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wrestlersownmyheart · 10 months ago

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Closer Than You Think Prologue/Chapter 1 (Dean Ambrose X OC)

Keep in mind with this story that it's a bit of a reimagining, sort of a "what if" scenario if you will. What I mean is... the Shield never broke up nor did Dean evolve into Moxley and join AEW. In my perfect world he stayed with Seth and Roman.

With that being said, I give you Closer Than You Think!

Title: Closer Than You Think Pairing: Dean Ambrose X OC: Shannon Brock Summary: When a serial killer claims a number of victims including NXT wrestler, Shannon Brock's cousin, she vows to find the killer after she is bumped to RAW from NXT. Her cousin's lover, AJ Styles, appoints himself and the Shield—Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns—as her bodyguards.

Dean takes the task very seriously and doesn't let Shannon out of his sight, despite the game of cat and mouse they play with the killer. Can he keep her safe, or will the killer claim his ultimate victim?

Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with WWE. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination. Content/Trigger Warnings: Extreme Violence against women; murder

Prologue/Chapter 1

Evil Is Born…

"When this monster entered my brain, I will never know, but it is here to stay. How does one cure himself? I can't stop it, the monster goes on, and hurts me as well as society…"

~Dennis Rader (BTK Killer)~

Being born was the biggest mistake I ever made.

I learned very soon in life that my mother never really wanted me. She reminded me all the time how she wanted a little girl but was instead stuck with a boy.

Things got worse when she left my dad. He took everything out on me. He was drunk every day of his life. And I was beaten every day of mine.

By the time I hit my teen years, I was completely filled with rage. I didn't know how to deal with it, so I did what many people in my situation end up doing. I would pick fights at school and bullied younger, smaller kids. This would result in my getting sent to the principal's office many times over. This brought about more beatings, of course. And I would grow even angrier. But there wasn't much I could do about it, except to bully some more. It was a vicious circle.

My dad died in a drunken car accident soon after I turned eighteen. I was finally free.

But not for very long.

After my dad was killed, I was glad to live on my own. Omaha suddenly became more peaceful to me. Quiet. I could do as I pleased. However, I only had about two years of freedom before sheer hell came on me slow and easy.

I met the woman I would marry. Her name was Debra. I met her one evening at the bowling alley where I worked. I can't believe how quickly I fell for her. She was beautiful. She had long, dark hair. Her ivory complexion accentuated her big, pale blue eyes. She was slender, but had curves in all the right places. She was the most sweet, and loving girl I'd ever met.

Debra just seemed like a dream. I thought I'd found the one woman who would show me that not all females were like my mother; selfish and manipulative. Instead, I had married a girl who was as manipulative as they come.

Soon after our wedding, her true colors came through. She cheated on me, and wanted to control everything. The money, the house, what cars we bought...everything. She was verbally abusive for the first several years of our marriage. And when she saw she could get away with it, she became physically abusive as well. She started out just slapping me. But then she graduated to punches and throwing hard objects at me. I wanted to hit her. I really did. But I knew I'd end up in jail, because who would believe such a beautiful, angelic-looking woman was abusing me? I wasn't going to end up in prison because of her.

Looking back, I should have just left her. But I didn't. I put up with her for five years. Why? I honestly don't know. I wish I did.

All I do know is I had a new rage building up in me. And I couldn't bully kids to soothe it away anymore. So, I found another way of unleashing my rage. I began preying on stray animals, and lost pets. I would collect them, take them out to the woods behind my house and torture them. It felt good to make something feel the pain and anguish I felt nearly every day of my life. The little creatures had it easy though. Their torture and pain only lasted minutes. I was enduring a lifetime of it. Soon, I ran out of victims. It seemed as though I had cleaned the neighborhood of strays, and caused the owners of their lost, beloved pets to lose hope. I even put the animal patrol officer out of business for the summer.

One night, I'd finally had enough. We were arguing about money, as usual, when she let loose and kicked me in the balls. I fell to the floor gagging in misery. I took the abuse as I always did, but in my head I was already planning.

I was going to kill my wife.

Over the next month, I added enough cash to my secret savings to get fake IDs, a used car under my new name, hair dye, and anything else I needed to make a clean get-away. I just needed to figure out how I would kill her. It had to be flawless.

I went out to the garage to think up the rest of my plan. I knew the time of my retribution was very near, and it seemed to ignite my fury. I was so angry just thinking over my sham of a marriage. I knew I wanted to do the most painful thing I could to Debra.

My eyes fell on some rope and picked it up, planning to tie her up with it. As my hand latched onto it, however, a roll of barbed wire tumbled to the cement, and I froze.

Barbed wire—even better.

I picked the spool up instead and realized then that I would have to work fast in order to tie Debra up. I figured, what with being bigger and stronger than she was, it shouldn't be difficult to accomplish. I smiled when I imagined the look on her face when she saw what I had in store for her. I had just finished polishing up the plans in my mind when I heard Debra's voice behind me.

"Dinner is read—Hey, what are you doing with that barbed—"

SMACK.

I spun around, slapping her right across the mouth. She fell to the concrete almost silently, too stunned to react. She just lay there sobbing quietly and holding her mouth. Then she seemed to get control of her pain and fear, and glared up at me.

"Never thought I'd hit you, huh," I taunted her. I moved fast and had the razor-sharp wire around her wrists in mere seconds. Reaching upward, I grabbed some wire cutters from a worktable, and trimmed it. She whimpered then as I pulled her to her feet, dragging her into the house through the kitchen.

I grabbed a knife off of the tiled counter top. Then I pushed Debra down to the floor. I could see by the trembling of her body, she was too frightened to run.

"Don't speak," I whispered to her. "Or I'll kill you slowly. I never want to hear your obnoxious, evil voice again. Am I clear? Nod if you understand."

A mixture of fire and fury shown in her gray eyes and she glared disdainfully at me. "You're not man enough to kill me," she growled at me as a small stream of blood dribbled out the corner of her mouth. She tried to free herself from the barbed wire, but discovered it was far too painful to struggle with.

"Oh, I am," I smiled at her. "Trust me. And I told you not to speak."

Fear replaced her fury once more as realization crossed her pretty features.

She cowered in the corner, and was unable to force down the sob that erupted from her lips. I stepped over to her and didn't hesitate in slashing up her face. She cried out and put her hands up to protect herself, which didn't stop me. It just angered me even more. I drove the knife right through one of her hands and twisted it. The sound emitting from her was like nothing on this earth. Finally feeling a little bit of relief I grinned.

"That hurts, huh?"

I then slit her throat deliberately slowly with the knife. But before she was able to die, I then, inch by excruciating inch, pressed the knife into her stomach and ripped it upward, savoring the sound of her flesh tearing and her crimson blood splashing onto the floor.

Finally I was free. I could start over.

Quickly, I washed off the knife and took it upstairs with me where my bag had been packed and hidden in the back of the closet. I shoved the murder weapon into the bag to dispose of later. I wanted to get the thing as far from the crime scene as possible.

Changing into a clean pair of jeans and black polo shirt, I tossed my dirty clothes into the bag to discard at another time and place as well. Looking around one last time, I hurried out the back door and headed into the woods. I'd parked my secret car about a mile from the house.

In about twenty minutes I'd be out of here for good. I felt a huge smile spread across my face as I thought of how well my plan had worked so far. I hoped the cops would assume I'd been taken somewhere and killed. Turning into a cold case would be perfect.

When I reached the vehicle, I tossed my bag in the trunk and got in the car. I grabbed the map I'd stashed in the glove compartment and plotted out a route to Albany, New York.

Why Albany?

I'd never been to Albany before. Never mentioned the place in my life. And I needed to be random in choosing my destination just in case the authorities were on my tail. I also planned on being frugal with my funds for a while. If I was discovered, I needed to be prepared. I wanted to be able to get up and leave in a moment's notice if I needed to. But I wasn't complaining. I was finally free. I was going to live life to the fullest.

And I did for a while.

Until my pesky little need to inflict pain on the female population returned, that is.

About a year had passed since I killed my wife. I was beginning to feel angry again—irrationally angry. The wrath I thought I'd finally buried, still consumed me. It had always been there, just under the surface. I needed to find yet another way to deal with it. I wanted to punish my wife all over again. But, of course, I couldn't because she was dead—long dead.

Nonetheless, the idea of retribution soaked up my every thought, and I was desperate to do something about it. I had an epiphany then, it all become so clear in my mind.

What difference did it make if I took my revenge out on my wife, or just women in general? Women were all the same anyway! They all deserved the torture I so utterly wanted to bestow on them.

I came up with a plan one night when I was flipping channels on my television and came across a wrestling program. I watched as two scantily clad women scuffled and frolicked around in the ring, completely for the men's benefit. I was repulsed as their breasts all but fell out of their tops.

And then it hit me—this was it!

I wanted to hurt any promiscuous, strong-willed woman and make them pay, because that's what I hated in my wife. Women had to always rely on a man to take care of them but yet treated them like dirt. They were manipulative horrible creatures, and they had to pay for it.

As I watched the two female wrestlers, I realized they were truly no better than Debra. Or even my mother. Their beauty was only on the outside, and they used their looks ruthlessly. They were doing nothing for society, unlike what I planned to do for the world. I would dedicate my life to ridding the world of their filth.

One whore at a time.

And what better place to start than in the wrestling industry? There were plenty of trashy women to slaughter.

I just had to find my way in...

And I did. I learned everything I could about the wrestling business. Then I entered into a school and learned to wrestle and how to referee. I even covered all my bases and worked with ring crews to set up wrestling rings and stages in arenas.

Thanks to all my training and preparations, I soon met my next victim—a young blond student wrestler. She wanted to sleep with me one night, so I obliged her. Right before I slashed her throat. I discovered sex was another way to dominate women. They had NO control over what I did to them. But I discovered one little problem.

You see, part of me wanted to rid the world of filth—and I still do. But I have to take care of my own needs first.

I find the idea of reenacting the killing of my wife to be very therapeutic. But if I want to feel as though I am indeed killing her again—over and over— I need women who resembles her physically as well as in her actions.

I need dark-haired women.

Blondes and redheads are not going to work.

At least they won't for now. Their time will come though.

I have my eye on the perfect girl right now. She is the spitting image of my burden. But I need to experiment with my craft first.

This is my art.

And art takes practice...

If you want on my tag list, just ask! 🙂

Tagging:

@oreillystolemyheart @lookalivesunshine-x @shortyiceheart @vebner37 @claymorexpunisher

@kalliravenne @swamptrashwithasideofsass @beardedbarba @emisrose @sassymox

@pikapuff-316 @heavymetalgirl420 @bigpsychicbagelauthor @darktammy @waywardwrestlewritingwaif

@sultryfandoms @blondekel77 @demonqueen29 @amariemoore @letsgivethisonemoreshot

@thelastemzy @springgirlwaiting4fall @vampirepixi @wwenhlimagines @louisianalady

@swthrt890 @librathepheonix13 @ironshamelessyouth @moonwolfdemonprincess21 @moxkindagirl

@jstarr86 @oliviasinematic @southerngirl41 @claymoresofinfamy23 @faythewilsonnn

@donttellnoliebabygirl @keisha-knell

#Dean Ambrose #Dean Ambrose Fan Fiction #Dean Ambrose Imagine #Dean Ambrose X OC #Dean Ambrose Fan Fic

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gautierprotectionsquad · 2 years ago

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I’m sharing my Apollo Khura’in related head canons. (I only played half of SOJ)

- Khura’inese was Apollo’s first language and he learned to speak English while in America

- He got rid of his khura’inese accent so he’d get bullied less.

- When he was a teen, Apollo accepted his dad wasn’t coming back and he tried to seem like as much of a home grown red blooded American as possible, at least on the surface

- Despite the above, he still speaks Khura’inese by rationalizing it would look good on a resume

- While not spiritual or religious in any way he still celebrates their holidays to hold on to some connection

- Nahyuta used to call Apollo “little dragon”

- only his khura’inese family calls him AJ

-Jove Justice is Khura’inese

- I know a lot of people write about Apollo coming back to the WAA after a few years but I like to think he stays in Khura’in. I mean, why would he go back to working for Phoenix after owning his own successful law offices? I get people want him to stay with the old cast but he’s only in his 20s. People move on and start to live a part from each other. It’s sad but it’s life. He keeps in contact and visits the WAA but lives in Khura’in, running his own offices and getting his own students to mentor.

I like when Khura’in is an important part of Apollo’s character. I mean, he was raised there up until he was 10. It’s his home. He should have a deep connection to it. I think experiencing the loss of/forgetting parts of your culture in small ways would be a little heartbreaking and should be explored more. I like exploring Apollo having grown up in Khura’in and being a foreigner in both Khura’in and Japalifornia and his cultural ties to the place he grew up, what he lost when he was abandoned and what he chooses to keep. Just. Apollo trying to stay connected to a culture when he has no community from that culture in his new home.

Some more Apollo head canons (not all of these are original. just ones i like)

- Apollo used to work at an ice cream shop

- Apollo gets migraines

- He interned at Gavin Law offices in college, before becoming an official employee when he graduated

- buffpollo rights

- Apollo can sing well

#apollo justice #romanticsap #ace attorney #aa6 spoilers #im not really planning on finishing soj bc it's...not worth it #but i love my 3 tragic backstory pollo

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smolwritingchick · 1 year ago

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Forced To Believe Chapter 23- You Look Like You've Seen A Ghost

Chapter Summary: Melanie visits another wrestling company which sparks a ton of debate as she reunites with an old friend

Words: 2,000+

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After Melanie got off the phone, it was revealed to be Dixie Carter from TNA who was hoping she could come by for a short time to join AJ Styles in a storyline. Surprisingly enough, WWE had talked with TNA about it and had permitted Melanie to attend, They made sure to keep it under wraps with everyone besides the higher ups of each company. It would also enhance the current storyline she was in since her character stormed out of the ring, yelling that she was done.

She was excited for the extremely rare opportunity and she hoped the forbidden door would continue to be open for future opportunities in the future of WWE.

'Next Morning'

When she got through security and all the other qualifications, she knocked on Dixie's office door.

"Melanie! I am so happy to see you here sweetheart." She grinned and hugged her. "Come on in."

Melanie walked in with her gym bag and smiled. "Thanks for having me. I missed TNA."

"TNA has missed you, honey. Since you will be here a little while, I have not told anyone you are here but some producers and Allen (AJ Styles) since you will be in a little storyline with him. I know the fans want to see you and him reunite."

"Yeah, I've been seeing a lot of that on Twitter."

"I'm shocked WWE agreed to this. But we won't take it for granted. I know your stay on TNA is temporary but it's never too late to consider staying full time. You have some loyal fans here sweetheart."

The Philly Diva nodded. "For now my heart is with WWE. But in the future never say never to coming back full time for TNA,"

'Knock Knock Knock'

Allen (AJ Styles) walked in. "Long time Melanie."

"Hey!" She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Long time no see! How are your wife and kids?"

"They are doing great. They miss you."

"I miss them too. I gotta visit them again one day." She turned her attention back to Dixie. "So Dixie, what do you have planned for me?"

"For this week, Allen will do a promo and you'll come out to confront him. Just a simple thing. Later on, Gail Kim will do a promo about you and you confront her." Dixie explained.

"This is going to be really fun." Melanie grinned

'In the TNA Ring'

AJ Styles was in the ring doing a promo but all of a sudden his old 'I am 11' remix' theme surrounded the arena.

"What is going on?" Mike Tenay asked on commentary.

"What is this? Mind games from Bully Ray? Dixie Carter?" Taz asked on commentary.

All of a sudden, Melanie slowly walked onto the stage as the crowd began to go wild.

"What the hell!? What the-what is she doing here!? Did you know about this!?" Taz yelled.

"No, no, I did not. Why is Melanie here on TNA?" Mike asked.

A smile came across her lips as she tagged some hands before walking to the ring while AJ stared at her in shock.

'Melanie! Melanie! Melanie!' chants surrounded the arena as her heart soared. She missed the PG 14 wrestling and the TNA crowd. It was different from the WWE crowds. Both are unique in their own way. She wore light blue skinny jeans, black Converses and an 'AJ Styles P1' Raglan sleeve shirt. The shirt had a wide scoop neck that rocked off her shoulders a little bit and stopped below her belly button. Her hair was also straightened and she wore black eyeliner.

"AJ Styles looks pale as a ghost. It's been years since they last seen each other." Mike looked on.

"Yeah, and it was all AJ's fault. That man blew her off and embarrassed her in front of the world." Taz spat.

"Hello AJ. It's been a while. You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost?" Melanie stared at him dead in the eyes with a mic in her hands.

The two stared at each other intently. He changed. To his dark attire, to his beard and hair. AJ stepped up to her in the ring as the crowd cheered. The crowd really wanted them to reunite.

"I cannot believe Melanie is back on TNA. This is awesome. This is freaking awesome." Taz exclaimed.

"Do you think she has forgiven AJ?" Mike asked

"I don't know but all I know is, AJ looks speechless."

'To Celeste'

Celeste was in her hotel room and was on Twitter on her phone and saw a fan tweet 'Oh my gosh! I just saw Melanie on TNA!'

"What?" She asked herself and quickly turned on her hotel TV. "What the hell!?" She exclaimed as she watched Melanie in the ring with AJ Styles.

She quickly called April on the phone. "April! Get over here! Bring all the divas!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! What is going on!?" April exclaimed. "I just got out of the shower!"

"Melanie is on TNA!"

"What!?" April screamed on the other line.

Not even 5 minutes later, Celeste's door was pounded by all the divas and she quickly ran to open the door as they rushed to the TV.

April, still in a towel, looked at the TV in shock. "Oh my gosh..."

"Why the heck is she on TNA!?" Layla exclaimed.

"Shh! Let's just watch!" Celeste replied.

"Wait, we gotta tell the guys!" Danielle grabbed her phone.

"Wait! Wait! How will they react!?" Trinity exclaimed, trying to calm everyone down.

"Call the guys!" Ariane yelled.

All the girls were in shock and confusion. Why didn't Melanie tell them that she was going to TNA? What is going on? Did she really quit WWE? Was she really going to stay on TNA? Was this just for a storyline?

Trinity quickly called Jon (Jimmy Uso) "Jon, get the guys and bring them to Celeste's room. Melanie is on TNA!"

30 Seconds later, the guys barge in. "What the hell do you mean she's on TNA?!" Colby exclaimed as he, Joe and Jon stared at the screen.

"She really looks like a different person. What happened?" Eva Marie asks, looking at her hair and makeup.

'To TNA'

"Why so quiet? Is that any way to treat a friend? Your old friend? So what is this?" She touched his jacket. "You being the lone wolf? Forgetting about me after all we've been through?"

She released her hand from his jacket. She could remember the incident like it was yesterday.

"Well...don't want to talk? I'll let my actions speak," she added and pulled him in for a hug as the crowd cheered.

AJ stood there motionless, still in shock that she was here.

After she released him, she spoke, "I know what you are going through right now. You and Dixie. But, whether you like it or not, I'm standing by you. I forgive you for everything and I want us to have that strong bond again. I hope you think about it. Why? Because the Lone Wolf's girl has arrived." She smiled before dropping the mic as AJ's old theme came on.

"You think Melanie and AJ are going to reunite?" Mike asked as she got out of the ring.

"I think so. Maybe Melanie can take AJ's head out his-" Taz began.

"Okay! Well! Melanie is back on TNA Impact!" Mike exclaimed. "Let's hope we'll see more of 'The Phenomenal Prince and Princess' as a tag duo once again on TNA Impact."

AJ began to smirk, nodding to himself, accepting everything that just happened.

'To Celeste'

In the room were the Total Divas, April, Celeste, Victoria, The Shield, Fandango, Danielle, The Usos, and Stu watching the TV.

"Damn..." Ariane said.

"Yeah," Trinity replied.

"What's going on Twitter?" Victoria asked as Celeste looked at her phone.

TNA's ratings skyrocketed because of how a popular WWE diva is on another company's show.

People tweet:

'Melanie looks better than ever! She looks awesome! #TNANeedsMelanie'

'OMG YES! YES! #MelanieIsBackOnTNA'

'Please don't go back to TNA! Please! #WWENeedsMorgan'

'Stay on TNA! DO NOT go back to WWE! No one wants to see that PG crap! PG 14 is where it's at! #TNANeedsMelanie'

'#WWENeedsMelanie Please don't go back to TNA! You are the Shield's girl! Not the Lone Wolf's girl!'

'Melanie made the right choice when she decided to go back to TNA. #WWEIsBuryingMelanie'

'So glad she's back where she belongs. #MelanieBelongsOnTNA'

'Ugh, why is she on TNA? #MelanieBelongsInTheWWE'

'Yay! I hope Melanie and AJ reunite! I would love Melanie as #TheLoneWolfsGirl'

'Yes! #TheLoneWolfsGirl is back! No more Shields girl. Melanie is back where she belongs.'

'I don't care if Melanie is on WWE or TNA but it's nice for her to be #ThePhenomenalPrincess again.'

'Why is WWEMorgan101 on TNAwful!? #MelanieBelongsInTheWWE'

"She is all over Twitter. She's one of the top trends along with TNA Impact." Celeste looked on.

"As expected from her with the way she worked hard to make a name for herself," Joe replied.

"I just want an explanation. I thought she was having time off." Ariane said as the divas agreed.

"Maybe she knew we would protest?" Jojo asked.

"Damn right! It's TNA! WWE is against TNA!" Colby exclaimed.

"Maybe she's just visiting?" Celeste said

"Nah, she had her wrestling mode on. She isn't there to visit." Jon (Jimmy Uso) added.

"Or it could be a storyline," April pondered.

"Let's just wait till the show is over and we'll call her," Stu recommended.

"Good idea. Maybe we should finish watching TNA just in case she is still on the show." Nattie mentioned.

'To Melanie, offscreen'

After Melanie to the Knockout's locker room, she was attacked with hugs.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't know you were coming back!" Gail Kim grinned.

"Aw, thanks! Long time no see Gail!" Melanie smiled. It was so nice to see her old friends from TNA.

"I'm so happy you're back!" Jamie (Velvet Sky) exclaimed.

Brooke walked in. "Ahh! Melanie!" she yelled as they ran and hugged each other. "I missed you girl!"

"Haha, missed you too! So glad to be back!"

Jessica (ODB) hugged her as well. "Nice to see you back here on TNA Mel."

"Good to be back!" The Philly Diva smiled.

After she was greeted by the knockouts, she went to walk backstage.

She said some hellos to some people and while she was walking, she heard a voice.

"We meet again short one."

She grinned and turned around to look up at a tall figure smiling down at her.

"Hey, Jake! Long time no see!"

"Yeah, it's been a while. How's the weather down there?"

She chuckled. "It's great. We have a lot to catch up on. You got a match, right? Mind If I go watch?"

"Not at all. I was just heading to the stage now."

"All right! Let's do this!"

'In The Ring'

In the ring, Venom by muzeOne surrounded the arena. "This match is scheduled for one fall! Introducing the challenger, accompanied by Melanie! The Giant Boa, Jake Roberts!" Christy Hemme announced.

"Melanie is out here again, accompanying her old friend Jake Roberts. Do you see how tall this guy is? Wow." Taz said.

"Jake and Melanie have history together. He helped her out during her feud with Madison Rayne." Mike informed as Jake got in the ring while Chris Sabin was already in the ring, warming up.

'Ding Ding Ding'

Melanie watches on as Chris tries to give Jake some kicks but it does little damage. Jake gains control of him and gives him a suplex, making the ring shake a little bit. "What a suplex! Wow. Did you feel the ground shake?" Taz asks.

Jake grabs Chris into the chokeslam hold but goes to the ropes and performs a chokeslam off the turnbuckle. "And Jake goes to the world's biggest chokeslam." Mike exclaims.

"Yeah!" Melanie cheers. Jake pins him for the win.

"Here is your winner! Jake Roberts!" Christy announces as Melanie gets in the ring to congratulate him.

'To Jon'

Jon was watching TNA in his hotel room as Colby and Joe glanced at each other. Even though Melanie was looking smoking hot on TNA, he really wanted some answers from her.

"Dude, you all right?" Colby asked.

Jon ignored him and just stared at the TV. He couldn't believe Melanie was on TNA of all places. He had a feeling she would still do wrestling while she was having time off but thought it would be in an independent circuit.

"Look, we'll talk to her after TNA goes off all right?" Joe said. "I'm sure she'll give us all a good explanation."

"She better." Colby sighed

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'At TNA, onscreen'

Later on TNA, Gail Kim walked out as the crowd booed her.

"While I was backstage, watching TNA, I couldn't help but feel disgusted at what I saw. Who the hell does Melanie think she is, going around here, thinking she can take my spotlight? Why is she getting so many chants? She barely did anything in this place! Only a 1 time TNA Knockouts champion. Look at me! I've won it plenty of times and I was the first Knockouts Champion-" she was cut off by AJ's old 2011 theme

Melanie walked out to a loud reception. She was working overtime today and the crowd was eating it up every time she came back on stage. Instead of having her right hand up in the air to do her taunt, she had both her hands up and did her taunt before she twirled around and got in the ring. She grabbed a mic and chuckled at Gail as she stood before her but not too close.

"Here we go, week after week I have to deal with girls hating on me. You're no different." She snapped as Gail glared at her. "The reason you're hating on me and everyone appreciating me is that your welcome back appreciation party sucked ass and no one gave a shit. I mean, come on, you walk down the ring and ignore the fans. Now, I'll admit, Gail, you've done a lot more than I have during my stay on TNA, but that doesn't mean I don't have anything left in the tank."

Gail laughed. "So you're here to prove something? That you're better than me? No one is better than me Melanie."

"Oh really? You're not going to be the best forever. Someone is going to take you down."

"Oh really?" she dropped the mic and speared her down to the mat.

"And here we have a brawl!" Mike exclaimed as Gail started unloading on her with punches.

The crowd booed as Gail continued her attack on her but then Melanie fought back and started taking control.

"And Melanie is fighting back!" Taz looked on

Melanie picked her up and was about to do her finisher but Gail escaped the hold and scrambled out of the ring.

"This close." The Philly Diva said with her hair disheveled as she pointed at Gail.

"I'm the best knockout here!" Gail yelled

"Oh sure! Sure! Prove it!"

"I will! That was just a test! A test! I'll show you next week!"

Melanie got on the turnbuckle and put both her hands up in the air to do her taunt.

"Well, next week on TNA Impact, we'll have a knockouts tag match. Melanie and Velvet Sky against Gail Kim and Brooke. What a match that is going to be." Mike said.

"Oh man, I cannot wait to see Melanie in action. I know she still has a lot to show after being away from TNA for so long. Good to have Melanie back." Taz said.

"Yes, it is. We'll see if what she says is true next week on Impact Wrestling."

'To Jon'

Jon had to admit, Melanie looked awesome and better than ever.

"Hey, the good thing is, you see Melanie in the TNA ring and she looks hot for you right?" Colby tried to calm down Jon who looked a little upset. "Guess that didn't work..."

"I'm not really bothered with Melanie going to TNA. It's wrestling and she wants to wrestle. I think she knows what she's doing. I mean, it's not like she's going to stay there." Joe replied.

"What if she does?" Jon spoke up and looked at him. Joe had no answer to that.

"That's why we are upset, Joe." Colby sighed. "She's like the glue of The Shield. No one can ever take her place. She can't stay on TNA. She just can't."

Joe nodded. What would The Shield do without Melanie?

'After The Show'

Melanie, back at home, Skyped with Chyna.

"Hey, Mel. I saw you on TNA. Shocker. Guess you couldn't stay from the ring huh?" Chyna smiles.

"Yeah, WWE permitted me to attend for a little bit until it was time for me to go back to WWE for my storyline! They kept it under wraps for a surprise. I know everybody is probably losing their minds right now. Also, my mom is going to be a part of the storyline in WWE soon."

"No way! Jane? I'll be tuning in for that. Hey, you'll be on TNA next week, right? I'll be there to see you in action next Thursday."

"Really? That'll be awesome!"

"Uh huh. Can't wait to see you in action, live. So how's Jon treating you?"

"He is treating me great."

"Good and it better stay that way. I don't want to kick his ass."

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Melanie laughed.

"I was cracking up with you called Stephanie a bitch. That made my night."

"Haha. Glad to hear."

"So have you talked to your WWE friends yet about the storyline?"

Melanie chuckled nervously and looked at her phone at the numerous texts and missed calls.

"Hoo boy...I guess I should start explaining huh?"

Chyna laughed, "Have fun."

-----

Favorite hashtag?

#TNANeedsMelanie

#WWENeedsMelanie

#WWENeedsMorgan

#WWEIsBuryingMelanie

#MelanieBelongsOnTNA

#MelanieBelongsInTheWWE

#TheLoneWolfsGirl

#ThePhenomenalPrincess

#the shield #the shield 4th member #dean ambrose #dean ambrose x oc #dean ambrose fanfic #jon moxley x oc #jon moxley #aj styles #wwe fanfic #wwe imagine #wwe scenarios #wwe oc #forced to believe

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turtlebayoldbios · 2 years ago

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Out of character:

Name/alias: Admin AJ

Age: 31

Pronouns: She/Her/Me

Activity level: N/A

Roleplay experience: N/A

Anything else?: N/A

In character:

Name: Samuel ‘Sam’ James Spencer

FC: Nico Tortorella

Character gender: Non-Binary

Character birthday: July 30 (28)

Birthplace: Turtle Bay

Neighborhood: Downtown

Length of residency: Just Returned

Occupation: Owner of Black Locust Tattoo & Piercings

Song title: Therefor I Am - Billie Eilish

Bio:

Triggers: Child Abuse

Whiskey, drugs and cigarettes were all that the Spencer siblings were born around. The bottom of Turtle Bay’s barrel. They had nothing growing up, Samuel’s mother was doing her best, but she worked at the strip club and slept with men on the side to just pay the bills, rent and put food on the table. While their father just sat around drinking and would hit the kids just for the hell of it or if they got into his way while he was watching television or something. Their older brother Dean finally got sick of his shit and the two of them got into a fight and when they woke up the next day, he was gone and so was all of his stuff. He left the kids alone in the middle of the night while their mother was at work. Sam was only ten at the time but they were thankful that the bastard was gone. But that didn’t stop Sam from drawing all the time. They loved to draw and had a notebook to which they carried around all the time. Art became an escape and a passion for them.

Life from there became more tough and hard. Dean left getting a job at some biker bar outside of town and getting his own place. So it was their mother, Sam and their little brother Jax. School was always the last thing on Sam’s mind, but they managed to do well or well decently enough to pass his classes. They came out as a non-binary and bisexual got bullied but they would lace everything with sarcasm and just took whatever the other kids threw at them and mainly just shrugged it off. While they were in high school, Sam got a job at the local diner. And they started to help pay for the bills and keep a roof over Jax and their head along with their mother’s. It wasn’t enough and that was when they started turning tricks just like their mother. Sam wasn’t proud of this, but they knew it had to be done especially if they wanted a place to live and eat.

During their Junior year, they dropped out of school this way they could work full time and support their brother. Sam wanted something better for Jax. Better than what they had, they watched Jax graduate and then go off to college. Of course, Sam was proud and so was their mother. Their father still wasn’t anywhere to be found. That was when Sam made a decision to go back to school to get their GED and actually make something of themselves. After getting their GED, Sam packed their bags and left Turtle Bay and all the shit that happened to them behind.

Sam ended up going to the University of California, going into their art program, turned out that their work was good. They loved it and learning about art and aced all of their classes. Soon they were selling their work but not just that tattoo’ing it on people as well. After they graduated, they were still selling their art and doing tattoos. They made a decision to open a small shop in Los Angeles, which ended up getting great reviews and ratings. It seemed like life was actually coming to together for Sam. They met someone as well and started dating. Sam really loved the guy and they felt like they had a future and they were actually looking forward to it.

The two had just moved in together when Sam got a call. Their mother had fallen ill, and there was no one else to take care of her. Sam made the decision to up and leave this way they could take care of their mother. They got a place downtown and made a decision to open up another tattoo shop right on the pier. While taking care of their mother, since their brothers weren’t around anymore. Turns out that Dean left town, and Jax was off in Michigan somewhere living his life. So naturally Sam didn’t mind taking care of their dying mother.

Personality:

Positive traits: Strong Willed, Hard Working, Passionate

Negative traits: Sarcastic, Blunt, Overemotional

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olderthannetfic · 2 years ago

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Could you shout out a couple of your favourite m/m authors or books, please? (nw if you don’t like reccing things tho, I find it stressful myself.)

I also find the one ship per book in a series not my cup of tea tbh. I find it too jarring to switch over to other characters I’m not as emotionally invested in within a world.

I don't mind side stories that wrap up supporting characters' romances, but I tend to like a main series that's about the same characters/ship most of the time.

I recced a few in response to another ask. That should be posting... some time. (You can tell how well I keep track of my queue.)

Who haven't I mentioned... let's see... Jenn Burke's Not Dead Yet series is pretty interesting, though it eventually angered me with a side character death.

E.J. Russell has a lot of books with different ships but that are all in the same universe. They work better for me than most such books because there's an urban fantasy arc plot about missing fae running through them. Some are a bit too ultra-fluff for my taste. Many are pretty funny. A lot of them feature things like supernatural dating agencies or event planners.

Integrate by Thea Hayworth is only available on Smashwords and is a one-off, but I can't say no to an alien-human buddy cop duo. Both the case and the romance are reasonably fleshed out for this short length, and the worldbuilding is fascinating. I want more! Come back usually-fic-author and write original!

I enjoyed AJ Sherwood's Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case and sequels/stuff in the same universe.

I've only checked out Beth Bolden a little bit. I met her at a conference, and she seems cool. (Definitely a recent fic fandom person, like many of us writing original m/m.) I read part of a boy band romance of hers that she admitted was 1D with the serial numbers filed. Filed well, I might add: the original version is sufficiently SoCal that I wasn't positive which boy band it was riffing off of. But what I really enjoyed was her fairytale-ish fantasy novel Yours, Forever After.

Meghan Maslow's Starfig Investigations was an instant favorite for me. I'm not sure if younger people will even be familiar with the genre of fantasy it is. It didn't click for me until I heard her talking about it, but the series is basically a take off of Robert Asprin's Myth series: oldschool secondary world fantasy full of dumb puns and jokes that only make sense in relation to the real world. Like that series, Maslow's features portals between realms and a lot of magic tech in advanced cities even if the trappings are Ren Faire-ish. The sense of humor style was pretty common in early 90s sff publishing and turns up in old games like Monkey Island, but it's not something I see all that much in m/m fantasy novels.

Harper Fox's Tyack & Frayne series is about a cop and a psychic in small town Cornwall. Lots of pagan vibes in this one, and some of the supernatural stuff picks up as the series goes along, but the basic structure is contemporary British mysteries.

The Plumber's Mate series by J.L. Merrow is a much more comedic take on UK village mysteries. I'm not usually into stories where people end up with their bully from school, but I liked how it was handled here. The side characters are a hoot, especially the camp best friend and the dwarf porn star turned vegetable salesman.

Morgan Brice I'm not as fond of, but she has a bunch of series including one that feels like early seasons Supernatural.

I don't think I ever read the sequels to My Zombie Boyfriend by T. Strange. It's... well... about a dude who finds a hot corpse and decides to revive him as a zombie. The lead is a weird little perv with an ex who's a goth mortician, a horrible undead pet cat, and an obsession for his new zombie project. I found this one while looking for creepy books after reading one too many bits of ultra-fluff with barely any plot.

I was enjoying the Hours of the Night series by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt, but it seems like they stopped writing it without resolving anything? A lot of the books I've read are good but would have been better with more sequels, so they don't spring to mind here.

There are seriously a shitton of writers working in this space. I just found a few authors and started trying books and seeing what else was on the same goodreads lists and so on. You need to have a tolerance for hideous cover art, but plenty of the actual books are fine.

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passable-talent · 4 years ago

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ya boi is back with a new niche character played by hayden christensen for yall to enjoy.

CW: blood, wounds, cursing, piercings, tattoos, guns, fighting, deaths of unnamed characters

AJ x gn!reader - Takers (2010). the stupid hat grew on me.

dedicated as always to @haydens-moles and @iscariot-rising for being my friends and for appreciating hayden as much as I do

The story of your life, as you loved to explain it, boiled down to a little math joke. Excited five, you called it, or it’s official terminology- five factorial. Written as “5!”, hence the awful pun.

“Factorials,” you’d say, “for those that don’t remember, are a multiplication of every number up to the one that’s being discussed. As such, five factorial is five, times four, times three, times two, times one.”

Your life, your excited five, was as follows: five major scars, four tattoos, three piercings, two eyebrow slits.

“The one is usually ignored,” you’d say, “as it makes no multiplicative difference. That’s why I don’t have a ‘one’.”

In August, 2009, you got your ‘one’. Its a doozy. But we’re not there yet.

~~~

Five major scars.

December 25, 1983. It’s your first Christmas. Your parents think you’re just being a cranky infant, but something way more serious is going on- they find out the next day that you’ve got RSV, a respiratory virus that’s especially dangerous for infants. You spend the next three years periodically using a ventilator whenever the coughing acts up. You don’t remember much of it, other than the vaguely crayon-looking piece of the machine, but you can’t forget that it happened, due to the pretty white scar over the bridge of your nose. It’s not such a gnarly wound as it is a reminder- not of the ventilator that wore through your skin thanks to frequent use, but of the virus that almost took your life only a few months after it had begun.

July 28, 1993. You’re seven years old, staying at your grandmother’s house with your cousin, who’s six months older than you. You’re playing cops and robbers- he’s the cop. The forest streaks by as you run the length of the property, slightly faster than him, but he catches you and throws you down. You land on your back on a jagged rock, not only painfully impacting your spine but digging deeply into your muscles beside it. It was the first hospital visit you remember, and the dark, long scar halfway between your tailbone and your shoulders reminds you never to fall without controlling it.

January 15, 1998. You’re in sophomore year of high school, and not the most popular. You like to play by the rules, and some asshole junior decides that he doesn’t like the way you won’t let him cheat off of your trigonometry homework, and decides that a knife is the best way to settle the problem. Those homework answers weren’t worth the long white line over all four of the knuckles of your left hand, but it is a pretty little reminder that lowlifes do what they want. And law enforcement, or whatever your school called the ‘anti-bullying league’, does jack shit about it.

October 30, 2002. You’re almost done with your certification to become a cop- thank god. You couldn’t stand the people who were to become your graduate class. They were so ready to become cops just to bully people, just to get to weild an iron fist and hide their bloodlust behind the law. Not you- you’re here to do some real good. That’s what they don’t like about you. And that’s why Fred Young splits open your cheek when just he’s supposed to be practicing his sparring. It’s an ugly scar, needed six stitches, but it’s a reminder that even the cops aren’t always the good guys.

May 14, 2004. You’re a new cop, working under detective Wells. There’s a robbery of a jewelry store a few blocks from where you’re patrolling, and as you’re making your way to the scene, a man in a fedora runs smack into you, taking you both to the ground. Broken glass digs into your shoulder, but he apologizes, and his blue eyes look so genuine. He’s afraid. You’d not realize until a month later that he wasn’t a scared bystander, but in fact one of the thieves. The fifth of your scars matches your first meeting with AJ- who would, by the end of the summer, become one of the most important people in your life.

~~~

Four tattoos.

August 4, 1999- Left wrist, inside knob of the bone. The little symbol had represented something to you when you were sixteen, but it had long lost whatever meaning you’d given it. Now, it was just a pattern to pass your thumb over whenever you got restless.

February 16, 2002- The cap of the right shoulder. It was your bunk number, from when you were training to be a cop. Nothing extravagant, but it was supposed to represent the beginning of the rest of your life- it was supposed to represent your calling.

June 1, 2004- Left arm, the outside of the forearm. Bleeding from your first tattoo was a new one, the largest one on your body. It was geometrical and high contrast, black lines loosely following your veins up toward your elbow, as though that left hand was bringing darkness into your body. It did- you shot with your left hand.

July 17, 2004- Right collarbone. A single, circular monogram, made up of six letters.

T A K E R S.

~~~

Three piercings.

April 7, 1989. Your father took you to get your ears pierced, but insisted upon arrival that it was too expensive to get both done, so you only got your left. The assymetrical style would have to grow on you- at six years old, you hated it.

May 19, 2003. You couldn’t have piercings at the academy, they were unprofessional, they were dangerous. So the night of graduation, you went out and got a hole punched into your nostril- the pain made tears well up, but more than anything, it was the satisfaction of giving a pretty little ‘fuck you’ to your superiors, who you’d never see again.

July 18, 2006. AJ takes you to a fancy beauty salon for an eyebrow bar after hearing maybe once that you’d wanted another piercing. You knew you were in love with him- who else in your life had ever paid such close attention to you?

~~~

Two eyebrow slits.

June 23, 2004. You leave the police force. You tell Wells that it’s because you’re pissed you can’t find the guys that robbed the jewelry store, but that’s not even close to the truth. You’ve found them- hell, you got a good look at one of them on the very day of the robbery. But you’ve done the looking, and didn’t have the heart to bring them in. They had families. They donated ten percent of every heist to a charity. They did more for the community than the police you worked for, and they did it clean- they didn’t hurt anybody, if they didn’t have to. They did what you’d hoped to do, when you joined the force. What you’d never gotten to do. Eyebrow slits were considered extremely unprofessional, so the moment you were free of your two week notice, you split open your right eyebrow. It would give a good balance to the bar piercing you hoped to put through your left someday.

March 4, 2007. You’re cleaning up your slit when AJ walks into the room and stands behind you so that you can see him through the mirror. You keep your eyes on the trimmer you’re so delicately running over your skin, but when he opens up a little felt box with a pretty ring inside, you whirl around with such panic that you make the slit approximately half an inch wider than it should’ve been. Lilli helped you fill in the gap for the engagement photos, but you decided to keep a second slit on the other end of the unfortunate shave- a little reminder of the evening in which he proposed to you.

~~~

“The one is usually ignored,” you’d say, “as it makes no multiplicative difference. That’s why I don’t have a ‘one’.”

On August 27, 2009, you got your ‘one’.

You’d been out of the game for two years, choosing not to take a cut of the winnings. You’d advise, you’d plan, you’d set up, but you did not want to be on site when the heist went down. The boys had it taken care of, and you butted heads with Jesse far too often for anyone’s comfort.

You especially couldn’t work on this project, thanks to a little fucker named Ghost- he didn’t trust you, as a member of the Takers he’d never met, and you didn’t trust him, as a criminal you’d never grown to respect.

You knew that most of them didn’t trust Ghost either, but everything he brought forward checked out- AJ must’ve mumbled the plan thirty times in his sleep in the five days from its suggestion to its fruition. There were no holes. Knowing Gordon and John, they had some ‘insurance’ for Ghost, anyway. In case it went wrong.

Still, you stayed at the Hotel Roosevelt through it all. You were their sitter, keeping the hotel room warm and ready for their arrival. They arrived back one by one- and like usual, AJ got there first. He, Gordon, and John were usually the first to get out, but he always made it back to the room first, because that way he could get some time with you. That way, he could have a private reunion, fresh off of a job.

“Hey, baby,” he said as he closed the door, and you waited for him to turn his eyes to you before you gave him a smile. He threw down his bag onto one of the chairs, and it landed with a heavy thump, but you’d long grown used to the sound of the score. However much he pulled, good for him. You were just happy to slip your arms around his neck and feel him kiss the scar on your cheekbone before sliding his lips to yours.

He always kissed different right after a job- before the boys had all gotten back, before the total was counted. He had a confidence to his movement, but there was fear, insecurity, just a tinge. He wasn’t just a taker, he was a man, who had worries and risks just like every other man.

You were out of the game for a few reasons. They had it taken care of. You butted heads with Jesse. You didn’t trust Ghost. But you knew that you were AJ’s biggest fear- you knew that if you got hurt on a job, he’d never forgive himself.

So he kissed you, he held you close, he reminded himself that you were here, you were fine. His long fingers seems to take up half your back, and his hair was already in his face, as though you’d tugged it there yourself.

With just one more pass of your lips over his, you pulled away.

“How’d it go?” You asked with a soft voice, rolling your first finger through the curls at the back of his neck.

“Could’ve gone better,” he said with a chuckle, “but we got it done.” You heard a knock at the door, and Gordon was the next arrival- then John, then Jake, then Ghost. Jesse came last, and with him, a whole host of new problems.

A bullet splintered the door and caught AJ somewhere under the ribcage. Everyone hit the floor, diving behind couches, and you popped your head up long enough to see AJ launch over the kitchen island. The room shattered into gunfire and feathers from expensive pillows, glass shards littering the ground like raindrops. It all moved so fast, and the air exploded into noise. You could barely track AJ through it all, he was so far away, all the way across the room. And you wanted to keep your eye straight down the barrel of your gun.

“AJ!” Jesse called from beside you, hidden behind a brown leather couch, “You okay?” You looked around the side of it, and saw him ten feet from you, the longest ten feet of your life, behind the kitchen island. He was struggling, on his hands and knees.

“Get up,” you snarled, knowing he’d already taken a hit.

“Out the back!” John ordered from the doorway behind you, and you started to realize the moment, the dangerous, heavy moment. AJ was all the way across the room- he couldn’t cross it. Not with these mobsters holding ground.

“Let’s go!” Gordon shouted, and your eyes connected with AJ’s. He saw the same thing you did.

“Go,” he said, voice calm, and it cut through the chaos of the room, cut through every hardened lesson ever pounded into you, cut through every wall you’d ever built around you, around your heart. “I’m coming.”

AJ was a good liar. But he couldn’t lie to you.

“No,” you growled through gritted teeth, and you made a rash decision.

You’d always been good at gymnastics. You had strong control over the movement of your body, and had, ever since you’d learned from your cousin throwing you down onto that stone that split open your back. You could move and slink and roll and dive in ways that would keep you not only from falling, but even from being noticed.

Using the chaos as your cover, you did a tight diving roll across the room to him, slipping between shelters unscathed. This brought you just a bit closer to the mobsters, but further from the back door exit that Gordon had been trying to guide you toward. You’d chose AJ over your safety any day- the surprise and the fear in his eyes said that he wished you wouldn’t.

Making sure you had enough ammo, you considered your final move- this didn’t end until these mobsters did. There were five of them left, after all this commotion: four in the room, one in the hall. You couldn’t take all five, not with their guns being so much more than yours, but you could take out a few. You could shift attention, you could buy time.

And hopefully, you could stay breathing, too. That’d be nice.

“Stay down,” you hissed, leaving AJ behind the island where he’d be forgotten about, or assumed dead. Then, you rounded the corner and rolled to the feet of the closest mobster. As you came out of the roll you caught his legs in yours, wrenching them from under him and taking him to the ground with one of the first moves you’d learned in basic training. He hit the wall hard, and was unconscious by the time he landed- the same could not be said for his friends.

From your right, you could see Gordon, still firing, still hopeful for your and AJ’s escape. Your shoulders were above the couch, so you knew he saw as you turned your weapon to the second mobster before he could turn to you, and stopped his heart.

Your commotion had caught the attention of the other three who still remained. You whirled around and raised your gun to one of them, but they managed it first.

Gordon had to swallow back his horror as he saw a bullet enter the front of your side profile, and blood explode from the back. He took out the mobster who still had his attention on you- but your shoulders smacked to the ground outside of his view, and he closed the door.

Luckily, their aim was spotty. You now had a useless left arm, but you were still breathing. Not that you’d let the one remaining mobster notice that.

You and AJ played dead, only a few feet from each other, but the kitchen island becoming a thicker wall than any you’d ever been split by. As you stared blankly at the ceiling, taking shallow breaths hidden by the folds of your shirt, you hoped he didn’t think you were dead. You hoped he wasn’t bleeding out.

After what felt like agonizingly long minutes, the shooting finally stopped, and the door opened again. Gordon was the first to enter the room, and rounded the couch to you, grief in his eyes, expecting the worst.

But you could give him a smile.

“Surprise,” you groaned, and he lit up in relief, helping you sit up with your good arm.

“Look at you, playing dirty,” he said with a laugh, “I thought you were gone for sure.”

“AJ,” you heard Jake say from across the room, and finally AJ could sit up from where you’d forced him down. The two of you had both bled straight through your shirts, but there wasn’t any time for sweet reunions- everyone had to get out, and fast.

AJ left his car wherever it was. John gave the two of you a ride to the airstrip where Gordon was going to disappear for a while, and on the way you and AJ attempted to give each other first aid until the personnel on the plane could take care of it.

Eventually, you leaned against his left, and he against your right, your wounds still stinging and sticky with blood, but manageable, for as long as they needed to be.

The night didn’t get any easier, but that didn’t matter- you were home free, they’d managed the job, and Ghost was out of the picture, and neither of you were going to die.

And someday, when you felt brave enough to recount your near-death, near-loss, near-jailed experience, you’d say:

Five major scars, four tattoos, three piercings, two eyebrow slits. And one gun shot wound.

-🦌 Roe

#reader insert #angst #aj #aj takers #takers #takers 2010 #hayden christensen #anakin skywalker #x reader #gn!reader #aj x reader #fics

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palettes-and-prompts · 3 years ago

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Character Palette/Personality Palette

If I have seen the movie/show/or whatever this character is in I will let you know! But if I haven't I'm just gonna give my best guess to their personality or what I think they like and everything. I will make them two palettes, one based on their appearance and one based on what I think their personality is. If you'd rather not see this just block the tag "character palette and personality guess" I figure no one's tagging anything like that so it should be easy to filter out. If you genuinely like this character and I roast them please understand this is all for fun and it’s just a joke. If you wanna send me a character for a palette and my guess at their personality/interests just drop it on anon or off anon and I'll see what I can do.

Alright so this is Legend from the fan comic Linked Universe. I've never read this before, to be honest I've never really read or played anything relating to Legend of Zelda. Let's get into it though!

I love the hair, it's very fun and cool. The pink strip on the side is very cute. I love that. The ears and hat? Great choice, it works. This man definitely skates but in an Avril Lavigne kind of way. He looks really cool but the kind of cool that tells you he was definitely a bully in middle school. But not like the mean, leave bruises on you kind, I mean the one who convinced his victims he was kidding and like threw his arm around them saying they were all friends so teachers wouldn't get mad at him. He's small, his legs don't match his hair and I can't explain it. I love his skirt, I think it's very cute and fun. I don't like that his little wand thing doesn't match his outfit, I’d like it if it was darker though. It's just so bright next to his outfit it throws off the whole vibe. He's the kind of guy who bites his lip in every selfie he takes and texts people 'wyd?' or 'you up?' at like 3am. And like, his friends think he's annoying and the person he's seeing hates that they keep going back to him when he cheats on them. He's dumb but not in the sweet himbo kind of way. He's dumb in the way that he doesn't know shit and is kind of mean. He's the type of guy that'll say some offhanded shit that'll have you staring at your ceiling at night thinking about your life choices. This man will ruin your life but convince you you still need him in it. He's built small but tough like a minivan, which he definitely drives. His favorite food is pizza and he sold shitty weed under the bleachers in high school to the new freshmen. He used to do that but like, he also still definitely does that too. I can't see the other side of his hands but I know his fingers have cheeto/dorito dust on them. If his name wasn't Legend it would probably be like Dustin or his first two initials. He looks like an AJ or a CJ kind of guy. I can picture him working at like Chuck E. Cheese or some sort of arcade/restaurant that has the stench of cheese and feet. He's got mountain dew bottles full of piss in his room, I just know it. This is such a good drawing, I love everything about him. He's for sure got kids but not custody of them, you know what I mean? His theme song would definitely be Slob on My Nob by the Three 6 Mafia but his ringtone would be I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) by T-Pain.

Anyway here's his palette based on his character design.

And here is his palette based on what I think his personality is.

#character palette #character palette and personality guess #personality guessing #legend lu #linked universe #legend linked universe

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weirdratblogs · 3 years ago

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My cousin's been putting FOP on when he needs to distract my nephew, lately, and I kind of joined in on the kid's marathon. I've come to something of a realization because of it.

Looking back? I think I liked Vicky as a proto-waifu when I was a kid because FOP always came across as being really exaggerated.

Not to be a Reddit, but I think I Accidentally'd my way into believing in a self-made fantheory along the lines of those ones where all the content of a story is in some character's head. Like... Schizophrenic Christopher Robin, Frankie Foster pulling a St. Elsewhere, or the PokeComa Theory.

Mine was less "Schizophrenia! BPD! Depression!" and more:

Timmy Turner is a jerkass kid that spends his time daydreaming about misadventures he has with his fairy godparents. The majority of the characterization, as seen throughout the show, is him either projecting self-conscious thoughts onto others or exaggerating the very real traits of others.

AJ and Chester aren't bad friends, Timmy just doesn't want to admit that he's a bad friend. Sanjay and Elmer aren't unimportant nobodies, Timmy just doesn't want to face the very real possibility that he's a nobody that others keep as a back-up friend. Timmy doesn't want to face the fact that there's a growing distance between him and his friends at school.

Likewise, Mom and Dad aren't stupid or loveless towards Timmy - they might be a bit neglectful, though. Vicky's probably mean-spirited and a bit of a bully - as she's shown in the earlies seasons of the show - but the over-the-top nature of her evilness and violence are Timmy being Timmy.

So, looking at Vicky as being a bit of a bully with a shitty dating history - maybe even one of those kids that terrorizes others, scares her parents, and is just generally unpleasant - I don't think it's that odd for someone as young as I was to look at that whole... situation and say, "I could changer her." She apparently not so bad as to get sent away to either juvie or a mental health facility, so...

Don't get me wrong, a relationship with her would be toxic as hell. I'm older now, I've been in that kind of relationship, but... You know? It's not unreasonable that someone would look at a toxic person like that and think there's something there to value.

And, again, this is in the context of a fantheory where her bullying, violence, and terrorizing-nature are all heavily exaggerated by being viewed as the perspective of a lonely, depressing, jerkass 10-year-old. It's very possible that she's a bit mean-spirited and violent, but not to the degree that she's the monster she is in the show...

#fairly oddparents #vicky FOP #I read somewhere that her last name's Manson - like the serial killer - but there's no apparent evidence of that #waifu #waifu-ism #is it accidentally'd or accidentallied?#fosters home for imaginary friends

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thegayfromrulid · 5 years ago

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Kawahara and Trauma: by me, who has PTSD

So, the SAO fandom (and related Accel World and very small Isolator fandoms) has a pretty mixed bag of fans, but I’ve noticed I’m not alone in reading and watching it for its take on PTSD. These three stories all have exciting, fun elements and stories that can be loved by a large number of people, so it isn’t like trauma is their only selling point. So, AJ- why the big deal about PTSD in Kawahara’s writing? (Spoilers for Sword Art Online, Accel World, and The Isolator peppered throughout the post. TW for various mentions of traumatic events.)

Firstly, why is this an important topic?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that stems from experiencing something terrifying. That terrifying thing can be what people tend to think of when they think of the term PTSD (i.e., being in a war zone) but it can also be something that many people don’t typically find terrifying (i.e., death of a family member from illness).

Representation in media is important for many people, so accurately portraying or portraying certain aspects of people’s lives is important to those people. For me, seeing PTSD handled the way it is in Kawahara’s works is very special to me, who both has PTSD and has loved ones with PTSD.

So, what’s so special about Kawahara’s takes?

Kawahara handles it in a very varied way. Not all of his characters have equivalent trauma, nor do they all respond to trauma the same way. Their PTSD manifests in different ways and stems from different things. Let’s break this down by series.

Sword Art Online

Kirito, whose perspective is the most intimate in the series because the writing usually focuses on his first person perspective but others’ third person perspective, has the most detailed image of PTSD. He’s been shown to have nightmares in the Phantom Bullet arc, noticeably gets very angry and switches into a fight or flight mode when triggered, and has even panicked when he thought he killed someone.

We’ve seen him shaking after running into Death Gun and connecting him to Laughing Coffin. When he fights Fanatio with Eugeo in the novel, Eugeo notices he turns uncharacteristically panicky as he realized he might have killed her. And in the Fairy Dance arc, when cornered on the bridge underground with Leafa, his switch flips because he refuses to die and doesn’t yet get that he can’t physically die in a game.

But we also have Sinon- who reacts a bit differently to trauma. Recall that seeing guns make her physically sick in a way that Kirito never deals with. She throws up, has to hide the image of the gun before she feels worse. Her fingers freeze on the trigger of even a virtual gun when it gets pretty bad. That freezing up, nauseated reaction is in stark contrast to Kirito’s more lively outbursts.

They aren’t the only characters dealing with trauma, though. Asuna is mentioned in the first arc to have nightmares that keep her awake, and she plows through her trauma ignoring it to the point of violent insanity. She pushes her issues down and very rarely do we, the audience, see them come out. She’s shown to have a flashback to her near-death in SAO in Ordinal Scale, and when she begins to lose her memories, we see her have another unsettling dream. But she deals with her frustration and trauma quietly, away from Kirito, which he respects and chooses to give her distance because she needs it.

Klein, even, who usually doesn’t get much attention, is shown to have a panic attack in Ordinal Scale when Eiji fights him. We don’t get much of a view on how Klein deals with it, but we do know that his panic triggered quite a bit of screaming from the one scene we did get.

Lisbeth is revealed to deal with trauma shortly in Alicization, when she addresses fellow gamers in ALO. She mentions the nightmares (a key depiction of PTSD in SAO) and the therapy she and the other students have to go through. She’s a very “push it to the back of your mind and make a quip” sort of character, too. Like Asuna, she focuses on something else, but for her, she’s doing her best to get others to laugh with her.

There’s also more negative portrayals, such as Laughing Coffin/Death Gun members who succumb to violence and delusions. They refuse to cope with their trauma and turn to violent outlets. We also see Eugeo, whose trauma numbly drives him forwards, and can lead him to unpleasant actions, such as his move to kill Deusolbert and his intent to die fighting Administrator. His trauma gives him those intrusive thoughts of violence and suicidal behavior, including the feeling of being unloved.

Accel World

The crux of Accel World is that avatars are basically born from mental scars (trauma). Avatars are trauma worn on the sleeves of the players, so while they aren’t obvious to other players, they are painfully obvious to the individual controlling them. I won’t cover every single character, since the whole point is that they’re all traumatized here, but I will make some key points.

First off, we’ll start with Haruyuki himself. This is the big point- unlike the traumas we see in SAO, Haruyuki’s trauma might seem a bit meek. His trauma stems from years of bullying. His self-confidence was eaten away at and he cowers and wants to flee the bullying, giving birth to Silver Crow. Portraying the results of bullying as trauma is SUCH a big deal, and it’s pretty obvious why.

A lot of people scoff at PTSD stemming from situations they don’t see as traumatic in the real world, and there are a few times I can think off where Haruyuki wonders if bullying really is a mental scar when compared to the traumas of other Brain Burst players. But Kawahara is showing us that PTSD isn’t just a condition for people in life or death situations. It can apply to someone who was bullied just the same.

Haruyuki’s trauma births an avatar the same way Kuroyukihime’s did: her trauma comes from her family. She’s cut off from them and feels unloveable and forms an untouchable avatar from that feeling.

Some of the kids in Accel World had traumas that stemmed from something physical- Utai has her aphasia. Fuko has her prosthetic legs. But others stem from personal relationships, such as feeling like friends are slipping away (Chiyuri), being orphaned (Niko), or having a lack of identity (Cobalt and Manganese from the Leonids).

Kawahara treats all of these traumas as worthy of forming an avatar born from mental scars, which turns a story that seems filled to the brim with fanservice and fighting into something that is far more meaningful and validates traumas of all kinds.

The Isolator

A bit of a hidden gem, for those that don’t know of it, Isolator is a sci-fi story about alien orbs that come down to Earth and implant themselves in human hosts. These orbs come in two kinds- black (Jet Eyes) and red (Ruby Eyes), and they give the hosts superhuman powers which, much like Accel World’s avatars, appear to stem from some sort of persona trauma. Jet Eyes appear to be the good guys, while Ruby Eyes are shown to have a killing intent paired with their powers and appear to be the bad guys.

The main character, Minoru, received these Jet Eye powers and was given an impenetrable shell around his body that he can activate from his breathing. The only thing that can pass through the shell is light, and the only thing it can surround is something Minoru acknowledges as part of himself. (Clothing, something he’s already holding).

This power comes from his desire to isolate himself from other human beings after his family is murdered when he was little. He feels that forming relationships is risky because he’ll hurt if he loses someone like that again. His PTSD in this regard is very extreme and he handles it by forcing everyone out of his life, in some cases very coldly if he has to.

On the opposite side, what makes Isolator a really engaging work is not the protagonists’ trauma- but rather the antagonists’ traumas. Each main villain of the volume until volume 5 focused very deeply on the namesake of the volume and their trauma that drives them as a Ruby Eye to kill. I’ll focus on two of my favorites because this is getting longer than anticipated.

Igniter. He was implated with the Ruby Eye as he attempted collective suicide with his family by driving his car off of a bridge into a river. He was already traumatized by his failures in life enough to think that he needed to end it, but what’s interesting is that the Ruby Eye based his powers off of the in-progress suicide attempt and not his feelings of failure and desire to die because of it. This highlights that sometimes we as people have multiple traumas that can manifest differently in ourselves or have different reactions from us. His brain registers his failed suicide as more traumatic to him than his feelings of losing everything and failing, thus the Ruby Eye feeds on his newfound fear of water.

Trancer, unlike prior Ruby Eyes in volumes 1 and 2, is a teenager. His trauma is is very particular in that he watched a friend die of something that didn’t kill him. They were locked in a freezer hiding from abusive parents, and his friend died while he survived. While the backstory is sad, it doesn’t seem all that interesting when compared to the other traumas I’ve highlighted, so let’s look at how Trancer responds to his trauma through his interactions with a Jet Eye, Olivier.

Trancer and Olivier both are upset about the loss of a girl in their lives; for Trancer, his friend died in the freezer, and for Olivier, his sister was kidnapped by Ruby Eyes. While the reasons behind this have not yet been revealed as of volume 5, it’s clear that Trancer throws their possession of Olivier’s sister, Claire, in his face as a defense mechanism regarding his trauma. He lost his friend, therefore he took something important to Olivier to take it out on someone else: a classic example of bullying stemmed from trauma.

What’s the main takeaway here?

Kawahara’s treatment of trauma and PTSD in his works is very diverse. He handles it in a way that I can appreciate as someone who has PTSD and has loved ones with PTSD.

#sword art online #accel world #the isolator #zettai naru isolator #sword art online alicization #sword art online war of underworld #sword art online ii #ptsd #tw suicude #tw war mention #tw death #tw gun #long post

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hazyheel · 5 years ago

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WWE Monday Night Raw 8/12/19 Review

Seth Rollins Promo: He came out in normal clothes, which immediately worried me. He talked about how he wasn’t sure if he would win at summerslam, and he put Lesnar over a bit. He talked about how the crowd fueled him through the match. He only won with the love from the crowd, which sounds corny but it was a pretty good line in my opinion. AJ Styles then came out to interrupt, with the OC in tow. They congratulated Rollins on winning his match, and threw his hat in the ring for title contention. He challenged Rollins to a match tonight, to prove that he is a better champion. Rollins told him that all his respect for Styles is gone. He then accepted the challenge. Styles then extended a hand for a shake. Rollins refused, and Styles called him scared as he let the ring. Tensions were high.

Grade: C+. Started out pretty good, but I felt that Styles didn’t really make sense to throw his hat in the ring. He has his own thing in the midcard. If you want him to go in the main event, then give him a real reason. He should be allowed to compete in the midcard. If you want him to move up, then he can win a multi man match for #1 contendership while still being the champion, and then lose the belt. There are better ways to emphasize your top stars that to screw over the midcard.

Street Profits Backstage: They put the show over, but Dawkins was tired and dehydrated. Sami Zayn then came up to give advice. He told them that the crowd will suck the soul right out of them. He said that everyone flames out, and the fans don’t care anymore. He started to talk about Samoa Joe as an example, but Joe was behind him. Joe then challenged him to a match, and I think Joe turned face. He shoved Zayn into the crates and walked away.

Before we came back, they talked about how the King of the Ring is back for 2019. That’s actually pretty exciting, but I don’t know what the stakes are. I will make a separate post for predictions and my thoughts on the tournament at large, so watch out for that.

Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe: I am pretty confused about Joe’s character at the moment, but maybe this match will help me with that. Zayn attacked before the bell, and Joe totally destroyed him after that. He put him on the mat with some power moves and strikes before choking him out for the win.

Then he got on the mic. He talked about how he was still pissed about how people accused him of attacking Roman. He said that he won’t forgive anyone in the crowd for all the hate.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash, and they clarified that he is still a heel. Double wammy.

Dolph Ziggler vs. the Miz: Miz was wearing a new shirt, saying Toronto is Awesome, which is a nice babyface touch. Ziggler came out in normal clothes. I think he had a Kabuki Warriors shirt on, but I don’t really know. Ziggler then got on the mic and called Miz a coward. He complained about how wasn’t cleared to compete. He said that Miz screwed Miz. After saying that it was too bad that he wouldn’t have the match, he beat the crap out of him. He beat him down as they cut to commercial.

When we came back, they were in the middle of the match. Ziggler was competing in jeans, so there was that. Right when we came back, Miz started to take the advantage. As Miz was delivering Yes Kicks to Ziggler, Graves compared him to a man who can walk away from a horrific car accident, which was so weird. Ziggler then nailed a Zig Zag, but Miz somehow kicked out. It seems like they are moving that down to a signature rather than a finisher. Ziggler then went for a superkick, but Miz caught his leg and put Ziggler in the figure four and won the match.

Afterwards, Ziggler got on the mic and said that he was a coward. He told Miz to finish him off, and as he was talking, Miz nailed a Skull Crushing Finale.

Grade: C+. A watered down and less awesome version of what happened at Summerslam with Goldberg. Ziggler’s new “I have more pride than is good for me” gimmick is going to get old, unless it was legends kicking his ass on pay per view. But the match was okay, although I know they can do much better.

Becky Lynch Interview: Becky immediately grabbed the mic and talked about how she wanted her next challenger. She said that she just beat Nattie, but she isn’t going to rest. She wants to kick the next person’s ass.

Elias Concert: He talked about how he knows someone will interrupt him, and he wants them to come out right now. That way it is right out of the way. He counted down a couple times, but no one came out. “I’m begging you, please don’t change the channel,”- Corey Graves. Nice call. Then Ricochet came out with a mic right as he was about to start. They both called each other lame, and Elias challenged Ricochet to a match.

We went right from that into Ricochet vs. Elias, where they started out with a quick pace. They delivered a lot of high impact moves right away, but then they went back into rest holds. At one point, the two botched some sort of move, and the crowd seemed to turn against it quick. Ricochet then threw Elias out of the ring, but when he went for a suicide dive, Elias dodged and Ricochet landed right on his back. The two then battled in the ring, and Ricochet won with a sunset flip into a pinning predicament. Elias had his shoulder up, but the ref called for the bell anyway.

Grade: D+. Jeez this was rough. Two botches and a horrific bump. This was a very unpolished match that did not showcase the strengths of either guy. They are much better than this.

Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio, 2 out of 3 falls: the match started right away, with a stiff shot from Andrade. He went for a powerbomb, but Mysterio countered to set up the 619, but Zelina Vega tripped him up on the outside. Andrade then rolled him up, and Vega held his feet on the ropes to win the first fall.

They started the second fall, and Mysterio quickly gave Andrade a rana to the outside, which looked pretty rough. Mysterio then continued the offense, hitting a slingshot powerbomb which looked like he planted Andrade on his head. Once again when Mysterio went for a 619, Vega distracted him and he didn’t get it. But after a third set up, he nailed the 619. Still, Andrade got his knees up and hit the hammerlock DDT for the win.

Grade: C+. Another fine match. I liked that Andrade got a 2-0 victory, way to put over new talent. I don’t know what they will do with that, but it was a huge victory. Good on them, but not their best match.

Steve Austin interview: Austin talked about how Rollins had a whole bunch of heart to get his win at Summerslam. He put Rollins over. Then he put over his own show. Shameless plug here.

Rey Mysterio Interview: He talked about how frustrated he was losing two falls in a row. He seemed like he was about to cry, and muttered about his family. Interesting, not sure where this is going at all.

Street Profits Backstage Again: Montez Ford told Mysterio to keep his head up, and gave him some encouragement. Ford then woke Dawkins up, and hyped up the Women’s Tag Team Championship match, and Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre. But Dawkins was too thirsty to help him, so Ford walked away. Funny, but they need to do something soon.

Drew McIntyre interview: he talked about how he was going to end Alexander, and their rivalry in the match. He called Alexander’s run a fairytale. He said that he was going to cave his skull in and end the rivalry once and for all.

Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre: the two started right away with some nice striking, and Alexander flying right away. He nailed McIntyre with a tope con hilo, but McIntyre fought back into it. While Alexander was up on the top rope, McIntyre grabbed him in a crucifix, and then gave him a high angle buckle bomb that looked hard to take. McIntyre took control from there, absolutely tossing Cedric all around the ring. At one point, the two were on the top rope, and McIntyre nailed Alexander with a sidewalk slam off the top for a near fall. The two started to fight on the outside, where Alexander pushed Mcintyre into the post, and then hit the lumbar check on the outside. The two were nearly counted out, but Alexander slid back in and attempted a suicide dive. But McIntyre caught him out of the dive and gave him a rough belly to belly onto the ring steps. The two then fought back into the ring, again on the top rope, but this time Alexander delivered a top rope spanish fly for a near fall. That brought the crowd alive, Mcintyre went for the inverted Alabama Slam, but Cedric countered into a rollup. McIntyre kicked out, and the two ran the ropes, only for McIntyre to decimate Alexander with a Claymore for the win.

Grade: B+. Really good stuff between these two. They showcased a great clash of styles match, as well as showing McIntyre’s agility as they did so. Cedric sold just as well as he always does, and was a really good underdog here. He was smart enough to get the advantage several times, and he knew what he had to do to win. Any of those rollups could have been it, and Cedric knew that. McIntyre was a great bully here, and actually seemed to respect Alexander a bit. Really good stuff between these guys, I knew that they could put something like this together. Match of the night.

The OC Backstage: the group were talking about how Rollins beat the odds when he beat Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. Gallows and Anderson then said that not even Styles could do that, to which Styles responded that he only had one chance to beat him. Then he just talked about how he would win the champion vs. champion match later on.

No Way Jose vs. Robert Roode: a bit of an odd match. I’m not really sure why they are having it. The two started with a lock up, before Roode pushed Jose back into the corner and wailed on him with strikes and kicks. Jose was being beaten for most of the match, before Roode won with a Glorious DDT.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash. Cool to see some underutilized stars get TV time.

Paul Heyman Interview: Heyman talked about how Lesnar is not allowed any rematches against Rollins. He was so pissed off that he couldn’t even get the words out. Then he walked back into Lesnar’s locker room. Interesting.

The Lucha House Party vs. The Revival: This was an incredibly fast paced match right from the start. The Revival gained the advantage after forcing Lince Durado to the mat, but as they were fighting, R-Truth and the 24/7 guys ran down to the ring. The bell rang, and the Lucha House Party started to dive onto everyone around ringside. The Revival hit Truth with a Hart Attack, and pinned him together to become co-champions. However, Kalisto then ran in and hit a Salida del Sol on Dawson, only for Wilder to break it up. Carmella then pulled a half conscious Truth onto Dawson to win the belt back, and the two ran away. Backstage, Carmella and Truth were celebrating when Elias walked up and smashed Truth in the back with his guitar, and stole the championship in the process.

Grade: C+. I was actually into having co-champions for a while, but it is clear that Truth is their guy for this belt. Anyway, this was fine. Nothing too exciting.

Natalya promo: Nattie came out with her arm in a sling, which was a nice touch. Still selling a beating from a night ago is pretty smart. The crowd was chanting “you tapped out.” She said that although she lost, she won’t take back anything that she said. She wants to fight Becky Lynch again, but she will earn it before she does. Then she talked about her dad, Jim Neidhart, but as she started to talk, Sasha fucking Banks returned to interrupt. She seemed pretty genuinely happy to be back, and she gave Nattie a hug, but then sucker punched her and tore off a purple wig that she had on. She started to beat the crap out of Natalya, even tearing off her sling. The crowd was absolutely loving it, and everyone remembered how great of a heel Banks is. She even grabbed a chair, but as she was about to use it, Becky Lynch ran out for the save. The two brawled in the middle of the ring, with Banks coming out on top. She wailed on Lynch with the chair, and it looked incredibly painful. Eventually, some refs came by and broke everything up, but the damage was done. Looks like we have a challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship, and someone who can actually win it at that.

Grade: B+. What a return! I have wanted heel Sasha for years, although I always wanted her to turn on Bayley. This is perfect though. A brutal assault to bring back one of the best heels in the women’s division. Welcome back Banks, thank you for saving the women’s division and keeping things interesting.

Viking Raiders Squash: before the match, the Viking Raiders cut a promo about how they will destroy anyone in their way, and the tag division will kneel before them. Naturally, the Raiders messed up the poor jobbers. At one point, Erik gave one jobber a huge uranagi onto the back of the other. The two were about to win at one point, but Erik pulled his shoulders off the mat, and they gave him the Viking Experience for the win.

Grade: B-. Always entertaining squash.

Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss Interview: The two talked about their upcoming title defense against The Kabuki Warriors. They were actually being really nice to each other, so I guess Bliss has turned face. I don’t know where this is going, but they better hate each other eventually.

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. the Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: So, then during this match, Corey Graves was talking about how much he loves Bliss and Cross now, so I have no idea if they are face or heel. The Kabuki warriors had the advantage early on, running roughshod over the champions and completely annihilating them. The heels didn’t really get the advantage back until Bliss got a blind tag on Cross. At one point, Nikki was about to be hit by the Insane Elbow, but Cross rolled to the outside. Sane nailed her with a crossbody to the outside. Sane then rolled her back in for the Insane elbow, but Bliss broke it up. Asuka then tried to take out Bliss, but Bliss ducked a kick that landed on the ringpost, taking Asuka out. In the finish, Cross nailed Sane with a swinging neckbreaker and then Bliss finished it off with Twisted Bliss.

Grade: B-. This was a fine match, nothing too special. I hope that the Kabuki Warriors actually get some TV time, because they are a great team that deserve some more time. Bliss and Cross look strong, so that is good. These titles will need a lot of help to be built back up to the level they were once at, but they can do it with some time and patience.

AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins: Rollins still had heavily taped ribs, but Rollins actually assaulted Styles’ ribs to start the match off. Early on in the match, Rollins opted to take out the rest of the OC on the outside, but that distraction only allowed Styles to attack the ribs more. At one point, Styles even went for the Styles clash on the apron, but Rollins slipped out and swept Style’s leg out from under him. When the two got back in the ring, they started to transition into heavy hitting strikes. At one point, Rollins tried for a reverse superplex, but AJ pushed him off. He then tried for a phenomenal forearm, but Rollins ducked it and nailed a superkick. He then went for the frog splash, but Anderson distracted the ref while Gallows pushed Rollins off the top rope. The two were then banned from ringside, but they just ran in and caused a disqualification instead. Ricochet then ran out to Rollins’ aid, but it didn’t help him much. The OC was about to give Rollins a Styles Clash from the middle rope when Braun Strowman ran out and decimated all of the heels, giving Styles a spinning powerslam, followed by a running powerslam. After the OC retreated, Strowman grabbed Rollins’ Universal Championship and handed it to him, but not before eyeing it a bit. The faces then stood tall together to close out the show.

Grade: B. A pretty good match with a fun brawl to close everything out, plus Braun Strowman looked pretty strong in the process. This was a good look at what the top of the card on Raw should be. Get the US championship out of the mix, and these four guys could easily carry the show a bit. Give some lower down guys the US Championship, like maybe Cedric Alexander. Throw Bray Wyatt and Drew McIntyre in towards the top, and you have yourself a strong main event scene. This final stretch gives me some hope that maybe we will have some improvements on WWE going forward. Things seem to be looking up.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Alexander vs. McIntyre; banks return; main event

Cons: ricochet vs. elias

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hopevalley · 6 years ago

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WCTH Write-Ups: 1.4, “Secrets and Lies”

Hello, and welcome to another episode write-up!

I wanted to do a lot of these before the S6 premier, but it’s been hard to find the time to sit down for literal hours to put together each post. So, this episode begins a new version of my episode write-ups, reserved specifically for the older seasons. The goal is to have a format that allows me to post these more frequently, or at least more easily, so you can expect less rambling about the plot (because we’ve all seen the episode before and know how it goes) and more rambling about little things I’ve noticed, timelines, odd mentions, character bits, and so on.

Let me know what you think!

All right. Last time we dealt with a couple of different kinds of grief (Rosaleen’s and Mr. Backus’s), Reverend Anderson requested an investigation into the church-fire before he quit working for the mining company, and Cat Montgomery ended up number one on Jack’s church-fire suspect list...due to circumstantial evidence: whale oil.

But hey, Jack’s no fool! He asks Cat about it right away...

And she’s very compliant, of course, and tells Jack that she has to special order it to use to make candles--a side business she started when her husband died. “I still have three mouths to feed,” she tells him. “His death pension, it only goes so far.” The implausibility of a real death pension aside, this makes sense. These people haven’t really been given a real chance to mourn...or at least, most of them haven’t. Cat, and likely many others, can’t afford to just wait for things to happen; with the welfare of three children to keep in mind, she wasn’t given the luxury of time.

Jack gets a little pushy after this, suggesting that having to care for three children alone might make a person angry, and when Cat doesn’t understand where he’s going with it, he mentions the vigil, which was six weeks ago, and casually drops the fact that Cat wasn’t in attendance, to which she says, “I chose to grieve my husband privately.”

Jack comes clean about Cat’s place on the suspect list, more or less, and leaves her nervous and flustered in her garden.

Tiny Thoughts:

I like the attention to having a garden here; it’s too small to be of any real use, but I can dig it; at least there was an attempt made, and they’re utilizing the small backyard space as best as they can. I guess it could also be a bit of a glimpse into Cat’s life, or even just her husband’s; not everyone has a shed in their backyard! Heck, not everyone even has a fence.

The time frame even at this point is a little whack. You’ll see what I mean later.

I’m not sure how I feel about this scene, or this plot, in hindsight, but I’ll talk more about that soon.

“The children are my pupils, but they are also my instructors.” This was something I really enjoyed about the novel version of Elizabeth: she tried to keep an open mind and let learning happen on both sides of the classroom. This Elizabeth learns how to teach the students through getting to know her students, which isn’t quite as good, but, you know, I’ll take it.

This episode introduces us to Albert “Pockets” Bickley and gives us the first real glimpse at Elizabeth, The Hardened School-teacher. Honestly, seeing her act strictly to a misbehaving, bullying student was pure gold. She doesn’t hit anyone with a switch or do anything too crazy, but she’s In Charge and she acts it.

“I’ll make sure cleaning is extra fun for you.” I mean the raw power in her voice and stance is something to behold. I’m sure we all wished we had a teacher like this sticking up for us when we were children. I know I did.

And the way she just turns that attitude completely around to be peaceful and sweet to the bullied student? I dig it. This is a side of Elizabeth I really want to see more of. It’s no wonder Albert gets a little crush on her.

Tiny Thoughts:

I think they do an okay job of showcasing Albert as a character in this episode, but I really wish more of an effort was made to flesh him out as a person. The nickname of “Pockets” does a lot to explain what he does, but it doesn’t tell us much about where he comes from. I would like to assume Albert and his family are poor, and he’s had to make his own fun for most of his life thus far, hence him picking up pretty or interesting things he sees. Unfortunately he’s often dressed quite nicely, so we have to just assume they slapped a Quirky Trait on him for Plot Reasons. Most people might think these things are junk, but every now and then he finds something good. And hey, if you lost something, he’s the kid to go to; maybe he’ll be able to find it for you, if he hasn’t already picked it up. ;)

“I’ll admit, after what happened at the mine, I was angry enough at God to want to burn down a church, but I swear I didn’t do it.”

I really appreciate Cat’s character, but more than that, something missing in the later seasons is, well, what this scene gives us: Elizabeth socializing with the parents of her students...and better yet, taking their side in a way that lets us feel that they’re on friendly terms.

It’s never really made clear why Cat invited Elizabeth over. I guess we’re meant to assume that it was a vaguely subtle way of asking Elizabeth to talk to Jack about it while also looking for support and/or a second (educated) opinion.

Tiny Thoughts:

I appreciate that Cat and Emily share a bed while Gabe and his brother share a space. It’s definitely not ideal but it makes the most sense.

Gabe up late reading is sweet.

Seeing the children supporting each other is another thing that... Well, I won’t say it’s missing in later seasons, but it lacks the punch that it did early on. Gabe holding Emily to comfort her about her fears feels genuine in a way a lot of the later stuff just doesn’t.

Mr. Spurlock and Mr. Gowen go to Jack to ask about the reopening of the church fire investigation, which...seems repetitive because I’m pretty sure they already knew about it; maybe the intention behind their visit is to confirm that even after Reverend Anderson dropped the need to investigate, that Jack was still looking into it?

Anyway, Gabe’s timing is beyond atrocious, but I can really appreciate this kid as an actor. He was good. I think the scripting could be better, but he’s a teenager and he’s angry, and I love how that’s handled.

“If you try to take her from us, I swear to God I’ll fight you.” What a line! You can laugh about it if you want to, but it’s honestly really sad. You know this kid can’t fight Jack; he doesn’t have the training, doesn’t have the strength. But he would, for his mama. Gabe loves his family and he wants to protect his mom--and that’s part of what makes him such a good character.

Tiny Thoughts:

Mr. Spurlock was in training to become a Mountie and instead turned to the Pinkerton Agency, which he calls “a real job”--implying that being a Mountie is not.

Mr. Gowen says that the church fire, and therefore the vigil, occurred a month after the mining accident.

“This is a company town, and I need to maintain order or the entire system falls apart. We can’t have citizens running around, doling out their own sense of warped justice. On that we can agree, can we not?”

This is a small example of what makes Mr. Gowen such a great character. He plays an amazing antagonist, and it won’t be much longer before we’re into episodes that let him shine in that role, but for now he’s not quite there. This is insight into his character that is easily overlooked; he might be a jerk sometimes, but he knows what matters to him.

The scene with Reverend Anderson is short, but I’d like to just mention it really quick because I can appreciate the awkward small talk between Cat and the Rev.--and how that small talk actually is just them discussing, very briefly, the plotline from the last episode.

Which segues nicely into the next scene, where Elizabeth kneels down to talk to Rosaleen and again hearkens back to the previous episode. “It’s beautiful. Like the sound of your voice.”

It’s a bit heavy-handed for my taste, especially back to back like that, but at least it’s making an effort to tie the episodes together.

Jack and Elizabeth’s relationship in this episode makes them interesting to watch. You can tell there’s something there, but the situation with the church fire investigation keeps them apart and interferes in their ability to effectively communicate. Something I really appreciate about their interaction in this scene is how both characters are frustrated for very different, but no less believable, reasons.

Elizabeth wants to help Cat, and finds it hard to believe that Jack’s inquiries come from an honest, noble place. Jack wants to help Cat, too, but is finding it difficult to do so considering, well, the evidence and lack of an alibi on Cat’s part.

His suggestion to talk to the kids is a bold one, but I understand both his desire to try it and Elizabeth’s horror. The children shouldn’t have to be exposed to this kind of a thing, and it seems Jack would normally agree with her on that, but sometimes circumstances... Well, they’re not ideal, you know?

And this is a theme they carry into some of the later seasons with the counterfeit money plot, or even AJ’s perjury plot. The law isn’t always fair and just. In fact, it can and will be used to sentence people regardless of extenuating circumstances (in the case of AJ) , or it can be abused to protect bad people (as in the counterfeit plot).

Tiny Thoughts:

The little bird Albert made for Elizabeth really is sweet, isn’t it?

Jack’s interviews with the children are... Well, interesting. I like that Gabe doesn’t say “Mrs. Stanton” but rather, “Abigail Stanton” and then, later, he says, “Abigail stayed with us until [Ma] got there.”

I like the implication that Abigail is a Trusted Person that Cat felt she could turn to. And also, we know that not only was Abigail at the vigil, but Cat’s children know her very well, and either Gabe knows her well enough to be allowed to call her Abigail, or he’s being rebellious by doing it. Either could be interesting to think about.

Jack’s interaction with young children is showcased well here. He doesn’t treat Emily the same way he treats Gabe, and she responds to it well. I like that a lot.

Tiny Thoughts:

Cat didn’t come home until morning, and when she did get home, she crawled into bed with Emily. So if Abigail stayed the night, where did she sleep? Maybe just in a chair downstairs...

“The truth is always right, Emily. You did just fine.”

Something that always really got to me in this episode was Gabe’s relationship with Cat. A lot of shows flop when it comes to showcasing a believably sweet mother/son relationship, especially where a teenage boy is involved (he’s either completely disinterested/disengaged or holding onto the apron strings), but Gabe and Cat are a perfect balance.

When Jack tries to take Cat in to answer some questions, Gabe’s reaction--and then Cat’s reaction to Gabe’s reaction--are just so good. Heartfelt. They don’t feel scripted so much as felt.

“Stop! I need you to listen to me!”

“No, Ma! You didn’t do anything! Don’t go with him!”

“I know, I just... I just have to answer some of his questions, all right? And right now I need for you to be a grown-up. To be strong, okay?”

AND THEN THAT HUG.

It hits me hard literally every time I’ve seen it. It’s fast and tight and scared and it’s amazing.

Gabe as a character is just the perfect age for this kind of story. He’s so close to being an adult while still not being there, and there’s something to be said for those years, if you remember them. You feel grown up even though you know you’re not, and you know you’re limited. Gabe does, too, and it’s frustrating and scary for him. I won’t say he still needs his mom in the traditional sense (someone to take care of him), but he needs her emotionally; he needs that connection.

Tiny Thoughts:

I will always be upset that Gabe never made it past the first season. There was a lot of potential for his character and he offered a unique perspective due to his age.

It’s hilarious to think about how the jail cell has been the same this entire time.

Anyway, Cat in jail is unpleasant, but I like Jack’s explanation to Elizabeth: “Because I have a responsibility to treat everyone equally, whether it be Catherine Montgomery or...Henry Gowen.”

“Just...let me do my job.”

Jack’s an interesting character in that he is the law, abides by the law, and tries to stick by the books. Comparing him to later-seasons Bill makes for an interesting experience. Is Bill the product of 30 years of Mountie work? Is Jack just an ideal youth? I don’t think a person can claim there’s only one factor. As we know, the character of Bill is the product of 30 years of Mountie work plus many of those years being in a high-stress position plus his marriage of convenience to Nora and any in-law drama that might bring plus the experience of losing his son and Nora leaving him plus... The list goes on.

Jack is still young, comparatively, but he’s not fresh in this field, and I really like that his character is wrapped up in this loyalty not only to his job, but to doing his job The Right Way. We don’t really get that from anyone else, and more importantly, Jack isn’t painted as a jerk for it, at least not objectively. (Elizabeth’s opinion is, of course, very subjective & completely biased!)

Tiny Thoughts:

I also really like what Jack says here: “But you’d be surprised at what people are capable of when they��re hurting Or when they’re angry.” It alludes to a history of experience that helps tie in his irritation at being assigned to Coal Valley when he ought to have been given a more important posting. He’s definitely seen some things.

Albert is such a sweet kid.

I like the implication that Mr. Spurlock has been around a reasonably long amount of time--long enough to know the kids in town, and to know to ask Albert to keep his eyes open for the necklace.

Tiny Thoughts:

I really dig Elizabeth’s high-collared dresses.

“Girls don’t care if a gift is fancy, not even girls who used to be rich.” This was cute.

Again Gabe is a ball of terrible teen energy. After he overhears Dottie and another woman gossiping about his ma, he runs to the jail to confront her and suddenly he’s on the other side of the argument: he thinks she might have done it because she won’t just be open and honest and tell the truth.

I wouldn’t say it’s OOC; it makes sense. The kid is scared, he’s feeling a lot of things, and his mother is lying--has lied about things in the past, too. That probably added up in his head and he doesn’t know what to think of her anymore. It’s a shame, really, because Cat hasn’t done anything wrong, but Gabe is old enough that he feels he should be trusted with the truth.

And...he’s not.

Reverend Anderson’s awkward visit to talk to Elizabeth about the kids... Yikes.

“What’s an 11-year-old need a bear for?” Well, we have an age for Miles at least. And Gabe’s starting trouble but at least we know why. You know he doesn’t want to feel like the only one “being strong” right now.

And then we find out that Mr. Spurlock wanted to marry Cat. You know, he’s not a bad-lookin’ guy. Too bad he’s so smug.

Cat and Elizabeth’s jail discussion is so wonderful. Elizabeth is hurt that she defended Cat even though Cat chose to hide things, and it’s about this point that Cat makes the choice to come clean to Elizabeth.

I really like the concept of Cat in this situation: a woman who has something to hide for her own reasons, who wants to keep it a secret even at the risk to her relationship with her oldest son & her neighbors. It doesn’t matter what the secret is so much that it is a secret, and in a small town...you know there are none--not for long, anyway!

And I think my favorite part of this scene is how Cat talks about her husband: “My husband, Joe, was a....good man, Elizabeth. He was a wonderful father... But he made...mistakes. He had a weakness, one that he was terribly ashamed of... One that the children didn’t know about. No one knew about it... He liked to, uh...gamble.”

In the novel, the role of “mother of three, gambling husband” was given to the character of Abigail Stanton, and Abigail’s motherly/mentor role was taken by a boarding house owner named Molly. The novel never goes into detail about the gambling husband (or the wife character) the way the television show does (even though it does take time to showcase the three children). Something the WCtH series did really well is show different types of relationships. Obviously in e4 we aren’t really far enough in to know that this is the case, but something that helped keep people invested were scenes like this: scenes that showcase and sympathize with, I don’t know, the human condition.

There’s nothing bad about this plotline! In fact, Cat’s role is so well-acted, it’s easy to get invested and feel horrified right along with her. Nowadays we might scoff at the “gambling” thing, but it’s not really anything to laugh at. Most of us know when to stop buying lottery or raffle tickets, or when to walk away from a casino slot machine, but addiction in general is a very real issue (see: modern casual alcoholism, loot box gambling in video games, et cetera), and in 1910 gambling was a different kind of issue. Women didn’t work outside the home much, particularly married women (men would consider it an insult to their ability to provide for their family), so debts incurred by a man would be shouldered by the whole family...even after his death, and with no means to repay lost money. And a man who didn’t have self-control to know when to quit was often shunned by his neighbors...and his wife and children suffered a similar fate though usually with a side of pity thrown in.

Cat’s humiliation and shame over her husband’s gambling addiction aren’t even remotely amusing. Worse, she didn’t even get a week to mourn her husband before a debt collector came calling.

“I couldn’t go to my friends--I was too ashamed. And Joe was a good man. There was no way I was gonna let this town think poorly of him.” I love these lines because it leaves things just open enough to be interesting. We’ve seen how gossipy this town can get (Dottie and the other woman in the mercantile), so we understand Cat’s situation a little better. Joe might have done bad things, but he never hurt her or the kids, and we can assume that most of the time, he was good to be around. It’s one of those situations where we, the audience, aren’t given a complete picture of Cat’s relationship to Joe, at least not outside of, well, this. She obviously cared about him, and though upset about his addiction, didn’t want others’ memories of him, especially her children’s, to be sullied by his one great weakness.

Mr. Spurlock fits into this equation, of course, because he played cards with Joe, knew Cat and her family were in trouble, and jumped in to offer to help... “If I would just be...friendly to him.” Yikes! We all know what that really means. And anyway, this is where the conversation gets a little iffy, starts to sound more scripted... I get that Mr. Spurlock is the bad guy here, but I think the important takeaway from his involvement in Cat’s issue is that he wanted, and was willing, to take advantage of her situation. He didn’t actually care about her; he was just attracted to her.

On the plus side, Cat knew what he was doing and it made her angry, which was what she needed to rebuke him; I feel like if she’d had enough time, and was genuinely worried about she and her children being homeless, she might have felt forced into accepting his offer.

Elizabeth: “Why not just tell the truth and avoid all this?”

Cat: “Because I’m not the only one who adored my husband, Elizabeth. My children... My children had already lost so much. I could not let them lose their good memory of their father, too.”

Powerful stuff right there. She wanted to protect her children’s memory of Joe, but in the process might have made things worse for them, if, indeed, there was an issue with Jack finding the card shark/getting him to verify Cat’s story. Elizabeth knows just a little too much, and on one hand..I find it annoying. On the other, as a relative outsider, she has a unique perspective. She’s not married, she has no children; she probably can’t understand Cat’s dilemma even though she sympathizes with it. She’s not emotionally invested in it or in Joe, and can’t be because, well, she never met him. This helps her see the longer-lasting consequences of Cat’s choices far easier than Cat herself can. (And it’s not just Elizabeth who sees this! Jack does, too, hence his frantic insistence that Cat just admit whatever it is she’s hiding. It’s just that Elizabeth is the one we get to see voice her concerns.)

Tiny Thoughts:

Worth considering: Cat’s friends didn’t have money either. Most of them lost their husbands right along with Cat, or in Abigail’s case, lost a child, too. Even if she turned to her friends, it’s not as if they could help financially. Telling them her situation would just open her and her family up to hurtful gossip.

Mr. Spurlock’s, uh, guilt in these things is...meh. The charred remnants where he burned the whale oil container are so fresh there’s no way they’re even a handful of days old, but I guess I can let that slide.

“You took that can from her shed and burned it right here.” I mean, I doubt this, considering he has candles hanging up. He seems to make his own and therefore I have to assume just had his own oil.

I’m extremely meh on the “Jack rides in to save the day” bit, too. The scene was... Let’s just say it was overdramatic and overacted considering Mr. Spurlock’s only legal crimes were framing Cat and threatening Elizabeth, and the latter would be a shaky accusation/wouldn’t get him any time in jail.

Also, and this is really nitpicky, but giving a man with the last name of Spurlock the line “and she spurns me?” was just silly. C’mon.

The Cat-and-Kids reunion scene was sweet. I like all the hugging. This show could use more hugs.

And I love the Reverend and Cat’s interaction. Watching him humble himself and apologize sincerely... That was so nice... And it wasn’t just to Cat, either; it was to his former congregation, too. Reverend Anderson had a lot of potential to be an interesting and engaging character. I should also note that the actor is surprisingly good. His soft, moved, “It would be my joy,” when asked to lead the service was delivered perfectly for that moment.

Tiny Thoughts:

“Over this past many months...” Timeline inconsistency. He implies with this statement that he’s talking about the time post-accident, so...three months at best at this point?

You know, if Cat and Reverend Anderson were around a lot longer, I’d probably have started shipping them? Oops.

The last scene...is cute. I mostly just can’t get over the spider. It was a big guy. I’d probably die a little too if I were Elizabeth, and I’m generally not spooked by spiders. ;)

But Jack’s delivery of some lines in the scene are genuinely funny, so it’s a nice way to end the episode.

And now, for some further thoughts!

Timeline: Boy do I hate the timeline. I’ve probably said this before, because, like Reverend Anderson, keeping things brief goes against my nature, but the timeline here just doesn’t work for me. Here’s the basics of what this episode lined up for us:

The Mining Disaster

1 month later: Vigil, church burned.

1.5 months after the vigil: Jack comes to town.

I mean, this is...two and a half months. Everyone would still be deeply grieving, there’s no way Cat could pay off the debt that fast (she could make candles, sure, who is going to buy them all?), and a lot of the early issues just haven’t had the time, I think, to fester enough to warrant the plotlines that we’ve seen.

It’s not all bad, though. I mean, a month after the accident is a good time to have a vigil. It’s that point where you know nobody is left alive. Like, even if they haven’t suffocated in the mine, even if they had their lunches with them and access to water, after a month they’d be dead. So the vigil feels like it takes place at a good time.

My issue is mostly with, you know, everything else. And sure, sometimes disaster hits one thing after another, a veritable shit-storm, but when you’re looking at the narrative power of storytelling, it’s just not really necessary to cram everything in there so tightly.

My personal opinion? The vigil should have been further out-- a 3 or 6-month mark. Like a funeral--at a point when they’re worried or even convinced that the bodies won’t be recoverable. This is something that happened a lot in mining accidents, so it’s not unbelievable, and it brings with it its own special brand of grief. It would also make Cat’s not being there especially odd, and would give her enough time to believably pay off her husband’s debt. (And when looking at the first few episode plots, it gives the children time to grieve and for the recovery of bodies to re-open the wounds.)

The Spurlock Plot: Mr. Spurlock was really smug from the start, so I was happy to see him go, but I feel like he could have been a better antagonist character. Men acting out because a woman told them no isn’t a new thing; men have literally killed women for their no. So I’m sold on him framing Cat as a petty act of revenge, especially because he probably genuinely feels like he made her a good offer. (And again, if the plotline allowed for more time, he would come off a little less nasty for approaching her. As it is, it seems he was on her doorstep making an offer before Joe was cold in the ground.)

The worst part of this subplot is definitely that he pulls a gun on Elizabeth. First of all, he doesn’t need a gun to threaten her with; he has his fists, and secondly, it’s just...ridiculous. As if nobody would notice she was missing? As if she didn’t tell someone where she went? Please. Mr. Spurlock might be a bit of a scumbag, but he’s not an idiot. At the very least he’d try to find out if anyone knew she was there before he did something as crazy as make an effort to kill her.

The Church Fire: Hey, it was probably an accident after all!!! Which means of course that Mr. Spurlock’s only crime was framing Cat for it, and not really in a conniving, cunning way, either.

It’s just kind of an aside that ceases to matter, I guess.

The General Overall Episode: This is a good episode with a lot of heart! There are a few things I don’t quite care for, but for the most part it holds up really well and delivers a wholesome, satisfying story.

And guess what?

It’s another episode that doesn’t even have a glimpse of Abigail in it. Can you believe it? I had no idea she was missing from so many early episodes! I think I just got used to her being around pretty much all the time, and forgot her lack of plot focus at the beginning. This story started off about Elizabeth, and I feel like, at least for the first half of s1, maintained that stance.

Which brings me to my next thought/consideration/whatever: the early episodes were episodic in a way that the later ones were/are not.

All right, so a television series is generally either episodic or a serial. Serials usually have long-term plots, and episodic television relies on a lot of single-episode events.

WCtH is a little like The X-Files in that it sometimes utilizes both. TXF started out episodic, but with time tried to implement really large overarching plot themes (called “the mytharc”). WCtH did the opposite! It started out with that overarching plot, and with time...resolved it and never really tried it again--at least not to the same extent. I guess Bill Avery’s counterfeit money plot was as close as we ever got to a primary overarching plot again, but the mining accident and eventual trial were the original season-wide plot, and they were what got the show started.

Anyway, even though the series had an overarching plot that it slowly worked to resolve through the first season (and part of the second), it also tossed a lot of episodic content at the viewers, which is to say, standalone plots that found themselves mostly resolved in a single episode. For example, the Rosaleen plot in e3, or the “forgive me” sign in e1.

The early episodes let these subplots take over the episode, at least mostly, and the showrunners didn’t let the cast dictate who received screentime--that is to say, characters like Abigail were allowed to fade into the background while the plot focused on someone else, without them feeling pressured to either involve her or include her in the background for the sake of just...giving her screentime. Now, Lori Loughlin is a pretty big name, and I totally understand why she gets so many mini-plots in recent episodes, but I think something the early writers got right was this ability, or perhaps desire, to dedicate episodes to the plots they wanted people to see--without distraction.

So, in this episode, we get a lot of conclusions, but they’re almost all part of an interlocking plot. Mr. Spurlock’s actions are related to Cat’s actions, which of course are related to Gabe’s actions, and were a catalyst for Elizabeth and Jack’s interactions. Even Albert’s plot isn’t entirely standalone; his crush on Elizabeth is what prompts him to give her the necklace that Mr. Spurlock originally presented to Cat, and this allowed for the mystery to be solved.

Now, I know that as a series progresses, doing plots like this get exponentially harder: the characters at the point of s6 have established themselves quite thoroughly, so it’s not as easy to find someone to fit a role; the roles really have to be written with the characters in mind and not the other way around.

Which leads me to my original statement: the early episodic content was, yes, episodic, but most of the individual plotlines were actually akin to a rope: a lot of threads carefully braided together to make something much stronger than those individual strands could ever be on their own.

Newer episodes are pretty much just those individual strands, though. Pick any episode from s5, and you’ll see what I mean. In Weather the Storm, for example, the four main plots (lazy kid, brain surgery, investor’s son, & rattlesnake) had nothing whatsoever to do with one another--and this seems to hold true through most of s5. I guess you could argue that AJ returning had something to do with the investor plot, but it definitely reads as “they wrote the plot and put AJ into the role” more than “this plot was written for AJ.” Anyway, my point is that, in later seasons, there’s not a lot of interwoven, or at least well-woven, plotlines.

But again, and I can’t stress this enough, as characters start to stand on their own, doing these complex interwoven plots gets much more difficult, and the writers want to try and keep things as fresh as they can, so... It’s unfortunately a problem of the show’s age, I think, more than anything.

That said, here in s1, Abigail being allowed to just not be there for a couple of episodes was nice. It made me really root for her character when I did see her, and gave me time to miss her. In current WCtH, she’s around...all the time. Literally everywhere all at once. You can’t escape her, and even in episodes where she has no role, you’ll see her involved anyway, oftentimes in ways that don’t work very well for the character.

I thought it was an interesting thing to think about; we’ve always had several plotlines going at once--it’s just that in the first season they’re all related to one another, and in later seasons they’re just...completely separate plots happening all at once, which has the unfortunate side effect of splitting our attention between too many characters at once, and rather than getting one plot with many threads that hold it together, we just get flimsy strands of plot that can’t really stand and be interesting all on their own.

Just some food for thought!

#when calls the heart #season 1 #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information #long post #jack thornton #elizabeth thatcher #cat montgomery #reverend anderson #mr spurlock #henry gowen #gabe montgomery

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antebellumite · 2 years ago

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French had a point. Even looking down from the galleries, onlookers missed a lot. Mostly, they saw heads—not heads of state, but rather foreheads and hair. The noted British traveler Harriet Martineau was struck by the sight; entering the Senate galleries in the 1830s, she immediately concluded that she had never seen “a finer set of heads.” American writers were no less impressed. Daniel Webster’s brow seemed uniformly awe-inspiring. “The forehead is remarkable,” enthused one magazine writer. “You follow its bold curve with fear and trembling.“ John C. Calhoun, on the other hand, had “a frizzly head, and an eye like a hawk” with a “mouth partly open,” not quite as awe-inspiring a sight as “Black Dan”. Foreheads were humbler in the House. Henry Wise sadly lacked “the Shakespearian pile of forehead,” and Vermonter Samuel S. Prentiss’s (AJ-VT) head was “large and out of proportion to the rest of his frame,” though somehow “not ugly.”

Americans who encountered Charles Dickens after his Washington visit had the same strange obsession, repeatedly asking if the legislators’ heads had impressed him. Given that some of them belonged to bullying slaveholders, he wasn’t much moved. In part, this focus on congressional heads reflects the period’s faddish interest in phrenology, the pseudoscience of determining a person’s character by studying the shape of his skull. French had his skull read in 1841 and found the reading eerily accurate: he was sensitive, “inclined to literature,” a good neighbor and a good friend, “liked a good dinner; a glass of wine; enjoyed company,” and was “rather dispose to be indolent,” though he could work hard when he felt like it. His one qualm was the phrenologist’s claim that he didn’t remember people; he remembered the names and faces of congressmen better than anyone he knew. Of course, any phrenologist who met French and noted his stout build and good humor would have given the same reading; clearly, this was a man who relished dinners with friends. Even so, French thought there was “something in it.”

In this sense, heads were descriptive shorthand: describe a head and you described a person, character and all. But the head-centric accounts of the House and Senate also say something about a gallery-sitter’s perspective; literally and figuratively, it was only an overview. They heard a sampling of oratory, saw a smidgen of legislation-in-the-making, learned a bit about policy and party politics, got a sense of the hum of business, and had a glance at the people behind the names. Depending on their timing, they might also witness a congressional clash, though again from a distance, perhaps seeing some shoving in the House or hearing a deliberate insult in the Senate. Sometimes they didn’t hear anything at all. A self-described “Mechanic” told one congressman, “I felt; that I was listening to eloquence and was well content to wait for the words until I could see them in The Globe." Enter the press, a shaping influence on what happened on the floor. During testy proceedings, congressmen often looked up to the galleries and pleaded with reporters to be fair. If they weren’t “fair and impartial,” it would be near impossible for congressmen to “keep themselves erect before their constituents,” Francis Rives told reporters when he was accused of bullying people in a committee-room.

Thomas Hart Benton made a similar plea in 1834 after insisting that the sergeant at arms arrest people hissing and cheering in the Senate galleries. Colleagues protested that arresting gallery sitters seemed to pit the Senate against the American public. Not surprisingly, Benton did some hasty backpedaling, pleading with onlooking reporters to report his meaning accurately.

Here we see the power of gallery-sitters and what they represented. Benton’s impulsive swipe at some gallery rowdies became a strike at the American public in the blink of an eye—a rather large leap, but a largely accurate one. In a sense, gallery onlookers did stand in for the public. They were doing on-site what others did from a distance: evaluating their representatives and registering their opinions, though with hissing and cheering instead of votes and petitions, and perhaps unintentionally with clumps of dirt; a sign on the Senate gallery door stated: “Gentlemen will be pleased not to put their feet on the board in front of the gallery, as the dirt from them falls upon Senators’ heads.”

-- The Field of Blood, by Joanne B. Freeman

#the field of blood #the congressional incubator #joanne b freeman #benjamin brown french #charles dickens #harriet martineau #daniel webster #henry wise #john c calhoun #samuel prentiss #thomas benton #francis rives

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xiobomb · 8 years ago

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Ship Thingy (revised)

[EDIT] Just adding to the list (aka #2)👌

Okitay. I’m going to jump on the bandwagon of shipping so here goes nothing…

For starters, there aren’t many ships that I like. I’m not particularly big on shipping thus I don't really have that many in mind. However, there are a few that I do like and may use in the OLP reboot. So without further ado:

1) Fluttershy×RainbowDash-

Hardcore shipping this rn. I just think they’d be great together. I mean, the bond is practically already there. If I’m not mistaken, they go further back (canonically) as friends than anyone else in the mane six or main characters. Plus I have been influenced by Canon and fan depictions of their interactions that it just makes me happy seeing them together.

-Headcanon-

They met as fillies through their parents (mainly their mom’s who were currently friends) and became friends almost instantly. Later on, they go to flight school together. Fluttershy gets bullied often and Dash is almost always there to have her back. (This secretly makes Dash Fluttershy’s hero) As result of Dash being there for Fluttershy, Dash gains a few bullies herself. Fluttershy tries to help Dash when she can but she’s just too shy and afraid of the bullies to do much. ·One of the most popular insults the bullies throw at the two are “Filly foolers” and “dykes”. This makes the two secretly question whether or not they actually feel that way about each other but are too embarrassed to even think about saying something like that out loud. The tension between the two builds up as result and they try to talk it out. Afraid of losing their friendship, they don’t want to do anything that would go beyond friendship. But the more they interact and stay around each other, the more they want it to happen. Eventually they do get together and a beautiful relationship is born.

2) Starlight×Maud- Okay, so I was watching season 7 to catch up a couple of nights ago. Come episode 4 (I think is what it was), I was immediately shipping Starlight and Maud by the end of the episode. If you haven’t seen the episode, go watch it to see what I mean. -Headcanon- (Insert their interactions from episode 4 here) The next day, the two go kite flying. For a while, it becomes part of their daily schedules to come out and do this. On some odd days, Starlight will follow Maud down to Ponyville “Adjacent” as they call it. Even out in the caves at the entrance, they’ll find something to do even if all of those rocks and gems are “common.” As they spend more time together and grow in their friendship, their bond begins to go a little beyond friendship. One day, Starlight decides to bring lunch with her on one of their kite flying days. She thought it would be nice for them to eat out for a change. Maud ended up really liking the meal and being a little surprised. She was delighted. After lunch they do a little kite flying, then head home to Ponyville Adjacent. When they get there, the natural beauty of the place fills Starlight with just a little more happiness. When she looks at Maud to say something, she only gets a single urge. She kisses her and thanks her for a great time. Immediately after she dashes off flustered. Enter relationship.

3) Starlight×Trixie- This was a surprise to me how much I ended up liking it. As I watched the show and saw their interactions, it just seemed right. Soooooo…

-Headcanon-

After being friends for a while, Trixie invites Starlight to join her on a small magic show your as the “Great and Powerful Trixie’s assistant (and friend).” Starlight happily agrees to come along. On the way, the two enjoy each other’s company and talk about their lives. Eventually they get on the topic of their shortcomings and how they’ve gotten to where they are today. Trixie becomes discouraged to find the she feels the only change she’s made is that she now has “friends” but is still the same egotistical, boastful, obnoxious, phony of a magician. Starlight is quick to assure Trixie that she is better and that she can keep getting better as she has herself. This forms an emotional bond Trixie did not expect to gain on this trip. Later on, come night time, Trixie realizes her wagon was only suited for one pony and not two. Starlight says she doesn’t mind and they share the bed for the night. After an awkward night of tossing and turning until they were comfortable in a semi-cuddle, Trixie awakes to a sleeping Starlight comfortably pressed against her chest. Trixie tries to wake Starlight up. She is somewhat successful but a hazey Starlight presses a Good month smooch on Trixie’s cheek before she realized what she was doing. The two jump out of bed flustered and try to brush it off like nothing happened. That kiss slowly sinks in for Trixie as the days fly by. She begins to realize she actually has feelings for her friend but doesn’t know how to handle them. Eventually, good ‘ol Twilight sets the two up for a date. It goes unexpectedly well. Lada Dee Lada dum Lada poof, they find themselves in a lovely relationship.

4) AJ×Rarity- I wasn’t entirely sure about this but I have been influenced by the great Lopoddity and her portrayal of this ship.

-Headcanon-

They first met in filly school when they were paired together in a science project. Neither one actually knew what to do. Although, they both got a good laugh out of one another’s attempts at trying to understand the project. Friendship begins. Years later in ponyville, Rarity (desperately in need of inspiration) looks around her. With whatever luck AJ has, Rarity’s eyes come to rest on her and she immediately feels the need to make a line of “Country” dresses. AJ is then pursued by Rarity to model for her in a couple of the dresses. AJ reluctantly agrees. Rarity low-key likes what she sees😋 Rarity ever so subtly flirts with a flustered AJ in one of her dresses. Rarity is very entertained by AJ’s unentertained reactions. They pull an all nighter trying to finish up the last few dresses and find themselves having a few drinks when they’re done. Push comes to shove and (after a few glasses of wine) an intoxicated Rarity makes a move on AJ (which is oddly returned) The two find feelings for each other and eventually get together.

———————————————-

Now, I’m not very good at this sort of thing so excuse the major crap that is what I have written. They were just a few ideas I had that will probably change if I do decide to use these in the OLP reboot.

Honestly tho, my favorite ship is flutterdash. At least, I think that’s the ship name. I’m too afraid to search it up knowing what the internet has in store for such a search😂 I may or may not draw something for this just cuz but we’ll see!

#mlp #flutterdash #starxie #rarijack #ship

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fireandgloryrpg · 7 years ago

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Congratulations Liv and welcome! We’re so happy to accept your application to play AJ Braeden with the faceclaim of Nathaniel Buzolic in Fire & Glory RPG! We can’t wait to begin roleplaying with you so please remember to look over our checklist!

!! tw death mention and bullying !!

Name: Liv Pronouns: She/Her Age: 20 - 11/07/1997 Timezone: GMT Activity: It really depends on the week and how uni goes, I start back next week so I’ll get a general idea of how much I can get online from that. But I’ll definitely try to get on for an hour or so most nights if not every other night.

Original Character Application:

Name: Alexander James (AJ) Braeden

Age and Birthday: 29 - January 2nd 1988

Faceclaim: Nathaniel Buzolic

Heritage: Son of Aurora

Abilities: In the case of his ability a main source is required for the ability to be accessed i.e. if he’s in a pitch black room with no light he can’t use photokinesis it’s why he often carries a torch and a lighter around with him wherever he goes. Also, overuse fatigues him to the point of falling unconscious.

Also allows the creation of insubstantial illusions meaning they have no physical form but can be made to look lifelike up until the point of touching them. Essentially a holographic projection.

By bending the spectrum of light he can cause himself, can shield others but the more people the more taxing/draining it is and he will more than likely end up draining himself and falling unconscious.

Affiliation: AJ is a legionnaire of the First Cohort, as well as being one of the most well-known and crowd-favourite gladiators amongst the Colosseum’s ranks. Between public fights and his work in the cohort he is set to take on ownership of the pub known as Dauntless in the main city - its location basing it directly opposite the Colosseum making it a prime spot to catch foot-traffic for individuals visiting the monumental venue across the way. Currently, he works as a barman there in his free time combing this with his winnings from the Colosseum to get some money behind him for a life beyond the legion.

Headcanons:

AJ really loathes the use of his full name by anyone for the most part barring those he considers incredibly close to him and even then he tends to get tetchy when people use it. He feels it keeps him attached to a weaker version of himself that wasn’t able to defend those he cared for when it was required of him, because of this he trains hard and often pushes himself to and beyond limits and follows a relatively strict fitness routine and meal-plan.

Several times in his career and time in the legion AJ was approached and offered the position of Centurion and at one point in his life he was set up for running to be elected for the role. He’d proven himself a capable warrior several times over especially during the battle of Mount Tam where he led and directed a small company of soldiers through the destruction. But after the death of his girlfriend in the Argo II attack on New Rome he grew reclusive from life in the legion and stepped away from any offers of power or advancement preferring to stay out of the limelight and operate in the darkness. Ironic, considering his parentage.

Biography:

!! tw death mention and bullying !!

Alexander Braeden never saw eye-to eye with anyone in his life after the shooting of his parents, be it the therapists, counsellors or foster parents who adopted him after he was put into the system. He could never grasp what he had done wrong to end up in such dire straits– an orphan left behind after a picnic lunch in the park went horribly wrong, the sounds of laughter and joy cut off by the shrill ring of bullets as they showered down around him. Only later would he learn about the consequences of the gang shootout that would shift the axis of the world as he knew it. By some grace, or was it godly power? Who could say, a boy from a poor loving family woke in hospital a few days later to the news his mother and father had been killed on site.

The young boy was quickly swept up into the system and bounced from home to home, never really quite fitting in anywhere. He was an odd child that most struggled to comprehend despite their best efforts and to say AJ’s behaviour grew unruly, obstructive and erratic after the death of his parents would be an understatement to say the least. School was another battle in itself, despite his best efforts his ADHD and dyslexia meant lessons were a struggle that left him feeling further and further ostracised from his classmates and those around him who seemed to have everything in the world he wanted.

The only reason he survived the downward spiral his life seemed to be taking was by establishing control elsewhere; in the brief death-defying moments teetering on the scale up a building, the burning lick of a flame, the refusals to eat or even the first time his fist collided with a bullies face after a particularly nasty taunt. He always was a smart and creative boy but found during school hours no matter how hard he tried to apply it he couldn’t do so in the way people wanted him to leading to frustration and outbursts of anger over why he was different. With no one to guide or explain the reasons to him, he grew up stuck in a vicious cycle without any clue how to escape.

Until, one day he did escape.

He decided to run– hitting the streets where he learned real life lessons about survival, becoming a skilled street-thief known as Scrappy due to his short stature and seemingly wild method of brawling when he did end up getting in a tussle. He learned to rely on his instincts, to trust only himself and that if you wanted to live you had to adapt to be faster than the bigger thugs on the street with him. After all, if you could wear them out even the tallest person would fall eventually. Eventually, he left his hometown of Los Angeles being drawn North where he came across The Wolf House in Sonoma Valley. It was here he discovered the truth about who and what he was much to his shock.

With the aid and training of Lupa, AJ took his first steps in order to turn his life around. A very serious, quiet, observant boy he displayed a remarkable amount of personal strength developed from years of taunts along with skill set that was only enhanced by what he learned at the Wolf House he excelled under Lupa’s tutelage. Unfortunately, his life of taunts wasn’t over and the legion made him feel like he was stepping right back into school but being around other people like him helped curb his temper some.

Unfortunately, his dislike for authority figures wielding power over his life means he often pushes back against orders he disagrees with earning him a bit of a reputation as a rebel. Combined with his parentage it left him open to taunts about his Godly parent simply being a woman of loose morals and that he was likely just another bastard strung on the line. It was his driven and determined nature that earned him his place in the first cohort when one of its legionnaires stood for him immediately granting him a place in their ranks. In the first cohort was where he began to learn how rely on others, although it’s still an incredibly foreign concept he isn’t entirely comfortable with to this day. AJ prefers to do things independently and will more often than not forge his own path along the route he believes is best which has both succeeded and backfired spectacularly in the past.

Recently, AJ has spent the summer touring Europe with his best friend Adriana and has returned to camp where he’s settled back into life in the legion. However, feeling he’s getting a bit too old for the same old monotonous routine he has recently been considering moving on from life in the legion. As it currently stands, AJ still serves in the First Cohort but also works part-time in a pub known as Dauntless in New Rome though most know him for his career in the Colosseum - having struck up a rather remarkable tally of wins (and winnings) across the years from his association with the venue.

Para Sample:

Tadah

#accepted #aj braeden

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