#all such good antagonists with all different reasoning as to why they joined DE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

The Walking Dead: What “Here’s Negan” Changes from the Comic

https://ift.tt/3cPPtnS

This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead season 10 episode 22.

Negan (no last name given…or needed) is one of the most unexpectedly beloved characters on The Walking Dead. Loquacious, charismatic, and unfailingly vulgar, Negan practically jumps off the page of Robert Kirkman’s comic series, and makes a big impact through Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance of the AMC series.

Over 193 issues of Kirkman’s comic, it became clear that the writer was just as enthralled with the brutish villain as the fans were. It would have been easy to kill Negan off at the end of the extended All Out War arc. Rick even slashed the man’s throat! But Kirkman made sure the jerk lived to fight another day and he soon became an integral part of the Whisperer War before finally retiring to a life of quiet contemplation in the woods.

Prior to Negan gracefully exiting the pages of The Walking Dead, however, Kirkman and longtime illustrator Charlie Adlard presented his origin story in a miniseries called “Here’s Negan.” Told over 16 short chapters and published in its entirety in 2017, “Here’s Negan” tells the story of how a lowly gym teacher came to be a bat-wielding, leather jacketed badass in the post-apocalypse.

Not that readers needed a reason to love the antagonist more, but the miniseries added a new sympathetic layer to the character and revealed how he broke bad. Now, in the finale of its six extra season 10 episodes, The Walking Dead TV series will be doing the same thing.

The Walking Dead season 10 episode 22 “Here’s Negan” serves as a fitting conclusion to a super-sized year for the show, while also filling in some of the blanks on Negan’s story. Here is how it does so along with what it borrows and what it changes from its comic miniseries inspiration.

Lucille’s Introduction

The characterization of Negan’s wife Lucille and her failing health going into the zombie apocalypse represents the biggest similarities between “Here’s Negan” on the page and on the screen. In fact, there’s really only one key difference between the comic and the TV adaptation. In the comic, Lucille dies right as the zombie apocalypse breaks out. In the show, Lucille makes it to at least seven months into the end of the world.

Aside from the time and setting difference, much of Negan and Lucille’s arc remains the same. The “Here’s Negan” comic reveals that Negan was every bit the charming asshole pre-zombies that he is now. The story opens with Negan, a gym teacher, mercilessly schooling three kids in a game of ping pong in his garage. Because he’s Negan, he can’t quite help but cuss them out upon his victory (just as he does while pwning some n00bs in a game of Gears of War in the episode). Lucille overhears Negan behaving inappropriately in front of the children and begins to tell him off. Unfortunately, shortly into her admonishment, she passes out.

The Walking Dead Season 10 “Here’s Negan” Finale Gives the Villain a Chance to Save Lucille

By John Saavedra

Comics

The Walking Dead Comic Returns with ‘Negan Lives’

By Alec Bojalad

The story then cuts to the hospital where Lucille’s diagnosis is revealed. Shortly thereafter Negan sleeps with the woman who he has been cheating on Lucille with (yes, even after hearing about her cancer). Thankfully, after that tryst, Negan finally breaks the affair off and returns to Lucille’s bed side where he apologizes and tells her he’s all in now. We get a fun little example of Lucille’s sense of humor (and maybe her current state of mind) when she tells him “What’s wrong with you? Why would you pick the sick one?”

Shortly thereafter, Negan is present with Lucille at the hospital when the world ends. Doctors rush into Lucille’s room to tell Negan to run as some seriously messed up stuff is underway outside and within the halls of the hospital. Negan refuses to leave Lucille’s side naturally, but she passes away suddenly and becomes Negan’s first introduction to the walking dead.

The TV series does an admirable job in picking out what works about the beginning of “Here’s Negan” while finding ways to improve everything else. Getting to see what Lucille is like after the fall is a great way for the audience to warm up to her. Even when suffering through another round of chemo, Lucille musters the energy to take down a walker when Negan can’t.

This change also allows for Negan to mourn her loss more acutely when the time comes. Having to put down a zombified Lucille long after he’s acclimated to the world’s deadly new rules has a greater emotional impact than having to do so right at the beginning.

On the Road

The TV version of “Here’s Negan” begins to deviate from the comic quite a bit after the Lucille origin story is out of the way. The middle portion of the comic miniseries finds Negan doing what pretty much every other character has had to do: wandering out on the post-apocalyptic streets, looking for company, community, and safety.

While the TV Negan struggles to put down a single walker, the comic Negan is preternaturally gifted at both zombie-killing and survival. He encounters one group while promising he can hotwire a car (he cannot). Later on that night, Negan and the group face their first real test of the apocalypse when a horde of walkers attacks their campfire gathering. All of his new friends die, but Negan survives and loots the baseball bat that will one day become the new “Lucille” off of one of their corpses.

Negan surviving while his new partners die becomes something of a recurring theme. We see a montage of Negan making new acquaintance after new acquaintance, only for them to prove incapable of making it in this harsh new world. When his latest partner reveals she sustains a zombie bite on her neck, Negan reacts in pure rage.

“I’m sick of you people. You’re all fucking WEAK. ALL YOU EVER DO IS DIE.”

Negan wants to find someone strong, someone who can survive like him and who won’t break his heart by dying. He eventually finds just that in a group led by Dwight (hey, remember him?) and Sherry.

Negan’s origin story in the TV series, of course, differs a great deal. Since Lucille is still alive in the apocalypse, Negan’s inciting moment to get him on the road and moving is the need to secure more medicine for her.

What’s interesting about this alteration for the show is how it potentially changes Negan’s motivation for society-building. In the comic, Negan comes to view strength as its own virtue – because in the new world strength is the only way to avoid pain. But the people that Negan comes across in the episode are anything but strong.

Franklin and Laura (who fulfills Dwight and Sherry’s role as the “hey, I’ve seen that person before!” character) are unfailingly kind and compassionate. That only makes them an easy target for the Valaks Vipers MCs of the world. The comic version of Negan might be disgusted by Franklin and Laura’s charity and therefore weakness. In the show, however, it’s their selfless act that encourages him to take up the mantle of being the badass who can “save the world.”

Negan Becomes Negan

Speaking of being a badass, both the comic and TV versions of “Here’s Negan” feature a moment in which the character self-actualizes into the Savior leader we come to know later on. In the comic that moment comes when Negan gets a chance to display one of his only truly decent qualities: his hatred for sexual violence.

Soon after Negan joins Dwight’s group, he becomes their de facto leader. He’s simply too strong and his survival instincts are too good to be ignored. The others start to follow him, not Dwight, because they seem to instinctively understand that he’s their best bet for survival. Eventually the burgeoning Saviors encounter another group and invite them in to join forces because strength can be found in numbers.

Unfortunately that group’s leader soon implies to Negan that the women with them are sex slaves. Negan acts quickly and instinctively, beating the man to death with his beloved bat. After the deed is done, Negan begins to ominously adorn the bat with barbed wire while telling the rest of the group that they’re free to stay. He articulates his new modus operandi in the verbose way that a newly-born supervillain can. It was Lucille who made Negan stronger and gave him the armor to survive when all the people around him couldn’t. Now with this new barbed wire Lucille, Negan will finally be able to protect those around him, shielding them from the evils to come.

It’s a typically overwrought Negan speech, blunted by the Glenn-murdering version of Negan we know is yet to come. But if you squint a bit, you can kind of see how Negan’s mission of protection could become one of subjugation and domination. Negan really thought he was saving the world, one swing of Lucille at a time, because he was the only one strong enough to do so. It wasn’t until he came up against the power of Rick Grimes’s egalitarian group that he realized he was mistaken.

Was The Walking Dead Planning to Go Past the Comic Stories?

By Joseph Baxter

The Walking Dead Season 11 Trailer Might Be Teasing an Urban Setting

By Alec Bojalad

Negan comes to a similar conclusion in this episode, he just takes a different route to getting there. After Lucille mercy kills herself and Negan is forced to put her zombified form down, he returns to confront the Valaks Vipers. Once the goons are dispatched outside, Negan can’t help but opt for theatrics once again. He puts the Viper leader on his knees for his very first “lineup,” though this time it’s a lineup of one.

He tells the Viper the story of how he got into a bar fight one night that jeopardized his gym teacher career. All he wanted to do was to listen to “You Are So Beautiful” with Lucille at a bar. But one particular loud mouth had other ideas. So Negan beat him up. Now that the world has ended it seems like only the loudmouths and douchebags are left. Truly decent, selfless people like Franklin and Laura at a premium. And when you find them among the zombies you must do whatever it takes to protect them. Who better to project the weak and the meek from the monsters than the ultimate monster – Negan, himself.

At that, my friends, is how you get a Negan.

The episodic “Here’s Negan” ends with a touching little coda where Negan lays his shattered bat to rest and finally, verbally says goodbye to the flesh and blood Lucille. His full eulogy is as follows.

“I’m sorry that I named a stupid baseball bat after you. I hope you found someone in the afterlife and you are screwing your brains out. Well, not really. But fair is fair. I miss you. I love the shit out of you. And I am gonna do your fighting for you.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Here, The Walking Dead is borrowing directly from the comics once again, but not from “Here’s Negan.” Issue 162 of the comic series opens with Negan burying Lucille, which was destroyed in The Whisperer War. His parting words are nearly identical right down to “I’m sorry that I named a stupid baseball bat after you” and the colorful passage about brains being screwed out in heaven. This is a particularly important passage for The Walking Dead season 10 to go out on. For while the comic version and Jeffrey Dean Morgan version of Negan have their differences, their stories start and end in the same place: Lucille.

The post The Walking Dead: What “Here’s Negan” Changes from the Comic appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/39I6sX8

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

modmamono · 4 years ago

Text

Why Space Channel 5 is one of SEGA’s best dumbest games ever, no questions asked. (Report 1 & 1/2.)

Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast is one of my favorite things ever, let alone favorite video games. Though I more often watch it on YouTube then actually play it.

For those not in the know, Space Channel 5 is a game series developed by United Game Artists and published by parent company SEGA. And that’s the most Wikipedia quoting I’m gonna do in this gush piece.

There aren’t many games quite like this rhythmic, Simon says game. At least in style because this game has that in spades, the gameplay anyone can do. And I am not at all qualified to explain its style because I wouldn’t how to describe it as besides maybe very 70s?

Point is there’s something charming about this game, and I think SEGA agrees with me on that. The lead character, Ulala (seen above), appear in these games to name a few years after new Space Channel 5 games stopped being made after 2002:

2004: Sega Superstars

2006: Sonic Riders

2008: Sega Superstars Tennis and Samba de Amigo

2010: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

2012: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Project X Zone

2015: Project X Zone 2

And not to mention the invading aliens have been skins of the titular Puyo Puyo in that series for a while I can’t determine. Possibly since at most 2007 up until current day with Puyo Puyo Champions in 2018/2019.

ALSO not to mention the VR game that came out recently! (How could I forget that? That’s the main reason I’m doing this.)

So it is clear SEGA loves this game and it’s sequel a lot. I don’t think their most beloved cult classic NiGHTS: Into Dreams gets that much love from the company though it certainly does get a lot itself, most games wish their parents still loved them that much long after they had a game. Anyway...

Now the part where I actually talk about the game.

I wanna say, first and foremost. This is not a review of the game. This is just gushing about why this game makes me happy.

And everything I’m gushing about is just what you get from the from one playthrough of the game. Save for one exception, I will not be talking about supplementary material, nor Space Channel 5′s lore.

And yes, this colorful dancing/rhythm/simon says game has lore. Basically any non-repeated character model has their own biograph. So I will not go into that.

You’re not missing too much, there are interesting tidbits, sometimes they fill you in on background details of the story.

Speaking of the story. I’ll start in a second. But if this is new to you, you can watch it here first (The first playthrough is only half the video):

youtube

Prologue:

We start off with a bunch of alien sitting on a space couch watching space TV. These aliens are known as the Morolians and they’ll be the main antagonists for the evening.

This cutscene has no dialogue, so this is all open to interpretation for a first time viewer. Though I do enjoy this split second foreshadowing:

And that’s when the title screen appears. Blasting you with the series’ main theme Mexican Flyer. Look it up if you must. You’ll be hearing it a lot, it’s the game and Ulala’s leitmotif.

Report 1: This is terrorism attack on an airport... I’m gonna ignore that.

This is the only piece of supplemental material I’ll talk about, as it’s present in the game itself, but not elaborated on, and it is important to two of the character.

The game starts in a flashback. In the year AD 2489 a spaceship exploded. Everybody on board died safe for a little girl.

She was rescued by a man working for Space Channel 5. A news organization that with a specific focus on dancing. That last bit is nothing special though, as everything in this galaxy revolves around dancing.

After the little girl is saved by this kindly Channel 5 Gent (Age 25) she knew what she wanted to be after she grew up. She wanted to be a sexy dancing reporter for Space Channel 5 just like him (presumably). And to meet him so she can thank him in person.

10 years later......

It is AD 2499! And the Morolians attack a space airport and their ray beams hypnotize people to dance silly.

THE HORROR!

And that’s when Space Channel 5 sends in Ulala to report on the progress.

But what they’re actually doing is for Ulala to solve the problem instead of the Space authorities.

One character I do wanna mention now is that Ulala’s producer, Fuse, is an unseen character yet is important later. He’s the one briefing Ulala in the screenshot above. And oversees Ulala’s every move.

Also Ulala never got to meet her rescuer. He either left shortly after Ulala got rescued, or shortly before Ulala joined. Given what we learn later, likely the former.

Anyway onto the show:

BAM!

BAM!!

BAM!!!

I will always love that. Ulala got down on the ground in the panicking space air port to coolly report on the panic.

As quick aside, I wanna mention that Ulala doesn’t run in this game, she slowly struts and all of her struts are simply majestic. And those amazing struts lead her to the first gameplay section of this game.

Some Morolians hold a few hypnotized people hostage. This is is a dance battle. Meaning you got repeat exactly what the aliens do in the exact rhythm they did it in order to save the hostages. And I love this gameplay. It’s simple yet fun (provided you got minimal lag, you should look into that if you wanna play this game).

The controls are:

Up: Up

Down: Down

Left: Left

Right: Right/Light

Button 1: Chu (Aliens)

Button 2: Chu (Humans)

And this is how normal people settle things in this world apparently:

Party 1 (usually the Aliens) make up a tough but fair pattern for Ulala to copy in the hopes of psyching her out.

Party 2 (Ulala & Co.) gets as many chances ad she got. And the better she does more people tune into her news report. If she wins she gets what she wants. Saving the hostage and getting Party 1 out of her hair.

Every single one lives by this code of honor and I honestly have no clue if there’s an in-universe reason. But I love it regardless. I love it when people say: Up Down Chu Chu Chu. And the Ulala repeating it.

Though frankly, I don’t like it when the Morolians issue the commands. I like it when others do the exact same commands in this same game, so it’s a little bit of a bummer the Morolians do it.

Anyways. You save the hostages and they join in on Ulala’s unstoppable strut as will always happen if you rescue people. And they strut to the second gameplay type: The Shoot-out.

The controls are the same as the above but now you gotta watch out for humans in the mix.

In general these are trickier. And I might go into that later. But they do work on the same rules.

Don’t worry I won’t go over every dance or shoot-out unless there’s something special about it.

Also I’m pretty sure you kill people if you push the wrong Chu. Don’t do that, it’s bad for the ratings!

Skipping over three battles.Something new happens, rival space news station: Space(?) Channel 42 has a reporter of their own out on the field. And that reporter is planning to steal Channel 5′s viewership. And this is HER!

You do a dance battle and she dies.

Though seriously, I like this game does this. It’s not only aliens you fight, but other factions of the Space News Media. And it’s always a nice shake up when someone besides her shows up.

You see, for the most part any reoccurring enemy has recognizable mannerisms you gotta batlle, and her is no different. It’s hard to describe for me. You kinda gotta play or watch the game for yourself to see what I mean, but I think it’s best exemplified in Report 2. And the following games.

Though one thing’s for sure, each non-normal Morolians or rival reported does bring their own genre switch with them. Heck sometimes even normal battles have unique genres. I’m am not musically inclined so I wouldn’t know hers or most others.

Any way, before she dies she give an emotional speech and gracefully suggests to take her Channel 42 guitarist with her and Ulala accepts that’s the least she could do for a lousy reporter like her.

And then it’s boss time!

Yeah, actual bosses with actual boss characters. And not like the recently deceased as shown above. She’s practically for all intents and purposes another Morolian dance battle.

And it’s down to funky jazz music, not unlike what you’d see in Sonic Adventure! Even Ulala comments on it, confirming it’s dietetic Where does it come from? Not sure, there might be an explanation somewhere. But do keep that in mind. That the music we hear is also the music the characters hear as well.

Anyways:

Not Pictured: Super Stretchy Arms.

I think it’s a bit of a misnomer. Invader is correct, that’s what it’s here for. But is it really a robot? It moves like an organics and is a bit rubbery. This basically goes for all Morolian robots.

I can suspend my disbelief. You shouldn’t nitpick too much about Space Channel 5, it doesn’t want you to think too hard about it’s world even if there’s a lot to it. I’d be concerned if Space Channel 5 did wanna put its story and world building first and foremost.

But “Hypnotized Robot Invader”?

What?

Spoiler.

Robots and hypnotism... I’m pretty sure a sign that we made perfect human-like Artificial Intelligence if they can fall susceptible to Hypnosis. Even then I doubt it.

Sorry, that’s always bothered me, I get what they mean by it. It’s just the word choice... Did they mean Hypnotizing Robot Invader? This boss is great.

It starts off with a normal dance battle, but you get to watch a new Morolian enemy’s moves. It’s also quicker on the draw along with a few softballs to throw your timing off. Pretty good stuff.

And that applies to the next phase as well, where the the shooting starts.

I don’t have much to say.

Unlike the robot’s final phase where it’s the first phase again, but with guns and the robot goes to berserking speeds with the input commands.

And after you beat it, it joins you in a strut.

As does everyone you saved, No matter the gender, nor age, nobody is embarrassed imitating Ulala no matter what she does. We’ll be half as lucky to get a cool future as cool as 2499.

And with that the first report is over.

Report 2: (Age 35)

At the Morolian HQ (Presumably), their boss doesn’t like failure.

But like a good boss he doesn’t dwell on failure and moves on to the next plan. One of his lackeys has this plan: Another boss battle dance robot who operates on:

The everyone at the table is impressed. So I guess Ulala is screwed, game over.

This level is more of the same as the last one more or less, it’s possibly the most boring level in the series in that regard. It’s not bad, this is just the game bulding enough a status quo before they change things up in Report 3.

But that doesn’t make this level any less interesting to talk about, so I won’t go over it much.

The short story until something new happens is: Space Ship (think of it as a fancy yacht but in space) is being attack by Morolians, Ulala is send to report on it, and being the professional she is saves hostages as well.

She saves the captain, crew members, stewardesses, waitresses, the Space Diva (OH NO! NOT THE SPACE DIVA!), passages and the like.

UNTIL!

He voice says “I’m gonna steal you show, Space Channel 5”. And you see this ship flying by:

Another rival reporter, this one a pirate broadcasting station.

Side note: That’s sounds like the most important kind of pirate ever. Alternative news/non-mainstream with no money/rating motive blinding everything with journalistic integrity? Yes, by all means. If they’re pirates then so are Secular Talk & The Humanist Report.

Back to the silly dance game. The Pirates either jam or hack Channel 5′s signal and the Ulala is stuck with them for a while.

And then we meet that where we meet the gent above.

“[His] name is:“

“JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!” “JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!“

(Age 35)

LET’S DANCE!

Dude, I love Jaguar (Age 35) he’s gotta be my second favorite character in the series on account he’s just cool and incapable of embarrassment.

Remember the deceased of the last report? The Channel 42 reporter in the blue dress? He’s her counterpart for this chapter.

But whereas the deceased’s gimmick sounded air headed for a lack of a better term. Maybe, girly? Point is, battling her didn’t feel too dissimilar to battling Morolians despite her rhytmic mannerisms.

Jaguar (Age 35)’s gimmick is that he just adds. He starts with a simple Up. And then he adds a Chu, and another Chu. Eventually it becomes a really long chain of commands, it has to be some of the longest in the series. And you have to do them all from start to finish because he does them all sequentially. Can you repeat?:

Up. Chu. ChuChu. Right. Left. Down. DownDown. Down. Chu. Chu. Chu.

He is easing you into it, but it is by no means an easy fight. Because after the chain is at its longest, he just spamming ChuChuChu in quick succession. And then a simple Chu.

After defeat Jaguar & Co, escape by jet-pack, saying they will meet later.

This battle is a highlight for me. Coco Tapioco and the big bosses to come are better if you ask me (with exceptions). But Jaguar (Age 35) is some of the best the normal gameplay goes.

And you could argue what normal means in the context of Space Channel 5. But effectively, like Channel 42′s deceased, functionally he might as well be another Morolian if he wasn’t there to be set up for later. Because you do get person that just joins your Strut Club like everywhere else.

You gain his Jazz Man and you get a great sax solo as a reward beating him. Like how you got Channel 42′s guitarist for beating them. I like the think the Jazz Man can work for Jaguar (Age 35) again while the Channel 42 Guitarist is blacklisted.

And before we move on from Jaguar (Age 35) check out his Chu pose:

BOSS TIME!

Jaguar (Age 35): The alien mothership is retreating. Don’t you have to follow them, Channel 5? Fuse: Blast you, Jaguar [Age 35].

With the pirates giving chase, Ulala is left with the cowardly alien robot to elegant music.

Ignoring the robot’s title, while silly, its cowardice is its greatest asset. For it has kidnapped some space schoolkids, making their space teacher worry. Their space teacher can actually be seen at the start of the report.

Space fashion, am I right?

I’ve exceeded Tumblr’s invisible limit of what to put in a blog post. I’ll have to rewrite this boss what I have to say for this boss. So full, can’t spell check! We’ll be back!

#space channel 5 #sc5 #ulala #dreamcast #chu #gushing #jaguar #fuse #pudding #coco tapioca #morolina #morolians

7 notes · View notes

clansayeed · 5 years ago

Text

Bound by Circumstance ― Chapter 19: No Sympathy for the Bloodwraith

PAIRING: Nik Ryder x trans*M!MC (Taylor Hunter) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Circumstance ⥽

Taylor Hunter (MC) has made it good for himself in New Orleans; turns out moving to a new city fresh out of college to reinvent yourself isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. Things only start to get confusing when he finds himself the target of a malevolent wraith. Good thing someone’s looking out for him though — because without Nighthunter Nik Ryder as his bodyguard he definitely won’t survive long in the twisting darkness of the supernatural underworld he’s tripped into.

Bound by Circumstance and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the book Nightbound and the rest of the Bloodbound series. Find out more [HERE].

Note: Circumstance only loosely follows the events and plotline of Nightbound, and features a separate antagonist, different character motivations, and further worldbuilding.

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Circumstance/series tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

Cadence recounts one of the worst events in the Council’s history as the bloodwraith’s motives are brought to light. Taylor’s new empathy turns into both a helpful gift and a terrible burden.

[READ IT ON AO3]

New Orleans, 1921

“If you think the entire Garden Coven unwilling to march on you without hesitation, then you’re far more a fool than you’ve already proved yourself to be.”

The Nighthunter rounds on him with stake in hand. Even as unofficial allies his intent is clear: I will use this.

But Cadence doesn’t step back because he fears the weapon. He fears the man using it.

Has seen that wild look in his eyes elsewhere — though never in a human. It is the look that watches his every step, that hoards the limp limbs of their meal closer, that seeks only to gorge on thick veins and will not be sated until red ichor spills from their lips they are so full with it.

In a reversal of fortune it is the human who looks at the vampire with the gouging claws of bloodthirst and madness.

Any creature of sound mind would fear Reimonenq now.

“They can’t touch me,” the sneering reply, “those damn Accords keep y’all from actin’ as a faction!”

“Those same Accords demand the same of you!”

“It’s different for me an’ you know it, Smith.”

“No—honestly I don’t. You’re just as much a part of this community as any of us. You’re beholden to the Accords just as we are!” But the thing he’s still struggling to grasp, the thing that leaves him gaping even as Derek Reimonenq resumes shoving his things into a ratty sack, is far worse.

“Even with the legality aside — you just murdered three young women in cold blood.”

If any vestiges of warmth remained in his once-alive body they are dashed in the moment the man’s cruel laughter reaches his ears.

“Trust me when I say there weren’t nothin’ cold about it.”

A blind fury consumes him. Sends him rushing at the man with preternatural speed to pin him to the wall; the same grasp capable of turning concrete to powder wrapped around the mortal’s neck.

“You think this is funny?!”

“What it is, damn bleedin’ hearted fool, is justice!”

Derek shoves him back; only succeeds when the vampire is too stunned to speak or hold his ground. “You storm in here spoutin’ all yer high-horse shit about them Accords but you think I’m the only one what broke ‘em? You think those devil-whisperin’ freaks didn’ bend they’re own rules just the same?

“Those girls were unnatural. Even for they’re kind. I been at this all my life Smith — I know how to suss out the ones who ain’t got no hope a’goin’ anywhere but bad.”

“You killed them before they even had a chance. You’re no seer Reimonenq, you can’t possibly think you’re justified on a hunch!”

Derek’s upper lip curls. Cadence is almost surprised he doesn’t glimpse fangs.

“A Nighthunter’s job ain’t easy an’ it ain’t nice an’ it definitely ain’t simple. I already compromised every-damn-thing I believe in when I joined in on ya damn Council. But Come Hell an’ high waters if I stop makin’ this city safe for me an’ mine.”

Like a creature in her own right there comes a small hollow noise at the door. Low and center — the tap-tapping of child’s knuckles. The men break their brawl to watch — to wait.

The knuckles tap-tap again. Firmer this time.

Derek wars with himself for only a moment — opens the door and smooths the kind eyes of a father over those of the beast before.

Cadence knows it isn’t his spectacles that cause him to see a familiar child; not the honey-eyed daughter of Reimonenq but the wild ginger mane of Meredith LaPointe’s youngest. Her face frozen in terror as it will always be; carved behind his eyelids and in his soul.

Even in a town like New Orleans some hauntings have nothing to do with the supernatural. Some are personal.

The little girl stands with her nightshirt bunched in impossibly tiny fists. Wide eyes shining at the sight of her father before realizing he isn’t alone. When her lower lip begins to wobble the vampire realizes his mistake and averts his unnatural ruby gaze.

“You’re supposed to be in bed baby girl,” croons the same man who had burned three girls mere hours ago.

He picks his daughter up and tucks her in close. Cadence wonders if she can smell burned flesh and hair on his old army coat. “Where’s that momma’a yours…” Doesn’t look back to his guest even as he closes the door behind him, ventures deeper into his slumbering home.

Now alone the towering man begs for an answer only he can give — the same thing he had thought with the sunset a looming enemy at his back on the steps of Reimonenq’s domain.

Why is he here?

He has no stake in the Nighthunter’s life. In fact they’ve run afoul of one another more than most. For a man apparently so dedicated to upholding the tenets of the original Nighthunters he sure found himself in debt to the creatures he should so despise often enough. They’d met that way — another payment to Cadence’s three year debt to Carlo in strongarming the money that was promised.

And fucks sakes… there’s nothing redeemable about a man who would hold his daughter with hands still stained with the soot of a witch pyre.

The Council will come for him. There’s even a likelihood the vampire himself would be one of the men tasked with bringing him for his trial.

Maybe he just has to accept that there isn’t a reason for confronting Reimonenq alone.

Maybe he just wants to understand.

Monster to monster.

“What foul…?” He catches another whiff of burned flesh and a shudder rolls through him. He wonders if it should remind him of the battlefield. Still so strong even with thin walls between them — like Reimonenq hadn’t even left the room.

Curious.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees the lumped and dark shadow of the hunter’s sack. Ready to cut and run even with a family awaiting his return on the city’s outskirts.

Cadence doesn’t have a family — or if he does he doesn’t know where to find them. Are they waiting for him? Are they just as ignorant to the truth?

All his unanswered questions and here the other man is almost eager to abandon it all. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

When he reaches for the bag it’s because he’s angry; because he wants to delay Derek as much as possible. Not just to face the consequences of his actions but so he knows what the fuck he’s leaving behind. Has to dial down his strength lest he send a myriad of Nighthunter’s essentials hurtling through the thin drywall.

Stakes clatter to the floor. A medieval crossbow lands arm-down and snaps the archaic metal off like shattering glass. Bare essentials of fabric tumble out and reveal the prize he had wrapped within with care and greed both; what remaining skin was peeled from muscle tissue and bone from the flames that had consumed them starts to flake off and settle on scuffed wooden floors.

One cooked finger snaps off and rolls under the nearby bed. The rest are curled up and in like spiders after they die of starvation.

He’s caused his fair share of bloodshed but this—

Trophies…

Cadence’s tears gather and the world goes blurry at his eyes. From rage, from disgust, from incredulity…

He rips his glasses off and shatters them in his fist.

To the Elders of the Garden District Coven, Carlo de la Rosa was at the center of the city’s vampire community. If they weren’t of his blood they owed him in one form of another — Cadence is proof of that.

He was old, powerful, and connected. He had to go.

To the malevolent specter of Derek Reimonenq, Carlo was a threat. Not just as the leader of the vampires of New Orleans but on a personal level as well. In the months following his death Reimonenq’s wife and daughter inherited more than his legacy — they inherited his debts too.

He was as remorseless as he was undead. He had to go.

The Elders witnessed firsthand the rapid rise to power of Denna Ostrowski; a shapeshifter rumored to have had over a hundred forms under her pelt. To the mundane world she was new money investing in the rich history of Louisiana. And money opens many doors — even among the supernatural.

She had her hands steeped in the cauldrons of both worlds. She had to go.

Only Denna came to town long after The Bloody Hand had been dealt with — near forgotten.

That didn’t stop her from learning as much as she could about the history of the Council; from allies to enemies. Learning where they lived, where they died, and where they had hidden every rotten putrid trophy hand.

It was a part of the past best left forgotten yet that didn’t stop Denna from destroying them all the way down to the bone. And for that her days were numbered.

Though they didn’t know it the Elders and their ghoulish pet saw eye-to-eye when it came time to level that gaze on Tonya Reimonenq. They called her Lady Smoke because those who ran afoul of her always disappeared without a trace.

Poof — gone like smoke.

She never asked for her gift; the Reimonenq Curse. But she took it and she used it without shame or guilt. Made a show of keeping her touch under expensive wrappings but everyone knew the truth.

She liked having such power; control over who lived and who died. And despite being of Derek Reimonenq’s decaying flesh and molded blood, Tonya had turned herself into a target — made herself a creature more than she ever was a human being.

“I was the one who brought him in front of the Council,” Cadence says without regret, without remorse; “I kept him from going into hiding. If I hadn’t gone to him that night the Garden Coven may very well have never found him.”

Cal frowns. “I thought you said he couldn’t be accused and punished. Which I still can’t make a lick’a sense of.”

“In the eyes of the Accords both sides were at fault — for different things, but equally guilty of knowing the laws and consciously choosing to break them.”

“What did the Coven do?”

The vampire shifts in discomfort.

“The girls Derek burned weren’t born into the families that made up their ranks at the time. The Elders back then had plans to blood them fully — sort of like an initiation you can’t back out of — but they were brought into the city from outside covens before it was done.”

“To put it plain they brought enemies onto Quarter soil,” explains Katherine with a tired rub of her eye.

Cal throws his glance back to Taylor and Vera and matches their confusion.

“I’m missin’ somethin’. ‘Cause no offense but I can’t see a guy like Elric agreeing to put kids to death over bein’ somewhere they shouldn’t’ve.”

“You’re right — Elric knew the girls were smuggled into town. The whole Council did, actually. Given the circumstances they agreed to turn a blind eye.” When he’s met with a silence that screams for him to keep going Cadence does, though the reluctance is clear on his expression.

“Listen — I never met them personally. I only know what I do from rumor and that’s putting it lightly. But one person heard from another who heard from God-knows-who-else that the girls all shared the same power—could do the same thing in the craft, you know?

“It was said they could remove free will. I don’t know how, or if it was wild speculation or the truth watered down. Even I laughed when the story reached far down enough to my rung on the ladder. Nothing of the natural world — be it magic or sensation or psychic connection — can truly take away all resistance to command. Even my kind, while connected to our Makers on a deep and intimate level, can resist their influence if we do so with all of our being.

“None of this mattered though. The Coven may have concealed their nature but everyone could put two and two together.”

“No one thought they were gonna try somethin’ shifty?” asks Nik. Cadence shakes his head.

“One of the Elders had a natural gift of his own; he could sever the witch from their ability to practice the craft. It was clear that was their plan — that the city didn’t have to worry. They just couldn’t do so until after being blooded into the Coven.

“I think most of us just felt sorry for them.” Doesn’t stare at the carpet underfoot but through it; both in the room with them and some place he thought he had left far behind. “I did. All around the country young men had been sent off to war and returned home empty husks, if they returned at all. There was a sort of cultural agreement that didn’t need words: children and their innocence was worth protecting.”

Kathy’s hand hovers over his before making a decision, offering contact to ground the man to the present. But the smile he gives her is hollow. The memories still haunt him — maybe they always will.

“Derek Reimonenq didn’t agree,” he continues to everyone’s surprise, “not that anyone expected him to. Neither did the Bayou Alpha but the war didn’t even give her back a body to bury, so she fell in with the rest. Everyone figured he would air his grievances and follow through as he usually did… bottle in hand.

“It’s the only time I can remember that the Council tried to find a flaw in their own laws. They wanted to convict him — everyone was demanding justice. But rather than two trials and needless punishment on the side of the Coven the only solution they could all agree on was a clean slate.”

“Which didn’t sit well with the witches,” Vera rests her hand on her racing heart like that will help — it doesn’t, “so they Cursed him. And all the Reimonenq blood ‘longside.”

Cadence nods tight-lipped; has said more than he thought he would have to and more than he wished to if his tension is anything to go by.

“Makes sense, now.”

Nik’s fingertips are warm on Taylor’s scalp. They card through his hair as if to remind them both they are here; that it’s all come down to this.

“Those Elder bastards were targetin’ power in the city but somehow usin’ Derek’s spirit gave it an agenda. Carlo for the past, Denna for revenge on his stuff — can’t say I blame it for hatin’ Smoke but —”

“And how exactly did I piss off ‘The Bloody Hand?’” Taylor asks in bewilderment. Nothing about the casual way the man shrugs reassures him.

“Dunno — you were convenient?”

“And we’re back to that now.”

“Sometimes a spade is a spade is a spade,” his mouth twists with deep thought, “though now we know why it wasn’t houndin’ on us the second you were outside a ward. They gave it a hit list but it chose the order.”

No one responds — what is there to say? Sure it’s satisfying to finally know, to understand.

But does it change anything?

It has to. Otherwise The Fate wouldn’t have led him on this; the altered path.

“This is good — this is a really good thing.”

The incredulity and judgment that bears down on Katherine isn’t personal — she knows that. More than that she doesn’t care. Not with the wry look she’s sending Ryder’s way. “Damn,” she laughs dryly, “it might actually be the only time in all this weird crap that things might work in our favor.”

“How d’ya mean?”

“You said it yourself; a spade’s a spade. Think about it, Nik — finally this is just a job like any other. Just creatures following their nature.”

A look of understanding comes over his weary features. “So maybe it’s time we follow ours, you mean.”

Like she’s reading his mind Vera speaks up where Taylor still struggles to connect the dots; “For the class, guys?”

Kathy’s smile is a rare thing. Rare and unnerving.

“We do what Nighthunters do best; we hunt.”

Even with everything he’s seen and endured the sight of rusted cemetery gates still form knots in his belly; dread and memory all tied up with the knowledge that at the end of the day he’s just as vulnerable here and now as he was that first night.

And you know what doesn’t help? Being in the Garden District again; that doesn’t help.

Being so close to their enemies — those literally plotting to kill them with more than one attempt under their witchy robes — that doesn’t help.

But it must be done. “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Katherine had said while hoisting a rusted toolbox from its shelf in Cadence’s office, “since it’s proven already it can attack us anywhere — wards or no.”

“There aren’t any protection measures we can take?” Vera had asked; though they were all sure that if there was an answer they would have found it by now.

“Find a god and pray.”

That the cemetery is largely untouched is a miracle. Not for fear of ghosts and the scary stories tour guides like Tilly tell but for the fact that tourists usually just don’t give a damn.

Then again this is the closest cemetery to the Coven. That has something to do with it no doubt.

Cadence leads them through the dark and winding paths — Cal bringing up the rear. “No flashlights,” the vampire had insisted, “the moment we trespass is the moment the mundane authorities become just as much a threat as the witches.”

Lucky they have a vampire and a werewolf on their team then. Precision hunters pretty much known for their ability to see at night.

They keep close-knit ranks but let’s be honest; they’re about as subtle as the Scooby Gang would be in this scenario.

A joke he will not be saying within earshot of Cal if Taylor values his life.

Though the vampire insists—almost too much—that he hasn’t been to the Reimonenq crypt since Derek was put there almost a century ago he sure knows his way easy enough.

“Are you sure you’re okay with us doing this; vandalizing your family crypt?” Taylor asks Vera, because this just feels awkward especially with her here. And if she says stop you better know they will be stopping.

But nope; it’s all good. “I’m only frustrated I can’t get us in myself.”

They come to a stop — abruptly, like jostled dominoes — in front of an old stone grave.

Any other day Taylor would have walked right by it; dismissed it for another piece of city history made illegible from erosion over time. But through the greenish muck and years of wear, maybe because he knows what he’s looking for, it’s there.

REIMONENQ “Mourn not the dead, but those burdened to continue living.”

His heart sinks at the inscription beneath Vera’s family name — chances a glance her way, ready to offer what little comfort he can.

Her eyes scream of hatred but he can feel beneath the surface. All that anger stemming from a place of hurt, of loss; of regret. Hatred at the bones they hope to find within and regret for every life that could have been spared in the aftermath of him.

Cadence motions for Cal to help him strongarm the front slab.

“Wait,” says Vera through the stones in her throat and the tears in her eyes she refuses to shed, “gimme a second.”

Katherine holds her breath — thinks better of pointing out that they may not have a second to spare. They know; Vera knows.

But she also deserves this.

She removes her left glove while approaching the crypt. They step back, give her a wide berth and not just for her sake.

Fingers stretched as far and forward as they’ll go Vera lays her palm on the surface. Pushes with a fruitless effort but it probably isn’t the physical barrier she’s forcing back. At least that’s not what Taylor feels in her soul.

“When I was a lit’le girl Momma told me we didn’ have the luxury of choosin’ whether or not to be killers. That day I vowed to myself to be the first — to keep the Touch from ever takin’ a life so long as I held it.

“I was fifteen when she tricked me into usin’ it on a man — staged it like I was savin’ her life by taking another. And I’ll never forgive her for it.”

Taylor feels his heart begin to crumble, then crash into a deep dark sea in chunks as tears roll down her cheeks.

“But she proved something to me that day —” she continues, “— she proved she was right. That so long as we had the Touch we would be killers whether we wanted to or not. She may have tried to make me a hero but no one who can do what we do could ever be one.

“But here—lookin’ at this grave, knowin’ what I know and all that The Bloody Hand did? I don’t feel guilty anymore. I finally realize that I really never had a choice.

“It was always gonna be in my nature.”

Cal’s knuckles crack hollow in the silent cemetery. Cade averts his ruby eyes, swipes his tongue over the hint of a fang.

If anyone here can understand her, it’s them.

“That’s what makes him so evil,” Vera tugs on her glove with jerking frustration; and not for the first time turns her back on the name REIMONENQ, “he had a choice an’ he chose to kill. And I ain’t gonna forget that — no matter how ‘tortured’ his soul is supposed to be.

“Those Elders ain’t in the right in what they’ve done but he wouldn’t have been their weapon had he not chosen to do great evil first.”

Not a rallying cry or solemn eulogy — but her intent is clear.

No sympathy for the bloodwraith.

No sympathy for Derek Reimonenq.

Ryder insists on proceeding with caution—still a statement Taylor’s trying to wrap his head around to be honest—and earns Katherine’s grumbled agreement that they should at least check for remnants of the Elders’ visit.

Cal spots a couple of markings drawn in chalk by the base that set teeth and fangs on edge but ultimately Kathy concludes they’re nothing more than lay-hexes; the witch equivalent of spitting on someone and cursing them to burn in Hell. A bit ominous but not meant to guard the abandoned tomb.

Which, frankly, leaves Taylor more than a little unsettled.

“If they saw no need to enchant it, does that mean there’s nothing inside we can use?”

Nik shakes his head and steps back, allows the two creatures among them to really give in to that nature of theirs and pry the weathered granite from its seal.

“First thing any hunter does when dealin’ with the hereafter is t’learn about the life of the haunting dead. We got the life story and we got how he died —”

“Step two is consecrate whatever bones can be found.” Katherine finishes.

A groan of resistance cuts off with a loud THUD, the noise bouncing from crypt to crypt definitely more than loud enough to awaken the dead. Nice timing to start regretting not bringing Ivy along.

Cade props the front plate on the side of the structure, waves his hand at the irritating dust and sand set off from their force.

It must be nice not to have to breathe, Taylor would say — if he wasn’t hacking his lungs out and praying there isn’t any powdered body on his tongue.

When it settles and they can properly peer inside — the good news is that aren’t any corpses that might make him lose his nerve. One more fainting spell and Taylor might just have to live in shame in the backwoods of the Bayou.

The bad news, though, is also that there aren’t any corpses; rather a large black hole stretching into a void. Darker than the night around them, practically made of nothing.

The vampire sighs and pushes up his glasses. “It’s a small stairwell,” then looking back to Vera, “I know you aren’t to blame in the least but… there’s a reason no one has a basement in Louisiana.” Judging by the look she throws his way it’s better that she takes the high road and doesn’t comment.

“I can’t smell any water rot,” Cal sniffs the air again and the face he makes might as well curl the ends of his hair, “but there’s definitely dead things below.”

“Wow, dead things in a crypt, who would’a guessed?”

“Hey Ryder?”

“Yeah Kujo?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

There’s only enough space for them to go one at a time; and even that is being generous. Taylor can’t help but try to imagine the dignified Elder Daniels in her power-suit crawling into this muck — or Elder Vion hobbling through like a bag of bones.

Kathy volunteers Cadence to go first — an act the vampire looks like he objects to strongly. “Tall people aren’t really made for small —”

But it isn’t his height the huntress is concerned over; a revelation spurned by how she shoves him through the passage—crawlspace, really—and holds her breath as if waiting for something to happen.

Nothing does. “The inside isn’t bespelled. You can come out now if you want.”

If Cade could turn his head he would no doubt be glaring wildly. “Why bother, I’m already inside!” He seethes but takes cautious steps into the tomb, then into the earth.

Vera goes next, and of her own volition.

“Anyone else worried about the amount of oxygen down there?” And it’s such a clear opening for Nik to take a shot at the werewolf but Cal does have a point — while also looking a little green in the face.

So he and Katherine stay up top to guard the rather obvious and gaping hole in what should be a sealed grave. And for the sake of conserving breathing room, can’t forget that.

Nik’s hand is warm, solid as it coaxes him at his lower back. Only a few steps in he feels the drop of the descent. Waits until what little light from outside is obscured by the bodyguard at his back before he begins the journey down.

Down into the not-so-final not-quite-at-rest place of Derek Reimonenq.

Cal was right; there is a body down here.

But—and he’s just spitballing here really—he’s like… a little pretty-damn-sure it isn’t the guy who’s been dead for 98 years.

Ninety five, ninety four percent certain.

As he finishes igniting the last of the half-burned candle circle Cadence pockets his lighter and stands — doesn’t even have to hunch over. It had felt like they were walking for an hour in the pitch black but maybe he wasn’t that far off.

It’s not a tomb like anyone buried would have a tomb; more a room made sturdy with brick and mortar to do one purpose — and not even for forever. The candles have to be a new fixture courtesy of the Coven Elders and whatever hellish ritual they performed. Even the ground beneath them still holds traces of their visit; looks like Elder Daniels got her heel stuck in some as-yet unpacked dirt.

Derek Reimonenq’s body is probably supposed to be on the waist-height stone slab in the middle. Only it isn’t.

But someone’s is.

Ryder’s hand ghosts over yellow chalk marks on the walls. He pulls back a fingertip of the powder residue and gives it a little sniff; instantly regrets it with a recoil.

“Sulfur,” and he smears it back on the brick feeling desperately unclean.

Cadence joins Vera in looking up to where something large catches the reflection of the flames. He’s just tall enough to reach and brush the surface with a touch. “Looks like a quartz geode… I think I’ve read somewhere that halite can be cast to ward away weathering.”

“Explains why this place wasn’t swallowed up in Katrina,” agrees Nik.

There’s a long moment of silence before Taylor just can’t take it anymore.

“Is no one else gonna mention the dead corpse?”

Cadence snorts. “As opposed to the living one?”

Not what he meant.

But as the rest of the room’s oddities had been deduced the only logical progression was to the young woman laid to rest in a grave that isn’t hers. Maybe wasn’t supposed to be.

That she hasn’t shown any signs of decay isn’t even the strangest thing. No, that would be the pile of bleached-white bones serving as her funeral bed. Definitely more than what one human body should be made up of — but who says it’s human?

The almost medical distance with which Nik studies the long gash across her throat—not scabbed over but not bleeding, either, simply open—has Taylor looking away in discomfort.

While Vera may not have been initially as shocked as he, though, she keeps her distance beside him. “She’s so young…”

“Eighteen, maybe a tad less,” Cadence shrugs off the way they stare at him, “I tried out medicine a ways back, I think I can date a body.”

“Then how long has she been dead?”

“That’s the misleading part — but I think we have the halite ward to thank for that. Context included—I’d say she died the same night as Carlo de la Rosa.”

Vera sucks in a breath. “It killed her, too?”

“No, she doesn’t look like the other bodies.” Nik grunts and stands, wipes dirt from his palms and grabs one of the bones from under the girl’s knee to study it closely. “Conjuring the wraith — pulling Reimonenq’s spirit from the Veil, that’s some heavy necromancy, the kind you have to have in your blood. It could be one of the Elders but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say she’s our born Necromancer.”

Why is it that with everything he’s seen Taylor still has a hard time looking into her face, soft and so very still, and imagining her bringing that much evil into the world?

Ryder uses the bone to drag a wide circle around the dais in the dirt; follows the path just inside the candles and forces the other three back against the walls. “The Elders stood in a triangle — see the concentration of steps — and she did the summoning over the altar. When they were done… she wasn’t of any use to them and and had to go.”

“But she was one of their own,” Taylor protests, “they keep talking about how they’re trying to protect their Coven — she had to have been one of them right?”

It’s a heavy thought. Makes the air in the room feel a little thinner. Cal was right there isn’t enough for them down here.

“Come Hell and High Waters,” says Cade; and he probably means well but those words make him feel sick to his stomach now — some of that ends justifying the means bullshit.

“A sacrifice of one for the survival of the many. I wonder if they told her… that what she was doing was the right thing.”

“The right — they murdered her. There’s no way that’s right.”

“You’re questioning their morality now?”

Taylor falters. He has a point.

There’s just so much grief building up inside his chest he feels like his lungs might burst out of him. A terrible loss; losing himself, losing faith in something, losing trust and truth and…

And where the hell is this coming from?

I can’t breathe. Clutching his hand to his chest, heart seconds away from giving out, that familiar burn of breathing in too hard—too much. “I can’t breathe.”

Before he can collapse Vera helps ease him down to his knees, Nik suddenly at his side hands hovering — unsure of what to do, how to help, but filled with the desperate need to do something because feeling useless is a thundercloud gathering overhead.

“Rook—Rook breathe. I — what’s wrong? Can you talk? Talk to me Taylor, please —”

“Give him some space, Ryder.”

“Do you not see him having a panic attack?”

He gathers enough energy to rasp out only once; “Hey—huff—Nik—huff—backthehelloff!”

And because he can’t say it again he just waves Vera away with heavy slaps of his hands. He doesn’t mean to hurt her. Only to get his point across.

The breathing room they give helps a little. Not enough. Doesn’t stop the feelings he’s feeling or the confusion about those feelings.

They wait in silence while his panic subsides. Maybe it wouldn’t take so long if he understood what had caused it; but he’s met with nothing but patience and a whole lot of concern on Nik’s end.

When Taylor reaches out with a shaky hand it’s immediately grabbed; his entire being tethered to that one act. Nik squeezes first, he squeezes back.

His gaze drifts over the leather-clad shoulder to the body on the stone slab and… and he understands.

“I’m feeling her.” The aching grief twisting in his gut like a rusty knife, the purposelessness, the betrayal. “It—she—is everywhere in here. She’s suffocating.”

“She’s dead, Rook.”

“I mean her emotions—her soul. She wants to be known. She wants to be grieved.”

“So grieve her,” Cadence says, “however you can, you must. If you’re feeling that strong of an empathic connection there must be a reason why. It could tell us something we don’t know—something crucial.”

Taylor hopes to see some sort of confident support when he looks to Nik for help — but the worry is staggering. That makes it better, somehow; genuine.

“You don’t have to do anythin’ you don’t want,” his voice is quiet; hiding the scratch of emotion in his throat where his Adam’s apple bobs.

If only it were that simple.

On shaky legs he stands, makes his way to the altar where Cadence gives him a wide berth and waves for the others to do the same. Nik looks ready to stand by his side no matter what happens. He will, too. But he shakes his head, whispers “it’s okay,” and lets their touch linger until he’s too far to reach.

There’s no manual on this kinda crap — hopefully he doesn’t need one. He doesn’t think he does.

No… he doesn’t feel like he does. Which is apparently different now; a thing to worry about later.

Taylor inhales and brushes a trembling touch along the soft curve of her copper cheek.

“You swore a sacred oath to your Coven in blood, dear girl.”

Elder Vion’s voice rasps in his ear. Makes Taylor want to recoil out of a bygone terror. He’s half a step back when he remembers Nik is there and the Elder is not. And stands still.

“No one else would have you Cassiopeia. We took you in, gave you our protection.”

“We gave you a family — a home.”

Then an unfamiliar voice among them; young and trusting and tired—so very tired, dragged out of her bed in the middle of the night.

“Of course, Elder Millet, a-and I’m grateful! Please, please…”

“All of these things without expectation of repayment. Because our kind must stand together — must straddle the worlds of both dark and light and know balance in them.”

“You have been cursed, darling girl. But today we will turn that curse into a blessing.”

“But you made me promise —”

Then the feeling changes — grows old and damp and determined to do good by those who took care of her, by those who loved her.

The bones of a persecuted witch. Of three. The last three to fall victim to The Bloody Hand and the ones to call him forth from the hereafter.

They bind him in torment, in hellfire unseen.

The sight of them, knowledge that she could be one of them, makes her skin crawl.

Elder Daniels watches ever-present at her back as Elder Vion finishes the rite of conjuring; sprinkles the last of the dry spell over the bones. The mandrake powder tickles her nose. She holds her breath and prays not to sneeze.

The ochre within stains the bones her favorite shade of orange; the burned hue of a Bayou sunset. But combined with the flakes of iridescent mica that catch in the candlelight — the spell takes hold of the bones and claims them for their use. Leaves them a bright, almost bleached white as the powders are absorbed into the long-gone marrow.

Cassiopeia looks to her left for Elder Millet’s familiar motherly smile. It gives her calm and hope — reminds her of all the other fostered witches they are acting in faith for tonight.

This is what she was born for. This is why she was abandoned; because the Garden Coven was meant to find her.

She’s meant to do this; use her curse. This is how she’s going to repay them for all they’ve done for her.

“Cassiopeia, sweetheart,” Elder Millet doesn’t move—can’t move—from her spot in the triquetra; coaxes her forward still with a nod of her chin, “whenever you’re ready.”

A hasty nod; then she takes one final moment to steel herself and her nerves.

She’s meant for this.

The sulfur powder itches at her palms but Cassie resists the urge to scratch. Spreads her fingers wide and hears a pop in her thumbs as she reaches over and above the ritual bones.

On the other side of the altar comes the thud. thud. thud of Elder Vion’s walking staff on the ground a this feet. The candle flames around them flicker — almost to death.

Then comes the slow and throated chanting of Vion’s native tongue. The flames begin to grow.

The young witch buries that last shred of doubt way deep inside and trusts her protectors.

“Claw and blood, claw and bone. Bloodied flesh, endless stone…”

A whispered wind overcomes them. Fills the room warm near her toes and chilly to the touch.

Around the crypt it circles round and round — and grows.

“Soar with the zephyr, shriek with the crow. Life renewed I now bestow…”

She can’t quite tell if the shaking in her hands is the growing itch, her nerves, or the power of the spell. Nothing worth the reason to stop.

“My darkest will with blackened vein Unto this rotted soul I chain.”

“Again!” Elder Daniels commands. A tone that takes none but obedience.

“Claw and blood, claw and bone. Bloodied flesh, endless stone. Soar with the zephyr, shriek with the crow. Life renewed I now bestow. My darkest will with blackened vein Unto this rotted soul I chain!”

“Again!”

“I—I’m trying!”

“Try harder! Millet!”

“Cassiopeia you can’t break the chant. You can do it, I know you can!”

The whirlwind threatens to catch her voice and steal it from her lungs. Rattles the bones that stay together because they cannot imagine being apart — even in death. Hands stained with the sulfur’s ire and Cassie squeezes her eyes shut to keep it from getting in her eyes.

“Claw and blood! Claw and bone! Bloodied flesh! Endless stone!”

“It’s working! Jean—the knife!”

“You’re doing so good Cassie—we’re almost there!”

“My darkest will with blackened vein! Unto this rotted soul I chain!”

Taylor chokes on his own air; can feel the icy bite of the blade dragged across his throat. Sharp—so sharp it’s barely a pinprick but the wound left in its wake spills warm and wet down his front into his clothes soaking the ground taken in by the dirt and given a home here, below, in this awful place.

Ichor of the innocent to bind and control.

Before he can fall backwards Nik is there; familiar and solid and so so steady against the violent shaking that overcomes him.

He can still feel her— forces everything inside him to will himself not to see what happened next. Knows what was born from her spell, her devotion to the Elders, and her sacrifice.

Cassiopeia.

“She trusted them,” the words hang thick and dry on Taylor’s tongue, “she trusted them and they told her she was doing something good… she felt like she owed them.”

“And repaid that debt with her life…” Vera looks away; suddenly can’t stand to look at her.

Nik helps him back on his feet, brushes a hand through his hair and he leans into the warmth of it. Feels so cold now that the hot sting of Cassiopeia’s anguish is gone from him. Pulled out as if by a rusted hook embedded in his gut.

“Was it Reimonenq that did this to her?” asks Cade, who drags his finger along the curling edges of her wound.

“No, no… Elder Daniels, I think, was the one who sacrificed her.”

Nik frowns. “Why would you sacrifice the one doin’ the damn ritual?”

“The power in a ritual is beheld by the caster, obviously. With her death the entire thing should have been rendered null. But we all know that not to be the case.”

A strange look comes over the vampire’s expression for a moment; lips pursed thinly. He doesn’t look up from the body as he waves towards Vera. “Can you come here a moment? Take your glove off.”

“What? No!”

“Relax, you won’t be Touching me. I need you to Touch the witch’s hand.”

She looks between them all, Cassie’s body included, as if hoping one of them will speak up. “I won’t be Touchin’ anyone because I won’t do it. It’s too risky, especially here all… all cramped.”

“Please.”

Vera pleads at him silently. Taylor can feel her panic icy and crisp at the back of his throat. So he asks; “What do you think will happen?”

“If I’m correct,” whether he steps away from the altar and simply gestures, giving Vera space, is for her sake or his own is a mystery, “then nothing will happen at all.”

That it’s a risk he’s willing to take on behalf of Vera—that he isn’t the one doing the Touching and is all the more insistent anyway—is worrisome. But he’s their friend; they’re all in this together.

That—and the fact that if Katherine were down here she’d already be tugging Vera and her cursed hand forward without hesitation.

Curiosity, survival; whichever wins out it doesn’t matter. Not that it keeps the unfortunate inheritor of her family name from doing so slowly. As if trying to talk herself out of agreeing up until the last second.

“Which hand?”

“Either one will do,” then when her fingertips are a hair’s breadth away— “I seem to recall Derek wasn’t picky.”

Taylor wonders—quietly, in his head, and very much to himself—when the last time Vera actually touched another human was. Was there some sort of coming-of-age trigger for the curse? Or could she have been putting all the other toddlers on the playground at risk should she have decided to pull off her gloves and play tag?

Too long ago, the obvious answer. Obvious when Vera covers Cassiopeia’s hand first in fingertips — then her entire palm.

They wait. Nothing happens.

She shakes off her wrist—like this is something she’s at fault for—and tries again. Pushes this time enough to jostle the poor young sacrifice.

Again, nothing.

There’s a collective sigh of relief. All eyes on Cadence for answers, explanations, anything?

Nope. He just nods, as distantly academic as ever.

“So what does this mean?” Nik finally asks.

The last time he started rolling up his sleeves, Taylor witnessed Cadence’s transformation into some kind of merciless brute; a monster. Is it any wonder the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he sees it again?

“It means I’m going to need something that can cut through bone.”

#nightbound #choices nb #playchoices #nik ryder x mc #nik ryder #cal lowell #vera reimonenq #katherine nightbound #oc: cadence smith #nightbound mc #mc: taylor hunter #oblv: bound by circumstance #oblv: new chapter #; my fics #cassiopeia

4 notes · View notes

diregate · 6 years ago

Text

Elsword Job Paths, but the storyline gets rewritten by me because I’m bored Pt 1/2

Hi this is me I’m doing this because why not

Also first disclaimer I’ve only played so much Elsword which in general involves me only playing up to 3rd job, non transcendent, so anything from transcendence onwards is just baseless assumption from me

Also I’m picking out all job titles that are really similar because this game tries to be original but we all know that’s false because Add is basically Geas The Character and Elesis is A FakeTM

Elsword, the Knight who really likes smacking things in the head with a flat sword, really, who does that

After a long training session, he goes back to his home and what he picks up next will determine his fate:

Sword Knight > Lord Knight > Knight Emperor*

*:Not to be confused with Knight or Emperor, which is Elsword’s first job and Jin’s fourth job respectively

He picks up a picture of his sister, whom had magically disappeared an hour prior. Developing a hard onee-chan complex because he really aspires to grow and become just like her (minus the hair), he vigorously trains in the sword, and also starts using swords with sharper ends, good on you Elsword.

Magic Knight* > Rune Slayer > Rune Master^

*: Not to be confused with Spell Knight, which is Ronan’s first job

^: Not to be confused with Rune Caster, which is Mari’s first job

He picks up Aisha’s bag of supplies while she isn’t around and takes out the first thing, which was a pair of runed gloves. With the power of robbery gone unnoticed he develops the ability to use! Runes! Wow! Who could have guessed from that job title!

Sheath Knight (really?) > Infinity Blade* > Immortal (god why)

*:Not to be confused with the hot selling mobile app game Infinity Blade

He picks up Aisha’s bag of supplies while she isn’t around and takes out the first thing, which is apparently an entire box set of anime discs and manga which were completely misarranged. Elsword decided to do her a favor by rearranging everything, after he went through her entire Shoujou series. Now with the power of god and anime on his side, he decides to smack people with sword sheaths instead. Wonderful. I don’t know where to begin.

Aisha, the Magician whom is clearly in any form not completely identical to a specific girl named Arme Glenstid, as she has the ability to cast multiple fireballs instead of just one at a time (plowed fire doesn’t count).

After going out to shop for supplies and magical items and trinkets she realize her bag wasn’t with her. What she does next will forever change her path:

High Magician > Elemental Master > Aether Sage

She decides that everything in her hackysack wasn’t important anyway, her magic power was lost! She couldn’t be sitting around watching anime. She gets a little antsy and fidgety and starts taking it out by trying to have fun smacking enemies but eventually becomes a full fledged Sage by her own capabilities, twice. A wonderful girl.

Dark Magician* > Void Princess > Oz Soceress

*:Not to be confused with Dark Magician, the monster card that Atem summons in almost every duel episode ever

She decided that she really needs to get her stuff back. After discovering Elsword rummaging through it, she starts being absolutely pouty and learns how to channel her angsty emotion into destructive power. Eventually she learns how to channel any emotion into destructive power and now she’s literally rewritten the story of Oz into a manual of her road to (re)power.

Battle Magician* > Dimension Witch > Metamorphy

*:Not to be confused with Battle Mage, which is Arme’s fourth job, but it’s pretty friggin’ close to it anyway so really what’s the difference

She decided that she really needs to get her stuff back. After discovering Elsword rummaging through it and looking through her Shoujou anime and manga, she decides to join him. Nothing like anime to de stress, right? Eventually like Elsword, she becomes suffused with the power of god and anime and is now literally a Madoka Shoujou, and also as overpowered.

Rena, the Ranger whom really likes her shape and really likes flaunting it. Even if she has a very close resemblance to a certain Eryuelian archer, the inhumanly oversized chest of abundance really points out a difference. And also her spine is really goddamn flexible like yeesh. (Also whoever shittalks me about Rena for describing her like this really needs to play her because unless you’re going Sniping path, you are getting a lot of skimpy wear)

She embarks on her journey to Elrios (Gee where had I heard of this before) and decides that if she were going to have to fight through demons, that she’d have to pick a specific school of combat to major in:

Combat Ranger > Wind Sneaker > Anemos

Rena decides that her diet will now be calcium and protein based, and her bones grow strong and her muscles bulge from the daily workout of a commando. Her kicks prove to be insanely painful and she performs backflips and soumersalts, and occasionally performs for the poor. She also communes with the wind elemental to give her feet their blessings, so she basically becomes someone that is definitely not from a certain anime named DGrayman.

Sniping Ranger > Grand Archer > Daybreak

Rena decides that her arrows were too blunt and she spends almost all of her free time fletching new, super sharp ones. Also she gets the wind elementals to bless them too. Coupled with her flexible spine, she is able to haul a rain of arrows to end people before they could even look up after being downed by her. It’s useful when you can turn things to your advantage.

Trapping Ranger > Night Watcher > Twilight

Rena decides it’s time she used that stolen blade she snuck out of the shrine because she’s secretly a kleptomaniac. The blade Eldrassil is also super magical and gives her the power of nature while simultaneously sap her positive, then negative emotions. Eventually she becomes Not Batman, wearing a hoodie and for some reason deciding only covering majority of her upper parts alone was good enough to carry on her edgy aura. She also comes with a free bowl of sass and a ton of cuts.

Raven, the Taker whom is apparently a man with a robot arm and what the hell does a Taker even mean anyway. Why are you an antagonist that dies super easily to an infinite stretch of combos that I juggle you with because you’re just that easy to lift. Obviously he’s edgy, and generally upset with himself, and constantly seeks redemption for deeds he could not control doing. Also the Nasods used him as a base to replicate more robots like him and honestly Rena, yeah I’m disturbed too.

He doesn’t do much, he just says he wants to atone and that he’s good with a sword and also his robot arm has some weird ways to turn energy into weird looking fire. When he is finally free from the mind control of capitalism, he decides that:

Sword Taker > Blade Master > Furious Blade*

*:Not to be confused with Unlimited Blade, which is apparently everyone’s 3MP attack

He hates being a robot and he hates his robotic arm with a passion. But not like, in the way where he’d rip his own Nasod arm off. Are you kidding? That thing has nerves in it. Now that he’s dedicated to destroying Nasod he starts wearing long sleeves and returning to his old self, which is apparently an emo man by first dyeing his hair fully black, and then keeping it down so that it almost always seems to obscure one eye. Yeah, very easy to kill things when you can’t see them too well, right? Also he gets a guy to rebuild his arm to look like his other one.

Over Taker (really?) > Reckless Fist > Rage Hearts* (?????)

*:Not to be confused with Burning Heart, which is one of Fake!Elesis’ 3rd job

He loves being a robot and he loves his robotic arm with a passion. But not like, in the way where he’d make love to his own Nasod arm anyway. Instead he focuses more on his burst potential. With his newfound fascination for pyrotechnics and white hair, he starts streaking his hair with white and also keeping it from his face for a grand total of one job before he feels the comforting embrace of his fringe between his eyes.

Weapon Taker (yeah, what else are you going to take next) > Veteran Commander > Nova Imperator*

*:I swear they’re just making things up by this point

He doesn’t really care honestly. But not like, in the way where he’d use both of them together in a combination way. He just uses other weapons now. He also has so much gratitude for Elsword and his team for saving him that he streaks his hair red now, instead of his white, and attaining maximum edge hairstyle. Also he likes looking very judgmental and upset about things.

Eve, the Another Code, whose introduction does not match the general sentence and has thusforth failed itself, is a Nasod. Elsword, you’re travelling with a Nasod, wake up your eyes. You’d think her slap would be good enough. But noooo, you had to give her feelings. YOU GAVE A ROBOT FEELINGS. THIS IS WHY SHE ENDS UP HAVING THESE THREE JOB PATHS:

Code: Exotic > Code: Nemesis > Code: Ultimate

Absolutely deciding that feelings is a very not okay thing in computation and artificial intelligence, she resolves to create the ability to wipe out all that stands in her way of her making her empire of Nasods. As such, she slaps that emotional circuitry out of her and starts developing the ability to make some additional machines to murderize both enemy robots and humans. And elves. But mostly robots apparently.

Code: Architect > Code: Empress > Code: Esencia

Absolutely deciding that feelings is a very okay and even important thing in computation and artificial intelligence, she decides to keep the emotional circuitry in herself. And because Elsword gave her feelings and then decide to watch anime instead of talking to her, she gets lonely. So she makes robots, and eventually after mingling with everyone she thinks that, well, maybe Nasods and humans can live together. And elves. But mostly humans apparently.

Code: Electra > Code: Battle Seraph > Code: Sariel

Absolutely unable to decide, her own emotional circuits start short circuiting and now she’s unable to control what she’s feeling, so she goes with the general method of ‘I’m a robot I can’t feel, hoooh’. Also the overloaded circuits start giving her power and pain, until it also short circuited her own pain circuits. In fact basically everything in her short circuits and she becomes a weapon herself to destroy both enemy robots and humans. And elves. But mostly elves apparently.

(Disclaimer: I played Chung for a grand total of 30 minutes)

Chung, the Guardian who apparently failed to guard his own city from demons. You had one job*. Also his surname is Seeker, and I’m almost sure that’s actually his job name in KR. You had one job. He has long hair, and in fact looks super androgynous, you could mistake him for a girl fairly easily. He’s also the heir of the throne. Like Ara. Like Lu. Like Eve. Boy, you are just one cog in a series of clockwork.

*:He actually has 3 job paths and 3 jobs in each so that’s actually 9 jobs, but details, details.

Eventually he runs into the El Search Party, whom apparently named themselves that because they’re the only goddamn people in the entire world of Elrios trying to save the entire world. Wow. Infatuated by a noble cause and in dire need for one himself because otherwise he’ll break down (and trust me you don’t want him to, his /cry is 13 seconds long), he joins in and decides to hone on his talent with a cannon on his back, or something else:

Fury Guardian > Iron Paladin > Comet Crusader

He loves his hair, he grows it longer like his cannon as he starts to make it stronger with little tinkering. He also loves shooting cannon balls and blowing things up. He ties it up in the end because the hair was getting so long it was starting to block his eyes (which miraculously affects his field of vision unlike every one else in this world). With the martial artist of Rena to help him, he swings that cannon round and round baby, round and round.

Shooting Guardian* > Deadly Chaser > Fatal Phantom

*:GEE WHAT ELSE IS NEW

He doesn’t like his hair, it reminds him of home, and probably the blood of several thousand citizens that he failed to save. So he cuts it, Mulan style, with his new weapon Go Go Geagles. Armed with two more pistols aside from his huge ass cannon he puts on his back, now he starts running around and yelling ‘FIRE’* so much you could swear he’s an audible fire alarm. In fact I’m almost pretty sure he hates fire and his cannon now too.

*: Actually I meant to put this link there but you get two links for the price of one!

Shelling Guardian > Tactical Trooper > Centurion

He likes his hair, but it could probably use a new addition. Flipping through some of Elsword’s (and Aisha’s as well, presumably) manga collection, he decided what he needs was some fox ears. So he asked Ara to see if Eun could bless him with some of her kitsune powers. So she did. Now he has fox ears. He also learns alchemy and ends up making his cannon less reliable, for more destructive purposes. Literally now his shots go everywhere. It’s almost like you don’t care to aim away from your new friends, Chung. Do you really want all of this to happen just because you want your fox ears?

Ara-Ain will all be on a later post because holy crap this is long

#i get bored #so this happens #i'm also giving this my own tag #elorigins #because one day i might pick this up #probably not until this game dies like grand chase though

3 notes · View notes

magpiejay1234 · 3 years ago

Text

I have been playing FFIV GBA for a few days, and here are my scrambled thoughts:

*Game is definitely cinematic in both best and worst ways. You can definitely understand why half of the script was cut from the game. Many of the plot-relevant dungeons like Tower of Lot and Giant of Babel are one-off dungeons, latter appearing temporarily on the overworld and the former never appearing in the overworld.

*While Cecil’s redemption story is wrapped up earlier in the game, the game doesn’t hold itself with Cecil’s war crimes during the invasion of Mysidia. Even though most of the people you fought in the opening turn out to be in Baron’s prisons, there is at least one person missing. Meaning you begin the game with Cecil killing at least a guy willingly. The prisoners don’t show up when you return to Baron, the implication being Cagnazzio, while disguised as King of Baron, executed them for the show. Ew.

*There is a weird theme of fatherhood here. Both King of Baron (essentially Cecil’s adoptive dad) and Kluya (Cecil’s dad) are important characters both in the plot and the overall lore. However, you also have Cid (deliberately designed as a father figure), Yang, and Tellah. For the other NPCs, you have King Giott (who stored the key to the Sealed Cave in her daughter Luca’s neclace) and King of Elban, who is the only monsterous parent of Edge you must defeat in the pseudo-boss battle. Of course, Cecil himself becomes a dad at the end of the game. It has become such a rare event to see a game focus on this theme, but here it is.

*The mysticism around the crystals definitely made me understand why people hate The After Years. In the original game, though the Crystals are implied to Lunarian artifacts, there is still something mysterious about them, as Lunarians, despite their technological advancements, are still clearly a religious people.

*The world building of the FFIV feels a bit weaker than the FFI and FFII, since they clearly designed backstories for the different kingdoms you see throughout the game, but they are not discussed in the game. Is Eblan supposed to be Japan with its ninjitsu? Is the town of Tomra a mining town?

The After Years of course develop these ideas further (yes, Eblan is Japan, yes Tomra is a mining town etc.), but I don’t feel the ideas are fully realized here.

With FFI all locations in the game had eleborate backstories, but the real connections the current script is focused on are the connections between the overworlds (Underworld, Overworld and the Moon). The relationships of the kingdoms before the death of King Baron isn’t described to its full.

*What is developed are the airships. Sakaguchi loves these. And they really sell you on the destructive power of the airships. This is because you have an entire regiment of airships, instead of one superweapon, like it was in the case in FFII (yes Mateus had an entire regiment as well, but you only saw it in the cutscenes.)

There are few more interesting things about the military power of Baron as well. The highest authority who willingly joins Golbez is Captain Baigan, who gets the power to transform into a demon. We don’t know if this is due to sorcery of Golbez, or a foreshadowing of Dr. Lugae’s experiments. In addition to our boy Baigan, Baron also has a regiment of the honorable Dragoons, who in the FFII were Wyvern Riders (they are just knights errands in FFIV). They really push the idea of aerial superioty screwing up the feudal system of FFIV’s world, while also noting that Baron has given up on its navy (despite the fake King Baron turning out to be Cagnazzio).

*There is also an interesting thing about the Elemental Fiends. Each of them have a sub-boss before you fight them. Scarmiglione has Mom Bomb, Cagnazzio has Baigan, Barbaraccia has the three Magus Sisters (a pastiche of the three Magi), and Rubicante has, grudgingly, Dr. Lugae and the mutated parents of Edge. The Elemental Lords themselves also become the subbosses of the Giant of Babel’s CPU, but I haven’t fought it yet (I lost to a random Mech Dragon encounter, so I’m stuck grinding here.)

This nested dolls boss system also works with Golbez, who has supposedly King Baron as his superior (turns out to be false), only to end up being the minion of Zemus, while also having, de facto, Kain as his minion throughout the game, who gives the final crystal to Golbez (this would be later homaged by both Cloud and Rinoa, obviously, despite being such a bad and undercooked idea.)

*Sylph Cavern was the first time I couldn’t grind my out of a debacle. I forgot Yang was in the first floor, so I ended up going to the next floor in the Sylph Home to end up outside. When I decided to do the item Monsters, the second set of Evil Dreamers defeated me for the first time (Giant of Babel’s Mech Dragons would defeat me the second time, since I didn’t grind on the Moon, and couldn’t get the Lunar Whale to defeat Bahamut.)

The floating gimmick is annoying even if the cavern (and the Cave of Summons) give you good EXP, which is really the only thing of value in later dungeons.

*FFIV obviously inspired Pokémon’s tropes in a big way. One way is the EXP/money system. Early battles you had would give you lots of money with minimal EXP. Later battles, predictably do the opposite. However, you need around 9 million EXP to get to Level 99, and unlike Pokémon, random encounters don’t get easier as you Level up. Lack of Ethers but abundance of Phoenix Downs, alongside the abundance of save locations, definitely seems to have inspired Pokémon.

Because of the abundance of save locations, the game wants you to use tents and cottages much more so than FFI-FFII. Most dungeons are not places you can casually escape, you must do the plot or otherwise you have to backtrack from the beginning. Even if most dungeons are fairly linear, secret items still require a walkthrough. This gives off a weird wibe, the main plot is linear but game is designed with exploration in the mind. Just like most Pokémon games, again.

*There is weird thing around Goblins. You have dwarves, who are humanoid creatures with their own cities and established culture (in The After Years, they are just dark-skinned people.) But Goblins, for whatever reason, decide to work for Golbez, in both Tower of Babel and the invasion of Fabul. Since you have an entire society of summons (who would later inspire Espers in FFVI), and you have Mythril Village for all the freaks out there, it feels weird to see Goblins be so prominent in the game as antagonists. I feel like there is an interesting plot here.

*Strangely enough, both Edward and Edge turned out to be really useful after I leveled them up to a playable stage. Rosa, in contrast, turned out to be really useless, since she cannot wear heavy armor, and game is designed against magic abuse. So even though she has insanely large amount of MP and HP, because arrows are perishable and don’t deal much damage unless you use Aim, you might have a better show with a staff or with her bare hands. Her punches ended being more reliable for most of the game until I got proper bows.

Tellah was another surprise, even if I couldn’t use him much, because I needed to grind a lot of time before Magnetic Cavern, his character eventually grow on me (especially now that I could level him up, unlike in Underground Waterway), so I feel his death worked better on me than most people.

*Speaking of Magnetic Cavern, there is also a lot of FFI and FFII in FFIV. Dark Elf is obviously a reference to Astos, Leviathan swallowing Rydia is a reference to the Leviathan in FFII, Kain’s initial equipment and Cecil’s intitial titles are both a reference to Leon in FFII etc. Kain is also left-handed just like Leon, which is a not-so subtle hint that he will betray the team twice.

#ffiv #ff4 #ty plays ff4 gba

0 notes

skull001 · 7 years ago

Text

Why I think Amy is a better character than Tails? Both characters are what can be seen a Sonic's closest friends (sorry Knuckles), but:

* For all the complains about Sonamy, something that has always been a very minor thing added by ST from time to time, I feel like Tails currently is an actual, much larger problem within the franchise for how not only it essentially blocks Sonic from interacting with other characters because of the (frankly overrated) "unbreakable bond" thing, but it even goes as far as actually de-railing stories in a way that almost reminds me of hopw the old Archie comics would shoehorn the Sonally romance, like in Sonic Lost World which was supposed to be a story about Sonic and Eggman working together, not the bloody drama of an entitled Tails who gets jealous at the very mention of Sonic trusting Eggman, out of need I must remark, as if Sonic (the guys who has been figthing Eggman long before ever meeting fox boy) wasn't aware that the doc would turn on them at the first chance. That alone says all you need to know about "how much" Tails trusts Sonic and how apparently him being the focus of Sonic's attention was more important than the emergency at hand.

*I personally don't find anything interesting nor engaging in the supposedly close bond between Sonic and Tails because of one simple reason: it feels too easy and convenient, almost as if designed so that Sonic would had a friend that doesn't interfere with him in any way and therefore find no merit in it, and no amount of undeserved fistbumps will ever change this view of mine. Amy on the other hand is more of an individual that while still sharing some common things with Sonic like a love for adventure and excitement as well as their dislike for injustice, has plenty of differences because both characters belong to different "worlds" so to speak: Sonic is the superhero who is one the search for new, bigger than life adventures while Amy is much more closer to the average everyday person, and justs wants to add some excitement to her normal life. To Amy, her world is one about her interests, which are very different from Sonic's, and the road to balance their respective lifes and interests is one that can result in a more believable and interesting dynamic. To put it as an allegory: Tails is the easy, smooth road that has been previously prepared for convenience while Amy is the more rocky, challenging AND rewarding one.

*Both chracters are described as being kind, yet as far as I can tell, only one of them has actual friends besides Sonic, and has left a positive impression in other characters that changes their lives for the best, wether it is helping characters like Crem and Big believe in themselves and not give up on their quest to save their friends, or to show the way towards redemption to those who lost it, an act of compassion extended to actual antagonists (Gamma, Shadow, Eggpawns) out of genuine empathy that I find to hold much more merit than Sonic comforting the needy character with a sorry sob story that exists to make him look virtuous, despite the way he treats some of his friends who are not named Tails.

*Unlike Tails, Amy is not limited to interact with just Sonic and can actually hold her own adventures, facing actual adversities for which she has to figure a way to solve them, unlike the genious boy who is a wonder with machines and can conveniently solve most problems by pressing random buttons with what I can describe as a solution that is anything but intelligent. Not only that, but Amy also happens to be willing to either leave Sonic's side, or stop looking for him to help out others, putting their needs before her very own. In contrast, what exactly did Tails do in Forces? He gives up on Sonic at the first glance of his hero's defeat and runs away instead of joining the Resistance to help out, returning ONLY when by a plot convenient chance, another Sonic appears. Imagine if the roles had inverted and just how much more harsh people would had been on Amy than anything Tails has ever received so far.

*Unlike Tails, who in order to be capable of fighting needs to copy everything that Sonic (already) does, Amy didn't enjoy that luxury and had to carve her very own path as a hero, which she eventually did when she found her inseparable Piko Piko hammer, starting a journey to win Sonic's respect (and affection) that has led her to meet other characters whom she befriends and helps, no matter if they're victims of Eggman or antagonists in whish she finds something good, latching to it and helping them do the right thing.

*Sonic believes in HIMSELF because he has the means to achieve great things to help others. Amy on the other hand believes in YOU (and by this I mean the characters she comes across) and helps bring the best in others. What does Tails has to offer to inspire?

*Amy does not need a sorry sob origin story to be a sympathetic character. IMO Amy is, along with Dr. Eggman, one of the characters who deliver some of the most sincere pathos, because there is nothign more human than feeling sorry for those who, no matter how hard they try, never realize their most cheerished goals... even more because these two are basically pitted against an inflexible status quo. That's why no matter how well Amy does, how much merit she builds, she'll never win Sonic's heart, nor be considered "as good" as Tails, the one character that gets everything served on a silver platter.

*Amy has actual flaws, and faces actual consequences for her own bullshit. In constrast, Tails' characterization in Sonic Lost World saw him being essentially rewarded by a narrative that wanted to show how oh so "awesome" he was.

With this in mind, why would I ever want to care for a character like Tails, who on top gets the benefit of receiving more spotlight than the rest of the series support cast combined? Having a cute design nor the seniority, much less the popularity, isn’t exactly something that is going to be enough to cut it when it comes to making me like something.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Amy Rose #Miles Tails Prower #opinion

19 notes · View notes

m39 · 4 years ago

Text

History of the Creed - Part 2: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood; the game that is a mission packed sequel and is somehow better than its predecessor… at least that’s how I think… and many other people.

ASSASSIN’S CREED: BROTHERHOOD (The original PC release in Europe: March 18, 2011)

youtube

PLOT

We begin our story where the last game ended up. Ezio just beat up the Pope and received a message that doesn’t understand because it’s for Desmond. So he comes back to Mushroom Ki- I mean his villa to finally take a rest from the Templars. Shame it was a bad idea, since Rodrigo’s son, manchild that he is, decided to wreck our shit with his papal army and, to add more salt to injury, kill uncle Mario. I HAVE WASTED DOZENS OF HOURS AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FLORINS TO MAKE THIS TOWN NOT LOOK LIKE SHIT! CESARE!! YOU SPANISH FU-

Technical difficulties

What we basically have is a repeat of the previous game: Family member of Borgias ends up ruining Ezio’s life in some way and killing his family member(s) so it’s time to whoop some ass in the old fashioned revenge. I mean it’s not bad but it’s kinda weak to have a story that its foundations are basically the same as the AC2.

Good thing that the characters save the story. Ezio is still awesome as he was in the previous game. Almost all of the secondary protagonists are from AC2 and their characterization is extended in some way (I might also want to add up that even Rodrigo somewhat changed after our last meeting). The new characters (both protagonists and antagonists [asides from Cesare]) are on the same level as the secondary characters in the previous game: nothing great, nothing terrible, just fine. Main villain on the other hand… is basically a large ham. And I fucking love it. It’s the kind of ham that is enjoyable to watch. And the main reason why Cesare is so hilariously enjoyable to watch is his voice actor. Andreas Apergis fucking nails it! He already showed some talent in Assassin’s Creed 2 as Francesco de’ Pazzi and Checco Orsi but this game is when he showed of his talent. The fact that he ended up as a main villain in modern times and as your closest companion in the newest game proves this.

GAMEPLAY

So this game is basically the same as Assassin’s Creed 2 but with few changes. While the parkour is still the same as it was before, the combat got some new stuff. For instance there are kill streaks now. How does it work? After killing an enemy you can aim at the next target and attack them, or in other words, kill them in one shot kill. Also there is a kick. You can kick the enemy in the nuts to make them vulnerable for your attacks.

You thought combat was too easy in the previous game? Well, with this two new addons the enemies are now a complete joke. Even the toughest bastards asides from Borgia captains and bosses will die like a little bitch once you smash their balls off and/or kill streak them.

Speaking off enemies, there are two new types of them. There are Papal Guards who are the amalgamation of all previous enemies. In theory, they are very tough. In practice, kick ‘em in the nuts and they are done. There are also previously mentioned Borgia Captains who will either run away on your sight or fight you, which, in latter’s case, are immune to counters and kill streaks.

…

Oh yeah, you can also hold attack button to do a special attack based on what you have in your hand. That (mostly) useless shit exists.

There is also some upgrades to your arsenal. You can fire your hidden gun much faster. You can fire poison through the shootable darts (when you buy it out from Leonardo). You can use heavy weapons like the ones used by brutes (when you buy heavy sheath). And of course, the god’s gift: The crossbow.

heavenly noises

Imagine your hidden pistol being silent and have up to over twice the ammo. That’s crossbow in the nutshell. Overpowered? Yes, but still satisfying to use. It may cost a fuck ton of florins but it’s worth a price.

Also, you have your assassin apprentices that you can summon to help you kill selected target or kill a group of soldiers with arrows when you have three, filled bars.

Are you sick of walking around the whole 16th century Rome? Well, now you can use tunnels to get faster (providing you renovated them).

There are new mechanics for horses like shooting/assassinating from a horse and stealing a horse GTA style. Oh, and you can also whistle to summon it; I forgot about that.

…

Huh… I believe I said probably everything about new gameplay mechanics.

OH WAIT! That’s right! The beggars are back! Along with bards!! AND THEY MULTIPLIED!!! Thank god for the ability to throw your money to distract them for a while.

Liquid Bogan: M̶u̵l̵t̴i̶p̵l̵a̷y̶e̵r̵.̴

What?

Liquid Bogan: T̵h̵e̵r̷e̸ ̵i̸s̷ ̶a̶l̴s̷o̶ ̶m̵u̸l̸t̸i̴p̸l̵a̵y̶e̶r̴.̷ ̶Y̶o̴u̴ ̴f̷o̸r̶g̵o̵t̴ ̷a̷b̴o̵u̵t̸ ̸i̸t̷,̶ ̷y̵i̸s̵?̵

…

What?

ACTIVITIES

Well it wouldn’t be an Ubisoft game without a fuck ton of side stuff to do, so I’ll try to focus on new things.

While renovations are back, you won’t be able to renovate the building unless you kill the Borgia captain in the region and then burn previously protected Borgia tower. There are also banks spread around Rome so you don’t have to go to one place to withdraw your money like in the previous game.

I mentioned earlier about the apprentices. You can recruit them by helping civilians when they are in danger just like AC1. In return they will join the brotherhood and you can then send them to different cities to level them up to level 10.

Now you can do challenges for mercenaries, courtesans, thieves and assassins. By doing them you can unlock stuff like (respectively) 50% discount for hiring guild members, 2 new abilities per guild and (and this is the only bonus from assassins) a new, powerful weapon. Personally they are fine but some of them are really annoying and tedious (10 times five people kill streak anyone?!).

Beside challenges, there are side missions, like, a fuck ton of them. We have assignments from thieves and courtesans and assassination contracts that unlock as you go further through the main plot. We have Leonardo’s war machines to destroy, which after doing all of them you will be rewarded with parachutes. We have missions focusing on Templar agents AKA characters from multiplayer. We have Christina missions that unlock every 15% of synchronization up to 75%. There are also 2 DLC packs that are free for PC users: The Da Vinci Disappearance and (since 2017 to my surprise) Copernicus Conspiracy.

Did you liked collecting the flags from AC1? Well guess what? They are back. And this time you can buy expensive as fuck maps after collecting 25 of them.

And now… we came to the big one: Full Synchronization. Basically, most of the memories (either main ones or secondary ones) has additional, secondary objective like not doing this thing, killing someone with specific weapon, don’t kill anyone etc. Personally, I have a mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it’s cool to give the game some additional challenge. On the other hand, it feels like it restricts the players (and to be more precise, completionists) from playing how they want. Not to mention, some of these objective are very annoying/hard to get (anybody wants some no detection task?!). Don’t like them? Tough shit! We will have to withstand it for… let me see- 7 GAMES AT LEAST!

Also there are 5 hidden artifacts on modern times. Might want to point it out.

But overall, most of these activities were enjoyable to do. Then again, I think I’m some kind of masochist that enjoys doing that. At least I can say that most of them are worth the award.

THE GRAHPICS AND SOUND

The graphics might be where this game has the biggest advantage over AC2. While the buildings and the rest of environment feels like it’s on the same level as the last game, the character models doesn’t give you a feeling of being outdated anymore (at least in 50-70%): textures look sharper, facial animation looks less wonky/over the top, it all looks really nice… except there is one noticeable problem with some of the animations. Whenever you kill someone with your hidden blade, their forearms doesn’t animate, so it feels like you stabbed a dummy with the inflatable arms. Did some of the animators forgot to add the animation?

The sound effects keep the same level as the previous game AKA very good and the soundtrack is still top-notch. Jesper Kyd once again made a damn good job on the latter’s department. When you compare both soundtracks from AC2 and ACB you’ll notice that the latter one (most of the time) has more aggressive/unpleasant experience, which makes sense, you are in the lion’s den which is Italian Templars’ main base, that ain’t Florence/Venice, that’s home of our main villain. Here are some of my favorite tracks:

youtube

And here is the entire soundtrack for you to hear.

STABILITY

Note: Played on the highest setting minus anti-aliasing.

Good news – there were no crashing bugs, nor game breaking bugs.

Bad news – there were more framerate drops this time (especially when it was raining).

So still, the PC version is nicely optimized with a few hiccups. Something tells me I should say more about it but honestly, there is nothing else to add.

SUMMARY

Same foundations for the plot that makes it somewhat boring? Yes. Too much annoying stuff to do? Kind of. Being nothing more but a reheated, mission-packed sequel? Absolutely. But still, this game is the best out of all of Ezio’s trilogy and I would say that even if the boomer fan pointed a gun on my head. It basically takes AC2 but it adds so much stuff that makes the previous game pale in comparison.

And now, the only way to finish this review… is with this:

Cesare, oh Cesare,

A man of great depravity

Believed himself immortal 'til

He had a date with gravity.

intensive clapping

See you all next time.

Bye!

#history of the creed #Assassin's Creed #review #assassin's creed brotherhood #ac: brotherhood

0 notes

dalishious · 8 years ago

Note

How do you think your Tabris (your cannon warden, yes?) would feel about the entire inquisition team - including the chargers and the wardens (providing you spared them) and their old companions - if they met them at skyhold during the events of the main game? (If that is something you've ever thought about)

Ahhh yes yes yes~

(My ‘canon’ warden)

Cassandra - Cassandra would probably remind Tathas too much of Wynne. As in, she’d see her as “too bossy and serious.” They would not get along very well. Tathas would without a doubt purposely try to aggravate her because she’d think it’s funny.

Solas - She would really not like Solas. Much like Cassandra, she’d consider him too bossy and serious, with “the snobbery you’d expect from a pampered noble.” They would fight. A lot. And she would absolutely not take any of his “you’re not a true elf” BS.

Varric - I think they’d get along just fine. They’d probably be good drinking and story exchanging buddies.

Sera - (TBH if she switched places with my Inquisitor, Sera would without a doubt be her LI.) They would get along very well--Not only do they come from the same alienage, they share the same morals and have similar views of the world. I.e. Tathas was Denerim’s Robin Hood before becoming a Warden, and if things worked out differently, she probably would have found herself as a Red Jenny.Ooh. I wonder if Sera would extend an offer to join... She would totally accept.

Vivienne - They would not like each other, for the same reasons Viv and Sera don’t get along.

Iron Bull - Considering all she knew about the qun and the qunari came from Sten, Iron Bull would be quite confusing to her.

Blackwall - “WhErE tHe FuCk WeRe YoU”

Dorian - She’d be nothing but antagonistic towards him, hiding her fear. She would quietly frankly, be scared of Dorian. And every single time he’d open her mouth to talk about Tevinter, the only thing she would think about is what became of her people that were taken in Unrest in the Alienage. And she would hate that he could so nonchalantly talk about his homeland when her people are either slaves or dead because of it.

Cole - I think she’d be a little apprehensive of Cole, just because she has far more experience with bad spirits than good, but he would remind her a lot of Justice. And so while she’d be a little anxious, she wouldn’t be mean or anything. I also think she’d find him surprisingly helpful to talk to about some past traumatic experiences. Like, he would help her without her maybe even realizing so.

Leliana - There would be lots of hugs and catching up.

Josephine - While I think they would get off on the wrong foot, Tathas would warm up to her. She would not like Josie treating her like her an honoured guest, or anyone special. When things become more casual, they stay that way.

Cullen - “What de-aging potion did you drink? And how long does it take to straighten your hair every morning?” (Beyond that she just wouldn’t really want anything to do with him.)

Chargers - Of the Chargers, I think she’d most like Skinner and Rocky. (Rocky would remind her of Dworkin from Vigil’s Keep lol.) She’d ask Krem what it’s like not to be a noble in Tevinter. She’d invent all kinds of stories for Grim’s background. She’d enjoy playing along with Dalish’s totally a bow gag. And Stitches would seem vaguely familiar to her; when he’d detail that he fought the Darkspawn in Ferelden, they would share experiences from the Battle of Denerim.

Wardens - “See, this is why I left.” While she’d criticize them for their decisions, she’d agree that the Inquisitor made the right call not to banish them. Because the last thing they’d need is yet another Blight with no wardens to stop it.

#tathas tabris #Anonymous #ask

44 notes · View notes

boredom-bloggers · 8 years ago

Text

critique paper

MARVELS AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D - 2013

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a TV Series based on Stan Lee’s comic books. It’s first episode was aired on September 2014, and is still currently releasing episodes every week. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. shows what goes on behind the scenes of a Marvel movie. It varies from planning a mission, to the legal work, and also delving into the personal lives of the “agents”. The first season starts off with the agents retrieving a woman who all the while has been hacking their servers. It shows the transition from her being rogue to her being a vital member of their team. Skye, played by Chloe Bennet, worms her way into the hearts of the agents that recruited her. She immediately portrays herself as a strong independent woman, who has no place in the team. She has to work her way to find her role on the team only to undergo a massive change that gives her superpowers which also causes her to lose position on the team, this makes her have to find her way around the team again. Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, is the only one of the main characters on the show that has actually been a part of the Marvel movies. Phil Coulson was killed in the first AVENGERS movie by Loki, but was brought back to life. Phil’s role in the first season was a loyal agent that followed orders from the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury until he gets appointed as the new director. He only keeps his position till fourth season where he gives it up to go on actual missions. Of course the good guys have to have a villain counterpart so they are chasing a villain who calls himself the clairvoyant who is always one step ahead of the good guys.

The actors in the show such as Clark Gregg, Ming -Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge do actually get along really well off screen which is why they’re characters, Coulson, May, Skye, Fitz and Simmons (respectively) have so much chemistry on screen. The chemistry that is seen between Fitz (De Caestecker) and Simmons (Henstridge) is played off innocently at first and then becomes more passionate and romantic as the shows story line moves forward. The writers and directors played with the relationship between Coulson and May (Wen) starts of as Coulson being in a higher position causing May to have to “follow” his orders. But as the plot thickens they seem to have their relationship developing romantically. Though Skye’s love interest throughout the seasons have always failed; either it’s them dying or turning out to be evil, in this current season her love interest, Robbie Reyes, , played by Gabriel Luna ,may actually survive due to the fact that he may be immortal.

The writers, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancheron, played it safe during the first season. While many of their viewers and critics disliked there medium of enacting the comics, it gave a lot of hope that they would continue airing the show. They went on missions that didn’t have any red tape or someone controlling their every move.

Whereas in the second season they show the aftermath of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The second season also shows how the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization falls and how they decide to resolve it. This was also the season where they tied the show’s story line to the Marvel movies, which is exactly how they want the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play out, this is the reason I personally preferred this season over the first. Throughout the show they introduce more and more “inhumans”, which will have a bigger role as the show progresses, as well as in the upcoming Marvel movies. They also revealed that Skye is “inhuman” as well. She goes through a major transformation, she receives superpowers and finds out who her biological parents are, which causes her to find out that the birth name, given by her parents, is actually Daisy Johnson. The second season ends with a fight against the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans gathered in China. During the battle Daisy’s new found parents die. This makes the audience feel for Skye/Daisy because she never got to connect with her parents due to the war that went on. This season is attracted more viewers because of all that went on between the Agents and the introduction to the “inhumans”.

The third season starts with Daisy initiating a secret group of inhumans, called the Caterpillars that deal with the new threats of the world the Watchdogs, whose main goal is to kill all the inhumans in the world. While on a mission the Caterpillars find an artifact that changes forms from a rock to a tar like liquid. This sucks up Simmons who went missing. She was found in another world six months later. They eventually get Simmons out but she has to deal with nightmares and the trauma that she faced while being isolated in the other world. In this season the antagonist they face is an old enemy who turns into a powerful inhuman who can control the minds of the other moral inhumans. In the end the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents become victorious. Although Daisy loses her current partner and leaves the secure base because she feels incredibly guilty for thinking she started the whole war. I thought this season gave some of the characters more dimension with the trauma that they faced from losing loved ones. The season also gives closure to a lot of the characters. This season was a lot heavier because the inhumans faced a lot of fear, anger and hate from the people who didn’t have the power. I feel like they could have made the plot heavier due to all the trauma they went through. The characters seemed to start behaving normally after just a few days of recovery.

The fourth season shows Coulson and his partner looking for Daisy who ran away at the end of the last season. They were never able to find Daisy which made me and a lot of the viewers wonder what was the point of them being a “Super Secret Agency” in the first place. Daisy who is still hiding, finds out about Robbie Reyes (Luna) is also known as the Ghost Rider. She goes to confront him about him killing the “bad guys”. His argument was that that is what she did as well, the only difference is that hers started of sanctioned by the Government. She eventually reconnects with her old team during a mission, but they are angry for her leaving in the first place. They eventually forgive her and she joins the team again.

I really love the actors who were chosen to play the roles in the show because they are canonically correct, they hired Asian actors for the Asian roles and they have a lot of diversity in the cast and crew. I really like how well the characters were portrayed and also because most of the story line was canon. The parts I didn’t like was that most of the plot was similar: the good guy faces bad guy, they fight, they lose a team member and the good guys win

#agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#critique paper

2 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 5 years ago

Text

Preacher: The Most Shocking Moments From the Comics

https://ift.tt/2yDz4ho

There are plenty of differences between the Preacher TV series and the comics, but the commitment to shock value remains the same.

facebook

twitter

tumblr

This article contains major spoilers for the Preacher comics and probably the TV series, too. It's also completely unsuitable for younger or more sensitive readers.

In the world of Preacher, horror is the eleventh commandment.

TV fans are now in on what countless DC Comics and Vertigo fans have known for years, that when it comes to shocking moments, no comic on the planet can hold a candle to Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher. When Preacher began in 1995, from the very first page, it was clear that this was a comic that knew no boundaries, a comic that pushed the envelope on good taste and social taboos while testing the limits of the comic book medium. But make no mistake, underneath those gorgeous Glenn Fabry covers beat a huge heart, because as offensive and nasty as Preacher usually got, the comic book epic also delivered a very human and often moving story of love, hope, and friendship.

But we’re not here to talk about that sappy stuff. We’re here to talk about the exit wounds, flayings, contusions, atrocities, sexual deviancy, depraved rednecks, incest, murders, mayhem, chaos, compound fractures, buggerings, cranial trauma, mass killings, food sex, regular sex, animal sex, fish sex, sheep sex, S&M, and decapitations that Preacher delivered on a regular basis.

Buy Preacher graphic novels on Amazon

An entire church burns to death, and that's just the start.

Ennis and Dillon’s Preacher opens with a church full of parishioners horribly burning to death. In the opening pages, before fans met Cassidy, Tulip, Arseface, the Saint of Killers, Herr Starr, or any of the major players of Vertigo’s magnum opus, they bore witness to Jesse Custer becoming possessed by Genesis, a metaphysical entity with the powers of God. Genesis gives Jesse the power to compel people with his voice (think a way more dashing and less creepy version of Jessica Jones’ Killgrave). And when the powerful entity possesses Custer, the joining kills everyone currently listening to a sermon in Custer’s church.

This moment of horrific blasphemous atrocity set the tone for Preacher, and it was seared into the minds of Vertigo’s faithful.

TC Buggers a Live Chicken

TC and his pal Jody were Jesse Custer’s childhood tormentors. They worked for Jesse’s evil Grandma Custer and kept order on her sprawling estate. TC was a clearly inbred redneck whose sexual proclivities were just as disturbing as his ghoul like face. TC and Jody made young Jesse’s life miserable as they enforced grandma’s rule with iron handed efficiency, administering beatings to Jesse on the regular.

read more: Why Sandman Was the Essential Horror Comic of the '90s

Things took an even more twisted turn when, one day, TC decided he was going to fuck a live chicken. Yes, Preacher went there. Sadly, Jesse’s best friend witnessed TC choking his chicken and was killed by the enraged poultry violator. This childhood trauma was one of the main reasons Jesse walked his path of righteousness and when Custer ran into Jody and the chicken-violating TC years later, all hell was coming for the animal buggerer and his evil pal.

There’s a Kid Whose Face Looks Like a Puckered Ass

Ah, poor Arseface. Ennis and Dillon introduced a hapless soul who botched a suicide attempt and ended up blowing off most of his face. But he lived, and the results aren't pretty.

read more: How They Create Arseface on TV

Preacher fans will never forget the reveal of the abused boy who would come to be known as Arseface. Dillon really went to town rendering the ruined visage of this poor soul, but despite the most horrific wounds, somehow, the boy’s eyes still shined with a total innocence. The always cheeky Cassidy the vampire dubbed the boy Arseface and the character was mostly played for laughs as the series progressed. Ennis had a blast telling Aresface’s side story as Preacher rolled on. Most of this tale was slide splitting as the poor earnest butt face tried to survive and thrive in a world that would collectively puke at the sight of his poor ruined face. But it was the first reveal of Arseface that balances that perfect blend of horror and humor fans came to expect from Preacher.

Face Off

Early in Preacher’s run, fans were introduced to Si Coltrane, an old pal of Cassidy’s. Cassidy met Coltrane at Woodstock and the two became fast friends. Coltrane became an investigative reporter who, when readers first met him, was on the trail of a serial killer known as the Reaver-Cleaver.

read more: Complete Guide to Preacher Season 4

When Ennis and Dillon first introduced the Reaver-Cleaver, the killer was hard at work on one of his victims. The moment was an instance of absolute terror as readers were forced to witness the Reaver slowly slice off a man’s face and then nail the removed skin mask upside down to the still living victim. It was a masterful splatterpunk moment of pure body atrocity as Preacher proved to fans that it would not pull punches when it comes to a liberal application of gore and violence.

Jesus DeSade

The character of Jesus DeSade probably epitomizes the Preacher experience. DeSade is an unforgettable character who leads a cult called the Gomorrah People, a group famous for throwing legendary sex parties where nothing is taboo. What starts out as a humorous romp through fetishism and strange eroticism soon takes a truly dark turn.

After Cassidy’s girlfriend overdoses on heroin, the vampire, Custer, and Tulip try to find out who sold the poor girl the drug. Their investigation takes them to one of DeSade’s famed parties and what the trio finds would make the Overlook Hotel blush. The whole building now, not just the weird Nazi bartender and the guy in the teddy bear costume. Every room in DeSade’s crib was brimming with titillation and depravity, from guys buggering sheep, to whippings, floggings, and BDSM of every shape and size.

read more: 30 TV Shows to Watch Now That Game of Thrones is Over

Anyway, everything was erotic and a little strange (well, really strange if you’re the sheep), but nothing horrific. Until Jesse stumbles into a room where De Sade is filming...well, we're not going to spoil it here. But this is where the mastery of Ennis and Dillon comes into play. Just a few panels before this reveal, the book was a laugh a minute parody of eroticism, but in an eye blink, Ennis and Dillon took readers to the darkest of places. What has been a very funny scene got very real, very quickly. It's terrifying stuff.

"Wub"

Poor Herr Starr. Starr is Preacher’s main antagonist, the leader of the Holy Order of the Grail, an ancient religious society meant to keep the blood of Jesus Christ pure (more on that in a bit). Starr is a master strategist and needs Jesse Custer to complete the Order’s domination of the world. Starr pursues Custer all over the US and what begins as a classic tale of good versus evil, ends up an X-Rated Road Runner cartoon for poor, poor Starr.

At one point, Starr is horribly injured and left for dead in a desert. Fortunately for Starr, he is rescued by the Chunt Brothers. Unfortunately for Starr, the Chunt Brothers are a family of inbred cannibals. By the way, inbred villains are kind of a motif in Preacher. The Chunts plan to nurse Starr back to health in order to fry him real nice and have themselves a Herr Starr banquet.

The youngest Chunt, Cyrus, has issues (see what happens after generations of inbreeding?) and keeps uttering “Wub” whenever he sees Starr. One day, Cyrus comes to Starr alone holding a gun and a roll of toilet paper. It turns out “Wub” means “Wipe,” because no one has wubbed Cyrus in a long time. So Starr has to get in there and clean Cyrus’ neglected Sarlaac Pit in order to distract the dirty bottomed young man so Custer’s arch nemesis could grab the gun and free himself.

Now, let’s dissect this. Cyrus is a cannibal with a butt that hasn’t been wubbed in perhaps months. So basically, Starr is forced to wub little bits of human remains from Cyrus’ nether regions. Have fun with this one AMC! wub.

The Descendant of Jesus Christ

Guys, I’m going to try and explain this one without offending anyone, but it’s going to be hard. As I said, the Order of the Grail’s aim was to keep Christ’s bloodline pure, so they inbred the descendants of Jesus so as not to taint the blood of the savior. Well, science tells us what happens when people keep it in the family, and all that happened as the modern day descendant of the son of God liked to pee on things (a lot) while saying things like “Suffer the little children! humperdumper-doo."

There Was a Villain that Fucked Meat

Smack dab in the middle of Ennis and Dillon’s Preacher run, Jesse Custer ran afoul of a corrupt meat packing industrialist named Odin Quincannon. During Custer’s quest to find God, the upright preacher loses faith and ends up in the small down of Salvation, Texas. Salvation is, in Ennis’ words, “the kind of place you ain't left by the time you're twenty-five, you're stuck."

It was in this atmosphere of hopelessness that gave rise to Odin Quincannon, a cruel, corrupt, hateful billionaire that ran Salvation with an iron fist. Odin was a creepy little man that allowed his meat packers to run rampant on Salvation, raping, pillaging and murdering whenever they felt the urge. Jesse took up the badge and became sheriff of Salvation and opposed Odin. Odin tried to kill Custer by sending the KKK after Custer, but our preacher stood tall and a titanic struggle for the soul of Salvation began.

Now, all that is riveting, but where does the disturbing come in? Well, I’m about to tell you and if you had plans to go to a steak house or deli today, you might want to start considering some vegetarian alternatives.

Odin would frequently go into his shed to relax. From there, readers would hear Odin saying things like “Spread the cheese” and other disturbing utterances. When all Hell came a callin’ for Odin, Custer found the man in his shed making love to a woman...made of meat. She had big turkey breasts, and a giant ham head, and sausage fingers and yeah, Odin Quincannon was screwing a meat woman.

The image was Steve Dillon’s most twisted visual in his entire run on Preacher. The page is haunting as a drooling, pathetic Odin Quincannon finds one last moment of solace by inserting his pecker into a woman made of meat. Pot roast pounding, veal-sturbation, turkey tumbling, ground beef insertion, sausage fondling, steak humping, pork porking...

The Saint of Killers

OK, imagine Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and WWE’s Undertaker coalesced into a Voltron-like murder machine and you have the Saint of Killers. The Saint was once a frontiersman and former soldier who happily lived off the land with his family. When his beloved kin were felled by a fever, the future Saint went to get them the medicine they needed to survive. The soldier’s quest was fraught with peril and he was delayed. When he returned home, he found that it wasn’t the fever that killed his family; it was a group of roaming bandits. Swearing vengeance, the soldier gunned down all the bandits save the leader. The lead owlhoot grabbed a young girl as a hostage and the future Saint, so filled with vengeance, shot her through the head. His gun jammed and the bandit killed the soldier, leaving his vengeance incomplete.

The soldier may have died that day, but the Saint of Killers was born. He went down to Hell, but the killing didn’t stop. He gunned down every demon and devil he saw. The Saint was sent to heaven, but the killing still didn’t stop, he gunned down every angel he saw. The afterlife sent him to Earth and made the soldier the Patron Saint of All Killers. And the killing didn’t stop.

This brings the Saint into Jesse Custer’s story. The Saint is charged with tracking Custer and...well. It leads to a moment that is the essence of the sheer blasphemous gall of Preacher, a series where not even the Almighty is safe from a vengeance driven cowboy.

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

facebook

twitter

tumblr

Feature

Marc Buxton

Aug 6, 2019

Preacher

AMC

from Books https://ift.tt/2Tc5hWu

#aion-rsa #Books

3 notes · View notes

obsidianarchives · 6 years ago

Text

The Intervention

[Book Year 6]

“Blaise!”

He looked up from the mouth of the doorway leading to the entrance hall from the Slytherin dungeons to see Desiree Warbeck marching towards him, weaving through the pockets of students making their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

“Heeey Des,” Blaise said slowly, eyes flitting around the hall. They had agreed to only talk in BSU meetings or in private now that things were so bad in the wizarding world — well she had agreed to his request, despite not liking it. His first instinct was to remind her, but then he took her in. The front of her hair was tied into little knots, the back an explosion of curls and fluff. There was a fire in her eyes, her mouth was set. He could feel the anger simmering beneath the surface and took a half-step back. “What did I do?”

“Emergency BSU meeting after dinner,” she said, not even acknowledging his words.

He grimaced. He was behind on his homework and had planned to spend the evening catching up. McGonagall had set an essay on human transfiguration and he hadn’t even started on his Dementor essay for Snape yet. But he knew not to test Desiree when she had worked herself up like this. “Alright then.”

Desiree nodded once, turned, and stormed off into the Great Hall. Blaise followed more slowly, cautiously, and by the time he made it to the Slytherin table, he noticed her weaving her way up and down the other tables, finding BSU members. Dean, it seemed, looked just as surprised as Blaise himself felt, which was strange given that he was now President of the club after Blaise had stepped down.

After notifying everyone, Desiree seemed to inhale her dinner in one and then was off, hurrying from the Great Hall. Once Blaise was done eating he made his way up to Professor Sinistra’s classroom, a little worried. Desiree seemed very upset — had something happened?

By the time he got there, Desiree was the only one there, her wand out as the chairs oriented themselves in the customary circle the students usually sat in.

“No cookies today?” he joked in greeting.

Desiree’s eyes flashed up at him and he grimaced, hoping she wouldn’t snap at him. She was scary when she was angry.

That didn’t stop him from taking the seat next to her.

“Everything okay?” he asked quietly.

Desiree shook her head, “You’ll see.”

Before he had thought it through, Blaise reached out and took Desiree’s hand, giving it what he hoped was a comforting squeeze. Her face softened a moment, eyes locking onto his, and Blaise suddenly felt a swooping feeling in his gut. Everything around him seemed to go out of focus, the only thing he could take in was Desiree’s face.

The door opened and Blaise slid his hand from hers quickly, returning back to reality. Dean walked in, looking more relaxed than Blaise had seen him in a while.

“You ready to do this?” he asked, taking the seat directly across from them.

Desiree nodded resolutely while Blaise shrugged. He still didn’t understand what was going on. Soon, the other members of the BSU had arrived, including — to Blaise’s surprise — Angelina Johnson, who had graduated the year before.

“Hey everyone,” she said with a smile.

“What are you doing here?” her younger brother Alex asked.

Angelina shrugged, “Des asked me to come, so I’m here.”

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Desiree. He had assumed her mood was recent, but if she had had enough time to call in Angelina, then maybe it was deeper than that.

The classroom seemed full, but still no one had spoken. A few people, like Lavender and Alex, seemed just as confused as Blaise felt, while others like Dean and Angelina merely waited in anticipation. Finally, Hermione Granger arrived, an entire library of books stuffed into her bag as always. Desiree sat up straighter as Hermione sat down in the only empty seat between Dean and Gryffindor Keegan Thompson.

Desiree took a deep breath, “Okay, let’s start. I know some of you don’t know why we’re here, but we’re a community and I feel we should band together when one of us is struggling.”

Blaise felt a jolt of surprise and then a creeping dread. He had already talked to many of them, both as a group and separately, about why he had decided to take a step back from leading the BSU this year. Even if most of them didn’t like it, and others remained antagonistic about it, Desiree at the very least had seemed understanding. He felt affronted, upset that she would blindside him like this.

“Hermione, I know a lot of us have been having a rough year,” Desiree continued, “But I’ve seen the way Potter and Weasley have treated you for the past few months. I just want you to know that you don’t have to be friends with them, especially when they’ve been so terrible to you.”

Blaise looked to Desiree, exasperation mingled with relief. “You’re not serious,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Hermione was in shock, her eyes roaming around the room. “Is this really why we’re here?”

Desiree’s eyes narrowed, and Blaise shrunk back. “This is serious!”

Blaise stared at Desiree’s indignant face, fired up over who Hermione hung out with, and remembered that while there was not much a Hufflepuff got riled about, friendship was definitely at the top of the list. He’d have to tease her about this later, when she wasn’t quite so upset.

“They’re my best friends,” Hermione said, never one to back down even when Desiree was worked up, “And frankly I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

“We’re your friends too,” Angelina said kindly, “We’re just concerned that maybe they aren’t the best for you.”

“Do you need someone to study with at the library?” Desiree demanded, “I’m there all the time! I’ll join you!”

“Des, maybe you should…” Blaise trailed off at the look she gave him. He sighed, “Fine. I’ve never gotten it either, they’re so...mediocre.”

Hermione glowered at him, “They’ve saved my life a number of times, thank you.”

“Have they?” Dean asked, tilting his head to the side, “It always seemed to me like you were the one doing the saving.”

“First year they saved me from that mountain troll that got in.”

“Yeah, but didn’t Ron say something rude that got you cornered by the troll in the first place?”

“Okay, wait, let’s cut her some slack,” Angelina said before Hermione could get any more defensive, “We all know the Weasleys are tall—”

“You’re kidding,” Dean said, “Is that what it is? Is it because they’re ginger?”

Lavender was nodding next to Angelina, but Desiree cut across her before she could speak up, “Didn’t you just get dumped by one of them?”

Dean glared at her. He crossed his arms, “I — that’s different.”

This was ridiculous. Blaise glanced over at Alex next to him. “Are you taking notes?”

“I’m sure Hermione will want this all in writing,” the fourth-year responded, dipping his quill in the floating inkwell in front of him and continuing to scribble furiously across the parchment.

“I’ve thought it a long time,” Lavender piped up, “I can’t believe you put up with the both of them for so long.”

Fury filled Hermione’s face, “That’s rich, coming from a—” she cut herself off, looking away.

“From a what?” Lavender was turning red.

This was clearly getting out of hand.

“Look, I don’t think we can tell each other who to be friends with,” Blaise said, trying to sound reasonable even though he truly couldn’t care less about the entire situation.

Dean sighed, “He’s right. If Hermione wants to be friends with Harry and Ron, she should be able to without judgment. And if one of us decides to hex them for being rude to you,” he said to her, “We should be able to without judgment. Deal?”

Hermione rolled her eyes, pulling the strap of her bag back over her shoulder, “Fine. I appreciate it, really. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got about fifty translations to do by tomorrow.”

With that, the meeting was adjourned. People began filing out, some still looking just as confused as they did when they had come in. Angelina winked at Blaise before following Dean and Alex from the room. Desiree still sat in her seat. The fire seemed to have dimmed in her, which made Blaise relax. He knew he should leave now, go back down to the common room and start on his essays.

“You did a good thing,” he said quietly, “I’m sure she’s glad to have a friend like you.”

Desiree huffed but didn’t say anything.

Blaise smiled. Even when she was angry all he wanted was to be around her. He stood. “Come on. Help me with my essay on Dementors and I’ll show you a few hexes you can use on Potter and Weasley.”

A reluctant smile spread across Desiree’s face then, and she stood, taking his hand briefly and sending a jolt of electricity running through his entire body.

#Desiree Warbeck #Blaise Zabini #Hermione Granger

0 notes

wiremagazine · 7 years ago

Text

THE BEST OF WORLD CINEMA AT MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL GEMS 2017

By Rafa Carvajal

The 3rd annual Miami Film Festival GEMS 2017 is set to take place October 12-15 at Miami Dade College’s Tower Theater. This fabulous festival is a fall extension of the annual, internationally-renowned Miami Film Festival that will celebrate its 35th edition March 9-18, 2018. If you haven’t been to GEMS, make sure you purchase tickets to watch some of its films this year. To buy tickets, visit gems2017.miamifilmfestival.com. I have attended since its inception and the films have been outstanding. Among this year’s many highlights will be the Miami premiere of Sean Baker’s The Florida Project and the U.S. premiere of Antonio Méndez Esparza’s Florida film Life and Nothing More.

GEMS 2017’s opening night film (Oct. 12) will be Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name – considered one the the most critically acclaimed and Oscar-buzzed titles this year. It will be followed by the A TASTE OF ALTA ITALIA opening night party that will celebrate October’s annual nationwide Italian Heritage Month. Another must see film will be Ruben Östlund’s The Square, winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, from a jury presided over by Pedro Almodóvar. The Festival will also present a special seminar conversation titled Don’t Take Yes For An Answer, featuring Miami-Haitian filmmakers Edson Jean and Joshua Jean-Baptiste speaking about their recently completed, eight-episode web series that was 100% filmed in Miami and due for release in 2018 – born out of a winning pitch that they made to the Project Greenlight Digital Studio’s first "Get The Greenlight Digital Series" contest in early 2016. Imagine you have a dream to create your own episodic series. You enter a three-minute pitch video and win the $25,000 top prize! That's what happened last year to actors and roommates Edson Jean and Joshua Jean-Baptiste. Join them and Festival director Jaie Laplante as they discuss the journey from shooting no-budget test-episodes to working on a new Miami set project in the community that inspired them; and learn why they are committed to telling homegrown tales and how their partnership made it possible.

For the first time in its history, Miami Film Festival will introduce VR Escape, a Virtual Reality sidebar, throughout the Miami GEMS 2017 in partnership with MDC’s Miami Animation & Gaming International Complex (MAGIC). You will be able to experience four 360° videos by Angel Manuel Soto, an L.A. based Puerto Rican artist/filmmaker and Miami Film Festival 2015 alumni with his feature The Farm (La granja).

Another great film at this year’s GEMS will be NO, A Flamenco Tale. Flamenco has a very special place in my heart given my Spanish heritage. I sat down with NO’s director José Luis Tirado to learn more about this GEMS 2017 jewel.

Rafa Carvajal: What is NO, A Flamenco Tale about? José Luis Tirado: NO, A Flamenco Tale is a musical film. It is an urban and contemporary flamenco opera. It is also a "docufiction," as it explores the hybrid and borderline terrain between the documentary genre and fiction stories. It is an experience of performative cinema, in which what is represented actually happens.

RC: Tell our readers about the main actors in the film and the roles they portray. JLT: In NO, A Flamenco Tale, the actors are flamenco dancers, flamenco singers, dancers of contemporary dance, etc., who interpret their own characters, adapted to the script. The story is driven by a main character, No, who plays the flamenco dancer Noemí Martínez Chico, who is the guiding thread, the "MacGuffin" that takes us to the different situations of the script. The flamenco singer, Rosa de Algeciras, interprets the first antagonistic character, who challenges our protagonist about her feelings of loneliness. Rocío Márquez interprets the inner voice of our protagonist. The flamenco singer, Álvaro Ramírez, dedicates a few tientos and four tango scenes in which he interacts by dancing with Alicia Márquez, Aitor Matres, Maria Rosa Hidalgo, Ramon Martinez, Marco Vargas and Chloé Brûle. María Peña and Herminia Borja lead a revealing coven, in which they sing the truths of life. To the rhythm of rumba, Alicia Acuña teaches us that when everything seems to sink, life appears with its compass.

RC: What did you enjoy the most about directing NO, A Flamenco Tale? JLT: For me, the most enriching part is the learning process. Any project has a large component of learning, experimentation and risk. Imagining and being risky is what gives life to a project. Doing it collectively with a team that is your accomplice in the limits you want to surpass is exciting. Then, there is the perfect communication with Raúl Cantizano, the composer and, in many cases, interpreter of the music, that has flowed in a precise and fun way.

RC: What were your biggest challenges directing the film? JLT: The biggest challenge is to maintain the pulse and visual rhythm in a process that lasts three years. In the developmental phase, script, locations, etc; during the shooting, which lasted seven months; and in the post production and editing phases, etc., which lasted another eight months. Maintaining the intensity of the project during this extended time has been the greatest achievement.

RC: What would you like viewers to walk away with after watching NO, A Flamenco Tale? JLT: I would like for viewers to discover that it is possible to face difficult situations in life with joy and determination. That it is possible and necessary for things to change, but for this to happen, it is necessary that we first change our attitude. The greatest defeat is the defeatist spirit that comes to us from power as the only possible attitude. It is necessary for that reason to say, "No, we will not conform."

RC: How did you become a film director? JLT: From the need to tell stories to others, and also the need for this story to be complex enough to mean something in our knowledge of reality.

RC: Explain the power of flamenco to people who may not fully understand this timeless Spanish tradition. JLT: The power of flamenco basically lies in the fact that it is not necessarily a tradition, it is a living art that transforms itself, and reinvents itself every day. Capable of questioning itself, and of dialoguing with other arts in a contemporary space.

RC: What does flamenco mean to you? JLT: Flamenco is a language that catches you by the guts, at the same time that it distances you so you can have an overview vision. It is a universal language which in association with the language of cinema can be very powerful and universal.

RC: Describe NO, A Flamenco Tale in 3 words. JLT: In three words it is complicated, but I would say: "An iconoclastic musical." It can stand as a headline.

RC: Is there anything else you would like to share with Wire Magazine readers about NO, A Flamenco Tale or your role as the director? JLT: That if they go see our film, they will leave the room with a malicious smile on their faces; and then they will have no remedy: they will be accomplices of those of us that wish a better world for all. For more information visit our website: joseluistirado.es/p-e-l-í-c-u-l-a-s/no-un-cuento-flamenco.

SPOTLIGHT FILMS: 12 OF THE BEST MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL GEMS 2017 FILMS

Photos provided by Miami Film Festival GEMS

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (France, Italy, 2017) Director: Luca Guadagnino In English, French, German, Italian, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love) makes splashy, sensual films brimming with big emotions, but the foundation of his work is a rare tenderness. In 1983 in the Lombardy countryside, an antiquities academic, Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg, who could earn an Oscar for this role), invites a young American Jewish scholar named Oliver (Armie Hammer) to stay with his family at their 17th century palazzo, and assist him with a summer research project. To the Professor’s dismay, his restless adolescent son Elio (Timothée Chalamet) soon falls under a spell of fascination with the gregarious, extroverted American. As Elio shows Oliver the natural delights of an Italian summer with nearby Swiss and French influences, exquisite dreams begin to take flight before our eyes – and those of Elio’s watchful father and mother, Annella. Call Me By Your Name, adapted by the legendary James Ivory from a novel by André Aciman, is swooning and alive – a new masterpiece. Sufjan Stevens contributes original new songs that add immeasurably to the film’s heart-fluttering texture, and the film also does for peaches what I Am Love did for prawns! – Jaie Laplante

CAN’T SAY GOODBYE (Spain, 2017) Director: Lino Escalera In Catalan, Spanish, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Balancing a barrage of unruly feelings with an air of philosophical wisdom, Spanish director Lino Escalera’s feature debut, winner of four awards at this year’s Málaga Film Festival, is an emotionally searing portrait of familial strife. José Luis (Juan Diego) is dying. His daughter Carla (Nathalie Poza), a bored executive who self-medicates with booze, cocaine and male attention, insists her father keep fighting the grim reaper. His daughter Blanca (Lola Dueñas), an aspiring actress, is willing to submit José Luis to palliative care and let him go gently into that good night. These conflicting attitudes lay bare the sisters’ divergent coping mechanisms and teach them a great deal about their own fraught lives. Watch this intense, smart, tender drama – and you might learn something too. – Jaie Laplante

ERIC CLAPTON: A LIFE IN 12 BARS (U.S., 2017) Director: Lili Fini Zanuck In English

GEMS Synopsis: For over five decades, Eric Clapton has been creating rock music deeply influenced by the blues. This documentary traces the guitar virtuoso’s career through the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominos and his solo years, telling the stories behind hits like "For Your Love," "Layla," and "Tears in Heaven." Clapton struggled with the demands of the music business, tumultuous love affairs, drug addiction and the tragic loss of his young son. Featuring a candid interview with Clapton and drawing from an extensive archive of performances and home movies, Life in 12 Bars traces how Clapton coped with these challenges. We come away with a deeper sense of what has inspired so much memorable music. – Thom Powers

FACES PLACES (France, 2017) Director: Agnès Varda, JR In French, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Agnès Varda may now be one of our oldest filmmakers, but her work possesses a youthful vivacity unparalleled among her peers of any age. Her latest documentary, co-directed with the mysterious French street artist known only as JR, is inquisitive and playful. The filmmakers board JR’s photo-truck – painted to resemble a giant camera – and travel from village to village, where they meet locals, talk to them about their lives and create immense portraits of them, which are mounted on buildings throughout their communities. Not unlike Varda’s first film, La Pointe Courte, Faces Places pays homage to the vibrancy, diversity and dignity of life beyond the urban centers that typically dominate the big screen. Vive la différence! – Jaie Laplante

IN THE FADE (Germany, 2017) Director: Fatih Akin In German, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin (The Edge of Heaven) boldly navigates the confluence of cultures that comprises contemporary Europe. This new tale of terror and vengeance is just as brilliant as Akin’s previous films – and much more bracing. Katja (Inglorious Basterds’ Diane Kruger) experiences the unthinkable: her husband, a legal advisor to Germany’s Turkish and Kurdish communities, and her young son are killed in a Neo-Nazi terrorist bombing. As In the Fade draws us ever-deeper into the myriad ways that the legal system fails Katja, our heartbroken heroine takes justice into her own hands. Akin tackles the boggling complexities of modern violence with intelligence and focus. Kruger, meanwhile, is an actress of astonishing emotional dexterity, and In the Fade pushes her – and her character – to new limits. – Jaie Laplante

LIFE & NOTHING MORE (Spain, U.S., 2017) Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza In English

GEMS Synopsis: Still in the prime of her life, Regina works long hours at a Tallahassee fast-food stop, barely earning enough to scrape by and feed her two children – Andrew, an emotionally cagey adolescent, and her young daughter. When a charismatic stranger shows interest, Regina isn’t sure she can muster enough trust to let him into her fraught life – and Andrew’s ongoing confrontations with authorities don’t help matters. With smoldering resentment at his incarcerated father and dealing with a mother nearing the end of her fraying tether, Andrew is more at risk than he realizes. Dividing its attention – and compassion – evenly between Andrew and Regina, Life and Nothing More is an invigorating work of modern neorealism set on the fringes of urban Florida. Spanish writer/director Antonio Méndez Esparza displays an astonishing grasp of the conundrum of race, family and justice that suffuse our contemporary America. Life and Nothing More is essential cinema for our present moment. – Jaie Laplante

MY FRIEND DAHMER (U.S., 2017) Director: Marc Meyers In English

GEMS Synopsis: There’s something different about Ohio high school student Jeff Dahmer. To get through the days, Jeff plays the class clown, feigning spastic fits to attract attention. After school, he retreats to his makeshift lab, where he dissolves roadkill in jars of acid. No one could foresee what he would become… Based on the graphic novel by John Backderf – one of Dahmer’s former classmates – My Friend Dahmer is a grim origin story. Anchored by former Disney star Ross Lynch’s chilling lead performance, this is a terrifying, surprisingly empathetic look into one troubled teen’s descent into madness. Jeffrey Dahmer would later become one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. But here, he’s simply known as "Dahmer" – a not-so-regular high school student. – Lauren Cohen

NO, A FLAMENCO TALE (Spain, 2016) Director: José Luis Tirado In Spanish, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: A beguiling fusion of thrilling cinema and passionate music, NO, A Flamenco Tale sweeps us off to a land where the joys and hardships of life are expressed in breathtaking spectacle and song. Clapping hands, stamping feet, stirring singing, intricate guitar and arresting dance: flamenco is a tradition of bold, soul-piercing gestures. Spanish director José Luis Tirado matches these gestures with a loose story about No, a dancer who works at a small venue in Seville’s Triana Market. At times No feels alienated by the world she inhabits, yet she finds communion in sundry public spaces where her dance provokes reactions from fellow citizens. Let NO take hold of your senses – and you too will be provoked, inspired and moved. – Jaie Laplante

SUMMER 1993 (Spain, 2017) Director: Carla Simón In Catalan, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Winner of the Best First Feature Award in Berlin, Spanish writer/director Carla Simón’s autobiographical coming-of-age tale is delicate, transporting and, in its confident, unassuming way, profoundly moving. Sublimely embodied by little Laia Artigas – whose arresting presence at times recalls the young Ana Torent – six-year-old Frida is sent from Barcelona to her aunt and uncle’s home in the Catalán countryside. Frida has lost both her parents, and though her new family is welcoming, her new surroundings overturn her inchoate understanding of the world. In its steady accumulation of precise, evocative moments – a child’s upturned face lit by fireworks; two girls sharing a bath and learning to hold their breath – Summer 1993 renders a time of tumultuous transition with grace and wonder. – Jaie Laplante

THE FLORIDA PROJECT (U.S., 2017) Director: Sean Baker In English

GEMS Synopsis: Following his micro-budget break-out Tangerine, Sean Baker cements his status as one of our freshest and most vital filmmakers with The Florida Project, pure film of the highest order; it reminds us that even in the direst circumstances life will always yield small yet unforgettable joys. Set in Orlando, this freewheeling film, like its predecessor, offers a big-hearted portrait of America’s marginalized. This time around Baker’s subjects are 22-year old Halley and her six-year-old daughter Moonee. The pair resides in a cheap motel tucked near a freeway and a theme park. Halley struggles to pay for cereal and shelter, while Moonee doesn’t let a little thing like destitution prevent her from exploring her surroundings or playing jokes on a motel staff-member (beautifully depicted by Willem Dafoe). Warm, winning and gloriously alive, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is a deeply moving and unforgettably poignant look at childhood.

THE LEISURE SEEKER (U.S., 2017) Director: Paolo Virzì In English

GEMS Synopsis: The Leisure Seeker stars Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren and two-time Golden Globe-winner Donald Sutherland as a runaway couple going on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, travelling from Boston to The Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end. All ticket sales from this screening will be donated to United Way of the Florida Keys to aide in the Hurricane Irma Relief Fund.

THE WORKSHOP (France, 2017) Director: Laurent Cantet In French, with English subtitles

GEMS Synopsis: Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or-winning The Class was a profound examination of contemporary education in all its social and pedagogical complexities. Set in a summer creative writing workshop, Cantet’s new film, The Workshop, veers into a very different, very intriguing direction. Presided over by a published crime novelist, the workshop’s objective is to have its working-class, mixed race, adolescent participants collectively compose a novel set in their coastal French town. Reaching consensus proves difficult, and Antoine, the most outspoken, contentious participant begins to dominate – and destabilize – the proceedings. Under Cantet’s steely focus, The Workshop seamlessly shifts from a film in which people discuss a thriller to a film that is itself a fiercely intelligent thriller, grounded in the fraught socio-political landscape these kids are inheriting. – Jaie Laplante

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 38.2017

#wire magazine #wiremag.com #wire #miami #miami beach #south beach #sobe #fort lauderdale #GEMS #Wynwood #Wilton Manors #Gay #LGBT #GLBT #Miami Film Festival #Miami Film Festival GEMS #Films #Cinema

0 notes

junker-town · 7 years ago

Text

United They Kneel: Colin Kaepernick's protest is defined by those that joined him

The QB inspired protesters all across the country.

The men, white, draped in American flags, directed violence toward a black effigy in a 49ers jersey and a faux ‘fro.

“Tackle him!” one yelled. “Tackle the Muslim!”

It was October 2016, and Erin Heany and Shaketa Redden had prepared for this situation. Buffalo was playing host to the 49ers, and several raucous, drunk, and white Bills fans were there to lambaste Colin Kaepernick.

The two women and their groups arrived at Orchard Park early, ahead of the “Make Buffalo Great Again” signs on steel trailers; the “Wanted: Notorious Disgrace to America,” “Hey Colin, While You’re Down There,” and “Kaeperdick” shirts with crosshairs on Kaepernick’s face; the “Stand Up & Shut Up” coozies; and the Kaepernick piñatas.

Before kickoff, they started marching. A large group of black and white protesters followed. They carried signs reading: “Buffalo Fans for Black Lives.”

“We saw this as a way to agitate and expose the racism and racist violence in our community,” Heany said. “And we knew the Bills’ stadium was one place where it would be exposed pretty quickly.”

They planned weeks in advance for Kaepernick’s first start in Buffalo following his historic protest. Redden and Heany participated in de-escalation training. They anticipated backlash. They wanted, at all costs, to protect the people of color they came with.

“At first we were pretty nervous,” Redden said. “The Bills’ fans, they can get pretty crazy out there.”

As the start of the anthem approached, they ran into armed men near the stadium. They said that members of the Sheriff's Office told them where to stand and threatened to detain them. Redden raised a black fist and kept pushing. They found their way to Gate 5. The anthem rang, everyone in the group of protestors got down on one knee just as Kaepernick did on the sideline, then hundreds of fans booed.

When we look back, history will tell who was actually down for the people.

“It was pretty intense,” Heany said. “There were a lot of people, young white guys, who were being real antagonistic. Yelling things. Pointing at our faces.” Once it ended, “We packed it up and got outta there pretty quick.”

Kaepernick said in December that Buffalo was the worst city he played in. He noted a difference in perspective between “Black and White America.” He said he didn’t understand how White America didn’t understand him. He received death threats. Bills fans threw bottles at him.

This was the America that Kaepernick had exposed, two distinct groups that admired and resented him, respectively, for one 90-degree bend of the knee.

Across the country, it was the same. Headline after headline. On the football fields of Texas, black boys in Beaumont knelt and lost their season. In Charlotte, after another shooting, organizers faced cops in riot gear and knelt in front of a football stadium.

A gesture became a movement. Kaepernick’s protest caught fire in a way Americans haven’t seen in modern sports. The NFL has rarely been a vehicle for activism, especially for movements that have spread like Kaepernick’s. His protest would be copied and debated around the country for months after he was first spotted taking a knee during the preseason of the 2016 NFL season.

SB Nation spoke to a number of people who kneeled to hear their explanation of the impact one American athlete can have on the constant fight for black lives.

“When we look back, history will tell who was actually down for the people. You cannot question that Colin Kaepernick was down,” Kwame Rose, a prominent activist who was in Charlotte, said.

“This man has risked millions of millions of dollars in an effort to save millions of lives and bring awareness to the issues that people on the ground are fighting.”

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Time hasn’t made Rah-Rah Barber forget what happened in Texas. There’s a soft shake in his voice whenever he brings it up. He has a hard time finding the right words for the pain he and his boys felt after their protest.

The coach remembered when one of his players asked if the Beaumont Bulls could copy Kaepernick. It’s impossible a youth team understands this, he thought. But, the team’s parents agreed. The board of the league approved. Barber talked to his team. And that September weekend they all kneeled.

But after the protest, those who had previously supported the team did an about-face. “When we did that, our whole season changed. Everything,” he said. “From the top, the board of the league we were playing in and how they looked at us, to the actual league we played in. I mean, they ended up cancelling our season. They fired me, banned a few parents from coming to the field.”

Barber started crying as he spoke.

“It’s been a long year,” he said. “Phewww. It’s been a long year.”

The backlash was unending. Eventually, Barber couldn’t take it.

“We got emails. We got Facebook messages. One said ‘All the coaches need to be hung. This is Southeast Texas, recognize where you at,’” he said.

Kids were horrified. People threatened to burn the boys alive, hang them, and shoot them. After 30-40 messages Barber stopped reading.

That same September, on Nebraska’s campus, Michael Rose-Ivey and two other Husker football players returned from a game at Northwestern, where they didn’t stand during the anthem.

Rose-Ivey’s Facebook and Twitter inboxes erupted. One message read: “You are a clueless and confused nigger.” Another: “You should be kicked off the team or suspended.” Another fan told him that if he didn’t want to stand he “should be hung before the anthem” of their next game, a message he re-read to reporters between painful exhales.

“It’s weird, man. I expected this. I know where I’m at. I’m not ignorant,” Rose-Ivey said. “I’ve tried to prepare myself, but you can never prepare yourself for people telling you they want you to die.”

The unceasing responses caused his co-protesters, Mo Berry and DaiShon Neal, to never kneel again. Rose-Ivey got “mad as hell” because, he said, he never considered stopping.

When the season ended, Rose-Ivey went un-drafted. Numerous classmates unfriended him. Someone removed his face from the team’s senior picture in Memorial Stadium. He experienced something similar to what Kaepernick felt after his game in Buffalo — an othering effect that made him feel lonely and misunderstood, though he believed his fight was just.

“I’d be stupid not to believe that that has any reason to do with why I am a free agent,” Rose-Ivey said.

Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

“It’s unfortunate that I have to pick between wanting to be a good person and fight for other people’s rights and want to play football,” he added. “I understand you wanna be entertained. At the same time, those four hours on Sunday don’t match the 24 hours each day I have to spend being black outside of that helmet.”

At Tulsa University, Keanu Hill, a starting cornerback, believed he could play in the NFL. After he kneeled on 9/11 weekend, his parents thought he had jeopardized his future. His friends warned him after his protest that any pro plans he had may fizzle out.

Responses like that, which he received for months, “proves the point to why I protested,” he said.

“Shit, it was easy for me. At that point, everyone knows what it represents,” Hill said. “We ain’t trying to disrespect anyone. All [Kaepernick] did, all we did was take a knee. He told the world how he felt and we related to that.”

In November, University of Wisconsin basketball players Nigel Hayes and Jordan Hill took their stand. The pair stood back from their teammates on the foul line in the Kohl Center during preseason, and kept their heads down as the anthem played.

Hayes could hear one man shouting at him.

“Nigel! Stand on the line!”

“That guy lucky my momma not here,” Hayes laughed, telling Hill.

Hayes also went undrafted in June. The reasons why, he said, are unclear. He’s on a partially-guaranteed deal with the Knicks.

Hayes, who has been a target of criticism by college sports fans for speaking out in favor of compensation for college athletes and for racial equality, admired Kaepernick’s yearlong defiance.

“He not only stirred the pot, he kicked it off the damn stove,” Hayes said. “It really struck a nerve with white viewers.”

Like many, Hayes compared this era of protest to the Civil Rights Movement. The backlash they received was a side-effect of progress. America, Hayes said, needed someone like Kaepernick to spark a movement like this.

“This is an example of a modern Million Man March,” Hayes said. “Except, it’s a Million Tweet March.”

Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images

Kaepernick is hardly the first person to recognize the inherent connection between America and racism. Nor is he the first athlete to take issue with the anthem.

In September, 1960, James Timothy “Mudcat” Grant, a black pitcher for Cleveland, got into an argument with bullpen coach Ted Wilks, one of the heroes of the Cardinals’ 1944 championship team.

Grant was singing the anthem before a game, but he decided to change some words.

“When it got to that part ‘home of the brave and land of the free’ I sang something like ‘this land is not so free. I can’t even go to Mississippi,’” Grant told The Cleveland Plain-Dealer in 1960.

“Wilks heard me and called me a (racial) name. I got so mad I couldn’t hold myself back. I told him that Texas is worse than Russia. Then I walked straight into the clubhouse.”

Cleveland suspended Grant for the season without pay. Wilks tried apologizing but Grant was boiling.

“I’m sick of hearing remarks about colored people,” he said. “I don’t have to stand there and take it.”

After Grant, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, track athletes, stood on the medal stand during the 1968 Summer Olympics. They gave black power salutes while wearing black gloves during the anthem.

We all have a say. Athletes included. Students included. We all have a say.

The International Olympic Committee banned them from competition. They were removed from the Olympic Village. Americans in the sixties, then grappling with the Civil Rights Era, shunned the pair.

“He’s a sacrificial lamb today,” Carlos said about Kaepernick on Joe Madison’s “The Black Eagle” radio show. “These young individuals, they’re the fruit of our labor. If they thought we were bad 50 years ago, in terms of expressing ourselves, just wait. They got a lot more to come with these young black kids in America today.”

Political protest in sports following the Civil Rights Era came frequently: Muhammad Ali nearly lost his career and freedom protesting the Vietnam War, Jim Brown held the “Ali Summit” and created the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, Craig Hodges handed a letter to the president outlining racial inequality, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand during the anthem, Toni Smith-Thompson turned her back to the flag while the anthem played for every game of her senior basketball season.

One of the more recent stands was the University of Missouri’s 2015 protests against campus discrimination. One student went on a hunger strike until other black students’ issues were resolved. The football team decided they wouldn’t practice or play until high-ranking officials resigned.

The next day: the president and chancellor quit. It was a shining moment that showed the power athletes had in political discourse.

“Seeing what Kaepernick was going through brings back so many flashbacks to Mizzou,” Kandice Head, a Mizzou alum who shaped communications strategy for the protests, said.

“Mizzou taught me a very powerful thing about the status quo and what happens when you threaten it,” she said. “It’s literally a bubble. And when you penetrate that bubble you un-tap an unimaginable side of people. You see all sorts of anger, defensiveness and fragility.”

Head understands the stakes Kaepernick faced with his protest. During the protests at Mizzou, her brother was the president of the student body and she was a prominent voice during the campus’ struggles. Journalists attempting to discredit her, she said, dug through her family’s financial records to paint her as a picture of privilege and not alleged struggle.

To reach portions of White America, she said, sometimes you have to go to desperate lengths to make them aware. As Kaepernick faces the fact that he may never play in the NFL again, Head said his sacrifice is an example of the lengths it takes to make America understand the daily suffering of its non-white citizens.

“Athletes are more than just athletes,” Head said. “They’re people with thoughts and feelings and beliefs. These protests should’ve shown people there are still issues in America and we don’t get to just leave it to lawmakers and leaders to say something is wrong. We all have a say. Athletes included. Students included. We all have a say.”

WATCH: entire Garfield HS football team and coaching staff kneels during national anthem http://pic.twitter.com/LSTqku9QDb

— Heather Graf (@HeatherGrafK5) September 17, 2016

Kaepernick’s protest was displayed on Sundays, but it was bolstered by philanthropy. Along with leading a rebuilding 49ers team, he managed to carry out a $1 million pledge to grassroots organizations.

It started in San Jose with Silicon Valley De-Bug. Kaepernick gave $25,000 for projects the organization otherwise wouldn’t have.

Kaepernick did more than give money. He invited the organization to his first Know Your Rights Camp, where he set up chairs, interacted with kids, and sat in on every workshop. He also purchased backpacks and filled them with books. Each kid received a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

The specificity of the organizations that Kaepernick selected stuck out to Joo-Hyun Kang, too. She is the Director of Communities United for Police Reform in New York, which also received $25,000 from Kaepernick.

“It shows a level of thoughtfulness,” Kang said. She explained that oftentimes athletes and celebrities (think Michael Jordan) make one large donation to a reputable organization and do a press run associated with it. “It’s the inspiration and validation that his contribution made. We were surprised he had even heard of us.”

“From the smallest detail to, say, a donation of where the money’s going, there’s complete consistency and symmetry about [his philanthropy],” Raj Jayadez, a coordinator at Silicon Valley De-Bug, said.

Some groups Kaepernick donated to were forged out of tragedy. Collette Flanagan founded Mothers Against Police Brutality after her son, Clinton Allen, was killed by Dallas police in 2013.

“Clinton was shot 7 times,” she said, her tone steady. “Once in the back, and he was unarmed.”

Flanagan uses her organization to help victims of police brutality and mothers fight for police accountability and reform. Kaepernick’s donation to the organization helped families travel to an annual event where the afflicted can vent about police violence.

As NFL teams reportedly try to make Kaepernick choose between protest and football, he’s shown, emphatically, that he can do both.

“It is a calling,” Flanagan said. “It is something that was assigned. It is a task, a tedious task, that was assigned to him by a higher power.”

The OUSD Honor Band played the National Anthem before tonight's #Oakland A's game. Near the end of the song, most of the 155 middle and high school students took a knee in protest against police brutality and unfair treatment of people of color in #America. The crowd responded with enthusiastic applause. #iamOUSD

A post shared by Oakland School District (@ousdnews) on Sep 20, 2016 at 7:32pm PDT

On a warm day in Manhattan last May, Kevin Livingston spent hours on a Midtown corner trying to get people in front of NFL Headquarters to care about Kaepernick. It was one of several rallies Livingston organized nationwide to show support for the unemployed quarterback and demand his return to the NFL.

Livingston said the idea came together because “everyday folk just want to protest for him.” Kaepernick had donated to Livingston’s organization called 100 Suits.

“He took a knee, got beat up, and cashed out and everything else for your right. For them to know that you matter,” Livingston said.

The fact that, nearly a year after Kaepernick first took a knee, folks feel close to Kaepernick’s protest shows its power. It’s a sign that kneeling worked, and that conversations about racial inequality are bubbling to the surface.

Thomas Mitzel, the president of Dickinson State University in North Dakota, created a space for these conversations after five Dickinson State football players protested last season.

People in Dickinson didn’t know what to make of the display. Mitzel wanted them to understand why the five black athletes did what they did. He created a once-a-month, on-campus forum where students and residents could have open conversations about divisive topics.

“Too many times, when protests arise, you get lines drawn in the sand,” Mitzel said. “I didn’t think that would be healthy for our students, our university, or our region.

“These issues will not go away on their own,” Mitzel added. “They will only go away when people come together and begin to talk about the underlying areas and issues that are causing these protests.”

After Livingston’s demonstration in Manhattan, he spoke to a new parolee for his program. The recently released man heard about Kaepernick’s fight. When Livingston told him that Kaepernick had partnered with his organization, the parolee’s eyes lit up.

“After all the cameras went away, the activism and the fire to make sure that we stand with this brother is still there,” Livingston said. “And that right there is something that’s a driver for me.”

In an era filled with a never-ending fight for black lives, no one’s message was louder.

“It��s not a secret anymore,” Keanu Hill said. “It feels like people aren’t scared to have that conversation. The question is: what are we going to do next?”

0 notes