#because I love spunky kids who can do Violence but

[jackklinemybeloved]

if u were to make a character for neverafter what fairy tale would u base it off of????

Oooo this is such a good question. I’m not super familiar with the original source material of a lot of fairy tales and I wasn’t super into the genre as a kid, so I don’t know a ton of characters that I would be really drawn to.

The first thing I thought of when I read this question was the velveteen rabbit? Which I know isn’t a fairy tale, but it was the first children’s story I read as a kid and remember going “oh this is pretty messed up and horrifying and sad.” And I think there’s horror potential in the kind of body horror of being an inanimate object that was worn down and nearly burned alive, and then coming alive. And while it has horror potential, that story and that character have a lot of heart, and I think that would make for an interesting character dynamic. Plus fucked up little guys with hearts of gold are one of my go tos when picking my fav d20 characters

Either that or Robin Hood because eat the rich.

[hansensgirl]

summary. | Your husband tells you about his rough day at work.

prompts. | Steve Rogers + Mob/Mafia + “I just want to take care of you.” + Stockholm Syndrome, requested by Anonymous.

pairing. | dark!mob boss!Steve Rogers x fem!reader.

warnings. | NON/DUBCON, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, wound dressing, housewife kink, mentions of violence, lying, deceit, mobs/mafias, age gap/difference, mentions of torture (not to the reader), scarring/marking (not self-harm), possessiveness, obsession, and more. 18+ MINORS DNI!

author’s note. | this is a part of my Dark Concepts (2023) request form. thank you for taking part in this event! please enjoy and don’t forget to reblog. MINORS DNI, 18+ ONLY! taglist: @hansensfics

He’s beaten and bloody, but you still love him… Right?

You sit on the dining room chair in your dress with an apron on, smiling as hard as you can because Steve asked you to. He hates seeing you upset, and you hate seeing him mad. 

“Sweetheart…” Steve starts, watching your face intently. You clean his wounds with much care and love, just as he taught you. He sighs, knowing you’re too caught up in the task at hand. “Don’t be sad… You know it’s part of the job.”

“I just hate seeing you like this,” you tell him, voice shaky with tears. Your husband coming home all injured doesn’t happen often. The notoriously-feared Steve Rogers usually ends the day unscathed unless he’s been ambushed, which is what happened today.

But he still ended the fight victorious. He always does.

“I get that, but you know I do all this for you, right?” Steve asks, and you look up at him. Your eyes are glassy. You nod your head obediently. Steve works so hard just for you—he tells you this daily, especially when he’s exhausted, and just wants you to listen to him. “I– I know…”

You finish wiping the blood off his hands, and you spy a few bruises already starting to form. They litter his knuckles, but his wedding band remains intact.

“Right. And you know I don’t get hurt often,” Steve continues, picking up his glass of whiskey. He downs the rest and hisses from the burn. “You should see the other guy,” he tells you, and you continue nodding.

You’re not sure what to say. You don’t enjoy Steve’s line of work—you never have. You’ve made him aware of this time and time again, but you don’t have a say in what he does. You never do.

“Sam an’ I got him good. I did most of it—left him to rot in that room for Buck to have his fun. Remember those knives I got him as a gift?” Steve asks. You hum, moving forward to tend to the gash on his jaw. He has as many scars as he does tattoos. Your name is inscribed in ink on his chest, but his initials were written with a blade on your ass. 

The mention of knives almost has you sighing dreamily. You lost your ‘knife privileges’ a few months ago when you tried to hurt Steve. The idea seems so silly now. Why would you ever do that to the love of your life?

“Wanna know what that asshole did?” your husband whispers, and you meet his gaze. “O– Okay,” you hesitantly agree. You hate all the nitty-gritty details, but you can’t tell him ‘no.’ That’s the number one rule. 

“He said he knew you. Just a kid about your age, really. Think his name was Pete,” Steve starts, and you freeze for a split second. 

Peter—your old friend who vowed he’d get rid of the mob that wreaked havoc on your city when he was older. Steve’s mob. He hated that his aunt May would always have to give them most of her paycheck and how your parents lost their business when Steve decided to open his own store. 

“Said he knew you, but I doubt it. You would never be friends with some spunky asshole,” he laughs, and you’re snapped out of the childhood memories that have always brought you so much comfort and sadness. You’re tempted to defend Peter, but you bite your tongue. You’ve been so good—why would you want to get yourself in trouble?

“He told me to ‘let you go,’ or else he’d ‘make me pay,’” Steve laughs, pouring himself more of his drink. “I told him he was crazy. He kept sayin’ how I was hurting you and that I kidnapped you.” And he’s right—but you can’t say that. 

Tears sting your eyes as you bandage your husband up, the one you’ve never wanted a thing to do with. But he’s been so kind to you—he keeps you safe and doesn’t let you worry about anything except for him. 

“Yeah, right. I shut him up real quick, but he put up a good fight,” Steve says, sipping on his expensive whiskey. He places his glass on the dining room table and lifts your chin so you watch him in his blue eyes. “You know I just want to take care of you, right, sweetheart? Always have.”

You give him your sweetest smile and nod, blinking away your threatening waterworks. He’s right. Steve Rogers always is.

“Of course, honey.” 

[miyagi-hokarate]

Daniel LaRusso 8, 17, 24, 25 for the character ask game!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!! Sorry for taking forever to answer this 😭 (I am neglecting the other asks in my 'box)

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I've been lucky enough to curate my fandom experience that I haven't been subject to anything egregious for long, but I know there's a loud number of people who insist Daniel is "the real villain/bully" and whatnot. No one in the fandom "does things" with that (fanart, fanfics, etc.), but reading meta is always like running into a wall lmao. Dodging them like bullets in The Matrix

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Funnily enough, I'm not much of a big shipper! Obviously there are exceptions (as you can see on my blog...) but I'm more likely not to be emotionally invested in a ship than otherwise. Daniel as a protagonist is a slight exception, as I quite like a few of his ships to varying amounts of investment (Lawrusso, Danzen, Damiko, Dali, etc.) but Silverusso is not one of them. Besides through an analytical lens, it's not a ship I find myself engaging with much — but it sure does make for some terrific meta!

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

HAHA OH NO, I'M BAD WITH THESE (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

This is going to sound so dumb, but my favorite Shakespearean play is Romeo and Juliet, and I have made comparisons to Daniel and each of the lovers before because I am Shakespeare-brained (not in a smart way — in a nerd way); in Romeo's case, they're both lovers who're pushed into violence when all they wanted was to be merry. In Juliet's case, they're both fiery, determined youths who wield that bright, spirited spark in a tightly held fist (and Daniel would 100% do Juliet's soliloquy, yappyass). The Venn Diagram of the things I like are a hot mess

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Oh in the beginning, I thought Daniel was a fine fellow but didn't think much else. He was cute and spunky, but I otherwise wouldn't have said much about his character or his nuances and depth. It wasn't until watching The Karate Kid II, season 2 of Cobra Kai, and rewatching The Karate Kid when I realized, "Man, this is a great kid."

I love Daniel now, if that isn't clear ahdkkskfj. I mean, there's just so much to love: the previously mentioned fire, his spirit, the love and sensitivity he has, the earnestness Daniel exhibits all the time, his desire to learn and connect, and much more. Daniel (EXPLODES)

Thanks for the ask again!! and answered so late AAAUGH

(Send mecharacter asks!)

[howtheworldcouldb]

A Rough Guide to KOTOR Characterizations

Listen, everyone is a caricature of like one characteristic/Vibe. Remember the vibe and you're golden.

Bastila

Recovering teachers pet with religious trauma. Was the "Gifted Kid" who let it go to her head. Insecure as shit, hides it with arrogance. Seeks validation and support like a kicked puppy.

Prim, proper, talks over people to lead in group projects, lil arrogant, goes the "holier-than-thou, this is beyond your understanding" route when threatened. Struggling to see things outside of black and white. Neglectful parents vibes. Just needs a fuckin hug, my dude. And therapy.

Insecure -> prim, condescending

Carth

"My defense mechanisms are defense mechanisms." Constantly defensive. Threatened? Lash out. Don't want to answer a question? Lash out. Man finds a cause and then he's ride-or-die, this cause is Right, Loyalty is My Middle Name. Closet romantic. As soon as he's given the opportunity to love someone romantically, he pulls out his lil book of cliches and goes through them like a checklist. Strong moral compass.

He's also the dude in the horror movie that questions everyone's bad decisions, but only in like select situations. Carth when faced with a specific situation? On the money, every time. Carth when faced with the trash fire that is his own life decisions? Just gets in the can and claims it’s fine.

Stubborn, defensive, loyal

Mission

"Fuck you, I can do it myself. I don't need your help." Street kid who both seeks adult stability and would rather die than be seen as a child. Really wants to not have to constantly take care of herself but is terrified of what it means if she stops. Also pretty defensive. REALLY sensitive about her age.

Spunky, defensive, fundamentally scared

Jolee

"I'm too old for this shit." He's here to watch you fuck up, because he's got nothing better to do. Trauma, but mostly made his peace with it. The only one with some common sense, which in this galaxy translates to "pretty fucking wise". Can't stand the smell of bullshit, and will call you on it. Does not matter the context. Social niceties? Fuck 'em, who has time. Crotchety old man who speaks in weird riddles because he genuinely does not care if you understand.

Down-to-earth, tired, crotchety, irreverent

Juhani

Lesbian who came out to her emotionally abusive parents and got kicked out. A kicked puppy with latent anger issues stemming from trauma. I repeat, again, an abused puppy. Think Tatooine Slave Culture but with Anakin's problems. A little feral.

Self-deprecatory/berating, anxious, deferential, hurt and hiding anger

T3-M4

The little boy who's backyard pressed up against yours who was your adventure buddy for a summer. Sane friend on the surface, until he pulls something batshit and you realize that sane is relative. He's the one running around quietly getting shit done while everyone else argues on the proper way to go about something.

Cheerful, loyal and affectionate, helpful, a little frustrated, imagine if someone had to communicate through charades 24/7

Canderous

Also does not have time for your shit. Values are on violence, weaponry and to a lesser extent, honor. He's a bounty hunter, man. He's got a moral code but it is absolutely not based on similar tenants to yours. His one response to Revan massacring his people was "It was glorious", and that pretty much sums him up. Competent, violent, and with some fucked up morals, but still cares in an odd way. Pretty unconcerned about most things, a little feral. Everything can be solved with violence if you try hard enough.

Violent, caustic/rough, weird honor code, unconcerned

Zaalbar

The one dude in the group project who doesn't want to be there and leans against the wall watching while everything goes to shit. Loyalty is to Mission above all else. Taciturn and distant, but will honor a promise or vow to the end of his days.

Reserved, unsociable, loyal

HK-47

A violent psychopath. Humans are below him (replace any names with "meatbag"). Literally would murder you in a second if given the opportunity, and would like to take said opportunity whenever possible. The only thing stopping him is the fact that Revan said no. Will still gleefully describe it in detail, though.

Murder and property damage

[loveatfirstwriteblog]

A Complete Analysis of Harry Potter

Like a lot of kids, we probably grew up on Harry potter. We were obsessed and rightly so. The universe created in the world of Harry Potter was, and is, a hugely successful one because of the fact it gave kids a world where magic exists! It seemed to be a great world to live in and it made even better with the fact that it included elements of empowerment, Whether it be showing girls can be just as successful if not more in various pursuits(Hermione), or the fact that even if you have a history of bad events, you can have a good heart(Hagrid), Harry Potter teaches us a lot.

JKR has written a mind-blowing plot in a world of magic, wizards, witches, wands, potions, friendship, love. Our inner-five-year olds--and actually most of our young adult selves too--jumps around excitedly at the beautifully penned words that creates an exit out of this world and into one where magic does exist. 

As you get older, though, you begin to think of Harry Potter in a more critical fashion. The thought of “oh my god, it’s magic” no longer completely overrides my mind, but more of “but what are the laws regarding this? Can people just do this whenever they want? Are there no ethics?” 

No matter how much we’re going to expose the flaws and plot holes in HP now, we’ll always love the books--we grew up on them! But some things just niggle you as you get older, and that’s what we’re going to be focusing on in this post.

Something I adore about the HP books is that everyone, including the “good guys”, has flaws. Harry has a “save the world alone, do first, think later” complex, a driving force that makes him go save Sirius, Ron is very, very insecure to a point where he ditches Harry twice, probably when Harry needed him the most, Hermione is a judgemental, narrow-minded nag (her thoughts on Luna, divination, Trelawney, basically anything that doesn’t fit her black and white world), Molly Weasley is misogynistic and blatantly favourites her children—probably being one of the main factors behind Ron’s insecurities, Arthur is condescending towards Muggles and makes several comments you cringe at while reading the books as a young adult/adult, Sirius, Snape, and Lupin still haven’t let go of their childhood grudges and hatred, etc etc etc. 

These flaws are what make these characters so three-dimensional, so layered, so human. But the problem was, most of these flaws are never intentionally acknowledged. And honestly, that could have been such a good character arc, because the main characters are mostly students. No student is the same through their teenage years—they change, they evolve, they get over their flaws, they try to better themselves. I would have loved to see Ron becoming his own person, Hermione opening her mind up a little, etc. 

Neville is not one of my favourites, but I love his growth and development, from someone who was scared of his potions professor to a man who faced down Lord Voldemort. Ginny Weasley could have had character development, from the trauma she went through in second year, but that was never written in.  She went through this terrifying ordeal when she was only twelve years old, and jump to a year or two later and she’s absolutely fine, with no transition from her trauma whatsoever.

Some of JKR’s characters are brilliantly written and fleshed out, but some of her others lack the structure and complexity that usually comes with being vital to the plot—Ginny Weasley for one. Her internalised misogyny also plays a huge part in the way her female characters are written. We see this again in the case of how she wrote the character of Ginny. 

Ginny Weasley is not a favourite of ours (if you don’t know that by now). She feels a lot like a convenient male daydream—when she waits for Harry to notice her by dating other guys, gets annoyed by Hermione “not knowing quidditch”, etc etc—and fits the “not like other girls” archetype too much, almost like she was made for it (hint hint). She’s portrayed to be strong-willed, spunky, and independent, and I love the idea, but I really don’t see it. To me, she’s a very shallow character, the least fleshed out one. 

Just like James Potter wasn’t necessarily redeemed just because JKR said he was, and Ginny isn’t interesting just because JKR writes that she is. 

Hermione also fits the archetype, but she’s JKR’s self-insert, so we really can’t say much about that. 

To make things worse, Ginny and Hermione are pitted against each other in a very subtle way. Ginny is the sporty, pretty, flirty girl who’s never single from book 4. Hermione is the not-conventionally-attractive, nerdy girl who’s had a few dates here and there but never a relationship. They’re very different characters (the only thing they have in common is the archetype) but they’re against each other in the defence of Harry. 

Another place where JKR’s misogyny shows up is the way other girls are written. Lavender Brown is shown as vapid and immature, just because she likes clothes and boys and didn’t know how to handle her first relationship. Cho Chang is perceived as shallow because she’s emotional. Pansy Parkinson is seen to be throwing herself at Draco Malfoy. The Weasleys hated Fleur because she was beautiful and sexy and French, and that was ever really resolved in the end (Molly accepted her, but we never got Ginny’s and Hermione’s opinions again). You see where we’re getting at? The typical “girly girls” are portrayed as insipid, shallow, emotional, and boring, while girls like Hermione and Ginny are seen to be fun and multilayered. 

The problems with Harry Potter don’t just stop with non-fleshed out characters. There are plot devices that go unacknowledged, issues like blood purity—which is the basis of Voldemort’s tyranny—are never really resolved, huge Chekhov’s guns that aren’t fired. 

A common misconception, which if cleared up could probably expose a load of problems in wizarding society by itself, is that the wizarding world is racist. It’s not racist. Muggles and Muggleborns are not a different race, they’re a different class, at least according to pureblood wizards. Mudblood is a classist insult (a direct reference to nobility blueblood and aristocracy).

Another factor that wasn’t talked about but made the HP world so complex and realistic is the inherent classism in every single pureblooded wizard, including the Weasleys.

 The “Light” wizards all operate on the notion “at least I don’t kill or torture Muggles”. The Weasleys refuse to talk about Molly’s squib cousin who’s an accountant, the Longbottoms were so desperate for Neville to not be a squib they nearly killed him trying to force magic out of him, Ron makes fun of Filch for being a squib, thinks house-elves are beneath him, and confounds his driving instructor in his mid-thirties, the ministry workers kept obliviating that muggle at the quidditch World Cup, etc. 

This could have been a metaphor for how small prejudices and microaggressions (kind of the wizarding equivalent of white privilege) enable discrimination and murder, if JKR had actually acknowledged it. 

The parallel to Nazi Germany is very twisted and definitely shouldn’t be taken too far, but the Nazi ideology grew on the basis of everyday antisemitism, “that’s not that bad” little things. Voldemort’s circle and army grew because the wizard superiority complex festered and blew up in some people, egged on by a deeply classist society. 

Ultimately, Harry Potter has very, very shoddy worldbuilding, the kind of worldbuilding that’s obsessed with answering the “what” of the wizarding world, rather than the “how” or the “why”, which is strange, considering that fantasy or dystopian-era novels’ driving plots and conflicts are usually answering the questions the worldbuilding raises--The Hunger Games and The Shadowhunter Chronicles are two of the best examples of brilliantly written YA fantasy and dystopian novels. 

In HP, however, the main plot just avoids the questions the worldbuilding brings up like the bubonic plague. 

Voldemort’s agenda is built on prejudice towards Muggles and Muggleborns, but the plot just validates the negative perception of them—at the end of the day, being a wizard is what’s special. The Statute of Secrecy is the foundation of the main concept—blood supremacists believe wizards shouldn’t be hidden away—but only vague, barely-there answers are given to why it exists (a Chekhov’s gun that was never fired). 

There are love potions that function like date rape drugs (even Harry was given one by a girl who wanted him to ask her out), potions that force people to tell the truth, potions that literally let you disguise yourself as another person, but the ethics are never talked about, and the laws are so lax that three twelve-year-olds broke them and were never caught. 

But at the same time, the worldbuilding is so authentic, because it transforms the wizarding world into straight-up fridge horror. The everyday horrors are just accepted and rolled with. A corrupt government, constant obliviation of Muggles, slavery that isn’t even talked about. These things aren’t obvious to us as readers, or to the wizards as characters, because they match up to the real world, which is filled with things that are horrifying if you dig deeper. The multiple, normalised forms of abuse, police brutality, the violence in prisons that nothing is done about, the glaringly obvious cultural problems we have with consent, etc. 

The abusive authoritative figures in HP, like Rufus Scrimgeour, Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore, Umbridge, etc, are so authentic because real-life politicians and people in high places of power behave that way, and their abuse is excused. 

The wizarding world is just like the real world. Corrupt, prejudiced, messed up, but if you’re privileged, or at least have certain privileges, you’re probably not going to notice. The ultimate problem is that the plot doesn’t acknowledge a lot of fridge horror things are messed up either, which is why it miserably fails. 

[elenathehun]

Watching The Clone Wars, part 1

I have elected to watch the entire run of TCW in chronological order.  As I quit last time because honestly the show was pretty stupid, this may not be the brightest new year’s resolution I’ve ever made.  Nonetheless, I am making it!  My thanks to @spiraling for doing this with me, she is a TRUE FRIEND. Read on for my quick opinions on the episodes “Cat and Mouse” (2x16), “The Hidden Enemy” (1x16), and The Clone Wars movie.

“Cat and Mouse” (2x16)

An episode in which the GAR has a ship with cloaking technology, and wastes it on a mercy mission instead of using it to infiltrate and destroy high-value targets.  I’m left in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with Anakin Skywalker as he goes rogue - but in a way that kills the very cool Admiral Trench (love his character design, by the way!), but not the droid command-and-control ship leading the droid armies on the planet below.  

But you know, he and Admiral Yularen bonded.  It’s important for these two proto-fascists to be mildly sympathetic so we can be upset they destroy a planet in 22 years!

“The Hidden Enemy” (1x16)

Leaving aside the incredible stupidity of landing an invasion force on a planet with an active C&C ship in the sky, this is a fairly good episode.  That’s mostly because it focuses on the clones, who are the most sympathetic characters in this whole mess.  This is one of the few episodes I can recall explicitly addressing the fact that they are a slave army, born only to die for the Republic.  It’s a real shame the Anakin and Obi-Wan fuck off for a diversion, because seeing them actually deal with the reality of their army would be good storytelling.  But that would ruin the vibes of this “child-friendly” show.  

At least Cody and Rex get time to shine, so we’ve got that going for us.

“The Clone Wars” movie

The GAR and the Jedi absolutely do not understand how critical control of the airspace is in modern war.  Additionally, Anakin Skywalker (age 19) is not ready to raise a child in the ways of his people.  However, I will say the writing accurately conveys the sibling energy between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka very well.  

That almost makes up for the many brutal, agonizing clone deaths that occur on screen.  I’d never seen this movie all the way through, so I found the destruction of the Jedi cruiser during Anakin and Ahsoka’s escape from Teth to be rather shocking, although there were other moments of sudden violence that disturbed me.  It’s unbelievable to me this film got a PG rating, but I guess if there’s no on-screen blood or gore the MPA clears it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The movie was about par for the course for TCW.  It’s a vehicle to introduce a SPUNKY NEW KID character, let Obi-Wan and Anakin do some Cool Force Tricks, and still have time for at least two lightsaber duels.  It succeeded!

Next week: “Clone Cadets”, “Supply Lines”, Ambush”, “Rising Malevolence”, “Shadow of Malevolence”, “Destroy Malevolence”, and “Rookies”.

[nicoletterogers]

— && guests may mistake me as ( brie larson ), but really i am ( nicolette "nic" rogers + cisfemale + she/her/hers ) and my DOB is ( 04/17/1989 ). i am a ( detective with the chiacgo police department ) and would like to stay in suite ( 302 ). i won’t be much of a bother because i am ( + loyal & plucky ), but i can also be ( - single minded & impulsive ) at times. personally, i like to ( archery, rock climbing, playing the guitar ) when i have the time to relax, and my favorite snack is ( white cheddar popcorn ) to have in my suite. thank you for checking in! 

hello my loves--its me, nika, here with another muse to shower you all with. check below to get to know detective nicolette rogers and her spunky little self. as always, let a girl know if you wanna plot--feel free to send a message to my inbox, hit me up on discord, like this post or send a carrier pigeon, i don’t discriminate between contact options. (tw: death, gun violence, parent leaving/broken home) 

B A C K S T O R Y

born & raised in good ol’ chi town--never left, at least not for long. loves it here immensely, couldn’t imagine going anywhere else. mom was a clerk at a local publishing house and dad worked in construction after he finished his tour of duty as an army man. her older brother was a detective in the chicago police department, but more on him later. 

mother ran out on the family when nic was eight for her boss, head of the publishing company that she worked for. didn’t even bother to say goodbye--just up and left without a word. her dad was heartbroken and left to support his two kids alone, something he was not prepared for. 

see, her dad always wanted sons not daughters, so nic’s surprise arrival was nothing short of a nightmare for him. of course he loved his daughter, but he didn’t have any sisters of his own and had never grown up around women. so he kind of, pushed her into more stereotypical masculine things, as a way for him to not have to worry about raising her any differently. sure there were moments of pure panic for him (hello, time of the month) but he seemed to be pleased with himself. 

meanwhile, nic could tell that she was definitely the least favorite child. her brother was always the golden boy and her father spend exponentially more time with him than he ever did with her. however, that didn’t mean that her brother and her didn’t have a good relationship. 

nic was often teased growing up because she didn’t have a mom and came from a lower ses part of town. so her brother became her closest friend and she adored him. she looked up to him, tried to be like him. she thought she might get her father to love her if she succeeded. 

but the difference was that everyone liked her brother--he was calm, organized and confident. nic, on the other hand, was plucky and sassy and seemed to crave chaos in a way her brother never did. she wouldn’t ever be like him, and it kind of broke her heart to know her father would never be proud of her. so she did her own thing, made a life for herself that wasn’t always emulating her older brother. she was determined to get her life right, the way she was convinced her dad hadn’t. 

however, she and her brother were still very close and they’d often have a meal together at least once a week. he’d regale her with stories of his time at the department, and she--working as a beat cop on a completely different schedule--enjoyed giving him a hard time about what he could have or should have done. it was a rather happy time in her life--one she enjoyed for many reasons. 

(tw: death, gun violence) but, y’know, life isn’t happy for long. on a cool spring evening, her brother was walking home from weekly dinner with nic. he had taken a longer route than usual because he wanted to enjoy the finally warmer air of the city. as he made his way home, he heard rustling in an alleyway and assumed it as a cat stuck in a cardboard box--turns out it as not, and with a flash of light and a louder bang, her brother was no longer with us. when nic found out, she was distraught. broken.

the only reasonable thing to do is, of course, honor her brother by becoming a detective in the CPD...except her father is none too pleased with this idea and, in one of their famous fights, tells her that “girls can’t do that job.” turns out, that is not what you say to a stubborn, grieving woman because that just makes her do it more. truly though, her father was just terrified he’d lose her too but once again, he wasn’t good with his emotions and couldn’t express that. 

so nic became detective nicolette rogers to honor her brother...and to see if she couldn’t solve the mystery of her brother’s passing, finally avenging him. her new role gave her the seperation she needed from the pain of both losing her father and husband and, perhaps for the first time in her life, finally flt.

H E A D C A N N O N S

important note: nicolette never goes by her full name--it’s nic or anything else, but never, ever nicolette.

she is the biggest fan of chicago sports--catch her cheering for the cubbies all day long. and don’t forget da bears. 

her last meal would include: a chicago dog from wrigley field with a baja blast and white cheddar popcorn. and probably a slice of cheesecake for desert. 

nic loves helping people--it is why she originally started working in the police force to begin with. even now, as a detective, she goes does the youth education program, going into schools and doing workshops for the students in the local school districts (think detective jj bittenbinder but...significantly less creepy). 

her favorite show is--yes, cliche but she’s ok with that--brooklyn 99 and she absolutely adores amy santiago. 

she rides a motorbike mostly because she likes the wind waving in her hair. 

but don’t get her confused--she’s the biggest dork you’ll ever met, loves people and adores babies, and will help literally anyone who asks. her hearts a little...shredded at the moment but she does her best to be good. 

P L O T S

Best/Close Friends

Childhood Friends

Police Force Buds

Police Force...Enemies???? 

Flings

idk im always down for plots leggo

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s 🍁 Canada Day 🍁 I figured I’d do the same thing I did for Pride Month and post a round up of Canadian books. Canadian literature has a tendency to be overlooked, but there’s some amazing gems out there!

That being said, this is definitely not a definitive list. There’s lot of lists out there that probably better, more relevant books. This is just a personal list as a Canadian person of Canadian lit I’ve read that stood out to me for whatever reason. I definitely encourage you though to look into some of the new Canadian novels being written write now, especially all the awesome own voice stories being written by First Nations authors across the country!

I’ve read a fair few Canadian novels over the years, so I’m going to break them up into one post of highlights each day for the remainder of the week: one for Children’s Novels / Chapter Books one for YA / Adult Novels, one for Graphic Novels and one for Picture Books.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

This is like… The Canadian Novel ™ isn’t it? I imagine that even if you’ve never heard of any other Canadian novel, you’ve probably heard of Anne of Green Gables, if for no other reason than it’s been adapted a million times over. If you’ve never bothered to read the original though, I highly recommend it. Since it was written in 1908 the language is definitely old-fashioned, but that somehow makes it engaging enough to keep an adult reader hooked, while not being too difficult for a child reader who’s moved on to full length novels. It also, of course, makes a fantastic read aloud – I’ve reread this book easily a dozen times over the years since first having it read aloud to me by my mom, during which we both bawled our eyes out together.

If you somehow haven’t heard of Anne, it’s about Anne Shirley, a wildly imaginative (and just wild) orphan girl who is adopted by the Cuthberts and brought to live with them on their Prince Edward Island farm, Green Gables. The Cuthberts had originally intended to adopt a boy who could help with the farm work, but when Matthew Cuthbert finds a girl waiting for him at the train station he can’t bring himself to turn her away. And so begins the hijinks and misadventures of Anne as she grows from child to young adult.

Le Champ Maudit by François Gravel

I’ve always loved the genre of child-horror and this book absolutely delivers. The creature, vieux Nick, and the way it exists in space is delightfully chilling even as an adult. The story is about Oliver, who has often been warned by his uncle not to go into the cornfields – it makes sense after all, the cornfields are vast and uniform, it would be easy to get lost in them. Oliver has no reason to assume there’s something more sinister lurking in them, or that it could be tied to the other people who have gone missing over the years. That is, not until he makes the mistake of chasing a rabbit into the stalks one evening…

The Dragon’s Egg by Alison Baird

I was absolutely a “dragon kid” as a child, I loved any sort of dragon book I could get my hands on and I read this one over and over when I was in grade three. It’s about Ai Len who is given a lovely river stone by her father from his trip to China. Ai Len is shocked one night when, all of a sudden, she realizes that it wasn’t a stone at all, but rather a dragon’s egg. Lonely Ai Len befriends the baby dragon (who disguises himself as one of her gold fishes during the day) and helps him grow and learn as they try to figure out how he can get back home to the river his family inhabits.

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Fatty Legs is the true story account of Margaret Pokiak, an Inuvialuit child who grew up with her family in the Arctic. At the age of eight, despite their reputations and her father’s reluctance, Margaret begs to be allowed to attend the Catholic residential school because there was nothing she wanted more than to learn to read. There, far from her warm, loving family, Margaret learns about the cruelties and humilities of residential school. This book is a good introduction to residential schools for young children – it shows the horrors while still keeping the story child-friendly and relatable.

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The classic novel that inspired Disney’s film Homeward Bound. This story is about three pets – two dogs and a cat – who are left behind under the care of a family friend at an isolated cabin. These three determined pets though refuse to abandon their humans that easily. After a couple weeks of no contact, a decision is made: they will make the trek across the dangerous North Ontario wilderness in order to find their owners. This is a great animal story that genuinely feels perilous at times as these three house pets are forced to contend against the elements, wild predators, and even other humans.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is a human name in Canadian middle grade literature – not only is he a great writer, but an incredibly prolific one. If you have a middle school child in your life, consider checking out this man’s library of works because he has books that range across all sorts of different genres and topics, and they tend to be unique and gripping. They’re a staple in any Canadian school library.

Inkling is about a boy, Ethan, who is struggling with his life. His family has gone through a personal tragedy, his artist father is struggling to write a new graphic novel, and Ethan’s been entrusted with drawing the art for his school group’s graphic novel assignment, and he can’t bring himself to tell them his father’s talent wasn’t hereditary. Everything changes though, when one night, his father’s ink wakes up… This book is really heartwarming, with sweet family moments, lots of action, and an adorable ink blob that’s just trying to do its best.

My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling

Another own voice novel, this time written by West Coast Salish and residential school survivor Shirley Sterling. This novel is written like a weekly diary by six year old Seepeetza who is taken from her joyous family home and forced into a residential boarding school. While there she is forced to change her name, her language, and all the things that made her life happy and complete. Despite all this, Seepeetza finds ways to survive and still find joy. This book is written for a slightly older audience than Fatty Legs, more of a thin middle grade novel but still balances the brutal horrors of residential schools with a child-friendly narration.

The Secret World of Og by Patsy Berton

This is another Canadian children’s classic, though a much less well-known one than Anne of Green Gables. My mom read this to me and my brother in early elementary school, a chapter a night, and I remember being completely wrapped up in it and it’s strange, quirky pictures. It’s about the five Berton children who discover a strange, cavernous world hidden beneath their club house, inhabited by little creatures called Ogs.

Secrets in the Sand by Sharon Siamon

This is exactly what it looks like: a true to form Horse Girl book. There’s nothing overly special about it, but I read it this month and was charmed by it. This is technically the second book of the Saddle Island series (and she has two other Horse Girl related series as well though I haven’t read them) but for whatever reason I read the second first and actually enjoyed it more of the two. It has it all! A spunky, head-strong girl! Her best friend and annoying brother! A small, financially struggling Maritime town! A brave horse that loves the ocean and swims into underwater caves! The promise of pirate treasure! Saving The Family Farm (and rebuilding it from the ground up on a tiny island)! Want a fun mindless horse adventure? Well here it is!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

I know, I know, another Kenneth Oppel book but listen… he is so prolific and also it might be a crime to do a Canadian book list and not mention Silverwing. This was a childhood staple when I was growing up, practically everyone had either read it for class, read the entire series on their own because who wouldn’t want to, or watched the weird ass TV series. Or done all three! If you haven’t read Silverwing but like animal adventure stories, this is honestly one of the peaks of the entire genre imho. It’s about Shade, a small silverwing bat that struggles with the rules and limits placed around bat colony life. He’s constantly pushing things, constantly challenging others regardless of if they’re his bullying yearmates or if they’re the clan elders. But one day, Shade takes it too far and breaks a vital law: he stayed up and saw the sun. Now the owls are determined to have Shade killed and the clan is prepared to exile him for his transgression. All this just as the clan is preparing to migrate, and Shade, with his small runty wings, ends up falling further and further behind in the storm…

Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker

I debated whether or not to include this book, given all the BLM movements going on. This book isn’t own voice, and in the research I’ve done since becoming an adult has made me realize a number of the problems that surround it. But still, it felt wrong to leave out, both because of the social climate right now and because this was another classroom staple when I was growing up. It’s about a pair of young slave girls who are horribly abused on the planation they live on, and who eventually join in on a plot to run away, to find the rumoured “underground railroad”, a network of people who help black slaves escape captivity and escape – in this case across the border into Canada. Despite its flaws, this was a book we read in school and, through the book and classroom discussions, really introduced me to the concept of slavery and racism… and the fact that racism is still horribly alive today. It shook me as a child – it was written to be optimistic and adventurous for children, but it still had more violence and horror than I was used to in books at that age and it really shook me. So I included it in the list because, for me at least, I believe it had a positive effect on my growth as a person.

Up In Arms by Amanda Spottiswoode

This is a woefully underrated series because it really delights me. It’s about six friends, spread across two families. Though they’re from the UK, this series is all about their adventures with their uncle in Canada. Spottiswood writes children travel adventures, all set around the 1940s. The first, Brother XII’s Treasure is a treasure hunt along the West Coast during a sailing vacation; the second, The Silver Lining take them into British Columbia’s interior on cattle drive as the kids get drawn into adventures on horseback, a familiar villain, and old mining secrets. This third book I actually read before the others, and is my favourite of the series. It’s back on BC’s west coast, only this time rather than a vacation the kids of be sent to Canada because of the outbreak of WWII. You get high-flying adventure, wilderness survival, and planning a heist to help right the wrongs done to a local Indigenous community by the white settlers. It’s just a lot of fun.

[vagrantblvrd]

Touch of Gray (1/1)

Summary: Its probably not a good sign that Michael’s gotten used to being approached by people in parking garages.

Notes: Prompt fill for Anon who asked for Crinkle Dot with Michael getting kidnapped (again) based on a line from Small Hours of the Night.: 

Today it was Trevor, but they all know there will be a day when Michael’s on his own when someone decides they want to hurt the big bad Vagabond where it’ll do the most damage.

(Read on AO3)

Its probably not a good sign that Michael’s gotten used to being approached by people in parking garages.

Just.

An in general sort of thing, because he lives in Los Santos and all kinds of fuckery goes on in places like that. Especially this late at night, and okay, okay, okay, maybe Ryan’s right about Michael being a dumbass.

Because he hears the guy walking up to him, hears him stop a few feet away. Hard-soled shoes clip-clopping on the hard cement like that, of course he does.

But because he’s Michael and coming off working a double shift, he doesn’t pay all that much attention to it. (He does, just not the right kind. Preoccupied with this he needs to do because he has a date later, so you know.)

Hears the guy clear his throat, something aggressive to it that pings Michael's radar too late, but it’s really the part that follows after that makes him realize he should have been more alert.

The whole, “Hey, pal,” and “You Michael Jones?” and “Rudy sends his regards,” which.

First of all, Michael has no goddamn clue who the hell Rudy is, so there’s that.

Second of all, talk about being dramatic as hell, and also a great way to preface sucker punching someone when they turn around to ask you what the fuck you want.

No matter how many times Ryan or the others drag him down to the gym to teach him how to defend himself, he won’t be fast enough to react when someone blindsides him like that. A for effort on their parts and all that shit, but Michael's only human and there’s that whole dumbass thing too, so.

Yeah.

Michael sees a meaty fist coming straight at him before pain explodes in his face and he drops like a ragdoll.

========

He wakes up who knows how many hours later tied up like a damsel in distress in those movies his mom denies she watches. All melodrama and other movie clichés as far as the eye could see.

Big Vinewood hero, dashing and brave and his spunky sidekick. Gorgeous love interest who was all fired up with determination to stand toe-to-toe with every asshole she came across until it came time for the villain to get one over on the hero, and then everything fell apart.

“Guilty pleasures,”she’d tell him, embarrassed as hell and only half serious with her threats. “If I find out you’re telling people I watch them you’re grounded, you little shit.”

Mich looks around, tries to figure out where he’s been taken this time.

“Look at me now, ma,” he mutters, “just like your movies.”

He’s in a bland little room that’s gone neglected for who knows how long. Peeling paint and the smell of mildew and wood rot. Water stains in the ceiling and garbage and whatever else piled in the corners. Old furniture like you’d find in a typical office building that’s a few years out of date and seen some hard times.

Nothing new there, nothing to give away a particular area in Los Santos.

The train whistle he hears in the distance is a little more helpful, but doesn’t help him pin the place down.

So, yeah.

Not great.

His head hurts like hell and he can feel dried blood flaking away under his node, down his lips and chin. His nose doesn’t feel broken, which is always nice.

Aside from a few aches and pains nothing else does either.

Whoever sucker punched him in the garage isn’t around to ask questions, and there’s no sign of anyone else.

Either they’re went to the trouble of grabbing him just to let him rot here where no one’s supposed to find him, or they’re letting him stew.

“No one has any goddamned imagination with this shit,” Michael says, annoyance rising because fucking seriously.

He’s been grabbed a few times before this. Assholes who think he’ll roll over for them, hand them everything they want in exchange for letting him go like that’s what they have planned.

Like he’s just that stupid.

Sure, he’s not thrilled about the part that comes after being grabbed, the whole tough guy act these kind of assholes put on.

Smile at him like it’s just business kid, you know how it is, right? And then the ugly shit starts, a punch here, another one there. Things to soften him up and get him talking, babbling for them to stop, he’ll talk, he’ll talk, only Michael doesn’t play along.

Doesn’t follow the script like they expect him to.

So they bring out their shiny little knives and flashy guns. Get in his face and ask him if he’s sure he wants to keep the Fake AH Crew’s secrets. Doesn’t he know he’s just another tool to them? Convenient little asset and all that, but c’mon kid, you’re smarter than that, aren’t you?

All that fancy education to get where you are in life, and you’re gonna throw it away on scumbags like them?

He’s heard variations on that since the wrong people found out about him from an ally of the Fakes with loose lips and no goddamn common sense to speak of. Idiot kid who should have known better, but you know. Idiot kid.

Last Michael heard, he’s off somewhere the Roosters can keep an eye on him. Far away from Ryan and the others who hold grudges like nobody’s business. (Got this sideways look from Geoff and Burnie who was visiting at the time. Both of them probably thinking Michael’s a bigger idiot than expected, but whatever. The crew’s always telling him they owe him, and it was a small enough favor.)

Got a broken nose out of it before Michael managed to get everyone calmed down. Drew attention to the fact he was kind of bleeding a little, and oh, hey, anyone want to return the favor of stitching him back together for fuck’s sake, or did he have to do it himself?

(He kind of did, though. Ryan all wound up and freaked out as Michael told him what to do like the big doof hadn’t been  - badly – stitching himself back together for years.)

Michael sighs because he hates this part. Boring as fuck and wasting his time.

“Goddammit,” Michael sighs, because Ryan’s going to be a goddamn pain about this.

(Michael’s got a thing about being punctual, and the fact he’s late for their date will be a source of grief for him.)

========

It takes a couple of hours before this Rudy asshole shows his face.

Beanpole of a guy with beady little eyes and something about him that makes Michael think about snakes. (Might be the way he puts emphasis on his sibilants, the way Jeremy does sometimes when he’s fucking around in a death match back at the penthouse.)

Ridiculously into his bad guy cliches from the way he circles around Michael to clasping his hands behind his back once he’s standing in front of Michael.

Pair of enforcers flanking the door because assholes like him can’t not with the intimidation tactics.

“So,” he says – hisses? - giving Michael a once-over. “You’re this Michael Jones I’ve heard so much about.”

Michael doesn’t know what the fuck is going on here, but sure.

Why not.

“I mean,” Michael says, because he’s an idiot and hanging around the Fakes has just brought that out in him even more. “It’s a pretty common name when you think about it.”

Might as well cal himself John Smith, the amount of people who go around with the same name.

Rudy’s one of those people who doesn’t seem to find that amusing, and Michael knows it’s going to be a long night because he goes straight into douchebag mode.

Raises his hand like an asshole and snaps his fingers, eyes on Michael the whole time as one of the bruisers leaves his station by the door and steps forward. (Cracks his knuckles like you see in the movies, all intimidation factor and unbelievably assholish.)

Rudy smiles, mean edge to it.

“I get it now,” he says, turning to leave. “You’re just like them.”

Michael rolls his eyes because no, he’s really not.

Well.

He didn’t used to be anyway. Had common sense they didn’t, but the fuckers have been chipping away at that until he ends up in situations like this and making all the wrong choices.

He looks to the bruiser who’s looking at Michael with his head cocked like he can see all his weak points.

“Can we just get this over with?” Michael asks. “Places to be and all that.”

The bruiser smirks like a man who loves his job and yeah, yeah.

Long goddamned night ahead of him.

========

When the bruiser’s done with their first session, Michael’s nose is broken and he’s has a loose tooth. Maybe more than one, it’s hard to keep track.

He hurts like fuck and there’s this leaky pipe at the back of the room that’s driving him nuts.

Rudy’s staring him down, this bland little smile on his face.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, you know,” he says. Just a businessman looking out for his own interests, nothing personal to any of this. “Tell me what I want to know, and we’ll send you on your way.”

Michael stares at him because it’s the usual load of horseshit guys like him peddle. Empty promises with threats of violence behind them and honestly?

Michael’s tired of it.

“Alright,” he says, licks blood off his lips, cracks his neck because he has to look up at the asshole ad his bruisers and it’s putting a crick in his neck. “You want me to talk? I’ll talk.”

He has a lot of grievances against the Fake AH Crew with all the shit they put him through on a regular basis. Just one thing after another with those assholes.

Michael starts out with something that’s been bugging him for a long goddamn time.

“Who the fuck decides to call themselves Rimmy Tim? Like fucking really. Did the asshole just have a bunch of kids write-in suggestions he picked out of a hat or something?”

Speaking of.

“What the fuck is up with the cowboy hat?”

The color scheme, okay, yeah. Michael gets that because Jeremy’s a disaster, so why not pick the worst color combination he could, but the cowboy hat?

Michael bites back a laugh at the way Rudy’s expression goes from smug satisfaction to something approaching apoplectic rage. Tiny bit of disbelief, like most people in Michael’s situation aren’t this stupid.

Asshole uncoils, sneer on his face like this isn’t something he usually does himself but he’ll make an exception for Michael.

Backhands him, heavy rings on his fingers leaving a cut behind, blood spilling down Michael’s cheek as his head snaps to the side.

“You might want to rethink your position, Jones,” he says, sharp and clear, no extra emphasis on the sibilants this time.

Michael shakes his head, and looks back at good old Rudy. Sees the anger in his eyes, blood he’s shaking off his hand.

“Yeah?” Michael asks. Cocks his head as he hears noise outside the room they’ve got him in. Sounds a little like unexpected trouble coming Rudy’s way, what with the yelling. Sees Rudy straighten up, head turning towards the noise as it draws closer. “I could say the same for you, asshole.”

Rudy snarls, mouth opening to snap out orders to his bruisers but it’s too little too late as someone kicks the door open.

Smoke rushing in and sight of fire behind the figure in the doorway.

Dramatic bastard in his leather jacket and ridiculous mask.

Also, you know.

Mini-gun.

Rudy takes a step back, closer to Michael, and the Vagabond aims the mini-gun at him.

Just that.

Aims that monster of a gun at Rudy and lets him think things over. No rush, the Vagabond’s got plenty of time now that he’s here. Wouldn’t want to pressure Rudy or anything like that.

There’s this moment where Rudy glances over at Michael like he’s weighing the odds of him getting close enough to use Michael as a bargaining chip – but he’s one of the smarter ones. Gives up that line of thinking as he raises his hands and turns back to face the Vagabond.

The bruisers follow his lead, hands in the air as a familiar figure ducks around the Vagabond and plucks the guns out of the bruiser’s shoulder holsters. Ejects the magazines and tosses them in a corner of the room. Goes on to pat them down for any hidden weapons that end up in in the same corner, but he pockets their wallets with a little smirk.

Moves over to Rudy who is visibly seething, and flashes him this bright little grin. Pats his cheek before giving him the same treatment. (Shoots Michael a look, eyes narrowing as he spots the cut on Michael’s cheek and slips Rudy’s rings off his fingers.)

Rudy and his bruisers are glaring at Gavin, but Michael’s attention is on the Vagabond standing so very, very still, mini-gun humming away.

“Well, don’t you look a sight,” Gavin murmurs, hand on Michael’s shoulder as he slips around behind him to cut through the ropes tying him to the chair.

Rough stuff, Michael’s wrists rubbed raw from trying to get out of them earlier with no luck.

Michael snorts, lets Gavin help him to his feet. Hand on his elbow as he leads him towards the door. Michael digs his heels in when they draw even with the Vagabond. (Asshole doesn’t acknowledge them, focus on Rudy and his bruisers.)

“I’m okay,” Michael says, just loud enough for the idiot. “I’m fine.”

Little bit battered, bruised, but nothing he won’t heal from.

“Michael,” Gavin says, tugging on his elbow.

Michael sighs and lets Gavin escort him out of the building.

They pass by Jeremy and members of B-Team along the way having what looks like a pointed discussion with the handful of Rudy’s people still standing. (Offering them a choice.)

Michael pulls back against Gavin’s hold when he hears the first gunshots, scowls when the assholes tightens it for a moment before his hand drops away.

Gavin sighs.

“It’s not just about you,” he says quietly. “If bastards like him think they can get away with something like this, it’ll mean trouble for the crew.”

Michael knows that.

Knew that when he considered the risks involved in pursuing a relationship with Ryan. Sat down and thought about it, news on in the background and all the shit he saw on the job. Thought about everything he’d heard about the Fake AH Crew after moving to Los Santos, the shit they got up to. (Enemies they’d made and the ones they’ll make because they’re all idiots.)

Some days all that knowing hits harder than others, has a more direct impact.

“Come on,” Gavin says, walking ahead. “Let’s get you back to the penthouse where we can get you taken care of.”

========

The Vagabond shows up at the penthouse about an hour later.

Knocks on the door to Ryan’s suite and doesn’t let himself in afterwards, so Michael has to open it for him.

He’s still wearing the mask, but something about the way he’s standing makes it seem less like an intimidation tactic and more like something to hide behind. (Or maybe Michael’s full of bullshit.)

“Hey,” Michael says, stepping back to let him in.

He gets a grunt by way of greeting and a whiff of smoke as the Vagabond walks past. (Burning building with a touch of cigarette smoke tossed in.)

Watches the asshole look around like he’s expecting trouble, and sighs. (Long night for everyone.)

“I could use some help,” he says, brushes his fingers under the cut on his face. “Can’t get the fucking things on right.”

Always easier to for him when he’s treating someone else than himself and all that.

Michael had help resetting his nose because that’s always a bitch to do yourself, but insisted he could handle the rest. Minor stuff, just needed to clean up and slap a few band-aids on and call it a day.

No going back to his own place until the Fakes decide it’s safe, and this is as good as anywhere they’d let him go off after tonight. (Ryan’s place would have been a nice second-best, but he knows they want to keep him close until they shake off the what could have beens.)

Took the time to grab a quick shower, change out of his uniform and into a spare set of clothes he keeps here. Was just trying to decide where to start when he heard the knock at the door.

The Vagabond stares at him like he’s having trouble understanding him, so Michael walks over. Gives him this look, and cocks his head.

“You going to take that thing off?” he asks, and waits to see if the Vagabond’s done for the night or if he’s going to be sticking around for a while yet.

Hard to tell with him sometimes, you know? Guy’s got a lot of shit packed away in that head of his and this thing with Michael just adds to it some days. (Ones like this.)

The Vagabond keeps staring at him and Michael shrugs. Goes back to the bathroom to path himself up and breathes easier when he hears a tired sigh behind him. (Squeak of leather and this quiet noise of something landing on the coffee table.)

He’s sorting through Ryan’s first-aide kit when he hears shuffling footsteps, looks up to see another reflection in the mirror over his shoulder.

No face paint tonight, like he couldn’t be bothered with it. (Intricate design like that? Takes time to get it right.)

“You’re running low on a few things,” Michael says, which is ridiculous.

The Fakes have all that shit tucked away on one of the lower floors and Trevor making sure they stay stocked up because God knows they need it, the trouble they get into all the damn time.

There’s a little stare down until the idiot standing behind him sighs again, shaky little thing.

“I’m alright,” Michael says, because he is.

Going to hurt for a while maybe, but it could have been worse. (Might be, someday with his luck, but he’s going to think about that right now with the way the idiot’s looking at him.)

“You look like shit,” and it’s not so much the Vagabond telling Michael that as it’s someone closer to being Ryan.

Not quite there yet, but he’s losing that hard look in his eyes. The tension(guilt) he’s carrying around on his shoulders like it’s something that’s gonna bring him low one of these days.

“Yeah, well,” Michael says, and shrugs. “Shitty genetics.”

Another sigh with all this exasperation to it, and there Ryan is. Buried under a shitload of issues and misplaced guilt, regret, who even knows anymore.

“Michael - “

Michael's real stupid these days. Somehow got into a relationship with an idiot in the weirdest fucking way, got all tangled up with the group of misfits he calls a crew. (Sounds more like family when he says it though, has all those complicated feelings behind it.)

Forgets to be smart about things sometimes, and it gets him in trouble all over the place.

“Doesn’t look like it’ll leave a scar,” Michael says, studying his reflection. “Kind of sucks, guy at work keeps telling me chicks dig ‘em.”

The cut’s not that deep, more of a scratch. Looked worse than it is, all that blood and the general situation. All it needs is a butterfly band-aid or two and it’ll heal just fine.

Looking up at the idiot’s reflection, he can’t help but smile a little at the way his eyes narrow just the tiniest bit. (Knows Michael’s fucking with him and trying not to take the bait.)

Michael’s also more of an asshole these days. Must be the company he’s keeping.

“Is that so,” Michael hears, bit of strain to it.

Too soon, maybe, to be making light of things, but what else is he supposed to do with an idiot who insists on blaming himself for every shitty thing to happen to Michael like he’s got sole rights to it.

Michael’s the one who fucked up, let his guard down. Ryan’s just...fuck, who knows.

Maybe it is his fault people are looking at Michael like he’s an easy target, way to get at the Fakes. Maybe it would have happened anyway after Michael landed himself in Phil’s old spot looking after these assholes. Maybe things could have gone another way and Michael would have gotten suckered into helping some other bastard bleeding all over his stuff who’d leave Michael to fend for himself when trouble came calling.

Ryan’s going to want to talk about it, like he think he’s making a logical point about Michael being safer if he had nothing to do with the crew. (With him.)

Worried about the shit he puts Michael through. Shit he’s forced to deal with, know about, because it’s not like Ryan and the others hold down normal jobs. No ignoring what they do. Things they’ve done and things they’ll do. (Forgets no one has clean hands here in Los Santos, though.)

And then, because Michael's not a moron, he’ll to tell Ryan to go fuck himself if he thinks that’s the right answer to things in any world. Cat’s out of the bag on that one anyway, and even if he agreed with Ryan, went along with that stupidity, it wouldn’t magically fix things.

Assholes like Rudy would still target Michael because they’d know he’s still a link to the crew. Someone to be used against them still and making Ryan and Michael miserable for no goddamned reason. (They’ve been over this before, and yet.)

It’s late though, and they’ve had a long, shitty day. Michael would rather save the arguing for later, when he has the energy to tell Ryan all the ways he’s wrong and hopefully – maybe – have some of it stick in that thick skull of his.

So.

Michael shrugs and picks up one of the butterfly bandages, waves it at the idiot behind him who sighs again before taking it.

Small steps with this one, but worth it.

========

“What are we doing right now?”

Kind of a dumb question because there’s a really terrible movie playing on the television. Awful special effects with some poor bastard in a rubber monster suit terrorizing college co-eds.

Empty takeout containers on the coffee table and a bowl of popcorn and drinks for the two of them.

Comfortable couch and Ryan a decent stand-in for a pillow. (Ryan’s still a little shaky, mindset taking time to tick over, but Michael’s working on it.)

“Well,” Michael says, feeling comfortably fuzzy. “I kind of had a date tonight.”

Not quite dinner and a movie level thing because they’re boring as fuck when it comes to this shit, but he was promised enchiladas and that’s got to mean something.

“But then a thing came up,” Michael says, still running his mouth. “And I missed it.”

Ryan makes this little noise in the back of his throat, hums to himself. (Knows better than to bring up his stupid argument tonight because Michael’s not having it.)

“And then,” Michael goes on, rambling like an idiot. “I remembered you love to bitch about the science in these movies, so I figured it would be better than an IOU or something.”

Michael may be more than a little comfortably fuzzy, but what the hell right?

Ryan’s making this other noise now, body shaking with it. Michael’s no expert, be he’s thinking the asshole’s laughing at him.

Quiet little wheezing thing, with IOU mixed in, along with what the hell does that even mean? and Jesus Christ.

It. Yeah. Fuck if Michael knows.

“Shut the fuck up,” he hisses as the scene on the television switches to what’s supposed to be a high-tech lab for a corrupt corporation hoping to sell their abomination to the military for a shit-ton of money. All shiny and white and cliché as hell. “We’re getting to the first exposition dump.”

Ryan wheezes one last time before he quiets down, and Michael grins to himself as he feels the idiot getting more and more indignant about the blatant science bullshit the actors are spewing.

“Oh my God,” Ryan bursts out, sounding more himself than he has all night. “I don’t - No. That’s not how that works!”

Michael shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth and smiles to himself because yes, okay. Terrible movies and bad science isn’t quite the way to Ryan’s heart, but damn if it doesn’t piss him off enough to forget to be an idiot for a bit.

“I don’t know,” Michael says. “Makes sense to me.”

Why not splice animal DNA together in ways that wouldn’t work in the real world to create the perfect killing machine? What could possibly go wrong?

Ryan’s glaring at him, has to be, because Michael loves to do this to him. Make him watch the worst movies and go along with the terrible science just to annoy the fuck out of him.

It’s not the way he thought their night would go, but given the kind of city Los Santos is and their luck in general it’s a hell of a lot better than he expected and far more entertaining to boot.

==================================

Where the Heart Is

[thedistantstorm]

Keep On Rising (Until The Sky Knows Your Name) 15

Found Family | Zavala is Tower Dad | Father-Daughter Relationship | Childhood Trauma and Recovery | Canon-Typical Violence | Amputation

A story about how an orphaned Amanda Holliday comes to belong in the Last Safe City and the family she finds along the way.

(Or, the story of how Commander Zavala finds himself responsible for one Amanda Holliday.)

Chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

This time: Hideo makes his play. Zavala says goodbye to Karena.

-/

There have been few times in Hideo's life that he has genuinely been afraid of Commander Zavala. He isn't a man who instills fear. He is direct and honest, leads by example and rewards those who do right by him with the most impressive loyalty. 

So when he makes this meeting request, he expects it to be a joyous, thankful affair. It certainly begins lightly, Hideo bring his usual wine, Zavala politely sipping at half a glass. 

"I had heard through the grapevine," He begins, swirling the wine in his glass to better release the bouquet, "That you were interested in adopting a child."

Zavala straightens, immediately. Tense. "And?" He asks, tersely.

"She was moved to one of New Monarchy's facilities, last week."

The intensity of the Commander's gaze is something to behold. Were it not directed at him, he might have noticed how crystalline it was, his irises a perfect marriage of aquamarine and sapphire. However, it was directed at him, and thusly, it was terrifying.

"She…" He knows the Commander will see through a fib, so instead he offers quietly, "It's clear she is struggling."

"Who told you as much?"

"I went to see her this morning."

Zavala sets down his glass with the finesse of a dainty woman, the majority of his wine completely forgotten. "Why."

That the Commander is not asking is not lost on him. "I simply wanted to confirm this was a legitimate issue," Hideo answers. "Certainly you're an important figure, and there are often nefarious plots to extort those figures."

"Is this one of them?" It's asked in an icy monotone, the curl of each word making his spine tingle. The Commander sits perfectly still, not a shred of emotion crossing his face, his eyes narrowed, eyebrows neutral and yet giving a very frightening contrast to his eyes. His skin flicks lazily with the aura beneath it, but it only reminds the Executor of a predator, poised to strike. 

Every atom of his being screams one thing: I will not allow harm to befall those I care about.

Hideo holds up both hands to beg a truce. "Not at all, not at all." He laughs nervously. "I had followed up with the board of governors, and the administrator of the facility. I will see to your application's approval myself. Considering all you do for the City and her people, this should never have been an issue."

"Tell that to the child."

"I was not sure how to approach it with her. I didn't want to complicate the situation further."

Zavala folds his hands together on the table, nodding. "Will I be denied visitation again?"

"They did what?" Hideo's eyes bug out, comically wide. "Commander, I - I had no idea."

The Titan evaluates him carefully before reaching for the wine glass he discarded moments before. "I didn't imagine you would. I do not expect preferential treatment."

"It should still be afforded to you."

"I will accept it, this time, because it is not for my sake."

Hideo nods. "I - this isn't for New Monarchy. You have always protected the City's denizens and their interests. I simply wished to offer you the same courtesy."

In his mind, Zavala hears a sarcastic laugh courtesy of his Ghost, but he does not not react. "I appreciate that," He says. "You have my gratitude."

"Just… keep doing what you do, Commander. This City needs a strong leader like you."

Zavala senses the propaganda at the tip of the Executor's tongue, but the other man simply finishes his wine and rises.

"I will have a word with the Matron at the facility. If she gives you any trouble at all, I'll have her removed from the City."

"Executor."

Hideo laughs, smiling wide. "I'm kidding. She will be sorely reprimanded, though, for her lack of respect."

-/

"I want her moved back to the Tower," Karena says to the physician. "Today. Right now."

The child is clinging to her. She'd been called the moment Hideo had finished speaking with Zavala, and had come immediately. Zavala himself wouldn't be able to come down until he'd finished for the evening. It would be late. Eva had offered, but Karena was determined to evaluate the damages for herself.

Amanda had yet to say more than a few words, not that she was a chattery child, but the last week seemed to cull her spunky side. It was clear she hadn't been eating, as well. Even now, she looked at the tray they'd given her with distrust. When Karena looked into it, she saw why. The evidence of crushed pills in the jelly-like applesauce was enough to turn her stomach too. 

The physician sighs. "Ma'am, New Monarchy has the most state of the art-"

"She's a child, not a wild animal. Pills in her food? She deserves to know what she's being given and why."

"She was refusing," He presses.

"Now she's refusing to eat. See the issue?"

"I don't see how a new facility would change things," He tells her, gruffly. "And to be honest I didn't think the public health system had that kind of pull."

Karena runs a hand over Amanda's wild hair, smoothing through her tangled curls. The empathy in this place was certainly lacking. "It doesn't," She agrees. "But by the end of business today, it won't be the public health system calling the shots."

The facility's matron lingers in the doorway, approaching after the doctor leaves. "You didn't tell me who," She accuses, bluntly. "I would have gotten the Executor on the horn myself."

"Of course you would have,” Karena scoffs. Amanda flinches at the sound of the newcomer, pushing her head into Karena's knee. "He was in the room when I called you."

"They fired whomever refused him visitation. They'd remove me, but since you want her moved, I should be able to keep my job."

"Lucky you," Karena answers. "I wouldn't be around when he comes."

"He won’t be here," Gracie informs the other matron instead. "I was actually coming to tell you I called report to the Tower’s facility. I knew you'd want her moved, and the powers that be are more concerned with salvaging the situation than the money involved." Matron Gracie toes at the floor. "They'll pick her up in an hour. You can ride with her."

"There is some kindness left in your heart, after all," The senior matron marvels.

"It was nothing personal. This is my job, Kar', you know that."

"Oh, don't give me that, Grace. You were never like this before New Monarchy doubled your paycheck. You used to give everything to your children. It's why I recommended you." Karena shakes her head, unwilling to turn it into an argument with the child shaking beside her. "Thank you for expediting the process," She says. "It will make things easier."

She steps into the room. Amanda clutches at Karena almost painfully hard. "For what it's worth-"

"You should leave."

Grace hesitates, sighs, and does as her old colleague is asking. 

Karena returns to stroking the child's hair. "Things will get better soon," She tells her. "You'll see."

It doesn't, though. They have to sedate her for the move. It's non-negotiable, mostly since the moment they get her into the shuttle she begins panicking, flailing about at the sound of the engine, babbling about convoys and rovers. It's not a stretch, the matron thinks. A combination of exhaustion and lack of nutrition leave her clammy and fevered, her stress levels clearly beyond whatever coping skills she'd learned already in her short life.

It's for the best that she’s knocked out, as the medical team taking over runs a myriad of tests on girl to see if there are any masked issues from her time in the other facility.

"She's already lost close to five pounds. They'll want to put a tube in to feed her," The new nurse says. "We should do it now before she wakes, she'll-"

"The Commander is coming by later. Let him work with her first. I'm certain she'll eat for him." Karena sighs. "I don't think we should be doing anything traumatic without telling her. She's had enough of that."

"If you're certain."

"I am," Karena tuts. "You'll be running things by him from here on, anyway."

-/

It's the strangest thing. He's not entirely sure what he was expecting and honestly, he still had to squash the thought that he could not believe what he was doing. One minute he'd made up his mind, thinking he'd be able to ease into it with bureaucracy, and the next he's scrawling his name across legal documents with a shaking hand and it's done.

Permanent.

Surreal, he thinks. It's all rather surreal. And terrifying. He hadn't exactly asked her what she wanted, just assumed that perhaps she'd looked to him in a familial way because they'd encountered each other early on, and-

Oh, Traveler's crack, Shiori swears. Amanda loves you, stop being so paranoid.

None of her encouragement lessens his elevated heart rate. He's been keyed up all afternoon and into the evening. Even Cayde had found his behavior peculiar, watching him with a calculating stare befitting of a Hunter.

The Tower's medical facility was almost more familiar than his flat. Which reminds him that he needs to figure out a living situation. Even if New Monarchy did pull strings and the deed was done, she was in his care, he knew he'd have to make her a bedroom. As his thoughts spiral away into uncertainties and alleys of thought, Shiori chimes in again, serious, her elegant, almost biting tone a balm for the anxiety racking his mind.

Karena slips out into the hallway when she hears him approach, sliding the door shut behind her.

The lights in the room are dim, and the glare of fluorescent light on the glass door makes it hard to see anything but his own reflection. Still, that doesn't stop the Commander from trying to look over her shoulder.

"It was a bad day," She informs him softly. "A very bad week."

"We expected as much," He agrees.

"She was almost entirely non-verbal when I arrived. They had to sedate her on our way back. It reminded her of a rover. There are some psychological things you’ll have to face with her."

Zavala nods.

"She's still a bit out of it." Karena sighs. "Her response to some of the stress was to stop eating."

"Why?" His lips turn in a frown.

"They snuck pills in her food. I saw it today.” She pauses, wetting her lips. “She's a smart girl. They wanted her calm, but this just terrified her. She clung to my leg like they were going to drag her away kicking and screaming."

His eyes darken dangerously. "You don't think-"

"Oh, not at all. Some of it is irrational fear on her part. Their demeanor with her was standoffish, but nothing short of professional. She hasn't been harmed. She was simply trying to exercise some control over whatever she could."

He nods. It isn't rational, but he understands that the child doesn't know that.

"I won't be able to come by as often," She tells him. "But I'll try to, when I can."

"You've more than enough," He says warmly, accepting her gentle - but brief - embrace. "I cannot thank you enough.”

“Don’t be a stranger.”

“I won’t.” He promises.

Karena leaves right after. Then, it’s just the two of them. He takes a deep breath, his Ghost reminding him to breathe.

What if she doesn’t want this? He wonders again.

Shiori’s answer is immediate. She does, Zavala. Trust me.

He straightens his shoulders. “Alright,” He says to himself; As though he’s stepping into a warzone, boots on the ground, ready to go to war.

You’re such a dork, His Ghost tells him, but there’s affection woven into the static. Get in there, soldier.

Zavala opens the door.

[you-are-my-neverland]

Book Recommendations (1)

Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff

Summary:  “ Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible thoughts he can't get rid of. Trent wants middle school to be a fresh start, if only he could make that happen. It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar across her face—that things begin to change. Because fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to shift your position to find it.”

Personal thoughts: It’s definitely a book geared to more younger audiences, but I think it’s a good read for all ages. I actually haven’t read it in a while, but Trent is a character I think lots of people can relate to. He struggles with anger and rage; emotions he has no idea what to do with. Fallon is a quirky character that you can never quite get a hold of, and she makes for a spectacular story. 

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Summary:  “ A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel. Kiko has always struggled with saying what she’s thinking, and an overbearing mother makes things even harder. Her one hope and dream is Prism, a fancy art school. But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.”

Personal thoughts: ‘Starfish’ is a book that touches on a lot of sensitive issues, such as emotional and verbal abuse, presumed sexual assault (my memory isn’t that clear on what exactly happened so djkadhf), and Kiko herself is a very complex character. She’s a survivor who has to face every survivor’s worst fear; the abuser returning. Art is her only escape, but when that too fails, she feels like she’s spiraling. On many levels, she’s a character so many people can connect to, and the story really shows the reality of life. 

Turtles All the Way Down by John Greene

Summary:  “ Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.”

Personal thoughts: You’ve probably either read or heard of this book, but if you haven’t yet, this is a definite book you should read. Aza is really an intriguing character, and one of the things I like about her is that she doesn’t really get a happy ending. The book is her trying (and sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing) to find a way to cope with her disorder. It’s a really deep book (lots and lots of good quality quotes). It’s not supposed to be a positive or negative book; it shows the real struggles of dealing with mental illnesses and trying to balance your normal life along with it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Summary:  “Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.”

Personal thoughts: This book is genius. It’s part of a duo-logy, and is set in the same universe as the author’s Grisha trilogy. In my opinion, you don’t have to read the Grisha trilogy (I didn’t), though it would probably be helpful. You’re able to figure things out pretty quickly though. I’m serious about this book being spectacular though; it’s one of those books where the main character is so clever that you wonder how the author possibly wrote them. Kaz is a trickster and a conman, and makes the book filled with twists and turns that leave you shocked. The other five main characters will grab your heart just as much though; wily and clever and heart wrenching with every page and every new thing you learn. It leaves you holding your breath-but don’t hold it for too long, because there is a sequel, Crooked Kingdom (I...sobbed).

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Summary:   “Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.”

Personal thoughts: For once, we meet a main character as twisted and cutthroat as the ‘villain’-who also happens to be the love interest, if you can call them that. Jude is vicious and bitter after surviving for years as a human in Faerie. The Fey are cruel, tricky, deceptive, especially towards her. This whole book was just awesome, really, but in a dark way. Jude goes past just trying to save herself; and in turn endangers so many people.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvator

Summary:   “An unlikely group stumbles across ancient magic in Virginia: Blue, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, who has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. Gansey, who seeks the Welsh magic he believes saved his life. Adam, who searches for a way out of the circumstances he was born into. Ronan, who seeks to recover the magic of his childhood.”

Personal thoughts: Another series I give my heart too. The first book in The Raven Cycle series, this book is rich with mythology set in a realistic world. Rich boys with backstories, headstrong girl with physic abilities, ley lines-what could go wrong? It’s a story about youth, mystery, romance, friendship, fantasy-a little bit of everything thrown in between. Each character is unique, from your perfect rich boy Gansey to scholarly Adam, cold Ronan and spunky Blue. Even if the book doesn’t sound exciting, I can guarantee that you’ll probably be completely absorbed in one way or another. 

Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Summary:   “Ten years ago, God gave Braden a sign, a promise that his family wouldn’t fall apart the way he feared. But Braden got it wrong: his older brother, Trey, has been estranged from the family for almost as long, and his father, the only parent Braden has ever known, has been accused of murder. The arrest of Braden’s father, a well-known Christian radio host, has sparked national media attention. His fate lies in his son’s hands; Braden is the key witness in the upcoming trial. Braden has always measured himself through baseball. Now the rules of the sport that has always been Braden’s saving grace are blurred in ways he never realized, and the prospect of playing against Alex Reyes, the nephew of the police officer his father is accused of killing, is haunting his every pitch. Braden faces an impossible choice, one that will define him for the rest of his life, in this brutally honest debut novel about family, faith, and the ultimate test of conviction.”

Personal thoughts: Honestly, this is a book I can reread over and over again. Maybe because it’s a book that focuses on Braden’s faith and his struggle as one of the main topics, but it really pulled me in. I practically devoured this whole book in one day. Braden really struggles internally on what is the right thing to do, as well as externally when his brother, Trey, returns to be his guardian. It focuses a lot on their brotherly relationship-in which of them have two very different perspectives of what their lives have been like-some romance, but mostly it’s a book about Braden himself. When the line between right and wrong is blurred, what path do you choose?

[ithisatanytime]

 Jewish people bought out disney decades ago, and they use the movies they produce to sabatoge gentiles so they can out compete us. sometimes that doesnt work as intended and its really funny.

  Disneys mulan is a story about a girl who cross dresses as a man, and fights in a war to spare her aging father from having to fight, i love that movie, and if you ask ten boys what their favorite disney princess movie is, 8 out of 10 will say mulan. girls are pretty take it or leave it about mulan, and thank christ for that. mulan is a terrible movie for young girls, there is a strong theme of honor throughout and girls dont give a shit about honor, nor violence, nor martial arts training montages, so they produced this film to sabatoge young women into pursuing interests that they will naturally suck at, and to confuse gender roles even further, but instead dudes just liked it.

  look i love that whole era of disney movies, but i always cringe when people talk abotu them like they were the good ole days. it was already getting bad, you were just a child so you didnt pick up on it.

Beauty and the beast; belle is a strong smart independent woman who dont need no man, and gaston is meant to be a parody of the prince charming type, unfortunately the execution was to subtle for people to pick up on, since we didnt get the message they redid it as  Frozen. there are also some undertones about interracial relationships.

The little mermaid. to be honest, i havent seen it in years, i dont remember it well, so i think of it as the least fucked up movie from that era, but that might be wrong. she definatley disobeyed her father to go run off with some dude though. and a big implication in this movie is that fathers who were trying their damnedest to protect their kids from this new fucked up direction society is heading down are in the wrong, king trident represents this archetype.

 Alladin, again disobey your father. note that so far all three princesses dont fit the classic image of what we imagine a princess to be like, many of those preconceptions themselves were disney creations before the company was taken over by a hostile minority. the subversion is already evident form this alone, and jasmine is no exception, shes bull headed and capable, the problem is a princess is an easy plot device, a princess who needs rescuing is immediately understandable to viewers, no explanation for motive needed for the hero. so despite being spunky and capable jasmine eventually gets kidnapped and chained up, but she does spit a bit of chewed up apple at jafar. girl power! princess jasmine is in many ways the prototype for that Megara, more on that cringe factory later.

the lion king, again, early in the film nala pins simba, girls can be stronger than boys when they are children, but still, and she does it again later. and again shes not really a princess in the classical sense, but like i said before, damsels in distress are a very handy story telling device, so our hero does end up rescuing her in the end, it should have been her kicking scars ass in that big dumb lion fight during the climax.

Pocahantas, here we go again, this is where they started going to far, you see pocahanttas was a strong capable independent woman who didnt need no man (seeing a pattern yet?) in fact she saves john smith not the other way around, again she disobeys her father, but she knows better. i love how simba suffered immediate consequences for disobeying his father in the lion king, but none of the disney princesses do. the funniest thing about pocahantas is i fucking bet you most children cried at the end of the movie, not in a good catharsis way, in a “fuck this” kind of way, you can subvert fairy tale tropes a little bit here and there, but eventually you change to much and fuck the whole thing up. in the end of pocahantas she watches her love interest, the romance that was the main focus of the story, sail the fuck away back to america. no matter how you tried to explain to your six year old daughter that pocahantas was a strong independent woman who didnt need no man, they just kept crying. this was the second to last princess movie of the second generation of disney films and the beginning of them changing so much, its no longer a serviceable fairy tale for children

mulan, i already spoke about but lets see here, strong independent woman who doesnt need no man? check. forcing typically male things onto little girls? check! fucking up gender roles as much as you can? check. saving all of china? check

  hercules wasnt really a princess movie, but Megara is fucking hilarious to me, fuck me, if you can, go watch some clips from hercules featuring megara, its embarrassing how hard they were trying. shes a dude in a dress, straight up.

  I love all of these movies, the music is great, and even though they were clearly already using them to subvert white western values, because we are now 30 years in the future, and our jewish establishment has been subverting that whole time, now it seems entirely wholesome to watch those movies today. while i know many of these stories are folk tales and true stories, and elements that i pointed out may have been in the original stories, thats beside the point. remember they pick what stories they make into movies, what elements ethey highlight and what they leave out all together, they knew exactly what they were doing. im not saying the writers knew or the voice actors, they obviously didnt, its the producers who greenlight what gets made. they are the ones who actually hate white people, and use their influential positions to sabatoge them however they can.

[scrawnydutchman]

O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes! Series Review

Now HERE’S a show I’ve wanted to get a chance to sit down and watch forever. O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes! is the rare show that comes along every once in a while that immediately sparks my interest upon seeing some previews. The show is just everything I love as a person. It’s back to good ol’ hand drawn frame by frame, it’s got both fun physical AND well written humor, and it features some of my favorite people in the industry around like members of the animation team behind the also fantastic Steven Universe and the guys behind some of the most phenomenal animation on the web, Studio Yotta, which fans may know created most of the music videos for the band Starbomb.  As if the show was literally made for me it also premiered on my birthday no less. It’s centered around one of the coolest concepts ever . . . FIGHTING. Yeah, I know that recently we’ve been getting pretty tired of violence in the real world and for good reason. The controversial shit is really getting to a lot of people. But there’s two types of fighting: that which is propelled by maliciousness and hatred, and that which is for sportsmanship, adrenaline and honest to God fun. This show is the latter type of fighting through and through, and it is AWESOME. Naturally this show did not disappoint me. I binge watched a whole bunch of it to get caught up and had a big ass grin on my face the whole time.

PLOT SYNOPSIS:

 K.O is a spunky, ambitious and good hearted little kid (Think Steven Universe and Goku from DBZ mashed together, and a bit of Ryu from Street Fighter) who wants to become a hero like the people around who inspire him, such as the towering musclebound badass of a plaza boss Mr. Gar. To do this, he ends up getting employed at Lakewood Plaza Turbo and works alongside Radicles, the pompous macho alien man with the levitation beam who’s secretly hiding a sensitive side (think Lars from Steven Universe but more endearing and less of a pain in the ass), and Enid, the snarky, sarcastic ninja who gives no fucks. They go on some misadventures, learn some lessons about themselves, occasionally Lord Boxman and his goons cause some trouble but they’re never threatening, and once in a while we get some clues into Mr. Gar’s past and how it’s tied to K.O’s mom Carol.

STORYTELLING:

I’ve gone on record before in saying that the best show premises are the ones just broad enough to go in all sorts of different directions with creative storytelling, and this show is thankfully no different. It’s got a great memorable setting with an expansive likable cast, great recurring jokes and a refreshingly fun tone about it. You can definitely tell the Steven Universe team worked on it because that and O.K.K.O have very distinct similarities, especially early season one of SU. The main difference to me though is the level of drama and the quality of humour. It’s a relatively new show that promises to introduce some drama down the line so comparing that to SU doesn’t feel fair at this point in time, but I’m very confident in saying O.K.K.O is funnier. SU has decent jokes, don’t get me wrong, but something about O.K.K.O just got me to laugh more consistently at it’s ultra bizarre humor. My favorite jokes tend to be the ones about Enid hating having to deal with entitled customers, but my favorite joke in the whole show thus far involves a certain coffee pun making mughead named Joe Cuppa. It’s a reveal that is so surreal and so bewildering that I can’t spoil the surprise, but damn if it isn’t funny.

In terms of both storytelling and animation, despite being an action show first and foremost, O.K.K.O’s greatest attribute is it’s humor. The wild faces, the great comedic timing in the cuts, the bizarre movement of the characters at times, plus the combination of both surreal and poignant lines make for a consistently clever ride. There’s one particular episode that I think really captures the harsh reality of fandoms that’s relevant to an eerie extent, and it can all be summed up by this one line by Radicles.

“Who knew people could be so dumb about art they love so much?”

ANIMATION:

Now, being an animator myself, one of the biggest attractions to this show for me was the fact that it was a return to classic Hand Drawn 2D animation. In a time where the vast majority of television programming is either passable but uninteresting character rigging or bland, texture lacking 3d animation, a return to what is in my opinion the most organic, spontaneous and therefore the most consistently interesting animation style is always welcome. The show even references it’s animation style at 24 FPS in one of the lyrics sung by Rebecca Sugar in the credits, which I adore.

“Every second that you see is 24 connected pieces. Thank you for coming. Thank you for staying. Thank you for watching the show.” - Rebecca Sugar.

Really, that lyric should be a pretty good indication about the kind of passion put into this show. When this show gets going, it’s got some of the most consistently satisfying and creative animation I’ve seen in a long time. The characters feel unbound by typical design conventions which allows for more flexibility in their expressions and their poses, and it makes for both very effective comedy and some of the most dynamic and well choreographed action scenes you can find on TV right now. A large contribution to the studio being able to pull this off is the simplistic art style. Every character is often times sketched pretty roughly with some proportions being askew at times, hands turning into little spheres, backgrounds lacking big details and so on. But what the art lacks in consistency it more then makes up for in fluidity and spontaneity. I’m actually glad they don’t care as much about the little details because it gives them the freedom to put more time into creating the kind of epic grand scale fighting we like to see. It really does feel like they put a lot of heart and soul into how this show looks. The intro and outro alone are hype as hell to watch.

Now that said, the animation isn’t without it’s problems. Sometimes it’s really obvious where they put in minimal effort to save time, especially in large cheering crowd scenes, and I’ve noticed more then a few awkward cuts and transitions unfortunately when I could easily think of something that would have looked better and could be done in the same amount of time. But you can’t win everything I guess. All in all, I dig the way this show works and it has it’s priorities in check.

Acting

This show has a great cast that really fits each character. K.O. has a voice that’s kiddish and endearing, but it never gets annoying or grading, which is a flaw a lot of child characters have the unfortunate tendency of having. Chalk this up as another way in which K.O. is better then Steven Universe btw. Enid has a great voice for articulating a snarky give-no-fucks attitude but it’s also always great whenever she needs to be genuine. Radicles is the macho alien man so naturally he has a great voice that’s a combination of every surfer dude and college fratboy you ever heard of. He’s a pompous egotistical jerk certainly but he’s several times more endearing then characters of his archetype because he’s shown to not be completely heartless or needlessly cruel to people close to him. Mr. Gar is great and more often then not gets the funniest lines in the show. Carol is the sweetest most charismatic badass mom in all of cartoon history and I gush whenever she and K.O interact. All the supporting characters do great, there isn’t a single voice in the show I find unbearable. Also this show consistently gets awesome celebrity voices like Keith David, and, more notably, the dude who says “INCONCEIVABLE!” in The Princess Bride.

Sound Design

Not a whole lot to say here other then it’s definitely serviceable. They sneak in some appropriate cartoon sound effects in there. The sound effects for the fight scenes like the crashing and exploding are pretty good. The intro song is fucking amazing. Like literally, I can watch the intro to this show over and over and be consistently entertained, it’s great. That’s the true sign of a promising show; when you can always sit through the intro and not get tired of it.

Art Design

I’ve already touched upon this point in the animation section, but as I mentioned before the art style is very minimal at times. But that’s totally fine. It acts in the shows favor more often then not because it gives the animators freedom to put their best work in the places that matter. Plus the character designs are great and memorable, they cover the bases for character design 101. You can tell who each character is in silhouette. Their inspirations are pretty plain to see like K.O. is so obviously modeled after headband clad fighting dudes like Street Fighter or Double Dragon. Enid is so obviously a Naruto inspired character. Radicles is probably some alien marvel character, idk. Point being, everyone is distinct and they communicate their personalities through how they look. You know everything you need to know about K.O. through a single picture of him.

*fun fact: K.O’s character design was the inspiration for the design of Ruby in Steven Universe.

Conclusion:

O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes is everything I hoped it would be. It’s got a lot of heart, great surreal humor, intense and well choreographed action, great memorable characters and overall just leaves me with a simultaneously light/pumped up heart and a smile. The only thing I can really think of that’s wrong with it is it’s weird editing choices and select moments where cutting corners in animation was obvious, but that’s pretty small fry issues. I can’t wait to watch more.

STORYTELLING: 2/2

ANIMATION: 1.5/2

ACTING: 2/2

SOUND DESIGN: 1.5/2

ART DESIGN: 1.5/2

OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Boing Boing Charitable Giving Guide 2017 /Pls RT!

Here's a guide to the charities the Boingers support in our own annual giving. Please add the causes and charities you give to in the forums!

The Tor Project The Tor anonymity and privacy tools are vital to resistance struggles around the world, a cooperative network that provides a high degree of security from scrutiny for people who have reasons to fear the powers that be. From our early hominid ancestors until about ten years ago, humans didn't leave behind an exhaust-trail of personally identifying information as they navigated the world -- Tor restores that balance. —CD

Planned Parenthood Because we deserve health care, including reproductive, gender, and sexual health care. Because access to birth control and safe abortion is a human right. Because Trump's regime wants to destroy all of this. —XJ

Software Freedom Conservancy Software Freedom Conservancy does the important, boring, esoteric work of keeping the internet from tearing itself to pieces, playing host organization to free software projects like Git, Selenium and Samba (to name just three). The Conservancy keeps these projects legally sound and gives them a scaffold to hang their institutional structures on them. Without the Conservancy, the software you love and depend on would be in dire peril

Electronic Frontier Foundation I have been proudly associated with EFF for a decade an a half now and have watched, half-awed, as it grew from a scrappy, brilliant little organization to a powerhouse of enormous scale and power. Every cause, every fight enumerated on this page and in your life and mine will be lost or won on the internet. EFF is the best hope we have of keeping that internet free, fair and open. —CD, MF

Creative Commons Creative Commons is best known as a tool for sharing-friendly artists, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Since the beginning, and all over the world, CC has provided governments, agencies, research and scholarly institutions and NGOs with the tools to easily share across borders and the bewildering array of copyright laws. We can't beat trumpism without collaboration tools, and that includes legal tools. —CD

Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia) For 15 years, Wikipedia has been figuring out how to negotiate truth among diverse and even warring points of view. It's not always pretty and it's not always nice, but no one's yet found a better way to let ideas bash against each other until something everyone agrees upon emerges. It's not pretty, but compared to our democracy, it's a beauty queen. —CD

Human Rights Data Analysis Group For more than twenty-five years, the team at the [Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG)](https://hrdag.org/) has held perpetrators of mass violence accountable. They are a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that applies rigorous science to the analysis of human rights violations around the world. They provide unbiased, scientific results that contribute to accurate quantitative arguments. HRDAG's analysis brings clarity to the often confused narratives of human rights violence and support the movement for justice. One of their bigger projects for 2018 examines the growing use of machine-learning techniques in the US criminal justice system. At best, these methods reproduce existing biases in data. More often, machine learning amplifies the biases in the data and thereby exacerbates criminal justice strategies that disproportionately affect marginalized populations. Currently, they are working with partners at the San Francisco Public Defender's office and the New York Legal Aid Society to evaluate risk assessment tools being used in those cities. They are also analyzing how current bail practices may disproportionately disadvantage marginalized populations, in particular, lower-income defendants. Other ongoing HRDAG projects include research on mass violence in Syria, Colombia, Mexico, and more.

Institute for the Future There are no facts about the future, only fictions. As we've learned in this election, nothing is certain about tomorrow. But even as our attention is captured by the present, we can begin to write the story to come. A place to start is the Institute for the Future's Future for Good fellowship.  Institute for the Future, where Mark and David are researchers, is a 50-year-old nonprofit that helps the public think about the future to make better decisions in the present. The Fellowship directly supports inspiring social innovators who are working to make tomorrow a better place. You can help too. Make a donation of $100 and you’ll receive IFTF Distinguished Fellow Bob Johansen's new book "The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything." -DP & MF

The National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Federation is a voice for wildlife, dedicated to protecting wildlife and habitat and inspiring the future generation of conservationists. Now's the time: the shortlist for our new Secretary of the Interior is reportedly Sarah Palin and Forrest Lucas, an "advocate of trophy hunting and puppy mills ... who never met a case of animal exploitation he wouldn’t defend." — RB

The Marine Mammal Center When seals, sea lion, or many other sea going pals need help, if they get lucky, they may be taken to The Marine Mammal Center, a veterinary hospital just for them. Thousands of heartbreakingly cute, but very wild, animals are rescued, rehabilitated and released on an annual basis. I'm a volunteer. In addition to the hundreds of highly trained volunteers that make the hospital run, the center always needs cash for fish and medicine.   —JW

The Southern Poverty Law Center & the Anti-Defamation League The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defemation League fight hate, teach tolerance, and help secure justice, and fair treatment for all. "There is no 'them' and 'us.' There is only us." --Greg Boyle —JW

Facing History and Ourselves Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational group that helps young people study issues around racism, antisemitism, and prejudice in history, from the Holocaust to today's immigrant experiences to the killing fields of Cambodia. Their aim is to teach young people "to think critically, to empathize, to recognize moral choices, to make their voices heard, we put in their hands the possibility--and the responsibility--to do the serious work demanded of us all as citizens." —DP

Free Software Foundation/Defective By Design The Free Software Foundation's principled litigation, license creation and campaigning is fierce, uncompromising and has changed the world. You interact with code that they made possible a million times a day, and they never stop working to make sure that the code stays free.  —CD

Free Software Foundation Europe Software has eaten the world, and software freedom is increasingly synonymous with human freedom. In Europe, far-right parties and authoritarians are inheriting a constellation of gadgets and devices that are "defective by design," built to allow corporations spy on and control their owners -- and those thugs are contemplating how they can use those companies' extraordinary powers to put whole populations under their thumbs. Free software in Europe, free software everywhere! —CD

The Internet Archive: In an era where the control of information has been weaponized, the Internet Archive's mission -- universal access to all human knowledge -- is a revolutionary manifesto. The Archive isn't screwing around: they're siting a copy of their data in Canada to resist trumpian grabs and spying and redecentralizing the internet to save us all from tyranny.  —CD

Open Rights Group While we were all fighting about Brexit, Theresa May's Tory government passed the most intrusive surveillance bill in the history of modern democracies. It's a longstanding joke that the gnomes of Westminster Village think that Nineteen Eighty-Four was a manual for statecraft, but the joke is getting less funny by the second. ORG is a decade old: spunky, going though a timely growth spurt, and badly needed. —CD

Amnesty International I just looked up Amnesty's founding principles and found tears rolling down my cheeks: "Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done." These values need our support more than ever. —CD

ACLU On November 9, 2016 ACLU changed its homepage to a picture of Trump superimposed with the words SEE YOU IN COURT. ACLU's deep bench of kick-ass lawyers has been lately augmented by a much-needed group of freedom-fighting technologists, welded into the fighting force we'll need for the next four years and beyond: from voter suppression to free speech, the ACLU is key to the fight.  —CD, MF

Liberty With the UK plunging into surveillance dystopia where human rights are an afterthought and racial profiling is becoming official doctrine, it needs Liberty, an organisation with 80+ years' track record fighting for human rights in many incarnations of the British project. The Tories ran on a platform of repealing the Human Rights Act: when the government is officially anti "human rights," you need someone like Liberty to take the "pro" side. —CD

826 National Born in San Francisco’s Mission District in the back room of a pirate supply store, 826 National teaches young people the art and magic of creative writing through classes, DIY publishing projects, in-school programs, and drop-in tutoring at seven centers around the US. And it’s all free for the kids. Help open more 826 locations around the country! —DP

Fight for the Future Some of the Internet's savviest, hard-working-est activists. Fight for the Future is in all the Internet fights, kicking ass on Net Neutrality -- a fight that's back on in 2017, thanks Trump -- mass surveillance and justice for Chelsea Manning. -CD

Demand Progress Aaron Swartz co-founded Demand Progress, and as you'd expect from that history, they're relentless in reinventing the activist playbook for the 21st century. -CD

MySociety Software in the public interest -- it's a damned good idea. MySociety produces software like Pledgebank ("I will risk arrest by refusing to register for a UK ID card if 100,000 other Britons will also do it") and TheyWorkForYou (every word and deed by every Member of Parliament). It's plumbing for activists and community organizers. —CD

https://boingboing.net/2017/12/10/charitable-giving-guide-2017.html

[netherwar-rpg-blog]

Welcome to the Wardens, Bo! Your application for a WARRIOR OC has been accepted with a Clive Standen FC.

The application can be found under the cut. You have 48 hours to create a roleplay account (cannot be a sideblog) for your character and we will be updating our opening date soon!

C H A R A C T E R - I N F O

T H E - B A S I C S

Name: Duncan Golwren

Title: The Bear of Norvik

Gender: Male

Age: 35

Class: Warrior (Two-handed Warhammer)

Faceclaim: Clive Standen

C H A R A C T E R - D E T A I L S

Nationality: Norvik

Appearance:

Despite being a lord’s son, Duncan is quite the rugged man. His chest is riddled with scars from his chest down to his ankles. He’s been in numerous bar fights from his younger teenage days, and he’s been in countless fights in attacks from barbarians and the like. He’s a rough and tumble guy with a rough and tumble figure. He’s a bit unkempt from time to time, always forgetting to trim and shave his beard or cut his long hair. He’s actualy forgotten to cut his hair for so long that it now reaches to the middle of his waist. He is often sporting a black eye, depending on what kind of day it is and is usually sullen looking though he’s not always that way.

Personality:

Positive: Courageous; Firm; Magnanimous; Studious; Suave; Unfoolable

Negative: Argumentative; Disorganized; Forgetful; Vague; Well meaning; Wishful

C H A R A C T E R - B A C K G R O U N D

History:

Oh to describe the life of Duncan Golwren in words. The youngest child in the Golwren family, Duncan definitely did not fit the part. Even as a young boy, he was a large child. To keep up with his brother, Robert, he would do far more than was required to get strong. He had more time to train and grow strong as his brother prepared for the lordship. And while that happened, Robert got killed in the process. Hunting and the dangers of hunting led to his death from his horse falling on top of him.

So, Duncan took up learning how to run Norvik. He didn’t like it at first, preferring the rough and tumble life he enjoyed before. But, he was now in charge of managing hundreds of thousands of people. Terrifying. But, he always made time to practice his fighting.

One person that kept him going was his sister. She inspired him to not kill everyone and just run away. And it was his little nephew that also kept him going. When he was born, though the entire castle shunned him, Dunk took care with teaching him everything he could.

Jonie, as Dunk referred to him, was a spunky kid that Dunk adored. Jonie reminded Dunk of himself when he was little. So, he fostered him, despite his family’s disapproval of the boy. However as time went on, they grew apart, and Jonie left. So, Dunk found other kids to foster and help.

But for a spell, he went to Highwing to dance with the nobles (another wild concept from his mother). That was when he met her. Her name was Lyra, and she was INFURIATING. And by the sun and stars, she really knew how to piss him off. First ball they went to (separate of course), they argued for a solid hour about the color red. The second, they screamed about whether or not tomatoes were fruits or vegetables. The third night, they were caught in a hallway together, kissing.

Not long after, Dunk begged her to marry him, on his hands and knees, clutching the hem of her skirts. She of course, said no, but he asked again and again and again until she finally said yes. Blessed with the beautiful forbidden fruit, he planned to immediately start a family. But then those stupid rifts started happening, and now, he’s heading off (Lyra in tow) to help these Warden folks and try and save the world. One war hammer swing at a time.

Reason for joining the Wardens:

Most of the reason he joined is to prove himself. As the youngest Golwren, he’s in line for the lordship, but his father doesn’t see him as good enough yet. He’s strong, but he’s still a bit scatterbrained when it comes to adult things. So, he’s joining the Wardens (and his wife won’t let him go alone) to gain some respect from his Father and grow up.

Desired Connections:

The Wife — Lyra Golwren came with Duncan to provide help for the Wardens because she wanted to as well as to accompany him. He loves her dearly though they fight plenty. They married when they were older, due to his bachelor ways and her less than excited disposition to get married. But when they first saw each other, they fell in love on sight and marriage has only brought them closer.

The Renegade — Dunk always loved his sister, and when she had her first child, he loved him too. Jónas wasn’t much younger than he was, so he still adored him like he was his little brother. Jónas was a sweet kid, and Dunk loved to hold him when Jónas was a baby and Dunk was about 6 or 7. They grew up as friends until Jónas ran off.

The Protector — How to describe the relationship between Lalo and Dunk? While Lalo was nothing to sneer at, Dunk always towered over him. They often hung out and played as kids when Darian got horses from Lalo’s father. The fast friends grew up only a year apart and became dear friends. But god, Dunk was always growing larger each time Lalo saw him, and so eventually, the Lord’s son became somewhat of a father figure despite his efforts to be a brother.

R O L E P L A Y - S A M P L E

Your character has been travelling along a rugged road in bitter winds when they are suddenly leapt upon by desperate, rougish bandits. They demand gold, or they will use their swords. How does your character respond?

TW: Sex mention, language, gore, violence

“HA HA HA!” Dunk continued to laugh at the 6 or 7 bandits who demanded his money. “Honey,” he said to his wife; “Stay on your horse. I’ll handle this. No need to get blood on that pretty dress.” The bandits continued to stand ready as Dunk dismounted his horse.

“We mean it! We’ll kill yehs! Give us y’r gold, poncy lordling!’

“All right! All right! Let me get my piles and piles of gold, you fucking Southern shits.” Dunk hated and loved the South. Part of him hated the weather. Part of him loved it. Norvik cold got to him some times. Ah, but still he loved the Southern women. Tits bouncin’ around in the heat. Now, of course, he was faithful to his wife. She had enough to grab for him. Didn’t hurt to look though. As he dismounted, he yanked the giant warhammer from his back and heaved it over his shoulder like it was nothing.

“All right, so which one of you whoresons is first?”

Duncan picked for them, slamming his hammer down on the first bandit he saw. Like a fly, the warhammer cracked through the bandit’s skull and left the head on his shoulders in little pieces that flew across to spatter on the bandit’s friends. A devilish grin spread on his lips, and he gestured for the next guy to walk forward.

Thankfully, they all rushed him at once, so taking care of them was as easy as swinging his warhammer once in a sweeping motion, taking out the man on the end immediately and crashing his fresh corpse into his friends. After that, it was just a matter of breaking legs and finishing them off with a comically small dagger on his belt. He turned back to his wife, sweet Lyra, with her nose wrinkled. But she smiled at him a moment later, and he smiled back.

“Oh, I am just going to ravish you when we get to the inn.”

[cerealmisandrist]

Best PC Games I Played In 2016

So, this year has been pretty shitty for me and I haven’t been able to blog much unfortunately, but I’ve decided to start the new year off with at least one long-ass post written by moi and I’ve decided to do a fav games list! (Sorry for all the no doubt mindless attention to detail but I had to lol!)

Now let’s begin shall we?:

DROPSY

tw: murder

- This is the most charming and heartwarming game I have ever played, the rather scary looking main character not-withstanding.

Touted as the cause of a fire during a circus performance that ended up killing several townsfolk as well as his own mother, Dropsy is a point-and-click adventure game mainly about showing the people who hate the protagonist that he is innocent by helping them out with their problems in order to make them happy again and see Dropsy for who he really is: a rather freaky looking dude in clown makeup that genuinely loves everyone and who’s favorite activity is hugging literally everything he comes across (I am not even lying he even hugs a port-a-potty and it is adorable). Although not really driven by a main story, there is, in fact, more to Dropsy’s narrative than meets the eye as we learn the truth behind the fire as well as the revelation of the story’s antagonist, and the ending is as equally heartfelt as Dropsy himself is. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and even though you might have a hard time discerning the images that the characters use in their speech bubbles instead of written dialogue in order to solve its puzzles, this game has quickly become a go-to for me when I’m feeling particularly glum and need a pick-me-up – and for that alone, Dropsy has become one of my favorite games of all time.

FRAN BOW tw: child abuse, tw: child sexual abuse, tw: Nazi experimentation

- Ok, this one was a no-brainer for anyone who has read my previous theory post about the game, but I am completely serious when I say go play this game asap.

The plot is about a spunky, mentally ill child named, of course, “Fran Bow,” who is trying to escape from the mental asylum she is being held in against her will  as well as the dark presence of a demon-like creature named Remor during the 1940s in order to find her cat Mr. Midnight and reunite herself with her aunt Grace, and while the art style, imagery, and various themes are EXTREMELY dark and foreboding, this game will change your life – or, at least, your previous held views on young girl protagonists, mental illness, and young girl protagonists struggling with mental illness and still managing to be heroic, empathetic, and all-around badass. Although some will find this game hard to swallow due to all of the violence directed at young children as well as the fact that this game is basically just a giant metaphor to begin with - Fran travels through supposed different realities during the game and even Fran herself is not sure if what she is experiencing is “real” or not - I cannot recommend it enough. This game changed me and not only is it now one of my favorite games of all time, but I truly consider the ending to be one of the best in all of my rather meager knowledge of gaming history. 

LIFE IS STRANGE tw: murder, drug use, sexual assault, sexual relationship between an adult and a minor

- THIS. FUCKING. GAME. This game made me fall in love with each of its characters, tore my sorry heart apart bit by bit as it’s story and its mysteries were slowly revealed, and it didn’t even have the decency to sew it back up together again at its end - and yet, somehow, I cannot help but love it so.

Life Is Strange is basically about a teenager named Max Caulfield who returns to her hometown Arcadia Bay - and her childhood friend Chloe Price - in order to attend a prestigious art school named Blackwell Academy to hone her photography skills and discovers she has the ability to travel back in time, with and without one of her many photographs as a medium, when she saves Chloe’s life after she is shot to death by Blackwell’s resident evil rich kid Nathan Prescott. After that one scene, Max is sent on a long wild week with Chloe at her side discovering who she really is as a person and trying to uncover the truth behind the terrible events happening at Blackwell, all while trying to save her friends and the town from the terrible storm that she repeatedly has visions of in the near future. The artistic direction is groundbreaking, and while the dialogue can be clunky, the voice acting is devastatingly top notch, and the early parts of the narrative - which differs based on the choices Max makes throughout the game - more than makes up for the rushed, bordering-on-lazy ending. Life Is Strange, though not perfect in any sense of the word, is a game that is an absolute must for any hardcore gamer, and like the rest of the games on this list has become one of my all-time favorites.

TORMENTUM: DARK SORROW tw: grotesque imagery, suicide

- If H.R. Giger and Heironymous Bosch had a love child that was babysat now and then by their good friend Immanuel Kant (who is quoted before you actually play) you would get this little point-and-click adventure game that is truly a hidden gem.

You start out as a rather mysterious and androgynous amnesiac who has recently been captured along with a rabbit-humanoid character to be taken to a giant castle that endlessly tortures its victims for being terrible people and its your job to escape this horrific and hopeless place. The artwork is STUNNING. Like if you don’t agree with me on this then you are an idiot, I’m sorry, there is no getting around that. It. Is. stunning. The story itself is also quite interesting, although I can see that some people could find it pretentious if you miss the subtlety of its themes. The game also goes hard right from the start with the inventory-object puzzles and it could be overwhelming for some, but I can’t help but overlook it in the face of it’s absolutely phenomenal art direction, character design and its Kant-isms. Again, this is another one for the all-time favorites list.

THE CAT LADY/DOWNFALL/DOWNFALL REDUX

tw: suicide, character death, depression, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, mental illness, did I mention suicide?, murder, cannibalism, cancer, eating disorders, psychosis, cat’s murdering humans, serial killers, gore, the list goes on and on really

- This trio of three games really surprised me, especially because there are so few games out there that deal with suicidal depression in such a realistic and hopeful way.

While DOWNFALL/DOWNFALL REDUX is really about a psychotic character named Joe Hill coming to terms with his wife, Ivy’s, own mental illness through a hallucination-filled fever dream at the mysterious Quiet Haven motel, its really THE CAT LADY that brought attention to the universe these games exist in as well as the fantastic narrative. While some can say that the narrative of DOWNFALL (the original game made by the creator which was released as freeware and is oddly more charming in a way compared to its re-release after the THE CAT LADY to cement it in THE CAT LADY’S universe due to it missing its original B-horror movie element) and its remake DOWNFALL REDUX is better since it lacks a lot of the exposition that can drag on for some in THE CAT LADY, it’s THE CAT LADY that is my favorite although I admit I love all three. THE CAT LADY is a game about a suicidally depressed woman named Susan Ashworth nicknamed The Cat Lady due to her habit of playing her piano in order to call and feed the feral cats that live in her neighborhood, who manages to successfully kill herself at the beginning of the game and in a limbo-like reality is given immortality by a woman called The Queen of Maggots so she can come back to life and kill 5 “parasites,” aka serial killers that will be drawn to her once she returns to the real world. All of the serial killers either suffer from what I call Steig-Larson-Syndrome (they’re murderers AND kidnappers AND cannibals AND a host of other bad things) or are completely forgettable and both the sound, voice-acting, and image quality is blaringly low budget at times, but trust me when I say that it more than makes up for it in it’s extremely well written narrative and character design, as well as one of the best friendships between two women in any game ever (and said women are from two different age generations! which never ever happens ever!). I don’t want to spoil anything, but all three games also give you more than just two endings which are all (strangely) equally extremely satisfying – and in THE CAT LADY’s case, manage to be uplifting to top it all off, which is why this game, as well as its follow up ones, made it on this list.

UNDERTALE

tw: murder, serial murder

- Another no-brainer, UNDERTALE takes all your pre-perceptions of your average game goals and throws them all out the window in the most charming way possible.

Like THE CAT LADY it is ruthless in its realism despite its cute characters and hilarious jokes, pulling no punches when it points out the sheer amount of violence you as the player expects to dish out towards even the most non-violent characters in your usual game. On top of all this, its completely original backstory, loveable characters, and groundbreaking soundtrack will bring every single one of the feels to even the most shriveled of hearts. Honestly the only con I can see in this game is its replayability, which I admit is rather low due to its lack of different endings and its over abundance of obvious homages to other games like Earth which does give it an air of laziness even though its clear that the game is like this in order to critique it….but to me, there‘s no question as to why I have chosen this game for this list and why, like all the others above, I have added it to my personal list of favorite games of all time.

And that’s a wrap! Feel free to send me recs to other amazing pc games in my inbox, I love trying out new gaming content.