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caelestis-composition · 3 years ago

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killshot anon! YEAH i totally agree w/ your view on kaeya. it's so weird to me that people will blame him for his role in a situation he was forced into as a child through no choice of his own. that itself had to be traumatic, not to mention everything that happened later. i hate when people say he's untrustworthy - like yeah, he's lied, so has everyone? it's clear he does it mostly to protect himself. not to mention that (& sadism) can be symptoms of trauma. kaeya deserves nothing but happiness

take a seat folks it’s time for a “brynn should’ve been an english major” lesson! today we’re gonna learn some literary theory; specifically, we’re gonna apply psychoanalytical trauma theory to kaeya’s backstory and current character. killshot anon i bet you never thought this would result in a whole ass essay.

disclaimer one! you are allowed to dislike kaeya! i am not saying you need to like him or his character, you’re entitled to your opinion and i’m not here to change your mind.

disclaimer two! i am in no way an expert and this is all for fun! this is just my silly little analysis of one of my favorite characters as someone who’s studied literary theory and rhetoric and can also apply personal experience. seriously analysis is like a hobby to me and this is just an excuse for me to ramble about kaeya.

disclaimer three! this contains lots of spoilers! basically for everything we know in-game, general knowledge as well as stuff from his voicelines and character story. don’t read this if you don’t want spoilers.

since this is going to be filled with spoilers and is about to get really long, everything will be under a cut. for those who wanna read my dumb super informal essay: enjoy!

final note: yeah this is over 2000 words long can you tell i like analysis

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let’s start by getting a quick rundown of trauma theory out of the way. to begin, what is “trauma?” in this case, trauma is going to refer to an experience that greatly affects and changes one’s life; attitudes, memories, behaviors, mental state, etc. while not all changes may be bad, per se, the overall effect of trauma is generally a negative one, which is why it’s so significant. literary trauma theory, then, explores these changes and the impact of trauma in literature. it analyzes the psychological and social effects of trauma, explaining what those effects are and why they happen. in the context of a specific character, trauma theory breaks down said character’s behaviors, feelings, and general mentality in relation to their past experiences; trauma theory hopes to explain to others the reasons for why a character may act or feel the way they do, all based upon the character’s experiences, particularly traumatic ones. our character today is the lovely kaeya alberich, with the “literature” being genshin impact. i’ll be referencing kaeya’s wiki page to ensure i get all details correct for his character story and voicelines.

it would be good to review kaeya’s backstory before delving into the actual analysis. though we don’t know much about his life before living in mondstadt, we’re told he was sent as an agent of khaenri’ah. and by “sent,” i mean his biological father abandoned him in a completely unfamiliar land to serve khaenri’ah’s interests and fullfil his mission—what this entirely entails hasn’t been revealed. mondstadt, however, welcomed kaeya “with open arms when they found him.” crepus ragnvindr took him in as his adopted son, with diluc as his adopted brother. kaeya and diluc were “almost like twins,” so close they “[knew] each other’s thoughts and intentions without a word.” he’d began a new life in mondstadt, one surrounded by friends and family that loved him; one that was completely shattered by crepus’s death. kaeya arrived at the scene of the disaster, and was led to believe diluc was the one who killed their father to “set his father free” from the effects of his delusion. there’d always been one big question in kaeya’s life: if it came down to it, who would he support? the nation that abandoned him, but he still felt loyal to, or the nation and family that took him in and really loved him? overrun with guilt, kaeya confessed his purpose to diluc, sparking a fight between the two brothers. in this fight, kaeya receives his cryo vision. though both brothers stepped away alive, they’ve never been able to make peace with one another. now, kaeya is the eccentric and charming cavalry captain of the knights of favonius; a man who gets his way by using any means necessary, regardless of whether or not it seems right.

kaeya’s not evil; he’s morally ambiguous, and that stems from what appears to be a general distrust of others. his life is one shrouded in secrecy. from the moment he stepped foot into mondstadt, he was surrounded by secrets. even now, he doesn’t talk about a lot of things, namely his past, vision, and feelings. though he’s always willing to get information out of others, kaeya never reveals anything about himself. he repeatedly tells the player they can confide in him, but whenever you try and pry into his life, he deflects your questions with some sort of witty comment or flirty remark. anything he does reveal is vague, or spoken in some sort of “code.” for example, his “interesting things” voiceline. he tells us about the owl of dragonspine, how it “seems to look right through you, while letting go of none of its own secrets,” and then tacks on a “quite fascinating, don’t you think?” it seems like an awfully accurate parallel to himself; kaeya does all he can to get information from others, but never gives anything about himself. now, this whole thing—his relationship with diluc falling apart and his need for secrecy—could have probably been avoided if he had just come clean about his mission years ago. so why didn’t he? to start, kaeya was a literal child. not only are children unable to properly tell the difference between right and wrong, but they’ll also typically follow their parents’ orders blindly. kaeya had just been abandoned, and he wouldn’t want to risk being cast out by mondstadt as well if he came clean right away. you see, there’s this thing about trauma, something that trauma theory states. traumatized people feel a sort of shame or guilt regarding their traumatic experience; they’ll keep quiet because they don’t want to cause problems or bother others with their issues. of course kaeya wouldn’t tell the truth about his past, he doesn’t want to destroy the genuinely loving relationships he’d built in mondstadt. his fight with diluc only proves what he was afraid of: if he’s honest, he’ll be abandoned again. and if kaeya’s used to all the lies, why should he bother changing?

another thing, if he’s not going to tell the truth, then why would he have initially gone along with his father’s plans? again, he was a child. he really had no choice, and was forced into a very wrong and cruel situation. there’s a good explanation for this, too, which is also stated in trauma theory; traumatized people will still do their best to please their abusers. especially if said abuser is a parent, that will drive traumatized people to work even harder to please them. although his father hurt him by ruthlessly abandoning him, kaeya still sought to make him and his homeland proud. he was willing to be used as a tool for their gain; that is, until he found people who actually cared about him. he was an impressionable child, of course he’s going to obey orders. but as he gets older, he feels torn. does he serve those who abandoned him, or those that took him in? his father—and arguably, khaenri’ah as a whole—hurt him, sure, but he still feels some loyalty and connection to his former home. instead of revealing anything, he lets the situation play out. that way, he can’t be blamed when things fall apart.

the thing about claiming he’s untrustworthy is that hardly anyone in-game believes that. he’s adored by the older folks in mondstadt, and foes and allies alike find him easy to talk to. despite seeming lazy and uninterested in work, kaeya takes his job very seriously. in fact, his story states that crepus’s death was the “first and only time kaeya failed in his duty.” the “only time” is especially important, because it signifies kaeya still fulfills his duties successfully. he’s had a total of one slip-up, and hasn’t failed since. no, kaeya is not untrustworthy. rather, kaeya finds everyone else untrustworthy. it’s not unlikely that this is a direct consequence of being abandoned as a child. although it’s been established that kaeya and diluc were very close as children, when crepus dies, kaeya assumes diluc is the one that killed him. in order to jump to such an extreme conclusion against someone he was so close to, there had to be some underlying sense of distrust. furthermore, kaeya expresses feeling as though he doesn’t belong anywhere. he was abandoned by khaenri’ah, and then worried he wouldn’t be accepted by mondstadt. he is, but there’s still that worry. if you place him in your teapot as a companion, he tells you that your home feels like someplace he belongs, following it up with a “heh, who’d have thought…” kaeya still feels as though he doesn’t belong in mondstadt; despite the fact that he’s a high-ranking knight of favonius and rather popular, he still feels like an outsider. he doesn’t trust that anyone actually wants him around, and he finds joy in testing peoples’ trustworthiness. it’s noted in his story and through his voicelines that the beloved cavalry captain has a rather sadistic nature. he likes putting people into difficult situations, to see what decisions they will make. he does this to both opponents and allies, testing to see who’s going to back out and who’ll keep fighting; in the sake of allies, who can he trust? or who will turn tail and abandon their teammates at the slightest hint of danger? i mentioned it previously, but kaeya doesn’t care what measures he has to take so long as his job gets done and he gets the answers he wants. it’s a sort of self-preserving mindset, putting himself above the safety of others. kaeya’s trying to protect himself, which makes sense with all he’s been through. he doesn’t want to be hurt, and instead finds pleasure in threatening harm upon others. it’s twisted, sure, but it’s because he can only trust himself in a world that he believes is out to get him. he’s got as many enemies—if not more—as he does allies; of course kaeya focuses on protecting himself first, whether physically or through keeping his secrets, well, secret.

his most obvious traumatic effect is definitely his alcoholism. but he uses it as a distraction, not just to wallow in self-pity. this is seen again in his story, particularly in story 3. it’s found that when his favorite drink, death after noon, is out of season, mondstadt’s crime rate is decreased drastically. at face value, this just means kaeya spends more time working when death after noon is low in supply. but kaeya doesn’t skip work to go to taverns; it’s already been established he takes his job very seriously, so this means he actually patrols and tracks down threats while off work when he can’t indulge in his favorite alcoholic drink. he doesn’t get drunk simply because he’s depressed. if he did, there wouldn’t be a drop in incidents when death after noon is out of season. no, kaeya uses both the alcohol and fighting to distract himself. after all, it’s a little hard to think about feeling sad when you’re either drunk out of your mind or fighting for your life.

despite being so secretive, kaeya gives us glimpses of his true emotions from time to time. as previously mentioned, his flirty attitude is nothing more than a mask to hide how he really feels; and kaeya is terribly, terribly lonely. that may be why he seems so extroverted. constantly being around people should, logically, drive away that feeling, but it doesn’t work like that. when he talks with the player, he frequently expresses disappointment when you have to leave. each time, though, he dampens the weight of his words with playful or flirty language. he’s lonely, but doesn’t want you to know that, like he’s afraid of asking you to stay. he takes the seriousness of his feelings, and basically bends it into some sort of lighthearted joke. kaeya hides his true feelings—negative feelings, to be exact—so that he doesn’t bother anyone. which is, again, something that happens with traumatized people. he displays that hesitance to reveal his true feelings, because there’s a shame or guilt that comes with his past. he doesn’t want to bother others or hold them back, so he puts on a smile and amps up the charisma. one other very important thing—but very small detail—i would like to note is his feelings toward family. his fell apart not even once, but twice, and kaeya still holds familial relationships in high regard. we know he doesn’t exactly care how he goes about getting his work done. he doesn’t pay attention to what’s “right” or “wrong,” so long as he gets what he needs. but one of his informants, vile, notes that the cavalry captain has one exception: he won’t work with those who threaten others’ families. in fact, kaeya claims those who do should be hunted down and destroyed. even though his own families have caused him so much pain—and he ended up estranged from both—he still understands the importance of having people who love you in your life. because he didn’t get that.

kaeya’s not evil. ultimately, as a knight of favonius, his goal is to protect others, because no one was there to protect him. and because no one was there to protect him, because he’s been hurt time and time again by people who were supposed to love him, kaeya has taken to protecting himself. he hides any and all negative feelings with a charismatic, friendly façade, because he thinks it’ll drive away his persistent loneliness. any “bad” actions of his were hardly his fault; he was forced into a life of secrecy and lies, and then abandoned by the first people who truly loved him. kaeya’s a multi-faceted, tragic character, one that toes the line between good and evil, and that’s what makes him so interesting.

#brynn yells #brynn answers #killshot anon #brynn's writing #genshin #genshin impact #kaeya #kaeya alberich #genshin kaeya

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the-seas-song · 3 years ago

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Richard Armitage and Astrology

Hi! I find astrology fascinating, and am an armchair expert on it myself, so I found Richard's comments in his recent Total Film Magazine interview very interesting. This is what he said:

I’ve been incredibly lucky. I’ve dabbled with having my celestial chart looked at every couple of years, just for a little tune-up. Every time, the guy sighs, and goes, “What can I say? You’ve just got a sprinkle of luck.” And I say, “That’s good, because I don’t have the talent, so I really need the luck!”

[cut]

There is a naughty, dark side to me. I am quite strongly affected by the moon. So if there’s a full moon I’ll go a bit crazy. (source)

This isn't the first time Richard's mentioned astrology – he's mentioned being a Leo, reading his daily horoscope, and finding out he was born in the Chinese Year of the Pig; but these were all informal twitter comments. He has also mentioned the effect the moon has on him before, in February 2020:

“Everyone has cycles of positive mental and emotional feelings and negative mental and emotional feelings and I know that I am profoundly affected on a monthly cycle. I always look at the calendar when I'm feeling particularly low and check the lunar cycle to see if it's a full or new moon.” (source)

However, what prompted me to write this is that Richard's personal put-downs were even more direct here than usual; and the connection that has to his natal, or birth, chart.

A little disclaimer: Personally, I think general horoscopes (like the ones you find in magazines) do far more harm than good. They are based solely on the twelve sun signs, and your sun sign is just one puzzle piece out of 25+ pieces that make up your natal chart. This is why many people don't relate to their horoscope or it's personality description.

Your natal chart, however, is a whole different animal. It's an intricate puzzle created by the exact date, time, and location you were born; which is why most people find their natal charts to be scarily accurate.

Back during the Hobbit days, a fan blog reported that Richard told a NZ fan that his birth time was just after 4 a.m. I used 4:05 for this post, and being off by a few minutes doesn't really make a difference.

Richard and self-esteem

I really feel for and relate to Richard's self-esteem struggles, because our charts mirror each other. We are both Leo suns; but I have my moon in Aries with my MC and Chiron conjunct each other in Virgo and sextile my North Node; while Richard has his moon in Virgo with his MC and Chiron conjunct each other in Aries and sextile his North Node.

What on earth does that mean?

Each planet represents a different part of you. The sun represents your ego/conscious self; the moon your emotions, mercury your mind/intellect, venus love and beauty/aesthetics, mars passion and drive, etc.

On top of the twelve planets, there are specific points and asteroids that are also important. Your MC, or Midheaven, represents your career and public persona. Your North Node describes your inner journey and life purpose. The asteroid Chiron describes your major soul wound, that you will be forced to deal with throughout your life.

A conjunction and a sextile are two of several different kinds of aspects. The different kinds of aspects are the different ways your respective puzzle pieces can interact with each other. Some are 'easy/positive' and some 'difficult/negative'. A sextile is considered easy/positive. A conjunction means two things are next to each other and overlap with one another, and is usually considered positive.

Leo and Aries are both fire signs. Fire signs are generally playful, warm, passionate, confident, and optimistic. Virgo is an earth sign. Earth signs are generally practical, grounded, sensual, and logical.

Richard's personality is dominated by an almost equal amount of Leo and Virgo influence, with both his sun (core self) and venus (love and beauty) in Leo and his moon (emotions) and mercury (mind) in Virgo.

Aries and Virgo are said to be the most difficult Chiron signs, because they are the wounds tied directly to your self-worth (Aries is the wound of Self and Virgo is the wound of Perfection). With Aries Chiron you feel a core sense of worthlessness, like you're missing a fundamental piece of your core self. This deeply felt lack of self-worth leads people to be people pleasers and have issues with confrontation and conflict.

Aries rules the planet mars. It is the warrior planet of passion, drive, and combat. A conventional Aries is confident, outgoing, impulsive, and strong willed. Aries and mars are definitely the rowdiest sign and planet in the zodiac. However, with Chiron here the traits are inverted, and so someone like Richard is much more likely to be scared of his inner passion, confidence, and willpower – depending, of course, on what the rest of his chart is like.

That leads us to Virgo. Chiron Virgo feels impure, like there is something fundamentally wrong with them. This kind of low self-esteem makes you feel like you have to constantly try to 'fix' yourself so people will love and accept you. It's an OCD type of perfectionism that only ends in failure and heartbreak.

A good example of how this works is when I talked to my therapist recently. I hadn't quite succeeded in meeting my goals, and so my automatic response was to condemn myself for failing. My therapists immediate response was to congratulate me on how much progress I had made.

Ironically, unlike with Aries, this isn't an inversion of the conventional Virgo. Conventional Virgo is meticulous, detail-oriented, focused, patient, efficient, practical, perfectionistic, systematic, and pessimistic with high expectations. If Aries is the official warrior of the zodiac, Virgo is the official nit-picker.

This means that Richard's subconscious intellectually (mercury) and emotionally (moon) expects and demands perfection, whilst simultaneously feeling fundamentally worthless. In short: ouch.

Interestingly, a significant number of celebrities have their Chiron conjunct their MC. Personally, I think Richard hit the nail on the head as to why in his essay on the Human Condition for Cybersmile:

The answer in my humble opinion, (and believe me it is humble, to a point of taking 43 years to be shared) is actually something which applies to my work as an actor. It’s why sometimes actors are called in to work with therapists, in large corporations, in schools. It’s why drama therapy is fantastic to understand what we do, how we do it and what the outcome might be, and in an improvisation where we aren’t playing ourselves sometimes we explore avenues that are too frightening or unacceptable in our own lives.

[cut]

So going back to my very first point, the “social media society” in which we’d all like to feel safe, supported, excited, creative, spontaneous, innovative, courageous, is really in our own hands. And back to acting, it’s taken me a long time to shake off the effects of bullying in school. That people were always laughing behind my back. I was always looking out of the corner of my eye. I now have incredible peripheral vision which is so useful, (as is Kinesthetic sense…Google it) but try being a brave, experimental, uninhibited actor with all of those hang ups. Wasn’t happening.

So here is the thing, and it’s key to my work and I think ours as a community. When we speak or write, we ultimately desire to ‘affect’. If we aren’t watching the destination of that affect, then how do we know our words have landed and the ‘effect’ they have caused?

[cut]

If I have a strong opinion about something which I want to express I really task myself with backing it up with the ‘why do I feel that?’

Again it’s part of my work building a believable character, and actually part of building a believable ‘me’ outside of my work. Just.. “because that’s what I feel” is a bit of a cop out.

[cut]

As for Bullying, it’s like the moment the pot boils over, or it’s the poisoned stream that can’t be cleansed, so why bother. Well I think that’s what art is for. It’s can support the best and the worst of ourselves. We can ‘attack’ a canvas with black angry paint, we can ‘savage’ a piano keyboard, we can dance until we drop, we can read about a Puritan society who executed elders, we can explore the psychology of a serial killer, and when we can’t do this ourselves we can experience it, and witness it through others.

It’s more than being nice. Edward Munch’s “The Scream” is far from nice. Francisco Goya’s “Saturn” is horrific, Metallica, Die Antwoort etc etc. But then there is Monet, Faure, Renée Fleming, Peter Jackson, Ariana Grande (ok it’s getting a bit eclectic I admit) but when we look, listen and empathize, we tune in to the Human Condition.

We are all part of The Human Condition, whether we like it or not. Social Media. Expression. The Human Condition.

Us human beings are wired for emotion and connection. For actors, their career gives them a way to safely process and explore their personal wounds through the characters they play. For Richard in particular, his mars is conjunct his North Node. So, his mars and North Node are sextile his Chiron and MC.

Remember, Aries (the sign of Richard's Chiron and MC) is ruled by mars. Mars is the warrior planet, like Aries is the warrior sign. This means that Richard's spiritual journey/life's purpose (North Node) deals directly with healing his soul wound so he can accept and embrace his inner confidence and willpower. This explains why he ends up playing a lot of ultra-masculine characters – mars/Aries are the most macho of them all.

This isn't to say I think Richard should change who he is! I wouldn't be interested in him if he was ultra-masculine or macho. However, for his own sake, I would be overjoyed to see him gain more self-esteem and inner confidence.

Extrapolating from my own personal experiences, the constant criticism and judgement I received during my adolescence from my peers and various authority figures (like family members and teachers) for being unconventional and 'over the top' caused me to turn on myself and repress my passion and will-power for several years. I think it's highly likely that Richard experienced this too.

Here are some quotes from Richard that illustrate everything I've been talking about (emphasis is mine):

Armitage is still notably handsome, but, within minutes of meeting him, it’s apparent how incongruous it is that this bookish, sensitive, self-described ‘melancholic, philosophically-minded softie’ and ardent fan of The Great British Bake Off was cast as beefcake killer totty for a considerable part of his career. ‘It’s ridiculous. It’s the complete opposite to who I am. I’m such a pacifist,’ he laughs. ‘But then, part of me always felt: “Well, isn’t that why we’re actors?”

[cut]

'I think the turning point was losing my mum,” he says. “Up until that point, I felt like I mustn’t put a foot wrong, that if I said the wrong thing or revealed too much about my personal life, it could all come crashing down, and it would come down on my parents, and they wouldn’t be proud of me anymore.” He shrugs. “Now that I’m past that I’m actually much more carefree about the choices I make.” (source)

Richard Armitage puts his head in his hands and emits a noise that's somewhere between a sigh, a laugh and a groan. “Oh no! Why would you want to pin this up?” he says with a horrified whisper.

[cut]

Never has a man seemed more ill at ease with the heartthrob label. He squirms with embarrassment in his chair every time the subject comes up. He is grateful for the loyalty of his fans, he says, but worries that “there is this thing of, 'Is he just totty?' Because the industry will sometimes write you off as a serious actor if they think that. I have always been conscious of that and fought against it, because I don't really see myself like that at all.”

[cut]

This brings us back to Astrov, who looks so relentless towards the future that he can't see the truth in front of his eyes. “It's interesting that he's an outsider in the play. I've often felt like that myself in life. I'm quite a solitary person. I enjoy my time with me, and sometimes it's not necessarily healthy, because I can talk myself into quite a dark place.

I'm an optimist, but at the same time, there's a discipline in me that will attack me for not working hard enough, not achieving enough, not being good enough. You always think, 'I'll grow out of that. With success, those voices will disappear.' But they don't, they get louder. I suppose I'm learning a bit about myself through Astrov.” (source)

The answer in my humble opinion, (and believe me it is humble, to a point of taking 43 years to be shared) is actually something which applies to my work as an actor. … And back to acting, it’s taken me a long time to shake off the effects of bullying in school. That people were always laughing behind my back. I was always looking out of the corner of my eye. I now have incredible peripheral vision which is so useful, (as is Kinesthetic sense…Google it) but try being a brave, experimental, uninhibited actor with all of those hang ups. Wasn’t happening. (Human Condition essay)

So I kind of travelled on that line for a while, and I was bullied for it as well. The problem with me is that as soon as you try to push me down or say “you can’t do this” and “I don’t think you should do that”, I immediately push back. So I did – I’d decided really young that I was going to try to make a career out of it.

[cut]

Actually, there was something I wanted to add to what Shaun said, about inclusivity, is that um, no matter how – how much confidence you have or how, in my case, lack. Y’know, I always felt like a misfit, or an oddball, or that I didn’t belong. But I always – I always told myself that ‘you exist in the world, so therefore there’s a place for you in this industry’. I think anybody who feels like, “I can’t become an actor because…” – you exist. And, y’know, the job of filmmakers is to write about our life and society, and if you are a part of that, then there’s a place for you in the industry. (source)

I'm a bit of a brooder. I don't like confrontation, so I think I suppress things. When my temper does come out, it goes all the way – the kind of temper you can't apologize for. Yep, the chair getting thrown out of the window. Those emotions are scary, but hey, they come in useful when you're acting. (source)

Armitage is a noticeably calm presence but he talks with passion.

[cut]

In the past, he has described himself as a shy person. “Not any more,” he says forcefully. “I mean… if I’m very, very honest, I’m a big guy, I think I’m at times quite a frightening person.”

In what way?

“I think I’m quite uncompromising. I can’t bear bulls---. And in a way the shyness is me protecting other people from that. I can feel that there’s an intimidation that can happen if I own my full height, and speak at my full volume. So I’ve learned over the years to just tone it all down a bit.” (source)

I've become one of those actors who find it difficult to say no when things are offered. I think if I had come out of drama school and been an instant Hollywood superstar I would be taking long, leisurely holidays. But I always feel somehow it's going to be taken away from me so I work when I can. When you struggled with work as I did when I left drama school you make hay when the sun shines. There was a time when I thought, and my agent thought, it wasn't going to happen for me. We both sat down and I actually said I don't know if I can stay in this state. The interesting roles have only come since I got into my 30s. But I didn't know that was going to happen. I'm a bit of an all or nothing kind of guy. To be honest, I had no blind faith in myself. I don't think I could have stayed around as a jobbing actor. I would probably have quit. Who knows? I think I would have found that too frustrating. But at the moment when I thought I was going to quit, something happened and it all changed again. (source)

[talking about being cast in the Hobbit]

There was a little bit of guidance as to what they were looking for. I felt that I was too young for the character, too tall for that character, so I thought, you know, ‘I’ll just look at the scene they’ve written’. And then I realised the essence of the character that they were aiming for. So I went to meet Peter and Phillipa and we read some of the scenes. I think we spent an hour-and-a-half talking about the character and what their vision was, and I sort of explained who I thought he was, and that was it.

[cut]

Yeah, my first instinct, whenever that kind of thing happens, is to say, 'Well what's wrong with the part? Why did nobody else want it'? Which is kind of the story of my life really. When I get offered something, I'm like, 'Well there must be something wrong with it if they're offering it to me!'

[cut]

But you know, the thing is, you talk about all of this: ‘How did you get the role? And how did it feel when you got the role?’ And once all that’s died down you start to think, ‘I’ve actually got to go and play this now’. They’ve trusted me. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s celebrated, the phones have gone down and the deal’s been done. Now it’s over to me to make the role work. And that’s the scariest moment, because you do have that elation and then the work begins and you think, ‘How the hell am I going to do this?’ (source)

How was it for you taking on this beloved role, this character that has such a huge responsibilty on his back? Could you relate in some ways?

Richard Armitage: Yeah. There is always building within him this paranoia that he’s not a good enough leader, and that weighs him down. I have experienced that same feeling as an actor in this role. And I was aware of taking on the responsibility of that character, so there was something I could latch onto there, as one of the people who loved ‘The Hobbit’ book and had envisioned that character. It took me a while to be convinced that I could do it, it wasn’t until I saw some sketches, this one particular pencil sketch….there was something about this characters eyes and the way that his hands are crossed, I thought, “I think I can do this, I can pull this off.” (source)

Q: I wanted to ask you about what your Arkenstone is. For you personally.

A: Me personally?

Q: And I meant for this to be materialistic. What's the thing that you covet so much that it makes you mad that you don't have it?

A: Well, it's actually not material. It's not material, and it's – (laughs) You want a comedy answer, don't you? But it's respect. It's the thing that always eludes you, you know. You have to fight for it and when you get it, your arkenstone, the thing that crowns you, is respect.

Q: And also a sweater.

A: And a sweater. I do have this little natty number.

Q: It's a good one man.

A: Tom Ford made this personally. But hey, he can have it back. I don't covet wealth and material. (source)

Q6: You’ve done a variety of different roles, I wonder what influences you to pursue those roles?

R: More often than not, you go where you’re wanted. So getting hired is still kind of a revelation to me, a shock and a surprise. Sometimes you have very flat periods, where I don’t really care what comes next, I just want to work on something. I feel like I’ve got a little cloud of luck over my head so the right thing always seems to come along. But again, I’m easily excited about literature and stories, so I’ve always said I don’t really pursue glory, I’d happily do acting for two people in my living room if it was a role that I really enjoyed with a story I’d really like to tell. So it’s chance, I would say.

[cut]

Q8: Once in an interview about Thorin, you were asked what your arkenstone was and your answer was respect. I like this answer a lot. So I was wondering what’s your red dragon? As you said yesterday he’s a character who sheds his skin, improves, and becomes something. I was wondering if there was something you’d like to improve, become?

R: I guess the antithesis of that is disrespect. Do you mean in myself?

Q8: Yes.

R: Yeah I try not to be too disrespectful. I guess I value the truth. I think we’re living at a time at the moment where the truth is warped and there’s a word that’s been in my head for a long time, and particularly recently it’s come to the surface. When I was studying Macbeth, at the RSC, I read a long thesis about the gunpowder plot, which was one of the things they thought that Shakespeare (or whoever Shakespeare was) was stimulated by to write Macbeth. And the word equivocation was used in this thesis, it was actually about equivocation and what equivocation is. And if you look it up in the dictionary, at the moment most politicians are equivocating. When you don’t answer a question, or you bend the truth to make it seem like you are answering the question, and in fact you’re telling a lie. So I would say my red dragon would be equivocation.

[cut]

Then there was the physical form that I was studying and observing, but also, I do sometimes enjoy locking myself away in a room and reading a book or just doing something alone, and you sometimes can go a couple of days without speaking to anybody. I don’t know whether anyone else experiences this or whether I’m just a weirdo. But I find that when that happens my voice changes, and I always forget how to make a noise, I have to do a warm-up before I go into the world and start speaking again.

[cut]

Q15: I was wondering if you ever had to pull out of a project because it felt wrong or something, and what is the point where you say “nope I can’t do this”?

R: Um, no. But that’s partly to do with the fact that I have a lot of loyalty, probably too much loyalty for my own good, really, and there’ve been moment when I’ve been on board a project, and actually it happened this year with The Lodge, I was already on board that project and something else came along which was bigger and better and brighter and more money, and your agent says “look we can pull you out of The Lodge, they can probably recast it,” and here I think “I’ve already started this process, I don’t want to let people down,” and I don’t have a problem with that at all, I never have any regrets over the things that you miss or the things that you decide not to do, I think there’s a strong enough reason why you’ve decided not to do it, but in general no I haven’t ever pulled out of something. There was one television show I remember, I’m not going to say what it is, but after the first readthrough, I did call my agent and asked, “can I get out of this?” And then he quickly got back to me and said, “don’t do it. Don’t build a reputation built on disloyalty.” So I try not to.

[cut]

Q18: I think you are very handsome, but your character Francis hated the way he looked, how did that make you feel?

R: Francis hated the way he looked? Yeah. I guess there is something we relate to in that. Without getting too personal, I don’t always enjoy looking at myself in the mirror. I don’t do it very often, to be honest. I do it just to be sure I don’t have food on my face. I do it in character, actually. I do spend a bit of time studying my own face when I’m playing a character, which is interesting because your face does change. (source)

He cannot see the handsomeness: “I think I am odd-looking. I have big lines on my forehead.” I squint, looking for them, but he is talking over me, sounding slightly panicked. “I shouldn’t draw attention to it, because then everyone else will see the oddness.”

[cut]

Laziness is what makes him angry: “Laziness in myself. Laziness in other people. And dishonesty. All things I feel capable of myself. I have a propensity to be lazy and lie about it. Fear makes me rageful. There are words in The Crucible I actually find it quite hard to say.” I beg for an example — The Crucible is in the public domain. “No,” he says, “you’ll see it in the play.” I tell him it will make no sense in print if he will not tell me. But he won’t. So I change the subject. It works. “OK, I will give you a line.” He inflates a little and says: “Is there no good penitence but it be public?” And then: “Were I stone I would have cracked for shame this seven month.” (source)

Q: How would you describe your evolution as an actor since you started?

A: I think everything has to do with the fact that today I’m not afraid anymore. At first, I was embarrassed to do something wrong or do things badly or make myself ridiculous. Today, I am almost looking for opportunities to be ridiculous or vulnerable or to make as much of a mistake as possible. In a sense, it’s now the opposite of being undercover.

Q: Are you the actor you dreamed of being when you started?

A: Not yet. I am not yet fearless enough. It’s in waves, actually. But I have already approached this dream. There were moments, especially during Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which I performed on stage, where I felt I had no control over things. That’s what I’m looking for: to lose control.

Q: You often play bad guys. What do you like in these characters?

A: I like disobedience. I like the fact that you can be disobedient thanks to your creativity. As a person, I must always be polite in life, be careful and correct so as not to hurt anyone. In a fantasy world, I can be as offensive as I want. It’s an outlet. (Laughter)

[cut]

Q: Many actors are moving to directing. Is this also your goal?

A: I would like to, but I do not think I’m smart enough. I am good when it comes to working with another’s vision. I do not think I have that creative spontaneity that creates a vision from scratch. But the future will tell. (source)

I applaud Richard for being so open and direct about his fears and insecurities. It takes a lot of bravery to do so. And while I've seen some fans get annoyed with his continual self-deprecation, I think his honesty and openness is much more significant, and shows his inner strength. He doesn't try to pretend to be someone he's not.

He recently described himself as “patient, obsessive, and silly” (source). The patient part is classic Virgo, and the obsessive part comes from an element of his natal chart that I have not mentioned.

The silly part, however, is classic Leo. Like I said above, he has an almost equal amount of Leo and Virgo in his personality. Personally, I'm proud to be a Leo, but I also know we get misunderstood a lot of the time. I wrote the following for an essay of mine on Leos in Disney:

Your sun sign represents your core identity. Just like the physical sun is the center of the solar system and its energy creates life, the astrological sun is our consciousness and life force. Each of the twelve sun signs are ruled by a different planet and element.

Since Leo is the fixed fire sign, we don't inherit the reckless and impulsive nature of fire, but instead are a steady flame. No sign is more reckless and impulsive than Aries, because they have the double combination of being a cardinal sign and a fire sign. Meanwhile, all four of the fixed signs struggle with stubbornness and admitting when their wrong.

Leo's are well known to be natural leaders and the rulers of the zodiac. We are ruled by the sun and our animal is the lion. We dream big and are born with big personalities, and we can't help but be theatrical and dramatic. This means we are always self-centered in the sense of being strong-willed and having a strong sense of self. It does not mean all Leos are egotistical.

Unhealthy Leo traits all revolve around the ego: attention-seeking, egotistical, selfish, bossy, controlling, pushy, jealous, possessive, lazy, vain, arrogant, aggressive, and obstinate.

Healthy Leos, however, are known for our fire-based traits – being animated, theatrical, happy, outgoing, independent, competitive, charismatic, creative, open-minded, open-hearted, confident, assertive, playful, warm, social, courageous, idealistic, affectionate, romantic, optimistic, and adventurous.

What isn't often talked about is our steadiness, our fixed-based traits. Leos are authentic, steadfast, fiercely loyal and protective, consistent, persistent, full-hearted, dedicated, need to do their best, generous and selfless, honorable and moral, genuine and direct, extremely supportive, hard-working and responsible, dignified, strong-willed, and ambitious and determined.

Something that is often mentioned but highly misunderstood is our trait of courage. Having courage doesn't mean you're fearless or reckless. The definition of courage is “the power or quality of dealing with or facing danger, fear, pain, etc.” It means that instead of running away from our problems or denying our emotions; healthy Leos face them and be genuine and direct with ourselves, embracing our vulnerability.

Having a big personality doesn't necessarily mean someone has a big ego. C.S. Lewis once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” Leos have huge hearts and are incredibly generous. The sun never goes retrograde, always shines, and gives life and energy to all living beings – it isn't selective or discriminatory. Healthy Leos are like mini suns; which is why we are also irrepressibly upbeat, optimistic, and fun-loving.

We're not pushovers. We are like roses – we have both flower petals and thorns. If you mess with someone we love you're going down. We're too loyal and protective to let major things slide; and even if we forgive, we never forget. Little things? We'll try to work them out with you.

Being naturally strong-willed and assertive is healthy – it just means we usually make horrible subordinates and yes people. There's nothing wrong with having high standards and being open about them. In fact, in relationships it's far better in the long run to open and frank about what you need and what you consider a dealbreaker from the beginning.

And oh yes are we ambitious and competitive – but most often with ourselves. We're natural leaders who always dream and think big. For a healthy Leo it's not about being the best, but doing your best. We have to be grand and intense, we're ruled by the sun. It's all or nothing for us. Settling is not something a Leo does. We need to be the best leader, the best friend, the best partner, etc. that we possibly can.

Also, in astrology each sign rules a different body part, and Leo rules the heart and upper back.

Adding to this, Leos are known as the Kings/Queens of the zodiac not because we're egotistical, but because our sun sign is the sun. It's like a double amount sun. I could go into significantly more detail about this, but it involves a lot of technical astrological details; so if anyone wants to know more just message me!

Going back to Richard, having his core self (sun) and love/beauty (venus) in Leo explains why he is an actor and artist; and why he is often warm, silly, and dramatic when he feels comfortable – his long interview with The Anglophile Channel (and it's deleted scenes) does a great job of showing the synergy between his Leo and Virgo sides.

We see Richard express the heartfelt, generous, sincere, and honorable side of Leo all the time. This is why I'm sure he has the inner-confidence and strength hidden within him to overcome the deep pain his Chiron causes him (like it does to us all). I hope he continues to find projects and people that help him on his journey to heal.

Thank you for reading this, I'm wishing him and you all the best. Take care!

#Richard #Richard Armitage #Astrology #Mine

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mallowstep · 4 years ago

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Genetics ask! I know that male torties/torbies are very rare and caused by a genetic mutation, but with those who do exist, are there any prerequisites with their parents? I’m assuming they’d have to carry the red gene since tortoiseshell is one red, one not-red, but I barely know anything. And based on this, is it better to just headcanon cats like Redtail as biologically female?

alright! hello, anon.

since i had to do more research than usual for this one, reminder that:

i am not an expert. i can and will be wrong. you can find my self-corrections under #corrections, but those are only things i or others have noticed, and that i've had the time to write a correction to and explain.

disclaimers out of the way, let's talk about tortie toms. (and torbie toms, and calico toms, it's all the same deal.)

if you know how ginger works, you can skip the next few paragraphs.

orange (ginger, red, etc.) is sex-linked in cats. what this means is that the gene that causes orange cats is on the x chromosome. it is also codominant, which means that having an orange x chromosome (Xo) and a non-orange x chromosome (X) is not black or orange, but both.

basically:

X or XX: black

Xo or XoXo: orange

XXo: tortoiseshell

yeah?

now, for the rest of this post, i'm going to be writing O and o instead of Xo and X because it's one less character and i don't run the risk of putting three x chromosomes together.

okay. so because torties need two x chromosomes, they're typically female. the way tortie itself works is basically, cells activate one of the genes (O or o) at random, creating patches. so you need two copies.

wikipedia says about a third of male torties have klinefelter's, which is the XXY karyotype. while this does have physical changes associated with it, the only way to confirm (humans have) klinefelter's is to test it genetically.

luckily, cats are very helpful about demonstrating it. what with them being tortie and all.

(we're also lumping in the variations of klinefelter's here. you can get XXYY, etc., and they all fit into the same broad idea.)

anyway, the extra x chromosome can come from either the mother or the father. this makes tortie toms...not quite easier, since the prereqs are the same, but y'know. if mom is Oo, dad doesn't matter. if mom is OO, dad has to be o, and if mom is oo, dad has to be O. same rules as usual.

XXY toms are going to be...not sterile, but pretty infertile. using human stats, about 50% can produce sperm, although the likelihood of them having kits is still low. humans with klinefelter's are also taller than average, so keep that in mind.

again, and this might be a correction on my part, i can't remember, but tortie toms aren't strictly going to be visibly different than other toms.

okay, so most people stop at klinefelter's, but there are two other ways to get tortie toms: mosiacism and chimerism. these are often confused/combined, but because i strive for generally being accurate, i'll go over them both.

mosaic cats carry multiple genetic lines, because of a mutation. this can either be somatic (happens in the body, is not hereditary), or germline (happens in reproductive cells of parents, is hereditary).

this is not always a gain of a line, you can lose a chromosome as well. the difference between somatic and germline and how it affects torties goes over my head, so i'm not going to speak to it, other than i'm pretty sure we're talking about somatic mosaicism. i think. again, not a biologist or geneticist, just a hobbyist with an internet connection.

right, so what happens is basically, some cells lose their extra x chromosome, giving you a cat with karyotype XXY/XY. these cats are more likely to be fertile and generally have less effects of klinefelter's. i'm not entirely sure how this affects tortie presentation, if at all, but it does happen.

i suppose you could also have some kind of mutation that gives you an extra x spontaneously, but that would be unlikely to cause torties, because it would also have to mutate into the other O allele.

again, i really want to stress that while i'm not bullshitting, i'm also not speaking definitively here.

last up is chimerism, where two embryos fuse in the womb, creating mixed genes.

i'm using a picture of a dog, here, because this is what goes through my head when i think of chimeras. you'll have to take my word for it, but while this would be a normal tortie cat, it can't really happen in dogs without some kind of mutation. and chimerism, given the extent of the patching, is pretty likely.

right! chimera torties are going to be, afaik, normal levels of fertile, although it's likely that they can pass on either black or red, not both.

(while i'm here, before we move on, there are a lot of types of chimeras. this type is called tetragametic chimerism, and it's rare in humans but more common in other animals. it's hard to know how common it is, because the differences are often very subtle, and hard to test. it's also not mutually exclusive with mosaics or klinefelter's, just to really muddy the waters.)

i don't have statistics for how common mosaics and chimeras are, and there's always, "a different type of mutation that doesn't fall into this category"

for mosaics and chimeras, the rules for inheritance seem to be the same as for klinefelter's. there's the added note that, because there can be multiple sires within one litter, a ginger queen could have kits with a ginger tom, and get a tortie son, as long as she also...ahem...with a black(/brown, etc.) tom. (or vice versa, with all brown and a ginger.)

okay! so that's basically how it happens.

as for the second part of this question, well. "is it better?" is a matter of opinion. i don't think anyone is wrong for having tortie toms. i don't care. (a) it is possible, and (b) we're all just having fun.

i, personally, do not think redtail is karyotype XX, because i like him being sandstorm's father with brindleface. idk. i like brindleface. yes, i know this raises huge genetic problems, and it's not very canon. i don't really care. i read that redtail fic where he thinks about sand&brindle as he's dying and it hasn't left me.

that said, i'm still a sucker for trans redtail. love it. idk, this is kind of hard to explain. like? it's not my headcanon, but i still appreciate it.

anyway! to the point: if you care about statistics and likelihoods and how many tortie toms you've had in the clan, yes, you're probably better off saving your chromosome anomalies for when they need to have kits, and using XX karyotype for the rest.

(under the cut: matthew rambles about trans cats and gender identity for a while)

i'm pretty sure cats don't have the western concept of gender. i don't think they have a human concept of gender, either, but at some point i need to be able to pin down something, and i think a third/fourth gender is closer to what they have.

i've been thinking about this a lot lately, because i decided i wasn't satisfied with my old approach to trans cats. i can do better than that. i decided cats don't have gendered pronouns, so why should the solution be, "trans cats don't really get to do anything about it"

no. i am dissatisfied with that.

at the same time, for specific reasons: i also don't think cats are trans in the western sense of the word.

because if for nothing else, remember that cat sexual dimorphism has a bigger effect on their life than in humans.

like, queens are going to be uncomfortable around male cats they don't hella trust and their kits. that doesn't go away if said male cat isn't a tom. y'know?

i'm in a constant state of tweaks with this, because i basically: form opinion, test opinion, refine opinion. my initial opinion was too harsh. and!

part of what's changed is i decided i wanted fernsong to be able to raise his kits in the nursery instead of ivypool. so i had to adjust how i think the nursery and queens work, slightly, to permit for that. now, i can turn back to gender and think about it some more.

i'm not going to coin any new terms, because i'm not in that kind of mood, but i think there is some idea of a female cat who is not a she-cat. i don't think the cats would call them a tom, but i'm not sure what they would say or how they would describe it.

i think they would just, on some level, get it.

actually okay you know what! i do need some lingo here. queens = cats who are raising kits in the nursery. she-cats = XX karyotype, considers self female (cis, if you will). toms = XY karyotype, considers self male (cis, again). and uh...we'll go with...

god i hate. i don't want anything i say in this ramble to be considered "words i am going to now use consistently" because i literally just need some way to describe this for my own sanity. with that in mind, let us use molly for XY karyotype, but not a tom, and...how about gib for XX karyotype, not a she-cat.

again, i don't want that to be considered permanent, i'm just fishing at words people use to describe cats so i can have something to work with.

right so, i don't think cats think gib and tom are equivalent, but i also don't think they (as a society) care about that.

like, okay, let's say redtail is XX, but not a she-cat. there's nothing to really be done (heck, if he wants to be a queen, that's still fine), cats don't have gendered pronouns or names, but at the same time, there's an intuitive understanding of what that means.

this kind of ties into the matriarchy, kind of? like, hm, queens are an important part of the matriarchy, but at the same time, she-cats inherit family lines. not that cats inherit much, but still.

i'm getting very abstract here. take, uh, like let's say a hypothetical trans mothwing. i think a lot of people have that headcanon?

and i think, like, mothwing would not be considered a tom. if cats had a concept of sexuality, leafpool would not be straight, because she likes mothwing, and mothwing is not a tom.

but! i would still think willowshine probably is the first line for nursery visits, at least when the kits are very young.

and i don't think anyone there would be unhappy with that deal.

right. i just kept rambling for a while, because i've been thinking about this and obviously it's semi-tied to the question.

tl/dr: cats don't care about gender, because they are cats meowing at each other in the woods. if a cat says they're not agab, everyone is just cool with that.

#ask #anon #essay #long #ask to tag #jic #mine #txt #genetics #redtail #warriors genetics #trans cats

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fakeloveaskblog · 3 years ago

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(Hi, me again. I’ve never played FNAF because I’m terrible with jump scares so I’ll take your word for my introduction being like Freddy Fazbear. I just say that because I have no idea how to start an ask so I use the same phrase every time, I’m glad it isn’t annoying. Anyway onto the ask.)

Hi Remus, the lawnmower ghost has returned. I have some ideas for presents you could give to Janus. The best gifts usually fall into one of two categories. Something that requires you to put thought into it, such as a book you know they have been wanting to get or something that requires time and effort, usually something homemade, like a drawing.

Alternatively one thing I often ask for in gifts (because I am the hardest person on the planet being in the void to buy gifts for.) is an experience, such as going to the park and buying ice cream or having lunch at a restaurant or watching a movie. In my personal opinion this is a good alternative if you are struggling to come up with a meaningful idea for a gift because experiences are often remembered more clearly than gifts unless the gift is particularly memorable, hence my previous statement about gifts that have a lot of thought or time and effort put into them.

I haven’t given many actual suggestions because I’m terrible at coming up with gift ideas but hopefully this did somewhat help, I wish you the best of luck in you search for the perfect gift (Disclaimer, the gift does not actually have to be perfect and attempting to achieve perfection is an unrealistic goal that will cause large amounts of stress.)

And have a fun fact. Did you know that It takes the death of 27,000 trees daily to make toilet paper for humans. That wasn’t such a fun fact in hindsight so I’ll try again. Did you know that horned lizards squirt blood from their eyes as a defense mechanism. There much better, have a nice day and remember to drink water and that you are worthy of love. Bye.

Remus had gotten a little excited and taken out one of the canvases that had been standing in the corner collecting dust for months now. He'd splatted the fake blood onto it. Tried different shades of it. It looked a bit like a very red very contorted very bloody shower right now.

"Hi lawnmover ghost! I'm creating! I'm like a demented god! I'm making a spooky shower since all showers are spooky! Very scary! You could trip and break your bones!! While NAKed!!"

He splashed some more color while listening to you. He'd gotten it all over his clothes.

"Wow I didn't know ghosts were also experts on gift giving. Very interesting. I still don't think anything made by me could even count as a gift. It would be like getting coal. I can't even get anyone to hire me for an art job....ehhh not that I've tried"

He wow-ed at you being in the void. He thought it was so cool he got the urge to use one of the canvases to paint a void.

"Oh I dunno about gifting an experience" He fiddled with his bloody shirt "I mean Jannie and I have already hung out at a bunch of different places. Maybe the gift would just feel like another annoying tuseday to him???.....I would enjoy going to hang out with Jannie as a gift...ugh that's so dorky of me"

He tapped his finger against his chin while wrinkling his forehead. He pouted a little just to himself. He dunked his head against the armseat of the couch behind him while letting out an annoyed groan.

You started to go on about the fun facts. Remus sighed and looked all sad to pity himself, even though he had been the one to make it so he was giving Janus a gift.

When you mentioned the lizard fact Remus' eyes suddenly went wide as he looked at you.

"It does WHAT!? That's so cool!!! I wanna fight people off by squirting blood from my face as well!!! OHOHOH! This is why reptiles really are the best animals!! They are so FUCKED UP!! I LOVE IT! I feel extreme kinship with these strange beasts!! I understand them! They understand me! This is why reptiles and Remy are actually the same! They understand me the same amount!!"

He jumped up on his feet and ran in place while flapping his arms around. He was about an inch away from stomping his drying painting to death

"I HAVE TO BUY A LIZARD!" Remus ran to grab his sister's second wallet (marked for him) he skid to a sudden stop "WAIT- You said water!" He ran to the kitchen and threw his head under the tap and gulped half a liter in before running to the wallet again. He'd forgotten he still had fake blood all over his clothes as he ran out of the apartment.

Half an hour later he ran back into the apartment with a 60 inch long snake around his shoulders.

"I BOUGHT A SNAKE INSTEAD!" He patted the snake on it's head "Her name is Carl!"

He sat Carl down on the couch and let it slither away to explore the apartment.

"I was gonna buy a lizard but then I remembered what Rowan tells me. I gotta think about M. E. D. S. before making drastic choices. Y'know my Mood/mental health. My Energy. My Dissociation/delusions. And my Spoons. And I dunno if I have enough energy to take care of a lizard full time. I can't take care of a child!!! Even if the child is scaled!! I'm not even 23 yet!! So I bought Carl- oh shit where's Carl"

Carl was trying to swallow an entire lamp. Remus picked her up and carried her back to the couch. He nuzzled his nose into her cold scales.

"So I bought Carl! For Janus!! I hope they will like her! They can rename her if they want to I guess. I hope it won't be like I'm throwing it onto them. I know they've been wanting a snake for a while. OHOHO maybe I could become the snake babysitter if Jannie ever goes on a trip or something"

Remus sunk further down into the couch. Carl wrapped around him as he let out a longing sigh. He fiddled with his thumbs and stared at the paint on the flesh decorations drying.

"Guess I'll just wait until the gathering and see if he likes it....just gotta wait....just a day or so..........wow waiting is horrible. Right Carl?"

Carl didn't respond because Carl was a snake.

#ask #thanks for the ask <3 #sanders sides #remus sanders

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kari-a-la-tari · 4 years ago

Text

The (Unneccessary) Lore of the WG Spanish Dubs

Aka me being like this meme for an entire post

OKAY so a couple of weeks ago I had just learned that there existed a Spanish version of Wordgirl called “La Chica Supersabia” which is honestly super cool cause who doesn’t wanna hear their show in a different language?

But alas, this ended up taking me into a much deeper rabbit hole than I was expecting and it’s honestly pretty interesting so I thought I’d share it with y’all!

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert by any means nor do I intend to come off as one, this is simply an elaborate essay of what I’ve found through my informal research. I will also be translating anything in Spanish to the best of my extent, so I apologize if I mess up a bit with the wording since it’s not my native language.

So then *places a baseball cap with glued lightbulb on my head* let’s get started shall we?

Okay so first things first, there are a couple of select episodes of La Chica Supersabia (I’ll use LCS from here on) available on the internet. The most reliable source that I’ve found is on an old Facebook account here where a fan would upload LCS episodes based on when they aired. However, the only episodes available are a select few from season one.

Now this got my mind thinking “Hey, what if there’s more episodes?” So naturally, I started scoundering on Google (like the rat I am) to see if there was indeed more. And according to this one site there are only two seasons of LCS that were dubbed.

Translation: In Latin America, the first season premiered on Discovery Kids August 3, 2009, while the second season premiered on the same channel January 11, 2010, being the only two seasons issued. (Source)

However, later on I discovered that there was some mislead in that info because someone else found a Spanish episode that was from season 3, which doesn’t make sense because why would there be another season available when it clearly says that they technically shouldn’t exist? (Btw I tried finding it myself cause I did see that episode before but for some reason now I can’t find it dhdvvdbdvd 😭)

At first I thought maybe this is just some info added from a fan. After all, that statement was posted on a Spanish Wikipedia page so it is possible. So I began looking for other articles that talked about the Spanish dubs, but they all said the same thing. Well, until I came up with this site that said two very intriguing things:

Translation: The series actually had 3 seasons and is dubbed in Caracas, Venezuela. On May 2012 the series stopped running on daytime hours and was removed from the programming one year later, on June 17, 2012. It is unknowns if it will be aired by another channel or come back to the Discovery Kids programming, besides only the two first seasons were dubbed in Spanish. (Source)

I was a little bit confused here with the wording because it still didn’t confirm my original questions; if anything it left me with more. But then I read the next section below which got me completely off track.

Translation: The series received negative critics and complains on behalf of parents of families in Latin America that claimed that it wasn’t appropriate for the objective public of Discovery Kids. Without doubt in the U.S. the series had been well received and even won an Emmy award for Jack D. Ferraiola, writer and coproductor of the series together with the creator of the same show, Dorothea Gillim, who declared the following in respective to the series: (Source)

Now this one took me by a whirlwind: WTH why was this version hated by people in Latin America while it’s adored by everyone in the U.S.?? And I watched some episodes of LCS and while the dubbing is pretty funny (lol) there wasn’t anything inappropriate about it. For the most part they stuck on script with the original episode they had to dub.

So I dove even deeper...

And o h m y g o d there is an answer to this.

Translation: The program premiered in Latin America on August 2009 on the Discover Kids channel, aiming at pre schoolers. Although the channel gave a lot of promotion for the show during the final months of 2009 and the majority of 2010, at the end of the year they decided to change the programming to nighttime hours because the show received a lot of critics from parents saying that the show was too “violent” and that it encouraged kids to lie to their parents (due to the obvious fact that Becky had to give an excuse everytime she had to leave to turn into WordGirl and save the day), and they complained constantly on the message boards now deleted of the channel. The program was eliminated completely on June 2012, without doubt, PBS maintained the Spanish dubs so that they would use for SAP (Second Audio Program) in the U.S. in a different studio (Dubbing House in Mexico and later Lorry Post in Miami, FL), but the program no longer returned to Discovery Kids until August 2014. (Source)

And DUDE no y’all this was just a complete hilarious yet ridiculous slap to the face. I mean..what the, why was that the reasoning as to why it was hated so much? Just cause of some literal PG kid friendly cartoon violence? And what do parents mean when they say it teaches them to lie to their parents?? I mean with all due respect, who was Discovery Kids target audience they had in mind vs. what it actually was? Because if there actual audience was very very young kids, they okay sure I can understand the need to point fingers at them in that sense. But if it was for slightly older kids (8-10 years old), then I think that parents can probably show kids at that age the reasoning behind why Becky lied in the show (not to mention that most kids at that age can understand what’s going on for the most part).

“Now is this actually true?” some of you may ask, which is understandable since this is coming from a wiki page. Well, I think it’s about time I put another disclaimer: sadly for the most part, the majority of these sources that I’ve attached have broken links when it comes to their references. And the ones that aren’t broken don’t mention anything about the topics that have been discussed here. But there are some smaller sources I’ve found here (look at the last three comments) and here that do indeed confirm that the show was canceled due to the force of parents.

However, the current grey area I’m in still is on the Spanish dubbing listing. See, I originally thought that there were three different dubbings according to this one post below (M&M Studios, Dubbing House and Lorry Post). I even thought I cracked it since according to this chart below the rest of the seasons were under the Dubbing House studios! However, it turns out that one of the studios Lorry Post doesn’t actually exist. Like nothing related to dubbing came up at all when I searched it up.

Translation: Dubbing Studio 1 - M&M Studios (Seasons 1-2). Dubbing Studio 2 - Dubbing House (Seasons 3-8). Dubbing Studio 3 - Lorry Post (Season 8 - final episodes). (Source)

And then that’s when I took a harder look at this website and realized that it’s part of a Spanish Wiki page called “Propuestas de Fans de Doblaje” (Fan Proposals for Dubs). *insert facepalm emoji* And just...I honestly feel so dumb that I didn’t notice that detail when I did my initial research cause that would’ve saved me a lot of time 😤. Anywho so that explains the Lorry Post mystery, but then lies the other question: do the other dubs exist?

Well, this is where I draw the line. See, on that same wikipage, it mentions that LCS had completely different voice actors for each of the dubbings. The first dub (M&M) is from Venezuela and after looking at the VA’s, they can be traced back to LCS. But after looking at the VA’s for the second dub (Dubbing House) in Mexico, there is nothing related to them and LCS or WG. Not even on movie databases.

“Now are you gonna give up on this idea?” you may ask. And the answer is......

No.

Why? Well, it’s mainly because there is a compellingly set of evidence that proves that the first two dubs do actually exist, which is...

youtube

THIS VIDEO, which shows that there were not one, but two variations of the LCS Spanish theme song. The first one is the Spanish version, and the second one that plays is the Venezuela version. And if you can remember, there were 2 dubbings of LCS; one located in Mexico (Dubbing House) and another In Venezuela (M&M Studios)!

Anywhosole, that is where I conclude this elaborate essay of mine. There are still a couple of loose strings here and there that I wanna check out myself but I’ve already tired myself out with this essay. I hoped you liked seeing me lose my mind speculate on the LCS episodes! This was honestly pretty fun ngl, maybe I’ll try doing this again in the future if something else interesting pops up! If you have anything you wanna add or maybe point out something that I may have forgotten, please by all means bring it up!

#warning: I have already lost my sanity over this entire essay /hj #my discord peeps have already been exposed to a good part of this already a heh heh #but I have learned some new things so this is more of an updated version for those who wanna see me lose my mind 🙂#AGAIN #wordgirl #word girl #wordgirl lore #theorizing cap time!!

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rosy-wooyoung · 5 years ago

Text

The incident | Jeong Yunho

Word count: around 3.1k (wow, I’m impressed, it’s the second time I manage to do this lol) Pairing: single mom! reader x doctor! Yunho (I need to calm down with single parents AU) Genre: fluff, light angst if you squint (mostly the reader being sad that her daughter doesn’t have a dad.) A/N: I’m sorry if you find that the fic is sometimes “flat”, I tried to settle the atmosphere to make go at a “normal” pace... I also had this idea of Yunho as a doctor for a while, but @iis4d managed to give me a great ending plot, thank you so much!! The gif isn’t mine and as nothing to do with the fic, he’s just cute there (san too but shht) Disclaimer: I have no absolute knowledge of the medical world so if you see any incoherencies... bare with me.

You were stroking your daughter’s head, a groan of pain escaped from her mouth. After work, you picked her up from preschool and she begged you to take her to the park. You had found a quiet corner near a playground, where she was playing and having fun on the slide as well as the swing. You were sitting at a picnic table in the shade, reading a report to save time for tonight. A piercing scream followed by cries pulled you from your concentration, recognising your daughter's voice. Several adults had rushed to Haerin, who was holding her leg at the foot of the slide, violent sobs shaking her. "Haerin, darling," you whispered, stroking your daughter's head, very worried. You touched her knee and she screamed in pain; her cries crushed your heart, and you were helpless. "You have to take her to the emergency room," a dad said and got you out of your concern. You nodded, trying to stay as calm as possible, not wanting to pass your stress on to your daughter. Trying to lift her in a way that would cause her the least harm, you couldn't help but grimace when Haerin clung to your shoulders. A mother handed her son to her husband and gathered your things for you, wrapping your jacket and bag around your shoulder. You thanked her and headed to your car.

Haerin's sobs didn't subside, screaming in pain despite your careful driving. You avoided the sharp turns and the speed bumps, but nothing helped, she yelled with each car's movement.

"We're there soon, darling, we're going to take care of you, okay? Mommy stays with you." You were trying not to panic and contain your tears, but it was hard with your daughter's sobs that served as background noise to the hospital.

When you got there, you rushed out of the car and opened the back door. "Do you see the doors over there?" You questioned your daughter, unfastening her seat belt. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and nodded, a cry came out of her mouth when you lifted her. “People will take care of you there. It’s their job, they’ll be very nice to you, don’t worry." "Mommy, it hurts." "I know darling, but you're strong, it will be okay, Mommy promises." You walked with your daughter in your arms to the sliding emergency doors and the hospital world overwhelmed you. Everyone was running, screaming some vocabulary you didn't understand, people in beds between life and death were passing by you. A young nurse saw you standing in the middle of the hallway and ran to you. "My daughter," tears came to your eyes as you saw him approach you, your anxiety suddenly taking control of your body, "she fell from the slide, I wasn't looking after her, her leg hurts a lot and-" "Breathe, Madam, we'll take care of your daughter. Hand her to me, I'll put her in a bed.” Despite her pain, Haerin didn't want to leave your arms. She was very shy by nature and had no father by her side, she always had trouble going into the arms of a male relative or your friends. The nurse softly smiled at your daughter's whims, who had plunged her head into the crook of your neck to avoid the eyes of the nurse. "Hey," he said, stroking her cheek with his finger, looking up at you to get her name. You whispered it to him, and he continued, "Haerin, my name is San and I'm here to help you. If you let me carry you, I will put you in a bed and you will feel a bit better. Mommy will follow us, but you two will be more comfortable. What do you think about that?" Haerin pouted at the nurse and looked at you as if she wanted to be sure that she could trust him. You smiled at her, reassuring her that she was safe with him. She nodded and San took her from your arms. She continued to cry but San reassured her by softly rubbing her back while whispering comforting words. Another nurse came to take notes of the incident.

"I'm going to call the paediatrician, but I think your daughter needs an x-ray. Given her screams, her leg must be broken." You nodded, your hands shaking when the nurse handed you a pen to sign some papers. "But don't worry, the paediatrician working here is an expert, he’ll take good care of your daughter." "Thank you, sir." The man smiled at you and left to enter an office, a few doors away from you. You returned to your daughter, who was now lying in a bed, her leg immobilised. She had dozed off and the male nurse was at her bedside. "Your colleague told me it was more serious than it sounds," A tense smile appeared on his lips. "It’s likely yes, but first we’ll see the paediatrician’s diagnosis, he should be there soon." You nodded and sat on the other side of the bed, stroking her cheek.

Someone knocked on the door and entered. A tall man in a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck appeared in the room, holding the papers you signed in his hands. He was followed by the male nurse with whom you spoke in the hallway. "Hello Madam, I am Jeong Yunho and I am the paediatrician that will take of your daughter.” He held out his hand to you which you shook and smiled weakly. The smile he sent back was reassuring, but you didn't pay much attention to it. "So Haerin fell off the slide, right?" "Yes, unfortunately. I was reading a report while she was playing. It's my fault, I haven't watched her enough. If I had paid attention to her, she wouldn't have fallen, and she wouldn't have broken her leg, and all this would not have happened." "Ah kids, you always have to be careful with children, they are real little balls of energy. They sometimes think they are stronger than they are and troubles like that happen. But we're going to take care of it. San, did you give her painkillers?" "Yes," replied San, "but not much given her age and size." Yunho nodded and sanitised his hands. He grabs your daughter's leg with measured delicacy, his digits softly feeling her bones. His neutral face didn't reassure you at all.

"From what I can tell, your daughter has a severely broken leg. I could put a cast on her directly, but I want to be sure of the state of her leg by doing an x-ray, and, according to the result, it will have to be operated. Yeosang, please go prepare one in the paediatric ward. " "Immediately, Sir." The medic named Yeosang left the room, his medical phone in his hand. Yunho turned to you. "Do you have someone, your husband or... I don’t know, a friend who can bring you things in case you have to stay longer than expected?"

You bit your lower lip, doubtful, thinking about who you could call. Under the stressing situation you were currently into, no one came to mind. "I don't know who could help me," you replied, avoiding his gaze. Yunho looked surprised but said nothing. Yeosang entered the room again, warning the doctor that everything was ready. He ordered San to take your daughter there and he removed the brakes from the bed, taking her out with Yeosang's help.

"We're going to do an x-ray and during this time, you can go back home and take all the things you need. We'll take care of her, don't worry." He placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder and you nodded. "I know you are worried about your daughter, but-" "I know who I can call," you suddenly cut him off, fumbling with your pocket as you searched for your phone. You dialled your colleague's number and explained the situation. She immediately agreed and you sighed in relief. You went out to join Yunho who was waiting in the hallway, giving you some privacy while you made your phone call. "Did you find someone?" "Yes, she's coming." "Very well, then. Follow me, it's over there."

Haerin was terrified of going alone in the machine. You were trying to reassure her as best you could, but your anxiety must have shown so much on your face that she was even more opposed to going, tightly holding your hand. You sighed and San gave you a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, I'm wasting your time..." "You know, we've already had more temperamental children. Those who yell for nothing are much more annoying than your daughter. She is stubborn but she's adorable. And Doctor Jeong has a lot of patience, so don't worry."

The latter approached your daughter and crouched down to be at her eye level. He whispered something to her, taking out a small pink teddy bear from his pocket, waving it in front of her face with a huge smile. He made the little bear speak and your daughter laughed, her cheeks all red. He handed her the plushie which she gently took in her little hands, hugging it close to her. "Yeosang, it's all good, you can hand her to Jongho." You hug your blazer tightly as you watch your daughter’s bed go away with Yeosang and Jongho, apparently the radiologist. He brightly smiled at Haerin, noticing her worried face. San stayed by your side, trying to bring you a sort of reassurance.

"Have you eaten anything? You are livid." San looked at you from the side with a frown, waiting for an answer. "Not since noon," you admitted, still looking at the door your daughter had gone through moments ago. "Go eat something, I don't want anything to happen to you." "But I want to be there when she returns." "It won’t last long, but you have plenty of time to go buy something to eat. Please do it for your daughter, but for you too."

Once you bought a snack and a drink, you were about to close the elevator doors when a familiar figure entered your field of vision. Your colleague was there, holding a travel bag. You called out to her, blocking the doors to get out. "Thank you so much, I will return you a favour for that." "Don't worry about it. I tried to put everything you could need; I hope I didn't forget anything. How is she by the way?" "She's in radiology right now, I'm scared for her." "Will you be okay? Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything." "I hope I will. Thank you so much, you're amazing." She hugged you and left, letting you head again to the elevators to find Haerin.

Ten minutes after entering the room, the door opened onto a bed. Haerin had her whole right leg plastered and she was sleeping, still tightly holding the small pink teddy bear against her. Yunho and San entered your room, the latter blocking the bed wheels and immediately leaving, after smiling at you.

"Your daughter's condition is stable, but her leg was in worse condition than I thought." Yunho opened the file and sat on the chair next to you, showing you the x-rays. He explained that the fall had caused a significant fracture in the tibia, but it had also caused a breach that went up to the knee, hence her hellish howls. “Haerin was very courageous, a true little warrior. The x-ray and the plastering went well, she didn't flinch. However, she needs to stay in the hospital for several more days. Do you think you can stay by her side or...?" "No... no, I'm going to have to take time off from work." Too many thoughts and remorse were jostling in your head, tears coming to your eyes. "I'm such a bad mother." You murmured, bursting into tears. Yunho frowned, closing his file and placing it on the edge of the bed. "Why would you say that?" "If I hadn't read this report, if I had watched her, we would not be there. We would be at home without a broken leg. I take care of her on my own, I have always managed like this since her birth. It's in cases like this that I wish I had someone by my side to help me." "But all of that doesn't make you a bad mother, it's quite the opposite. You are full of courage and talent. You have managed to do everything on your own for the past four years, you can be proud of yourself. It's certainly easier and more practical to raise a child with someone else, but your situation proves that you can also do it alone.” He handed you a tissue to dry your tears, which you gladly took. You could feel that he wanted to comfort you but other than words, he didn’t really know how he could make you feel better.

“Do you work 100% every day or are you sometimes off-peak?" “I work from 8am to 6pm every day, my only off-peak hours are my lunch breaks." Yunho grimaced at your answer. "Well. I will assign the two nurses you saw to look after your daughter and I will come and see her sometimes. Is that okay with you?" "But aren't you overworked?" You wiped your sobs with the back of your hand while clutching the tissue in your other hand, looking up at the doctor. "You know, I'm not the only paediatrician on this service, I can assign tasks to my colleagues. Some take advantage of the fact that I love my job to let me do everything, but I will make them work until Haerin is back on her feet. I can do this to discharge you, there is no problem." "Aren't you going to get into trouble because of us?" "No, I assure you, and that doesn't annoy me at all. Haerin is a nice, polite little girl, you educated her well. She remained calm and quiet when she was asked, it made our job easier, believe me." He smiled and dared to rub your shoulder for comfort. "Thank you, Doctor." You murmured, your voice laced with tears as a shiver ran through your body. “Go home and get some sleep, you have to be healthy for work. Your daughter wouldn’t want to see her Mommy like this. We will keep you updated if there is any problem."

A few long days after her accident, you were relieved to see Haerin awake and in great shape. Yunho and the two male nurses took great care of her, treating her like a princess and she absolutely loved it. This closeness to men she didn't personally know made you realise that, everything would have been easier if she had a father. You sighed, a twinge in your heart appearing, regretting not being able to give her the manly figure she needed. He left you as soon as you told him the happy news. You had hoped he would have come back for her birth, but he never did.

You knew you weren't the only single mom on Earth, yet you couldn't help but feel ashamed when someone mentioned a potential partner you could have or the missing one. You blamed yourself for not having chosen someone trustworthy enough to make him Haerin's father. "Mommy?" A frail voice pulled you from your thoughts, "Mommy, are you crying?" You wiped away your tears quickly and smiled at your daughter. She narrowed her eyes to see you better, the morning rays of the sunshine tapping in her room made her look like an angel coming straight out from Heaven. "No darling, don't worry. Everything is fine." Haerin continued to stare at you, not understanding your sad face. She was too innocent to understand your situation. Preventing her from questioning you further, Yunho and San entered the room. Haerin's face lit up, arms reaching for the two men, her actions surprising you. San ruffled her hair and she wrapped her small arms around Yunho's forearm.

"Haerin! How are you? Did you sleep well?" Yunho looked up, smiling. He saw you, surprised to see you here so early in the morning. "Ma'am! Aren't you at work? I thought that- " "I know, I should be at work, but my boss heard about the accident from my colleague and ordered me to come here. She walked me out of the office and drove me there." You answered with an amused look. "Good, I'm glad you're here." He stared at you with a slight smile, a little too long according to San, who cleared his throat, bringing Yunho back to reality. "Yes, well. Once your daughter is out, she will have to recover by staying still. She's young but small, the crutches are likely to make her tired very quickly. I can either offer you to keep her here for another week or two or send you nursing staff to come and provide care and supervision." Yunho turned to your daughter and gave her a big smile which she immediately returned. "What do you choose, Haerin?" "If I go back to Mommy, will you come home to take care of me?" You almost choked on your own saliva at your daughter's boldness. You frowned and corrected her. "Haerin! This is inappropriate!"

The two men laughed at the situation and Haerin looked at you innocently. "Normally not," Yunho answered, drawing your daughter’s attention again,"but I can visit you and your mom from time to time if you want." "And you don't want to see Yeosang or me?" San added with a pout and smiled at your daughter, tilting his head towards her. You gave her a stern look and San smiled again, his dimples appearing. Haerin didn't know what to say, and honestly neither did you. Before, she was shy around every man she encountered, but here she can't even decide between the three men. "Can't the three of you come?" Haerin whispered and San chuckled. "Haerin." You interrupted the discussion in a firm voice. "We don't live in a mansion and you cannot ask for this! It’s impolite! You should already consider yourself lucky to have one of them coming to see you! I didn't raise you like that." You were embarrassed about your daughter's behaviour, but San shook his head and reassured you with a smile.

"Okay Haerin, I'll come." Yunho turned to look at you. "I hope you don't mind?" "Don't worry, I just hope there will be enough room for three." You murmured. San's cell phone rang, walking out of the room as he answered. Yunho sat down on the chair next to you and turned his back to your daughter. "Are you really sure? I don’t want to be assertive." "No, no. It’s already nice of you to give my daughter so much time, she’s never been that close with a man. And then Haerin will have company, she will be happy. It's the only thing that matters to me."

Yunho nodded, a smile decorating his lips. His cheeks and ears were slightly red. He rummaged in the pockets of his blouse and took out a piece of paper which he handed to you. You discovered a phone number messily written and looked up at the doctor. "It's... this is my private number, call me if you need anything. I'm bringing Haerin home Tuesday afternoon, is that okay?" "It's perfect, thank you very much, Doctor." "Call me Yunho, I think we're going to be spending a lot of time together, from now on." He smiled at you and stood up, waving at your daughter, leaving you in your chair, processing the words he had just said to you.

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larktb-archive · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! I'm too shy to come off anon, but I need your help understanding something. I hope I'm not bothering you!!

I don't want to interact with anyone who is a fascist, but I'm not entirely sure what makes someone fascist. Can you please explain it to me?

I know I could look it up myself, but I know that not all definitions online can be correct and I just want your perspective;;

Thanks!

Hi anon! Well, fascism comes in many forms so “sussing out who’s a fascist” is technically a little harder to do than having a simple checklist. After all, doesn’t a White Supremacist have different beliefs to a Japanese fascist? And doesn’t a Japanese fascist have different beliefs to a Wahabist? These beliefs clash don’t they? Well, yes and no. Sure the surface level beliefs are different but the underlying core beliefs of these groups are actually quite similar; it’s the specifics which are different. Even though it isn’t a “bible” on what is fascism and shouldn’t be taken as gospel, Umberto Eco has an essay called “Ur-Fascism” which contains 14 points, which can help us identify whether certain beliefs are fascist no matter the specifics of their belief system. I’ll explain the points in short and give some examples. Quick disclaimer, I am not an expert on fascism or any of the ideologies I’ll discuss by any means so if you aren’t taking Umberto Eco’s writing as the 100% correct truth, definitely don’t take mine as that either (this is how you should treat most sources tho):

1. Cult of Tradition and 2. Rejection of modernity

I put these two together because they’re kind of inseparable. This is basically the idea that there was a “glorious past” that people need to return to and modernity is a corruption of that “glorious past”. In British fascist thought, this past is generally the 19th century at the zenith of the British Empire or mid-20th century Britain. The latter is more common for people who wish to be a little more PC with their writings; instead of trying to use a by-gone era that pretty much no one alive can remember, they use a much more recent time with nostalgic ideas of “the good old days” which doesn’t seem threatening on it’s surface but is dogwhistling for a time when there weren’t as many immigrants in the country.

You may have seen the “reject modernity, embrace tradition” meme and it’s pretty much the most obvious incarnation of this idea. Similarly you may seen people online use “degenerate” as an insult. If you look at the meaning of the degenerate it means “having lost the physical, mental, or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline”; it’s microcosm of these ideas put into a single insult. This is why you tend to see conservatives use it more than progressives.

I’d also argue that terfs obsession with 2nd wave feminism and their utter rejection of intersectionality and modern feminism is another manifestation of this idea.

3. Action for actions sake

This is less detectable in terms of individuals but still important to note that these people tend to support action without a cause. Sure the insurrection at the white house earlier this year was action, but it had no substance behind it. It was action for actions sake, which is why any principled leftist didn’t support it. Fascists will tend to openly just call for action but won’t be very specific about the purposes of the action; as long as they agree with the ideology behind it they’ll support it. It’s why fascists love harassment campaigns and mindless acts of terror. Take Wahabist terrorist orgs like Al-Qaeda or ISIS, it doesn’t matter if bombing an Ariana Grande concert has no point, the only point is the action itself.

4. Disagreement is treason

This one’s pretty self explanatory, they will ostracize you if you disagree with them. Again, terfs tend to do this, and I had a long conversation with an ex-terf I called a dumbass, who basically said that she was ostracized by them and mocked for having different beliefs (hope she’s doing well actually). There’s numerous stories from ex-terfs like this.

5. Fear of difference

There’s a tendency for fascists to group people into “us” and “them”. “They” are considered to be intruders who need to be removed whereas “we” are the people who deserve to be here because it is “our” right to be here. In Zulu Nationalism, this tends to be any non-Zulu speakers who they deem to be “Shangaan” even if they aren’t actually Tsonga, it’s just a pejorative at this point. If you see vague references to the “elite” without any reference to who they are and what makes them “elite”, this is tends to be a dogwhistle for Jewish people. Western Fascists have very little issue with the workings of capitalism itself or the accumulation of wealth by capitalists, they just don’t like “them”, taking “our” stuff. Any references to “us” and “them” is pretty much a red flag.

6. Appeal to Social Frustration

Fascists will tend to brush upon actual issues faced by the poor today but will instead blame it on an outside force. You’ll see job loss being blamed on immigrants or vague “elites”. Terfs do this too. They’ll see young girls who are genuinely struggling with patriarchal issues and divert all that pent up rage towards trans people and the “q*eers” (which they do tend to use as a slur unlike what most people would have you think).

7. Obsession with a Plot

Everything is a conspiracy! The election was rigged! 9/11 was fake! that fucking pizza place/this furniture company is a sex ring! All of these are supposedly plots by the deep state who are trying to do... something or other. You’ll notice these “Plots” don’t actually have a purpose, but the fact that there is a plot itself is the issue. This is a way of engendering paranoia in the group while also feeling that there is a constant war against you even if there isn’t. This is also why, despite news sources being pro-capitalist the right will swear up and down it’s leftist media which is controlled by “them” (usually just meaning Jewish people).

8. The enemy is both strong and weak

“Trans people have infiltrated academia and the only reason people refuse to see gender as an immutable biological concept, is because they’re too afraid of the trans cabal to say anything. But also everyone can tell trans people are crazy and haha you have a high suicide rate.” It’s contradictory that’s the point. They need to feel that they’re both counterculture but also they need to be winning at all times so that contradiction is necessary. Also the use of the word “cabal” is a pretty big red flag for all forms of fascism.

9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy, 10. Contempt for the weak, 11. Everybody is educated to become a hero and 12. Machismo and weaponry

All of these are kind of interrelated so I’m grouping them together (also this is already fucking long as hell so I don’t wanna bore you any further). You’ll tend to see a love for the military or at least military aesthetics when looking through fascist blogs. Guns aren’t just a tool for fascists, they’re representative of masculinity and the necessity of violence. Pacifists and anyone who refuses to fight are weak and therefore are “degenerate”. If you do not fight, if you are not willing to fight, you cannot be a “hero” (an ubermensch or a matyr). This comes with the fetishization of violence instead of the recognition of violence being an means to an end, and the worship of individuals rather than of communities and organizations. Take Japanese fascists and their lionisation of the imperial military and their desire to once again have an actual army.

Terfs don’t necessarily fit these roles except for arguably 10 considering how much they seem to look down upon the mentally ill and those who commit suicide and surprisingly 11 since that involves the hatred of non-standard sexual activities and terfs hate non-standard sex (this is from the most vanilla bitch who is very uncomfortable with kink but understands its not inherently good or bad). I have a feeling this is more so because terfs are mainly women (there are male terfs ofc) whereas this was written for male led organizations.

13. Selective populism

When fascists talk about “the people” they tend to mean “the people we like”. “The working class” can be translated to “this cishet white christian man from Minnesota who owns land but hey he lives in a rural area so he’s working class right?”. They’ll also tend to have “tokens” who will suddenly become the mouth piece of the entire community they’re supposedly representing even if no one in the community asked them to (i.e. Milo Yiannopoulos).

14. Ur fascism speaks Newspeak

They speak in terms which are both inaccessible to anyone outside of their circles whilst being so simple that once you learn them it becomes easy to understand. They abhor any form of “academic” speech so you’ll rarely see them source things (unless those things happen to agree with their views, which is rare but Jordan Peterson is popular for a reason) and if they do source things they probably wouldn’t have read them fully and will rely on you also not reading them. This is to limit any critical thinking so that your brain is basically jellified into an unquestioning organ which only responds “yes” or “no” and only appeals to a higher authority without any form of reasoning involved. This is why they complain about “the lefts memes being too wordy”... because they’re used to not having to read (this is somewhat tongue in cheek but heyho if the boot fits).

And that’s the 14 main features of fascism, if anyone is displaying multiple of these ideas then they are most likely fascist, and if an organization or group continuously replicates these ideas, then they are definitely fascist. I hope this wasn’t too long but like I said... very complex topic. (Also hopefully this is written well, it’s 10 PM and I am surviving off Irn Bru energy drink). Hope this helped!

#long post #lillypad.txt #ask away #Anon

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rosehipsister · 5 years ago

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If you don’t mind, care to share any thoughts on hydroponics in the zones? Cause I had an oc based around that that I ended up scrapping cause I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. And in that same vein, do you see solarpunk being big in the desert? love all this Lore you’ve been putting out :D

IGHT. My head is torturing me again but i got excited talking about zones, so most of that will be under readmore, incoherent. It’s my first thoughts, feel free to specify.

Disclaimer: i’m not an expert. I’m an unemployed artist in the city sitting on my ass, even though my family was growing our food since i was 6 and till i was 23. Also i know shit all about USA and California area (i can only google). Disclaimer 2: my views are usually very optimistic, i’m talking best case scenarios. What i (or you) build on them - depends.

Why couldn’t we make hydroponics work in this setting? Water is easier to decontaminate as soil in my unexperienced opinion.

What next? Seed reserves? Might have survived on farms at some point. California has those, or am i mistaken? A lot of it is fruit though. Electricity? Well, Batcity sure has more of that, but technically you can use both wind and sun yourself armed with knowledge and sweet, sweet theft.

Sure we have a soil problem - acidity, heavy metals (radiation not so much, surprisingly, if we accept the helium bomb theory and forget about anything i forgot to mention myself). You won’t grow grains efficiently in your basement. I tried to look at replanting techniques for old industrial sites, but the rough pattern is usual. Plant something that will clean the soil, dispose, add organics. Rinse and repeat, which is tricky when you live in an ecological disaster.

Hydroponics, with enough water and power, can give you tomatoes, peppers, cabbages and herbs. Other places can get mushrooms but if i start thinking about realistic perspectives of growing them in the zones rn, i’ll die. Same with any kind of animals, i’m not qualified to talk.

Look, my point is - city sure does it, and does it well. They gotta eat. What chance there is that the zones and outer lands had the technologies before and during the wars? What chance there is that city tried to outsource at early stages? What chance there is that if you try and painstakingly resurrect the farmland, you'll get some results eventually? The chance, my friend, is there. Not like you have millions to feed, not anymore.

Though you will need to lead a settled life for that. Sorry, killjoy fans. Stick to scavenging, theft and trading, my bright-haired friends.

Solarpunk... i’m not really big on solarpunk, which means i don’t follow what is, and what isn’t defined as such. You’ll clearly need to rethink your way of living with a land that no longer is forgiving, i think that qualifies! I honestly don’t know if zones will fit the aesthetic of it, but people always want something pretty to look at, and the way you live will sure determine it.

#danger days #i feel like i'm not making much sense but that's me and english sentence structure #Anonymous

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smolbeandrabbles · 5 years ago

Text

Pride: Favourite Scar - Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody x Reader (Animal Kingdom)

Okay, as my Virtues/Sin’s are all Mendos. This one is specific to Movie!Andrew. That doesn’t mean however, that you can’t read it as Show!Andrew. (Just... edit the colour of his eyes and the place as appropriate...)

Author’s Note: Thank you for your request @mandy23b - This one is all yours 💜

I really like the take on Pride = Proud Actually I kinda mixed together the three premises you send me a little so I hope you enjoy 😘 Disclaimer: Animal Kingdom and all characters/ideas by the wonderful David Michod 💙 / Lyrics not mine Premise As Requested: I have this idea in my head that Smurf doesn’t like you. It’s clear she has an unhealthy attachment to her children and here you are, turning all of his attention from her to you. And I get the feeling Andrew doesn’t care for her attention, like it annoys him to have her dote on him so he’s happy to give his attention to you. So she’s cruel and mean to you. And maybe you’re not the first she’s done this to but you’re the one who stands her ground and doesn’t let Smurf push you around. And he’s so proud? Proud to call you his and proud to call himself yours? Or just moments of pride like that. Like working a job and you’re not scared to get dirty and take control and boss the other boys around and he doesn’t show it but he adores you? I don’t know… he’s my softie and I just want him and I want him to have someone he can love and trust, even if he’s extremely stoic in his affections Words: 4492 Warnings: Swearing / If you squint there’s Pre-Amble.

_________

What you wanna talk about? Wanna stay up all night? Wanna scream and shout, sign me up then Ain’t nothing to worry about, I can take it all, that’s right, I’m your number one, don’t forget that. Every word, every scar, Messed up thing that we are, I’ll take it all, boy, better turn up your radio. I never felt like this, you shot me through my heart, Pain never felt so good, boy, you’re my favourite scar I never felt like this, you shot me through my heart, All eyes on me in the middle of the street screaming out your name And it sounds like... you shot me through the heart, You are my favourite scar. What you wanna know about ? Want me to tell you all of my sins, yeah, you first. One shot and you got me and this scar everybody sees on me, Baby, it says that I’m with you.

--- Maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand... You are an expert at sorry, And keeping the lines blurry Never impressed by me acing your tests All the girls that you've run dry Have tired, lifeless eyes 'Cause you burned them out But I took your matches before fire could catch me, So don't look now, I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town --- noun

A feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Driving a jeep up the coastline in the blazing hot summer sunshine, full of girls in sunshades blasting music, attracted about as much attention as you expected it to. Cruising around and looking for all the right trouble in all the wrong places. At more than one point you had to tell the two in the back to quiet down, as their cat-calling to the array of men strolling down the promenade, minding their own damn business, got a little too raunchy. You had one arm out of the window, tapping your painted nails against your car’s own paintwork. Sometimes you wondered if they only listened to you because you were the assigned leader of the group – but as long as they were still listening. Eventually they got bored of picking on men and decided you, being in the car, were the easier target. “Hey! Y/N! Aren't you dating a Cody!?” That instantly made you smirk. Here we go! The Cody’s – not necessarily a rival crew, but similar work. None of you were related, but you were all very good friends – the Cody’s on the other hand were family. You’d always thought breaking into that might be hard, but not necessarily. “Why do you spend do much time with their crew now!?” You gave a shrug, taking another turn off to take a costal road out of the city; time for a bit more scenery and peace and quiet, you felt; “Cuz he’s hotter than all of you! And yeah I am!” you laughed “What is it to any of you anyway?!” “Well you know that we’re your crew right-!? Anyway, they already have a female member.” “I’m not necessarily sure Smurf counts as a member… But she does tell ‘em what to do – what’s your point?” There was sudden silence, like you’d dare say it; “Well… We just… we’ve heard things…” You sighed; okay, you had to admit you were happy that they worried about you – but honestly who did they think you were? It wasn’t like you didn’t know the life – you were living it yourself. Still, you humoured their concern; “What things?” “Well. She certainly doesn’t like other woman around them.” You quirked an eyebrow; “And?” but you knew exactly what they were implying. “We just want you to be careful!” You scoffed, pushing your shades further up your nose; “You guys worry too much!” *** You dropped off the girls at each of their respective houses; most of them lived together... For your own reasons you lived in a little flat alone. Because sometimes you just preferred your own company. Caleigh, your right-hand girl, refused to exit your car. "What?" you huffed, clearly impatient "You're going to go see him again, aren't you!?" "Yeah, I am. Get on with it...!" you waved at the door handle “Y/N! I just think-!" "You should let me make a mistake? There's nothing wrong with Andrew, go on!" "For once I'm not worried about the man! I'm worried about his mother-!" "Well, I'm also thinking that might be why he likes me so much." You noticed she hopped down from the car but didn't quite close the door. "Why?" "I'm easy going... I don't smother him... Whatever he wants to do I'm down. And affection is his to give and want, when he's really." "Wait, are you dating the psycho one?" "Cal!!!" Now that was just uncalled for-! "The oldest-! F**K! She'll never let him go, Y/N she won't!" "Well that's her problem, and I'm dealing with it... Can you please let me drive, now?" "I don't understand, girls even do it better - what are you getting out of him!?" You quirked an eyebrow and gave her a smirk; "Hell, I know that... But the point is it’s not easy to tell what I get. And for once, I like that mystery..." She gave you a look that let you know she still thought you were insane. "Caleigh, please, I'll be fine! It'll be worse if I don't get there because he’ll worry, then he’ll get antsy and agitated, then they have to deal with it - which will be my fault. Which certainly will make her hate me!!" Your friend reluctantly slammed the door shut, but thankfully didn't cause you to roll your eyes by telling you to be careful, so you were able to wend your way quickly through the Melbourne streets... **

It was barely 4 seconds between your knock and the door opening. Andrew looked a little less than impressed, but he had a face for it so you weren't sure if that was necessarily a true reflection of his feelings. "Hey..." he took a step back, "I thought you might be late..." "Why? You heard about town shenanigans?" If you could count the sound out of his mouth as a laugh you would, "No. But I can imagine..." he walked you through the house "How you been?" "Good... And you?" "Been better." "Oh?" you frowned; you didn't like hearing things like that from him, "Why’s that?" "How's your electrics?" "... Not bad... Why?" "-Fixing-" he added quickly "Electrics." "Not bad, why?" you repeated and he stopped his tour in the kitchen, indicating to the kettle. "It's busted." "And you can't fix it." "No." "Buy a new one then!" That sounded like an obvious answer, but he gave you a look that plainly said Smurf wouldn't accept that. You sighed and sat on the counter; "Alright maestro, show me what you're doing wrong." He gave you a look that told you to shut up, and you couldn’t help your teasing grin. "Drink?" "Water will do, thank you Darling." Andrew rolled his eyes at you, with a gentle shove at your sarcastic cute nickname. "Water? Little light for you..." although he obliged, pouring you a glass. "Well it's not like you can make me coffee." "Shut it!" "Make me." "You're gonna wish I did..." To be honest when he was looking at you like that you did wish he would. Those beautifully haunting blue eyes belonged to a man who needed to be kissed. And often. You watched closely as Andrew tried to explain to you what he’d done. And you tried not to start smirking until he’d finished, it didn’t matter much, your amusement was present in your voice; “Good at killing, stealing and all that illegal crime shit, but not much else, huh?” And he looked up at you, clearly not amused. You burst out laughing at the look on his face; “Coulda just told me that when I started.” “Naw, why do that when I can listen to you do everything wrong in detail!” That was the wrong thing to say as Smurf strolled into the kitchen. She fixed you with a look you were getting used to. But you didn’t lie to your friends, you could handle it. “How are you doing sweetie?” You noticed the voice she put on immediately, and that flicker of almost annoyance in his eyes. When you did it to be sarcastic he pushed you with a little smile, and told you to shut up. When she did it, in seriousness, he was much more like to shy away from it. Especially if he was with you. “Eh....” he gave a shrug “It don’t work Ma...” You kicked his thigh, which didn’t help things but you could help but act like this with him; “I told you, you’re doing it wrong!!” “Well, you do it then!!” He dropped everything, fixing you with a look that told you you’d probably get rewarded if you managed it. So you bit your lip through your smirk, and hopped off the counter; “Fine I will...” Smurf huffed from the corner of the kitchen in a way that let you know she wasn’t impressed with you, nor the way you’d just talked to her son. “...Sweetie, would you like me to make you anything.” “No... I’m okay...” his voice was quiet, and he turned back to her. She’s just gonna hover Andrew, you and I both know it... And so she did, for a little. See, Smurf you found more dangerous than any of them. Because Andrew showed his emotions, and his hand, before he snapped. You knew when it was coming and how it was gonna run its course. He wasn’t predicable, you would sooner die than think that - be he had a mind that worked a certain way; so once he started it was pretty easy to tell the direction. You and Baz had become quick experts in this, and both of you had different methods to curb it. Both of you extremely grateful you had each other to do so. Who the hell else would stand up to Andrew?

But Smurf, Smurf was sweet as sugar and controlled everything... if she had a breaking point she never showed it, and didn’t seem any different over that line to normal. Unless she was always snapped. Which, also wouldn’t surprise you as the matriarch to 4 nigh-on-uncontrollable criminals. Oh, and that was before you even mentioned you were from a rival all girl gang. She thought you were gonna put her darling boys out of business. That or run around with all of them, breaking their hearts one by one. Which made you scoff at the notion; if she thought that then she didn’t understand your relationship with Andrew at all. Eventually she left the room, but you knew she’d be listening in as he watched you fix it. He ran his fingers close to yours as his body enveloped you; that was intimate enough. You turned - but he wasn’t looking at you, he was looking in the direction she’d gone. You stood; just shy of your back against his chest but his arm brushed yours and that was once again contact enough; you saw that twice across his face, and you’d damn well count that positively. “You know she hates me right...” He shook his head, maybe in denial. “She’s like that with everyone...” “Yeah, but she hates me.” “Yet you’re still here.” You tapped him with a screwdriver to turn those blue eyes of his back on you, where you wanted them. Where you could watch them grow brighter as some semblance of adoration crossed his face. “I’m here for you. Not her.” His gentle touch to your face was unexpected, and made you flinch. Andrew stilled, and you blinked; “I’m sorry...” “No it’s...” He tucked your hair behind your ear “You’re always holding your own. I’m proud of you. You better be proud of yourself.” “Proud of me? For being someone your mum hates?” “Eh... comes with the territory...” Andrew gave a shrug, his lips brushed the top of your ear gently - whether a kiss on purpose or not it had you smiling. “...Rather that than sit and take it…” “F**k that.” “Thought you might say that.” You nudged him again with your shoulder; “Let me fix your mistake Andrew Cody, before your mum starts trying to fix one she thinks you made.” “She’s afraid of you, you know.” His statement was so matter-of-fact that you weren’t even sure he was hearing himself right. “What?!” He pulled away from you, leaning on the counter the way you had been; “You’re stealing me away.” “Stealing you, huh?” “Oh, I guess not...” Andrew pressed his lips into a thin line “Afterall, you��d think stealing could mean something or someone wouldn’t come willingly...” Your eyebrow raised significantly ,and you knew now was the perfect time to tease him; “This better not be the big elope speech.” He rolled his eyes “F**k off, Y/N, and fix the thing!” You drew yourself to height “Problem there, Mr.Cody...” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah...” You breathed gently, in touching distance of his lips once more “What’s that?” He folded his arms; defiant to give you the kiss you currently craved “I don’t wanna f**k off... but I might wanna f**k you...”

***

"Oh, what the f**k is she doing here." Andrew's eyes narrowed but it was Baz that cracked Craig over the head; "OW!" "Shut the f**k up!!” "No, but seriously...!" Baz placed his hands on his hips, and took a step that made Craig concede one at the thought of being hit again; "She brought us the job you idiot! You didn't complain last time." Craig grumbled a little bit to himself again as you walked up the steps into the little warehouse you'd decided to gather in; "You all ready for this one?" "This better be good!" For some ridiculous reason, as the closest in age to you, Craig had decided you might take his spot in the team. And for some other reason only acted like this on jobs. Otherwise he was pretty nice to you. You'd figure it out, one way or another. “It isn’t bad. I’ll put it that way.” You narrowed your eyes slightly in defiance "What, this job to hard for a bunch of girls?!" He was probably getting this attitude from his mother. You still remembered the way she'd looked you up and down, and told you that you'd be better staying at home and waiting for them to get back from a job. And that jobs were no places for women. You were just as quick to point out that she was often the brains behind what they did and simply made them do the dirty work for her. Leaving the younger two gobsmacked with mouths hanging open, Baz trying desperately hard not to laugh, and Andrew looking at you like all his dreams had just come true. There had been others, you guessed, all of them unable to put up with her... And certainly unable to stand up to her. But he had you now, and you didn't dare back down. Andrew was your boyfriend; she wasn't about to take him away from you and there was no way in hell you were about to let her degrade your work just because it was a “mans” job. "A little. Maybe I just like you guys." "That or you want us to get arrested." Your eyes flicked to Andrew; "And have my life be mundane again, Craig? I don't think so..." Andrew gave you a gentle nod. And you knew at least 3 of them were confident in your abilities to tell them what to do, and handle this. Even if you were happy with the two eldest sweeping in to help control things. And so the job went as well as planned, and maybe a little better than expected. You gave everyone an even split meaning collectively they earned more than your group, but that was the point, they’d done the hard graft. And doing jobs with you meant Smurf wasn’t taking cuts from them – all around you thought this was a win-win. Probably another reason she hates me! As you drove them back to the warehouse to each get in your own cars back home, it was Craig and not Andrew who held back. One fleeting kiss and Andrew was walking back to the car with Baz (didn’t mean he didn’t fix Craig with a threatening look… of course). You folded your arms, staring at him expectedly “…Yes?” He nudged your arm; “Guess that went pretty well.” “Yeah. Thanks for the help.” Then you added sarcastically; “Guess I could never have done that without some big strong men around!” At least his laugh sounded appropriately embarrassed; “You’re… you’re alright, you know that?” You gave a smile, if that was as good as compliments got; “…Thanks Craig! You’re not so bad yourself!” You waved them all off as they called their goodbyes back to you and you couldn’t help laughing. You loved all of them; and whether Smurf wanted you there or not, you were happy to be an extended part of this family. *** Andrew always wanted affection on his terms. You were quite willing to sit in the same room as him for nearly 24 straight hours in silence, just for those glorious 10 seconds he would cross the room and sit close enough to touch you. That’s how he asked, he never said it. He never just took you in his arms. And you were pretty sure he’d never ever heard the term public display of affection... but you knew when he sat like that, with that look on his face and in his eyes, he was begging for something from you. And Smurf could never fulfil that even when she thought she could. What’s worse, is you’d seen her give love to Andrew in a way that stifled him, that made him push back - that near enough made him angry. But she took it away too. Because sometimes, Andrew needed her to be his mother. Not his keeper. And that’s when she was at her cruellest. Andrew was a lost cause. Andrew wasn’t someone she could control. He’d been in prison, he’d done drugs, armed robbery, D&Ds and DUIs... theft, murder... you name it. Deran was the baby and a sweetheart and you liked him a lot, but he was securely under her thumb and hardly in trouble. And too timid to stand up to her or his siblings. Born into the wrong family, in your opinion. He didn’t have the nature for this... Craig, in the middle, wasn’t stable enough to break free. And as far as you could tell didn’t want to. You’d always thought his relationship with Smurf to be a little twisted and tried not to uncomfortably stare when kisses seemed to be more than just familial... When Baz would kick you under the table and give you a look. Baz was Andrew’s best friend, and his stability. And you’d often breathe and tell him you thought he was the only sane one. And he would laugh gently, and give you his best smile ‘Aw, Andrew doesn’t do too bad now he has you...’

But Andrew... On his medication was a mess you didn’t like to deal with. They dulled his personality. If you thought he didn’t feel normally, then this was worse. And you knew what they were for. But you didn’t think they were any good for him. But what could he do? Sometimes he would give you the bottle and ask you to hide them, and that scared you. But you supposed that wouldn’t have Smurf forcing him to take them. But off his medication.... oh, he was anxious, and paranoid, and angry, and reckless... any idea was a good idea and he’d damn well do anything he wanted. But in the aftermath of that... when Andrew calmed down. That was when he needed someone. And he didn’t have to look for any real affection, just to know someone was there.

And you’d seen him at that point. At the point Smurf should love him the most; regardless of whether he deserved it or not. Because she was his MOTHER.

Andrew Cody should never have to beg to be loved…

But that’s what she made him do. And you’d had enough of that. So that led to you slamming your hands on the table, and standing so fast the chair hit the floor, as you fixed her with a stare so hard it was beyond if looks could kill. “Stop it.” She tried that sweet act, but you could see her face fall already “Stop what, sweetie?” “Stop f**king what?! Stop Making him BEG for this!” Your hands hit the table again “Andrew deserves better than this family - and he deserves a better f**king mother than you!” You weren’t sure you meant that about his brothers – but hell, at that moment you didn’t really care anymore. Suddenly Andrew was no longer looking at her for anything, and was trying to manoeuvre you from the kitchen. To very little avail, other than you weren’t sure what would happen if you stayed and had a full-on screaming match with her. “You don’t deserve him!” Was as good a spit as she got at you, that had you turning in his arms as he tried to drag you out the door. And by God did he have to keep a strong grip; “No! You don’t f**king deserve him!!! You don’t F**KING DESERVE any of them!!!” There was a silence. And you knew you’d full on blown it now.

Andrew froze, because whatever either of you said next, one of you had to be the bigger woman and walk away. You took a deep breath and your voice was shaking, with anger you were desperately trying to control again. “...They are your children... they are grown men... and you should love all of them unconditionally... You shouldn’t get to choose when you give them love! And they shouldn’t have to prove they are worth it...” you stepped out of Andrew’s arms “... what you do to him... is possibly one of the cruellest things I’ve ever seen.” And hell, in your line of work, by now you’d probably seen nearly all of it. “And if that’s why he needs me... then I will fight for that. And I will give him what he needs. And maybe I’m not good enough for him. Hell, maybe I never will be... but I am what he needs, right now… and I’m gonna damn well make sure he knows he deserves to be loved like anyone else does.” You walked, because you were in tears. And they were hot, angry, bitter tears that she had pushed you to. And you almost hated yourself that you’d fallen for that push. “ANDREW DONT YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME-!!” Was about the last thing you heard before you whipped around and were swept from the floor. “What the f**k are you-!?” You just about managed as you were carried, shocked, to his car. “Don’t speak. Just listen.” To what? He dumped you in the passenger seat and the next thing you knew you were driving to the middle of nowhere. And you realised that was the point. To nothing. To his actions. Hell, you should know yourself by now, they were always louder than his words. There was a smile on his face. Something you weren’t even sure he was aware he was doing. You’re doing it again Andrew... You wondered again what it was; but you thought you already knew... *** It had been a few months since that argument, and as far as you were aware the cat fight was still on. And now you only stuck around the house if she wasn’t there. Sometimes she’d come back before you left, and there would be a five second stand-off where the boys sat in silence and the tension could be cut with a knife. Luckily, none of them were taking sides… But there was a new kind of amity between the group of you. You guessed it might have been a certain kind of respect… Which let you to doing a bunch more jobs with them – and more than enough times your gang of girls got in on this too. What was more, you got to watch from afar with Andrew as they all started warming to each other. And you got to give each other that same look; try to see Smurf break this up. But, then and there, jobs didn’t always go perfectly…! Even when Andrew had your back.

"Could have gone a little better for you, huh?" "Any time you can get me back, you will..." You winced, looking at the state of your arm. Arguably not your best idea ever, even if necessary. Andrew chided you for it again. Now in your apartment, you knew that Smurf would go ballistic at him for not returning home with the rest. "Yeah. Because I care about ya." "Come off the noble act, Andrew, you just wanna tell me I told you so." "I do..." He admitted with a smile "but I want to fix up this arm first..." He pulled you to him gently, arm straight across both your leg and his. “…You really shouldn’t be so stupid sometimes.” He knew that would raise a laugh; “It’s not stupid if it works…!” “Works?” You caught that smirk and raised eyebrow as he gathered the medical equipment closer to him; “If that’s what you call it…” You raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help that tease; "What’s mummy dearest gonna say? Shouldn’t you be running back home?" He shook his head "F**k her." Your eyes widened: "Wh- OWWWW---!" you cried out as he poured saline over the gash. You were 99% sure he also wasn’t supposed to be that liberal... His eyes met yours; see. "What did you just---!! If she heard you-" Those blue hardened significantly; "I said f**k her." Andrew breathed, "I have you now... You've seen what she does... You can't possibly imagine.... How much freedom having you in my life gives me... You stand up for me, you stand up for the boys, you stand up for yourself. I've never seen that." He looked back to your arm, drying and cleaning it, he bandaged you up; " You don't realise how proud I am of ya... And I’m aware I don't really say it, but I feel it." He sat up taking your free hand in his; "Y/N you are one hell of a f**king woman."

You gave a gentle smile; "I'm proud of you for admitting that." "Oh, really?" "Mmm..." You closed that gap with a delicate thank you kiss. It was a first step. Andrew’s affection was stoic but he was learning, he would figure it out. He'd tell you, in his own way, exactly how much he loved you. And you knew discovering the how was the best part of this relationship. He pulled you to him, it was a subtle, sensitive ask. If you want, I want. And you slid forward and across onto his lap, running your hands through his hair. "Injured?" you asked with a cheeky wink. "Oh, well, I bandaged you, you’ll be fine." "Magic, huh?" "Not quite..." he tipped his head "But you know what they say..." "And what do they say..." He gave a shrug, voice soft, pulling you to him again; "I haven't quite figured it out yet..."

Andrew ran his arms under your legs and hoisted you from the couch. He stood still for a minute to make sure that he had you supported correctly, but you were quick to move on your decision. Your fingers were already at the buttons of his blue shirt as you kissed him. He placed his forehead gently to yours as he carried you to your room, his lips grazing yours. You knew even when it was silent, when Andrew Cody looked at you like that it was the closest he would get to saying 'I love you'.

--- THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING!!! 🎉🎉😘😘 🌟 6 Sins Down!!! 🌟

One to go and we’re all done!!!

@dennismitchell @happyskywhale @wltz-bby #MendoTagSquad.

#You are literally as bad as Emmett... here we go #Andrew Cody #Andrew Pope Cody #Pope Cody #Ben Mendelsohn #Animal Kingdom #AHHH! Dear John is a song and a half #but this lyric is aimed at Smurf and I liked the idea...#Pride #7DS #Linzi Writes Requests #As technically not Shawn related not tagging Shawn.#I love this song and it's also very Fraser...#Guess my Psycho bois just share songs now #7 Deadly Sins #Smut with Andrew is REALLY hard!! I tried and was like... Uhm... Nah. I need to come back to this..#She isn't Elaiyna... Well... Maybe an AU version of Elaiyna... but/so I'm tagging her anyway #84!#...It's Darren in the movie right?#Still using Deran cuz I think it's a cool name. and I'm used to it #SORRY!!!#Me: antiseptic! that works... NHS: WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T USE ANTISEPTIC Me:Well shit... what do I use. NHS: Saline. Me: Saline? Right...

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relatablepicturesofpatrickgill · 6 years ago

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I’m sorry if this is cynical, but I’d really like your input on it (as an experience polygon vid/pat stream viewer): Do you think Pat is pushing the after hours streaming stuff because Polygon is ending? Or, at least, to try and maintain the ‘funny video/personality’ fans? I’ve noticed a lot of other polygon vid personalities are doing similar things, and main polygon video content keeps slowing down and changing, presumably in compliance w/ vox media strategy? Have you noticed too?

First of all real bold of you sending this to a Pat fanblog where all I do is make dumbass shitposts and post cat clips, as if I know a single goddamn thing about anything, but since you asked I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as possible. (I’m not mad about being asked btw I just really find it funny you’d send it here of all places lmao). Disclaimer time: I am not in any way affiliated with Polygon or Vox Media nor do I know how they operate behind the scenes.

Do I personally think Polygon is ending and that Pat streams because of that? Short answer, no. However, I believe Polygon’s necessary (yes, I said necessary) and inevitable (yes, INEVITABLE) change in content is due to a lot of deeper issues people might not know about, which I’ve gathered from research and being an idiot whomst has watched Youtube for 10+ years. Let me just say, the last year or so has pretty much been the “Everybody Knows Shits Fucked” song on repeat until we die so this is going to be a long ass post. Buckle up kiddos we’re warp speeding into this fuckfest together.

Youtube Advertiser Boycott And The Algorithms

Every social media website employs the use of algorithms to decide how content gets sorted, and Youtube isn’t any different. That’s why Youtubers constantly ask you to “like, comment and subscribe” because it helps their content get noticed through Youtube’s internal system – such as search priority, the trending section, your homepage and your recommended tab, as well as the recommended sidebar on individual videos. As for content, one of the more effective models was to find a niche and cater to it, something Polygon did by creating Monster Factory and similar humored series alongside their serious content.

And for a while, it worked. Except things change.

Before we get any further I highly suggest you read this article written by Julia Alexander about the complicated history of Youtube’s monetization system, but I’ll try to give a quick summary. Something controversial will happen on Youtube, causing brands to pull their business from the platform until they can get more security on what types of videos their ads play on, then Youtube refines the system to give brands more control. Rinse and repeat. The new system results in a massive amount of videos being demonetized, causing creators to lose revenue and viewer engagement and then request appeals to have their content reviewed by humans, which in turn improves the algorithm. Those most negatively affected by the system must diversify their payments either through Patreon, Twitch, merch, etc, or in worst case scenarios, give up on their dreams of being a Youtuber.

youtube

Youtube has a lot of incentive to keep creators updated on changes, so when users ask, “hey, can we know what’s going on with the website?” Youtube responds with an informative, “absolutely not. Die.” The userbase, as a result, is forced to run their own investigations. Nerd City published a video revealing another algorithm (one just as prone to mistakes) assigns all videos with an MPAA-style rating to make it easier for businesses to decide what sort of content they’re comfortable advertising on. This rating – hidden from both the uploader and their audience – Cannot. Be. Appealed. Good fucking system am I right!!! (Also, please watch the video if you get the chance, it brings up some points about machine learning and how the system negatively affects marginalized creators).

One more thing, do you remember what I said earlier about how a video gets popular on Youtube’s internal system? Well, creators have reason to believe a higher rating attributes to view suppression – meaning their videos might end up exempt from the things I listed. This makes it so much harder for a channel to grow their userbase outside of an already established audience. If you’re following along you might be able to tell where I’m going with this, but if not…

What Does This Have To Do With Video Games Polygon?

Once again, I do not know any of the behind the scenes Polygon lore and a lot of this is guesswork on my part. I’d imagine as a branch of Vox Media, Polygon would have a higher priority getting any potentially demonetized videos appealed than smaller, independent channels do. However, when your own website is reporting the system responsible for sorting and rating videos goes deeper than just demonetization, with a full MPAA-style ranking that’s been shown to suppress the growth of certain content not deemed advertiser friendly, such as excessive profanity and sexually suggestive content, which turns out is a subset of the niche your channel has developed – that’s a problem.

This isn’t me being critical of their content or saying what they make is bad (considering I’m a fan of it as well), this is an objective look at the reality of a rapidly changing platform. Unfortunately, the biggest flags in my head for Polygon happen to be the Jackbox series and… Monster Factory. There’s absolutely no way some of those videos are getting a kid-friendly rating, and it’s possible the bot is slapping some of them with a mature rating – the worst one where enough of those could potentially affect the rating of the entire channel. Griffin, in one of the Spore MF videos, emphatically yells, “come fuck this” to the heavens; lo and behold, a few years later Youtube finally does.

Of course, this is just one of a few different problems Polygon is facing. The Mcelroys left to focus on their own businesses, taking some of their fans with them. Other fans who mainly want the video game news might end up unsubscribing if too many videos irrelevant to their interests are posted. Some series, while perfectly funny in their own right, have trouble breaking out and appealing to a wider audience.

Polygone But Not Forgotten?

I’ll try to put it as softly as I can: almost all creators on Youtube have to reevaluate the content they put out and how it fits into Youtube’s ad-friendly guidelines if they want to continue receiving ad revenue and viewer engagement from the site. This is not just a Polygon specific problem, and as a news channel they benefit a lot more by working within the new parameters. Polygon’s primary priority should be their video game website, where I go to read all the articles that aren’t about video games, as ad revenue is probably more stable and allows them more room for sillier content. As for their channel, the “horny niche” appeal doesn’t have as much of a place anymore. Well, on Youtube at least.

Twitch, however, seems like a better home for Polygon’s familiar borderline type of humor. On a stream Pat said, as the live video producer, he’s responsible for getting their channel partnered which will come with some very important benefits, such as the ability to subscribe. I’d assume creating content for Youtube takes priority over this, and there’s also the fact that Pat is just one person and needs to balance this with other things like “having a life” and “eating??? Perhaps???” (maybe even A Vegetable). By the way, to answer one of your other questions, it’s normal for creators to have projects outside of their work and build their own personal brand, like Pat’s Twitch channel, Brian’s Youtube channel, Simone’s author account and everyone’s countless podcasts. It’s not recommended to rely solely on Youtube for your income, even before the ad boycotts, so if you can diversify your content then do so.

Listen, I know this is disappointing and I know it’s not the answer people want. Youtube’s new system isn’t going away and the video team needs to accommodate for these changes or otherwise Perish. I believe in Polygon’s ability to deliver informative, humorous and accessible content, they just need the time to do it. As an audience, a way to offer support during this difficult time is to just be as understanding and patient as possible, and give the content they put out a chance if you can.

Now I am not an expert on any of this, but if you have any questions or comments you can send them to my main @malarcana and I’ll try to answer them. Thanks for reading!

#polygon #nerd city #julia alexander #gillbox #long post #i cant stop thinking about being referred to as 'an experienced pat stream viewer'#i should have a button with that on it #My Legacy #also julia is leaving polygon now where do i get my youtube news from #i cant look stuff up myself im too lazy #x

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blznbaby · 6 years ago

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Man Flu

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC (Marcella)

Audience: PG. Humor and Fluff. Some sexual content. Nothing crazy.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Pixleberry Studios.

Masterlist

Tags: @museofbooks @callmetippytumbles @cocomaxley @hopefulmoonobject @pixieferry @i-choose-liam @zaffrenotes @brightpinkpeppercorn

Marcella laid sexily on the enormous bed. Scented candles flickered brightly, casting a warm glow to illuminate the dim room while emitting a delicious scent. Liam would walk in any minute now from his business trip in Italy. It had been days since she’d been in her husband’s arms and she was anxiously awaiting his return. She looked stunning in her sheer, white, beaded silk nightgown that hugged her curves in all the right places and smelled heavenly courtesy to the perfume Liam had gifted her on their most recent wedding anniversary. The bedroom door slowly opened, heralding her king’s return. She smiled, her body tingling with anticipation. Liam went straight for the bed and sprawled out, eyes closed, still clothed in his royal regalia. Shoes and all. She wasn’t even sure if he noticed she was there. “Liam?” she asked cautiously. He let out a small moan, but didn’t stir. Marcella looked with concern at her husband who lay unmoving on the bed. “Liam, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?”

Liam opened his eyes. “Marcella…” he moaned hoarsely. “Don't come too close, my love. I’m dying…”

“You're what?” she asked, alarmed.

“I’m sick. I’m dying…” he repeated, coughing a few times to emphasize his point before closing his eyes again. She gave him a quick once over. He certainly didn’t look like he was dying. In fact, he didn’t even look extremely ill, just a slight flush in his cheeks and a groan or two. She got up to fetch him a cup of tea in hopes that it would make him feel a little less like he was “dying.” She blew out the candles with a sigh on her way out. Apparently this wasn’t going to be the romantic night she’d envisioned for them at all.

ooOoo

“Marcella, I need to go to the hospital!”

“Liam, your temperature is only slightly elevated,” she replied, stroking his forehead with an amused smile.

“That thermometer must be broken then,” he declared, sulking. Marcella had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

“It works perfectly fine, Liam. You’re not dying, you just have a cold, you'll live.” He didn’t look as though he believed her. “Marcella, you don't feel how I’m feeling right now!” he protested pathetically. Such a drama king. When she said her vows ‘in sickness and in health,’ she never imagined this. Last night, Liam had come down with a cold, as demonstrated by his runny/stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, and watery eyes, but from the way he’d been acting, you would have thought the man had caught the plague. Marcella’s expert diagnosis: man flu. The dreaded godfather of all ailments, which takes over the male species at any given time, resulting in grouchiness, moodiness, and general feeling of feebleness and pathetic whining and her brave, confident, resilient husband, the King of Cordonia wasn’t immune to such an affliction. And now she must also suffer. She tried calling for backup, but Liam refused all help from friends and staff not wanting to infect the population. He hadn’t left their bedroom since the night prior, curled up in bed like some kind of overly-large fetus, watching crappy talk shows and requesting honey and lemon drinks in the most pathetic voice she’d ever heard whenever she got anywhere near the vicinity of the landing. He was working her nerves.

“Marcella?” Liam coughed as she bypassed the bedroom on her way to the linen closet. “My love, is that you?” Oh for heaven’s sake. “Yes, Liam. It’s me.”

There he was in the bed, his head laid on a cloud of fluffy pillows, buried under a dozen blankets with Chance curled up at his side. His perfectly placed hair was now a disheveled mess, sticking up in every direction. He sniffled, wiping at his red nose with a tissue before tossing it in the bedside trashcan along with the rest of the discarded tissues. “What now, Liam?” she asked with a sigh. He looked up at her pitifully. “I’d think that in my vulnerable state, you’d speak to me a bit more nicely.”

“You have a cold, Liam.”

“I have the flu,” he replied, looking wounded.

“Yeah, man flu,” she countered. Just then Liam’s phone rang. Marcella answered since her husband claimed to be “too weak” to pick up. It was Drake asking how his best friend was holding up.

“He’s fine. Just over reacting a little,” Marcella said with a grin.

“I am not. You all may very well need a new king.”

“I swear you get more and more dramatic with each day that passes. You’re turning into Regina.” She smiled to herself, knowing he really hated to even consider being anything like the woman.

“Your words wound me more than any case of the flu ever could.”

Marcella sighed again as she entered the room. This was the fifth time in the last hour that Liam had called for her. She tried to rearrange her face into an expression of sympathy, which wasn’t too hard, actually. She wasn’t used to Liam being like this and the sight of him was rather pitiful. He pointed toward the end of the bed. “My feet are cold.” She shook her head. “That’s because you’ve pulled the blankets all the way up and around your chin.” He just looked at her, eyes begging for help. She rearranged his blankets, covering his feet and looked up to see him holding the banana she had brought to him earlier at his request, his look, perplexed, like he couldn’t figure out what to do with it. He held it out to her, a pleading look on his face.

“Seriously? I know you're sick and the king and all, but I know even you can handle peeling a banana. It’s not that hard.” He just sniffled and coughed, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “Oh, give it here,” she sighed. “You big baby.”

“And could you please cut it up?” he added as she took the fruit from him and cut it up on the small tray that also held his untouched tea. “And be sure to drink up,” she added as she cut the banana. Liam looked at the teacup like it had grown horns. “But…no straw?”

“Since when the hell do you need a straw to drink tea?!” A coughing fit overtook the stricken king, and in between coughs he managed to choke out, “please,” blinking his watery eyes. “And not just any straw. My favorite straw.” Marcella put on a tight smile and mumbled something under her breath as she went to retrieve his swirly straw. When she returned Liam was cocooned so far down into the blankets that only his messy dark hair was visible. “Liam?” she whispered. No answer. She slipped out of the room shutting the door carefully and did a victory dance when she made it to the stairs. “Marcella! My feet are cold again!”

ooOoo

Marcella sighed and shut her eyes as she heard the ringing in her ears. Why did she give Liam that damn bell?! He’d been ringing it incessantly for two days now. She thought it would be better than him bellowing her name every five minutes. She was wrong. He was the king for goodness sake! The man who in his thirty years of life had endured more pain and suffering to last a lifetime, but somehow the common cold brought him to his knees. Every little symptom was cause for complaint and she wasn't sure how much more she could take. She heard the bell ring again, followed by a pitiful moan. “Marcella…” She entered the room, hands on her hips. “You rang, Your Majesty?”

“My love, could you please close the curtains? I’m afraid the sunlight is hurting my sensitive eyes.” She bit her lip and nodded. “Sure.” She walked over and pulled the curtains closed.

“But perhaps not that much. I enjoy a little bit of light.” Her fists clenched as she pulled the curtains open a bit, nearly pulling them off the rod with her solid grip. “Better?”

“Perfect.” He offered her a weak smile. “Thank you.”

“Anything else I can get you before I go? Lemon syrup? Cough drops? I dunno…cupcakes?”

He looked at her, stunned. “You’re leaving?”

“Liam," she sighed. "I’ve been waiting on you hand and foot for three days now. I have to get back to work and make sure things are in order. With Regina and Leo away there's been no one to help cover our duties.”

“I see. Well, my apologies for being so much trouble,” he mumbled.

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. She knew what he was doing and it wasn’t going to work. She handed him his phone. “If you need me, call me and I’ll come right back.”

“I don’t want to be a bother,” he muttered. “I’m sure I can fend for myself in my declining state.” Against her better judgement, she pressed a kiss to his lips. She didn’t want to risk getting sick, but she knew a kiss would placate him for a bit. “You’ll be fine.” She assured him.

“I beg to differ. I feel like I’m on my deathbed and my head is going to explode. I still think I need to go to the hospital.”

“For the thousandth time, you do not need to go to the hospital. It's just the common cold.”

“There’s nothing common about it.” He scoffed. “Why isn't there a cure for this infernal disease?” he cried in frustration.

“First of all, it isn’t a disease and the only cure is to ride this thing out and try to relieve the symptoms with over the counter drugs like we’ve been doing.”

“I suppose I’ll just suffer then.”

"Whatever you say, my king."

Liam missed Marcella the moment she walked out the door, but then again he always missed her, but he was especially missing the fact that there was no one to take care of him now. Sure he could call on the wait staff, but he wanted his wife. He decided that the common cold was far worse than any other affliction he’d ever faced. Being confined in the bed for three days was absolute hell. He let out a sigh. He was bored. Maybe there was something on tv that would distract him from his pain and suffering. Where’s the remote? He looked on the bed, but didn’t see it. Damn it.

ooOoo

“Hey, Hawkins,” Drake greeted when he spotted Marcella in the hallway. “How’s Liam? Still under the weather?”

“Yeah. And being a huge baby.”

“And you’re surprised?” Said the new voice in the hallway. Olivia. “Men are such pussies when they’re sick.”

“Hey! I resent that.” Drake objected.

“Oh, please. You’re the worst of them all. Remember when you had strep throat?” Olivia grinned.

“I couldn’t swallow.”

“I found you laying in the fetal position on the bathroom floor.”

He shrugged. “It was painful.”

Just then Marcella’s cell phone rang and she saw the name on the screen. Liam. “Speak of the devil,” she said, answering the phone. “Yes, love?”

“I can’t find the remote control.”

“Maybe it fell on the floor or under the bed. Did you look there?”

“I didn't. I’m far too weak and lightheaded.” Marcella pinched the bridge of her nose. She heard him groan.

“Ah, there it is!” she breathed a sigh of relief. “…but…it’s out of reach.”

“Liam, you’re insane if you think I’m coming back just to pick up the remote.”

“Please, my love. I’m losing my mind with boredom.” She sighed. Heavily. “Fine. I’ll also bring you some chicken soup from the kitchens.”

“Thank you, my love.”

She entered the bedroom and found the remote three feet from the bed, handing it to the sick king. “Feeling any better?” she asked. “I am now that you’re here,” he smiled and she couldn’t help but to smile back at him. He was a royal pain in the ass, but he was her royal pain in the ass. “Here’s your soup. Eat up whenever you’re hungry,” she held it up for him to see and placed it on the nightstand. “You’re not going to feed it to me?” She swore that if she didn’t love the man so much she’d probably kill him.

Eventually, Liam gathered up the strength to sit up and eat the soup. He sighed. No spoon. He rung the bell, then remembered that no one would come. Marcella wasn’t there. He sighed again. The soup was now only lukewarm at best. He stared at the door, just the thought of having to go all the way downstairs to warm up the soup and get a spoon was too much to bear. He was far too weak.

Marcella groaned as she looked at the stack of paperwork that had accumulated on her desk over the last few days. She wasn’t even fifteen minutes in before her phone rang. “Yes, Liam?”

“The soup is cold…and I don’t have a spoon.”

She closed her eyes. “And I’m assuming there’s no chance of you going to the kitchen to warm it up and get a spoon.”

“I can’t even consider it in my debilitated state. I’m likely to fall down the stairs if I attempt such a thing.” She rubbed her temple and prayed for patience. He was tap dancing on her last nerve. You love him, you love him, you love him, she chanted in her head serving as a reminder that she vowed to love him no matter what. The worst part was that she knew he would do it for her, but of course, she wouldn’t be the big baby that he was being. But then, she wasn’t a man either. She shook her head. He’s not himself and he will be the caring, charming self-assured man you married in no time. She opened her eyes and glanced at the pile of paperwork, maybe she could use a break.

Marcella entered the bedroom to retrieve the lukewarm soup and she knew he was watching her ass as she left. He was so predictable, no matter how sick he claimed to be. She returned a short time later with piping hot soup and a spoon, agreeing to feed it to him to escape the mountain of paperwork. Liam smiled at her, and took her hand, the act the most natural thing in the world to him and she used her free hand to feed him the soup until he had his fill.

“Thank you for taking care of me, my love. I know I haven’t been the easiest patient.”

“You’re welcome. I know you would do the same for me.”

“I’d do anything for you.” He replied softly. And she knew it was the truth. “And I’m sorry that my intense illness ruined our evening the other night. You looked absolutely gorgeous in that nightgown. I wanted you so bad. But I didn’t want you to get sick too…”

“Yes, I wouldn’t have wanted to catch your uh…’intense illness,’” she agreed. “But its okay, Liam. I love you, and the only thing I want is for you to get better.”

“I love you too,” he replied softly, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the feel of each other. Before long, Liam had fallen asleep, letting out a small snore, and she smiled at her beloved, hypochondriac husband as she left to go back to work.

ooOoo

The next morning, Liam was feeling a bit better. He watched his wife as she slept, looking like a peaceful, beautiful angel and felt a tinge of guilt for acting like a self-absorbed fool. He thanked his lucky stars for Marcella's remarkable restraint, obviously taking her vows 'in sickness and in health' very seriously as evidenced to the fact that she hadn't killed him. She was amazing and he needed her to know how grateful he was to be her husband. How fortunate he was to get to spend his life with her. How amazing his life had been since she became a part of it. He threw the covers back and, feeling a little unsteady, forced himself out of bed. He quickly and quietly showered, dressed, and headed downstairs.

Liam entered their bedroom with a tray of eggs, bacon, fruit, his famous Belgian waffles, and a cup of coffee made just how he knew she liked it. He could have easily called the cook, but he wanted to do this for her. With every move, he felt himself gaining more strength and energy. He was beginning to feel much better. I can do anything for her.

“Liam..you...what are you doing out of bed?” Marcella stammered as she sat up.

“Good morning, my love." He sat the tray on the table and sat beside her on the bed. “You’ve cared for me for three days and I wanted to do something to show you my gratitude. Please forgive me for my extreme behavior.”

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips. “There’s nothing to forgive. Like I said before, I know you would have done the same for me. Even though, I wouldn't act like the big baby you were being.” They chuckled and his hand cupped her check, thumb caressing her soft skin, as he looked into her beautiful brown eyes. “Just know that I will never take you for granted. You have made me happier than I've ever thought possible. Getting to wake up next to you every morning and have you fall asleep in my arms every night is nothing short of amazing. I am the luckiest man in the world to be able to call you my wife.” God I love this man. She looked into his dark eyes. The eyes she got to wake up to every morning. He never ceased to amaze her. They shared the amazing breakfast he prepared and ate every bite. “How did you do all of this if you were feeling so sick?”

“I guess love has incredible healing powers.” He winked. “I am feeling much better.” Marcella straddled his lap, snaking her arms around his neck. “Well enough for some extracurricular activities?” she asked seductively. If he wasn't before, he was now. He crushed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss, flipping her onto the mattress, his body on top of hers. God how I've missed this. He pulled back and lovingly caressed her cheek as he stared into her eyes.There’s the man I married.

“I think it’s safe to say that someone has made a full recovery. It’s a miracle!” she teased.

“Yes. Thanks to you. You, my love, are the best medicine.” And he gladly accepted every dose of her powerful medicine every three to six hours. Just what the doctor ordered.

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barrlindgren00-blog · 6 years ago

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The Ultimate Guide To DIY Coconut Oil Hair Mask

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aiimaginesbts · 6 years ago

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What You Never Had: Chapter 11

Reader x Jin, Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon

Genres: Royalty AU, fluff and angst

Word count: 2,936 words

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 (M) | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 (M) | 13 | 14 (Final)

A/N: Thanks Ann @godsavemefrombts for beta-ing this!

Disclaimer/Copyright

You knew you should never have trusted Jimin.

Still, it was too late to do anything but smile now. Although you'd have liked nothing more than throw a few choice words at your brother or even deliver bodily harm, the man standing next to him was preventing you from acting on your raging emotions. The only thing you could do was the exact opposite of what you felt like doing, but you did it anyway; you smiled. "Why did you summon me here, dear brother?" You addressed Jimin, lips in place but with eyes shooting daggers towards him, emphasising the last two words so that they came out saccharine sweet.

"I happened to mention the small problem that you are struggling with to Namjoon when Prince Taehyung was in attendance," Jimin said, clearly trying to keep himself from laughing outright. He knew exactly how angry you were with him. It only served to fuel the playful side of him, relishing it as he gestured to the person in question. Prince Taehyung's warm expression, on the other hand, was polite and didn't seem to be hiding any mischievous intent. A tool of Jimin’s scheme, unsuspecting in the part that he was playing in this. You weren’t sure if you were more sorry for the guest Prince or yourself.

You followed Jimin's gaze to look at the Crown Prince of Delphina. It wasn't hard to guess the reason he was here, but the expression you showed him was of polite curiosity regardless. "I inquired about the possibility of teaching you to dance. That is why your brother brought me here; so I could ask you myself," he answered your unspoken question.

Of course Jimin would talk about something like that when Prince Taehyung was within earshot. You wondered if he'd said anything else to get the guest Prince to make such a suggestion. Really, you wouldn't put it past your brother to do just that. It wasn't a gesture that you appreciated — does anyone like having their weaknesses revealed to someone they hardly know? — but there was nothing else you could say now. "If Your Highness don't mind, it would be my pleasure."

"Well!" Jimin exclaimed suddenly with a clap of his hands, causing you to jump a little and catching Prince Taehyung's attention. "There is no time like the present. If I recall, Your Highness, you do not have anything scheduled this morning, am I correct in saying so?"

"Yes, I am quite free," Prince Taehyung confirmed.

"Then I'll leave you to it," Jimin said chirpily. The speed at which everything progressed and settled blew you away, and you couldn't think of anything to say. Your flabbergasted state gave Jimin the opportunity to make a quick exit, but not before flashing a wink your way. As the door to the hall closed behind him, you decided that you could take up your grievances with him later, and make the best of the situation for now. The sound of the heavy mahogany door echoed in the large space that was empty except for you and your suddenly appointed instructor. Taking a deep breath to steel yourself, you turned to him, mind racing to come up with something to say.

"I'm sorry about that." In the end, an apology was all you could think of. For your brother's behaviour and for your own lack of abilities that had landed Prince Taehyung in this situation. However, he shook his head, disagreeing with you. Wordlessly, he extended his hand for yours. You obliged, allowing him to place your hand on his shoulder, his own on your back, and took your other hand in his.

He started to move slowly, taking you with him, and only then did he start talking again. "I'm glad to be given the opportunity. As Prince Jimin pointed out, there is nothing else that requires my attention this morning. It is a happy coincidence that the opportunity presented itself to me, as I'd like nothing more than to be able to personally talk to the princess that the two Princes of Amaryll speak so highly of."

Hearing that your brothers had spoken about you to the Crown Prince that you admired shouldn't have been surprising, but having him tell you so was still unexpected and pleasant. Suddenly you felt bashful and unable to say anything more than a soft, "thank you."

As if sensing that you were uncomfortable with the news of your brothers' praises for you, Prince Taehyung didn't pursue the subject. Instead, he made a note of your movements aloud. You were rusty, and you'd never been good at dancing in the first place, but some of it were slowly coming back to you after all these years of not practicing or learning. There was no music to accompany you, but Prince Taehyung made up for it by counting with every step, helping you keep time. In a way, you found his deep baritone voice to be just as pleasant as an orchestra, a simple, repetitive melody that served as a guide as he led the dance.

You were far from being an expert, but you could tell that the Crown Prince was an accomplished dancer. It was relatively easy to follow his lead; the way he moved, the subtle yet seamless transition from one step to the next helped you advance with him in the way that he intended. Still, you didn't find the activity very enjoyable. It was impossible for you to relax when you were constantly afraid of stepping on his foot.

“I hear that you are the reason I am here,” Prince Taehyung said out of the blue, causing you to snap your head up at him.

“I beg your pardon?” You asked, confused.

“Although we haven’t caught them yet, you are the one who found the culprit behind the people’s disappearances, aren’t you?” He clarified, and you could see something in his eyes that you rarely saw in anyone else’s save your family members and Jin. It was admiration and respect. Just by exchanging one look, the Prince made your heart swell. You’d always been convinced that you were more capable than most people gave you credit for, but to be constantly brushed aside and ignored was discouraging. Even though Namjoon was always proud to boast of your achievements and gave you credit for your contributions, you’d always felt that the acknowledgement you’d received from the nobles were grudgingly given. They would rather sing praises of your brothers’ feats, just because you were a woman.

Yet here was a nobleman, the Crown Prince of a prospering country, no less, who not only acknowledged your contribution but brought up the topic for discussion as well. It floored you, and not in a bad way. “Yes,” you managed not to stumble on your clumsy one-word answer. Truth be told, your discoveries that led to finding the threat behind the disappearances had much to do with luck and timing. Still, it didn’t take away from the fact that you were the instigator of the current state of events, and his note of it flattered you. “It was more of a coincidence, Your Highness.”

“It doesn’t seem like the case, from the way His Highness Prince Namjoon talked about you,” he mused.

“I’m sure he exaggerated,” you returned, trying to will away the blush creeping up your cheeks. Just what exactly Namjoon had said to Prince Taehyung was admittedly something that had your curiosity piqued. However, you didn’t feel that it was polite to ask Prince Taehyung about a personal conversation you weren’t a part of, despite the amusement you could see dancing in Prince Taehyung’s eyes at your reaction.

Entertainment aside, the Crown Prince of the neighbouring country was also watching you with interest. You felt like you were being assessed. It only added to the self consciousness that had started to plague you since you started dancing, but now for a completely different reason. Still, he didn’t make you entirely uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because he’d made it known that his impression of you was favourable, but far from wanting flattery, his attention only made you bashful. As if sensing your mood, he didn’t insist on continuing to talk about what Namjoon had said about you. On the other hand, the next question he had didn’t stray far from the topic at hand. “He also voiced his concern about going into Zinnis to track the kidnappers down. From what I know of the relationship between Amaryll and Zinnis, I can see why he is cautious. After all, even if our group is welcomed there, locating their hideout is another matter.” You nodded at his vocal thoughts. They were, of course, the same problems that worried you. “Well, Princess, where do you think it is?”

He managed to startle you a second time in a short span of minutes. Even though he might hold you in higher regard than most men in the castle, you didn’t expect for him to seek your opinion. It wasn’t something that you hadn’t pondered before, but the sudden question had you telling him your honest thoughts without holding anything back. “As you said, Your Highness, Amaryll and Zinnis are not on good terms, so it is imperative that we find the kidnappers’ hideout quickly. Another thing to be considered is their ties with the government. Groups like this tend to be supported by someone in the position of power, I think, and if they catch wind of our suspicions, they may be more vigilant, or run away completely.”

“All the more reason to locate them quickly,” he agreed.

“Upon arrival, if possible,” you said gravely. “Which is why it would be wise to attempt to pinpoint their nest before setting off, and verify it, if it can be done.”

“It would be difficult to send in spies into Zinnis in the first place, what with their tight security,” Prince Taehyung pointed out. “It is not a very feasible option to send men to scour every corner of the country in secret.”

“Not every corner, surely, Your Highness,” you corrected him gently. “The people carrying out this operation are pirates, and therefore are confined to the harbours. That already narrows the search area by quite a margin.”

“Something tells me that you are of the opinion that it can be narrowed even more,” the Crown Prince prodded with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I cannot be entirely certain, of course —“ you began, but the nod of his head encouraged you to continue humouring him, “but if I were to venture a guess, it would be somewhere near the border of Zinnis and Gazan.”

The grin disappeared from Prince Taehyung’s face, perhaps by the strength behind your answer. Despite cautioning that your theory was not a sure thing, you sounded confident in your estimation. “What makes you think so?”

“Even if a government official is involved, it is still an illegal activity, so they need to be careful and inconspicuous. Being close to Gazan which allows slavery would serve them well should the need to flee arise. They can bring the people they have kidnapped and quickly sell them off to acquire the funds they may need to set up a base elsewhere, perhaps even acquiring protection, if the people of Gazan find their contribution valuable enough,” you told him. If the kidnappers were indeed in Zinnis, you could think of nowhere else that would be as convenient as the border between those two countries.

Prince Taehyung’s expression was one of silent contemplation. It was as if his eyes were piercing through you, so sharp was his gaze. You started to squirm ever so slightly in his arms, but the discomfort disappeared into thin air when he relaxed and adopted a genial air once again. “Even if I had any doubts before, you have completely convinced me that they are unfounded.” Before you could ask whether he had doubts about Namjoon’s claims to your abilities or your estimate on the kidnappers’ base, he pulled your focus back towards your current situation.

“Contrary to what Prince Jimin said, you don’t seem all that bad at dancing.”

Just like that, he brought you back to the ballroom. The soft clicks of shoes against the marble floor, somehow forgotten during your discussion with Prince Taehyung, greeted your ears again, forming a rhythm that replaced his earlier counting of the beat, a music of its own. Your skin froze everywhere that was in contact with him, and suddenly he felt too close. Gone were the thoughts that whirled around in your head during most of your waking hours as of late, taken over by the panic and expectation to take the right step, to seamlessly follow his lead. Naturally, that led you to fumble and land your foot onto his.

Your panicked apologies were brushed aside by Prince Taehyung’s laughter, a melodic sound coming from such depths that seemed contrasting to his beautiful, delicate features, that you wouldn’t have expected if you’d never heard his pleasingly deep voice before. “It is a mistake on my part,” he said magnanimously, “after my attempts at distracting you with tedious political talk, I suspected that you would perform better when you are not so fixated on your movements, yet I brought your attention back to it.”

Despite the events of the morning of your first dance lesson with Prince Taehyung, it wasn’t marked as the last. It wasn’t a daily occurrence, but often when he had time away from the discussions and the duties that he could carry out away from his home, he sought you out for another lesson, and another. You were obliged to accept, of course, so you thought nothing of it. Although at times the sensation that made you want to squirm returned in his presence. You’d heard that Prince Taehyung was good at reading people, and sometimes you thought that was exactly what he was doing. Reading you. If he truly was, he gave away no indication that he found anything he discovered to be unsatisfactory, yet you weren’t sure if anyone would enjoy being given a look that seemed to pierce through their soul.

However, he more than made up for any discomfort you might feel on your part. Here was another person who was inclined to talk about matters of the nation with you. Perhaps he didn’t indulge in disclosing confidential information as much your brothers did, but it was more than you could have hoped for. An extra source of information is always valuable. Moreover, the Crown Prince didn’t only share with you the progress of the preparations for pursuing the kidnappers. He was also more than happy to tell you more of his kingdom. They were superficial details like the weather, notable buildings, the trade — usually focusing on the differences between his country and yours that he could observe, but having never gone far from the capital, much less into another country, you found his little tidbits, his stories to be riveting.

As you swung in his arms once again one afternoon, your eyes were pulled to the door before it could even make a sound as it closed shut behind the newcomer. Jin’s presence was the sun, and your eyes planets of a galaxy, gravitating around him, pulled towards him. However, none of the sun’s warmth, none of Jin’s usual easy comfort wrapped around you this time. Instead, a chill enveloped your skin, despite being in Prince Taehyung’s firm arms. In the span of less than one second, the frost-like feeling creeping up your spine was replaced by red-hot fire everywhere your skin touched his. Even your back felt burnt by his hand there, and your instincts were to jump up and away from him, but you kept yourself as calm and collected as you could. Jin was the epitome of professionalism, his face expressionless, unbothered by the sight of you dancing so closely to Prince Taehyung, but there was a darkness in his eyes that sent a pang of regret inside you although you weren’t doing anything wrong. Even his voice didn’t betray any feelings, unfaltering as he apologised for interrupting and informing that the Crown Prince Namjoon had asked you to join him for tea.

Happy as you were to spend some time with Namjoon, you were more eager to make an escape from Prince Taehyung and talk to Jin. The former released you with an easy smile, brushing off your gratitude for his time and informing you that it was his pleasure. Even though Jin was just behind you as you walked through the long corridor outside the ballroom, the distance between you felt bigger than an ocean. Unable to stand the growing silence, you slowed your step to look sideways at him, trying to meet his eyes as you said, “Jin, I’m sor—“

“Don’t apologise,” he cut you off softly. It wasn’t unkind, but it left you clueless as to what to say. After a few moments, he ended the quiet, saying, “I do wish one of your brothers could teach you how to dance, though.” Looking up at him again, you saw no blame in his eyes. Only a wistful smile that inflicted more pain than any scolding ever could.

The funny thing was, you were sure your own features were twisted into a similar expression. “I wish you could teach me.”

With that, both of you lapsed into silence once again, letting your echoing footsteps distract you from letting the truth consume you. To attempt to ignore the fact that in the public eye, the close proximity that you had with Prince Taehyung earlier was something you could never have with Jin.

#noonanet #networkbangtan #bangtan bookclub #hyunglinenetwork #armiesnet #bts writing squad #btssunshinenet #jin fluff #jin angst #jin scenarios #taehyung fluff #taehyung scenarios #jimin fluff #jimin scenarios #namjoon scenarios #bts scenarios

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megamanx1994 · 6 years ago

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Xenoforce II Chapter 8

Chapter 9: Metal Face (Disclaimer!! I own nothing of XenoBlade Chronicles or Ratchet and Clank!) For the next few weeks I’ve been playing some pretty awesome games with the paintball team. With all that was going on, it sounded pretty shitty not to ask Ratchet to be part of it. He was a good help to us. We even befriended the leader of our rival school’s paintball team, Victor Von Ion. He had one hell of a paintball suit. Chuck disagrees however and only sees us as a nuisance. And although I am busy with stuff I’m still keeping up my grades in my classes. “Good work Mr. Morrison,” said the professor, “Keep up the good work.” “Thank you sir,” I said. I was on my way to a store to meet Kitty to get some supplies. “So what do you need this stuff for again?” I asked. “Its for a new magic trick I’m practicing,” said Kitty, “Its gonna be amazing.” “What is it?” I asked. “It’s a surprise,” said Kitty, “But it requires a special tool. “What does it look like?” I asked. “I don’t know,” said Kitty, “I’m blind.” “You’re blind?” I asked, “Wait…. If you’re blind then how are you…” “I have this kind of radar that allows me to see things through a sound barrier,” said Kitty. “Wow,” I said. “I was born blind but I’m not ashamed of anything,” she said. (To the 4th wall) Holy shit that’s cool. “Good for you,” I said as I smiled, “But me… my uncle acts like he’s ashamed of me.” “Why?” asked Kitty. “He claims he knows who I want to be and how I should live my life,” I said, “Its just hard trying to get him to accept me for who I am.” “Why should you care about one family member’s approval?” asked Kitty, “You have dozens of friends.. well at least us who think you’re a good person.” “Thanks,” I said as I smiled. Meanwhile in another area of the store the masked man appeared with some mechons. “Gentleman, I’m here to pick up some items,” he said, “Act calmly and I won’t harm anyone.” He picked up a table with his bare hands and threw it. I saw him. “Oh no,” I said. “What is it?” asked Kitty. “Kitty you gotta hide,” I said, “That guy is bad news.” I took her somewhere safe. “Stay hidden,” I said, “I’ll be back after I call XenoBlade.” “Ok,” said Kitty, “Be careful!” I went to change my costume and sprung into action. “So you’re the famous XenoBlade the world talks about,” said the metal man. “And youi are?” I asked, “Metal Face?” “I kinda like that name,” he said, “Metal Face it is!” He commanded some mechons to attack me and I avoided them. One of them threw something at me. “Here’s your change!” I said as I threw it back using my headband. I jumpd around fighting off the mechons. I tried to do something with the headband but it was malfunctioning. “Oh shit,” I said, “Come on!” I suddenly had a vision of one of them attacking me from behind. I used the monado to cut off one of its tentacles. “Time to try out its new toys,” I said, “Monado Buster!” The blade part of the monado grew larger. Now I had more distance attacks. One of the mechons was about to tackle me but someone dashed by and pulled me out the way. IT was Denise. “Took you long enough,” I said, “Thanks.” “No problem,” said Denise. “Can you and the gang take care of the mechons for me?” I asked. “Got it bro,” said Micah. I saw Metal Face trying to escape with the tools he needed. “Get back here!” I said. I saw a mechon about to attack Kitty. “Kitty watch out!” I said. But somehow Kitty blocked it with her cane. “Am I the only one who saw that?” I asked. She kept blocking the attacks from the mechons and did some kind of spell that pushed them away. The mechons got away with the gear. I was face to face with Metal Face. “Give it up,” I said. “I don’t think so,” said Metal Face, “Looks can be deceiving but I am an expert at swordplay. He had some kind of blades on his hands. “Attack,” he said. I fought him and he blocked my attacks. The blades manage to cut through my costume. “Damn it!” I said. I kicked him in the face and he quickly got back up. “You really think fighting me will be that easy?” he asked. “You’re damn right I do,” I said, “What’s your game here?” “You wanna know?” he asked as he put his blades away, “Let’s talk.” “Very well,” I said, “But away from those people.” He got on a mechon and went to the top of a building. “From what I’ve seen you’re an amazing person,” said Metal Face, “We’re not so different when we see each other face to face.” “From what I’ve seen you just like getting what you want while hurting innocent people in the progress,” I said. “Well, everyone has their path,” said Metal Face, “Los Angeles and its people find you amusing, worship you like a hero.” “That’s because I am a hero,” I said, “I do what I have to.” “However one day they’ll all turn against you, it starts with one person, then it starts to grow,” said Metal Face, “So why bother?” “Because its right,” I said, “Its my responsibility.” “Responsibility,” he said, “A word that’s considered a poison for some of us.” He took out one of his swords. “I could kill you right now, but I’ll give you a choice,” said Metal Face, “Use your popularity, their trust, to convince them that the only way to evolution, is though the mechons. Imagine a world we could create….. or destroy, causing the deaths of innocent people again and again until we both die. IS that what you want?” He got on the mechon. “Think about it, hero!” he said as he flew away. I jumped down from the building to a cheering crowd. “Thank you, but its my team you should be thanking,” I said, “They make all of this possible.” “What are you doing?” asked Micah, “You know how much these people love you.” “I’m not gonna take full credit from my friends,” I said as I smiled. “Hey,” said Kitty, “You’re Mr. Xenoblade.” “Just Xenoblade,” I said as I smiled, “Mr. Xenoblade was my father.” “Oh my god, Michael!” said Kitty as she went inside. I jumped in and powered down and walked up to her. “Thank goodness you’re ok,” she said. “OF course,” I said, “Why wouldn’t I be?” She looked at my face. “You’re hurt,” she said, “Hold still.” She got a napkin and did some kind of spell. “This should heal that scar from your face,” said Kitty. “That’s really sweet Kitty,” I said.. Denise and Micah were smirking. I flipped them off. I was continuing my double life saving people and hanging out with Kitty. Meanwhile my paintball team was getting some phenomenal results thanks to me, Ratchet and Clank. My uncle was looking at the paper. “Who is Xenoblade?” he read, “He’s a criminal is what he is.” “Christopher,” said my mom. “He’s a menace Vixen,” said Uncle Chris, “He’s just like the rest.” He showed her another article about some other superheroes causing damage at a party. “Come on, they can’t help it if they’re a little clumsy,” I said. “Michael its people like Xenoblade that are responsible for how our city has turned out,” said Uncle Chris, “Look around you, there’s vandalism, disrespectful children, and criminals with powers similar to him.” “Not everyone with super powers are criminals,” I said, “I talk to Xenoblade all the time.” “You what?” he asked. “We’re pals, homeboys,” I said, “He’s always there to listen no matter what.” “Do yourself a favor,” said Uncle Chris, “Stay away from him.” “Wait what?” I asked. “He’s a bad influence on you, and your friends,” he said, “Most importantly he’s interfering with life.” “You don’t know that,” I said. “Yes I do,” he said, “Don’t you ever say I don’t know something when I do.” “Xenoblade’s a good guy,” I said getting angry, “He’s out there saving the world and doing things the police can’t.” “Can’t?” asked Uncle Chris. “Yeah,” I said. “Michael I will not have you affiliated with those demons out there pretending that they’re on our side,” said Uncle Chris, “If you and Xenoblade don’t stand back and let the police do their job there’s gonna be nothing we can do for you. One day that Xenoblade is gonna get what he deser….” “I’m not gonna listen to anymore of this,” I said. I stormed out and headed back to campus.

#xenoforceii #xenoblade chronicles #FFEU phase 1 #fan fiction extended universe #metal face #mumkhar #ratchet and clank

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