#had an instance where i could have easily broke down due to shit happening at work/my boss and i could've cried but i didnt <3 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

buckychristwrites · 2 years ago

Text

About You | Day 8 | j.t.

Summary: Your job? Pop culture journalist for The Independent. Your assignment? To write a profile on the cocky footballer that you're publicly feuding with.

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Discussing tits?? Cussing. Enemies to lovers

A/N: Let me know what you think! :)

Masterlist | About You Masterlist | Main Blog

“Holy shit!”

Keeley’s face was horrified by the picture on your screen. It was your face the morning after the match. The bruising had spread from the bridge of your nose to your forehead and your cheeks. The swelling had been minimal, and you were lucky that you hadn’t gotten a black eye. You had still taken the day after the match off, however, for that reason, and because you desperately needed to get started on the article.

Though, it had been weird being away. That had been the first day in a week where you didn’t see or hear from Jamie. There were too many instances where you thought about texting or phoning him. But ultimately, you didn’t speak to him at all. Maybe that was why you were able to be so productive. You had gotten a decent chunk written, and had transferred the audio, video and picture files all onto your laptop and organised them.

But now you were back in action, face caked in makeup to hide the extensive bruises and anti-inflammatories taken to bring the swelling down. When you ran into Keeley in the car park, she had asked if you knew why Jamie had been pulled from the match. Roy, she had said, was so angry about it, despite the win they still claimed, that he just couldn’t tell her. So of course, you had to tell her what had happened.

“He really pummelled him though?” She asked. You nodded. She looked pleased. “Good for him. That prick sounds like he deserved it.” Retelling the story had brought back the feelings from the day prior, making you shake your head.

“I’ve never been defended like that before.”

You weren’t looking at her as you stared at the picture of yourself, but you could feel her studying your expression.

“Jamie’s amazing to have on your side once you have him,” She said in a quiet voice. When you looked at her again, you could see what she was thinking just by the look on her face. It felt like she was seeing right through you, reading your mind. Maybe she was.

“He is,” You finally said with a nod. She nodded back in understanding, biting back a smile.

You tried to distract yourself from the butterflies in your stomach. The breeze felt nice, blowing just enough to cool you down from the sunny warmth without being considered too windy. It felt a little too bright outside, but maybe that was from the injury you were sporting. Your head had been incredibly sensitive, easily developing a headache at the drop of a hat.

“Quite a relationship the two of you have developed over the last week,” She remarked innocently before taking a sip of her coffee. You broke eye contact as you began to look around.

“It’s crazy what can be accomplished after yelling at each other in the car about our feelings,” You told her.

Keeley was never a stupid woman, and you never took her for one. You could dance around the topic as much as you wanted, but you could tell by the way she looked at you in this moment, that she knew everything about the conundrum going on in your head. For a brief second, you considered the idea of talking to her about it. Maybe she’d have some insight for you. She was, after all, the most qualified person you knew to give you advice when it came to player number 9 of AFC Richmond. You took a deep breath.

“Can I tell-”

“Are we workin’ out here today?”

The both of you jumped a kilometre in the air before whirling around. Jamie approached with a look of amusement on his face.

“Fuckin’ Christ, Jamie,” Keeley scolded with a hand dramatically over her heart. “You nearly gave me a fuckin’ heart attack.” He couldn’t help but grin mischievously while she continued to shake her head. Your heart was racing, and you knew it wasn’t just due to the fear you had felt moments before.

“Sorry,” He said, without an ounce of apology in his tone. When he glanced at you, he immediately looked away, the smile on his face seeming to fade away. “Erm, would I be able to talk to ya?” He asked, his eyes finding you again. You looked over at Keeley with a look that begged her to stay.

“Well, see you guys later!” She said. If you hadn’t been paying attention, you would’ve missed the wink she gave you before scurrying off and disappearing through the door.

“Right, erm.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking around as if something in the car park would help him. You watched him carefully. He looked so guilty, and sad.

“I just, erm…” He tried again, but trailed off. Finally, he inhaled, clapping his hands together. “We missed ya at practice yesterday.” You bit the inside of your cheek.

“I missed it too,” You said. Though you knew that’s not what you missed. “I just… I just needed a day for proper work and rest, I think.” He nodded in understanding.

“Your face looks much better than I thought it would,” He said, lifting a hand to point to where you got hit. You stared at his fingertips and remembered how they felt when cradling your head in that little room during the match. It was like your cheeks had the feeling burned into them, for they suddenly grew very warm. You felt embarrassed by how much you wish he would do it again.

“I’m wearing makeup,” You admitted before showing him the picture on your phone. His hand instantly went to face, running downward from his eyes to his chin before dropping back down to his side. His knuckles on that side were covered in bruises, and you had to actively tell yourself to look away.

“I should’ve been more worried about keepin’ you safe than lettin’ me anger get the best of me,” He said. “I know you said it wasn’t me who hit ya, but it still wouldn’t’ve happened if I hadn’t acted like a loon. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m just so sorry.”

You wracked your brain in a desperate attempt to say something, anything, that would make him feel better. But you knew it was all in vain. You knew, in that moment, he was hearing his dad in his head, calling him a fuck up and a monster, or whatever it was he was thinking. But it was all in his expression, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the pavement.

“You stood up for me,” You reminded him. “You were trying to protect me and keep me safe.” He nodded.

“I was worried ‘bout you bein’ upset by the way you rushed off after the match.”

It was true. When you had woken up back at Richmond that night, with Jamie’s arm around you and head using yours as a pillow, you were filled with a lovely feeling. The team were piling out at the time, clearly having seen the two of you already and no longer paying it any mind. You had woken him gently, allowing him to pull away from you on his own before you rose from your seat. A quick goodbye was exchanged before you left, trying and apparently failing, to appear nonchalant as you stepped off the coach and headed to your car.

“Then you didn’t come in the next day,” Jamie continued, shrugging his shoulders. “I just… I just wanted to make sure you and I are alright.”

You wanted to comfort him with more than just words. With a hug, or the squeeze of a hand. It didn’t feel like the right moment, and you weren’t sure how he would handle the gesture, so you decided against it. You were suddenly hyper aware of your hands at your sides, so you shoved them in your pocket.

“Of course we’re alright,” You said. “No other mate of mine would ever do what you did for me. You may have just gotten promoted to my best friend.” This seemed to placate him, for his face relaxed, now smiling slightly.

“You don’t have any friends who’d break a person’s teeth for ya?” He asked, astonished when you shook your head. “Sounds like ya need to get new mates, yeah?” You turned and started to walk towards the door, him following close behind.

“What makes a person a good friend to you?” You asked him as the fresh air turned into air conditioning. The hallway seemed more sparse than usual, but you wondered if that was because the two of you were now considered tardy.

“They just give a fuck about ya,” He explained, waving to the always excited security guard. “I used to think a good mate was just someone who I knew for a long time and could go to the club with.” He took a long moment to think. “But… now I know that the length of time doesn’t matter, it’s the quality of the person.”

As much as you felt bad about it, you were shocked by his answer.

“That was really thoughtful, Jamie,” You said, staring at him in awe. He straightened his posture.

“I can be thoughtful, sometimes.”

Upon entering the changing room, you were surrounded instantly by players, who all began talking at once and looking over you. You looked around between all of them, overwhelmed as you tried to pick out some of what they were saying.

“Is your nose okay?”

“We were worried when you didn’t come in yesterday!”

“Is it broken? It looks the same…”

“Gentlemen!” You announced, raising your hands up. They all stopped, the silence a huge contrast from a moment before. “My nose is fine, and not broken. It’s just very bruised and painful. I just needed to get some work done and rest my head yesterday, but I missed you all too.”

They all calmed, even looking happy at your words.

“Where’s the bruising?” Van Damme asked, looking closely at your face. “I don’t see any.” You pulled your face away.

“I’m wearing makeup, goofy.” He straightened, making an O shape with his mouth.

“Women are so magical with their makeup abilities,” Dani said in a dreamy tone. “Shapeshifters, they are.” Rolling your eyes with the biggest smile on your face, you turned around and returned to Jamie, who had been watching the whole exchange with an amused grin.

“They really like ya,” He informed you. In the middle of pulling your notepad from your pocket, you froze and looked at him.

“They were more than worried when you didn’t come yesterday, they were havin’ a strop about it.” He pulled his shirt off. You tried not to stare. “Kept askin’ me if you were in hospital or somethin’.” You looked around at the team, who were now getting changed and not paying you any mind. It hadn’t occurred to you that you hadn’t just turned things around with Jamie, you had also changed things with them, as well. When you had started coming around, just over a week ago, they were all standoffish towards you, sending glares at every chance and keeping their distance. Now, they seemed to care about you just as much as you cared about them.

The coaches entered, looking around at the team. Their eyes all fell on you at once, and you thought they would be indifferent. But they all seemed to look almost relieved at the sight of you. The moment was gone as quick as it started, as they began to address the team while you took your notes.

Back to business as usual.

It was an average day on the pitch. For the first hour, you watched as normal. But you began to feel yourself getting antsy, as it seemed to be something you had been watching the same thing over and over again. You thought about the things you’d need from the article. Plenty of pictures filled your phone of him playing, but maybe taking pictures of the stadium itself would be nice. There were lots of pictures and posters of him hanging out that had been proudly displayed by ownership. Maybe you could get a comment from someone who wasn’t a player.

Taking one last look at the pitch, you snuck off to the tunnel. You made an effort to not look back once more to see if your leaving was noticed. The prickle you felt on the back of your neck let you know that at least one person was watching you.

There was something so serene about the club when the hallways weren’t swimming with people. The history on the walls were so fascinating, and being able to have the chance to walk around and actually soak it in made you giddy. Meeting people and interviews were all well and good, but this was your favourite part of your job. The research, the learning, the things you got to see that the layperson did not. You looked at every picture of previous teams, looking for familiar faces and feeling excited when you actually found them.

When you got to the current team’s picture, you felt a surge of pride as you took a photo of it. This team had become so important to you in the last week, and you found yourself wondering if you would feel the same in a week, a month, even a year. Would they say hello if they saw you at an event? Would they reply to your comment amongst a sea of fan replies on Instagram? Would they even care to remember you once you're gone?

As per usual these days, your thoughts floated back to Jamie, the same questions still standing. You knew these feelings went far beyond friendship at this point. Would it even matter, in the end, after you went back to your normal job? You’re just you, and he is Jamie Tartt, footballer legend extraordinaire, the best of his generation. He had pieces done about him all the time by interviewers from around the world. Fans adored him, and would cry, yell and faint on the street over him. He met women and men who were, let’s face it, richer, more beautiful and more interesting than you ever could’ve dreamed of.

You were just a silly little journalist who caught a silly little crush on the mad famous footballer. The one who, incidentally, you had hated just a few months prior. What a world.

“Are you alright?”

You shrieked, whirling around to find Rebecca Welton standing there looking like an absolute bombshell while also looking positively fearful.

“I’m so sorry,” She said as you slapped a hand over your chest. “I just saw you standing there-”

“No no, it’s alright,” You said, finally catching your breath. The skin on your cheeks felt like it was melting off from how hot they were. “I just got lost in thought, is all. I’m okay. How are you, Rebecca?” She looked surprised, even hesitant, by your question.

“I’m well, thank you.”

The two of you just stood there for a long moment, looking around awkwardly. You put your phone in your pocket before folding your hands together in front of you. This was the first time you had seen or spoken to her since the first day. While you weren’t going out of your way to avoid her, it did make you feel better to not see her. The first impression you had gotten was that she didn’t really want you around, so you felt you were helping her out by keeping yourself scarce.

“The team seems to have warmed up to you,” She said, a little quickly. “Keeley says that Jamie and you have become… quite close?” You nodded.

“Shocking, I know,” You said with a laugh. “It was a surprise to everyone.” You wished deeply in that moment that she was easier to read. She was smiling, but she was the type of person where she could smile at you while also planning your murder and allocating the resources and money for it at the same time.

“I do hope that means that the negative articles about my players stop,” She said, still smiling. In this moment, you wished desperately that you were back on the pitch. Or maybe dead in an alley. Anywhere, really, would be better than this.

“Yes, I’ll find someone else to slander,” You said. Your heart dropped, stunned, when she actually laughed at this. The sound of it sucked the air from your lungs.

She began to walk away, but stopped, raising a finger before turning back to face you.

“Are you still going to the Gala?”

You looked back at her again.

“I am,” You told her. “Wouldn’t miss it!” She nodded, looking around the hallway before back at you.

“Have you decided on an outfit yet?” She asked. “It’s black tie.” You shook your head.

“I have some dresses in my closet. I’ll probably go with one of those.” This time, it was her turn to shake her head.

“Oh. No, no,” She said, waving you off. She looked you up and down, seeming to assess you. You could practically see the wheels turning in her mind. “I’ll send you some ideas. You let me know which one you want, and I’ll have it sent to your apartment by morning.”

Your eyebrows knitted together, your mouth now agape.

“Rebecca, I can’t let you do that,” You said, the shock filling your voice. “I appre-” She waved you off again, which made you shut your mouth.

“I won’t hear a word otherwise,” She said before giving you a lovely smile. “Just let me know which one you think suits you best. Preferably by the end of the day.” She turned around and began to make her way down the hall, leaving you dumbfounded.

“Thank you!” You called after her. She didn’t speak, but instead she waved behind her. You continued to watch her.

“Do you already know where I live or something?”

When the team returned to the changing room, you were already on the bench in front of Jamie’s locker with your legs crossed atop the wood. You had returned to take pictures of the locker room, having gotten what you wanted from the rest of the stadium. Now, you sat on your phone, scrolling through the dresses that Rebecca had sent you.

“Where’d you disappear off to?” Jamie asked, leaning over your shoulder to see what you were looking at. He let out a low whistle. “What are those for?”

“The Gala,” You said, trying and failing to hold back your excitement. “Rebecca said she’d get me whatever dress I want. For free!” You huffed. “I can’t decide which one though.” Snatching your phone from your hands, he began to scroll through them himself.

“These are for you?” He asked quietly, looking at you before looking at the dresses. You eyed him nervously, about to ask him to give you his honest opinion when-

“What’s for you?” Sam asked, taking the phone from Jamie, who gave him an angry look. Sam studied the phone, about to open his mouth before Isaac took the phone from him, who then had it immediately stolen by Van Damme.

“This one is lovely,” Van Damme said as he started to show you which one he was referring to, but then Richard snatched it from him. When he looked through the options, he snorted.

“You are crazy!” He said to Van Damme. “The best one is this one!” Colin yanked the phone, although it was quite a fight this time as Richard had quite the grip on it.

“This one would really bring out her eyes though,” Colin retorted, showing Richard another one. Dani grabbed the phone and looked, giving you a precious smile.

“You would look lovely in all of these,” He said kindly. You blushed while Bumbercatch looked over Dani’s shoulder.

“You have to pick the best one, bruv,” Isaac grunted. “We already know she’d look lovely in all of them!” You peaked over at Jamie, who was a mix of annoyed and amused. Everyone began debating, voices louder and louder as time went on. You watched the entire thing without the smiling on your face faltering at any point.

The door to the coaches’ office burst open, and Roy and Coach Beard made their way out. Their presence did not calm a soul in the room.

“OI!” Roy shouted. Everyone froze to look at him. He looked around at everyone, being sure that every single person in the room got an individual glare before saying, “What the hell is going on here?”

Within ten minutes, the dresses had been printed out and taped to the whiteboard, your phone having thankfully been returned. Coach Beard was at the board with a pointer in his hand. Everyone was talking over each other.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, let’s talk this out like adults,” Beard exclaimed as the voices slowly came to a stop. “Now through door number one is this lovely ankle length dress with a straight cut neckline and spaghetti straps.” He paused for a second, presumably for the drama. “Elegant. One might even say… chic. A beautiful red for a black tie evening. Will definitely stand out.”

“What if she doesn’t want to stand out?” Jamie called out.

“It’s a Charity Gala, Tartt. Every woman wants to stand out!” Isaac shouted.

Jamie rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath about how none of these blokes know you at all. You ignored the flutter in your tummy as you continued to watch the mayhem.

“Door numero dos!” Beard exclaimed, a little louder this time. “A pink mini dress with a frilly skirt, heart neckline and no straps.” You shrugged.

“I don’t know if I have the tits for that one?” You admitted. The room erupted, everyone yelling at you. You shrugged defensively, throwing your hands up. “I’m just saying!” They continued to pop off.

“You have beautiful tits!”

“It’s not the tits, it’s the heart of the girl who wears them!”

“Who made you feel so self conscious about your tits? I’ll fucking end them with my bare hands.”

“Oi!” Jamie stood up, raising his hands and looking at the team. “Stop fuckin’ talkin’ about her tits, yeah?” Everyone mumbled in agreement as Jamie slowly sank back into the seat. “Fuckin’ innappropriate that is. Borderline sexual harassment, in my opinion.”

“And last, but certainly not least,” Coach Beard continued. “We have a long, floor length black dress, slit down the skirt, with a straight neckline and no straps.”

“It’s too similar to the first one!” Sam pointed out, which the rest of them roared in disagreement.

“You just don’t understand fashion, Sam,” Colin said, ignoring Sam’s look of absolute disgust and shock towards the back of his head.

“But it’s better than the first one,” Richard pointed out. “The skirt slit makes it just-” He lifted his fingers to his mouth, kissing them before opening them again. “Chef’s kiss.”

“It has the elegance of the first one without being… aggressive with the redness,” Isaac remarked.

They continued to debate passionately. You looked at Jamie, who, for the first time since you had ever known him, remained perfectly silent, just listening.

“What do you think?” You asked him, in a quiet voice so only he could hear you. He looked over in surprise, eyebrows to his hairline.

“Me? You want my opinion?” He asked. You shrugged.

“I’m getting everyone else's, may as well chime in,” You said. You decided not to tell him that as much as you loved the chorus of loud opinions coming from the rest of the room, the one you wanted most was his. He stared at you, searching your eyes, before turning and looking at the dresses. A few moments passed before inhaled deeply and spoke again.

“The black one.” It was so confident of an answer. “Number three.”

“Why that one?” You asked, turning to look at it again.

“The first one makes you look like you’re going to your ex husband’s weddin’ and you’re tryin’ to make a point. The second one looks like somethin’ you’d wear to the premiere of a children’s movie.” He looked at you again, his eyes going up and down your body, before turning back to the board. “The black one just feels like you. It’s simple, but still se- still nice.” He nodded in confirmation. The two of you met eyes again and he swallowed. “The black one is perfect.”

Not waiting another second, you stood up.

“I’ve made my decision.”

They all looked at you expectantly. You paused for dramatic affect, and the longer you waited, the more impatient they all got. It was a little exhilarating.

“Number 3,” You declared. “I’m picking the black one.”

The room erupted once more, a mix of enthusiasm and disappointment. Before it could get too chaotic, Jamie stood.

“It’s her fuckin’ choice, yeah?” He yelled. “Either be happy for her or keep your mouth fuckin’ shut.” Despite the aggression in his words, you could see the twinkle in his eye, and when he met your eye, he winked before smiling at you.

It wasn’t until you went to sleep that night that the smile on your face faltered, but even in your sleep, there was still a slight whisper of one on your lips.

#jamie tartt #jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt fanfic #ted lasso fanfiction

491 notes · View notes

rachelbethhines · 4 years ago

Text

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel’s Return Part 2

Continuing on from part 1 -

https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/635068926214258688/tangled-salt-marathon-rapunzels-return-part-1

Summary: When Rapunzel tries to defeat the Saporians by herself she gets captured; but once Varian realizes that the Separatists plan on using one of his potions' destructive properties to destroy Corona, he and Rapunzel work together to stop it.

Let’s Talk About What a Let Down the Sapiorans Are

Throughout seasons one and two the Sapiorans were built up to be this intriguing race of people with a complex past and real problems that are sadly relatable to this day. They had a history, goal, motives, and special abilities like magic.

Yet all we got was a really bad hipster parody.

Heck, the crew can’t even keep it’s stereotypes right because they mostly slide into hippy territory instead. Hipsters, Yuppies, and Hippies are three distinctive counter culture movements for three different generations with completely different social concerns and fads.

Basically Chris tried to “stick it to the kids” again and just wound up insulting his parents' generation instead because he’s that oblivious of other human beings.

And that’s not even taking into account that previously the Sapiorans were living on the run as nomads in caravans not dissimilar to common Romani stereotypes, so the show is once again making negative racial connotations due to thoughtlessness.

Why Do You Have a Secret Underground Room Hidden Behind Your Workshop Xavier?

Like that not a thing normal people happen to have lying around there workspace. We still are given zero explanation for why Xavier has all this plot convenient knowledge and rare unordinary plot useful stuff.

Given his previous connection to Saporia and Zhan Tiri wouldn’t it not have made more sense to reveal that he is an actual plot important character in season three rather than keep him as just the exposition fairy?

So Was This Before or After the Saporian Take Over? Cause Either Answer Makes This a Dumb Plan.

Why would the guards, especially Cap, just give up? Did they even bother fighting and then lost to Varian’s weapons or were they told to stand down by a brainwashed Frederic? If they knew something was wrong then why not stay and help? What makes them think they even could find Rapunzel given how no one knew where she was heading and her letters were infrequent? What difference would they think finding Rapunzel would do?

Basically, just like with the “former cellmate” line, we needed to actually set up and establish this conflict rather than relying solely on exposition dumps. Because what we get here doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It goes against established character and leaves a lot of unanswered plot holes.

More Promotion of Authoritarianism From the Show

Remember that these are the same people who formed a lynch mob to hunt down a fourteen year old all because the king told them to. The same king who had been lying to them for years and placed their lives and homes in danger for months. The same king who persecuted the poor and orphans for years. Him suddenly sending townsfolk to the mines isn’t anything new, so what are these people’s breaking points? Anyone else would have revolted by now.

But noooo, they need Rapunzel to do it for them. Cause Rapunzel is royalty and they can’t do anything without royal permission because they’re sheep. Sheep that’s been subjugated for years and conditioned to be afraid of their “beloved ruler”.

I understand from a meta point of view why you would want your main character to take charge but...

Like this isn’t inspiring.

It’s disturbing.

Why are we promoting blind loyalty to a person who’s not earned it just because they were born special? In a freakin’ kids show no less!

Oh and still no one bothers to call out King Frederic’s abuses here, FYI.

Take Note That Quirineon is Activated By Heat

This will be important later on in the review.

He’s Already Built Grenades For You. Wouldn’t Those Be Better Because They’re Easier to Control?

He’s already built explosive chemicals for you. You just used them in part one of the episode. And it came in an easy to use form rather than an unstable, and untested, mess that could literally blow up in your faces since no one, not even Varian himself, knows how to control it yet.

You Don’t Hammer Out a Cast Iron Pan

It’s literally in the word. To make a cast iron pan you pour the metal into a casted mold. You don't hammer it out like you would with a sword or something. And you can’t even go with the “rule of cool” here cause Rapunzel surrounded by molten metal and fire would have been far more impressive looking.

Yes I’m being picky cause I’m stalling. I don’t care. This is just yet another instance of the crew not paying attention to details like they should.

Behold The Final Time Eugene Will Ever Call Out Rapunzel’s BS

This is the last time Eugene will hold an honest discussion with Rapunzel like an equal to her. By the end of this episode he will have transitioned into full on doormat mode.

Also burying negative feelings and not addressing issues is who Rapunzel is. She’s been pulling this shit since day one. It’s what causes 90% of the conflicts in the show. Have you not noticed Eugene?

So This Episode Has Contradictory “Lessons”

The episode presents this idea that Rapunzel needs to open up to others and trust again after Cassandra’s betrayal. The problem is that the episode doesn’t follow through on that. It makes a knee-jerk decision to go with a “responsibility” lesson that wasn’t built up to instead at the last minute.

More on this later.

Varian Doesn’t Actually Interact With the Saporians at Any Point.

The only person Varian interacts with is Andrew. We have no concept of how he fits in with the rest of the group and what his dynamics are with them. What do they think of Varian? What does Varian think of them? The consequence to this is to further divorce Varian from narrative, even though this is supposed to be his redemption episode.

As I said in the last part, you can easily write Varian out of this episode and nothing really changes plot wise. That’s bad writing.

Also I was robbed of Khary Payton and Jeremy Jordan exchanging lines. I was this close to having audio material for my BH6 crossover, dang it!

Behold The One Time the Black Lady Gets a Line!

I think her name is Juniper?

You can tell it’s her because of the shadow on the wall.

Anyways they casted this part and only bothered to give the character a single line? What a waste!

But this just goes back to the series' poor representation. The only WOC in the show are presented as “shifty” and untrustworthy, even when they are ultimately “good guys”. The majority of them are straight up villains tho, and even as antagonists they’re not afforded any real screen time.

And the only other outright black women on the show is the inventor lady who was given zero respect and the ghost of a barbarian.

Once again, I don’t think the crew are intentionally racist. I think they’re just sloppy. They wanted to be more inclusive but they failed to actually give voice to minorities behind the scenes and so failed in representing them well. This is a problem with the industry as a whole, not just this one show, and must be talked about as such if we wish to change things for the better.

None of this “Stuff” Holds Any Real Meaning

We get several callbacks to season one through Cassandra’s personal things that she left behind, but none of this stuff holds any real personal meaning. It’s just there. They wind up triggering these big emotional reactions from both Rapunzel and Cassandra but the audience is just left confused because what they’re crying over are things that have little significance to these characters. Even this line from season one is just dripping with sarcasm and not some pleasant past memory that either Cass or Raps holds dear to their hearts.

Way To Go, Dumbass

It’s not that she went alone, or that she broke down when it finally hit her that Cass left, that I’m making fun off. The episode already addresses those two points.

No, what ticks me off is that Rapunzel has taken down killer robots, ghosts, and monsters before now with her magical hair but a handful of regular dudes can just bring her down? I don’t care how much alchemy they got. Depowering your main character for no stated reason just for narrative convenience is poor writing.

Because If He Didn’t He Would Have DIED, Rapunzel!!!

He literally would have freakin died had he not done something! He was left inside a jail cell to rot away! Before that he was threatened with hangman’s noose! Before that violence from an angry crowd! Before that he was left alone to starve and/or die from exposure! There was no way out for him except to fight!

And here you are inside the very prison that you kept him in and you still don't have the fucking self awareness to put two and two together!

This Right Here the Assassination of Rapunzel’s Character and the Killing Blow to the Series

Yeah, and what about after the storm? Hun, bitch!?

We’ve spent two damn seasons watching Rapunzel stepping on people and making excuses for herself and the one time when she should realize her actions are wrong and finally own up to her behavior and she still does not fucking change.

This is supposed to be a coming of age story! That means the main character is supposed to grow and learn shit! But when it matters most, Rapunzel only digs in her heels and refuses to change!

Why should I care about this character anymore if she’s just going to keep on being selfish no matter what? Why should I bother watching the show if it fails to deliver on its premise? How is this in any way shape or form an appropriate message for children!?

If you’re watching the series for the first time, then it’ll take awhile to register just how awful this scene is and how it really is the beginning of the end, because they did have time to turn things around after this. But they didn’t, and here we are.

This Isn’t a Real Apology

It’s not a real apology if all you do is make excuses for yourself. Rapunzel doesn’t address what she actually did wrong here and it has nothing to do with her stupid promise.

She neglected and enabled the abuse of a child for a year and three months, and she’s not even sorry for it!

You Were Never a “Friend” Rapunzel

Friends, actually do shit together. They enjoy each other’s company. They care when the other is hurt or in trouble.

Rapunzel only came to see Varian when she needed him for something. Even now, after this confrontation, that’s all she’ll ever do. She does not actually care about Varian, because the creators will not let her care.

And Here Comes the Death of Varian’s Characterization

In order to make this stupid, forced, “redemption” work the writers had to do a complete 180 with Varian’s character and his motivations. Instead of freeing his father, seeking revenge, or just, you know, surviving, he now suddenly cares about “being friends” and “being accepted by people”, only he has no reason to want any of that!

Rapunzel is a shit friend. Heck all the mains are crap friends to him. They ruined his life and the townspeople tried to kill him. Why would he want anything to do with any of these a-holes!?

Varian doesn’t get assassinated in the same sense as Rapunzel and Cassandra do. He doesn’t suddenly become a hateable dumb douchebag or anything, but he nevertheless has his character retroactively sabotaged by the writing.

Uh, Were You Not There When Your Dad Rounded Up a Lynch Mob Against Him, Raps?

I believe you were. Also Varian literally told you to your face that he had to go into hiding cause the townspeople were willing to attack him just because those rumors that you failed to stop and pretended not to know anything about.

Just because the characters shout something repeatedly does not make it true. The audience isn’t dumb. They can remember what happened only two seasons ago.

Where Was the Inciting Incident For This Change of Heart?

Why should he even want their forgiveness? Why has he given up on freeing his father? Why is he having second doubts about overthrowing the kingdom that persecuted him?

If you’re going to drastically change a character’s motivations, goals, and moral alignment then you need to present an in story reason for that change. We don’t get that. There’s no inciting incident on screen for us to see the shift in his character development.

The audience is left to only infer, and that’s poor writing. The audience shouldn’t have to do the work of the writers for them. Characters’ motivations and goals should not be guess work.

The only thing we can glean from this is that he had a change of heart while in prison and that’s a horrifying thing for the show to suggest. That’s basically justifying Frederic’s abuse. It also recontextualizes Varian’s arc into one of submission to his abusers and not one of learning to do the right thing simply because it’s right.

Once Again, Were You Not There For Season One Rapunzel?

They had a year and three damn months of chances. These people actively tried to do him harm just for simply seeking help. He has no reason to trust them nor you.

Why Are We Shoulding All of the Blame Onto the Abused Child?

Yes, he did do all of those things, technically, but they’re being presented here without context.

The Queen enabled his abuser who was threatening his life and destroyed his home. He kidnapped her as a last restore when all other methods to get out of his desperate situation failed.

The princess he threatened neglected him for three months and repeatedly refused to help him, even throwing him out into a deadly snow storm. Despite him being her responsibility, thereby making her neglect a flat out abuse of power.

He would have died a slow and painful death in prison had he not helped to overthrow the kingdom that persecuted him.

I’m not going to pretend that what Varian did was right or that he shouldn’t feel sorry for what he did, but this is a highly skewed version of events that are being recounted here just to create bias in the viewers. It’s manipulative writing intended to gaslight the audience.

Also, why does he even want a second chance!?

Doesn’t This Undermine The Saporian’s Goals?

The Saporians wanted to reclaim their ancestral homeland so that they would no longer be a displaced people. How does blowing up that homeland help them?

Season three just throws all logic out the window. There’s barely a single villain who doesn’t undermine their own goals at some point with their stupid actions.

So Why Varian and Andrew Not Some Other Team Up?

Out of all of the various recurring baddies in the show Varian and Andrew have the least in common. I’m not saying that they couldn’t work together, but doing so required more set up than this. Because as is, this is a very contrived teamup.

They have diametrically opposed goals and moral alignments. Varian doesn’t bring anything to the table that the Saporaions couldn’t have supplied themselves. Meanwhile the Saporians have failed to offer Varian anything that he could want.

At best it’s a marriage of convenience for them to both break out of prison together, but even that is contrived because we don't know why neither of them were sent away on the prison barge with the rest of the season one villians.

Better combinations would have been

Varian & Lady Caine

Andrew & Lady Caine

Varian & Cass

Andrew & Cass

Varian & Zhan Tiri

Andrew & Zhan Tiri

Varian & Hector

The Baron & Varian

Andrew & Staylan

King Trevor & Varian

Like there were tons of options here that the writers just ignored, even though any of them would have made more sense than the one they went with.

The Andrew and Varian Dynamic Can Be Seen as an Allegory for Grooming; Unfortunately the Writers Didn’t Consider That Implication.

Yeah... That’s pretty much what Andrew has done here. He’s groomed this desperate and lonely teen to become a child soldier for him. And one only can only pray that’s all he tried to groom him to do since they were trapped inside a confined and enclosed space together for several months.

Listen, I don’t mind children’s shows touching upon darker subjects. Often fantasy is a good way for people to process complex themes and uncomfortable real world situations through the safety of fiction. It can even be helpful for those who have had the misfortune to experience certain traumas.

I’m not complaining that TTS is too dark.

I’m complaining about it being shit.

All of the crap Varian goes through is just thrown in there for shock value. It’s not here to commentate on the real world nor provide a complex story. The situations are brought only to then be outright ignored. This isn’t thoughtful nor deep. It’s not meaningful nor heartfelt. It’s just hollow drama done in bad taste.

You’re Not In a Position to Judge Rapunzel

You got captured first because you decided to throw yourself a pity party.

Would He Though?

I’m pretty sure Quirin is very well aware of how shitty Frederic is. If anything I would think he’d be pissed that his son, that he tried so hard to protect, was mistreated in such a hordenous way.

This isn’t some satisfying ending to Varian’s arc. It’s a heartbreaking revelation that he’s been beaten down by his abusers.

Varian’s Arc Isn’t Actually About Validation, and Rapunzel Giving It Here Doesn’t Really Change Anything

I spoke about this before on its own, but Tangled the Series places far too much stock in validation. Yes, it’s an aspect of his character arc, but it’s not the end all and be all of his motivation. It’s not the force that drives him to do what he does.

His primary goal is survival, both for himself and for his father. His secondary goal is gaining his father’s approval, but that’s not because he’s seeking generic praise, it’s because his father is emotionally distant. The “validation” is a mask for the real issues which are to fix his relationship with his dad and avoid the guilt of having possibly killed him in an accident.

Rapunzel has fuck all to do with that.

He doesn’t need to hear approval from her. He needs her to get her shit together and help him!

Rapunzel’s and Varian’s Situations Are Nothing Alike and Rapunzel Doesn’t Know Jackshit

Rapunzel you were dumped by your bestie because you’re a shitty friend.

Varian was neglected and abused by those who were supposed to take care of him.

Unless you’re drawing parallels to how Frederic and Gothel treated you, and even then neither of them denied you basic fucking needs!

This should be an “Oh Shit! I’ve become just like Mother Gothel” moment for Rapunzel, not an “Oh yay! Someone to share in my personal misery” moment.

Man, Rapunzel suuuuuucks!

Also This Still Isn’t An Actual Apology

Once again, Rapunzel is not admitting what she did wrong here. She’s not actually acknowledging Varian’s pain, nor what she needs to do to make admins with him.

What she’s doing is making things all about herself again. She’s talking about her feelings. About what she is facing. Rapunzel is an incredibly selfish and egotistical person and the show is trying to present this as a positive thing by rewarding her for such behavior.

Varian’s Redemption Should Have Nothing to Do with “Friendship”

Varian has no reason to want to become friends again with the woman who ruined his life and abused him.

But more than that, redemption shouldn’t be dependent upon Rapunzel’s friendship, nor even her ‘forgiveness”. Varian should be able to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing, Rapunzel be damned.

This cheepens not only his character development but also Rapunzel’s development as well. Rapunzel is not allowed to grow as a person and accept that not everyone wants to be her friend, and that people may have valid reasons to hate her even, and that doesn’t make them evil.

It also rushes through Varian’s arc undermining what the audience had to get through to get to this point.

OK, Let’s Talk About The Goatee

I wouldn’t have minded the beard had it just not looked like a fucking barcode. There’s production art where it looks fine. But just wiping it away ties back to what I was talking about in part one. It’s denying Varian the chance to grow up. This is supposed to be his coming of age story as well but the crew won't let him do that because “rule of funny” apparently overrides what the characters actually need in order to develop.

Once again, the show isn’t a sitcom. You can have comedic moments but the comedy doesn’t need to outright undermine the drama.

Once Again, Shouldn’t Eugene Be the First Person to Jump to Varian’s Defence?

You mean the orphan on the streets who stole stuff and fought to survive when the adults failed to take care of him? Is that what you’re talking about Eugene? Cause if I remember correctly that was you not just three years ago.

You Mean Rapunzel Needs Him To Make Her Feel Better About Herself

Spoiler alert, but Varian doesn’t actually do anything after this point in the episode. His entire “redemption” is just about making Rapunzel feel better about herself after Cass has rejected her. He’s literally become the rebound.

How Come Varian Suddenly Became Shorter Just for This Shot?

I know the meta reason is to reflect that scene back in Queen for a Day when Rapunzel promised him that she'd help him before everything went tits up. Where he was also drawn shorter in that episode to make him seem more verunable, but here he’s just suddenly shorter for only two shots and then suddenly back to his usual height.

Crap like this is why I insist that Varian didn’t actually get any taller in season three. The show just has always been inconsistent with his height and most of the “evidence” for his growth are cherry picked instances where the show drew him smaller than usual for reasons, like here.

So Where Did They Get That Much of the Explosives and How Did They Get Them So Fast?

Only Varian knows how to manufacture that stuff. Why would he make that much of it if he was still in the experimental phase with it? He’s even surprised that they have so much, so where did they get it? If they made it then, how did they make it so fast?

So This Plan Goes Nowhere

Spoiler alert: Varian doesn’t actually get to do any of that. In fact he’s kind of pointless for the rest of the episode.

Why Would the King and Queen Care About a City That They Can’t Remember?

Like this revenge doesn’t make sense. It’s just a contrived way to get Eugene and Lance out of the way.

If the Quirineon Explodes From Being Exposed to Heat Then What Good Does Just Dropping It Do?

Yeah, remember? The stuff explodes when heated. Simply dropping it shouldn’t do anything other than make a mess on the ground maybe.

All That Build Up and Varian Still Doesn’t Get to Do Anything Useful

Up till this point, Varian was shown to be the most competent threat in the show. Yet here they have him be a screw up twice in a row just for comedy antics and to glorify Rapunzel again.

If you got to nerf other characters just to make your main look good then you’ve failed to establish your main character as being capable in their own right.

Remember That This Boy Was Trapped in a Jail Cell With This Guy for a Year!

No, I’ll never be over this.

Andrew is the most directly violent and scummy out of all of the villians in the show.

If he’s willing to do this now, if he was willing to do this to his ex-girlfriend, then what the heck was he willing to do when he and Varian were trapped alone together?

So Andrew Just Willingly Sacrifices His Own People Here....Even Though His Goal Was to Give His People a New Home....

People need to use this gif more often when concerning this show and the villains’ ass-backwards plans.

And yes they survive because of Varian alchemy. But that was on accident. Andrew had no way of knowing that would happen. He’s willing to destroy his own people just to blow up his ancestral homeland and for what!? What does he gain from this action?

The Mind Wipe Kills Frederic’s and Arianna’s Characters; Littraly

Frederic and Arianna are effectively dead at this point. Anything that made them, well them, has been wiped away. Their personalities, hopes, dreams, their on going stories and development, just gone. And we never get them back, even when their memories supposedly return.

Varian’s Not Even Allowed to Get the Idea On How to Save Corona...In His Own Redemption Episode No Less

This is his episode! We’ve spent two years building up to this point and you can’t even let him help? He’s denied the chance to make up for his own mistakes! Just so Rapunzel can play hero and be a very shallow representation of what a bunch of men think a “strong” woman should be!

It’s fucking insulting. That’s what it is.

Making a female character the center of the universe to the point where other people are just props for her is not empowering!

No It’s Not!!

Uh you wouldn’t even be here had you just fucking helped Varian to being with you dumb bitch! This is very much you and your father’s mess!

Even now, while pretending to be responsible, Rapunzel can’t actually be responsible and own up to what she did!

She’s fucking 20 and the 16 year old shows more maturity than her!

Also Your Hair Can Protect Two People at Once Rapunzel; Remember?

There’s no excuse for leaving Varian out of the action. We’ve been shown multiple times now that Rapunzel’s magic hair can protect her and other people at the same time.

Having Rapunzel Save the Day By Herself Undermines Everything the Episode Was Trying to Establish

What happened to needing to “trust again” and letting other people help you? Having Rapunzel save the day alone just tosses out the lesson that the show was trying to build up to.

The show tries to frame this as Rapunzel learning “responsibility” but that also does not work. For one it was never established that she needed to learn that within the episode itself and secondly, she doesn’t actually do anything different from what she usually does.

Being an action hero isn’t the same thing as being responsible. Being responsible is being considerate of others, doing the borning shit or mundane crap that you hate, and being mature enough to recognize your own failings and admitting when you were wrong.

So in the end Rapunzel is neither responsible nor more open to others.

And There’s the Death of Eugene’s Character

Lance, who has maybe exchanged all of three sentences with Raps, is more distrught than the guy that supposedly wants to marry her. This isn’t heartwarming, nor it is growth. It’s just lobotomizing a character right in front of our eyes.

In this very episode he was worried about Raps going to face the Saporians by herself and was, guess what, fucking right to do so. But he doesn’t give two shits if she gets blown up!?

Ooookaaaay.....

This is the completion of turning Eugene into a doormat. From now own he shan’t be allowed to have any thoughts or feelings of his own that disagrees with Rapunzel.

The Eugene we knew is now dead.

But Of Course the Show Rewards Everyone for Behaving In the Dumbest Way Possible Anyways

Don’t expect any of these grossly out of character moments and oxygen deprived logic to be addressed nor fixed within the show. The series will keep on shoving unearned endings into our facing while insisting that this is positive development.

How Did Y’all Get Here Before Varian?

Yes, he was left on a roof, but he can climb and y’all were outside of the city.

Yeah... A Year and Half Fucking Later!

Ok, a year and three months, but that’s still not any better. Worse, all this implies is that Rapunzel would not have ever concerned herself with trying to free Quirin had Varian not broken out of prison. She would have literally left them both for dead and we’re supposed to find her suddenly doing the bare fucking minimum heartwarming and inspiring?

Where Was the Inciting Incident to Use the Decay Incantation for This?

How did Rapunzel come up with this plan? When did she come up with it?

When the hurt incantation was first found no one mentioned how it could be used to save Quirin. No one even gave Quirin a thought. Since then the incarnation hasn’t been brought back up, ever. This is a pretty big leap in logic for Rapunzel to suddenly think of this.

All it highlights how Varian was originally meant to be there to translate the scrolls and incantations in order to establish all this but of course it got cut so now it just comes the fuck out of nowhere.

Not Letting Varian Have Anything to Do With Saving His Father Is Even Worse Than Not Letting Him Save the Day

This has been his motivation since the beginning. It’s been the driving plot for a season, and now that the time has finally come what does get to do?

Hold a dang bucket.

Part of coming up with satisfying endings is following through on what you’ve established. The audience needs closure. Simply freeing Quirin isn’t enough, we need the carthartis of Varian specifically fulfilling his goal.

I don’t know how to break this to you Chris, but this isn’t Rapunzel’s story. Not this segment of it anyways. It’s Varian’s and it just so happens to connect to Rapunzel’s. She shouldn’t have been center stage for this.

The Series Blows It’s Load Too Early with the Incantations

This is the last time we’ll hear any of the incantations sung on screen, cause someone in budgeting didn’t know what was important to throw the money at and what was not.

It’s not bad here, but if we could only hear one incantation only once this season it needed to be in the finale with the final heal incantation.

Varian Was Right All Along

Also, all this does is justify Varian’s actions in season one. Rapunzel was indeed the only one who could free his dad according to this. For a series that desperately wants to shove all of the blame onto an abused child’s shoulders they sure go out their way to prove him right.

So How Is the Hurt Incantation Suppose to Work?

There were so many fan theories after this scene because Varian and Quirin don’t respond to the hurt incantation the same way previous characters had.

No one is gasping for breath, Varian can touch Raps without burning his hands, and Rapunzel can control the direction of her power. ect.

Turns out there was nothing there, the writers just didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and made the hurt incantation very inconsistent just like all of the magic in this show.

BULLSHIT!!!

You literally turn into a villain because she gave up on you!!!!

She also didn’t give two shits about you throughout the entirety of season two.

Why are we just pretending like season one didn’t exist!?

Why!?

The Note!!!

No It Fucking Didn’t!

Does That Look Like “I’m Proud of You Son” To You?

Chris went on to confirm that, yes, the note did hold more information that then got cut. Pretty much confirming all that we suspected. That Varian was cut from season two and his story hastily shoved back into season three at the last minute.

Below is the link to the tumblr post he made.

https://cnotes.tumblr.com/post/190534585146/apparently-one-of-the-writers-said-a-while-back

What’s worse is that his defense is such bullshit. The below exchange pretty much sums it all up.

This Doesn’t Actually Resolve Anything and Is Therefore Unsatisfying to Watch

Part of the reason why this conclusion doesn’t work is because it doesn’t actually address any of the problems that they have in their relationship. Quirin never owns up to what he did wrong. There’s no discussion of what Varian was up to while he was entrapped, no conversation about what secrets Quirin hid from his son, and zero admission of wrongdoing on either side.

Also Varian has done nothing significant to earn those particular words. Saying I love makes sense, but in context saying “I’m proud of you” does not. It doesn’t even work on a meta level cause the episode prevented Varioan from accomplishing anything.

It’s empty.

There Could Have Been More Screen Time to Fix This If Not for Season Two Mucking About

https://discord.com/channels/427940661589704715/569296212218347522/777635115978457098

Above is the link to the original storyboards. It doesn’t fix everything but there’s a lot more satisfying emotional beats including adding Ruddiger back in who is suspiciously absent for the entire episode for no stated reason.

This version was cut due to time. Which, like with the Crossing the Line song, didn’t need to be had they been more effective with their usage of time in season two.

They also could have had a better conclusion to Varian’s arc in general had he not been cut from season two altogether.

So What Does Freeing Quirin Add to the Series?

I’m serious. What does freeing Quirin at this point and time do for the story?

It doesn’t add any character development, Quirin just wanders around aimlessly in the background until the finale and even then his part in that is a pointless dead end. Varian doesn’t gain his emotional closure, just empty, hollow “praise”. Nor is he allowed to accomplish any of his established goals. No new lore or history is exposed. No mystery uncovered.

There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done later in the season. Provide more tension and keep up the consequences of the characters actions. Give the mains something to do and work on until Cass and Zhan Tiri show up again.

The only reason why this is here is to wrap Varian’s story up as soon as possible so he won’t “steal Cassandra’s spotlight”. That’s it. He’s rewarded for conforming to Rapunzel’s will and all the fans should shut up and be grateful, at least according to Chris.

I Like This Song But It Wasn’t Needed

It doesn’t add anything to the story. It’s just a generic celebration song. Which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a limited number of songs, even less than in previous seasons, and the story isn’t over yet. This is the wrong place to put a victory song at.

Especially when we could have had a song that furthered Varian’s redemption instead. Yeah, that was cut too.

So Is Varian the New “Lance” This Season?

He’s right there! This is his dang focus episode!

Why hire Broadway singers and not let them sing!? Why waste talent and money like that?

Also These Lyrics!

Did Glenn Slater just not read the scripts before writing the songs? That’s all season three ever does! Give the mains what they want without earning it. Even in this very episode!

So Is This Rapunzel’s 20th Birthday or Not?

Ok I have gotten into many a heated debate about how long season three is supposed to be. And that’s because what the crew says doesn’t match what the series shows us.

By all accounts this should be Rapunzel’s birthday. According to season two she’s been gone for one year, and there’s the lanterns that they fly specifically on her birthday.

But no one verbally says it’s her birthday and I’ve heard conflicting accounts from different members of the crew. Some stating that it is her 20th birthday and some disagreeing that it is.

Well I’ll take what evidence that the show actually presents to its audience on screen over what the cast and crew says after the fact any day of the week, so I’ll be gathering up this evidence and proving by the end that season three is two years not one.

But the fact that I must comb through series to prove this, the fact that we can even have this debate, and the fact that the crew have to state basic info after the series is over is just proof of the bad writing.

Fun Fact: Cupcakes Weren’t Invented Until the 20th Century

Yeah, that’s the fault of the OG film, and yeah it doesn’t really mean much, but still it’s one more thing to add to the pile of stuff that doesn’t fit.

Plus I’m just a hardcore nerd for historical cooking and I like to share my knowledge.

Yeah But How Can He Trust All of You Again?

You’re the ones who let him down first; repeatedly. And you only started to make things up to him once he became useful to you. What assurance does he have that you won’t mistreat him again next time he’s in trouble or is no longer of any use to y’all?

Yes, Let NOT Show What the Main Character Is Actually Going Through

Yup, this is “Rapunzel’s show” but we’re not going to let Rapunzel have any focus on her feelings or give any insight into her thought process about what is the main conflict of the series now.

Conclusion

Ducktales was robbed!

I can’t believe this shit won an Emmy for “best writing.” It utterly fails on every possible level. It fails to be a continuation of the ongoing story and it fails to be a stand alone episode. Even the very structure of the story is fundamentally flawed. The only reason why it’s not the worst episode of the entire series because the finale and the penultimate episodes exist.

Anyways...I finally made it through. It literally took my entire weekend but I’m finally caught up. Next week I’ll be going back to the usual one episode a week schedule.

#Varian #tangled #anti-rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #Eugene #andrew

131 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

Text

I’m still laughing my ass off over that one post that was going around a week ago with the fanon depictions of the Batboys vs more canon-accurate depictions, and the various ‘defenses’ people leaped to for why fanon is so much better, and its just like....yawn.

See, its not like fanon can’t be better, and isn’t better with some characters, its not that it can’t ADD nuance.

None of that’s the problem.

The problem is when people ONLY use it to DETRACT nuance and then are like ‘wow, whats the problem, whats the issue.’

Let’s take for instance the infamous matter of Dick’s alleged asshole behavior to Jason back when the latter was Robin, because of Dick’s issues with Bruce at the time.

Here’s the thing - even though that’s not what happened, it IS a fairly plausible examination of what could have happened, so its not like there’s no reasoning or justification whatsoever in exploring it. Its that....its not ever explored. Its just used to one-side a situation and render Dick unsympathetic while Jason’s propped up as having been victimized by him and Bruce is largely kept off-stage entirely.

But because quite frankly we just didn’t see much of their interactions back then, period, theoretically, adding more conflict in this vein still COULD have fleshed out that time period and added nuance every bit as much as my preferred additions of more positive interactions between them.

But people don’t add in these conflicts simply to add nuance, they add them in just to add BLAME.

The fanon isn’t the problem there. What you do with the fanon and why is the problem.

Its like my issues with the Jason-Kori-Roy friendship. It’d be one thing if Roy and Kori’s presence in Jason’s life was used to PUSH BACK against Jason’s belief that Dick hated him or didn’t mourn him or even just to provide more understanding or context about Dick’s position or side of things at the time to Jason when he gripes about him, so he’s a little more inclined to be understanding of what that was like for his brother thanks to the viewpoints of people whose POV he values and who in turn have always valued Dick’s POV and position in things.

But instead everything about the years of sympathy and understanding and insight Roy and Kori have always had for and in regards to Dick are flushed down the drain in order to have them join in with Jason when it comes to bashing and griping about that asshole Dick Grayson. Once again....perfect opportunity to add more nuance and complexity to a situation and a character dynamic, with it almost universally being pounced on to provide the reverse...to TAKE AWAY even MORE nuance and complexity from a situation by erasing anything and everything Roy and Kori might actually feel about what’s being said or believed of this other person they have a history of valuing a great deal.

Or like I was just saying earlier today about how its almost completely forgotten or erased that Dick was shot in the head upon Bruce’s return from the timestream, and was in an eminently sympathetic/hurt position for Bruce and Tim and others to come together around and put aside their own invididual resentments at least for the time being, in order to support Dick throughout an extremely dangerous and debilitating wound and recovery period. The issue with erasing, ignoring or invalidating Dick’s many traumas isn’t that ‘oh we just don’t like all the characters angsting 24/7, sometimes its too much, we like fanon happy-go-lucky Dick because he’s different,’ its like.....lol no, because if you’re still capable of and looking to rip into that depiction of Dick for....get this....not being able to get/grasp/empathize with the kinds of and degrees of trauma you still uphold for all the others, you’re really just looking to make him look unsympathetic in comparison, and shift focus away from their LACK of support and understanding for him when he really justifiably needs it in order to keep that focus instead on their contempt or bitterness for him no matter what else SHOULD have been taking place for him at the same time.

For example....going back to the Dick and Jason’s early years scenario.....I talk all the time about the Brother Blood situation, but guess what else that situation has? A time frame that’s pretty directly applicable to this Dick and Jason enmity scenario so many of you posit, given that the first two times the Church of Blood had Dick captive and were literally said to have released him back into the world secretly under their control....he was still Robin! And the third time, when he finally broke free thanks to the others (and Jason) rescuing him, it was only then that he was Nightwing. Meaning all of that is PERFECTLY positioned to be a fantastic and compelling additional underlying cause of Dick’s alleged early issuers/grievances with Jason.....the same mental turmoil that led to him lashing out against the other Titans like Donna in that infamous fight, could just as easily be said to have contributed or even been entirely behind any shitty interactions with Jason you want to posit happening back in the day.

And look at how tragically dysfunctional that makes all of that instead then....Jason resents Dick for something that ultimately, isn’t actually his fault since he was never lashing out while in sound mind but as an unknowing reaction to a mental battle against conditioning he didn’t even know was there at the time.....and this being a surprise revelation to Jason years later making him mentally reframe all their history, because Dick never said anything about this earlier because due to his guilt complex he felt it would have just been him making excuses or trying to let himself off the hook instead of a valid and understandable added layer of context.

That’s SO much more compelling and interesting than just a one-sided ‘one brother is an ass to the other for no real reason whatsoever, at leat not one we’re willing to acknowledge as being anymore relevant than a random footnote’.....but the problem isn’t that people go off fanon vs canon, the problem is REGARDLESS of whether people are using fanon or canon, people just don’t WANT Dick’s position in any of these times to be sympathetic or understandable, they want him JUDGED for it, condemned. They’re not TRYING to craft interesting, compelling dynamics or situations, they’re trying to make him the bad guy, always the bad guy, and the other person just unilaterally his unfortunate victim.

Just like with Tim and Red Robin, for all that even when people are like ‘nobody was really at fault/its not like Dick had another option with Damian, etc’ in PRACTICE there’s literally no distinguishing between this take and ones where Dick is just wholly irredeemable for his unforgivable choice, because despite even lip service paid to the idea that Dick had his reasons for what he did, there’s no actual PAY-OUT ever given to the idea that he’s anything less than terrible a brother to Tim for it...like, fanon is never the issue here, its just straight up canon....being willfully picked apart and reframed to make the issue entirely one-sided.

People pile on all the additional reasons Dick’s terrible for not taking into account Tim’s headspace at the time, like all the other people he’s lost in the last couple years comic book time, but again, at most there’s lip service about how Dick was going through a lot to, but its never added in to any degree that MATTERS or lessens the characters’ or readers’ vilification of him....while at the same time, there’s a willful disregard of and refusal to engage with all the other things and people Dick had lost in the same time frame, comic book time, like oh.....every single thing that happened in Bludhaven with Blockbuster, Tarantula and Deathstroke, given that the former was literally concurrent with Stephanie’s death and the latter right after Jack Drake’s death.

There’s never allowed any resentment from Dick towards Tim for not giving a single shit about what he was going through at the time, or for assuming he had no idea how to relate to the depth of Tim’s grief as though Dick hadn’t literally gotten a front row seat to his entire city being nuked by Chemo in that exact same time frame, with it still being touted that Dick just didn’t have any understanding or empathy for Tim’s many losses of the time. There’s never any frustration allowed from Dick about how much Tim resents him for making him give up Robin when at the same time, it was Tim and mostly Tim alone who pushed Dick to give up being Nightwing and assume the Batman mantle when even Bruce’s will had expressed to Dick that this was not what he wanted for him.

Again, never even time or focus given to Dick being shot in the head on Bruce’s return before using that to call in Bruce as reinforcements for Tim yelling ‘how could you do this to me,’ let alone any acknowledgment of the fact that Dr. Hurt, the very same villain that shot Dick in the head there, is the very same villain who had Dick locked up, straitjacketed, drugged up and on the verge of a lobotomy in Arkham for a week just BEFORE Bruce’s assumed death.....because lolol, it’d make people look pretty silly for taking Dick’s one comment about asking if Tim maybe needed to take a break and look after his mental health in Arkham to the extremes they did, if forced to acknowledge that at the time, Arkham was a TOTALLY different proposition due to how extensively Dick was invested in its rebuilding and overseeing its running thanks entirely TO that time, just before Arkham blew up and needed rebuilding from the ground up in Battle for the Cowl....because of the fact that Dick himself had just spent a week locked up and straitjacketed and drugged to the gills and on the verge of a lobotomy thanks to the oh so tender mercies of Dr. Hurt’s accomplices having the run of the place.

Because end of the day, the problem with this fandom and Dick Grayson is not fanon, and its not canon, its fandom. Its the willful DESIRE to not have any minimizing or mitigating context on display ever, so as to only keep the worst possible interpretation of Dick’s actions - either drawn from canon or fanon, whichever is most handy for a particular scenario - front and center.

So yeah, the idea that fanon adds nuance or context to Dick’s dynamics with any of his family is hilarious, not because it CAN’T, but because too many people are just entirely too unwilling and uninterested in allowing it to, just as they’re uninterested in any interpretation of actual canon that provides Dick with a smidgen of empathy or understanding for his positions or choices.

Like, that’s the POINT of most of your fanon for him. To strip AWAY nuance. So how are you going to be out here acting like you’re really contributing something to his character that canon doesn’t provide, when really, its all the same to you across the board: Dick Grayson is never justified let alone sympathetic ever?

110 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

Text

Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain Review!

Happy Birthday Uncle Scrooge! Yes it was 73 years ago that everyone’s favorite stingy adventurous billionaire entered this world. And I only NARROWLY missed it as I only found out this was coming up when looking up various character birthdays during the writing of my review of “The Three Cablleros”. I now have a word document with all the various important duck characters birthdays so this doesn’t happen again, but i’m glad I did my homework as I can celebrate one of my faviorite character’s birthdays. And Scrooge is one of my favorites. While I relate to donald’s everyman slacker spendthrift was a tad more, I still love this old bastard. He’s badass, quick witted, and earned every bit of his fortune square outside of one moment of weakness. But he has his flaws: He’s horribly cheap, quick to anger, and very dismissive and distrustful of people for good reasons and bad. He’s a complicated, interesting character and one that still works today in the reboot.. if with some slight tweaks to make him less of a greedy monster by modern standards. He’s one of my favorite comic book characters, and one of Disney’s finest, so it only felt right to honor him by going back to his roots with his very first appearance and a story that like him is 73 years old today. It’s also one I had never read until today’s review. So does this storied tale still hold up? How diffrent was Scrooge? and are there any actual bears in the story? Well come along with me as we take a trip up to Bear Mountain and find out. This story, if you didn’t know, is by Disney Legend and Scrooge Creator Carl Barks, easily the most influential and well known duck artist.. felt like it was worth mentioning since without Carl none of this would be possible and as usual his art is gorgeous and unique to him. On with the show.

We open with Donald and the Boys depressed, as Christmas looks to be pretty drab. While the boys are sad they don’t have a winter Cabin like everyone else...

Donald is even more bummed he can’t afford dinner or presents as he mentions this to the boys, being flat broke. It’s also a nice character beat that Donald, despite his usual hedonism.. would be just fine, with his depression coming from the fact he can’t even give his boys a proper Christmas let alone presents. It’s a stark adult fear and something that really hits as I find the money to buy Christmas presents for all my friends and family during my current unemployment, though commissions, have been helping.

But yes i’m doing my first Christmas review before thanksgiving’s even come in. But given the serendipity of Scrooge’s birthday and the fact I wanted to read it at some point before covering the last chapter of life and times anyway, since said story takes place DURING this one. I’ll explain how in a moment. Plus frankly with me already having to do my christmas shopping while I have money, I still feel the spirit of the holiday, so I honestly figure why not.

But all that aside, the Nephews muse things might be better if their rich Uncle Scrooge would remember them, but probably not. We’ll meet scrooge, if you care to continue, after the cut.

We then cut to Scrooge’s mansion. Two things to note. The first is that he has a mansion here. Now for us Ducktales fans, it’s not unusual, he lives in one in both series. But being even MORE frugal in the comics meant after this he mostly lived in the money bin to save .. well money. So he dosen’t have the mansion after this and Don Rosa explained it, as he did really most aspects of scrooge’s life, in life and times, having him decide to sell the place after also deciding to reopen the bin. Just a neat fun fact. The other fun fact is that his angry pose and expersion here were later homage in “Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”, in one of Ducktales 2017′s easily most heart pulling moments: the ending of the episode showing Scrooge truly alone once again. It’s also a nice refrence to Life and Times as at this point scrooge was just as miserable and alone according to Rosa’s masterwork, with the boys and Donald coming into his life being the thing that revitalized him. So let’s get on that shall we? Scrooge is wallowing in his misery, having never had any fun according to himself and thinking maybe giving a present could be fun.. and decides on his Nephew as the one to give it to. But in typical Scrooge fashion instead of just giving his Grandson a gift, he’s going to have to earn it. He sends a letter to the Boys and Donald offering up his cabin, fully stocked with goodies and presents. A bit pricey for who Scrooge would become, and a bit odd to see him not complain.. but it still sets up his character as someone who wants people to WORK for what they get, but can genuinely get behind someone who shows good character, in this case he’s hoping, but Doubting, Donald will end up showing himself to be brave. And it’s STILL more plausible he’d buy luxury items to prove a point to himself, than it was in that one Ducktales comic I reviewed where he spent presumably millions to teach a ten year old a lesson about getting everything you want. Which yes really happened.

Still not over that one, what the actual hell, let’s move on. Basically if Donald passes the test, he’ll get a real true present and if he doesn’t, well Scrooge will have fun anyway. It is easy to see the difference in character here: While parts that would later become bedrock, his code of honor and his wanting people to EARN things instead of just having them handed to them, as well as him sometimes being a huge dick about that are there, he comes off more as a golden age villain cackling in his lair than the awesome but flawed adventurer we’d all come to know and love. I mean while he’d be no less kind to the Boys and Donald about their poverty later, this time he’s especailly bad tempting them with a nice christmas they couldn’t afford and planning to scare the bejeezus out of them. But I do like seeeing where Scrooge came from, STARTING as a decrepit old bastard and transitioning into the adventurous old bastard we all know and love. I have come to realize I do have a soft spot for characters earlier appearances, seeing what changed, what was there all along, and what was tweaked. It can be a mixed bag: with Marvel for instance sometimes you get Spider-Man, who was starkly anti-social and on the verge of understandably lashing out at the world a LOT in the first few issues, and prone to issues you wouldn’t see in a superhero comic back then. Hulk started out much smarter, greyer and meaner, eventually leading to the Joe Fixit persona being created as a result of this decades later.

On the other hand some examples are less enjoyable like Sue and Reed Richards, who back at the start were a sexist “panicky female” stereotype and a sexist mentally distant jackass, while Hank Pym and Wasp were again, a sexist mentally distant jackass, and another stereotype this time thinking almost entirely about fashion and boys. All four would go on to be MUCH better characters with age, with the occasional slip up. I bring this up because Scrooge... is still a good character even here. While he’d become even BETTER, he’s not bad at all here, just a bit different is all.

Back at the plot Scrooge reveals his plan by scaring the shit out of his butler: To dress up as a bear, head up the mountain and scare his nephews to see if any of them have any bravery. While Donald whimpers over the thought of bears and we get an okay gag of him thinking a squireel was one, Scrooge is forced to turn around due to the weather and gives a villain monologue about never having given anyone nothing in his entire life. I swear to god he’s basically Mr. Burns in this one.

youtube

Then again I would also FULLY expect Scrooge to do this to Donald in the barks stories, just maybe not have it be lethal. MAYBE.

While Scrooge harumphs over his bad luck the boys and Donald enjoy a wonderful sleep. Despite Donald’s fear of bears, which the boys insist are hibernating, accurate, the boys force him to go out and get a Christmas tree by the age old tradition of whining until he does so. After going out back to find a tree to chop down Donald finds dead, ugly looking tree that’s weirdly heavy. To no one’s suprise, and to Donald’s natural luck, there’s a baby bear inside and as Donald gets a nice Christmas eve dinner ready for the boys, though after hearing some rustling he assumes a bear is present.. which it is. A baby bear. Awww. The little guy toddles around, and we get af ew pages of antics, with the boys chasing the bear, donald being a coward, and the bear getting into things and ending up on a rollerskate, which is referenced in life and times. However while the boys eventually find the baby.. it’s MOTHER, angry it’s cub is missing finds them and once Donald finds her, the four naturally hightale it out of there. The bears then eat all their food.. though the boys assume “there goes our presents”. Uh guys.. the presents aren’t gone you just don’t have them right this second. They aren’t showed destroying them or anything just leaning on them slightly. I mean the well stocked pantry and any candy in the presents are toast but there’s still a pretty sweet saxaphone there. Take a look.

See the most their doing is likely wrinkling some clothes, at worst flattening that skateboard.. or whatever that Mama Bear is sitting on. I mean I get in the larger sense they can’t get them because bears, but still. Once they pass out the boys send in Donald to get ripped apart by a bear.. er to tie up Mama Bear so they can get the house back, rightly pointing out that they’ll freeze to death anyways.. even though they you know have a car and could just leave. Then again knowing Donald’s luck i’td probably jsut lead to this.

The boys aren’t slacking though and are going after the cub while Donald passes out in fear next to the bear. Scrooge arrives, but is spooked by the cub and is proud to see his young nephews valiantly chase the bebe, and is impressed by Donald’s seeming bravery, decides, after fleeing in terror which is funny. Not in line with what he’d become but STILL really funny. But anyways he decides to throw them a proper christmas as a reward. So the next day and, thanks to Don Rosa one part of life and times later, we end on Christmas Day as for the first time in decades, Scrooge basks in the warm glow of family, and is happy probably for the first time in years. He gifts Donald a bear skin, he faints, haw haw haw the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This story holds up extrodinarly well. While some aspects like Scrooge being generous or cowardly don’t jibe with his later character, it’s forgivable since, again, first appearance, and it’s an entertaining story. Granted his plan hasn’t aged well, but it’s still a fun Christmas set story with some good gags and an entertaining villian. While not Scrooge or Donald or Barks finest hour, it’s still a good bit of hollday fun that gave us one of the best characters of all time. And for that, ill be forever greatful. If you liked this review, you can comission one of your own via my ask box, direct message or discord (technicolormuk#6550), if your more comfortable not doing buisness on here. UPCOMING REVIEWS TO KEEP AN EYE ON THIS SPACE FOR Loud House Coverage: Band Together/ The Other One Ducktales: The First Adventure! Ride of the Three Cablleros: The Three Cablleros Ride Again!

Until then you can check my backlog on my various pages and remember, there’s always another rainbow.

#ducktales #scrooge mcduck #christmas on bear mountain #carl barks #donald duck #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #christmas #comics #reviews

18 notes · View notes

drethanramslay · 5 years ago

Text

Part 5: Life and Death

Pairing: Aurora x MC (Iris Everette)

Word count: 4.2 K words

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Warning: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, torture, mention of suicide, violence slight description of blood. This chapter takes a dark turn and I am warning you guys.

Author's note: I usually keep this for the end but I just wanted to say, keep a box of tissues on standby.

Taglist: @miyakokurono @agent-breakdance @trappedinfandoms @vampiregirlsblog @openheart12 @sekizincimektup @lilyofchoices (let me know if you want to added or removed from the tag list)

Songs: Iris by Goo Goo Dolls , Numb by Declan J Donovan , Forever and Always by Parachute

Forgive me if there are any mistakes

"Seems like we will be here for sometime." Aurora said as she slid down to sit on the floor. Iris sighed as she sat opposite her.

A beat of silence passed over them, no one knowing where to start. Many times Iris opened her mouth and closed it like a goldfish, but nothing came out.

How did we come to this?

"I'm-" Iris began.

"Sorry." Aurora blurted out.

"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything!!"

Aurora stammered. "I-I- I am so sorry that I called for a break when you were going through shit. I am so, so horrible and such a ginormous asshole-"

"NO." Iris moved towards and held her hands. "Do not for a second think that you are an asshole. You are an angel on this earth. A fucking blessing for my worthless self. You are- just...wow. I am so fucking lucky to have met you."

Aurora gave a small giggle. "You are not worthless babe." Iris smiled. If she had a future, she would have spent all of the time making her smile and laugh.

"God I missed making you laugh so much.."

"I miss you too... You and me...are we good?"

Iris gave a fragile smile before sighing. "All my life, I have been alone. I had learnt from a young age that the world is evil place and that you can only depend yourself...when you left me, I could have spent a few days moping around and eventually gotten over you. It would have sucked but I would have been okay."

"Are you saying that you don't want me anymore?" Aurora's bottom lip quivered.

"No...the old me would have packed up and moved on....But I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to live alone anymore. I don't want to run anymore. I want to be with you. I want to see you happy. I want to share the good, the bad and the ugly..."

Aurora leaned forward and hugged Iris. Iris clutched on to her like she was the anchor in this shit storm. Aurora placed a kiss on her crown. A pregnant pause later, Aurora spoke up.

"Adara...what did you mean by 'don't waste tears on a dead woman'? Are you....sick?"

Iris sighed. "No I am not sick. Just that my luck is fantastic... Guess it's story time because I am just tired of hurting you and me.."

"I was adopted by Grayson Alejandro and Francesca Everette- Alejandro. My mom could not have babies as a result of a bad accident that's why they were forced to adopt. My mom loved me as if I was from her own womb, and not for a single moment did she make me feel neglected. She would sing me Spanish lullabies and hold me when the thunder would scare me. There will always be a place in my heart for her." Iris teared up a little. Aurora squeezed her tighter, not letting her go.

"My dad? Not so much. He always resented my mom for a problem which wasn't even her fault. And he hated me, because to him, I was just an outsider stealing away all his wife's love. He had his days when he he actually acknowledged that he was a father and was a good husband... But those were so rare that I could count those instances on one hand.

When I turned ten, his business started dipping into losses. He made couple of bad investments, which just made situations worse. Instead of using his fucking brain and doing something about it, the fucker would go and get drunk. Initially, he would just head to his room and sleep it off... But then, shit hit the fan."

Iris took a deep breath, bracing herself to continue the story.

"I was home alone one day, just doing my homework on the dining table. My mom had gone out to get groceries. I was pretty comfortable staying by myself. He entered home, drunk as usual but, he was angry. I could feel his wrath, emitting from him like seismic waves. He wanted to vent it out. And what is better than a small ten year old girl-" Iris choked.

"He picked me up by the scruff of my neck and threw me across the room. I hit the wall hard and landed on my side. I was in shock. I didn't understand what had I done. When I proceeded to ask him what was wrong he became even angrier. He grabbed me by my hair and slapped me, screaming that 'I' was the reason behind his ruin. That I was just a cursed child."

"I ran to my room when I heard my mom's home keys jingling. I went to the adjacent bathroom and tried to provide first aid as best as I could. I had such a nasty bruise on my hip, that I couldn't sit for a couple days. But I played it of, and prayed that this was a one time thing."

"It again happened within three month's time. The frequency and the intensity of the beatings slowly increased. He broke my left wrist twice in a matter of eight months. He had become daring and it was becoming hard to hide it from my mom. I didn't want her to know this. She was already stressed with the financial situation and I didn't want her to be beaten up by Grayson."

"I had turned thirteen and that was the first time he made me bleed. Earlier it was just throwing me around, kicking me and a ton of nasty bruises. It was so bad. I think I had forgotten to switch off the hallway light that one night. So, he stormed into my room and dragged me out to the kitchen. He bent me over the kitchen counter and he took a steak knife-" Iris sobbed. Aurora was flabbergasted. She had tears streaming down her face.

Iris took a deep breath to centre herself. "The scars you see on the back of my legs? That was his tally. A track on how many times I misbehaved. I have 24 full lines and a half. I just lay there screaming till my throat was sore but he didn't once stop." Iris' hand unconsciously reached for the back of her legs, feeling them through her scrub material.

"Did he ever r-"

"Thankfully no. Otherwise I would have ended my damn life."

Aurora sobbed. "Please don't talk like that Adara..please.."

"I'm sorry Rory..." Iris kissed he cheek as they lay in each other's arms.

"He used to beat me up when my mom was not around. One day, she found him and the meltdown that happened..." Iris shuddered at the memory.

"Did he ever abuse your mom?"

"Emotionally? Yes. Physically? He just backhanded her once when she tried to step in. After he was done beating me black and blue, my mom would tend to my injuries. She would cry and try to kiss them better. She always put forth a strong front, to keep our hopes alive and to keep me motivated. But we knew, that nothing would ever be okay as long as he was around."

"When my mom was hospitalized, god, it was hell. He stopped me from going to school. He would lock me in my room, give me food once a day. He didn't allow me to go meet my dying mother. He tried breaking my spirit by making me weak so that he could easily treat me as his punching bag. Some days I was so bruised that I looked like a Dalmatian."

Aurora was full fledged crying. Ugly sobs poured out of her, her heart breaking for this beautiful trauma in front of her.

Iris continued, rushing to unload all her baggage. "When I got that call that she was going to die, I escaped through my window. I ran to the hospital just in the nick of time. My mom had tears in her eyes when she saw my state. I held her in my arms and comforted her, just like she used to do for me... She told me that she had collected money which was just enough for me to finish high school and get through college. She gave me her will, because she trusted absolutely no one. She apologized for not being brave enough. She told me to never let my-"

"-spirit break.." Aurora completed the sentence, remembering the night she stitched her up in the empty hospital room.

"Yeah... I said my goodbyes and she passed away in my arms. When I reached home, entering through my window, he was waiting there. He wasn't even drunk.. that day I got one of the worst thrashing ever. Broken wrist, black eyes what not. He cut of the electricity to my room. He cut the water supply to my room as well. He even went as far as to nail my window shut." Iris blinked and more tears fell on Aurora's scrub.

"How did you get out?" Aurora asked as she caressed Iris's hair.

"My room was facing my neighbor's window and they were so close that you could look into the room. Two weeks after my mom passed away, a family moved in. My current lawyer, Thomas's room, was facing mine. When I saw him move in, I immediate stuck a help me sign on the window. It took some time but then it finally caught their attention."

"We conversed through the window and I told them everything. Thomas's dad was a lawyer and we slowly came up with a plan. They both came home one day when I was still locked in my room half dead from thirst and starvation. My father greeted them and let them in. They laughed and chatted. Thomas's even asked him if he had any children, and guess what he said... He didn't?! That motherfucker was so mental that he forgot about his daughter who he hit seven ways to Sunday."

Aurora just held on to Iris, kissing her crown repeatedly.

Shit. This just is so fucked up...

"They bugged my house with hidden cameras and microphones. The local police had been informed and they were just waiting for the right moment. And that moment came."

"Grayson was pissed when he came home that day. He unlocked my room and dragged me to the living room. He wanted me to get water for him or something but I was so weak that I couldn't even pick up a tray. So I tripped and fell. And, he went ballistic.”

“He picked me up and threw me into the coffee table. It shattered under me due to the force. The scars on my back, it was because a six inch long glass had embedded in my back. It was so close to my spinal cord that even if it would have moved a little I could have been paralyzed neck down. He kicked me so hard that I fractured my ribs. He brought his favourite steak knife to carve another tally mark. At that moment I thought I was gonna die. And, I wouldn't have minded that. I would be in a happy place with my mom. I would be free from all this."

"I waited for the final blow but it never came. Police had stormed in and they were restraining him. Paramedics were running towards me and then I blacked out."

Aurora shuddered. Her heart ached so much. Thu carry such a painful party, sure would have taken a toll on anyone. Even the most beautiful roses have thorns, to protect themselves from predators.

"Thomas's dad represented me free of cost. They were going to jail him for 25 years but I don't know how, his lawyer reduced it to 12 years. And as he was leaving the court room, he said quote unquote- ' Don't for a moment think that I am going to give up. When I come out, I am going to come for you and kill you."

"After that I stayed with the Mendez family. They were literally blessings on earth. They paid for most of my bills. Mrs, Mendez, after I came home from the hospital, made sure I ate four times a day. And Mr. Mendez employed a home tutor, to cover up the portion left, so that I could graduate on time. And Thomas, god he is such a sweetheart. Initially, if any male touched me I would go into a full fledged panic attack. He would always be there whenever I had an attack... He would watch shows with me and kept me company whenever he had free time. It had been so long since I felt someone loved me."

"You deserve every good thing in this world Adara. You are always worth it." Iris gave a fragile smile.

"Thomas had gotten out of law school and I was his first client. I had to go through intense physiotherapy to regain my strength. I was in and out of hospitals, be it for follow-up surgery or therapy."

"Therapy helped a little but I don't think anyone can every get over something like this. I discontinued it when I entered med school because I wanted it to be a fresh start. I could have gone and worked in Seattle or any place I wanted but I came back to Boston. To my roots. To be closer to my mom. And now, he is back. I was running from him when you found me."

"Oh MY GOD. I AM GOING TO KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH. LIKE HOW DARE HE TRAUMATIZE MY GIRLFRIEND!! THE HELL HE IS GONNA LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON YOU. HE IS GONNA CATCH THESE HANDS I-" Aurora's angry rant was interrupted by a giggle.

She looked down and saw her giggling. "Gosh. OMG you look as angry as a little kitten. So cute." Iris giggled again.

"Hey! These hands can giveth life and taketh them as well."

They laughed a little more, before they settled in a comfortable silence.

"Why do you think people say I love you?" Iris asked.

"I dunno man. Maybe because they love each other." Aurora snorted, kind of confused by the sudden change in topic. Her heart was beating faster.

Oh it's happening. Aurora stay calm. STAY FUCKING CALM.

"Yeah I know but I honestly feel there is a difference in 'I love you' and 'I'm in love with you'. The former is with family and friends who most of the times stay loyal to you. But the latter is when you have romantic feelings towards a person. It is just so weird y'know? There is just a difference of one word yet the meanings are so different."

"That's true. But why the sudden change in topic? Not that I mind." Aurora asked breathlessly.

Iris turned towards Aurora with vivid green eyes. "Because I am in love with you Aurora Lucille Emery."

Aurora's breath had been taken away for the second time that evening.

She loves me. SHE FUCKING LOVES ME.

With tears in her eyes, she cupped Iris' face, "I am completely and utterly in love with you too Iris Adara Everette. I have been since the day you broke Vincenzo's hand. I loved you even when we were on a break. And I will, continue loving you till the last breath."

The way Iris' face lit up, was one of the best things she had ever seen in the world. Their lips met and they could feel firecrackers burst around them, their hearts bursting with the amount of love they had for each other.

They were sitting on the floor of an elevator, which was stuck in a storm, but nobody gave a damn.

This was their moment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what do we do Thomas?" Aurora asked as she rubbed Iris' back. They were in Ethan's office, deciding what is the steps they need to take. Ethan was pacing in the office, his eyes looking like a slow brewing storm.

"Well first of all, we are going to apply for a protective order. Iris I know how you feel about it but that was a decade ago. The laws now will protect you better. Trust me." Thomas spoke in a very somber voice.

"Okay. Tell me what I need to do." Iris took a deep breath.

"Grayson was made aware of the restraining order filed against him by you. And since he violated them twice once by calling you and the second time by showing up at your work place, we can hold charges against him and that can throw him in a holding cell temporarily."

"That's good right? We need more time so that we can send his ass packing into prison." Aurora spoke with such determination that Iris was blown away.

"Now, Iris correct me if I am wrong, he threatened you, right?"

"Yes. He said that he would kill me. I can send you the voice recording now if you want."

"Yes, that would be perfect. Now I want you to listen to me carefully. I know that no court would be open now. So, go home and get your evidence ready. You will go to court the first thing in the morning tomorrow and sign the affidavit asking for the Protection Order. They will give you temporary one before they set a date for hearing."

"Do you have your restriction order on you right now?" Thomas asked.

"I have it with me. I will send a photo." Ethan piqued in.

"Good, good. After you assemble your evidence, go and stay in a hotel for the night. Take a friend or your girlfriend with you. It's so that nobody can get caught as collateral. And you can stay safe."

"Ethan and I will take her home and then head to a hotel." Aurora spoke into the phone.

"Yes. And I will be coming down tomorrow as soon as possible, 'kay? Luz would like to meet her aunty Iris as well."

Iris gave a small smile. "Thanks Tommy. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Iris. Please stay stay and don't you fucking die."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If you don't come down in five minutes, I will call the police and the fucking army to storm your penthouse. And no, I'm not taking any criticism." Aurora spoke in a stern voice.

"Yes ma'am." Iris gave a fake salute. Despite things being bad, she felt some hope. Hope that this could end once and for all.

Hope. What a wonderful thing.

"I am going in with her." Ethan said as he unfastened his seat belt.

"Okay let's go." They both stepped out into the Boston night. Iris took a deep breath, smelling the night wind with hints of the sea. When she stepped into the lobby, she expected to see Hugh, their security guard but he wasn't there.

Huh. Strange. Must have gone to take a leak probably. Iris brushed off her doubts.

They stepped into the lift and she pressed the button to the penthouse level.

"Thank you Ethan."

"For what?"

"For helping me. You are my boss and you didn't have to-"

Ethan rolled his eyes and stopped her. "Shut up Everette. You are like a younger sister and I would really like to to see that asshole behind bars. So relax."

They reached the her home and she unlocked the door and entered.

"Go and get your stuff. I will be waiting in the living room."

Iris turned to head towards her room. She started packing her old papers, her restriction order and enough clothes for a night into a messenger bag. She was fast and thorough in her work. She was about to head out of her room when a crash and bang stopped her in her tracks.

It could not have been Ethan. Ethan was not clumsy and he had the hands of a surgeon. Stable and sure.

She picked up her trusty pocketknife and hid it in the sleeves of her leather jacket. She knew it wasn't much but it would atleast help her evade the attacker.

She slipped into the darkness, walking softly, making sure her footsteps weren't heard. She almost screamed when she saw Ethan's body, lying face down. She quickly rushed to his side, bend down and pressed two fingers to his neck.

She felt a pulse. It was weak but he would survive.

In the quiet environment of the penthouse, she heard the soft click of a gun. She froze in her place.

"He will survive. Didn't do much damage. But can't say the same about you mija. Get up. No funny moves."

Iris slowly got up. While she was at it, she sneakily speed dialed Aurora's number, so that Rory could hear some part of the conversation and call the police.

"Lift your hands."

She raised her hands above her head and turned around. "Grayson." She spat his name. She hoped that she won't be stick with this guy for a long time.

Stall him. Attack only when necessary.

"God you need to start showing me some fucking respect." He slowly stepped out of the shadows.

"I don't show respect to dickheads."

"Wow. When did you get so ballsy? The old you would be whimpering on the floor."

"I grew up. Matured with time. Can't say the same for you. You look like a wrinkly ball sack."

God Iris why can't you for once use your fucking mind and shut your trap. It's a life and death scenario, dammit.

"I'm gonna enjoy tearing you limb by limb." Iris looked around, assessing the place. The entrance was blocked by him and there was no point running into her room because that would be nothing but a dead end. The only place which looked like a safe bet was the kitchen island, where Sienna's knives set was placed. Finding the fastest route she turned her flashing eyes towards him.

"Try me bitch."

He let out a war cry and started shooting at her. Iris ducked and lithely slipped behind the island counter. She felt a twinge of pain in her arm, where the bullet grazed her but she didn't pay any attention to it. She grabbed the sharp knife and waited with bated breath.

I need to get that gun a way from him.

"Oh, so we are gonna play hide and seek huh? Ready or not here I comeee." Grayson sang out.

She waited and waited and when she saw his shadow approaching her she leaped out her hiding place and struck his hand, forcing him to drop the gun. She kicked it under the fridge. She vaulted herself with the help of the kitchen counter and kicked him in the chest.

"Now this is a fair fight." Iris gripped her knife tightly and ran towards him.

She sent a flurry of jabs and hook shots on him. He cowered, trying to block the best he could do. Her knife sliced his stomach and blood poured out in copious amount. But that victory was not very long lived. He punched her on the face, momentarily disorienting her. He took the hand with the knife and smacked it against his kneecap, resulting in her to drop her weapon.

"You bitch!!" He aimed for her in the stomach again but this time, she was prepared. She blocked and hit both her hands on his temples. She then thrust her palm upwards, breaking his nose.

"You should plan for retirement, probably in a jail cell asshole." Iris taunted, enjoying the blood gushing down his face. She knew it was sadistic but this man, tormented her for six consecutive years. He deserved worse.

"Aaarrghhhhh!!!" He tackled her and landed on top of her, knocking the breath out of her. He wrapped his hands around her throat and started choking. "I wanted to extend this playtime with you but you aren't being cooperative-" he squeezed some more. Iris was choking and her vision was getting darker on the periphery.

I won't go like this.

Iris started flapping her legs, trying to get a good hit but, Grayson's grip was tight. "Adios, puta."

"Why don't you adios your ass outta here!!" Aurora screamed as she hit his head with a baseball bat.

If iris wasn't half unconscious, she would have found it hot. Coughing, she tried to get large gulps of air into her screaming lungs.

Aurora was relentless, she continued to beat the fucking shit out of him. She hit him so hard that the fucking bat broke. Iris had her jaw on the floor. She tried to get up but a sharp pain went up her hand and leg. She saw that she has another bullet embedded in the meaty part of her thigh, bleeding profusely. Her wrist was sprained and she had a black eye.

Grayson, even though he looked more like human pulp, kicked Aurora's legs out and she fell. That guy is like a cockroach, Iris groaned internally. They wrestled and stood up. There were punches and curses thrown at each other. He was about to attack Aurora when gunshots rang through the air. The police were at the door and they had shot.

Grayson collapsed and groaned in pain. Aurora stood there, catching her breath. She slowly let out a long breath. She turned towards Adara and smiled. She tried walking to her, but she stumbled.

Falling.

"RORY NO!!" Iris dived forward, ignoring the pain in her leg, to catch the falling woman. She caught her in her arms and when she looked down, she saw a knife sticking out from her stomach. Blood was just pouring out fast and pooling around them, like a red halo.

"Rory you fucking idiot." Iris cried out. She took out her top and pressed against the wounds but, there were too many stab wounds.

That son of a bitch!!

"Don't worry..... Doesn't hurt." Aurora wheezed out, but she winced.

"Don't fucking lie to me. Why would you fucking do that?!" Iris cried out, feeling completely and utterly helpless. She tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure, but it didn't help. More and more blood poured out, just like a river.

"We need EMT's right now. We have three casualties and two of them are severely injured." The policewoman spoke into her com.

"You...are free...now." Aurora gasped out. The pain was too much. Too damn much.

"What is even the fucking point of being free when you are not there?!" Iris cried as she pressed her head against Aurora's.

"I...love you...so much.. I am so-" Aurora coughed, and blood coating her lips. "-so greatful to have...met you."

"No Rory!! I want to have a future with you. I want to marry you, adopt children with you. Get fat and old with you. Spend every waking moment beside you. I love you so fucking much, I can't see my future without you in it. Don't you get it?! There is no 'me' without you!!"

Tears rolled down Aurora's eyes. At this point, it was hard to differentiate whose tears they were. "I am so lucky...to die in the arms of a...woman I love...nobody gets...that."

The darkness was slowly calling out to Aurora like a siren. It was so so easy to just slip into the other side. So tempting. There was just a single rope tethering her to the world.

Iris. Her Adara. Her little red.

"Rory NO!! You feel fucking stay alive for me okay?! You are gonna fucking fight this and survive. I just can't loose another person I love to that son of a bitch!!"

"It's okay little red... Go live your life for the two of us....Make me ...prou-"

"RORY FUCKING NO!! HEY LEMME GO HEY- RORY PLEASE BABY STAY ALIVE STAY-"

.....

...

I had to take breaks while writing this because it became so hard to type with blurry eyes.

before you guys come at me with pitchforks, there is an EPILOGUE. Be on the lookout, you do NOT want to miss that.

Thank you for giving me a chance to share this story with you guys:)

#choices #choices oh #playchoices #choices stories you play #choices stories we play #open heart #open heart 2 #ohsy #open heart mc #open heart fanfiction #aurora emery #oh Aurora #aurora x mc

38 notes · View notes

lightsandlostbells · 6 years ago

Note

so, overall, what did you think of season 3 of stranger things?

It took me a while to answer this question because I had to sort out how I felt about this season! I guess if I had to narrow it down to an overall opinion: enjoyable, but very messy. Had some of the series’ best moments but also, while I was watching, I had far more grumbles and gripes than the previous two seasons.

I’ve never really been hung up on whether this show is derivative or plays too into nostalgia or w/e. Plenty of media does that. And despite all the time I’ve spent dissecting micro-expressions and weighty silences in European teen dramas that are filmed for the cost of a candy bar … I am way into genre films and TV shows. I love monsters and superheroes and spectacle! I watched Stranger Things the weekend it premiered because I love ‘80s movies about kids on bikes having adventures, I eat that shit up. So I don’t expect this show to be a hardcore deconstruction and re-imagining of those tropes (though that sounds like a pretty great show), I’m fine with it being what it is: a solid, spooky sci-fi/horror throwback series. What matters most is whether the story and characters work. Personally, I would say whatever criticisms you can make of S1 and S2, they had heart, and unfortunately I think some of that heart was missing from S3. Much of that, IMO, comes from sidelining some of the familial relationships that were at the center of the narrative in S1 and S2, like the Byers family and Hopper & Eleven, and to some degree the important friendships like the party, although there were other friendships introduced in this season so that wasn’t as glaring. It’s not a surprise that one of the best-received parts about this season, Steve and Robin’s friendship, is also responsible for one of the most heartfelt scenes Stranger Things has ever done.

There was also a way larger emphasis on comedy in S3. Comedy is probably my favorite genre, and I did laugh at a lot of humorous moments in this season. But I also felt like there was more comedy for comedy’s sake, like long sequences created intentionally to make the audience laugh. Whereas in S1 and S2, I can’t remember any scenes like that? The comedy was more understated and came from character personalities and relationship moments rather than joke set pieces. That’s perhaps another reason why S3 felt like it had less heart.

My hope for season 4 - and I am assuming there is a season 4, because apparently this show did mega ratings for S3 - is that they don’t add more major new characters (except love interests for the gay characters, go ahead with those, lol) and instead focus on the existing cast, which is already a very strong ensemble, yet many of the characters have gotten pushed to the sides. I would love if they added to the episode count: a lot of Netflix series drag out their seasons, like they have enough story for 10 episodes but have to stretch it out to 13, but Stranger Things has the opposite problem. I feel like if they had 10 (or 11, ha) episodes they could have more time for breather moments and more space for character arcs. This season was really fast-paced in my opinion, and although that’s a positive in many respects, I missed a lot of the down time.

Also, I think every season has taken place over like a week maximum, not including the epilogues, and like … you can make the story last longer than a week! Not everything has to go to hell in like a day or two.

Some more specific opinions underneath, obviously lots of spoilers.

First of all, I gotta say, I feel like a weirdo, because so many of the reviews for this season are like A RETURN TO FORM AFTER A DISAPPOINTING SECOND SEASON and UP THERE WITH SEASON 1 NOT THAT CRAPPY SEASON 2 THAT NO ONE LIKED and uhhhh … I liked season 2 just fine? It’s probably my favorite. There are things I don’t like about it, but the stuff I love is stuff I really, really love. Hopper and Eleven’s relationship, for instance. Steve and Dustin teaming up and Steve Harrington becoming a guardian to four children. Those are not just great elements to the series, but directions that I think only a second season could have taken - Hopper and Eleven’s bond wouldn’t have had half the weight if they weren’t established as traumatized, broken people in S1. Steve Harrington becoming a babysitter would not be nearly so delightful if we had not known him as the popular douchebag stereotype from S1 - if he were just a cool dude hanging out with kids from the get-go, the impact wouldn’t be as great. After S1 used Will Byers as a MacGuffin in S1, S2 gave Will a much larger role and that little actor acted his ass off. His performance generated a lot of genuine suspense and chills. There was Sean Astin being lovable! Paul Reiser’s character being a surprisingly good guy! Yeah, there are big flaws in the season, and you can argue it’s too much of a repeat of S1, but to me it was a version of S1 that made the characters more specific and interesting. I’m just … genuinely baffled by how it’s supposed to be demonstrably worse than the others. Because of the Kali episode? I didn’t think that one was terrible, either. I think it broke up the momentum of the chaos at Hawkins Lab, and Kali’s friends were obnoxious, it’s certainly not the greatest writing of the series, but as a whole the episode is like. Fine. It’s fine. It’s mediocre, not atrocious. It’s not the worst thing ever. It doesn’t ruin anything about the story or direction or the series. Most importantly it’s easy to ignore or skip on a rewatch if you don’t like it. The backlash was way overblown.

My biggest disappointment with season 3 was Hopper. Whaaaaaaat. Whaaaat did they dooooo.

Hopper in previous seasons is a flawed, messed-up human being, but I always knew where he was coming from. When he yelled at Eleven in S2, I still got why he did it. In this season he felt cartoonish. The overprotective paternalistic dad trope is annoying BUT I might have been less bothered had they connected it more to Eleven’s lack of experience with the world, less RAWRRRR KEEP BOYS AWAY FROM MY GIRL. Or if Hopper had not demonstrated like, actual rage toward Mike and we just saw him fuming about it to himself or venting to Joyce, if he was trying to keep that shit under control. (I did laugh at him singing “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” in the car, I gotta admit.)

But his attitude toward Joyce was what really bummed me out. I’m not into this show for shipping reasons, but I low-key enjoyed the possibility of Joyce and Hopper hooking up based on previous seasons. This season felt like they were writing a completely different dynamic for them, one that was much more aggressively obnoxious. I think their intentions were clear - they were going for a Sam-and-Diane relationship, something that was referenced early on in the Bob flashback - but the problem is that their relationship was not like that at all in S1 and S2. When I think of Joyce and Hopper from those seasons, I think about him supporting her after Bob died, or listening to her concerns about her son, or working together to find Will. They didn’t have this combative dynamic! Frankly watching giant-ass Hopper yell at tiny Joyce was viscerally unpleasant. (Side note but in the first trailer there was a shot of Hopper running at the Fun Fair with someone else who I assumed was Eleven, but no, turned out to be Joyce, Winona Ryder is just that tiny next to David Harbour.)

Also, considering this season ended with his death (and we all know he’s not really dead but OK) it’s such a waste that there were few Hopper&Eleven moments! Only the finale brought some quality content on that front. But otherwise their relationship was out of sight, out of mind for almost the whole season, which wasn’t a great choice, both to maximize the emotional impact of the ending, and to expand upon their situation post-S2. I mean, it’s been months since then, how has their relationship changed now? Hopper’s letter talked about the stuff he enjoyed doing with his daughter - why didn’t we see any of that on screen this season? It could’ve helped with the Mike angle, too, like show Hopper and Eleven watching TV together and laughing and having a good time, and then the phone rings and it’s Mike and suddenly Hopper’s watching TV alone as Eleven’s now focused on her boyfriend, we see his disappointment, etc.

Scoops Troop - Now they were a delight. They had such a ludicrous story but for the most part it worked due to the characters playing off each other and because the writing/acting/directing embraced the silliness.

Steve Harrington is easily one of the best characters on this show. I fucking love that guy. He’s consistently entertaining, he’s had possibly the best character growth out of anyone in the series, he’s evolved from a stock ‘80s asshole stereotype into someone who’s funny and sympathetic and likable. He’s this amazing blend of the ridiculous with the heroic. Steve and Dustin were great together, as they were last season, and I’m cackling that Steve acquired YET ANOTHER CHILD under his supervision without even trying. But the MVP of the season was the Steve & Robin friendship. Holy shit do I love that relationship. Holy SHIT.

Robin herself is a terrific new character, smart and funny and once you know she’s half-Uma, you can’t unsee it. I was loving her already and then the bathroom scene happened and I YELLED. I was so utterly overjoyed. If they had made Steve and Robin hook up, honestly … I would’ve been fine with it, like this show doesn’t need more heterosexual romance but at least they had a fun dynamic, but man, the friendship angle was so so superior. It’s a type of relationship that media is lacking, and the specific circumstances of this friendship made it genuinely moving to me. I keep wanting to write like a meta post devoted to just this relationship because I just have so many emotions about it! But they play well off each other as a comedic duo and as an odd couple friendship, and they’re really what each other needs, IMO. Steve needed this close friendship more than he needed a girlfriend; in this season he’s clearly adrift and we’ve seen the kind of shitty friends he had in like season one, is Dustin the best pal he had at this point? And I love Steve & Dustin but Steve needed a good friend his own age. Robin is a lesbian in small-town Indiana in the ‘80s, and she was clearly full of fear that Steve would hate her if he knew, and for him to accept her so easily, not even making a big deal about it? That’s kind of life-saving, really. I can’t wait to see more of them, if Netflix wants to make the half-hour Clerks-esque spinoff about them working in a video store and shooting the shit, I would be 100% down for that.

I have some mixed feelings about Erica because I think she could have benefited from getting the same humanization as the other kids (and I’m going to leave the discussion of racial tropes gently by the side at the moment but … yeah). The other child characters are played more like actual people with vulnerabilities, which has been part of the show’s appeal since the first season, and Erica was more like the sitcom kid who always has a snarky quip ready; however, she did make me laugh and I like that they tapped into her being a nerd, I wish they’d explore that in future seasons with the character. “I’m ten, you bald bastard” was one of my favorite lines of the season, I lost my goddamn mind.

Billy - Lmao, so Billy in S2 was the woooorst. This dude had ZERO redeeming qualities. His abusive dad creates a smidgen of sympathy, I guess, but Billy goes so far beyond normal teenage assholery that it didn’t make a dent in my opinion of him. You can redeem someone like Steve Harrington, first of all because Steve actually feels regret and works to correct his mistakes, but Steve also didn’t go to a point of no return in the first place. Billy did, for me. Physically and verbally abusing his younger sister? Attacking a black middle-schooler for the crime of being in the same room as his white sister? What a piece of shit.

With that in mind - I have no problem focusing on him as a villain this season, I really don’t. It justifies his inclusion in S2 other than as a human antagonist who’s ultimately not really connected to the main plot, as it retrospectively establishes him as an even greater threat in this season. I also think the actor did a good job with the material he was given. However, ultimately this dude’s arc was underwhelming. The thing is … I can tell they were trying to show Billy struggling with the Mind Flayer, but Billy is so lacking in any positive qualities that it’s kind of like, where does that struggle even come from? Yeah, even the worst people aren’t going to be wild about having a monster from another dimension hijack your body and use it to collect people for spare parts, but this is the same dude who was about to run over Mike, Lucas, and Dustin on their bikes last season for absolutely no reason. He beat Steve to point of unconsciousness and could’ve put him in the hospital. He assaulted Lucas. So I really need some evidence of Billy’s moral compass because it is not inherent and there’s in fact plenty of evidence that it doesn’t exist. I’m not very enthusiastic about redeeming a racist, abusive creep, but I also think if you’re going to go for him helping Eleven at the end … you have to show some current potential for goodness, not just “used to be a nice kid.”

A really glaring omission: the lack of any family/home scenes with him, Max, and their parents this season. We left off last season with Max telling him to leave her and her friends alone. How is their relationship since then? Is there still a lot of friction? Is there a tense peace? Has their relationship improved in any way? We really needed to see that follow-up. I get that Max crying over Billy this season makes sense in that he’s still her family and we can still have love for those who hurt us … but I also feel that we needed something between them to justify her pain, like even just the potential of their relationship being a fraction better, or the suggestion that Billy used to be OK to Max before he went full asshole. And I think we really needed to see Billy’s dad being currently abusive in this season - tbh, missed opportunity that the dad didn’t get flayed like, out of revenge (which would have been both satisfying and horrifying), missed opportunities for suspense when we think Billy might serve up Max and her mom to the Mind Flayer, etc.

Another missed opportunity: drawing parallels between Billy and Will. Both are possessed by the Mind Flayer. Both had shitty dads calling them homophobic slurs. Both could be read as gay (I’m not hungry to claim Billy as LGBT representation or invested in this interpretation but his scenes with Steve in S2 admittedly have that sweaty homoerotic dick-measuring vibe, if you want to take it there). Their names are both William, FFS. The difference is that Will is a sweet and gentle kid surrounded by loving family and friends who fought to save him, and Billy is a violent, cruel dude who probably doesn’t have any real friends, just shallow connections. You could show how the Mind Flayer could more easily possess and manipulate someone like Billy, but that wasn’t really explored.

Also, is anyone going to dwell on the fact that like … Max is living with an abusive man as her stepfather? He’s shown hurting Billy’s mom. Does that not concern anyone that he is very likely to attack either Max or her mom?

Oh, and thank God they didn’t take the Billy/Karen thing all the way. In retrospect, even weirder considering Billy’s mommy issues.

Joyce - I get that it’s a big leap downward in emotional investment to go from “must save my son” to “fucking magnets, how do they work” but I liked that she had her own investigation that wasn’t full of emotional turmoil. Winona forever.

Mike - Everyone is ragging on him but I think he was less terrible than people are making him out to be. He was bratty in a teenage way, but he wasn’t the worst kid ever. I didn’t take his now notorious line to Will (“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls”) as something intentionally cruel or homophobic, just something that came out wrong and that he instantly regretted, and he and Lucas did seem genuinely apologetic over the D&D game and went over to Will’s in the rain out of concern. And the reason he lied to Eleven was because SCARY ASS HOPPER threatened him??? Also, his concern over Eleven overexerting herself was not misplaced, lmao! It really took that long for anyone to go, “Hey, should we be worried about the amount of blood coming out of her nose? Should we be concerned about the effects on her brain?” Sure, Eleven has the final say in whether or not she uses her powers, but tbh… she didn’t have a normal upbringing and her view of her powers is probably skewed. Like, would Eleven have enough basic medical knowledge to be worried about brain damage or nosebleeds, or would that just be the norm to her? Is she making these decisions with a full grasp of the potential consequences? Anyway, I don’t have a more negative opinion of Mike after this season.

Eleven - I loved Eleven a lot in this season. I don’t know if it did a ton for her character arc, but it’s nice to see her slowly develop into more of a normal girl. And the season was rough for her in terms of getting her ass kicked, she goes through so much mental and physical pain! In the end she loses her dad and her powers!

Of course one of the bright spots was her and Max becoming friends! Not gonna lie, there was something a little … simplistic about some of that depiction of friendship for me - just that so much of it was SHOPPING and GIGGLING and BOY TALK, girls being GIRLS, when Max has been portrayed as a tomboy and Eleven is a telekinetic kid raised in a lab, that maybe their interactions shouldn’t have fit the mold quite so much - but it doesn’t truly bother me because they were so sweet and fun. I loved them tracking down Billy together and I appreciate that their friendship carried throughout the season, that Max was the person shown carrying an injured Eleven along with Mike, Eleven comforted Max after Billy died, etc. That was a definite sore spot of S2, the girl-on-girl jealousy and Eleven flat-out rejecting Max’s friendly introduction, and I do think they took that feedback into account for the better here. I also like that Eleven was clearly taking cues from Max, the more “worldly” of the two about boys and clothes and teenage attitudes in general - it gave their friendship a more specific shape.

I cannot WAIT to see her living with the Byers family next season. Like if they don’t spend significant time on that dynamic, it will be the biggest disappointment. There could be 8 episodes of just boring mundane Byers domestic scenes and I would love it, please inject it into my eyeballs, Duffer bros. I want to see her bonding with all of them, trying to fit in at school, attempting the most normal life she’s ever had. Also lmao, she and Will can finally have a goddamn conversation??? I hope they’ve been withholding that relationship because they were planning to go all out with those new sibling vibes in S4. They are the two characters who have been most traumatized by the Upside Down, we deserve to see them connect.

On that note, I have a lot of thoughts about Will in this season! Mainly - underused as FUCK. After all that trauma of being possessed by the Mind Flayer last season, they barely utilize this connection in the second half of S3. Even his Spidey sense hardly came in handy??? Now that was really weird, IMO, because the least they could do was have that feeling alert the others or be useful, but lmao it was practically pointless.

It’s weird because I’m not sure if they just don’t know what to do with Will if he’s not being a victim (which is stupid because there’s plenty you could do with him), but at the same time, he has one of the most poignant subplots of the season. From the reactions I’ve seen, Will feeling rejected and left out as his friends move on really resonated with a lot of viewers. But then this thread is abandoned after episode 3, for the most part. Will cries and destroys the place that represents his childhood, a place that was created specifically in response to trauma (mentioned in S2 that he and Jonathan built it after their dad left), this is very rich emotional territory … and then the show’s just like ehhhhhh moving on. He’s just hanging out in the background and touching his neck for the rest of the season.

And now I gotta talk about that other thing with Will.

I am so confused by what the Duffer brothers are trying to accomplish with Will’s sexuality, because on the one hand it seems like they have a really clear idea about it and on the other hand they’re just like¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The thing is … it seems very obvious they have always thought of Will as gay. This is blatant from the original pitch from the show as well as one of the S2 scripts (the only one that’s available publicly, so who knows what else they’ve written). I accept that people have different interpretations, but The Line this season is far from the only textual support for Will being gay, and I think it makes for a much, much stronger narrative if you read Will as gay in addition to not wanting to grow up as fast as his friends and being stunted from trauma - that is an entire meta post in itself, though.

What gets me about the ~ambiguity is that the Duffer brothers planted the gay hints in the first place! They are absolutely not there by accident! Like I’m not speaking for the teenage actors but lmao, the adults involved in the writing and directing of this series absolutely fucking knew how that “not my fault you don’t like girls” scene would be interpreted, especially considering fans were debating Will’s sexuality from the beginning, based off the many homophobic comments leveled at him in S1. There have been TV shows where fans latched onto gay “subtext” that was likely unintentional, but this isn’t one of them.

IDK, man, it’d just be nice to have some confidence in where this is going. I loved Robin and the bathroom scene made me think that yeah, they might do a decent job with Will’s sexuality, something I might have doubted before. Under no circumstances do I expect a Skam S3-style coming out arc for Will, but I’m also uncertain if I should expect anything from the show on this front at all or if they’ll play it coy to the bitter end. Though I guess I’d still take the ambiguity over giving him a female love interest after everything. Lol, that would be a giant oh-fuck-no.

Real talk, though, let’s discuss what an utter waste it would be to not write a scene where Joyce tenderly accepts her son when he comes out to her. You really aren’t going to bring that instantly iconic moment to life, assholes? You’re not going to provide that for Winona Ryder’s and Noah Schnapp’s Emmy reels? MAKE IT HAPPEN, BASTARDS.

Nancy and Jonathan have a reputation for the most boring plots but they’re fine, w/e. I’m not deeply invested in their romance but I don’t want to fast forward their scenes or anything. Nancy is an underrated character; she’s extremely proactive and always has been, and I enjoy watching her shoot things. I think the best thing they could do for both characters, though, is to separate them next season, not just physically but storyline-wise. Jonathan would be best in a subplot involving his family, because he’s at his most likable as a son and brother, and Nancy should either go off with Mike (a sibling relationship that is VASTLY undeveloped), or she should team up with Robin. I mean it, Nancy and Robin would be a power pairing, let me show you my manifesto. Both are smart young women who are good at solving mysteries. Would Robin think Nancy is a priss after Nancy unloads several rounds into the latest demogorgon chasing them? Would Nancy find Robin a refreshing alternative to the crushing suburban conformity that she claims to want to avoid? Oh, the possibilities. Meanwhile, Steve tags along in the background, all like OH SHIT, my lesbian BFF and my ex-girlfriend are in cahoots!

Lucas and Max were playing relationship counselors to Mike and Eleven through much of the season. Max still had a fair amount to do, but Lucas needs a meatier subplot next time. I feel like they’re not sure what to do with him? I would like to see him and Erica interact more since their dynamic so far is one-note.

There is one hell of a conversation to be had about the Evil Russians of this season, but I’m really not the person to do it.

Also about the depiction of capitalism this season. That’s more thinkpiece-y than I am equipped to do right now.

The product placement is something that should bother me more but I’m just like … shrug. Except that New Coke bit because that was an actual mood-breaker.

Could have done without Russian Terminator guy. That was a blatant ‘80s homage so I get why he was there, he just wasn’t all that interesting. And was that guy supposed to be superpowered or something? Was he getting jacked on Upside Down steroids??? What was his deal???

Alexei/Murray was the true OTP of the season, let’s be real.

The trend of lovable, doomed minor characters continued with Alexei. Props to that actor for making you root for the guy. He even made me kind of love Murray? I was very WTF over that guy encouraging two teenagers to fuck in S2, and I’m still not into his habit of telling people to bang even when they’re adults, but I guess he just needed a sympathetic Russian buddy to win me over.

There were a ton of moments where I felt like the characters made stupid choices as opposed to earlier seasons. Will getting dragged into the Upside Down in the first 10 minutes of the series is an impressive example of a horror movie character doing everything right and making good decisions - a 12-year-old, no less. And he was still overpowered by the demogorgon so it’s not like making good decisions will always save you! Whereas this season I was like LORD some of these characters are drinking dumbass juice.

There was also so much silly stuff happening, like things that are even more far-fetched than previous seasons, but I just kind of went with it. Yeah, of course there’s a secret Russian base under a shopping mall. Sure.

This season is objectively disgusting in terms of gore and yet I was fine with it? And I’m someone who was repulsed by Barb’s corpse in S1. The Mind Flayer being made of people was some nasty shit but effective horror. I felt bad for the poor little rats :( Oh, and the flayed humans, too. Some of them. Was sad to see Mrs. Driscoll bite it but FUCK those cartoon misogynists from the newspaper.

Visually beautiful! Starcourt Mall is an amazing set and I’m rather sad that the mall was destroyed, although that was basically a foregone conclusion. Some great cinematography, too. On a purely aesthetic level I had a great time just blasting this season into my retinas.

I have had the motherfucking NeverEnding Story theme song in my head for almost two weeks and I’m suffering.

#lillypedalsxx #replies #stranger things #also they referenced my university this season so i dug that thx 4 the shoutout

27 notes · View notes

zippdementia · 5 years ago

Text

Part 77 Alignment May Vary: A Little Touch of Undermountain

Last time, my players got wrapped up with a bunch of Githzerai and so I needed to come up with a Gith dungeon. For the next piece of the adventure, I used level 16 of Undermountain, so following will be spoilers for that level of 5e’s Undermountain. If you don’t mind, then read on to see how it progressed!

When I prep for a dungeon, I like to read the whole thing first. Not in incredible detail while taking notes or anything, but just skimming through, browsing maps, getting the general idea, spotting interesting rooms, getting a sense of the challenge.

What I’m really trying to do is to find the story.

Every dungeon tells a tale, or at least has the ability to tell a tale. There is no exception to this. Sometimes the tale is very deliberate, other times it will read differently to each GM, based on the personal biases and aesthetics they bring to their reading of the dungeon. For instance, in a dungeon run by Kobolds but with no details as to why they are there, different DMs will draw different conclusions. Some might look at the treasure room and determine that the Kobolds must be protecting an ancient treasure of their people. Bam, there you have a story. Others might notice that the Kobolds are oddly led by a Drow wizard and conclude that this is only the tip of a greater invasion dwelling just below the surface. Another might take the same data and think that this is the dwelling of an outcast Drow, who pridefully believes this to be the first step towards his conquering of the world. Even another might see this and believe that the Drow has been magically enchanted to believe that he himself is a Kobold, and the Kobolds serving him don’t have the courage to try and convince him otherwise, not after what happened to poor pussbottom...

In the case of the dungeon levels of Undermountain, we have quite a bit to go on. Each level in the fifth edition rendition of the dungeon is given at least one deliberate and major story that can be used as a throughline without and several smaller plot lines that are left more open for the DM and players to develop through their actions. In level 16, there is a Githyanki fortress led by a female warrior, Al’Chaia. Wrapped up in her rule is a number of complications. For one, she has encouraged competition among her followers and this has had led to at least one believing they could be a better ruler than she is. Even among her dragon pets, there is competition, as one of the young dragons is seeking to escape the rule of his great red mother and is willing to burn his way to freedom if given the opportunity and a strong enough party of (momentary) allies. And speaking of momentary allies, there are prisoners in the dungeon just waiting for a chance to escape: a group of Mind Flayers for one, and a lone Githzerai monk for another. The two groups won’t work together, but either one could make for a powerful set of allies when trying to work against Al’Chaia. Al’Chaia, for her part, is equal mixture paranoia and pride, desiring to have a direct hand in everything that happens in Stardock and personally interviewing all trespassers and prisoners. She prefers to have intruders taken alive and her knights see this as such a clear way to her favor that they will go to great lengths, even endangering themselves, to capture interlopers rather than kill them.

So, this leaves us with the following story threads:

Al’Chaia wants prisoners

Ezria is a prisoner whom the Githzerai want freed

At least one general wants Al’Chaia dead

There are Mindflayer prisoners who want to be freed

Level 16 is broken into two dungeons, really: the Crystal Labyrinth and the Githyanki Stardock (which is actually located in space and is a light entry into the Spelljammer campaign setting).

Transposing a Dungeon

If playing Undermountain on its own, then the purpose of every dungeon level is to survive and make it to the next lowest level. In this light, Level 16 is an odd one, because you never actually have to go to Stardock to proceed to the next level of Undermountain. Even a group curious about Stardock can’t easily access it, they have to find a key first which requires either killing or convincing one of the more powerful combatants in the Crystal Labyrinth to give you their key. A group might be COMPELLED to seek out and explore Stardock by groups they encounter earlier or later in Undermountain, but square for square it is the easiest level of Undermountain to bypass. The other surprising thing is that all of the story I mentioned above, all of those hooks, happen mostly in Stardock and not so much in the Crystal Labyrinth.

For my purposes, there isn’t anywhere else to go: the players aren’t in Undermountain trying to get to the next level, so I had to focus them from the start on the idea of accessing the Stardock. At the same time, they had some major restrictions that delvers into Undermountain don’t, the big one being they have nowhere to run to in case they need a long rest. Oh, and because their ship is running out of oxygen, they have a limited amount of time to finish the adventure and achieve their goal.

The goal I set up as rescuing Ezria, the Githzerai monk. It made the most sense in terms of story and also felt like the most achievable mission (as killing Al’Chaia is tough, considering she fights with other Gith at her side and at least one young red dragon (possibly more, and possibly an Adult Red Dragon, too, depending on when and how you fight her). I didn’t rule out the possibility of them killing Al’Chaia, but if they did it would have to take place as a hit-and-run assassination, killing her in a few rounds before she had a chance to summon any guards and then getting the heck outta dodge before the mamma dragon showed up to take revenge. Regardless, the mission would require stealthy play, something we haven’t done too much of in our adventures.

I also broke the mission into three pieces in my mind: one was to get through the Crystal Labyrinth (reskinned for my purposes as an in-between world, a backdoor the Githzerai “tunneled” through the aether into the Githyanki fortress, but which was discovered and occupied by the Githyanki) probably proceeding with the help of one of the dissatisfied generals working under Al’Chaia. The second part was to find Ezria in Stardock and break him out of prison. The third part was to escape back to the entrance of Stardock, where Ezria would open a portal and they would get back to the Githzerai homeworld.

There was nothing I threw out or changed over much aside from focusing the dungeon flow on these elements and adhering to those three parts. Other than that, I just got ready to improvise based on whatever the players did.

How Did it Go?

After an initial added puzzle involving a malfunctioning security laser system, the players enter the Labyrinth proper. I changed the entrance point to be the far east side of the map, rather than the west, because I wanted to place them potentially closer to Urlon, one of the more benign of the disgruntled lieutenants (AKA he doesn’t attack them on sight). Overall, there is less activity on this side of the map so I felt like it gave them a better chance of finding a way through the maze to the Stardock.

They do a good job initially of sneaking around. They encounter an imprisoned Mind Flayer, Marqoux (we call him Marky for short) and talk to him for a moment to get a basic understanding of where they are and what to look out for. They are unable to free him at this time, and so they move on and come to a gigantic cavern filled with Githyanki, overseen by a more powerful Githyanki female floating naked in a crystal in the center of the room. This fight is huge. It ends up involving about a dozen Githyanki, all them leaping and misty stepping all over the place, striking by darting in and then teleporting away. The woman in the crystal compliments their attacks with magic missile, haste spells, and twice a gigantic fireball that the party manages to dodge. There are also three Crystal Golems, time and light bending monstrous statues who are less effective than they might have been (due to some poor rolling on my part) and instead make the players feel pretty epic as they dodge around +8 and +10 to hits and whittle away at the Golems until they are naught but crystaline dust in the glowing Labyrinth.

The coolest moments to come out of this come from Imoaza. At one point she strikes down a Githyanki and then uses her Warlock powers to trap his soul and raise him from the dead as a wraith who fights at her command. At another, she leaps over a Crystal Golem’s attack, splits Drosselgreymer into its two smaller sickles, lands on the golem’s chest and hangs there with one sickle while slashing away at the creature’s single diamond eye with the other until it goes down. She then backflips off of it, puts together Drosselgremyer again, and shoots eldritch blasts at two Githyanki as she lands. It’s some next level anime shit.

All this fighting eventually attracts the attentions of one of the Githyanki Knights, who strides into battle atop a young red dragon and who turns the tide in favor of the enemy, scattering the players. Imoaza hides inside a cone of ice and then sneaks away when it dissipates. Carrick flees deeper into the caverns, hiding himself in a crevice. And Milosh, who has proven to be by far the tankiest of the characters, takes on the dragon and its rider on his own for a round or two before being forced into a dead end outside of the Mind Flayer’s prison cell.

I don’t know if we’ve mentioned before that Milosh has a power cannon on his arm, similar to Mega Man? His can burn special gun-arm slots to mimic certain magic and it can fire arrows like a crossbow, powering them up with different effects as he fires them (and he’ll learn more effects as time goes on). He uses one here to launch an electrified arrow into the Githyanki knight’s chest, nearly killing her in a single blow! She survives though and with his resources running out and a pissed off red dragon staring him down, Milosh prepares to either make his final stand or use a special ranger power he has to pierce the aether and travel unseen through the ethereal plane to escape. But instead the Githyanki hails him between ragged and haggard breaths and orders him to stand down and surrender. Milosh agrees and tries to find some clever way to turn this to advantage, but instead he is clapped in magical irons that prevent the use of his abilities and a magical headband that might have been familiar to Targaryen/Daymos from long long ago, blocking out Milosh’s thoughts and blinding him. Then he is led from the arena and up to Stardock.

But what about the player? Not wanting to lose anyone from the table for an extended period, we determine that in their haste to capture Milosh, the guards did not notice a key lifting off of their belt and floating quietly towards the small portal set in the door to the Mindflayer’s prison...

Keeping Your “Head” in the Game

The other party members, Imoaza and Carrick, witness Milosh’s surrender (Imoaza was actually disguised through magic as one of the Gith warriors talking to Milosh about surrendering, though she is too afraid to be caught to try and make a big play, like escorting him herself). They see him being led away by the injured Githyanki knight and her very-healthy-looking red dragon and realizing (correctly) that there is probably nothing they can do to rescue Milosh without risking the death of at least one party member, they continue to explore the labyrinth. Carrick is not very stealthy in his plate mail, and ends up alerting ANOTHER Githyanki magic user in a crystal, but Imoaza still has her disguise, and is able to pretend she is chasing him down, which makes the other Githyanki pause in their own pursuit. In this way, they stumble into the workshop of Urlon, creator of the crystal golems and their best bet at getting into Stardock.

Urlon explains his frustrations of Al’Chai’s rule and his desire to see her dead. He says if they manage to assassinate her, then he will create a distraction and slow the hunt for them, buying them time to find their comrade and escape. The players agree, though in truth they don’t intend to take on Al’Chai: they simply want to get to Ezria and get the heck out of this mess. Urlon doesn’t know this, so he offers them a ton of help: items and a general layout of the Stardock, and he also reforges Mistweaver, which used to belong to Aldric but which Carrick is now using, into a +3 magic weapon that retains its curious ability to hold onto and reproduce certain kinds of damage. An alarm then sounds throughtout the Labyrinth and Urlon snarls: “One of the Mindflayers has escaped,” he tells them. “They’ll be swarming the Labyrinth to find and kill the bastard. Here, you’ll need to hide until this is over.” He telekinetically levitates a massive work table off the ground to reveal a trapdoor leading into a small chamber underneath the workshop, where Imoaza and Carrick squeeze into a semi-comfortable spot, getting a short rest while Urlon and his apprentice, a younger Gith male, go to join the hunt.

The Mindflayer in question is the one being played by our other player, and the alarm is because he inadvertently alerted the Gith after a botched stealth roll. He now flees through the Labyrinth, seeking a hiding spot. He eventually spots one while slinking around the edge of a large cavern: a niche high in the wall that he levitates to and stuffs himself inside like a trapdoor spider. Indeed, the metaphor is apt, for some time later (after a short rest), a young Gith rests against the wall, out of sight of his companions... and is promptly set upon by the Mindflayer, who scores a critical hit against him and drags him up into the niche to feast on his brain. The brain’s memories rush into Marky and it turns out he ate the brain of Urlon’s apprentice. He now knows that two of the adventurers he met earlier are hiding out in Urlon’s workshop and that they have the means to enter Stardock.

Imoaza and Carrick have been sharing a somewhat uncomfortable silence while they rest. Carrick has been keeping an eye on Imoaza since Aldric’s death. Some whisper of fear eats at him. He hasn’t exactly suspected her, but some Paladin intuition is cluing him in to Imoaza’s deeper evil... though, for her part, Imoaza does not believe in evil. She believes only in pragmatism, and has already justified Aldric’s murder in her mind as an act of mercy. Aldric was clearly going to die, she tells herself, and was beginning to show his weakness besides. He’d become emotional and attached. He had a family, for god’s sake. That was dangerous for the group. She was preserving the group.

When Imoaza and Carrick next see the light of the Crystal Labyrinth pouring in through the trapdoor, it is not Urlon who stares down at them, but instead the tentacled face of the Mindflayer. He sends a telepathic message into their heads: “We should help each other.”

It is not the easiest decision to make. After all, Mindflayers are not easily trusted, and they also know that the Gith will be hunting for this one and will respond to any sighting of it with extreme prejudice. Even Urlon, who seemed actually sympathetic towards Ezria and the other Githzerai, going so far as to say he would cease the hunt for them if he replaces Al’Chaia, turned cold when it came to discussing the hunt for the ‘flayer.

At the same time, what choice do they really have?

The three thus band together, leave Urlon’s workshop, and make their way to the portal to Stardock. The Mindflayer uses his access to the Gith’s brain he devoured to fool the lone Crystal Golem blocking their way to the portal to Stardock (a cool notion the player came up with). They pass the golem without incident and insert the key into the portal, and are whisked away to the second part of the adventure, which we will cover next time.

One More Thing...

Before I sign off though, notice some of the things that went on in this session. I didn’t overly prep for this session. All I did read over the dungeon and then find those story threads. To keep things moving and the game fun in the actual session, all I had to do was tie everything that happened in the actual play with one of those story threads. Thus, when the fight with the Githyanki threatened to kill one or more of the players, it was perfectly reasonable instead for the Knight to try and imprison at least one of them, avoiding a TPK and keeping the story moving. Then, because that was removing a player from our game potentially, I improvised by turning to another story point: the Mindflayers. Now my player could stay in the action (very memorably so) as a Mindflayer. How often does a player get to play a monster in a game? And last, when the players seemed beat down and at a loss for where to go next, they found Urlon, who connected them to the “revolution” plot line.

Thus, no matter how crazy things got, I could always get us out of the weeds by steering us back towards the story threads. Identify these in your own sessions and you will find you have to plan a lot less and are ready to improvise when the need arises. And it ALWAYS arises. That’s half the fun of being a Dungeon Master!

#Dungeons and Dragons #dnd 5e #Campaign Journal #AlignmentMayVary #Alignment May Vary #Githyanki #Githzerai

4 notes · View notes

norwegianfriedokra · 5 years ago

Text

Introspection...in fact another’s assignment

Today's topic is a bit strong, it's a bit impactful, it's personal. It's something I've done a ton of thinking about. It's about the meaning of love. Oh I know what you're thinking. What's with the cheesy catch phrases, seriously Rachael...but one thing I know. One thing I can impart, is my own thoughts and feelings in this world. If my thoughts, feelings and the meaning I find can do anything for anyone else. Even if it means to clear up misconceptions that I created or ones others have in their own life...it's worth it. Communication, at least the attempt of which, is of utmost importance. Without it are you showing that you care, that you love, others?

Here in Germany, a strong cultural trait that I've picked up, is that people have a tendency to withhold information. By that I mean keeping certain things, even basic information that we, in the states, would find odd. Where you were born, or what you studied in college, telling someone you just met that information isn't necessary. Being vague about it is totally acceptable and common practice. Sharing such information comes after the first couple of times you meet someone. Perhaps this is an incorrect interpretation, but as I have experienced it, it seems to hold true.

However once you get to know someone the real intensity starts. You see, once the wall breaks down it gets real. The nature of relationships of any kind here, once they really begin, it's hard to truly explain. Of course, this could just be the people I knew in the states. The relationships I have with my friends and family in the states. It could also just be me. I beg of my readers today to hold some compassion and withhold judgement.

I always felt like there was a wall. You can become friends with people in the states, but that wall that keeps your soul safe is always up. There are few people I have ever really felt like that wall broke with. There are definitely people who have seen my own intensity and emotional reactions. To try to really communicate what I mean I will describe a couple of extreme situations in my life and what happened.

One that springs to mind is when my dog died. After college I got a dog, and I named her Iza. I could easily say that I got this dog to fill a void. Some people have children, I got a dog. You see, right after college life got wicked hard for me. My family broke, my parents split right before my last term of college and I barely graduated. For the first year or so I was dating someone, and when that ended I jumped from home to home. When a potentially more long term solution came up to move in with some friends, somewhere around then, I got a dog.

I had dreams to take this dog with me and hike the Appalachian Trail. I wanted it to be my companion, a true second in my life. Unfortunately within 4 or 5 months I got an injury during a soccer game. During a time when I needed to focus on training this new addition in my life, I couldn't. I couldn't walk, I was on crutches for three weeks. Afterwards I still needed lots of time to recover correctly, but this dog needed to be cared for too. I quickly realized that if I wasn't able to take care of myself, I couldn't take care of this dog. But nevertheless I recovered, I was able to walk and then run again. Then I moved into this new home, finally I found a chance for consistency and rhythm. I think it was within a week of moving into this new home my dog was hit by a car. It was an unfortunate accident that directly coincided with the breakup of my then boyfriend. Literally, my boyfriend and I were breaking up when it happened. Then I took my dog to the vet, only to learn that she would need to have a leg amputated. There was a surgery option but it was too expensive. I had also grown up that spending money like that on pets wasn't really an option. I made, probably, one of the worst decisions of my life. I decided to get my pet put down.

I did my best to be realistic about it. I was barely able to take care of myself at that time. I couldn't pay for the surgery even to have her leg amputated, I would need to take out a loan to manage it. Even after that I would be living with roommates whom I couldn't imagine what an impact it would have had on them. So much of my decision was based on things that now, when I look back, I know I could have managed in some fashion. But emotionally where I was (and by no means do I mean due to the breakup), and financially, I felt totally incapable of handling the situation.

All the while my now ex-boyfriend stayed by my side trying to just be there. I couldn't even be in the room when she was put down. I was so consumed with guilt at my decision, my selfish decision, I couldn't look her in the eyes. I can't help thinking about this time and not cry, the sadness still consumes me at times. When we got back to the house I was now living in I raged. I grabbed some glassware I owned and smashed it against the garage wall outside. I searched desperately for something to help me process this.

What I know now is that I wasn't just processing the death of my dog. This evening was the culmination of all the loss I had suffered in the past year. That past year my family had totally broken apart. My father was homeless. I had ended three relationships, two of which were with men whom I deeply respected and had deep attachments to as friends for years. Both of those breakups, even though the physical relationships were short, had immense meaning to me. I had graduated college to find myself in the middle of the burgeoning economic crisis. Attempting to find work that gave my education meaning was meaningless, or at least seemed so in the midst of everything else going on in my life. I lived paycheck to paycheck, but I kept moving. I planned for the future. I got a dog, I bought tickets to visit my friend Jens in Germany. And then, like pulling a tooth with a slammed door, I crashed.

Yes, I said the point of this entry is the meaning of love. Well, in times like this, love is what can pick you up. Love can support you. It can make you feel cared for so that despite when you feel lost and alone you realize you're not. At this point in my life I felt concern and care from my ex-boyfriend and best friend who stayed with me throughout the night. But the pain I felt, the loss.

I had always been one to think of sadness as a beautiful emotion. Not because I was always depressed, but because crying and sadness was a reaction to beautiful things. That to feel sadness was to evoke and emote your empathy. It's not always so, I know that, but in terms of the loss of loved ones, or when enduring difficult situations, it was an acceptable emotion. As I love to write, it was something I always embraced as I felt it helped me to better access my inner poet.

This rage I felt, at this time, I had never felt something so intense. I had never felt the desire to break things. Now, with the sun setting behind the tall buildings here in Offenbach I find myself melancholy in my thoughts. A heaviness on my heart as I recollect my first dog. The love and joy I had found in Iza, it's something I won't get back. It had an innocence to it, one that denied all the hardships that were surrounding me. I could giggle and simply find myself with her. I could be angry but joyful, happy and comforted.

And what's the point, you ask again? Love is something you experience. It's entirely personal. Without communicating it others will have no knowledge of it. My love of my dog, it was something I experienced. It is a memory, and something that changed me. I chose to love my dog, and I was the one who was crushed by the circumstances of her death. You chose to love others, but to expect them to love you back...you can't rely on that.

With pets, as they communicate very differently, you can only imagine that they love you back. That they also care for you in that way. Their devotion and need, it implies such feelings. Perhaps they do, in fact, feel that way. But my loss in this instance was entirely of my own creation. I had chosen to love my dog. It created meaning in my life, and filled a void I thought I had.

Aww shit, am I even expressing this right? The meaning of love is entirely dependent on whom is loved and who does the loving. Everyone's love is different, expressed differently, and exists differently. No two people love each other the same. When love can't be communicated well, how will the other actually know they're loved? Is faith, in this instance, enough? The meaning in love, in my mind, isn't found. If you can't find a way to reach the other person, to communicate your love, then will it exist for them?

I think that's where most mistrust, and distance between people, comes from. At some point people can't communicate their love to each other anymore. I know it's not only that, but I really feel that because love in every situation is different, that unless it is truly understood by the other person/being, without being understood has it existed? At that point it's a one-sided love.

And as love is also different in all situations, it's also fluctuating. Like the seasons and tides it changes. Strong and bold, or like a whisper, it flutters through our lives on butterfly wings. Sadness then being they symbol that once one did love, once, perhaps, one found love.

Ok, my melancholy sunset and I are going to go drink some tea and take a nap. These meanderings of meaning, I hope in some way that they reached you, my dear readers. I never profess to know anything, only to impart and share in this complicated world. Another jenga piece when you'd rather be playing beer pong.

#drivel #melancholyevening #teaonafullstomach

1 note · View note

wow-thisismylifeiguess · 7 years ago

Text

One Of A Kind - Chapter Three - Everybody Knows You’ve Been Discreet

(Notes: Hmm, I feel like I actually had some things to say before this chapter, but I can’t remember. Meh, oh well)

Chapter Rating: T

Katsuki made his way quickly through the halls. He had no time to waste, and even with Eijirou following closely behind him, trying to get him to slow down, you’re way too fast, Bakugou! he speed walked the entire way down. The only thing that stopped him from slamming through the faculty room door was the fact that it was already open, so instead, he just stamped his way in, making a beeline for Aizawa’s desk, only to be greeted by All Might who was already there.

The man looked tired, or at least, moreso than usual. After the reveal of his affliction, it had become more common to see him in his powered down form, but the sight was still a bit jarring at times. And after the first month of Izuku’s disappearance, All Might had left the school entirely, presumably due to the guilt he held.

All Might turned to look at Katsuki, and his eyes widened. “Ah, Young Bakugou. It’s good to see you. And Kirishima-kun as well.” Eijirou had managed to catch up finally and was panting heavily behind Katsuki.

“All Might…what are you doing here?” Instead of allowing the retired hero to answer, Aizawa pushed his seat back and peeked out from behind his tall and lanky form. “I told him about what you had to say yesterday, and seeing as how you’re here again...I take it something else has happened?”

Katsuki grit his teeth and nodded. After what had happened the previous night, Eijirou had refused to leave without hearing the full story, and the two of them had basically spent the night together. The red head had refused to leave, despite the multiple threats sent his way, reasoning that if Izuku could get in and out so easily without being caught once, then there was a chance that he could do it again. With the two of them together, they’d be able to subdue him. In the end, the two had stayed up all night, and while Katsuki was exhausted, he felt way too jittery to actually fall asleep anytime soon.

“Yeah. Something… He came back last ni–” His words were cut off by Aizawa’s capture weapon wrapping around his mouth, causing Katsuki to glare harshly at him.

“Shut up and close the door before you start talking, idiot. No one else needs to hear this unless I think it’s necessary.” The teacher said, motioning for Eijirou to shut the door. Once it was closed, he released the weapon for Katsuki’s mouth and waited for him to continue. “So?”

Katsuki crossed his arms over his chest and started again. “He showed up in my room crying last night, mumbling about shit and…he was mumbling apologies the entire time, saying he was sorry and that he was scared. Mentioned some sort of punishment again, and his eyes… they were dull, like he didn’t know where the fuck he was or something. When I knocked him out of it,” No way in hell was he gonna tell anyone that he cuddled Izuku to make him feel better. Absolutely not. “–his personality flipped like a fuckin’ switch or some shit. Bastard...pinned me to the bed and everything. Then only reason nothing happened was because I managed to get free and then this guy,” Katsuki pointed behind him, towards Eijirou. “–showed up and Deku left. I told you, I didn’t fucking imagine him. Two times in one day. Has anyone ever mentioned that?”

Aizawa looked at Katsuki blankly for a long time in silence, watching as the irritation on the ash blond’s face steadily grew, and finally turned his attention to Eijirou, who’d been patiently waiting quietly in the background. “Do you believe him?” He asked simply. Eijirou hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“I only caught a glimpse of him, for like...two seconds, but I definitely heard him through the door before he disappeared out the window. It had to be him. Couldn’t be anyone else.” Eijirou words came out with a tone of certainty to them, and for the first time, Katsuki was glad that he tagged along. Who knew if Aizawa would have believed his story on his own, but if two people came instead…

All Might was the one to speak this time, looking strangely hesitant. “How...did he look? Was he okay? Aizawa-sensei didn’t tell me much about what you told him, only the basics, but… I need to know.” Katsuki looked at the ex-hero and felt a twinge of something that could be called sadness. He knew about the relationship between All Might and Izuku. The ex-hero had been a father figure to the freckled boy, and Izuku a son in return. Not only did their Quirk join them together, but their overall personalities.

“He’s...not okay. Acts like it, but it’s obvious something happened to have fucked him up, but...I don’t know. He pretended like the whole crying thing had been an act to get me to lower my guard, but when he was like that...he looked broken. That’s not the type of shit that you can fake.” Katsuki recalled the blankness of his eyes and the cold trembling of his body, and grit his teeth. It was an unpleasant memory.

All Might frowned but nodded his head and turned to Aizawa. “We should tell the rest of the students and staff, warn them to keep a look out for him. If what Bakugou says is true, then...then Izuku may be dangerous as he is now, and everyone needs to be on guard. The best thing we can do if try and catch him, and then we can help him. If...if it’s not too late, that it.”

Aizawa let out a drawn out sigh, slumped over in his desk chair. After a few moment, he finally stood up and put a hand on All Might’s shoulder in a rare show of encouragement. “I will, but you are gonna go back to your apartment of wherever you were staying and sleep. You’re no help as you are now.” His words were blunt but true, and despite All Might’s flinch, he nodded. Aizawa turned to Katsuki and Eijirou. “Get to your classroom, the bell is about to ring. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Katsuki opened his mouth to protest. About what? He had no idea, but a careful hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning his head over his shoulder, he saw Eijirou shake his head, and he scowled. For now, there was nothing else he could do.

It was tough...holding a straight face as Aizawa stood in front of the class. Everyone was on high alert, due to the fact that their teacher hadn’t walked into the classroom late as usual, wrapped up in the familiar yellow sleeping bag that he always seemed to carry along with him everywhere he went. Instead, he stood at the front of the room, serious faced rather than showcasing the usual stoic or bored expression. No one dared to breath for a moment, seeing as it was rare for Aizawa to be like this. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Katsuki almost broke the silence, but was interrupted by Momo.

“Excuse me, Aizawa-sensei, but is...is something wrong?” Her voice was quite, lacking the usual confidence behind it. Katsuki glanced at her but said nothing, instead, turning his attention back to Aizawa. The Pro Hero frowned and rubbed at his chin before speaking.

“Midoriya Izuku is alive.” Was all he said. A silence, worse than before, blanketed the room. It only lasted for five seconds before Ochako was pushing herself out of her seat and stamping her way towards Aizawa. She only got as far as two rows forward before Tenya was reaching forward to grab her, pulling her back. The rest of the room erupted into a sea of noise, and Katsuki had to grit his teeth and cover his ears to keep from yelling at everyone to shut the fuck up.

Aizawa sighed and held a hand up, as if signaling everyone to calm down. When it didn’t work, he slammed his hand down onto the table in front of him, stunning everyone into silence. Ochako didn’t stay that way for long, still squirming in Tenya’s hold.

“What do you mean Deku’s alive? You told us all that we should stop hoping after the first month, and then you do this? Is it some kind of sick joke, I don’t understand!” Katsuki, though he understood where she was coming from, couldn’t help but wish Ochako would calm the fuck down. Her yelling across the room wasn’t going to help anything right now.

He sat up straight in his own seat and peered over at Eijirou who’d done the same. The red-head looked on edge, and Katsuki wondered what he was thinking. Opening his mouth to interject, he was interrupted by somebody else.

“It’s been four months, and you rejected Uraraka, Iida, and Kirishima’s comments on seeing him in the past. What’s brought this on, now?” Katsuki flipped around in his seat to look directly at the owner of the voice, making eyes contact with dual colored eyes. He grit his teeth. Of course that Half ‘n’ Half bastard would be the one to interrupt him.

Aizawa cocked his head to the side for a moment before answering. “Before, I’m sure those instances were cases of wishful thinking, but after yesterday...I have reason to believe that Midoriya is in fact alive. I’m not going to tell you why, so don’t even ask. I’m just letting you know, so you’ll be more likely to keep a watchful eye. However, Midoriya has shown himself to be...dangerous, so if any of you do see him, do not approach, no matter what. Contact a teacher immediately. Got it?”

A murmur of confusion filled the classroom before Tenya raised his hand. Ochako had relaxed slightly, but the look on her face made it obvious that she was still less than pleased with the situation. Aizawa nodded his head in acknowledgement and Tenya fixed his glasses. “You say ‘dangerous’. I would like to know what you mean. Midoriya-kun has also been kind-hearted. Does this mean...something has happened to him?” Katsuki clicked his teeth in annoyance and ignored the looks it garnered in his direction.

Aizawa looked like he wanted to do anything else but answer Tenya’s question, but in the end, he knew his class was much too persistent to let it go. “He attached a fellow student before disappearing again. We have yet to figure out just what happened, but if we can catch him…” Tenya nodded, seemingly unsatisfied with the answer, but knowing he wouldn’t get much more. With that, Aizawa redirected the attention of the class, or at least, tried to, while Ochako excused herself and Tenya followed along, to make sure she did not act rashly. Aizawa let it swing, however, he follow them out briefly, presumably to warn them away from doing anything stupid.

With that, class continued on, though the tense air that surrounded them refused to budge until the period was over. Katsuki was quick to leave the room. While everyone else filtered into the cafeteria, he headed towards the roof, ignoring Eijirou failed attempt to quietly follow after him. Opening the door to the roof, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Katsuki growled, irritation thick in his throat.

“The fuck do you want now, Kir–” He cut himself off when he realized it wasn’t in fact Eijirou who’d grabbed his shoulder, but Shouto. The half and half student gave him a look before stepping back carefully, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You know more about this...don’t you.” It wasn’t a question, and that irritated Katsuki even more. The fact that Shouto had managed to follow him and surprise him was enough to make his blood boil, but with a surprising show of control, he resisted the urge to blow up the boy in front of him.

Katsuki huffed. “And what makes you think I’ll fucking tell your ass, IcyHot?” He growled. Shouto’s look was one of boredom and low patience. He briefly looked over his shoulder, and upon confirming that there was no one else there, Shouto grabbed Katsuki’s arm and pulled him further onto the roof, closing the door behind them. Once they were up against the fence, Katsuki pulled away roughly. “The fuck do you think you’re doing, just touching me like that. Wanna die?”

Shouto shook his head and let out a long breath, as though he’d been holding it in for a while. “I want to know where my friend is, Bakugou. After everyone repeatedly telling me he was dead, and then suddenly this, I’m more than just a little curious, and it’s obvious that you know more than you’re letting on, so tell me.”

The ash blond wanted to scowl and refuse, but it would do no good. Besides, as much as he loathed to admit it, Shouto would be a good ally in...whatever this was. Katsuki in no way was going to ignore Izuku and call a teacher if he saw him again, and if Shouto was with him...they had a better chance of managing to take him down. Still, he wasn’t going to give in so easily.

“Yeah? What are you gonna do with this information, huh? Run around tryna find him yourself? Get your stupid ass killed?” A brief look of irritation flashed over Shouto’s face, but it was gone as quick as it came. He shook his head.

“Of course not. I want to help him, Bakugou. Same as you, even if you try and deny it. Now please...tell me.” Katsuki thought it over in his head, and after a few moments, shrugged. It was either now or later.

“I saw him twice, yesterday. Once in the afternoon when I was out in town, and I followed him into an alleyway. The bastard looked all different, had this creepy ass air around him, even fucking taunted me, and then he disappeared. Then at night. I was in my room, and he showed up, but he was...different. Kept crying and shit, and when I tried to–” comfort him, “when I tried to shake him out of it, he just flipped and started acting all crazy and creepy again. Said that I was the reason he was this way, and that he was gonna be punished. After that, I told Aizawa, and now… Well, you fucking know, don’t you.”

Shouto said nothing for awhile, just letting the story sink in, as though he was trying to figure out if Katsuki was lying to him or not. After awhile, he finally seemed to reach a conclusion and nodded. “I see… It may be that...whoever took Midoriya did something to him that altered his personality. If what you say is true, which, I don’t think you’d lie to me at this point, then...we best be careful. We don’t know just how much Midoriya has changed, and it can be dangerous.”

Katsuki shot him a glare. “You don’t fucking think I know that, already? Jeez, you’re fuckin’ slow…” Shouto didn’t say anything and the two simply leaned back against the roof fence in silence for a few moments, before, “Also, where the fuck did Shitty Hair go?”

Shouto, surprised at the sudden change in conversation, gave him a look of confusion before understanding took over. “Oh, Kirishima? Kaminari spotted him and dragged him to the cafeteria.” Katsuki sighed.

“Fucking idiot.”

<< | < | > | >>

#one of a kind #boku no hero academia #my fanfiction #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudeku #chapter three - everybody knows you've been discreet

11 notes · View notes

sabrinavictoria82 · 4 years ago

Text

Stop with the incessant scrolling already.

Are you even paying attention to your life? I certainly wish I had paid more attention to mine. Maybe if I share a tad bit about my life you would find we have a few things in common and you would start to focus differently on your life. Everyone likes a good dramatic story. Yes?

If I were going to be completely honest I would say my life has been anything but easy. It’s actually been quite difficult. And to some, they may say, a total shit show. But to that point, there really is no one to blame but myself. Every issue, struggle and problem that came my way had one common denominator, ME.

Looking back I realize the roll I played in the destruction of my life and where it has led me up to this point. I am grateful for my ability to be able to think outside the box, and realize that I don’t know nearly as much as I once thought I did, and I don’t know nearly as much now as I think I do. I didn’t know it at the time but I had taken on the roll of a codependent victim pretty early in life. Having a complete lack of boundaries and absorbing people’s negative words about myself as absolute truths rather than just opinions. I was constantly seeking approval and sacrificed my own morals and comfort in fear of making other people upset with me. I ran from any kind of confrontation, and went to great lengths to avoid it. I was completely preoccupied with how other people viewed me, and completely lost sight of how I viewed myself. This lack of confidence effected my entire life and although I didn’t see it at the time, I see it clear as day now.

I remember from as young as 8 years old, I was on vacation with my parents. I had left my purple hip purse in a bathroom stall at a pit stop. I noticed about 25 minutes after leaving the pit stop, but it took me about 15-20 minutes to gain enough fortitude to say something. At this point we were almost an hour away. My parents obviously didn’t turn around. I lost all my chore money that day, $22, and I was devastated. That is my earliest memory of feeling a real loss regarding my own actions, and you would have thought that would have jolted me into gaining a voice. But it didn’t, it actually got worse as I got older.

First, in my defense, I didn’t know it then, but all human decisions are made to either avoid pain or gain pleasure. Second, to make things even more interesting, people will do much more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. Third, and this is a show stopper, it isn’t based on actual pain and pleasure, it’s based on your perception of what that pain or pleasure WILL be. Which our imaginations are wild, so our perception is incredibly flawed.

This is why I ended up in those compromising situations 1, 2, 3, 6+ times where a boy was allowed to take advantage of me. My flawed perception of the disappointment, or uncomfortable feelings I would ignite if I stood my ground caused me to allow these situations to escalate. Lacking complete confidence in myself to do (or not do) what I deemed as appropriate behavior, but allowing them to do as they pleased. That was me. I could have done things differently, but my extreme lack of confidence coupled with my desire to people please landed me in these confusing situations.

Hopefully at this point you are having a couple ah-ha moments for yourself, but either way I’m about to add another layer right here. We are complex creatures, as humans, and we are guided by more than just pain and pleasure. We are also guided by our love languages. For those of you that have never heard of a love language, there are 5 of them. Depending on which love language you are, there are repercussions for linking up with someone who does not have your love language, or does not understand your love language. To break it down, 23% of the population is moved by Words of Affirmation, 20% needs Quality Time, 20% looks for Acts of Service, 19% needs Physical Touch and 18% needs to Receive Gifts in order to feel loved. Everyone has a dominant love language and a 2nd tier love language. My two are physical touch and acts of service. Now physical touch does not mean anything sexual, it is the EXACT opposite of anything sexual. But you can easily see how physical touch can EASILY be misconstrued by someone who does not have that language and does not understand that language. This meant that not only was I dealing with a strong desire to touch and be touched in order to feel loved (hand holding, caressing and holding) I was also dealing with not wanting to displease anyone who took my ‘physical touch advances’ the wrong way and thus put me in several morally uncomfortable situations throughout my life.

This is how a girl like me ends up pregnant out of wedlock before her 21st birthday. I was showing my love language of physical touch and was then too hesitant to stop the momentum of the situation in fear of hurting my partners feelings, causing discomfort or upsetting the moment. I was also too naive to know about birth control, and was too nervous to request he wear a condom. That was me. I didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, because I was not educated with ANY of this information, I was led to believe that I was just an immoral, disobedient individual who had no regard for her body, her love for a god, or her family. This created a mess for my subconscious mind with feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, shamefulness and maliciousness. In reality I was just being a human, the human that I am, following the instincts and natural tendencies that I was born with or was born into.

Walking around as a pregnant unworthy, weak, incompetent, manipulative young women it’s easy to see how this situation could lead someone down a hole of suicidal thoughts, hate and frustration. I was alone, pregnant, uneducated in the things that mattered and was desperate to survive. I took on the identity of a victim, my life was beating me up, one hit after another.

The following is a list of a few of those hits, because I know you don’t have all day.

Not wanting to inconvenience anyone (because at this point I viewed myself as a huge inconvenience), I bought a car on my own for the first time, I got ripped on the interest rate. I was paying a car payment for an 8 year old Toyota Camry as if it was a brand new BMW. That was me, I went in by myself, uneducated and unprepared.

About two months after that, when my son was a few months old, I broke up with his father. Instead of sticking around and helping with bills and spending quality time with his son, he left the state and left me high and dry with an apartment, a car payment, a phone, a baby and all the bills. There are NO words for how this felt, it was overwhelming to a level that I do not have the vocabulary to express. I could have taken action to get him to pay child support. I didn’t. My victim mindset had me living in a space of victimhood. Victims don’t fight, they cower like a scared mouse in the corner.

The snow ball effect from not receiving child support eventually led to my car getting repoed, and a few months later I started to receive eviction notices on my apartment door. I didn’t even try to fight my son’s father for child support. I just let his lame excuses fill my ears over the phone as I cried and begged for any financial help. I didn’t make one phone call to one lawyer. I was a victim, giving up all my power.

This financial distress found me in the arms of a financially stable man who led me on a 13 year whirlwind disaster of a relationship. Moving in with him and over the course of a few years giving up control over my phone, my car and my job. This gave him complete power to punish me randomly throughout the week, threatening to cancel my phone service, threatening to kick my son and I out of his house and hiding the car keys with the excuse of it ‘not’ being my car. Having absolutely no foundation to base what is acceptable behavior in a situation where a man takes a broken, sinful, unworthy girl from penniless to a stable home, I accepted this as ok conduct.

Not long after that, being completely fooled by my sons father, when he asked to take my son on a summer get-a-way. Being torn between the fact that I had not received child support for 11 years and not wanting to be the one to keep my son from his father, I allowed my son to go. The day my son was due back to me, I received an email from my son’s father stating he would ‘take it from here’ and ‘thank you for taking care of him for 11 years.’ This forced me to obtain a lawyer and fight back and forth for 12 months to gain back what was already mine (full custody and child support), this drained my savings account of $15,000 and racked up a credit card bill to $3000. Looking back, I should have contacted a lawyer years ago and gained legal rights over my son to protect myself from this mess. But my false perception of what sort of pain that would cause me led me to hesitate for 11 years too long, putting me in this situation.

That loss of $18,000 caused my entire life to be set back because that was the money I was planning to use to escape my narcissist partner at the time. My entire plan was postponed, and I had to start ALL over again from -$3,000.

This was all me, everything I mentioned above happened because of my own misunderstandings of how I work as a human. And this is what I want to stress to you. It’s hard sometimes to take ownership of EVERYTHING that happens in your life, especially when it seems obvious that it’s someone else’s fault. It can also be difficult when you realize that the majority of your issues stem from not having the correct education or mindset to be able to make informed decisions regarding what you know about yourself and your weaknesses. But the awesome thing about accepting complete blame for all the circumstances, no matter what they are, is that you also get to take complete ownership of all the awesome things you have done. For instance.

There are many options for pregnant mothers now in days. I choose to give birth to my son, and I choose to keep my son. He is now 16. That was me. I did that!

Going above and beyond what was emotionally and mentally bearable to provide for my son, because his father was useless for the first 11 years of his life. That was me. I did that!

Forgiving my son’s father and moving on with my life. Not talking bad about him to my son all these years. So that my son can grow up confident and strong with little to no guilt or shame as a child. That was me. I did that!

Although I never abused alcohol, I did see the effect it was having on my mental health over the weekends. So 14 years ago I choose to never drink again. It drastically improved my mental, emotional and physical health and has saved me tons of money that I am now able to save and invest with. That was me, I made that decision. I did that.

All the emotional and mental turmoil I endured throughout these years had me thinking of drugs, alcohol and suicide on a weekly bases. How easy it would have been to just give up, throw in the towel and become another statistic. Run away and never look back. But I didn’t do those things. That was me. I stood strong.

I recently purchased another car. I went into the dealership with two educated individuals. Fully prepared after reading books, forums and watching how to videos. I walked out paying exactly what I wanted, and saved over $10,000 in interest rates because I had cash. BOOM. Who learned from their last experience and educated herself so she wouldn’t over pay again? That was me. I did that.

Getting a lawyer, and spending $18,000 of my hard earned money to stand up against a man who was financially abusing me for 11 years by withholding child support, and then WINNING. That was me. I now have full custody and receive monthly child support! I did that! Like a boss.

Taking a considerable amount of years and secretly educating myself to create several different avenues of online income and saving money so I can leave that narcissistic relationship. That was me. I did that!

Walking away from a financially stable relationship of luxury and money because I educated myself on the emotional, mental and financial abuse that was happening within the home. That was me. I did that. I humbled myself by moving into my own place. I was living on a mattress on the floor for months until I was able to slowly collect used furniture from Goodwill, the side of the road and from friends. I made myself a new home for my son and I. That was me. I did that!

Becoming the CEO and founder of my own coaching company that now has over 40,000 followers (and growing!) across all platforms. Inspiring others worldwide and helping endlessly amounts of people break through and discover their own untapped talents and immense potential by sharing my own stories of failures and triumphs. That was me. I did that!

Being moved by the destruction of the fast fashion industry on the environment, I created and launched my own up cycling fashion design company. Using recycled clothes to save them from the landfills. That was me. I did that!

Allowing myself to love again, even though so many men in my life have abused, taken advantage of, and lied to me. That was me. I did that!

Never giving up, staying positive through it all, and always looking forward… rather than dwelling on the past. Knowing there has to be more, educating myself beyond what deems necessary. That was me. I did that!

It wasn’t always ‘that easy’. There were a million tears shed. There were suicidal thoughts. There were nights of wanting to give up. There was yelling and screaming and crying. There was pointing blame and feeling absolutely helpless on multiple levels. But I never gave up. I kept going, and that is why I am here sharing my story, with you. I know there have been times in your life you have wanted to give up, throw in the towel and just be complacent in your life. You may have decided to be mediocre and have put your dreams and desires aside because you are tired of fighting and tired of trying. You are sick of being let down and sick of failing. But I am here to tell you that the fight IS worth the reward. Trust your gut, keep pushing forward and continue to move towards your dreams, whatever that might be.

We all make mistakes, we all do things that are out of character either out of emotional distress or just being naive to the truth. That is ok. You are allowed to change your mind and do things differently. You are allowed to go in a different direction even if the entire world is expecting you to go in another direction. I am here to tell you that I support you, just know that no matter which direction you go in there will be a story, a repercussion and you have to be ready and willing to handle that with strong shoulders and a positive attitude.

This is your life, and you have the ability to speak up, turn down, or change the trajectory of your life at any moment. Now, this is where it gets tricky, because knowing this is great for you, until you realize that everyone has this right, and your ability to be able to control the people in your life flies out the window… but that my friends will be saved for another post. Until next time, follow me here.

Do something awesome today.

Much love,

Sabrina Victoria

0 notes

dsudis · 8 years ago

Text

March 26, 1997: The Greatest Hockey Game Ever Played (As Determined by Red Wings Fans)

...Literally, there was a vote. During the 2004-05 lockout, the Detroit Red Wings released a DVD set of five games, and they had fans vote on which games they wanted. This one, played seven years earlier during the regular season for no special stakes (in terms of championship or league standings, anyway) was the runaway #1.

The thing you have to understand about this game, which plays out the violence in hockey on a truly epic scale, is that it is all about an emotional narrative. It is, in fact, all about revenge--and, from the Detroit perspective, all about standing up for your friend against a bully, and with your friends against all of the bully’s friends. It is the final act of the kind of sports movie no one would ever make.

was

awesome.

And there was so much blood. Like. A lot of blood. A Detroit paper ran the headline BLOODY GOOD the next day, over a huge full-color image of a bloodied Colorado player. I will try not to get too gleeful about the violence (which, on March 26, resulted in zero serious injuries) but, uh, this was a formative hockey experience for me, so bear with me.

FIGHT NIGHT AT THE JOE: THE SWEEPING HOCKEY EPIC, under the cut.

So to set the stage: In 1995, the Quebec Nordiques, a team who had played since 1972 in Quebec City, ran into fatal financial problems and wound up being relocated from the heart of Canada--the spiritual home of hockey--to the city of Denver, which had no particular hockey culture or history or, so far as anyone could tell in 1995, any interest in hockey.

Though the players had been in the league as long as anyone, many of them transferring together from Quebec to Colorado, the brand new Colorado Avalanche tended to be viewed as upstarts because the city and the ownership were new to the NHL. Some new additions were also made to the team, including future Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy, and Claude Lemieux, who had been on the New Jersey Devils team that swept the Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to none, in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1995.

In the 1995-96 season, the Red Wings dominated the NHL, winning 62 of 82 games (a win record that still stands today). As an Original Six team that had waited 41 years for a championship victory, they were the polar opposite of the brand new Colorado Avalanche--who, playing in the same division as all three California hockey teams and the Oilers at their lowest post-Gretzky ebb, sailed to victory in their division and right on into the playoffs.

The Red Wings met the Avalanche in Round 3 of the playoffs that year, the last round before the Stanley Cup Finals. For all of the above reasons, the Avs were a particularly hated opponent--and the personalities of their coach, Marc Crawford, and figures like Roy and Lemieux on the team, did not shy away from that dynamic.

The Red Wings, meanwhile, were coached by Scotty Bowman and captained by Steve Yzerman. Bowman was famous for mind games--but he didn’t tolerate any player speaking out of turn, and was never bombastic in his own remarks. Yzerman was--kind of Jonathan Toews before there was a Jonathan Toews, the quiet serious captain, except he was ten years into captaining his team by then, still hoping to break the Cup drought for Detroit.

The playoff series between the Avalance and the Red Wings was... scrappy, but within pretty normal bounds, until a brief incident by the boards during Game 6. Claude Lemieux hit Kris Draper from behind at the boards, causing Draper to fall face-first against the dasher at the bottom, breaking his jaw.

You may notice that this happened directly in front of Detroit’s bench--and directly in front of Detroit’s #25. That’s Darren McCarty, who normally played on a line with Draper (the third line, nicknamed the Grind Line--they were far from the best or highest-scoring players on the team). McCarty was a good friend of Draper’s, and it was normally his responsibility to protect the small and speedy Draper on the ice.

This will be important later.

Draper went on TV the next day with his jaw swollen to the size of a softball, one black eye swollen shut, and said he only wanted an apology from Lemieux. The hit itself wasn’t spectacularly vicious; accidents happen. Still, it’s normal to express regret when someone gets badly hurt.

Lemieux not only declined to apologize, he insisted that he had made Draper famous, made him plenty of money, made his career.

And then the Red Wings played Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, and the Avs won. The Wings went home empty-handed for the forty-first season in a row.

And then the Avs--then Claude Lemieux--won the Cup.

In the following season, the 1996-97 season, the Red Wings and Avalanche played each other four times. They met in November, in Detroit, and the Avalance won, 4-1. They met in December, in Colorado, the Avalanche won, 4-3. They met on March 16, in Colorado, and the Avalanche won, 4-2.

And then they met in Detroit, at the Joe Louis Arena (named for Detroit’s most famous boxer) on March 26, 1997, and the Red Wings had had enough.

There were two fights in the first ten and a half minutes of the game, but things stayed pretty normal until 18:22 of the first period, which is when all fucking hell broke loose.

Peter Forsberg (Colorado) and Igor Larionov (Detroit) were both European skill players, not normally prone to fighting--but a collision near the boards led to the young Forsberg punching Larionov while he was down, and Larionov, seven years older and several inches shorter, surged up with a couple of punches of his own and tackled Forsberg to the ice. The two linesmen rushed in to break them up, leaving only the referee to keep order among the other ten men on the ice--who happened to include, at that moment, both Claude Lemieux and Darren McCarty.

Kris Draper, just then, was on the bench, watching.

Now, here’s the thing about fighting in the NHL: it is really regarded as a matter of honor, like a duel. When two players want to fight, to settle some score or to rally their team, there is a way that fights start--a little pushing and shoving and chirping, and then two men square up. Fighting is often referred to as “dropping the gloves” in hockey, because that is the most iconic way players communicate that they’re ready to go: drop the bulky protective gloves and hold up bare fists. There is often a moment of circling, and then someone lunges in to grab their opponent’s jersey with one hand and throw a punch with the other.

(They have to grapple in order to fight, due to Newton’s third law: the force of a punch would otherwise propel a player backward out of reach on his skates.)

So. After all of this, Lemieux and McCarty are on the ice together, play has already been stopped by a fight, and McCarty wants to fight Lemieux--who hurt his friend, his linemate, and refused to apologize, who has triumphed twice now over his team--and after a single punch, Lemieux...

Turtles.

As you can see, McCarty has dropped his gloves. But Lemieux still has his on, and is using them to hide his head. In hockey cultural terms, he is refusing to square up and face the fight his actions have earned him. He’s easily as big as McCarty, perfectly capable of defending himself in a fight, but he refuses to engage.

So McCarty reaches down, yanks his helmet off, and starts punching him in the head.

Now, there are still four other guys from each team on the ice watching this, and they all know that the linesmen and ref are not going to intervene--they normally don’t until a fight has run its course or both players are down on the ice, and in this instance they are also painfully obviously outnumbered. You can see in the top photo, other players are converging on McCarty and Lemieux.

Patrick Roy, the Avalanche goalie, was one of the first to arrive--this is a fairly dramatic moment, as the fight is happening at center ice, and Roy was at his goal all the way on the Colorado side, so he skates almost a hundred feet as fast as he can--only to be tackled mid-air by Detroit player Brendan Shanahan, to stop him from interfering with McCarty.

(There are no good stills of that moment, but I’m gonna put the video at the bottom of this post, so you can watch the whole thing and, believe me, it’s beautiful.)

Shanahan and Roy went down to the ice and pretty much immediately Colorado player Adam Foote grabs hold of Shanahan to pull him off Roy--protecting the goalie is a strong principle for defensemen in all situations, after all. Shanahan and Foote wind up detaching to fight, which would have left Roy free to go after McCarty again, except that the Red Wings goalie, Mike Vernon, also skated out to center ice to engage Roy--leading to the fantastic spectacle of a goalie-on-goalie fight at center ice.

Remember how I mentioned that a Detroit paper ran the headline BLOODY GOOD over a bleeding Colorado player the next day? It was a picture of Patrick Roy after this fight, and it was this image or one very much like it:

But the whole Roy-Shanahan-Foote-Vernon altercation and the two proper standup fights it spawned were really only about the Red Wings protecting McCarty as he punched the shit out of Lemieux, the original villain. So how did that turn out?

With all the fighting--and officials--converging on center ice, McCarty wound up dragging Lemieux to one side. Over to the boards directly in front of the Red Wings bench, in fact, where Kris Draper was sitting.

McCarty slammed Lemieux’s face into the boards, repeating the same thing he had watched happen to Draper ten months before, now with Draper watching.

Lemieux’s jaw was not broken, however. He went on to play the rest of the game, as did Roy and the rest of the players involved in the fights.

There were another five fights over the course of the rest of the game; a total of 18 (paired) major penalties for fighting were given out. (McCarty, for his actions in the brawl, took a double minor penalty for roughing, requiring the Red Wings to play one man short for four minutes.) The teams also scored five goals apiece somewhere in there, sending the game into sudden death overtime.

The game-winning goal--in proper conclusion-of-a-sports-movie fashion--was scored by...

Darren McCarty!

With assists from...

Brendan Shanahan and Igor Larionov!

The Red Wings finished the season second in their division, while the Avalanche finished first in the league (as the Red Wings had the year before). And just as they had the year before, the Red Wings and Avalanche met in Round 3 of the playoffs--but this time it was the Red Wings who won, and the Red Wings who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

And the game winning goal of the final game of that series was of course scored by none other than the hero of Fight Night at the Joe: Darren McCarty.

So! Now you are ready to watch all the fights in their proper context, right?!

Here’s the Wikipedia article on what they term the Colorado Avalanche-Detroit Red Wings Brawl

And here’s the video--probably ripped from the DVD set the Red Wings released in 2005, so it’s from the Detroit broadcast and features Detroit-partisan commentary:

youtube

#detroit red wings #march 26 1997 #fight night at the joe #bloody wednesday #fighting #darren mccarty #kris draper #claude lemieux #patrick roy #colorado avalanche #in retrospect i wonder if lemieux had a concussion or a history of concussions #and was trying to avoid getting hit in the head for that reason #and his teammates were likewise trying to protect him #but he still didn't have to be such a dick okay #blood #hockey

145 notes · View notes

theinternethasyounow · 5 years ago

Text

DOING THE RIGHT THING

Preface: This is the first entry in a series that I’ve decided to cultivate, while working on a larger scale writing project. Each article and/or chapter will tackle a new topic regarding aspects involving or relative to how we as humans decide to live our lives and how we can do that better.

In Spike Lee’s film, Do the Right Thing we get to explore NYC during the rough and still racially charged reality of the late 80’s. What essentially begins as a triggered and troubled relationship between African American and Italian American New Yorkers, ends up shedding light on the racial tensions, lack of communication and awareness, as well as the reality that reality’s truths will only acknowledged, once violence has plagued a community. Spike Lee is able to show us humanity’s flaws and racial tensions through our main character Mookie (Spike Lee), his relationships with his girlfriend, sister, friends around town, all within the very local setting of a Bed-Stuy pizzeria owned by Sal (Danny Aiello), who happens to be Mookie’s boss. The crux of controversy comes from a disagreement in regards to Sal’s celebrity Wall of Fame, which predominantly and solely showcases famous actors of Italian American heritage. Giancarlo Esposito’s character Buggin’ Out wants to know why Sal’s wall doesn’t showcase any famous actors of African American heritage, only for Sal to respond that it’s his business and he can do what he pleases with the Wall of Fame. A takeover of the pizzeria and Wall of Fame occur, a mini riot breaks out, there’s a clash between the various race groups, which ends up including the mob, a member of society, Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), is killed by a police officer by way of chokehold, and in the end the two leads end up reconciling in the aftermath of a community breakdown. Lee’s points seem to highlight where society was and in some ways still are even in 2019, but ultimately how all of this could’ve been avoided by doing the right thing in the first place. The right thing of course being that our characters should’ve been treating each other differently from the get go. Differently in a such a way where there was understanding and respect, regardless of differences that certain characters may have hid behind due to lack of awareness. Doing the right thing would’ve been simply being decent to one another and just getting on with each person’s daily journey, instead of laying into fears, differences, and thinking that specific races of people are the reasons for ever changing societies. To be clear race doesn’t control a society’s reason for positive or negative changes, but in fact those who are at the top of the socio-economic power struggle are the ones in ultimate control over the situation, but let’s save that for a future discussion shall we.

When it comes to living a decent life, there are several bastions that are best to uphold. Think of the foundations in which your moral compass is built upon as a castle, a thick wall, or any other sturdy metaphor. Now, during a battle is it realistic or even possible to maintain every one of the castle’s walls at once, probably not, but people still tried. Is it realistic to think that plugging up holes in a damn one after another, like something out of a cartoon, will ultimately prevent water from leaking through, most definitely not. Can you be the best at everything, hell the fuck no, but you sure can try and end up giving it your damn all whilst doing so. The effort becomes genuine, sincere, even meaningful, and that’s what people notice and remember in the long run of it all. You are in for the long run, aren’t you? Within this worded journey I’m going to touch upon a few staples of life, hard hitting points, and hopefully easily memorable every day actions that can bring you towards living your best life and even being the best possible person, but no freaking pressure. The key point right now that will get us started off, which I will most likely harp back on in following chapters of this new and fun series, is that it’s important to do the right thing. Be the individual to go out of their way when others are taking the easy way out, because in the end doing what’s right really and truly matters. So what’s a better way to start talking about doing the right thing than treating those around you with the utmost kindness, even if they don’t deserve it, and if they don’t then really fucking slay them with it till they’re sick.

Treating Others Well, Well Duh!

Acting with kindness to those around you, whether you know them or not, whether you like them or not, should be everyone’s modus operandi. It’s ultimately following the saying, “treat people the way you’d want to be treated”, regardless of differences or initial impressions, because remember when it comes down to it we’re all made up of the same things, space stuff, and space stuff is pretty out of this world am I right or what? I hope you enjoy puns, so buckle that seatbelt up, and remember safety third, because this journey will be chock full of them. There will be so many dad jokes and puns that you’ll be choking on them after a while, but please just don’t choke and die whatever you do. I don’t need an obscure lawsuit coming out of a piece of writing that’s meant to be geared towards helping people. Speaking of killing, kindness kills, it really does, and we all know the power that being kind carries over attacking with blind fit of negativity as easy as that may be for most. There are tons of expressions about it, such as catching more flies with honey than with vinegar, take the high road even if they go low, or last but not least, which is the most on the nose one, kill them with kindness. Your emotions and reactions will want you to stoop down to their level when they go low and get dirty, but don’t let yourself get to that point. Arm yourself with that kindness grenade launcher, take aim down the sights, and blow them up with a rainbow and glitter filled kindness blast, so they’ll end up hating you more, but more so you’ll end up leaving the situation feeling just fine and dandy. Too many people let their emotions end up driving them in a majority of the situations in which they find themselves and of course there’s a time and place where that can and should be allowed, but it’s not ideal or healthy to have every situation be driven by how you feel. Emotions are a drug of sorts, where you may or may not let your true self or actual thoughts come out, but it could all very well end up being what your true thoughts are in the then and there, not after having thought out and discussed with yourself what you’re really feeling. Reacting with kindness is not only the best way to handle a situation, which will prevent you from stooping to a lower level of living as previously mentioned, but also to really punch back with the point that you’re not only not going to let anyone get to you, but that you are in fact a genuinely decent human being. There have been tons of times in my life where I’ve should’ve crushed someone under the defeat of being kind, but I didn’t. Why you must be wondering, well because I was young, dumb, and blinded by a flurry of emotions. Reacting without thinking seemed like the only way to handle the situation at the time when you’re square in it and it’s staring you straight in the punim. It wasn’t until I started becoming a bit more of a goddamn adult, that I realize that 1) wasting emotions can be avoided, and 2) you can always handle a situation better, always. Think of those closest to you, or even all of your favorite celebrities/musicians/athletes who might not have handled themselves in the best of light during an incident in the spotlight. Regardless of how good acting a certain way might feel when you’re in the heat of the moment and shit’s going doing, first, why don’t you take a step back and think how does that end up looking from an outsider’s perspective? Within the past year or two I can name a few very memorable instances of notable figures not necessarily handling themselves at their best. Antonio Brown just recently had some drama involving “finding out” he was getting released from the Oakland Raiders. You’re probably wondering about the bunny ears, well there was a video, because nowadays there’s always a video. What happened was that basically the video showed Brown finding out he was just released and he started running around cheering and saying that he was free. Was it genuine? Perhaps. Staged? Most likely, but either way he ended up making a very public expression of how he felt about his time with the Raiders. That’s like telling your boss to go fuck themselves on the way out the door of a job that you’ve been dying to leave behind. Sure as shit that probably felt great, and seemed like a cool idea at the time, but was it the smartest move? Fuck no. In Brown’s case he was already in the process of getting picked up by the New England Patriots, so there’s that job security, but who’s to say that if something a little more unfriendly went down, such as the boss situation example I had given, that he wouldn’t have been shut down by a number of teams for showing off his unsportsmanlike conduct. Look the point isn’t to point a finger at Antonio Brown, he’s just an example, because when I was writing this, the news about him had just broke. I could rattle off about Brett Kavanaugh, Kayne, Sean Spicer, Serena Williams, or even the goddamn POS President of the United, Donald Trump for fuck sake. It doesn’t matter who the subject matter is, but what matters is how they could’ve handled themselves and just as importantly what steps they’d take after the fact to either rectify or hinder the situation. Years ago when I was in the process of leaving the HVAC industry I had taken a 12.1% pay cut, because I managed not to achieve two certifications by a certain deadline. That deadline was only two months out from when I was supposed to leave the company anyway, but very few people had that knowledge at the time. I really didn’t want to be in the field anymore and had even already applied for a coding bootcamp through the now defunct Dev Bootcamp, which I was already participating in through the online portion of the bootcamp, while the in person portion was only a couple of months away. The pay cut was the blow to my emotional gut and solidified any and all musings in regards to how I felt about being at that company and industry. I was pissed the fuck off, but I knew it really didn’t matter how I wanted to react, what mattered how I should react. There were times where I wanted something to go down so I could unleash all of the pent of frustration, but no matter the trials in those short months, nothing ever came of it. On my last day I said goodbye to some of my friends who I still maintain relationships with and left the building on good terms with the CEO after an hour long conversation. I was relieved to be done with that part of my life, but I will always be slightly hung up on that pay cut. Did I let it make me leave a black stain on my professionalism in the industry, absolutely not, because who’s to say that my former boss couldn’t end up wanting to blacklist me within the industry. Sure that’s a dick move, but I guess sometimes you can play dick move for dick move. It’s definitely something to keep in mind that your actions have impactful, lasting, and potential serious implications. I’ll touch way more upon that in coming paragraphs, but for now let’s get back to being the best person by treating others well.

Besides being a kind person, not letting yourself judge others like judging a books by their covers is just as essential. When you judge someone while only having an initial glimpse into their life you might be cutting yourself off from the possibility of a new and fruitful connection. That could end up creating a negative association in regards to how people may view you, which in turn could just cause a back and forth of a bunch of people judging each other, thinking they know what someone else is all about when in reality everyone just ends up knowing nothing. Just think about it, how many times have you let yourself judge somebody you didn’t know at all simply based on either how they looked, acted, spoke, etc. We all try to adjust, adapt, and handle ourselves differently when something we don’t yet understand comes into our lives, that’s exactly what happens when and why you’re judging somebody. If there’s a language barrier, you might speak louder thinking that’ll solve the problem. If someone is dressed oddly or is not the best with people, then you might cast them out while making fun of them, just so you can feel better about yourself. Sure there are plenty of times where someone is just giving off that wrong vibe and judge them, because your instincts are probably on point, but most of the time that’s not the case. You have to give people a chance to prove themselves, before you throw them into a box for your own benefit. It’s something that children are amazing at, since kids couldn’t give a flying fuck what makes you not fit in, since all they care about is if you’re nice to them. That’s why there’s that unconditional love, understanding without knowing what’s out there in the world, and it’s absolutely incredible how untainted something like that can end up being. It’s definitely harder these days for people to not judge one another, since the influx and popularity of social media, which I’ll dive into later, but in the meantime there’s always the small steps and breakthroughs that can be achieved and that starts with you.

To keep the YOU train rolling, make sure to spread decency and courtesy like it’s the common cold. Being courteous leaves a lasting impact in regards to how people view you, plus when it becomes your norm you’ll actually take great pleasure from just acting like a decent human being. You may have noticed it already, but it’s important how people view you, because that lasting impression spreads, it sticks with you, and can take you either in the best or the worst of directions, but let’s stick with how contagious courtesy can be. Being courteous is easier than you think, but just taking the first steps in regards to how to go about that may be the most difficult thing for most people. The idea of learning to be courteous may sound odd, but for those who weren’t fortunate enough of being raised in such an environment, then it becomes something you do need to learn. As I may have previously mentioned, it’s easier to react to someone with negativity, because it’s a defense mechanism, but killing with kindness or engaging in communication to create a chance for understanding is the more rewarding and righteous path. Engaging people with the utmost respect goes hand in hand with being courteous, but you can obviously have one without the other. You can be courteous without having respect for someone, it’s called keeping your poker face on high or on fleek like the young kids are saying these days (total fucking joke), but you can also have respect for someone without being courteous, and that’s just a result of not being raised a certain way as previously mentioned. It ultimately harps back to treating others how you’d want to be treated, because when you think about your everyday micro interactions don’t the small things end up peeving you out the most. Really think about it though, since there can be plenty of examples of these annoyances, such as someone not using manners, not holding the door, cutting in line at an event, etc. I can rattle off the long list and you know it’s annoying, because you’ll probably start to feel irked while reading it, especially if there are a bunch of things such as that starting to pile up on you like that, so begin to imagine what that’d be like in your day to day. Obviously being both respectful and courteous will get your further along than not, but both have to be learned, understood, and really utilized to be appreciated. So what do you do to learn these skills, well we live in a sort of new day technological age of enlightenment, in the sense where anything you might want to learn is easily accessible whether it’s online or in person. However, you can read all the books in the world, scramble through articles online about etiquette, but ultimately the best way to learn is through human interaction. Find yourself some friends who are also trying to be better people, learning and striving to be their best selves and latch onto them. If you have people to grow with it’ll make your adventure all the more fun. If you’re like me then you adapt to the company you decide to keep. I find that I might act a certain way around one group compared to another, which can be a double-sided blade. While it makes you fit it instantly, it can sometimes bring on a somewhat negative look, especially if your new desired cohorts aren’t the best of folk. No one’s perfect, I’m sure as shit ain’t, but the coming to the realization when something is hindering you rather than helping is definitely the first step towards reaching towards perfection. Perfection is a lie, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep striving for it. I surround myself with friends who’ve may or may not attended better schools that me, or have higher paying jobs, or more success in life, but the common theme seems to be that they know how to treat each other in a respectful, courteous, and down right beyond decent way. The fun fact is that not a single one of them is perfect either, but they all learn from the next in order to improve the ways in which they are flawed eventually becoming the best of us all, becoming a super hero of sorts.

Become the superhero you’ve always wanted to be by taking in all of the positive advice from those around you have instilled in you over time. Don Cheadle said the following about being a super hero during an Avengers: Endgame red carpet interview that speaks pretty highly to my point:

“Wow, I think, you know, teamwork, I think, you know, sacrifice, putting others before yourself. All those things that we were told to do and that our parents tell us to do when we’re young, you know”. — Don Cheadle

It’s a solid quote, and it’s definitely a major part of what makes any person a hero, super powers or not. Even Dr. Erskine from Captain America: The First Avenger says the following to Steve Rogers,

“Whatever happens tomorrow you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.” — Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine

This is an important ideal to remember, because while you can always dress the part, it really comes down to what you can do and in the end what you are standing for. I know me telling you to be a superhero might come off as a silly idea, but I’m not telling you to dress up like Batman and jump from rooftop to rooftop crushing bad guys and I think you know that, because if you’re smarter to pick up this book or click this article, then well you’re more than capable. Your super heroic actions don’t have to be grandiose either, they just have to matter and make a positive impact. Think of small moments where you might’ve changed someone’s life for the better, because you were being a more than decent person. Have you ever let someone go ahead of you on line at the supermarket, because they only had one item and were in an obvious rush. Perhaps you helped someone cross the street where there was only a stop sign, because you could tell that if someone didn’t help out, then they might’ve never made it across due to the vehicle traffic. Maybe you let a friend or family member vent about something going on in their life without providing a solution, because you realized that person didn’t need you to fix their problem, but simply just needed you. Those are all heroic moments that stick with people and can leave a lasting mark that perhaps they’ll pay forward to someone else one day. Every way you interact with someone has a resulting response and it brings us to cause and effect.

Cause and Effect

“For every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction” — Isaac Newton

Every cause has a resulting effect and understanding how your actions affect others will impact how you decide to act in the first place, that’s if you’re willing to think before you act It’s important to first state that even if you think the world revolves around you, that in fact it’ll never be the YOU-SHOW no matter how much you’d like to think that. In turn, realizing that something you might do, say, or what have you, will always affect someone else, whether it’s positive or negative experience already sets you apart from a great number of people out there in the world. One of the greatest things I’ve noticed now having lived in two major cities, NYC and Los Angeles, is how stark of a contrast there can be. While NYC gets a bad reputation of everyone thinking they’re the best, and that New Yorkers are rude, and so on, it’s simply not true. Well, actually we are some of the best people in the world, but we’re not rude for the most part and that’s because we all share a common respect and understanding that whatever we may do might end up affecting someone else. Some people obviously either decide to use that power of knowledge in a great and helpful way or a completely destructive one. Everyone in NYC has something going on, so when New Yorkers seem rude or that they are in a rush it’s usually just the latter. I’ve been stopped for directions or have seen others stopped and even the busiest of people will snap out of whatever they have going on to help out someone else. We come together as a community when someone needs something, especially if something crazy is going down on one of the many Subways, I’m looking at you E train shenanigans. Los Angeles on the other hand, which is where I’m currently living, seems to be a bit different, or in fact quite the contrary in some ways. I do believe that Los Angeles shares some of the best qualities with NYC in regards to a sense of community passion, but I can’t help but feel that a majority of the people here are living in their own larger than life bubble. Drivers seem to be in their own blinker-less world, there seems to be a powerful sense of speaking about doing the right thing rather than actually doing it, and it sometimes seems to be the home of the most narcissistic people ever. Perhaps that last part has to do with being the TV/Film capital of the country, but it just always feels like people pick and choose their friends based on necessity and face value. I hate to hate or be the one to throw shade, but I just needed to point this out. No one city is perfect, similarly to how people aren’t perfect, and in the end nothing is perfect, which you’ve probably gotten sick of me saying already. What I’m getting at with the city comparison, to bring it all back is that, yup you’ve guessed it, actions tell a story, so the consideration of one city to handle itself in away which acknowledges the effect compared to another is quite poignant. Of course the positive experiences will end up bringing you praise and positive reinforcement, while the negative ones might come back to bite you in the end. Karma can be either real power or a construct created by and for people to believe that their actions have a weight associated with them. NBC’s The Good Place is the best and easiest way to process some of the most complicated and convoluted of life’s philosophies. It manages to get it right by educating you with all the philosophical source material, while telling you that it’s really up to you in the end to do what you please with your knowledge, but that there’s no right answer on how to live a perfect life. It’s a great fucking show in that sense, plus the odd and obscure food references are out the wazoo and it has freaking Kristen Bell and Ted Danson in it. If you get a chance or need something new definitely be sure to check out the incredible shows by Michael Schur, who’s also worked on great comedic masterpieces such as The Office (US) and Parks and Recreation. In any event, my point in regards to bringing up The Good Place is that it takes something completely complicated and nearly impossible to process in one sitting and breaks it down into smaller more manageable and digestible chunks.

The best way to go about any situation, especially one that might feel foreign at first is to break it down into steps, just like how I started writing all of this. I had an idea, it was complicated, and I didn’t know how to start. So I created an outline and over time that outline grew, sections and one liners were turned into paragraphs. New ideas and sections would be added, while others fleshed out. As I got to a certain point where it seemed like I had a lot of content I had to switch tactics again, because I had come to another scary and new juncture. How could I possibly keep track of all this shit. I had never written this much in my life, let alone attempted or even thought about writing a book. So, I took an idea from Mark Mason, who’s the well known author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck and the newly released Everything is Fucked. The idea suggested was also brought up by a new friend I had made on my most recent trip to Las Vegas. She had suggested that I should start blogging, which even my good friend Jaclyn Aubel had done for her own benefitting of keep tracking of ideas. The idea if you haven’t guessed it was to start a blog in order to break down the larger ideas in to smaller more processable ones, which could benefit me in a number of ways. I would then be able to tackle my grander picture idea by idea, but also this would begin to create a log of each of my ideas, essentially sectioning out my chapters. The process was my new way to process information and processing information before reacting is one of the most important things you can do, but I’ll let you keep reading so we can dive deeper into all of hat.

Processing information and questioning everything can be two of your best allies. The more you know, the more you end up breaking down into smaller bits of info, all ends up allowing you to be able to process and even for you to gain a solid understanding of what you might be dealing with. Having the facts lets you be in control, with the possibility of informing others, and can give you that power might be the best of choices in varying situations. Asking all the right questions, the Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How’s not only puts you at an advantage, but gets you thinking, before jumping into a situation that you might regret. Think of all the times you might’ve jumped into a situation too quickly, by just wanting to react thinking that was the best course of action. Sometimes it is, when you’re trying to save a life and your instincts kick in, well shit sure that’s great, but it’s still risky, because you obviously don’t know the bigger picture. A good Samaritan going to save a life could end up getting sued for injury the person they were trying to save, because the samaritan wasn’t certified to perform any sort of aide. So while the “right” thing was done, it ended up being the wrong course of action. In that situation would’ve been to alert the police and emergency services and then if necessary try to get consent from someone if that’s a viable option. Sometimes the best action is no action, until all the pieces of the puzzle are flipped over, organized, and then put together. Once you’ve asked the right questions, you’ve set course on the first leg of your information processing journey, but of course there will be obstacles that might get in your way, that might end up causing you to want to react emotionally.

Avoiding unnecessary emotional reactions not only can save a situation, but can save yourself from stress and possible contextual fallout. There have been times where I was stressed at work or with friends and I’d hit a boiling point either due to frustration and/or confusion and I’d end up snapping at someone. That ends up sucking, because whoever is on the other side definitely, usually, doesn’t deserve it. Just imagine being in their shoes and getting ripped on, because you’re in the blast radius of someone’s mental explosion. There are plenty of articles and examples of this, where emotional reactions in situations where emotions can be avoided end up only causing, but more stress and emotions. There have been times at work, and all of you can probably relate to this, where a coworker of yours might’ve gotten on your nerves. Sometimes it’s because they’re annoying or perhaps incompetent, but if you really think about it, it’s most likely more on you than you think. I’ve had times where I found someone I work with to be a real pain in the ass; asking the same questions over again, making me have to repeat myself, speaking without listening, and I’d just get frustrated, but there were also times where I’d be a bit on edge and bite their heads off as well. Not necessarily because they deserve it, but because I may have already been dealing with something else and the aforementioned agitators could’ve been my reason to react to them, also because they’d be the closest in proximity to my blast radius. This reaction became tiring, stressful, and made me not only feel like an asshole, but seem like an asshole. I decided to take a step back and think about what that was like to deal with on the receiving end, while also thinking about why maybe they were asking so many questions, or trying to reach out for help, and it was exactly that, they needed help and as their coworker they looked to me as someone they should be able to trust and rely on. It made me feel even more like a dick, since I was getting mad at someone for no real justifiable reason. I changed the way I reacted, I striped all emotion from the situation even if tensions were high, because whatever might’ve been bad for me was probably worse for my coworker. I put myself in their shoes, realized that cohesion and understanding makes for a better, faster, and stronger work environment, while also allowing it to be a lot more friendly. The other day my coworker and I helped out our boss with some small project for upper management and acted as their sounding board. It was a struggle we all worked through together and it ended up paying off. I may have not had all the answers, but sometimes you don’t have to, because what matters is that you’re at the very least there for the other person. That’s like being the good friend that just listens as your bestie vents it out. They don’t need your solutions, sure those might help sometimes, but for the most part they just want your ear. These experiences and epiphanies also made me come to terms that I’m not the perfect employee nor the perfect person, that I’m not omniscient or omnipotent, and that the only way I could be anywhere close to perfect is if I built up those around me to better as well. I took the number one rule from my Upright Citizens Brigade 101 class, which is “Yes, And!”, and applied it to a part of my life. I’ll be sure to go into more detail about “Yes, And!” later on, but my favorite thing from one of my classes was that there was some hot shot actor who definitely wanted to shine, while owning the spotlight. What’s funny is that in improv doing just that is not funny at all. You’re team is only as good as its weakest player, so if you have one person running the ME show, throwing around a bunch of “No, Ands!”, then they’ll firstly look like a dick, and everything else in the bits won’t work at all. In short, if you want to be the funniest at improv, “Yes, And!” the fuck out of everyone to make them all funnier. You’ll be praised as the person who sets up, not sacrifices, but builds up everyone else instead of stealing the show. When I started doing this at work I felt just as good as the greatest improv player, because I wanted to make my teammates better, have them shine, because I’m nothing without them and they’re nothing without me. If you’re set on being alone to get to the top it’ll not only be a lonely climb, but also a rigorous and most likely disastrous one. Finally, holding onto emotions, unleashing them on people who don’t deserve them, and trying to run solo is essentially the kickstarter of an endless cycle for a mental, emotional, and physical energy suck and we all know that it sucks to get caught in that kind of timeless suck.

Continuing with the theme of processing information and avoiding unnecessary emotional reactions is the simple idea of thinking before you speak. No one likes the person that speaks for the sake of filling the silence or to just hear themselves talk. So, the next time you find yourself in a situation where someone or even perhaps you’re the one gabbing along about nothing, maybe stop to take a beat, think to yourself, and reshift your place in the conversation. Sometimes breaking the narrative and conversation for the greater good (The Greater Good), ends up working in your favor in the long run, because while it can be all good and necessary when someone else calls out someone’s bullshit for talking too much, it’s even better when that person calls themselves out and can even become a bit fun and usually laughable. There’s a favorite quote of mine that has powerful implications for the rewards of listening and thinking, while others waste time and effort speaking, and it goes a little something like this,

“Beware the quiet man. For while others speak, he watches. And while others act, he plans. And when they finally rest… he strikes. — Anonymous”

Within the bounds of communication, listening is far more important than speaking. How do you even come back with something meaningful to say if you’re not listening to what else is being spoken. True listening and not just hearing people speak allows you both access and understanding of information, which you can then, that’s right you guessed it, process. It’s important to note that when I’m talking about listening and speaking I’m talking about much more than the physicality of the two acts. People can communicate without their voices and without their ears and we all hopefully know that. Physical cues, sign language, symbols (emojis), and yes even silence, are all perfect examples of how you can get your point across to another person without having to open your mouth or clear the wax out of your ears. Personally, I prefer staying quiet for most group conversations or even sometimes 1-on-1 interactions, not because I might not have anything to say, but for the sake of gaining insight into other’s perspectives thus arming myself with knowledge to further the communication. I’d only chime in if I felt that whatever I needed to contribute was worth the contribution otherwise it’s a waste of words. This lyric from the Talking Heads song Psycho Killer perfectly sums up my feelings about people in conversations and communication really works.

“You start a conversation you can’t even finish it. You’re talking a lot, but you’re not saying anything. When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once, why say it again?” — Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)

It’s a great freaking lyric right? This line just sticks in your head, because there’s so much truth to it to the point where everyone can probably relate to being on both sides of the situation. I’ve talked too much or wanted to be the center of attention, but then sometimes people need that. It gives you your fill, you can end up seeming like a dick, but then maybe you’ll realize that and call yourself out. Some people are like that 100% of the time and that can only work when they’re around other people like themselves, otherwise it gets to be annoying as fuck really quickly. Personally, I really try to be mindful of how I’m affecting the conversation and what I’m bringing to the table, whether it’s solely listening to someone else, or only speaking when I have something valuable to say. I practiced this most recently when I was out to dinner at Pancho’s in Manhattan Beach with a good friend who had recently ended a relationship. The whole meeting was really for her to get to talk about it and it didn’t matter if she was talking at me or with me in regards to the subject matter of her breakup. I wanted to listen to her, understand what went down, but more importantly find out how she was now. At one point she stopped herself and said that she felt like she was talking too much, but it didn’t matter to me, because I had enjoyed listening. Of course I shared a bit about how my life has been going and then we bullshitted, so at least we’d continue to be in good spirits, which is one of the best parts about friendship. Sometimes you talk about things of substance, sometimes you fuck of and make jokes about nothing. I was at a festival with one of my best friends a few years ago, we had gotten high on mushrooms, and didn’t feel like mingling with anyone else, so we sat in our friends wagon with blanket and just cracked jokes, made obscure John Mulaney references, put on funny voices, and it was the fucking greatest. I love moments like that, because they stick with you. Of course not every conversation is a serious talk about life, so the aforementioned in regards to checking yourself before you speak, really ends up depending on the situation. You could be in a group of friends where everyone is drunk and bullshitting about life and then conversation just flows effortlessly without anyone having to check themselves or you could be in a serious situation where every word could become a choose your own adventure. Everything ends up becoming time and place, so just analyze your situation, check yourself before you wreck yourself, and act accordingly, so you’re not acting a fool, which brings me to my final point.

We’ve already touched upon thinking before you speak, so what would logically come next, speaking before you act. One hundred percent of your interactions should attempted to be handled by speaking, but ultimately actions end up becoming the loudest and most memorable form of communication. What you are always capable of doing is thinking or talking through your eventual actions before getting yourself into a complicated situation. Working through your thoughts step by step is the best course of action, because it shows that you care about how each action could end up not only affecting you, but potentially someone or something else. But what if I look crazy talking to myself? Well you don’t have to physically speak out loud, but if that works for you, then do it and don’t give a fuck about it. Why should you care what anyone else thinks while you’re trying to work through something, because you really shouldn’t. In reality people work out their thoughts out loud on the daily, whether it’s at work, in public, with their friends, and there’s never any problem. I’ve caught my mom talking out loud to herself and I’d always think she’s talking to me, which ends up becoming pretty comical. I’ve done it at work when I was trying to work through some weird code or a project plan. Sometimes I’ll get a bit loopy from riding some sort of good vibe and just start rambling and spitballing about absolutely nothing, but that’s just my way of getting my thoughts and energy out. People have their own ways of working through things, so you’re most definitely not alone with all your weird shit. In the end everyone gets the gist that you’re working through your ideas out loud and that you’re not some looney talking to yourself. In all reality, who knows maybe you are a bit crazy, sometimes I think that I might have a few screws loose. I mean you’d have to have a morsel of crazy if you’re taking on the task of writing a book. So when you are thinking that you’re alone in your craziness of talking to yourself, well you aren’t, because aren’t we all a smidge crazy, it is after all a Mad, Mad World (Gary Jules).

—

Thanks for reading! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this first entry and my perspective into all of this life stuff. I know it might’ve seemed like a lot, but it’s been really exciting to work on this so far. I look forward to any and all feedback and getting the next topic out sometime soon. Thanks again everyone!

#Life Lessons #Do The Right Thing #Advice #Perspective #Writing #Retrospective #Introspective #Journaling #Advice Writing

0 notes

samanthasroberts · 7 years ago

Text

This Week In Pop Culture (7/28/17)

7/28/2017: The Emoji Movie Finally Broke Critics

By Lydia Bugg

Congratulations are due to The Emoji Movie today. Not for its plot, its characters, or for being a decent movie in any conceivable way. The Emoji Movie has transcended cinema. It’s not just a movie; it’s become a piece of performance art wherein the audience gets to watch the light slowly die in the eyes of the movie critics who had to see it.

Take, for instance, this review from The Guardian, which reads: “A viewer leaves The Emoji Movie a colder person, not only angry at the film for being unconscionably bad, but resentful of it for making them feel angry.” The man who wrote that sentence is not OK. He is going to need all the support he can get from his loved ones, and perhaps his favorite childhood toy to get him through the night.

Jordan Hoffman of The New York Daily News concluded his review with: “Sadly market saturation will prevent this from being the [bomb emoji] it ought to be — so get ready for “The Fidget Spinner Movie” or some other [poop emoji].” If that doesn’t sound like a man who’s completely lost his faith in the American public, I don’t know what does. His use of emojis throughout the article are as much a sign of Stockholm’s syndrome as they are a sign he wanted to finish the review as quickly as possible and move on with his life.

In fact, I believe that’s how most of the critics felt when reviewing this movie. No one was sitting down to write a scathing, angry rant — they all just sound so, so tired. The AP, Common Sense Media, and The LA Times, all used the word “meh” in their reviews. These people work for some of the largest media companies in the world. They can think of a word other than “meh,” but spending the time to do that means spending 30 more goddamn seconds thinking about The Emoji Movie, and they are not going to let that happen to them.

There are a few critics out there with at least a little bit of fight left in them. Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com managed: “A soulless endeavor and a painful viewing experience. Your kids deserve better.” These are the brave soldiers of The Emoji Movie; those who made it out the other end, mostly intact and able to write a full review instead of just an elongated sigh.

I think part of the reason this one was so tough for critics was that the collective groan the world let out when The Emoji Movie was announced turned around at some point to a hopeful feeling. No one was especially hyped for The Lego Movie at first, and it turned out to be great. The casting decisions sounded good. If Patrick Stewart and T.J. Miller signed on to it, it must at least be OK, right? Seeing the actual movie was like a having a cold bucket of water dumped over their birthday cake in lieu of blowing out the candles. Now they can’t unsee what they have seen, and they are mentally scarred. Wherever you are today, pour one out for your local movie critics. If you see one in the street, tell them you appreciate them. Maybe give them a hug if they’ll let you. But as you gaze into their broken, hollow eyes, feel not pity but fear. If you see this movie, a similar fate may await.

7/26/2017: John Wick Is Getting A Spinoff! Sort Of! Maybe!

By Daniel Dockery

In 2014, we encountered John Wick, a movie in which Keanu Reeves shoots at bad guys. And in the event that he can’t shoot at a bad guy, he breaks that bad guy’s body parts. He does this with intense gusto, and audiences around my apartment and the world applauded him. Keanu Reeves had spent years dwelling in the pit of “Well, he’s been in a few good movies, but …” But now we could lift him out of there, throw him onto our shoulders, and parade him around town. All hail Keanu. He will lead us to the promised land.

And then John Wick: Chapter 2 came out, offered to us by angels and Summit Entertainment, and it was also so, so good. To think that the first John Wick had been nothing but a pleasant appetizer would’ve seemed absurd in 2014. “Obviously, this is the peak of humanity,” Barack Obama said just after viewing John Wick. BUT LO, John Wick: Chapter 2 improved on its predecessor. If my home ever catches on fire, I will grab my John Wick Blu-rays and somersault out the window in tribute to John Wick. “Help us put out the fire!” my neighbors will shriek. “Why?” I’ll say. “I already have all that I’ll need.”

And then headlines popped up on my favorite movie news sites. Things like “JOHN WICK SPINOFF” and “JOHN WICK UNIVERSE.” I popped champagne in my office, which ruined my laptop, but you can’t care about material possessions in times like this (unless those possessions are John Wick 1 and 2, now on Blu-ray.) But then I read further, and as it turns out, this John Wick spinoff was just a script. A script that Lionsgate had won in a bidding war. An action script about an awesome assassin who is not John Wick and, at this time, doesn’t really have any relation to John Wick.

The script is called Ballerina, and trust me, I really wanna see Ballerina come to fruition. Films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Wonder Woman and Atomic Blonde have hopefully started a trend wherein we can see female-led action movies way more frequently than we used to. But please, can we only announce a John Wick spinoff when we know that it’s going to be a John Wick spinoff?

I’m used to the things that I love letting me down. Every day, Marvel and DC announce that they might be making a movie with the characters that I’ve loved for years. Recently, it was announced that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins was in “negotiations” with Warner Bros about doing a sequel to Wonder Woman, when the headline should’ve logically read “Patty Jenkins Directs Best DC Film Since The Dark Knight. She Gets Anything She Wants.” These things make me sad, because Hollywood is a place where dreams are made. And it’s also a place where dreams are announced, and then no one does anything with those dreams for a looong time.

John Wick is too young for this. He’s just a little baby franchise, and I don’t want to get cynical about Keanu, sitting in his cinematic crib, snapping every bone within arm’s length. So please, let’s just wait until something is certain. And until then, we can rewatch John Wick: Chapter 2. Have you seen it? It’s pretty damn great.

7/25/2017: Superman’s Mustache Is Getting Digitally Erased

By Lydia Bugg

Justice League has hit a snafu. Warner Bros. is shelling out a staggering $25 million for Justice League reshoots in hopes to “adjust the tone” of the film to be more like Wonder Woman — that is, something people would actually enjoy watching. These reshoots are taking place far after the original shooting, which wrapped nine months ago.

In the time since, Henry Cavill was contractually obligated to grow a rockin’ mustache for his role in Mission: Impossible 6. Warner Bros. absolutely cannot deal with a mustachioed Superman, and Paramount apparently has a fever, and the only cure is a full, healthy, mustache. We at Cracked like to imagine that the two companies had to sit down for what can only be described as mustache negotiations.

“Why can’t you just have him reading a newspaper, or peeping over a fence in every scene? Add a little bit of a sense of mystery to Superman?” Paramount must have said.

“Why can’t you just use a fake mustache?” Warner Bros. replied.

“NEVER!” Paramount screeched, as they slammed their hands on the conference table so hard that it broke in two. “That mustache is the character. That mustache saves the world. That mustache is replacing Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 7 �� The Impossiblest Mission!”

Warner Bros., both mystified and terrified by Paramount’s passion for authentic facial hair, decided the only solution was to digitally remove Cavill’s mustache in every single newly shot scene. How much do you think that added to the special effects budget? I feel really sorry of the poor CGI guy who had the job of making awesome monsters and crumbling buildings, but now he’s spending the next three months starring at Henry Cavill’s upper lip.

Or maybe there is a Hollywood “mustache guy” who specializes in this kind of thing. If they can take the mustache off of Henry Cavill, couldn’t they put it on another actor? Oh my god, you guys, does Tom Selleck even have a mustache? What other stars might be rocking a full handlebar and we’re not even aware? I’m looking at you, Helen Mirren.

As usual, Hollywood has found a multi-million-dollar solution to a problem that could easily be solved by a Mach 3 razor. I’m going to be so pissed if Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth gets cut out of Justice League because they went way over their mustache budget.

I for one would be 100 percent on board for Mustache Superman. He’s been dead. Can’t the man let himself go a little bit? Maybe instead of being dead, he’s been in Williamsburg drinking craft beer and restoring antique bicycles. Hipster Superman could be cool. In that case, he might need to grow even more of a mustache. Or they could just keep the same mustache guy they have, but instead of taking it out, he digitally enhances the mustaches in order to get those full, curly tips. Can we digitally put a top hat and steampunk vest on Superman as well? I really think this could work, you guys. Fingers crossed for hipster mustache Superman.

7/24/2017: Comic-Con Wants You To Die In A Flood Of Trailers

By Luis Prada

Comic-Con doesn’t give a shit anymore. It’s done playing nice. It used to be a fun fan fest, but now it’s an unrelenting pop cultural blitzkrieg of trailers that none of us — NONE — are emotionally or psychologically prepared to handle. The annual pummeling we receive is the price we must pay to make all of our childhood nerd dreams come true.

Childhood you wanted to see a Justice League movie? Well gird your puny shriveled loins, you idiot, because here’s four-minute Justice League trailer. And because they want to bury you beneath a mountain of the things you ask for, here’s a Flash movie based on the “Flashpoint” story arc. You know what that means: MASSIVELY CONVOLUTED ALTERNATE TIMELINES AND “WHAT IF?” SCENARIOS ARE COMING TO THE BIG SCREEN, AND YOU BETTER NOT COMPLAIN BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED AND YOU WILL DIE BENEATH IT.

You wanted an Avengers movie? Well, you got two already, and now here’s blurry camera phone footage of the footage of the third one that was filmed from an angle so bad I have to assume the person who shot it incidentally filmed the trailer as he was trying to get upskirt shots. And you’re such a junkie that you’ll suck down that wad of horrendous camera work and ask for more.

They know you’ll take any little morsel you can get, so the keepers of our pop cultural addictions will degrade you, reducing to something less than human. Instead of releasing the footage of Black Panther shown during the panel, they give you the cast of Black Panther reacting to the footage of Black Panther. Oh, and in case you still have one nerve ending left undamaged and still twitching, here’s another trailer for Thor: Ragnarok that is an exhausting and overwhelming assault on your senses by itself.

And you know what, you little shits? Like a typhoon crashing down and laying waste to a city, killing thousands, here’s the trailer for The Defenders. And here’s another trailer for The Defenders, but this time it’s narrated by and starring Stan Lee for reasons that make perfect sense when you consider shutting the fuck up, opening your supple mouth, and taking in the funnel so they can fatten you up like a delicious foie gras goose.

Comic-Con is wise. It knows you have a high tolerance for such an onslaught of trailers. So this year it performed a coup de grace to make sure it knocked your dumb ass into a pop culture coma. You like all this nerdy stuff? Well, here’s the trailer for the second season of Stranger Things, a show that’s one pop culture reference after another, and then here’s the trailer for Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One, a book and now a movie that’s nothing but one pop culture reference after another.

The message of this year’s Comic Con was loud, clear, and violent: Choke on the things you love, you lowly dipshits. Choke.

For more, check out This Week In Pop Culture (7/21/2017) and What Stupid Thing Is Trending Now? (7/23/2017).

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out President Donald Trump Is Actually Good, Mark Zuckerberg Is Actually Not, and watch other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also follow us on Facebook… Hurry!

If we’ve ever made you laugh or think, we now have a way where you can thank and support us!

Make a contribution

Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/11/25/this-week-in-pop-culture-72817/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/11/25/this-week-in-pop-culture-7-28-17/

0 notes

adambstingus · 7 years ago

Text

This Week In Pop Culture (7/28/17)

7/28/2017: The Emoji Movie Finally Broke Critics

By Lydia Bugg

7/26/2017: John Wick Is Getting A Spinoff! Sort Of! Maybe!

By Daniel Dockery

7/25/2017: Superman’s Mustache Is Getting Digitally Erased

By Lydia Bugg

“Why can’t you just have him reading a newspaper, or peeping over a fence in every scene? Add a little bit of a sense of mystery to Superman?” Paramount must have said.

“Why can’t you just use a fake mustache?” Warner Bros. replied.

7/24/2017: Comic-Con Wants You To Die In A Flood Of Trailers

By Luis Prada

The message of this year’s Comic Con was loud, clear, and violent: Choke on the things you love, you lowly dipshits. Choke.

For more, check out This Week In Pop Culture (7/21/2017) and What Stupid Thing Is Trending Now? (7/23/2017).

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out President Donald Trump Is Actually Good, Mark Zuckerberg Is Actually Not, and watch other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also follow us on Facebook… Hurry!

If we’ve ever made you laugh or think, we now have a way where you can thank and support us!

Make a contribution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/11/25/this-week-in-pop-culture-72817/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/167882273452

0 notes

allofbeercom · 7 years ago

Text

This Week In Pop Culture (7/28/17)

7/28/2017: The Emoji Movie Finally Broke Critics

By Lydia Bugg

7/26/2017: John Wick Is Getting A Spinoff! Sort Of! Maybe!

By Daniel Dockery

7/25/2017: Superman’s Mustache Is Getting Digitally Erased

By Lydia Bugg

“Why can’t you just have him reading a newspaper, or peeping over a fence in every scene? Add a little bit of a sense of mystery to Superman?” Paramount must have said.

“Why can’t you just use a fake mustache?” Warner Bros. replied.

7/24/2017: Comic-Con Wants You To Die In A Flood Of Trailers

By Luis Prada

The message of this year’s Comic Con was loud, clear, and violent: Choke on the things you love, you lowly dipshits. Choke.

For more, check out This Week In Pop Culture (7/21/2017) and What Stupid Thing Is Trending Now? (7/23/2017).

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out President Donald Trump Is Actually Good, Mark Zuckerberg Is Actually Not, and watch other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also follow us on Facebook… Hurry!

If we’ve ever made you laugh or think, we now have a way where you can thank and support us!

Make a contribution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/11/25/this-week-in-pop-culture-72817/

0 notes