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the-gay-prometheus · 3 years ago

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Frankenstein AU Segment - “The Reunion”

Oh hey- it’s been a minute since I last posted one of these, huh?

As I’ve kinda been alluding to, this isn’t the segment that I’ve been needing to write, but it’s the one I felt like writing over the past few days. So it just so happens that for once in my life, I’ve actually written something chronologically relevant to the last segment I posted! As in... this literally takes place almost directly after “Willful Disobedience.”

I’ll admit I kinda rushed the ending of this one a bit, and I think it shows, but it does what it needs to do so I’m just gonna keep it as is for now.

I can’t think of any serious warnings necessary for this one, but feel free to ask me to add warnings/warning tags if you see anything that you think should be warned about!

As always, likes, reblogs, and comments of any kind are appreciated and encouraged!

It was a nightmare that awoke him that dreary, stormy night. Though he knew logically that there was nothing to fear, now that the thing he had created had been missing for at least four months, still he couldn’t help but feel those same eyes watching him from the shadows. Shuddering at the thought of that disturbing dark-lipped grin and the strange garbled sounds that had roused him from his slumber on the fateful night of its creation, he lay awake in bed and stared up at the ceiling. “You have nothing to fear,” he muttered aloud, repeating the phrase in his mind hoping that maybe if he said it enough times, it would be true. Yet a sudden bolt of lightning and crash of thunder caused him to yelp and hide under the covers, trembling in a cold sweat. Only one thought eased his troubled mind, and though he resented the idea of once again bothering Henry so late at night, he felt he might go mad if he stayed in his room alone for any longer.

When he silently opened the door to Henry’s room, he fully expected to find him asleep - instead, Henry was sitting upright with his journal and quill in hand. He had been staring out into the storm, but as Victor opened his door his attention snapped away. Though at first he appeared surprised, the expression of shock faded into one of concern. “Another nightmare?” he asked quietly, shutting his journal and setting it along with his quill aside. Victor didn’t answer, simply nodding silently while standing shakily in the doorway. Henry moved over on the bed, and gently pat the place beside him, gesturing for his dear friend to come sit with him. Victor unsteadily strode over, sitting in the place beside Henry but turning his face away. “Do you… want to talk about it?” Victor shook his head, clinging to himself and holding back tears. “Is there anything I can do other than just… be here?” There was no reply from Victor except a sniffle and a shrug of his shoulders. The pouring rain pounded at the glass of the window like some unwanted stranger begging to be let in, a deafening sound in a moment of silence between the two of them. “Would it… help to be held?” Victor gripped at himself tighter and clenched his eyes shut, shuddering as he nodded. When he felt the warm embrace of Henry’s freckled arms wrapping gently around him, something inside him shattered and he burst into a fit of sobs. Henry gripped him tighter, hushing him softly as he wept. Another roar of thunder caused Victor to jump and grab hold of Henry, clinging to him as though his life depended on it. They stayed tangled in each other's arms until Victor’s sobs turned to quiet sniffles, and the rain turned from violent downpour to a gentle, steady fall. When Henry released him, he sat back and reached out, carefully wiping the tears from Victor’s pale cheeks. “Better?” he asked with a kind smile and compassionate gaze. Victor nodded, sheepishly smiling himself, though his smile quickly faded and he shuddered at the thought of once again being alone with his thoughts.

“Better for now, yes, but... would you mind if I stayed the night?” he asked, his voice still hoarse from crying.

“Not at all! Bring a blanket and make yourself at home-” He paused, his eyes suddenly filled with concern. “Are you ok going back and grabbing one on your own or…”

“I’ll be fine,” Victor answered, waving his hand dismissively and hopping down from the bed.

What happened then was a blur, a faded memory with only fragments remaining. He ran after exiting Henry’s room, back to his own to quickly grab his favorite wool blanket and nearly panicked at the sound of a tree branch tapping and scraping at his window, Somehow from there he ended up back in Henry’s room, making a cozy nest for himself on the floor where he decided he would sleep for the night - complete with extra pillows that Henry provided him with, and it was there with his blanket wrapped tightly around himself that his eyes began to close. When they opened, however, he was no longer on the floor but instead lying in bed next to Henry, who slept soundly with his face turned away. Victor’s eyes opened wide at the sudden realization that somehow, in his sleep, he must have climbed up into the bed. As he tried to remember why or how it happened, his memory flashed with tiny glimpses at some other horrifying nightmare, and he realized all at once that in his fright he must have come to Henry for comfort, only to find him sleeping. He stirred, slowly trying to move toward the edge of the bed, but as he shifted, Henry turned in his sleep, now facing him, and he froze. Unwilling to wake his host, Victor lay perfectly still, moving only to shift back to laying with his eyes to the ceiling. He stared upward, but he felt no fear there lying next to Henry. His breathing was slow, his heart calm, and his mind at peace. Yet still, he found himself entirely unable to sleep. Henry shifted and murmured something beside him that sounded like it might have been a name - his name. Victor turned his face toward him, partially curious to see if Henry had awoken or was beginning to wake, and soon turned his entire body on his side to face him as he realized his eyes were still closed and his expression was that of someone peacefully sound asleep.

Something about that moment took Victor’s breath away. He had long known that what he felt when he was with his dear friend was something far deeper than a general platonic affection, but the pieces of his affections suddenly seemed to click together as they lay together in simple silence. His brown eyes began to well with tears once again. “I have searched so long for greatness and power, hoping that it might fill some final void within me,” he whispered, though he knew Henry couldn’t hear him, “yet all this time, all I needed to feel whole was this - just to be here, just to be with you.” He turned himself onto his back again, staring upward as tears slowly streamed down his face. “Why can we not just stay like this? Why can we not just be this - be us?” His gaze fell back onto Henry, and he felt a dull pain from deep within him that throbbed with every beat of his heart. “Would you even want that? Or is this wrong? Am I wrong?” Henry shifted in his sleep, and it seemed for a moment that his eyes might dare to blink open, which frightened Victor into silence at the thought that he may have just bore his entire soul to his most trusted friend. He didn’t wake, though, instead simply heaving a soft sigh in his slumber as he went entirely still once again. The sky outside began to lighten as the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon and filtered through the window, some soon resting upon the fiery waves of Henry’s hair and revealing the dormant ember-like brightness that had been concealed by the darkness of night. As dawn passed, Victor stayed staring at his dearest friend’s fair face, and as he stared he reached out, tracing the air over a cluster of freckles with a smile. “Andromeda,” he breathed, recognizing the latest in a series of constellations he had discovered over the years. He wanted so badly just to reach a little further and touch him, as though he were afraid that maybe it was all some illusion, some cruel trick that he could be so close and yet so far from where he wanted to be - from who he wanted to be. Instead he retracted his hand with a gentle sigh and lay there in silent wonder, letting his mind wander with visions of what could be, or what could have been. Henry stirred beside him once again, his eyelids twitching. Victor felt himself freeze again. What would he say? What would he do? Would he be angry? Would he pull him closer? Would he do nothing at all? From the corner of his eye he caught sight of a tall shadow on the wall beyond, looming ominously. He felt his stomach churn and his heart race with both fury and fear, until suddenly everything stopped. Everything was still - too still. “This isn’t right,” he whispered to himself. “He wasn’t there.” Just as Henry’s eyes slowly opened, he blinked.

Tiny shafts of sunlight filtered through miniscule cracks in the wooden log walls, illuminating particles of dust that floated through the air. Victor squinted as his eyes opened. For a moment, he smiled, half expecting Henry’s hazel eyes to be gazing back at him, but instead there was the bare wood of the cabin walls and the small stream of light that aligned directly with his sight and blinded him despite its meager size. He pulled his wool blanket over his face with a groan to block out the light, and though he tried to close his eyes and go back to sleep, there was an aching in his chest that kept him awake. Though he knew it was impossible, he kept hoping and wishing that somehow, some way, he could simply will Henry into existence there with him. Finally growing exhausted of his pining, he slipped out of bed, pinning his blanket around himself as a cape, and stepped out of his room. The creature lay sleeping soundly on the floor in front of the fireplace, that being the only place he ever slept despite having a room of his own. Victor paused, staring down at him for a moment, suddenly envying him. After having been calmed from another night terror, the creature seemed so peaceful and at rest in his sleep, while Victor seemed to be cursed only to dream of memories that pained him and made him feel all the more lonely and lost, twisted and changed by fears he so desperately tried to suppress. Cautiously stepping over his creation’s outstretched leg, he made his way to the door and stepped outside into the light of dawn. At first he shielded his eyes from the light, but as they adjusted, he strode toward the edge of the ledge and paused just before the rock dropped off into a steep cliff, just so most of his feet were still on solid ground though his toes hung over the edge. It was a dangerous place to stand, especially with the strong breeze that pushed its way through, but the danger of it was the last thing on his mind as he stared ahead, his hands clasped behind his back.

A feeling of homesickness flooded through him, though he couldn’t quite discern what it was for. Was it for Geneva, for the lake and the forests and the view of the mountains from below? Was it for the home and family he left behind so many years ago? Or was it just for Henry himself- He shook the thought from his head. "That's silly," he muttered aloud. "You can't feel homesick for a person." Yet when he thought about his soothing voice as he read some ancient poem or story, or the way he held him when he was scared or sad; when he thought about the way he could paint a picture with words or tell a story through sketches, that feeling of homesickness only grew more prevalent. In his heartache, he hadn’t heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, nor had he heard when they stopped, followed by the clattering of a walking stick and pack being dropped to the ground. Instead, it was a voice that broke him from his thoughts, sending both a wave of heat and an icy chill through his veins.

“Victor?” He turned his head, and swore he was hallucinating. Standing there bathed in the golden light of the morning sun was the exact person who had been consuming his every waking thought. In a moment of something between blind panic and overwhelming joy, Victor thoughtlessly fully turned to face him while stumbling backward - except there was nothing to stumble back on. One foot slipped from the edge of the cliff, and he flailed his arms, trying to push his balance onto the one foot that still remained on land despite that one beginning to slip as well. Just as he was about to fall back to what would most certainly have been an inevitable death, a hand grabbed one of his flailing arms by the wrist and stopped his fall. He glanced back as fragments of stone tumbled off the cliff, falling through the air until they could no longer be seen. His breath caught in his throat at the thought that he could have just perished due to his own carelessness, but when he looked back up he felt his heart flutter. Henry was staring down at him with a look of both terror and relief in his eyes, wisps of his orange hair that had escaped being tied back drifting over his face and catching the sunlight like thin streams of fire, gleaming and shifting in vibrant shades of auburn with each waving motion of the breeze.

“H-hi Henry,” Victor managed to stutter breathlessly as he gazed upward with wide eyes. The grip on his wrist tightened and he felt himself blush, so he turned his head away as Henry hoisted him back up onto solid ground, only to blush harder as his friend suddenly pulled him into so tight of an embrace he thought his frail ribs might crack. Though it was slightly painful, the sudden rush of euphoria from being once again wrapped in Henry’s arms overrode any pain he felt. He couldn’t tell if he wanted to laugh, or cry, or maybe both at once, but whatever the case, he clung to Henry tightly in return, silently hoping that this was in fact reality and not just some waking dream. Henry pulled back, placing his hands on Victor’s shoulders as Victor reluctantly released him.

“My dear Frankenstein,” Henry murmured. The words shot straight through Victor, words he had been longing to hear for the months he had been away, words that only Henry ever spoke, and he felt as though he might faint at the mere sound of them.

“It’s… it’s been far too long,” Victor managed to whisper, leaning his head to one side and resting it on Henry’s hand. Henry returned the gesture with a comforting smile.

“It has,” he concurred, seemingly searching Victor’s face for answers to some unspoken question. Victor looked back up at him, his own eyes wandering for want of answers, and as he stared, his gaze turned to a sudden look of confusion and concern as reason and logic began to overtake his senses.

“How did you find me?” He paused, then stepped back and pulled fully away from Henry’s touch. “Why aren’t you still at Ingolstadt?” Henry shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m taking time off,” he answered simply. “After you left I was so worried - about you and your family, I guess - I just… couldn’t keep my focus on my studies, so I decided it might be best to come home and take a break.” Victor was about to reply, but went silent as Henry suddenly went rummaging through one of his pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “As for how I found you,” he began, waving it in the air, “I got your letter!” Victor gave him an odd look.

“...Letter?” Henry unfolded it and looked it over.

“You don’t remember sending this?” Victor thought long and hard, trying to consider all of the possibilities - maybe he had sent something and forgotten? Or maybe he had written and sent something in some daze of confusion and lost all memory of it? Neither made much sense, but they were the only answers that seemed to come to mind.

“Not to my knowledge, no.” He reached out. “Do you mind if I take a look?” Henry laughed as he shook his head.

“Of course not! You’re the one that wrote it, after all,” he replied as he placed the letter into Victor’s hand. Victor read it over, growing more confused and concerned with himself. Henry was right - it looked exactly like his handwriting and the tone of voice in the letter seemed to match the tone he so often used in his typical letters to Henry from his time in Ingolstadt before that same fateful day that he arrived there. “Whatever the case, whether you wrote it or not,” Henry began, smiling and resting one hand back on Victor’s shoulder. “You have no idea how delighted I am to see you again.” Victor hid his blushing behind the paper as he inspected it closer.

“More like you have no idea how delighted I am to see you again,” he mumbled. The letter certainly seemed flawlessly his own creation, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t recall when, or frankly how, he would have sent it. “When did you say you received this?”

“I… hadn’t said, but it was yesterday evening.” Victor’s expression became even more contorted with confusion, and Henry himself began to worry. “Is there something wrong?”

“Henry… I never wrote you a letter.” Henry stared.

“I’m not sure if I should be more offended or concerned by that sentence, but I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.” The thought that he might have offended him sent a twinge of guilt through Victor, and he glanced up with a sigh.

“That’s not to say I didn’t want to write to you. It’s just… I can’t leave this place. It’s a long story.”

“You did mention that in the letter, something about how you were unable to leave. That’s part of why I left as soon as I received it - I figured you might be in trouble, but you look perfectly well, other than perhaps a bit thinner than usual.”

“That’s just it-” Victor began, looking back down at the letter. “If I’m stuck here, then how would I have gotten this letter to you?” Henry thought for a moment.

“Well, it was delivered by someone who wished to remain anonymous if that makes any difference. Perhaps there was someone who had come here that you forgot and had asked to deliver the letter?” Victor shook his head.

“Impossible. I would have known if someone else had come. There’s no one here except me and-” He paused, his eyes catching on to something strange, a pattern in the way each character was written. He knew his own handwriting - it was sloppy at best, yet typically at least legible, and he never wrote one letter the same way twice. That was the problem, though - the handwriting looked nearly identical, yes, but it was too perfect. Each letter, though sloppily written, was written in nearly the exact same style, as though it had been copied. It was such a small detail, something he himself with his ever observant eyes barely caught on to, but it was enough to alert him that he was right - he never wrote a letter. “It was forged,” he said out loud suddenly. Henry took the letter from his hands and gave it a closer look. “You know my handwriting, Henry. It’s imperfect. I’ve always complained about how imperfect and inconsistent it is. But this? It’s…”

“Perfectly imperfect,” Henry muttered, finishing his sentence for him. “Now that you mention it, I see what you mean. How fascinating… whoever wrote this put a lot of time and care and effort into trying to make it look and sound like you, and certainly nearly managed to achieve it.” He folded the letter back up and returned it to his pocket, but as he did, he repeated Victor’s own words in his head. “Did you say there was someone else here?” Victor didn’t answer. He barely heard him, as he became lost in his own thoughts, trying to decipher who had written it and how it could have been delivered, and how the author would have known his whereabouts.

Perfectly imperfect, he thought to himself. Perfectly imperfect… His eyes went wide and he felt as though his blood was draining to his feet as he went pale and his stomach seemed to twist itself in knots. “Perfectly imperfect,” he repeated aloud, as though in a trance. Henry gave him a concerned look, and reached out, taking his hand gently.

“Victor? Is there something wrong?” Victor trembled, then suddenly tore his hand away and made his way over to the belongings Henry had dropped, gathering them up and placing them back into Henry’s hands.

“You need to leave,” he demanded, his tone hoarse yet dark. Henry blinked.

“I’m… are you sure?”

“Yes I am sure.” He wasn’t sure - but all he knew was he suddenly felt a surge of fear and fury rising through himself. Henry stared, seemingly analyzing him, then gently placed his things onto the ground again.

“No you’re not-”

“Yes I am,” Victor interrupted. His breathing quickened as his heart began to race. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to appear as calm as possible, he rested a hand on Henry’s shoulder. “You need to leave, Henry. You’re not safe here.” Henry’s hand dropped to the rapier he kept sheathed at his side.

“Victor, I can protect myself - you know that. Whatever it is, rest assured, I will be fine.” He reached up, placing his hand over Victor’s hand. “What I’m more concerned about is you and your safety.” Victor looked away, refusing to meet his gaze. “Why are you really here?”

“I told you, it’s a long story,” he uttered, his voice almost like a low growl as he suddenly pushed Henry back. “One that I don’t have the time to tell. Go, Henry. Leave, and don’t come back - for your own sake.” Henry stumbled back as Victor pushed him, and though he desperately wanted to refuse, he sighed and began retrieving his things.

“If that’s really what you want, then I’ll go,” he answered quietly, trying to hide the sorrow in his voice. His tone sent Victor’s mind reeling and a sudden shock of pain in his heart, but he strengthened his resolve and continued to hurry Henry along. Exhausted from his journey and now pained by rejection, Henry trudged along, until out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of something that made him stop and raise his head. It was the cabin he saw, quaint and carefully constructed of logs likely found from the mountain forest. “Oh!” he exclaimed, causing Victor to pause as well. “Did you build that?” he asked, glancing back toward his friend.

“No- well- I- It’s not important. Time to go,” Victor grumbled, pushing at him again. Henry stepped away from him, nearly causing him to fall forward, and walked toward the little dwelling with curiosity.

“It’s… nice, actually,” he complimented, looking it over and glancing at his surroundings. “Must be pretty wonderful to be living in such a beautiful place with such an incredible view.”

“No, it’s a living hell of my own creation. Come on, Henry,” Victor pleaded, grabbing hold of his arm and trying to pull him away. Just then, the door to the cabin creaked as it opened, and Victor froze. He dared not to look, and a million scenarios raced through his mind. Had that demon lured Henry here to hurt him? Would Henry attack it out of fear of its hideousness? Would it attack him back? Panic began to course through him, but as the door closed, it wasn’t chaos that ensued, but instead Henry’s kind voice and cheerful disposition that rose over the mess of disastrous thoughts that tumbled around in his head.

“Oh, hello there! And who might you be?”

#*casually drinking my loving henry clerval juice*#...it's coffee. loving henry clerval juice is coffee.#victor frankenstein would agree with me i think.#(or really it's whatever you want it to be uwu)#also yes Henry carries his rapier with him everywhere because he thinks it makes him look cool-#oh and also for protection but mostly because he feels very important and heroic when he has it #and Victor is a disaster gay but we all already knew that.#anyways-#on to the usual tags #frankenstein au #clervalstein #(technically it's more of- clervenstein pining hours but- still)#head empty clervenstein thoughts #clervenstein my beloved

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littleoddwriter · 4 years ago

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Gotta Try Harder | Victor Zsasz & Dinah Lance/Black Canary | BG ZsaszMask

"could we have a fic where its just dinah and zsasz running errands for roman and zsasz just being a (petty) wrecking ball just like turning dinahs airbag off in the car and walking straight thru police stations to get to targets/marks etcetc" anon A/N: I really hope this is to your liking, anon! It certainly was a fun request, thank you!

summary; Victor tries to subtly and indirectly get rid of Dinah because she keeps pissing him off. There’s also some ZsaszMask in the background.

notes; TW // Mentions of Murder; Mentions of Injury. Mentions of Sex; Plotting to kill or hurt someone; Attempting to do it, too; Zsasz is a fucking disaster gay, who is jealous and petty, OK?!; Little Dialogue; This is really just more of a character study in a way, sorry, lol.

Since Dinah has become Roman's new driver, Victor has been sent off with her a lot to get things done, and he absolutely hated it. He despised her so much, he'd love to break every single bone in her body, peel off her stupid face and have her drown in her own blood by slitting her throat. It was a fantasy he indulged often, needing to release some of that hatred for her somehow, since Roman forbade him to actually do anything to her. So he didn't directly hurt her or try to kill her. He didn't like disobeying Roman, unless it was truly needed in order to keep him safe. Because in the end, his boss always understood and forgave him eventually for not following his orders. Yet, Black Canary hasn't actually done anything that would warrant killing her without getting into too much trouble. It didn't keep him from indirectly trying to make something happen to her at least. Often times, when they were in the car, he would disable her airbag and then try to cause a car accident. Obviously, that would also endanger him, but he wasn't too worried about it. He knew it wasn't his time to go yet, so he had faith that he'd come out unscathed. Unfortunately, Dinah was actually a good driver and didn't have any accidents despite his best tries. He once even cut the brakes and yet they arrived at their destination without an incident. It frustrated him to no end. Then she also had the audacity to comment on his techniques for certain businesses. It was like she was trying to make him hate her guts even more than he already did. Just because they were supposed to drive by the precinct, where their target was sitting in at the moment, and he thought it the best to just barge in and get him. Naturally, as he busted in, the officers inside tried to stop him by shouting, shooting and hand-to-hand combat. He wouldn't let them, of course. He indulged a couple of them, just because he liked the way it had adrenaline course through his body; but he either killed them quickly or hit the right spot to knock them out cold. When he came back to the car, with the target - because Roman wanted to bring him and see him being tortured, he had blood basically all over his body, and his pupils were dilated, his eyes looking more black than their usual dark brown, as he was also panting. He was aroused. He didn't care if she saw it. Neither did he care if she was disgusted. His arousal was soon shut down, though, as she spoke up, "What the fuck's wrong with you? Mr S said to pick up that guy, not to kill half of Gotham's police staff!" Victor clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth. "Shut the fuck up and drive. You don't have a say in what I should or shouldn't do, Little Song Bird." "Whatever," she muttered and drove away from their previous hiding spot. Roman was angry with him for having caused such a ruckus in the precinct, but he soon didn't care when their target had been taken care of. He especially didn't care when he saw all of Victor's new scars, admiring them, licking and kissing them as they fucked. Some other day, Roman asked them to go and pay a small group of criminals a visit, as they had tried to invade his territory. Since they weren't some big, important fucks, he only sent him to send the message. Roman had more important things to do, he knew that, it was alright. What wasn't alright, was Dinah's presence. He could have very well driven himself. Although, Roman wouldn't allow him to do that anymore either, as he didn't actually have a license and really just hit the gas, ignoring all kinds of laws and almost got himself into an accident on different occasions. But as mentioned before, he knew it wasn't his time yet. He had told Roman as much, but it didn't matter to him. Feeling agitated by Black Canary's sheer presence, though, he may have gone a little overboard on the group of criminals. Not only that, but he was a little careless, too, and actually got hurt. "Shit, you look awful, man," Black Canary stated when he got back to the car and inside of it, breathing heavily as he held his bleeding side. "Shut up," he snarled. "Listen, I don't know what your fucking problem with me is, Zsasz, but I think you should probably call a doctor, y'know?" Victor grumbled something unintelligible about her being a 'stupid bitch'. Nonetheless, he pulled out his phone and called Roman to tell him that he might need to see the doctor. As Roman started yelling at him, he held the phone away from his ear, letting him rant on, as he occasionally muttered 'yes', 'I know', 'sorry, Boss'. Dinah glanced at him throughout, he looked back at her, a look of... compassion? - in her eyes. It disgusted him. He didn't need compassion for Roman's behaviour. He didn't need compassion, ever, period. Fuck, he hated her so fucking much. When they reached the building of Roman's club and their loft, he got out of the car and stumbled a little. Dinah came to his side and actually fucking helped to steady him. He thought he was going to be sick. She needs to get her fucking hands off him. Yet, he could barely do anything about it, weakened as he was, now. They got him good, those fuckers. Though, when they went up the stairs, he couldn't help himself and tried to make her fall. It only ended with him losing his balance and almost tumbling down the stairs, but it was worth it because she struggled to keep him upright and almost lost her balance, too. He grinned to himself. When they came through the door, Roman and the doctor were immediately on him, and Dinah finally let go of him. Sionis kept yelling at him about 'how stupid he was', and that 'this should have been such an easy job', and 'he wasn't usually like that'. But he barely paid it any mind, fixated on Black Canary still standing there, since she's not been officially dismissed, yet. He would just have to keep trying then.

#tw murder #tw blood mention #tw sex mention #victor zsasz #victor zsasz fanfiction #victor zsasz imagine #roman sionis #zsaszmask #zsaszmask fanfiction #dinah lance #black canary #birds of prey #harley quinn birds of prey #birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn

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hornyliverpudlianputz · 6 years ago

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Hi! Do you have any movie recs?

Hooo boy. Yes? I do? I have a lot. I will try to do a wide approach, depending on what you’re interested in. I’ve tried to break it up into categories but there is obviously some overlap. If you have a more specific “type” or genre please let me know!

Comedies -

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): I’ve talked about this before, a movie by the British comedy troupe Monty Python spoofing the legend of the Grail Quest. Extremely quotable, I have accidentally memorized entire scenes of this because it sticks in my brain so well.

Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016): A spoof of “live tour” documentaries done of musicians put together by The Lonely Island (famous for their SNL parodies such as “Dick in a Box” and “I’m on a Boat”). It is absolutely hysterical and contains some ridiculously good bops as well.

Dramas -

The King’s Speech (2010): A British film about King George VI’s struggle to overcome his stutter and gain the confidence to take up the mantel of the crown when his older brother abdicates. Based on real life events, Colin Firth plays the shit out of this role, and so does Helena Bonam Carter as his wife.

The Road Within (2015): An indie “road trip” movie, this follows three teens who all have a disorder of some kind (Tourettes, Anorexia, and OCD) as they go “on the run” from the treatment facility they were all enrolled at. (The facility was not mistreating them, they’re just letting off steam.) I recommend this because from reactions I’ve seen it’s an excellent treatment of all of the respective disorders, and while it has a “happy ending” (mostly), none of them are magically cured by the end.

Brain candy/feel good -

A Knight’s Tale (2001): I’ve also already talked about this, it’s a (very, very) loose adaptation of part of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (he’s a main character lol.) Fun, great soundtrack, quotable, and refuses to be constrained by things like “historical accuracy.”

Secondhand Lions (2003): A “coming of age” story combined with a “boy and his dog” story, a young man is dropped at the feet of his great uncles and told by his mother she’ll be back at the end of the summer. The three of them then have to learn how to deal with each other. All the feels.

Sci fi -

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): Ok look. I’m a nerd. Y’all knew this. And yes, I know this is technically in the middle of an arc but this is hands down the best Star Trek movie ever so it gets a special mention. Time travel, save the whales, Spock is trying to remember his human side, and bad disguises. Also they briefly lose Chekov in a highly restricted military area, park their invisible spaceship in public, and handwave “inventing” future technology as “it’ll probably be fine.” We stan disasters.

Starship Troopers (1997): This is not “fun” scifi, fair warning. This is the “scifi is a metaphor for all the world’s problems and nothing is good” type. A really excellent metaphor for military propaganda, I could analyse the shit outta this all day. It’s also somehow cheesy as hell.

Queer -

Victor Victoria (1995): Please note that I am recommending the 90′s musical and not the 80′s comedy. They are the same story but the musical is by far superior. A version of it was filmed live and should be available on DVD. Basically a broke female opera singer in France is convinced by a gay man to become a drag queen because she would make the greatest female impersonator the world has ever known. Hijinks ensue. Gender is fake, sexuality is fluid, and everybody ends up happy. Also Julie Andrews.

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009): A black comedy based on a true story, a gay con artist keeps breaking out of prison to be with his boyfriend. (That is very simplified.) Did you know Jim Carry can play dramatic really fucking well? You will after this movie. Also please watch Ewan McGregor literally melt into a puddle on the floor, you will not regret it.

Shakespeare -

Bill (2015): This is a spoof for Shakespeare nerds done by the same group of people who do Horrible Histories. The concept is to fill in the lost years when Shakespeare was establishing himself in London. It also involves a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I by Prince Philip of Spain, a royal spymaster trying to sniff out Catholics, and Shakespeare and his wife falling back in love. Gets a shoutout for using Shakespeare quotes out of context to make them work in totally different ways.

Shakespeare in Love (1998): Sigh. Ok, so like, I am not a fan of Romeo and Juliet. But this is basically Shakespeare living out Romeo and Juliet while writing it and I unironically love it. It has a lot of easter eggs for Shakespeare nerds like typical tropes (crossdressing, mistaken identities, ghosts (or are there?), class friction, star crossed romance, etc.) and random quotes. Also during the performance at the end the in-movie audience is literally seeing Romeo and Juiet for the first time. They react appropriately.

#personal #ask and ye shall receive

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engmjr419 · 4 years ago

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A Spectrum of Scares: The Red Scare, the Lavender Scare, and mid-20th century paranoia

History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.

- Marsha P. Johnson, A Black Transgender Drag Queen

“A Promotion We Can Do Without” from the Miami Herald, 1954. It accompanies an article about police being “soft” on “perverts” (the typical term for a homosexual in this period) in Miami leading to moral failure. The first line of the paragraph in the top left reads, “Sex perversion is a growing public problem”. Source.

The history of the LGBT+ community in America is a textbook of struggle, just as Marx claims history to be patterns of class struggle. The lesbian is told she needs a man, the homosexual is blamed for moral failure, the bisexual is called confused, and the transgender called mentally ill. They are constantly alleged to be corruptors, perverts, and conspirators trying to undermine the “normal” straight society, in other wards they are the “other”. In the McCarthy era, we were alleged to be Communists; but then again, who wasn’t?

The year is around 1948, the second World War had only ended 3 years ago, and America is feeling powerful. They’ve come out the victor with their allies and defeated the Nazi Party. However, their society is now forever tinged with this xenophobic culture, powered by anti-German, Russian, and Japanese propaganda, that paints them broadly as, President Donald J. Trump tweeted barely a week ago, the “Red Wave”. As Communist government expands in Eastern Europe, the communist, to the American, becomes a boogeyman, a coverall for any ill moral, counterculture, or otherwise “bad” action that anybody does. Furthermore, the Cold War pushes this even further as tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union boil to a tipping point awakening anti-communist hysteria from the 1930s. Simply put, The Soviet Union and the US were goading each other constantly. Thus, begins McCarthyism and the second Red Scare (the first being in the late 1910s during World War 1).

The communist, the so called “Red Menace” becomes the anti-capitalist, the socialist, the critic, the questioner, the democrat, the minority, and, most important to us, the homosexual.

Amidst the McCarthy investigations and hearings, the societal panic, and the illusionary massive plan of the communists to uproot American Society (though we were literally pointing nuclear missiles at eachother), the second Red Scare was used to discriminate further against the “other”. All areas of minority were targeted for being Communist, some directly by McCarthy, from Black Americans, to the non-Christian, to the LGBT community. The figure of the Communist and the “other” became one in the same.

A newspaper headline from 1961 stating the “Reds” blackmail Homosexuals into being Communist spies. The paragraph above it reads, “The F.B.I. knew those two code experts were fruity fellows but nothing was done about it until the boys has already minced off to Moscow.” Their homosexuality is summarized as “perverted pursuits in hotel rooms”. Source

This resulted in the Lavender Scare, a mass investigation and eviction of LGBT, primarily gay people, from United States Government due to fear of them being Communist infiltrators along with public beliefs of the gay person. McCarthy himself declared the “homosexual” to be a threat to the American lifestyle, as he thought they could be easily blackmailed by the communist into revealing state secrets or be “Corrosive” to their coworkers moralities. The Lavender Scare is the people’s moral fears over the homosexual lifestyle colliding with Mycarterism-era conspiracy fueled paranoia.

A 1950s Newspaper article warning Americans “DON’T Patronize Reds” in the entertainment industry. The last line reads, “every time you permit REDS to come into your Living Room VIA YOUR TV SET you are helping MOSCOW and the INTERNATIONLISTS to destroy America!!!” Source.

During the late 1940s and stretching into the late 1950s, a “Red Scare” occurs, a conspiracy theory where the American people believed that Communists had infiltrated their society with the goal to bring down democracy. People believed “Reds” had infiltrated government, Hollywood, TV, schools, and any other public place with an express hope of “corrupting” the populace. The era overall is called the “McCarthy Era” after Senator Joseph McCarthy, a right-wing republican who in 1950 rose to prominence by declaring there was “Communist penetration of the State Department, the White House, the Treasury, and even the US Army” (Miller Center). In his speech, titled “Enemies Within” he declares:

The great difference between our western Christian world and the atheistic Communist world is not political, gentlemen, it is moral. For instance, the Marxian idea of confiscating the land and factories and running the entire economy as a single enterprise is momentous. Likewise, Lenin’s invention of the one-party police state as a way to make Marx’s idea work is hardly less momentous…Karl Marx, for example, expelled people from his Communist Party for mentioning such things as love, justice, humanity or morality. He called this “soulful ravings” and “sloppy sentimentality”

He points the finger at the end, claiming:

I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.

He later cut this list down to 57, in an address to President Truman, “Despite this State Department black-out, we have been able to compile a list of 57 Communists in the State Department”. Two of these cases specifically targeted homosexuals.

This speech polarized the nation, creating parties who both believed and dismissed his allegations. McCarthy in the early 1950s would comb over nearly all government departments, questioning countless witnesses (Who a large majority of the time were only accused of being Communist), and in 1954 it all cultivated in its peak, the McCarthy Hearings. The McCarthy Hearings were 36 straight days of televised investigative hearings ran by McCarthy, however this turned public opinion against McCarthy after seeing ludicrous claims by the Senator against trusted people, along with a well written criticism by Edward R. Murrow (Achter). However, the Communist fear would never truly fade, nor the effects this conspiracy theory created.

A McCarthy era flyer, urging the viewer to report any “suspected Communist Activity” to presumably the police or the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HUAC) which were a committee entirely focused on monitoring Communist activity within the United States. Source.

Countless numbers of individuals were fired, blacklisted, ridiculed, and years of trust swept away from a mere accusation. “Hundreds of elementary and high school teachers were investigated and lost their jobs, sometimes as a result of being named by proliferating "anti-subversive" groups and individuals” (Billington). The McCarthy era wreaked havoc on American society, enabling an easy accusation to sling around by anybody with a near 100% guarantee it would stick even without any solid evidence.

In one instance, Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney blame Hollywood Labor conflicts over unionization as “Communist Infiltration”, Walter R. Disney states, “Well, it proved itself so with time, and I definitely feel it was a Communist group trying to take over my artists and they did take them over” ,along with, “I even went through the same smear in South America, through some Commie periodicals in South America, and generally throughout the world all of the Commie groups began smear campaigns against me and my pictures”.

A 1947 comic by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning about Communist Infiltration. It puts forward a story of Communist heads step by step breaking down American society, through class conflict, division, corrosion of morals, race war, and media until they manage to elect a Communist president, leading to food rationing, book burning, and the murder of Catholics. One panel reads “And here goes the greatest trash ever written – THE BIBLE!” linking Communism to comical levels of Atheism (and thus amorality). Source.

The McCarthy Red Scare has all the key points of a conspiracy theory, as described by Hofstadter in Harper’s Magazine 1964 edition. He paints the Conspiracy finger-pointer as such,

“The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point”

McCarthy and other believers of this “Red Menace” saw the complete downfall of the United States in the future, the upheaval of society, and the destruction of freedom. In the comic book shown above, Americans saw Communists breaking apart American society step by step, inciting race wars, media races, and snapping of moral coils to push America into Communism, which to the American was presented as a removal of all freedom. Hofstadter stakes, on the actions of the perceived conspirator, “He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced.”

From a 1949 trial of the American Communist Party Leaders on a charge of conspiracy, the Government states against the Communist Party through John F. X. McGohey,

“In each of these schools it is reiterated constantly that the students are being trained as professional revolutionaries. Marxism, they are taught, is not merely dogma, it is a guide to action. . . . At the proper time, they are taught—the proper time being a time of national crisis, unrest, disorder brought about by a severe depression or war”, and further in, “They teach that this revolution cannot be without violence, for to be successful the entire apparatus of the Government must be smashed”

In a 1947 accusation of John Howard Lawson, an organizer of the Screen Writers Guild and leader of Hollywood’s Communist Party in the 1930s, John Charles Moffitt declares to the HUAC that Lawson instructed:

It is your duty to further the class struggle by your performance.

He said: If you are nothing more than an extra wearing white flannels on a country club veranda do your best to appear decadent, do your best to appear to be a snob; do your best to create class antagonism.

He said: If you are an extra on a tenement street do your best to look downtrodden, do your best to look a victim of existing society.

They believed “there has been the now-familiar sustained conspiracy to undermine free capitalism”, that government had been “infiltrated by Communists that American policy has been dominated by men who were shrewdly and consistently selling out American national interests”, and that “the country is infused with a network of Communist agents…that the whole apparatus of education, religion, the press, and the mass media is engaged in a common effort to paralyze the resistance of loyal Americans” (Hofstadter). To summarize, the continued existence of the United States, at least to them, rested on unearthing and outing the “Reds”.

Several News Headlines of the era, all talking about the organized purging of gay men and women from Government, ranging from calling them Homosexuals to Deviates to “Sex Perverts”. One reads ““sexual perverts have infiltrated our Government in recent years” were “perhaps as dangerous as the actual Communists.”” Source.

As is the case with Conspiracy Theories, those who believe in them find it far too easy to associate the conspirators with the “other” of society. Jewish people were blamed for the Black Death, and thought to be in Anti-Catholic organizations, African Americans celebrities are associated with the Illuminati, and Gay men and women were thought to be communists or simply painted as such to be ousted. This was the Lavender Scare.

In this era of McCarthyism, thousands of gay employees, or just suspected gay employees, of state and federal governments were investigated, questioned, outed, and fired (Adkins). This was amid the wave of congressional investigations for communists, “bound up with anti-Communism and fueled by the power of congressional investigation”, painting the homosexual red and claiming them to be Communists, Communist sympathizers, or blackmailed to reveal state secrets. This was in addition to the major societal view of the time, calling homosexuals “sex perverts” or “deviants”, being listed as a mental illness in the official psychological database, and being jailed for even looking “non-conforming to one’s birth sex” in parts of the country.

Even before McCarthy’s claim to Communist Conspirators, the homosexual was being persecuted in this era. This was because World War 2 created an unexpected side effect, a rising community of LGBT (and thus societal visibility) due to many homosexual people finding themselves in the same army bunker.

“In 1947 the U.S. Park Police initiated in the city a "Sex Perversion Elimination Program," targeting gay men for arrest and intimidation.” Only a year later, Congress passes the act “for the treatment of sexual psychopaths”, facilitating the arrest, punishment, and jailing of people acting on same-sex desire, labeling them mentally ill. Judith Adkins summarizes the view of the time, “Homosexuality was perceived as a lurking subversive threat at a time when the country was coping with tremendous social change as well as rising anxiety about another lurking subversive threat: Communism.”

A 1950 report by an investigative committee of Government, concluding that homosexuals were unsuitable for employment in the Federal Government due to “security” reasons. Source.

McCarthy blamed the homosexual figure claiming, “the government had been infiltrated by homosexuals, and that they posed a threat equally as grave to national security”. In his address on February 20th, 9 days after his President Truman address, McCarthy linked homosexuality and Communism citing two cases of Homosexual men in Government, stating “practically every active Communist is twisted mentally or physically in some way” and implied “that the men in these two cases were susceptible to Communist recruitment because as homosexuals they had what he called "peculiar mental twists” (Adkins). The pressure from McCarthy and other republicans caused the State Department to have fired 91 homosexuals as “security risks”. Later the US Senate, led by the “Hoey Committee”, investigated employed homosexuals “and other sex perverts” within the government:

Although they could not uncover a single example of a homosexual American citizen who had betrayed secrets as a result of blackmail, they wrote a highly circulated and influential report that asserted that gay men and lesbians exhibited weak moral character and had a “corrosive influence” on their fellow employees. “One homosexual can pollute a government office,” the Senate report concluded (Johnson).

The rhetoric the believers pushed directly linked the two, assumptions about Communists mirrored the societal beliefs about homosexuals. “Both were thought to be morally weak or psychologically disturbed, both were seen as godless, both purportedly undermined the traditional family, both were assumed to recruit, and both were shadowy figures with a secret subculture” (Adkins). However, there was one key difference that pushed the Lavender Scare further. They weren’t finding Communists, but they were finding Homosexuals. It is important to recall then, the two were the same figure to America.

In a particularly distressing action, President Eisenhower, backed by the 1950s Congressional investigations and the Hoey Committee’s report, created an executive order in 1953 that specifically banned homosexual men and women from working all jobs within the US Government. “That order explicitly added sexuality to the criteria used to determine suitability for federal employment. With the stroke of a pen, the President effectively banned gay men and lesbians from all jobs in the U.S. government—the country's largest employer” (Adkins). Private businesses followed suite, enacting their own discriminatory probing, hiring, and firing practices specifically targeting LGBT individuals.

It echoes the “Paranoid style” of Conspiracy theory that Hofstadter stated, “Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated—if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention.” The goal was to eliminate the homosexual from government, and in a way, they succeeded at least for a few decades. In particular, the homosexual of this represented a sexual freedom that the straight individual was not allowed, they were the sexual deviant, the pervert, they offered the populace “an opportunity to project and express unacknowledgeable aspects of their own psychological concerns” (Hofstadter). Primarily, how society was changing, in terms of the sexual discussion and sexuality (as a whole) was developing as the LGBT community in America truly began to grow.

LGBT+ were massively fired and thrown out of government, outed against their will, and forced to deal with the consequences. “Not only were LGBT federal employees fired, but many others were also simply fired for “guilt of association” in knowing someone who was LGBT” (Gleason). This ruined Queer lives, not only for the loss of a job, but also being thrown into the public eye, into a society that was aggressively anti-LGBT led to many people dying, either by suicide or by murder. They faced Stigma from the federal government, along with the larger society, “many of the federal investigations and resulting firings lead to dismissed employees’ suicides — most of which were later covered up by the federal interrogators.” The Lavender Scare did not gain massive public knowledge however, this anonymity managed to save many by not outing them on a major scale which certainly would have resulted in massive suicides and death.

The Mattachine Society marching for a “National Gay Task Force”. The Mattachine Society is held as one of America’s first “homophile” acceptance societies, pushing for acceptance and change within American Society. Source.

Investigations continued in through the 50s, though this is not to say there was no fightback. Brave sorts such as Frank Kamney stepped up, taking his case of dismissal to the Supreme court. Even though he lost, he started a wave where a few federal courts began agreeing with him in the late 1960s leading to more right for LGBT people within Government. In 1950 the Mattachine Society was founded (later investigated themselves for assumed Communist behavior) by Kamney, and later in 1955 the Daughters of Bilitis was created, both LGBT civil and political rights groups. As I stated before, LGBT communities can be found in struggle.

While it is not the revolution McCarthy and others were fearing from Communists, it is still a revolution of the rights of the LGBT individual. It is the beginning of a change in American Society, the Lavender Scare created from fear a public outcry for homosexual acceptance.

The Lavender Scare officially ends in 1975, for civil servants, after the Civil Service Commissions announced that gay people could no longer be legally fired or barred from federal government jobs based purely off their sexuality. However, it left behind a trail of discrimination and queer lives ruined by McCarthyism, public paranoia, and Cold War-era fear.

The anonymity, as “the Lavender Scare featured no public naming of names and no dramatic spectacles in which the accused testified”, I stated before saved the lives of countless LGBT People. However, it also made them into vague concepts. The full tragedy of this event is lost except the whispers found in transcripts of Committee hearings, mementos, private diaries, and unpublished records. We only have the outlines of these discriminated people, shaped in government papers.

A PSA from the Mattachine Society in 1960, stating that “Homosexuals are Different, but we believe they have the right to be.” The final line reads “Mattachine defends the rights of homosexuals and tries to create a climate of understanding and acceptance.” This stands in the face of the Lavender Scare, a push for acceptance where the Government offered none. Source.

The McCarthy era stands as one of the largest instances of a Conspiracy Theory taking over the American populace. “The Red Menace” was this constant specter haunting the American lifestyle, it was the boogeyman, the big threat to the Nuclear Family standing in as the face of the possible Nuclear War. However, it also became anybody who was othered by society, the African American, the critic, the curious, and the homosexual. The Lavender Scare was a massive event of LGBT discrimination within American Government. It is a vital event to understand to understand the history of struggle that LGBT people have had in America. However, a person can live their entire life without knowing about it, even when they know of the Red Scare.

It is a silent history, a color that blends into the background of the Spectrum of Scares America witnessed in that era. However, it shows itself plain in LGBT history, as both a low point for Queer lives and a high point for LGBT Rights, as the Mattachine Society was founded during it. While the Stonewall Riots would appear around a decade later, the Lavender Scare is part of the foundation for LGBT rights in America.

Alex Jones, a far-right conspiracy theorist, on his podcast InfoWars, claiming that the Government has produced a “Gay bomb” that infuses chemicals into the water to induce homosexuality in people. This quote “turning the friggin frogs gay” has become a meme amongst LGBT people, due to the absurdity of it. Source.

It is interesting to see the echoes of the Lavender Scare though, as a Conspiracy Theory, in modern day America. People believe LGBT+ people have a central agenda, labeled the “LGBT Agenda”, that they have a centralized goal as a community beyond equal human rights. Right Wing Republicans such as Mike Pence, who endorses Conversion Therapy, and Alex Jones, who is known to believe that the government has produced chemicals to turn people gay (among other Conspiracy theories), echo McCarthy’s absurd accusations that Homosexuals posed a threat to national security and reports that they “pollute a government office”.

Minorities seem have this inability to escape being the conspirators in Conspiracy theories. It always appears that they are the target, the revolutionary, the “Red Menace”. Conspiracy Theories offer people a different way to look and perceive the world, however that also offers ideal situations for racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and sexism to thrive as it is easy to pin the charge onto the minority class. After all, who would benefit more from societal upheaval? Certainly not the white, straight man.

Achter, Paul J. “McCarthyism.” Britannica, August 16th, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/McCarthyism

Adkins, Judith. ““These People Are Frightened to Death” : Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare” Prologue Magazines, Vol 48, No. 2, 2016. National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html

Hofstadter, Richard. “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Harper’s Magazine, November 1964. https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/

Johnson, David K. “The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government” The University of Chicago Press, 2004. OutHistory, http://outhistory.org/items/show/1425

McCarthy, Joseph R. “Enemies from Within”. 1950. History Matters, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456/

Miller Center, “McCarthyism and the Red Scare.” University of Virginia, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare

Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding the Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st Session, October 1947 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947). History Matters, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6441

“Communists are second to none in our devotion to our people and to our country”: Prosecution and Defense Statements, 1949 Trial of American Communist Party Leaders. History Matters, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6446

“We Must Keep the Labor Unions Clean”: “Friendly” HUAC Witnesses Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney Blame Hollywood Labor Conflicts on Communist Infiltration. History Matters, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6458

#Lavender Scare #lgbt history #red scare

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tiredstudentsoul-blog · 6 years ago

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Story Plot Ideas

The Monster We Will Become

Abused and neglected children. Different backgrounds. But all are damaged. All lost meaning to love their parents. All took into custody by a social worker, all in the same foster family.

Miss Ivana 40

Ivana being a victim of child abuse wanted somewhere safe for the children who had gone through abuse and neglect. She fosters children no one wants.

Taylor Fischer 18

Was in a toxic family and siblings. Has a personality disorder, and has exactly 2 personalities. Jack and Max. Jack being the sadistic and closed off, Max being kind and caring. Jack from his parents and siblings, Max from his now deceased grandfather Max Fischer. He has mental and emotional damage from the toxic relationship he had, recovering very slowly. He is gay as hell, and proud to tell and show off. He is ready to go to Stanford. He only talks to Ivana, Alley, Lee and Frisk. His fashion is different everyday because of the two personalities crashing, like wearing goth then pastel the next day, a fashion disaster but still able to look good in them. A pure chunk of mystery with bad behavior, but inside he is very nerdy and smart as hell. He also write short stories online under the pen name Allen F.

Alley Montray 18

Abused by her mother, who was a former prostitute but giving birth recked her body. Alcoholic and drug addicted mother always harming her in any way possible. Leaving her physical sccared and low self esteem to deal with. Because of the lack of nutrition she is weak, but is recovering steadily with a help from a consoler and therapist. She a senior in high school and already ready to go to the local college. Normal looking girl with glasses that kind of makes her look like a book worm and a bit nerdy. She has freckles dotting her body, and hip long hair that has new flowers on it everyday. You can see a big scar on her back that is tattooed over a sensory of a garden, this scar is from when she was a baby(when abuse started). Other scars are littered across her body that she is proud to show, giving the aura “I survived”.

Dominic Aundray 17

He witnessed the death of his parents. Skipping through the foster system, house to house. Having to be a victim and witness of abuse or neglect at few homes. He has anger management issues and trust issues. He is going through therapy to get better for his now pregnant boyfriend(trans), with a little help and talk from Miss Ivana, Alley, and Lee. He does have more friends then any of them here, as he was befriend by his boyfriend friends and now has a brother figure named Jason who is in college. He wears leather jacket and mostly black clothes. He has a very emo and badboy vibe around him, but just socially awkward.

Lee T. 15

Emotionally abused by they father and neglected emotionally by their family. They have bolderline personality disorder. Used to go to high school but now takes online classes. Only going outside when they feel like it, help around the house, and seen doing something or walking around. Very close with Flora, Dominic, Victor, and Miss Ivana(foster mother). They are always wearing loose/shaggy cloths or bigger clothes, never wearing tight clothes. So inside they wear bigger tank top for their size and shorts that reveals their scars all over their body, and scabs on their legs. A good listener if it’s going to be long talk.

Victor Absole 12

Verbally abused by his siblings, sexual abuse by his mother, and witnessed a death of his little brother. His parents are behind bars, sibling all taken by his other relatives. But no one wanted him. So Miss Ivana stele in adopting him instead of fostering like the other kids. He goes to Alley and Lee for support as they are the most stable out of all the kids. He also is going to a therapist and counselor for guidance. He doesn’t talk much and wears every pastel shade you can find in the market, he likes to put makeup with help from Alley and opinion from Flora. He styles his clothing and looks pastel goth. He also has great talent to paint, which he learned after seeing Ivana, Max, and Lee painting. All his painting is decorating his room and the house along with few other painting.

Flora 7

A mute girl, her parents lost custody because of co-parenting issues and neglect. She communicates through sigh language or writing. Is sharing a room with Lee, result from being touch starved and neglect she needs someone with her. Lee is her mother/brother figure to Flora. Wears at least purple or blue because it was her parent’s favorite color.

Owen 5

Almost a victim to physical abuse from parents. The parents have been sent to a mental hospital for care. Eio helps Miss Ivana raise him as Eio had experience with taking care of a toddler(their brother and Frisk). Ivana is his mother figure while Eio is his brother figure.

What they last said to their family for the last time

“I only knew you as a family, I thought this was normal. But when I witnessed others I knew it wasn’t. I realized this is toxic, everything was toxic. You ruined me! You broke me! Do you know who hard my life because of you all?! Ever since grandpappy died everything changed! Because you were free from him! But that was the start of my hell! I hope to never see you fuckers again!” -Taylor

“I did everything you asked... But you gave me nothing back... You used me... you hit me, scratched me, slapped me. I love you mom... I really did... but now I don’t think I can ever love you after all you’ve done to me. Good luck in prison...” -Alley

“You got guts to say your my family. Cause I never loved you. I never will. You are a stranger, and I’m a stranger to you. I lost trust in you for a long time. I don’t ever want to see you all. Take that family name, I’m no longer one of you. I will keep in contact with Hana, but if you try to contact through her. I will cut contacts with her. Goodbye.” -Lee

“That’s what you get you piece of shits.” -Victor

“Mommy? Daddy? Why are you leaving me? Did you fight again? Is it my fault again? Mommy?! Daddy?! Don’t leave me! MOMMY! DADDY!” -Flora

#storyplot #family #foster

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jinlian · 8 years ago

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ideal season 2 as an optimistic finale critic we can do this guys

All right, so. I’ve had some time to dwell on my own (frequently conflicting, contradictory, seesawing) opinions of episode 12, and I’ve had the time to see a lot of other fan opinions on the matter as well. There seems to be a conflict between “episode 12 was perfect and everything I wanted” and “episode 12 was horrible and destroyed the show.” If I had to choose, I’d definitely fall more into the category of critical fans of that finale, but I have said over and over that there are a lot of things to love as well and that as poorly executed as I believe ep12 is it absolutely does not spell disaster.

Quite honestly, I think it’s extremely easy to address my narrative frustrations without spelling doom and gloom for anyone. Victuuri wasn’t ruined (left with some dissatisfactions, sure, but not ruined). Victor’s return doesn’t mean that he or Yuuri are inevitably going to have to be miserable with their career. And believe me, I absolutely think the coaching-while-skating thing is ridiculous, but honestly at this point if it’s a choice between happiness or suffering gay men? I don’t care if it doesn’t make sense or if it’s narratively inconsistent. I really don’t. Let them have their cake and eat it, too.

But how could s2 be written in a way that deals with narrative frustrations without sacrificing happiness? Easy. And it relies mostly on what happens with Victor.

We’ve been reading Victor’s return as either he did it for Yuuri, which returns him to the role of a tragic white-haired anime boy who will wordlessly suffer for love and be a manic pixie dream boyfriend, or he genuinely wanted to go back, which takes away from his skill as a coach and role as Victor the human being and implies he really just wanted to train Yuuri to be his competitor, which is stupidly selfish. And, like…… why do these have to be our only choices?

Victor goes back for Yuuri. It wouldn’t have been his first choice, given the option of remaining a coach or going back to competing, but he’s also not really that upset about it, either. He left figure skating on an uninspired, bored season. Yeah, it was still going out on a high note, and yeah, I think he honestly should have left it that way, but if he goes back for a season or a half-season he’s honestly capable of just making last happy, blissful memories in the sport that defined him for over twenty years.

Victor keeps winning against all those people who wanted to drag him back to defeat him.

Victor wins, including beating Yuuri. Yuuri’s not upset — he’s motivated. he wants to win. he wants to win against Victor, has admitted he wanted to do it in his first Grand Prix Final. He expects Victor to beat him, but that’s part of Yuuri’s journey in s2—to stop expecting anyone to beat him at all. We have a Yuuri who wants to win against Victor at his best. He’s proud of Victor, and he’s determined to keep working hard and take it—and eventually he does.

(Yeah, I know, there’s some bullshit with his mindset on this in ep12. Whatever.)

Victor ultimately takes silver to Yuuri at Worlds/Olympics.

This…. definitely does not mean that Victor returns to disgrace himself. I honestly don’t even think that if it’s Yuuri Victor would really even care. He’s already been a living legend. He always will be. His legend really can’t ever be discounted, even as the sport moves forward. Victor takes silver at Worlds, and the person who beats him is the person he pulled out of a career slump and coached to a world record, an incredibly successful comeback career, and a world championship title.

Yuuri’s victory is also Victor’s. And we have seen how happy Victor is when Yuuri succeeds. And if he’s really happy about it, we can have that moment we didn't get when Victor should have been crying with joy at Yuuri’s world record.

And then he can retire for good.

Honestly I’m just tired of people wanting to see gay men suffer??? In the name of “narrative consistency” like believe me I get the criticisms I really, really do but can you stop it? I care way more about seeing a happy mlm romance just for once, for once. Even if it means some narrative bobbles. I don��t really give a fuck.

So, ideal story progression?

It’d be kinda nice to pick up from directly after the GPF and have s2 finale be that season’s Worlds. This is unlikely to happen because of the narrative significance of Yuuri’s programs as well as viewer fatigue for everyone’s programs, but if we did it would have to go like this:

Episodes settling in, showing how Yuuri and victor are adjusting to training in Russia.

Victor is tired, and this is not glossed over (by the narrative. Yuuri doesn’t notice yet, but we’ll get there). But he’s still happy. He’s very happy. This is important. He’s tired, but he’s happy.

Open with the results of Russian and Japanese nationals: Victor and Yuuri both crush it. Yurio is salty. Georgi is probably crying.

Yuuri gets back to Russia. He and Victor are sharing a bedroom.

Competitions throughout the season are 4CC and Europeans. More time is devoted to competition episodes in order to extend narrative pacing.

JJ wins gold at 4CC, Yuuri takes silver, Phichit takes bronze.

Victor wins at Europeans. Yurio is salty.

Yurio’s body is changing. He begins to push himself harder, even harder, to try to win.

Victor notices this. He’s worried about Yurio. Yurio snaps at him and points out how hypocritical this is of Victor to say, when he’s pushing himself to inhuman levels to coach and compete.

Victor legitimately begins talking to Yuuri about marriage, planning an actual wedding. Yuuri freaks out. They table the discussion.

Victor is a little tired.

Worlds - Yuuri skates Eros with a desire to resolve his fear about his relationship with Victor and prove to the world and to himself that he doesn’t just want Victor for skating. he wants Victor for life. (and in his pants)

Updated!Eros breaks Agape’s WR.

Yurio is not happy.

Victor gets Yuuri’s message, but this time post-short program they actually talk. And I mean, talk about everything. Marriage. Victor’s exhaustion. Victor’s love for skating, but his love also of being a full-time coach. That their love is not only tied to the ice, and that Victor can continue to find love and happiness even if he is not competing. They say “I love you,” in words and not in metaphors. They cry. They’re happy.

Victor promises he’s not going to go easy on Yuuri in the free skate, and Yuuri wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yurio, meanwhile, has a problem. Unfortunately, Yurio still has to complete the narrative journey of “people will stay with you even if you don’t win” (this was Yurio’s lesson to learn, never Yuuri’s, as Yuuri already knew it!!) and it’s time for Chekhov’s gun to go off about his changing body and his stamina.

In an attempt to update his free skate to beat Yuuri, he pushes it too hard and injures himself, though he completes his performance (with visible struggle but with grace). He’s upset, obviously, but he has the support of Yuuri/Victor/Otabek/Mila/everyone around him to help him through. He’s the one who needs to have an understanding that people won’t leave him if he loses, that his career and successes aren’t diminished if he doesn’t win.

This parallels Victor’s final free skate. It’s not about total dominance. It’s being the best he can be and loving everything on the ice which he does. He so does. He ties Yuuri’s current WR

One last Yuuri on Ice. It’s an internal monologue about believing in himself, his love for skating, his ability to overcome and keep going. His love for his family, for Victor, and for himself. His desire to get married, and his desire to achieve everything that he knows he can.

He re-breaks the WR one more time and takes his penultimate gold at worlds.

Yurio gets bronze

Victor can’t stop crying of joy and kissing Yuuri’s gold medal. He’s happy. And he retires, because he’s tired, and Yuuri loves him and just wants what Victor wants. He had a great last season. And most importantly, they talked about it.

Yuuri’s ready to continue kicking ass. Set up for season 3 and the Olympics.

A secondary ideal season 2, and one that’s more likely to happen, is pretty similar in terms of development but revolves around the Olympics being the final competition instead of Worlds, throughout the next figure skating season. We have new music, new programs, and new themes.

Victor’s theme is life and love

Yuuri’s is triumph. Short program represents his triumph in figure skating, and free skate is triumph/pride in everything in his life, everything that he is.

Same story progression during the final competition. Everyone talks. Everyone’s full of love. Victor retires. We’re happy and resolved.

I mean I do think you have to have a bit of a willingness to let some things go for this to be satisfying. I understand. I really do. But for me the happiness comes first. And it is possible to address Victor’s career/success as a coach and Yuuri’s triumph and how deserving he is of winning big this way, as well as the communication problems in the romantic relationship left in ep12. You have to be willing to be patient and set it off for a while. But this anime isn’t about suffering. It’s not, it never has been. I even understand the writers’ wish-fulfillment in keeping some favorite skaters from retiring. But they can still write a happy emotional and narratively better season 2 without sacrificing anyone’s happiness, and I’m pretty optimistic about whatever story we’re gonna get.

#yuri on ice #idk i have a lot of frustrations with that finale but #i'm also just exhausted lol i love this show i'm not gonna stop #anna writes meta #yoi critique

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