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siberlius · 4 years ago

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three times diluc said something nice about kaeya (+ one time it was said to kaeya)

also on ao3

i didn’t even have to come up with anything new about their relationship content wise they are mostly in the official story. note for spoilers ahead!

“Master Diluc!”

Pyro user. Talented with a bow. Three-time winner of Mondstadt Gliding Championships. The Outrider. The Crimson Knight. Diluc had met her grandfather, back when he was still part of the Knights of Favonius, had smiled at stories of mayhem caused by his grandchild shared during campfires, mayhem that stopped with his mysterious disappearance and the tragic erosion of the Outrider Division. Diluc had also heard about the girl’s determined attempt to revive her grandfather’s legacy. She’s young, she’s passionate, hopeful. And she’s brave, brave enough to protect a child plagued by the Archon Residue from a Delusion user. Despite his distaste towards the Knights of Favonius, Diluc could see the similarities between his younger self and her. The bitter, jaded heart of his was cynical, but still he carried an irrational hope that she didn’t become worn out like he did.

“Evening, Outrider. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“You know me?” Amber perked up.

Apart from information through keeping tabs on prominent Vision users with Diluc’s own intelligence network, to her credit, the Outrider had made a name for herself. Diluc tilted his head, “Of course. I have heard great things about you.”

She blushed. “Eh? From who?”

“The Acting Grand Master of the Knight of Favonius, of course. To celebrate your heroic deeds, why not have a drink, on the house? Here’s the menu of-“

“Ooh is it the super famous dandelion wine!”

“- the non-alcoholic drinks. I know you are underaged, miss.”

At that, Amber looked sheepish. “I will have a Berry and Mint Burst.”

“Good choice.”

As Diluc prepared the drink, he asked, “Why are you here at the tavern? Not that we mind, just that at this hour the Angel’s Share is more popular with the adults.”

He watched her hastily form a lie. “I wanted to see what’s so good about the tavern!”

Diluc raised a brow. Amber crumbled. “You caught me. I wanted to find Sir Kaeya.”

It’s practice that prevented Diluc from dropping the mixer onto the table. He poured the mix of ice, berry juice and mint concentrate into a glass, topped the drink off with a swig of mint and served it to Amber.

“The calvary captain? Why are you looking for him here instead of at the headquarters?”

“Shit this is good. Um. Well, I don’t know if I can say this, but uh...”

“So it’s a secret mission.”

“No! It’s just, he has been avoiding me since the thing with Collei, and I am trying to catch him to apologise!”

The child with the Archon Residue. Huh. “And why is that?”

“I. Uh. Look I know he thinks I am a rookie and doesn’t take me seriously and I may or may not have gone against his orders but you know what? It’s his fault for not telling me anything!”

Diluc almost offered her free drinks for the year there and then. Instead, he chose to nod. “Just between you and me, you don’t seem to be the only one with such complains.”

“Sir Kaeya is an amazing knight, a great captain. I respect him a lot. But, sometimes I can’t help but wish he could let us help him. I know he runs off for a reason, though giving us orders we don’t understand why while he leaves makes the other knights question him. And when he’s back he always looks at us like he knows what we have been doing and as if everything has gone according to plan. But what if he doesn’t come back? We won’t be able to help him since we won’t know what’s happening. It irks me so much.”

“Maybe you should provide feedback to him.”

“Do you think he would mind? Argh, I wanted to apologise to him.”

“You can apologise and give him feedback. I’m sure calvary captains would want to hear out the knights under their command.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you were the calvary captain,” Amber muttered, and immediately froze in horror. “Wait. You were a calvary captain!”

Diluc’s eye twitched.

“Please don’t tell Sir Kaeya, Master Diluc! I know you must be friends and-“

“We aren’t friends.”

It must have come off a little rough, with how Amber’s face was turning pale, so Diluc quickly schooled his features back into character, and added, “He’s a good paying customer, that’s all.”

“You promise you won't tell?”

“Of course. A bartender offers a listening ear. It would be bad for business if I don’t keep the things people vent to me about.”

Amber heaved a sigh of relief. “I know I complained a lot, but honestly! I want him to like me. I know I am not as experienced as some of the Vision users in the knights, but I am good at my job. I just wish he could see it.”

“Oh, I am sure he knows that.”

“Eh?”

“Well, he did come over with the Acting Grand Master and the Librarian. You were the topic of their conversation. He knows what you have done and is proud of you. I don’t think whatever you were concerned about was in his mind at all.”

“Oh! That’s kind of him. I mean, I - keep this between us okay - kind of helped the person who was killing him to escape.”

Diluc blinked. Kaeya always left out a lot of details.

“Maybe it was the right thing to do, and he knows.”

“It was the right thing to do,” the Outrider’s back straightened as her eyes flared in determination, “though if he had told me earlier that he knew who the culprit was this wouldn’t be an issue! Well, I think I still owe him an apology.”

“He usually goes to the table in the dark corner near the stairs around this hour. Why don’t you go upstairs in the mean time. I will give you a signal if he shows up. If he doesn’t, you can still stay and order more drinks if you like. It’s on the house for heroic Outriders.”

“Really? Thank you Master Diluc, for listening to me, and for the drinks!”

Diluc waved her off as she skipped upstairs with her Berry and Mint Burst in hand.

They watched the Traveler leave, Paimon flying by their shoulder in a dash of sparkles, and the Ameno God slipped out of the tavern with a flurry of green.

“You aren’t going to ask Kaeya to come along?” Jean asked.

“We don’t need him.” The Dandelion Knight was an army of her own. They had Barbatos on their side, even if he wasn’t the all powerful god he imagined. The Traveler was uncannily talented as well.

“I thought things between the two of you are a little better now.”

Better? Diluc furrowed his brows. As much as he was a thorn on his side, Kaeya had been quieter these days, busy with his missions. In other words, he was the same as always.

But Jean knew them back when they were still brothers in name and heart.

“We are okay,” Diluc replied shortly, “he just isn’t the sort that enjoys heroic quests involving errant divine creatures.”

Kaeya’s cup of tea involved sifting through backend politics and pre-empting backstabbing using a lot of manipulation that Diluc frowned upon. He would do better managing the city in their absence.

“Ah, but you do,” Jean smiled, a little teasing, “that’s more your style, after all.”

Diluc huffed. At least she stopped referring to him as sir. While it was touching to know that old colleagues still respected him enough (and useful too, for insider’s information), he had left the Knights and all its false glamour for a reason.

“I was worried - well. I know the two of you don’t see eye to eye, and I don’t want to be involved in your personal issues, but I am the Acting Grand Master, and I have to know if you don’t trust him for whatever reason, for the sake of Mondstadt.”

Diluc stilled. There’s no other reason for anyone else to be suspicious of Kaeya, despite the obvious. “Just because he isn’t from Mondstadt?”

Jean shifted uncomfortably. “Grand Master Varka had his reservations. You know how he’s like especially with the Fatui situation, and Khaenri’ah, not to be judgemental-“

“So don’t be,” Diluc cut in tersely. Jean paused, surprisingly calm for being interrupted.

“Good,” Jean said, and her face was one full of relief, “he does things unorthodox, but without him it would have been hard to deal with all the politics involved in diplomacy. He’s remarkably talented at cleaning unsightly messes. I trust him, just so you know.”

��Okay,” Diluc said, strangely relieved as well, “we should hurry to Stormterror’s lair before our dear traveler bites off more than they can chew.”

“Yes sir,” Jean said.

Diluc sighed. So much for one step forward.

“Master Diluc! Master Diluc!”

The strange pair of travelers were always loud in their steps. Fitting for the role of a hero. Diluc set his papers down on the table. “How can I help you?”

“Tell Paimon about your rivalry with Kaeya!”

Diluc felt an oncoming headache building between his eyes. “Rivalry?"

“We have been talking to the townsfolk back in Mondstadt!”

“You have been gossiping?”

The Traveler quickly shifted to the side to create some distance from Paimon, and Paimon, as if on instinct, flitted closer to the Traveler much to their chagrin.

“Why didn’t you tell us you are famous? The two dashing opposites of Mondstadt! How poetic the two of you are! Blue and Red! Night and Day! Cryo and Pyro! Ice and Fire! Calvary captain and vigi -“

“I get it please calm down and lower your volume,” Diluc pinched the bridge of his nose, willing himself to ignore the stares and whispers of visitors at the Dawn Winery.

“Answer Paimon’s question! How did the rivalry begin!”

“There is no rivalry. We are not competing or anything.”

Growing up, Kaeya preferred to stay in the shadows supporting Diluc, being his comrade-in-arms, right hand man, spokesperson, and confidante, smoothing out the road ahead and helping Diluc through with every challenge. They trained together, because Kaeya was a clever fighter who when push came to a shove, gave up on knightly decorum and fought dirty. Kaeya had been formidable on his own even without a Vision. But they, well, Diluc never felt that they really wanted to best each other. Who knew what Kaeya thought, though something in Diluc told him that Kaeya never cared for that either.

“Oh,” Paimon said glumly, “I thought there was some spicy story, from what the girls at the Cat’s Tail said.”

“Paimon, do me a favour and stop indulging in gossip.”

Paimon flew to hide behind the Traveler. “Oh no he’s angry!”

“Sorry about that,” the Traveler grimaced.

Feeling a little guilty, and before he stopped himself, Diluc threw them a bone, “We used to be brothers.”

“BROTHERS?” Paimon yelled. The Traveler slapped a hand over her mouth. But their stare on Diluc was serious and disconcerting.

“Used to be?” The Traveler asked, troubled, “how can one use to be brothers?”

“Sometimes, when people become too different, they drift apart,” Diluc answered smoothly, already regretting starting this line of conversation.

“But,” the Traveller looked distraught, “that doesn’t change anything. You will always be siblings, right?”

Paimon’s face was full of sympathy, “Hey, chin up! Don’t listen to Captain Pyro - once you find them, Paimon’s sure the two of you will still be fine!”

Diluc blinked. Right.

“Paimon’s right. Your circumstances and mine are very different. And, Kaeya and I can speak to each other, even if we aren’t close anymore. He has his duties, and so have I. We still serve Mondstadt, even if we don’t see eye to eye.”

The Traveler shook their head, “If I find them and they still welcome me into their arms, it will be a miracle. It has been so long. I - I have to find them soon, lest they forget me. Hey Paimon, let’s move onwards!”

“Okay! Bye bye, Captain Pyro!”

Diluc nodded. “I wish you all the very best.”

Twins - it was often said that there were no bond stronger than the one between a pair of twins.

People used to refer to them as twins, despite how physically different they looked. As with matters of his heart, his past, Diluc pushed them to the furthest edge of his mind, and returned to the reports at hand.

The party was surprisingly well-organised, despite how rushed it had been to deal with the Acting Grand Master’s duties while preparing the surprise. Near the end of it, everyone helped to clean up, sweeping the floors and wiping the tables of the Angel’s Share. One by one, they had left in cheers and high spirits. In the silence Diluc did a quick count of the stock left in the tavern.

Footsteps, carefully volumed and timed just to not startle him. The drag of a chair. The creak from a person’s weight on the seat.

“You are still here.” Diluc said.

“Wanted to say thank you for letting us host the party here. I didn’t even have to pull a favour or two from you," Kaeya replied, lilt in his voice.

“That’s because you secretly got Noelle to make the request. And, this was for Jean.”

Kaeya laughed. Sighing, Diluc took a clean glass, filled it up, and dropped it in front of Kaeya. Kaeya raised his brow, but accepted the drink. He winced as he braced himself for the taste of grape juice, but upon realising that it was dandelion wine, he began sipping it with childish glee that stirred something fond and old within Diluc.

“You are in a good mood today.”

“We can’t always be hunting down abyss mages and beating no-gooders in the night.”

“Or tricking innocent travelers to be part of some grand scheme.”

Kaeya hid a smile behind his glass of wine. “Ah, we never could maintain polite conversation for longer a minute, can we?”

“We-“ Diluc stopped himself. When they were younger, conversations between them were childish chatter that had to be hushed by Father, familiar digs at each other that only they could get away with, and once in a blue moon, banter that sometimes got mean enough to turn into brawls.

Unpleasant memories twisted nostalgia into something ugly that sank uncomfortably in his gut.

“Do you regret telling me?”

Kaeya’s blue eye twinkled against the flush of his cheeks, “About?”

“You know what.”

The edges of Kaeya’s lips curled. He considered Diluc for a moment. “Sometimes, yes. If only so that you won't hate me so much.”

Diluc stared at him in silence. Whether or not he said anything in return, Kaeya would read him. Kaeya could always read him. A part of Diluc’s resentment would always be about that. He used to think he could read him like the back of his hand as well. After the worst day in his life, he couldn’t shake off the grinding suspicion in his gut that Kaeya could be lying every word he spoke, couldn’t help but wonder if all the times they spent together were a series of carefully concocted lies.

Now, he looked at Kaeya. Really looked. Saw a grinning, younger, vulnerable Kaeya who was a warm presence by his side throughout their childhood, superimposed upon the image of an older, resigned, distant one who Diluc had swung at with the claymore.

“Other times, well most times,” Kaeya hummed, swirling the wine glass in his hand, “without it I wouldn’t have gotten my Vision, yeah? A blessing from the Gods for telling the truth. “

Huh. Diluc always saw it as the Gods stopping him from making a mistake of a lifetime.

“And I’m glad that there’s someone in this world who sees me for who I am.”

When Kaeya first joined the Ragnvindrs, he had obsessively helped with the chores, answering Father’s and his beck and call, playing more the role of a subservient errand boy than a ward under the protection of the Ragnvindrs. Diluc couldn’t understand why he was uncomfortable with the unwavering smile plastered on Kaeya’s face, and spoke to Father about it.

“Give him time,” Father said, though he looked worried as well, “try to help him adjust. He will open up in time.”

So Diluc, without the sense of tact, went straight to Kaeya and said, “Father wants to adopt you as his son. I don’t want my only brother to be some sort of unpaid house servant.”

It did the trick, even if Diluc didn’t plan for it. It was like meeting Kaeya, the person, for the first time again, watching sheer trepidation and relief shine through the elusive cracks of the mask on Kaeya’s face.

In hindsight, he was way too young to be wearing one that perfectly already, wasn’t he?

Diluc thought about the knights who patronised the Angel’s Share, gossiping about their calvary captain in jealousy, admiration, suspicion. He thought about the girls who fawned behind his back and the local elderly who gushed about what a sweetheart he was. He thought about Kaeya scheming a convoluted plan just so that Collei would not get arrested, even though it would cost him his own reputation. He thought about him planning a party for Jean and giving the Traveler reasons to stay in Mondstadt.

Things had changed. But some stayed the same - these things, they couldn’t possibly be an act, right? Diluc shoved the strange mix of feelings threatening to burst from his chest away.

“You would be happy to hear that a lot more people than you think sees you for who you are, then.”

“Oh?” Kaeya said, looking genuinely surprised.

Diluc chose not to elaborate, but added, “You aren’t important enough to be hated by me either.”

Kaeya’s eyes widened as his face lit up. “That’s the nicest thing I have ever heard you say to me. Gee, Diluc. I never knew you had that in you.”

Diluc rolled his eyes.

#my writing #shitty siblings shenanigans #genshin impact #the title sucks but whatever asjahdksl

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englishgiraffe · 4 years ago

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My Love For The Eighth Doctor Books

Disclaimer: This essay is awfully long, the structure is terrible, and it probably shouldn’t have been over 4000 words, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy my insight of the Eighth Doctor Books.

Introduction

Trying to create a character around a brand new Doctor is tricky and Paul McGann’s incarnation is perhaps the biggest example for this. After 1996, he never had a TV appearance to fully flesh out the Eighth Doctor and remember: Big Finish didn’t use the Eighth Doctor until 2001. So writers in 1997 had a difficult task, especially when the Virgin Books lost the rights to the DW IP and were back in the BBC’s rights. Some Virgin New Adventure writers like Kate Orman, Justin Richards, Paul Leonard had come to write for the EDA’s, but new talent had to come in as well. They all had to intricately look at like, what, 40 minutes of McGann’s screentime in the TV Movie, half of which was the Doctor trying to figure himself out from amnesia and the other half is him being thrust into the plot without any way to truly develop his character. So… yeah, I actually can’t blame the writers finding their feet, at least with the VNA’s developing the 7th Doctor, he had 12 stories. Also, trying to pick up from the massive popularity of the VNA’s, and oh my God, I feel so bad for the writers. But, there could be a slither of a chance, maybe the magic they could have brought from the VNA’s can be replicated again. So, did it work? Hell yeah, it did!... just not under the guise of Uncle Terry Dicks. Just…screw everything about The Eight Doctors, it’s the worst possible starting point. But after that blip, yeah, it’s my favourite era of the Doctor Who IP, bar none.

Exciting Ideas

I’ll start off listing the sci-fi elements first before getting into character work. Much like the VNA’s, perhaps even more so, the EDA’s are not afraid to bring bold, extravagant ideas that TV Who could never do, perhaps not even what Big Finish could do, because of the novel format that allows descriptions and characters to fully grow. The Books are able to describe how a planet looks, feels, sounds, even down to taste so effortlessly, and a part of it is how unique, so bizarre, so beautiful these planets are, so… intimate. Could Doctor Who ever do planets like Albert (a planet entirely made out of Grimm’s fairy tales), Hitchemus (a colony world thriving on music and inhabited by intelligent tigers), The Crooked World (much like the Land of Fiction, except all the inhabitants and settings are cartoon-based). Not even Big Finish pulls off such weird and surreal settings and that’s because of the prose style allowing time and dedication to flesh out the multiple planets, without feeling clunky in its description and dialogue, which could plague early BF stories at times. But it’s not just the variety in the settings that make it great, there are also fascinating new ways to tell these stories with different formats. Narratives can be told in a Pulp Fiction-esque, out of order style (The Last Resort), told backwards (Festival of Death), books where the Doctor is barely in it but his presence is booming (Sleep of Reason), books told from the first person POV (The Turing Test, Frontier Worlds, Banquo Legacy), a narrative told from a non-fiction documentary perspective (Adventuress of Henrietta Street), a narrative told in a essay format (History 101), and that’s only a handful of the formats. There’s multiple pastiches and parodies; Trading Futures does Doctor Who crossed with James Bond harder than the Pertwee era, The Tomorrow Windows replicates Douglas Adams’ style down to a T, The Crooked World is basically Doctor Who crossed with Hanna Barbara Cartoons and many more. God, everything is so unique and wacky in this book range.

The Tone and Theming

As for the Books’ tone, it’s certainly interesting. In the VNA’s, because a lot of new talent, and a lack of the BBC reigning things in as well as major inspiration from 90s cyberpunk media such as Judge Dredd, a lot of the books, especially in its first half, were extremely grimdark and gratuitous in order to show shock value for its audience (Timewryn Genesys had Ace sexually assaulted and The Doctor told her to just shrug it off and claim that it was part of the times they’re in and Warlock had unconsented bestiality and detailed animal murder). It was too far in my eyes, despite me saying that DW can be more than a franchise that is just whirling around in a magic police box. However, in the EDA’s, yes there is more sexual content, swearing like bastard, bitch and shit is still a thing, and there can be gory violence. But here’s where the EDA’s success at compared to VNA’s; it attempts to earn it’s adult elements. With the VNA’s, the grimdark nature was so constant to the point of normalisation, with hardly any degree of wonder or wit, especially from its regulars (thank God for Bernice Summerfield bringing some happiness at least). It does address and deconstruct the grimdark nature near the end, but God, even as a depressing cynical man, the likes of Blood Heat, Parasite, Warlock were just too dour for me to truly enjoy. But here, there is moderation and it feels contextual to the overall story. It enhances the story, not pollute it. The Spanish Civil War of 1936 (History 101) is written maturely and handles its mature themes in a thoughtful manner, Suicide and Depression is handled with sensitivity and intimacy (The Sleep of Reason), and when gratituous violence is used, it is detailed certainly but never glamorised and often times extremely terrifying instead of gore for the sake of gore (Eater of Wasps). Hell, even the most comical story, The Crooked World, has introspective themes of free will, the concept of death, existentialism and the value of a soul. But, it’s not all bleak, as said, The Crooked World is perhaps the most comical story since The Romans, anything involved with Iris Wildthyme as well as being weird abstract, is just laugh-out-loud hilarious, Jonathan Morris’ The Tomorrow Windows is pure Douglas Adams wacky humour, and Lance Parkin’s Trading Futures is majorly inspired by Roger Moore James Bond movies. The way the Books tackle true adult themes like Morality, Honour, Sexuality, Gender, Trauma, Redemption, the Philosophy of Nature and Identity, whilst being imaginative, humorous and endearing is… just poignant and beautiful.

The Regulars-Sam Jones

So… the regulars. Well, I’ll save the main two (The Eighth Doctor and Fitz) for last, because they will be the longest. So starting with Sam Jones (and yes, they do the ‘Smith and Jones’ shtick about a decade prior to Series 3), and off the bat, she’s easily the weakest EDA Companion and a bit of a inconsistency. She often suffered from writers who wanted to write her as the worst extremes of ‘Vegetarian Political Activist’, who constantly bitches and moans towards everything without any proper tact. And I don’t mind characters who don’t believe in tact, Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel is one of my favourite characters, but when Sam gives her opinions on everything in a pessimistic attitude without a degree of optimism… yeah my enthusiasm starts to drain really quickly. Doesn’t help that she’ll flip-flop between being a lovesick puppydog for 8, cynical activist or just… woman. But I will say that when she’s written under the likes of Kate Orman/Jonathan Blum, Paul Leonard and Paul Magrs, I absolutely love her character. She’s perceptive yet bright, naïve but willing to grow, cynical but willing to bring in entertainment. And I will say that her backstory is a fascinating deconstruction of the ‘Perfect Companion’ trope that Moffat loved to overemphasise. She had been manipulated, used as a pawn and twisted by the Doctor (although this is accidental) from the events of the TV Movie, and the real/correct one is just a junkie that couldn’t wait to stick a Heroin needle if it was given in front of her. It’s tragic, especially considering that when The Doctor fixes all his companions’ timeline much later down the line, Correct Sam becomes the correct version and it’s revealed that this version never travelled with the Doctor and died of an overdose, despite Fitz knowing her experiences they had together. I also love her exit story in Interference, she had become more enjoyable near the end and the story is able to show her resources. Unfortunately, the inconsistency up until Fitz joins just left me too much having a cold taste in my mouth for me to love her.

The Regulars-Compassion

Next up, the human-TARDIS hybrid and Ice Cold Queen, Compassion. This is a character that I definitely appreciated way more after a first reading. The first time, I thought Compassion was too cold and aloof but on a reread, while she’s never going to be high on my list for favourite companions and I find her the hardest to analyse, I find that she works great as a hard-edged character, her dynamic with The Doctor and Fitz remind me a lot of 2/Jamie/Zoe, only if Zoe was way more upfront about her intelligence and rudeness. Her dynamic with Fitz as well is interesting as at first, they clearly despise each other for their clashing personalities and find each other untrustworthy but overtime, Compassion learns to enjoy Fitz’s goofiness and even learns to apologise. She can be destructive and violent with no emotion put behind it. That said, she becomes a more interesting character once she becomes the first Human-TARDIS hybrid, with the Doctor and Fitz forced to rely on her, but because of her cold hubris and after The Doctor forces a Randomiser thus violating her body, Compassion can become terrifying to The Doctor and Fitz. She does get brilliant material in The Banquo Legacy as well, with her possessing one person and her personality conflicting with the possessed person’s. And she has a decent farewell as well. Overall, I enjoy Compassion, it’s just really hard to analyse her considering that she only has 12 stories with the combination of perhaps a too subtle character arc.

The Regulars- Anji Kapoor

Now onto Anji Kapoor. If it isn’t for another companion that I’ll mention later, then Anji is certainly a close second in my rankings of 8th Doctor companions. And I also say with high praise that the 8th Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor team is my definitive TARDIS team… ever. You wouldn’t get that impression with her first story, as she has the trappings of an RTD Companion that you can pretty much guess a mile off. Stale relationship, life is going nowhere, working class, dead end job, jeez, I heard it all with Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill. The fact that she works in the stock market, an occupation I swear 98% of the population can barely figure out, and I felt like I was never going to like Anji. But Dang… Dang!!! The biggest glow-up happens in her very next story, and it practically sticks until her exit. I always felt that companions inbetween that period of Leela (arguably Tegan) and Anji never really basked in the pure absurdity of what world they were travelling in and never really gave any thought. The combination of new experiences around the universe and her haunting memories of her dead boyfriend was a lot to take in for her, to the point that she never really moved on (in Earthworld, she keeps writing emails to Dave, despite him being dead, and in Hope, she gives the secrets of the TARDIS over to the inhabitants on the exchange that they clone her boyfriend). She fell from grace multiple times, but with the Doctor and Fitz’s help, she was able to pick herself back up before spiralling down. What I love about Anji is despite her caring for The Doctor, she’s very distrustful to him because of his calculating and alien nature and both conflict with each other, their arguments almost feel too real. Anji often considers the options and is usually independent with her financial skills and intelligence. Over the 25 Books she’s in, she has become consistently enjoyable and a delight to read. Witty, clever, full of instinct, and humane, I did feel a proper sense of loss when she left.

The Regulars- Trix Macmillan

On the last companion, Trix Macmillan. She’s probably have the least amount of books in comparison to other EDA Companions (Sam had 25, Fitz had 51, Compassion has 12 and Anji had 25), with her only having 9 Books. Certainly not a lot of time to flesh out her character in comparison, but somehow the writers did it. What I love about Trix and what makes her a stark contrast to the first EDA Companion, Sam, is that Trix doesn’t want to be popular or well-liked. She’s logical, calculating, often devious, and often pretty tactless. She’s the kind of person who would steal a dead person’s identity and money. She treats The Doctor and Fitz not as friends, only acquaintances. But not just that, she can be (intentionally) a walking contradiction. Much like a showbiz actress, depending on what environment, time and crowd she’s working with, she’ll immediately change her personality. To the point that Trix doesn’t even know her true personality, and she is scared that she wants to know what she used to be. She likes being anyone but herself, wanting to become inconspicuous around the Doctor. Her relationship with the Doctor is interesting as well, he is judgemental towards her hobby as a conwoman, believing that she’s only with him and Fitz because she’ll steal whatever she can get. But as time goes on, he learns about her contradictory personality (most likely relates because of his own contradictory personality), and sees her, the real her. And despite her trying to detach herself from The Doctor, she slowly, but surely, opens herself more to The Doctor and Fitz, to the point that she feels hurt when The Doctor accuses her. Even with the short runtime, I found her relationship with Fitz to be really touching, and shows that Fitz’s open loyalty works in tandem with Trix’s cold secrecy. We don’t get much information about her past, but in a way I enjoy the lack of answers, whether she’s just a conartist or perhaps a chameleonic alien, what her relationship was like with her father. And maybe that’s the point, with her shape-shifting and unpredictable personality, she’s meant to be an enigma. At the very least, with 9 books, she had become a fascinating character that was wonderful to read and analyse.

The Regulars-Fitzgerald Kreiner

Now, my favourite companion in all of Doctor Who media, Fitz Kreiner. Better than the likes of Jamie, Donna, Sarah Jane, Ace and Evelyn. Before with Sam and The Doctor, the books were of varying quality, but as soon as he was introduced, even with a bit of a terrible debut story, he brought such humour that made the story just about bearable. He’s a bit of a goofball with some addiction for cigarettes and alcohol, but he starts becoming one of the most complex and special characters in the franchise. He begins as a bit of a James Bond-esque ‘Lady’s Man’, often trying to flirt and womanise, but by his third Book, Revolution Man, the development truly begins. He gets kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed under the influence of alien drugs and forced into shooting a man, with the Doctor forced to finish the job off for Fitz. He’s obviously going to have lasting effects that will damage him in the long run. But Damn, it doesn’t stop there, Interference leaves him in the absolute gutter with him being trapped in a membrane for 600 years, and resents the Doctor for failing to rescue him, and joins up to 8’s longlives enemy, Faction Paradox, and is converted to be a monster, becoming Father Kreiner. And it’s tragic, given his PTSD shown from Revolution Man. But that Fitz is gone, and what stays with the Doctor until the end is a clone of him, with full memories and everything. So thankfully, the loveable oaf never truly went away and only gets better from here. Much like how the 2nd Doctor was perfect for Jamie, or how Ian and Barbara are integral for the 1st Doctor, Fitz is ideal for 8. During the period with Compassion, he wants to prove that he’s the real Fitz, but can’t, because he isn’t. He may have the OG Fitz’s memories, but he can’t dream and thinks that some memories are missing. Even some aspects of his personality are different, like his skills of hiding and blending in easier. He may be a doofus, and hard to catch on certain things, but much like Jamie, he’s street-smart, and is able to spot simple situations that The Doctor wouldn’t give a second notice because of his desire for over-complicated situations. Even with him not being as bright, he’s able to hold off on his own from the Doctor, as in Trading Futures, he’s able to defeat Time Lord-wannabe Space Rhinos (no, not those kind of Space Rhinos) on his own without any of the Doctor’s help or knowledge by impersonating the Doctor, even willing to sacrifice himself. He’s the flame behind the EDA’s for me, the one who is willing to sacrifice everything he has to save whoever he considers family, and the bond that the Doctor and Fitz have together is inspired. He is fiercely loyal to the Doctor, even when he is kept in the dark. They both have a connection towards each other, like a mix between 2/Jamie and early 8/Charley, with Fitz even willing to hold the heavy memories of what 8 did to Gallifrey, even when The Doctor threatens to break every bone in Fitz’s body. He was the best friend that 8 could ever have, I loved their kindred relationship and it was totally worth it having Fitz for 51 Books to become such a developed character. My favourite companion, bar none.

The Regulars-The Eighth Doctor

And now, finally the Eighth Doctor. Before, I used to cite the Eighth Doctor from Big Finish as the definitive incarnation. And don’t get me wrong, I still love him in the Charley, Lucie and even the Doom Coalition era. He has brilliant gravitas in showing intelligence (arguably the most intelligence since the 4th Doctor), dry morbid humour, the right amount of patronising, and enthusiasm, often excelled by McGann’s excellent performance and Shakespearean voice. But, as time goes on, the era becomes more… how do I say… schizophrenic and uneven. Big Finish sort of starts off creating arcs for 8, but then… sort of wander off and never pick up on arcs they’ve created, like the 800 year maroon in Orbis, the angst in Dark Eyes, then finally culminating with Moffat’s Night of the Doctor, not picking up on his hatred for the Daleks after Lucie Miller’s death, and making him too naïve to the Time War, making it as if his journey from BF didn’t even matter.

Then came my experiences with the books. And discarding the first novel, The Eight Doctors, and jumping straight to Vampire Science, Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman immediately gave 8 more nuance than 75% of 8th Doctor material in BF. I should preface by saying this as well: despite my grievances from the Virgin New Adventures, I still think that the character of 7, Time’s Champion and its character work are still crucial to the EDA’s and how it conflicts/supplements 8’s character. 8 is no longer Death’s pet, stuck to the chains of fate, but much like 7, in the eyes of others, he is simultaneously whimsical, dangerous and manipulative, albeit more flawed than 7. When 7 manipulates, it’s more out of logic, thinking about the bigger scope, while with 8, it’s out of passion and love. He often uses his good looks and often childlike grin as a front to scheme, as evidenced in Genocide. But unlike the 7th Doctor, it’s never constant to the point of predictability, and sometimes, even his manipulation messes up due to his conflict with his passion and childlike personality. I’d argue that 8 is the most anti-hero incarnation of all the Doctors, even more than the 7th Doctor, often obliviously selfish, privileged and at times very toxic and callous. He often doesn’t let other people in on his schemes (him faking his own death to his companions in The Banquo Legacy), often clings onto people out of fear of losing them (Sam in Interference), pulls strings for his selfish needs (uses Alan Turing’s sexuality as blackmail to make Turing help him help aliens but on the basis that the Doctor just escapes Earth in The Turing Test), puts others on the brink of death (orders a possessed wasp-human hybrid to kill one of his closest patients to test if his true personality is still there in Eater of Wasps), often be cold-blooded and violent (throws a medic against the wall head-first and then stuffs him in a cupboard in Vanishing Point). In the second half of the Book range, he had lost his memory from his battle and destruction/erasure of Gallifrey, but here’s why this memory erasure works as opposed to other ones, like in Big Finish. For Big Finish 90% of the time it’s used, it’s often to create false tension. At times, it’s fine, but when it’s used constantly to pad out the runtime, my enthusiasm starts to wane out quickly. But Justin Richards as Book Script Editor brings something interesting. For the first time, the Doctor isn’t bitching about where his memory is, but rather, he’s a mirrored version of the 1st Doctor (my second favourite incarnation): full of rage, irritative, deceptive, arrogant and willing to fill his hands full of blood. The difference is there is no Ian or Barbara to hold him back, to make him grow, 8 must be the one to grow and develop himself, he has to make the work into becoming The Doctor. That’s another reason why I adore the 8/Fitz/Anji team so much; they are all broken, damaged people with flaws, and call each other out. But they are also a trio of friendship, love, can bring unity towards each other and most importantly, feel like a family, in fact probably the most family-like team since arguably 2/Jamie/Victoria or even since 1/Ian/Barbara/Vicki. 8/Fitz/Anji have truly descended into tough times (Fitz especially), but this team shows that you can pull yourself back from the depths of hell when you have the right support going for you.

Writers like Lance Parkin, Paul Leonard, Lloyd Rose, Kate Orman, Steve Lyons, Mags L Halliday, Martin Day, Lawrence Miles live and breathe the 8th Doctor, a true Bryon Romantic, poetic and literal with words. He’s a diplomat, rather than a conqueror. He may be brutal, manipulative, and cold-blooded, but it’s equally mirrored with empathy, mischievous humour akin to the 2nd Doctor, and a lust for the unpredictability of humanity. Yet unlike how Modern Big Finish and Moffat’s Night of the Doctor made 8 into an ineffectual pacifist buffoon, Book 8 is certainly an optimist, but he’s also a realist. In Reckless Engineering, he was given the choice between saving the correct timeline in the universe but at the cost of his friends or let the universe collapse… he actually chooses the universe. It’s a shocking moment (especially for Fitz, considering how long he’s been with the Doctor), but even he knows that, but has a responsibility to save the right reality. And with some introspection, nearing the end, he realises that, because there’s a gorgeous insight in The Sleep of Reason, about focusing too much on the bigger picture and the few things is equally as important. To see 8’s goals come to fruition, he brings it to himself that his mission of helping even just one individual can be seen as the greatest thing in the universe. He doesn’t want to remember the events of Gallifrey near the end because at the end of the day, he’s a man who strives for the present and future, not the past. He may not be a good person, he may not be right sometimes, and he may not have a happily ever after with destroying Evil for good, but he’ll still keep going on just to make a difference. That’s why I adore the ambiguous ending to The Gallifrey Chronicles, we never get a confirmation as to whether the Doctor survives his plan against the Vore, we never get what his plan is supposed to be and whatever happens after the battle (besides a song from Fitz closing off the book). I prefer Doctor Who to have an ambiguous non-conclusive ending than what Marc Platt did for Lungbarrow or Colin Meek for Death Comes to Time. This version of Eight has now become the definitive incarnation of The Doctor for me, I adore this character so much.

Conclusion

To me, The Eighth Doctor Books, especially in the second half, truly encapsulates everything that I love about the franchise: superb prose, introspective themes, emotional moments, pushing the boundaries of what Doctor Who could truly do but never accomplish. The writers made something special, and made the range one of the most suspenseful, sombre, intimate, and beautiful pieces of fiction I’ve ever experienced. I love them, and to me, they are my Doctor Who.

#eighth doctor #edas #doctor who #fitz kreiner #anji kapoor #sam jones #trix #wildnerness years

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kaleidodreams · 4 years ago

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2020 Fanfic In Review

Idea taken from @floraone! (FYI, if you saw this yesterday, I’ve deleted the original and reposted it again now that the glitches that were plaguing my Tumblr the past couple of days have been fixed.)

1. List of fics completed this year:

Sailor Moon

Selenophilia Series Taste Test Adventures In Babysitting Better Than A Unicorn Dahlias and Coffee Real Parents Awaken Shopping Trip Usagi, Mamoru, and the Three Mattresses Bad Day Blues Meet The Grandpa The Return of Nurse Minako

A New Future

Do No Cry For Me

Distraction

Stoplight

Investigation: Mystery Date

Kaleido Star

Friends With Benefits

Heart to Heart

Yuri!!! On Ice

What Happens In Vegas

A Morning Proposal

Reunited

Taking The Plunge

Perfect Idol

I’ve Been Thinking About You

Triple The Love

Confusion

The Bonds We Choose (WIP)

And a few more fics for the upcoming YOI Rare Pair Week, but since those won’t be posted until next month, I’m not going to list them.

2. Number of words written: I don’t really keep track. Posted? Around 130,000 or so, I think, but that doesn’t count unposted stories (like the Rare Pair fics I mentioned) and chapters. Plus, some stuff I posted this year was actually written earlier, so… 150,000 to 200,000 seems like a good estimate.

3. Your most popular fic: It’s always hard for me to judge popularity because there’s different ways you could look at it, but I’d say “Distraction” was probably the most popular at FF.net and “A Morning Proposal” at AO3.

4. Your personal fav: Probably my WIP, “The Bonds We Choose”, but of the completed stories… I actually really love “A Morning Proposal” even though it’s just a short, fluffy ficlet. I’m also quite proud of my two Sailor Moon Smutember fics, “Distraction” and “Stoplight”

5. Your fav scene: This is a tough choice… Probably the scene in “The Bonds We Choose” where Otabek takes Yuri to an open house and surprises him by asking Yuri to move in with him and Mila. I’m a bit of an HGTV addict, so it was really fun to write Yuri making snarky comments about the interior design.

6. A fic or scene that challenged you: “Do Not Cry For Me”, without a doubt. Most ironic title ever, because there was a period of, like, three or four days back in August when I’d start crying if I even THOUGHT about that fic because I hated the first chapter so much. (And that is NOT a normal reaction for me, BTW. I’ve never cried in frustration over a fic before that I can remember.) Just ask everyone on the SS Bang Discord. I was a mess. It was so bad that I got to the point where I wanted to drop the fic altogether and start a new one (I came up with “Stoplight” as a backup story) even though 1) my artist had already drawn a rough draft of the artwork and 2) there was only a couple of months left until posting. With the help of my beta and a couple of others, I managed to get it to the point where I wasn’t exactly thrilled with it, but I at least thought it was okay. Then a couple of days after I finished posting it, I had another sobfest over it because only one person left a review over at FF.net (and it wasn’t really a review; just a prediction of what they thought was going to happen). Which, in hindsight was pretty silly because I know FF.net was having problems the week I posted, and I actually received the most comments I’ve ever gotten over at AO3 (thanks mostly to @teamvanessacloud and @vchanny-og being nice enough to leave a comment on all seven chapters *hugs*) and a decent amount of kudos, but something about that one single FF.net review really got to me and seemed to confirm my fears that it was a terrible fic. I don’t know… That fic messed with my head so much, y’all. (Probably didn’t help that it’s probably one of the most depressing things I’ve ever written. You guys know I love angst, but maybe that was TOO much angst.)

7. A line of writing you’re proud of: I have two picks for this, and both are actually from my Smutember fics.

First one from “Distraction” - After a weeks-long drought, they indulged in each other like weary travelers drinking from an oasis, almost frantic as they writhed together on the bed.

And the other is a piece of dialogue from “Stoplight” - “Your vow of chastity during our previous lives didn’t stop me from loving you, Rei,” he reminded her. “A lack of sex sure as hell isn’t going to stop me from loving you in this life, either.”

8. A comment that touched you: I’m not sure if “touched” is the right word, but I was really happy that a lot of people praised “Distraction” for its realism even though I actually don’t have any personal experience with sex. I guess I did all right, though! *laughs*

9. Something that inspired your writing: I can’t really think of anything in particular, honestly. Oh, wait, “Dahlias and Coffee” was kind of inspired by a piece of Taiki/Setsuna artwork! Which, of course, I can’t find anymore to link to, although I know I reblogged it a while back. I know the artist’s name was Alex Asakura, though. (EDIT: Now that I’m able to search my Tumblr again, I found it. This is the picture.)

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc): Despite all the tears, I guess I am kinda proud of myself of rewriting it to the point that I no longer hated the first chapter of “Do Not Cry For Me”, and I actually do think the ice-skating battle is the best action scene I’ve ever written. Also, finishing “Friends With Benefits” – one of the reasons I decided to return to fic-writing after a long hiatus was the desire to finish that story, so I’m glad I did, even if the fandom is mostly dead!

11. Do you have any writing goals for next year?: I’d like to finish “The Bonds We Choose”. Other than that, maybe get back to one of my Sailor Moon WIPs. Oh, and maybe learn to stop hating writing kissing scenes so much? *laughs*

#fanfiction #questions #sailor moon #yuri!! on ice #kaleido star #sailor moon fanfiction #yuri!! on ice fanfiction #kaleido star fanficiton #meme

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stereostevie · 4 years ago

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The Rap Grammy Nominations Are Weird As Hell | Nov 25, 2020 11:12 AM BY TOM BREIHAN

The very first time that the Grammy Awards recognized rap music, it was an utter fiasco — a clear case of an aging pop-music establishment failing to understand this vital new youth music that had sprung up and rewritten the rules. For the 1989 awards show, the Grammys added one rap category, Best Rap Performance. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince won it for “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” beating out LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa and Kool Moe Dee and JJ Fad. The show didn’t deign to recognize Public Enemy, N.W.A, EPMD, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, or Ice-T, all of whom had released classic albums within the voting window. The award wasn’t televised, and most of the nominees, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince included, skipped the show, attending a “Boycott The Grammys” party instead.

Since that night, the history of rap at the Grammys has been a series of baffling, embarrassing decisions. It’s Steely Dan winning Album Of The Year over The Marshall Mathers LP. It’s Gretchen Wilson winning Best New Artist over Kanye West. “It’s weird and it sucks that I robbed you.” It’s also a history of rappers getting angry over the Grammys: “I never let a statue tell me how nice I am,” “You think I give a damn about a Grammy?” In 2019, Drake showed up to accept Best Rap Song. In his acceptance speech, he talked about how the Grammy voters weren’t necessarily the right people to define rap success. The broadcast cut him off mid-speech. Earlier this year, Kanye West, a man who once cared more about Grammy Awards than anyone else not named Neil Portnow, tweeted a video of himself pissing on one of his Grammys. (The Grammys still nominated West this year, for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album.)

Yesterday, the Grammys nominated Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist’s Alfredo in the Best Rap Album category. That’s great! Freddie Gibbs is a great underground rap success story, a guy who bet on himself and kept doing great work in his own lane even after multiple major-label situations fell apart. Gibbs has never made a hit song in his life, and he’s gotten himself into a position where he doesn’t need to make hit songs — where he can just follow his instincts and keep his own style intact. Alfredo isn’t my favorite rap record of the year. (Even in the field of Alchemist-produced 2020 rap albums, I’d give the slight edge to Boldy James’ The Price Of Tea In China.) But the nomination for Alfredo is still a very cool surprise, the kind of thing that I would’ve never expected to see from the Grammy nominating committee.

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And yet Gibbs’ nomination doesn’t exactly announce a new golden age of Grammy rap consideration, a time when Recording Academy voters are finally figuring out how to approach the genre. Instead, his nomination points toward something else: An institutional recognition of middlebrow, middle-aged, respectable rap music.

All of this year’s Best Rap Album nominees are Black men between the ages of 35 and 47. The oldest nominee is Nas, who is now on his fifth Best Rap Album nomination and who has never won the award. (The Best Rap Album Grammy didn’t exist in 1994, when Nas released Illmatic, but there’s no way in hell that Nas would’ve won it anyway. The Academy would’ve given the award to Coolio’s It Takes A Thief or something.) The youngest nominee is D Smoke, a former high school Spanish teacher who is also the brother of the TDE R&B singer SiR. D Smoke made his way into Grammy contention after winning the first season of Rhythm + Flow, the Netflix rap-competition show. (Two of the three judges from Rhythm + Flow, Cardi B and Chance The Rapper, have won Best Rap Album themselves. T.I., the other judge, has been nominated three times and never won.)

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D Smoke isn’t exactly a revered or popular rapper, and I have’t seen anyone calling his perfectly-OK album Black Habits a masterpiece, though the man has certainly done better than anyone could’ve expected from a rap reality-show winner. But D Smoke raps exactly like a diet version of Kendrick Lamar, so his nomination works as a clear indication that the Grammy voters really, really wish they had a Kendrick album to nominate. D Smoke is also up for Best New Artist, alongside fellow rappers Chika, Megan Thee Stallion, and (I guess) Doja Cat. Presumably, Megan’s Good News would also be nominated if it had come out early enough to be eligible. Meanwhile, Chika hasn’t released an album, and Doja Cat is nominated in the pop categories, not the rap ones.

Instead, then, we’re looking at five guys hovering around the age of 40, all of whom are respected technicians with boom-bap inclinations. Jay Electronica, who’s nominated for A Written Testimony and who should probably be considered the front-runner, is technically a New Orleans native, but nobody thinks of him as a Southern rapper. (Jay-Z is all over A Written Testimony, to the point where anointing Jay Electronica feels a bit like throwing awards love to Jay-Z in a year with no Jay-Z album.) All the albums up for Best Rap Album are, at the very least, solid. A couple of them, Alfredo and A Written Testimony, are very good. But this is still a remarkably stodgy list — one that shows that the whole middle-aged respectability fetish that’s long plagued the Grammys is now embedded in its rap voting wing.

Freddie Gibbs and Nas and Jay Electronica and D Smoke and Royce Da 5’9″ are all gifted rappers who have done great work. Most of them could justifiably be considered legends. But none of them really show the world where rap music is, let alone where it’s going. By recognizing those albums, the Grammys have pointedly elected not to recognize something like Lil Baby’s My Turn, which is probably 2020’s most popular album in any genre and which is also a fine example of the 808-heavy depressive melodic-goo rap music that currently dominates the genre’s mainstream.

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Other hugely popular, artistically important albums are also absent: Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake, Roddy Rich’s Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, Polo G’s The Goat, Gunna’s Wunna, Rod Wave’s Pray 4 Love. Instead, the rap albums getting nominated are the 2020 equivalents of the Steely Dan album that famously beat Eminem. That’s not an indictment of the nominated albums. It’s an indictment of the stuff the Recording Academy values. It’s also a cautionary look of how things might look if the Recording Academy ever gets its way, if rap comes to rely on accepted ossified skill-sets instead of its current state of constant, furious stylistic evolution.

As someone who’s around the same age as this year’s Best Rap Album nominees, I’m not all that amped to see emotionally troubled, pill-gobbling 20-year-olds dominating rap music. But those kids are crucially moving the genre past whatever old men like me might want it to be. Fortunately, there’s at least one Grammy category that has done a pretty good job capturing where things are right now, and that’s Best Rap Song. The list of nominations there — Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture,” Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” Drake’s “Laugh Now, Cry Later,” DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” — isn’t necessarily perfect, but it’s a fairly accurate representation of the kind of rap that moves people right now. I don’t know why the division between the Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song nominees is so stark. Maybe it’s a signal that the album is increasingly irrelevant. Maybe it reflects two different voting bodies. Either way, it’s striking.

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Look, the Grammys are weird. They are always going to be weird. Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters should’ve been the biggest lay-up in the world, but it isn’t up for Album Of The Year. Instead, the Academy’s voters went for Coldplay and Jacob Collier and a deluxe edition of a Black Pumas album that didn’t even come out in the eligibility period. “Rockstar” and “Savage” are both up for Record Of The Year, but Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding is the only album that’s even rap-adjacent that’s nominated for Album Of The Year this year. I thought for sure that Lil Baby’s My Turn would be the token rap album that would inevitably lose to Taylor Swift. Instead, we didn’t even get one of those, and My Turn got snubbed even in its own category. Nothing makes sense.

But this year’s Best Rap Albums nominations still show a weird alignment between Grammy Voters and a certain streak of real-hip-hop rap conservatism. Watch out for that. Nothing good, except maybe a Freddie Gibbs Grammy win, will come out of that.

FURIOUS FIVE

1. Roc Marciano – “Downtown 81” It’s not on streaming services yet, but Roc Marciano’s new album Mt. Marci is out in the world now, and it is marvelous. (I can’t tell you whether the digital download is worth the $40 that Marci is charging on his website. Make your own financial decisions.) Right now, the only song out for general consumption is one of the few that Marci didn’t produce himself. (It’s a Jake One beat.) But otherwise, “Downtown 81” is exactly the sort of laid-back, intricately worded deadpan splendor that you can expect to hear on the LP, whenever it goes wide. So maybe that’s worth the price of a full tank of gas.

2. Meek Mill – “GTA” (Feat. 42 Dugg)

Meek Mill released his Quarantine Pack EP on Friday, and the track currently getting the big push is the downbeat Lil Durk collab “Pain Away.” But the real thrill here is in hearing Meek and 42 Dugg getting bracingly urgent over a Detroit-ass bassline.

3. Chief Keef & Mike Will Made-It – “Status” Sosa and Mike Will have evidently chosen to name their new song after this column. Gentlemen, I see this tribute, and I appreciate it. I love you too.

4. Willie The Kid & V Don – “Mother Of Pearls” (Feat. Eto) This is pretty.

5. Statik Selektah – “Play Around” (Feat. Conway The Machine, 2 Chainz, Killer Mike, Allan Kingdom, & Haile Supreme)

Once upon a time, maybe 13 years ago, I was apparently such a recognizable and influential part of the New York rap press that Statik Selektah noticed me at an MOP show, introduced himself, and tried to get me to listen to his mix CD. All these years later, Statik is a globally acknowledged boom-bap specialist with enough juice to put three of the world’s greatest middle-aged rappers on a track together. I’m proud of Statik. I bet he gets nominated for a Grammy someday.

#alchemist #chief keef #d smoke #freddie gibbs #grammys #grammy awards #hip-hop #jay electronica #meek mill #mike will made-it #music #nas #rap #roc marciano #statik selektah #stereogum #willie the kid

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dansiere · 4 years ago

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @breselin, & @citialiin; thank you for the tag! I was planning on stealing it. tagging: @rosiqe, @noirtux, @goldgliitters, @ndeavor, @reminiscentsky, @battleshell, @ettards & whoever else wants to do this. Just steal it & tag me. -- go wild.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [loosely affiliated mainly due to the fandom’s size. I am quite open to crossovers of any kind, really even if it takes me a while to open up.]

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [she is one of the deuteragonists; has been around since the pilot & while she has been sidelined during the epilogue, she was usually at least around with her story arc / actions having a huge impact on the overall story as such.]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [I guess so? Then again, that’s an objective statement so I am just? Assuming? I personally find her general aesthetics to be quite amazing; she is a dance battler, graceful & elegant; a ballerina with a classical theme that runs through her design & attitude like a red threat. I have a weak spot for stuff like that.]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [surprisingly, Pearl is considered to be the strongest non-fusion Crystal Gem according to the show (until Lapis Lazuli comes around). -- I assume prowess wise Pearl is high up next to Garnet & Rose whenever she can actually get her crap together due to having fought countless battles &, most importantly, survived the war in which she fought & shattered opponents thrice her size.]

Are they underrated? YES / NO / IDK. [partially yes, partially no. She is controversial for sure but just as popular. At some point, the show delved deeper into her issues & actually had her mess up quite severely; the fandom’s reaction was so harsh that the showrunners had to interfere by “apologizing for making her human”. Pearl has always been a target for extreme criticism; some of it justified, some just straight down ridiculous. -- It’s easy to forget what kind of complexity a character can offer when her resolution arc happens literally ten episodes before the show ends.]

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [Pearl becomes Steven’s guardian / mentor after the death of his mother Rose Quartz & can later be considered his stand-in mother alongside Garnet. It is safe to say that her actions have influenced Steven the most, both negatively & positively.]

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. [she earned herself the title ‘The Renegade’ during the war for being the first (& arguably only) pearl that broke out of her conditioning; she used to be a wanted criminal / traitor to her own kind for 5000 + years until her record was cleared upon the beginning of Era 3 (aka official end of the Gem War). She is still being referred to as ‘The Renegade’ now & then; while she used to be proud of the title she has grown to resent it a lot these days.]

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [it depends on who you ask; Homeworld Soldiers? Well, they despise her; she is a defective Gem & a war criminal. She stands for all that is wrong with the rebellion; I mean a pearl who refuses to serve & calls herself an individual? a warrior? THE SCANDAL!! Some soldiers are afraid of her, call her ‘Rose Quartz’ terrifying renegade’, even. However, in her ranks aka the rebellion, she is being seen as a silent heroine. A celebrated war hero, Rose Quartz’s right hand & sole confidante (some even whisper that there is more between them).]

How strictly do you follow canon? — uh... well. Not really but... kinda? Steven Universe’s canon is messy & occasionally QUITE inconsistent. -- while it gives you vague details, some lore can best be compared to a gaping void. Thus my reason for partial divergence isn’t lack of good character writing (because Pearl is very, very complex even on screen), but rather inconvenient lore holes & SU’s habit of leaving important facts uncommented, “unshown” or just stuck between the lines. While I don’t mind deep analysis, some of those “buried facts” fly other people’s heads which leads to terrible, terrible fanon takes. -- in order to distance myself from that, I usually take canon & expand it with my own headcanons & metas based on lore / show analysis. I often alter / cut what does not fit my narrative BUT I always root my stuff in actual canon occurrences.

Sometimes, I just straight down change certain things that canon messed up in my pov. For example, in order to make it explicitly clear that she fell in love & rebelled on her own volition (even if it has been confirmed like ten times by now), my Pearl is around 1500 years older than the original & (in)directly served White Diamond before being handed to Pink (not the only reason for that change but well I will elude on it eventually). She was a default pearl with no customization & usually spent most of her time with organizing matters in the palace until Pink accidentally broke her customized pearl; Pearl was then 'poofed’ & handed over; she possessed a more sensible personality & a strict rule protocol that was supposed to help her “raise” Pink Diamond into the ranks of a ruler. Most other changes are rather minor but very important or essential to my portrayal (for example whenever “A Single Pale Rose” is concerned: Pearl suggesting the “sealing of the secret”, her not wearing the dress from the beginning, her not calling Pink “my diamond”, her arguing with Pink long before the fake-shattering took place, etc etc.); the epilogue series is another can of worms I will get to eventually but lemme just say I didn’t really like the way Pearl behaved / the plot-bound ooc-ness she sometimes yielded to & other stuff.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — well, she is a lesbian space rock from a strange universe; whose body is basically a manifestation of light? She is probably the most passionate being you will ever meet. -- if you are looking for a speedrun through human history, she is your gal. If you need someone to beat up some bullies, she will gladly come & smack sense into people; if you want to learn everything about Gemkind, sit down & listen because she won’t stop talking any time soon.

By definition, Pearl is a good person; the extreme loyal kind, absolutely & helplessly dedicated to a cause. She wears most of her emotions on her sleeve, comes off as genuinely caring, protective & trustworthy. She is empathetic & observant, she will always be there for you in one way or another. She is smart, loves to read & indulges in the higher arts such as (romantic) poetry, singing, painting, music (violin, piano, bass) & dance (predominately classic ballet / waltz but she has grown rather fond of jazz lately). Her knowledge about Earth & all that lays beyond is vast & if you ever want to see whatever is out there, she is the type to take you on a space tour with no questions asked. She fences, has learned to wield a lance, can engineer very well, has a very peculiar but... sorta adorable kind of humour that can either be hella obnoxious or super funny. There is no in-between. Pearl loves science, baking, housekeeping, ice-& roller-skating & is more than willing to take people along whenever she visits the rink. If you ask her for advice, she will gladly give it; if you need help, she will be the first to raise her hand. Pearl is orderly, has a strong sense of justice & a fierce, dedicated kind of resolve.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — Pearl. Is. A. Mess. No questions asked. She is an introverted, nervous, neurotic, grief-- & trauma riddled mess who loves to pretend & rationalize things to death. Her self-esteem is abysmal, she is extremely jealous, obsessive & possessive [to the point where she straight up murdered men just because they dared to be around her girlfriend]. Her mind is a compartmentalized mess of repressed memories & heavy, untreated cptsd woven into it; Pearl lives too much inside her head & gets overwhelmed by her emotions far too easily; she feels too much all at once & lets her temper get the best of her.

She is self-centred, does not seem to understand that words & reckless actions hurt people, believes that only she deserves to grieve Rose & willingly destroyed relationships just to soak in her own misery; self-destruction is her forte & she will indulge in it no matter the consequences. She is often high-strung, judgemental, always has to be right, overachieves & overdoes whenever a chance is given. -- she can be petty, arrogant & desperate for validation. -- Needless to say, Pearl is the kind of person that pretends to be fine for years but once she cracks she reveals that she is anything but. -- she cannot move on, hates men, & just is a lot to deal with. Getting in touch with her means you run the risk to get dragged into her mess, whenever you want it or not.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — first & foremost, my love for complex, purpose-driven female characters. I am a sucker for the “introvert, plagued lady” type & once parts of Pearl’s past were revealed during Season 1 I was sold. Pearl seemed relatable to me, extremely human & raw in her behaviour. While I love most of the SU cast equally, Pearl just wouldn’t let me go. Her aesthetic is amazing, her past intriguing. -- her connection to ballet & classical music, her elegant & graceful design just spoke to me.

What keeps your inspiration going? — music. music. oh, and music. Poetry, long walks (I am not kidding), analysis, meta & hc writing, discussions with writing partners or my rl partner @rosiqe.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ despite my emo peculiar take on the character, I do hope that people hear her voice whenever they read my replies. ]

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ I wish I could post more but I am very, very slow & a perfectionist at heart. -- I try to compensate for my lack of actual hcs by rambling in my tags. Most part of the time said ramblings include personal headcanons or analyses of specific scenes that include personal takes on pivotal situations; while I gather & write them down eventually, it can take me a long time to get stuff done. -- it is easier for me to jus blabber on & on in the tags. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO [ all my ask replies are drabbles, ngl. ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF? [... a sore topic. While I love my headcanons & have gotten quite proud of my writing over time, I constantly doubt myself regarding the “ic”-ness of my responses. I like to believe that I am doing rather well, but I am not confident, no. ]

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. [ it took me a long time to develop my style; while I always struggle to believe in my portrayal I am quite confident in my writing as such. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but in general? I am proud of it. ]

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO. / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — Well, yes. As long as it is the constructive kind. I love receiving feedback, may it be negative or positive. I will most likely try to discuss criticism with you; aka if you (i.e) tell me that Pearl shouldn’t have (C)PTSD, I will deliver canon proof & state my reasoning for my decision to implement it in my canon, etc. What I will not do is tolerate character hate or unreasonable hate towards my writing. Be assured that I will never headcanon something that has no solid footing in canon.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — ABSOLUTELY. Send me random hc / meta asks, I beg you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — sure. As stated above, I will probably discuss stuff with you. The chance of me dropping a headcanon however are rather low.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — Hm... it depends on what they don’t like. If it’s my writing, well, why are you following me to begin with?? If it is my take on things... well again, why are you following me? I stated in my rules what you should expect & that I will not water down specific aspects of a complex character. Disliking my portrayal is fine since I know that my kind of writing / analysis isn’t necessarily everyone’s tea but... again, why would you keep following me?

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — um. Not... well? While I will never excuse my muse’s actions, I dislike groundless bashing. In regard to Pearl... well. As stated above, I expected backlash the second I created this blog. Pearl is one of those characters the fandom either loves or hates; her canon relationship to Rose was branded toxic by a ton of people, people call her uncaring, salty, insane & straight up manic, she seemingly has no redeeming qualities, she is a bitch, too perfect (LOL) or arrogant & apparently has no character? I love it when people say stuff like that because... did we watch the same show? Is there a version of SU I don’t know? Please tell me, I wanna see it for myself! Some hot takes in this fandom are atrocious & make me want to commit a crime.

-- but I digress. I have spent too much time in her tag in 2014 + & I have seen quite the fights over the most ridiculous things; Pearl, in particular, got quite the flack for stuff that eventually got resolved in season 5 [which, again, was way too late but well]. In the end, clowns will be clowns, no matter what you do. I just don’t get why you would follow someone if you hate their character to begin with.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — yes, but please don’t be rude about it. I am German, English is my second language. I am currently learning Swedish / improving my Swedish so mistakes can always happen. Additionally, I am someone who posts her replies in the middle of the night & while I proofread a lot & most likely fix posts after I posted ‘em, some mistakes can still slip through.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — ... I like to believe I am but I know that I am overly passionate & I can come off as too strong or too fierce sometimes. I can be too much, I can be too excentric (I’m a Scorpio, Karen); I have strong opinions in regard to my characters & I will not hold them back. I criticise shows mercilessly & I will plough through canon as much as I please. Stans & I usually don’t get along. HOWEVER, I am a meme. I love lame jokes, I am awkward, & sometimes very, very insecure. In the end, I just wanna talk about my favourite characters & develop sth wonderful. I keysmash unironically, I use old memes unironically. I mean I have been writing for ten + years & I am about to smooth sail post the 24 age border aka I will turn 25 soon which renders me old according to tumblr standards. I am just here to have fun before the staff comes to lock my account down due to my status as an rp-senior. -- yeah... that is the kind of stupid ass humor I mean. I digress but... please, I am an awkward, rambling mess, just hit me up via dms & you will see what I mean.

#[[ this took me way too long honestly but I finally did it. If you find some spelling or grammar errors keep 'em. I got tired #njfuwefhe but yeah if you need some blog data?? This is prob your best bet ]]#ooc. 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱.

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laufire · 5 years ago

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37 :)

Talk about your current wips.

(as I read over my own responses, it really hit me how much freaking Marvel has taken over my life *tired sigh* xDD)

Speaking strictly about the ones in the “will hopefully be done before 2020”:

-I’m writing for three holidays exchanges (Batfam Kinkmas, Klaroline New Year’s Exchanges, and the Pepperony Exchange), but obviously I can’t say much about those in public lol. I’m almost done with the first, half-way-ish with the second, and yesterday I just begun the third.

-I want to write at least a one-shot for Echo’s positivity week. Anyone who has read my ramblings during last season can probably guess what I want it to be about: Echo getting the Flame xDD. IDK if I’ll finish on time, because I go back and forth with how I want things to go down. But it’s a story I want to write before s7 begins and Josses it, and that event gives me an excuse to write about it ^-^

-I’m trying to do some final edits on the next chapter(s) of my post-Endgame, pseudo-resurrection/AI!Tony, Iron Fam centric fic.

-That damn Hope Yuletide Event got in my head and I might end up writing weird, Christmas-themed horror for it. Hope/Lizzie, obviously.

-Almost finished with the first drafts of three (3) fics I submitted for the Marvel Rarepair Mini Bang. Not saying much about these ones in public, for obvious reasons lol, but I’ll say they’re all femslash ships.

-I’m trying to finish the Ironhusbands fic I wanted to post for the RhFe Mini Bang too, but RL threw me a few major curve balls there :/. I still want to write it tho, I love the story.

-A plotty, kinky, long(ish) Pepperony fic that I might submit for another event to. There must be an upside of being in such a popular fandom dammit xD.

-I finally figured out what I want to do with some of the characters there that were giving me trouble, so beginning next year I’ll be able to finally publish something about the The 100/Blade AU (aka “Bellamy does NOT have a vampire kink HE SWEARS”) that’s plagued my head for like two years, thanks to @obijuanjabroni

-Finally I want to at least get started with some fics that *technically* won’t be published until next year, for Femslash February, and the bingos I signed up for (a Young Justice one and a Tony Stark one).

-And I’m going to use this holidays to write some original content too (x, x), dammit.

#elasticella #replies #talking to the void #my thoughts #writing woes #my wips #thank you!!#this is probably my favourite question of that meme lol

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aftermathdb · 7 years ago

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Death Battle Review: Sora vs. Pit

Battle five of season five (or battle 92 overall (eight more episodes to go until battle 100!)) brightens up your day with two warriors of light duking it out to see which heart is more pure for their sacred weapon in this fight to the end.

This is a popular request. As it’s being done for the release of Kingdom Hearts this year, we have a fun battle coming ahead between these two warriors of light.

Sora′s Preview.

Sora’s preview opens up in the standard way. Going over the backstory, and what he did before he became a warrior. It really helps to sell how absurd that it is that Sora is part of both the Final Fantasy universe and the Disney universe. Let’s be real here, Kingdom Hearts is a crossover franchise that works out so well despite so much going against it. Though, it does bring up the question of how the scaling is going to work.

The keyblade also has its own card. Being about 3′6″ in length, it’s certainly no Dragonslayer, but it has a lot of powerful magic to give it a boost. And it can open any door? Heh, who needs lockpicking skills and tools when you can just have a keyblade, am I right? - It also seems to be able to act on Sora’s desires, even when he’s unconscious. Similar to Raven’s soul-self.

Oh, and evidently, Donald Duck and Goofy (friggin’ GOOFY!) are world-hopping warriors. Crazy, huh?

Sora’s magic also holds some stuff to be impressed by. Like healing, gliding, and the rest of your standard Final Fantasy magic. Including fire, ice, electricity, gravity and even… Stopga (Creative name there, Square).

They even compare his abilities to other Disney characters like Peter Pan, and Figment. Plus, the Kingdom Key also seems to act like Thor’s mystical hammer, Mjolnir (Hey. Disney owns Marvel. I can make the comparison).

And then they completely lose me with the whole “Somebody” “Nobody” thing, it gets confusing. I’m with Boomstick here, “I’m a somebody who’s really really confused.”

Judging by feats, Sora has speed, strength, and durability. And it also looks like he can join Link in the “Guys who defeated Cloud Strife” club.

As for weaknesses, it seems that he shares the same ones that Beast does. He relies a bit too much on his friends and allies to accomplish things, and as we all know: DEATH BATTLE bans outside help unless the other side gets something similar. Though, given that Pit can’t fly without aid from Palutena, I’d say that this should be fairly even.

That end line was cheesy as hell, but given that it’s Disney meets Final Fantasy, I can see it being appropriate.

Pit′s Preview.

And the Kid Icarus development hell is brought up fairly quickly. Pit’s backstory is interesting enough, he’s a commander, he leads an army, and we are definitely not talking about the one from Captain N.

Despite Pit being well-over 25 years of age, he still seems like he’s a teenager. This… is a bit disturbing because of how some media says that people are the age in the afterlife that they are when they died. Which means that Pit probably died young, if we’re talking in the sense that he was not born in Angel Land (Real creative naming there, Nintendo).

The background has another jab at the old Captain N cartoon, and adds that Pit thinks eating Ice Cream off the floor gives you health. Hey, that’s how most Video Games work, right? - It must be a nod to how he leans on the fourth wall.

We’re also faced with the logic that is “The captain of an angel army doesn’t have his own wings.” - Gameplay mechanics, am I right?

Pit’s signature weapon doesn’t get as big of a rundown as Sora’s keyblade, which is a bit disappointing. But it’s offset by the wide arsenal of weapons that he has. If anything, Sora has mystical versatility while Pit has weapon versatility.

The Three Sacred Treasures, on the other hand, do get the detail treatment. Going over them showcases a wide variety of power and ability. And showcasing the gold-colored Silver Armor makes the visuals all the more worth it. Though,I do have to question if they’re taking Smash into account.

The math done on the boulder is fairly extensive. But hitting with 1600 of TNT doesn’t really stack up to Sora taking a hit from someone who could toss around about 1600 tons of stone. And while moving over 21000 mph is impressive, it still doesn’t really stack to Sora deflecting lasers.

Yet again, Sora still seems to hold all the advantages here. At least, the ones that matter in a fight anyways. Even his fourth-wall awareness is addressed in a small card, where he doesn’t have a lot of control over what’s going on (At least the Aftermath writing office won’t be getting any new people in it. The space is crowded enough as it is).

For some reason, I feel as if Pit’s and Sora’s lines could be easily interchanged with each other, and nobody would notice. That’s how Pit’s line comes off as.

The Battle Itself.

Kervin Alcindor (Who assisted in Black Panther vs. Batman and Naruto vs. Ichigo, and was lead in the Raphael vs. Wolverine DBX) is teaming up with animation vet Samuel “Zack” Watkins (animator of Guts vs. Nightmare, Ryu vs. Scorpion, and Jotaro vs. Kenshiro). Sora will be getting the voice of Bryce Papenbrook, while Pit will be being voiced by Justin Briner. Discount Goofy is voiced by Nick. Music is called “Unlocking Heaven” by Brandon Yates, Sprites are done by HyperJerk and McLeod Gaming, and audio is done by Ben Tehrani (Apologies. I could not find a twitter credit).

So, the reason why the fight starts is because they’re in an arena. If anything, that’s the most likely reason for these two to fight to the death. Given Sora’s personality as well as Pit’s, the only other way these two would fight would be due to a hate plague or something. It certainly does keep both sides in-character enough until one of them escalates the fight.

Pit’s entrance even references his games, where he goes through a door of light to his next destination.

Pit opens the fight with his light arrows, and Sora easily dodges them. The fight seems to be in Sora’s favor, as he does still hold many advantages.

Pit does still hold the edge in weapon versatility, as his upperdash arm gives us a funny moment of slapstick on Sora’s face.

The fight gets taken to what can only be assumed to be Skyworld, as we see that Pit is the one who escalates the battle… Or maybe not. Pit compliments his opponent’s teleportation skills, and they both seem eager to see what the other side is capable of next.

The fight gets taken back to the arena after Sora uses his own magic to stop Pit’s airborne assault, and bring it back to the ground. Where Pit uses his Sacred Treasures. It’s at this point, that you get the distinct feeling that the fight is going to end soon.

Spoilers in 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Sora’s magic overpowers Pit’s Sacred Treasures. And Goofy kills the moment by saying “Atta boy, Sora!”

Verdict + Explanation.

First off: Thank goodness. If Pit had won, then there would be a bunch of comments saying that KH3 would have given him something to give him the edge.

As it turns out, Pit’s real advantages were his experience, and flight. While Sora held… Pretty much everything else.

Sora held the edge in speed thanks to that lightning feat, and since Pit has never shown any resistance to time manipulation effects, it seemed that he was out of luck there.

Pit’s arsenal gave him enough to hold out against Sora, but it wasn’t enough to put him down for good.

Essentially: Pit had the experience, they both had the light, but Sora had the strength, durability, and speed to come out on top.

The end quote is pretty lame though (Really? “the key to the fight”? “A sora loser”? - that was the best you could come up with, Screwattack?).

Overall impression.

A very impressive 8.7/10. I feel that the visuals and music really help the fight. The dialogue makes everything pretty interesting, and the story makes it believable enough that, if this weren’t a fight to the death, these two would be friends. Some of the jokes work pretty well too, and we can even gather a good solid rating from me. While it might not be as visually impressive or destructive as stuff like Naruto vs. Ichigo or Hulk vs. Doomsday, it still holds up very well. And given that this was the first time both franchises had been brought in, I’d say that it was a good introductory for both of them.

Next Time…

Well, money on the table says that this fight might be a lot more close than we would give it credit for. I don’t really know a whole lot about these two, but it seems that DEATH BATTLE is keeping up with the trend of new franchises for this season.

Two zombie survivors. Who will survive? - Who will be zombie food? - I think we can all agree that…

The main character from Plants vs. Zombies could wreck both of these guys.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

……… I don’t have a clever quip about this one. So let’s go with “Inferior to PVZ gardener.”

#Deathbattle #Death Battle #screwattack #review

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not-poignant · 3 years ago

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I would LOVE to read the story about Anton and Flitmouse! I loved getting the glimpses into who Flitmouse is as a character in TGATNW and the promises of hurt/comfort. But you already write so much at such a consistently high quality (seriously, how do you sustain it??) that I completely understood no new updates. I remember being extremely pleasantly surprised when you went back to publishing SOTS (and how did that turn out! <3). It’s great to hear you’re still thinking about the story but

But I think most of your readers understand why not all stories can be continued! If it’s ever a novel - great! If it remains as an idea - too bad. Just wanted to say I’ve also never forgotten Flitmouse’s and Antony’s story but I know asking you about updates when you write like a million words every year is putting too much pressure! All your stories are gold, Pia <3

Thanks anon!

I'm glad you enjoy Anton and Flitmouse so much, they're lucky to have folks like you who enjoy them :D

There's definitely no harm in asking about updates, either. While it's true that I often have a lot of my writing 'budget' for the year planned out (i.e. where I'm going to spend my words, and how much I'm going to write for that thing) which doesn't leave me much spare room for other projects, the fact is sometimes I do kind of play hooky on all my main projects by writing something else. That's how Smoke in Autumn came about.

Even The Golden Age that Never Was went on a fairly big 8 month hiatus only a handful of chapters into the story. That was because I knew the story would be epic, and I knew I didn't have time to write something that epic. After enough time passed, I was able to come back to it.

Anton and Flitmouse are more complicated because I believe Flitmouse's story would make a good stand-alone novel. Business sense Pia is like 'this could actually contribute to your income, and help you live, and buy things that you need to live' and the rest of me is like 'it'd be nice to keep it in the Golden Age universe, and have cameos from some of the other characters.' And then I get stuck, lol.

(And then also yeah, metrics is a big part of it, as in - how many people engaged at the time? How many people expressed interest since? I wrote in another post that feedback and engagement drives why I write serials in the first place, All the Loose Threads just sadly didn't quite hit that level even at the height of folks reading it. It happens!)

#asks and answers #TGATNW #all the loose threads #anton the brave #alois flitmouse #i got your other message too and you're all good anon!#there were a lot of factors #but feedback + engagement was a big part of it #it's also the reason i've hit a lot of writer's block on The Ice Plague #it's the least popular fae tales canon story i've ever written #and The Ice Plague 3 is the least popular of all the Ice Plague stories #it's wild when I contrast the interest in FFS vs TIP #though I largely know the reasons for that disconnect now #but it certainly causes writer's block #and i just don't like committing to a long story that i might get severe writer's block while writing #halfway through #that's not fun for *anyone*#and i am not that kind of risk-taker

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neuelib · 5 years ago

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QUARANTINE BOOK CLUB: MAY 2020

We're kicking off this week with two books for this month's discussions:

PAN(DEM)IC! by Slavoj Žižek and The Plague by Albert Camus.

In a time of pandemic, We feel like it would be germane to reflect upon literary works that are "relevant", and most importantly, debate upon the notions around a prevalent health crisis and its social dimensions (including, but not limited to, the State, media, truth, humanity, society, heroism), which are primary focal points of both books.

Read more about the two books:

Pretty sure you've at least heard of–or even read–The Plague, a 1947 novel by French author/philosopher Albert Camus. Originally titled La Peste, it is often mentioned as the greatest European novel of the post-war period. It tells the story of a virus that spreads from animals to humans, describing man's confrontation with death vividly in an epic scale. In this story, a city "gathers around and against a plague", something we can all relate with in recent months. In fact, there is a surge of interest in this book in regards to the current Coronavirus pandemic, where publishers report a 150-300% sales boom in February this year in comparison to the previous year.

Meanwhile, PAN(DEM)IC! is the first book written on Covid-19 (not sure why that's important to mention at all, but we'll see), a non-fiction by celebrity communist Slavoj Žižek who is known for his contemporary theories and responses toward present-day social and cultural phenomena. Dubbed philosopher-provocateur by The Guardian, Žižek has spoken to the popular audience on a wide range of topics—timeless ones such as violence and happiness, and up-to-the-minute matters such as Bong Joon-ho's film Parasite, political correctness, Avengers, and the Kardashians.

Feel free to choose from any of the two books to read—you are most welcome to read both. They are deliberately chosen so that both fiction and non-fiction readers can join the book club.

It's a collective reading, so I'd love to see you feel as comfortable as possible and participate (or not participate) through conversations on Instagram, as you please. This whole May, we will discuss PAN(DEM)IC! on the first two weeks and The Plague on the third and fourth week casually via Instagram Story together, probably over late dinner.

It's important to note that there are several parts in which Camus and Žižek seem to agree with each other on some topics. Moreover, the books may also complement and argue against each other, a dynamic we're also interested in exploring.

Happy reading <3

ps. Head over to @neuelib on Instagram and DM us for a digital copy of the featured books.

#QuarantineBookClub NEUELIB

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sneakymalarkey-blog · 7 years ago

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Top 10 Good Horror Movies to Binge-watch this Halloween

‘Tis the season for haunted dreams and loud screams! If you’re like me, who looks forward to Halloween every year, well congratulations to us. It has been a tradition to surround ourselves with things that would make our skin crawl and make us look behind us more than twice, and of course having a horror movie marathon is almost a tradition. However, most film producers seem to think that the ultimate horror movie formula is Generic Plot + Jump Scare and to be honest it’s already getting old and boring. This was what led me to explore more of the horror genre to find movies that would exceed expectations and break this chain of bad horror movies. Let me share with you these gems I found and truly treasure. (This list does not follow any particular order).

1. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Jacob’s Ladder is a horror/psychological thriller starring Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer. This is a story about a Vietnam war veteran and his struggles to return to a normal life while being plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks. Being unable to distinguish what’s real and what’s not, Jacob might be close to descending into madness.

This movie made me feel like I was also losing my mind, and I actually had to pause the movie at times just to take a breather. The visuals, music, and atmosphere really did a good job on engaging all of my senses to the point where I had a nightmare the same night I finished it.

This is not your typical horror movie, but still worth checking out for a brand new experience.

2. Sinister (2012)

Sinister follows the story of Ellison Oswald (played by Ethan Hawke), a true-crime writer struggling to produce a new best-seller. An unsolved case that continues to baffle the authorities is his new target for his comeback, even moving his own family to the house where the murders happened. Watching the video tapes of the actual murders, he slowly realizes that the murders might be involved with a supernatural force and that moving his family to that house was a fatal move.

I just happened to see this movie on TV one night and to be honest I didn’t really have any expectations that it will be good. This movie really surprised me with how good the atmosphere and the mystery built over time. Yes, it has a couple of jump scares, but what makes it acceptable is because they did not rely on that heavily. For these reasons, Sinister will always be a standout for me and will always be a part of my horror movie recommendations.

3. The Ring (2002)

Urban legends are nothing but some silly hearsay, right? Rachel Keller (played by Naomi Watts) thought that a videotape filled with nightmarish and unsettling clips was nothing but a circulating rumor, that is until she encounters a case about a group of teenagers dying after watching the said tape after a week. She later watches the tape to unravel its mystery with only a week to save her own life.

The Ring is actually an American adaptation of a Japanese horror movie called “Ringu”. These kinds of adaptations are usually done wrong, but again this movie will surprise you on how it managed to still grasp what made the original scary. This is a good movie to watch with friends, so that you can all get a weird fear of televisions at the same time.

4. Orphan (2009)

After losing their unborn child, a couple decides to go for adoption. Esther is just the perfect kid for them, having formed a special bond with them upon first meeting. However, welcoming her home seems like they also welcomed a series of unfortunate events. Is it just a coincidence or is there something wrong with Esther?

First of all, they did a good job on casting Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther. For me it was her performance that really added to the wonder of the movie. This is not the first movie to have an adopted child as the center of the spookiness, but this is the first one to...well i’ll just let you see it for yourself.

5. It (2017)

Who hasn’t seen this most-awaited remake of a classic Stephen King novel? It has been the talk of the town for months and there’s a good reason for that.

It follows the story of bullied children who are terrorized by an evil shape-shifting clown. It does not only shape-shift just for the heck of it, but it actually takes the form of your deepest fears.

This might seem like a really simple plot, but the execution of the scenes, the acting, the musical scores, and the story really add up so masterfully resulting to this great remake. It really did the 1990 TV series and the novel great justice. Shout-out to Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, which really made the movie float up to number one.

6. Halloween (1978)

What’s a more perfect way to celebrate the Halloween than to watch a movie named after the holiday?

Halloween is about Michael Myers, a masked man who managed to escape Smith Grove’s Sanitarium to bring forth some terror on a Halloween night. He was sentenced fifteen years for the brutal murder of his very own sister when he was just six years old.

This movie is considered as one of the classics that will never get old, also making Michael Myers as one of the most iconic movie serial killers. Halloween was originally planned to be a series of different horror stories; however, due to Michael Myers’ popularity they decided to make the series his own. If you want to experience the thrill of being chased by a relentless masked maniac, then you should check this movie out.

7. Alien (1979)

Alien is about the crew of the commercial starship “Nostromo” and their story after waking up from cryo-sleep. On their journey home, they receive a distress call from an unknown vessel. Deciding to check out what is happening, they pay a short visit only to discover something they shouldn’t have seen or touched.

This movie is also considered a classic and even resulted to multiple sequels. I was not a big fan of this genre and just decided to let this one slide off but boy am I glad that I did give it a shot. As if being alone in a distant space wasn’t creepy enough, the movie decides to throw in something that seems to be inescapable. Worst part is that you can’t just call the police or scream for help.

8. Sigaw (The Echo) - (2004)

Sigaw is a Filipino horror movie that follows the story of Marvin (played by Richard Gutierrez) and his newfound freedom after moving in to an apartment of his own. At first, everything was a bliss as he enjoyed living alone; however, his neighbors’ screamy fights will start to affect him...even after moving out from the apartment building.

To be honest, watching this movie made me uneasy because it actually did a good job on building this atmosphere where the mystery would start to engulf you. There’s a good reason why it was the official selection for a horror film festival, even earning an American adaptation entitled “The Echo”.

9. Shutter (2004)

Shutter is a Thai movie about a vengeful ghost haunting a photographer and his girlfriend. This happened after they accidentally hit a young woman with their car, and the girlfriend thought it would be a good idea to discover more about the young woman and hopefully put an end to their hell. However, will she be ready to uncover a secret that would shake everything she believed?

At first glance, one might say that this is your typical horror movie: ghosts, haunting, haunted pictures, etc. What makes this one stand out is the story behind the ghosts and the haunting, along with the characters’ personal issues. This is a must-watch if you want to make your friends scream and cover their eyes while enjoying a well-written horror movie.

10. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Last but not the least, we have Shaun of the Dead. This is a horror/comedy British film starring Simon Pegg as Shaun. After their town suddenly becomes overrun with zombies, Shaun struggles to save both his mother and ex-girlfriend with the ultimate plan of safety.

Shaun of the Dead did a wonderful job on harmonizing horror and comedy into one beautiful melody. I decided to end the list with this in order to give a lighter tune to everything while still being scary. What’s in it for you when you watch this movie: great characters, good humor, suspense, zombies, and Cornetto ice cream.

___________

Despite the bad horror movies that rule the box office, there are still some really good ones that deserve so much more love than they’re currently getting. This gives me hope for the horror genre, and I’m hoping for more great horror movies to add to my collection.

Enjoy the Halloween!

#halloween #horror #movies #shutter #it 2017 #shaun of the dead #jacob's ladder #sigaw #the echo #orphan #sinister #alien #the ring #michael myers #top 10 #list #binge-watching

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thestuckylibrary-bigbang · 7 years ago

Photo

Part 3

This is the final post of the AUs! Take a look through all these wonderful works in the following genres!

Shrinkyclinks (Non-Serum Steve/Winter Soldier Bucky)

Shrunkyclunks (Modern Bucky/Captain America Steve)

Soulmate AU

Spies and Secret Agents

Sports AU

Sugar Daddy AU

Supernatural/Occult AU

Time Travel and Parallel Universes

Canon ‘Verse | AU Part One | AU Part Two | Masterpost

Shrinkyclinks (Non-serum Steve/Winter Soldier Bucky)

After, Therefore Because of It words by noncorporealform | Art by artgroves

Rating: E Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Words: 94k Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Tags: Alternate Universe - Detectives, P.I. Bucky Barnes, pre-serum Steve Rogers, murder mystery, conspiracy, human experimentation, past sexual abuse, minor character death

Summary: “If you move back to Brooklyn, we can pick up where we left off,” Bucky said.

“Where did we leave off?” Steve asked.

Bucky had an image in his head that had never dimmed in intensity. It was a closed door. The door in his childhood apartment, and Steve was on the other side of it, walking away down the hall. Confusion grabbed at his seventeen year-old heart. He had wanted Steve back as soon as he walked away, even though he understood the reasons for him leaving. Where Bucky wanted to pick up was to figure out that strain in his heart that came after the door shut, the one he hadn’t understood, and still didn’t.

“I don’t know,” Bucky admitted.

Steve wants Bucky��s help to solve the murder of Dr. Abraham Erskine. Meanwhile, Bucky wants to find out what happened to Steve after his mysterious disappearance at seventeen.

Ghost of You by RedSteele

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 20k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Tags: Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Non-Consensual Medical Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, modern!Bucky, Comic Book Science, Graphic Depictions of Violence, only a little bit

Summary: Bucky’s job was far from monotonous, but between his last mission being a complete bust and being taken off rotation for field work, he found himself with a lot more free time and little to do with it. But when strange events started to happen at SHIELD, he stumbled onto a conspiracy that could tear his whole world apart. Who was the man in the hospital gown that kept appearing out of nowhere? What was Shield hiding? And most importantly, who is Steve Rogers?

Art by tsumi-noaru

Tint & Shade by inthearmsofathief Art by ensign-cannonfodder

Rating: T Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 25k Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Tags: Shrinkyclinks, Post Captain America: Winter Soldier, art therapist Steve, Recovery Fic, PTSD

The man blinked, slow and heavy. His pale blue eyes didn’t seem to be seeing the world around him. “Joe?” Steve took the peroxide out of the man’s hands and shook his head. “I’m not –” “How’d you make it out?” Steve stilled for a moment before putting the peroxide aside and peeling back the man’s hoodie. The guy was delirious. “I thought Hydra killed you,” he murmured. Steve got one arm out of the hoodie, relaxing a bit at the man’s words. Whatever he’d been through, he wasn’t on Hydra’s side. “Fearless Captain Rogers. Course you made it out. Bet you kicked those Nazis right in the head.” Steve pulled back. Captain Joe Rogers? Joseph Rogers. That was his grandfather’s name. He’d died in World War II. This guy couldn’t possibly be talking about him.

–

Somewhere between the fall of Shield due to a long running Hydra infiltration, finding out that his land lord is an Avenger, and being commissioned for some truly gaudy paintings, Steve finds himself harboring the worlds most wanted.

Shrunkyclunks (Modern!Bucky/Cap!Steve)

A Game Show Love Connection by emphasisonem (Ao3, Tumblr)

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 43,334

Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Cap!Steve, Modern!Bucky, Alternate Universe- Modern Setting, Slow Burn, Romance, Sexual Tension, Sexual Content, Mild angst, Fluff, This is a very soft story, Because I want these dopes to be happy, So expect some serious rom-com vibes

Summary: The last thing Jeopardy producer Bucky Barnes needs is some asshole who passed the online test pretending to be Captain America and wasting his time. The last thing he expects is for the guy on the phone to turn out to be that Steve Rogers. There’s a popular expression that insists that stranger things have indeed happened, but Bucky’s pretty sure that this is the weirdest day of his life.

In which Steve Rogers starts watching Jeopardy as a fun way to learn about the things he’s missed, gets selected through the online test, auditions for the show and surprises the hell out of everyone. Especially one James Buchanan Barnes.

Art by @cptnsgrs

bucky barnes: tsa employee extraordinaire by deceptivesoldier

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 28.6k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Alternate Universe- Airport, Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, Post-Avengers (2012), Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes (Shrunkyclunks), Humor, Cheesy Villains, Soap Ducks

Summary: When Bucky Barnes decided to take a job with the TSA working nights at baggage claim, he fully anticipated his job to consist of answering dumb questions (“The luggage is behind you, sir”) and sitting on his uncomfortable chair while keeping an eye out for any suspicious behavior.

To his aggravation, however, once it was revealed that Captain America had arrived from the 1940s through ice-travel, Bucky’s routine starts to include “Villain Babysitter”, as wannabe villains begin coming through the airport in hopes of destroying Cap. As a point of professional pride, Bucky takes it upon himself to keep them from leaving the airport.

At least until someone above his pay grade can come by and deal with them.

He did not expect that someone to be Steve Rogers himself.

Steve, who for some reason, likes coming to the airport. Given that the man is a national treasure, from his smooth mouth to his patriotic ass, who is Bucky to argue?

Art:

Cover Art by @lovesfic

Banners by @lovesfic

Moodboard by @lovesfic

Paintings of Bucky and Steve/Bucky by @rohkeutta

Deep Cover by SoftObsidian74 (ao3)

Art on tumblr by @ellebeesknees

Fic rating: R Art rating: G Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings Words: 109,816 Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Tags: Cap!Steve/modern!Bucky(shrunkyclunks), meet-ugly, PTSD, amputee!Bucky, unintentional stalking, identity porn, secret identity fail, fluff and angst, the Avengers are all good bros, eventual smut

If you wanna feel like a rockstar, you call Bucky Barnes, owner of Shining Star Karaoke and DJ Services. Bucky has gained faithful followers for making people feel like the main event. When different men with the same Dorito physique pop up at his gigs all over NYC, he isn’t sure if he’s just a magnet for gym bros or being pranked. Spoiler: The man in the uncanny disguises is on his own mission to sing any time, anyway, and any song he wants without being judged as Steve Rogers or Captain America.

Don’t Leave Me Asunder by maikurosaki (aka allegra-dreams on tumblr)

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 31k

Relationship: Steve Rogers/ Bucky Barnes

Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Captain America Steve Rogers/ Modern Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Bucky, Amputee Bucky, Tony is a Good Bro, PTSD, Bucky swears a lot, Fluff and Angst

Summary: Like many other war veterans, Bucky Barnes is alone. He doesn’t talk to his family, he has no friends and his only human interactions are with his cleaning crew from Avengers Tower. Plagued by nightmares and pain, he lives each day in isolation. Until the Avengers bring their fight at home and Bucky gets to meet the famous Captain America. To his surprise, both their lives change forever after that

Or: the janitor listening to music and ignoring the battle around him AU that no one asked for.

ART by the wonderful merrkkat

I’ve been holding my breath, by MsPeppernose

Rating: E / NSFW

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 20k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Voyeurism, Head Injury, Pining, Masturbation, Anal Sex, Steve is a creeper, But only a little, and mostly because he’s lonely, AU, Shrunkyclunks,

Summary: Steve Rogers likes to visit his local coffee shop between missions, and it has nothing to do with the hot barista named Bucky…well, it maybe has a little to do with it. It’s just coincidence that Steve’s apartment is also directly opposite said barista’s apartment meaning Steve frequently has a full view of his living room.

It’s not spying, not really, and it turns out to be lucky, because one day he sees Bucky get knocked out. It’s up to Steve to save him…and then think of a reason why he saw Bucky get injured in the first place.

Incredible Art by the wonderful @lasenbyphoenix

More heart, less attack by Detour (@juststaygold)

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 39,789

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Shrunkyclunks, Self-Discovery, Emotional Baggage, Recovery, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Summary: After SHIELD’s collapse, Steve comes back in New York. Without a war or crisis, he’s struggling to find his place in the world again. There’s time to relearn his city and time to wonder what he’s doing here.

When a mysterious guy hits on him on the subway, it’s a welcome interruption. Something resonates between the two of them, a connection neither of them try to deny. The trouble is that Barnes disappeared three years ago, and the more Steve learns, the more he wants to know.

But Barnes disappeared for a reason.

S__am rolls his eyes. “Yes, Steve, you could have a lead on a three year old mystery because you’re just that good, not because a random hipster flirted with you.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” Steve says.

Art by Doomcheese

no matter how long the day is (i’ll come home to you) a collab between @talkplaylove and @artgroves

View no matter how long the day is art tag on @artgroves.

Rating: T (Fic, Art)

Archive Warnings: Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Words: 27,769

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Alternate Universe–Canon Divergent, Notting Hill AU, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes (Shrunkyclunks), Modern Bucky Barnes, suicide ideation, Canonical Character Death

Summary:

Steve’s spent an hour along Portobello Road before he sees the paparazzi on the left side of the street, trying to be inconspicuous by a street lamp. He crosses the street and ducks into the first store he sees, tucked behind a screaming red door and under a blue and white striped awning.

He listens, feet planted in front of the door, shoulders tense, as he looks around the shop. Row upon row of books are on the shelves in front of him, the wood creaking under their weight. Behind the counter is a dark haired man wearing a jacket, elbow on the table, stubbled chin on one hand, gloved left hand flipping the pages of a book.

No one follows Steve in.

———————–

Or, the one where Captain America travels the world, learns how to be Steve Rogers again, and meets Bucky Barnes along the way. Also: the one where two old souls fall in love over young adult books, long distance calls, and texting at strange hours of the day.

Read on Ao3 |

Red, White and Those Other Colors by coveryourheads (rsk110)

Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel) Additional Tags: James “Bucky” Barnes No Power, Loosely follows movie plots, No Winter Soldier, Cats, Angst, Steve Rogers Angst, References to Depression, Bucky is James Barnes Grandson Summary:

Steve Rogers wakes up from the ice to a world where he has nothing left.

He meets Bucky, his best friend James Barnes’ grandson, who is an agent of SHIELD.

[His cats are perched on the bench, watching the night sky. The volume is low but he can hear Steve’s laughter, filming the fascinated cats and the fantastic display in the air above. Lights burst in the black sky, in splashes of various flares, in red, white, and other colors. Awe aspiring and patriotic, loud, but so calming and majestic. It fills him with satisfaction as big as the sky, in those flowing and falling colors.]

ART POST -HERE-

Soulmate AU

A soulmate is a scary thing by SkyKathryn

A Soulmate is a Scary Thing [Art] by Lasenby_Heathcote (Ao3) / Lasenbyphoenix (Tumblr)

Relationships: Steve/Bucky, Bucky/Loki (minor) Fic Rating: Not Rated Archive Warnings: Underage Tags: Sex, loki x bucky sex, Steve x Bucky endgame, Steve Rogers Feels, Burns, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Medieval AU, Medieval Medicine, Prince!Steve, Knight!Bucky, Soulmate AU, soul marks, Forbidden Soulmates, growing up fic, consetual sex, Kingdoms This is a prefic for Soulmates are a Dangerous Thing, but can be read on its own as its the start. Ever since they were kids its always been Steve and Bucky, Bucky and Steve, but after they grow up and Bucky starts realising things werent all as they seemed he starts to panic, to try and save his best friend from a fate he knows he cant outrun without letting his own fears and feelings slip. But no matter how hard he tried there was no way to outrun the plans the universe has set out for you, but you can try. Medieval au.

the cold never bothered me anyway by @icoulddthisallday

Rating: E,

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: ~70k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: shrunkyclunks, soulmate AU, Bucky is an Awkward Millenial, Steve Rogers vs the 21st Century, virginity hang ups

Summary: Bucky Barnes has spent his whole life in a state of mild hypothermia. Steve Rogers has spent the last 70 years in the ice. The two things aren’t related until, suddenly, they are. Shrunkyclunks soulmate AU (AKA the awkward bb au).

art by instagrims, banner by @icoulddthisallday

Spies & Secret Agents

Between Midnight and Dawn by The_She_Devil

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Length: 53k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Tags: domestic violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, panic attacks, substance abuse, torture, explicit sexual content, language, vomiting, choking, threat of suicide, alternate universe - modern: no powers, alternate universe - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Summary: After a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission gone bad, Bucky is left with no memory of the past year, which includes his and Steve’s divorce. Steve, who has never really gotten over his ex-husband, is left to navigate the fine line between helping and hindering Bucky’s recovery while trying to protect himself. At the same time, both men are fighting to uncover the truth of Bucky’s disappearance, what was done to him, and why.

Art by Fowly

Fields of Grey by Aelys_Althea with Art by @mithborien

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Vision (Marvel), Nick Fury, Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Special Forces, Assassins & Hitmen, mafia, Moral Ambiguity, Character Development, Childhood Friends, childhood illness, Minor Character Death, References to Cancer, Pining, Reunion

Summary:

Steve strove to be Right. To do Good. That was what his mom had told him second chances were for, and if he owed her memory to trying. Joining the police force, protecting people, was a natural decision to make. For Steve, it had always been black and white, good and bad. Special Forces team SHIELD embodied everything he stood for.

Except that there was Bucky. Bucky, who had disappeared for years. Bucky, who was a member of HYDRA, the organisation that was so black in its elusive, criminal endeavours as to epitomise. In an effort to haul his oldest and dearest friend from the snake pit while at once putting down the beast he’d fought to suppress for so long, Steve is struck by an unfortunate revelation: there exists a rather impressive field of grey that complicated things.

The world wasn’t nearly so simply black and white as he’d initially thought.

nothing is (but what is not?) by layersofsilence

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 40k

Relationships: Steve Rogers / Bucky Barnes

Tags: Implied/Referenced Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Temporary Character Death (prior to start of story), loosely inspired by Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, ShrunkyClunks

Summary:

Three years after his best friend (his lover, his Bucky) had been killed in action, Steve receives word that he’s alive. But seeking men back from the dead has consequences, it seems, and in his search Steve finds himself at the centre of an ever-widening conspiracy that’s slowly revealing itself to involve everything he thought he knew.

Playlist by @thunderboltsortofapenny (links to Spotify)

Sports AU

howitzer by spacebuck

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 111K

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: College Sport au, Hockey au, brief homophobic language, college hockey level violence, closeted character/relationship, mild descriptions of injury/medical attention.

Summary:

Bucky Barnes, figure skating champion, is forced to switch his skates for hockey ones when he leaves for college. Problem is, he’s never played hockey before, and now he has to be good enough to get the scholarship he needs. Enter Steve Rogers, Carter University Men’s Hockey player, who’s decided that he’d do anything to get this boy on his team.

Cue five am runs, overwhelming classes, new friends, plenty of snow, and a sport that’s fast becoming a way of life.

Header by Jessie Lucid @lucidnancyboy

Art by Jessie Lucid @lucidnancyboy (on AO3)

Art by @ninjasherlock

wholesale change, by @biblionerd07

Rating: M

No archive warnings

Words: 83k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Homophobia, Coming Out, Getting Together, Guilt, Depression, Anxiety, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers

Summary: Steve Rogers, captain of a losing NHL team, has taken so many bad penalties this season he’s worried he’s going to get sent down to the minors as punishment. His agent comes up with a plan to make Steve irreplaceable to the fans–a reality dating show. Where the contestants want to date Steve.

Art by the amazing @denimbxy (art tumblr @cal-aus)

Sugar Daddy AU

Something Sweet by ColorCoated

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings apply

Words: 23k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Past Relationship, Modern AU, Age Difference, Mention of DaddyKink, Drinking, Romance, Masturbation

Summary: _“What’s your name?” Steve asked almost immediately, needing to match a name to this gorgeous, pouty little face. _ “Bucky,” the dancer answered with a wide smile. “Bucky Barnes.”

_“Bucky?” Steve repeated with a shake of his head. A least he knew what he could call the kid, but for goodness sake. He shook his head a second time. _“Geeze, a kid’s name for a kid.”

_Bucky looked a little offended and glared at Steve. His eyes narrowed and he pointed aggressively to his crown, “Not a kid.” _—– Workaholic Steve gives himself a night off and is immediately charmed by Bucky, who he meets at a nightclub. Steve is a bit put off by the age difference, and now he has to figure out how to start a relationship with the young guy who just passed out in his guest room.

This story is a prequel, but can be read independently.

Art 1, Art 2, and Fic Banner by Chalenmimi-frenchtoast

Sugar Lips and Sinful Hips by TheFlailing (tumblr)

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 20k

Relationship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: No Powers, Modern Setting, Age Difference, Sugar Daddy Bucky, Brief mentions of sex Summary: Bucky Barnes is a successful New York businessman, and at a glance, it looks like he’s got everything a man could want. But deep down, underneath the money and the pretty face, the truth is this: he’s lonely. Enter one Steven Grant Rogers: starving college student, just trying to make ends meet - and hot as fuck. Bucky desperately needs to be in his pants. And that’s all; nothing more. Right?

Art by @glide-thru (tumblr)

Supernatural/Occult AU

Heart and Soul by super0random0girl (tumblr)

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 22k

Relationship: Steve Rogers/ Bucky Barnes

Tags: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Semi-Canon Compliant, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Faery!Bucky Barnes, Siren!Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood Drinking, References to Sex Work, Period-Typical Homophobia

Summary: “It’s the people who hurt innocents that he hurts and kills. Because he’s kind like that.”

Sarah nodded again, adjusting Steve’s blankets in preparation to keep moving. “And why do we think that he is so kind?” she asked playfully.

“His soulmate is Good and carries half of his Heart, so Saxon’s soulmate influences his heart into Goodness,” Steve answered dutifully. “And since Saxon has a Heart, it means that Saxon is a Soul and his Heart will live for as long as Saxon will.” Sarah nodded. Just as she was leaving, Steve piped up again. “Do you think that I’m a Heart? Do you think that I’m still alive because my Soul is still alive?”

Or, a siren and a trickster walk into a bar and find out they’re soulmates.

Art here and here by shutupimcreating

Heartlines by thewriterofperfectdisasters @jjjakesully

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category: M/M

Fandoms: Captain America (Movies)Marvel Cinematic Universe

Relationship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

As a child, Steve’s family was brutally murdered by witch hunters, and he’s been running ever since. He hasn’t let himself feel anything for a long time, but now he’s met Bucky, a guy that’s funny, smart, and hot as hell. But what Steve doesn’t know, is that Bucky is avoiding hunters as well: his parents, who want to bring him back into the family business. When they ask Bucky to find one last witch, with the promise he’ll be out of the business for good, what happens when Steve finds out he’s the target? Will they be able to get past centuries of bias and bloodshed and find happiness together?

Art by @falcon-hill

In This Life and the Next (Read on AO3 |) by scootypuffjrsucks (AO3 | Tumblr)

Tumblr Art Post by starshieldfolder (Tumblr)

Rating: M

Pairings: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff,

Archive Warnings: None

Important Tags: Alternate Universe - The Mummy (1999); shrinkyclinks; Fluff; Fluff and Angst; Kissing; Action-Adventure; Horror; Comedy; Alternating POV between Steve and Bucky; Violence and Blood; Everything you’d expect from an AU of the Mummy; so not historically accurate in any way; but a lot of fun

Summary:

In 1926, when Steve’s friend Tony presents him with an interesting artifact from an ancient city that isn’t supposed to exist, Steve hopes his days as just a librarian might be over. The artifact leads him to Bucky, a mysterious man with a strange golden arm who was found in the desert with no memory. Steve and Bucky immediately feel a connection to one another that leads them on an adventure to discover the past and save the future. Together, they travel to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, unleash a cursed Mummy with a grotesque red face, and do everything in their power to stop him from destroying the world.

Notes: In the true spirit of the movie, very little about this fic is in any way historically accurate.

in this twilight by @belovedmuerto, art by @curry-ketchup

art is here, please go lavish Curry with praise as he did such an amazing job.

Rating: Teen and Up

Archive Warnings: none

Tags: vampire!AU, vampire!Bucky, witch!Steve, some mentions/implications of past rape/non-con, but there is no rape/non-con in this fic, soulbond, soulbond au, dubcon cuddling, shrinkyclinks

Summary: this is a gift/ it comes with a price/ who is the lamb?/ and who is the knife?

Time Travel & Parallel Universes

From Tralfamadore, With Love by newsbypostcard

Rating: E Archive Warnings: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Words: 106k Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Tags: time travel, science fiction, slow burn, pining, dancing, chronic illness, mutants

Part of the 2017 @thestuckylibrary-bigbang

Summary: In 2018, Steve, Sam, and Bucky embark on a mission to explore a Hydra-owned warehouse when a kid with mutant powers sends Steve 18 years into the future. After figuring out where (and when) he is, Steve tracks Bucky down in 2036 to find he’s become a successful business owner and an impassioned advocate for mutant rights. Steve’s just as in love with Bucky as he was when he left, but for Bucky it’s been a long 18 years. It’s hard to accept when Bucky keeps him at arm’s length… but Steve’s never met a challenge that he didn’t take.

As he gets used to life in 2036 and the flaws in Bucky’s idyllic life expose themselves, Steve also has to manage a suspiciously ubiquitous security force, a Brotherhood of Mutants, and old competing loyalties among his aged friends. There’s a Bucky in 2018 waiting for him to come home, but if he does that, it means leaving this Bucky behind for a third, unforgivable time. How can he choose? What’s Bucky not saying? How can he face losing everything – again?

Art [ 1 , 2 ] by @icoulddthisallday

I, The Paradox by @drowningbydegrees Art by @riakomai and @hopeless–geek

Fic rating: Explicit Word Count: 80k Relationships: Steve/Bucky(x2), Bucky(x2) Tags: Time Travel Shenanigans, Angst, Threesome, Self-cest, Character Study, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex

Sharing a life with a recovering Winter Soldier means never quite escaping what Steve sees as his biggest failure. When one of Tony’s machines functions differently than advertised, Steve is given an unexpected opportunity to change the past. He’s spent so much time mapping out all the ways he could have saved Bucky from falling, but in the moment, he never stops to consider whether or not he should.

Actions have consequences, and meddling with time has more drastic ones than most. Steve wakes with two divergent timelines in his head, and two very different versions of Bucky in his bed. With the machine broken, and no idea whether their situation is permanent, this new arrangement promises to be an adjustment for all three of them. Only, that may not be the worst of their problems…

Art post by @hopeless–geek Art post by @riakomai

#sbb2017

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cryptodictation · 5 years ago

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The end of season 2 explained

Warning, spoilers to Kingdom: feudal Korea was overrun by zombies. Last year, the South Korean Netflix series emerged Kingdom, as Insider tip for all horror fanswho made the slow zombies the Walking Dead have become tired. Season 2 is now available on Netflix, which ends after 6 episodes with a cliffhanger that leaves many questions.

After this shocking season 1 cliffhanger takes the sequel a step further and presents us with a real game changer that makes us scream straight for season 3. We have summarized for you what all the twists in the finale mean and how it is with season 3.

Explanation: This happens at the end of Kingdom Season 2

In the season 2 finale, the story of the zombie epidemic in the Joseon Empire comes to a surprising end. Crown Prince Chang (Ji-hun Ju) manages to lure the zombie hordes that have taken over the palace of Hanyang onto a large ice surface. The ice breaks and all the undead fall into the water, causing the dangerous parasitic worms – the cause of the zombification – to die. A time jump of 7 years follows.

Kingdom

The plague has long been forgotten. The little 7-year-old king rules the country and Chang, who spared the baby prince at the time, is officially considered dead. Seo-Bi (Doona Bae) has been eagerly studying the effects of the resurrection plant in recent years and came to important knowledge about the disease:

The worms in the undead are affected by temperature. They prefer the cold and are afraid of the heat. The undead remain completely motionless in spring and summer. In autumn and winter, the zombies are only active at night. Between the winter solstice and the first day of spring, the undead are active day and night. When the undead are submerged in water, the worms in them die. Infants are immune to the worms because their brains are not yet fully grown.

The last point plays an important role in relation to the young king. Because Seo-Bi dipped him in water as a baby after he was bitten. Season 2 ends with the fact that we can see a worm under the skin of the little king.

Kingdom

Was he infected again? About his suspicious valet? Did the virus sleep in him for 7 years? A third season must provide us with answers. Because Seo-Bi tells us that there are even bigger mysteries of the virus that have not yet been researched. So the origin of the plague is still not revealed.

The End of Kingdom Season 2: Who is the Mysterious Merchant?

The biggest twist at the end of season 2 is the revelation that the plague starts all over again. Seo-Bi and Chang team up to explore why the resurrection plant can be found again in parts of the empire. It is revealed that a trader who sells the plant lives in the northern province.

Once there, Chng and Seo-Bi are surprised by the undead. The season ends with the unveiling of the mysterious trader. It is a trader. This is from the South Korean actress Ji-hyun Jun played and has not appeared in the series yet.

Kingdom

Kingdom already presents us with the opponent of season 3. Until then, we can only speculate as to what motivates the trader and what goals she pursues. One possibility would be that she is a Chinese spy who wants to weaken the country through the outbreak of the plague to prepare for an invasion of Korea.

This would at least fit in the historical context of the series. At the beginning of the Joseon era in the 14th century, Korea was at war with the Ming Dynasty China. Attempts to invade the Japanese followed.

Season 3 of Kingdom coming to Netflix?

The finale of season 2 cries out for a sequel, especially considering the cliffhanger around the mysterious trader. The chances that Kingdom will continue with season 3 are pretty good. Because Kingdom is very popular and the second season was received very positively by fans. An official order is only a matter of time.

But when is the 3rd season of Kingdom coming? This question is not so easy to answer. The second season was commissioned before the first broadcast and could therefore be completed in a timely manner.

The work on a third season has not started yet and due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19 this could be a long time coming. Netflix has currently stopped filming all series. Kingdom – Season 3 could start at Netflix in the second half of 2021 at the earliest.

The second season of Kingdom includes 6 episodes that have been available for streaming on Netflix since February 13, 2020.

Zombie fans podcast: is The Walking Dead still good?

In the Zombie episode of stream flurries – also with Spotify – button up Max, Sebastian and Yves The Walking Dead:

We ask: Is the horror series still good after a whole decade? To do this, they look at the highs and lows of 10 seasons The Walking Dead.

What do you want to see in Season 3 of Kingdom?

The post The end of season 2 explained appeared first on Cryptodictation.

from WordPress https://cryptodictation.com/2020/03/19/the-end-of-season-2-explained/

#Entertainment

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dinafbrownil · 5 years ago

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Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Happy Friday, at last! A quick programming note: This is the last Breeze of the month (year/decade!). I’ll see you guys back here in 2020!

Since everyone seemed determined to fit at least two weeks’ of news into this past five days, though, I’m thinking today’s edition will hold you over. Let’s get to it!

In some kind of poetic timing, the long-awaited court decision about the constitutionality of the health law dropped on Wednesday — the day open enrollment ended (since it was extended because of technical glitches). I would guess one or two health wonks who are also betting aficionados won their pools with that prediction.

The big decision itself was a bit anticlimatic: The appeals court did rule that the individual mandate that requires people to have coverage was unconstitutional since Congress zeroed out the penalty so it could no longer be thought of as a tax. But the judges kicked it back to the lower court for a closer review of the whether that invalidated other portions of the law.

Out of all the things this does, the most notable is that it buys Republicans some political breathing room. GOP lawmakers were facing a repeat of the midterms where Dems capitalized on their attacks of popular provisions in the health law to sweep into the House on a blue wave. Had the ruling instead immediately struck down the law — and its guarantees of coverage for people with preexisting medical conditions — it could have been used as a potent political weapon in 2020.

For now, the health law’s fate remains in limbo — which seems to be its natural state even as it nears its 10-year anniversary.

The New York Times: 3 Legal Experts On What The Obamacare Ruling Really Means

The New York Times: Obamacare Ruling May Spare Republicans Some Political Pain

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

Please confirm your email address below:

For once, lawmakers didn’t act like college students with a term paper due at midnight— they announced their spending deal on Monday, the House passed it on Tuesday and the Senate even voted at a reasonable hour Thursday to send it to President Donald Trump.

Here are some of the health highlights:

— The smoking age will be raised to 21.

— Gun violence research is being funded for the first time in more than two decades.

— Three health law taxes, including the highly unpopular “Cadillac Tax,” are being repealed. (An early Christmas gift to insurers if ever there was one.)

— Puerto Rico’s Medicaid funding is being slashed (apparently because of personal intervention from President Donald Trump).

What was missing? Any proposals to curb surprise medical bills, which left many to think that out of the winners and losers in this deal (and there were plenty of both), patients were firmly slotted into that second category.

The New York Times: Spending Deal To Avert Shutdown Carries Key Priorities For Both Parties

The Washington Post: House Passes $1.4 Trillion Spending Bill With Trump Support That Would Gut Key Parts Of Affordable Care Act

The Associated Press: Spending Deal Would End Two-Decade Freeze On Gun Research

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Consumers Are The Big Losers In Year-End Funding Deal

Health care was no longer the belle of the ball at the last presidential candidate debate of the decade (yes, I am that annoying person who keeps making note of that). There was a brief clash between Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) where teasing escalated to shouting — both covering well-worn ground with their points (“Medicare for All costs a lot! Not doing anything isn’t good either!). For the most part though, health care — and coverage especially — took a back seat.

Politico: The 5 Most Brutal Onstage Brawls From The Sixth Democratic Debate

Trump unveiled his plan to allow states to import drugs from Canada — which critics say looks good on paper politically but does little in reality to cut costs for patients. Mainly because Canada is over there being like, “Excusez-moi, you want to do what now?” Officials there aren’t supper jazzed about the idea of becoming America’s pharmacy, and even if they were, the supply likely could not meet our demand. Apart from that, regulation costs would certainly cut into savings and drugmakers would have to cooperate (which is even more absurd than thinking Canada wants to get on board this train).

Politico: 4 Reasons Why Trump’s Drug Importation Bill Won’t Work

Meanwhile, with their sweeping drug prices bill that passed the House, the Democrats have put Republicans between a rock and a hard place (aka angering the powerful pharma lobby or angering voters). Things are getting tense as the GOP tries not to wind up holding the bag when drug prices are brought up on the campaign trail.

Politico: Democrats Box In Republicans On Drug Pricing

An intensive investigation by USA Today reveals widespread and startling incidents of sexual violence, routine use of physical force, poor medical care and deaths at facilities overseen by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Under the Trump administration there have been at least 29 fatalities at these facilities, including seven suicides. With most of the country focused on the separation crisis at the border, this detention system can fly under the radar.

USA Today: Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US

How much money does the Sackler family — which owns the firm that made Oxycontin — really have? It’s a question that’s been plaguing anyone paying attention to the opioid crisis lawsuits. The problem is, no one really knows that answer (except, I presume, the family themselves). That message was driven home once more when it was revealed that the Sacklers transferred $1.36 billion to overseas accounts and affiliated companies after 2008, part of $10.3 billion in total profits distributed out of the company.

Currently, the Sacklers have agreed to pay $3 billion as a way to settle lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis. But when tidbits like this come out, critics of the deal are left wondering how much that would even hurt the family’s coffers.

The Washington Post: The Sackler Family Transferred $1.36 Billion In Purdue Pharma Profits Overseas, Company Says

Meanwhile, it seems undeniable at this point that another meth crisis is brewing and ready to bubble over — this time with an even more potent form of the drug. (One expert explains the difference between today’s meth and the kind from the ’90s: “It’s like they were drinking Mountain Dew and now they are injecting Red Bull.) But advocates, cities and states are struggling to hold the epidemic at bay. Why? Because public health funding these days is locked up fighting the opioid crisis.

The New York Times: A New Drug Scourge: Deaths Involving Meth Are Rising Fast

In the miscellaneous file for the week:

— What would happen if there were no restrictions on the specialists that insurance plans would cover? It sounds great for patients in theory, but a closer look at a plan for New Jersey teachers paints a grim picture of just how out-of-control that kind of strategy can get.

ProPublica: What Happens When A Health Plan Has No Limits? An Acupuncturist Earns $677 A Session.

— Even in the midst of the lung disease outbreak linked to e-cigarettes, the rates of teens who vape marijuana are skyrocketing. There is some good news, though: their use of hard drugs and alcohol is dropping off.

The New York Times: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

— There’s only one federal law that protects children who are not in state custody who are neglected and abused. Not a single state fully complies with that law — and the consequences can be deadly.

ProPublica/Boston Globe: The Law Says She Should Have Been Protected From Birth. Instead, She Was Left In The Care Of Her Drug-Addicted Mother, Who Killed Her.

— For a good, long holiday-travel read, check out this piece on the movement to have family and friends care for the body of loved ones after they die instead of having them whisked off to the funeral parlor to deal with.

The New York Times: The Movement To Bring Death Closer

And with that, I wish you a restful, joyous, wonderful last two weeks of the decade! (See, I told you I’m that person.)

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/must-reads-of-the-week-from-brianna-labuskes-32/

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wikitopx · 5 years ago

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The city of Brescia is located in the north of Italy in the region Lombardia.

Brescia is sometimes called the Italian Lioness because it is a dynamic and fast-growing city. It is not clear when Brescia originated and by who it was formed, but it evidently went through historical periods from Rome to the unification of Italy. Brescia is a beautiful and historic city with many impressive landmarks. Besides monuments, the city is full of entertainment and a new culture. One of the most popular events that takes place every year in May is the race of historic cars. Only vehicles produced before 1957 will participate in the race. This event is an amazing spectacle for which people come to the city. Last but not least in Brescia you will find nightlife, cozy cafés and restaurants with delicious traditional cuisine. Read our list of the 10 top things to do in Brescia:

1. Monastery of San Salvatore - Museum of Santa Giulia

San Salvatore was formed in 753 by the future king of Lombardia, Desiderius. The monastery was built like a female monastery which was dedicated to his daughter and wife. In the 12th-century, most of the building was rebuilt in the Romanesque style. The San Salvatore is famous for its diverse architecture with Roman remains, Romanesque and Renesance styles. The monastery became a barracks in 1882 due to the French Invasion of Lombardy.

The building remained in poor condition until it became a Museum of the Christian age in 1882. However, not all of the complex was properly renovated. In 1996 the monastery had become a new museum, Santa Giulia, and went through extensive restorations. The Monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and today, the building serves as a museum and is freely accessible.

2. Lago di Garda

The natural beauty Lago di Garda is the biggest lake in Italy, Surrounded by alpine mountains and lowlands. The lake was formed by the melting of the Etch glacier during the last ice age. We can still see some remains here. The South part of the lake is lined with the mountains, while the North wider part contains the stone waves created by the glacier activity, so-called Moraines. The Lago di Garda is one of the most significant natural phenomens of Italy. The surroundings offer spectacular views of the lake and mountains. There are a lot of touristic paths that lead to the mountains, and that makes Lago di Garda an excellent destination for hiking and tourism.

3. The Church of Our Lady of Miracles

The construction of the church began in 1488 during thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin and was completed 22 years later. The Church of Our Lady of Miracles in Brescia was built in honor of the image of the Blessed Virgin. The image was seen as a miracle, as the story says that many people were healed while standing before it. The beautifully carved facade consists of marble, and it’s named as one of the jewels of Lombardy. In World War II, the church was severely hit by bombings and then went through a complete restoration. However, the facade, thanks to its robust wooden foundations, remained in its original form. You can find churches of the same name in several places in Italy, and these landmarks are connected with many miracles that happened.

4. Castle of Brescia

The castle majestically stands on the top of the hill above the city. It’s one of the largest fortified complexes in Italy. The castle is often called Falcon of Italy because of its position and stunning overlook over the city. In the area are a lot of preserved buildings that show the evolution of military techniques. Walking along the path that leads to the top will bring you to the times between the 16th and 19th-century. The whole complex has always been an essential part of the city.

A climb to the castle doesn’t mean only views of the castle, but also a walk through spacious gardens and natural surroundings. The hill around the castle was not always in its current contemporary form; the slopes of the hill were full of stones and used for a defensive purpose. The paths lined with trees have also been created and have been surrounded with monuments and statues. Today the castle serves only for tourism and education.

5. Capitolium of Brixia

The Capitolium of Brixia, also known as the Temple of the Capitoline Triad, is an ancient temple and symbol of Roman culture. For its importance, it was placed right in the center of the former Roman town of Brixia. Today, only the ruins remain from the temple, and it is part of an archeological site. The temple was built when the Vespasian was the emperor and was dedicated to Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno. The Capitolium was later replaced by a Republican Sanctuary that consisted of four templates. The templates and Roman ruins are located on the end of Via dei Museii. It has been open to the public since 2013, and you can see here elements of Roman culture, beautiful decoration and preserved original floors.

6. Old Cathedral

The Old Cathedral is located in the center of Brescia and it is the Roman Catholic Church. The building, also known as La Rotonda, is constructed in a circular shape. The earliest evidence about the cathedral comes from the 11th-century, and its origin is assumed at that time. In the 19th-century, much of the original building was removed or rebuilt. However, the entrance portal remains in its original form. The Old Cathedral is one of the most famous circular buildings in Italy.

7. New Cathedral

The New Cathedral of Brescia is situated by the side of the Old Cathedral. Next to each other, they create a beautiful symbiosis, with one called the winter cathedral, and the other the summer cathedral. The New Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic Church in Brescia. The construction began in 1604 on the location of an ancient Basilica of San Pietro de Dom. The construction was stopped due to plague, and it was finally finished in 1825. The present building was rebuilt, following the Second World War. The main facade is adorned with statues of St. Peter, St. James, St. John and the Virgin of Assumption. Inside of the building you can find a significant statue of the Pope Paul VI. The cathedrals together form as one of the most important places to visit in Brescia.

8. Museo Mille Miglia - Legendary Car Race

This is something that will surely be appreciated by all real enthusiasts for cars, especially for the old models. The museum consists of the race archives that were preserved by Renzo Castagneto and staff between 1927-1957. The museum has information about the organization; subscriber registration forms, car rental agreements, race results and articles from famous magazines. The museum is an exhibition of beautiful old cars and their history.

Read also: Top 9 things to do in Clermont-Ferrand, France

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-8-things-to-do-in-brescia-italy-explore-the-best-things-to-do-707715.html

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sherristockman · 6 years ago

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Ben & Jerry’s Sued for Misleading Customers Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Ben & Jerry's, loved by so many because of its environmentally friendly image, is being sued by Organic Consumers Association (OCA), which alleges its do-good reputation and marketing campaigns are all "smoke and mirrors."1 In the lawsuit against Ben & Jerry's and their parent company, Unilever, filed in July 2018, OCA takes issue with statements that the ice cream is made using milk from "happy cows" raised in "Caring Dairies."2 They promote their Caring Dairy program as involving "family operated" farms working toward sustainable dairy farming, and state that farmers must meet the program's basic requirements to be included. This, the lawsuit claims, leads "consumers to believe that the products are produced using animal-raising practices that are more humane than those used on regular factory-style, mass production dairy operations." Even the peaceful cows on their ice cream pints, silhouetted by green pastures and blue skies, give the impression that ice cream, or at least its milk, is a wholesome product you can feel good about buying. You, and many others, would probably be surprised to learn that this is very much a carefully crafted illusion. Ben & Jerry's Uses CAFO Milk Ben & Jerry's has set itself apart from other ice cream makers in the frozen dairy aisle, largely because of their claims of "values-led sourcing" and "Caring Dairy" promises, which built a loyal fan base. "Due to concerns about health, sustainability and animal welfare, consumers are increasingly considering how their food is produced and the effects of that production on animals and the environment," OCA's lawsuit states. "As a result, consumers seek out products that are produced with farming and grazing practices that lead to humanely-raised animals, clean water, healthy soil and a toxin-free environment, such as practices associated with regenerative agriculture."3 The company is so popular that it was the second-largest ice cream brand in 2017, bringing in $801 million in sales.4 But if you look closely, there are some key terms missing from the ice cream labels that signal perhaps they're not as environmentally friendly as they'd like you to believe — terms like "organic" and "grass fed," for starters. They'd certainly get a different reaction from consumers if their labels touted what's really inside, like milk from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). "In contrast to Unilever's representations, the products include milk that comes from cows raised in regular factory-style, mass-production dairy operations, also known as 'Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations' or 'Large Farm Operations' — not in the special 'Caring Dairies' emphasized in Unilever's marketing," OCA states.5 The nonprofit advocacy group Regeneration Vermont, which, along with OCA, has been invested in trying to get Ben & Jerry's to clean up their act, revealed that Ben & Jerry's sources their milk and cream from a co-op in St. Albans City, Vermont. About 360 farms contribute milk to the co-op, but fewer than 25 percent adhere to Ben & Jerry's "Caring Dairy" standards. Yet, when the milk is delivered, it's all mixed together, so there's no way to tell whether the milk you're getting came from a Caring Dairy farm or a CAFO. "So even if some of the milk comes from a farm that actually meets those standards, Ben & Jerry's can't truthfully claim that all of their milk and cream come from dairies that meet the company's 'Caring Dairy' standards," OCA points out.6 Brent Johnson, a class-action defense lawyer who is not involved with the case, told Bloomberg, "If it's true that St. Albans' mixes milk production, and some don't qualify as a Caring Dairy under the standards articulated by Ben & Jerry's, that's to me the plaintiffs' best case."7 Ben & Jerry's Tainted by Glyphosate Herbicide Another one of the lawsuit's complaints centers on Ben & Jerry's claims that their products help reduce environmental impact, an ironic marketing claim for a product tainted by chemical pesticides. In July 2017, OCA reported that 10 of 11 samples of Ben & Jerry's ice cream they tested came back positive for glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and/or its main metabolite AMPA.8 The fan favorites Phish Food, Half Baked and Americone Dream are just a few examples found to contain glyphosate or its metabolites. In 2017, OCA called on Ben & Jerry's to immediately transition to using only organic ingredients, including milk, "or face a national and international consumer boycott." Ben & Jerry's responded by stating their products are safe to eat and contain only trace levels below those allowed by regulatory standards. However, daily exposure to even ultra-low levels of glyphosate for two years led to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats in one study.9 Ben & Jerry's also subsequently released a "vision of sustainable agriculture," with claims that they would stop using ingredients made with crops chemically dried using glyphosate by 2020. In northern, colder regions farmers of wheat and barley must wait for their crops to dry out prior to harvest. Rather than wait an additional two weeks or so for this to happen naturally, Monsanto urged farmers to spray the plants with glyphosate, killing the crop and accelerating their drying (a process known as desiccating). It's a step in the right direction for Ben & Jerry's to not use ingredients from desiccated crops, but as OCA noted, this only applies to their nondairy ingredients. Organic dairy is another animal entirely, but to this Ben & Jerry's responded that they would come out with a new product line in 2018 that will include organic dairy in the base mix. They anticipate the new organic line is only going to represent up to 6 percent of total U.S. sales,10 which means they have no intention of sourcing the bulk of their dairy from organic sources in the near future. Ben & Jerry's Supports Vermont's Biggest Polluter: The Dairy Industry Big Dairy is a major source of pollution in Vermont, a state overrun with CAFO dairies feeding their cows heavily pesticide-sprayed genetically engineered corn. According to Regeneration Vermont, in a report titled, "A Failure to Regulate: Big Dairy & Water Pollution in Vermont":11 "[C]ontamination from the mega-dairies that supply Vermont's big brands, like Ben & Jerry's and Cabot Cheese, is nothing new to Vermonters,12 especially when it comes to the contamination of our waterways. For decades, these iconic brands have garnered enormous profits — each hovering around the $1 billion-a-year level — while pushing a kind of confinement, non-grazing dairy production, resulting in a toxic farm runoff that is literally choking our lakes and streams. Even the beloved Lake Champlain is one of more than 100 other bodies of water in Vermont that are classified as 'impaired.' And, in many cases, 'impaired' means filled with the green slime that is cyanobacteria, smelling so badly that summer camps have become uninhabitable, and beaches are posted with signs that warn, 'no swimming.'" Lake Carmi is another Vermont lake plagued by cyanobacteria or blue-green algae. It's of particular importance to Ben & Jerry's, or should be, because it sits in Franklin County, a region with 36,000 CAFO cows that supply dairy for Ben & Jerry's ice cream.13 Regeneration Vermont and members of the Franklin Watershed Committee even took Ben & Jerry's executives on a tour of Lake Carmi and the surrounding watershed to see the damage firsthand. In a commentary by Jostein Solheim, Ben & Jerry's CEO, it's noted, "Ben & Jerry's recognizes that we are connected to the farms in the Lake Carmi watershed. Our Caring Dairy farm program, which we implement through the St. Albans Cooperative, has members in the Lake Carmi watershed … The condition of the lake, the hardship it's forced upon local residents and businesses is, well, heartbreaking."14 Apparently, it wasn't heartbreaking enough to prompt the company to ask their farmers to switch to organic farming methods, however. As Michael Colby, former editor of Food & Water Journal and cofounder of Regeneration Vermont, stated, they have no reason to switch to organic or grass fed farming because "the marketing is working just fine." "'People think we're organic,' is what we were told time and time again in private meetings," Colby says, "while asking them to actually go organic. If fooling people allows for maximizing profits, why stop fooling them?"15 OCA Hopes Lawsuit Will Prompt Ben & Jerry's to Clean Up Its Ice Cream The purpose of OCA's lawsuit is to bring attention and awareness to the fact that one of the biggest "environmentally friendly" ice cream makers in the U.S. is actually supporting an industry that harms animals, the environment and public health. Meanwhile, Unilever has a nearly $9 billion annual advertising budget, which means they can afford to support real, positive changes in the industry. "Ben & Jerry's is on a mission to spin a false and misleading story about a company that has a lousy track record when it comes to sourcing ingredients from socially and environmentally responsible producers," OCA noted. "We think the company should spend less on misleading product claims, and invest more in helping Vermont dairy farmers transition to organic and regenerative practices that actually support those claims."16 Still, the fact remains that as long as consumers continue to buy Ben & Jerry's products as-is, they have little incentive to change, unless their Powers That Be suddenly dial in to a more altruistic tune. What would make them take notice? Backlash from their customers over their environmentally irresponsible and inhumane dairy sourcing. OCA added, "Consumers who care about their health, the environment and animal welfare would do better to buy organic brands from companies that don't source glyphosate-sprayed ingredients and that do source from dairies that meet organic standards."17 It remains to be seen how OCA's lawsuit will pan out, but you can take a stand now by choosing only organic ice cream in lieu of Ben & Jerry's. You can also send Ben & Jerry's a message using the online contact form at the bottom of their contact page letting them know why you've chosen to no longer purchase their products. Better yet, call Ben & Jerry's directly (802-846-1500) and ask the company to fulfill their mission statement and go organic. OCA has also created a petition18 to encourage Ben & Jerry's to convert to organic and stop hoodwinking customers into thinking they're organic by claiming to be all-natural and environmentally responsible. By filing a lawsuit, OCA stated, they hope Ben & Jerry's will ultimately "do the right thing" by helping Vermont dairy farmers transition to organic or, at the very least, stop misleading consumers with their misleading marketing.19 >>>>> Donate Today <<<<

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