#and it was the statement of this woman explaining how she became an avatar or smth and describing how it felt to be loved by the web

[yaboyspodcastpalace]

yknow thinking about it its kinda funny that i had already a predisposition to ship martin and annabelle bc like... my very very first tma oc back in 2018 was this woman who was a web avatar and had a Whole Thing with martin, and im pretty sure i dropped her story the moment i realized annabelle was more than a one ep character and that she actually HAD thematic parallels w/ him lmfao

[blues824]

This anon saw a Ron Swanson MC with TWST first years request, and I think I also sent a Ron Swanson MC with the Obey Me brothers before? If not please add this to the requests to be made masterlist

I’m being honest here, but I have never seen Parks and Recreation before. So, I am basing his personality off the Wiki and YouTube video compilations of him. Also, I do not see your request from before, so here it is.

Gender-neutral reader. TW: alcohol, toxic exes, mentions of sex but this is not smut

Lucifer

He actually really appreciates your to-the-point perspective, but he wishes that you would be more open. As closed as he is, you don’t like conversations that exceed 100 words

Another thing he really doesn’t like is that you would go the extra mile to make sure that nothing is done, mostly to piss him off

It was clear to him that you were scared of him, however

All of a sudden, there was a woman who just burst into the council room. She walked with purpose and it was then that you got up and ran

As unathletic as you are, you sure made it out of there quick

Once Lucifer finally found you, you explained by saying the following statement:

“That’s Tammy 1. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

There was nothing in your (rather blank) file that indicated you had been romantically involved with anyone

He actually escorted you to a safe space where your ex wouldn’t find you, and he went to properly deal with Tammy 1, thus ending your thought process in thinking that he and your ex were comparable.

Mammon

He finds you unsettling, to say the least. You are able to see right through his cold exterior, and you make it clear that if he is going to say anything, make sure that it’s something you care about

One time, he brought you a packaged meal which contained a steak burrito, and you both became best friends… or what you would consider best friends. You honestly didn’t know his name

You appreciate how he doesn’t like getting things done, especially since he is an Avatar of the Devildom

The one time he had seen you run away was when a lady burst into the room and you seemed to recognize her 

Mammon chased after you, and once he found you, you explained who that lady was

“That’s Tammy 1. I don’t date blondes because of her. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

It would have been funny to the Avatar of Greed had he not just watched you run a marathon to get kilometers away from the woman who burst into the council room

Now, he might be just a tad jealous that someone managed to win you over romantically before he was, because that means he isn’t you first

He also goes to deal with Tammy 1, if there is anything to deal with because the other brothers as well as Diavolo and Barbatos want to ensure the wellbeing of their human exchange student

Leviathan

If you don’t want him talking to you, he won’t. You have a very standoff-ish attitude, and he is intimidated by it. However, you like how he doesn’t make an effort to talk to you and how he is very quiet, so you tend to stick closer to him anyway

What really solidified your relationship was when he ordered food online. He asked what you wanted, and you stated that you wanted a cholesterol-loaded burger with a lot of bacon. He paid for it, and you were basically in love at that point

I feel like Levi and you clash because you are against Diavolo’s dream because it’s basically going to annihilate the human race, but he thinks it’s going to change everything

One day, as a meeting was being held in the Council Room, a blonde woman burst into the room that made you drop your bacon and run back to Levi’s room, your safe haven

Levi found you there, and he asked who that lady was and why she made you run away

“That’s Tammy 1. I don’t date blondes because of her. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

Because he is the Avatar of Envy, he is definitely jealous that she got her claws on you first (wait until he finds out about Tammy 2)

Anyways, you are welcome to stay in his room as he fights back the urge to summon Lotan to absolutely destroy Tammy 1

Afterwards, he makes sure that you are alright and that this event didn’t damage your psyche too much. It would be a shame if you started opening up more 

Satan

You both absolutely despised each other at first, but bonded over the fact that you both didn’t like Lucifer. However, your distaste for the Avatar of Wrath here came from the fact that he was blonde

Anyways, he doesn’t really approve of all the meat you consume, because he knows that you need to eat some more vegetables

Also, the alcohol you brought with you was much stronger than demonus, and he once drank it out of anger and bro got wasted

That aside, there was a meeting within the Council Room one day, but a lady with blonde hair burst into the room and was looking for you. Luckily, you weren’t there because exchange students weren’t required to be there

The woman was properly dealt with and sent back to the human realm, as she was not allowed to be in the Devildom without proper clearance

Satan later told you about it, and you looked genuinely scared. 

“That’s Tammy 1. I don’t date blondes because of her. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

Well, that explains why you have rejected his rather clear advances

Now he’s really angry at the woman for ruining his chances with you, even if you were with her before you even knew him

Asmodeus

You were rather rude, which was a clear indicator that his charm didn’t work on you

However, it’s not just because of that. What he didn’t know was that you had two toxic exes, one of which was a sex-crazed, manipulative maniac

I will say that since he is the Avatar of Lust, he does want sex, but he’s looking for an emotional attachment to you as well, so the fact that you stay away from him makes him even sadder

On one fateful day, when everyone was in the Council Room, a brunette woman stormed into the room looking for you. You took one look at her and ran off before she had the chance to do anything

As the others dealt with the lady, Asmo went looking for you, and he was surprised to see you in his room when you said it was revolting

“Every time she laughs, an angel dies. Even telemarketers avoid her. Her birth was payback for the sins of man. But you know the worst thing about her? She works at the library.”

He also would have laughed had you not explained that that was your ex, Tammy 2, and she was a seducer who managed to get in your mind and tempt you. Now he knows why you don’t like him

It wasn’t him! It was a past experience with an ex!!!

Is also angry that she ruined his chances, but he can show you what a real partner, a healthy relationship, looks like! Just give him a chance!

Beelzebub

You two are best friends. You don’t even talk to each other, you just eat with each other and sometimes drink with each other as well. You even drank him under the table on your own alcohol. 

To be fair, your alcohol is much more potent than demonus, so even on a full stomach he can still get utterly wasted. It was laughable how you had to help the large demon to his room where he promptly passed out on his bed

He woke up to the worst hangover imaginable, but he saw a bottle of water as well as painkillers that you bought at a nearby pharmacy along with a note. How the hell have you never had a hangover?!

Anyways, weeks later, there was a meeting in the Council Room and you both were snacking on some bacon when a blonde woman burst into the room and started walking towards you

Beel was not prepared for the cloud dust you left behind as you boot scootin’ boogie’d out of the room and ran all the way to the House of Lamentation

He had to stay to properly deal with the blonde lady, as she was not permitted to be in the meeting, let alone the Devildom at all

Then, he found you in the kitchen, eating some leftovers from Hell’s Kitchen

The Avatar of Gluttony sat beside you and asked who that woman was and why she was looking for you, and he was both mad and sad at what you said

“That’s Tammy 1. I don’t date blondes because of her. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

Belphegor

You two are also ‘best friends’ because you both believe that it is a rather dumb idea to mix humans, demons, and angels together, but you believe it for different reasons

Your perspective is that humans stand no chance against the two other beings, and one would try to rule over all the others

His perspective is a lot more personal because of his sister

Anyways, everyone was in the Council Room one day and suddenly a woman burst into the room. She meant business with how she walked, and you meant business when you ran faster than the speed of light out of the room

Belphie was honestly intent on killing her, but he was the only one with that idea, so he went searching for you instead

You turned out to be in the attic, absolutely annihilating what seems to be a full pack of cooked bacon, staring into space

When you noticed that the Avatar of Sloth was there, you knew he wanted answers so you just gave it to him plain and simple:

“That was Tammy 1. I don’t date blondes because of her. You know sometimes you eat chicken and you get food poisoning, and even the sight of chicken makes you sick? Tammy 1 is my blonde chicken”

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Now he really wants to dispose of that lady

[envihellbender]

What’s the Irish Magnus Institute equivalent like?

Fun fact Montpelier Hill is also known as the Hellfire Club…

An Cumann Taighde Asarlaíochta (or the CTA) in County Dublin was known to most as simply a group of ghost-hunting and heretical lunatics who were at best mocked and at worst demonised by the Church to a point that baffled anyone who wasn’t a strict Catholic. There were no churches within a 1.26 Square mile of the place, this was managed by it being at the top of Montpelier Hill. It was a lovely hike, and a lot of supernatural and ghost tours would take you there, officially it was a branch of Trinity College Dublin. Some argued that only because back when Ireland was still under British Colonialism Queen Victoria like most Victorians was fascinated by occultism. Supposedly she publicly wanted the CTA to prove that the Pagan religion was dangerous and satanic, and secretly she believed in the work of the founder of the CTA - Herbert Brennan. Famous friends, researchers, and those who have funded the CTA through out the years include Arthur Conan Doyle, James Wright, Oscar Wilde, Elias Bouchard, W.B. Yeats, Peter Lukas, William Butler, and the like.

It functions in a similar way to the Magnus Archives, which makes sense as some of the researchers would tell you it was originally built with Jonah Magnus intentions in mind. Whether this is true or not has been lost to history but it was hardly a secret that Magnus was a tyrannical colonialist who wished to have as much control over the world as physically possible. The main difference is that the CTA whilst once founded by an avatar for the Eye - Brennan’s alliance and probably romantic attachments to Jonah Magnus was well known, in the first decade of the twentieth century it was shortly in the possession of the Slaughter - an English woman named Helena Asquith, she was killed by Constance Lynch a devotee of the Hunt, who held it for decades until 1999 when it fell into those most called the Unseelie court but those in the know knew to be the Stranger. This very avatar is currently sitting in the head office and is known as Diarmuid Quan.

The building itself is fairly unremarkable, whilst it’s surrounded by beautiful countryside, the most interesting and unique forms of fungi that people come from miles around to see, the building itself looks just like an old Victorian education institute. Some say it used to be where suspected Changelings were taken, records back this claim up as many children were taken there and whilst they were never seen again it does seem that a lot of later researchers appeared as if from no where. If spoken to they would have had perfectly explainable childhoods, maybe they’d even seem charming, if somewhat thin and sickly. The jobs of the researchers is similar to that of the Magnus Archive, to collect statements - but where as the institute collect them on tapes and file them away the CTA likes to dig their claws into the people themselves. People who give statements to the CTA talk about how affable and warm they are, and it takes them along time to realise that every single one of them will soon became more and more distant to their families and friends until a local circus comes to town and for some bizarre reason they are compelled to join them. Of course no one would connect a circus from mainland Europe with the CTA, what a bizarre connection to make.

The people (or Avatars, if you wish to be pedantic) who work with those who submit statements to the CTA are split between those who want answers or power. They are:

The previously introduced Diarmuid Quan, a spindly man who was half Chinese half Irish. His father’s family were wealthy back in Shanghai as the owners of the country’s biggest theatres. They have a contract which every acrobat in China has to sign to be able to perform in order to perform at an officially licensed theatre, one that is terrifyingly binding. He sits in an enormous lavish office. It seems just like it was originally crafted and designed by a friend of the then British Queen. The main input in the decor is the amount of toys, dolls, and wooden figures he has dotted about the place. He’s a small, unassuming man, until that is you realise his smile never cracks, and that the puppets he keeps seem to always be in a different place every time you look.

Domhnall Stoker is officially the head researcher and Quan’s closest confidant. his relation to Timothy Stoker of the Magnus Institute is unknown to himself - but he is a second cousin on his father’s side. Some might think the link to the Stranger is hereditary but that is simply not the case. Domhnall is much more aware of Quan’s actions and works very closely with him. The rumours say that they are in a relationship, but the nature of it is unclear.

Niamh Mohan, a researcher and a Mincéir (usually known as an Irish Traveller but she would never describe herself that way) who lost her family in an arson attack on their homes. Or that was the official story, and it made sense she thought since hate attacks against her community were common. That wasn’t how she remembered it though, but when she told the police about a strange cult who worshipped the Light who moved in nearby they wouldn’t hear a word of it.

Otylia Soltys, a research who as a child she was runaway who was taken in by the Circus of the Other, not that she knew what it was then. She was trained as an acrobat and they took advantage of her hypermobile joints to train her into being a unique and beautiful performer. Of course, the circus’s grip was tight and painful, any attempt to run away resulted in her being dragged back. Even when she ran to Ireland she found herself unable to escape the grip of the CTA.

Ravi Nayar was taken from their family at the age of six, their strict Hindu parents definitely did not think they were a changeling but enough of their neighbours did that they were taken from their home in the middle of the night. What exactly happened between then and the present day Ravi has no idea, their earliest memory is waking up in a warm, comfortable bed at the CTA and being told they’ve always worked there. They have always been loved and cared for by the Stranger, this has always been their home.

[the-lightless-flame]

ok i promised @bornetoblood so here is the web!agnes headcanon

this takes a bit of explaination so ill go into how it would work and then ill talk about why i like it

(also obviously this is just based on my interpretation of agnes and her story, if u have a different interpretation of her thats fine!! i just love my funny messiah woman and want to see her happy)

this became very long so the essay is under the cut

ANYWAy so the 'how':

jonny said in the season 4 q+a that one could probably sever their connection with the desolation via a completely selfless sacrifice.

agnes' suicide probably fits this description; the in-canon explanation (from what agnes told arthur) is so that the lightless flame could eventually try the scorched earth again with another messiah.

i dont fully believe what arthur said, and its definitely possible that she was just telling him what he wanted to hear. in that case, her making the decision to once and for all stop herself from being able to bring about the scorched earth probably counts as a selfless act as well, cause even if the scorched earth was never actually going to work, she didnt know that.

the first option doeshave a certain irony to it imo, but it doesnt really fit with how i see her at this point, as i think at this point shes not that loyal to the lightless flame (see: jack barnabus). it doesnt really matter to the headcanon tho, all that matters is that agnes committed a selfless act.

doing this disconnected her from the lightless flame, but in doing so she could have potentially connected to another entity.

all that's really required for becoming an avatar is choice, but physical and metaphysical death is encouraged; agnes is experiencing both (physical is obvious, and metaphysical as the death of her as messiah of the desolation).

imo the web is the obvious choice. she already has a connection with it through gertrude and hilltop road, and a lot of agnes' story is about the ways the lightless flame controlled and groomed her, as well as how her final weeks were when she finally managed to get some kind of control over her life (even if that control is her own death). basically, since control is a big theme in agnes' story, and taking control is the prominent feeling that led to her death, i dont think creating a connection to the embodiment of control is such a reach.

so agnes goes through something similar to jon's coma. maybe the lightless flame thinks shes dead, maybe they realise she isnt connected to the desolation anymore and leave her alone.

from there, agnes just does whatever. probably tries not to do anything too notable. she burns emma harvey's house with gertrude obviously, and she does need to feed her power but i dont think she'd do anything thatd get in a statement.

ok so thats how i think it could happen. now why i like it:

first, i dont really like agnes having died. it works fine as an ending to her story as a part of the show at large i guess, and it doesnt really matter to me in that sense. but for her as a character, i think her ending just makes her generic tragic character and thats not really my kind of thing. idk, like i said im not mad about it being her ending or anything, theres definitely a lot to be said for how her living under the lightless flame couldve led to that decision, but its not really what i want for her.

there is also how it relates to the queer reading of her story, but i talked about that earlier.

also i want her to be happy. leave me alone.

second, i really like the idea of agnes having a semi-normal life. she still has web stuff, but its mostly just subtle stuff (we know there are a lot of spooks that arent reported to the institute, and i think what she does is probably that). gertrude tracks her down at some point to help killing emma harvey, but that it.

the web probably doesnt need her to do anything major, cause thats what annabelle's for and shes only a few years away from being an avatar.

in the eyepocalypse she probably tries not to make things too bad for people in her domain, as much as thats a thing she can actually do.

third, iirc it means that every web avatar thats dead was killed by another web avatar. and i think thats fun. obviously she wouldnt have been a web avatar for raymond, but she probably wouldve been marked and thats enough for me.

i like the imagery of the web keeping people only until theyve become obsolete, i imagine it probably wouldnt want to keep people around once theyve done what it needed them to do. also spider imagery.

fourth, agnes did not get NEARLY enough opportunity to be gay. like she probably fucked jude for at least a while but there is. no way that relationship was healthy. (i could talk a lot more about that but this is already too long)

idk who with. i like gertrudeagnes conceptually but i also like them only having met once. they probably did fuck tho.

i saw a fic earlier that shipped her and annabelle and i havent read it yet but that sounds fun.

idk maybe she just finds a normal, non-aligned girlfriend. thats probably the best option. anyway let her be gay

ok thats it the essay is done. i probably forgot stuff but ill just talk about it later. again this is just my headcanon, u might interpret her different to me and thats fine! the whole point of her story is we dont know that much about what shes really like so theres a lot thats just up to personal opinion.

if for some ungodly reason u read all of this then why??? (i just checked its at like a thousand words wtf) but also tysm i probably wont have children but if i do u are now entitled to my firstborn.

this is too long im going to stop talking now bye

[yandere-dark-cupid]

If you’re requests are open can I get a Yandere Zuko x fem reader where after the war he looks for his darling by making his guards track her down but without anyone knowing bc he doesn’t want ppl to think that he’s back into his old ways again and keeps her in the palace

Ok Angel 💜👌💜. If you want, I could continue this as a mini part to part scenario series if I have the time T.Angel. There is just so many ideas worming around this concept and just think of the crazy things the darling and Zuko is going to go through, while also keeping both of their identities on the veeery low-key. Just let me know Angel 😊☕💜.

Also everyone is going to be aged up to 18+ Btw.

Side note: For the sake of this scenario, the darling will be from the Southern Water tribe. If this Angel decides to let me continue this as a mini scenario series, then the both of us are going to talk about if the darling can be a Waterbender or not.

Warning ⚠!!!: Their is going to be some slight Nsfw in this.

Yandere Zuko: A Dragon's treasure

Five weeks. It has been five weeks since you've went missing. Once the war has ended, Zuko was planning to propose to you. But every since his coronation of being crowned the new FireLord, you just up and vanished. It was like you were never there in the first place. And Zuko has been scattering everywhere in the palace and Fire nation to find you or some type of clue. But nothing. There was nothing there. You really covered your tracks, didn't you?

Right now Zuko was in his thrown room. He was fuming- No steaming with rage. If anyone were to walk in to the room, they'll notice it was boiling in there. He tried to look everywhere in the palace. Even outside the palace. But to no avail. Zuko couldn't find you. You've made it clear that you don't want to be with him or any where near him with this type of stunt you've pulled.

Zuko took a seat on his thrown. His hands was on his head, just about ready to pull his hair out and shout in frustration. But then a knock on the door stop him. " *Frustrated sigh* State your name and your business." Zuko said with spite and a hint of venom in his voice. The person behind the door flinched at his tone of voice. "It's me Sir. The guard you put in charge of the search party for Ms.Y/N". Zuko perked up at the mention of his missing lover's name. " Come in. " said Zuko. With out a second thought, the guard entered the room. She bowed down in respect for her FireLord.

" FireLord Zuko I have an update about Ms.Y/N's whereabouts. " Said the guard. She almost stuttered. The guard noticed how extremely hot it was in the thrown room. It was a clear sign that FireLord Zuko was pissed out of his mind. " Well, " Zuko said in annoyance and anger. Zuko was beyond angry at this point. He was a whole entire cluster fuck of emotions right now. " M-me and m-my crew found some people who could be connected to Ms.Y/N's disappearance , your majesty. " Stuttered the guard in slight fear. Zuko quirked up an eyebrow at what the guard said.

Ah. So the guard managed to find the ones responsible for his darling's vanishment, or at least had some part in it. " Bring them in. " Zuko said. The guard only merely nodded, not wanting to meet the FireLord's intimidating gaze. The guard got off their knees and went to call the other guards, to bring out the people that played some part of the darling going missing. The other guards quickly brought out four other people. Those people was tied up, bounded, and blind folded. The people was visibly quivering in fear. They were very confused and scared on what they did to upset the FireLord.

The four guards forcefully pushed the four people down to the floor. Each guard took off each person's blind fold. In front of the four people, there sat the FireLord in all his glory. FireLord Zuko glared down at the 4 people in a burning gaze. So these disgusting pathetic excuses of human was responsible for his darling going missing. Zuko scoffed at the thought. After a painful intimidating stare down, Zuko finally spoke. " So your the ones held responsible for Y/N's disappearance. " Zuko spat out to them with his voice dipped in poison.

" I-if y-you're talking about a someone that has (h/c), (e/c), and (s/c) then t-they came to m-my store to buy clothes." The woman stuttered in fear. Zuko stayed quite and only listened. " If you're talking about the same person; they came to my food stand and brought some food. " the old man said quickly in fear of what the FireLord would do to him if he took so long to explain himself. Zuko only merely quirks his eyebrow. " Y-yeah, that same person came to my Shop and bought some bags and extra equipment as his they were going on a trip. " The man said while sweating nervously. " The same person came to shack a-and brought some w-weapons. " Said the short lady in fear. Zuko only hmmed at what they said.

" So you're telling me the lady you just described went to all of your stores and shops to buy something. " Zuko said still glaring down the four people. " Y-yes. " the woman squeaked in fear. The old man only nodded quickly. " Mhm. " both the man and woman said. Zuko got up from his thrown and began to walk down to his stand. " What should we do with them you highness? " Said one of the guards. " Bring them to the dungeon. I will decide what to do with them later. " Said Zuko. " I-I don't understand what did we do wrong. " Stuttered the woman in fear and nervousness. Zuko quickly turned to the woman, the woman quickly shuts her mouth. Zuko then begins to slowly walk towards her.

Zuko shot one of his hands out and grasps the woman's face in a painful grip. The woman squeaks in surprise and fear. Zuko just merely just glares down at her. His eyes is filled with a flaming rage. " You all are held responsible for the disappearance of Y/N, " Zuko spat out in anger. Zuko releases his hand from woman's face. Zuko steps away from the woman and is now in front of the four bounded people. " Since you all play a part in my- err Y/N's disappearance, you all will be punished accordingly. " The four people only shook even more at FireLord Zuko's statement. " All of you take them away were they'll never see the light of day again. " Zuko said with venom dripping from his voice.

The four guards only bowed and said a quick " yes sir ". With that they took the four people away. Now Zuko was once again left in his thrown room...... alone.

Zuko let out a sigh of frustration out. He walked towards a window that was in the room. He stared down at his people, he was thinking about something. Based on what the four people said, Zuko can conclude that his darling is no longer in the Fire nation. Zuko dug into his pocket and took out something. It was a necklace. A betrothed necklace to be more specific. You see his darling was not from the fire nation, no no no. You were from a Water tribe, the Southern Water tribe to put it. While Zuko was on his trip to help Aang defeat his father and help him master firebending, Zuko found out from Katara on what her necklace means. He found out that from the Water tribe in order to marry someone, you have to make a betrothed necklace and give it to that special someone. When Zuko found out about this type of information, he instantly got rapped up about it. Ever since he's joined team Avatar he was thinking about what life would be like when he becomes FireLord, then his thoughts were drawn into marriage. He can't help but think, his darling would make the perfect FireLady. His FireLady.

And they'll have children. They'll be lovely children. With his darling swelled up with another one of his heirs all while holding another one of their children. It'll truly be a.. delicious sight to see ~ Zuko hmmed in delight at the thought of his darling bearing his children. But... that's if he witness such a darling sight. Zuko groaned at his mood being dampened and soured. But he knows it's true. Zuko knows if he doesn't act fast, he'll lose his darling. And that lovely little scene that played in his mind, will be nothing but a mere fantasy. Besides, he doesn't want to get himself accidentally sexual frustrated.....

With that aside, Zuko begins to start planning and strategizing. Zuko walks away from the window. He calls a servant, he orders them to get one of his best generals. The servant was slightly hesitant and confused, but never the less terrified. Wasn't the war over? They pushed their question aside, because they know now wouldn't be the best time to question the FireLord. He hasn't been acting himself lately and has been been flaring up at anything these past few weeks. With out much of a second thought, they did as they were told and went to see if someone could get one of the generals FireLord Zuko was talking about.

Zuko on the other hand, went back to sit on his thrown. He knew it will take time for the general to get here, so he decided to sit and be patient for him to get here. All while doing this, Zuko began to plan out in his mind on how he was going to get his darling. He was thinking about getting some of the Fire nation's best spies to help track down his darling. Sending out a whole search team and alerting the public while cause some type of panic. Not only that but he's trying to show that He and the Fire nation has turned over a new leaf, that and he doesn't want people and the other members of team Avatar know he's basically going back to his old ways. Since everybody knows the history on how he went to the ends of the earth to find and Capture the Avatar, and he's basically doing the same for his darling. It'll put a bad name on him and an even worse name on the Fire nation. So he'll lay as low as possible and keep shush shush about it, so he doesn't rise suspicion and ruin all the hard work he's been putting in the past time he's became FireLord.

With all those thoughts in mind, Zuko decides to call the same servant from before. So he can see if his message has been delivered. The Servant said they already sent a messaging hawk out to see if they can reach the general. Zuko only hmmed and dismissed them, and told them to report back to him once the massage has been delivered. With that the servant left, leaving Zuko in his thrown room. Zuko dug into his pocket again. He took out the Betrothed necklace out. He gently creased and rubbed the engraving and creases. He took so many hours and very much effort into making this for his darling. Looking at it always made him feel calmer, it made him happy knowing that his darling will be wearing it soon. But then his darling ran away from him before he can give it to them. Zuko pushed down on the purple garnet at the thought of his darling running away from him ( the rest of the necklace's gems are made up of smaller bits of Rudy and sapphire ). Zuko let out another sigh of frustration. He began to think. Once is darling is back with him he's never letting them go...........

My God, this was a boom ass idea. Not only that, but an idea of Zuko having a bit of a breeding kink has been floating around in my mind for some time now. I had a lot of fun with this. Like I said before T.Angel, If you want me to make a mini scenarios series about this let me know 😆! Well I hope you enjoy it. Until next time my Little Tainted Angels, see you soon ~💜❤💜

[azucanela]

HOME PT. 1 | ZUKO

HOME MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: In which Zuko has a chance to go home.

WORD COUNT: 2.9k

WARNINGS: blood, weapons, fights, death threats

A/N: we love zuko in this house, also send stuff into my ask box im bored and need ideas to write kashdkfkjasdhlf 

When Zuko was banished, it seemed that Ozai was more upset that Y/N intended to go with him, than at the pain he had caused his son. She was a talented firebender, capable of defeating even Azula, his prodigal daughter, in an Agni Kai. Her tactics and strategies, despite her young age, proved effective time and time again. She had the makings of a great General for the Fire Nation Army, and Ozai saw it as a waste for her to search for someone who would likely never be found. Not when Y/N L/N had so much potential. 

Y/N just saw it as proof that Ozai never truly cared for his son. His recognition of the impossible task he had bestowed upon his own child.

At the end of the day, her loyalty lied with the prince, so she set sail alongside him and his Uncle, in search of an avatar that had been gone for a century. They had known each other since they were children, when Ozai had taken interest in her natural talent for firebending. She had been raised alongside Zuko and Azula, training with them. But as most knew, Azula had an affinity for inflicting pain to those around her in her free time, so when the time came for a sparring match between Y/N and Azula, the results were deadly.

Ozai decided Y/N would stick around a little longer when she managed to beat Azula that day.

Zuko had never been competitive, not like Azula was. Though he’d asked her for tips on how to improve, and she’d graciously assisted him. And so, a friendship blossomed in the fire of their youth. She became his sparring partner, and as they grew older, his right hand.

She never regretted stepping onto the boat with Zuko the first day of his banishment. But she was beginning to regret ever speaking with him in the first place. He had no goal other than finding the Avatar, it was his sole purpose at this point, even after nearly three years of searching. But there were moments in which she found him rather… peaceful. He was almost the same boy who Y/N had played tag with as a child all those years ago. And in these moments, when she caught a glimpse of the real Zuko, she couldn’t help the warmth that blossomed in her chest each time they had an actual conversation. 

One that wasn’t about his never ending quest to find the Avatar.

The conversations they had in the middle of the night, when sleep failed to reach them. The ones they never mentioned when the night was over. Because what happened in Zukos’ room at night, stayed there.

Y/N had only ever needed to knock once and Zuko was opening the door to his room on the ship. She gave him a tight lipped smile as she slipped inside, hoping no one noticed because they both knew what it would look like from an outside perspective. Not that she cared what others thought. What happened between her and Zuko was their business, though nothing ever really happened. He would try to make tea, they would dump the tea because of how bad it tasted, Y/N would remake the tea, and then they would talk.

Sometimes she wished it was more than that though. 

It was a foolish dream to have, she recognized that as she took the teapot before he could even make an attempt to boil the water. “You couldn’t sleep either?” She asked as she began to heat the water with her firebending, holding the pot above her free hand.

Zuko scoffed, sitting back on the mat he referred to as a bed, “no, I just knew you’d be awake.” 

Y/N frowned, “you should’ve gone to bed.” She places the tea leaves into the steaming pot, moving to sit with her legs crossed, across from him on the floor.

“And put the entire ship at risk?” Came his response, his brow raised. 

Y/N laughed lightly, “what are you talking about?” Her head tilts as she looks at him in confusion, grabbing the two solitary teacups on his desk. 

“Last time you were left unattended you nearly blew up our only means of transportation.” He deadpanned. 

She rolled her eyes, looking to him as she spoke, “that was one time-”

Zuko was smiling now, “remember the time you nearly killed that man with a cabbage cart because he-” 

“Okay! I get it, you can stop now.” Y/N exclaimed, cheeks warming as she recalled the event. She handed him his cup of tea, and for a moment she could even forget that the only reason that they were on the ship in the first place was to find the Avatar, for a moment she could forget that Zuko had changed 

His hand grazed hers as he took the cup, mumbling a small, “thank you,” before he took a sip. Looking out the small window of the ship, he realized he would never forget his banishment. His home. He quickly brought his attention back to Y/N, only to realize she was already looking at him. 

She brought herself closer to him on the floor, “what are you thinking about?” She recognized the look on his face, the nostalgia, the pain. 

If he was honest, he was now thinking about the small amount of space between them since she’d moved to be seated beside him on the mat. Though he responded, “home.” 

Y/N hummed in response, taking a sip of her tea, “you miss it?” She asked.

Zuko scoffed, “that’s a dumb question. Of course I miss it. Why wouldn’t I?” Y/N was tempted to tell him that he shouldn’t miss the home that cast him aside for thinking of the best interest of the people. The home that was ruled by the man who scarred him for life. The man he still seeked validation from. 

Instead she shrugged, placing her tea onto the floor of his room, “well I don’t.”

His head snaps up, eyes meeting hers, he looks to her incredulously, “what do you mean you don’t? We’ve been away for so long!” He exclaims, his temper beginning to show. It was rare for him to explode at her like he tended to with other crew members, Iroh had pointed it out to him, and though Zuko shut him down quickly, nobody could deny the accuracy of the statement. But they had grown up there, together. All of his happy memories, all of his dreams, his past and hopefully his future, were all there. Had that all meant nothing to her?

“The Fire Nation was never my home, Prince Zuko.”

He almost flinches when she uses his title. And she quickly changes the subject, though she can feel it lingering in his mind as they have their tea. 

She ended up falling asleep in his cabin after they talked for the rest of the night, awakening in the room she internally groaned, knowing what it would look like when she set foot outside of his room. Being on this ship for so long, she knew her fellow crewmates were looking for some gossip to spice up their lives a bit. Looking around, Y/N realized he wasn’t there. She brought a hand up to rub her temple she sighed when she sat up, deciding she’d go back to her room and get dressed before heading up to the deck.

They’d been coasting around Earth Kingdom waters that recently been put in Fire Nation control, and as she entered the deck of the ship, Y/N realized they had docked on one of the piers. The sea of people around the market made her wonder what the area could have to offer as she turned to look back on the deck, where Iroh had been seated with his Pai Sho board, along with several other crew members loitering in the area. “Good morning Iroh,” she said with a smile as she made her way towards him, “do you happen to know what we’ll be doing today?”

He smiled up at her, gesturing for her to take a seat as he responded, “well Prince Zuko was not very pleasant this morning, so perhaps something more violent.” He took the teapot on his side, “you should probably go look for him before my nephew does something unwise.” Iroh explained with a sigh, refilling his cup. 

Y/N gave him a tight lipped smile, suddenly grateful she hadn’t gotten comfortable and taken a seat when he’d offered it, “of course. He likely intends to do something irrational and stupid.” She cracked her knuckles, aggressively securing her dagger at her side as annoyance bubbled up inside her, “I’ll see you later Iroh.” 

She decided that if thugs hadn’t attacked him yet, she would, stepping off the ship and into the crowd. She slipped between the people with ease, making her way to some of the stands, shopkeepers yelling out deals as they tried to sell some of their products.

And then Y/N got distracted. It started out with a new dagger for her growing collection, then a new holster for said dagger which was now strapped to her leg along with the weapon. Would you look at that, with all this new stuff she was getting she’d definitely need a bag to carry it. Right? Right. Then it was some rare tea leaves for Iroh and new cookbook for the chef that lived on the ship, though it only served as a reminder that she was yet to eat. 

Making her way towards the part of the market that specialized in foods, the aroma filled her nose. Holding the strap of the bag tighter as she maneuvered through the busy market as she’d spotted a stand with a variety of foods. Y/N inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet smell as she reached the stand before picking out what she wanted to purchase. In the corner of her eye she saw cabbages and couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto her face. Bringing out her small pouch of money, she went to hand the shopkeeper some coins, but the old woman shook her head.

“The young man over there paid for your things already Miss.” She explained, “scary guy. Just shoved this bag of money at me and told me to keep the change while you were on the other end of the stand shopping.” Though she ended up pointing in the direction of this elusive ‘young man,’ Y/N already knew who it was as she turned around and saw Zuko brooding against a wall in one of the emptier parts of the market.

She sighed, “thank you ma’am. Have a nice day.”

The old woman nodded, and Y/N put the foods into her bag as well, grateful for the variety of pockets within it as she made her way to where Zuko stood. “She had cabbages. I’m shocked you didn’t attack her.” 

Y/N rolled her eyes, “where have you been all morning?” She pulled two of the bite-sized pastries she’d bought from the old woman, handing one to Zuko that he begrudgingly accepted as they began to walk down the empty street before taking a bite out of her pastry.

“Around.” Came Zuko’s response as he ate the small pastry. “I just wanted to browse the marketplace.” Y/N took another bite of her pastry as she listened, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. 

She scoffed, “Zuko, I swear.” They were entering a plaza, with a fountain in the center, “it’s my job to know where you are. I’m here to make sure you don’t die during your search for the Avatar, because I’m your right hand, remember?” She exclaimed, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she got side tracked in her search for him,

“You were my right hand. At home. Not that it was your home.” He corrected her pointedly. It was quickly becoming clear that her statement had bothered him, and he wasn’t going to let this go. 

She looked at him incredulously, throwing what was left of her pastry at his chest, causing him to roll his eyes and throw what was left of his own at her face, though she dodged it. Y/N raised her brows, taken aback by this statement and action. He continued to walk as she stopped, dead in her tracks, “oh, is that what this is about? Because if you wanna talk about that we can-” A deep exhale escaped her, followed by silence. 

Zuko’s brows furrowed, “what? Don’t wanna finish the sentence?” He asked as he turned around, only to find that she had a knife pressed to neck, and was surrounded by a group of men.

Of course it had been thugs.

One of them reached to the pouch on her side, yanking it from its place on her belt while the other looked up to Zuko, “you’re going to give us your money, or your little girlfriend is gonna die.” He threatened, pressing the knife harder onto her neck, drawing blood.

Inhaling sharply, Y/N managed to let a bitter laugh escape her despite the situation, “in case you didn’t notice, we had just been arguing. I doubt he has a problem with my death at this point.”

Zuko glared at her, “could you shut up for one minute?” He exclaimed.

“Oh, I think I’m about to be shut up permanently but okay Zuko.” She replied, a sarcastic smile on her face as he narrowed his eyes at her.

He quickly returned his attention to the thugs, who had exchanged looks due to the strangeness of the exchange they were witnessing. “Here’s what’s actually going to happen. You are going to let her go, and if you don’t, you’re going to die.” 

The man with a knife against her throat laughed, “and how are you gonna manage that?” He asked, his four companions moving forward to form a circle around Zuko, weapons in hand. “We’ve got the upper hand.”

“Well, I’m not going to kill you. My little girlfriend will. And,” Zuko paused, eyeing the men surrounding him as he cracked his neck, “you don’t have the upper hand. Not while I have Y/N.”

The man was about to speak when a dagger suddenly pierced his leg, causing him to yelp in pain, dropping the knife he’d held into Y/N’s free hand. She threw the blade in Zuko’s direction and he caught it with ease as he dodged one of the men that lunged at him. 

Y/N kicked her captor’s injured leg, causing him to fall to the ground and allowing her to slip her bag off of her shoulder, wrapping the strap around his neck as she rammed the hilt of the dagger onto his head, effectively knocking him unconscious. Turning around to assist Zuko, she had a deadly realization.

One of the men was missing. 

Everything happened rather quickly after that, she extended her hand, preparing to begin firebending at the man that was attempting to sneak up behind Zuko, except no fire came out. Instead, a whip of water extended from the fountain, slamming him into a nearby building. 

The other three men exchanged looks, stopping their movements momentarily, then taking a few steps back before breaking into a sprint in the opposite direction.

Y/N was still staring at her hand in shock, though her eyes soon rose to find Zuko staring at her as well, the look in his eyes unreadable. A shaky breath escaped her, “guess that conclude your search.” She swallowed nervously, squeezing her eyes shut as she continued, “you can go back home now.” 

“We should get back to the ship.” Came his response. “You need medical attention.” Moving towards her, she took a step back.

“Zuko-”

“You aren’t the Avatar, Y/N.” He stated firmly.

“Really?” She exclaimed, disbelief clear in her voice, “because it sure does look like I am. No one else is capable of bending more than one element!” She pointed out. 

Zuko shook his head, “the Avatar is an Airbender. You were born and raised in the Fire Nation.” He rationalized. “It’s not possible for you to be the Avatar, even if the Airbender is dead, the next Avatar would be from one of the Water Tribes.” Zuko opened his mouth to continue speaking but Y/N cut him off.

“Zuko.” Her voice came out as a whisper. “What are you doing?” 

In that moment he is silent, and she wonders if he’s reconsidering his choice. In actuality, a million thoughts are running through his mind, maybe he could fake her death? Tell them that she died in this town, let her live out her life in peace while he continued a false search for the Avatar. Maybe this was a fluke, or there was a Waterbender hiding in the shadows that saved their lives. Or maybe he was in denial.

The only thing he was sure about was that Y/N wasn’t going back to the Fire Nation a prisoner. 

“Protecting the only home I have left.” 

Because sometimes home isn’t a place. It’s a person. 

You can imagine their shock when they discovered the last Airbender.

a/n: are there two avatars? maybe. is the reader a dual bender? maybe. will we ever find out? idk

[ingek73]

Game, set, and twat: Whether it’s Meghan or Naomi Osaka, Piers Morgan’s MailOnline-enabled bullying has a pattern...

... the mediocre hack’s mediocre hack hates women who don’t dance to his tune.

Mic Wright

11 hr ago

If someone had a blog and Twitter account where they relentlessly attacked a series of high profile women — many of them women of colour — for perceived slights and their refusal to pay the writer attention, we’d usually call that person a bully and a troll, and if they persisted in that behaviour they might even find themselves facing legal consequences.

But Piers Morgan has a TV career and a MailOnline byline so he’s given impunity to mock, abuse, and denigrate women while claiming he’s just a ‘critical voice’. His latest target is Naomi Osaka, the 23-year-old tennis player who is currently ranked number 2 in the world, is the reigning champion of the US Open and Australian Open, and became the first woman to win back-to-back grand slams since Serena Williams in 2015.

By contrast, Piers Morgan is a mediocre hack who owes his controversy-baiting career to Simon Cowell who pulled him out of the dumper of history and plonked him on the America’s Got Talent panel after he was frog-marched out of Fleet Street for slapping faked photos on the front page of a national newspaper. That incident was the last in an ignominious run at The Daily Mirror and, before that, in the Murdoch press, which I have covered extensively in the past.

[image description] Twitter avatar for @Nabilu

Nabil Abdulrashid

@Nabilu

If time machines existed Piers Morgan would go backwards in time to chat shit about Rosa Parks

May 31st 2021

346 Retweets2,456 Likes]

Morgan’s latest creepy obsession was triggered — I use that word deliberately — by Osaka’s decision not to speak to the press during the French Open at Roland Garros because interviews were affecting her mental health. She subsequently withdrew from the tournament altogether after winning her first match, having been fined $15,000 for not speaking to the media and warned she was at risk of being expelled from the event.

In her statement yesterday, Osaka wrote that she had suffered “long bouts of depression” since she defeated Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open Final and received significant media attention. She continued:

I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly, I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly.

Nothing in either of Osaka’s statements support Morgan’s sneering labelling of the player as “Narcissistic Naomi” or “world sport’s most petulant little madam”. Once again a 56-year-old man is using his vast and undeserved media platform to bully and harass a woman half his age. And — surprise, surprise — it’s actually just a new front in his obsessive one-sided war on the Duchess of Sussex.

Beneath the frankly unhinged headline, Narcissistic Naomi's cynical exploitation of mental health to silence the media is right from the Meghan and Harry playbook of wanting their press cake and eating it, Morgan writes:

Naomi Osaka is a brilliant tennis player…

… She is also the highest-paid female athlete in the world, raking in $55.2 million in the past 12 months, $5.2 million from tennis winnings and $50 million from endorsement deals with the likes of Nike, Beats by Dre, Mastercard and Nissin…

… Unfortunately, Ms Osaka is also an arrogant spoiled brat whose fame and fortune appears to have inflated her ego to gigantic proportions.

How else to explain her extraordinary decision to announce she will no longer participate in media press conferences, supposedly to protect her mental health?

Morgan is pretending that he doesn’t know that money is not an impregnable suit of armour to protect your mental health. Osaka could be the richest woman in the world and still face anxiety and depression. In fact, at just 23, the pressures of her performance-driven, endorsement-laden life are arguably more likely to lead to those feelings than a ‘normal’ one.

But rather than seeing Osaka as a young woman in an extraordinary position who is struggling with those demands and finding the hectoring, hostile, and entitled attitude of the press hard to handle at the moment, Morgan calls her “petulant” and continues:

[She] was fined $15,000 for refusing to appear in front of the media… Of course, given that she earns around $6,000 an hour, Osaka will recoup this fine while she sleeps tonight, rendering the fine utterly meaningless.

What's not meaningless is her frankly contemptible attempt to avoid legitimate media scrutiny by weaponizing mental health to justify her boycott.

Morgan departed Good Morning Britain after the row that followed his comment that he “didn’t believe a word” of the Duchess of Sussex’s statements about her mental health during the Oprah interview. Now, the mental health analyser has logged on again and he has determined that Naomi Osaka does not meet his standard of distress. Sadly, he secured his professional qualifications in this area by scrawling a certificate in crayon on the back of a Pizza Express kids menu.

[image description] Twitter avatar for @PaulbernalUK

Paul Bernal

@PaulbernalUK

What is it about Naomi Osaka and Meghan Markle that gets Piers Morgan so worked up, I wonder. Image

May 31st 2021

1,726 Retweets10,537 Likes

-

He claims that after reading Osaka’s Instagram post about press conferences, which he calls “an orgy of narcissistic twaddle”, “several times” he experienced “mounting fury”. Remember, this is a 56-year-old man contorting his melted waxwork face into an angry rictus over a 23-year-old woman he doesn’t know choosing not to appear at a press conference. I am not convinced that Osaka is the narcissistic one here.

Morgan continues:

One thing’s very clear: This has got nothing to do with mental health.

What Osaka really means is that she doesn’t want to face the media if she hasn’t played well, because the beastly journalists might actually dare to criticise her performance…

… This is straight out of the Meghan and Harry playbook of wanting to have the world’s largest cake and eating it, by exploiting the media for ruthless self-promotion but using mental health to silence any media criticism.

One thing’s very clear: This has got nothing to do with Naomi Osaka.

What Morgan really means is that he’s still beetroot red over a perceived slight by Meghan back in 2016, which he only started ranting about after he didn’t get an invite to her wedding and was “ghosted”. That came after two years of him tweeting about her as a “friend”.

Piers Morgan is simply using Naomi Osaka as another way to wage his sad fuck guerilla war against the Sussexes. And Osaka is just the latest in a long string of young women to fall short of his weirdo expectations.

He berated Lady Gaga on social media, attacking her after she spoke about dealing with PTSD after being raped, and goaded her so much that she agreed to an interview clearly in the hope of getting him to stop.

He attacked Arianna Grande after the Manchester Arena attack and kept up his bullying for six months until she agreed to have dinner with him after what he said was a “chance meeting”. After she had conceded to spending time in his fetid presence he shifted tack and started creepily calling her his “soulmate” — she was 26 at the time.

These obsessions with young women are often framed as “feuds” in the press, but they are, in fact, byline-enabled stalking. Morgan has a huge platform and he abuses it to get women to concede to him, to make mollifying noises, to pretend that they are his friends just to get him to stop.

The only difference between Piers Morgan and a street harasser screaming at a woman to smile is that MailOnline and ITV pay him handsomely for the privilege. Tonight, Morgan’s ‘Life Stories’ interview with Keir Starmer goes out on ITV and he’ll once again get a chance to dominate the headlines. His views are given credence by the political elite even as he continues to abuse women for attention and praise.

It’s a tactic he’s used for decades, stretching back to his time on The Sun’s Bizarre column, where he insisted on inserting pictures of himself cuddling up to celebrities. His ‘feud’/obsession with Madonna has run on for decades, beginning in his Fleet Street days when she didn’t give him the exclusive on her first pregnancy and continuing right up until now.

As with Lady Gaga, Morgan has repeatedly mocked and dismissed Madonna for saying she was raped in the past. However, unlike Gaga, Madonna has refused to pay homage to Morgan with an interview. He preemptively ‘banned’ her from his CNN show back in 2011 though she had shown not one scintilla of interest in appearing, and tried to reignite interest in his hatred for her in 2016 by saying he would end “the feud” if she apologised to him. He’s still waiting for that call.

Morgan’s attack on Osaka, which is simply another attempt to get at Meghan, came two days after a Daily Mail interview with Jan Moir in which he grumbled:

[Meghan] thinks she’s beaten me? She might be in for a surprise because I suspect I’ll be back soon. If Meghan thinks she has cancelled me or won the battle, she is in for a big shock. I’ve never been more popular.

It made me think of this moment in Mad Men:

Michael Ginsberg: What do I care? I got a million of them… a million…

Don Draper: Good. I guess I’m lucky you work for me.

Michael Ginsberg: I feel bad for you.

Don Draper: I don’t think about you at all.

Meghan is Draper. Morgan is a total Ginsberg — smug and self-satisfied, convinced that Meghan is as obsessed with him as he is with her, certain that they are having a feud between equals and not the same dynamic as every woman cursed with a sad but sinister stalker.

And while Morgan acts like he’s a brave truth-teller, he only dares pump his horseshit opinions into MailOnline’s open sewer once he’s fairly sure that there are enough other media bullies taking the same line. The Australian’s tennis correspondent Will Swanton filed his misogynist screed a full day before Morgan got round to his.

There’s a clue as to how Morgan expects young women to act around him in the latest instalment of his journals — The Diary of Samuel Creeps — which are published in The Mail on Sunday.

Recounting his visit to what sounds like a truly mind-numbing party (“…drinking cocktails, nibbling canapés and having actual ‘fun’ in the garden of the Notting Hill home of Gabriela Peacock, nutritionist to the stars.”) he describes an encounter with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie:

Princess Beatrice arrived with her husband Eduardo. They announced her first pregnancy today, and both seemed ecstatically happy.

‘Please thank your mum for her supportive texts when I left GMB,’ I told her. ‘She’s always been very loyal to me, and I greatly appreciate it.’

‘Well, you’ve been very loyal to her,’ Beatrice replied, ‘and she appreciates that too.’

I’ve always had a soft spot for Fergie.

Princess Eugenie, who gave birth to her first child three months ago, joined her sister. ‘If you two need any parenting tips for your expanding Royal creche, I’ve had four kids so am something of an expert,’ I suggested.

Their regal eyebrows shot up in synchronised horror. ‘No, we’re good thanks, Piers,’ came the firm, unified response.

I’ve known both Princesses since they were very young, and they’ve been through a lot of tough times in the media spotlight, especially lately over their father Prince Andrew’s shameful friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

But they never complain, or give whining interviews, or publicly trash their family, and they’re always incredibly nice, polite and good fun – which all makes such a refreshing change from their narcissistic, self-pitying, family-abusing, spoiled-brat cousins over in California.

Piers Morgan wants to be treated as famous rather than infamous, and likes women to indulge his antics and act as if they’re amused by his sweaty-handed attention. Fergie — a woman devoid of discernible talent beyond tolerating her ex-husband’s second career as the top Yelp! reviewer at Jeffrey Epstein’s houses — is a-ok with Piers because she sucks up to him. Similarly, her daughters are delightful because they’ll tolerate Morgan’s dad jokes and fetid familiarity.

Morgan is not a journalist, a truth-teller, a maverick, or a commentator in anything but bad faith. He’s nothing more than a misogynist with a MailOnline byline and some big money contracts. Don’t let him pretend to be anything else.

[magnusmysteries]

Part 21: Star-Crossed Lovers

The Magnus Archives was a horror podcast. It is now completed. Many of the show’s mysteries were never explained on the show. I intend to explain them. Spoilers for the show, but also spoilers if you wanna solve these mysteries yourself.

In the previous post I said the tree at Hill Top Road was of the Spiral. And that one of the reasons I think that is that it was destroyed by two people marked by the Spiral. What other reasons are there? 

Second reason: It bleeds, like the doorknob in a sturdy lock. If you see a tree bleed, you’d fear for your sanity.

Third reason: I think trees in general are a symbol of the Spiral. In The Coming Storm Michael Crew is tormented by a Spiral creature. He opens it’s gate to find a forest full of impossible trees. But symbolically what does trees have to do with the Spiral? 

I think the Spiral not only covers the fear of insanity, but also the fear of getting lost. That’s why the Spiral often deals with mazes. And that’s why trees, you can get lost in the woods. Michael Crew did not enter the gate, but if he had I think he would have gotten lost. This explains why the Spiral is the opposite of the Desolation (see part 3). Because trees burn. This is why the Spiral is next to the Buried (see part 3). Because you can get lost in a cave. 

This might explain why the Spiral likes fractals. Trees look like a fractal with their branches. And a maze has branching paths like a fractal.

Gertrude’s protective circle is in a forest. It has bottles full of boiling water and photographs of Gertrude and twigs and pine needles. When the Cult is trying to burn Gertrude, the force gets directed to the bottles because of the photographs. And then the forest and the twigs neutralizes the power because they are of the Spiral and opposes the Desolation.

In Burning Desire Agnes feels a sudden pain. It happens just about the same time as the Hill Top Road tree is pulled down. Why is Agnes affected by the tree’s destruction?

In Recluse the statement giver mentions the tree. He says it has leaves, and that he likes to sit under it and read. So it is a normal tree, not yet dead and spooky like in Burned Out. In the same episode is the box from the table. It has not yet ended up beneath the tree. So who changed the tree? Who placed the box beneath it? 

I think Agnes did both things. But how can Agnes turn a tree into a Spiral tree if Agnes is of the Desolation? Because Agnes is an avatar of both the Spiral and the Desolation. 

The Cult of the Lightless Flame has a hard time raising Agnes and so decides to send her to the orphanage to be raised by Raymond Fielding of the Web. Now, does that make any sense? Letting a different Power, one that specializes in mind control no less, raise their messiah? No. Creating Agnes was the Web’s plan from the beginning. 

In Burning Desire Jack sees three men from the Cult of the Lightless Flame. One John identifies as Diego, and suspects another could be Arthur Noland. One has a bag full of candles, so it is probably Eugene Vanderstock, as he made candles. By process of elimination, the third man is probably Arthur. This man holds a container full of spiders. According to Jane Prentiss, there are also spiders in the apartment building where Arthur later is the landlord. The Web is manipulating Arthur and he doesn't realize it. Arthur is the one that proposes a plan to make a Messiah for the Desolation. But it is actually the Web’s plan.

When the Lightless Flame Cult holds the ritual that births Agnes, they have it in a forest. Agnes’ mother lies on wood and wears a crown of wood. The cultists don’t realize it, but they are incorporating Spiral symbols in their ritual.

Agnes’ mother is of the Desolation. I think the father is someone from the Spiral. I think there is a meta hint about it: The mother’s name is Eileen Montague. Montague is the last name of Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. A story of two people from enemy families falling in love. Like Eileen having a relationship with someone from the enemy power. The Spiral being the opposite of the Desolation.

When Diego brings a book about child care, Arthur burns it. He thinks he does it because Diego is attacking his leadership. Actually the Web makes him do it. To sabotage their attempts at raising Agnes, so that they’ll bring Agnes to the orphanage.

Why was Agnes created? In This Old House we learn that the Web would lure servants of various fears to Hill Top Road to fight each other to widen the crack in reality. A sculptor of puppets (of the Web? Or the Stranger?) gets killed by a hunter.  An Eye avatar gets killed by a Buried avatar. But why make Agnes an avatar of two Fears? I think the web wanted all the Fears to have fought at Hill Top Road. By creating Agnes, the Web is killing two birds with one stone, getting a Desolation fight and a Spiral fight at the same time.

If Agnes made the tree, does it mean the tree is also a Spiral and Desolation tree? Yes. The tree has scorch marks on it. But if Ivo and Father Burroughs needed to be marked by the Spiral to destroy the tree, would they not also have to be marked by the Desolation? Yes, and they were marked by the Desolation. Just before they destroyed the tree, they were attacked by the Desolation and felt like they were burning. The Web brought the Desolation entity to Hill Top Road to mark them. 

In this Old House Annabelle says the crack in reality became a gap when Agnes kills Raymond. I think she’s a little wrong. The fight between Agnes and Raymond did turn the crack into a gap, but I think that happened before Raymond died. Agnes binds Raymond to Hill Top Road by putting the box from his table under the tree. She transforms the tree so it can not be easily destroyed. I believe binding Raymond is what widens the crack. And this allows for time travel.

Quote from Ivo from Burned out “And then I would smell it again, that whiff of burnt hair, or catch a glimpse of brown pigtails disappearing around a corner.”

Ivo is not hallucinating, nor seeing a ghost. That’s Agnes traveling to the future. The pigtails suggest this happened while Agnes was young. Which suggests the time traveling became possible before Raymond died.

In I Guess You Had To Be There a woman sees the ghost of a burning woman. I think that’s Agnes again, time traveling.

I think it’s impossible to travel in time to before the crack gets widened. At least I can’t think of anything that suggests time traveling happening before Agnes goes to Hill Top Road.

Raymond shows up in the future and meets Ivo. Raymond’s not a ghost, he’s a time traveler. He’s wearing old fashioned clothes, natch. (I think every time we see something related to ghosts or life after death it is connected either with the End, or the two fears next to the End, the Slaughter and the Lonely. I don’t think the Web or the Desolation makes ghosts.) I’m not sure why Raymond traveled forward in time. Was it on purpose to try to escape Agnes and the tree? Did Agnes send him?

Raymond goes and stares out of the window into the garden. I think he’s looking at the tree, the tree that is trapping him. Raymond vanished and the floor where he stood was scorched.

In the past Raymond vanished, and Agnes lived alone for some years. Then the orphanage burns and Raymond is found dead, missing his right hand. Many years later Agnes is hanged. A severed right hand is attached to her waist with a chain. Tissue decay suggests the hand owner died about the same time as Agnes.

I think when Raymond vanished for years, that’s because he went to the future and met Ivo. Right before Agnes dies, she travels back in time to when Raymond met Ivo. Agnes chains Raymond to herself and drags him back in time. Hence the scorched floor. Agnes takes Raymond back to the orphanage, cuts off his hand, burns him and the orphanage. Then she travels forwards in time and is hanged, hand still attached. 

Why is she attached to the hand when she is hanged? I think some magic reason. Maybe by having part of him attached, when she commits suicide, Raymond is symbolically committing suicide. Maybe this lessens the Web’s power? Hands are often a symbol for the Spiral.

Eugene says Arthur told him Agnes had kept the hand when she burned Raymond. So maybe Arthur spoke with future Agnes? Since Agnes stopped aging as an adult, Arthur would not have realized she was older.

Agnes goes on some dates with Jack Barnabas. When the tree is uprooted, Agnes tells the cult that Barnabas has made her doubt role as a Messiah. She says her doubt will make the ritual fail. And so she will hang herself, so that she will not use up the Desolation power on a failed ritual. That way the cult can attempt another ritual relatively soon, but not too soon. This is a bunch of lies.

Agnes never wanted to complete a ritual. (Maybe when she was very little.) She was just pretending for the cult. She never had any real interest in Barnabas, the dates with him were just an excuse to fool the cult, and more importantly fool the web.

Agnes fakes her death, sort of. By going back in time she could create two Agneses. One of them hanged herself, the other lived.

This paragraph has super big spoilers for the movie The Prestige, so I’m gonna encrypt it in ROT13 : Oneanonf naq Ntarf tb ba n qngr naq jngpu gur Cerfgvtr. Va gur Cerfgvtr n punenpgre vf uhat, lrg fbeg bs fheivirf, orpnhfr vg’f npghnyyl gjvaf cergraqvat gb or bar crefba. Whfg yvxr Ntarf trgf uhat, lrg fheivirf orpnhfr fur vf gjb crbcyr ivn gvzr geniry.

Why did Agnes have to fake her own death? I’m not sure about this but I think the Web considered her dangerous and wanted her killed. But if Agnes died, the aspect of the Web that was trapped under the tree would also have died. So the Web couldn’t kill her until they had removed the tree. Once the tree is gone, Agnes is no longer protected and she fakes her death.

This is similar to how the Web bound Gertrude and Agnes together. This made the cult afraid to hurt Gertrude. Agnes told the cult that it was her binding to Gertrude that prevented her from doing the ritual. But this is more lies, she didn’t want to do it anyway. I think the Web bound them together to protect Gertrude. The Web wanted Gertrude alive, possibly so Gertrude could stop the other ritual than the Eye’s. Or possibly because the Web thought Gertrude could be the one to complete the Eye’s ritual.

Is Agnes evil? I think she is very good, though very ruthless. When she was very young she did burn people. But if an adult gives a machine gun to a baby and the baby shoots someone, who is to blame?

In Burned Out Annie tells Ivo about Agnes, implying Agnes killed pets and a boy named Henry. But Annie serves the Web, and I think she is lying. Annie wants Ivo to repeat this story to the Archives to trick the Archivists into thinking Agnes is evil. Annie asks Ivo to not let anyone know what she’d been talking about. This is because Annie doesn’t want Ivo to find out the stories are lies. But Annie knows Ivo can’t help tell the story when making a statement.

In Recluse Agnes saves a boy from Raymond, and she probably saves the other children. This is before she is bound to Gertrude, so she was already good before that.

Eugene made candles of people, so Agnes could inhale their suffering. But Eugene is not sure if Agnes uses those candles, or that’s just what Arthur tells him. And in Twice as Bright Jude Perry says she had a newfound love for scented candles. It was Jude who inhaled their suffering.

Agnes kisses Barnabas and burns him badly. But I think this was to prevent the other cult members from killing him, because he’s already suffering. Agnes asks Jude not to interfere with Barnabas. Agnes cries a tear when kissing him, she is sad she has to hurt him.

Gertrude demands that the cult not hurt Barnabas. Why does Gertrude care about him? She doesn’t. It’s Agnes that has told Gertrude to protect Barnabas, because Agnes feels guilty about hurting him. Agnes and Gertrude are working together. More on that in a later post.

In Infectious Doubts Gertrude allows Arthur to ask her a question. Why would she give information to an enemy? The only reason would be if she wanted to lie to him. I’m not sure how much Gertrude tells him is true, but I think at least one thing is a lie. Gertrude says her protective circle has symbols of the Desolation. Actually it has symbols of the Spiral. Similar symbols were used when Agnes was born. Gertrude is lying to Arthur, because she does not want him to realize that Agnes is part Spiral. 

How can Agnes be good, if she is an avatar? I think because she never made a choice to become an avatar, she was one from birth. Because she never chose it, I think the Desolation and the Spiral can’t influence her mind.

[that-one-girl-behind-you]

Illicio 8/?

Chapter 7

"How are you doing?" Melanie asks, sitting cross-legged next to him on the floor. Gerry looks up at her, the tape recorder whirring away on top of his chest. "Okay. Yes, stupid question."

Gerry sighs. It's- the fact that Melanie even cares shows amazing progress from the little monster of rage she was not a month ago. Under different circumstances, he'd feel happy about it.

"I'm better. The tapes help."

Melanie nods. "Martin has some good ideas."

"At times," Gerry mutters, feeling the familiar prickle of irritation at his stomach. He has some words to tell Martin, after what he heard yesterday in the tapes. "I still think he should have at least tried to call Jon back."

"I don't understand any of that." Melanie nudges at his side with the tip of her sneaker. "If Martin could have called him, why couldn't you?"

Gerry sighs. "I told you. It's got to be something he loves. Someone he loves, not-" he huffs, when Melanie arches an eyebrow. "You know it's not like that. You know it was never like that at all."

VIII

"Jon?" Daisy's voice is slightly panicked, and it sends a pang through Jon's chest. He's learned what it means, by now.

"I'm here-" he says, giving her hand a squeeze. Daisy squeezes back so hard it hurts; that's good, down here. It helps remind you there's feelings other than fear. "Is it-?"

"It's coming agai-" is all Daisy manages to say before it is there. Dirt presses in all around them, and though Jon shuts his mouth tight it somehow finds a way in, like it always does. It cram up his nose, down his throat, into his eyes and somehow that last one is the most terrible of them all, and Jon has to remind himself not to let go of Daisy's hands to try and scrub at them. He opens his mouth to scream, but all that slides into his lungs is heavy mud, the kind you can step on and not sink, and definitely not the kind you can breathe through, and his lungs burn-

And it's gone.

Everything recedes at once -it doesn't go away, it never does-, just far back enough that Jon can take in a gasp of air that is only mostly dust.

"D-daisy?" his voice is slightly panicked.

"I'm here," it feels like an eternity goes by before Daisy squeezes at his hand, and he squeezes back as hard as he can, enough that it hurts his joints."Talk to me," Daisy asks, begs. "T- tell me... tell me about home."

There's a certain quality to her voice on the last word, a longing Jon has heard and felt and mourned before, and Jon knows without a shadow of a doubt that she means Basira. Dirt shifts around and away from them, and Jon wonders once again if their tether isn't strong enough that, in a few years, Daisy might have found the way out by herself. The thought shouldn't bring him relief after he climbed in himself like an imbecile, but it somehow does still. It means, at least, that Daisy hasn't given up.

"Basira had just left when I- she has been seeing Elias at jail. Martin's- the plan worked, by the way. He's- Elias is gone from the Institute." An empty victory. Elias might not be there anymore, but his presence still weighs down on them all, and in leaving Peter Lukas in charge he both took a revengeful swipe at Martin, and exchanged a known evil with a dangerous new threat. "Nothing else really went according to plan."

"But something did," Daisy's arms tighten around him when the Buried tries to push them apart; it hates it when they say anything positive. Jon rests his head on Daisy's shoulder; the last person to really touch Jon before this idiotic excuse of a plan was Gerry, and he -mortifyingly- finds himself comparing the two. Daisy's frame is thinner after almost seven months in the coffin and her limbs are weak with disuse, but her grip is firm and though it should be suffocating here in the depths of the Buried Jon finds it grounding instead.

And well, it's not like he has any margin of reference for- Gerry has never held him like this. The closest thing was when Melanie stabbed him and Gerry practically carried him into a cab and then up the stairs to his flat. He- Gerry's... solid, is the first adjective Jon's brain can conjure, with his broad shoulders and wide chest, and the big, heavy arms he drapes around Jon's shoulders sometimes when they walk. Not as tall as Martin maybe, but still a good head taller than Jon, and-

"Jon?" Daisy asks, curiosity in her voice instead of fear this time.

"Hm?"

"You we- you were telling me about outside." Oh.

"Ah- I- yes. Outside, I- sorry." Jon clears his throat, face burning so hot he's sure Daisy can feel it. This is ridiculous, they're- he needs to focus. What he wouldn't give for the clarity of mind that reading a statement- oh. Oh.. "Daisy."

Click.

"What is it?" Daisy tenses, and her voice has a slight growl to it. Their patrons can't reach them here, but they're still avatars, they-

"I think- I need a statement," Jon should feel guilty about asking this of Daisy when she's already suffered so much, but the Buried is pulling at him. Jon clenches to Daisy's shirt as tightly as he can; it knows what he's planning, it knows he's right. "I know it sounds- please, please trust me on this, I-"

"I do," Daisy's shaky voice cuts into his hysterical rambling. "I trust- I'll do it," she says, and Jon feels like sobbing.

"Alright," he clears his throat instead, "then... statement of Alice... of Daisy Tonner, regarding?"

Anything will do, and he Knows Daisy has stories to tell, stories he needs.

"The man that visits my dreams."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How are you doing?" Melanie asks, sitting cross-legged next to him on the floor. Gerry looks up at her, the tape recorder whirring away on top of his chest. "Okay. Yes, stupid question."

Gerry sighs. It's- the fact that Melanie even cares shows amazing progress from the little monster of rage she was not a month ago. Under different circumstances, he'd feel happy about it.

"I'm better. The tapes help."

Melanie nods. "Martin has some good ideas."

"At times," Gerry mutters, feeling the familiar prickle of irritation at his stomach. He has some words to tell Martin, after what he heard yesterday in the tapes. "I still think he should have at least tried to call Jon back."

"I don't understand any of that." Melanie nudges at his side with the tip of her sneaker. "If Martin could have called him, why couldn't you?"

Gerry sighs. "I told you. It's got to be something he loves. Someone he loves, not-" he huffs, when Melanie arches an eyebrow. "You know it's not like that. You know it was never like that at all."

"I know it's not like that, but..." Melanie trails off, as if trying to find a way to say what she's thinking in a way that doesn't require mentioning feelings at all. "Is it not like that?"

"Eloquent," Gerry says dryly, but Melanie's stare doesn't waver, and he knows by now she's like a dog with a bone. "It's complicated. You'd know."

"It's why I asked," Melanie shrugs. "Turns out things usually aren't as much as one might think."

Gerry rolls his eyes. He saw her just yesterday, hanging off the arm of the tall, dark skinned woman with wild curly hair and black lipstick -very different from Martin, Gerry had thought detachedly, Jon has varied tastes- who looked down at her like Melanie could disappear at any moment.

"Did one of you get resurrected as some sort of bargaining chip for the other?" Gerry asks, because at least that part is easy to put into words. Much easier at least, than explaining how Jon somehow became a lot more than just the guy he needs to survive. "No? Thought so."

"Ass." Melanie's sneaker digs into his side a bit more viciously now. "He'll come back. He's- don't take it the wrong way, but he's like a cockroach."

"...I want to take that the wrong way."

Melanie rolls her eyes. "You know what I mean."

Gerry bites at the ring on his lip, an old habit he stops immediately when he remembers how much it used to distract Jon every time he did it, and the gesture turns bitter instead of soothing.

"Not much I can do about it anyways." And isn't that the worst part? Gerry has spent his whole life fighting the entities to save as many as he could, no matter how lost they looked. Now they took someone from him, and Gerry's hands are pretty much tied behind his back. The fact that Jon lied to him to do this only adds insult to injury, because Gerry can't even be angry at him because he's gone. "How's Georgie, anyways?" A door opens with a creak; Gerry guesses Helen will be joining them soon.

"Welcome back," Melanie says in a voice that could probably suck moisture out of the air, and Gerry turns to look at the door.

Basira stands at the threshold, and 'unimpressed' doesn't even begin to describe the look on her eyes. "We're going to have a talk," she says, and it somehow sounds like a threat.

"Cheers," Gerry grunts. Just what he needs right now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I didn't really take it too seriously, when I started learning about this world. When you have things that steal faces, or trap people in nightmare dimensions, or- somehow things that watch don't seem that dangerous. Then I went to the Institute.

I had been at Basira's neck about him for weeks. Sure, Basira and I were not at risk of being fired, sectioned officers are almost immune to that, but I did not like the thought of her getting any closer to this place, and handing evidence to a suspect under the table just felt like another line we would not be able to cross back. But truth is... her intuition had never failed us, and I was thinking clear enough to realize I was far more worried about her interest in this man than suspicious of him. I hadn't seen him yet, but every time Basira came back from their meetings with the stench of the Eye around her- I thought it had to be the place, and I started to fear she was becoming the kind of thing I had to deal with, because I wasn't sure I could do it with her.

That's when he was finally cleared of our investigation, and when she asked me to be the one to give you the updates, I knew two things immediately. First, she did like him, and didn't want to be the one to drop it on him that she'd only been using him. And second, there was definitely something off about him, because Basira didn't set me on people if she didn't have a reason to suspect.

I thought I was prepared, but- I had never met anyone with the Eye, and I had no clue of the kind of thing they do to your brain. He just asked, and I was telling him about it all of a sudden; the rain that felt like it would drown us at every second, the truck covered in grime that seemed to drink in the water to turn into mud, rather than let itself be washed away as it should. The two men that were not men, the one that was, and... that.

I think what makes monsters of the Eye so dangerous is that they're sneaky. Of course I had nightmares about that night, I had been having them for years; now they were just... More frequent. Almost nightly, and when I saw him standing by the edge of the road just staring, I thought it was only my subconscious adding him in because I didn't like him.

Basira is really the only reason I didn't kill him when I found him again; I could feel he was less human and that was enough for me, but she managed to talk me out of it. She wanted more information, and I wanted whatever she wanted, that's all it took for him to survive.

The changes were easy to miss at first. Sometimes there was an extra eye on his cheek or on his neck, but they'd always be gone when I focused on him, and how much of a dream can you really take at face value? I thought it was just my unflattering thoughts about him filtering through to my sleeping mind. Then one time he opened his mouth like was about to tell me something, and there was another eyeball there, the pinprick pupil focused on Isaac as he walked into the damned thing like taking a stroll. It's fitting, I think, that he's not allowed to talk. Just to watch, and watch, and watch.

Maybe killing him back then would have been better. Maybe I let Basira talk me out of the first and only act of mercy I have ever tried to do, because I am no longer convinced the man in my dreams is not as much of a victim as I."

"State- statement ends."

Click.

"Was it- did it help?"

"...I know the way."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Do you think you can find Jon if you go in after him?" Basira asks. It's not a solid lead, but it's been buzzing in her head ever since she climbed into the cab to come back from the airport.

"Wow." Melanie whistles. "And here I was thinking Daisy and I were the murderous ones."

"I know you're tied to him, somehow." Basira ignores her. She knows Melanie has grown fond of the man, for whatever reason."Think it will be enough to find him?"

"And how do you know that?" Keay arches a pierced eyebrow. He's far too calm, for someone who hasn't let go of the running tape recorder.

"Elias told me some things. Can we turn that off?" She asks. Jon's voice is starting to make her antsy, and a part of her that sounds suspiciously like an angry Daisy sardonically asks her if she's worried about the sad little monster. Sometimes Basira wonders if keeping her partner human wasn't doing the same for her.

"Yeah, that's not a great idea," Mel purses her lips by her side, and Basira frowns.

"No no, let's do it. She wants to know anyways, doesn't she?" Keay's smirk is defiant and dry, and he punches the stop button on the tape recorder. Basira watches his expression for any change... and soon enough the cuts on his face start oozing a pitch black fluid that runs down the side of his face. He doesn't bother to wipe it away, staring her down as if challenging her to comment on it.

Basira reaches across the table, and presses play on the recorder again. "Okay, so no."

"I'm tied to Jon. It doesn't mean Jon is tied to me," the man shrugs. It almost passes as casual, if it weren't for the slight furrowing of his brow. "I can't feel him anymore."

"...I could try." Basira mutters, and stiffens when both their glances fall on her. She- it's a bad idea and it probably won't work but this feels too much like the months after the Unknowing, with everything falling apart because Basira couldn't keep things under control. "I'm- I can find things. People. At least out here I can, maybe I could-"

"Well maybe you could. Apparently I know a lot less than I thought." Keay snaps suddenly, standing up so fast Basira flinches back. "Why don't we all go throw ourselves into the Buried, huh? Make a day trip out of it." He walks out the office, slamming the door behind him.

"He's having a hard time," Melanie says, and the apology in her tone has Basira huffing angrily. He's not the only one who lost someone to the coffin, if anyone's allowed to 'have a hard time' it's her, but instead she's here, trying to fix everyone's mess as usual. "Basira?"

"What?" Her voice is angry and strained. She won't snap, she won't give them the satisfaction. She's in control.

"Don't go into the coffin." Melanie's voice is as soft as Basira has ever heard it, which is not too much, but still incredibly noticeable. "Jon and Daisy might survive it. You're just going to kill yourself."

"And?" When she turns to look at her, Melanie looks uncharacteristically troubled, until she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"And I wouldn't like that," Melanie says, like every word is a battle hard won before she speaks it. "Don't go in. It's only been three days... let's give them some time."

Basira doesn't respond, and eventually Melanie climbs to her feet and leaves the room much more quietly than Keay, leaving behind only the running tape recorder.

This is too much.

Martin working with Lukas, Jon and whatever Keay is, even this new Melanie, it's all too much, and Basira doesn't have an ounce of control over any of it. How is she supposed to make this right when nothing makes sense? When she doesn't have all the information? Basira's supposed to be the tower, steady, firm and unbreachable, the last one standing when everything else has fallen. She'd always thought Daisy needed her far more than she needed Daisy, but now Basira feels her foundations crumble, with no one she can trust to share the load with.

Her hands are shaking, and Basira clenches them into tight fists until they stop. It's alright. She'll make it work; the board has changed, all she has to do is rearrange her pieces. Plan her next move. She's worked through worse, she'll fix this one too. She just... she needs a break, a little one.

Basira buries her face in her hands, and waits until the urge to scream passes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Distortion is confused.

This is a tough problem to have, because the Distortion is usually confusing instead, condition rather than victim. Not to say the Distortion has never experienced the feeling; Michael had been plenty confused, when the Archivist accepted to walk through and instead found the door locked. But that's just the thing. Michael had been confused, whatever little scrap of twisted humanity left in him -in them, in it- was unsure of what to do next, or why he was doing this at this exact time.

Helen is not confused, but Helen doesn't have a plan either. She makes decisions in the spur of the moment, following an instinct like a figure in a fractal, pointless and non important as all her other actions, until viewed from afar. Truly, the Distortion could hardly have chosen a better host, if it had ever had the chance to choose, instead of having Michael Shelley forced into its very being. Thinking about it, the Distortion should have learned to steer clear of Archivists by now.

What was the point of keeping the tapes? Of giving them away? The Distortion doesn't know; Helen doesn't either. All they -it, she?- know is that it felt like the right moment, and that's all it comes down to, really.

It's not the right moment to reveal what they found at the center of the 'maze' -a child's game really, Robert Smirke could never begin to create something as beautiful and perfect as what Helen is by design- yet, and it won't be for a while still.

The coffin is banging, and it is the right time to open her door on the ceiling of the Archives, and drop a key next to Basira, whose shoulders are shaking with effort.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martin watches as the steam from the extra mug -Jon's mug, his mind supplies, and the room around him goes a bit grayer- raises in little hypnotic swirls that pass right through his hand, the warmth of it barely registering against his skin. He's not quite in the Lonely yet, but these three days of knowing Jon is gone -that he wanted to leave, this time- has done a fairly good job of pushing him further towards-

"Oh, you're here. Great. Amazing."

Okay, tangible again. That was... that was a bit dizzying, the speed at which he was pulled back. Martin freezes at the annoyed voice behind him, and he swears once more that this is the last time he comes to the Archives break room. When he turns around, Gerard is blocking the exit, leaning on the threshold with his arms crossed over his chest and ink running down his face.

"Ehm- yes." Martin clears his throat. "Yes I am. Do you need something?" He probably doesn't need to point out that Gerard is bleeding again, right? He has to know, and it would be rude.

"I do, actually." Martin's eyes widen as Gerard pushes off from the door, closes it and locks it behind him. This is- there are only a few ways this can end and he's not looking forward to any of them. Gerard steps heavily towards him, and Martin has a split second of panic because he never learned to throw a punch, and he knows for a fact this man can- "I heard your tapes."

Oh. Oh great, this is even worse. He should've known better than trusting Helen, but this is- "...Okay, so what?"

"Cut it. I know you think you're playing Lukas, what I don't understand is what for." Gerard walks all the way up to him, forcing Martin to back up against the counter and look down at him. "What is the Extinction?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Jon cares." Gerard's blue-green eyes harden, and Martin's lips tighten into a line. "I thought it was just another way to hurt himself and you were just an arrogant fool, but after that-"

"After that what?" Martin says then, much more ferociously than he'd expected, but he feels himself grow bolder after the snap. He will not be made ashamed of loving Jon, not when it's the only thing he has left. Peter can't take it from him, and neither can this man. Martin has never had a good tolerance for hypocrites anyways.

"After that I just believe you're a fool. But a fool with a good reason, at least." Gerard's eyebrows draw together, as if he somehow still doesn't approve of this revelation. "And Jon wanted to keep you safe, more than anything."

"Well, Jon's not here, is he?" Martin says as firmly as he can, hoping it hurts the man before him as much as it hurts him.

"No he's not, but if he wanted you safe then that's exactly what I'm going to do, whether you like it or not." Gerard huffs, rolling his eyes as he jabs his pointer finger in Martin's chest. "And believe me, Martin Blackwood, when I say I will make sure I ruin any and all plans you have made if you don't work with me."

"What- you can't force me to tell you?" Martin sort of asks. As far as he knows that's an Archivist thing, but who knows what Gerard actually is-

"No, but if I heard your tapes right, we're both doing this for him." Right. Asides from someone very much taken with Jon, of course.

"You don't even know what 'this' is," Martin crosses his arms over his chest, batting Gerard's hands away. "Will you go away if I tell you?"

"Go find out."

Martin bites his bottom lip. Arguing with Gerard has brought him back completely, at least for the time being, and he's thinking fairly clearly for the first time in three days. He would know, wouldn't he? Peter is certain it was Adelard Dekker who discovered the Extinction, he keeps insisting there must be some letters addressed to Gertrude about it somewhere in the Archives. If Gertrude knew, then Gerard has to know as well, right?

"...Alright. But you can't-" you can't tell Jon about it, he wants to add, when he remembers that's... not a possibility at the moment. "Peter thinks there's a fifteenth entity. Something called the Extinction. He thinks Dekker told Gertrude about it."

Gerard's lips curl in what looks like distaste. "Might as well have. What does that have to do with you aligning with the Lonely?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. He's very cryptic about it," Martin shrugs, averting his eyes until they land on the tea mugs. He likes the Lonely. It's... easier. "But it was the deal we made when he first came to the Institute. People are... safer, this way. As long as I keep my end."

His words are followed by a silence that stretches for so long that Martin ends up looking back. He finds Gerard staring up at him with a thoughtful -if slightly unimpressed- frown.

"Keep doing that, then. Or, keep making him believe you're doing it." Gerard says after a pause. "I'll get to looking into the Extinction. With some luck I'll find something before you're too far gone."

Martin arches and eyebrow. "Peter says I'm halfway there already, and to be honest I feel that way too."

"It's alright. We'll slow it down."

"I- what? We?" The thought is sickening, as if the Forsaken itself is protesting the idea and sinking its tendrils deeper into him in response.

Gerard shrugs. "You might have enough pull on Jon that he's willing to step back and let you do this because you ask. That's not going to fly with me."

"You- you said you'd leave me alone if I told you!" Martin says, frowning.

"I said you'd find out, and you just did." The man gives him an absurdly irritating smirk.

Martin sputters angrily as his face grows hot with indignation. "Listen, I don't know how you got the idea that I want your help, but-" he stops abruptly, because Gerard before him might as well have been carved from marble, with how still and pale he's gone. His eyes are wide, his head tilted a little to the side, his only movement a sharp inhale of breath. "Uh... are you alright?"

"I hear him," Gerard says barely loud enough to hear.

Martin feels the blood leave his face as he pales to match the man. It's only been three days, it's- "are you sure?"

"What are you doing?" Gerard is already busy unlocking the door. "Move!"

But he can't, can he? He... it's too risky. And the thought of- the others will be there. Melanie, Basira, Helen. Daisy, if Jon was lucky, all of them together cramped in the small storage room, with nowhere to hide from-

"No. That's not- it's not a great idea," Martin looks down at his hands; the tips of his fingers are starting to fade again. "Go."

He doesn't look up at the angry scoff, or the door opening and closing violently, too focused on the news and the way they swirl and weigh in his chest. Jon's back, he's alive. Safe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For one brief, terrifying moment, Jon is afraid they won't be able to lift the lid of the coffin. It's heavier than any wood ought to be, and they're both weakened and shaky after months inside the damned thing. They're so close, Jon thinks desperately, he can feel his rib out there, can feel the Archives calling him back, can feel Gerry out there, getting closer every second, and he pushes with a might that's not entirely his own, until the lid gives.

What hits him first is the light, and he's blinded as his pupils try to contract as fast as they can in response. Jon flinches against Daisy as there's a clattering of plastic all around them, and that's when he registers the sound of his own voice, statement after statement overlapping as each tape recorder runs at its own time.

"We're out-" Daisy mutters by his side, one hand white knuckled around Jon's dirty shirt and the other around the coffin's edge. "We're alive, we- I can't believe- what's all this?" She frowns, looking all around them at the recorders that seem to pick up in volume when they're noticed. The two of them climb out clumsily, unaccustomed to having this much space, and collapse in a tangle of limbs and leftover dirt. Behind them, the lid slams shut again, and the chains fasten themselves around the coffin. The Buried won't hunt in the same place twice, not now that two victims have crawled their way out.

"I, the- tapes? Must be dozens of-" Jon flinches again, and Daisy wraps an arm around his shoulders to draw him against her chest, when the door flies open.

"Jon you stupid-" Basira starts, and Jon can see the exact moment she notices Daisy. Her dark skin goes ashen, and her mouth falls slack. "Oh my god."

Jon is yanked forward roughly, when Basira launches forward to pull Daisy into a hug. He manages to wedge his hands in before he slams face first on the floor, but pushing himself back up is honestly a lot more effort than what he has to spare right now, so instead he allows himself to slide down until he's lying on his side. It's a good place to rest, at least, surrounded by his tapes like a bunch of lazy cats.

Basira's squeezing Daisy against her chest like she wants to meld with her, only breaking far enough to lay a long kiss on Daisy's forehead. Jon has the thought that they've both forgotten he's here, because he's fairly sure at least one of them is crying.

He did this, he thinks with a start. He got them back together, he really did save Daisy. The feeling of accomplishment, of hope that maybe he's not meant to just destroy, is almost enough to soothe the ache of loneliness as he lays there, waiting to get enough strength back to walk out and leave Daisy and Basira to their reunion.

"Fuck- Jesus, Jon." Gerry's voice is surprisingly gentle by his side, and Jon has a second to wonder how on Earth he didn't notice the man trampling towards him, before he's being positively enveloped, a broad, warm chest at his back and strong arms keeping him upright. It's- Jon doesn't even remember the last time he was hugged like this, because it feels different from Daisy's grip, and it's definitely different from what he imagined in the coffin; the scent of lavenders has faded almost completely, replaced by an acrid, metallic smell.

"Not quite," Jon mutters, his throat tight. "But I'm getting fairly good at resurrections myself."

"You're crazy," Gerry says against Jon's hair, an almost breathless snort of laughter as he gathers Jon a bit tighter in his arms before climbing to Jon weighs nothing. "Let's get you out of here."

They don't go back to the flat of course. Jon knows he could take the trip, but he's very aware that nothing will restore him quite like being at the Archives. So they end up at the storage room with the cot behind Jon's office, where Martin used to live and where Gerry first woke up, with its patched up wall and its door that won't keep anything out but that still provides a little bit of privacy at least. Gerry drops him carefully on the cot, and Jon finally gets a chance to get a good look at him.

"You're- what happened to your face?" Jon asks immediately, because Gerry looks terrible. His skin is grey and dry, and there are dark bags under his eyes, one of which sports a nasty purple bruise; there's a large gash on his forehead, his upper lip is split at the corner, and Jon finally recognizes the smell from before as ink, as he sees it bleeding out from Gerry's injuries. He reaches to touch at the wound on his lip with a shaky hand, but Gerry -whose face is starting to look more and more tired with every minute that goes by- grips it in his. "Was it-"

"Just a fall. From when you went in." Gerry lets out a long exhale, shaking his head. "Jon, what the hell?"

Oh dear. Jon sighs, steeling himself for a round. "Listen, I- Daisy was alive. I had to-"

"I don't care." Gerry leans forward, squeezing harshly at Jon's hand. "I don't- you're out now. You made it. That doesn't matter anymore-"

"Then why are you so angry?" Jon cuts in, frowning. He just saved Daisy's life, he's not about to apologize for the first good thing he's done since-

"Because you lied to me!" Gerry snaps. "You promised you wouldn't do this, but you already knew you would, didn't you? All you needed was some information, aren't you just lucky I was there to provide?"

Jon feels all the fight drain out of him as he catches the implication in Gerry's words.

"No," he shakes his head, softly at first, growing more adamant by the second. "No that's not- that was never my intention. I didn't mean to use you, I-" his words grow fainter and fainter, until his voice extinguishes altogether. How is he any different from the hunters? "Gerry I'm-"

"This is your one free pass, Jon." Gerry's hand squeezes at his again, almost too tight, as much of a warning as the serious, hurt look in his eyes. "Don't- you don't get to lie to me again. I'm done with that. I can- I will forgive your lack of self-preservation, I don't even-" he jerks his head to the side, breathing heavily and pursing his lips into a tight line.

Good. Great, yet another person Jon never wanted to hurt, broken.

After a moment that stretches for so long it becomes clear that the man before him won't speak another word, Jon shifts his hand a little to squeeze back. "...Gerry?"

And Gerry seems to deflate, a tired exhale leaving his parted lips as he looks at Jon just out the corner of his eyes. "Please don't be like her."

Jon doesn't need to ask who he's talking about, because he Knows, suddenly and painfully, with the unshakeable certainty of the Eye. Jon is- he knows Gertrude Robinson was a hero, the Archivist he'll never be. Stopping rituals, killing avatars, so dangerous Elias himself had to put her down. He also knows it doesn't mean she was a good person. Now he knows more than ever, here in the face of Gerry's broken trust, that he does not want to follow in her footsteps.

"I won't." He says, as firmly as he can when his mouth still tastes like dirt and fear. "I- Gerry, I'm sorry. I know it doesn't, uh, magically fix anything, that would be a much gentler power to have just-" he stops and clears his throat, when Gerry's sad eyes take on a hue of amusement at his rambling, feeling his face grow hot under the scrutiny. "I will not lie to you again. Ever. I'm... I've been told I'm quite bad at it anyways."

Gerry's eyes crinkle at the corners, and Jon is the one to avert his gaze now. "Terrible. I forgot you could have accomplices, though. Melanie's just as hopeless as you, but enlisting the Distortion was a good move on her part."

"Yes, uh, I can imagine Helen must be a very... accomplished liar." Jon takes a deep breath to try and get his heartbeat under control. He only succeeds in coughing out a small cloud of dust.

"Ah, shit." Gerry shifts by his side, beginning to climb to his feet. "Let me get you a statement, I'll be right-"

"N- don't," Jon asks. He tightens his grip on Gerry's hand, and while it's not enough to pull him back down, it does get him to stop moving. "Don't leave." The thought of being alone in this small, closed room sends a pang of panic through his stomach, and he can almost see the walls closing in on him. Here they're safe, as long as they're together.

"Jon-"

"I'll just- I can take a nap. I'll be better in the morning." Of course he will, feeding on the trauma of those who have confided in him, but the alternative is the corridor that feels impossibly long, and selfish as it is Jon can't bring himself to choose to let Gerry go. It's a step away from begging, and Gerry seems to hear it, because he sits back down. His eyes are heavy on Jon, loaded with an emotion he can't identify. "Sorry, it's just-"

"It's alright. I know- you just came back from the Buried, Jon. It's alright to ask for things," Gerry says, and Jon thinks fleetingly that it would be a lot easier if he actually knew what he wants. The ink on his face is dry by now, their conversation enough to at least make his wounds stop bleeding. "I could use a nap, too. Mind if I turn off the lights?"

"...I would rather you didn't."

"Fair." Silence. An arm draping around Jon's shoulders to bring him into another hug, and Jon melts into it, embarrassingly enough. It's been too long, and Gerry... Gerry feels like home. "I still can't believe you came back."

Jon wants to apologize again. For taking too long to come back, for going in the first place, for lying. For how much comfort he finds in Gerry's touch. For not being enough, when he and Martin and everyone around him deserve so much better than a man that can't help a person without hurting another.

Exhaustion crashes down on Jon, digging bone deep into him until he can't fight his eyes closing. Tonight he will feast on dreams. Tomorrow, he will be better.

[megashadowdragon]

me  since book 1 of legend of korra when  ever people try to claim mako was a womanizer, gary stu ( which requires a misunderstanding of what a gary stu is nad  makos character   people have thrown that term around to any character they dont like ) , or creators pet , manipulator    ,  when that was never the case     ( he never was  mako is a human being who makes mistakes the narrative always acknowledged his flaws as things that needed to be worked on the idea that if a character makes mistakes and isnt specifically punished for them and good things happen to him afterwards   its rewarding him for his flaws is nonsense    the claim that he needed to suffer or have good things taken from him is bs  korra was just as responsible for the love triangle as mako and claim that mako ending the show single was karma is nonsense he shouldnt be punished for not being perfect and making mistakes ( which is why korrasami only became popular due to the hate for mako and a desire for lgbt rep not due to any actual chemistry or because it would make sense ( korrasami was thrown in at the last minute as a retcon and publicity stunt/political statement optimistic view : bryke genuinely thought they would be doing good  and helping people  they compromised the story  narrative by throwing it in at last minute  cynical  publicity stunt either way they tried to cover their asses by casting aspersions on critics

the narrative they made led to the idea korra would end the show single with possibly a hint to makorra getting back together I cant help but rolly my eyes when I think how certain fans would react to that there would be claims of queerbaiting when they queerbaited themselves nothing hinted at korrasami the only way you could see evidence is if you were wearing shipping goggles or ending up unhappy to be frank I would change  ) (  and this was the case ever since I watched b1 ( I was part of the fndm since the first episode came out)

“Censorship explains why we couldn’t get a kiss and an “I love you” in the finale or blatant romantic scenes, not the utter lack of Korra-Asami interaction as a whole. They had six (to six and a half) minutes of interaction in the last season, spread out over six interactions/conversations. They’ve had nearly no on-screen interaction since “Long Live the Queen,” actually. They had the 5 second “I can come to the South Pole” convo in “Korra Alone” (which Korra refused), the single letter, their interactions in “Reunions,” and then the tea scene in “Remembrances.” After that, they don’t speak again until the last two minutes of the finale. The episode after “Remembrances” is the Korra-Mako field trip to the Spirit Wilds and Zaheer’s prison and the culmination of Korra’s recovery arc. Where was Asami? She had two lines in the whole episode, and they were both to Varrick.”

the aspersions Bryan cast on the fandom for not accepting what amounted to a last-minute retcon have been functioning (whether intentionally or not) to shield the creators from any criticism for their own fault in the poor execution of their endgame ship, allowing them to take all of the credit for being “subversive” and none of the blame for breaking their existing narrative to do it.

fantastic-nonsense . tumblr . com/post/105933518980

fantastic-nonsense . tumblr . com/post/112100564400                         

fantastic-nonsense . tumblr . com/post/105933518980

it often feels that 

I never liked prince wu and the only reason  some people liked him  was because he bothered mako  if I could change prince wu I would follow what ikkinthekitsune said to have mako happy 

ikkinthekitsune . tumblr . com/post/147464055579/considering-you-understandably-have-some-issues

Biggest change to the initial setup?  No Prince Wu.  Instead of an obnoxious overgrown child of a Prince, our heir apparent is introverted, lacks the confidence to refuse just about anything, and is terrified of being in front of crowds.  He’s the (implied-to-be illegitimate) child of a distant relative of Hou-Ting and a Republic City citizen.  Oh, and he’s all of ten years old.  In other words, everything about him screams “Raiko chose this kid as a convenient puppet” (instead of offhandedly implying it once and forgetting about it as was done with Wu). All of the time Wu wastes on comic relief in After All These Years is used to explain the political situation: the prince is a figurehead meant to display the trappings of royalty and legitimize Raiko’s chosen advisors.  Kuvira’s supporters hate him not just because he’s royalty but also because they think he’s essentially giving the Earth Kingdom away to an imperialistic foreign power.  Mako’s there to protect him both because Raiko ordered him to and because he’s one of the few cops the prince is comfortable around; as such, Mako actually feels bad for the kid and wants to protect him. (This prince is legitimately terrified by the scary adults throwing pies at him and bursts into tears as soon as they’re out of harm’s way.  Mako comforts him and makes him feel a little better.) Korra Alone is close to perfect and stays pretty much as-is, albeit with Korra’s loss in the Earth Rumble ring being far less embarrassing – she gets some hits in, and the end makes it even clearer how distracted she was by Dark Avatar Korra. The Coronation follows up on the political changes.  Instead of being all excited about how awesome he thinks the ceremony is going to be, the prince is afraid – of being on stage (Mako assures him he’ll do fine), of being king (Raiko assures him that his advisers will do all the work), and of Kuvira (Raiko assures him that she’ll step down).  The prince thanks Kuvira and lets her speak the way Wu did in the show, except that it’s sort of implied that he’s looking for an excuse to not have to stay up at the podium for longer than necessary.  Kuvira, of course, uses the opportunity to take over… and specifically points to Raiko’s use of the prince to control the Earth Kingdom as a reason why she’s justified in doing so.  (The prince hides behind Mako when this happens.  =( )  Some of the time saved by not having Wu freak out about the loss of his throne is used to show us the meeting of the world leaders, where they talk about why they think Kuvira is dangerous (she’s very with-me-or-against-me) and what they can do to stop her (not much as long as she limits her ambitions to the Earth Kingdom).

The Republic City part of Reunion is way more tense because Team Avatar are looking for a terrified kidnapped child instead of an aggravating jerk.  (The prince still gets to ask Korra to go into the Avatar State because he wants to see her eyes glow, but it’s actually kind of endearing since he’s a little kid.)

and only people who wouldnt like it is mako haters who demonize him for being a human being who makes mistakes and twists him to be something he isnt  to point where they claim bs things like claiming he called asami a leech when no it was a figure of speech it was avatar equivalent to ripping off a bandaid.

or whining that he was a bit of a jerk at the start or not immediately nice ( when mako is someone who unlike bolin has an icy demeanor and is wary of bringing new people in to circle  but when you are in he will die for you he has been compared to zuko minus angst for a reason  he was a jerk with a heart of gold he isnt going to be immediately friendly with people  like bolin 

 ( I cant help but think of the people who would say zuko should have suffered at the end   )

[for-peace-war]

do you think "race-swapping" a character in writing matters or is a good thing in representation? (for example, if harry potter who is "commonly portrayed as white" is portrayed instead by a black or arabic boy/man.)

I apologize in advance for how long it took me to get to these questions, and honestly, probably how long the answers will be to them.  So if you don’t want to see some discourse on race-relations in fantasy, then smash that J button and keep on moving.

Anyway.

Question 1:

In regard to the first question, that of “race-swapping,” I would compare it to the art concept known as “paintovers.”  Although the term is stigmatized in many circles because of how [lazy] it is, the truth is that there is an artistry and skill involved in being able to take something and remain true to its premise, while at the same time modifying its appearance.  In that field, let’s just simplify it to: there are good and bad paintovers.

I feel that the race-swap has the same standard of qualification.

The essential question I always ask myself is: why.  Why does this character need to be swapped, why did you pick this alternative, why do you feel this enhances the story in some way?  Why is not an argumentative or even exclusionary inquiry: it’s asking the creator to return to their first impulse and exam what it is.

So we have “Arabic or Black Harry Potter.”  There are a lot of questions that come up there, but I’ll divide them down into this:

Does Arabic/Black Harry Potter represent something White Harry Potter doesn’t?

Can this character be conveyed without an over simplification of some cultural aspect to “mark” them.

Who is this for?

In the case of the first question, I think that a Black/Arabic Harry Potter already has a lot of merit.  The issue is, we equate Englishness with Whiteness and to have a titular character in a series, a “nerd,” no less have the qualifications of something other than “just your average white Briton!” then I think you already have something there.

Of course, people will consider this tokenism at its outset, but I’d disagree.  While taking a Literary Criticism class, the discussion of Harry Potter actually came up.  In the conversation, one of the students said: “Well, I wouldn’t mind fi Ron or Hermoine were black, to be honest.”  Which is, on its face, a fine statement—I too am glad that you wouldn’t mind a black character existing — but the beauty of it of course, came from what was being excluded: Harry Potter, by contrast, shouldn’t be black.

This is why I would say that something as miniscule as swapping a color palette on a character is more than tokenism: by the simple act of existing as a marginalized person, the main character has already made a statement that people will take issue with.  How often do we see “politics in gaming!” when a main character isn’t a heterosexual white male?

So, if Harry Potter was a non-white character? I’d say it’d be worth examining.  But that delves into the second part. Can this be shown without it becoming a series of stereotypes?

I would say yes. Assuming that a person didn’t want to keep the stock nature of Harry Potter’s backstory consistent, which honestly I have no opinion on, there’s nothing wrong with drawing into consideration the places that people of various races/ethnicities are most prevalent.  So, if for instance, Arabic Harry Potter lives in an area that differs from White Harry Potter that isn’t bad, but it is worth expressing what this means in comparison to the former: how does this change influence the character’s core self and beliefs? Does it not? At all?

England has always had a fetishitic view of “Englishness,” and as media can [reproduce] life into the format the creator wants, it’s worth really examining what could be said by Harry Potter, the main character of an English series, not being as “English” as the aforementioned view might have indicated.  In a post-Brexit world, after all, we have seen that the notion of Englishness has become something of increasing fantasy.

So put Harry Potter the non-white in conflict with something “traditional” in its English nature, and this doesn’t even mean a racially themed motiff, it could be class or even generationally based.  Just say something with the change that isn’t already being said.

I’d like to take that point to also say, people probably should break their desire to have non-white represent non-traditional in all other ways.  It’s a bit on the nose when people’s avatar for social disorder have to be coded as being non-white.  I’ll touch more on this in the second question.

The last part ties back into the first: who is this depiction actually for?  Is the purpose of this to show people that it can be done, or children of this background that they are being thought of? Both have good and bad sides to them, with the former’s benefits being that it brings to an end “conventional wisdom” like “Black Superhero Movies Never Sell!” (See: Black Panther), whereas the downside is you risk rushing into doing something with ltitle thought beyond that change.

As to the latter issue, the downside can only be that you may have to essentialize what the acceptable rate for this character is.  For black people, I’ll say out the gate that shadeism will always be where you see how an author views their subject matter.  If the attractive woman has to be of a lighter hue, then really it comes down to telling black girls and women that their skin needs to be lighter.  So in that regard, likely consider the choices you make when you make them.

In closing, my view on race-swapping is have a reason to do it. If you don’t, then probably leave it alone.

Question B:

This is a two part question but I think they can be synthesized down into one answer.

This is going to go back to my “non-white doesn’t mean non-traditional” thing and it’s a point I’ve had before, so whatever.  We’ll take “black elves” and look at them as a specimen of fetishitic racism.

Here’s the thing.  When we think of elves, generally yes, we do think of white people.  It’s just how it’s coded.  But the whiteness isn’t even necessary: be it duskwright, kaldorei, or drow: you know what they are when you see them.  So an elf doesn’t “need” to be white or maintain whiteness.  So why is it whenever the whiteness is removed, the entire semblance of what an elf is switches as well?

In the case of the former: unnatural hues make the “non-whiteness” a non-factor.  Duskwrights, Kaldorei, and Drow by standards don’t have “human” tones and so, their non-whiteness is more an aspect of just being fantasy characters.  But when people begin working in “shades of brown,” the themes immediately change: fatter, more aggressive, scarred, etc.  

Here’s the thing.  If your statement is “body positivity is good and I want my black elf to be fat,” then okay.  That’s cool.  I guess.  My issue is that this goes more in line with the notion that black people occupy more space than we should, and as a result, will do no less externally.  I’ll just also say right now that fat fetish characters that are about “how much she (almost always a female) eats” or “how many rolls she has,” is not an argument in favor of body positivity.  It’s both specifying the deviation from the “norm” and also deriding it through eroticism obsession.

But, I’m sorry.  The entire issue here is that dark characters exist to be, well, disgustingly perverse to social norms.  I understand that people want to show “badass” characters, but the more “badass” and scarred, the more the skin begins to darken.  This is, I believe, a subconscious aspect of what we view in characters: that there is something inherently dangerous, virile, and wild when it comes to darker complexions.  

So how does this tie back into elves? Well, show me some elegant black elves.

Elegance and refinement, typically, describe an elf.  Outside of any “racial” view, so long as the character has this [traditionalist] allure of an essential beauty and grace and has long ears, then yeah.  You have an elf. Simple as. No doubt about it.  So why do black elves need to be fat, having missing ears, be angry, etc? Because what the writer subconsciously feels is that these traits are more authentic to the black experience, and that is terrible and dangerous.  

When writing a character outside of yourself (which I strongly sugegst people do), I think that you need to be aware of your design choices (research and respect).  

So we can use World of Warcraft’s denizens as an example.  WoW’s always had a “world is white” standard to it. That’s problematic, I guess, but whatever.  Racial representation wasn’t big in the 90′s and still isn’t really that important to most people.  Yet even with that being said, players began trying to explain where their characters came from that weren’t white.  “Blacks come from Stranglethorn!” “Browns come from Tanaris!” on and on, and yeah, there are problems there, but the more pressing matter is that WoW just dropped the ball on different races of people.

Here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with people coming from different places.  You don’t need to go all Conan on it and say they came from Iraqistan and Zembabwe, but it’s worth noting that we all come from somewhere and end up where we do. I’d rather authors put more effort into examining that than they do in making up monsters and animals to represent these same groups of people in exoticisized and disturbing portrayals.

There’s also the option that race just doesn’t matter in your world.  It’s fantasy, why not?  We became so obessed with GRRM reminding us that “fantasy” means “imagine a world where white men have all the power and it’s okay!” and forgot that it can also mean “imagine a world where this problem just doesn’t exist.”   So if you do that, then it’s fine.  Code everyone together.  But make their representation reflect that.  If, say, in WOW race just didn’t matter then the breakdown of heroes would reflect that.  It doesn’t obviously.

So if you want to theme something like Zulu, then I guess I’d say do your research on it and know it beyond surface level considerations.  If you do that, then really do whatever.

And I’ll say, I don’t find people racist for not including non-whites in their stories, to an extent. But when it’s a glaring omission based purely on the desire to “keep Albion pure,” then it’s like, alright.  You’re being a racist and that’s your call. 

That’s all.  A lot of words.  Hope whoever sent this even sees it, lmao.

[haberdashing]

Open Up My Eager Eyes

TMA fic set just after MAG 168. Jon and Martin have an important talk about what once was and what might have been.

on AO3

They didn’t speak much right after Jon returned, but the tension in the air was palpable as they made their way forwards, the only sounds that of their footsteps crunching against what passed for ground here and the whispers of the dying.

Eventually, Jon couldn’t stand it anymore, so he stopped walking, turning towards Martin as he said, “Can we... let’s talk.”

“About what?” Martin’s tone was a little sharp, but he stood still as well, looking Jon in the eye as he did so.

“You know, the whole jealousy thing.”

Martin’s face tensed up, and he made a show of breaking eye contact with Jon as he said, “I think we’ve talked quite enough about that already, thanks.”

“No, not... look, we already discussed how you’re jealous of Oliver Banks for, for some reason, and how I’m not going to kill a man just because you’re jealous of him-”

Martin scrunched up his nose in a way that would be patently adorable if he wasn’t currently trying to convince Jon to murder someone. “He’s not really a man anymore, though, is he? I mean, that’s kind of the point.”

“Martin, if just being an avatar of a fear god during, well, this, is enough for somebody to deserve getting killed in your mind... I’d like you to think a bit about what that implies about me.”

Martin blinked a few times and furrowed his brow, thinking for a few seconds in silence before letting out a long, solemn breath. “Alright, yeah, point taken.”

“Besides, if you just let me explain what actually happened, maybe you’ll understand that there’s really no reason for you to be jealous of...” Jon tried to hold back the laughter in his voice, but a bit of it sneaked through just the same as he finished, “...of Oliver Banks, of all people.”

“I mean, you did wake up for him and not for me, though. That’s just a fact.”

“It wasn’t... it wasn’t for him, is the thing. Because of him, maybe, but not for him.”

“Fine, because of him, then. But he- he still did something for you there, then. Something I clearly couldn’t.”

Jon threw his hands in the air. “Yes, because he was an avatar of death! Look, if you’re really that desperate to throw away your humanity, feel free to give Annabelle Cane a ring, I’m sure she’d be glad to hook you up-”

“Jon...”

“I... It was a joke. I was joking.” That wasn’t entirely accurate, truth be told--Jon kept wondering if that was Annabelle Cane’s endgame in all of this, recruiting Martin to her side--but that was a very different conversation to be had than the current one, and not one Jon terribly felt like delving into at the moment.

“Sure.” Martin sounded less than convinced.

“It’s not like I- I cared more about Oliver Banks than you, or anything like that, if that’s what you’re thinking! He just... let me know what I needed to do to wake up. Gave me information I had been lacking.”

“I thought you knew everything!”

“Now, maybe. And there’s still a few limits even now. But back then it... it wasn’t quite that simple.”

“So, what was this information he had and you didn’t?”

“He explained that, that what had happened... it left me trapped somewhere in between life and death-”

“You couldn’t have figured that much out for yourself?”

“Let me finish! At the time, I was... how did he phrase it... not human enough to die, but still too human to live. And I had to make a choice. Either I could pick my human side and just- just die, or I could give up on being human and wake up as a full-fledged avatar of the Beholding.”

“And you chose the latter?”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” Jon let out a sharp bark of a laugh, looking around at the desolate, nightmarish landscape surrounding them before adding, “Knowing what I do know... I don’t think I made the right choice there.”

“Don’t say that!” Jon hadn’t been expecting the desperation in Martin’s voice, hadn’t been expecting him to reach out and clutch Jon’s arm as if he were going to fade away at any moment. “Don’t... don’t you dare say you want to die, alright?”

Martin looked like he was on the verge of tears, suddenly, and Jon pressed one hand against his cheek, ready to brush away any teardrops that might fall. “I mean, I don’t want to die now, I’m not suicidal. At this point, the damage has already been done. Dying now wouldn’t do anyone much good.”

Martin released his grip on Jon’s arm, but that sad, desperate look in his eyes remained all too present. “But you still think the world would be better off if you had died back then.”

“I mean...” Jon used his free hand to gesture towards the hellscape that surrounded them. “If I had, none of this would have happened. And the rest of the Archives staff would be free to leave, to escape from this mess. You would be free, Martin. Free to live your life without having to worry about any of this.”

“But without you.”

“Without me, and without being tied to an eldritch fear god, and without the apocalypse unfolding in front of you. That seems like more than a fair trade-off.”

Martin laughed, but it was a laugh more of sorrow than of levity, and Jon felt a single teardrop fall onto his finger. “After all this time, you still don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“None of that matters to me if you’re not there. The only reason my working with Peter Lukas became more than just- just a death wish was because you woke up, because I could see a life for myself outside of the Lonely with you. Maybe it’s selfish--no, strike that, I know it’s selfish--but I’d rather be beside you here and now than in a world where none of this happened, but you’re not there to share it with me.”

“...thank you, Martin.” Jon broke into a shaky smile. “But even if you’re fine with how things worked out, the others-”

“-are better off with you here too.”

Jon let the hand that had been pressed against Martin’s face fall to his side, tried not to focus on how it was now shaking due to some emotion he couldn’t quite name. “I don’t see how that works.”

“Alright, let’s go through this one by one. If you hadn’t woken up, Melanie would still have a- a ghost bullet from the Slaughter stuck in her leg, right?”

“That she wanted in there!”

Martin rolled his eyes. “Right, because that’s healthy. Look, I’m not saying the way you went about things was the perfect solution, but I do think it beats doing nothing and just letting her become an avatar of unthinking violence. And if you’d died, she’d have had to find another target for all that rage...”

“...fine, let’s say for the sake of argument Melanie’s better off. There’s Basira, too.”

“Basira...” Martin bit his lip for a moment the way he often did when he was deep in thought. “I’m not sure what she would have done if you had died, honestly, but I do know she wouldn’t have gotten Daisy back without you. You’re the reason she knew Daisy was in the Buried, and you’re definitely the reason Daisy got out of there.”

“Because I jumped into a coffin where the whole idea is that once you go in, you can never come out.”

“Again, not claiming it was a great plan or anything, but it did work. You saved Basira from not knowing what really happened, from mourning a woman who was still alive. And you saved Daisy from being stuck in the Buried literally forever.”

“And now she’s succumbed to the Hunt. I can’t imagine that’s much better.”

“You were down there with her. You tell me.”

Jon’s silence as he considered this was as much of a response as any words could have been.

“Basira might have stayed, too. It’s not like she had anything left outside the Archives, after all. And if she did? Maybe I would have actually gone along with Peter’s plan and killed Elias-” Jon gave Martin a look, and Martin corrected himself. “Killed Jonah Magnus, and then she would have died. Along with everybody else who works for the Institute. Rosie from the front desk, who always greets everyone with a smile? Dead. Sonja from Artefact Storage, who actually seems to accept all of this weirdness? Dead. Hannah’s children would lose their mother. Hundreds of families would be torn apart.”

“That’s still a lot less pain and suffering than I caused by reading that damn statement. You can’t claim the world wouldn’t be better off if I hadn’t done that.”

“Okay, no, I’m not gonna come out pro-apocalypse here or anything, but... think about it. Jonah Magnus was planning all of this for two hundred years. You really think he would have given up if you died?”

Jon hadn’t thought of that, and his vision blurred as he considered the implications there.

“He would’ve found another Archivist, he would’ve made them go through hell instead, and we’d end up back here soon enough. The only way he would’ve stopped is if I killed him, a-and then Peter’d have the Panopticon for whatever the hell he really wanted it for, and maybe it’s not the same, but you can’t tell me a world under Peter Lukas’ control would really be that much better.”

“...I suppose not, no.” Jon cleared his throat as he prepared to change the subject as smoothly as he could manage. “So. Oliver Banks did what he had to do, as did I, whatever the consequences. And I’m pretty sure either option of his choice would be better than being eternally stuck watching other people’s nightmares. You’ve seen for yourself that those can be... rough on me, and that’s after just one night.”

“That’s what it was like? Just- just six months of nonstop nightmares?”

And suddenly Martin’s arms were wrapped around Jon’s body, Martin tucking his head against Jon’s shoulder, and he could feel tears dampening his jumper. Jon did his best to reciprocate, to reach out to Martin in turn, and tears of his own began to fall as well.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Jon.”

“It’s fine-”

Martin looked up at Jon with a fiery gaze. “It’s not fine.”

“Well, it’s fine now. And- and maybe now you can see why I’m grateful to Oliver Banks for letting me know that I had options besides being stuck like that forever.”

“...yeah, I guess so. Though I still wish I could have been the one to help you.”

“I know you did everything you could.” Jon’s lips turned into a wry smile as he added, “I heard you, you know. The only other things I heard were statements--Oliver’s and Jonah’s, and please don’t tell me you’re going to be jealous of Jonah Magnus now-”

“Nah, I think we’ve got better reasons for killing him than that.”

“Quite.” Jon snorted. “But I heard you, at one point, too. Not a statement, of course. Just... you, talking to me. Begging me to come back. And I wanted to, I really did. But at that point, I didn’t know how.”

“...I didn’t know you heard any of that.”

“Well, we never really talked about it before. Understandably so; it’s not exactly the most pleasant of conversation topics.”

Jon leaned over, tilting his head just so before planting a kiss on Martin’s damp cheek.

“I’ve also never done that to Oliver Banks, so hopefully that will help you get over that jealousy of yours.”

Martin’s eyes were sparkling as he looked up at Jon, and only partially due to the half-formed tears still lingering in his eyes. “Hmm... I don’t know. Might need to give it a few more tries just to be sure.”

Jon raised an eyebrow as he broke into a wide grin, though he tried to keep his voice calm and level and faux-academic. “Ah, a firm believer in the scientific method. I can certainly respect that.”

And Jon kissed Martin again, and again, and again, until the kissing dissolved into a mutual fit of giggles and both their tears were well and truly gone.

[sweetmemories2606]

Dangerous Game (Gruvia and NaLu fanfic) Chapter 6

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Plenty of Gajevy and Gajuvia. 

Title: Her Strength

Pairings: Gajevy, Gruvia, Gajuvia brotp, very minor MesCana

Link: Chapter 1, Chapter 6

Happy reading!

                                   ----------------------

                              Chapter 6: Her Strength

                                  September X791

"I can't believe Fairy Tail is disbanded." Gajeel glanced around as everyone regrouped to discuss Master Makarov's statement. I feel so different than when Phantom Lord disbanded.

"I know." Levy frowned. "I'm not ready to say goodbye."

"I felt the same way when I left Edolas." Lily told them. "But I'd rather see this as an opportunity to try something different."

"Like what?" Gajeel asked. I don't know what my life is outside of Fairy Tail anymore. What will I do?

"Oooh I could work at the National Library in Crocus." Levy's mood lightened once she considered this.

"A library? Really?" He raised a brow at her.

"It's a wonderful idea." Lily told the petite woman with a bright smile. "We should all do something we love."

"What about you, Gajeel?" Levy turned to him, brown eyes shining. "What would you like to do?"

Gajeel thought about it, but nothing stood out to him. No immediate plan or dream. However, once he looked at her one thing became clear. I wouldn't mind having her around, wherever I decide to go.

                                  ----------------------

                                  January X792

In the end, they decided to join the Magic Council after a suggestion from Warrod and an offer from Jura. Being in the Custody Enforcement Unit turned out to be a lot of fun and the trio really enjoyed their missions.

Gajeel also liked having a certain status once he was wearing the uniform, since people looked at him with admiration and respect. It was a high contrast to the days he used to be in Phantom Lord or even before that, when everyone would stare at him in fear.

What he enjoyed most about this job, though, is that he was granted access to files that the Council had on everyone. This allowed him to learn the whereabouts of former Phantom Lord members such as Sol and Aria.

Tracking down Juvia also became easier. She had disappeared after the disbandment without even a goodbye, presumably following Gray. However, no one knew where they were, not even the Council.

"She looks great in that picture." Levy suddenly came behind him as he sat on a chair in their shared apartment.

They had decided to move in together soon after joining the Council. While the primary reason for this choice was being economical, there was also the fact that they started dating not long after the war against Tartaros was over.

"She looks happy." Gajeel didn't tear his eyes from the image of Juvia from an old edition of Sorcerer Weekly.

"I know you're worried, but we'll find her." Levy squeezed his shoulders gently.

Will we? Doubt filled him and he placed the magazine on the table with a sigh. "What time is it?"

Lily, who was waiting by the door, answered. "Almost time to go."

"We shouldn't be late." Levy warned while getting a cup of coffee.

"I know." Gajeel said, thinking back to the meeting they would have soon. "According to what I heard, these Avatar guys are no joke."

"I am curious to find out more about them." Lily stated.

"Me too." Levy offered Gajeel the coffee.

"Thanks." He finished the drink in record time.

"Great. Now you go get dressed while I finish cleaning up the kitchen." She told him and stepped away, but he grabbed her hand.

"Wait." After he pulled her close, she turned around in confusion.

"What is it?" His answer was to kiss her, which she soon reciprocated. Gajeel pulled apart and smirked at the look on her face and blush on her cheeks. "Now I can get ready."

                                  ----------------------

                                 September, X792

After a year of searching, Gajeel finally found her during their mission to take down Avatar. Juvia was proven to be alright, but he was suspicious and decided to keep a close eye on her.

During Fairy Tail's reunion, everyone found out the hard way that something was definitely wrong once she threatened to kill Lucy.

After watching her interactions with Gray and word choices, Gajeel quickly realised that it wasn't really her. No, someone must be pretending to be her.

But that wasn't the case. Once she let Lucy go and warned Natsu to get her to safety, Gajeel saw the Juvia he knew. While briefly confused, he quickly came to the conclusion that she must be under someone's control. Zeref? Is he the one behind this?

Gajeel tried to get her back, believing their friendship should be strong enough to break whatever spell she was under.

He wasn't the only one.

"I love you." Gray confessed without hesitation and Gajeel was surprised, but also glad. It is about damn time.

Juvia was back, but before anyone could rejoice, she had grabbed the dagger which had almost killed Lucy. "What are you doing?" He asked even as he knew. She wouldn't. She can't.

But she did. Gajeel watched in stunned silence as she stabbed herself, but inside he was screaming. You idiot! What the hell do you think you'll accomplish with this?

He wanted to talk to her, but Levy suggested he let Gray do it first. Eager as he was to rush to Juvia's side, he held himself back. Maybe Gray can convince her to come to her senses.

Apparently, he couldn't. When he tried to stop her bleeding, she refused. Does she really want to die?

After she said that she wanted to be free, Gajeel grew angrier. Not like this.

"We'll find another way." Gray promised.

Damn right we will. But first, I need to know what the hell is going on. "Free from what exactly?"

"From Lilith." Mirajane answered, surprising everyone. Wait, who?

"Who?" Erza asked, now back to her normal armour.

"She's one of Zeref's demons." Mirajane explained. Of course. This makes sense.

"How the hell do you know about her?" Gray asked, glancing at her in surprise.

"I've been looking for her for a while." She answered. Well, you've done a terrible job apparently.

"Gray..." Their attention soon returned to Juvia who was getting concernedly paler. She needs to be healed and now.

Gajeel suddenly remembered Wendy and looked for her just as Gray did. "Wendy!" They screamed in unison.

After receiving a nod from Natsu, who held Lucy tighter once she began to wake up, Wendy ran towards the ice mage.

"Please, you have to save her." He pleaded.

"No." Juvia protested. "We have... to stop Lilith."

Gajeel frowned before he let go of Levy's hand. "Wait...Gajeel..." Her protest was unheard as he rushed towards his dying best friend and knelt by her side.

Once he had her attention, he told her firmly. "There must be another way!"

Juvia was about to say something, but the arrival of an unexpected ally caught their attention. "Gajeel is right." Everyone stared at Doranbolt in confusion and shock while Gajeel was suspicious. He used to work for the Council. Why's he here?

"Mest?" The first person to properly react was Cana. "What are you doing here?"

Gajeel frowned. Mest?

"I've missed you too, Cana." Doranbolt said with a familiar smile. What is happening?

"You sure took your time coming back." She noted with slight annoyance, crossing her arms.

Before these two could properly catch up, Gray spoke. "You said there's another way to save Juvia. What is it?"

Doranbolt looked at him, but didn't answer right away. "Gray, I am sorry it has come to this. If I had known that Lilith was possessing Juvia, you both wouldn't have to suffer so much."

"It's not...your fault." Juvia told him, weakly.

"There's no way you could've known." Gray said.

"We had no idea that she could even possess people." Mirajane informed, making everyone look between her and Doranbolt.

"We?" Cana asked, a hint of jealousy in her tone.

I'm so confused. "Seriously, what is going on here?" Gajeel asked, fed up.

"We'll explain later." Doranbolt turned to Gray and Juvia. "Now we must stop Lilith and save Juvia."

"How?" The ice mage asked, hopeful. Why is he taking so long to explain this?

"Mirajane will take over Lilith, then Gray will eliminate her." Doranbolt answered.

"Of course!" Mirajane exclaimed. Why didn't she think of this before?

She approached the couple and Gajeel reluctantly stepped away, allowing her to kneel down by Juvia's side.

"Mira..." Juvia whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"Please save your strength." Gray pleaded, squeezing her hand again.

"She...so strong." The only reason she could be heard was because everyone had fallen silent.

"She should be weakened now that you hurt herself." Doranbolt said.

"I'll be fine." Mirajane assured, placing a hand on the water mage's shoulder.

Gajeel gasped once a dark blue smoke suddenly came out of Juvia's body and enveloped Mirajane. Is that Lilith?

"Mirajane?" Lisanna asked her older sister after a moment.

"i can handle it." Mirajane opened her eyes and Gajeel could tell she was struggling to control Lilith.

"Gray, it's your turn." Doranbolt called the ice mage who was staring worriedly at Juvia, who had fallen unconscious.

"But Juvia..." Gajeel placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll stay with her."

"And I'll heal her." Wendy told Gray.

He looked between them unsurely. After taking a few deep breaths, he nodded. "Okay." He gently kissed Juvia's forehead before carefully passing her to Gajeel.

Once Wendy started using her magic to heal the water mage, Gray stood and faced Doranbolt. "What happens now?"

[thechicchicsagency]

Can Anna Wintour Survive the Social Justice Movement? A reckoning has come to Bon Appétit and the other magazines of Condé Nast. Can a culture built on elitism and exclusion possibly change?On Monday, as swiftly as a 9-iron taken to a tee at Augusta, Adam Rapoport resigned as the editor in chief of Bon Appétit magazine after a damning Halloween photo circulated on social media that morning. Drawn from the vast insensitivity archives to which so many influential people have made inadvertent submissions, the picture, from 2004, shows him costumed in a tank top and thick chain necklace as his wife’s “papi,’’ the term she attached to it in an Instagram post several years later.As it happened, Mr. Rapoport had been facing mounting grievance from his staff about the magazine’s demeaning treatment of employees and freelancers of color and the dubious ways in which its popular video division presented culturally appropriated cooking. But these apparently were insufficient grounds for forcing him out.Over and over, power structures seem to require that accusations of racial bias are documented by photographic evidence — proof to override a reflexive or simply inconvenient skepticism. Police officers abused their authority for decades without consequence. It was not until a growing body of video footage revealed all the brutality, and the systemic prejudice at the heart of it, that the world began to express the outrage there to be mined all along — justice by iPhone.In that sense, Mr. Rapoport’s ouster at the hands of a camera was entirely fitting. Bon Appétit belongs to Condé Nast, a media empire perhaps unrivaled by any institution on earth in its supplication to image. For decades, both at the level of corporate culture and branded worldview, the company’s lifestyle magazines have held to the notion that there are “right’’ people and wrong people, a determination made by birthright. 

There are the rich, and there are the dismissible; the great looking, and the condemned — a paradigm that has now become dangerously untenable, and one the company has been striving to change.Within the Condé Nast framework, autocratic bosses were left to do whatever they pleased — subjugating underlings to hazing rituals with no seeming end point. So much was excusable in the name of beauty and profit. “Difficulty,” Kim France, a former editor in chief of Lucky magazine, told me, “was regarded as brilliance.

”No one at Condé Nast has had more of an outsize reputation for imperiousness wed to native talent than Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, the artistic director of the company and more recently its “global content adviser’’ as well. Mr. Rapoport, who spent 20 years at the company and turned around an ailing product in Bon Appétit, reported to her.What sort of management cues were to be taken? Famous for a self-regarding style — she might demand that subordinates arrive 30 minutes early for certain meetings she attended — Ms. Wintour was obviously not in the best position to try to convince him, for instance, that he should not ask his assistant (black and Stanford-educated) to clean his golf clubs. (That was one of the many revealing details in a Business Insider exposé of the food magazine that arrived this week.)Race is a fraught subject at Condé Nast. Several employees of color I spoke with, all of them laid off over the past few years, talked about the challenges they faced. They struggled to be heard or get the resources they needed to do their jobs at the highest levels; they faced ignorance and lazy stereotyping from white bosses when the subject of covering black culture came up; they all said they were exhausted by always having to explain it all.

Even though they were no longer at Condé Nast, not one of them felt free to speak on the record out of fear of retaliation from the company or the concern that they would be looked at as complainers, making it much harder to find work.Editors’ PicksHotels Transformed New York’s Social Life. Now What?Solving the Mystery of What Became of J.F.K.’s Other Patrol BoatOne former staff member who is black could not fail to see the irony in being made to go to unconscious bias training — which became mandatory at the company early last year — only then to lose a big chunk of his portfolio shortly thereafter. “I felt so devalued,’’ he said, “after working so hard.’’Unconscious bias training is supposed to alert you to your blind spots in your perception of people and ideas. But at the level of corporate and creative governance, the programming at Condé Nast has not been seamlessly woven into the company’s broader philosophy. Last month, during a round of layoffs, in which 100 people were let go amid the economic calamities of Covid-19, the company dismissed three Asian-American editors, all of whom covered culture at different publications.Among the top 10 editorial leaders listed on Vogue’s masthead, all are white. According to a spokesman for Condé Nast, across divisions on Vogue’s editorial side, people of color make up 14 percent of senior managers. On June 5, amid global protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, Ms. Wintour sent a note to her staff, acknowledging that “it can’t be easy to be a Black employee at Vogue,’’ and that the magazine had “not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.”Although Vogue has made a greater effort to feature black women on its covers in recent years — Rihanna, Serena Williams, Lupita Nyong’o — the gate swings open far more easily for those who are not. And in this particular area, too, legacy weighs heavily. When LeBron James made history as the first black man to grace the cover in 2008, he shared the space with a white supermodel, Gisele Bündchen, who appeared as a damsel in his clutches, an unmistakable reference to King Kong.

A spokesman at Condé Nast admitted that much progress needs to be made in regard to diversity at the company, but he defended Ms. Wintour’s record, pointing out that she has passionately supported various designers of color throughout her career, helping to raise money for them through her work with the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She also installed two black editors to lead Teen Vogue, genuinely radical in its content, one following the other (Elaine Welteroth and then Lindsay Peoples Wagner).At the same time, Ms. Wintour has presided over Vogue for 32 years, and during that period she has done more to enshrine the values of bloodline, pedigree and privilege than anyone in American media. A brief and very inconclusive list of Ms. Wintour’s assistants in the 21st century includes the Yale-educated daughter of a prominent Miami dance director, the Dartmouth-educated descendant of a major bank president, the Princeton-educated daughter of an Oscar-winning screenwriter and so on. For so long it was central to the Condé Nast ethos that you had to be thin, gorgeous and impeccably credentialed to retrieve someone else’s espresso macchiato.

Even now, as the publishing industry continues to implode and wonderful writers who could really use the work (or at least the prestigious affiliation) abound, Vogue continues to list among its contributing editors people like the German heiress Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis and many others among the well born. Five years ago, Ms. Thurn und Taxis posted a picture on Instagram of a homeless woman reading Vogue, seated on the sidewalk, with the words, “Paris is full of surprises.” Vogue quickly issued a statement, calling the gesture distasteful, and then proceeded to run her byline on its website at least 10 more timesLast year, Grace Coddington, another contributor, who had held enormous influence over what was shot for Vogue and how, in her many years as the magazine’s creative director, was photographed with her collection of “mammy’’ jars, racist ceramics depicting African-American women as servile maids.

Ms. Wintour clearly believes that she can break from the past and kill off any vestiges of a system steeped in the benighted values for which she has become the corporate avatar. The public apology from Bon Appétit was quite startling in its admission of failure, particularly its concession that the magazine “continued to tokenize” the people of color that it did hire.As part of her contribution to this new wave of progressivism, Ms. Wintour wrote a piece for Vogue.com a week after the death of George Floyd, aligning herself with Black Lives Matter and calling on Joe Biden to select a woman of color as his running mate.For someone who had seemed so averse to activism as the world has roiled from inequality for years, it felt like a desperate grasp for relevance. A spokesman for the company bristled at the suggestion, arguing that it is Condé Nast’s job “to cover what’s going on in the culture in the moment.”As it happens, André Leon Talley, who recently wrote a memoir about his complicated relationship with Ms. Wintour, as a black man and longtime former editor at Vogue, also has a lot to say about the current moment. This week in a radio interview with Sandra Bernhard, he offered his opinion about his ex-boss’s professed transformation.“I wanna say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad; she’s a colonial dame,” he told Ms. Bernhard. “I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege.”

[somuchbetterthanthat]

OKAY AS ALWAYS JUST A NOT VERY COHERENT SCREAMING POST ABOUT MY FEELINGS ON MAG 133

- Daisy and Jon being soft and friendly to each other? y e s. Y E S. Y E S. I so dearly hope Daisy is going to manage to keep her gentle side, she so clearly wants to, and I love it; both Jon and Daisy are fighting to stay soft and emotional, and i am SO HERE for this. Clearly their conversation with the coffin has been the best thing that could happen to both of them; there’s something fragile and beautiful developping here, and I just HOPE it’s going to stay alight. 

- I don’t remember who talked about the fact that Jon tended to build connection through knowledge --- but that’s exactly the feeling I got here. Jon reached out the way he knows how, by intellectually chatting, sharing ideas about the Statement at hands, and what it could potentially meant. Of course, he didn’t seem to realize poor Daisy doesn’t really WANT to be involved in the Hunt talk really, but Daisy herself doesn’t entirely shut him off either, she tries to help, and she gives good ideas and insights, and I mean, clearly? Jon sounded so GOOD here; ernergized; not quite happy but definitely not - tired or defeated or anything like that. he must have missed it so much? I doubt Melanie is up for that kind of talk still with him? so yeah. i just. 

- The concept of the hunt never being able to complete it’s ritual because the catching your prey is actually the least satisfying part of the chase is BRILLIANT. Honestly, genuinely brilliant, and I love the idea. Absolutely love Daisy’s point of view on this, and how she explains how it felt, and how it clearly relates to the statement, and the way the hunters sort of forgot about exactly what they were hunting, and just ---- kept enjoying themselves and moving anyway towards “it”. Frankly i just really really love it. 

- Were all the explorers like, caught in a bubble outside of time and space? I mean it seems to me that it was what was implied, but could it also mean, potentially, that being a hunter, or, or plainly an avatar, stops you from dying? After all, it seems to be what happened to Trevor, so? I’m just wondering if 1) it’s specifically for the Hunt 2) apparently they do keep aging in some capacity, so does the immortality would only happen if, like, you’re going to chase in the juggle? 3) if this does concern over Avatars, let’s say, some who actually became one by dying already once, COULD THIS MEAN Jon would potentially like, become sort of vaguely immortal? 4) my real question is: how old is Elias and could he be more than a hundred years old. the people need to know; and by people i mean me.

- OKAY LET US NOT PRETEND I’M NOT MAKING THIS POST JUST SO I CAN SCREAM ABOUT BASIRA AND JON

- Honestly better people than me are probably going to make much better meta about it; i’m just absolutely HERE for the drama, the way their paths are slowly but very, very obviously going parallels but different, and I love every single second of it. RATIONAL!BASIRA VS EMOTIONAL!JON THAT IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT THANK YOU JONNY THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

- One note, though, first, about Basira/Daisy. Because this is heartbreaking. This is utterly, utterly heartbreaking. Here is Daisy, free at last, who dreads being alone, who’s lost, who needs support more than she ever has before in her life -- and who, obviously, obviously turns to Basira, who’s always been her anchor throughout, her key to humanity. But Basira --- Basira loves Daisy, but Basira expected that she could at last have the support she so desperately wished to have and couldn’t have among the current people in her life. She doesn’t trust Jon, her bond with Melanie has been severed and, besides, Melanie was a loose element for a long time, and not in the driven way Daisy was. Martin is notably absent (where are you martin T_T). 

It’s so tragic, because it’s all about - two people who loves each other so much, but are clearly at two different points in life where they cannot help each other like the other needs to. Neither of them can support the other properly, because Daisy just lived through the most traumatic experience of her life, and Basira has felt like she had the fate of the world on her shoulders, all alone, for MONTHS, and still does. And the fate of the world, in basira’s eyes, has to come first.

- and here’s the thing; the biggest, biggest tragedy. It’s that Jon did a good, beautiful thing. He saved Daisy. It’s a victory. But it’s not; because no matter how happy Basira might be to get Daisy back, she didn’t get her rock back. Before she may have hold on to the hope that she may not have to do this alone, if she could free Daisy. But now Daisy’s back, and Basira just got her last hope for “proper support” just - disappear. And so she is going to help Daisy, but she is not going to be slow down by Daisy which might mean, which already means, really, leaving her behind. Unless, of course, Daisy loves Basira too much to let her go, and decides to give in to the hunt again, to help her, when she understands. It’s still a possibility. And it would be all the more heartbreaking, that Basira who helped her once kept her humanity, is the reason why she loses it entirely one day, by choice. To help her.

(other possibility, of course, is Daisy rejecting the hunt so violently that she “loses her purpose” and starts to fade, and Basira has to watch the woman she loves die slowly, cutting off Basira’s last thread of humanity as well) (i’m employing “humanity” on a very broad spectrum here) 

- ANYWAY. I love Jon Sims. I love him. There is absolutely nothing more beautiful than to watch his growth; to see him having learnt from his past mistakes; to sound refreshed, determined, eager to communicate, to promote communication. This is so beautiful and it makes me so emotional. I swear to god i had tears in my last on my second listen. He is so, so so good. If anything - and pardon the selfishness for an instant - saving Daisy has clearly had such a positive impact on him. More so than Melanie, perhaps? so, y’know Jon, now it MIGHT VERY WELL BE TIME TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE LONELY. I AM JUST SAYING

- Emotional!Jon: "You’re not happy Daisy is back.” 

Rational!Basira: “Of course I am! I would never leave Daisy behind, but right now, she’s dead weight.” 

Basira is happy Daisy is back. But it’s not what’s important to her, though it was what was important to JON. Like, he’s friend with Daisy now, and that’s good, but he didn’t get into that coffin for her. He did it for Basira. He did for Basira, and it backfired.

- BASIRA!FOLLOWING!GERTRUDE’S!STEPS!!!! 

How long before it’s not just happiness that is the priority? How long until one life can be sacrified for the good of thousand, billions? 

- Jon’s mention of Tim? Broke me. Let my boy grieve for god sake. Can’t he adress them a bit, directly?

- Jon’s “I don’t care if don’t trust me, but at the very least I proved that I was useful, so use me” . Oh. Jon. Jon. He has spent so long almost begging for her trust. But it seems like he’s got such a clearer vision now of how things are, I guess. He is reaching for the possible now. He is attacking Basira from her angle. “I am an asset, keep me”. It might even work. But by making himself an asset, he entirely loses the potential of ever being her friend.

- Because at the end, Basira says “okay” and i don’t doubt she will use Jon, for a while. But she won’t confide in him, like she did just before leaving. She stopped herself, at the end. Clearly she has many, many, many conflicting and sad feelings about Daisy’s return, but she won’t share them. She’s done sharing any emotional part of her. Because emotions are not what’s important. Emotions are dangerous, faillible. 

she knows her mind is not. 

(also, Basira: “you got kidnapped three times so uh, shut up jon” jon: “well you went away from three weeks and came back with nothing soo. anyway, doing things on your own is stupid.” basira: “you literally just fucking went on a coffin without telling anybody!!” jon: “yeah??? and i almost DIED, DO YOU WANT TO GET TO MY LEVEL BASIRA DO YOU REALLY???”) 

(that “case on point” was perfect, Jon, if you weren’t made for martin, i’d marry you.)

anyway, i have. feelings. lots, and lots, and lots, of feelings. I cannot wait for more basira&jon. I really can’t. BUT ALSO SOMEONE UPDATES US ON MARTIN OR I AM GOING TO DIE. 

[your-dietician]

Is Germany nailing diverse and inclusive entertainment? | Film | DW

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/entertainment/is-germany-nailing-diverse-and-inclusive-entertainment-film-dw/

Is Germany nailing diverse and inclusive entertainment? | Film | DW

“Why kiss a frog when you could kiss a princess,” goes the tagline for “Princess Charming,” the self-proclaimed first lesbian reality dating show in the world that is being aired on the German streaming platform TVNOW. Modeled after The Bachelor, the show has several lesbian women vying for the affections of one woman. And for gay men, there’s the show Take Me Out: Boys, Boys, Boys to the same effect.

And then we also have the Heidi Klum-produced-and-hosted show Germany’s Next Topmodel 2021, which features trans model Alex Mariah Peter as its latest winner and Druck, a YouTube series on teenagers in Berlin that aims to represent different ethnic groups in the German capital. It would appear that German TV reflects the kind of pluralism that the country is known for around the world.

Even in the less agile world of cinema, there’s been a steady trend toward greater representation: In recent years, films like Türkisch für Anfänger (2012) — which was spun off from a TV series — and Fack ju Göhte (2013) have also tried to reflect Germany’s changing social structures. But is all this enough?

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

The winner: Alex

Alex Mariah Peter from Cologne became the first transgender person in the history of the show to win the competition. “Being different is much more normal than we admit to ourselves,” said the 23-year-old, who barely broached the subject of inclusion throughout the season. Speaking about future plans following the victory, the winner said, “First of all, I’m going to get a schnitzel to eat.”

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

A gender-sensitive avatar

“Inclusion” is now a global catchphrase, and the show also brought it into focus by adding a ‘*’ to its logo — a symbol for diffuse gender roles. Women who were previously marginalized or left out because they were different could now present themselves on GNTM. Refugees, curvy women and transgenders — all got a chance under the spotlight.

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Curvy is beautiful

Ukrainian-born Dascha has been living in Germany since she was five and says she was bullied for most of her life. That’s why she didn’t just want to win but also make an important statement: “I want to be an ideal and support people who are bullied.” The confident 21-year-old weighs 85 kilos (187 pounds).

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Living the dream

In 2015, Soulin and her family fled Syria and arrived in Germany via Turkey. The 20-year-old was all teary-eyed while modeling for a jeans brand: “I am the girl who could not achieve her dreams. Now I’m here and living my dream.” Soulin is now a model and made it to third place on GNTM.

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Small is beautiful

At 1.68 meters (5 ft. 6.1 inches), Romina is hardly someone you would call “short,” but aspirants for GNTM need to be at least 1.76 meters tall. Romina had a very natural look for the show but earlier, she copied stars like Kylie Jenner and even got botox injected into her lips. Now she wants to support young girls who blindly follow social media trends.

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Beauty beyond skin color

Sara Nuru’s parents immigrated from Ethiopia, and she says she was the first Black baby to be born at a hospital in the town of Erding in Bavaria. She was also the first Black model to win GNTM in 2009. Nuru has gone places since then and is now involved with developmental projects in her parents’ home country.

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Heidi Klum’s ‘circus for models?’

“Germany’s Next Top Model – by Heidi Klum” has been on air since 2006 with the supermodel as its host. For decades, its catwalks only displayed mostly white, slim and tall women with long legs. Transgenders, small-sized women or those with curves had no chance of walking on the ramp.

Transgender person wins ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’

Physical beauty is skin-deep

Heidi Klum and GNTM boast loyal fans among many Germans, especially young girls, who idolize the show and its models. But critics say that teenage girls often copy anorexic models on GNTM, which sends out the message that beauty is more important than education. This year as well, feminists protested the sexualization of female bodies on the show.

Author: Suzanne Cords

German popular culture seems to be getting more inclusive, at least when it comes to acknowledging the presence and existence of LGBTQ individuals and of people from different ethnic backgrounds. But until now, television and entertainment in general have primarily stuck to stereotypes when portraying such minorities.

And there has been little public discussion on the various dimensions pertaining to diversity that issues like inclusion in society and — by consequence — the representation of minorities in television and entertainment generally should entail.

Too Turkish to be German?

“You can see that homosexuals, transsexuals and others are indeed represented in German television. Germany is much more liberal than other countries,” says actor Dean Baykan, who was born in Germany to Turkish parents. Compared to Germany, other European countries like Hungary, for example, have been very strict in their punitive attitude towards homosexuality, with a recently tabled law there practically outlawing the public representation of lifestyles that don’t fall in line with so-called traditional family values.

“But while Germany is open in some ways, in other ways it’s actually more conservative,” Baykan continues. “For example, foreigners or those with a foreign background are not taken seriously in feature films or in serious acting projects.”

Actor Dean Baykan has missed out on many ‘meaty’ roles

Baykan himself explains how he once almost scored a major role in a popular crime series on a German TV channel — but only almost. “I made it to the final round,” he said, adding that he feels that his Turkish background may have been the reason for producers deciding against him — despite the fact that he has a western first name. Whether his ethnic background was a dealbreaker or not may never be known, but actors like Baykan feel that they are not being considered for certain roles not because of an apparent lack of  talent but rather because casting directors prefer when they are reduced to representing stereotypes.

‘Drug dealers, criminals and weaklings’

Filmmaker Deiu Hao Do agrees with that sort of assessment. The son of Chinese minority immigrants from Vietnam is part of the project Vielfalt im Film (diversity in film), and represents the Berlin Asian Film Network (BAFNET).

“You have Black people selling drugs, Muslims being cast as criminals, Asian women playing weak characters … But there is much more complexity to these ethnic groups, and these also need to be represented,” he told DW.

In a recent survey conducted by Vielfalt im Film, 5,500 participants said they found that such clichés were being perpetuated by the industry. Nearly 88% said that Arabs were usually represented in stereotypical ways on German television. The number was nearly 83% for Muslims in general, nearly 75% for Asians and 56% for Jews, as anti-Semitism is on the rise across many parts of Europe once more.

Born this way

German-Nigerian actor Sheri Hagen

Furthermore, 13% said they had faced bias because of their body shape and weight, while 10% of the participants said they had experienced discrimination because of their sexual identity. The study also mentioned homosexual participants saying that they had tried to hide their sexual orientation in order to improve their chances of finding work or obtaining a certain role in a film or show.

Earlier this year, 185 actors in Germany publicly announced in a newspaper article that they identified as “different” and that it was time for them to publicly acknowledge that they were gay, bisexual, lesbian, queer, non-binary and transsexual. They all demanded more visibility and representation in the German entertainment industry, having been pushed into hiding, ignoring or glossing over their identities.

Indeed, broadcasters themselves have been rather reluctant about addressing their actors’ sexual identities directly, even reflecting a sense of denial in some instances. German actress Ulrike Folkerts, for example, is a lesbian in real life but plays a heterosexual police officer in the crime series Tatort.

In a recent interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, she said that she had only recently been asked by the producers of the show — i.e. the regional public broadcaster SWR — to finally reveal her sexual orientation publicly. She refused, saying it was too late to do so.

185 actors revealed their sexual identites in the Süddeutsche Zeitung

Diversity = complexity?

Actor Sheri Hagen says that the concept of diversity is not just limited to having LGBTQ stars and the token person with a non-German background being featured in a show. The Lagos-born actor moved to Germany in the early 1990s. She identifies as being a German with Nigerian roots.

Hagen has acted in films like the Oscar-winning Das Leben der Anderen or the previously mentioned television crime series Tatort, and often speaks about the importance of greater inclusion in the German entertainment industry.

“Diversity for me is not just about skin color or gender, which is what the dominant thinking in the German film industry, is” she says, adding that diversity also “includes disabilities, sexual identity, weight-based discrimination, east-west discrimination — especially here in Germany — class-based differences, ethnic differences, cultural differences, skin color and more.”

Filmmaker Deiu Hao Do agrees that in this context, it is important to understand how these various dimensions of diversity and the related aspects of potential discrimination interact with each other. Fighting this sort of exclusion is central to promoting the cause of diversity, he stressed.

Deiu Hao Do: campaigning for inclusion

A sore lack of perspective

Streaming platforms have created alternative ways for filmmakers from around the world to showcase their work and reach new audiences. And while content from some parts of the world has certainly capitalized on this potential, these new opportunities haven’t translated into creating a greater amount of diverse streaming content coming from Germany.

Hagen says that Germany can learn a lot from best practices of inclusion currently employed  in the British film industry, where shows like Bridgerton and a recent limited series on the life of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, have used colorblind casting as a means to promote diversity even in period dramas.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Dangarembga is not only a filmmaker but also successfully writes novels and screenplays, including for the film 1993 “Neria” that went on to become the most-watched film in Zimbabwe. In 2020, Dangarembga was arrested in Harare at a protest against government corruption and still faces trial a year later.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Wanuri Kahiu

Born in Nairobi in 1980, the director had a global cinema success with her 2018 film “Rafiki.” The first Kenyan film shown at the Cannes Film Festival, it portrays a love affair between two young Kenyan women and was banned in her home country. Kahui is now off to Hollywood, where she will direct “The Thing about Jellyfish,” based on the acclaimed novel by Ali Benjamin.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Kemi Adetiba

The Nigerian filmmaker, who also makes television series and music videos, is a big name in Nollywood — which is what people call Nigerian cinema, the second most productive in the world after Indian film. Commercially, Adetiba’s feature films are hugely successful. She is producing her next film, a sequel to her blockbuster “King of Boys,” exclusively for Netflix.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Kunle Afolayan

The Nigerian director is one of the most important representatives of the new Nigerian cinema (“New Nollywood”), which is characterized by narrative complexity, a new aesthetic — and a much bigger budget. Afolayan’s thriller “The Figurine — Araromire” (2009), one of Nigeria’s most commercially successful films, is considered to have launched the movement.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Abderrahmane Sissako

Sissako’s films deal with topics including globalization, terrorism and exile. Born in Mauritania and raised in Mali, the film director and producer is considered one of the best-known filmmakers from sub-Saharan Africa. His 2014 film “Timbuktu” was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars and won several prizes at France’s Cesar Awards as well as at the Cannes Film Festival.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Philippe Lacote

The film director from the Ivory Coast most recently premiered “La Nuit des Roies” (2020) at the Venice International Film Festival. The film, reminiscent of the stories from the “One Thousand and One Nights” Arabian folk takes, tells the story of convicted criminal named Zama who becomes a convincing storyteller in order to survive at La Maca prison in the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Macherie Ekwa Bahango

Promising new talent: The 27-year-old director from the Democratic Republic of Congo saw her film “Maki’La” debut at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival. The young self-taught director spent three years working on her first feature film, which is the story of a group of street children in Kinshasa. The film won top prize at the Ecrans Noirs African film festival in Cameroon.

Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Moussa Toure

Moussa Toure is a Senegalese film director, producer and screenwriter and has long been a major figure in African cinema. His feature films and documentaries are often political. Toure describes his 2012 film “La Pirogue,” which tells the story of refugees’ journey by boat from Africa to Europe, as a “slap in the face of the Senegalese government.”

Author: Maria John Sánchez

Sheri Hagen says that diversity is indeed not about the token actor of color in a television series but rather about a more holistic approach. The recently aired German TV-series Breaking Even, which stars Ugandan-German actor Lorna Ishema in the main role, is a case-in-point for her. Hagen says that diversity is also about who’s writing the story, how these stories are communicated and who executes these ideas on camera.

As of today, she adds, the boards of most German media broadcasters are still “male and white” — and her assessment is, de facto, not wrong. Dieu Hao Do agrees that in order “to acknowledge the multiple perspectives in storytelling,” the German television and film industry needs more diversity, “and this is something we don’t have at the moment.”

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function (event) if (DWDE.dsgvo.isStoringCookiesOkay()) facebookTracking(); ); function facebookTracking() !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) ; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) (window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '157204581336210'); fbq('track', 'ViewContent'); Source link