#like the crew is more dangerous to themselves than the bystanders

[rotatedaxis]

Izzy Hands: a not particularly well-organised essay (Season 2 spoilers ahead)

I love seeing Izzy accept Stede as a captain, maybe not as his captain yet, but definitely a captain, by the end of episode 5. He's moved on from all this talented guys ending up dead but this utter buffoon is still standing by whatever luck and starts seeing him for his behaviour when the guy gets up to come stab him (and screams, my guy that's not how you sneak up on someone) and he fires a warning shot and threatens him to not try him again. Part of it feels like it's because Izzy has started to see himself as part of the crew and not an outsider or last proof of Blackbeard's crew. Since the leg was left by the door (for the new unicorn), he's come off the alcohol and started to act alongside the crew instead of against them or just being a bystander - he coaches Stede to respect that the crew sees the suit as cursed, a threat, and gets him to apologise to them, see it from their perspective, and get rid of it with the crew in a way they deem fit. The gift of the leg to Izzy shows him that this crew, as angry as he made them and how much he's pushed them around and been cruel, ultimately are willing to respect him and invite him in to be one of them and by calling him the 'new unicorn' and using what remains of the ship's figurehead, he is part and parcel of the ship now, essential to it. This is furthered by Jim saying that “He’s our dick” about Izzy, when they talk about life on the ship meaning something because, as much as he wasn’t nice to them and isolated himself, he was already part of the crew even if he didn’t want to be or act like it. As mentioned above, this becoming one with the ship through the leg, may be part of why he's more willing to treat Stede as a captain and put trust in him to lead without immediately taking over because he is, too, part of the ship where Stede is the captain and trusted to lead the crew. When he's speaking to Lucius, Izzy says that it's a shark that took his leg when he was sitting on the edge of the ship and that he got what he deserved. This feels like a way of saying that he put himself in danger, standing up to Blackbeard when he was more volatile than ever, and that getting himself hurt was an inevitability. He put himself out to protect the crew, ultimately, and it got him shot. He lost his leg to Blackbeard, as much as he didn't personally amputate it, the crew did. Sitting on the edge of a ship isn't the safest thing to do as is standing up to a heartbroken, angry, volatile man with a history of violence that you are also a victim of. Izzy diced with a shark and got himself hurt. He uses the fiction of a shark taking his leg to distance himself from what really happened. This also displays the dichotomy between Blackbeard and Edward that comes up so much in season 1. Now that the crew have Ed again (as much as they clearly aren't all that happy about it), Izzy doesn't see the same man who took his leg - he sees a happy Edward who would've never done that to him - and so Blackbeard becomes Izzy's 'shark', a figure of violence and cruelty as he can no longer reconcile Edward and Blackbeard as one person since having seen what he really can become if pushed too far. So, it's a shark that hurt him, not his captain because his captain wouldn't hurt his first mate so severely.

The crew didn't know what kind of captain they were dealing with once Blackbeard was that gone - making them fight because he didn't want to see people in love, steering them into a storm that could kill them and getting rid of the wheel only to threaten to take out the sails which would've killed them all and who stopped it? Who allowed the crew the chance to mutiny and save themselves? Izzy. In shooting Blackbeard, Izzy gave the crew the opportunity to save themselves and put a stop to the man making their lives hell. “We cannot let this crew suffer anymore for our mistakes.” is what Izzy says to Stede when they meet again. Izzy watched the whole crew suffer under Blackbeard because of how he kept trying to get back the Blackbeard he was used to before he met Stede, and long before Stede broke his heart. Izzy himself suffered under an angry and heartbroken Blackbeard. Izzy sees dragging back up all of Blackbeard’s original behaviours, when magnified by heartbreak, as a mistake caused by him and Stede and has led the crew to suffer extensive trauma from raids, and fights, and surviving at sea instead of living like they had before everything went wrong. Izzy seeing what happened as a mistake supports the idea that he is truly a part of the crew and cares about them and what happens to them. Izzy is not innocent, of course, as he, initially, did try to follow Blackbeard as a first mate should. However, the cracks in this show early on, where the crew have to comfort him and talk to him about how Blackbeard has been awful to him as well and that it’s an unhealthy relationship and this leads to him standing up to Blackbeard about the state of the atmosphere on the ship and how it’s “fucked”. He actively took a stand to the man he wanted to be his captain to support what remained of Blackbeard and Stede’s original crews despite knowing how dangerous Edward was in his state which resulted in him losing his leg.

He lost his leg for the crew, and in return they gave him a new one and solidified his place onboard The Revenge and as a part of the crew.

[genius11rare]

Fuck

the D2 Salt Raid in the context of the Fake AH Crew is fucking hysterical. here you are minding your own business trying to cash a check when the Fakes burst in in full heist mode. but instead of the usual bullshit, the New Guy starts screaming at the fucking Vagabond about WHO’S BEEN TELLING YOU HOW TO HOW TO WANK YOUR GODDAMN DICK, V!? IT’S BEEN ME!

conclusion: nobody except for new people and the LSPD are afraid of the Fakes because honestly they’re better entertainment than anything that comes out of Vinewood

[gardeningintrests]

food 1a)

All around the galactic province on the eastern side of the galaxy, there was a rumour going around

"have you heard? the infamous 'deathworlders' are going to arrive in a few cycles! "

"i heard they dont have any fur! they only have skin warping up their bare muscles!"

"i heard they use high grade weapons for their daily life!"

"the rumour has it that they will eat anything within its sight when hungry"

"i heard they have hair on their heads and no where else!"

of course, some of the rumours were stupid and exagerated. but in face, a crew of humans is indeed coming its way to the galactic eastern province to attend a universal meeting about their diets and if any food from the death world (also known as Terran) can be edible by any other species.

onced the news of the rumans sudden arrival at the international space station, half of the Kaaldan species were gathering outside of the space station to satisfy their curiousity of the looks of the Terrans (humans)

"ugh, what a nuisance" captain jack said while preparing to depart onto a unfailiar land and looking outside with a window thats tainted so that outsiders cant see inside.

"well we just gotta ignore it." "yeah we have no other choice do we?"

a few of the crew said and sighed. They want to qucikly get the goody goody greeting and information insertion and then finalize their existence so that they can go places without getting scorned or gazed at with curiosity and hostility.

but they have a klong way to go, so they need to start step by step.

"welp, lets get going. the longer we stay the more people are coming here"

"can we even call them people?"

"dont be rude, Francis. We are going to be with them for the rest of our lives."

"im so resigning"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The crew of humans finally with the help of their hooded uniforms and masks and sunglasses, non of their face was recorded or taken a picture of. It was tiring to run from bystanders who are trying their horrible best to look at them.

they reached the meeting place.

Upon entering eveyong stood and welcomed them. in the meeting room, there was a huge round table, inside is no other than floating computer windows, statistics, notes and a system checker(like settings but more advanced)

they sat at the north of the round table (that makes them the star of the meeting)

they started as soonn as the humans took off their helmets and masks that hid of their face. and eveyone present were either wowed, shocked, scared or a mix of the said emotions.

Captain Jack Introduced himself, and eveyone is shcoked at his face. There was a huge scar, from his chin up to his forehead. Everyone present knows scars arent a good thing to talk about in any setient species.

they started with food, the basics.

once they all filled the humans screen with information of what is dangerous poison and what is edible foods around the galaxy. they provided them with the chemicals inside of the foods so that they can understand why theyre so dangerous.

afterall, humans are very curious creatures. so providing them with information would be a good idea to satisfy them.

Every species in the current seatings were proud of themsevles because they found humans a bit cute (somewhat like their young)

however.

the humans looked confused.

everyone soon tried to understand why, is it because the information is too complex for them to understand? perhaps a translation error? or perhaps they dont understand as they are not scientist?

then suddenly, one of the humans spoke : "uhmm, pardon my rudeness but is it alright for me to speak my mind?"

"of course human. "

"why is caffine not allowed?"

everyone stood in shock, and the remaining humans immediately pulled their friend down and whispered something to them. and the human seemed to relaized his mistake and apologized frantically.

"IM SO SORRY I WASNT AT MY RIGHT MIND JUST NOW, I WAS THINKING ABOUT THE CHEMICAL FORMULAS SO MUCH I FORGOT MY APOLOGIES!!"

the human shouted his apology so loud that some species had a hard time in reciving it.

the aliens were all curious but too scared to ask, until a kaaldan asked the thing everyone is thinking about .

"why do you think caffine is allowed? if im correct, caffine is a high poison. It is usually used for execution and maybe poisoning of the leaders."

eveyone noded or responded in some way that is fit to their way of agreeing.

"im terribly sorry about my comrade has said, and to answer your question just now captain Huieosyen. Because in our planet, humans sometimes need to keep themselves awake for a longer time and in order to do that, we drink a beverag called coffee....

after long hours of explaning cafine and other things that cannot be eaten however edible in some way.

all of them were shocked at the humans discovery of baking and a usage of fire. They wouldve expected them like half of them, using fire to engage in combat and defend or hunt, to find the humans not really fit into their expectations of violence.

'well its better this way, they are adorable beings and i rather them not join battles'

after a while, the humans started to talk about the dinning etiquette, courses, disserts and how they are served or how they are made. They also put up pictures and videos of the crew making the food themselves.

the aliens were... upheaveled. what? humans put bacteria on food to make it more delicious?? is this really a thing? humans like any other sentient species is that outside bacteria is not good for the body and they put it on food. the one thing they eat.

and then because of this the humans stayed another few hours explaning and giving out information for each food that basiclly exist.

"thank you so much for your cooperation, Humans. And we are terribly sorry for taking your time away."

"no no its alright, its for the safety of not only us humans but also the species out there."

and with that, the humans returned to the international space station and by the time they arrive, it was already 2 in the morning. what a long day.

a few months later, the whole article about human food is published onto the galactic net and everyone was caught off guard by the weirdness of the humans.

and soon, cook books and tv shows are suddenly on air, showing diffrent species of aliens what they can and cannot eat.

makes us wonder what would happen if they knew humans used fire for other things as well.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

„All I Ever Wanted“ by PattyCake Productions, but sung by the Villain Kids instead

While the post coronation party in Auradon sings „Set It Off,“ the Isle kids gather at the piers, catching just sorry glimpses of the colourful Auradonian celebration.

(Celebration of leaving the Barrier sealed, of leaving them to suffer in silence-)

Anthony Tremaine stands with his sisters and cousins, rather close to the edge, and holds Dizzy’s hand while the girl looks towards Auradon with a hopeful, longing expression. Anthony’s own eyes are, on the other hand, filled with pure hatred.

He turns away from the Barrier, tugging Dizzy with him, and starts singing, spitting the words out like venom: „For years I have waited and watched from the sides-“

The Isle kids quiet down and turn his attention to him.

„-As others were given their dues!“

He gestures towards Auradon and the Isle kids boo and shout and throw rocks towards their enemy, but he silences them with a glare after just a few moments. Dizzy looks up to him and picks up the song in her soft voice: „Overlooked and forgotten, my words cast aside…“

Anthony puts a finger on her lips and holds her a tiny bit closer. „I only did what I had to do,“ he finishes, somewhat apologetic: Dizzy has a dangerous tendency to talk too much, and they all know it. Besides, that isn't the only thing he is talking about, that much is clear.

The attention of the crowd shifts until it finally lands on the Facilier sisters, standing in a shadow too deep to be natural. Their faces are illuminated by equally eerie light. Celia starts singing in a perfect, velvety voice and the shadows around them dance, even though no one else is moving – or is it just a trick of light? A cruel illusion?

„As a child I have learned that the world can be cruel.“

She is still a child. They all are. They find themselves nodding along regardless.

Frederique picks up the song where her sister left off, her voice even more angelic than Celia’s. Her lids drop halfway down as she sings: „A game to which there are no rules––“

The sisters laugh together, throwing their heads back, and the crowd mirrors them without another thought, because there is nothing else left to do.

To the music of completely unhinged laugher, the sisters finish together, pure delight seeping through their words:

„Thieves are forgiven and justice is blind, but this time, the justice is mine!“

As the laughter echoes over the port, Harriet Hook climbs up on an empty barrel. She stands tall, overlooking the Isle kids below her and the reflections of Auradonian happiness far, far away beyond the sea. She runs her sabres together, which effectively silences the children, and gestures for Anthony Tremaine to join her. The crowd parts for him as he slowly walks towards her; he accepts the hand she offers him to help him climb up.

The pier stills as the oldest two Isle kids sing together in sombre tone:

„The past is a story; it tells us all who we are.“

The Isle kids swing in the rhythm.

„It robs us of glory and leaves us with nothing but scars!“

With the last word, she thrusts their joined hands in the air, as if in victory. Some repeat her gesture, while others flex their muscles to show off their own scars. They fought hard to get those, to survive, really.

The action is accompanied by quiet „Hell yeah,“ from the Gaston twins.

Harriet jumps down to join her pirates again, playfully shoving bystanders from her way. Anthony descends a bit more gracefully and dodges a few hits from the small scuffles that have broken out without as much as batting an eye.

The ruckus continues for some time and Uma unceremoniously pushes her way through. She stands at the end of the pier, her back to the crowd, but she doesn‘t mind that. Her crew has her back. She levels a hateful stare at the Barrier and the silhouettes of Castle Beast and Auradon Prep she surmises behind it.

She starts singing. She doesn’t put any extra emphasis on her words, at least not in the beginning, but the crowd stills regardless. Her voice grows stronger with each word and carries over the water, just as it was always meant to.

„All I ever wanted was a life that was rightfully mine-“

If hurt flashes through her eyes for a moment, no one sees: she isn’t facing the Isle then. Her crew circles behind her back, Harry Hook closer than most. When she turns around to look at them, her expression might as well be from stone.

„To never play second in line,“

Yeah, Harry Hook definitely stalks too close to her and the Isle kids pretend they didn’t notice the brief moment when their hands touched and the small cracked smile she sent him. They sing the next line together with their crew:

„Time to thrive not just survive!“

The pirates clash their sabres together, just for the effect, just for the thrill –

There is now a tiny sliver of clear space between the Lost Revenge crew and the rest of the Isle children, mainly due to the cutlasses slashing through the air in a rhythmic pattern as Uma continues singing: „All I ever needed was a moment to even the odds-“

Harry finishes her sentence, standing so that he could see both her and the crowd, but his eyes never move from her, not even as his sisters snicker at his attitude. He doesn’t care.

„-With power to rebel the gods!“

In the beat between his line and hers, Reza seizes the opportunity to speak up, throwing his hands up above his head in a gesture that clearly marks him as the centre of the galaxy.

„The stars aligned to my design!“

Before any of the pirates can react, Jade clasps her hand over his mouth, not really caring if he will bite, and hisses: „Evil, shut up, Reza, before Harry gives you a second smile.“ „Or before Uma feeds you to sharks,“ adds CJ Hook cheerfully as she pushes her way around them to the centre of the pier. „Yes. Or that. Thank you.“

Uma decides the interruption unimportant enough and finishes:

„That’s all I ever wanted.“

The formation the pirates held dissuades and the blend back to the crowd, more or less, or the crowd reclaims them back, just as the tide takes the shores. They’re all Isle kids, and that’s more than could ever be said.

But there is still a semblance of empty space, just few feet in between the armed teens and the edge of the pier. CJ barges in there, attracting attention all at once, and her older sister follows just a split second after her. Harry joins them from the side.

„All of my life I have tried to be heard,“ she shouts more than she sings, holding her sabre way up above her head in a war cry. To her eternal delight, she scares several seagulls so much that they finally take off and dramatically fly away just at the right moment.

Harriet circles closer to her sister and picks up the song smoothly. She ignores the crowd, seemingly paying attention only to CJ and Harry, and her smile is like a shark's, like a crocodile's.

„But men only hear what they fear,“

Absolutely none of the Isle boys felt a shiver down their spine with her voice, definitely absolutely none. Though the snickers of the Facilier sisters and the giggles of Tremaine cousins might suggest otherwise.

Harry holds up his hook and inspects it, playing with the tip, as he sings out:

„Fate wasn’t given, it’s something I took-“

„Now they have fear of the hook!“

All three siblings cry out together, their weapons thrust wildly into the air. Harry’s hook clings and catches the light and the eyes of the Isle children as it clings between the blades of his sisters.

They fall apart cackling and CJ starts spinning around – Harriet only just manages to snatch the weapon off her before she slices someone in half. Uncaring for that, CJ laughs and laughs and grabs her siblings hands so they'd join her in their dance.

They do.

And the Isle children let themselves be carried away by their mad, manic energy, joining the dance.

Arms and weapons in the air, spinning bodies, the thuds of footsteps and jumps on the almost-rotten wood–

It feels almost like freedom. Just almost, though.

They run out of breath, eventually, or maybe just out of energy to pretend, though Harry is still grinning madly, his hook now looped through Uma's fingers.

Through the dying laughter and fast breaths, another voice rises in a song, and the crowd parts for Ginny Gothel.

„There was always a standard to which I was held.“

She slowly walks down the pier, looking at her reflection in a raised dagger and adjusting her hair, as if she ever cared for her looks that much.

„A fairness to which I was sworn.“

As she pronounces „fairness,“ the Isle kids try very hard not to think of Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen, the fairest of them all. She is in Auradon now and she was in banishment before, they barely knew her all in all, but she is still one of them. Still an Isle girl.

Ginny swirls around and her cape flies around her. She pouts at her audience:

„But life took a turn and the hard way I learned: Every rose has its thorn!“

No one is really surprised when the dagger she was using as a dagger ends up handle-deep in the wall of a poorly built shackle nearby.

Mad Maddy’s thin hand rips it back out and the girl starts paying with it, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. She learned to do so a long time ago.

„Casted to the outside“

Mal, the traitor.

It was always Mal, wasn’t it?

Maddy appears lost in her own head as the crowd quiets down for her to continue, but she does so regardless.

„Watching as others delight!“ she snarls and throws the dagger towards Auradon with all her might.

Ginny shrieks that that was her dagger and immediately attacks Maddy while the crowd chants and cheers. Now more than ever, they crave something, anything– Freddie chooses to ignore the disrupted mood and siezes the opportunity to sing again: Her voice easily carries over the ruckus the Isle children cause. She loves her voice.

„A thirst on the inside,“

She makes the others join her for the next part.

„For darkness to conquer the light!“

The Shadows rise around her and Celia, just a bit, just as much as the Barrier allows. She wishes the Barrier would burn.

Gil stumbles in the middle of the crowd, clearly having been pushed by Harry Hook just moments before, and recites a few lines, while his crew claps and wolf-whistles. He can’t sing, but his voice carries anyway.

„All I ever wanted was my time living life in the sun!“

He retreats back to the other pirates and his brothers continue, and, yeah, they can’t sing either. They just think they can.

„When those fools all regret what they've done to me, they'll see that I'm not through.“

They make strongman poses and few of older Tremaine cousins giggle at the sight.

Uma, having had enough, stucks her sabre into the pier. All eyes land on her at once, which is what she wanted, and her crew carefully takes a step aside. Except for Harry, who circles closer.

„All I ever needed was a moment to conquer my fate!“

The Isle children cry out in agreement as she gestures towards Auradon and articulates her next words with so much venom it would be enough to kill a small kingdom.

„To never be second to great!“

Harry gives her a look that suggests that such thing is fully impossible in his eyes and Harriet dryly advises him to get a room before leading the rest of the pirates, including the definitely-not-blushing due and giggling CJ into the next line:

„A world that's prime and mine to take, it's all I ever wanted.“

Harriet silences the crowd with a single gesture and continues alone, locking eyes with Anthony Tremaine.

(„They should also get a room,“ whispers CJ for everyone to hear.)

„Days turn to hours and hours to years, hope becomes twisted and rooted in fear.“ There was never any hope, though, was it? Not until the boy-king invited four of them to the land of fairytales, but that was too good to last.

Anthony finishes Harriet’s bitter verse, just as before:

„Balance and order are cast to the side, vengeance for justice that I've been denied.“

A nearby trash can bursts into flames. „My fault!“ announces CJ cheerfully, „Do carry on!“ The mood of the crowd rises considerably and people shout and laugh and shove each other around, ignoring Uma asking de Vil cousins whether they gave CJ any explosives and Harriet scolding CJ for setting a fire again.

Before the flames burn out, Zevon steps in front of them, but before he can say anything, Diego de Vil and his mates from the Bad Apples sing the next line in unison and surprising harmony.

„All I ever wanted was a chance to even the score!“

Exasperated Zevon runs his staff through the fire and points it at Auradon.

„Why settle for less when there's more?“

His mood does not get better when his sister Yzla joins him.

„To conquer all that came before!“

The crowd returns to its previous frantic energy, not sparing any insult for the heroes or the old villains, voices rising and falling again around the jagle of weapons. It can’t be distinguished who says what anymore, and maybe it doesn‘t matter.

„All I ever needed was a slip in the balance of time-“

Anthony lifts Dizzy into the air.

„-To regain what's rightfully mine!“

The Hook siblings laugh like it’s the end of times.

„-To change the end and start again!“

Breathless, the children listen to one last voice, the soft, too quiet voice of Claudine Frollo.

„It’s all I ever wanted,“ she sings, gazing at Auradon with an unreadable expression.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Ally: Captain Seong Kyou Tak, of  the Leviathan’s Bane

“Judging by the size, the color of the frills, and the viciousness with which it’s been attacking your vessels, I’d fancy it’s a Dhraltham’s Kraken: Female, at least eighty years old, looking for a place to lay her eggs. Unlucky for you, she’s decided your nice, sheltered harbor is a great place to do it.  Me and the Banes can chase her off, maybe steer her to the local reef... or we can drop depth charges and blow her to calamari.... but that’s dependent on how much you’re willing to front our overhead”. 

Setup: Did you ever wonder why the corners of old maps say “ here be dragons” ? Its because brave folk like Captain Seong got to all the other ones already. Descendant of a family legendary among both sailors and monster hunters, Kyou Tak is the latest in a long line of working class giant slayers who have dedicated their lives to clearing the seaways of civilization of any ship-swallowing threat. 

Harbors the world over are run by risk adverse merchants, and nothing poses a greater risk to trade than a marauding scylla looking to fill its belly or extort sea traffic like a titanic robber baron. In to this looming economic disaster sails the Leviathan’s Bane with a solution, and a bevy of able sailors and hunters eager to throw themselves against the monstrous problem for a respectable fee, be it sea serpents, kraken, or any other form of megafauna.  

Its a dangerous trade, but Captian Seong and his crew are well compensated for their bravery and expertise, and maintain a healthy side business dismantling the carcasses of their kill for meat and alchemical ingredients, and selling them in the nearest harbor at a steep markup. 

Adventure Hooks: 

Bruised and battered from their recent monster hunting expedition and recovering at the local inn, the party is visited by Captain Seong. He hides his identity at first, offering to buy them a drink and engage in friendly conversation, but steers things invariably into a critique of their previous outing. Just from rumor, observation, and bystander accounts the captain can tell just what they did wrong: from how they approached slaying the beast to their negotiations with those that hired them to hunt it in the first place.   Depending on how the party reacts to this “constructive criticism”, the captain may offer them a place with his crew, or challenge them as amateurish competitors. 

The smells of stagnant blood, rust, and frying exotic meats overwhelm the harbor as the Levianthan’s Bane opens its hold to traders and travelers. Everything from exotic poisons, to scrimshawed trinkets, to even monster jerky are on sale.  While not many of these grisly treasures are actually magical ( except for the bbq serpent jerky, which is so delicious it might as well be) , they can be the key reagents for the creation of true magic items the party may want to craft, or commission from others. 

Captain Seong and his crew have gone missing, which is a problem considering they were recently hired ( at great expense no less) to deal with an invasion of giant crabs from the city’s recently dredged harbor. While the crab problem is under control for the moment ( they’re more of a pervasive, pinchy menace than an actual threat), the harbormaster would like someone ( the party) to go out and check on where the hell his mercenaries might be. As it turns out, the Levianthan’s Bane is moored on an illusion shrouded isle, its crew enjoying the hospitality of a sea-nymph who’s taken quite a possessive shine to their leader after a few dalliances out at sea. Seong is more than happy to deal with the chaotic crustaceans, provided the party can distract his clingy admirer long enough for him and his hunters to get their boat back in the water. 

[mkstrigidae]

Current WIPs and Fic Concepts

I promised I would do this yesterday, and then I forgot!!! (I was very sleep deprived). Anyways, here are a bunch of the WIP premises that I have in my 'unfinished drafts' folder. Most have at least a few pages written for them, but I love them all! ☺️💕

- A Santa Clarita Diet AU (Jonsa) Takes place in sunny southern California, where a shitty dinner at a mediocre restaurant turns into a huge problem for Jon and Sansa when Sansa's heart stops beating. Although she seems fine, Jon is flabbergasted several days later as he watches his wife- who alphabetizes their pantry and refuses to let anyone wear shoes in the house- rip the throat out of one of the sleazy new partners at their law firm, eating half of him before anyone processes what's going on. Hilarity ensues as Sansa's inhibitions and filter disappear, Arya ropes an extremely confused Gendry into helping figure out what the hell is going on just because he moderates the zombie forum on reddit, and Jon tries to deal with the fact that the woman he loves more than anything is now a humanitarian. He really could use a drink. (This one is actually mostly complete, but i need to refine a few things- i really love it. It's as gory and irreverent as the show, so viewer discretion advised, but it's a BLAST to write).

- A Thor/MCU AU (Jonsa, Steve Rogers/Sansa)- Asgardian prince Aegon is banished to Midgard after one too many arrogant decisions, and is promptly hit by a van containing Dr. Sansa Stark, Dr. Barristan Selmy, and Margaery Tyrell- two astrophysicists studying wormholes and Sansa's best friend and pseudo-intern. Marg yells at him, he yells back, Sansa tases him, and Barristan didn't sign up for the kind of heavy lifting that getting a 200+ pound slab of muscle into the back of a van takes. And then Aegon's younger brother, Jon, shows up, in the middle of an identity crisis because, apparently, he's adopted. He wasn't intending to stay, but he's rather drawn to Dr. Stark and her brilliance, and against her better judgement, she starts to trust him, and maybe even like him. This story is in about three parts so far- the first is based on 'Thor' and the second on 'The Avengers' and are fully Jonsa, and the third started as a family bonding story between the Stark kids and Tony (Ned and Tony are second cousins, and Ned was really supportive of Tony in rehab without expecting anything in return), and accidentally turned into a Steve Rogers/Sansa Stark story, which is a pairing i am HERE for. A lot of this one is written, but it needs some fill in before publishing, although it's one of my favorites that i've written to go back and actually read.

- A Star Wars AU (Jonsa) where Sansa and Arya are Alderaanian princesses who are off planet when Alderaan is destroyed- Sansa as a senator and Arya as a pilot, both working for the rebellion, and jon is a smuggler who does not know how all of these people got on his ship and why two princesses are sassing him. His copilot, Tormund (yes he's a wookie), thinks it is hilarious. I started this one just the other day, and it's already thirty pages long, most of them involving Sansa and Arya sassing people. Dany is a leader in the rebellion, Roose Bolton is the emperor, and Barbrey Dustin is a disgruntled former jedi trying to live in peace on a remote planet until another Stark crashes into her life and harangues her into teaching again.

- A witches/magic AU (Jonsa) where the Starks run an apothecary and spellcasting supplies shop. Jon had been completely in the dark about magic before his mother confessed to being born into a family of witches. He finds himself traveling to her hometown, trying to understand her world more clearly, and what it means for him. On the way, he develops something of a crush on the red-headed shop clerk who brews the best headache potions in town. Featuring lots of magical shenanigans, this is one of my favorites in the folder :)

- A 24 hour diner AU (Jonsa) where Jon is a local mob boss, and Sansa works the late shift at Seaworth's diner to buy textbooks for the PhD she's working on in botany. Sansa's running from memories, and Jon has a soft spot for the red-headed waitress who always remembers how he likes his coffee.

- An East of the Sun, West of the Moon AU!!! (Jonsa) This is one of my fav fairy tales, and of course i couldn't resist Jon as a direwolf striking a deal with the starks!

- A Roomates AU (Jonsa)- Arya, Jon, Tormund, and Sam have been renting the same house together off Winterfell's campus for years- but when Sam moves in with his girlfriend, they need one more person on the lease. Sansa, about to relocate to Winterfell for grad school, finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and that her housing plans have fallen through, all on the same day. Needless to say, she's a bit upset when she calls Arya to relay the news. There's a simple solution here, if Arya and Tormund can stop teasing Jon about his crush for five minutes. (any excuse to write tormund and arya roasting jon, tbh).

- A Fae AU (Jonsa)- When Sansa, a baker living in the city, washes her face in an enchanted spring on a camping trip, she gains the sight as a result. Suddenly able to see the fae underworld all around her is disorienting and terrifying. Sansa tries to conceal it- afraid of what might happen if the fae around her know that she can see them- but slips up, and catches the attention of Jon Snow- one of the lords of the unseelie court.

- A nuclear winter wasteland AU (Jonsa)- (?? I don't even know how to describe this premise, haha) where the Starks are living and running the Free Winterfell settlement in Siberia after a worldwide nuclear meltdown. Before the fallout, Sansa was one of the world's preeminent researchers in plant genetics and pathology, and works at the settlement to create newer, disease and radiation resistant crops to distribute for free to other settlements, aiming to break up the monopoly that Lannister Corp has on the market. Jon is a scavenger, searching throughout Siberia for his sister Rhae who disappeared several years previously. When he runs across Arya Starkovna, helping her fight off another band of radiation ravaged scavengers is just instinct- he doesn't think twice about it. In thanks, she brings him to the Winterfell settlement, where her brother Robb offers Jon sanctuary and resources, in exchange for serving as a bodyguard for Sansa when she travels to other settlements. Sansa is not particularly thrilled by this arrangement, but given that multiple parties seem to want her dead, she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept his company.

- A reincarnation AU (Jonsa)- of sorts. Robb is an archaeologist who finds a strange set of runes at a site up north, and immediately calls in Jon Snow- a historian and expert in said ancient language, as well as an old university friend of Robb's. When he arrives though, Robb shows him their most valuable finds- two mysterious ice blocks, with what appear to be perfectly preserved bodies from over a thousand years ago. No one could ever have imagined that either of them were still alive, but when the ice melts, revealing two very alive girls, the entire crew is instantly buried in NDAs, and given an assignment from the Westerosi government to figure out what the hell was going on. Sansa and Arya wake up, extremely confused about the world they live in, trying to adapt and mourning all that they've lost, even as the people around them wear familiar faces.

- Soulmates AU (Jonsa)- (Yes, another one, I love this dumb trope) Trauma surgeon and medical resident Sansa Stark is having a very bad day, and ends up meeting her soulmate during what she thinks is a mugging gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s not the one mugging her, just an intervening bystander, but she ends up slightly shot nonetheless. Sansa’s fretting about bleeding on the upholstery in his car, but Jon is a bit more worried about her injuries than the blood stains. He’s a bit confused when she threatens him if he takes her to a specific hospital, nearly has a nervous breakdown when she insists on doing her own triage, and is very charmed when she insists on ice cream after taking pain meds at the hospital. On Sansa’s part, she’s a little less concerned about being shot, and a bit more concerned about whatever weird first impression she’s making to her soulmate while high as a kite on pain pills. (this one just needs some tweaking to be postable- I'm not sure if it's going to be a oneshot or a series, but i love what I have already)

- A Demon/Archivist AU (Jonsa)- where Sansa works in the university's historical archives in Oldtown, and is learning to restore old texts with her fellow student and friend, Alleras (Trans Sarella is an amazing concept). When Joffrey Baratheon shows up with a pile of old books from his family's library to donate, Sansa is eager to get away from his sleaze, and accidentally takes one of the books home with her in her rush to leave. Unbeknownst to her, it's more than it appears, and when she leaves it open overnight, she accidentally summons forth Jon- an ancient, powerful, and extremely annoyed demon who is under a curse, and now hers to command. As Jon and Sansa try to get used to this new normal, the Lannisters (unaware that Joffrey had donated the tome) try desperately to find the book and it's owner, wanting Jon's power for themselves, and putting Sansa in considerable danger unless she can figure out how to break Jon's curse. Fortunately, she's a pretty good researcher, even if Jon is initially a bit of a grump. (This is based on a total wish-fulfillment mary-sue type premise for something I wrote when I was thirteen, and I revisited it and wanted to see what it would look like if i took it very seriously, and i am really enjoying it so far. It's a love letter to the terrible, heartfelt writing i was doing in middle school that created the foundations for my writing today, and so much fun).

The one that I am MOST excited about though:

- A Pacific Rim AU!!!! (Ned/Cat, Gendrya, Braime, Sansa/Jon Umber)-Twins Sansa and Robb Stark have always been completely in tune with each other, and when your parents are Jaeger pilots and your mother invented the neural handshake, what option is there but the Jaeger academy? Sansa studies to be an engineer, but ends up copiloting the Jaeger 'Winter Wolf' with her twin brother, after they lose Ned Stark to cancer. When Robb is ripped out of the conn-pod and killed by a kaiju while he's still connected to Sansa, she barely manages to kill the creature before stumbling back to shore, traumatized, grieving, and swearing that she'll never pilot again.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju don't stop just because Sansa does, and when the end of the world is imminent, Marshall Catelyn Stark orders both her daughter and former pilot Jaime Lannister (who lost his twin and copilot, Cersei, several years previously) back to Hong Kong for one final stand. Forced to face both her demons and an irate Arya, furious that Sansa had abandoned the rest of them after Robb's death, Sansa and Arya have to figure out how to pilot Winter Wolf together before the apocalypse comes for them all.

Featuring Marshall Catelyn Stark (commander of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, inventor of the neural handshake, former Jaeger pilot, and BAMF), Sansa x Jon Umber (Yes i know it's a rare pair but i've always kind of loved the idea of them, even though we know so little about him), Kaiju parts dealer and smuggler Petyr Baelish, bickering kaiju biologist Dany and theoretical mathematician Jon Snow, LOCCENT officer Theon, lots of snark, lots of angst and heartfelt conversations, and a weird friendship between snarky-grieving-asshole Jaime Lannister and kind-quiet-grieving Sansa Stark, who are the only two people in the world who know what it's like to lose a copilot and a twin in the drift.

Thanks for reading guys!! There are more, but some of them I just don't know how to explain quite yet, haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these!

[ibeatfor]

evolution

3/24/21

I live by the mountains

And it wasn't even by design. It just so happened that this small little place within my budget was by the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.

It was not even a year ago when a picture of me and my then husband J was immortalized in the local newspaper as we stood arm in arm watching the fire fighting being conducted on the fire raging in our "backyard".

I remember seeing the flames atop the mountains and within a hair's breadth, witnessing in awe and horror as it raced down the spine of the mountain. I think subconsciously I knew we weren't in any real danger as it hadn't crossed the street but I think I must've tugged on Inyo's leash to get him further away from the fire, as if the few inches would've made a difference. It's human instinct to withdraw from a perceived threat. His resistance pulled me out of my head and back to reality. We were (relatively) safe, why not check it out along with the bystanders and news crew that had already begun to gather? It's also human instinct to observe -it's why we inevitably rubberneck despite swearing we won't be the one to hold up traffic like that car in front of us. So we went to check it out with the crowd, 6 feet apart of course. Arm slung across each other, mine around his waist and his casually over my shoulder, we stood there watching helicopter after helicopter dump water on the patches of flames. It was this image that the photographer captured. I recall the mountains looking beat up, barren and forlorn after the fire was put out. The black scars from the ordeal showing up starkly against the blue skies made me feel bad for my beloved mountains, how they must have suffered.

Never could I imagine that months later I would be standing in the same spot alone. This time, it would just be my own two arms clasped about my small heaving self, as if to futilely hold back the overwhelming grief, feeling much the same way I imagined my mountains to look back then-beaten up and scarred.

---

So now, some more months later, as I'm out on my daily walk, I'm struck dumb by the patches of greenery that's peeping up from the mountain face. They're scattered and patchy, awkward like a teenager who isn't sure how much space to take up, but they're green and they're there nonetheless. They grow bravely and defiantly, the scars of their ordeal scabbed over by slow growth. Fundamentally I know they didn't just spring up overnight, they've been budding since the fire was put out but it still catches me by surprise. I know this but I can't help but feel taken aback because as often as I've walked this loop, I never noticed it until recently.

I flinch as I reread my past journal entries, notably the one on January 12th. Not because it’s embarrassingly raw (it is) but because it wasn't too long ago that that memory, was my reality. While I may still instinctually recoil from the memory, I can see that I've kept pace with my mountains. They've been the metronome beating steadily in the background and living by them (by lucky happenstance), I didn't realize they were also keeping me on beat, outwardly reflecting our progress in a gradual, delightful blooming of life and healing, healing and life.

When I see the dare-to-be hopeful patches of greenery bathed in the early evening sunlight, it's human, or rather, Theresa instincts to turn my face towards the warmth of the sun, to soak in its life endowing light myself.

---

3/1/21

Red cross, ActiveSGV let- I paused in the midst of compiling my mental to do list. It felt like a lifetime ago when it was all I could do to perform the bare functions of existence. Did I get out of bed before noon? Yes? Good. Did I get out of bed without breaking down? Yes? Now that was a win. Those were hard days. And while I can get out of bed before noon and without crying more reliably now, it wasn’t so long ago that I can look back without flinching at the difficulty of the memory. The possibility of relapsing, of going back to that place, is always there. But when you feel like your life as you’ve known it is being upended, you count even the small victories. I process my observation of my mid-thought with wonder. The idea that I now tentatively have enough emotional and mental bandwidth to even consider doing something else aside from making it through the day without breaking down sends a small thrill down my spine. Now that was the win of the month!

--

2/19/21

We’re creatures of habits. So when it’s a habit you’ve known for years, it’s disorientating to shake things up. This past weekend was my first road trip with R and it was enjoyable, despite my initial dread over embarking on a long journey on a Friday of a long weekend (the irony hasn’t escaped me). While it was a great first road trip together, it was also…kind of weird. Even broaching the idea of taking the trip in the first place and then planning it felt strange. I didn’t know how to navigate through these uncharted waters because I’m so used to road tripping with J. We expected to adventure on long weekends because we had established that expectations years ago. It never crossed my mind that we wouldn’t go somewhere on a long weekend.

So while I enjoyed every moment of my first road trip with R, I admit J was on my mind more often than I’d like. It was as if I was leading little Theresa forward by the hand but she kept glancing back at the past, reminiscing on how I used to do x, y, and z with J. The contrast between then and now often induced feelings of loss, longing, and heightened the sense that something was amiss, like I was going against the natural order of things. From past experience, I knew that there was only one place these devious thoughts will lead me to if I left them unchecked. So before we went down that rabbit hole, I’d give her hand as much of a reassuring squeeze as I can muster and doggedly plod on with her in tow -partially because there’s nothing else to be done at this point but mostly because I want to move forward. I can’t say with much degree of certainty that things will be better ahead, but I’d like to (have to) believe they will be.

Initially I tried to convince her not to look back and to keep her eyes always ahead and when that failed, I tried bargaining with her to not look back as often. Eventually, I relented. I allowed myself to look back as often as I needed to and that offered some relief, I was able to free myself from the guilt and the need to always keep my eyes forward.

Learning grace is part of fighting the good fight and that weekend was a prime learning opportunity. I allowed myself to look back and gave myself permission to feel everything -the discomfort from what feels like a physical wrenching of myself out of a comfortable habit and familiarity, the longing for the familiarity, the excitement of the newness, and hell, the plain strangeness of the newness. I’m learning there is space and that it’s okay to hold contradictory feelings. After all, when I’m not an Olympic medalists in mental gymnastics, I’m really a plant with more complicated emotions.

---

1/12/21

Sadness accompanies me everywhere. She trails me.

The death of a dream is always heartbreaking.

Some times I gasp aloud from the pain.

It's not your heart that aches, not for me at least. The pain is a dull, slowly pulsing pain that's nestled right underneath my heart.

I stay in the house until I can't and then I walk, heading north, until I can't. On 1/12/21, I make it as far as the northern grass patch before I have to sit down.

The sun sets as quickly, the sky flares up as quickly as I'm overcome by the pain

I wonder if I appear drunk, crunching leaves and walking until I double over.

Idk who I'm glancing around for but at this point I wouldn't mind a hug from just about anyone.

---

1/1/2021

Rustle, click, thud

I settle in the car with a rustle of clothing and plug in my phone to charge with a smart click. As the phone snaps onto the magnetic phone holder with a light thud, that’s when it usually starts. At night in cold Ole Faithful the rustle, click, thud are the sounds of my thoughts preparing to play themselves out, like the din of middle school orchestra students warming up to play. I used to dread it in the beginning, the thud signaled the arrival of unbearable sadness. Unbearable sadness was like a sharpshooter that always hit the swollen sac of sadness nestled in the hollow behind my breastbone dead on every time. The burst sac would release a mixture of pain that would flood throughout my body to the tips of all my extremities, reaching every nook and cranny. Oftentimes, I’d barely make it down the street before I’d outwardly uttered an unbidden sob and hunch over the wheel in what felt like physical pain, clutching it with all my might, the tears streaming down my face.

But now that the sadness is a little older, and maybe my tears haven softened up its heart, unbearable sadness is now just sadness and sadness stands outside the passenger door waiting patiently -but ever so ominously- for me to invite it inside. I know better than to keep it waiting so it is with slight resignation that I nod my permission and it settles in and buckles up, a faithful companion on my ride home from my nighttime forays. When I come from my mom’s house which is noisy on quiet days, being alone in Ole Faithful with my silent companion makes the silence even louder.

Rustle, click, thud. Tonight, I feel out my thoughts as they parade themselves individually to me and slowly realize that they don’t all elicit as strong of a reaction as they have before. It’s as if my reaction was ammunition and as I became less volatile, the sadness, in turn, became less violent and all consuming -it just sits there. I ease Ole Faithful onto the road and begin my journey home. While I used to dread sadness’s presence, now we sit in companionable silence. I know it’ll be around for the ride for a while.

[themonstrousarchives]

Hunt: Party Pack

Description: A motley crew of fellow monster hunters, but with a twist about them. They're just a little too monstrous. A quartet of roadtripping werewolves* seized by the Hunt, given an insatiable desire to track down and destroy other avatars primarily. They hunger for the PC that has done the most collateral damage, ready for revenge. 

Hook, Session goals: Time for the most dangerous game, as we risk NPCs that the players have come across, along with any other monsters in the world- Bigfoot, an avatar of the Stranger, others capitalizing on the fears

Monster Type: Executioner (motivation: to punish the guilty) Powers: All of them have supernatural speed and strength, and can shapeshift into humanoid lycanthrope-esque beings for more effective predation. One of them is adept at using “magic,” mostly in a supportive way like a bard- helping to direct the others and prime their attacks. They try to lure monsters out, one of them faking weakness or taking on some aspect that the target might find appealing, then the bait leads them into an ambush. When hunting a group, they try to split everyone up so that they can gang up on whoever gets left behind. Attacks: Detailed below Weaknesses: The Dark, The Stranger, and the Spiral can either blind or misdirect the wolves, though actually killing them will be difficult- they have to be made into quarry to make them “vulnerable.” It’s a farfetched pull, but calling upon the owner of Lobos Ltd. (See the Deer Man adventure) and acquiring some of his cages would be effective in removing them as threats. 

The Wolves: (Attacks ordered by preference)

Greg (Armor: 1) [][][][][][][] (Shapeshifts quickly)

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Claw- 2-harm ignore armor hand

9mm- 2-harm close loud

Johnny Hobo (Armor: 2) [][][][][][][] (Bait)

Claw- 2-harm close ignore armor

Bite- 3-harm intimate 

Baseball bat- 1-harm hand 

Elsa  (Armor: 0) [][][][][][][] (Stays hidden/protected)

Magic Snare- 0-harm close restraining

Enchant- adds 1-harm to damage dealt

Shotgun- 3-harm close messy

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Pat  (Armor 1) [][][][][][][] (Fastest chaser)

Knife- 2-harm hand 

Claw- 2-harm ignore armor hand

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Greg (Hotheaded and rash. Eager to feel powerful.)

Johnny Hobo (Patient. Durable. The methodical pursuit, often tempering Greg or supporting the others.)

Elsa (The brains of the operation. Puts on a cool air.)

Pat (Jumpy, a pure manifestation of id. The fastest, but also the easiest to fool.)

Countdown:

Burgers on the Coast gets accosted by a brash customer. After they finish eating, they will leave and the table can be investigated.

The Pack arrives in town, a PC sees Johnny outside their window (if they doubletake, or run to get equipment, he will be gone).

If the PCs have convinced any “monsters” to only hunt “bad guys” or otherwise change their ways, the reformed monster gets ambushed. Depending on the monster, the Pack might kill them.

Shiro violently cuts back a mass of vines, which fight back, whipping around his arm and leg. As he pulls to get away, thorns tear into him, and the vines start to dig into him. 

The Pack tracks down Bigfoot, and kills her after she menaces some campers. 

The Pack finds Shiro restrained, spider lilies growing out of his mouth and stomach. They kill him. 

They will start the next hunt, if not found, or if not given the primary focus during the hunt. They are essentially competition for the PCs.

Bystanders:

Susan- (Gossip, Victim) Burgers on the Coast waitress. She’s worked at this same restaurant for 30 years and as a result knows all the regulars. Greg will accost her, then Johnny Hobo will smack him upside the head. Only these two are at the diner.

Anuset- (Victim, Gossip) The mask is out pursuing someone it has targeted in the past week. As it falls upon this person and begin to unpeel, Johnny Hobo will appear behind it with a baseball bat. The morning after, a hunter will see a destroyed clay mask left discarded. Further inspection will discern that a couple fragments were taken.

Shiro- (Helper, Victim) Shiro has been plagued by vines overgrowing his orange tree. While he cuts them back, the vines fight back and restrain him, as impossible amounts of blood issue from his person. Where blood spills, spider lilies start to grow... after a few days he is still restrained, but the Party Pack finds him, and will kill him.

Bigfoot (Victim) (Stranger Avatar)- aka Isadora Vila Quintana, a hiker who got too lost in the woods and now menaces other hikers. She doesn’t quite need to kill the hikers, but often puts them into precarious positions after she is finished with them.

Francesca Lopez (Victim) (Stranger Monster) sells secondhand items. She has ties to Charlotte and her trade market, wherein Frannie goes around flea markets and digital marketplaces. Having recently finished a transaction, or at least would have if she hadn’t gotten caught by the Pack. 

Minnie Taylor (Witness, Innocent) a resident who had gotten lost trying to find her own home. The Pack has promised to help her once the danger is cleared, and if they don’t return for her she will try to free herself from the place they sealed her into, inevitably getting lost and becoming a spiral avatar. She trusts the Pack to help her, and if the Players come across her, will not trust them if they don’t seem to have a good reason to kill them.

Isadora, the Lonely avatar Bigfoot

Shiro Kamada, the Slaughter avatar

Minnie Taylor, a woman about 29 years of age, who recently moved into the Strange Suburb (before it was strange)

Locations:

Burgers on the Coast (and Parking Lot)- the diner that the PCs have taken a liking to, their repeated presence dooms it to become a hub of Interesting Persons. 

The table that Greg and Johnny sat at will have some traces that can be discovered- some gum under the table, a deep cut into the particle board table, a dropped receipt (Ammo- 9mm and shells). 

Camping Grounds

In the forest, far from the sounds of the city, a hiking trail opens up to a small clearing where hikers can put down tents and keep a campfire. This is Isadora’s favorite haunt, because of it’s isolation and the sheer ability to disorient people in these woods. She can be tracked, sometimes.

RV

Parked by the beach, one of many RVs. Once the right one is sussed out, it can be broken into. It is likely that at least one of the Pack is there, keeping watch. As soon as the PCs head there, the other members of the Pack will be notified, and they will circle the party, trying to make sure that they don’t leave with anything important.

Inside the RV is a mess. Clothes in one or two piles strewn over one of the seats or in a receptacle. Projects lay unfinished- Someone’s trying to patch their jacket, someone else is growing seed starters. Plastic dishes lay in the mini sink. One bed looks like it’s been used as an operating table on more than one occasion, a big antique chest sits in the corner undisturbed, and some hefty power tools poke out of a footlocker pushed out of the way. Treat this as a Haven for the Pack, with an Infirmary, an Armory, and a Workshop. 

They also have many “trophies” from previous kills in an upper cabinet- everything sealed with an eye sigil. Some Tallow. A mushroom. A long, preserved beak. A lock of inky black hair. These hunters have been traveling the US, fighting monsters and leaving a wake of supernatural power vacuum. 

Shiro’s home

Vines stretch, having grown a strong base on the telephone pole near Shiro’s home. Runners stretch from the pole to the lines and then to the houses. They have sprouted purple flowers, and are now growing green fruit- not yet ripened, though that may change quickly.

The vines are attempting to peel under the shingles of Shiro’s home to anchor themselves, though he has managed to beat back the majority. It’s harder for him to keep up with the vines currently suffocating the orange tree, though.

Him using his ultraviolent powers to destroy the vines has attracted the attention of the Party Pack.

The Strange Suburb

An entire suburb has fallen into unreality and is distorting- building extensions without rime or reason, warping through various decades and shapes. Think McMansions but worse and more terrible and insufferably generic. Very easy to get lost in, very easy to separate people and confine them in terrible, bland, almost claustrophobic (make sure everyone is okay about this if you use it) spaces. There is no real branding on anything, and looking through the house will find very little personal effects if any.

One house is holding Minnie Taylor. Elsa had set up wards which will keep the spiralizing at bay (The door containing her room is unlocked, but there are multiple and they shift around. A golden seal distinguishes this door if the players look for it with supernatural means).

The largest, most cancerous McMansion house is wavering in the most volatile sense. The house goes through waves of eras- wallpapered walls, then painted, then cheap drywall, then wood paneling. The rooms are labyrinthine, measurements all feel wrong- hallways too narrow, rooms too big or small. Pat is the scout of the group, and will be ready for anyone entering the house conventionally, sprinting away as soon as they come in.  As the Players follow him (if they do), the rooms stretch and expand, making pursuit difficult. At the top of the house is a large, undefinable room with elements of any kind of room in the house. A little bit of a kitchen, a showerhead, photo frames on the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room lies Francesca, with Johnny Hobo holding her down as Elsa prepares Greg to execute her. Behind them all hangs a painting on the wall, from which a malevolent energy exudes.

Artefact: A Francis Bacon painting which is the source of the reality warping in the first place. Disrupting Elsa’s preparations will make the manifestation worse. The Players are able to either try to finish the Ritual Elsa was performing (containment, some reversal of the manifestation, at the cost of Francesca’s life), or find their own solution to destroy it.

Cold Open:  A beat up RV speeds up Highway 101 under the light of a waxing moon. A folkpunk song plays through the speakers as a rowdy quartet sings along. Street lights illuminate a messy dashboard with all sorts of little tchotchkes- batteries, flashlights, pocketknives, that kinda stuff. The song ends and the next one opens with a death growl, and as they roar along, their voices get loud, feral, deeper. The RV hits a bump and the knick knacks on the dashboard shift, the riders laughing with the chaos. The next time the streetlights flicker to the dash, a mugshot of [PC] has made it to the top.

[quiet-kunoichi]

❛ I think I’m going to puke. Is there a trash can in here? ❜

[ question sentence starters | @suck-my-tomato | verse; highschool ]

With a red plastic cup held lackadaisically at her side, Kimiko leans up against the brick hearth of an unused fireplace. She’d arrived only an hour earlier, which clocked her in at a whole two hours late to the messy highschool party. And only thirty minutes late to the arrival of some shitbag adults: whom she recognized as a few of Itachi’s friends. All of them made up a frat house in a college not too far from the highschool - they called their ridiculous gaggle of hooligans the ‘Akatsuki.’ Kimiko much preferred the term: womanizing assholes.  It was Shikamaru who had called her up, this time ‘round. A couple times before, it had been Naruto to desperately dial her - but he always called at the last possible minute, talked at the speed of light and only infuriated her all the more. What was the point of begging for her help if the damage was already done? In each of those instances, Kimiko had arrived with a crack of her boot through the front door: and the parties stilled to an eerie silence as the eye of the storm surveyed the room for her casualty. 

Sasuke Uchiha; an enigma of cool control turned haphazard implosion, and even after all the damage done to their original relationship, Kimiko was somehow still responsible for him. At this rate, she felt more like a Haz. Waste Cleanup crew more than a true form of support, like she had used to be. Naruto thought himself to be stable enough of a pillar for which to knock some sense into Sasuke when the raven danced with the devil a little longer than any mortal should dare to. Sometimes, a good heavy knock to the head worked enough wonders to sober the Uchiha up - but more often than not, Kimiko Tamashi would always be the antidote. His kryptonite; a catch-all cure for the riddle of ailments that plagued him. After the last incident - Kimiko enlisted a better source for pertinent information such as this: Shikamaru Nara. While he wasn’t necessarily the type to enjoy parties, he indeed was the type to be dragged along by his group of friends and quietly watch over them from his shadow. A wallflower, so to speak. He was invaluable to Kimiko, and often gave her a heads up ahead of time. After all, she was much more effective as a cork, or even a deterrent. She knew the nuances of Sasuke’s worst behaviors like the back of her hand: plus, she was impossibly observant. On top of that, she provided Shikamaru steady company; she didn’t wander off and get wildly out of hand like the rest of them. The only time she excused herself from his conversation was to put a certain Uchiha or Uzumaki in their place. In particular, the last time she excused herself to the bathroom, Shikamaru had noticed Sasuke trail in shortly behind her, his onyx gaze throwing itself over his shoulder and hitting the Nara with a silent threat.  That was the longest she was away for; what happened behind that closed door, Shikamaru didn’t care to ask. He wasn’t called a genius for nothing - and he didn’t need the dirty details. He’d rather not know: she wore the shame of her gluttony in her expression, her rumpled clothes, the swollen red of her lips. Even her hair had changed; she had moved it all to one side of her neck, as though it were a simple style choice and not a means to cover up the blooming purple of Sasuke’s lustful signature. Shikamaru was a good friend, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to - Kimiko appeared enough like a member of AA whom just lost their ‘2 months sober’ token. Though, in her particular case.. it was likely more of a ‘2 weeks’ situation.  At her return, Shikamaru simply handed her drink back to her - and watched with button brown eyes as her lips find the bitten lip of the plastic and chugs down the mixed drink as though it were water. While he wants to make a comment on it - he has learned better than to test her waters while she was already electrically charged with ‘Sasuke energy’ as he called it. Instead, he chooses to save his skin rather than put his neck on the chopping block - and offers her a drag of his cigarette. Rusty umber hues give him a pointed look, but she’s quick to cave into the need for nicotine. He knew the risk he ran, treating her this way; but recently fucked or not, Sasuke didn’t own her. No one did, that was precisely part of her appeal. As she takes a lengthy drag, Shikamaru lifts his gaze to keep an eye on the reckless Uchiha as he pushes himself off the hallway wall and stalks into the kitchen instead. Seems Sasuke had watched the exchange like the hawk he always proved to be: inebriated or not, so it seemed. It earned a drawn-out sigh from the exasperated Nara. These two were once a picture of perfection, but now they couldn’t be further from happy and healthy. Fire and ice, interchangeably. One of these times, they would collide so violently that surely they would splinter off so irreparably that the bigger pieces of themselves left remaining would fall completely out of orbit of one another. Or so Shikamaru could only hope. Their incessant rollercoaster relationship was beginning to take a hefty toll on the entirety of their old friend group: nobody could catch up to their tumultuous moods. It was exhausting, truly. It appears that Sasuke was only looking to stir up some more trouble - having that half hour in the bathroom with Kimiko all to himself wasn’t enough to satiate his insatiable hunger to possess her. “Man, here we go..” Shikamaru exhales a bothered grunt, rubbing at his brow with a thumb as he accepts what was left of his vice and returns the orange filter to his pursed lips. Kimiko follows his line of sight and throws a look over her shoulder to spot Sasuke mixing up a deadly concoction of light and dark liquors with an energy drink base. He was seeking her attention, and would use any means necessary to have it. Kimiko didn’t see it that way, though: she just saw her night curdling before her eyes - for which a thin film of red was starting to gloss over. She watches for just a lingering moment more as he takes the wicked encouragement of a few Akatsuki members. He accepts a few unmarked pills and washes them down with the drink - then, with hollering encouragement at his left and right flank, Sasuke chugs down the drink in its entirety. Kimiko stiffens into what might appear as solid marble - but Shikamaru was close enough to see the shiver of electricity prickling just beneath the surface of her aura. Fuck, he was just starting to pick her brain, too.  “That cocksucker..” The insult shudders past a cage of her clenched teeth, and despite his better judgement, Shikamaru nudges at her shoulder with his knuckles. “Come on, don’t let his presence get under your skin. Here,” He offers her what was left of his cigarette. Although with obvious hesitation, and a single glance more over her shoulder, Kimiko accepts the peace offering and sucks down the nicotine, desperate for a feeling of calm to wash over her - no matter how fleeting. They pick up their conversation, but it is obvious that she isn’t as engrossed in it as she was before the bathroom rendezvous. Something is gnawing at her, that much is obvious - and it’s all such a damn drag. Sasuke’s voice was thunderous from his place in the kitchen, and each time the sound carried over and hit the shell of her ears, Kimiko visibly shuddered. At this rate, Shikamaru was only a bystander to whatever chaos was soon to let loose. He could only hope not to become a causality, this time. He’d gotten dangerously close to feeling the heat of Sasuke’s fire a few times before, but that was when the Uchiha had a stronger (and shorter) leash on Kimiko. She’s strayed quite a lot since then, but that only seemed to make Sasuke all the more desperate to make last-ditch efforts of sinking his claws in again.  And suddenly - Sasuke reached his peak (or was it a new low?) and clamored  rather obviously for a trashcan. Kimiko, whom had been mid-sentence, bit her tongue, and her gaze unfocused, glossing over. There was no reaching her, at this rate. She was already swept up, turning on a stiff heel and making long strides toward the kitchen. The sea of people parted clumsily around her thorny presence, and recently abandoned, Shikamaru could only watch from his spot on the wall.  Even the Akatsuki members knew better than to step on her toes when things came to a rearing head like this: though it wasn’t without some scoffs and sneers. She didn’t pay them any mind - they didn’t deserve an ounce of her attention. Neither did Sasuke, really.. But she couldn’t help herself but be magnetized to his side, especially when he was in such a state of disarray. Who else would take care of him, sincerely and genuinely? Who else knew just what he needed without needing to be asked, who else would put up with his spoilt attitude and still stick around to ensure he got tucked in, safe and sound in his own bed?  She stiff-arms a nearby stranger who tried to coddle the green-faced Uchiha, ripping the trashcan from its spot beneath the sink and forcefully thrusting it against Sasuke’s chest right in time. He unleashes a slurry of pure liquid: she hopes the purging will sober him up a little. But just to be certain, Kimiko opens the back door after tossing the rest of her drink and filling her cup with tap water. After he empties himself of his various vices, Kimiko places a hand between his shoulderblades and begins to urge him onto the back porch. “Come on, let’s get some air.” It sounds like a suggestion, but he should know that it’s really just a thinly veiled threat to obey her command. Fun’s over: he’d pushed it too far.  Once outside, Kimiko pushes the door shut with her backside. She hits him with a disapproving stare, tilting her chin up to regard him unhappily down the hard line of her nose. Her arms tuck tightly under her bust, and once their eyes meet, the weary Tamashi releases a slow exhale from flared nostrils. “God, Sasuke..” She sighs, not concealing her obvious look of pity. He didn’t deserve her effort in saving his pride, not this time. He mumbled something about warning her - she was his, and his alone. She shouldn’t have strayed back to Shikamaru, not after the show of possessively claiming her via the unplanned (on her part) bathroom tryst. In response, she can only roll her eyes. Her mouth opens to spit back some choice words, but she’s interrupted by another hurl on his part. Kimiko’s face twists into a show of concern despite her best efforts in remaining irreparably irritated. Despite how sour they’d grown for one another, one thing was for certain: she was still head over heels in love with him. Eyebrows knit up to the center of her forehead, the corners of her eyes crease and her nose wrinkles. At last, Kimiko gives up her pride: her arms release from their guarded hold and come loose at her sides. Then, they reach for him. She flinches out of a newly formed habit right as she’s only a hair away from touching him - but she encircles him into her grasp anyway.  “Why did you do that to yourself, Taka..?” She whispers at last, once his purging seems to die down once again. She tucks some longer bits of his hair behind his ears with a gentle touch, and ducks her head in order to study his face. Her sleeve wraps around her thumb and she swipes at a tear in the corner of his eye, then she rubs away some runny snot from under his nose. “And don’t you ever use me as an excuse for this kind of idiotic behavior. As much as I want to beat some clarity into you, I don’t want to see you continue down this path. It reeks - and it’s certainly far from charming, too.” She gives a little scoff, the heavy palm of her hand running comforting circles on the center of his back.  “Let me walk you home.” Her tone is laced with a gentle warning, and the stony glare she accompanies with the ‘suggestion’ only proves that she ought not to be denied at this rate. “Please,” She manages to bite out - it tastes bitter. “I want to stay the night.” Now, she simpers beside him. Leans her side into his own, cozying up against him and telling - no, reminding herself that this is where she felt the safest. “I want to be all yours - I want you all to myself .. just as we always were.”

[xxsanshinexx]

Chapter 1: Into The Jungle

Intro|Jungle City| Chapter 2

The rallies were just as you remembered them being as a child. The people were cheering but their was no light in their eyes, no happiness in their smiles. It was fear, even as money was thrown in the air and banners of the city were paraded behind the cars of the elite. The laws forced them to be here to observe their leader and his committee; watch and listen to them talk and gloat and then forced to grovel at their feet. It was depressing, but yet, it was life in the jungle.

You blended in nicely with the crowd, dressed in the clothes of the city; the dull black, grey and red, and your face the image of fake elation. While many feared being caught by the drones in the sky or the police on the ground; you had no fear, none even began to rise as you found a spot in the center of the crowd. It was easy to pinpoint the ones who saw this as an exercise of their free will, the ones who didn’t think the letter addressed to their housing meant anything more than invitation. They were dressed in their finest clothes; jewels dripping from their necks and pure smiles on their caked faces. They were the ones who wanted the mayors attention; one of the most dangerous things to acquire.

Besides the few who grinned with happy emotions, the rest were the image of melancholy. Their faces blank for their own safety and their clothing the colors of the flag; one of the main requirements of the letters sent out, even if the higher ups themselves disregarded that rule for the richest of animal fur. They took the stage with a fever, counterfeit money flying from their hands like confetti with the people in the front row diving for it. Once they had taken their spots it was hard not to scoff; the rich standing before the poor, acting as though showing off their wealth and power would save the problems of those below them.

“Greetings citizens of the lustrous Jungle City!” The youngest of the mayors crew, a man by the name of Jun. It was all that the people were required to address him by. “We are honored by how many of you are present today!” You couldn’t keep in your scoff at the statement, earning a few horrified looks from the civilians around you. All besides one, dressed in all black a few feet to your left; who looked at you in mild amusement. You never got that kind of response with your anti-government antics. “We thank you for your undying loyalty to your council members- and of course- without further ado, I present our glorious Mayor Seo!”

The crowd erupted into wild cheers and you took the time to look to the amused stranger on your left. He was defined to say the least; with a chin that looked like it was chiseled and eyebrows that perfectly framed his features. Even underneath his black cap you could make out strands of unruly blonde hair, and the way his dark eyes held something unreadable as they stayed trained on the tyrannical mayor. There was a personal vendetta between them, you could tell by the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides despite all the joyous cries.

You couldn’t help but shuffle in besides him, nudging him just enough to get his hand to stop clenching; noticing the way the guard at the podium was beginning to stare a little too long in his direction. There was nothing you could do once the guard noticed your altered disposition. “Stop staring,” You mumbled, voice just barely audible as you turned to give the mayor your full attention; eyes trained on the guard who had began to walk away. “You’re going to get shot.”

You didn’t need to look at him to see the smirk that graced his lips, “Why do you care.”

“Death does nothing.” You hissed out, careful not to let the lingering ears hear you, “Don’t die for something stupid.”

“You shouldn’t be talking to me,” his voice dropped by several levels as the Mayor finished with his waving and boasting. With the way he smiled at the crowd, you knew something was going to happen.

You shrugged and began to take in account of the lack of guards, “You laughed at me.”

“My lovely citizens!” His voice was like ice, quieting the crowd in an instant. “Your dedication to this city is unwavering and your support for your leaders is like none other. The people of Jungle City have so much to be proud of!” The people clapped but you couldn’t bring yourself to, not with the way he spoke and smiled at select few. “Such as your ability to let your officials know when things are amiss-” their was muffled cries from behind the stage and it was enough for dread to begin to flood your veins. The letter did say that this was going to be one of the biggest announcements of the month. “-such as the little rebellions that have been happening around the cities. I must thank Miss Song for such a tip,” The women draped in rubies smiled and bowed; her conscious entirely clear as guards marched a wiggling masked man up the stairs and forced him to his knees on the center of the stage. If the crowd had been quiet before; now they had been turned into ghosts.

“We have found our traitor of the seventh district!” Mayor Seo spread his arms as though he was reciting poetry. “The man who murdered Senator Choi, who bombed The Forest and who made an attempt on my life today-” the crowd erupted into startled gasps but both you and the man besides you sucked in an unsteady breath as all the television screens that were plastered across the city flared to life. Today was a public execution; and one of a rebel, the entire city would be seeing this. The large, forced attendance made sense now. “-the man who we know as Mamba. I give you the traitor-” Mayor Seo ripped off the face mask with one hand in a flourish, revealing the badly bruised and beaten man underneath, “Im Jaebum.”

The man besides you let out a quiet growl as the traitors face was revealed and if not for the booing and screaming from the crowd, he would have been taken onto that stage as well. You reached out without taking your eyes off the prisoner, who’s eyes were tired but full of fire, and wrapped your hand around the stranger clenched fist. You didn’t know why you were being so conscious of him. Maybe because you understood his feelings.

“You’re going to be put up there with him. Stop it.” You hissed under your breath, squeezing his hand a little tighter as you took note of the drones broadcasting, one set up every ten feet. Mayor Seo wanted everyone to see what happened to traitors, and to expose any that would make an attempt to save Jaebum.

The man beside you eventually unclenched his fist but he held onto your hand even tighter as the Mayor prodded the side of Jaebum’s bruised face with his cane. You could see they had done a number to him: his skin was black and blue, his gray shirt was caked in dirt and blood and you could see the aftermath of a knife littered across his ghostly pale skin. They had certainly had him a lot longer than just this morning.

“How did they get him,” The man mumbled under his breath and you couldn’t help but become enthralled. Perhaps he was just one of the many civilians who was immersed in the doings of the rebels of the city; however, with the way he acted and dressed and talked, he had to be apart of it all.

“Now, we all know what happens to traitors,” Mayor Seo grinned as all the bystanders became deathly still, especially as the guard holding Jaebum began to hand over the silver pistol carved with a lion; the only weapon Seo used during his executions. “Traitors are ended for they have no position in our jungle.” Mayor Seo cocked the gun and raised it at Jaebum, who stared at the barrell with pure rage as the wielder grinned down at him.

“Any last words, traitor?”

Jaebum just smiled, tightly, and leaned his forehead against the barrel; never once taking his eyes off of the mayors. “I’ll see you in hell, Seo Hajun.”

If the reveal of the Mayor’s real name was not enough of a shocker, the diving of the guard holding Jaebum was as the sound of a gunshot went off. Panic began to fill the area as the official guard did not rise the mayor was barely able to stagger to his feet from the push, the sound of Jaebum’s wild laughter the only soundtrack. It didn’t take long for anyone to realize this was an ambush. People began to scream in fear, even louder as guards began to push through the crowd taking whoever they deemed suspicious as more and more gunshots went off. You would have stayed to watch the chaos, would have watched the aftermath of Mayor Seo rising to his feet with gun pointed towards the wild rebel, if not for the tugging on your wrist.

“We have to go,” You hadn’t heard his voice in full yet, the roughness to it coming out in a frenzy as his eyes scanned every corner of the plaza. “We have to get out of here.”

You moved with him as his feet began to move before you even got to answer, “Why are you taking me with you!?” You had to yell now, gunshots were everywhere, people were crying louder than you could scream and the smoke in the air wasn’t helping.

“You’re like me.” It was a simple phrase, only three words, yet you had never felt so invigorated.

The two of you ran, dodging bleeding pedestrians and turning sharply whenever a guard came into your sight. You couldn’t help but keep your eyes on the jewels that littered the grounds, the fires in the rubies seeming all too alive in the chaos. This was how you always saw the rallies ending; lives for lives, chaos vs chaos, a fire vs a fire. Even the once pristine, shining diamonds that littered the bourgeois’s necks now seemed to have been dirtied and dampered.

The boy pulled you into a side street, barely large enough for you too follow behind him, as a way to escape the immediate danger that was the open streets. He had slowed his once frantic pace to a steady crouch, leaving both of you with your backs against the wall with only the sounds of screaming, guns and the hum of drones.

Slowly, the boy let go of your hand and creeped forward towards the exit of the alleyway. The street had less commotion than the previous one, with only few civilians sprinting down the road. Yet the guard lingering at the end of the opening provided the biggest dilemma; but the boy in all black had got you this far, you trusted him enough to get you past them as well.

He creeped up slowly, soles barely making a sound on the uneven ground as though he had done this a hundred times before, until he was nearly behind the guard who was too preoccupied with his headset. With the skill of only someone who had practiced, the boy threw his arms around the guards neck, kicking his legs in and dragging him back into the alley before anyone on the street could see. It was a chilling sight; watching him do something so harmful with ease, especially as the guard choked and sputtered trying to get his hands on his gun or back on his ear piece. It wasn’t until the guard went entirely limp in the boy’s arms did he let go, breathing heavy and a look of melancholy in his eyes as he picked up the large black rifle from the guards lifeless hands. He slung the strap over his shoulder, looking up at you for a few seconds before looking back down his gaze almost embarrassed. “We need to move.”

“Yeah, sure… whatever you say.” You mumbled eyes still glued to the guard who was laid on his stomach, helmet pointed towards the brick wall.

“Alpha.”

The words made you crease your brows as you stepped over the limp body, “Alpha?”

“My name.” He said stretching out his hand for you to take once again, as he peered around the corner.

“God that’s what your parents named you?”

A bubble of laughter escaped his throat and you never imagined hearing anything of the sort, never thinking something so melodic would come out of the boy. “Code name. I’ll tell you my real name when we get somewhere safe.”

You nodded along, taking in the way his lips were curved slightly as you placed your hand in his, already feeling familiar with the way his fingers curled with yours. “Then lead the way, Alpha.”

[dweemeister]

Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Japan)

Fifty-six years ago, the Olympic Games came to Asia for the first time.

For over two hundred years, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan established a policy of strict isolationism. The policy, to overly simplify things, barred almost all foreigners from staying in Japan and Japanese people from traveling abroad. Japan’s isolationism ended in 1853 via the oxymoronic “gunboat diplomacy” of American Commodore Matthew C. Perry. Soon, the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) sees Japan industrialize rapidly, adopt Western civics, and become the hegemon of the Asia-Pacific region. Acknowledgement for this progress led the European-heavy International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award the 1940 Summer Olympics to Tokyo. But due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 (which some consider the true beginning of World War II), Tokyo forfeited the Games to Helsinki, which also forfeited the Games due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland. The Second World War was soon to engulf the world, a global trauma for combatants and bystanders alike.

The Olympics resumed in 1948, but Germany and Japan – both under Allied occupation – were banned from competition, still considered international pariahs. Japan’s post-War admission to the world stage in cultural, political, and sporting arenas would have to wait. Its cultural reintroduction came first. Japanese cinema in the 1950s flourished, with figures like Akira Kurosawa (1954′s Seven Samurai, 1958′s The Hidden Fortress); Kon Ichikawa (1956′s The Burmese Harp, 1959′s Fires on the Plain); and Ishirô Honda (the Godzilla series) garnering critical and popular acclaim worldwide. A pacified and economically booming Japan had a new Constitution declaring that, “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right.” Japan was warmly admitted to the United Nations in 1956. The IOC awarded Tokyo the 1964 Summer Olympics, a spectacle awaited by Japanese for twenty-four years, seen by many as the completion of Japan’s reentry to the international order. 

The Games of the XVIII Olympiad were the first held outside the West and, like their predecessors, were documented cinematically (the IOC considered this a priority since at least 1912, for posterity’s access). This Olympic film would be commissioned jointly by the IOC and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC). After Akira Kurosawa was released from the project due to his demands to control every aspect of production (including the Opening Ceremony), the task felt to Kon Ichikawa to direct Tokyo Olympiad.

Upon its release, Tokyo Olympiad resembled no other sports documentary of its type, let alone any previous entry in the select subgenre of Olympic documentaries. Though influenced heavily by Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938; which covers the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin) in how the Olympic disciplines are shot, Tokyo Olympiad strays from its predecessors due to its tone. Riefenstahl concentrated on human bodies and sporting triumph, and Olympia’s influence has infused all successive sports films – sports filmmakers in the 1960s and today probably do not consciously recognize that influence – with echoes of her use of Nazi iconography.

For all the plaudits awarded the medalists, most Olympians never come close to the podium. Unlike Olympia, Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad acknowledges that reality, as well as the physical pain that these athletes undergo to prepare and participate in the Olympics. The celebrations and medal ceremonies are as ubiquitous in this film as the agonized grimaces and the performances of also-rans – stories fancied nor celebrated by anyone other than the athletes themselves. Like the Summer Olympics films before it, Tokyo Olympiad spends lengthy stretches of its time in athletics (track and field)*. Following the Opening Ceremony, Ichikawa begins with the men’s 100-meter dash, the race to crown the fastest man in the world. As the athletes prepare themselves before the sound of the gun, Ichikawa leans on the film’s narration:

Nervousness is betrayed by the sad expressions on the face of athletes on the starting line. One wonders if the spectators can see these expressions. The time leading up to an event feels terribly long. Only the nailing of stakes can be heard.

Through a selective sound mix drowning out the crowd noise (this decision also has practical purposes, as Ichikawa and his crew could not anticipate the loud noise made by high-speed cameras), we hear only the public address announcer going over the names of the finalists and the runners hammering their starting blocks in place. The restricted audio concocts an intensely personal atmosphere for much of the film. The camera lingers over the deeply focused, but visibly nervous dispositions of the runners. When adrenaline is mentioned in a film review, it usually refers to action and thriller films in their most exciting sequences. Here, the adrenaline is equally depicted for scenes of action and stillness. Like Riefenstahl’s Olympia, the liberal use of slow-motion allows the audience to notice the miniscule muscular movements that one might not see in full flow on a live broadcast. It also serves to emphasize the diversity of body shapes that compete across different sports across the Games.

The film employed somewhere between 68 to 164 camera operators – the exact number is heavily disputed, but even if the lower estimate is true, this would imply hundreds of technicians worked on this film during and after the Olympics. Where Ichikawa and principal cinematographers Shigeo Hayashida and Kazuo Miyagawa (1950’s Rashômon, 1959’s Floating Weeds) see fit, they will have the film concentrate on a part of the human body rather than the entire figure. During footage of the men’s shot put, one of the featured shot putters is Nikolay Karasyov of the Soviet Union. Karasyov has a peculiar routine as he steps into the shot put circle. He plays with the shot between his two hands, adjusts his bib, and puts right hand to mouth in a lengthy, elaborate ritual before he even attempts the toss. The audio here – once again omitting the crowd noise – allows the audience to hear things that perhaps only Karasyov himself can here while preparing his toss. These moments of individual preparation may be mundane to some, but they are just as much a part of an Olympian’s performance as anything else.

After athletics has run its course in the film’s opening hour, editor Yoshio Ebara pushes through various other sports – each one presented differently than the other. Gymnastics, accompanied by composer Toshiro Mayuzumi’s score (1956’s Street of Shame, 1960’s The Warped Ones) rather than the musical selections chosen by the athletes, seems to exist in a world of its own, as if the gymnasts are performing in a formless void with just enough lighting to witness their gravity-defying skills. Weightlifting, in which a very specific technique must be performed to execute a lift correctly, is almost entirely shot from the same low angle – capturing the heaving chests of the athletes, in success and failure. Wrestling, where so much of its action occurs at floor level, sees the camera placed at mat level with nary any cuts. The desperation etched on the faces of the losing wrestler attempting to wriggle themselves out of a pin is as visceral as the triumphant expression of the one controlling the match. In an era before widespread use of helmets, the men’s individual road race in cycling is accompanied by a jazz ensemble piece by Mayuzumi, as if reflecting the free-flowing, seemingly anarchic (and potentially dangerous) nature of road cycling.

Every Olympic sport that comprised the 1964 Summer Olympics is featured, typically accompanied by musical cues from Mayuzumi’s diverse score that reflect certain aspects of the sport. But most of these sports only have brief cameos in respect to what Japanese and international audiences would most be interested in. For example, soccer and basketball only appear for about a minute each. Due to conflicts with FIFA and soccer’s regional governing bodies, Olympic men’s soccer has never been the focus of much attention. Basketball, though making its sixth appearance at an Olympics, did not enjoy the international popularity and recognition outside of the United States and Canada as it does today. Yet, one need not know the details about equestrian or judo to enjoy the athleticism and skill on display.

Midway through Tokyo Olympiad, there is a vignette on Chadian runner Ahmed Issa. These scenes capture his Olympic experience from the moment he arrives in Tokyo to practice to his semifinal appearance in the 800 meters (Issa has no time and perhaps little money for sightseeing). Chad declared independence in 1960, making the Tokyo Games – to which it sent a two-athlete delegation and named Issa its Opening Ceremony flagbearer – its first Olympics. Issa is bewildered by the asphyxiating press coverage, Japan’s modernity, and the scope of the Games. He is often framed as a lonely figure, speaking to and eating with no one (the Olympic Village’s cafeteria bustles with activity, and no one seems to pay any attention to him eating what must be cuisine he has never seen). Nevertheless, Issa is in Tokyo for a single purpose. Ichikawa tailors this story to have the viewer, no matter our nation’s Olympic history or our emotional connection to the idea of the Olympics, feel Issa’s isolation from his fellow athletes. His presence at the Olympics will not be given much thought, other than to himself, his loved ones, and Chadians. But Issa, the narrator assures the audience, does not mind – his goal to represent himself and his nation at the Olympics is the fulfillment of his dream. It is a pedestrian Olympic story, inelegantly placed into Tokyo Olympiad’s structure, but it is a tale far more common than those of world record breakers and gold medalists.

By tradition, the marathon is one of the final events of the Summer Olympics. Ichikawa dedicates almost a half-hour to the event – featuring Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikala’s world record finish, a surprise in Kôkichi Tsuburaya’s bronze medal effort, the numerous marathoners that could not finish, and Chanom Sirirangsri of Thailand as the final person to cross the finish line. The marathon is the culmination of Ichikawa’s approach to Tokyo Olympiad: balancing the thrill of victory with the agony of defeat. Shot using a 16:9 screen aspect ratio (as opposed to the 4:3 ratio that Ichikawa was accustomed to), the marathon scenes capture the throngs of spectators lining Tokyo’s streets for the free spectacle unfolding before their eyes. In a film curiously silent about the modernization of Tokyo itself, Ichikawa finally allows some semblance of the city’s identity to appear in the film. The crowd, no longer muted by the sound mixing, urges the runners forward regardless of nationality and placement. Tokyo Olympiad’s subjective and omnipresent narrator remarks on the narratively and visually epic struggle of the runners, the pain that must be coursing through each marathoner’s body. The men’s marathon is undoubtedly the film’s dramatic highlight, with Ichikawa’s humanistic approach present in compelling fashion.

Ichikawa and editor Ebara whittled over seventy hours of footage down to 169 minutes including an intermission. The enormous final print came under fire from the IOC and JOC. The IOC expressed frustration at what they perceived to be a cynical film that did not focus on the winners; the JOC decried Ichikawa’s artistic (and occasionally abstract) depiction the Tokyo Olympics. The Japanese far-right denounced Tokyo Olympiad as not patriotic enough; the far-left assailed Ichikawa for the film’s jingoism (rising sun imagery is used for dramatic effect, signifying the elevation of post-Imperial Japan). After the JOC demanded that Ichikawa reconfigure Tokyo Olympiad, the director quipped that almost all the cast had already left Japan. Bickering aside, Tokyo Olympiad – if using the metric of box office admissions – became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, a distinction it shares with only Spirited Away (2001).

This review is based on the original Japanese theatrical print that I was able to access via the Olympic Channel’s website for free. That print does not include the intermission and may be region-locked elsewhere. For those wanting to experience Tokyo Olympiad in its entirety, I do not recommend viewing the 125-minute cut currently on the Olympics’ official YouTube page and beware the 93-minute cut released by American International Pictures for the original U.S. theatrical release.

There are no commentaries of historical imprint or Olympic legacy in Tokyo Olympiad. This certainly angered the IOC and JOC – both of whom requested, for their own agendas, that Ichikawa make grand statements about how Japan had rejoined the world with the 1964 Summer Olympics. Ichikawa, whose greatest films are suffused in empathy, could not be any less suitable for such objectives. Tokyo Olympiad provides Ichikawa the most sprawling canvas and cast of characters he ever had. In the hands of Ichikawa and his crew, narration is unnecessary to understand that any Olympic Games reflects a host city and nation at a given time. Tokyo Olympiad shows a nation where the West’s recent influence exists – in conflict and in tandem – with centuries-old traditions. The film, like these 1964 Games, portrays a city ready to welcome the world in ways unimaginable a few decades, let alone a century, prior. Tokyo Olympiad triumphs as a document of humanity, as well as contributing to the mythology of the modern Olympics.

As this review is being written, the global COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and the XVI Paralympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics, to be held in Tokyo, is scheduled to begin July 23, 2021 – if the Games cannot commence at this date, Tokyo will forfeit the Summer Olympics for the second time as well as the Paralympics. If the world’s athletes can assemble in Tokyo less than a year from now, they – and whoever is chosen to document the Games – will find a city and a nation just as uncertain of their place in the world as they were in 1964. The city and nation of Tokyo Olympiad were strangers in need of introduction. Today, no such formalities are required.

My rating: 9.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

* Though the Summer Olympics present each sport as one among many, athletics was long considered the only showpiece sport. Since 1964, it has since been joined by gymnastics and, at the turn of the millennium, swimming.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 24: MJ doesn’t even consider raising the alarm in ANY way

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Last time I put to bed why MJ wouldn’t rely upon defeating Beck herself. In this part though I will dissect MJ’s decision to not alert anyone else to Mysterio’s threat.

In Part 20 I dived into many of MJ’s combat experiences and observed that in many/most of them she relied upon assistance from third parties (including Spider-Man).

With this in mind MJ’s failure to alert anyone to the presence of Beck or other current villains is extremely dangerous and irresponsible. She knows her limits from the years she’s dealt with her life being endangered and how often her survival depended upon the help of others. And she has incredibly flimsy reasons to place any trust in Beck, let alone his villainous crewmembers that haven’t got his sob story.

She doesn’t call the police, Spider-Man, her friends in the super hero community nor the (very nearby) West Coast Avenges.

One could argue that there could be perfectly reasonable explanations for why she fails to do this.

Bringing the authorities in could cause the villains to attack , take hostages or slip away once they are alerted. And in Beck’s case he could use his trickery to escape. As for Peter, bringing him in could endanger his career prospects couldn’t it?

I already shot down the latter idea back in part 18. But to expand upon it a bit, by alerting the regular or super human authorities Mary Jane would never have to worry about risking Peter’s well being at all. He’d likely hear about it after the fact, and maybe be upset that she didn’t tell him about Mysterio. But honestly that’s a small price to pay for the greater good and is something that could be pretty easily smoothed over between them. Sooner or later Peter would  get over MJ not talking to him if she explained she did it out of concern for him.

As for the regular authorities, MJ could simply inform them of whom they were dealing with and advise them to not go in guns blazing. That’d hopefully give them recourse to properly prepare for who they were dealing with, either by employing weapons designed to deal with super humans or by conducting an undercover investigation of some kind.

And of course they could call in super human assistance themselves. Indeed there is no reason MJ couldn’t contact the regular and super hero authorities.

The super human authorities like the Avengers would have the technology and fire power to deal with Beck. Most of the West Coast Avengers alone are out of his league and in the case of Hawkeye have advanced experience with organizations like SHIELD that would entail stealth. Even if they needed proof Beck was in disguise Reed Richards and Iron Man could likely whip up something to see through Beck’s illusions. They have the technology to see past Skrull impersonators I think he can handle some smoke and mirrors.

But let’s say that’s not the case. Let’s say it’s not fair to bring in canon from beyond the Spider-Man line of titles for our analysis. Or let’s say Mysterio’s technology is really that good, which is arguably proved by his fake alien invasion from ASM v5 #1.

We’d be in a position where the heroes would need to gather proof before they could strike. Well putting aside how many of them are capable of stealth/under cover work and know what they are looking for, couldn’t they simply take one or more of Beck’s crew members (criminal or otherwise) and interrogate them? Are all  of them so tight lipped that they would never give up Beck? That’s highly unlikely.

And then of course you have the simple fact that Mary Jane knows where the real Cage McKnight is!

Surely the realisation that there are two individuals who seem to be the same person is just cause to at least arrest Beck on the suspicion of identity theft/impersonation?*

In fact they could use the real McKnight to lay a trap for Beck by learning private information that only he would know and then engineering a scenario with Beck in the hopes of him contradicting this information, obviously whilst they record it.

But MJ doesn’t pay any mind to the real Cage McKnight once she’s told where he is. She doesn’t even consider asking the authorities to check Mysterio’s claims check out! She trusts the word and ‘evidence’ of a man who is notorious for making you see and hear whatever he wants!

And all that aside there are still other options the authorities could take.

Why couldn’t they just shut down the film’s production on some made up excuse and secretly investigate the set and crew?

Why couldn’t they shut down production or arrest ‘McKnight’ due to his illegal  employment of criminals?

Why couldn’t they go in gun’s blazing but also prepared to quickly subdue the criminals?

Why couldn’t they reveal they know Beck is McKnight prompting him to run and set a trap for him?

Why couldn’t they at least keep an eye on the production and be ready to leap into action in case anything goes down?

Frankly, given how some of MJ’s super hero friends are just straight up vigilantes and they trust her couldn’t they bend the law and simply ‘abduct’ Beck as McKnight knowing for a fact he’s broken/breaking many, many laws? I mean let’s be real here, Spider-Man has committed breaking and entering many times in the course of his career and whilst that’s awful from a real world POV, in context it’s been for the greater good and we readers understand that because we know the stakes.

Of course the counter argument to all of these is that Beck could’ve just planned for all of them. He could’ve planned a contingency for anyone snooping around McKnight. He could’ve planned a contingency to the authorities closing in on him.

And you know that wouldn’t be at all out of character for him. But it isn’t at all hinted at in AMJ #1, nor that MJ even considers it as a possibility.

And therein lies the problem. He could have done all that preparation…but has he? Does Mary Jane think  he might’ve?

The story never talks about that.

You know what else the story doesn’t talk about?

The idea that Beck might be monitoring MJ or that she suspects he might be monitoring her.

That’s another thing that’d be very in character for him. Not only has he got a contingency in place in case anyone comes snooping around or rumbles him but he also has a contingency in place to prevent or at least alert himself to anyone revealing hi secrets.

But this idea is also never even hinted at in the story whatsoever.

This is where we loop all the way back around to what I spoke about in part 2.

The idea that MJ’s failure to alert anyone is the result of her suspecting he’s monitoring her (or has contingencies in place) is a No. Prize attempt. It’s headcanon. It could arguably  fill-in a hole in the story but why is that hole there at all?**

AMJ #1 is the first issue. It’s the set up for the premise. Ideally it should put all the pieces on the board that are going to play a role in the story going forward (obviously this can include red herrings) and present the relevant motivations for the story going forward. This means the specifics of why Mary Jane (the lead character) does what she does should be clearly conveyed.

If MJ isn’t alerting the authorities because she is concerned about being monitored, of them being harmed, of bystanders being harmed or of any of the crooks slipping away then the story should at least hint at that if not be explicit about it.***

And you wanna know the real kicker?

It’s extremely debatable if MJ would even refrain from alerting the authorities about Mysterio even if she did suspect Beck had planned for that. If she suspects he is monitoring her she could use her ingenuity to sneak off set and then use a different phone to contact help. Or if that’s not a possibility she is smart enough to figure out a way to contact help without Beck knowing. She could talk to Peter in code. Or contact the Look Ups, the support group for super hero’s loved ones. ASM v5 #29 established they have a local branch in L.A.

And honestly, as heroic a soul as MJ is it Is incredibly unbelievable that she wouldn’t simply alert the authorities even if she had no way of ensuring her own safety.

Am I saying MJ would give her life to save others?

Yes.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying.

Her feats of bravery in part 20 are proof of that as is her respect for Peter’s role as a hero. I’m not saying she wouldn’t take a desperate or calculated risk to save herself (see ASM Ann #19 from part 20). If there are other options beyond noble self-sacrifice, however slim, it’s not immoral to go for those options. But at the end of the day MJ would put the lives of innocent civilians before her own life. 

Even her lack of action if she believes Beck has put contingencies in place is highly debatable. It’d depend upon what those contingencies might be. If they would come into action against other people (like the innocent crewmembers) then I could see her not doing anything. But if Mysterio is just going to fly the coop then, as bad as letting him get away might be, it’s better than allowing him to stick around and continue to commit crimes against the real McKnight, the movie studios and potentially civilians. And at least it’d hopefully result in the criminal crewmembers facing justice.

However you slice it MJ has options in this premise.

Leah Williams simply doesn’t address them whatsoever and makes MJ look just awful as a result.

Look, I’m not  trying to say Mary Jane should just be the damsel-in-distress, the poor little woman waiting patiently and docile for the big strong men to come and fix her problems for her.

What I am saying is that MJ is basically an unarmed person with limited knowledge of firearms casually hanging around armed and dangerous criminals (in a populated area) and she’s simply presuming they won’t do anything wrong at all. And she’s presuming that if they did she would be more than a match for them.

What I am saying is she knows she has limits. And she knows those limits do not reliably encompass this situation. They at best offer 50/50 odds on MJ ensuring the safety of herself, civilians, their properties, Cage McKnight, his career.

Those are downright irresponsible odds to undertake.

Mary Jane has no right to risk innocent people’s lives like that whatsoever.

And just like the unarmed person in the above analogy she should contact help!

And with that we are finally finished with the dissection of AMJ #1’s premise and can now move onto issue #2.

*Surely that could also convince any regular law enforcement that might doubt her story. It’s entirely possible that Beck could rely upon sexism and/or stereotypes of the ‘prima donna actress’ to delegitimize MJ’s claims to the police.

But her knowledge of the real Cage McKnight would vastly improve her legitimacy.

Not that she’d need to. She has Avengers who’d vouch for her to regular law enforcement and she could just ask them for help anyway.

**This also applies to just about any headcanon you could come up with for anything in the issue. MJ’s actions could be explained away by lingering grief from Flash’s death or a desire to assert her independence rather than be saved by a third party. Doesn’t matter though, not if there is nothing in the issue to support those ideas.

***This isn’t a 1-to-1 comparison I admit but it’s a lot like defences I’ve seen of Star Wars: the Last Jedi, specifically Admiral Holdo’s motivations.

The context is the good guys are being chased down by the bad guys and when questioned Holdo (the leader of the latter) remains tight lipped about there being any kind of escape plan.

Why is she tight lipped?

Well you see it’s because she was concerned about the presence of spies…according to several fan theories.

And that’s the key. It’s just a theory. The film provides literally no explanation whatsoever, not even a hint.

Whether that’s a logical explanation or not, it is not one supported by the text of the film.

The same applies in AMJ #1.

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[thenixkat]

Animorphs notes 52

Book 52

An Aximili book

Don’t most of Jame’s crew have pigeon morphs? That is an animal that often flies together in flocks and wouldn’t be out of place anywhere

Aaaand the whole andalite bullshit returns, you really gonna let ableism get yall killed?

Also there’s litterally 2 other andalites living on Earth. You know where they fucking live. Why not hang out with them

Also why don’t Gaf and Mertil fucking help? You don’t have to fight to help. That fucking forcefield tech they’ve got would be very useful for the resistance

The yeerks are rounding up people in mass, finally

Why does Ax call the morphing cube blue box, he knows teh actual thing it’s supposed to be called

Parasitism is a form of symbiosis.

Right now I remember, Ax’s narration fails at being xenofiction.

Motherfucker, the writers really did forget one of the disabled kid's names

And they replaced it with something more ethnic

I really hoped that if Ax called James or one of Jame’s friends a vecol out loud that they socked him in the face

Only Ax gets to ge competent of sensible today. James you’re better than this

James dipped out played dead, de and remorphed and going to attack from teh rear

More Rachel is bloodthirsty bullshit. Yer in a fight, she’s angry and using that to help keep her side alive while yer standing over there pulling a Cassie

An andalite does not have the upper body strength to hold onto a struggling medium sized bird of prey

Also Ax, THE YEERK’S FUCKING HOST DOES NOT CONSENT TO BEING TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A FUCKING BIRD YOU CASSIE 

And the yeerk would still starve to death in the host’s body b/c teh yeerk still needs to fucking eat 

Congrats you all accomplished absolutely nothing but death of hosts

This is litterally the same level of “doesn’t think ahead” that ALL of the Animorphs has shown throught the books

So the escaped blind girl’s name is Elena

Wait, why is Elena at the camp? SHe slipped away when no one was looking and the yeerks didn’t particularly know about her? How did she get here caus she didn’t leave with teh Animorphs either?

Marco wants to give everyone in the surrounding area radiation poisoning when regular explosives would probably work just fine

Oh pls since when did yall give a shit about the captives/slaves

Here’s a plan, stop the supply lines, free the captives, evacuate as many as possible and then blow shit up. 

Ax teh reason that the horks definately lost was cause the andalites decided to fuck them over for no other reason that being specist asshats

Cassie you can’t say shit with all the innocent blood on yer hands 

The chee could be sabotaging things and freeing people nonviolently, but no

Yeah Cassie, its almost like there’s consequences for your dumbass actions

Ax you are risking everyone’s security making those calls, especially so close to the camp

So Ax has been a traitor for awhile, b/c everyone and their momma knows that teh andalites are genocidal cowards

b/c again the andalites don't give a shit about anyone other than themselves and making themselves look good

Wow Cassie it’s almost like actions have concequesces. Own up to yours

Ax you say like you haven’t been helping people who you know are genocidal asshats get into position to commit genocide

Also how the fuck does a ‘sorry’ get everyone’s sympathy? Some things cannot be forgiven

Also no fucks given for the hork-bajir and other alien hostages

Why the fuck would u trust Cassie’s instincts? I’ve been reading this series and she has never been right except for the whale shit

… Cassie really isn't actually sorry is she? She was just upset that people would be upset with her… 

she was just upset that she looked bad and now that the others have assured her that she didn't do anything wrong she doesn't actually give a shit about all the extra blood on her hands

Also Ax being specist judging the whole of humanity based on the actions of a handful of assholes

Ax: genocide is ok if at least 5 members of the species were dumbass dicks

Cassie is lying out her ass

Also I’m still going with my Cassie is actually psychic headcanon

Nigga you don’t actually know Elfangor b/c he has a secret life from a different timeline

Have I mentioned the very obvious ableism in this series is not canceled out by the characters saying “Respect the differently abled”?

If only the parents other than Eva were allowed a turn with the competence hat

i'm really supposed to belive that a lawyer (and of course we don't get any specification on what kinda law) would be shrill and irrational under pressure and have terrible arguments?

Also its common sense to not take people who can’t follow fucking orders on a fucking life or death mission

Also too bad yall never gave the fucking adults morphing, leaving them much more vulnerable

 Who the fuck is Jolphimee Celpik? If they’re a hork than that’s the longest hork name yet.

So yeah, horks can move through the trees fast enough to keep up with cars

The horks consistently showing more care for hosts than the Animorphs

Once more the andalite truth is shown, they look more like deer/horses/antelope than centaurs

Oh yay Rachel deliberately hurts her mom

I wonder how much is this hyping up of ‘Rachel is dangerous’ is just writers trying to justify killing her off later? Cause that is really fucking ooc for someone who was the only person to give a shit about Marco and Tobias trying to harm innocent bystanders last book

So Naomi is a criminal defense attorney. Why the hell are the writers making her a useless whiny little bitch then?

Naomi finally gets to wear the competent and useful hat

Why not ask the fucking soldiers to fucking come along and fight?

And yet another White blond character. What teh fuck

The soldiers do go along but take orders from teenagers

but rachel is the one in the wrong for not wanting to give the enemh the time to kill her friends

also note the use of 'shrill'

jake is just a really shit leader

you are litterally fighting a war

and you already decided you don't give a shit about things like war crimes Mr. false surrender-false flag opperation-murder captives-boil yeerks alive fuckface

but this is where you wanna fucking draw the line fuckface?

... bitch you know for a fact that Cassie's gut can't be fucking trusted

I must keep strong and finish this pile of horse shit

...jake wants to loose is the only thing that makes sense

Marco may be shit but he def knows better than to trust Cassie with important shit

So Cassie should have b/c a controller there b/c you can’t just get yeerks out like that

Yall keep mentioning the Yeerk resistance but none of yall actually try to communicate with them and coordinate shit

They did actually release people. At least, they released the human hosts. Can’t tell if they released the hork hosts too b/c fuckers don’t care and don’t distinguish a difference b/w yeerks and the captives

Cassie was not fucking right assholes

Its less Ax decided to not help with teh genocide of the humans and more he refused to make a decision and commit and just whent along with what was going on in front of him

[beckstriad]

Not Paid Enough for this Shripnal

They got the call two hours before their upcycle was finished, of course. Their first shift with the rookie partner, of course. They were being called to respond to a quarantine situation on a ship in the outer docking area of course. 

The outer docking area was where ships stopped before reaching the station, awaiting approach instructions or a tug. A cargo ship had alerted security procedures when they mentioned their captain was unable to on-screen due to illness. As per protocol, they were ordered to remain at anchor 36x5t until further instructed. Apparently the Second Officer was quite annoyed at the presumption he couldn’t bring the ship in himself. After a short time deliberating it was determined this was not a security risk, but a possible quarantine one. As per H+S protocol two medical personnel and two security detail were to board and determine the extent of risk. 

Caretaker was thoroughly annoyed at the timing. Staring out the window at the looming ship, they sighed and turned to Rookie who was looking excited and nervous and trying to hide both. “Look these things happen all the time. We’ll go on, and no doubt it will be food poisoning or watch, their hydrator won’t have been cleaned for cycles and it’ll be a small miracle the rest of the crew hasn’t gotten sick either. They said only the captain is down, and captains being older are…?” Rookie straightened in his chair “Xur! at increased risk for disease pathologies partly due to decrease in physical activity, increase in ability to over indulge risk factor food and drink, and age.” They relaxed a little “so you think it’s just like, the flu maybe?”

Caretaker shook their head but shrugged “no one else is sick so probably more likely a personal illness or medical problem. No need for the ‘Xur’ we’re not military, and I’m not that old yet.” Rookie nodded and started to rattle off possible outcomes in his attempt to lower his nerves “like stroke, heart attack, blood clot, allergic reaction, respiratory disease, acute -” Waving their hand Caretaker nodded “it’s good to keep an open mind but let’s not look for zebras either, yea?” They mused at Rookie looking up ‘Zebra’ on their HUD, remembering the confusion at the phrase themself. Relics of the past kept alive through language somehow. 

Once their pod was attached to the auxiliary airlock of the ship the security personnel went first and did an initial sweep of the ship. The protocol was just in case of mutiny, though Caretaker didn’t think a cargo ship would warrant such an act, so wasn’t worried. It only took a few minutes before they had decided all was fine and gave the two medics clearance to come aboard. Caretaker took point despite their usual habit of letting rookies take the lead, there was just too many technical protocols to follow exactly to add to the kid’s stress. The pair was met by the Second Officer and the scowl that he wore, clearly annoyed at the delay and the ridiculous protocol. Caretaker had to agree, though they wouldn’t voice it.

En route to the Captain’s quarters they passed the security detail returning to wait in the pod. Caretaker spoke up, “so can you tell us what happened.” 

The S.O grumbled back, “isn’t that a question you ask your patients?”

Undeterred and definitely not up for taking any shit, they fired back “I’m asking you right now.” The S.O deflected the question again and Caretaker pushed “are you saying you don’t know what happened to your Captain?” The S.O stopped and turned, looking Caretaker in the eyes in a challenge. ‘Jokes on him, I’m outside his rank’ they thought to themselves as they returned the glare. “I didn’t say anything of the like.” He turned sideways a moment, a neutral end to the challenge that Caretaker would have found amusing if they weren’t already on overtime. “He failed to report to the bridge on time for our final approach. A crew member found him unwell and so we left him in his quarters.” He carried on walking through the ship, “there is no need to wake First Officer Shyker as I also hold my docking tickets and she is on her down cycle.” 

Something wasn’t making sense, but this story was third hand account so that was probably the reason. Still….”Where are the rest of the crew?” Caretaker thought the ship was too quiet for normal operations. The S.O rolled his eyes and sighed audibly, clearly annoyed “do you not have more appropriate concerns at this time?” ‘Ok he wants war? I will make war. Listen you piece of shripnal, this is my call and my patient and you don’t get to run - ‘ Caretaker smiled warmly “the health and safety of your entire crew is my  concern. Have you accounted for everyone’s wellness? There are normally more crew on a ship this size and as you are awaiting docking instructions, should they not be hands on deck to prepare for orders? Do you have full command of this ship or do we need to bring aboard an Auxiliary ShipMaster to take it for you, if your crew is not following your orders?” They could feel Rookie stiffen behind them at the growing tension but he smartly kept quiet - technically nothing Caretaker was saying was false. There were always an Auxiliary ShipMaster personnel on call to guide a ship in for various reasons; it was a popular captain’s retirement position. The S.O stopped and glared at them, practically shaking with rage and contempt. “Need I remind you of your duty? Just fix our captain or get him off our ship, we have a schedule to keep and cargo to offload.” 

Something was definitely not right, but whether it was just the S.O’s shitty attitude or something more nefarious, Caretaker didn’t want to have to find out. “Don’t make me remind you of your rank and station, Officer. I will do what’s right for the patient and your crew WHEN it is right to do it. Now, let me speak with your ship’s medical officer.” This caused the man’s eye to twitch and a short inquiry to escape his lips; another challenge. “Because I need to know the Captain’s medical history, last known time well, what he ate and his baseline set of functionality and vitals.” On a hunch, Caretaker added the authority challenge “don’t make me ask again.” 

Something snapped in the S.O’s face but he kept quiet, and quickly marched to the mess hall that was just down the hall, “wait here, I will fetch her.” He left the pair in the care of another shipmate that they had not been introduced to, and at this point didn’t care to. Waiting in silence for a few minutes, they saw S.O return with a nervous looking woman. This was not what Caretaker was expecting. “Answer their questions and be quick about it, we don’t have time for this.” 

Caretaker asked the usual questions to the woman in a calm gentle manner. Maybe she was just new. A rock began forming in their gut as the woman competently answered their questions; the captain had been totally fine prior to going to his quarters for his downcycle. He was in good physical health and on the outlying age of heart and other older age diseases (not unheard of, but not of high risk yet). Everyone had eaten at the same time and no other crew were experiencing illness at this time. “The Captain was not feeling great just before he retired” the S.O said with such authority that the medic visibly winced but didn’t dare turn to look at him. She seemed to use all her courage to object by clarifying she had seen him at his door just before he entered. Her voice so quiet Caretaker almost missed it. Before S.O could jump down her throat, Caretaker held their hand up and interjected “well heart attacks often see someone come and go with symptoms. It’s not uncommon for them to have symptoms, get better and then get unwell again, you know how it is.” They hoped that convenient mostly-lie would placate the S.O and get him off the Medic’s back. Turning to Rookie, Caretaker said plainly “sounds like we’ll need extra equipment. Go back to the pod and have station send up another one with a #2 kit….and a #3 stretcher I suppose.” Turning to the medic, Caretaker continued “it will take time for that to get here. Carry on making sure the ship is safe for docking while we wait.” The S.O bristled at the outsider giving his crew orders but the medic’s eyes held steady with Caretaker’s as they nodded, quickly ducked and turned to scurry out of the room as fast as she could. Rookie had stood but hesitated, looking to Caretaker who sighed, “it’s alright. Go tell one of the Security Officers what you need and they’ll handle the comms. I know you’re not trained on those yet.” Rookie slowly nodded, looking pensive. Standing and somehow managing to juggle the two bags and the oxygen tank that were standard equipment, Caretaker prayed to any of the dead deities that Rookie caught their drift about a Level 2 security breach, or that the Security detail that had come with them would clue in and act accordingly. Hopefully, they’d disconnect the pod and keep Rookie safe in accordance with a Code 3 - mutiny. Meanwhile, Caretaker tried to console themself with the thought that if they died here, they’d at least finally get some sleep.

Wordlessly following the S.O the rest of the way to the Captain’s quarters almost felt like an execution march. Caretaker knew they were going to be chewed out for this if they survived, it went against everything they were taught. Be neutral, your safety first then your patient’s and bystanders, etc. They should have gone with Rookie but something just didn’t sit right with them doing that…the look on their fellow medic’s face told them that the crew was also in danger and, even though they weren’t military, Caretaker had never really felt fully like a civilian either. Too much time around Security, military, mercenary and high rank they supposed, but they felt responsible to bystanders more than they should.

When they reached the Captain’s quarters they squared their shoulders in anticipation of how things would go down. Running through several scenarios, Caretaker regretted not signing up for even a basic hand to hand combat class, but here they were. Best to act quick before Rookie set things off and alerted the Mutinous crew that plans had changed. “Captain the medic is here to assist you.” The S.O knocked and then opened the door, letting Caretaker inside and standing in the doorway. Caretaker did not like that one bit, but decided since their exit strategy was to wait for backup, they wouldn’t be trying to leave the room anyway. In fact, they’d prefer to lock themselves in. “Alright officer, thank you. I’ll handle it from here until my partner arrives with the bags, if you could please escort him in?” They knelt down to open one of the bags and looked up to see him still standing there. “Xur, in accordance with patient confidentiality I must ask you to - “ “That’s right, ask. Not demand, not order, this is my ship. Understand?” ‘Well that’s not another point for suspicion or anything’ they pulled out some vitals machines and acknowledged the officer “yes Xur understood. Thank you for escorting myself and my partner in a timely manner, I’ll begin assessment while I wait.” They stood and saw that he wasn’t moving. The officer folded his arms “I’ll make sure you don’t do anything to harm the Captain, and - “ his face scrunched as an emergency tone blared on the tone system. “Captain Lekrownski! Captain Lekrownski! The medic pod has disengaged and -” Caretaker took the opportunity to surge forward and with both hands hit the S.O square in the chest, unable to defend himself in time as he tried to uncross his arms. He stumbled backwards across the hallway and Caretaker quickly stepped back into the room and closed the door, hitting the lock button in the no-override function. Now, at last, they could actually assess their patient. “Ok Xur I’m the medic from Omlustan station and I”m here to assist. What’s happening today?” Nothing back, but that wasn’t unexpected. Caretaker pinched the man’s trapezius muscle and he groaned, raising a shoulder and turning his head towards it “alright Xur I see you’re really not feeling well but don’t worry. Help is on the way for your crew too, we’ve started our security protocol and while we wait for the mercenaries to take command you and I are going to hole up here.” They prattled on as they checked blood gases, levels and pressure, pulse and reflex assessments trying to find the source of the status change. Routine and protocols helped them concentrate over the sound of the door being pummeled from the hallway and obscenities being thrown at them. “Captain Lekrownski! We have a situation on deck 4! The loyal side of the crew is holed up and fighting back! Somehow they’ve gathered together and the Medic is stating she speaks for all of them and that they are awaiting the security breach!” The person on the other end of the PA was frantic now. Caretaker heard Lekrownski reply back “ready the ship to jump out of here, we can fight them later or they can starve.” “Xur, that’s the problem, they’ve taken cover in the warp drive room and disabled the drive.” Lekrownski stormed off shouting orders about getting weapons. Caretaker sent thoughts of safety and support to the crew, hoping that help would arrive in time. 

They found the captain to be in poor shape, vital wise, but nothing was initially coming up in the blood tests; more were needed back on the station with full lab facilities. Now all they had to do was wait. Looking around for something to use for defense all they could muster was a fire extinguisher. Heavy and metal, but small enough to swing in the close quarters, they stood at the ready, off to one side of the door and waiting to swing it in the face of whoever would intrude. 

It felt like 3 full cycles, but was probably only 45 minutes when the gunshots began, soft pops echoing through the hull and getting louder as they grew closer. Caretaker wasn’t sure, they’d never been in battle before, but they thought they heard some return fire as well. They focused on their breathing as the thunder of boots and gunshots, bangs of grenades and cries of wounded grew louder and closer to their door. Suddenly, despite all their bravado, they jumped at the pounding of the door. Their heart tried to mimick it by beating against their ribcage and they tried to take slow deep breaths to steady their hand, fire extinguisher raised as tears threatened in the corners of their eyes.

The door flew open and Caretaker swung at approximately head height as someone charged in; there was a loud clang as it hit the opposite wall. Caretaker had released it at the last second as the mercenary ducked, they had recognized the uniform mid swing and panicked. Both sets of eyes grew wide in recognition before Caretaker quickly turned to scrub at their face before anyone could notice; the merc turned his back to observe the Captain, pretending not to notice the tears. “Well, guess I’ve returned the favor.” He said. “You’re on the job, it doesn’t count, you still owe me breakfast.” Caretaker quickly packed their medical kits, handing IV bags to the mercenary “where’s my litter?” They were surprised the man remembered them since he was so low on blood sugar at the time. The man took the bags with amusement, not used to being ordered around “should be here any minute, your partner has been right with the rearguard the whole time. They seem pretty competent.”

Sure enough, Rookie appeared with the litter to carry the captain to their pod,  “Xur, I brought the litter and a resus kit. Did you need anything else?” He really was competent after all.  The Captain made a full recovery and the loyal crewmembers sustained only minor injuries during the mutiny. Caretaker was relieved, but also annoyed: now they would have to go to trial. Probably on a day off. Definitely unpaid.

[onepiece-imagines-bartoloclub]

(I wasn'tsure if I was gonna do it but you know what, screw it. Here you go anon senpai... I know who you are......)

~ Strawhats with a dummy thicc s.o ~

- Luffy, Zoro and Chopper -

•These don't pay much attention towards that detail in regards to their s.o. For Chopper's case is mostly out of innocence and for Luffy and Zoro is just that they don't care or acknowledge it.

- Nami -

•Notices and isn't afraid to show them that she does. She gives them playful winks and stares as they walk past here.

"Your bounty says you're worth a million, but I know you'reworth much more."

- Usopp -

•Usopp is considerably shy when he's around them because he wants to look but he doesn't want them to feel bad or uncomfortable but it all fades away when he is reassured that they don't mind as long as it's him. He is quick to defend them if they get unnecessary attention from bystanders.

- Sanji -

•He feels like he's in heaven by having such a..... "lovely" s.o. He worships the ground they walk on and compliments their body in private and takes shit from no one if they so much as look at them and making them uncomfortable. Sanji can't help but nosebleed whenever he looks at them.

- Robin -

•Robin doesn't care about her s.o's body, as long as they're nice to her crew and considerate then they're alright in her book. If they're insecure about their body, she doesn't hesitate to let them know that they look 'lovely as always'. She does get jealous when they get attention from others but she hides it expertly behind a smile with very dangerous intent.

- Franky -

•He'd show off his bod to make them feel better about themselves if they don't like their body. Rather than being jealous about the attention they get, he takes the eyes off of his s.o and onto himself by being his loud and boisterous self.

- Brook -

•Most likely the same as Sanji but with less nose bleeds and more skeleton jokes. He'd probably won't treat them any differently for being thicc.

[externaldefibrillatorsxyz-blog]

Read Automated external defibrillators: Do you need an AED

Automated external defibrillators: Do you need an AED?

An AED may save your life during cardiac arrest. Weigh the pros and cons to see if you should get one.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

If you've watched a TV medical drama, you've probably seen someone whose heart stops beating and then is suddenly shocked back to life by a doctor who yells "clear" before delivering a jolt of electricity to the person's chest.

This type of procedure isn't limited to the hospital. It can be done at home if you have an automated external defibrillator (AED), a lightweight, portable device available without a prescription. If you have severe heart disease, you're at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

AEDs can resuscitate you only if you have a specific type of heart rhythm problem. Talk to your doctor about whether owning an AED could help save your life.

When is an AED needed?

AEDs are used to revive someone from sudden cardiac arrest, which usually occurs with a disruption in the heart's electrical activity that causes the heart to beat dangerously fast (ventricular tachycardia) or irregularly (ventricular fibrillation). Because of this altered heart rhythm (arrhythmia), your heart can't pump effectively.

The arrhythmia stops blood flow to your brain and other vital organs, usually resulting in death if not treated within minutes. If you survive, you can have permanent damage to your brain and other organs, so the sooner your heart's rhythm is restored the better.

If you're having ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia and an AED is nearby, a bystander in a public place or a family member at home can attach the self-sticking pads to your chest. The AED then reads your heart rhythm and sends an electrical current to your heart if an electric shock can correct the rhythm. If used within minutes, the jolt can restore your heart to a normal rhythm and possibly save your life.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac arrest can keep blood flowing to your heart and brain for a time. But often only defibrillation can restore the heart's normal rhythm. Together they can improve your chances of survival.

How to use an AED

If you need to use an AED on someone, first call 911 or your local emergency services to get help on the way. Then begin CPR before you turn on the AED, and start CPR again after the shock is delivered if CPR is still needed.

The home AED comes with an instructional training video that shows how to use and maintain the device. If you buy an AED, everyone in your home should watch the video and review it periodically.

In an emergency, the automated external defibrillator will give you step-by-step voice instructions. It explains how to check for breathing and a pulse and how to position electrode pads on the person's chest.

Once the pads are in place, the AED automatically measures the person's heart rhythm and determines if a shock is needed. If it is, the machine tells the user to stand back and to push a button to deliver the shock. The AED is programmed not to deliver a shock if a shock isn't needed.

The AED will also guide users through CPR. The process can be repeated as needed until emergency crews take over.

Having an AED nearby when you need it

Police and ambulance crews carry AEDs, and they're commonly available in many public places, including malls, office buildings, sports arenas and airplanes. However, many cardiac arrests occur at home, so having a home AED can save precious minutes in reviving a person with ventricular fibrillation.

Proponents of home AEDs say putting them where they're needed most will save thousands of lives each year. But critics argue there's no reliable evidence that home defibrillators save more lives. Critics also fear that people won't call for emergency medical services at all or quickly enough, that they won't maintain their AED properly, or that they'll forget where it is.

Deciding if an AED is right for your home

For some people who have a high risk of cardiac arrest, having an AED can provide peace of mind and might help save their lives. Here are some things to keep in mind as you consider whether to buy an automated external defibrillator:

   Your risk of sudden cardiac death. If you're at high risk of sudden cardiac death due to a specific heart rhythm problem, your doctor will likely recommend an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) rather than an AED.

   Your living arrangements. You need someone with you to use the AED if you have cardiac arrest. And the person needs to be agile enough to get on the floor to use the device and get back up. If you live alone or if the person you live with can't get up and down, a home AED might not make sense.

   Your costs. Home AEDs can be expensive and aren't usually covered by insurance.

   Your overall health and philosophy. If you have numerous medical problems, a terminal illness or a very weak heart that hasn't responded to treatment, you might choose not to be resuscitated from sudden cardiac death.

Tips for proper use and maintenance of AEDs

If you get an AED for your home, make sure that family, friends and visitors know where it is and how to use it. And you need to maintain it properly. Here are some tips for maintaining your home AED:

   Register your AED with the manufacturer. That way you'll receive safety alerts and recall notices. Also, check the manufacturer's website periodically to keep current on information about your device.

                   Have a practice run using the AED as you would in an actual emergency. Because the AED works only on certain types of cardiac arrest, the people who might need to use the device should know what steps to take if the AED indicates a shock isn't needed, but the person remains unresponsive.

   Store your AED in an easily accessible place. Make sure family, friends and visitors know where it is.

   Keep the AED maintained properly, including installation of new batteries as needed, typically every four years, and replacement of electrode pads as needed.

   Heed alarms. Home AEDs are designed to test themselves to make sure they're working properly. Be sure you can hear the alarm. If your machine starts beeping or you see a light flashing, call the device manufacturer. Have the number handy.

   Buy the right AED for you. Some AEDs aren't intended for home use, but rather for emergency crews or for installation in public places. Don't be lured by websites or other sellers offering AEDs not intended for home use.

Learn what you need to know. Consider enrolling yourself and whoever might need to use your home AED in a community education class, such as classes offered by the American Red Cross, to learn how to use your automated external defibrillator properly and to perform CPR.

This will also enable you to come to the rescue if someone has cardiac arrest in a public place and there's an AED nearby.

AEDs offer a way to save a life. Before buying one, talk to your doctor and do research. And don't forget to learn the basics, such as CPR.

April 19, 2017

References

   Rea TD, et al. Automated external defibrillators. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Jan. 27, 2017.

   Automated external defibrillators. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/aed. Accessed Jan. 27, 2017.

   Patil KD, et al. Cardiac arrest: Resuscitation and reperfusion. Circulation Research. 2016;116:2041.

   Sudden cardiac arrest. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/scda#. Accessed Jan. 27, 2017.

   Learn about automated external defibrillators. American Red Cross. http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/workplace/easy-as-aed. Accessed Jan. 27, 2017.

   Garg A. Primary prevention of sudden cardiac death — Challenge the guidelines. Indian Heart Journal. 2015;67:203.

   Strategies for home users and public access AED users to maintain readiness of automated external defibrillators. http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/CardiovascularDevices/ExternalDefibrillators/ucm233450.htm. Accessed Jan. 30, 2017.