#admittedly i like things that people do not often find super intellectual. but like . why does everything havr to be that anyway

[aahsoka]

@eviefrie this was my favorite reply i saw after mine lol like ……….

u guys will say no one understands camp but cant handle the idea that a book would intentionally make outdated jokes . ok

[tlbodine]

The Horror Genius of Five Nights At Freddy’s

I’ve been playing FNAF: Help Wanted VR on my Oculus Quest lately (a birthday present to myself -- I know I’m late to that party!) and it’s reignited in me my old love of this series. I know Scott Cawthon’s politics aren’t great, but I don’t think there’s any malice in his heart beyond usual Christian conservative nonsense -- and I think he stepped down as graciously and magnanimously as possible when confronted about it. Time will judge Scott Cawthon’s politics, and that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I want to talk about what makes these games so damn special, from a horror, design, and marketing perspective. I think there’s really SO MUCH to be learned from studying these games and the wider influence they’ve had as intellectual property. 

What Is FNAF? 

In case you’ve somehow been living under a rock for the last seven years, Five Nights At Freddy’s (hereafter, FNAF) is a horror franchise spanning 17 games (10 main games + some spinoffs and troll games, we’ll get to that), 27 books, a movie deal, and a couple live-action attractions. 

But before it exploded into that kind of tremendous IP, it started out as a single indie pont-and-click game created entirely by one dude, Scott Cawthon. Cawthon had developed other games in the past without much fame or success, including some Christian children’s entertainment. He was working as a cashier at Dollar General and making games in his spare time -- and most of those games got panned. 

So he tried making something different. 

After being criticized that the characters in one of his children’s games looked like soulless, creepy animatronics, Cawthon had his lightbulb moment and created a horror game centered on....creepy animatronics! 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Genius of FNAF’s Horror Elements

In the first FNAF game, you play as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a sort of ersatz Chuck-E-Cheese establishment. The animatronics are on free-roaming mode at night, but you don’t want to let them find you in your security room so you have to watch them move through the building on security camera monitors. If they get too close, you can slam your security room doors closed. But be careful, because this restaurant operates on a shoestring budget, and the power will go off if you keep the doors closed too long or flicker the lights too often. And once the lights go out, you’re helpless against the animatronics in the dark. 

Guiding you through your gameplay is a fellow employee, Phone Guy, who calls you each night with some helpful advice. Phone Guy is voiced by Cawthon himself, and listening to his tapes gives you some hints of the game’s underlying story as well as telling you how to play. A few newspaper clippings and other bits of scrap material help to fill in more details of the story. 

Over the next set of games, the story would be further developed, with each new game introducing new mechanics and variations on the theme -- in one, you don a mask to slip past the notice of animatronics; in another, you have to play sound cues to lure an animatronic away from you. By the fourth game, the setup was changed completely, now featuring a child with a flashlight hiding from the monsters outside his door -- nightmarish versions of the beloved child-friendly mascots. The mechanics change just enough between variations to keep things fresh while maintaining a consistent brand. 

There are so many things these games do well from a storytelling and horror perspective: 

Jump Scares: It’s easy to shrug these games off for relying heavily on jump scares, and they absolutely do have a lot of them. But they’re used strategically. In most games, the jump scares are a punishment (a controlled shock, if you will) -- if you play the game perfectly, you’ll never be jump-scared. This is an important design choice that a lot of other horror games don’t follow. 

Atmospheric Dread: These games absolutely deliver horror and tension through every element of design -- some more than others, admittedly. But a combination of sound cues, the overall texture and aesthetic of the world, the “things move when you’re not looking at them” mechanic, all of it works together to create a feeling of unease and paranoia. 

Paranoia: As in most survival horror games, you’re at a disadvantage. You can’t move or defend yourself, really -- all you can do is watch. And so watch you do. Except it’s a false sense of security, because flicking lights and checking cameras uses up precious resources, putting you at greater risk. So you have to balance your compulsive need to check, double-check, and make sure...with methodical resource conservation. The best way to survive these games is to remain calm and focused. It’s a brilliant design choice. 

Visceral Horror: The monster design of the animatronics is absolutely delightful, and there’s a whole range of them to choose from. The sheer size and weight of the creatures, the way they move and position themselves, their grunginess, the deadness of their eyes, the quantity and prominence of their teeth. They are simultaneously adorable and horrifying. 

Implicit Horror: One of the greatest strengths to FNAF as a franchise is that it never wears its story on its sleeve. Instead of outright telling you what’s going on, the story is delivered in bits and pieces that you have to put together yourself -- creating a puzzle for an engaged player to think about and theorize over and consider long after the game is done. But more than that, the nature of the horror itself is such that it becomes increasingly upsetting the more you think on it. The implications of what’s going on in the game world -- that there are decaying bodies tucked away inside mascots that continue to perform for children, that a man dressed in a costume is luring kids away into a private room to kill them, and so forth -- are the epitome of fridge horror. 

The FNAF lore does admittedly start to become fairly ridiculous and convoluted as the franchise wears on. But even ret-conned material manages to be pretty interesting in its own right (and there is nothing in the world keeping you from playing the first four games, or even the first six, and pretending none of the rest exist). 

Another thing I really appreciate about the FNAF franchise is that it’s quite funny, in a way that complements and underscores the horror rather than detracting from it. It’s something a lot of other properties utterly fail to do. 

The Genius of Scott Cawthon’s Marketing 

OK, so FNAF utilizes a multi-prong attack for creating horror and implements it well -- big deal. Why did it explode into a massive IP sensation when other indie horror games that are just as well-made barely made a blip on the radar? 

Well! That’s where the real genius comes in. This game was built and marketed in a way to maximize its franchisability. 

First, the story utilizes instantly identifiable, simple but effective character designs, and then generates more and more instantly identifiable unique characters with each iteration. Having a wealth of characters and clever, unique designs basically paves the way for merchandise and fan-works. (That they’re anthropomorphic animal designs also probably helped -- because that taps into the furry fandom as well without completely alienating non-furries). 

Speaking of fan-work, Scott Cawthon has always been very supportive of fandom, only taking action when people would try to profit off knock-off games and that sort of thing -- basically bad-faith copies. But as far as I know he’s always been super chill with fan-created content, even going so far as to engage directly with the fandom. Which brings me to....

These games were practically designed for streaming, and he took care to deliver them into the hands of influential streamers. Because the games are heavy on jump-scares and scale in difficulty (even including extra-challenging modes after the core game is beaten) they are extremely fun to watch people play. They’re short enough to be easily finished over the duration of a long stream, and they’re episodic -- lending themselves perfectly to a YouTube Lets Play format. One Night = One Video, and now the streamer has weeks of content from your game (but viewers can jump in at any time without really missing much). 

The games are kid-friendly but also genuinely frightening. Because the most disturbing parts of the game’s lore are hinted at rather than made explicit, younger players can easily engage with the game on a more basic surface level, and others can go as deep into the lore as they feel comfortable. There is no blood and gore and violence or even any explicitly stated death in the main game; all of the murder and death is portrayed obliquely by way of 8-bit mini games and tangential references. Making this game terrifying but accessible to youngsters, and then marketing it directly to younger viewers through popular streamers (and later, merchandising deals) is genius -- because it creates a very broad potential audience, and kids tend to spend 100% of their money (birthdays, allowances, etc.) and are most likely to tell their friends about this super scary game, etc. etc.

By creating a puzzle box of lore, and then interacting directly with the fandom -- dropping hints, trolling, essentially creating an ARG of his own lore through his website, in-game easter eggs, and tie-in materials -- Cawthon created a mystery for fandom to solve. And fans LOVE endlessly speculating over convoluted theories. 

Cawthon released these games FAST. He dropped FNAF 2 within months of the first game’s release, and kept up a pace of 1-2 games a year ever since. This steady output ensured the games never dropped out of public consciousness -- and introducing new puzzle pieces for the lore-hungry fans to pore over helped keep the discussion going. 

I think MatPat and The Game Theorists owe a tremendous amount of their own huge success to this game. I think Markiplier does, too, and other big streamers and YouTubers. It’s been fascinating watching the symbiotic relationship between these games and the people who make content about these games. Obviously that’s true for a lot of fandom -- but FNAF feels so special because it really did start so small. It’s a true rags-to-riches sleeper hit and luck absolutely played a role in its growth, but skill is a big part too. 

Take-Aways For Creatives 

I want to be very clear here: I do not think that every piece of media needs to be “IP,” franchisable, an extended universe, or a multimedia sensation. I think there is plenty to be said for creating art of all types, and sometimes that means a standalone story with a small audience. 

But if you do want a chance at real break-out, run-away success and forging a media empire of your own, I think there are some take-aways to be learned from the success of FNAF: 

Persistence. Scott Cawthon studied animation and game-design in the 1990s and released his first game in 2002. He released a bunch of stuff afterward. None of it stuck. It took 12 years to hit on the winning formula, and then another several years of incredibly hard work to push out more titles and stoke the fires before it really became a sensation. Wherever you’re at on your creative journey, don’t give up. You never know when your next thing will be The Thing that breaks you out. 

If you want to sell a lot of something, you have to make it widely appealing to a bunch of people. This means keeping your concept simple to understand (”security guard wards off creepy killer animatronics at a pizza parlor”) and appealing to as wide a segment of the market as you can (ie, a horror story that appeals to both kids and adults). The more hyper-specific your audience, the harder it’s gonna be to find them and the fewer copies of your thing you’ll be selling. 

Know your shit and put your best work out there. I think there’s an impulse to feel like “well, nobody reads this anyway, so why does it matter if it’s no good” (I certainly have fallen into that on multiple occasions) but that’s the wrong way to think about it. You never know when and where your break will come. Put your best work out there and keep on polishing your craft with better and better stuff because eventually one of those things you chuck out there is going to be The Thing. 

Figure out where your target audience hangs out, and who influences them, and then get your thing in the hands of those influencers. Streaming and YouTube were the secret to FNAF’s success. Maybe yours will be BookTube, or Instagram, or a secret cabal of free librarians. I don’t know. But you should try your best to figure out who would like the thing that you’re making, and then figure out how to reach those people, and put all of your energy into that instead of shotgun-blasting your marketing all willy nilly. 

You don’t have to put the whole story on the page. Audiences love puzzles. Fans love mysteries. You can actually leave a lot more unanswered than you think. There’s some value in keeping secrets and leaving things for others to fill in. Remember -- your art is only partly yours. The sandbox belongs to others to play in, too, and you have to let them do that. 

If in doubt, appealing to furries never hurts. 

Do I take all of this advice myself? Not by a long shot. But it’s definitely a lot to think about. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat The Curse of Dreadbear. 

[generalasshattery]

MK Movie Thoughts and Reflections

It’s been a few days since I watched it, and it’s all had time to settle in my brain. Who wants a tangent?

So, I guess I should start with the like biggest issue. Cole. Like I get he was only put in the movie because the studio insisted, and I feel like a little bit of the resentment for having to do that is obvious by just how bland a character he is. If they had to have him, they could’ve at least made him a little more fun to watch. Like, you had the opportunity to make a new Mortal Kombat character, some of the most deliciously and wonderfully over the top and charismatic fighting game characters out there... like why didn’t they make any effort to justify his existence on screen? Want to give us an everyman that can be used to introduce the world to the public? Do it, make him an audience proxy. Use some wit and charm to make people feel like he represents how they’d act in that scenario. I’ve seen this done to absolutely beautiful effect, my favorite example is actually a short horror film on YouTube called Downstairs. Lean into the batshit insanity you’re introducing in the form of mortal kombat. This role is historically handled by Johnny Cage, but he’s a celebrity rich boy, how would Joe down the block honestly handle this shit? Would he be stressed the fuck out and anxious? Or riding high getting to live out an ultimate power fantasy? That’s what would’ve been fun to explore with a new character IMO.

With that out of the way, I’m not going to belabor all the things I didn’t enjoy. Because well, it’s obvious. Jobbers irritate me, like what the fuck was that they did with Reiko? Did not like. Killing a clearly post burns Kabal in a fire? Like that just upset me. And all the weird lore building choices were just that... fucking weird. They do not need to be super heroes. They do not need to awaken super powers. Tech based abilities make it more interesting against the more supernaturally influenced characters. Genre bending has always been a feature and not a bug in MK. The game was supposed to be a Jean Claude Van Damme game, it was supposed to be all these different genres of movies coming together to fight the Van Damme, in a manor of speaking. Taking away the absolutely fun part of the story where special ops, a celebrity, and monks team up with a god to fight ninjas, a sorcerer, criminal empires, and monsters, is like missing the forest for the trees with the franchise. And I just can’t even go into Shang Tsung. I just can’t. I like Chin Han, he plays assholes very well, but Shang Tsung is a special kind of asshole. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa just set the bar so high with how much intellectualism he brings to the lines. He can drop them in such a smart sounding way that it makes you feel like he’s three steps ahead of you. There’s something so obviously manipulative and toying in his vibe (god the best part of MK11 is him, I’ll fight people on this, he fucking stole that shit for me) that it makes him feel instantly threatening. Immediately you know this is a man you Should Not Fuck with. I need that from Shang Tsung, or I don’t even really feel like you should bother bringing him to screen.

But despite all that, I did actually enjoy the experience of watching the movie, admittedly because I expected not to like any of it, so there were quite a few pleasant surprises. The gore and fight scenes were so perfectly stylized with the excessive blood and choreography, showing off the characters fatalities and famous moves... yes feed me that fan service. Feed it to me.

And while I don’t love all the casting (Reiko and Shang Tsung for example), some of it was pure perfection. Kano, Jax and Sonya? Story was... A Choice but loved the actors and what they brought to the characters. Also, like Lui Kang being cast with just the prettiest actor made me very happy. Pretty boy Lui Kang can hang, especially with his belt/slash floating in the wind. I was here for that.

Holy god damn hell, Joe Taslim, what the fuck dude? You made all my Bi-Han fantasies and dreams a reality. Like god damn, I could feel the depth he was bringing to the role even if the script didn’t let him explore it. I seriously hope we get so much more from him because got damn. I was so pleased with his performance. Holy shit not to mention the ice effects, his Katara moment of stopping the rain and then wrecking the shit out of a street is the kind of raw destructive power that canon has always hinted he has but hasn’t really shown us. He’s so often relegated to being a jobber, and MK is so especially bad at telling you a character is powerful but not showing it. Oh boy the movie showed it. Not just him either, I felt a real sense of power from a few players, and that was deeply satisfying.

Also like Kabal? For as much as his death pissed me off, damn did they nail his vibe. I think we’d all rather have good guy Kabal (which would’ve been a more interesting story with Kano on both sides the fence [and I DO NOT have the energy to write the dissertation I have for that weird ass choice]) but I really thought they got the bad guy him just right. Side note: My sister watched it with me and just adored him, she loved his fight scenes and kept asking me who he was and telling me how damn cool he seemed. And I do agree. His fighting scene was so damn good. The way they handle his choreography and effects made him look every bit the intimidating opponent he is, even if he didn’t actually win. Very good work there.

Hanzo has some promise here, but man did they cock tease us with those trailers. Didn’t even toss a handy j for our troubles. I will say, assuming they do make another film (and that is a big assumption) I am cautiously optimistic about where it could be heading. The actor really didn’t get enough time to explore the part, but Scorpion has the potential to be fascinating and I feel like him and Sub Zero getting their own film properly could really give me some satisfying story telling in Mortal Kombat’s biggest rivalry.

Over all? Not super satisfying for the dedicated fans. Wouldn’t really recommend it if you don’t Stan Bi-Han specifically. But if you set your expectations as low as possible, you may find some fun in it the way I did.

[misterewrites]

Annabeth and the First Date

Hello everyone! E here hoping you are all staying safe and sound among these trying times. Remember to take care of yourself and others. 

I’m back with a collab! WOO! My good friend @hains-mae and I have teamed up to bring you some good times and what better way to celebrate the very conflicted feelings I have about Percy Jackson being made by Disney (Looks at the Artemis Fowl Trash fire) then by writing about it!

So we kinda just threw whatever at the AU wall to see what we wanted to do and we both settled on this college style au. It’s not completely fleshed out but the idea I have is everyone are still demigods and they still get trained but they don’t really go on quests or fight monsters until they’re 18 years old because the monsters get more of a challenge and street cred than just killing children. Yeah we just wanted to do a college style au.

So this story is Annabeth’s first date. She’s 17, in college and doesn’t know Percy but they both know Grover. I like to think that Camp Halfblood is still a thing and she’s been training since she was a child like canon but in that one year in between coming of age and not being a target, a lot of demigods go to school as a last taste of normalcy and maybe to get motivation not to die. 

Yeah we just went for it.

So Percy and Annabeth of 17 and they don’t know each other. They haven’t done their first quest.

so enjoy! stay safe, social distance, masks! not optional and I’ll see you soon with the next one. Have a great week everyone!

17 year old Annabeth Chase was not happy with her most recent life choice.

She would’ve scolded herself for using less than stellar vocabulary but between being seated alone amid a sea of smiling, joyful couples and her date now officially 30 minutes late with no word of his arrival, she was not in a great mood.

“Go on a date they said” She mockingly murmured under her breath “It’ll be fun they said. You need to get your head out of a book, it’s not healthy.”

Annabeth scoffed: How was reading a book not fun? Her mother, Athena, prided herself on knowledge. Knowledge was the single most important foundation in life and with knowledge all things were possible.

She grimaced as she blew a strand of her curly blonde hair out of her face, disliking the increasing embarrassment she felt about being stood up.

Her mistake was putting too much faith in the Aphrodite dorm rooms. The self proclaimed matchmakers had been hounding her relentlessly since the first week of college and while she had done a fantastic job avoiding their interest (if she says so herself), eventually they set their efforts upon her single life.

“Shouldn’t have caved” Annabeth frowned as she rubbed her arm awkwardly.

She could’ve outlasted them. The librarian already banned the lot of them from the library and Annabeth knew plenty of secluded spots where no one could find her for hours. Admittedly, though, it was getting more difficult when they began ambushing her in pairs: Outside her dorm, outside her classes, in the cafe where she loved to study. For people who never once did their homework or cared about things outside love, they were surprisingly vicious.

One date. That’s the agreement she negotiated with them though she could tell behind their wide smiles they were planning on multiple suitors in case this one did not work out.

“I didn’t even want to go on this stupid date.”

Annabeth sighed, unable to hide the disappointment.

Despite her better judgment, she actually was looking forward to this date. Maybe it was the idea of finding someone to talk physics or classic Greek to. To have intellectual debates and spend time with.

To not be lonely anymore.

She placed her head glumly in her hand.

She even dressed up for the occasion.

Annabeth was the definition of practical. Her usual attire consisted of shirt, shorts, jacket if it was cold and hair tied up in a messy ponytail tucked under her Yankee’s hat (go Yanks!). She wasn’t at school to impress anyone. She was there to learn and fight off the occasional monster.

She knew that was the real reason she felt foolish: She bought into this. Like everything she had ever done in her life, Annabeth threw herself completely and utterly into the challenge of a first date.

Her normally messy, unkempt blonde hair was tastefully curled and pulled back into an elegant (But still practical) ponytail. She wore a long black dress that shimmered every time she moved with a matching shawl and black simple flats. She had even swallowed her pride and asked Silena (the only Aphrodite child she ever trusted) to help her with her make up.

“I should just go….”

“Annabeth?”

Annabeth blinked, completely caught off guard and mortified someone recognized her in this fancy restaurant until she noticed the familiar brown curls under a tacky beanie.

“Grover!” Annabeth beamed happily, giving her satyr friend a quick side hug “It’s good to see you!”

Grover Underwood was an old friend of Annabeth. They had met when he was sent to bring her to Camp Halfblood safely and they had been close friends ever since. Though between Grover’s job of disguising himself as a human and bringing demigods back safely and Annabeth starting college, the two hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“What are you doing here?”

Grover scratched his goatee nervously “Working, you know.”

Annabeth gave knowing nod and raised eyebrow as she scanned the room.

“The cook” Grover’s voice dropped to a whisper as he hunched closer “I’m certain he’s a demigod. I’m here to keep an eye on him.”

Grover stood to full height once again and smiled “So what are you doing here?”

Annabeth fidgeted under his gaze “I...well...I decided to take a break from my studies.”

Grover looked unconvinced “In a fancy restaurant in an equally fancy dress?”

Her cheeks burned brightly “Grover, don’t you have work to do?”

Grover’s nearly popped out of his head, his legs thrashing so wildly about Annabeth was scared he was about to take off in a scamper “OH YOU’RE RIGHT! Umm, can I take your order miss?”

Annabeth finally noticed his well dressed attire: A nice collared shirt (With the collar anxiously chewed upon) black slacks and loafers with a little notepad and pencil at the ready.

“Oh.” she muttered as it clicked into place “OH! Y-yes. I would like to order the burger and some water please.”

Grover scrawled his friend’s order and bolted for the kitchen, moving with an unusual but panicked grace.

Annabeth chuckled to herself before the loneliness fell upon her once more.

“I might as well enjoy myself so this night isn’t a complete failure.”

20 minutes later

“Umm, excuse me? Is this seat taken?”

Annabeth scrawled furiously upon her napkin, mumbling under her breath about the possibilities of X.

“….Hello?”

“If I carry over 47 and I...”

“Look, I’m not going to stand all night and talk to air.”

The table shook unexpectedly and knocked the studious girl out of her brainstorm.

Annabeth blinked “Wait, are you talking to….me?”

Annabeth could feel her cheeks turn a bright pink as she caught sight of the person in front of her.

He was roughly her age with long dishevel jet black hair swept to one side as if he just gotten back from a walk on the beach. His eyes were shimmering green, the kind of green only the ocean could muster. His smile was mischievous yet playful, one you would often find on a troublemaker. He wore a dark blue collared shirt that was freshly pressed and a rather cute tie with seashells. His hands were stuffed anxiously into his black dress pants as he waited for an invitation to sit.

“I...” Annabeth began.

“Are you Annabeth?” The stranger asked quietly, glancing to one side uncomfortably.

“Yes” she answered slowly “Yes! Did...”

“Grover” The strange answered simply “he called me over. Said he you might want some company.”

“Grover?” Annabeth tilted her quizzically before realization hit her “Grover!”

She whirled around to find her furry friend spying through the kitchen porthole.

Grover let out a frighten bleat before ducking out of sight.

Percy. That’s who was in front of her. Grover had called Percy.

Annabeth knew about Percy for a few years now though she never met him officially. He was another demigod Grover brought to Camp Halfblood and one the young satyr was determined to have her meet.

Annabeth managed to dodge meeting the mysterious Percy Jackson through her busy schedule but it seems Grover had finally gotten his way.

“Percy, right? Grover’s talked about you alot”

But never mentioned how cute he is.

Percy scratched the back of his neck “Yeah that’s me. I live close by and Grover said you were feeling down so...”

Annabeth rolled her eyes “He figured he send you to cheer me up?”

Percy shrugged “I’m pretty sure he just wanted us on a date. I can try to cheer you up. No promises though”

Despite herself, Annabeth giggled “At least you’ll try right?”

Percy gave a goofy grin “For pretty girl like you, why not?”

Annabeth’s blush worsened “Well take a seat and let’s see I can bore you away. I tend to have that effect on people.”

“Nice try Wisegirl but I’ll have you know nothing is more boring than sitting in a class for an hour with no idea what’s going on and no escape.”

“I’ve never had that problem” Annabeth beamed proudly.

Percy playfully waved her off “Yeah yeah, you’re super smart. So you’re gonna be my tutor?”

“Whoa whoa whoa” Annabeth grinned impishly “I never agreed to that.”

“You said you never had a problem in class, I have the attention of goldfish. Sounds like you need to tutor me.”

“So you have seaweed for brains?”

Percy grimaced “It’s the tie, huh?”

Annabeth nodded, trying to stifle a laugh “Really gives it away Seaweed brain.”

“It’s my mom! Thought it be cute or something” Percy groaned unhappily.

“I like it. It is cute in a geeky sort of way. Marine biologist?”

Percy gave her a confused stare.

“Your major.” Annabeth clarified.

“Oh” Percy grinned sheepishly “Nah, way too easy.”

“Too easy because you’re smart or….?”

“I am not smart.”

“I dunno. Obtuse maybe.”

Percy shook his head “No idea what that means.”

Annabeth snorted cutely,covering her face in embarrassment before staring daggers at Percy. Percy put up his hands innocently.

“Everything going well?”

Grover appeared, a well cooked and delicious burger in one hand and a fresh out of the oven blue pizza in the other.  

Annabeth opened her mouth but Grover cut her off “Customer’s choice.”

Annabeth just nodded as Grover set down their plates.

“So” Grover began nervously “Not going to kill me?”

Percy gave a noncommittal shrug while Annabeth answered “Jury’s still out.”

“Oh, I hear someone calling me. Coming!” And as quickly as he came, Grover vanished.

Annabeth eyed the strangely bluish hue of the pizza Percy was digging into, unsure what to make of the odd choice.

“I like blue” Percy answered bluntly “Sue me.”

“I guess I’ve seen stranger.”

“Ha ha wisegirl. Just for that, we’re getting ice cream after.”

Annabeth smiled softly at the idea.

“That would be the worst seaweed brain. The absolute worst.”

[oliversaluki]

Truth Or Dare {Kidnapped Princess}

After Dodger dares Ollie to send a PG-13 text to Isa back during Phil/Tom/John’s party, Isa comes out for some fun and then they head home for more fun. (includes a fade out so it’s not really bdrpsmut)

@littleprincesa-isabel

ISABEL

Isa was comfortably lounging about on her bed with a text book splayed open. She had a Physics exam coming up soon and since she really wasn’t in the mood to conversate with family she thought studying would be best.

She hadn’t expected for her phone to suddenly vibrate. All her family was home and Isa knew most of her friends and even Ollie were all out so who would be texting at this time?

To her surprise it was Ollie after all and as her eyes read through the text message her cheeks suddenly began to grow super hot and very red. Not that she didn’t well you know like the message, admittedly she was smiling right now, but she was also a slight bit taken aback.

They really weren’t that type of couple and heaven forbid if she texted back, Isa was sure she wouldn’t know how to “sexy” talk without making a fool of herself.

And what if this wasn’t Ollie to begin with? It could be someone else with his phone, so rather than jump to conclusions, Isa began to dial his number and waited until someone picked up.

“Ollie?”

OLLIE:

Ollie was beyond embarrassed even though he knew by the looks he had gotten he had been pretty tame. That was just what happened when you haven’t slept with your girlfriend or really had that conversation. Maybe they should. Especially considering a certain couple who apparently didn’t have that conversation.

So when his phone went off Ollie excused himself from the group heading out and finding some quiet.

“Heyyyy. Sorry. It was a dare. I probably should have sent that as a follow up text.”

ISABEL

Isa was very relieved to hear Ollie’s voice at the other end of the phone and not some random stranger thinking it funny to play a prank on her. She even found herself giving a soft laugh as Ollie immediately explained himself without her even asking. It made her smile.

“I love how you knew exactly what I was going to ask, before I even had to ask it.”

She teased unable to help herself as she propped herself up from her lying position on her bed.

“I just had to verify to make sure that it was you, and not someone else but now that I’m fully aware, I have a follow up question to ask. Would you have meant it even if it wasn’t a dare? At least the company part because I’ve been staring at the same text in this text book over and over again and the four walls of my bedroom are very boring. I wouldn’t mind leaving.”

OLLIE

Ollie felt bad in a way sending the text. He didnt know what Isa was okay with. Something that he was going to make sure and remedy sooner than later and then maybe if this happened again he wouldnt be the wholesome kid in a room of adults.

"I meant all of it, the shirt thing too though that might have to come later in the night when we get away from everyone."

ISABEL

Isa felt her cheeks go hotter, if that was even possible at all. They were never this straight forward with each other and yet oddly enough, she didn’t feel like she wanted to shy away from it all. She was always at her most comfortable with her boyfriend. Ollie understood her in ways her own family didn’t. It was so easy to be herself around him.

And even though she was an intellectual person, she was not blind nor was she void of hormones. Her boyfriend was very good looking, who wouldn’t smile at the thought?!

“Why is it that you are always planning an escape when it comes to me?”

Isa was already hopping out of her bed by this point and walking over to her closet. She was in her pajamas and obviously that was not appropriate party wear so she had to change.

Thankfully, Ollie had already made outfit picking easier by half as much.

“Would you mind grabbing me?” She wasn’t so sure if she should really be walking the Swynlake streets alone at night. Probably wasn’t the safest of ideas.

OLLIE

Ollie laughed leaning against the house taking another sip of the beer that was in his hands. "Apparently I want you all to myself whenever I can get you and if that's by planning an escape so be it." It didnt help that Ollie almost always assumed Isa was looking for that escape and that control of her own life the way Ollie had been.

He just wanted to give that to her.

At the request Ollie had to grimace looking at the drink in his hand. "I would but I've had a beer or two already and while I think I'm still under the limit I'd rather not take a chance are you okay if I call an uber for you instead?"

ISABEL

“Well, I happen to like how selfish you are with me, so I never mind being a willing participant in these escape plans.”

And right, why hadn’t she thought of that? Ollie was at a party, party and drinks were almost always mutually exclusive. It could also be the fact that she was going through her closet picking out clothes while at the same time holding a conversation.

“An Uber works! Thank you. I’ll let you go so that you can do that. It’ll give me time to change. I was already in my pajamas.”

Isa said her goodbyes before hanging up, already finding the shirt in question and pulling that out of her closet. Along with it came a nice pair of fitted skinny ripped jeans and heels.

Although Isa wasn’t one to wear heels on an often basis, she did know how to properly walk in them and everything. She was a princess after all, she was trained in the art of heels not long after she mastered walking.

After a quick work of some light make and thanking the heavens for natural voluminous curls that could easily be left loose, Isa placed a light jacket on and walked out of her place yelling at the last minute that she was leaving.

The Uber was already waiting for her and it didn’t take long at all for her to reach her destination. She walked past some faces she knew and others she didn’t but she didn’t smile wide until she spotted the one she wanted to see.

“Thank you for the Uber.”

OLLIE

Ollie was quick to call the Uber sending the information to Isa so she knew who was picking her up before joining the game again. Just in time to catch Dodger and Lou locking lips and well the boy couldn’t help but laugh as he kept an eye on the app as the dares went around the room.

And how stupid one guy was just to dare girl’s to take off their shirts.

When it looked like Isa was about to get her he walked off again to get her a drink and top off his own beer.

“Of course.” Ollie grinned handing Isa a drink before pulling her into his arms. “Now you get to be embarrassed as equally as I am.” Ollie teased. “And I can tell you in person just how good you look with the top on but maybe I can make good on my promise later.”

ISABEL

Isa was only too happy to slide right into Ollie’s arms and even with heels on she still fitted in just right. This was definitely a lot better than the text she was reading over and over again in her Physics text book.

“Oh, I don’t do embarrassed well, so I might need the help of a couple of more of these to get me through.”

The brunette grabbed a hold of the drink Ollie had gotten for her and took a long sip from it only realizing afterward that she had no idea what she had just drank. She didn’t have a long history with drinking so she was still rather new with all the variety of alcohol available out in the world.

“What exactly am I drinking?”

She took her eyes away from the drink for a moment to look up at Ollie, a grin beginning to form over her lips. 

“Let’s see if you'll be able to win my permission to do so by then.”

OLLIE

“It’s just a vodka lemonade. Some girls probably brought in the fruiter stuff so I figured you might like it but there’s beer and all types of drinks you can try if you want. And feel free to come back to my place tonight if you don’t feel like heading home and dealing with you family in the morning.” Ollie had three places to go, his dorm, Rita’s or Dodger’s. And even his roommate was here so it wasn’t like he wouldn’t know Ollie brought home a guest.

“You know I figured just by you coming here and wearing the top you were already into the idea.” Ollie grinned leaning down to kiss Isa’s cheek right by her ear as he spoke.

ISABEL

“I do like it. Smart girls. I’m not too into the taste of beer.”

Isa did not do her spanish blood proud in that area. Most hispanics loved a good cold beer, but the brunette was never one to acquire the taste for it. Not that she dwelled on that thought long with Ollie speaking right by her ear. She could feel an instant tickle running right down the line of her spine from the action and it left her void of any ability to think too coherently.

He did that on purpose.

“I am.” Isa admitted quite frankly. “But, what fun would it be if I made it that easy for you?” Her lips curved into a grin, a bit of mischief playing in her eyes.

“I like a bit of a challenge.” And she did. It worked the brain more.

OLLIE:

“I had a feeling about that. Fruitier the better.” Ollie was a bartender and he knew the ones that were popular with people that didn’t like beer. And it was the safer option when you didn’t know what they were in the mood for.

“It would be a lot of fun for us.” Ollie stated wrapping his arms around her at this point. “Sometimes there’s no need for a challenge. If anything we can join the truth or dare game.”

ISABEL

Isa had taken another sip of her drink already having close to about half of it done. It was actually pretty good, maybe a little strong by her standards, she could taste the sharpness of the vodka down the back of her throat. Then again she had low standards since she could practically count the amount of times she drank with one hand, so who was to say she really knew what was strong or not.

Not that any of that mattered right now because Ollie had wrapped his arms around her and she was already smiling up at him enjoying all the warmth that enveloped her.

“Fruiter definitely works best for me.” Then she made a little face upon hearing about the truth or dare game. “Hmm, I don’t know if I really want to end up giving freebies around. I already saw enough topless girls just walking in.”

She inched herself a little closer. “And I really would only be comfortable with you.” 

OLLIE

“Oh I’m gonna hit that guy if he dared you to take your shirt off.” It was kind of gross. A few beers in or not it was gross. Even Peri had gotten dared to switch shirts so yeah it was probably safer that they didn’t join that whole thing.

“I would also be super jealous if anyone else saw you shirtless. So I’m not having that.”

ISABEL

Isa couldn’t help the smile that began to form on her features. She loved hearing when Ollie would be jealous because of her. It’s not something she would ever purposely cause but knowing that he preferred to have her for himself  was always kind of hot for the brunette.

She gave herself a bit of added height getting on her tiptoes (yes, even with heels on she still needed the boost) and pressed a kiss on Ollie’s lips.

“And I wouldn’t want you getting into a fight.”

Which was true, even though Isa was sure that Ollie could defend himself well, she still wouldn’t want that. She finished the rest of her drink and smirked up at Ollie.

“There isn’t need for that, even though if I am really honest, I like hearing when you’re jealous but I don’t have any inclinations of having anyone else see me shirtless.”

OLLIE

Ollie had no problem leaning down to steal a kiss giving Isa a small squeeze. “There’s a reason I’m taking boxing. I’m getting better at handling myself.” And he didn’t want to ever feel like DeSoto could beat him up again. Even if he was sure that Des could.

Slowly his hands trailed underneath her shirt just grazing along her waist.

“Plus there’s a chance they’d dare you to kiss someone else and then we’d really have a problem.”

ISABEL

“I have absolutely no doubt that you are.” And Isa really truly didn’t. “Even still all that fighting would just make your hands very rough.”

Hands that were now resting over the skin of her waist for which Isa was very aware of. The touch had initially been a little cold, probably because of the beer Ollie had had in hand, but the brunette actually welcomed the coolness. She was wrapped up very close to Ollie and with all that warmth some coolness was happily received.

Isa brought her arms up to snake them around the crook of Ollie’s neck.

“Don’t believe in sharing?” She teased because not that she would ever. Isa would have declined that dare very quickly if placed in that predicament.

OLLIE

Ollie laughed leaning further down to kiss along her neck. "Why would I ever believe in sharing when I know exactly how lucky I am to have you in my life. That would sound very much like an idiot making that decision."

Plus Ollie had to imagine there would be limits in this game. Dodger never would have dared Ollie on something he couldn't do. And mess with him or one of the gang whoever wasn't in for a fun time.

ISABEL

Isabel found herself laughing a little too and that came due to a mix of Ollie’s answer and the alcohol that was beginning to settle itself in. She was such a lightweight.

“Good answer.”

She fluttered her eyes shut a moment as Ollie’s lips were now trailing along her neck. It brought that heightened spike of excited nerves right down her spine again and Isa found that she was rather enjoying this sensation. Without much thought or realization Isa had even craned her neck a little to allow more access.

“I wouldn’t want to share either.”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned before pulling back grabbing his beer off the step he left it on and downed it. Tonight was going to be a good night and if it started all from a dare maybe he just had to thank Dodger after all.

“Good. Though seeing you jealous would be pretty entertaining as well.” Isa almost seemed calm. Like she had it all under control. It sucked sometimes feeling like you had to be the best and in control.

ISABEL

Isabel simply laughed allowing an airy, playful shrug to roll off her shoulders. Although, truth be told, she felt very bereft now that she was no longer wrapped up in Ollie’s arms and she didn’t like the empty feeling.

“Guess you’re just going to stay stuck waiting.”

She smiled, placing a quick little kiss on Ollie’s cheek. She walked ahead of him looking down at the glass in her hand. Her drink was empty and since she was already here she figured she might as well grab herself another one. She wanted to enjoy her night, enjoy some freedom that she was sure would probably be advised against with her family.

“You think there is any more of the same drink left?”

OLLIE

“That’s almost a challenge, what if someone there said they wanted to kiss me? Peri’s ex just laid one on Dodger which is hilarious.”  Ollie still couldn’t believe that had happened but that just proved what this game was.

“Yeah there should be more. I mean as long as you stay with vodka you’ll be fine, you shouldn’t have too bad of a hangover.”

ISABEL

Isa was already making her way around towards the direction of the alcohol when Ollie had asked his question. It made her realize that she actually hadn’t thought about that. What if that had actually been a dare that would’ve been asked while he was playing? Logically speaking, it was a game and that was all it was, right?

That, however, didn’t mean Isa liked the picture that crossed into her head of her boy-friend kissing someone else. Game or no game she knew she wouldn’t have appreciated it.

She reached the alcohol table and now turned around to look at Ollie a moment almost as if studying him.

“I don’t think you would have allowed it or gone through with it if it was your dare.”

OLLIE

“Oh hell no. I’m not kissing anyone else and if someone thought that was stupid I don’t need to prove myself to them. And trust me when I say I have back up here with Dodger and Tito is showing up later too.” There was no worries in Ollie’s mind about anything in that regard and as much as making each other jealous could be fun he hoped she knew he never would do anything.

He loved her.

ISABEL

Isabel had turned to pour some more of her drink into her empty glass. She was smiling big when doing so, very elated with Ollie’s answer. Not that she ever believed that he would. Isa truly believed that he wouldn’t, but hearing it was always very nice.

Truth be told, Isa never thought she would be the girl with a boyfriend and much less one she would love and would love her back. She just didn’t think it could happen to a girl like her.

So of course she was smiling.

She took a sip of her drink, turning back around now so she could inch herself back up close to Ollie.

“If the dare would’ve happened and I was there I would’ve been mad.” He deserved his answer. “And I would’ve been mad because of jealousy too, so I would’ve left. If you followed me I most very likely would’ve had a lot of not nice words to say to you.”

Isa took another sip. “I like when you kiss me and the thought of someone else getting the chance to like it too isn’t exactly something I would like because I really like when you kiss me.”

OLLIE

Ollie popped open another can taking a gulp from it. There was no reason to be sober at this party so why would he. At this rate we was going to crash on Dodger's floor. Which was fine with him.

(Or if Isa didnt want that they could just go to Rita's)

"Well if that dare did happened and I followed through with it not only do I give you full permission to slap me but I give you full permission to make Dodger and tito and Reets slap me too." Ollie would deserve it and he understood it.

There was just no need to even think it would be a possibility.

As if they could ever cheat on one another. Dare or not. Their pride was big but not that big.

ISABEL

Isa laughed, a small laugh but the giddy sort of laugh that usually came when alcohol began settling in. She was only on her second drink, but she was also a tiny person, it honestly didn’t take much for her.

“I wouldn’t want you to get slapped, although it’s so nice of everyone to be willing to do that for me.” She smiled, taking down a little bit more of her drink.

“It could ruin your face too, and I like it the way it is.” She nodded as if needing to further affirm her own statement.

“And I think I’m going to take you up on that offer of staying with you tonight.” Elena was way too loud to wake up to after a night of drinking.

OLLIE

“What do you think I’m cute?” Ollie teased winking at his girlfriend. “Am I the cutest person you’ve ever seen. The most handsome and the most beautiful.” He continued to tease guiding Isa over to a Beer pong gang and nodding so the guys knew they were coming in next.

“Yeah you’re more than welcomed, If you’re good with the floor we can go to Dodger’s if you want a bed we can head over to Reet’s.”

ISABEL

“Pfft, I mean.” Isa paused, squinting at him and even turning her head at an angle for mocking emphasis. “You’re about average and if your face gets ruined more it will make you below average and I can’t have that.”

She teased and followed her words with a laugh because she couldn’t keep a straight face at all.

Another sip of her drink in, she easily followed Ollie wherever he went.

“I think by the end of this night I’m really not going to care if I end up on the floor or a bed.”

OLLIE

“Wow ouch, Don’t do that to me.”Ollie pouted at his girlfriend poking at her side. How dare she call him by anything but beautiful. “Dodger’s it is, no Mason to wake us up in the morning.” He loved the kid now but waking up to him didn’t seem like a pleasant morning.

Plus Ollie loved to get her out of her house, especially lately. “How are you doing by the way?”

ISABEL

Isabel giggled when Ollie poked her side. She was normally ticklish as it was, but under the influence of alcohol she was more so.

“No that tickles!” She playfully shoved him for good measure before continuing on. “I was lying. I think you’re handsome and I really like it when you wear a leather jacket.” She nodded taking down the rest of her drink. “It adds on some hot points.”

At his question, Isa simply gave a sigh, and inched herself closer so that she was able to lean get head against Ollie’s. “Umm, honestly, I don’t know. No, I’m mad I know I’m mad, and now I don’t know if I should feel even angrier because of the two for one sale we have going on.”

Because it wasn’t bad enough that her sister got pregnant after all the crap she has gotten for Ollie, but now Elena was pregnant with twins. Not one but two babies.

OLLIE

Ollie grinned he knew that leather jacket won him points and it was the weather now to wear it again. He was just ready to look like a dashing bad boy.

But a sad Isa wasnt something he was looking for even though it was a topic that she needed to talk about. Hell Ollie had to go to family therapy when he realized his family dynamic was changing.

"Mad is okay and totally understandable. You know I'm here whenever you need to talk but I could also recommend you the therapist that I talked to when Mason was on his way. She helped Reets and me a lot." God Ollie couldnt even imagine two kids. Mason was enough of a handful and that was with a married couple and Ollie to help out. Not an accident kid because two people that were just dating and had a history of immense drama.

ISABEL

Isabel wasn’t so sure if she wanted to talk about her emotions right now. For one, she wasn’t so sure what she felt these days. She couldn’t pinpoint any specific emotion besides anger. Secondly, she was drinking. Pinpointing anything right now was double as hard.

“I know.” She told him warmly. “And I’m thankful that you’re here for me when I need to talk about it all.”

She finished the rest of her drink, giving a lazy shrug of her shoulders. “But I’m okay for tonight.” And she knew it would only get better with the alcohol swirling everything about.

She looked at the ping pong table now giving it a point with her finger. “What are they playing?” She welcomed any change of topic.

OLLIE

“Good.” But they were at a party so there was no need for such a serious conversation. He was 100% willing to introduce her to his therapist. Which maybe was a weird topic but it mattered.

“Beer pong and we’re in the next game… wait have you never played yet? Or damn we’re gonna get smashed.” Not that Ollie cared, they were already getting smashed even without the game of beer pong.

ISABEL

Isabel has never played the game Ollie just mentioned. She hasn’t been to many house parties before and this wasn’t something she came across often in her books.

Not that she would’ve been able to recall anyways if she had.

“Nope. This will be my very, very first time.” But Isa was always excited to try something new.

“How do you play?” Even slightly inebriated Isa still wanted to know about rules.

OLLIE

“Throw a ping pong ball get it in their cup and they have to drink. They get one in ours we have to drink. Pretty much how it goes. Winner takes next. You can drink from your bottle but be wary you have to chug it a bit.” And with the game ending Ollie and Isa were up, Racking the cups Ollie grinned.

“Nose to nose?” With a nod from the others Ollie grabbed Isa and put her in the middle of the table. “Look at their face, throw the ping pong ball and try to land it. Whoever gets it in starts with the ball.”

ISABEL

Isabel nodded her head understanding the gist of the rules well enough. It wasn’t complicated, but Isa also sucked when it came to aiming. Oh well.

She looked down at the drink in her hand. “My drink is kind of empty right now.”

Ollie took a hold of her and was soon at the center of their end of the table. Oh, he wanted her to go first, Isa wasn’t sure if that was the best of choice, but why not?!

“Okay, look at face and throw.” So Isa concentrated (the best she could while being a little tipsy already) and missed. Shocker.

“I think my aim sucks.”

OLLIE

“We’ll get you another.” Ollie laughed as both Isa and the other guy missed. They had already drank a lot so it wasn’t a surprise that they missed too. “Wanna run and grab us both two more drinks?” Ollie questioned pinching at Isa’s side holding the ball to his nose and missing it though the other group finally sunk it.

Opening it up Ollie stepped back to let them at it watching them sink one more and miss one. He just had to wait for Isa to get back and then it was whoever that wanted to take the drink.

ISABEL

Isa let out a bit of giggle fit when Ollie poked her side, only to finish and give him a face for the action. He knew she was ticklish. Even so, she nodded her head and did as asked walking over to where the drinks were located.

She poured drinks with a smile, glad that the other person wasn’t able to make it on their first shot. Of course, the other pair was probably very drunk, but Isa didn’t place that factor into her thoughts. In her mind right now, they all had sucky aim too!

Once those drinks were done, Isa walked back to Ollie handing him his with a kiss to his cheek.

“What did I miss?”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned taking a swing from his drink moving the cup away from the pyramid. “We lost one cup already and now it’s our time to shoot.” Gesturing forward for Isa to go Ollie stepped back. “Better to go short then go long.”

Ollie was determined to sink his and after Isa had gone had just gotten lucky enough to do so. “Bam!”

ISABEL

Isabel took a swing of her own drink too right before setting herself up to throw the ping pong ball. She had no faith that it would make it as the alcohol was already settling in and making everything slightly spin around.

Even so, Isa threw the ball, her left leg picking up behind her. Long and behold the ball actually made it into a cup! Isa jumped in excitement, one would have thought she had never thrown a ball with her excitement.

Of course, her excitement had only doubled when seeing that Ollie had been successful too.

“Ahh we got it!!” She burst out in a fun-filled laugh, stepping in now to give Ollie a kiss. “And that was probably the only good shot left in me, just so you know.”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned because if they both got it in they got another turn. Watching the guys down their drinks Ollie laughed kissing her back.

“Okay one more time. Do you best, doesn’t matter what ends up happening.” Ollie grinned getting the balls back and throwing it again missing it this time.

“So maybe my luck it out for the rest of the night too.”

ISABEL

Isabel was handed the ball again and in the beginning all she did was laugh. It was a laughable idea to hand her another turn but who was she to say no to the rules of the game!

She got herself centered again and did her best to aim. Apparently, her best under the influence was very shitry because she missed. It also went a lot further then expected… like off the table.

Isa, however, didn’t get upset, instead she laughed again. Turning around she went back to Ollie smiling up at him all giddy like as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I think that floor is looking more and more real for tonight.”

OLLIE

Ollie laughed pulling Isa back into his arms. “That’s fine with me I wouldn’t worry much about Dodger and the guys too. You’re welcomed at any place at any time. With or without me.” If anything they just had to give him a quick call and he would be right there.

As the others scored both Ollie tossed the balls back to them and cheers Isa before taking a sip of his drink. “You’re gonna have a wicked hangover after this so make sure you drink some water too okay?”

ISABEL

Isabel smiled warmly (and slightly giddy too because obviously at this point she was drunk) up at Ollie. She loved that he always thought about her and knew that sometimes she could use somewhere outside of her own place with her family.

“Thanks. You’re always thinking about me.”

She got on her toes again to place a kiss on Ollie’s lips. The poor other two people that were playing the game with them because Isa just kept happily distracting her boyfriend.

And Isa had only pulled back because she realized the other team had both scored which meant she needed to drink.

“Water got it. Remind me.” She cheered back and took her good big swing. “Are there comfy sweats?!” Complete change of topic, but Isa’s head was everywhere when drunk. “Because I can’t sleep in these jeans. Not comfortable for sleeping.”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned kissing back, tucking his free hand underneath her shirt again on the small of her back. He could barely care if they lost this game. He actually pulled back enough to wave off the guys. “You win we lose I’ll chug my drink. Whoever is next is next.” Ollie called out chugging down his beer before discarding it off to the side of some table pulling Isa with him.

“I so don’t want to share you with anyone right now. Even a game.”

ISABEL

Ollie kissed her back and Isabel couldn’t help but to hum right into the kiss at the feel of his hand resting over the skin of her back. She rather liked the feeling and now with the alcohol swirling about in her she had no problem showing it.

 But alas, the kiss ended and Isa heard something about the other team winning and chugging down a drink. She had all but forgotten they were playing a game while kissing her boyfriend.

Oops.

Ollie pulled her away as Isa followed, finishing the rest of her drink and dropping her cup on the nearest surface. She now snaked her arms around her boyfriend’s neck and pulled herself in nice and very close to him.

“Good because I kind of forgot we were playing anyway, I was very distracted.”

OLLIE

"I will take full responsibility for distracting you." Ollie grinned pulling her so his back was against a wall and she was leaning onto him.

"I'm so tempted to take you home now so I can make good on my promise but…" Ollie trailed off as if it was Isa who would have to give him a reason to stay because as it was right now Ollie didn't see one. He wanted to spend the night wrapped up with Isa and it wasn't like anyone was judging here but still he imagined eyes on them.

ISABEL

Isa’s body melted perfectly in line with Ollie’s when he pulled her in. She had to admit that she loved the run of warmth that was now wrapping around her body.

A smile crept onto her features at her boyfriend’s words as Isa pressed a light but very sweet kiss on Ollie’s lips.

“I’ll be very happy to leave if you want to take me away right now.”

Not that Isa wasn’t having fun, but the thought of spending the night all alone with her boyfriend was always much preferred. Plus, she probably already had enough alcohol in her and really shouldn’t be adding more.

OLLIE

“And have you for the rest of the night all to myself. I’m not going to say no to that.” Ollie grinned pulling out his phone he shot Dodger a text and called an Uber. But considering he wanted more time with Isa he put the directions to the dorms.

“You get a bed tonight. I put my dorm. No need to have Dodger and Tito trampling over us when they come home just as drunk.” Ollie grinned pulling her to the door.

ISABEL

“Mm, I’ll always take a bed. Warmer and more comfy.”

The cool air would have normally felt brisk over Isabel’s skin, but as she was close to her boyfriend and very warm from the alcohol, it actually felt refreshing.

It didn’t take long for the Uber to arrive anyways and soon enough the pair of them had made it to Ollie’s dorm room.

Quite honestly, Isa didn’t know in the slightest if Ollie’s  roommate was in the dorm or not and as she was drunk she didn’t care. Being so, the minute they entered Isa wrapped her arms around Ollie and pulled him into a kiss.

OLLIE

Ollie grinned pressing Isa against the door as he kissed her back. Dipper as far as Ollie was aware was still at the party but Ollie didn’t wait too long before dragging Isa to his room and locking the door.

“So tell me. Do I get to make good on my promise. Tell me no if you don’t want it though.” Ollie worked with whatever she was comfortable. Whatever they were comfortable with.

ISABEL

Ollie asked his question and Isabel couldn’t help but to place an impish smile on features, her head falling in an almost flirtatious sort of angle. She could still feel his last kiss tingling on her lips and could remember how exhilarating it felt being pressed up against the wall.

Something she never quite felt so amplified before and would’ve most likely led her to examine it all in detail in her head. However, everything was mingling swimmingly with the alcohol in her system right now.

Isa walked up closer to Ollie.

“I think you should make good on that promise.”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned and immediately his hands found the edge of her shirt and he didn’t take long before pulling it off and admiring the girl in front of him. As drunk as he was he could take the moment to admire who exactly he had and know he was one damn lucky guy.

And then he layered kisses along her skin, Her neck to her to her collarbone down to her chest lingering on the skin available to him. “Can I take this off?” Ollie questioned flicking at the back of her bra.

ISABEL

Isabel’s skin felt flushed at seeing Ollie’s eyes linger over her. She was never someone who considered herself very beautiful. Intellectual, yes, but physically beautiful, not so much. Yet, here was Ollie admiring her and she felt the most beautiful she has ever felt before.

Even under the influence of alcohol, because yes, Isa was aware that she was drunk.

Ollie’s kisses felt light against her skin but where they lingered was enough to waken her body. Her hands found themselves wrapping at the bottom of her boyfriend’s shirt almost as if pulling him closer, hungry for a closing of any space.

Isa felt that flicker of her bra, a small grin beginning to curve over her lips.

“I think you should.”

OLLIE

Ollie grinned, twisting them around so he could slowly back up Isa toward his bed. They should want to get comfy shouldn’t they? Why be pressed against the door when all he wanted was to admire and touch her.

“I’m starting to think I’m a little overdressed.” Ollie grinned popping off her bra strap with a little bit of difficulty. (He definitely needed both hands to do it) before he tossed off toward some corner of his room.

ISABEL

Isabel could definitely agree, Ollie was certainly over dressed and more so when she felt the cool air hit her now new exposed skin. She formed a grin on her lips and allowed her fingers to grab the bottom end of her boyfriend’s shirt. She pulled the fabric up and over and simply dropped it to land wherever it wanted.

The sight before her of her boyfriend shirtless was definitely something Isa knew she could happily get used to.

There was a lot of bold liquid courage buzzing inside of Isa as she pulled Ollie closer into a deep kiss without care of feeling timid or thought of anything other than how great it felt to have Ollie pressed tight over her.

….

In all the swirl of alcohol and rising hormones Isa next found herself slowly waking up to a bright spill of sunlight hitting her right smack on the face. Sluggishly pushing through a groggy fog Isa rubbed a hand over her features and began to slowly sit up. It was then when she realized that there was an arm cozingly holding her waist. Turning her head over, there was Ollie, and taking a look under the sheets she was in…. There was a good lack of clothes.

Oh.

Isa turned her body slightly over so that she was now fully facing her boyfriend. He was also just starting to wake up from sleep as all the brunette could do was give a bit of a laughing smile.

“Good morning.”

OLLIE

Ollie could already feel a small headache forming, something telling him to grab the blanket, toss it over his head and get a lot more sleep. He planned on doing that too, if it wasn’t for Isa’s voice and well the startling reality of them both being held close and clothless.

“Good Morning.” Ollie squeaked out red coating his cheeks. “We -um - sorry? Are you okay? I didn’t mean for you to do something you weren’t ready for?”

ISABEL

Isabel could see the red that began forming over Ollie’s cheek and she had to admit it looked rather cute fused together with his sleepy eyes and tousled bed hair. She knew that very soon her own cheeks would be sporting that same color so instead, Isa simply cuddled herself a little closer.

“I’m okay and honestly, I don’t regret it.”

Of course, if asked, she probably would have never imagined her first time having sex being under the influence of alcohol, but even thinking it through in her head, she didn’t regret it. She looked up at him now.

“You? Do… you regret it?”

OLLIE

Ollie quickly shook his head. He sure as hell didn’t regret it, even if they were drinking he liked to think they weren’t beyond making a decent decision and Ollie remembered everything from the previous night. Every loving touch and every sweet word.

“Not at all- I just - We never really talked about it before and I just - I dunno I never want to make you feel uncomfortable. I know I had condoms and everything but that’s cause the guys wouldn’t let me not have some in my room.”

ISABEL

Isa hadn’t realized that she was holding her breath until after Ollie had answered her. A part of her was very scared to think that he had regretted it. They were both drunk, yes, but Isa wasn’t black out wasted when it had all happened.

All of what she remembered was good. All of her memories made her smile.

But that could have been all together different for Ollie. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case. She probably would have been left shattered if it was.

“You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, Ollie, not once.” On the contrary, he had made her feel very loved.

“And I know that we never talked about it, but I know that I didn’t feel pressured and I never felt like I was doing something I didn’t want. It… didn’t feel wrong to me even knowing that were both kind of drunk.”

OLLIE

Ollie calmed down knowing that Isa wasn’t mad, in fact that she might actually be happy with what they did.

“I love you, with alcohol and without.” Ollie kind of wished that it hadn’t been when they were drunk but he didn’t regret it. “And if you don’t regret it.” Ollie mused moving to kiss her again. “We’re not drunk now?”

[summerspn]

One Starry Christmas (2014)

(Spoilers)

Though you could probably figure out what was going to happen...

I had some notes put aside & completely forgot about this. I watched this movie in December and I just have to say...

This movie drives me batshit!

The acting was fine. Some actors were better than others of course.

Sarah Carter is actually a really good actress. She shows a lot of range on past work like Smallville & White Collar. In this movie her lines are silly & the script is boring but she did a great job at portraying a Stepford-wife type. Grinning like an idiot all the time at the cowboy. That’s purely the director telling her to look like a Prozac chugging imbecile though. Not her doing, she’s just doing her job.

Paul Popowich is probably the best performance wise in this movie. He’s also a really good actor. I loved him in Twice in a Lifetime & Cracked. Even in this boring movie he showed a lot of subtle glances & his body language shifted as if he were actually really uncomfortable with the girlfriend eyeing the cowboy.

Kudos to both of them for doing their jobs well.

This movie is predictable in a lot of ways of course but the description was a little different so I got sucked in.

This is basically what happened:

Girlfriend & boyfriend seem happy & he just finds out he’s been requested to work on a big case/deal for work but the client is demanding his time at Christmas. He knows she can’t stand flying so they agree to celebrate Christmas when he gets back from New York. She already misses him so she buys a bus ticket to surprise him in NYC (her parents coincidentally live there).

During the ride the bus breaks down & she talks to this cowboy. She calls boyfriend but he’s half asleep & doesn’t think he could pick her up & get back in time for his early morning meeting. She’s not thrilled...this part has me go ‘what’ for the first time because she wanted her boyfriend to drive a few hours out of New York then a few hours back.

Why???

The bus company would have gotten a replacement bus or set them up somewhere to stay for the night. And driving sleepy is really bad...So yeah I get why he didn’t volunteer for that. And if I were him I’d be really anxious about the important job & end up sick to my stomach so I guess I related to him there & his hesitation.

Anyways girlfriend & cowboy share a car to drive the last few hours to New York.

Immediately the parents start dropping hints that cowboy is super hot (I don’t see it). They suggest having dinner with them the next day.

Dinner comes. Boyfriend eager to see girlfriend & greets the parents nicely while they drool over the cowboy. Boyfriend is confused & a little self conscious because of the cowboy . But he lets it go. There’s some tension when his girlfriend grins like a loon at the cowboy but that’s it.

Parents tell cowboy he & his brother could go there for Christmas dinner the next day. Boyfriend looks uncomfortable but anything he says (which isn’t much) is ignored.

Girlfriend is disappointed her boyfriend can’t take the day off work (he’s there on a business trip!!!) to do Christmas shopping with her. She’s clearly an idiot. So cowboy agrees to go with her the next day (aka Christmas Eve day).

Next morning- girlfriend & cowboy are in Central Park riding horses, skating, & frolicking like a couple of lobotomized bunnies...& I must have blinked because I didn’t notice any shopping going on...

Christmas dinner- boyfriend shows up before the others. Gives hugs & nice greetings to parents. The dad is fine but the mother gives a bitchy ‘how dare you not be the super hot cowboy’ look.

Boyfriend is starting to feel uncomfortable with girlfriends relationship with the cowboy. Understandably.

Cowboy’s brother sings some annoying country song (I don’t mind country but I found this song really boring). Boyfriend is clearly the only one with taste as he seems as uncomfortable as I was.

Afterwards Boyfriend reminds girlfriend about the work party he told her about. She apparently agreed to go. But he said he swung 2 more invites so her parents could go so they could continue celebrating Christmas all together the rest of the night. (I thought that was really cool of him).

Father throws his back out & the mom brings cowboy as her date. Boyfriend isn’t thrilled but he goes along with it.

At party the boyfriend is relieved to have closed the deal but because he’s Type A he clearly isn’t as comfortable there as other people - particularly the cowboy who is now bffs with boyfriend/lawyer’s client...and every woman there.

But wait, the cowboy only has eyes for the girlfriend! It’s like star crossed lovers ! Destiny! Cue the twinkle music! 😞

Yes, she’s there with her boyfriend of 3 years in which they had talked about marriage & making a life together...she dances with the cowboy & looks about ready to jump him right there & hump him on the dance floor. Grinning like a lunatic.

Boyfriend comes back with a couple drinks for them & looks shocked & sad. He realizes he’s losing her so he makes a desperate move & proposes right there. When they leave he seems satisfied that he gave her what she wanted. And since she never once (presumably) had any issues or problems with their relationship in three years, he assumes everything is okay.

But as soon as they get out of the car she breaks up with him....on Christmas Eve! And she acts like he shouldn’t be surprised! Like it’s somehow his fault! HE was happy so why do people assume they’re going to magically know their partner isn’t? Seriously if you are happy one minute then miserable the next - and NEVER talk about your problems obviously he’s gonna be confused!!!

At this point I was like what the actual fuck?!

She had a few moments with the cowboy though the movie where they talked but nothing remotely was interesting...but you guessed it she’s in love with the cowboy.

Now I obviously saw it coming but I was hoping for a different twist or a different message.

Why? Because the way everyone talked the boyfriend was supposed to be the jerk..really?

He boasted about his promotion a couple times & one time he mentioned the money he’d make. Not exactly classy but he was uncomfortable with cowboy there & mentioned it in a short lived pissing contest type of way.

But really if you do a million years of school (probably working several crap jobs to get there) & work 70 hrs a week as many lawyers do you earned every right to brag about why you love your job. But he literally said it once in the movie. Big whoop.

I know people that bragged about finding a job that pays $20/hr here because there aren’t that many here anymore. (And considering the cost of living is so high that’s not that much.) Never once did I shun them though, I went ‘good for you! You deserve it!’

What gets me is that the boyfriend actually is a good guy. He pays attention to what she likes. He doesn’t fully understand her passion for the place she works at (I don’t either tbh) - he figures she’d be happy at any observatory. Is that so wrong?

She’s an astronomer & scientists are often Type A personalities too so you’d think they’d be a good match.

Scientists also tend to try to work where they can do their jobs the best. Sure this lady was attached to her work (in Chicago) but New York would have as many opportunities, maybe more. ...and do you really think she’d be living her best career life on some ranch? No because there aren’t many observatories in the middle of nowhere. Except SETI but she’s too boring to go there...however if they had introduced the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence maybe the movie would be more interesting. 🤷‍♀️

Boyfriend is really nice to the parents & seems to be grateful to have them around.

He includes her in his work...sharing it with her. He’s excited about it.

He’s not afraid to commit but he wants to do things in a certain way. Type A personality remember.

Even without a ring he seems determined to be with her & be committed.

I may have missed it but I’m fairly certain the boyfriend didn’t have any other person to spend Christmas with. I can see that he probably spent his whole life getting to that point so he didn’t worry about staying in touch with friends...or maybe his friends are on the other end if the country. 🤷‍♀️

It made me wonder if he literally has no one else. No parents? No siblings?

If that’s true this lady (emotionally) cheated on her boyfriend, made him look like a fool in front of his coworkers, then dumped him...who has no one to help him through it. Ouch.

The woman leaves her good life for a guy we know practically nothing about. What if he collects bags of toenail clippings or dyes his pubes pink?!

The ‘fantasy’ of a cowboy (which admittedly I just don’t get) is that- a fantasy. In a few years that girl will realize she has had enough of the cowboy...he’s boring & not much of an intellectual conversationalist. She’ll be on mat leave with 2 kids running around & the cowboy will be sitting on his ass while he waits for another rodeo to open somewhere across country...which he’ll have to leave to attend. It won’t be so charming when your kids are starving & have nothing to eat.

Or maybe cowboy will be taking care of a ranch & the woman will just drink all day.

The parents in this - especially the mother- are terrible. They encourage their to cheat & to break up with her boyfriend of 3 years (usually that means one really likes the person) for some random dude with a cowboy hat on.

This movie drives me crazy because at most, what the boyfriend did required a conversation or argument. Not a full on dumping. He’s allowed to make mistakes & have flaws he’s human! The woman acts like a horny teenage ditz in the movie & emotionally cheats on him. She strings him a long when she clearly knows she’s done with him. And she basically humiliated him in at the party - well maybe that’s too strong a word but it didn’t look good.

So to be honest I don’t understand why everyone treated the boyfriend like he was repulsive. He acted better than the parents & the girlfriend. And the cowboy should have backed off. That’s the decent thing to do when you realize someone is married. He just met her so back off & move along.

I’m curious though does anyone like this movie?

To be honest I found everyone in the movie vile except the boyfriend who basically started out super excited for his life with girlfriend & his job then he had his bubble burst & was all alone. Why? Because he was satisfied in his career & life? He was punished for that... great message to be sending. 🙄

To restate, she dumps boyfriend of three years to immediately pounce on the cowboy with zero regard for any emotions involved on Christmas Eve!

Merry flippin’ Christmas to you too!

I know this is a Hallmark movie & it’s hardly Shakespeare but come on, have some standards!

I’m just glad at least Popowich was in this because it gave me some eye candy to focus on while I felt my soul dying.

[qqueenofhades]

The whole don't do what the audience expects blah blah blah is the main reason why the marvel movies done by the Russo brothers felt a little lackluster. It's also the reason why I became disappointed by the mcu. I find this way of storytelling problematic and shallow. It doesn't live up to the hype they build and doesn't withstand the test of time. A good story will drag you to it over and over again.

Ahahaha, well, having had a Long Ass Thing To Say about GOT, I guess I can say More Things about the MCU.

I had…. mixed reactions to Endgame. I also noted immediately that I had big problems with how the female characters were written, existing solely as bit-part supports to the male heroes, and how dirty they did Natasha in particular. Also, while I sympathize with not wanting the story to leak ahead of time, the spoiler paranoia for this movie was pretty beyond insane. If RDJ was the only cast member who got the full script, and the actors themselves didn’t know what was going on or who they were acting across from (aside from being told they were at a wedding with Tony’s funeral at the end, which… yeah), then just maybe the idea of having to outsmart the audience/keep them in the dark is a little out of control. I recognise that the MCU is at least as big a cultural property as GOT, but it’s still… a comic-book movie. A comic book movie that ended with a lot of aliens fighting superheroes with suits and flying horses and magic death jewels and whatever else. It’s not absolutely sacred inviolable stuff, here.

That said, while parts of Tony’s death did work for me and I didn’t think it was totally impossible, that was mostly thanks to RDJ’s acting rather than the overall writing for the movie. Why… why couldn’t he have survived? Why couldn’t he get to grow old with Pepper and officially adopt Peter and have him and Morgan be cute siblings and to actually get to rest after everything he had done? They already laid the tragedy on thick with the five years of post-apocalypse and getting to see everyone living with that and so forth. They didn’t also need to make Tony die in order to make it stick. I can see the bare-bones storytelling logic in defeating Thanos (who was a punk-ass villain to start with, but genunely terrifying in some ways, just for reflecting the sociopathic powerful white man identitype) requiring a cost/permanent death, but also… see above. Flying horses and super-suits and huge alien CGI battles. This is not remotely a “realistic” story. Nobody needs to go into a comic-book movie expecting some grimdark social commentary/homage to Realism. If anything, it has the liberty to be even more fantastic and to subvert the “People Need To Die/Suffer Horribly For Fiction To Be Realistic And Allow Sophisticated Cynical Modern People To Suspend Their Disbelief” axe that keeps getting ground.

Frankly, it seems as if all media for the past several years (thanks in no small part to the stratospheric popularity of GOT) has been competing to outdo each other in Grimdark Realism, while audiences beg, increasingly harried and Tired, to just let us have a happy ending once in a while. The thought has clearly been that happy endings are for old-fashioned sickly-sweet Disney movies and intelligent people these days want to Hurt over their fiction, and/or be battered repeatedly in the face with it. As anyone who has ever read my fics and/or yelled at me about them can attest, I am a big fan of conflict, drama, angst, and genuinely bad things happening in a story, and am often drawn to characters who are dark and flawed and have a lot of issues to work through and who mess up and make real mistakes, because all that is the messy, complex heart of a story and generates dynamic issues and compelling arcs. But the point is never to just have it happen and to leave it there and for it never to be dealt with. The point of those bad things and those messes is for it to be resolved in a way that, if not completely happy, at least makes sense and is emotionally resonant.

Basically, we are more aware than ever these days that the world is a nightmare and that horrible things happen to good people all the time. Part of the appeal of fiction is the notion that things can happen for a reason and be controlled and guided to an ultimate outcome and that a creator you trust won’t just put your favourite characters through the wringer and leave them there to make some pseudo-intellectual point about The Nihilism Of The World. That way we can experience stories and suffering and genuine high stakes and conflict and chaos, but have some undergirding rationale and to experience it as entertainment and escapism, rather than constantly be exhausted by media determined to be cleverer and Grittier than its audience. Human beings love stories and always have. But the happy ending going out of style in the last 5-10 years is… not a great development. Either it’s forced as a saccharine heteronormative nightmare that doesn’t serve the characters at all (see the Harry Potter epilogue, the Timeless Abomination) or it’s just thrown away entirely because we have to understand, as if we don’t know, that Bad Things Happen.

As a Steggy shipper, I admittedly had many feelings over Steve going back and getting to have a life with Peggy. But I could also see the point of the metas that argued the contrary and who wanted Steve to move on and face the world he had now (though I do 100% approve of Sam becoming Captain America and Steve getting to rest and passing the torch). It also did feel a little too much like See Look, No Homo with Steve/Bucky, even while they were patting themselves on the back for 5 seconds of a nameless extra talking about going on a date with a man. That is not and will never count as queer representation. So when we’re either getting exhaustingly boring and Straight ™ happy endings or none at all, that is also representative of a media that hasn’t really caught up to what audiences really want these days. Hence why, as many people have pointed out, fanfiction is so popular as entertainment right now. Fic writers love the characters and rarely write stories just to have them suffer pointlessly or not to develop the source material in any way. When you’re reading fic, you can have some confidence that the ship is going to get together and the bad things happen for a reason and the ending will not make you regret having started it or pants you over being involved at all. As long as media is trying to be Sophisticated ™ and smarter-than-thou and to pack in Plot Twists, it’s really never going to be satisfying, because honestly, there are very few creators that are both smart and empathetic enough to pull it off.

Anyway. Once again, I ramble. But yes.

[doktoreth]

Rebuttal against dragon-ball-meta

So my stupid ass has no idea how tumblr works, even to this day. After meta responded, I wasn’t able to reblog his stuff, message him, or even follow him. I’m quite certain he blocked me, which is . . . unexpected to say the least. And sad. A real eye-opener, that is. Here’s my rebuttal to his response. Someone let me know if he replies again or something, maybe copy+paste his shit for me, I dunno. Let’s begin:

Hey, thanks for responding, man. Appreciate it.

It’s Toriyama’s words against yours, pal. Regardless of how it was ignored or overwritten, none of this actually precludes its canonical connection with the main story. This isn’t actually an argument against filler’s canonicity, it just reaffirms the admittedly nonsensical connection Toriyama himself decided to establish. Let’s examine the entirety of the last scan(remember, fourth post):

“12: From time to time, il would happen that people whom I didn't even know were approaching me about the anime. Things were often said like: "Oh jeeze, between the manga and the anime, you must never take any time to let yourself breathe!". In reality, I had hardly worked at all on the anime, I had put confidence in my collaborators. I had enough to do just with the manga. I didn't want to work myself to death, you know...

Toriyama: I want to live until I'm 100 years old!

13: For example, drawing an image of a movement in a manga is relatively simple, but to animate this image, you had to decompose the movement and draw all the intermediary movements. That demands a colossal amount of work. (Ok, the example of Kame-sennin might not be the most appropriate...)”

Nothing much here. He’s essentially elaborating on how much his work is cut out for him. Now all that’s left is the final quotes:

“14: Of course, those who have read Dragon Ball have noticed that certain stories which are found in the anime didn't existe in the manga.

Oolong: What's this? I never saw that in the manga....”

Toriyama and Oolong mention the original stories found in the anime, the filler stories. Obviously.

“END: As one adventure in the manga corresponds to about 10 minutes of animation, and since one episode comprises on average 30 minutes, the entire series of Dragon Ball would have passed by very quickly. The team of animators therefore had to insert some original stories. I admire what they have done, that's a hell of a job!”

Toriyama’s reasoning for inserting original stories is padding, as you know. He’s not talking about how it’s fine if people like both or how the padding didn’t upset him. Anywho, we know that when he speaks of “original stories”, he’s speaking in a narrative context.

“Toriyama: Dragon Ball, it's the anime and the manga!”

Whereas the previous quote denotes his reasoning, this final quote confirms his overall treatment of the anime, being that it along with the manga comprise one wholesome narrative. Everyone knows it’s for the sake of padding. That’s been obvious from the very beginning. Still doesn’t negate Toriyama’s clear and explicit connection between the two mediums. Remember, Toriyama > You/Me.

I’m not sure what your point is in saying I think those types of alterations are “akin” to the driving episode. My view on the filler’s canonicity is akin to Toriyama’s. I also think it was a stupid decision on his part to establish such a connection for reasons I’m sure you’d agree with, such as character breaking moments and inconsistent power levels. I see filler as supplementary evidence for Plague, honestly. He doesn’t need ‘em to defend Tien.

See, the issue there is that all that fandom backlash and meme shit is frankly an insignificant indicator as to where his popularity is concerned. Weekly Jump 1993 has Krillin living the good life just behind Piccolo, Weekly Jump 1995 has Krillin taking more of a backseat and yet he’s still popular enough to remain in the top 10, and Dragon Ball Forever has Krillin just catching up back to Piccolo. He’s evidently the most popular human character, so I’m not at all out of line in connecting the dots (or votes, in this case) to his relevancy in the series. No conceit or irrational dislike here, meta, when I’ve mostly no problems with Krillin’s treatment in the series, only how others like Tien are being left in the dust.

Christ, this again? I can tell this conversation is heading to, “Oh, Krillin’s progress makes sense for his status as the strongest human” instead of addressing Plague’s overall gripe. Frankly, the exact point of plateau is too vague and arbitrary to pinpoint for any of these guys. Meta, please listen, just listen: I believe you. Krillin’s progression making him surpass Tien WITHOUT artificial power boosts is realistic. Would it have happened eventually or inevitably? Neither of us know, but that was never the point, which is that Tien’s importance as a fighter is no less than that of Krillin, and yes, even Yamcha. Plague’s premise was never reliant on Tien being the strongest, he touched on that for literally only a few seconds near the end, so let’s drop this tangent on who would’ve surpassed whom, yeah?

Well, first off, I would respectfully ask you to quell your bias for Krillin, as Plague’s video on Tien touches on him quite infrequently anyway. You spend too much time on this subject, and while I’m happy to engage you on it, it’s quite the digression. His videos being internet comedy videos (scroll down and you’ll find his comment), he makes sure to stay on point without rambling off-topic. The comedic value of his content would be severely diminished if he was all like, “Tien is fading into irrelevancy in comparison to other fan favorites”, instead of saying, “This is a Toriyama handjob.” You can call this intellectual dishonesty from a dishonest hack, I call it what it is: comedy. If you can discern no difference between the two in relation to his actual points, then I can’t help you there. I can only hope I’ve made everyone here more open-minded and vice versa.

I’m beginning to think you haven’t watched his video, meta. He doesn’t think Toriyama hates Tien. He called Tien’s stand against Cell his “greatest accomplishment” in the end of the video, albeit begrudgingly. Any examples in Z are mere digressions, anyway, as he specifically criticizes Tien’s treatment in SUPER. Anyone can look at Tien’s entry into the ToP and take that to mean he was kept important; Tien’s performance was a joke comparatively even in terms of strategy, forget power. His only notable achievements are Tri-Beaming an already incapacitated Za Priccio, courtesy of Roshi, earning Tien a knockout and his FIRST EVER ATTACK landed on an enemy that isn’t a Frieza soldier, and the most humiliating ringout ever in the form of using clones to tackle Harmira off the ring AFTER Tien’s original body was thrown off when he just as well could’ve used one measly clone as bait beforehand. Yes, power isn’t the sole indicator, but it’s the most important one in Dragon Ball. So when the ToP is played up to be needing more strategy, Tien is still treated as a joke of an afterthought.

That’s great, meta. Neither do I and neither does Plague.

I wildly disagree. His thoughts are spot on precisely because he acknowledges Tien’s motivations as a character. I don’t find them argued from emotion any more than I find yours regarding Krillin, tbh. It’s okay for you to be wrong sometimes too, meta.

P.S. You’ve said this already. I agree. I think the same can be argued for Tien given the extremely vague context as to what certain side guys have been doing off-screen. I’m literally watching the Tien video for the third time (you don’t stop talking about this, so I need to make sure), and I get the impression that Plague’s mad about Tien’s piss-poor performance comparatively rather than him being the strongest human (again, this was NOT the crux of his argument).

P.P.S You’ve . . . made this point already. Nobody said this. Plague didn’t say this. Jesus. He never even spoke of Krillin’s popularity to begin with. I know why Krillin’s popular. Hell, I loved his character from the very beginning. Krillin, Krillin, Krillin, Krillin, Krillin. We get it, meta.

[captainnathange]

Celebration Library Lovers 19 Month February 2021

Stop hugging that library. No wait, my mistake, I forgot that it 19s Library Lovers Month- and it seems to have come at just the right time as many local libraries are struggling during the economic downturn. So why love your local library?

Libraries are a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life; they offer security and peace and quiet. They are also a place where you can focus surrounded by likeminded people with the desire to acquire knowledge.

History of Library Lovers 19 Month

It 19s important to understand that not everything is available on the internet (yet), libraries can have vast digital stores of qualitative and quantitative information escaping from opinion led snippets and snapshots from online. There may be some crossover of information but in most cases libraries are a much more economically viable solution when looking for information than the internet.

It 19s also important to know that libraries offer services that aren 19t available on the internet, including free assistance in finding obscure information and borrowing a book that may not be available in the admittedly immense catalogue one can find on the internet. One of the things that people often forget is that being a librarian isn 19t like getting a job at the local supermarket. You want to be a Librarian? Be prepared to get a degree in Library Science. Yes, this is a thing that exists, and it 19s necessary to become a librarian.

There 19s more to a Library than just the books too! There are meetings that gather there that include everything from people from the Society for Creative Anachronism and other local organizations. There 19s also magazines and periodicals, microfiche of local newspapers reaching far back into antiquity, and that 19s just a start!

How to celebrate Library Lovers 19 Month

Love your library for what it is, a community meeting place or treasure trove of ideas. There is so much to be found there, including new books to read and guidance on research with papers you may have due. The people who frequent the library tend to be intellectuals, so who knows what kind of interesting conversations you could get into?

Why not push against the declining attendance of libraries and go and learn something new that will expand your knowledge of who you are, of where you live or what you do?

Special deals to celebrate Library Lovers 19 Month!

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[wanderers-shadow]

Tahla Nhavan - Character Questions

Decided to fill out some character questions in between some other stuff bc why not

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Like most traditional Keeper males, Tahla’s father preferred a life of wandering in solitude. Her memories of him stem from the occasional visits he made to the clan during her early childhood years. As his appearances abruptly stopped by the time she was old enough to form a true opinion of him (whether this was of his own choice or because of some terrible fate befalling him, no one was sure), Tahla only remembers him as strong and stoically silent, though surprisingly tender when alone with her mother.

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

When she was very small, they got along quite well. As Tahla got older, however, she began to take after her aunt and as a result her relationship with her mother got somewhat argumentative. Jinta could sometimes have lofty ideas about right and wrong, and she generally had a strong dislike of confrontation, things that a young and rebellious Tahla had little patience for. Despite this, her mother did still manage to instill some thoughtfulness into her, easily curbing the ruthless side of her that her aunt was cultivating.

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?

She has three older sisters and one older brother, and she generally got along fine with each of them. Her brother Jinta’a however was easily the closest of them, and he tended to be her go-to support when she was in need of comfort. Her sisters were much older and she never developed a super close bond with them.

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

Mostly lenient, though as she got older her mother tried to treat her more strictly. This only caused the rift between them to grow more, however.

5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

Her mother was a tad overprotective of her when she was small, but life as a poacher meant she was hardly sheltered for long. Each member of the clan was expected to pull their weight, and young Tahla was incredibly eager to join in the hunts.

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

An abundance of affection. Being the youngest child in her small clan, she was basically treated like a little princess to be spoiled and doted upon endlessly.

7. What was the economic status of their family?

They got by well enough, though coin was never much of a motivating factor for them. They preferred a nomadic life of hunting (and poaching) and used those skills to sustain themselves and barter for any other necessities. Anything beyond that was a bit too lavish, in their eyes.

8. How does your character feel about religion?

Believes in the Twelve, and is a particularly devout follower of Menphina and Oschon. She’s quite private about this side of herself and will usually seek out solitude when offering prayers.

9. What about political beliefs?

Politics is an odd subject to her; generally too much dancing around words and red tape for her liking.  Growing up outside the realm of the city-states, she’s always seen politics as something that doesn’t involve her and so she’ll tend to ignore it. The one exception is her strong dislike of Gridanian politics, mostly when it comes to their reverence of the Elementals.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

Street-smart, if anything. She lacks a proper education and a more formal learning environment has always bored her, so academics are certainly her weakness. She prefers skills that are immediately applicable to her day-to day life, so book-smarts always seemed particularly useless to her.

11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

Uneducated, and she’d argue with any who used that as an excuse to call her unintelligent. Despite that, she can on occasion get rather self-conscious about that fact when spending time with some of her more learned peers. She’s mostly illiterate, which is the one facet of her limited education that she is deeply embarrassed about. She tries her best to hide that from those she knows.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

With her more recent years spent doing work for the adventurer’s guilds across the city states, Tahla tends to speak a bit more like one from the city, but the backbone of her speech patterns still tilt more towards rural Shroud speech. Her illiteracy results in a somewhat narrow spread in her vocabulary, which is a fault she’s been trying to work on. Trying, being the key word.

16. What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

In the past she was a hunter/poacher in the Shroud. She romanticized and loved every moment of it, despite the occasional spats with the local Wood Wailers. She misses it dearly, but is conflicted about returning to a life of hunting in the Shroud without her family. Presently, she spends her days as an Adventurer, taking on whatever odd jobs come her way, though she tends to gravitate toward those that might make use of her skills in hunting, tracking, or stealth.

17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When?

During the youth she traveled throughout the Black Shroud, primarily sticking to the north and western regions, with occasional visits to Gridania. After the calamity, she spend a little less than a year amongst the other orphans in Gridania before being taken in by a family friend in Ul’dah. Beyond that, her new occupation as an adventurer took her throughout Eorzea.

18. What did they find abroad, and what did they remember?

On the practical side of things: learned of adventuring and how to put her natural stealth and tracking abilities to other uses while in Ul’dah, and learned how to refine her admittedly rough fighting skills from some unsavory types in Limsa. More broadly, she learned that the world was a much bigger and *much* more varied place than her life in the Shroud had led her to believe.

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

Her trust in the kindness of strangers was essentially shattered when it was revealed that the above mentioned family friend from Ul’dah had taken her in primarily to use her as leverage against her aunt, who owed him money. However, when all his efforts in tracking the woman down came to naught, he instead settled for having Tahla work off the debt in her stead.

20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

The c a l a m i t y. That basically turned her world upside down after she was separated from the few members of her family who survived the incident. Also, if we’re talking about WoL-Tahla, the Bloody Banquet and betrayal of the Crystal Braves and everything that followed, basically. It’s a big reminder of why she hates politics and hates being involved in other people’s fights. She gets treated more and more like a tool and despises it.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?

Manners are… somewhat lacking. She’ll climb on furniture, put her feet up on tables when lounging around, unabashedly look through other peoples things when she thinks they aren’t looking. She’s a very hands-on sort of person and will get in people’s personal space without a second thought. Despite that, it’s rare that she’s intentionally rude, and she does try to be kind to those she meets, if only reservedly so at first. As for heroes, there is no one Tahla idolizes more than her aunt Rekha—a very outgoing, brash, and unapologetic hunter. She would not take insult or injury (to either herself or her family) lying down and was incredibly ruthless to anyone deemed her enemy. Tahla takes a lot after her, though thanks to the guidance of her mother and brother, she’s stepped back from some of her aunt’s more bloodthirsty qualities. Her hatred is reserved mostly for the Elementals, the Wood Wailers, basically anyone who might get on her case about poaching—Tahla is quite sanctimonious about Miqo’te hunters being part of the natural order and their right “to hunt anywhere they damn well please.”

22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?

While she gravitates toward the rowdier sort of people most of the time, she’s come to deeply appreciate the way the calm and quiet sort of friends can mellow her out, especially when she’s having a rough time sorting through some her darker feelings. She’s very touchy-feely with her friends, and will quite often run up to greet them with an unprompted hug. As for lovers… she has eyes only for women and tends to gravitate toward other Miqo’te most of the time, but she doesn’t have a particular type. She assumes that sort of relationship should develop naturally and simply keeps an open mind for it.

23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

Someone who can bring balance and stability to her life, someone fun to be around. See the above, I guess? Sex is good, she’s a little more casual about it than she’d readily admit.

24. What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

#justadventurerthings with her buds in both FCs. And I know this questionnaire wasn’t intended for video game characters, but we’re gonna take that last one a bit literally here: when doing Dangerous Adventurer Things, she’s good and being sneaky and dealing damage.

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Tahla has a (somewhat) secret passion for fashion. Had her life gone a bit differently post-calamity, she probably would have liked to design and create clothing.

26. What does your character’s home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

Home is simply furnished and decorated with as many plants as she can reasonably care for. Give her a place to sleep and a cozy fire and she’s set. Her apartment is a bit messy, with books tossed about haphazardly—she impulsively bought a ton of books with the idea of brute-forcing her way into learning how to read. It’s going about as well as you’d imagine, and her frustration is evident in the scattered tomes. She prefers loose clothing that’s easy to move around in to fit her active lifestyle. Often wears a scarf or bandana over the lower half of her face—a holdover from her time in the Shroud. She kept her hair longer when she was younger, but prefers shorter styles these days. Pale-skinned with even paler freckles dusting her cheeks. Mismatched eyes—one deep blue, the other gold. A few scars here and there, most notable among them the one below her left eye and one on her right thigh.  

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

She’s a bit meticulous about her appearance. Tries to keep her clothing in working order for as long as possible.

28. Who is your character’s mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

N/a, though she did have 1 somewhat lengthy and serious relationship during her time in Ul’dah. They were very close, had a lot of secrets, but eventually realized they wanted different things in life and mutually broke it off.

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling?

She’s incredibly proud of her skills and her heritage, both of which have gotten her in trouble depending on present company.

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

She gets real fucked up when she thinks about the calamity (she basically goes MIA during The Rising), refusing to fully accept the impact it had on her life, and as a result she can’t move on to a more steady and permanent lifestyle. Holds past encounters against the Wood Wailers as a whole and absolutely refuses to forgive the lot of them.

31. Does your character have children? How do they feel about their parental role? About the children? How do the children relate?

No children, though she wouldn’t mind having some one day.

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

A mix of defensive and aggressive, though she’s been trending toward the latter in recent days.

33. Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health?

Will drink occasionally, nothing much beyond that. In good health.

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?

It takes her a while to come to terms with failures. She usually bottles up negative feelings about these sort of things until it hits the point where she has to face them.

36. Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

Does not like suffering, nor the suffering of others… however she has been getting a lot more ruthless in dealing with her enemies. She’s quick to blame it on piling stresses. It’s something that she’s acutely becoming aware of, and its starting to frighten her.

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

She’s not super imaginative, and tends to compartmentalize most of her worries. She does spend a lot of time longing for the good ol days of her youth.

38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic?

Suspicious, the level of which depends on how much other people are involved with the new thing. Will trend toward more enthusiastic if there is some level of familiarity to it.

39. What do they like to ridicule? What do they find stupid?

“Fuck the Elementals.” —Tahla Nhavan, 2kforever

40. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

She enjoys the odd practical joke here and there, but otherwise is sort of blunt with her humor.

41. Is your character aware of who they are? Strengths? Weaknesses? Idiosyncrasies? Capable of self-irony?

She’s aware of her strengths and weaknesses, though the latter is something she’ll rarely admit to. Not really contemplative enough for self-irony.

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

She just wants a simple life. Sometimes she has the lofty idea of Doing The Right Thing, but her idea of right and wrong, as well as her methods to go about doing it, wouldn’t necessarily be agreed upon by others.

43. Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

Her illiteracy, for one. She’s too stubborn about it to actually ask someone for help, but she’s learned to work around it. On a much more serious note, one thing she hasn’t told a soul about is that she has an EXTREME fear of suffocating/choking due to an Incident when she was around 11.

44. How badly do they want to obtain their life objectives? How do they pursue them?

Her only real goal is the nebulous idea of returning to a simple life of hunting, but since that requires moving on and learning to let people get close to her again, she basically doesn’t pursue it at all.

45. Is your character pragmatic? Think first? Responsible? All action? A visionary? Passionate? Quixotic?

Pragmatic, though can be somewhat impulsive depending on the situation. Tries to think things out when she can, but seldom has the patience for it when she’s in the thick of things.

46. Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

Rather short, wiry build, decent posture. She’s fine with her body.

47. Do they want to project an image of a younger, older, more important person? Does they want to be visible or invisible?

She’s fine with her appearance as is, though she does kind of prefer to fade into the background unless she’s around familiar folks.

48. How are your character’s gestures? Vigorous? Weak? Controlled? Compulsive? Energetic? Sluggish?

Lively and energetic most of the time, more subdued and controlled when she’s focused on a task.

49. What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent?

TBH I mostly just imagine her in-game voice. Moderate tempo, somewhat soft spoken. If anything, her pronunciation/accent might peg her as someone from the rural Shroud, to discerning ears.

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

Neutral, bordering cheerful, perhaps? Can look sort of… intense when she’s focused. Generally she prefers a mask because she doesn’t like it when others can read her easily.

[rabidpigmy]

On Magic

My personal problem when it comes to the occult is that it's easy—perhaps just fun—to get trapped in contemplating the reality of it. For instance, I notice many take the spirit trappings seriously in different directions. I've seen genuine debates on having easier access to spirits of a lineage (say, Taoist) by stint of being born and raised in a Taiwanese culture. Some argue elements of ancestry (nature), and some argue more for the cultural exposure (nurture). On the other hand, I see many take cleansing and banishing super seriously, and stress the reality of it to a point that if they aren't performing it (period), or are doing it poorly, something from the intensity of the ritual will still remain and possibly wreak havoc of sorts. I do not really ascribe any reality to spirits, gods, or such things of that nature. Not earnestly. I try to operate in a gray area where I both accept on some level the possibility of things, but also accept that these things may simply be tools for manipulation in hopes of resolving problems. Naturally, I agree in part with culture since it would mean the individual has some amount of indoctrination into its mythology and religion. This is to say, I think people who grew up within a particular system probably have an easier time of operating within that system since it psychologically clicks better in their current frame of reference. On the other hand, I also consider the possibility of real spirits and gods. My intuition does not, however, say that these spirits and gods are the ones we know. Instead, in what is probably heavily influenced by part by Carl Jung, I consider the possibility that there are things that are hard to grasp, and we're just labeling them and building relationships with them based upon mostly the image we've built within our head. I mean, imagine you've a crush on a girl that you've never personally met. You've probably a mental image of her that you interact with, if only to practice approaching and talking to her. Part of it may be built on reality—the way she talks to her friends, dances, or handles interviews on YouTube—while part of it is based off of guesswork and assumptions. You use this simulacrum for various purposes, whether to prepare yourself for bridging the gap and finally meeting her in person, or masturbating in the public restroom furiously while crying like a man-child. I sort of see these things like that, except if there's really a reality to them, I would want to meet that reality and make my mental simulacrum more like the reality and less like a bunch of assumptions and guessworks. Ideally, that's the same for people, but that's another bag of dicks that I'd rather not address right now. It's definitely fun to consider these things, but I think it becomes a trap. For me, at least. I mean, you can contemplate all of this mess and its various implications, but it doesn't solve your problems. It doesn't get you that next pay check. It doesn't land you an affordable apartment. So, as much as I would like to keep thinking about the ins and outs of spirits and gods, I tend to default to a pragmatic approach to magical practice. That is, to assume it's magical thinking that is applied in tandem with real efforts to resolve issues. Like, casting a sigil to land a restaurant that will host an educational seminar, and making a bunch of calls and speaking with restaurant owners. If I find one that is open, I chalk it up to the success of my sigil, and move on. I think the trick must lay in how much of a buy-in you're getting from yourself. If you're deeply religious, and come from a particular tradition, then the buy-in may require elaborate rituals, spiritual encounters, and vast accoutrements in order to really achieve a big goal. It could be that last part that's also a part of it. Big rituals for big goals, small stuff for minor goals. Effort applied to the rituals lends itself in part to the goal sought so long as the practitioner is opening the way (i.e. Doing the phone calls). Ultimately, my own understanding is naturally based on what feels right to me. I ground mine in realism, or, at least, magical realism. One example is to view the little people of myths and fairy tales as actually being the animals and creatures of the forests and such. (I would probably include plants and natural phenomenon, too.) I used to entertain, and still like to do so to some extent, the idea of squirrels as being little tree guardians who fit into a complex hierarchy of "spirits" (aka. Other animals serving various purposes). After all, they help spread trees by mere stint of leaving their nuts buried in the grounds. The trees obviously have imbued these little guardians with the gift of unimpeded movement on them. They're like little ninjas! As for gods? I think of them in terms of abstract concepts personified. Time is certainly a god, death is certainly one, and I would consider money one to some extent. At least, there is really complicated system that contains within itself currency and economy. Possibly more. While I could certainly attach a face like Mars to War, and treat the god in light of my understanding of War, I would also bear in mind that Mars may be more than just War. Like, what drives War? What are the factors that create it? Mars can become complex and perhaps end up spilling into other deities until they end up being some weird complicated, multifaceted thing. I dunno what the hell to call that thing, or how to really approach it, so I may just stick with simplification and interact with a growing understanding that Mars isn't just a face for War. I don't know what this makes me. I don't know people who share these views, and this can be a source of frustration since I do wish I knew people I could talk to and understand. I work with Chaos Magic, because I understand where people like Peter Carroll and such go. To some extent. I guess if I knew Crowley better, I might even identify in part with him. I definitely identify in part with LaVey, in that I think a part of this involves stepping into an idiot box of sorts, because we have to separate the rational reality and work with the fantastic reality. Despite identifying with elements of these philosophies, or approaches to magic, I don't seem to line up very well with the few people I do meet and get to know. Admittedly, I don't know many chaos magic practitioners in person. I only know of them through the vast interwebs, and the communities I encounter have vastly devolved to the point of being something akin to a den of trolls. I don't know people who take chaos magic seriously any more outside of a select range of bloggers who are a bit too big for me to just walk up to and be chummy with. At least, that's how I see them. I've tried interacting with Wiccans and Satanists, and felt out of sorts. I'm either too grounded, or too spiritual (since Satanists are typically atheistic). I know there are Spiritual Satanists out there, but even they can become something akin to Wiccans with their built of beliefs and such. The few thelemites I've met in my time have fallen into some weird faith area that I haven't quite grasped. One was obsessed with the Book of Law, and thought it was a key to whatever the hell they were going at. The other I just made out with, because, well, she was super hot. I never got to know her beyond that she was a parent working all the way up in Bum Fuck Egypt. (I really wish I'd kept in touch with her.) Why do I type about this? Mostly to vent my frustration. I realize this path isn't filled with a thousand people working together, but I really do wish there was at least some peeps I could chill with in person and connect with. It helps to have that physical connection, and intellectual connection, be something real rather than just a bunch of typed up mush on a screen. (I often wonder if I'm a physical/emotional learner, or whatever the hell that''s called. Kinesthetic learner, maybe?)

[tlbodine]

Hard-Boiled Fantasy

So a conversation from @firefly124-writing about the TV show Supernatural and where it exists in relation to horror got me to wondering about the origins and trappings of what we now consider the “urban fantasy” genre, which I realized I haven’t really dug that deeply into before. 

That sounded like a fun rabbit hole to fall down, so I figured I’d do a bit of digging! 

So the initial question was: Is Supernatural a horror show? 

It kind of seems like it should be, right? There’s ghosts and demons and all manner of other things that go bump in the night. 

But structurally, it sure doesn’t seem like a horror. In horror stories, the monsters usually hunt the characters, not vice versa. And the story beats are all wrong. In fact, if you subbed out monsters for regular criminals, you’d pretty much just have a crime drama. 

And in that respect, Supernatural is hardly on its own. In fact, there’s a ton of supernatural crime fiction - from Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, to Angel (not so much Buffy, more on that in a minute) and many, many more besides. In fact, the whole genre of “urban fantasy” seems to have some hefty overlap with supernatural crime stories – but are the two interchangeable? Or is there more to it? 

First Off: What the Heck is Urban Fantasy? 

Our benevolent overlords at Barnes & Noble compiled a handy list of recommendations for Urban Fantasy series (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/12-urban-fantasy-series-to-binge-read/), and looking at them side-by-side, we can begin to see some trends:

Super-powered and/or badass main characters 

Serial format that lends itself to a “monster of the week” type storyline

Crimes and/or supernatural political intrigue 

But are they, like, the defining traits of the genre? Let’s investigate further..

According to this article from Writer’s Digest, there are a few key ingredients: setting as character, a central mystery, character-driven story (often in first person narration), and a romance subplot - https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-elements-urban-fantasy-novels-must

But I take some issue with that. I think there are a fair number of stories that feel like they should qualify as “urban fantasy” without ticking off all of those boxes. Setting aside everything that could be considered “paranormal romance” - your Twilight and True Blood and whatnot (Buffy slots here better, maybe)- there’s still plenty of things that seem like they should be urban fantasy, like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or Lev Grossman’s The Magicians or Charles de Lint’s Newford series, or War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. 

But it’s OK - urban fantasy is large, it can contain multitudes. 

The real question is, why is so much of it just supernaturally flavored crime fiction? 

The Origins of Crime Fiction 

Crime fiction/mystery/thriller is the second-most popular book genre, coming in right behind romance for sales: https://bookstr.com/article/book-genres-that-make-the-most-money/

With that in mind, it kind of makes sense that you’d want to fold crime fiction elements into other types of stories. A genre that popular and ubiquitous is going to have lots of familiar tropes and appeal to a lot of people. 

And as it turns out, crime fiction has its roots tangled quite deeply with horror fiction – so deep, in fact, that the granddaddy of all detective stories is none other than Edgar Allan Poe. 

Poe’s character C. Auguste Dupin – from famed stories like “The Purloined Letter” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” – lays down the template for detective stories in the 1840s, from the eccentric gentleman of leisure turned detective to the impossible crimes explained by the power of deductive reasoning. That template would then be lifted almost wholesale by Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1880s with his Sherlock Holmes stories. 

And, really, it shouldn’t be a particular shock that detective stories started to really take root in this time period. In a post-Enlightenment world, we were collectively struggling with our relationship to nature, science, industry and the mysteries of the universe. Even as we continued to fear things that went bump in the night, we increasingly sought to rationalize it all. 

There was also, of course, more crime – and, thanks to developments in both city living and news reporting, people were aware of those crimes. Jack the Ripper captured public imagination and inspired terror with his murders in 1888, about the same time as H.H. Holmes was running his murder hotel in the United States. 

So with that in mind, is it any surprise that crime fiction entered its first Golden Age in the 1920s and 30s – a time when organized crime was at its peak thanks to Prohibition? 

What is especially interesting to me is that even as horror waned in popularity in the 1940s and 50s, crime fiction was entering a second Golden Age thanks to Film Noir and all of its now-familiar tropes – from world-weary detectives to beautiful dames in trouble and rain-drenched streets. 

Some reading you may find interesting on that topic, especially in regards to how the Noir genre survived the Hays Code: http://hayscodeandfilmnoir.blogspot.com/ and https://vicolablog.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/film-noir-and-the-hays-code/

Putting it All Together 

So with this historical context firmly in mind, I think we can make a few logical conclusions. 

First, I think it’s safe to say that people like crime stories because they tap into cultural fears and fascinations – crime is something that we are all aware of but which most of us have fairly little hands-on experience with, so it’s only natural that we’d be morbidly curious about it. Crime is interesting because it’s dangerous and taboo, and that makes for good storytelling. 

Second, it also seems safe to say that many people prefer crime stories to horror stories because they are more comfortable to consume: 

The hero is usually empowered rather than powerless

Justice is usually served at the end (whereas horror tends to have a bleak outlook) 

The overall feeling can be fun/adventurous/even silly and largely safe, despite the presence of a murder – see the entirety of the “cozy mystery” genre 

Mysteries tap into a puzzle-solving, intellectual aspect of the audience as opposed to a visceral/primal response

Now obviously these lines are drawn in ever-shifting sands. There are plenty of horror stories that are primarily intellectual, and crime fiction can be plenty bloody and visceral. And that’s not even touching on the cross-overs like Thomas Harris’s work or the entirety of giallo filmmaking: https://vicolablog.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/film-noir-and-the-hays-code/

But by and large, speaking in general terms, I think we can make an argument that there is probably a somewhat wider audience for crime/detective stories than for horror specifically because the intended purpose of horror is to make the reader/viewer uncomfortable, and a whole lot of people dislike feeling uncomfortable. 

So with all of that in mind, I don’t think it’s too much of a leap at all to see how our modern understanding of urban fantasy as a supernatural crime thriller got its start. 

By taking familiar horror tropes that have slipped into pop culture – monsters and demons and zombies and whatnot – and then folding them into the comforting tropes and narratives of popular crime fiction, creators can delve into everything that is cool about horror without the icky, alienating bits that make people feel bad. 

(I’d also posit that this type of storytelling is gaining an increasingly powerful foothold in modern times because it side-steps some of the more problematic aspects of realistic crime fiction – ie, the socio-economic status of most criminals, the corruption of the legal system, etc. By making fantastical creatures the perpetrators, we can skip the discomfort of due process and human rights and focus on the fun parts of solving crimes with a clear conscience)

But that’s just one opinion, from an admittedly biased horror blogger. I’ll leave you with this final essay on the topic, which follows a similar path and draws a different (but quite interesting) conclusion – https://carriev.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-long-and-diverse-history-of-urban-fantasy/

PS - if you like these deep dives and want to support me in doing more of them, don’t forget to drop a tip in my tip jar:  Ko-fi.com/A57355UN

[spearcast]

1-5 for the Noble sisters!

!!!!! thank you friend!! under a read more bc hoooooo boi it’s long

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

Renee’s full name is actually Sarah Renee Noble- named Sarah after her grandmother- but she preferred to go by Renee (Sarah means princess/noblewoman, Renee means reborn/born again). 

Rosalie’s full name is Rosalie Acidalia Noble (Rosalie means rose, Acidalia is a surname of the goddess Venus and is associated with cares or troubles). Her parents went on a brief vacation in Greece and Italy (specifically Rome) before her dad got into the SEP with Overwatch.

Mallory’s full name is Mallory Candace Noble (Mallory means unfortunate, Candace means pure/sincere). Which, of course, got her the nickname “Candy” and other sweet ones like “sugarcube”. 

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them?

They all have their “alias” names which came from various things. When Renee started working with Talon, they gave her the codename “Hekate” bc of her seemingly magical abilities. Rosalie and Mallory sort of chose theirs- coming from nicknames they were given as kids (Mama Noble often called Rosalie “little Aphrodite” or “my little Venus fly trap” and Mal was/is often called “sugarcube” and “candy” by Rosalie and Mama Garza) getting them their titles of “Venus” and “Confection”.

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory? 

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Admittedly, Renee had a good childhood. Her parents loved her, gave her a lot of attention, wanted the best for her. Even after her father joined Overwatch/the Soldier Enhancement Program, everything was pretty peachy. She helped her mom with community stuff in center city Philly and was actually gunning to become a recruit in Overwatch’s peace-keeping organization- 

Until Rosalie was born. Because a little after that, Overwatch’s Swiss HQ blew up. It killed their father. 16 year old Renee became a lot quieter and to herself after that. However, Mama Noble (and after a couple of years, her new beau Lucas Carter) still raised Rosalie very happily, often taking the sisters out to the suburbs in the Noble family homestead (since Dad!Noble came from closer to Reading, PA than Philly) and such. AND OF COURSE, this all changes when Mallory is born. Rosalie is 8 and Mallory is 24. One is still a kid, the other getting out of college. There’s the minor omnic uprising in Philadelphia, where Margie Noble and fiance Lucas Carter are killed protecting 6-month-old Mallory and 8-year-old Rosalie.

Both had to go to the hospital, and when child services called Renee, she answered once, with a short (and very cold) “I don’t want them”. She never picked up that line again after that, discarding the phone and essentially leaving her sisters for whatever came their way. (This effectively ended Rosalie’s “childhood”, because an eight year old as smart as her grew up fast when she learned that she and Mal were going into an orphanage.) 

Mallory had a relatively okay childhood, for what it’s worth. The orphanage treated she and Rosalie well, though Rosie was always a little overprotective. They didn’t get adopted until Mal was 5 and Rosalie was 13. That story is continued here, for trying to make a long post a little shorter.

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents? 

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Renee has the best memories of both of the parents, was really close with her dad; she always low-key had a grudge against him for being away from home so often and not with she and her mom more but she understood. Worst memory had to be getting into a fight with them when both Margie and Stephen told her she was going to have a little sister- which, I headcanon Rosalie to have been a “miracle child”, since the SEP was supposed to make their volunteers sterile after the process was complete. She was pissed because they were acting like this baby was going to be a godsend and she was feeling very... dramatically Over It. She was 15-16, we all know how those years can be.

Rosalie has the best memories of her mom. Her favorite was when they went to Lake Erie for the summer before Mallory was born- her mom was pregnant and happily engaged to Lucas, Renee was even a bit happier that summer (mostly because she was graduating college within the year and could live her life freely after that). Her worst had to be- UH, I MEAN, probably her mom and step-dad-to-be dying right in front of her????? Admittedly, I can’t think of a worse one. (She does have a singular, perfect memory of her father. When she was a baby, maybe 9 months, she can vividly hear him saying “Rosalie” and looking down at her smiling. That’s it. The only thing she has of him, mentally at least.)

Mallory never knew her parents and doesn’t remember them. She only has pictures and holovids Rosalie still has. Sometimes she watches them, but as Mallory is, she doesn’t dwell on it. Sure she would’ve liked to know them, to have had a relationship with them, but she knows it’s not worth it to grieve over people she never knew.

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

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If you ask Renee- unless the information is needed for a mission- she’ll say she has no siblings. (She generally hates Rosalie, though she also genuinely doesn’t consider Mal to be her sister. It’s partially her way of dealing with the grief of losing both parents. She blames Rosalie for their father’s death and Mallory for their mother’s, even if it’s irrational.)(Fun fact: she also does in fact fear Rosalie. Because after their first reuniting moment, she realizes Rosalie has grown up to be One Angry Motherfucker who has a super soldier’s abilities.)

Rosalie used to see Renee as the coolest older sister. She liked how nonchalant and distant and “chill” Renee seemed. OF COURSE, this all changes after she, at 8 years old, realized Renee didn’t give a fuck about her OR Mallory. This is when that deep-seeded anger in her gut was planted. She’ll admit to having a younger sibling but sometimes outright refuses to call Renee her sister. (She still cares about Renee, especially as she’s gotten older. She knows Renee needs help in some way, shape, or form, because of how horribly the eldest Noble is handling grief and going about her life.)(LMAO HOWEVER, upon their first reuniting, she literally sees Renee and starts seeing red, essentially trying to beat the fuck outta ‘ne. She angery.) Rosalie and Mallory however? My god you’ll never find a better duo. They’re very... Nani-and-Lilo in their sibling relationship, and often have pretty good banter. She can be a bit over protective, but it’s something Mallory genuinely appreciates.

Mallory doesn’t give a fuck about this “Renee” person. (Unless Renee were to say, hurt Rosalie. Then This Renee chick is getting choked out with her slingshot.)(Fun fact: Renee kidnaps Mal at one point and Renee is like “lmao isn’t it fucked up I’m your sister? join Talon w/ me I can teach you shit” and Mal is just like.... “*squints* who the fuck are you again” I love Mal so much.) Rosalie, on the other hand, is pretty much the Best Sister-Mom Ever in Mallory’s eyes. Mal isn’t super great with emotions, but she knows for sure that Rosalie has gone through hell and back to keep her safe and that her older sister would do it time and time again if she had to. 

While Rosalie is definitely the sister you don’t want to piss off, Mallory is one to watch out for also. Hurt Rosalie? You’re getting clocked with a shield and sometimes even a small person (aka Mallory). Mal also will not hesitate to verbally destroy and pick apart anyone who has a problem with Rosalie. Their arguments are really something though, because both are very intellectual (even if Rosalie doesn’t give herself credit for it) and it usually actually winds down into a debate. “Winds down” after the near-screaming match they had moments before ofc.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

HERE'S WHAT I JUST REALIZED ABOUT LANGUAGES

Most imaginative people seem to be expected to—and Europeans do not like to seem uneducated. In general, people outside some very demanding field don't realize the extent to which success depends on constant though often unconscious effort. But every company that gets acquired for 30 million is a failure to a VC, but it has more potential than they realize.1 They're hostages of the platform. I scan the entire text, including headers and embedded html and javascript, of each message in each corpus. When groups of adults form in the real world is that it's their profession to. And in fact I didn't, not enough.2 When someone is determined, there's still a danger that they'll follow a long, hard path that ultimately leads nowhere.3

But even so a lot of work. And that's why less popular languages, like Jane Austen's novels, continue to survive at all.4 But they're still not as fast as angels and super-angels have appeared.5 The whole place was a giant nursery, an artificial town created explicitly for the purpose of breeding children.6 I don't laugh at ideas anymore, because I find new books to read en route. We'll see. They ask it the way you usually would, then afterward look at each sentence and ask Is this the way I'd say this if I were playing some kind of innate quality, like being tall. One still hasn't sent out his half of the stock after using the first half of the money to increase its value.7 They're just postponing it.

It is for all ambitious adults. But one thing that may save them to some extent incompatible and admiration is a zero-sum game, so you don't contradict it. And so every effort they make to do things right is also, consciously or not, an effort to be more popular.8 Not for the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice sales rank, 6191? So I'm going to tell you what sort of person you are, and this is easier if they're written in the same area, they had a different goal. But on average I'll take Cambridge conversations over New York or Silicon Valley ones. A url that led to a redirect would of course be mistaken, but there is a rough consensus on what spam is, but it could be used to test them. It is just as well to carry plugs.9

That's the actual road to coolness anyway. So I bet it would help a lot of faking going on.10 To start with, Silicon Valley is. Ironically, of all rich countries the US has lost the most civil liberties recently. You'd feel like an idiot using pen instead of write in a conversation with a friend than a stranger with higher output. It will vary enormously from one partner to another. There is some variation in natural ability.11 Simula: Algol isn't good enough at manipulating arrays. Great cities attract ambitious people.12

Signalling risk smells like one of those things until you strike something. Even if nerds cared as much as other kids about popularity, being popular would be more work for them. But, in my database, of. I think, is to find good books.13 Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be rejected by all the VCs except the best ones. Popularity is only partially about individual attractiveness. The spammers are businessmen. Apparently some people in the business of selling information to consumers has always been a marginal one.14 What fraction of the smart people who want to live where the smartest people are, even if you're producing it unknowingly.

Notes

But friends should be taken into account, they might shy away from the DMV. Philadelphia. While the first time as an adult. Download programs to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

There were a handful of VCs even have positive returns.

If a bunch of other VCs who can predict instead of working. Several people have responded to this talk, so that you should avoid raising money in order to switch. Analects VII: 1,99 2, etc.

'Math for engineers' sucks, and also what we'd call random facts, like speculators, that must mean you suck. The two 10 minuteses have 3 weeks between them so founders can get programmers who wanted to have this second self keep a journal, and graph theory. Who continued to dress in jeans and a t-shirts, to drive the old car they had no choice but to do some research online.

Since they don't know of no counterexamples, though it's at least notice duplication though, so if you're a YC startup and you make, which draw more and angrier counterarguments. 7x a year of focused work plus caring a lot of press coverage until we hired a PR firm admittedly the best day job is one way in which only a few that are or feel weak. I'm not saying you should be working on Viaweb. Perl.

Do College English 28 1966-67, pp. But core of the things they've tried on the richer end of World War II to the founders' salaries to the point of failure would be much bigger news, in that water a while ago, and when given the freedom to they derive the same intellectual component as being a doctor.

But the solution is to how Henry Ford got started as a separate box weighing another 4000 pounds.

This is an instance of a reactor: the way we pitch startup school to potential investors are: Windows 66. The same goes for companies that can't reasonably expect to make peace.

Charles Darwin was 22 when he was skeptical about Viaweb too.

73 billion.

The second part of this. Some founders listen more than make them want you to stop, the mean annual wage in the postwar period also helped preserve the wartime compression of wages—specifically by sharding it.

But politicians know the electoral vote decides the election, so it may seem to be actively curious. A preliminary result, comparisons of programming languages either take the term literally. I didn't.

In practice most successful ones. It was also the perfect point to spread the story a bit misleading to treat macros as a game, Spacewar, in the technology business. None at all is a negotiation. I took so long to send them the final version that afternoon.

A termsheet with a toothbrush. And the reason the dictionaries are wrong is that when you graduate, regardless of how hard it is the accumulator generator in other Lisp features like lexical closures and rest parameters. I may try allowing up to his house, though I think it's publication that makes the business spectrum than the valuation at the time it still seems to be good?