#like... why did Susie make that contract..

[floating-far-from-earth]

whtober day 8 - heart

the Elfords are quite a family, huh?

[livefastdriveyoung]

This is Madness

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is huge. Few things;

First, poor Carlos, having to announce his own departure is brutal.

Second, if Toto really only did find out yesterday, why? Was Lewis afraid he would change his mind? Guilt? Is the W15 a disaster?

Third, Ferrari was the only other option. There was very little chance he would wind up at Redbull. Max is first driver, Christian Horner has admitted to not seeing a future with him.

Fourth, BONO?! He signed an extension contract. So the question is does he have an out clause as well? Will Lewis buy him out? Can he? Will Bono even choose Lewis?

Fifth, Team Loyalty is a big deal in modern F1, but that's the key, it's modern. F1 drivers used to change teams more frequently. We've seen it even now. Alonso has been on six teams total, with separate stints at different times for Renault and McLaren. Kimi drove for five teams. Seb drove for five teams. Checo, five, and so on. Hamilton's stint with Mercedes is unprecedented. 17 years total. Not something to scoff at, but unprecedented. It shouldn't be treated as some ultimate betrayal. He was the exception to the rule.

Sixth, I think Lewis implicitly trusts Fred Vasseur. Do I? No. Do I think that the rumors going around about poaching Red Bull staff and the fact that we don't know about Bono or Andrew could mean that Lewis's side of the garage is stacked exactly how he wants it.

Seventh, Charles is not going to be second driver, not really. Yes, you don't bring a driver like Lewis in to make him second fiddle, but I think that the hope is that Charles will learn what he's been missing, and I love Charles but there are definitely moments that demonstrated room for growth. Lewis has always talked about how much the sport has changed, and even though it is his complaints that make headlines, his positive enforcement of some of these changes is a good attitude to bring. Charles is the 'Il Predestinato' they just want to make sure that he's the best version of it they can get.

Eighth, The Mercedes garage is going to spin this season. Their PR team is going to work like never before. They're going to spin the narrative to George, they're going to isolate Lewis. He can't be in the future development meetings anymore, he's the competition. His colleagues of a decade can no longer trust him and that is sure to be lonely. They're not going to let that be the story. I think we might even be seeing some of it already. The question as to whether or not Toto knew in advance, coming out against the fact that allegedly Sainz and LeClerc have known for at least a couple weeks, is interesting and I'm intrigued at the level of truth.

Ninth, Whether you like Lewis or not, there were moments last season that the team shafted him. Prioritizing his teammate when he was in a better position, abandoning him on podium, etc. Lewis was so supportive of Susie and Toto, George didn't even bother to do anything other than repost the official statement. Lewis was Jack's hero, now all of a sudden, George is the one on vacations, and teaching him carting. The relationship has been slowly fracturing since Abu Dhabi 2021. Whether or not Lewis leaves on a good note at the end of the season will depend on if Mercedes will even give him the time of day. This could very well be Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren.

Finally, I don't think Lewis Hamilton has ever been the type to pull the rug out from someone without cause. He's always been a huge target in the F1 community and I think he's been ready for a change for a while. It's hard to make a change, especially when you're leaving something that once treated you so well. If it is true that he gave Mercedes no proper warning then hopefully he apologizes and explains. We're not entitled to know, but they are.

[formulatrash]

Do you think a trans driver should be allowed to race in F1 Academy?

This feels like a trick question or like, I don't know, some sort of weirdness but I'm going to take it as face value because this is an important issue.

Should a trans driver be allowed to race in F1 Academy? Absolutely yes, zero question, 100%.

The first reason trans women should be allowed to compete in F1 Academy is that trans women are women, the people the category is for. Any women eligible in the age and experience criteria (it's meant to be for younger drivers without significant single seater careers) should be allowed.

F1 Academy, as far as we know about its purpose, exists to provide stepping stone opportunities for women, at the F4 level because that is where most women drivers start losing out, losing funding or being unable to complete seasons, not having enough testing time, etc compared to the ones among their male peers who are likely to succeed.

The opportunities for women drivers are very slim because there is a lack of belief they are worth backing. Remember that court case with Nyck de Vries just before this season started? An old sponsor was suing him because they'd backed his Formula 2 career on the agreement that he'd pay them a percentage of his F1 earnings if he made it there. It's how a lot of junior series sponsorship contracts work, that the driver will repay the sponsor when they hit the big time - remember when Sergio Perez managed to force the Force India sale because of non-payments to his sponsor? That'll have been something like that. (obviously traditionally sponsors would pay the team, except in these weird cases where their name may or may not actually appear on the car by the end)

If you're a woman there's no confidence that you'll get to F1. It's been 30 years since a woman was entered properly into a grand prix weekend. It's been nine years since Susie Wolff did FP1 in Silverstone. It's more than five years before we'll see a woman there, according to Stefano Domenicali. (thanks Stefano, super helpful)

If no one believes you'll get to F1, no one will fund you on those contract terms. Which makes it very hard to raise the astronomical amounts needed to compete in junior series. If no one believes you can win races then it's hard to convince them to give you a seat, even if you do somehow find three million Euro down the back of the sofa.

Now, the fact trans women are women aside, if no one believes cis women are going to make it to F1 and they have funding problems why would a more marginalised group not need at least the same opportunities to have anything approaching a chance? Motorsport is so conservative it can barely contemplate anyone wearing a bra talking out loud, the sad truth is that although there are queer people around (I mean, hello, it's me) it's a lonely and mostly closeted place for it.

So yes, of course trans women - who are, in any case, women, the people the category was designed for - should be in F1 Academy.

Where does that leave nonbinary people? Well, I think - and I like to think Susie would think this too, from conversations with her - the main group missing, gender-wise, from motorsport is not men. So I would hope that nonbinary people would also be welcomed.

[krispenelopebacon]

Missing children headcanons because why not

Susie Hopkins 

• Daughter of Patricia and Leon Hopkins, and older sister of Samantha Hopkins 

•    Died at 10, tying for the second oldest of the five children 

•   Died first (minus Charlie) by ingesting antifreeze 

• Stuffed into Chica the Chicken 

•      Leon owned Jr’s, that bar in Midnight Motorist. That’s how he already knew William and Henry. Susie was probably friends with Elizabeth 

•     Wealthy, but not spoiled 

•     Sweet, cheery and tends to anthropomorphize, but can be very naïve  

Jeremiah "Jeremy" Belanger 

• Son of Ken and Suong Belanger, and younger brother of Thùy Belanger 

•   Also died at 10, tying for second oldest with Susie 

• Died second by being left in a subzero freezer overnight and contracting hypothermia/sepsis 

•    Stuffed into Bonnie the Bunny 

•     Parents both worked late, so he was often left alone with a nanny or day camp 

•     Very much resented this, came to be very independent  

•   Very smart, reads a lot 

•    Secretly a nerd, loves science fiction 

•    Seems pretentious at first, but all he really wants to do is infodump about robots. 

• Gay af but it’s the 80s and he’s a small isolated child. Has a big ol schoolboy crush on Fritz 

Fritz Armstrong-Lopez  

• Son of Manuel Lopez and an unknown (to him anyway) woman with the last name Armstrong 

•   Died at 11, making him the oldest of the missing children 

•   Died third from a split skull via a fire axe 

•   Stuffed into Foxy the Pirate Fox 

• Absolutely loves the concept of pirates. Will not shut up about it. You’re gonna hear pirate facts whether you like it or not. 

• Loves dogs. Would probably have a dog if they didn't move around so much. He even had a name picked out and everything: Rocky 

• Likes to get into things he rather shouldn’t  

• Gay af but doesn’t know you can do that yet. Is happily oblivious to Jeremy’s crush 

• Saw Jeremy get lured away by Afton, but as nobody else did Afton was released. Fritz being the catalyst for his original imprisonment was the reason Will targeted him next 

• His father, Manuel, tries using his job to investigate William and look for his son but ends up being put in a springlock suit by William and dying, becoming Shadow Bonnie 

Gabriel Rogers 

• Son of Theodore and Adeline Rogers, elder twin of Cassidy Rogers, and grandson of Johan Rogers 

• Died at 9, tying with Cassidy for youngest of the missing children 

• Died fourth from a stab wound to the heart 

• Stuffed into Freddy Fazbear 

• Quite mellow and carefree, with his only concern being that everyone is happy. Strangely opposite to Freddy Fazbear, he doesn’t tend to lead, instead preferring to be a mediator to his more confrontational sister 

• Likes video games and space travel. Is obsessed with the first moon landing. 

• Hs a small growing grudge against his sister. Although he loves her and they’re best friends, he feels a small bit of resentment about his sister getting so much attention while he was basically neglected by both parents (this comes to a head during a potential UCN fic, where he says that Cassidy thinks the world revolves around her and leaves her alone in her hellspace. I like to think they resolved it in the afterlife though) 

Cassidy Rogers 

• Daughter of Theodore and Adeline Rogers, younger twin of Gabriel Rogers, and granddaughter of Johan Rogers 

• Died at 9, tying with Gabriel for the youngest of the missing children 

• Died last from a slit throat and a springlocking 

• Stuffed into Golden Freddy AKA Fredbear 

• Angy. So very, very angy 

• Very prickly and defensive. The only reason she doesn’t start more fights she loses is because Gabriel steps in before things get worse 

• Has onset retinitis pigmentosa, which means that, as of her time of death, she had no night vision whatsoever and her peripheral vision was dwindling. Had she not died, she would have eventually lost her central vision as well and been declared legally blind 

• Her mother basically figured that she wouldn’t be able to do anything, and therefore did the Toph thing where Cassidy was stripped of all agency. This led to her acting out in the outbursts we see from her 

• Was close with her grandpa before he died in 1987, as he was the only person besides her brother who wouldn't treat her like she was completely helpless. They used to go fishing 

• Likely aroace and/or gray-asexual but doesn’t know it 

[the-therapist-is-ace]

(VERY LONG POST!!!)

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for the people that follow me for other things than BATIM because this is my new hyperfixation at the moment, please bear with me xD

I suddenly decided to share my ideas about some BATIM AU I had for... a while since BATDR just came out and the fandom is back from the dead x)

So basically this is a Power AU. With everyone of the main cast having particular abilities. (I actually had the idea from the fanfiction "Magic cleaner is more than just an advertisment" by @hello-im-not-a-possum on Ao3, go check it out it's awsome!) I just thought it would be funny because why not xD

Those with powers are: Henry, Joey, Wally, Jack, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Thomas and Allisson. Let's go in that order!

Henry Stein: Do I really have to say? Bringing drawings to life of course!

Pre-Ink: At the beginnig it wasn't much; just a little drawing moving on the page here and there. That's actually what gave Joey the inspiration to start cartoons, seeing his old friend's drawings moving on their own on the pages. But when begining animating Bendy, and by his love for the characters he created, it started to become stronger. Strong enough that the Little Devil Darling would sometimes pop up to reality with his friends for several hours in a row. That is until he got drafted for the war and left the studio. As the years passed by after the war, he discovered that he could even manipulate at the manner of an elemental bender the ink. But it wasn't really strong; just enough to make some shapes and forms when he had trouble visualizing an idea. His powers continu to grow after he returned home, but he became a master at hiding them.

In the Cycle: Joey sealed away (I'll get to it on his part) almost all of his powers before throwing him in the Cycle. He knows that Henry have the strongest magic out of everyone in the Studio, so he went through several sealing and bending rituals before sending him in it. But even that wasn't enough, because Henry can still do a few things; the Golden Ink is one of them. He can create it, manipulate it, make it last for as long as he want, and hide them from Joey's view. He's also capable of using the globs of ink to shape them in the form he need them to -there's no handy machines like in the game in this AU, Henry do that all by himself-. And despite Joey's attempts, he's little by little breaking free from the script's influence...

Joey Drew: Devil's deals and rituals. He can make rituals -often satanics but can be both... well could be at the beginning- contracts and deals with people and they CAN'T go against it after "signing" them. He can also easily persuade them if he feel a weakness in their heart.

Pre-ink: Nothing too bad -compared to what he did next- using his deals and contracts to make sure the Studio and Bendy were growing and becoming more popular and loved. Henry was often his impulse control and moral compass. At that time he would never had the idea of using his powers against Henry.

After Henry left: Oh boy. He took it BADLY. He made a deal with GENT Corporation to create the Ink Machine as a way to "replace" Henry's talent, and to prove to him that the Studio didn't need his "temporary bringing the characters to life"; after all the Ink Machine would bring them to life FOR GOOD.

We all know how that sorted out though. -he had to make a deal to every employees to forbiding them to quit-. However, seeing his former -magical- employees having a (very understandable) grudge against him, he made another deal this time with the Machine itself to trap its ink-corrupted inhabitants locked up: by reducing and warping their powers into something else entierly, something twisted. Exploiting a weakness in their minds to bend them and theirs powers. However, a time loop isn't a type of magic that he could hide from magic users, even as weaken as can be. So after throwing Henry in the Cycle to torture him, he made sure that they would forget the loops. But against Henry's magic it's starting to wear off...

Wally Franks: -I took the idea from hello-Im-not-a-possom fic here ^^'- Telekinesis Fantasia style. Only on cleaning supplies and light objects in general; he's still young, it needs time to develop and he's happy for now with the janitor job.

Pre-Ink: Was absolutely oblivious about why every magical people he could feel and see in the studio were trying their damnest to hide theirs powers from the CEO of the place (to each other's too, but not as much as Joey). Wally personally didn't have a problem to admit that he had magic on his own when Drew caught him in the act -it was the equivalent in real life of the Fantasia scene really; brooms, buckets, rags and feather duster flying around in an organized chaos- because he figured that ("Well he got magic on his own! Can't be all that bad right?") He's the one that accidentally revealed the existence of magic to Joey. (well the existence of his employees' magic) He's also one of the very firsts that Drew made the deal to be unable to leave with. So despite what he loved to say, he couldn't even with his magic "get outta here!"

In the Cycle: He's the one that Joey reduced the most. In a Boris body (this is my AU again) he was unable to cast any spell; he's one of the most vulnerable and sensitive to magic now. But it doesn't stop him from being able to change some of his cards to another color or shape in his games with Henry (to this day he had never been caught.) As time pass by though, he have a nagging feeling that he should... Get away from this place... And it's only getting stronger.

Jack Fain: This one doesn't really have a precise name for it. Jack is a litteral muse; mostly to Sammy but he can inspire others musicians and artists if he write lyrics -or poems-. He brings inspiration and motivation wherever he goes, and as such everyone in the Studio appreciate him.

Pre-Ink: He was just the geniune positive energy of all the studio. No matters the crazy deadlines, the inhumane amount of work, or later on the pipes bursting everywhere, Jack Fain always had a smile and tried to give everyone the strenght and will to continu creating. His lyrics never failed to move the audience, and together with Sammy they gained several awards. (all under Joey Drew's name however...) His powers weren't visibles; he was the one that gave everyone creativity behind the scene, the strenght to move forwards and continu despite it all. He wasn't the animator that could bring the drawings into the real world, nor was he the janitor who make brooms and buckets fly to clean after hours. He was the quiet voice in the back of your mind that whisper to you a new idea or a new song. As such, Joey didn't think it was necessary to twist his powers more than the ink did.

In the Cycle: It's more or less the same but without a lot of his memories from his life before the Studio. Asides the moments with Sammy it's pretty blurry. But since there's not really a lot of people to inspire these days (oustide of Sammy when he was lucid enough to remember how to compose) he's quite powerless. But even in his form of a Searcher, he can still bring a bit of joy and strenght to the others Searchers and the Lost Ones that are under Sammy's wing back at the village.

Sammy Lawrence: Can be seen as telekinesis as well, but stronger than Wally's; if he's angry enough (which already happened) he can throw a person across the room with a wave of his conductor stick (it was Joey.) Technically it's more wind control. It's a tangible force that you can feel contrary to Wally's telekinesis.

Pre-Ink: Prodigy. In music and magic both, the guy was already capable of playing an entiere orchestra with his magic at the age of seventeen. He is seen as one of the strongest air-bender (not the last one thankfully) of the century in the element-bending community. As such he didn't had friends in said-community. He left them to meet his best friend, and musical partner Jack. He used his powers several times when Joey's deadlines weren't humanly possible (he prefer to have the band rehearsal his songs before recording them though; he already wrote songs that were impossible to play without magic before. Only realizing when the band looked at him with bewildered eyes when seeing the sheets he had written.) While he very much did not tell outright that he was an air-bender, he didn't tried to hide him from the band members, Jack, Susie or Norman -well Norman was more him discovering Sammy's abilities because he's just spying on everyone than Sammy telling Norman-.

After Susie was fired and Jack went "missing", he went to confront Joey about it. Only to get drugged without his knowledge by an ink coffee served by his boss (I don't believe you can get dependent by only having an ink pipe burst above your head and some drips of ink getting in your mouth sorry ^^') and got bend by a deal at the end of it. Joey wasn't stupid; he knew that Sammy's magic wasn't going to be weaken and twisted as easily as the others; so he went to poison him slowly but surely to erode them.

In the Cycle: His air-bending abilities were completely burried under the corruption of the ink. Now, his connection with the Ink Demon and the Searchers is taking all of his capacity. He can feel when the Ink Demon is coming and hear him talk; call upon the Searchers and communicate with them, ordering them to attack or not, as well as the Lost Ones. All of this as in the game. The only trace of his wind abilities is his capacity to walk through walls. And the feeling that his mind is trying to fly away from the ink trapping it. And what's with the deja vue feeling?

Susie Campbell: There isn't a real name for her powers either; it's more or less emotion-based. If she's happy, her voice -especially when she's singing- will send you a feeling of happiness as well; when she is sad, you will feel upset upon hearing her. And when she's angry... well if she was angry enough at someone, the nearest people around her would have taken a swing at that person's face. She brings emotions to people by mere hearing.

Pre-Ink: Nothing really out of the ordinary at first; the voice actress was appreciated and loved by everyone. She was with Jack, the sweetest person there is in the Studio, as well as the one that bring the most emotions in her acting. Nobody realized exactly that she had power, until she was -for an episode- rehearsing a song where Alice was angry about the latest prank Bendy had pulled on her. The acting was perfect! So much so that the other voice actor voicing Bendy started to get angry at the toon demon, under everyone's confusion. Upon seeing that, Susie immediatly apologized ans shyly explained that it was probably because of her.

However... The day she was fired, everyone remembered it. She was so upset, angry and betrayed that the music department didn't got out unscathed.

In the Cycle: Joey took the opportunity to use Susie's despair as a way to persuade her to make a deal with him; to become Alice. She accepted, and we all know how that played out. With the ink corruption, her voice cannot make people feel emotional anymore. But she gained something in exchange; the ability to lure people with it, like a true siren, and to put them in a transe... However an Angel is patient. And Susie shall wait for her time to take control back of her twisted body, which she was forced to share with a corrupted version of the character she loved.

Norman Polk: Darkness/Shadow manipulation, and noctural vision.

Pre-Ink: Norman definitely didn't tell his coworkers his abilities. Firstly because he didn't want to be called out for his sneaking habit, and secondly because his element doesn't really have the best reputation. The only things you hear about shadow-benders are how cruel they are of stealing light away, how creepy it is for them to roam around in the darkness and how they are all secretly serial killers. Not the best resume to work at an animation studio, you'll admit. However, he used his abilities a lot; he fused with the shadows when he heard something that he wanted to investigate, turn off the lights in the Studio with a mere snap of his fingers -nobody understood what the heck was going on until Joey investigate throughly every employees' abilities before using the Ink Machine- and of course, played a lot of pranks by suddenly making a projector that he had previously covered the lense with his powers, go off. So for an outsider's point of view the projector suddenly turned on without anyone near it. (he scared a lot of animators that day).

In the Cycle: After he eavesdropped a particularly worrying conversation between Thomas Connor and Joey Drew about the Ink Machine, he got caught, without him noticing himself. Before he could warn others however, Joey called him in his office and used a binding circle to keep him in place before decapitating him. As with Henry, Drew used a lot of seals, and others rituals to reduced and corrupt Norman's abilities; but since dark-benders are not bend by the usual spells as others elementals, Joey had the idea of using its own opposite: light. He switched Norman's head with a projector, and activated the Machine. Then the Projectionnist was born; forced to see only in the limited range of its own light. A perfect way to make his former employee unable to use his magic.

But since he refused to lose his mind that easily despite the ink's influence, Joey directly throw his soul in the -ironically- darkest depths of the puddles, leaving his body a roaming dangerous husk. But a shadow-bender soul's isn't going to be imprisonned in the darkness eternally. Especially with a new golden light in the Studio...

Thomas Connor: Metal manipulation. More particulary morphing it into a different form.

Pre-Ink: As part of the GENT Corporation, he used his powers on a regular basis. Touching some pole of metal to change it for a wrench, use it for a few screw loose, then change it back to a pole... Oh he need a screwdriver? Another touch ans here you go! His colleagues liked to call him "portable toolkit" but that was it. But he didn't used them nearly as much as when GENT had this new client: Joey Drew. The man clearly had powers of his own, and not pretty ones from what he saw. But that's the thing: while he made that Machine, when that... thing came from it, and what Joey decided to do afterwards... Well Thomas was here. Saw everything. And metal morphing capacities or not, against pentagrams, rituals and bending spells he didn't stand a chance.

In the Cycle: As a Boris clone like Wally, he really don't have a lot to work with either; however, even if the ink had weakened his powers greatly, it didn't changed them... Too much. He can't change metal that he's touching anymore, but he have a mechanical arm. And THIS he can act upon. He can morph it however he please, however he can't solidify it more (which led to many broken arm but he never complained). But that's enough to protect his dear Allisson. Poor Allisson that don't remember anything... He will protect her. Through all those blasted loops. Mark his words Mister Joey Drew.

Allisson Pendle: Waves control. It's a seperate branch of magic users who decend from the air-benders, specified in airwaves. In Allisson's case, it's mostly about soundwaves.

Pre-Ink: Allisson didn't used her magic much, asides from messing with Tom when they were working away from each other. She used airwaves to carry sweet loving messages, whispered teases, or reminders that he forgot something. She was honestly a bit surprised that the Music Director was an air-bender (quite powerful too, or so she heard. Then again rumors have a tendency to being exagerated -she quickly changed her mind seeing him sending Joey flying with a movement however-) but she didn't try to pry. Air-benders and the decendants of mutations in their magic weren't exactly friends after all. So they kept their distances -after Susie's replacement it was for the best- until Joey came to her. Asking her a little favor some years after the Studio closed for good, and that the majority of the employees had either quit or dissapeared.

In the Cycle: As she doesn't remember anything, her magic isn't something she reclaimed back from the ink. As such, Joey didn't even take the hassle of twisting it to a weaker version of it. But as the loops are passing and Henry's influence more and more the script, Drew might realize he made a mistake...

And it's all detailled! It took me ages to finish this xD

If you have questions about it, my ask is opened! I'm in the middle of my BATIM hyperfixation, I'd love to talk about it xD (Also no, I didn't really took the books in consideration sorry)

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Vast!Jon AU Snippet: Martin, RUN AWAY

But of course... he won't.

Martin/Jon Childhood Friends

Vast!Jon, professional photographer

Lonely!Martin, YouTube baker

A plane crash! Angst! Drama!

Old guys playing dice with the universe!

Nothing is sacred here.

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

Martin follows Aunt Susie into a room with a desk, two chairs, and no interviewers. “Wait here until you’re told,” she says, and leaves him there.

So he sits across from the desk and waits.

It’s weird. Since he was tiny, he’s been good at knowing when anyone was around.

There are no people watching him. He knows this. He is completely alone.

Doesn’t mean they’re not recording. Maybe they’re live-streaming. Who knows?

So, Martin puts on a show.

He relaxes, settles in. Makes sure his smile is on.

And waits.

Scrolls his phone.

Waits some more.

Waits in a way he knows is appealing even if he supposedly doesn’t think he’s being watched. 

It isn’t real voyeurism. Nobody wants that.

They want to watch someone pretty and appealing, and they want to jack off thinking that someone doesn’t know they're being seen, and it’s all one big fraud.

Martin can do that. It’s how he’s gotten along 80% of his life.

(4% Danny, 6% Tim, 10% Jon interference.)

He checks the time. An hour and a half.

Fine. He can out-fucking-wait them.

No one comes in.

He waits.

He needs this.

If they really think they’re going to chase him off by being absent, they have another think coming.

#

It is three hours before someone comes to get him.

His phone battery is down to 38%, which is annoying, but not the end of the world.

His face hurts from holding it just right for whatever cameras are here.

“Knock, knock,” says Peter Lukas, who really has such a delightful voice for someone who seems to be absent even when he’s standing right there.

Martin just looks at him, smiling that way.

They left him alone for three fucking hours. They can lead this conversation.

“So, you probably know you got it,” says Lukas.

“Did I? I don’t see a contract,” says Martin.

Peter laughs.

It’s a fucking great laugh. Or it would be on a recording, because in real life, it feels like icy cold water.

“I think I’m going to like working near you,” he says (not with, he did not say with, and that matters and Martin doesn’t know why), and produces a piece of paper. “Call me Peter. Once you sign this, that number you saw in your offer? It’s yours. Straight to your bank account. Every month, we’ll do it again - though you’ll have to start taking our suggestions from next month on.”

“So I get one month of free will, huh?” says Martin.

“Yep! One month where you still do things the way you do them. After that… well, it won’t be a big change.” Peter smiles, and it is the smile of a shark, it is the smile of a shrike, it is the smile of things that hunt and do not congregate except to reproduce.

Martin pushes back against his fear. He has to. This is necessary. This has to happen. “How do I quit?”

“You quit,” says Peter.  “Turn in your notice in writing. Done. But I don’t think you will.”

“You don’t? I won’t take too many changes to my show. It’s my baby.”

Peter beams.

Oh, gods. It’s the most fucked up thing Martin has ever seen, and he has fallen miles into his best friend’s eternal eyes. 

“You'll always be able to quit,” says Peter. “But Martin - may I call you Martin? I promise you this: you won’t want to.”

Oh, this was bad, this was a bad idea, this was danger and bear-traps and poison, and Martin still needed it.

His mother.

If not for her, he would just take his fucking chances.

He’d even humble himself to move in with Jon (humble himself, haha, as if the dream of seeing Jon sleepy in the morning, imagining him in the shower all wet and perfect, was some kind of hardship), but he could not do that while caring for his mother.

She liked her care facility. She liked so little, and lived in so much pain. 

He had to keep her there.

“Show me the contract,” he says, and at arm’s length, Peter holds it out.

[abandonedsdjfhcvndfbv]

Okay this post's stupid don't read it. It's my susie elford and invective chronicles

thinking about Susie Elford it's such an insignificant detail of worldbuilding but there's gotta be like a million ways that contract couldve been started and i kinda hope it's never addressed in canon so that i can create my own awesome version involving Maria (Invective) since i'm so curious about the living version of Maria as well. And ancient yuri is my dream It's been my silly headcanon for the ultimate side character yuri for a while but it could actually also make sense.

My current interpretation is that Susie's husband a wizard(???) may have forced her to make it because otherwise isn't making a heart pact for oneself completely useless? & they'd need to have enough control (so marriage in this older setting) to force her into it... But her husband suddenly died before he could use the gem in her chest. She had a child at that point and i imagine she had studied the occult and taught it on to Dorothy? So why would she not be able to get rid of the contract... Why would DOROTHY not be able to get rid of the contract was it lost that early on? Would Lime even have any motive to hide it at that point??? Besides just fucking with people but maybe she likes to do that. I think it also may have been hidden by the husband (in my silly timeline)... But basically no one was in control of the contract for a long time & that's why it passed from Susie to Dorothy to Fiona and then to Claire, so it makes sense to me that from the beginning Susie's contract began from a lack of control. WH doesn't really have commentary on misogyny but UMINEKO does and it's inspired by umineko so hey it kind of fits.

I have alot more to think on this especially when and how Maria would come into play though. Why was she splashed with acid? It's a really curious way to go, it's an action i'd imagine would be born out of a love feud since those tend to be the most hurtful in the case of adults. The mansion was in control of Dorothy's husband though, so she was likely from his family... My interpretation from that would be she was the wife of someone in the family that owned the mansion aka exploited the Elfords. They have to be in the same timeline at the same time for the yuri part so it's a necessary detail for ME PERSONALLY but honestly doesn't have to matter, but i'd like it if they somehow formed a relationship that i'd imagine would be something alike to natsueva. It's my headcanon that the love feud she was injured by was somehow related to Susie, so it's not like direct yuri it's more like 2 women in maybe similar situations that maybe could relate to eachother but because they are both persecuted by misogyny they are pitted against eachother. that's prime yuri to ME anyway!!! (Bitches will say they love yuri and mean the 2 women that do nothing but stand next to eachother while hating eachother. And they're right)

Anyway the detail that her husband owned the mansion & needed her work actually also inspired myyy misogynistic marriage susie contract theory since it felt sort of exploitative that her sort of ex-husband had the deed to the land AND wanted sirius to CONTINUE THE WORK SHE DID? As though he was using her work for something, despite not being with Dorothy anymore?... Very weird to me I feel like there was a bunch of people exploiting the Elfords in the early timeline. Maybe at the point my theorizing got, her husband might even be a merciful person in comparison. I'm going with the convenient it was all the same family, so in susie's case she'd be forced to make the contract by one family member in sort of secret but it's lost and it was not known that the contract was made by the others but Dorothy was also exploited by the same people after the fact as her daughter/successor. Thoughts? That's just my interpretation though. There's a bunch of stupid details because my brain likes mushing shit together. But other than that I feel like it ties into the meta aspect of the contract and it's misfortune well enough too, as an allegory of a history of abuse&trauma in a family, and it being inherited. And. Umineko

[mwolf0epsilon]

What is everyone's greatest fears and insecurities? (I promise this isn't bully anon and I have no ill intent.)

Going for the big guns uh? Buckle in then, let's see what kind of ammo the Fractos has to work with:

Henry Stein - His anger issues. Henry's childhood and adulthood were fairly turbulent because he's prone to getting fits of rage (an issue that was exacerbated when he was drafted to fight in the second world war). There's never been a moment in his life where he wasn't aware that he can hurt people very easily, and it scares him that this is possibly all he's good at. It's why drawing and gardening meant so much to him... For once he could make something good instead of destroying it...

Sammy Lawrence - That he's a weak-willed follower rather than the master of his own fate, untrustworthy and insignificant. His role as the Prophet disgusts him because it's everything he strived not to be, and the hypocrisy of it all left him questioning his identity and sense of self. What is he if he's not Samuel Lawrence Jr? Can he go back to calling himself that? Or is that just another name he can't ever return to ever again...? Just... Who is he?

Jack Fain - Being unable to protect himself and others, no matter how much he tried to be there for his friends. The sense of insignificance and powerlessness left him fearing that every single one if his efforts is in vain.

Susie Campbell - That she's not good enough. Always second best to someone more talented and beautiful than her. That no matter how hard she tried, she should have just given up and let the world step all over her.

Norman Polk - That he's nothing more than an unwanted and unlovable creepy brute. As a tall bulky man of his age and background, Norman's always had a lot against him. But, even when snapping at people or fighting back just as hard was warranted, he never let himself stoop so low. Becoming the out of control and monstrous Projectionist wounded him deeply...

Allison Pendle - That deep down she's just as selfish and careless as Joey. They got along fine because they had a level of understanding about certain arts they were mutually interested in... Maybe that means she's rotten like him. A danger to others if she ever becomes as jaded as he did...

Thomas Connor - The worst part is the guilt. If he hadn't been complacent to Joey's will to begin with, none of this would have happened. He's stuck in a cycle of grief and what ifs, afraid that he's damned everyone because of his own hubris as a prideful engineer.

Shawn Flynn - His willful ignorance will haunt him forever. He knew something was wrong, but he'd rather ignore it and make a quick buck than actually stop to think. It only struck him that he was in too deep when Grant began to deteriorate, and by then it was too late to stop. If only he hadn't been so selfish and cocky...

Grant Cohen - That he deserves all of this in some twisted terrible way. His life has always been one string of misfortunes after another. Maybe he was a bad person in another life. Maybe he didn't show enough people kindness in this one... Maybe he's just destined to suffer. He's always been and always will be unable to save himself...

Buddy Lewek - That he's too weak and cowardly to be of any help. Everyone has been doing so much to keep him safe, and he doesn't have the strength to do the same for them. He feels guilty about it, but he just... He just can't... He's afraid and he wants to go home. He wants his mom... And he feels bad that he's this pathetic when his friends need him most.

Abby Lambert - Regret, guilt, sorrow... She knows them all to well. Most of all she knows hatred the best... She hates that she was so bad a judge of character that she couldn't see just how bad things got. Just how far Joey would take it... She was blind to it all because she considered him a friend, and she'll never forgive herself or him for it...

Doc Hackenbush - That he didn't leave when he could have. He was aware and against the results of the experiments, but he was also curious. Morbidly so. He could have helped stop all of this before it got to this point... But instead chose to stay quiet. A choice that will haunt him forever.

Bertrum Piedmont - That he'd been too proud to realize he was digging himself and Lacie an early grave. What hurts most now isn't even the state he's in... It's that he damned his closest friend to this terrible fate as well...

Lacie Benton - That she couldn't convince Bertrum to not accept a contract with Joey. She knew something was off with the man... She just couldn't imagine this being how it ended... Feels like she failed her dearest friend.

Emma LaMonte - Her biggest regret is not telling her family how much she appreciated them. She'd been a stuck-up unpleasant and difficult lady all her life and now... She fears she'll never have a chance to make amends.

Detective Sinclair - That he failed Joey in some way, thus made him more prone to becoming less interested in being a law abiding citizen. He knows that something broke when he failed that case... That somehow he taught that young and impressionable puppy-eyed boy that justice only matters as long as you're caught... He's a failure of a detective and all of this is his fault...

The Ink Demon - That his imperfections are the reason everyone is suffering. That he's not good enough to deserve to live. That he's a monster that taints everything he touches... The list goes on...

[friskibitz]

SUSIE!

THE SUSIE.

favorite thing about them - susie is the best utdr character ever and if you disagree you are WRONG ok no but seriously though. she's my second favorite, and given the fact that my first fav is FRISK, that's high praise. anyway uhhh to pick one thing rn, something so adorable and well-written about her is her dialogue. good, distinct dialogue is necessary for any well-written character, but i just looove how many details there are in the way she talks... she has these little tics like saying "arright" and "didja", using contractions a lot, or omitting the first word in a sentence (like, "the hell did you let that happen?", omitting the "why" at the beginning), it's very neat

least favorite thing about them - HONESTLY? RN? NOTHING SHE'S LIKE PERFECT

favorite line - can i say everything please i just fucking love the way susie speaks. ch2 has given me SO much. to pick a sappy line, i love "... me too." in response to noelle saying that she got comfortable, or "that got them smiling. let's go." irt kris, because man she is literally so sweet

brOTP - SUSIE AND KRIS!!!!!!!

OTP - suselle REAL and WONDERFUL. it's honestly odd when people say that susie is oblivious and/or doesn't return noelle's feelings because she definitely does, she's just going through them and handling noelle in a quieter way, which i think is really neat

nOTP - basically any susie ship other than straight up suselle or suselle + krusie (ONLY if done right)

random headcanon - i looove to think that she becomes a baker when she grows up, it's so smart. she gets to work with her hands, be creative, and put her energy into making things, it's very great

unpopular opinion - i think "susie has two hands" can work out and could be cute if done well/if things are going to go down that route. if not, totally chill. at the same time, like i said susie definitely reciprocates noelle's feelings, and they really Have to get together, it would be shitty if they lost focus

song i associate with them - i think Threshold by Go! Child is very susie.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Random Flash Rogue Headcanons

Ideas that pop up a lot in my fanfics and fanart: 

-Mick Rory was a farm kid. 

-Roscoe Neyle Dillon is the son of Reginald Norton Dillon, a well-to-do banker, and Rosa Nicole Dillon, his rather pliant, weak-willed wife. Reginald held his son to punishingly high standards and was quick to criticize, berate, and threaten his son when he failed to live up to them. Rosa never intervened. 

-Roscoe grew up in North Ridge, a suburb of Central City. He is on the autism spectrum, but grew up before it was widely recognized. He was constantly bullied by his peers and was disliked by most of his teachers because of his odd behavior. He had a number of special interests but the most prominent was, of course, tops. 

-Roscoe is one of only three Rogues to attend high school and one of only two to have attended college. Lisa and Hartley also both graduated from high school, and Hartley also went to college. Roscoe studied (possibly has a degree in) physics. 

-Roscoe’s parents currently live in Bridgeville. 

-Mark (Marco) Mardon is the son of Patricia (Paloma) and Matthew (Matias) Mardon, and the younger brother of Clyde (Claudio) Mardon. His parents immigrated from Guatemala when he was a month and a half old and Clyde was about a year old. Both parents were college-educated, which made the process simpler than it otherwise would have been, and the family initially settled in Dunhurst, a suburb of Central City. However, they were never accepted there, and they eventually left the town after persistent harassment from the Clan of the Fiery Cross. 

-They resettled in Bridgeville, and Matias and Paloma went to great pains to hide the fact that they were immigrants, Americanizing their names and refusing to let their sons speak Spanish outside of the home. Patricia became the head of the local library, and Matthew took a job as a teacher of geography at the local high school. The family eventually settled fairly comfortably in the middle class. 

-Clyde was only 11 months older than Mark, so they were always in the same year at school. He was handsome, intelligent, popular, and athletic. Mark, by contrast, was painfully average. He couldn’t live up to the standard set up by his parents’ golden child, and eventually, he stopped trying, knowing that he would never measure up. He and Clyde were very close, but their relationship was often strained by the fact that Mark was so often compared unfavorably to Clyde.

-Mark dropped out of high school at 16 and ran away, eventually drifting into petty theft due to his lack of direction. Clyde, meanwhile, graduated high school early and earned a degree in meteorology. He started work on the Weather Wand when he was still in college, but didn’t finish it until he was 23. He died not long after of congenital heart failure, and then his shiftless younger brother strolled in and took the wand for himself. 

-Samuel Joseph Scudder was born to Percival and Martha Scudder. Unfortunately, Percival contracted cancer a few months before Sam was born and died when his son was only 7 months old, leaving his wife with dozens of medical bills. The Scudders had never been particularly well-off, so Martha was forced to move into an apartment complex on Baker Street, colloquially known as Skid Row, where she would raise her young son. 

-Martha was a talented seamstress, so much so that she was eventually hired by the Rathaways. While this provided steady work, the Rathaways were extremely demanding employers, and so Martha wasn’t able to be at home with her son as much as she would’ve liked.

-Young Sam loved cowboy movies and superhero comics. He was especially fond of the JSA and gathered a collection of JSA comics that he still owns (currently, he hides them in the Mirror Realm so the other Rogues won’t find out about them). He was also a boy scout and eventually became an Eagle Scout. He was highly intelligent and generally did well in school, and he was close friends with Jennifer Conners, who lived in the same apartment complex he did. When they entered high school, the two started dating, and even fantasized about getting married. 

-Unfortunately, life on Baker Street was less than ideal. Sam was embarrassed by the shabby state of his clothes and possessions, had to watch as his mother tried to figure out how to pay their bills, and was surrounded by violence. Fights were common in the apartment complex where Sam lived, and, when he was 15 years old, he and Jennifer bore witness to Jennifer’s father being brutally shot as they came home from school. Both were traumatized. Jennifer began a years-long struggle with PTSD, and Sam’s anxiety levels went through the roof. Not wanting to burden his mother and knowing that they didn’t have enough money for therapy, Sam turned to cigarettes, and then alcohol, in the hopes of relieving his anxiety. As he spiraled into addiction, he got mixed up with the school’s party crowd, and dropped out at 17. He drifted into a life of crime and was sent to prison at age 19 for robbing a convenience store. In this prison, he would mostly break his alcohol addiction, but his smoking habit only got worse. More importantly, however, while serving his sentence for this crime, he would discover the Mirror Realm. 

-Sam loves his mother, but he avoids her because he knows his actions disappoint and worry her. His ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Conners, though continually struggling with PTSD, managed to graduate from both high school and college, and currently works as a school counselor. Sam avoids her, too, but still holds a bit of a candle for her. 

-Mrs. McCulloch’s first name is Eva. She is devoutly Catholic, and, as a result, Evan is also devoutly Catholic (albeit a very confused Catholic). He goes to Mass at least once a week, believes priests are basically infallible, and will threaten to kill you if you so much as look at a nun funny. He goes to Confession at least once a month and would probably go more often if each session didn’t last three hours. 

-Giovanni Giuseppi (James Jesse) is the son of Helen and Alessandro Giuseppi, both of whom are the children of Italian immigrants. He has a very, very, very large extended family, most of whom are in the circus with his parents. Many of them speak Italian; while James isn’t fluent in the language, he can understand it quite well and speak it well enough to get by. The whole family is very emotionally demonstrative and physically affectionate, which is part of why James has no concept of personal space. His relatives include his Zia Catalina (who runs an Italian restaurant), his Nonna Gianna, his Nonno Antonio, his Nonno Aberto, his Nonna Lucrezia, his Zio Luca, his Aunt Stella, his Zio Angelo, his Zia Loretta, his Zia Lucia, his Zio Armani, his Aunt Karen, his Zia Bianca, his Zio Rocco, his Zio Romeo, his Aunt Olivia, his Zia Etta, his Zio Dante, his Uncle Fred, his Aunt Susan, his Uncle Harold, his Aunt Lydia, his cousins Bobby and Susie and Maria and Carly and Matthew and Frank and Julia and Freddie and Joseph and Lucy, and his cousins’ kids, Angela and Charlie and Stefano and Gian and Marsha and Rose and Kaitlyn and Steve. He’s not entirely sure how he’s related to most of them. James’ family is all technically Catholic, mainly because they’re all Italian, but only about half of them are practicing Catholics. 

-James invented the airwalker shoes when he was 13 years old. 

-There was a very large age gap between Leonard and Lisa’s parents when they got married. This is because Larry/Lewis Snart was a 40-year-old creeper who got a 15-year-old girl pregnant. Shirley married him because she had nowhere else to go; her parents kicked her out when she got pregnant. She dropped out of high school soon after, and, after several years of abuse, she ran away, leaving Len and Lisa alone with Larry/Lewis.

-Len is about 5 years older than Lisa; he dropped out of high school at 14 so that he could support her and left home at 18. He continued to send money to her after he left, even after she became a professional figure skater. 

-Lisa’s teenaged years were one long nightmare. She was a beautiful young woman, but because of her background, her mother’s reputation as a loose woman, and her father constantly calling her nasty names, she was demonized by the “nice, proper” people of her neighborhood as a temptress, someone who would lead their sons astray. (This in spite of the fact that they were often the ones making advances on her.) Her father also became increasingly abusive towards her, as Leonard had left the home and, as she got older, Lisa started to remind him of his wife. In response, she threw herself into her figure skating and tried to shut the rest of the world out. By the time she was 16, she was already one of the most talented skaters in the Midwest, and when she was 17, she left her father’s house and moved in with another girl on her skating team for the rest of high school. She graduated with a B+ average and was promptly snapped up by a professional figure skating team. Lisa had managed to escape-at least physically. Her teenaged years left her convinced that her beauty was something dangerous; something evil, and it took Roscoe over a year to break down her defenses when they met. However, once he did, she fell deeply in love. Finally, she had found someone who would never abandon her. 

-Roscoe, for his part, was equally in love. After years of being seen as a socially awkward weirdo, he had found someone who thought he was sophisticated and intelligent; someone who didn’t laugh at his tops and who didn’t seem bothered by his quirks. It was intoxicating. 

-Geraldine is 20 years younger than Hartley; she was born to replace him as the heir to the Rathaway fortune. 

-Hartley’s parents were in their thirties when he was born. Both of them came from long-established “old money” families; their marriage was more the result of a business deal between Hartley’s grandparents than any sort of romantic relationship. Prior to her marriage, Rachel was a Kane. Her uncle was the father of Jacob Kane (father to Kathy Kane) and Martha Wayne (nee Kane), making her the first cousin of Bruce Wayne’s mother. Red hair runs in the Kane family, and she passed it on to both of her children. 

-Similarly, Hartley’s paternal grandmother was originally a Queen before marrying into the Rathaway family. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg: Hartley’s at least a distant relative of most of the wealthiest people in the DCU. 

-Geraldine is on the autism spectrum; she’s able to mask her symptoms well enough that her parents haven’t decided to pull the “let’s fix her with expensive surgeries” trick that they used when Hartley was born deaf. 

-Hartley’s parents engaged him to a girl named Kathryn Kendell, the heir to a fast food corporation, when he was 18; nothing came of it because he got himself disowned before the marriage could actually happen. 

-Hartley’s parents are intensely controlling and basically make all the decisions in their children’s lives without actually asking them for their opinions. 

-Len Snart is prone to ulcers.

-Albert and Rita Desmond have an infant son named Alan. He likes to chew on his father’s Philosopher’s Stone. Alvin adores his “astral nephew” and kept showing up at Albert’s house uninvited to see him. Eventually Albert got tired of Alvin breaking in and put him on their baby-sitting list. Rita is less than thrilled by this but is at least pleased that Alan keeps Alvin from trying to ruin Albert’s life. 

-George Harkness has two half-brothers: an older brother named Tom Harkness, the son of Agnes and Ian Harkness, and a much younger brother named Walter Wiggins, the 12-year-old son of W.W. Wiggins and his wife. (All these characters are canonical, but it’s never actually been officially stated that this is the case.) 

-Jai West idolizes Jay Garrick and plans to take up his costume someday. 

-Josh Jackam-Mardon’s weather-controlling abilities are directly tied to his mood. When he’s happy, it’s sunny and he makes rainbows. If he’s cold, the temperature will increase. If he’s hot, the temperature will drop and it might even start snowing. If he’s sad, it rains. If he throws a temper tantrum, it creates a thunderstorm-and if he’s really upset, a tornado will form. 

-When Barry Allen was 13, he paid the admission fee that was required in order to meet the members of the JSA for both himself and a 9-year-old Sam Scudder. It’s one of both men’s fondest memories, and neither realizes that the other was the boy who met the JSA with him on that day. 

-Axel Walker is the son of Alan Walker and Alice Strickland. His father is a used car salesman who left his wife for Axel’s stepmother, Barbie, when Axel was 7 years old. Axel does not like Barbie and isn’t particularly happy with his father, either. Axel’s mother is Jewish. As such, so is Axel (although Axel doesn’t practice his faith much, if at all.) He can read a bit of Hebrew and speak a bit of Yiddish. 

-Eobard Thawne is convinced that he is an expert in 21st-century technology. The result: “This is a historical device called a toaster. It served as a primitive form of climate control!” 

-Abra Kadabra, by contrast, spends most of his time in the 21st century baffled by the devices used by these primitive savages. What sort of communication device doesn’t send a perfect three-dimensional copy of your body to the person you’re talking to? What kind of food-preparation device takes twenty minutes to cook a meal? Why don’t their hygiene devices instantly clean their bodies of dirt and odors instead of requiring water that’s never a comfortable temperature? HOW DO YOU OPERATE THIS ‘REMOTE CONTROL’? This makes him a very annoying house guest. 

-Mick Rory is an accomplished cook, home repairman, and knitter. 

-Albert Desmond is often so lost in thought that he puts his keys in the refrigerator. 

-All of the Rogues are more scared of Iris Allen than they are of Barry. And with good reason. 

-Owen Mercer is good friends with Joan Garrick. 

-Sam is developing the early stages of emphysema but refuses to admit it because it would mean having to try to kick his smoking habit. 

-Mick Rory’s body is covered by third-degree burns, and his voice is unnaturally raspy because of all the smoke inhalation he’s undergone over the years. 

-Mark Mardon is a horrible klutz. If he can trip over something, he will end up doing it. This is part of why he likes being able to fly so much. 

-Len Snart and Sam Scudder are huge fans of Central and Keystone City’s sports teams. Linda Park-West is among the few who can rival their civic pride in this regard. Evan and Digger are both big fans of rugby and cricket. Hartley is solely a baseball fan; the other Rogues don’t much care about sports unless betting is involved. 

-Mark Mardon watches the weather channel solely so he can make sure that the reporter’s predictions are wrong. 

-Digger loves the great outdoors and can hike for hours.

-Mark Mardon is terrible at cards but gambles constantly anyway. He’s lost more money than he’s ever stolen trying to win bets. James, by contrast, is a master cardsharp. 

-Sam and Roscoe spend more money on clothes (and more time in the shower) than the rest of the male Rogues combined.  

-Dexter Miles knows the birthdays of everyone in the Twin Cities. No one knows how he knows this, he just does. When it’s a Rogue’s birthday, the museum opens a exhibit exclusively about them for a few days. The Rogues don’t know this is intentional and it’s really starting to freak them out. 

-When the Rogues found out that the Flash Museum hires people to dress up as them and teach young visitors about science, Sam Scudder waited for a day when the museum’s ‘Mirror Master’ called in sick and showed up in his place. All the visitors to the museum that day were agreed that he was the best “Mirror Master” the museum had ever had. 

-James once went to the Flash Museum in full costume and stood right by one of the statues of him. He even posed in exactly the same way. He was immediately informed by a patron that he was much too blonde to be the real Trickster. James found the whole experience very amusing.

-Roscoe insists that all the statues of him at the Flash Museum make him look fat. Lisa thinks that’s ridiculous and says that they’re almost as handsome as the genuine article. Len agrees that the statues make Roscoe look fat and thinks it’s hilarious. 

-All three of the Flashes have, of course, been to the Flash Museum while in costume. Like James, they are often told that they don’t look anything like the real Flashes. Barry and Jay are baffled by this; Wally thinks it’s funny. 

-Mick Rory donated his chili recipe to the Flash Museum’s diner. It’s one of the more popular dishes amongst people who love spicy food. 

-Wally is trying to convince his wife to get the kids a pet cheetah. “Come on, honey! It’ll be good for the twins to have a pet who can keep up with them!” 

[adarlingwrites]

Absolution

Summary:

noun: formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment

The Capital Wasteland lauded the Lone Wanderer as a hero, a Messiah, a savior who's willing to give her life for the Good Fight. Beyond the legends, the propaganda, and the mythification that surrounded her legacy, there is only one person who knew her bare soul. She gave him his absolution, and now he will fight for hers.

XII

December 27, 2277.

I jerk awake, disoriented. I look at my hands, and they are no longer a child’s. They’re large, with exposed bone and muscle, and rough.

The dreams are getting more vivid.

On good days, I dream of Percy, the dog, and bits of memories from the past life I had before I was turned into a glorified slave. On bad days, I dream of my previous employers, including Ahzrukhal. On terrible days, I dream of the shit those responsible for the way I am now made me go through.

I guess it’s a terrible day today, then.

Looking around, Percy is no longer at my side, her heat absent, but her scent still lingers. The dog is nowhere to be found too. I go back to my room to get dressed, and as I descend the stairs, I hear conversation from the living room.

“How well do you even know this guy? Seriously Perce...”

DeLoria’s voice.

“Enough to know that I trust him with my life. Why are you interrogating me all of a sudden?”

Percy’s. From the smell coming from the kitchenette, I’m guessing she’s making lunch.

“Percy, you’ve known him for three months tops.”

“Almost four,” my friend replies, the aggressive edge in her voice surfacing. She is getting agitated.

“That ain’t making it sound any better!”

“Butch, Charon saved my ass countless times already and-”

“Yeah, until you lose his contract.”

Percy goes quiet. She told DeLoria about the contract? Why on earth would she do that?

“He’s muscle for hire, Perce. How can you even say that you can trust him with his life when you barely know him?”

“I know Charon.”

“Oh yeah? Where is he from?” DeLoria challenged. I take a few more silent steps to reach the base of the stairs, and see them. Percy is watching the soup simmer in the pot. The dog is sitting next to Butch on the couch. Various motorcycle parts litter the floor, a pet project Percy’s been working on for months.

“Underworld,” Percy answers him.

“No, I mean where he’s really from. Where was he born? How old is he? When is his birthday? What’s his last name? Is Charon even his real name?”

My mistress- no, my friend’s eyebrows furrowed, face slightly red, and she turns around to answer him. “That is none of your business, DeLoria.”

“Of course it ain’t! But it should be yours. You live with the ghoul,” Butch spat. “See? You can’t even answer me!”

“I’m helping him remember,” Percy spits back, using the soup ladle to point at the greaser. “He’s… traumatized, Butch. I’m the first friend he had in God knows how long,” she tells him, then she goes back to stirring the pot.

Butch scoffs. “So, is that it? You’re trying to fix him like you tried with me?”

Percy’s knuckles are white from gripping the ladle, then it clatters on the stove. “Oh my fucking- I did not try to fix you Butch!” Percy yells as she turns around. She marches towards Butch, and points at the greaser’s chest. “I tried to empathize with you, find out where all that nastiness you had as a kid came from. Then whoop-de-do, we made out in the storage closet in senior dance and you decided I was worth your time-”

“And you tried to control me into becoming the damn goody-two-shoes you are,” DeLoria snaps. “When you decided that you can’t convert me, you asked for a breakup.”

“I never tried to control you Butch. I just asked you to try to be better. And I asked for a break, not a split,” Percy yells, voice breaking.

“I- fuck, it doesn’t matter! You left!” DeLoria gripped Percy by her arms. At that point, when the greaser touched Percy, I was seriously considering intervening, but I probably shouldn’t even be listening to their conversation.

“I knew it. This isn’t about Charon. This is about us,” Percy seethes, her glasses sliding down the tip of her nose. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous, DeLoria.”

“Ha! You can fuck him in front of me and I wouldn’t care,” the greaser yells, letting her go. He’s looking away from Percy and running his hand through his hair.

“Oh, I knew it,” Percy remarks, crossing your arms. “You never change, do you, Butch?”

“Fine! Maybe I am jealous! I’m jealous that you’d rather be travelling with him than me.”

Huh.

The humor of a pretty-boy getting jealous of a ghoul whose half his skin is missing, of all people, because his ex prefers the ghoul’s company isn’t lost on me. It makes me wonder what kind of wrong ideas are in his head about my relationship with Percy. I’m sure that there are some people who had the same ideas. Hell, Nova had been teasing me about her. But this asshole having them takes the cake. A romantic relationship with Percy is out of the question, and whatever I may feel about her is irrelevant.

Is it?

What do I even feel about Percy, at this point?

“You have no right to be jealous, Butch. None at all. We are through. You are so damn lucky that I let you back into my life as a friend.”

“I want a second chance! Why do you think I wanted to leave the vault in the first place, huh? It’s been miserable without you there, Perce,” DeLoria tells her. “But you’d rather throw away all those years for someone you just knew for months, huh? I thought we had a good thing.”

Percy grabs him by the collar. “If there’s anyone who should be saying that, it should be me. I asked for a break to think about our relationship and what the hell did you do? You fucked Susie!”

Butch grasps Percy’s hands from his collar, swats them, and he pushes her.

Percy’s crying.

Time to step in.

I shield Percy’s frame with mine. The dog runs over and starts barking, checking to see if his mistress is fine. DeLoria backs away, his stance defensive.

“If you lay a finger on her, I’ll be forced to take action,” I tell DeLoria, looking him in the eye.

“Charon! How long have you been there?” Percy yelps, grasping my arm.

“Long enough to hear enough. DeLoria,” I say, finally addressing the greaser by name. I take a step towards him and he takes one back. I almost expected him to cower. “What I am to Percy is not your business. Though I cannot understand why she chose to help you, I will obey her orders. I am here to serve my employer. Whatever bad blood she may have for your sorry ass is not my business. This is all on you.”

“Whatever, freak. Just stay out of my way.”

“You’re the one who is foolish enough to provoke Percy. You provoke her, you provoke me.”

“How’s this for a provocation, asshole!” Butch yells as he tries to swing at me, but I was taller, faster, and probably weigh twice as heavy. I dodge the blow, and land one on his jaw. He falls.

“Butch! What the hell did I tell you?! Do not fuck with Charon,” Percy shrieks, rushing over to help him to the sofa. “Charon, what the hell was that? Couldn’t you just restrain him?”

She did not ask me to attack nor was she in danger.

“I am sorry Per- miss. I acted on my own accord.”

I acted on my own accord.

Holy shit.

Before I can think about it more, my thoughts are interrupted by Percy gasping and running to turn the stove off. I look over her shoulder. The soup dried up and burned brahmin meat stuck to the bottom of the pot.

There goes our lunch, I guess.

“Fuck!” Percy screams. She takes the pot to the sink and runs it with water.

“I guess we’re not fucking eating. You two, stay put while I pack up and do not fucking kill each other while I do. I want to get to Rivet City by sundown. Understood?!”

“What about my jaw-”

“Stop being a big baby! I swear to God, these past fucking days…” Percy groans as she marches to her bedroom, the makeshift door slamming shut.

I understand now. She’s done this before; masking her hurt with hostility.

Moments of tense silence pass by. I sit on the other end of the sofa, and the dog sits between us, like some sort of barrier.

“This is the worst birthday ever,” DeLoria whines, nursing his swollen jaw. “I turn 21 and I get a knuckle sandwich.”

“You deserve it,” I dared to say back.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m the asshole ex, of course I frickin’ do,” he sighs, and he stands up to look for something to relieve the swelling.

“The wasteland changed her, huh? She barely even knew how to curse back in the vault and now she’s dropping cluster-f bombs left and right,” DeLoria continues, wrapping a handkerchief around a cold bottle of water and pressing it against his face.

“Her father died in front of her, and she was exiled from her home. I say Percy is allowed to curse as much as she wants,” I tell him, and cross my arms.

DeLoria was taken aback. His shoulders sag. “Doc died in front of her?”

“Shouldn’t you be shutting the fuck up when your jaw is broken?” Percy yells from upstairs, her footsteps pounding against the metal staircase.

“See what I mean about the cluster-f bombs?”

Percy strides into the living room, boots in hand, wearing the same jacket DeLoria is wearing and dark jeans. I stand up from the sofa to give her some space to sit, and she puts them on, with thick socks underneath.

“Oh. You kept the jacket.”

“Yeah? It keeps the cold away,” Percy replies as she tucked the fabric of her jeans in the boots. “C’mon. The faster we can get to Rivet City, the better.”

An hour in, the trip’s uneventful, which was a pleasant surprise. DeLoria has mostly been quiet, thank fuck, opting to tinker with his PipBoy’s radio. I am on the watch for Talon Company mercenaries who never seem to give Percy a break. A foolish lot, they are.

The music ends and Three Dog is reporting about our activity on the radio again.

“Hey, out on that ridge! It's Buddha! It's Jesus! No, it's the... Wasteland Avenger! Here's an update on Vault 101's homegrown messiah, and her trusty companion, the Ghoul Reaper.”

Not those monikers again. They sound like shitty superhero names, but not like we can do anything about it. The locals had adapted it too.

“Jesus, he’s not letting it go, isn’t he? Turn that thing off,” Percy sighs as she rips open a box of Fancy Lads, stuffing the pastry in her mouth.

The more Percy made waves, the more people who wanted her head. Her deeds got the attention of opportunistic bastards who wanted to use her for their own gain, or evil ones who just didn’t like the fact that some teenager is cleaning up the Wasteland. It doesn’t help that the DJ of the only free radio in the entirety of DC upholds her name like she’s some kind of saint.

For those reasons, “Wasteland Avenger” isn’t the only moniker she earned from wastelanders. Some wastelanders prefer to call her the Wasteland Angel. Maybe they’re right. Maybe she is one. It always makes me think back to the day when I accidentally called her angel while drinking in Megaton.

“Wasteland Avenger? Looks like your goody-two-shoes attitude has gotten you popular, Perce,” DeLoria comments, snorting. “I can’t argue with Ghoul Reaper, though.”

“Zip it. Say anything about Charon, and you’re on your own,” Percy snaps, taking three sticks of bubblegum out of her pocket. She tosses one to me, then to DeLoria.

“Awfully defensive of your boyfriend, huh.”

“No, I’m telling you to shut up for your own good, Butch. Unless you want your right jaw broken too?”

“Fine. Point taken.”

For making DeLoria shut up, I have decided that Percy is indeed an angel. The rest of our journey is filled with peace and quiet.

The plan was to leave DeLoria in Rivet City so he can make a living as a barber since Snowflake’s in Underworld now. I didn’t plan on following Percy to the Muddy Rudder and drinking with the bastard, yet there I was, sipping on my fourth beer.

Percy sits between us, downing a shot of scotch, while the dog sleeps at her feet. Butch is taking a smoke while the barkeep refills his regular whiskey. He fixes up his hair again, eyes wandering to my friend’s.

“I’m sorry about your old man,” he tells Percy, and her head perks up.

“I appreciate it, Butch.”

“Hey, speaking of dads, I finally learned what happened to mine,” Butch continues. “Not that I’m tryin’ to make it all about me, just emphasizing- empathizing. Yeah. That’s the word.”

Percy laughs softly. “Thanks for trying. So, what happened to DeLoria senior?”

“Remember how we found out that the vault was sealed when we were babies? Part of what happened to my pops had something to do with it. Overseer had him executed for opposing it.”

“Oh fuck. I’m sorry, Butch.”

“S’fine. I ain’t that beat up about it. But sometimes I think about what my life could’ve been if I wasn’t left with my alcoholic mom. Do you ever think about it, Perce? If you grew up with your mom?”

The question made Percy down two consecutive shots. Damn.

“A lot. I know dad probably would have less trouble with my hair,” Percy laughs, but there was a bittersweet quality to it. Butch pats her in the back and crushes his cigarette in an ash tray.

Should I tell them about mine?

I exhaled, breath shaky, as I took out my own pack of cigarettes and lighted one. “My father was killed over an accusation,” I tell them, throwing caution to the wind and letting the alcohol embolden me to talk about the past that I’m still struggling with.

Both of them turn to me, curious. “What happened to him?” Percy asks.

“My parents were accused of being Reds. I was going to be taken away to be reeducated. My father objected to it. I never knew the truth behind it, but the police officer who shot my father already carried out the sentence before any court could.”

“God,” Percy gasps, brushing her arm against mine.

“The government program they put the children of suspected Reds on, is what turned me into the contract-bound mercenary that I am today.”

“I’m sorry, Charon,” Percy tells me.

Butch clears his throat. “Sorry. That’s rough, man.”

Percy straightens all of a sudden. “Hold on a sec. So, are you saying that the United States government that later became the Enclave is responsible for brainwashing you?”

Percy’s right, isn’t she? It adds up.

[queenofcats17]

Can you write the scene where thomas says it's my machine drew i'ts mine and buddy meets thomas before leaving after getting fired with henry in it? henry scratched the back of his head with his white gloved hand in guilt he And His wife allison had known about the machine

I am not opposed to this.

I may have gone a little overboard. ^^”

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

“It’s my machine, Drew, it’s mine.”

“You ruined everything and I’m going to have to fix it. It’s my machine and your mess. Now get out.”

I heard it all. Everything Mister Drew said. But I didn’t really manage to absorb it at the time because all I was focused on was the word “machine.” I watched as Tom, Henry, and Allison slowly headed toward the elevators. Mister Drew turned and swung open one of the doors himself, not even really noticing I was right there. He stormed back into the party. And the door closed behind him.

I turned, walking quickly away from the doors, from the party. Following Tom, Henry, and Allison. And then I was grabbing Tom by his shoulder. Trying to stop him. Needing to stop him.

Stop him I did.

He spun on his heel in something like instinct and stared at me like I was insane.

“Hey, don’t grab him,” Henry said, prying my hand off Tom’s shoulder.

“I heard you say something about the machine,” I said.

“Oh, so you eavesdrop too.” He was looking at me with daggers in his eyes.

“Tom, it’s okay, I know him,” said Henry.

“He’s the gofer at the studio. Buddy,” added Allison.

I stared at her and Henry for a moment. How on earth did they remember me? I could kind of understand how Henry might, he’d saved my ass from getting fired. But Allison? I was stunned that someone like her would even notice I took up space on the planet.

“That doesn’t excuse him grabbing me,” said Tom.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but you said something about the machine and I need to know.” I stopped. I could tell they were all taken aback by me. By what I’d said. I wasn’t sure if I should go on.

“How do you know about the machine?” asked Tom, moving a step toward me. He might have looked elegant, but I noticed how well he filled out his sleeves, how his arms strained against the fabric. I definitely didn’t want to get into a fight with this man.

“Sammy?” Henry asked.

I nodded.

Tom sighed loudly, and Allison gave his arm a squeeze. “Should have figured,” he said. But he didn’t say anything more.

I don’t know where I found the courage, but I guess I channeled some of Dot’s directness in that moment. I was so tired of people not quite saying things. Of only getting part of the story. “What is the machine? What’s it for? And why did Mister Drew fire you?” I wanted to ask more questions than that. I wanted to ask if he thought Mister Drew was evil or good. That last one I wanted to ask Henry too. I wanted to ask about the ink and Sammy. About the creature, the violinist. But I also knew that too many questions confused people.

I know now when I ask myself too much I start to shut down. He starts to whine. We don’t like it.

Tom took in a deep breath and glanced around the plush foyer. “Fine. The machine was meant to create...” He paused. “Characters.”

“Like the mascots inside?” I asked. This didn’t sound that odd. They already made toys, why not have a machine that made large Bendy costumes?

Tom shook his head. For the first time I realized he wasn’t just holding back out of stubbornness. He was...scared.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this...” he said, shaking his head.

“He’s already involved.” Henry put a hand on Tom’s shoulder. He looked at me and gave a nod to keep going.

“Look, I know about the...ink,” I said. “And I know...about...” I stopped.

Tom looked at me carefully. It was hard maintaining eye contact with him. I just wanted to look away. At anything else. Finally he said, “You know about it.”

“Don’t call him that.” Henry’s voice came out sharper than anything I’d ever heard before. “He’s not an it.”

“It’s not Bendy, Henry,” said Allison quietly.

“He doesn't have to be!” Henry insisted.

I must have had a pretty confused look on my face, because Tom let out this big sigh.

“Okay. Okay,” he said, making a decision. “Okay. It wasn’t mascots. Nothing like that. It was...a way to take the cartoons and make them real. Not people in mascot costumes, but actual, real versions of the characters.” He looked at me in this way that said, “You get it?” I didn’t think I did.

Allison interrupted. “Think of it like a printing press, but for...people.”

“People?” I asked.

“More or less,” Henry said.

“No, not more or less. Please,” said Tom, shaking his head. “I don’t want you two involved in this.”

“We already are, Tom. You can’t make us not care because we care about you. What you helped create was astonishing.”

“What I helped create was monstrous and you know it,” he snapped back at her.

Allison had to hold Henry back, because he looked ready to start throwing punches.

Tom shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. But we should go. I’m certain he’s called security.”

Tom nodded. “It wasn’t my fault,” he said. Then he looked at me with that intense look again. “It wasn’t my fault.”

The word “it” stood out to me. He was saying he wasn’t to blame, but also, I thought maybe he was saying that “it”, the “it”, also wasn’t his fault. I didn’t know for sure. But my gut clenched. Dot, I thought to myself. She was alone with “it”.

“What wasn’t?” I asked carefully.

“He fired me because it wasn’t my fault,” continued Tom, not really listening to me anymore. “He fired me to blame anyone but himself.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “But he still kept the machine. And that’s Gent’s invention, I helped invent it, and he took away my right, my design, everything.”

“Just like he did with me,” said Henry bitterly. “Make you do all the work then take all the credit.”

“How could he make you do that?” I asked.

He turned slowly and shook his head. “Not all of us are well connected, son. Not all of us have chances. Especially to get a job as an engineer when I ain’t had no proper education or training. No one of any status had given me that kind of respect since I was working on planes during the war. I trusted him. He paid me extra. He had a legal contract with Gent. Treated me like a real businessman. But I didn’t read the fine print.”

I didn’t know what to say to all that. I just stood there.

“We all trusted him,” said Allison. “I don’t know anyone who really understood what they were signing.”

“That’s what he does,” Henry laughed bitterly. “He takes talented people who have nowhere else to go and makes them an offer they can’t refuse.”

My gut now felt funny. Not clenched anymore, not butterflies, just a weird kind of ache.

“Let’s not forget Susie,” Allison added.

Tom sighed.

Henry winced.

“Who’s Susie?” I asked. Hadn’t Norman also mentioned something about her.

Allison looked at me sadly and shook her head. “That’s not the point, Buddy. The point is everyone here agrees that Mister Drew owns whatever we make. Drawings. Stories. Songs. And” --she looked at Tom-- “inventions. It started with Henry and it continues with the rest of us. It’s the sacrifice we made.”

“We give. He takes,” said Henry. There were tears in his eyes.

I was processing everything they were telling me. It was all coming crashing down, all the walls I’d put up in defense of Mister Drew. I just couldn’t hold them up anymore, and I was getting buried under them.

“Now we need to go, and you take care of yourself. And take care of that writer girl. She’s swell,” Allison said with a small, sad smile.

“She’s the one who takes care of me usually...” I said.

The feeling in my gut grew stronger.

“Get out while you can, son,” said Tom as the elevator opened and they stepped in.

The doors closed and I was alone. The sounds of the party wafted through the doors, but now they no longer tempted me. They just made my uneasy feeling worse. I shouldn’t be here, I thought. I shouldn’t. I should be with Dot. And Jacob. I don’t belong here. I belong with the people who I care about. Who care about me.

[wrestlingisfake]

Slammiversary preview

Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel vs. Eddie Edwards vs. ??? - This is a four-way match for the vacant Impact Wrestling world championship.  The first participant to score a pinfall or submission only other participant will be the winner and new champion.

The most recent champion was Tessa Blanchard, who became the first woman to win the title on January 12.  Blanchard was scheduled to defend the title on April 19 against Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards, but those plans were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.  A tournament to name a new #1 contender resulted in Trey and Austin reaching the finals, but Trey was taken out of the match by an attack.  Austin went on to defeat Trey’s partner Zachary Wentz instead to win the tournament.  This match was originally booked as Blanchard vs. Edwards vs. Elgin vs. Austin vs. Trey.  But then Elgin was fired over sexual assault allegations, and Blanchard was released when she and Impact couldn’t agree to terms for her to return and drop the title.

The fourth entrant in this match is being kept secret.  Impact has been teasing that a “former world champion” is returning on this show, and he’s not coming alone.  The hype video for this tease implies that this involves one or more wrestlers released from WWE in April.  It stands to reason that one of these returning wrestlers will be the mystery man in this match, but technically Impact hasn’t promised that. 

Teasing the imminent arrival of WWE midcarders as an earth-shattering event has been a fixture in this company since 2002, and frankly it hasn’t done them a lot of good so far.  Signing guys like EC3, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson in 2020 isn’t going to mean much more for Impact than signing Christian and the Dudley Boyz did in 2005.  However, expectations for Impact are much, much lower now, so literally any halfway-famous name should generate some buzz.

The sad reality for Impact is that “literally any halfway-famous name” would automatically be the heavy favorite to win this match, or any match in the promotion.  Edwards is the top babyface mostly for lack of a stronger star--he’s basically their AJ Styles since the real one moved on to better things.  Ace Austin is being pushed as the top heel, but he has no national exposure outside of Impact, which means most people haven’t heard of him.  Trey is clearly the big “make new stars” project, but he’s spent the past two years in an undercard team of stoners played off as a joke. In the main event of their 18th anniversary show, it’s oddly fitting for Impact that my pick to carry the company is “to be determined.”

Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo - Grace’s women’s championship is on the line.   Purrazzo was one of the WWE/NXT wrestlers released in April, and I suppose the non-compete clause in her contract was short enough that she was able to beat the rush and get here before anyone else.

Fun fact: Purrazzo actually worked a match for TNA in 2014, and had a brief run as a jobber in 2016-2017 before moving on to ROH and WWE.  That wasn’t all that long ago, but considering how little is left of Impact from before 2014, she’s practically a “TNA original.”

I haven’t seen much of either woman’s work, so it’s tough to evaluate this match beyond the basic story of Grace is a dominant powerhouse and Purrazzo as a hungry challenger blindsiding the champion.  I don’t think Deonna needs to win this match to sustain her push, though.  A competitive loss would work for someone at her level.  It feels like they’ve got something with Grace (especially since they no longer have something with Tessa Blanchard) so I’d build her up more before pushing someone to topple her over.

Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. Ken Shamrock & Sami Callihan - The North (Page and Alexander) are defending the tag team championship.  The backstory is that they started shit with Shamrock and double-teamed him, but then his former rival Callihan showed up to even the odds.  Shamrock and Callihan were bitter enemies a few months ago, but they did a weird reconciliation after the blowoff match where they agreed that they respected one another.  They don’t seem to like each other, but they both would rather not let that get in the way of winning a championship.

At 56, Shamrock looks like hell after dominating MMA from 1993 to 1996 and getting clobbered in MMA from 2000 to 2016.  I hope he’s getting good money from Impact, because it’s kinda sad seeing him here.  Callihan, meanwhile, is in the prime of his career but he’s just a dumbass that I keep expecting to get fired over some backstage freakout.  Together they live up to the tagline “world’s most dangerous tag team,” but that’s mainly in the sense that they look like they’d stab you in prison.  On the bright side, that sure makes it easy to pick a winner, because nothing about the North suggests to me that they’d last a minute in prison.  I’m predicting a title change.

Moose vs. Tommy Dreamer - Moose is the self-proclaimed “TNA champion,” and is “defending” the “title.”  Dreamer mostly works backstage at Impact these days, but occasionally he does matches.  In this case, he was one of the officials running in to save Crazzy Steve after a loss to Moose, causing Moose to attack Dreamer and Dreamer to cut a fiery promo on Moose.

Technically, the TNA world title is the old name of the Impact world title being contested in the main event.  Moose just found the old title belt and started treating it as a separate championship lineage.  See, Impact was hyping a TNA nostalgia show (???) and Moose decided he didn’t like TNA-era wrestlers so he beat a bunch of them and eventually decided that made him the TNA champion.

Considering that Impact is heavily teasing the return of various guys from their past, and many of the available names were around when Impact was TNA, I tend to think at least one guy is coming in to start shit with Moose.  EC3 or Bully Ray would make sense if you just want to beat him and blow off this gimmick.  Then again, I could see Eric Young revisiting some of his comedy personas to match Moose delusion for delusion.  One thing’s for sure, though--whatever the plan is for Moose and his belt, it’s not going to involve a loss to Tommy Dreamer.

Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey - Mack is defending the X division championship.  The “X division” was originally sort of a “don’t call it a cruiserweight division” thing.  Nowadays the roster isn’t deep enough to distinguish between a heavyweight division and an X division, so the title is more like a US championship with a goofy name.

Bey is one of the rising young prospects in the promotion.  The big story here has been Bey’s alliance with Johnny Swinger, who keeps wheeling and dealing to advance Bey’s career.  Due to his shenanigans Swinger was banned from ringside during this match.  Just as Swinger was starting to convince officials to reverse that ban, though, he overheard Bey badmouthing him, and he told Bey “you’re on your own.”  Knowing the Swingman, it’s possible this is all a swizzerve to confuse the mizzarks, daddy.  Either way, I think he has to be involved in the finish somehow.  Even if the Swinger-Bey alliance really is over, Bey should probably win the title here.

Gauntlet for the Gold match - This is a gauntlet battle royale to determine the #1 contender for the women’s championship.  Two participants will start the match and each additional competitor will enter at regularly scheduled intervals.  A participant is eliminated by exiting the ring over the top rope and placing both feet on the floor.  The last participant left after the others are eliminated is the winner.

Eleven participants have been announced so far: Alisha Edwards, Havok, Kiera Hogan, Kimber Lee, Kylie Rae, Madison Rayne, Neveah, Rosemary, Susie (aka Su Yung), Tasha Steelz, and Taya Valkyrie.  It’s possible we’ll end up with some surprise entrants on top of that, but don’t count on it.  Impact has been hyping all sorts of surprise returns, but throughout all their teasing they haven’t hinted at any women coming in.

To me it feels like the favorites are Kylie Rae and Taya Valkyrie, but the match format is practically designed to allow an upset.  I’m just gonna pick Kylie, though, because her entrance makes me happy and is probably the main reason I’ve gotten back into Impact.

Dez Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. ??? & ??? - Trey is in the main event, so the other two members of the Rascalz have issued an open challenge.  This feels designed to make you think “Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are going to show up and win this match.”  Whether that actually happens or not remains to be seen.  There are a lot of reports about those two signing a deal, and Impact has teased them.  But Impact has also teased a reunion for the team of Rhino and Heath Slater.  A lot of things are possible, and many of them would be disappointing.  In its 18-year history, Impact has a bad track record of delivering on this sort of thing, so I’m managing my expectations. 

If it’s a new team, the Rascalz should lose.  If it’s anyone that’s already on the roster but not booked for this show, then they probably have no business beating the Rascalz at this point.

[makistar2018]

John Fogerty on the Taylor Swift Imbroglio: ‘I Know Exactly How It Feels’

The veteran rocker had deja vu in hearing of Swift's battles with her former label, recalling his struggle to win his Creedence publishing.

By CHRIS WILLMAN July 8, 2019

When we think of public battles between major recording artists and their current or former label heads, we think… well, as of late June 2019, we’ve thought Taylor Swift and Big Machine. But for more than four decades prior to that, everyone’s first go-to was John Fogerty versus Fantasy Records chief Saul Zaentz. There’s plenty about these two situations that is different — the Creedence Clearwater Revival singer/songwriter was going to battle over his publishing, not his master recordings — but there’s also enough in common that music biz aficionados with long memories couldn’t help but hear echoes of Fogerty’s decades-old struggles in Swift’s fresh laments about not being able to own her own work.

Variety wanted to see if Fogerty himself is tracking the parallels. Getting him on the phone from a tour date in Norway, we weren’t disappointed. An edited transcript of our conversation about Swift follows.

Have you followed Swift’s career or her recent travails?

I remember first riding with a 15-year-old Taylor Swift in an elevator in Detroit, and I’ve loved her and her songwriting and her records ever since. She’s a great role model for my daughter and kids in general, and she’s always projected that she’s strong and not going to get knocked down by a slight wind. When I first heard this news, I felt really empty inside, just really sad, because I know exactly how it feels, you know. It was almost personal, almost like she was a member of the family, because we’ve followed her career pretty closely. She’s a wonderful artist and she deserves to be able to continue that without having a heart full of sad feelings. I didn’t really even think of myself at all, at first. And then after about a few minutes had gone by, I just thought to myself, “Somewhere, Saul Zaentz is laughing.

”I sure recognize this situation. Because I’ve had that happen to me in a very similar way. What I fought for was my publishing – the ownership of the songs I had written. Because I was in a band, and there were four of us, and we hardly ever got along in the later years, the idea of us trying to get together and get our masters back (was unthinkable). So I was fighting for my songs, but it’s kind of the same thing. I’m appalled that she really wasn’t offered the chance to buy them, because her money would have been just as good as the next guy’s money.

Her lawyer (Don Passman) said that she was not given a chance to buy it. And I believe that statement. I don’t believe the cover-up PR spin doctors on the other side trying to say that Taylor turned down the opportunity, because there’s probably nothing more on this earth that she would want more than those masters. As in my case, it’s not so much about the money as it is about owning your children. After such a long period of having so much of the benefit go to somebody else, in the back of your mind you think that you’re finally going to be given the chance to own what you created. It’s only right. In my case, I’ve waited 50 years already. I’ve got about another five years to go of just waiting it out. 

So you have it calculated down to the moment when your publishing rights will revert to you?

Yeah, by law … My songs seemed to fall under an earlier copyright law, which was changed somewhere around 1973, I think. That’s why you hear people now being quoted talking about 35 years for their masters, but before 1970, that law was not in place. The publishing law was that the first publisher would own the publishing for 28 years, with an option —  their option — to renew one time. So you add those two together and that’s 56 years. So here we are. [Laughs.]

And Taylor may have to wait a long time for her masters. In this world of social media, maybe things can be more immediate than they were for me. As you probably know, at one point my frustration and sadness was so great that I stopped playing those songs for quite some time — about 25 years. By the way, I don’t recommend that to anyone. [Laughs.] It’s a horrible career move. It’s terrible. But that is indeed what I did. I still don’t have my songs back. So I can’t say that that strategy was a good one.

This feels like war, in a way, where each side thinks of the other as the instigator. You hear rumblings from the Big Machine or Scooter Braun camps that any future negotiation over the masters just became more unlikely because she went so public with this. Does that strike a chord with your situation?

In the court case that I had against Saul about the slandering case, my lawyer asked him when he was on the stand, “Isn’t it true, Mr. Zaentz, that you have a vendetta against John Fogerty?” And before it came out of my lawyer’s mouth, Saul had screamed at the top of his lungs, “It’s an answer to a vendetta!” You could see steam and smoke coming out of his ears. [Zaentz died in 2014.]

In a situation like this, the label and artist each tend to feel like they are responsible for the other’s success and deserve payback for it. Did Taylor make Big Machine, or did Big Machine make Taylor? You were in a similar situation, as very much the artistic figurehead and key success story of your label.

I had two meetings at Bill Graham’s house with Saul, and Saul said a few things that were a little not in reality. One of the things he said at some point was, “Well, we discovered Creedence.” They were a tiny little jazz label. Saul, before he managed to purchase the label with some financial backers, was the sales representative at Fantasy, and so we knew him through that. But there was absolutely zero artistic input or anything like that. Other than Vince Guaraldi and “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” in the middle 60s, they had never had a hit record until “Susie Q,” which, while I didn’t write it, sold about a half million records. And then even at that point, all of us were at a very small level of show biz. And if it hadn’t been for someone kind of turning everything on its end and starting to write some great songs and make some great records out of them…

As everyone with a brain knows, it is the artist. All the lawyers and the PR men and the rest can stand around and take credit for what’s going on. But without the artist, nobody’s going anywhere. And that’s true in Taylor’s case too, obviously, even though she was quite young… Think of all the numbers of people on the planet, and there are just a precious few who are gifted enough as artists to create things that get the public excited enough to want to spend money, especially in the numbers that Taylor has enjoyed for the last 15 years. People like managers and label execs and all that seem to take that part for granted when they’re making these sort of statements. If they only could have a little bit of humility and realize how rare somebody like Taylor Swift is in the universe. And she’s quite young, still. Twenty-five years from now, she’ll utilize even more of what she’s got.

Would you have any advice for her, based on your experience in being part of a public struggle like this?

Boy. Well, as I already mentioned, I wouldn’t stop singing the songs. That’s something I did, and I don’t advise that. That really harmed my career. That’s something I learned. But I did it for me, you know. That was a point of self-pride and dignity, I guess, and that’s why I did that. I did the best I could with the hand I was dealt.

But I would say that she seems, especially in this world of social media, I’m quite certain that 99% of her fans are on her side. The main thing is to have a support group. It’s horrible to have to do this alone. Especially because the name-calling starts, and when people run out of the truth, they start trying to attack your character. I think my advice would be to keep doing what you’re doing. I think her fans want her to stick up for herself, because she always has. … I’m sure she could have raised the money to have this happen. It sounds pretty spiteful that Scott (Borchetta) wanted to sell the label to her only real enemy, as far as I know. He was the manager of Kanye, and Kanye did some pretty dreadful things publicly to Taylor.

Her side has said the only deal she was offered to get her masters back was to basically…

“Give us more!” [Laughs.] I remember early on, way back, Saul Zaentz offered to get us into this offshore tax plan, and he sat at his desk and said, “Well, I’m going to get you into this plan, and in return you guys will sign a 10-year contract.” I took that back to the guys in Creedence and I said, “Uh, I don’t think this is a very good plan. He wants us to sign for 10 years so that we can have a small percentage of ourselves.”

When you stopped doing your old Creedence material for all those years, was that a matter of pride, or was it because you did think it would force their hand and finally get them to give you back your publishing?

I think it was more of a feeling that they’ve done this horrible thing to me, and gee, if nothing changes, then why would I keep doing the same thing? In other words, if you go in to negotiate with somebody, but you keep giving them everything that they want, well, there’s no pressure on them to do anything to change. It became very much a point of valor. Plus I felt that if I was out there screaming “Proud Mary,” I just thought I would probably end up in a bar somewhere, having a gig playing for 10 people, and being a complete screaming alcoholic and insane and living a horrible life. I didn’t really know a way out, but it seemed to me if I kept performing those songs in front of people, and hating myself more and more for doing it, that there would never be a positive end to that.

She would likely never do anything as radical as you did in excising old songs from the setlist, but it might influence how many she includes, if this isn’t resolved and she’s not enjoying the thought of singing them live.

Yeah, you’re very angry inside. It’s like somebody twisting the knife every day. That’s probably why I felt so empty when I first heard the news. And I’m not smart enough to know what her way out is. It would be great if people kind of outside of her circle maybe decided to help. I went to Bill Graham. I thought that he would be a fair witness, like in the old “Stranger in a Strange Land” book — a person that would be respected by both sides and could figure out the answer. But sadly, that didn’t work out either.

Good people think, “Wow, these two neighbors are just screaming at each other every single day. The rest of us should get together and figure out a way to mediate.” Perhaps her lawyer can get some people to actually get in there and mediate and try to actually find a solution for the right reason — because it’s the right thing to do. [Laughs.] I’ve just said something so blazingly unknown to the music business, but it’s the way us normal people think.

Variety

[urdbell18]

Those Moments In Between Chapter 5: Daughter, Aunt, Mother

AN:So like I said I don't know what day it is or how much time has gone by sorry? But I had this chapter written out and have been dying to post it for obvious reasons. Happy Mother's day to all those moms out there especially mine who has to work during this crappy time. Enjoy!

When Zelda was five she learned about something that was at the time the greatest thing ever. She told her sister but she didn’t understand. Hilda just smiled and said, “No!” her new favorite word. Regardless, Zelda was excited and wrote out her plan. It was important to plan these things out. On the second Sunday of May Zelda gently woke up her sister and the two of them went downstairs. They made breakfast, Zelda only knew how to make eggs and toast so that’s what she made. To keep Hilda from bothering her Zelda tasked her with making a card which she placed on the left corner of the tray. With carefully calibrated balance Zelda climbed the stairs. Hilda hadn’t quite mastered the stairs yet so she crawled them up. When they reached the door to their parents room Zelda brought a finger to her lips, a sign that even Hilda knew to be quiet. Hilda covered her mouth with her hand but her giggles could still be heard. As softly as she could Zelda opened the door. Her mother was still asleep, her father… she didn’t know but he wasn’t her target. Laying the tray on the flat surface of the bed she, once she was sure that the tray was balanced, went over to her mother and gently shook her shoulder. When her mother woke up she turned her blue eyes to Zelda, then to Hilda, and finally the try at the foot of her bed.

“Happy Mother’s day.” Zelda kept her voice low and soft, trying to be considerate of the fact that her mother just woke up. Hilda copied her but it sounded more like ‘baby brober say’ it was close enough. Their mother looked at them, her eyes narrowed and then Zelda’s heart broke. Her mother kicked the tray, causing it and what it held to fall to the floor. The sound of the ceramic plate and glass breaking startled Hilda causing her to cry.

“Get out.” Zelda registered that her mother but didn’t hear what she said. She was too overwhelmed with the scene that was before her. Hilda crying her little eyes out, the tray in shatters, and the card that Hilda was so proud of slowly being smothered by orange juice. “I said get out!” Zelda tensed, not so much by the words but because of the tone. That tone only spelled out bad things and Zelda always avoided her mother when she sounded like that. She took Hilda by the hand and led her out. In the safety of their room Hilda cried her little eyes out until she wore herself out. She fell asleep with her head in her sister's lap sucking away at her thumb. Zelda had her own cry, her tears fell silently down her cheeks. She vowed then and there to never do anything like that again, the pain was just too much.

She kept her promise even when Hilda, now age 5, took their brother Edward, who was age two, led him to celebrate their first mother’s day. She stayed out of it, waited in her room for the inevitable. She waited for the heartbreak, for her siblings to come running to her in tears. They didn’t and that just made things worse.

It confirmed one thing though. She made the right decision after all.

__________________

Sabrina was seven when she came up with the greatest plan ever.

Though she’s known for a while what the second Sunday of May meant it wasn’t until now that she found a way to imply it to her. Up until this point she was the only one in her class who didn’t have a mother. It was more common to not have a father but Sabrina was completely orphaned. Despite what her classmates thought she knew it wasn’t her fault, her parents didn’t abandon her on purpose. If they knew they wouldn’t have gone but they did and now they’re dead. It’s what happened and as her Aunt Zelda always says, better to look forward than to dwell on the past. This year however, she wasn’t alone. Susie Putnam was also motherless. This time period was awkward for the both of them. They didn’t have ‘mothers’ to make cards to or to honor. So when their class time was dedicated to making these tokens of appreciation Susie made her’s for a neighbor saying that she was the closest thing to a mom so she’ll honor her.

Light bulb.

Sabrina told one other person about her plan, Ambrose. Like her he was orphaned too but it was different. She was never given the full explanation as to why but she knew the important part. Ambrose was a Spellman, his place was with them and that was that. Because he was older he was allowed to touch things, like the stove. They made pancakes, or tried to. They burned them, setting off the smoke detector and thus waking up both Aunt Zelda and Aunt Hilda.

“What is going on!?” Aunt Zelda stood in the entrance of the kitchen while Aunt Hilda went over to the smoke detector, waving a napkin at it. She asked Ambrose to open the back door and that got rid of the remaining smoke rendering the smoke detector silent.

“We’re sorry Aunt Zelda. Ambrose and I were trying to make breakfast for you and Aunt Hilda but we burned it.”

“Not that we don’t appreciate the thought lamb but why would you do that?”

“I know I don’t have a mom but Susie gave me a good idea. She honors the mother in her life even if she isn’t her mother. So… Happy Auntie day!” Sabrina gave her aunts an awkward smile and held out her hands, jazz hands to hopefully make everything okay. Aunt Zelda looked at Aunt Hilda. Aunt Hilda just nodded but that small action placed a small smile on Aunt Zelda’s face.

“Thank you Sabrina but next time could you come up with a plan that won’t potentially burn the house down?” Sabrina nodded enthusiastically.

“Promise.” Sabrina rushed over to Aunt Zelda and gave her a tight hug. It knocked the wind out of her but Zelda just smiled and kissed the top of Sabrina’s head.

“Now, stand aside and let the master show you how it’s done.” Sabrina chuckled and looked at Aunt Hilda who was already getting to work on fixing their mistakes with breakfast.

In the end they sat down to a Hilda prepared breakfast with conversation flowing freely between them. It was a great first Auntie’s day.

________________

May marked the final stretch for Zelda.

In a few short weeks she would get to meet her baby, her little girl. The last eight months have been hard. There was the usual stuff like the morning sickness and the cravings, that was all normal, even expected. It’s just that usual stuff seems twice as hard when you’re doing it on your own. Yes, she had her sister and her nephew was a strapping young man but Zelda chose to continue with the pregnancy and thus her burden to bear. There was no one there to hold her hair or to rub the kinks out of her back. Everything was all on her and she was fine with that. However, that didn’t mean it made it any less exhausting.

On Saturday Sabrina had choir practice. The choir was having a spring concert, the last for the school season, and this was the last practice before the big event. Zelda didn’t mind taking her, it was something that Sabrina enjoyed. It’s just… she was tired of all the stares that got when she showed up from the parents, usually the women, of some of the other kids hung around like she did. Zelda only stayed because practice was only two hours and she didn’t feel like driving all the way home just to turn around to pick up Sabrina. She didn’t know if that was the case with the other parents but she honestly didn’t care enough to give heavy thought. She just knew that they looked at her with an air of shrewdness. They were judging her because she, a single woman with no confirmed partner, was nine months pregnant. Zelda didn’t care before and she certainly didn’t care now. The only reason that she’s never put on end to it was because of Sabrina. Regardless, Zelda sat in a chair, one hand rubbing her large stomach and willing that the next two hours go by quickly.

Half way through practice she began having some discomfort. It wasn’t quite full blown pain but it was close enough. She didn’t think about it too much but didn’t flat out ignore it either. When the thirty minute mark hit the discomfort grew to full blown pain and that caught Zelda’s attention. She did her best to portray that nothing was wrong. Practice was soon to be over, she just needed to hold out for ten more minutes. It was just her luck that the teacher announced that practice was going to be extended another half hour. Zelda couldn’t wait that long. She called out to Sabrina who reluctantly followed her out.

“Auntie Zee what’s wrong? I know practice was extended but-” Sabrina’s sentence died right there as Zelda leaned against a wall. Her breathing was shallow and her face was scrunched in pain. The pain must have been significant, Zelda never showed when she hurt. After a minute or two Zelda took a deep breath and they continued on their way.

The drive to the hospital seemed longer than it actually was. It was physically made longer because Zelda had to stop the car when a contraction hit. She got honked at a few times but she didn’t care. There was no way that she could drive the car during a contraction and she wasn’t going to risk her’s, Sabrina’s, or her unborn child’s life to try. When they arrived Zelda handed her phone to Sabrina telling her to call Hilda, she would know what to do. Sabrina just nodded. The nurse stationed at the desk took one look at Zelda and instantly knew what was wrong. She was immediately brought into the maternity wing and just in time too. Her water broke.

However, it would take several excruciating hours before she got even close to delivery. Zelda knew it was a while because Hilda had enough time to collect Sabrina, bring her home, and then come back. Though she appreciated Hilda being there her soft murmurs of encouragement were getting on her last nerves. So she snapped, it was expected, she can’t be blamed. After nine hours she was entitled to be a bit of a bitch, to put it nicely. The time to push came and if it was possible the pain grew even more intense. All she felt was white blinding pain and her heart beating so hard in her ears she couldn’t hear anything else other than a low humming buzz.

And then just like that it was over.

There was this silence and then she heard a cry. A small cry and then a tiny baby still white from birth was placed on her chest. It was her baby, that was her baby’s first cry's. She cried herself and turned to her sister who was smiling sweetly at her with tears in her eyes. She looked at her baby again, still in awe over the fact that she was here.

And then everything went black.

The next thing that she registered was a soft sound. It wasn’t quite singing but it was pretty close. It was Hilda and she was speaking to someone in a high whispery tone. Hilda was sitting in the rocking chair holding something. Hilda noticed that Zelda was looking at her and got up, taking extreme care of the bundle that was in her arms.

“Here you go Mom.” Hilda transferred what was in her arms to Zelda. It was her baby, now swaddled in a blanket made out of soft blue yarn. No longer white, her skin was a soft pale color and her cheeks were now a soft pink. When Zelda ran a gentle fingertip across her baby’s cheek the skin felt soft and smooth. Her baby made a little noise but didn’t wake, just settled further into her mother’s arms. Zelda looked at her baby, smiled, and then started to cry. Her baby was here, she was real, and never in her life has she felt so much love for another. Now and forever Zelda was no longer just aunt, she was mom and this little life in her arms meant everything to her.

“Happy Mother’s day.” Zelda looked up at her sister. Hilda nodded and Zelda knew what she meant.

On a day that used to hold no meaning for Zelda Spellman, she was given the greatest gift one could get. She was given her daughter Vida Phiona Spellman.

____________________

Unlike all the other mother’s days in her life this one was the most important to Vida for one simple reason.

She now had two moms instead of one.

She recruited Aunt Hilda to make breakfast. Being little came with a lot of disadvantages and one of those was that she could touch the stove. She couldn’t even reach it! But that didn’t stop her from helping. Aunt Hilda let her crack the eggs and stir the batter that they needed for french toast. Earlier that week they bought a loaf of a special kind of bread called brioche. Aunt Hilda said it was delicious and Vida trusted her opinion. They bought the loaf to make breakfast for everyone not just Vida’s mom’s but she was okay with that. Aunt Hilda fixed her up a tray with three helpings of french toast, some scrambled eggs, bacon, a glass of orange juice, and two cups of coffee, one black and one espresso. Aunt Hilda had to help her carry the tray up the stairs, it was way too heavy for her to lift let alone carry it up three flights of stairs. Together they silently entered her moms’ room. By some luck they didn’t wake up before her mom, Vida’s mom was a notorious early riser. Aunt Hilda found a safe place to set the tray down and then left. She winked at Vida before leaving. As carefully as she could Vida climbed onto her moms’ bed. It was really hard as she had to climb over Mamma and do so without tipping over the tray. Somehow she managed and was right where she wanted to be, in the middle. Now all she had to do was wait. At nine o’clock her mom’s alarm clock went off just like it does every Sunday. Zelda wasn’t expecting her daughter in her bed but it wasn’t an unwelcome one. Zelda happily took her daughter in her arms and kissed her cheek.

“Happy Mother’s day Mommy. I brought you breakfast.” That’s when Zelda noticed the tray loaded with food and drink at the foot of her bed.

“Vida thank you.” Zelda brought the tray closer to her. She removed the drink wear, placing the two mugs and glass on her nightstand. Then using the flat surface of the mattress she cut up all three portions of french toast before adding the syrup that was in a little bowl. It too ended up on the nightstand. With everything now set up Zelda rested against the headboard with the tray in her lap. Just as they were about to dig in they heard a groan coming from next to them.

“Do I smell coffee?” Zelda smiled and picked up the mug that just had coffee in it and held it closer to Mary. Following the scent Mary got up in a sitting position. Her hair was a wild mess but that seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind as she took the mug from Zelda and took a generous sip.

“Your hair looks silly Mamma.” Mary looked at Vida and smirked. Now sufficiently caffeinated Mary placed the mug on her nightstand so she could attack Vida. She scooped Vida up, hugging her close and blowing raspberries any wear that she could reach.

“That’s enough.” Mary looked at Zelda, who was smiling so she wasn’t mad but Mary knew enough to not push it. She set Vida now, settling her in her favorite place, between the two of them.

“So what’s the occasion?” Mary took the offered plate that Zelda held out to her and started to dig in.

“It’s Mother’s day! I wanted to do something extra special.”

“So you made us breakfast baby bear?”

“It was mostly Aunt Hilda. I’m not allowed near the stove.”

“Good girl.” Zelda held out a fork with a piece of french toast on it which Vida took. “I remember one Mother’s day when Sabrina and Ambrose nearly burned the house down trying to cook something. Thank you for not repeating that.”

“Well thank you for including me on this special day.”

“You’re the reason why I asked Aunt Hilda to do this.”

“What do you mean baby?” Zelda handed Vida the glass of orange juice when she noticed that Vida was looking at it. Vida took a few sips before handing it back to Zelda who placed it back on the nightstand.

“I wanted to show Mamma how happy I am that she's with us and the only way that I know how to do that is with french toast and we make french toast when we’re happy. So thank you Mamma for giving me two mommy’s instead of one.” Mary looked away so Vida could see the tears in her eyes. Vida hasn’t seen her cry and she didn’t want to start today. After whipping a tear or two from her eyes she turned back to her two favorite Spellman’s.

“The person who deserves this credit is you baby bear.”

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t know if you know this but your mom is kind of a mamma bear. If you don’t like something or someone she notices. So if you gave any inkling that you didn’t like me I wouldn’t even be here. So thank you baby bear.”

“What does mamma bear mean?”

“It just means that she’s really protective of you.”

“You mean like how you were with that wormy man at the apple farm?” There was a choking sound as Zelda spit out the mouth full of coffee that was in her mouth back into the cup. She was in full blown laughter and Vida didn’t know why. Mary just smirked, let it be told that Vida was a good judge of character even if she didn’t know it. When Zelda calmed down she took a few deep breaths to get rid of her excess laughter and turned to her daughter.

“Just like that, yes.”

“So I have two mamma bears instead of one?”

“It would appear so yes.”

“Yay!” Mary and Zelda smiled at each other and shared a quick kiss. Everything was absolutely perfect. When breakfast was done Zelda carried the tray back downstairs. Vida was next to her chatting away. Mary was behind them holding the coffee mugs. She looked at the two loves of her life and that’s when she knew what she had, no wanted, to do. Even if it went against her very nature.

Zelda Spellman was worth it.

[jonathantaylorthomas]

Have you followed Swift’s career or her recent travails?

I remember first riding with a 15-year-old Taylor Swift in an elevator in Detroit, and I’ve loved her and her songwriting and her records ever since. She’s a great role model for my daughter and kids in general, and she’s always projected that she’s strong and not going to get knocked down by a slight wind. When I first heard this news, I felt really empty inside, just really sad, because I know exactly how it feels, you know. It was almost personal, almost like she was a member of the family, because we’ve followed her career pretty closely. She’s a wonderful artist and she deserves to be able to continue that without having a heart full of sad feelings. I didn’t really even think of myself at all, at first. And then after about a few minutes had gone by, I just thought to myself, “Somewhere, Saul Zaentz is laughing.”

I sure recognize this situation. Because I’ve had that happen to me in a very similar way. What I fought for was my publishing – the ownership of the songs I had written. Because I was in a band, and there were four of us, and we hardly ever got along in the later years, the idea of us trying to get together and get our masters back (was unthinkable). So I was fighting for my songs, but it’s kind of the same thing. I’m appalled that she really wasn’t offered the chance to buy them, because her money would have been just as good as the next guy’s money.

Her lawyer (Don Passman) said that she was not given a chance to buy it. And I believe that statement. I don’t believe the cover-up PR spin doctors on the other side trying to say that Taylor turned down the opportunity, because there’s probably nothing more on this earth that she would want more than those masters. As in my case, it’s not so much about the money as it is about owning your children. After such a long period of having so much of the benefit go to somebody else, in the back of your mind you think that you’re finally going to be given the chance to own what you created. It’s only right. In my case, I’ve waited 50 years already. I’ve got about another five years to go of just waiting it out.

So you have it calculated down to the moment when your publishing rights will revert to you?

Yeah, by law … My songs seemed to fall under an earlier copyright law, which was changed somewhere around 1973, I think. That’s why you hear people now being quoted talking about 35 years for their masters, but before 1970, that law was not in place. The publishing law was that the first publisher would own the publishing for 28 years, with an option — their option — to renew one time. So you add those two together and that’s 56 years. So here we are. [Laughs.]

And Taylor may have to wait a long time for her masters. In this world of social media, maybe things can be more immediate than they were for me. As you probably know, at one point my frustration and sadness was so great that I stopped playing those songs for quite some time — about 25 years. By the way, I don’t recommend that to anyone. [Laughs.] It’s a horrible career move. It’s terrible. But that is indeed what I did. I still don’t have my songs back. So I can’t say that that strategy was a good one.

This feels like war, in a way, where each side thinks of the other as the instigator. You hear rumblings from the Big Machine or Scooter Braun camps that any future negotiation over the masters just became more unlikely because she went so public with this. Does that strike a chord with your situation?

In the court case that I had against Saul about the slandering case, my lawyer asked him when he was on the stand, “Isn’t it true, Mr. Zaentz, that you have a vendetta against John Fogerty?” And before it came out of my lawyer’s mouth, Saul had screamed at the top of his lungs, “It’s an answer to a vendetta!” You could see steam and smoke coming out of his ears. [Zaentz died in 2014.]

In a situation like this, the label and artist each tend to feel like they are responsible for the other’s success and deserve payback for it. Did Taylor make Big Machine, or did Big Machine make Taylor? You were in a similar situation, as very much the artistic figurehead and key success story of your label.

I had two meetings at Bill Graham’s house with Saul, and Saul said a few things that were a little not in reality. One of the things he said at some point was, “Well, we discovered Creedence.” They were a tiny little jazz label. Saul, before he managed to purchase the label with some financial backers, was the sales representative at Fantasy, and so we knew him through that. But there was absolutely zero artistic input or anything like that. Other than Vince Guaraldi and “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” in the middle 60s, they had never had a hit record until “Susie Q,” which, while I didn’t write it, sold about a half million records. And then even at that point, all of us were at a very small level of show biz. And if it hadn’t been for someone kind of turning everything on its end and starting to write some great songs and make some great records out of them…

As everyone with a brain knows, it is the artist. All the lawyers and the PR men and the rest can stand around and take credit for what’s going on. But without the artist, nobody’s going anywhere. And that’s true in Taylor’s case too, obviously, even though she was quite young… Think of all the numbers of people on the planet, and there are just a precious few who are gifted enough as artists to create things that get the public excited enough to want to spend money, especially in the numbers that Taylor has enjoyed for the last 15 years. People like managers and label execs and all that seem to take that part for granted when they’re making these sort of statements. If they only could have a little bit of humility and realize how rare somebody like Taylor Swift is in the universe. And she’s quite young, still. Twenty-five years from now, she’ll utilize even more of what she’s got.

Would you have any advice for her, based on your experience in being part of a public struggle like this?

Boy. Well, as I already mentioned, I wouldn’t stop singing the songs. That’s something I did, and I don’t advise that. That really harmed my career. That’s something I learned. But I did it for me, you know. That was a point of self-pride and dignity, I guess, and that’s why I did that. I did the best I could with the hand I was dealt.

But I would say that she seems, especially in this world of social media, I’m quite certain that 99% of her fans are on her side. The main thing is to have a support group. It’s horrible to have to do this alone. Especially because the name-calling starts, and when people run out of the truth, they start trying to attack your character. I think my advice would be to keep doing what you’re doing. I think her fans want her to stick up for herself, because she always has. … I’m sure she could have raised the money to have this happen. It sounds pretty spiteful that Scott (Borchetta) wanted to sell the label to her only real enemy, as far as I know. He was the manager of Kanye, and Kanye did some pretty dreadful things publicly to Taylor.

Her side has said the only deal she was offered to get her masters back was to basically…

“Give us more!” [Laughs.] I remember early on, way back, Saul Zaentz offered to get us into this offshore tax plan, and he sat at his desk and said, “Well, I’m going to get you into this plan, and in return you guys will sign a 10-year contract.” I took that back to the guys in Creedence and I said, “Uh, I don’t think this is a very good plan. He wants us to sign for 10 years so that we can have a small percentage of ourselves.”

When you stopped doing your old Creedence material for all those years, was that a matter of pride, or was it because you did think it would force their hand and finally get them to give you back your publishing?

I think it was more of a feeling that they’ve done this horrible thing to me, and gee, if nothing changes, then why would I keep doing the same thing? In other words, if you go in to negotiate with somebody, but you keep giving them everything that they want, well, there’s no pressure on them to do anything to change. It became very much a point of valor. Plus I felt that if I was out there screaming “Proud Mary,” I just thought I would probably end up in a bar somewhere, having a gig playing for 10 people, and being a complete screaming alcoholic and insane and living a horrible life. I didn’t really know a way out, but it seemed to me if I kept performing those songs in front of people, and hating myself more and more for doing it, that there would never be a positive end to that.

She would likely never do anything as radical as you did in excising old songs from the setlist, but it might influence how many she includes, if this isn’t resolved and she’s not enjoying the thought of singing them live.

Yeah, you’re very angry inside. It’s like somebody twisting the knife every day. That’s probably why I felt so empty when I first heard the news. And I’m not smart enough to know what her way out is. It would be great if people kind of outside of her circle maybe decided to help. I went to Bill Graham. I thought that he would be a fair witness, like in the old “Stranger in a Strange Land” book — a person that would be respected by both sides and could figure out the answer. But sadly, that didn’t work out either.

Good people think, “Wow, these two neighbors are just screaming at each other every single day. The rest of us should get together and figure out a way to mediate.” Perhaps her lawyer can get some people to actually get in there and mediate and try to actually find a solution for the right reason — because it’s the right thing to do. [Laughs.] I’ve just said something so blazingly unknown to the music business, but it’s the way us normal people think.