#i lost interest soon after for a variety of reasons

[tipytap]

anybody else sick of the grind? sick of the “oooh ive found something im good at!!! now how can i monetize it?”

[itsshypen]

ᰨᰍׂP.JS - Jay.❝ OFFICE.❞

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- Pairing :: Dom!CEOJay! x Sub!femreader.

- Synopsis :: You are an employee of the company where Jay is the CEO, you stood out... and that's why with you once again in front of him, he couldn't contain himself.

- Warnings :: Jay is the CEO; Anger issues on Jay's parts; Smut; Dirty talking; pet names (doll, little princess & dear); fingering; Safe Sex (USE PROTECTION GUYS!!); Praising; Jay gives orders to reader; Hair Pulling; Cursing; Jay uses reader as stress reliever (but is also his love interest); Jay not much older than reader!; BigDick!Jay; Let me know if I forgot anything.

A/N NOTE :: It's a One-Shot and I'm happy to post it for the first time 🥺, I hope you like it and enjoy reading! Btw, requests are open.

─ !!MINORS DNI!! ─

Seoul City; HYP COMPANY. ; 08:34 A.M;

─ You had tried your best to leave the house as early as you could, trying not to be late... but as always, you arrived a little late. You greeted everyone who crossed your path, embarrassed about being late yet again, but you soon got over the embarrassment and finally arrived at your desk, which already had a large amount and variety of papers piled up on it, meaning that someone had already given you a job that wasn't even for you.

── "They can't even leave a note anymore..." You snort and leave your bag hanging on your comfortable chair.

Luckily for you, your boss and CEO wasn't so strict with you, which you didn't understand why since you joined that company almost two years ago; you had made so many mistakes at work, he seemed to turn a blind eye to these details and always gave you a second chance and new ways to solve that task that had been done wrong... leaving you embarrassed and confused every time. You just put on your headphones, shook those thoughts away and put your best songs on Spotify, starting that work, the result of the scam of lazy people, who you knew very well who they were. You kept thinking about your relationship with your boss, whose name was Park Jongseong, or Jay, as people called him; every day you tried to understand your relationship with him, whether in the middle of the morning or late at night lying in bed, it took away all your peace trying to understand your boss.

It may be the fruit of your fertile imagination, but unlike the other employees, he seemed to have a better temperament with you. Sure, he lost his temper a few times, but he was never rude or heartless. And if you go into detail, his gaze were too intense for your liking... but in your head, the reason was because he considered you the best employee in the company. You even won 3 certificates of excellence in delivering work, so... that must be why, right? You decided to stop thinking about it. You knew it would go too far, new paranoia would come and things you didn't want to feel would arise; after all, you started playing your favorite song on your headphones and got distracted by that, as well as by the paperwork there.

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JAY'S POV.

He was in his office, on the phone with one of the company's employees, already stressed and his voice was loud.

── "What do you mean you didn't hold him back?!" - Jay said frustratedly and even put two fingers between his furrowed eyebrows.

With each word from the person on the other end of the phone, he huffed more and more, until he finally hung up after muttering "fix this."; Sighing and massaging his temples, he took a deep breath and went back to checking his cell phone, no message.

── "Mrs. Jin, call employee Dohyun to present me with those papers I gave him yesterday" - Jay said flipping through his notebook, when he saw his secretary pass through the room.

── "Uhm.. Mr. Park, this employee isn't even in the company right now.." - She said fearfully, knowing that Jay wasn't in a good mood at the moment, and even shrugged her shoulders a little as she spoke to him.

Jay slowly looked at her, a look of disbelief, and closed the notebook with just one hand.

── "Fire him. Now." - He said simply.

Miss Jin nodded and was preparing to leave the office to go to her own work room, on his computer, to tell the boy, but Jay spoke again.

── "Who's taking care of the papers then? Or did absolutely no one competent did them?" - He said, placing his fingers on his chin, waiting for the answer.

The secretary then took a look at her tablet, seeing that Y/N marked as the person responsible for the papers and sighed, relieved.

── "Y/N, she put it in the system that she's doing those papers" She said in her calm voice and hugged the tablet.

Jay gave a little smile, seeing the altruism you had, it wasn't even your job and yet, you had done it.

── "Call her here, please." He said without taking the smile off his face, and fiddled with one of his pens.

The secretary nodded and finally left the room, closing the door. She went to her office, and used the phone to call you.

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There you were, walking down the hallway to your boss's office, wondering what he wanted and the papers in your arms, but you maintained your posture and when you reached the door, you took a breath in and out through your nose and tapped on the door, quickly hearing a "come in".

Every time you went into that room, something made you nervous and had incessant thoughts, maybe it was his great and intense presence..? You could not deny his appearance in any way.. His black hair, always well combed; His muscular physique, which with the suit, was even more visible and accentuated; His sharp jaw and gaze, as if they could cut the air.. everything about him caught you in an inexplicable way.

You decided to shake your head and stop thinking about such nonsense, as you walked to the desk of the owner of your thoughts, who gave you a little smile and straightened up in his large upholstered chair.

── "Y/n.. the excellent employee for three times in a row.." - He said with a little laugh and clasping his hands together

── "It's me.." - You laughed awkwardly and stopped in front of him.

── "So.. you took care of financial papers that weren't even for you?" - He said, with a clear tone of pride.

── "Yes, I arrived earlier with this pile on my desk." - You give a small sigh and carefully place it on his desk, and straighten up again.

Jay picked up some papers, carefully analyzing them and giving a small smile, sighing happily and putting the papers back in place, looking at you with slightly shiny eyes and from top to bottom.

── "Great job.. that's how it should be." - He relaxed in his chair and kept his little smile on. ── "Are you okay? How were you last night?" - He asked with genuine interest.

── "I'm fine, and I slept half the night, it wasn't much" - You say, fidgeting with your bracelet, you were nervous for some reason..

── "That habit of yours.. is going to kill you yet" - He chuckles, looking you up and down again..

── "No way... I'm used to it" - You laughed a little.

Just as Jay was going to say something else, his cell phone rings and he looks at the contact, his expression closing in irritation in the same second and he huffs, answering.

── "You have work to do." - He said in a clearly irritated voice.

You spent minutes watching him extremely stressed, yelling at the person on the phone, and you just stayed quiet. Soon you said goodbye with a bow and left, going to take care of your other services.

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The day passed, it was already late afternoon, when you finished doing your work, and were about to leave, however... you had to deliver an envelope to Jay, so you had to go up to his office floor again.

After going up, your heels made noise on that very quiet floor, with few people; Before going to his office, you stopped by to get a coffee, you suddenly felt like it; You soon went to his office, as soon as you reached the open door, you saw him slap the table and throw his cell phone away, growling in frustration and putting his face in his hands, scaring you briefly, then you entered slowly after closing the door.

── "Mister.. Park?" - You said fearfully, approaching and seeing him lift his face and look at you.

── "Yes..?" - He practically whispered.

── "Before I leave, I came to deliver this envelope from one of the employees near my desk who had to leave early." - You said and gently placed it on his desk.

Jay nodded and put the envelope without even looking inside a drawer and sighed, looking at any corner of the room; You took a deep breath and drank the last sip of your coffee and threw the cup away, sighing.

── "Where's Jin? You look stressed... isn't she here to help you?" - You said, scratching your arm

── "She had things to take care of and left." - He said simply, without moving a muscle.

You nodded and silence fell for long minutes, the freezing air conditioning made you feel a little cold and you saw him lean his back against the chair soon after, finally looking at you.

── "Y/n.. I'm really stressed, but.. can I admit something to you?" - He said, clenching his jaw.

You were uncertain but nodded, moving a little closer to the table.. innocent you.

── "You don't leave my head. You have no idea how incredible you are, and this way of yours... gives me an absurd desire, and it frustrates me so damn much." - He said, getting up slowly and walking around the table until he reached you.

You were speechless, you retreated slightly due to a minimal loss of balance; those words served to give you the minimum amount of heat that was missing in your body, so you took a breath through your mouth.

── "What.. do you mean...?" - You said, looking at him with confused doe eyes.

── "You still ask..? I'll tell you very clearly.." - He said, getting closer.

── "I want to put you on this table and fuck you until you understand how hot it was just to have done work that wasn't yours out of pure independence." - He said very close to your face, making you feel his breath on your lips.

You certainly felt that choice of words and proximity like fuel for the fire that was already lighting inside you, there was no other name. You didn't know what was pulsing more, if it was your heart or your pussy. He had already placed his hand on your jaw and moved closer, that look under you was having an effect that not even you knew it could generate. You were resisting.

Fuck if it was wrong, crazy or weird to give yourself to your own boss, after all, he started it and who were you to deny a hottie like that?

At the very least, you nodded to him, and he calmly but hurriedly glue your lips to his, which made you sigh against his mouth, already holding onto his covered biceps for support. In a short time of kissing, he dominated your mouth with his tongue, exploring every inch and taking away the last of your breath. You broke away from the kiss with a click of your tongues and he took the opportunity to lower his face to your neck, kissing and nibbling there while one of his hands went behind your social shirt on your back and ran his hand up and the other went down to your hip, gluing you guys together.

── "Mister Park.." - Was all you could manage to sigh, at least

── "Jay." - He corrected you between stronger bites on your neck

── "And just be quiet, just say something to moan." - He growled as he already opened your social shirt, still with his mouth on your neck.

You shivered at the order, and didn't feel like contradicting him.

Soon, he leaned against the table, red and already panting, seeing the neckline of his loose shirt; you had been confused by his stop, but with his panting, you realized that a break was necessary, and it was enough for you to see the noticeable erection well marked in those pants that matched his suit. You salivated at that sight and on impulse, you approached him and squatted down, already fiddling with his belt buckle.

── "Looks like someone here know what they're doing, huh? Damn.."

Your cheeks flushed with the discreet compliment and you were already desperate to suck him so you opened it as fast as you could, as well as the zipper and lowered his pants a little, enough to come face to face with his black Calvin Klein boxer briefs.

My god. Was that going to fit in your mouth? Fuck it, you were so greedy for that that you were going to make it fit one way or another. However, you decided to tease him first of all... giving him little kisses and licks over his briefs, not touching him at all and breathing hotly on him; his reactions were satisfactory for you, panting and whispering incoherent words, going straight to your insides.

── "Oh God.. why do you think teasing me is a good idea, dear..?" - He said with a voice choked with lust and that made you want to tease even more, and so you did.

You kept licking him with more vigor and kissing him with desire.. and you added the sucking, which made him give a mini spasm and put his hand in your hair, no longer in the hairstyle it was before.

── "Either you put that dick in your mouth right now, or I'll jump to the main thing." - He said as an order and lightly squeezed your scalp, making you give a tiny moan.

You felt like he could break you in without doing anything else first and you wanted to save at least a little of your motor coordination;

He soon pulled those underwear down, making his already erect member almost hit your face. To your eyes, it was the best dick you had ever seen from all the guys you had ever dated, pink and the head perfectly shaped, thick.. He pulled your face close to that, as a form of command in your vision and soon, you grabbed the base with one hand moving there and started licking, with the intention of stimulating it a little, already hearing him gasp and that gave you goosebumps.

── "Fuck.." - He groaned and threw his head back a little, his hand leaving your hair and being placed on the table to support himself.

You sucked around the length while massaging the base, as if you were preparing him; you did all this while keeping eye contact with him, knowing that he was doing the same. There came a time when you were getting impatient yourself and finally put it in your mouth, doing everything you could to not show that you were choking, but it was in vain, he was too big for your mouth, which was of medium size for that.

── "Fuck... you even make great use of your mouth..." - He practically moaned when you started moving your head up and down there, wrapping your tongue around his member at the same time.

You spent a few minutes in that back and forth, massaging his testicles, which you discovered was a weakness of his, since he was constantly contracting his belly and you got a few whimpers out of him with that. You could feel your panties sticking more and more with each second that lasted, and his reactions made it worse (or better); And suddenly, you felt his firm hand on your scalp again, and soon he himself dictated the rhythm of your mouth there, and you didn't stop massaging his testicles, seeing him spasm with each descent on his member. Before long, his dictation became clumsy and you knew he was probably close.

── "Fuck.. I'm going to cum... no, shit.." - He sucked in air between his teeth, taking your mouth away from there in a quick movement, recovering his senses and regulating his breathing.

There was a snapping sound when you separated and strands of saliva connected you to his already abused by drool and still hard member, apparently harder than before as soon as he saw your teary eyes.

── "I want you ass up that table, now." - You knew it was an order.

Without saying anything back, you stood up and lay face down on his desk, your ass still covered by your tight skirt; which didn't stayed down for long because he got behind you and lifted him up enough to show off your big ass. He brought his face to your ear, breathing hot and hoarse there, slapping one of your ass cheeks hard, giving you a tiny jumpscare and that would certainly leave a handprint.

── "You have no idea how many times I've fantasized about you ass up like this for me.." - He whispered and began to touch your already completely wet panties.

── "Fuck.. so wet." - It sounded like a growl and soon you felt him move your panties to the side, starting to caress your plump, soaked folds.

He didn't waste any time, penetrating you with two fingers straight, feeling you already stretched out with excitement; He didn't wait long and started to thrust you with those fingers, getting them wet with your natural lubrication, making a scissor motion and folding them inside, making you moan softly and whimper his name.

── "This is because I haven't really fucked you yet.." - He chuckled and increased his speed.

The only sounds in that office were the wet sounds and whimpering, coming mostly from you; Jay's dick was twitching with lust, but he still wanted to tease you, as revenge for your previous provocation. In your head, it was a pleasure to serve as your boss's stress reliever, you never imagined during your work time that on a day like that, you would be face down on his desk and giving him your pussy freely; ..not that you were complaining.

── "You know, doll... you as a whole are a temptation for me, since you came in this company..." - He said, slightly increasing the force where he saw that it made you moan more. ── "Now I'm going to show you how much desire I've accumulated for you."

Jay said and removed his fingers, emptying you and you complained slyly about the sudden emptiness, moving your hips and laying your forehead on the table; which made him chuckle, you knew that at the same time he was enjoying himself... and that turned you on in an absurd way. You only heard him tearing open a condom package, and took the opportunity to take a peek seeing him sigh as he put it on, your legs trembled at the sight and you swore you could melt right there.

── "Do you like what you saw?" - He said in a seemingly confident tone of the words, and you felt a little pathetic as you nodded quickly.

You only felt him in your ear as he walked his member between your folds, even wetter than before, thanks to him and what he had done up until that moment, well, your mind wasn't helping either. You realized that he was going to spend good minutes just teasing your entrance, so you weakly protested.

── "Aren't you going to do it..?" - Your voice almost didn't come out, you was so altered, consumed by lust.

── "That's because I was the one who was most desperate for sex, wasn't it, doll?" - He chuckled and without warning, he slowly penetrated you, opening you painfully but at the same time pleasurably.

As he slowly sank in, you felt your inner walls opening in a way that was so painful but so good at the same time, that you muffled your sounds, almost like whining, by biting your hand and holding tightly to the edge of the table. He kissed the back of your neck to distract you until he put everything in, and it took a few more seconds, because soon you felt his pelvis touch the sides of your ass and you sighed in relief; leaving marks of your teeth on your hand, as well as a little drool, of course. He had barely started and you were already a wreck..

── "Are you okay? I'll wait for you adjust.." - He asked in a gentle tone, and he was going to do what he said... even though he felt an absurd urge to go all out right away.

── "I'm fine.. you can go, please.." - You didn't plan for that phrase to come out as if you were begging, but your voice was so thin with lust that it came out that way.

Jay gave a little smile, as if the way you were caught him right in the heart, and soon began to move, slowly at first... but a few seconds passed and he gradually increased the speed. At first you just panted, but as he increased the speed, you began to moan thinly and loosely, already feeling improvement in the way your walls stretched. You were feeling that he were too weak, you were not like a porcelain doll... you liked intense things sometimes, and at that moment... It was one of those times.

── "You.. are too slow and weak.." - You tried to choose your words carefully, and he just bit his lip and suddenly increased his strength and speed in a surprising way.

That made you choke out a moan, your body began to rock with each thrust that was the source of the snap sounds in that office, you hoped there was no one on that floor at that early night time.

── "So my excellent employee likes to be used without mercy..? It was better than I imagined when I was alone.." - He suddenly whispered hoarsely in your ear, and wrapped your hair in his hand, and when he was straight up again; he began to pull your hair, but with the necessary and right force to increase your pleasure.

You had already lost all your senses, he was being rough. Even though it was you who had asked, maybe it would have been better to let him go in his own time, but on the other hand, you were loving that state and your vision was getting blurry with each strong thrust of his. If he asked you where you were, you wouldn't know how to answer; what you were there, you wouldn't know; what your name was... you wouldn't even know. You were focused on the way he held you, even on the care he took even though he was completely ruining you, your eyes were starting to fill with tears, your hair was messy along with your clothes;

He firmly grabbed one of your thighs, lifting and holding it, reaching even deeper and increasing the speed even more; He was sweatier than a water bottle, but he was smiling without any control and tilting his head back, enjoying the pleasure as your pussy squeezed him strongly.

── "You're swallowing me, doll.. I didn't know you were so greedy for cock.." - He whispered in your ear along with a little laugh, without missing a movement of his hips.

Damn, he knew how to make you more shaky and lost, the fun fact was that it was the first time you two were in that kind of moment; you knew it would last more times, and you wouldn't mind. You were so lost in pleasure and thoughts, that as soon as you became "conscious" of your situation again, you felt him reach a specific point that made your vision fill with stars and your body stiffen;

── "Oh my god..!!" - You whimpered loudly and goosebumps rose all over your skin, making it very clear to him what was going on.

── "Hmm.. I found, didn't I, little princess?" - He chuckled, knowing that he was the only one to see you like that at that moment.

You couldn't form any coherent sentences anymore, tears rolled down your cheeks and your moans were only soft; your legs wanted to weaken and let you fall, you were shaking all over. He lifted your hips more in order to hit your G-spot more times, and the unfortunate man managed it. He had you practically crying on his desk, in his office, in the start of the night where you would already be at home, bathed and watching some drama to pass the boredom; but of course... That was much better, even if surprising.

You were so immersed in the pleasure you felt that you didn't even notice when he used his fingers to stimulate your clit roughly while abusing that specific and sensitive spot inside you; result? You came all around his cock, painting his cock white as you choked out a long, tearful and louder moan from the pleasure of the orgasm. He didn't last long after that either, soon you felt his hip movements become clumsy but still strong, and you only heard him gasp hoarsely followed by a deep moan, stopping moving and staying still, while filling the condom.

You stayed there for a while, regulating your breathing and coming back to reality, sweaty and trembling from the intense pleasure. Then he carefully withdrew from you, inevitably you grumbled at the sudden empty feeling, but you accepted it. You guys settled everything in silence, you made sure to tidy his table and listened to him chuckle, hugging you from behind.

── "If you're not too tired and busy tonight.. we could go out and.. enjoy some time together, how about that?" - He said gently, giving you a kiss on the cheek and you blushed at the affection.

── "Let's go, the night has just begun." - You laugh a little with him.

You two leave his office, after he locks it and holding your hand, you guys leave the company together, ignoring the suspicious looks of certain employees who stayed late; in order to enjoy the rest of the night together.

@itsshypen property!; do not copy and give credit. ★

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Requests and comments are welcome and appreciated ¡! 𖹭

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy Hands Is Manipulative, But Not That Way

...or I finally finish that long ass meta post about why I love the fucking Navy Plot lol

The Izzy manipulation debate has been really interesting to me pretty much since it started, because I'd see a post arguing he's manipulating Edward and go "No, and he couldn't if he tried" and then the next post would say he sucks at manipulation because he's a blunt fucking instrument and I'd go "Yea- wait. Hmm. No, he can be targeted and tricky as fuck." Which does, on its surface, seem like a contradictory stance, but I swear it works.

Because the thing with Izzy - and this is such a fun thing imo - is there are two core types of manipulation that characters engage in, and Izzy fucking sucks at the one you expect his style of antagonist to focus on. But he's scarily good at the other.

Long meta under the cut, so get comfy.

...

From his role under Edward to the protagonist vs antagonist dynamic setup to his introduction scenes, Izzy is very much invoking the conniving second in command. We know this character from other media. He doesn't have the full power he wants so he's constantly scheming to get it. He can't or won't challenge his boss for some reason, so he settles for being the devil on their shoulder or working behind their back. He's the voice constantly ready to inflame insecurities and turn relationship cracks into chasms, and usually he's lying constantly to do so. His fingerprints are all over his boss's problems up to the moment they show some weakness, and then their loyal second goes right for the backstab. He is THE ambitious manipulator. The shady advisor. The snake.

And then you actually look at Izzy and he is not that guy. In fact, it's a testament to the strength of Edward's character arc how much his evil little henchman is not causing his problems.

So - Izzy and manipulation:

Izzy Can't Convince People To Do Things

Like. He really can't.

This interpersonal struggle is fairly fundamental to his character. And moreover, it's a skill that Izzy is intensely aware that he lacks, so usually he doesn't even try.

In his first episode he walks right up to Buttons and just straight up asks him for the information on his party. He doesn't even resolve to steal the hostages until he realizes that Stede has lost them in the bush already, and Izzy obtains them by buying them. When Stede confronts him they end up splitting the pair in a very above-board negotiation and he pretty much just goes with what Stede suggests.

Then in 1x03, people make a big deal of Izzy "manipulating" Edward by not clarifying that Stede didn't know who he was when he turned down the invite, but kind of importantly he repeats the damning line of the conversation faithfully. If he was going to lie, then why not lie? Why even go see Stede at all? And, if he didn't want Stede dead until after the conversation (understandable, tbh, since "Iggy" was stab-worthy), surely he could invent a better insult to rile Edward up. It makes his omission hit more like being bitchy about Stede not recognizing the obvious - namely that Izzy Hands works for Blackbeard and literally everyone knows this - than a slander campaign to get him killed. And once we properly meet Izzy and Edward in 1x04, Izzy's inability to manipulate becomes his main struggle.

Izzy's a blunt and direct person. He leans on authority bestowed by Blackbeard to take control of situations, playing the role he's supposed to play, and without it he lacks a Plan B. In 1x04 he doesn't have any authority over Edward, so his efforts to get him to take the danger of the Spanish seriously amount to "Well as bored as you might be, if you don't make a decision soon we're gonna fucking die." And this is true! There might be a very subconscious attempt at manipulation in his resignation speech before the "That's Blackbeard. I'm Stede, remember?" line - of the piss him off to get him to get his shit together variety - but Edward literally makes a joke out of it so not exactly effective.

And once Edward stops giving Izzy authority in general, his plan to make Lucius do stuff is still just... brute force. Which works at first when Lucius doesn't realize that Izzy's on his own now, and stops working as soon as Fang breaks ranks. His last ditch blackmail attempt isn't manipulative either - he just plans to tell the truth to Pete and assumes he'll be pissed about it. My guy loses a fight over the pirate equivalent of making an uppity employee clean the coffee maker while the boss is out. Not only does he fail to manipulate the crew in a conniving antagonist way... he doesn't even try.

I mean, the only time he (somewhat) succeeds in talking someone into things is 1x06. Getting Edward to agree to killing Stede isn't really manipulation - Izzy gets Fang and Ivan to back him in a very straightforward way because they all actually do have a stake in this - but he's passably able to push Stede to go through with the fuckery via fake compliments. It's not exactly high level work, though. Stede being vulnerable to ego-stroking / dares is pretty obvious.

So what is Izzy good at?

Well, if you can't make people do anything other than what they were going to do in the first place, you might as well lean into that.

...

Izzy Manipulates Situations, Not People

Situational manipulation is one of those fictional tropes that rarely can happen in real life, but there's not much resemblance because real life rarely gives you all the building blocks for a proper gambit and lets you loose. Too many factors. In narratives, though? It becomes one of my favorite ways of having a character be clever.

And before I get into this too much, a really fun sidenote - I think Izzy does situational manipulation more like the way protagonists do it. See, antagonists are usually emotionally and situationally manipulative (ex: provoking the hero to lash out and using it to frame them for a bigger crime), but it's not a good look when your hero drives the target to do something bad and then punishes them for it. So heroes lean on stuff like Batman Gambits - where the lynchpin of the scheme is the target fucking themselves over by behaving completely in character. They've written Izzy so ineffective at emotional manipulation that he pretty much has to rely on other characters' flaws or histories to cause problems, which has a very similar result. And it's wild.

...

Going back to the 1x03 confrontation in Jackie's bar, Izzy doesn't really do anything abnormal in how he conducts himself, but people are picking up on an agenda for a reason. Namely, the whole damn conversation quickly turns into a trap, and Izzy fully sits back and watches Stede spring it from sheer idiocy.

There's no indication that when Izzy walked up he wasn't going to carry out his task with all the bitchy professionalism expected of him, while probably hoping that Stede would eventually stick his foot in his mouth without Izzy's help (assuming he's the kind of idiot Izzy thinks he is). His first section of this conversation is nearly polite:

Izzy (about the Nose Jar): "I have a few colleagues in there." Stede: "Ugh. You again." Geraldo: "Mr. Hands, welcome. It's been a while." Izzy: "(To Geraldo) Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. (To Stede) But for some inexplicable reason, my boss would like a word with you. Bonnet."

It's not until Stede starts talking that I think Izzy clues in that Stede doesn't actually know who his boss is. He didn't introduce himself until the literal last second of their 1x02 interaction, so it wasn't obvious Stede wasn't literally bolting into the forest in horrified realization.

And Stede? He goes hard on being a bitch right out the gate. Brushes Izzy off, tells him to "get in line", calls him the wrong name, says he doesn't care who Izzy is...

Izzy so far has met Stede in a public place, in front of people who clearly treat Izzy with respect and fear. He doesn't bring up their previous interaction, Stede does. He doesn't even goad Stede beyond existing. He corrects him on his name, and watches it not register in the slightest. The next line is the clincher:

Izzy (slightly incredulous): "So I'll tell my Captain that you're declining then, yeah?"

As Izzy is speaking the conversation becomes a trap - he chooses a reasonable way to refer to Edward that isn't "Blackbeard" and waits to see if Stede will make this worse. The jump from "no I'm busy" to "tell him he has terrible taste in flunkies and he can go suck eggs in Hell" is all Stede, completely ignoring context clues as Geraldo stares on in horror. Hell, Jackie only refrains from later de-nosing Stede on the spot because Geraldo knows what's up, and Stede still doesn't pick up on the fact he should maybe be asking some questions (though I'll give him the knife was distracting).

Izzy returns to the ship, quotes Stede directly for his damning line, and waits to see what Edward will do with it. It's not good behavior on his part (and if he could have seen the future he might have tried worse), but switching mid-conversation to offering Stede an opportunity to fuck himself over is a very different mindset than simply lying to / provoking Stede or Edward to get what he wants. He's mostly being petty.

Stede did insult Edward of his own volition, after all, and just because Izzy fudges the truth to hide he didn't know he was insulting Blackbeard instead of just Izzy and a random stranger doesn't change that. All Izzy did to "escalate" that conversation was give Stede a second opening to do so himself.

But there is a far better example of Izzy masterfully manipulating a situation than this in-the-moment bit of pettiness, so let's move onto my favorite bit... explaining in extensive and slightly awestruck detail why the Navy plot. Fucking. Rules. Because it does. Ready?

...

How to Mastermind the Decisive Removal of One Stupid Fucking Stede Bonnet Over Drinks

Ahem. The Navy plot. Masterclass in intimate betrayal. Izzy's biggest escalation in the total collapse of Edward and Izzy's relationship, but also a completely fucking fascinating glimpse into whatever tangled web of codependency they've got going on, because Edward isn't even mad after 1x09. This wordcount is going to be insane enough without me getting into the Blackhands relationship connotations, so I will... attempt... to stick to breaking down the actual scheme.

And what a scheme it was.

Let's start at the beginning. Jack showing up to lure them into the trap at the start of 1x08? Nope, earlier. Izzy getting kicked off the ship and going to Jackie at the end of 1x06? Further back. Edward proposing the "kill Stede" plan at the end of 1x04, which is the domino that starts all this, right? Closer, but still no.

Izzy's first appearance on screen is in episode 1x02, and that episode is where the seeds of the Navy plot are first planted. See, during Stede's confrontation with Izzy, both of the hostages chime in:

Hostage 1 (Wellington): "Believe him, he's quite insane." Hostage 2 (Hornberry): "He does have the eyes of a madman. Sorry, you do."

Wellington says his line in a tone of voice that clearly indicates a story to tell, and it should also be noted that he is the same one who earlier jumped at the chance to tell the tribe chief about Stede murdering their captain - Nigel. And he's the one that Izzy leaves with, in a sour mood and wanting information about this "Stede Bonnet" character.

When Izzy later reaches out to the Navy, it's no coincidence that he finds Chauncey. He's known since right after their first meeting that Stede was directly responsible for the murder of an Admiral's brother and that the English Navy would know soon enough, since he was literally about to ransom a hostage back to them who would tell the story. And he filed that information away until it was useful or relevant like a clever pirate should.

Moving on to Jackie's bar in 1x03, Izzy gets more potentially useful observations / inspiration. Jackie is actually the first person in the series to make a deal with a naval power. Izzy and crew track the Revenge to the Spanish warship, which means they must see Geraldo sold out Stede to them. Izzy isn't stupid. He knows Geraldo and Spanish Jackie, knows that she's the brains and brawn behind this deal, and has seen enough of Stede that he'd absolutely believe that he did something to get Jackie pissed enough to plot his murder. File away Jackie wants Stede dead and details of how she nearly succeeded in offing him for later.

Izzy spends 1x05 up to the fuckery demonstration observing Stede's crew while waiting for Edward to pull the trigger. I definitely want to note the scene where they interrogate the Frenchman at the beginning of 1x05, because Izzy is staring directly at Stede as he leans away from Edward threatening violence (we know this will later be in his love montage so not actually a turn off, lol, but like... it looked like one). His opinion of the crew is that they like to fuck around without structure (1x05 during the party), probably that they enjoy more standard pirate levels of violence (not shown directly since they are kept out of the 1x05 raid, but fairly obvious), and that they are really easily awestruck by the chance to hear "real pirates" tell charismatic stories (1x06 ghost story).

Any of that sounding like someone we know?

And now to go back to Izzy in 1x06, when he gets sick of Edward being cagey about the plan to kill Stede and decides to "make" him stop stalling, he's straightforward again. Getting Ivan and Fang to back him isn't emotionally manipulative, but it does give him weight in the conversation. They are the ones who bring up the whole "love of a pet makes a man weak" thing, and they do it in the context of calling out hypocrisy. Izzy knows the standards Edward holds his crew to. He lets them convince Edward it's time.

Taking the chance to suggest Stede try a fuckery is a strong blend of situational and emotional manipulation, and later challenging him to a formal duel knowing he'd be overconfident enough to accept is more situational again. Even the terms of the duel are designed to take advantage of the situation. And then Izzy loses in the most comedy way possible, Edward lets him get banished, and Izzy decides that if he was ok with just sending Stede Bonnet on his way to fuck-off before... he's fucking gonna kill him now.

My guy is not a creative thinker, but he's definitely a logistical one. And as he rows away from that ship, all the pieces fall into place.

First, Spanish Jackie. Who listens to him bemoan his relationship woes because she likes him (Izzy gets Jackie in the divorce). Who wants Stede dead and has the clout to summon and deal with a distasteful ally - Chauncey. Together, they concoct an arrangement where a trap will be set and Chauncey gets Stede and only Stede. This isn't a tip-off or a free-for-all. Stede comes from Chauncey's world and they are sending him back. Permanently.

Then it's time for the trap itself, which needs to do two things: get the Revenge somewhere that Chauncey can corner it, and get Edward out of there. And Izzy? Izzy knows Edward. Knows there's one particular person in his past that will have no trouble integrating with the crew, getting Edward to act more like a pirate than a gentleman, and who happens to have a great ambush location on hand.

I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again - I don't think outside characters realize how hard and fast Edward is falling for Stede. The BlackBonnet bonding moments happen almost exclusively when they are alone. The place Izzy dramatically fails to manipulate the situation is not having the evidence he would need to predict Edward going back for Stede. He (and Jack) both think that a precise wedge between BlackBonnet - one that Jack delivers near flawlessly by playing into real issues - will be enough to remind Edward that Stede isn't his people. This isn't a plan to murder the love of Edward's life while his back is turned. It's a plan to get rid of Stede, and remind Edward why he was on board with doing that in the first place. "That's fair," Izzy says about a punch to the face.

Instead, Izzy's plot accidentally backs Edward into a corner and forces him to publicly pull a grand-gesture relationship level-up that he was not emotionally ready for, and the fallout from that explosion is way worse than any of our conspirators were counting on.

Still... you gotta admit. It was a really good plan.

[softchouli]

When Katniss' third trimester collided with winter, she stopped going to the woods altogether. It was a reasonable decision advised by her mother who was now on close watch, but it didn't do any good to the intense uneasiness Katniss felt most of the time.

As much as she was trying to keep busy indoors, what seemed to placate her the best even if short-lived on some days, was Peeta's contribution to their child's bedroom.

She immediately took interest when he started to block out a variety of big green sections. Then her husband picked the comfiest armchair in the house and paired it with pillows, so she could watch for as long as she wanted, her favorite person doing their favorite thing.

On breaks Peeta would sit beside her, while she took one of his sturdy and contagiously warm hands in both of hers. Tracing and caressing the colorful smudges, hoping their child could take after him and inherit those very same hands.

As days flew by, flowers began to bloom on the gradient green that became intricate foliage, but with no onions in sight. Peeta diligently embellished all the flowers Katniss had taught him about. A wildflower garden shielded from wilting, curated with all the ones that bring hummingbirds and bees around.

Even Buttercup acquired a spot on the wall, peacefully curled up, fur in a generous rendition, surrounded by the blossoms that gave him a name. An old resilient little thing, he barely hears anymore and Katniss suspects he soon won't see too. He lays on Katniss' lap while Peeta paints, the cat's new habit consists of sleeping next to Katniss whenever he sees her close enough to do it, as if on duty to protect her belly.

Later on a ladder, Peeta moves to work on the ceiling. A lilac base starts to take form with pale pinkish clouds that meet his orange right on the corner of the wall that has a window. It looks just like the sunset's 12 displays in better weather. Like Peeta is ensuring their child's little world would still have a clear sky even in grayish times. It's so limpid that sometimes Katniss swore if she was sleepy enough the fluffy clouds would start moving lethargically.

"I can repaint when our child gets a little older and asks me for something else," Peeta told her, the day when there were no more blank parts to give life.

He knows it will take time for the baby to sleep in the room, even when the little one can finally be by their side. Katniss had long before accommodated a crib by the couple's bed, just to be sure it would fit perfectly there, and it has been the furniture's designed place ever since. However, putting the nursery together gives them a sense of a new reality. It makes them both aware of a future where everything good in their family could take a life of its own.

One night when he enters their shared bedroom, the sight of his wife on the bed greets him. She's frowning, seemingly lost in thoughts while working on soft wool, baby shoes judging by the size of the yellow piece she's holding. For months she's been doing all types of small-sized garments to occupy her mind and free time, and by now they could dress a whole town.

The moment she notices him and looks up, Peeta turns the lights off.

"What are you doing?" Tone telling him her frown it's even deeper now.

His answer comes in the form of him gently scooping her from the bed, "taking you two to see a surprise."

"Peeta I'm not looking forward to seeing the floor, turn on the lights, you're going to drop us all." She's clinging to him now, knowing well her full weight, precious baby bump included, are in utter safety in his arms. The years she was steadily taken care of in their hold could prove It.

That makes him chuckle, the rumble on his chest a feeling too familiar. She wants to stay annoyed but her body, the betrayer that it is, instantly relaxes towards his stable warmth.

"Alright, close your eyes."

"I don't know if you noticed yet…" she gestures in the air, "it's already pitch-black." She tries to state the matter-of-fact information with a brisk voice, but by the last word, her hand is back on his shoulder.

So Peeta, as best as he can, presses his forehead on hers. "My love, close your eyes please." He can feel the sigh she lets out against his face, and he's sure she can feel how that only served to amplify his grin.

"They're closed now, but I could be lying, and you wouldn't even know," she mumbled defeatedly.

The sound of his steps, so distracting for hunting, grew to be the kind of noise Katniss is most fond of in their home. The comforting signal that her husband was nearby. And said noise takes her to the faintest smell of paint. Their child's room.

"You can open them now."

There's no complete darkness when Katniss does as she was told to. Diminutive spots are carefully placed everywhere and they timidly shine, like fractionated versions of the sun that mirrors on the lake's surface.

As her eyes take in and get gradually used to it, Peeta slowly walks closer for further inspection so she can make more sense of the dots. The little bright circles have shapes, it's too delicate and detailed, he must've used one of those thin brushes to make this frizzy at the edges. And it's when it hits Katniss.

Dandelion seeds.

Dispersing as if they were being blown away by the wind, twirling in pretty, fluid patterns, going up to their child sky to take the place of stars. Forming constellations that seemed to be dancing just like the fireflies that accompany cicadas and dragonflies in the summertime.

"It's luminescent paint, it absorbs light so it can look like this when there's none," he says smiling, cheek pressed against her loose hair. "But I think it looks the brightest after getting exposed to natural light."

"Their last glimpse before falling asleep." She softly blurts out in awe, and as tears are threatening to spill over the edge; she manages to release a "thank you," right by the side of his neck, her best-loved hiding place.

"Katniss just a few more days until we can see them, my love" Peeta whispers against the crown of her head, squeezing her a little tighter, his endless effort to make her lighter.

The last thing Peeta remembers from that night is blurry, a mixture of them going back to bed, the slight dampness from the tears on the nightshirt his wife was grasping. The soft sounds of Katniss humming herself to calmness.

The first thing Peeta remembers from the next morning is clear as that first day of spring. It sent him running to bring Mrs. Everdeen. To help them finally welcome the permanent visit they couldn't wait any longer to receive.

[hanzajesthanza]

my attempts to avoid thoughts of geralt's hanza continue to fail, as sapkowski talks about them in front of my face.

(from manuscript, on the subject of the hero and the quest):

On this expedition, the Hero (Simple or King) is accompanied by others who are stereotypical-canonical fantasy characters, in other words - clichés:

Wizard-Mentor (the aforementioned MERLIN, Obi-wan Kenobi, Gandalf, Allanon, Belgarath, Sephrenia or Moiraine, who supports the hero with advice and help); Faithful Servant (in the case of the King, literally, in the case of the Simple, rather a childhood friend, Sam Gamgee. He serves the plot to recite wise folk maxims and prove that the simple people are the most morally healthy; or to save the ass of his master/friend where magic and a sharp sword will not help, and common sense and a strong, faithful arm will suffice). Good Knight (charismatic LANCELOT, always loyal and ready to fight, sometimes with some dark secret in his life); Worse Knight (always with some dark secret in his life, ambitious like Boromir, in the clutches of Evil, secretly collaborates with Evil, regrets betrayal, undergoes catharsis, perishes); Trickster - Conniver (see LOKI in "Materia Magiczna"**), cheerful, but can cause trouble, which attracts like a magnet; Damsel in Distress, who is saved from danger on the way and included in the team. Usually a princess in disguise. For several volumes of the cycle she does not like the Hero, in the last she becomes his wife.

* Type A = Percival, a hero who does not have power and is searching it, and Type B = King Arthur, a hero who has lost his power and wants to regain it. in other words, Type A = Reynevan and Type B = Geralt :)

** another chapter of the book, "Materia magica, or the Little Magical Alphabetical Lexicon," it's a glossary of various myth and legend. in loki's entry, he recounts some myths of loki and equivalates him with other figures across various traditions: Odysseus, Pryderi, Bricriu, Mordred, Alyosha Popovich, Coyote, Anansi, Maui). then he lists a few fantasy/spec fic characters he categorizes as trickers: Cugel (Dying Earth), Kickaha (World of Tiers), Coyote (Coyote Blue), Peter Lake (Winter's Tale), Moonglum (Elric of Melniboné), Nifft and Haldar (Nifft the Lean), Random (Chronicles of Amber), Saruman (Lord of the Rings), Shimrod (Lyonesse), Silk (The Belgariad and The Malloreon), Gray Mouser (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser), Talen (The Elenium).

my thoughts:

pretty obvious assignments here, for the most part.

regis is the Wizard-Mentor, but, as he soon loses his mystique, his intellectual, philosophizing manner becomes mundane and irritating than providing magical provenance. he advises incessantly, answering questions before they're asked, giving guidance when no one asked. he only appears to be omniscient, and the others may think he's so smart because he's hundreds of years older than them, but is really just a guy, a middle aged man with a troubled youth which he learned from. his advice is not magically guided and for this reason is fallable, mortal, human. maybe the cliché is also played with in that he's a vampire, not a wizard, sorcerer, or priest, "‘I see.’ The poet sighed. ‘Is Regis a sorcerer?’ ‘No. No, not a sorcerer.’" ... as vampires are typically evil and regis is decidedly a force of good. (on this topic, @wampirzielarz once compared-contrasted gandalf and regis and it was super interesting :))

dandelion is a combination of the Faithful Servant and the Trickster. he's geralt's best friend, and doesn't fight alongside him with sword but his presence is necessary to our hero for moral support, that all makes the first part an obvious assignment... and... sapkowski lists a wide variety of tricksters of various moral alignments, but amongst them are some heroes and some best friends of heroes (and anti-heroes). and asides from being geralt's closest friend, dandelion is, after all, a rascal, who uses words and good looks to get what he wants from people. "a cynic, a lecher, a womanizer and a liar." (also, because i think szarlej also fits this double-definition as well, i won't hesitate to give them to dandelion, as they serve pretty similar functions alongside their respective heroes).

milva is the Good Knight, "always loyal and ready to fight" describes her perfectly, and her 'dark secret' was her pregnancy and plans for abortion. (though, the attribution of lancelot... well, maybe this is why some keen eyes saw a potential in yenva). anyhow, the playfulness with the cliché comes from the fact that she's a woman, which is supposed to be surprising that the hero's strongest ally is a woman. i think the "charismatic" attribute is also supposed to be played with here, as milva is simple and not too well-spoken, only so in her cursing. in other words, she's a peasant woman, and not a born-and-bred nobleman. also, for her gender, she is a play on another trope sapkowski mentions a couple of pages later, but i can't go into it now because it's too funny.

cahir is the Worse Knight, though perhaps in reverse, for all of his associations with Evil was in the past and shed like sports colors when he changed teams. he has no betrayal, "I will never betray you, witcher," all of his ‘betrayal’ was before he was even allied with the hero. but of course, for these sins, he "undergoes catharsis, perishes".

the Damsel in Distress is evidentially angouleme, being "saved from danger on the way and included in the team." the rebuking of the cliché, of course, is that geralt is "genuinely angry, genuinely confused, genuinely embarrassed" when she offers her "gratitude" to him. also, that she is no princess in disguise, just an ordinary girl, though she is confused for the princess they're after (who also happens to be another play on the damsel in distress cliché). and again, like milva, i think angouleme is related to another specifically female character cliché sapkowski calls out; but i'll save it for another post.

[bezetka]

What a year, huh?

Since some of you may be wondering about my absence, I thought that a short update post like this would be in place.

I'll start by establishing what's new: I can proudly say now that after five long years I've graduated art school, thus reaching one of the biggest milestones in my life so far. As you can guess, senior year was somewhat rough in the aspect of all of the grades I had to keep up and exams I had to take, but also my art diploma I spent a whole year in the making.

And so, the reason of my dead social media begins to surface: with so many things to take care of, I simply lacked the time or energy to post any updates (...Not to mention that the diploma I was making consumed almost all of my free time and I made like maximum three digital paintings in the span of past year...).

Despite it all, I never lost interest in the fandom I'm still in. I've been here for every CRK update, occasionally doodling some characters when I found the time and hyping myself up. Some drawings piled up, and in due time I'll post the most valuable ones of it all 👀

My art style has quite evolved since then, and soon you'll be able to see the fruits of all this timespan. Since summertime is coming and I can finally relax in a way, I'll make sure to post updates frequently. I've also made a promise to myself to be somewhat more active on platforms such as Tumblr or Twitter, 'cause the last time I was online I didn't quite catch the essence of these platforms... Oops

So, you can @ me all your heart desires, message me or flood me with your ideas. It may be a big AMA to be honest... And I want to spend more time interacting with my followers here 😌

I've got some plans in mind regarding my social profiles, but I'll keep it all simple for now. With college prep ahead of me I've still got a variety of things to work on, but hey. Whose life isn't packed with big changes, especially if more than a year had passed?

If you've read up to this point, thanks for listening to my blabbering!! I know I've got a small bunch of followers right now, but sharing my artwork with even a handful of people that have the same interests as me really motivates me. Have a good day now :))

[adracat]

GWitch 21 thoughts

A bit of a transitional episode for the most part though it does escalate some things quite a bit. Always a fun ride on GWitch's coaster of madness and mechs!

First on the docket, Asticassia's aftermath. They really treat you to the scope of its devastation and the students having to wait it out. Bit odd imo they make the students camp there but I guess their parents are likely scattered anyway considering the state of Benerit.

Also was it just me or did y'all instinctively look for Loss in this image? Nicely organized camp at least.

Omg I might cry. Precious Suletta has decided to take it upon herself to care for the students. rescuing them in multiple ways I see. For me, it drives home the message that human connection and community are more important than destructive forces clashing. Empathy over games of war or corporate power struggles. It's also nice that Secilia* (edit: had a brain lapse lol) questions her reasons for altruism.

Because she can so she will 🥺

We finally see how Mio is faring and it's not great! She's taken on the guilt of Prospera's induced bloodshed along with Shaddiq's. Guel tries to reassure her but Mio is firm. This is her fault. Ngl, Guel, you're partly to blame for the school. No offense. It hurts to see Mio take on other people's wrongdoing, but that's a martyr for you

Her talk with Shaddiq was interesting for a variety of reasons, but what stood out to me was their mutual resignation. They're both so tired. Shaddiq admitting he escalated because of Guel and Mio is insane tbh. She calls him an idiot, but it lacks her usual fire. I do like that he tries to protect Sabina and the gang; really speaks to the fact he's more complex than a mustache twirling villain.

OMG Chuchu giving these two tomatoes instead of punches like before was amazing. The growth! The compassion! Ugh it was so good. As was the reveal that Suletta has been stockpiling the tomatoes. Mio might not know it, but she and by extension her mother aided these wounded kids. And Suletta musing on Mio fondly? Peak

After surviving the hell room, I can't blame her for reassessing her life and priorities. Sad she lost her dream but it was tainted by Shaddiq so I understand her reasoning. She'll earn her way back fairly, though it might not be any time soon once she submits herself to the authorities.

I wasn't surprised by this. Peil's horse in the presidency war lost, so might as well turncoat. They're opportunists at heart. The pure SALT though! It was the worst kind of news for everyone else at Benerit, including Mio. Forcible suppression are not words you want to hear

It's awful of me but this screenshot made me laugh. Something about her slumped forward and mouth open, just dead to everything around her. I'm sorry Mio, I'm sad for you still. She's having a hell of a month.

Sarius, surprisingly, is willing to take the fall and allow Grassley to bear the consequences. But Mio won't allow it. She can't accept anyone bearing 'her' sins. She's fully become the rose bride, enduring humanity's hatred willingly. There's also a bit of subtext here as she alludes to sacrificing Suletta. She won't do that again, no matter who it is.

YO OKAY! Suletta while being questioned by Bel and Guston, drops her clone origins super casually. No spite or outward grief either. Just yeah, Mom won't care what I say because she only loves Eri. That's rough buddy.

Surprise! The SAL confiscated a never before seen or mentioned Gundam from Vanadis. And it just so happens to be a monstrous one without a permet filter I'll admit, very confusing for me at first watch. I couldn't figure out why they sprung this without any foreshadowing, but after days I have an inkling.

I'll be frank. I'm not sure why I like Belmeria. She's super pathetic. Just an absolute failure at life with the mental fortitude of toilet paper. But she's pitiable, clearly grieving, and guilty she did not perish at Folkvangr. Has done terrible things as 5lan would attest, but she's still weirdly likable. Like an aunt who everyone hates at family reunions but they're nice to you and make good cookies. Maybe it's just me

Aaaand the suppression of Benerit was swiftly canceled. Lol. QZ can't be stopped now that Prospera has assumed direct control and destroyed every threat to her daughter's eternity.

I did note QZ looks blatantly like a coffin, which considering the Utena parallel has interesting implications. Read this post here to see my musings. It's not a dire thing imo.

Did a huge number on Mio's psyche unfortunately, which I think is the true tragedy. Red shirts got nothing on babygirl. Gotta double down on those swords piercing her with guilt and misplaced hatred. I'm marveling at what they're doing with the Utena intertextuality even as I bleed for Mio's state of mind. She's so fragile now

Yay Chuchu and gang are coming along to fetch Calibarn! Wait, that might be bad. Oh well, Earth House has been crazy lucky so far. Hopefully it'll hold. I will actually lose it if any of them die.

And we have 5lan suddenly deciding to go. I have some thoughts about why, which I've discussed in another post, but for now let's assume he's telling the truth and only wants to leave. He's an interesting character and bounces well off any cast member so it's cool with me. I enjoyed him going out of his way to apologize for harrassing Suletta.

Lauda Lauda Lauda... don't you know anyone who threatens Mio gets Suletta slapped. It's happened three times now and two of them were fatal. He's just gonna get someone killed, and it won't be Mio. I know we see him staring at Schwarzette but I don't think he would need to or have the ability to pilot it. Mio isn't a pilot, so I suspect he'll attack her with more practical means. Could be wrong ofc! This show loves twists and curveballs.

I am eager to see what the rest of this cour has in store for us!

[dokidokitsuna]

(mild spoilers ahead) I finally finished my first run of Side Order! DX Tbh, I haven't had that much time to play lately, but I'm still kind of ashamed that it took me this long...^^;

...I'm also ashamed that the boss that killed me on both failed runs, Asynchronous Rondo, didn't show up on the run where I finally succeeded. So it feels like I didn't really "earn" the victory, which is a little frustrating...I'm sure I'll handle it next time, though. *knocks on wood*

Overall, I would rate Side Order a 10/10. ^^ It's simple, but it works.

The theming and atmosphere is very polished and immersive-- tbh I was convinced as soon as I saw the little animation when you step into the cage at the beginning of a level, and it SNAPS shut kinda violently, just enough to sell that oppressive vibe. ^^; It's those little aesthetic details that make Splatoon special...I can't think of another game that does that as successfully.

The gameplay itself is harsh, but fair. Every time I screwed up and lost a life (or failed a run...) I never felt like it was the game's fault; it was always in a moment where I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings or my ink levels...and conversely, when I made sure to pay attention to those things, I always did well. Basically, it feels just difficult enough to reward you for staying focused. I also think the design of gaining power-ups as you go (including dropped items in-level) was a great move for this game mode-- not only does it make gameplay feel rewarding by its very nature, but it makes it stand out from the rest of Splatoon's game modes, where things like specials and extra ink are treated more like precious rarities; things you shouldn't use until you really need them. On the contrary, in Side Order I really let loose with Splashdowns and Inkstrikes for the first time...ever, actually. ^^ Like, I've gained an appreciation for specials now, after being trained to do without them for so long. It makes battle feel refreshing and dynamic~.

Finally, I'm glad they actually filled the game up with relevant goodies to collect. ^^ Palettes, color chips, Marina's diary entries, Cipher's merchandise, even hint-descriptions for the chips and enemies...when they said Side Order was designed to be replayable, they weren't kidding. My completionist instinct is already champing at the bit to accomplish as much as I possibly can...this is one of the main things that was missing from Return of the Mammalians, in my opinion. In RotM there are collectibles, but half of them are just objects lying around on the ground-- if you wanna 100% the game mode, you better count on spending a very dull hour inking the map to try and dig them all up. And once you're done...hurray, I guess?? You found all the meaningless trinkets... :/ Then the other half is just replaying the meaningless missions with multiple weapons...which isn't a very engaging challenge. Despite being more complex than Side Order's floors, they're much more linear-- you basically just do the same thing three times, and either it's embarrassingly easy or frustratingly tedious. I think the main reason I still haven't done them all is because I just can't be bothered: what's the point in trying to replay an annoying mission when the only difference in the gameplay is that it'll take a little longer to move and shoot...? So I can get rewarded with a tiny checkmark...? No thanks...

With Side Order, on the other hand, the collectibles either flesh out the characters or affect the gameplay (or in the case of the locker decorations, actually look nice), and the sheer randomness of the experience keeps things fresh. ^^ No two runs are alike; the simple objectives paired with creative map designs invite a variety of approaches even with the same weapon, and even on the easiest difficulties. The game itself encourages you to roll with the punches, strategize with what you're given and get creative, which not only makes replays exciting and interesting, but fits perfectly with the story's message. Like I said, 10/10~

[townsenddecades]

1317 – Day 1 – Witches’ Coven

Edith’s death isn’t the only reduction the household goes through in these three months, although the other parting, while bittersweet, at least isn’t as final. Simon has turned thirteen years old recently, and as foretold by Elea, his magical abilities have started stirring. They have always been there, but while it had been a barely noteworthy hum beneath his skin before, he can now feel it as if it were a stream’s current under his skin. He tries to call upon it and is amazed to see sparks follow the movements of his hands.

Elea has given him instructions where to find her for exactly this case, and Benedict, though reluctant to let his son go after just losing his daughter, agrees that it is likely for the best. Who knows if unrestrained magic won’t burn their house down? A fire is be the last thing they need. So, Simon sets out to go to her, alone.

It is a long, wearying journey. Simon can hardly believe that Anna and Edith once tried to do it on their own.

The thought of his lost sister shoots an arrow into his heart. She had been so interested in what Elea had told them, so happy that she had been right and that there was a witch living in these parts. And now, she won’t even see what Elea had to teach him. It isn’t right. He can only hope that whatever he’ll learn will be able to prevent another tragedy like that.

That is the road his mind travels while he walks through the dark, damp forest beyond the ruined village of Lüghaven, until he finally makes out a tower through the barrier of trees. He blinks at the sudden appearance of the building, so unexpected this far from any other dwellings. He had expected a small hut, not a residence of multiple storeys.

Elea greets him in her small garden, a smile on her face.

“I’ve felt your approach. Your magical aura has grown considerably.”

“That’s why I’m here. I can wield my magic now, but I still can’t control it. I want to learn.”

“And learn you shall. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an apprentice. My own daughter hasn’t been granted the gift of magic, sadly.”

That takes him by surprise. “You have a daughter?”

“Mariora, yes. She lives with me. You will meet her soon. But first, I want you to show me your magic.”

And so he does, until a lovely, dark haired girl around his age walks outside to tell them – her mother, really, as she starts with surprise when she sees him – that dinner is ready. Simon can’t respond at first, too busy staring at her. He doesn’t know what he expected, but a girl this beautiful wasn’t it.

She has the same striking blue eyes as her mother.

Mariora leads them inside. He starts when he sees the ruined interior of the house, even asks if taking the stairs upwards is safe, but the women simply smile. And with good reason: while the stairs look unsafe and the lower story hardly has walls and is full of debris, the upper storeys are comfortable, warm and in perfect repair.

“The damages in the lower storey are real enough”, Elea informs him, “but there is a glamour on the steps to make it seem as if they are about to collapse. Keeps people from being too inclined to stick their noses where they don’t belong.”

That is reasonable enough, he supposes, although he has a lot to learn.

Mariora turns to him while her mother busies herself with putting something away. “So, you’re the apprentice my mother has promised.”

Simon smiles nervously. “I suppose I am. It still feels strange to be a witch’s apprentice.”

“Only if you haven’t grown up around magic. I only hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, Simon Townsend.”

He frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Mariora, don’t frighten our new guest.” Her mother walks over with their food floating on a tray before her. “Be happy that we have company to offer us some variety.”

“Of course, Mother.”

But her words don’t leave Simon’s mind for a while.

WATCHER’S NEWS:

Lady Gwendolen Dudley has celebrated her thirteenth birthday.

Prev: 1317, Day 1, Part 1/2 <--> Next: 1317, Day 2

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

“Superhero movie fatigue” is the idea that, because of the recent oversaturation of the market with superhero movies combined with the increased interconnectivity of the stories and the push for elaborate narratives with movies serving as building blocks for franchises rather than standalone experiences, audiences are getting tired of superheroes and the genre is finally starting to show cracks and die off. This idea is incredibly flawed for a wide variety of reasons (Wakanda Forever’s success alone easily debunking it), but it’s kind of interesting seeing how opinions shifted towards these movies so quickly. Obviously the oversaturation thing is indisputable as the sheer volume of releases in the wake of Endgame can attest to, but when you’re releasing that much that quickly the weaker works are bound to stand out more. To really examine why people feel this way, one must single out the weakest link in the chain, and as far as critical and audience reactions go there is no weaker link than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The Ant-Man movies have always been a bit divisive among audiences, but I’ve always maintained that they are the most overlooked and underappreciated films in the MCU. They are low-stakes, lighthearted heist films with strong focus on friendship and family while making full creative use of the title character’s abilities. While by no means the greatest superhero movies ever, they were a breath of fresh air in between the bigger, “save the world/universe” films other superheroes got and were carried by a likable cast spearheaded by the charming and hilarious Paul Rudd. Maybe it was hard to want to call these films your favorite , but they’re even harder to call the worst or even really that bad.

That changed with Quantumania. Critics were pretty mixed on this one, but audiences were scathing, comparing the film unfavorably to Spy Kids 3: Game Over and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl due to the cartoonishness of the CGI and the uncanny similarities shared between Mr. Electric from the latter film and this movie’s take on M.O.D.O.K. While the movie wasn’t some massive bomb, it was fighting an uphill battle from the moment of announcement and was losing handily with fans. Between this and Shazam: Fury of the Gods, people were proclaiming “superhero fatigue” was here to stay and Marvel was going down the drain… at least until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 played that Uno Reverse card and restored people’s hope.

So with the fickleness of audiences taken into account and the lack of water the “superhero fatigue” idea holds, I decided to take a look at Quantumania and see what the fuss was all about. I mean, come on, it’s just an Ant-Man movie, right? Is it really that bad, or is the fatigue real after all?

THE GOOD

I’m absolutely elated to report that my boy M.O.D.O.K. was done justice.

Yes, they did indeed yassify him to make his ultimate redemption easier to swallow (audiences aren’t nice enough to accept a really ugly person being heroic in the eyes of executives), but for me the core appeal of M.O.D.O.K. is how absolutely goofy he looks combined with being a legitimate threat, and this take on him mostly delivers on the latter while delivering the former in spades. As soon as he revealed his face for the first time, I completely lost my shit, and every time he appeared after I was pretty overjoyed.

It helps that this reimagined version is the completely serviceable but otherwise unremarkable villain Darren Cross from the first film rebuilt as a cyborg. While the writing and comedy aren’t doing him too many favors, giving him more diverse and unique powers as opposed to just being Ant-Man, but bad is a great and inspired move, and Corey Stoll is clearly having a lot of fun hamming it up as this goofy cyborg death machine. His ridiculous heroic sacrifice coupled with his delirious dying christening as an Avenger by a confused Scott really helps cement him as the best thing in this movie. Move over, Cap! We’ve got a new perfect ass in the Avengers!

As bad as the effects can be, which we’ll get to later, there are some really fun and unique designs for the alien beings inhabiting the Quantum Realm. And despite the film’s issues utilizing Scott’s powers (again, we’ll get to it later), there is a really cool sequence involving millions of Ant-Mans working together just like real ants.

And now I must unfortunately give props to Johnathan Majors, a real-life asshole who is regrettably a good actor. He takes the generic, cookie cutter doomsday villain dialogue this film affords him and injects so much menace and intensity into him that it honestly makes him seem better written then he is. His multiple variants even get a silly, comic booky mid credits scene with a whole stadium of whooping and cheering Kangs that manages to be cheesy in a good way (aside from how shitty the Scarlet Centurion looks).

THE BAD

Unfortunately, Kang runs into the same sort of problems that plagued Gorr in Love and Thunder, but it’s exacerbated by the fact he’s meant to be the next big bad of the MCU. The film wants to sell you that this Kang is an unstoppable badass who has wiped out innumerable timelines and slaughtered countless Avengers (including Thor, a god)… and yet he ends up getting killed by the combined efforts of a swarm of ants, a goofy floating head, and fucking Ant-Man of all heroes. It is genuinely baffling that they thought the best way to hype up their next Thanos was to have him lose to the goofy heist guy who talks to bugs. It’s like if Guardians of the Galaxy debuted Thanos by having him get his ass handed to him by Howard or Cosmo.

It doesn’t help that in spite of Majors elevating the writing with his performance, he suffers like Gorr did from inconsistent characterization. We are shown in flashback that despite being evil he does have honor and is willing to keep promises… and then a few scenes later he goes back on his word to return Scott’s daughter in exchange for help. It certainly does him no favors that when he’s not inconsistent, he’s a bit too mysterious for his own good, leading to it being hard to really grasp what his personality is beyond being a generic doomsday villain.

It’s not as if the writing does anyone else well, though. Scott is still charming as ever thanks to Paul Rudd, but he’s also shockingly unfunny here. Much of this can be chalked up to his entire supporting cast being written out of the movie save for his daughter and the Pym-Van Dyne family. You could see the foreshadowing to this in Endgame, with the ending featuring Scott, Hope, and Cassie together without a hint of the rest of the family, but it takes full force here with only Jimmy Woo popping in for a non-speaking cameo. The removal of at least 80% of what made Scott grounded and relatable being dropped does nothing but hamper him and lead to him feeling incredibly generic.

It doesn’t help the Pym-Van Dyne family all end up being a bunch of assholes, aside from Hank who is now a silly old dad obsessed with ants and leads an army of hyper-advanced socialist ants into battle against Kang, which might make him the most badass character in the movie. It’s understandable the others can’t measure up to anything that cool, but just how awful they are is still pretty egregious.

Hope is bland and mostly inoffensive, but I think that just makes her worse; Evangeline Lilly is an anti-vaxxer, and if you’re gonna be anti-vaxx you need to really bring your A-game for me to overlook your moral failings for the duration of a film (like Letitia Wright in Wakanda Forever). She didn’t even bring her J-game. Then there’s Janet. Janet is a fucking horrible person. All she does in this movie is offer vague foreshadowing, conceal the truth from her family whenever possible, and reveal she once fucked Bill Murray during his awful, pointless cameo. Michelle Pfeiffer’s talents are absolutely wasted in a role where she exists seemingly to dump exposition.

Finally, there’s Cassie. Emma Fuhrmann’s portrayal of the character was one of the most praised aspects of Endgame, with her giving a very believable and emotional take on the character as a teen. For reasons beyond my understanding, they recast her with Kathryn Newton, and I’ve gotta say she is not even remotely believable as Scott’s daughter. She’s easily the worst character in the movie, to the point you have to wonder what the point of the recast was. Did they want Cassie to suck?

Then there’s the Quantum Realm itself. Aside from some cool alien designs, the Quantum Realm is unbelievably boring and does nothing to allow our heroes to use their skills in fun ways. The fact it’s rendered in really unconvincing CGI like an early 2000s Robert Rodriguez kid’s movie does nothing to beat those Spy Kid allegations. At least with those movies the cheap CGI felt like part of the charm; coming from Disney, one of the most powerful studios on earth, it’s just unforgivable.

But what ultimately kills this movie is that it is a film designed for literally no one. The story feels like an AI was prompted to generate a Marvel script written by an MCU hater, as it has every cliche associated with a mediocre superhero movie on full display. You have abysmal special effects and costumes, terrible editing, awkward humor undermining drama, and an absurdly high-stakes plot, the hallmarks of any bad superhero movie, but even then it manages to fuck that up. As high as the stakes are in the plot considering it concerns the literal annihilation of multiple alternate timelines, there’s not really a sense of thrill or urgency at play here, for instance. And every single problem is compounded by the fact they chose Ant-Man as the lead.

What makes Ant-Man’s solo films work is the low stakes and fun supporting cast, and that’s all absent here. Everything there is to like about this character is excised so he can be inserted into a plot to prop up the next big villain, which as stated above the film also fails to do. No character really develops here, there’s no personal growth at all for Scott, and it just ends up feeling like someone mashing action figures together rather than any attempt at a coherent story.

And his powers are never used in creative ways either! It’s all shrink-grow-punch, with the alien world leaving no room for things like enlarging Thomas the Tank Engine or shrinking down buildings. Nothing about this film allows the hero to be utilized properly outside of one scene; you could replace Ant-Man with almost anyone, even Hawkeye, and it would make no difference at all because in reality this movie exists to debut Kang, nothing more and nothing less. The hero never mattered at all, and in the end it just shit all over a good character for nothing.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

This is, hands down, the worst film in the MCU.

Every other bad or divisive movie in the MCU at least has some semblance of understanding for story structure, even if they go about it in stupid ways. Thor: The Dark World furthered the relationship between Thor and Loki while still being part of a larger story; Love and Thunder at least told a self-contained story that exists on its own merits without tying in to some grand storyline; Black Widow at least developed its characters and made them feel like a believable if dysfunctional family; and Eternals is trying really damn hard, and has tons of fascinating ideas and concepts. Whatever you feel about these films, they at least have some grasp on how to tell a story, however tenuous a grasp it may be.

But Quantumania just doesn’t. It’s supposed to be an Ant-Man movie, but it doesn’t understand why people like the character. It wants to hype up Kang, but it doesn’t understand what’s needed to make him feel threatening. It wants to be an epic sci-Fi comedy adventure, but it’s not utilizing the right characters in the right locations to excel in any of these genres. And most of all, it’s trying to be an important and major foot forward for the MCU, but it’s structured in a way that is generic and, most damningly, pointless. It does not feel like this movie matters at all aside from a mid-credits scene, which wouldn’t be an issue if this film wasn’t so desperately trying to feel important. It says a lot about how hard this film failed when the audiences responded more warmly to a Black Panther movie with no Chadwick Boseman than to the film introducing the overarching big bad of the next few years worth of films and shows.

It’s not even just that this is a bad movie, though; it’s also boring. I actually fell asleep for a minute while watching this because there was nothing engaging. These aren’t the characters I cared about in previous films, there’s no emotional grounding at all. If Corey Stoll’s giant goofy head isn’t onscreen, what is there to give a shit about? Why not close my eyes and dream of something better?

The fact this film is above a 5 boggles my mind. How is this rated higher than She-Hulk? How does this have the same rating as Ms. Marvel? In my eyes this movie deserves a 2, max, and that one extra star is entirely because of M.O.D.O.K. I couldn’t even recommend this in a “turn off your brain” kind of way because it’s not fun or exciting enough to hold your attention even if you don’t think about it. It frankly disturbs me there is a growing coalition of people on Twitter trying to gaslight people into thinking this movie was good, because I genuinely can’t think of a single thing this film does well enough to justify watching it over almost anything else.

With all that said, does this prove that “superhero fatigue” is real? No. If anything, this film’s failure and the success and acclaim of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 prove the exact opposite. What we have is Bad Movie Fatigue. Audiences are sick and tired of sloppily-written, lazy, overindulgent CGI spectacles meant to advance decade-long storylines and sell toys. We want films with strong emotional cores, well-crafted stories, and characters we can relate to and empathize with. We want stuff like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, The Batman, The Suicide Squad, or Peacemaker, and we’re not gonna settle for procedurally-generated cookie cutter slop that feels like it was made by someone who hates the genre. We want good movies, and if we can’t have that at least make an entertaining and stylish mess like Multiverse of Madness.

Quantumania is Marvel hitting rock bottom, but you know what they say about hitting rock bottom: There’s nowhere to go but up. The final Guardians of the Galaxy proved there’s still hope for Marvel; let’s just pray they never make anything as pointless and forgettable as Quantumania ever again.

[quickdeaths]

@ult-mechanic

Normally, Rio didn't make a habit of going into other people's laboratories without permission. Her own was set up exactly as she liked it - habitats and enclosures in one space, active research space in another, and an office space to catalogue her papers and files. Giving tours or showing off the birds to interested school children was one thing, but letting someone have their run of the place without her supervision? Ehhh... That didn't seem like a great idea, for a variety of reasons.

Still, Rio only hoped whoever ran the lab she'd stumbled into would forgive her the intrusion, especially if she mostly kept her hands to herself and didn't break or disturb anything. It had been a long two-day trip down to the beaches with some of her adult colleagues after some nature bloggers had caught sight of a spoon-billed sandpiper milling about out of season. Hours spent combing the coastline and they'd finally found and tagged it, and in absence of any other sightings, it had been decided that Rio would bring it back to her lab for a few days until it could be decided where to send it to help a breeding program.

The poor baby seemed a little malnourished and small, to the point where Rio didn't feel comfortable administering a sedative. That, combined with the long hours she'd been out, however, meant that the bird had slipped out of her grasp and flown off through campus as soon as she'd arrived. Rio had really been looking forward to building a pillow fort in her room, settling down, and binging some seasonal anime, but it was of vital importance that she find the little birdie first.

Which, brought her to the dark lab connected to a garage that had been left with just enough of an open door for a small bird to fly in. "It's okay," Rio cooed, interspersing her words with clicks from pursed lips, her best impression of its contact call. "I'm gonna take care of you, so there's no need to hide." With a small flashlight to guide her, she finally caught sight of the bird, sitting dangerously close to some gears inside a half-disassembled (or, reassembled?) machine.

With a slight squeak, she quickly reached in and gathered it up, an instinctive response with no thought for how one mistake or inopportune activation could have been really dangerous. Only a moment after, as she turned to leave, did the lights come on and the girl tense up. "Sorry," she said with a weak, apologetic laugh, turning around with the bird still in hand. "This little guy got lost, so..." Ah... That was one of the third years standing by the door, wasn't it? With all the tools and machines lying around, it made sense that it would be his lab, but running on little sleep and panicked about her new little birdie buddy, she hadn't realized. "You're... Soda-senpai, right? Sorry, again. I didn't touch anything except what I had to get him out."

[nothingnothingaaa]

Olivia Hussey

English actress Olivia Hussey was the darling of late 1960s/early 1970s frock flicks. After her star-making turn in Romeo and Juliet, the dark-haired, Madonna-faced actress went on to key roles in Death on the Nile and the TV miniseries The Last Days of Pompeii … and then things sort of flickered out. According to a 2018 interview in Variety, it seems to have been just dumb luck. But she has kept working (her last production was in 2015), and she’s very active on social media.

So, let’s appreciate this frock flick as an ingenue and a mature actress!

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Still a classic, and for a good reason! 15/16-year-old Hussey plays a beautiful, age-appropriate Juliet in the adaptation that actually did historical accuracy (and great filmmaking) right.

Beautiful 15th-century costumes.

Hussey’s HAIR. Is so gorgeous!

A promo for the film.

Look at those sleeves! And the other actress’s hair pearls!

Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

Alright, I know nothing about this period, but this seems plausible.

Gotta have your black-clad weeping women!

Death on the Nile (1978)

This big-budget Agatha Christie adaptation (of a Hercule Poirot mystery) includes Hussey as Rosalie, protective daughter of a dramatic romance novelist.

Set in the 1930s, Hussey CUTS HER HAIR!!

Luckily she looks great with a Marcel wave.

She suits this period beautifully.

The Bastard (The Kent Family Chronicles, 1978)

Is this where things went awry? In the 18th century, a literal bastard (i.e., illegitimate son) goes from France to England to America in search of his fortune. Hussey plays Alicia, one of the love interests.

I have no idea who thought this was a good idea, but I was highly entertained!

I will say she plays against type in this.

She’s back to her long hair (and very few hairpins).

The Thirteenth Day: The Story of Esther (1979)

Hussey plays the title character in this TV adaptation of the Biblical story of Esther, the Jewish wife of a Persian king.

I have my suspicions!

Edited to add:

Ivanhoe (1982)

I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT THIS!!!!

The Last Days of Pompeii (1984)

A major TV miniseries about, you guessed it, Pompeii before the eruption. Hussey plays Ione, “a soon-to-be priestess of Isis; sister of Antonius, and love interest to Glaucus.” We’ve gotta review this sometime, just for the laughs!

Hussey is nicely costumed compared to many of the other female characters.

Okay, I like the drapey tunic and the braided coronet.

I guess this is priestess gear? It seems very Egyptian.

The Corsican Brothers (1985)

A TV adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel, which is about twin brothers from Corsica (shocking, I know) who follow different paths. Both are in love with the same woman, played by Hussey. You know I’m tempted to track this one down for Snark Week!

18th-century feathered bangs!

The Jeweller’s Shop (1988)

A jeweler sells rings to two different couples, and various truths about love and marriage are revealed. I THINK this is period? mid-20th century? But I’m not positive. Hussey plays “Thérèse.”

Right? This looks 1930s or 40s to me.

Quest of the Delta Knights (1993)

I have heard Sarah mention this film so many times as what I think may be the ultimate cheese, but I admit, I don’t really know anything about it! But when I saw it on Hussey’s filmography, I knew I had to include it. Ah, I just saw it was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which tells us something. Oh! And it was filmed at our renaissance faire (Black Point), in northern California, which sadly no longer exists but was The Best! Ok, now I gotta watch this.

Per Wikipedia, “The plot revolves around a young boy named Travis who learns from his master that he is the key to saving the world from an evil plot. He joins the secret organization of the Delta Knights and embarks on a quest to attempt to recover the lost treasures inside the fabled Lost Storehouse of Archimedes.” Hussey plays “The Mannerjay.”

SO many questions!

Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994)

A TV series continuation of the ultra-popular 1980s Western miniseries. Hussey is in three episodes as “Olivia Jessup,” and I’m guessing she’s some kind of saloon girl/gambler?

Ringlets, fringe … all very stereotypical!

Hey, her hair’s up!

Mother Teresa (2003)

As, you guessed it, Mother Teresa in what was originally an Italian TV miniseries that was then released as a feature film.

zzz

Chinaman’s Chance: America’s Other Slaves (2008)

What I think must be a low-budget film set in the 1870s, about discrimination against Chinese Americans. Hussey plays “Mrs. Duncan.”

The hair looks VERY faux-period.

What’s your favorite Olivia Hussey frock flick role?

[the-monkey-ruler]

The Flying Superboard (1990) 날아라 슈퍼보드

Genre: Animation

Country/Region of Manufacture: South Korea

Language: Korean

Date: 1990-08-21 (Korea)

Episodes: 36

Single episode length: 22 minutes / 23 minutes / 24 minutes / 25 minutes

Also known as: New Journey to the West / Fantasy Journey to the West / 21st Century Monkey King / Variety Monkey King / 新编西游记 / 幻想西游记 / 二十一世纪孙悟空 ／ 百变孙悟空 

IMDb: tt4938396

Type: Reimagining

Summary:

As a punishment for causing havoc in Heaven, Sonogong is locked in a huge iron mass for 500 years until Samjang Bupsa, an old priest embarking on a mission to rid the world of evil and spread peace throughout the land, rescues him. Sonogong becomes Samjang's disciple. He meets Saojung who enviously eyes Sonogong's amazing Superboard, and a brute swine oil seller Jopalgye. After several twists and turns, they join on Samjang's journey. Wherever they go, they meet overwhelming enemies and get into trouble. But they don't get frustrated and find ingenious way to defeat monsters.

This Korean Journey to the West can be said to be a modern version of Journey to the West. Tang Seng drives a small car, Somersault Cloud turns into a super skateboard, Wukong wields a nunchuck, and Bajie uses a hot weapon bazooka. These innovative designs make it hard for those who have seen it to forget. Remember the plot, but forget the name. The name of the animation is "Monkey King". "Journey to the West" is the friend of every child born in the 80s. From childhood to adulthood, how many versions of Journey to the West have we seen, I guess you can't remember.

"The Ever-changing Monkey King", also known as "New Journey to the West". This Korean animation is quite innovative. It is still the story of Tang Monk's master and apprentice, but it is no longer about going to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures. Tang Seng's task is to eliminate evil in the world and seal all kinds of monsters. In addition to the changes in the plot, great changes have also been made in the character settings. Wukong: The Wukong we are familiar with wears a tight hoop on his head, holds a golden cudgel, and steps on somersaulting clouds. In "Variety Changes", the tight hoop turns into a helmet, and the chanting of the tight hoop spell turns into a wooden fish. The golden cudgel became a nunchuck (still very heavy), and the somersault cloud became a skateboard. Wearing hand and knee pads on his hands and feet, Wukong is like a hip-hop boy playing a skateboard.

Bajie: Bajie's back was changed into a fiery pig holding a rocket launcher and driving a motorcycle. Wujing: Wujing is not hearing very well (his ears grow under the skin), and he wants to steal Wukong's super skateboard. Use a small hammer, when fighting, shout one, two, three, four, hit with the hammer, and then it will explode. The dubbing of Wujing is very interesting, it is Stephen Chow's queen dubbing Shi Banyu.

Many people call "Monkey King" a toothbrush version of Journey to the West, because Monkey will recite a spell when he transforms, and he will change every time he changes. Later, for some reason, Wukong lost his memory and did not remember how the seventy-six changes. They gave him a toothbrush, and as soon as Wukong brushed his teeth, he chanted a spell and transformed, to be funny. Speaking of transformation, the animation has a very spoof of personal transformation. That person has 6 nose hairs (the extra-long ones), and if you pull out one nose hair, you can change it once, and you can change it 6 times in total.

Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/32136/Narara_Superboard

Link: https://m.bilibili.com/video/BV1Us41197Dn?from=seopage

[silverysnake]

Hey bestie since we are having a sleepover I want to contribute so I am thinking about what to tell you I already told you about my cat in your ask so that's covered. :D My crushes also are not very interesting because I have been with the same person for 10 years lol I can however tell you a fun fact: I only had crushed on people that sooner or later turned out to be queer (I don't mind that though) :D It would also be tempting to play Never have I ever at sleepovers (I never was allowed to play at parties when I was younger because I don't drink and people are stupid) but I fear I am pretty boring when it comes to that. Did I live out my missing youth experiences in my recent Never have I ever Hörk fic? Probably lol :D That fic is also the reason that I now have two different Never have I ever Apps on my phone I will probably never use again lol :D Okay I think I have a would you rather for you since you are also in the spatort fandom: Would you rather have dinner with Leo or Adam? (They cook) Very excited for your opinion about that :D

Okay I think I spammed you with random stuff enough now so have a nice rest of your day. :) I also saw in the tags that you hit you head so I hope you feel better soon! <3

heyyy :) i think i put i phone away to go to sleep like two minutes before you send this, my bad. we can just continue the sleepover tho bc this is fun! (depending on what kind of questions are involved in the never have i ever i am also very boring, but that’s bc i’n ace. when it’s about other stuff i have lots of crazy stories to tell)

that would you rather question is so good, here goes nothing. in my head leo can definitely cook and would probably put together a good meal. adam seems to me like a person who can’t really cook that well (i may be projecting here bc while i can cook basic stuff and get by well enough living alone i am really glad that the meals in the mensa/cafeteria at uni are mostly good so i get some more variety) but then i firmly believe in the existence of the schürk/ross wg and i can imagine vincent forcing adam to help him cook regularly which results in adam being a good enough cook. but yeah, i think if i had to choose one of them to cook for dinner it would be leo simply bc i’m not sure if i trust adam at the stove. but: i think it would be fun if we weren’t just two people? like leo could just bring adam along and i could also bring a friend, bc the more the merrier

since you mentioned my head, after sleeping for nine hours i feel much better now. actually i’m gonna tell you about what happened bc it’s very stupid. i was at a birthday party on saturday and afterwards we all went to the central station to get the last busses of the night while saying good bye to everyone my friend went in to hug me but we were both drunk and he kind of jumped at me and it took me a bit too long to realise what he wanted to do. anyways, long story short: i lost my balance and we both fell over, which is how i hit the back of my head on the pavement. by some insane stroke of luck i did bot get a concussion out of that.

okay, this was a lot of fun, thank you for sending the ask (and for listening to me telling you a lot of random stuff) <3

[nyxelestia]

Tacking onto all of this, I do find it off-putting that a lot of fics ignore that he had a life before HYDRA and before the war. It only ever seems to come up in relation to Steve but not his own sense of self.

If he is going to define himself by consumer choices, why not explore what it means that he actually does have a sense of self within that paradigm...but all the things he wants to choose for himself are gone, lost to the passage of time? Why is his sense of self and identity less valid just because the ravages of time and capitalism have rendered all his preferences and choices unavailable? Is he really free to define himself if his options are limited to what is available today, but do not include what feels true to him and his live experiences?

I will add that I also suspect a lot of these fics are being heavily informed and biased by the personal experiences of the community that they were written by and for. In short, this community has way more survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence that it has survivors of war and multigenerational poverty, and it shows. The way fandom in general tends to understand and write PTSD has less to do with war -- even the specifically American military-industrial version of it -- and more in common with surviving abuse.

I think some of that is an understandable product of the story. Most survivors of war and soldiers with PTSD were not in a long-term, on-going psychological manipulation that systematically and intentionally deconstructed their sense of self; yet that description, while extreme, is very applicable to what it feels like to be in and escape from an abusive relationships (whether a family dynamic or an intimate partner relationship).

There are many significant differences between "abuse/assault survivor PTSD" vs "war/external conflict PTSD," but I think one of the most relevant differences is the nature of the cause of trauma denying victims autonomy, agency, and self-determination.

This may not be easy to see at first because the military is so conformist. Everyone has the same uniform, code of conduct, and often the exact same lifestyle or schedule. But that's relatively superficial; it's almost a stereotype that as soon as soldiers with their first military paychecks get off base for the first time, they make a lot of bad but self-determining purchases like fancy cars and high-end consumer electronics. One of the reasons why the military as an institution is so enduring is because after this initial period of intense conformity and trauma, it's often a path of self-determination (or at least marketed as such): loans for housing, support for education, multiple career paths, etc. (The flipside being, of course, that the military can just as easily lock you into a career you don't want, or the trauma from it can make achieving any semblance of life after violence anywhere from difficult to impossible.) Meanwhile, abusive families and relationships are often exactly the opposite: superficially giving victims all the freedom in the world or only very few restrictions (at least as compared to the military), yet in practice locking victims into a specific lifestyle or path preferred by the abuser.

This manifests in the way a lot of fanfic authors write Bucky recovering from the Winter Soldier ordeal. He exercises a lot of autonomy and agency in his superficial consumer choices, yet often exercises very little real agency in the course of his life. Either he remains a superhero / supersoldier of some variety, or he has to take the extreme measure of completely dropping off the grid (and out of public eye, and often well away from everyone else in the world) to achieve any sense of peace.

A lot of Bucky Recovery fics don't really feel like a traumatized veteran or even traumatized abuse survivor moving on with their life or recovering anything significant. Instead, they have the same vibes as a military fresh recruit making dumb high-interest big purchases off-base while rushing back to base in time for PT, or someone in an abusive relationship celebrating a fancy haircut their partner likes while putting their education and career on hold for said partner. A lot of these fics feel like they make Bucky celebrate superficial appearances of autonomy and agency to obfuscate just how little self-determination he really has even after escaping HYDRA.

In a weird way, this feels like an apt metaphor not for the character but for the authors. Much like Bucky post-Winter Soldier, they cannot fathom a life of true independence from capitalism, and so envision the closest thing to it they can imagine while still remaining under the umbrella of capitalism and calling that freedom.

I am still pretty buried in work, but dropping in to comment on a trope I’ve seen popping up again and again in CA: TWS fic, which is: the horror and totality of Bucky’s deconstruction as a person is shown through the revelation that he doesn’t know what [food, clothes, music, coffee, etc] he likes, and a significant part of his reconstruction involves correcting this. 

This is very attractive trope. I enjoy reading it! But I want to turn a critical eye on it, and on my own enjoyment of it. This will surprise no one who’s been reading my blog for a long time, since I’m persistently and heavily critical of the selfist/consumerist ideology that underlies Western capitalist society. And that’s what’s going on here, really, I think: this trope is an expression of our understanding of what it means to be a person, and our anxieties about person-ness.

Keep reading

[amaliazeichnerin]

Music review: "Hearing the Bigger Picture" by Extreme Mind (Progressive Metal/Fusion)

This album was released today, on December 14, 2024 and consists of 8 songs.

Extreme Mind from Vienna are: Nora Bendzko (vocals), Lasse Tjorben (vocals), Sam Khoshnood (screams & guitar), Merlin Hochmeier (bass), Stefan Čelanović (keyboard)

The writing of the songs is a team effort.

I got a review copy, but this doesn't influence my opinion. Their music offers a vivid, powerfully driven and versatile mix of fusion (as in Jazz) and progressive metal, which also gets shown by the choice of instruments: piano, synthesizers, xylophone, saxophone and of course guitars and percussion. Each song has an enticing variety of different sound landscapes, along with rhythm and instrument changes. The vocals are also diverse: For instance, there is a clear high pitched singing of Nora, but sometimes she and Lasse also growl, or there are screams by Sam. In some songs, Lasse sings in a fast way, a

The lyrics do not tell stories, instead they are thoughtful explorations of the human experience, all sorts of problems that one may have in life and some of them sound a bit dystopian. Sometimes there is also a bit of social social criticism, for instance in the title track „Hearing the Bigger Picture“. All of the songs are rather long, for instance ca. 6 to 7 minutes.

In my eyes this isn’t music which you could listen to easily playing in the background because of all the dynamic changes and the deep lyrics.

My recommendation: Definitely give this album a try.

You can find Extreme Mind here: https://linktr.ee/extrememind

The band on Bandcamp: https://extrememind.bandcamp.com

If you want to read a short break-down of the other songs, here it is:

Mental Breakthrough This is an instrumental track. It starts calm, with jazzy vibes … and then the metal sound sets in. You might say this song is multiple songs in one, adding a xylophone as an interesting detail. The ending of it is rather calm again.

Middle of Nowhere In this song with a focus on the piano, synthesizers and guitars, Lasse and Nora sing. The lyrics remind me a bit of people who feel lost for some reason. „I feel like I never was here/here where the real seems unreal“ are two of the lines from the chorus. There is a nice guitar solo towards the end of the song.

Deceased Memories A long song, starting with a melodic tune, with melancholic and almost dreamy lyrics, first sung softly, but then also with growling. There is a jazzy, playful style change towards the end of the song which escalates, getting faster and faster.

Cycles This song, sung by Nora and Lasse, begins with powerful guitars. The lyrics talk about the cycles of life in which one can get trapped, running out of time and also experiencing other problems.

The fusion elements change the sound of this song several times and there is an extensive guitar solo and a choir-like part in the end.

All the Way Down Starting with dynamic synthesizers, this song creates an atmosphere of impending doom, changing its style again in roughly the middle of the track, later followed by a melancholic guitar solo.

Paradox This starts with a melancholic piano, soon followed by dynamic guitars and fast percussion. The singing is sometimes like in a spoken song, then more melodic and also with some screams. The lyrics talk in a poetic way about a rather dark, challenging experience. After an intense solo, the songs ends with some melancholic notes of the piano.

Puzzled again This song starts almost dreamy and playful, but soon it turns darker. Again, there is fast singing with rather sad lyrics, also expressing a longing („I’m longing for a simple tune.“) A Xylophone sometimes adds its voice to the layers of the other instruments, as well as a saxophone. Lasse and Nora share the singing alternating, sometimes also together.