#hes repeatedly referred to her as a kid and acted more like a mentor to her. he literally said he doesnt catch feelings for kids

[lesbianpegbar]

ayane you need to get a grip. ayane please. for me

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Wordgirl Au: Alliance Swap Au

Note: This au is a combination of Becky Boxleitner au and my half human/half alien Becky au. Another thing if anyone out there is a fan of the characters: Scoops, Violet Heaslip, Professor Robert Tubing, Captain Huggy Face/Bob, and Kid Math; then I am sorry. You will DEFINITELY not like this au. I am not kind to these characters in this au for a reason. 

In this au, Wordgirl is still the same hero we all know, but her allies are swapped. 

Becky Hope Boxleitner: In this au, Becky is a hybrid alien. She is half Inventeran and half Lexiconian. She was born on the planet Inventra which was a planet that neighbored Lexicon. In this au, Becky’s mother is Amirana Trese, a Lexiconian, and her father is Stevnen (pronounced: Stev-nen) Bauxlite (pronounced: Bow-cks-light). (Yep. I made Steven Boxleitner an alien in this au.) Inventerans are were-animal hybrids. In their were-animal form, they have a mix of human and animal features with a little more animalistic characters. They are also able to shift to a human appearance. Becky has the same abilities as her dad along with her Lexiconian powers. 

Background: This Alliance Swap Au is also an au of my half human/half alien Becky au with a twist. If any of you read my bio outline of Becky’s biological mother and my headcanon, it is basically the same in this au with a few twists. 

1. Amirana Trese came to Invetra on a diplomatic mission to help the Aviary Inventra scientists. Everyone on Inventra is a pursuer of knowledge. They have no military, just high defense systems. They relied on Lexicon for combat and war protection. (This ends up being their downfall.) 

2. Amirana is still engaged to her awful fiancee. On this mission, she encounters Stevnen and it was true love. 

3. In this au, Amirana is able to stay longer based on her diplomatic mission. (The Aviary Inventra scientists are designing and building crafts for long distance travel. Amirana is helping to test each one and offer advisory input.) She stays with Stevnen for two years, get secretly married, and have Hope (Becky).

4. The awful fiancee somehow finds out and goes into an apocalyptic rage. He convinces the other Lexicons that the Inventerans have committed a grievous mistake for getting one of their high, noble, Lexiconians impregnated by an inferior (physically inferior) Inventerans. The fiancee argues that to make up for this error, Amirana should be sent home and Stevnen should be sent to Lexicon to be punished (by death according to the fiancee.) The people and government of Inventra are more than aware, and are not blinded, to the fiancee’s corrupt nature so they refuse. They also try to get other Lexiconians to recognize that the corrupt fiancee needs to be stopped. They unfortunately fail and this causes a massive war between the two planets. The people of Inventra are quickly defeated and the corrupt fiancee leader orders that all Inventerans are to be taken from their home planet and either be killed, kept as prisoners, or low workforce. 

5. Amirana’s good friend (from Amirana’s bio outline) warns her and Stevnen that the friend’s evil brother is coming to Inventra to personally punish the family. Stevnen and Amirana attempt to escape with hope to a ship. Amirana is unfortunately shot and greatly wounded by her fiancee. She urges Stevnen to still escape with their child, and with a heavy and painful heart he does. (Stevnen knows how to fly a ship from reading and from Amirana.) It is a painful, tearful departure between the lovers. Stevnen is able to escape the planet before Amirana’s fiancee and his armada catches him. Amirana is unfortunately killed and her fiancee makes her death justifiable in the eyes of Lexicon. Another note about Inventerans is that they develop a empathetic link with their mates, no matter if they are the same species. So Stevnen definitely feels Amirana’s death. Hope is only 1 1/2 years old when this happens.

6. Stevnen crashes on Earth. (He is a good pilot, not the best.) He gets out of the ship with his daughter tucked close to him. He soon spots the Botsfords on a picnic in a woods. Hungry and desperate, Stevnen shifts to his human form and meets them face to face. The Botsfords take pity on this single father and let them stay at their house for a while until Stevnen gets a job as a scientist.

Character Outlines:

Stevnen Bauxlite (Steven Boxleitner) - Steven changed his daughter’s name to Becky Hope Boxleitner as a part of his plan to erase any traces of themselves to make sure no one from Lexicon can find them. Steven is a bit more serious than his human canon character (This guy suffered a lot of tragedy and is a single father now!) His human form is looks exactly like canon Steven. His Inventeran form is Dr. Two Brains, but without the mouse brain and more mouse features such as a tail and mouse ears. Steven can’t speak the human language (he can understand). He uses sign language or writing words to communicate. When Steven slips to his native tongue, he tells everyone he has a speech problem. Becky and Amirana can understand him because I have this theory that Lexiconians have a great vocabulary as a superpower because this ability allows them to understand any language of a dominant species (not subspecies like animals unless they are from Lexicon, like Bob. Becky is able to understand General Smoochington because of Bob). (I think this is some type of mental, telepathic power, which is why Becky has a great memory.) Steven’s native language sounds like mouse squeaks. (Other Inventerans sound like their were-animal forms but with a mix of other languages that counts as communication on Inventra. Steven does not have the ability that Becky and Amirana have with words. He is knowledgeable, not very bilingual.) Steven still loves Becky and supports her. He is worried about her heroic works so, in his were-form, he joins her heroic escapades as her partner. (A gag throughout this au is that everyone assumes he is her sidekick. Becky has repeatedly pointed out that her dad is her partner. Becky as Wordgirl does not call Steven her dad in public to protect their secret identities. Steven’s hero form is Mouse Ace (I may change the name later, that’s the best I got for now). (Steven was just a scientist with no military rank. I chose this name because he is a good pilot, just not as good as Amirana or Huggy). Steven uses his were-mouse abilities for battle, but mostly relies on self-made gadgets. He acts like a mentor to Wordgirl for her battles, but still behaves as her father (just not openly.) Steven’s Two Brains appearance can look similar to canon or he chooses to wear a ponytail. Steven’s outfit is a black jumpsuit with an orange belt that holds the gadgets. His jumpsuit has orange line accents. Steven has an Inventeran logo on the front of his jumpsuit (it is shiny silver in color and looks like shooting star.) He still has his canon goggles and silver armbands that act as shields for defense. He is afraid of clowns and spiders. He is not afraid of cats. He and Becky just don’t like them.  Becky’s Inventeran form is similar to Two Brains but she does not have red/pink eyes and her hair color is the same. (Becky’s eye color is a mix of her mother’s and her dad’s brown in human form. She does have some red flakes in her eye color in her were-animal form.)

Squeaky - On Inventra, there were regular animals that were used by Inventerans as minor assistants and protectors. Squeaky was Stevnen’s Squeaky also escaped to earth with Stevnen and Becky. In this au Squeaky is still a jerk, but tolerable. Has grown a desire to devour earth cheese only. (There was no cheese on Lexicon or Inventra.) He cares for Stevnen and Becky, but its subtle. Stevnen and Becky can understand what Squeaky is saying. (For Stevnen it is because he is part mouse.) They do not like to always understand what Squeaky is saying. (PS. He swears, though not in front of Becky.) Squeaky may accompany them on hero stuff.(He says he is bored, but he does not like being left alone a lot.) Squeaky wears a mask to hid his identity (idk what color, maybe black or silver), but he is often referred to as Nibbles (Squeaky did not want a hero name so what was Becky supposed to say.) Squeaky is called that because he bites, a lot. (Hates the nickname anyway.) Squeaky is vicious, just not sadistic and evil in this au. Is still afraid of cats in this au.

Here is a smaller outline of my ideas for the swap au. Note: this is also a power swap.

Steven Boxleitner - Professor Robert Tubing

Tobey - Scoops

Victoria Best - Violet Heaslip

Eileen - Kid Math (Rex)

Rose Franklin - Katy (She’s from the episode “It’s Your Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”)

Squeaky - Bob/Captain Huggy Face

I did not intend to make a lot for this first post. I was intending to do all in one. I do the characterizations of others later.

[ilguna]

Ethereal - Chapter Two (f.o)

Summary: Five years of watching your trainees die, you’re sick of it. She will prevail, she will win.

Word Count; 5.2k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You wave goodbye to the district at the station of the train. Or mainly, it’s just Annie and Paslee. Reed, Mox and Alyssum don’t show up to say goodbye or greet you anymore. They know that they’ll see you in a month, and they’ll be the first people you go to. At the house they’ll like have a small feast prepared, and Caspian’s family will be over.

Every year you hope for a winning tribute, not because you’d like the spotlight, but because you’d want their family to celebrate too. You’d like to have an actual reason to eat good, rather than doing it because you came home. To them it seems like every time you go to the Capitol you have the chance of never coming back. They have a reason to believe that after all, and the dinner is supposed to accommodate the fact that you’re home. Back where you’re supposed to be.

You’re in the train before the tributes are. In fact, you’re there almost an hour before they arrive. It’s because you and Finnick get a couple of minutes to say goodbye to your families–family–and then you take a car down to the train way before the tributes do. That way there’s no chance of you guys being late.

Not like they have to worry about that, you’re always punctual with things. You’ll leave for the stage at around nine to ten, since reaping always manages to start at eleven instead of the designated time before or after that. Along the way you pick up Mags too, so that cuts off a good amount of time. You manage to make it there with enough time to talk to Elysia, and then the ceremony will start.

After, you spend ten to fifteen minutes talking to your siblings, and then you’ll take off. They’ve begun to see your pattern with things, and you’re sure that they appreciate the fact that you can be reliable with your times. In all honesty, you were a little worried that Finnick would mess this up, but he seems to have followed you exactly.

When the train starts moving, is when you go out to see the tributes. Annie and Paslee standing in the middle of the first train car, confused as ever. Not jumping the gun on alliances, you might just have to mentor them separately. They don’t even look like they know each other, and they’re around the same age.

Looking to Finnick, it’s easy to see that he’s not sure how to approach this. Had he been with you the entire time, he’d know how to start and how to finish.

“Annie, Paslee.” they turn to look at you, “Finnick and I will be your mentors for the games. Do you want to be mentored together or apart?”

Annie seems to be quick on her feet, “Is it possible to do both?”

You nod, “But I’d only suggest that if you have skills that he doesn’t, and it would change your chances in the games. Otherwise, it might be possible to make you guys work together.”

“Then together.” she says.

You turn to look at Finnick, “Go into my room and bring out the box by the door. We’re going to start immediately.”

He nods, and you wait for him to disappear before you turn to your tributes. They’re capable, they’ll be able to win these games. You’ll be able to give them better advice than Finnick will ever be able to. He may watch the games, but he doesn’t know how they turn anymore. How hard it is to get sponsors, and keep the tributes alive.

“Finnick hasn’t mentored at all since we won.” you tell them, they nod, they know, “If you have questions, come to me first.”

You bring them to a clear space on the floor, getting them to sit down. When Finnick comes in, you bring out the rope, starting easy. You teach them knots that they’ve never heard of, making them practice over and over to make sure that they’ve got it. You even teach them the constrictors knot just in case they’ll need it.

They’re both sixteen, right? They’ve seen your games, they had only been eleven but they might have remembered a sick, dangling girl who just strangled a boy to death with a rope. You and Finnick were a pair to match, the Capitol still references you each year in the most memorable final kills. Not something you’re proud of, you’d give anything to get rid of that glorification.

You have little fire starting prototypes. They start tiny fires on the floor and stomp them out before they get too big. All while the peacekeepers get to watch as you destroy the carpet on the train. You don’t care, they can afford the labor and the replacement. It’s none of your business, you’re a victor, you’re doing your job.

You teach them to throw knives, leaving holes in the walls. You show them different ways to get out of people’s grasps if they get a hand on them. Headlocks, pinned down, a grab from behind. You show all of this to them, with Finnick doing the opponents part.

They got to watch as you repeatedly flipped Finnick on his back. As you punched, elbows and kicked him at almost every chance you got. Showing them different versions of just one thing. Because one escape doesn’t fit all scenarios. If there’s more than one person, then that means they need a different way to do it. You teach them how to properly run if there are knives getting thrown at them.

You only stop when Elysia comes in, telling you four that supper is served at the table. They follow behind you and Finnick, because the both of you know where you’re going, which is through several different carts until you reach the right one. There, is where you sit where Mags had sat during your games, and instead of Finnick sitting to your right, he’s across the table instead.

It’s a difference for him, you can see it in the way his face scrunches up. Annie sits to your right and Paslee right next to her. You warn them to eat slowly because the rich food will make them sick, but go ahead and take in as much as possible. Put on the extra pounds, so they look bigger in the arena. Plus, they’ll be shedding what you call ‘fake’ weight, since it wasn’t their actual weight before. They’ll shed it, reach their normal weight in a few days time, and then they’ll go under.

It buys them time when it comes to starving, and becoming weak. You figured out that not many mentors tell them about this trick, so it’s really perfect for you to give it to them. For district one and two–since they’re well fed for their entire lives–if you were their mentors, you’d try starving them a little bit to build up the tolerance, rather than pack on the pounds. They don’t know what it’s like to go hungry, if they’d get a taste of it, then they’d know what would be coming in the arena.

You don’t give this advice to Cashmere, Gloss or Enobaria. Their tributes win even without having to starve. Secure the cornucopia, and just feed off of that for a while. No one ever has the technology to destroy the entire thing, as if it’s even possible. The metal cornucopia is impossible to destroy, and no one in their sane mind would get rid of the food. They’d take armfuls of it back to their own camps for safekeeping.

You and Finnick are the first to finish. He knows that he can eat quickly and not get sick, because he’s been staying in the Capitol. He gets served the stew, oranges, rolls, hot chocolate, and everything else daily. Hell, Finnick might even be bored of it, because the flavor starts blending in after a while.

As for you, you’re kinda used to it. It seems like you body knows when and when not to have a tolerance for this food. And since it’s games season, it understands that this is the best it’s going to get. You still prefer the food back home, you have a better taste for it. Capitol food might have presentation and some sort of flavor. But District Four food tastes like home, it fills you up, and leaves you happy.

Since you don’t really want to baby Annie and Paslee and leave them immobile, you tell Elysia to make them watch the recaps of the reapings. Then, you tell them to pick allies if that’s what they’re going to do. You don’t care, they’ll have to decide that on their own. You’ll see them bright and early tomorrow morning.

Finnick follows you down to your guy’s rooms. His on the left, yours on the right. He goes to leave for his room, but again, you catch his arm and turn him to you.

“If you run off even once during these games, no matter what the fuck it’s for, I’m going to lose my fucking mind,” you tell him, “You’re here now. You showed up this morning, which means you’re sticking around the entire time. Those kids are going to depend on us to make sure they live.”

“I know–”

“Pull strings,” you tell him, “Talk to the people you’ve been with and use them as sponsors for them. Convince them that this is the bunch, because I’ve used all the people I know to get them to sponsor for the last four years. Either you’re going to be talking to people, or they’ll have to bring in the last of the people on their owns with the chariots, private session and interviews. Those aren’t reliable.”

His face twists, “And how am I supposed to do that if I’m not allowed to leave?”

He’s trying to embarrass you, what a fucking asshole, “When we get in tomorrow, you’ll have almost an entire day to run around by yourself. They’ll be getting groomed then, find your people, ask them to sponsor, and then come back.”

“Anything else?” he asks, he seems bitter that you’re telling him to do things as if he won’t know to do it anyway. But since you’re telling him, there’s a less likely chance that he’ll take off. He knows that you don’t believe that he’ll come back with what he was supposed to do, which will make him want to prove you wrong.

You’re tricking him, and it’s going to work. He’s going to come back to you with a whole list of people that will want to sponsor either of them. You’ll act shocked and surprised, but you know that Finnick has it in him. You’ve always known, and if he had been here the earlier years, then he would have been able to help the others win, you’re sure.

There is one more thing though, something that’ll maybe draw him back in. Make him stay with you after this. If Annie or Paslee win, then that’ll secure it, and he’ll definitely stay in district four, and stop going everywhere. You’ll be able to introduce him to your friends, and he can feel somewhat normal. He’ll adjust but he’ll be back. And you want him back because you don’t want to be suffering the losses alone.

“I miss you, Finnick.” Not a complete lie. Five years later and you still have something for him. Most of it is gone, but all it’ll take is one significant event and the entire thing will be dug up again. If he plays his cards right, if everything go right with these games, then it’ll be a bond again.

You’re so aware of this all, and it’s tiring. You know Finnick still loves you. You know that you still have something for him. And you also know that you’re going to manipulate Finnick to make sure that he stays. If things get restarted, fine. But he has to stay, no matter what.

“You do?” he asks, his voice is soft, and he reaches out for your cheek. You cup your hand around his.

You hate the butterfly feeling in your stomach. Like teens again.

“Consider staying.” you tell him, “After the games, come home.”

“I have no home there.” he goes to pull away, but you hold him in place, shaking your head.

“I’m home. My family is your family. My friends are your friends. I can make you see that. But you have to come back to district four.”

This is dirty. Manipulation. You’ve never been too fond of it. Even if it’s for the greater good. This is fucking with his feelings, you’re leading him on a while goose chase. He’ll never get what he wants in the end, unless Finnick gets lucky.

“I’ll think about it.” he tells you, and you nod.

You let his hand slip, and he hesitates before going to his room. You follow through on your own. Inside it’s a blur, because you’ve got to go watch the recaps by yourself. You can’t do it with the others there, because your comments could so easily alter their opinions of themselves and their chances of winning.

The shower is quick enough to make sure that the others are done watching, but long enough to make sure you’ve scrubbed your body and washed your hair. When you’re out, you dry your hair briefly with the towel, and then continue to a pair of shorts and a shirt. You pull some of the hair out of your face into a small ponytail, and then you disappear from your room.

The cart is completely empty when you get to it. You easily turn on the recaps–the Capitol has a channel specifically for watching it over–and lean back against the couch.

This year is going to be different, you can feel it.

–

The simple feeling of pressure on your arm is enough for you to jolt awake, hand reaching for the stick you keep by the bed. When your eyes open finally, you can see that it’s just Finnick standing over you. He lets go of you immediately, holding up his hands as he backs away.

You drop the stick, “Are you fucking crazy?”

Your voice is hoarse, you wonder if you had screamed all last night. Or silently cried, your brothers refuse to tell you when you wake them up at night. They’re tired of the apologies, all they do is say that you weren’t that loud. But that isn’t enough consolidation, it just means that you were loud enough to wake them up.

“Sorry–I knocked and you didn’t wake up.” he tells you.

You were deep sleeping?

“Did I do anything last night?” You ask, pushing yourself up on the bed. Your muscles feel sore, but it’s probably from flipping Finnick around last night. Normally you dig up a dummy from one of the closets for demonstration. But since Finnick is here, it’s better to use an actual person.

“No screaming or crying,” he answers your question, “Elysia wants to start with breakfast. We’ll be at the Capitol in an hour or two.”

“Tell her to go ahead. Make small talk with Annie and Paslee, see what kind of personality they have.” you wander over to the dresser, pulling out jeans and a navy blue tank top.

“Got it.” he tells you, but doesn’t move from where he’s standing. Once you’ve gathered a bra and a pair of underwear to match you look up to Finnick.

“Is there something else?” you ask.

He shifts on his feet, a sign of a nervous habit. You do it from time to time, along with Cashmere and Gloss. Enobaria isn’t like that though, she’s more steady than the rest of you. It seems like the people that were proud to have won the games don’t have those ticks. It works out, you guess, for them. You still can’t see how they can be like that.

“Did you mean what you said last night?” he asks after a couple of seconds.

Of course. It’s a too good to be true sort of thing to him. Finnick had left you behind, which ruined whatever was between you two. He’s in love with you, and he would probably like to fix the mistakes that he had made. Start over, not from the start, because the history between you two isn’t something that you can wipe clean. But try to forget what he had done, ditching you for the Capitol.

Which raises another theory on why he hasn’t come back all these years. It wasn’t because the Capitol was holding him, or because he didn’t have family in district four, or because he didn’t want to mentor the kids. What if it’s because he was afraid of what he’d come back to with you. Afraid to see how much damage he had truly done.

And with last night, you almost forgiving him immediately must have woken up something, opened a door. Now all he has to do is walk through it. Commit, and he’ll be back.

Not everything last night was a complete lie. You miss the best friend you had during the games. You want Finnick back, you want Mags to not be sad when she brings him up and you brush him off. When you show so much disinterest in him, when before it was all you’d think about.

Jokes on her, you never stopped thinking about Finnick. No matter how hard it got during the games, and after. You never stopped. It’s hard to, with a duo like you two were. Not something you can just throw away.

“I meant it.” you tell Finnick, “Every last word. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be out in thirty minutes.”

He nods, leaving the room. When the doors shut, you suppress the scream you want to let free. Inside the bathroom, you throw the clothes on the counter, turn the water up as hot as you’ll be able to tolerate, and then you get inside. From where you sit on the tile floor, you can see your mother’s ring.

A reminder. That the games aren’t truly over. That things will always get exciting. That you’ll never be able to escape, no matter how hard you try.

That promises are made to be broken.

The shower isn’t thirty minutes long. It goes ten, then twenty, then thirty, then fourty. You watch your skin to make sure that it doesn’t prune. You don’t want to leave from your spot on the floor. The second that you leave this train, you’re a whole new person, with a different purpose.

You’re no longer just (Y/n) Gallows, the girl who took her last name and made it ironic. You’re a mentor. Your job is to make sure that these tributes are prepared to win in the arena. There will be no time for bullshit. No time to be wallowing in self-pity.

Normally you don’t have to remind yourself of this. But with Finnick around, it’s pulling out things that you thought you had packed tightly. Being around Finnick is going to bring up memories that were gone.

You get out of the shower, dry off quickly and pull your hair back like you had last night. All the clothes come on with barely no struggle. You slip on the ring, and leave the bathroom.

Finnick sits on the edge of your bed, pad of paper in hand. He doesn’t look up when you come out, he just continues with whatever he’s doing. It doesn’t look like he’s drawing, but writing things down.

You pull on your black socks, and follow with the boots. You throw your foot onto the bed and lean over to tie your right shoe, double knotting it. Finnick doesn’t mind you reading over his shoulder, but you can’t read his handwriting anyway. You move on to the left shoe.

Then, you go back to the bathroom, digging through the drawers. A necklace, a couple bracelets, a pair of earrings that don’t dangle. Highlight to make you look a little nicer, and some mascara but not too much. You just want to look presentable when you show up in front of the cameras with the tributes.

“Have you showered?”

“Have you used up the hot water?” he retaliates, “I never thought that I’d have to worry about that before. But then again,” he looks up from the paper, “I don’t typically know people who spend an hour in the shower.”

“Have you showered?” you repeat.

“Yes.”

“You don’t look like it.” you tilt your head, motioning to his clothes. It’s the same ones he wore last night, “Go take a shower.”

“We need to talk about Annie and Paslee.” he tells you, holding out the paper.

You take it from him, “Shower.”

“Why do you care so much?” he asks, but he’s moving towards the door.

“First of all, darling of the Capitol–”

“Darlings.” he corrects, “You’re very loved in the Capitol still.”

“Flattering, I don’t care.” but it is interesting, you wonder why, “You don’t want to look like that alcoholic from district twelve.”

“Haymitch!” he laughs, and you crack a smile, “I met him once or twice, he knows how to hold down a drink.”

“It’s because he’s been drinking for twenty years now.” you push him into his room. And this is when you take a moment to look over it. Suddenly, you’re unimpressed with how they set up the room.

Of course Finnick would get the big comfy bed, and the nice chair off to the side. And the hammock made out of rope. He would get the big window, and the nice bedside tables and chairs.

Finnick digs through his white dresser, and you can’t help but to feel annoyed and angry. Favoritism, all of this is bullshit.

“Stop looking at me like that.” he tells you.

“Then how am I supposed to look at you, when you have a room like this?” you ask, motioning, “Compared to what we get.”

Finnick laughs, it fuels you, “Sweetheart, have you even seen your room? If you were to go on to the trains for like district ten or something–their victors don’t get half the things we do. Because they’re irrelevant.”

“Don’t be a dick.” you punch his arm.

“It’s true.” he laughs, going into the bathroom, “Have you even noticed?”

“What is there to notice? I get a bed–”

“No, you get the special things too. As I get a hammock, a nice table and all of that, you get the throwing knives, knots, fire making stuff, dummies to practice on.” he turns to look at you, “Don’t you see? They love you as much as they love me.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Well, it’s true.” he says, the shower turns on, he shuts the door enough to leave a small crack, “Feel free to join me!”

You roll your eyes, going over to the hammock, testing it out first. It doesn’t creak, so it’s sturdy. You slide onto it, steadying yourself with one foot out of it. Then, you hold up the pad of paper, trying to read his handwriting.

It’s not chicken scratch, it’s elegant. He’s spent so long in the Capitol that he’s begun to pick up on their habits. There are only a few people back home that you know can write like this. Mags, the governor, his secretary, and what used to be your mom. Caspian’s mom is kinda good at the cursive, but it’s nothing like the Capitol stuff.

“I can’t read your handwriting.” you yell to him.

“Go figure.” he says, you think it’s meant to be quiet, but it’s not, “Paslee is brave, I guess. He acts like he’s too good to be here, I’m not sure if it’s the shock or not. And Annie is quiet, but smart. She’s very nice.”

Alright, so Annie is going to go for the kind look. She looked the type anyway, soft, flowery. More girly than the past few you’ve had. She’s been very prompt and knows that your directions are the best. She’s better off being a follower in the arena, which isn’t a good sign.

And Paslee’s a boy, you’ve always had difficulty with them. They seem to think that they don’t have to listen to your instructions just because you’re a girl. Even though those types of things are blurred now, there are no boy and girl things, it’s just… a blend. The boys just seem to think that Finnick did all the work. Not true, you were the brains, Finnick just helped execute.

Then again, he could have just been being difficult because you told them about the mentoring thing. That’s fine, you’ll discuss it with them when they get the chance. All that matters is that Finnick had actually managed to get something out of them, it’s a platform to build off of.

You throw the pad of paper off to the side, looking over Finnick’s room. And this is when you realize that the united front isn’t something that you guys should toss away as easily, “What color is the shirt you picked out?”

“White?” he yells.

Nope, you’re picking navy blue, exactly what you have.

Getting off the hammock, you dig through his shirts again, the shower shuts off. The silky material catches your notice, and you pull it out, holding it up. It’s not silk, but it’s very soft. Elegant, it’ll represent whatever Finnick is now to the Capitol.

“Take this,” you hold the shirt at the crack of the door, he swings it open. For a moment, you think you have to cover your eyes–not too fond of seeing Finnick naked–but you see the towel around his waist.

“Why?”

“Symbolism.” he takes it, running his fingers over it, “If you have that wave ring, wear it. Also,” you cup his face for a moment, “Lay off the stew, it’s making your cheeks chubby.”

“Get the fuck off of me.” he pushes you away, but he’s laughing.

“I’ll see you in the main cart. Gotta instruct the kids.”

He snorts, “Not gonna critique my fashion taste anymore?”

“Do you want me to?” you turn to look at him.

“No, you should go talk to the kids,” he smiles, and you roll your eyes.

You leave him to get dressed, on the way to the main cart, you run your fingers through your hair, trying to untangle it somewhat. And you can’t help but to think about what Finnick said when it comes to the fancy things in your room. You always thought it was because they normally supply those things, but you guess not.

You wonder when they’ll realize they should give you a dart board.

Annie and Paslee are messing around with some knives when you get into the dining cart. They look up and straighten out when you enter the room. Almost dropping the knives as if they weren’t supposed to be touching them in the first place.

“You’re not in trouble. The carts are practically your playground.” you tell them, motioning for a bowl of stew. One of the avoxes drop it off, you thank them and take it into your hands as you wander around to the window.

You guys will be in the Capitol within the next ten minutes or so.

“I have a few more things to coach you on. But I mainly want to leave you to figure things out on your own.” you tell them, taking another bite, “Stand in front of me, side by side.”

They follow, and you look them over a little bit. Setting the bowl down you go to Paslee, pushing his chin up and telling him to stand taller. He can slouch, just not by much. You show him a series of poses, and you figure out that you liked his arms crossed the best.

Then with Annie, you let her tilt her head down, it’s a sign of submission, and she’s definitely not the type for the opposite. You have her lean on her hip more, hands in front of her, holding.

“Annie, you’ll be going for a more kind look.” you tell her, “Don’t let people walk over you, but don’t come out too strong. Use your manners at every chance, please, thank you, no thank you, all of that. Put people’s thoughts first.”

And then you move over to Paslee, “Don’t use the asshole act on Finnick or I. We’re not going to put up with it. You’re relying on us for sponsors, remember that. You’ll be chin up, brave, courage, cocky. Don’t let people walk all over you. Yours is best for alliances, four is a career, remember that.”

“And me?” she asks, and you look over.

“If he scores a spot with them, then he’ll have to suggest and give a few reasons why you should be in. How are you helpful Annie? What are some skills that they can’t live without if they get stranded without some things?” It’s the same tactic you used to get Thyme in. Not even your district mate, but she got in easily.

“Are you guys friends?” you continue, they nod slightly, “The stylists will like that. Try to dress you up the same. Accept it, don’t resist. Act like you love it so the Capitol people have something to like. You guys can stop being friends as soon as you’re inside of the arena. You’re here to draw in sponsors.”

You pick up your bowl of stew again, “Also, you’re going to be meeting your stylists. Laurel and Pleurisy, and the rest of their prep team. They’re going to poke and prod, rip the hair off of your body, pluck, trim, maybe even cut off some dead ends on your hair,” Annie doesn’t like the last part, “Don’t resist, an unhappy stylist is an unhappy sponsor. They know what they’re doing, they’ll try to be gentle but it’s hard.”

Finnick comes bounding out of the hallway, following is Elysia. Finnick smirks, and Elysia waves slightly, you look back to Annie and Pleurisy.

“Go to the window, wave.” Finnick tells them, “It’ll catch their eye. Pretend to be happy to see them. Point, blow kisses, whatever it takes.”

They nod, going over to follow Finnick’s directions. He holds out his hands for you to see his hands. On the right hand is his Capitol ring. On the left, is the wave ring, which has seen better days.

“They made me stop wearing it because it was turning off buyers.” he tells you, “I wore it when I could.”

The cheering catches your attention, you move to set your empty bowl of stew down, wiping your face with a napkin before getting half the cup of orange juice down. Finnick laughs at your hurry, Elysia holds up gum for you to take. Then, you go over to stand by Finnick.

That’s one answer to a question you’ve had.

You wonder if you’ll get the rest.

[miaouerie]

whumptober 2020 ------ day 25. blurred vision/ringing ears

@whumptober2020​ Rebelcaptain Hunger Games AU: Cassian is Jyn’s mentor in the 70th Hunger Games. After being crowned victor at fifteen years old, Cassian is all-too-familiar with what it takes to bring a tribute home, and what becoming a victor really means.

content warnings: graphic descriptions of minor character death, references to forced prostitution

previous: day 1 / 2  / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15  / 16  / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24

Candela is the first to get killed; her escape to the tree line was hampered by the uphill climb to get out of the rocky ditch that the 67th Hunger Games’ Cornucopia is in. The male Career tribute from District 1 kills her with a sledgehammer to the throat. Cassian watches her head snap all the way to the right, the neck bent at an unnatural angle, and her body hits the ground, motionless; it was a clean break to the neck.

Garrick made it a while longer on his own, but chose not to heed Cassian’s repeatedly stressed advice to skip over supplies—those could always be sent later—and made his escape route include a wide arc towards a backpack and a sleeping bag. Those extra seconds put him in the scope of a pair of Careers, who run him down easily and then kill him with their knives.

Both of his tributes dead in the first five minutes of the 67th Hunger Games. How could this happen?

He had weighed their odds carefully. District 5 fell squarely in between the Career districts and the poorer districts when it came to anticipating the Games. The district itself was well off enough that tesserae wasn’t necessary for the majority of households, which meant that the extent of the Games in the populace’s mind was a hope and a prayer for their children to not be chosen on Reaping Day. No Games training was offered for the glory of volunteering because no glory was seen in the practice—District 5 had the lowest volunteer rate out of all the districts—and so it wasn’t a surprise that Cassian’s first year of mentoring began with two unremarkable tributes: Candela Invers, a fifteen-year-old girl, and Garrick Thule, a sixteen-year-old boy.

Garrick was the son of a power plant supervisor and had hardly an inkling for survival; he didn’t go to the fire-starting station or the edible plants station, or any of the other stations for basic survival skills that Cassian urged him to. A lot of his time during the three allotted training days was spent away from the other tributes, hiding his fear behind an indifferent look; unsurprisingly, he scored only a 3 in the evaluation. Candela on the other hand had been game enough to ask for Cassian's advice in the training room and went over strategies with him for acing her interview; just last night on Caesar Flickerman’s show she had made a favorable impression on the audience, especially after Caesar brought up the 7 that she scored in the Gamemakers’ evaluations. Cassian could work with that; if she could survive on her own for the first three days, he could hopefully start talking her up to potential sponsors. He wasn’t going to bet on whether or not Garrick could survive that long on his own, but in the end it didn’t even matter because now both of his tributes are dead.

He can’t take his eyes off the carnage of the bloodbath, projected on the main screen of the mentors’ observation deck. It takes several long minutes before he yanks off his headset; the only sounds the mics were picking up is the ambient noise of children killing other children. But it’s too late; the sounds won’t leave his ears; it coalesces into screaming that he knows isn’t real, but it sounds more and more similar to Teak’s—

He pushes himself away from the console and tries to stand up, but has to lean his weight against it when his legs threaten to give out from underneath him. The room is starting to spin in a way that has everything to do with the roar of blood and screams in his ears, how lightheaded he feels, and… shit. He needs to sit back down.

Then there’s a hand on his shoulder, pushing him firmly but gently back down onto his chair. “Both of yours bit the dust? First time’s rough; it doesn’t get any easier.”

The sole victor and mentor of District 12, Haymitch Abernathy, is holding out a bottle of liquor to him. Still breathing heavily, Cassian shakes his head no; they both look back to the broadcast on the main screen. The camera is panning a bird’s-eye view over the action at the Cornucopia, before cutting over to where the two Careers from District 1 who killed Garrick are cutting down another tribute. The tally on the screen reads nine dead, fifteen tributes still in play.  The Career pack hasn’t yet started to hunt for tributes who escaped to the trees, which means it’s still likely a death or three will be added to the projected death count at the end of the day. But as far as where Cassian is concerned, his first stint as a mentor in the Hunger Games is over.

Cassian thinks about reaching for the proffered bottle, but decides against it. Haymitch is an alcoholic, foul-smelling and drunk more often than not. Jeron always told his son to stay away from him, but Jeron isn’t here anymore. His heartbeat feels like it stops as it does each time the realization washes over him anew—your father’s dead, while you didn’t kill him you might as well have��but after that split second of grief he’s able to breathe again.

“C’mon. Let’s get some fresh air, you look like you could use it.” The look that Haymitch is giving him is half-pointed, half-pitying; Cassian gets up to go with him.

-

Cassian has never been to the top floor of the Tower; he didn’t even know that such a place existed. The tinkling of the windchimes drowns out the ringing in his ears, until he can blink up at the noonday sun without his vision doubling over.

“It’s a shame about your old man,” Haymitch says to him. “Power explosion, right?”

The younger victor can’t trust himself to speak, so he nods.

“Took out Irga too? Seems a little convenient to me.”

Cassian wants to say, I know the truth, I read it myself. But he doesn’t; what comes out instead is, “Yeah, that’s why I’m mentoring alone. Apparently I’m not very good at it.”

The look that Haymitch gives him has a flash of disappointment, but then it disappears as the older victor takes a swig of his booze and grunts. “Look, it doesn’t matter if you’re a good mentor or not, whether your tributes die or not. The Capitol gets their twisted entertainment regardless.”

“So we should just let them die?”

The older victor snorts. “I’m surprised you think it’s worth letting them live. You of all people should know being a victor doesn’t mean you won.”

Well, he can’t say anything to that. They look up to see an Avox approaching; apparently, to hand Cassian a powder blue envelope.

Cassian turns the envelope over in his hands but doesn’t break the seal yet. What happened to attractive and desirable victors was an open secret but the confirmation that Haymitch knew still stings; it made him wonder just how many of the other victors had known, if any of them talked to his father about it.  

Haymitch juts his chin out at the envelope. “Snow’s had his claws in you for a long time hasn’t he, kid? I’m not surprised if District 5 got taken out because our dear president thinks you shouldn’t be spending your precious time in the Capitol mentoring.”

But no; Jeron couldn’t have known, Cassian was too good of a liar. But his self-loathing wrestles briefly with the fear that maybe Jeron knew after all, even before his disastrous Decem year.

But no, he couldn’t have. He would have done something about it sooner, he wouldn’t have let Snow turn his son into a whore. Right?

But he knows it wouldn't have changed anything, let alone the fatal outcome. There was no other way to impel Cassian into a mentoring position, not when Snow wanted him to solicit for a more lucrative purpose. Jeron couldn’t have known that Snow would kill his mentoring partner to devastate his son in retaliation; while Lila was allowed to live and he wouldn't have had Cassian killed, there wasn’t a way a victor could act without consequence.

Cassian opens the envelope, looks at the three lines: a name, a place, a time. He thinks about the system that drove his dad to believe that suicide was the only option, that forced him to play into the Capitol’s hand to save his son, then made him realize that in the end he couldn’t protect him at all.

[ghostwriter00797]

I just binged all of the episodes of Mega-Man: Fully Charged that are out (40 on the Cartoon Network website) in one day. I have some thoughts to get out of my head.

Is it neat? No. Does it make sense? Probably not, but I’m inflicting it upon this small fandom anyway.

((Since I’m getting thoughts out about many different parts of the series there are spoilers underneath the cut.))

Thoughts about the overall series:

I’ll admit it, the series starts out a little formulaic. The early episodes are kind of repetitive, but it did get better. In my opinion, it really improves at episode 18 with the introduction of Wood Man. Not only is it the first time (I think) that Aki/Mega Man is visibly injured by his opponent, it is the first time, in my opinion, that the battle and its potential outcomes had weight to them. Everything after that seems to carry some of that weight as well.

It is a show targeted at young boys, so it’s not going to be super dark or mature, but the action sequences are pretty cool. The jokes are pretty funny too, and the ‘voom’ sound that Aki/Mega Man makes when he jumps is nice to hear.

I really like the emphasis that is placed on ending conflict peacefully/violence as a last resort as well as therapy and second chances for the misguided robots who regularly fight Aki/Mega Man. Like Fire Man! He mentions his anger management therapist, breathing exercises, going to a happy place, etc. in order to deal with his extreme temper. He’s still a villain due to his beliefs that humans are inferior and the fact that he is loyal to Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian, but he is actively trying to manage his anger. It’s a good message.

I also enjoy how Aki/Mega Man’s schematic copying works. Yes, he can use his rogues’ powers against them, but he has to deal with the negative personality traits he gains from them as well. He isn’t infallible.

I really like Mega Mini. I find him hilarious and he’s given me a lot to think about. Which leads me to...

Speculations about Aki/Mega Man’s powers:

How did he get them?

The series hasn’t shown us how Aki/Mega Man got his powers, and by extension Mega Mini. 

Doctor Light doesn’t seem to know that Aki is Mega Man, which doesn’t make sense. He built Aki, so he should have known that his son had combat capabilities. This raises the question: Did Aki always have the capability to become Mega Man?

If he did, then that could mean a few things: 

One, Dr. Light knows and is waiting for Aki to tell him on his own terms. Perhaps he built Aki’s frame during the near end of the Hard Age war to use as a double agent, but didn’t get the chance to activate him because the war ended soon after he was finished. Not much later he had Suna, his wife passed or left him, and he wanted her to have a sibling when she was older. He revisited Aki’s frame in his lab and built a more normal looking system over it, keeping the combat capabilities out of a sense of paranoia and programming them to only emerge if Suna was in extreme danger. When Suna turned ten he activated Aki, gave her a sibling that could protect her, and honestly forgot about the combat functions as the kids grew older. Until he saw Mega Man for the first time.

or

Two, Dr. Light legitimately doesn’t know. He didn’t build Aki with combat capabilities at all, choosing to make him as close to a human being as possible. Which raises another question.

If Dr. Light didn’t build him with combat capabilities, who did/who gave them to him?

Aki seems to be built and programmed as close to a human child as possible, meaning that it’s highly unlikely he modified his own body that drastically. His dad didn’t do it, so that leaves two options. Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian or some other mysterious benefactor.

If it was Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian, it could make sense. He seems to resent Dr. Light somewhat, and given that he was able to overhaul Chauncey into a combat machine it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to be able to do the same to Aki. He also seems incredibly invested in Aki/Mega Man, wanting the boy to join his cause. He could have kidnapped Aki, modified him and improved upon Namagem’s design, and then wiped his memory of the event and sent him back. Quite possibly as an act of spite to Dr. Light and his ideals if he could corrupt Aki/Mega Man without mental tampering.

If it was another, mysterious benefactor, then it could be someone working against Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian who needed the city to have a noble hero. Who approached Aki and asked him, got his permission, and disappeared once everything was done.

Why Mega Mini?

Mega Mini is particularly intriguing to me. Why is he there? Is he meant as a fail safe? As a mentor? Simply someone to repair Aki/Mega Man and keep him in fighting shape? He seems to be able to control everything relating to Mega Man, with or without Aki’s input, so how far does that control reach? Would it be possible for him to take full control of Aki’s body? Or is he limited to only giving advice and being unable to really refuse any of Aki’s orders? Not a lot of answers here, but it sure is something to think about.

Why does he pick up personality traits with the schematics?

Could it possibly be another kind of failsafe? He has the one that limits him to having only three schematics on board, and we’ve seen the consequences of not having that. Perhaps it’s a purposeful flaw in order to keep Aki/Mega Man grounded to reality and humbled. Those moments where he loses control are a challenge, something that he has to overcome to grow as a person and as a hero, and a way to understand the robots he fights.

Is he based off of Namagem?

They share a lot of things. Their seeming mental age, the busters, the power replication, etc. It’s mentioned to Aki/Mega Man more than once that Namagem is his reflection. Namagem doesn’t have the safety mechanisms that Aki has in place, and is seemingly more unhinged for it. Regardless of who gave Aki his powers, it is entirely possible that Namagem was the prototype. The first one that Aki’s powers were modeled off of. And is Namagem aware of this? Not only are the two of them foils, their family seems to be as well. The relationship between Dr. Light, Aki/Mega Man, and Suna is the antithesis of the one between Namagem and Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian. This leads me to what I created this post for in the first place...

Speculations on the relationship between Namagem and Sgt. Night/Lord Obsidian:

This one... makes me extremely uncomfortable. 

The first time we see Namagem is during the end of the Lightfall two-parter. He comes to get Lord Obsidian away from Aki/Mega Man after the man’s plan has backfired. He is shown supporting Lord Obsidian as they return to their base with the other villains of the show, and refers to him as Father. He seems obedient, dedicated, a generally perfect dragon to Lord Obsidian’s big bad. That doesn’t last long.

The next few times we see Namagem he is disobeying orders, going out to fight Aki/Mega Man despite being repeatedly told not to. He clashes with Sgt. Night’s strategy of waiting for the right time, preferring to charge in and let his fists do the talking. He’s essentially a brash, rebellious teenager who thinks he knows best. He’s Aki/Mega Man’s foil. They’re alike in that way, though Namagem takes it to the extreme. He’s what Aki could have been if he didn’t have his failsafes, Mini Mega, or a supportive family.

Sgt. Night is harsh with Namagem in the same way he’s harsh to the other villains who follow him. He puts them down verbally, calls them useless and generally degrades them. This alone isn’t what puts me into uncomfy territory though. That came with episode 31, “Big Bad Dreams.”

In the dreamscape, Aki/Mega Man finally fights back using Hypno Woman’s powers to force Namagem to see what he fears most. Aki/Mega Man is unable to see what Namagem is terrified of, but we the audience do: Lord Obsidian’s reflection on the windows of a building, massive and looming over Namagem. And what does Namagem do as he sees this? Cries out, flinches, and holds his hands above his face/head like he’s preparing to take a hit. Aki/Mega Man throws him from the dreamscape soon after.

When Namagem comes out of the dreamscape and tells Sgt. Night what happened, he’s belligerent in the face of the man’s remarks, getting up in his personal space and generally being angry. This changes as Sgt. Night walks away. The second he transforms into Lord Obsidian Namagem’s entire demeanor changes. The man is walking away from him but he flinches, cries out, shakes, curls over and in on himself. He seems absolutely terrified.

I know that this is a children’s show, maybe I’m thinking too dark, but those moments are sticking in my brain. I want to know: 

What in the holy hell happened to make Namagem so afraid of Lord Obsidian (not Sgt. Night, but Lord Obsidian) specifically?

[wits-writing]

Captain Marvel (Movie Review)

Captain Marvel, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck with a screenplay co-written by themselves and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, follows the story of Vers (Brie Larson), a noble warrior hero of the intergalactic Kree Empire with the power to project photonic energy blasts. After a routine mission goes wrong and she’s captured by the enemy, she escapes only to find herself stranded on the planet Earth. While seeking a way to contact her superior officers and protect the planet she’s on from her enemies, Vers starts finding evidence that her life wasn’t what she assumed.  She discovers hints towards a past as Air Force Pilot Carol Danvers, leaving her to struggle with what that means for her mission and whether she’s fighting for a just cause. It’s a personal journey in the form of an unfolding mystery that makes a compelling origin for the newest hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Everything in Carol’s story gets imbued with the idea of the purpose behind her power. Kree society tells her the photon energy she’s able to channel was a gift they gave her, but always couched in the reminder that they can take it away. While she still believes herself to be what they made her as “Vers”, she gets told repeatedly that her emotions and interest in rediscovering her past are weaknesses she must overcome. Her superiors assume that discovering her best self means making her the best soldier possible. When she arrives on Earth and more memories start returning, we see that people in her life trying to limit her didn’t start with the Kree. Since she can only remember them as the people that gave her a life after her amnesia, she doesn’t question what they think is best for her at the start of the movie. The difference in her old life came down to the how she had a real support network of people that cared about her in her past, acknowledging her strength without couching it in any backhanded compliments about where her strength “really comes from.”

Seeing her reconnect with that support network in her journey into the past makes the best material in the movie. After discovering some files on Earth about who she was in the past, Carol goes to meet Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), her best friend and fellow Air Force pilot in her old life. The time spent on Maria’s farm in Louisiana stands as where the movie brings Carol’s humanity back to her as more comes to her. Her interactions with Maria’s daughter, Monica (Akira Akbar), deserve special mention. While Maria is near devastated that her old friend has returned after six years with no memory of who she is, Monica takes it as a chance to bond with “Aunt Carol” all over again. The kid excitedly brings out all the photos and mementos of Carol they kept since her disappearance and explains each in an adorable sequence. Maria and Monica happily refer to Carol as part of their family and support her even though she can’t remember her old life. Since Maria and Carol always supported each other, they take each other’s skills and strengths being their own as a given.

Carol manages to tap into her full power for the first time by going against everything the Kree taught her about how they’re meant to be used. She embraces the emotional bonds of her life on Earth and stops doubting where the source of her power lies. Larson’s performance in the scenes where Carol gets to cut loose on her enemies displays the exuberance of someone finally understanding themselves and putting it to good use. She glows, literally and metaphorically, as she kicks ass left, right, and center through the movie’s third act. Accepting that she has nothing to prove to anyone makes her a force to be reckoned with willing to protect the innocent.

The science fiction trappings surrounding Carol’s development are centered on the conflict between the Kree Empire and the shapeshifting Skrulls. What we see of Kree society from Carol’s perspective as “Vers” consist of the militaristic side of their culture, a hierarchical, hard-edge environment focused on locating and eliminating Skrull infiltrators on Kree planets. Carol takes on this task as a member of the Starforce, a Kree black-ops team, under the command of her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). In contrast to the tightly structured Kree society, the Skrulls are presented with an affable mannerism. Skrull commander Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) gets some of the movie’s funnier moments thanks to the way he reacts to certain situations. Carol’s rediscovery of her past and revelations concerning the mission she’s on in the present makes her humanity the key to bringing this conflict to an end.

Alongside Carol for the ride to finding Skrulls, why they came to Earth and her role in it is young Agent Fury (Samuel L Jackson, digitally de-aged). This movie details the first time he encounters anything extraterrestrial, making him the reaction point for all the bizarre happenings in this movie. While he gets some amusing bits in that capacity and in interacting with Goose the Cat, his part of the story also ties into one of my problems with Captain Marvel. Fury meeting his first superhero turning his arc into a prequel to his role in the Phase 1 MCU makes sense, but occasionally the awkwardness of the nods to the future feel forced to the point of annoyance. However, Jackson and Larson’s chemistry as they both start off navigating the rules of their respective agencies to get information before developing into true friends works in both characters’ favors, keeping the prequel-isms from dragging this part of the movie down.

The gradual build to Carol’s rediscovery of herself and paying that off with the themes of accepting her power as her own makes Captain Marvel a strong origin story to serve as her introduction. Boden and Fleck using that as the movie’s core makes it something I can see heavily resonating with people. The Earth-based bonding moments are the strongest parts of the movie, since those character interactions have the most warmth to them. The 90s set dressing and shout-outs are fine mostly for what they are, with one on-the-nose song insert in the climax that I won’t give away as a highlight. This is a solid movie with some standout moments once it gets going and I look forward to seeing what else is in store for Carol Danvers in the MCU.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Not Exactly T.H. White

by Viorica

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Viorica's review of the BBC's cracktastic Merlin.~

After what might be called a bitter breakup with BBC’s Robin Hood, I promised myself that I’d avoid any further TV shows that were more enjoyable for their badness than their quality. So when the majority of my Livejournal friendslist began squeeing over Merlin, I swore I’d avoid the temptation. No matter how shiny and cracky and homoerotic it appeared, I was not going to watch it, because I knew that if I did I’d be sucked into shiny-cracky-homoerotic-bad TV land. But eventually the temptation grew too strong, and I downloaded the first season to watch over Christmas break. I expected bad special effects; I got that. I expected inaccuracy; I got that in droves. I expected mediocre writing and acting, and I got . . . something else.

If you assumed from the title of the show that Merlin is based on Arthurian legends, you’d be better off abandoning that idea right now. The series revolves around a teenage boy named - you guessed it - Merlin who is sent to live at the court of Camelot by his mother, because he’s manifested magical powers, and she has an old friend, Gaius who lives at Camelot and who is better equipped to train Merlin than she is. Unfortunately for Merlin, magic is outlawed in Camelot, and has been since the birth of Prince Arthur about twenty years earlier. Yes, Merlin and Arthur and the same age, and that’s only the beginning of the divergence from the original stories. Merlin manages to land a job as Arthur’s manservant, much to Arthur’s chagrin, as Merlin has a tendency to call Arthur out on his bullshit. From there on in, it’s up to Merlin to protect Arthur from various pissed-off sorcerers (Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon has ordered all magic-users burned at the stake, which has naturally rubbed them up the wrong way) while simultaneously trying to hide his own powers and protect innocent people from Uther’s wrath. He’s helped by Guinevere, aka Gwen, a maid at the castle, and her mistress Morgana, Uther’s ward, who disagrees with his policies. Merlin is also mentored by a dragon being held prisoner under the castle, who has an irritating tendency to intone “Protecting Arthur is your destiny, Merlin!” at least once an episode.

If you think it sounds cheesy, you’re completely right. It’s intended as a kid’s show, and filmed with the audience in mind - despite the rather high amounts of violence (at least one person dies per episode) the camera always cuts away from the nasty stuff. The main conflict is Merlin’s need to hide the fact that he has magical powers, and the fact that this keeps conflicting with his need to protect Arthur, which obviously has no basis whatsoever in Arthurian legend, but then neither does anything else. As the series progresses, Arthur and Merlin’s relationship evolves from that of mutual resentment to comfortable partnership, and eventually friendship (which comes off as very, very very homoerotic, probably due to the fact that it involves a lot of hugging and acts of unwavering devotion. The cynical part of me thinks that the writers are playing to the crowd.) The actors playing Merlin and Arthur are actually quite good, and what they bring to their roles - quiet goodness in Colin Morgan’s case and brash testosterone in Bradley James’s - helps establish the boys as genuinely likeable people, struggling to figure out their place in the world. Angel Coulby is incredibly sweet as shy, blushing Gwen, who spends most of her time trying to make everyone as happy as possible. The weak link in the cast is Katie McGrath, who plays Morgana with a maximum of two facial expressions: smug and perturbed. The older actors are obviously having fun with their roles, and bringing some gravitas to the characters as well - Anthony Stewart Head’s Uther is unlikeable by virtue of his actions (this is, after all, a man who ordered all magicians put to death over a mistake he made) but thanks to Stewart Head’s talent, you can see a bit of humanity shining through from behind the throne. Richard Wilson’s Gaius is your standard mentor/father figure, with a dry sense of humour that managed to make me laugh at least once an episode. John Hurt voiced the Dragon, and there really isn’t much to say about his performance - given the fact that all he gets to do is blather about destiny, there isn’t much room to stretch. The guest stars are touch-and-go - Santiago Cabrera, who played Lancelot, was absolutely awful, while Asa Butterfield was suitably creepy as an eight-year-old Mordred. No one is giving Lawrence Olivier a run for his money, but they’re a very talented bunch, especially considering that most of them haven’t hit thirty yet.

I’m not entirely sure what I expected from the writing. Before watching it, I’d heard the show referred to “crappy tweenager fantasy” so I assumed it’d be a lot of rambling about Destiny and True Love and The Power of Friendship. While that is included (see my note on the Dragon of Destiny) it’s not as wearing as you might expect, mostly because the characters point out the stupidity of doing something because it’s My Destiny at least once an episode. No one wants to watch a show about people who do things because they’re told; most of the struggles come from Merlin and his friends struggling with the expectations they’re being held up to versus their own inherent sense of what’s right. My personal favourite episode revolves around a young boy who Uther wants to execute because he’s a Druid-in-training. Merlin, who obviously takes the stance that killing innocent children is wrong, enlists Morgana’s help to hide the boy, and Arthur’s to smuggle him out of Camelot. For this he is repeatedly chastised by the Dragon, because the boy is eventually going to kill Arthur. Merlin and co say “Screw this” and smuggle the boy away to his own people. At the end of the episode (spoilers, obviously) Arthur asks for his name, and the child replies “Mordred.” It’s a deliciously eerie moment (helped out by Mordred’s creepy stare) and an interesting message about Destiny v. Free Will: the choices of Merlin and his friends will make or break Camelot, but it’s up to them to decide what it’s worth. Fortunately, not all of the destiny-related storylines are that gloomy. For example, one of the show’s most endearing points is the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, which begins with Merlin flat-out chastising Arthur for taunting a servant. Although Merlin is repeatedly pushed towards the prince by the dragon (for this reason, he’s acquired the fandom nickname “Slash Dragon”) their relationship eventually becomes that of friends. When Merlin goes to protect Arthur at the potential expense of his own life, he’s doing it out of affection for the prince rather than a sense of duty, and that - the inherent nobility of the main cast - is a big part of what makes the show so endearing.

There is, of course, the problem of the show’s title, which I’ll have to address or risk this article becoming unadulterated gushing. I’m not especially familiar with Arthurian legend - I know the basics, and I’m about thirty pages into The Once and Future King, but I’m far from an expert - but from what I do know, I honestly can’t understand why they decided to tack the name “Merlin” on it at all. There are references to “canon”, such as it is - in one episode, Arthur is wounded by the Questing Beast - but overall, it plays out like an original story with occasional allusions to Thomas Malory or T.H. White. As I’ve said, it’s good enough to stand on its own, and I think the attempts at labelling it an Arthurian adaptation are going to be detrimental in the long run. Instead of being remembered as a well-written original series, it’s going to end up being dismissed as “that crappy Arthurian adaptation that screwed up the stories”. Actually, the fact that they felt the need to try and slap the name of a pre-existing story on it kind of makes me sad, because it implies that they felt they couldn’t market an original series, and that’s just depressing. Aside from the rage-inducing potential for Arthurian enthusiasts, there’s some holes in the writing - in one episode Morgana says that Gaius has been caring for her since before she can remember, then later claims that she came to live in Camelot when she was ten, implying either than she has long-term memory loss or that someone didn’t proofread closely enough. Still, the small slipups aren’t enough to detract from a genuinely enjoyable show. And if all else fails, you can always hit mute and enjoy the eye candy.Themes:

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Wardog

at 10:16 on 2009-01-14Hello, welcome - and thank you for this wonderful review. I no longer need feel ashamed of my secret love for Merlin. When it first came on, I dismissed it after about 10 ten minutes (Uther's first 'by the way, this is the backplot' speech didn't help) but a few weeks later my LJ friendslist also exploded with squee and joy, so I gave it another go and, lo, it was simultaneously awesome and awful and utterly utterly watchable.

You're absolutely right about Morganna not being quite up to speed on, y'know, this 'acting' thing ... but she is very, very beautiful, so I don't mind. And the dragon is a bit repetative, despite being voiced by John Hurt.

The weird thing is I don't really get any slashy kind of vibe from Arthur and Merlin, despite the fact that these two boys finding friendship and making sacrifices for each other ought to be very homoerotic. I suppose I find it slashy in principle but there isn't much a spark between the actors (I mean in terms of teh gay) to make it stick. Possibly I am just missing.

As you say in your conclusion I do find Merlin's status as an adaption interesting - I actually rather enjoyed the complete lack of respect with which they treated the mythos, once I got over myself about it. The Arthurian background does give it all a familiarity and a resonance that might have been lacking if it was just Generic Fantasy Story About Friendship and Valour. Although it is a bit dodgy I have come to think the Arthurian dimension does add something - there's always something joyous about watching people play in the paddling pool of literature and start a water fight.

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Rami

at 10:49 on 2009-01-14Yay! I somewhat guiltily enjoyed Merlin myself, including the not-quite-aside allusions to actual canon / legend (the court genealogist appears to be Geoffrey of Monmouth ;-)). Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it, and I'm quite willing to forgive the writers for taking advantage of all the gravitas and popular awareness that Arthur's story gives you. As you said, that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

About the cast — Anthony Head and Richard Wilson are brilliant, of course, I can't disagree, but I have to admit I don't share your reservations about Katie McGrath. (But maybe that's because of the eye-candy factor.)

Perhaps it's my lack of slash goggles but I don't see the "very, very homoerotic" between Merlin and Arthur? I wonder if it's just 21st-century cynicism that makes "heartfelt and sincere" have to mean "Twu Wuv"?

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Rami

at 10:52 on 2009-01-14Oh God Kyra and I have just posted very nearly the same comment.

Resistance is futile

I mean, no, FerretBrain doesn't have a "Collective Consciousness" feature...

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Wardog

at 12:06 on 2009-01-14You will be assimilated....

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Viorica

at 22:18 on 2009-01-14I suppose the slash question depends on what you go in expecting. I was told repeatedly before ever watching it that the boys were the slashiest slashy things that were ever slashed, so I went in with slash goggles firmly strapped on. And I suppose there's an interesting study to be done on the way men show affection v. the way women do and how it's interpreted by outside observers . . . but as far as fandom's concernd, it's all about the pretty and the gay.

As for Katie McGrath, she is pretty, but there's always this irritating feeling that I'd like the character so much more if she could emote properly. As it is, she tends to grate.

Apropos of nothing, have you watched the video diaries? They're screamingly hilarious, and both Bradley James and Colin Morgan act uncannily like their characters. It's a little creepy . . .

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Wardog

at 11:35 on 2009-01-15That's the thing, although I'm not a slasher myself, I do occasionally find myself on the outskirts of fandom enough to have some slash goggles of my own. I was prepared for slash, I looked for slash, I saw ... the motions of slash ... but I didn't *feel* the slash. Sometimes there's a genuine spark between actors or something about the way a relationship is portrayed that makes me secretly believe something could conceivably be going on between them. I was re-watching DS9 (sad bastard that I am) recently and, despite knowing not a damn thing about the DS9 fandom, I became immediately and increasingly convinced that Sisko and Dukat were having incredibly hot hatesex... (Dan holds out for Dax/Kira girlsex, however, - they are certainly very giggly together).

I watched some of the video diaries - Bradley James is so adorably silly. I mean this in a maternal way, not a sick way. I particularly liked his musing on the cockatrice.

By the way, I meant to ask, what caused things to sour with Robin Hood? I never watched it so...

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Gina Dhawa

at 16:04 on 2009-01-16

Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it ... that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

This is my justification for liking

Merlin

the way it is. T.H. White took some pretty big liberties along the way (though if you're thirty pages in, I won't spoil that), as have any of the people who have written the story down over the years. The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed, that if you take the earliest versions of the stories and put them to what you might find in a modern collection, there are so many differences that you might think you weren't reading the same story at all.

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Viorica

at 19:51 on 2009-01-16Well, it could be argued that there are some basic plot foundations- Merlin being Arthur's mentor, Guinevere as his wife (though they still have time to do that), Morgana being his half-sister, etc. I think the reason some people don't like it is because they grew up on "The Sword and the Stone", so the show is effectively stomping on their childhood memories. I don't have any such memories to get stomped on, so it doesn't bug me.

Re: Robin Hood. It started out as silly fun, but it as it went on, you realized that the people running the show didn't know or care what they were doing. There were no efforts at making the costumes or scenery look nice, and virtually none of the characters were likeable, or even tolerable. Their Robin is the kind of guy who whines at an ex-girlfriend for "betraying" him when she's forced into marriage with another man. The urge to punch the title character in the face was stronger than any desire to keep watching.

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Sonia Mitchell

at 22:16 on 2009-01-16Great article. I didn't catch all the episodes, but definitely enjoyed the ones I did see. I like your point about the gravitas the older actors bring, particularly Head (in what could have been a pretty thankless role given his character's lack of humour).

Interesting discussion about the appropriate amount of reverence for the source material, too. I quite like the way Merlin did it, with plenty there for people who do know a bit about Arthurian legend but not so much you know for sure what's going to happen. I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way - you know what happens down the line, but these are the gaps in between. And knowing what lies ahead is an interesting experience, because you're watching for it and everyone involved in the show knows you are (of the ones I saw, Lancelot's episode was the most willing to play with this).

It's also pretty dangerous, of course, because unless they're willing to go down the rejected destiny road the main young characters all have to live. I think they've got a nice balance - there's plenty of peril, but the real danger is more often disgrace than death (though I missed the last few episodes, so for all I know there was a dramatic and bloody finale).

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Viorica

at 01:30 on 2009-01-17There was *almost* a dramatic and bloody finale, but it was averted. You should really watch to see why, though- that episode actually managed to make me tear up a bit.

"Great article."

Thanks!

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Rami

at 12:44 on 2009-01-17I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way

Yes! It's not all that different in many ways -- Smallville takes a lot of liberties with Superman canon (Lex Luthor and Clark Kent being friends, for instance), and I guess one of the reasons that it's more or less accepted is that Superman canon has been retconned so many times nobody's sure what *is* canon anymore. I think much the same is true for Arthurian legend ;-)

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Arthur B

at 15:05 on 2009-01-17I think in comics continuity Lex Luthor and Clark Kent

were

friends until Clark mistakes a controlled explosion in Lex's lab for an actual fire, and horribly injures Lex as he tries to put it out.

Six nerd points for me.

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Wardog

at 19:39 on 2009-01-17I have come late to the party...

The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed...

I think this really nails the issue; perhaps, for a lot of people T.H.White is "canon", although it's Roger Lancelyn Green for me, personally - I have no idea who that guy is but basically every book available for kids about anything vaguely mythic, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, was written, semi-turgidly, by this dude. Anyway, what I've got distracted from saying here is: a lot of those things we associate with the Arthur Legend today have very little in common with the early source material. Guinevere is barely in Malory - he just wasn't into chicks - and there's a sense that a lot of her bad press comes from the fact he decided to situate the fall of his macho martial ideal in damn women with their lack of appreciation for war, dammit, war. There's very little actually 'romantic' about Le Morte.

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Wardog

at 19:43 on 2009-01-17Also I am now definitely avoiding Robin Hood. I heard it was rubbish but fun, but that sounds like it's moved into "just plain rubbish" territory.

[drpepperhateblog]

Riot Games Sexism: Source Collection

Article: Inside The Culture of Sexism at Riot Games

Some excerpts:

“Both male and female sources have described seeing unsolicited and unwelcome pictures of male genitalia from bosses or colleagues. One woman saw an e-mail thread about what it would be like to “penetrate her,” in which a colleague added that she’d be a good target to sleep with and not call again.”

“Another said a colleague once informed her, apparently as a compliment, that she was on a list getting passed around by senior leaders detailing who they’d sleep with.”

“One of Riot’s male senior leaders regularly grabbed his genitals, the source said, adding, “If he walked into a meeting with no women he’d just fart on someone’s face.””

In disbelief? Here are some witnesses, with both former and current employees confirming what’s happening:

Multiple tweets from MiniWhiteRabbit

“Multiple women confided in me about being sexually harassed at work. About their asses being slapped, being groped at parties, or being raped at Riot events.”

Riot Tiza tweet

“Tough to read this but this is dead on about some problems in our house.”

Xylese tweet

“I’m fortunate to have an incredibly supportive manager, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I have colleagues who’ve dealt w/ and still deal w/ this shit. I’ve had my own share of bad experiences here, too. I want that to change in Riot and in the industry.”

FFMirhi tweet

“I can assure you that the vast majority of testimonials in this article are true.”

Gogo Usagi tweet

“I worked there for 3 years and I'm still recovering, honestly.”

ScarizardPlays tweet

“I wanted to mostly be quiet and let other people speak but if my voice helps lend any credibility to the _staggering_ amount of sources cited here: this isn’t overblown ‘sensationalist kotaku garbage’ or whatever redditors love to say. Even the bits you can’t believe? it happened”

Yonah tweet

“I was so idealistic & hopeful when I joined Riot. I really believed the hype. And I left so broken I’ve been in therapy for years.”

Devongiehl tweet

“Happy to see all of this finally brought to light. I left three years ago, but Riot still has has a long way to go.”

DanielZKlein comment

“Sorry to state the obvious, but none of this is fucking acceptable. These people should at the very least have been put on a personal improvement plan or be fired. This is infuriating.”

UPDATE: Daniel Z Klein has further confirmed that the information in the article is true (link to multiple tweets), also confirmed what happened to Yonah (link), and made several retweets such as this:

“Not every single woman at a company has to have experience harassment for it to be real. The Kotaku piece was a result of months of thorough investigative journalism.”

In addition, there were questions raised about whether the person in the article could really have 16 game consoles plugged in. Here is proof that it’s true.

UPDATE 2: Riot Ghostcrawler comment on the controversy:

“One of the challenges of situations like this is that plenty of people have been fired for things that were described in the article. I have personally fired people for it (and I did it at Blizzard too). But you don't often go around communicating that fact, often times because you are trying to protect the victim of the harassment.

That is definitely not to say we have addressed every problem mentioned in the article.”

Not a current or former Rioter, but e-sports journalist Richard Lewis had something to say (tweet) about the article:

“Remember how I told you 2 years ago there was an inherent issue with sexism at Riot Games and we'd need to wait for the NDAs to start dropping off before the truth come out? Looks like today might be the day.” 

Meagan-Marie tumblr post

Some excerpts:

“Soon I began to notice gendered language regularly being used among male Rioters to insult each other. Guys would tell each other “not to be such a girl” and call one another “p*ssies” quite regularly. They would casually refer to women as “b*tches” and say that “all women were crazy.” I also overheard a group discussing how a female professional made it far in the industry, suggesting she “sucked c*ck to get to the top.”

“I didn’t go out with colleagues after events because strip clubs seemed to be a common destination. Asking me what age I lost my virginity at was deemed appropriate conversation during a team dinner, and employees I didn’t know prodded into how my sex life worked in a long-distance relationship.”

“Rape became a punchline to jokes quite frequently, including one instance where an employee went on for several hours about how he was going to rape his male colleague, who was his hotel roommate. He was graphic in exactly how he was going to rape his roommate, who was a new hire, and it was obvious that the individual in question was extremely uncomfortable.”

“A senior staff member proceeded to repeatedly call me sexist for not being willing to room with a man I’d never met before. At first, I thought he was kidding, but he continued to make arguments to his point. I explained why I would be more comfortable sharing a room with another woman, and told him I wasn’t enjoying the conversation and would leave if I was continued to be called sexist. The conversation continued, with him eventually saying that my unwillingness to room with a man was the same as not hiring a woman due to her gender.”

“I regularly witnessed lewd comments about women passing by at events, discussing their level of attractiveness, whether someone would sleep with them, and guessing if they were the age of consent.”

“At least three times Riot Dublin employees made inappropriate comments via work email about a female cosplayer’s breasts (one they regularly worked with).”

“Cosplayers have also been called “tr*nnies” and “attention whores” by Riot employees at events.”

“In meetings, I was told that we shouldn’t put cosplayers on stage to play League live, because they are mostly women, and therefore not very good at the game.”

If there was any doubt of the validity of these stories, this tweet from Riot Games themselves washed them away:

UPDATE 3: Katie De Sousa tumblr post

“Not too long after I started at Riot, the topic of sexual harassment came up in a conversation among a few Rioters on the art team, I was there, just listening. They were talking about something that had happened to a woman there, and I had no context for it, but was surprised when one of the guys on the team claimed that “she liked the attention”. The subject was then laughed off. I later found out what actually happened, a female employee received super inappropriate texts from a lead. This group of dudebros laughed it off and made her the villain.”

“I also can’t help but think I would have felt more empowered if I wasn’t told by a male coworker that “Women don’t fit into a male hierarchy.” Maybe I would have been more inclined to strive for greatness if I wasn’t dismissively called a “pretty pretty princess” when my first champion, Jinx, did so well (among a bunch of other thinly veiled jealous verbal barbs). I actually went to a lead to express my frustration over this and he said “Yeah I can see why he’s acting like that, I mean I’m kind of jealous too.” What was that about women speaking up again?”

“Not too long into my career one of my male coworkers might have thought he was giving me a compliment when he decided to tell me about how great some of the guys thought my breasts were. I had made the foolish mistake of going to a Riot pool party, wearing a swimsuit, and swimming. I hope I don’t have to explain how violating that felt, at any rate I learned my lesson, and I never attended another.”

“My days might have been a bit easier to manage if I didn’t have to stifle my rage when a male coworker would explain to me how to make designs for women, and how to be a feminist. Realizing that they believe their opinion as a dude meant more than, I don’t know, my entire lifetime of experience as a woman?”

“Even the Riot Dames email group didn’t feel like a safe space, when we were discussing the lack of female characters in esports promos a senior lead decided to chime in and question whether women deserved to be represented, they haven’t really earned it yet, as pro LoL players were all male. Oh, and on the topic of men thinking women are inherently lesser and must prove otherwise, let’s discuss another gross habit: saying “you’re really good at _______ for a chick.””

UPDATE 4: Barry Hawkins blog post

“The sexual references by straight men directly towards other straight men were a more complicated issue. It would often be homosexual in nature, but could also be sexually aggressive toward your significant other. You might be talking to a leader about conflict with a peer, and they’d respond with “man, you’re acting like he had sex with your wife.” Or they might start a paragraph by saying “Now for instance, if I fucked your wife…” and then segue into what they were actually supposed to be saying. The homosexual variants would be things like “well if he sucked your dick, would you feel better about this?” or “it’s not like I’m asking you to suck my dick, but I’d be OK with it if you did.””

“The next day, one of my former direct reports and her direct report, both of whom I was actively mentoring, asked to speak with me as soon as I could. We met up right away, and they were visibly upset. One of them said to me, “There’s a rape joke in some of the recruiting material, and they’re saying it’s something that Brandon said at the offsite. Is that true? Did he say that?”  I think I took a deep breath, followed by a long sigh. It was a simple question, with a simple answer, but with that answer came grave implications.“Yeah, he did.””

“I will never forget changing planes in San Francisco the following Monday. I pulled out my phone to check email, and found replies to the email I sent Brandon, but not only him. My original email had apparently become a thread with some folks in leadership. I recall it mentioning that hyper-sensitive people who didn’t understand intent were a problem we needed to address at Riot. I closed that email thread, and immediately below it there was a meeting invite titled “Riot Voice and Sense of Humor” set for when everyone returned from the company trip. The invite included the co-founders Marc (my boss) and Brandon, the head of Communications, the head of Legal, and myself.”

“The head of Legal did speak up and asked if we were concerned about legal liability. She was seated to my left, and I was seated on Brandon’s left, where he was at the head of table. Brandon extended his arm past me and held up his hand in front of her and hushed her, saying we were not going to talk about that.”

UPDATE 5: Riot Games Apology Statement: Our First Steps Forward