#and I think if I were to accept charles being beaten by anyone it would be at lewis’ hands anyways AND vice versa

[maranello]

listen y’all need to have more trust in lewis and also more trust in charles. granted, ferrari is the variable we are all scared of here, but I do trust vassuer more than binotto and I don’t think either of these drivers would sign these deals with ferrari if they, or any of their trustworthy team, thought it was going to be bad for them.

[cyarsk52-20]

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theneighborhoodtalk TNHT Staff: @therealmeche_

—————————————————————

Neighbors, there are some important updates regarding the Tory Lanez trial that might determine how the judge will rule tomorrow during his ruling.

———————————————————

According to Twitter’s favorite law reporter Meghann Cunniff, Tory’s defense had a lot of arguments for the judge and the prosecution. They argued that the original defense by Tory’s first lawyer was “ineffective” in the case. They claim the angle that Tory, Megan Thee Stallion, and Kylie were in an argument before the shooting played into the verdict.

——————————————————-

Another shocking thing that his defense team argued is the fact that Megan brought up Tory’s video “CAP”, which featured Tory chopping up horse legs, hurt his defense and was irrelevant to the overall trial. They say that the horse in the video wasn’t described as being a “stallion”, despite “HGS” (hot girl sh*t) being in the background of the video.

—————————————————————

After everything was laid out during the hearing, the judge decided he would make his decision tomorrow whether to accept the appeal and have a new trial, or sentence Tory to his time. As he left, Tory begged the judge to have mercy on his life.

———————————————————

"Please don't ruin my life. I could be your son. I could be your brother," Lane told the judge, who is Black.

——————————————————————

We shall see tomorrow. Thoughts Neighbors?

Tory: please don’t ruin my life, I could be your son, your brother

Well Megan could have been somebody’s mom, somebody’s daughter, somebody sister, somebody’s aunt, grandmother, cousin, siblings, woman in general but you didn’t care about that because for one you shot her and and two even though she didn’t want to turn you into the cops at first and was willing to let it all go you instead traumatized her and made her life hell for two whole years being a bully and a sociopath and convincing those punk arss bloggers and those biiiich made male rappers to bully her too so much that she was mentally and spiritually broken. You know as someone who was once bullied before (thankfully not to the extent of what that Keebler elf did) there’s many things that will make me highly upset and people who are bullied is one of them, and it’s worse than you’re not only being a bully but you’re also the one who causes the trauma and adds more emotional and psychological trauma to the person you caused physical pain to.

Your fans (who are just as bad and ignorant as you are) think that you’re the modern version of Emmett till cause you’re another black man who being screwed over by the American justice system (yeah cause never mind the thousands of innocent black lives who are screwed over by the corruptive system or the many innocent black men women and children who were killed or beaten by the police , all the lives that were cruelly taken, all of those who screamed out for their mothers as they were dying, those who killed for having skittles like Trayvon, or a toy gun like tamir, or two thousand pennies like George, or sleeping like Breonna, or running like Ahmaud, or so on and so on and so on, nope it’s your fave that’s being the one screwed over)

When in reality you’re no different than people like till murderer Carolyn Bryant when it comes to lying and not owning up to your own actions and playing victim,

Lori drew ( the woman who used her MySpace account to bully Megan Meier so much that she committed suicide) when it comes to using your platform on social media to be a bully and have others do the same thing,

and Charles Manson when it comes to influencing your fanbase and other musicians and bloggers to be bullies and manipulating them to think that you’re great as a musician and person when you are not even that close to good as a musician and you most definitely are no where near to a person who worthy of being called good.

And just like those people who I just mentioned you sir, are a sociopath who doesn’t care about anyone who gets hurt by your actions or words because it makes you feel good and it’s okay if your victims emotionally suffer even when they were kind to you

You’re not just another black man who is screwed over by the justice system, you’re a small minded man who is rightfully held accountable because you can’t handle the fact that a successful black woman is doing so much better than you and hate the fact that she said that your music was not that good . Your weren’t lynched, you just gave yourself enough rope to hang yourself and you have the nerve to plead to the judge not to have your life ruined? You ruined your own life the moment you shot Megan and then after she didn’t want to turn you into the cops you bullied her, fuck outta here😒😒

The audacity of him pulling this “but I was the victim too!” Card as if his victim isn’t a whole Black woman.. Gone be sick as hell when he’s sent to prison anyway..

He will never take any accountability for his actions. All of this is because of his own poor actions. Lmao. What a girl. Take your sentence like a real man who going to be turned into a girlfriend in prison

I’m hoping tomorrow Judge Herriford lays it all out for the leprechaun. Especially with all of the stunts & theatrics he has pulled. Playing on social injustices, bringing his child to court, no regard for the victim’s feelings, etc.

I’ll elaborate on him showing no regard for the victim’s (Meg) feelings. Even if in his delusional mind he believes he did nothing wrong. Not once during these court appearances has shown any remorse. Just “me! me!”... There’s nothing indicating he has any care for others.(and considering his history of being violent and trying to blame everyone but himself he has never cared about anyone else)

All of that is literally the perfect way to send his ass off. & Also, just to put an emphasis on his character as a human being.

[dumpsiteforfics]

Yearning - Excerpts From a lonely heart : [ Chapter 1 ]

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid

Rating: Mature

Genre: Angst and fluff

Trigger warnings: mentions of death, suicide, A/B/O, Drugs, Kidnapping, spoilers to criminal minds season 1 to season 6. Also, will include mpreg, at the end.

This is my a/b/o universe for Heid. As the name suggests, lots of yearning and angst followed by a fluff and smut eventually. First chapter might be slower but things will pick up soon. I don't want to make the story longer, but we will see!!

Also, please check trigger warnings and also let me know if you would like me to add more warnings!

English is my third language so expect grammatical mistakes and typos, I don't have a beta sorry. Also I hope you will give it some love!! I'm looking forward to the feedback.

AO3 link : Chapter 1

More about this au: Click here

Should've chosen a different career, Spencer thought for the millionth time. Being an Omega, he had a chance to pursue any career he wanted and as long as he had the qualifications he wouldn't be denied. That, accompanied by his IQ, he had a chance of becoming anything from a Scientist to astronaut, quite literally any freaking career choice. But, here he was, kidnapped by a psychopath and handcuffed to a chair. And to make matters worse, Tobias seemed to have two more personalities residing in him, giving him a chance to torture Spencer in three different ways.

He was already scared to death, he won't lie about it. But he was worried about JJ, whom he had told to split up and now all he can think about was those scary dogs and JJ, all alone in the place devoid of network coverage. He wouldn't want her to be kidnapped with him, no, but he was hoping she was at least alive and safe. Well, at least safer than he was! When he woke up in a dingy cabin, he was immediately assaulted with a disgusting smell which Raphael later told him was of fish hearts burning, and honestly, even with his enhanced senses, he wouldn't have recognised it. He wasn't sure how many hours had passed, but he was sure his scent blockers had already stopped working. He was hopeful that the team was at least aware of the fact that Tobias was in fact the unsub and they will start searching for him soon. Because he was getting tired of trying to keep his mind sane.

He was already beaten up, bruised and he was yet to meet Tobias again. And frankly, he hoped he would be saved before he had to meet any one of his personalities again.

***†***

Aaron couldn't seem to calm his heart from racing yet. Ever since he heard the sheriff utter that God forsaken name he wasn't able to think about anything but JJ and Reid. He sent his agents to this psychopath's home, without any backup. And no matter how good at the job his both agents were, one of them was a beta and another an Omega. Omega!! Fuck, his heart started picking up the pace again. He needs to have them both safe as soon as possible, and that was the thought running through his mind as they started clearing out Hankel's place.

When Morgan found JJ, he was relieved for a moment. They were together, so that means Reid will be with her, or that's what he thought. But apparently, they had split to cover more ground and Reid wasn't with her. Making JJ get checked up by the EMTs he started searching with Morgan for their Omega, they both tried to use their senses, but Reid always wore scent blockers, and that meant they will have to use Reid's perfume as their trail. This wasn't always a valid option, because it wasn't as unique as the scent of Alpha or Omega.

But they tried and all they could do was find a place in the middle of a cornfield where Reid must've been caught by Hankel. Aaron closed his eyes. Their Omega was missing, kidnapped by a psychopath, or a team of psychopaths according to the crime scenes. God!!!! He can't do this. He needs to find him!

He quickly gave instructions to the PD to put the roadblocks so that Hankel couldn't take Reid far away as they continued to canvas the surrounding area. Aaron along with the rest of the BAU team will stay inside the house to profile everything they can find to get clues about where Hankel might be keeping their agent.

Aaron just wanted this nightmare to end and find Reid as soon as possible, everything else be damned.

***†***

Spencer wanted to die. He never really thought being an Omega can be such a curse, but it was. He could smell so many conflicting feelings coming from Tobias and it was messing up with his empathic abilities. He was an empath, all omega's were. It made them so nurturing, and now when he had to suffer through the hands of three different personalities of a single psychopath, it was getting so damn difficult.

He didn't even have to gauge the behaviour to understand who was currently talking to him. Each personality harboured such distinct feelings and it was exhausting to keep up with it. His own fear was nowhere near taxing considering all the empathic load Tobias was putting him through. Charles was disgusted by Spencer, he was disgusted by his son Tobias, he thought of Spencer as a weakling and that was visible through his behaviour. But his feelings. The amount of disgust that dripped through his feelings made Spencer sick. He wanted to cower away from it.

Then there was Raphael, who was just pure evil. There wasn't anything else to describe him better. There was this sick pleasure that surrounded his aura whenever he saw Spencer was enough to make him scared. And Tobias. He was just so scared, so bruised from inside. He was so tired of everything and whenever he came near Spencer, all he wanted was to protect him from any harm. And it was exhausting to feel such different emotions for a single person who had held him prisoner.

He wanted to get out of this. He wanted to go back to his home, to his safe place. He wanted to go back into his bedroom, start his white noise generator to seep out all unnecessary voices, he wanted to just sip on his coffee and surround himself in his mother's blanket, reading books until he could lose the fight with sleep. He wanted to go back to not feeling scared and despised and he just wanted this nightmare to stop.

He closed his eyes as he tried to think about good feelings. The only way he could filter away these horrible feelings from taking a hold of his heart was to replace those with positive feelings.

He thought back to the times on the plane he spent playing chess with Gideon, all those talks about how to survive in this career, the way Gideon made him feel safe, and cared for. He focused on the games of cards with Emily and Morgan. He was never so close to any Alphas before, but Emily and Morgan always made him feel safe. They always thought of him as their little brother, and he loved those moments he spent bickering about almost anything with them. He thought about his Betas, JJ and Penelope. They were always so nurturing towards him when technically it should be his nature. He focused on how it felt to be hugged by Penelope and how it was JJ who accepted him from day one, she was the only one that calls him Spence.

And then he thought about his pack Alpha. Stern, strong and unwavering. Just how a pack Alpha should be! He remembered how scary it was to be in his presence and realise that despite your resume you are going to have to prove your worth to this man. And it was thrilling in a weird way. He used to being given anything he wanted almost all his life after he presented as an Omega, so it was a welcome change. He spent those initial months focusing on his work and using his mind along with the skills that people consider as weakness together to excel at his job. And he had realised how he was finally accepted as a team by his boss through little actions. Because just like how his boss never voiced out his doubts about his capabilities to do this job, he never voiced his acceptance. Spencer had to acknowledge it through the short discussions at the end of the day when the rest of the team nowhere to be found, an advice seeked out directly from him when he could've asked almost anyone else, the way his rambled were never stopped unless they were not related to the case, and even then he would ask Spencer about it again when the case was finished.

But soon his shield broke as a terror passed through his mind, not his feelings though, Tobias!

And just like that, Tobias was talking to him and he had a syringe in his hand and now the terror that Spencer felt wasn't just his own.

Get me out of here, please!

***†***

Taglist: @ssa-sarahsunshine @brillianthijinx @thaddeusly please let me know if you would like to be added/removed! ❤️❤️

[artsy-hobbitses]

ok. i’m sure you’re getting a lot of asks right now. if you get the time/patience to answer this, i’m trying to educate myself on this whole IDW thing. for context, i’ve never read it all the way through, i’m currently only aware of the general plot line and specific events. and when i did read it, i was an ignorant teen that came from a place of privilege and saw hardly anything wrong with the (painfully obvious) fascist/problematic themes in the comics; other than of course, they were shitty things the characters had done in their past — now as an ameteur writer that doesn’t know what the fuck they are doing in terms of character flaws and backstory, im trying to learn what is ok to place into one’s content to create those dimensions and morally gray areas many of us love, and what is not. — my question, albeit stupid and deserving of many o’ eye roll, is this: where does the line stand? what could have been done differently in the comics to keep that dimension but not create something so poorly handled as Coptimus, the tangled mess that is the autobot faction, or otherwise? ~thank you for your time.

Oh man, uh, this is definitely quite a heavy ask! To be honest I’m roughly in the same boat as you ie. I haven’t read the this series all the way through and mainly know of the setting/worldbuilding and pre-war shenanigans. 

I feel like I might not be the right person to give you a concrete answer on this but I can try and explain what I think went wrong at least in the very early stages of trying to build the entire Autobot/Decepticon societal dynamic, at least from what I know. Like a very basic explanation, I’m gonna keep it under this cut cause I might get long winded. 

IDW 2005 introduced some key concepts I think? That sort of set everything in motion as to why the war started: Cold Construction, Functionism, Beast-mode transformers being seen as a pariah class and the idea of a disposable class.  None of it is good, all of it is clearly made out to be horribly oppressively on multiple levels.

So you’ve got two sides, you want to portray the good guys as good guys BUT you also want to give your bad guys more depth/make them more human or relatable which is a good thing! 

So how do you do that? All the oppressive stuff I stated above which plagued IDW’s Cybertronan society is like, I’d say the morality baseline. Your readers know This Is Bad. People are suffering. That’s how you’ve written it

You make your Big Bad a member of the underclass who undergoes multiple challenges due to his station in life, things about himself he cannot change---he’s beaten down, persecuted, he’s empathetic to every one else’s suffering, he’s angry and wants to do something about it. He’s proactive about it. 

LOGICALLY, because your future bad guy is all these things any sane person would be ROOTING for, you want your future good guy to actually be starting from somewhere of the same point; a good guy who also suffers, goes through major challenges and sees these injustices and wants to do something about it. 

Like Magneto and Charles Xavier are generally good examples---they’re both persecuted against in a way we can all emphasize with, they’re not blind to these issues, and they both want to make things better. The biggest divide between them is that they’re going around it in very different ways. 

In trying to keep both sides starting from the same morality baseline, imho IDW failed horribly;  The major Autobots are not shown, pre-war, to care about what’s going on. Ratchet and Nightbeat seem to be the closest it comes to barely questioning the system (excluding Prime who is implied only got it after reading Megatron’s writings, and even then is too trusting of a system the reader and many others in-story can see is not working). They’re not shown proactively taking steps to fix issues that are affecting everyone who isn’t above a certain class. Most of them   come from relatively middle to high stations in life ie. scientists and doctors, who we are told will always have more rights than manual workers, miners, etc, even in life and death situations. More so, the underclass (beast mode transformers, cold constructs, victims of Empurata, the working class in general) is woefully underrepresented in their ranks. They’re very, very clearly privileged and nearly all of them have some degree of power/social standing that the Bad Guys do not. This is, somehow, the group we’re suppose to identify with. 

Instead, it’s the Decepticons who are shown to have to fight to get basic rights. It’s Megatron starving himself when he has so little already to save Terminus whose rations have been cut because they can’t work anymore and are seen as worthless. It’s Laserbeak (or Buzzsaw? It wasn’t clear) telling Ravage to not anger a Senator by refusing to serve them their Energon, because “They’d remove your spark for that!!”. Their ranks are made up of people who would be killed for simply questioning their station in life or forcefully ‘rewired’ to conform with the status quo. Their ranks are made up of people we have been told are suffering the worst underneath all these injustices---Megatron and Starscream are Cold Constructs (as are Prowl and Blaster but we don’t see Blaster’s side of things and Prowl is accepting of what he is because he was made in a higher station in life---a cop), Shockwave is an Empurata and Shadowplay survivor, Ravage/Laserbeak/Buzzsaw are Beast Modes (Autobots Steeljaw and Ramhorn also are of course, but they don’t have major roles pre-war and we do not see how they’re affected by all this).  This is, pre-war, the group we’re told are suppose to be the Bad Guys. 

Orion Pax is portrayed as a cop, one we’re told is very dutiful but also one who rushes to fill jail cells and is clearly more preoccupied with order than anything else. He’s, as good as he likes to try to be, is a cog of the system and he doesn’t do anything proactive to really fix it earlier on outside of shouting in the Senate. If he had been proactive after reading Megatron’s writings ie.a cop fighting the system, tried to be more empathetic to the people in his district? If he had left the police force and tried to make changes by himself? Maybe readers would have accepted him better. All I keep asking is “Why the hell didn’t you do something sooner? Why did you, as a good man, let it get this far even when you knew it was wrong?”  Megatron is portrayed as a working man who suffered police brutality for speaking out in his writings and he keeps writing, keeps fostering a revolution to fight the oppressive system. Megatron is the fire, the lead figure here early on who has actual chartable growth, the one who wants to change things even if it it meant violence because that was how the system dealt with him---maybe readers don’t agree with how he goes around things, but who else was really challenging or doing anything to fix it?  Why would anyone want to root for Orion Pax over Megatron in this situation?

TLDR: The morality baseline in this entire backstory pre-war was “Fight against societal oppression” which should have been really easy to get behind. Both sides should have started from that baseline.  The Decepticons did. The Autobots did not. 

[angryhausfrau-writes]

I’ve Got My Eye On You

Charles will be the first to admit, he doesn't think much of Jack Rackham when he shows up, looking like a stray dog, trying to sign onto the Ranger. He looks like a fop and he talks like a fop and he seems like the kind of man to freeze in the face of a real fight. All in all, Rackham seems like a shit pirate.

Bonny is a different breed all together. Doesn't talk much - but Vane isn't after a conversational partner. And those knives he carries had obviously seen real use. Yeah, Bonny was exactly the type of man Charles was looking for.

Good enough for Charles to put up with Rackham’s shit.

Because the two of them had made it clear they came as a set. The word Rackham had used was partners. The word Bonny has used was married. But it all amounted to the same thing in the end - Charles didn’t get one without the other.

And it’s not like matelotages were uncommon. Charles has sailed with plenty of men bound to one another and he’s brought on crew that came as partners before, that isn’t the problem. The problem is that Charles can’t fucking figure out what someone like Bonny is doing with a useless load of ballast like Rackham tied to him.

But Charles brings them on, sticks Bonny in the vanguard where his knives and his bloodthirsty smile will strike the most terror into their prey, and puts Rackham with the navigator. Out of the way of the fighting and where he can’t cause any harm to the rest of the crew with his weakness. And as long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, and as long as Bonny proves the man Charles thinks he is, Rackham will be allowed to stay.

Turns out that Bonny’s just as bloodthirsty and skilled with a blade as Charles had thought, leading the vanguard to increasingly bloody victories over increasingly terrified prey. It also turns out that Bonny’s a woman. But by the time anyone figures it out she’s killed forty-seven people and no one on the crew is looking to be the forty-eighth. And by Charles’s reckoning, she’s brought him nothing but good luck. There’s no reason to ruin something good over superstition. And all the normal concerns with having a woman aboard aren’t a concern here - Anne knows how to take care of herself.

Which is good because Jack certainly can’t look after her that way. He can barely look after himself. The number of times Charles has had to give a crewman a look, a reprimand for taking things too far with Jack, he's almost more trouble than he's worth.

He makes one hell of a navigator, though. Jack’s gifted with strategy, there’s no denying that. Able to chase down prizes they’d never have any hope of catching without him. Charles finds himself warming to Jack slowly. He’s still a ponce and a chatterbox and weak in a way that Charles cannot fathom being. And he’s obviously had some sort of education - though Charles would wager he’d mostly done it to himself, for whatever reason - and he talks like he’s trying to impress somebody. It may even work on a different sort of man, but Charles much prefers Anne’s silence to Jack’s endless noise. Still, Charles finds himself taking books from their various prizes and giving them to Jack. Just as a way to get him to shut up for five damn minutes, of course. It doesn’t work, but at least he starts talking about different things - and some of the stories in those books aren’t half bad, once Jack’s gotten through embellishing them.

And then one of the prizes they've hunted turns on them. Someone on the vanguard got sloppy, got lazy with guarding the prisoners and now they're being pushed back to the Ranger. When Charles figures out what pathetic fuck-up let this happen, the two of them are going to have words – assuming that cowardly piece of shit is still alive after all of this. But right now, Charles is too busy fighting his way to the forecastle, which has been overrun and which is where Jack Rackham is standing, overwhelmed and holding a cutlass like he's afraid it'll bite him.

And fuck. Charles can't stand to lose him, not to the crew of some yellow-bellied Dutch motherfucker with a hold full of slaves.

 The next few minutes are filled with blood and screams and the pump of fight fight fight through his veins. No time to think of anything, there's just the pure instinct of how to fight, how to hurt, how to kill – how to  survive   - that'd been beaten into him since he can remember. That he'd taken and honed into something no man can stand against.

Charles stands in the center of the forecastle, surrounded by corpses, hair and clothing stuck to him with sweat and blood, chest heaving. They've won. The fight is over and they've won. Then Charles feels the hot splash of blood against the back of his neck.

He turns, sword raised, pistol aimed, to find Jack fucking Rackham standing over the corpse of some mealymouthed Dutch fuck who'd tried to attack Charles from behind. Jack's got blood on his toff coat and splashed across his face and dripping from his sword and he's got the kind of fire in his eyes that says he won't be taken without a fight. That he too will survive this.

Charles nods to him, one predator to another, and goes to finish off the rest of their prey.

 It's later, when they've killed the last of the Dutch crew and the former slaves are being fed and looked after by the quartermaster and Charles is directing the non-human part of the Dutch cargo into their hold, that Jack finds him again. He's still bloody, his eyes still holding the gleam of the fight in them, and it looks like he may have run at least one other man through. And as Charles makes him wait until he's finished instructing his men to burn the other ship to the waterline, he can't help glancing at Jack from the corner of his eye. He's seeing Jack in a new light, is all – finding him capable in a way he'd have never suspected.

There's no need for his voice to come out so rough when he finally turns to him and says, “What the hell do you want, Jack?”

“I just saved your life, Charles. I would think a thank you would be in order. Perhaps a public recognition of just how brave and dashing and heroic Jack Rackham was in coming to the defense of his captain.”

“Fuck you, Jack.”

“I’d accept that form of thanks as well.” Jack's grin is sly, his eyes are still wild, and he's covered in the blood of a man he slew to protect Charles.

He grips Jack by the back of the neck and pulls him close. “Wait for me in my cabin.”

Jack grins and Charles watches as he saunters away. Bringing Jack Rackham aboard the Ranger may have been a mistake. But it may also have been the smartest thing Charles has ever done.

[dr-nero-is-god]

i know why dr. nero read a tale of two cities: you’re welcome

let me assure you, you do not follow someone with an english literature degree for nothing. today i will deliver unto you some thoughts on a tale of two cities by charles dickens.

did it take me two months to read the whole book? yes. did i like it? kinda yeah. but did mark walden really pick this book for a reason? yes. yes. i promise you: it’s not just a random, old, boring book picked for the sake of being boring and old.

but before you fight me on that point, let’s all make sure we understand the story (under the cut). 

what is a tale of two cities about?

a tale of two cities (henceforth abbreviated as ATTC), in one sense, is about the triumph of family and the ability for social order to survive great evil—that is, the French Revolution—bonded with themes of great sacrifice and salvation. 

Doctor Mannette was a prisoner of the Bastille for ten years, and when he escapes he hardly knows himself. He is rescued by the love of a daughter he has never met before, Lucie, and though she is nearly an adult they form an unbreakable father-daughter bond that carries them through Lucie’s marriage and eventual motherhood. Lucie marries Charles Darnay, who, like herself and her father, is of French nationality but lives in England. Unfortunately, Charles is the son of an aristocrat, and so when he is caught in France during the revolution, he is sentenced to death. Ultimately, though, a friend of the family (Sydney) redeems himself by arriving to die in Charles’ place, and Lucie’s family sets out back to England.

in one sense, ATTC is kind of a proto-political thriller—it's asking big questions like, what is justice? how should people respond when they are oppressed? how do they respond when they are oppressed? how do families survive when injustice reigns?—in the setting of spies and political clout.

and that’s well and good, but it’s also very abstract. in the concrete, why might mark walden have picked this book, out of all the books?

we can get the simple things out of the way. it’s long. believe it or not, dickens is a great author to read aloud, because his prose is very sparkly. it’s a weird book to use to try and get a teenager to like you. all of this is a factor, sure. but i have three reasons that I think *might* have mattered to this book’s selection. 

Neither Raven nor Nero is quite so stainless as these characters, but they are likewise united by a found family relationship. Nero pulls Raven from a life of death and torture and misery—a place where she has been just as much a captive as Doctor Manette or Charles Darnay. Though they must face the possibility of death every day, Nero says, “Hey. I’ll walk with you.” As I mentioned before, ATTC is about social stability winning out against chaotic violence, which is an apt parallel to the life Nero offers Raven against that which Anastasia Furan has provided so far. Nero is the stability that helps Raven find new life, and we know it to be a good thing. 

1) Because this is very much a book about found family.

Lucie first meets her father when she is about to finish the second decade of her life. Her father is a stranger to her, and yet their connection is immediate and saving for the both of them. At the beginning of the book, the relationship they build represents the first victory of family—and the hope that they survive the end is likewise our consolation. Yet even at the end, when only the guillotine awaits Sydney, found family is in play. Sydney goes to die in Charles Darnay’s stead and finds himself in the company of a seamstress, who also does not deserve to die. They don’t know each other, and yet they find refuge in each other at their point of death: companions on the road to the next life.

Dr. Nero would never love a book if the villains were not sympathetic, if not justified, if not right. And this is one of those books where—even though the protagonists are a little too perfect to deserve anything nasty—the villains might be right. In fact, they may not be sympathetic, and yet there's the possibility that they are right. The system has to come down, people have to be ripped from their pedestals, and things have to change. The ensuing conflict is violent and unjust, and yet it's that kind of evil and firmness I can see Dr. Nero admiring. Furthermore, it is the conflict that Raven might wish to embrace as retaliation against what she has experienced at the hands of Anastasia. There is a system that Raven would be ready to tear down, and this novel offers space for that.

2) Because despite the fact that our protagonists are a family we want to see win, the antagonists are extremely easy to root for.

The villains in ATTC include the government, a man named Defarge, his wife, The Vengeance, and agents Jacques 1, 2, and 3. It is true that guillotining a lot of people without necessarily requiring evidence is pretty bad, but you can also understand why these people are angry. People have been starving. The aristocracy has absolutely abused its power. Men are indentured in hard labor, women are held captive, children are murdered, and that’s life, because aristocrats are kings. Again, I am *not* saying that everybody in the French Revolution was altogether justified, but their motivations remain valid.

Now, let’s pause. I stand by my first two reasons—these are clear elements of intertextuality between ATTC and H.I.V.E. that absolutely exist between the books. They are valid, but I would also feel comfortable saying that maybe Mark Walden didn’t have them in mind when he published Deadlock. 

However, I still stand by my assertion that he picked this book for a particular reason, and this last one is that reason:

“‘Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,’ returned madame; ‘but don’t tell me.’”

3) Because Madame Defarge is a fucking badass.

I could tell that Madame Defarge was a great character from the beginning. Though she was mainly in the background to start, she received a few flourishes of detail that indicated she was something special. Like a deathly Fate, Madame Defarge develops as the personification of the French Revolution: a violent, chaotic quasi-assassin character who is determined to rain hell down upon everyone she hates. (note: she hates the protagonists. a lot.) Madame Defarge is unfettered by constraints of family and so she is free to arm herself with a pistol and a dagger and take people’s lives into her own hands. She single-handedly leads her fellow women into the fray when the Bastille falls. She, too, is a character with whom one would not want to mess. And some of the things said about her are just FANTASTIC. 

“Of a strong and fearless character, of shrewd sense and readiness, of great determination, of that kind of beauty which not only seems to impart to its possessor firmness and animosity, but to strike into others an instinctive recognition of those qualities; the troubled time would have heaved her up, under any circumstances. But, imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress. She was absolutely without pity.”

“Lying hidden in her bosom, was a loaded pistol. Lying hidden at her waist, was a sharpened dagger. Thus accoutred, and walking with the confident tread of such a character, and with the supple freedom of a woman who had habitually walked in her girlhood, bare-foot and bare-legged, on the brown sea-sand, Madame Defarge took her way along the streets.”

Wow, right?

What we have here is a woman who is more immovable than the elements, a primal embodiment of predatory strength, and, one might even argue, a picture of liberated femininity whose freedom is rooted as much in her body as in her weapons. 

This is something I know: Dr. Nero and Mark Walden both would notice and care a great deal about such a character. 

I shan’t make mincemeat of Walden’s personal thoughts, but I can speculate why this woman would matter to Dr. Nero. 

One, Madame Defarge is cheated of her victory. Dr. Nero would absolutely take issue with the way the madame exits the book, not least of all because he would know that she could do better. You know those books where you think the villain should have won? This is one such book.

Two, Madame Defarge parallels the violence in Anastasia Furan. This is a woman whose family has been shattered by violence, who may well deserve remuneration for what happened, who is hurt and beaten but not yet killed... and she’s also totally stuck in the past. A main theme of ATTC is that oppression will only beget violence, and likewise, Anastasia doesn’t have anything in her future but death. 

But third, and most importantly, Madame Defarge is the character with whom Raven is most likely to identify with, and the character she most needs to escape. Raven starts her story also shattered, also violent, and, most tragically, trapped in somebody else’s past. I think teenage-Raven would find Madame Defarge the most engaging character to listen to, but she is also the character she must break away from—leave behind the chaos and accept a more reliable structure in her life—to avoid being smothered by anger that will never really get anyone anywhere. 

In other words, it may be that Madame Defarge is the villain who first inspired Nero and who he hopes will inspire Raven as she reinvents herself apart from Anastasia’s chaos. Madame Defarge is a call to action.

If you’re still with me after all of that, you might be thinking, cool, but why does this matter? Who really cares about a book that got mentioned one time and nothing came of it?

I’m glad you asked.

At the end of the day, Nero and Raven’s relationship parallels the love that ATTC’s characters find when they are trapped in darkness and death, but their business parallels the grim revenge that Madame Defarge sets out to wreak upon the world—and it is the business of their enemies, as well.  

It matters because we get a more complex moral landscape with morally complex characters.

In A Tale of Two Cities, the good people are saved and the bad people do not get their revenge. Things in H.I.V.E. are not so simple. Nero and Raven share the stability of family at the same time that they long for revenge; traditional poles of “good” and “bad” occupy the same hearts at the same time. 

Why does Dr. Nero read this book to Raven? I think one way to read it is that it’s his way of saying, “We’re together in this, and I believe that you can be saved and have your revenge too. We can admire Madame Defarge, and we can do better. ” 

For Dr. Nero to read this book to Raven when nothing but a story can save her, A Tale of Two Cities is a promise that there is room for badass assassin ladies in literature and in life. Raven’s story doesn’t close with her first failure.

For those of us who live outside the pages of the book, the presence of this book means something for us as well. If you, too, can hold an assassin in your heart, then you are also participating in the work of salvation. When you listen to a story and get to know someone, you pluck them from obscurity and bring them into the fold—if even the most chaotic and violent of us can belong, then anyone can. 

Raven can. 

Nero can. 

And so can you.

[ezilyamuzed]

There’s no place like home - part 6.

Summary: The reader has had a unique gift all her life. While considering it a curse, she discovers the identity of her real father after her mothers passing. Journeying towards her new life, she finds herself thrown within the Winchester’s world. Is it her destiny?

Setting: End of season 13. This takes place during episode 13.18.

Warnings: Language.  Flashback are italicized. POV may switch after certain sections. 

A/N: This is my awkward part of the story and I apologize. I hadn’t rewatched the episodes yet when I had started posting to mesh these in correctly to the episodes. Dean and Sam would not have left Gabriel. I promise that will not happen again. Additional note that the description of the handling of psychological files is not HIPAA compliant, it just had to work this way for the story. Your therapists are not reading your files at home!

Remember all comments and feedback are welcomed! If you want a tag in future posts regarding this series or other writings please send an ask! As always thank you for reading! Enjoy!

Series Masterlist

Gabriel was still a beaten and broken man hiding in the darkness of the bunker when they had returned, unwilling to speak or have anyone come close to him. Cas had just arrived, unknowing how bad the situation truly was. Ketch followed Dean on a mission to apocalypse world to find mom and Jack leaving his brother to watch and wait for their return. When Cas had heard what Dean was doing, he was furious at how Sam could let him do that, going into that world practically alone was a suicide mission. When Castiel saw Gabriel huddled in the dark corner of a room in the bunker, the gravity of the situation at hand hit him. 

“Where were you Sam, while you left Gabriel alone in this condition?” Castiel demanded.

“There was something we had to take care of Cas,” Sam replied while thinking about those last couple of days. 

“Who is Y/N,” Castiel growled while reading Sam’s mind, his eyebrows pushing together in concentration while holding back his fury towards Sam.

“You know I hate when you do that,” Sam replied with an annoyed tone while sitting down in the War room. “She is Bobby’s daughter, Cas. We just found out and well…we had to go and see for ourselves.”

“I understand your reasoning Sam, but you’ve wasted precious time that we did not have,” Castiel replied in a serious tone, not shifting his facial features as he spoke. 

“I know Cas. No more distractions,” Sam said solemnly. That was easier said than done. Y/N. The mysterious girl who showed up at one of the worst possible times. Y/N, the girl he needed to push out of his mind and forget. The girl he needed his brother to forget, at least for now. That was going to be the hard part. He saw the way his brother looked at her, he had never quite seen it before. Sure his brother did have the way with the ladies, but this was different. With Lisa his guard was up to protect her and Ben, but with Y/N? It was like they had known each other all their lives the way that they bantered back and forth, it was just so…natural. Saving the world again almost seemed like the easier task now.

_______________________________________________________________ 

The drive to Lawrence wasn’t as horrible as you had thought it would be. Yes, you were going on only about two hours of sleep from the night before but there was something freeing about being in your baby on the open road again with the wind blowing your hair and the tunes turned up. Everything felt like it was going to be alright for once in a long time. 

Almost 7 hours later you found yourself parking in the driveway at your new home. A simple one-story cottage house tucked away in the woods on the outskirts of town, away from the business of people. Just the way you liked it. You allowed yourself to appreciate the change you were about to walk into, your new home. Your new start. 

Walking in the front door you sighed heavily at all the boxes and furniture that the movers had left in stacks. You definitely had work to do, but you happily accepted the challenge for the next 5 hours. Setting up all the furniture just right and stacking the unneeded boxes for another night. Except for one. The patient files stored on little flash drives you had collected over the last decade since you were in your doctoral internship. Inside the box, they stayed tucked away within the small safe. You pulled it open to double check that they were all still safely secured, counting them one by one noting the dates of each. One had fallen underneath the couch as you started to place them back carefully in the safe. After pushing yourself to the floor to retrieve it, you glanced at the dates written on it. Something about it made you grab your laptop to open it up, imputing your password to unlock the contents. As you glanced through the initials one stood out in your memory more than the others, C.S., but why? You opened it and sat on the floor with your back against the couch, eyes widening as your past flooded back into your mind.

“Oh, my…Chuck.”

_____________________________________________________________

“Charles Shurley, white male early to mid-30’s complaining of severe headaches, anxiety with paranoia symptoms, insomnia, and vivid nightmares,” you read out loud before grabbing your new patient from the waiting room. You rocked back and forth in your office chair while looking over the intakes notes. “Admits to using alcohol to help himself sleep,” you gave a little scoff as you read it. “Don’t we all buddy.” 

You walked out to the waiting room, expecting a somewhat nervous man patiently waiting but what you found was a clearly shaken soul that looked like he was seconds away from jumping out of his own skin. Standing directly to the left of him, a bright glowing light figured with no face. An angel. This guy had a literal, honest to fucking God angel watching over him. You diverted your eyes away from it, not knowing exactly what it was doing here, with this man crumbling in his chair. Angels were unpredictable usually with their own “holy” twisted agendas.

“Charles,” you called out from the doorway.

He jumped up from his seat and followed your lead towards your little corner office that was sparsely decorated for use of other future interns when you left in a month. Honestly, if they hadn’t of been so short staffed at the moment you would be finishing up the termination and referrals for the people you had already been working with, not taking on a new client. The Angel followed him closely behind, you keeping it in the corner of your eye. This was going to be interesting. 

The two of you sat down in the somewhat comfy leather chairs, perfectly at the 90-degree angles you were taught they should be in. You crossed your legs as you watched him stare nervously at the ground. The Angel stood guard next to him, unfaltering.

“Charles, I’m Y/N,” you stated while trying to ignore the celestial entity in your office. “Were you informed prior to your consent signing that I am a doctoral student and not a licensed psychologist?”

He nodded his head yes in reply, still focusing on the ground. His hands trembling on his lap. His left foot bouncing off the ground.

“Charles? I will have some general questions for you for assessment purposes, but first, why don’t you tell me why you are here?”

“It’s Chuck actually,” he said while raising his eyes to yours. 

“Okay, Chuck,” you politely smiled. “What can I help you with?” 

“I’m going to sound crazy. You will probably end up throwing me in a padded room and tossing the key.”

Your gaze moved over towards the celestial being. Being followed by angels, now that was crazy. You shook away your thoughts and gave your best professional tone. “Are you harming yourself or others or have any plan to do so?”

“No,” he replied quickly.

You gave him a little half smile as you sat back a bit farther into the chair, not wanting to piss off his angelic handler by getting too close. “I don’t think there is any reason for that then.”

“You are going to think it’s crazy.”

“I’ve heard a lot of crazy stories Chuck,” you said with a friendly smile, trying to calm down his nerves while thinking of how this situation was definitely in the top 10 of crazy.

He took in a deep breath and straightened himself out in his chair before replying. “I have these dreams. Almost like nightmares. When I wake up I can still remember every detail.”

“Remembering details in one's dreams is pretty common,” you stated in reply. “Sometimes we remember our dreams more because of the memories of events that happen to us during the day prior.”

“Yeah well, I don’t exactly go hunting wendigo’s, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts during the day.”

Your heart and breathing stopped suddenly at his words. What did he just say? Did he just say what you thought he said? You looked at his angelic guard in nervousness. It’s light flickering a yes to your thoughts. This guy is a goddamned prophet. 

“You are having dreams about supernatural entities?” you questioned while readjusting yourself to keep your expressions and body movement as calm as you could be.

“Not just them, but also these guys. Brothers and a dad hunting them across the country.”

“Are these individuals perhaps someone you may have met before?”

“No, I’ve never seen them, but in the dreams, I am not exactly interacting with them, more like watching a television show unfold.”

You felt yourself nod in reply. Definitely a prophet. But how much did he know? Did he even believe?

“Are you religious Chuck,” you questioned calmly.

“Like God and that stuff? I mean I know about it but I don’t exactly go to church or anything like that,” he replied in confusion to your question.

“Some people find religion to be an outlet when dealing with stress,” you calmly replied, answering his unspoken question. “So did you have prior knowledge or interest in the supernatural before these dreams started?”

His eyebrows scrunched while contemplating his answer. “I mean, I’ve read Dracula, and I’ve seen the Patrick Swayze movie but other than other that it had never been a hobby of mine.”

“Had never been? So is it now?” you questioned while wondering how far he had dug into the truth. 

“After I have a dream, I research some things about it online,” he replied quietly. “Almost everything I dreamt is right there, black and white.”

“So what do you do after?”

“I wake up and start writing it all down,” he said with tears forming in his eyes. “It’s like I can’t stop myself from doing it. Like someone is making me do it.” 

You looked over to the Angel, hatred forming in your eyes at what they were doing to this poor man. A man who had no clue what was happening to him. How far were they going to push him until he completely shattered?

“What happens if you don’t Charles?”

“My head feels like it is about to explode. I can’t do anything until I get it all out. I can’t think. I can’t sleep, and when I do sleep more of the story comes to me.”

“May I ask what you do for a living Chuck?” you asked to change the subject. His general background you were going to need anyways for your assessment, might as well do your job even though this was not what you expected to walk in.   “Nothing right now, it’s been too hard to try and do anything else since this began.”

“What kind of work would you like to be doing?”

“Well I went to school to be a writer,” he replied sheepishly.

You gave him an empathetic smile. “Well then maybe these dreams can be used as a blessing in disguise then.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said it was like a show playing right in front of you that you feel the need to write down, so do it,” you said while taking a quick glance toward the Angel. “Don’t stop yourself, take control. It could very well possibly reduce your other symptoms that you are having if you allow yourself to do it. Maybe you could turn it in for publication.”

“Then the whole world will think I am crazy,” he exclaimed.

You gave him a little shrug. “Use a pen name or blog them anonymously. Just get the story out of your system or you very well may drag yourself even further down.”

“A pen name,” he said quietly. “Monster Hunters by Joe Smith.”

“You may want to visit other possible names for the book title about the supernatural,” you replied with a little chuckle behind your voice. “Also you might find and use a name that means something to you.”

“Supernatural,” he replied while staring off in the distance. “I like it.”

____________________________________________________________

When Dean came back alone he was furious to discover that Gabriel had split during his absence. Mom, Jack, Ketch and now apocalypse world Charlie were counting on him to bring them back. To save them all. The weight of two worlds now weighing on his shoulders.

He pushed himself into his room, throwing everything that laid on his dresser in anger in one quick swoop. He sat down on the corner end of his bed and laid his face into his hands. What was he going to do now?

“Dean,” said the gruff voice of Cas while standing still I the doorway, observing the destruction Dean had made in his path. 

“Not now Cas,” Dean said while not looking up to him. 

“Dean, this is not your fault,” Cas stated solemnly. “We will find Gabriel, we will get to them.”

Cas continued talking about hopeful possibilities, none of them would be easy. What Dean wouldn’t do to just run away from it all, but he couldn’t. There were too many people counting on him. People he loved were on the other side. In this world, all the others he would and has laid down his life for, and now another person just got added to that list, Y/N.

“You are thinking about Bobby’s daughter,” Cas asked while already knowing the answer.

“How did you…”

“Sam informed me of her unexpected arrival,” Cas stated, interrupting Dean.

“Yeah well, that’s a whole other situation that we don’t have time for,” Dean quipped back.

“Dean, maybe you should take some time,” Cas said while feeling the frustration radiate off if Dean. “Maybe go and see her. Get your affairs in order while we figure out the next move.”

Dean sat there quietly pondering the idea. Every plan so far all had the same possible no-win situation if they did manage to get to them and stop Michael. These could very well be his last days on this earth at least. Seeing Y/N again, at least one last time sounded like the best plan he had heard all day. One last time to forget that the worlds were about to crumble all around him. 

Keep Reading Part 7 Here

Tags: @jaylarkson @waywardbaby @snffbeebee @iamabeautifulperson18

[eternalloveheart]

Morality: God or man?

I started reading the book “What if the bible never existed” by Dr Kennedy. He explores the importance of the bible by its impact on the world. I am only a few chapters in so far just wanting to bring out my thoughts and the quotes I pulled that made me think. I am pretty much summarizing my take on the points of the first few chapters. I will be making more posts on this book with different points. I know this is a blog so I am not making this into some kind of academic essay just posting the aftermath of my reading.

God or man’s?

There are many reasons we cannot officially have a moral code without God. One main “reason you can’t have morality without religion is not that can’t draw up a common code of ethics. It is that without an external authority, most people will not follow it. Now, I will grant that the humanists have drawn up a code, and they have gotten some people to follow it” (Dr Kennedy, page 435).

Brute force

It seems one of the easiest successful ways to get people to conform to a set of moral rules is by religion. A main problem is being human we know that everyone is capable of just as much evil as us if not more with no true claim to some high ground. I have personally asked some atheists how one might go about ensuring morality with those who do not agree with them such as sociopaths who have no empathetic compass. I explained that religion has helped a sociopath namely David Wood turn from his murderous ways to live a life for God. I wait attentively for a response only to hear the atheist respond with the words “brute force”.

It is difficult to use of brute force as it often leads to tyranny and rebellions. I am taking a policing course where we overview policing history. History shows it only aggravates the people further when more force was involved such as military intervention. It went against the human desire for a decent amount of liberties and rights (which even a sociopath would desire). In the Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 55 by J. L Lyman from the Northwest university of Law there is a review of historical mistakes using force against one’s citizens. In the journal it mentions the way the law enforcement was so hated it was inefficient in stopping crime which in turn had crime running more rampant. The journal states that “by 1828 one person in every three hundred and eighty-three was a criminal” in London. The method of “brute force” had worsened the situation as it never got to the core of the problem.

Reasoning

I assume not everyone would have immediately jumped to “brute force”. I think some may have even thought of just reasoning with people. I mean someone has to be able to convince if not through force or empathy that one should dogmatically follow a moral code. I do not just mean sociopaths I include anyone with opposing views of morality. I have to concede everyone has their own views of morality whether right or wrong.

In recent times “the president of the Yale University in a meeting of university professor and educators. He said that we need a new renaissance of education and morality in American colleges. You would think he would have been applauded. But he was booed! They hissed. They asked ‘Whose morality, professor, are you going to impose upon them?” He couldn’t answer the question (Dr. Kennedy, page 482). His ideas might have been the most perfect ideas in the world. It did not matter because no matter how perfect his moral is the human heart is just so full of its own evil. It will not listen to reasoning because it does not care for reasoning based upon their own moral reasoning.

So what if he got a chance to speak would anyone have listened? No one cares what anyone or any group claims is moral. “Charles Darwin knew this. He said it was a horrid thought to realize that all of his speech may have no more significance or meaning than the babbling of a monkey. He said, ‘Would anyone trust the conviction of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?” (Dr. Kennedy, page 506).

It is a hard pill to swallow to admit only God is righteous enough, powerful enough, efficient enough, knowledgeable enough, loving enough and so on to sustain a moral code. God even offers this moral code yet again to those who have broken it with a renewing of his mercies.

Born in sin

So if God is so great why is not everyone just following Him? The heart being born in sin wants to refuse the law for himself and have the laws imposed on others. It is where hypocrisy and double standards arise. I mean having the mental capacity to measure fairness and justice while having fleshly overruling savagery sins.

“Huxley was the most prestigious evolutionary scientist in the world at the time. The interviewer asked him, “Why do you think that evolution caught on so quickly?” Huxley began, “We all jumped at The Origin [The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin] because . . .” Now if you ask a high school science class to finish that sentence, what do you think the students would say? They would say, “The reason we jumped at The Origin of Species was that the evidence amassed by Darwin was so intellectually compelling that scientific integrity required that we accept it as fact.” That is not what Huxley said. Rather, I heard him say, “[ I suppose the reason] we all jumped at The Origin [was] because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.” I almost fell out of my chair! What does that have to do with science? (Dr. Kennedy, page 692).

It seems like the same problem all over again with no one caring about absolute morality when they care too much for their own morality. This time it is different when we peak behind the veil. God makes a promise to those who seek Him diligently in Ezekiel. Ezekiel 36:26-28 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Change

Before we go any further we must consider historical ways people have tried to impose change in the human heart. I know not all have tried “brute” force or “reasoning”. I must admit some have tried changing the environment to help people flourish into their best selves with the hope of fostering perfect peaceful moral.

Many people have been convinced the heart can be changed apart from divine intervention with environmental remodeling. The communists thought they were going to create the “new communist man” without religion. Karl Marx the intellectual founder of communism found his ideas to be the key to solve the mankind’s predicament proclaiming this as the “true solution”. It is no wonder they prohibited ministers from preaching heaven when they had ushered it in prenatally. He thought man was pretty good inside just corrupted by his environmental structures. I have read some books on communism the dream does not pan out.

The communist plan instead of thriving the fruit of good people had made room for a greater evil as “Marxism did produce a new Communist man—a man so cruel that he could commit the most barbaric crimes against his fellow human beings without the slightest qualms of conscience. When we become aware of what took place in the ghastly labor camps, or gulags, we can understand the nature of the new Communist man, perhaps the cruelest man the world has ever seen” (Dr. Kenny, page 811).

“An example of Communist torture occurred just within the last few years. Two Christian women were being punished by the Chinese authorities for the “crime” of being a part of the unregistered house church movement. They were stripped naked, hung up by their thumbs with wires, and beaten unconscious with cattle prods. The system Marx helped create—based on a false paradigm, which was itself based on a false picture of man’s true nature—has probably caused more evil than any system known to man” (Dr. Kennedy, page 821).

In the West “we are told, the new man will be fashioned by psychology and psychiatry. Before you become too excited about that possibility, remember that of all of the professions in America, the highest level of suicide is found in psychiatrists. So if you are contemplating such an act, I don’t recommend that you go see one. He might decide to hold your hand and jump first” (Dr. Kennedy, page 854). I have run into some issues with psychologists lately as I have been told by numerous friends their psychologists think they are beyond help. I almost think that should be illegal to tell a patient because these vulnerable people will remember this every time they reach another low. I can see how a self-fulfilling prophesy could take into effect.

Testimonies

The bible has changed many lives for the better helping people turn a new leaf. It is because being born again is gives a person a new heart and spirit with new desires. God promises to give people a new heart so is there any evidence of this change?

The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead still has the power to change a person to this day. “No unbeliever could tell me why His words are as charged with power today as they were nineteen hundred years ago. Nor could scoffers explain how those pierced hands pulled human monsters with gnarled souls out of a hell of iniquity and overnight transformed them into steadfast, glorious heroes [of the cross]” (Dr. Kennedy, page 936).

Kwai

There is a movie called “The bridge over the River Kwai” based on the book called “Through the Valley of Kwai”. The author of the book had spoken to the chaplain man of Princeton University who had been part of British forces. He was the very man that had written “The bridge over the River of Kwai”. “He told [him], heartbrokenly, what Hollywood had done to the truth. Here is the real story of the bridge over the River Kwai. The captives had been reduced to savagery. They were starving. They were snapping for every crust of bread like animals. And then the British commander discovered in one of their backpacks a New Testament. He began to read it. As he read it, the wonder of the love of Christ began to fill his soul, and he surrendered his life to the Savior and called on Him for His grace and help. He was transformed. He began to read that New Testament to his men each day. One after another became transformed until virtually the entire camp was transformed by the gospel of Christ. These animal-like men began to save their crusts of bread to give to those who were weaker and sicker than they were” (Dr Kennedy, page 897).

Joad

It is often easy to believe mankind is mostly good when one is living safely in a first world country founded on Christian foundations (which is further elaborated in later chapters). “C. E. M. Joad was one of the great philosophers of England in this century. He was a brilliant intellect and a militant unbeliever. [...] Earlier he had thought that man was basically good and that, given the right conditions, we could create heaven on earth. But two devastating world wars and the threat of another one brought home to him the reality that man is sinful. The only solution to man’s sin, concluded this former skeptic, is the cross of Jesus Christ” (Dr. Kennedy, page 957).

David wood

Note: the pages may not be exact though they are within the range of the found text. It is harder to tell on the kindle app if it is the exact page number.

[xmenturnedtohatredornah]

Shattered  || Chapter 3: I'm coming home

M x M: Cherik fanfic for @foundedhope

This is a song fanfic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88fh-gFstWg

Skylar Grey - Coming Home (Part 2)

Charles awoke from one of his unpleasant dreams. He cursed the memory that came along with it. His head hurted, the many voices seemed hard to bare. It didn’t blend well with the several whiskey glasses he had drank the night before. He took a sharp breath, his eyes widened when a sickening voice rose out of many others. One he had been able to read clearer then whatever voice he had in the past.

Erik. 

He hissed when Hank came running into the room. “Charles it’s-”

“What the hell is Erik doing here.” He groaned, he didn’t want to see him. He shouldn’t look for him. Hank walked towards his side, eyed him with care. Charles hadn’t realised he had stopped breathing as soon as the other had walked into the room.

Charles tried not to laugh seeing the other. Hank must have beaten seven shades of Sunday out of him. “Did you enjoy catching up with Hank.” He wasn’t even going to hide his delight.

Erik wavered before walking in earning a glare from Hank and walked out of the door. Hank hadn’t raised a finger towards himself. But Erik didn’t plan to admit that fact yet. He took an eye in the man in front of him. How long had it been.

Too long. 

Charles looked different, his hair was messier. He looked pale as if he hadn’t slept for days. He noticed the whiskey glas.  What happened to your disgusting tea. 

Charles glared and spoke to him. “I grew tired of it.” It pained Erik that his friend seemed so destructive, this wasn’t how he remembered Charles to be. He told himself Charles had every right to feel angry, or even feel a sense of hatred towards him.

Erik knew when he dragged his feet to this very place he had hurt Charles in the worst possible way

I am sorry.

The way Charles laughed when he didn’t even spoke those words aloud, but in his mind was painful in many ways. As far as the telepath hated the other he didn’t want any bloodstains on his carpet.

“Take some tissues if you need them, there on the desk.” he tapped on the side of his bed and cursed himself for not telling Hank to get his wheelchair. He wasn’t able to move.

Did Erik know he couldn’t walk?  

“What do you want Erik?” He barked at him. 

No that he really gave a damn what Erik wanted, why should he? The man abandoned him bleeding and paralysed on a beach and took away his only true family, his sister with him.

 No he didn’t care about the man's motives, they normally caused pain for him, and him alone.

Erik eyed the other, feeling an emotion he knew far too well arise in the other. When Charles asked him what he needed he couldn’t help but remember what Raven had told him: "Because he is the only one that could stop you from destroying yourself. Because he was the closest thing you loved after so many years of solitude.”

Charles didn’t need him, but Erik did. He needed him as a human needed air to breath. He felt the silence and the pain in the way the other looked at him.

“I shouldn’t have left.” The words escaped his lips. He wondered who of them both looked more fragile this very moment. Himself who was bleeding or Charles who’s stunning blue eyes seemed dull and broken. He didn’t know how he would find Charles, but not like this.

“There’s a lot you shouldn’t have done.” He grabbed the last of remains of his whiskey, like hell he was having this conversation sober. He ran his hand through his hair, biting his lip in anger. “You’ve wasted your time coming here, I hope you at least know that!”

Erik crossed his arms, taking a note of the sudden change and started to smile. “Perhaps it could feel that way to you. But I would not think so lowly about yourself, my old friend.” He stared at the other not even able to tear his gaze away. “Glad to see your pathetic attempt to protect yourself. I have missed you too.” He admitted in a slight rage, he had returned and now Charles was pushing him away. He wouldn’t allow it, not until he was sure he didn’t mean anything to the other.

Charles threw the glass only a few inches of Erik’s side cursed him when the other didn’t even dodge.  “I don’t think lowly of myself, Erik.” He snarked at the other and added: “You lost the right to call me that a long time ago, on a beach in Cuba.”

Erik shook his head and took a step closer. “I am not letting you run away from this. You may have thought it would never be possible, but I intend to chase you until you either accept me or kill me whatever you wish. You said you knew everything about me Charles. A bit unfair don’t you think when you hide behind locked doors and shut everyone off so you can’t feel anymore pain.”

“How can you know Erik. How can you possibly know my pain.” The other started to choke, as if he couldn’t breath.

Erik narrowed the distance. Charles used his fist in a pathetic attempt to hit him. He lacked strength, no he simply couldn’t hurt the other. He could only hit him. “Who said I’m running. I can’t even walk!” He screamed: “If anyone will leave it will you!”

“You act as if you know me so well.” His tone was death, no emotion lingered any longer. It hadn’t been there for a while.

Hank had told Erik that Charles couldn’t walk, didn’t accept any help from no one. He shook his head. “I wish I could agree, but no Charles I do not.” He didn’t know this Charles. And he couldn’t explain why he pulled the other into his arms. This man was filled with bitterness and disgust. He was different from the friend he deeply loved before, the one that tore his heart apart when he left. But he was still the Charles he would return to, the one Raven had begged him to leave her for and return to where he belonged.

Charles needed to break from these arms. He wanted Erik to go, to not see him in this state. He cursed before he pushed himself to say the words that he could only imagine to break Erik in the worst way and push him out of his heart once and for all: “Did I even tell you that when you killed Shaw that I could feel everything he couldn’t.” He licked his dry lips a bit: “So you metaphorically speaking of course killed me too.” His gaze met the other and he added with remorse in his voice: “But looking back on it I brought it on myself for trusting you.”

Erik tightened his hold on the other. Charles didn’t need to read his mind to see that his confession on murdering Shaw had probably caused the wanted effect. It tore him apart and Charles had every right to do so. Perhaps Charles was a fool for trusting him. “Charles I need to know did you have no effect of my disappearance? You hadn’t thought about me once these many months we haven’t spoken or seen each other. You never wanted to find me, thought about me once? Or did you gave up?” He looked at Charles showing much more emotion than the other knew he could portrait.

“I may have once or twice just wondering if you were locked up or dead.” He shook his head. “I guess I gave up.” He didn’t want to look at him.

“You didn’t truly gave up.” Erik spoke and Charles cringed when he read Erik’s mind.  Of course that stupid board could give me away. 

“I did not die, yet it was close of dying. I did not get imprisoned, I locked myself up.” Erik held his hand and Charles was hit with a wave of memories.

‘I won’t let you die that easily Erik' He hears his sister voice and he started to get a clear image for why the man had looked this broken.

Erik planned to kill himself after killing Shaw. Raven went with him in order to keep Erik alive for his sake. He flinched when he saw Raven’s methods. Taking away all metal and replacing it with wood. The only metal in his room being his silver coin and -

Charles eyes widened. “Are you an idiot, Erik.” He hissed when he grabbed his jacket and took out the bullet out off his pocket. “You didn’t.” He looked at the other his facade falling when he held that object into his hand.

Erik looked at the other. “I swear I will not run away from you ever again.”

Charles lost his fight, he must be an idiot for trusting Erik Lehnsherr.

Next Here

[smokingbrumby88]

Victim Impact Statement Draft #2

When you’re in a struggle for your life, there comes a moment that you just wish it would hurry up and end. When the fear has reached a maximum level and your finally tired of the constant struggle you begin to accept the thoughts “this is how I go out, this is how my life ends.”

His hands are so tight around my throat, I can’t breathe, and my vision is starting to go black. My legs have turned to jelly, and I can’t reach the ground. Tonight, I think he might kill me. In that moment, I was ready for it to all finally come to an end. But it didn’t, and that wasn’t the end. Charles and I were in a relationship for approximately 3.5 years, ending with his arrest in March 2019. On the night that I have described Charles assaulted me before a family Christmas gathering. He was careful to never break a bone, but he controlled every aspect of my life with consistent threats, intimidation and stand-over tactics that was always followed by actual physical abuse.

That Christmas morning of 2018, Charles’s assault lasted through the night and continued the next morning. Even coming after me as got I in the car to go and see my family. I was excited for Christmas; it was the first I would have with my family in many years and the last Christmas I would ever get to have with my dad who passed away in late 2019. When I arrived, my family knew something was wrong. They tell me I was shaking and hyperventilating. They knew if they asked, I would make up a cover story for Charles’s actions. So, my sister puts my sleeping niece in my arms to comfort me and nothing more is said until later, when they discover the marks on my neck. I have no choice but to uncover the ugly truth. And still, I say “it’s just an itchy neck.”

Most of the assaults have gone undocumented or unrecorded because of my fear of Charles’s retribution if I ever went to the Police. When they occurred, Charles would spend hours upon hours physically assaulting me. This was always accompanied by psychological torment about everything from my weight to my usefulness as a human being. Anything could provoke Charles’s anger. I wasn’t allowed my own opinion, I couldn’t think for myself, I couldn’t choose things that I wanted. I literally had no control of my own life and forever feared the physical repercussions that included being punched, kicked, threatened, strangled, or have a weapon used on me. He would only stop when he was satisfied that he had beaten the result that he wanted into me.

Not long after his arrest, I ended up in the Mental Health Ward due to the psychological impact of what had occurred over the years we were together. It all became too much for me and I attempted suicide. I had to be escorted by the police to the facility to ensure I did no further harm to myself.

Today, I live with frequent panic attacks, nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, and a heightened level of anxiety. This affects my everyday living and my sense of personal safety. I am obsessive about locking my doors in the event that Charles finds out where I live. I have means to protect myself and feel the need to check these compulsively to feel safe. I live in the fear of his words when he’s told me “If I ever go to jail because of you, I WILL find you, and I will F**CKING KILL YOU! That’s a promise and don’t you ever forget it”. These words haunt me every day. I don’t ever feel safe, no matter what I am doing or who I’m with. I don’t even feel safe in my own home. I don’t go out at night and even something as simple as my grocery shopping, the moment I get in my car, I lock the doors as a precaution because I don’t trust anyone. I have spent the last 2 years seeking help to get through the trauma caused by all the assaults. I have been diagnosed with depression and PTSD in relation to not only the violent attacks from Charles, but the emotional, psychological and sexual ones as well.

It has been just over 2 years since the last time Charles assaulted me, I still remember the attacks daily and can often re-live them when my safety is threatened, or my anxiety is triggered by invasive, overwhelming thoughts that I struggle to control. Throughout our relationship, the violence increased in frequency and the reasons for it became more and more ridiculous. I cannot recall the first time he assaulted me, there were so many times that the violence occurred that my memory fails me when I try to remember them all.

Towards the end of our relationship, it became so ridiculous that he used any excuse to justify his violence towards me. One night after cuddling on the couch he mentioned my weight. I wasn’t interested in talking about it, he so got violent, emotionally abusive and controlling. He screamed at me, telling me I was the fattest girlfriend he had ever had, and I looked disgusting. He spent 4 hours punching me in the same spot on my arm over and over, leaving a large bruise. I would later tell my family members that it was caused by running into a door handle after chasing my cat through the house. I begged him to stop but that just infuriated him even more. In the end I gave up and told him what he wanted to hear. The next day he forced me to run the block, while he screamed at me. When I was not able to continue because of exhaustion, he threw me on the ground in the street and punched me until I got up. When I crossed the street to get away from him, he followed me, kicked me in the kidneys, slamming my head into a park table and forcibly dragged me back to the house.

The events described contribute to my daily anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks. I often struggle to manage this. I feel that most people expect me to be over it by now, but that’s not the case. Many things trigger me and bring on panic attacks where I re-live the trauma again. It doesn’t help that Charles will not leave me alone and keeps trying to contact me via Facebook and other forms of social media. Every time he does this (the most recent in April of this year) it’s like the flood gates of hell open up again and all the work I have put in to getting better disappears and I’m back to square one. This feels unfair. I feel like the justice system has failed me on so many levels and that Charles only got a smack on the hand. It feels unfair that Charles only got 6 months in jail. It feels unfair that everyday I’m living with the consequences of his actions. It feels unfair that he gets to move on with his life while I feel stuck in a cycle of trauma.

I want to move on with my life and be happy. I want this chapter to finally come to an end. I am the happiest I’ve ever been, but the damage of Charles’s actions keeps me from fully moving forward. I am thankful that someone has finally asked to hear what this has done to me. I could go on, give more detail and examples of Charles’s horrible actions and how this has affected me, but even writing this is traumatizing and difficult to complete. I hope this helps to somewhat capture the effects of what Charles did to me.

[anemic-phoenix]

My speech

People of this earth, I’d like to thank you for giving me a chance by listening to this speech. If you noticed how I didn’t start out with the classic “ladies and gentleman” introduction then you should know I have my reasons for doing so. My first reason is that I don’t believe that phrase works anymore, there are too many new categories for that to be sufficient. My second reason? Well... it’s because I’m just weird like that!! (pause for laughter) Today, there are so many new categories of people… if you can give me a second, I’d like to list them all. Okay, here they are: Cisgender, Transgender, Transsexual, Male to Female (MtF), Female to Male (FtM), Binary, Non-Binary, Genderfluid, Agender, Bigender, Polygender, Neutrois, Gender Apathetic, Androgyne, Intergender, Demigender, Greygender, Aporagender, Maverique, Novigender, Trans Feminine, Trans Masculine, and, of course, there are those that choose not to identify as anything. Now, I know I probably just spent a while listing names and a couple of you are wondering, “ what’s her point?” My point is that the world as we know it is still changing and will continue to change for a while to come. Instead of shunning change, the time has come for us to embrace it! Now, if any of you are thinking I’m almost done, you’re wrong! I’m just getting started! For a long time, I’ve known I was much more different than my fellow peers. I’ve always been more ready to accept people as they were. Someone once told me I had a knack for finding the light in someone when all anyone else could see was the dark, but that wasn’t it. I chose to ignore the dark, in order to bring out their light… and you know what? It worked every time. Little by little, they would behave differently around me… even in front of their friends. I earned their trust by accepting their differences and, in turn, they accepted mine. This is how we need to go about life! We need to stop trying to stop people from changing and instead accept that they are changing in order to be able to accept it! As the great Charles Darwin once said, “ It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” Now gender acceptance isn’t the only topic I want to talk about. I want to talk about sexuality acceptance as this is also a very controversial topic. I could list all the different sexualities but that would take too long, instead, I’m just going to motor on. All over the world, you hear horror stories of people being beaten to death because of their sexualities. I just don’t get it! There is nothing wrong with being who you are!! Difference is a wonderful thing that we need to embrace with open arms!! "Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."--(Harvey Fierstein) This is a wonderful quote, is it not?!  You are not a victim unless you allow yourself to be made into one. Every time you get called a name, every time someone hurts you... all you need to remember is that the only power anyone else has over you is the power you give them! If they want to call you sick, or twisted, or even… an abomination… just remember…the only abominations are the people who hurt others for no reason. Not the people who love another differently! Being queer in my eyes is absolutely an amazing thing to be!!! To be perfectly honest... "The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."--(Rita Mae Brown) you know what? I’ve never heard a truer statement. Even asexual people can feel love, just not of the sexual kind! You see, there is nothing wrong with being bi, gay, trans, les, or even nothing at all. All that matters is what kind of person you are on the inside. You can love anyone you want to, or don’t want to, as long as you continue to be the best person you can be, regardless. Need an example? Well, here. Let’s say I have a friend. He just so happens to be bisexual. (I’m not gonna mention names for privacy purposes) before he came out, he had a lot of friends and was well-liked at school. However, as soon as he came out, people started dissing him and ditching him left and right. How genuinely messed up is that?! He was well-liked and had a lot of friends when he liked only girls… but as soon as he said,” oh, I think I like guys too.”, people were like,” see ya!”. he didn't even do anything wrong! his only crime was being himself.. how sad is that? Over and over again I hear the same old horror stories. Honestly, I’m way past the crying point. Now I’m just mad. Mad that people would treat someone differently because of who they love. Mad that people are being KILLED because of who they love. Mad that there are these ignorant imbeciles, who think it’s okay to bash someone because of who they love! Who do they think they are, really? Don’t they realize that they aren’t perfect either? If they were gods maybe I would understand… wait, I take that back, I don’t care if they were gods, they still shouldn’t act the way that they do! People are people and that is that! I'm all agitated now, so I'm just going to end my speech with a promise:I will not stop, I will not rest, I won’t even take a breather, until the day that these people are treated with the kindness and respect they deserve! Thank you.

[saibh29]

Touch You

Pairings: Vane / Reader

Warnings: Violence, threats of Violence, Swearing... PG13 Smut. 

Request:  Maybe a Charles Vane x Pirate!Reader where they are together and the reader gets captured and beaten and Vane saves her and it's just fluffy and just filled with pissed and protective Vane? Thanks a bunch, Wolfling 🐺❄️

AN: @native-snowflake I changed up this request a little but i think the main idea is pretty much the same. I hope you enjoy. 

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You hated the nights when you were forced to actually work behind the bar of the Avery. Drunken Pirates were not your favourite thing to deal with. Serving them was even less fun, yet here you were sliding and pushing through sweaty bodies as you deposited tankard after tankard of ale down on the tables.

Most of the men were used to you and simply smiled at you making jokes and as more rum was consumed giving you a friendly smack to the rear. All of which you could have dealt with, what was making you uneasy was the table in the back corner where a group of men sat quietly. Quiet in this environment was not a good sign, men who were quiet were planning something and with pirates planning never ended well for someone. You did not want that person to be you.

Grabbing a new tray and piling it with rum bottles and a few empty tankards, you unwillingly made your way over with their orders. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible you placed the rum on the table and the tankards next to them. You thought you’d been successful until the darkest skinned one grabbed your wrist holding you in place so you couldn’t pass.

“You’re a quiet lass” he turned dark eyes on you “by chance one with good hearing?”

It took you a moment to realise that he thought you’d been trying to spy on him. You had been so busy trying to avoid them you hadn’t thought about what your silence would portray.

“I’m a bar maid, not a spy” you answered carefully, not tugging your wrist but remaining very still. A cornered piece of prey not willing to anger the predator that had its jaws around your neck.

“And a woman can never be two things at once?” he sneered fingers tightening as he pulled you a step forwards.

You were used to slapping away drunk hands and overly friendly advances. This was different though. This man wasn’t drunk but did actually want to hurt you.

“I’m sure they can. I however am not. I serve rum and make enough coin to buy a bed at night. That’s it”

He smiled revealing two gold teeth “A bed hey lass? May be that we can finish this conversation there be a trifle more pleasurable for us all hey?”

Your stomach flipped, that was not in the slightest thing what you’d wanted to hear and you had no idea how to get out of this. You finally resorted to pulling at his hold on you, which had little to no impact on him whatsoever, in fact only seemed to excite the pirate even more than he already had been.

“Y/N?” the gravelly voice behind you had never been so welcome.

“Vane!” Even though the hand didn’t move from your wrist and another person’s came down onto your shoulder you suddenly felt safer, a whole lot safer. “I didn’t realised you were back”

“Good job I am” he said yanking backwards so the grip on your wrist was finally broken. He pushed you behind him leaning down to your tormentor’s eye level. “Touch the girl again and lose your cock, understand Rielly?”

“And what is it to you Vane?” the man sneered although you could see the tick in his eye. He was putting on a brave face in front of the others at his table. Everyone knew who Charles Vane was and the sudden smile on his face would have made the bravest of men piss themselves. This Rielly wasn’t that brave and was backing away from Vane.

“Let me put it another way.” He took in every man at the table this time in his dead mans stare “the next man who even looks at her will be getting incredibly well acquainted with my sword” he stood back up patting the sword on his hip “and we enjoy meeting new people”

Suddenly no one would meet his eyes and were looking very busy again. Charles turned around steering you back to the bar with a tight grip on your shoulders.

“You can let go of me Vane” you hissed wriggling, however his grip remained as he shoved you up the stairs and pushed you roughly into your office.

You stumbled into the room rubbing at your wrist as you turned to glare at the man in the doorway.

“Really Vane” you snapped turning to anger to cover your uncomfortableness. “You don’t have to be so rough”

The pirate just stared at you “rough?” he questionnned slamming the door behind him. “You think I’m being fucking rough with you?”

“I don’t see anyone else pushing me around”

Vane nodded almost like he was agreeing with you before storming forward backing you into the desk and slamming his hands down on either side of you.

“Maybe we should go back out there and remind you of that bastard Reilly”

“I would have handled it” you insisted even though you’d got no idea how you could have delat with it “I’d have thought of something. I always do”

Charles was muttering to himself in disbelief as he shook his head at you. “Reilly’s dangerous Y/N”

“He didn’t act it towards you”

“Well they don’t do they? I have a reputation. Well earnt”

That you knew was true what you weren’t so clear on still was why exactly he was helping you. That he was fond of you you didn’t doubt, after all you provided rum and discounted rum at that. You hadn’t realised he’d go as far as actively protecting you from others though. It made you curious what he wanted. After all, nothing in this place was given freely.  

“So what you’re just going to stand there and lecture me now? You think I don’t realise how dangerous they all are down there” you were staring straight back at him “how dangerous you are?”

“Sometimes I don’t think you do realise” he growled out, not backing away from you. In fact his hands left the desk to clamp onto your hips lifting as he sat you in the desk pushing his way between your thighs.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Vane?” you pushed at his chest but it was about as effective as pushing at a stone statue. He wasn’t moving.

“Teaching you a lesson”

With that his lips slammed down on your own taking your breath away as his hand came up to tangle in your hair yanking your head back to give him a better angle at your mouth.

Sure you’d thought about what it would be like to be with Vane, he was too gorgeous for your bored mind not to have wandered there at some points. You’d never actually thought that it would get any further than imaginings though.

You wriggled closer to him pressing your chest against his own as his arm wrapped around your back holding you still.

“Y/N?” the door to your office burst open once more and Eleanor stood there swearing in horror when she saw Vane.

“Fuck off Eleanor” he growled turning his head only slightly to glare at her but not letting go of you. “She’s busy”

“I can see that” Eleanor was looking at you concerned. “Rielly he was bothering you?”

“It was handled” you didn’t elaborate on how, Eleanor would have heard what Charles did from the other pirates downstairs.

“He’ll be barred for his behaviour” she was still studiously avoiding looking at Vane. “I won’t have my employees being harassed”

“Thank you” she nodded once and then with a poisonous glance at Vane disappeared once more. Leaving you still sat there with Vane between your legs. “I’m not fucking you on this desk Vane, not when she’ll still be stood out there listening”

“Figured as much” he grouched. He didn’t move but also didn’t try anything again hand instead splaying out to rest on your back. “Don’t just want a fuck off you anyhow”

“Excuse me?”

He sighed hand coming up to brush your hair out of your face, the gesture was surprisingly tender for such a rough man. “Coming in here tonight, seeing that fucker with his hands on you. Never been that angry before pet”

“Really?”

“Made me realise something” he continued eyes meeting your own. “Don’t want any other man touching you but me”

Your eyes widened in shock at that, you hadn’t thought Vane had it in him to be possessive of a woman. Sure you knew he’d had a fling with Eleanor the whole town did but you didn’t think he’d ever been serious about it. Not to a point where he wanted exclusivity.

“You going to come back down to the beach with me?”

You knew the question was loaded, knew that he was asking for more than one night. If you took the hand he was offering to you right now then you were accepting everything that came with the idea of being Vane’s woman.

“On one condition”

“And what would that be love?”

“Don’t want any other woman touching you but me” you mirrored his words from earlier.

“Deal” he said softly making him smirk and you suddenly felt like you’d just made a deal with the devil.

It was too late to back out now though because his lips came back to your own kissing you roughly as he pulled you off the desk and practically carried you from the Avery and back to the beach.

[stilljumpingback]

(via Black Sails Episode 404 - XXXII)

WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

If ever there were an episode that wanted to drive home the theme about the futility of a cycle of vengeance, this would be it.  The fact that this show is not interested in glorying in revenge is most obviously shown in how we see the retaking of Nassau.  Instead of something glorious, it is a violent and chaotic scene, shot in such a way that we as viewers are emotionally distanced from it.

From there we get example after example of how futile revenge is.  We open on a horrific scene of a plantation owner beating a slave woman for the actions of slaves on another plantation…but his actions are soon answered by Julius’s slave revolt.  The guy Rogers leaves in charge of Rackham’s crew has one job: to deliver the captured pirates to Port Royal.  Unable to resist the allure of revenge, he instead makes them fight to the death, a choice that ultimately leads to his death and the death of his remaining men.

Billy wants to make a public example of Max in the same way that public examples were made of Charles Vane and other pirates.  He fails to see that this act will fail in the same way that their acts failed:  vengeance (even coded as “justice”) only leads to more violence.  Silver highlights the limitations of this idea by pointing out that there is no definitive action that can end the totality of what has been done.

Billy:  One would think we could go a long way towards soothing all that chaos out there, and the anger driving it, if we could draw everyone together to see justice done to the one responsible for all of it. Silver:  All of it? Billy:  Enough of it.

It’s fitting that they are discussing Max, since she is the one who has so often spoken against the cycle of vengeance.  And it seems as though Eleanor is beginning to see things in a similar light, especially now that she is pregnant and must reconcile her life with what is best for a new generation.  She knows she is drawn to Nassau and its unending power struggle, but for the first time, she sees how her actions might place her child in the same position she was in as a child: “amongst all this brutality.”

In a bid to end the cycle of vengeance and leave all parties satisfied, Eleanor summons Flint and Silver to discuss an exchange:  the pirates can have Nassau, and she will leave with the British and the cache.  Future episodes will reveal if she will be successful.

FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

Listening to a white man verbally chastise kneeling slaves while a woman shrieks in pain behind him is suuuuuuper disgusting.  In a show that asks us to sympathize with multiple viewpoints, I’m very glad that we are meant to see this as a completely evil act.

Eleanor’s escape to the fort is very badass.  I especially love that she is leaning over the other passengers to protect them, immediately followed by her barging up to a crowd of men and telling them what to do.  She is regaining a lot of her agency, and I am reminded of why I love her so much!

Flint reforms a system of land-based pirate crews, which is a stroke of brilliance that shows how flexible his strategies are.

“The more they realize there is no daylight between you and I, the more they will learn to accept our shared authority.”

I love so much Flint and Silver’s unified public front (“You heard him.”) that still allows space for Silver to privately challenge Flint.

Flint is very confused about why Eleanor wants Max, and it made me wonder:  does he know about their former relationship?  Was he too busy pursuing the Urca gold to keep track of his partner’s love life?  I kind of love the idea that he notices everything except for this.

#TriumverateWatch:  Flint and Silver fawn over Madi.  “A wise woman recently told me…”  “Sounds like good advice.”  SHE DESERVES ALL THE COMPLIMENTS.

The standoff between our #Triumverate and Billy is VERY satisfying.  It feels very much like three parents chastising an errant child, and Billy only regains a sliver of power because he knows he has something they want.

“Of course Billy would never violate the trustI place in him as a brother, as a friend, to allow harm to come to those closest to me.  For if Billy were to do something as disloyalas that, he knows I’d stop at nothing to see that offense repaid against him.”

Wow, does Silver know exactly what to say to shame Billy.

Of course, Billy knows exactly what to say to push Silver’s buttons too.  When appealing to their former fear of Flint upon them doesn’t work, he shifts the object of Flint’s consumption to Madi, and Silver is shook.

“How long ago was it that the two of us agreed that Flint threatened to be the end of us all?  That he would find ways of driving us over and over again into that storm till there was nothing left of us?  We survived him, you and I.  And now you want to follow him into what?  A massive slave revolt?  A war against the British Empire?  How is this not just the next storm in a very long line of them?”

The Awful British Guy forces Jack to pick who will fight to the death, which echoes how the plantation owner forced slave women to hold down the woman being beaten.  As if violence weren’t enough, Civilization makes things even worse by forcing the oppressed to feel responsible for the violence themselves.

Israel Hands says he knows Flint was at the previous rebellion, though he was British Navy at the time.  Does…everyone know Flint’s past?

“I am right back where I started.  Every fight I have ever won, every death I have escaped, every sacrifice I have had bled out of me, it will all have to be repeated just to get things back to where they were a few hours ago.”

I cannot help but imagine Flint, ten years ago fleeing London, thinking the exact same thing.  He rebuilt himself into something even more formidable.  Eleanor, on the other hand, seems to want to take this opportunity to get out.  What’s the difference?  Eleanor still has a husband and future child to cling to.  Flint lost the lover/partner that made getting out seem possible.

Mrs. Hudson says she is fond of Eleanor and wants to protect her, and my heart is dead!!  Has anyone ever truly wanted to take care of Eleanor in a way that was this unselfish?  I think this is the closest Eleanor has ever been to a mother’s love.

Anne’s fight!!!  Oh my God, it’s awful to watch, but wow, is she the very epitome of tenacity.  There is no way she should win this fight, but she’s smart and determined and holy shit.  Honorable mention goes to Jack who fears very much for her but chooses to trust that she is capable.

Max brings up “a reform-minded man” who takes prisoners from wealthy families in England and puts them to comfortable work out of sight, out of mind.  Silver perks up, and SO DO I.

The whole scene between Flint and Silver watching the prisoner exchange is SO GOOD.  Silver, against all my assumptions, confesses to Flint what Billy said about Madi.  Their emotional honesty with each other is truly beautiful.

Silver:  If we assume that we are on the verge of some impossible victory here, a truly significant thing, if we assume that is real and here for the taking, wouldn’t you trade it all to have Thomas Hamilton back again? Flint:  I think it he knew how close we were to the victory he gave his life to achieve he wouldn’t want me to. Silver:  I see.  Though, that wasn’t really what I asked, was it?  Assume his father was just as dark as you say, but was unable to murder his own son.  Assume he found a way to secret Thomas away from London – Flint:  He didn’t. Silver:  Would you trade this war to make it so?  It is some kind of hell to be forced to choose one irreplaceable thing over another.

Flint’s eyes and mouth get all twitchy talking about Thomas, and I AM DEAD.

I love Partners Flint and Silver a lot, but I love a little bit of manipulation between them even more.  I can’t help but feel like Silver is bringing Thomas up mostly as a way to even the emotional playing field between them.  He feels weakened by the revelation of Madi being his vulnerability, and he wants to remind Flint that he has a vulnerability too.

Love the eye contact between Flint and Eleanor, and her deep nod as the fort’s door closes.

“Reprisals were visited upon our loved ones on the Edwards estate.  Reprisals of the cruelest kind intended to instill fear, break spirits, reassert control.  It did not have the intended effect.”

We learn that Julius’s plantation revolt was successful!  I really love that we got to see slaves fighting back on their own, instead of always relying upon the help of predominantly white pirates (although I think I’ve already made my love for this partnership clear).

Madi is advised by the former slave from the Underhill estate (anyone know her name??) to “find a place you can protect, build a wall, and save who you can” like her mother.  Everyone’s motivations and desires are becoming muddier!  I both love it and hate it.

Max is pissed because everything she feared would happen HAS happened.  When apologizing, Eleanor goes all the way back to episode two, apologizing for not leaving with Max when she offered.  I love that she knows that this is the apology Max needs to hear most.

Woodes Rogers returns on The Revenge (thematic much?), and I feel nothing for his and Eleanor’s distant reunion.

Eleanor comes faces to face with Flint, and I feel EVERYTHING for their reunion.

Silver has come a long way in this show, but in this final scene, he is desperate and flailing where Flint and Eleanor are powerful and calm.  As much as he wants to be a big dog, he has still not yet matched the major players of Nassau.

Flint says, “Trust me” to Silver.  Will their partnership survive this disagreement?

[mi5014andrewjung]

Interpretation of Brief

I was researching the idea of brainwashing parasites into the brain and was interested in playing the story of a homeowner “figuratively” brainwashing the lodger. However, I was interested how this is done in other animal forms. 

Brief: 

The Lodger

Home (anywhere in time and space) 

My interpretation: Themes I would like to uncover for my characters is the idea of parasites? 

The human body combats parasites that enter our body. 

Body: host

Parasites: lodger

Therefore, with this approach I will uncover my characters. 

What is a parasite?

When someone confronts me with the word; home it coincides with who I am as a person and the environment which were vital to nurture me into the person I have become. I believe a place or home are functional in terms of providing nodes that connect to your still-developing nodes of experience and identity. Therefore, a reason for entering a particular place relate to your identity and what experiences you wish to co-exist within. A friend recommending you to go to a bar, restaurant, social space may trigger a subconscious thought of whether that place will suit my “criteria” of needs and wants. I have never considered the unconscious thought of denial and acceptance behind the final decision to enter a place which may feel foreign or not. I have travelled a lot and because of my upbringing being surrounded with multi-cultures has enabled me to be open-minded to foreign or new places. However, this assignment has challenged me to reflect upon the ideas that were in my head when encountering the first place I visited and lived. My whole life as a Korean, but at a young age being confronted with a country called Tanzania which has become the environment that nurtured me due to this assignment I’ve tried to think what were my reactions and thoughts for it. 

The only place which I recall fondly through the memories and moments it provided me is a public housing shaped like a compound. However, not having any access to it no longer- but it remains a deep-rooted to where I grew up and a home for the longest time of my life.  

Name of place: Mikocheni B- National Housing of Tanzania. 

The house interior was minimal, furnished with things that are purposeful and a clear disregard for decorations. Therefore, my research will entail studying minimalist architecture and furniture for functional purpose and not aesthetic. Although my father approaching a minimalist approach to the design but, my mother would overcrowd it with lots of objects- which would destroy my dad’s ideas. Therefore, I’ll try incorporating this thought for my “home” creation. 

It will be a challenge to revitalise this house inside Maya- but as its what I seem to be most connected to I will attempt to imbue a story inside it with a Home-owner inviting a lodger scenario.  Therefore, I will attempt to include reminiscing fractions of the house but edit it based around research found on existing characters and architecture. 

MOVIE & BOOK STUDIES

1) Heavenly Creatures

Character 1- Juliet

Rich background (lives in a mansion, has multiple records of mario lanza, polished mannerism when dining.)

Highly educated (corrects teacher about grammar on chalkboard) should be setting an example

Prude

Ends up getting Tuberculosis. (parents leave her at a hospital with maidens) for 4 months. 

Fantasy character: Deborah

Is sympathetic for Gina about her loathing them. 

Is revealed about Bill and Her mother being in love?

Parents are getting divorced. 

english

Character 2- Yvonne

Poor background (cherishes record)

Looks around C1 house and is unaccustomed it. 

Gradually becomes used to C1 place as they become friends. 

Notices green plasticine sculpture of horse in room. 

Wishes she had Tuberculosis. 

Fantasy character: Gina and sometimes acts as Paul

Starts to loathe mother for her “lectures” 

Wises her parents were killed (thousands of people die)

New zealand

Connection: charles and deborah

Roleplay games (reenact as deborah and paul) scene of labour. Renegade Dielo

About royal family

Fantasy books 

Mario lanza tenor musician

St. George fighting the dragon where george’s face is Mario Lanza. 

Plasticine modelling of horses. 

Noone can truly appreciate us- about their “genius” story. 

Juliet mom calls Paul- foster daughter.

Both had illness during a young childhood. (scars in lungs(respiratory problems), bone disease) bed ridden away from family for a few years. Sent to bahamas for the good of her health)

When Juliet is sad about her father and mom leaving for a business trip she begins to hallucinate about a grandiose place (key to fourth world) has unicorns, beautiful flowers, sculpture, butterflies.

Gateway in the clouds, had the key

Not genial (extra part in our brain to appreciate the fourth world) 

Recognise on death of christ

Use Key for the way to the clouds. 

Dielo (deborahs and pauls child.)

Bored of middle class (enter into roleplay and fantasize about their child and them executing multiple men).  

Imagine a priest getting killed by Dielo after attempting to indulge a message about how medicine cannot cure Tba and only scripture will do so. 

Fourth world (a place after death for people of the arts)

Goes to psychiatrist and is diagnosing Yvonne as Homosexual (mental disorder). Yvonne is of rather connecting to Deborah. They consider each other as heavenly/inseparable together. 

Come to understand the joy of sin. 

Gina tells to Deborah about the plot to murder her mom. 

2) Metamorphosis

Changed into a insect (Gregor don’t care)

Contemplates his life as a business man

Tries to talk- just says gibberish

Gregor opens the door after manager says he can’t handle “sick” day excuse

Mom passes out, manager bails

Father tries to swat him

Gregor lives off trash in house 

And everyone is complaining about his in productivity

Gregor kills himself as the parents can’t deal with him. (Doesn’t bring money and scares off opportunities- ex. Daughter music)

Gregor when working (parents and sister were comfortable) 

Gregor cash flow supporting all of them b4

But them when he isn’t providing the parents complained about him. 

“Temporary and constantly changing human relationships which never came from the heart. To hell with it all!”

3) The catcher in the rye

Holden craw field how he sent to a mental hospital

flunked out of 6 different schools

Flunking all classes except English

Teacher tells him to step his shit out. 

Holden fights someone the man whose hooking up with a girl he used to admire. 

He gets beaten down- leaves to nyc where he lays low at almond hotel

He honestly says his a virgin- and tries to lose his virginity with a prostitute

Holden is nervous and suggests to proceed by talking. She does not receive the message and He kicks her out. 

Prostitute pimp beats him up and takes the cash. 

Phoebe and Holden go to the zoo together. 

“Holden is trying to find balance in a broken society full of people who are always faking” 

Holden reverses his hat (symbol of negating to societies norms) 

Baseball catchers foreshadowing role of a catcher in a rye. 

“ I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. “ 

Saving them from adulthood (fake world of adults)(symbol)

Wants to freeze time just like those behind the glass cases at the museum.

Holden trying to find beauty in the world of ugliness -but can’t find anyone. 

I’m the most terrific liar

“What are the ducks gonna do when the water freezes?” 

Loses by not being strong hold enough and ends up admitted to a mental hospital. 

Came across an African samurai and was curious what this scenario was like and I thought it was a great story to hear to understand the brief. 

[mermaidsirennikita]

So I was watching this new Diana documentary and would like to know your thoughts about her death👀 I'm convinced that ugly charles and his mummy killed her because she was that bitch everyone loved.😭

Honestly, even if anything fishy happened to her, I don’t think Charles had anything to do with it.  He fucked up a lot and definitely didn’t treat her the way she deserved to be treated, but from what I’ve read he comes off as more spineless than malicious.  (And he did seem to step up to a degree after she died in terms of parenting.)  If Charles had been allowed to marry Camilla as he wanted to, there would have been the scandal of the crown prince marrying a divorcee, but he likely would have been fine and dandy, and they seem to have a good relationship.  If he was a malicious man--or the playboy that the palace tried to pass him off as before he married--I think he would have ended up with a “younger model”.  His was a pretty simple case of his heart belonging to one woman and him being too beaten down by royal culture~ to have the balls to tell his mom to fuck off while he married who he wanted.

I also doubt that the queen had anything to do with anything happening to Diana, a) because she’d never risk getting her hands that dirty and it getting out and b) I actually do think that in her own twisted way she had good intentions with the Diana marriage.  Charles looks pretty miserable during his wedding, but the queen (and Philip) look THRILLED at points.  And in their antiquated way, I think they genuinely believed that they were giving him “the best”.  Camilla was an attractive woman, but she wasn’t this gamine beauty that Diana was at the time, and Diana was extremely well-bred and a virgin and by all accounts quite sweet and eager to please when she first married Charles.  I do believe that the queen, again in her antiquated (upper class) way thought that Diana would be a MUCH better match not just for the monarchy but her son.  Camilla had already been through the marriage mill and “failed”.  She was damaged goods, in their view.  How could Charles not be happy with a beautiful young aristocratic virgin who hero-worshiped him?

If ANYONE had anything to do with Diana’s death, I’d say it would be more likely that it would be the Queen Mum (but like she was a million years old so while it wasn’t impossible it was less likely) because she came from an older gen where things were a bit nastier and less press-aware, or Philip, because he’s always been rumored to have a meaner streak and again, is less aware of the implications of the press than Elizabeth.  The thing is that the queen, from what I’ve read, knew that she fucked Charles and Diana over by not letting him just marry who he wanted, though she’s probably never admitted it plainly to anyone, and Charles may have hated Diana for humiliating him, but he was aware of his own part and was very saddened by her death on behalf of his children.  He did know that she was an excellent mother, and speaking as someone whose parents have gone through a very bitter divorce, exes can hate each other but acknowledge their virtues as parents at the same time.  So I believe that.

With all that being said, my conspiracy-loving self sometimes wonders if something sketchy was going on...  But ultimately, I believe that her death was a very tragic accident that really didn’t do much to benefit the monarchy (if anything, it made things worse because they looked sketch afterwards and had a temporary crisis in which people thought the queen was being a bitch for not mourning enough) and it makes more sense to me that she was killed “by” the press than the monarchy.  She troubled the monarchy, but the press had been hounding her ever since she got engaged to a frightening degree, and I think they caused her more issues than the royal family ever did.  The only thing that has ever really given me pause is that she clearly had a type after she divorced Charles--and that type wasn’t really leaning towards white Christian men.  She clearly--to me, at least--didn’t love Dodi Al-Fayed, and if she did get engaged to him I think it would have likely ended up being a temporary thing to get the attention of the man she truly loved, Hasnat Khan, who was a Muslim man.  I don’t think the royal family would have been thrilled if the mother of the future king married a Muslim...  But I also think that it’s somewhat iffy that she would have gone through with it.  It sounds like Hasnat Khan was the love of her life, and the relationship wasn’t completely finished when she died.  But it’s one thing to carry on with a man who would be completely unsuitable by royal standards, largely in secret... it’s another to marry him, and Hasnat knew that.  He didn’t want to marry her for those reasons, among others.  I feel that ultimately, if Diana remarried at all, she would have ended up with someone who toed the party line a bit more, as harsh as that sounds.  And I think that she’d barely been divorced from Charles very long before she died, so getting her because of her unacceptable dating habits seems a bit overreactive, especially considering the fact that she is William and Harry’s mother and was the most popular woman in the world, essentially.  Aaaaand that’s how I’d debunk the one conspiracy theory I’d buy into lol.

Also, as sketchy as the Windors seem (and are) I think it’s important to remember that MANY of them (basically everyone accept William and Harry’s generation) were raised in an extremely weird, frigid culture that makes them come off as worse than they actually are, imo.  I’m not saying that they haven’t done bad things, but there have also been many incidents of scandalous behavior that really went without repercussions--and the same goes for the pre-Windsor monarchy.  The English royals don’t have a huge history of bumping people off because they made them look bad, at least not in the postmodern era.  I mean, if Wallis Simpson didn’t get offed, I don’t know why Diana would be.  Sometimes I like to indulge in theories~ but ultimately Elizabeth’s policy has been to play it close to the vest and SAFE, which ironically has led to more scandal in the long term, not just with Charles but her own sister Margaret.  Furthermore, that’s really just the tip of the iceberg--Andrew dated a porn star at one time, I believe, and of course Fergie’s been out getting her toes sucked on video and doing various rebellious things.  They’re not really strangers to scandal, and as much as Diana was rebelling right after her marriage, I think they probably could have rested assured that sooner or later, she would have chilled, been very dedicated to charity work as always, and supported the monarchy because one day her son is gonna run that joint.  She had an in that they would never get rid of.

[dreamcountess]

I I don’t believe Charles Vane’s thoughts on freedom and piracy were hypocritical at all. He knows he has responsibility, that crews have orders and rules. His point is that they are THEIR rules. He was a “proper pirate” in the sense that he refused to be a slave. He believed everyone should be able to make their own decisions. To follow him or not follow him.

He only tried to tell people what to think when people started to think like England. I mean, he has a point, if you’re going to start thinking like England, like Eleanor did when she started saying “earn money the way England earns money”, then... You’re not a pirate. You’re just another one of “them”. 

I believe he was a “proper pirate” because he was against the Establishment, the System, against the Man, however you want to call it. He was against England, or any other country, that had an empire that ruled the world with an iron fist. He was against civilisation. He didn’t believe in some men being given everything on a silver platter from birth without doing anything, and others being enslaved and mistreated despite working their arses off to benefit others.

He believed very much in hard work. He believed everyone should get what they deserve, which means if you work hard and are “strong” then you should be rewarded. Those who were weak and just whined and did nothing deserve to be stripped of their goods and livelihood. And I don’t mean strong as in physically, he had huge respect for Max and Eleanor who were very strong and hard working people. I mean, like Charles said at one point, if someone isn’t strong enough to defend themselves, then why should someone else defend them? He is against the concept of the world following the rules of a select few. He believed every man should be able to make his own decisions and live as he would like. And he lived by that, perfectly honestly, without any hypocrisy at all. 

It’s like he said to Eleanor in S02E03, why does he need legitimacy? What would that do for him? The reason he’s so against it is because England, this mythical concept that means nothing other than the lives it destroys, would just magically say “okay these people have power, money and respect now”. Why? Why would be accept this? If he’s to have all of that, then it’s because he worked for it himself. “When I take something from a man, his ship, his money, his life, I don’t hide behind a clerk. I don’t hide behind the law. I don’t hide behind anything. I look him in the eye, and I give him every chance to deny me. That is legitimate.” He’ll accept being beaten fair and square. He doesn’t want to win just because some all powerful empire said he won. He wants to win fair and square. And anyone who wants to call themselves pirate should believe the same. Otherwise, you’re not a pirate, you’re just another civilised person who believes in “The Establishment”, just not the English one. 

So to come finally to Jack Rackham saying he’s a “different sort of pirate”, I believe he was being extremely respectful of Charles when saying that. Because he finally understood what “proper pirate” means. He realised that it wasn’t about being strong, or brutal, or feared, or anything that Charles was. He realised that being a proper pirate is about being against “The Establishment”. 

For so long Jack had been trying to live up to Charles’ reputation, to be the same kind of man that he was, to be rough, and brutal, and very vocal about his rebelliousness. Jack Rackham was never any of that, it’s not in his nature, and he finally accepted it when he said he was a different sort of pirate. He finally accepted that you can still be a “proper pirate” without doing the same thing as Charles. 

Jack is still rebelling against "The Establishment”, but instead of fighting it head on like Charles did, he’s being cunning. He’s cheating the rules, using his charisma to get all the profit without putting in the work. He still beat the system. He’s still fighting back. If England knew the truth he’d be hung, but no, he’s there, doing his thing, being a pirate and living his his own rules. He honoured Charles Vane’s memory and beliefs, but he did it in his own way instead of copying. Jack loved Charles very much, and he looked up to him and tried his damned hardest to please him, not because Charles was his overlord, but because he loved and respected Charles’ views of the world. And I honestly think Charles would have been proud of him for what he achieved in the end. 

A “proper” pirate

Ok so for a proper analysis Id need to do a rewatch and actually watch out for that line and Im not gonna do that right now so feel free to chime in if I get something wrong. But I cant stop thinking about the ‘proper pirate’ theme and the way parts of the fandoms handle it? Like its something to strive towards? And I’m very confused.

To me this line has two main goals within the show. Firstly to show the hypocrisy of Charles Vane’s thought on freedom. Because he’s someone that absolutely doesn’t want to conform to societies expactations. And yet he is also the one enforcing and presenting the idea of what a pirate should be. His arc more than anyone else’s shows us that even a powerful pirate captain can’t just do what he wants but has responsibility before crew and quartermaster. This becomes especially clear in season 2 in which he constantly struggles to come up with reasons for his crew to go along with his plans and in the end they still try to leave while he’s in Charlestown.

The second reason’s as lead up to Jack’s ‘A different sort of pirate’ line. Now you might say ‘Ian. Aren’t you a little bit obsessed with that line?’. And you would be correct. But am I wrong tho? The entire series we have the theme of the ‘proper pirate’ coming up again and again including when Anne says to Jack that he’s the only one who made a career out of wanting to be called a proper pirate by Vane. And now right at the end we have Jack going ‘You know what? Thats not how we’re gonna get anywhere. That’s not where my strengths lie’ and completely reject that idea. That’s the only conclusion we have to this theme!

Now there’s two ways to read this. One is that being a proper pirate should be something to honor and that Jack betrayed not only Vane’s memory and the war but piracy as a whole. The question ‘what is a pirate’ is something that weaves itself through the entirety of Black Sails, from this to Eleanor’s trial to Rogers’ Redcoats costumes becoming more and more pirate like after they cut of ties to England. Whether or not a pirate needs to go against everything England stands for and thanks to Jacks deal he betrayed piracy and that’s why he’s not a proper pirate anymore is something to consider. But I think ending the whole series with the image of Jacks pirate flag kind of speaks against that.

The second one, and the one I like a lot more maybe just because I have a lot of feelings about Jack’s arc, is the ‘proper pirate’ as a metaphor for toxic masculinity and/or gatekeeping in counter cultures. I always read Jack’s ‘different sort of pirate’ as an embrace that his best quality is being able to listen to women and to know what it’s like to be underestimated and using that to your advantage. A ‘proper pirate’ is often portrayed as always in control, strong and never someone who needs to depend on others. You know, the bullshit we think men should be. And so going ‘Nah, actually fuck that’ is a good thing. Throughout Black Sails shit always starts failing as soon as men stop listening to the women, for example when Roger’s goes against Eleanor’s deal, when Jack goes against Max’s advice, when Flint doesn’t listen to Miranda in London. And Jack’s the first one to realize that, because he’s willing to follow Max’ Plan and in the end he’s the one who succeeds.

As for the ‘gatekeeping in counter cultures’ part it’s mostly based on the hypocrisy that I already talked about in the beginning and I just tought it’s interesting that it’s something still easy to see today. Of course definitions matter and as already said asking what constitutes a pirate is interesting but it also very much ‘if you cant list every song by this obscure band youre not a real punk’ vibes. Where the lines are drawn is something worth looking at.

But all in all Id still say peoples tendency to frame being a ‘proper pirate’ as something to strive towards is…maybe not a good thing? Like I dont get it?