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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Doctor Who: Perfect 10? How Fandom Forgets the Dark Side of David Tennant’s Doctor

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As recently as September 2020 David Tennant topped a Radio Times poll of favourite Doctors. He beat Tom Baker in a 2006 Doctor Who Magazine poll, and was voted the best TV character of the 21st Century by the readers of Digital Spy. He was the Doctor during one of Doctor Who‘s critical and commercial peaks, bringing in consistently high ratings and a Christmas day audience of 13.31 million for ‘Voyage of the Damned’, and 12.27 million for his final episode, ‘The End of Time – Part Two’. He is the only other Doctor who challenges Tom Baker in terms of associated iconography, even being part of the Christmas idents on BBC One as his final episodes were broadcast. Put simply, the Tenth Doctor is ‘My Doctor’ for a huge swathe of people and David Tennant in a brown coat will be the image they think of when Doctor Who is mentioned.

In articles to accompany these fan polls, Tennant’s Doctor is described as ‘amiable’ in contrast to his predecessor Christopher Eccleston’s dark take on the character. Ten is ‘down-to-earth’, ‘romantic’, ‘sweeter’, ‘more light-hearted’ and the Doctor you’d most want to invite you on board the TARDIS. That’s interesting in some respects, because the Tenth Doctor is very much a Jekyll and Hyde character. He’s handsome, he’s charismatic, and travelling with him can be addictively fun, but he is also casually cruel, harshly dismissive, and lacking in self-awareness. His ego wants feeding, and once fed, can have destructive results.

That tension in the character isn’t due to bad writing or acting. Quite the contrary. Most Doctors have an element of unpleasantness to their behaviour. Ever since the First Doctor kidnapped Ian and Barbara, the character has been moving away from the entitled snob we met him as, but can never escape it completely.

Six and Twelve were both written to be especially abrasive, then soften as time went on (with Colin Baker having to do this through Big Finish audio plays rather than on telly). A significant difference between Twelve and Ten, though, is that Twelve questions himself more. Ten, to the very end, seems to believe his own hype.

The Tenth Doctor’s duality is apparent from his first full appearance in 2005’s ‘The Christmas Invasion’. Having quoted The Lion King and fearlessly ambled through the Sycorax ship in a dressing gown, he seems the picture of bonhomie, that lighter and amiable character shining through. Then he kills their leader. True, it was in self-defence, but it was lethal force that may not have been necessary. Then he immediately topples the British Prime Minister for a not dissimilar act of aggression. Immediately we see the Tenth Doctor’s potential for violence and moral grey areas. He’s still the same man who considered braining someone with a rock in ‘An Unearthly Child’.

Teamed with Rose Tyler, a companion of similar status to Tennant’s Doctor, they blazed their way through time and space with a level of confidence that bordered on entitlement, and a love that manifested itself negatively on the people surrounding them. The most obvious example in Series 2 is ‘Tooth and Claw’, where Russell T. Davies has them react to horror and carnage in the manner of excited tourists who’ve just seen a celebrity. This aloof detachment results in Queen Victoria establishing the Torchwood institute that will eventually split them apart. We see their blinkers on again in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’, when they take Mickey for granted. Rose and the Doctor skip along the dividing line between romance and hubris.

Then, in a Christmassy romp where the Doctor is grieving the loss of Rose, he commits genocide and Donna Noble sucker punches him with ‘I think you need somebody to stop you’. Well-meaning as this statement is, the Doctor treats it as a reason to reduce his next companion to a function rather than a person. Martha Jones is there to stop the Doctor, as far as he’s concerned. She’s a rebound companion. Martha is in love with him, and though he respects her, she’s also something of a prop.

This is the series in which the Doctor becomes human in order to escape the Family of Blood (adapted from a book in which he becomes human in order to understand his companion’s grief, not realising anyone is after him), and is culpable for all the death that follows in his wake. Martha puts up with a position as a servant and with regular racist abuse on her travels with this man, before finally realising at the end of the series that she needs to get out of the relationship. For a rebound companion, Martha withstands a hell of a lot, mostly caused by the Doctor’s failings.

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Series 4 develops the Doctor further, putting the Tenth’s Doctor’s flaws in the foreground more clearly. Donna is now travelling with him, and simply calls him out on his behaviour more than Rose or Martha did. Nonetheless the Doctor ploughs on, and in ‘Midnight’ we see him reduced to desperate and ugly pleas about how clever he is when he’s put in a situation he can’t talk himself out of.

Rose has also become more Doctor-like while trapped in another reality, and brutally tells Donna that she’s going to have to die in order to return to the original timeline (just as the Doctor tells Donna she’s going to have to lose her memories of travelling with him in order to live her previous life, even as she clearly asks him not to – and how long did the Doctor know he would have to do this for? It’s not like he’s surprised when Donna starts glitching). Tied into this is the Doctor’s belief in his own legend. In ‘The Doctor’s Daughter’ he holds a gun to Cobb’s head, then withdraws it and asks that they start a society based on the morals of his actions. You know, like a well-adjusted person does.

What’s interesting here is that despite presenting himself as ‘a man who never would’, the Doctor is a man who absolutely would. We’ve seen him do it. Even the Tenth Doctor, so keen to live up to the absolute moral ideals he espouses, killed the Sycorax leader and the Krillitanes, drove the Cybermen to die of despair, brought the Family of Blood to a quiet village and then disposed of them personally. But Tennant doesn’t play this as a useful lie, he plays it as something the Doctor absolutely believes in that moment, that he is a man who would not kill even as his daughter lies dead. It’s why his picking up a gun in ‘The End of Time’ has such impact. And it makes some sense that the Tenth Doctor would reject violence following a predecessor who regenerated after refusing to commit another double-genocide.

In the series finale ‘Journey’s End‘, Davros accuses the Doctor of turning his friends into weapons. This is because the Doctor’s friends have used weapons against the Daleks who – and I can’t stress this enough – are about to kill everyone in the entire universe. Fighting back against them seems pretty rational. Also – and again I can’t stress this enough – the Daleks are bad. Like, really bad. You won’t believe just how mindbogglingly bad they are. The Doctor has tried to destroy them several times by this point. Here, there isn’t the complication of double-genocide, and instead the very real threat of absolutely everyone in the universe dying. This accusation, that the Doctor turns people into weapons, should absolutely not land.

And yet, with the Tenth Doctor, it does. This is a huge distinction between him and the First Doctor, who had to persuade pacifists to fight for him in ‘The Daleks’.

In ‘The Sontaran Strategem’ Martha compares the Doctor to fire. It’s so blunt it almost seems not worth saying, but it’s the perfect analogy (especially for a show where fire is a huge part of the very first story). Yes, fire shines in dark places, yes it can be a beacon, but despite it being very much fire’s entire deal, people can forget that it burns. And fire has that mythical connection of being stolen from the gods and brought to humanity. The Time Lord Victorious concept fits the Tenth Doctor so well. Of all the Doctors, he’s the most ready to believe in himself as a semi-mythic figure.

Even when regenerating there’s a balance between hero and legend: the Tenth Doctor does ultimately save Wilfred Mott, but only after pointing out passionately how big a sacrifice he’s making. And then he goes to get his reward by meeting all his friends, only to glare at them from a distance. His last words are ‘I don’t want to go’, which works well as clearly being a poignant moment for the actor as well, but in the context of Doctor Who as a whole it renders Ten anomalous: no one else went this unwillingly. And yet, in interviews Russell T. Davies said it was important to end the story with ‘the Doctor as people have loved him: funny, the bright spark, the hero, the enthusiast’.

It’s fascinating then, that this is the Doctor who has been taken to heart by so many viewers because there’s such an extreme contrast between his good-natured front, his stated beliefs, and his actions. He clearly loves Rose and Donna, but leaves them with a compromised version of happiness. They go on extraordinary journeys only to end up somewhere that leaves them less than who they want to be, with Russell T. Davies being more brutally honest than Steven Moffat, who nearly always goes the romance route. Davies once said to Mark Lawson that he liked writing happy endings ‘because in the real world they don’t exist’, but his endings tend towards the bittersweet: Mickey and Martha end up together but this feels like they’re leftovers from the Doctor and Rose’s relationship. The Tenth Doctor doesn’t, as Nine does, go with a smile, but holding back tears.

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It’s a testament to how well written the Tenth Doctor is that the character has this light and shade, and with David Tennant’s immense likeability he can appeal to a wider audience as a result. It’s not surprise he wins all these polls, but I can’t help but feel that if the Doctor arrived and invited me on board the TARDIS, I’d want it to be anyone but Ten.

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diegos-butt · 4 years ago

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Electricity chapter 4

Summary: For the first time in her life, Melody Williams is moving out of her hometown to Minnesota where she got a job as a crime journalist for the Minnesota Daily. But this city does not only have a new job for her to offer. What will happen when she crosses paths with detective Walter Marshall? Heads up, a little electricity is involved ✨

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (Curvy OFC)

Warnings: mention of murder, a bit of fighting

Wordcount: 3.9k

A/N: don’t do anything reckless y’all. Let me know what you think of this chapter. 😘

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

•••

Somehow the universe was on my side for once. Once I got home, I noticed I had a new text message. I was surprised to see that it was from Walter. He asked if I got home safe. What a gentleman.

I figured he just wanted to make sure I got home safe, I didn’t think too much of it. If anything, I didn’t think we would end up texting each other for three days in a row. Did I wish that would happen? Yes. Did I actually believe it could happen? Definitely no. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe it.

“Have you been texting with him again last night?” Gia asked when she saw me yawn and stretch my arms out above me. We were having a slow morning at work, and this was the third time she showed up at my desk.

“Maybe,” I smirked. Even though it started a little awkward, we were still texting. After I had texted him back that I got home safe, and he send a thumbs up emoji, it was silent for a moment. I had thought about what I could possibly text him next. I grabbed my phone to compose a text when a new message already popped up.

Walter: Still sure you want to live here?

A smile had formed on my face. He thinks he is funny huh. I was wondering what I could text back, and I thought to myself: what would I tell my friends to text back in a situation like this? Normally, I would never listen to my own flirting advice, but at that moment, I did.

Melody: Might stick around. Heard the detectives in town are quite something.

Since then, we had been texting constantly. Alright, maybe not constantly, we were both busy during the day, but we spend a good amount of the late evening texting. We got to know each other a little better. I told him about my family, and I shared a few awkward stories. For example, I told him about the time I was too stubborn to put on sunscreen during the summer, and I got sunburned to bad, I would never forget to apply it ever again. I still apply it every day, even in the winter.

In return he told me all about the shenanigans he pulled as a kid, and that he had a kid himself, Faye. At first, I was a little bit surprised, but then I figured we would have a babysitter once we would get children. Mel, get it together. You are not even dating him, you don’t even know if he likes you and you are already thinking about having children with him?! Our kids would look damn cute though..

“Earth to Mel! Stop daydreaming for once, and get some work done.” Carmen laughed and threw a pen at me, which I skilfully dodged, but it did wake me up from my little daydream.

“There is nothing to do! No development in the murder case and that’s all I am covering right now,” I said and spun around in my chair. “I am so bored right now, I don’t even know what to do.”

“Text your man, see if he has any new information?” Gia suggested.

“Hmm, he avoided talking about the case. Maybe they are having trouble getting a match with the murderer on that dating app.” I had told them about what happened the other day at the police station. I might have a hearing problem now because they had screamed so loud, I’m convinced the entire building heard them. It’s safe to say, they were very excited and convinced he liked me.

“Besides, he’s not my man!” I said while throwing the pen I picked up back at Carmen. “I mean, I wish, but he is so out of my league.”

“No one is out of your league, and I swear he’s into you. I saw the way he looked at you at the bar and at the crime scene. I have an eye for these things, trust me,” Carmen said and dodged the pen as well.

“Whatever,” I sighed. I spun around in my chair a few more times before an idea popped up in my head. “Guys, what if we set up an account on that dating app?”

“And then what? Meet with a creep? No thank you,” Gia said with a disgusting look on her face.

“I’m not a fan of that plan either. Please don’t do something like that Mel. Don’t do anything stupid. That could be very dangerous, and you know it,” Carmen agreed.

“It’s not like I’m actually going to meet him. I just want to see if I can figure out what profile he is using this time.” I stood up and looked out of the window. I oversaw the city, the sky was grey, and it was slightly raining. “Alright, fine. Can one of you give me something to do in that case? Otherwise I will make a dating profile.”

Later that day I laid in bed, trying to sleep. It was 1am and I had been trying to sleep for two hours, but I was still wide awake. I felt restless and didn’t know what I could do to fall asleep. I had tried to drink some tea, didn’t help. I watched an episode of The Office, didn’t help either. It also didn’t help Walter hadn’t texted me back for hours now. I wondered if he was already getting tired of me.

You know, I could, maybe, possible, just make an account on that dating app and swipe for a while. Maybe I would come across someone that matches the profile that the murderer would use. Gia and Carmen will probably kill me though.

I grabbed my phone. I hesitated for a second, but I downloaded the dating app. After I made an account and uploaded some cute selfies, I finally got to do some swiping. The most guys that came up were pretty basic. They didn’t spike my interest at all. They were the typical white boy, all with the same haircut and they looked like they did not only skip legday, also arm- and chestday. Half of them also posed proudly with a fish they had caught. As if that’s something girls like. Too bad none of these men look a little like Walter.

I also came across a few good looking, decent guys. I knew that was not what the police were looking for, so I swiped them to the left. The next profile was of a guy who was way too good looking. He also only had one picture. It was obviously that this picture was stolen from a model. The bio creeped me out a little. He said he liked to hike in nature, and he enjoyed the silence. You enjoy the silence? Are you trying to creep me out on purpose or what? I swiped him to the right. It was weird but I felt like this could be the one the police were looking for.

I swiped for a little while longer. Swiping a few sketchy looking profiles to the right until I felt my eyelids drop. Yawning, I put my phone aside and finally fell asleep.

The next morning my alarm woke me up. I stretched out after I turned the alarm off and grabbed my phone. There were a few messages, one of them was from Walter, but what spiked my interest was that I had a few matches on the dating app. I wanted to check it out, but I noticed I had to get out of bed and take a shower if I wanted to be at work on time.

After I had showered and got dressed, I grabbed my phone. The first message I opened was from Walter. He had texted me at 3am.

Walter: We were working late today, no breakthrough in the case. Missed texting with you, can I make it up by calling you tonight?

My heart skipped a few beats. He wanted to call? With me?! I stared at the message for a few seconds while I felt some butterflies flying around in my stomach. Okay, no need to freak out. He just wants to call, he is not proposing. Yet….

Melody: I missed texting with you too. And of course, you can call me tonight. I look forward to it.

Before I could overanalyse my response, I hit send. Take a deep breath Mel. No need to read into this too much. I checked my other messages and texted my mom and Gia back. My mom wanted to know how I was doing, and Gia needed an approval of her outfit of the day.

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed some milk and cereal. While I was eating my breakfast, I noticed the notifications from the dating app. There were a few new matches, and one of them had send a message. It was from the guy with the creepy profile. His name was John. Millions of people are named John, you could’ve at least been a bit more creative while choosing a name.

John: What do you say good looking? Let’s skip the talking stage and just meet up?

I shivered at the thought of meeting up with this guy, but he could be the one they’re looking for, right? I decided to just go to work and deal with it later.

The workday was slow and boring. I finished a few articles but spend most of my time gossiping with Gia about our favourite celebrities which annoyed Carmen at first, because she wanted to get some work done, but eventually she joined us. I also told them about Walter’s text from that morning. If I weren’t sure I already had a hearing problem from their screams before, I sure as hell would have one now. Those girls made sounds so high, I’m surprised the windows didn’t crack.

The rest day went by slow, and before I knew it the clock showed me it was 3pm. I had decided to not tell Gia and Carmen about the fact I downloaded the dating app and was considering meeting with ‘John’. I mean, I would inform Walter about it. I wasn’t a complete idiot. No need to stress those girls out. Why would I?

My phone buzzed and I picked it up. Another message from ‘John’.

John: What’s it going to be beautiful?

I thought about it, and what could go wrong? I would inform the police, aka Walter. Besides that, I can put up a fight. It’s not like I am a damsel in distress. Plus, the upside of being a little bigger; I’m harder to kidnap, you got to be pretty strong to even lift me up. I shrugged my shoulders and texted him back.

Melody: Sure.

Short, but clear. I looked around the office, Gia and Carmen both sat at their desks typing on their computers. They had no idea what I was doing. They would probably kill me, right here right now. Before I could change my mind about not telling them, my phone buzzed again.

John: Tonight, 7pm? A new bar just opened up, we could get a drink there.

The rest of the message contained the address of the place. I googled it before I answered. The website of the place popped up, and as I suspected, it was clearly a fake website. Bingo. I texted him back, saying I agreed with his plan.

The rest of the hours I had to spend at the office went by surprisingly quick. Soon people were starting to leave, and so were Gia, Carmen and me. We parted ways in the entrance hall, and I drove home. Once I was home, I looked in the fridge, and I came to the conclusion I had forgotten to do groceries. Again.

I wasn’t in the mood to order take out, so I quickly drove to the supermarket. Unfortunately, unlike last time, I didn’t ran into Walter. Shit, I still have to text him about my meeting with ‘John’. I’ll do it once I get back home.

I drove back home and started making dinner. After I ate dinner, and did the dishes, I looked at the clock. It was already 6.30pm and I had to leave soon. Glaring down at my outfit, I decided I wanted to wear something more comfortable. I went to my bedroom and stood in front of my closet. I grabbed an old pair of jeans and a simple long-sleeved black tee. No way I’m going to dress pretty for this guy. Wait, what if he actually is the guy from the picture? Nah, not gonna happen. Shit, I still need to text Walter.

I needed to hurry up and put the tee on. While putting on the jeans, I suddenly heard a sound I didn’t like to hear. I look down and saw the jeans have ripped in the area between my thighs. Thick thighs save lives? They sure as hell don’t save jeans. I thought while throwing them across the room. Quickly I grabbed another, old, pair of jeans and put it on. I put my shoes on and fixed my hair.

I ran into the living room again and grabbed my jacket. With my car keys and phone in one hand, I locked the door behind me with the other one and made my way to my car. 6.45pm, right on time. I started the car and drove off.

While I stood in front of a red light, I remembered I hadn’t texted Walter. Shit. Contemplating what to do, I decided to call him. He didn’t answer. Shit. I left a voicemail instead. The red light turned green and I continued driving. Once I had to stop in front of another red light, I decided to text him as well. I noticed how the streets around me became emptier and emptier.

The street where I was supposed to meet ‘John’ was dark and pretty empty. The sun was settling down, making it even darker. I parked my car at a parking lot and checked my phone. No response from Walter. Not yet at least. I was alone in the parking lot and decided to wait for a few minutes.

Alright, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe this was pretty dumb. And why did I forgot to text Walter. Why couldn’t I have done that sooner?! You know what, I’m just gonna go. This was dumb. And reckless.

But before I could start my car, someone opened my door. A man stood there, he was tall but not very muscular and he did not look like the profile picture at all. He looked at me with a creepy grin that made me regret doing this.

“Hello there, nice to meet you. I’m John and you must be Melody. Why don’t you step out of the car?” he said. I didn’t knew what to say, so I nodded and wanted to step out, but he spoke again. “Why don’t you leave that phone of yours here, we don’t need it do we?”

I knew I had to play by his rules. So, I left my phone and stepped out. He took the keys out of my hands and locked my car. I tried to keep thinking straight. Walter should be here soon, right?

John kept talking to me in the meanwhile. He kept telling me how pretty I was and how glad he was to meet with me. I stopped listening when I heard my phone go off in the car. Walter. If that is not him but my mom, I will do something to her.

“Come on, let’s get away from that car, shall we? The bar is right around the corner,” he spoke. We were the only people in the parking lot. I noticed he had parked his car a few feet away from me. Something was definitely not right.

“You know, I’m actually good here. Could you give me my car keys back though?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t, but I had to stall. I really hoped the police would show up anytime now.

“Ah please? Just one drink?” He took a step closer to me and grabbed my wrist. I quickly twisted my wrist, releasing it from his grip. He looked at me with an unpleased look, and I suddenly felt a presence behind me. Never sneak up on me you dumbass. I thought as I felt the presence got closer.

Once I felt someone was right behind me, I didn’t waste another second. I took a step to the right and shoved my elbow straight into the guy’s nose with full force. He grunted in pain and when I looked behind me, I saw he grabbed his bloody nose with both his hands.

“Creepy Greg from finance?!” I say surprised. “Could have seen that one coming.”

“You bitch!” the guy in front of me yelled. He raised his fist and threw it at my face. Well, he attempted it. I dodged it and slammed my fist into his face instead.

“Sorry, that might leave a mark,” I smiled.

Creepy Greg from finance was still standing behind me, crying, and telling me I broke his nose and that I would pay for it. Make me.

I looked back at the other guy, and he swung his arms at me again, trying to hit me. I ducked to the side a few times, avoiding being hit. Sadly, I couldn’t escape all his attempts to hit me. His fist met the left side of my face. I felt my blood boiling from anger. I took a deep breath and raised my fists. While I was about to throw a punch, I heard loud noises. Cars. Thank God, they’re here.

Before I could comprehend what was going on, policemen were already running towards us. One tackled creepy Greg and a familiar figure tackled the other guy and threw a hard punch in his face. This is not supposed to turn me on. At all.

Walter got up and handed the guy over to another cop. The guy looked at me in disgust, but I didn’t see it. My eyes were focussed on Walter. He closed the gap between us by taking two passes.

“First of all, that was insanely stupid and dangerous and very dumb. This was reckless behaviour! But we will discuss this later,” he said vigorously.

“Yeah, I figured,” I said. I opened my mouth to continue speaking, but he spoke first.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he said with a concerned look in his blue eyes, and his hand caressed the cheek that had been hit. As his rough, calloused fingers touched my skin I felt a spark of electricity going down my spine. His other hand found its way to my waist, and he pulled me a little closer to him. His body radiated a welcoming warmth, and I smelled his familiar musky cologne.

“I’m fine, just got hit once. You should see creepy Greg’s nose,” I snickered.

“I did, and you sure know how to throw a punch,” he smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad you called and texted me. I’m sorry I missed the call. If I hadn’t missed it none of this would have happened.”

“No, don’t be sorry. This was a pretty stupid, reckless plan and I should have called sooner,” I quickly answered.

“It was indeed reckless and stupid,” he sighed. “Look, we need to take your statement. Why don’t I take you home after?”

“I’d like that, but my car is here,” I said while pointing at it. His hand left my cheek, but his other hand remained on my waist. He was so close to me, and I felt so comfortable despite what happened a few minutes prior.

“We’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He grabbed my hand, interlaced his fingers with mine and guided me to one of his colleagues. My heart was racing and skipped a few beats at the same time. His hand felt warm and comforting. I never wanted to let go.

We reached his colleague and he started asking me questions and he squeezed my hand before letting go. He walked away to speak to some of his other colleagues and I immediately missed his hand, it felt like mine had fitted perfectly in his.

I told his colleague what happened, and I could see he thought it was really reckless, but I also saw in his eyes he was kind of impressed. He complimented me on how I stayed calm, but he did tell me to never do anything like this again.

Once he dismissed me, I looked around for Walter. I noticed him already walking towards me, and he offered me a little smile.

“So, Liam is going to take your car down to the station and I will drive you home, alright?”

“Thank you,” I smiled at him. “Can I get something from my car? My phone and keys are still in there.”

After we got my stuff out of the car, he pointed at a big truck. We walked towards it in silence, and he placed his hand on my lower back. Oh god, please keep that hand there forever. Okay, I might be incredibly touch starved.

Unfortunately, we reached the car too soon and his hand left my back to open the door for me. I climbed in and he closed it. He walked around the truck, took place behind the drivers’ wheel, and started the car. While he drove into the street he asked for my address.

We sat in silence next to each other, the radio softly hummed a rock song. I looked out of the window, it was dark and suddenly I realized that what I had done tonight, could have ended badly. Really badly.

“Hey, are you okay?” Walter put his hand on my thigh but when I looked at him, his hand shot up to my cheek to wipe a falling tear away.

“Yeah, yeah. Just realizing that this maybe wasn’t a smart thing to do,” I offered him a small smile. His hand left my cheek and found its way back to my thigh. The warmth coming from it spread throughout my entire body and I didn’t think twice and placed my hand on top of his. He turned his hand around and interlaced his fingers with mine for the second time that night.

He smiled at me and focussed on the road again. We were near my home, but I did not want to be alone now. Heck, I wanted to be near him. I didn’t want him to go. It felt so good to just be around him. I have never felt so comfortable around someone so quickly.

He parked the truck in front of my apartment building, not letting go of my hand.

“So, we’re here,” I mumbled. He grunted in response. We sat in the truck in silence for a few more minutes until it started to rain. I knew it was now or never, he was not going to offer going inside with me. Not after what happened. Perhaps he thought I wanted to be alone.

I felt anxious, but I decided to just ask it.

“Could you stay with me for a while?” I avoided looking at him, but he squeezed my hand and his other hand gently grabbed my chin, making me look into his eyes.

“Sure thing doll.”

•••

> chapter five

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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OPINION: The Lessons I Learned from Renge that Changed My Life

Non Non Biyori, now on its third season, is a joy for many reasons — its celebration of simple rural life, its down-to-earth depiction of childhood, and its quiet but undeniable sense of humor, just to name a few. But among all of its strengths, one factor has far and away stolen the spotlight time and time again, and that is the adorable youngest member of the cast, Renge. Despite having no established main character — each skit usually focuses on the perspective of just one or two members of its ensemble cast — Renge frequently ends up being the most interesting character involved in any situation. Partly because her naivete puts her in silly situations, but largely because her curiosity and open-mindedness allow us to see things from new perspectives, which can be just as insightful as they are funny.

While that childhood innocence expresses itself in things we take for granted, we shouldn't miss out on Non Non Biyori's greatest message — even if we’re older, we should all be a little more like Renge.

Where the other children are of the age where they think they have things figured out, feigning maturity to impress the others as children do, Renge isn't at all embarrassed to admit she doesn't know something. Seriously, turn on any random episode of Non Non Biyori and skip to a part that has Renge in it, the girl never stops asking questions. Do they live in the sticks? How does multiplication work? Is anything truly round? No thought is too simple or too abstract for Renge, and her curiosity pays off for her — while the older kids and adults in her life fumble trying to pretend they have all the answers, Renge's acceptance of her own ignorance just makes her smarter every day.

I've found it empowering to embody Renge's inquisitive nature because despite being four times her age and living in a world that expects me to have it all "figured out," the truth is I'm pretty dumb and there's way too much I just don't know. That means when I get curious about a subject, I try to educate myself about it as much as possible — recently that meant a binge of podcasts about old-timey pirates, but it can be as small as looking up a word when I'm not 100 percent sure I know what it means or double-checking a fact I'm pretty sure I know but might be misremembering. I also try to always have a long-term learning goal going at any given time, whether that be a language, some kind of math concept, or even just research on the production of a show I really liked. The point is to keep challenging myself — when you're always learning something new, it reminds you that you don't in fact have it all figured out, and never really will, but as Renge shows us, that's a good thing.

Another great thing about Renge is that, despite being only in first grade, she is already quite the artist. Renge tries to capture the new things she finds in the world by drawing them for herself. When the gang lands a trip to Okinawa, everyone plans things they want to do, and the top of Renge's list isn't just to see the sights. No, she goes a step further — she wants to draw the things she anticipates the most, including dolphins, despite being told how unlikely it is she'll get to see them for herself. She gets good at it, too! Some might chalk that up to the animators drawing pictures for a 7-year-old, but when you think about it, it only makes sense that she would improve with so much practice.

Now, despite fleeting aspirations to become a manga artist in middle school, I'm no van Gogh myself. That doesn't mean I can't imitate Renge's hunger for self-expression, though — in fact, I'm doing that right now, by thinking and writing about a show I love. The medium may be different, but the gains are the same — when Renge draws her surroundings, she is truly taking in the things that interest her, understanding them on a new level by trying to replicate them. Writing about my favorite shows inherently asks me to engage with them beyond the simple act of consuming them, and by doing that I learn more about the anime itself, what it is trying to say about the world, and even myself by figuring out what makes me connect with it. Writing isn't the only way to do that, of course — the same thing is accomplished through fanart, cosplay, fan fiction, or any other creative endeavor that requires you to put a little bit of yourself into the mix. The important part is that you're engaging with the stuff you find interesting because doing that not only helps you understand the world better but also yourself — and you might pick up a surprising skill or two along the way. Renge sure has, and she just started elementary school!

The last thing Renge does is probably the most simple one because it's something you can do basically all the time — play, or to be more specific, improvise. Play is good for kids because it gives them an outlet to interact socially, develop problem-solving skills, and stretch their creative muscles. That last part is the one I'm focusing on here — when Renge and the other kids are bored, they often make up scenarios and roles to embody for themselves or play nonsensical games with each other. My favorite example of this is in Non Non Biyori Repeat Episode 2, where the gang teaches Hotaru how to play "knock-down-the-ruler" — a seemingly simple game where you use a pen and a ruler to knock someone else's ruler off the table — and go on to accidentally confuse her by making up rules and special moves as they go along. That's just one example, of course, as Non Non Biyori is filled with examples of the kids, but especially Renge, starting with simple premises and adding or subtracting from them as they see fit.

We're not all kids putting buckets on our heads to pretend we're superheroes, but that doesn't mean we can't embody the spirit of that boundless childhood imagination in our everyday lives; I try to make mundane situations into forms of play themselves. When I walk to and from work, I make it a point to mix things up sometimes, taking longer or more unusual routes for my commute to change up the scenery. If I've been making the same thing for breakfast for too long, I try to mix up the ingredients a little without looking anything up ahead of time — just going with the flow based on what I have in front of me and what I think might taste good. When playing a video game I've already played a million times before, it keeps me on my toes to make up restrictions for myself or to set goals that force me to go out of my way and do things differently than I normally do. And just like for kids, changing things up from time to time keeps my imagination active, not only letting me enjoy the little things in life more but ensuring my brain is always working so when a more serious problem arises and changes life up for me, I'm well-equipped to figure out how to improvise through unfamiliar situations because I do it all the time.

Renge may be young, but the way she navigates life is not only smart but easily imitable. The next time you're watching Non Non Biyori, when Renge does something funny, ask yourself: What is she learning from acting that way? What is she gaining by challenging her boundaries and preconceptions? Often, the answer is that she is learning and growing, and though you might not be a first-grader in the Japanese countryside, you might find it rewarding to be a little more like Renge yourself.

What's your favorite hilarious Renge moment? Let us know in the comments below!

David Lynn can be found obsessing over Fate/Grand Order on Twitter @navycherub.

By: David Lynn

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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niamhuncensored · 4 years ago

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I think one of the coolest things about atla is that there’s almost no such thing as a filler episode

you could make an argument for The Great Divide, but for the most part, even otherwise inconsequential episodes make big waves in the series. This becomes even more clear when trying to extrapolate what future The Last Airbender movies might have been.

For the purposes of the post, let’s assume that if an episode was/would be skipped, anything it established does not exist in the movieverse.

Like the movie skipped over The Warriors of Kyoshi, which itself only appears in two episodes, but it introduces Suki. Without her, no one is going to save Sokka and Toph in the finale*. two children die because the writers skipped a “filler” episode. Not that it matters, which i’ll get to later. things pertaining to this fact will be marked with an asterisk so you don’t forget it.

The King of Omashu is also skipped over, so king Bumi doesn’t exist. Who is going to tell Aang that his master will be someone who “waits and listens?” Without someone saying that, why would he fly into the swamp (assuming that episode isn’t skipped)? if he doesn’t go to the swamp, how would he identify his earth bending teacher at all? We’re also down 1 member of the White Lotus

Imprisoned is technically there, but it was fumbled so much it may as well not be. Katara loses her characterization as a person who stands for the oppressed, and since Haru’s equivalent is like 5, they don’t have him to help with the Invasion*. They most likely wouldn’t have Tyro, either.

They skip over The Winter Solstice, though you could also argue these aren’t fillers. ultimately, they reworked the issue by having Zhao mention the comet and Aang reach the spirit world in the finale, with the only remaining problem being that there’s no time crunch since the comet is coming in 4 years, not 1.

They skip over Jet, meaning that Pipsqueak and The Duke don’t exist for the Invasion*, nor do they have anyone to help Zuko on his path to redemption on the way to Ba Sing Se, or to lead the Gaang to Lake Laogai, or to compare Katara to when she goes out for revenge*.

They skip The Great Divide and The Fortune-Teller. Thank God.

The Blue Spirit is there, but the one truly important moment where Aang asks Zuko if they might have been friends isn’t, meaning he can’t bring it up when he joins them*.

They skip Bato of the Water Tribe, which means June and the Shirshu are out, and they can’t find Iroh*.

*They also skip over The Deserter, which is were all the asterisks come into play. you may have noticed i marked all the points that happen in season 3, and it’s because of this episode. It’s the first time that Katara heals an injury. It doesn’t even come up again in the movie finale.

Without her healing abilities, Aang stays dead at the end of book 2. the movies just...end on that. It also strikes out another White Lotus member.

Even if they Deus Ex Machina their way out of that, they still skip The Northern Air Temple. Which means Teo and the Mechanist don’t exist either. Which means that the subs, war balloons, and tanks don’t exist for the invasion either.

Most of these episodes are otherwise isolated from the story, but there’s no such thing as filler in atla. It’s also why the series is doomed as a movie. you have an impossible balancing act of making sure things that need to be set up are being set up vs making sure the movie isn’t too long vs making sure the movie isn’t too saturated with details vs making sure that the movie makes sense.

TL;DR: The Last Airbender was a fuck-up on every imaginable level, and should never have existed in the first place. The heavy focus on plot comes not only at the expense of character building, but also at the expense of further plot.

Season/movie 2 speculation under the cut

the more i think about it, the more i realize that most of season 2 would also be impossible, given how much of season 1 was skipped. The Avatar State would likely be skipped, meaning Katara never gets the Spirit Water in the first place. No Bumi or Omashu in season 1 means that the Gaang has no reason to go to Omashu in season 2, meaning Ty Lee and Mai don’t exist and can’t be antagonists in The Chase or The Drill, and wouldn’t be able to help with the coup of Ba Sing Se.

The Swamp might be either skipped or minimized, meaning that the Swamp Tribe, if they’re there at all, would be unlikely to join in the invasion, which at this point, is just the 4 of them.

Avatar Day is also likely to be skipped, but aside from some thematic elements of “Avatars aren’t all joy, peace, and love” (not that Movie!Aang was particularly joyous or loving) it’s not all that important for setups.

Zuko Alone would probably be skipped. You could argue that The Serpent’s Pass can’t happen at that point, because the pregnant couple makes a cameo, but i’d hardly call two shots an introduction. it’d be a damn shame, either way.

Bitter Work would likely be minimized to cut out Aang constantly failing, so we miss out on the thematic elements of the episode and on Toph’s characterization.

I’m not sure if Appa would be lost in the movie, because losing him puts several plot pieces in place - the Gaang getting to Ba Sing Se at the right time to see the drill, being somewhat helpless against the Dai Li, looking for him leading to knowledge of the conspiracy in the first place, Appa going to the Eastern Air Temple leading Aang to Guru Pathik, Zuko freeing him furthering his redemption and later being used to argue for him to join the Gaang - but the emotion of the arc would be undercut by the fact that 7 episodes would be watered down to at most 30 minutes of runtime.

Whether Appa is stolen or not in the movie, they still would likely skip Tales of Ba Sing Se, which is a war crime, actually.

Even if that episode didn’t have any plot reveals, leaving it would be a symptom of the movies being too plot focused and not at all character focused. This resulted in every character in the first movie feeling utterly bland and more-or-less the same.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #the last airbender #m night shyamalan #rant #long post #please read i worked so damn hard on this

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ecofinisher · 5 years ago

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Miraculous and Monster Buster Club comparision.

Just to be clear, I’m not comparing the show on what show is better and what not. I’m comparing the similarities between the two shows. I’ve came across a few Miraculers, that were also fans of the Monster Buster Club cartoon claiming that MBC (Monster Buster Club) had a few similarities to MLB (Miraculous Ladybug) due to the animation and the adventure. I had thought about it, since I belonged before to the MBC fandom too. (And still do, except the fandom is probably dead now)

So where do I start? Well just to summarize the shows for those who don’t know one/both of them:

[From left to right: Cathy Smith, Sam(antha), Chris(stopher) and Daniel (Danny) Jackson]

Monster Buster Club came out around 2008 and is a French-Canadian computer-animated TV show, which focused on a group of pre-teens (12-year-old) consisting of three human children and one so-called Rhapsodian (Fictional Alien species) whose also the protagonist of the show called Cathy Smith. Together with the three human teens named Chris, Danny and Samantha, they revive the old secret society named “Monster Buster Club” to fight together and protect their town from aliens, that invade it. Special about their town is, that 200 years ago it was founded by a man named Addison Single, who unbeknownst to the citizens was an alien in disguise and got defeat in the past by the former MBC. Also in this city, Cathy isn’t the only alien to be living there in disguise, but many other aliens are present.

[Left to right Tikki (A magical being called a “kwami”, that helps the person transform into a superhero), Marinette Dupain-Cheng, her alter ego Ladybug, Cat Noir, his civilian identity Adrien Agreste and his kwami Plagg]

Miraculous Ladybug is a French animated TV show, that debuted in 2015 and is set in the modern metropole Paris and is focused on the lives of the clumsy Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the famous teeny-model Adrien Agreste. Both wield a special magical jewelry, which is called a “Miraculous” which they use to transform into the superheroes “Ladybug and Cat Noir” The two don’t know each other’s identity, but funnily Adrien has a huge crush on Ladybug and in the civilian life he sees her as just a friend, while Marinette is obsessed with Adrien and sees Cat Noir only as his trustful crime-fight partner. Both students are around 14 years old in the show.

As superheroes they fight villains, that were akumatized by Hawk Moth. (He owns the butterfly miraculous, with which he can create supervillains by sending an akuma (Butterfly jinxed by Hawk Moth’s magic) and Hawk Moth’s miraculous sends people’s negative feelings such as anger, sadness and dissapointment and uses his akumas to follow them and akumatize them and they’re transformed by Hawk Moth into a specific-themed supervillain.

Now about the comparisons....Miraculous and Monster Buster Club have many things in common when it comes to the animation, the characters or other things and I wanted to list them down.

1: Logo shortcut.

The Unofficial Logo

The official Logo

Both the shows have a long name and they’re usually abbreviated by the fans or the writers by three letters, this case Miraculous LadyBug is shortened to MLB and Monster Buster Club into MBC. The minor difference here is that Monster Buster Club also used the shortcut on their logo, while Miraculous only kept the title.

2: Logo Switching up between scenes.

Both shows, when they skip to another part of the episode, both have the symbol appear on a background animated for 2-3 seconds, then disappear. MBC has the full title of the show, instead of the round symbol, which is the team’s recognition sign.

3: Transformation sequences

Both of the shows our main characters have a transformation sequence, where they turn from their civilian self into the secret identity. While Ladybug and Cat Noir look in their tight suits a little different than from their alter egos they can’t be recognized by their friends or citizens. Unlike the MBC they are also a bit covered, but if any of the classmates see them fighting around, they can recognize them without any problem. (I can’t recall at the moment the episode, but it was as Danny had tried to save his crush Wendy and failed, shortly afterward she had got angry at him as she recognized him immediately)

Monster Buster Club (Group transformation sequence) (French)

The show most of the times used the whole group to transform together, occasionally, they also have shown a single transformation sequence or two characters only)

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Miraculous transformation sequence (Adrien Agreste’s into Cat Noir) (French)

All the characters have single transformations and have the same specific transformation phrase (Plagg, Tranforme-moi) to say before they transform. The English dub is so far the only dub, where the superheroes have different phrases exp. Cat Noir’s is “Plagg, Claws Out!). Most of the phrases are based after their miraculous theme (Exp. Ladybug, Bee, Snake, etc)

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4: Villains of the week trope

Each of the episode the main heroes fight a different villain, who mostly appear for one episode.

On Miraculous, most of them are just classmates, citizens or acquaintances of the protagonists that get akumatized by Hawk Moth, when they have a negative feeling and are fought by Ladybug and Cat Noir. In the end, the villain turns back into his civilian-self, most of the time they don’t remember, what had happened during the time they were absent.

[Akumatized villains counting from left to right, going from up to the bottom: Oni-chan, Reflekta, Horrificator, Miraculer, Party Crasher, Silencer, Weredad, Christmaster, Stoneheart, The Bubbler, Befana and Captain Hardrock]

At Monster Buster Club it usually starts with the presence of unknown people around the school or anywhere in the city or strange things happen around them and the group units together to find out, what’s going on and later near the end they figure it out and follow that alien to capture it in the end. Difference from the MBC, most of the extraterrestrials don’t change in the end of the episode and remain locked into a separate room in the secret clubhouse, where at some point one of the members (Mostly Chris) is there in the room inserting it into a special device to send the encapsulated ET away to the galactic authorities, that take care of them. Others get redeemed at the end of the show and get back to their home planet or stay on the earth, where they belong.

The aliens from left to right, up to bottom: Gilbert (Good), Jenny’s grandmother (Encapsulated), Mr. Gluten (Encapsulated), Glor Glenemore (Encapsulated), Zeborp (Good), Nosidda Single (Encapsulated), Doudo Hundletorph (Good), Mr. Bigshnell (Encapsulated)

5: Animated Intro

Both of the intros have the protagonists Cathy and Marinette narrate to us about “their world”, followed by their usual day-routine with school, fighting and afterschool.

Fun fact: Noam Kaniel worked on both of the intros. (Probably explains why I enjoy these two intros so much)

The intro of Monster Buster Club (English)

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The Intro of Miraculous (English)

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6: Cute, Cartoony 2D/3D backgrounds.

Wanna know, why I had last year suddenly had the urge to go back to the Monster Buster Club? It was those background images such as the pink bubbles behind a character, who’s in love. I had just bumped into my mind the show that I had seen that behind Danny from Monster Buster Club as he saw his crush, Wendy. When I went to check out again the episodes from the available ones on Youtube I saw also other types of backgrounds, that I had also seen in Miraculous too.

Here we got pinky bubble background behind Cathy

And here we got Adrien with a full-on bubble background.

Some also are transparent like this one here.

Paper sheet backgrounds:

Danny’s smart idea in trying to make money and his mind shown on the background as a notebook sheet.

Chloé, one of the secondary characters and her mind shown on the background also with a type of notebook sheet her childhood.

This are the ones, who are the most similar ones. Both have other ones, but a little different, but used for the same occasion.

Other backgrounds:

Weapon activation (Monster Buster Club)

Power activation (Miraculous)

Minor parts of a specific fight:

Running towards an Alien.

Dodging Hawk Moth’s punch

And a few more from both shows

Sorry boy, but she’s not your type.

Wanna make your character look like she can run fast? Just add smoke like on the roadrunner!

Your portable console getting stolen, while you’re trying to beat the high score, sure was the worst thing to happen to a 12-year old back in the 08′.

Marinette just found out that Hiro Hamada of Zag Heroes wrote a fanfic of her alter ego having a crush on a friend of hers. (The real plot twist: It’s a self-insert fanfic, where he’s Ladybug and not the real Ladybug *le gasp*)

You know what I miss about the time season 2 trailer got spoilered? That they had Marinette had this imagination of herself with Adrien as Hawk Moth posing similar to a Twilight Poster. Those were good times.

She had her life full planned, even had names for her kids and all, while people like me are living their life, not knowing what the hell is going to happen next week.

I don’t know, but this picture is hilarious :D (And for non-Miraculers, that small animal up there is an akuma)

I never got why they fence with one glove only. is this some Michael Jackson reference or something?

Yep, this is how weird Marinette’s imagination gets during the seasons. (Believe it or not, if they were in a relationship Kagami would definitely wear the pants there!)

7: Sorry if the last one turned a little long, but now the next part is inside both of the shows, the similar tropes the show shares. Well, many other shows have it too of course, but I felt the need to point it out. (Since I’m doing this post)

7.1: Male Protagonist is a jokester (Cat Noir and Danny) If it’s the right situation or not. They have always to crack a joke.

7.2 Tagalong kid - (John, Chris’ younger brother, Manon, Child Marinette babysits, Chris Lahiffe, the younger brother of Nino Lahiffe, Adrien’s best friend) - The three are from their personality different, but they have one or two moments, where they seem really annoying to the protagonist.

7.3 Alpha B’s. (Chloé and Wendy) - Both don’t treat the main characters right (Chloé almost everyone besides Adrien and Wendy is most likely alright with the classmates), both are girly girls, they gossip and use specific people for their own benefits. (Chloé using Sabrina and Wendy using Danny)

7.4 Wise old man (Hugo Smith, Cathy’s Grandpa and Master Wang Fu, the guardian of the miraculouses) - It’s quite funny how similar they look like, even the red shirt, their body size and nearly their hairstyle. About the wisdom, both help out the protagonists and are serious about harm.

7.5 Deep down still a child (Principal Rollins and Principal Damocles) - For the most of the students Principal Rollins seems like a very strict person, that came from the military service as she calls the students soldiers and uses words such as Company Halt, but she has been shown off-guard playing with a toy rhino panzer and a convoy in her office at the school. Principal Damocles, seems also like a strict Principal, that likes when students act correctly and warns them when they acted wrong (Such as not knocking on the door, before entering). After school, when all students are gone, he dresses up as an owl-themed superhero and acts as a superhero and tries to help out in the city, mostly ending in a catastrophy.

7.6 Nameless Background characters, that the fandom finds interesting. (Redheaded girl from MBC and Brunette boy a.k.a Just Anextra/Justin Extra from Miraculous) - The girl has like a few background appearances and like two sentences and a burst of laughter during the whole two seasons, Just/in has probably only one sentence so far I remember, otherwise, he appears at the backgrounds, sometimes also with other color palettes. (I think he also appears at the fencing group photo if I’m not wrong) Just Anextra/Justin Extra has two fanarts so far I know, done by fans and the girl had one or two edits, where the editor had given her the name Lola I think and she had another type of clothing and hair color. (Confession I’m not taking into the grave with me. When I was younger I shipped her with Nossida (His human form obviously), one of the main villains of the show and I even wrote a fanfic about them. I re-read it last year and laughed so hard at how weird it was) Honestly my first ones were just.....eugh!

7.7 Protagonist has allergies (Cathy and Adrien/Cat Noir) - Cathy is allergic to dogs while Adrien has allergies to feathers.

7.8 Excitable Protagonists (Cathy Smith and Marinette Dupain-Cheng) - Both girls are shown mostly happy and lucky throughout the show. Cathy still is the most optimistic and excitable one out of the two, due to her being a curious personality and is always fascinated, when she discovers new things on Earth, that she doesn’t know in her home planet.

7.9 Best friends between different cultures (Danny with Chris, Adrien with Nino, Cathy with Sam and Marinette with Alya) As many other TV shows would do: Two best friends of the same gender.

Cathy’s just doing an Abominable reference...joke, she confessed something, she should have done long way before.

Danny about to teach Chris how to act like a bad boy for the group’s plan.

I don’t remember what was here, except this is from season 1.

“Just be yourself” .- Nino Lahiffe (And Nathaniel there on the back sleeping on his table. I feel you, son)

That was all I had found out yet. There could be more out there, that I haven’t figure out yet, but I might do one of these posts again when I got more information and the shows, mostly MBC are more present in my memories.

#monster buster club #miraculous #miraculousladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #chat noir #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #mlb #mbc #post #comparison post #similarities

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violethowler · 6 years ago

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Cutting and Padding: An Analysis of Season 7′s Pacing and Story Structure

Earlier this week, Team Purple Lion’s official website went live, along with their latest project – a video reconstruction of what S7E7 The Last Stand: Part 1 would have looked like before the creation of the MFE pilots late in production. This got me thinking about some of Team Purple Lion’s previous analyses and what the original Season 7 looked like, so I went back through the episode and took notes on how much screen time the MFEs have from S7E7 The Last Stand: Part 1 to S7E13 Lion’s Pride: Part 2.

To be clear, when I say “original season” or “unedited season” I’m not talking about some hypothetical unicorn of a season where Shiro’s the Black Paladin again while Allura flies the Atlas and there is no wolf because Shiro is the one with the cool teleporting powers. I’m talking about if you took out The Feud, removed or condensed every scene that featured or focused on the MFE pilots, and swapped back in the three Season 8 episodes that Team Purple Lion maintains were originally part of Season 7, how would Season 7 look in terms of pacing and story structure?

@leakinghate postulated in her Seek Truth in Darkness meta that the unedited version of Season 8 would have been 17 episodes long due to the prior editing of Season 7: The MFE pilots were added in after production of Season 7 was already close to being finished, and we know from interviews that the animators needed to do a lot of extra work animating scenes for them, resulting in the creation of The Feud as a filler episode to give them a break. Hate theorized that the episodes Battle Scars, The Grudge, and Shadows were originally written for Season 7 before they had to be pushed into Season 8 in order to make room for the MFE pilots.

There are four things that support this conclusion: storyline payoff, narrative consistency, redundancy, and pacing:

Story Payoff: A frequent complain I saw in Season 8 was that after we see the Olkari evacuating their planet from the robeast attack, we never see them again. There’s no payoff to Olkari evacuating their planet. But Olkari are visible in the background of the Rebuilding Earth montage in S7E13 Lion’s Pride: Part 2. Which would have been the perfect payoff if Battle Scars had been in Season 7: we find out Olkarion’s destruction early in the season, and at the end of the season, the survivors come to help rebuild Earth.

Narrative consistency: the reverse tractor beam Zethrid’s crew uses to pin down the Paldins in The Grudge is the same one they used at the end of The Road Home. But it only worked that first time because we were told that the lions were at low power and couldn’t break free. In Season 8, they had access to the Atlas and had spent the last few episodes operating at full power. So how could the tractor beam work now?

Redundancy: With its current placement in Season 8, Shadows doesn’t offer any new information to the audience, only spelling out what everyone had already figured out four months ago – that Honerva had taken command of the Altean colony using their loyalty to Lotor to get them to fight for her and had assembled an army of Robeasts piloted by Alteans. In Season 8, it’s a waste of time to spend an entire episode repeating what the audience already knows.

But if this was originally supposed to be part of Season 7, it would fit: the flashbacks of Honerva would fill in where she had gone after Acxa tried to shoot her in “The Black Paladins”. The last seven minutes of what is now “Shadows” would have made an excellent cliffhanger for Lion’s Pride: Part 2 – after Allura says “an Altean” we could have cut to Honerva’s arrival at the colony and the montage of assembling her army of mechs, ending the season with Luka flying off to destroy Voltron and bring the events of the Robeast fight full circle.

Pacing: One of the most frequent criticisms of Season 7 was that the space arc of the season rushed by too fast and the Earth arc felt like it dragged on too long. The first half of Season 8 received similar complaints regarding dragged out pacing, as Honerva is identified as a threat early on but they don’t go to Oriande to face her until Episode 6. Shadows is a redundant episode that spins its wheels repeating what we already know.

But if you were to imagine what things would look like without the MFE pilots, things would be a lot different. Having Battle Scars and The Grudge take place in the first half of Season 7 stretches out the space road trip arc and helps it to feel less rushed. If you took away The Feud and the scenes in the second half of the season focusing on the MFEs, the Earth arc would be shortened by one episode and helps tighten up the pacing of the episodes.

Battle Scars and The Grudge, in my opinion work best between The Way Forward and The Ruins. Reason number one being that it would give weight to the three-year time skip if the Paladins learned in the following episode that one of their closest allies had been attacked while they were gone. It would also fill in what happened to Acxa after the end of The Way Forward, as many of us were wondering why the Paladins just left her on the planet where she was holed up. If she accompanied them, possibly in her own ship, it would provide the opportunity for some more callbacks to Belly of the Weblum by having Acxa there for the Olkarion trip.

One possible explanation I’ve seen suggested that makes sense for why Shiro wouldn’t have been in this episode much is if he was injured during the escape in The Way Forward and needed a stint in the cryopod. Speaking of the cryopod, in the edited version of Season 7, it just disappears after A Little Adventure. But if we would have seen Shiro using it in Battle Scars before it was given away to save Ezor in The Grudge (because she’d still be alive), that would neatly explain why they don’t have it in The Ruins or The Journey Within.

The Ruins and The Journey Within would have been unaffected by the editing of Season 7 and thus would be unchanged.

The Last Stand Parts 1 and 2 are largely the same in terms of the Earth flashbacks, but in addition to the absence of the MFEs and the condensing of any montages they feature in, this would be the most appropriate place to have the scenes of Honerva from shadows intercut with the flashbacks on Earth. Aside from being set only a few months apart (Matt contacts Earth a year after Sam returns and says Voltron has been missing for six months, ergo Honerva’s flashbacks in Part 1 take place six months after Sam’s do), these scenes would visually and narratively contrast the warm, loving, and healthy dynamic of the Holt family with the Galra royal couple’s cold, controlling, and abusive relationship with their son.

With the MFE scenes swapped out and condensed to make room for Honerva’s flashbacks, the episode would still end right at the same place it did in the edited version of the season: with Sendak’s fleet surrounding Earth. But Part 2 would not have the same endpoint if you removed the MFEs. Without the MFE pilots, the scene of the MFE Ares fighters doing damage against Sendak’s fleet would be cut, along with the entire sequence of preparing to and then doing the raid on the supply depot that the MFE pilots and Veronica undertake. Without the raid on the supply depot, the circumstances of Veronica’s resitance network delivering refugees to the garrison change and would be condensed.

This would leave 8 minutes’ worth of space. The middle third of Shadows – the Kral Zera, the flashbacks to Lotor’s childhood, and Honerva using Kova to try and scry Lotor’s location – only take up about five minutes. The remaining three minutes, I believe would have consisted of the first three minutes of what is now Know Your Enemy. The music as the paladins climb out of the stolen Galra fighter to stare in horror at the ruined city feels like it’s building to an episode-ending wham moment. The cut off point would be around the 4:09 mark in Know Your Enemy (since the opening credits take up a minute, they don’t count, obviously).

Pictured above: the probable original ending of The Last Stand: Part 2

The original version of Know Your Enemy would pick up at what is now the 4:31 mark in the edited version of the episode (pictured below). It feels appropriate as ending an episode with a shot of a destroyed locale before the next episode opens with the protagonist walking among the rubble is a formula I have seen used in countless tv shows over the years.

There is another three minutes’ worth of exclusively MFE-focused content that wouldn’t be there in the unedited S7. When added with the missing three minutes now added to the end of The Last: Stand Part 2, we get a six-minute block in which we can pull content from the next episode.

I’m confident that that space would be filled with a condensed version of the reconnaissance mission to the Galran military installation, ending at the 9:43 mark of what is now Heart of the Lion and the reveal of the Zaiforge cannons. This sequence is seven minutes long in the edited version of S7 due to the inclusion of the MFE pilots, but without them, this sequence would be short enough to squeeze into roughly six minutes.

The Zaiforge recon sequence fits better as the final act of Know Your Enemy because it calls back to the main piece of the episode: the interrogation of Sendak’s A.I. Sendak’s A.I. says that if a planet refuses to surrender, then the Galra Empire destroys it. And that fate has only ever been dealt to Altea. Revealing the Zaiforge cannons at the end of “Know Your Enemy” (pictured below) should convey to the audience that because Earth refused to surrender, he plans to destroy Earth just as Altea was destroyed.

Heart of the Lion would still open with Shiro awakening from the surgery to attach his new arm. Not only does it preserve the intentional call back to show the differences between how the Garrison treated him after surgery compared to how the Galra Empire did, but it also neatly explains why Shiro wouldn’t be involved in the reconnaissance mission. From there, we would transition into the briefing scene where they work out the plan to summon the lions from Saturn. In the edited version of the episode, this happens around the 11-minute mark, and the scene for Shiro’s arm only takes the first two minutes, leaving a nine-minute window to pull material from the next episode. The scene of the paladins summoning their lions would be condensed without the MFE pilots there, expanding the gap.

The shot at the end of the edited version of the episode feels like there should be more after the Garrison’s reaction, and the opening two shots of what is now Trial by Fire are repeated from the ending of Heart of the Lion. The show has only ever reused a shot from the immediately previous episode three times up to that point, and in very specific contexts (following up from a season-ending cliffhanger, and to indicate episodes that are taking place simultaneously) so these two shots were most likely used as padding.

(Pictured above: one of the two shots re-used between Heart of the Lion and Trial by Fire)

From there, we would have all of the scenes from Trial by Fire focused on the Paladins learning to pilot their lions remotely. Because this episode is called Heart of the Lion, after all. Why wouldn’t you expect an episode with a title like that to have the Paladins unlock a cool new ability. We would also have the Atlas launch during this episode, as the Atlas’s power problems were an excuse to have the MFE pilots get some action in while the Paladins were incapacitated. Without the MFE pilots, they would have gotten the crystalized Castle of Lions in there a lot faster. The ending of Heart of the Lion would be the ending for Trial by Fire, with Admiral Sanda’s death before the Paladins escape the ship.

You’ll notice that with the ending of Trial by Fire moved to be the ending of Heart of the Lion, there’s nothing actually left in Trial by Fire itself. This is because Trial by Fire didn’t exist before the creation of the MFE pilots. Of the three episodes nestled between The Last Stand and Lion’s Pride, only two titles are applicable to anything that happens in these episodes. “Know Your Enemy” refers to understanding how Sendak thinks and figuring out what his plans for Earth are. Heart of the Lion refers to the Paladins’ ability to call their lions from deep space and pilot them remotely.

But just like Hate pointed out about Uncharted Regions in Season 8, there is nothing in the Earth arc of Season 7 that can be accurately described as a trial by fire. The phrase trial by fire refers to someone performing well for the first time under intense pressure. However this is typically preceded by a previous attempt at achieving their goal that fails the first time (or first few times). This isn’t the first time that the Paladins have given the Lions directions remotely. They just did it in Heart of the Lion on a smaller scale. The MFE pilots aren’t piloting their fighters for the first time, they’ve been doing it since before the invasion. It could be referring to the Atlas, but this is the first time it’s being powered up, and the Atlas’ full capabilities won’t be tested until Lion’s Pride: Part 1 and Part 2. When you tally up the amount of screen-time the MFE pilots got in the back half of Season 7, it adds up to one episode’s worth of content. Therefore, before the MFE pilots were created late in production, Trial by Fire didn’t exist.

Lion’s Pride: Part 1 would start exactly where it did in the edited Season 7, minus the transformation sequence. Roughly six minutes of the episode is focused on the MFE pilots and wouldn’t have been there during the original season. This means that the first six minutes of Lion’s Pride: Part 2 were originally the ending of Part 1. The most organic stopping point would be around 6:48 of the edited Lion’s Pride: Part 2, just after Pidge uses her Bayard to drive the Robeast off of Voltron when it’s using its Komar blades to drain their Quintessence. Part 2 would pick up with Shiro asking if the Paladins are okay, and Hunk responding that the blades had sapped their energy.

There’s about a minute of MFE pilot action in this episode, which adds up to a seven-minute space at the end that would be the prefect spot for the last seven minutes of Shadows, where just after we see the Altean pilot, we flash back to Honerva’s arrival on the colony and find out what happened to the missing Alteans.

The Earth arc dragged on for so long because having to make room for the MFE pilots so late in the pipeline forced the production team to rearrange scenes and create an entirely new episode to make sure they had room, throwing off the content of the other episodes from where everything was supposed to be, such that the title of each episode no longer matched its content.

Even though each episode of Voltron is a piece of the larger narrative, every episode still has an arc within the episode itself. Every individual episode still has a clear beginning, middle, and end. But with the content in the second half of Season 7 rearranged to give the MFE pilots the spotlight, the ending of one episode became the middle of another. And instead of two tightly paced episodes that each had a clear beginning, middle, and end, we got three episodes that were just one hour-long middle.

Doesn’t what I just outlined above flow much better? With two additional episodes, the front half of Season 7 gets some more room to breathe instead of skipping through so much, and the Earth arc doesn’t feel like it drags on for so long. Plus, having Honerva’s flashbacks here makes for a better fit in terms of contrast and in what it reveals to the audience than when it’s repeating what we already figured out months ago.

TL; DR: Before the executive meddling that resulted in the creation of the MFE pilots, Season 7 would have looked like this:

A Little Adventure

The Road Home

The Way Forward

Battle Scars

The Grudge

The Ruins

The Journey Within

The Last Stand: Part 1

The Last Stand: Part 2

Know Your Enemy

Heart of the Lions

Lion’s Pride: Part 1

Lion’s Pride: Part 2

And after the creation of the MFE pilots, they were given enough screen time that a new episode Trial by Fire had to be commissioned to spread out the content that would have originally been two episodes. As a consequence, Battle Scars, The Grudge, and the content that would become Shadows had to be moved into Season 8 to compensate, with The Feud being made to fill the gap created in the first half of the season.

I’d like to thank the members of Team Purple Lion (@leakinghate @felixazrael @crystal-rebellion @dragonofyang and @voltronisruiningmylife) for all the hard work they’ve done reverse engineering what everything looked like before the executive meddling happened. I wouldn’t be able to write meta like this without their thoroughly research analyses to build on.

#voltron meta #voltron legendary defender #meta anlaysis #voltron season 7 #vld season 7 #vlds7 #executive meddling #story structure

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havemyoldusername · 6 years ago

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My top Doctor Who Episodes

1. The Waters of Mars

I just thought it was brilliant. The story was truly amazing and seeing The Doctor break down like that and truly come close to the Master was pretty amazing. This was The Doctor at his loneliest and at his breaking point from paranoia set into him by Carmen in the previous episode (Planet Of The Dead). Truly captivating performance by David Tennant and the entire cast.

2. Blink

Blink was so interesting in its premise. It was unheard of really to have The Doctor barely present in the episode, but the cast killed it. It was a much better time-saver episode than Love and Monsters (we shall not speak of it). I really loved the story and the Weeping Angels gave me nightmares the first time I watched the episode as a kid.

3. Midnight

People tend to gloss over Midnight when they talk about the best episodes. It showed humans at their worst, The Doctor at his most desperate for control of the situation and a really interesting monster that we never learn what it was, why it did what it did and so forth. I really loved the performance of the people playing the humans on the bus, as their characters reacted quite normally to the situation at hand. No normal person is going to blindly follow a man that says he’s practically more important than the rest of them.

4. Human Nature/The Family Of Blood

Honestly just two great episodes that I linked together in their placement because I really couldn’t split them up. It was clearly written for the Seventh Doctor but it translated really really well to the Tenth Doctor. All round a moving story, Martha really coming into her own and a chilling villain.

5. The Parting of The Ways

Ninth Doctor’s last episode, full of great moments between him and Rose. Lovely farewell, though not as emotional as Ten’s, it was short, sweet, personal and every bit in character for Nine as it should’ve been. Though Nine may not have been ‘my Doctor’, he was The Doctor, and I couldn’t have left this out.

6. A Good Man Goes to War

Though some parts weren’t my favourite, I did like the majority of the story. It was a rather strong episode and it is a good contrast between the others around it. While Season 6 was pretty dark in general, this was one of my favourite episodes from the lot.

7. The God Complex

In a lot of ways, this episode is similar to Midnight. It has the element of an unknown villain right until the last few minutes, humans behaving in a rather practical way and an interesting element of ‘what did The Doctor see?’

8. The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End

Having Ten’s last two episodes of a complete season be full of everyone was a strong move. Normally with a main cast so big, the plot will feel messy, the sets too crowded, but these two episodes were brilliantly done. I loved how it was all foreshadowed beforehand with Donna and The Doctor’s meta-Crisis, Donna mentioning the Bees disappearing in Partners in Crime, and it having a role in this episode, Pyrovillia being lost, The Lost Moon of Poosh, the occasional Rose appearances. Brilliantly done.

9. Journey To The Centre of The Tardis

People skip out on this one a lot. I loved its concept, I loved how it was all contained to one really major set, and it was, I think, in Eleven’s run, to really use the concept of ‘Timey whimey’ and run with it. I loved how it played with time and the intricate details woven into the plot, advancing it further, but I didn’t like how it was all erased to a frustrating degree.

10. The End of Time Part 2

Lucky number 10 on this list goes to the last episode of the Tenth Doctor. It’s no secret that Ten was ‘my Doctor’ and still, to this day, is my favourite to ever grace the role, but this episode holds a special place. The emotional scenes, the drama, the phenomenal acting by David Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton and Bernard Cribbins really amazed me. Wilf was an amazing companion and I wish The Doctor interacted with him more. The Master was just awesome, Rassilon was an amazing addition and I just loved every minute of it. I loved part 1 too, but part 2 just stole the show as a finale to David’s run.

That’s my list.

#doctor who #tenth doctor #ninth doctor #eleventh doctor #doctor who opinion #list #favourite episodes #favourite doctor who episodes

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truthbeetoldmedia · 5 years ago

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iZombie 5x11 "Bye, Zombies" Review

It feels like I’ve been waiting for this episode the entire series, in more ways than one. Buckle in, there is so much to discuss!

The episode opens with Liv tending to all the Freylich brain kids at the headquarters, and she gives a quick rundown of events via voiceover. I wish this narrative device was used more consistently this season. I have a love-hate relationship with voiceover, I think it can often tip into cheesy and unnecessary. On iZombie, however, the use of voiceover was crucial in the early seasons. If Liv is on a different brain every week, her personality and character development can get lost in the mix. Her voiceover bookended the episodes and was a good way to touch base with her, and to make sure the audience still had access to inside her head. Liv sums up the events that have happened thus far, and how stressful things have been. But her hope remains in the cure; it’s the only thing they have to look forward to.

This hope becomes complicated fairly quickly. Liv walks in on an upset Ravi, who tells her that the CDC has decided to use the uptiopium for treatments, rather than a cure. Charlie has been kicked off the project, and it’s been moved to a high security building. Ravi points out there’s more money in treatments than cures, and the CDC doesn’t actually have any interest in being helpful to the suffering people of New Seattle. It’s a good call back to Ravi’s fraught relationship with his old employer, the CDC. He was fired for taking biological warfare too seriously, and it seems he finds himself back at square one with them. He and Liv decide the only thing to do now is to pull off an Oceans 11-esque heist. Obviously the only answer! They gather with Clive, Peyton, and Major to tell them the plan. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, this show is always at its strongest when it trusts its five main players to drive the story, and let them drive it together. Getting the entire gang involved is part of what made this episode so great.

It turns out there can be advantages to being zombies — they don’t actually have to learn any heist skills overnight, they can just consume them. They order a ninja and acrobat from Don E (who is in a really foul mood due to Darcy’s death) and Clive thinks of some old petty criminals he knew back in the day. At first, Clive doesn’t plan on going with them. He gives an emotional goodbye to Liv and Ravi, including hugs, and maybe there were a few tears involved. But Bozzio tells him to get his butt out there, and to save the world for their daughter. “You’re the Clooney,” she reminds him. How are they going to pull this off without him? Clive finally steps through the closet of the Renegade quarters, and it’s one of my favorite moments of the whole series. Everything is coming together for one last adventure, and it was an immensely satisfying scene.

In order to get the pickpocket brain Clive recommended, Major and Liv dig up his grave together. It’s difficult to write this scene objectively, without taking into account the uproar in the Veronica Mars fandom this week. A shocking twist at the end of the new revival season regarding the show’s main couple has left many fans feeling betrayed, confused, and frustrated. Rob Thomas, the showrunner for both Veronica Mars and iZombie, has expressed multiple times that he’s not interested in writing main female characters with boyfriends or writing couples with happily-ever-afters. He didn’t see a way that he could incorporate hard-hitting detective stories and a healthy romance into the same show.

I have only seen a few episodes of Veronica Mars, but I’ve seen every episode of iZombie, and several things about this show now make sense. I now understand why all of Liv’s boyfriends have been killed off and then never mentioned again. I now understand why when Clive and Bozzio finally got together, Bozzio got pregnant and practically dropped off the face of the earth. It makes me wonder if romance between Ravi and Liv was never explored because the showrunner believed it meant he had to eventually axe one of them, and didn’t want to do that. And most of all, it makes sense why Liv and Major haven’t had any significant progress in their relationship in several seasons.

Rob Thomas has basically admitted that he doesn’t know how to successfully juggle murder and love on his shows, and he has no interest in finding out. So the timing for this Major and Liv scene is terrible, in more ways than one. Not only do I wish I could have enjoyed it without the baggage of another show hanging over it, but I really think it should have happened sooner in the series. Regardless, now we know why it didn’t.

The scene itself is actually incredibly sweet. “I’m really glad we’re at this place in our relationship,” Major says. “We can dig up graves without having to talk.” The two of them reminisce on their relationship over the entire series — from how they used to be engaged to wed in a pre-zombie world, to how they’ve both done things that hurt the other, and how they’ve wound up here. “We’ve both done a lot of well-intentioned crap to each other. But here we are, still here,” Major says. He gives her a heartfelt pep talk, telling her that he believes she’s the only one that can pull this off. And pull this off, she must. The fate of the world depends on it. Not only is this a commentary on their deep friendship, but also on who they are as characters. They both have gone through immense changes throughout the series, but it feels like the core of who they are is still there. Major and Liv are both good people, with a capital G. A war-torn, zombie world has tried to change that, but it never succeeded. I’m forever grateful for this show for giving me these two. Major tells Liv she’s a badass, and she kisses him, right in the middle of the grave. Within the world of iZombie, it felt true to the show, and something I’ve been waiting on for so long!

It means, however, that I’m incredibly worried about Major’s life. The tension between humans and zombies is finally at a breaking point. His Fillmore Grave squad tells him that zombies are riding in the streets, provoking humans and wanting to start a war. Major takes a team out to hopefully quell the riots. “They want to start a war, let’s not give them the satisfaction,” he says. He and his team ride out, but while Major is giving orders, a huge explosion hits their van. My heart skipped a bit, because I really thought Major might have been taken out in this moment. He crawls out of the van, bleeding and confused. Enzo rolls up in a Fillmore Graves van, and the final stand that we always knew was coming finally happened. Enzo convinces all of Major’s men to betray him, leaving Major standing alone. Fillmore Graves has never believed in Major, never totally committed to him as a leader. I’ve never felt the show built a convincing argument as to why Chase Graves inspired so many more followers than Major and that Major was a bad leader. Major has tried to keep the peace in New Seattle for as long as he’s been in charge, but his zombies are out for brains. He escapes by the skin of his teeth, and Enzo goes on TV letting everyone know that he’s the new sheriff in town, and humans had better hide. Dolly and her people watch from their fish food truck, and she gives the go ahead to retaliate and recruit.

Meanwhile, Blaine discovers that Ravi has stolen his Freylich brains. He tells his smuggler that if he sees Ravi, shoot to kill. This season has really doubled down on Blaine being evil, with no interest in redeeming him. This episode sees him doing some truly unforgivable acts. While Liv is gone, she asks Peyton to housesit at the Renegade quarters. Because Blaine is the worst, he and Don E “follow Ravi’s favorite thing” to lead them to where the Freylich brain kids are hiding out. He and Don E muscle themselves in, and Peyton emotionally begs Blaine to leave them alone. It’s hard not to imagine a season that had gone all in as Blaine as the Big Bad of the entire series. If they had whittled down on nuclear threats and off-shoot human supremacist gangs, and beefed up even more on Blaine’s goal of taking control of New Seattle, I wonder if the season would have been stronger. Thankfully, the show did cut back on forcing real world political parallels that it didn’t have the range for, as I was afraid it would be the main focus of the season, but I think a centered focus on Blaine would have made everything much more focused. This scene, for example, was absolutely terrifying. Both Aly Michalka’s emotional performance and David Anders cold brutality elevated the tension in this moment, and left the fate of both Peyton and the Freylich brain kids in the balance. I’m holding out hope that this will be the moment that our dark horse player, Don E, will emerge as an unlikely hero of this series, but we are going to have to wait until the finale to find out.

In Atlanta, Clive, Liv, and Ravi actually pull off the heist. Despite Liv on pickpocket brain having the stickiest fingers ever, Ravi being incredibly unpleasant on Russian hacker brain, and Clive getting momentarily distracted by busting some serious moves on the dance floor, they manage to hit their mark, Gladys from HR. For the second half of the heist, Liv and Ravi switch to the ninja and acrobat brains, and sneak into the high security building. Clive saunters passed a guard that thinks all black people look the same, and helps Charlie smuggle in too. For a moment, it seems like the CDC has caught on to our heroes. Saxon rushes in and opens the vault to make sure the uptiopium was still there. Unfortunately for him, he fell right into their trap. Liv points a gun at Saxon and smugly tells him they knew they wouldn’t be able to get into the vault, so they tipped him off so he could do it for them. Saxon tries to bargain with Ravi, and to apologize for how the CDC has treated him, but Ravi is done standing by. No one knows better than Ravi the importance of this cure. Not only is he a man of science, he’s watched his loved ones deal with the zombie virus for several years. He’s had a front row seat to Liv and Major’s trials and watched Peyton buckle under the pressure of being New Seattle’s mayor. He watched Isobel pass away, and then when he tried to avenge her by ethically pursuing a cure, he kept losing to Blaine and the CDC. Well, not anymore. After five seasons of setbacks, there’s no way Ravi’s going to let go of the cure that easily. Ravi rages out. He knocks out Saxon, and Liv grabs the uptiopium. There’s just one more piece they needed for the cure — the Max Rager from Fillmore Graves. Liv calls Major, and he reassures her not to worry about it. When the camera cuts to him, we see him hiding out in the waterfront, injured and alone.

There is a lot of things to wrap up next week, but I thought this penultimate episode was exciting, character-driven, and showcased elements of the show that made me love it so much. Next week, I’ll see you back in New Seattle, for one final time.

Stray Thoughts:

“You’re not that great with boyfriends, are you?” Don E tells Liv, which is the first time all season anyone has mentioned that Liv’s boyfriends have short lifespans on this show.

“His hair makes me so angry!”

Clive mentions that if Liv eats the pickpocket brain, to “get ready for visions of me rockin’ a mustache” and I’m so mad the show didn’t make good on this promise.

“What are you going to do without me?” Liv asks Clive, pointing out that she’s no use as a police partner without her visions. What’s their relationship going to look like when Liv is no longer a zombie?

Peyton tells Liv that she’s probably going to marry Ravi. Pavi forever.

“We are in the south now, you don’t put stolen jewelry in a black man’s pocket.” I squeaked at this line! Between the racist janitor and this line, Clive was really coming for Atlanta in this episode.

I thought it was a hilarious gag to have someone remember Ravi from his CDC days, even if it was a one night stand that didn’t really reflect well on his character

Haley’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝.5

The series finale of iZombie airs Thursday, August 1 at 9/8c on the CW.

#iZombie #Bye Zombies

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tygerbug · 6 years ago

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Who Reviews

Doctor Who : The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos by Chris Chibnall.

The title is a mouthful, especially compared to comparable episodes "The Stolen Earth" and "The Pirate Planet." As Entertainment Weekly put it, this is a solid if underwhelming finale to a solid if underwhelming year. An enemy returns, and Graham and Ryan's character arcs don't conclude but reach a destination. I was happy with it, and fans of this year's series get a fair amount of payoff. There is also a New Year's special coming shortly which may deliver more of a conclusion, though I doubt it. I get the feeling the show is happy to continue on with this cast for 2020 - yes, they're apparently skipping another year, something which killed enthusiasm in Moffat's tenure.

The Doctor references Russell T Davies episodes The Stolen Earth and Boom Town in this episode to remind us what the TARDIS is really capable of. Jodie has been a more humble Doctor, underselling herself without all the world-shaking confidence and bravado that previous Doctors could summon up at times. The Stolen Earth was as overblown as RTD's era got, bringing back all his lead characters and believe its own hype. This episode also deals with stolen planets but could almost pass for just another adventure of the week. It looks great, with lovely location filming, but it's not selling itself as a universe-shaking television event. This got very old in the RTD and Moffat eras, as the series got increasingly and obnoxiously self-assured. Most of what we got sick of with the previous showrunners is absent this year, but in its place there's a void. The series isn't as silly this year. It's not as embarrassing. And it's not as ambitious or as fun. As with last week, there's a lot of big cosmic ideas happening here, and some new lore for Doctor Who, and it's all very interesting, and plays reasonably well as straightforward sci-fi. But it's still very low-key for a Doctor Who finale. We've gotten too used to the delirious nonsense of The Doctor and All His Recurring Friends fighting The Daleks and the Cybermen and The Master to save the universe and All of Time Itself. This episode delivers a huge cosmic threat, and makes it very personal to the main cast, but it really doesn't feel like that big a deal. Much like The Ghost Monument, this could be an episode from any sci-fi series since the 90s, not just Doctor Who. Alternately, it's not too hard to imagine the classic series of Doctor Who doing the same plotline in an even more casual way. It could be a Key to Time story like The Pirate Planet, or something with The Fifth Doctor. As a sci-fi piece it was more ambitious than the show has been this year, and I'm not going to pretend that the RTD and Moffat eras actually delivered on their grand-scale ambitions. But knowing this was the last regular episode of the year gave me a distinct sense of "Was that it?" The lack of returning enemies from the show's past has given it a chance to forge its own identity this year, even if it doesn't give the fans as much to talk about. The ratings have gone way up, and Jodie's debut outperformed Eccleston's. It's all been solid enough stuff, dealing beautifully with issues of racism, family and grief. It's almost the opposite tactic Moffat used toward the end, when he brought back two Masters, the Hartnell-era Cybermen and the Hartnell-era Doctor. The show isn't embarrassing this year, and its lows aren't as low. Its highs aren't as high either, and I was left wanting more, wanting a few more episodes which really tick all the boxes for Who fans. Another year of episodes in this vein would probably do the trick for me, and the lack of big moments here means the show can presumably just continue as it has. But we'll have to wait for 2020, which is a shame. Interestingly, the teaser for the New Year's Special shows Jodie Whittaker's Doctor channeling the confidence of either Smith or Tennant, saying this planet is protected. Her Doctor hasn't usually hyped herself up in that way, saying things like "I'm just a traveler." That's not a bad thing, as it's truer to what the Doctor has been like traditionally, and that confidence would probably look strange coming from a female Doctor. But she has felt a little ineffectual, and the whole series has had a more subdued, muted tone. That being said, it's all been pretty good. There's a lot less to complain about than there's been in previous years, with few cringeworthy moments and a general sense that this is a solid sci-fi show where those involved know what they're doing. I just wish they'd go a little more nuts with it. It's strange to see a series of Doctor Who that's mostly sensible rather than silly.

#doctor who #who reviews #jodie whittaker #thirteenth doctor

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recklessheroism-archive-blog · 7 years ago

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( reposted from my about page in a reblogabble form w/ formatting changes. if you find the formatted version visually difficult or irritating to read, the unformatted version is on the about page! this & the about page will be updated as i learn more things about my muse. )

for the most part, my portrayal will follow the canon of star trek: alternate original series. however, here are some things i’ve added to my version of jim.

trigger warnings: abuse, starvation, murder, death, ptsd, traumatic mutism, bipolar disorder, & eating disorder.

triggers are bolded at the beginning of each section so that you can skip over anything that may be triggering for you. if you’d like a summary of any part that you skipped over, feel free to ask me! i can change things around, to a certain extent, so that we can write together.

1. tw: abuse. jim & his stepfather, frank, were not on the best of terms. ever since frank had come into his life, jim had despised him. there was just something about the way he treated winona that jim didn’t like. he’d only given the guy a chance at his mother’s request, something which he sorely regretted after she married him. when winona went back to starfleet, sam ran away from home & jim was left with frank & his abusive tendencies. it started just bad moods & snide remarks, but the remarks got worse with time. words became stronger, louder. they were picked more carefully, picked to tear the young boy apart. & as if that wasn’t enough, frank shoved him, hit him, even made him bleed. the effects of this abuse still haunt jim, but he’s been healing with time & distance.

2. tw: starvation, murder, death. after jim had stolen & wrecked frank’s car, frank unilaterally enrolled jim in the earth colony on tarsus iv. winona had no knowledge of this decision, as she was off-world with starfleet. the distance was freeing, at first. he was glad to be out from under frank’s thumb at last. on tarsus iv, he was able to live the kind of childhood he’d wanted. for a time, he was happy. he did well in school, he played sports, he had friends — he thrived. but unfortunately, it didn’t last.

famine fell over the colony as an exotic fungus destroyed their food supply. suddenly, paradise had become hell. as colonists panicked & worried, riots began to break out. jim ran from the facility he’d been living at with the few children he knew that were now or previously orphaned, & they stuck together for as long as they could. naturally, he took charge of the small group, organizing them in a way that would benefit the group the most. he & the older children would scavenge for food while those younger would stay together & hide.

it worked for a short while, but like the rest of those who had survived the first wave of death, their group began to succumb as well. jim tried his best to care for them all. he made sure they had first pick of the food, & he only ate as much as he needed to survive another day. he did everything he could to make sure they survived. there are things he did there that he’ll never speak of.

but the worst of it all was how he killed to save them. the first time, he didn’t sleep for days. he felt so ill he could barely move, but he had to. he had to take care of the others. it got a little easier with time, but it was always a last resort. in the end, though, he lost most of them to starvation or illness or both. by the end, it was only him & kevin riley left.

they were eventually forced to rejoin a larger group out of necessity when kevin fell ill. jim refused to let the young boy die too. with help from the larger group, they were able to nurse him back to relative health. but that’s when it happened.

governor kodos, under the pretense of aid, divided the remaining colonists into two groups. unbeknownst to them, the division would cost 4,000 colonists their lives. kodos had separated the survivors based on strength & likelihood of survival. those who were stronger & more likely to survive were allowed to live. those who were weaker & less likely were executed. jim was one of nine eyewitnesses to the execution.

supply ships arrived too late to save the 4,000 sentenced to death, but when they arrived, jim & the remaining orphaned children were sent home to earth. to this day, jim still has ptsd & nightmares about life on tarsus iv & the execution of 4,000 innocent survivors.

3. tw: ptsd, traumatic mutism. following the traumatic events on tarsus iv, jim & kevin returned to earth & were placed into the care of jim’s mother, who had returned as soon as she had learned of the famine & that frank had sent jim there. at that point, she was in the process of divorcing frank, & she filed for a restraining order on her & jim’s behalf.

jim regularly saw a child psychologist to help him through his ptsd. directly following the events of the tarsus iv massacre, jim went without speaking for about a month. his psychologist assured his mother that he would speak when he was ready, & that it was his mind’s way of coping with what happened.

additionally, for years after his return from tarsus iv, jim would hide scraps of food around the house. this was both to convince his mother that he was finishing his meals & out of fear that another famine could occur at any moment.

with time & support, his symptoms have nearly disappeared, but he will occasionally have periods of ptsd related distress, specifically in the form of nightmares & anxiety, even in adulthood.

4a. tw: bipolar disorder. while at starfleet academy, jim began to act out of the ordinary. some days, he found it difficult to get out of bed. or when he did, he felt incredibly numb & unable to enjoy all the things he loved to do. some days, he couldn’t sleep at all & stayed out all night, & he could become incredibly irritible at the drop of a hat. there was no obvious reason as to why he behaved these ways, so jim hadn’t seen them as a problem at the time. but as these behaviors & others began to exhibit themselves, jim’s friends became increasingly worried about him. leonard mccoy was especially concerned.

being jim’s roommate & best friend, leonard had a hard time standing by & allowing jim to push himself into riskier & riskier situations. shortly after leonard had expressed this concerns, jim began to see that he was right. he had been denying any problems he’d been facing for far too long, & he needed to confront them instead. so, with a lot of coaxing from leonard, jim made an appointment to see one of starfleet academy’s mental health professionals.

the process of diagnosis didn’t happen overnight. in fact, it took many weeks before they reached any sort of conclusion. but when they did, it was then that jim learned he had bipolar disorder. ( this form is likely bipolar II disorder. source: here. ) at the time, he was unsure of what this meant, but he was assured by the counseling team that with some help & support, he would be able to manage his moods better.

for the rest of his time at the academy, he continued attending weekly therapy sessions & tried out different medications until he & his therapist were satisfied he’d found the right one. while friends came & went, leonard was there every step of the way.

by the time he was given command of the enterprise, he was mentally in a much healthier state. but that doesn’t mean he never struggled. currently, he does what he can to manage his symptoms, but he’s human, & he can’t always handle them as well as he would like to. but with the help & support of his close friends, his therapist, & a strict self-imposed therapy plan, he generally manages well. ( for more information on bipolar disorder, go here. many of the items in the chart of signs & symptoms apply to jim during the corresponding episodes. )

4b. tw: abuse, eating disorder, bipolar disorder. as a result of growing up with a physically, verbally, & emotionally abusive step-father, jim occasionally has trouble when it comes to taking care of himself. specifically, he has a mild form of anorexia & struggles with eating enough food. this tendency seems to stem from the traumatic events of tarsus iv & childhood self-esteem issues brought on by his step-father, who often made negative comments about his weight when he was young.

this disordered eating has gotten better with time & effort, but he is more likely to relapse during depressive & manic episodes of his bipolar disorder. during depressive episodes, his self-esteem is lowered & he begins to worry about his weight. this causes him to eat very little. during manic episodes, he can be moving so quickly & erratically that he forgets to eat.

even when he is not experiencing symptoms of an episode, he can have trouble with food. as a result of his time spent in crisis on tarsus iv, he rarely eats a full meal. he feels that there must be other people who need food more than he does, so he can go without for them. it’s a habit, a destructive thought he’s been trying to break, but it’s been years & he still has trouble. with a lot of coaxing & assurance, he can finish a meal, but he never feels truly great about it. he has, however, broken his habit of hiding large quantities of food.

5. on a lighter note, jim has a cat! her name is rosie & he adores her. he found her during one of the enterprise’s pit stops when she stowed away on the ship. he loves her so much that no one has had the heart to remind him that it’s not exactly allowed.

she is very affectionate & serves as an emotional support animal for jim as well as an unofficial therapy cat for most of the bridge crew, as those are the crewmembers closest to jim.

rosie is a special cat as well. she has the ability to walk on walls & ceilings, & she is often found hiding on one of those surfaces when she wants some alone time. additionally, her eyes & fur appear to sparkle a bit, like she was bathed in stars.

6. jim is very respectful of women. ( fuck you, j.j. abrams. ) therefore, that scene where he hid under gaila’s bed and saw nyota undressing? jim may have seen nyota, but he immediately looked away. same goes for that scene with carol marcus changing. james. tiberius. kirk. respects. women.

7. follow these links for romance & sex headcanons.

#《 ★ 》 about jim #《 ★ 》 headcanon

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huntertales · 7 years ago

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Part Two: I Need to Get Something off My Chest. (You Can’t Handle the Truth S06E06)

Episode Summary: Sam, Dean and the reader investigate a series of suicides and discover the victims were being told brutal truths that drove them crazy. They find out someone is invoking the Goddess of Truth, Veritas, forcing people to be cruelly honest against their will and Dean is the next victim. With his new ability, the reader is forced to tell the truth that might change the dynamics between her and the Winchester brothers for good. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 6,130.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

Dean was doing exactly what he promised; he was sitting at the table with his laptop wide open. He was doing research...just not the kind you thought he'd be doing after you left after you decided to go help Sam. Surprise, surprise. He tried to wrack his brain for any sort of proper explanation to what the hell was going on here. The sites he pulled up were all about monsters that could mimic another human being. Right down to the exact memory from a random date Dean would sometimes pull out from thin air to see if the man sitting next to him in the passenger side of the Impala was really his flesh and blood.

He could all the tested he wanted, ask Sam all the most random questions about their childhood. And the man would pass it each time. But, still, Dean couldn't shake this eerie feeling that something was off about Sam.

The older Winchester could cross off shapeshifter off his list of suspects after the tests he forced you and Sam repeat the same drill of a pure silver knife across the skin a few hours after he came to terms that the both of you were alive. And a demon was out of the question when Dean doused the both of you in holy water and forced you to walk across a salted doorway. Again, the feeling kept nagging at him, begging for his attention. He kept hope that the Devil himself could be blamed for all this nonsense that was going on. It felt so much easier to shift the blame to him and think his dorky, sensitive little brother was still in there.

It was so much easier to believe that something else was causing Sam to act the polar opposite of what he used to be. And it explained how you and Sam magically got freed from hell. Because whatever came back sure wasn’t how he remembered his little brother, the one who was supposed to have his back.

Dean was scrolling through some information that would have been viable for the case when he was pulled away for a moment from the ringing of his phone. He looked down at the caller I.D. to see that it was your name. Inhaling a deep breath, he hit the send button, answering it like any normal conversation. “Anything from marathon man?”

“Not exactly. He hung himself in his cell before Sam and I could get to him.” You gave him a bit of an unfortunate update on how things were going. It seemed that shoving a drill into his patient's mouth was too much guilt for him to handle. But his victim wasn’t all that innocent. “But he was definitely involved. We just got the scoop from his assistant. Let’s just say the stuff that his patient was confessing to—I’d have done way more than murder him.”

“So, root canal and Russian roulette—both of ‘em, it’s like they were cursed, right?” Dean speculated of what might be going on here. “I mean, people are just compelled to puke the truth all over ‘em?”

“Oh, getting hit with the ugly truth, you go postal? I’d call that a curse.” You muttered underneath your breath, Dean heard you scoffed quietly underneath your breath. “Do me a favor—Sam and I are going to the morgue to check out the body. Do you mind swinging by the dentist’s office see what you see? Pretty please?”

“Since you asked so nicely.” Dean agreed with the plan. You thanked him for the extra help and quickly ended the call. He decided that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get out of the motel room and stretch his legs for an hour. The older Winchester skimmed the final paragraph about doppelgangers before he shut his laptop and pushed himself to his feet, deciding to get on that task before coming straight back to his research. “Only for you, sweetheart.”

+ + +

Some people were afraid of planes and clowns, others were terrified of your friendly neighborhood dentist. What started out as a normal root canal turned into a complete bloodbath. Dean stepped inside the examination room to see there was blood...everywhere. On the chair that once laid his patient, on the walls, and on the TV that was still playing the local news. Dean paid attention to the news broadcast for a split second before doing exactly what he was here for, to look for just about anything that would explain why the dentist’s patient, who also happened to be a good friend, would confess about getting the hots for his underage daughter. Dean got creeped out just thinking about it. Sometimes he couldn't feel sorry for the sucker. He got what he deserved.

A quick search of the office made a possible connection come up. It was a strange one, but it was the only one he had going for him. The power of music, bringing people together and learning the harsh truth about what people thought about them and the people they loved. Dean took a trip to “Harry's House of Horns” to have a talk with the owner when the victims had stopped here, making it the only connection he really had to go on. But his trip ended up not being a wasted effort. The owner, Harry, mentioned his rare and one-of a-kind-horn...his missing one, that was. It was a museum artifact that was nearly a thousand years old, maybe more. And it so happened to have went missing two weeks ago, right around the time Jane decided to kill herself after getting the honest truth from big sis.

It took a quick search of biblical horns into the search bar for Dean to come up with a possible theory, Gabriel's horn of truth. His theory about this being the reason why were puking up their own feelings was by how the object look a lot like the one Harry, the shop owner, said was stolen from a few weeks prior to the suicides. Dean headed back to the motel to do some digging to figure out what was going on here. He read up on some information and began to wonder if he was feeling a bit of deja vu from a case he took a few weeks prior. That smug little son of a bitch, Balthazar, was probably having some fun and selling nukes to unsuspecting morons. So, Dean did what any hunter with ties to angels would do, he did his daily prayers, hoping someone was listening.

You could say his prayers were answered. After spending days talking to himself like a moron, the big man himself finally graced Dean with his presence. But it was all for nothing. Cas burst the older Winchester's theory of a possible missing weapon when he scoured the entire earth, in the matter of a single second, only to tell the hunter that wasn't what was happening in this town. While Dean got his angel buddy around for more than three seconds, he tested his luck by pressing Cas about Sam again, hoping his fears were true. But, like what Bobby had suspected, they were nothing more than a paranoid thought of Dean’s. Cas and his siblings would have known if Lucifer decided to skip the cage. It was all about an unhealthy connection these days.

Still, it wasn’t helpful for Dean to stop feeling like a paranoid man. He needed something to explain what was going on with his brother. Dean couldn’t stomach the thought that Sam was going to be like this forever—a reckless idiot who didn’t bat an eye when the people around him were hurt. Or even cared about making moves on the woman Dean still loved when he made a bit of a confession when discussing the possibility Lisa and him were done for good. Maybe Sam always had a little bit of a crush on you. He couldn't blame the man. But even if so, there was a time when Sam understood what boundaries were.

As hunters, three people who spent practically every second on top of one another's, riding around in the same car for hours, there really wasn't such thing as boundaries. But what Dean was talking about had to more about what was right, and what was just plain wrong. There was plenty of times Sam accidentally caught you changing or had to check in injury after a nasty hunt. Both of you acted like brother and sister. He might have laughed if Dean asked him if he happened to think you were good looking. Now, he shrugged his shoulders, leaving it open for interpretation, making Dean wonder what the two of you did behind closed doors.

If Dean had to be completely honest, it bothered the hell out of him to think you and his brother might have gotten closer over the past year. But it came out of the circumstances you put yourself in. You stayed away from him because you thought it was the right thing to do to keep him safe. Dean tried to do the exact same thing with Lisa. Both of you were lost and scared, clinging onto something that made you feel one another safe when you didn't have old habits to fall back on.

Maybe you were truly and completely over him once and for all. And here Dean sat with egg on his face. Only...you kept denying it to him. The man was a lot of things, but he wasn't an idiot.

Like he didn't notice the sneaky behavior between you and Sam. The remarks muttered underneath one’s breath or lingering stares that were on more than just faces. The freaking phone call. The both of you should have known better than to try and play him like a fool. He was the master of sneaking around and hiding secrets behind people's backs. He knew something was going on. The only thing that made Dean mad was the fact that you were treating him like an idiot in this situation.

He would have to be honest with himself here. If all of his thinking had turned out to be true—if you were really in some sort of secretive relationship with Sam—it would feel as if you ripped his heart out of his chest and stomped on it. And dumped a good amount of salt in his chest cavity for the fun of it. Maybe that was a bit over dramatic. But it was what he felt. Dean knew, in time, that he’d get over it. He tried to be happy that you and his brother were out from the cage with no carry on. Lucifer was still locked up where he should have been, you were human for once in your entire life and Cas promised to keep his ears out for anything about Sam. For the first time he was seeing some actual progress. But the only thought he could comprehend was that he needed a drink. Or five.

Dean found a little bar with barely anybody in it besides for a woman tending behind the bar, a busboy clearing off tables after a late lunch rush and a pretty girl sitting behind him nursing some fruity cocktail from the looks of it. He kept himself occupied by ordering a round of whiskey neat, the way he normally liked it and watched some hard hitting journalism. Dean threw his head back and downed the drink in one gulp, feeling the familiar warm burning sensation run through his body before it slowly disappeared.

“Another one?” Dean’s attention lingered away from his empty shot glass when the bartender pointed her finger at the drink, wondering if he wanted a refill. While it was tempting, Dean knew he had some actual research to do back at the motel. And it would require a sober mind.

“Uh, no, thanks. I’m working.” Dean declined the kind offer with a small smile. She nodded her head and tended to her clean glasses that needed drying but stayed close just in case. Dean’s cell phone went off a few moments later, and to his delight, it was you again. “Hey, what’s up?”

“All the bodies are gone.” You greeted him with an update, one that didn’t sound so good.

“What do you mean,” Dean wondered. He looked to see the bartender was stacking up some shot glasses right across from him. She’d gotten the impression that the conversation he was about to have wouldn’t be raising any red flags. “They just vanished?”

“That’s what the coroner said. But we got a lead. One of the missing bodies, she died a whole week before everybody else.” You explained to him. Dean guessed that the cause of death was by suicide, however, it seemed a little less gruesome than he expected like the rest. “Reported as a car accident, but no reason it couldn’t have been.”

“So then that would make her a patient zero, right?” He suspected.

“I’m thinking maybe. Whatever got this whole curse thing rolling started with her. Sam and I are at her place now, corner of Burnham and 159th.” You said, giving him the address so all of you could meet up again to investigate this yourselves.

“Yeah, give me ten.” Dean said. You agreed with the plan before hanging up the phone, leaving him to contemplate of cutting the fun so short. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and looked at the bartender. “You know what? I will have that other one.”

“I thought you were working.” She said, giving him a playful smile.

“I am working up to it.” Dean chuckled. But he wasn't finding the situation he found himself in the least bit funny. The bartender grabbed the bottle from underneath and poured him another drink. She gave him a curious look, wondering if everything was okay. "No, not really. Relationship problems. Work’s getting...complicated.”

“Don't I know a thing or two about that. And this one’s on me.” The bartender got him this round out empathy for the man from the struggles he was slowly admitting to. “Anything else I can get you?”

Dean’s lips twitched slightly from her hospitality, knowing exactly what he wanted, but she couldn't possibly help him with this. “I’d just like the freaking truth.” He whispered. It was just wishful thinking for him to be the lucky one and get something honest without having to work so hard for it. But he didn’t think anything really of it. Dean downed the shot in one swallow and let out a breath. He looked up at the bartender and raised his glass with a smile, “But I’ll settle for another one.”

“Sometimes I think I can’t get pregnant ‘cause God knows my marriage is a sham.” The bartender must have heard all sort of stories from drunk people. You get enough liquor in someone and they just start spewing everything they ever did wrong with their lives. All their dirty secrets were open in the open. Sometimes it was easy to talk to a stranger. Dean gave the woman a shrug when she suddenly looked confused at why she just admitted something like that to him. “I mean, I’ve been snorting oxy all day...Wait. Why’d I say that?”

What she was admitting wasn’t some secret she might spill out to a close friend when everything got too hard to keep inside. And she sure wouldn't admit doing drugs in front of her customer. Dean slowly looked down at his empty glass, recollecting the cursed words that came out from his mouth. “I’m pretty sure I know.”

Dean needed to get out of here before he could hear another one of the woman’s secrets. He thanked her for her service and threw a twenty on the bar top, thinking it would cover the drinks and leave her with a hefty tip. On the way to the door, he passed the pretty woman, and while he would have given her a second look over any other day, today he couldn't be bothered. That didn't mean she stopped herself from leaning forward to take another sip of her drink and flashed him a flirty smile, show off what God didn’t give her.

“I’m sitting like this so you’ll look at my breasts.” The girl spoke up, making Dean stop dead in his tracks to look at her. She crossed her arms tighter and leaned over the table more to show off her purchase that was well worth the money. “I just bought them. I need a lot of attention.”

“Good luck with that.” Dean said, thinking the conversation was going to be done after that. He should have been heading forward to the exit, but, instead, he found himself retracting in his steps. It would be awfully rude of him to ignore such a sight. He gave her a charming smile as his eyes wandered to her chest for a split second, enjoying the sight of a woman’s body. She let out a giggle and quickly looked away in embarrassment. Dean parted ways with her, giving her a wink and headed out the door. He pulled out his phone and called Bobby, deciding to have a little fun. “Hey, anything you’re itchin’ to tell me?”

“Not, really.” Bobby said, presuming this call was only about wanting an update on his progress in finding out what was wrong with the younger Winchester. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Ah, that’s all right.” Dean mumbled. “I’m just testing a theory.”

“Well, I’m here hittin’ the books while drinking a nice glass of milk and watching ‘Tor and Dean.’” Bobby said. Dean became confused at what the man just admitted to, making him ask who the older hunter was watching again, just to be sure what he heard was right. “Tori Spelling. I’m a huge fan. Girl’s a real talent.”

“Oh, I guess it does work over the phone.” Dean noted to himself as he approached the Impala.

“You know what else? I get a pedicure once in awhile—this little Vietnamese joint.” Bobby didn’t seem to realize what kind of information he was spilling. Dean didn’t care about the crush on the washed up actress from the nineties. But what he was hearing was going to leave a mental scar no amount of alcohol in the world could make disappear. “This one gal—Nhung Phuong—her name means ‘velvet phoenix.’ Tiny thing, but the grip on her. She starts on my toes, and I feel like I’m gonna—”

“Whoa, whoa! Hey, come on, m—now I’m scarred for life.” Dean said. The image of Bobby alone getting his feet rubbed by a small woman was terrifying enough. Now it was complimented by things nobody should think about. “Thank you.”

“I never told anyone that. Why am I telling you?” Bobby asked, slowly realizing that he was spilling all sorts of private information that nobody knew of the intimidating hunter. Before the man could speculate anymore with his questions, the man found himself spilling a few more secrets. “Maybe ‘cause you’re my favorite. Well, second favorite now that I really got to know Y/N. She puts the two of you knuckleheads to shame. You should be more like her. Although, Sam's a better hunter than all of you. Lately anyway...Whoa. Why the hell am I telling you this?!”

“Because I’m cursed.” Dean explained to the man.

“Cursed?” Bobby repeated what he just heard. He lingered on the word for a moment, trying to figure out what kind of trouble the older Winchester landed himself in. It’d barely been a week since he got turned back into a human being. And here he was, jumping onto another problem he was going to have to help solve this time. “How is it that half the time you clean a mess, you end up dirty?”

Dean realized that he might not be cursed after all. He could get anyone he wanted to tell the truth straight to his face, their deepest secrets revealed. His lips stretched into a smirk when he began to think with a little more of a positive outlook. “Actually,” Dean mumbled. “This might be the best thing that’s happened to me in a while.”

“What do you mean? Dean...Dean, what damn fool move are you about to—” Bobby was slowly becoming suspicious of what the older Winchester was brewing inside that head of his. Dean didn’t reveal anything when he cut the man off, saying he needed to go. The hunter let out a sigh and agreed, only needing to get one more thing off his chest. “Okay. But did you know my first girlfriend turned out to be a—”

“No, no.” Dean quickly ended the call before things turned into a level of disturbance that would need actual therapy to get over it. He sat himself into the driver’s side of the car and stared at his phone for a few seconds. He shifted his lips left and right, contemplating for a moment if he really wanted to do this. It was an invasion of privacy. It was the wrong thing to do. But so was lying. Dean punched in your number and heard it go to voicemail a few rings later. “Y/N, it’s me. Listen, I’m on my way to you and Sam, but if you get this before then, give me a call back. There’s a few things I want to ask you two.”

+ + +

Hearing the truth from people that you loved could have brought a few people to the brink of suicide, but Dean wasn't that fragile. He was called every name in the book and knew his life was complete and utter crap, he didn't care if someone admitted they didn't like him or thought he was a complete screw up. That was fine. Because whatever he heard, there was a pretty good chance he thought about it himself at one point in his life.

Sometimes it was better to pretend the people around him were good people and they loved him. They would never do anything to hurt him. But that wasn’t true. Dean’s hunch made him realize that after the last vampire hunt, there was nothing good in his brother. Anything that came out of his mouth was a damn lie. He was acting more sneaky than the time he was hopped up on demon blood and running around with Ruby, the junkie whore. Dean just wanted the truth, he was so sick and tired of being lied to by the people that he was supposed to trust with his entire life.

He made it around to the location that you gave him a little after he promised of being here, but you weren’t in sight. Dean got himself out of the Impala and began to head inside, but the sound of his phone going off made him stop. He took out his phone and looked at the name, the one he’d been trying to get ahold of for the last week. He could feel his chest tighten up as he didn't waste a second in answering the phone, pretending like he hadn’t been calling her nonstop for the past week.

“So…I saw you called.” Lisa’s voice was calm. But Dean knew by the tone that she was trying to keep it together to have a nice, civilized conversation with the man she had opened herself up to.

“Yeah, it’s been crazy.” Dean circled around the car, hesitantly keeping this conversation going, knowing it’d be a matter of time until she brought up the elephant squished between the both of them. What he put himself into was nothing like he ever dealt with before. His consequences of that night had had stemmed far more than just leaving a scared Lisa. He hurt her son, and as the result, he had one pissed off mother to give him hell.

“Ben won’t even talk about it.” Lisa told him what she’d been dealing with since he left that night. Dean absentmindedly wandered around until he was sitting on the hood, making himself sweat even more from the warmth of the engine that was running just a few moments ago.

“Lisa, I’m sorry, but this is actually the…worst time in the universe to talk.” Dean said. He knew he sounded like a dick, but he was hoping that he could move this very important conversation when he didn’t have the ability to hear what sort of truths they were keeping. Because he knew Lisa had her own demons. Especially after how he left them. “Can we do this later?”

“You shoved my kid, Dean.” Lisa told him with an icy tone. “How about we do this now?”

Dean let out a quiet sigh, “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then how was it?” Lisa questioned him, wanting to hear his side of the story...the truth.

“I can’t really explain.” Dean admitted to her. Even though he wanted to tell her everything about that night, about how he got turned, he knew it would do more damage than good. The line on the other went silent for a few seconds. When Lisa spoke again, he heard her voice break, like she was trying to not let herself cry. But she wasn’t the least bit sad. She was pissed.

“You want to know the truth?” Lisa asked him. Dean knew it was a matter of time until it came out. He could have ended the call here and forget about her forever, but that wasn’t the right thing to do to someone you spent an entire year with. So, he embraced himself for the worst of what was to come. “You’ve got so much buried in there, and you push it down, and you push it down. Do you honestly think that you can go through life and not freak out? Just, what, drink half a fifth a night and you’re good?”

“Hey,” Dean defended himself against her. “You knew what you signed up for.”

“Yeah. But I didn’t expect Y/N to come back. And I’m glad she’s okay. I am. But the minute she walked through that door, I knew. It was over between us.” Lisa admitted everything she’d been keeping bottled up for months. Dean could feel his heart beat faster. “I tried, Dean. But you barely made an effort to move on from her. Do you know what it feels like to be second best? To know that I wasn't the first thing you thought of and the last thing at night? All I was asking was for you to slowly open yourself up to me. I did for you. You couldn’t. Except for Y/N, probably. Hell, you would do just about anything for her, huh? You two have the most unhealthy, tangled-up, crazy relationship I’ve ever seen. Honestly, it’s disturbing.”

“Lisa,” Dean tried to explain himself, “I’m—”

“Don’t you dare cut me off. I’ve spent too long biting my tongue. Shut up and let me finish.” Lisa cut the man off, not wanting to hear a single excuse out of the man’s mouth. “I tried, Dean. I did just about everything to make you open up to me. But you didn’t even budge, you didn’t even try to let go of the past. For God’s sake, you kept a picture of her underneath the pillow! How is that healthy? You wanted so desperately to be happy. You wanted to let go of the past. But here you are. Going after someone that only destroys you. As long as Y/N’s in your life, you’re never gonna get what you really want. I know you still love her, and I’m sure she loves you back. But… she’s going to keep sending you down the wrong path that’s paved with nothing but misery.”

Dean was prepared for just about anything to come out of Lisa's mouth. He expected her to call him a monster, an alcoholic who didn't know how to love anyone. Not even himself. He could understand if she harbored some unwell feelings about you out jealousy. But not to this degree. And even what came out of Lisa's mouth took her by surprise. She inhaled a deep breath as she fell silent for a moment. “That came out way more harsher than I meant.”

“It's not your fault.” Dean said, his voice was barely louder than a whisper. “I'm not saying don't be close to Y/N. I know the both of you are practically like family. I'm close to my sister, and I even have some exes of mine who are good friends.” Lisa said. “But if she or one of them got killed, I wouldn't bring them back from the dead! I'd move on like a normal human being.” “Okay, Lis...” Dean cut the woman off, he couldn't stomach whatever else that might come out of her mouth if given the chance. “I'm not gonna lie. Okay, me and Y/N, we...we've got a complicated relationship. No doubt. But you and Ben—”

“Me and Ben can't be in this with you.” Lisa muttered the words that the both of them knew were coming. But it still felt like a punch to the gut, even with her weak apology. “I'm sorry.”

Dean had a feeling their relationship was headed for the rocks. He would have been simply happy with the both of them agreeing to end it before it could get worse. But it was too late now. The one chance at his little moment of normalcy was gone. Just like that. Dean was now alone. He swallowed down his emotions and slipped his phone into his pocket. Sometimes you want something really badly, like to know what someone really thinks of you. They say be careful what you wish for. And not everyone can handle the truth.

“Hey, saw you from the upstairs window.” Dean looked up from the pavement when he heard your voice ring in his ears. He could feel his mood suddenly shift into slight panic when he saw you coming his way. Your lips stretched into a smile and approached the Impala. But when you began to examine his facial expression, you slowly looked concerned. “Are you okay?” Dean let out a heavy sigh as a chuckled came out at the same time, “Define okay.”

“Being away from Sam. God, he can get so emotionally draining sometimes.” You found yourself being lured into the curse without realizing it. Dean watched as you rubbed your eyes and let out a heavy sigh of your own. Only when you realized what came out of your mouth, you slowly furrowed your brow, as if you were silently wondering why you said such a thing. But it happened just a few seconds later. “Not that you're any better.” “Where is Sam?” Dean asked you, suddenly he didn't want for you to be the one who broke the news to him. He would hate himself for ruining something. You pointed over your shoulder to the building, saying something about how he was taking a peek around the dead girl's room after grilling her roommate's friend a little too harshly. He nodded his head and tossed you the keys, leaving you to get yourself comfortable in the Impala. Dean didn't waste a second running inside and heading up the staircase, only to find his brother coming down. His brother held up what appeared to be a small jewelry box, eager to show him what was inside. But Dean didn't really care about that. “We got to talk.” “Yeah.” Sam agreed. “What's up?”

“There's a few things I want to ask you, and you're gonna tell me the truth.” Dean told his little brother as he followed him down the staircase and into the empty hallway. “Uh, yeah, Dean. Of course. What are you talking about...” Sam absentmindedly rambled on about whatever sort of questions his brother had, but when he realized what was going on here, he stopped in his tracks. “Whoa. Are you saying you're...” “I asked for the truth. And you know what? I'm getting it. So, like I said, I have a few questions for you.” Dean said. Sam quietly scoffed underneath his breath, but it'd be a matter of time until the smug little expression on his face changed. Dean decided to start off with the most important question of all. “When that vamp attacked me, why did you just stand there?” Sam let out a quiet sigh. He suddenly fell silent, not a single word came out of his mouth, like he was trying to keep himself from telling the truth like Dean wanted. Or he was composing the right emotions to keep the con going. “I-I didn't.” Sam slowly admitted his fault. “I froze.” “You froze.” Dean repeated his brother's answer. “You have been terminator since you got back.” “I don't know. Shock?” Sam let out a heavy sigh. He was acting guilty here, say all the right words to prove that he was telling the truth. But there was no emotion behind it. Nothing. “And then it was too late. I feel terrible about it. Believe me. Dean...I can't lie here.” “Okay. How about you answer another question of mine. It’s been bugging me for a while now. And I need to know.” Dean said, deciding there was no going back now. What had been really bugging him all this time. He swallowed, preparing himself for whatever sort of response he was going to get. It didn't matter what it was. As long as it was the truth. “When you and Y/N were hunting together, alone…did you...Did you sleep with her?” “In the same bed? Once or twice.” Sam admitted, taking his brother’s question in the wrong direction. “It was uncomfortable as hell.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Dean cut off his little brother, his voice growing harder with irritation from how this conversation was going. He let out a sigh and composed himself to say the exact question that he needed answered. For the sake of his sanity. “Did you...Did you have sex with Y/N behind my back?”

A normal reaction for a sibling to be accused of sleeping with an ex girlfriend, the mutual best friend of both parties, could have been handled a few different ways. But Sam was under some kind of supernatural oath. He

to tell the truth. Dean waited for the young man to say something. Give him those puppy dog eyes and look nothing but guilty. In a twist, the end of Sam's lips twitched into a smirk, the same way when he watched Dean get turned. “You think...Is this what's been bothering you? You think I'd ruin my friendship with Y/N for a quick hookup? No, of course not. She’s like my sister. Just the thought creeps me out.” Sam was more surprised at the accusation as he let out a chuckle, playing along. “Dude, I would never do something like that. I know how much she still means to you. I mean, you're my brother. I'd never put your life in danger. And I wouldn't dare overstep my boundaries with Y/N—"

“Okay. Okay. Sorry. I...I thought—I thought I saw something. I...I guess I was wrong.” Dean said, apologizing for his accusations. He felt nothing but overwhelmed at his findings. He reached up a hand to rub his forehead when a dull pain began to settle in his head for what was going on here. “It’s just been a really, really bad day.”

“Hey. It’s okay.” Sam reassured his brother as he reached out and slapped him on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze for an added effect. “I got your back, all right? I always have.”

Dean nodded his head slowly. He watched as his brother gave him a smile before heading off again. The older Winchester had the ability to get anyone to speak their deepest, darkest secrets. Or whatever they wanted to know. And Sam had told it to him. Maybe his brother really did freeze up back there, maybe it was all in his head. Maybe his mind had been playing tricks on him all this time, making him believe in all these lies to convince himself of the reason why you fell out of love with him. Maybe there was no reason at all. Perhaps you had really moved on from him and you didn’t need the comfort of someone else to help mend the pain. And Sam was back from the dead with his new personality. Maybe that was the horrifying truth that Dean needed to realize.

[Next Part]

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rainbow-squirrels-7 · 7 years ago

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This time on Hawk’s DND campaign, aka The Kleos Guild... more golden moments

-the players had to find and apprehend a criminal called The Immortal Bandit, and they found him in a warehouse eating cheesy snack crackers (which were off brand cheezits)

-as this was based on Today’s Oh My Gosh, there were actually three bandits who switch places with each other every time one gets knocked out

-they chased the second bandit up three flights of stairs and surprsiingly no one was winded because of those good rolls

-the Bard went around the side of the building and shouted Vicious Mockery insults from afar, including “Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries!”

-the bandits all had mobster accents and they were named Tony, Jahnny, and Vocelli (who was named after our college’s local pizza place, as I couldn’t think of a third mobster name)

-the final bandit fight took place in a very small room that worked a crane apparatus and the Paladin bodychecked the second bandit into the room (at the time they thought there was only one bandit) only to find another identical person in the room, and the jig was up

-the Bard rushed in and got very winded climbing the stairs and had to take a breather

-the Paladin then ended up just sitting on the bandit she bodychecked, and the bandit rolled multiple Strength checks and got 3 every time, so he couldn’t do anything

-the Bard blasted Thunderwave through the window and hit the head bandit, Jahnny, into the wall so hard that he was stuck and couldn’t do anything for the rest of the fight

-the Paladin headbutted the bandit she was on top of (Tony) so hard that his head ricocheted and bounced off the ground twice

-the Monk’s player wasn’t there, so she was kind of in the background, and the players sent her off to go find the third bandit and she found him sleeping in the bunk and basically did a bullet punch straight to the face and came back dragging him and also with a bag of cheesy snack crackers

-the Druid tried to steal some of the money that they had just gotten back that the bandits had stolen and both the Bard and the Paladin were disappointed

-the next half was in the mines near the city solely so I could have the falling scene from Journey to the Center of the Earth

-there were also mica-like rocks that the Chief of Police Elf lady, Lily, who was helping the players out, begrudgingly explained were called ‘Growing Panes’ because they grow back immediately after they’re broken off, and also because “Miners love puns”

-I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who enjoyed the falling scene

-the Bard failed his Constitution saving throw and swallowed a bunch of seawater when they splashed down

-there was a giant squid fight and the Druid wrapped it up in vines and it was basically calamari in vegetable spaghetti

-the Druid tried to talk to the squid and all he said was ‘GET OUT OF MY POOL’ and then he slapped her

-the pool of seawater they were in had a Deep End and a Shallow End

-the Druid also tried to do some sort of animal calming spell (I can’t remember which one) and the squid’s intelligence was just barely too high. I said he did well in Squid School, which is for Squids

-the Professional Hero the players had been looking for the entire time, Rowena MacBeard, had the most epic entrance ever by getting the final shot in during the giant squid battle. her throwing axe came out of nowhere and she stepped out of the dark all cool and stuff

-i’m pretty sure the Bard and the Druid both said they were immediately in love with her and were only somewhat disappointed when I said she’s married

-but everyone loved when it was revealed that she was actually married to Lily. they’re the ultimate power couple: the Chief of Police with a real good Magic Missile and a Professional Hero with super throwing axe aim

-the app I use has me name individual fights, so here are some of the highlights: -the fight with the bandit who was eating cheesy crackers was called Don’t Cut the Cheese-the fight with the bandit who was running up stairs was called Wrong on So Many Levels-the giant squid fight was called Squid Squabble

-there was a giant foot-tall diamond in the wall of the cave and everyone rolled really well actually but I didn’t let anything work until the Bard pushed the gem instead of pulling it and then it triggered the water wave trap like in PMD Waterfall Cave

-they got spit out of the cave (which the Druid thought was like the cave was birthing them. i said it was barfing them up instead) right on the beach and they had their own tiny beach episode

-they all did sick stunts while being shot into the water. the Paladin rolled another nat20 on Athletics and did “like half a dozen frontflips super duper fast and ended in a perfect dive and everyone watching was like ‘ohmygosh that was so cool!’”. the Druid got her wooden shield and rolled well enough to surf on the waves as she was shot out, skipping like a tossed stone. the Bard didn’t roll as well and tried to do a swan dive but I said he’d get kicked out of the Olympics and he flopped. the Monk did a bunch of sick backflips

-they got ice cream on the way home from the beach

-Gerald, the man-sized frog in a fancy suit who’s a traveling salesman made another appearance, and it was amazing as always

-I make a lot of the items myself, and i’m very disappointed when no one buys them. it does not work out as well as Fantasy Costco

-one of his items was “Strange Liquid” which was basically Starbucks coffee that gave the user energy and advantage on their next Perception check

-no one bought it

-another item was Druid BrandTM Animal Crackers, which offered Speak With Animals to whatever animal the cookie resembled

-no one bought that either

-and in the end, the players got to the City of Paladins, Gods’ Doorstep, and my Paladin realized she was famous, they met a very very buff Teifling, and they signed themselves up for a Coliseum tournament completely accidentally called The Contest of Champions

-I completely forgot the one in Thor Ragnarok was also called that, but my name for the next session was already called ‘Totally Not Thor Ragnarok”, so there must be something there

-my Paladin may or may not be catching on to the fact that the whole thing is based on PMD

-of course I did base the entire second half of the session basically word for word on the Waterfall Cave scene

-but she didn’t recognize that the first half was also based on PMD, but it was the special episode Today’s Oh My Gosh

-the next few sessions aren’t directly based on PMD things, until we get to the Time Gear equivalent, which I hope she doesn’t recognize. Or at least if she does, she keeps it quiet

#Hawk plays DND #dnd #d&d #I don't feel like this session was as funny as the last one #i guess cause it was mostly a battle the whole time which I dont like t odo #unfortunately the entire next session is a colliseum tournament so... huh

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spacesaved · 7 years ago

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for the most part, my portrayal will follow the canon of star trek: alternate original series. however, here are some things i’ve added to my version of jim.

trigger warnings: abuse, starvation, murder, death, ptsd, traumatic mutism, bipolar disorder, & eating disorder.

with time & support, his symptoms have nearly disappeared, but he will occasionally have periods of ptsd related distress, specifically in the form of nightmares & anxiety, even in adulthood.

she is very affectionate & serves as an emotional support animal for jim as well as an unofficial therapy cat for most of the bridge crew, as those are the crewmembers closest to jim.

7. follow these links for romance & sex headcanons.

#《 ★ 》 about jim #《 ★ 》 headcanon

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