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maxwell-grant · 3 years ago

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What are your thoughts on Jekyll/Hyde and his archetype of the human periodically changing into a monster ?

Jekyll & Hyde was the 2nd horror story I read following Frankenstein, I got it off the same library and it always stuck very strongly with me even before I got into horror in general. I even dressed up as Jekyll/Hyde as a kid for a school fair by shredding a lab coat on one side and asking my sister to make-up claw gashes on my exposed arm and paint half of my face, although in hindsight I think I ended up looking more like Doctor Two-Face than Jekyll/Hyde, but I was 12 and didn't have any Victorian clothing to use so I had to make do. The first film project I tried doing at film school was intended to be a modern take on Jekyll & Hyde, and I didn't get much farther than a couple of discarded scripts

Much like Frankenstein, Mr Hyde as a character and a story is something that's kind of baked into everything I do artistically. And it's not just me, as even in pop culture itself, none of us can escape Mr Hyde. I would go so far as to argue Mr Hyde may be the single most significant character created by victorian fiction, if only by the sheer impact and legacy the character's had.

(Fan-art by guilhermefranco)

Part of what makes Mr Hyde such a powerful and lasting icon of pop culture is that the very premise of the book invites a personal reading that's gonna vary from person to person. Because everyone's familiar with the basic twist of the story, that it's a conflict of duality, of the good and evil sides, but everyone has a more personal idea of what those entail. Some people make the story more about class. A lot of readings laser-focus on sex and lust as the driving force, and there's also a lot of readings of Mr Hyde that tackle it to explore a more gendered perspective, and so forth.

I don't particularly take much notice of the Jekyll & Hyde adaptations partially because the novel's premise and themes have become baked so throughly into pop culture and explored in so many different and interesting ways, that I'm not particularly starving for good Jekyll & Hyde adaptations the way I am for Dracula and Frankenstein. The Fredric March film in particular is one that orbits my head less because of the film itself (although I do recommend it), but because of one specific scene, and that's when Jekyll first transforms into Hyde on screen.

Out of all the things they could have shown him doing right that second, they instead took the time to show him enjoying the rain.

Just Hyde taking off his hat and letting it all cascade on his face with this sheer enthusiasm like he's never been to the rain before, never enjoyed it before, and now that he's free from being Jekyll, he gets to enjoy life like he never has before. It's such an oddly humanizing moment to put amidst a horror movie, in the scene where you're ostensibly introducing the monster to the audience, and it makes such a stark contrast to the rest of the film where Hyde is completely irredeemable, but I think it's that contrast that makes the film's take on Hyde work so well even with it's diverging from the source material, even if I don't particularly like in general interpretations of Hyde that are focused on a sexual aspect.

Because one, it understands that Jekyll was fundamentally a self-serving coward and not a paragon of goodness, and two, it also understands one of the things that makes Hyde scary: He wants what all of us want, to live and be happy. He's happy when he leaves the lab and dances around in the rain like a giddy child, he's happy when he goes to places Jekyll couldn't dream of showing up, he's happy as a showgirl-abusing sexual predator. Hyde is all wants, all the time, and there's not that much difference between his wants, his domineering possessiveness, and the likes exhibited by Muriel's father and Jekyll's own within the very same film, which also works to emphasize one of the other ideas of the original story, that Edward Hyde doesn't come from nowhere. That no monster is closer to humanity than Mr Hyde, because he is us. He is the thing that Jekyll refused to take responsability for until it was too late.

(Art by LorenzoMastroianni)

While many of the ideas that defined Mr Hyde had already been explored in pop culture beforehand, Hyde popularized and redefined many of them in particular by modernizing the idea. He was the werewolf, the doppelganger, The Player On The Other Side, except he came from within. He was not transformed by circumstance, he made himself that way, and the elixir merely brought out something already inside his soul. To acknowledge that he's there is to acknowledge that he is you, and to not do that is to either lose to him, or perish. Hyde was there to address both the rot settling in Victorian society as well as grappling concerns over Darwinian heritage, of the realization that man has always had the beast inside of him (it's no accident that Hyde's main method of murder is by clubbing people to death with his cane like a caveman).

I've already argued on my post about Tarzan that the Wild Man archetype, beginning with Enkidu of The Epic of Gilgamesh, is the in-between man and beast, between superhero and monster, and that Mr Hyde is an essential component of the superhero's trajectory, as the creature split in between. That stories about dual personalities, doppelgangers, the duality of the soul, the hero with a day job and an after dark career, you can pinpoint Hyde as a turning point in how all of these solidified gradually in pop culture. And I've argued otherwise that The Punisher, for all that his image and narrative points otherwise, is ultimately just as much of a superhero as the rest of them, even if no one wants to admit it, drawing a parallel between The Punisher and Mr Hyde. And he's far from the only modern character that can invite this kind of parallel.

The idea of a regular person periodically or permanently transforming into, or revealing itself to be, something extraordinary and fantastic and scary, grappling with the divide it causes in their soul, and questions whether it's a new development or merely the truest parts of themselves coming to light at last, and the effects this transformation has for good and bad alike. The idea of a potent, dangerous, unpredictable enemy who ultimately is you, or at least a facet of you and what you can do. That these are bound to destroy each other if not reconciled with or overcome.

You know what are my thoughts on the archetype of "human periodically changing into a monster" are? Look around you and you're gonna see the myriad ways The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde's themes have manifested in the century and a half since the story's release. Why it shouldn't be any surprise whatsoever that Mr Hyde has become such an integral part of pop culture, in it's heroes and monsters alike. Why we can never escape Mr Hyde, just as Jekyll never could.

It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character that almost every country in the world has learned to fear and despise. Our Barbie-doll president, with his Barbie-doll wife and his boxful of Barbie-doll children is also America's answer to the monstrous Mr. Hyde.

He speaks for the Werewolf in us; the bully, the predatory shyster who turns into something unspeakable, full of claws and bleeding string-warts on nights when the moon comes too close… - Hunter S. Thompson

There is a scene in the movie Pulp Fiction that explains almost every terrible thing happening in the news today. And it's not the scene where Ving Rhames shoots that guy's dick off. It's the part where the hit man played by John Travolta is talking about how somebody vandalized his car, and says this:

"Boy, I wish I could've caught him doing it. I'd have given anything to catch that asshole doing it. It'd been worth him doing it, just so I could've caught him doing it."

That last sentence is something everyone should understand about mankind. After all, the statement is completely illogical -- revenge is supposed to be about righting a wrong. But he wants to be wronged, specifically so he'll have an excuse to get revenge. We all do.

Why else would we love a good revenge movie? We sit in a theater and watch Liam Neeson's daughter get kidnapped. We're not sad about it, because we know he's a badass and he finally has permission to be awesome. Not a single person in that theater was rooting for it to all be an innocent misunderstanding. We wanted Liam to be wronged, because we wanted to see him kick ass. It's why so many people walk around with vigilante fantasies in their heads.

Long, long ago, the people in charge figured out that the easiest and most reliable way to bind a society together was by controlling and channeling our hate addiction. That's the reason why seeing hurricane wreckage on the news makes us mumble "That's sad" and maybe donate a few bucks to the Red Cross hurricane fund, while 9/11 sends us into a decade-long trillion-dollar rage that leaves the Middle East in flames.

The former was caused by wind; the latter was caused by monsters. The former makes us kind of bummed out; the latter gets us high.

It's easy to blame the news media for pumping us full of stories of mass shootings and kidnapped children, but that's stopping one step short of the answer: The media just gives us what we want. And what we want is to think we're beset on all sides by monsters.

The really popular stories will always feature monsters that are as different from us as possible. Think about Star Wars -- what real shithead has ever referred to himself as being on "the dark side"? In Harry Potter and countless fantasy universes, you have wizards working in "black magic" and the "dark arts." Can you imagine a scientist developing some technology for chemical weapons or invasive advertising openly thinking of what he does as "dark science"? Can you imagine a real world leader naming his headquarters "The Death Star" or "Mount Doom"?

Of course not. But we need to believe that evil people know they're evil, or else that would open the door to the fact that we might be evil without knowing it. I mean, sure, maybe we've bought chocolate that was made using child slaves or driven cars that poisoned the air, but we didn't do it to be evil -- we were simply doing whatever we felt like and ignoring the consequences. Not like Hitler and the bankers who ruined the economy and those people who burned the kittens -- they wake up every day intentionally dreaming up new evils to create. It's not like Hitler actually thought he was saving the world.

So no matter how many times you vote to cut food stamps and then use the money to buy a boat, you could still be way worse. You could, after all, be one of those murdering / lazy / ignorant / greedy / oppressive monsters that you know the world is full of, and that only your awesome moral code prevents you from turning into at any moment. And those monsters are out there.

They have to be. Because otherwise, we're the monsters - 5 Reasons Humanity Desperately Wants Monsters To Be Real, by Jason Pargin

(Two-Face sequence comes from the end of Batman Annual #14: Eye of the Beholder)

For good or bad, Hyde has become omnipresent. He's a part of our superheroes, he's a part of our supervillains, he's in our monsters. He lives and prattles in our ears, sometimes we need him to survive, and sometimes we become Hyde even when we don't need to, because our survival instincts or base cruelties or desperation brings out the worst in us. Sometimes we can beat him, and sometimes he's not that bad. Sometimes we do need to appease him and listen to what he says, about us and the world around us. And sometimes we need to do so specifically to prove him wrong and beat him again.

But he never, ever goes away, as he so accurately declares in the musical

Do you really think That I would ever let you go...

Do you think I'd ever set you free?

If you do, I'm sad to say It simply isn't so

You will never get away FROM MEEEEEE

(Art by Akreon on Artstation)

#tw: injury #tw: blood #tw: disfigurement #replies tag #dr jekyll and mr hyde #the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde #robert louis stevenson #two-face #batman #monster tag #universal monsters #horror tag

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grigori77 · 4 years ago

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Summer 2020′s Movies - My Top Ten Favourite Films (Part 2)

10. BODY CAM – in the face of the current pandemic, viral outbreak cinema has become worryingly prescient lately, but as COVID led to civil unrest there were a couple of films in this summer that REALLY seemed to me to put their finger on the pulse of another particularly shitty zeitgeist. Admittedly this one highlights a problem that’s been around for a good while, but it came along at just the right time to gain particularly strong resonance, filtering its message into the most reliable form of allegorical social commentary – horror. The vengeful ghost trope has become pretty familiar over the past decade or so, but by marrying it with the corrupt cop thriller veteran horror screenwriter Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact) has given it a nice fresh spin, and the end result was, for me, a real winner. Mary J. Blige plays troubled LAPD cop Renee Lomito-Smith, back on the beat after an extended hiatus following a particularly harrowing incident, just as fellow officers from her own precinct begin to die violent deaths under mysterious circumstances, and the only clues are weird, haunting camera footage that only Renee and her new partner, rookie Danny Holledge (Paper Towns and Death Note’s Natt Wolff), manage to see before it inexplicable wipes itself. Something supernatural is stalking the City of Angels at night, and it’s got a serious grudge against local cops as the increasingly disturbing investigation slowly brings an act of horrific police brutality to light, until Renee no longer knows who in her department she can trust. This is one of the most insidious scare-fests I’ve enjoyed so far this year, sophomore director Malik Vitthal (Imperial Dreams) weaving an effective atmosphere of pregnant dread and wire-taut suspense while delivering some impressively hair-raising shocks (the stunning minimart sequence is the film’s undeniable highlight), while the ghostly threat is cleverly thought-out and skilfully brought to “life”. Blige delivers another top-drawer performance, giving Renee a winning combination of wounded fragility and steely resolve that makes for a particularly compelling hero, while Wolff invests Danny with skittish uncertainty and vulnerability in one of his strongest performances to date, and Dexter star David Zayas brings interesting moral complexity to the role of their put-upon superior, Sergeant Kesper. In these times of heightened social awareness, when the police’s star has become particularly tarnished as unnecessary force, racial profiling and cover-ups have become major hot-button topics, the power and relevance of this particular slice of horror cinema cannot be denied.

9. BLOOD QUANTUM – it certainly has been a great year for horror, and for most of the summer this was the genre leader, a compellingly fresh take on the zombie outbreak genre with a killer hook. Canadian writer-director Jeff Barnaby (Rhymes for Young Ghouls) has always clung close to his Native American roots, and he brings strong social relevance to the intriguing early 80s Canadian setting as a really nasty zombie virus wreaks havoc in the Red Crow Indian Reservation and its neighbouring town. It soon becomes clear, however, that members of the local tribe are immune to the infection, a revelation with far-reaching consequences as the outbreak rages unchecked and society begins to crumble. Barnaby pulls off some impressive world-building and creates a compellingly grungy post-apocalyptic vibe as the story progresses, while the zombies themselves are a visceral, scuzzy bunch, and there’s plenty of cracking set-pieces and suitably full-blooded kills to keep the gore-hounds happy, while the horror has real intelligence behind it, the script posing interesting questions and delivering some uncomfortable answers. The characters, meanwhile, are a well-drawn, complex bunch, no black-and-white saviours among them, any one of them capable of some pretty inhuman horrors when the chips are down, and the cast, an interesting mix of seasoned talent and unknowns, all excel in their roles – Michale Greyeyes (Fear the Walking Dead) and Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant) are the closest things the film has to real heroes, the former a fallible everyman as Traylor, the small-town sheriff who’s just trying to do right by his family, the latter unsure of himself as his son, put-upon teenage father-to-be Joseph; meanwhile, Olivia Scriven is tough but vulnerable as his pregnant white girlfriend Charlie, Stonehorse Lone Goeman is a grizzled badass as tough-as-nails tribal elder Gisigu, and Kiowa Gordon (probably best known for playing a werewolf in the Twilight movies) really goes to the dark side as Joseph’s delinquent half-brother Lysol, while there’s a memorably subtle turn from Dead Man’s Gary Farmer as unpredictable loner Moon. This is definitely one of the year’s darkest films – by and large playing the horror straight, it tightens the screws as the situation grows steadily worse, and almost makes a virtue of wallowing in its hopeless tone – but there’s a fatalistic charm to all the bleakness, even in the downbeat yet tentatively hopeful climax, while it’s hard to deny the ruthless efficiency of the violence on display. This certainly isn’t a horror movie for everyone, but those with a strong stomach and relatively hard heart will find much to enjoy here. Jeff Barnaby is definitely gonna be one to watch in the future …

8. PALM SPRINGS – the summer’s comedy highlight kind of snuck in under the radar, becoming something of an on-demand secret weapon with all the cinemas closed, and it definitely deserves its swiftly growing cult status. You certainly can’t possibly believe it’s the feature debut of director Max Barbakow, who shows the kind of sharp-witted, steady-handed control of his craft that’s usually the province of far more experienced talents … then again, much of the credit must surely go to seasoned TV comedy writer Andy Siara (Lodge 49), for whom this has been a real labour of love he’s been tending since his film student days. Certainly all that care, nurture and attention to detail is up there on the screen, the exceptional script singing its irresistible siren song from the start and providing fertile ground for its promising new director to spread his own creative wings. The premise may be instantly familiar – playing like a latter-day Saturday Night Live take on Groundhog Day (Siara admits it was a major influence), it follows the misadventures of Sarah (How I Met Your Mother’s Cristin Miliota), the black sheep maid of honour at her sweet little sister Tala’s (Riverdale’s Camila Mendes) wedding to seemingly perfect hunk Abe (Supergirl’s Superman, Tyler Hoechlin), as she finds herself repeating the same high-stress day over and over again after being trapped in a mysterious cosmic time-loop along with slacker misanthrope Nyles (Brooklyn Nine Nine megastar Andy Samberg), who’s been stuck in this same situation for MUCH longer – but in Barbakow and Siara’s hands it feels fresh and intriguing, and goes in some surprising new directions before the well-worn central premise can outstay its welcome. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the cast are uniformly excellent – Miliota is certainly the pounding emotional heart of the film, effortlessly lovable as she flounders against her lot, then learns to accept the unique possibilities it presents, before finally resolving to find a way out, while Samberg has rarely been THIS GOOD, truly endearing in his sardonic apathy as it becomes clear he’s been stuck like this for CENTURIES, and they make an enjoyably fiery couple with snipey chemistry to burn; meanwhile there’s top-notch support from Mendes and Hoechlin, The OC’s Peter Gallagher as Sarah and Tala’s straight-laced father, the ever-reliable Dale Dickey, a thoroughly adorable turn from Jena Freidman and, most notably, a full-blooded scene-stealing performance from the mighty J.K. Simmonds as Roy, Nyles’ nemesis, who he inadvertently trapped in the loop before Sarah and is, understandably, none too happy about it. This really is an absolute laugh-riot, today’s more post-modern sense of humour allowing the central pair (and their occasional enemy) to indulge in even more extreme consequence-free craziness than Bill Murray ever got away with back in the day, but like all the best comedies there’s also a strong emotional foundation under the humour, leading us to really care about these people and what happens to them, while the story throws moments of true heartfelt power at us, particularly in the deeply cathartic climax. Ultimately this was one of the summer’s biggest surprises, a solid gold gem that I can’t recommend enough.

7. THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME – the summer’s other heavyweight Zeitgeist fondler is a deeply satirical chunk of speculative dystopian sci-fi clearly intended as a cinematic indictment of Trump’s broken America, but it became far more potent and prescient in these … ahem … troubled times. Adapted by screenwriter Karl Gadjusek (Oblivion, Stranger Things, The King’s Man) from the graphic novel by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini for underrated schlock-action cinema director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3, Colombiana, the last two Taken films), this Netflix original feature seemed like a fun way to kill a cinema-deprived Saturday night in the middle of the Lockdown, but ultimately proved to have a lot more substance than expected. It’s powered by an intriguing premise – in a nearly lawless 2024, the US government is one week away from implementing a nationwide synaptic blocker signal called the API (American Peace Initiative) which will prevent the public from being able to commit any kind of crime – and focuses on a strikingly colourful bunch of outlaw antiheroes with an audacious agenda – prodigious Detroit bank robber Bricke (Édgar Ramiréz) is enlisted by Kevin Cash (Funny Games and Hannibal’s Michael Carmen Pitt), a wayward scion of local crime family the Dumois, and his hacker fiancée Shelby Dupree (Material Girl’s Anna Brewster) to pull off what’s destined to be the last great crime in American history, a daring raid on the night of the signal to steal over a billion dollars from the Motor City’s “money factory” and then escape across the border into Canada. From this deceptively simple premise a sprawling action epic was born, carried along by a razor sharp, twisty script and Megaton’s typically hyperbolic, showy auteur directing style and significant skill at crafting thrillingly explosive set-pieces, while the cast consistently deliver quality performances. Ramiréz has long been one of those actors I really love to watch, a gruff, quietly intense alpha male whose subtle understatement hides deep reserves of emotional intensity, while Dupree takes a character who could have been a thinly-drawn femme fetale and invests her with strong personal drive and steely resolve, and there’s strong support from Neil Blomkampf regulars Sharlto Copley and Brandon Auret as, respectively, emasculated beat cop Sawyer and brutal Mob enforcer Lonnie French, as well as a nearly unrecognisable Patrick Bergin as local kingpin (and Kevin’s father) Rossi Dumois; the film is roundly stolen, however, by Pitt, a phenomenal actor I’ve always thought we just don’t see enough of, here portraying a spectacularly sleazy, unpredictable force of nature who clearly has his own dark agenda, but whom we ultimately can’t help rooting for even as he stabs us in the back. This is a cracking film, a dark and dangerous thriller of rare style and compulsive verve that I happily consider to be Megaton’s best film to date BY FAR – needless to say it was a major hit for Netflix when it dropped, clearly resonating with its audience given what’s STILL going on in the real world, and while it may have been roundly panned in reviews I think, like some of the platform’s other more glossy Original hits (Bright springs to mind), it’s destined for a major critical reappraisal and inevitable cult status before too long …

6. HAMILTON – arriving just as Black Lives Matter reached fever-pitch levels, this feature presentation of the runaway Broadway musical smash-hit could not have been better timed. Shot over three nights during the show’s 2016 run with the original cast and cut together with specially created “setup shots”, it’s an immersive experience that at once puts you right in amongst the audience (at times almost a character themselves, never seen but DEFINITELY heard) but also lets you experience the action up close. And what action – it’s an incredible show, a thoroughly fascinating piece of work that reads like something very staid and proper on paper (an all-encompassing biographical account of the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) but, in execution, becomes something very different and EXTREMELY vital. The execution certainly couldn’t be further from the usual period biopic fare this kind of historical subject matter usually gets (although in the face of recent top-notch revisionist takes like Marie Antoinette, The Great and Tesla it’s not SO surprising), while the cast is not at all what you’d expect – with very few notable exceptions the cast is almost entirely people of colour, despite the fact that the real life individuals they’re playing were all very white indeed. That said, every single one of them is an absolute revelation – the show’s writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (already riding high on the success of In the Heights) carries the central role of Hamilton with effortless charm and raw star power, Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Murder On the Orient Express) is duplicitously complex as his constant nemesis Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights, Moana, Bull) oozes integrity and nobility as his mentor and friend George Washington, Phillipa Soo is sweet and classy as his wife Eliza while Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Jacks, Altered Carbon) is fiery and statuesque as her sister Angelica Schuyler (the one who got away), and Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter) consistently steals every scene he’s in as fiendish yet childish fan favourite King George III; ultimately, however, the show (and the film) belongs to veritable powerhouse Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, TV’s Snowpiercer) in a spectacular duel role, starting subtly but gaining scene-stealing momentum as French Revolutionary Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, before EXPLODING onto the stage in the second half as indomitable eventual American President Thomas Jefferson. Not having seen the stage show, I was taken completely by surprise by this, revelling in its revisionist genius and offbeat, quirky hip-hop charm, spellbound by the skilful ease with which is takes the sometimes quite dull historical fact and skews it into something consistently entertaining and absorbing, transported by the catchy earworm musical numbers and thoroughly tickled by the delightfully cheeky sense of humour strung throughout (at least when I wasn’t having my heart broken by moments of raw dramatic power). Altogether it’s a pretty unique cinematic experience I wish I could have actually gotten to see on the big screen, and one I’ve consistently recommended to all my friends, even the ones who don’t usually like musicals. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t need a proper Les Misérables style screen adaptation – this is about as perfect a presentation as the show could possibly hope for.

5. SPUTNIK – the summer’s horror highlight (despite SERIOUSLY tough competition) is a guaranteed sleeper hit that I almost totally missed, stumbling across the trailer one day on YouTube and being completely bowled over by its potential, prompting me to hunt it down by any means necessary. The feature debut of Russian director Egor Abramenko, this first contact sci-fi chiller is about as far from E.T. as it’s possible to get, sharing some of the same DNA as Carpenter’s The Thing but proudly carving its own path with consummate skill and definitely signalling great things to come from its brand new helmer and relative unknown screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev. Oksana Akinshina (probably best known in the West for her powerful climactic cameo in The Bourne Supremacy) is the beating heart of the film as neurophysiologist Tatyana Yuryevna Klimova, brought in to aid in the investigation in the Russian wilderness circa 1983 after an orbital research mission goes horribly wrong. One of the cosmonauts dies horribly, while the other, Konstantin (The Duelist’s Pyotr Fyodorov) seems unharmed, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s now playing host to something decidedly extraterrestrial and potentially terrifying, and as Tatyana becomes more deeply embroiled in her assignment she comes to realise that her superiors, particularly mysterious Red Army project leader Colonel Semiradov (The PyraMMMid’s Fyodor Bondarchuk), have far darker plans for Konstantin and his new “friend” than she could ever imagine. This is about as dark, intense and nightmarish as this particular sub-genre gets, a magnificently icky body horror that slowly builds its tension as we’re gradually exposed to the various truths and the awful gravity of the situation slowly reveals itself, punctuated by skilfully executed shocks and some particularly horrifying moments when the evils inflicted by the humans in charge prove to be far worse than anything the alien can do, while the ridiculously talented writers have a field day pulling the rug out from under us again and again, never going for the obvious twist and keeping us guessing right to the devastating ending, while the beautifully crafted digital creature effects are nothing short of astonishing and thoroughly creepy. Akinshina dominates the film with her unbridled grace, vulnerability and integrity, the relationship that develops between Tatyana and Konstantin (Fyodorov delivering a beautifully understated turn belying deep inner turmoil) feeling realistically earned as it goes from tentatively wary to ultimately, tragically bittersweet, while Bondarchuk invests the Colonel with a subtly nuanced air of tarnished authority and restrained brutality that makes him one of my top screen villains for the year. Guaranteed to go down as one of 2020’s great sleeper hits, I can’t speak of this film highly enough – it’s a genuine revelation, an instant classic for whom I’ll sing its praises for the remainder of the year and beyond, and I wish utmost success to all the creative talents involved in the future. The Invisible Man still rules the roost in the year’s horror stakes, but this runs a VERY close second …

4. GREYHOUND – when the cinemas closed back in March, the fate of many of the major summer blockbusters we’d been looking forward to was thrown into terrible doubt. Some were pushed back to more amenable dates in the autumn or winter, others knocked back a whole year to fill summer slots for 2021, but more than a few simply dropped off the radar entirely with the terrible words “postponed until further notice” stamped on them, and I lamented them all, this one in particular. It hung in there longer than some, stubbornly holding onto its June release slot for as long as possible, but eventually it gave up the ghost too … but thanks to Apple TV+, not for long, ultimately releasing less than a month later than intended. Thankfully the final film was worth the fuss, a taut World War II suspense thriller that’s all killer, no filler – set during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic, it portrays the constant life-or-death struggle faced by the Allied warships assigned to escort the transport convoys as they crossed the ocean, defending their charges from German U-boats. Adapted from C.S. Forester’s famous 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by Tom Hanks and directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), the narrative focuses on the crew of the escort leader, American destroyer USS Fletcher, codenamed Greyhound, and in particular its captain, Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), a career sailor serving his first command. As they cross “the Pit”, the most dangerous mid stretch of the journey where they spend days without air-cover, they find themselves shadowed by “the Wolf Pack”, a particularly cunning group of German subs that begin to pick away at the convoy’s stragglers. Faced with daunting odds, a dwindling supply of vital depth-charges and a ruthless, persistent enemy, Krause must make hard choices to bring his ships home safe … jumping into the thick of the action within the first ten minutes and maintaining that tension for the remainder of its trim 90-minute run, this is screen suspense par excellence, a sleek textbook example of how to craft a compelling big screen knuckle-whitener with zero fat and maximum reward, delivering a series of desperate naval scraps packed with hide-and-seek intensity, heart-in-mouth near-misses and fist-in-air cathartic payoffs by the bucket-load. Hanks is subtly magnificent, the calm centre of the narrative storm as a supposed newcomer to this battle arena who could have been BORN for it, bringing to mind the similarly unflappable turn he delivered in Captain Phillips and certainly not suffering by comparison; by and large he’s the focus point, but other crew members do make strong (if sometimes quite brief) impressions, particularly Stephen Graham as Krause’s reliably seasoned XO, Lt. Commander Charlie Cole, The Magnificent Seven’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Just Mercy’s Rob Morgan, while Elisabeth Shue does a lot with a very small part in brief flashbacks as Krause’s fiancée Evelyn. Relentless, powerful, exhilarating and thoroughly unforgettable, this was one of the true action highlights of the summer, and one hell of a war flick. I’m so glad it made the cut for the season …

3. PROJECT POWER – with Marvel and DC pushing their tent-pole titles back into late autumn in the face of COVID, the usual superhero antics we’ve come to expect over the main blockbuster season were pretty thin on the ground, leading us to find our geeky fan thrills elsewhere. Unfortunately, pickings were frustratingly slim – Korean comic book actioner Gundala was entertaining but workmanlike, while Thor AU-take Mortal was underwhelming despite strong direction from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, and I’ve already made my feelings clear on the frustration of The New Mutants – thank the Gods, then, for Netflix, once again riding to the rescue with this enjoyably offbeat super-thriller, which takes an intriguing central premise and really runs with it. New designer drug Power has hit the streets of New Orleans, able to give anyone who takes it a superpower for five minutes … the only problem is, until you try it, you won’t know what your own unique talent is – for some, it could mean five minutes of invisibility, or insane levels of super-strength, but other powers can be potentially lethal, the really unlucky buggers just blowing up on the spot. Robin (The Hate U Give’s Dominique Fishback) is a teenage Power-pusher with dreams of becoming a rap star, dealing the pills so she can help her diabetic mum; Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of her customers, an NOPD detective who uses his power of near invulnerability to even the playing field when powered crims cause a disturbance. Their lives are turned upside down when Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives in town – he’s a seriously badass ex-soldier determined to hunt down the source of Power by any means necessary, and he’s not above tearing the Big Easy apart to do it. This is a fun, gleefully infectious rollercoaster that doesn’t take itself too seriously, revelling in the anarchic potential of its premise and crafting some suitably OTT effects-driven chaos brought to pleasingly visceral fruition by its skilfully inventive director, Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Nerve, Viral), while Mattson Tomlin (the screenwriter of next year’s incendiary DCEU headline act The Batman) takes his script in some very interesting directions and poses some fascinating questions about what Power’s TRULY capable of. Gordon-Levitt and Fishback are both brilliant, the latter particularly impressing in what’s sure to be a major breakthrough role for her, and the friendship their characters share is pretty adorable, while Foxx really is a force to be reckoned with, pretty chill even when he’s in deep shit but fully capable of turning into a bona fide killing machine at the flip of a switch, and there’s strong support from Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro as Biggie, Power’s delightfully oily kingpin, Courtney B. Vance as Frank’s by-the-book superior, Captain Crane, Amy Landecker as Gardner, the morally bankrupt CIA spook responsible for the drug’s production, and Machine Gun Kelly as Newt, a Power dealer whose explosive pyrotechnic “gift” really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Exciting, inventive, frequently amusing and infectiously likeable, this was some of the most uncomplicated “cinematic” fun I had this summer. Not bad for something which I’m sure was originally destined to become one of the season’s B-list features …

2. THE OLD GUARD – Netflix’s undisputable TOP OFFERING of the summer came damn close to bagging the whole season, and I can’t help thinking that even if some of the stiffer competition had still been present it may well have still finished this high. Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love & Basketball, the Secret Life of Bees) directs comics legend Greg Rucka’s adaptation of his own popular title with uncanny skill and laser-focused visual flair considering there’s nothing on her previous CV to suggest she’d be THIS good at mounting a stomping good ultraviolent action thriller, ushering in this thoroughly engrossing tale of four ancient, invulnerable immortal warriors – Andy AKA Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker AKA Sebastian de Livre (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe AKA Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Wolf’s Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky AKA Niccolo di Ginova (Trust’s Luca Marinelli) – who’ve been around forever, hiring out their services as mercenaries for righteous causes while jealously guarding their identities for fear of horrific experimentation and exploitation should their true natures ever be discovered. Their anonymity is threatened, however, when they’re uncovered by former CIA operative James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), working for the decidedly dodgy pharmaceutical conglomerate run by sociopathic billionaire Steven Merrick (Harry Melling, formerly Dudley in the Harry Potter movies), who want to capture these immortals so they can patent whatever it is that makes them keep on ticking … just as a fifth immortal, US Marine Nile Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne), awakens after being “killed” on deployment in Afghanistan. The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ejiofor, smart and driven but ultimately principled and deeply conflicted about what he’s doing, even if he does have the best of intentions, and Melling, the kind of loathsome, reptilian scumbag you just love to hate, but the film REALLY DOES belong to the Old Guard themselves – Schoenaerts is a master brooder, spot-on casting as the group’s relative newcomer, only immortal since the Napoleonic Wars but clearly one seriously old soul who’s already VERY tired of the lifestyle, while Joe and Nicky (who met on opposing sides of the Crusades) are simply ADORABLE, an unapologetically matter-of-fact gay couple who are sweet, sassy and incredibly kind, the absolute emotional heart of the film; it’s the ladies, however, that are most memorable here. Layne is exceptional, investing Nile with a steely intensity that puts her in good stead as her new existence threatens to overwhelm her and MORE THAN qualified to bust heads alongside her elders … but it’s ancient Greek warrior Andy who steals the film, Theron building on the astounding work she did in Atomic Blonde to prove, once and for all, that there’s no woman on Earth who looks better kicking arse than her (as Booker puts it, “that woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”); in her hands, Andy truly is a goddess of death, tough as tungsten alloy and unflappable even in the face of hell itself, but underneath it all she hides a heart as big as any of her friends’. They’re an impossibly lovable bunch and you feel you could follow them on another TEN adventures like this one, which is just as well, because Prince-Blythewood and Rucka certainly put them through their paces here – the drama is high (but frequently laced with a gentle, knowing sense of humour, particularly whenever Joe and Nicky are onscreen), as are the stakes, and the frequent action sequences are top-notch, executed with rare skill and bone-crunching zest, but also ALWAYS in service to the story. Altogether this is an astounding film, a genuine victory for its makers and, it seems, for Netflix themselves – it’s become one of the platform’s biggest hits to date, earning well-deserved critical acclaim and great respect and genuine geek love from the fanbase at large. After this, a sequel is not only inevitable, it’s ESSENTIAL …

1. TENET – granted, the streaming platforms (particularly Netflix and Amazon) certainly did save our cinematic summer, but I’m still IMMEASURABLY glad that the season’s ultimate top-spot winner was one I got to experience on THE BIG SCREEN. You gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, he sure hung in there, stubbornly determined that his latest cinematic masterpiece WOULD be released in cinemas in the summer (albeit ultimately landing JUST inside the line in the final week of August), and it was worth all the fuss because, for me, this was THE PERFECT MOVIE for me to get return to cinemas with. I mean, okay, in the end it WASN’T the FIRST new movie I saw after the reopening, that honour went to Unhinged, but THIS was my first real Saturday night out big screen EXPERIENCE since March. Needless to say, Nolan didn’t disappoint this time any more than he has on any of his consistently spectacular previous releases, delivering another twisted, mind-boggling headfuck of a full-blooded experiential sensory overload that comes perilously close to toppling his long-standing auteur-peak, Inception (itself second only by fractions to The Dark Knight as far as I’m concerned). To say much at all about the plot would give away major spoilers – personally I’d recommend just going in as cold as possible, indeed you really should just stop reading this right now and just GO SEE IT. Still with us? Okay … the VERY abridged version is that it’s about a secret war being waged between the present and the future by people capable of “inverting” time in substances, objects, people, whatever, into which the Protagonist (BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington), an unnamed CIA agent, has been dispatched in order to prevent a potential coming apocalypse. Washington is once again on top form, crafting a robust and compelling morally complex heroic lead who’s just as comfortable negotiating the minefields of black market intrigue as he is breaking into places or dispatching heavies, Kenneth Branagh delivers one of his most interesting and memorable performances in years as brutal Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, a genuinely nasty piece of work who may be the year’s very best screen villain, Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Widows) brings strength, poise and wounded integrity to the role of Sator’s estranged wife, Kat, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to use his own accent for once as tough-as-nails British Intelligence officer Ives, while there are brief but consistently notable supporting turns and cameos from Martin Donovan, Yesterday’s HImesh Patel, Dirk Gently’s Fiona Dourif and, of course, Nolan’s good luck charm, Michael Caine. The cast’s biggest surprise, however, is Robert Pattinson, truly a revelation in what has to be, HANDS DOWN, his best role to date, Neil, the Protagonist’s mysterious handler – he’s by turns cheeky, slick, duplicitous and thoroughly badass, delivering an enjoyably multi-layered, chameleonic performance which proves what I’ve long maintained, that the former Twilight star is actually a fucking amazing actor, and on the basis of this, even without that amazing new teaser trailer making the rounds, I think the debate about whether or not he’s the right choice for the new Batman is now academic. As we’ve come to expect from Nolan, this is a TRUE tour-de-force experience, a visual masterpiece and an endlessly engrossing head-scratcher, Nolan’s screenplay bringing in some seriously big ideas and throwing us some major narrative knots and loopholes, constantly wrong-footing the viewer while also setting up truly revelatory payoffs from seemingly low-key, unimportant beginnings – this is a film you need to be awake and attentive for or you could miss something pretty vital. The action sequences are, as ever, second to none, some of the year’s very best set-pieces coming thick and fast and executed with some of the most accomplished skill in the business, while Nolan-regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar and Dunkirk, as well as the heady likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, SPECTRE and Ad Astra) once again shows he’s one of the best camera-wizards in the business today by delivering some truly mesmerising visuals. Notably, Nolan’s other regular collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer, is absent here (although he has good reason, currently working on his dream project, the fast-approaching screen adaptation of Dune), but Ludwig Göransson (best known for his regular collaborations with Ryan Coogler on the likes of Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, as well as truly awesome work on The Mandalorian) makes for a fine replacement, crafting an intriguingly internalised, post-modern musical landscape that thrums and pulses in time with the story and emotions of the characters rather than the action itself. Interestingly it’s on the subject of sound that some of the film’s rare detractions have been levelled, and I can see some of the points – the soundtrack mix is an all-encompassing thing, and there are times when the dialogue can be overwhelmed, but in Nolan’s defence as a film this is a heady, immersive experience, something you really need to concentrate on, so these potential flaws are easily forgiven. As a piece of filmmaking art, this is another flawless wonder from one of the true masters of the craft working in cinema today, but it’s art with palpable substance, a rewarding whole that really HAS TO BE experienced on the big screen. So put your snobbery at post-lockdown restrictions aside for the moment and get yourself down to your nearest cinema so you can experience it for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. Right now, this is my movie of the year, and with only one possible exception, I really don’t see that changing …

#movies 2020 #body cam #body cam (2020)#blood quantum #blood quantum movie #palm springs #palm springs movie #the last days of american crime #hamilton #hamilton movie #sputnik #sputnik movie #greyhound #greyhound movie #project power #the old guard #tenet #tenet movie #awesome sauce

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manifestoonmoralmanlove · 5 years ago

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Gormless Ch. 4 - Dab on them Pineapples

A well-meaning friend gave me a book series that is hilariously bad. The first book was Souless and my riffs were entitled brainless. This second book is entitled Changless and these riff are then gormless.

I mean to say I have entitled them gormless! Not that my riffs are dumb, and the effort I spend on them stupid since I’m the only one who enjoys them. HAHA!

The story is SUPPOSED TO be about how a badass lady wearing a rad-looking carriage dress hits baddies with her umbrella and bangs her hot werewolf husband. In reality it’s mostly poor attempts at being witty, flirty, and superior.

For the last book check out the brainless tag.

If you want the TL;DR version but want to read these new riffs anyway?

This story is set in supernatural Victorian steampunk England. Alexia is our NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protag. She is a soulless, which means she’s able to negate the abilities of vampires and werewolves by touching them. She’s recently married a big oaf, named Lord Connel Maccon. He’s the manchild in charge of the supernatural police with a zillion dollars and he’s totes super hot too ok. Their relationship is mostly arguments about how Maccon can’t tell her fucking anything. Alexia has also recently become head of ~Soulless affairs~ in Queen Victoria’s government. She has a dumb friend named Ivy, a gay vampire friend named Akeldama, a family who’s evil because they do the same shit as her but while being blonde, and most importantly Alexia is better than everyone cause…cause.

Last time on Gormless:

There’s some mysterious force that’s turning the Vampires and werewolves into humans. Alexia is in charge of figuring out that deal, and she is doing a bad job at it. Her husband is in charge of the Supernatrual Police (BUR) so he’s going to Scotland about it.

There’s a dude named Channing who wants to punch and have sex with Alexia, and Ivy is getting married to some rich slub, even though she’s in wub with Maccon’s servant Tunstell.

Alexia’s hubby told her to go to a hat store for mysterious plot reasons, she brings her dopey friend Ivy. The hat store is run by a hot lesbian and as they’re chatting BOOM an explosion! GOLLY WHAT’S NEXT!?

Chapter 4 - Dab on them Pineapples

This chapter starts off totally under described. Basically the explosion shook the hats on their nice dangling hooks, and turned out the lights. They don’t even describe it as unbalancing Alexia. So the whole next bit makes so little sense. She first reacts by feeling around for Ivy. She finds Ivy has fainted…cause okay? Ivy is whispering about Tunstell though so she’s like, “YEAH MY FRIEND UNCONCIOUS ON THE FLOOR AFTER AN EXPLOSION IS FINE! BYE LOSER!”

She immediately starts scurrying around for that secret passage she thought she saw earlier. Finds it, goes in, and down an elevator. I just…I was so flummoxed that this was her first response? All it would take for this to make more sense is to write, “It sounded as if the explosion happened below them, and Alexia would bet you 100 pounds that this secret passage would lead her straight to it. And what if someone was hurt down there?”

It seemed so bizarre for her to go, “EXPLOSION? I’M GOING TO MAKE A BEELINE FOR THE SECRET PASSAGE! MY FRIEND OUT COLD? WHATEVER!”

When she gets down there she finds a messy workshop, where a small explosion clearly took place. She finds LeFoux yelling at a child and there’s a ghost lady just chilling there. The gist of the conversation is that the child threw a rag soaked in ETHER into a huge furnace which caused the explosion. The boy is just like, “lol it went bang.” And Alexia thinks that’s hilarious and reintroduces herself. LeFoux has to remark that WOW ISN’T LADY MACCON SMART FOR FINDING OUT THE SECRET PASSAGEWAY? GOSH I KNOW I CONFIRMED IT TO HER MINUTES AGO! BUT SHE’S SO SMART! The ghost is LeFoux’s aunt Beatrice, and the boy is introduced as LeFoux’s son Quesnel even though the two do not look related.

I also find it odd that LeFoux, the owner of this establishment, with a shop full of customers, just slips into the passage and doesn’t give a token, “DO NOT PANIC CUSTOMERS I’M GOING TO FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE, PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”

Alexia praises the child for the explosion. I can’t help but feel a bit exasperated by the book’s tone for this. This child could have not only killed himself on a flight of fancy but perhaps a block worth of buildings full of humans in a crowded city, and the story treats it like he stole a pudding out of the fridge he wasn’t supposed to have. But I mean, my job is to worry for the well-being of children and I have a habit of overthinking this shit so take that paragraph with as much or as little care as you see fit.

LeFoux punishes Quesnel and tells her aunt to take him away so she can have sexual tension with Alexia. Alexia, you do not deserve the sexual attention of anybody except your dipshit husband. Leave the MacDougalls and LeFouxs for the more-deserving slutty, bisexual hate-readers okay.

Faps you realize you will never be able to have sex with a fictional character right?

Faps why would you want to bang a fictional character in a story you don’t even like?

I HAVE TO FIND SOMETHING TO ENJOY HERE OKAY!?

During some mild flirtation where Alexia first realizes women are hot, LeFoux explains that Maccon commissioned a gift that is ready for her.

It’s a huge ugly umbrella that takes a page to describe just its physical appearance, which was hard to follow. My favorite detail is,

“The handle looked like something that might top an ancient Egyptian column, carved with lotus flowers---or a very enthusiastic pineapple.”

I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean but with that line I have decided that the handle of her umbrella looks like this:

(Picture of a pineapple dabbing, while wearing bright red shoes.)

And you cannot convince me otherwise.

We spend a few more pages explaining what her James Bond styled umbrella can do. Which includes:

Shoots poison darts.

Can switch between a silver and wooden tip depending on if you’re stabbing vampires or werewolves.

Can emit a magnetic field which can disrupt steam engines temporarily.

Can spray different kinds of toxic mists which can kill humans, and severely injure werewolves and vampires.

Okay sure, she gets a proper weapon with a lot of weird uses. Sure good!

So now it’s time for me to complain about some writing choices!

Much to my annoyance, every time LeFoux smiles at all (which is a fucking lot) instead of using multiple verbs and descriptors such as, “She smiles, grins, smirks, beams, looks amused/smug/delighted/etc.” She says LeFoux ~dimples~ 100% of the time. And I’m like nobody verbs dimples that way you fucking weirdo who writes like they’re 12.

There’s also this really clumsy pointless exchange where it’s revealed that LeFoux has made special equipment for Prof. Lyall, and she remarks that he’s a curious man. Alexia says he’s not a man at all (cause he’s a werewolf) and LeFoux remarks, “I, too, am not a man. I simply enjoy dressing like one.”

….This is like super clumsy and not how humans talk at all. And there’s no reason why you need to bring that up AGAIN at all? We can tell she enjoys masculine dress because…she’s described as dressing masculine. Like….why?

Like I know this isn’t meant to be a complex novel, but like I feel condescended to how often unimportant shit needs to be brought up again and again. UGH!

So they head back upstairs, Tunstell shows up so he and Ivy can stare longingly at each other, and OH YEAH tell Alexia Lyall wants to speak with her.

You gotta do more for me to ship Tunstell/Ivy then like show them cozy with one another and shouting in my ear about how they pine for one another. Like maybe some dialog besides, “How are you?” “Oh I’m fine”?

So Alexia goes to see Lyall. She struts in swinging her new umbrella like HEY! HEY! ASK ABOUT MY NEW TOY! Lyall does not. Lyall has his issues don’t get me wrong. But I find it so refreshing that he refuses to feed Maccon and Alexia’s shitty little egos.

Lyall says the humanization phenomenon has been ~spotted~ again and it’s moving toward Scotland, a bit ahead of Maccon, who is also heading that way. Maccon doesn’t know he’ll be meeting the mysterious soul-sucking power soon, which could be a problem since he’s only useful in the sense that he has powers.

Alexia takes note of this, and decides she wants to have Lord Akeldama and LeFoux meet cause that would be cool I guess. That’s where we leave off. I’m not sure if the two are going to get along immediately upon meeting or hate each other’s guts. I hope they hate the other’s guts cause I think that would be more entertaining.

Say something nice Faps:

These chapters don’t always end and start on similar notes. So it doesn’t feel repetitive.

Lyall, while not totally free from this writing’s bullshit, helps ground this material by being a voice of sanity. A lot of authors can get caught up in HOW FUCKING COOL THEIR PERFECT FUN CHARACTERS ARE and it’s just kinda refreshing that this author has enough self-awareness to realize how exhausting and irritating their antics/personalities can sometimes be. Or in the very least enough awareness of writing to know when to slow it done and take a breather.

LeFoux is hot.

Since I have identified her new murder parasol as having a dabbing pineapple handle, all mentions of it conjure hilarious mental images for me. She was described as cradling it like a baby, and swinging it wildly in order for it to fail to catch Lyall’s attention.

I also kinda like how despite getting a badass weapon crafted for her, it’s hideous. Like perhaps it’s for the humor sake, but I appreciate we’re not just going to steamroll how cool and great Alexia is. Even though she got this super rad weapon with all these functions without having to earn it. The item does have the downside of being tacky and heavy. You know?

#gormless #changeless #riffing

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years ago

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Tamitayo and a new adventure:

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(Happy Birthday!)

(It should be noted, that i don’t know EVERYTHING about your character, so i had to make some guesses along the way, also this takes place early game still, meaning that Tamitayo is still low level. (as i am/was writing this). While all the mods you have is still at play in this fic, some other mods that’s added are: ApachiiSkyHair, Better Cloth Enchanting, Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim and a few others you might notice along the way maybe.)

(Hope you like the story! :D)

(Shuvika-Nebuki, Nakila Kaythees and Ciinia Ivywood belongs to me.)

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The giant dark elf called “Tamitayo” wandered around like usual. The large curvy lady found a bandit camp, and alongside her housecarl Lydia, she decided to go raid it. Though when they went in, they discovered there was already a battle at play. A large werewolf with tusks and grey-greenish fur was attacking the bandits alongside what appeared to be a female vampire lord. Judging by the vampires appearance, traits and abilities, she must be from the Volkihar clan, and a powerful one at that.

When the werewolf and vampire had killed all the bandits, they looked at Tamitayo and Lydia. Mistaking them for bandits trying to hide or escape, the two attacked them.

Tamitayo may have been bigger than the tusked werewolf, but regular werewolves were known the be able to knock giants around, and this one was definitely no ordinary werewolf, and Tamitayo was more of a magic user then a direct fighter anyway. The best Tamitayo could do was to keep her distance from the werewolf and fire spells at it, either until the transformation wore off, or the beast itself was slain. She seemed to have to go for the last one, as the werewolf would just hurry over to one of the corpses and consume it’s heart both to heal and contain the form for longer, and matters did not get easier when it called forth 2 ice wolf spirits to aid it. It was at this point Tamitayo knew she was dealing with an alpha. She had to admit that even a regular werewolf was she not prepared for, neither in gear, perks or skill, but against an ALPHA werewolf with so many corpses laying around? She knew she was done for, unless hit with HUGE amount of luck all of a sudden.

Lydia wasn’t doing much better, while she had her situation a bit better under control, mostly due to having a bit more experience the Tamitayo, the female vampire lord was almost as powerful as the tusked werewolf. Just like how the werewolf had summons those wolves for aid, the female vampire lord summoned a gargoyle to aid her, along with some bats just for good measure.

It was then that Hadvar came in. He had been sent out to spy on the fortress, as General Tullies had plans on recapturing the fort the bandits were in for future operations. Hadvar was quick to notice the tusked werewolf and Tamitayo and quickly ran over, telling them to stop fighting. Which was a good thing, because the werewolf has Tamitayo overpowered and beaten, but seemed to listen to what Hadvar had to say.

The tusked werewolf removed itself from the giant dark elf and waited for an explanation.

“This lady helped me escape Helgen and she helped Riverwood by warning the jarl as well as dealing with a few issues here and there. She’s no bandit, even if she dresses like one.” Told Hadvar to the tusked werewolf, who looked at Tamitayo and back to Hadvar before reverting back to its original form.

The werewolf turned out to be a strong female orc warrior. While she was no taller than the average orc, you could tell by her muscles that she was stronger than most. She was blind on one eye, while the other was the usual red color that orc eyes tend to be. The orc lady had warpaint on her face that resembled that of a dragon. A few scars ran over her face, one of them right over her blind eye, indicating she had been blinded against a beast of some sort. She had long wild black hair that went down her back and some of it was hanging down from her shoulders.

The orc warrior was quick to re-equip her armor and weapons, which was made in the wolf armor style but instead of being made of steel it was made of orichalcum, and her weapon was a giant legendary deadric/dwemer hammer. Ones the armor came on, Tamitayo could recognize who she was; She was the harbinger of the companions, Shuvika-Nebuki!

“Oh my gosh! You’re the harbinger, Shuvika-Nebuki! I’ve heard so many tales about you!” Tamitayo almost squealed, almost losing her usually flirty and dominating personality and getting it replaced by a child-like excitement.

“Yes-yes, i’ve heard that one a lot.” Replied Shuvika, as she lifted her giant hammer, Volendrung, onto her shoulder. “Sorry for almost killing you back there. Thought you were a bandit.”

“It’s no problem, really. I’m just glad we got that cleared.” she said and gave her a shaky smile.

Shuvika shaked her head a bit. “Hadvar, tell Tullies that besides a few bodies that needs cleaning up, this fort is ready for him to take over. I need to take your friend here for a moment.” She said as she grabbed Tamitayo and dragged her along.

Tamitayo was a bit confused at first and asked “What are you doing?”

“You have great potential, and a friend of Hadvar is a friend of mine. But you still have a lot of catching up to do, and i’m gonna try and help you out with that. First, we’re going to Solitude and getting you some REAL clothes to keep you warm, because i don’t want you to freeze yourself half to death! You’re a dunmer, you’re people deal better with hot weathers not cold weathers.” She said as she continued onward.

Tamitayo whined a bit, she liked showing a bit of skin, but Shuvika was dead-set on this, so she just followed along, and who knows, it might be better then she thinks.

When they arrive at Solitude began Shuvika and walk towards one of the shops. Tamitayo looked around before following. “I have a feeling something happened here…”

“There has. Just a few days ago, a man was executed for helping Ulfric Stormcloak escape.” Told Shuvika in a rather calm voice.

Tamitayo was shocked by this and decided not to ask any further questions about that.

Shuvika made her order for the clothes, though they had to be made from the bottom up, due to Tamitayo’s big size. Both in height and girth. Shuvika told her to send it to Whiterun when they were done, and soon told Tamitayo to follow along as they now were headed for Whiterun. It was a rather strange feeling for Tamitayo to take order from this smaller person and being the “rookie” of them as well.

They jumped on the back of the carriage driver and it slowly began to roll along the road. Tamitayo looked first at Shuvika, then at Lydia then over to the vampire who had transformed alongside Shuvika Nebuki. It was just now she realized she never got her name or who she was.

“I never got your name. Mind i ask what it is?”

The vampire looked up, still having her face covered by the hood, as they were in the sunlight. “My name is Serana. As you can tell already, i’m a vampire. I’m still not entirely sure how long i was locked away though.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The giant dunmer wanted to continue the talk, but then notices that Serana was staring at her, hungryly and licking her lips. She felt herself blush when she saw that. She was not used to be on the prey side of things, and it was now she realized how MUCH she needs to catch up. Sure to the ordinary people and bandits she’s top pred, but for experienced and more advanced people like Serana? There’s no chance there, or at least not yet.

Tamitayo tried to act like she didn’t notice the smaller woman’s “hint” and wanted to change the subject. “So, besides being the harbinger of the companions, what else do you do?”

Shuvika looked up and replied “I’m also a thane of Whiterun. My housecarl, Nakila Kaythees, is currently with Ciinia Ivywood to help her out. Cii’ is still very new to this whole adventuring, but she has a lot of fire despite her worries and fear. I didn’t wish to see her get hurt, so i asked my housecarl to travel with her.”

“You’re a thane of Whiterun too? How did you earn it?” Tamitayo asked excited.

“I went into Bleak Falls Barrow and retrieved the Dragonstone, and later i helped killing the dragon Mirmulnir and absorbed his soul. Turns out i’m the Dragonborn. It was then i was promoted as thane of Whiterun and got Nakila as my housecarl.” She said, rather happy with Tamitayo’s attitude and completely oblivious to Serana’s “teasings” of the giant dark elf.

The big elf was in awe of this, this was the type of badass adventure she could become with the right training or knowledge. The thought made her so happy. “The way i got my title was not nearly as epic. I mostly helped out his people, you know clearing out bandits, finding lost things, stuff like that.”

“Still a good job nonetheless.” Said Shuvika and gave the curvy dunmer a friendly clap.

They arrived at Whiterun. Tamitayo knew the city pretty well, not as well as Riverwood, but still pretty well. Shuvika and Serana began to walk up to Jorrvaskr to hang out with some pals and to wait for their order. Tamitayo and Lydia followed along, and on the way they saw Ysolda, a trade merchant who she had helped out quite a bit and gotten pretty good friends with. Ysolda helped Tamitayo a bit with her speechcraft and likes to teach her a few things from time to time, and Tamitayo has sometimes helped Ysolda travel around safely inside her gut.

Tamitayo also saw Carlotta Valentia, one of the most beautiful woman in Skyrim. She herself had to admit she had a little crush on the small nordic lady, or at least small compared to her massive size at least. She helped her out by dealing with an annoying bard at one point, as well as making sure she gets some rest every now and then, even if she had to eat her in order to do it. Not that she complained, Carlotta was as tasty as she was beautiful, which is why she’s surprised why so far she’s the only pred to have eaten her when she has such a heavenly taste, and she’s not a pred despite her strong attitude. She’s almost like a sea turtle; big, strong, beautiful and can give a nasty bite, but is still a prey.

They all finally arrived at Jorrvaskr, where Shuvika told Tamitayo to sit down and relax and basically just chill. Throughout the whole time they were waiting for their shipment to arrive, did Shuvika not notice, not even once, that both Aela The Huntress, Serana and Njada Stonearm was giving Tamitayo hungry looks and licking their lips which caused the giant dunmer lady to blush. On one hand she kinda liked this feeling, on the other hand she wanna be top pred “again” so to say, so she had to get up in level fast. Or at least in her mind she needs too. Ria was one of the few people who didn’t look at Tamitayo that way. Tamitayo could tell that Ria was a pred to, but a shy one that still had much to learn. It wouldn’t be to hard for the tall dunmer to eat the small cutie, but that’ll have to wait for now.

Shuvika went up to Dragonsreach to buy some magic tomes from Farengar Secret-Fire. She bought from different schools of magic so Tamitayo could get a “taste” of what type of magic she’d use. Some of the spells that she bought included: Perilous Path, Raise Wall, Magelight and Wither from alteration. Soul Cloak, Bound Sword and Conjure Familiar from Conjuration. Ice Spike, Fireball, Lightning Bold and Rift Bolt from Destruction. Clairvoyance, Calm and Curse of the Silent from Illusion. And finally Healing Hands, Steadfast Ward, Sun Fire, Bone Spirit, Circle of Strength and Lamb of Mara from Restoration.

Shuvika was still away when the shipment arrived. The clothes that had been made for Tamitayo was a pair of Boots and gloves made in the thalmor style, which was pretty fancy despite how big jerks those guys usually are. Seriously why does the baddies always get the cool stuff? As for her actual attire, it was one of those “fine clothes” which were yellow-greenish with a fur pelt around the shoulders and other decorations. Lastly there was a gold circlet with 3 emeralds in it. Tamitayo tried it on and had to admit they were pretty nice and warm and didn’t look half-bad either. Now she didn’t need to waste magicka on keeping herself warm. Though she was quick to put two-and-two together and could guess that Shuvika would like to enchant said clothes when she get back. And she would be proven right when that happened.

Shuvike soon returned, both with the tomes and some armor she had made for Tamitayo’s follower and housecarl, Lydia. It was all nordic armor, along with a nordic shield and bow. The enchantments that had been put on said armor included Fortify Block, Health, Archery, One-Handed and various resistances to different magics. The nordic bow and sword she gave Lydia was both enchanted with Fiery Soul Trap and Chaos Damage. Basically, Lydia got one heck of an upgrade from Shuvika. She really wanted to make sure the two of them got a good start so they didn’t ended up in a bad situation, or at least not one they’d have a chance to beat.

Tamitayo gave Shuvika her new clothes so they could be enchanted as well. It was not long before she returned with them. The enchantments they got were mostly focused on health and magicka and regen, since neither of them still wasn’t to sure what type of magic she’d end up preferring. Shuvika also handed Tamitayo a shield. It was a Chitin Shield, which was an light armor shield that was better than elven shields. The shield had Fortify Block and Health on it. Shuvika also handed her the books so she could learn the spells.

Tamitayo pointed out why she gave her both a ward spell and an actual shield. The ward was most effective against magic while the shield was best against physical attacks. So this way, when fighting either mages or dragons, she’d have a ward to protect herself with, while when fighting against creatures or people who used either melee weapons or bows, she had a real shield to protect herself with.

Honestly, Tamitayo was almost close to crying. This “tiny” orc lady, again only tiny compared to her, was being so protective and friendly towards her. She had to admit, she had been kinda lonely up until she started adventuring, and feeling so loved and protected by someone was something she hadn’t felt for a long time, if ever. She hugged the orc close into her belly as she muttered out a “Thank you so much.”

“No problem you big guff.” Said Shuvika and patted the tall dunmer on the side. “Now let’s get started on a few quests to start your training and to get your new gear tested!”

They all 4 went out and walked towards the gate, when they saw one of the guards talk to some strangers.

“Look, you’ve already been told you’re not allowed here. Turn around and go back the way you came.” Said the Whiterun Guard to the strangers.

“We’re causing no trouble. All we ask is to look for her.” said one of the strangers.

“I don’t care what you’re doing, after what happened you’re lucky i don’t toss you in jail. Now get lost.”

“We will be back. This is not over.”

One of the strangers walked up to Tamitayo. “You there. We are looking for someone in Whiterun, and will pay good money for information.”

“Who are you looking for?” Asked Tamitayo, curious as to why these guys were here and what this was about.

“A woman – a foreigner in these lands. Redguard, like us. She is likely not using her true name. We will pay for any information regarding her location. We are not welcome here in Whiterun, so we will be in Rorikstead if you learn anything.”

“Why are you looking for this person?”

“It’s none of your concern. All you need to know is that we’re paying for information. If that doesn’t interest you, feel free to walk away.”

Tamitayo simply nodded and looked at Shuvika. The orc lady had a smile on her face. “Looks like you got yourself a quest Tami’. I’m not much of a detective, so i’ll find something else to do. But i feel like this is something you and Lydia can pull off on your own. So see you later.” She said, waving farewell for now and walked off with Serana behind her. Tamitayo kinda liked the new nickname “Tami”.

Tamitayo was about to turn around to look for clues as to who this redguard woman was, when she heard the gates open again and a cute and slightly chubby wood elf walked in, alongside a tall naga.

Dispite their namesake, nagas looked nothing like either the lamias of Daggerfall or the Tsaesci of Akavir. Nagas were a sub-specie of argonians, who were usually 7-8 foot tall, walked on two legs like their smaller cousins and carried many similarities with them, but had a much more aquatic appearance with fins and webbed hand and feet, as well as whiskers on their snout.

The naga himself was 8 foot tall, dorned in heavy Orichalcum, argonian style armor from head to toe. He carried a large shield, the Shield of Ysgramor, as well as a large powerful mace, the Mace of Molag Bal. He had a scar on his throat, which seemed pretty old. The chubby wood elf lady was wearing a white dress with a big red robe around it, both fitting her body shape pretty well. She also wore some thick boots and gloves, and on her head she wore a beautiful flower crown. Her hair was thick and bushy and reached her shoulders, and her eyes were a beautiful purple. She wasn’t much taller than the regular wood elf, which in Tamitayo’s opinion just made her look more hug-able.

Tamitayo took a moment and was able to put two-and-two together and figure out that these two were Nakila Kaythees, Shuvika’s housecarl, and Ciinia Ivywood, Shuvika’s friend. How jarl Balgruuf the Greater was able to get a naga to work for him was a big question, then again him and Irileth had been all over Tamriel and seen many outlandish things, so picking up a naga who had left the inner regions of Black Marsh may not be so crazy of an idea.

Tamitayo walked up to the small wood elf, which caused the naga to give the dunmer a look that clearly showed he didn’t really trust her.

“You two are Nakila Kaythees and Ciinia Ivywood right? I’m a friend of Shuvika-Nebuki.” She said while greeting them. The nagas expression changed slightly, but it was clear he didn’t really trust her yet.

“O-oh. Y-yes, t-that’s u-us.” Spoke Ciinia shyly. God could that woman be any cuter, thought Tamitayo inside her head. “W-we c-came here for a-a quick rest.” She finished off, looking down into the ground, being pretty shy around the giant curvy dunmer in front of her.

“Nice to meet you, but i have a question. Do you guys know anything about some strangers looking for a redguard woman here in Whiterun?” She asked.

“A-actually, w-we do. W-while t-travelling, we s-saw some Alik'r warriors t-talk to a-a woman, thinking it w-was h-her, u-until one of t-them pointed o-out that she d-didn’t have t-the s-scar. S-so w-whoever they’re l-looking for h-has o-one scar, n-no more, n-no less. A-a g-good place to s-start l-looking would b-be T-the B-bannered Mare.” added Ciinia. Nakila simply nodded in agreement, he didn’t seem to be the type to talk much.

Tamitayo thanked them both and headed towards The Bannered Mare. When inside she took a moment to look around, until Lydia clapped her a bit on the side and pointed at one of the workers in the in. She was a redguard woman, and she so happened to have a single scar on her face. Was Saadia the one those alik'r warriors were looking for? Only one way to find out.

The tall dunmer walked over to Saadia, remembering the description she’s gotten, there could be no better candidate for the one the alik'r warriors was looking for. Just to be sure, she wasn’t going to throw accusations right away and play it simple.

“Yes? How can i help you?” asked Saadia when Tamitayo approached her.

“Did you know some alik'r warriors are looking for a redguard woman?” She asked the smaller woman quietly.

“Are you sure?” Saadia asked, now sounding a bit scared. “Oh no! They’ve found me? I need your help! Please, come with me. I need to speak to you privately.”

Tamitayo and Lydia followed Saadia behind the kitchen and up the stairs into a bedroom, where Saadia pulled out a knife. “So, are you working with them?? You think you can take me? You so much as touch me, you’re going to lose fingers. I mean it! I’ll… I’ll cut you in half! So the alik'r know where i am? What did they offer you? Gold? How many more of them are coming? Tell me!”

“Relax, i’m not going to hurt you.” The giant dunmer who dwarfed Saadia respounded looking at the elven knife the redguard woman was holding in her hand. Lydia had not yet pulled out her sword, but was ready to do so.

“Then i need your help and there isn’t anyone i can trust here in the city.” Saadia said seemingly more calm.

“Maybe. What do you want?” Asked Tamitayo with a shrug that made her chest give a little giggle.

“I am not the person the people of Whiterun think i am. My real name is Iman. I am a noble of House Suda in Hammerfell. The men who are looking for me, the alik'r, they are assassins in employ of Aldmeri Dominion. They wish to exchange my blood for gold. I need you to root them out and drive them away before they find me and drag me back to Hammerfell for an execution.” Saadia, now revealed to be Iman, explained to the dark elf.

“How am i supposed to get rid of them?” Tamitayo asked.

“They’re mercenaries, only in it for the money. They’re led by a man named Kematu. Get rid of him, and the rest will scatter. I don’t dare show my face, lest they recognize me, so you’ll have to find out where they are.”

“Any suggestions as to how i can find them?” Tamitayo asked in.

“I heard one of them was just arrested trying to sneak into the city. If he’s locked up in the jail, perhaps you can get it out of him. Please, i know i’m asking you to do something difficult, maybe even dangerous. I just don’t know who else I can trust.” Saadia said pleading with the dark elf woman.

Tamitayo stood there for a moment, before asking “Why haven’t you gone to the guards for help?”

“You think i’d be in hiding if this was something i trusted the town guards to handle? These men are ruthless. Cunning, deceitful… they’ll pay off whoever they can. I can’t trust anyone here in Whiterun. Guards and jarls can be bought. And the Alik'r are close; I’m running out of time, si i’m choosing to trust you.”

Tamitayo ones again stood there, she felt bad for Saadia, or Imen. Though she still felt there was more to it. “Why are the Alik'r after you?” She asked.

“I don’t know for sure. I spoke out against the Aldmeri Dominion publicly; I suspect that’s why these men were hired to hunt me down.” Saadia said with a certain note in her voice.

Tamitayo decided that was as much she could get right now, and she thought it was enough too. She and Lydia left Saadia and walked out of the Bannered Mare, and went up to Dragonsreach. From there, they went into the area where the jail was located. Sure enough, they found the Alik'r who had been arrested. Tamitayo walked towards the caged door and saw the Alik'r prisoner approach. “I need to find Kematu. Where is he hiding?” She asked the prisoner.

“You have a death with, then?” The prisoner shouted out in shock and surprise. “If you know that name, you must know to meet him would be to meet your end. But it seems we both have needs, friend. Perhaps we can help each other out.” He continued in a much more calm tone.

“What is it that you need?” Asked Tamitayo curiously.

“I have dishonored my brothers by being captured, and so they have left me here. My life with the Alik'r is over now, but i have no wish to die in this gods-forsaken land. If i can be released from prison, i may start over. See to that, and i’ll tell you what you want to know.” The prisoner said with hope in his voice.

“How much to pay your fine?” Asked Tamitayo.

“100 gold will secure my release. You can afford that, can’t you? I suppose you’d better hope you can, if you want the information. Get the money into the hands of one of these guards, and i’ll tell you what you want to know.” He said.

Tamitayo was about to go to one of the guards, when a thought crossed her mind. “Why did they leave you here?” She asked.

“Because o was clumsy enough to be captured. Kematu always says we’re supposed to be the best of the best. I wasn’t.” The prisoner replied, clearly disappointed in himself.

Tamitayo approached one of the guards in the jail room, and bowed down a bit so they were at the same eye level. “I want to pay that prisoner’s fine.” She said.

“Done. Convince him to stay out of the city while you’re at it.” Said the whiterun guard annoyed.

Tamitayo went back to the Alik'r prisoner. “Let’s talk about how we can help each other.” She said to him.

“You buy my way out of here, and i’ll tell you what you want to know.” He replied, waiting for a response.

“You’re fine’s been paid. Now tell me about Kematu.” Tamitayo replied to him.

“Very well. Kematu is west of Whiterun. It’s an unassuming little cave called Swindler’s Den. You realize if you set foot there, you’re never coming back out. They’ll kill you. But that’s your problem, not mine.” The prisoner said.

Tamitayo was satisfied with this information and left. She could hear some banter between the guard, who was being pretty sassy, and the Alik'r prisoner.

Tamitayo and Lydia then left Whiterun and headed west. They travelled over some hills and rivers, and encountered also a few wolves on the way.

When they were close to Swindler’s Den, Tamitayo saw some familiar faces. Four of them. Shuvika-Nebuki, Serana, Nakila Kaythees and Ciinia Ivywood were all present. Shuvika and Serana looked ready for action, Ciinia seemed pretty nervous and Nakila seemed like he just wanted it over and done with and then go back to bed.

“Hey guys! It’s been a while, good to see you!” Tamitayo shouted, as she approached the others. Shuvika gave a quick greeting with a smile, Ciinia just waved shyly at the giant dunmer, Serana gave a quick chuckle and waved as well and Nakila just gave a handshake and a sigh.

“Good to see you too Tami’” Said Shuvika, the orc woman looking ready for battle. “So how’s it going on your quest?”

“Well, i’m looking for someone named Kematu. He’s the leader of the Alik'r warrior and is after this cute woman named Saadia, or her real name is Imen. According to Imen, is the Alik'r mercenaries, hired by the Aldmeri Dominion to hunt her down because she spoke out against them openly. Their leader is someone named Kematu and i was told he resides in Swindler’s Den.” She explained and pointed towards Swindler’s Den.

Nakila’s expression changed to confusion, and so did Ciinia’s and Lydia’s. True Lydia was there, but she didn’t really bother to put the pieces together until she heard it a second time. Neither of them said anything yet though, they wanted to go a bit further first, maybe they could get some info from Kematu.

After a bit of talking, they all decided to go there together, apparently Shuvika had two objective here; finding a mammoth tusk for Ysolda back in Whiterun again, for business, and to also find some ancient technology for Sorine Jurard of the Dawngaurds, most likely to either upgrade their crossbows or make new types of ammunition for them. Ciinia was just there, because Shuvika thought it would be a good opportunity for her to get a bit of experience.

They all went towards Swindler’s Den, and there was a few bandits outside, who they overmanned easily. Tamitayo ate one of them, since she was a bit hungry and forgot to eat anything before she left. After that, they all sneaked inside Swindler’s Den, keeping it low to see and hear anything of notice. They all heard two bandits talk.

“I’m not sure I like these Alik'r warriors hiding out here. They seem like trouble.” One of the bandits said to the other.

“Keep it to yourself. They’re not paying us to talk. They’ll be gone as soon as they’ve found whoever they’re looking for. And we’ll have all the more coin.” The bandit thug simply replied and went back to what they were doing.

This definitely confirmed that the Alik'r was here, and that they were paying the bandits apparently.

Shuvika counted down and all at ones they charged in. Shuvika and Serana remained in their normal forms this time. Swindler’s Den was quite large with a lot of rooms, and a lot of bandits. Shuvika swung around Volendrung and smashed bandits, outlaws and thugs left and right, she also used the fire breath shout at one point. Serana mostly used her powerful magics to deal with the bandits, only using her elven knife when they got a bit to close. Nakila was similar to Shuvika, smashing the bandits to bloody bits with the Mace of Molag Bal, while blocking incoming arrows with the Shield of Ysgramor. Ciinia was much more careful, keeping herself either at a distance or out of sight, as she shot one ice spike after the other at the bandits, while also summoning a flame atronach. Lydia stood close to Tamitayo to help her out, and switched between using bow and arrow and using her shield and sword. Tamitayo herself, used the chitin shield Shuvika gave her to block incoming arrows and melee, while using various of her new spells against them, such as “wither” to reduce their movements and damage, “stoneflesh” to increase her own defences, “soul cloak” so that when the bandits die, one of her soul gems gets filled up, “circle of strenth” to steal the stamina from hostiles that steps inside of it and “lamb of Mara” to steal a bit of the health that her foe is losing. When it came to Tamitayo’s offensive spells, she used both ice spikes, lightning bolt, firebolt and rift bolt, with the latter not just damaging the opponent, but also teleport them a bit backwards to give her some more space and distance.

After defeating the last of the bandits, with the last three being eaten by Serana, Tamitayo and Lydia, they began searching for where the Alik'r were. They searched for a while, but couldn’t find them. It was then Tamitayo remembered the “clairvoyance” spell she had learned. She activated it, and a blue-like mist immediately emerged and made a trail, almost looking like a giant mystical snake. It lead down to a small passage half filled with water with a waterfall at the end. There was a hidden pathway behind the waterfall.

Ones everyone had regrouped, did they all walk through the water and through the waterfall. If the Alik'r was on the other side, they would already know they were there, either by all the sound and noise from before, or by Tamitayo’s clairvoyance spell. Soon they entered the secret room. They heard Kematu yell “Alik'r, hold!” and they saw that the Alik'r had readied themselves, but did not attack.

“You’ve proven your strength, warrior. Let’s avoid any more bloodshed. I think you and i have some things to talk about.” Kematu said in calm, collective tone as Tamitayo and the others approached. “Stay your hand, warrior!” He said ones they were close enough. “It’s no secret why you’re here and you have proven your skill in combat. Let us talk a moment, and no one else needs to die. I think we can all profit from the situation in which we find ourselves. My men will not attack you, if you lower your weapons.” He said in gentle, requesting tone.

Tamitayo and the others lowered their weapons as he requested. “Why are you after Saadia?” Tamitayo asked.

“She sold the city out to the Aldmeri Dominion. Were it not for her betrayal, Taneth could have held its ground in the war. The other noble houses discovered her betrayal and she fled. They want her brought back alive. The resistance against the dominion is alive and well in Hammerfell, and they want justice.” Kematu explained to them.

Tamitayo sat there for a moment. She had known Saadia for a while now, usually she’d sit by the redguard woman and tell her about her latest quest or something she did. To think she’d done this would break her heart if it was true. “I’ve been sent here to kill you.” She simply continued on, trying to ignore the feelings.

“Of course, sent by… what is it that she’s calling herself these days? Shazra? Saadia? One of those, correct? Did she appeal to your sense of honor? Your greed? A more… base need, perhaps? It doesn’t matter. No doubt she’s convinced you that she’s the victim. But, do you know why we pursue her?” He asked them, clearly meaning besides what he’s already told them, that was pretty clear in his voice.

“Saadia told me - you’re assassins.” Tamitayo continued.

“Assassins? No, nothing so crass. "Saadia”, as you know her, is wanted by the noble houses of Taneth for treason. We were hired to see her returned to Hammerfell for her crimes. You can help us with that, and make sure no one else gets hurt.“ Kematu said with a welcoming tone.

Nakila began to talk in a way, and Tamitayo could now understand why he wasn’t much of a talker, because he CAN’T actually talk. The only sounds he was able to make was chirping sounds similar to that of birds and hissing sounds like that of a lizard, snake or crocodile. The cut on his throat had damaged his ability to speak so long ago. Ciinia and Shuvika seemed to be able to understand what he was saying though, and Ciinia began to translate what he said to Tamitayo.

"Nakila s-says that K-kematu h-has the s-stronger a-agument. There’s p-plenty of h-holes in S-saadia’s s-story. People o-often times s-speaks o-out against t-the dominion, e-especially in H-hammerfell, b-but for the m-most p-parts they just i-ignore it, o-or s-send justicars t-to make t-them m-mysteriously d-dissappear.” She translated.

“Not to mention for a supposedly "ruthless Thalmor assassin”, Kematu’s not the one who pulled a dagger on you! Just remember how she claimed to not know of the Alik'r in Whiterun and then she tells you of the one in jail all of a sudden?“ Interrupted Lydia, which made Nakila slap her on the back of the head with his tail for interrupting. He continued to speak in his damaged animalistic language, and Ciinia translated.

"T-the r-redguards had a-a war with t-the Thalmor and n-no Redguard would e-ever s-support the Thalmor l-lest work f-for t-them. T-the T-thalmor have n-no i-influence in H-hammerfell a-as the R-redguards p-pushed them out d-during the w-war. I-it w-wouldn’t m-matter i-if s-she s-spoke out a-against the Thalmor b-because l-literally e-everyone in Hammerfell h-hates t-them a-already. A-also knowing t-the Thalmor, s-she w-would have b-been d-dead already i-if s-she was r-really being h-hunted by t-them, and c-considering t-that t-the Thalmor was c-constantly h-harrashed b-by the Alik'r d-during the war, i-i h-highly d-doubt that t-they would w-want to a-ask t-them of all people f-for help. K-kematu’s story m-makes m-more s-sense as w-well if y-you think about i-it.” Ciinia continued to translate for Nakila.

Tamitayo stood there for a moment. They were right, but it still hurt having to do this against Saadia, she had considered her a friend, but crime is still a crime, especially when it’s so big that it could change a war for the worst. “So, what do you wany me to do?” She asked Kematu.

“She trusts you, at least to some extent. She sent you after us, and has no reason to think that you’d do anything other than that. Convince her that we’ll be coming for her, and she needs to leave. Lead her to the stables outside Whiterun. We’ll be waiting to take her into custody. I’ll gladly share a portion of the bounty for your efforts in seeing proper justice done.” Kematu continued to explain to them.

“All right, i’ll do it.” Said Tamitayo with a bit of pain in her voice.

“Good. We’ll be waiting for you at the stables. It will be good to finally be able to return home.” Said Kematu happily, clearly he just wanted to go home by now.

Tamitayo and the others walked back out of the waterfall entrance. Shuvika just told Tamitayo and Lydia to go on ahead, as she still needed to find those schematics for Sorine Jurard and that mammoth tusk for Ysolda.

Shuvika, Lydia, Ciinia and Nakila all went back to Whiterun after a bit of walking. Tamitayo was still bothered of having to do this.

After a bit of travelling they reached the city. Shuvika halted for a moment and looked at Ciinia and Nakila. “I think i want to do this by myself.” She said in a sad tone.

The other two nodded and walked off. Tamitayo continued towards the Bannered Mare, and as she entered she walked upstairs and found Saadia waiting. She walked up to the redguard woman.

“Any news of the Alik'r?” Saadia asked worriedly.

“I was unable to defeat them all, and they’re coming for you.” Tamitayo lied to her.

“What? How? I thought they weren’t allowed within the city!” Saadia said shocked at the news.

“They’ve found a way in. We need to get you out of here.” Tamitayo continued to lie.

“But where will i go? I can’t keep running forever!” She said to Tamitayo and Lydia.

“There’s a horse waiting at the stables. I’ll make sure you’re safe.” Tamitayo said with a lie again.

“After all this, i have to pick up and leave again? If you really think this is the only way, i trust you. Let’s not waste any time.” Saadia said as she rose from the chair and prepared to head out for the stables. The word “trust” cut Tamitayo right in the heart, and made her feel bad for what she had to do.

Tamitayo and Lydia followed Saadia out of Whiterun and towards the stables. Here they were met face to face with Kematu and some of his Alik'r warriors.

“We meet at last, my dear lady.” Kematu said, with a voice like that of a hunter who’s happy that the hunt was FINALLY over.

“What is this? What have you done?” Saadia asked Tamitayo, who looked sad into the ground, but didn’t answer and was instead interrupted by Kematu saying “Of, come now. You didn’t really expect to manipulate people forever, did you? Your luck had to run out sometime.” before firing a paralyse spell on her, causing her to be stiff like a statue.

Tamitayo walked up to Kematu, and he looked up at the giant dunmer woman. “Now, we’ll take our friend here back to Hammerfell, where she wil pay the price of her treason.” he said.

Tamitayo looked down worried at Saadia and back at Kematu. “She won’t be harmed?” she asked.

“Not on the way back. Once she gets there, it’s not up to me to decide what’s done with her. And as for you, i owe you a portion of the reward, don’t i? Well, here you go. Spend it wisely, and if i may… Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by a pretty face. You’re better than that.” Kematu told her in a polite manner.

Tamitayo watched as the Alik'r left with Saadia. She felt bad and she was going to miss her a lot, but justice had to be done. She walked back into Whiterun and saw Ysolda. She had gotten quite a big belly, and Tamitayo walked up to the nord lady and asked “Who did you eat?”

Ysolda looked up at her giant dunmer friend. “Oh, Ciinia told Nakila to stay back in Breezehome to get the rest he deserves. Her plan was to go to the College of Winterhold so she could learn more about magic. She didn’t know the way so she asked me for help, and you know how persuasive i can be. Shuvika should be back in a bit, she’s on a little errand for me that i hope to get done before travelling to Winterhold with our friend here.” She explained to Tamitayo.

Soon enough was Shuvika and Serana back and walked up to Ysolda. “Here’s the mammoth tusk you wanted.” the orc said happily and handed it to her.

“Thank you Shuvika. Here’s a bit for your trouble.” She replied and handed Shuvika some gold.

Shuvika then looked at Tamitayo. “So what do you plan on doing now my big plump friend?” She asked.

“I’m not entirely sure which direction to go, though now that i think about it, i should maybe get better at using my magic.” The giant dunmer replied.

This gave Shuvika an idea. “Hey, why don’t you take with Ciinia to the College of Winterhold? That’s a place where you learn about different types of magic, how it works and all that” Shuvika suggested. “Just make sure you don’t make Urag gro-Shub mad. He’s the librarian of the Arcanaeum, and trust me, you will NOT win in a fight. Even the Archmage, Savos Aren is scared of making him mad, and even i could not take him on, and neither can Serana, so just for your own safety, don’t make that orc angry.” Shuvika suggested to keep her friend safe.

Tamitayo nodded, but has made up her mind. She was going. She looked at Ysolda. “Think you can take two more?” She asked the nord lady who simply nodded.

Ysolda may be tiny when compared to a giant like Tamitayo, but that didn’t stop her from swallowing both her and Lydia, ones that was all well and done, she began her travel to Winterhold with her passengers. They all said goodbye to Shuvika and Serana before they left.

Inside Ysolda’s belly had Ciinia and Tamitayo begun to talk about what they already knew about magic, and what they might want to wish to explore more of. Lydia just stood there and listened, didn’t say much. This helped taking Tamitayo’s mind off of Saadia.

After a bit of time, had Ysolda arrived at Winterhold. Here she let the three ladies out. “Thanks for travelling with the Ysolda caravan. Hope you had a good trip.” She said in a joking manner before waving goodbye and began to head home to Whiterun.

Tamitayo, Lydia and Ciinia began to walk into Winterhold, when they heard a roar in the distance, a dragon was nearby, and very close. It was actually going to attack the city.

Tamitayo, Lydia and Ciinia watched as the dragon attacked. The town guards grabbed their bows and weapons and began fighting back. Lydia found her bow as well, the one Shuvika had made for her, and began to shoot after the dragon. Ciinia summoned a flame atronach and began to fire spells after the dragon as well. Tamitayo summoned stoneflesh to increase her own endurance and began to use various of different spells, such as “wither” to lower the dragon’s movement and attack, when she was able to hit, “Raise Wall” to create a wall to help protect her allies that was to far away for her to use ward on, “Curse of the Silent” to drain the dragon’s magica when she was able to land a hit with it, “Lamb of Mara” to drain the dragon’s health, and “Circle of Strength” whenever the dragon landed to fight in melee. She switched between using her ranged magic for when the dragon was either flying or far away, to using her bound swords, where she dual-wielded them against the dragon.

The battle was fierce, and even with the guard’s help, the dragon would not go down easily. Eventually though, was the dragon so full of arrows and ice spikes, as well as overall damage by everything else, that it crash landed on the ground. It was angry, all it wanted, was to kill Tamitayo, so it charged directly towards her. She fired all the spells she could on that short while, before it fired a frost breath against her. She was able to block it with a ward in time, but it drained her a lot. Lydia and the guards arrived with bow and melee and helped out in the fight, and so did Ciinia and her flame atronach.

The dragon suddenly shouted “ZUN HAAL WIIK!”, and everyone that was hit by the dragon’s shout was ripped of their weapons, as the shout defied steel and metal. As if that wasn’t enough the dragon let out another shout, “FAAS RU MAAR!”, and everyone that was hit by it, felt terror like never before.

Tamitayo was now alone with this dragon, it was clear that it was a quite powerful one. And it wanted her dead. She tried to fight back, but it charged at her, and while she was good with her bound weapons, the dragon was to powerful for the tall dunmer to handle alone, and even with allies it was still difficult.

The dragon threw her into a building, and now he let yet out another shout. “MUL QAH DIIV!” As the dragon said this shout, it’s entire body was covered in some sort of ethereal armor, and Tamitayo could feel its power increase. The dragon had gotten a 25% increase it’s attacks, a 125% increase to it’s defence and endurance, a 25% increase for fire resistance and frost resistance, it’s shouts becoming more powerful and a 20% decrease in shout recharge time.

Tamitayo had to admit, there was no way, even in the dragon’s wounded stage, that she would win this fight, and she doubted she could even if it hadn’t used this specific shout. A howl could suddenly be heard, and Tamitayo looked out to the side, and saw a grey-greenish werewolf with tusks howling into the sky, summoning other werewolves as well as frost spirits, and besides the werewolf was a vampire lord who had summoned bats and a gargoyle. The werewolves, ice wolf spirits, the vampire lord, the gargoyle and the bats all charged the dragon with violent fury, clawing and biting at it, while the vampire lord used it’s magic against it. Meanwhile Lydia, Ciinia and the guards have managed to free themselves from the shout that filled them with terror. They all looked on as the werewolves attacked. They decided to use long range tactics while the werewolves had the dragon distracted, they could kill them afterwards.

Tamitayo got to her feet, and summoned her own familiar spirit, and began to fight against the dragon as well. The battle was fierce, bloody and intense. It lasted for a long time. Soon the dragon has had enough and ones again focuses on Tamitayo and charges towards her, but she was saved by Nakila, how looked very angry that he never can catch a break. He smacked the dragon in the face with the Mace of Molag Bal. However the dragon was able to hit him to the side and into a building hard enough to make him covered in debris. Nakila looked at the situation. He took aim, and threw his mace in Tamitayo’s direction. She was able to grab it in time, lending a powerful blow on the dragon’s lower jaw. She grabbed the side of it’s head and swung herself up on top of the dragon and first hit it in the eye with the mace. By this point, the mul qah diiv shout had run out, and with one final strike she smashed the mace down into the dragon’s skull so hard, it hit the ground and bounced up into the air again.

She jumped down and looked as the dragon’s body collapsed. However, as the dragon drew its final breath, it began to glow, and a whirlwind of colour erupted from it as it’s body began to burn, and surged towards Tamitayo. Ones it was all over, she felt new power and knowledge inside of her, and everyone around her looked at her in amazement, and she knew what it meant, just like Shuvika-Nebuki, she too was a Dragonborn.

After the amazement was over, had the werewolves and the vampire mysteriously disappeared, and everyone had helped patching and healing those who got wounded. Tamitayo was still in shock and surprise. She was really the stuff of legend, just like Shuvika! She couldn’t believe it. She was both excited and scared for what this would mean for the future. Speaking of the future, Tamitayo and Ciinia looked up at the College of Winterhold. True, she didn’t know what the future had in store, but she knew where she would start, and that would be at the college, alongside her friends Ciinia, who was going to study with her. Lydia, her housecarl who had sworn to protect her and has grown quite close to her. Shuvika, while they’ll not be at the same place, she knew their paths would cross again, and she had a feeling it would be quite often. Nakila, the naga argonian who had sworn to protect both Shuvika and Ciinia, while grumpy, was he still a good friend. And finally Serana, while she hadn’t had much interaction with her as with the others, she still felt kinda close to her.

She didn’t know what the future hold, but so far, it seemed to have gotten a good and interesting start.

#submission #fics #a very good read!#crossthicc!elder scrolls #well its in actual game continuity but #yknow tagging stuff #thank u so much for doing this!!!#tamitayo stormcrown #queued #tamitayo's more stern and Conan-ish but still #this is a great way for it to go down!

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mystic-scripture · 6 years ago

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:O TELL ME about "The Silken Dagger". Has it been published yet? Tell me EVERYTHING. Inspiration - where'd you get the idea for this? Tell me about Valinia!!!

There is so much to tell about my scrappy little werewolf and her journey through my head!! At one point I had gotten like 8 chapters of the original story, Twisted Fates on DeviantArt and my old and since deleted FF.net account. Right now, I have two chapters I want to run through before posting. They are currently sitting in my Wattpad Drafts as well as in my google drive, teasing me as of late.

Since you asked for everything…Imma put a read more line just to be on the safe side.

I’m a Writer and Totally Down for Fic Questions in My Inbox!

Okay, So back when I was a junior/ senior in high school, I really wanted to add something to the Vampire Diaries, right? Well, this is where Valinia was born. Her first iteration she was a witch from a founding family and her mother was a Salvatore expert, they were always tracking them and moving, and her father was a hunter. Except one day, they were on their way to Mystic Falls, and a few of Katherine’s “friends” killed her parents. Damon intercepted before she could and then he uses her to help find Katherine (thinking she’s still in the tomb at the time).

He compels her to forget unless the two of them were alone together, and so she is helping Stefan to take him down at the same time she’s helping Damon with his evil plot. Then enter the whole Vicki of it all, and she gets hurt real bad protecting Jeremy and Damon turns her.

However, since vampire witches didn’t exist in the canon for a long ass time until the siphoners became a thing….I had to do some rethinking of my girl.

So I did a full scale redo, new faceclaim, new back story, everything.

For Version Two: I had Holland Roden instead of Emma Roberts and she was a werewolf that came into Mystic Falls with Jules and her pack. Her mission to get close to Tyler to find the moonstone as well as find out what the hell happened to Mason. This would turn into her getting compromised and helping the scooby gang, as well as a personal vendetta after Klaus since he killed her pack.

This version didn’t get very far because I just couldn’t get into Nia’s head as much.

Bring in Version Three: So, I changed from Holland to Kat, who after being cast as Clary became the obvious choice for me. As well as with the characters I wanted her to interact with more, I decided to keep her a werewolf like Tyler, except for one difference. She was from an amish/ domestic terrorist cult pack that had paired itself with a good coven of witches, where they brainwashed their young into becoming super killers. And well, I’ll just pop this here and you can ask any other questions you have, since I really REALLY want to write for her more!!

Full Name: Valinia Marie Thomas

Face Claim: Katherine McNamara

Birthday: May 19, 1993

Age: 17 (season 3)

Zodiac: Taurus

Height: 5'5"

Hair: red/ ginger

Eyes: hazel/ glow yellow

Species: natural born Werewolf, Hybrid (as sired by Klaus)

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Occupation: Vampire Hunter

Fandom: The Vampire Diaires

Location: various motels/ back seat of her car/ mystic Falls, Virginia

Love Interest: Matt Donovan, Kol Mikaelson (more of a spying mission/ easy sex)

Weapon/Fighting: wooden stakes, arrows carved and forged with vervain and a crossbow, hand to hand combat, Hybrid abilities and instincts

Book: The Silken Dagger

Backstory: Valinia Thomas was raised in the boonies with a pack of werewolves who teamed up with a coven of witches dead set on one thing, and one thing only; creating the best vampire killing machines. At the age of ten her curse was forcefully activated, and after four years of training, her and a couple of others her age underwent a ‘breaking Amish’ mission that ended with her coming back to find her pack decimated. Three years later, she is still doing what she was trained to do.

Unfortunately, she gets a call from an old contact and is sent to Mystic Falls where her life is about to make an interesting turn.

Sorry for the really long post, but I hope that this helped you with your curiosity, Day!! Thanks so much for asking! She has always been a precious little badass who needed to be reminded of her humanity (Something that Matty Blue Blue sure as hell is gonna do 😉)

#aks answered #ask me anything #writing asks #thanks day!#darknightfrombeyond #convos #fic: the silken dagger #oc: nia thomas #my scrappy little werewolf

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daresplaining · 6 years ago

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Luke Cage Countdown: 4 Days

Deadly Nightshade

Tilda: “The first act of [my] amazing book will be the story of Tilda only caring about Tilda. It will be about a life of unlimited potential, pointed in the wrong direction, fighting for the wrong reasons-- for the wrong gains. But then will come the second act-- and oh, %$#@, that’s going to blow people away.”

The other big new addition to this season is Tilda Johnson-- Deadly Nightshade, Queen of Werewolves, engineering genius, and all-around badass. We’re really excited about her, and are curious to see how many aspects of her wild comics career (if any) make it into the show.

Deadly Nightshade is a strange, awesome character who is finally getting her due in the comics. She was first introduced in Captain America volume 1-- and in fact, so many of her early appearances were in Cap comics that she would probably be classified as part of his rogues gallery. In her introductory issue, she is an up-and-coming young supervillain working for the Golden Age-y baddie Yellow Claw. With his funding and support, she produces a serum that transforms people into werewolf-type creatures, and attempts to use it to take down Captain America and Falcon.

Tilda: “Very nice, Captain America... but you better not have hurt my babies permanently.”

Steve: “Who--?”

Tilda: “My name’s Nightshade, Cap-- Deadly Nightshade. Also called the Queen of Werewolves.”

Captain America vol. 1 #164 by Steve Englehart, Alan Lee Weiss, and Jim Starlin

Though a brilliant scientist, she is young and inexperienced, and her plan fails. She flees the scene, faking her death in the process. The next time she appears, she is a bit more seasoned, a bit more self-confident-- and has a completely new modus operandi.

Tilda: “You see, Cap, I’m going to take over all of SHIELD. The Yellow Claw’s serum might have been able to turn men into werewolves, but I always had the power to control most male-type human beings.”

Captain America vol. 1 #190 by Tony Isabella, Frank Robbins, and Michele W.

These pheromone powers are new-- and again, they don’t stick. Nightshade returns yet again, this time in Power Man and Iron Fist, and this time she is a robotics genius aiming to build a criminal empire. This version of Nightshade is the one that sticks, and it also finally provides a backstory:

Tilda: "Everyone who ever laughed at me-- who ever underestimated me-- they’ll all be sorry they ever heard of Nightshade! I learned early what the world was like-- in Harlem that was easy. I could see that the ghetto was a dead end-- I had to get out. The only two ways out were learning and crime-- I decided to master both! I studied avidly... and secretly. I was a genius-- but no one suspected-- and I made sure no one would, by playing dumb. By the time I was sixteen, I had amassed the knowledge of a trio of PhDs. The time came to put it to use-- as the Deadly Nightshade! My first tries were foiled by super-heroes, but they were bold attempts. And the authorities soon found that no jail could hold me for long.”

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #53 by Ed Hannigan, Sal Buscema, and Nel Yomtov

Tilda’s manipulation of people’s perceptions is, for us, one of her most compelling features. Even in her early Cap appearances, she displayed a childlike demeanor that masked her intellect. Her scheme in PMIF involves creating a lifelike mob boss robot, and staying under the radar by pretending to be his ditzy girlfriend. Tilda is resigned to the fact that, as a young black woman, she will always be underestimated, and so has decided to weaponize these expectations and use them to her advantage.

Tilda: “Ch-Chunky. You’ve killed him! *Sob* He was more than a cybernaut to me... *Sob* ...He was the only friend I ever had... a-and now he’s g-gone.”

Luke: “Aw, hey-- c’mon, don’t cry.”

Tilda: “Ha ha ha. Insipid fools. They fall for that bit every time! [...] Always underestimating me-- always thinking of Nightshade as a child. Always giving me a chance to escape!”

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #53 by Ed Hannigan, Sal Buscema, and Nel Yomtov

But her plans never quite work, and for a while, Tilda remains a second-rate villain, never quite achieving the respect that (we think) she deserves. But recently, to our excitement, writer David F. Walker has taken an interest in her and given her a second life in his comics.

This has come with a complete lifestyle change. Having fallen on hard times, Tilda is mugged in a back alley. She is rescued by the superhero Nighthawk, who offers her a choice.

Tilda: “Who... who are you?”

Nighthawk: “You’re Tilda Johnson-- Deadly Nightshade-- robotic engineering expert. I need someone like you working for me. I can leave you here to die-- I could kill you myself, and no one would care... or you can turn it around and put your skills to work doing something important.”

Occupy Avengers #4 by David F. Walker, Carlos Pacheco, and Will Quintana

Thus, Tilda becomes a hero, working alongside Nighthawk and using her brilliant intellect, engineering skills, and all-around badassery to fight street-level crime and corruption.

Tilda: “I managed to download all the data stored on the computers here. Then I sent the emergency distress signal you asked for, Barton. And then... I got bored. Figured I’d work up a sweat by saving you guys before help arrived. [...] I just wish I’d gotten here sooner. Maybe I could’ve helped save them.”

Nighthawk: “Tilda, they were robots.”

Tilda: “Some of my best friends have been robots, ‘Hawk. They’re the least judgmental people I know.”

Occupy Avengers #4 by David F. Walker, Carlos Pacheco, and Will Quintana

When Hawkeye and Red Wolf come to town, she joins their impromptu road trip Avengers team, further expanding her superhero resume. And when Nighthawk is killed, she honors him by taking on his identity. She has entered a new (and thankfully, bikini-less) stage of her career, and we really hope she sticks around.

Tilda: “If I’d known being one of the good guys was this much fun... I’d have switched sides a long time ago!”

Occupy Avengers #9 by David F. Walker, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and Jordie Bellaire

MCU Tilda has only recently started popping up in promos, and we still know next to nothing about her in this universe. This is an instance in which we’re worried a character might not live up to their comics coolness factor. Any version of Nightshade that doesn’t involve robots and/or werewolves in an inherently inferior Nightshade. The character description leaked way back when called her “a brilliant holistic doctor with a complicated history in Harlem where, as much as she tries to stay far from trouble, it seems to always find her”. This presents her as a bystander who is pulled into the plot-- a more passive role than that of her comics counterpart. The career shift is also interesting, and we’re curious about the reasoning behind it.

That’s not to say that we don’t think MCU Tilda will be great. There’s a lot more to her than just her inventions, and these shows have a good track record of adding compelling new layers to their characters. The most significant revelation we’ve so far received about Tilda is that she is Mariah Dillard’s daughter. The development of this relationship, in regards to Mariah (and thus Tilda’s) messy family situation, the increasingly shaky morality of Mariah’s life, and Tilda’s own comics-based potential as an antagonist, should be really complicated and compelling. Either way, we can’t wait to see this new version of one of our favorite underused comics characters.

#Luke Cage spoilers #Deadly Nightshade #Tilda Johnson #Netflix Luke Cage #Commentary #LC Countdown

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kappasigmalife · 7 years ago

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Characters for a story im doing

Christopher “Chrisper” Matthews Age: 22 (chp 1), 24(chp 2) Eye Color: Brown (Chp 1), (Greyish-brown, Chp 2) Hair color: Brunette, crew cut, greyish brown (Chp 2) Identifying feature (Beginning comics): Rectangular glasses, sapphire stud on right ear Cause of death: Freezing, taken off life support Spectral Ability: Cryomancy, Emotional Calming Family: Helen Monroe: Half-sister Joesph Matthews: Little brother Laura Matthews: Mother Andrew Matthews: Father Skills: massaging people, fencing, able to write almost anything, only person who can calm Robby down without violence, freezing the school to get out of class. Interests: reading, writing, bass guitar, walking in the dark, smoking, gaming, keep his area clean Background: Fairly neutral and stands by his beliefs, but keeps them to himself before causing a scene, caring to all that aren’t assholes to him, and ready to help his friends when they need it. While in chapter one he is normally happy on the outside, but deep down has loneliness building up from failed dates until meeting the man of his dreams at pride. An asshole with a heart of gold, many see him as any other dick, but when you need a massage or a talking to, he’s your man, seen with a hand of ice in one and a joint in the other; he still can’t get to the level of chill as Paul. Despite being abused emotionally and physically by his father, he still holds his head high. While considered the heir to a major industrial corporation ran by his father, Chris was more of a reclusive creative thinker, jotting down ideas for stories in a journal he kept hidden away, despite what his father wanted, Chris went to university under a liberal studies major focusing on natural and social sciences, hoping to get into social media coordination in conjunction of being a writer. As payback his father forced him to join a frat or risk losing his college tuition as a result, this ultimately led to his untimely death. Confused of what he really wanted, Chris explored dating both genders and always fell flat on his face either from superficial morons or people who confuse lust for love. He comes to love the man of his dreams, brendan a chubby goth who also happens to be a werewolf, they moved in mated and got married, all the while during an ritual for the mateship, chris is turned into a frost wolf and remains to devote his love to his one true love. Despite everything, chris slowly becomes cold and regretful after murdering a werewolf while being jumped after a meeting, leading to his imprisonment, and trial. While detained he was tortured by the guards as a turned werewolf instead of pureblood now scarred and having no lasting look in his eyes, even when gazing in the heart of brendan. Although slowly turns back after being hugged.

Paul Stone Age: 23(Chp 1), 25(Chp 2) Eye Color: Blue Hair color: blonde hair to the neck Identifying feature (beginning comics): Wireless headset on head Cause of Death: Electrocution by speaker Spectral Ability: Technological Transport, Omnipotence Family: Eh doesn’t care to say Skills: Hacking, engineering, singing, expert gamer, arson, canny ability to remain calm in any situation. Interests: gaming, singing, listening to metal, smoking, drinking, going on warpaths, setting the campuses forest on fire. Background: stoner genius, Paul complies with society’s bullshit and tends to stay away from drama by getting high as much as he can. Completing a collection of games from the human world keeps him occupied while learning about gender studies and music production while at AU. Moreover he relies on his RD of the house Reefer to get him the good shit before he’s got to deal with more crap around the house. While knowing everything about everyone, he tends to wait for the perfect moment to pop out and tell someone off for a witty comeback or just film a sex tape with his friends involved with no consent and a measly 10% of the profits. A natural ladies man ready for a polyromantic night in or out of his house tends to go well for him, although many end up falling for another. Being friends with a cryomancer massage therapist helps his stress during finals week, but if he’s pushed over the edge, you’ll be knocking on heaven’s door with his growling voice. Born into a moderately decent home, Paul was drawn to the art of metal at a young age and developed his voice by the time puberty hit; his longtime friends formed a band originally covering popular tracks of the time but soon after making original music on soundcloud got gigs ranging from their hometown to the upper levels of city limits, growing in popularity, only for his dreams being shot down by a bolt of lightning hitting a speaker and ending up being the newest edition to AU. despite knowing everything the only thing paul does know is why helen falls for robby, which baffles him to no end, until he tokes up again.

Robert Esposito Age: 21(Chp 1), 23(Chp 2) Eye color: Green Hair color: Dirty Blonde, cut short Identifying feature (Beginning comics): Naruto headband around forehead Cause of Death: Exhaustion from a 13 day watching spree of Naruto from beginning to end Spectral ability: Can enter any known fantasy world, accumulates a cartoon body Family: repressed so much of his childhood he doesn’t even remember being born. Skills: Filibustering, knowing way too much about anime and manga, sketching and painting, taking a punch, getting a girl out of his league to go out with him. Interests: Reading manga, fighting his roommates on chores, peeking on Chris’s failed romance life, making smart jokes, making his own manga a reality, organizing his dvd collection Background: Not much known in the past of his 6 ft. muscled nerd and his manga collection, he just showed up out of nowhere and was sent to live with Paul to get off Arthurs back about the amount of “flaws” of the afterlife. Going through 4 houses, he finally found someone who could tolerate his filibuster, or at least stoned enough to not care. Although ready to jump into a issue and help as much as he can, he is far more doing harm than good, probably from being doped too much as a kid. Usually buried in his collection of every one piece and Naruto issue known to man, he usually fights Chris on his taste of bad anime like gurren laggan, fate/stay, and Magi. Always ready for an adventure while everyone else wants to smoke and chill with a few games, he’s ready to drag them into any world he chooses, even without consent. Known for his abrasive commentary the housemates have their own way of dealing with Robby’s tirades of ranting, mostly with a hammer to the head or ice to the mouth, either way he’s quiet for an hour. While many find his words confusing, no one can compete with his art style and his attention to details and knowledge of chemistry

Helen Monroe Age: 24(Chp 1), 26(Chp 2) Eye Color: Hazel Hair color: Light brown Identifying Feature (Beginning comics): Black choker with a rose petal Cause of Death: Overdose of Adderall Spectral ability: Magic bag of weapons, can pull them out of thin air for comedic relief Family: Sophia Monroe: Mother Andrew Matthews: Father Christopher Mathews: Half-brother Joseph Matthews: Half-brother Skills: Weapon proficiency, singing, fencing, dealing with Robby’s attitude, make people pay for their crap against others. Interests: Singing with the band, cuddling with Robby, listening to Chris’s stories, smoking joints, singing Disney songs with Paul. Background: Born from an affair with Andrew Matthews and a woman he picked up from the bar one night while engaged to Chris’s mother Laura, Helen was born into a bad part of the neighborhood after Matthew viewed her mother as nothing but a druggie and herself a waste of life. She struggled with her mom’s issues but saw the love Lauren gave her working two jobs to make ends meet. She put herself through college thanks to odd jobs in babysitting her bitch of a landlords child and being paid with cash and half their rent taken down as a result. She made it to university where she finally met her half-brother during the first day of orientation, while the two saw their uncanny resemblance from their mutual bastard father, the two found no ill will towards the other, knowing in each other’s eyes that they had it rough. Struggling with classes led her to purchasing Adderall just to focus on the majority of work piling up, only to later overdose one night while her roommate was away. When in the university she’s placed with Chris and his friends and finally feels like she got a family, a horrible dysfunctional family, but one she loves, and while loves Robby with all her heart, doesn’t stop her from correcting his behavior when he does something stupid. A true badass at heart, even Paul warns never to get on her bad side.Reefer Age: Unknown Eye Color: I don’t know red I think Hair color: Bro I’m a skeleton Cause of death: Something stupid I’m sure Family: All dead Spectral Ability: reap souls, create weed, somehow can be high without getting high Skills: Growing and cultivating weed, reaping through super smash brawl in one hour, smoking a literal farm of weed in a day, pyrotechnics. Interests: Watching the gang grow up, play with the band, smoke weed, go on crazy adventures with Paul, customize his scythe to fit his mood, disobey Arthur's commands. Background: a lovable dealer from god knows where and god knows who, reefer comes from the command of Arthur and acts as the groups guiding force of growth and weed collection. Knowing Paul since he got to AU, considers him to be his little bro and chilliest of anyone on campus, randomly sleeps in the house and allowed to stay, he lurks around cleaning and cooking while everyone does their own thing. His main prerogative is to follow the few rules he keeps close to his few remaining brain cells, being that no more than 3 pets at a time. also provides many gadgets and pieces that result in consequences later on usually in the form of Arthur visiting the house enough times to have a welcome mat saying, hi Arthur sorry don’t care. Generally the calmest RD in the whole campus, but can lose his shit whenever he senses shit going down.

Brendan Balfour Wolfheart Age: 21(Chp 1), 23(Chp 2) Eye Color: golden brown/ red when turned Hair color: black Nickname: Fluffy butt Cause of death: Illness when an infant Family: Alasdair Wolfheart: Father Veronica Wolfheart: Mother Baltair Wolfheart: Grandfather Alicia Wolfheart: Adoptive younger sister Christopher Matthews Wolfheart: Husband/mateship Helen Monroe: Sister In Law Joseph Matthews: Brother in law Andrew Matthews: Father in law Laura Matthews: Mother in law Spectral Ability: Echolocation Growl Skills: Photography, hunting, cuddling, making chris happy, flaunting his body, tracking people Interests: Getting to see chris naked any chance he gets, cuddling to him every night, making sure paul gets the best angle of his furry ass for the channel, trying to get his dad to stop being so embarrassing, eating (like a lot of food), the only man who can make chris smile like an spaz. Background: Born to a wealthy family of werewolves, brendan is the firstborn son of alasdair and veronica, whom were pleased to shower their pup with acceptance. By the time high school hit, he came out as homosexual but kept it within the family to avoid bullies, like being chubby wasn't bad enough. Not being much of a musical prowess like his father, brendan would focus on film and photography as a hobby always getting the latest equipment, until Azazel got to them. Going to AU began a new chapter of his life and was welcomed into the gay community with open arms, and asses. He was nervous of meeting someone special, until he took western civilization and noticed a certain brown eyed cub sitting next to him who got his attention, but being shy he turned his tail and ran off when he offered to help him study. Only after running to the bathroom and feeling his chest pound did he think otherwise to respond with a yes to the question. Brendan would see him around campus smoking and drinking with his friends and get red faced by his genuine smile and wisecracks. It wasn't until he went to pride with link and was given an invite to Pans wedding that he was given the chance to talk to him, after 15 shots of liquid courage though. After talking and finding their love of art, scifi, fantasy, horror, and mythology, they danced under the spotlight gazing with him making the first move by stepping on his foot, leading him to follow his heart. While normally a shy boy and a little self conscience of his appearance, chris would always reassure him he loved him no matter what, to the point that he was asked to move in with the gang not one month after beginning to date. But was hiding a side of himself, and showed chris his werewolf form with a sexy striptease only for chris to look shocked but ultimately showed who was top dog that very night. It wasn't long before they became mates for life and engaged, with hijinks ensuing including robby kissing his man, flying into a blind rage, trapped in castlevania and falling into a coma, only to see his love in his lap worried. All together this shy boy knows how to come out of his shell but also has a habit of stepping back in when times get too rough.

Alicia Fiona Wolfheart Age: 20(Chp 1), 22(Chp 2) Eye color: Emerald green Hair color: Raven black Cause of death: Stillborn Family: Alasdair Wolfheart: adoptive Father Veronica Wolfheart: adoptive Mother Baltair Wolfheart: Grandfather Brendan Wolfheart: Adoptive Brother Christopher Wolfheart: brother in law Spectral Ability: Matchmaking Skills: swordplay, event planning, playing piano and guitar, being daddy's little girl, blood draining, matchmaking, spying on paul. Interests: Being with paul, making sure daddy doesn't embarrass the family with his nudity, wrestling her brother, trying to get Robbie to stop being a idiot. Background: oh bet you didn't expect a vampire to be adopted by werewolves, well that just makes you a bigot, now it may be shocking but alasdair and veronica love their badass daughter even if of different blood and race. From an young age alicia ran around crapping on alasdair's car changing into a bat and spooking the neighbors around the islands. Her mastery of swords comes from teaching of veronica and how to cut a bitch who messes with your man, although alicia depends more on sabotage and mental torture. Her affection for paul comes from a odd attraction to him despite not feeling a connection using her skill as a matchmaker. Growing up with brendan was all about chases and seeing his werewolf dick running around the house, truly he grew up to be dad. While developed early, alasdair played overprotective daddy by hunting them and keeping the boys from hurting his baby girl. In high school, she did fall in love, only to be played as a fool and humiliated by the boys saying she was just a rich girl looking to play. After being homeschooled, she discovered her love of music playing guitar and piano and working with her father at the record studio, although only for the summer as she demanded to go to college. Being sent to a werewolf school kinda sucked without brendan, so after meeting paul the first time, she decided to transfer to AU where she would bunk with helen, further cockblocking robby and enjoying every minute. After seeing chris and brendan marry, as well as copious amounts of alcohol and weed, she slept with paul and soon began a nice relationship that would be short lived after not seeing her matchmaking working with the two of them, only to discover her limitations are on herself, while she can see the matches of everyone else. Telling paul her true feelings, even after seeing him marry led her to find happiness with another, a man named hiro who she would meet in the later chapters and help raise a child together. Her father may see her grown up but will tackle pounce at any second to hug and praise her as his little angel.

Alasdair “Romulus” Wolfheart Age: 42(Chp 2), 44(Chp 3) Eye color: Orange Hair color: Reddish Brown Cause of Death: Impaled on Excalibur Family: Veronica Wolfheart: Wife Baltair Wolfheart: Father Brendan Wolfheart: Son Alicia Wolfheart: Adoptive daughter Remus Wolfheart: Older brother Christopher Matthews Wolfheart: Son in law Skills: Music production, tracking, loving his family, giving it to veronica all night long, flaunting his stuff, tearing apart anyone who messes with his daughter, metal music, stoning out with paul and chris, stripping naked in a matter of moments. Interests: Planning weddings, ensuring his children have a bright future, getting belly rubs from his wife, reminding robby to pay for his busted wall. Background: raised to a middle class family of werewolves, alasdair used to go by romulus by his family until college when he met his best friend Arthur, while the two were utterly different, they both saw the good in each other and would hang out around the house as much as possible. Although when the years came to a close at university and a race war was starting, arthur would change his demeanor and go on an all out kill spree against the others that stood in his way. In the chaos romulus lost his love and committed suicide on arthur's sword telling him to live with his choices before dying. As he awoke he was reunited with veronica and his son, who he lost at the age of 1 to illness, now able to grow as a healthy child and start a new life, he gave himself the name alastair to repress his old life and make himself a new man. While in the afterlife he is able to create his own record label. While his personality is optimistic and cheery at least for the first few chapters, he does come with some things in his life he keeps secret, like why he wants to break arthur's neck, why he's protective of his kids and why he never goes to a council meeting. Joining the crusades at the age of 22 way back when really cost him after seeing nothing else of the world after losing the child he and veronica loved most. Only to be reunited later on.

#lgbt webcomic #lgbtpride #lgbt #fantasy #comic idea

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