#i hope they add a feature where we can take pictures of our owned characters together

[kafkaesthes]

SHE’S FINALLY HOME

husband & wife being wanted criminals at the luofu

[moviecorner]

Welcome to the Movie Corner

(Originally Published in THE ALPINE TIMES - Issue 21)

RUSS GOMM – local filmmaker, photographer, writer and cinephile – shares his movie memories, knowledge and love of the cinema with you, dear reader.

Hi! Welcome to the first ever Movie Corner, I’m your host – Russ Gomm! I’ve been working in film for more years than I can remember (well, nearly thirty years!) and I’ve had a great passion of all things cinematic since I was taken to the Canon Classic Cinema in Herne Bay by my mum when I was three years old to see Return of the Jedi. She secretly hoped it wasn’t for me as she had no inclination to sit through a two-hour science fiction film, but it turned out I loved it and it started me off on my life long journey through film.

 …and yes, Jedi is still my favourite of the original trilogy.

I’m looking forward to sharing some of this journey through film with you in future issues of this wonderful publication The Alpine Times, but for now I’d like to take you back in time for a retrospective look at a film that is very dear to my heart…

BIGGLES

Biggles (1986) also known as Biggles: Adventures in Time (for the 1988 American release where audiences were unfamiliar with our British hero) is not your father’s take on the classic adventure stories by William Earl Johns - himself an English pilot during the First World War -but rather a flashy 80s action adventure crafted by veteran British filmmakers for the then upcoming MTV generation. Regardless of this I have fond memories of my own father and I together enjoying this new take on the wartime hero who was introduced to us via the wonders of the local VHS rental shop.

With the success of Back to the Future (1985) the production team for Biggles were keen to add a time-travel twist and an American sidekick, along with a fabulous soundtrack - featuring Jon Anderson (from Yes), Deep Purple and mötley crüe. A brilliant score by polish composer Stanisław Syrewicz (still a long awaited release by fans of the film) helped bring an edgy and exciting tone to the film, one that was designed to gain interest from new, younger audiences.

In the film, Jim Ferguson (Alex Hyde-White) finds himself transported from New York in the 1980s back to the Western Front in 1917 in order to assist our hero Biggles (Neil Dickson) in his mission to save the day! Much of the charm of the film comes from the humour of the obvious culture shock, the ridiculous 80s fashion and the slang terms that Ferguson brings with him on the trip – Biggles himself also gets to deliver some gleefully over the top wartime English dialogue. That’s not to say the film is a joke (as much of it is quite serious), rather the jokes make the characters (especially Ferguson) much more fun and endearing. There is plenty to keep your attention with fine locations, great action, fantastic aerial dogfight photography and very importantly our own dear Peter Cushing in wonderful form in what would be his final appearance onscreen.

Alongside Cushing there is another connection to Hammer Films as the film is directed by John Hough – a British director known for his work in the horror genre with films such as The Legend of Hell House (1973) but who also worked for Hammer Films and in particular directed Twins of Evil (1971)

As I have mentioned the film is great fun and is one I have revisited many times over the years on VHS, DVD and now even on Blu-Ray! There’s just something special about this one-of-a-kind motion picture, with so many memorable scenes and a great atmosphere of excitement and adventure which always takes me back to childhood. Sadly no other Biggles films were made. It would have been great to follow these characters on further adventures. I always wondered what it would have been like to see a war film based purely on one of the books, played straight with Dickson returning as Biggles. The closest we ever came was a scene starring Dickson as a very familiar character in all but name in the Pet Shop Boys video It Couldn’t Happen Here (1988)

The film divided audiences, some loving the somewhat cheesy playful tone and some hating it, but those who loved it remain loyal fans to this day. Chocks Away!

Since you are reading a publication with a ski theme I’d now like to welcome you to a small section I like to call SNOW-CAPPED CINEMA, in which we take a quick look at films set in the snow!

 Dumb and Dumber (1994) starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly (in their debut - four years later they would strike back with There’s Something About Mary)  has some of the goofiest snow set scenes I’ve seen. Chaos ensues during the finale of the film as our two “heroes” Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) arrive on the ski slopes of Aspen after a cross-country journey to return a missing briefcase. Who can forget the snowball fight between Harry and Mary (Lauren Holly) and of course Harry’s frozen tongue!

 I watch a LOT of films and it’s always great to uncover a HIDDEN GEM, and in this issue I’d very much like to introduce you to Come True (2020) directed by Anthony Scott Burns (also a synth musician under the name Pilotpriest) I first heard of the film through the amazing band Electric Youth, who had written some songs for the soundtrack (They had also scored his previous film Breathing (2018) but after Burns left the project it was retitled Our House and rescored – it’s also worth a watch though). I don’t want to say too much about the film – only that it is a clever and creepy sci-fi horror, with a decadent dash of synth and neon. Come True is a visually stunning and atmospheric piece, the presence of which stayed with me long after the film had finished. If this sounds like your cup of tea I highly recommend it to you. It is available on Blu-ray or currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Enjoy.

Now, it’s time for some MOVIE TRIVIA!

Did you know that Return of the Jedi was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi, but at the last minute director George Lucas decided that it wasn’t fitting for a Jedi to seek revenge! Posters had already been sent out to cinemas with this original title – some of them now being worth serious money!

Composer John Williams enlisted the help of his son Joseph Williams (lead singer for Toto during the 1980s) to help with the score of Return of the Jedi and to write lyrics for the Ewok songs!

Steven Spielberg was the original choice of George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi but was unable to due to restrictions as a member of the Directors Guild!

 TRAILERS

We’ve got some great films coming soon to the big screen, in particular I just can’t wait for Evil Dead Rise, a new chapter in the franchise helmed by brilliant upcoming Irish director Lee Cronin - check out his previous feature The Hole in the Ground (2019). Nicolas Cage stars as Count Dracula in Renfield, Ben Affleck directs and stars in Air – the story of Michael Jordan and Nike – also starring Matt Damon. Also heading our way is a remake of Salem’s Lot, Oppenheimer (from Christopher Nolan), and lots more sequels including Fast X, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and finally Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part One).

 EPILOGUE

That’s all the time we have for this issue, but be sure to join me next time for a look over the career of one of the greatest British directors of all time as we spend a year with Alfred Hitchcock. There’s just time to join me with a glass (perhaps even a glass of our very own Rock Lodge Lager) to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Olympus Has Fallen, the 20th Anniversary of Kill Bill, the 30th Anniversary of Demolition Man, and of course - the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi.

 Cheers, May the Force be with you!

[ovv3lv]

Intro

Hello everyone, my name is Haitao Qin and I present to you my three-part portrait series, entitled "Energetic Echoes". This project captures the vibrant atmosphere of our school life, mirroring the dynamic energy and spirit seen in educational institutions. Each portrait is a testament to the lively interactions and heartfelt moments that define our academic journey. Please join me as we explore these snapshots of life.

Who

My portraits are about Xu Ge, a really active guy in our school. Xu is full of energy and is always involved in what's happening. He talks a lot, laughs a lot, and helps make our school a lively place. I chose Xu because his cheerful attitude is contagious and represents the energy we all have here. He's the kind of person who makes school fun and exciting. His lively character is a perfect example of the buzzing school life we experience every day, and that's why I wanted to take his picture.

Why

With this project, I'm exploring the concept of energy and vibrancy within a school setting. These portraits of Xu Ge are more than just pictures; they're my interpretation of what it means to be a spirited student. I hope they inspire viewers to appreciate the lively atmosphere of their own educational institutions.

The portraits also reveal my affinity for capturing honest emotions and real-life moments. Through my lens, I seek to immortalize the essence of our shared experiences in school.

My work draws upon the tradition of portraiture, but with a contemporary twist. Historically, portraits were reserved for the elite. Today, anyone can be the subject. I'm emphasizing this democratization by choosing Xu Ge, a student full of life, as my subject.

As for contemporary practice, I use modern photographic techniques to capture the energy of my subject and his surroundings. The framing, lighting, and composition all combine to create a vibrant, active image, embodying the constant motion and energy found in modern-day schooling.

When

These portraits were captured over the span of a week, specifically in the dynamic hustle of the afternoon. This time frame was chosen to capture the peak of school activities and interactions, presenting a vivid portrayal of Xu Ge immersed in the vibrant pulse of school life during the liveliest part of the day.

How In these portraits, lighting plays a vital role in conveying the personality of our subject, Xu Ge, and the atmosphere of the space around him.

The photographs were taken in the afternoon when natural light adds a warmth and depth to the scene. This soft, diffused light creates a serene background, highlighting the typical school environment during the quieter hours of the day.

In addition to natural light, I utilized a Godox lighting kit to enhance the illumination on Xu Ge. This artificial lighting was instrumental in defining his features, capturing his expressions, and highlighting his dynamic energy. It helped separate him from the background, drawing viewer's attention towards him and his vivacious persona.

The mix of natural and artificial light resulted in a vibrant and engaging portrait, aptly mirroring Xu Ge's liveliness. In essence, the lighting strategy was designed to encapsulate the spirit of an energetic school life within the context of a quiet afternoon setting.

Upon completing the shoot, I used Photoshop for image sizing, ensuring each portrait fit the desired dimensions without losing any details. This process was crucial in maintaining the integrity of the captured moments. Then, I moved onto Lightroom Classic for post-processing, which allowed me to tweak the images subtly. Through contrast adjustments, color grading, and fine-tuning of lighting, I was able to enhance the portrayal of Xu Ge's vibrant energy and the dynamic school atmosphere. This combination of tools, Photoshop and Lightroom Classic, ensured my vision translated accurately into the final portraits.

What Much like Dana Lixenburg's "Imperial Courts" series, where she masterfully reframed the narrative around her subjects, my portrait series aims to shift the narrative around school life, presenting it not merely as a place of academics, but a space teeming with vibrant energy and enthusiastic individuals.

The story I'm telling through my portraits of Xu Ge is about the extraordinary in the ordinary. On the surface, he is just another student, but through my lens, he becomes the embodiment of spirited school life. The energy he carries, his active participation in school life, and his infectious positivity - all these aspects of Xu Ge contribute to the overarching narrative of a vibrant, energetic school atmosphere.

My portraits aim to say that each student, like Xu Ge, is a vital part of this energy. By reframing school life through the vibrant character of Xu Ge, I want to showcase how every individual's energy contributes to the overall dynamism of our school community. It's an attempt to appreciate the individuals that make up the bustling ecosystem of a school.

Thank you for listening, please feel free if you have any questions

[violettelueur]

ITADORI YUJI + FUSHIGURO MEGUMI + GOJO SATORU + RYŌMEN SUKUNA || WITH A CHUBBY S/O

| featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + gojo satoru + ryomen sakuna from jujutsu kaisen

| warnings : grammar errors and a lot of my side comments

| form : headcanons

| published : 23 november

| request : Hello! I would like to order jujutsu kaisen headcanons? Can I please have a large “itadori, megumi, gojo, and sukuna with a chubby s/o”? Thank you!

| barista’s notes : hiya! it is now 2:15am in the uk and now the end of my night shift ʕ·ᴥ·˵　ʔ i wanted to remind you guys that all of you are beautiful in every way, no matter what body type you have and like i will say on one of the headcanons, i believe the only time we get to judge someone is by their character once we truly get to know them (if you disagree then please don’t bash me on this - i got a few comments once i said this out loud to someone ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ) but i hope you enjoy this cup of classic black coffee and please come again soon! goodnight everyone, get some good rest all of you! ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ☆

ITADORI YUJI:

To be honest, I don’t think any of the boys will care that you are chubby - each and every one of us is beautiful physically, it’s our character that should be perceived in my opinion.

I don’t think Itadori would even mention about your chubbiness at all, but rather he would appreciate the little things that you do that intrigued him.

Like the way you write so neatly or the way, you would eat fish.

It’s the little things that he appreciates about you rather than your physical appearance.

However, if you were to comment about how you looked negatively, Itadori will immediately say the opposite because he genuinely knows that you are beautiful inside and out.

“Why am I so ugly? Ughh”

“Babe, stop, stop, stop, you are the most beautiful, caring and loving person I know. Please don’t put yourself down like that ever!”

Most likely, you would crush him into a hug because what he just said is the sweetest thing in the whole world - girl I would lowkey breakdown and cry, like….ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ

This boy will also feed you a lot of foods that had been introduced to him in Tokyo - this boy went on a food tour since he got to the capital.

Beef, sushi, burger, ramen, udon, you name it, he is taking you there to eat.

Of course, he would introduce you to them slowly because he knows that you have some likes and dislikes to food like any other person.

“Babe, this ramen is really good, the broth is so rich and the noodles are so chewy”

“Babe, you should try this waffle, it’s really good and sweet”

To be honest, he loves it when you wear his jumpers because no matter what you would look cute with whatever body type you have.

You just look so cuddly to him.

In conclusion; don’t worry how he thinks about you physically because to be completely honest, he really doesn’t care one single bit. 

FUSHIGURO MEGUMI:

Like I said before, he really doesn’t care what you look like physically if you have an unshakeable character, there is nothing more he could ask for remember?

To be honest, I think he really likes the fact that you are a bit on the chubby side - you’re basically the perfect pillow for him hehe~

He really likes to cuddle you and feel the warmth that is emitted from you, he just feels really safe in your arms and if you are in his arms, he feels like he is protecting you from the world.

At the end of missions, the team realises that he scrolls on his phone quite a bit more than he usually does, making them wonder what he was doing.

Basically, he texting you, asking if you have eaten or not making sure that you weren’t doing some stupid diet that you found on the internet.

If you haven’t eaten, he would order takeout when he would finish his own meal with his team and maybe add a few snacks here and there.

If you have eaten, Fushiguro will most likely ask for a photo of the meal that you have eaten or a picture of the dishes in the sink or on the drying rack.

Yes, man needs evidence - he really cares about you, you know, it’s really sweet.

There are also times where you would put on an outfit and just stare blankly at the mirror, leading to Fushiguro to quickly say something before you fill your mind with downgrading comments - girl if I slap that head of yours….

“You look really beautiful today,”

And he would look at you in the eye when he says this to you.

Those little comments he says to you really put you in a better mood even though he thinks they don’t make much of a difference.

He’s just saying what is on his mind - he really does find you beautiful. You are beautiful to him.

Overall, expect him to say little compliments every now and then as well as a lot of text messages - he’s just checking up on you, you better reply soon before he spams you.

 GOJO SATORU:

This man doesn't really give a damn on what you look like - no matter what he would still tease you to no end still.

He would come back with a lot of sweet souvenirs to share with you since he knows that sweets with a cup of tea really hits the both of you after an exhausting day.

He would always let you pick first on what you want to eat first and on the sidelines would comment on what he would recommend you trying if it’s the first time you tried one of the snacks he bought home.

He really likes to see you eat as you would always have that small smile once you take a bite on what you’re eating - if you are happy, he is happy.

If you comment on anything that you hate about your body, he would place a few cheeky kisses on the area that you have commented - it really doesn’t matter what area you are talking about mate.

“Are my hips too wide? Should I get a waist trainer?”

“Babe come here right now...”

And he would say that in a very stern tone - so you better go to him sweetheart before he drags you to him.

Expect a lot of cafe/dessert place dates with him, once again he would introduce you to his favourite flavours and he would buy your favourite flavours as well to try for himself.

You two seem like the couple that would share a milkshake - you know like the retro 90s theme cafe with the tall glass.

If anyone tries to say something about your appearance, I don’t think they would have the chance to even say what they would have said since they would feel knives being pointed at their heads or back - aka Gojo’s death stare with his shiny blue eyes.

In conclusion: he would kiss any part of your body that you hate and keep reminding you that you are beautiful in any way but feeding you sweets because why the hell not.

RYOMEN SUKUNA:

Sukuna, Sukuna, Sukuna, this man will be the death of me.

I think he would be a little aggressive when he tells you not to worry about his appearance.

Like if you say something that is completely negative about yourself, he would grab your chin and make you face him.

He would probably have an irritated tone as he reminds you that he isn’t with you because of how you look, but who you are as a person.

“Stop saying that you’re ugly, you are a sight to behold, anyone that what’s looks at you should ask for permission first before they are blessed with the sight of you”

Girlllllll, I’m blushingggggggg~

You interest him because you have an interesting and captivating personality and to be honest, I have an idea that he loves the fact that you are chubby.

Because that means he has more areas to mark you as his hehe~

You know that Sukuna’s love language is physical touch/affection, so he would just love to touch your body with no hesitation - probably roams his hands around as well

During a makeout, don’t be surprised when he would grip some part of your body - most likely your thigh, hip, neck, face, basically anywhere at this point.

He would probably leave a lot of open kisses upon your skin as a way to physically tell you that he loves all parts of you.

Sometimes, he would probably make you wear the other layer of his kimono because you would look so adorable and mostly like delicious to him - HAHAHA WHAT DID I JUST TYPE?!

If the both of you are cuddling, Sukuna will most likely caress any part of your body or trace his finger on your skin to feel every bump and trace every stretch marks before telling you that are you beautiful.

In conclusion; Sukuna will tell you physically on how much he loves your body and how much he really worships it (well...he won’t admit it but you can slowly tell over him)

[writingwithcolor]

Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400​ said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him. 

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters. 

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

 3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods. 

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao. 

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications. 

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures. 

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine)  , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again). 

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

 Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why.  We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

[herstarburststories]

illicit love

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x reader

Summary: Jensen loves you, but sometimes love isn’t the right thing.

A/N: Hey, guys! All we needed was a newish fic to say that I was really back, here it is! This one goes for @negans-lucille-tblr 6k challenge. So glad you got to another millestone, honey. It's like I was posting my part for your 5k celebration just yesterday! xD Prompt in bold.

Warnings: age gap, cheating

Jensen Ackles kept squinting through the bricks of his memory in an attempt to recall where it all began. Maybe it was when he drove off the road he had known for years with the dumbfounded desire to take the trails yet traveled, threading his fingers through your hair on the night of September 7th. He could’ve chosen the easy out and say it all started to crumble with the first kiss, but no. The actor, father, and now horrible husband highly doubted that. No, as he unwound the convoluted wires in his mind, it wasn’t the first clandestine meeting that he saw as the beginning, not the first kiss or the primal stolen glances. It wasn’t even the lies or the way he pushed his body against yours in an act of illicit faith.

Like any grand mistake, it was way before that. Just like how the church not-so-gently advised, it all starts with craving something you never thought you would want.

It happened when he landed the job in a new series after leaving a fifteen-year-long rollercoaster, pushing away any real witness to the fact the old show that swallowed part of his soul was over. There was a certain shock of excitement misplaced by the fact he was going to be working with Eric again, and that the show was an abrupt change considering what he had been doing previously. Now, he believed it was his body’s particular way of telling him that — as the savage animals can sense rain or a calamity — this, baby, this is gonna change your life.

JENSEN ACKLES CAST AS SOLDIER BOY!

‘’Since when have you read comics?’’ Jensen arched his messy eyebrows at Dee’s curiosity about the Homelander and Soldier Boy panel making it to the screen. Shaking the comic book in his right hand slightly, he continued: ‘’Especially that kind.’’

‘’Never,’’ Danneel stated plainly, “but I have Google. It was pretty much the first thing that appeared.’’

‘’Well, Eric said that scene won't be on the screen. Besides, the portrayal won't be that Soldier Boy, but the original one who died in the war. ‘Course, he wouldn’t have died there in our show, but it ain’t the panel one.’’ He shrugged, bringing her closer to his side as she snuggled against him. ‘’There’ll be a bunch of Herogasm, which is basically drugs and sex. Just not with Homelander.’’

Danneel nodded at his explanation, humor clinging to her words as she added: ‘’Guess the only man I have to share you with is still Jared.’’

‘’Hey, you knew what you were getting yourself into.’’ Jensen scoffed playfully before kissing her cheek. ‘’Can't wait to start the show.’’

Jensen leaned forward to rest the comic that he had been religiously studying to form a psychological character profile on the dashboard of the Impala. The actor was spending plenty of hours inside his most palpable Supernatural souvenir -- Baby. His safe place. He sure as hell needed one of those, as molding a whole character that has a bunch of source material wasn’t as easy as he pictured. With Dean, he was putting himself and the script in one until it made his imaginary best friend. It was love at the first sight. Soldier Boy, however, was a long story short. Jensen figured he should do both, honor the character created and add his own special ingredients to it. It was a brand new kind of passion that he hadn’t done for a series in the longest time. Still, his glance trailed back to the woman by his side in the backseat.

‘’Let's hope it won't last another decade,” she mocked.

Jensen shook his head with a chuckle, relaxing against the leather seat. Even the mere smell of the Impala was enough to settle his nerves. ‘’Eric has plans for five seasons.’’

Danneel’s features contorted as if having war flashbacks. Sort of. She never imagined Supernatural would make it that far, and now with three kids, signing on for another excessively time-consuming idea for a new show didn’t seem too appealing either. Yet, she would support Jensen in any decision he’d take regarding his job. “Remind me the last time I heard that line before?” 

‘’Come on.’’ He let out a wry huff, poking her side in a playful manner. She couldn't help but laugh, returning the gesture with tickles to start a very light-hearted battle. He seemed happy with the new job, something Danneel truly thought he would have more difficulty with. She’d pushed her weathered worries away with his easy-going laughter for now.

SOLDIER BOY’S LOVE INTEREST?

Eric Kripke threw the gossip magazine on the table, his eyes not straying from his long-time friend’s. He could’ve simply added the digital article to an irate email and be done with it, but he was a simple man with extravagant taste. That had been usual through his whole career, especially regarding the Supernatural aesthetic. Yet, in those mundane situations, Jensen almost found it too much. That wasn’t the case, though. If anything, the plain, yet still overpowering words that his green eyes scanned made his body sweat. He could even hear his organs working from the absolute silence of the blame that covered the room. Kripke’s room had never seemed more like an interrogation chamber than now.

The magazine in question held Jensen and your picture on the cover, his arms wrapped around your torso as he pulled you close. The most sequin smile hung from your lips like happiness was something that could be touched on that sunny day in the private park near the studio. Giant and garish letters made the headline along with the subline: Jensen Ackles wearing his Soldier Boy costume caught sharing a passionate kiss with the new arrival of The Boy’s Team: Y/N Y/L/N, also known on-screen as Cangaceira!

His voice came out as an accusation: ‘’What’s this, Jensen?’’

‘’We were…’’ The director just waved his hand to interrupt.

‘’Don’t try saying you were practicing a scene because I wrote the Soldier Boy and Cangaceira kiss, and it wasn’t here.’’ Acid tainted his words with no space for fake niceties on his set. Jensen remained in the chair, not even daring to make the most subtle move. Eric knew where he was hitting, and Ackles deserved a punch in the jaw. “The sex scene wasn’t here either, but you two added a lot of erotic subtext. Trust me, I know.’’

His shoulders fell in exhaustion. ‘’Eric…’’

‘’You’re lucky we were going to make those two a couple anyway. I can just put the kiss here and save your ass. What if that wasn’t the case, huh?’’ the director continued, more interested in spilling out his anger than listening to dumb excuses. ‘’What about Danneel, Jensen? You have a wife and kids, for God’s sake!’’

The breaking point. Jensen rose to his feet with sudden frustration, a growl leaving his lips as he pushed the chair to the side with uncharacteristic brutality. How could Eric bring up his family like this? And how could Jensen’s heart not bring them up when he kissed you before?  It was all a fucking mess, and he had no choice but to choke down whatever came out of it, even if it was poison and spite.

‘’Fuck, Eric! Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think it doesn’t pull me apart every time I go home and know I’m lying to the people who love me?’’ The vein on his neck popped as he spoke, emotion gushing thicker through his arteries than blood. Woe remerged under his skin as he swallowed dryly, resting his hands on the table and looking down. That wasn’t him. He had done a lot of things that weren't him lately. ‘’I have enough guilt here, pal.’’

Eric just glared down at the man’s outburst, furrowing before asking, ‘’What’s going on, Jay? You don’t just get up and cheat on your wife. That ain’t you.’’

He shook his head. ‘’I don’t know. Y/N’s just…’’

‘’At least 20 years younger than you,” he stated. ‘’Just starting her career and might be getting the homewrecker title if someone finds out.’’

‘’I won’t let that happen.’’

‘’How? You are gonna be more careful or will you cut it out and go back to your wife and three kids?’’ When Ackles didn’t respond, Eric sighed. ‘’Just stop this, Jensen. Let her go.’’

Jensen scoffed humorlessly. ‘’I can’t.’’

Kripke felt like talking to a teenager. He shook his head as he got up. ‘’Do you have any idea what you’re doing here? This could destroy your family, destroy Y/N’s chance to make a name when you already have your own. That’s selfish in all proportions, Jensen!’’

‘’I know, I know.’’

‘’She deserves more than this and —’’

‘’I know.’’

��’You are gonna mess up everyone’s lives —’’

‘’I know!’’ He slammed the table and winced, turning around with his hands on his head. If only he could stop his thoughts for a second and reorganize his feelings. ‘’Do you think it doesn’t rip my heart out that I can’t love her?’’

‘’Who?’’ The burning question was ready to set everything ablaze. ‘’You can’t love Y/N, or you can’t love your wife anymore, Jensen?’’

He couldn’t love you in public. He couldn’t love Danneel anywhere. Love just escaped through his reaches when you spoke his name like a prayer, and it was time to accept that.

‘’Both.’’

NO CHICK FLICK MOMENTS: SOLDIER BOY AND CANGACEIRA TALK ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THEIR RELATIONSHIP

‘’It's amazing to portray with Jensen. I’ve watched Supernatural since I was like twelve, which probably isn't advisable.’’ You chortled, answering the reporter’s question. Your body could barely contain your excitement under your skin, although, why would you want that? You did it. You got the job you had dreamed and worked hard for. To a bonus, you were working with Jensen Ackles! If there was someone that had earned the right to scream to the sky until your face was the color of the red carpet your heels currently stood on, it was you. ‘‘I was even a Samgirl!’’

Jensen faked a gasp next to you, a light spectrum surrounding the interview. ‘’Really? Me too!’’

You pushed his shoulder playfully while he chuckled. ‘’Anyway, I'm very excited to be here and portray a strong latina superhero. The representation’s very important, and to be able not only to cherish it, but to be a part of it doing what I love and inspiring people like me is… mythical.’’

‘’Wow, woman!’’ Ackles pursed his lips, clapping a little before shifting his gaze from you to the reporter. ‘’She likes the big words. I swear, dude. She’ll just come and in like, a casual conversation, say something like gelid or whilst, and then she's gonna say dumbass. Both sound smart as heck.’’

You winked. ''It's the accent. Makes everything sound nice.”’

Jensen nodded but was quick to sprinkle in an incendiary remark to his compliments. ‘’Yeah, I have never seen someone confuse coach and couch before. Go sit on the coach got a lot of wrong ideas.’’

‘’Hey, you sat on the coach!’’

‘’Because I’m a good boy.’’

You rolled your eyes despite the grin on your lips. ‘’Sure, mister hours-to-get-ready.’’

‘’Hey, plenty of face masks are needed to keep this — ’’ He pointed at his face. ‘’at fourteen.’’

‘’All I hear is that you’re old.’’ Your eyebrows knitted together. Jensen licked his lips at the sight. On any other day, he’d pick you up, say I’m gonna show you who’s old, and enjoy where your teasing had gotten you two, but he couldn’t do it now. You’d get what was coming to you after the event, perhaps even under the table if your dress allowed it, or in the bathroom, if you kept going.

The mischievous smirk on your cherry-stained lips proved that you knew what was going through his mind. God, you were his sweet death. Nonetheless, Jensen sighed dramatically and looked at the camera. ‘’This is what I have to deal with every day.’’

The reporter went on, happily surprised about how comfortable you and Jensen seemed together. Usually, new coworkers were timider around each other during interviews, especially when they were a romantic pair. The journalist decided to try getting a little sneak peek of the couple aspects of Soldier Boy and Cangaceira.

‘’It's definitely interesting.’’

‘’But not in the best way.’’ The only thing more messed up than Jensen’s relationship with you was the correlation between your characters. At least you and he had the purity of love, even if it was twisted enough to turn heads and churn stomachs

‘’Certainly not in the best way.’’ You agreed, bringing him back into reality as always. ‘’It's really nice to explore a couple that doesn't consist of two white people getting to it like most main characters of the shows in our current climate. It’s not the kind of relationship you should be rooting for — not because it's interracial or anything, that's pretty much the biggest, if not only, positive aspect about those two — but because they aren’t healthy at all, just as all main relationships in our show. It's not a romance series, and we certainly don't treat our couples like it.’’

‘’Told you she is the beauty and the brains.’’ His cheeks dimpled with joy and pride as he looked at you. Jensen knew how excitedly nervous you were about that interview. He couldn’t wait to tell you how great you were like you were born to sell dreams and magazines. ‘’But yeah, it’s a messed up relationship like any other in The Boys. After all, it's not a respectful, wholesome show. It's about gritty superheroes that ain’t got heroism. Soldier Boy isn't a good guy, and it translates in his relationship too.’’

You nodded in agreement, brushing his arm to keep you sane. ‘’It’ll be an interesting dynamic to see on-screen to our show standards, but it's not an actual picture of how a relationship should be.’’

THE BOYS 100TH EPISODE PARTY!

The glimmer of his green comet eyes caught your undivided attention in the throngs of people. The crowd had gathered for his family, his arm around his wife's waist as you both shared a tender, stolen look. You savored her wine and yearned for the man in her arms.

It was just a small celebration due to COVID’s lasting effects on public events. People from the set and their significants together were in the Ackles house for a couple of drinks, small talk, and a cake with The Boy’s comics printed on it.

‘’Aunt Y/N!’’ JJ tugged your dress, her mix of Danneel and Jensen’s features almost haunting your soul. Almost. You would never despise a kid for that — you didn’t even have the right to. If anything, JJ was the one that would graduate to hating you someday. You didn't have enough youthful stupidity not to know the risks of being in love with a married man. ‘’Auntie!’’

You leaned in the most that you could with the red skirt, glancing at the child. ‘’Yes, honey?’’

‘’That’s my new Barbie! I bought a beach one! She looks like you!’’ the blonde kid said with a childish joy that ached in your heart. You could end up destroying her family’s stability if Jensen went any further, yet there she was; buying dolls that looked like you and so happily babbling about it.

You were a monster. Love opened you up and planted greedy seeds, and now you were a monster growing like a beautiful tree that could never be strong enough to hold a kid as they climbed up. The fact that you could sense Jensen’s eyes on your ass didn’t help one bit.

‘’She does! That’s so cute, JJ.’’

‘’You can be her. I have one who looks like mommy, I’ll be her, ‘kay?’’

Your nausea was replaced by a pageant smile and a nod, and so you spent the night sharing longing stares with the dad and playing dolls with the daughter. It was a role that was never yours.

ILLICIT AFFAIR? JENSEN ACKLES SEEN ON THE BEACH WITH Y/N Y/L/N

‘’I can’t believe you did this to me, to our family,‘’ Danneel screamed exasperatedly as she threw her clothes in a bag and heart on the wall. Jensen just stood there, accepting the deserved fury. ‘’Ten years of my life, Jensen, and you just threw it away for a mistress! I gave up on my job to be a stay at home mom because you didn’t want a babysitter. I supported you in every moment. I loved you!’’

‘’I’m sorry…’’

‘’You don’t get to be sorry,” she howled, glaring at him with the hatred of an overthrown nation. She felt like he got to the podium and forgot to say her name. ‘’You let that woman get in my house, drink my wine, talk to my children…’’

Reflexively, he said, ‘’Our.’’

‘’Shut the fuck up! There’s no ours anymore, no us!’’ Her words had garnered a learned violence, much louder than the sound of the zipper closing her duffel bag. She threw the CC exclusive on the floor, holding onto the handle for dear life. He didn’t deserve to see her breaking, only her anger. ‘’You destroyed our family, you destroyed me!’’

He pleaded, unable to discern if it was for her or the guilt: ‘’Dee.’’

‘’I hope you’re happy. I hope you go to her, get her to sleep on our bed, and be happy for a month.’’ She gulped, pursing her lips. Her glossy eyes coupled with the pink hue of her lipstick brought back a treacherous memory of their wedding day. ‘’And then, I hope she cheats, like you did to me.’’

The next headline didn’t call it love.

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[supimjustwriting]

The Surprise of a Lifetime

Lilia Vanrouge x Reader

Summary: Beatrice was quite the skilled mage for someone of the age of 10. Whether it was because of raw talent or due to her very knowledgeable father, the young girl didn’t know herself. What she did know though, was that a spell blew up in her face and now she finds herself wondering about a place she only saw in pictures. She admired the forests her father talked so fondly of. Her neck strained as she tried to take in Diasomnia, only to be startled by a familiar voice.

“My, my. What is a beautiful young lady like you doing wandering around such a dangerous place?”

Child Name/Meaning: Beatrice (Latin) = Bringer of Joy

Author’s Note: Four is a lovely number! Not too many but not too little. Of course each character will have their own post. I hope you don’t mind that. If you wish for more of these in the future. I suggest to put them in beautiful bunches up to let’s say seven.

Thank you for enjoying my garden!

Love Fern

“Papa?” questioned Beatrice, head tilted like a confused puppy. Magenta eyes gazing up at the short figure expectantly. “Ah! I’m sorry sir. I guess I got confused there for a moment. I am Beatrice Vanrouge. Sadly I seem to be lost,” her voice started confident and proud. Only to fester to a shy whisper upon explaining her predicament.

The fae before her simply raised a brow at her. Surely this is simply the child pretending, copying the name from a book her parents must have read to her, they have good taste, as to hide her true name. What a smart child for knowing not to throw their name to the wind. After all you never know who’ll be listening.

“Shall I help you find your way? Surely a bringer of joy such as yourself doesn’t fancy wandering alone. May I?” Smiling softly, the familiar male offered his hand to Beatrice earning a shy grin from the little one.

~

The scent greeted Silver's nose before he noticed the small hand tugging at his pant leg. His eyes met with familiar magenta eyes filled with concern.

“He’s in the kitchen. I tried to tell him no but he insisted on feeding me something,” Beatrice explained as her gaze wandered to the new war zone once known as the kitchen.

Seeing such a young child in the dorm worried the knight but he had more important matters to attend to. Before finding this child’s real parents, he needs to stop his own father figure from poisoning her first.

“Good luck big brother,” Silver raised a brow at the new title before heading off. The Diasomnia dorm just got their kitchen redone from the last ‘cooking’ session Lilia had. He can’t rely solely on the monstro lounge for food. Tipping and the bill really starts to add up. Not even a rewards program. Smh.

“Silver! You’re just in time. I’m almost done cooking spaghetti,” as if on queue the pot on the stove boiled over a toxic purple. Only to have the fae casually beat it down with a wooden spoon. “Food like this really builds character, you know?”

He knew. In fact he knew all too well. Shaking himself free from his thoughts. Silver let out a sigh, shaking his head.

“You’re cooking for the child aren’t you? Don’t you think that the flavours you’re using might be too much for her?”

“Nonsense! The younger kids are, the more food you should introduce to them. That’s how you get rid of picky eaters,” Lilia mused with a bright smile. Easily pushing aside the visible shiver from his companion. “I know. I’ll even invite the Ramshackle prefect Y/n. They always send me recipes to try. I wonder if they’ll be able to guess this one. Fufufu ~”

~

Yet another invite from the infamous vice dorm leader from Diasomnia. Whether it was for tea, a walk in the woods, or simply saving making a meal for his beloved dorm members. A dull moment with Lila was unheard of.

Without a second to waste. You make your way to the dorm only to be greeted with not one but two short figures at the entrance.

“Mama!” Chimed Beatrice, her tiny form clinging to your waist. “Why didn’t you tell me they were coming? I was starting to think something happened between the two of you.”

“Lilia?” Your gaze flicked between his eyes and the child’s. It was like someone copy and pasted their eyes to match.

“Ah yes! The little one. Y/n, Beatrice. Beatrice, Y/n. Though it seems that you are already quite familiar,” he teased before letting you inside. “Beatrice? Can you set the table for us please? I’d like to talk to your mama for a moment.”

Making sure the H/c was out of earshot. Lilia cleared his throat, a look of amusement painted clear upon his features. “It looks like we have a little time traveller on our hands.”

Your eyes narrowed upon the fae earning you a look of dramatized hurt. “What happened to simply saying you ‘found’ the kid Lilia. I expected more from you than spinning a tall tale around a little girl,” you joked halfheartedly.

“That’s where you’re wrong dear Y/n. Beatrice talked of old habits I’ve picked up over the years and things I’ve noticed about you as well. Unless this child is much older than she appears to be. I believe she truly is telling the truth.”

“Why my habits though?”

“Why else?”

Bursting a circuit within your brain, your cheeks flared up like a wild fire. Lilia couldn’t help but chuckle at your cute reaction before leaning in to plant a kiss upon your cheek.

“I look forward to what the future has in store for us Y/n. For now, shall we join dear Beatrice for a meal with the others? Having you around truly does make this family feel more complete.”

[mangamushi]

Thoughts on Panorama of Hell

 (HINO Hideshi, 1 volume, 1984)

(warning for spoilers and disturbing topics)

In Panorama from Hell, a painter obsessed with depicting hell takes the reader on a journey to discover his life. His work, his neighborhood, his family members and family history are presented to paint a bleak and violent picture of hell on earth.

Hideshi Hino is a very big name of horror manga. Panorama of Hell is one of Hino’s most famous and acclaimed manga, and represents in many ways the quintessence of his style. When he draw Panorama, he thought it would possibly be his last horror manga (he didnt actually stop after that, though).

It displays all his favorite themes and even blatantly recycles ideas from his previous works. It is therefore is a very good entry point for anyone interested in Hino’s stuff. One the other hand, it feels a bit redundant when you are already familiar with his work, especially if you have read Lullaby from Hell, as both manga are very similar. 

As the title suggests, Panorama takes place in a hellish setting, described in great details by the main character.  He is a painter who uses his own blood to paint, and the world he lives is horrible in many ways: from his window he sees an execution platform operating non-stop, a stream full off trash and corpses runs next to his house, he lives in the smell of burning bodies because of the next-door crematorium... 

These first few chapters are so insistent on being as abhorrent as possible that I found it hard to take seriously. In the beginning it felt so exaggerated and lacking any subtlety  that it almost felt a bit comical at times, like the author was just stacking awful things on more awful things for shock value.

“his daily routine”

And it keeps escalating from there. Next, his family is introduced: cruel children with a dark sense of curiosity, a beautiful wife who seems straight out of a classic japanese horror tale (pale skin and long black hair, wearing traditional clothes...), until we go back in time to witness the story of his grand-parents and parents. 

It gradually becomes more interesting, especially the part about his family which shows deeply ingrained violence and insanity getting passed down from a generation to the next. It culminates when historical events (WWII and its aftermath, the atomic bombings) are shown, intertwining with the painter’s personal story.

Different kinds of hells complete each other (ambient with initial setting and scenery of desolation, a more personal hell with the intra-familial violence, and the wider-scale historical hell of war).

Overall, I find Hino less imaginative than  fellow “horror masters” Junji ito and Kazuo Umezu. Those two can come up with the craziest ideas, whereas Hino’s scenarios and imagery are somewhat more expected/conventional for horror. 

But perhaps the most interesting part of Panorama is the way it blurs the borders between reality and fiction. First of all, the main character, an artist who specializes in depicting horror, acts as a stand-in for Hino himself. This is fairly common in his work, his other manga Lullaby from hell even has an extremely similar character overtly present himself as Hino: 

The artist from Panorama is making his last, best painting, just like Hino who was thinking of ending his mangaka career with his strongest work.  Both the painting and the manga share the same title, “Panorama of Hell”. 

 The similarities between Hino and his main character don’t end here, and many elements of the story are actually taken from Hino’s own life: his grandfather really was a yakuza, his brother went into a coma, his father was pig farmer with a tattoo on his back...

Just like the painter, Hino grew up in the context of the direct aftermath of WWII. Both the character and the author were born in Japanese-occupied China, and were nearly killed when their family fled back to Mainland-Japan after the country’s loss. He takes inspiration from his own life and in the traumatizing things he witnessed and lived through to draw his manga. It is hard to discern what is fiction or not in the painter’s story. Many elements are obviously fantastical and folklore-ish, like the beheaded ghosts visiting the wife’s bar (this chapter feel like a tone-shift, it is much more whimsical, with the corpses happily eating their own body parts), yet the references to real historic events like the war and Hiroshima bombing still links Panorama of Hell to reality, to our world. 

The painter’s insanity makes him an unreliable narrator. Indeed, at the end of the story, the current members of the painter’s family (his wife, his daughter and son, his brother...) are revealed to have been fake all along : the wife and children are a mannequin and puppets, the brother is a pig’s corpse...

Moreover, by having the painter address the reader directly (”let me show you...”) Hino breaks the fourth wall that should separate the world of fiction from reality.

 This culminates at the very end of the book, where the painter throws an axe at the reader to kill them.

Hino’s art style is really simple and easily recognizable. The way he draws body horror and wounds isn’t very realistic, which makes the gore parts less shocking. His character’s simple, soft, deformed appearance reminds me of modeling clay or perhaps melting plastic toys.

I am even tempted to describe his style as cute. The big eyes, round features, and the way his characters are often miserable and mistreated by others...it is cute in a pitiful way.

Hino draws lots of babies, children, and baby animals which adds to both the cuteness and the horror. It also helps that I share Hino’s fondness for insects, worms and other similar crawling creatures...

There are figures based on his works that are just too cute! 

Hino often puts animals in his stories and even merges animals and humans. He writes stories where people transform into animals (Bug Boy) or give birth to inhuman creatures ( Unusual Fetus -My Baby ). Human bodies are more often than not hosts to parasites and maggots (Mermaid in a manhole...).

In Panorama of Hell, humans are executed one after the other like livestock in a slaughterhouse, and their bodies get dumped in a stream where they mix with other dead animals. Beheaded bodies try to put animal heads on to feel complete again, and the painter’s daughter is obsessed with animal corpses that she collects and dissects.

He doesn’t use any screen tones, nor does he use a lot of crosshatching as a mean to create different shades of grey, so the jet black ink creates a stark contrast against  the white of the paper. Some pages are beautiful and esthetically pleasing in spite of the repulsive contents. Especially towards the end of the book, which depict strange surrealist imagery as the world is falling apart.

His frequent use of pitch black silhouettes reminds me of shadow play theater  (which originates from China where Hino was born), as well as of Kamishibai (street theater using paper, which was very popular in post-war Japan). 

Kamishibai originates from buddhist temples and was often used to spread buddhist teachings.

Hino makes uses of buddhist concepts and imagery in his depiction of hell. Panorama of Hell could be compared to the Hell Scroll, a famous scroll describing the Chinese Buddhist conception of hell with text and pictures. 

↑ The “Blood Lake” and “Needle Moutain” in this panel refers to two of the different kinds of hells depicted in the Hell Scroll. The blood lake is exclusively for women.

Young women are only thing that are drawn in a conventionaly beautiful way.  However, finding beauty and fascination in the most horrendous things is a central point of Hino’s body of work. His characters are either artists or collectors obsessed with what fits their strange idea of beauty (cf. Flower of Flesh and Blood, where a woman’s dismemberment is an act of creation and a research of ideal beauty in the perpetrator’s eyes).

The contrast between the solid black shadows and the untouched white of the paper can give the impression that a strong, blinding light is hitting the world. The violent light emitted from an explosion, for example. Which is fitting, giving the importance of the Hiroshima atomic bomb in the story and its repercussions that still dawn on the characters years later. It’s like the characters are constantly bathed in the harsh light of the bombings. 

The Hiroshima bomb is called a “gigantic emperor from hell”, it rules over the character’s lives, even years after it was dropped. As a child, the painters created a replica of the mushroom cloud that he worships like a god.

Panorama of Hell is a very dark and pessimistic work, displaying a world where there is no hope and nothing is spared (not even the reader, who receives the painter’s axe!). In fact, the main character was already doomed before he was even born. Indeed, he is the child of the Hiroshima bomb itself: his mother got pregnant as she was hit by a beam from the explosion. 

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Our Names in a Heart

Fandom: WandaVision Pairing: Wanda Maximoff/Vision Rating: G Word Count: 1190

Summary: Wanda watches sitcoms. Vision watches Wanda.

“Wanda, may I say something?” Vision asks.

His host halts in the process of queuing up the next episode of I Love Lucy. Oh, he does enjoy this show, particularly the zany moments of tension arising from the heroine failing to effectively synchronize her actions with those of the machine at which she works. People and technology are able to exist so harmoniously now, he thinks, expression soft as he studies Wanda’s face.

“Alright.”

She gives him a reassuring smile and his own grows in confidence. He’s noticed this about her: she’s usually more at ease the further back into television history they probe. Though still frequently standoffish, and even cold, when questioned directly about her past, she has revealed bits and pieces to him, enough that he understands the significance of sitcoms in her life. They are a tie to her childhood, a reminder that comforts rather than aggrieves. She is less defensive as she retreads the familiar ground of the Ricardo residence with her eyes.

“I’ve noticed a pattern with many of these shows. Now, I know I’m not meant to be analyzing them,” he adds before she can interrupt. “Believe me, it’s nothing so very astute. Perhaps so obvious that you would not consider it anything worth remarking upon.”

“Well, now I’m curious,” Wanda says, leaning back against the wall and holding a cushion to her stomach.

He has observed this behaviour in her before, but it’s gentler now. She doesn’t squeeze the cushion to her body or grip until the ends of her fingers turn white. The motion is relaxed, like her posture. Vision has been entirely alert to the gradual changes as they pass largely conversation-free hours watching television together. The way Wanda leaves the door to her room open in invitation when she desires his company. The fact that they’re no longer seated on the edge of the mattress but all the way back, the stand on which her television sits wheeled to the foot of the bed. With these physical signs, she’s begun to let him in. Her thoughts though… her feelings… They are not so easily accessed.

“You tend to prefer series featuring… families.” He hesitates briefly before the last word, wary of upsetting her, but the lull of the 1950s sitcom they’ve been watching appears to hold.

“Yes, they… remind me of better times.”

“Of course. Frequently, these families have children.”

Wanda smiles absently, staring at nothing.

“Pietro and I used to replicate what we could. I’m not sure which was the greatest gulf to span—limitations because of the war that raged around us or the differences between Sokovian and American culture. Certain children’s antics are universal, though they only ever made Mama and Papa laugh rather than scold, but we would also pretend that Pietro had to practice for football tryouts, or that I had some trivial crisis the day before the prom. We had such an incomplete picture—” Though her laugh is short, it warms him. “—but that imaginary world seemed so rich, so big.”

“Do you see yourself in them still? The children?”

Yesterday, she introduced him to The Brady Bunch. There were so very many children in that series into whose lives she may have wanted to step.

She blinks and Vision’s sorry to have pulled her from her memories.

“Somewhere in between,” Wanda says. “It’s the feeling of it. The completeness. The children will always cause trouble, the parents will always protect them. The parents encounter their own obstacles, which are always hidden from the children. It’s all ridiculous, but… the love is real.”

“Especially on this one,” he suggests, gesturing towards the television. “The stars were married in real life.”

“True. Even when they’re just actors, the illusion can be enough.”

“You were never bored? Some of these series ran for many, many seasons. The children grow up.”

“And the parents grow old.”

A tear escapes the corner of her eye and Vision leans towards her, alarmed, but she swipes it away on the cuff of her shirt.

“They begin to, anyway,” Wanda corrects, that momentary pinch of melancholy vanishing from her features. “The shows always end while the actors still look young.”

“Hmm. Yes.”

Vision settles back against the rails of her bedframe. He won’t press her any further, doesn’t want his perhaps needling questions to perforate this sanctuary she seems to construct every time they sit down next to each other and fix their gazes on the glow of the screen, laughing at so many silly, happy families.

Wanda sighs and shifts. Their hands brush and Vision stares at them, flying rapidly through his established protocols in search of a suitable reaction, but she slips her fingers between his before he has an answer. The music of the next episode starts and he sees the heart appear on the screen, his eyes following the path of the line that traces it. How safe the actors’ names seem within it. A cartoonish symbol of love, yet also promise, stability, and one that is never misunderstood.

He never tells her, but part of the reason for this routine of imposing his presence in the evenings is to help her through the loneliest hours. If he remains with Wanda until she begins drawing her blankets up over her legs and closing her eyes during the title sequence, Vision knows she’ll fall asleep soon after he departs. Before this began, it was during these hours that he would hear her muffled crying. He doesn’t mean to impede the natural course of her grief. He hopes he isn’t doing that. He only intends to smooth the road she must take, ideally by distracting her with the occasional discussion on the periphery of her feelings, or else by simply sitting quietly at her side.

Tonight, he drifts out of her room with an idea. A foolish idea, an incomplete plan. The kind of ill-conceived scheme that a character on one of Wanda’s favourite shows might attempt and face the obvious consequences of shortly after. He’ll keep it private. He’ll “oh, nothing” it away when she catches him staring at her consideringly and asks what he’s thinking about. But on the inside, Vision will dream.

It will begin with an evening like this. The two of them, watching television. A room where she can feel at home within a building where she feels safe. He will find the walls and she will be the life between them. It will be after all of this conflict, when her grief is smaller and her love doesn’t have to work quite so hard to persevere. Returning her family’s home to her is impossible, but a different one? With a love just as real? One where the years may pass and pass and pass, his own face unchanging, his back never to hunch and his heart never to tire? Will she accept this clumsy charade of how it could be to grow old together when he offers it?

Could she sleep where the door was always open?

He never wants to be more than a room away when he leaves her.

[pawpadink]

Art Feedback Session - Spookydoesstuff

"Our task was to make a mock intro to a show using our own original stories, either ones we had in the past or ones we made in class. I used Adobe Animate, which isn't very traditional for art to begin with.

I wanted something dramatic and more anime-esqe (inspirations being Persona 5's 2D animation, as well as the Cowboy Beebop intro.

The render itself didn't turn out as high quality as I had hoped, but that's on me for not figuring out how to render in a higher quality. With my time crunch (I had put off working on this until I had 1 1/2 days left, on top of a project for another class.)

I feel this could have been better? But I'm satisfied with it. I just wished someone had said something, even just asking about my characters (I dont generally ask here, at least about these specific ocs, just because I've had them so long and I want to give out more of their story through context and art. But in that class no one had seen them before and I would have loved explaining their story better than just 'alien cats')"

-- Spookydoesstuff

So! Let's start with the good. The color contrast is lovely, the bright red against the monochrome is a classic high tension color combo that really sells the adversarial stress of the scene. The characters themselves each have their own unique silhouettes, which means if you just filled each of the characters in with pure black and then showed me their reference sheets I could easily identify which character is which. The line work here is very crisp and clear, which for animation lends very well to streamlining and simplifying things. Your style itself applies very nicely to an animation style, again, thanks to its general simplicity will make the whole animation process much easier than a more detailed or complex style or design.

When thinking of areas of improvement, the first thing that is brought to my attention is expression. With the four-eyed cat in the second image, at a glance it's hard to see he's furrowing his brow a bit and his current expression comes across more as a neutral expression than a concerned, worried, or frustrated expression. I would recommend here adding a bit of emphasis on the expression with the eyelids or eyebrows so that it goes into the general shape of the eye instead of just above it or add a stylized eyebrow so it is more visible against the dark fur. Due to the thin line art, the line that marks where he's furrowing his brow is hard to spot.

Your art would also benefit from expression through body language! Cats, in particular, are incredibly expressive through body language. The ears in particular here are showing no emotion- Cats when anxious, scared, or angry will pin their ears back. Perhaps a bit more emphasis on bristling fur too- in the nape of the neck and the tail. Fluffing of tails is not just fear, but also aggression when raised high or thrashing. When curved it's fear. The nervous cat in the second picture might want to be keeping her head a little lower, as nervous cats will duck down, especially if submissive. Of course, since these are not standard cats, you are welcome to take these cat behaviors and alter them to your alien culture's standards! Go wild!

Also, look into playing with the line of action a little more. Even with characters that are standing still, exaggerating some curves in their body will add a hearty dose of personality. Plus, look into the 'law' of stretch and squish- I use the term law here loosely, it's more of a guideline.

(Here are some image scans from a book called Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair, and there's a lovely tutorial on expressions from the comic Lackadaisy here!)

Next I'd like to mention the shading. There is a bit of an inconsistency between the way you shaded each character. Although lighting direction was ignored for style here, the particular techniques used for each piece should remain the same throughout each frame of an animation, each panel of a comic, or between related images in general. In the second photo, the highlights on the four-eyed cat almost looked like fur patterning, so maybe refining that highlight by making it a little darker would make it more obvious it was a highlight and not a change in fur color?

I think if you were given a little more time you would have managed with the shading, but still something of note to keep in mind for the future~

Finally I would like to address the environment... or the lack of it. The bright red background is lovely, especially in this grey scale-pop style of colors. My only issue is that it feels like they're floating in some red void- you have the darker red to denote the ground, but it doesn't feel very consistent with where the characters are placed and there's no shapes in the background to denote any kind of environment- no tree silhouettes, no building silhouettes, or any other objects that could denote where the characters are.

Above is an example from Persona 5 which kind of shows what I'm talking about. Looking at some perspective tutorials will actually show you a way you can manipulate the floor or gradients to help add some solidity to the ground. With this style I wouldn't even say you would need to add nearly as much detail to them as Persona 5's art- just some dark shapes and perhaps a gradient of sorts to give a sense of location to the scene would help.

Overall, wonderful job! My first impression was 'Oh hey this looks like something from Persona 5!' so you really got that feel you were looking for. You also immediately get a sense of relationship here- from an outsider's perspective with zero previous information on who these characters are or how they are related. You can clearly tell the four eyed cat is protecting the female cat in the back, and there's a sense of either accusation from the one-eyed cat or threat, and that the other two almost seem to be distressed as if they were once close to this character.

Keep up the good work, don't feel discouraged with the lack of feedback from your class. I really feel with a bit of practice in terms of expression and body language you can really make some great waves with your art! You have a great foundation.

In terms of art program recommendations, my wife and I both use Clip Studio Paint. You need the EX version for feature length animations unfortunately, but the PRO version is much cheaper and lets you do some very short animations however it is a very powerful illustration and comic tool as well. Krita is a totally free program that will let you animate as well and has a pretty robust illustration feature itself, but I'm not sure if it has anything specific for comic making.

A big thank you to Spookydoesstuff for being our first review and for being so pleasant to speak to! Please check out more of their art and their blog by clicking here to go to their tumblr!

[daisylincs]

Today is, officially, the last day of 2020 - so it's literally just in time that I'm getting to @aosrecweek's amazing challenge. But that does go to show the nature of this crazy year a little bit, right? Time has just been INSANE, and I honestly cannot believe it's so close to over.

That said, I want to put it out there that everyone - absolutely everyone - who created something in this mad year, is a SUPERHERO. Like. We could have hidden away in dark corners, curled into little balls, and lost touch with our creativity entirely - but instead, we made some of the most fantastic content I have ever seen. And, excuse the language, but that is fucking amazing, of each and every single one of us. We're bloody INCREDIBLE, you guys. We really are.

Now, the rules of this challenge dictate that I've got to start with some of my own things, then repeat with the same number of creations by other people. So I'm going to do that, and I apologise for the sheer length (and self-plug-iness) of what is about to follow - but, bloody incredible, remember? I really mean that. 💜💜💜

My Own:

you could call me babe for the weekend - 19k of Spideychelle being oblivious, mutually pining IDIOTS while being snowed in. And, you know, fake dating. (This thing was SO MUCH FUN to write and though, yeah, it got completely out of control, as evidenced by the 19k, I still really love it.)

'tis the damn season - my first attempt at writing a multi-chap, and, yeah, it only has one chapter as of now, but I really love said chapter. Basically, it's Daisy and Mackelena being friends, and honestly just the BEST friends - I adore the style I managed to achieve in this thing. Plus, the Skimmons I have planned up next is going to be da bomb.

the closest thing - Philindaisy plus fake family. Also; amusement parks. And for a fangirl like me - well, it was pretty much a dream come true to write!

oh valley of plenty - in this fic, I basically told myself, so AoS won't give us Huntingbird in the finale? Fine. I'll just do it myself then - in the fluffiest way possible. And that's exactly what I did - making them, and their kids, be best friends in Perthshire.

maybe life should be about more - a very angsty Skimmons and Daisy-centric AU, focusing on the internalised homophobia Daisy has experienced through her life, and shaking it off (and eventually, y'know, getting together with Jemma.)

and it's dark in a cold december (but i've got you to keep me warm) - Fitzsimmons just make such a supreme pairing for hurt/comfort, what with how insanely well they understand each other and care about each other, so I'm really glad for the Fitzsimmons Secret Santa giving me the chance to write this! Basically, this follows our science duo through a stressful mission on Christmas Eve (so yes, it's a mission fic!!) and realising that the two of them can do anything together.

july second - ahhh, one of my personal favourites to write! Daisy birthday surprise fluff will always be top-notch for me, especially for all the team-as-family fluff you can add in, especially especially that this is set in Staticquake times! Also, it's from Hunter's point of view, which will forever be the most insanely fun thing to write, I do think.

i just wanna be with you - man, I'm such a big royal fan, so getting the chance to write a modern royalty AU for my OTP was nothing short of amazing!! This is Princess Daisy and her fiancée Lincoln Campbell at their official engagement interview

see the line where the skye meets the sea - shameless season 1 bby Bus Kids fluff, featuring movie nights, singalongs and... so much fluff your teeth will rot. Also I'm really freaking proud of the pun in the title okay

'cause all that you are is all that i'll ever need - Huntingbird waking up together fluff (because, fight me, Huntingbird in their sweet moments is one of the sweetest things you will ever get to read or write.) This is also my, fluffy, take on the origin of the Franny's Saloon keychain.

we love you, we love you (and we hope you love we too) - aha, my first polyship fic! Also my first try at some actually fancy HTML formatting (forever thanks to Kat for explaining.) Both of these things combined to form a fic that even I think is ridiculously fluffy and funny, and kinda amazing, at that.

and man I don't know where the time goes (but it sure goes fast like that) - Another Bus Kids movie night fic, but this one set post-season 7, and reflecting on how far they've come. A little bit more hurt/comfort-y than it's pure fluff prequel, but still super fluffy and soft. And, of course, with a happy ending.

she shares my dreams, i hope that someday, i'll share her home - snowy Fitzsimmons fluff, complete with them falling in love at the Winter Olympics, as you do.

then you walked in and my heart went boom - 16k of Dekesy for the wife, and remarkable for that, because literally a month ago from this, I hated Dekesy with my entire soul. Then I started reading Kat's fics, and, well, fell in love with them... so much so that I wrote sixteen thousand words of enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, bed sharing holiday fluff for them.

a love like that - a Fitzsimmons Cinderella AU, featuring my two favourite science babies, in true science bby style, falling in love over science and how stupid the whole courting thing is. Also, Daisy makes a brief appearance, and she's the freaking best.

ever after - ah, probably the one single fic I'm proudest of. A post-season 7 Daisy character study focusing on her emotional rollercoaster re: losing her family/things never being the same again, which just achieves... an emotional level that I have never managed to replicate again. I was full-on sobbing while writing it, and, guys, it also part-holds the Closest To Making Kat Cry prize.

blue - Daisy character study spanning snapshots of seven seasons, and before - but tied together by something blue in every moment. Researching for this, and finding all the blue moments, was very interesting, and immensely satisfying, especially since all the moments where a little bit of blue was present actually combine to chronicle Daisy's journey on the show remarkably well.

who is that girl I see - the one time I decided to write straight angst, and straight angst with no happy ending. Melinda May post-Bahrain, folks.

take my hand, take my whole life too - aww, the first thing I wrote that I really and truly loved. A Staticquake and Fitzsimmons Actors AU, featuring a proposal on set and INCREDIBLE amounts of fluff and softness.

hold out your hand, 'cause friends will be friends - the wife's favourite, and, as second fics go, pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. It's a Soulmates AU for Staticquake and Mackelena, with the focus being on DaisyMack friendship, and lots of denial, angst, and guilt about finding their soulmates. (They figure it out eventually, don't worry - it's me, of course I made them happy.)

Fitzsimmons + Fake Dating moodboard - Fake dating will always be FAB, and picturing it out in a moodboard - especially for my clueless bby best friends in love - was the best, and super satisfying.

Staticquake + Orange moodboard - One of the cooler ideas I had for Trick or Treat (which I still have not finished, heaven help me) was to make a series of moodboards for my OTP plus different colours. This orange one is just so light, and cheerful, and happy, and honestly I kinda adore it.

This Philindaisy + Family Moodboard - making moodboards can be insanely frustrating when you just can't find the photo that fits exactly right. With this one, however, I found all the pics I needed pretty insanely fast, and, better, the whole thing just worked, and really nicely so, too.

This Bus Kids + Baking Cookies moodboard - there's absolutely NO faults to be found with tiny, adorable Skye, Fitz and Jemma concocting choc chip cookies - but I'm actually doing a tiny cheat here, because, cute as my moodboard here is, the accompanying fic by my love @eowima is the SWEETEST and best thing you could ever wish for!!!

This Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week Photoset - Day 3 of Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week focused on an emotion, and I picked confidence and power, because honestly, it's nothing short of amazing how confident and powerful our gorgeous girl has become.

This Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week Photoset - One of the times I wish I could gif, because this quote about struggling though never giving up just suits Daisy perfectly. The photos I found are cool, though, and I mean, it's Daisy, so that's already absolutely fabulous.

Other People's:

I managed to find twenty-six of my own things that I liked enough to put up there (because, yes, I'm that big a dork, 26 things for me being 26 is the way to go :D) Anyway, now that gives me the amazing chance to spotlight twenty-six of my favourite creations by my FANTASTIC mutuals! 😍

To start, my wife - Kat said I couldn't put everything she's ever written on here, so, ugh, I guess I'll just do my top five then. *grumbling* Everything by Kat is on here in spirit, though!!

Chasing Cars (even after the story ends) by @aleksandrachaev - the epic Dekesy roadtrip AU and incredible Daisy character study itself, which, I do believe, finishes today!! Words aren't enough to describe how freaking AMAZING this thing is, or how spectacularly well characterised. Just: if you haven't read this yet, you are missing out. You will laugh, you will groan, you will want to wrap Daisy in a very tight hug, and you will probably cry, too. This fic just has it all, really!

there goes the maddest man this town has ever seen by @aleksandrachaev - the post-season 7 Deke-crashes-the-Framework-Zoom-call fic I didn't know I needed (but spent the next two weeks rereading every single night.) It is absolutely INCREDIBLE, with all the Deke & Team feels we missed in the final outro scene, and honestly just the most fantastic writing. I cannot recommend it enough!

To Box It Up And Start Again (everything must go) by @aleksandrachaev - bloody hell, this BROKE me. Deke never really got to say goodbye in canon, but Kat gave him the chance to do it here. And, my freaking GOODNESS, she made it so incredibly bittersweet and heart-shattering. 10/10

i am a leaf on the wind by @aleksandrachaev - a little bit of a stretched-out, reflective moment in the season 7 finale. As Daisy lingers on the edge of death, she reflects on all the lives she could have had - and, man, what a study in bittersweetness!! This entire fic is utterly incredible, and something I think all Daisy fans should read.

Falling Into Place by @aleksandrachaev - here's a tiny cheat from me (sorry, babes, lmao) because technically this isn't one fic, but a series of three. Way too amazing to miss out on, though!! Set mid-season 7, this has the Chronicoms go after a young Mary Sue Poots to kill Quake before she can become a problem for them. They stop the Chronicoms, yes, but not without a TREMENDOUS dose of feels and hurt/comfort. There's also a wonderful little dose of Dekesy friendship, and then an adult adoption (!!) that honestly made my entire day to read. Actually, that's true for the entire series - I really canNOT yell about it enough!!

destroyer of worlds by @bobbimorseisbisexual - a study in incredible parallels between Jiaying's daughters. Utterly breathtakingly done, this will give you ALL the feels for this small and complex Inhuman family.

Muscle Memory by @robotgort and @bobbimorseisbisexual - a Huntingbird!! Bones!! AU!! And also a collaboration between two of the most fabulous Huntingbird authors in the fandom - honestly, what more can you ask for?! This will make you laugh, and gasp, and wince, and keep you guessing at each new plot twist (and also screaming at your screen for Hunter and Bobbi to get their acts together and TALK ABOUT IT.) In short: it's completely and utterly amazing, and I cannot, cannot recommend it enough!!

You Belong Among the Wildflowers by @libbyweasley - a freaking incredible Scis & Spies Regency AU! I only just started reading, but I was hooked all the way through, especially on the way Libby writes all four characters' complex relationships (and their attraction, and their history!) Everything about it is just completely stunning, and I for one cannot WAIT for these beautiful idiots to figure out they all belong together.

Family Snapshot by @tomatobookworm - if it's family fluff you're after, especially Staticquake family fluff, look no further! This tremendously soft and utterly amazing fic follows a day in the lives of a pregnant Daisy and her husband Lincoln, and their not-so-little family of Inhumans, both adopted and biological. There's also shopping with Grandma May, lots of feels, lots of shippiness, and just AMAZINGNESS all the way through!!

Best Day Ever by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly - Jemma and Daisy want to adopt a pet, and make a very special trip to Wisconsin to do it. Also, whether he knows who he is or not, Jemma has an important question to ask Cal - and just, AHHHH, everything about this is utterly stunning! For starters, Aubrey's writing is FANTASTIC, and the scene she sets is absolutely beautiful, and so very bittersweet. I was actually misting up a little with happy tears towards the end of this - really, I cannot recommend this enough, to any Skimmons fan.

so why don't we go somewhere only we know by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly - more Skimmons (platonic this time, though), more hurt/comfort, and, yes, again, more absolutely INCREDIBLE writing. This one is canon compliant, following a shaken Jemma struggling to sleep after Maveth, and how Daisy finds a way to help her out. Incredibly sweet, tender and BEAUTIFULLY written, this one was an instant favourite the moment I read it!

Unspoken by @anxiouslynumbme - a birthday fic for yours truly, and, honestly, one of the most STUNNING Staticquake introspectives I've read. It follows Daisy and Lincoln in a beautifully tender missing moment in season 3, with them both realising their feelings, and just... AHHHHHHHH, everything about it is utterly incredible!! I cannot, cannot recommend this gem of a fic enough

the thing about water droplets and ruffled hair by @que-mint-tea - here's another fic that proves, once and for all, how good Kat's Dekesy is, because it managed to convert T to write some Dekesy smut. And, oh my GOSH, what Dekesy smut - so goshdarn angsty, but so FANTASTICALLY characterised and written that it leaves you more than a little breathless, and gaping at your screen. The first chapter initially left us on the most HORRIFIC cliffhanger, but then T fixed it, and it's just... this thing is really a whole new level of emotional writing, raw and gripping and intensely perfect for both of these characters. My haw still drops whenever I think of this thing, and how utterly AMAZING it was, so yeah. Fic rec!!!

beautiful stranger, there you are by @justanalto - I do believe I still owe Serena a long and very gushy comment on this thing, because, MAN, does it ever deserve that!! Pipsy and fake dating, with the most HILARIOUSLY incredible writing, plot and characterisation, and honestly just a giddy "askhdfkhsfh" whenever I think back to how much I enjoyed it. Yup, it was that good.

Jumping to conclusions by @eowima - a very special one, because it marks my love Océane's first venture into writing AoS fic! It's an AU of 1x06 (the Fitzsimmons episode of s1) where Fitz does actually jump out of the plane to save Jemma. Realisations of feelings, and some of the most genuinely FANTASTIC Fitz characterisation I've read in a while, follow - and, yup, I was shouting at my screen for them just to get together already. Amazing stuff, really!!

Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit by @eowima - okay, this. This. Another gift for me, and one that I will probably treasure forEVER, because it is just?? so?? utterly?? perfect?? Just for starters, the title is a Hamilton reference - and then the theme of Hamilton references continues into the fic itself, I'm delighted to say. There's also the most BEAUTIFUL, playful Skimmons friendship, and teasing, and then of course the bet about who can make out with their crush first... Staticquake & Fitzsimmons perfection. And all rendered in Océane's delightful, best-thing-ever-to-read writing!! I'm going into a giddy keyboard smash just THINKING about this, so yeah, cannot recommend it enough.

lullabies and clear blue skies by @springmagpies and @bobbimorseisbisexual - okay, I never thought I'd catch myself shipping FitzBobbi, let alone shipping it this hard, but... wow. Maggie and Al teamed up to completely blow me away, and MELT MY WHOLE ENTIRE HEART with the sheer cuteness of this!! It features Fitz, Bobbi and adopting two daughters, and it's just the most tender, beautiful development through that little family - I love it so, so much.

We made all the wrong choices by @browneyedgenius - the winner of the AoS Angst War 2020, how could I not include this one? It is such a well-deserved win, though, whoa - I was sobbing, full-on sobbing, at least twice while reading. It follows the season 5 team through the events of the time-loop, after they failed to save the world - and, oh my gosh, it ripped my heart right out of my chest, but beautifully so. Everything about this fic just hits so hard, and it's written so well - yeah, really a most AMAZINGLY deserved win, for an utterly SHATTERINGLY incredible fic.

I threw stones at the stars (but the whole sky fell) by @nazezdha321 - this is Z showing us all how to write a backstory for a minor character, and write it so well that everyone's hearts break all over again when she dies. This one is about Victoria Hand, and it builds a stirring and profound childhood for her, also making her rise through the ranks of SHIELD and just her entire character mean so much more. Really, fic-wise, this is goals, and I take my hat off to you, Z, 1000%, for writing it.

in which the universe is put together by @besidemethewholedamntime - Rebecca's emotional writing, particularly Fitzsimmons' emotions, is incomparable, and she proves it all over again in this fic. If follows Fitz and Jemma before, after and during the bloodwork, and I just... wow, honestly. The emotion!! And the characterisation!! Absolutely stunning, and honestly all I could wish for in a we-had-time fic.

Agents of SHIELD Season 8 by @egumal - THIS. This, this, this, oh my gosh - as fix-it fics go, this has to be the most spectacular one I have ever read. What it does is find a way - a potentially canon compliant way, too - to bring back Lincoln Campbell, and reunite Staticquake. Basically: just about as season 7 finishes, the Astro Ambassadors get an unexpected visitor from another timeline, who asks them to come help out against Hive. Case in point, Daisy meets her lost love again (... but he has no idea who she is) and also has to relive the Fallen Agent drama. It all gets even more complicated when Kora restores Lincoln's memories, and Daisy meets the full team Deke has assembled around him in the 33 years (for him) that they've been apart... in short, this is one of the most thorough, well-written and downright SHOCKING plot-twist-wise fics that you will ever read, and honestly, saying "I can't recommend it enough" is an understatement. This thing is thd BEST, plain and simple!

Black Roses aren't real (but you and I are) by @ohwriteiforgot - ahhhh, a fic that will always have an incredibly special place in my heart, because it introduced me to one of my best fandom friends. The main focus is on Clintasha, it's true, but it's also a crossover with AoS in the sense that Clint was adopted by Coulson and May. Also, Daisy is his little sister, and their bond is gold. Also - there's Staticquake!! And flower shops!! And rivals to friends to lovers!! All I'm going to say is, what more can you ask for?!

A book to shield my story by @maybebrilliant - Staticquake High School AU, ahhhhhhhh!! There are only two chapters out so far, but the way this is shaping up is making my DAY - with Daisy as the new girl who meets Lincoln and his group of friends, and, though her foster parents are absolutely shit, starts to find actual happiness in a school for the first time in her life. Also - THE REFERENCES. Guys. I'm crazy for those, and in this book, so are my favourite dorks, Daisy and Lincoln - and let me tell you, it's nothing short of the best thing ever.

This AoS Finale Gif Edit by @heysteverogers - AoS really has been the most INCREDIBLE journey through the years, but what's really made it special is the company - and that's summed up perfectly in this gorgeous gifset. Also, the graphics on this are just, ahhhh, stunning - I'm in awe, and I've spent very long periods of time just looking at this thing in a state of heart-eyes.

This AoS Finale Gif Edit by @jemannesimms - combining Auld Lang Syne and the final scenes of my favourite show was a raw emotional - but utterly brilliant experience - for me. It's just so absolutely beautiful, and perfectly suited to the team, and their goodbyes!! Breathtaking editing work here, too.

This Daisy as Peter Parker and May as Tony Stark moodboard by @agentsofcomedyandchaos - ahhhh, a crossover of two of my favourite fandoms!! And what a lovely one, too - the colour scheme, quotes, and just the whole FEEL of this is absolutely genius, and I am guilty of being inspired by way too many fic ideas by it. Stunning stuff!!

And... whoa, that was long, but I really do feel that we deserve a bit of a proper pat on the back after creating such magical content in such a messed up year. So that's the note I'm going to leave you with for 2020, my friends: hell-year or no, look at the absolute beauty we were still able to create!! We really are freaking amazing, guys.

[ducktracy]

185. porky’s hero agency (1937)

release date: december 4th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: bob clampett

starring: mel blanc (porky, emperor jones), tedd pierce (gorgon, assistant), sara berner (porky’s mom)

the final porky cartoon for 1937, and what a busy year it’s been for him! hard to believe he had an entirely different voice, look, and demeanor just 8 months prior. even then, his character still had much to explore, as we see here—in this cartoon, he’s cast as a child again. curiously, bob clampett is often credited as the one who refined his personality into the one we know today (he did give him his iconic suit and tie), but, like everything else, it was more of a collaborative exploration by all of the directors.

the title card is one of the more interesting title cards in the warner bros. repertoire—it’s a photo of a porky statuette! bob clampett would make several statues during his time at WB and distribute them to his top animators. while the statue in the credits is painted over, you can view an unpainted model here!

here, porky dreams of the wonders of ancient greece, prancing around as the mythological messenger parkykarkus. however, a gorgon has her sights set on turning him into stone, and it requires some quick thinking from porky to weasel his way out of this mess.

bobe cannon animates the expositional sequence, with porky propped up in bed, sucked into a giant book full of greek myths. his mother (offscreen) tells him it’s time to go to sleep, but porky objects, protesting that he was just at the exciting part. cannon’s animation is easy to spot with his trademark buck teeth, yet the gestures he gives porky--finger points, turning the page, etc.--give him a nice dose of youthful energy as he recaps the story, telling tales of gorgons and “great great great” greek heroes.

nevertheless, a disembodied hand turns out the light, dismissing porky’s protests. he heaves a resigned sigh, lamenting how he wishes he could be a great greek hero. 

the cartoon doesn’t make any attempts to keep the dream sequence a surprise--instead, the face of the book’s cover takes up the entire screen, the pillars emblazoned on the front melting to life as we fade into ancient greece. and, as to be expected, our favorite porcine hero proudly stands in front of the building, proudly advertising “HERO FOR HIRE AGENCY -- PORKYKARKUS PROP.”

porkykarkus is a play on parkykarkus (”park your carcass”), a character on eddie cantor’s radio show “the chase & sanborn hour”. truck into porky’s services as he narrates over the specials:

“has anybody any eh-deh-deah-deah-dragons you want seh-seh-sleh-slay-slaye--rubbed out? or maybe ya have some, uh, fair meh-mai-meh-maide--honeys ya want rescued! it’s a peh-pleasure. is your daughter safe? phone eh-peh-porkykarkus at olympia 2222!”

porky’s narration, as always, is fun to listen to, and the physical advertisement has its own charm and appeal, with discounts and deals on certain rescues. not only that, but it’s a damn smart way to save money, having just the narration over the still frame. smart thinking!

conveniently, porky gets a phone call, sparking the tried and true “gear up for a big sprint but merely tinker on over to your destination” gag. as porky answers the phone, filling us in by repeating the hidden dialogue from the other line, we find out it’s the emperor--he wants one hero to go.

chuck jones’ layouts stick out quite strongly throughout this cartoon, especially in the human designs. porky’s statue of mercury is no exception--the bulbous nose and rounded body construction are all surefire trademarks of his work. porky grabs the messenger’s hat and winged shoes from the statue, never once taking a beat to stop as he hobbles along, dressing as he prepares to head out. woodblock sounds simulate the sound of his hooves clopping, but also add an extra jaunty jive to the merry score of “have you got any castles?” in the background, the cartoon’s motif. it would also be a merry melody courtesy of frank tashlin not even a year later.

with that, porky takes off, soaring in the skies like a pro with his winged shoes. if the scene wasn’t appealing enough with the overhead layouts, the animation of porky steadying himself is wonderfully smooth and fun--the cherry on top. he circles the palace where the emperor is located, swooping down to his destination. complete with airplane sound effects, of course.

“howdy, empy!” another bulbous-nosed jones character silences porky from behind his armchair. emperor jones (boy, who could that name reference, i wonder?) speaks in a ridiculously hilarious dialect, completed with a thick accent: “shh! i’m making a fireside chat with my sheeps!” his voice then slips into a rooseveltian draw as he coos “my friends, grecians and customers, this is emperor jones speaking...”

pan to the audience, which consists of a sea of smiling statues. this entire speech sequence is wonderful--not only is his terrible grammar terribly amusing, (”statistics show... what last season at this time was population in greece from 6,000 with 500 with 54 people, with 17 statues.”) but little touches such as one of the audience statues roasting marshmallows and later a hotdog over the fireplace, the emperor making his audience clap by pulling on ropes tied to their arms, and so forth make the entire charade highly amusing with lots of details to look out for. porky standing idly in the background, awkwardly fidgeting as he tries not to intrude is a great little piece of character animation as well.

the emperor gives the skinny, all while chowing down on a hotdog: a gorgon has been turning more and more people into statues, and they need a hero to steal her life-restoring needle in order to turn all of the statues back into humans again. the hero he has in mind is, of course, porky, who bashfully accepts the offer. when the emperor asks those in favor to raise their right hand, he pulls on a lever that causes all of the statues to raise their hands in unison, including a hand on a nearby clock. with a handshake, empy concludes “it’s a deal!”

one of the most impressive pieces of animation in the cartoon (i actually dedicated an entire drawing to it!) is when the emperor sends porky on his way, who waves goodbye as he flies through the air with his winged shoes. just as he tips his hat, he knocks into a pillar, which sends him tumbling upside down, but still airborne. the wings on his shoes form hands as they shake their fists in the glory of the good landing, with porky flashing a cheeky grin to the audience before spiraling lower in the air, regaining his balance, and barreling onward towards a smoldering volcano. the animation is full of life and character--though porky is consistently jolly in the B&W clampett cartoons, the grin towards the camera as he prides himself in his save is a great little touch of personality. slowly but surely, bits of character are now becoming more defined.

a gag that took me just now to recognize it--porky swoops into the heart of the volcano, where we spot the source of the black fumes pouring out the top: the gorgon statue factory. a merry score of “you’ve got something there” serves as some easy listening as we’re treated to a sign gag:

outside of the factory is a human picket fence, comprised of familiar faces: statues of bobe cannon, norm mccabe, john carey, bob clampett himself and chuck jones surround the area. directly outside of the factory is the frozen statue of a salesman with his foot in the door--the joke is not only amusing, but the pose is quite strong and readable, too. though nowhere near the dynamism of frank tashlin’s poses in the mid ‘40s, clampett’s poses in this cartoon are quite defined and exaggerated for the time period. this is especially sharp in the scenes with the emperor.

porky knocks on the door held ajar by the ceramic statue’s foot, holding out an envelope. “telegram for the guh-geh-gee-geh-gee-gor-geh--” a hand snags the envelope out of porky’s grip, causing him to mutter “aww, nuh-neh-nee-nuh-neh-neh-nut--shucks,” a phrase he echoed in clampett’s previous entry, rover’s rival.

we transition to the inside of the factory, where we see the gorgon herself, positioned in front of a camera, awaiting to take “pictures” of her models. tedd pierce voices the gorgon, whose vocal stylings are a parody of tizzie lish, bill comstock’s character on al pearce and his gang. interestingly, the cartoon before this, the woods are full of cuckoos, featured a caricature of lish as well, also voiced by pierce. 

clampett and pierce’s comedic timing is sharp--not nearly as sharp as tashlin’s timing in the woods are full of cuckoos, but abundantly amusing nonetheless. the gorgon asks for a boy--”a sorta young-ish one”--and in comes a decrepit old man who can hardly hold himself up. the gorgon waits for the man to assume his position on the podium where his picture will be taken, singing a pitchy rendition of “am i in love?“, another homage to the characteristics displayed by lish’s character on the radio.

the gorgon snaps her photo, which turns the shaky old man into a stone statue at once, cheekily labeled “ANTIQUE --  $60,000 (P.S.: 000,000)” before he’s yanked off of the podium with a cane. 

“now let’s try a group picture.” you know it’s a ‘30s cartoon if the three stooges come waddling in--they made their caricatured, cartoon debut in the 1934 film the miller’s daughter, notorious for being chuck jones’ first animation credit. as expected, they all beat the tar out of each other while on the podium, rendered immobile only through the power of medusa’s camera. they turn into the three wise monkeys, labeled “3 MONKEYS OF JAPAN -- MADE IN GREECE”. 

norm mccabe’s animation is easy to spot in the next scene with porky, characterized by his signature double eyebrows. porky knocks on a door, parroting a favorite catchphrase from the al pearce show that frequented many a clampett cartoon: “i hope she’s eh-eh-at home, i hope, i hope, i hope, i hope, i hope...”

porky shakes the hand of the assistant, unfortunately a blackface caricature (save for the voice, who is just tedd pierce speaking in a deep, suave voice) as he greets “welcome, stranger. won’t you come in?” before porky has time to answer, he’s yanked through the iron bars of the door and placed neatly in line for the photoshoot, where he peeks through the door to see the action inside.

a pile of men form a pyramid, where the camera turns them into a literal statue of a pyramid, with some slight imperfections. “aw, shucks!” laments the gorgon. “you moved!” she approaches them with her life restoring needle, allowing the men to form into the proper position, maintaining good balance. she gets her “genuine egyptian statue”, quipping “ought to make a handy paperweight!”

the assistant informs porky that he’s next. porky backs up anxiously, echoing a short-lived catchphrase of his from the joe dougherty era: “nuh-neh-no! eh-nn-nee-no! a-a thousand times no!” the decision to make his thoughts visible (his head is slapped onto that of a piggy bank’s) is playful, and also reflects just how big of an influence comics had on bob clampett’s work: comic artists such as milt gross and george lichty have been cited by clampett as inspirations. the george lichty influence is definitely noticeable in rod scribner’s animation under bob clampett, as we’ll discover in the coming years.

in the midst of his panic, porky backs into a statue of "dick a. powello” (dick powell and apollo), causing it to break. but, rather than fuss over the mess, porky uses the opportunity to hatch an idea instead.

in comes strolling porky, concealed by powello’s upper body and a blankett hiding his hooves. the triumphant score of “he was her man” and the gorgon’s smitten woos makes the scene hilarious as is, but the blanket falling off and revealing porky’s pudgy little hooves is the icing on the comedic cake.

porky perches himself on a conveniently placed couch, where the gorgon approaches him. “pardon me, is this seat taken?” she doesn’t wait a wink before snuggling right up to him, a heart symbolizing her affections popping in the air. though clampett would play with typography at times and maintain an overarchingly jovial mood to his cartoons, it’s an odd thing to see him play with comic-like visuals in this manner, such as porky physically envisioning himself as a piggy bank or the heart from the gorgon. i wish he had done it more in this nature!

with the gorgon too close for comfort, porky uses this as an opportunity to grab the gorgon’s life-restoring needle, dangling from her neck and lying against her body. it wouldn’t be a clampett cartoon without sexual innuendos--porky reaches aimlessly around for the needle, prompting the gorgon to let out a shriek, cooing “why, mr. a POWELLo!” 

she smothers the ceramic head in kisses, giving him a nice lipstick finish to boot as she pretends the statue has given her a ring. her ecstasy is hilarious and WONDERFULLY conveyed through strong, rubbery poses worth freeze-framing. picturing porky’s befuddlement is another humor within itself. 

finally, porky’s disguise is revealed when the gorgon literally crushes the statue in an embrace, stone crumbling around him as he desperately slips out of her grip. as the gorgon makes threats to call the cops, reciting the WB favorite catchphrase of “calling all cars! calling all cars!”, porky makes with the needle and jabs it in various statues, warning them “uh-geh-uh-get goin’! i-i-eh-it’s the guh-geh-geh-eh-geh-gorgon!”

as the gorgon chases porky with her camera, he continues to revive a barrage of statues: the antique, the famed discus thrower (who throws himself out of the scene rather than the discus), the man from the end of the trail statue, who exits riding his horse like a merry go round (a nod to friz freleng’s sweet sioux), a woman who marches off with popeye’s forearms--note the bobe cannon statue in the back here--and a mermaid who unzips her fin and makes a run for it. the highlight of the entire montage is when porky approaches two temples (the two of them together labeled “shirley temple”) and injects the needle into them, prompting the temples to use their pillars as legs and run for the hills.

the chase reaches its climax as the gorgon pursues porky with a movie camera, turning the crank ferociously as she runs. her plan works--porky slows down, freezing in mid-air as the gorgon cries “hold it!” thus, the gorgon pins porky to the ground, who tries his hardest to fight back, but ultimately flailing around as she commands him to open his eyes.  

we melt into the present, where we find porky’s mother in place of the gorgon, telling him softly to wake up. he does so, after she pries one of his eyes opens. relieved that it was all a dream, he embraces his mother, prompting a happy end and an iris out.

this cartoon has a soft spot in my heart--it was one of the first LT cartoons i saw on this whole venture. i thought i was the smartest person alive, understanding the three stooges, popeye, and shirley temple references. who knew just how much i had (and still have!) to learn! though even without my sentimental biases, this still stands as a very good cartoon.

as i mentioned previously, the poses in this are full of elasticity and energy, especially in the emperor and the gorgon. porky does a very nice job as well--little pieces of animation such as him fidgeting awkwardly while the emperor rambles on, swinging from side to side as he’s offered the job to be a hero, etc. etc. are full of charm and character. while his personality isn’t the most electric in comparison to characters like bugs and daffy, it’s the little things like these that really make porky stand out. with him, a little subtlety goes a long way, and that’s why he’s one of my favorites. he’s so reserved in comparison to such a wild cast of characters that his timidness actually shines through and sets him apart! (though, on the other hand, he can still have quite the personality, as we’ll discover!)

personally, the only gripes i have with this cartoon is the blackface caricatured assistant (which, in comparison to some cartoons we’ve seen and still have yet to see, is relatively mild, but uncomfortable nonetheless). the jokes, while corny at times, still hit, the animation is full of life and vigor, and the short as a whole has a lot of charm, whimsy, and personality. it has my seal of approval! go check it out!

link!

[whenimaunicorn]

The Heart of Admiration - Part 3

Charles Vane x Reader - slow burn

Part One -- Part Two

The activity never ceases on a ship, but it does get a bit quieter at night; there are less crewmen out and about, and their voices are softer on a calm night like this one. You’ve got the highest deck to yourself, and the heavens are clear and brilliant with stars. The measurements will be easy tonight, the ocean rolling in only gentle swells beneath the ship. You take a breath and feel your tension melt away under the crystal light of the Milky Way, and the sliver of the crescent moon.

With one hand to steady yourself against the railing, you let your head fall back, looking straight up at the expanse of the sky. You’ll start your measurements in a moment, but there is no rush. You’ve always loved looking at the stars; it’s the reason you wanted to learn them, the passion that carried you through all the charts and figures and drier things that come with navigation. Somehow your profession cements your relationship with the awesomeness of the heavens. The calculations connect your place on earth to the celestial bodies, and make any place that you might find yourself in feel like home.

You hear boots on the stairs, and some sizzling spark inside you has already made a guess who it is. You allow your eyes to flit in his direction without altering your posture, refusing to appear flustered by him. Captain Vane ascends the steps. He has washed the blood from his face, his hair smoothed and half pulled back in its proper place again. He’s got a clean shirt on, and so there’s no reason at all for you to be thinking about the bloody horror he made on the deck not too many hours ago.

His momentum hesitates when you do not react to his approach. He strides across the deck to lean his back against the railing by your side. “Evening.” The one word is said pleasantly enough, though the particular character of Vane’s voice makes even an empty pleasantry sound significant.

“Good evening to you, Captain.” You speak formally, and wait for him to say more.

He doesn’t. His nearness makes you vibrate with an unfamiliar tension, his silence making you notice the sensation all the more. It’s not fear, not exactly, and it is not even entirely unpleasant, but it makes you feel restless and your hands seek your instruments. Time to get to work, your captain is watching.

And he does; he watches. You busy yourself lining up sights and marking down measurements, and in the colorless light of the moon and stars you try to read his face in the briefest of glances.

He looks about as calm as the seas that surround you on all sides, but there are hints that something is simmering underneath. He opens his mouth like he’s about to say something, then draws a thick cigar from his pocket instead. He steps over to the hooded lantern you’d brought up to write your notes by, stealing a bit of the flame to get it lit. You hope he didn’t think you watched him too long as he brought his face close to the flames, furrowing his brows in concentration. Then he steps back to lean against the railing, the very picture of a man enjoying the night air. The captain puffs away contentedly as you track the movement of the stars.

“We on course?” he finally breaks the silence to ask.

“Appear to be,” you answer, running figures in your head. “Though we might want to adjust the heading a little more westerly.”

Smoke erupts from his mouth as he speaks. “You don’t need to consult the charts first? Some books full of tables, check your figures twice?”

Your hands come to rest on your hips. “That’s always better,” you agree, “but you are the one that asked what I thought at present.” You shrug. “I’ve basically got the tables memorized. I know what the numbers mean as I’m reading them.”

“Impressive.” Something about the way he says it makes you feel like a braggart, and you turn away from him awkwardly.

“I like the feeling of knowing exactly where I am,” you say, feeling some odd pressure to explain yourself now. You feel more than hear him coming closer behind you. The breeze shifts, carrying his warm tobacco smell over your shoulder. “Measuring the heavens… grounds me.”

“I can understand that.” He says it low, almost wistfully. You are struck all of a sudden by how very little you know about him. His reputation, yes, but the man himself… he seems to have layers deeper than what was spoken about in the streets and taverns of Nassau.

“It’s probably what brought me all the way to the West Indies,” you continue, “to see new stars, to see the same stars in different ways… what brought you here?” It’s a clumsy transition, but you’re curious. You turn to face your enigmatic leader.

He stiffens, a brief scowl darkening his features. “I have never not been here,” he says, frustratingly terse as ever, and takes another puff from his cigar. “How’s your head?” He reaches up while he says it, fingertips brushing just above the nape of your neck, to check the lump left by the attackers. You should say something sharp about him taking the liberty to touch you so boldly, but in this moment, alone under the stars, you’re too tantalized by the feel of his fingers in your hair. It doesn’t even hurt when he finds the knot that has risen at the back of your head. “It doesn’t seem too bad.”

“It’s not bothering me.”

His fingers trail away from your injury, his final touch along your scalp not feeling strictly diagnostic. Why is your heart suddenly racing? His hand falls back to his side, but he does not step away. There is a surprising uncertainty in his eyes, even as he continues to speak with confidence. “So now you find yourself under the West Indies stars. Have you found your place? Or do you miss your home?”

Is Vane curious about you too? You cross your arms as you contemplate your answer. “My home? My home is on the waves, now.” you look up at the glittering sky above, “my home is under these stars.” Vane smiles. “My home is… apparently, with your crew.” You say it slowly, trying on how it tastes on your tongue.

Vane’s smile drops. “You still feel that I forced you.”

“You feel that you didn’t?”

He actually looks pained, the fearsome Charles Vane who has never hesitated to reach out and take exactly what he wants. The one who has earned, through his easy comfort with violence, the right to do exactly that around the port of Nassau and anywhere else where lawlessness and reputation were the only rules. He looks away from you, across the open water. “I never want anyone to feel caged.”

“A bargain… is different from a cage.” You’re not going to deny your own responsibility, the mess of Captain Fisher’s plan that led to your service on this vessel. It could have ended so much worse. “I am not ungrateful for your mercy,” you say, finding it difficult to meet Vane’s eyes as they smolder down at you now, “it was a price that I am glad to pay.”

“Sailing with us is a price?” He’s choking on that, somehow, though you fail to understand why. He was the one who set the terms. “Pirates have killed for the privilege of joining my crew. I liberated you, from a mediocre life.”

“You have a fine ship, Captain Vane. And a decent crew, with a fearsome reputation. But you took me from my family.”

His scarred brow arches skeptically. “Your brother-in-law? A captain with no vision, always going after the lowest-hanging fruit, the most convenient prizes. I understand that you have to make your start with the connections that you have, but”—he leans in, putting his face fully in the way of your gaze—“you can’t look me in the eye and say that you were satisfied by that.”

Vane might have a bit of a point, but he’s missing yours. You meet his eyes levelly, leaning in even closer toward him. Then you all but bite off each word. “You didn’t give me a choice.”

The wound reappears behind his eyes. He rocks back, blinks once. His cigar has stopped burning, forgotten between his fingers, and he contemplates it for a long moment before answering. “The prize you led us to today is rich,” he says, slower, softer. “Consider the bargain fulfilled.” He’s thinking about every word, as if he’s deciding each one only as he utters it. “If, when we get back in port at Nassau, you’d like to take your share and seek out other employment, I will not hold you.” He tucks the remainder of the cigar into his pocket, stepping past you toward the stairway. Before leaving the deck, he looks up at you though, eyes ferocious even while he’s backing down. “But you won’t find any crew better than mine.”

 ~*~

 The prize was rich indeed. Eleanor Guthrie was furious that the Ranger was the crew turning it in, of course; apparently she had already assigned the lead on this particular ship to another captain, one more squarely under her thumb, but she paid out all the same. And then everyone stayed to drink their first round in her tavern, just on account of the look on her face.

You don’t know this crew well enough to celebrate with them. They seemed amicable enough during the hunt, but with the reputation Vane’s men have for carousing, drunkenness, and petty violence once their purses are full, you’ve deemed it wise to keep a little distance, and just observe what plays out on this evening.

You don’t know if you’re relieved or disappointed when the first man to take a seat on the bench beside you isn’t Charles Vane, who appears to have taken up his own brooding, isolated little position at the other end of the hall. Instead it’s Jack Rakham, your new quartermaster, who settles in with a flourish of his coattails beside you. “Cheers.”

You clink your rim against his proffered mug and you both drink deep.

“Without your skill, we likely would not be celebrating this victory,” he adds. “You have my thanks.”

“We were only lucky that the storm pushed our prize off its course in the same direction as it did our own.”

“And without your competence, we would not have been able to compensate so well even for that.” Jack shakes his head with a conspiratorial smile. “What use is humility in a place such as this. Claim all the credit you are owed, I say. And then however much more you can get away with beyond that, too.”

You give a thin smile to the cheerful bravado of his advice, a smile that sours when you see the look that Miss Guthrie is shooting you as she crosses the room.

“Speaking of owed,” Jacks says, distracting you from wondering why she’d be singling you out for her ire so specifically, “the Captain asked me to write this out for you right away.” He produces a slip of paper and presses it into your hand.

There’s not much written on it, aside from an impressive sum of money and Rackham’s flourishing signature. “Is this—”

“Charles was quite insistent that I calculate your share without delay.”

You risk another look at the man in question, across the crowded room. Captain Vane is quite decidedly not looking at you, though his body is angled such that he could glance in your direction as often as he pleased. Right now, he seems pleased only by the barmaid, who is clearly attempting to make her excuses and move away from his table. Poor thing probably won’t have a job for long if Eleanor Guthrie thinks she’s flirting with her ex-lover. You look back down at the figure Jack had passed you. “It’s generous.”

Rakham shifts, making sure he’s caught your eye before speaking. “There will be more prizes, rich as this one, should you choose to stay on with us.”

You contemplate the man’s earnest face. So he knows why Vane asked him to rush your share, or at least he has surmised it.

“Don’t let Charles’ rough edges turn you off to this crew before you get to know us. I don’t know what he said to set you off, but I promise you, with time you will find his tendency to put his foot in his mouth quite endearing, really.” His wide smile beckons an answering warmth in your own face.

Perhaps the matter is settled now, between you and Captain Vane. But that’s not the only trouble you’re having with your current position. “It’s the crew I’m worried about, more than him,” you admit. Jack just seems so easy to talk to; you can see why he’s a good fit for Quartermaster. “It’s hard for a woman to get respect.”

Jack takes a long pull on his ale. “I know the reputation we’ve acquired. I can’t even say we don’t deserve it. But they’ve adjusted to Anne’s presence on the crew just fine. it won’t be as hard as you are thinking. All you need to do is find your niche. Which brings me back to my point about laying claim to all the credit that you can. Come.” He tugs on the sleeve of your jacket, standing up from the bench and looking toward the main throng of the Ranger’s crew, gathered around a group playing dice at one of the long tables. “It’s high time I made a toast.”

 ~*~

 “That lead was not given to you.”  

Charles stares across the desk at Eleanor, her eyes flashing bright with indignation, her cheeks coloring already although she had only just got started in on him. “And yet,” he squares his shoulders out of habit, “I took it first.”

He watches her fume, just as prettily as ever, in exactly the way that he knew his flat tone would incite her. “Yes, and how exactly did you do that, Charles?”

He sits down in the chair in front of her desk, not because he wants this conversation to take a long time (he still has plenty of celebrating left to do) but because he knows so well the show that he is about to have to sit through. He figures he might as well be sitting down. “I outmaneuvered you.”

Eleanor’s head tilts sharply, her knuckles going white as she thinks of a suitable retort to his simple statement of fact. He used to think she looked so glorious when he got her this riled up. But today, she just looks… petty. “You went behind my back. And here I thought we were finally getting comfortable with the new arrangement.”

“What, the one where you fuck my crew on leads and I don’t even get to fuck you back?” He feels just a simmer of the old rage, the one where she used to make his blood boil until he could think about nothing else, but it sputters and dies about as soon as the retort has left his lips. His fingers find the stump of a cigar in his pocket, the one he forgot he was smoking last night because he was so distracted by you.

Eleanor’s lips turn down into a scowl that’s truly ugly. “Or maybe, when I’m no longer playing favorites, coddling you, it’s just clear that you and your crew are an inferior operation.”

“Seems to me, the only thing that’s clear is that my crew got the prize.” He puts the cigar between his lips. Somehow, it’s easier tonight than it has ever been, to ignore her attempts at riling him. All she’s making him feel is…caged.

“Don’t smoke in here,” Eleanor snaps.

He lifts his brows, then sighs heavily and starts fiddling with it between his fingers instead.

“I don’t believe you can credit yourself or your crew for this one, anyway,” Eleanor says, sitting down primly with a smugness behind her eyes. “I know that you stole the Starling's navigator. Who you absolutely needed, in order to pull this one off. How long have you been planning to undercut my wishes? And who do you think you are, anyway, disbanding crews, stealing ships, banishing people like you’re some sort of king?” Her composure hadn’t lasted long. Her eyes wide, she’s leaning over the desk at him again.

And yet Vane still finds he feels only annoyance. “The strong eat the weak.”

She barely acknowledges he spoke, and only with a roll of her eyes, before she barrels on to her next point. “And you think the other captains will stand for you poaching their talent at the end of a sword?”

He flits his hand through the air. “It isn’t like that. She made a deal.”

“Yes, a deal during which her sister’s husband was about to have his head parted from his shoulders. I interviewed Captain Fisher before he complied with your…request…that he leave Nassau.”

That irks him. Who does she think she is, “interviewing” people. Why did she have to talk like that, like she’s a goddamn queen. And painting him like a monster in your life, to boot. “He betrayed our partnership,” he growls. “No one on this island would say that he deserved any better than what he got, when I caught him red-handed sneaking onto my ship.”

“Fisher said you were holding out on splitting up that cargo fairly between you, and he was only intending to secure his fair share.” That smug look is returning to her scheming eyes. “If you had only turned it over to my warehouse as soon as you got in, as is the usual way business is done around here, I would have made sure that you were both paid fairly.”

“Because you have been nothing but fair to me and my men, of late.”

“Charles.” Her eyelids lower, just a fraction, just enough to not make him think she’s doing it intentionally, giving him an echo of her bedroom eyes. She draws herself up with a fluid grace in her movements that wasn’t there before. He can barely believe that this actually used to work on him. “I know it’s hard to accept that things are changing between us.” And if you’re a good boy, the roll of her hips says as she steps around the desk, they might even change back for a night. “But you are still one of my top earners.” She sits on the edge of the desk on his side now, close enough for him to reach out and grab, deliberately calling to mind those times that he pushed her right over that desk, just in that spot, and—“Do not give me any more reasons to cut you out of Nassau’s business completely.”

And although perhaps her threat even has teeth, Charles finds that he barely cares to even pay proper attention to what she has been saying. Ever since the first mention of you in this conversation, he’s been distracted by that damnable nagging doubt that perhaps he has not treated you fairly from the start. Even Eleanor seems to think so, and he finds that bothers him more than anything else the woman has said. And watching her try to work her seduction on him… he’s much more interested in pondering how you might go about trying to ensnare a man that you desired. Would you act like you could barely hide a wicked grin too, or would you be softer, more artless but nevertheless endearing…

Eleanor is still glaring at him, waiting for a response.

“We done here?”

Her frown deepens, with a cast of what might even be confusion at his lack of reaction. “Excuse me?”

He climbs to his feet. “Have you said everything you wanted to say.”

“I’d like a promise.” She stands too, a little closer to him than she would have stepped to anyone else. She’d excluded him from her bed, but Charles can see now, clear as day, that she intends to keep controlling him by dangling the possibility he might one day get back in. “That you won’t go against me again. This doesn’t have to get ugly, Charles.”

“Go ahead and keep tightening your fist around this island, Eleanor,” he says, stepping decisively toward the door. He hopes you haven’t left the tavern yet. “See what bends, and what breaks. There’s only so much free men will tolerate.”

On to Part 4

More of my work here

Feel free to send me interesting dialogue prompts that might advance this story. Taglist is open: @acebreathesfire @kind-wolf @the-roci  @ladyhubris @summertimesadness1017​ 

[crowmagpie]

Voltron and the Hero's Journey through the Major Arcana of the Tarot

«The journey of the hero is the oldest story in the world. As the basic structure, it is woven into myths, fairy tales and legends that tell us how a person sets out to accomplish the great work. It is the story behind all these stories, which to this very day are always told in the same way under countless names in all languages and cultures over and over again.

<…>

The journey of the hero is the archetypical pattern of a range of actions woven from these primordial images. This is why, despite its many variations, the journey and the image are always so strangely familiar to us. They always tell of the quest, the adventurous search for the treasure that is hard to find, and are composed of elementary components.

<…>

Yet, as often as this story has been told, as many collections of fairy tales and myths as it may fill, only once has it taken on a complete form as a whole in pictures – and this is in the 22 tarot cards of the major arcana. However, not only are the archetypical events illustrated in these motifs, many connections between individual stages become transparent in the structure of the cards. Their meaning for our path in life becomes comprehensible on the deepest level»

© «Tarot and the Journey of the Hero» by Hajo Banzhaf, Brigitte Theler, Christine M. Grimm

0. The Fool

The very beginning of the story, but by no means the moment since the beginning of the first episode. The story comes to its first stage when the future paladins, and for now completely unaware guys from the Garrison, get inside the Blue Lion and go into the unknown. The Fool depicts a person taking a step into the abyss. The one who doesn’t know where he or she’s going. The one who doesn’t know whether they’ll fall, whether they’ll step on a new ledge or take off. This person simply performs a somewhat thoughtless action - and sets off.

Then the paladins get to the Castle of Lions. There they meet another new phenomenon – literally a new race. Their consciousness expands when they learn that there are other races, other planets, that war is going on in space.

The Fool depicts the unknown, events when a person can’t even imagine what awaits him or her next. And so the paladins - they have no idea what awaits them further.

Also, many of them don’t have the necessary skills, and absolutely for everyone the piloting of Lions is absolutely new.

At the very first stage, they still don’t learn anything, they just try to do something, in the hope that it’ll work out.

Our heroes don’t yet have an idea of what purpose they have. But they will know this. Later.

1. The Magician

The second stage of the path and development of the paladins.

The Magician depicts a person that considers him/herself practically immortal and god-like. A person that is capable of a lot, the one who has an unlimited number of talents (the paladins definitely have individual talents) and thinks the whole world as one big playground. The main problem is that in spite of all the abilities and power, this person isn’t omnipotent and won’t end well without a proper training.

Paladins follow the path of The Magician, gradually mastering Voltron, starting to reap the benefits of their actions. They help, they save, they do a lot, they move their own way and, obviously, consider themselves the real saviors of the universe. They don’t know yet that their power will end where the strength of someone else begins.

2. The High Priestess

In the events of the series, The High Priestess finds several manifestations at once.

The High Priestess herself carries mystical experiences, secret knowledge, secrets that are carefully hidden, but will still emerge in the end. It has many meanings, but we need only a few.

The first correspondence to this card is Allura, possessing the gift of Altean magic, which is hidden deep inside her. We remember this from the episode when she gave new life to Balmera. But this moment will reveal itself later. In another archetype.

At this point, it’s only the power itself napping in Allura. She remains aloof from the battles of the paladins, maintaining a more passive position. Her potential is hidden inside, waiting in the wings. And it will come.

The High Priestess card is constantly revealed in the plot. Through secrets that pop up unexpectedly. For example, through a story about the past of Zarkon and the Galra.

In my personal opinion, this can also be attributed to the moment when the paladins decided not to act «in advance», but by some cunning, using Teludav. The secret may be the meeting of Keith, Hunk and Acxa inside the stomach of the Weblum, as no one knows Acxa yet. As well as revealing that Haggar is an Altean. She also fits the archetype of The High Priestess, but not as much as she fits the card that’ll be shown next.

3. The Empress

The archetype of The Empress is the archetype of Mother. The Mentor and the one who cares, who is willing to help. She is the inexhaustible source of all life, our creativity and our ability to embody something. But it is also a development of the situation, a period of abundance and good luck.

And this is again the archetype of Allura. However, she manifests herself as The Empress not so often as the plot requires. However, this is her arc of personal growth. It should be so.

The most important manifestation of her as The Empress, which can even be called the first, is the healing of Balmera. It was then that power began to awaken in her, which in the future would make her the real Empress, which would give her a lot. Moreover - in the future she’ll show herself as The Empress... with the help of Lotor. Because the Empress always needs the Emperor nearby.

In terms of the plot itself, these are all those moments when the paladins conceptualize something, when they seriously think about what’s happening. But the most important thing is a period of abundance for them, a period when they succeed and it seems that it will always be this way.

The highest manifestation of The Empress is Honerva. She’s both a mother and a ruling figure, who rules from the side, as if from a shadow. She has the power to create and great talents. After all, she’s a scientist. Exploring the matter that the Empress represents is her work. Also, in the future she’ll literally possess unprecedented power, Altean magic. As Haggar, she’ll still remain the Empress, but turned into a negative, like the inverted position of this card. The inverted Empress is a trick, a desire to rule over men, such a woman doesn’t care about her children and her family. A great embodiment of the archetype in action.

4. The Emperor

Under the card of The Emperor are all the rulers, people who have power, as well as those who adhere to serious rules and restrictions. Also, under this card are those who are ready to fight to the end, until their death. Those who have a certain cruelty and coldness. The Emperor is a regime and system that erases the powder of those who don’t correspond to it. He’s conservative and adamant, and it’s not easy to appeal to his heart, despite the fact that he’s inclined to impose his point of view, to teach and control. He suppresses any rebellion in the bud.

In other words, we smoothly come to the fact that the entire race of the Galra, in the form that it exists in most of the episodes, goes under the card of The Emperor. They have strict rules, many, even the most insignificant offenses are punishable by death, and their system works like a clock under the control of their ruler. The leader’s word is the law, the one who doesn’t respect the leader will meet his end. Stability is also part of their lives. Their emperor didn’t change for more than ten thousand years. They’re used to it. They’re used to a lot of things.

And then we go to the obvious personification of the archetype of The Emperor. That's right, to Zarkon. He’s so consistent with this card. Not only is he literally an emperor in his empire, but if before the Rift he was just a serious ruler, a leader capable of holding everything in his hands, then he combined the worst features of the Emperor. He’s a despot and tyrant who doesn’t care about others. He only adjusts everything for himself - with the help of his Empress, Haggar. He strives for even greater power, crumbles under himself everything that meets in his way. Races, planets, his own kind, his own son.

I must say, in the story itself, The Emperor literally means a meeting with Zarkon and a battle with him.

At the same time, we have Lotor, who’s partly an archetype of the Emperor, but not completely. He has both negative traits of this archetype and positive ones. And this is far from the only part that makes up his character. We’ll talk about this later.

5. The Hierophant.

This card means a lot. Both a spiritual teacher, and connection with religions, and traditional actions, and any organizations, all sorts of serious things.

One way or another, in the plot this card is displayed as the beginning of the diplomatic activity of the paladins, all their communication with other races.

You can add the Blades of Marmora to The Hierophant, because they’re an organization that’s very difficult to get into, it’s devoted to underground activities and is associated with information - that is, with knowledge.

Equally important are the negative traits of The Hierophant, which also find a response in the plot. The purity of faith, party, teaching, blood, race - this is its professional headache. Its worst trait is complacency, intolerance and exceptional conviction of its own righteousness.

Lynching, the search for enemies of the people, the fight against infidels, the witch hunt, the tribunal, the auto da-fe – this is its gloomy bottom or black peak. Actually, this we definitely meet in the plot, and more than once. From the side of Allura. From the paladins. From the liberated races. This topic we’ll see many more times.

Another thing is that not everyone is ready to poke The Hierophant into its failures.

6. The Lovers

The card, despite its name, which could warm a shipper’s heart, is not about love. Well, it can be about love, but not in this case.

It may mean a situation of choice, not necessarily related to love. Then it means that one way or another we’ll have to make a decision, decisively and irrevocably, without leaving any loopholes for ourselves and taking on certain obligations. The Lovers depict a bold decision made by your heart. This is an internal knowledge of what is good and what is bad for you personally, which can’t be faked or deceived. You can’t listen to it, you can pretend that you don’t hear and don’t know it, you can act in defiance, but its tone doesn’t change.

In fact, the entire Keith’s story arc goes under this card. And the point is not in his possible romantic relationship.

The fact is that from the very moment he found out that he was a half-Galra, from the moment he began to do something with the Blades... a choice began to arise in front of him.

To take a step towards what really attracts him – the Blades, life with the Galra, inner freedom...

Or to stay with the paladins, in a place that he doesn’t like, but which he «must» take. As we all remember, he made a choice by the heart. He followed the call to work with the Blades.

Choices often confront heroes during narration. But these choices aren’t always truly right.

7. The Chariot

This card is a movement, it’s a pure impulse. At the same time, it’s control over one’s life, a clear understanding of what one wants and what needs to be achieved. Also, various journeys and adventures pass through it.

In fact, under The Chariot card, Lotor and his actions pass in many ways. Because he knows what he needs to do, he knows what he wants, and achieves this in all possible ways. He drives his chariot confidently, rarely doubts anything, and at first he succeeds a lot.

However, the farther the plot, the more we see that The Chariot doesn’t always go in the right direction and sometimes Lotor still loses control over it. This happens when it’s revealed that he built ships secretly from Zarkon. In general, very quickly he passes from a state of triumph and regular victories to a state where it’s difficult to do anything and he’s forced to rush to wherever his eyes look.

In part, The Chariot is also part of the character of Lotor, who’s used to keeping everything under control. At the same time, he’s not just a harsh Emperor, he’s an inspirer, he’s a traveler who never stays in one place and is always open to something new.

On the part of the paladins, The Chariot is their whole journey. Their entire movement is largely chaotic, albeit with an understanding of what needs to be done. They don’t always hold control, and then it carries them away - it carries them into serious, very serious problems.

8. Justice

It’s a very important card. It connects the relationship between action and consequences, taking responsibility for their actions, comprehending social laws, and the ability to make informed decisions. In other words, everything related to karma and responsibility is here.

And this same card is really important for the plot, for the development of the paladins. Because they often acted without thinking about the consequences, relying only on spontaneous, impulsive impulses. There are a lot of such examples, they go through the whole plot, but let's take a few.

The first meeting of Lotor at the paladins took place under the direction of Keith, and he certainly doesn’t realize the lesson of Justice. He’s not used to following the rules, he’s not used to commanding, and all his actions will shout at them in the future - Lotor throws their Lions in all directions like kittens. If he would like to - he would easily kill them.

In many ways, Lotor’s interaction with the paladins goes under the flag of Justice. More precisely, its non-compliance.

The paladins are going to give the prince into the hands of Zarkon – and immediately receive the consequences of their incorrect decision, that is, fraud and further problems.

But the most important thing that our heroes do, which very strongly comes around to them in the future, happens in S6. On the part of Allura, this is a belief in the words of Romelle and an instant decision to punish Lotor, on the part of the paladins – it’s the decision to fight Lotor. One way or another, in the future, their wrong actions will be scourged by the Earth, which, due to their loss, will be captured. The empire is fragmented due to the disappearance of Lotor – and these are also serious consequences.

It’s difficult to say whether the characters learned a lesson in what Justice provides. They at least tried.

And you probably would have understood the whole point if... yes, yes, right, if not for the broken S8.

We’ll return to this topic. Because the amendments that were made to the plot... contributed to its complete destruction.

9. The Hermit

A card of self-development, immersion in oneself and the study of one’s own abilities. The card is also associated with receiving magic gifts that will help the hero fulfill his mission.

One way or another, it’s this card that suits Allura.

She not only differs from the others; the further in the plot, the more distant she is from the others, and the more she plunges into self-knowledge to understand what exactly happens to her, who she is and what she needs – not for everyone around, but for herself.

A gift comes to her through Oriande, when she comprehends her essence in many ways. Then, a «teacher» comes to the rescue – in this case, more likely a «guide», who is Lotor. He could instruct her and help her get to the state of the Empress, which she needed so much. But the story didn’t complete the training of Allura. The Hermit’s path hasn’t been completed. And this is another fail of the changed plot.

Also, this card suits Keith. His choice has already been mentioned earlier, but one way or another, he also went through internal growth in order to find his real self. His Galran self.

Also, the path of the Haggar-Honevra is important. Because she passes through The Hermit at a time when she gradually regains her memories and herself. She again remembers herself, her personality, her son. And she also receives gifts having passed through Oriande.

The development path goes absolutely for all characters. I described only those that have a serious impact on the plot.

10. Wheel of Fortune

I like this card. It carries the inevitability of development, random events, it helps to accept oneself, and also reminds us that everything will end one way or another. That’s why you need to continue to move on and seize the moment. But the most important thing is fate and events, especially influencing what’s happening.

In fact, the most significant events in the plot take place along the Wheel of Fortune. This is the victory of the paladins over Zarkon, then – the battle of Lotor with Zarkon and his victory over him, the rise of Lotor as emperor, the disappearance of Lotor and the capture of the Earth. And also other events... that were supposed to be, but didn’t happen. For example, the return of Lotor. The salvation of the universe is real, not what was provided in the series. One way or another... development stopped and sticks began to be inserted into the wheel.

But its influence doesn’t become smaller.

11. Strength

This card depicts reconciliation and integration of opposites within the hero: male and female, mind and emotions, instincts and rational principles, consciousness and the unconscious.

This card follows all the way of Keith. His decision to be with the Blades, the fact that in the end he became a better leader than he was at first. Because he was reconciled with himself. Because he found strength in himself.

This is also the path of Allura. Its very important part, which was supposed to be decisive. This is the alliance of Allura and Lotor. The way they would balance each other, complementing, improving, not by force, but with the help of soft influence. Strength is never about physical strength. This is primarily strength of mind and gentleness at the same time. The ability to tame the beast, which doesn’t allow to move on.

This was clearly an important development in the fate of Lotor. Because he contains the Galran teaching, their eternal «victory or death» is fixed in his mind. And that bothers him. This doesn’t allow him to fully reveal. In the future, he would surely be able to come to a harmony of the Altean and Galran principles in himself. There was no opportunity. This opportunity has been missed.

Allura also had to cope with her aggressiveness and intolerance, to come to a merger of the two parts. Well. Partly she did it. But because of all the same interference in the story – not to the end. Development hasn’t been fully completed. She didn’t come to harmony in her soul.

12. The Hanged Man

Important card. Special card. It carries a loss of meaning and purpose of the path, awareness of hopelessness in the face of future death, readiness for self-sacrifice. Everything connected with the voluntary sacrifice goes through this card.

Well, the plot has everything connected with it.

If the Galra go under The Emperor’s card, then under The Hanged Man’s one there’s the entire Altean race. In the plot, they’re in a suspended position – in a colony, with the danger that they’ll be found and destroyed, as well as with great willingness to sacrifice their lives for the good of society. Voluntary sacrifice is what they do all the time. Since there’s every reason to believe that the Alteans readily went to possible death when Lotor called for them, this fits even more precisely into the concept of The Hanged Man.

Ulaz, who literally sacrificed his life to help the paladins, also suits here.

The same card suits Allura. And also – Honerva. Not surprising, given that they’re both Alteans. Their sacrifice at the end is a sacrifice for salvation.

Unnecessary and stupid sacrifice, but still we have what we have.

13. Death

Despite the creepy name, this card doesn’t carry a real negative. Death is a card of transformation.

Although it can mean literal death, which is happening all the time in the series. The death of an almost entire race of Alteans. Permanent deaths of the Galra’s victims and the Galra themselves.

But much more important are the «death» of Lotor, who stayed in the Rift, and the immediately subsequent «death» of Allura, who hasn’t died yet, but she’s undergoing a serious transformation during her lifetime. She literally dies in her soul, being on Earth. It’s something like a limb for her, where she wanders, trying to understand what’s happening.

14. Temperance

In general, this card depicts inner harmony. And it always goes after the Death card. When you go through perdition in order to find the radiance of the soul and happiness.

One way or another, the story arc of Allura continues under this card, who was supposed to come to harmony on Earth, figure out herself, realize where she was wrong and so on. This card differs from The Hermit: it occurs precisely after the advent of trouble and a certain depression.

According to this card, life comes after death. We saw this at the end of S8, when Allura sacrificed herself. That there’s afterlife for her. However, in a normal plot this is not the end.

This is just the beginning.

15. The Devil

This card carries a meeting with internal demons, suppressed by desires, as well as with an antagonist who acts as the external carrier of the Shadow of the Hero.

One way or another, Lotor’s life goes under this card. His Shadow is always in front of him - this is Zarkon. At first, he doesn’t fight with him, but tries to reconcile, what we see in his childhood and youth, but not all demons are subject to taming, and Lotor quickly realizes that it’s impossible to reconcile with him. Rather, it can be possible... but he doesn’t want this.

So our prince begins the battle with his father, with his Devil, whose echoes are also found in himself – in the form of a severe Galra upbringing. Lotor isn’t a bad person, he goes as far as possible from what his father did, but one way or another, the dark sides in him manifest themselves from time to time. Take, for example, his actions after the battle with Throk, when the exile to the most distant post was a manifestation of mercy.

In any case, the most important meeting of Lotor and his Shadow occurs when he encounters his father and defeats him. An important detail happens at that moment. The sun is falling on his face – which further confirms this way out of darkness to the light that he committed.

Each character has its dark sides. Pidge has endless egoism, she always puts herself and her family in the first place, and in the series there was no necessary progress further, she didn’t outgrow it and remained together with her demons.

Keith is too hot-tempered, his hasty decisions ruin a lot, and he only partially moved away from this to the very end, but... not completely. Perhaps it’s impossible, after all, it’s part of his character.

The dark side of Allura is her bias, her post-traumatic xenophobia... and also – a hot temper and impulsivity. Take, for example, how she pilots her Lion and how she fights. Over time, she becomes more tolerant, but still doesn’t get a full development, and her darkness remains with her, continuing to poison her life.

Again, everyone has negative aspects, but it doesn’t make sense to describe it for a long time, everyone understands everything.

16. The Tower

My most unlikable card, but very important one.

The Tower is the collapse of obsolete foundations and plans, the resolution of an obsolete value system.

The first moment, perhaps, is the story about Zarkon in the past. This has already destroyed past guesses, thoughts and the belief that he’s actually «pure evil».

Next is Zarkon's hunt for Lotor.

Then comes the betrayal, when the generals betray Lotor and thereby destroy the world familiar to him.

Next event is Allura discovering that Lotor is half Altean. This becomes the collapse of the past plan of thoughts for her. And now everything is moving into a new direction.

And most importantly... there are even three events in a row: this is Romelle's story, the battle with Lotor and the understanding that Shiro had been a clone for a long time.

In general, there’s nothing to say. Some events of this card led to a successful resolution. And some destroyed it all. That's why it’s The Tower.

It leaves nothing behind.

17. The Star

...well, something still remains, and that’s good.

The Star card is hope in its purest form. These are dreams and fantasies, a certain fragility, which may eventually manifest in life, or may not appear. It exists and doesn’t exist at the same time.

Hope really shines on the paladins throughout the seasons. Moreover, it shines both to Lotor and Honerva.

Everyone has different hopes and dreams, but one way or another, everyone has the belief that they will succeed in doing what they want.

To save the universe. To find a safe and convenient source of quintessence. To get the son back.

Not all hopes are justified.

But all the characters continue to believe.

It also describes the events after S6. When everything around gives hope. The hope that Lotor will return to the story.

Again... unfortunately, not all hopes are justified. Sometimes they’re destroyed by someone else's intervention.

18. The Moon

And again, we have a mystery card. But it’s much deeper, it’s the mystery hidden so far that only few could reach. Secrets of The High Priestess are always revealed, but secrets of The Moon – almost never.

Also, this card is responsible for fears and wandering in captivity of illusions. And for deceit too, which is important.

This card mainly refers to the situation with Lotor and the colony. This is a dangerous secret that shouldn’t have surfaced, which created a huge amount of fears – in just a few seconds – and destroyed everything. But much more important is that under this card goes... Romelle. A dark horse, in the words of which there are too many suspicious omissions, and even more in her behavior. A snake hiding under a pretty appearance, pretending to be a victim and a fool. She suits The Moon. And now her secret would have been revealed in the future... if not for the changes in the plot.

19. The Sun

This card, in fact, only partially appears in the story, as well as subsequent ones. Rather, it’s present, but... it’s expressed incorrectly. Because of all the same changes.

The Sun is the first card of rebirth. And also it means happiness, harmony, the beginning of the end of the path and the final victory.

One way or another, it was The Sun that had to fully manifest itself in the last season.

We have already seen its power – when Allura brought Lance back to life. In the same way, she could bring Lotor back to life, which is exactly what the plot was supposed to happen. Reunion.

And next comes…

20. Judgment

Oh, what a beautiful card, twofold and amazing! How much was to happen in Voltron!

This card means healing, transformation, removal of all masks. It continues the theme of The Sun, being its final chord. Masks are dropped, and all things open in their true light.

At the end of the story, or rather, closer to its end, Romelle was to be exposed, and the return of Lotor took place, and the discovery of the true goals of Honerva.

But as a result, we have a completely dead Lotor – which, however, also fits into the concept of Judgment, which also means ultimate death. But given all the past signs – the card wasn’t fully used. What was about to happen didn’t happend. 21. The World The last card completing the Hero’s Jounrey. Homecoming. The completion of the plot. The end of all, achieving goals.We all know how VLD ended. The «happy ending», or rather, what was disguised as it, can only be called an inverted World.The storylines didn’t reach the end. The story arcs of the characters weren’t finished.The Hero’s Journey wasn’t completed. It was rudely interrupted.As if there was one straight line at the end of which someone drew a bunch of strange lines.The World doesn’t mean a complete end. It symbolizes the beginning of a new story. Each of the characters went in different directions, each with their own path.If they all went through the journey that was laid down in this story, as in all other stories like this, they would be really happy. A new era would come for them. A new life.But the broken plot left them with the severity of the past. The plot threw them, spat out, like unnecessary details.The plot grind the lives and arcs of Lotor, Allura, Lance and Shiro. It changed the lives of Pidge, Hunk and Keith in the negative direction.Everything that happened was wrong.Because the Hero's Journey is always the same.Only the heroes themselves differ... and the details.And this journey didn’t reach the end. Real development slowed down somewhere.So, this story isn’t complete. What we’re shown is an unfinished stub.We still love this story. Even as it is.But actually... we all love this story as it should have been. So, we went through the Hero's Journey through the 22 Major Tarot And remember, cards exist not only for divination.Cards are a unique system for exploring the world, psychology and much more. 

[blancheludis]

Characters: Tony Stark & James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Howard Stark Tags: Hurt Tony Stark, Child Abuse, Protective Rhodey, Found Family Words: 4.628

Summary: Rhodey has come home to a lot of strange sights since moving in with Tony, but the smeared, red handprint just inside their entrance door makes his heart stop. He stares at it for a long second before his mind suggests helpfully that this looks an awful lot like blood.

A few panicked moments later, finds Tony in the bathtub, naked from the waist up, a bottle of cheap whiskey in his hand, and with blood on his face and chest.

“Rhodey,” Tony coos and smiles, wincing when that tugs at a cut in his lip. “You’re home.”

---

Rhodey has come home to a lot of strange sights since moving in with Tony – the most memorable one being an all-out Roomba war who seemed to play Capture the Flag with a pair of Captain America briefs – but the smeared, red handprint just inside their entrance door makes his heart stop. He stares at it for a long second before his mind suggests helpfully that this looks an awful lot like blood.

“Tony?” Rhodey calls out without an ounce of self-preservation and moves into their flat, his hand hovering over his hip although they are not allowed to take their guns off the range.

During some dark, drunken night, Tony has told him about some of the kidnappings, about the desperate and the dangerous hoping for a handsome reward or some revenge by picking Howard Stark’s son off the street. Tony also told him about Howard’s constant refusal to pay, as if his own child’s life is worth nothing.

They have been friends for just over a year, but Rhodey is already certain that he would not leave a single stone unturned to find Tony. He would pay any ransom to get his best friend back.

Tony is not supposed to be here, though. This morning, he left to meet his parents who are in town for a few days. That is never a good thing in its own right, but it should not end with blood on their wall.

Still without a thought for his own safety, Rhodey storms in, his heart stopping a beat when the flat is empty at first glance.

“Tony,” he calls again and thinks he hears a sound in response from the bathroom.

He finds Tony in the bathtub, naked from the waist up. Stripes of half-dried blood add obscene details to the scene. Rhodey’s heart stutters to a halt when he sees where it is coming from.

Tony has a cut through his eyebrow and a split lip. Worse, however, is the wound running down his forearm. Countless of self-defence lessons have taught him that wounds in that place often happen when people try to fend off attacks while guarding their head or heart.

“What did the bastard do to you?” Rhodey asks once he shakes off the shock. Two long strides take him closer to Tony, closer to the mess that is dark blood on white skin.

“Rhodey,” Tony coos and smiles, wincing when the movement tugs at the cut. “You’re home.”

Tony is drunk. He waves a bottle with his unharmed arm. It is very cheap whiskey – which is just more evidence that this has something to do with Howard. If left to his own devices, Tony is a drink snob. He only drinks cheap alcohol in rebellion against his parents. Rhodey always put that down as some weird rich kid nonsense, but it does make it easier to narrow down the root of Tony’s problems at times.

“I swear I’ll kill him,” Rhodey mutters as he crouches down, noticing how Tony stiffens, either at his words or his sudden proximity. That only stokes his anger. Why is it that Howard Stark always leaves his son a little more broken when they meet? How does he not see what a good person Tony is?

Tony raises the bottle between them, almost like a shield. “We don’t have time for homicide. We still need to finish our robotics assignment.”

This is Tony’s favoured tactic, trying to distract from the problem at hand. It does not matter that there is no ignoring his state or the blood or the hollowness of his eyes. In this, Tony is a Stark through and through, clinging to his pretences as if they are the only thing that keep him breathing.

“I’m not in the mood for jokes,” Rhodey snaps and turns around to search for their first-ais kit under the sink. “What happened?”

He does not need to look at Tony to know that his features will slacken into something bored and impersonal, that his hand will automatically bring the bottle to his lips.

“Nothing.”

Rhodey has heard that lie a thousand times but it never gets easier. One day, Tony might trust him enough to just talk to him without all the needling. Although he is not sure whether he should really look forward to that. It would make things easier, but it is also a little like leaving the closet door wide open at night in an invitation for all monsters passing by to come in and devour him.

“You’re bleeding,” Rhodey snaps and gives up his search for the kit in favour of taking a closer look at Tony.

The cuts on his forehead have already closed, although the one marring Tony’s lip will reopen at some point, judged on previous experiences. Tony has never been good at allowing himself time to heal.

The arm is a mess, but from up close Rhodey sees that it is not as bad as he feared. It is not even deep enough to show the muscles. The blood smeared all around it makes it look far more dangerous. That still does not soothe the simmering rage inside him. Tony left bloody handprints on his way here, which means he fled his parents’ hotel mindlessly, making it a miracle he even got here.

“Just a friendly argument that got a little heated,” Tony dismisses easily and pulls his arm closer to his body as if he can erase the wound just like that. “You know how it is.”

“No, I don’t know,” Rhodey replies sharply, although he does by now. “I never went home and came back seriously injured.”

The first time this happened, they had barely known each other for a month and yet Rhodey had already been prepared to go to war for Tony. It is still utterly incomprehensible to him how a parent could repeatedly hurt their own child. Unfortunately, he has sworn to never talk to anyone about it besides Tony and, well, there is no bringing Tony to his senses. If he ever had any.

“This is not serious, honey bear,” Tony says easily and smiles. There it is, the first new drop of blood out of the split lip. “You should’ve seen me when –”

Closing his eyes, Rhodey leans away from Tony. “You should not finish this sentence if you don’t want me to go pay a visit to your father right now.”

If he were lucky, he would get in a swing or two before he would be taken down and thrown in some hellhole. In moments like this, when Tony’s pain is so clearly within view, Rhodey wonders whether it would not be worth it, just to remind Howard that he can be hurt too.

“That would hardly end well,” Tony points out but sounds a little more present, a little more aware that Rhodey is only one wrong word away from doing something stupid.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Rhodey says, “Exactly.”

He hears rustling and then a hand is on his arm, holding tight as if to hold him back from running out that door. When Rhodey looks up, Tony at least did not take his injured arm but placed the whiskey bottle between his legs to free his hand.

“No, he would ruin your life, Rhodey,” Tony says, completely serious now, for once not pretending that Howard is a normal father. But then, things are always different when they are talking about Rhodey’s pain instead of his own. “Promise me you’ll never say anything to him.”

Rhodey tries to avoid making promises he will not be able to keep. “And what? You want me to just watch him hurt you?” Like he has done the entire time they have known each other, backing down like a coward because Tony keeps asking him too.

“He didn’t mean to,” Tony says as if that makes anything better. “He was wearing that ring and –” he breaks off awkwardly and points at his split lip.

Rhodey blinks, wondering whether Tony really thinks that the blood is the problem, not that Howard dared to hit him at all. Bruises are just as bad. Hell, the mere threat of a swing is. Children are supposed to feel safe with their parents. They should not be forced to find excuses for their parents’ regular fits of rage.

With a deep breath, Rhodey calms himself enough to ask, “That ring cut up your arm too?” He does not want to look at it again but does it anyway. The blood makes Tony appear so much smaller.

“No, that was a bottle,” Tony admits sheepishly then snaps up his eyes in a panic that he has said too much. He hurriedly adds, “He didn’t mean to aim for me and it wasn’t his fault I fell.”

“Tony,” Rhodey says and trails off. The churning anger inside his chest turns into sorrow. He is out of his depth here. “Are you even listening to yourself?”

The picture Rhodey has of Howard in his head is that of a real monster. Bloodshot eyes, a terribly disfigured face, spit flying from his mouth due to his constant shouting. That picture has nothing and everything to do with the immaculate business man depicted in news articles and TV interviews. An honest, brilliant man, who just turns into a beast once he steps into his own home. And Tony is caught in his thrall, unable and, most of the time, unwilling to get out.

As if Tony read his thoughts, he says, “It’s not your business, is it?” The bitterness in his voice is tangible, underlined by the smell of alcohol and blood in the air.

Just like that, Rhodey’s anger is back, crowding beneath his sternum like a living thing. “You’re my best friend and this is not the first time he’s beaten you bloody. I damn well think this is my business,” Rhodey snaps, wondering why Tony has to always make things harder for himself.

In too calm a voice, Tony says, “But you’re not family.”

The words feel like a punch to the gut and Rhodey leans away from Tony as if that could soothe the sudden pain. Silence falls between them, almost deafening in its intensity, as Tony stares at his bottle and Rhodey wonders, just for a moment, if this is worth it. If the friendship and all the brilliant hours together are worth the heartbreak.

When Rhodey started college, he was determined to live the best years of his life. To learn everything he can and find some forever friends. Rumours about the rich kid genius starting with them were already rampant when he arrived on campus and he had planned to stay out of that mess.

Fast-forward a year and here they are. For all that Tony is mostly sweet and lost, he knows how to make his words hurt, how to hit people where they are already wounded. Rhodey is not often on the receiving end of that anymore. Only, really, when Tony has been home and cannot help but lash out because he does not know what else to do with his own pain.

That is no excuse. And Rhodey is not in a forgiving mood tonight, seeing that he very much considers Tony family.

“All right,” Rhodey says in as clear a tone as he can manage. With an abrupt movement, he turns to the cabinet under the sink to search for the first-aid kit in earnest. He also does not want to look at Tony. “We still need to clean that cut. Drinking alcohol won’t help.”

In his back, he hears rustling, and then a hand lands on his shoulder. “Rhodey, I didn’t mean –”

Shrugging off the hand, Rhodey leans forward, out of Tony’s reach. “I hope you restocked the first-aid kit.”

He finds it right at the bottom, almost as if they do not regularly need it. They have another one in the lab, which is a lot fancier than this. Then again, lab accidents are normal and accepted, whereas this is not.

Rhodey still keeps his head down when he turns back around. He does not want to see Tony’s wide eyes, full of apologies he never quite knows how to put into words. He will forgive Tony, he always does. Just not right away.

“Rhodey –” Tony tries, but Rhodey cuts him off.

“Give me that bottle and rinse out that cut,” he orders while he gets out the Neosporin and rummages for band-aids.

“I’m sorry.”

In a way, Rhodey should feel flattered. Tony does not usually insist on apologizing right away, preferring to hide away first and wallow a bit. By now Rhodey knows that Tony does not mean everything he says when hurt or angry, but it is nice to see that Tony does not want to leave it hanging in the air between them. Which still does not put Rhodey into a more forgiving mood.

“What were you arguing about then?” he asks, ready to immediately draw Tony’s ire again or to wade through dismissive lies. He finds the Neosporin but waits to take Tony’s arm because he might yet get some information.

Tony takes his time to answer, and when he does, it is barely audible. “You.”

“What?” Rhodey is surprised enough that he looks up. Him? Why would he even be on Howard Stark’s radar. Despite his burning wish to take Tony away and keep him safe he has never made a spectacle of himself.

Tony looks right back at him, worrying his already split lip. In a flat tone, he says, “Howard said I should work on befriending some real people instead of someone who’s barely good enough to be the help.”

“I –” Rhodey swallows, unsure what to say. Instead, he reaches for Tony’s arm and begins to rinse the cut with water. His movements are methodical, just something to keep him from freezing up.

It should not come as a surprise. Rhodey’s family is black and comparatively poor. He is here on a scholarship and already has his life planned out. Joining the military might not be a dishonourable career choice but it is not prestigious either.

Perhaps it is true that Tony should associate more with people of his own world, business men and rich heirs or even other geniuses, but Tony is lost among them. It would make him sick in the long run, lonely and wounded in a world he has learned to navigate by necessity only, not because he wants to be there.

So, yes, Rhodey’s presence gives Tony options he did not have before. To be himself, to safely explore other parts of life.

“See, you’re feeling worse now,” Tony exclaims and tries to tug his arm out of Rhodey’s grasp but fails. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. He likes to say he’s not racist, and he might not have a problem with you if your family was rich, but I couldn’t let him talk shit about you like that. You’re worth at least a thousand of his sort.”

If Rhodey were petty, he would say that Tony’s own words hurt much more than anything Howard could ever spew at him. But he does not because he values Tony’s friendship and well-being more than a won argument.

“Tony,” he says and looks up long enough from his work to make Tony understand that he is completely serious. “I don’t care what your father says about me. I care about you. And if he calls me every bad name in existence, I want you to not argue but get out of there in one piece.”

Tony does not know which battles to pick. Perhaps that comes from having been ignored and trampled over most of his life, perhaps it is his missing sense of self-worth. Somehow, he has decided that Rhodey is worth fighting for, so instead of fighting just to be contrary he has made himself Rhodey’s champion almost like Rhodey has done for him.

“You always stand up for me,” Tony argues sullenly as if he has read Rhodey’s mind.

“Because,” Rhodey intones and finally lets go of Tony’s arm to look at him, “you tend to not do that for yourself.”

And why would he, having never been taught how to. For someone who expects the world to always jump at his bidding, just because of his name and money, Howard Stark has been amiss to instil that sense of worth in his own son.

Tony shrugs and winces slightly, which only worsens Rhodey’s anger because that means he likely has more bruises. “He’d ruin your life,” he says quietly, urgently in a way that shows he really is afraid of that.

Ignoring the fact that this is not something they should have to worry about – his best friend’s father being able to destroy his life on a whim – it is nice to hear that Tony really cares. Rhodey knows he does, but there are no masks here now, no pretensions of uncaring cheer. Tony is good at being what the world wants him to be, but underneath the surface he is brittle enough that Rhodey just wants to hide him away where no one can get to him.

“I’d rather he didn’t try,” Rhodey argues, forcing his tone to be lighter than he feels. “But as of yet he’s only ever hurt you. And that’s not acceptable.”

He does not expect an answer. Tony is practiced at skirting this topic, refusing to actually say that what his father is doing to him is wrong. It is just like him to be vocal about everybody else’s pains and worries but never his own.

“Give me that bottle back, would you?” Tony asks and leans back in the bathtub, avoiding Rhodey’s eyes again. It is subtle, as he pretends to inspect the cut on his arm, but Rhodey knows his mannerisms by now.

“You’ve had enough,” Rhodey says and suppresses the urge to take a sip himself. Getting drunk will not actually help.

Tony rolls his eyes, but still does not look up. “There’s never enough after dealing with dear old dad.”

One day, Rhodey will ask why Tony decided to indulge in Howard’s favourite vice when he intimately knows what alcohol turns Howard into. He just has not found the courage yet.

“You’re bleeding,” he reminds Tony as if that will be taken as an acceptable reason. “I won’t let you add alcohol into the mix.” More alcohol as it is.

“But it helps with the pain,” Tony argues but does not make a move to get the bottle. Rhodey counts that as a victory.

“No. End of discussion,” he says for good measure. Then he reaches for the Neosporin and takes Tony’s arms again. The wound has stopped bleeding but looks like one wrong move will cause it to reopen. “Now, hold still. This could sting.”

He is as gentle as he can be and squeezes Tony’s hand when he does not flinch away. It is not the worst thing in the world to get alcohol rubbed in wounds and Tony has certainly had worse, but he is often sensitive about appearing weak.

“You know, you’re the only person besides Jarvis who does that,” Tony says in a conversational tone, almost detached from the matter at hand. “Warn me before, I mean.”

Rhodey does not like Jarvis. The old butler is a kind man and Tony loves him, yes, but he did not get Tony out of his abusive home life. For years he stood by and watched Tony get hurt. In Rhodey’s opinion it is not enough to soothe the bruises after the fact. He is, of course, not doing anything else, so he should probably not blame a man he has never met. But every beautiful story Tony tells about Jarvis always comes with a bitter taste for Rhodey, because it leaves him thinking that no one has ever done enough for Tony.

“I hate that enough people have done this that you have some kind of ranking for them,” Rhodey says instead of voicing these thoughts, although he cannot quite keep the sharpness out of his tone.

He picks up the band-aids and arranges them unceremoniously to cover the cut. Tiredness seeps into his bones but he does not let that show.

“I wanted to say thank you,” Tony says, sounding sheepish.

“Then perhaps use those words next time,” Rhodey points out as he turns to the smaller cut through Tony’s eyebrow.

He knows that Tony is not ungrateful. They have never spoken about this, but he thinks that thanking people, to Tony, is akin to reminding them of his weakness, his defects. And if he does that too often, people will leave. That is utter nonsense, of course, but Rhodey has not yet found an effective method to tell Tony so.

They finish up in silence, and just when Rhodey turns to tidy up the first-aid kit, Tony reaches out and touches his shoulder.

“Thank you, Rhodey,” he says with a small smile and earnest eyes.

Just as solemnly, Rhodey responds, “You’re welcome.” And he is. No matter the occasionally sharp words and heartbreak, Tony is family. “Now, do you have any other wounds? Did you hit your head?”

Just like that, the magic of their serious moment dissipates and Tony is back to rolling his eyes and belying his state.  

“No.”

“Ribs okay?” Rhodey asks, going through his mental list even while he eyes Tony’s skin critically for blooming bruises.

“I think so,” Tony says and breathes in deeply as if to demonstrate his ability to do so without sudden pain.

Satisfied with that, Rhodey moves on. “Do you have a headache? Does your vision swim?” That is a tricky question, because he is often not able to verify until Tony keels over after pushing himself too hard. And he did say something about falling down earlier.

“I don’t have a concussion,” Tony dismisses easily, and Rhodey cannot glean anything from his tone.

“You said that last time,” he points out, feeling a bit helpless. With opens wounds, he can help, but everything else is a bit too much. Although he is sure that will change the longer he stays friends with Tony.

“We blew up a lab,” Tony replies with more fondness than such a memory should warrant. Then he leans forward and pokes Rhodey’s chest. “You had a concussion too.”

“And I admitted it right away, while you were lying through your teeth,” Rhodey shoots back immediately. They had been stupid and a concussion is just not something nice to deal with. Of course, he said something. To this day, he cannot understand how Tony can insist on going through all these things alone.

“I don’t like hospitals and I really didn’t have to go there just because I hit my head a little too hard.” They have had this argument a thousand times, but it is easier to fall back into it than to press Tony for how he is feeling right now. He looks better and has not tried to get the whiskey back. In Rhodey’s book, that is a victory.

“But you insisted I stay in there for a whole week,” Rhodey says as he packs up the first-aid kit and stores it back under the sink.

“That’s –” Tony begins to argue, but Rhodey cuts him off, knowing what is coming.

“If you’re going to say that’s different, don’t.” That has been a point of much frustration for Rhodey. How easily Tony deals in double standards, always hiding his own needs while basically putting Rhodey on a pedestal. “One day, I’ll get you to see that you’re allowed to treat yourself with the same care and consideration you do for your friends.”

“Well, you were always one for doomed cases,” Tony shrugs but at least does not pretend that Rhodey does not have a point. “Now, help me up, please. I want to go to bed.”

Tony does not need much help, which is an immense relief. They have come far enough in their friendship that Tony does not pretend when it is only them. If he cannot stay up on his own legs, he leans on Rhodey. If they continue that way, they will turn Tony into a fully functioning adult yet.

Still, Rhodey stays at Tony’s side and steers him, just to make sure. It is only when they are moving to Rhodey’s half of the room that Tony speaks up.

“That’s not my bed.”

“Nope,” Rhodey agrees cheerfully. “You’re sleeping here so you won’t be able to sneak out if you feel worse. Or if you decide you want to keep drinking.”

That was a hard-learned lesson, the way Tony likes to disappear instead of just asking for help. Now he knows he needs to hold on to Tony to keep him where he is supposed to be.

Tony glances up at him, thankfully not irritated. “You don’t –”

“I do,” Rhodey cuts him off, his tone still pointedly light. He will not argue about this. Or, at least, he will not lose this argument.

With a huff, Tony sinks down on Rhodey’s bed. “You can’t possibly know what I was going to say.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Rhodey says in all seriousness. No matter what Tony was going to say, what clever argument his head has cooked up, Rhodey promised to take care of him and he will.

As if to show he learned his earlier lesson, Tony looks up and says, “Thank you, Rhodey.”

It is a stupid thing to feel happy about, because Rhodey knows Tony is grateful even when he does not say it, but the words cause warmth to gather behind his sternum.

He nods his acceptance with a smile, but then says, “Well, you’re paying to get that bloody handprint off our wall, so we’re even.”

A year ago, he could not have said that. Even the slightest mention of him expecting Tony to pay for anything would have just caused Tony to think his fears of Rhodey being just another gold digger were true, even if Rhodey has never once asked for anything. It is good to see that Tony does not even bat an eye at his comment now.

“I will, geez.” He flops back dramatically on the bed. “You should go out more, white walls are so out.”

Rhodey laughs as he pulls the blanket over Tony, almost tucking him in. “Close your eyes, Tony. We both need to sleep.”

Well, Rhodey needs to wash up first. While his hands are clean, it does feel like Tony’s blood is sticking to them. He just needs to make sure that Tony is in bed and stays there before he dares to turn his back on him.

“All right, mama bear,” Tony says but already sounds sleepy. “I’ll happily be your little spoon.”

They have done this a hundred times before, once Rhodey made it clear that Tony does not need to pay him in physical affection either. Theirs has been a long road already. Rhodey has no illusions that it will be smooth sailing from here on, but he is proud of how far they already made it.

“Shut up,” he says fondly. “Sleep well. And wake me if you feel worse. I mean it.”

“I promise.”

Rhodey does not believe him one bit, but that hardly matters. They have a working system going on here. Tony might fight his mothering at times but they do rely on each other. Any while Rhodey could do without the excitement sometimes, he would not have it any other way. That is what family does for each other, after all.

[strangergrove]

× VOL 001 × 04.19.2020 ×

TUMBLR | @bambixxblue AO3 | moonlight_xx

× these hearts adore (every other beat, the other one beats for) ×

WORD COUNT: 10,569

CHAPTERS: 2/?

My Tumblr prompt fics all in one place. Some pining, some angst, but usually always a damn happy ending.

1. peach, curve of an ear, coffee grounds, veined hands, thunder

2. ways to say 'i love you' - 'i brought you an umbrella.'

The writing in this is so exquisite. It feels like cracking open a favourite book on a rainy Sunday morning, when the rest of the world is still asleep. It's comforting and poetic and incredibly heartwarming.

The first chapter takes us along on a sweet little vacation to California, a last hurrah of sorts, before the kids head off to college. It's sweet and peach-soaked and you can feel the ocean breeze against your skin with every passing word. It's the exact brand of happiness our boys deserve.

The second part is an achingly beautiful redemption for Billy. He learns how to let his wounds heal, learns how to let others in, learns how to trust and love. His initial interactions when he meets Steve are so precious and it shows how complex of a person he is, the softness beneath his concrete shell. I will devour any update to this amazing collection.

× the light of day shows me how ×

WORD COUNT: 39,173

CHAPTERS: 7/7

And from Robin, a single picture: the official cast list.

ROMEO MONTAGUE...BILLY HARGROVE

JULIET “JULIAN” CAPULET...STEVE HARRINGTON

Ah, fuck.

(or, Steve and Billy are in ballet school. They're cast in LGBT+ Romeo and Juliet. Featuring mutual pining, angst to fluff, and an Ancient Slavic demon cult. It gets weird.)

This is such a fun read. The spattering of background into the story really carves out the characters so well, choreographing the story in such a way that you fall into their lives without realizing it. You sit down to watch Steve practice his role for Julian and suddenly find yourself wondering if that small stutter you just saw has anything to do with any number of little details you know of his past. You see Billy storm across the studio floor and know that he’s trying to bury something that keeps resurfacing, but he refuses to let anyone help him.

It’s wonderful watching the way the boys play off of each other, pushing one another to better themselves in both their dance and their personal lives. Watching Steve fumble with his newfound and confusing feelings is sweet, hopeful, just waiting, waiting for it to tip over the edge, for the boys to fall into the space they’ve always belong: by each other’s side.

I’ve never done ballet, only watched it here and there in movies and shows, but I fell in love with this story, the way their dances are described, their movements. So if you’ve never been that into ballet, don’t let that deter you from reading this story. It’s so much more than just ballet.

× friends should sleep in other beds ×

WORD COUNT: 13,517

CHAPTERS: 2/2

It isn’t easy being in love with your best friend.

It especially isn’t easy being in love with your best friend if he’s the practical-Godfather of your university.

(or, 'I won't let anyone hurt you; you're safe with me' prompt fill where Steve thinks his love is one-sided but it absolutely isn't. Feat. loving girlfriends and Hawaiian vacations.)

This story is beyond achingly stunning. It’s all whirlwinds and longing and the white-knuckle deathgrip of trying to hold onto something you’re convinced is going to slip away. The deep, binding relationship between Billy and Steve is beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. Both characters have obvious trenches of emotional trauma they’ve had to trudge through to get where they are, trenches they’re still slowly crawling their ways out of.

The words are so wonderfully crafted that I felt the sway and break of Steve’s emotions at the same time he did. I felt the longing, the sorrow, the sputtering flame of hope that just refuses to gutter and die. I want to say I wanted more of this story, but I don’t know if my heart could have handled it. No, it was the perfect length, detailing the long harrowing journey of love and friendship, of finding family that doesn’t come from blood, of holding desperately onto things that are worth the bruises they leave on your fingers.

TUMBLR | @cameorabbit AO3 | CaffeinatedBunny

× Life Is Sweet ×

WORD COUNT: 8,676

CHAPTERS: 4/4

Snapshots of domestic bliss, between loving boyfriends.

(This story will be marked as complete but I will be adding chapters as the muses come to me or when I need a break from some of my larger wip)

This wonderful little collection offers us a sweet insight into the boys' relationship. We get small glimpses into the boys' pasts that add layers to the stories. We get to see little snippets of Steve's relationship with his mother and grandmother. We get to see Billy's insecurities. 

Each story has it’s own little theme, if you will, from baking Christmas cookies to battling insecurities in their relationship. Each story gives us a little more, brings us a little deeper into these boys’ lives, adds that next layer to them that has you coming back to see how they’ve developed. I'm looking forward to any future additions to this collection.

× When I run out of road (You bring me Home) ×

WORD COUNT: 5,316

CHAPTERS: 1/1

The road back to Hawkins Indiana is long and tedious with neither of them really wanting to reach their destination; so to distract them both Billy has a plan to make it as pleasurable for both of them as he can.

Uffda. This was a fun read. Now, before I dive into the review, just a heads up: this is a PWP with dom/sub. And apologies in advance for my inability to be eloquent about smut.

The dynamic between the two was a joy to read. Steve's mannerisms as a baby and the way Billy handles him as his Daddy was fantastic. It's not heavy dom/sub here, but you can tell they've had this relationship for a while. They're both comfortable in their roles and both know exactly what they're doing, and how to get a rise out of each other. But between the power play and the drops of backstory, there's actually some beautiful writing here, too. There were a few lines that I found myself rereading just because they sounded beautiful.

Also, I just have to say... The way Billy handles his own cock... Why do I love that so much? Just little things, too, like tapping it against the steering wheel while he's teasing Steve.

× I'll Keep you Mine ×

WORD COUNT: 3,926

CHAPTERS: 1/1

Billy's forged a kingdom and took an empty throne, and he'll burn anyone and anything that tries to take it from him.

(My Dudes this whole story is pretty much the Grumpy Possessive one claims the Sunshine One - Literally. And I ain't even mad.)

Here we get a gorgeously written tale that spins the events of the Upside Down in a different light. I don't want to spoil what that is, as it's not explicitly stated in the summary or tags, so you'll have to read to find out! This idea could easily be fleshed out into a much longer piece, but there's also something about just getting a small taste of an idea that is very enjoyable.

There is this persistent sense of danger beneath all the beautiful imagery. It's in the pacing of the story, in the way Billy needs to claim Steve. We get enough of a taste of this otherness to want more, to want to see exactly how everything unfolds.

TUMBLR | @wickedlydevious AO3 | wickedlydevious

× Weak Hands, Weak Lungs, Strong Heart ×

SERIES: Strong Heart

WORD COUNT: 2,771

CHAPTERS: 1/1

After the events at Starcourt Mall, Billy is recovering in the hospital and bored out of his mind. The only bright spots are when Max comes to visit.

And then Steve Harrington starts visiting too and that's even better.

There is a very beautiful light and warmth throughout this story. Billy's character feels so accurate, and the way he deals with being in the hospital and everything that entails is exquisitely portrayed here. What Billy has to deal with in the wake of the Mind Flayer grates against his entire personality, but it forces him to step outside of his comfort zone, outside of himself, and relearn how to interact with people, namely Steve.

The thing I loved most about this story is that we get to see these different facets of Billy, facets that maybe even he didn't really know were there, ones he never allowed himself to show because of his father. Still recovering, still being dependent on other people forces these different aspects of him into the world, and it's beautiful. It creates this very special sort of relationship between Billy and Steve that is just so pure and heart warming. I'll definitely be coming back to this when I need a spark of joy.

× Weak Backbone, Strong Convictions ×

SERIES: Strong Heart

WORD COUNT: 3,212

CHAPTERS: 1/1

After the events at Starcourt Mall, Steve starts bringing Max to visit Billy at the hospital.

And then Steve starts visiting on his own.

The sweetness continues with the second part of the Strong Heart series. The events of the first part are retold, but this time through Steve's POV. I've always loved the idea of telling the same events from different perspectives and this did not disappoint. The events may be the same, but you feel them differently than when they were told through Billy's perspective. Though the tone of the previous installation is ultimately uplifting, it's clear Billy is struggling. This part, however, is overflowing with hope, which only adds to the already beautiful feeling of the last piece. Don't think that because you already know the events that will take place because you read the last part that you shouldn't read this one. It's beautiful and moving and there are moments added that would be a shame to miss out on. I really hope this series continues, because it is wonderfully uplifting, but it stands strong all the same, just as it is.

× T(h)ree Mistakes ×

WORD COUNT: 4,559

CHAPTERS: 1/1

It’s their first Christmas in their own apartment and Steve reluctantly tasks Billy with getting the tree.

Mistakes are made.

This is a great read for the holidays. Billy's tree-getting adventures brought back so many memories of going to the tree farm down the road from our house as a kid and making a day of trying to find a tree that didn't look like trash and wouldn't break the bank. The feel of the story is cozy and sweet, like a warm and sleepy holiday morning. The kids, now teens, make a short but fun appearance that really makes this story feel like it's about found family. 

This story is like coming home, rounding up all of your best friends you haven’t seen in ages, and making a night of the holidays. It’s sipping eggnog, the lights turned down low, and listening to the sweet croon of gentle music somewhere in the house. This story is comfort and happiness and love. Now I want some hot apple cider...

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