#does it make any logical sense to give the guy who runs an ‘energy’ company cheek piercings?

[rainbowpufflez]

Finding the drawing of Cyrus where I drew him with cheek piercings for the first time is so wild

[bamf-jaskier]

Who the Fuck is Eskel?

If you have ever gone on The Witcher tag on Tumblr, I’m sure you’ve seen dozens of blogs dedicated to this guy named Eskel and for people who have just seen the show you might be wondering - who the fuck is this guy? 

Hi, I’m Aaliyah, and this is Part 5 of my WTF Series - a crash course in subjects from The Witcher Books. 

Post under the cut

Let’s jump in by talking about what books Eskel is in. He’s only mentioned in one line in The Last Wish, The Tower of Swallows and The Time of Contempt. He has a flashback scene in Lady of the Lake and the only book where he plays a heavy role in is Blood of Elves. 

For all you Eskel Stans out there, this is good news, because it looks like S2 of the show is going to be taking some cues from Blood of Elves and we do know Eskel is going to be appearing so these scenes might be showing up in some form or another in the show. 

We first meet Eskel in Blood of Elves when Geralt is first bringing Ciri to the keep:

“Who comes?” Ciri heard a menacing, metallic voice which sounded like a dog’s bark. “Geralt?”

“Yes, Eskel. It’s me.”

“Come in.”

The witcher dismounted, took Ciri from the saddle, stood her on the ground and pressed a bundle into her little hands which she grabbed tightly, only regretting that it was too small for her to hide behind completely.

“Wait here with Eskel,” he said. “I’ll take Roach to the stables.”

“Come into the light, laddie,” growled the man called Eskel. “Don’t lurk in the dark.”

Ciri looked up into his face and barely restrained her frightened scream. He wasn’t human. Although he stood on two legs, although he smelled of sweat and smoke, although he wore ordinary human clothes, he was not human. No human can have a face like that, she thought.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” repeated Eskel.

She didn’t move. In the darkness she heard the clatter of Roach’s horseshoes grow fainter. Something soft and squeaking ran over her foot. She jumped. “Don’t loiter in the dark, or the rats will eat your boots.”

Still clinging to her bundle Ciri moved briskly towards the light. The rats bolted out from beneath her feet with a squeak. Eskel leaned over, took the package from her and pulled back her hood.

“A plague on it,” he muttered. “A girl. That’s all we need.”

She glanced at him, frightened. Eskel was smiling. She saw that he was human after all, that he had an entirely human face, deformed by a long, ugly, semi-circular scar running from the corner of his mouth across the length of his cheek up to the ear.

“Since you’re here, welcome to Kaer Morhen,” he said. “What do they call you?”

“Ciri,” Geralt replied for her, silently emerging from the darkness. Eskel turned around. Suddenly, quickly, wordlessly, the witchers fell into each other’s arms and wound their shoulders around each other tight and hard. For one brief moment.

“Wolf, you’re alive.”

“I am.”

“All right.” Eskel took a torch from its bracket. “Come on. I’m closing the inner gates to stop the heat escaping.”

Couple things here. First, for all the game fans out there, Eskel’s scar in the books is VERY different. It’s not the lightening-like claw marks that go over his eye but instead it goes from the corner of his mouth to his ear. This is interesting because it really parallels in my mind Ciri’s scar she gets later on that extends from under her eye to her ear. 

Also, the little reunion between Geralt and Eskel, so sweet. The line about Eskel in Last Wish establishes that they were close friends so here is the snippet just to give more backstory to the two of them: 

“Once, years ago, when a little snot-faced brat following his studies in Kaer Morhen, the Witchers’ Settlement, he and a friend, Eskel, had captured a huge forest bumblebee and tied it to a jug with a thread. They were in fits of laughter watching the antics of the tied bumblebee, until Vesemir, their tutor, caught them at it and tanned their hides with a leather strap.”

Childhood friends and brothers is just so damn great. Actually, speaking of brothers, it is stated in Blood of Elves that Geralt and Eskel actually look very similar and are often mistaken for brothers such as in this scene from Triss’s POV. 

Eskel stood next to Geralt, resembling the Wolf like a brother apart from the colour of his hair and the long scar which disfigured his cheek. And the youngest of the Kaer Morhen witchers, Lambert, was there with his usual ugly, mocking expression. Vesemir was not there.

“Welcome and come in,” said Eskel. “It is as cold and blustery as if someone has hung themselves. Ciri, where are you off to? The invitation does not apply to you. The sun is still high, even if it is obscured. You can still train.”

“Hey.” The Enchantress tossed her hair. “Politeness comes cheap in Witchers’ Keep now, I see. Ciri was the first to greet me, and brought me to the castle. She ought to keep me company—”

This really interests me because Ciri is very young child when she meets Eskel and she is very terrified of him and intimidated. Which makes sense, she is very traumatized. But, when Triss meets Eskel she only makes a short note of his scar and focuses more on his resemblance to Geralt and commenting on the lack of politeness. It just goes to show how different characters perceive people differently. A child’s perspective of a warrior is not going to be the same as a Mage’s. 

“You didn’t even know.” She nodded in what was now a calm, concerned and gentle reproach. “You’re pathetic guardians. She’s ashamed to tell you because she was taught not to mention such complaints to men. And she’s ashamed of the weakness, the pain and the fact that she is less fit. Has any one of you thought about that? Taken any interest in it? Or tried to guess what might be the matter with her? Maybe her very first bleed happened here, in Kaer Morhen? And she cried to herself at night, unable to find any sympathy, consolation or even understanding from anyone? Has any one of you given it any thought whatsoever?”

“Stop it, Triss,” moaned Geralt quietly. “That’s enough. You’ve achieved what you wanted. And maybe even more.”

“The devil take it,” cursed Coën. “We’ve turned out to be right idiots, there’s no two ways about it, eh, Vesemir, and you—”

“Silence,” growled the old witcher. “Not a word.”

It was Eskel’s behaviour which was most unlikely; he got up, approached the enchantress, bent down low, took her hand and kissed it respectfully. She swiftly withdrew her hand. Not so as to demonstrate her anger and annoyance but to break the pleasant, piercing vibration triggered by the witcher’s touch. Eskel emanated powerfully. More powerfully than Geralt.

“Triss,” he said, rubbing the hideous scar on his cheek with embarrassment, “help us. We ask you. Help us, Triss.”

Now, if you can’t tell, Triss’ favorite is Eskel. This scene is also implies that Eskel is more magically powerful than Geralt which Is very interesting. But Triss is an Eskel stan, in fact a couple lines later Triss thinks to herself: 

Vesemir hawked again. But Eskel, dear Eskel, kept his head and once more behaved as was fitting.

“Of course,” he said casually, smiling. “We understand and clearly we will postpone your exercises until your indisposition has passed. We will also cut the theory short and, if you feel unwell, we will put it aside for the time being, too. If you need any medication or—”

Eskel definitely has the older sibling energy where he ends up in charge sometimes and knows how to keep a cool head. He’s also the most aware of societal norms of behavior which is why Triss likes his so much. She really respects people who know how to move in society. 

There’s also this scene in Blood of Elves where Eskel is drinking and offers Triss some:

“White Seagull.”

“What?”

“A mild remedy,” Eskel smiled, “for pleasant dreams.”

“Damn it! A witcher hallucinogenic? That’s why your eyes shine like that in the evenings!”

“White Seagull is very gentle. It’s Black Seagull that is hallucinogenic.”

“If there’s magic in this liquid I’m not allowed to take it!”

“Exclusively natural ingredients,” Geralt reassured her but he looked, she noticed, disconcerted. He was clearly afraid she would question them about the elixir’s ingredients. “And diluted with a great deal of water. We would not offer you anything that could harm you.”

I think it’s very funny how secret The Witcher keeps all their potions and elixirs. Whether it’s mushrooms or potions, they gotta keep those secret drugs locked down tight. Also the fact that Eskel is the fantasy equivalent of high every night? Love that for him.  

Eskel really is the peace-maker of the group. He’s not a push-over by any means but he is definitely more willing to play along that any of the others. When Triss is talking at night, Eskel is really the only one listening and engaging, even if it’s very half-hearted. 

In the evenings, consistently and determinedly, Triss guided the long conversations held in the dark hall, lit only by the bursts of flames in the great hearth, towards politics. The witchers’ reactions were always the same. Geralt, a hand on his forehead, did not say a word. 

Vesemir nodded, from time to time throwing in comments which amounted to little more than that “in his day” everything had been better, more logical, more honest and healthier. 

Eskel pretended to be polite, and neither smiled nor made eye contact, and even managed, very occasionally, to be interested in some issue or question of little importance. Coën yawned openly and looked at the ceiling, and Lambert did nothing to hide his disdain.

And he is really the only sort-of listener to Triss’ stories and retellings of events: 

This time it was Triss who began to yawn and stare at the ceiling. This time she was the one who remained silent – until Eskel turned to her with a question. A question which she had anticipated.

“And what is it really like in the south, on the Yaruga? Is it worth going there? We wouldn’t like to find ourselves in the middle of any trouble.”

“What do you mean by trouble?”

“Well, you know…” he stammered, “you keep telling us about the possibility of a new war… About constant fighting on the borders, about rebellions in the lands invaded by Nilfgaard. You said they’re saying the Nilfgaardians might cross the Yaruga again—”

“So what?” said Lambert. “They’ve been hitting, killing and striking against each other constantly for hundreds of years. It’s nothing to worry about. I’ve already decided – I’m going to the far South, to Sodden, Mahakam and Angren. It’s well known that monsters abound wherever armies have passed. The most money is always made in places like that.”

“True,” Coën acknowledged. “The neighbourhood grows deserted, only women who can’t fend for themselves remain in the villages… scores of children with no home or care, roaming around… Easy prey attracts monsters.”

“And the lord barons and village elders,” added Eskel, “have their heads full of the war and don’t have the time to defend their subjects. They have to hire us. It’s true. But from what Triss has been telling us all these evenings, it seems the conflict with Nilfgaard is more serious than that, not just some local little war. Is that right, Triss?”

Once more, Eskel is the peace-maker of the conversation and he brings it back around to what Triss originally said and also points to her expertise. Basically, Eskel is not really a fan of verbal conflict. 

This is actually the last line we see Eskel in a scene outside of the flashback in Lady of the Lake. After this, Triss, Geralt and Ciri head off. It is important to note that near the end of Blood of Elves Ciri says this about Yennefer:

The lady magician knew a surprising amount about a witcher’s sword and “dance.” She knew a great deal about the secrets of Kaer Morhen; there was no doubt she had visited the Keep. She knew Vesemir and Eskel. Although not Lambert and Coën.

Yennefer used to visit Kaer Morhen. Ciri guessed why – when they spoke of the Keep – the eyes of the enchantress grew warm, lost their angry gleam and their cold, indifferent, wise depth. If the words had befitted Yennefer’s person, Ciri would have called her dreamy, lost in memories.

So clearly Yennefer is also friendly with Eskel and knows him. I love the idea that Yennefer regularly visited Kaer Morhen before Ciri came into Geralt’s care and I would literally cry if they did a flashback sequence in S2 of Yennefer visiting Geralt in Kaer Morhen. 

The flashback sequence in Lady of the Lake with Eskel goes like this: 

The fire in the huge fireplace went out. A gust of wind from the mountains whistled through the crevices of the walls and screamed through the improperly closed shutters of Kaer Morhen, Home of the Witchers.

“Damn it!” Eskel said, standing up and going to the cupboard. “Seagull or vodka?”

“Vodka,” Geralt and Coen said with one voice.

“Sure,” interjected Vesemir, hidden in the shadows, “Yes, of course! Drown your stupidity in vodka. Damn fools!”

“It was an accident…” muttered Lambert. “She had already mastered the comb…”

“Shut your big mouth, you idiot! I don’t want to hear any more! I warned you, if something happened to that little girl…”

“Enough,” Coen interrupted him, softly. “She sleeps peacefully. Deep and healthy. She will wake up a bit sore, but that’s it. About the trance, and what happened, she will not even remember it.”

“As long as you remember,” said Vesemir, panting angrily. “Cabbage heads! Pour for me too, Eskel.”

They were silent for a long time, listening intently to the howling gale.

“We will need to call someone,” Eskel finally said. “We will need to bring a sorcerer here. What is happening to the girl, it is not normal.”

Eskel is one of The Witcher who really pushes to call Triss in order to help with Ciri’s trances. Also, once again this guy is hitting the drinks. 

So yeah! That’s Eskel in the books. Based on how in the non-canon wedding short Asaps wrote where he ended up having Triss and Eskel get together, I think his hints of them having a connection in the books is very intentional and if The Witcher wasn’t such a god damn tragedy and Triss wasn’t mooning over Geralt, I’m willing to bet they would have gotten together at some point. 

Eskel is the peace-maker of the family and is the best at recognizing the norms of “polite society” (or at least noble society) and while Ciri might have been scared of his appearance, it isn’t enough to phase Triss who is considered rather vain. In fact, she seems to respect Eskel the most out of the Witchers. Just imagine a dark-haired, scarred Geralt and BOOM, you got yourself an Eskel. 

[blvqebird]

With the Venus/ Pluto aspects specifically Trine, that automatically means the person with this in their chart loves HARD and deep but how does one go about moving on??? I have this placement and I struggle a lot knowing it’s toxic but I know when I let go I do completely no turning back. Could you explain the dynamic of obsession and how to detach with this aspect?

How to Let go of Plutonic ties

Pluto is the part of us that we choose to bury not acknowledge. Our unconscious. What fuels our passions, what we deeply want and what we deeply crave but aren’t aware of it. The hidden parts of ourselves. The battery pack of our chart. The energy that sits in the background that controls everything in the foreground. And we’re under the impression that we’re in control when it’s really that shadow side of you that running on all cylinders. Humans are funny like that– we swear that we’re conscious and rational people when that’s not the case at all. We are very much motivated by our unconscious desires and are inherently irrational because we base so much on our fears feelings and instinct regardless of how logical we think we are.

Obsessions are simply an imbalance. An imbalance of our batterypack working overtime. Too much of Pluto’s energy hyper focused in one area. 

Or one Person. 

[Think Spirit bomb hitting Frieza.]

Obsession is hyper-charged desire on overdrive. Now, there’s nothing wrong with obsession. A good amount of it in a relationship I feel is healthy. Who doesn’t want to be the only girl/guy in our partners mind? However, the real problem breeds when this hyper-charged desire turns into hyper-charged fantasies that we pin on another. This results in the obsession [unconscious] taking control of the rational mind. We one-track- mind ourselves into thinking that this one thing/person is the only person who can give us what we want… what we feel we need. We refuse any other truth and of course you will? Pluto can feel very similar to Saturn’s glue-like hold. What we have to realize is the other person is not the only source of your happiness– even if your unconscious mind is latched to that idea.

 Love is something that takes some time to develop.

 Infatuation can come suddenly, yes, but real love takes energy and proximity. True love is born out of a desire to give without expectation. Toxic Plutonic love is based on a deal. Pluto rules other people’s resources and you better believe we are after something when Pluto is heavily involved. We want more drug. We want to feel good about ourselves in the company of that beautiful, sexy obsession. We want them to see how much we want them, how much we would give up for them, we want them to know how gorgeous we think they are, we want, we want. Plutonic obsession/imbalances are about ‘want’,

not real love.

It is about covertly satisfying our own needy egos. That’s it. That is why the rush feels so good….it is personally satisfying. We get this idea that if that beautiful object of our affection would just return our love then we would be whole, happy, we could finally move on from this pain of longing and wanting because they would have made us happy. All of this happiness we want comes from them. We are looking to the object to provide our happiness when we are obsessed. We want them to fulfill our ego requirements, and good god– it fucking feels like love.

IF ONLY THEY WOULD LOVE US… 

Pluto makes you see potential in a person. What is there but needs to be refined, cut and polished, like a raw diamond.

Pluto will make you project. Especially the parts of yourself that you need to develop. You’ll see that potential in another and try to love it through them instead of yourself. Pluto can be symbiotic like that.

You have to turn that unconscious energy on yourself and retract it from the other. That’s the first step to detachment/ The second is:

Develop grounding habits.

That includes meditation. Meditation will strengthen the other parts of your mind– the Pluto muscle is well flexed and when we only work him out, the other muscles in our mind become atrophied.

You have to train the other parts of your brain to work in tandem. You also have train those other parts of your psyche to find pleasure from other appropriate sources. Let’s face it– there’s no getting rid of Pluto. No shutting him off. It would be a disaster to try to shut him down. Because disabling Pluto will disable your engine. So instead of trying to shut off the un-shuttable [new word] train your other muscles to work in harmony with him.

Pluto is very existential and you need to utilize more of the venus aspects here. Things that are very much about the senses. The tangible. Things like art, our creative juices, luxuries, etc. This is why many people focus on their features/ work out after breakups. Why we focus more on our money. Why we indulge in comfort foods. Why our art becomes so fueled with passion– our writing is more raw, our music more honest, our photographs hold more detail. Pluto can have you living in the feeling of inertia. That’s because his energy is fixed. But at the same time, Pluto rules change. So often you’ll see this entrenched part of us not willing to budge, fighting off tooth and nail to stay the same, while our higher self is sticking its fingers down our throat forcing us to purge. That’s Pluto. The part fighting that part that has to be forced or propelled to die off so that something new can take its place. Something better for you.

So moral of the story is– don’t be ashamed of this aspect. [The trine is actually easier to handle than the squares/conjunctions/oppositions.] Pluto wants you to feel. He wants you to embrace and experience that inexplicable lure that you feel in love. That intriguingly eerie, ethereal, or at the minimum a powerful magnetic draw to one another that is mesmerizing and even intoxicating. What’s the point in loving if you don’t love hard? This is the motto of every venus/pluto aspect. Just be sure it’s love and not delusion/infatuation. That’s when the ugly 12th house/8th house stuff shows up.

But once you’ve felt all you can feel–the pain comes when you refuse to grow. When we refuse to let go. You have to allow your self to be reborn when you’ve died from the ashes of what was your last relationship/lover etc. Otherwise, that’s when the toxicity sets in. That’s when love feels like agony. You can’t own people, You can only experience them.

[lokisasylum]

Why are Kpop Predictions so... negative?

I'm not one to humor people who do Kpop Predictions (and for free? really? ya'll out here "spilling info/tea" about celebrities for FREE? IN THIS ECONOMY?). I just find them laughable/amusing because of how inaccurate they are 95% of the times, while toying with the fandoms' emotions. Creating unnecessary drama and stress about things that anyone with a common sense and logic could've predicted all on their own. But to give you guys an idea, here are a few by category:

#1. Twitter based Kpop Predictions

I’ve always had this MAJOR feeling that the great majority of them are run by THE SAME person on different accounts (kinda like how on Tumblr we're allowed to "manage" different blogs for whatever we may need 'em). Cause if you pay close attention they ALL share the same pattern:

SAME moon/crystal ball Icons

SAME way of "predicting" events ( *coughCOPY/PASTEcoughcough* )

They ALL go on hiatus at the SAME TIME and when they finally return they give the SAME excuse that they were depressed, drained of energy, mental blockage/migraine from predicting so much.

They throw shade at other prediction accounts and accuse them of "copying" them since they're "the original one."

They throw random predictions per day that never come true and when they don't and get called out its always the same excuse of "you choose what you want to believe" or "I never said it was gonna happen NOW, it could still happen in the future." (even after saying they would during the current year lol).

The great majority of these accounts are BIASED AF and mostly run by delulu shippers who tease the followers with incomplete information to keep ‘em interested.

🐍 Note: The one thing that I heavily dislike about these is that it's been proven in previous years that these accounts either work with or buy information from Sasaengs or insiders within the companies. Which is a big NO-NO in the Kpop community since Sasaengs are disgustingly invasive and have zero disregard for the Idol’s personal life and safety.

#2. Youtube Kpop Predictions/Tarot Card Readers, or as I like to call them: the "super-tragic-always-negative-BTS-are-gonna-disband-this-year-or-the-next-under-super-tragic-circumstances" accounts.

These youtubers  are known for spending and wasting 15-20 minutes of their videos (and viewers lives) doing self-promos and showing off the different card decks that they've just recently bought (as if the predictions change based on whether or not you're using a Classic Arcana or a Sailor Moon/Pokemon/YuGiOh with limited edition EXODIA & Shadow Realm included deck) And as mentioned above, ALL of them give super tragic/negative predictions, especially when it comes to BTS. Like I remember at the start of this year, there were around 10 (or more) of them saying that BTS would either disband in mid or near the end of 2019. 5 of them stated (in COPY/PASTE fashion) that 2 members would either abandon the group to pursue solo careers, or that 1 would leave and the other would be kicked out for either health issues or this super huge controversial scandal that would ruin BTS' or the member's image and something about "diva behavior" or that the same member was a huge bully towards the others (and annoyingly enough, all of them kept pointing to both Jin and Jimin for some strange reason). But as we've seen, 2019 came and practically went and BTS are still together, still thriving. Maybe one or two "dating rumors" here and there during their "time off" that died in a span of 1 month or so and everyone went on with their lives because it was found to be the product of antis wanting to start shit because everybody wants a BTS scandal (and of course, close to AWARD SEASON *LE GASP*).   So now those same "psychics" are correcting themselves and making up excuses that "they didn't have all the info" or "misunderstood it when they first got it". 🐍🐍 Note: I found it both hilarious and ignorant how the great majority of them are using the "members will start to leave one by one" as a sign of the group disbanding, when we know that starting next year they'll start enlisting in the military which is MANDATORY FOR ALL MEN IN KOREA. Meaning that all Male Korean Idols go through this process and DOES NOT necessarily mean imminent disbandment.

🐍🐍🐍 Extra: Oh yeah, can't forget that one account who said that all Kpop groups are part of the illuminati and they’re using some MK-Ultra shit on the fans through their music which is why fans all over the world now like Kpop and made it famous. Can't forget about those or someone will fight me. (The person deleted their channel too)

#3. Tumblr Kpop Predictions

*SIGH* .... where to start with this one....?

The group in this category is a strange hybrid between Twitter, Youtube and Wattpad/AO3. 'Cause i swear that some of the stuff I've read in a few of these account posts. while browsing for BTS. look like they were taken straight out of a super Angsty, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Soulmate AU, 30 chapters summarized into a oneshot fic. So you'll be either heavily disturbed or highly entertained at how creative the person is with their "reading". Like there was this one person who alleged that Jimin had been a woman in like 3 of his past lives, but was always involved in very abusive relationships (in 1 of said lives his/her father had r*ped him/her and Jimin gave birth to a daughter and  when the daughter grew up they both fell in love with the same man. And the daughter ends up killing Jimin to keep the man for herself LOL what kind of twisted A/B/O shit is this?!) and apparently its...affecting him in the present with how he treats others? And like... the only way for him to "break the cycle" is by "making peace" with his past selves? Or else he'll keep repeating it?

(y'know...like The Avatar).

This same person also said that the Maknae Line have a beef with the Hyung Line. And that Jimin was gonna kill himself this year or when BTS disbands next year, cause without the group he was useless/talent-less and it didnt matter if he did solo projects cause they wouldn't be as famous as the other members, plus his supposed "girlfriend" would leave him at the same time which is why he'll kill himself. Like....BITCH, WHICH IS IT? Do you want him to make peace with himself and live a long healthy life or do you want him dead?? MAKE UP YOUR MIND! Or better yet, just say you're a Jimin anti and go (cause she didnt have any probs with the other members, always targeted Jimin). Although there ARE exceptions, like another user who told this past-lives reading on how they all used to be 1 person who died and their soul got divided into 7, and the 7 of them always managed to find one another on each and every one of the lives they've lived through (like the HEARTBEAT mv). That one was nice.

In Conclusion....

I just feel bad because of how ignorant and gullible the Kpop fandom in general has become in the past years (Especially the newer fans who don’t understand how Korean culture works, much less the Korean Entertainment Industry). To the point of giving these people clout when in reality they’re just taking advantage of them because they know how thirsty and obsessed some fans can get in their need to know MORE about the artists/group they stan.  

[popatochisssp]

ooh! asks are open! if you're not accepting, don't worry about it! if u are, then how do you hc each skeles ideal job and actual job in the human world?

Their ideal and actual jobs are the same, because I am a softie who wants all her boys to be happy so everybody’s got jobs they enjoy!

As for specifics, I’ve talked about some in passing, but see the full list below! ;3

Sans (Undertale): He has two! He’s a delivery driver and does security for the local mall. The former is a natural extension of his lazy demeanor and special abilities– teleportation lets him make all his deliveries near-instantly and then he spends the rest of the time allotted to him napping in his truck or taking a Grillby’s break. On weekends, he moonlights as a mall cop and it’s equally his speed since it’s a lot of observation and ‘policing’ but very little actual responsibility. He may also, on the side, sell a few bootlegs here and there, but you’d be very hard-pressed to catch him at it.

Papyrus (Undertale): Strip club bouncer. I am one million percent behind this, he would love this job and be loved at this job, and he deserves that. But that’s just his night-job, he has a day-job too since he likes to keep busy and while the sun is up, he’s a personal trainer! He’s fantastic at encouraging people through their work-out routines and they find it easier to stick to their healthy diets and make good choices when the alternative is the horrific thought of………disappointing Papyrus…! He’s very good at his job and has so much fun with it that he barely even thinks of it as a job.

Sky (Underswap Sans): Lots of these skeletons do double-duty and with as much energy as Sky has, you know he’s one of ‘em: he’s a firefighter as his main career, and on the side he bartends. He’s a physically fit guy who loves the idea of being a hero, and he also has no skin or lungs, so he can get into lots of places in a burning building that his human coworkers can’t– and that’s without even factoring in the shortcut ability. But he’s not at the station 24/7 and he likes to be productive, so he picks up bartending shifts where he can. He’s very precise with his pours and he’s very charming and sociable with patrons, so he’s a joy to have on shift for everybody!

Paps (Underswap Papyrus): Only one job for this guy, he’s a librarian! He is a huge literature nerd and the Underground only had what just so happened to fall down and not get completely ruined. Getting to work in a place with thousands of books he’s never seen before is awesome–and so is the actual job! It’s pretty quiet as a rule and the stakes are low, so he ends up liking most of the people he interacts with. A chill work environment for a chill skeleton, he’s very happy here!

Jasper (Underfell Sans): He’s a mechanic, and also moonlights at the infamous ‘dog stand. He likes working with his hands and doesn’t mind getting a little dirty. That plus his intricate knowledge of mechanics makes working at an auto shop a good fit for him. He ends up actually missing a little bit of his routine Underground, though– goddamn nostalgia… When the Asgore in his universe decrees that his subjects who owned shops and food businesses Underground reopen on the surface, a political move to improve human relations and make more positive associations with the very intimidating, violent-looking monsters– he actually decides to go for it and starts manning his ‘dog stand whenever he feels like it. He makes some mean hot-animals and is actually one of the more personable of the Fell-monsters so he’s doing his bridge-building duty pretty well, even if only as a weekend kinda thing.

Pyre (Underfell Papyrus): He’s still the Captain of the Royal Guard, but…monsters are making some very strong moves toward demilitarization and in peace-times, there’s just not all that much for him to do. Somewhere in all of his new downtime he takes up studying law and eventually makes a career out of it. Lawyer is kind of a natural job for a guy who’s intelligent, has a great head for details, and doesn’t shy away from an argument, so once he makes it through law school in record time, he’s a sight to behold in the courtroom: eloquent, passionate, and always sharply-dressed! He specializes in human/monster rights-related cases and will even do some pro bono consulting for the causes he deems worthy, but if you can pay his fee and he doesn’t completely loathe you, he’ll take pretty much any case. If he’d been born on the surface to start with, though, he may have pursued a career in acting– he’s has a lot of natural talent and still counts it as one of his interests, but… it’s been soured, just a little bit, by the nasty role he had to play Underground. He’ll probably only pick it up again as a hobby, at most.

Mal (Swapfell Sans): Like Pyre, he doesn’t want to– and won’t!– give up his position as Captain of the Royal Guard so lightly, but on the surface with monsters integrating into peaceful human society, he has a lot more spare time than he did before and has to figure out something to do with it. He eventually settles in as an actuary. Numbers are and have kind of always been his happy-place: mathematics is cold, hard logic, cause-and-effect that’s simple the way nothing in the messy real world ever is, and aside from physical training losing himself in statistics and probabilities is the best sense of flow he’s ever been able to slip into. Once he gets his degrees accredited, it’s very easy for him to find employment running numbers and he’d start off somewhere in the insurance industry. He’d be fine there for awhile– he’s firm and impersonal, and not easily swayed by sob-stories– but eventually the way the industry is structured to benefit corporations over people becomes a little much for even him to handle. From there, he’ll move on into the private sector and do a lot of freelance consulting for companies to analyze and manage risk. It’s very boring and nerdy to just about anyone who isn’t him, but he likes the work!

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): He��s a commission artist. He doesn’t like going out too much and the idea of getting any of the entry-level jobs he’s qualified for–retail and customer service, mostly– makes him want to puke and/or die a little. When he finds out there’s a thriving community of people requesting and paying for art online, he is so there. He takes a little time to get familiar with digital art and generates a presence for himself online to attract interest and then opens himself up to commissions. He has almost no limits on what he’s willing to draw and quickly stumbles across the furry scene, the kink scene, and the places they overlap, so he gets paid really well and gets to work from home while doing it. For the sake of his brother’s reputation, he tries not to mention or show any of the explicit stuff he works on in front of anybody they know, but he’s personally unashamed about it.

Slate (Horrortale Sans): Ever since his head injury, he’s not really capable of holding down a job– his short-term memory is garbage and his ability to learn and process new tasks is a lot slower than any reasonable employer would be understanding of, so that rules out pretty much all his options right there. Since monsters hit the surface in his universe, though, humanity was shocked and appalled by the circumstances Underground and in spite of some fear and condemnation, the outpouring of pity and sympathy was enormous. A lot of legislation ended up quickly pushed through so that monsters could get regular stipends in reparations for their imprisonment and suffering, and also can receive disability benefits if deemed eligible. With a giant hole in his head and all that comes with it, he’s eligible so he doesn’t need a job, but at the insistence of his brother, he does need to get out of the house. His aimless wandering eventually leads him to an animal shelter seeking volunteers. He likes the pups and kitties because they’re soft and cute, plus they’re all down on their luck like he was. He’s very gentle with even the most aggressive animals and after a very short time volunteering there, he gains a bit of a reputation as a miracle worker…but he doesn’t really care about that, he’s just happy to help the little fuzzballs out.

Papy (Horrortale Papyrus): Like his brother, he gets a reparations stipend from the human government but unlike his brother, he’s not eligible for disability– nor would he want to be! He craves getting to be a productive member of society again since he…wasn’t of nearly as much use, Underground as he wished he could’ve been. Entry-level jobs would be fine for him, anything to be out and gainfully employed, but he’s rapidly dissatisfied with any of the jobs he takes. He knows that cashiers and clerks and receptionists are all very valuable parts of an infrastructure, but it’s just…not really for him? He wants to make a bigger difference, he wants to help people, and that’s what leads him to nursing. Between his brother’s disability benefits, their reparations, and his wages from part-time employment, he’s able to put himself through school without putting any serious strain on their financial situation and eventually graduates to registered nurse. From his underground experiences he’s no stranger to blood, other human bodily fluids, or even death, so handling it in the context of trying to save lives is something he’s not only capable of, but delighted to be a part of. He’s definitely a little down when one of his patients doesn’t make it, but he’s not devastated by it: he just vows to keep doing his best so that he can help as many people as possible!

[cwdcshows]

Supergirl - S5 E13 - It's a Super Life

I kind of forgot Mixy was already on Supergirl.  I was ambivalent with the actor choice when he showed up at the end of the last episode, but given the alternative, I'm okay with it. All this hand-wringing about altering history, but they're currently living in a radically altered timeline right now as a result of Crisis.  There are facts about their own lives and histories that they still completely surprised to learn; so would this one thing really be that big of a deal?  I mean, it probably will be, because the writers are fucking morons, but it shouldn't be; especially if, presumably, Mixy offers some type of escape clause should things not pan out to Kara's liking, which she should definitely insist upon. It goes to show how little I actually care or pay attention, even as I review these shows - did Lena fess up to Kara that she remembered Pre-Crisis?  Because if not, why is Kara even worried about it, if she's still operating under the assumption that everything is good between them Post-Crisis?

So when they go into Kara's past is she interacting with Pre-Crisis Lena or Post-Crisis Lena?  Because technically the only past that still exists is the Post-Crisis timeline, which should mean it'd be the Post-Crisis Lena, but since Lex made a deal for the Pre-Crisis version of Lena to exist once Crisis was over, where does the one end and the other begin?  A Post-Crisis Lena's experiences and perspective on the world should, arguably, be different from Pre-Crisis; for starters given the fact that in the Post-Crisis world, Lex was never brought down or considered a criminal or a murderer and Lena never had to rebrand the family company.  She obviously still has mommy-issues, and some other things in common, like ostensibly her relationship with Andrea and the way that played out, but there would be other differences.

"So much exposition." Okay, I like this version of Mixy. I know the actor probably didn't write that line and has nothing to do with it other than the delivery, but still, it was a good line taking the piss out of how much exposition there is in any of these shows. I mean, if they've found the sweat spot where Kara can reveal herself to Lena without Lena going over the dark side, even if there are ramifications like Lena, Mon-El or Sam dying; shouldn't that be kind of a minor point to fine tune?  If you're going to fuck with history, you might as well give it the full shaft and do it right.  That's what Oliver did. Well obviously this happy-go lucky timeline is going to get fucked up somehow.   Why would their public relationship change so radically in this altered timeline?  The only thing that's different is that Lena knows her secret; either way she'd have worked alongside Kara just the same as she did before, maybe siding with Kara a little more often, but this is over the top.  Any ideological differences in opinion that they might have had in the past wouldn't have necessarily evaporated just because Lena knew Kara was Supergirl; and why would they go out of their way to make a public brand about this partnership. Also, isn't that exactly what the Post-Crisis DEO & Luthor-Corp dynamic is supposed to be; Lena and Supergirl (and Lex) working together?  How is this not the reality they live in then? Wait, so Lockwood still ended up working with the same people as he did in the original timeline, but why?  That was all orchestrated by Lex.  So what, Lex still brings on Lockwood, only this time he does to kidnap his sister?  For what purpose?  He's not even in jail in the Post-Crisis timeline; and is there even a Reign, much less a Red-Daughter in this other other timeline? I'll admit, the episode wasn't terrible up to this point, but there's some logical inconsistencies with how they're trying to make the best possible outcome a bad one; it's just too forced. Wait, what?  Why is Winn suspicious of Lex in this alternate-alternate reality?  When Winn came back from the future he had no idea that Lex was supposed to be a bad guy, meaning he had all the Post-Crisis memories until J'Onn mind whammied him.  Or in this Lena-Kara team-up timeline did Kara and Lena uncover Lex's crimes and bring him down after all?  This has become a bigger clusterfuck than Crisis.... Also, Winn's appearance in this episode makes sense being the 100th (I think), but it seems a little undermined by the fact that he was just in the last two episodes and they made a big deal about him leaving in the last one. Seriously, it's not the person knowing someone's secret identity that makes them the target; it's telling the fucking world that they know such a powerful secret.  No one knows Winn knows Kara's identity, so how often was he targeted specifically for his association with Supergirl?  Sure, you might say, "well he's Winn, the average person doesn't know who the fuck he is," but that's part of the point.  He's walking around with one of the biggest secrets and they just don't fucking draw attention to it and no one asks, "hey, do you know Supergirl or what secret identity is?"  If they put a picture of Winn of the front page of the Daily Planet that he's Supergirl's best friend and keeper of her secrets, that alone would make him a very public figure with ties to Supergirl that could be exploited. Surely the world was aware of at least some of the things Lena helped Supergirl with in the original timeline, did anyone assume she knew her secret identity?  For that matter, why do they assume she has one? So in this happy, shinny timeline they said that Lena made Supergirl's new suit - so she happened to make a new suit that was identical to the one Brainy made for her in another timeline?? I honestly had already seen spoiler pictures of Kara revealing her secret identity at a press release.  I kind of wondered if they would be so bold as to actually go that route for real, but kind of figured they'd find a way to walk that back or not play it for keeps; and the second I knew what this episode was going to be about it was clear that this was how they were going to incorporate it without actually owning the outcome moving forward. You gotta love the fact that they're doing this big, "It's a Wonderful Life" style retrospective 100th episode celebration, bringing back past actors, but because they clearly couldn't get Calista Flockhart for the episode, for whatever reason, they just throw up her image and declare her dead. Not only that, but with the likes of Supergirl and Superman (not to mention the Flash, Green Arrow, et al, who now reside on this Earth), how does Agent Liberty manage to go after all of Kara's friends and family and there are no survivors?  Fuck you. Why would Mixy suddenly get pulled into this new-new-new-new timeline? Especially since it was just a preview and he wasn't pulled into any of the others? Seriously?  Kara doesn't befriend Lena, so she goes full on Dark Warrior Duck?   And here again, this is all Pre-Crisis shit; there is no L-Corp Post-Crisis and Lena didn't take over the company, she runs it alongside Lex. And would Nia still become Dreamer in this reality?  Hell, would Brainiac even be here?  There's a lot of shit that wouldn't have happened in the aftermath of Lena going to war with Lex.  How does Lena control Reign and what about the other World Killers?   You know, it wasn't until Jimmy's sister pulled out the Guardian shield that I a) remembered that Jimmy passed the mantle on to her (I think) and b) realized that, apart from footage from past episodes he hasn't made any kind of cameo; which you'd think if they were going to bring some of these others back, they'd have brought him back too.  Especially since he was there when it all started. "Where were you when my brother blew my helicopter out of the sky?" Kind of a legitimate question.  I mean, yeah, this is supposed to be the timeline where Kara and Lena never became friends, but just because they're not friends doesn't mean Kara wouldn't save her if she were able. So if Lena is using 5th dimension energy to power her drones, preventing Mixy from using his powers; and she's only doing this in National City, why don't Kara pick-up Mixy and fly them straight out of town and as far as way as necessary so that his powers work again?  Surely there's limits to where Lena's tap on the 5th dimension would affect his powers, right; even if they have to go halfway around the planet? Kara should be dead, right?  After that many direct blasts with Kryptonite energy?

[thelogicalghost]

The Problem of Hans

With the Frozen 2 trailer drop, I wanted to finally organize some of my thoughts about the original in a post I can link to instead of trying to repeat this argument every time it comes up. 

Before I dive in, I want to emphasize that I am not trying to ‘forgive’ or ‘justify’ Hans being a dick. My goal is to parse his actions throughout the movie and find a plausible explanation for seemingly contrasting character moments.

Part 1: Some Background

The original story of the Snow Queen, on which Frozen was loosely based, set the icy-powered queen as the villain. However, during development, songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez composed and pitched several songs including “Let It Go” that put the sisters’ relationship at the center of the story. The decision was made to redeem Elsa and make the sisters the heroes, requiring the previously supporting character Hans to become a last-minute villain.

Because of this rewrite, and perhaps in order to preserve the ‘twist’, Hans spends the majority of the movie seeming utterly charming and even heroic. Disney inadvertently created a truly terrible villain, a sociopath capable of utterly fooling an entire country but revealing his evil plans and unfathomable cruelty only to a dying women. However, this also meant that Hans’ portrayal has several serious inconsistencies that bring his twist betrayal into question. These moments continue to bother me every time I watch the movie, creating a conundrum that a purely evil, brilliant, manipulative Hans doesn’t explain.

Taking the finished, theatrical release of the movie as canon, I as the audience was left trying to reconcile these discrepancies into a plausible narrative. First, I’m going to talk about the moments that force me to question the movie’s explanation, and then I’m going to present exactly that plausible narrative.

Part 2: The Bits That Bother Me

There are two moments that trouble me particularly in the movie. One is much more significant than the other, so let’s start with that one.

Hans has gathered a group of volunteers to find the missing royal sisters. Two of these volunteers, attendants to the Duke of Weselton, have been ordered by the Duke to kill Elsa. As they approach Elsa’s ice palace and are confronted by her snow monster, these two men take advantage of the confusion to run ahead of the group. Both try to shoot Elsa with crossbows. Elsa defends herself, pinning one man to the wall with ice spikes and pushing the other man onto a balcony with a sliding wall of ice. 

Just as she’s about to push the second man off of the balcony, where he would fall to his likely death, Hans and the rest of the men arrive. Hans shouts, “Queen Elsa! Don’t be the monster they fear you are.” Elsa pauses, realizing that she had been about to kill. The first man tries to take advantage of this pause by raising his loaded crossbow for a final shot. Hans, after quickly glancing upward, dashes across the room to yank the man’s arm up and send the bolt toward the ceiling. This sends an ornate ice chandelier falling to the floor. Elsa jumps out of the way but is knocked unconscious.

The key moment here is Hans’ intervention. Let’s consider the logic of this moment based on an evil, manipulative Hans:

If Hans wanted Elsa dead and out of the way, he could have:

Ordered his men to attack. She was obviously having difficulty managing two assailants, but attacking them with her ice powers could have been a perfect excuse to need to take her down

Continued to distract Elsa so that the first of the Duke’s men could shoot her

Grapple with the man but let the crossbow ‘go off’ to hit Elsa, either killing her (since he could obviously aim it very well) or prolonging the fight and creating other opportunities

If Hans wanted Elsa alive for some reason, but wanted a great excuse to kill or dethrone her later, he could have:

Said nothing, let her kill a soldier from a neighboring country, making her a killer and potentially exacerbating a diplomatic incident

Said literally anything else to provoke/manipulate her or the situation, for example, beg her to surrender (which she wouldn’t, making her look like the bad guy) or urge his men to save the Duke’s men (which would have turned into a full conflict that might have resulted in her wounding or killing her own people)

Instead, Hans appeals to her humanity. He says something calculated to make her stop and consider what she had been about to do. Then he takes an action that was much less likely to do her harm - Elsa had plenty of time to dodge that chandelier - but disrupted the standoff and diffused a tense situation. 

No matter which way I look at this scene, Hans’ actions just don’t make sense if he sees Elsa as an obstacle to the throne.

The second moment I want to mention is much smaller, but to me, equally disconcerting. It happens much earlier, at the end of the scene in which Hans and Anna meet.

Memorably, their initial meeting ends with the two of them standing in a boat that is perched precariously on the edge of a dock. As Anna leaves, both of them seeming quite taken with each other, Chekhov’s boat finally tips over and dumps Hans in the water. As he lifts up the overturned boat, Hans gives the departing Anna a fond smile.

This smile is what bothers me so badly. Hans, in this moment, has no audience. He is under a boat off the edge of a dock. Even his horse would have difficulty seeing him from that angle. Yet his expression contains no spark of malice. It’s gentle and hopeful, suggesting that he’s as smitten with her as she clearly is with him. If Hans were a sociopath, he would need to put effort into faking this expression, and why would he without an audience? There is absolutely no reason to think that his feelings in this smile are not completely genuine, except for the fact that he later claims they’re fake.

Which leads me to ...

Part 3: A Plausible Narrative

Hans arrives in Arendelle and meets Anna. She’s young and clearly unpolished but sweet and authentic. During the coronation ball, they enjoy each other’s company. Hans sees a woman who clearly lacks practical education and whose romantic ideas could land her into a lot of trouble, but whose spontaneity and youthful energy he appreciates. 

Now, in the mid-1800′s, like in most of European monarchical history, marriage among royalty is not a matter of love but of exchange and consolidation of goods and power. Hans suspects that there are problems in Arendelle. The princesses have been sequestered completely in the years since their parents’ deaths. Perhaps the reason Anna’s been kept behind locked doors is that she’s prone to thoughtless acts of romanticism that could easily bring harm to the royal family. He can’t offer the family riches or titles, but he can provide this woman the trappings of romance, be patient with her, and in time, nurture a genuinely loving relationship. He can promise to reign in her impulsive behavior and encourage her to act in ways that benefit the kingdom. Maybe he can offer more, in terms of what experience and knowledge he’ll bring to the table as a prince from a powerful nation, but first he has to talk to the queen.

Surprisingly, when he and Anna approach Elsa, the two sisters seem to be misinterpreting his offer of engagement and negotiations as an offer to run off to the church, like, NOW. Elsa gives a public, automatic rejection. Anna confronts her in an embarrassingly public argument. Then, of course, something happens that Hans couldn’t have predicted: Elsa reveals that she has ice powers, freezes the harbor, and sets a snowstorm on the country.

Without consulting anyone or taking anyone with her, Anna rides off to find her sister. Instead of calling on any of the advisers, minor nobility, or other titles of the realm, Anna puts Hans in change. Hans is not only shocked at the impropriety and irresponsibility, but the fact that no one seems to challenge him for that position. Everyone, local or visiting, is content to turn to this visiting prince, despite the conflict earlier in the ballroom. Well, if he’s what they’ve got, he’ll take that duty. He hopes to eventually be part of the royal family, after all, so these will soon be his people. He sorts out emergency responses including hot food and thick blankets, walking through the streets himself to aid in distribution.

Anna’s horse appears, riderless and distressed. Now Hans is deeply concerned. It seems that whatever sisterly means Anna intended to use to calm Elsa have failed. He organizes an expedition to travel up the mountain, taking volunteers (not hand-picking people who might be loyal to him, note, but inviting people who genuinely care about their monarch to help find her). He probably plans this trip and finds at least one guide, because he gets to the palace shortly after Anna leaves.

Despite having to battle a giant snow monster and nearly falling to his death, when Hans sees the standoff between Elsa and the Duke’s men, he says what he hopes will be the most effective at calming her down. He sees an opportunity to diffuse the standoff by destroying the chandelier, which knocks the queen unconscious. Despite having every opportunity and a long journey back to the city, Hans takes Elsa, unharmed, to the palace dungeons and restrains her.

When Elsa comes to, he begs her to break the curse. This is when Elsa says, simply, “I can’t,” and begs him to let her go. She doesn’t even know where Anna is.

Now, if Elsa was thinking even slightly rationally, she would know that Hans can’t simply let her go. She plunged the city into deep winter. IF the effect is related to proximity, leaving might help, but if it’s not - and Elsa clearly isn’t in control of this curse, how does she know? - then they’ll have lost the opportunity to track her down again and try something else. People are going to die. 

A visiting dignitary tells Hans that, if something’s happened to Anna, he’s “all Arendelle has left.” The message is clear: this is on his shoulders. The fate of thousands of lives and an entire country rests on him. He wants to go look for Anna again because she maybe will have some idea of how to break the curse.

And then Anna shows up, cold and dying. What she says to Hans, specifically, is that she was wrong about Elsa never hurting her, that Elsa has frozen her heart and only an act of true love can save her.

This is the last straw. Sure, eventually Hans would probably have grown to love Anna, but true love at first sight? That’s absurd. And of course, there’s no one else. Clearly something terrible has happened between the sisters, so hoping for love there is pointless. He’s been here two days and not seen so much as a close family friend who might potentially love the girls enough to save them. So now he has a country buried in snow in the middle of the summer by a queen who can’t control her ice curses, and the non-magical princess is going to die.

So Hans does a crappy thing and takes his anger out on a girl who’s going to die. He mocks her for being naive and impulsive, gives her the worst possible scenario just to make her feel stupid, and enjoys her shock and pain. And then he douses the fire and opens a window to make sure she dies quickly, because now Hans has a plan.

You see, witchcraft is a really flimsy excuse for executing a sitting queen, especially when he’s only just got here. But with everyone present perfectly happy to take his word for events, Hans comes up with a way to save everyone and take the kingdom without looking like a monster. All he has to do is say that he and Anna exchanged vows. Elsa’s killed Anna, so now he’s going to execute her for murder. Every story about magic from the era and before suggests that slaying the person who cast the curse will end the curse. He’ll save Arendelle not only from eternal winter, but also from two girls who almost destroyed their own nation with their magic and incompetence.

But, of course, both girls escape, Anna stops Hans and saves herself, and Elsa finally realizes what the trolls should have told her parents all those years ago and saved everyone a lot of pain: love is the key to melting the effects of her powers. 

So Hans is arrested for attempted regicide (despite his actions being assented to and supported by everyone else present), Arendelle cuts off its largest trading partner for the Duke’s role in events, and Anna starts spending time alone with a commoner while Elsa continues to show no interest in marriage arrangements, further eroding the stability of the monarchy. Not to mention the potential massive agricultural and economic problems from the two-day winter.

Part 4: In Conclusion

As I said earlier, I’m not trying to defend Hans’ actions entirely. His tirade at Anna when they were alone was nothing short of abusive. What I’m trying, instead, to offer is an explanation of why his supposed confession doesn’t fit with some of his actions during the course of the movie. I’m trying to frame the events of a movie set in a historical time period in a way appropriate to that time period.

(Yes, I know, it’s a kid’s movie and to some extent a fairy tale, but if your best argument is “well reality should be handwaved for the story” then I would counter that the story’s inconsistencies were actively harmful to the intended message. If the point was to make Hans a gaslighting monster, then don’t make his actions plausibly rational and rely on a single scene to demonstrate that he’s actually monstrous.)

I’ve tried my best to keep this post limited to the content of the movie and extrapolations made from that material. I don’t think Hans should be brought back as a romantic interest (GIVE ELSA A GIRLFRIEND DISNEY) and I don’t think any backstory, up to and including Hans himself suffering abuse, justifies his cruelty. That said, I continue to hope that Frozen 2 will see the return of Hans not as an all-out villain but as someone who knows he’s made mistakes and is working to be a better person.

I mean, if Elsa can be forgiven for plunging the kingdom into eternal winter, maybe Hans can find some resolution, too?

[welcome-to-my-daydreams]

Man in the Storm 17

Summary: It’s rut season at the compound. Omega Reader plans to ride it out alone, locked in her room away from any unwanted Alphas. But she finds that to be a lot easier said than done when the team’s strongest Alpha pays a visit.

Pairings: Alpha!Thor x Omega!Reader

Type: Series (A/B/O Dynamics)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2,476

A/N: “I don’t need therapy, I’ve got you guys!”

Part 16, Part 18

Masterlist

The second month was easier. But only because you swapped sadness with annoyance. You had decided that though you loved the stupid Alpha, you wouldn’t mind giving him a swift kick in the ass when he finally returned. If he finally returned, of course. 

It was getting ridiculous now. 2 months and not a single sign. Not a rumble of thunder, not a drop of rain. You realised you wouldn’t even know if he had died somewhere in this war he was fighting. 

You better not die without letting me know about it, Alpha. You cursed as you looked up into the clear sky above you. 

“Hey! No breaks until we hit the 10 minute mark. You know the drill!” Captain Rogers commanded as he jogged past you, tapping you on the shoulder and waving you to keep up with him. 

You rolled your eyes and picked up where you left off, running along the track on the field. 

“I thought the whole point of this training session was to keep you distracted?” Steve asked when you finally caught up to him. He was practically skipping, barely breaking a sweat so that you’d be able to run side by side. 

Everything you did lately was to keep you distracted. You kept as busy as possible, taking missions and assignments when you could. Last week you were in Korea with Tony and Maria and before that you had been down in Wakanda with Steve and Sam for a few weeks and before that you joined Nat and Clint in Rio. 

You had already filled your field work quota for the month and Tony has insisted that you take some leave. Which is exactly why you were here at the compound running with Steve, rather than with Bucky, Sam and Sharon on the latest mission. 

“Well that was the idea. But my mind always finds a way to drift.” You admitted out loud. “And if I have to be honest Cap, you’re not very good at this.” You poked at him with a smile. 

Steve laughed, “Well, in my experience, things don’t go away by avoiding them.” He glanced over at you. “Maybe talking about it is the way to go.”

You thought about it. He was probably right. He always was. It’s true that you had been avoiding the idea of opening up to anyone, but the truth is you were avoiding even opening up to yourself. You would try to go through the motions, to think logically about all the possibilities about your current situation. But then you’d feel overwhelmed and just stop. Always telling yourself you’d save it for another day.

“You want to be my therapist now too Rogers?” You joked, trying to deflect from the conversation Steve was trying to start. He didn't answer though, only giving you a look that reminded you of your dad. 

You took a deep breath, and finally gave in. 

“I just wonder a lot of things. All the time.” You started. “Sometimes I think about what I would do if he doesn’t come back. How I’d move on with my life. Other times I think about what will happen if he does come back. How exactly are we going to make this work? Will I have to leave earth? Do I want to leave earth?” You asked rhetorically. “And then at the end of it all I just wonder if he’s even thinking of me. You know? Is he wondering the same things? Does he have a plan?”

Steve watched as you wrestled with your own thoughts. He stopped running and signalled for you to as well. “You know” he spoke up as the two of you continued along the track at a walking pace. “When I woke up, after they found me in that ice. The only thing I could think of for months was Peggy.” You turned to look at him in surprise. Steve rarely ever spoke of Peggy Carter. 

“I felt constant sense of guilt. About how my death must have affected her, about how she was able to get on in life. Was there anything I could have done?” He turned to look at you. “I know she did amazing things. She got married, had a family, started SHIELD. But despite all of her accomplishments, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about this whole other life we could have lived together. If I hadn’t...” There was a sense of sadness in his voice now as he trailed off.

“Steve...don’t. Don't put that on yourself.” You reached out to place your hand on the Alpha’s shoulder. He gave you a half smile, “The point is (y/n), whatever happens, your life will continue on and you will be fine. I know you will. But, don’t ever think that he isn’t up there thinking about you, wishing things could be different.”

Steve’s words hit you harder than you had expected they would and you found yourself just standing there. Repeating them in your mind. 

“And besides.” Steve continued. “Thor isn’t dead or frozen in a block of ice. He’s up there, alive and well.” He smiled. “You still have the chance to decide your future. Together.”

After a long pause you gave the Alpha a big hug. Thanking him for the talk before you continued on with your run. Feeling a little more optimistic than before.

A few days later you found yourself in the back of one of Tony’s town cars, pulling up to the front entrance of the Stark Tower in Manhattan. It had been a while since you had been to the city and you were here today at your own insistence. 

Tony still had you on leave from missions, but you were dying of boredom at the compound. You had harassed Stark enough to convince him into finding you a days worth of work helping Pepper out at Stark Industries. 

It couldn’t have come a better time either. Not only were you able to get away from the current heat season of the compound, but the energy of the city was like a detox for you. 

The driver opened the door for you and you thanked him kindly before heading inside. You had been given the direct access key to the private elevator and headed straight up to meet with Pepper. 

When you reached the floor of her office you were hit with an almost intoxicating scent of rose oil and lemons. 

Damn. You thought to yourself as you made your way down the hall.

Pepper was an Omega, but the kind of Omega that didn’t really live life as if she were an Omega. She was CEO of Stark Industries and lived at the tower full time, only visiting the compound on special occasions and Tony would have to travel into the city to see her. Which he did, happily and often. And despite not living at the compound, the pack has always considered her as their matriarch. 

Her scent dominated the office space and you could feel her presence everywhere. It was incredibly intoxicating, to see an Omega in a position of power like this. It was as if she were a Queen and Stark Industries was her Queendom. 

When you made it to the waiting area of Pepper’s office you were greeted by her assistant who lead you through the doors and asked you wait. She offered you various teas and coffees which you declined, only to immediately regret not getting that delicious caramel latte she mentioned. 

“(y/n)!” Pepper called your name after only a few minutes. “It’s so good to see you” She said happily, bringing you in to a hug. “Pepper!” you smiled, “Thank you so much for asking me to come down here today.” you greeted back. 

“Oh of course.” She said as she set her laptop down on her desk, along with some notebooks. “It’s so nice to have someone from the pack down at the tower for a change.” She smiled again as she sat down in her big leather chair. “So, how have you been?”

The two of you chatted for a while. Catching up on pack gossip and goings on. You made an effort not to talk about your Thor dilemma and in turn Pepper did not pry. Which worked out better for you as the whole purpose of going into the city for the day was to get away from your life at the compound.  

“So, Tony tells me you’re pretty good with computers and that you used to work in the technical department, is that right?” She asked, getting right down to business.

“Oh, uh, yes. I studied computer programming at university.” You answered, sitting up straighter than before. Suddenly feeling like you were in an interview. 

“I enjoyed it for a while, but then I realised it was much more fun to play with the toys that we made with those programs.” You winked.

Pepper laughed as well and shook her head. “You sound just like Tony.”

It turned out that the work Pepper needed help with wasn’t all that difficult. It was definitely something that an intern could do, but you had begged Tony to find you something to do and...he did. 

She needed your help with installing an encrypted storage program on her personal server where she would store her most important files. She was still storing some high high priority files in a safe in her office.

“I can’t be running one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world and still be working with paper!” She told you as she explained the task at hand. 

It was an easy mornings work. Within an hour you had the program up and running and spent the rest of the morning uploading the important files into the new system. After a while you needed a break and took a turn around Pepper’s office. First taking a look at the beautiful view from her giant windows, then trailing off to gaze at the wall of photos and diplomas by her desk.

You stopped at a lovely photo of Pepper and Tony. You could tell it was before they had bonded by the missing mark on her neck. He was holding her from behind with his arms draped around her waist and they were both laughing hysterically at something. 

Your fawning must have been palpable, because Pepper looked up from her work and chuckled. “Hmm.” She smiled. “That was Happy’s birthday party 8 years ago. I can’t believe how young we look.”

“You two are perfect together” You said, looking back at the photo before taking a seat in front of Pepper’s desk.

“Perfect?” She scoffed. “Hardly so.”

You laughed, “Well I just mean you’ve been together for so long. You must have such a strong connection and trust. Especially for him to give you Stark Industries”. You remarked, almost naïvely.

Pepper nodded, not looking up from her work. “I guess you could put it that way.” She said with uncertainty. “What do you mean?” You asked, slightly confused. 

Pepper looked up from her computer and smiled, “I love Tony, I really do. But that man is a disaster.” She said shaking her head in amusement. You laughed at the statement, eager to hear her reasoning. 

“He didn’t give me Stark Industries. I took it from him because he was running it into the ground.” She continued. Setting her laptop aside and getting comfortable in her seat, more than willing to take a break from the days work. 

“When Tony decided that he was Iron Man, he made it his life’s duty. He dropped everything else in his life to pursue it. And I mean Everything.” She said, enunciating with hand gestures. “I was only his assistant at the time, but once he started missing every meeting and every day of work I just had to take over.” she said while shaking her head as if she was still annoyed at how it all went down. “It was like his sole responsibility in life was to save the world!”

You laughed. It turned out that not much had changed between now and then when it came to Tony Stark. 

“Well, hopefully he realises how lucky he’s been to have you by his side throughout all this.” You said. “I’m sure it hasn’t been easy.”

Pepper nodded. “ Yes, I think he does now. Thank God” she said with a smile. “But there were a few years in between when I couldn't handle it anymore and I left. Him and all this.” She said looking around the room. 

“Really?” you gasped. You had always seen Pepper and Tony as the perfect couple. The glue that held everything together. You could never imagine picturing them apart from one another. 

“So what made you go back?” you asked, hoping you weren’t overstepping. 

“Because I love him.” she admitted, leaning further back in her chair. “I love him and being without him just didn't feel right.” she shrugged her shoulders. “I was never going to separate him from his duty to the Avengers or to the world. That is all part of the Tony Stark package.” she paused for a moment, looking back at the photo on the wall. “I had to decide whether being with him was worth putting up with all of it. And for me, it was.” She smiled. 

“And now here we are, running our little empire together. He’ll never admit it, but he knows that he needs me to keep this place afloat.” She said matter of factly. 

“A king cannot survive without a queen by his side.”

As some of Thor’s very first words to you came to the forefront of your mind, you crossed your arms over your chest. Suddenly feeling very exposed. 

You sat there in silence for a moment as a whirlwind of thoughts entered your mind. The more you thought about it the more you realised it. Thor wasn’t all that much different from Tony. A least, not when it came to his duty. The only difference between them being that Thor already knew he wanted someone by his side. And that person as it turned out, was you. 

You thought for a moment about all the sacrifices and compromises Pepper must have made when she decided to stay by Tony’s side. Accepting the fact that she would always come second to her Alpha’s sense of duty. You then thought about the other couples in your pack. Clint and his wife certainly had a complex arrangement and you imagined that Sharon had to come to terms with Steve’s hardened sense of duty many years ago. Suddenly, Bucky’s choice in such a docile Omega made sense to you in the grand scheme of things. 

“(y/n), are you ok?” Pepper said, waving her hand in front of your face. 

You shook yourself out of your haze. “Sorry, I uh...I just starting thinking about how complicated everything gets. No one we know really has a normal realtionship, do they?” you asked her. 

“In a pack like ours (y/n) there is no such thing as “normal” relationships.” She answered with a smirk. “With those Alphas? Are you kidding me?” She said, before you both burst into a fit of laughter. 

“Now, enough talk about Alpha’s and relationships, let’s go to for lunch” The Omega suggested as she got up from her desk and grabbed her purse

@usetheforce3434 @ourdreamsrealized @oknstark @jaegers-and-kaijus @alittlehoneybear @fundaymonday @iamwarrenspeace @lumelgy @steggy4ever @devilsbaby6 @dani-si @dreamingaboutthewonderland @yoursupernatural @maebeltranlove @thisisnotseriousbussiness @wintersire @talknerdytome25 @coffeeandmistakes @mellytonellysstuff @thewalkingmombie @naturalistamisslyn @fxnrisulv @leashab @illbewendyyoubepeter @isislockett @crowleyshellkitten @sammanthamariee @bookshelvesandteacups@marveloussssworld​ @lemonchapstick​ @randomlove15 @tinyfistwarrior@bodhi-black @mermaid099 @jeffersonstarships2099 @brooke-supernatural16​ @unic0rns-taking-0ver-th3-w0rld @lovely-geek​@greeneyedgal20 @blxcksoulsanddxrkflowers @spideysz @whyugottabsorude @i-think-i-am-adorable​ @lexie-mo​ @pinkgalaxyskull​ @palelightgiver​ @lokisgoldengoddess @bandstripper @memyselfandmaddox @assassin-inthe-scoutregiment @the-goddess-of-mischief @congurl @chaotic-neutral-spider @imjustalittlebean @rishlo @sunigyrl @supernaturalpotternerd @sonarsyndor @sea040561 @justcallmecinammon @inumorph @darkkitty @thewayilookatbacon @jumpingmanatee @pocmarvelworks @lovelyangelofasgard @ktjnn @debiwolft @milllionthingsihaventdone @occasionalfics @jmberries @badassbaker @vgurl18 @samanthasmileys @girlwhoisfearless @loverofthor @sthorgestavenger @loverofthor @slightlysoftgrunge @earinafae

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Are Movies Condemning Adulthood Too Much?

Recently I saw the latest trailer for Mary Poppins Returns. It looks like it’ll be a joyful film, especially for those of us with fond memories of the original Mary Poppins film. (I said “YES” out loud when the 2-D animated sequence began!)

But something nagged at me while watching the trailer – how familiar the presented story felt, and not in a wholly good way.

There is a category of movie that goes like this: a character of a beloved children’s movie grows up, has children, and forgets the values of childhood. Another character from that movie returns to help re-teach those values and thereby help them become a better parent.

Admittedly I don’t know everything that will happen in Mary Poppins Returns, but in the trailer, Mary Poppins makes it very clear that she is here to take care of the grown-up Jane and Michael Banks more than she’s there for their children, and late in the trailer a character says, ostensibly to Michael, “You’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a child!”

Just last month I saw Christopher Robin, which was about Winnie-the-Pooh re-entering a grown-up Christopher’s life at just the right moment to teach him that having fun and spending time with his family is more important than work. And that movie, when I saw it, put me in mind of Hook, which is about Tinker Bell finding a grown-up-with-children Peter Pan, who has not only forgotten how to have fun but forgotten about Never Land altogether, and teaches him that fun, adventure, and being there for his kids is more important than being a working adult.

These stories may spring from a nostalgic anxiety of the filmmakers. I feel safe to assume that the people who created Hook, Christopher Robin, and Mary Poppins Returns all loved Peter Pan, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Mary Poppins when they were young. These three original Disney films are all about the inherent joys of childhood – Peter Pan is the boy who never grows up, Winnie-the-Pooh and friends similarly exist in a permanent state of youthful imaginary play, and Mary Poppins teaches Mr. Banks the value of devoting time to childish fun (represented by tuppence and kites).

Now, the people who enjoyed these films are adult filmmakers, grown-ups with spouses and children. They have to devote energy to work and making money, energy that they as children could spend entirely on fun. So they project their struggles onto their old favorites. The once-eternal-children Peter, Christopher, and Michael are now adults with children, who need to be reminded to not work so hard and play more.

As much as I’m a fan of childishness (I work at Disney World), and as much as I love telling new stories about old favorite characters (I write fanfiction), this category of movies concerns me somewhat. I worry that these films, if we get too many of them, will end up condemning adulthood too much.

At the end of Hook, after regaining his memories and belief in magic, having an adventure in Never Land, and rescuing his children, Peter throws his work phone out the window, implying that he’s quitting his job.

But.

The guy has two children and a stay-at-home wife. He doesn’t live in Never Land, where imagining food is enough to fill a stomach. He lives in a capitalist world. The movie ends with the characters and audience celebrating how Peter has learned that work isn’t important and that being there for his family is important. But eventually we have to pause the celebration and realize that Peter needs to get a new job and figure out how to incorporate what he’s learned about the values of childhood into his life as a responsible working adult.

While discussing the new Mary Poppins Returns trailer with my sister, she reminisced about some anecdotes from the Mary Poppins books that she hopes will turn up in the movie, such as the one about the old ladies with a shop who make candy and use those candies to help turn winter into spring.

I remember reading about those ladies and thinking that they had an incredibly cool life, and they didn’t have to stay children forever to have it.

Not all work is soul-crushing; adults can do cool, fun things that make the world a better place, things that they just plain couldn’t do when they were kids. Why do Peter, Christopher, and Michael have to end up in awful jobs, when so many other jobs exist? In these movies, where are the adults who save lives in hospitals, or design cutting-edge technologies? Who fight legal battles to end discriminatory policies, or travel the world raising money for victims of natural disasters? Who direct rehearsals in the Magic Kingdom at two in the morning? Who make movies? Who use candy to create spring?

And I firmly believe that people on any career path can find a work-life balance that includes spending time with their children. I have relatives with several different jobs in the medical field – all very important, responsibility-heavy, time-consuming careers. I have never doubted that they loved me or their children, because they also devoted energy to spending time with us and making sure we knew we were loved. You can devote time to your patients and to playing guitar and singing with your nieces and nephews.

“Incorporate childlike fun into your responsible adulthood” is a much better message than an outright “responsible adulthood sucks.” We should be careful not to condemn adulthood too much, lest we forget that it is possible for adulthood to be great.

But there is hope in these grown-up-Disney-character movies.

Christopher Robin works for a luggage company – which is no fun, and keeps him away from his daughter, mainly because he’s spending long hours trying to figure out how to save the company money without laying anyone off.

Unlike Peter Pan (who I had to Google in order to remember he was a corporate lawyer – all I remembered from the film is that his job kept him away from his kids), Christopher Robin doesn’t quit his job. He’s certainly willing to lose his job, by the end of the film, prioritizing finding his missing daughter over a vital business meeting. But after finding his daughter, he as a “eureka moment,” runs right back into the business meeting, and presents a solution to everyone’s problems – if his boss, who owns a ton of companies, gives all his employees paid vacations, then people will have a reason to buy luggage! It’s a solution based on childish logic, yes, but it works.

Christopher does not completely reject the working world. He brings childish fun into the working world, creating circumstances that benefit everyone: his boss makes more money, Christopher and his coworkers keep their jobs, and everyone gets paid vacations.

“Incorporate childlike fun into your responsible adulthood” is also the message of the original Mary Poppins. Mr. Banks does lose his job, but he gets it back the very next day, and we’re left with the implication that he’ll balance his time at work and his time with his kids much better from here on out.

Lots of people – for example, my parents, who are teachers – don’t go for the most lucrative soul-sucking job. Instead, they take on positions that make them enough money to support their children while allowing them to be there at home for their children, and that involve the things that they are passionate about, so they don’t drain them so much that they completely lose their childlike sense of fun.

Admittedly it’s harder to write a movie about those people. Stories need conflict, and “choosing between money and family” is an easy conflict. It’s simple and quick to condemn work and uplift fun, to put down adulthood and raise up childhood. Our fairy tales are full of foolish kings and parents, and wise peasants and children. I could write a whole ‘nother article about “kid wants to pursue music, parent wants them to make money” movies – as though it’s impossible to work hard at a job you think is fun, or to make money doing something you love.

But real life is not this dichotomous. Money and family, hard work and fun, doing something for the joy of it and doing something because it will do good for the world, all of these things are important. A good, healthy life involves a person devoting some amount of energy to all of it.

And there are lots of conflicts in life even when you make the “right” choice of devoting time to family, conflicts that could create great stories. Anyone who’s ever grown up knows that it is anything but simple to pursue your dreams, to learn to live with a life partner, or to create and raise entirely new people into the world. Nobody in my wonderful, loving, hard-working family has ever pretended that any of it was easy. Instead, they’ve shown me that it’s worthwhile.

We can and should tell more stories like this. Think of Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. She works hard to fulfill her dreams, motivated by her love for her family. She takes the long, hard road to success doing something that she loves to do, using the skills that she’s developed as she’s grown up, keeping the people she cares about around her as she does so, and she makes it. That’s a healthy message I can get behind.

Come back every week for a new Thursday Thoughts!

Got a suggestion for a topic? Send it my way!

Like what you read? Consider tipping the writer!

[imagining-supernatural]

As It Seems: Chapter 16

Table of Contents

Según Parece: Lista De Contenidos

Summary: You and Dean head back home, have an actual talk about all of your options, and make a decision

Word Count: 3841

Warnings: Implied Smut

Beta’d by: @kclaire1

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

~~Dean’s POV~~

“Have we ever backed out without giving you notice? That’s right. I’ll look forward to seeing our name on the top of that list, just like normal. Thank you.” Y/N hung up the phone and took a deep breath to calm down. “I told you that your company would die without me. That was Janelle from the charity auction. She thought that since we hadn’t been in the office for the last three days that we decided not to be sponsors anymore.”

“What? We’ve sponsored that auction every year since I started the damn business.”

“Yeah.” Y/N leaned back and put her feet up on the dash as we sped through the land of South Dakota. “Well, next time you decide to whisk me away in the middle of the night, give me some warning so I can wrap up some loose ends before we go.”

Her reminder at why we’d left brought a touch of anxiety to my mood, but not as much as it should have. I knew that she could handle this kind of stress now, given that we’d been running for our lives every other day in the other timeline. “Speaking of… that agency I stole the USB from is still out there and, thanks to Crowley, they got a good look at my face.”

“They know where my apartment is too, and that you came to me.”

I glanced over at her sharply before returning my attention to the road. “What? How?”

“That guy that came to finish the job, the one that Sam killed? He wasn’t one of Crowley’s.”

Damn it. We needed to find some way to completely dismantle that organization. Well, that was the plan before, but now it was also for our safety along with the security of every financial institution in the United States. So we had to figure something out quickly. And until then, there would have to be several safety measures put in place for me and Y/N.

“Move in with me,” I suddenly blurted out.

I saw her surprised reaction from the corner of my eye and suddenly all of the anxiety from when I told her that I intended to marry her came rushing back and I hurried to justify my suggestion.

“They know your apartment. And I’m sure they know mine too, but mine is safer. I already have, like, three security systems in place. You can keep most of your stuff at your place if you want to have your own place to keep your independence or whatever will give you peace of mind, but I’d feel better if—”

“Okay.”

Just that one word shut me up and it was my turn to be surprised. “Okay? That’s it? No argument?”

“Yeah.”

My mouth worked on the next few words, opening and closing silently as I processed just how easy that had been. “You sure?”

Y/N laughed and reached over to ease my hand off the steering wheel so our joined hands were resting on the console between us. “I’m sure. We lived together in the other timeline. And moving in with you will make me feel like I’m not as much of that assistant who is sleeping with her boss here, and more like your actual girlfriend. And…” She sighed heavily. “And Sam showed me that I’m not really good at being alone, mentally or emotionally.”

I flashed back to the memory of walking into the bedroom and seeing Y/N and my brother sleeping on the couch. He’d filled me in later on what she’d said. If being alone was bad for her, then I could definitely take the challenge to make sure I was by her side.

“Good. That was easy.”

“I do know how to not be difficult every once in a while, you know.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” The wink I threw her way showed that I was kidding.

Well, mostly. She’d been more stubborn and hard-headed this week than I’d ever seen her in either timeline.

Y/N took her hand back and returned to the task of answering the emails that had piled up in the last few days. It wasn’t long until her phone rang and she answered it with her usual, “You’ve got Y/N.”

I couldn’t hear the other person beyond a few garbled noises, but I assumed it was someone calling to get ahold of her for something related to my business, so I was prepared to tune them out. I hated doing work when I was driving. Sure, this wasn’t my Baby, but driving any car was when I could forget about the weight of my responsibilities for a while.

However, my attention was caught when Y/N relaxed back into the seat. That was not the position of a professional call.

“Carson! I’m glad you got my message. How’ve you been? Mmm-hmm… Yeah.” She laughed one of her carefree, casual laughs and I clenched my jaw. Logically, I knew I shouldn’t be jealous or worried. Y/N just agreed to move in with me. She wouldn’t make that decision lightly.

But when she was on the phone with her ex-boyfriend, laughing? Well, let’s just say that the steering wheel might be getting some finger shaped imprints.

“Well, it’s about time… No, I’m good… Yeah, for about a year now… Man, I wish. No, actually, Mr. Winchester is great to work for. In fact, speaking of work, we’re going to be headed your way for a charity auction in two weeks. I was hoping you could squeeze in a lunch or dinner and we could catch up…” She laughed again and I was tempted to grab the phone out of her hand and throw it out the window. “Not quite like that one. This time it’s my job to make sure no one gets drunk and accidentally buys an ugly-ass giraffe head sculpture… You do? Why would you keep something like that? Well, to each his own. Listen, I gotta go, but let me know about lunch or dinner, okay? I’ll check my schedule too.” After a minute more of sickening pleasantries, Y/N finally hung up.

“So, Ash is having you jump right in, huh?”

She sighed long-sufferingly. “You can say what’s really on your mind. You’re not pissed that I’m a part of your secret team. You’re pissed that I’m setting up a completely platonic date with my ex.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. That bugs.”

“Well, stop it. Dean, I’m moving in with you. I’m your girlfriend. I’m only setting up this meeting so I can get a feel to see if Carson is part of the whole shenanigan to take down the banks. You have literally nothing to be jealous of.”

I snorted and gripped the steering wheel tighter. Sure, her words made sense. But emotions never listened to logic. “Yeah? Well, watch me.”

She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she went back to her phone, tapping her way through the few days’ worth of messages built up. I focused on driving and tried to turn my mind away from the image of Y/N across a table from that Carson idiot and toward the glorious moment when I would be behind the wheel of my precious car again. We were only two days from home, and if we drove through the night, we could make it in less than that.

“Hi there, this is Y/N Y/L/N. I was just calling to book a room for tonight. A suite, actually. Mmm-hmm.”

“What are you doing?” I hiss-whispered over at her. “We’re not stopping tonight.”

She covered the microphone and turned to me. “We’re not going to sleep. But I have to prove that you have nothing to be jealous of, and I once told you in the other timeline that the only car I would have sex in is yours. Well, it’s not here. And our apartments are both too far away. This hotel is only half an hour away.”

“You should have—” She should have what? Asked me? Not planned out a detour for us to have sex? Why in the world was I trying to argue this point? “Yeah. Okay.”

Her laughter filled the car when I accelerated, the needle on the speedometer climbing up past the Man, I hope there isn’t a cop around here zone.

“You are so easy,” she murmured before getting back to reserving the room. “Mmm-hmm. A suite would be great, thank you. Oh, and one more thing. Does the bed have a place to tie someone’s hands to the headboard?”

My head snapped over to her when I heard the shameless way she asked the question. She was already watching me with a half-smile and sparkling eyes. I couldn’t remember the conversation we’d just been having because I was suddenly thrown into memories of the dirty confessional underneath the bed in Garth’s RV. And now there were more memories crowding in from the other timeline as well that made me shift in my seat and press down harder on the gas pedal.

“Fantastic. See you soon.” She hung up and smirked over at me. “The Hyatt in the next town.”

I really hoped there weren’t any cops around.

*****

~Reader’s POV~

My phone’s ringtone brought me slowly into consciousness. It took me a while to figure out it was mine. When Ash cloned me phone, my settings hadn’t all transferred over which included my specialized ringtones. A glance at the screen told me that Addy was calling, and I quickly woke up. Usually when I heard her ringtone, I answered right away.

As quietly as I could, I pushed back the covers and slid out of the bed, trying not to move Dean’s leg that was thrown over mine, as I answered the phone in a hushed whisper.

“Hey sweetie, what’s going on?”

Once I was standing up and pulled on a robe, I did the mental timezone math and figured out that it was around three in the morning for her. Why was she calling me so early?

“Aunt Slushy?” Her voice wobbled.

“It’s me, Addy. What’s wrong?”

I settled into the couch in the sitting room portion of the hotel suite and focused all of my energies on the conversation at hand.

“I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. Want to tell me about it?” Why would she go all the way downstairs and grab the emergency cell phone from the kitchen drawer that my brother kept for when she went on field trips or on a trip with a friend’s family to call me instead of climbing in bed with him like she usually did when nightmares came knocking?

“Not really. You’ll always be here, right? You won’t leave me.”

Timelines and memories of the other life flashed through my mind. “No, sweetie. I promise. I’m always just a phone call away.”

“Okay. I love you, Slushy.”

“I love you too, Addy. Why don’t you go climb in bed with daddy? He’s really good at chasing away bad dreams.”

“I don’t want to wake him up. He’s always in a bad mood when he comes home from work lately, so he needs his sleep.” Oh, bless this precious child. She was always so good at picking up on people’s moods and always thought about others first. “And Cindy has been coming around again.”

I barely held back a slew of curses. Cindy was Addy’s mom in this timeline. She left when Addy was only three months old and occasionally came back, begging for time with her daughter. But she wasn’t the kind of person you would want anywhere near any child. After she tried and failed to kidnap Addy a few years ago, we’d kept an extra close eye on Cindy whenever we found out where she was.

“You daddy won’t mind if you wake him up. He might actually sleep better if he knows that he’s chasing away your bad dream.” And if he knew that Cindy hadn’t managed to somehow kidnap his daughter.

“You think so?”

“I know so. Go wake him up and let me talk to him for a minute, okay?”

I listened to the soft pitter patter of her feet as she walked down the hallway to my brother’s room. “Daddy? Daddy, wake up.”

His sleep-ridden voice came through the phone. “Hi, baby girl. Did you have a bad dream again?”

“Mmm-hmm. Aunt Slushy wants to talk to you.”

“Alright. Come here and give me the phone.” I could picture Addy climbing into my brother’s arms and hoped that his comfort would help her relax and go back to sleep. “Y/N?”

“Hey dude. I’m gonna let you go back to sleep, but you better call me in the morning and let me know what’s going on. Addy says you’ve been stressed at work and Cindy’s sniffing around again?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Is that why she called you instead of waking me up tonight?”

“Mmm-hmm. So go back to sleep now, but let me know in the morning if you want me to come up this weekend and take Addy away for a few days. Give you some time to deal with Cindy.”

“Can you get that time off work so soon?”

I nearly laughed. Everything had changed so quickly. “I worked a lot this weekend, so D—Mr. Winchester kinda owes me.”

“Alright. Thanks, Y/N. Talk to you in a few hours.”

We hung up, but I didn’t make a move to go back to the room and go back to sleep. Beyond the added stress of Cindy’s reappearance, my mind was swirling with Addy’s words. What had she dreamed about that made her so anxious to ensure that I wouldn’t leave her? And why did I feel so unsettled when I promised I would stay?

After a minute more of trying to figure things out, I decided that I was far too tired to be thinking about this. I could deal with it in the light of day. But for now, I had a sleeping Dean Winchester in a warm bed.

“Who was’at?” Dean slurred sleepily when I slipped back into bed. So much for not waking him up.

“Addy.”

“Everything okay?”

Well, when he was holding me closely like he was, how could anything not be okay? “Not really. But you don’t have to worry about it. Just go to sleep.”

He nuzzled into my neck and pressed a light kiss just behind my ear. “You know, I’m going to be her uncle eventually. So really, I will have to worry about it soon enough.”

Whoa.

I’d been keeping the Addy part of my life and the Winchester part of my life separate for so long. Even in the other timeline. They were two parts of my life that never met. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that if I married Dean, the two would become completely intertwined.

Over here, at least.

In the other timeline, the two could never become intertwined.

“Hey, Dean?”

“You told me not to hold back, babe.” He defended himself quickly. “That’s just what I’m doing.”

“No, it’s not that.” Though now that I thought about it, that should have been part of it. I should have felt at least a touch of anxiety about Dean becoming Addy’s uncle. “I just…”

I rolled away a few inches and turned on the lamp by the bed. Dean wiped at his eyes and scooted up until he was halfway sitting against the headboard. “Oh. This is a light on kind of conversation.”

“Take me completely out of the equation. Say I’m willing to go back to the other timeline or stay in this one. Pretend I don’t care either way. Would you still want to stay here?”

“But you do care,” he said slowly. It wasn’t fair of me to spring this on him right after I’d woken him up in the middle of the night. But I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until I’d had this conversation. Hell, I might not be able to go back to sleep even after we finished the conversation.

“Say I didn’t though.”

He squinted at me, trying to figure out where I was coming from.

“Look, I don’t want to go back. I’m not sure if I even can. But if Crowley’s right and the decision really does rest on my shoulders, then I need to at least give every option a chance. Sam seems pretty torn. And I’m not sure if you’re completely sold on staying here just because I am, or if it’s truly what you want.”

“Alright.” Dean sat up further, and I reached over the side of the bed to snag his shirt and pull it on. It seemed like we weren’t going to be going back to sleep soon. “Okay. I get where you’re coming from. Maybe we should look at both sides.”

“And without Crowley here, we might actually get somewhere.”

Dean chuckled. “Neither of us are very good at staying calm when he’s around.”

The room was quiet as both of us got lost in our thoughts. After a minute, Dean leaned back against the headboard and pulled me into his side.

“The other timeline does need us a lot more than this one,” he started thinking out loud. “But what can we really do? Make them sit down and talk it out? Kill the freaking Titans?”

“We would have a better chance than anyone else,” I contributed quietly. I hated that I was even thinking of reasons why we should go back.

Once again, silence fell.

If I didn’t take into account my personal life and feelings, then it was a no brainer. We should go back. But I couldn’t ignore those things either. When I told Dean that we couldn’t pick and choose the parts of our lives to consider when making decisions, that hadn’t just been me trying to get him to stop pushing for a relationship.

So besides the Titans in the other timeline, now I had to worry about Cindy and my brother’s stress levels in this timeline. Every time Cindy decided she wanted to pretend to be a mother for a while, I always ended up flying out and helping him keep her away from Addy. If I went back to the other timeline, who would do that for him?

“Do you think there are two versions of us?” I mused. “There are two Jodys, right? Two Alexes and Claires. They are alive in this timeline and in the other timeline. So if we did go back, would there also be another version of us who kept living our lives over here?”

“Then wouldn’t that other version of us be in the other timeline and there would be no need for this conversation?”

“God, I hate time travel shit,” I muttered. Sure, watching shows about it was fun because the writers created their own rules, so they stuck to them. But in the real world? Hell if we knew the rules. All that time travel really did was make one gigantic mess.

“To answer your question, though… I think I would want to stay here. My mom and dad are both alive and happy here. Sam has a real life. I have a pretty freaking awesome double life here. And I have you. And you have Addy. Everything I’ve ever wanted is here.”

That was the answer I wanted. But I knew that I couldn’t leave it at that. “So you’re saying that in a few weeks or months, you’ll be fine knowing that we left the other timeline in the hands of angry Titans?”

“Do you want me to convince you to go back?”

With a sigh, I curled closer into his side, wrapping an arm around his stomach and nudging my head under his chin. “No. I just want to make sure we don’t regret whatever decision we make. I don’t want us to take the easy way, or choose what we think will piss Crowley off.”

“Hey now,” Dean eased my head away from him until he was looking in my eyes. “Whatever we choose, which I think will be to stay here, for the record, we will be together. Promise me that. We’ll both end up in the same timeline, and we’ll stay together. As long as we have that, we can work through the regrets because we’re going to have some either way. That’s just what happens with big decisions like this.”

Promise me that.

It shocked me just how easily I wanted to promise him. After everything, and all the shit that I had to work through from the other timeline, I thought that it would take forever until I got into the position where I could promise him that. Where I could look at him and think of him as my future husband, the man that I was going to spent the rest of my life with. I thought that it would take ages for me to get over my self-loathing and accept that I was a good enough person to marry him and that I wouldn’t bring him down just by being involved with him.

But in the low-light of the lamp, I had no reservations. Come what may, this timeline or that timeline, I wanted to be with this man.

“Marry me, Dean,” I blurted out. His eyes widened and I offered a half-smile. “I know you said we could take things slow and work through our shit first, but I don’t want to work though anything without you. And we’re both legally alive here. We can get married. Then, either way we choose, we’ll be married.”

His eyes jumped over my face, taking in everything. “You’re serious.”

“I’m serious. I don’t wanna wait. We can be seen on a few dates in the next week or two for the benefit of the press, Skype with our families, but then we can get married. It doesn’t have to be a super big thing. Take a few weeks to plan, then… be married for the rest of our lives.”

It seemed like an hour passed while he just stared at me. I let him process and waited for his reaction. Would he be all for it or would he think I was jumping into this too quickly with all of my baggage that I had yet to work through?

Slowly, a smile tweaked at the corner of his lips. “We’re gonna do this, aren’t we? We’re gonna get married. For real.”

“Dress, rings, families, I Do, and all.” My smile grew along with his and a bubble of excitement rose in my chest. In the back of my mind, I waited for the inevitable heavy brick of doubt and self-loathing to crush it, but when the moment stretched on and I felt nothing but giddiness, I figured I was good for a while. I could enjoy this moment.

I was going to marry Dean Winchester.

NEXT CHAPTER

Add Yourself To My Taglist Here!

Mobile Masterlist

[wonderfulchaos69-blog]

Since my blog is looking a little empty for writing content, have an Erased fic I wrote a while ago~ It took 3 30 minute sessions with a buddy to finish, but tbh? It is actually pretty nice to have that ‘oh shit, I need to finish this now because this person is holding me accountable within this time frame’ vibe xD

We went with the prompt: “If you were logical, you would have killed me already.”

Title: Absent Fandom: BokuMachi Rating: T for Teens xD Characters: Satoru, Yashiro Summary: Satoru arrives home before his mother on that fateful day. (And one small change can often lead to drastic consequences.) Warnings: Canon-typical violence. Allusions to kidnap and murder.  Notes: Vague Yashiro/Satoru if you want to take it that way. Also, as I told Jen, ‘open ended af’~ Sorry, guys, I have a thing for Politician!Yashiro.

"Sensei," the hollowness in his own voice surprises him, but he turns and locks eyes with the man, because he wants to know, "what are you using to fill up that missing something?"

"Yashiro ... sensei?"

It doesn't sink in right away. It washes over him like a cold breath of air, slowly chilling him to the bone. It's been years since he's seen that face. Years that piled on the wrinkles and laughing lines to a once familiar face, but he can still see the man he used to know beneath it all. In the way his hair falls, disheveled, from where it was once slicked back. The motion of lunging forward, of pushing him down, makes the other's orderly appearance into something whirlwind.

"Satoru." On the other hand, there is nothing but recognition in the eyes that stare him down. A glaring red haunting him even as he turns his head and blinks. "Why are you here?"

He wants to laugh. Of all the things to be asked, he is sure that one is obvious. "I live here. I think the better question is: what are you doing here, Yashiro-sensei?"

There is a moment of tense silence as Yashiro struggles to keep him pinned down, shifting his weight to make escape something futile. Something that has no meaning here in the secluded apartment space, doors shut and locked tight. The man takes his time with a reply, even longer than should be necessary, twisting a strand of his captive's hair around his finger and grinning. "I thought your mother would be home," he says sweetly, in a recognizable way. In a tone that should have been reserved for nothing short of a trusted teacher.

Yashiro lets his words sink, bends down closer, and speaks right into a willing ear, "My, what a naughty boy you are, coming home early like this."

It's then that he recognizes the threat in the man's other hand as it creeps closer, a gleaming silver that flirts with each bob of his throat and teases a line of red against his too pale skin. It's been weeks since he's been outside, out in the sunshine, and now he's starting regret not taking that opportunity. It's beginning to look more and more like he won't be seeing tomorrow.

"How did you - ?" He stumbles over the words and cuts himself short, not wanting to know the answer in the end. It doesn't matter how Yashiro knows what he knows; what matters is that pieces of a long forgotten puzzle are beginning to fall into place. His mother noticing someone attempting to abduct a little girl. That someone being familiar - as familiar and recognizable as a beacon when you stopped to think about it. That same someone who was there, all those years ago, who could have committed all those abductions from a childhood he would rather not remember.

Memories that should have been locked away begin to rush to the forefront of his mind and he feels sick. He should have realized, long ago, recalling the words that had stuck in his thoughts for years: "Today you graduate from elementary school, but there is still so much that is missing. That goes for me, too. And yet, I think filling up that missing something is what life is."

"Sensei," the hollowness in his own voice surprises him, but he turns and locks eyes with the man, because he wants to know, "what are you using to fill up that missing something?"

The grin turns into something sharp and pointed, something more spine chilling than even the press of a knife. "You're a smart boy, Satoru. I am sure you've figured it out." He playfully pats at the younger man's face, obliging him with an answer regardless. "But if you most know ... right now, that something is you."

He swallows down the panic that rises from the pit if his stomach. Heavy like a rock, the panic sits there, stewing, and he is left with an energy that previously eluded him. His nerves thrum with a need to get out, as far and as fast as he can. There aren't many options coming to mind, but he tries to think of them anyway. Pressing his luck as he puts his hand against Yashiro's chest and shoves.

It doesn't do much, his actions, but there is a flicker of amusement across his once teacher's face before it settles into indifference. "I was expecting more of a struggle."

"And I was expecting to be dead by now," Satoru bites out before he can filter himself. Ah, I said that out-loud, he thinks. With muted horror, he pales further. He expects retaliation.

Instead, he startles a laugh out of his would-be killer. "Oh, Satoru, it was never you I was planning to kill. This simply changes my plans a bit." There is a crinkle of gloves as Yashiro pulls his knife back, lets it clatter to the floor. He grabs him by the jaw in exchange, uses his other hand to take off the glasses that have cracked in the struggle, and scrutinizes him for any further harm, tsking at what he sees. "You should clean yourself up before your mother arrives. Wouldn't want to worry her, would we?"

"What are you - " There is unbridled fury in his veins. He isn't going to let anything happen to his mother, and it fuels him on as he grabs Yashiro by the lapels of his nice suit, dragging him down. "Don't you dare touch my mother!"

Something in that sparks Yashiro's interest. With his palms flat against the ground, he looms over the person he has trapped and it makes Satoru feel as if he's back in school. Tiny and small. Helpless again to the same person that scarred his childhood. He remembers a missing friend, a missing classmate, and a friend accused of a crime he didn't commit. And here was the real culprit. The real offender who continued to commit crimes as easily as breathing.

"I will touch," Yashiro tells him, running a hand down Satoru's chest, "what I want." It is intimidation, pure and simple. A means to scare him. It works, and he instinctively raises his knee and slams it into Yashiro's gut. Not quite the reaction any of them were aiming for, but it does the trick in unbalancing Yashiro and that is the chance Satoru was looking for all along.

His heart pounding in his ears, he scrambles to get up and away. To get to the door.

He doesn't get far before a hand clamps down on his ankle and pulls, sending him to the floor with a crash. Face first and suddenly grateful for Yashiro's mindfulness in taking off his glasses. "Ah, ah, ah. Where do you think you're going?" That sense of gratefulness vanishes in an instance, along with any sense of personal space as his wrists are pinned to the floor, straddled once more by the intruder in his home. "I was being nice, and you want to ruin the fun? You've grown dull since I last saw you."

Pulled back by his hair, Satoru closes his eyes against the imminent pain that plans follow. But when nothing happens, he tentatively cuts his gaze to the side. From where he is, he can barely make out Yashiro's expression, but there is a thought there. A consideration. Right before a wide grin spreads like needles across a delighted mouth. "We're the same, aren't we."

Eyes darkening like a wave in a storm, Satoru hisses, "I am nothing like you."

"Oh, but you are, aren't you? You, too, are lacking. We're all lacking. What do you use to fill that emptiness, Satoru? Tell me."

"No." It slips out before he can stop it. He refuses to tell Yashiro anything, but the quick and resolute way he speaks his answer earns the reprimand that didn't come before it. His face slams against the floor and there are spots in front of him, dancing, a gasp ripped from his throat as he blinks back tears.

"I asked you a question. It's only proper," stresses Yashiro, "that you answer." He tries to think of something to say, something untrue, but Yashiro gives him a warning shake. "And make sure it's the truth."

He takes too long to answer and he can feel the impatience in the gloved hand that taps at his hair. Repetitive tap, tap, tapping. On a whisper, he says, "Manga," because it's what he does for a living, outside the realm of pizza delivery, but there is something that lacks in his answer. A depth that he can't find. Neither in his art nor in his life. He is lacking, but he doesn't know what. He's barely scratched the surface of his heart to find it. He doesn't want to travel that path, not into those muddy depths, afraid of the answers he'll find buried there.

"Wrong again," Yashiro practically sing-songs, but there is an amiable purr to his voice as he massages the back of Satoru's head. "But I can see that you're tried, so I'll let that one slide. Besides," the front door gives a wiggle, far away - but not far enough, "we have company. You're a smart boy. I'm sure you can guess what happens next."

[thefandomplague]

Mr. Barnes Will See You Now (2)

Prompt: 50 Shades of Barnes. VERY LOOSELY BASED!!!

Note: I do not own any of the characters or story line.

A/N: Sorry guys, this part is very similar to the books because why fix what isn’t broken. However there is more attitude in this, I repeat very loosely based. I don’t know how to write a girl without attitude so… sorry?

P.S… I know this took a little while sorry. Internet went down! >.

Word Count: 1 382

( Part 1 )

Son of a bitch you think, stupid feet! Gentle hands are around you helping you to stand up. You are officially embarrassed. You steel a quick glance as he helps you up. Holy shit! He’s young.

“ Miss Maximoff. ”

He extends his hand to you once you’re upright.

“ I’m James Barnes. Are you all right? Would you like to sit? ”

So young – and attractive, very attractive. He’s tall, dressed impeccably well and his intense, bright grey eyes are regarding you shrewdly. It takes a moment or two for you to remember to actually speak.

“Um. Actually–”

You mutter. You place your hand in his and shake hands. As our fingers touch, you feel an odd exhilarating shiver run through you. You withdraw your hand hastily, embarrassed. Must be static.

“ Miss Maximoff is indisposed, so she sent me. I hope you don’t mind, Mr. Barnes.”

“ And you are? ”

His voice is warm, possibly amused, but it’s difficult to tell from his stoic demeanor. He looks mildly interested, but above all, polite.

“Y/N Y/L/N. I have a class with Wanda, um… Maximoff…um… Miss Maximoff.”

“I see,” he says simply. You can see the ghost of a smile in his expression.

“Would you like to sit?” He waves you towards a comfy looking chair. You notice everything is white… ceiling, floors, and walls except, on the wall by the door, where a mosaic of small paintings hang, arranged in a square. They are breathtaking…a series of mundane, forgotten objects painted in such precise detail they look like photographs.

“ A local artist.” says Barnes when he catches your gaze.

“ They’re amazing. Raising the ordinary to extraordinary.”

You murmur, distracted both by him and the paintings. He cocks his head to one side and regards you intently.

“ I couldn’t agree more, Miss Y/L/N,” he says softly.

You sigh heavily and go take a seat, pulling out the recorder given by Wanda.  You are all fingers and thumbs, dropping it twice. Mr. Barnes says nothing,waiting patiently… hopefully. When you get the courage to look at him, he’s watching you, one hand relaxed in his lap and the other cupping his chin and trailing his index finger across his lips. He is trying to suppress a smile. ‘Great’ you think and mentally roll your eyes.

“ Sorry. ” You say with as much professionalism as you can.

“ I’m not used to this.”

“ Take all the time you need, Miss Y/L/N,” he says.

“ Do you mind if I record your answers?”

“ After you’ve taken so much trouble to set up the recorder you ask me now?”

Your jaw goes rigid, the annoyance rising up. He’s mocking you… You blink at him, unsure what to say, not wanting to piss off Wanda. You assume he takes pity on you because he relents.

“ No, I don’t mind.”

“ Did Wanda, I mean, Miss Maximoff, explain what this interview was for?”

“ Yes. To appear in the graduation issue of the student newspaper as I shall be conferring the degrees at this year’s graduation ceremony.”

Shit… this is news to you, the thought that the embarrassment of falling on your face and then whatever other embarrassing stuff would to come would be relived when someone not that much older then you would be presenting you with your degree… fantastic. You pull your lips into a grim line and then focus again.

“ Good. ” You swallow nervously. “ I have some questions, Mr. Barnes.“

“ I thought you might,” he says, deadpan. Yup! He’s mocking you.

“ You’re very young to have amassed such an empire. To what do you owe-”

“ My success? Business is all about people, Miss Y/L/N, and I’m very good at judging people. I know how they tick, what makes them flourish, what doesn’t, what inspires them, and how to incentivize them. I employ an exceptional team, and I reward them well. My belief is to achieve success in any scheme one has to make oneself master of that scheme, know it inside and out, know every detail. I work hard, very hard to do that. I make decisions based on logic and facts. I have a natural gut instinct that can spot and nurture a good solid idea and good people. The bottom line is, it’s always down to good people.”

“ Maybe you’re just lucky.”

This isn’t on Wanda’s list – but his arrogance is unbearable. His eyes flare momentarily in surprise.

“ I don’t subscribe to luck or chance, Miss Y/L/N. The harder I work the more luck I seem to have. It really is all about having the right people on your team and directing their energies accordingly. I think it was Harvey Firestone who said ‘the growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.’ ”

“ You sound like a control freak.” The words are out of your mouth before I can stop them… ‘Wanda is going to murder me’ you think.

“ I exercise control in all things, Miss Y/L/N” he says without a trace of humor in his smile. You look at him, and he holds your gaze steadily, impassive. Resisting the urge to roll your eyes you smile politely and wait for him to continue.

“ Besides, immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control things,” he continues.

“ Do you feel that you have immense power? ” Control Freak.

“ I employ over forty thousand people, Miss Y/L/N. That gives me a certain sense of responsibility – power, if you will. If I were to decide I was no longer interested in the telecommunications business and sell up, twenty thousand people would struggle to make their mortgage payments after a month or so.”

Your mouth drops open. You are without words for his lack of humility.

“ Don’t you have a board to answer to? ” You demand.

“ I own my company. I don’t have to answer to a board.” He raises an eyebrow at me.

You tense your jaw. Of course, you would know this if you had read the notes Wanda gave you. He’s so arrogant it’s stifling.

“ And do you have any interests outside your work? ”

“ I have varied interests, Miss Y/L/N.” A ghost of a smile plays on his lips. “Very varied.”

“ But if you work so hard, what do you do to chill?”

“ Chill? ”

He smiles, revealing a beautiful smile that makes your breathing uneasy. He really is beautiful. No one should be this good looking.

“ Well, to ‘chill’ as you put it…. I sail, I fly, I indulge in various physical pursuits. I’m a very wealthy man, Miss Y/L/N, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies.”

You glance quickly at Wanda’s questions, wanting to get off this subject.

“Are you gay, Mr. Barnes?”

You look down at the paper again to see if that is right. He inhales sharply, and you cringe, mortified. Damn Wanda and her curiosity!

“ No Y/N, I’m not.” He raises his eyebrows. He does not look pleased.

“ I apologize. It’s um… written here.”

It’s the first time he’s said your name, and for some reason you heartbeat has accelerated. Just before anything else can be said one of the blondes pops her head into the room.

“ Mr Barnes, your eleven o'clock is here.”

Before he can say anything you are standing up and walking towards the door. Stopping there and waiting for him. He smiles confused and follows you.

“ Thank you Mr. Barnes for all your time.”

You say looking down at your extended hands, not quite ready to make eye contact.

“ Of course Miss Y/L/N, it was a pleasure. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Your head snaps up to see a playful smile playing along his lips. You take a shaky breath and walk out, picking up your coat on the way. You pushed the button on the elevator and waited to go. Barnes standing just out of the elevator. He really is very good looking. It’s actually distracting!

“ Y/N. ” he says as a farewell.

“ James. ” You challenge, the doors close.

( Part 3 )

Tag List: @avengersgirllorianna

Please let me know If anyone else wants to be tagged!

XOXO - D

[scottmapess]

New Free Bitcoin Cloud Mining Site 2020 with payment proof | Earn free bitcoin without invstment

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

To have any of us in the coastal town, she asks you to leave a woman out of the subscribers can, it really is such a statement. I mean, is a tremendous Romanian terrible thing. It’s not an insider. It’s members got that. I think they stumbled on me when I was in number. Yes. It was really broke. I guess I would do that. Do you know? His name is again, jillions ask. He’s really wrong. Sort of an establishment boogeyman. Yeah, I guess you do. I think it was. You weren’t delegated at that office. What is building up, man is? The White House advance. Yes. It’s a move on everybody. It’s not even that he’s really wanted. So guys were able to go to the ballet. I’m obviously a new building guest ending up like Seneca, Godric and Jazzier BALIGA partisan database and then go to bed. Suspense is killing men. If this was suspended ASAP because a guy named soft people make a disposable income, they think we’re going to get then every subject to go down. What got her back? Was he a bad guy, though? Does he have a sustainable that are connected enough with some negative? But I think the Japanese victims can go easily at an anchor desk, guys at bay. But if I the other updated his golf Kim candidate, I’ve tried to find a way to communicate Brett Favre to that. I wanted to beat the women because of their bodies. Existing home games with abbeys Wiggins will get I think there’s a bat and if you know those up I invite could give me a reminder that I’ve got a better offer and good vibes that there will be magical gambling again. I know what I’ll do. I’ll have to submit. It evolved. I wanted it. Wondered if database but when any other mega-million or public yet any update of a database budget. I mean, hey, guys. One a blip in that gap with the pilot though. So we haven’t made us blamed any Abigale disappear because Easter it’s been depopulated. Never does. It is a bad idea, but they get it, apparently. But it’s better. I’ll get up. I’ll give us a hug. Other days of de-motivated I got base to pay with the winner gets a third of the bets on it. I might add off-grid failed to win because of the best mitt. Then it’ll be a lot domestically aspect Ligaya. And it is. They think it now is a movie and it got down to the basics of the private. I spent water and yabi. This is the two photos that have encouraged young people to sign up to think they have a favourite Escamilla. I thought up his little link. That’s it then. Do you have a photo with having been carried out? I’ve got up to look it up. Put paddleboat with the comedian because of the mental disorder and if NAPCO instead relieves me, they if for me for anything. I don’t know whether to blow up a little bit different. They made a big deal behind 1983’s had domestically as a drug cartel, but they left him to drop it. It could have been up there. They would have given him a dollar. RODOLICO About the bad habits of NAPCO transferability gonna end video? SPIG LIQUOR And I would say this fully goes down this. What about the mental dobney guys, aren’t they? They didn’t want any arbitrary fiscal gap with the cop over their payment when they received Y.A. doormat by those. I bet if this got a little Beezus got to be the exception made by some of this during the guy’s idiocy. Wouldn’t have wanted it then. It will be the day they went to the doctor anyhow. But it is because it doesn’t really seem logical and he’s never done something needed that that upended. It’ll be the guys who adopted the border with the criminals that lobbies Liesman. I think it was the buggy I got up, and when he got it at all with the bladder, when he got to get a baby, we never got to see Albert deported without it gets a bit sore. Yet our applications WLIB tell them they believe that is. The message about his memoir to raise money from the Devil is able to turn him into a zoo. You knew Socrates. He said the internet would see what was going to be ready for work. I mean, I was in his living room. It’s a good idea for the movie. It will be for neither side has any nominee. This is something that isn’t usually through our lords. You guys finally get it. I’m going to guess it would open up democracy outwardly without this new house was never a lot to do with the activism subscriber gain you reveal. Yes. Is Abdul-Hadi might be one of the last of doing business. Do you have a system whereof you often delay the invites rather than be really good? There’s no way to remember. Once in a while, you’re going gonna be an investment guy. Those acquisitions, you guys come on, stream it to the end. That’s fine. I mean, the video of the assault gives you guys dodging the and so much. Have a doctor. Right. Against what would you do differently. But you want to be singleminded would bash and his minions involved in the matter. What are you doing that at the other end of the world? It gets me and the vehicle. And so is it would never do Justice League. This is the president of the people, maybe up to some degree. I know some neighbors management would be willing to take some of these and many guys in paradise. Do we have any new farmers? And the other is only again to do a Google and do kilos. So said you went to a big deal on one guy, Fugazi Digital went to a digital forum in which he would really ask you about music and an argument with the drones to deliver the content. We had to be absolutely like. This is the committee has been drawn yet. anti-Mubarak Jimsy educators testament. I suppose you guys want to leave and as a dog owner, so restless of employees getting best out of a race to make it out. What are you going to be happening to speed up the speed of expanding that activity down year after a speed dating Gaiser work team 6:51 Domiz? We have a database obviously saying I’m putting it up outland 100g less power for the chosen 99s, partially mediator and a drug addict. That is a home we Malaysians don’t have them. Geralt party, the one designated by Dominion over the state, is getting high-speed mujahed bilat data and then the sarangi. I’ve got a natural gas-free Malang. Get out of that. And I do well in Europe. Build a wall that I see because you can. That is where people get Khatalla optimal before got to be out. That’s a one-time thing, you guys bounteous effective Daljeet. A one is McVeigh’s investment digraph but they’ve been up to is Millhiser. I mean a lot of invision that adopt there has or anti-gas bountifully minutes then he’s a bit 3mg to lock you up in the basement. Granddaddies, I’m jealous of how we missed Mystic River. He made some inroads in Western. You don’t you know one day and is never invest cursed. Good catch. Hesitating. We get angry. They were drawn to it. What did it say to watch something as Joses man? And then absolutely, positively at the mercy of a man and body cardiac Ganci. And this may be a deposit. Any luck with me? It was me that Ecuador wanted Agnes in a room with George, yet never visit, and once again unpermitted with the funk as it was of Would you can feed’s MacNaughton Nakatomi and fruits and vegetables you name as a back door. But the current because on-base to you these people are in big trouble put there and a slab saw vapidity dc you start to about going now that was exclusively quality can happen is a favourite thing to adolescent doctors, Miss McCormick. And and then you have to come into contact with me, John. And then in your house our business. Send a passerby there so you’re gonna go out with never. I mean I actually don’t get any that I present. Cannot pretend that Bojana didn’t go to have been deported. You always have to cut it out. Angelman multiple. You don’t want to 0.70 the one that top was meant and panache. Gina Abdi’s Malaysia continues to give up on people Jita cars and back on the basis is where the mid-20% neighbours at the beginning. Anthony you guys can get president mad at medivacs under-development. You guys wouldn’t be dissimilar non-visible to learn how a better society. Obviously they spend 80mm energy or find it the pendulum. three-man. What do you do? A test? I did after losing my investment advisor. And remember what an amazing vision of cutting the market. But can I take it off on an athletic company’s bed? That’s not what I mean. That’s a bitch. But if I blazer athletic athletics thoroughfare is a safe I see. Take Pentagon’s bar or political get engaged and is up as much as I can see their name because they either invite cuts at the enterprise opportunity. I mean that’s been enough to push it. It’s me that you left. Let’s do a yes. Use those forces not lost on innocent men. What other sufferers moved along? Men were drawn into the neocons who would run out of Mckendree in and out of troops and desert would be broken to take out these young men. Desert. They are based at home. Somebody’s got to be lonely. Do I want you to blame? Depended on it. Coffee. Come with you. Another reason. You give Pakistan an upset deal. What do you and get closer. But what? I’m walking the skin with that Dolpo was a moment, and then he moved on to pick it up and over there. Maybe this would only be obligated to add one other than feeling may have been dropped out of the oven when he delivered a golden age. There is a sense of dash towards you actually and resolved here. Raise me to lift him off to a then they say every rock and roll Geneva’s for bumpy, ruthless and get the social media to subscribe. Got a page that debatable never liked an anomaly. You can make enough people agree with that on Washington and dumaria as you do. And if you have a basic email and or the effects of cutting it and save it up and give it up and be released, here is if you watch it every week. How did you pay that money to go to SLC joint? Did you know what you were looking and there was expected. Geneva’s.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-cloud-mining-site-2020-with-payment-proof/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/04/new-free-bitcoin-cloud-mining-site-2020.html

[ourworldofenergy]

Still a Tesla basher? - It's time to drive a Model 3

By W. H. Luyties, editor OWOE. It seems that bashing Tesla is the favorite topic for the financial news media. Whether it’s a story about Tesla’s profitability, production woes, product quality, lack of a real market, impending competition from “real” automakers like Volkswagen, or the behavior of Elon Musk, the message is clear – Tesla is all hype with no substance and destined to fail. Apparently, the only question is when. In the present world of “fake news”, social media “bots”, and a news climate that only values the bad, how does a normal person wade through all the BS and make a good decision on what car to buy? Well, I have the answer…just go drive a Tesla Model 3. Until you have the experience of driving a Tesla, you won’t truly understand how it has changed the concept of an automobile.

Our new Tesla Model 3

My wife and I are the proud new owners of a Tesla Model 3, a car we bought on pure faith. Until we picked up our new car, our only exposure to a Tesla, or any type of electric vehicle (EV) for that matter, was an occasional sighting on the road together with whatever we could read about the car. We never drove one, and we never even sat in one. We put our name on the waiting list for a new Model 3 around the middle of 2016 with the intent to purchase the $35,000 base model. And then we waited and wondered if we were doing the right thing, knowing that we could walk away from the deal.

We decided to ignore all the bad press and instead tried to learn what we could from actual Tesla owners. We took the opportunity to talk to any owners we could corner on the streets, and we subscribed to Teslanomics, which is a Tesla community website founded and run by an early Model 3 owner. What we learned encouraged us, and we began to question not whether we should buy the Model 3, but whether we should upgrade our sights to the performance model with the long-range battery.

At the end of June this year we got the email from Tesla saying that we could now configure our Model 3 with delivery of the performance model in the 4th quarter. Shortly afterwards, Tesla hit the threshold that triggered the phase out of federal rebates. That encouraged us to shell out the additional $14,000 to get the car before the end of the year, giving us the long-range battery plus upgraded interior, with the government effectively subsidizing $3750 of the increase.

On July 22, 2018 we drove our new car home.

So how do we like the new Tesla? The short answer is that we love it. We are not “car people” and have always bought practical cars that seemed to best fit our lifestyle at the time and have never gone for expensive models or options. But we have rented and driven high-end cars like BMWs, Mercedes, and Porsches. Of course, they’re nice, but the Tesla is by far the nicest car we have ever driven, let alone owned. It is roomy (I’m 6′-3″ and fit easily); it is comfortable (5 adults can fit with only a bit of a squeeze); it has an amazing amount of trunk space (huge rear trunk and bonus “frunk” in front); its acceleration has to be experienced to be believed (you can easily make your passengers sick, if you’re not careful); it is wonderfully quiet (to the point that you have to relearn how to gauge your speed without engine noise).

What are the negatives? So far not much. There are some adjustments you need to make. For example, you have to get used to the fact that you don’t turn the car on or off. After 4 months, we still get strange feelings just putting the car in park and walking away from it. You find yourself listening to make sure you hear the beep when the doors lock. Note – they always do! We did have one early incident where my wife backed out of the garage, and the car just stopped. Nothing she did would get it to respond. Normally that would trigger a call to AAA or a towing company. But she called the Tesla service number. In a matter of minutes, the tech determined that the problem was a setting in my wife’s phone app that made the car decide she wasn’t authorized to drive. He was able to reset it, and she was ready to go. Bottom line – this is a computer on wheels with a big battery to make it move.

What about charging? Charging has required our biggest change in behavior . Our house has old wiring and only supports 110V service, which means that recharging the vehicle is very slow – 5 miles per hour. If one had to commute to work every day and could charge the car for only 10 hours every night, you are talking a 25-mile one-way commute. We’re retired, so not an issue, but we still have to think through our weekly driving plan to make sure we have sufficient battery for everything. Is it an annoyance? Yes, but compared to weekly trips to the gas station and pumping our own gas, we’re more than happy to take on this additional process. And, every time we feel like sighing when we go to the garage to plug the car in, we just think about paying about 5 cents per mile in electricity compared to 20 cents per mile in gas for the car we replaced.

And then there are the intertwined issues of driving range and recharge time. As mentioned above, we splurged on the extended range battery, which means we can plan on about 300 miles on a full battery charge. I convinced my wife that we should take the Tesla on a driving trip from our home near Los Angeles to Carmel on the central California Coast. It would be our first big adventure on the road and at about 360 miles one way, the first time with a Tesla Supercharging station.

Although we were a bit nervous, it turned out to be pretty cool. On the way up, we stopped at a 10-charger station at the Marriott hotel in Buellton, right off the 101 highway. There were 4 slots open when we got there (the car tells us that). Simple as can be. You just pull up and plug the cord in. I kept looking for a place to put my charge card. Nope. When you plug the car in, Tesla knows it’s yours and automatically bills the credit card you have registered on the app. How easy is that? We spent awhile chatting with the woman next to us. She said the charging stations are somewhat of a social gathering for Teslaheads (my word, not hers, and when did you last spend 10 minutes at a gas station talking to someone, other than the guy who wants $2 bus fare to get home?) The Marriott had nice restrooms (a very pleasant change from your typical gas station), a restaurant, and some comfortable chairs in the courtyard to read (which is what we did). There was also a McDonald’s two doors down. We ended up spending about 45 minutes, but it seemed much quicker than that. The Tesla app even keeps you updated on the status of charging and warns you about 10 minutes before it finishes. On the drive home, we tried a different supercharger at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Once again, we had about a 40-minute recharge, but there’s a nice coffee shop at the Inn, and, perfect for us, a Starbucks about a block down the road. We took our Kindles, had a latte and relaxed. No doubt the trip took longer than it would normally, but even my wife, who likes to get places quickly, said that it was about the most relaxed long driving trip we’ve ever taken.

How about cost? Upfront cost is undoubtedly the biggest hurdle right now for EVs. Americans have historically looked only at initial cost as part of the decision making process. That makes sense when you are only comparing gasoline powered vehicles which must meet mandated minimum mileage limits. Gasoline costs, insurance costs, and even repair costs are mostly linked to class of vehicle. So once one decides on the right class of car, initial cost is the only cost parameter needed. But an EV is a different animal, and one must logically look at total cost of ownership (TCO). Last month, CleanTechnica did a TCO comparison of the Model 3 to popular cars such as the Toyota Camry. Their conclusion: “In the mainstream sedan market, it offers a dramatically superior product at a similar cost of ownership.”

After 4 months of ownership, we’re sold – on the car, on the technology, on playing a more proactive role in reducing our fossil fuel use, and on the subtle changes in lifestyle that come with such a vehicle. Once you drive one and get to experience these feelings, I think you’ll agree that the internal combustion engine is a technology that cannot survive the competition. The only question is when. And I’m betting it’s a lot sooner than experts are currently predicting.

Published by Our World of Energy

Still a Tesla basher? – It’s time to drive a Model 3 was originally published on OurWorldofEnergy

[alamante]

These thoughts have not been generated by an algorithm or crowdsourced on Twitter. They are the accumulated wisdom of a middle-aged man in Japan.

A middle-aged man who’s available for rent.

Wearing a shirt with a miniature panda bear print and smiling inscrutably, Ken Sasaki, 48, has a vibe that is anything but that of a disgruntled middle-aged Tokyo man.

With gray hair, visible lines on his face and loss of youthful slimness, he is more like a free-spirited bohemian in a strange disguise.

Throughout an hourlong Skype interview, in which comments are tediously ferried back and forth through an interpreter, his energy and enthusiasm never flag, and his answers grow more expressive and thoughtful with each question.

It’s all part of his job as a rented “ossan,” the Japanese word for a middle-aged man.

He allows himself to be hired by anyone, for nearly any purpose — not involving physical contact — as long as they pay his hourly wage: a mere 1,000 yen (about US $9). And he loves it.

REGAINING HONOR

As in many cities around the globe, most people in Tokyo prefer anonymity when it comes to their wants, needs and vulnerabilities.

Urban citizens may be desperate to get advice from an older, wiser person, but they don’t want to turn to the guy they’ve worked with for years or the uncle who remembers the tears shed over a broken toy truck. Someone familiar might judge them.

It’s much better to pour your woes into a stranger’s ear, grab the good advice and run … or so goes the logic of Takanobu Nishimoto, 50, who founded an online Ossan Rental service in 2012.

Renting a stranger for advice and meeting in, say, a cafe means you will never have to meet again, he said: “Stories will spread if clients talk to someone they know.”

This is where men like Sasaki come in, lending an ear to strangers while renewing their own value in society.

Nishimoto’s inspiration came when he overheard “high school girls making fun of middle-aged men on the commuter train,” particularly their hairy ears, and calling the men “smelly” and “dirty.”

Previously admired in a male-dominated Japanese society, ossan are now struggling to maintain a positive reputation in the fast-changing culture where values are in flux.

“I never realized that ossan were disrespected that much,” Nishimoto said. “I thought, ‘I need to regain the honor of ossan.’ “

CHANGING IDEALS OF MASCULINITY

After Japan’s defeat in World War II, “militarized masculinity,” in which an officer was seen as a key version of virility, essentially came to an end, said Sabine Fruhstuck, director of the East Asia Center and a professor of modern Japanese cultural studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“During the postwar decades, a new ideal of masculinity emerged, primarily embodied in the white-collar salaryman (essentially, a middle-class business man type),” Fruhstuck wrote in an email.

The dominant ideal of masculinity became a man with a “good income, clean office work, willing to sacrifice himself more or less for a company, married, with two children,” she added.

Yet even that ideal soon ended.

Many middle-aged men became jobless amid economic troubles in 1989, and a new class of predominantly male freelance workers (known as “freeters” in Japan) emerged in an economy further battered by the 2008 financial crisis and the Fukushima disaster in March 2011.

Freeters work short-term or part-time positions in a variety of businesses, including IT, marketing, retail and restaurants.

“During the last couple of decades, particularly, middle-aged middle-class men have lost a lot of their cultural power,” Fruhstuck said. “In popular media, they are often cast as backward, stodgy, uninteresting.”

But the cultural power vacuum has not been an opportunity for women either, as male-dominated institutions continue to discourage them from entering leadership positions, Fruhstuck said.

Ultimately, she believes that Nishimoto’s sense of lost honor is not imaginary, but whether his rental business can restore the reputation of middle-aged men is another matter.

A STARTUP IS BORN

Though it started slow, his website has roughly 45 ossan rentals a day now, or 10,000 encounters per year, said Nishimoto, who works as a fashion adviser and stylist when not monitoring his ossan.

His website boasts almost 80 “uncles” in 36 cities, including Nishimoto’s base of Tokyo, as well as Kyoto, Osaka and Tokushima. The mentors’ past and present occupations include engineer, tour operator, financier, real estate and insurance entrepreneur, marketing and HR manager, driver, and a research and development scientist who now runs a technical consultancy company.

Nishimoto says he himself has met or been rented by roughly 5,000 clients since founding the service.

The token payment is just that: a symbolic gesture that helps both the clients and uncles respect the transaction. “Existence of the payment makes us do it properly,” he said.

Recruiting ossan is a breeze, with Nishimoto getting at least 10 inquiries a week from wannabe professional uncles. He guesses that about 10,000 men have applied for the job, though only 78 currently fill the role.

When choosing an ossan, Nishimoto prefers “weird” men with obvious disadvantages, “men outside the spotlight.” Some applicants get crossed off the list immediately, such as those with “shady desires.”

“It would be better to have only good-looking men,” he conceded, as they would naturally attract more customers, but that would bore him. Besides, the more popular ossan are gentle-looking men who are good at listening, he finds. Divorcees and those who have gone through a tough time and come out the other side are also well-liked. “They can listen, understand another’s pain,” Nishimoto said.

Apparently, many clients are in psychological pain: About 70% use the service for consultations or talking, Nishimoto said, while the other 30% request “manual” help, such as lifting boxes.

When he started, expected that the bulk of his clients would be “gentle, obedient Japanese boys” needing advice from “older, more experienced men.”

“The young men did not come,” he said. Instead, eight times out of 10, clients are women, Nishimoto said.

There’s a branch of the ossan rental service to fulfill immediate requests, he said, since many customers want to talk “now”: “Her husband cheated on her; she had a quarrel; she’s being harassed at work.”

However, Nishimoto does not permit chat sessions or phone calls. He likes the “very analog” quality of an in-person meetup that makes people “a bit nervous.”

“You arrive at the location and look for who is coming to meet you,” he said, describing it as an exhilarating experience.

‘LIGHT-HEARTED’

An international Skype session — an exception to the rule of in-person meetings — with Sasaki reveals his Fukushima birth and life in central Tokyo, where he works at a web technology company that provides platform services, including gaming and dealing cryptocurrency.

He’s played violin for 30 years, taking it more seriously while at university. His favorite composers are Shostakovich, Bruckner, Sibelius and Beethoven. “You don’t have to think a lot to play Beethoven’s music; you can play nonchalantly in an entertaining way,” he said.

“Forty percent of my ossan rental clients want something to do with the violin,” Sasaki said. “Another 40% are questions about IT work, and the other 20% are asking advice for their lives. These are mainly younger people.

“My profile on the ossan rental website has a very light-hearted atmosphere,” he said. Though he notes his occupation in IT, he bills himself as someone who plays the violin and shogi, or Japanese chess.

BIZARRE BOOKINGS

Usually, Sasaki is rented out just once a week for variable amounts of time, less than other uncles, but some of his assignments tend toward the bizarre.

Once, he was invited to play violin for just five minutes at the birthday party of a teenage girl “who is crazily fascinated by Korean pop stars,” he said. There were only two other girls there, “and they were saying ‘please, please, please, sir.’ ”

They wanted him to wear the mask of a Korean pop star whose name was unfamiliar to Sasaki. Dutifully, he put it on and played his violin.

The entire time, the birthday girl kept “shouting the star’s name at me — a totally disguised man,” he said. “I found it strange, but that was their request.” The three girls were so fascinated with Korean pop stars that he, in turn, became fascinated by them and curious about the meaning of their obsession.

Another request came from a woman in her 50s who asked him to accompany her to her dance recital. The woman, who studied tango and waltz, didn’t have friends or colleagues to attend, so she hired Sasaki to cheer her on.

One man who played shogi online requested that Sasaki meet him at the chess center to play, an experience the man found awkward to do alone because of a disability.

“I have to use my brain quite a lot to deal with these requests,” Sasaki said, “and there’s a lot of interesting encounters, and these encounters give me inspiration.” The meetings with clients widen his horizons, he said, and inspire his violin playing.

Yet, not all encounters provide fruitful motivation, he said. There was an invitation to play violin at a New Year’s Eve party attended exclusively by women who were all nursery school teachers. Though some were “beautiful,” Sasaki said, “their conversation was like a Japanese version of ‘Sex and the City’ — very open. And I was the only man there, playing my violin.”

‘PEOPLE IN THE SHADOWS’

Nishimoto said there’s a strict “no-touching” policy with his clients, and ossan are not intended to be rented out for intimate purposes.

Looking carefully at the website, researcher Fruhstuck is not so sure.

“Some men are featured as ‘new products.’ Each is described with bodily measurements, date of birth and what they offer (mostly conversation, drinking together, etc.),” she said, adding that Nishimoto has even written a romantic advice column.

“All of this indicates to me that this is likely a casual dating site without saying so,” she said, adding that “sex and romance” could be an “expectation on all sides involved.”

“If so, that would simply be yet another variation of a range of such services in Japan that include hostess clubs, host clubs … and similar businesses that provide conversation, flirtation and, possibly, romance and sex,” Fruhstuck said.

“Perhaps there are really people who rent middle-aged men just for consultations and lifting boxes. Who knows? I bet most people would find it creepy to email a random guy on some website to come help them.” However, similar assistant services exist in the United States.

But Nishimoto doubts ossan rental would be popular in other countries, because he hears that “middle-aged men and father figures are still valued in other countries.” In Japan, that’s not the case, he said, based in part on the fact that clients have rented him to play a father’s role — despite their real fathers being alive and well.

Fruhstuck agrees that middle-aged Japanese men have experienced a “downfall” in terms of societal respect.

Sasaki hopes ossan rental services will spread and include obasan, middle-aged women. This would make the world “a fun place,” he said.

Like Nishimoto, Sasaki believes that the general impression of middle-aged men in Japan is “not good compared to other countries.” They are “people in the shadows.”

“The old community has been destroyed,” Sasaki said. The kind of community once found in schools or companies no longer exists, “and a lot of people are finding they don’t belong anywhere and they have no place to ask for help or advice.”

Nishimoto believes the ossan rental service became popular because it makes people wonder: Why are middle-aged men available for rent? This, he believes, becomes a subtle way to raise their value.

Fruhstuck, though, takes a dim view of ossan rental as a means of increasing respect: “I’d doubt that this is of benefit to anybody [other] than the individuals directly involved.”

Source link

   The post Middle-aged men for rent in Japan appeared first on MySourceSpot.

[captainjackssingalongblog]

So the box synopsis of this movie sounds really interesting: a group of college kids decide to measure whether or not thoughtforms can manifest in realty and everything goes horriby wrong, indicating their thoughtform does manifest and they must destroy it, right? Except that’s possibly not what this movie is about at all. I will denote [SPOILERS] before they happen, should you wish to avoid them. Apparently my descriptions of what actually happens in this movie are funny or something.

I was disappointed in this movie for several reasons: the plot was based on someone being an idiot; the apparition doesn’t ever make a full appearance; it provides neither closure nor sequel fodder; and the apparition spends most of the movie just being a dick.

The acting was good, if somewhat overdramatic on the part of Girlfriend #2. The neighbour kid, however, is brilliant. Score reasonably thriller-y. Effects quote good. The first 15 minutes of the movie might as well have been from a different movie though. That first 15 minutes had me. I was ready to be terrified, like blanket to the chin terrified of this movie. And then its momentum sort of died. The apparition stopped being a malevolent murder-ghost and become just an irritating asshole who kills the neighbour’s dog because it seemed fun at the time. The whole sense of dangerous murder-ghost, forgive me, gives up the ghost at that point. Even if we do bring back Murder McMurdermist, I’m just not set for scared anymore. They completely overextended the suspense in this one, having played their fear card at the onset, and it kind of killed it for me.

And below the jump: a re-enactment by Captain Jack.

The first 90-150 seconds is a grainy 70s home movie of the basis for the college kids’ endeavours called “The Charlie Experiment”, wherein a bunch of paranormal investigators try to contact their recently deceased pal Charlie. If these kids are dealing with thoughtforms, why do we care about a group of 70s investigators trying to contact an actually recently deceased person?

Wait, what the fuck is a thoughtform? Remember the episode of Supernatural Hell House? That. That’s a thoughtform: have enough energy invested in believing in a thing and it manifests as reality. At least that’s the somewhat logical conclusion of the idea of thoughtforms. They are in fact based on a Tibetan idea called Tulpa, mentioned in the episode, but Tulpa is more realistically about the power of enlightened persons to manifest things for positive reasons not scaring the shit out of people.

And we’re back. So these college kids decide based on The Charlie Experiment to will a ghost into existence? Yeah, I don’t really follow that logic either. If you do, please explain. But anyhow, they do it. Led by intrepid investigator Tom Felton--who has clearly made at least one poor life choice since the Harry Potter franchise came to an end--a group of students with nothing better to do decide to will Charlie, the aforementioned actual dead guy, into existence in what appears to be a university crawlspace they’re probably not actually authorised to be in.

So based on the box synopsis we know they succeed and something terrible happens. They apparently will Murder McMurdermist into existence and its first act is to kill its mother: it grabs Girlfriend #1 and literally hides her body in the walls. Ok. This could be good, right? That’s fucking terrifying. Well, then we randomly pan to a chick in a vet’s office to meet Girlfriend #2. Girlfriend #2 is the second shown girlfriend of Not Tom Felton. GF2 and Not Tom Felton are moving into a property owned by her parents to keep it company until it finds real tenants. Then spooky shit starts happening. Plants inexplicably wither and die, doors open without triggering the alarm they went out of their way to show you was engaged, weird mold shows up, an invisible rabid raccoon plays cat’s cradle with GF2′s scarves. This all takes way too long. They run away. They come back. GF2 discovers GF1′s untimely drywall related death. GF2 breaks up with Not Tom Felton, gets back with Not Tom Felton.

[SPOILERS] And when the apparition finally makes a sort of appearance as a red blob on a heat sensor, intrepid investigator Tom Felton returned to save the day! But not before telling them that he fucked up. Bigly. It boils down to him explaining that they didn’t so much will an entity into existence as open an interdimensional doorway just enough for it to be a murder-douche the one time. Then Tom Felton had a brilliant idea that he could catch it if he did it right, only he didn’t do it right and he freed the murder-douche. He escaped its clutches by hiding in an anti-thoughtform Faraday cage, so it gave up and went after Not Tom Felton because it could scent track him or some shit, I don’t know. Oh! The IMDb page says something about it feeding on fear. They probably should’ve mentioned that in the movie. Well, Tom Felton talks them into letting him try his experiment one more time because he’s sure it’ll work this time and he’ll send Murder McMurdermist back from whence it came. They agree. Even though he has a horrible track record of this not working at all. I guess they were desperate or something. Ok, so he did try to suffocate GF2 in the hotel room with her own sheet, but otherwise he’s just been an asshole. Haha. I moved your dresser. Whoops. I killed the cactus. Sorry! I opened all the doors. Check that A/C bill! You know, the kind of shit bored teenagers do to their babysitter.

So anyhow, Tom Felton saves the day and GF2 and Not Tom Felton can go back to their normal lives in their giant house in the middle of nowhere. [SPOILERS] Not! Murder McMurdermist survives! And the first thing he does is eat Tom Felton with the closet. So Not Tom Felton and GF2 flee to Tom Felton’s Farraday Cage of safety! Well, the apparition has left Tom Felton’s journals on auto replay for them to hear. Turns out he neglected to let them know that all of the Charlie Experiment participants died horribly before inviting them to do the experiment that’s not really the same thing at all, but still. Disclosure is important. You don’t invite someone to bed and wait until morning to tell them you have herpes. Dick move. Turns out the Faraday Cage either doesn’t work or is broken. Not Tom Felton dies horrible and GF2 makes a break for it. She runs and runs and runs. Straight into the camping section of their local Lowe’s? She zips herself into a tent and a bunch of  grimy hands pet her softly and tell her it will be ok. Apparently that’s how they kill her or something.

But yeah, there’s no resolution here. We haven’t sated the apparition’s desire for revenge or something. No one else knows it exists because it ate or murdered everyone else. Is it just loose on a new plain of existence to slaughter everything in its path? Is it benevolent now that enough fear has allowed it to fully manifest? Does it walk down the street in a suit asking you to call it George? What?

Some people aren’t bothered by lack of resolution, but I see it as poor writing. Yes we have an end. Everyone dies, I get it. But we haven’t solved anything. We haven’t learned anything. You may think “it’s a horror movie what the fuck are you supposed to learn”. And that’s fine. But even Zombieland had a fucking point. Maybe the point is “you reap what you sow” or something similar, but that doesn’t account for GF2. She had nothing to do with anything other than dating the wrong guy at the wrong time. But then maybe that’s part of the point. Being peripherally related to people who fuck shit up will probably get you into some shit. So don’t be friends with heroin addicts. Ok, fine. But I was still unsatisfied at the end and a large part of it was that the basis of the movie didn’t make sense to me. The Charlie Experiment wasn’t a thoughtform experiment; it was a can we contact the dead experiment. How that turns into a thoughtform experiment still doesn’t make sense to me. If it was a thoughtform, it shouldn’t have had any affect on GF2 unless Not Tom Felton brought it up, which he was determined not to do. If it wasn’t a thoughtform, why was it so obsessed with these people? And the biggest unresolved question of all: what happened to the lizard?