episode: "Return to Omashu." We don't really see this conflict with her mother in this episode, and we don't see her parents ever again.

Compare this to Zuko's family drama, which shows up in nearly every episode he's in. Over and over and over we see him talking to his father, talking about his father, having flashbacks about his father. We see the same patterns with his relationship with Azula and his mother. We see it with Sokka and Hakoda. Even Toph's family drama, which only shows up in two or three episodes... shows up in two or three episodes. Not one. If it's worth putting in once, it's worth putting in twice.

Now let's look at Ty Lee and Azula, who overall feel more in character. Ty Lee is the pretty girl, so she's getting a lot of attention, and she enjoys it. But I also totally buy her getting overwhelmed by the guys all fighting her and just knocking them out. I do think this supports the Tyzula ship--Ty Lee enjoys the attention from the boys, but she wants the attention from Azula. I could also see this as Ty Lee not knowing how to stand up for herself. Like yeah, she's a good fighter and all, but so far the majority of her characterization has been pretty-girl-who-goes-along-with-whatever-Azula-does, and her reasons are pretty vague. Her "character development" doesn't really help because, like Mai, it's just her telling us about her problems with her family. Except Ty Lee's family doesn't show up at all in the show. They are completely irrelevant to anything else that happens. Which makes them completely irrelevent here. If it's worth putting in once, it's worth putting in twice.

As for Azula, it's funny to see her not understanding normal social situations, and while I do believe that this is the way she would flirt, it's also not important? Again, we never see her in any other situations where she's trying to socialize normally. Like... what are we trying to say with the flirting? That she controls people because she doesn't know how to befriend people? I think I already knew that. I also think the volleyball scene tells me that just as much as the flirting scene. So I think the flirting is just in here because of comedy, which would be fine if the rest of the episode had any substance whatsoever.

Because if you're trying to give Azula's character depth--if you're trying to give any of the girls depth--you know what would help a lot? Flashbacks. Flashbacks are half the reason Zuko's character has depth. Like... imagine if we never had any flashbacks with Zuko and his parents. Instead he just told us that his dad burned him and mother disappeared. And then we never heard about them again. This is basically what they did with the girls.

"The Beach" ends with people sitting around a fire expositing at us. We've already had this as a full episode--"The Storm," in season 1--and something very similar two episodes after "The Beach" with "The Avatar and the Firelord." These are purely expository episodes, but still often fan favorites because they are told in flashback. This is the basic concept of show, don't tell, which, for some reason, when it comes to these Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula, is ignored.

Maybe you're going to tell me that well, only the major characters, like Zuko and the gaang get flashbacks. But Iroh gets a flashback. Well, maybe Iroh is special (he is). Except that Jet gets flashbacks. Yue gets a flashback. Bumi gets a flashback. Appa and Momo get flashbacks. Zhao gets a flashback! You know why they get flashbacks? Because the creators deemed these moments important to plot and character development.

Consider this: Hama is a villain for one episode. She gets a flashback. Azula is a villain for two seasons. She gets to sit around a fire with her friends complaining about their family drama--drama that get less screen time than the drama between the Zhangs and the Gan Jins in "The Great Divide."

When I first watched "The Beach," I turned to my husband and said, "What the f*** was that?" I was frustrated because I knew nothing that I just saw was going to be relevent for the rest of the show. And I knew this because, in a show so laden with flashbacks, all we get in this episode is a few snapshots from Zuko. And I love Zuko. I am Zuko. But they did my girls dirty, ya'll.

I said when Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula showed up that they're considerably less developed than the other female characters on the show. When people tell me why they like this episode, they say it's because of the character development. But with the exception of maybe 2 minutes from Zuko, none of this development is given the time and attention that character development has been given in basically every other episode of the show. And honestly, in another show, this episode might not bother me so much. But considering ATLA's level of attention to detail, the missing elements are glaring. The whole episode feels like a frantically paced bit of filler that they put in because they needed another episode and weren't sure what to do. And Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are the victims.

#literary trash talk #literary snob #ATLA #tv review #year of animation #animation

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the-firebird69 · 2 months ago

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Collision - Trailer HD (2014) - Action Thriller Movie

youtube

They can't seem to get their s*** together but eventually they do we are watching them all the time. We see our son and daughter say it we hv them but don't know the stories yet true they do it planned it with the psuedo empire and empire are enemies yes hate each other but Thier system ok.

They're going out to Spain to Morocco and they're going to fight each other it's kind of a weird deal I think Tommy is with Sarah and the idiot comes out and hits them with a Lincoln the cars get reversed tell me you have to start fighting them again and it goes on for a while it comes out to the city and it's really a 2013 movie and the year is significant and was hidden. Gets hit bG gets hit in a van to blame him and Stefan hits him in Belgium as a reward and his wife sister they don't really deserve it as Trump is very mean and he deserves what he gets coming and BG gets out of that but does a lot of harm to him by getting hit in the van this guy suffers big time and he falls for stuff so his character dies and he's some sort of oil lawyer for real as Merrick and he's been threatening our daughter and son to acquire oil it's on the f is interfering with it and with the character down and fighting cheesman he is beginning to feel for New Zealand and starting a war down there with him and he's winning cuz the idiot doesn't have shifts and he's not trying to get chips and he thinks he has the program and he doesn't so what we need to get rid of him. Such a crazy movie it's insanity they are divided like crazy and useless as hell and threatening us and our people more than anything else indicating what they're planning to do constantly and they think they're a good footing I mean they're f****** nuts and we're going to take their ships wipe out their cities and blame them and use false flag and we have to absolutely have to and we're looking for people to volunteer for that service we have a lot we could use as many as we can get because we'll take ships from elsewhere if we have enough right now we don't have the number we want.

-this rolls into a few other things at same time which is Thanksgiving and then the 27th which is Camilla and her journey to be reunited and Dolores and her journey to be reunited and our son is upset his mom was injured and hurt for so long and couldn't heal because of Kamala and he says she's a giant and a mutant abilities are way up there and they both got a little excited and they tested it and it kind of worked a little and they started to feed a little different and it works and she's feeling a little and needed it and the privacycles are awful Prilosec she's worked in the cure and it helps her but really she just barely made it all the time it was horrible and these idiots do at our son and we're going to crush them and the guy gets out in his character is gone and they're fighting over it and they put him in a casket with Sarah and said that Mr Merrick is dead. And I send a daughter will be very happy that takes a while for it to stick finally and they go ahead on the 27th there's a period of fighting and it is in Massachusetts over the area and it is in the Detroit over the ship above that it switches to Utah with dumb and dumber and we think they lose her dumb and dumber To happens but in the interim when she is out and even Kamala doesn't want our son to get stuff now that's not true. But she wasn't necessarily wanting to get things from Arnie as kind of sacrilege and it's kind of clan stuff

So she's out and that's one of the major components out of the way of trump and his son Dan the evil idiots

Thor Freya

Olympus

#Youtube

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veritywarner90 · 1 year ago

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Self-determination is about undermining whitefella institutions, judiciaries, organisations and bureaucracies.

Self-determination is about enculturated white people who, on the strength of what may be a mere speck of indigenous DNA, now identify exclusively as Aboriginal, thereby giving themselves an economic and social leg-up.For the activist cadre it always was and always will be about money, power and control, all underlined by the notion that members of one race enjoy a preeminent ascendency over all other Australians.More examples of ‘self-determination’ can be found in the ban on climbing Ayers Rock (Uluru), Mt Warning (Wollumbin), Mt Gillen, and many Grampians climbs, all for ill-defined or unexplained ‘cultural’ reasons’.After much outcry, consideration is now being given to re-opening the Mt Warning climb, but only for those who pay a fee and are escorted by indigenous guides. More rent-seeking, what a surprise!Australian place names are also rapidly being overwritten with (most likely made-up) Aboriginal names (eg: K’gari, once known as Fraser Island).All of this is about claims to ownership, to ‘sovereignty’.These changes should not be mistaken for deference to Aboriginal culture; it’s no more nor less than an insidious takeover.What we are experiencing here is cultural guerrilla warfare, the picking off one target after the other.Don’t believe it? Look no further that what has happened in New Zealand.The Voice:Self-determination is not about ‘closing the gap’, nor Aborigines ‘having a voice’ – all of that can be achieved without a change to the Constitution. Indeed, the $35+ billion currently spent on Aboriginal affairs and the eleven plus current Aboriginal members of parliament are more than enough to fulfil both aims.The Voice referendum is purely and simply about the drive towards Aboriginal sovereignty, which can only be achieved by changing the nation’s foundational document and charter.Under the Albanese government, self-determination means the coming referendum, whose barely concealed intention is to divide Australia along lines of race. …What is hiding in plain sight is the Albanese government’s intention to de-facto fund and promote the ‘Yes’ campaign whilst hamstringing ‘No’ advocates. Anything the No campaign says can and will be construed as “misinformation”. We have seen this already with the appalling attacks by Noel Pearson and Marcia Langton’s on Jacinta Price.Brace for much more of that – and wonder, too, if the bile and attempts at character assassination are a foretaste of an empowered Voice? …Meanwhile, Australians are subjected to a daily and massive pro Yes propaganda barrage by the taxpayer-funded ABC and SBS.Remote Aboriginal Australians are unfortunate mascots in a power struggle among the white majority.The Voice is just the latest attempt by the left-bureaucratic class to get more control and further exploit the rest of us.Dr David Barton is a proud Celtic and Anglo-Saxon man with a long generational family history in Australia. He lives in Central Victoria.

Read more articles at:

https://veritywarner90.wordpress.com

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holylulusworld · 3 years ago

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Seasons in the sun

This is my entry for @little-diable’s Four Seasons Challenge: 1. Spring: Dean Winchester. 2. Summer: outbreak of an apocalypse 3. Autumn: thunderstorm 4. Winter: Destruction

Summary: Dean and you finally settled for a peaceful life when the unthinkable happens. An apocalypse devasting half of the planet.

Pairing: Endverse!Dean x Wife!Reader

Characters: Sam Winchester, Claire Novak

Warnings: angst, language, dystopian world, mentions of death, violence, blood, sadness, zombie apocalypse, fluff

A/N: I used the seasons in more than one way. Spring is the old life with Dean. In summer the apocalypse happens. In Autumn a thunderstorm is coming. And winter brings more destruction.

Words: 3,2 k

Divider by @firefly-graphics

March 21st, 2020

Spring came earlier this year. For many reasons.

After years of hunting and struggling to survive, Dean and you finally settled down. You got a nice house, a white picket fence, and even talked about having children one day. Dean and you couldn’t be happier.

You got married half a year ago. Only your best friends and Sam were by your side. It was a nice ceremony at a small church. Nothing special. Nothing wild. Just you and the man you love promising to give your all to each other.

“Sweetheart, I got another paycheck,” Dean waltzes into the living room. A big grin on his face. “We are going to eat like rich people tonight.”

“Dean,” you giggle at his playful mood but shake your head no. “I already cooked, babe. How about we spare the money and buy nice things for our house.”

“Like that comfy armchair I always dreamed of?” he teases. “You know the kind of armchair offering space for the both of us. We could cuddle in front of the fireplace and do stuff.”

“Do stuff,” you pat his chest. “Don’t hurt yourself, Mr. Winchester. You can get cuddles without that armchair. Just name the time and the place,” his green eyes sparkle when your hand slides down his chest.

“Here and now, Mrs. Winchester,” your husband smirks. “I will cuddle you aggressively.”

“Here and now, it is…” you get thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, squealing as he carries you upstairs. “Dean, let me down! Dean!”

“No way, Y/N. I will never let you down…never…”

June 15th, 2020

Summer brings unbearable heat, new neighbors, and a sexy view.

While Dean works on his car, upper body bare, and too-tight blue jeans on his hips, you sip on a drink, watching him stick his ass out, shaking it to yet another song.

“Mr. Winchester, you look hot under the hood of your car,” you tease.

“What did you say, Mrs. Winchester?” he looks up from under the hood. “I guess you need my attention.” Your eyes roam his sweaty chest as he suddenly turns his attention toward you, not his car. You can already see the hunger in his eyes and fear, the neighbors will complain once again. “Dean! NO!”

He drops the tool in his hand to run toward your chair, making you giggle as you jump up to go for a run. “I’m going to catch you, sweetheart…”

“No! The neighbors! Dean!”

After a short race, Dean tackles you. Both of you end up on the grass. “Gotcha, babe.” He kisses you softly. “I got the week off. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” as you run your fingers through his sweaty hair you try to think about anything but the dirty images coming to your mind. “Something dirty…or sweet.”

“We can do both,” Dean kisses you again, moaning as you wrap your arms around his neck. “Yeah, I will go for both.”

July 2nd, 2020

June barely turned into July when bad news cloud your sky…

“Dean, why is there a crowbar in your hands?” you ask when Dean enters your bedroom. “Baby?”

“Did you hear the news today?” you look up at your husband, frowning as he looks scared and confused. He frowns deeply as he checks yet another message from his brother. “Sammy said he will come around. Something is wrong…terribly wrong.”

“What do you mean?” your heart starts to race as Dean uses the crowbar in his hands to remove the loose deck boards to get your hunting equipment out. You decided to never hunt again but kept all your weapons. Better safe than sorry... “Dean? What’s going on?”

“Sam said something about people eating people. And I do not mean a werewolf killing someone in the shadows. I mean his neighbor ripped his wife’s throat out, Y/N. I don’t know what’s going on, but it is bad,” you are out of the bed to help Dean remove the deck boards seconds later. “You still got those packed bags, right?”

“Always ready to run again, Dean,” you sniff as your eyes land on the bags with guns. “Does Sam know why?”

“No. He was on his way to us,” Dean explains as you get the bags out. “You should get dressed. Pack up one or two more bags. Light package, sweetheart. Only necessary things.”

“Got it,” you jump up to hastily get dressed. You wear jeans, a tank top, and flannel – your hunter uniform once again. “What do you need?”

“Clothes, hunter style, Y/N. I will get the Impala ready and dad’s truck. I’m not sure if we will need more than one car,” your husband places the bags with guns onto the bed, unzipping one to get a shotgun out. “No matter what happens, stay up here and be ready.”

“Dean, we don’t even know what’s going on,” you try to calm your husband. “Maybe it’s a local problem. Only as people freaked out in California doesn’t mean they will do so here too.”

“I know but,” he stops in his tracks, turns around to cup your cheek, “better safe than sorry. We will prepare everything and maybe, we will laugh about it later…”

“Fuck, that was a close call,” Sam stumbles into your house, a scared Claire in tow. “Lock the doors and windows.”

“Sam, fuck what happened?” you slam the door shut, locking it. “Sammy?”

Your brother-in-law looks like he fought his way out of hell once again. His face, arms, and hands are caked with dirt and blood.

“Sammy, what happened?” Dean shoves a heavy commode in front of the door, huffing as he can hear screams outside of the house. “Shit, it’s happening here too.”

“I was on my way back home, ya know,” Sam frantically runs his fingers through his dirty hair. “Suddenly someone jumped at the woman walking behind me. It was my neighbor. He-he ripped her throat out with his teeth, looking like one of the zombies in the movies you liked so much, Dean.”

“Same,” Claire sniffs, looking at you. “I was in town to visit Sam. Right when I left my car someone jumped at me. I had my gun and shot his leg, but he just got back up. I shot his heart, thrice and he didn’t stop.”

“Head. You always aim for the head,” Dean laughs, shaking his head. “This must be a cosmic joke, right? There is no way a zombie apocalypse is going on out there, right in front of my house!” he jerks his head toward the windows. “Shit, the windows.”

“Got it,” you run toward the living room to get the remote control for the automatic rolling shutters. “I will close them.”

“Dean, war is going on out there,” Sam runs his hand down his face. “If you get bitten, you turn into one of them.”

“I got that. I’m an expert for zombie movies, bitch,” he looks at his brother, shaking his head. “Has this something to do with the Croatoan virus? Is it that? Years after we defeated Lucifer they try again?”

“It’s not like back then, Dean,” you stumble back toward Dean, scared to lose your home and life once again. “Honestly, this looks more like a horror movie than some demon’s plan.”

October 12th, 2020

Three months later you try to navigate your new life. Autumn has come and you barely remember the days before everything went downhill.

Now you sit in front of your fireplace, staring at the ash of the last wood you burned a few days ago. Electricity doesn’t work anymore, just like the heating. You are stuck at your house with Dean, Sam, and Claire and, food is rare.

“We can’t stay here forever. They almost broke through that door two nights ago, and we are running out of food sooner or later. Our storage is almost empty,” Dean looks at you, sighing deeply. “What if we try to make it to the bunker?”

“Dean, that’s impossible. We won’t make it that far,” you argue, not wanting to leave your home. “If we try to leave, they are going to rip us apart.”

“That is enough,” Dean jumps up from the armchair to glare at you.

Over the last weeks, he got more and more aggressive. Being stuck at the house gets a toll on him and he started to treat you like liability, not his wife. He’s focused on anything but how you feel and slowly, you don’t recognize the man you love anymore.

“I hate to agree with Dean, but we can’t stay here, Y/N. We got not much food left. The bunker is our best chance to survive,” Sam sides with his brother, of course, he does. “Maybe we find more survivors on our way too.”

“We got no food at the bunker either, Sammy.”

“Uh—do you remember my trips to get parts for the truck?” Dean sheepishly looks at you. “I kinda visited the bunker. I got a storage full of water bottles, cans, and other stuff.”

“So, when you left for days you visited the bunker to take your time to reminisce about 'the old days and ways,” arms crossed over your chest you glare at Dean. “You lied to me repeatedly?”

“Can you shut up for one moment?” you flinch at Dean’s harsh tone. He didn’t treat you like that since he lost the Mark of Cain. “I’m trying to keep us all alive once again. If you want to stay here, fine. Let those rotten bastards eat you alive, sweetheart.”

“If we want to go, we should do it now,” Dean sits next to you on your bed. “I know you want to stay, but we got food for a week left. We should use it wisely and try to make it to the bunker.”

“Fine,” you are too tired and emotionally drained for another fight. It’s been two more weeks since Dean first brought up the bunker. “I got everything packed up till morning. Just tell me when to jump, and I do so.”

“Sweetheart, I…” for a moment Dean’s features soften, but you can see the change in his eyes. Something about this apocalypse brought back the more raw and deadly side of your husband.

“What will we do? What’s the plan?”

“Sammy and I will sneak into the garage, store the weapons and all we will need into the trunks of our cars. We will give you a sign to follow us and then, we’ll get the hell out of town,” Dean recites the plan Sam and he made. “Everything will be alright.”

“No, it won’t,” you huff. “Our life is over, Dean. We will never see our children run around the garden, and we will never grow old together. “We will fight to survive, or over food for the rest of our lives and there will be no more happiness or laughter.”

“I promise to bring you to the bunker, safe and sound,” you believe Dean, but hate to see a hunter and deadly fighter in front of you, not your loving husband.

“I know,” is all you reply before turning to get up and pack a few more things. “Claire and I will be ready tomorrow.”

“Y/N, tell me if you need my help,” he’s halfway out of the bedroom before you hear him sigh. “I still love you; you know.”

“I love you too,” it’s more a reflex than a reciprocated feeling. You feel hollow and sad, all the while you want to scream and kill all the monsters out there.

“I’ll be right back. We should get some sleep tonight. Sammy will take the first shift, Claire is next and so on,” nodding you look at your wedding picture on your nightstand. “Y/N we need to stay sharp…”

“Done?” Dean returns a few hours later, looking tired and exhausted. “We prepared everything.”

“Okay,” you stand in front of the window, glance outside to see more of your neighbors roam the area. “There are so many of them, Dean. How shall we get through the masses?”

“We prepared the cars over the last weeks, Y/N. Sammy and I secured the windows, the windshield, and the rear window using everything we could find. No one is going to stop us,” you flinch when lightning illuminates the night sky, thunder roars in the distance and you gasp as the zombies stop in their tracks to look up at the sky.

The brainless monsters seem to be mesmerized by the approaching and you feel hope bloom in your chest. “That’s odd,” Dean joins you on the window, frowning as the zombies still watch the lightning. “Maybe that’s a chance, Dean. If we can distract them…”

“…we can get away without a fight,” you nod. “I’ll check the bags. I think I got a flare gun. We shoot them into the sky, enter the cars and speed off before they turn their attention back toward fresh meat.”

“It’s a chance,” you whisper as you watch the zombies start to walk around the area again. Most of them are your former neighbors. You couldn’t save one of them. The moment Sam and Claire entered your house, all hell broke loose outside your home.

The thunderstorm continued, delaying your departure for another day and another sleepless night. You couldn’t risk leaving the house and getting into a storm, ending up trapped in your cars.

“We can make it, okay,” Dean grounds his teeth together, hating you look scared and unsure. He must be the leader now, the hard-ass hunter he used to be before you got out of this life. “Claire, Y/N, you will wait here. I will whistle when we are done.”

“Got it,” you tighten the hold on your gun, swallowing thickly as Dean and Sam run toward the garage to get the cars ready.

“I’m scared, Y/N,” Claire whispers, not wanting the brothers to hear she’s scared. “We barely made it last time.”

“I know but,” you nod as you hear Dean whistle, “we got to get out of here…” and then you grasp for Claire’s hand to run toward the garage. Your hunter instinct kicks in, and you feel the adrenaline pump through your veins when you jump into the Impala.

“Claire, into the truck with Sammy. Get the shotgun, but don’t shoot if it’s not necessary,” Dean instructs. “I will shoot out of the window and distract them long enough with the flare gun for Sammy to break through the garage door with the truck. Sweetheart, you need to start the engine for me.”

“Got it.”

Everything happens so fast. Dean uses the flare gun to distract the undead. Sam breaks through the garage door with the truck while Dean races back to the garage, jumping into the car to follow his brother on the road.

Now the home you created will never get to know the children you will never have…

December 22nd, 2020

Being on the road never was a problem to you. Until zombies began to roam the world and block any road you could take to reach the bunker.

Winter always made you feel happy, and giddy for Christmas. Now all you feel is sadness, hopelessness as you face the destruction the undead left everywhere you go.

“We will make it,” Dean runs his hand over his beard. “I know we had hoped to reach Lebanon much sooner.”

“We will make it,” you’re too tired to tell Dean it’s been almost two months since you left your house to go back to the bunker. “It’s just…there are so many of them only the four of us.”

“Don’t give up just yet,” he sighs again, eyes as tired as yours as he looks at the map you found at a service station. “We are close, sweetheart.”

You give Dean a weak smile but turn your head to look out of the window. You are driving through a nameless town, roamed by an army of the dead. They are slow but, too many of them can easily rip you apart.

“So much destruction,” you nod at Dean’s comment, hoping and praying the bunker is still intact and that not one of the monsters made it inside. “Looks like someone burned the whole town down.”

“A bomb maybe?” glancing at the destroyed houses you pass by you frown deeply, wondering if anyone made it out alive out of this town. “Before or after they ran the town over?”

“Military, maybe. I don’t know,” he drives behind Sam’s truck. “Let’s stay sharp and keep an eye on the dead. We don’t want to end up as their latest meal. Not so close to our goal…”

December 24th, 2020

Coming home to the bunker and finding it intact is the best Christmas present you ever got.

You barely made it back to your former home. An endless stream of undead always hot on your heels you fought your way through the masses.

“Home sweet home,” you look at Claire, nodding as she falls to her knees, crying. “I’ve missed you, bunker.”

“We should check on the weapons, the security system, and the generators. Sammy, weapons. Y/N, check on the food, water, and everything else.

“Claire, you will help Y/N. Get the supplies we gathered on our way here and store them,” Dean barks orders at all of you. “Hurry, we need to lock the bunker.”

“It is already locked,” you sigh, rubbing your sore neck nervously. “I need sleep and if possible, a shower. Can we not just have some sleep. It’s been months since I slept more than two hours straight.”

“We need to stay sharp and not forget out there a zombie apocalypse is going on. Now stop arguing, Y/N.”

“Yes, Sir. Captain Winchester, Sir,” you sneer at Dean. “I did nothing else but follow orders for months. I suggest you find your own room for the night…”

“We got eight shotguns, fifteen handguns, and—” Dean sighs as you do not pretend to listen. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. You know I had to be like this to get us here.”

“We have enough food for around a year,” you yawn, eyes fluttering close. “If we do not waste too much food, maybe a little longer. I found some seeds at one of the stores we checked. We need potting soil, though.”

“I will try to get you some potting soil,” he sits on the bed next to you to run his hand over your back. “This is not the life I wanted, Y/N. You know it isn’t.”

“How long until we will need to leave this place to store up again?” you ask as Dean lies next to you. He allows himself to close his eyes, to get some much-needed sleep. “Dean?”

“I will try to find out if anyone is still alive out there,” he whispers. “We got a functional communication system. I hope Jody, Donna, and the other hunters made it out alive.”

“What if they did?” you roll to your side to face your husband. He looks tired and sad, as he opens his eyes again to look at you.

“We will tell them to come here and join forces with us,” he whispers. “And then, we will get our world back, sweetheart. I promised to give you a normal life, and I will be damned if I won’t keep that promise…”

Tags in reblog.

#Seasons in the sun #little-diable 4seasons #dean winchester #endverse!dean #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester x you #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester SPN #apocalypse au #Sam Winchester

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nebulousfishgills · 3 years ago

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In Reality

Request by @nosfera1 : hiiiii is your request open? i was wondering if i could ask for an angsty wanda x fem!r fic where they've been in a relationship for a year and r is absolutely head over heels with her. r planned their anniversary date and during that dinner wanda confesses that she's only been dating r to move on from her previous relationship the whole time and cant carry it in her conscience anymore? make it reaaally really heart wrenching as possible please. thank youuuuu

Ah, thank you so much for sending in your request!! (Yes, requests are open lol). I'm always excited to recieve a new request, especially for a character I have yet to write for!

I hope I get this the way you want! ❤

Warnings: Angst, feels, fluff (but like, fake?)

ฯฯฯ

"Wan, are you okay?" You asked, noticing your girlfriend looking a bit uncomfortable. Her hands were in her lap, her eyes staring at the table or the wall, and she seemed like she was zoning in and out. "Wanda?"

"What? Oh, yes, dear?" She asked, jerking up from looking at the muted paisley tablecloth.

"I was wondering if you were okay." You repeated.

"Yes, I'm alright, dear. Just a little tired is all." She said, showing her teeth in a smile that almost seemed forced. You chose to ignore it.

"I was going to say, but I didn't want to be rude." You said, chuckling.

"We've been together for a year, we can tell each other anything."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

The waiter brought your dishes not long after that, the thin veil of steam curling off the top of the Italian dishes you ordered. Your glasses were refilled and parmesan was grated on top of your meals.

You started nearly scarfing down your food, the wait having been a little too long without a breadstick refill. You watched Wanda gently cut through the meatballs on the top of her pasta, dividing them into quarters. The delicate movement entranced you for a moment, a bashful smile creeping onto your face.

To say you loved Wanda would be a severe understatement. The past year you had been together was the best year of your life. Before, you had been in a slump, everything seeming sad and dreary. You had been having a particularly bad day that day, as a matter of fact. You missed the bus in the morning, so you had to walk to work. Halfway through, it started raining buckets and you had no umbrella. You were lucky your boss was so understanding, else she would have reprimanded you for sure for being late. Still, the woman signed your paychecks; staying on her good side was in your best interest.

While pondering your latest excuse for being late to work again, it suddenly stopped raining.

No, someone was holding an umbrella over you.

That someone happened to be Wanda, offering her umbrella to you to shelter from the storm. You took one look at her and it was as if the color started to soak back into your previously grey world. Not only was this woman going out of her way to help you, she was beautiful as well.

Wanda held the umbrella over your head while you both walked to where you worked (she didn't mind in the slightest; she didn't have a set destination when she started walking). You told each other a few things about yourselves to pass the time. You were working at your current job until you could afford to move to a better part of the city. The apartment you lived in currently had a lot of small problems that would pop up every now and then that would take your savings. Your dishwasher had just broken and you needed to save up to get that replaced.

Wanda told you about things in her life, too. Her brother had died a few years ago in what she called a "tragic accident." Her last relationship had ended pretty suddenly more recently, so she took frequent walks to give herself something to do.

Suddenly your dishwashers woes seemed so nominal.

You arrived at the building you worked at and Wanda bid you goodbye. Though, not before passing you a small slip of paper with a few digits on it you recognized as a phone number. You went pink and walked into your office, sending a text to Wanda as soon as you sat down. You saw each other more frequently after that, going on your first date not long after.

And here Wanda was, sitting in front of you with her steaming pasta and quarter sliced meatballs. You ate your dinners in silence to start, the only noises between you two being the scratches of utensils on plates and quiet chewing.

After a few minutes, you noticed Wanda poking at her pasta with her fork. She hadn't eaten very much. Her chin rested on her other hand, the food on her plate starting to cool down.

"Wan, are you sure you're okay?" You asked. "You've barely eaten anything."

"I'm fine..." Wanda replied, letting out an exhale as if she were holding her breath. She put the fork down and rested her hand on the table.

"Wanda, it's okay. If something's bothering you, you can tell me." You said, resting your hand on top of hers. She took it, rolling your fingers in hers. She pulled her hand back and rested it in her lap, her other hand following suit. She took a breath.

"Y/N, can I tell you something?" She asked.

"Anything, Wan." You said. Wanda took in another breath and looked you in the eyes. That's how you knew she was getting dead serious with you.

"This isn't easy but... I can't keep holding it in. I can't do this anymore." She said.

"Can't do what?"

"This." She wagged her finger in between the two of you. Your breath hitched in your throat.

"What do you mean? You can't do--?" You asked, your voice cracking slightly.

"No, I can't." Wanda cut in. "Listen, Y/N, I'm telling you this now so I don't hurt you worse later on. I can't keep stringing you along."

"'Stringing me along?' Wanda, I don't understand. Don't you love me?"

"I... I... No. It's just..." Wanda bit her lip and averted her gaze from you.

"Just what? Something I did? What did I do, Wanda?"

"Nothing! You did nothing! It's not you, Y/N, it's just..."

"Wanda, are you joking? One year, Wanda! This is our one year anniversary and you're telling me this now??" You asked, the tears streaming down your face through your anger.

"I know, it's not ideal, but I couldn't find time to tell you before!"

"Couldn't? Or wouldn't? You're telling me you lied to me for a year, Wanda. Why?"

"Because I needed a distraction, okay? My last relationship ended badly and I was having a hard time getting over it. I thought you would... provide support until I could get back on my feet." Wanda admitted. Your face got hotter as the realization sunk in. Your voice got low as you continued speaking.

"You used me? You dated me to get over someone else? Is that all I was to you? Just a distraction? A plaything?" You growled.

"Y/N, you don't understand--"

"Oh, no, I understand plenty, Wanda." You stood up from your seat, throwing on your jacket and grabbing your handbag. You looked at the half empty water glass at your seat and picked it up. You examined the water inside for a moment, looking at Wanda over the rim. "I'd throw the water in your face right about now, but unlike you, I have standards on how people should be treated. Like a person with feelings and not something you use to play pretend with."

You downed the rest of the water and put the glass back on the table.

"Y/N--" Wanda said weakly, but you cut her off with a pinch of your fingers.

"Not another word, Wanda." You snapped, before turning around to walk away. "Don't even try to call me."

You burst out of the restaurant and sat down on one of the stone benches out front. You sent a quick text to your friend asking for a ride home, sending the address. Wanda had driven you here.

"What happened to your date?" Your friend asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Alright. I'm on my way."

You shut off your phone and stared up at the sky. Not a moment later, thunder rumbled above you and it started to rain.

You had no umbrella to cover you.

Finally, you allowed yourself to cry, your tears mixing with the rainwater that dripped onto your face. You let everything out, all the anger and sorrow until your throat went raw.

The headlights of your friend's car pierced through the wall of rain. You stood up and ran over, climbing inside of the heated car. You let out a sigh and leaned back against the seat.

"You okay?" Your friend asked. You didn't reply, just turned to look out the window, the raindrops gliding down it. As the car started pulling away, someone ran outside of the restaurant, screaming your name.

Wanda.

You looked at her as your friend pulled out of the parking lot. Wanda caught sight of you inside the car, watching you leave. You just stared back at her coldly as your friend whisked you away back home.

As soon as you got back to your apartment, you blocked Wanda's number and collapsed onto your sofa. Tears leaked down your face as you fell asleep.

ฯฯฯ

Hope you enjoyed this, nosfera!

As always, requests are open, so send them in!

#marvel #movies #avengers #wanda maximov #wanda marvel #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda maximov x reader #wanda x reader #wanda maximoff x fem!reader #female reader #wanda x fem!reader #fishgills writing #writing request #my inbox is open

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ruby-whistler · 4 years ago

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a lot of people seem to have the attitude "he should've just let them had what they wanted!" when it comes to technoblade and dream both going against l'manberg, and absolutely no offense, but that seems... so awfully naive to me?

[ /dsmp /rp | the other reason why l'manberg deserved to fall ]

it looks like people automatically assume "what they wanted" was good, and that everything would've been fine if it wasn't for techno and dream being in the way. so let's look at what the leaders they fought against actually wanted, shall we?

let's start at the beginning, then.

wilbur (all names in this essay refer to the characters) made l'manberg after he failed to take control of the economy by making a capitalist empire based on lies, rumors and theft.

we're starting off strong, i see.

he referred to tommy as someone to mould or build upon multiple times, saying he is naive and calling it a good thing, even mentioning people like tubbo or fundy as the "a lot of tommyinnits" he could use take advantage of for his plans. these were people who were the most useful in terms of being hardworking and passionate, and arguably the most easily manipulated.

...cool. this still doesn't tell us what he wanted to do with l'manberg, but it gives us a sense of this guy's moral compass and honesty.

wilbur, to his soldiers at least, says that he made l'manberg for freedom and protection. ...freedom to steal from people? protection from... everyone except the guy who wants to exploit them?

yeah no, i'm not trusting anything he says.

let's turn to what wilbur said out of character about the motives with which wilbur the character created l'manberg.

"you could create something that you believe is worth having power over, and because you want to have power over it, everyone else will believe it's important, even though it's not." [ link ]

...alright, well that sorts out that question i suppose.

wilbur after his revival says that l'manberg was a "useful tool" that did what it was supposed to do; it divided. since naturally i'm not going to take his words at face value if it would kill me, let's turn back to what wilbur was actually saying and doing back when he made l'manberg, because maybe his memory has just faded, right?

*rewatching the vod* is he. is he quoting tr*mp's speech about building a wall and "making the mexicans pay for it" while being openly xenophobic towards the people who originally lived in the lands and building a giant wall?

ooo boy. cc!wilbur knew what he was doing, wasn't he?

see, if you rewatch the vods and look at them as satire on american propaganda (including the hamilton references) everything starts to fall into place.

but hey, l'manberg changed, right? it grew into something more than that initial quest for glory... right? i mean, the l'manberg government wasn't even corrupt up until schlatt's reign, right?

*laughs* no.

let's fast-forward.

l'manberg... hadn't done much after the revolution. it was just a safe space, but not really. people are living just as they did before, and neither wilbur nor l'manberg really changed much.

wilbur doesn't like that, and that is clear from what happens next.

Wilbur: “Tommy, we need power.”

Tommy: “Yeah?”

Wilbur: “I’ve tried – I spoke to Fundy and Tubbo yesterday, I told them how I didn’t like the civil war they were having, you know the fights that were going on.”

Tommy: “Yeah, that huge war in our name, yeah.”

Wilbur: “I told them I wasn’t happy with it, I told them to stop. Do you remember when you started getting angry at Dream, and I tried to control you, and you ignored me? …Yeah. See, this is the thing. Tommy, I…I led the revolution, right, but the issue is, is that I sort of became the de facto President, but no one listens to me. No one cares about mine – or your – power. No one cares! To us, we may be in anarchy, you know?”

alright, so a) wilbur dislikes anarchy, that's a good thing to remember for later, b) he's pissed off that people aren't listening to him (and tommy, but he definitely just added that on to make him care about the subject) and he can't "control" them c) he sees more power as a solution. well... maybe he just doesn't want people to fight, right? he's talking about a civil war he couldn't stop, after all.

Wilbur: “We can either, Tommy, right – we can either become a dictatorship, okay…we can just suddenly decide, ‘right, we’re in charge,’ and we just start – we start asserting our dominance. Now the key thing to being a dictator, is we need to control the center of power…so we get an army going –”

Tommy: “What is the center of power? Is it like some cube, or like an orb?”

Wilbur: “The army! The army! The banks, you know? We take control of those, and then people will do exactly as we say, right? That’s the dictatorship route, right. The other route is the democracy route. Now, this route’s gonna be slightly harder, but I have a plan. So I was thinking…what better way of making people believe that you’re in charge than by having them vote for you, right?”

so, wilbur was thinking of getting "an army going" to "control the center of power" and to "take control" of "the banks". he saw this as a valid solution to people not bending to his authority.

then he turned to election fraud instead, which he puts as straight-up manipulation of his people into believing he isn't a dictator.

...what. i'm not going to praise him for that decision, that's not even the bare minimum - he's still being a prick and showing just how much he actually doesn't care about what the "people he claims to care about" (cc!wilbur's words again) want.

but let's get back to the point; so, according to all of the current evidence, what did wilbur want?

wilbur wanted glory, power and division, to be able to enforce his authority and take control of his people.

...this is what people are saying dream shouldn't have stood up against in his land and "left them alone". that is what people are saying he should've "let wilbur have" in the home he worked to protect and build for the people he cared about - and keep in mind the dream smp was pretty much an anarchy back then.

this was willbur's intentions, and the first instinct of a lot of people was to paint dream as the tyrant. that just doesn't sit right with me, i'll be honest with you.

what about techno, then?

well, new l'manberg was ruled by tubbo, who was only doing his best - truly doing his best to turn wilbur's lies into a reality. no corruption, no conflict, only a home.

but tubbo was not ever actually in charge, was he?

let's talk about post-16th quackity.

i remember the second tubbo livestream i ever saw live was him rebuilding the crater; putting up grass blocks over the top, with quackity and fundy helping him out. it was when quackity first proposed the idea of getting rid of techno.

tubbo didn't want conflict, and he disagreed at first because it went against his ideals and his morals.

that didn't pan out well for him - and i think that's enough evidence quackity was pulling the strings of the cabinet, if you take into consideration the propaganda, riling up, and overall vengefulness that we suddenly seemed to be working with.

quackity's words didn't speak louder than his actions, but they are still interesting to note; "bring this country to power" being a common theme in his motivation for getting techno and dream "out of the way".

so quackity wanted power as well, and this desire only grew as it was taken further from his reach, but ever since the 16th, it has been very prominent in the way he instructed the new l'manberg government.

techno, the local anarchist who fought (only) oppressive governments that hurt people, was supposed to not do doomsday and "leave l'manberg alone", while what quackity wanted was nothing else than to turn l'manberg back into a tool of power and control.

i'm beginning to see a pattern here.

i am all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, really; but the constant glorification of a revolution leader who did everything for his own power and benefit, and a "secretary" that committed multiple war crimes and literally harmed and manipulated innocents in his quest for power; plus the instantaneous villainization of those who stood as obstacles in their path, is a bit too much even for this fandom's standards, even for me.

i get wilbur and quackity are both silver-tongued bastards able to shift the narrative in their favor, but the grudges people will hold against characters that fight against them and the measures to which they'll reach in order to defend them is wild.

it's not as easy as "they should've let l'manberg be". the people leading l'manberg were far from innocent and had sinister intentions.

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citrusreadstoa · 2 years ago

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Reading The Hidden Oracle: Chapter 29 (SPOILERS)

"I had never been so happy to see a killing field." Ummm, a killing field? Have we found the missing persons and are they now corpses? "we had found the myrmekes' dumping site" Oh ok good. UNLESS THE BONES OF THE DEAD CAMPERS ARE IN THERE. No, right? Tell me no.

"I was looking at a set of living doors." That sound like it'd make for an epic movie set. But, uh, what would opening these doors imply if they're living?

"I think this is more of an antechamber" ANTECHAMBER (n.): a small room leading to a main one

"Each stake was about the height of a crucifix" Startin' off positive, I see. "something that looked like a human head . . . They were human heads." Yep. Figures. But six of them? Who's the other demigod? New character? Oh, it's Paulie the palikos. But hey, we found 'em! Wait, are they gonna get set on fire?

Peachesssssss is here!

"Germani." ...Germans? Probably different from the ones we know. Do they count as monsters or mortals?

"Nero had always had expensive, impractical tastes." Hey, people keep saying that about me! I don't like having things in common with this neckbeard Nero.

"a bolt of white-hot power" Wait a minute, if we assume the Triumvirate have already achieved god or semi-god status, then do they have powers, too? Uh oh.

"my right hand, Vincius, and my left hand, Garius." I'm glad we got their names. That's very nice. I wonder if they mean anything. Anyway, I guess this answers who the three people in the Woods were. "their Batavi names, which I can't pronounce." Nero, you've had two millennia. Didn't you practice? I guess I shouldn't expect that basic courtesy of you. "like those street thugs you sent to attack me." Oh, so Cade and Mikey are the same kind of people. I wonder what their Romanized Batavi names and real names are.

"souls escaped from Erebos all the time." Oh, so they are mortal. And escaped souls. Nico and Hades are not gonna be happy to hear this.

"Without hesitation, Vince planted the butt of his spear against the ground." Vince, don't do it! You can find a better employer than Nero, I'm sure!

"And, of course, we are all descended from you, Lord Apollo." That's gotta sting.

"Considering she was facing the man who killed her father, she sounded remarkably calm." Oh, yeah. The Beast killed Meg's father, yet she's almost definitely working for him. That means he either has something she wants/needs or is holding something against her like maybe her stepdad's life or something else I can't think of off the top of my head.

"We have divided up the new empire... by which I mean North America." First of all: they're not thinking big enough. The last two big threats wanted to take over the world. These guys are going after barely a single continent. Second of all: they'd better not just split it by Canada/United States/Mexico. They can be more creative than that.

"'We would rather die,' I said. 'Wouldn't we, Meg?'" Okay, Apollo. You've got the conviction to oppose Nero even to the death, but don't assume Meg the twelve-year-old child is as eager to go rushing in to her death as you. "Then I realized she was crying." Exactly.

"Meg brought you here, just as I asked her to. Well done, my sweet." Yep. Knew it.

"The Beast killed my father. This is Nero. He's--he's my stepfather." Many questions. Is she disassociating Nero and the Beast because she doesn't want to think of them as the same person (especially if Nero has acted nice to her)? 'Cause it sounds like the Beast and Nero should be the same person. Also, how the heck did Nero come to be her stepfather. Did he just take her in off the streets? I really hope Meg's biological dad wasn't insane enough to marry Nero. Especially since Nero killed him. Well, maybe he manipulated her dad. Still seems unlikely that he'd do that just to get his hands on one demigod kid. He probably just killed the dad and adopted Meg and she had no choice in it -- the much easier method of obtaining an unwilling child soldier. Or child gladiator. Wait, did we ever get confirmation on that?

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enbylesbianism · 3 years ago

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ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Simon Snow trilogy wrapped! (review)

Hi, there! It took me a while to finish this post, as I could talk about it for... a long time (not necessarily a good thing), but I got it! I like praise, so if anyone wants to tell me I did a good job... Also, I might edit this post later on. I don’t remember anything else I’d like to add, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did after posting. My brain does not obey me. Anyways, off to it! By the way, I won’t give this book a real rating.

While this is a review on Any Way the Wind Blows, I intend on analysing some points of the overall series too. The book starts where Wayward Son left off, the end of the road trip, Simon and Baz having problems in their relationship, Penelope helping Shepard with his curse... and the whole situation of the NowNext vampires. Rainbow Rowell only seems to remember the first part. That leaves us with the second book of the series ignored almost completely, with the exception of Simon and Baz’s feelings as well as Shepard’s existence.

Don’t get me wrong, aspects of the book are mentioned, but never in a truly important way. Lamb, the Vampire King, is mentioned by Simon, but only focusing on his and Baz’s relationship, never about the fact that there are a bunch of vampires (supposedly ‘evil’) in the U.S. but I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? I could count on one hand the times the NowNext vampires were mentioned (like, literally, this isn’t an exaggeration, I looked up ‘NowNext’ on the e-book and only got five results), all of them either being one of them considering telling someone else about it, then not following through with it, or dismissing it as a concern for Lamb. Which makes the plot of Wayward Son completely useless for the trilogy. Now, that wouldn’t matter as much if everything else had been properly developed, but we definitely can’t say that.

We are introduced to a brand new, poorly developed villain, Smith-Smith Richards, whose character arc is as ridiculous as his name. He’s one of the fake Chosen Ones that started appearing after the events of Carry On (and the only one to be mentioned and/or defeated, for that matter). It becomes clear that presenting as Simon Snow-ish is part of his brand, especially when Baz describes him as looking like the Netflix adaptation version of Simon, and that he was raised and guided by his uncle, who’s just... there. I don’t think it would’ve been hard to make him manipulating Smith-Smith into believing he’s the prophetic savior of the Magickal World, which would not only make both of their characters more interesting, but it could also serve as a parallel of Simon’s relationship with the Mage. Richards also has some special powers such as increasing a mage’s magic for a limited amount of time, but taking it away afterwards, as well as making someone immune from spells. It’s worth saying those aren’t skills that are usual in the Magickal World, or else there wouldn’t be so much confusion and shock from people (specially Baz and Penny, who would definitely have heard of something like this before), but we get no explanation on why or how Richard has them.

Then, we have the Salisbury’s. We, as readers, already know Lucy and Davy are Simon’s parents, making Ruth his grandmother. It’s noticeable that Rowell builds up to that discovery, by making Simon get along with Ruth instantly, him thinking about Lucy a lot etc. It makes us excited to read the part where they actually figure it out, to know how Simon would deal with that, him dealing with the fact that he’s the Mage’s son and the fact that, technically, he killed his father. I suppose that’s the point, but actually getting to that part was incredibly underwhelming. The way they discovered about Simon—being able to lift a family sword—hadn’t been mentioned or hinted at before. One would’ve expected Simon, who’s particularly interested in swords as it’s mentioned many times throughout the series, to notice a freaking Excalibur at the Salisbury’s place before.

And speaking of noticing things: when it’s finally revealed that Simon is Lucy’s son and the Mage’s heir, Baz pointed out the uncanny similarities between his boyfriend and the deceased Watford principal. “Those narrow eyes. That tilt of his head. I thought... I thought he’d learned it. Was imitating it.” + “Merlin, Simon, you even look like him.” (Any Way the Wind Blows, chapter 86) Simon was the Mage’s protégé for years and I assume the Magickal authorities knew that he was the one to inherit all of his money and personal belongings, but no one, in the whole British Magickal community, thought about them being related? I refuse to believe there were no conspiracy theorist teachers at Watford or that Mitali or even the Pitch’s alongside everyone who was against the Mage didn’t at least check to know if there was something behind those characteristics. Baz literally said (chapter 88), “I think it’s undeniable. I’d cast ‘Flesh and blood’ on them, but it would bounce right off of Snow (...)”, so there is a spell for that. Plus, we didn’t even have one whole chapter of Simon dealing with this information! The chapters (no more than five, out of ninety-one) were divided between Simon, Baz and Lady Ruth’s POVs. He’s the main character, so one would think he’d get more development.

Another point that felt rushed was the romance. While Simon and Baz’s relationship wasn’t, as it’s been a topic Rowell has explored for three books (we’re not counting Fangirl here, as their ‘participation’ on it was minor and their personalities weren’t as consistent as in the trilogy. Not that it is that consistent there), the others just felt like she wanted everyone to finish the trilogy with a pair. I’ll start with Shepard and Penny. There were fans who liked them together before Any Way the Wind Blows, but it wasn’t hinted at—it was more like a fandom thing. I personally like them as a couple, but it could have had development and, maybe, foreshadowing in Wayward Son. I mean, they did fight monsters during a huge part of a road trip together.

The next one I’ll talk about is Agatha and Niamh. I love them, don’t get me wrong. Actually, it’s precisely because I love them that I wish they’d gotten a better treatment. Niamh wasn’t introduced before Any Way the Wind Blows. I get why she wasn’t introduced in Carry On—it was interesting to see a character who wasn’t caught up in Simon and Baz’s drama during the school years—but a hint of her existence could’ve been left in Wayward Son. Agatha is an important character on it, and a mention of her father training an aspiring veterinary could’ve fit somewhere, as a hint, maybe. (Also, Lucy, the dog, being absolutely forgotten during this book when a lot of Agatha’s time is spent in a veterinary clinic...) Besides, we could get the vibes from them, but after they kissed, there was barely any content. We didn’t get them calling each other ‘girlfriend’ (or if they even like that label at this point), or the aftermath of the kiss, or a POV from Niamh. Or Niamh appearing the epilogue? If Agatha was taking care of the goats, I’m sure Niamh would have a part in that too. Still on Agatha’s character, but not on Niamh’s, it felt like Rainbow Rowell was setting up for aromantic and asexual Agatha, specially because of this quote: “It was like she'd pulled the feeling right out of my heart. I could have kissed her. (I still wish sometimes that I wanted to.) (That would feel like an answer to... the question of me. Then I could say, 'Oh, thats who I am. That's why I've been so confused.')” (Wayward Son, chapter 4).

And I was leaving the best (I need to be sure everyone knows I mean this sarcastically) of the romance topic for the end: Fiona and Nicodemus. It’s just... so forced and undeveloped. Not even because, to me, they’re both gay as hell. There was just... such a lack of development! I don’t think we had any interaction between the both of them before Any Way the Wind Blows. There was no foreshadowing or why would Fiona, a vampire hunter from a family of vampire hunters, would marry... a vampire! I’d already find it weird to see fanfiction of them as a crackship, but it’s canon?! Like, canon as in they’re going to get married and use Fiona and Natasha’s mother’s ring? Seriously, nothing will take from me that this is a lavender marriage (as I’ve already discussed with my best friend, which inspired this post of theirs.)

I’d also like to speak about a topic that’d been hinted throughout the series, especially post-Carry On, which is the criticism towards the Magickal Community in the U.K.. That criticism is very much embodied in Shepard’s character. It’s explicitly said that the British mages have some kind of supremacy towards other supernatural beings, such as vampires for example, gatekeeping literal magic. Up until relatively recently, mages with weak links with magic couldn’t attend Watford (and that’s a major plot point in the final book) and there’s a denial towards any other kind of magic except the ones that are part of their craft. Even within the Magickal community itself, there are more important families that are more likely to succeed, like Natasha receiving criticism for marrying Malcolm, as a Pitch. It felt pointless not to tackle the issues you’ve set up yourself in your own universe. Penelope has very strict morals related to magickal law and beliefs, something that she could’ve deconstructed, especially considering Shepard, her love interest, symbolises that. Another point related to that is, the trilogy is very clearly heavily inspired by Harry Potter, where many of those points are very clear (e.g. wizard supremacy in relation to other species, such as werewolves and domestic elves and the status quo that makes some traditionally magical families more influential than others, like the Malfoy’s vs. the Weasley’s), so it’s not an easily forgettable concept.

The series also had a lot of inconsistencies. The one I’ve seen talked about more often is Simon and Agatha’s... intimacy status, let’s call it that. Simon’s whole thing in the first book was that he struggled controlling his magic when experiencing intense emotions, which makes it hard to believe that he managed to have sex withount an... accident. Besides that, though, there’s this quote, “She (...) presses a kiss into my temple. No one has ever kissed me there. No one has ever kissed me anywhere but on my mouth” (Carry On, Chapter 27), but in Any Way the Wind Blows, when Simon’s about to have his wings cut, Agatha says, “It’s a strange feeling to look at someone’s chest and know it’s nothing to do with you anymore, but still to remember kissing every inch.” (Chapter 14)

So, we have established that Rainbow Rowell’s work, both character and plot driven, is flawed. “But we got the characters interacting for the closure of the series, at least!” Well... we got interactions between the canon romantic relationships, yeah. But besides that, we didn’t get much. There were no interactions between Agatha and Penny, or Shepard with Simon and Baz. Or Penny and her mother figuring stuff out. Or literally anyone with a therapist. And not gonna lie, the interaction we got between Baz and Dev was underwhelming, to say the least. Niall is nowhere to be seen, too.

Rainbow Rowell’s writing is beautiful: she writes poetic lines that make the book seem perfect at first glance, if you don’t think about it for too long. Her words are very shiny, but once you get use to that light and see what’s behind them, what’s between one shiny quote and another, it has so many flaws and plot holes that it reads like a first draft. There are many concepts in there that are genuinely good: the rest of the trilogy focused on the protagonist dealing with the trauma of being a child soldier instead of being entirely an adventure, Simon being unlabelled, a fake Chosen One that gives mages fake hope... Those are all good ideas, but so poorly explored that, despite being an entire book/trilogy, it still feels like a writing pitch or something among those lines.

I felt iffy about other things during my reading of the series, but they aren’t exactly plot points, so I’ll just list them below:

Mitali, Penny’s mom, including ‘discovering your bisexuality’ as a mid-life crisis thing

As I’ve seen people talking about biphobia/bi erasure in the books, I’ll be including this post that features both unlabelled and bisexual individuals talking about the topic (it isn’t my place, as a lesbian, to talk about this, that’s why I decided not to do so.)

Romanticising of Baz’s suicide (a.k.a. chapter 61) in the first book. If you’re not in a good place mentally, like I was when I first read Carry On, I hope you know that a kiss or romance doesn’t help any mental illness you or others might have. Don’t let anyone use your guilt to manipulate you. Paraphrasing Alice Oseman in their graphic novel Heartstopper, love can’t cure a mental illness.

Any Way the Wind Blows was... very horny. I can’t point out how this makes the book bad exactly, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. One of Rainbow Rowell’s strongest skills is that her quotes, when loose, are good. They tend to be poetic and just beautiful, overall. But in the... explicit scenes, these skills were barely used, and I felt like I was reading NSFW tweets off of someone’s private account on Twitter. Besides, the first two books of the series weren’t written like that, so the change was very sudden.

The older people could’ve been more explored. Penelope and Mitali’s relationship and how similar the both of them are compared to each other, Daphne and Professor Bunce’s insecurities and why they believed in Smith-Smith, Fiona, Nico, and Ebb... Also, the Mage and Lucy. We could’ve had more on them, y’know.

The pop culture references. They made the book read even more like Twitter’s feed. Honestly, if I wanted to read prompts and nice ship content alongside memes from Twitter with some horny thoughts sprinkled all around, I would’ve opened the Twitter app. Or Tumblr, Instagram, whatever.

The POV switching felt lazy to me at times. It’s nice to know how different characters are experiencing that situation, yes, but sometimes, like during the discovery that Simon is a Salisbury, it read as if Rowell wanted to create tension, but couldn’t think of any other way to do it except the switching around.

Narrative wise, I think Simon and Baz should’ve spent more time broken up.

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akumaalert · 3 years ago

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Snippet of “Awake” - First Chapter of “Divergence”

Hey, all! Wanted to share a snippet of the first chapter (”Awake”) of “Divergence” - a fic that will offshoot from “Heavy Metal Lover.” Note that this is basically a whole spoiler for chapter 20 of “Heavy Metal Lover.” If you’re like me and see random stuff saying “Don’t click if you haven’t read...” and click anyway: Hi! Welcome, chaos lover. If you like this and want to know the context, please feel free to check out the full work on AO3.

“Divergence” should be posted within two weeks and will be open to requests for the reader (”Lucky”) to have different experiences than what she has in the original. This can mean the following:

- AUs

- Re-tellings of certain scenes of the original

- Reader-specific details included in old or new/original scenes (i.e., reader is plus sized, skinny, tall, short, etc.)

- Genderbending of any of the characters

Originally made this Tumblr to share snippets of the stories on...so happy that I could finally do that! If you want to skip writing that was in the story, you can start at “Though sleep pulled at your eyelids...”

Story contains mature elements, swearing, and explicit mention of sex. Please be forewarned.

Looking back, it would only be a wonder that it did not occur sooner.

As soon as you were alone in the bedroom, you took off your shoes and eyed the clothes Heisenberg had provided you from the factory...

...before turning to the tub.

Couldn't hurt to bathe. Love to be clean.

That man is coming back up to this bedroom.

This is the point, self.

The logical side of your brain, for once, remained quiet.

Though you had clearly lost all sense of sensibility, you at least moved the divider to completely block the tub from any but the most determined of views.

The water had been scalding when you got in.

By the time you had bathed and decided that your foolishness had reached its limit, it was stark cold.

"This was stupid," you said. "Fucking stupid. What did I want? Him to join me? This is the universe saying 'Wake the fuck up.'"

Though your fingers were pruned, you dried yourself off and pulled a nightgown from the small cupboard beneath the sink.

Sheer as ever. Fuck's sake. The universe had truly saved you.

Until it hadn't.

Heisenberg rushed into the room like a rocket and you jumped as the door slammed close.

"...you here, Luck?"

"Yeah," you called out. "Um...don't come over here...gotta get dressed real quick."

"...k" called Heisenberg.

Wasting no time, you slid the gown over your body and made sure to fan out the edges as far as they would go.

You needed no mirror to see your nipples proudly displayed through the fabric.

Mouthing a 'fuck' for good measure, you frowned.

"Heisenberg?"

"Yes?"

"Do you...do you mind looking away for a second?"

"From you?"

"Yes."

"...are...are you coming out naked?"

"No," you snapped.

An awkward silence greeted you.

"Heisenberg?"

"Huh?"

"You looking away?"

"Oh. Yeah. You're good now."

Peeking from behind the divider, you only saw Heisenberg's back.

With more speed than you were familiar with, you bolted to the bed and ducked under the covers.

Once secure beneath the pillowy softness, you breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay. It’s safe."

You did not miss how Heisenberg whirled around.

"Oh...fuck...that was fast."

"Yeah," you said absently.

"Trying to set a fucking record?"

"Something like that."

"Mmn. I...gotta get changed."

"Okay."

The two of you stared at the other.

"You trying to get a free show or you gonna cover those peepers?"

"...I figured you would go behind the divider."

"The divider is on your side of the bed."

"Oh," you said dumbly. "Oh. Yeah...wait."

Yanking the pillow from underneath your head, you smashed it onto your face above your mouth and pressed down.

Heisenberg chuckled. "Dramatic as hell."

"Doing what you asked of me."

"...didn't formally ask you to...did I?"

Swallowing found your throat on fire.

"Mmn."

"What was that?"

"Mmn," you repeated.

"Heh...don't go into public speaking, kid."

You frowned at the ceiling and the darkness of your eyes.

Instead of speaking, Heisenberg decided to tell you he was done by climbing in the bed beside you. It struck you suddenly that lamps had been placed in the room instead of the candles that the castle was so beset with. But when you removed your pillow, you found yourself met by more muted darkness.

"Sure you okay with this?" asked Heisenberg. "I can fuck off and go into another room. I like to bitch like a drama king, but I don't need anything crazy set up for me."

"Bed is pretty big," you said carelessly. "S'okay. We've been closer."

The chuckle Heisenberg gave was absolutely filthy.

"We have...haven't we?"

The fucking lilt would be the death of you. What a relief it was to blink blindly and stupidly at the man in peace without judgment.

"Hey - last time I'm reminding you...what's your one job?"

"Get you out in the morning," you replied.

"Because?"

"Ah...generators...production line...something about a reset..."

"That's my girl. Nighty night, Luck."

"Night, Heis."

A turn. A breath. A feeling that you would never be able to sleep with the man so close that you could feel his body heat radiating from him like a welcome sign.

But you awoke.

You awoke often.

You awoke in the middle of the night from a dream you could barely recall and all the images of Alcina at the forefront of your mind.

You awoke in Heisenberg's arms and sobbed into his chest as he clung you to him just as sweetly as any of your snowy imaginings.

"Fuck you doing awake? No...shh...it's okay...shh...you're alright. I'm here. I've got you."

Though sleep pulled at your eyelids, you nudged your head up to feel the spikes of Heisenberg's scruff. You had to stay awake. Could not return to sleep and Alcina awaiting you with her long talons and even longer legs.

"Nightmare?"

You nodded into his neck.

"Mmn. Have those myself...think you can go back to sleep? Don't think it's quite time for me to leave yet if you just wanna yak about it or something."

Swallowing, you exhaled. "Don't wanna go back to sleep."

With a grunt, Heisenberg sat up to leave you curled on the sheets.

"Just checking the time..."

When Heisenberg turned to pull something from the floor, you noticed that your eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark. Enough so that you saw the loose movements of his arms and realized that he had gone to bed without a shirt.

"Fuck...two in the morning..."

"I'm sorry," you said, tensing. But Heisenberg was mumbling and coming back to you with open arms. "Sorry I woke you..."

"S'alright," he said, yawning afterward. "Gotten less sleep and done more stupid things after than make sure the reset doesn't fuck up the factory..."

As he spoke, you could feel one of his hands rubbing up and down your arm a bit too roughly. An awkward and well intended move to comfort you.

"Still...I'm sorry...you need all the sleep you can manage to get. I don't know how much work the whole factory thing will be..."

"Honestly not much as long as I get back in time," he said, hand squeezing your arm for good measure before returning to that same rough rubbing motion. "Could probably even come back here afterwards...heh...that would spook that sixty-foot snake."

You laughed a sleepy laugh and settled further into his grasp.

"Mmn...like a fucking little bunny...cuddling into me and shit..."

"I can stop...pull away..."

Heisenberg's hand stopped rubbing you in favor of clutching you to him.

"Shh...you're talking nonsense. Need some sleep."

"Heis..."

"Shhh..."

"Heis, you can just tell me that you like it when we cuddle."

When he tsked and laid his chin on your head, you smiled. It felt so much like that day at the stronghold.

"Why would I say that? Not in the business of lying to people."

Lying...yes...because what we are doing now is causing you so much distress...

"Well," you said, smiling. "I'll say it then. I like it when we cuddle. Especially in bed. Feels more comfy than cuddling in front of the lycans."

A shiver - as though Heisenberg had been beset by the cold - ran through his body.

"Oof...y'okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." he said absently. "Uh...actually...we might wanna go to sleep after all..."

"Mmn?"

"Yeah...early morning..."

"You mind if I hold onto you for a while? This...this actually helps from the nightmare."

The only way you knew how to describe Heisenberg in that moment was jittery. His movements were fine on their own but were conducted with such awkward quickness as to be alarming.

When he did not answer you, you looked up at him through the dark.

"What's wrong?" you asked.

A beat of silence and then another.

"Nothing's wrong." Quick words to match his quick movement.

"Heisenberg..."

"It's Heis."

"...you...Heis...something isn't right. Just talk to me. In English, preferably."

What you could only assume was a curse in German fell from his lips.

"I...fuck's sake, buttercup...I don't know how to...if you...this was such a bad idea...so fucking STUPID."

"What?" You paused, gathering enough evidence from his huff. "Sleeping together?"

"Yes."

"It was your idea."

"I FUCKING KNOW THAT, OKAY?" he hissed. "Just...I thought...earlier...it made more sense...this made more sense..."

"Glad something did because I am completely and utterly confused," you admitted.

"You're confused? You started flirting with me." Heisenberg grumbled something low and rough. "Fucking gave me ideas...false hope...so I thought...guh I'm such a fucking idiot..."

Hope began to fuel you too. Fuel you and feed into the most terrible of terrific ideas.

"Are you...whatever you're trying to say...I was flirting with you. That wasn't false. Honestly...I was in the bathtub just moments before you came in hoping you would join me."

"...you what now?"

You could not help but laugh. The fact that you could not see Heisenberg's expressive face only added to the hilarity as you imagined a hundred different emotions running through that scarred skin.

"I took a bath...a long one...hoping that you would come up here in the middle of it and offer to join me...figured one thing could lead into another and the bed was here anyway..."

The pauses in between Heisenberg's voice could only endear you to him. He seemed every bit lost for words.

"You...are you talking about...what are you talking about?"

"Sleeping with you," you supplied with a shrug. "What are you talking about?"

"Sleeping...you...ah...I wasn't...I wasn't mistaken? Shit...I...I may or may not have a fucking stiffy over here...because the cuddling is...something you enjoy so much."

"Oh?" you purred. The chance of escaping in the delights of Heisenberg’s body made your body positively teem with anticipation. But you could not forget your own actions...the last time you had seen him in such a vulnerable state. Losing some confidence, you glanced at the darkness of the bed instead of his body. "Umm...I want to touch you...want to...would it be okay if I touched you?"

"Yeah...course. You've touched me before."

"No...I mean...is it...fuck...can I jack you off?"

For a long while, Heisenberg said nothing.

The next thing you heard was a rattling spit.

"OUCH GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!" he whispered.

"What's wrong?"

"Pinched myself."

"You...why are you pinching yourself?"

"Because I'm clearly fucking awake but clearly dreaming at the same time because yes, I would enjoy that very much. Please. And thank you."

"Are...are you sure?"

Heisenberg's hand came down heavy but without malice on your neck.

"OW!"

"Shit...I was trying to grab your hand."

Providing your hand to his, you hitched a breath when he splayed it against his chest. His heartbeat thudded against your palm. Wrenching your knees upward, you brushed against that heated length between his legs.

"I...um...we should probably talk about boundaries before I do this."

"Huh?"

"Is this...are you okay with me just jacking you off?"

"Just? This is a goddamn holiday. Marking it on the calendar. Nothing little about it."

"Dumbass. That's not what I'm saying," you said, scratching his chest somewhat affectionately to show him that you meant no harm. "Do you...are you wanting anything more? Because I'm on my period...I'm up for it...but it might get messy and I know that's the last mess I want a certain someone finding."

"We...we can do more? More like..." You heard him take in a shaky inhale. "Can we...is like full blown intercourse on the table?"

"Sure...long as you don't call it that again," you said, shaking your head.

Grumbling and tensing his shoulders, Heisenberg whined when you dropped your touch to round one of his nipples.

"What the fuck else am I supposed to call it?"

"Sex. Fucking. Making love," you added jokingly. "Um...ah...you know...I hadn't thought about it, but maybe you genuinely didn't know. German to English...or...ah...Romanian to English. Might not have those words."

"I like making love," he said with certainty in his voice. "Let's do that. Make love."

You had expected him to laugh at that suggestion if he acknowledged it at all. But there he was giddy and practically giggling over the most flowery option he was given.

"Okay...are there any places that you don't like being touched?"

"Not that I know of," he admitted. "Are there...is there somewhere I shouldn't touch you?"

"Not necessarily...just...no going down on me this time. Sex is one thing-"

"Making love."

"-us um...us making love is fine, but I don't want to get eaten out while my period is going on. And don't show me your dick after or comment on the blood...just...get rid of it. Please. And...and nothing too crazy to start out with. I'm not a prude, but don't want to be choked or anything harsh like that. Just...vanilla for our first go. Then we can see where things take us."

"Roger that! Heard loud and clear," he said, leaning his face to kiss your forehead. For all the lack of a relationship, Heisenberg was making you feel far much more mushy and cared for than your ex ever had. You let your hand round his stomach slow and soft in response.

"Thank you. We...if you want to, I'll jack you off for a bit before you grab the condom."

"The...I don't have one of those."

That made you freeze.

"Not even in this room? Your chambers? If you don't feel like getting up, I can grab them from wherever they are."

Heisenberg went uncharacteristically quiet.

"Heis?"

"None in this room," he said plainly.

"I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable by asking...but...is that typical? You having sex without a condom?"

It worried you. Here you were all too willing to have him fuck you into the mattress while he could be having all sorts of unprotected sex with who knows who in the village. He was attractive - a lord. Anyone with a pair of eyes could easily fall in lust if not love with him.

Anyone with ears too...fucking sexy ringmaster voice...

"Not typical, no."

"No? Has it just...been a while?"

"Never."

"Huh?"

"Never made love before."

That sent you sitting up in bed.

"WHAT?"

"What?"

"HEISEN..." you lowered your voice, realizing he was growing tense. "You've never...I don't believe you. Quit joking. Not the time."

"Not joking," he grumbled. "Why would I joke about that?"

"You're just..."

"I'm what?"

"You're you," you said as if it clarified anything at all. "You're a lord in a small town. You have a face of a model. Not...not trying to open old wounds, but you're absolutely gorgeous underneath all those layers..."

"Yeah," he snorted. "Fatass McGee will be strutting the runways any day now."

"Oh my god...you're serious." Lying back down, you brought your hand to the clothed length between his legs. He had grown noticeably more soft since the brush of your knee, but you could feel his cock twitch when you cupped him. "So...no one? Not even foreplay or...what about kissing?"

"...ahhh...nah...none of that either...you're probably the first person to see me naked since I was a little kid...well...maybe a few folks in Constantinople. Got sloshed one time and woke up naked tied to a lamppost. But...other than that...all you."

There seemed to be no end to the surprises that would fall from Heisenberg's mouth. You stared at him - or the inky shadow that was him - and ran teasing fingers up his shaft.

"I uhh...fuck...I'm pretty sure anyone who saw me then is dead by now though," he supplied.

"Heis...you're so fucking ridiculous."

#heavy metal lover #divergence #karl heisenberg x reader #karl heisenberg x you

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