#it’s so weird that kids aren’t the one’s driving the movement to be themselves | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fandomsonrequests · 4 years ago

Text

tv trope

fandom: be more chill

characters: michael mell

reader: gn!

word count: 1.5k+

summary: To him, you were the walking definition of those television tropes of the denim-clad, badass person who practically oozes confidence. The people wanted to date or be with you when they got to know you. And he was whipped. Like so whipped, not even Jeremy’s pining over Christine matched up to it. And that alone is saying something.

a/n: AHHHHH i love Michael mell (and george salazar cos why the hell not) so much ;^; he’s such a dork i just wanna hug him

Michael Mell always thought you were so cool— like The Matrix kind of cool. You weren’t really popular but you had a reputation around the school for being this tough kid who always stood up for themselves and didn’t take any shit being thrown at them. And, when circumstances permit it, you rode your freaking motorcycle to school. Not only that, you didn’t really flaunt anything off and spoke up when you needed to.

To him, you were the walking definition of those television tropes of the denim-clad, badass person who practically oozes confidence. The people wanted to date or be with you when they got to know you.

And he was whipped. Like so whipped, not even Jeremy’s pining over Christine matched up to it. And that alone is saying something.

But at the same time, he was scared. He wanted to talk to you so badly, to get to know you past the television trope he saw you as. He wanted to get to know you for you. And he probably would’ve done so already if all his insecurities and anxious thoughts wouldn’t come crashing down against him like a violent wave.

For example, in Chemistry class. You were situated in the seat right in front of him and when Mrs. Clarke requested the students to pick a partner for the lab activity, Michael hesitated in reaching out towards you. His heart was all in for it but his head was telling him otherwise.

What if they could smell the weed on you? What if they find your Pac-Man pin collection on your bag childish? What if they think you’re weird? What if they don’t like you?

The poor boy would retract his hand and shrivel away as he watches you get whisked away by one of his other classmates. Now he understood what Jeremy felt before he got with Christine— talking to your crush was much easier said than done.

And the cycle repeats daily. He works up the courage, getting some hype from his best bud, which slowly crumbles the second he comes within a five feet radius from you. He turns on his heel and runs away back to his locker, scolding himself for chickening out.

But fate was getting tired of this beating around the bush and decided to take matters in its own hands.

Michael decided to go to the library to pick up some books he needed for school while he waited for Christine and Jeremy to finish up with drama. So imagine his surprise when he saw you in the corner of the library in the “reading nook”, a very familiar comic in your hands. His favorite video game had released a few issues of their new comic, a spin-off to the main plot in the game. Of course, he bought all of them— out of impulse— and was already halfway through the first half of the series. So when he spotted the bright cover of the comic amongst the warm, monotone colors of the library, he couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Before he knew it, his feet were dragging him towards you. He took note of the faded Mötley Crüe shirt you wore along with a pair of acid-washed ripped jeans and your scuffed sneakers. A pair of earbuds were plugged into your ears, your head bopping along to whatever music you were listening to as you read your comic.

He fiddles with the frayed sleeves of his red hoodie covered in those iron-on patches, thoughts of what he was going to say to you running through his head. He eventually ended up just backing out and settling with pining for you from afar but his movement had caught your attention, making you look up from your comic book.

Michael freezes up as his nerves took over him- eyes wide behind his dark-rimmed glasses. You quirk a curious brow, plucking out one of your earbuds before offering a small smile. “Hey Mell,” You greet cooly. “What’s up?”

You knew his name???

“Wh- wha- wait you know me??” The boy stammers as he nervously meets your gaze.

You let out a soft chuckle and he couldn’t help but fall in love with the sound. “Yeah, you’re in a few of my classes. Of course I’d know you.” You uncross your legs and close your comic book to entertain him.

“Oh, wow.. Uhm, it just seems l-like, uhm,” Michael continued, voice shaky while his hands grew clammy. “It, I mean you, you just s-seem like the type to not r-really know others.”

You nod in understanding at his defense. “It’s the vibes I give off isn’t it?” You sigh and shake your head. You look up at him again and scoot over to the other side of the couch situated in the reading nook to offer him some space to sit on. “Well, I hope you believe me when I say that I’m not really scary.”

He looks over to space you had made from him and back to you before going back to the space. It goes on for a couple of moments before he decides to sit down- but on the opposite side of the couch. You two say nothing for a while, just observing one another before you speak up again.

“Anyway, is there anything you need?” You tilt your head curiously, the small smile returning to your lips.

“Ah, no not really,” Michael admitted and scratches the back of his head. “I just saw that you were reading Apocalypse of The Damned: The Laboratorium and I kinda just… gravitated towards you.”

Your smile morphs into a bright grin and the speckled boy decided right there and then, there was nothing brighter than that rare, million-dollar-smile of yours. “You know Apocalypse of The Damned?” You ask excitedly and clutch the comic book to your chest.

“Like the back of my hand,” He replies as confidence starts to flood his system. “I practically bought the whole series.”

Your hands fly to your mouth to muffle your excitement, shifting in your spot to look at him properly. “Have you finished it?”

“Halfway through it. But don’t worry, I’ll try not to give out any spoilers.”

You let out some kind of excited squawk, red coating your cheeks at how stupid you sounded. This was definitely something Michael hadn’t expected. He expected you to be cold, aloof, maybe even a bit grouchy like Jade from Victorious but your personality was quite the opposite. And he couldn’t help but grow more enamored by that.

“I wish I had friends that geeked out with me about these kinds of things,” You huff after your small laughing fit. “They always make fun of me for it.”

“What?? Are they crazy? They’re assholes for doing that to you.”

“No, no. They aren’t really mean but they think it’s too dorky.”

“Well,” He motioned to you. “They’re clearly missing out on things.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, bashfully looking down at your hands while toying with the loose end of your earbuds. You nibble at the inside of your cheek before piping up again. “You’re pretty cool, Mell. We should hang out more often.”

Michael’s jaw almost drops at that. Not only did you invite him to hang out with you, but you had actually found him interesting. That you didn’t find him or any of his quirks weird. It was such an elating feeling, one that spurred his confidence even more.

“Does this weekend sound okay for you? We could go out, grab some sushi and maybe binge read the comics together at the old drive-in.” He offers, a bit sheepish, and you nod beaming from ear to ear.

“Sounds great,” You fish out your phone and hand it over to him. “If you don’t mind, can I get your number? So we can coordinate this whole… I guess date later in the week.”

Michael’s face turns a deep shade of red and you couldn’t help but giggle at that, your own cheeks flushing the same color. He was so damn adorable, you wondered why you hadn’t spoken to him sooner. He types in his number and hands you back your phone, smiling uncontrollably at what was happening.

You glance down at the time on your device, seeing that you had to go home soon. “Well, I better head out. Keep in touch will you?”

“Y-yeah, roger that.”

You stood up and gathered your things, turning back to him as you flashed him one last smile. “I’ll see you around, Mell.”

He waved goodbye as you walked to the exit for the library, the lovestruck expression never leaving his face. He sighs dreamily, knowing full well that if his friends saw him now they’d tease him for being so whipped for you. He didn’t mind though because at least, he had something to look forward to this weekend.

Michael gave himself a mental pat on the shoulder for working up the courage to get to know the real you as he picked up the textbooks he needed. At least he knew now that you weren’t some tv trope but someone so much more.

#be more chill #michael mell #michael mell x reader #michael x reader #george salazar

148 notes · View notes

shadowfae · 4 years ago

Note

We’re all pretty aware that the tumblr otherkin community is at a huge decline; I was wondering if you have any theories as to why that is?

American Protestantism, the decline of queer oppression in North America and the AIDS crisis, helicopter parenting, web 3.0, morality politics, and Tumblr’s porn ban; roughly in that order and rolled up into one bombshell that was a few years in the coming but nobody really saw it and understood it until it was far too late.

That was a mouthful and probably only made sense if you follow current cyberpolitical theory. For some of you reading this, as with every other hot take I have this has a chance of being passed around, that alone is enough. But for others who had no idea what I just said and need the ELI5 version, let me explain that. Buckle up, this’ll be a long one, and will go into fandom history a bit as well because it is actually relevant.

As we know, tumblr is a very American-centric platform. Twitter is also this way, but less so, but tumblr has it bad. Now, I’m ‘lucky’ in the fact that I’m Canadian and a twenty minute drive from the American border, so that puts me in the ‘privileged’ majority. (I say privileged because I’m not really sure what else to call it. Most of the information going around about politics either directly affects me or indirectly affects me approximately one or two links of contact away. Someone who’s only influenced by American politics because it makes their sister’s online friends sad is not going to be privileged in that way.)

This means that American politics and their social climate overwhelmingly affects tumblr’s social climate. This also bleeds through into other fandom spaces, on twitter, instagram, and Pixiv to name a few places; but here’s where I spend the majority of my time so here’s what I’ve witnessed.

America’s main religion, as far as I understand (from the raised agnostic and currently neopagan view I have), is some weirdass capitalistic-Protestantism that is so many miles from what the actual Bible says that if I were a betting man and knew more about cults than I did, I’d say it’s some weird fucking cult and never set foot in the country again for any reason that isn’t gaming free shipping through a PO box. If you have no idea what I just said but are at least vaguely familiar with Christianity, this graphic explains it pretty well. So we can see there’s some glaring issues with that ideal.

The decline of queer oppression and the rise of queer rights in North America, which is to tenderly include my own country but we all know when people say ‘in NA’ they mean ‘America, and Canada where it applies because the right-wing Republicans are really good in the propaganda department to convince everyone that Mexico is a drug-lords-and-anarchy wasteland to the point where even I don’t actually know what’s down there other than bad drivers and heat’; means two things. One, it’s a good thing by a long shot and do not mistake this as me thinking queer oppression being lessened is a bad thing. But two, it means that thanks to the AIDS crisis, queer folks lost a lot of first-person sources as history.

The queer elders in NA who survived are typically either a) bitter anarchists who are often POC, probably still dirt poor and do recreational drugs or b) university-tenured TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists). Category A are the people who Republicans have deemed worthless in every way, because racism, queerphobia, ableism, and all the other ways to be wrong and different and Evil that they can’t handle, because Jeezus would never want them to actually learn to love someone who wasn’t just like them, and they don’t have the compassion to do better. Category B are the people who want to be different in just a teensie little bit, typically with TERFs they want to be lesbians, but they don’t want to challenge the status quo. They’re fine with the way things work, they just want to be on top oppressing others over ripping the whole damn thing down and building a more forgiving system.

Now, due to all those ‘isms and the cheerfully malicious aid of the Republicans, pun not intended but drives home the cruelty of it all, we also see the rise of helicopter parenting. The invention of the internet did not really help this. Basically what you’ve got is a whole bunch of parents who saw the civil rights movement, just got access to the internet and things going viral, know the world is changing, and like all parents, they’re scared for their children. Now instead of parents knowing one or two people in their classes who just went missing one day and everyone assumed they ran away, they hear about eight homicides in the city of kids going to parks at night and dying. The Satanic Panic was another event around this time that contributed to that, but I’ll let you research that one.

This means that all of these parents, instead of doing what their parents typically did and let their kids wander off for the day so long as they’re back by sundown, they can’t let their children out of their sight. There might be a freak accident where their child is decapitated on the playground swing! Their baby might get murdered by an evil Satanist walking home from school! Their dearest darling might go online and tell their address to someone who’s got a 100% chance of being a pedophile who will show up and kidnap them in the night!

…You get the idea.

Combine those three things I just established, what we’ve got is a lot of queer kids who have a lot of internalized shame for being different and wrong, because they’re queer, and they can’t find spaces offline to be themselves, because all of the elders who would do that are dead and/or inaccessible and their parents won’t let them go to any clubs that aren’t school-related, which they’ll never find a GSA or queer club because Republicans, ‘isms, propaganda, and the war on Category A queer adults have all done their best to ensure that those spaces don’t exist.

So you have a generation of kids who I am the youngest of. The first generation on the internet. The late Web 1.0 (usenets and Geocities) and early Web 2.0 (livejournal was the big one, ff.net too, also 4chan but fuck those guys) generation. What we were taught was: trust nobody on the internet with your real info no matter how much you like them, this is a wilderness and any crimes that happen won’t be punished or seen so don’t put yourself in a position where you’re going to be the victim of one, and everything you put online is never getting taken down so don’t put anything up that you’re not willing to have on the front page of your local newspaper.

This worked out pretty well, actually! You had kids who knew that if they got in trouble, there was no backup coming to save them. Because the form that backup might take - parents and police - wasn’t going to help. Best case, they’d be banned from their friends and online support groups for being queer. Worst case, they’d be jailed and put in juvie and conversion therapy and turn to drugs and become evil Satanists just like everyone says they secretly are already. So they learned very quickly to take care of themselves. Nobody was going to save them, so they learned to not need saving.

And then, well, Web 2.0 shifted to Web 3.0. Livejournal died because parents - the Warriors for Innocence was the big name - went “gasp how horrible my children are being exposed to the evil pedos and homosexuals they’re going to do drugs and die of AIDS!”. Which is uh. It’s filled with a lot of bigotry, and I’m not excusing them - absolutely I am not - but you can kind of see where they’re coming from, if you tilt your head and squint.

Either way, LJ died, tumblr took its place, Facebook was fast taking off, and the fandom folks who had seen mailing lists go inactive, web admins take their fanfic sites down due to copyright, entire fandoms burnt to the ground in flame wars, said ‘fuck that we’re making our own place’ and that’s how AO3 got made.

That’s important. A lot of folks move to AO3, because well, the rules let them. The rules say ‘you can throw literally anything up here so long as it’s fan content and is not literally illegal, so we don’t get taken down’. It’s a swing for the first generation internet users, those kids who know this place is a wilderness and are carving out our own sanctuary.

But. The children under us. The children for whom AIDS is a nightmarish fairy tale, for whom the ghost stories are conversion therapy, for whom know they can’t really talk to their parents about being queer but can trust they probably won’t get kicked out over it. The children who haven’t spent ten seconds without supervision except online, and their reaction isn’t ‘oh thank god I’m finally free to express myself’ but ‘if I get in trouble, who will protect me?’.

And there’s nobody there. Because we went in knowing there was no backup. And that was fine. But now, the actual adults have figured out that hey uh, maybe we should make cyber laws? Maybe we should make revenge porn and grooming children over the internet crimes? And they grew up with that. They grew up learning that no, even if your parents are suffocating and controlling, they’re always be there for you! Some adult will always be there to protect you!

That isn’t the case. It’s not. But they expect it, because it’s always been done for them. They don’t really want to change the status quo, because that means doing it themselves. They can’t do that, because they don’t know how, they’ve been controlled for every single part of their lives thanks to helicopter parenting and without that control, they don’t know how to keep their lives together, and they demand someone come and control it for them, without restraining them.

Effectively, they want someone to ensure they never face the consequences of their actions. Helicopter parents will rescue you from whatever you did, because you’re their precious baby and it doesn’t matter if you punched a kid, you can do no wrong and the other kid clearly started it.

But being queer is doing wrong. Being queer is something Jeezus doesn’t approve of. So they want to make it something he could approve of! But if it’s too off what they consider to be okay, if it’s too different and weird and wrong and evil, that can’t do, that’s still bad, and they’re precious angels, and children, and minors, why are we the adults not protecting them and letting them see it? Why aren’t we being just like their parents but queer-friendly, why aren’t we protecting the children?

The adults who taught us were the children of those who died as a result of AIDS. The eldest of my generation knew some of them personally. My therapist’s younger brother died at 20 of AIDS, and she told me what it was like. But they don’t have that. These kids of web 3.0, they don’t have that. What they have is over-controlling parents, and the expectation that someone will always be there to protect them but hopefully in ways that don’t hurt them this time, no real understanding of why Category A queer elders are the way they are, and so much internalized shame that they have to do some pretty fancy logic-leaping to keep them from collapsing entirely.

They can’t turn into Category A queer youngsters, because they don’t know how to unravel the system around them, because they’ve never had to actually make choices in their lives and live with the consequences, because they don’t have the example of how to do it. They can’t unravel their internalized shame because again, that’s hard and they don’t have their parents to take away the consequences and pain. It doesn’t come easy to them, so it may as well not come at all.

But, you ask, if Category A queer elders aren’t around to teach the kids, then how are they learning anything positive at all? Well, Category B, our university-tenured TERFs, who don’t want to change the status quo but want to just be at the top of it instead.

For a lot of kids who don’t know how to make hard choices but want to be queer, this is an extremely attractive option. But when they go online to queer spaces, a lot of them say fuck terfs, we don’t support your hate, and they go ‘yeah okay that makes sense’. They can say fuck terfs without ever actually questioning why terfs are bad. They’re Bad and Evil, just like drug addicts, just like fairytale nazis, just like the evil homophobes.

And we saw them say ‘yeah fuck terfs’ and we were like, ‘aight you got it’ and we never questioned if they actually understood us. They didn’t. They didn’t, and we didn’t do enough to fix it, because not enough of us realized the problem. So terfs got a little sneaky. They hid behind dogwhistles and easy little comments, hiding their rhetoric in queer theory that you’ll absolutely miss if you just memorize it and never actually question it and understand why that point is being made.

This goes back to America sucking, because their school system is far more focused on rote memorization over actual logic and understanding of the text. They’re engaging with queer theory the way they’ve been taught, which is memorize and don’t think, don’t question. Besides, questioning and understanding is hard. Being shown different points of view and asked what they think is not only hard but requires them to go against all of the conditioning that says to just listen and agree and never question it, which goes back to tearing the system and internalized shame down, and we’ve established they can’t do that so naturally they don’t do that.

This begets, then, the rise of exclusionary politics. They’re turning into Category B queer youngsters, because we told them ‘hey that’s a terf talking point what are you doing’ and they never questioned why. They learned you can do all sorts of things, just don’t say X, Y, or Z, because they never thought deeply about it.

The children who have grown on Web 3.0 do not want to do any heavy lifting to make things easier for themselves long-run. They want to do as little as possible and have things get better for them. There isn’t enough of us left in Category A, because Category B terfs are very good at recruiting young folks and Cat. A is overwhelming poor, dead, and easily dismissed in the system as evil and bad, so we can’t exactly convince the young folks to listen. If all of the young kids could agree to tear down the system, a lot more older folks might listen. Change always starts with the young, and there’s a reason for that.

But Republicans have figured out, if you get people fighting, they never put together a force that can actually stop you. TERFs, who want the exact same thing as Republicans but with themselves on top, are doing this to queer youth, and Cat. A elders can’t fight back because there isn’t enough of them and the odds are against them, and the young folk like me who follow their lead.

People can kinda handle gay people. It’s not so far from the acceptable normal that it’s impassable. But you want them to handle kinky people? Gay people of colour? Kinky gay people of colour? Trans people? Those are bridges too far to step across. The original idea was to get the foot in the door with marriage equality and inch our way through with racial equality, sex positivity, dismantling ableism and perisexism (forgive me if that isn’t the word for anti-intersex ‘ism), and see if we can’t patch up the system instead of inciting a civil war over this and have to tear down the system entirely.

Well, we might’ve managed that if not for AIDS being the perfect ‘Jeezus is killing all the evil gay people for being sinners’ propaganda machine. As it stands now, not a chance in hell. So long as Republicans and terfs keep everyone fighting, nobody has the power to dismantle their empire, and they stay in power.

So then, you ask me, “Lu what the fuck does that have to do with the decline of otherkinity on tumblr???” and now that you’ve got all that background knowledge, here is your answer.

Those children who want their experiences curated for them and the evil icky content they don’t like to be gone because it disgusts them and anything that disgusts them is clearly sinful problematic and should be destroyed, are what we call ‘antishippers’, or anti for short.

They like being progressive. Sort of. They learned what Republicans and terfs have honed to a fine talent: keep people fighting, hold them to a bar they have to constantly make or risk being ostracized, and harass the people who don’t play along into getting out of your sight forever. Sound familiar?

They learned of otherkinity, and particularly fictionkind, because web 3.0 means if something goes viral on one site, it doesn’t just go viral on that site, it makes it to worldwide newspapers and twitter and nobody ever, ever fucking forgets it. They realized the following: “Hey wait, if I’m this character for realsies, not only does it help me deal with the internalized shame I’ve done nothing to actually fix because that takes work, I can also tell these people who draw gross content I don’t like they’re hurting me personally, and that actually sounds credible, and I can shame them into stopping”.

If this is your first time here and that sounds sickening, it damn well should, and I am so, so sorry that any of us had to witness this, and I am more sorry I and everyone else who personally witnessed this didn’t realize what was going on and put a stop to it. I answer asks and browse the tags and clear up misinformation and it isn’t just a genuine desire to help. It’s damage control, and my own way of trying to deal with the guilt of not stopping this. I’m well aware I couldn’t have seen it coming, I was a teenager myself still learning and no one person has that much power. I still feel like I should have done more, and I’ll do what I can to fix what’s within my power to fix.

So back to the story. This all culminates around 2016 or so. Trump wins the election, and every queer person ever knows they’re fucked, and the younger generation’s only ever heard horror stories, never seen actual oppression that this could bring. We’re all scared. We all don’t know what to do. Nobody has any answers or any control over the situation.

So they lash out. They attack others for drawing things they don’t like, for challenging them in literally any way, for asking them to reconsider the vile shit they just said, for so much as defending themselves from the harassment they just got. And when challenged, they yell “But I’m a minor! A literal child! How dare you attack me, clearly you get off on this, you evil pedophile!” and they sling around every insult in the book until one sticks. Pedophile is a pretty good one, so is abuser, and sometimes zoophile works out too. Freak is great, everyone gets right pissed off about it.

The fact that Category A queer elders were called pedophiles and freaks is not a fact they know or care about. The fact that they are quickly making every fandom community super toxic is also not a fact they care about. The fact that the ‘kin community has words and terminology and they actually mean shit, and the fact that they’re spreading misinformation faster than we can keep up with, are not facts they care about.

So they come in, take our terms, make it impossible for us to find new folks. They realize our anger is easily a power trip, because we’re already made fun of, so they get off on the little power they can find and make fun of us too, and then when we get rightfully annoyed and pissed off, they can hide behind being minors.

Then tumblr implements their porn ban, because nobody’s stopping them, because it isn’t profitable to have porn on here. Considering most of the otherkin community, and most fandom communities, are full of adults who do occasionally talk about NSFW things, and the fact that they’re just banning everyone who so much as breathes wrong, this begins the start of a mass exodus, scattering already fragile communities to twitter, pillowfort, dreamwidth, and a few other places. Largely, twitter, where you can’t make a post longer than a snappy comeback and where the algorithm is literally designed to piss you off as much as possible.

So community elders have largely left, because they can’t stand the drama and the pain of what’s happened, and that’s if they didn’t get banned for being kinky furries who do talk about how their kintypes merge with their sexuality. Most community members have also left or stopped talking about being ‘kin, because they get associated with antishippers and toxicity and it’s just not worth it. Those of us who are left get drowned out by misinformation and trolls and wishkin and antishippers who appropriate our terminology because it supports them getting a power trip, and whenever we argue, we get called pedophiles and freaks and worse.

And now there isn’t much left. I hope we get to find a better place. Othercon was a good place to talk about it, I did a whole panel (it’s on Youtube!) about what we want to do about it. But I don’t really have any answers.

But to sum it all up... America’s political climate ultimately culminated in destroying queer spaces, and we survived, and then people who wanted to destroy smaller communities to get on top showed up and we were all but defenseless against something we had never, ever dealt with before on this scale.

One of my twitter mutuals mentioned how kinning and otherkin are now completely separate communities. It’s really the best I can do to keep hoping that continues, until nobody realizes the words are at all connected to each other. It’s the best anyone can hope for, now. I hate it. I hate every part of this. But maybe we can salvage what’s left.

#luteia laments #otherkin #fictionkin #alth #alterhuman #asks #anonymous #long post //#discussions #on community history #on politics #on public relations #commentors feel free to add your own thoughts!#Anonymous

238 notes · View notes

wheelsupin-five · 3 years ago

Text

Summer Christmas

A/N: Happy holidays! this is my nznatural christmas fic feat. human!cas and yes ik I’m a bit late to the party seeming it is christmas rn but I thought they deserved a little beach trip <3

Words: 987

Dean kills the engine after what feels like hours of driving around looking for a park. He slips on his jandals and adjusts his sunglasses, getting out to join Cas who’s grabbing the chilly bin and the bag with their towels and chips in from the back. Salt is sharp in the air, the crashing waves and distant voices audible from their place in the carpark. He takes the chilly bin from Cas and doesn’t think about the sand he will have to vacuum from Baby later.

Pōhutukawa trees dot the path to the beach, their flowers paving the way.

“Looks like Christmas,” Dean says, kicking at the fallen red petals. Cas hums in agreement but his eyes are following the movement of the tui that sings from the branches. Dean takes the moment to appreciate how the broken sunlight shines through Cas’ tousled hair.

The sun beats down on them as they make it out of the shade, hot sand flicking up the backs of their legs, sticking to the sunscreen Cas insisted they wear. He’d never admit it aloud, but he’s already grateful he’d given in.

As expected, it’s packed, both in the water and onshore. Families chattering loudly, kids weaving between the people and their belongings. Dean carefully steps around a sandcastle that has been decorated with broken shells and driftwood. Cas catches Dean’s hand and tugs him in the direction of a vacant patch of sand, smiling softly as the wind catches in his shirt.

“How many seagulls do you think I can befriend before we go?” Cas asks as a seagull swoops in front of them to snatch a chip from in front of a child.

“Depends on how many chips you’re willing to give ‘em.”

Cas hums again, putting down the bag. “Chips aren’t good for them, Dean. An improper diet is one of the leading causes of malnutrition in birds that the public takes upon themselves to feed.”

“Okay, got it. No feeding the seagulls. I don’t know how much luck you’ll have though.” Dean kicks off his jandals, immediately regretting it as the golden sand burns the bottom of his feet. He jumps back into them before helping Cas lay out the blanket they had brought to sit on. A breeze picks up some sand and scatters it over the fabric.

“You ever wonder how old some of this sand is, Cas?”

“No.”

“Just weird to think of how old it could be and it’s still here for me to touch it.”

“I’m older than every earthly element, Dean. You touch me all the time.”

Dean chokes on nothing. “You know what I mean.”

Cas tilts his head slightly but doesn’t press on any further.

“Come on, time to lose some layers, Cas. Can’t let you come to the beach and not experience it properly.” Dean pulls his shirt over his head. Cas doesn’t move. “Come on, shirt off.” Cas rolls his eyes and Dean winks at him.

He’s been out here for five minutes and he’s already sweating. He unwraps the newspaper parcel and lays their chips out on their blanket, sand already blowing into them. He breaks a soft chip into pieces and throws it out to some curious seagulls. Cas shakes his head but doesn't say anything as he folds and tucks his shirt into their bag. Dean’s eyes fall to the contrast of the Enochian tattoo against Cas’ warm tanned skin. Cas throws a chip at him, hitting him in the forehead.

“What was that for?” Dean shovels slightly gritty chips in his mouth, fake pouting.

“You’ll live.” Cas shrugs and the action is so human it makes Dean ache. Dean throws a chip back at him but he catches it in his mouth with a shit-eating grin he undoubtedly learned from him.

They sit in the sun and talk as they eat, sweating under the thirty-something degree heat, Cas grimacing at the crush of the sand that had made its way into the salt. Once the chips have been eaten Dean coaxes Cas out towards the water. Dean grabs his hand and pulls him out to the cool damp sand between the red and yellow flags. He pushes Cas in front of him but sticks close behind him as not to get separated by other groups of people.

He wades out into the biting water behind Cas, waiting for them to hit knee-deep water before sinking his arms into it and sending a wave of water into Cas.

Cas stiffens. Slowly, he turns to face him, and Dean can’t help but feel he’s made a terrible mistake. Cas’ eyes bore into him.

Dean lets out an undignified shriek as Cas throws him over his shoulder in one swift movement, and carries him deeper into the ocean.

“No no no no. Truce! Truce!” Dean tries to wriggle out of Cas’ grip but he only tightens his hold.

“Hm. You should have thought about that before you splashed me.” Cas drops him in the now waist-deep water rather unceremoniously.

Dean scrambles to his feet with a gasp, now suddenly significantly more awake than he had been, wiping salt water from his eyes to see Cas momentarily sinking under the surface. He wants to wipe the smug look off Cas’ face, but he also can’t help the way the warmth builds in his chest whenever he sees his smile, even if it’s at his own expense.

“You’re an asshole,” Dean says with a smile of his own.

“You’re action have consequences, Dean, and you must bear to face them.”

A wave breaks over Dean’s head before he can reply and he can feel all three hundred and nineteen meters of celestial intent now condensed down into one very human body laughing at him, and he doesn’t want this moment to end.

#supernatural #destiel #castiel #dean winchester #deancas #fic #userpris #usercarys #userda #lincolns #lincolns writing #lincolns fic

13 notes · View notes

ellestra · 4 years ago

Text

Superpowered life

I really liked how this episode took time to humanise both John Walker and the Flag Smashers.

I like how it gives us those moments from Flag Smasher’s point of view. Showing the small moments like Karli taking time to make sure the guy Walker shot is OK. And then her clear heartbreak for the friend who sacrifices himself. This is so different from the opening of last episode when Sam was killing LAF men left and right and Batroc didn’t care his people died. They were treated as disposable but Flag Smashers aren’t. They think themselves the heroes who fight for those who lived through Blip.

Last episode we saw the hurdles the returned have to go through but we also got a taste of the way those extra five years changed those left (from Hayward to Sarah). This episode we see the Walker and his group created as enforcers of the Global Repatriation Council so the returned at least have a body that takes care of their needs (even, as we see with Sam imperfectly) but it just makes those who grew up in the world without them more resentful (this movement seems to attract a lot of young people for whom the world without half of humanity became norm).

They had to give up a lot and their needs got swept under the rug when billions of people came back wanting the world to be just like when they left. It’s a misplaced anger (it’s not like those people had a choice and they are refugees often with even less than FS) but it is understandable and it’s no wonder there are so many people willing to hide them. And it’s hard for them not to feel vindicated when GRC sends men to “pacify” them. Making the Flag Smashers so diverse and throwing a guy dressed in American paraphernalia to fight them somewhere in Europe just drives home how not completely wrong they are.

But it looks like neither Walker nor our heroes are really the Flag Smashers big problem. It looks like they stole the serum that makes them super soldiers form Power Broker and that’s what was in those creates not vaccines. I wonder if they want to make so many more super strong followers or d the powers wear off with time and they need to keep taking it.

In many ways John Walker is a lot like Steve. He wants to help people and make the world better. He believes in the ideas of America and wants people to believe in them too. He wants to be the hope Steve was. He jumped on top of grenades. And he got really good at throwing that Shield fast (the way he saved Hoskins was pretty cool). He’s the best man for the job, isn’t he?

He’s even appropriately bashful about being lauded for his accomplishments. Feels weird about being trotted for shows in public. And have doubts he can live up to being Captain America. He’s also a little cocky and likes to use his influence (the government line, releasing Bucky) but that’s not that different than Tony. Or Thor. And he even has the same Big Three idea as Sam. He’s just like our heroes.

He’s just like those guys before they learnt their lessons about humility and blind trust. So isn’t us, or Sam and Bucky, not wanting to have to deal with that journey again just unwillingness to give him a chance?

But then the uncomfortable parts hit you. From the fact that he took the job over a black man. Sam isn’t completely wrong about becoming his own symbol and not just using Steve’s clout. The fact that John took it like it was something he deserved is already telling something about his confidence and show points us to the “white men confidence” on that by making it uncomfortable. From the way they have people of colour telling him he can do it. To the black best friend/sidekick. That last one really hit hard.

This is, however, not fully on John really. It’s on people who created him. In universe, the men who lauded Sam for giving up the Shield only to give it to a white dude. In real world on all those who keep creating protagonists like these.

This hit differently when the character of Captain America was created almost century ago and we were already so accustomed with him it’s easy to ignore the dissenting voices for the comfort of it’s always been like this. But there is still to many media that repeat this pattern over and over again with new characters.

The patterns so ingrained it has to be pointed out again and again how skewed that is and the show rammed it home with Walker calling both Sam and Bucky Steve’s wingmen. He was implying he wants them to be his now and they both went clearly “sorry, man, we are the protagonists now”. And that made him resort to threats and that is on him.

The thing about Steve was that there was plenty of brave, smart, decorated men with him in that camp. He wasn’t chosen because he was better then them at fighting but because of his heart and willingness to stand up for what is right no matter what. And when he jumped on the grandee he didn’t know he would survive. Walker has special helmet. And he clearly enjoys the privileges and power that comes with the position.

It’s all fun when he is the main character in this story - saving the Avengers and getting them out of trouble - but when they refuse to be appropriately grateful and fall in line his generosity turns to anger. And that really drives home that white man entitlement, doesn’t it? (I hope it does.)

And the show doesn’t stop there. There is still the way US government treated Isaiah Bradley. Bucky got pardoned for everything with just Steve’s backing but the man who protected Americans from him got nothing but abuse. All Bradley can have is being left alone while Bucky is recognised as an Avenger. At least Steve was always a hero but Bucky used to be a villain and he still is better off. It reminds us how long this has been and issue. (The kid is Eli, though, isn’t he?)

And then there is the way police treat Sam. The tone they use when they ask Bucky if “this man is bothering you”. And then complete change when Bucky says “do you know who that is” and the celebrity status hits and suddenly Sam isn’t jut a black guy but Mr. Wilson, the Avenger. But it really hits when it turns out Bucky is to be arrested because he missed his therapy session for a trip to Europe. The policeman is still polite and all “Mr. Barnes” and “sorry about this”.

We see Bucky’s super soldier serum powers in work (with jumping and running) and Walker I think just has the suit and good coordination but it’s clear their greatest superpower is being white men.

I liked this episode take on racism better as it was better at showing it as a background didn’t involve Sam ignoring his sister’s agency and her knowledge. And because it showed the status his celebrity grants him better, especially when contrasted with the life of Isaiah Bradley who has powers but not fame so none of the perks and all the burdens of being experimented on.

And I like the way it shows it also gets to those who are discriminated. After all the kid who calls Sam Black Falcon is black too. It’s just Falcon. No qualifiers necessary. But then Sam calls Bucky White Panther. The colour coding gets to all of us. (In Polish pantera = lampart and both mean leopard so we actually say żółta pantera = yellow panther along with black but I’m glad no one uses that for people.)

I also liked that Sam thought Bradley meant white people when he said Bucky’s people. I mean he wasn’t wrong since Hydra was pretty much white supremacist but still funny.

The only thing that bothered me was Bucky’s therapist forcing Sam into the session. The excuse was flimsy, the was no real indication she knows they fight all the time and the whole thing seemed to be only for that one line when Bucky admits he’s afraid Steve was wrong about him. But the execution of this was clunky and the moment with Bradley worked much better.

#the falcon and the winter soldier #sam wilson #bucky barnes #isaiah bradley #john walker #lemar hoskins #karli morgenthau #flag smashers #falcon #winter soldier #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #doctor raynor #tfatws #christina raynor

73 notes · View notes

iammultifandomaf · 4 years ago

Text

Once a Leader, Always a Leader

FanFiction: Sweet Home (Netflix)

Chapter 4 - ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

He raised his hands and observed them for a second and then laid them back on his thighs without a word.

"How do you feel?" Ji-Su asked and slowly stood up from the mattress. Eun-Hyuk looked at her in thought and simply said: "Still the same."

"Monster-same or human-same?" Eun-Yu added and watched him curiously. He looked at her and rose to his feet.

"Since my eyesight didn't get worse again, I'd say monster-same," he said and looked around, scratching the back of his head.

"We should make some food plan... and a plan in general. How to stay safe–" he said, not giving his change much attention but got interrupted by his sister.

"You destroy monsters by touch, right? So... if you stay sane, you are keeping us safe, no?"

He gave her a long look and gave out a quiet 'hm'.

"What? Am I wrong? And what do you do exactly to them? You said you're gonna tell me later."

"Uhm... Do you remember the first monster we encountered?" Eun-Hyuk asked.

"The lady monster with that nasty tounge?" Hye-In said.

"Yeah... she ate people, right? I... eat other monsters," he added quietly.

"You eat monsters? That's great! You're basically superior to them? With that scream and all," Eun-Yu said in excitement, sensing some sort of hope for them.

"Maybe... but I shouldn't eat them so much. It changes me."

"How?" Ji-Su wondered.

"I... I am not sure yet. But then again, that's the only way I know how to properly get rid off them and keep you safe," he said in a low voice.

"Maybe it's like a power boost? No? That would come in handy," Eun-Yu said.

"Even if... even if it was like that... what if it comes with a cost? I don't want to lose my sanity," Eun-Hyuk admitted. Ji-Su stood up and approached him, touching his shoulder gently.

"I bet that if you stay with us... you can stay the way you are, huh? Like Cha Hyun-Su... he was also able to come back."

Eun-Hyuk looked her in the eyes without a smile but nodded, appreciating what she said.

"That's another thing... I need to find him. But I am not sure how."

"Let's do that together then. We have the van-" Eun-Yu said but stopped when she noticed her brother staring at her, "What?" she cried out angrily.

"He could be anywhere...," Hye-In said.

"Honestly, I don't know what's the best decision to make... we could be looking for him for a long time... can we really live in a small van?" Eun-Hyuk asked and looked at the children who have been silently sitting on the mattress and then looked down at his hands. I need to find out if I can control my turns. Why am I suddenly like this again?

Ji-Su noticed how Eun-Hyuk watched his hands curiously and asked: "Are you in control of the changes happening to you?"

He looked up at her and stayed silent for a bit before saying: "I... need to figure that out."

"Alright, so... let's have breakfast, pack and then figure out if you have it under control, alright?" Ji-Su said.

Everyone agreed with Ji-Su's suggestion, mainly because everyone was getting pretty hungry already. All of them also properly washed themselves since they haven't had the opportunity for a while and probably won't get one for the time being.

After all that, they got all their bags and supplies into the van, as well as the children and the dog.

"So... what now?" Hye-In asked, glancing at Eun-Hyuk who warily looked around.

"I think we aren't alone," he said quietly and his gaze stopped at the opposite house, "we should-"

Eun-Hyuk didn't finish his sentence because a very thin looking but quite tall monster jumped from behind the building and was now standing in front of them.

"Fuck!" Eun-Yu cursed and quickly jumped into the van, "Eun-Hyuk, get rid of him!"

However, he didn't know what was wrong, but he couldn't draw his claws out, let alone find the strength for his monster-scream.

"I... I think... we gotta just bounce. Get in! Quickly!" he commanded and ran to the van and sat down into the driver's seat, Ji-Su sitting down next to him. Eun-Hyuk quickly started the engine and stepped on the gas, driving away from the monster.

"So, you don't know how it works, then?" Ji-Su asked with an alarmed voice.

"Well," Eun-Hyuk said but a loud thud on the van's roof made him look up, "shit."

Something looking like a hand clawed its way through the roof and was now hanging in between Eun-Hyuk and Ji-Su, trying to reach at least something.

"You've got a weapon?" Eun-Hyuk asked and tried to shake off the monster by driving from side to side of the road.

"I... a knife in my backpack," she said and quickly opened her red backpack, looking for it. The monster's hand was jiggling around and came close to grabbing Eun-Hyuk's head.

Eun-Hyuk's first instinct was to bite into the palm agressively which made the monster give out a distorted cry. Ji-Su stared at it in disbelief, noticing that Eun-Hyuk's teeth didn't resemble anything a human would have in his mouth.

Eun-Hyuk quickly glanced at Ji-Su and then back at the road and tried to encourage her with a :"Cmmhn."

Ji-Su shook away the stupor an stabbed the monsters wrist, trying to cut through it, however the knife got stuck in the arm and didn't move at all.

"I can't cut it off!" Ji-Su cried out. Eun-Hyuk quickly grabbed her hand and put them onto the steering wheel and then got a tight grasp on that monster's arm. He felt that his jaws and teeth have changed and hoped that he could rely on them for now, biting deep into the monster's arm, ripping it off with ease. The arm fell down with an unpleasant squishy noice. Eun-Hyuk then grabbed the steering wheel and made an unexpected turn, shaking off the monster off the car.

Ji-Su watched Eun-Hyuk's focused eyes and his face which was now covered in the monster's goo-ish blood.

"What about the arm?" she asked weakly.

Eun-Hyuk's eyes landed on the monster's arm and picked it up with his right hand.

"Throw it out?" he suggested and handed it to Ji-Su who then opened the car door and with a fast movement, threw out the arm.

"So... do you know now how to change?" Ji-Su asked after a while and looked Eun-Hyuk.

"As you can see," he said, showing her his teeth which still were very inhuman, "not really, no. It's still somehow instinctual... and that sucks."

Ji-Su didn't answer and the silence was kept until Eun-Yu violently opened the blackened window that separated them and the back of the van.

"I want to see what is happening over here, jesus fucking christ. That was a monster, right?" she said and looked at Eun-Hyuk, noticing the slowly-drying goo on his face.

"Yeah, it was a monster," Ji-Su calmly answered and looked back at her.

"We should find a gas station and get some gas," Eun-Hyuk said as his eyes landed on the blinking gas symbol in front of him.

"You should probably clean off first, you look disgusting," Eun-Yu answered, relying on her attitude to cover how frightful she just felt from the whole situation.

"Yeah, that, too," he said and gave her a quick glance before returning his gaze to the road. "I have a bad feeling, though..."

"What feeling?" Ji-Su asked alarmed.

"I... I can't really explain it but I think we aren't that far from other monsters. Like a lot of them," Eun-Hyuk replied.

"So, turn the fucking van around!" Eun-Yu said angrily.

"That's no good, either. The monster that attacked us just before brought attention to us as well. What I am saying is that we'll just have to drive through somehow. We are basically surrounded."

"You better get that abysmal scream back, young man," Hye-In commented from the back as she nervously patted her dog. Meanwhile, Su-Yeong and Yeong-Su were clutching onto each other, sensing the gloomy atmosphere in the van. Eun-Hyuk did not answer, though, and only kept on driving.

It didn't take long for them to see multiple monsters ahead of them. A few of them seemed a bit agitated and tried to attack each other. Eun-Hyuk stopped the car and looked at Ji-Su.

"Take over the driving, I'll get their attention so you can pass them, alright?" Eun-Hyuk said, undoing his seatbelt. Eun-Yu quickly grabbed his shoulder and dug her nails into it which made her brother turn his around.

"Are you CRAZY? You aren't going anywhere!" she said loudly.

"Shh, Eun-Yu," he tried to get her hand off his shoulder but she would not let go of his t-shirt, "I will be fine," he added.

"You said that the last time!"

"And I am here, aren't I?" he said and opened the door a bit.

"If you leave, I'll really hate you then!" she exclaimed, not having enough time to think of a proper argument. She only received the smile he always gave her. The smile that meant that whatever she said to him, he did not take it personally and only saw the message in between the lines. He jumped out of the van and began jogging to the monsters.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Eun-Yu cried out, feeling her eyes tear up. Ji-Su climbed over to the driver's seat and watched Eun-Hyuk who already won the monsters' attention.

"Jesus, this doesn't look good," Ji-Su said under her breath, staring at Eun-Hyuk who now stood in front of the approaching monster and didn't seem to be turning into one to save himself. It didn't take long before one short but very bulky monster jumped Eun-Hyuk, pinning him underneath him. The other monsters seemed to copy the first one and tried to get to Eun-Hyuk as well.

Eun-Yu couldn't hold in her whimpers anymore and let the tears flow down her cheeks heavily. "It's so many of them," Eun-Yu whispered.

"We better get the hell out of here," Ji-Su said quietly, remembering that Eun-Hyuk said that the monsters are also behind them and stepped on the gas, driving fast pass the hoard of monsters, climbing on each other just to get to Eun-Hyuk. Hye-In watched the bloodcurdling scene they have been passing.

"Why are they so into getting him, though?" Hye-In asked in a weak voice as they finally passed the monsters. "Isn't that weird?"

"Who the fuck cares?!" Eun-Yu yelled at her and sat down next to Yeong-Su who started crying, too.

"I guess it is weird, yeah..." Ji-Su commented, not able to take her eyes off the road in front of her, feeling stunned from what had just happened. What would I give to hear that haunting shriek, again, Ji-Su thought.

In a few minutes, they have reached something that resembled a gas station and decided to stop there. "Eun-Hyuk said to get gas... would somebody come with me if they have any canisters left?" Ji-Su asked in a faint tone, looking back at the gang.

"I'll go with you," Eun-Yu said shortly and opened the back door, jumping out of the van. Ji-Su followed her outside as well. The gas station was pretty wrecked, but it seemed that inside the shop, there were still some supplies.

"We should get everything we can get our hands on," Ji-Su said. Eun-Yu started marching towards the shattered door but Ji-Su's hand stopped her. "Wait," she whispered, "let's be careful, monsters can be in there."

"I don't care," Eun-Yu shook off her hand and walked right into the store.

"Jesus," Ji-Su rolled her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the knife handle and went inside, too.

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13825734/4/

#sweet home #sweet home fanfiction #sweet home netflix #fanfiction #lee eun hyuk #lee eun yu #lee eun hyeok #lee eun yoo #ji-su #hye-in

29 notes · View notes

whitehotharlots · 4 years ago

Text

CRT and the sad state of educational politics

If our culture is studied 100 years from now, the predominant theme of the research will be a sense of perplexed revulsion toward how we did nothing to address the climate crisis in spite of having decades of forewarning. If there is a second theme, it will be a profound confusion regarding our immense and unearned sense of self-certainty. A retrospective of the early twenty first century would be titled something like Who the Fuck Did These People Think They Were?

The latter theme is illustrated in the debacle surrounding a recent slew of municipal and statewide bills that seek to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools. For the record, I am strongly against these bans. But I’m also self-aware enough to know my opinion matters very little, and therefore realize that an analysis of the discussion surrounding the bills will yield much more worthwhile observations than a simple delimitation of their pros and cons. Regardless of your personal opinion, I hope you’ll humor me.

I am, in some regards, a moral absolutist. But I also realize that abstract morality has very little bearing on material and political realities. In my ideal world, classrooms are free from political meddling. Teachers teach to the best of their ability, presenting students with truths that are confidently unvarnished due to the thorough amount of work that was required to reach them. I don’t cotton any of that socratic bullshit. Students are there to learn, not to engage in weird Gotchas with some perverted elder. The teacher’s job is to teach. The material they teach needs to be subjected to some graspable and standardized mechanism of truth adjudication before it is worthy of being taught. Teaching is not therapy. Teaching is not poetry. Teaching is not love, nor is it religion, nor is it a means of social or political indoctrination. There are plenty of other avenues available to accomplish all of those other things. Teaching is teaching.

That’s the ideal. But ideals are just ideals. They never come true. The art of teaching, regardless of setting--from overpacked classrooms to face-to-face instruction to curricular design to nationwide pedagogical initiatives--boils down to a teacher’s ability to reconcile the need to convey truths with social and political pressures that are heavily invested in the suppression of truth.

I have formally studied and practiced education for nearly two decades. In that time, the prevailing political thrust toward education has been a desire to casualize the practice of teaching, to render educators as cheap and fungible as iphones. The thrust takes different shapes depending on the political affiliation of whomever happens to be in charge of the state and federal governments that fund education, but the ultimate desire is always the same. The goal is always to attempt to make teaching rote and algorithmic, something akin to running a google search for How to do math? or What is morality?. The framing is always just windowdressing, empty culture war bullshit.

Maybe it’s the inescapability of this thrust that’s rendered so many educators so blind to it? We only have nominal political choice, after all. The discourse gets more blinkered and vicious as the stakes decrease. At any rate, this is the undeniable reality, and anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t worth listening to.

Non-administrative per-pupil spending as been on a steady decline since George W. Bush was president. Administrative bloat and meddling are becoming as common in k-12 as they are in higher education. The will of parasitic NGOs are implemented as common sense pedagogy without anyone even bothering to ask for any proof that they work. The so-called Education Reform movement is sputtering out due both to its manifest failures and rare, bipartisan backlash. But it will be replaced with something just as idiotic and pernicious. The thrust of causalization will not abate.

And so what do we decide to do? What’s the next big thing on the education policy horizon? Critical Race Theory.

Okay, this makes sense. In 2021, a local paper can’t run a news story about a lost cat without explicitly mentioning the race of every human involved and possibly also nodding toward the implied cisnormativity of pet ownership. So it makes sense that this broad rhetorical mandate would come to dominate the transitional period between Bush-Obama Education Reform and whatever bleak future awaits us. The controversy is so perfectly inefficacious that its adoption was inevitable. Because, seriously, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of the outcome of this kerfuffle, no problems will be solved. The real shortcomings of public education will not be addressed. Larger social problems that are typically blamed on public education in spite of having little to do with public education will especially not be addressed. Maybe white kids will have to do struggle sessions in lieu of the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe black kids will get full credit for drawing the Slayer logo in the part of the test where their geometric proof is supposed to go. Or maybe it won’t happen. Maybe instead these practices will be banned, and in turn liberals will begin to embrace homeschooling, the charter movement will be given new life as a refuge against the terrors of white supremacist behaviors such as, uhh, teaching kids to show their work. Whatever.

Within the context of public education, the outcome will not matter. It cannot matter. There will be broader social impacts, sure. It will continue to drive Democrats more rightward, providing their party’s newly woke corporate wing with progressive-sounding rationales for austerity. But so far as teachers and students are concerned, it won’t matter.

Why do I give a shit about this, then? To put it bluntly, I’m struck by the utter fucking inartfulness of CRT’s proponents. At no point has any advocate of CRT presented a case for their approach to education that was at all concerned with persuading people who aren’t already 100% in their camp. There’s been no demonstration of positive impacts, or even an explanation of how the impacts could hypothetically be positive. In fact, so much as asking for such a rationale is considered proof of racism. Advocates posit an image of existing educational policies that is absolutely fantastical, suggesting that kids never learn about slavery or racism or civil rights. But then... then they don’t even stick with the kayfabe. They’ll say “kids never learn about racism.” In response, people--mostly well-meaning--say “wait, umm, I’m pretty sure they do learn about racism.” The response is “we never said they don’t learn about racism.” You’ll see this shift from one paragraph to the next. It’s insane. Absolutely insane.

Or take this talk from a pro-CRT workshop in Oregon. The speaker freely admits that proto-CRT leanings like anti-bias education, multiculturalism, and centering race in historical discussions have been the norm since the late 1980s. The speaker admits that these practices have been commonplace for 30+ years, as anyone my age or younger will attest. Then, seconds later, the speaker discusses the results of this shift: it failed. Unequivocally:

We had this huge, huge, huge focus on culturally relevant teaching and research. [ ... ] So you would think that with 40+ years of research and really focusing and a lot of lip service and a lot of policies and, you know, a lot of rhetoric about cultural relevancy and about equity and about anti-bias that we would see trends that are significantly different, [but] that’s not what we’re finding. What we’re finding that you see [is] that some cases, particularly black and brown [students] the results, the academic achievement has either stayed the same and gotten worse.

Translation: here’s this approach to teaching. It’s new and vital but also we’ve been doing it for 40 years. It doesn’t work. But we need to keep doing it. Anyone who is in any way confused by this is a dangerous racist.

Even in the darkest days of the Bush-era culture war, I never saw such a complete and open disregard for honesty. This isn’t to say that Bush-era conservatives weren’t shit-eating liars. They were. But they had enough savvy to realize that self-righteousness alone is not an effective way of doing politics. You need to at least pretend to be engaging with issues in good faith.

This is what happens when a movement has its head so far up its own ass that it cannot comprehend the notion of good-faith criticism. These people do not believe that there can exist anyone who shares their basic goals but has concerns that their methods might not work. Their self-certainty is so absolute and unshakeable that they can proffer data demonstrating the complete ineffectiveness of their methods as proof of the necessity of their methods.

For decades, the most effective inoculation against pernicious meddling in education has been to lean upon the ideal form of teaching I described earlier in this post. We claimed that teaching is apolitical and that no one is trying to indoctrinate anybody. Regardless of the abstract impossibility of this claim, it has immense and lasting appeal, and it was upheld by a system of pedagogical standards that allowed teachers to evoke a sense of neutrality. The prevailing thrust in liberal education is to explicitly reject any such notions, and no one--not a single goddamn person--has proffered a convincing replacement for it. We still say, laughably, that we’re eschewing indoctrination. But people aren’t that stupid. If you find it beneath yourself to make your lies digestible, people will be able to tell when you’re lying to them.

This, my friends, bodes very poorly for the future of education, regardless of whatever happens in the coming months. A movement that cannot articulate its own worth is not one that is long for this world. Teachers themselves are the only force that can resit the slow press toward the eventual elimination of public education, and they have embraced a worldview and comportment style that renders them absolutely unable to mount any worthwhile resistance.

15 notes · View notes

anzysart · 4 years ago

Text

Late night secret meetings between pirate and siren while a certain pirate is on watch became fairly common while they were in the area.

Little bit of background for the story that this is based on.

- Kaminari is a storm sorcerer, who was hired onto the crew near exclusively for the ability to manipulate the winds in the area around him to his favor. He can’t increase or decrease the speed, just change the direction, but having a constant wind in their sails makes sailing much faster.

-The crew includes Bakugou (master gunner), Kirishima, Sero (one of the riggers) Mina (another rigger), Midoriya (Boatswain), Yaoyorozu (navigator, recent addition) Todoroki (recent addition along with Yaoyorozu. Some might call him kidnapped. He is not one of those people) Jirou (musician) and some OCs that flesh out the rest of the crew. They gain a few more, but at the time of the picture these are the main crew

- The crew wishes to join what is in essence a pirate union after finding out some unsavory things about the Navy. They approach a few pirates they encounter, asking how to join, and the first answer that they can work with tells them they need to pass a test to join. They agree, and find themselves being sent to rob one Navy Captain General Todoroki Enji of information related to the Navy’s movements. In the process, they run into Shouto and Yaoyorozu. The captains son sees a way out, and seizes it, helping them steal what they need and not raising the alarm on the condition that they are taken with them. Midoriya, who was the one who ran into them, agrees.

-Kidnapping the Navy Generals son however.... makes it somewhat difficult to return to their employers. And with the information they have, they realize it’s rather time sensitive to get it to the pirates. So they head straight for the rumored location of the pirate base, a rocky archipelago that had discouraged ships from entering even before the sirens took up swimming the waters of the very few entry points. No navy ship has been able to pass, but the pirates slip easily in without any resistance from their allies.

-Fortunately, their ship isn’t a Navy vessel. Unfortunately, they aren’t... quite pirates yet either. While they won’t be attacked on sight, they certainly won’t be given any passes. While carefully watching the waters, Kaminari goes over the stories he’s heard of sirens, the old wives tales and sailors warnings of the dangerous creatures. Some call them beautiful, others call them monstrous. There’s dozens of tales of them emerging on dark, foggy nights, ranging from singing haunting melodies that drive men to drown themselves, to tearing the ship apart to reach the people inside. Many stories, he realizes, even as the call of alarm rings out. But all of them missing something

-He gets an idea so stupid it might actually be smart. So instead of running to the others, plugging his ears or pulling out weapons, he ignores his friends, sprints to the railing and when one of the sirens begins to sing he starts singing back.

-The siren is taken so off guard it peters to a stop and just, stares in stunned silence. Which only encourages Kaminari because holy shit is this actually working?

- It does. It also happens to be the equivalent of bold faced flirting, and the siren has no idea how to handle this.

-crew joins in, singing obnoxiously loud to drown out any further attempts, and the sirens withdraw to observe them struggle to navigate, as well as send word to the pirates leadership of an... interesting development

-meanwhile, Shinsou, the siren who got smacked in the face by a blundering idiot flirting with him with no warning, lingers a bit closer, and decides to try and figure out the weird blonde kid. And that means interacting with him.

-Kaminari ends up on watch, and Shinsou approaches him for the first time. They mostly just watch each other from a safe distance at first, but the distance closes over time as they keep meeting at night. Eventually, it becomes routine. Shinsou eventually gives him a small shell whistle (think conch shell, but can fit in your hand and produces a much sharper note) as a gift, as well as a way to signal that it’s safe for him to come up for their nightly talks.

-he also, after Kaminari fills the silence with chatter about what they’re doing and hoping to accomplish, eventually gives Kaminari a subtle, abstract set of clues on how to navigate the strange tides and rocky outcropping to reach the pirate base. There’s more... but that perhaps is a story for another day.

#bnha #watercolor #Kaminari Denki #Shinsou Hitoshi #Shinkami #pirate au #siren au #mer au #Shinsou understands what Kaminari is saying but pretends he doesn’t #Kaminari doesn’t mind just vibing with his fish buddy #He also doesn’t know that the way the crew got past the sirens was the equivalent of bold faced flirting #dnd au #just a little

40 notes · View notes

cherrybombusa · 3 years ago

Photo

GROUP ONE - THE LIBRARY. SUCCESS.

PLAYERS:

THE ARTIST - Sloane Salt. THE ROMANTIC - Mac Walsh. THE FILMMAKER - Zev King. THE MANNEQUIN - Lilli Montgomery. THE BITCH - Zahra Jackson. THE WRITER - Noah Russell.

PERKS EARNED:

WALK IN MY SHOES: After Jamie Dyer spilled his secret to save his friends, he’s been rewarded with the ability to put other people in his shoes! If something happens to Jamie he doesn’t like, he has the ability to switch places with any character as if it happened to them instead.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS:

-MAC GOT TAKEN BY THE KILLERS. -LILLI GOT GRABBED TWICE AND TAKEN. -SLOANE ATTACKED A MAN ON LSD AND SAVED ZEV. -JAMIE SPILLED HIS SECRET TO CLARISSA - AND THE REST OF CHERRY.

THE NARRATOR: It might not have been a quiet night, maybe not even uneventful, but the Gang found themselves grateful, at least, that the Candy Girl hadn’t shown her face. It was nearing midnight now, and with only Paulie Virginia checking on the kids before they fell asleep on the sand, and Lucas Bright left straggling on the beach with the Gang, they were sure to turn-in soon.

They were gathered around the bonfire, talking and laughing - almost even letting their guards down - but the screech of three white vans pulling up to the shore interrupted every little conversation taking place around the bonfire. They didn’t want to think anything of it at first… College kids in this town were wild, and they were all piling back into town this week, after all. But when a group of masked, hooded figures with baseball bats, and kitchen knives galore began making their way out of the vehicles, and onto the beach - what were they supposed to do but worry?

OFFICER PAULIE: “Hey! Stop right there!”

THE NARRATOR: It was almost instinctual for the rookie to go right into barking cop voice, even with no back up - stupid, of course - but another ‘Candy Girl’ stunt was the last thing he was going to let happen on his watch. The man reaches for the taser in his belt, just like he was trained to do, but just as he gets it free, the blur of a body rushing forward - Lucas Bright - distracts him for a split enough second to fumble.

Paulie almost yells for Lucas to stop, but before he can get the words off of his tongue, the Bright kid nearly runs headfirst into one of the masked figures' fists. It’s shocking how hard he falls - makes Paulie wonder if he’s okay - but before he can wonder too much, he realizes too late that one of the hooded figures has gotten the jump on him. He’s half expecting the figure to reach for his taser - the oh shit moment of the century - but when Paulie feels a baseball bat connect with his ribcage… He almost wishes he had been tased. Might have hurt less.

CANDY GIRL: “Hello, my little freaks and geeks! Did you miss me and my little friends? Because I think tonight is about to get a little more fun.”

THE NARRATOR: ...Uh oh. Maybe I spoke too soon about the Candy Girl not showing her face.

It doesn’t take long to get the gang tied up - not with the threat of knives, and Paulie’s discarded taser at the hooded groups disposal - and the ringleader of this little group, the one bouncing around telling everyone what to do, seems absolutely giddy with her capture. What else are you supposed to expect from faceless psychos, though, right?

CANDY GIRL: “Here’s the game tonight, losers! We’re gonna split you up and see if you can pass our little trials. Those who do? They get to go home tonight! Those who don’t…. Well, you might end up closer to Lux than you thought you were before.”

THE NARRATOR: Candy turns toward one of the other masked figures - one that seems like her Helper - flicking her chin toward the Gang. It’s a cue, and that much becomes clear when one-by-one, each of them has a hood slipped over their face, obstructing their view nearly completely.

CANDY GIRL: “But first, we’re going on a little trip!”

THE NARRATOR: It’s hard for the Gang to know just how they’ve been split up, but as they’re pushed forward toward the parking lot - the sound of Paulie’s and Lucas’s far-off groaning in their ears - they know one thing. They’re completely fucked, and there’s nothing they can do about it with their hands tied behind their backs… Especially not when they’re about to be shoved into the back of those fucking vans.

Nobody’s really sure how long they’ve been driving - they’re all too terrified to try and keep count - but by the time the van finally slows to a stop, they’re all dragged right back out onto solid ground, and into… some old building. Just where, is the question.

MAKE A CHOICE: YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY THE CANDY GIRL TO CCU FOR A NIGHT OF FUN. DON’T DIE!

THE NARRATOR: Maybe it’s the heavy doors that give away their final destination, or maybe it’s the musty smell of old textbooks, but those who had ever stepped foot into the CCU library know right where they are at that moment. It’s a comforting place for some - one that induces only stress, or indifference to others - but it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be a place that brings anxiety after tonight; just as tainted as the boardwalk, or even walking along Lux’s and Harvey’s block might be. Now is no time to think about how they might feel in the future, though -- if they even make it that far. No, they’re going to have to make it through tonight first.

The gang is led into the room like lambs to slaughter - Jamie carried not-so-nicely over one of the maniacs shoulders - but once they’re situated, the hoods that cover the gang’s faces come off; they even cut the ropes off from around their wrists, but the knives, and baseball bats manage to keep everyone in their place. The library is dimly lit, with only it’s balcony lights shining down on the grandiose room; the bank of computers on the second floor is like a beacon, beckoning them forward. It almost seems normal for a moment, like they were just there studying after-hours, but the two figures heading the circle - Candy and her supposed assistant - shock them back into reality with a clap of their hands.

CANDY GIRL: “Like I said, we’re gonna play a little game tonight, boys and girls! But, you’re all oh-so-familiar with games, aren’t you? Especially after our special little stunt at the boardwalk.”

THE NARRATOR: Her voice could almost be considered familiar, but nobody in the room really knows where to place the memory of it. Did she actually sound like that recording on the beach? Was she someone they knew? The gang just looks at each other from any angle that they can; making eye contact at whatever cost, as if it might help them all jog their memory to know they’re on the same page. They don’t get another chance to listen, though, as the other figure - Candy's helper - begins speaking.

CANDY'S LITTLE HELPER: “She’s written some riddles!”

THE NARRATOR: They pull a sheet of paper from their pocket.

CANDY GIRL: “And you’re going to solve them! Don’t worry about the doors -”

THE NARRATOR: The movement is clearly rehearsed as a number of their captors - five, if you’re counting - head toward the door. Three of them leave, but the other two begin looping chains through the antique handles, locking them into the room with no real escape but up… And we know just how well this group does with climbing.

NOAH RUSSELL: Of course. They couldn't have one fucking night could they? Although what more could he have expected from the masked figure who thought a funeral was the time and place to play spin the bottle. The library of all places had a chilling feel to it in comparison to the beach. Almost theatrical like every horror book he'd ever read, and he sure as hell had read a lot of them. "I'm getting real sick of these damn riddles." He started as he thought about taking a step towards the door before thinking better of it. These people had knives, bats, and while on their own that didn't have to overly intimidating, this was the same person who only too recently before had blown up an entire carousel. "Anyone opposed to taking out the windows?"

SLOANE SALT: On some level Sloane knew that this was... a bad situation. There were scary people with what looked like weapons. Extremely tall people, some as tall as the ceiling, maybe and swaying. The hooded girl's voice sounded kind of familiar, but considering the state she was in, she could hardly pin point who it was. She hadn't said much of a word on the way to the library mostly because she didn't really want anyone to know that she was feeling weird and now she was sitting on her ass, staring at her newly freed hands. "When did I paint these...?" She muttered to herself, turning her head entirely too slowly to look over at Noah as he spoke. As she took in his words, her expression quickly shifted to offence, her eyes widening and her mouth opening in fear. Those poor windows, they hadn't done anything to anyone. "No, don't hurt them!"

CANDY'S LITTLE HELPER: “--Um, excuse me? You’re totally throwing us off our rhythm!”

THE NARRATOR: Candy’s little Helper interrupts the conversations with an annoyed tone, as if they’re the ones inconveniencing her night. It’s strange, how nonchalant it is, but Candy just just shushes her. You can't even see her face, but you can almost just tell she's rolling her eyes beneath the mask.

CANDY GIRL: “Will literally just say your line?

CANDY'S LITTLE HELPER: "Fine! You need three keys, and three keys, exactly!"

CANDY GIRL: "Or you'll spend the night -"

THE NARRATOR: Maybe it’s the fear of the moment that kept all of their eyes focused on the two masked figures interacting with them - tunnel vision, of sorts - but it only makes the loud squish of blade entering flesh even louder than it should have been. The group of them flinching before Candy even has a chance to start shrieking through the pain of the blade in their side.

It was almost unbelievable that it had happened at first - did it even make sense that the Candy Girl’s henchmen were even turning on her? - but the blood splashing against the tile had to have been proof enough that it wasn’t just some fucked up group hallucination… One that didn’t seem so expected by either Candy Girl, or the other henchmen.

CANDY'S LITTLE HELPER: “What the fuck is wrong with you!”

THE NARRATOR: Fair question. And the attacker should have heard it - as loud as the second-not-so-in-charge-figure shrieked - but the knife-wielder didn’t even flinch as he dragged Candy toward the bookshelves; blood pouring from the wound in her side.

The other mask - Candy’s little helper - almost considers running for it, throws the note from her hands in anticipation of getting the fuck out of there… but she hardly gets a chance when her own attacker - the other one of the maniacs who had chained the door - comes from behind her and squeezes their hulking arms around her fame. They have their own knife; one that plunges directly into her abdomen, but the Gang doesn’t have much time to watch as the attacker laughs and drags her toward his own row of bookshelves.

What. The. Fuck.

There’s only a moment of hesitation - it had all happened so quickly - but the gang wastes no more time before fleeing to opposite sides of the library, Mac helping Jamie as best as he can in the struggle. The sound of the woman’s dying screams echo across the space, shaking all of them to their core… but they all know one thing: they need to get their hands on that riddle.

If they’re locked in, then it might be their only way of getting out.

MAKE A CHOICE: MAC, JAMIE, LILLI, AND NOAH ARE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE LIBRARY, HIDING BEHIND THE LIBRARIAN’S DESK. ZEV, SLOANE, AND ZAHRA ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE, MAKING THEIR WAY UP THE STAIRS TO THE SECOND LEVEL.

MAC: Tonight is the first time in his life that Mac thinks he shouldn't have went along with one of Libby's ideas. How stupid of them was it to all gather in one spot in the middle of the night? They might as well have asked Sloane to paint perfect targets on their collective backs. He'd already been freaking out enough as it was, but the sound of that blade? The blood? If he made it out of here alive they were sure to be added to his ever growing list of nightmare material. A sudden rush of adrenaline as everyone begins to flee has him nearly carrying Jamie across the room, ducking under the desk, eyes searching to see if the rest of his friends had made it over unscathed. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

NOAH: Even though he knew about the kind of antics the Candy Girl could have possibly gotten up to, there was a difference between knowing and seeing them first hand. Of course it wasn't the first time he'd seen blood drawn, but the blood from cut lips and faces after a brutal run in from home failed in comparison to what he'd just seen. Candy Girl was supposed to be their captor wasn't she? The one who'd been tormenting them since night one? The one who kept Lux fresh and at the forefront of their minds, unable to move on. Watching her fall to her knees, the screeches of pain that rang out behind them as they'd ducked for cover. It didn't make sense. Any trace of alcohol that had once been intruding his symptom felt faint in comparison as he hid beside the desk. "I don't know but we can't stay here. We're gonna be sitting ducks. We need to find those fuckin' keys, but looking in a library is going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack." He added in a harsh whisper as he attempted to catch his breath.

THE NARRATOR: Split up and helpless. Fuck. Looks like they need that riddle if they're going to make it out of here alive.

MAKE A CHOICE: SOMEBODY DOWNSTAIRS MUST RETRIEVE THE RIDDLE: WHO WILL IT BE?

MAC: Mac's eyes dart around the room, searching for the slip of paper he'd seen one of their captors pull out at the mention of riddles. He wasn't even sure if it would help them at this point, considering he was almost positive getting stabbed wasn't part of the plan, but it was their best option. Right? When his eyes finally land on the piece of paper his adrenaline once again kicks in, causing him to lunge across the room in an attempt to retrieve it.

MAKE A CHOICE: SUCCESS!

THE NARRATOR: Every step sounds like a symphony in their own ears, each and every movement too-loud, even masked by the sound of Candy and her Helper's screams, but somehow Mac manages to make his way back around the librarian's desk and toward where the riddle was thrown. He gets his hands on the blood soaked paper; the breath leaving his lungs as the sound of screaming begins to die - no pun intended - out. It’s not completely obvious what he should do next, but he makes eye contact with his friends behind the librarian's desk; with the few on the second level.

They’re never going to make it out of this without each other, so they better think fast.

They hear the sound of the killers beginning to stir from somewhere within the maze of bookshelves, and just like that a plan forms in their freaky little hive mind. Someone needs to distract the killers while everyone else gets upstairs. But who will it be?

MAKE A CHOICE: SOMEBODY MUST DISTRACT THE KILLERS WHILE THEIR FRIENDS GET UPSTAIRS. SHOULD THEY THROW SOMETHING ACROSS THE ROOM , SNEAK ACROSS THE ROOM AND KNOCK SOMETHING OVER, OR SHOULD SOMEONE UPSTAIRS THROW SOMETHING OFF OF THE BALCONY?

ZAHRA: Zahra peered down at the half left on the floor below. Things had gone wrong so quickly and in so many ways and compartmentalising was the only way any of them were getting out of this in one piece, so she did her best to ignore the fading screams. Instead she turned her focus to her surroundings. There had to be something she could throw down to distract the psychos - there! Her eye caught on a computer plugged in near the edge of the balcony. Wordlessly, she hurried over to it and yanked out the plug. Then, with as much of a heave as she could muster, she threw it over the edge.

MAKE A CHOICE: FAILURE!

THE NARRATOR: It was a long shot, but as Zahra tosses the computer off the railing, only one of the killers turns their head to investigate. The other? Well, their gaze lands directly on Mac.

It’s hardly a split second before they cross the room toward them, and as hard as Mac tries to fight, but it’s no use - the threat of the knife, and the feeling of it’s handle knocking against the side of his face is enough to give the killer the upper hand… At least they have time to throw the riddle in the general direction of their friend before they’re dragged away toward the maze of bookshelves.

It’s enough to the rest of the gang all in place, but they know they have to get upstairs - they have to get the hell out of there, and save Mac.. if there’s even time. They all book it as fast as they can, everyone helping Jamie along the way, and somehow they manage to make it up the stairs before they’re spotted - one of them even manages to grab the riddle, even if they were silently hoping it wasn’t Mac's last gift to them all.

At least it might actually save them.

Their hearts are pounding loud enough in their chests that they might swear they could all count each other’s heartbeats. Now is no time to check up on each other, though - not as they lay the first riddle out in front of them

If you want the first key, you’ll have to find Me,

I’m the keeper of the scrolls, you see.

Melvil named the system, and I check it twice,

Are you feeling naughty? Then here’s some advice:

I’ll name a book, or maybe name three -

You’ll choose the one that speaks to the dream

Of losing it all, or leaving behind

That sweet, sane, little part of your mind.

Maybe they fight it, or maybe they end it,

Maybe the pick is the one your friend mentioned.

Will your gang make it out? Maybe - who knows.

But I wouldn’t count on it, unless you all know who glows.

HOODED MANIAC: THE KILLER IS HERE.

THE NARRATOR: The killer hardly sneaks up on the, but the Gang is surprised anyway - each of them gasping as Lilli is snatched up by his grasp. She screams - she's caught - but the rest of them have a choice to make.

MAKE A CHOICE: LILLI HAS BEEN GRABBED. DO YOU TRY TO SAVE THEM OR LET THEM GO?

ZAHRA: Yeah, things with Lilli had always been a little contentious but there was no way Zahra was letting her be dragged away. They'd already lost Mac and that was fucking enough. She lunged forward and grabbed Lilli as she was snatched up.

MAKE A CHOICE: SUCCESS!

THE NARRATOR: It’s a great effort, and though they don’t manage much real damage, Zahra's still successful in getting her ""friend"" the hell away from that monster. The whole group is terrified, but they’re quick on their feet as they move somewhere else that could be deemed even semi safe within the madness to solve the next riddle.... Watch out though. I think the killer saw where you were going.

MAKE A CHOICE: LILLI RUNS FOR THE KEY.

THE NARRATOR: Lilli runs as fast as she can - the gang all sneaking close behind - and with the correct location, it’s not hard to find the key taped to a shelf in the history section, along with the next part of the riddle. It should be easy to get back to their friends, but before they can even turn around, she feels hands grasping around her limbs and yanking them back through the bookshelves yet again- dragging her away toward the maze of a room to… She didn’t even want to think about it. She just knew they had to fight - but she can’t do it alone.

MAKE A CHOICE: DOES SOMEBODY WANT TO SAVE THEIR FRIEND, OR LET THEM DROP THE KEY?

THE NARRATOR: The gang can hear Lilli trying to fight her attacker - her screaming echoing through the space - and though the guilt eats them alive, they know there’s nothing they can do about it. They just have to hope that the fact that the screaming gets further and further away and doesn’t just abruptly end - just like it did when those two masked maniacs got stabbed earlier - is a good sign.

The remaining members make quick work of grabbing the key and the riddle, and try to find another safe spot in the library.

If you want to get out, don’t Twist and Shout,

It’s not the Candy Man locking you out.

If you feel Clueless, then here’s your clue -

You can find Me behind door number two.

How to know you’re close? Just think of the times,

The 90’s are ending, but gossip still thrives!

Once you’re through, don’t look any further -

Your key can be found in the one with no murder.

ZEV: Zev scopes out the Librarian's desk and makes a move for it, trying to keep down and quiet as he dashes, heart pounding in his chest.

THE NARRATOR: Zev sprints with everyone else not far behind him. The key is there, taped beneath Glenda Logan's desk along with the last part of their riddle, but at the very last moment - before the Gang can warn him - one of the killers comes and hits him over the back of the head with his knife. He's got a hold on Zev, and as hard as he's fighting, he's not going to be able to make it out alone.

MAKE A CHOICE: DOES SOMEBODY WANT TO SAVE THEIR FRIEND, OR LET THEM DROP THE KEY?

SLOANE SALT: All of the running around and masked killers has mostly been Sloane moving in accordance with everyone else, eyes bugged out of her face as she tries not to trip over her platform boots. When Zev gets snatched, it's as if enlightenment comes over her and she suddenly becomes aware that one of her favourite people, someone basically a little brother to her is in danger. "Let go of him!" She screeches as she reaches for him, using all of her body weight to try and pull him away.

MAKE A CHOICE: SUCESS!

THE NARRATOR: Maybe it's the LSD, or just sheer willpower, but everyone swears they actually see the Killer flinch as Sloane screams like a banshee toward him. They groan in pain as their shoulder is pulled nearly out of place, and in fear they run as far as they can in the other direction.

The whole group is terrified, if not confident, but they’re quick on their feet as they move somewhere else that could be deemed even semi safe within the madness to solve the next riddle.

Here’s your third key - you’re almost there!

Unless you can’t take a bit of a scare.

Your clues can be found with Clarissa Teller -

But she’ll only tell you if you can impress her.

Somebody’s secret must be told.

It’s only then that I’ll give her the gold.

So, hurry along! But only choose one.

Oh, wow, oh boy!

Now this will be fun.

MAKE A CHOICE: SOMEBODY MUST TELL CLARISSA THEIR SECRET ON THE COMPUTER UPSTAIRS. WHEN THEY DO, THE LOCATION OF THE THIRD KEY TO BE RELEASED.

NOAH: The panic that had gripped his chest as the evening grew, only intensified as they read their final clue. Mac had been taken, Lilli had been taken, he'd watched helplessly as Zahra saved Zev, and perhaps the bit that was the most impossible to forget, he'd seen the Candy Girl murdered before his very eyes. And while he didn't see the life fleeing from her eyes he could picture it a little too well. "Zev you okay?" He asked, in an attempted moment of calm and partially to distract from the racing of his own heart. Waiting the moment for some sort of nod before turning to the rest of the group. "What the hell is she talking about? What doesn't Clarissa know already?" He asked, his voice soft with profound fear as he glanced around the room. The first two clues while challenging in their own right, they seemed to fall into place, but he dreaded what could possibly be meant by the third.

SLOANE SALT: Sloane was definitely riding on more than one high at the moment, one of the unidentified form, from that pill she'd taken and one from saving Zev. She was breathing heavily, leaning on the table in the study room as she looked around at everyone who was still with them. They needed to get through this, that was the only thing that mattered, even if even the furniture was kind of freaking her out. Throwing her arms around Zev, she turned her head when she heard Noah's voice. Her mouth twisted as she fought off the urge to say something, a sly smile forming on her lips. "Come on, she doesn't know lots of secrets." Her eyes widened as she emphasised the 'lots'. In the state she was in, she was tempted to just start blurting out everything she knew, but then her head turned to Jamie and she suddenly felt guilty. "What do we do?"

JAMIE: Jamie had been watching the crew from the jump, lingering behind the rest not only due to his leg but his own dwindling motivation to be part of some messed up game when two of his favourite cohorts had gone missing with no promise of survival. This was what Cherry was now, a mecca of lost, frantic young adults enslaved to the whims of someone other than themselves. As terrible as they were, Jamie didn't believe any of them deserved to be forced to admit to something they weren't ready for. That was why he'd agreed to hide the note, wasn't it?

When Sloane's desperate eyes met his, he'd already made up his mind.

"I'll do it," he said, with little fanfare. "Can someone help me up the stairs?"

By the time he was seated at the computer, his heroic resolve had diminished. Words that normally came easy for him sat bated behind still fingers as he thought of exactly what to write when he'd never allowed the thoughts to come to real fruition.

𝐝𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: Dear Clarissa, the day has finally come where I have to acknowledge your existence but rest assured that it's not by my own volition. I have a secret to tell you that I'm sure won't come as too big of a surprise.

Last semester, I snuck in and did the SATs for Cherry High graduates who had the means to pay. My family is in debt, thanks to my father and his frivolous new wife, and I thought I'd be able to pay it off. I couldn't, but that's not the point. The point is that I enjoyed every minute of it. The studying, the acceptance, the shining accolades.

I mean, I wouldn't have to talk to you if I just went to college, would I?

THE NARRATOR: It probably feels like a punch in the gut to be selling their own secret to the local paper, but as they press send on the keyboard - as Clarissa starts typing - the power goes out, and the room goes dark. It’s terrifying at first, enough to make the Gang clutch at each other, like it might be their last moment… But when the sound of chains dropping from the door handles echoes through the room - followed by the scurry of sprinting out of the library - they almost think to breathe a sigh of relief. Could that really be it? Could it be over?

They don’t move for nearly an hour - or maybe it just feels like an hour - but when they finally decide the coast is clear, the group of them - or what’s left of them - sprint down the stairs, and the hell out of CCU as quickly as they can. Maybe it’s a betrayal to not even look for their friends… or maybe their bodies. But how are they supposed to stomach the thought of it? How are they expected to stick around with those… killers still on the loose?

Are their friends still alive? Is the Candy Girl alive? Who knows. They just know they need to get the police down here to help their friends as soon as they can... even if it means leaving people behind for now.

MAKE A CHOICE: YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED YOUR PLOT EVENT. YOUR FRIEND'S FATES ARE UNKNOWN.

#bio rp #town rp #oc rp #skeleton rp #small town rp #secrets rp #gossip rp #gossip girl rp #90s rp #classic rp #college rp #secret rp #lsrp #small rp #small group rp #plot event 002 - the bonfire.#plot event 002 - ccu library.

4 notes · View notes

imanativeofswlondondahling · 4 years ago

Text

Becoming A Stark? (11) Peter Parker x Stark! femReader

Word Count- 1906

Warning- Swearing

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List

“Boss, Y/N has jumped in the shower with water on only hot.” Not the weirdest thing you’ve done since moving in but apparently weird enough that FRIDAY felt the need to tell him.

“Turn the water to her normal preference so she doesn’t scold herself.” He says, turning back to tinker with the machine in front of him.

“Boss she manually changed it back and told me not to ‘F with it again you piece of S AI’ direct quote boss.” That does sound a bit like what you would say but not to the AIs you’ve lived with. It’s still fall outside, and honestly feels more like summer so a hot shower makes little sense. A cold one sure, but burning? Especially with how hot the water at the tower goes? Maybe tinker time needs a pause and teenage time needs to start.

“FRIDAY what is her blood sugar right now?”

“375 and rising.” Well that might have something to do with everything. So he decides to wait in the kitchen for Y/N to get out of the shower. You come down stairs wearing a black shirt that says ‘Will Commit Sins For Sushi’, some athletic shorts and he’s happy to see your pump clipped on.

“How was school today?” He decides not to start with the blood sugar questions.

“I ripped my fucking site off and didn’t have back up supplies if that’s what you wanted to know.” You mumble as you go looking for some water.

“Why didn’t you call me? Or Happy?”

“So you can drive an hour round trip, pass.”

“Only takes about fifteen minutes to fly there. Medical emergencies trump any tinkering I might have been doing.”

“Why would you fly ther-“ you realize what he means. “Iron Man is not bring me my pump supplies.”

“If Spider-Man can be the friendly neighborhood crime fighter why can’t I?”

“You wouldn’t be fighting crime. You’d be pulling the over protective card.”

“I’d be saving your life.”

“It was only ripped out for the last two periods.”

“But with your commute that’s over three hours without insulin.”

“Hence why I took an injection and a fucking hot shower that your AI tried to fuck up.”

“Why hot?”

“Helps the insulin circulate faster.”

“Anything else that helps it come down?”

“Water and movement.”

“So I’m hearing we need a dance party.”

“What?”

“FRIDAY turn on Y/N playlist Tony Stark Can Rot.”

“How do you know my playlists?” You ask as Under Pressure by Queen starts playing.

“No time for questions. Only time for dancing.” Your dad says as he pulls you to a standing position. “Come on.” He smiles and sings along with the classic and you can’t help but move your hips with the beat you love. “Watching some good friends scream,”

“Let me out!” You scream sing along. You may feel like shit, but you can’t hate this dance party. You and Tony make it through Minority by Green Day, Back in Black by AC/DC, and Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash before your arrow finally points downward on Wallace.

“Even though I may not agree with the title of said playlist, you do have some good music on it.” Tony says as the two of you plop down on the couch.

“So my subpar music education isn’t the worst is what I’m hearing.”

“I’m just saying there is some AC/DC and some Black Sabbath, so I can allow you to listen to it.”

“How would you know what music is on my playlists unless you listened to it?” You ask, leaning against his arm.

“Because after you waltz around my house in Rolling Stones shirts I needed to make sure your music education wasn’t too badly screwed up.” He explains as if it’s no big deal.

“You could have just asked what else I like listening to.”

“Oh no, hearing your playlist names was much more fun.”

“And I bet you’re the boring person who just puts the date or something like that.” You tease him.

“So what if I do? I know which one is the more recent one.”

“That’s so boring.” You turn to sit on the couch so your legs are hanging over the back of the couch.

“Why do you kids sit like rules don’t apply?” Tony asks, thinking back to how Peter literally walked up the walls the other day while he was pacing before sitting on the ceiling the other day.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying, there’s a proper way to sit on a couch and it’s not with your feet up here.” He taps your feet, not explaining where his mind actually went. Keeping Peter’s powers a secret from you was a priority for him. You knew too many superheroes so far. But seeing as you seem to be determined to be friends with Spider-Man’s alter-ego, he was determined to keep you from the superhero side of things. The elevator pings and Pepper walks into the living room.

“Like father, like daughter I see.” She smirks as she sees you sitting upside down on the couch.

“What was that about a proper way to sit on a couch Dad?” You ask as the blood rushes to your head.

“No idea.” He gets up to greet Pepper, who rolls her eyes at his antics. “How are all the plans for moving day coming?”

“You would know if you attended the meetings you were supposed to attend now wouldn’t you?” Pepper reprimands him. “But everything is going the way it should. We just need to decide if we’re going to stay at the compound or if we want to find a different place in the city.”

“Wait we’re moving?” You flip over, finally hearing what they’re talking about.

“Well the tower is going to become a part of SI so it wouldn’t make sense for us to live here. So we’re between either moving to the Compound or finding a new place in Manhattan.”

“And you weren’t going to tell me that you were going to move me again?” You ask in disbelief.

“I could have sworn I mentioned it to you.” Tony says apologetically. “Do you want to place a vote on where we move to?”

“You’re incorrigible.” You say as you move out of the living room and towards your room that apparently won’t be yours for much longer.

“You said you were going to talk to her.” Pepper says looking at Tony. “You promised.”

“I was going to, but then her blood sugar was all out of whack and I was focusing on that and I lost track of time.” Tony tries to explain, but Pepper’s eyes see more than that. He had been avoiding it.

“Go talk to her.” Pepper pushes him towards where you just stormed off towards.

“Can’t I wait until she’s in range?”

“And have her be more mad at you? Absolutely not.” Pepper gives him another push. “Go talk to your daughter.”

You pull the quilt around your shoulders as you face the wall. You were finally getting comfortable living in the tower and you’re going to have to move again. If you move to the compound, there goes all your friends and your school. Tony probably will pick moving closer to his precious Avengers so you’re just going to have to suck up the fact that he’s going to uproot your entire life again. You feel the tears running down your cheek before you even realize you’re crying. Fuck high blood sugars. You’re not that upset about this whole thing, but with your stupid sugars all out of whack you can’t control anything it seems.

“Hey kiddo?” Your dad’s voice comes from the door, but you don’t say anything but pull the quilt tighter around you. “Kiddo, I need you to talk to me.”

“Fuck you.” You mumble from under your blankets.

“Ok I will give you that. You did talk to me. And I’m sorry I didn’t mention moving sooner, but honestly, it slipped my mind.” His hand falls to rest on your back on top of the quilt.

“Don’t touch me.” You say sharply, pulling away from him.

“Ok, I’m sorry.” He looks at the pile of blankets in front of him. He feels so lost. All he wants to do is go back to you lying upside down on the couch a few moments earlier. “What can I do to fix this?”

“Let me go back to Nana and Pops. Let everything go back to normal.” You mumble.

“Besides that.” He waits for something, anything to leave your mouth, but nothing does.”I’ll order you all the vegetarian sushi that New York has?” He waits for a reaction, but hears nothing except maybe sniffles. Did he make you cry? God he’s failing worse than he thought as a father. Guess he needs to take a different approach. “We don’t even have to leave Manhattan. Or we can move out to Queens. Maybe get a brownstone or something so you don’t have to go as far for school. I can add a lab anywhere. And Pep will be wherever we are so that doesn’t change.” The covers flap over.

“You aren’t going to just automatically choose moving to the compound?” He wants to push the hairs that are covering your forehead away, but after you got so upset the last time he touched you, he decides against it.

“Why do you think I would do that?”

“Because you would want to be with Avengers.”

“Pssssh. They can handle themselves. Right now I need to focus on my family. And that’s you and that’s Pep. Anyone else can take a number and wait their turn.” You stare him down, like you’re trying to decide if that’s true or not. But after a moment you throw your arms around him. It takes a second but his arms wrap around you and hold you to him. One of his arms wrap around your waist and the other rises up to smooth down your hair. “Plus if we move to Queens, I could just walk over to your school when you rip a site out. Wouldn’t even need the Iron Man suit.”

“Like you would give up the chance to wear the Iron Man suit.” You mumble into his shoulder.

“She’s right. You wear that suit all the times you can.” Pepper says from the doorway. “So are we moving to Queens?”

“Are you okay with moving to Queens?” Tony asks.

“If it keeps everyone in this family from fighting, yes.” Pepper says with a smile.

“Spider-Man might think you’re encroaching on his turf.” You mention.

“I think he and I can come to an agreement.” Tony says with a smile that you don’t understand.

“Right, like you know Spider-Man.” You say rolling your eyes. “He’s way too cool for you.” If only you knew, Tony can’t help but think to himself.

“I think Spider-Man and I would be great friends, I’ll have you know.”

“You’re too old to be friends with him. He’d yell yeet before throwing you off a building.”

“Maybe Steve. But I think Spider-Man and I would be on the same team.”

“Doubtful. Now someone promised me sushi, and you already made me cry once today, so...” You say looking at your father.

“Sushi it is.” He says, before placing a kiss on your forehead.

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway @iamaunicorn4704 @furiouspockettoad @daughter-of-stark @eternalharry @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff @sunnyoongles @cosmicqueenieb @sovereignparker @bbarnestan @teenwishes08

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

#peter parker #peter parker x stark!reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker fan fiction #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fan fic #peter parker fanfic #Pepper Potts #Tony Stark #tony stark can't be dead if you just don't let yourself believe it #tony stark daughter #tony stark x daughter!reader #tony stark x daughter!you #peter parker imagine #imanativeofswlondondahling #becoming a stark?

53 notes · View notes

crystalk17 · 4 years ago

Text

First Impressions Mean Everything/Lone survivor

A chapter involving Chesher learing more about his family and most imporantly Travis. These two have a rocky relationship, but what do you expect.

Warning: I honestly can’t find any so if you find any please let me know

Chesher took a few steps back just marveling at the titan who...did he just fall out of the vehicle? The boy had to stand back up on his feet taking a few steps back to make sure there was some distance between him and this new Zuvain. In all truth, he couldn't take his eyes off of this man who was now supposed to be related to him. The guy had odd red hair compared to his parents. The head of the house male had brown, almost grey hair while his wife had blond curly hair that she obviously just brushed through and left laying. In all honesty his wife looked a lot younger then her husband, the only thing that distinguished her age were the few wrinkles around her eyes that could honestly be mistaken for lack of sleep.

His new brother honestly didn't have anything special about him besides his height and bright red hair that would have belonged to a human who lived in Ireland. Everything else was honestly pretty common. His hair was short, he wore typical blue jeans that had a hint of tater to them like he was just working outside. There were unrecognizable darker patches that were probably from mud or water. Chesher doubted anyone their size recognized the abomination attached to his pants. Of all things, the male wore a typical t-shirt. It was plain dark navy blue. Nothing else. It's probably supposed to be an undershirt that the guy just threw on.

Chesher looked straight in front of him and the last thing he noticed just made a shiver run up his spine. He wore work boots. Tan steel-toed boots. It looked like the man just skinned and tanned the hide just this morning. To patch up the whole ensemble, the boots were also covered in mud, but more distinguishable than the jeans. Just by the way the guy was dressed, Chesher could guess he was a hard-working man, definitely from out in the country.

Chesher watched as the head of the family walked over towards the younger man and helped him back up to a standing position by grabbing him from the shoulder. Such power. Such strength that he could never understand or have in this world. Not ever again. The father figure brushed off his hands while walking over towards Miss Garcia. "Let's get the formalities out of the way." His wife followed behind.

Chesher's eyes went wide. "Wait. Ummm you're just going to leave...me here?" he took a few steps towards the man he still didn't even know a name for.

Miss Garcia turned around herself to address the behavior of the young child. "I am just taking these two inside to get things signed and processed through. You'll be fine."

"But..."

The giantess gave a stern looked towards Chesher. "You will be fine. This will not take long." it was very evident she wanted him to remain outside for some reason.

The boy sighed lowering his head down to the ground. "Fine." He watched as all three Zuvain walked back into the building already discussing information about today. He sighed once more allowing hair to fall in his face. This was going to be a long day.

He turned around to once again grab his materials when he froze at the sight. The youngest male was still present. Now thinking about it only three did enter the building, for some reason the twenty-year-old stayed outside with him. In full view, the male was now crouching on the ground getting too close for comfort. Instead of grabbing for him though, he already had something in his hand. His bag.

"Hey! Back off. Now." At this very moment, it honestly didn't matter that this Zuvain was a titan or that they were alone. Why would this stranger have the gall to grab his property without asking? He marched over with his fists curled in on themselves like he was prepared to punch the guy. Chesher stood in front of the giant's boot with a stern look of dismissal. "I said back off and drop it."

The redhead raised his head a bit looking directly towards the human in his presence. He seemed to instinctually get lower by getting on his knees then slowly lower himself to sit on the concrete. It was very evident the guy didn't mind the ground or getting his clothes dirty, but he did seem to do one action Chesher wasn't used to from a Zuvain. He leaned backward like he was trying to get some distance between himself and the human. All figures he ever came across always tried to make themselves bigger or intimidating, sometimes not even meaning too. This guy...was trying his best to seem smaller? Even though with his enormous size, of course, it didn't work, but the kid had to admit the gesture was a nice change of pace.

"Look, kid. I wasn't going through your stuff or anything. Calm down. Just trying to help." he held the pack with only two fingers trying not to crush any items, but not realizing the bag was opening from his movements.

"Will you knock it off! You're going to lose everything I own...just...just put it down."

The Irish looking man slowly places the doll-sized bag on the ground, but with how he handled even setting it down, the zipper started to rip apart revealing the contents inside, some even started to spill out. With a "are you kidding me!" Chesher ran over to scavenge the few things that skidded across the concrete trying to make sure all items were accounted for.

He bent down to collect a comb when he felt a presence right beside his own. Slowly tilting his head to the side he wanted to so badly jump back and run. In his field of vision, the giant's hand was right next to him, trying to pick up a few items without crushing them in his ginormous and overbearing fingers. His instincts told him to get away, to get away from the ginormous being right beside him, but instead, he took a deep breath in and slapped the man's hand. "I will get it. Just back off will you?"

Like an animal reacting to a human's touch, the titan retracted his hand and placed it into his lap. " Sorry was just trying to help." Since the human didn't want any help he just leaned his head in a hand and observed his movements. "You're a jumpy little guy aren't you?"

Chesher rolled his eyes at just the sound of the titan's voice. He didn't even care what he said really just the noises coming from his vocal cords we're getting on his nerves. The only response he could think of since he didn't listen to the full statement, was another sigh. He didn't look up at the redhead and just picked the items up from the ground. "I don't need your help."

"Well, how is that a way to treat the one person who is trying to be nice. Plus where you're going you may need quite a bit of help from me."

"I can handle myself!" He abruptly stood up to give the intimidating man a staredown.

"Didn't say you couldn't, just stating a fact. I will have to say the elders of our kind have said you humans all looked so cute. It didn't matter who you were, and may I say they were right."

Chesher closed his fists one more time hearing the statement from the man. He could feel his own nails dig into his skin leaving marks, nothing to scar but only a stress reaction so he didn't flip out in front of him. The shivers ran up his spine just from anger and rage. "Look. All of you creatures." he looked directly up at the man just preparing to let all of his anger out and not hold back, but he noticed there was a smile on his face. Not one of intimidation or mockery. More like "I just accomplished something I wanted and I'm proud."

"Got you to listen to me with that statement, didn't I? Maybe you won't ignore me in the future?"

This was honestly one strange guy. He hadn't tried to grab him, intimidate him, well on purpose, and just seemed to want Chesher to talk to him. "Your a weird one aren't you?"

"I try to be." he tilted his head a bit giving a comforting smile towards the small one. —————————————————————

He could feel every vibration of the instrument he was in. Even with his current surroundings being the hand of the twenty-year-old, he could feel the rickety tumblings of the tires against the pavement. Within the hour the couple came out of the building and announced to their son they were finished. Chesher told Miss Garcia his goodbyes, grabbed his bag, then looked towards the hand extended out to him. The titan still found ways to surprise him. He was so used to the giants just grabbing him, and he had the bruises to show proof of that. Cautiously, he climbed on with his only possession and forced his worries away. He just had to submit to the new "Families" power now. He honestly didn't have any other option.

This only lead to his new brother, he should probably learn his name, climbing in the back seat while holding Chesher to his chest. When he sat down he made sure to place the little guy on his lap like a child. It felt a bit demeaning, so he crawled over to the edge of the giant's leg, looking down. It wasn't that long of a drop. Slowly leveling his back so he could fall without damage, he jumped. There was no other choice he could make really. He tumbled onto the vehicle's bench seat with a roll. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have done that.

"You know, all you had to do was ask?" The redhead said watching the human with wide eyes. Chesher could tell he was a bit concerned with his reckless behavior, but in reality, if he thought that was reckless then the human was in for a world of trouble when he got to the house.

The human was brought out of his thoughts by the deep voice from the driver seat. "We honestly have about an hour drive back to the house. It's a small house out in the country."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I read the file just like you read mine." Chesher sat down on the cushioned surface, looking out the window the best he could. He could only make out what was in the sky or the tops of some items like telephone poles.

"Well, I doubt you have been at a place like this before. Country home, crops, we have horses, and even a dog"

"But don't worry about him. He'll be outside the whole time." The redhead chimed in.

"Yes. We couldn't really get a living arrangement for you so you will be sharing a room with Travis here for a time. Just until we can make arrangements that is."

Chesher assumes the twenty-year-old was the one he was talking about. So his name was Travis. He would have to remember that.

"Well I hate to ask mister but I didn't exactly get your name or your wife's."

"My apologizes." The head of the house said just barely looking behind him to get a good look at the human. "Names Sam and my wife's name is Bernice. Just call us whatever you feel comfortable calling us though." He immediately readjusted his head so he was looking out at the road.

Chesher sat in silence trying to take in everything. He has done this a hundred times, or at least it felt like, yet this time felt different. That scared, yet comforted him. Such conflicting feelings struggling for power. He didn't even know how to get used to this. The only thing he could tell himself was this will all change. Give them a few days and one of them will harm him. Just like the others.

He suddenly felt his body being lifted off of the cushion. He felt his feet dangle into the air and the protection of a surface underneath him leave. He frantically looks around at all sides. He knew this feeling all too well. The one referred to as Travis had plucked him up by his clothing and brought him into the air. Chesher knew all too well what to do. Instead of fighting and thrashing about, he grabbed the collar of his shirt to make sure it didn't cut off his circulation. Holding on with both hands, his feet dangled and kicked back and forth. He knew this would eventually happen, he just didn't think it would be so soon with how he was acting earlier.

Chesher then he felt his feet land on top of a hard surface. He moved his left foot back and forth, making sure it was a real surface and not just a trick of his imagination. He then felt the pressure from his shirt being pulled on released and quickly pulled his shirt down, looking all around. He stopped thrashing when his face meets that of the window.

"You're a lot jumpier then you try to portray yourself as. I was just placing you on the windowsill. Probably a better view from here than down there, especially since there is no giant blocking the view."

"Well warm me next time! And don't ever handle me like that again!" Chesher covered up his mouth as soon as it came out and turned his head to view the window. He couldn't bear to see the titans face after he just yelled at him. That's when the land came into view.

The human placed both hands against the glass and peered out. Before him were brown and green fields. Like that of meadows in a storybook. He could feel the vehicle suddenly pull off from regular pothole pavement to a dirt road. It went from smooth with some bumps, to a gravelly and jittery surface. He honestly had to slowly walk across the window sill with his arms out to make sure his balance didn't get the best of him and then clung to the edge just so he had something to grab.

He momentarily looked behind him towards Travis. He slowly extended a finger to show a gesture of goodwill and say I can help.

"Just back off." the boy remarked. He saw Travis shrug and retract his hand, but noticed a smirk was still present on his face. He could tell the redhead was trying not to laugh at the human's expense right now, but he did decline his help.

Chesher turned back around, still clinging to the side of the window, and watched as the house came into view. It was smaller than most Zuvain homes. It honestly just looked like an exact replica of a human country home. White with brown shingle roof. There was a small porch upfront, well small for them. He looked behind the house and noticed a cornfield, though he wasn't sure of that belonged to them or not. He was just surprised it was corn. The Zuvain didn't transfer many human foods to their size, it was too complicated. Then to tie the Homy feeling altogether, there was a barn that was left open with another vehicle parked in the front that looked like it was currently being worked on.

"Welcome home."

Second chapter done!!!! If you have any qustions for me or my OC’s I would love to hear them. My asks and inbox is always open. I am making a tag list so let me know if you want added for this story. There will be more!!!

13 notes · View notes

vaguely-gestures-to-the-void · 4 years ago

Text

Hindsight: My thoughts on Loki (2021)

As always, thanks for being here my friends. There’s definitely more nuanced discussion of this show, but I’m here for the vibes. Anyways, here’s my thoughts on Episode 3 of Loki. Bear in mind I hadn’t watched episode 4 before I wrote the review for 3. No hate on anyone/thing, it’s all my opinion.

Episode 3: LAMENTIS

Pre-title scene

I rioted when I heard Hayley’s voice. It’s a win for all of us.

C-20! Sylvie!

C-20’s lil dance was adorable. I love her.

I want Sylvie’s tie dye.

Is that Ralph Bohner?

The same place, but at night. Coincidence? I think not.

Sylvie’s powers have limits. She can’t search someone’s mind and take information, she needs them to willingly tell her though she can use her powers to do that.

TVA

Sylvie’s experienced. Always tie your hair into a bun before a fight.

Her music is nothing like what we’ve heard previously. It’s the Sylvie show folks.

The mural on the left side of the hall is the one from the credits scene.

The plaque above the elevators says ‘FOR ALL TIME ALWAYS’.

Even in the mural on the right side, the Time Keepers aren’t equal, the middle one takes up the most space.

Ravonna!

I love how their movements are similar. The head-snap-hair-flip combo is nearly identical, reflecting how they are the same person to some extent.

2077 Lamentis - 1

“Get off my leg!” SiblingTM energy.

“Goodbye, variant.” She sure has the Loki drama.

I finally remembered it’s called a TemPad. Rip.

“Don’t ever call me that.”

“Tech savvy?”

That’s so Ragnarok.

I love the music as we pan up to the planet. It’s the familiar, anxiety-inducing ticking for me lads.

“You idiot! This is Lamentis - 1.”

“I don’t know what that means!”

My siblings when I can’t restart the router (every country has an AT&T).

I like that it’s a moon that’s inhabited. It’s nearly always the planet, still not great for the people on it.

That slide to get under the dump truck was so smooth.

“So we’re a team now?” Jesus Loki needs friends. Probably a good therapist too.

“Didn’t need your help!”

“You’re so weird!”

I like the way Tom runs. Don’t know why. Just do.

Sidenote, my favourite running form is Chris Evans’.

Sylvie’s magic flickered so I genuinely think the enchantment didn’t work.

“Well then I’ll cut it out.” I like the way she says that. I am questioning so many things rn.

“Just because I have to work with you doesn’t mean I wanna hear your voice.” It’s ironic since they spend so much time talking about themselves.

“Alright, well, slow down… Variant.” They really play off each other’s egos to find weaknesses.

“You don’t know what you want.” Sylvie’s more straightforward in everything she does. She efficiently points out Loki’s flaws but when it comes to a goal, she’s meticulous.

“...just walk away.” Loki stops walking, but Sylvie does walk away. There is distance between them (for now).

I’ve had experience with mining towns like this one and whilst they weren’t so out-of-this-world (ya know) there is a tendency for rural and isolated communities to struggle with old/not maintained infrastructure. This is not everywhere, but it’s not uncommon from what I know. Even though these towns are a source of wealth, there isn’t distribution of the money and it’s a grim reality that’s being shown. I appreciate it.

The shot of them walking past a slab of that planet towards the hut is incredible. Wow.

The person in there is just waiting for their death. I’m going to be addressing a lot of the harsh realities in this episode folks so it won’t be so cheerful.

I understand that people weren’t so happy with this being a filler episode, but I think they got it right. It’s strange that a literal planet-moon collision doesn’t bring the tension that the hurricane did in the last ep, but by having an atmosphere that wasn't so omnius, they conveyed (to me at least) that hope was already lost. In the Roxxcart Disaster, the people believed that it wasn’t going to be the end. There’s desperation on Lamentis - 1 but as Sylvie said, the collapse of society occurs. That’s a large group of people realising that class divides will cause slaughter. It’s greed portrayed in two different ways, one being the integration of excessive capitalism into society, the other being social structure based on oppression. Not everyone’s reading into Loki like this but it’s a change from how Marvel usually approaches conflict.

We learnt about the characters and whilst I’m not a fan of when a plot line is moot (my bet is that Loki and Sylvie will be rescued next ep, making all the attempts to get off Lamentis - 1 pointless), it’s necessary for the characters to develop. The way Loki and Sylvie end up on Lamentis - 1 makes sense and the plot doesn’t feel forced.

“It’s remarkable that you made it as far as you did.”

Devils is recurring in this episode. Maybe this has implications on future episodes?

“Which one was that, diplomacy?” Why are their interactions so funny?

I don’t think I need to comment on the significance of the train station scene.

I would like to acknowledge that though this is good writing that’s relevant in the time it was released, we shouldn’t forget it’s coming from large corporations who aren’t perfect.

How do they just walk past the line?

The people who snitched were right in front of them.

Did the cat get Loki’s silvertongue? That was the most graceless lying I’ve ever seen.

Sylvie not sitting with her back to a door makes sense, but why won’t Loki go backwards on a train? They both have little quirks.

“That’s not a plan. That’s just doing a thing.” Loki went to the Thor school of planning, it’s Get Help all over again.

Loki’s exaggerated nods at the other guards lol.

Sylvie growls whenever she’s mad, it’s hilarious.

The close ups of their faces when the conversation gets personal and isn’t just trading jabs is great for conveying the authenticity of their answers.

Loki not pressing Sylvie when she clearly didn’t want to talk about what happened to her mother is something I appreciated.

Here’s to Tom for having to do magic for more than 10 years now. He’s so serious, I can only imagine how funny it is without the effects.

“Well she did.” Yeesh, has Loki gotten time to grieve?

Sylvie is genuinely impressive.

“Pity the old woman chose to die.”

“She was in love.”

I don’t quite understand what they were talking about then, I guess we’ll find out later?

Loki, why are you so unnecessarily dramatic?

I laughed. Who am I kidding, they’re dorks and I love them.

Loki is trying to find out anything, anyone who could be used against Sylvie.

Here’s to the postman, they’re probably dead but we appreciate Sylvie’s happiness anyways.

“A bit of both. I suspect the same as you.” AND THAT’S HOW YOU WRITE IN REPRESENTATION FOLKS!

Let’s just take our scraps and be happy, eh? It made my week.

They both need real relationships of any kind, guys.

“Love is… uh, something I might have to have another drink to think about.” Me whenever anyone asks me about my love life.

“You do realise… ...a civilisation’s only hope?” I think this was Sylvie’s way of making sure Loki’s (albeit grey) morals and drinking habits don’t interrupt her plan.

The train sure gives me Snowpiercer vibes.

Do I have to talk about Drunk Loki?

Tom’s singing voice is lovely.

Sylvie’s eyes shift nervously to the door and then back to Loki. She’s initially tense but she relaxes slightly though she knows she’s gonna have to clean up the mess.

“Nobody cares. It’s the end of the world.” Again, Loki’s headspace is one where existence is futile.

The green walls contrast the purple lighting nicely.

You can see plants (?) from the outside if you look out the windows. Talk about attention to detail.

Bruh what is the dagger about? Drunk Loki’s a comedic genius.

The descending notes in the background of Loki’s fireworks.

Sylvie’s smile when she goes to attack is animalistic. I’d like to see her character explored more in terms of how she views violence.

YEET.

“You’re right. I’m a god.” Loki’s defense mechanism is to state that his motives are above the understanding of others.

“You’re a clown.” Sylvie tells it as it is.

Loki and Sylvie’s reactions to the TVA contrast the most here. Sylvie is potentially motivated by vengeance or a need for revenge whilst Loki has resigned to numbing the pain (for now at least) as he comes to terms with his reality. The question of what drives you is so important for these characters, I’m excited to see whether they’ll find a common ground and wreak havoc on the sacred timeline.

Loki and Sylvie both struggle with communicating in a healthy way. Sylvie calls him out on his directionlessness and Loki tells her what may be the harsh reality of her plan. Neither of them are willing to accept it, but there’s potential for a strong bond if they do.

Sylvie’s scream lmao.

I love the colour of Loki’s pants.

Problem? Solution! Do thing! Is Sylvie’s method of thinking when all is lost.

Gosh I love the shots in this episode.

“That’s a pretty good life.” Sylvie’s definitely not lived as a royal, or not from what she remembers.

“I just need to know if I can trust you.” Sylvie giving up how she enchants people is an olive branch because as useful as the things that Loki told her may have been for manipulation, they both know the importance of her upper hand. But she only relents once Loki doesn’t have the TemPad. Later, when she asks whether she can trust Loki, it’s more of a reassurance because he’s already been vulnerable around her.

The actor’s body language and facial expressions are incredible. Loki’s eyebrow’s furrow slightly when Sylvie mentions C-20’s mind but Tom takes a second for the information to be processed rather than instantly reacting to Sophia’s next line. She does the same when Loki talks about the TVA workers being created. What skilled people they are.

The city is a wonderful piece of set design.

“We do, and you can.” They step into the light, neither of them have tunnel vision and are able to see a bigger picture.

“They’re gonna let these people die.” This show explores a side of Loki we haven’t seen before, his morality and compassion. He has grey areas that could be explored in the next season. It also points back to how Sylvie and Loki differ in their view of others. I think this is partially because of their childhoods. Loki was raised as a prince and cared about his people, but Sylvie doesn’t share that perspective (“...they usually survive”), maybe because of her past. Hopefully in the upcoming episodes we’ll get a bit more of her backstory.

That sequence is beyond words. The constantly rotating and revolving camera really hammers home that it’s a disorienting fight for their lives at the end of the world. I’m speechless, just watch it.

The music in that blue-purple-pink club was banging tho.

Loki and Sylvie’s posture, facial expression and general body movement is similar. The variant point is hammered home here.

It’s interesting how Loki is in shock/denial of the Ark being destroyed whereas Sylvie immediately leaves.

The end music of this episode is beautiful. I love how it all builds to leave us on the soft tones of Dark Moon.

No one’s interested, but my mum and I bonded over the Jim Reeves version of this song and the Bonnie Guitar one.

Ep 3 review

Short episode with not much going on other than character development. However, if the first two were anything to go by, this episode will have greater implications on the plot. The pacing of this show is a bit strange, but we may see this change in the next season.

I mentioned previously that it would be a shame if the entire plot of this episode was made irrelevant by how they get off Lamentis - 1 next ep. This show has been really good at keeping us on our toes with the writing so they probably won’t take turns that have been speculated.

Happy mid-season guys! The following two episodes were apparently Tom’s favourites so we can expect some mayhem up ahead. See you next time!

Here's the link to my Ep 2 review

#loki #loki review #loki (2021)#i've stayed inconsistent in all these tags and i'm not about to change #my opinion #opinion #loki spoilers #spoilers #spoiler

1 note · View note

youarejesting · 4 years ago

Text

Trapped

Editor: @janetfraiserdeservedbetter Rating: Teen and Up Genre: Mystery, Romance, Drama, Action, Angst, Paranormal. Pairing: Yoongi x Reader Summary: In Bightville there is never any nonsense, the scariest thing one might face is tripping at the roller-disco. But, when you move to the small town, crazy things start to happen. Suddenly people are going missing without any leads. It’s when your neighbor Seokjin goes missing that things get serious because now his friends suspect you!

Announcement: The ending for this series is gonna be a chefs kiss let me tell you. Also you know a chapter is going to be good when I get a beta/editor this lad is the bomb let me tell you.

[First] [Previous] [Masterlist] [Next]

Jimin was nervous; he didn’t know if you or Yoongi made it, but he could hear that spider thing was smashing its body against the door. The wood wouldn’t last much longer so the group pressed themselves against the bookshelf on the other side, hoping to hold it back for a little longer.

Just as suddenly as it had started, there was silence. It almost sounded as if the thing had scuttled away. They didn’t know why but the boys took that moment to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Seokjin asked.

“Yeah we are all good,” Hoseok said.

“Yoongi isn’t,” Jimin added, “he was out there with those things. How can we be sure he made it?”

“He must have,” Seokjin said. “He is smart. I’m sure he’s okay.”

“You know he values our lives above his own. He would live the most miserable life, if it made us happy.” Taehyung frowned, sounding haunted. “I dread to think what he would do to let us get away.”

“He is smart,” Seokjin repeated. “Don’t underestimate him just yet.”

“Johnny are you okay?” Jimin said after a tense moment, looking at the young man with a makeshift splint. He knelt beside the boy and the taller man nodded, wincing as Jimin touched his knee.

“I’m okay. Living off the adrenaline, I think.”

“We do have a problem.” Jungkook said, crouching by the door, frowning in thought. “When we were running, I looked back... Yoongi set the fire to the web.” The boys stared at him blankly. “The web was the portal in and out of this place. If it’s gone, we could be trapped here forever with those things.”

“It’s fine, we will figure a way to get out,” Seokjin said, determined to soothe the boy before he panicked. He pressed a hand to the man’s shoulder warmly. “There has to be a way out, there is always another way.”

“We just have to find Yoongi and Y/n first,” Taehyung whispered, ear pressed to the wall for any sound of movement. “Now might be our chance; whatever that thing is, is gone”

“Let’s hope,” Jungkook said, helping to slide the massive bookcase out of the way.

“We need a plan.”

“Our priority is to find Yoongi and Y/n and find a way out,” Jungkook said.

“And not die” Hoseok mumbled.

You looked at Yoongi, the two of you sat awkwardly on the desk; you didn’t know what to do or say after an experience like that.

“How are you feeling? I hope you aren’t in any pain... I am sorry things weren’t more romantic.” he fidgeted. “I don’t usually do these things, I respect women greatly, I respect you and I hope you don’t regret it, if you do regret it, I will not only apologize but I will stand by your side and help you process the emotions. It's not something you should go through alone.”

“This is honestly the most I have heard you speak to me,” you said, smiling a little.

“I guess you're right. What were we thinking we hardly know each other, this was highly inappropriate behavior...Just because we were so scared of dying, we latched onto the only thing we could control at the moment, I’m sorry...”

“Yoongi shut up,” You interrupted him, grabbing his hand. “It was good, don’t make things weird. Seriously it was nice, you were great; beyond great it was amazing and if you were interested I... would like to do it again sometime.”

He seemed relieved. “Would I be able to take you out on a date first? I hear king kong is playing at the drive-in...we could go. Together.”

“I would love that.” The two of you shared a smile but the moment was cut short when you heard whispers and footsteps in the hall.

You helped shove the desk out of the way and went to peek out; the boys were sneaking past and Johnny had his arm around Jungkook and Taehyung to support his weight.

“You’re alive” Jimin called, seeing you throw open the door.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” Seokjin waved a hand at the boy.

“Are you okay?” Hoseok asked you both in hushed tones. It took him only a moment before he spotted a mark on your neck causing you to blush. “Did they hurt you?”

“No,” you assured him quickly, hoping to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“You have a bruise on your neck?” Hoseok frowned, gesturing to his neck.

“No, it’s nothing,” you laughed nervously, moving your hair slightly over the mark, throwing Yoongi a glare who ducked his head, ears pink.

“I was trying to keep quiet,” he muttered. As he spoke, Hoseok reached forward and pulled your hair aside, crying out triumphantly.

“Right here, you have- is this a bite?”

“Hoseok, it’s nothing.” Yoongiprotested and he looked confused.

Jin snorted suddenly, grinning over at them. “Oh, so that’s what you two were doing in the Janitor’s closet!”

You were never so happy to hear a mysterious sound as you were then; a loud crash echoed from outside and the group crowded into the room. Through the dusty school windows, they could see the large, heaving figures crawling along the streets and up the sides of the buildings.

“We need a plan.” You whispered, pulling the others down when one of the things scampered up the wall of the school building, past the window.

“Well, we have to find a new way out of this hell hole since our last escape route went up in flames.” Jimin whispered back.

“I should have known this town was into some cult business,” you grumbled. “It was all over the house when we moved in. The old lady had a whole selection of crap in the basement.” The group looked at you suddenly. “I mean, it's worth a try.”

“I used to see these things around there all the time when I was a kid… I hate that place. Gives me the creeps.”

“Of course!” Namjoon clapped his hands. “There has to be another opening.”

[First] [Previous] [Masterlist] [Next]

Tags: @valmyarmy @knjkitten @jooniesdimples70307 @rosita7703

How to read/receive notifications later?

Follow my account and turn on the Notifications.

Add your username to the Taglist [HERE]

Reblog the story with a hashtag you will remember like #BTSDisco

Like this masterlist and try to find it later GoodLuck!

7 notes · View notes

sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years ago

Text

Sundance 2021: Day 5

Films: 4 Best Film of the Day(s): Judas and the Black Messiah

Prisoners of the Ghostland: For years now, Nicolas Cage has found projects that allow him — at this point, encourage him — to indulge his innermost acting Id. Never particularly one for thespian discipline before (with a few notable exceptions), he’s been freed of these petty restraints in favor of further and further unhinged “performances” that consist of his hyperbolic, twisted up line-readings and little more. For this film, he’s teamed up with Japanese gonzo auteur Sion Sono in a bizarre, cultural mash-up that includes western, samurai, comic book noir, and sci-fi all colliding together in a tedious heap. Playing largely without rules does allow for an exploration of creative impulses, but without narrative drive, or stakes of any real kind (beyond Cage’s character’s testicles — don’t ask), the film drowns itself in nonsensical, self-conscious oddities, with everyone seemingly taking the direction to “act weird!” until it all bleeds together. Even Cage’s various Cagisms (“Tes-ti-CAAAAL!”) get lost to the cacophony. Be careful what you wish for, Nic.

Cusp: The specific physical details change and evolve a bit, but much of the thrust of the American coming-of-age doc remains as fixed as a mountain range. Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s film, about a trio of teen friends growing up in small-town Texas over the course of a long summer, hits many of the usual sorts of points: With not much else to do, the kids amuse themselves with endless smoking, boozing, and drugging (and, this being Texas, an alarming amount of playing with firearms), get into and out of relationships they think might be love before they aren’t, and disagree vehemently with their parents, and the choices they’ve made in their lives. Still, Autumn, Brittney, and Aaloni each have their own burdens to carry — Autumn and Brittney are both abuse survivors, Aaloni’s father seems callous and harsh to all of his children to the point that they all hate him — and the intimacy with which Hill and Bethencourt’s camera captures their struggles and experiences is refreshingly candid, especially in the day of the endless social media montage. The young women are caught somewhere between child and adult, but unavoidably hurtling forward, an understanding we are all forced into accepting, but hasn’t yet hit them. “I’m sixteen,” one of them says near the end, “I have forever to go.”

Night of the Kings: On the evening of a blood-red moon at the MACA prison deep in the heart of the jungle in the Ivory Coast, a new, young inmate (Bakary Koné), having just been named “Roman” by the reigning Dangoro, Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu), is forced to tell a story to the rest of the inmates as an entertainment. As soon as he has finished, he’s been warned, he will be put to death. Ivory Coast director Philippe Lacote, who grew up in the city of Abidjan, where Roman’s story takes place, has created a sort of recrafting of Arabian Nights, with Roman as its Scheherazade. The thing is, as Roman begins to stammer out his story, attempting to elongate it as much as possible in order to stay alive, the inmates make it a fully interactive affair, jumping in to demonstrate the action Roman describes, breaking into songs glorifying the characters he creates, and responding favorably or unfavorably to every detail as he lays it out to them. In this way, Roman’s halting, confusing story — which changes time frames, and details as Roman rethinks them — becomes a collective experience of the entire prison, even as Lass (Abdoul Karim Konaté), a rival to the ailing Blackbeard, plans his overthrow. Ironically, Roman’s story might not rise up to the mythic elements he keeps trying to interject, but the film’s story — with its colorful cast of descriptive-name characters (Half-Mad, Razor Blade, Sexy, Petrol), magic realism components, and multilayered intrigue, plays like its own sort of myth.

Judas and the Black Messiah: It’s maybe one person out of 100 who would actually act in the best interest of everybody else instead of themselves. Which means there are about 99 who would look out for themselves, if push came to shove. Shaka King’s shattering film about Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the charismatic chairman of the Chicago sect of the Black Panther party in the late ‘60s, and William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), the man who would betray him to the FBI, is a testament to this most egregious human principle — memorialized, as the film’s title strongly asserts, in the Bible — and one of the confounding bedrocks of human civilization. Hampton was a young man when he became the chairman of his chapter, and his successes immediately grabbed the attention of J. Edgar Hoover (here played by Martin Sheen), who was obsessed with the idea that the Civil Rights movement had inlaid ties with the communists. Putting pressure on his Chicago office to diffuse Hampton, agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) brings in O’Neal, recently busted for impersonating a Fed, and offers him a chance at his freedom, but at the cost of playing snitch on “Chairman Fred.” King, who co-wrote the screenplay, boils to story down to its essence without getting needlessly choked in the details. We see Hampton’s savvy, and his ability to connect with people of any creed or color — easily, the most frightening element of his program to the FBI was the so-called “Rainbow Coalition” that banded together the Panthers with black street gangs, but also Puerto Rican groups, and, shockingly, all-white coalitions, all untied under the rubric of being poor and abused by Chicago’s notoriously corrupt and racist police department — but also, his absolute belief in keeping political power in the hands of the people, not the government. King’s film features absolutely blazing performances from its two male leads, in addition to a strong turn by Dominique Fishback, as Hampton’s wife, Deborah Johnson, and a strong, driving narrative focus that keeps the line taut, even if you know exactly what’s coming. King manages to portray Hampton in purely human terms, grounded in the reality of the struggle, and avoids needlessly deifying him in the process. It’s true, O’Neal, though the primary protagonist, remains more unexplored — this isn’t The Killing of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, exactly — but Stanfield gives enough breadth to the performance to keep the film properly balanced. It’s shatteringly good.

Sundance goes mostly virtual for this year’s edition, sparing filmgoers the altitude, long waits, standing lines, and panicked eating binges — but also, these things and more that make the festival so damn endearing. In any event, Sundance via living room is still a hell of a lot better than no Sundance. A daily report.

#sweet smell of success #ssos #piers marchant #films #movies #sundance 2021 #film festival #virtual #judas and the black messiah #prisoners of the ghostland #cusp #night of the kings

3 notes · View notes

tammyhybrid21 · 4 years ago

Text

Mummy's Gender

Sooo, we just discovered another bit of behind the scenes stuff.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RGz8e

Tadeo's apartment and for the most part it's all just really interesting. A better look at where he lives, his clutter and I will probably come back to all of that, since living space says a lot.

But-- there's actually something else here, that's actually brought me back to the topic of Mummy's gender. We've got the Word of God that explains he's nb/gender yes/ambiguously gendered. Mummy is the absolute queer representation in just that and his confirmed asexuality--

But!

I'm here because of some of the stuff in that link that just... sent me down into the rabbit warren if you will-- because of some of the questions it thus brings up about Mummy's gender again.

Which we already have the WoG for, but now there're additional questions

Questions brought up by this... because-- I don't really know what to even think of it tbh. For one thing, is this Mummy? And if not then who even is it?! But for the sake of this whole analysis we'll assume this mystery picture is Mummy(which then has other questions that I'll analyze in another rant, because Tad's closet?!)

Sooo time for me to talk all about how I feel about Mummy's whole gender presentation and identity and the whole ??? I felt initially seeing this. Starting with my analysis on his gender fluidity from before this was even there for me to factor in.

So straight out, my first impression, from Movie 2 was definitely that Mummy had some level of fluidity to his gender. I mean, between this flamenco dress and the whole playing as Sara bit-- And how at ease both times he is.

And yeah, in many ways, Mummy feels like he's beyond just a simple definition when it comes to gender. Fluid between his different "costumes" throughout the second movie. From his original outfit, to all the various outfits throughout the credits. Which, those aren't always the male version of recognizable cultural outfits. He's... incredibly fluid.

But--

It's not just the clothing.

Body. Language.

But also, I would LOVE to go much, much more in depth on how many of his Autism flags are-- what I like to mentally checkbox as the more feminine ones. Not all of them, but a good number. Which is actually in how he is in social situations, how most people think of, recognize Autism. Like yes, he's socially awkward, weird, doesn't get things. But he also masks, he watches people-- Just there's a big divide there.

A divide that is actually starker when you compare Mummy's autism to my established headcanon/assumption that Tad is also autistic. Which, this isn't just in how Tad suppresses those traits either, but in how each of them are a different variety of the socially awkward and you can see how Tad pulls away while Mummy-- not exactly pulling away so much as observing.

The body language is also a BIG one.

Body language, masking, and a lot of the more "open" I guess traits.

Which-- can either be socialization as a kid, or again, that's the stuff that little autistic girls do. We learn to put on a show and act, to be "normal" or at the least blend in to some degree. And with Mummy's position-- Not that he's doing that much blending in as of movie 2, but he definitely feels very "social chameleon".

At the same time-- there are some moments. Like this where I want to talk about something in regards to another slightly understated thing. But Tad does not deal well, at all with a situation being turned on him like this, also here-- just something I think about, and in following scenes is sort of the way it feels in regards to empathy and emotions.

Because here's the thing. In my experience. Autism isn't really about a lack of empathy, or understanding emotions, as much as it is-- "They're too big/too much, I don't know what to respond to".

Which, both of them have it. But deal in vastly different ways based mainly on one thing. Mummy actually lets himself stim. I mean, you do see a little with Tad here, in his body language, a bit with his hands-- but Tad kind of... shuts down later on. Which god that reminds me of a friend of mine-- Too much negative, can't focus, can't deal--

A very guy thing, when you don't want to face, or can't really deal with all the mess in your head. Just go sullen and forlorn.

WHICH THEN COUNTER...

We have Mummy, who sure we aren't seeing much but--

He comes into the movie explaining how he's been exiled. Which then reminds me of all my awkward coping strategies. If it's not running social simulations with toys, it's... to busy myself. Do anything, everything I can to not focus on what's bringing me down. Which yeah, yeah, procrastination.

But again, it's a difference between boys who tend to dwell or go all mopey, and girls who usually try to do at least something-- not to say that there aren't girls who go off and sulk as well but-- for the most part I've seen girls who busy themselves with something, anything. A book, writing, drawing, staying up all night to rant--

ANYWAY

Between his behaviour and fluidity in clothing, I was pretty sold, even before WoG that Mummy was definitely at the least genderfluid if not fully nb. Now we actually have the confirmation of those, so I don't think I need to dwell much more on all the checkboxes there.

https://elcultural.com/Enrique-Gato-y-David-Alonso-El-reto-ya-no-es-sorprender-sino-crear-empatia-con-los-personajes

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.20minutos.es/noticia/3099494/0/claves-tadeo-jones-segunda-pelicula/

I can just link to them and rather move on. To well... Let's round this off, by precluding this, since it'll mostly be the one scene, with it being another driving point to that difference of female/male dealing strategies. But also social simulations.

"You just need some Practice!"

Which now, let's actually talk more about this scene. I kind of glossed over it but... When he played Sara. FIRST, I think my rant about the voices being done dirty still stands. But secondly--

The thing that just flew over my head are well-- Berries don't make that shape, hats don't make that shape, BOTH wouldn't stay there with all the big movements he was doing(at the start and near the end), and suspenders DO NOT a good hold make. Soooo, what does that even mean for this scene?

I mean, I never dived into it before because honestly-- it's not like it was lingered or commented on, but with that picture, and the only information we have???

And more

Remains

Consistent.

Throughout the whole scene.

Which, there's no slippage, or pop out of the hat brim(if it's the hat?!). And if it's wrappings bundled up?? Again, slippage? And the shape as well... It's just really bewildering at a look of proper analysis, because what does this mean in addition to the already stated facts?

Which also, for this scene, that's his natural hair. At least we're pretty certain of that, since it's undisturbed by anything that's off. But just-- this sent me down a whole rabbit hole. But the thing is-- between movie one and movie two, the models did get upgraded, and honestly--

I could not for the life of me determine what's going on with regards to that. BUT-- We do know Mummy comes with sort of "natural binders" in terms of his wrappings and most likely wouldn't have to worry about all the health risks living people have in terms of presentation-- aside probably chafing after a while-- because that's a suffering you just can't avoid.

Soooo what does this all add up to?

Well, we know he's already confirmed nb, or at the least ambiguous according to the creators. Which I interpreted fluid even before I had that information. And now-- at the least, it looks like he might be Intersex.

Or else I'm missing something--

Which, this does reframe some of those WoG sentences a bit-- beyond just the nb angle.

So yeah!

Now the one question is just generally what does Mummy know about this, what's the terminology and just another layer of just needing more information in general for the context of all this. Aside the small things in the movies. I waaant actual history.

(I don't know, I spent all night screaming-- really hope people offer other words and analysis on this because I'm going to sleep now)

#Tadeo Jones #Mummy(Tadeo Jones)#THybrid Jones #Agender #LGBT #Genderqueer #I have a lot more to say but tbh I'm tired #Autism #Mummy's gender is honestly the biggest mystery #And that's okay #Gender #I'm tired and this isn't filtered #G'Night everyone I'm done

9 notes · View notes