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addictedtostorytelling · 1 month

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Hey AJ! I hope you’re having a good Monday :)

I have a question for you, or an ask I suppose. So I know you love the Sara/Grissom relationship dynamic as much as I do (and your content has kept me endlessly entertained for what I think has been 9 years now ((I just realized this wowwwww — 19 y/o to 28 😵‍💫)) I mean, you’re basically my favorite writer, too!!! ☺️) anyway, I wondered if you’ve ever felt somewhat similar about a relationship dynamic in a book. I’m craving something like it, and I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump so anything sort of similar would be ideal - though I understand a show that’s spanned 20+ years had more time to explore said dynamic lol. I’ve read the classics and stuff but wondered if you had any recs! And if not, any book recs would do. Like I said, I’ve been in a bit of a slump :/

And again, if you have none that’s fine too! Just wanted to ask!! Thank you 😊

hi, anon!

thank you for your kind words! you've been following my content for nine years? wow! i'm honored, truly. thank you for being part of my little corner of the internet! ❤

as for your question, i can't say i've ever felt similarly about any literary dynamic as i have about gsr.

albeit gsr is my otp to end otps, so they're kind of in a class of their own for me, regardless of medium—especially because, as you mention, they are pretty unique in their construction, as a 20+-year primetime tv romance slow burn. there's just nothing really like them out there!

while there are a few literary dynamics that evince particular aspects of gsr for me, almost all of them come from classic literature, so you're probably already familiar with the texts (e.g., odysseus & penelope from the odyssey by homer, hamlet & ophelia from hamlet by william shakespeare, just the general vibes of a lot of regency and victorian-era romantic pairings as in the works of jane austen and the brontë sisters, etc.)—and none of them is really a full match anyhow.

meanwhile, i don't tend to read a lot of contemporary fiction where romance features heavily in the plot.

all of the above so, i can't really think of any "similar to gsr" book recs for you.

the best i can do is just something more general.

i don't know what type of books you usually tend to read, but one book i do enjoy that does feature romance—not at all like gsr in its particulars, except that the two characters involved do start out both doubting their own lovability and come to find acceptance and affirmation in each other—is the shipping news by annie proulx.

it's a realistic fiction novel about a single american father who, after a family tragedy, moves to a remote fishing community in newfoundland, canada with his two young daughters and takes a job with a local newspaper.

though the romantic plot isn't the main one (i.e., it isn't a romance novel, just a novel that happens to feature a romance), it is ultimately quite sweet, and the book itself is well-written. for me, it was a highly enjoyable read.

of course, i should probably say something here about how because i am in my life outside of the internet a creative writing professor, the things that make a story enjoyable to me tend to have more to do with the author's craft practices than anything else. i don't really have any preferences when it comes to genres or settings in fiction; i just want the author to do what i would consider to be cool shit with their language, and i'm good to go. your mileage may (and probably will) vary, depending on your tastes.

anyway, since i struck out on offering you anything even remotely gsr-like with my rec, i will put your question out to anyone else who cares to chime in:

does anyone know of any books with gsr-esque dynamics in them for my dear anon? if so, could you share them in the replies?

please and thank you!

good luck, anon! i hope you're able to find something enjoyable to read to get you out of your slump. ❤

#answered #anon #my recs

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agustdef · 3 years

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That Couple

Pairing: Yugyeom x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1.9k

Warning: Mildly suggestive behavior.

Rating: PG-13

My Lovely Beta: @hobeemin

A/N: This is going to turn into a oneshot series. So... look out for that. LOL

“If you make me run through this again, we’re going to have a problem,” YN said right as Ariana Grande’s Positions began to play through the speakers.

The dancers behind her all nodded, but it was in the way they began dancing to the song that told her that they truly heard her. Every move was what it should have been with everyone’s own flair. They all moved where they should when they should and didn’t lose energy at any point as they performed. At a certain point, she stopped focusing on them and focused on herself as she danced with them.

Watching yourself through a mirror was a weird out of body experience, but over the years YN had gotten used to it and managed not to focus too much on her face as she watched. The mask that she wore also helped her out a great deal with the temptation that arose sometimes. Plus, she wanted to see if she herself was on par with what she expected from the others.

All that focus made the song pass quickly and then brought on the collapse of everyone, except her, onto the floor.

“And to think if you’d just done that six run throughs ago you’d already be off living your lives,” YN joked.

That earned some groans and curses from the girls, but they knew she was right. She’d only wanted about two hours to run through their performance for an upcoming concert and they’d done well until they got to Positions which was why she’d had them go over it more times than anything else.

They probably hated her a little, but she wanted to ensure they were prepared. A K-Pop group’s first concert was one to remember for everyone and could change how people saw them if they gave great performances or phoned it in. And having worked with many groups that ended up disbanding or not reaching the heights they could always made YN work harder to ensure the next group or artist did as well as they could.

And she thought that the girls she was working with were capable of greatness. Even as they crawled across the floor to grab their towels and water bottles.

YN smiled. “We’re done for the day, but I want y’all to do another run through before the day is over and twice tomorrow. Don’t repeat things, just go through the whole setlist to ensure that you have it. I know a lot of this is new choreography, so it takes a bit to sink in. But you’re doing really well.”

That seemed to give them a bit more energy and after a few more minutes of pulling it together, they packed up their things and left with promises to do as they were told. And with them and their managers gone it left YN on her own in the studio.

She didn’t mind it much and was happy to get some time to herself before she had other things to do. Especially since it had been so long since she’d had a moment to dance because she wanted to be silly for over a month. Work was a lot and she either created for someone else, taught, or danced in the background for something. By no means did she see that as a bad thing, because three years prior twenty-six-year-old Lisa struggled to keep consistent work, but it was all so tiring. By the end of most days, she ended up in bed or wanting to do anything but dance.

So, with her little window of time, she decided that was the time. YN redid the ponytail because she’d sweated and her hair got bigger, downed some water, and reapplied lotion to her elbows. The things were a darker brown than the rest of her from how often she hit them or did a move that had her pressing them into the floor. It was annoying, but not the end of the world.

Once ready she put her playlist on shuffle, turned the volume up, and got to it.

The first few songs were slower, which meant she had to adapt from all the more intense moves she’d done earlier. She was intentional and fluid with her moves, finding herself wrapped up in the music and truly just vibing. So, into it and watching herself that she ended up ripping off her mask and throwing it to the side, not even bothered by the sudden view of her full face.

However, despite the way those songs made her feel it wasn’t enough. YN needed more. She needed something that hit hard or something that allowed her to be a bit freer with what she was doing, so she stopped dancing and switched playlists to something that lacked the slower tempo songs. And the first song out of the gate rewarded her.

Ciara’s Goodies played and she danced the routine she’d learned as a kid for competitions. It was the first one she’d been allowed to choreograph herself and it had gotten her a high mark. Plus, it was just fun to fall back into something she knew so very well and thought was funny as hell.

From there it was more upbeat songs that she’d performed in the past or didn’t have a routine at all. It was just her moving however she wanted and she lived for it.

About five songs into her second playlist the door to the room opened and she almost stopped until she noticed that it was just Monster Woo and his crew of dancers plus a few friends. She simply nodded at him and continued what she was doing. None of them interrupted her, in fact, they shouted greetings and cheered her on as she went.

Until Megan Thee Stallion’s Circles came on and then as if they’d practiced for that moment two of them - friends of hers - joined in to perform the dance they’d worked on the week the song had been dropped. It wasn’t something they taught or performed ever, just something that they did for fun.

YN was so into it and having so much fun that she didn’t notice more people enter the room, let alone who was amongst those people.

And she continued to not notice as the song ended because as each new one came on there was a different set of people joining her to dance along to them. Until Bruno Mar and Anderson .Paak’s Leave The Door Open came on and then they left her there. She hadn’t met with any of them to dance to it and though they seemed to move off to the side to do something they had they left her front and center.

The song had been her love for two weeks and though her first dance moves alongside it had been a slow dance with her boyfriend, they both came up with something for it together later so that’s what she went with but solo.

Sensual and smooth was what the song was, so she matched that and found an easy groove in it. She was so into it that she barely looked into the mirror and almost missed the approach of someone behind her. However, she saw a hat fly and her gaze met theirs in the mirror.

He saw her the moment she noticed him and smiled, something she returned despite her still dancing along. Not that he left her alone for long, just as the last line of the pre-chorus hit his arms were wrapped around her waist and he helped her spin to face him.

Though YN felt a flutter in her stomach as she looked up at him and wanted to stay there for a while longer she didn’t. They moved into the next moves with ease and danced what they’d come up with in perfect harmony. Albeit while probably being a little too intimate with the moves.

Not that anyone complained.

“Get it Yugyeom!”

“Yes, YN! Yes.”

And other encouragements were yelled out as they danced and even after they finished.

YN was used to them being like that when she did anything remotely sexy, especially when Monster Woo was in the area. The man enjoyed trying to make her blush and had succeeded a few times, though only usually when Yugyeom was present and dancing with her.

And that time was no different. The final position was similar to the move that Yugyeom had joined her with, but their faces were much closer. And since she could feel his breath on her face and could see the way he smiled at her she couldn’t help the way her cheeks burned. Though that kind of went out of the window once Yugyeom leaned down and kissed her lips. YN returned it with enthusiasm and only pulled away when she grew tired of the gagging noises.

After they were apart they moved to the side to let the others continue dancing to whatever played. Yugyeom laced their fingers together and didn’t let go even when they’d found a place to stand.

“I thought you would have been gone before we got here,” he said.

She shook her head. “No. Something got moved and so I don’t have anything until later and it’s just me recording the moves for another group plus a few errands.”

For a moment Yugyeom pouted, which was beyond cute, but it confused YN.

“What’s wrong?”

“You left me alone in bed this morning. Didn’t even give me a kiss goodbye.”

The pouting intensified after that and YN laughed, throwing her head back a little. She’d been in a rush to get to work and he’d gotten to bed late so she’d let him sleep in. But she was being wrongly accused.

“Just because you weren’t awake for the kiss, does not mean the kiss didn’t happen. I gave your cute little lips multiple kisses before I left. You just didn’t wake up for any of them.”

That made him flustered, the pout vanishing as he fought down a smile and looked anywhere but at her. YN loved doing that to him, though she knew he would get his revenge on her later.

“That -” Yugyeom started only to be interrupted.

“So, you do have a thing for older women,” Jay Park said.

Just from hearing his voice, YN rolled her eyes, but then when she turned to face the little intruder she couldn’t help but do it again.

“It’s literally a two-year difference,” YN said.

Jay waved her off and focused on Yugyeom who’d gotten a little shyer about things when he was being confronted head on. It didn’t help that it was Jay and Loco who were staring him down.

“You could have just told us it was little YN, man. We know her. She’s cool people,” Loco said as he reached out to lightly poke YN’s cheek right where her dimple rested. A habit he’d gotten after he stopped gushing about how deep it was.

“I told you I was going to tell you at the end of the week. It’s not like I was keeping it a secret. We were just going to tell people outside of those who know at our own pace.”

“GOT7 knows? JYPE staff?” Jay asked.

Yugyeom nodded and that made Jay frown, but he didn’t say anything and before anyone could break the weird silence Blackpink’s Pretty Savage came on, and just like that YN was gone to dance again.

That left Yugyeom watching on again and YN threw him a wink every so often since they’d changed the choreography up quite a bit and that left for more sensual moves.

#kwritersworldnet #noonasinnetwork #yugyeom x reader #kim yugyeom x reader #yugyeom fluff #yugyeom fanfic #yugyeom au #yugyeom x black reader #yugyeom x poc reader #kim yugyeom x black reader #kim yugyeom x poc reader #kim yugyeom fanfic #kim yugyeom au #got7 fanfic #got7 fan fiction #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction

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lesbian-vmin · 4 years

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Ask Roundup #1 - Vmin

Hey, guys! I promised to be here at least once this weekend and answer some asks. As I’ve been terribly busy with work, a lot has built up in the in box. With over 200 asks to get to, I decided it would be better to take an idea from romanticdrift and do an ask roundup and sort of answer what I have so far. No, I won’t answer all 200 in this post because a lot are very similar. But I’ll be summarizing asks and clearing out my inbox. Many of these are paraphrased, but keeping the original context. (vmin focus only)

Discussed in here

The importance of vmin friendship

4 o’clock

Chim’s reaction to Tae calling during kimbap live

No vmin live

Sad Tae / Vmin tension

Vmin friendzoning

I was going to add more asks to the mix, but this got really long with just the few that I answered. I also tried to do a mix of soft vmin and people wanting me to expand on some idea of vmin not being close or the “friendzone” thing.

(BELOW THE CUT)

anonymous asked:

Part of me wishes that vmin was real. Another part of me doesn’t want them to be. Don’t get me wrong, I ship them and don’t have a problem with the idea of them being gay and in love. But somehow I really like the idea of them being best friends who just really care deeply about each other. Does that make sense?

That makes perfect sense to me, honestly. I often talk about the value of friendship on this blog and how friendships are just as important as romantic relationships. If vmin have the close bond they do with each other, and it’s totally platonic, it sort of proves that there are friendships out there that have connections just as deep as romantic love.

This is one of the reasons I don’t push the ��romantic vmin” agenda too hard. Because their friendship is perfect and ideal if that’s all it is. It really puts the statement “something deeper than friendship” to shame. Because what’s deeper than friendship? In fact, a romance with someone you can’t also consider your best friend doesn’t seem deep at all. It’s almost like “friendship” is what make romantic relationships deep. You know what I mean? You just won’t have the same connection with a romantic partner if you’re not also friends with them. So it’s silly to me how friendships are often devalued.

Regardless of what type of relationship vmin have, I think it’s okay for them to be the model of the type of relationship someone else would want to have. Whether it be with a friend or an s/o. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a romantic relationship that matches someone else’s friendship. And, if you don’t think vmin is real but still relate to them as “couple goals” because that’s the kind of relationship you want, then that’s fine. That’s actually sort of the kind of shipper that I am.

someone asked:

Tae started crying at the end of 4 o’clock during their performance. But if it’s just about the dumpling fight, why would he cry? Am I delulu? Was the fight really that intense?

someone else said:

Chim was smiling and stuff during the practice of 4 o’clock. So I think he had to have known that the song was about him?

These asks were from an anonymous person, but they were two separate asks. So I wanted to specify them as two separate asks in this post, but answer them together.

First things first. Let’s get a few links in here that you can reference to understand my answer a little better if you don’t know the whole story.

Okay. Let’s talk about Tae crying during the performance. I can’t actually say that he really cried, but he did seem to get emotional at the end. It’s a song that’s about a fight that is a big staple in their friendship. I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s more to the dumpling incident that they’re not telling us. I don’t think that’s the first time they would have had such an argument. They probably argue about whether to eat pizza or burgers all the time, and whether they should have dinner first and then watch a movie or watch a movie and then eat dinner.

Just the fact that Chim stated that he had to go and have a drink with Syub after the fight tells us that there was more to the incident than they are telling us. You don’t go and drink yourself drunk because you and your best friend can’t agree on whether to eat dumplings before or after practice.

I think that incident is one of the building blocks of their friendship. I think that it happened at a time they were going through a lot of changes. We know that Chim tends to be pretty possessive, and this was at a time that Tae started having his own schedule because of Hwarang. I think there were a lot of sudden changes to things, and that stressed them out and put some strain on their friendship. And it’s possible that’s entirely wrong.

Either way. It’s pretty clear there’s more to it than dumplings. But we can’t begin to analyze and figure out what it is and expect to be remotely accurate. And quite frankly, no matter how curious any of us may be, it’s none of our business. If they wanted us to know the “obviously more to the story” part of the story, they’d tell us.

And now. I guess I could have handles the two asks separately. But anyway. I’ve already talked about how I think Chim did already know that 4 o’clock was about that incident. So check the interview analysis I linked above for my discussion on that topic. I’m going to be going through my analyses soon and updating them, but that answer will do for now.

anonymous asked

You talked about Tae calling Chim on his live but what your thoughts about Tae caling during Ji / kook live. Chim was so unprepared and Kook was laughing about Tae calling and I guess Chim’s reaction to it. Chim didn’t seem to be in the flirting mood. I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

I believe I have talked about this before somewhere, but I’m not entirely sure. So the live you are referring to is the kimbap making one (x). So, I’m going to reference the Mandago Incident in this answer, and I did an analysis on this live before. I’m going to link to the analysis I made. A link to the last mandago live can be found in that analysis. (x)

During the last mandago that we got, I really got the feeling that Chim wanted to do a live with Tae, but Tae didn’t want to join him. We have Chim being all sour and pouty and even down right petty in that last live, and I sort of got the same vibes from his behavior when Tae called during the kimbap live.

We know that Chim keeps saying he want to do a vlive with Tae, but it never happens. What the real story behind their lack of a live together is, we may never know.

I have a theory about this one, but it is just a theory. It’s probably not even remotely true, and there are thousands of other possibilities than what I’m about to say in regards to this live.

I think that it’s possible that the Ji / kook kimbap making live was supposed to be a vmin kimbap making live. Or vmin / kook, but I’m leaning further away from that option for this analysis to make a little more sense in relation to the mandago one (which I compare it to).

This analysis is assuming (1) that the kimbap making was supposed to be Chim’s live originally (2) he originally invited Tae to do the live with him (3) Tae refused (4) Chim wanted to do the live, but not alone (5) He asked Kook (6) Kook accepted, and they did the live together.

That’s a lot of assumptions to make for a logical analysis, but it’s seriously the vibe I got from Tae’s phone call.

Let’s look at the key points from the mandago live:

(1) Chim wanted to do Mandago (2) He wanted to do with Tae because it’s their thing (3) Tae didn’t want to come (4) Chim invited Kook instead (5) Kook came

After Kook joined the Mandago live, it didn’t take long before Tae joined as well. As stated in my analysis, you could make the argument that he wanted to eat as well (because they had food), but he ended up bringing his own food. He didn’t have to join the live to eat if he already had food on his own. I think he was upset because Chim was doing “mandago” without him. Even thought it ended up not really being a mandago live and more of Eat Jin.

Chim’s behavior in both lives really seems similar to me. So I sort of got the feeling that Tae was originally supposed to be part of the live but refused. Then when he saw that Chim was with Kook instead, he got upset. He called Chim, and Chim got upset. A “if you wanted to be in the live, why didn’t you just do it” sort of upset. Like, if Tae didn’t want to do the live with him, why is he calling during the live? Knowing they’re live? You get what I’m saying.

And, no. I’m not saying this is a Ji / kook vs vmin thing. And I’m not even trying to imply any sort of unhealthy level of jealousy here. I just think (if this theory is remotely correct) it shows how Chim is being real with us. He’s not just pulling our leg and saying that he wants to do a live with Tae but he really doesn’t and it’ll never happen. I think, again - if my theory is remotely correct, this shows how Tae doesn’t want to do a solo vmin live with Chim. Even if this theory is correct, it’s possible that Tae would have called regardless if Kook was there or not. Because, based on the theory, he was initially invited, but he didn’t want to be there in person. Alone. With Chim. For whatever reason.

Again, relating it to my theory, I think Tae either called because (1) If Kook was going to be there, he would have joined. Because that would have been a third person, keeping it from being him and Chim alone. So when he saw Kook there, he wanted to make himself part of it somehow. Or (2) He would have called even if it was just Chim because he’s more okay with talking on the phone than being there in person.

I might do an actual analysis of the kimbap live, but we’ll see. It’s easier to talk about a theory here than to actually analyze because there’s not a lot to go off of without making assumptions.

related to this, anonymous asked:

Why do you think vmin won’t do a vlive together?

With some other saying that them not doing so makes it hard for us to see that they are really friends.

So, my idea on why they won’t do a vlive together is a little different than what I’ve read around. I think the reason it doesn’t happen is simply because they don’t want to, but not for any particular reason other than taking the time to do it. I’m going to explain.

We can make the argument that they are comfortable with each other and don’t want to have to be too careful. But I think that’s a copout for thinking a little deeper about it and making it more realistic. Yeah, it’s possible that they’ll have to watch themselves while they’re live, but what makes that different than any of the other members?

Ji / kook can have a live together, look into each other’s eyes, tease each other, and all kinds of things during vlive, so...why is the case different for them than with vmin? I don’t really think that them having to “watch it” has anything to do with them not doing a live together. It’s not like they’re really going to “forget about the camera” and accidentally make out or something. Even if they are in a relationship. They wouldn’t do that.

My honest belief, until I’m given reason to believe otherwise, is because they simply don’t want to. Vlives are often done from the studio or some other place where they work (if not hotel rooms). We don’t get random vlives of them living day-to-day life or going to Lotte World. So this means that most vlives we get are planned for work, or done during down time from work. But it’s always related to work somehow.

I really think that Tae and Chim are best friends and enjoy spending time with each other the same way any other friends do. When they are together, that’s their time, and they probably don’t want to share it with us. Because they share a lot of things with us, and I’m sure they have things (like their friendship or time together) that they want to keep for themselves. Despite Chim acting like the more private one, yet wanting to do a vlive with Tae, I think this is why Tae refuses. Because, although he doesn’t seem to be shy about expressing his love for Chim, he wants to keep their private time private as well.

And that’s all I think it is. And, honestly, if that’s the case, we can relish in the fact that we don’t get vmin lives. Even if getting one would be nice. It’s nicer to know that they want to keep their private time private because their friendship is important to them and they don’t want to make it about us. And. Who knows? Maybe the mandago thing and the dumpling incident all have a part to play in this. Because maybe the publicity put on their friendship at the time is what caused those kinds of strains to happen. And to avoid something like that again, maybe that’s why they won’t go live.

But. I think it’s possible we’ll get one eventually. I haven’t given up yet.

anonymous said:

HI. I would just like to remind your readers about 2020 Festa: Unit Interview @12:31 VMIN was asked: What do you want to say to each other? Tae somehow refused to answer and just said: "WE ALWAYS SAY IT TO EACH OTHER." There's NO NEED to say what they feel for each other openly. No explanations whatsoever. As Chim said in Bon Voyage 2, not us, not even the members can fully understand what they feel about each other.

Remember what I said about no theory being good enough to be truth behind vmin? This anon gets it.

a mix of asks relates to

I don’t know why people keep saying Tae is sad or that vmin are fighting. They are fine. Nothing’s wrong.

I don’t know what’s more harmful. Assuming someone is sad all the time. Or assuming they’re fine all the time.

There are times when Tae is obviously down, and he shows it. I think he doesn’t try so hard to put on a fake happy face for us, and I think that’s wonderful. It’s okay not to be okay, and we really don’t have a lot of icons out there that let us know that. They may tweet and talk about mental health and the importance of it. But celebrities that actually show their mental status or even talk about their own level of happiness is far and few between. People think they’re happy all the time, and those that do say they’re not often get attacked because “why wouldn’t they be happy? They have fame, money, and everything?”

If you don’t see that Tae might be sad at a particular moment, or don’t think that vmin has a moment of tension, I guess that’s fine. But to say that it never happens is obviously false. Everyone gets sad sometimes, and everyone has tension with their closest friends.

That being said, those who go overboard and act like Tae is never happy or that vmin hate each other...yeah. That’s a bit much and needs to stop. Tae’s emotions are dynamic, and vmin love each other.

another mix of asks relates to

Do you think vmin are intentionally trying to friendzone themselves because they don’t want us to get suspicious? Or do you think they want us to know that they are only friends and shipping makes them uncomfortable?

Friendzone what? Like. What?

Regardless of what Tae and Chim are together, they are still best friends. The one thing that we confirm about their relationship is indeed that.

I really don’t think they ever say “he’s my best friend” in a “no-homo” kind of way, and that’s sort of what both scenarios presume. Two men can call each other “best friends” without having an implied “no-homo” label onto it.

And let me talk about this “no-homo” thing, okay? I’m not sure how many lgbt people are asking this question, but from my own lgbt perspective “no-homo” was always a little offensive to me. Like, why can’t you just give your bro a hug? Or why can’t you just say “I love you” to a friend? Are we really to the point where people have to say “no-homo” because they don’t want to give someone the wrong idea?

Honestly, my best straight male friend hugs me and tells me he loves me all the time, and he sometimes says “no-hetero” when he does it. And I love him to bits and pieces in a completely no-hetero kind of way because he started the joke because he realized how offensive the other statement was. At least, how much it bothered me regardless of how any other lgbt people felt about it.

Anyway. My point is, regardless of what kind of relationship vmin have together, I’m sure they say “he’s my best friend” because they are best friends. Regardless of any other labels they could have, they are best friends, and that’s what they want to let us know. I don’t think it has anything to do with dumbass “friendzoning” or “no-homo” shit. I don’t think they have some ulterior motive by simply stating that they are best friends.

And. Honestly. I if I asked my sister who her best friend is? She’d say her husband (or me lmao). If I asked my best friend who her best friend is? She’d say her husband (or me lmao). If I asked my straight male best friend? He’d say his wife (or me lmao). So. Again. My point is. Your significant other can be your best friend, and referring to them as such doesn’t mean you are friendzoning them.

It doesn’t mean that vmin is a real couple. It doesn’t mean that they’re not a real couple. It just means that, if they are, they’re obviously not going around introducing each other or talking about each other as boyfriends.

#vmin analysis #ask roundup #theory

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thepeachgreentea · 4 years

Text

this got Real Long Real Quick...

I wanna know more about Luka's soul song gift - like how much do emotions or personality play into it? ((I’m going with a lot)) Does it only work in person?? Or can he get like snippets from videos or vibes from pictures? Like it would make sense if it was only in person...... But where's the fun I'm that? Realistically it wouldn't be as strong as in person but I could see him getting some stuff. Pictures it probably wouldn't be a lot, or even much of anything, unless the soul song really didn't match the picture...

Which means Luka is one of the first people to realize something is Up with Adrien (and the Agrestes in general)

The ads around the city never felt right, never matched up with the snippets/vibes he was able to get - unless Adrien was supposed to be sad or melancholy. Which is... yikes...

Then the Adrien The Fragrance commercial happens. And that's an additional big Fucking Yikes

Like I can only imagine that Adrien isn't particularly big on modelling in general from what we've seen (with the Marinette-exception) so the filming of that could have only been Worse than normal. How many times did it take to get the emotions at the ‘right’ level? How long did it take to get the angles and all the action done?

Anyway: after the first time Luka literally cannot stomach watching it or even listening to it because it is so Wrong. The soul song snippets from the video are longer and more intense and it is just so discordant that Luka can't deal

Adrien is most certainly NOT feeling carefree. Or radiant. Or remotely dreamy. He's goddamn exhausted, frustrated, resigned, depressed, sweaty, anxious, awkward, stressed. It is a whole stew of (teen) angst offset with that upbeat music and the bright blue sky & all that w h i t e and the jumping for joy

It is such a strong dichotomy Luka has a visceral reaction every time and has to either leave the room or mute it and look away,

All of that means that after he meets Adrien in person, and gets to hear his soul song in a couple different situations and can see his emotions matching internally and externally he basically tells him they will always have space for him on the Liberty. (Also the first time he saw the LB + CN movie and heard Adrien's voice acting he only picked up some nerves - easily attributed to a new situation rather than a secret identity - but he was clearly enjoying himself even if it was a terrible script)

Therefore, Luka doesn't have particularly good feelings towards Gabriel, even before seeing any videos of him.

Style Queen was a Time. He was happy for Adrien but the bits he was getting from Gabriel were so rigid and tight... And rather selfish to boot. Which was weird given the situation

He has to try very very hard to not sneer or snarl at the tablet he first "meets" him on - probably at a Kitty Section practice or concert or at some class + family event.

I can also v easily picture him meeting him in person and being super uncomfortable at the sheer amount of manipulation and self-aggrandizing, selfishness, etc that rolls off of Gabriel, basically choking out his soul song. Either Lula barely refrains from punching Gabriel and manages to shake his hand but then desperately needs to clean his hands. Orrrr he does punch him and then basically coats his hands in sanitizer (either way he is Nino’s absolute favorite person for this alone)

Also, this would not be the first time Luka has figured out an abusive situation. It has happened with both his own and Juleka's friends & classmates. He is v much a protective older brother at heart

And because I damn well can have some Lila salt, some of which has been touched on before, unlike with Gabriel:

He had heard about her from Juleka and Kitty Section and was a bit confused about it but it wasn't until Rose was over and the girls were telling him about some of Lila's stories that he saw a picture of her.

And that was The Strongest he had ever reacted to a picture before: instant chills up his spine and an actual hiss escaped him

All 3 of them are shocked. Luka then has to explain that reaction as best as he can. Which is hard when you aren't great at words and while the soul song fragments are rather clear he would never make his guitar suffer trying to recreate them.

He manages tho and Julerose are at least wary of her afterwards. They start observing her more and a lot of her behavior and the way she talks can be very off-putting. They start noticing some of the digs that she makes at others, that she contradicts herself 5 different ways, and how she is constantly bringing the attention back to herself.

During all this they start noticing how both Marinette and Adrien react to her and it is Not Good. Mari gets defensive and will often try to bring up those contradictions that they started noticing. But jealousy is only a minor factor, at most. In certain situations it is possible that it could be involved... except those only happen when Adrien is looking very uncomfortable and Marinette notices or they make eye contact and then Marinette creates an opportunity for him to escape

Which is something that no one else is noticing which is really terrible and unhealthy...

Around this time is when Ivan has started to figure out something is up. and then he definitely knows when Julerose show Luka a video at a private band practice.

Because video and in person interactions make the BadBadBAD feelings worse and Ivan, while he often struggles with understanding & expressing emotions, has definitely noticed Lila - even though she is not actually there - causes a lot of stress and anxiety to Luka and he has gotten really good at methods of lessening those.

So, Luka sees the video with/of Lila and has an even stronger reaction than the picture before. His eyes get huge, and his face pales (gets slightly sickly?), and he hisses even stronger than the first time

He refuses to try to play her soul song because something like that is nearly impossible to recreate but also doesn’t need to be put out into the world but does his best to try and describe it

Possible: her soul song feels like it is drowning in toxic sludge - there is just so much negativeness that it is barely intelligible. It is being smothered by self-satisfaction and importance, narcissism, aggressive manipulation, pettiness, vile maliciousness, etc

In person interactions are awful. Luka avoids physical interaction as much as possible. Even more than he would with Gabriel, and he wants as little to do with that man as possible, ideally none. But Lila is worse...

There have been multiple times that he has had to step out/away to be able to get some fresh air and breathe again. At least once where he has been or almost has been sick - usually following a hug that he did not consent to or something similar

Ivan is definitely in the fold now, and Julerose share what they have noticed from taking their step back. He realizes he has noticed a lot of those same things but he wasn’t analyzing them and didn’t have the same context for them at the time that Luka, Juleka, and Rose did. But afterwards he picks up on them more clearly, and some other things they hadn’t - benefits of being one of the quiet kids (and a lesser target of Lila’s focus). He is part of the driving force in bringing Marinette and Adrien in first before going to others.

Marinette breaks down because more people believe her?? and support her and Adrien? it is a huge relief of tension. And she didn’t even have to convince them herself!! what a concept... but it is definitely a safe space for her and she can share her own experiences and that certainly is nice

they had all suspected Something was Up but weren’t expecting that so there are lots of hugs and tears and support and mutters of payback

Adrien eventually cries because Kitty Section + Marinette give him a TedTalk about consent and personal autonomy. And now he has so many people (!!!) telling him he can say no and make his own choices, mistakes, and decisions. (Marinette’s part is largely “I told you so / do you believe us now?” because the Dupain-Chengs have probably already given this same talk as a family but that is just A family’s opinion, others probably think differently) And this is the first time he really truly believes it and... oooof there are a lot of emotions and interactions to unpack and reconsider

but now he knows he really needs to and that he can and should which is new, but so is having an actual support system...

Thus, Luka is ready to fight a bitch the first time he sees Lila and Adrien interacting. There is so much clinging and touching, and Adrien is panicking and no one is doing anything or is being waved off. And (unfortunately) this is one of the things that causes some people to start questioning things about Lila. Because most of them know of Luka as a really chill, laid-back guy who is open and accepting of people. and besides he has no reason to be jealous (((👀👀👀👀 too much to think about and unpack t h e r e))) so why would he be upset about Lila leaning on Adrien and holding his arm??

So, the questioning of Lila and what she says spreads out from Kitty Section and Adrinette to the rest of the class. They take a different approach. They slowly, carefully approach their classmates and take them aside when possible to talk about the situation

This allows them to be able to get their undivided attention and lay out what they have found out in a logical and cohesive manner, rather than attempting something rash or in the heat of the moment. Marinette grumbled about this method initially but when there were actual results and the burden was shared it was a huge relief for her.

In fact, others start coming to them about Lila.

because of the work of Kitty Section and Adrinette Lila’s audience has been steadily decreasing and it is getting easier to notice things. With a smaller audience the focus doesn’t get split as much and there are less questions for her to build off of or go on tangents from and the contradictions start standing out more, or she’s making more to try and keep them around her by holding their interest with different details

Plus, the comments about those outside Her Circle are getting meaner and more frequent. Usually they are still sneaky or underhanded but nowhere near as subtle as they were originally (were they ever, really?) and it is raising suspicions and hackles.

Eventually, Lila is left without an audience because the class has all been brought out of the cloud of manipulation and are working on trust and listening to each other more/better. and on how to not disregard other’s feelings (which is esp important with the high butterfly population in Paris, but is a v good life lesson in general). they are young and will make mistakes and will have to learn from them. but trials, growth, and change are all part of life so it is good for them.

But it essentially all stems from Luka and his ability to hear soul songs and reacting to those songs, or the lack thereof when they are being choked by evil intentions/emotions/actions/what have you

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threeeyesslitthroat · 4 years

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So I watched Chaos Walking(2021)

Yeah, lucky for me, my local theater was open and showing(side note, I love my local theater so much. Like, not to brag but seven dollars for a movie and a snack is so great)

Anyhow, I watched Chaos walking. This is sort of my review.

First off, I read The Knife of Never Letting Go and one third of The Ask and Answer, almost two years ago. When they finally dropped the release date and the trailer, i made the choice not to go reread the first book because i wanted to give the movie a chance and make an exercise of managing my expectations(in preparation for Disney’s Percy Jackson adaptation). Which means not only do I not have a complete understanding of the source material, but I also have a shit memory, so I don’t have a great shot at analyzing this films in adaptation terms, but i’m gonna try anyhow.

So first off, The Noise.

I found it a bit sketchy that they decided to make the make Noise have visual elements alongside audio but I decided it was fine, since it be pretty hard to bring this to life with only just audio and not make general audiences confused.

But they did try and do a solid job. Minus not letting us hear the Noise of animals, which sucks. we do see the Noise of a Spackle, but briefly.

The part that really pisses me off is the final confrontation, when the Noise is treated like a Super Power. we see this when Todd scares Davy’s horse by conjuring up an image of big snake, when Mayor Prentiss tricks Viola into a false trap, when Ben tricks everyone by pretending to give Viola up when in fact he’s buying Todd and the real Viola time to get away, and in the final, Todd distracts Prentiss by conjuring up the image of his mother(complete with bloody wounds) and the various women that died when he was a baby, which caused Prentiss to fall to his death.

I don’t know how the Noise is depicted in the later books, if it was anywhere remotely like this, but i know for sure it doesn’t happen in the first book, which the film is based on.

(Also, how the fuck does Todd know what his mum looks like, or any of the other women and how is he able to bring up their images so perfectly how is ANYONE ABLE REMEMBER SOMEONE WITH THAT MUCH DETAIL That goes beyond photographic memory)

Second bit, the Spackle.

The design is boring. Its clearly an alien, buts its dark grey, tall, holds its own when Todd attacks it in the film, has zero impact on the film as a whole and pretty boring. I do recall reading the book and imagining them to have faces similar to real world lemurs or Sloths, with big expressive eyes and such, but the CGI monster doesn’t emote for shit in this film. Todd comes at with a knife with every intention of killing it and it shrugs him off and walks away like it wasn’t fucking attacked my gods.

But in short, they only brought up the Spackle because they’re a thing in the world and it teased the bigger concepts of the next books with like, one measly exchange between Todd and Viola. (it went something like this)

Viola:We’re the aliens, though. They’re the natives.

Todd: huh.

Third bit, New World itself. Not a big deal, It looked like how i originally imagined it, no mention of swamp apples, though we see Todd Hewitt use a knife to stab a big ass bug thing for food. i hear some critics consider it lame that the planet isn’t actually alien but eh, whatever, Didn’t really feel an alien vibe reading the book so it doesn’t matter.

Now there’s one bit i have to acknowledge in passing. At one point Todd decides to go get lunch by going into the water with his knife and wrestles with some big ass thing with tentacles. Which is fine, just have a couple of questions.

A: is this in reference to the books? Where there big ass tentacle creatures in the novel that are hunted for lunch?

B:if not, was this the film makers deciding to remind the viewers that yes, they are not on planet earth and to make Todd look cooler and justify why he’s useful for the quest and show how much Viola doesn’t know?

I kinda have to acknowledge the thing. In that scene, Todd and Viola take a break, and Todd removes his clothes (all of them) and decides to go hunting in the water naked as the day he was born. You may have noticed that the Tom Holland stans are all over this scene because One) the camera focuses on Tom Hollands muscles when he takes his top off and Two) one can see his bare ass in the distance.

Not a big fan off this, just find it interesting because its the most recent example of a Male being objectified by the camera when this never happens once to any of the female characters in the film, including Viola. Also, a touch of weird character detailing because haha, get it? Boy’s never seen a girl before in his life and doesn’t know what modesty means.

Also, very weird because Todd Hewitt in the book was so fucking self conscious that he would never have done that.

Now I gotta talk about the characters.

( i understand why they aged them up, i truly do, better to get established actors instead of child actors that could more easily break to movie than sell it. its easier to make movies with legal adults instead of working with child labor laws. but damn it you lose so much of the fucking nuance of the novel when you age them up. There’s so much shit that makes an impact because of how young they are. Around the ages of eleven and twelve is when ones understanding of good and evil has its foundation, to me it was like the story was grappling with Todd Hewitt’s very soul and you lose so much of that when you change it to them being older because instead of being just kids in fucked up situations its younger adults in messed up situations. Like ugh. and aging them up leads to even more problems but we’ll fucking get to that)

Tom Holland’s Todd Hewitt is not the Todd Hewitt of the novel. He just ain’t. There is nothing there that reminds of the boy. The acting is solid, don’t get me wrong, but it just ain’t the Todd Hewitt i remember. Neither is Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade.

(excuse me while i get Percy Jackson flashbacks)

Now, I have to acknowledge the fact that neither actor(actually none of the actors in this film) slouch on the job. They bring solid and at times very good acting.(If Tom Holland is in the film, its not going to be complete waste of time. He brings quality.)

Honestly, respect to Mr Holland because he was basically the main character, not only acting but also doing voice and various stunts(also huge credit to the stunt coordinators and stuntmen) and I heard that filming wasn’t that great and bloody broke his nose how many times like damn boy, hats off to you.

But here’s the thing. I don’t want to say that Holland was playing himself or just a version of peter Parker, because i really don’t think he wasn’t but it just. Didn’t feel like a legit character? Especially when compared to the novel. Like Todd Hewitt in the novel is such a raw force of emotion and such a smartass and i was so looking forward for Holland to own this role but in the movie he just? Awkward dude going through some stuff?

but yeah, Holland works his ass off and there are some scenes and moments in the movie that work just because this fellow is just that charming, so (shrug emoji) like i said, He doesn’t waste your time at least.

Ridley....sigh. i know this woman can act. But next to the character who’s thoughts are heard constantly she’s very boring. And it hurts so much because Viola has an actual personality in the novel like; I’m ninety percent sure that Viola hits Todd with a big stick and I do remember that there were multiple moments where she lets Todd know when he’s being a dumbass.(seriously, i may have a shit memory of the book, but i do remember that they play off each other well and hugely entertaining seeing two twelve-year-olds handle the shit getting thrown at them)

Like, Viola in the film doesn’t really have much going on. We see the crash, we hear about the graves she dug herself, we see her be sad, we see her look at Todd like weirdo, we see her look horrified or shocked. (its so sad that I only remember the facial expressions more clearly than the actual dialogue) We really have no idea what the hell is going on with Viola Eade. I don’t think we can blame Ridley, only the film makers, because how can you see Viola Eade in the novel and then turn her into that????

i do have to talk about the relationship between Tom Holland’s Todd Hewitt and Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade, even though its painful. In the novel, them is just two kids on a really tough adventure. Because they aged them up, its not two kids old enough to run for the playground when recess starts. Its Teenagers.

First question, HOW OLD ARE THEY??? Is Todd sixteen? Eighteen? Seventeen? He sure as hell ain’t Thirteen in this. What about Viola? I mean, big shout out to the hair and makeup team for making 28-year-old Daisy Ridley look so much younger but how. OLD. IS.SHE? Nineteen? Twenty? Twenty-one? Pretty sure she’s older than him in this? I ask because it MATTERS.

The way they play off each other has a vastly different energy to the novel because they are aged up. Its pretty obvious pretty fast that Todd’s feelings are basically a big crush, though not all of it is superficial as the film progresses. And Viola is clearly not receptive to that in the film. (honestly i cringed so hard at the “daydream kiss’ and whatever the hell that was in the Farbranch mayor’s house)

The relationship in the film just doesn’t have the nuance or the energy that the novel had in depicting their relationship which is depressing for all the Todd x Viola fans i’m sure. There’s some adorable bits though, like Viola seeing Todd’s dream of her playing with Manchee, and not so adorable canon bits like when Viola read the diary to Todd.

I’m just grateful that the film at least ended with them being friends instead of trying to force the romantic relationship. That right there is why I like the movie. It’s a crush, its used for a couple laughs, they’re friends, its fine. Even if you didn’t read the novel that’s really great for a movie in this day and age to not end with forcing two opposite sex characters into a relationship. To be honest, I like the idea that the film leaves us thinking that yeah, maybe these two could be real friends one day.

I just want to touch on Manchee real quick.

Manchee’s Noise is not seen or heard in the film. It is briefly acknowledged by Todd ins their first scene but other than that? Nada. Which is a low blow in comparison to the novel because Manchee was a character in his own right, which is why the death hit so hard.

Todd?” he barks, confused and scared and watching me leave him behind. “Todd?” “Manchee!” I scream. Aaron brings his free hand towards my dog. “MANCHEE!” “Todd?” And Aaron wrenches his arms and there’s a CRACK and a scream and a cut-off yelp that tears my heart in two forever and forever. And the pain is too much it’s too much it’s too much and my hands are on my head and I’m rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness that’s inside of me.”

in the film, it takes place in white rapids, So its chaotic, its awful, the veiwer’s all stressed out because Viola can’t swim, everyone's getting separated and Aaron’s there and he is seen drowning Manchee.

Dude, its brief, but not pretty. Because you can see Manchee’s legs trashing above the water, struggling to get free. Aaron is drowning a dog, letting its lungs fill with water. For the folks that don’t like watching dogs die in graphic detail on screen, this isn’t great.

Personally, I love this scene in the novel. Its the first time i had to put the book down and take a moment. It hit really close to home for me, because i watched my own dog die in real life. It was emotional and horrifying and had such a fucking impact because we could hear his thoughts. Todd had to make the choice to leave him behind to keep Viola safe. To be honest, i think the death is better in the novel, since Manchee basically dies instantly instead of drowning, which takes time(I’ve always assumed that his neck was snapped but I’ve heard others say it was the psine but whatever) it would have been easy and necessary for them to not show that on screen. I personally just think that in terms of depicting a violent death, the novel did a lot better.

Anyway, on to the other characters

(I had to choose the one with the big orange fluffy coat, and i couldn’t find a good pic og Ben and Cillian on google images.)

As for Mayor Prentiss, he’s played by Mads Mikkelsen, and he delivers. But for the most part, we don’t really know why he’s the bad guy, he just wants to get Viola because “she’s the key” which isn’t really explained, and at the end he tries his hardest to kill Todd.

Because i only read the first book, I don’t know what exactly his character arc is. And since its been a really long while, I don’t remember what he’s like in the novel regardless, other than the cliffhanger ending.

I did take a quick crashcourse through the wiki and it turns out that Todd and Prentiss have a relationship in the later books, which the film sort of touches on, because Todd looks up to Prentiss in the film from the get go.

To be honest, I knew that the trilogy was a lot more complex, and even though I didn’t read the whole thing I knew it would be really disappointing for the fans to see the mayor be hollowed out to almost unrecognizable and not getting to see the whole picture on screen.

As for Davy Prentiss Jr., he was an asshole and stayed an asshole. I know he improves and gets killed off in the novels, so yeah, exhibit B of character foundations not being laid down because there isn’t gonna be a movie after this. Also, why is he played by Nick Jonas? Did they actually have more in mind for him when they decided to go with a Jonas brother or was it just star power?

As for Aaron...don’t have much to say about him, other than just being pretty weird fit to the film. I think he’s after Viola because he’s just that full of delusions but other than that, his character is just flat and useless. (I wish to the gods that writers would actually think instead of going with “religious delusion” to explain insanity) He only brought tension in a few scenes for the most part. I’m pretty sure that in the novel Todd and Aaron have a confrontation, like the final fight of the novel, and I’m 90% sure that its where the Novel gets the Knife of never Letting Go as its title, because the knife is big deal at that point. But I guess they wanted Viola to have a quick boss battle for the ending and set him on fire.

Ben and Cillian were fine. They did a good job, the actors were pretty great, I liked Cillian, and i like how they acknowledged that these dudes were family(i know that they’re gay and a couple but the film doesn’t say it outloud beyond letting them sleep in the same bed, be Todd’s parents, and having Ben hold Cillian in his arms) I get a kick out of the fact that the official reviews by Movie Critics are openly curious about why the film doesn’t make it more obvious that they’re gay, but whatever.

As for the overall plot, this is a fine example of mashing three books into one film and not having good results. Instead of going to Haven, the movie decided to shortcut the ending and go to the original ship that somehow has working tech but whatever, Viola needs to communicate to her ship. So not only do we not get the great relationship between Todd and Viola, not only do we not get the Spackle, Not only do we not get to see the noise of Manchee, not only do we have poor character adaptation, we also don’t get to have a plot that matches THE ONE BOOK THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO ADAPT. THEY HAD ONE FUCKING JOB AND THEY COULDN'T ADAPT THE ONE BOOK-

Its only so sad that they decided that this was going to be a one-shot deal because they didn’t have faith in the film and chose to have all the threads tied up. I mean, its so sad for the fans because the movie makes it very clear that we are not going to have anymore movies. sigh.

slight respect towards the film makers for tying up all the story threads instead of leaving them hanging. they did a neat job, even if it wasn’t a great one.

Anyway, maybe later on when google images has more than the promotional material I’ll do a review of only the good stuff this movie did, even if its a sad pathetic failure of an adaptation. Anyway this review is a bit of a mess and already so long so i’ll stop now.

May the gods give us strength against all the Tom Holland stans that will inevitably clog up the Chaos Walking tag with their Todd Hewitt x reader fanfics.

#Threeeyes speaks for once #messy film review #took forever to do this #i truly do feel for the Chaos walking fandom #As a Percy Jackson fan #I can only say #First Time?#Chaos Walking #Knife of Never Letting Go #Tom Holland 2021 #Daisy Ridley 2021 #Viola Eade #Todd Hewitt #Chaos Walking 2021

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beanie-beebo-writes · 3 years

Text

It follows

Series Summary: Reader is running from financial problems and his/her studies, will they catch up with him/her? Charlie's close friends (none other than Sam and Dean) go to check up on the reader due to Charlie becoming worried for him/her. Trouble pursues, as the reader wants to keep silent about his/her struggles.

Warnings: None

Masterlist

Chapter 14

Dean focused intently on driving down city side-streets, just in case if the creature back there decided to trail after them. He was bewildered, and honestly didn't know what to think, but he tried not to get too lost in thought as he sped to the motel. Hell, he was lucky he wasn't a midnight snack, based on the way it tried to ravish both Dean and itself.. For a good couple of minutes, the drive was silent, except for the sound of your heart pounding in your ears and an occasional thought passing through your mind.

"What exactly happened back there?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, I really don't. But whatever we are hunting, it is not a werewolf." Dean replied.

"Did you see what it was?" You asked curiously.

"That's the thing, I did, but, it wasn't anything I've seen before." Dean said.

You and Sam stared at Dean, hoping the discomfort would force him to continue explaining. As you expected, he glanced from the road, back at both of you.

"What?!" He finally asked.

"What did it look like?" Sam inquired.

"Well, it was in the form of this beautiful woman. It looked normal, at least until I slashed it with the silver knife; which had no effect on it, by the way. And it used some sort of power, healing the wound instantly. Not like angel mojo, but… I don't know." Dean explained.

"Anything else?" You asked, feeling like he was holding back.

"Um… well, it's like she put a spell on me." Dean admitted.

"And you didn't bother to tell us?!" Sam asked.

"I thought it was nothing, but I suppose now it could be important." Dean said.

"What did she specifically do to you?" Sam asked.

"I don't really know, to be honest.. It was like she was.. irresistible, and I couldn't control Mr. General-"

"Please don't tell me you..." Sam began to interrupt.

"God Sam, no, I didn't go down on her. At least, I wasn't going to, not until she started biting my neck." Dean said.

Sam massaged the bridge of his nose. "You could have spared the details, you know." He said in disgust.

"No, like, she was actually trying to feed on me, it was weird." Dean explained.

Both you and Sam looked in confusion at the elder Winchester; you hadn't even heard of this in the books.

"I guess it isn't a wolf." You mumbled audibly.

"Ya think?" Dean retorted.

"But that leaves us with one big question.. What is it then?" Sam asked aloud.

Silence filled the car once again as you all pondered deeply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you got back into the motel room, you all instantly hit the books, having no idea where to even start. You weren't really too skilled at this type of research, but you used what you knew from the series, hoping it would suffice. The first topic you figured you could start on, was a shapeshifter, but you instantly hit another dead end, since shifters weren't immune to silver. Your only resort now was anything that ate their prey.

"Could it be a rugaru?" You asked, reading into the lore.

"I don't think so," Dean said, "at least not like any I have ever seen. That thing had complete control, you should have seen it."

Sam cleared his throat briefly. "Maybe it had its urges under control?" Sam guessed.

"Maybe, but it seemed completely human to me, except for the feeding part. No wrinkling skin or black eyes… All normal. There was something about her face though, and I can't put my finger on it." Dean said.

"What about it?" You asked.

"It had a familiar aspect to it, like I've seen the features before."

"Like you knew her?" You asked.

"No, like I've seen similar facial features somewhere before, but I can't remember exactly where." Dean said.

"What were the facial features like?" Sam asked.

"She had a long pointed face..." Dean recalled.

"Like a stereotypical witch?" Sam asked with a chuckle.

"No," You responded, typing away on the extra laptop, "like a fox."

"There it is," Dean said with recognition, "how did you guess?"

"I've watched some interesting cartoons in the nineties." You responded with a smirk.

Dean looked at you with confusion and then to his brother, shrugging when they both didn't get the reference. You clicked on the first link that popped up, since it seemed remotely along the lines of the Winchester business.

"A Kumiho?" Dean asked, reading the title of the webpage.

"Yeah, it says here that it roughly translates to 'nine-tailed fox'." You stated.

Dean hummed in response, peering over your shoulder.

"Common lore says it transforms freely; many say that it turns into a woman, to seduce prey."

You all raised your eyebrows at the last statement and instantly looked at one another.

"This makes total sense," Dean said, "(Y/N), you're a genius!"

You blushed. "I mean, not really.." You replied.

"Are you kidding? It would have taken me and Sammy a good hour or so to crack this, and I think it's only been forty minutes. That's incredible!" Dean exclaimed.

"Thanks." You beamed quietly.

"Yeah, good work (Y/N)." Sam agreed, returning the smile.

Suddenly, the police scanner on Sam's computer popped up without warning, almost sending you to the floor. A male voice roughly came through the small speakers, ordering a squad to dispatch to East Morgan Street, near State Road 931. The attacker was unclear, but a young boy was both badly injured and traumatized by something the officer couldn't exactly place reason on.

"Alright, I definitely feel we should check this one out. It's likely what we're after." Sam said, standing up from his small work space.

"What have we got to lose?" Dean said.

The three of you quickly got into your federal attire and headed out to the general address provided. In a short amount of time you arrived to the scene. Multiple cop cars, and fire rescue squads were swarmed about, flooding the dark, desolate street with flashing lights. You adjusted your 'badge' and made your way to the police car in the center of the scene. A middle-aged cop stood on the side with a small group from the squad, who seemed to be discussing what he came across when he found the boy. The rest of the two teams attended to the boy on the back of an ambulance, addressing his wounds and occasionally asking him questions. You and Dean headed over to the officer, while Sam took to the boy. Your anxiety perked slightly, but you acted as nonchalant as possible, to try and not draw attention.

"Excuse me," Dean said, grabbing the group's attention, "I'm Agent Ford, this is my partner, Agent Griffith, would you care to explain the situation?"

"FBI? Why would you guys be interested in this? Isn't it a little early?" The middle-aged officer asked.

"We've been pinging these types of cases for a brief while, and we think it's the work of a specific killer, we picked this up on the radar." You responded confidently.

"Alright, that sounds reasonable." The officer said to you. "Tend to the scene guys, I've got this one." He said to his colleagues.

After his colleagues dispersed, you instantly asked for details on what had occurred not long before he sent out the alert on the scanner.

"It's weird, I was driving down here, patrolling the park for the evening shift, when this young boy ran straight in front of my car. Luckily, I wasn't going the speed limit, or both of us would have been roadkill. He came right out of the brush over there, and it looked like he got attacked by some wild animal or something. I got out of the car, and asked him what was wrong, and he just pointed to where he ran from. There was a woman, just standing inside the entrance of the woods, staring at us. I shone my flashlight, and she took off running. I couldn't leave the boy, so I called for backup." The officer said.

"Did he ever say what gave him those bites?" Dean asked.

"That's the thing, he said it was the woman." He replied with uneasiness.

"Did you have anyone go after her?" You asked.

"Some of the squad scoured the area, but they couldn't find anyone. Like I said, it was weird." He answered.

"What did the woman look like, officer.." Dean trailed off, gesturing to the cop.

"Mavin, sorry." He finished. "She was thin, her hair was infused with a natural red and a few other natural-born colors. Her face came to a point at the chin, and her nose was small but longer in length… Almost like.."

"A fox?" You said.

"Yeah..exactly! How did you know?" Marvin asked.

"Just intuition." You said.

"And you haven't seen her since?" Dean asked.

"No, thankfully. She had a weird vibe to her. But we have definitely on the lookout." He said.

"Thank you for your time, Officer Mavin." You said.

As you finished conversing with the officer, you saw Sam had already walked back from the ambulance, talking with another officer. He broke off the conversation as he saw you two walking up.

"What did you find?" Sam asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Looks like this coincides with the case," Dean replied, "The officer matched the attacker to a 'T'. It was the same thing that attacked me."

"That's promising; you know what the kid just told me? The lady lured him in, probably just like the other victims. Remember how Brayden's sister said that a woman was trailing her brother before he died? I think that's what has been happening with all of the victims." Sam said.

"I think you're right, but do you think we could take this back to the car or something? Cops make me uneasy." You admitted quietly.

The boys looked at you with understanding and agreed to your reasonable request. Without drawing much attention, you all went back to the beloved car to discuss what would happen next. But just before you hopped into the back seat, you could have sworn you saw two eyes glaring at you in the distance.

#spn x reader #spn reader insert #spn fanfiction

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alaina-achilles · 4 years

Text

challenge one

((sorry for the kinda short fic haha, I’m getting crazy busy with assignment deadlines smh. anyways thanks for the nice rp anna @arin-schreave. and love our rps as usual ana!! @itssara-oc @itzelbm-oc ))

The etiquette lesson was… uneventful. And I certainly was not ready to be thrown on so much information so early in the morning. Especially with an empty stomach. Luckily I’ve got that covered and ate a packet of oreos in my room before going out. And I’m also lucky I know most of the basics thanks to the gatherings my sisters and I are often forced to attend. My maids were really nice and they did my hair nicely and I opted for a simple and formal dress for the interview.

The interview.

I sigh as I think about it. To be honest, I’m quite… nervous. I've had many interviews in my life before and my mom has certainly prepared me well for each and every one of them. It’s not the cameras that worry me - I’ve had a few interviews with them before on my book and career… It’s the prince. I’m so used to knowing the interviewee well (by doing my research, of course) that I often know just what to say to please them and make them like me. But I know none of that about the prince.

I sigh and bite my lip and turn around to walk to the food when I see the girl I was hoping to see for the entire morning.

“Hey!” I say as a way of greeting. My friend looks up, sees me and immediately smiles.

“Achi!” I smile at the sound of my new nickname. Sara quickly pulls me into a hug. “that quick etiquette class was something…” she lowers her voice. “I'm sure I wasn't the only one who can feel the tense atmosphere.”

“I know what you mean... I’m glad I already know the basics... how are we supposed to learn all of that in one go” I agree with her, shaking my head as I feel sorry for those who have never learnt any of that before. We talk more about the class and decide to start piling food onto my plate. I hope nobody heard my stomach growl.

“You know I'm so tempted to ask to switch seats but I know it probably won't be the best idea.” Sara says as we groan about how far each other are.

I giggle at the thought of Sara asking another girl to switch seats. “yeah, i guess it’ll be a good chance for us to meet new people…” I frown as I stress about how I haven’t actually met anyone else yet. “Have you met any other girls yet?”

Sara chuckles. “I guess you can say that.” She cocks her head to the side and sighs “I've said a few words to some of them but I'm not sure anyone clicked with me like you. How about you?”

I smile at her words. “yeahh I havent really too…” I say with a shake of my head as I think of how I spent the whole night talking to my sisters instead of socializing. I turn to the drink selection and widen my eyes in awe. “I never knew there are SO many types of milk!”

“Ah milk something I wish I could drink but I'm lactose in tolerant” Sara replies with a giggle. “Anyway look at all the food. I'm just hoping to enjoy my time here!” She smiles, but for some reason, it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I don't feel like I'll last one. First of all the prince isn't in my opinion really aware that this is a selection, he has 35 girls hoping to ask for his hand in marriage. Second of all, as someone who was once thinking of marrying the so called love of my life I know he's not completely over his ex, and third there is going to be a lot of drama.”

I cock my head to the side as I think about her words, not expecting that. “Yeah I know what you mean... The prince doesn't seem happy at all.” I sigh. “I honestly don't know what to do with the interview later... hopefully he’ll find someone he can love and be happy about”

She shrugs in response. “I don't know how I'll introduce myself. I could smile and lie or tell him what I really think.” She bites her lip. “I really do hope he finds someone among these girls to make him happy. Or at least someone who would even remotely fall in love with him despite possibly being a rebound. Anyway, do you know who's gonna be at your table? Anyone you wanna be friends with?”

I nod at her words. “That’s true... I think I’d give him one chance, the interview, to see who he really is…” I say with a smile. Sometimes I forget that this selection goes both ways too. I’m not the only one who has to be liked by the prince. “I’m not sure but I think Itzel’s on my table... I haven't met her yet but she was sitting near me during the etiquette class so yeah. You?”

“I wish I could but I myself am in a similar situation as him. And I feel awful I took a place of someone who would have tried harder. Or at least wanted this. Anyways, I'll be cheering for you!!” She says with a smile. “What kind of vibes does she give? She seems cold and intimidating to me. Jen and Andromeda, and a couple more. They seems nice. I just hope I'll be able to make small talk.”

I thank her with a smile. “And I hope you also find the one you love and loves you back... “ I pause as I think about her question. “Itzel... I don’t know, she seems like a bit cool and we didn't say much just now. Hopefully some good food will cheer her up!”

We continue chatting about Itzel and other stuff as we continue to fill our plate. We finally decide to finish our conversation to go and enjoy our food after a short while. I tell her good luck with finding new friends.

She nods and gives me thumbs up. “I will try my best, Achi.” For some reason, I feel like she’s acting a bit off, but I brush it off as nerves from the interview. But as we walk away, I turn back around and mouth “thanks bun” to which she smiles in response. I sigh and look at my plate of food happily as I walk back to my table.

“Hi, Itzel, right?” I say to the girl near me.

She smiles politely, nodding in acknowledgement. “Hello and you are correct, I am Itzel.” She hums in thought as she looks at me. “I am trying hard to remember names and faces, I am bad at this so I am sorry for not quite knowing. I believe your name starts with an A, right?”

I brighten up at her guess. “Yup!! I’m Alaina!” I look at my plate. “How’s the food?” Food is always a good topic to start off.

She chuckles. “Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Alaina. It is delicious. There's quite a few things that are new to me so I'm very happy right now.. You'll enjoy the food very much. Are you excited to meet the Prince after this?”

I smile at her reply and take a bite of my food and widen my eyes. “this IS good!!” I laugh. “ I am! And also quite nervous”

We continue to talk more and I learn that Itzel is into neuroscience.

“Wow neurology and neuroscience... I did a few psychology courses in uni and I struggled so badly with the neuro stuff.” I tell her truthfully with a laugh. “You are one brave girl for wanting to do that.”

Itzel turns out to be super nice as we get to know each other. She also helped calm my nerves as we finished our lovely breakfast. I make a mental note to tell Sara about it.

“Anyway, let your other friend know I'm not THAT bad. I could see her shake every time she looked at me.” Itzel tells me as we stand up, seeming to have read my mind.

“I definitely will!! And good luck on your interview with the prince!” I tell her with a laugh. She smiles and wishes the same to me and soon we are ushered into a waiting room. I look around to find Sara, but can’t see her as I scan the room a few times. I shake my head, she’s probably touching up in the bathroom. I sigh and before I can even choose a new girl to talk to, I’m called into the room.

I take a deep breath and hold my head high like Mom always tells us to as I step into the room filled with cameras. I smile at the cameras and try to keep my walking natural and elegant.

You can do this.

And if all goes wrong, blame your sister. She caused all of this anyways.

I hide my smile at the silly thought and turn my focus to the gorgeous guy that is the prince. While I may not know the prince well, one thing I know for sure. He is definitely good-looking. Despite the lack of a er genuine smile. He must not have been taught acting in his education. I think with a giggle as I keep my smile intact. I don’t miss him looking at my name tag. And I guess, he also didn’t take the time to learn our names.

“Good morning, Lady Alaina, please have a seat.” He says formally, motioning to the sofa.

“Good morning, your highness.” I say with a smile before pausing in slight anxiety. Do I curtsy or…? I decide to quickly bob into one before sitting down hastily. I can instantly hear my mom’s voice in my head.

Be professional, Alaina. Stop with the fidgeting nonsense. You’re a lady, Alaina. And don’t ever drop that smile. You know that’s one of your best physical traits.

Prince Arin sits down next to me gracefully and angles his body towards me. “How are you doing this morning?”

A simple and straight-forward question.

I place my hand on my lap as my mom has taught me to since I was a little kid. “I’m good. I met some of the other girls and that was quite interesting-” I answer. “And also what you’ve been doing the whole morning.” I add with a laugh. “How’s yours?”

He nods at me. “It’s going well, thank you. Did you sleep well?” I vaguely remember some random guy saying their morning had been bad but now that they’ve met me, theirs is perfect. I almost laugh at the memory.

Focus, Alaina.

“I didn't sleep for very long as I was busy talking to my sisters.” I tell him truthfully as I smile fondly at the thought of my sisters. “But the sleep is good, the bed is really comfy!”

He nods. “I’m glad you were able to speak with them. Big changes can be difficult.” His eyes go to the cameras then back to me. I wonder what is he thinking. Does he wish for them to be gone like I do? I wonder if he is different when away from the cameras. I catch myself almost frowning at the thought but quickly smooths my face back to the perfect smile. “Which province are you from?”

“Atlin.” Then I decide to try to make him smile. My friends laugh a lot at this alliteration. “Alaina Achilles of Atlin.”

He does not smile. “And what do you do in Atlin?” I almost frown again as I realize how factual his questions are. All of them should be written in my profile or something…

Maybe it’s all just for the cameras.

“I just got my degree and was in the process of finding a job. I ended up deciding to give writer another try.”

He nods again. “What kind of writing do you do?”

“Fiction…” I look a bit embarrassed as I think about my published book that I’m not very proud of. It was definitely not my best work. I sigh and lower my voice so that only he can hear. “Okay fine, y’all prolly have had people stalked us thoroughly so no point in hiding this... “ I say then louder “I wrote and published a book a few years ago.”

He does not just nod at this! “Oh.” He pauses as his head bobs. “What kind of book? I didn’t read your files so I’m not up to speed on your accomplishments.”

Guess the questions aren’t just for the cameras then.

I almost scoff at his choice of words. “Accomplishments” make this really sound like a job interview. Perhaps it is, in a way. So instead I act surprised and look down as I realize I have to tell him about my book in front of cameras. Not like the media doesn’t know about this already. “it’s a um teen romance…”

“I haven’t read any books from that genre but I’m sure it must be wonderful. Being published is an accomplishment.”

Accomplishment.

“It’s not... it’s a cheesy book written by a sixteen year old…” I peeks at him through my eyelashes. “I’m sure you’re gonna laugh if u ever came across it.”

And for the first time, he actually shakes his head instead of nodding it. “I tend to stick to non fiction so I think you’re safe.” He finishes with a weird expression that looks suspiciously like a ghost of a smile. I soften as I realize how much this is bugging him as it’s bugging me and decide to laugh it off to ease the tension.

“Well it’s actually called “the bad boy ruined my project” so I’m not really worried. Do you like reading?”

“I do, if I can find the time. Your book sounds like something my sister would enjoy.” He looks a teeny bit more relaxed as we talk about something less er formal.

I nod. “Well, then I’ll recommend it to her when I see her. Any favorite genres?”

“I’ll read mostly anything.” I almost roll my eyes at his answer that tells me nothing about him. He glances over at his watch then looks back to me. “Thank you for speaking with me this morning, Lady Alaina, it’s been a pleasure.” He says as he stands up. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.”

I instantly nod and stand up as well, relieved that this is finally over. “Thank you for your time, your highness. The pleasure’s mine.” I tell him with a smile as I awkwardly bob another curtsy. “You too.” I say as he just looks at me without any expression at all. I hold back a sigh and smile at the cameras again and give them a little wave as I walk back out of the room.

I take a deep breath the moment I step out of my room. I really need to talk to someone. That interview was… nothing that I ever had before. I think about going back into the waiting room, but I really am not in the mood of making small talk with other girls. So I decide to go back into my room. Since I’m one of the first few girls to have finished the interview, the halls should be nice and quiet.

As I walk up the stairs to my room, I hear a bit of hushing and then a closing of a door followed by the sound of the door locking. I ignore the sound as I walk past the first two rooms to my room. As I walk past Sara’s room. I pause. There seems to be someone else in the room with her… But I know for sure, she isn’t due to have her interview until later…

I shake my head and decide she has probably met a new friend. Despite myself, I can’t help but feel a bit sad. Even Sara’s making new friends, probably someone she enjoys the company of over me since I haven’t been to her room before. What am I doing here? I ask myself as I walk into my own room and unzip my dress.

Not bothering to pull my dress off, I reach for my phone and call my sisters.

#challenge #selection oc #alaina #sara #itzel #arin

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hellyeahomeland · 5 years

Photo

“Two Minutes” | Directed by Tucker Gates, Cinematography by Giorgio Scali

[This week remained hectic as heck so we are keeping the more casual format. --Sara]

Sara: Opening (or closing) with a Carrie mirror shot is classic Homeland and I love to see it! She looks very tired. I hope when the series is over, Carrie takes a long nap. But not, y’know, the LONG long nap.

Gail: If this shot is a look into her current emotional state, which I think it most definitely is, she looks tired but determined. She hasn’t been out of that rehab center for very long, you have to wonder how her medications are working, because it’s clear she isn’t getting enough sleep. But good God--Claire Danes is gorgeous!

Gail: When I watched this scene I had a few realizations. At first I thought the red thing in front of the water glass was a pill but when I zoomed in it looks like floss. Then it occurred to me that we haven’t seen Carrie taking her meds or listening to jazz this season. This version of Carrie seems very stripped down (no pun intended). No mentions of seeing her family or FaceTiming Franny either. I don’t know what any of this means yet, but pointing it out for future context.

Sara: Floss? Whoulda thunk? I love this very obviously photoshopped (or whatever the video equivalent of that is… CGI?) scene of “mourners” gathering outside the White House.

Gail: I loved this opening shot of Max with his back to us... much like the donkey at the end of the episode, he has the flight recorder strapped to his back via a backpack and he treks uphill. I love the pop of color from the flight recorder and Max’s backpack in this desert-like scene. The importance in this shot is all about knowing where the flight recorder is and less about who is carrying it. Although I’m sure everyone joined us in a sign of relief to see Max still alive!

Sara: Chekhov’s flight recorder! I’m thinking of other significant objects on the show (like Brody’s vest), but none have gotten the attention that this dang flight recorder is getting. Also, Max writing his name in sharpie on his backpack is big younger child energy.

Sara: As someone who wears glasses, I really admire that Max is always, without fail, wearing his. No matter how sweaty he is. I love you, Max!

Gail: It is very interesting how every time Saul is kidnapped, his glasses are taken from him, but Max gets to keep his (for now at least?). Maybe there is a metaphor there about how Max isn’t losing sight of the bigger picture?

Sara: IJLTP, and it’s the first of a few POV shots this week. Max really is like an audience stand-in and this makes it even more literal.

Gail: IJLTP too! Such a great shot.

Sara: They had a shot very similar to this in Keane’s speech from “Paean to the People.” I really love how you can see how very manufactured this all is. Not that any of us need to be reminded of that…

Gail: The focus of this scene starts with the people behind it. I love that, because while the President is what the people are watching, he’s getting his cues and information from everyone else. In “Chalk One Up” we saw the theater of the peace announcement. Here we see the theater of the new president making his first speech. It’s all just words until the intentions behind them are realized.

Sara: Some of the keywords here:

Bust

MARTA (the “mass” “transit” “system” in Atlanta… where my Atlanta homies at?)

Body scanner

Narcos

Influenza

Plot

Gail: If these keywords are a part of the search for Max, shouldn’t his name be on it? Or American? No wonder Carrie was pissed! Get with it, Lonnie!

Sara: I know this is a stunt double, but it’s still meant to be Carrie, and Carrie riding this motorcycle so awesomely is one of the most badass things about her. We have no choice but to stan.

Gail: What a cool payoff to all of the scenes and allusions of Carrie leaving the station undetected. Girl is resourceful, no doubt.

Sara: Are these wide shots so that Costa Ronin, who is apparently nine feet tall, and Claire Danes would both fit in the frame? Also, “I just like how he leans.”

Gail: I think the shot might be indicative of their power dynamic. But I agree with you, Yevgeny’s consistent nonchalance is such a great character detail.

Gail: Interesting that by the end of their scene, Yevgeny sits down, making his body language less threatening. He enjoys these games with Carrie a little too much for my liking.

Sara: That smirk…

Sara: The framing here is really interesting. G’ulom sitting casually while Saul and Scott Ryan stand stick straight, almost obediently (ironically), is really striking. G’ulom has these almost angelic white curtains behind him while Saul and Scott are cloaked in shadows.

Gail: This feels different from Yevgeny’s casual nonchalance. I get the sense here that G’ulom is sitting out of lack of respect for the people standing before him. G’ulom turned his back on platitudes the second he turned his back on Ambassador Gaeto in the opening of “Chalk Two Down.” He only stands at the end of the scene to exert his power over Saul and General Ryan.

Sara: And then this shot, which is incredible. Centering G’ulom in the frame really emphasizes his power.

Gail: Such a great POV shot to see Saul and General Ryan’s reactions to G’ulom.

Sara: ...and I love the specific choreography of Saul and Scott both exiting so that their bodies are hidden behind G’ulom. I feel like Homeland doesn’t do shots this stylized that often so when they do it feels all the more impactful.

Gail: I find it so interesting that G’ulom has turned his back on the audience too.

Gail: I love the glimpses of the relationship between Mike and Jenna. Is this how Saul and Carrie started out?

Sara: Oof, ya think? I didn’t even think about their relationship in that context (maybe because the age gap is not as great) but now that you say it... I find it a really interesting way to shoot this, almost like we’re eavesdropping on them eavesdropping on Carrie. I love when Homeland returns to themes of surveillance.

Sara: Why onions? Because we’re peeling the layers of this story. (I’ll see myself out.)

Gail: OMG, Sara! You are right, they are onions! I’m ashamed to say I thought they were beets. (Thanks, Dwight.)

Gail: When Fibrooz, Max’s captor, reaches for Max’s wrist in this scene, I thought he was going to unlock the cuffs. Doesn’t bode well for Max that this guy is all about making a buck.

Sara: Major Carrie in “Why Is This Night Different?” vibes. The framing is almost identical. This continues some of the role reversal of Carrie and Max this year.

Gail: I love the details in this shot and the one of the market shelves. It looks like a random assortment of remotes and calculators and jars on shelves, but it’s actually very organized.

Sara: Are they selling remote controls without the TVs that they control?

Sara: Chekhov’s flight recorder strikes again! Sorry, I have nothing intelligent to say about the device of this damn flight recorder because I find it so freaking hilarious.

Gail: I love how we are seeing the journey of this flight recorder and all of the different people who are getting their hands on it.

Sara: This show is really making me feel sympathy for Haqqani, which is completely wild. Look how he’s softly dressed in the light here. Total character rehab happening this season on all fronts. Numan Acar has infused him with a real weariness and softness that’s added so many new layers to what was once just a classic villain.

Gail: I agree, Numan Acar has done an outstanding job with his portrayal of Haqqani. The writers approach to softening him has paired wonderfully with the direction of the show and has led to great shots like this of Haqqani, the man and father.

Sara: Gail pointed this out on the podcast. As the conversation progresses and Hayes veers off script he literally turns away from Linus. Subtle but effective. The use of body language this season has been pretty great.

Gail: The choreography has been fantastic, I agree. Wellington has ditched his suit and has rolled up his sleeves. His calm demeanor and thoughtful counsel that we’ve come to know about him is clearly about to be tested.

Sara: IJLTP.

Gail: When one door (seemingly) closes, another one opens.

Sara: IJLTP.

Gail: The blue lights behind her are gorgeous.

Sara: “CATASTROPHIC ERROR”

Gail: The details! And much foreshadowing!

Gail: Things start out friendly and at a distance and then we rapidly move into tighter shots as Mike reveals to Saul just how bad the optics are for Carrie right now.

Sara: This is such a lovely shot and I love all Homeland rooftop scenes. Sometimes Carrie’s smoking, sometimes she’s having a panic attack, sometimes both things are happening at once. See how I turned this into a thing about Carrie?

Sara: I don’t know if this is a new choice by Claire, but recently I feel like Carrie has a habit of literally turning away from difficult conversations. Anyway, this Carrie/Saul scene was incredible.

Gail: There has been a subtle shift to her personality this season. It must be hard to face her new reality and looking at Saul has to be one of the more daunting reminders of what it used to be.

Sara: It struck my while watching (and rewatching and rewatching) that Saul is literally the only human on the planet who could have this conversation with her. He knows when to push and when to relent, when to raise his voice and when to lower it. He really does manage her. Likewise, she knows when and where to strike. It goes without saying that Claire and Mandy are incredible here. This scene is really a testament to how invaluable the foundation of watching two characters (and actors) develop a relationship, in real time, over ten years, is for the audience. It massively enhances the performances and the dramatic weight of the scene.

Gail: Sara!! You are buying into my Ivan/Saul convo theory (from “A False Glimmer”)!! I agree with everything you said and would add that with all of that being true, Saul can’t possibly think Carrie is getting on that plane back to rehab willingly.

(Sara: Guess he should have gotten the handcuffs then...)

Gail: What a stunning shot. I gasped when I saw it. Not because Haqqani was turning himself in. That I expected. But how Carrie witnesses it and reacts to it. The last time Carrie was that close to Haqqani she almost shot him. I Khan’t believe how much things have changed.

Sara: Gail, khan you not? Anyway, I agree, it’s a stunning shot. I can’t properly articulate why I love it so much so: IJLTP.

Sara: I know the show did something like when Carrie woke up from being drugged in “Why Is This Night Different?” I won’t check, because I don’t care to revisit that episode ever again. Gail, can you verify?

Gail: They did and it was eerily similar. Big difference though: Quinn was saving/protecting Carrie and Fibrooz is most definitely not doing the same for Max.

Gail: The bookend to the opening scene with Max. The flight recorder has made its way into another backpack, heading up a mountain. I LOVE the color in this scene and how the flight recorder is on a JOURNEY.

Sara: Quite possibly the funniest scene on this show ever.

Gail: This spy is heading into the cold...

Sara: “Carrie, no!” … “CARRIE YES!”

Gail: Yevgeny’s (partly faux) nonchalance (he sneaks a peek!) and Carrie’s focused stare say so much without saying a word. No looking out the window for Carrie this time, we know where her mind is at.

Sara: Carrie stares straight ahead. Yevgeny can’t help but turn and look at her. Truly iconic. I know I say that about everything, but this really is I-CON-IC!

#homeland #homelandedit #in the director's chair #two minutes #*#by: sara #by: gail

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thewritingcaptain · 5 years

Text

A Simple Plan (Chapter 10)

"No. I can't. I shouldn't have even brought you into this. You're innocent, clearly. You've done nothing wrong. You don't deserve-" "Does she?" His voice was so quiet that he wouldn't have heard it if they weren't so close. "What?" Stark reared back, looking surprised. "Does she? Deserve it, I mean."

Notes: Not exactly happy with the quality of this chapter/how it turned out, but honestly I don't think it's going to get much better, so, here it is. There is some torture in this chapter, but instead of doing it in all its gorey details, which I felt would be a bit too intense for the vibe I was going for with this story, I decided to write Peter's (read: hazy and incomplete) thoughts during the process instead. Might be a bit hard to read, still, but not gorey or descriptive of the acts themselves at all, so not a lot for trigger warnings except the fact that it happens. This story is going to be some major feels for a while, so, sorry not sorry. Chapter below the cut! And thank you so much to everyone for reading! We’re almost to the end of part one!

Click.

It was cold, and hard, but Peter closed his eyes and didn't look, didn't move. He couldn't.

Click.

A second cuff. His breath caught in his throat, and he forced himself to hold it, to not make any more noise that might give away his fear.

He failed.

"Peter…" Stark was in front of him again, tilting his head up with careful hands. Stark's dark, intense eyes bored into his for a moment before he had to drop his gaze, and he heard him sigh. "Come on, kid. If you freak out on me now-"

"I'm not freaking out," he lied, his voice unsteady. "Not- not at what you think. It's just the feeling of being restrained again." It was partially true, at least.

Stark wasn't convinced. He looked down and made a low rumbling sound, deep in his chest, and was quiet for a moment before he said decidedly, "I can't do this."

"Mr. Stark-" Peter started. His feet hadn't been cuffed yet, just his wrists, and he used the advantage of still being on the ground to leverage his weight back, tugging his hands away from Stark's own as he tried to free him. "You have to."

"No, I definitely don't." Stark reached for him again, pulling the keys out of his pocket. "I'll find another way. They'll understand-"

He unlocked one of Peter's wrists, and Peter seized his opportunity and grabbed the elder hero's arm before he could move on to the other hand. "Mr. Stark, listen to me. I told you, I don't want to do this either, okay? But we can't afford not to. It'll only get worse for all of us if you don't. They'll torture her worse, and I'm sure whatever happens to me will be be ten times worse-" he didn't specify at whose hand, because he wasn't even sure himself, "-and you and Cap will be feeling even more guilty and it'll be harder for you guys to find her. You just- you just need to do it."

Stark stared at him for a moment, then shook his head again, but slower this time. "No. I can't. I shouldn't have even brought you into this. You're innocent, clearly. You've done nothing wrong. You don't deserve-"

"Does she?" His voice was so quiet that he wouldn't have heard it if they weren't so close.

"What?" Stark reared back, looking surprised.

"Does she? Deserve it, I mean." Peter looked at him, biting his lip.

Tony stared at the kid. His mind threw out the immediate answer - she's made mistakes, we all have, but of course not, no one deserves that - but he couldn't get it past his lips as he stared at the wide eyed kid before him. There was that contrast again. He was a kid, one who was very obviously scared shitless, but who spoke like he was so much older than his meager fifteen years. Again Tony wondered how much he had already been through to be able to respond like he was in this situation, but he pushed the thought away quickly, unable to face it for too long. "No, but Peter-"

"Then what does it matter?" Peter interrupted, not bothering to let him finish. He already knew what he was going to try to say. "If everything you've said is true, then it doesn't matter, Mr. Stark. Nothing they want you to do to me compares to half of what she's already been through. If I can take a little pain to spare somebody else from it, I'll do it in a heartbeat. I would do it if this wasn't the situation and if I knew it was even a remote possibility. It's what I do as Spider-Man all the time. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It's what we're supposed to do as heroes, right?"

Unexpectedly flustered by that argument, Tony had to stop for a moment as he chewed over the kid's words. "Right," he finally conceded, after a long pause. "I… suppose so." He stepped back up and clicked the cuff back around Peter's wrist. "But kid…"

"I know. You don't want to. I don't want to, either, but… we need to." Peter chewed his lip, staying silent as Tony knelt to guide his ankles into the cuffs and snap them into place.

It had been a few hours since they'd left Tony's workshop. Cap hadn't even been surprised to see him emerge with the kid. He had, however, been surprised when they sat down and decided what the game plan was.

There'd been talk of trying to fake it, but it just wasn't worth entertaining for long. There was little doubt that Hydra would DNA test the finger. There was no feasible way to fake it with Peter's real DNA, especially since there was no telling what it looked like after the experiments they'd done on the kid. Dr. Banner was the only one qualified to do that kind of testing, and even if he de-Hulked himself right then, it would take too long to get back the results, let alone have a shot at making a replica. Technology for that was barely in existence anyway, and definitely not quick enough or reliable enough to risk trying to use it.

The torture bit Tony was sure they could have faked, but again, there was the risk of Hydra being able to tell, what with them having access to probably a similar level of technology to theirs, and Peter had insisted they just go through with it. Considering the permanent maiming involved, what was a little more pain? Besides, he had pressed, he had advanced healing, and trying to integrate fake torture to video of him actually cutting off his finger was just an unnecessary risk.

The worst part about the situation for Tony - aside from the finger thing - was the fact he couldn't even give the kid anything. He'd explained to him - privately, of course; they still weren't telling Cap about the Spider-Man thing, for reasons still unfathomable to him - that his metabolism was about as crazy as his healing factor, and there was no happy medium with drugs. Regular stuff wouldn't work for him. Heavy stuff wouldn't do a whole lot for him either, and he'd burn it off too quick for it to do much. It would take some real hard stuff to have an effect, and a lot of it; and more than likely, enough of it to actually have any effect would probably knock him out, which definitely wasn't going to be okay in this scenario, as much as Tony wished he could just put him to sleep and maybe even pretend the whole thing was a bad dream when it was over.

Sometime in the midst of all this discussing someone had whipped up a real meal and forced him to eat while they dealt with the preparations. Peter complied without complaint. He was hungry, and he knew he would need the strength.

Preparations took longer than he expected, and he wasn't quite sure when he'd wandered from the kitchen to the living area, nor when he'd fallen asleep on the couch in there. Hell, he had no idea how much time had actually passed, but it seemed like none at all before Tony was standing over him, shaking him gently awake.

They'd given him plenty of time to get up and get his bearings before bringing him in here. And honestly, Peter felt better than he had in weeks. He was as ready as he was ever going to be. And despite his fear, he had no doubts about what was going to happen, what he'd asked Stark to do. He would be okay, he was sure. For at least as long as he was here. He was more worried about what would come after this than anything they could throw at him.

"When I tell Jarvis to start recording, there's no going back." It was the first time Tony spoke in a long few minutes since chaining Peter up. He glanced up in surprise and saw the elder man leaning against the wall, carefully masking everything he was feeling as he studied Peter. "Are you absolutely sure you're willing to go through with this? I swear, kid, say the word and I'll try anything else." He almost sounded like he was pleading with Peter for him to do so, instead of the other way around.

Peter shook his head. "No. I'm sure." He bit his lip, knowing on it for a moment before adding, "You don't look sure, though."

"I'm not," Stark admitted, so quietly Peter might not have heard were it not for his heightened senses. "But I guess… I just don't know what else to do." He sounded like he was admitting defeat or submitting to something absolutely horrible. He kind of was.

"It's alright, Mr. Stark," Peter murmured, keeping his volume about the same level as the older hero's. "Just… when it's over…" his voice wavered for the first time, and he had to stop.

"When it's over, I'll do whatever you want," Stark promised, and looking at him, into his dark eyes, Peter knew he was completely serious.

He nodded slowly, just once. "Okay." He didn't know what else to say.

Stark stepped up and ran a gentle hand through his hair, one more time. Peter's eyes dropped automatically to the two strips of fabric in the hero's other hand, still dangling at his side, but Stark moved them out of view and tilted Peter's head back up. "You with me?"

His eyes snapped up as they disappeared from sight. "Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

A gentle tug to his curls. "Are you sure about this?"

"That's like the tenth time you've asked me." But he was glad, secretly, that it mattered, that he had the chance. He swallowed against his suddenly dry throat. "But yeah."

"Are you ready?"

As I'll ever be, was his immediate thought, but he had enough sense to realize if he said that Stark would probably back out of it for him not saying he was completely certain. "Yes. Let's just get on with it, Mr. Stark."

"Alright, kid." His voice was so gentle and regretful Peter almost reconsidered his decision and backed out there and then. But his eyes fluttered closed as Stark tied the blindfold in place with extreme care, followed by the gag. And Peter just let him, ducking his head and opening his mouth obediently, letting Stark do what he had to do.

A hand ruffled his curls once more, then gently caressed its way down to his cheek, cupping his face for a moment before dropping away. "Roll it, Jarvis," Mr. Stark whispered.

And then everything became a blur, and it was hours before he could refocus on anything besides pain.

...Huh...

...This isn't so bad...

...Is he pulling his punches?

...Okay, that one hurt…

...I forgot he had to use the gauntlets…

...Oops, I didn't mean to make that sound… Sorry, Mr. Stark…

...Shit, that was a loud snap…

...That was a rib, definitely…

...Or two...

...okay, maybe three…

...And there goes a kneecap, I know that feeling…

...Nothing worse than a street fight…

...Now it's worse. God, I forgot about that…

...Lashes hurt worse than being hit with a crowbar, who would've thought…

...Don't cry, Peter, what's wrong with you? You're making it worse on everyone…

...But I can't stop…

...God, it hurts…

...Okay, that's a knife, but knives are nothing you haven't dealt with before…

...owowowow…

...Okay, so knives are worse when over already hurt areas, who knew…

...Breathe, Parker, panicking isn't helping your cause…

...Hard with a hand on your throat, but...

…Ignore what he's saying, remember, it's for the camera…

...you can do this, you can do this…

...Remember what you said…

...Quickly, please be quick…

...Don't tell me to calm down, you know I can't, you know you'll ruin the footage…

...Quickquickquick…

...breathebreathebreathe…

...I can't breathe, why can't I breathe…

...chest hurts…

...nonononono…

...stop, please stop-

...You're saying it outloud, Parker, you stop before-

...painpainpainpainpain-

...is that me screaming?

...I can't feel it anymore…

...I can't hear Mr. Stark anymore…

...are we done?

...I'm sorry, Mr. Stark...

Taglist: @httydlovena @lyrical-harmony @tell-that-to-my-feather @twixen93 @m0ther-of-dragons @dantedeletes

#peter parker whump #tw: torture #a simple plan #irondad #irondad and spiderson #irondad and spiderson fanfiction #iron dad #tony stark #peter parker #avengers #avengers fanfiction #mcu #mcu fanfiction #marvel cinematic universe fanfiction #marvel cinematic universe #tony stark fanfiction #iron man fanfiction #spiderman fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction

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sanrionharbor-blog · 6 years

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Thoughts on Sansa S8 Endgame

Speculations galore! Long post ahoy!

Let’s run through every possibility I can think of for the end of show-Sansa’s story (and yes, there will be many more possibilities besides these because GOT is layers upon layers, man, I’m still new to the fandom, and there’s probably a lot I’ve missed).

At the very least, let’s do this categorically.

Dead, Alive, or a Fate Worse Than Death?

1. I’d bet money that Sansa survives the whole dang thing

2. But if she does die…it could be A) Sacrifice to save Arya, Jon, and/or Bran, B) in a possible collapse of Winterfell, C) after ensuring the demise of Cersei or a similar threat, D) something worthy of a song

3. Crack Theory: Sansa Becomes the Night Queen?

Shipping...

1. Let’s start with the most popular ship: Jonsa. While I’m not personally a Jonsa fan, I neither hate it nor see it as a complete impossibility. And while I’m not personally a Jonerys fan, I neither hate it nor see it as a no-brainer. Jonsa makes sense practically (uniting Targ and Stark, North & South; they already trust one another; cousin marriage isn’t considered incest in-universe, etc.), though I’m not entirely convinced if the show goes this direction that it would be the most romantic ship ever. The best I see is that it has vibes similar to Ned/Cat when they were first married to one another; they didn’t love each other romantically at first, but it would come with time. As for political!Jon Theory making this ship possible, while I wouldn’t completely put it past the GOT universe to make Jon that cold, it honestly doesn’t jive with what I think is at the core of Jon: which is a hardscrabble sort of nobility, decency, honesty. I mean, if he was politcal!Jon, wouldn’t he have come up with a smoother way to handle Cersei in their first meeting? Anyhoot, the ship isn’t hateful. I think the biggest obstacles are the fact that, even though they are technically cousins, they were raised as brother and sister. You don’t just erase that. This is somewhat “remedied” by the fact that they were never close and Sansa pretty much treated him as a whole-lot-less-than-a-brother for most of their childhood. But GOT has never shown incestuous relationships (again, I don’t really consider historically based cousin relationships as incestuous, but it is a close family bond never-the-less) as a good thing. At all. The Targ’s went mad; Dany’s brother was creepy as fudge; UMM Jaime x Cersei dear Lord; Craster and his Merry Brood, etc. (But this mainly just spells doom for Jonerys, IMHO). So, as with anything in GOT--it’s possible, it’s also not possible, there’s undertones, but there’s undertones for the complete opposite thing happening, etc. Lastly, as for the “romantic framing” of S7, I think it falls under that same maybe/maybe-not. I LOVE Jon and Sansa’s dynamic, even if I don’t see it as romantic, even if does or does not end up romantic. It is certainly one thing: intimate. And the framing (forehead kiss, bittersweet reunion, worrying for one another’s safety) supports that at the very least. If they don’t end up romantically, Jon is the last real strong male relative that Sansa has. That’s not to diss Bran, but D&D have made him a remote magical old man stuck in a teenager’s body. In some ways, he’s dead to Sansa too (as Meera said, “You died in that cave.”). The poetry, the irony, is that the people Sansa had the most problems with in her family (Arya and Jon) are all that Sansa has left now (yes, yes, I love Bran, but again he’s acting more like a solo unit than a family unit at this point)--and she realizes how much they’ve always meant to her. Jon, and Arya for that matter, are different sides of Sansa, just as she is a different side for each of them. The parallels are lovely, and this ship could very well set sail.

2. My personal favorite: Sanrion (Sansa x Tyrion, Tyrion x Sansa, whatever the preferred parlance is). Yes, I’m biased, so this entry will be the longest--BUT, let’s remove my shipper goggles. This, to me, is just as possible as Jonsa. That is, I don’t see it as guaranteed at all, but there’s plenty to read from the text. Let’s get the trouble spots out of the way: 1) the build-up has been few and far in-between since S4 (though they did throw us a bone in S7). 2) the 50/50 chance of Tyrion dying in S8 (no, I’m not basing this on “leaks,” interviews, or what-not--I’m just using this as a baseline guess, given that this is GOT and given that Tyrion is at the center of a very dangerous web of relationships), 3) the show possibly not wanting to ask a twentysomething actress and a nearly 50-year-old actor to act out anything deliberately romantic (however, I don’t expect an on-screen ship to be anything but unconventionally romantic--I very much see it being done with subtle dialogue, color theory, ambiguous looks, an epilogue, etc), and 4) Tyrion may or may not be in love with Daenerys. None of these trouble spots spells doom for me. The greatest “doom” is simply Sansa ending up alone (thematically possible) or with someone else (also thematically possible). Let’s break down counter-points to the trouble spots, then I’ll list my reasons why this ship could sail. 1) Almost all relationships in GOT are troubled and/or unconventional, built up over one season, hidden underneath layers of symbolism, or suffer from the fact that one or both partners are either dead or seperated (by this same token, Sansa’s other popular ships, Jonsa and Sansan, also suffer the same dearth of “development” or copious screen time. Arguably, Jonsa’s foundations were mostly built over the later seasons), 2) yeah, Tyrion could die (and I would be heartbroken but not blindsided) or Tyrion could live (but I would bet money that Sansa lives through the whole thing), 3) the show already put them through the most awkward phase of their “relationship” (i.e., their wedding night, though it was toned down compared to the books) and they can still sell this relationship in any number of ways (again, dialogue, color theory, looks, just holding hands again geez Louise), 4) Tyrion’s “love” for Daenerys is incredibly debatable and may only be used as fuel for a soap opera plot that I really hope doesn’t happen, but even the director of the S7 finale said Tyrion’s main concern was political and Dinklage proposed the idea that Tyrion only “think he’s in love” with Dany, that what most people feel for Dany is awe (I’m neither a Dany fan or hater, but it’s hard to deny that she’s shocking, enthralling, powerful, attractive, a force, for lack of a better term). Now, on to the practical/thematical reasons why I think this ship would work. Let’s use letters for this, haha. A) Fairy Tale parallels/Turning Tropes Upside Down: It’s easy to read inversions of fairy tale archetypes into Sansa’s storyline, as that is what her character is naturally drawn to: songs, princesses, true love, beauty. So far in the story she has learned that looks can be deceiving; life is not a song (though I wouldn’t be surprised if GRRM turns this on its head again, and Sansa simply learns that all great tales involve sorrow and darkness as well as joy and light--i.e., bittersweet vs. simply sweet); people are not black and white (Tyrion shows her that the Lannisters aren’t necessarily all evil and Littlefinger shows her that allies, even someone who loved her mother, are not necessarily all good); etc. Just some of the fairy tales/tropes that play into Sansa’s personal storyline and the subtext of Sansa x Tyrion include: Beauty and the Beast, Psyche and Cupid, Hades and Persephone, The Princess in the Tower archetype, and many, many more (I’ll meta about it one of these days--and there are already many excellent posts under the Sansa tag that expound on these). B) The Queen Elizabeth Theory: So Sansa has parallels with two remarkable historical Queen Elizabeths: Elizabeth of York and Queen Elizabeth I. Since this has been said by so many before, here’s a quote and link to the article as summary: “The show is based off the War of the Roses, the real-life family feud between the Lancasters and Yorks that ended with the two broods combining their houses. Since the storyline happening at the end of season seven is extremely similar to this moment in history, we can infer that GoT will follow that path...” Link C) Character Actions Written Especially For the Show: Just to name a few: GRRM purposely changed a moment in the books to where Sansa hands Tyrion a cup instead of him having to crawl underneath a table to do so; Tyrion remains loyal to his wedding vows (and this is probably inspired by his trauma for having killed his father and lover as well) even when it was very possible that Sansa had left him high-and-dry and the marriage was, in Tyrion’s own words, a “sham marriage”; Sansa and Tyrion both stick up for one another’s character, etc., and D) Also, aren’t they technically married? :-p [There’s a lot more, but again, I’ll save that for a future meta]

3. Sansan: While there may end up being a slight possibility in the books, I don’t think show-Sansa and show-Sandor are heading in this direction. However, the same fairytale motifs play into play here: Beauty and the Beast, Hades and Persephone, etc. Also, bridge4 over on Youtube has a fabulous analysis of the “unKiss” over on his channel, which I think could pop up in some shape or form in S8. Here’s the link

4. Sansa Alone: Also supports the Queen Elizabeth theory. Specifically, Elizabeth I “the Virgin Queen.” This would a different form of poetry/irony: Sansa, the one who wanted most to be a queen consort and be married to a handsome king and have babies, ends up as a queen (full-stop) but leverages her power as a single lady. Not my favorite ending for Sansa, as I’m Teh Unabashed Romantic, but it’s plausible, thematic, pragmatic. Only time will tell!

The Fate of the North, Night King, Direwolf Theorizing

Just spitballing various takes:

1. The war is “won” (as in mankind survives), but Winterfell or possibly the entire North is compromised. As in, perhaps they have to trade the North to the Winter King at the promise he won’t invade the rest of Westeros. Or Winterfell explodes, so the North and all of Westeros is saved but the Starks lose their home

2. The Starks deliberately blow up Winterfell, for any number of reasons. Perhaps a bunch of wights or what-nots ended up there. Perhaps the dead in the Crypts were resurrected, and this was the only way to neutralize that threat. Or something deeper and darker lurks in the Crypts, something worse than the Night King. In fact….

3. Maybe the true enemy ends up being something awoken within the Crypts of Winterfell, and the Night King is not what he seems….

4. The old gods play an unexpected role

5. The godswood is burned or ends up in splinters or is used to create a new throne (ending the age of iron, fire, blood and making this a “time for wolves”)

6. Sansa’s direwolf Lady is resurrected (of course, poor Lady is headless…) and manages to wound Cersei (if she gets her arse up north, which seems unlikely) before Cersei’s killed by whoever the heck the Valonquar is

7. Speaking of, could Ghost be the Valonquar? I mean, he was the runt, the littlest brother of the brood. Eh, dunno. I just don’t expect the Valonquar to be anything close to what we think he/she/it/them is.

8. I like the idea of parts of the ocean being permanently frozen over because of something the Night King does. Dunno why. I don’t think there’s any foreshadowing to that in the show; it just sounds cool, and represents a permanent consequence to the land. Because I do not expect there to be zero consequence for the landscape of Westeros itself. The Greyjoy’s are already kinda sorta doomed (with eunuch Theon being the last male of that line, unless Euron’s got a kid somewhere and he ends up surviving to take the throne and not be a dick about it), so it’d be a bit of tragic poetry if their islands, their seas were frozen and lifeless but thanks to their efforts the rest of Westeros is safe and their people will have to make a life on land

9. One or both remaining dragons are frozen for all timez

10. Sansa becomes Queen in the North or Queen of the Seven Kingdoms (is there really an in-between?)

Bonus

Lastly, here’s just an observation on an important part of Sansa’s storyline and character development: Arya Stark. I believe Sansa and Arya adopted different pieces of the original storylines in GRRM’s book proposal outline--not that I put much stock in the outline. Sansa was created, at first, to add tension to the Stark family. GRRM says he was surprised by Sansa’s developments; he also says he empathizes with whichever character he is currently writing, so I think he just naturally found things that he liked in Sansa that made her more than a complication device. Because his original vision included Arya as the sole Stark daughter, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sansa and Arya aren’t the result of this once singular character being developed into two very different ways. The archetypal Amazon Wild Child and the Princess in the Tower. Two sides of the same coin--or, in Ned’s words, Sansa is the sun to Arya’s moon and vice-versa. For this reason, I don’t put it past Sansa to continue developing her personal brand of Brave Northern Lady and Arya developing her personal brand of Brave Northern Lady. Because that is what they both are: brave, northern, ladies. Will Sansa find herself at the center of a love triangle? I really, really hope not, but at this point if it is gonna happen I find it much more likely with Sansa than with Arya.

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love-takes-work · 7 years

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Steven Universe Podcast: Volume 2, Episode 2: Amethyst

A new season of the Steven Universe Podcast launched January 25, 2018, and here is a recap of episode 2, released February 1, 2018! The official description:

The Steven Universe Podcast is celebrating Amethyst... with creator Rebecca Sugar, former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey, Michaela Dietz (who voices Amethyst), and Deedee Magno Hall (who voices Pearl). Discover what inspired Amethyst's weapon and shapeshifting abilities, some of the original design ideas for her character, why she's the one who's changed the most over the course of the series, and what Amethyst represents about Rebecca Sugar's real-life relationship with her brother, Steven. Plus, Amethyst and Pearl both join the pod to talk favorite shapeshifts, snacks, and the benefit of a good remote control!

This is very long because the podcasts are getting long, and I don't want to skimp on the detail because it's all very interesting to this wonderful group of nerds who like to read these, but I also don't want to overwhelm anyone with all the text, so I'll give you the bulleted highlights first and a more detailed narrative under the read-more.

Highlights:

Amethyst's earliest character designs, before she was "Amethyst," were in Rebecca's Lars/Sadie comics from college.

Amethyst is based physically on Rebecca's college friend Valerie.

Amethyst represents the present.

The "we kept Amethyst" joke was written BEFORE the writers themselves knew Amethyst's real origin.

Amethyst's whip is meant to be Dionysian: fluid and flexible.

Amethyst's tendency to shapeshift reflects both freedom to be whoever she wants and feeling lost and confused about who she is.

Amethyst has changed the most since the beginning of the series.

Meeting other Quartzes has allowed Amethyst to define herself with more clarity, leading her flexibility to become a choice rather than a reaction.

Smoky Quartz's yo-yo moves were real tricks derived from Rebecca's observation of a real yo-yo master.

Smoky represents a Fusion born out of two Gems at their lowest points, reminding viewers that sometimes you do need to ask for help.

Michaela's favorite Amethyst forms are the baby and Purple Puma.

Deedee thinks Pearl would shapeshift into a graceful bird if she was interested in changing form.

Zach Callison has a theory that Steven and Peridot's Fusion would be smaller than either of them, and adding Amethyst would make a tiny Shorty Squad Fusion that's also super loud.

Michaela, performing as Amethyst in the fan Q&A, says she likes her eggs whole (including carton, plus motor oil), that she has indeed posed as someone’s cat for an extended period and has laid eggs as a chicken, does not like eating overcooked remote controls, and loves most of all to shapeshift into Pearl. WOMP WOMP.

The detailed summary, including Rebecca and Ian discussing Amethyst’s origin, Deedee and Amethyst discussing voicing the characters, and fan questions answered in character . . .

Read it all below!

McKenzie opens by describing Amethyst's physical appearance and weapon of choice, then introduces Rebecca and Ian to discuss her creation.

Ian and Rebecca talk origins:

First McKenzie prompts them to talk about Amethyst's earliest concept. Ian says he remembers her as a character in the Lars/Sadie comics from Rebecca's college years. Rebecca adds that she was based on drawings she did of her friend Valerie--so she was in the comics, but she wasn't "Amethyst" yet. Rebecca had been planning to do Lars/Sadie comic strips and never actually drew a strip but she had doodles. Rebecca drew and painted her friend Valerie all the time--getting any Vidalia/Amethyst vibes here? Though Amethyst, personality-wise, is different, there's a visual resemblance. Early Amethyst concepts included a plant concept that went away (would have involved flowers in her hair and whatnot), but one aspect that remained was that Amethyst would be the short one. (Her shortness being an aspect of being defective was not initially planned; it was developed later along with the Kindergarten concepts by other Crewniverse members.)

Amethyst represents the present (an idea Angie had of past, present, and future for the Gems), and was supposed to be the one Gem who was most comfortable being an Earthling, interacting with humans, being like them, hanging out with boardies and having relationships with them that we've never seen onscreen. Pearl and Garnet purposely avoid humans, but Amethyst has that connection to humans because of her origin. Ian points out the "we kept Amethyst" joke in "Steven's Lion" was written before they even knew she was from Kindergarten; it unintentionally made sense retroactively.

They did have plans for how Garnet and Pearl fit into Rose's forces, but felt that Amethyst was added later as a wayward Gem brought into the fold. They already knew the characters' ages but later had to work out how Amethyst was included.

Amethyst represents the "irresponsible, not a great role model" part of Rebecca with regard to how she acts when she's in a comfortable mode around someone (specifically, Steven) and doesn't have to care what anyone thinks. She represents just being a kid, being immature, relaxing. (Pearl tries to act older and responsible, while Garnet is "aspirational," but Amethyst is the older sister that has permission to be childish while leveling with a younger sibling.) Ian reflects on early Amethyst concepts, how Amethyst caused the conflict in the pilot episode by giving Steven the Time Thing, and how she chased him around in "Together Breakfast," establishing that she was the one who would "mess with him." Rebecca clarifies that it's good-natured ribbing. Ian points out that OK KO has characters based on the "dumb police" drawing.

Regarding Amethyst's weapon, McKenzie asks what made them decide on a whip. Rebecca and Ian agree that the weapons were super early decisions. Initially there were influences for Pearl and Amethyst from Apollo and Dionysis (Apollonian and Dionysian elements are used frequently in literature to set up a dichotomy). The spear is Apollonian (rigid, inflexible) and the whip is Dionysian (fluid, flexible). Rebecca also mentions that Paul Villeco brought in ideas of the characters being a knight, a cowboy, and a boxer. And unlike fists or a spear, whips have multiple uses, which is flexible like Amethyst herself.

McKenzie relates this choice about her weapon to Amethyst's shapeshifting tendencies, and Ian and Rebecca agree with that too. Ian says they figured she would use shapeshifting to mess with people, do useful things, do UN-useful things, sometimes changing into things just to make jokes . . . it's all about fluidity.

Rebecca says the constant flux in Amethyst's physical form felt right from the beginning, but made even more sense as they discovered she was searching for herself. To some extent it's freeing to be able to be anything, but it also could indicate how lost she feels.

McKenzie asks them to discuss the decision to have Amethyst as the first Gem to fuse with Steven. Rebecca compares Steven and Amethyst's relationship to her own relationship with her brother, saying it's really the closest to their real sibling relationship (especially throughout that arc). Rebecca says it just made sense to her, and Ian points out that Amethyst and Steven have a similarity in that they're both a weird kind of Gem who's only known Earth. Rebecca says at this point Steven really knows everything there is to know about Amethyst, almost, while Garnet and Pearl are more guarded about the vast amount of their history he does not know. She opened up to him as early as "Tiger Millionaire," and she's changed the most from the beginning of the show. Amethyst representing the present, changing right along with Steven, makes sense, when balanced against Pearl with so much of the past she can't reveal and Garnet being ahead of everything, focused on what's going on in her own mind (which makes it hard to even talk to her).

Next, McKenzie asks them to speak to Amethyst's relationship with Rose. Ian suggests she was kind of "the Steven of the group," as we see in flashbacks--her getting them in trouble. Rebecca thinks Amethyst's fluidity was encouraged by Rose, and that she protected her from having to know troubling truths. Amethyst is basically a kid who was raised by hippies. She was sheltered from knowing the full truth of her origin and therefore she was not free to build on that aspect of her identity. Both the advantages of freedom and the disadvantages of lack of structure manifested in her. Rose didn't want Amethyst to have restrictions of the Gem society they rejected, but that meant she didn't get a chance to rebel against or choose to follow anything associated with them. Especially with regard to her relationship with the Kindergarten, they compare Amethyst to being raised with a liberal upbringing--everything is fine now, even though it's apparent that NONE of this is actually fine in the larger context. Meeting other Amethysts inspired a growth for Amethyst where she can understand where she's from and can CHOOSE the flexibility she embodies, rather than having that be a symptom of floundering. Now she's developed the freedom to define herself as the kind of Quartz she wants to be, having seen the options and what her society of origin would have wanted her to be.

Deedee and Michaela talk bringing characters to life:

McKenzie introduces Deedee Magno Hall (Pearl) and Michaela Dietz (Amethyst), and begins the discussion by bringing up Amethyst's first full-scale arc in Season 3. She asks Michaela whether it was taxing to play a character who's really hit rock bottom, and Michaela instead says she could relate to how focused Amethyst was during that time. Because Amethyst was comparing herself to Jasper and feeling inferior as she scrambled for identity, Michaela relates to that through her experience being adopted. It was a little challenging tapping into that emotion to bring that performance out, though. McKenzie relates to the whole comparing-yourself-to-others thing, and Deedee and Michaela assure her that she's doing many cool things herself.

Deedee adds that she compares herself to others sometimes too, but in her business, there's lots of competition and you just have to be okay with knowing that sometimes you'll be right for the part and sometimes you won't; just do your best. Michaela recommends trying to "break the box" instead of trying to fit in it when it comes to auditioning for roles--define yourself by what makes you stand out. Amethyst does that in the show as well.

McKenzie leads into discussing Steven's role in inspiring Amethyst to find power in her difference, and they talk about their reactions to Smoky Quartz. Michaela says her reaction was a lot like Amethyst's reaction when Garnet asks her to form Sugilite; she had no idea that was coming when she got the script.

Discussing Smoky's design and weapon, Michaela brings up that Rebecca told her about consulting with a top yo-yo performer as research for Smoky, so the moves are real. (They don’t say so in the podcast, but this was Tom Black.)

Deedee mentions having dabbled in learning yo-yo tricks and knows from experience that a yo-yo will hurt if it hits you. They return to discussing the lessons Amethyst's arc brings to viewers, and conclude that shining as an individual is one of the central messages of the show. Deedee thinks many young people are embracing individuality.

However, Michaela wants to point out that Smoky Quartz's first appearance was born out of a low point for Steven and Amethyst. They bonded over both not being good enough--being the worst. So Smoky represented them reaching for each other's help, and being willing to do that when you need to.

McKenzie brings up the fact that Amethyst shapeshifts a lot, indicating a fluid personality, but also that she has been the only Gem to fuse with all the current Crystal Gems, which Pearl and Garnet have NOT done as such. (This isn't mentioned in the podcast, but apparently McKenzie is not including Peridot here.) McKenzie asks what the voice actors think about how self-image plays into shapeshifting, considering Pearl never does it and Amethyst does it all the time. Deedee suggests Pearl keeps such things in her back pocket unless it's really needed. Michaela agrees that Pearl doesn't compromise on who she is while Amethyst is malleable. McKenzie asks for Michaela's favorite of Amethyst's shapeshifts, and she says the little baby form was fun, and then adds on that Purple Puma is another favorite. Michaela asks her co-star what Pearl would shapeshift into if she did such things. Deedee said she'd have to think about it, and they decide maybe Pearl would like being a bird. Maybe a ladybird, a dove, or a swan. McKenzie thinks maybe a flamingo.

Next, they jump into discussing Amethyst's character in the context of some of the more recent episodes, specifically "Back to the Kindergarten" where Amethyst pulls Peridot out of her funk by taking her to the Kindergarten and starting a garden there. Michaela first has to give props to Shelby Rabara's voice acting for Peridot in those episodes, and reflects that she's heard some of those same moans in real life from her. Anyway, Michaela thinks that episode shows a ton of character growth for Amethyst; in the past she wouldn't have had the emotional resources to help someone who's suffering, especially when connecting it to a place she has such a complicated relationship with, but after meeting the Amethysts from there and learning she's allowed to be proud of where she came from, she's found enough strength to know how to help ground others.

She even kept her cool mostly when Peridot lashed out, which is a reaction she wouldn't have been capable of in the past. McKenzie contrasts this with "On the Run," and Michaela says even though the Kindergarten was a source of tension between Amethyst and Pearl, it also represents where they bonded and got a new start, and Deedee suggests maybe that's part of the reason Amethyst brought Peridot there.

McKenzie's last question for them is about Fusions: wouldn't they love to see a shorty squad Fusion of all three? And of course they would. But then Michaela says Zach has a theory that a Peridot/Steven Fusion would just be even smaller, and adding Amethyst in would shrink the Fusion even further but make them LOUDER. Yes, they agree, the world needs this. (McKenzie thinks being small would help them infiltrate places.)

Amethyst and Pearl answer questions:

McKenzie: What's your favorite thing to shapeshift into?

Amethyst: My favorite thing to shapeshift into is probably . . . Pearl. WOMP WOMP.

Pearl: AMETHYST. Really.

Amethyst: Heh heh.

McKenzie: Never fails. Never gets old.

McKenzie: How did meeting the other Amethysts change your outlook and your idea of yourself?

Amethyst: Oh man! I mean, meeting the other Amethysts was amazing. And it changed my sense of self in that now I have other people who look like myself! It's crazy! And I have like, the Famethyst, and they're so funny. They're, like, pranksters just like me who like to mess with Steven. It's great.

Pearl: It's nice to have friends.

McKenzie: Have you ever posed as somebody's cat? I'm thinking, like, long-term, like sneaking into their house for like a week or something?

Amethyst: Yeah! Did you say for a week? 'Cause I did it for two weeks.

McKenzie: Did they find out?

Amethyst: Um, yeah. So, it's like, my neighbor, Eleanor--oh wait. Sorry. I was just thinking about [dissolves into laughter]

Pearl: I hope you didn't get in trouble with the authorities.

Amethyst: You should talk, Pearl.

Pearl: I know a little something about that.

Amethyst: Okay, so for two weeks I snuck into this lady's house and I was like pretending to be one of her eighteen cats and I just, like, barked at her, and that kinda gave me up a little 'cause I barked at her. 'Cause cats don't bark.

McKenzie: Lesson learned.

Amethyst: Note taken.

McKenzie: Have you ever tried shapeshifting into a chicken and then laying an egg? Is that, like, physically possible?

Amethyst: Uh, yep. It's been done. I've done it and it was EGGcellent.

McKenzie: That would be a good source of financial income.

Amethyst: It was really speSHELL. I CRACK myself up.

Pearl: Always with the jokes.

Amethyst: Oh so many YOLKS!

Pearl: Oh! That's a good one actually.

McKenzie: How do you like your eggs? Country-scrambled, over easy, or the shells, carton, and everything on top?

Amethyst: How do I like my eggs? Whole. There's nothing worse than just, like, half of an egg. That's weird. Also, what's country-scrambled? Is there like dandelions in it?

McKenzie: Probably.

Amethyst: Or like, a map, and there's just like, Australia, like, cut up, and like put in your egg. I don't really get this question.

McKenzie: It's where you fry them on the hood of a tractor. It gives it a special flavor.

Amethyst: Ohhh, is that what it is?

Pearl: Really??

Amethyst: Man, humans are so fascinating. I guess, who am I kidding, I just like the shells, carton, everything on top. Preferably dipped in some motor oil.

McKenzie: The whole package.

Amethyst: So maybe that's kinda country!

McKenzie: Is there any food you DON'T like?

Amethyst: I cannot stand overcooked remote controls.

McKenzie: No?

Amethyst: Disgusting.

McKenzie: What's the ideal cook time?

Amethyst: For like, the perfect remote control, I would say, you know, one and a half minutes on 350 max.

McKenzie: Right. For the golden brown.

Amethyst: Yes, yes, yes.

McKenzie: I understand. I agree. There's not enough people in this world who appreciate a tasty remote control.

Amethyst: Yeah. It's true. Best food ever. My favorite.

Pearl: [sigh] If we have to purchase another remote control, Amethyst, it's coming out of your allowance.

Amethyst: Oh wow, I get allowance now? Boy, thanks, bird mom.

[Laughter]

(There was no news of the topic for next week's, but we're on for another one next Thursday.)

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

#steven universe podcast #steven universe #mckenzie atwood #rebecca sugar #ian jones-quartey #deedee magno hall #michaela dietz #amethyst #myblog

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im-just-here-for-the-drama · 7 years

Text

My 2017 Most Hated and Favorite Dramas

2017 wasn’t the best drama year for me at the beginning. After Goblin finished, every drama was just not doing it for me. In February, I decided to take a break from dramas and I didn’t watch a single drama (not any Asian drama period), for two months, but I can’t help myself and I finally went back to dramaland and for this year my tally is:

Dramas completed: 43

Dramas re-watched: 10

Dramas dropped:31

Highest rating given: 9

Lowest rating given: 2

The Dramas I Hated

Missing 9

This show started off with an interesting premise. Bunch of people stranded on an island. There should be mystery and intrigue, people possibly killing each other or whatever. It started off petty well. The show did have mystery and intrigue, but it didn’t really deliver. The show started going downhill after a certain point and I honestly don’t even remember what it was that made this show go downhill, I just remember that it did, and I stopped enjoying anything that happened. I do remember the character’s seeming pretty dumb when it came to handling the villain and don’t even get me started on the villain or that wtf ending.

The Liar and His Lover

I only watched this because a lot of people said it was better than it looked. It really wasn’t. The acting wasn’t good, the story wasn’t all that great and I could bring myself to care about any of the characters problems.I did like that almost kiss in the phone booth though. It was incredibly sexy. it’s a shame this was a different drama where that kind of chemistry could have continued.

Suspicious Partner

I can’t believe I actually watched this entire show. The only thing I liked about it was that Breathing Your Love song. I watched this from beginning to end and every episode was so painfully boring. There were a few minutes where I was interested, but then ultimately I got bored again. If I had been watching this on my own, I probably wouldn’t have watched past the first few episodes.

Hit the Top/The Best Hit

As much as I loved Enrique from Flower Boy Next Door, I could not get myself to like Hyun Jae, even though he was a similar character. He was far too childish and annoying to me. I’m one of those people who just couldn’t get past Hyun Jae and Woo Seung together. When Hyun Jae went to the future and found out Ji Hoon was his son, all I wanted was for the show to play with that and forge some type of bond between Ji Hoon and Hyun Jae, but nooo, show instead wants to focus on the love story between father and his son’ s crush. I couldn’t root for Hyun Jae at all. Sure Ji Hoon technically wasn’t his son, but he didn’t know that at first and still never tried to form a relationship with him. And to make things worse, once the show really started focusing on the romance, everything else was pushed to the side. I wanted to see Ji Hoon rap again and see a little more of his path with Drill trying to make it in the industry. I wanted to see where Woo Seung was planning on taking her career. Grandpa and Mal Sook were the best part of this show and they were ditched at the end too.

Reunited Worlds

I love Yeo Jin Goo and I love noona romances, so of course I was going to watch this show. It wasn’t good unfortunately. Aside from it not being all that engaging, the show just didn’t work. The acting was off (even Jin Goo’s acting wasn’t his best), the chemistry was off, and every time the three leads were on screen together, whether it was Hae Sung and Jung Won, Jung Won and Min Joon, Min Joon and Hae Sung, or all three of them together, I always felt this awkward vibe between them. The age gap between Lee Yeon Hee, Ahn Jae Hyun, Yeo Jin Goo was far too noticable. Jin Goo is a teenager and was a teenager in the show and you could feel the gap between them when they shared scenes. There was always just this offness between them as if none of them were particularly comfortable in playing these roles opposite each other where they were all supposed to be on the same level, but clearly weren’t.

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Supposedly one of the best dramas of the year, but it’s sexist, homophobic, offensive for multiple other reasons, and just plain boring.

Favorites

The Boy Next Door/Some Guy

From the studio that brought us Lily Fever comes The Boy Next Door. I wasn’t going to watch this because I really ain’t here for the queerbait at this point, but I caved and watched it anyway, because I’ll take a good bromance since it’s as close to the gay as I’m gonna get. It was a funny, short, and a fairly enjoyable web drama.

Fight My Way

I loved this slice of life drama. Loved the characters and that there were two couple here going through two different stages in their relationships. It was funny and relatable in multiple aspects. There were a few missteps in the show ( Dong Man and Ae Ra’s skirt, Ae Ra’s father beating Dong Man which was clearly supposed to be funny, and I could have really used a little more plot about Ae Ra and her career). It wasn’t the best drama I’ve ever seen, but it was warm and comfortable. A very pleasant show to watch and that’s a good thing. Seol Hee was a stand out character for me.

The Guardians/Lookout

Badass female lead, a great antihero, Kim Seul Gi, Key, hottie priest, and a good ost wrapped up in one show? What’s not to like? Sure the characters did a few illogical things throughout the show, but I enjoyed the ride. Kim Young Kwang really proved himself here.

Because this is Our First Life

When I first heard about this show, I didn’t particularly think it was going to be good. Then I heard a million good things about it, so of course I had to check it out. Six episodes in, and I was not impressed. It was okay, watchable, but nothing to write home about. I watched more anyway, and then I don’t know what happened, but it really started clicking for me. The show was funny and honest with interesting conversations and interesting characters, and just when I thought something would be extremely cliche, things would go in a different direction. I didn’t particularly care about Wo Rang and Ho Seok and I didn’t really like the last episodes arc with Ji Ho leaving and not telling Se Hee of her obvious plans to return, but overall this was definitely one of the best dramas of the year.

Go Back Couple

This drama wasn’t even remotely on my radar. The plot didn’t sound all that intriguing on paper, but I needed something to watch one day, and this was one of the new shows that had aired. I swear people completely slept on this show. I can’t even particularly remember why I loved it so much, but it was funny and cute. I loved Jin Joo and her group of friends, the likable love rivals, the gender role reversal in the second couple (also a likable aspect in BTLIOF), and of course the emotional highs and lows involving Jin Joo and her mother and of course Seo Jin. I wasn’t fond of Ban Do at the beginning, but I knew the show was going to show us his turn around and show us that he was actually worthy of Jin Joo and they didn’t disappoint. Jang Na Ra was also really good in this role. I knew she was a good actor, but she never really impressed me before, but her scenes were so good here I had to put her on my favorite actors list. This one was my favorite drama of the year.

Honorable Mentions (These shows aren’t over yet, but they deserve to be on my favorites list..for now.)

Wise Prison Life/ Prison Playbook

Another show where I can’t really pinpoint why I like it so much. It’s slow and the episode run time is ridiculous, but it’s so good. I’m not up to date with this solely because I don’t want to run out of subbed episodes to watch. It’s great watching Je Hyuk navigate prison life and I love that we get the other prisoners stories. The show really helps to humanize them all and show that everyone may not be exactly what they seem at first. I really hope this show stays good as it continues into the next year.

Money Flower

Another show I think isn’t getting as much credit as it deserves. I really wasn’t going to watch this because it sounded like your typical cliche revenge melo. It’s definitely makjang and melo, but that’s never a bad thing when it’s done right, and this one’s done right. The characters are intriguing and morally corrupt, even the main lead Pil Joo is slightly gray. The relationships between the characters are interesting too. Pil Joo and Boo Cheon seem to have this type of love-hate relationship, where Pil Joo’s love may or may not be fake. I love the sexual tension between Pil Joo and Mal Ran where Mal Ran seems to be attracted to Pil Joo even though she clearly doesn’t trust him completely, and Pil Joo certainly uses that attraction to his advantage. I’d really love to see this twisted relationship play out. Can I have another drama based on this relationship please? Mo Hyun wasn’t that interesting of character at the start. She seemed like more of a love interest and a pawn in this game more than anything else, but given the most recent episodes, she’s stepping up to the plate, and I’m really excited to where this is going.

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chicagocityfclanspromoblog · 4 years

Photo

Chai Gates → Billie Lourde → Witch

→ Basic Information

Age: 225

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Powers: Telekinetic (Fire Elemental Telekinesis)

Birthday: June 2nd

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Religion: Jehovah Witness

Mark: Weyden

Generation: 3rd

→ Her Personality

(one to two paragraphs)

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: Full Time Mentee

Scars: Callouses from bowling

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Center of Attention and Pastel Colors

Two Dislikes: Skeptics and Wards

Two Fears: Remote Psychokinesis and Losing control of her powers

Two Hobbies: Bowling and Craftsmanship

Three Positive Traits: Equanimous, Relaxed, Inviting

Three Negative Traits: Taunting, Direct, Unwavering

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Kieran Gates (Father): Kieran, like Chai, is a telekinetic. He has a penchant for taking on numerous mentees, and at times focusing more on them than his own family. Chai and her siblings accepted that quickly and moved out very early for witches and warlocks.

Evangeline Gates (Mother): Chai’s mother was the author of a notable series of books called the “Weyden’s Simple Texts”. They were simplified, written down instruction manuals for witches and warlocks, and became a smash hit. She is one of the most notable Weyden’s and is one of the witches who put them on the map in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chai learned some things from her mother, but hasn’t ever actually read the books, partially out of stubbornness and a reluctance to have her mom instruct her, partially because she knows if she shows even the slightest interest her mom will go on about it for a decade. Due to the success of Evangeline’s book series, Chai grew up rubbing elbows with the most wealthy witch and warlock families, and learned how to be the instigator at inviting groups of people together.

Sibling Names:

Rowan Gates (Brother): Rowan took after their mother and has begun writing technical books about craftsmanship. Chai offered to proofread and immediately regretted it. Though informational, there was no entertainment factor in it. Eric, on the other hand, thought they were fascinating so she let him offer critiques. She likes her brother and they grew up close in age for one another. He was never willing to push the envelope as much as Chai, and they grew apart as they got older.

Zerifina ‘Zi’ Gates (Sister): Zi is the eldest Gates sibling and is currently travelling the world in pursuit of magical creatures. She was already 200 by the times Rowan and Chai were born. Chai doesn’t have much of a relationship with her and sees Flower or Belle more as her sisters.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Tristan Lawton (Hook-up): Chai has a weakness for dumb boys and Tristan was dumb and pretty. She doesn’t really see it going somewhere romantic, but she’d consider another one night reconnection.

Aleksander Mazur (Crush): It may be that he doesn’t look twice at her or the rumors that surround him, but Chai is utterly fascinated in Aleksander. There is something so charismatic and interesting about him and she wants to get to know him better. Chai plans on laying her charm down after the next bowling game Underground or at least asking Rapheal about Aleksander.

Platonic Connections:

Sid Velanica (Best Friend): Chai and Sid occasionally hook up now and then although their friendship has existed much longer. Chai was the first person to really invite him out socially when he arrived in Chicago. Chai knows she is the center of their friend group, and generally has the best eye for seeing who will fit.

Ashley Malone (Friend): Ashley mentees under Eric too. Chai has introduced Ashley to nearly everyone that she ‘needs to know’ in the supernatural community; including taking Ashley to all the supernatural hot spots. She can’t really stand Ashley’s human friends and thinks it’s pointless that she’s forming connections to mortals.

Eric Lasiter (Mentor): Chai parents sought Eric out and asked him to train their daughter. Eric refused at first but changed his mind once he and Chai sat down and talked about what she wanted out of her powers and life. Chai liked the darkness in Eric and knew he’d push her to be something great, even without the Gates name behind her.

Sada Warren (Friend): Chai has been a friend of Sada’s for years. Though Chai is closer to Sada’s boyfriend, Sid, Chai finds her presence entertaining. Though they wouldn’t hang out one on one, they share the same friend group. Sada can be a little intense, but so can Flower. She adds interest to the rest of their friend group.

Belle Cunningham (Good Friend): When Eric was too busy or clueless on what to do with Belle, Chai was always around to take her out or teach her shortcuts to her powers. Chai is the older sister Belle never had. They have a close sisterly bond.

Maya ‘Flower’ Hanes (Best Friend): Chai has known Flower for centuries. The two’s parents frequently flew in the same social circles and the girls were forced to see each other often. Though they initially clashed as two people with similarities often do, Chai and Flower grew to become good friends. Flower initially moved in with Chai when she came to Chicago, and Chai was the first person Maya told about her being gay. They are sisters through thick and thin, and Chai would do anything for Flower. They still see each other almost daily, especially since Flower is dating Belle.

Raul Santiago (Friend/Bowling Team Member): Chai’s family has heavily been involved in bowling since it got popularized in the 19th century. They’ve run leagues, owned alleys, and even have one in the basement of their main house in England. Chai loves bowling, but has never been able to get a team together before now. She has never used her powers while bowling, no matter what anyone says, and genuinely loves the competition. It was kind of a surprise when Raul messaged the facebook group, even more so than Farrokh. Chai never got the sporty vibe from him in the few times they’d met before. He’s got a biting sense of humor that Chai enjoys and it’s good to have another magic user around.

Raphael Caron (Bowling Teammate): Chai’s family has heavily been involved in bowling since it got popularized in the 19th century. They’ve run leagues, owned alleys, and even have one in the basement of their main house in England. Chai loves bowling, but has never been able to get a team together before now. She has never used her powers while bowling, no matter what anyone says, and genuinely loves the competition. Raphael is handsome but it is clear he has eyes for Nikita. She’s considered attempting to get Nikita to join, just to set things in motion, but she’d probably forget.

Farrokh Alvi (Bowling Teammate): Chai’s family has heavily been involved in bowling since it got popularized in the 19th century. They’ve run leagues, owned alleys, and even have one in the basement of their main house in England. Chai loves bowling, but has never been able to get a team together before now. She has never used her powers while bowling, no matter what anyone says, and genuinely loves the competition. Farrokh’s kind of an asshole, and seems to get bored with them easily but Chai never lets that get to her and still cheers him on during his turns. Despite bowling for less than a year, he’s gotten 3 perfect games.

Angel Landyn (Bowling Teammate): Chai’s family has heavily been involved in bowling since it got popularized in the 19th century. They’ve run leagues, owned alleys, and even have one in the basement of their main house in England. Chai loves bowling, but has never been able to get a team together before now. She has never used her powers while bowling, no matter what anyone says, and genuinely loves the competition. Angel is their team captain and Chai thinks he is a great player, but not as good as her. Still him being captains makes it so she is able to have a life outside of the team which she desperately needs.

Hostile Connections:

Anya Grace (Dislike/Annoyance): Ashley brought Anya around constantly, or used to before Chai stepped in. The girl is a flat out skeptic and Ashley still chooses to hang around her. So Chai began to make vague, condescending comments and goaded her into fights, just to see if she’d let anything go. She hasn’t and Chai suspects that the girl will go ballistic if Ashley ever tells her the truth.

Emmett Wilhelm (Mildly Irritating): Chai enjoys needling Emmett when he comes to pick up Belle for training. She thinks it’s his “Wilhelmness” that rubs her the wrong way, but she really can’t help it.

Audo Wilhelm (Annoyance): Audo’s the “miracle” Wilhelm, the only first generation Wilhelm born in centuries, and Chai knows it’s gone to his head. He acts like he’s better than everyone else, but won’t use that to help anyone. They got into a large amount of fights while he was still betrothed to Flower and have not been friendly since.

Pets:

None

→ History (paragraph(s) on background) → The Present (paragraph(s) on how the character connects to the plot)

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Billie Lourde [1] [2] [3]

#billie lourd #Witches Rp #magic rp #bio rp #OC RP

0 notes

shirlleycoyle · 5 years

Text

Hackers Dissect ‘Mr. Robot’ Season 4 Episode 11: ‘Exit’

Every week, a roundtable of hackers discusses the latest episode of Mr. Robot. Episode 11 of Mr. Robot’s final season had one last attempted hack, so we discussed [SPOILERS, obvs] rubber duckies, Stuxnet, text/graphics games, parallel universes, and more. (The chat transcript has been edited for brevity, clarity, and chronology.)

This week’s team of experts includes:

Freddy Martinez: a technologist and public records expert. He serves as a Director for the Chicago-based Lucy Parsons Labs.

Harlo Holmes: Director of Digital Security at Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Trammell Hudson: a security researcher who likes to take things apart.

Yael Grauer (moderator): an investigative tech reporter covering online privacy and security, digital freedom, mass surveillance and hacking.

One More Hack

Yael: So I thought it was interesting that there was just one more hack. This is how criminals get caught: they just want to do one more job. And then one more job. And then another job.

Trammell: Yes, the "one more hack" thing is why I go to bed far too late many nights.

And how vacations without projects can turn into almost withdrawal experience. "I'm not good with computers, I'm just really bad at giving up."

Yael: Right, like that except with the added risk and adrenaline rush of breaking the law. (Allegedly.) I think he really does think he'll be done after this hack.

Trammel: He used a Digispark to sequence things. It is an Arduino compatible ATtiny85 system that can pretend to be USB devices. One common use is as a "rubber ducky" to store lots of keystrokes so that the attacker doesn't have to carefully type the commands. That seems to be how he used it. He plugged it in and it started (slowly) sending commands while he watched. I didn't catch all of them—some sort of power shell invocation and then the fuxor program to encrypt the /bin directory (after gathering entropy).

Image: USA

Harlo: Yeah, similar to a ransomware attack! Which is kind of prevalent nowadays, targeting civic infrastructure.

Trammell: When Mr. Robot said "that would take forever to write," I was hoping that Elliot would reply, "I've reused most of the Stuxnet code.” (Although the Stuxnet virus targeted uranium refinement for nuclear weapons, rather than nuclear power plants.)

Yael: Is Stuxnet code public?

Freddy: Some of it is, other parts are not. I think some Stuxnet code is still technically classified.

Trammell: The NSA/CIA/Mossad were just giving away the Stuxnet binaries for free!

Freddy: Yeah, they were "giving away" the Stuxnet code; all you needed to qualify is an emerging nuclear enrichment program.

Trammell: Not only was it free, they even offered a complimentary on-site installation by a Dutch technician.

A Dutch newspaper featuring the Stuxnet attack. (Image: DeVolkskrant)

Ideology

Yael: I thought the conversation between Whiterose and Elliot was super interesting, about who is more hateful. Because I think it's easy to think you're doing stuff to help people when you actually dehumanize big swaths of the population.

Trammell: Very few people seem to ask, "Are we the baddies?"

Yael: Haha, they should just go on Reddit. /r/AmItheAsshole? I thought it was problematic that the one trans character on the show decides mass murder is the answer due to gender dysphoria. [ed: Hey, don’t forget about Hot Carla! She is good and pure!]

Though in White Rose’s mind, it wasn’t mass murder. It was "helping people." Or something. But also, it was funny for Whiterose to be like, "you are hateful, your name is FSociety" after killing dozens of people in the plant. Or ordering their killing, anyway. "No, actually, you are the real hater."

The Hack Attempt

Yael: Can someone explain the tech to me? Does it matter at what point you start the program and the malware is put in? And how does this lead to a nuclear meltdown?

Harlo: This is not a Stuxnet-like attack, I don't think. I think Elliot just encrypted /bin on some remote computer, which is nowhere near as sophisticated.

Yael: Anyone who wants to learn more about Stuxnet should read Kim Zetter’s book on it, Countdown to Zero Day.

Trammell: I think the meltdown was inevitable when White Rose switched on the machine; the malware didn't have any effect.

Yael: Okay, so Elliot got there too late. Sorry, Elliot.

Harlo: Get Kim Zetter on the phone. I was just about to say, it was like bringing a knife to a gunfight. What Elliot was trying to do reminds me more of the rash of attacks against municipalities (see New Orleans just a few days ago, Baltimore last summer; countless school districts). Which is ridiculously effective, but nowhere near the sophistication of an attack like Stuxnet. Thus, knives at a gunfight. Yet, the scary thing is, these knives are proving HORRIFICALLY effective.

Trammell: On the rubber ducky: that's bad opsec by the plant. Allowing random USB devices, even HID input devices, is a bad plan for security.

Yael: How do you disallow USB devices from getting plugged in?

Trammell: You can set up allowed-lists or banned-lists in most OSes so that only permitted devices can be used. You can still spoof it if you know what is allowed though; my homebrew keyboards all claim to be generic 101-key Microsoft or Dell keyboards so that they are likely to be permitted.

Freddy: At some companies, they have rules that will send an alert when a USB is plugged in, and then they have a security person who shows up to talk to you.

Yael: Maybe that person got shot, though.

The Game

Yael: I thought it was so weird that Elliot didn’t think it was strange that the people doing security for the site just, like, weren’t there.

Trammell: When it turned into a first-person shooter game with all of the empty rooms and unlocked computers, it seemed like Elliot should have realized something wasn't quite right. White Rose totally pulled an Ozymandias on Elliot.

Yael: The game reminded me of one I played as a kid, but I can't remember what it was.

Trammell: The game was very much inspired by the text/graphics games of the era, although the parser was much more sophisticated than the Z-machine of that time.

Harlo: I have an AWESOME BOOK FOR YOU TO PLUG. Twisty Little Passages by Nick Montfort. It's a media archeology about interactive text-based games.

Yael: It seemed like there was no way for Elliot to win the game.

Freddy: As with all nuclear policy, the only winning move is not to play.

Image: USA

Trammell: The Apple //e in the episode came with a lowercase character generator built in, so that part was realistic. I wonder if they wrote the game and ran it on real hardware. A few years ago at the NYC Resistor Interactive Show, we had Flapple Bird, a real retro game for the Apple 2.

Yael: Did anyone catch the door code?

Trammell: The door code was 0509, the date of the hack.

Flapple Bird (Image: Trammel Hudson)

Parallel Universe

Yael: The episode ends with the weird parallel universe. Do you guys think that is actually happening? Or is it in Elliot's mind? (I've been watching The Runaways, so it seemed so… redundant, lol.)

Harlo: I got a kinda Rick and Morty vibe.

Trammell: “Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster…”

Freddy: It reminded me of the scene where Elliot becomes a normie.

Yael: I didn’t like preppie Elliot, to be honest. He was a little annoying.

Harlo: Maybe this is what Whiterose was talking about in her vision of the better life?

Notice there's no Darlene? What does that mean?

Yael: IDK. I don't want to be in a parallel universe without Darlene, though.

Trammell: Yeah, why didn't she come along to the new world?

Yael: Even Tyrell was there.

Trammell: Tyrell in a hoodie, just like he wanted.

Freddy: Tyrell being a cool CEO like Mark Zuckerberg.

Harlo: Maybe because Darlene's not dead yet?

Trammell: It seems that Tyrell knew that this was a reboot and was trying to figure out if Elliot knew as well. Was Elliot "forgetting his wallet" an attempt to test the new rules of the perfect world?

Freddy: I thought so too, Trammell!

Yael: If this is how Elliot really dies, it's sad. And almost anti-climactic, to be honest.

Harlo: I just hope the next episode is a real-life Rick and Morty crossover.

Hackers Dissect ‘Mr. Robot’ Season 4 Episode 11: ‘Exit’ syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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