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enobariasdistrict2 · 2 months

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odesta week modern au monday:

i will inform you right now that i am in high school with no previous background experience or interest in marine biology and anything that comes off as scientific information is dubious and came from quick google searches. i also have little knowledge of the UC school system so if this is inaccurate then sucks to suck lol.

There was no topic Annie could get lost in as far and as easily as she did other than marine biology. Thankfully, living in a prime area to study the ocean and attending a program to pursue this passion at a renowned school, the University of California at San Diego, afforded her many opportunities to study marine life.

She observes different creatures with unfeigned fascination, those both widely known and even some obscure to common society. It surprised her how so many Californians were uninformed of the natural beauty of the sea and the wealth of information it provided readily as well as the secrets that were hidden with the frothy waves. How her fellow citizens weren't interested in learning about the many different versatile species all contributing to marine biodiversity and ensuring the health of the planet. Moreover, she was often frustrated by how many cynics reduced what made her life feel purposeful as a waste of tuition money and argued she wouldn't be making a particularly large sum of income through this path. And it enraged her that people in her family sometimes believed marine biology students simply went on fun little field trips to the beach and made sandcastles and pointed at starfish like they were a novelty. Which, they were, every organism on Earth down to the worms digging through the soil had inherent worth, but it frustrated Annie that people who were supposedly her support network trivialised her passion in such an insulting way.

The golden boy sitting on the dock without a shirt wearing black cords wrapped around the tanned column of his throat, like some kind of Peter Pan character designed for... adult entertainment, so to speak - he stares curiously at her from his seated position. Doesn't even shy away from her when she makes eye contact, or indicate embarrassment at having been caught. But he watches attentively, with no hint of mockery or apparent desire to make fun of her. She knows this is what if feels like when a stranger is intrigued by you.

It feels incredible, but Annie doesn't indulge the feeling as she would like to, instead continuing to document her observations of the coast without paying the boy - man, really - any heed. Even as she feels his watchful gaze prickling against the back of her neck, searing through the skin of her nape like California summer heat.

Annie dutifully ignores him. Traces the drawings of one of her favorite salmon species and then closes her notebook with a sense of finality, done for the day. Gives her severely antagonistic college roommate turned minor-attachment friend, Enobaria, the catch-up call she'd been meaning to all month. Updates her grocery list. All mundane tasks designed to eat away time and still the man has not ceased his staring at her. She might have called him rude but that isn't what makes her uncomfortable with this interaction.

Since his staring is open and unencumbered by societal expectations of politeness, she feels free to look back. An unfortunate mistake. Annie is unable to tear her eyes away. A glowing expanse of sunlit chest that tapered off into knotted pants, golden curls that were incandescent in the daylight, and piercing diamond-cut blue eyes. Then she fixates on the jawline that reminds her of seaglass, a sharp unfairly smooth jut of cheekbones.

But California was full of handsome men. San Diego certainly had plenty more than any woman attracted to men knew what to do with. What captivates her isn't the surfer-boy charm of a stereotypical Californian character in a movie or the pretty face. It's that he stares out at the ocean with a kind of haunted look and glazed over eyes that she understands, having probably had the same expression on her own face more times than she could count.

She steels herself before she can lose her nerve, accepting mental encouragement from the Johanna Mason in her head, another surly and easily irritated woman she'd known from college and against reasonable judgement befriended, and continued to stay in touch with despite the other woman having returned to her Oregon hometown. Johanna's advice is more or less an angry uttering of "Well, what now Cresta, are you going to stare like a pussy bitch or go get that gorgeous piece of ass?"

Annie doesn't simply walk over. She sways with the sea breeze, feeling lighter and buoyant because of it. Watches as he perks up with renewed interest realizing that she is about to approach him. She herself stands at attention, feeling bold and positively hopeful for this interaction.

"You stared at me. For like an hour," she points out, voice ringing out across the beach. Sand gathers in soft clumps between her toes as she stares down at him with arms crossed, brown waves billowing across her face. The man cranes his neck to get a better look at her, evidently amused.

"So I did," he replies blithely. His voice is much more pleasant than she could have imagined, like a waterfall cascading across smooth pebbles that slide against each other as they move.

"Are you a stalker," she inquires bluntly. It's an odd question - surely a stalker with violent intentions wouldn't blatantly admit it - but he takes it in stride.

"No," he says dryly. "What were you drawing in that notebook?" His eyes bore into hers, inquisitive, pressing.

"My work. I'm doing field research," she informs him helpfully.

"Well, you should be careful. We've got sea monsters and terribly frightening beasts too," he warns her humorously. He doesn't wink at her, but mischief glitters in his eyes all the same like the sun's light against cresting waves.

"And do you have a name, monster hunter?"

He laughs warmly. "Oh, I'm no monster slayer, darling. If one were to show up behind you I'd run and leave you to your fate. My name is Finnick."

A light zap of recognition stirs within her. Those eyes, the charming smile and voice, the familiarity of the shirtlessness...

"You're in those commercials," she realizes out loud. He nods in confirmation.

"Yeah, I get a lot of good modeling gigs for different shit. Body spray. Ocean perfume. Beach vacations. Even to be on the cover of some raunchy pirate romance novel. But since I'm on a brief hiatus right now," he jerks a thumb to the area behind him, and Annie follows the movement to a shack-like structure with a sign reading Odair Fishing Equipment. "I'm helping my Grandma Mags and her wife Coral with the shop."

"That's lovely," she says sincerely.

Finnick's already impish grin widens. "Well, if it's lovely, then come inside, Miss Field Researcher. And tell me where exactly you go to."

Annie accepts the invitation for some reason - mainly curiosity and the desire to follow a good smile. Besides, she has her pepper spray in her pocket if things go south, paired with some self defense moves that Enobaria and her protégé - a small runt of a girl named Clove, back then recently graduated from high school, whose personality was at the intersection of Enobaria's lethal calm and Johanna's brash outspoken attitude - had taught her when she'd stayed in Enobaria's cabin near the Rocky Mountains for spring break during senior year of college.

"I went to Panem Community College - it's a little over the state border - before transferring to UC San Diego for my last two years," she tells him breezily, content to share. Normally, she would refrain from providing such an extent of information to a stranger, but Finnick's openness encourages her to be that way on her own and she's honestly more than happy to. "Then I got into grad school. Marine biology is my dream subject to learn about, and I always wanted to explore the ocean for as long as I could remember."

He nods along with her story as they walk, clearly invested. That has never happened on any of the dates - not that this is one - she went on, where men drown her out in favor of devouring her her petite frame and glancing at her lips, or some were polite enough to listen but couldn't manage to be as enraptured by her speaking the way Finnick was. The intensity of his stare almost made her blush.

"That's actually really amazing. I was never as passionate about learning, but it's always really cool to meet someone that is. I myself make a living mostly off modeling gigs - gotta put my looks to use," he jokes with a lighthearted laugh. Somehow, this self-compliment about being attractive doesn't come off as arrogant as anyone else would have sounded. "But Grandma Mags has had this store for decades now, and it's my childhood sanctuary. I wanted to do my part to keep it going."

Annie hums her agreement. She can understand wanting to stay near family. After... after what happened, with the devastating consequences it had had on her mental health, the reason she'd survived was because she had stayed in close proximity to her parents and the remaining sister. It was why Panem Community College had been the best fit for her, even though she'd gotten into some of her dream schools. Even now, though it would take only a forty minute drive to return to her family, hug her mother, kiss her father on the cheek, embrace her sister who still couldn't bear to look at her but loved her all the same, the pang of loneliness still affected her deeply.

They enter the shop, bell ringing with the door's opening and marking their arrival. A sharp-looking older woman with russet hair that had greyed over time and narrowed eyes sits at the counter, already seething with contempt.

"Coral," Finnick greets her coolly. Far less dreamily and soft-spoken than when he'd told her of his Mags.

"Boy," Miss Coral rasps. She meets Annie's eyes emotionlessly before returning to a worn ledger with yellowing pages, probably keeping documentation of decades of finance records.

Finnick gently pulls her into a corner space far away from the counter. "I'm guessing she's not a sweet little old lady like Miss Mags?" Annie ventures teasingly, now strangely comfortable with this boy.

His eyes roll upwards to the ceiling, almost as if praying for patience. Annie tries not to find it adorable. "Coral isn't the nicest woman anyone has ever met. She's seen a lot of shit that would melt my brain, I get that, but we have an understanding that she's a part of my life because my grandmother loves her."

"Mm," she hums, noncommittal. Right now Annie is battling the temptation to sweep away a tantalizing golden lock that falls onto his forehead. Plus, they are remarkably close together for people who have just met.

"But anyhow, you've seen my humble abode. Now tell me about your marine biology." She's startled to see no inflections of sarcasm, no sense of him obliging her for the sake of politeness. He... he only wants her to talk. About something that interests her.

Really, it's the bare minimum for any man, but her heart pounds anyways.

So she begins to tell him about the unique behavioral patterns of a species she's researching, how many organisms are capable of forming remarkable emotional connections with one another and how this varies across the board. The chemical basis behind the smell of dead fish. The resurgence of endangered dolphin populations as the Covid pandemic put a brief, forced stop to overfishing.

And he listens attentively. No interruptions, just him holding her gaze with a heated intensity that alludes to activities - but he makes no move to kiss her or touch her.

Annie finds herself wanting that, but this is... this is nice too.

Coral passes by them, shuffling in that way old folk tend to, with a grunt in Annie's direction. Annie bites her lip to keep from giggling as she looks to Finnick for explanation.

"Yeah, Coral likes you. Other guests I bring by... not so much."

Her heart stupidly drops just a centimeter in her chest - not sinking, she has no claim to a man she just met who is obviously desirable - with the mention of guests. Annie hides this quickly enough.

"Well, if you want to make yourself useful other than staring at me like a creep," she grins at him cheekily when reminding him of how they'd met a half hour ago, "you could be my research assistant. Help me collect data, and... other, um, duties. Of a research assistant."

Annie bites her lip as she waits for a response. A weird mix of hope and attraction entwined in her chest.

"I'd be happy to, water nymph." Annie snickers at the new endearment - that was certainly more original, she thinks, than "babe" or "sugar" or "sweetheart." Not that Finnick had any reason to call her these things, obviously.

"I always wanted to befriend a water nymph," he confesses softly, with only traces of humor that makes her believe Finnick might be being wholeheartedly serious. His eyes hold hers for far too long to be appropriate for acquaintances. Neither break the spell.

"I'm gathering samples tomorrow with some colleagues. You're more than welcome to join," she invites him. It implies that Annie will leave, but she has really no desire to, so she just... keeps standing still there, with this nice and funny and really hot guy. Next to a display of fishing rods. A totally reasonable plan.

"I'll be there the minute you need me," he accepts her invitation smoothly.

Annie has dedicated her life to the study of ocean life and is living her dream. But suddenly she wonders if this boy might be an essential additive element to that dream.

#thg #odesta #the hunger games #thg fanfiction #odesta fanfiction #finnick x annie #annie cresta #finnick odair #**mine #minefic #no beta #odesta week

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lambwoniee · 3 months

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Please share or donate to this family in Gaza! Any amount of money will help and if you can’t donate, sharing the gofundme is immensely helpful! ❤️❤️

Their story:

Hello, my name is Jehad Abuhamda. I’m an American/ Palestinian who is seeking for your support in helping me get my close relatives out into safety.

My relatives consist of a family of five.

Ahmed Abuhamda ( father)

Fatin Abuhamda (Mother)

Sama Abuhamda (6 years old)

Loai Abuhamda (3 years old)

Yousef Abuhamda (7 months old)

Since the attack on the 7th of October, and the start of Israeli reprisals, their daily lives have gradually fallen apart. Their whole area was targeted and by the grace of god, they were able to live for another day.

They lost everything. All around them, tens of thousands of people have died. They have managed to go to Deir Al-balah, which is the supposed safe zone yet it is also under bombing. But like all the survivors of this war, they are facing incredible amounts of hardship like lack of care, diseases, shortage of food, and most of all continuous bombing. From what my Relatives are writing to, it's clear the situation is deteriorating. Like you, I feel angry, sad, and so powerless.

My relative lived a hard life after having is right hand amputated from the remnants of Israeli explosives in a previous war. Despite that, it did not hinder him from working in order to provide for his family. But now that he has lost his home, and with the worsening living conditions, He has decided that it is best to leave for the sake of his children.

The reason we are wanting to raise $18,000, is due to the price of passage into Egypt.

1 adult costs $5,000

1 child costs $2,500

As I said before they are a family of 5, two adults and three children. The remain money will be for the website taxes and exchange rates. I very well understand that this is a large amount money, but together we can make it happen. Every share on the social networks, every donation will count, even the smallest.

Thank you for reading, and please share to all your friends.

#free palestine #palestine #gaza #free gaza #donate to palestine #palestine fundraiser #stand with palestine #palestine help #gaza mutual aid #mutual aid

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redpenship · 1 year

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my personal hc for "why do so few sonic characters have parents?" question is that i think mobians just have different views on raising children/parent-to-child relationships than what is seen in some human societies.

like maybe communal child raising was the norm in mobian society for a long time, where kids weren't expected to be raised exclusively by one or two people but rather by all the adults and older kids around them. it could be the case as well that kids aren't particularly "doted on", in the sense that they are allowed to make bad decisions and hurt themselves in order to gain life experience, rather than just being told what not to do by an authority figure.

basically, if you are born in a mobian village, you have a have a ton of people who will help you whenever you ask for it, but won't go out for their way to offer advice or stop you from doing bad things. they will feed you and make sure you have basic necessities but maybe won't prevent you from climbing a really tall tree despite the risk of falling.

birth parents may also not be socially required to stick by their kids until a certain age, so it isn't really frowned upon to leave your kid behind in a village and live elsewhere. this is especially true if the kid has a large support network to fall back on, where your role in raising them would be quite small anyways.

tails serves as a good example of all of this. maybe his parents left him on Westside Island in his village for xyz reasons, and it was just bad luck that the community there was hostile towards him. sonic taking care of tails (a kid he isnt related to) wouldn't be considered weird, and trusting tails to fend for himself whenever sonic goes away for a few days at a time wouldn't be frowned upon either.

to explain vanilla and cream, perhaps parenting styles are changing because of human influence or whatever. maybe sonics generation is just caught in a transitional stage between child raising models.

#kinda ramble-y but whatever lmao #sonic the hedgehog #redposts

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flaming-rollsroyce-blaring-queen · 1 year

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Hi everyone, happy disability pride month. I just wanted to share my experiences without the Karens and relatives of Facebook. I was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy at 10.

Growing up I didn't think it was a disability because I was doing everything everyone else did in school. I didn't need a wheelchair, and usually as long as I don't have any of the sodas I like or don't play the games other kids play, I was ok. But last year, as I walked around the job fair looking for one more means of steady independence for my adult self, the embarrassed looks on nearly everyone's faces told me otherwise.

I went with my partner to a Job Fair in the city we hope to move to, in hopes of supporting him (now he's a guard, but still) and finding opportunities of my own. We split up and explored the booths, and I went to go look for desk jobs, because it's what my brain works best with. Legally, due to my seizures, I cannot drive nor will I ever be able to for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I went up, smiled, put on my networking voice, maintained good eye contact and introduced myself, just like we were all taught. This seemed to work with a lot of the potential employers! But when I explained my situation, everything changed. Eye contact stopped. The free flowing conversation and hopes turned to "I'm sorry, we've got nothing for you, miss." and they'd all wish me a nice day and good luck.

For context, the disabled community has made cases for and have been denied telework. As of 2019, 70% of disabled workers who have gone to court for this accommodation lost. Not only this, but for ages we have begged for remote learning and medical care, and repeatedly we were told it's impossible. Impossible.

Suddenly it's 2020 and a pandemic shuts down schools, businesses, and everyone has been ordered to stay home. It didn't take long for everybody to feel the pinching and the pressure of not being able to go out and provide. Suddenly, remote working becomes a household phrase. People, abled and disabled, log into their jobs and to making their honest livings. It seems like this could become a real thing, right?

Wrong.

Now the world is bouncing back from the chaos of last year, and businesses open back up again. Which brings this back full circle. Now that the world is normalizing, the accomodations made within mere weeks of abled people not being able to commute, have for the most part gone backsies "with less of a need for it".

Thank you for reading this chapter of my story. Writing this, I have decided I will share one more part of my life just to show another truth of life. I'm constantly meading out what I drink, because I love caffeine, it helps me wake up from the nights often sleepless because of meds. Or getting tipsy feels like the uncertainty of a seizure, so you just don't. And cutting everything out and not having any real appetite because the brain signals that are supposed by meds so you don't go down, also tell you you're hungry, so when I'm out with my large chubby hubby-looking partner and just stick to my soup and water while he gets a burger and coke, he gets dirty looks because not having had any will to eat since 2009 sucks and I'm a thin mint with a big boi. But he is a food pusher who reminds me to eat. People don't care.

Getting adult diapers and getting picked on by old ladies because I obviously haven't just given birth, or I'm too young for them, sucks. I can't even vent to my family about having an invisible disability because my sister has it far worse with arthritis and digestive issues, and she's younger too. I don't even really spend time with them doing fun stuff because they don't understand overstimulation, and their answer is just to cut it out. So I've been becoming more and more isolated in my own home. My partner is my only true safety.

And that's the shit in between the seizures media use as comedic relief.

#disability pride #long post #vent post

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mariacallous · 10 months

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The radical libertarian candidate Javier Milei surfed an anti-establishment wave to comfortably win Argentina’s highly polarized presidential runoff on Nov. 19 with 55.7 percent of the votes. He will take over a country battered by the worst economic crisis in two decades, rising poverty levels and one of the highest inflation rates in the world. His opponent Sergio Massa, currently minister of the economy, obtained the most votes in the first round, but the country’s catastrophic economic situation was like a millstone around Massa’s neck during a runoff in which the majority of voters wanted change. Massa’s defeat was so decisive that he may not even have a mandate to lead the reconstruction of Peronism, a movement that has governed Argentina for 28 of the last 40 years.

Milei holds many extreme views. He believes climate change is a socialist hoax and that the mob violence of Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. and Jan. 8, 2023 in Brazil’s capital, Brasília, had nothing to do with former U.S. and Brazilian Presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, respectively. Many of his proposals are highly controversial, such as closing Argentina’s central bank and dollarizing the economy; privatizing education; eliminating all gun laws; criminalizing abortion; legalizing the sale of human organs; and downgrading diplomatic ties to countries such as Brazil and China, Argentina’s two major trading partners.

At first glance, Milei has a powerful mandate for implementing these ideas and transforming Argentina; after all, he won more votes than any candidate since 1983. The president-elect also proposes to radically reduce the size of the state, which doubled under Peronist governments over the past two decades. The day after his triumph, Milei confirmed his intent to privatize the majority state-owned energy company YPF, national news agency Telám, national radio station LRA Radio Nacional, and publicly owned television network TV Pública. “Everything that can be in the hands of the private sector will be in the hands of the private sector,” Milei said during a radio interview. He argued that there was no space for gradual reforms; instead, he said “drastic” measures were needed.

Yet Milei’s mandate for change—and his capacity to deliver it—may be smaller than it appears. In fact, the far-right libertarian may be, at least initially, one of the weakest Argentine presidents in decades. Given that only 30 percent of voters supported Milei in the election’s first round, it is safe to assume the president-elect received numerous votes in the runoff from people who do not support some of his most radical proposals and voted for him because they considered Massa even less palatable, especially in the economic realm.

More importantly, however, Milei—just like Trump and Bolsonaro before him—triumphed with a message of radical change without executive experience. He also lacks an established party structure and a large pool of allied technocrats he can appoint to key positions in his administration. Both Trump and Bolsonaro had to rely on experienced and more moderate bureaucrats to govern, many of whom considered themselves the “adults in the room” and often operated behind the scenes to tame some of their respective presidents’ most extreme impulses. The fact that most mainstream economists believe Milei’s plan for dollarizing Argentina’s economy is unworkable may strengthen attempts to kick some of his more radical ideas down the road.

In the case of Milei, those who aim to fill his administration with “adults” are former center-right president Mauricio Macri, who governed Argentina from 2015 to 2019, and Patricia Bullrich, Macri’s former security minister and also a candidate this election (she obtained 24 percent of votes in the first round). When it became clear that Milei and Massa would make it into the runoff, Macri convened Milei and Bullrich at his home and negotiated an agreement to help make Milei more palatable to centrist voters, and give credibility to his somewhat more moderate rhetoric, during the runoff. In return, Macri and Bullrich would gain some influence in the Milei government by placing several of their allies into key positions in the new administration. (Macri’s public support for Milei sealed the breakup of the center-right Together for Change coalition, as some of its members—such as Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, chief of government of Buenos Aires—refused to side with Milei in the runoff.)

While Milei said he would not announce cabinet appointments until his inauguration on Dec. 10, Macri and Bullrich allies are known to be actively participating in the transition negotiations, and several, such as economist Guillermo Nielsen and former Central Bank of Argentina executives Federico Sturzenegger, Demian Reidel, and Luis Caputo—all of whom have served in the Macri administration—may join the government.

The most likely dynamic in Milei’s government will thus be a tension between, on one hand, the president’s radical allies who were inspired by the candidate’s rhetoric to fight the “parasitic caste” and end “old politics,” and, on the other, the Macri and Bullrich allies who see Milei as a useful vessel to implement policies they like and who have long been part of the very political elite Milei had initially vowed to destroy.

There is some reason to believe the moderates have the capacity to win important battles. Milei even walked back several radical ideas during the runoff. And while he may be a highly effective rabble-rouser, his capacity to negotiate deals with congresspeople is notoriously limited: During his only term in Congress, Milei made few friends and only presented one, largely symbolic, law. Moreover, his La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party will hold just 39 of the 257 seats in the lower house and eight of 72 seats in the senate; thus, Milei will depend on support from more moderate forces to legislate. Even if all of Macri’s Republican Proposal (PRO) party legislators support Milei, the president-elect still won’t have a governing majority, which he will need to pass the 2024 budget, one of his first tasks as leader. And Milei’s coalition has not a single governor in Argentina’s 23 provinces.

All of this shows that unless Milei strikes a political bargain with more centrist lawmakers, his capacity to implement his ambitious plans will be very limited. Despite an impressive victory, Milei now needs the help of the political “caste,” which he frequently demonized, to effectively govern Argentina. If he does not, his stint in the Casa Rosada may be shorter than expected. Just like several other Argentine presidents who lacked a governing majority in Congress, Milei may not even be able to finish his term—particularly since, as he readily recognizes, his policy proposals would, at least initially, increase poverty levels even further. The potential for social unrest in response to Milei’s proposed shock therapy is considerable. The 44 percent of voters who sided with Massa probably support the continuation of the current government’s generous subsidies and support programs, and at least half of Argentines depend on benefits from government-funded supplemental income and job programs.

That said, Macri and Bullrich’s ambitions to embed adults in the room and tame Milei may be, to some extent, wishful thinking. While the U.S. and Brazilian “deep states” were able to prevent Trump and Bolsonaro from overreaching—especially when they tried to overturn election results after failed attempts at reelection—Milei can hardly afford to abandon his core supporters completely and govern as Macri and Bullrich would have. As Milei’s biographer warns: “No-one can convince Milei to do the opposite of what his head dictates. And that brain, a labyrinth in which clones, sorcerers, mediums and God coexist, knows only one way of structuring itself.”

The adults in the room may be unable to prevent Milei from closing ministries, which he can do by presidential decree. If he feels unable to advance his agenda through traditional means, Milei may be tempted, as he suggested during the campaign, to take the unusual decision of organizing plebiscites on some issues to mobilize his supporters and overcome obstacles in Congress. In the foreign-policy realm, Milei may be convinced to walk back some of his promises (such as the one to abandon Mercosur), but he will hardly abandon all of them, and not least his promise to decline the invitation to join the BRICS grouping. In the same way, Milei’s decision to invite Bolsonaro to his inauguration suggests he does not plan to have a functioning working relationship with Brazil’s current head of state, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he has repeatedly attacked on the campaign trail.

Finally, the geopolitical context will also determine how far Milei can go. Bolsonaro’s presidency provides an instructive example: During his first two years, Bolsonaro could swim in the slipstream of the Trump administration, which allowed him to pick Ernesto Araújo, an anti-globalist conspiracy theorist, as his top diplomat, and antagonize numerous leaders around the world. When Trump lost reelection in 2020, Bolsonaro had to adapt. He replaced Araújo with a bureaucrat and toned down his anti-China rhetoric. With U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House, the geopolitical environment for a far-right populist is set to be far more hostile—until, that is, the U.S. presidential election, in which Milei can be expected to publicly root for a Trump victory. The former U.S. president recently wrote Milei a warm congratulatory message—encouraging him to “Make Argentina Great Again.”

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zuko-always-lies · 3 years

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ATLA AU Idea which is Basically “Azula Raises Katara for Several Years”

I’ve had this idea kicking around my head for months, and, since I have no intention of writing it, I figure I might as well post it. To be clear, the premise of this fanfic is “Azula, Katara, and Sokka get traumatized in ways they weren’t in canon, but the events that traumatize them potentially help lead to a better outcome in the long-term,” so be prepared for rough sailing.

This idea is very much inspired by all the “Katara gets kidnapped young and raised within the Fire Nation royal family” fanfics, which I think can be excellent if done with care. However, in a situation where Katara and Azula develop a relationship when they are young, the natural tendency is to make Katara the “motherly” or parental one, and I wanted to turn that on its head. I also wanted to explore some of the possible implications of Azula taking on adult sized responsibilities as a child and of the perverse ways that power differentials can influence things. I also wanted to explore some of the ways that Azula’s commitment to duty and responsibility can be a positive thing. Another ~2000 or so words under the cut.

The premise is that, shortly after Zuko gets banished, Katara gets captured by the Southern Raiders as the last Southern Water Tribe waterbender and brought back to Caldera and presented as a trophy to Ozai. Ozai’s first reaction is to have her executed, but fortunately Azula is also present in the throne room. For reasons which Azula doesn’t entirely understand herself but which definitely have something to do with her guilt over what happened to Zuko, Azula decides to intervene, despite the risks involved. However, not being Zuko, she manages to do this without provoking Ozai, through convincing him that Katara is more valuable alive as a trophy, a symbol, and a plaything than she is dead. Ozai doesn’t really care that much, so he pawns Katara off to Azula and basically forgets about her, accidentally using language that implies to Azula that Katara and taking care of Katara is now Azula’s responsibility. Azula is at an age where she’s started to take her responsibilities and duties with deadly seriousness.

Katara doesn’t know what to make of this all. She’s been severely traumatized by being kidnapped and torn from her family and culture and by having her life threatened by Ozai. She’s aware that Azula saved her life, but the language Azula used to in order to do so sounds warped and screwed up to Katara, who is unaware that Azula had to say what she said in order to manipulate Ozai. Katara noticed that Azula seemed a little nervous when she talked to Ozai, but Katara doesn’t initially know how risky and dangerous what Azula did was.

Again, Azula takes her responsibilities with deadly seriousness. So, when it becomes her responsibility to take care of Katara, Azula is determined to do the best possible job, even though she’s 11 and Katara is also 11. If there were any responsible adults present, they would intervene and talk to Azula about how awful an idea this is, but there aren’t any left. In any case, Katara’s waterbending abilities make it so she has to be kept under some kind of supervision, Azula is perceptive enough to worry that Katara might be mistreated if she got fostered out, and in any case Azula is convinced she can do a better job than any foster family.

Azula is a badly abused 11 year old who grew up indoctrinated in an absolutely toxic ideology. She’s never really seen good parenting in her life. The idea of her trying to parent should be terrifying. Yet she’s aware that Ursa didn’t do the best job with her, and since Katara isn’t a “monster” Azula sees no reason to replicate Ursa’s behavior. Azula believes the way that Ozai treats her is absolutely justified, even though she has some knowledge of its negative effects on her, but since Katara isn’t a princess who has immense duties to her nation and family, Azula sees no reason to treat her that way. In fact, Azula is aware of ignorance about parenting, and tries to read as much about parenting as she can. She also reads as much about the water tribes as she can in order to try to understand Katara better.

In terms of being a “parent,” Azula is overall a little standoffish, absent, and demanding. She doesn’t need to directly look after Katara’s physical care(she has servants for that), but she has to look after Katara’s emotional needs, her education, and her overall care. As a temporary measure, she arranges that Katara sleep on a cot in Azula’s room because she’s not sure where to put her, and this arrangement becomes permanent. This means Azula and Katara usually eat together, since Azula has taken most of her meals in her room, but Azula is very busy with her duties, training, and education, so they don’t spend much time together in a typical day. Azula has Katara officially declared a servant(but one who only reports to Azula) in order to regularize her status and allow Katara to draw a salary(most of which Azula holds in escrow for when Katara comes of age), but Azula only rarely asks Katara to do work; Katara had far more chores back in the Southern Water Tribe. On the other hand, Azula demands that Katara work hard in her education and on practicing her waterbending. Katara is too old to be sent to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but Azula obtains tutors for her, in addition to getting her whatever waterbending scrolls she can and trying to obtain the best possible bending coaches for Katara’s waterbending, sometimes even stepping in herself to try to coach Katara.

Azula is aware that Katara wants to return home, but she doesn’t think that Ozai would ever allow that, and, in any case, Azula is an imperialist who thinks Katara is better off being “civilized” in the Fire Nation than she would be back in her ignorant and “savage” home. A large portion of Katara’s education is intended to “civilize” her. Azula doesn’t have firm ideas of where adult Katara will fit into Fire Nation society but plays with the idea of marrying her into the nobility or of making her governor of the conquered Water Tribes. So overall, Azula does a shockingly good job as “parent” given she’s an abused 11 year child acting within the toxic norms of the Fire Nation, but that still means she does a bad job, and her relationship with Katara remains pretty toxic.

Ozai and the rest of the court have some awareness of what’s going on, but they honestly don’t care as long Azula continues to be an exemplary princess, fulfills her duties, and continues to exceed expectations. Some members of the court even find Azula’s personal commitment to “civilizing” a savage to be inspiring. However, the burden of taking care of Katara means that Azula is under even more pressure than she is in canon, with the good news being that Azula has something more of a support network than in canon. Katara provides some measure of support, and in this AU Azula never has the energy to really push Ukano’s political career forward, and so Mai never has to leave, so Ty Lee also stays put.

Katara, again, is severely traumatized by her experiences, and to a degree feels helpless. She knows that she can’t escape and go back home. She’s resentful of Azula and particularly of the efforts to cut Katara off from her culture, but at the same time Katara ends internalizing some Fire Nation culture. Yet after a while Katara gets a sense of how toxic the environment is at the Royal Court, and she soon(after overhearing a conversation between Mai and Ty Lee which was supposed to be confidential) learns what happened to Zuko and realizes how much Azula risked in order to protect Katara, and Katara can’t help but feel intense gratitude to Azula for it. Azula also gradually becomes more and more respectful of Water Tribe culture, and Katara deeply appreciates the emphasis Azula places on Katara mastering waterbending. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are also the only people in the Fire Nation who are ever consistently kind to Katara, and Katara ends up deeply bonding with each one of them, although the resulting relationships are not the healthiest. Katara eventually starts to develop a sense of how each one of them has been deeply victimized by Fire Nation culture. Azula goes to great lengths to hide her own struggles and pain from Katara, but Katara spends a lot of time with her and sometimes notices. Several years in, Katara notices some positive changes in Azula and begins to play with the idea that she can positively influence Azula so that Azula will be become a kinder and anti-imperialist Firelord.

Azula thinks Katara’s waterbending is the coolest thing ever(well, aside from firebending at least), a sentiment shared to a lesser degree by Mai and Ty Lee. Azula also thinks that learning to fight is vital, so she brings Katara along for her spars with Mai and Ty Lee. Katara makes rapid progress, particularly due to her access to many waterbending scrolls. As a result of this, and of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee not separating, all four girls end up being significantly better combatants than they were in canon.

Mai and Ty Lee have complex reactions to Katara, but they eventually come to like and even love her. There is an element of resentment present because Katara takes up so much of the ever busy Azula’s time, but Azula forces her friends to spend time with Katara, and they end up bonding with her. Katara’s empathy and compassion works in her favor here, especially since she rapidly develops into one of the few people who sees and appreciates them for who they are. Mai and Ty Lee also find Katara’s waterbending to be an interesting and intriguing method of combat, soon come to respect Katara’s budding combat skills, and, as people deeply unhappy with their own places in society, they find Katara’s stories of life at the south pole to be interesting. Mai has issues with Katara being a little too “motherly,” but on the other hand appreciates that Katara pays attention to Mai’s actual desires and needs. Ty Lee sometimes finds Katara to be a little too similar to her for comfort, but also at the same time appreciates Katara’s caring side and the way she’s not reluctant to give her positive attention. Frequently Azula is too busy to join her friends, so Katara, Ty Lee, and Mai end up hanging out together. Freaks and outsiders stick together.

Azula, through her research into the Water Tribes, personal experience with Katara, and interest in Katara’s waterbending, begins to subtly yet strongly move in anti-imperialist directions and doubt Fire Nation ideology, but her transformation has scarcely begun by the time Book 1 begins. She does benefit from better relationships with her friends, though, and Katara gives her some emotional support. Meanwhile, to a lesser degree Mai and Ty Lee have had their own doubts develop about imperial ideology.

Azula tends to see her relationship with Katara mainly in terms of responsibility and duty, but she ultimately comes to fiercely love Katara.

Zuko and Iroh do their things, just like in canon. They receive vague reports about Katara’s presence in court, but they don’t understand the significance of them.

Sokka gets badly traumatized by losing his sister and believes her to be killed by the Fire Nation. Hakoda, Bato, and the water tribe warriors also still leave to fight the Fire Nation. Sokka is absolutely dedicated to seeking vengeance on the Fire Nation, and when he accidently defrosts Aang, he sees an opportunity.

Book 1 largely plays out the same, with minor changes. I think an interesting one is that Suki ends up joining a badly understrength Team Avatar and temporally leaving her warriors behind in order to aid Avatar Kyoshi’s reincarnation with the fulfillment of his destiny.

Book 2 opens with Azula being sent to capture Zuko and Iroh. Mai and Ty Lee tag along, in part with the hope of making sure Zuko is captured without being harmed, and Azula decides to bring Katara too rather than leave her alone in Caldera. However, the operation goes south, and Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Katara soon find themselves hunting the Avatar. Katara’s loyalties are about to be tested like never before…Meanwhile, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee all have seeds of anti-imperialism growing within them, but what will it take for these seeds to blossom and give fruit? Meanwhile, Azula grapples with not only her canon trauma but also the trauma she experienced through her parentification.

#Azula #Katara #Zuko #Iroh #Mai #Ty Lee #Ozai #Dangerous Ladies #Dangerous Ladies + Katara #ATLA au

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rainbowywitch · 2 months

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Hello, I am Faten👋 I live in the Gaza Strip. I am a mother and I have three children👩‍👧‍👧My husband Ahmed lost his right hand, which led to it being amputated, and there is no breadwinner for us. Please help my children👭 who suffer from malnutrition and skin diseases👇 Please help https://gofund.me/b4d9068c We lost our home 🏚 We are displaced in tents and our tent burned down. We move from one place to another Help me spread my campaign and get out of this genocide I also hope that you will donate to us💔💔🙏

https://gofund.me/b4d9068c

To whoever is reading this…. Hello, my name is Jehad Abuhamda. I’m an American/ Palestinian who is seeking for your support in helping me get my close relatives out into safety. My relatives consist of a family of five. Ahmed Abuhamda ( father) Fatin Abuhamda (Mother) Sama Abuhamda (6 years old) Loai Abuhamda (3 years old) Yousef Abuhamda (7 months old) Since the attack on the 7th of October, and the start of Israeli reprisals, their daily lives have gradually fallen apart. Their whole area was targeted and by the grace of god, they were able to live for another day. They lost everything. All around them, tens of thousands of people have died. They have managed to go to Deir Al-balah, which is the supposed safe zone yet it is also under bombing. But like all the survivors of this war, they are facing incredible amounts of hardship like lack of care, diseases, shortage of food, and most of all continuous bombing. From what my Relatives are writing to, it's clear the situation is deteriorating. Like you, I feel angry, sad, and so powerless. My relative lived a hard life after having is right hand amputated from the remnants of Israeli explosives in a previous war. Despite that, it did not hinder him from working in order to provide for his family. But now that he has lost his home, and with the worsening living conditions, He has decided that it is best to leave for the sake of his children. The reason we are wanting to raise $50,000, is due to the price of passage into Egypt. 1 adult costs $5,000 1 child costs $2,500 As I said before they are a family of 5, two adults and three children. The remain money will be for them to restart their life. From renting an apartment to cloths, food, schooling hopefully when they are able to register, appliances and basic furniture, website taxes and exchange rates. I very well understand that this is a large amount money, but together we can make it happen. My relative is an electrician/ cable technician with many years of experience. He is very resilient will hopefully be a will hopefully be able to find a job easily in his new environment. Every share on the social networks, every donation will count, even the smallest. Thank you for reading, and please share to all your friends.

#palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza

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thunderpetal · 2 years

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🗡 👑 🐳 👊

Favorite version of Link? (Linked Universe?)

My two favourite LU boys are Time and Wind, largely because of their original games. For Wind - man, what a character he is. He loves his family and would do anything to protect them. He wasn’t born a hero but he literally fished up the Triforce from the bottom of the sea and banged on the gods’s door until they made him a hero. I hc that before his adventure, on Outset, he was taught that his opinions matter and he should always let his emotions out. That teaching served him so well for his adventures, when he started constantly interacting with people who didn’t believe in him - Tetra and the pirates (at first), all the adults of the Great Sea who just saw him as a kid, and the King, the old guardians of Hyrule and even Ganondorf, who all couldn’t look at him without seeing the Hero of Time. Wind stood up for himself against them all, and that’s reflected in LU. He isn’t afraid to make his opinions heard, and he challenges the others for treating him differently due to his age. He is just such a good lad, and tbh probably the most stable Link post adventure. He’s seen some scary shit but he has a big support network who are there for him. I wrote a full essay but oh well, I love Wind!!

And Time’s a pretty cool guy too I guess

Favorite version of Zelda?

Spirit Tracks Zelda. I will hold back my character essay this time, but just cause I gotta save it for another post. I also adore BOTW Zelda, cause who doesn’t?

If you were a Zelda character, what race would you be?

Rito cause I wanna fly babey

Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

Ghirahim. So bloody iconic, his theme slaps, he’s scary but hilarious too, and the reveal that he’s Demise’s sword spirit is soooo good. I love him. 110% the most memorable Zelda villain

As for bosses, I love that one guy in Spirit Tracks where u just travel around his nead in a minecart. That shit was fun. Also, the Helmaroc King’s theme slaps and the fight itself is VERY satisfying cause you finally get payback on the big mean bird who ruined your life!! Overall though I feel like the Zelda games I’ve beaten so far don’t have THAT memorable bosses

#jay talks #asks #the legend of zelda #jay plays wind waker #wind waker #tagging ww bc of the wind essay i love him

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mallowstep · 3 years

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In the human au, how would everyone react to Misty getting pregnant with Reedkit? Would they try to.get her to abort him? (Not in a malicious way, like, they just think maybe someone convinced her she needed to do this. Idk) and after he's born and Misty goes back to work, who'd be on baby duty, or would they send him to a nursery? Also are the triplets allowed to go trick or treating, or to go to haunted houses? Same for Reed too. And if Primrosepaw had lived, would she live with Blackclaw instead of Mistyfoot?

hmm it's, as always, complicated.

if mistyfoot were to unexpectedly announce a pregnancy? everyone would be very surprised, and i'm not sure like...if they would know if they were supposed to be happy for her? stonefur and feathertail would be the most concerned.

stonefur might not suggestion an abortion, but he would certainly be concerned someone coerced her into this somehow, especially if she hadn't mentioned anything about this, a partner, etc., and she would be upset about that. like, she's an adult woman, y'know? it's not that she doesn't appreciate him looking out for her, just...

(also relevant here is that the difference in aging between cats and humans is felt here, in that cats are pretty much going to be able to continue having kits until they die. the litters might be smaller, but they're still going to be perfectly capable of it. obviously, humans go through menopause and are not going to be able to continue having children forever. assuming the triplets are around ten, mistyfoot is around fifty, which means she's a very high-risk pregnancy at that point, if she even could get pregnant.)

(the aging difference is very frustrating in replicating certain dynamics after a certain point.)

right, anyway, so yeah, stonefur would be pretty concerned, and mistyfoot would be upset about that.

and given that mistyfoot is not inclined to see a doctor ever, especially in this context? yeah, i mean, he kind of has a valid concern. it's sort of. everyone is right but it sucks for everyone kind of deal.

(feathertail would mostly tag along with stonefur, here. she has more specific concerns wrt certain things, but is less worried about others. her primary concern is mistyfoot's health; stonefur is worried about a lot, but why mistyfoot is pregnant takes centre stage at first.)

and the same stonefur, feathertail, and shadepelt team. probably primarily stonefur and feathertail, given that shadepelt isn't a college student at this point and has a job that both pays her and doesn't get into the nebulous tangle of working-under-kind-of-family, but she's a part of the family and would obviously help out.

there's the "it's not safe to leave feathertail alone with an infant" problem, of course, but there's also a pretty large support network at that point.

i think specifically, stonefur eventually works in the afternoons/evenings (he starts with mornings because shadepelt has mostly afternoon classes, but now he's not working around that schedule, and he drives the kids to school in the morning, etc.), so when leafpaw gets out of school, she could help out some of the time? she's only around 10 as well, but feathertail doesn't need like...a full babysitter, if that makes sense. she needs help with various things a 10yo is capable of, altho this wouldn't work if feathertail was having a bad day.

(yeah ik mothpaw, hawkpaw, and frogpaw are the same age as leafpaw and i could just use them but pretend they have different school schedules or something idk.)

anyway, obviously (?) that's all a hypothetical because mistyfoot is around fifty and was already having fertility issues a decade ago so even if she wanted to have another kid she'd adopt.

as for halloween...yeah!

the crew for who takes them varies, but usually some combination of stonefur, greystripe, stormheart, and shadepelt are walking with them up to the houses (when they're younger), for accessibility reasons. (that and it's a long night so feathertail is Conserving Her Energy anyway.)

they are, of course, not allowed to eat candy that hasn't been inspected for...what are the things? razor blades? y'know the weird panic (american?) parents have because of that one case with that one guy and his son in like the seventies or eighties. and their candy is carefully rationed after.

but yeah! definitely allowed to go trick-or-treating. feathertail has a vested interested in not denying them (what she considers) Core (normal) Childhood Experiences, so even though it definitely makes her anxious at first, it's worth it. it's the same reason they do an egg hunt on the first day of spring: they don't celebrate easter, but she still wants them to have that experience.

as for haunted houses...feathertail isn't going to take them, but yeah. obviously they need to take an adult with them, and it's certainly not an Encouraged Activity on her part, but yes.

(houses are like. easy for things to go wrong in. she's not a huge fan of the idea. something like a haunted hayride she is more more behind. but she's not going to either xd.)

(reed would b allowed to do both yeah.)

but no yeah in General, while they certainly secularize certain things, feathertail wants the kids to have the Normal Childhood Experiences, y'know? as long as they want to.

like. they don't do christmas music, for example, really specifically for mistyfoot-reasons, and they don't get a christmas tree, and they don't do santa, but they do open presents on christmas day.

summer camp is way harder for feathertail tho. they want to and she eventually gives in, but she spends the whole week watching tv with greystripe in an effort to distract herself from her kids being gone! away from her! with no way of contacting her if something goes wrong! with strangers! very bad!

as for primrosepaw: totally depends on what happens with her. blackclaw if she's not thrown in with mistyfoot and featherpaw (and in this specific au i don't think she would be), mistyfoot if she is.

#mine #ask #anon #human misty au #pls ask more questions wrt the kids' childhoods xd i have lots of thoughts for u #i mean if u have them #don't force urself xd #i just like talking #anyway #abortion #mistystar #feathertail #stonefur #abuse #abuse cw

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akimmito · 4 years

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Heroes are made by the path they choose

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Master List

Chapter 19

Damian is not happy. Everyone has introduced themselves and it only remains for the two intruders to do so as well, he hopes they refuse to be part of this, but from Drake's enthusiasm, clearly his wishes will not be heard and the two vigilantes will be part of the MT in some way or other.

"Well, it seems serious..." Nightwing hesitates for a moment, but does it anyway, it's the first time that he gives his identity in this way, remembering that they don’t just give their identities, but the MT has trusted them and it seems that their Working method differs a lot from Batman's. "I'm Richard Grayson, you can call me Dick."

"Yeah, we're not doing that." Alix responds with an amused smile.

"So you're Tim, right?" Marinette asks Robin, who nods and removes his mask. "This will be easier then."

"Was the suit delay related to the MT?"

"Something like that." She answers vaguely, but it's Alix who breaks the mysterious air of the matter.

"Stealing museums is not something that is directly related to our vigilante jobs."

Dick looks in surprise between the pink haired girl and the bluenette, who just sighs. He's no stranger to robbery when necessary, just that they admit it so casually is disconcerting. Tim on the other hand, he knows that he will not be very comfortable with the information.

"Do you rob museums?" Tim asks a bit dubious, that's not something he would have expected considering his participation in similar cases taking down robberies and other similar crimes, he didn't think they would commit them.

"Oh yes, my next dream is to rob a Russian museum." Felix responds wryly, but takes his next sentence more seriously. "It's not something we do for pleasure. First we will explain what MT is and then you will understand better why we rob a museum… It will give me a headache."

"Security was dire for supposedly keeping such valuable objects." Damian scoffs, leaning back in his chair, not looking at his brothers. "I would have done a better job while I sleep."

Dick just looks at the boy curiously, did they take him with them? Surely he goes to school, right? Although it not was school day when they first met him and he was at the farmhouse, he's probably homeschooled alongside his monstrous dogs, you can still feel his paws on his face. He doesn't really know what to think of such a brilliant woman being a vigilante, although perhaps he's taking too much reference from Bruce and Oliver who are the complete opposite, he's not exactly a good reference himself either even though he's less grim than the original Batman.

Marie Lenoir and, in general, the majority in that room seem to her very healthy emotionally speaking or, at least, not constipated like him and all his brothers.

"We'll explain it in detail later. Chloe, can you start?

"Sure, Lenoir." She smiles as she calls her last name in her common haughty tone, which has become a way of joking between them. "For the public, the MT is the name of the vigilante organization and which is not related in any way to the heroes, which is not true. The MT is originally the group of heroes… turned into vigilantes to be able to investigate the whereabouts of the butterfly without raising suspicions."

"We haven't done very well, he's a slippery shit." Alix complains getting a little hit from Nathaniel.

"There are kids."

"I've heard worse things, Kurtzberg." Damian dismisses his concerns dismissively. Marinette just gives him a worried look, it's seen that he is holding back from saying something more offensive, he seems about to attack everyone and is worrying. He's been acting very defensive for a few days now.

"Stop saying my last name as if it were an insult."

"Then stop being an idiot, Kurtzberg."

Luka sighs, he's normally a very patient and understanding person, but everyone is a little nervous, easily excitable, they haven't been that nervous since God Shit and Not in Hell joined the team, due to the fact that one is a demon and the other a stranger to most except Marinette (and Felix apparently).

"Returning." Kagami is not willing to put up with everyone's way of acting, but she won't scold them either, surely Felix will have words with everyone and Marinette will take care of Damian. "We are the heroes, we all have magical knowledge and the MT is an organization destined to protect the Miraculous, the magical jewels that give us our powers. Our main mission is to recover the butterfly and watch over the other jewels, whether we have them in our possession or not. The museum robbery was the recovery of the Giraffe's Miraculous."

"Wow, what a good summary," Marc comments by how concise it was, his good humor is not overshadowed by the tension in the room.

"Mari-hime is the Great Guardian, the leader of the entire organization and the most important member of the TM. She is the only one who knows all the spells, potions and cares for jewels and Kwami."

“We don't all have an affinity for being full guardians, especially since we're too old to complete some parts of the training. We may not approve of the ways they did it back in the day, but it takes young spirits to mold compatibility with Guardian magic. Melody completed a large part of her training at the age of fourteen and later continued it with all the knowledge of the temple together with the assistance of some Kwami."

"So you're the heroes too? And they do double duty to keep the city safe… They've been fighting since they were fourteen… ”Marc interrupts Tim from his little review

"Marinette has been doing it since she was thirteen."

"You started alone, right?" Dick asks, he wants confirmation that she didn't have a mentor, but still can't imagine what it must have been like for her to be thrown into danger like that.

"Chat was there, but it was just us. It wasn't until sometime after that I met the Guardian, but it wasn't a guide as such… ”She says thoughtfully, remembering her beginnings as Ladybug. She didn't do her part either, she had settled into just fighting with the Akuma and hoping for some miracle that could reveal Hawkmoth's identity, along with many other things she regrets.

"It's still a great feat, I couldn't have." Tim admits, since he decided to become Robin only because he saw the need to be one to help Batman, otherwise it was not a battle worth fighting. "So what are the Miraculous?"

"Magic jewels connected to quasi-divine entities, they embody abstract concepts such as creation, destruction, emotions, etc. They are called Kwami, unfortunately the connection with the jewel makes them slaves of whoever owns it and it cannot be avoided that their powers are used for evil purposes if they fall into the wrong hands. "Marinette explains in the simplest way she can.” I have been investigating, but there is nothing in the Order's records of any way around control over the Kwami."

"And destroy the jewel?" Dick questions, it's something important if she is saying it, so it's better to understand, although the idea of magic jewels sounds to him straight out of an anime.

"They agreed to anchor themselves to the jewels to be able to have contact with the world in a more personal way, it's what allows them to have a corporeal form and relate to the environment instead of just existing isolated ... The only thing that can have contact with the world material are their powers, but they as an entity are not. At first they considered it a small price for the opportunity to live with their creations, but the slavery that it brought with it was a long-term impediment ... In any case, only the power of Plagg can destroy the jewels, but for magical reasons he cannot do the same with his own jewel."

"Silly if you ask us," Chloe complains. They actually read the temple books, the ones God Shit recommended to them and even Alix traveled with Fluff's help to different times to discover secrets that might have been lost, but nothing in relation to magical slavery, although they didn't go as far as to meet the magician who created the Miraculous, they feel that it's not advisable to do that.

"Maybe we should blackmail Luci into seeing if he knows anything…" Nathaniel mutters, earning a snort from Marc.

------

John: I'll arrive in Paris tomorrow, I found some old books that mention the Kwami

John: I think you will like them, they could help us with our research

John: I also bring a gift for your son

John: I don't know if he mentioned it

John: [Photo attached]

Marie: Where will I put that?!

Marie: John!

John: He didn't mention it to you. Well it's a peace offering

Marie: It's very sweet of you, but I also didn't know that you guys have been talking.

John: I knew he wouldn't tell you anything, the little monster.

John: I guess you don't know who came here either, right?

Marie: No! No wonder he acted so strange, he felt guilty. I can not believe it

Marie: I can't be angry either

John: Why should you? He's taking care of you and, for now, it's the only way he knows

John: It will get better, you have that effect on people

Marie: You’re sweet

------

The meeting continues in an uncomfortable environment, if someone hints that they are fully functional adults, anyone in the room would quickly tell them they are wrong. Against their better judgment, neither knows how to proceed. It's usually Marinette who knows what to do, but neither she nor Felix are entirely sure how to proceed from there.

"So… we all agree that we shouldn't say anything to the other Batman?" Nathaniel breaks the ice, looking doubtfully at everyone.

They're a bunch of awkward adults, that's for sure.

"That is obvious, Kurtzberg. The important thing about this ridiculous meeting is to know if they are useful for our interests. So, speak up, what can you bring to this partnership? We are giving them access to one of the greatest secrets in the world, an immediate support team and, above all, a network of reliable contacts around the world. ”Damian folds his arms and looks down at his two older brothers.

Dick looks up to see the boy, who seems very confident in his words and, despite various expressions to the boy's words, cannot say that he's being arrogant about it. Tim is the one answering.

"I offer myself. I've been designing tech updates for Batman, but there are some devices that would fit his surveillance better than ours. "He starts going through his files and Marinette gets up to hand him one of the computers Max uses for data presentation, which are designed to withstand the information traffic that they usually handle in most of their cases. "Oh thanks."

She sits back and watches him set up his own technology with Max's, feeling very excited by the clear differences and surprised when Markov makes an appearance.

"Who you are?"

"Markov, that's Timothy Drake. Let him play on the computer, he wants to show us something. "

"Okay, I thought someone had got hold of some piece of technology. I'll let Dima supervise it."

Dick watches in surprise as the settings return to normal and the screen returns to the files Tim was manipulating in order to present them to others.

"Was that an AI?" Richard questions.

"The question is stupid, obviously it was."

"Damian." Marinette places a hand on her son's head and gives him a firm little look, silently asking him to avoid attacking his apparent paternal family. "That was Markov, the artificial intelligence designed by Max, he's a great ally in research because of his ease of hacking without being detected. He's joined by Dima, the one in charge of guarding the complex and taking care of the Kwami that rest in the box."

"Does he have emotions? That's great. Wait... did you say Max? Max Kanté?"

"The only one" Max walks in just then, grabbing his own laptop and picking an empty seat at random. Tim just stares with his mouth open.

How not meet the genius who designed a robot capable of feeling emotions at thirteen? The guy is quite a celebrity in the scientific world! He founded KanTech at the age of eighteen and is currently a major multi-branch business rival to Wayne Enterprise. In a way, that he's the one designing the MT technology makes perfect sense.

"I don't want to interrupt, but there is an Akuma."

The MT, in a synchronized way, complains in its own way. Damian insults the man behind the mask, Felix complains about it being night, Chloe exclaims about the bad time to do it, Kagami mutters how annoyed it is, Nathaniel is just a long wail with a comforting whisper from Marc.

"Hurry up, let's see what he has prepared for us this time. Team, Kagami, Chloe, Felix and I will go. The others, wait to be called."Those mentioned stand up just in time for the Kwami to appear, which is Pollen hands the comb to its owner, while Wyazz nods to the blonde who is taking off his jacket and gloves to reveal the miracle bracelet.

Marinette also removes the glove where the ring is hidden. The four of them transform in front of the foreign vigilantes, surprising them by seeing the transformation.

In front of him were no longer the vigilantes but the heroes of Paris.

#maribat #dickinette #dick x marinette #mominette

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Close Enough Season 2 Review! or Josh Murders About 10 People

It's been hard to put into words just how wonderful a surprise this season getting released this month was. For starters before JG Quintel announced it last year shortly after season 1, I honestly was convinced season 2 wasn't happened. Do NOT get me wrong, Season 1 of Close Enough was one of the best parts of last year: It was funny, had a lot of heart, a great voice cast, and a great cast of characters that was throughly likeable and broke sitcom stereotypes, having a doofy husband and more straight laced wife with layers who clearly love and respect each other and BOTH can be prone to taking things too far instead of JUST Josh screwing up. Add in two great fellow leads Bridgette and Alex played by two of my faviorite va's, Kimiko Glen and Jason Mantzokus, whose name I finally learned how to spell, an adorable daughter and neat but out of focus neighbors and supors pearle and randy, and the show was just damn near perfect and felt like an improvement on regular show, taking the same humor and animation style but to an older cast and audience with more nuanced and likeable characters, and far more character development per episode. I wanted to see where the show would go.. but I was convinced given the show was leftover inventory from an animation block that never happened held over to give HBO Max some content it'd be canceled after one season, because I can't have nice things. But....

And very happily so: JG Quintel revealed the show had been picked up for season 2 not long after season 1 dropped, having listned to fans. As it turns out though they hadn't.. they just had a ton of faith in the show as I got ANOTHER bombshell earlier this month. While the show had showed up on the schedule for this month late in January, with no release date on said schedule, I wasn't 100% sure the show was coming back this month or that it wasn't just an error. But once again, I was wrong, it was earth all along, and they merely saved it for the press release for their adult animation lineup: alongside the huge and welcome bombshell they were the ones picking up the Clone High reboot and for two seasons, Close enough not only got two more seasons publicly announced, but fimrly revealed season 2 launched February 25th. LIke they likely had with infinity train the show was quitely picked up for another season, and they simply waited to announce it till the right time. Though unlike infinity train, they had faith in it to become a big hit and while they SHOULD HAVE with infinity train and should've accepted it was already a big hit simply not with the target demographic, it's still nice to see that after all it went through Close Enough not only got renewed but is now the network's flagship adult animated show, closely tied with harley quinn, and will likely go on as long as it wants to.

So naturally given I reviewed all of season 1 in the hopes i'td get renewed, I was happy to make room for season 2 and continue covering it and over the moon it was happening so soon. However I'm doing things diffrently this time: instead of flooding the tag with individual longform reviews, i'm reviewing the season all one go, to see if this format could work for me as I have tons of other shows i'd love to cover in this format that are either heavily comedic like say the Great North, regular show or the simpsons and thus dont' lend themselves to riffing as much and leave me less to do per episode, or more seralized shows like she ra or ones that are entirely complete like Steven Universe or Gravity falls that I could cover alone but this format could help expidite covering. Gravity Falls is also one of my patreon stretch goals if your instrested as is a whole lot of ducktales stuff, link on my blog. It also works with my much larger workload with a much tighter schedule, 6 reviews a week with a flex day in case I get behind so everything comes out as good as it posisbly can be, versus my original method of...

TLDR: One big post with smaller reviews each episode and an overall coverage of what changed this season and how good it is as a whole. We good? Good, then join me under the cut for some delightful sentient presents, couch ghosts, and jim fucking crunch as we get close enough to the heart.

I will never get tired of that image. I want it blown up and put on a banner at my funeral. But death plans aside let's get into the season

Slight Tweaks to a Great Formula: Given it's slice of life format based largely around likeable multi layered characters in comedic absurdity, not a lot has changed nor did it need to. What has are just simple tweaks to make things even better. For starters a natural result of getting to the episodes now produced directly for the 11 minute format means the pacing is much focused, subbing in full subplots for the occasional runner instead, and often only using what characters the episode needs. It will use the main five often, but the lack of subplots for the most part allows stronger focus on one or two characters to give the stories added weight and nuance and often laughs. While i'll always love season 1, this allows for much tighter stories and allows for everyone to get some major screen time instead of mostly Josh and Emily in season 1. It does mean we sadly get less of my boy Alex per episode but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make if it means the show can grow and take more risks and evolve naturally. Though the former probably wasn't help by two of his three episodes being kinda weak, but i'll get to that.

The other noticeable change is Pearle and Randy. While they were promoted as main characters, even getting profiles along with the rest, they were in practice recurring characters in season 1, showing up pretty frequently but with only one starring episode for Randy and none for Pearle. And givne Pearle has an interesting backstory as a cop who likely had to put up with a LOT being a black woman officer, as well as raising a white redneck, while also being hilarious and having a fun energy to her, I felt they kinda wasted her in season 1.

Here though? Both have been bumped up to main cast proper, getting two focus episodes a piece (compared to the other main adults each getting three, some of those shared, and Candace getting one, hopefully more in the future as it was really good, along with, to my delight, mr.cambell also getting one), appearing far more in supporting roles and generally showing up with the main group a lot more. They still don't hang out with our loveable family all the time, but it makes sense as they have their own apartment and stuff to deal with, but it feels far more like their part of the main group. The show always treated them like this mine, but showing up more makes their friendships with their tenants feel more genuine, as it feels like their part of their lives more, whlie having their own to deal with we get to see now.

So while the series didn't change much, as I said it didn't need to and all of this is stuff is the kind of thing I wanted, especially Pearle getting a larger role and Randy being fleshed out from a dollar store version of muscle man into his own similar but difference character, and i'm happy to have it. So now i've talked about how the seasons' changed, let's talk about the episodes themselves. Grab a snack this is going to take a bit.

The Episodes!:

Josh Gets Shredded:

Our premier and honestly it's a solid one with a singular premise on poking fun at gym culture, though in a nice twist Jim Crunch, the guy who runs the Gym Josh ends up going to to strengthen his core to play with Candace and whose voiced wonderfully by Kevin Michael Richardson is a genuinely good guy and there's no horrifying twist with him. He just wants Josh to get ripped and dosen't know his training is keeping josh from candace. IT's a simple setup of a father doing something for his daughter but getting distracted by it and while not new it works well here and we get plenty of fun gym jokes, including an exchange from Jim and Josh when Josh wants to become an "absolute unit", which in this case ends up meaning turning into the hulk but with the glowing firey eyes of an angry god, feels like it came straight out of the hockey bros from letterkenny, which is a good feeling to have. There's also a nice setup with Candace wanting to play king kong with Josh due to seeing it in class (Specially the Peter Jackson remake, also Candace knows who jack black is which I buy because of who her daddy is. I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh had Saving Silverman on a loop for several days until emily threw it out the window like a frisbee. ), which kicks off the whole thing.. and ends with ultra instinct hulk josh taking her to the top of a building and swatting away helicopters. It’s more of an average episode for the series and the runner about Emily being REALLY hot for buff josh comes off as a weaker version of the plot from family guy where Lois likes a thinner peter, apart from one inspired bit where in order to talk to him about candace without getting distracted, Emily pours an entire bag of ice down her pants.. and subtly after Josh talks about becoming an absolute unit, it’s gone nad rather than animation I like to believe it melted. Still a decent start to a great season.

Meet the Frackers: A Randy Spotlight episode and unlike his season one episode rather than be a subplot in another episode it’s a full episode about him. And the starting incident is great as the gang gets their ancestry results back from costco, with Emily and Bridgette having ancestors in Guadalajara and Kiyoto.. and Josh being white (”Can you believe it?”). Alex coming from a long line of creeps is also pretty funny, those are his actual results by the way.

But what the episodes truly about is Randy finding out his parents are alive in Malibu after Pearle claimed they were dead when he was a kid. She had a very good reason though: Randy’s parents were serial gas thieves, and Pearle nearly caught them one night with the two chucking him at her to escape. And to her credit Pearle TRIED to reach out to them once they ended up in jail for their crimes.. but they again chucked him at her which is hilarious. She simply didn’t want him to feel abandoned. He instead feels betrayed.

His parents are hilariously white trash and played by two faviorite va’s of mine, David Kochner and Wendy Malick, who i’m happy is finally playing a lead roll on Owl House. They drink redneck maragretihas and eat mcribs (As Randy puts it “God’s favorite sandwich!”) every day and still steal gas, just legally now as frackers. Naturally though the two are still assholes and soon use a carnival as a cover to illegally frack and it’s up to Randy an dhis real mom to stop them> It’s a touching story with Randy genuinely wanting to hlep his mom, though I feel it would’ve been more interesting if Randy’s parents hadn’t been scum an dhe had to genuinely deal with having three parents now. Still it was worth it for some great lines from Malick and Kochner , so it works. Decent ep.

Sauceface: Now we come to both one of the best eps of the season, and the series so far, and one of it’s most unique as it stars Candace and dosen’t feature the other main cast hardly at all, only Emily who kicks things off by, in a great bit, breaking Candace’s illusion their rich as “they live in a castle with alex and bridgette”, with her slowly realizing “Were poor”. Which is just a very kid thing to think that your parents are rich when they very much aren’t.

But the episode really is a crime boss parody story, as the title would imply as Candace and her best friend start selling hot sauce, which is banned from the school due to it’s political correctness having gone mad and it being offensive to “sensitive palates” (They’ve also banned general tso’s chicken for mitlarialism and everything bagels for being “too much”). This leads where you’d expect: Candace getting drunk with power and forgetting why theys tarted, wet willies, and an art room brawl, all leading to candace’s friend getting pinched and candace having to use the money to buy Mr. Cambell a pelaton to get him off their backs, which leads to this lovely exchange “YOur letting them off just because they bought you a present?” “This is a 2000 dollar bike”. We also get the subtle reveal Mr. Cambell is gay which given how straight the main cast is, is nice. But this was a great one with too many good gags to mention, a great setup, a great rolling stones song played during the montage I do not know the name of, and I hope we get other candace advnetures at her school in the future, because this was a real delight. Again one of the best episodes of the season.

The House Guest From Hell: Speaking of best episodes, this is probably the best pairing of episodes yet, as both are standouts of the season.

Emily’s old friend Becca drops back into her life, to everyone’s annoyance as Becca is an utter leech who constantly take advantage of Emily’s lack of boundaries with her to constantly talk about whatever drama she’s wrapped herself in and mooch off her. Josh and Bridgette want her to set firm boundaries, but Emily fails to and instead only gets Becca to set boundaries with her boyfriend.. which leads to her moving into the apartment temporarily, and annoying the hell out of everyone. Becca is a great character, being that asshole in the most over the top and annoying way possible, to the point she takes alex’s room, watches tv on a loop and doesn’t seem to realize Emily is married (Despite being part of her bridal party), or that candace is Emily’s daughter and not a tiny butler (Which Candace assumes is a game. )

Naturally for this show things escalate hilariously as Emily finds out she’s pregnant when she tries to throw her out and the pregnancy is escalated.. and we soon find out it’s because the pregnancy is demonic: She has Hecate as her dula (And Alex naturally asks if she’s single, get it guy get it), needs goats hoves, locusts and the blood of the innocent (Which is the only item that trips josh up who hopes they can get it at costco, which made me have to pause as I could not stop laughing). This would be funny enough. .but what takes it into making this episode a classic is when Emily tricks her boyfriend Luke over he’s unsurprisingly a devil.. but also a hilariously over the top douchebag dudebro played by Beck Bennet, who it’s not only nice to see outside of ducktales, but is also just totally game. Luke is so odious it wraps around to being funny, to the point he unsurprisingly hits on Bridgette while his girlfriend is in labor, messily makes out with her and they try to move in, though thankfully Emily cathartically screams Becca out midbirth. Also they end up going to hell, with Luke getting there by doing donuts. Yes really. This episode is a treasure and does the series schitck of taking a relatable problem and escalating it to perfection.

Joint Break:

Another unsurprisingly good one, as Pearle deals with the fact that despite her decades of service, the force’s health plan doesn’t cover her needed hip surgery after she slides over a car wrong (Which also leads to a great riff on the old csi Miami parody). She then finds herself between her oath as an officer and her needs for help as she befriends a gang of saucy old women at water aerobics who are also bank robbers and want to cut her in. And they provide a tempting offer, getting what their owed and ti feels like a genuine dilemma, even if Pearle ends up siding with the police, not that she should. It’s also full of great bits of the old lady gang weaponizing stereotypes about old people, with the three of them dawning classic old lady getups to fool an officer, and having one of them i a walker slowly cross the street to stop an armored truck. Fun stuff helped by their leader being voiced by Jane Lynch, continuing this season’s red hot guest star streak, not that the series has ever been light on them (They got David Hasselhoff and weird al in season 1, so yeah), but this season ramps up the good guest voices to the point there’s one per episode almost.

Cyber Matrix: This one’s okay though the setup is good. Unsurprisingly given both his dale gribble-esque penchant for conspiracies and his hipster holier than thou ways, Alex has never had a smart phone, and has a very old flip hone that’s horrifc to look at and naturally gets destroyed, leading to him getting addicted to the thing.. and this being the show it is fusing with it. What makes this one is the climax, as the rest of the main group scramble to take out the cell tower so Alex’s phone doesn’t upload him to the cloud while Josha nd Alex open everything they can to slow her down. The result is the phone hacking Emily’s and ordering packages, task rabbits to punch her inthe face (With randy taking it so they can go) and outright hijacking a car in a clever chase. The ending though does sink this as suddenly their in veirutal reality again and it just feels weird given the series, while not really using continuity much so far, dosne’t have negavite continuity punch out endings outside of this one ep and I hope this dosen’t happen again. Otheriwse a decent one if sadly not one of Alex’s best and he equally sadly onlyg ets one truly great episode this season, compared to having a good chunk of the best plots last season. Still you can’t win em all and i’m sure my boy will return to form and said great episode, which we’ll get to soon, certainly shows they didn’t loose their touch. They just fumbled a bit and that’s okay.

Haunted Couch: Balancing that out is the fact that Bridgette, who didn’t get nearly as many good eps as Alex or as much focus as the rest, gets some great episodes this season with this one being my out and out favorite as it fleshes her out more and has some really great gags. Josh brings in a street couch (And he and Emily’s argument over it is great including him using the fact she forced them to get a savings account as leverage somehow), just as Bridgette is in emotional turmoil over her latest boyfriend suddenly ghosting her.

Naturally she ends up falling for a REAL ghost, a french couch designer who had a habit of cheating on his lovers, died for it by one of their hands, and his soul ended up bound to the couch. Naturally hea nd Bridgette hit it off and we get a LOT of good stuff in a montage as the two take the couch everywhere, and her friends, minus Alex who surprisingly rather than being jealous, simply dosen’t like the fact there’s a ghost in the house technically haunting them which surprisingly goes nowhere, are happy for her and like him after the initial shock wears off, though Josh still wants to sit on the couch. He and Bridgette even have really good sex using Randy’s body, with him being a willing vesel for Marcus. And i’d just like to point out that an intensely weird comedy show that also has a sentient present, bob vila with saw hands, and dude bro satan in this very season, 2/3 of those to come.. STILL did this better than wonder woman 87, as they actually asked someone to let the ghost of the couple use his body so they could fuck, and he gave full consent to it. And no I sitll haven’t let that go, it was a very bad plotline with nightmarish implications and the fact close enough did it better in a joke, they also have the song from ghost in the background by the by, than a big budget movie from the same company, is a really large bilboard saying:

But while the episode was thoroughly interesting and funny.. it’s what happens next that makes it one of the series best. While the series is amazing at comedy, it’s the character growth slid in between it that makes it so awesome and this episode is a great example. Bridgette turns cold towards Marcus as it’s clear he’s serious, and he’s even moved a tooth brush in. She gets more and more hostile until eventually Marcus calls her on it, and prevents her from leaving with a vortex of furniture.. which could’ve gone bad very quick but instead just means she has to face him.. and is hit with a rather painful relization when he asks “Do you what me to, how you say, ghost you?” (She explained the concept earlier). She says no.. but quickly a series of flashbacks puts the previous breakup in context as the guy she was seeing asked to leave a toothbrush, a simple escalation and she got real nasty real quick without saying what the problem was. We see more of this with a previous boyfriend and hilaroiusly one before that guy who not only had a toothbrush in a ringbox but was also in a hot air ballon she casually cuts the anchors too and has float away. Which does mean Bridgette probably killed a man but that’s one compared to josh’s 10 this season. Yes, 10. We’ll get to that.

Point is she realizes “oh shit i’m the dick”, and has a genuine talk with Marcus, realizing why: “You know how women feign being submissive because society’s taught them to so they don’t get raped or murdered or kidnapped?” “Oui”, best bit of the episode and damn if it ain’t horribly true. But due to tha Bridgette simply got terrible quick to scare guys off when she really just wanted to break it off instead of take things further and breaks it off with marcus.. and is surprised and relieved when he doesn’t want a big fight and takes it acceptably, Marcus having grown from his past of being a women using cad and genuinely wanting to treat them better. For once Bridget gets to have an emotionally mature breakup with someone, and while you could say her relationship with alex is like that, it’s very clear from an upcoming episode it wasn’t a very clean break at first and while their amicable now their marriage was a hot volcano of arguments. This allos Marcus to pass.. if also destroying the couch to Josh’s misery. An instant classic and one of the season’s highlights and one that really fleshes Bridgette out a bit by giving another reason for her relationships not working besides alex that fits the character perfectly and has her grow from it.

Also just a quick sidenote, this episode vaguely reminded me of the Nightmare Time, theater troupe team starkid’s zoomcast I highly recommend set in their hatchetfield multiverse, episode “Jane’s a Car” , which is about a man’s wife possessing his car and also involves an object. Both are very diffrent mind you, Jane’s a Car ends up way more depressing, but its’ stil la story involving ghost fucking though Bridgette found a vesel instead of straight up fucking a couch the way tom went to town on that car. It also involves the lead’s perosnal issues, if far more severe in Jane’s a Car’s case, reflected by their relationship with a ghost. I mean it is a stretch but these are the weird connectoins my brain makes and I mostly bring it up because an upcoming episode in the season goes from kind of similar but only to me to very similar, and a very fun concidence that these two episodes existed in the same year, especially since this happened last year with this show and Ducktales. But first josh doing a murder on some people.

Man Up:

Okay for starters the title man up reminds me of this short lived abc sitcom I never saw but given it was about three guys tapping into their “inner man” it sounds like aresnic somehow took the sentient form of a tv show. This actual poster for it not only proves the point but why it lasted one season if not why the hell I remembered this existed at all despite never seeing it, not recognizing anyone in it and not wanting anything to do with it.

Given I have 8 more episodes to go after this one, I do not have time to disect all the way that poster is a waking nightmare, though i’d love to, and instead i’m going to talk abotu the episode itself. The intro is funny enough, with the Ramierz-Singletons going to a bank for Candace’s first bank account, the Bank of Hollywood. An alien seemingly attacks, it turns out to be a promotional stunt with high budget effects a great gag in of itself, but Josh runs out on his family. Naturally he’s horribly rattled by this, and wants to be a better dad, a John McClane type. So two things: I now want a crossover with this show and brooklyn nine nine along with the hatchefield one in my head and the regular show one most fans want. And the second is that John wasn’t the best dad or husband, and both the original film, the sequel josh saw, and the fourth film all spell this out. The fifth does too but I feel if I wish hard enough a good day to die hard will just spontaneously cease to exist and we’ll all be happier that way.

So Pearle agrees to help him, and we get a fun training montage, with Josh protecting a candace made of eggs Alex made, because of course he did, and an emily made of the same because of course he did, and get punched in the junk by randy in a dog costume, as you do. He actually feels tough and is ready for phase 2, pearle hitting him with something unexpectdly.

Instead what he thinks is Phase 2 is actually a die hard style hyjacking of Emily’s company christmas party, which josh misses due to being in the bathroom after panickily running into corn. As a result.. we get josh killing about 8-10 people not realizing it’s not a simulation but not really caring about that part when it’s revealed. Which granted it is in self defense but he still kills a LOT of people this episode, and I will be forever haunted by the fact that stringbean can REALLY do some murders. Seriously who knew JOSH had it in him. That is terrifying to comprehend. Naturally after he john mclanes his way up, he finds out it wasn’t a simulation panics but instead of running away runs the hans gruber knockoff, whose sadly not very entertaining out of the building and onto some exploding corn, saving the day, earning his family’s respect and cemnting himself as a badass. The reveal of what the text actually was is just.. perfect as it’s just a bat on a string with Alex saying “he’s totally going to shit”. The perfect capper to good ep only hampred by hans being really weak.. seriously he just has a weird sentence sturcture tha’ts hte joke. They can do better. Otherwise a good die hard parody. John would be proud.

Handy:

Another decent one not a standout but it has a truly astounding bit. Randy finds out, after going to Guy Fieri’s flavor diaster for Pearle, that she hired another handyman and he’s not good at his job as as he puts it “I’m going to do what troubled young men have done for years : i’m going to sea!”. Which is funny enough but leads to him stranded on a desert island, hallucinating and then meeting his idols in handy manning who may or may not be hallucinations: Bob Vila, The Ikea Mascot (Who speaks only in pictures and is a fun gag despite never having seen him before this episode) and my favorite tim the tool man taylor, whose tie is constantly pointed up for some reason and who amazingly only speaks in grunts. I didn’t know I needed this so thank you close enough. We also get the three helping with bob turning his hands into buzzsaws, ikea man creating nails and screws and Tim using his head as a tool. All accurate to their original shows and in ikea man’s case brocures. Really good adaptation. But through this he discovers the clog the guy is trying to fix at the house is loadbearing and rushes home to save the house, leading to a fun actoin scene and a weird version of the celebration from the end of return of the jedi, complete with force ghosts. So we also get a tim taylor force ghost which I did not know I needed and as much as that show makes my stomach churn I badly hope shows up in the finale of last man standing. A decent one and givne how I keep sayin ga decent episode over and over you can kinda see why I didn’t review all these. LIke season 1 I simply don’t have a full review in me for every single one of these episodes. We’re now at the halfway mark, only 8 more to go, I envy the dead, let’s do this.

Birthdaze: This was the episode most heavily promoted in the trailer and for good reason as it’s the best of the season. Also relatable as while not having kids I do get how Kids Birthday parties feel and how they often end up weirdly close together. In this case both coalse as Josh and Emily have three birthdays in one weekend, their friends Emily’s friend Trish from “Cool Moms”, who is so far some of the only continuity the series has, but a nice sign it has it, and that we could see Jim Crunch (who rose from the grave after an utterly wonderful funeral) or Dog Boy again. Or this episode’s standout gifty. But we’ll get to that in a second. So Josh and Emily well intentiondly decide to throw a party for the parents at the same time as Candace’s.. but end up neglecting Candace. While their idea is good, to reward the other parents for having to sit through so many parties, putting it at the same time was a horrible idea as giving a bunch of pent up people with low alcohol tolerance booze ends up resulting in drunken antics and them heckling the magicain... and given the world we’re in, that’s a horrible mistake as he makes the children disappear to a world of perptual brithday parties and forces JOsh and Emily to follow him if they want their child back. What results is an utter delightly as we meet the wonderful and incomprable Gifty, a giant living present who works iwth the magician, named sardini, and is voiced by Kate Miccuci, heart eyes> Just.. evey bit with gifty is great, from her genuinely being animated and looking like a muppet, to her casually going demonic to explain if the kids stay too long they forget parents, to as seen up top playing a pipe organ that is apparently made of gold plated clown bones, and her best bit, which I posted on this very blog, where she assures the trapped kids if JOsh and Emily fail their final test, they’ll get to live of nutricious necco wafers before vomiting a giant cloud of them at the poor children. Those things are gross and we now knwo it’s because they come from a giant present’s stomach.

We get a great montage before most of that of our heroes treking through a weird and awesome birthday landscape with too many good parts to mentoin, before finding Sardini who puts them through tests before they can get candace back.. and one of those are you human image tests via the ball from phantasm. As gifty puts it “We have to make sure your not a bot”. But the tests, about candaces faviorite things, help the two realize she liked them because they did it together, and a final talk with candace, as the final test has her ask why theyd idn’t want to spend time with her, with the two warmly apologizing and explaning why they did it but that they went too far. Candace reconclies with her parent,s the kids and our heroes go home, and Sardini finds himself sad no one stayed.. but at least he has gifty... and then start making love to her “Unwrap me!” which is far and away the best gag in the season’s best episode by a mile.

Time Hooch:

Now to talk about two things I hinted at earlier: The only good Alex episode this season and the one that vaugely resembles one of the Nightmare Time episodes. And while their two very diffrent stories with very diffrent outcomes and only one of them involves this guy

And suprisingly it’s NOT close enough that has the eldtrich horrifying goat monster with a goofy cartoon voice who says things like “I’m coming for your ass Teddy Bear!” But both are stories about a sketchy (mildly for alex, entirely for Ted) middle aged man who feels one moment is where his life went wrong then accidently time travels after drinking 80 tons of liquor and decides to use said time travel to save a relationship, and fails at it in some fashion. There’s even a jaunt to a distopian future with robots and cyborgs. So while it’s not 1:1, alex is far more sympathetic than Ted, Time Bastard is dark horror comedy, and it again dosen’t involve a horrifying goat man suprisingly enough, it’s till way too many happy coincidences for me to outright ignore. Also check out nightmare time and especially the musicals it spun off from The Guy Who Didn’t LIke Musicals and Black Friday. It’s good stuff. But I couldn’t help but make the comparison, or now imagine Alex, Ted and Professor Hidgens as some weird diasterious power trio. This is how my brain works now.

But to the episode itself it’s just great from start to finish: Bridgette finds out while rumaging for an old photo in an old box of their stuff that Alex never signed the divorce papers. Turns out he was hoping they’d get back together.. and while not doing it and not telling her was a VERY selfish and horrible action.. you still sympathize with him. He hoped things would work out and they’d get back together, and given they had some close calls with that in season 1, to the point I shipped them, you can see where his sprig of hope came from. But with this he’s realized there probably isn’t any hope and drinks some old moonshine he and Josh made in college. Said moonshine was from a recipie in an old blues record, the titular time hooch that true to form, allows them to travel back in time. And since he was thinking of when he thought the relationship truly hit it’s breakig point, when Bridgette at a sandwitch of his and he’d said in the heat of it he wished he’d never met her, they end up there and Alex tries to use it to help. Also Jason’s delivery of Alex saying what the recipie was “rye, barely, a dead man’s pocket watch, mixed under a full moon (Laughs) okay we probably should’ve seen this coming.

Naturally here’s where it really gets intresting. As you’d probably guess, our heroes are the ones who made the sandwitch disappear and in desperation, alex kidnaps his past self before he can say the fatal words> We also get another spectacular bit where all past alex needs from alex to know he’s really him from the future is what year he was born (1982), meaning he’s defintely older than the rest of the cast. Though I wouldn’t be suprised if he was held back.. like at all. Look i’m not thinking too hard into it this is also a story about whiskey based time travel.

But with that said intresting part takes hold as Josh’s past self reminds him of another fight that made things tense for a while.. and you can see where this goes. Alex keeps going back, and back, and back and back and back and back and back... and back, to try and stop the one fight, only to find a bigger one, leading to a montage.. to the point he ends up at the start of the relationship, the day they met at a college bar. The younger Alex’s have decided screw it it was always wrong, let’s end the relationship.

We also get more of Alex’s backstory as it turns out he’s at a community college rather than UCLA, where he used to teach because of his own dumb actions: He met bridgette, let her enroll in his class and didn’t try to convince her to take another one. Don’t get me wrong the decade age gap and power dynamics are iffy.. but it’s not as bad as it could be. They met before the class, and it comes off more as both being too stupid or too horny to realize how her being in his class came off before it was too late. She got with him entirely on his merits, and yes he has some trust me. Case in point.. Alex realizes a few things. The first is that no amount of time travel can save his relationship. They fought all the time clearly, and there were inherent problems. It’s also clear just from the series itself that while they have chemistry their just not that compatible as people. Bridgette is obessed with image, social media, and herself while Alex just two episodes ago called phones the downfall of society and likes feeling superior to the exact kind of person bridgette is. They have chemistry but sometimes it’s jut not enough. You have to have some common ground or your going to fall in a big hole. It’s honestly feels like a much more tolerable and realistic version of Leonard and Penny from the Big Bang Theory. And yes I know that show’s not the most popular with my core audience, nerds, and I bring it up because mom’s been watching it a lately, and any time I see Leonard and Penny on screen it annoys me into a tizzy as the two just have NO REASON to be together other than boning, and even then he’s apparently not a good partner so why then. They have nothing in common and she mocks and belittles him all the fucking time, mocking his hobbies, finding his job boring, and mocking him as a person. And not sharing hobbies or finding his job intresting would be fine, and still work but it’s the constant teasing about it that comes off far more vitrolic than probably intended that just makes me hope for a divorce. Here it’s not only much milder but they did actually get a divorce because their just diffrnet people and i’m not mad the ship was sunk. It was done in a poetic way.

And part of that poetry is Alex realizing that as doomed as things ended up being, via a very sweet montage of their time together.. he realizes he can’t loose this all together. That sure he’d gain a lot and porbably woudlnt’ be living in a closet, but he’d loose all the good times, and he’d loose a friend. His marriage wasn’t so bad he wants to erase it it just ended and that happens. Naturally the other alex’s don’t feel that way but Alex stops them.. Josh is too drunk at this point to help, and ends up creating a time vortex. The vortex sends our heroes home, where Alex realizes his mistake and apologizes for it to bridgette and signs the papers in front of her. As for the Alexs we get a horrifying and hilarous gag as, given they’ve all commented each other is handsome.. start having an orgy, and are later found in amber and their dna is used to create our alex apparently. How does that work?

Point is this episode.. is a masterwork. It’s emotoinal, hilarious, and really good character work, with Alex having a really stellar arc that shades him in and putts a final button in his and bridgettes relationship. And having seen many ships I like end horribly, it’s nice to have one end in a satsifying way like this. Also we see Alex in his borat thong, and i’d just like to point out how funny I find it that the same year they made a borat joke, specifically on it being from a decade or two ago, we ended up getting a second Borat movie. Very niceeee.

World’s Greatest Teacher: This one was alright. On the bright side we got a Mr.Cambell episode! I”ve loved the guy since first meeting him in 100% no stress day, it was the first episode and that hasn’t changed and he’s always a bright spot when he shows up. So an episode about him dealing with a rival teacher, MS. Lake a twice a week music teacher gunning for his job and his students love sounded made for me. In practice he gets a bit too petty to be symapthetic which takes things down a peg, even if it turns out Ms. Lake really is coming for his ass Teddy Bear, but it has enough good gags to help it still be a fun episode.

The biggest one and the biggest reason I sitll like the episode is Timothy’s coffe mug for world’s greatest teacher.. which naturally comes to life, possibly as a psychotic break possibly for real because of the show this is, and starts speaking in the dulcet tones of keith david. ANd i’ve made no secret I love and am thirsty for Keith David on this blog and never will, and having him voice an abusive fowl mouthed coffee mug is something I dind’t know I need but boy did I always need it my entire life. Yes even as a baby. It’s just glorious every time he shows up. The climax is also great as the two teachers end up bonding over the greatest love of all and george micheal after Candace invites River to a part sh’esd having for her tooth coming out, and end up becoming frinemies, a nice solution i was glad to see. Even if i’ll miss evil keith david coffee mug. Rest in power my dude.

Where’d You Go, Bridgette? The second major Bridgette episode of the season and like “Haunted Couch” this one’s an instant classic. After realizing Bridgtte’s already out of control addition to her phone has gotten even worse, Pearle confinscates it and takes her to detox. This leads to two great plots; Bridgette going into withdrawl, complete with an inspired nightmare sequence about her aps and missing her friends death because she was on her phone and the rest of the cast thinking sh’es been kidnapped because she’s not on social media, which while stupid is DELIGHTFULLY stupid and makes some sense given how glued to her phone she is. They end up calling a true crime podcast over, two egosticial college girls who quickly blame them for it despite it making no sense and their fans torm the apartment, and don’t belivie it when bridgette actually shows up.. It takes an inspired speech from Bridgette, whose developed as a person and after actually tasting a late for the first time sees how good they are, and Pearle posting that speech online to dismiss them and our heroes are saved. It’s an utterly amazing plot from josh being excited about the mob attacking them, to Pearle revealing part of the reason she’s so dedicated to helping bridgette is due to her own weird addiction to six flags, which is just so oddly specific I love it.

The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle This one STARTED well, with Alex reading his viking erotic to everyone, and not getting that Candace maybe shouldn’t be there, only for Pearle to be the only one to actually enjoy it and be inspired by her enjoyment of his work to submit it to a publisher. The publisher ends up making a valid point that women want erotic fantasy from someone they can feel safe by and alex is well.. alex, so he suggests using pearle as a front. it goes how you’d expect: he wants actual credit, the publisher slowly pushes him out, she regrets it, they fight an army of fans and make them vomit with alex reading the book.. standard stuff. It’s just not very funny or a great insight into either characters, and is easily the weakest episode of the season.. though the next one gave it close compettition.

Men Rock!

This one was a chore to sit through, and is only ahead of the last one because it has some really good josh bits and musical numbers which is more than the last one gave me so hey. In a nutshell Emily is on the verge of quitting her and Bridgette’s music careers as she feels they’ll never be famous only for their latest song Men Rock!, an ironic title for a sarcastic song poking fun at a bunch of toxic masculinty bs that is a good song, has hit it HUGE in a fictonal foreign dicatroship and get invited to go, reclutantly agreeing. If you haven’t seen the ep, you can still guess how this goes: say it with me THEY TOOK IT AT FACE VALUE. So our heroines have to help inspire the repressed women and inspire a bloody cou, helped by josh finding some improisoned femisinists in a bathroom. They also gain a fan. it has a few good gags, mostly Candace trying to remind her dad to help her find a place to pee after he keeps getting sidetracked by being taken back by Emily’s sucess. I’ts just a very bad, very predictable episode with very obvious misogyn is bad jokes. And misgoyny IS bad but other shows, paticuarlly tuca and bertie with one early episode, have tackeld this topic better. This episode did not. Last one.

Secret Horse:

This one in stark contrast is one of the series best and an utter joy to watch. On a bad day for the whole apartment with some santa anna winds, an adorable, poofy mained utterly precious horse gets free and ends up at the apartment. Thus we get a vingettte episode, as the horse has a delightful adventure with each of our main 7, and each up tot he last try and hide the horse badly only for the horse to suddenly sprout up and help their mood.

I do love a good vinegtte episode, with two of my faviorite simpsons episodes being 22 short films about springfiled (Minus kirk dragging MIlhouse away from the bathroom, fuck you you balding asshat, it makes the episode hard to watch) ,and trilogy of error, and this is a classic example of it as we get some fun adventures fro each of the housemates: Candace plays with the horse, adorably so, Josh finds it in the garage as his car breaks down and takes them on an install with him, even stuffing them into a suit and we get a great bit of the horse getting fed sugarcubes and josh money. Brigette gets help living in the now instead of posting about it all the time.

My faviorite comes next as Alex needs new patches for his suit but obviouslyc n’t afford them so he takes the ponyt ot he track.. to help him pick which horses to bet on. It’s just such an inherntly funny idea, especially since it works, and really the horse is just hilarious wherever it ends up. It next helps randy win a skating contest, we get a touching story as Pearle misses her old tragically dead horse partner and uses our boy as a subtitute and finlaly we get emily who needs help relaxing and while she naturally calls animal control she hangs up as she falls for hte horse. The group all fight over the horse in the end, the horse leaves and they let it go home, wonder if it was a hallucination and it whizes on thier car. Overall a really great finale and a wonderful note to go out on.

Overall Ranking I’ve decided eveyr time I do one of these, or a post season wrapup of a show i’ve covered every episode of the season to rank them from best to worst sooo

Birthdaze Time Hooch Haunted Couch Secret Horse Where’d You Go Bridgette? Sauce face Houseguest From Hell Joint Break Josh Gets Shredded World’s Greatest Teacher Meet the Frackers Handy Man Up Cyber Matrix Men Rock! The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle

And i’d like to note that outside of the bottom two hear.. I enjoyed ALL of these. WHich leads to

Final Thoughts; This season was excellent. It had everything the first season had the heart, the character and the utterly great sense of humor, and fine tuned it to be a well oiled machine I could hardly stop laughing at and with tons of great character stuff. Before it had the potetial to surpass regular show but now it has as despite having a few dud episodes itself, as is intievitble in any show, now, they still aren’t as bad as a lot of RS’s early misteps. And Regular SHow as a FANTASTIC show and really stuck the landing, so i’m only saying this is even better and can only go up from here. And even if it stays about the same quality wise, that won’t be a bad place to be. This season was near damn perfect, i’ll probably watch it again and again, and I can’t wait to devour more and given the current tragectory probably will this year. And I couldn’t be more excited.

If you like this blog follow for more reviews, become a patreon to help reach stretch goals or comission a review outright, details for the latter two on my blog. And i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#close enough #josh singleton #emily rameriz-singleton #bridget yoshida #pearle watson #randy watson #candace ramirez-singleton #hbo max #animation #reviews

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