#but there is nothing exploitative or graphic on the screen

[lioryaakov]

Yeah this can go on the Jumblr blog too because for some reason this film woke up something deep in my neshama even though I can't say it was the "best" movie I've seen this year (although it is very good) it is the one that stuck with me the most. For some reason I came out of it really wanting to start studying The Talmud again and I don't know why because the main characters in the film aren't super observant and it only came up once lol.

I saw A Real Pain recently. Really beautiful, really healing, and very, very Jewish in the best way. I highly recommend but I don't know how it will hit for everyone, though I don't think you have to be Jewish for the themes of generational trauma and difficulty reconciling the enormity of the world's grief with the legitimacy or complexity of your own personal pain in the face of that is only a Jewish thing. So I think it'll hit for other people but I appreciated it was also very by the Jews for the Jews in a way that despite the stereotype about us CoNtRoLlInG tHe MeDiA is actually very rare.

[sapphim]

Hiya, what is the broken earth trilogy about? I love book recs and I love dragon age but maybe you could give like a brief summary or something? I hope this doesn't come across as rude, English is not my first language

sure yeah I'm sure that once I give a synopsis it'll be really clear why I'm recommending it to Dragon Age fans lmao. it's very much playing in a similar fantasy space but like, the worldbuilding is phenomenal and the characters, idk, *clenches fist* they compel me

so the Broken Earth trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic world known as the Stillness that is routinely visited every few centuries by world-shattering apocalypse events that kill off major swaths of the population. they can only be braced for and waited out, not averted. due to constant earthquake activity, humanity has been reduced to living in small, isolated, self-sustaining communities, with the exception of the luxurious city of Yumenes, which houses the continent's orogene population

orogenes are mages, able to harness and control the energy welling up from within the earth. they are taken from all over the Stillness to live and be trained in the Fulcrum, under the watchful eyes of the Guardians. if they aren't trained, they'd be nothing but a danger to themselves and to others, you see, and their communities might kill them first out of self defense. but without orogenes, society in the Stillness might collapse entirely

the series follows the lives of a number of orogenes as they are pushed to their breaking point and have to fight for survival in a hostile world. it's very concerned with how one creates and exploits a class of non-people, intergenerational trauma passed down from parent to child, and what might drive one to want to destroy the world and everyone living on it

there's also—because I know my audience—bisexual polyamory

I'll put content warnings for child abuse and sexual coercion and assault (this includes csa and child death) under the cut

content warnings apply mainly to the first book in the series. the following books don't touch on these things as heavily.

so the Fulcrum orogenes are enslaved persons, and are coerced by the Fulcrum into having sex with specific other orogenes for the purposes of breeding more orogenes. refusal to go along with this mandate can essentially blackball them from advancement within the Fulcrum and see them moved to undesirable postings, at best. one main character, Alabaster, has fathered multiple children against his will, and he and one of the viewpoint characters, Syenite, have some terrible unwanted (on-screen, but brief) sex that both were coerced into.

the main chapter which deals with this is The Fifth Season - chapter 4 - Syenite, cut and polished

now, warnings for child abuse, csa, and child death:

the series deals with very heavy themes, and neglect, violence, and death is simply a reality of life for children who are discovered to be orogenes, particularly at the hands of their family and other guardians. I'll list the most notable occurrences below

child abuse -

one of the more graphic moments of on-screen violence against a child occurs when Damaya has her hand broken, by a character who has positioned himself as her guardian, as a lesson in self-control. this level of violence is standard against orogene children taken to the Fulcrum.

the chapter in question in The Fifth Season - chapter 6 - Damaya, grinding to a halt

child abuse, sexual assault, and death -

it's revealed that a number of young orogene children are lobotomized, kept alive by doctors, and treated not as people but as earthquake-dampening machines operating on instinct. it's also mentioned that it's not uncommon for these children to be sexually abused. you see the aftermath of one of these abused children lashing out in self-defense, killing themself and those nearby.

the main chapter in question is The Fifth Season - chapter 8 - Syenite on the highroad

child death -

there are two major deaths of child characters, one of which occurred immediately before the start of the story as the story's catalyst, and one of which occurs toward the end of the first book.

the first instance is of Uche, who is a toddler. he is the son of the series' main character, Essun, and is beaten to death by his father in a fit of rage when he is discovered to be an orogene.

again, this occurs before the start of the series, although it is often referenced throughout.

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the second instance is of an infant who is killed

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MORE DETAIL AFTER A SPOILER BREAK

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he dies at the hands of his mother, Syenite, who despairingly attempts to kill him, herself, and everyone in the area to prevent him from being taken to the Fulcrum.

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this happens in The Fifth Season - chapter 22 - Syenite, fractured

[coline7373]

"I think you will be needing this..."

There was a time in fandom where people used to make tons of rec lists of their favorite fics. I discovered a lot of great fics this way! I decided to make my own, to treat my codywan fever.

I hope it helps people discover, or re-discover, some amazing fics.

So! For your reading pleasure, here are some of my favourite codywan fics, out there. They aren't all here, because we have been blessed with a lot of great fics for this ship, but I have definively loved all of those.

Good reading!!!

Canon compliant

illicit affairs

Rex catch Cody and Obi-Wan in flagrante delicto and has a lot of feelings about it. Not positive ones. He feels it threaten his brother's life and... well, he's not wrong is he?

But love, between brothers, between a commander and his general can sometimes stronger than risks or reasons.

Painfull but amazing.

It happens during the war and ends during it too, so you don't know what will ultimately happens in this world. Do they make it? You don't know. I didn't put it in canon divergence because, aside from the fact it's codywan, nothing contradict it being canon compliant.

Canon -or not- is not the point, though. The point is the love story of Cody and Obi-Wan, as seen through Rex's eyes.

But love, between brothers, between a commander and his general can sometimes stronger than risks or reasons.

Painfull but amazing.

an injury to one

deniigiq is one fo those authors whose codywan's I just can't get enough of. That weird assholes hyperarticulate characterisation is just... XD I don't know. I love it!

The troopers make a discovery of the fiscal variety, which causes them to realize that they may have more in common with the jedi than they previously thought.

The Jedi Order is a charitable religious order. Ergo, they aren't getting paid. They get 'some' stipends but with the war, they are quickly reaching the point of untenability. Don't worry, they've got a plan.

It's told mostly from from Fox's POV which I love because 1. I love codywan as told from an outside POV 2. I love Fox.

I just love him. He has so much happening to him. He is so nihilistic, deadpan and done. Yet, he never let it twist him or give up because he love his brothers and won't let them flounders. Also, he may or may not have acquired a crush on that impossible kriffar jedi.

Warning for exploitation, money, off-screen non graphic child death and clone troopers deshumanization. Jedi Order and jedi lineage fuckery. Clone commanders fuckery. Grogu briefly shows up. Fox's buir instincts are now activated. Previously, he was of the opinion jedi could sink or swim on their own not anymore. He got this.

Canon divergence

The Art of Happenstance *

Cody and Obi-Wan co-parent a lightsaber. Force Bond. I think it saves Cody from Order 66? It ends on a cliffhanger but it's hopefull.

Funny and fantastic.

Hope

The Clone Wars are the backdrop to a quiet and fragile love between a general and a clone commander.

Listen. Listen. I cannot even begin to tell you how beautifull and delicate their love feels in this fic. It's like picking up a piece of art made out of gossamerish light.

It's poetic. It's splendid. It's quiet, discreet and personnal, like the feelings of these private men. It ties up kind of quickly to give a happy ending despite Order 66 still being carried out, but it's everything that get you there that matters.

Stunning.

The Loneliest Human Boy in the Jedi Temple

Rather than let Boba go to jail, Obi-Wan adopts him.

It's told from Boba POV, which is very interesting. I love TCW period stories featuring Boba!

And it deals with Boba confronting his father's death, being adopted by a jedi to avoid jail despite the fact his father hated jedi, dealing with what's he's done to get revenge on Mace, learning to see maybe the clones as more than things, and starting to accept that if clones are not things, then his father was wrong. What he did was wrong.

Boba has to recon with a thousand things, decide what's moral or what's not and has no one he trusts to guide him without feeling like he's betraying the only parent he has ever loved. At eleven.

Boba's disregard of clones is wrong. But when you look at all he has going on and what handicap he started out with, you cannot help but feel for him.

I feel like Boba is Dudley, the Dursley are Jango, the clones are Harry and I'm Dumbledore in the Dursley's living room at the start of book 6, shaking my head. In the end, you can only pity Boba a bit and love him and be sadden by the damages Jango did to Boba out of selfish, blind love.

No Order 66

These Things Happen

Obi-wan Kenobi keeps promoting Cody because giving him courting gifts as his superior officer would be Wrong. The promotions gets out of hand, and it somehow save the universe.

When Duty is Done - serie

Post-War: settling the matter of Clones Rights, Jedi Order Reforms, Force Philosophy, inter-jedi conflicts that were put off during the war, PTSD, healing, preparing a new planet to become the clones' home, clones culture exploration which is rooted in, but not, mandalorian's culture and, of course, getting together and settling in a relationship for Cody and Obi-Wan.

Loved it!!!! Cody is MVP. Maul is there, with Yaddle, and I'm here for it. Bant, where have you been? Chirrut is my Force Follower idol. Feemor is there as more than a footnote on Qui-Gon's history and it's amazing.

Basically, all the explorations of lives for the clones and jedi and Force Users you could possibly want in a No-Order 66 post-war setting.

Listen. Some works that are the work: Remedial Jedi Theology, Luminous, Prince With a Thousand Enemies, Open Skies ...

This is the one for No-Order 66 post-war Codywan, ex-aequo with sunshine and the shade of poetry.

sunshine and the shade of poetry

I have so much love for this fic.

The war comes to an abrupt end, and everyone around Cody begins the long road to recovery and discovery. Cody, on the other hand, just needs to find a new job. Unfortunately, he has no idea which one to pick.

First, No-Order 66 post-war Codywan is my absolute favorite type of codywan.

Second, everything. But more seriously, Codywan is often written in a such a way that Cody's life revolve around Obi-Wan's life. He settle in the Temple to live with Obi-Wan, he helps Obi-Wan deal with Anakin's meltdown/death/leaving the Order, he takes one of the job the jedi have made for the vode so he can work with Obi-Wan...

Do you see where I am going with this?

It's all about Obi-Wan. And while it can be fun to read if it's not pushed to its absolute, this type of unequal relationship, where one dedicate their entire life to the other, makes my skin crawl. Funnily enough, it's also 80% of the time the POC in that role when it's about an interracial couple. And I just - can't.

Here, Cody is his own person.

He had a life before Obi-Wan, he has one now beside Obi-Wan, and he will have one still, after, independantly from the love of his life. You can love someone as much as the galaxy is wide and still have love for your own separate life, your own friends, your own interests, goals, journey...

Basically, after the war, Cody says fuck it to any kind of military job and set out to 'find himself'. He doesn't know what it will look like and all his brothers mock him gently, and a bit worriedly, as they leave him in the dust by settling into their own civilian lives, since they don't have the same kind of hang-up he does.

But, by the Force, he is going to figures out who he is and what he wants, aside from the jedi, aside from the GAR, aside from even his own brothers, if it kills him. The 'situation' with General Kenobi will just have to wait until then.

Imagine that. Wanting to be sure of who you are, what you want and the kind of life you want before entering a relationship. Wanting to be certain of yourself, first. Especialy in a relationship where you didn't have the same power status before.

An excellent look at Cody, at the commanders, at the clones, at a post-war life in the Republic. Bly, Alpha-17 and Wolffe just shot me through the heart. It is now my headcanon that Bly is short for Butterfly for... reasons.

Find out by reading it.

And as if that wasn't enough, there's a short sequel with Alpha 17 written by deniigiq. It's the gift that keep on giving.

in our hearts some ancient song

Or: Cody finds Fives first. There are galactic consequences.

It was touch and go for a moment but happy endings guys! Thrill and anxiety abounds beforehand. Temple shenanigans. Force's engineering. The chips get activated earlier than canon but they make it through!

Worth a Thousand Words

Lol! Post-War, the clones didn't get much instructions in how to approach someone romantically. Someone suggest Cody try to send a dick pic to Obi-Wan. Somehow, it works, but not the way you expect.

This is so great! I was howling with laughers and cringing in sympathic embarrassement. Poor Cody!

This, too, was a gift

After the Rako Hardeen mission, Obi-Wan suffers a complete nervous breakdown, kills all the Sith in a way he feels violate everything he is and stands for, then fall into a severe depressive fugue.

Meanwhile, the Republic tries to reconstruct. The clones take what is owe to them and try to settle on a new planet, figure out who they are outside the War, serving the Republic and the jedi, while looking for their missing savior.

Obi-Wan is really, really depressed here and dissociated from reality for a while so, beware. Yaddle is MVP. A great look into the clones culture. The Sith problem get resolved pretty quickly. The story is about what come after and how you deal with having done what you had to do in a time of war.

This I Vow

Cody and Obi-Wan gets married for a mission. Somehow, it saves the universe.

Healthy . Adults . Communication. Please and thank you!

When We Were Young

After the war, Cody dedicated himself to his brothers: their rights, their protection, their well-beings, their lives...

He knows Obi-Wan has dedicated himself to the Order, but he hasn't seen him long enough to talk about it.

Thought now they are going on a joint mission once more, maybe that's about to change...

(hit me) with your heart

The one where Cody walks in on Obi-Wan in an intimate situation, and that ends up changing their relationship and the future of the galaxy.

Porn With Plot. Spanking. Kink exploration Safe, Sane and Consensual. It saves most of the galaxy. Rolls with it. Amazing exploration of sexuality and consent. Glimmerglanger doing the Lord's sexy work, as always. The plot is actually there and great!

the turning fork

Anakin doesn't fall, but he and Padme don't keep custody of Luke and Leia. Anakin tries to grapple with the consensual loss of his children while trying to stay in their lives. Meanwhile, someone murders a senator.

Amazing! Fantastic. The feelings... The reflection on choices and morality and parenthood and the choices one made about their lives and the ones they are going to make in the future to live a life they want to live.

Leia has Anakin's bad temper and the Organa love her but are a bit overwhelmed. Luke is his sweet self, being raised by weirdoes assholes Cody & Obi-Wan in space Scottland Stewjon. Yes, Obi-Wan left the Order to raise Luke in peace. He gets Cody as a bonus, since the man is now Luke's dad and Obi-Wan is lucky he's sharing.

A Different Perspective

Obi-Wan, Cody, the war, and a bunch of men and boys who have never gotten to choose things for themselves before, as seen through Dex's eyes.

Guys... Guys... *sob*

Finders Keepers *

Your soulmate finds everything you lose.

Obi-Wan has never had a soulmate of his own to lose things to before. Now, he's picking up things and wonders who they belong to.

Cody’s never been sure if the things he finds belong to his soulmate. If he even has one.

Anakin is contantly losing things but it somehow save the Universe because Padme take good care of them.

Fox and Bly and Bail and Breha and Bant and Kit and Boil and Waxer... all the others are there too.

chronic condition

Post War. Obi-Wan has epilepsy and it's tied to his prescience. Cody want Kix to investigate. Because they are weirdos assholes and he doesn't want to ask Obi-Wan outright. But also because he respects his privacy too much to make him talk about it. You know, they are only boyfriends. Don't won't to push boundaries too much, there. He's not a savage. Lol. Cody, you weirdo....

It was so good. So goooood... There was already the interesting part where clones don't ride into the sunset with jedi. They, too, chafe against their perception of jedi-superiority, so a lot of them choose something different than "move in the Temple and dedicate their lives to their jedi generals and jedi work". Which I love.

But, you know, I think this, it's a more realistic take and a more equal footing, long-term, than the unbalanced "clones devoted to jedi". Also, variety is always a special treat for the reader. At least it is for me. You could gave me a thousand of different headcanons, if it's well done, I'm on board!

And this one... The clones, the brotherhood/friendship amongst clones, Cody's backstory, the jedi, the post-war, the medical investigation, the Force/Jedi Order worldbuilding,.... What can I say? Save for a few fics with some of my NOTP/squicks, everything deniigiq has ever written just delight me and blow me away.

your atomic god *

The code of a clone is a simple thing: you were made to die for the Republic, for the Jedi. Make the most of the time you have before that.

Clone culture: seeded by mandalorian culture, but not the same. Introspection and identities issues: Cody ponders a lot about what it means to be a clone and who he is. Cody is super smart and cares a lot for his brothers. It has shaped my understanding of Cody.

Obi-Wan and Cody fell in love because they have actually a lot in common. Obi-Wan's lightsaber is playing matchmaker. This somehow save the universe.

Wrong Side of the Night

Is there a limit to how many fics by glimmerglanger I can rec?

*check magic eight ball* "My sources say no."

Cody has a very bad day, both he and Obi-Wan choose a less than ideal ways to handle the situation, and they have a long conversation about it the next morning.

Ouch. Like, ouch. Yet. Beware: Unjust treatement of the clones (not by Obi-Wan). Unhealthy emotional response. Impulsively angry sex. Dub-con. As-in, Cody's actions are driven by anger that has overtaken his reason and Obi-Wan's are driven by maladaptative reponse to a lifetime of traumatic environnement.

But, it's codywan, guys. So, once everyone has cooled-off: communication! Care and self-care! Trust! Support!

This fic was particularly impactful for me for personal reasons but I think it's powerfull, full-stop. You can love each other very much and still not act well towards each other. Beware of purity/cancel culture. People are failible and, at some point, they are going to fuck up.

But One: they are both harmed by the action they both perpetrated. No villain and blameless victim here. Two: once they have messed up, they both recognise their own part it it, apologise and commit to corrective actions.

This is what a good relationship look like, even with the slip up. This is what you can trust because of the slip up. They don't have to be perfect with the other all the time, because they know they can get through it and improve. The codywan is strong in this one.

I'm Not Safe Outside Your Arms

This is probably the most anguished fic you can find about a No-Order 66. But it has a happy ending!

Basically, and without spoiling it too much, the jedi do kill Palpatine but Darth Sidious continues to inflict pain, sorrow and suffering on the galaxy from beyond the grave.

Obi-Wan, of course, shoulders the whole of it but so do the vode. You're really horrified for Obi-Wan, but you feel for the 212th attack battalion: brave, strong and loyal to the end.

They should be free, they should be safe, for the first time of their lives. Their brothers are! But they aren't. And they choose it, because some choice, no matter how grim and terrifying, are no choice at all.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone love everyone and no one is giving up. Get ready.

There Was Only One Bed

Make Your Bed (Lie in It)

They have to share a sleeping bag for cold weather reasons. Then, they just keep sharing. Yeah, Cody, we're onto you. Go through Order 66 with open-ended fix-it.

room for two

Cody and Obi-Wan are on an undercover mission, and for some reason, they have to pretend to be married. It appears that the pining will increase exponentially for the next week.

Not really a mission fic, since it's all about the trope. But it's there to put a "background" to all the small spaces sharing and there's even a tiny bit of action. It was funny and good and I enjoyed it a lot.

Warning for those who, like me, don't think the Code preclude relationships. Obi-Wan presents it like it does in the fic, but that he chose Cody anyway. I disagree. The problem is not relationship but the kind of relationship and how it impact the choices you make, your work, your committement. My headcanon for jedi/civilian relationship and their consequences/risks/problems is 70% like it is in Remedial Jedi Theology, which I recommend to everyone.

It's alright, it doesn't take off from it. It's mean to be this side of crackish, fun read, which it is, so I don't feel the need to split hair about interpretation of the Code. I just want to mention it for those who feel strongly about it. If it bothers you, you can stop at the end of chapter two. It's still great and can be read as finished at this point.

Crack

Classified

Obi-Wan goes undercover. Cody takes some calls. These two facts are absolutely not related.

Funny as shit!

First Choice

The AU where the clones get to pick their generals and Obi-Wan is, once again, left feeling unwanted. But is he really?

Warnings: Obi-Wan has Self Esteem Issues. This is still funny and the whole pagentry/tests clones make the jedi go through to pick and choose their general was gold.

The Trouble With Tookas

Never trust somebody a tooka dislikes.

It started with a fanart and end up with tookas as Sith detector. It's great. Sheevie is regretting everything.

*The ones about Cody and Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan's lightsaber

Your Life In My Hands

OR, the one where a lightsaber really is a Jedi's life.

Temporary character's death. Under 5 000 words, but by all that is good and holy, does glimmerglanger make it counts.

Like, damn. Plus, jedi and saber lore. Must Read.

Mission Fic

Standard Operating Procedures

The 212th run into a dark acolyte who curse them with a love spell. Roll with it, it's amazing.

It's actually mission fic, or more like case fic. They are working hard to find out how to break the spell and why some brothers are affected and some are not. It's great!

Rapture

Mission fic! Yay! Biological warfare, intelligence gathering, city infiltration, plot against jedi, temporary depowerment that won't keep Obi-Wan down, Competent Cody ftw, with art...

This fic has it all!

parallelogram

Obi-Wan fakes his death and Cody works through every stage of grief. He eventually decides that he's going to fuck his way out of the depression pit and finds himself falling in love with this handsome Mandalorian who he just keeps meeting.

Obi-Wan dies and Cody is out of all the fuck to give. First, he spirals. Then, he says screw the universe. He treat himself. He looks for sex. He undermines all the unworthy incompetent natborns officers. He take on Boba's gardienship, who is not in space jail at 11 but was up to this point under Mace's supervision. Ponds is very relieved.

He will crawl out of this depressive hole or die trying.

Smuggled In

NO ORDER 66. But, also Mission Fic. And I think it's more about the Mission than the fact it happens in a No Order 66's world, thought I love it and I'm gratefull for it.

Cody and some of the 212th get captured by smugglers, and nothing is quite what it seems to be.

Hahaha! I love this one! Cody is always blaming the shit that happens to the 212th on Obi-Wan and now the joke is on him because it went completely off the rails pretty early and the jedi is nowhere near where the action is happening. Or, is he?

Asexuality

Hedgehog's Dilemma

Cody is in love with Obi-Wan and determined to court him. Obi-Wan is interested in Cody but not sex. Cody has no idea what to make with that. They try to figure it out.

a lesson in attachment

Obi-Wan has never been enough. It's okay. The Force loves him anyway. And so does Cody.

Touching and, as greyS/Ace myself, it resonated.

Mpreg

A Slow Fall Towards Grace

I cannot even begin to tell you how much this fic touch me. Obi-Wan is an omega, though it's not a traditional depiction of A/B/O.

It keeps screwing him over thorough his life and the sex he ends up having despite himself is not funny. Read the tags. Obi-Wan is ignorant of how much people want him, but considering it's not because he's this bastion of Mary-Sue perfection, but because the alphas around him are knot-heads who excuse their poor behaviors and selfishness with their hormones, it doesn't read that way.

Cody is amazing. Obi-Wan is the Force's chew toy and beloved son at the same time. Loved it.

1861 c.100 s.60

Obi-Wan gets pregnant during the war and decides that the obvious course of action is constant and brazen denial.

Obi-Wan is a weird asshole. Cody is weirder. They are the perfect couple.

Anakin cannot deal with them because the twins came early and he doesn't have the time anymore. Listen, he doesn't even have time for Palpatine anymore...

Lol! Screwing with Sheevie. Clones fuckery. Adorable grumpy she-tubie. Codywan being the perfect assholes we know them to be and furiously in love. All the feels and pettily satisfying.

for every loved child

The one where new father Cody reckons with many of the anxieties and traumas of his past and gets some much delayed comfort.

Or how glimmerglanger managed to make me cry in less than 4 000 words.

It's not so much a mpreg fic, but a new parents fic. A late-night breastfeeding session reveals a lot of buried and current feelings, thoughts and issues. There's much pain, but it's all surrounded by intimacy, love and warmth. It's like hiding under the blanket with your SO and shading cathartic tears. Amazing.

Post-Order 66

I hate Order 66. I don't want to read fics about it. Some authors are just too good, though.

Haunt Me, Then

Fix-It, as much as possible. CC-2224 becomes Cody again and will die trying to make up killing his General and jedi, even if it kills him.

Heartwrenching.

We Build Our Empire From Ruins And Smoke

The Republic is dead and the Empire's throne is empty, and Fox will be damned if he lets anyone claim it.

Basically, post-order 66, the clones come back online and since everything they worked, die for and cared about is dead or gone, the gloves are off.

Come with prequels and sequels, it's actually a whole serie. No dialogue. Anakin is dead. Palpatine dies. Clones-centric.

Not something I agree with irl, because it's when democracy is threaten you should work twice as hard to secure it. But since it's fiction and the general canon sense we get of politicians and regular population confronted with Order 66 is that they either don't care or agree, it's pretty fine with me.

First Sight

For Cody, it's love at first sight. From Kamino to Tatooine, it lives inside him.

A Treatise on Breaking and Repairs

Warning: whumpfest. Great satisfaction at the end, though.

Three years post-Order 66, Obi-Wan get captured by Vader. Rape and torture ensue. The 212th, under the chips' control, are there for it all. In the end, Anakin gets his just dessert. Our boys make free.

But while you can make free from a place, you cannot free yourself from the horrors visited upon your soul that easily.

the boat that would row you back

Or, after Obi-Wan vanish it front of Vader on the Death Star, Vader decides he didn't get the proper fight he deserves and send CC-2224 in the underworld to bring Obi-Wan back.

Of course, nothing is that easy.

The Carbon Cycle

Obi-Wan decide to try to grow flowers on Tatooine to heal himself. CC-2224 is having dreams about the General he supposedly kills. Somehow, it save the both of them.

I'm a whore for dreamsharing fic. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love it. This fic... this fic is cleansing and healing and touching and beautifull. I loved it!

A Whim, A Desire

OK, this one doesn't hurt. Much.

Three years after Order 66, Vader finds an artifact that allows him to create his perfect dream world within the Force. However, he finds that maintaining this world is impossible without someone living inside it at all times. He throws in everyone he can from his past life, including CC-2224.

Obi-Wan fell asleep on Tatooine and wake up in his dreams in the perfect life.

But illusion is not reality and when the seems of the dream start to show, Cody and Obi-Wan will fight to make their dream a reality.

Both Cody and Obi-Wan think the other is an illusion, and so they are free and honest with each other. What they built is lovely. Vader show up like the Lord of the House but it allows Obi-Wan to play out his fantasies of still being able to talk to Anakin and being part of his life.

It doesn't ends in Yay! We saved the Universe and kills Sidious/Vader. Just - Cody, saving himself and those he can along the way.

Fantasic imaginings. Make you wish it could have happen, if Anakin hadn't ruined everything by becoming Vader. Vader's frustrations of people and things eluding his 'absolute sithly control' is hilarious, sad and the source of endless failures on his part. Thankfully.

diogenes (what makes a man?)

Cody, grappling with identity, purpose and what it means to be a brother.

Cody-centric. From Kamino to Tatooine. Lot of clones. Lot of feels and introspection. Most Dies But Some Lives.

Listen, I'm of the die hard opinion that if Cody's chip fail during the Empire, no matter when or how, he would not rest until he has saved all the brothers he can save. This is the same characterisation here.

|free the hearts and rust the chains|

There aren't many clones left in the Imperial Army. (...) Zhade-Ran doesn't trust her two bunkmates. Although perhaps not for the reasons she should.

I love stories being told from an excellently done OC. Here, we've got two troopers who want to desert and two clones who shake the chips' control after years of being under and deign for the natborns to join them on their way out. Now, all they need to do is find a way to get in touch with the Rebellion.

Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Elegant Weapon *

Cody is Force Sensitive. Obi-Wan teach him how to fight with a lightsaber. It doesn't save the universe, but at least it saves Cody. It's great! I promise Cody is still Cody and not changed into a zen jedi. He can just... feels the Force.

set the bones straight

Purge Trooper CC-2224 is an extremely efficient jedi killer. He will find them all. All of them. Even the one from his dreams.

Pffffiuuuu. Don't look into this one for Cody's softening influence on CC-2224 or breaking out of the chip's influence by the sheer force of Will and Morality. This is straight-up Purge Trooper. Happy ending, though. Sort of. As much as can be in Post-Order 66.

Recollection

CC-2224 malfunctions. The Empire tries to wipe him into working order. Cody is not letting them.

Or, Eternal Sunshine of the Reconditioned Mind. *bawl my eyes out* Codyyyy!!!!

|to failure, sweet victor|

The chip malfunction enough for Cody to seek out and join Obi-Wan on Tatooine. The chips function enough for CC-2224 to tries to kill that traitor Kenobi whenever he's online.

They make it work.

one meal at a time

Cody and Obi-Wan's love story, as told through food. This is so chokefull of love...

Errr... Order 66 fuck me up. I don't get why I put so many of them there. I guess it's popular amongst writers? And I can bend my likes/dislikes when the writing is that good. Curse you, good writers!

Home, A Place You've Never Been

Cody's chip fails. Cody dreams of Tatooine. Cody gets to Tatooine. Now that he's there, he must heal and tame Ben Kenobi, whose wounds on his soul make him the kindest not-jedi. But also depressed, weary and wary as hell.

Excellent. Obi-Wan is very oblivious. Then, in the three sequels, very happy. As much as can be post-Order 66.

The Raephen's Gifts

It's happy! Cody and Obi-Wan obviously make it through Order 66 and the Empire, along with some clones and jedi, and the Republic and the Jedi Order are restored to the galaxy.

But it's all alluded to only very briefly in the background. Basicaly, now that the galaxy is at peace once more, old married couple codywan get on a week long retreat on a peacefull planet in Wild Space where they are sure they won't be bothered or called.

They sleep, eat fish and maybe meet some Force entities along the way.

Just... old codywan, with disabilities, having a week of rest and healing. Chilling. It's everything I wish for them in a post-Order 66 era.

AUs I Cannot Help But Read

AUs, as in, change the Star Wars Universe, not the events of canon.

Listen, I hate when SF is not SF. But, again, some authors are just too good and they make it work.

Vampire AU serie

Yes. Really. Don't run for the hills! It's not your Twilight Romance. Everything is the same. Obi-Wan is just of a specie called Vampire because, you know, they drink blood as part of their diet.

And since it's Star Wars: Space Racism! Yay!

This somehow makes the Clone Wars both better and worse.

Sort of Vampirism? Its not the story

I put it there because in this sort-of supernatural AU, Force users drink blood.

But really, the story is about how Cody and Obi-Wan get trapped in a lost jedi Temple, how they must join forces to make it out, and how the ensuing unshakable trust help them deal with post-Order 66.

It was great. I love lost jedi Temple fic! I could read millions of them.

Commander Cody and Star Wars’ actual Disney princess

Obi-Wan, the prince in his high tower, is not waiting for a rescue. Cody is the not-knight interested in rescuing him.

I shit you not. Magic is used instead of the Force, but everything is very recognisable and the story is great! Lot of Cody's brothers are there.

Zombies

A stunning mission fic, 64 000 words long, where the Separatist experiment biological warefare on a neutral planet and the 212th get caught in the middle.

Down to less than a hundred soldiers, they must fight an entire planet for their survival. Buckle up! Clones Wars Plots! Zombies Nightmares! With sequel!

I cannot stress enough how much you need it. If you like action, this is the fic for you.

Sith Obi-Wan

Really not my kind fic. I headcanon the very bone of Obi-Wan personality as selfless. And to be Sith is rooted in selfishness.

Imcompatible in its essence. Does not work.

In this fic, it works. Sith Empire, so it explains Obi-Wan being Sith. Unexpected kind of A/B/O. Warning for Obi-Wan/212th battalion. The codywan is there and ready to do damage. Revenge ahead. Less than 6000 words, maximum impact.

Glimmerglanger strikes again. It was great.

Dark Sider Obi-Wan

Not to be confused: Obi-Wan is not a Sith there.

He is an ex-padawan who left the Order to fight a war for children against adults, then joined another war, then another war and another and another...

By the time he realised he strayed from the Light, he has cease to care about it. He is good at war and they always say if you're good at something, you should be paid for it. A galactic war may be the peak of his career, if it wasn't such a strange war. It doesn't quite make sense, and Obi-Wan's weakness is definitively curiosity.

Meanwhile, Commander Cody has it with this dark sider ruining things. He may be a fearsome separatist general, but Cody is no light weight himself. If the man is going to drop gauntlets left and right, than Cody is going to damn well one pick one himself.

Let's see who is the better fighter and strategic mastermind.

Always-A-Girl-Obi-Wan

Funerary practices? Master Ti writes back. I’m not sure what you mean, Master Kenobi. Used biomass is the property of Kamino and thus is recycled into the cloning process.

So that’s how the revolution begins—with dead brothers, but not the way you might expect.

Obi-Wan is still Obi-Wan. You might as well read this as Canon Divergence. But fandom readers will always has the fear of Mary Sue, I think, so I prefered to put the fact that it's Lady Wan at the foreground.

It's great. It's so freaking great... The 212th are all a little bit in love with Obi-Wan. Cody definitively is. Obi-Wan has nightmares and decide she's done with this shit. She's going to take her clones and stage a strike. See how the Senate like that! Ha!

Lol. If anyone ever make a fanart of Lady Wan as a pinup for ship's nose art, please, please, send me the link! Warnings for cloneship in the background.

Time Travel

while the world still turns

Cody touch an artefact in a jedi Temple and is sent at various point of Obi-Wan's life. All the codywan feels. Of course, it's going to save the Universe!

Fire to ash, present to past (who knows for tomorrow?)

Obi-Wan is fifteen again, things are different, people are confused, but maybe there's something good at the end of the path

Obi-Wan is the Force chew toy and beloved son at the same time. Obi-Wan has PTSD. Qui-Gon is confused. Listen, you don't get much more than "Obi-Wan get back in his old body". That's it. That's the whole fic.

The whole thing is about landing in a different time with undealt with traumas and finally dealing. Why put it on this codywan rec list, then? Ah, I'm not gonna spoil you, now, am I? You will just have to read for yourself.

The Suns Swing East

Over and over, Obi-Wan woke up and wished he hadn't. Palpatine wouldn't stop until Obi-Wan had Fallen (...)

He couldn't save himself (...) What he hadn't realized was that didn't mean there was no way to be saved.

Time-Loop!!! Palpatine realise Obi-Wan can kick Anakin's ass and decide he is the one he wants as his apprentice. Then, with sith powers, he tries his best to break him.

Obi-Wan is at the end of his rope. He has lived through many lives, all of them horrible, all of them failures. At this point, he wished he could join the Force. Seriously. Depression. Suicide attempt. The work. But Obi-Wan isn't alone. And those who love him will save him. And the Universe along the way.

Die Sheevie, die.

A heartfelt thanks to @glimmerglanger @deniigi @nightfoliage @lttrsfrmlnrrgby @galateagalvanized @esamastation @wanderingjedihistorian @nerjetii @petrichordiam @someawkwardprose @trixree @andthepeople

(The other authors either had no tumblr handle put on their ao3 profile, or their pseudo didn't work when I tried to @ at them. I thank them anyway, and all those whose codywan fics I have loved but not put there. Thank you.)

[nothinggoodhappenscomics]

Welcome to Nothing Good Happens: Comics

"A collection of comics that seldom end blissfully."

A woefully pessimistic comic blog, posting comics that never end well for anyone. If you're a fan of morbid consequences, karmic protagonist shortcomings, or rooting for the 'final girl' to make it; make yourself at home.

The content you'll find here is created by yours truly. Some are from my own imagination. Others are the product of prompts I've scraped from the corners of the internet (with all credit given). Want to see your own twisted tales come to fruition? Click the "Have a Comic Prompt?" button and submit your cruel ideas.

The stories span a variety of genres. Dark fantasy, liminal space, sci-fi, apocalypses; there's truly something for everyone. Tread with caution when reading; not all themes are for everyone. The beginning of each post will contain caution and trigger warnings, before proceeding into the story. No story will be exploitative or morally and ethically deplorable. Stories' caution warnings are coloured coded based on severity of the cautions;

No CW: No extreme or mild themes of mature content. Happy endings are still not present in these stories...

Light CW: Light themes of eeriness or suspense. Nothing graphic or overly descriptive.

Soft CW: Mature themes, such as mentions of death, mild violence, suspenseful or dangerous scenarios.

Hard CW: Mentions and descriptions of gore, bodily harm, psychological horror. These posts will also be spoilered with Tumblr's mature content option.

Caution warnings will also be provided in the tags of each story.

If you prefer reading words off a screen, please follow NGH Stories. The original Nothing Good Happens writing blog that started it all.

With that all being said and done...

Grab a warm drink, turns the lights off and enjoy reading.

...You remembered to lock the front door, right?

[elisysd]

52. Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned

Masterlist - Previously - Next

Chapter soundtrack: Try - P!nk

She contemplated the usb stick one last time before taking a deep breath and plugged it on her laptop. It was not cheating. It was not cheating. It was not cheating. It was just a little push forward to try to save a car that was not on the right track of development. That was it. Nothing less, nothing more. She had to stop overthinking the situation. As usual, she had come earlier to the hospitality, to work in peace, before it was going to get crowded in terms of the media day. She didn’t know for how long she had been there, preparing documents and graphics to send to the team in the factory.

“Working hard over there?”

She looked up from her screen to see her mom smiling at her and sitting down to face her.

“Take a break with me?”

“I’m going to make myself some tea, do you want a cup?” Julia asked, standing up.

“Please, darling.”

She went to pour herself a lemon one for her and a mint one for her mom. When she came back, she saw Lyanna on her side of the table, looking at her screen.

“If you want me to explain to you the aerodynamics concept I’m working on, I believe the weekend wouldn’t be enough.” Julia laughed as her mom turned to her, a dark look on her face.

“I might not be able to understand them, but I can clearly recognise a Lamborghini car when I see one. So unless, Ferrari decided to drop the red to introduce the white, care to explain why you have pictures of the Lamborghini car on your screen?”

“I can explain.” Julia panicked as she felt herself paling.

“I sure hope you can. Because from the outside, it looks like you’re copying their concept.”

“I’m not copying it! I’m getting inspiration, that’s it…” Julia tried to defend herself.

“Are you, though? Because there is a difference between heavily inspired and copied from. And you are crossing the very thin line, Julia.”

“I’m not! I’m exploiting the gray areas of the regulations…”

“The gray areas of the regulations…” Lyanna chuckled in disbelief. “ Do you hear yourself? How did you even get those pictures?”

“I… it’s…” Julia stuttered.

“Don’t tell me, they come from Ethan…” her mom sighed, sitting down on a chair. “Don’t tell me that it was what he gave you for you to accept setting a Pr relationship. Don’t tell me you stoop that low.”

Julia couldn’t say anything. Whatever she would say to try to defend herself would turn out to be a lie and she didn’t have it in herself to keep on lying to her mom.

“I can’t believe it. That’s not how your dad and I raised you. Did you even tell your dad about the PR stunt?”

“I… I couldn’t find the right time…”

“As if there would have been a right time to tell him you lied. Tell me you haven’t sent anything that you’re working on to the factory, Julia.”

In front of the deafening silence, Lyanna drew her own conclusions.

“I’ll have to tell your dad.”

“Please don’t!”

“Will you come clean on your own?”

“I can’t do that! It’s going to crush him! I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“You don’t give me the choice, Julia. I can’t trust you on this.”

“Mom, please!”

But Lyanna had already left.

Far from having a clue of what was going to happen to him, Charles was happily chatting with other team principals as they were getting ready for the press conference. As he took place on the sofa, he saw Carlos talking to one of the Spanish journalists, giving him a piece of paper. He gulped, worried. He knew Carlos wanted nothing more than to see him fail as a Team Principal, since he had been announced a few years ago. The Spaniard had always hoped that the place would be his, when the time was done. Since then, he had always tried to make Charles’ job harder than necessary but the team principal hoped he wouldn’t resort to dirty ways to get what he wanted.

Much to his relief, the press conference went through without issues. He happily answered questions about the car, the strategy and Elijah's departure, saying his replacement would be announced soon without giving details.

“Juan Hernandez for ESPN Spain, a question regarding the presence of your daughter, Julia, in Ferrari. I have a source claiming that she had been working for you longer than what has been previously announced. It is said that she worked on the upgrades you brought to Brazil. Which would be against the rules, considering she was under gardening period. Can you confirm that no unauthorized work has been done in Ferrari on this side?”

Charles gulped. How did the journalist even come across this information? And then he saw Carlos’ proud smile and had his answer.

Julia's breathing stopped when she heard the question. And the snarky smile from the journalist after he tricked her dad wasn’t very reassuring. But her dad’s answer made her a little better.

“Julia is a very talented person and she had already proven to us that she would be a key element in the future car development. She has been closely working with us ever since her joining announcement and a little before since summer only on documentation to familiarize herself with her new environment. That’s all.”

“So what you are saying is that the new concept you brought to Brazil is yours only.”

“What are you implying?”

“See, Mister Leclerc, my source who is very reliable is stating that your daughter has been heavily involved in the amazing results you are getting since Brazil. If we go even further, some might say that there are similarities with Lamborghini’s car concept. Then again, coincidence or underlying cheating from your side?” the journalist asked again, leaving Charles speechless.

“If there are really any coincidences, then I’m truly sorry because it was not on purpose.”

“And your daughter? Are you insisting that she hasn’t worked for you prior to the official announcement?”

“I do.” Charles stated.

“Then , I can’t wait to have your opinion on my paper which is going to be released tomorrow. One last question? How did you feel when your daughter told you that she wanted to study in Zurich by using her mother’s maiden name?”

“She what?” Charles almost screamed, caught by surprise.

Julia couldn’t breathe anymore. Her vision started to get blurry as her ears started to ring. It couldn’t happen, not today and not like that. How did they even come across that information? And suddenly her interaction with Carlos in Zandvoort took a whole new meaning. What she had perceived as silent threats were ones indeed. She felt like everyone was watching her and as she thought she was about to pass out, a steady hand was put on her shoulder to stabilize her. She looked up to find two green orbs, looking at her, worriedly.

“I got you.” Martin simply said, as he guided her outside so she could breathe and so she could be away from prying eyes.

“I have to find my dad. I have to explain. I have…”

“Julia! Oh my gosh, I’ve just watched the press conference. Are you okay?” Romy asked as she ran into the arms of her best friend who let out her distraught take the best of her.

“I want to hide. I want to leave and never come back again.”

“You’re better than that, Joolsie, you’re better than all of them! You can’t let them win without fighting, that’s not you.” she looked up to find Ethan coming towards them, Kyle and Ludwig behind him.

“And you’re not alone. We are all here for you, I mean… we are kind of responsible… we did provide you with technical information about our car.” Kyle said, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah, you are our friend. We will get through it together. Like a family. Because that’s what you are.”

“You know Ludwig, that’s actually the first time I hear you saying something that beautiful.” Romy commented.

“Hey! I can be nice when I want to! And she is crying, I don’t want to say something stupid that will make her cry even more!”

“Joolsie, look at me. Don’t let this belittled all the hard work you put into your dream. You deserve to be where you are and even more than that. Your dad knows it, Ferrari knows it, and deep down you do too.” Ethan whispered, kneeling in front of her.

She looked at him straight in the eyes and felt instantly calmer. It would be fine. As long as he was there, as long as her friends were there, it would all be okay. But now, she had to find her dad. As they were all on their way to the Ferrari garage, where she hoped he would be, they crossed paths with the last person she wanted to see.

“Julia… I hope you liked my little welcome in the team gift.” smiled Carlos and as he took a step towards her, Ethan, Martin and Ludwig shielded Julia, silently providing her with a security she didn’t really need and want.

“I’m good, guys. I’m not scared of him.”

“Oh how your dad must feel… knowing you were ashamed of being his daughter… it surely would break my heart.”

“At least, he can’t question my loyalty. I can’t say the same about you.Betraying the team that offered you your biggest success, that’s a low I’ve never thought you would reach.”

“My biggest success is to see your dad crumbling in front of thousands of people. The sadness in his eyes, the betrayal, the anger… that was a pleasant sight.”

“Was it worth it? What did it bring you?”

“Pleasure. pride. A feeling of justice. After all this time, the little Ferrari king is getting what he deserved. You were just a means to an end, Julia. Don’t take it personally.”

“Don’t take it personally? You might just have destroyed her career, you bastard!” Ethan lost his temper.

“It’s fine. She can still work for the team, in the kitchen or warming a driver’s bed, am I right Martin?”

“Okay that’s enough! Let go of me Kyle, I’m going to kill him, I’m serious!” screamed Ethan as Kyle was trying to push him away, helped by Ludwig.

“It won’t do any good, Ethan! It won’t help her case and even less yours! You’re still under the FIA’s radar!”

“How cute. Failed mini Verstappen coming to rescue failed little Leclerc. That’s something I’ve never thought I would see.”

Julia was about to reply when Martin left the group side to punch Carlos so hard that he stumbled and fell to the ground.

“Ethan might be closely watched but I’m not and if I’m honest, it’s been a while since I’ve wanted to do this.” he said, looking at Carlos.

“I’ll make you pay, don’t forget that I’m part of the Ferrari board.”

“Not for long. you’re not the only one gathering information on possible threats Carlos. I’ve done it too and I’m not sure the board will be happy to learn about how you are under investigation in Spain for tax evasion.” Charles came out from the garage. “Or about how you corrupted Elijah and threatened his career if he wasn’t giving you the information you wanted. I would advise you to leave. And to never come back.”

Carlos got up, ironed out his suit and with one last look of hatred to the group of young adults and to Charles, left. Charles’ sad gaze fell on his daughter and he quickly diverted it and began to walk away.

“Dad! Wait! I can explain!”

“Explain what? The PR stunt? The lie about your identity in Zurich? Or about cheating? And yes, I saw your mom before arriving at the garage.”

She didn’t let him go away and decided to follow him to his office. And when he shut the door behind her, he finally looked at her, a hard look on his face that had never been addressed to her.

“Have you got the slightest idea of what you’ve just done, Julia?” It wasn’t Ju anymore. Her dad never had never called her Julia unless he was really mad which had never happened. “Is it true? And don’t try to lie your way out of it.”

“I’m…”

“Yes or no.”

“So, not only did you put Ferrari’s name at risk, but also the career of hundreds of people and that’s without mentioning the wave of disappointment from Tifosi all over the world. Rightfully so. Not only that, but your actions have repercussions on my job as well, our reputation. Your reputation. I raised you to be a driven, loyal, honest, hard worker and ambitious woman. I always taught you that you could do everything your mind was set on. That nothing could stop you. And what did you do? You betrayed me. I don’t recognise you, anymore. This job changed my daughter. Ethan changed you. This world changed you. And I’m not sure I like this version of you.”

“I just want to say that Ethan and I started as PR but it became real along the way. He did give me information about Lamborghini… I have a whole usb stick with everything on it that I can give you. Can we talk about Zurich?”

“I need time to process that my own daughter was so ashamed of me that she decided to change her name.”

“Dad… please let me explain…”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Not now, at least. For now, I think it’s best if we postpone your role in the team to next year. So we can clear all suspicions and I have time to investigate everything.”

And that was the final blow for Julia. She looked at her badge and removed it, handing it to her dad.

“I guess I won’t need it anymore.”

Through the tears, she passed through the door without a second glance to her friends who watched her exiting the garage, in disbelief. By trying to make everyone happy, she had lost everything and only had herself to blame. She could see it all now. She had lost Ethan, she had lost her job, twice now, but most of all, she had lost herself. Her dad was right, she couldn’t recognize who she had become. And it was time for her to stop living in a perpetual state of denial and to face reality and her mistakes, but one thing was for sure, she was determined to make it right. She owed it to herself.

Ethan contemplated Julia precipitatingly leaving and wanted to follow her only to get dragged back by Kyle, telling him that she probably needed to be alone. When he saw her dad, getting out of his office he called him out, waving at him with everything he could until he finally acknowledged their presence and decided to come to them.

“Charles, I swear we can explain. I can explain! If you want to blame someone, blame me! I was the one who gave her the information, I was the one who dragged my friend with me into this mess, please get mad at me. Not at her. She went through enough, she needs her dad, not her team principal…”

“You might have been the one to give her the usb stick, she was the one who decided to use it.” Charles simply answered.

“But you don’t know the reasons! If you did, you would hate me!”

“Don’t you think I’m not aware of the PR stunt? I’m very disappointed. In both of you.”

“She loves you… she just wanted to help. And I kinda blackmailed her into all of this… I just didn’t think it would go this far.” Ethan tried to explain.

“What were you thinking of? Of course it could only lead to a disaster.”

“Yeah… well that’s the thing, I wasn’t thinking a lot back then.”

“I love my daughter more than anything else and I truly believed that I knew her inside and out. That she would never lie to me, that she would always trust me and talk to me if something was bothering her. Turns out I was wrong.” Ethan could see the tears in the team principal’s eyes and it made his heart wrenched. He had never seen him that way.

“I’m sorry. I truly am. I would understand if you didn’t want me near her and…”

“Don’t be stupid. You changed her Ethan for better and for worse, but I also know that there would be no way you would be able or want to stay away from her. You love her too much.”

“I… I mean…I do? Love her.” Ethan stuttered, feeling himself blushing.

Charles sighed.

“Excuse me, I have to do some damage control.”

Ethan sighed as well, not knowing what to do. He was done for the day and didn’t have anything else to do. He watched his friends telling him how sorry they were to have to leave him but Romy had a team meeting and Kyle and Ludwig a promotional video clip to shoot. It was now only him and Martin.

“You have a nice right hook.” Ethan said to break the awkward silence between them.

“One one hand, it feels so fucking good, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that. On the other hand, it hurts so bad. I should go to the medical center. But I couldn’t let him speak about Julia like that, it’s not right.”

“I’m glad she has you… she will need you. And don’t force me to repeat it.”

“You don’t know?” Martin replied, surprised.

“I don’t know what?”

“Julia and I. It’s over.”

“Fuck. You already fucked up? How come Saint Martin already lost the girl?”

“By calling her my ex’s name,” he grimaced.

“Wow. Even I wouldn’t have stepped that low.”

“We all have our issues, Ethan.” Martin sadly said and as he was about to leave added, “Room 324. Just in case you want to see her.”

He knew he shouldn’t, for all he knew it could have been a trap set up by Martin but he still decided to trust him and to go knock on the door. He waited for a long time before it opened to reveal Julia, her hair in a messy bun, eyes red and puffy. He noticed her winnie the pooh pajama that she always wore when she was feeling really down and that’s when he understood how bad she was. It didn’t surprise him, he had seen the way she had left the garage and how tough the day had been for her.

“I don’t want to complicate things for us. If you want me to leave…”

“It’s already complicated, Eth.” she simply said, opening her door widely.

“Eth? That’s new.”

“It’s about damn time I find you an annoying nickname.”

“I don’t dislike it. It’s quite the opposite actually.” he smiled.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I mean… as okay as you can be.”

“This day is a nightmare, I just want to sleep and forget it ever happened. My dad hates me, I lost my job, I’m alone… how worse can it get.”

“Well first of all, your dad could never hate you. He is hurt but you’re his princess. You’ve always been. Talk to him, explain your side of things. He’ll understand. He loves you too much to not understand. Then, your job… okay. That I can’t say anything. But I can say that you’re not alone. Ludwig is right. We’re family. And family means nobody gets left behind…”

“Did you just quote Lilo and Stitch?” she cut him, almost laughing.

“Hey! It’s a nice movie, okay! But that’s not the point. Romy considers you like her sister, I know Kyle likes you even if he won’t say it and Ludwig thinks you are fun to be around. Chloe has a lot of respect for you as well and I’m sure you would like her a lot if you were hanging out together a bit more. And then, there is me. My feelings for you haven’t changed. I’m still in your corner, I’m way too deep in love with you to not be. Not sure you’ve been deserving of it lately… but that’s not the point. I can’t control what I feel. My point is, you have a lot of people who believe in you and are here for you no matter what. Don’t push us away. We want to be by your side and I know one thing, this is just a little incident on your road, Joolsie. Not the end. You’ll come back stronger. And the world is not ready for what you will become.” he calmly said, taking her hands in his and looking her in the eyes.

“How can you still have so much faith in me after what I’ve done to you? After what I put you through?” she let a tear fall on her cheek, quickly caught by Ethan.

“Because I know you better than you know yourself. You’re a fighter. You’re made to do great things and to shine, Joolsie. Don’t let anyone take away your light.”

“When have you learned to talk like this? When did you become so wise?”

“Therapy. You don’t even know how much I pay Sofia to make me less of an asshole.”

“Don’t change too much please.. I love the asshole in you. It makes you, you.”

He chuckled and saw a twinkle in her eye. It made him proud that even after everything, he was still able to make her at least a little bit happy.

Author's note: Welcome to the climax of Gold Rush: Spa. A lot is going to happen in the next chapters, I hope you're ready.

What do you think will happen next? Let me know your theories, I love to read them.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment or an ask, as well as reblogging and leaving a like. Besides the fact that I absolutely love to read you, it helps a lot for the story to find its audience. I also have a taglist for this story, so if you want to be added so you never miss a chapter, let me know.

Taglist:

@herondalism @aundercover @musingsbyshreya @karmabyfernando @reengard @mycenterfold @smoooothoperator

[rancidtae]

ARCADIA’S LULLABY | CHAPTER 3

Genre: Mafia AU. Vigilante AU. Sci-fi (AI). Warnings: Graphic violence, Strong language Pairing: exo & Original Female Character (Jung Jiah/Kang Rina) - Kim Minseok/Original Female Character - Zhang Yixing/Original Female Character Word count: 7k+ chapter summary: the rain pours relentlessly, but a different storm is just starting. Jiah meets Jongin at a birthday party, it's all harmless fun and magnetic sparks until it isn't, and he calls her the wrong name.

masterlist meet the characters

You wanna disappear in a crowd Just a stranger in a room Wanna change your colors just for the night With no word of it following you home

081222 - 5:43 pm

Things are quiet.

The story is still at the center of the news and online discussions. People have dissected every detail of Lee Chungjae's life to the point that he took down all his posts. In every sense of the word, he's the country's most hated man.

And candidate Lee's reassuring smile when reporters bring up the subject has started to crack.

But nothing else happens.

She's on edge. Let the storm hit already, for fuck's sake. 

Yixing finds her restlessness hilarious and texts her a screenshot of the weather app this morning. 90% chance of rain for the next three days.

It looks like Kuraokami answered your prayers.

In the midst of it all, he's been refusing to blend to the background of her mind, exploiting the fact that she's weak when it comes to a good meal. Most days he shows up to her door with takeout, and just yesterday he came with ingredients and made her eat her words about carbonara being the most overrated approach to noodle based recipes.

He’d laugh at her if he could see her now, standing outside the chronicle's building, struggling to get her buzzing phone from the inside of her bag.

A part of her hopes it's the blocked number from before.

But there's a name on the screen, and it puts a frown on her face.

“What do you want.” 

A chuckle spills through the line. “Resentment is a terrible thing, you know? It does the heart no good.”

“How would you know? You don't have one."

“I heard you paid someone a visit last night. I wanted to hear it from you.”

She scoffs up at the sky through her see-through umbrella.

"You want me to say I’m... what? Shaking in my boots? So you can rub one out to the sound of it?”

“Language, sunshine. Let’s keep things civil.”

“I tried to be civil, didn’t I? I even gave you a heads-up for old times’ sake, but then you decided to make things personal. So now I’m thinking that next time, I'll just let it blow in your face, make it surprise.” 

“Ah, there we go again with that. Why do you insist on calling it personal?”

“Why don’t you suck my dick, Namjoon?”

She hates that she can hear his poisonous smile, over so confident and collected.

“You walked into that room yourself. How is it fair to blame me for the consequences of your actions?”

He enjoyed it, he’s enjoying it even now, she knows. He denied any involvement in her encounter with a certain pair of recently debuted syndicate members, but hist hands were all over that stunt.

A blow like that, the same night she showed up to let him know she had info on his candidate’s son, and he expects her to believe destiny is just funny like that.

No fucking way.

Things may or may not have escalated to shattered wine glass and a deep burgundy stain on Jin's favorite artwork hanging on the wall.

“Can you get to the point? Some of us can’t afford to spend the day scheming, I have things to do.” she says, impatience seeping into her tone.

It's starting to rain, so her hair will start looking crazy in about three minutes.

“I was hoping you were bluffing.”

She laughs in a way that makes an older woman give her a nasty look.

“My hopes weren’t for us.”

Ah.

There it is. As grim as it is, it’s like a weight taken off her chest.

Her surroundings come back into focus. The narrow street. The stream of people walking past her, trying to get out of the rain as soon as possible. A girl brushing her shoulder, recording herself speaking in a foreign language. A taxi driver fighting with a delivery guy. A German shepherd with a yellow raincoat and little rubber boots, its nose against the side of a phone booth. 

“I see.” 

“Just now?” he has the gall to sigh, disappointed. “I thought you knew when you went to Yoongi looking for a 22. I guess you're not that good at seeing things beforehand anymore, not even when you start them.”

If she had to describe it, she’d say it’s a lot like a game of hide and seek with the kids from her street. Terrifying and exciting at the same time.

“Come to the hotel,” he suddenly says, much to her surprise “Stay here until things settle down.”

And if she had to sum Kim Namjoon up, this would be it. No one but him could give an invitation and a threat at the same time with such ease. Come, or else.

“No. I think I'll stay outside, see what comes out of it.”

Another deep sigh.

“I see. Have it your way, then. You have your fun, make sure to enjoy it.”

She hits the red button and finds that the cute dog with the rubber boots nowhere to be seen, as if it vanished off the street with its human. 

At least 13 different people stop her before reaching Kim Kibum's office. Even though her name wasn't credited, her co-workers know what it means when she disappears for weeks, and the kind of stories she chases. The vultures in her department rolling their eyes at the sight of her kind of give it away.

“I thought I told you to work from home until further notice,” he says as she locks the door behind her.

“What? I deliver the story of probably the year, and you don’t want to see my face anymore?”

"Don’t. I’ve had a long day” he huffs, pulling the blinds down. His office looks less cluttered than she remembers. Has it been that long since she clocked in? “You know there’s a reason why I asked you to lay low for a while.”

She drops her body on one of the chairs in front of his desk and grabs a heavy, fancy pen.

“Did you see? Lee Chungjae is living his best life in France pretending to care about free education. He’s out there taking pics with Rihanna.”

Her boss leans over, snatches the pen from her hands, and points it at her like a sword.

“And? What do you expect? That they lock him up as soon as the story comes out? We do our thing, the rest is up to the world. We’re a newspaper, not the league of justice.”

Earlier today she told Haneul something similar, just to calm him down. Now she knows how he felt.

“It’s been a week already.”

“No, it’s barely been a week” he corrects her, moving a storage box under his desk and stretching his waist like he just can’t wait for retirement. “You know how this is, Jiah.”

Yeah, she knows. Shitty. Working your ass off, dealing with red tape and censorship, putting everything on a plate only for the world to move on, people not give a shit, and those who are supposed to do something turn a blind eye and fill their pockets.

“Why is your stuff inside a box?" Even the fake Basquiat is missing, so she knows it's serious. "Are you quitting?”

“I’m moving to a new office,” he says, pausing before adding "Jongsuk quit today.”

The news hits her like an ice bucket.

“He turned in his resignation letter earlier."

"Fuck." she breathes. "Oh. Fuck."

"Talk about freedom of the press, huh?” he laughs bitterly, tapping his temple, shaking his head, his eyes turning red.

In terms of bad news, this is the kind that makes you very aware of the last meal you had.

The Chronicle’s had the same chief editor for nearly twelve years. It’s one of the country’s most respected newspapers, and Jung Jongsuk was a big part of the reason why. The idea of someone with enough power moving the right strings to get the man, the myth, the fucking legend fired just as means of revenge sets a chill down her spine.

It’s a petty but very clear act of revenge. A shame, considering he was damn good at his job and how much he cared about his staff.

She sucks on her teeth “What’s he gonna do?”

“No idea. He showed up earlier today and left as soon as he gave a speech. They want me to step in immediately. Can you believe it?”

She's out of words. Half wanting to congratulate him despite the sad circumstances of his promotion, half wondering what that means for her. He suddenly squints.

“You look terrible. Finals?”

“Done, I’m a free woman”

She's can't stop thinking about Chief Editor Jongsuk, how he was always like the cool stepdad that didn’t have to be too nice or too mean to get your respect, how he gave her a chance when she was just a freshman.

“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep or, I don’t know... drinking your face off with your friends?”

Her hand slips inside her backpack. “Well, if you'd answered my calls, I would be doing one of those.”

She puts a small, puny handgun on the desk, and slides it in his direction.

“Are you—” he locks the door before lowering his voice to a hiss “Have you lost your mind? How did you get through security?”

“You said we need to be careful and this is what being careful looks like, take it.” she says, sliding it closer to him. It barely brushes the side of his keyboard.

“Are you crazy? Do not— ” he opens a drawer and pushes it inside like it burns to the touch, slamming it shut and leaning his body away, pressing one hand to his forehead. “Jiah, this is illegal”

“I’m the best investigative journalist you have, flirting with the illegal here and there is one of the many reasons why.” 

“This isn’t flirting with the illegal, for god's sake, this is raw dogging it, Jiah. This is an office. We’re a–”

“Im Haneul is about to get into witness protection, that’s why I’m giving you something to protect yourself with. Thank you, Jiah. You’re welcome, boss.”

He bites his lip, looking at the drawer with resentment before setting his eyes on her, dead serious.

“Is there something you’re not telling me? Did something happen?”

“It’s always better to be prepared. You know what they say about peace and quiet.”

“I don’t,” he deadpans “Is that some kind of gang lingo?”

She frowns. “Just what has Minho been telling you? I should pay him a little visit—”

“You’re not going anywhere near my staff.”

“Your staff? I’m your staff. He’s a sports reporter, you can walk into a bar anywhere in Itaewon and find a dozen replacements.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, not denying it. “Did. Something. Happen.”

“I heard something. From a good source.”

“A good source.”

“Yeah, sometimes those are what we call confidential. So—” he fixes her with a look that makes her fear that his eyeballs will pop out of their sockets. “Fine, it was Kim Namjoon.”

He blinks at her. Throws his hands in the air and plops down on his seat.

“That's hilarious. If this doesn’t work for you, you can always pursue comedy. Now get the hell out of my office, I have to move my stuff to the other side of the floor.”

She stands up stretching her arms, giving him a once over and opening her mouth. He lifts a hand.

“I don't want to hear it. Go take a bath, get drunk, do drugs, get laid. You’re an undergrad student, not Chelsea Manning. Live a little.”

“Actually, I prefer Lisbeth Salander."

"Get out."

081222 - 06:55 pm

Something about the bleach fumes welcoming the moment she enters Lady’s Room is just– homely, and Wendy's threatening glare makes up for the stern mother figure she didn’t have growing up. 

“Don’t even think about it, boots off.”

She toes off her muddy boots, struggling not to spill anything on the heavy takeout bags, making her way to the back.

“How come he gets to keep them on?”

Taemin looks insane with a black cape covering his body and his hair all foiled up, Seulgi's hovering over him with the cutest concentrated frown. He wiggles is feet at her.

“Clean shoes privilege. Plus, I'm way cuter than you.”

She snaps a picture of him for future use while he's distracted explaining how he read somewhere that hair takes bleach better when you're stress-free, and that the end of his last semester is just the perfect moment.

“And of course you believed that, because it makes total sense”

“No, it’s true,” Seulgi says. “It’s also better when you’re in a good mood. That’s why I don’t like to take people fresh out of a bad breakup, the chemicals get all messed up.”

“Oh, he doesn’t need to worry about that,” she says off-handedly.

Taemin doesn’t like her tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Wendy answers before she can, flipping through receipts on the reception area. “It means that you need a relationship to go through a breakup. That’s usually how it works”

“I'll have you know that I have secondhand PTSD from you guys. I’m like one ride home with an angry couple away from giving up on monogamy.” 

“So, blue?”

“Silver.” He shows her a picture of a male idol with gray hair, wet styled. He's worried that if he goes too light it'll wash out his complexion.

She inspects his face in the floor to ceiling mirror “Nonsense, you’d look good in anything, buttercup.”

He smiles, always a slut for some validation. "You're coming to Sana’s party, right?”

She groans, plopping down on the chair next to him.

“Jiah, come on, it’s the last party of the semester. The last party before I graduate.”

She’s not swayed by his abuse of the last something before I graduate card. “I’m out of social battery, I'll kill the vibe.”

“We’ll pregame at my place and you’ll be good to go.”

“I can’t be bothered to go home and get changed.”

“Oh! You left the strappy shirt, you know? the one you didn’t know you were wearing backwards, and that leather skirt at my place, I threw them in the washing machine just for an occasion like this.”

“I’m seriously not feeling the vibe today.”

“Who cares, you attract people when you’re sulking.” he shrugs “Plus that’s the skirt you were wearing when you pulled that Romanian guy. We get free bottles every time you have your leg meat out.”

Seulgi slaps the side of his neck with her glove-covered hand. “Don’t pimp her out.”

“And this is why I suggested a ladies-only policy.”

“Interesting that you assume you fall in that category, but go on.” Taemin says, Jiah gasps in fabricated indignation. “And isn’t that reverse sexism?”

“It’s not like men are rushing to get in.”

Irene emerges from the office, walking past them with her all work and no fucking around face on, all her focus taken by her tablet.

“Oh, actually, we had a guy customer a few days ago and he was very happy with our services,” Seulgi says. Taemin and Jiah let out synchronized snorts.

Irene looks at them, going through the pile of papers Wendy handed her. “Grow up, you two."

Seulgi catches on, making a noise of disgust.

“So what did he want? A massage?”

Irene flips a page, scanning its contents. The warning is sharper this time. “Taemin.”

“He wanted a full-on transformation, so we went with silver,” Seulgi says, ignoring the quip, poking at his bleach covered hair with the pointy edge of her brush “It looked pretty good on him. It suited his personality.”

Taemin coos "Is that a crush I smell?"

Seulgi shrugs. "I'm just saying he fit the look, he was easy to talk to. Funny too. Asked a lot of questions about the salon, said a childhood friend of his co-owns one.”

"Huh, sounds boring to me." Taemin shrugs, not impressed. Seulgi and Jiah share a knowing look. He's platonically possessive to a fault, and being the only guy in their group only makes it worse.

Jiah smirks, spinning on the chair. "Sounds like your replacement to me."

He sticks his tongue at her “I was going to introduce you to someone tonight, traitor.”

Irene and Wendy sigh in relief, finally finding whatever it was they were looking for, high five-ing.

“I’m heartbroken.” She yawns. “I wasn’t planning on going anyway”

“You should go.“ Irene says, coming to stand behind her chair, playing with her hair. "You sure need it."

“What is it with people treating me like I’m some boring bitch lately?”

“Have you considered that you’ve been a boring bitch lately? We barely see you, you were supposed to help us look for a new place” Wendy complains, plopping on the other chair next to Taemin’s, spinning. "And you missed the anniversary party"

Nothing for her to do but take the shots. Seulgi steps in for her, an angel.

"Cut her some slack, she brought food. You know that’s sorry in her language."

"Alright, yeah.” Wendy agrees way too easily "And for the record, there's nothing wrong with being boring, Yeri can always use a boring figure in her life"

“I’m not going to a party to be on Yeri Sitting Duty.”

Taemin squints at her, walking to the washing station under Seulgi's orders, cape swooshing dramatically behind him. “But you’re coming, right?”

To be fair, she does feel bad about ghosting them for weeks.

“I swear to god, you better not ditch me for one of your Instagram famous friends."

He doesn't get a chance to reply, his calls for help fill the salon and Seulgi giggles like a sweet summer child discovering the joys of waterboarding. Irene's pleased to the point of pulling her phone out to record the scene, chortling.

081222 - 11:25 pm

One would assume that the only child of the owner of a massive Japanese architecture firm, who also happens to own several clubs in the city, can afford to throw a party with decent alcohol.

Her annoyance should be directed at Taemin for talking her into coming and proceeding to do exactly what she asked him not to.

He’s nowhere to be seen, and Party Yeri is at her peak, hands thrown in the air, dancing between a bunch of freshman girls with their phones out, the red light beams bouncing off her glittery top. 

“Not a dancer, or just not in the mood?” a voice interrupts.

She felt his presence before he approached her table. Some people are just hard to ignore, and with his simple silky shirt with a few buttons undone, pushed-back hair, and a flirty strand hanging on his forehead, he has a crowd of curious women and men alike following him with hungry eyes everywhere he goes.

“The second one.”

He smiles just like someone who's used to seeing others react to his looks.

Her first impression of him was jealousy for having better lips than her. She was too busy listening to Mina talk about her internship in Spain to pay too much attention to Taemin introducing the guy. Sitting at levels of handsomeness that don't require a personality, the man bored her without uttering a word.

But he's not hard to look at.

“So, how come we haven’t met before?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. Taemin says your presence is an exclusive experience." she sips her drink, he thinks it's funny. "Jiah, right?”

“And you’re Jongin, one of the dancing friends.” 

A guy approaches Yeri’s group, disgustingly scanning each girl like he’s trying to figure out who has the lowest standards. 

“Not a big fan of us?”

She considers her answer, watching the girls shrug him off before he can get too comfortable.

“I've learned to coexist with you people. It comes with the Taemin package.”

His little laugh is surprisingly childish for his masculine looks. The way he keeps looking at her face like he can't spare any bit of attention to their surroundings makes her feel like a bug under a microscope lens.

“Here's my theory, I think he might’ve been keeping you to himself for a bit there. But I’ve heard so many things about you that I kind of feel like I know you already."

Jiah doesn't know what to say to that, but holds his warm gaze and indulges in the view for a bit. Caramel skin, glowy under the strobe lights, painted red like a forbidden object of desire, or a character of a Japanese movie, waiting for his lover at a love hotel.

Handsome indeed. Nice jaw, soft nose, slightly arched eyebrows. 

“Good things, I hope.”

“Interesting things.” He says with a crooked grin. She cocks an eyebrow, but he beats her to it. “So, journalism. What’s that like?”

She gives him the generic answer she keeps for occasions like this; lots of reading, being on the phone, doing more with less. No one is ever satisfied. Neither the readers nor the editors nor yourself.

Ok. So maybe she assumed a lot of things. He's surprisingly great company, really easy to talk to. He owns a dance studio and teaches from time to time. Some of his students have made it to entertainment companies, and he tries not to seem cocky, but it's clear he's extremely proud of them. He’s very nonchalant about covering various styles, though he’s more interested in R&B these days. 

“Your day-to-day sounds like a lot of sitting behind a desk,” he comments. Being someone that works with his body, the idea must haunt him.

“Oh, god, no– I always feel like I’ll throw myself from the window if I spend too much time at the office. I’m on the investigation team, so I’m almost always out on the streets, harassing bureaucrats and stuff.” 

“That sounds... fun.”

“Riveting,” she promises. “It’s not bad, really. You go through the boring stuff and then when you get a good story, you remember why you do it, and… it’s a good feeling.”

“You know, usually when someone mentions journalism I think of people with thinning hair and marriage issues.” 

“Are you calling me old?”

“No. I was trying to say that you just took down a stereotype for me.” he pauses, pouting and looking up like he’s considering something “But you do give off an old soul vibe, sitting on your own, sulking like you’re here against your own will, ready to decimate anyone who dares come near you.”

She blinks at him, he’s holding back a smile, she can tell. Waiting for her reaction.

“Wow, so you’re just gonna call me a hag like that?”

He looks mildly surprised, worried, and amused all at the same time. “That’s not–”

“And if I look that scary, how come you’re here at my table?”

“Because you’re very attractive. It balances out the scary.”

She hums into her glass.

“And I’m very charming, I knew you’d be harmless.”

“Right.” He’s not entirely wrong. She’s always suspicious of extremely charming people, and the alarms are going off in her head.

“This is me hitting on you, off the record.” he continues, undeterred. She snorts. "And I say that because, as I’m sure you know, Taemin is possessive.”

She lifts and shakes a finger like an aunt at church when the pastor hits a mark. “Like a kid who doesn’t share his toys.”

Which reminds her, where’s that silver-haired menace?

“We’ll just have to ease him into it.”

“Uh-huh. This is flattering and all, I guess, but I’m married so–”

“Oh, that’s fine. I don’t get jealous” he shrugs, very serious about it. Which is unexpected, no one has ever reacted to the I'm married line like that. “I’m not gonna try to compete with your career.”

She's speechless, but in a good way, laughing at the audacity and shaking her head.

But then, just for a moment, he disappears.

There’s a quick, almost untraceable absence, even his smile falters.

Then he snaps back.

“Hey, you wanna get out for a bit? Get some fresh air? Looks like your friend’s gonna be busy for a while.”

Yeri was off her radar for a bit there, and now she’s got her arm threaded with the birthday girl herself. They’re moving away from the crowd, talking into each other's ears like they haven’t debriefed in months, probably headed to the bathroom.

Now that he mentions it, fresh air sounds nice. 

“Promise I’m all out of lines,” he adds.

It’s humid out on the street, but less stuffy and noisy. She pulls out a brand new pack of cigarettes and they get fire from a girl hanging around with her friends next to a motorcycle. Her kohl-stained eyes scan Jongin greedily while he leans over, hands cupping the flame.

She suddenly turns to look at her, right when Jongin leans back and thanks her, and winks.

If Jongin notices, he’s unbothered, much more concerned with moving around her to stand on the side of the street, wordlessly making them switch spots. The gentleman move is soon eclipsed by a sudden coughing fit.

It's so bad she feels kind of horrible about finding it amusing. He really just fucked up his smooth streak after one drag.

She offers to grab him a drink, but he shakes his head, grabbing her arm before she walks away. He swallows hard one, two, or three times, wiping the corners of his eyes.

"You good?"

"No." he rasps. “These are the kind that my grandfather used to smoke.”

“You could’ve said no.” she counters, patting his back. They’re strong, she didn’t warn him because she showed him the package.

“I was a victim of peer pressure.” he jokes after clearing his throat. “I was doing well, wasn’t I?”

“It’s ok. Choking on smoke like a high schooler makes you human.” she offers him as consolation. The coughing fit messed up his hair. he looks younger now, less of a threat. Maybe it’s just the fresh air, the relief of getting out of the crowd, and the nicotine easing her up. 

He asks if she smokes often, sounding like he doesn’t want to intrude, but a part of him will judge her if she says yes. Truthfully, she hasn’t in months, but it always hits a spot after a while, and people assume she’s too into it. 

“Work's stressing you out?”

“That’s what work is supposed to do, isn’t it?” 

He winces.

“Not to a level where you have to smoke like a war general.”

She grins at him sideways, the man who introduced her to this particular brand would have a few things to say about that sentence.

“I can deal with the stress, I only smoke when I get frustrated.”

“And does that happen often?”

“I don’t know? I guess. My boss says I’m too much of a control freak. He's a jerk, but sometimes it feels like he knows me better than I know myself.”

“Not great at teamwork, then?” he probes.

“No, I mean-- I’m not, but it’s not that.” she pauses. He’s waiting for her to elaborate. “I just wish I could do more sometimes, and not just document things from the sidelines. Does that make sense?”

“It absolutely does.” he assures. “I think I know what you mean.”

“I tried it, recently” she goes on, and she doesn’t know why she’s opening up to this guy. She’s not trying to turn him into her therapist, and she’s not even sure she wants to take him home at all. There’s too much going on in her mind at the moment, she wouldn’t be fully present anyway. It'd be a waste.

“And how did that go?”

“It was alright at the beginning. I've been helping someone– a friend who was gonna do something he'd regret. Actually, I'm not sure we're actually friends, but he's a great guy in a shitty situation.” she rambles, taking one last drag. “But then things went south in the worst way possible. It didn't even have anything to do with him, just personal baggage and terrible timing. I guess I had it coming.” 

He nods, deep in thought, letting a comfortable silence fall between them, just watching people walk past, going in and out of the club. She presses the butt against the sole of her boots, and tosses it in the trash.

“If it’s any help, I’m sure your friend is grateful. You did well helping him.” he says, and she remembers Yixing saying something similar. “And whatever happened, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

She shrugs. “It is what it is, right? Onwards and upwards.” 

He grins, pointing a finger at her. "That’s totally something my father would say.”

“So you ran out of lines and now you’re back to calling me old?”

“I only said that because I didn’t want to come off too strong, but if you insist.” He’s back on charming again, hands in the air like she’s just giving him no choice. The switch between kind to charming gives her whiplash.

A waste, really. A month ago she might’ve taken him home, let him make her coffee in the morning.

“I’m not insisting, I just asked you a question.”

He waves her off. “Bet you 5000 won I can kiss you without using my lips.”

It’s stupid. But he looks like the epitome of determination. Kohl girl behind him keeps looking at them over her shoulder, and without the meaningless rumble of the crowd to distract her, his voice turns out to be quite lovely.

So she tilts her chin at him, giving him the green light.

He takes two purposeful steps. She calls his bluff, refusing to back up against the wall. He gets close enough that he has to bend his head down to keep eye contact, and in a surprisingly smooth move, he places a short, harmless peck right on her lips. 

Then he backs up with a single step and pulls out a bill from his pocket.

“A great investment if you ask me.” he says.

She laughs despite herself. Not in the coy, flirted up way, but a full, honest, belly laugh.

The silver-haired menace himself emerges from the shadows with a cowboy hat on his head, thumbs hooked on his jeans. He’s glaring, a scowl on his lipstick-stained lips, focusing on the way Jiah bends over, hand on her tummy and all.

“What are you doing with my best friend? I’m asking both of you, by the way.” he demands.

“Where did you get that?” she asks him, fully recovered, flicking the hat.

Taemin grabs the bill from Jongin’s hand before he can put it away. Jongin raises his eyebrows at him, anticipating complaints for his actions, daring him even.

“Not that I don’t respect the hustle, but I think you’re underselling yourself, sweetie." he says, turning to Jongin like a parental figure setting limits. "A peck from our Jiah is easily worth 10000 won. Pay up.”

“Deal,” Jongin shrugs, reaching for his back pocket again, pulling out several bills, winking at her. "How many can I get for--"

“Alright, we get it, she gets it,” Taemin interrupts, putting an arm around his shoulders, and rubbing his chest distractedly. “I thought you were on Yeri Sitting Duty tonight.”

Jiah licks her thumb and wipes the lipstick marks on his jaw, much to Jongin's endless amusement

“She’s a big girl. You got some on your teeth, you harlot."

"Finally. I keep telling you girls, you baby her too much" he complains, licking his front teeth. "Someday you'll have to set her free, let her make some mistakes of her own. They build character, you know?"

"How wise of you." Jongin says. "Was that the logic behind this new look?"

"Some mistakes don't." Taemin continues, looking at her with crazy eyes, pointing at Jongin. "Some mistakes make your best friend uncomfortable and are off limits."

Jiah and Jongin look at each other. "You introduced us."

"Yes, and? I never said get chummy and explore each other's bodies, did I?"

“Nice tattoo, by the way.” She tells Jongin. She caught a glimpse when he got closer and thought it looked familiar. Then Taemin unknowingly moved the fabric on his chest out of the way and she got confirmation. “It’s the helm of awe, isn't it?”

Jongin mouth falls open, genuine shock taking over his features. Not many people know about runes or recognize them. Taemin tilts his head to the side, eyeing her curiously, suspiciously.

“How do you know that? I thought it was a snowflake.”

“I knew a girl who had one on the back of her neck. Hers was red though. Looked great when she put her hair up.”

Taemin releases Jongin from his clutches with an unconvinced hmph, taking off his hat and putting it on her head. Jongin quietly fixes his shirt.

"Oh. Oh. I think I saw Minho inside. You wanna piss him off?"

Well, that’s great. That’s just great. Super cool.

Jongin takes a look at her face and blurts out the question. "Who's that?"

"Her ex. She broke his heart, he started rumors that she's with the Yakuza." Jongin blinks in surprise, and Taemin looks like he wants to elaborate further. She stops him.

“What’s that grown man doing here?”

“You know he likes to hang around the youngsters and make people guess his age. So, you in?”

“Leave me out of it.” 

"Hear me out. I was thinking you and Jongin could walk around, right? Let him see you together, put on a little show. You know how his ears get red and his eyes bulge out when he's angry?” he's trying to contain his laugh, looking maniac. “I’ll buy you dinner, both of you. I’m serious.”

That’s her cue for a bathroom break. She puts the cowboy hat on Jongin’s head, not deterred by the way his eyes follow her on her way inside.

A sigh escapes her lips as the cold water runs over her hands. She smiles at a group of girls walking out of the door, their giggles reminding her of the task at hand—finding Yeri and making sure she's not too drunk to make semi-rational decisions.

Maybe she’ll try to talk her into ditching this place. Yixing's uncle's spot is not too far from here.

The possibility of running into her ex kind of makes her want to bolt. Not out of lingering feelings, she just doesn’t have the energy for that interaction. He has a way with sucking the like out of her.

There's only so much she can take of things beyond her control.

The bathroom door clicks. Something shifts in the air. The unsettling feeling of realizing she's not alone. She glances up at the mirror and catches a glimpse of him in the reflection.

Reacting on instinct, her hand snatches the decorative vase from the sink and hurls it at him. The man covers his face, not before grabbing her forearm and slamming her against the sink.

She puts her palms up to avoid hitting the mirror face first. It happens at once, suddenly he's grabbing her bag, and the next second the chain strap is pulling around her neck.

Her body bends back. His knee's pressed against her lower back. Either she’ll pass out or he’ll snap her in half.

She's not about to go down in a public bathroom. She pushes her shaky fingers under the chain, attempting to relieve some of the pressure.

Her vision' blurring, she's running out of oxygen and ideas. Tears well up. The muffled music starts fading.

There's a distant slam, a loud thump.

And thank fuck, release.

She catches her weight on the sink, gasps for air, almost crashes against the mirror again. She turns on wobbly legs and faces two bodies intertwined and struggling on the floor.

Her attacker’s dressed in all black, mask included, buzzcut, well built. The second man has his thighs wrapped around his head, snarling as he keeps him overpowered. A blue-grey silk shirt clings to his broad shoulders, thin black lines mark the skin on his chest.

The helm of awe.

He knocks the guy out with his thighs which... ok, impressive. With heaving breaths, his eyes land on her.

She runs. He grabs her arm before she can get through the door, and bends over when her knee finds his crotch.

Slamming the door behind her, she slaps her hands against the wall for support, still a bit dizzy, heart racing.

"Wait! Rina– please wait–"

Everything shuts down—her legs, the party, the whole city stops. She drops the plans of putting as much distance as possible between them, turns around and stomps in his direction.

Four letters, one word, a slap to the face.

“What did you just call me?” she demands, her face inches away from his. She doesn't recognize her own voice. He's pawing at his neck, pulling a chain for her to see, like that's gonna do something. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I know them. I know Yixing. You’re in danger, I’m here to help you." he sounds pained, trying to calm her down. She has no sympathy for him.

Hanging from the chain, a silver band morphs into two bony hands that hold a mint-colored ball. A ring, worn as a necklace. She recognizes it at once. She won that ring at some fair in Busan. Someone at school started a rumor that she joined the occult. Kyungsoo's mother thought she was a bad influence.

“We have to get you out of here. He has back up, they'll come soon."

Jiah exhales, relaxes her limbs. He mirrors the gesture, letting out a breath of relief.

Then she runs like her life depends on it. And it just might. She bumps into people, pushes them aside, desperately looking for an emergency exit she vaguely remembers from past situations that shouldn't be crossing her mind right now.

They come in handy, successfully leading her to the deserted alley.

But god, whatever version of it is out there, is just not letting her get away so easily. 

The years have granted him an extra couple of inches, not that he ever needed them. Maybe it's just the thick soles of his boots that scrape against the loose gravel. He stops, mirroring her shock for a fleeting second.

She grabs the closest thing available; a rusty, long, and thin metal thing that's heavy enough to give her some confidence. He’s staring at her, no traces left of the awe she saw before.

He's pointing a gun at her face.

"Drop it" he barks "Hands up, turn around and try not to be so damn difficult. In that order."

Frustrated, she snarls at herself, her jaw tightening until it hurts before throwing the stick to the ground. She turns around, facing the mold-infested wall. The last thing she sees is a torn-off poster of an underground rap collective.

His forearm presses to the back of her neck with no mercy. He searches for a weapon she's not carrying.

"That's for being so fucking stupid. Do you realize what you got yourself into?" he snaps, not giving her a chance to answer before he pulls her back by the back of her shirt and pushes her against the wall again.

"Ow– What the fuck, dude?" the rough, disgusting surface of the wall scratches the side of her face. She kicks her feet against the ground. "I wasn’t even– what the fuck was that for?"

"That's for making my mom worry about you, idiot."   

He finally lets her go, and she moves away from him, curses spilling from her mouth.

The exit door opens revealing Jongin—the impostor.

"What are you doing? We need to--"

They guards go up abruptly before her eyes. He raises his gun at her once again, this time with clear intent.

It'd be ugly, she imagines, being shot this up close. Her brains will end up on the floor, his clothes, maybe even his face. The Park Chanyeol she knew was an asshole most of the time, but he didn't have it in him to step on an ant or kill a spider even if his mother ordered him to, let alone shoot someone.

The inevitable fact is that they are strangers. She doesn't know who the time has turned him into, just like she’s no longer someone that he knows.

"Go ahead, big guy," she lifts her chin, rolls her shoulders. He’s looking at her like she's made of cellophane.

Someone takes the ground from under her. The ground is inevitable. Someone grabs her. Her shoulder feels wet, and her hands look for the source. When she looks down it, it’s stained red.

Did he just–

It can’t be. It doesn't hurt. It should hurt.

It all happens too quickly. There's a hissing sound. The impostor grips her tightly and says something.

Was her heartbeat always this loud? And did she really just get shot?

"Eyes open," The impostor orders. There's no escape with the world narrowed down to two walls. They’re closing in.

He keeps talking, telling her that it’s alright. Her heartbeat is drumming inside her head. It’s now supposed to do that, she shouldn’t feel this cold in August. A chill settles in her bones like she’s been running barefoot through deep snow in the woods, wearing nothing but a flimsy hospital gown.

Okay. Maybe she did get shot. And now they’re taking her away. But she can’t go down like this. Irene... the girls will wonder where she is, Yeri’s gonna burn the place down looking for her, Taemin’s too sensitive to deal with something like this, and Chanyeol–

He shot her.

And they keep calling her the wrong name.

"Rina, you have to...” 

thump 

“...be there...” 

thump 

“...right? C’mon...”

thump.

"Rina."

And then they kill the lights.

[aesthetic-empathies]

Gao Hang, In your face, 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 40 x 30 in. (101 x 76 cm).

Gao Hang’s Boxer Suspended in Time

In a boxing ring without a ring, you are a pugilist embroiled in a match. No, literally, and you have been for the past three years. At least, in your current state, painted by Gao Hang, on display in the Anya Tish Gallery in Houston, Texas. It is crucial to note that this painting only shows part of you: your pencil-straight arm is the only marker of your presence. Where is the rest of you? Possibly floating in a limbo state between levels of media. Your opponent may take up a greater portion of the canvas, but you know Hang has selected you as his star athlete (can you call him ‘coach’?). It is your eyes, through which spectators enter the ring. You provide the embodiment for their aesthetic experience. Yet despite this supposed privilege, you can’t help but suspect a veiled exploitation. 

The scene is restricted and liberated. All of you are restricted by the limitations of late 20th-century video game graphics. Polygonal volumes trace the borders of perceptible bodies. Yet the contents of your shapes reveal a freedom of hues. You observe your opponent. His pained expression is obscured by a damp cloud, whose humidity wettened the paint and allowed it to smear. Colors are freed from their pixel cages and settle into a soft blend, overlaid by a grainy texture. The blurred gradient volumes are separated by razor-sharp lines, preventing the grime-tinted audience members from blending into one another. Stark against the rest of the canvas, is your fluorescent boxing glove, its flatness beautifully realized by acrylic paint.

Your hand has clipped - or is clipping -  through his angularly bald head, a high-speed collision glitch. You are not sure which tense to use; the ephemerality of this event has stretched beyond the sensible (or the comfortable). When it happened, pride surged through you: your movement speed beat the virtual medium’s frame rate. But this sense of accomplishment soon turned into an indeterminacy. Because of this error, you are temporarily rendered hollow. An awful state of being that makes you question your power.

On the stands in front of you, the expressive figures generate a cacophonous medley of cheers and heckles, but behind you, the spectators are much more reserved. While you are stuck in a snapshot, you can rear your head to view the audience behind you. The room does not even have any seats, it’s just an empty cube enclosed by white walls. Does the gallery owner also gamble their funds away like the brutes that bet on you? On your side, the spectators seem contemplative. Initially, you had considered their reactions positively surprising for a rowdy match like this, almost like they bestowed you with dignity. But after years of being static, you began to discern a vileness in their observation. A condescension. 

You are a doubly-mediated spectacle. In your world, you are a fighter, a performer, whose physical strength is commodified. Bets are placed on your brawn and grit. The stimulating appeal of this fight resulted in its simulation in the form of digital play, allowing anyone access to your body. In the spectators’ world, a fault in your medium is the mainspring of your display, their reactions typified by amusement. In all of these cases, your suffering serves as the main force of attraction. And attract you do. Spectators huddle around you, clogging the cramped hallways of your exhibition space. This coagulation of humans reminds you of the blood that would have splattered, had your body not become hollow.

You have heard critics say you appeal to the sensibilities of the digitally literate generation. Their time is marked by social media and the absence of privacy. As the borders between public and private gradually blur, all that is deemed entertaining must . If the processes of humanization are not to be done through a screen, nothing stops real suffering from becoming entertainment. How does one humanize with what is so far away from them? To some, you represent a nostalgic negotiation of the post-digital condition through familiarity. To others, you are the embodiment of fauxstalgia, created to reflect the current online zeitgeist through the visual language of a digital aesthetic from three decades back. A tasteless anachronism. Critics sure love their words. But, whatever, it probably makes sense to the viewers. And what do you know? You are just a brainless fighter.

Indeterminate and stuck in staticity, you wait for any indication signaling a continuation of the match. It cannot end without a winner, and so, without a winner, it will never end.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Superman Curse

DC Comics began life as Detective Comics. Nowadays, like Marvel Comics, its known for its abundance of Superheroes such as Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. During 1933 two friends, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, combined their imaginations to come up with the Superhero that single-handedly began the entire genre. Five years after selling their idea to Detective Comics, Kal-El, to give him a Kryptonian name, made his debut in Action Comics #1 and went on to not only save the world hundreds of times over, but to dominate it. Quickly becoming an American icon and global phenomenon, Superman spawned an industry that covered everything from television to film franchises to merchandising.

Even before the presses rolled on that first incarnation of the Man of Steel, misfortune was already at play. Both Siegel and Schuster sold more than just the idea to DC Comics; they sold the copyright itself and, for many years afterwards, missed out on all the income that their original concept would create. While the pair did end up with the royalties that they considered that they should have had, it took almost an entire lifetime to accomplish.

What happened to the boys might simply be a case of corporate exploitation and naivety, as they were not the only hopefuls looking to turn an idea into a powerhouse juggernaut of a franchise. They were just among the handful that had the right ideas at the right time.

Since the early days of Superman though, a great many people involved with the legendary superhero have suffered some misfortune or catastrophe. This catalogue of woe simply cannot all be written off as mere coincidence.

George Reeves was one of the first actors to portray Superman in the 1950s television show The Adventures of Superman. He played the title role for 6 years. When he was only 45, Reeves suffered a fatal gunshot wound that was officially ruled as self-inflicted, but many believe that it wasn’t.

Christopher Reeve brought Superman to the big screen in 1978. Eight years after making his final appearance inSuperman 4, George’s namesake was involved in a horse riding accident that left him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

In the same film franchise, Marlon Brando made a cameo as Jor-El. In 1990, Brando’s son was found guilty of the shooting of his half-sister’s boyfriend and sent to prison for a decade. Half way through his sentence, Cheyenne Brando took her own life.

Margot Kidder is best known as Lois Lane. She went missing for several days in April 1996 before being found in a paranoid and delusional state.

Richard Pryor stole the show in Superman 3 in his role as Gus Gorman. Three years after, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Lee Quigley also had a cameo in the first Superman film in 1978. He was the newborn that was sent to Earth amid Krypton’s destruction. Lee was found dead in his mid-teens due to complications with substance abuse.

Muriel Hemingway appeared in the final Superman film in 1987. Muriel’s older sister, Margaux, was found dead from an overdose of sedatives. Muriel has always refuted this conclusion.

Three members of the production crew for Superman Returns were victims of minor accidents. One was assaulted and mugged. Another fell down a flight of stairs and the third smashed into a glass window. Kate Bosworth, Lois Lane in this reboot, blamed her break-up with Orlando Bloom solely on the curse.

Superman 64 was a video-game that was released to poor reviews on the Nintendo 64. Bad graphics and glitched gameplay are among the negative comments. It has been voted as the worst game ever released on the Nintendo 64 system.

Critics of the Superman Curse will inevitably insist that these instances are nothing more than simply a case of bad luck. Other actors that have been involved in Superman productions have managed to avoid becoming another statistic. Dean Cain has had a successful career after playing his version of the 1990s television Superman series Lois & Clark. The same is true of Teri Hatcher, probably even more so. More modern Supermen Tom Welling, Henry Cavill and Brandon Routh have yet to taste any misfortune due to their involvement in Superman. In fact the latter pair dismiss the idea of the curse outright.

Superman has even appeared on Broadway! The star of the 1966 musical It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman! was Bob Holiday. According to Holiday, the notion of a curse is a silly one and says that his experiences have been highly beneficial and ‘nothing but good’. After his stint on Broadway ended, he became a very successful businessman in Florida until his retirement.

[fearsmagazine]

INFINITY POOL - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: NEON | Topic Studios

SYNOPSIS:  James and Em are soaking up the sun, having a perfect vacation at an isolated island resort of pristine beaches and exceptional staff. When they encounter the seductive and mysterious Gabi and her husband they venture outside the fenced in resort grounds and into the local culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. On the ride back to the resort a tragic accident leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you'll be executed, or, if you're rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead. James’ decision opens up a Pandora's box of nightmares and horrors that will fracture his reality.

REVIEW: Brandon Cronenberg’s screenplay for INFINITY POOL has a literary intensity reminiscent of the works of Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, and William Golding. His commanding, mind-blowing visual style demonstrates the influences of, of course, his dad (David Cronenberg), Ken Russell and Nicolas Roeg. This is a ride not taken in ages and reminds one what an adult cinematic experience can be.

I’ve already dropped some literary references in regards to the screenplay. I’ve mentioned many times in the past that a good film based on a published work should leave you with a desire to read that work. This is the first film I’ve seen that left me with a desire to read the screenplay. This is a masterclass in storytelling. He seductively weaves a tale of a character’s epic journey into the dark night of the soul. You can almost hear the creatures of H. G. Wells’ 1896 science fiction novel “The Island of Doctor Moreau” cries echoing across the decades transformed into  Cronenberg’s contemporary characters grappling with the terrors of the human condition. Cronenberg brings horror back to its roots as he lays bear darkness of the human condition, a quest for the nature of the soul, in a darker, graphic, contemporary tale that is a cinematic reimagining, after a fashion, of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” My only wish is that Cronenberg would have offered a more ambiguous ending.

This is an amazing ensemble cast. There is a brilliant depth to these performances that can only be achieved through a unique amount of trust between the director and his cast. These performances breath, expand and contract, impacting on the viewer’s psyche. It is so real, so intense that it stirs emotions like live theater. I must add, there was something about Alexander Skarsgård's performance at the beginning of the film where if you closed your eyes he sounded just like his dad, Stellan. It was creepy.

Cronenberg’s film work is profound. He transcends homage, weaving visual keynotes together into a cinematic symphony that ignites the viewer’s emotions. There are classic visual effects beautifully reimagined with the aid of contemporary technology. He makes the ugly, the horrific beautiful. There is choreography to his framing and editing, enhanced by the cinematography palette. The resort and the police precinct are excellent locations that he manipulates and exploits to the story’s advantage. I loved the way the film’s opening twits images of the resort to clearly set in the viewer’s mind that there is something not right here. He builds with the tools at his disposal what many filmmakers aspire to and what few writers achieve on the page.

INFINITY POOL is a bold, unflinching, stylized and mind-blowing assault on the imagination that is a contemporary masterpiece on the odyssey into the darkness of the human condition. From the page to the screen, it embraces many traditions but undoubtedly sets Brandon Cronenberg's position firmly as a maestro of the cinema, not to forget these arresting performances.. Nothing can prepare you for this cinematic experience that will leave an indelible mark on your psyche.

CAST: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman, Jalil Lespert, Amanda Brugel, John Ralston, Jeffrey Ricketts, Caroline Boulton, and Thomas Kretschmann. CREW: Director/Screenplay - Brandon Cronenberg; Producers - Karen Harnisch, Andrew Cividino, Christina Piovesan, Noah Segal, Rob Cotterill, Anita Juka, Daniel Kresmery, and Jonathan Halperyn; Cinematographer - Karim Hussain; Score - Tim Hecker; Editor - James Vandewater; Production Designer - Zosia Mackenzie; Costume Designer - Mária Popovits-Fatér; Special Makeup & Figurative Effects - Dan Martin; Special Effects Supervisor - Paul Stephenson; Visual Effects - Andy Robinson. OFFICIAL: www.infinitypool.film FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: twitter.com/neonrated TRAILER: https://youtu.be/OzhKA8hBFu8 RELEASE DATE: In theaters January 27th, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[waulite0324]

Digital Signage: Increasing Consumer Purchases and Reducing Marketing Costs

Numbers don’t lie. Studies suggest that 76% of buyers claim to enter a store for the first time ever because of signage. Furthermore, 60% of consumers admit that they bought a product apart from, or instead of what they originally intended to, after seeing its digital signage. Digital signage in retail is thus crucial as content is now consumed through screens all the time, and the dynamic nature of digital LED display screens is more appealing than static signage. Graphics and audiovisuals can make any product or service stand out and encourage more customers to spend on it.

How digital signage can increase purchases

A thorough marketing campaign is the backbone of any product or service. When you play targeted ads on digital displays, not only does it spread the word about your business but also encourages the buyer to opt for it. One of the most obvious benefits is that you can display information and also upcoming offers of your product. But there’s more to it that will help you boost your sales — you can display relevant information such as operating hours, contact details, company social media feeds, and also host customer reviews and testimonials to enhance retail experience. Nothing works like a charm as much as hearing other satisfied customers recommend your product.

Give your product a personality

Buyers are more confident about a product when they see it in action. Interactive digital displays will let the customer see the product from all angles and the different options being offered. Who wouldn’t like to see a range of L’Oreal hair colors or hairstyles to choose from when at a salon? Also, consumers more readily spend their money on entities they can relate to or like. Partnering with a trusted name such as Waulite Digital Signage Company can give you an upper edge as your marketing strategy can tell your customers who you really are. Your ethos and the humane side to the brand can create a connection that will make them prefer buying from your business to your competitors.

Nonstop marketing in less expense

An advantage of digital signage solutions is that it will do the marketing job for you in multiples within a budget. The graphic motion feature allows you to provide more information and updates than a hoarding or print ad can. You can communicate with a single display screen content worth a number of hoardings, automatically reducing your marketing costs. The scope of advertising with the best cloud based software system is expansive. From a massive single screen to multi-screen video walls, kiosks, or shelf-edge, you can reach out to audiences the way you deem it fit. What’s more, the marketing doesn’t need to stop once the customer sets foot inside your establishment. In-store displays can complement the efforts of other channels.

Reduces costs in updating ads

Updating print ads is time-consuming and labour-intensive. Not to mention other logistics that add up to the costs. For small businesses or those with hundreds of locations to cater to, it only becomes more cumbersome to keep track of implementation and outcomes. However, with the best centralised signage software system, multiple outlets can be part of the marketing plan. For instance, you can easily control the content nationwide with Waulypod as it allows for the changes to be made quickly. So, you can exploit high footfalls and tweak the content even during the store’s operational hours. Restaurants or even a chocolate brand such as ITC’s Fabelle, for example, needn’t print a new menu when a dish or a dessert is sold out. They can just switch things up a bit and update the signage to keep the eaters in the loop. Moreover, as customers wait in the queue, they know what they want by the time they reach the counter. This reduces queue times and increases orders, also leaving the customer happier and returning.

No more hard-selling

Customer conversion is what every business is after, and there’s a greater chance of higher ROIs through digital boards. A Harvard Business Review field survey report suggests that shoppers buy products more readily and also return to the store if they are given the comfort of privacy without an executive hovering around. Your team can focus on enhancing your marketing strategy to boost sales rather than hard-selling the product.

Of course, all these are compelling reasons to opt for digital signage in retail or then a basic fact is enough that any product that’s highlighted will be off the shelf more easily than one that’s not.

[littlecarnet]

I just found a bunch of old manga in a yardsale and now I know what I'll be doing this summer. Man, these take me back to my summers as a kid reading in my room, letting my friends borrow them, and us trying our hand at drawing manga ourselves. I remember my friends and I printing copies of our zines in the back of a convenience store, and then taking a bus downtown to the mall to buy lemonade slushes and corn dogs. Then I'd come home to do homework, write penpal letters with milky pens or play on my gameboy while listening to music.

I honestly miss the aesthetic of that era and the 3Ds era. There was something very unpolished about them. I think it's the graphics tbh. Everything was still pixel-ish and chiptuney. I think modern graphics are okay, but they lack the warmth and coziness of pixel art. There's also the other side of that too. The spooky side.

Sometimes I stayed up late playing a game in the dark, then suddenly encounter a glitch. The transition from a familar game to something garbled and warped would unnerve me. At the time, I knew nothing about what caused glitches, so the experience almost felt supernatural. Top it off, this was when Youtube was just starting. Before creepypastas or anything like that. When the only way you heard about gaming exploits or glitches was at school or in magazines.

I remember one time, one afternoon, during the monsoon season when I couldnt go anywhere, I tried the Mew glitch from a friend's explaination, but somehow messed it up. What resulted was the screen inverting its colors and this weird red veritical line appeared on the screen with a jumble of characters on one side. It looked like something peeking out from behind a door, looking directly at me. Not the character, but ME. This freaked me out so much I put my Gameboy in my closet and refused to touch it for a few days. I told my friend about it, and she said I probably saw a Poke-god or devil.

That was a thing back then BTW, there's whole videos about it, it's wild how kids' imaginations can be. Lol sadly I've never been able to recreate that glitch I saw. It no longer creeps me out, now that I know what glitches are, but it still intrigues me. I learned later I'd come to appreciate Meta Horror. Things breaking the 4th wall. Fiction becoming self-aware and they're either very horrified about it or very angry. Something about it is just really cool.

There's a few games out there that pull that, but I think they're missing a key ingredient. When I encountered that glitch the first time, it came only when I attempted something the game wasn't meant to do. Something creepy happened because I went out of my way to break that 'reality'. Otherwise, it's an entirely normal game. Thats what's missing in those Meta Horror games. They should be just ordinary games right up til the player decides to break it. Out of bounds stuff is creepy for the same reason.

Kinda wish there were games that took that approach. I'd love to play them, especially in the right kind of mood or atmosphere like when I was a kid.

[ecsundance]

Slamdance! The Reviews

As I’ve mentioned before, Slamdance occurs at the same time as Sundance and includes filmmakers who didn’t get into Sundance and have created their films with a limited budget and crew. I saw many great ones so read on to find my thoughts!

Darla In Space

We meet Darla, who has a company called Kitty Kasket in which she creates boxes to bury your cat in. Suddenly she finds out that she has over $300,000 worth of taxes to pay off within 30 days. One day she stumbles upon a talking Scoby that she dubs “Mother” and finds out it can give mind blowing orgasms. Darla eventually figures out she can get money for this by exploiting Mother and charging people. She disguises herself as someone famous and begins her journey. She’s been pretty successful for a while, but then her old boss Mr. Pickens shows up and the Scoby ends up absorbing and recreating him. We discover that a company called AD&D is after the Scoby and Darla runs to escape, but she makes a deal with them when she finds out they had taken her mom.

When I stepped into this screening, I had no idea what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a cleverly crafted film and had really great comedic timing despite what the characters were going through. It was unlike anything I have ever seen and all the scene locations were great. There was also a lot of color and I really liked how that brightened the film even though they were doing something fishy. Nothing these characters were dealing with was ever taken seriously and that added to the comedy. Overall I rate a 10/10 and it is my second favorite Slamdance film.

The Bitcoin Car

A Norwegian musical about a brother and sister who lost their parents and a bitcoin mine was built over their graves. The company paid off the town to let them build the mine and the sister used the money to pimp out the car. The brother comes to visit and they begin to discover that the bitcoin mine is up to something nefarious. They team up with two other people to find out what is happening. Animals are dying, plants are dying, and the mayor's daughter is acting sus. Go with these characters through songs that almost sound religious to discover what is happening. 

This movie was so funny and well done. The graphics and scenery were so mind blowing beautiful I do not know how they pulled it off. The songs were amazing and poorly timed in a way that still fit with the theme of the film. The singing was operatic and ominous and had a great performance from all of the characters. It was definitely a film that belongs at Slamdance and I even got an ornament of the bitcoin car which was pretty cool.

The Complex Forms

A black and white Italian film that focuses on these three guys who end up in a villa. In this home they have to do chores such as cleaning and cooking. Their days are bleak, filled with pea soup, wandering aimlessly outside and playing cards. They soon discover that something is awry when these giant creatures decked out in ornamental objects show up. Soon other men start to disappear and the three make a plan to escape. They are unsuccessful and end up trying to figure out another way. Before they can all escape, we lose one of the men to a heart attack. The main character goes to lengths to escape where he knocks out the guy with a car, but before he can, he also dies. When he comes too, the first guy there is holding a knife and we see a creature walking into the distance. The two men uncover what was going on in that villa and race to rescue the third guy. 

I have to say, I did not know what to expect when stepping into any of these films. I kinda just arrived at Slamdance and chose the next showing. This film was literally one of the best films I have ever seen. It is really hard to explain, but the film puts everything together beautifully. The creatures were beautifully animated and you couldn’t even tell.  The soundtrack was amazing as well. I was appalled by how good this film was as the crew consisted of 3 people and that includes the director. He had limited resources and got most of his stuff from eBay. Overall 12/10 film and it is something you really have to see for yourself. 

STEFANIE

[pickceldigital]

Top 12 Benefits of Using Digital Signage For Your Business

Digital signage is a brilliant addition to any business, regardless of the type of business it serves. Traditional print signs have been a pillar of advertising for generations. However, in the last decade, companies are increasingly employing electronic media to up their marketing & advertising outcomes.

The Top Benefits of Digital Signage Over Traditional Signage

Print advertising no longer has the attention-grabbing appeal it once did because of so many distractions. People are tech-savvy these days. They are far more likely to notice a high-resolution digital display than an outmoded and dull static signboard.

Electronic signage can provide far more vibrant colors and motion than other types of advertising. The digital signage industry is predicted to grow to $27.8 billion by 2026, up from $16.3 billion in 2021, according to MarketsandMarkets.

The most adaptable banner in the world is a digital screen. Any business can use digital signage to easily display their products, services, or other material, allowing them to stand out and engage with more customers. One can choose from a single big-format screen to multi-screen video walls, freestanding kiosks, shelf-edge displays, and tablet devices in a variety of sizes and styles to meet your objectives.

The advantages of digital signage are clear on the surface. The technology helps improve the appearance of your workplace, business, hotel, or retail store. It increases brand awareness and helps keep up with the changing landscape of markets.

Signage technology, however, does considerably more than provide a positive first impression.The advantages of digital signage extend beyond improved communication and visitor empowerment to increased revenue and cost savings.

Here are the twelve of the most undeniable advantages of using digital signage for any business.

Irresistible Visual Appeal

The power of digital signage to captivate attention and entertain an audience is one of its most well-known applications. This can help a company in a variety of ways.

1. Stand out in a large pool of advertisements

Imagine yourself as a passerby who comes across hundreds of billboards and advertisement banners each day, showing various product promotions, offers, and everything in between. At one point, people will stop caring. What is the way around that point?

Since people are visual learners with short attention spans, bright screens playing HD or 4K graphics will always have a ten times higher recall rate than a conventional ad poster.

Video content’s potential is exploited in every business nowadays as it immediately commands people’s attentiveness. Companies, big or small, can profit from an incredible variety of dynamic content ideas for digital signage.

2. One medium for all forms of content

Digital signage is, in fact, a one-size-fits-all solution. It lets you show movies, text, photographs, animations, social media, live news, emergency alerts, event listings, and an unending list of media formats.

Following the traditional signage model, businesses are making scattered investments in advertisement designing, printing, logistics & service. On the surface, it looks like they are spending less than those investing in digital signage. But, that is nothing short of a delusion.

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[gch1995]

I think Andy really wanted to say that TWD has been killed as a show because both Robert Kirkman and especially Scott Gimple are lazy hacks who have some sort of bizarre dark action fantasy graphic comic book nerd self-insert obsession with Negan because they can make him a character who gives them all that exploitative shock value on screen that doesn’t take any creative storytelling talent to write. Not to mention, they can make a lot of money for putting him on merchandise at Hot Topic.

I think Andy really wanted to say that no one’s cruel, unfair, and unusual death on Team Family from the OG survivors in the post introduction to Negan/Saviors era of the show, would ever be enough for any of them to do anything to permanently make him go away, so they could punish him for his crimes, and try to move on as peacefully as possible without him constantly invading their fucking lives with no real remorse for all the wrongs he did to both them and so many others because suddenly the message is that the remaining members of Team Family “can see where he is coming from.”

Sure, there are times when the members of Team Family in Rick’s group made morally dubious and ruthless decisions with the lives of others to survive or defend themselves. Rick also had that brief Ricktatorship madness with Lori and the rest of the team in the wake of having to kill Shane to protect them all when he turned on them, but at rhetorical end of the day, that was all just an empty talk of his grief and trauma that he had too much humanity to actually go through with.

However, to pretend like the unprovoked attacks of murder, robbery, terrorization, torture, tyranny, and sexual abuse over innocent bystanders standing in the way of Negan’s sadistic glee in harming, murdering, and torturing them for more control and power is in any way comparable to morally ambiguous choices, mindsets, and murders that Rick, Abraham, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, and the other members of Team Family only committed after being provoked and/or threatened into a corner by these enemies first in a world where stable shelter, financial security, proper, psychiatric care for the mentally ill was difficult to come across, a legal system for due process of criminals no longer existed, and a cure for the walker infection was impossible to create, is ridiculous.

It doesn’t make sense to go with that narrative shift in the theme of sometimes having to punish the living or kill them for protection when they posed themselves as enemies or threats that couldn’t safely be reasoned with or trusted in the post-apocalyptic world after six years of establishing it as a recurring theme in both the comics and show. Not to mention the fact that Kirkman and Gimple made the choice of doing this redemption arc with the most unsympathetically motivated and inherently evil tyrannical one-note villain in the series they created, which made any sort of “redemption” of his feel too unbelievable and jarring. Very few fans are going to be able to ever buy the “redemption” of a character who was introduced in the series brutally and sadistically bashing in the heads of beloved and kindhearted main characters they spent years getting to know in horrifically graphic detail until nothing of their heads is left but a bloody crushed pile of brain matter on top of their corpses. Very few

Yeah, I wish that Andy had been more appreciative of Glenn’s significance to Rick’s survival on the show in that interview, but even before either him or Michonne, if any of the writing on the show had still made sense, Carl was his anchor.

Andrew Lincoln saying if michonne was killed not Glenn then he would’ve killed Negan is so annoying. Rick wouldn’t have met michonne had it not been for Glenn saving his ass. The downplay of Glenn is disrespectful to both the character and Steven Yuen. I can’t wait for Lauren to get off this shit show.

[speculativevampires]

Erotic subjects in Ganja & Hess

Nudity is prelevant in Gunn's film; Meda is naked when he kills himself, there are two extended sex scenes, and the dinner guest appears naked at the end of the film. The nudity is not shocking or attention-seeking: it is treated without a fetishizing eye, allowing the naked Black bodies on the screen to be erotic subjects and not erotic, otherized objects. In her essay on desire in Gunn's films, "Let It All Go Black," Marlo David defines an erotic subject as "a free, autonomous, self-directed, sexual and sensual individual whose presence within a narrative resists the overdetermined portrayal of minoritized and non-normative sexual entities as the Other" (David, 28). When characters are afforded an erotic subjectivity, intimacy is not (porno)graphic, and the sex scenes are liberatory within the imagination of the story, and for the viewer. Gunn's representations of Black sexualities are daringly original and refuse to participate in any patterns of domination or exclusion in sexual representation, especially of Black subjects.

The first erotic scene takes place in Hess's attic. He is wearing blue jeans, his arms stretched like he is Christ on the cross. Ganja joins him, also wearing blue jeans and a white button-down -- there is something easily American about the clothing aesthetic. The scene is mostly quiet and the bodies are lit in such contrast that light and shadows are all you can pay attention to. This scene establishes Ganja and Hess's relationship as lovers to be a very tender, genuine expression of love and togetherness.

The second sex scene takes place after Ganja and Hess invite a man over for dinner. Ganja then takes this "dinner guest" as her sexual partner. Unlike the scene with Hess, heavy guitar and vocal lines cover any dietetic sounds of their encounter. The camera also moves more: we see Ganja holding the man's foot and putting a ring on his toe, we follow her hand as she reaches for his chest and touches his nipple. Soon, the man's back is covered in blood and Ganja is licking the blood off of him. She cries as he lies motionless next to her. Hess watches but says nothing.

Gunn's erotic subjects refuse to be categorized as part of the exploitative economy of sexual representation. Ganja is afforded autonomy and a great deal of power. Her femininity is not defined by a sexual violation in a horror movie with romantic themes -- a great diversion by Gunn from most of the genre. She is made erotically powerful and complex. She is the leader of the sexual interactions in the movie ad is assertive outside of the intimate scenes as well, making her sexuality an integral and recognizable characteristic of her subjectivity, as opposed to her being divided into a Madonna/whore or otherwise manipulated into anything other than a Black feminine erotic subject. There is also sexual freedom represented, as Ganja and Hess invite over another man for dinner and he flirts and has sex with Ganja under Hess's eye.

Nonhuman Black eroticism in this film is a radical and original representation of sexuality and sensuality that is Afrofuturist and speculative in its depth of imagination of the possibility for Black vampiric sexuality and how it can be used to subvert dominant narratives of Black eroticism that serve primarily as an Othering system instead of portraying the possibilities for a liberatory love.

[handweavers]

to be fair, weaving and dyeing and all these things i do aren't super accessible either but i feel the barrier to, say, spin yarn with a drop spindle or use a frame loom aka a picture frame to weave something or naturally dye some yarn using some onion skins in your kitchen is less severe than that of trying to access a 3d printer or laser cutter or the knowledge to operate them or a computer that can run 3d modeling software without blue screening for most people, and environmental impact of working with wool and wood equipment is something that is more manageable than using petrochem plastic resin that will literally never decompose and all of this complex computerized equipment relies on rare metals that are mined in africa and latin america by companies that destroy local communities and the land and cause irreparable damage

this isn't to slam using any of these methods or processes for making things, i've used 3d printers and worked with plastic resins and likely will in the future, i use computers, i'm typing this on my phone, i play video games etc but like that's my point, this stuff is kind of inescapable and it's so entrenched in how many of us esp those of us in the first world function day to day. there is value in the idea of taking the time to disconnect from all of that for a while, in processes that have nothing to do with the hyper-online digital tech world, in alternate ways of making art and finding entertainment and in manufacturing goods, to lessen our consumption if we can, to slow things down if we have the chance to do so, but many people are resistant to that idea or dismiss it as boomer talk or being a luddite or they get overly defensive.

my point is that the current arts industry landscape doesn't value artists who choose to work with materials and processes that provide somewhat of a respite from all of this, it doesn't value traditional craft and it can't bc the way the global economy is structured under capitalism requires making more things constantly and faster and for cheaper, it all relies on forever increasing profit margins. it does not value craft because it does not value labour. and valuing craft, and valuing slow processes and the physical labour involved and thinking about environmental impacts and the lifespan of an object, is fundamentally linked to valuing the labour and lives of the working class, and of the working people of the global south, and the environment.

the same tech companies that exploit and outsource labour to underpaid and slave labour in the global south and exploit blue collar workers in the global north and destroy the environment are funding the arts across the world. so many textile designers and illustrators and graphic designers i know have worked for google and amazon and banks and all of these fast fashion retailers, that's where the money is. these companies all have arts divisions, their money gets invested in arts programming talking about AI and digital economies and they get them to make art about sustainability and diversity and using all of this cool new radical tech theyre making while they simultaneously poison rivers in the amazon and manufacture their clothes in collapsing warehouses in bangladesh and send death squads to terrorize people in central africa. it's all connected, none of this is new, individual solutions to these problems don't exist, etc etc etc and we are all implicated in this whether willfully or not.

but on a micro level i just wish that craft was valued more and there were more opportunities for craftspeople in the arts, that there were more spaces for people who don't have any interest in working with tech or digital art, and traditional craftspeople esp those in the global south have the time and space to labour humanely and that craft labour is valued, that slow work is valued, and not for profit reasons but because it's so fundamental to the human experience and its necessary that we reassess the role of craft and analogue processes if we are to actually address climate change and the impacts of mass manufacturing in its current form on people and the planet. but all of this is a symptom of a greater problem (capitalism, and imperialism which is the highest stage of capitalism), it doesn't exist in a vacuum.