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houxe · 2 years ago

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The Ranboo replaces Tommy Narrative and how it’s Just Not True

The title really says it all, but I’m starting to get really tired of people pushing this narrative that Ranboo ‘replaces’ Tommy in the SBI dynamic in canon. Especially now that new people are coming in since season 1 has ended and there’ll be people going back to learn about the first season. Because, as the title says, this idea is not true at all and I feel as though we need to discuss it. As well as the fact that some of the points people give to support this claim are genuinely worrying.

Also, I’m going to preface this by saying there is a difference between a character (Tommy) believing they were replaced compared to them actually being replaced.

Please note, I don’t want this breakdown and opinion to be seen as a ‘gotcha moment’ or a ‘Tommy is better than Ranboo’ post, because that’s not what this is about and people are entitled to like some characters more than others. This is about what actually happens in canon and the actual relationships portrayed in canon that some fans are trying to erase and force their fanon narrative into instead.

Also, all of this is about the characters, unless stated otherwise with ‘cc!’

So let’s get into this.

First off, Ranboo does not interact with SBI the same way Tommy does at all, and their character brings very little development to the others. Whereas almost every encounter Tommy has with SBI, there’s some kind of development or personal growth going on between them. It’s very obvious that Ranboo is some sort of close friend, but not anywhere near what Tommy is to them.

Hell, Tommy is allowed to do shit to the rest of SBI that other characters would be, and have been, murdered for.

(We also need to address the false idea that SBI are not morally corrupt characters in canon when they’ve literally committed war crimes—but that’s for another post)

Case in point is when Tommy steals from Techno for the Dream fight and the guy just- doesn't care all that much. Even after the events of Doomsday and how they were both hurt by it.

Ever since Ranboo joined the Commune with Phil and Techno, they had done almost nothing with them, character development wise. They were just there and didn’t build much plot with it. Yes, there were a few mining/gathering streams, the adventure streams, and a few others scattered about. But it didn’t really grow anything in their relationships besides Techno and Ranboo becoming a little closer.

Also, this is not a bad thing. A character not having a lot of character development around specific people doesn’t mean they’re a badly written character or anything like that. It just means that some of these characters don’t play a major role or have an important relationship in someone else’s story and that’s perfectly okay!

Now we’re going to break down the relationships character by character. Starting with the most damning one, Wilbur.

People need to understand that Wilbur was not Ranboo’s friend during the Burger Van Arc. He was using Ranboo for his own gain and you can see that throughout the streams. He did not care about them and only kept them around as a pawn/to make himself feel better because he knows Ranboo just says things people want to hear.

You can see this by comparing the way Wilbur talks to Ranboo and Quackity. With Ranboo, he changes the tone of his voice and the wording of what they’re doing, so it looks like he changed from the time he was revived. With Quackity, he flips on a dime and immediately goes back to how he was before, antagonizing, cruel, and petty. Showing that he really hasn’t changed, and that he is, in fact, manipulating Ranboo to get what he wants and to fight against Quackity because the man wouldn’t let him into Las Nevadas.

The only time Wilbur stops to care is when Ranboo dies, but even then, he doesn’t mention it all that much. Even when he talks to Phil about it, it feels like he was just placating the man after Ranboo’s death and almost like it was an afterthought to him, something he brushes off almost instantly because he genuinely didn’t care for Ranboo.

Compare this to Tommy, where Wilbur actively tries his best to keep Tommy with him, no matter what. Especially when they’re setting up the trap for Quackity and he demands Tommy’s trust and for him to stay, after Tommy calls out his lies. In fact, he’s so desperate to make Tommy stay, that it’s to the point where he admits that the only reason he didn’t involve Tommy in the Burger Van was because he ‘didn’t want Tommy to get hurt’. Showing that Wilbur was, in fact, using Ranboo as a pawn.

Hell, Wilbur cares so much about Tommy that it got to the point where he didn’t even want to apologize because he was utterly terrified of being rejected and his apology not accepted. Wilbur made the active decision to not apologize because he thought that once he did, it would be over and Tommy would leave him. And that scared him.

His character only starts to grow from this once he finds out about Exile and what happened to Tommy. The man even has a whole ass daydream about beating Dream to death because of what he did to Tommy. He blacks out after it’s explained to him. He is pissed beyond belief and wants revenge for what happened. Obviously, he decides it’s better to get Tommy out from under Dream’s control, but he’s still very protective and was even willing to sacrifice himself and go back to Limbo to help Tommy.

Something he doesn’t even think about with Ranboo when they stepped on the explosives, and it’s very worrying that people don’t see the manipulation that went on between the two and try to push this rhetoric that they became friends. Friends close enough that Ranboo would ‘take Tommy’s place’ when it isn’t true.

Now we’re moving onto Phil.

I am aware that there was supposed to be some whole adoption stream between Phil and Ranboo that was apparently thrown out, and Techno made a joke about Phil adopting Ranboo, but that was honestly retconned as soon as Phil agreed with Wilbur calling Ranboo ‘the neighbor kid’. Also, they didn’t have a lot of streams where they were bonding, and doing a plot like that wouldn’t have made any kind of sense and would have just been out of the blue. Especially because the guy just lost his actual son and destroyed the one physical thing that was still connected to him? Hell, if it had happened, people would think Ranboo was replacing Wilbur, Phil’s canonical son, instead of Tommy, lmao.

But I digress, let’s continue.

Phil’s character is mild compared to everyone else. It can be hard to tell what he’s thinking, and he doesn’t tend to act in a very obvious way. But there are some things that stand out a lot between his relationships with Tommy and Ranboo.

Obviously, Phil hasn’t interacted a whole bunch with Ranboo after offering them a place to stay. He generally doesn’t keep hard feelings, though that is fairly inconsistent since he disowned Fundy but flipped on a dime to take in Ranboo ‘because he could tell he didn’t want to do it.’ Which is a fairly poor excuse when Ranboo has actively disagreed with the cabinet before, but a lot of stuff was really just thrown around during this time.

I think many people tend to build up this relationship a lot because Phil and Ranboo have not interacted often or shown a close relationship besides being friends. Not to mention there has been little to no character development between the two. There’s nothing to work with and for both characters, the other is just… in the background most of the time, besides the instance where Phil extended a helping hand and a place to stay or when he met Michael. Neither is really a main supporting character in each other’s story and, again, that’s okay. They don’t need to be a main supporting character and you can start to see that this is the case around the time Ranboo dies outside the prison.

Phil almost shrugs Ranboo’s death off, their revival an afterthought when Dream is right there with the power to bring them back. Something Phil knows about because he’s the one who found out Tommy was revived by Dream. Even when Techno remembers that Dream can revive Ranboo and mentions it, Phil just gives a little ‘oops’ and laughs it off before going into his house. And when he meets Ranboo’s ghost, there isn’t much of a reaction either, because they weren’t extremely close to begin with.

Yes, Ranboo is considered Techno’s friend because they actually had at least a few conversations and meet ups. But that rarely happened with Phil and after a while they just stopped all together besides Syndicate meetings. Do they call each other friends? Definitely! But not to the extent that some try to force into canon.

Compared to Tommy, he and Phil have interacted a lot more. Especially during the time right before Doomsday. The man even had a picture of Tommy in his house, before someone stole the face. Hell, the two had gotten so close during post-Exile that when Tommy died, Phil point blank refused to believe it and actively tried to convince himself it was a lie until he went searching for the truth on his own.

He genuinely cares for Tommy and made a point to protect him when Dream hunted him down after the prison escape. Even agreeing to walk him home and watch over him until he felt safe, taking the time to try and impart lessons on him, and just generally being there when Tommy needed help because the two have actually bonded.

Phil was a major point in helping Tommy develop as a character, including the situation where Phil was on house arrest and Tommy was trying to help Techno get him out and was upset by it. There is a real connection there rather than stuff that’s been made up by fans and treated as canon when it’s not.

I do understand that a lot of people like to build up character relationships, and the relationship between Ranboo and Phil isn’t the only one to go through this. The issue only comes when people are actively trying to say one character has a better relationship with another, compared to someone else, when it’s shown to not be true and are trying to force this false narrative of ‘replacement’ into canon.

I also understand people have a favorite character and wish they had a better relationship with another character they like, and that’s totally fine and valid! But you are confusing people. There are many new watchers who do not want to watch every lore stream and constantly pushing this idea as canon when it doesn’t happen, is what causes arguments amongst fans who are genuinely confused about what is canon and what isn’t.

Finally, we’re going to move onto Techno.

Point blank. I don’t understand why people have this idea that Techno replaces Tommy with Ranboo. Because their relationships are entirely different from each other and we see that in the way they interact. Ranboo is Techno’s friend. Yes, that has been established. And they have also been jokingly referred to as Techno’s student. But Techno has never shown any brotherly or fatherly actions towards Ranboo, and cc!Techno had openly set a boundary against people saying Ranboo is his kid or anything like that. Tommy was also never Techno’s ‘student’ and their relationship is much more complicated and intense than the one between Ranboo and Techno.

Ranboo and Techno are close in a way where they are but are not. Obviously, they’re friends, but this distance is mainly because Ranboo had been lying to Techno since day one and they’re both introverts who only go out occasionally. Their relationship is close, but distant enough that they can go months without feeling the need to talk to each other. Which can excuse their lack of speaking through streams.

I think people forget that the biggest reason Ranboo joined the Syndicate was to spy on them so they wouldn’t go and hurt Tubbo or Snowchester. Which has also no doubt kept Ranboo away from getting too close, because Techno would’ve killed them after finding that out. Before the incident at the prison, obviously. Also, yes, cc!Ranboo also said his character joined because he didn’t like governments anymore, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Ranboo has been spying on them for their own gain and we all know Techno doesn’t take betrayal lightly and Ranboo knows this too.

And for those who will no doubt bring it up: There is a big difference between Tommy’s ‘betrayal’ and what could’ve been Ranboo’s potential betrayal. Tommy was honest about his intentions and what he wanted the entire time in both Pogtopia and Post-Exile, and Techno knew them. Not once did Tommy try to intentionally gaslight him otherwise. Meanwhile, Ranboo was not honest and continuously lied and misled all of the Syndicate, save for Phil. It was for a good purpose, yes, but not something Techno would forgive like he did with Tommy, and it would’ve been an amazing plot to see.

Tommy’s relationship with Techno has a lot more meaning and connection behind it. They’ve been through revolution, war, physical and mental healing, and hurt feelings caused from both sides. They both show obvious care and affection for each other, even after they split up and were hurt, and we see this in Techno’s will where he purposefully dedicates a little paragraph to Tommy, wishing him the best, and then Tommy admits on stream that he should apologize to Techno.

Tommy even admits that Techno is like a brother to him and Techno has always acted brotherly towards Tommy in return. Such as indulging him in almost anything he wants, letting him run amok and build ugly cobblestone towers, and steal his shit without even putting up that much of a fight, but still willing to fight and protect him. They have a very clear, even if very complicated, relationship and they continue with this throughout the story/streams, including their little ‘off screen bedrock bros reconciliation’ where Techno indulges all of Tommy’s silly little jokes. Their personalities also just mesh well, especially with Tommy not being afraid to stand up to Techno, like so many other characters are, and speak his mind. That’s not something you can just switch out with someone who crumbles easily under pressure and expect it to be the same.

Again, I understand that people have a favorite character and you are valid in that, but you can’t just take one character and try to put them in another character’s story when it doesn’t fit.

It’s okay that Ranboo doesn’t have a strong connection to SBI like Tommy does because they’re their own character and they have their own story. Ranboo has a lot of other relationships (such as Niki and Tubbo) that they put effort into and it’s honestly so sad seeing all these other characters and relationships be tossed to the side in favor of trying to force Ranboo into something they’re not heavily involved in.

You can’t just use Tommy’s story and dynamic and put Ranboo in it because you want them in a better relationship with Wilbur, Techno, and Phil in canon or because you don’t like Tommy, but you like Ranboo and the dynamic. Ranboo has their own relationships with those three. Sure, the relationships aren’t as developed as some people want them to be, nor as nice, but you can build up the relationships that are already there in your own works instead of trying to push this false narrative into canon.

It isn’t fair to Ranboo’s character, story, and all the work they put into it, nor SBI’s for that matter, to be tossed aside so you can force a square block into a circle shaped hole.

Adding onto that, Ranboo has never shown an incentive to being more than just friends with SBI. They helped Wilbur because that’s just their personality. They talk with Phil because they’re regular friends. And their relationship with Techno never went past being friends/being a student, nor did they try to push that and attempt to have a dynamic with them that’s similar to Tommy’s. Ranboo has shown that they are very comfortable with where they are in terms of their relationship with SBI and hasn’t tried to change it.

Not to mention, people don’t LIKE being replacements. Ranboo would not like being Tommy’s ‘replacement’ and they would definitely give a whole ass speech about it, if it actually happened in canon. Even with a worm for a spine, they would speak up and be genuinely upset over it for both themself and for Tommy. Just like they did when Tommy took all the blame and got exiled, and the cabinet was talking badly about him.

Think of it like this: How would you feel if someone only talked to you because you had a few similar traits to someone else? Would you feel good about yourself? Would you like that? Knowing that someone doesn’t actually like you for you and only the things that remind them of another person? If not, why would you think Ranboo would like that? Someone who already has self-esteem issues and clear imposter syndrome because of their Enderwalk state?

Because that’s the idea people are pushing when they try to put Ranboo in Tommy’s place in the SBI dynamic, when they already have their own relationship with them.

I think fans have a bad habit of mixing up cc!Ranboo’s personality with the character and even then, they still get their character wrong. In what world is cc!Ranboo even remotely similar to Tommy or cc!Tommy? In what world would cc!Ranboo ever be okay with replacing his friend, for that matter? As a cc! who is very vocally against those sorts of things and has made videos about it?

Adding in, people who do this actively have to give Ranboo Tommy’s personality traits because the story and dynamic between 4/4 SBI won’t work with what Ranboo has already made for their character. If they don’t give them these traits, then SBI just treat them like a doll that they can play with and push to do whatever they want because Ranboo has no spine (seriously, a terrible case of being a people pleaser) and the three of them can all be very intense and demanding characters. We’ve already seen this with Wilbur and even Techno. (When he kept pressuring Ranboo to join the Syndicate and backed them into a corner.)

And when people do try to merge these two wildly different personalities, it only makes Ranboo look like a cheap, quiet knock off that SBI only likes because they have traits similar to Tommy, but they can make them do whatever they want. Basically, the same thing above, but with more steps.

Not to mention, doing this makes it appear as though Ranboo is a tool or a fleeting object to use and toss away. (Especially in Wilbur’s case.) And it just makes SBI look abusive because their 4/4 dynamic with Tommy doesn’t fit with Ranboo’s character. There is constant push back and banter between all of them that can be really intense in the story, (let’s be honest Ranboo would not survive Pogtopia nor Revived Wilbur if they were treated the same as Tommy, and if they were the one to fight Techno, people would be calling for Techno’s head) and eventually Ranboo would not be able to deny them after a certain point. (Again, we’ve seen this with both Techno and Wilbur.) And I’m saying this as a Dark SBI writer who doesn’t even like Ranboo—

Again, Ranboo would not be okay with this. Yes, they have no spine, and it’d take them a bit to work up the courage to speak up, but they would say something if they were actually treated as a replacement in canon. They would feel awful, and self-conscious, and have imposter syndrome about all of it. Both for themself and for Tommy.

And adding onto that, Ranboo and Tommy are nothing alike. I see these comments about how Ranboo is just an ‘upgraded Tommy’ because they’re ‘quiet’ when their personalities are completely different. Ranboo is shy, soft-spoken, awkward, a people pleaser, needs to be pushed to speak their mind, and has more of a deadpanned, responsive type of humor. Tommy, on the other hand, is loud, abrasive, and stubborn. He’s not afraid to speak his mind at any point in time and his humor is about being loud and making random jokes or laughing randomly. They are complete opposites, which is why they were very good friends in the beginning.

Just because you don’t like a character doesn’t mean you can take bits and pieces from them and give it to your favorite. Not to mention, it’s entirely hypocritical for the specific fans who don’t like Tommy because of his ‘personality’, but then they turn around and give bits of said personality to Ranboo. If you don’t like the character, that is completely valid! But don’t try and give a reasoning- just to throw that reasoning to the side so you can change your favorite character’s story in canon.

It’s so insulting to the character Ranboo made to be boiled down to an ‘upgraded version’ of someone else instead of being their own character and personality. Not to mention Tommy’s character, too. You can’t just steal all the stories and relationships and plots he’s worked for and on, and give it to someone else. It’s rude, it’s insulting to both of them, and it doesn’t work.

It isn’t true, it’s not what happens. The characters and their relationships aren’t even remotely similar in any way, and you’re confusing people and potentially causing arguments and fans to dislike characters because of it.

Just because one character has a relationship with other characters who have a more meaningful relationship with someone else, doesn’t mean they’re replacing said other character.

That’s like saying Tubbo or Fundy ‘replaces’ Tommy in the Crime Bois dynamic when they all have different relationships and a ‘replacement’ idea would have never crossed anyone’s mind. I genuinely don’t understand why this ‘replacement’ idea was pushed so heavily with Ranboo, when it clearly isn’t the case and they have a normal relationship with SBI. If it was Tubbo in their shoes, it wouldn’t have been a thing at all.

But, again, I digress

Obviously, you are 100% allowed to have your AUs and stories and share them wherever you like! But don’t put out this false narrative because you don’t like a specific character and try to force it to be actual CANON when everything in the story points the other way.

Anyway, I got a little carried away, but these are just my thoughts and opinions on this idea that ‘Ranboo replaces Tommy’ nonsense being pushed into canon.

#dsmp #dream smp #dsmp lore #tommyinnit #ranboo #discussion #more of a rant really #I'm tired of this grandpa #why was this such a big idea #please let ranboo have their own personality and relationships with other characters my god-#they ain't just another version of tommy please-#they can have bad relationships with people #that's how characters work

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kill-your-authors · 4 years ago

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Another Van Scene Take

The thing about the van scene that gets me is...I really don’t think Joe goes off like that on a regular basis. Like, I’ve seen so many posts about how Joe gives that speech every time someone says something homophobic, or I’ve seen posts about how Joe just waxes poetic all day long to Nicky about his love for him and like...believe me I Dig That Too. It’s both funny and very sweet to think about.

But my personal impression was that the van scene was actually a special occasion. For starters, because of the most obvious: They’ve been captured. Regardless of how dangerous their job is on a regular basis, regardless of how often they’re injured or killed, I don’t think it’s every day or even every once in a while that members of the Guard get captured. It’s my guess that this is the first time anyone’s captured them, only hours after Nicky explained to Nile that being captured is pretty much their worst fear because it could potentially mean centuries of imprisonment or torture.

One theory someone else had on this site (unfortunately I can’t find the post just now) was that Joe allowed himself to be captured because Nicky had already been killed and captured, so even though Joe had the opportunity to kill a few of the guards or try to escape, he didn’t because he wouldn’t permit himself to be separated from Nicky, nor permit himself to die, therefore leaving Nicky to wake up alone in the van or next to Joe’s captured dead body. It would be horrifying. Traumatic. The scariest moment of Nicky’s life undoubtedly.

And so, they’re in the van, Joe is alive and trying to make sure Nicky comes back to life. Nicky comes to, realizing they’re captured and surrounded by armed guards. They’re speaking Italian so as to not be understood by the guards. It’s apparent, that in this moment, regardless of how scared they are, they’ve got it under control. They’re pros, after all. But nonetheless, this had to be the scariest God damn moment of both of their lives.

And then, the guard makes that fucking comment. “What is he, your boyfriend?”

And Nicky makes that exasperated face.

I see a lot of people theorizing that that face is Nicky’s “Oh here we go again” face, the face he wears the moment he realizes Joe is about to go off, reciting poetry in the name of his love for Nicky on the spot. I like that theory. It’s funny. But I really don’t think that’s what’s happening.

I think that’s the exasperated face of someone who has been the victim of others’ ignorance for centuries now, taking different forms based on time and place, but nonetheless, the discrimination these two must have witnessed over the years...All after Nicky himself, personally overcame his own bigotry to be with Joe. Nicky was literally ONE of these men back in the crusades. Sure, it wasn’t over sexuality but it was nonetheless rooted in ignorance as he himself describes Joe as one of the people he’d been taught to hate. And imagine how fucking infuriating it would be, to witness people mindlessly HATE just because they’d been taught to, for centuries. It would be fucking soul-crushing. It would be the kind of thing that makes you lose faith in humanity. For fuck’s sake, sometimes I lose faith in humanity because of this and I’m 26! Let alone 900 some years old. Plus we all know from watching Andy how critical it is to what they do and to enduring being immortal (and especially to Nicky who states more than once that he does what he does because it is the right thing to do), to believe in humanity.

And I think in that moment Joe saw Nicky’s face, and he saw how hopeless Nicky felt, and knew how scared he was, and realized that Nicky, who is the type of man to look Merrick in the eyes and tell him his time is coming and look the doctor in the eyes and tell her she’s immoral, essentially, Nicky, who is the type to tell someone exactly what he thinks of them, Nicky, who is usually the one to give the speeches to the latest homophobe or bigot or just fucking asshole in their presence - not even have the energy or motivation to acknowledge this guard let alone look into his soul and say something that will echo in his ears until he dies. That look on Nicky’s face breaks Joe’s heart.

So what does Joe do? He does it for Nicky because Nicky can’t. He goes off tenfold. He tells them not only that they’re ignorant but goes way above and beyond to show those men how little the implication that A) they’re dating and B) that that is worth mocking in their opinion, matters to him. He makes it a point that he’s only offended by the guard, not because he implied that Joe is gay, but that he would reduce their love to something as inadequate as boyfriend.

And you can see how this effects Nicky right on his face. How touched he is. How inspired he is. He’s reminded of all that really matters - Joe.

Not only that, but following this Nicky’s attitude pretty much does a 180. They kill the guards (I imagine they would have anyway. I really don’t think they killed the guards FOR being homophobic, even if that was the icing on top. I think they’d have killed any men who are in the business of kidnapping people for the profit of a corrupt CEO, particularly ones putting their own safety in immediate harm’s way) and as soon as the armored van doors are open Joe and Nicky are both, as a team, mocking Copley and the rest of his team of guards. Nicky nonchalantly asks about removing their restraints - as if he doesn’t know that isn’t going to happen. Nicky’s once again able to look someone in the face and tell them exactly what he thinks of them - this time it’s Copley he tells that they’re usually a better judge of character.

Joe joins in, complimenting the plane, and the two trade back and forth. Nicky mentioning the TV and Joe asking about Champagne.

This behavior, while first and foremost is just fucking hilarious, I think serves a greater purpose in the characterization of Joe and Nicky and their relationship. By the time they’re on the plane they’re back to their old selves. They’ve gotten their bearings enough to externally appear calm and unworried in the faces of their capturers, for one. But also, I think just about everything they say to each other, almost everything they do throughout the movie, but especially from the van scene on, is a purposeful attempt to always be comforting each other. To always be strong for the other. Mocking their capturers on the plane. Bumping heads after Joe has been stabbed. Talking about Joe’s bedhead. Bringing up Malta. Everything they do until they’re free, is a purposeful attempt to be strong for the other.

It’s really...so fucking well written, you guys. The portrayal of Nicky and Joe in this movie, and especially the van scene, is one of the most realized fictional relationships I’ve ever seen.

#the old guard #joe x nicky #immortal husbands #yusuf x nicolo #meta #long post

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theringers · 3 years ago

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V-card anon: hi sorry about that first ask i kinda went into a fugue state (spelling?) altered state of reality maybe when i wrote that and damn near outlined a fic in your inbox

The way we played hot seat was either part of a larger drinking game when a certain card was pulled from a deck, or just on it's own. You sit in a circle, everyone has a drink, usually a beer or cider. In the card pull version, the one who pulls the card gets asked a question by every person playing and if they refuse to answer they drink from their drink. In the standalone, you do that but everyone gets a turn being asked until people get bored and leave. Fun way to find out shit about people. Usually the unwritten rule is that you can't lie. I imagine everyone sitting on shitty chouches and chairs in a semi circle around a table full of cups and bottles playing it

Questions i have been asked: are you a top or bottom? Do you like anal? Wheres the weirdest place you've fucked? Body count? Favorite position (sexual)? Fuck marry kill/ignore people in this room (EVERY TIME I PLAYED I GOT THIS QUESTION)? Tits or ass or other? Favorite non sexual body part ex. Thigh? Ideal fuck buddy? Sex regrets? Etc

Also more weird details i have head cannoned out for some drivers and most likely does not fit with irl personalities, do with this what you will, use it or don't i just have feelings. Also everyone is like compressed in age to like 20-27ish except for some of the grid who i will just think of as younger alumns who come back:

Danny R: social chair, owns a jeep he takes the doors off of in the summer, walks girls home at night to make sure they're ok, tries to DJ house events and is rebuffed by literally everyone, has like 30 pairs of vans you trip over in his room, stolen roadsigns everywhere, masters in something arigcultural or physiological, cutoff frat shirts for days, fuckboy but nice, a bit cringe, will drive around with you at night so you can scream, met reader bc she had a band tee on and wanted to talk to her about it (no gatekeeping)

Charles: some kind of engineering or math degree but no one has any idea how the fuck he's gotten so far, 4.0 never studies, games with other house members, will show up at events randomly you will have no idea how he gets on your couch but he is there, the best and worst taste in clothes, is the only one allowed to play the piano in the house, sweet, cannot help you with studies but is always down for helping you out after, has to be reminded to clean stuff, disaster bi, reader met his gf first and they probably met through that

Pierre: good fashion and music taste, shirt is gone halfway through the night, also fuckboy but wholesome, actually studies, plays a sport for sure probably soccer in some way either club or Division he's too good for rec, will hold your hair back so you can throw up, will tell you your outfit sucks, good at math, also part of the squad that games, econ major, workout buddies with reader anday have taken a math class together

Max: is part of the hockey team he will go pro, also actually studies, got into gaming because of Charles, has the nicest car, is serious until he gets a couple drinks in him, he and Daniel are close and roomed together at some point, owns like 30 sets of the same outfit a white tee and jeans, knows reader through Dan and they get dragged by him to some of the same stuff

Lando: is a pledge or new member his big is Carlos, undeclared major, just happy to be here, gaming squad, used to play lacrosse or something equally obscure, king of knowing where the good snacks are, weirdly good at beer pong, growing into a fuckboy wholesomeness level tbd, probably sweet with reader as she helped him through a blackout or something, met her because she's basically house mom for some of the new boys (the kind of mom who will teach you to do laundry or iron ONCE)

Carlos: hockey flow but does not play hockey, actually studies and is smarter than what people give him credit for, came from a private high school and uni really opened his horizons, also good study buddy, gets along with most people, goes to office hours the most out of the actually studies gang, fun at parties, owns the frat dogs, he and reader met at Office hours (they were the only students) and found they had mutual friends too

Lewis: is/was president of frat, great grades greater bod, did full evolution from fuckboy to good man, has the back tests and the moral support, up for late noght talks about life, definitely was a D1 athlete, best fashion game, implemented no hazing policy, fits into notable alum or PhD category

Mick: undergrad like Lando, also plays soccer or something, too sweet, also walks girls home/holds your hair back etc, cleans parts of the house that aren't his responsibility, higher alcohol tolerance than you expect, everyone is bizarrely protective of him, legacy member (his dad was a legend), drives a motorbike around campus and can't decide between law and psychology, actually studies, met reader through the frat and she would die for him, brings her to class on the bike sometimes because the bike is faster

George: business major, frat treasurer, three ring binder business casual in class kind of guy, nice enough, shirt comes off when drunk, runs marathons and a podcast about investments, best notes in the game and great study partner, actually studies, is drinking monster at 6AM but not because he stayed up late, he and reader met through the frat and sometimes drink wine and bitch together

Lance: hockey player, legacy member, studies sometimes, sarcasm on point, great at stack cup, very chill, knows every good nap spot on campus, also has high alcohol tolerance, is the kind of person who does well in the cold but does not like it, wears headphones so people don't talk to him, great one on one but not in crowds, business major and minor in computer science, probably also met thru Lance's gf but vibe as more introverted people and will cover for each other if one does not want to go out

Nicky: a good boy, part of the walks people home squad, sets up designated drivers for parties, good snack game, future in medical field, good listener, pretty good study buddy, midnight snack enabler, met reader through frat and his gf he and reader are on babysitting duty together sometimes when others get too drunk/high

Yuki: also a pledge or new, majoring in games or computer science as they gave me the same energy as him, games squad, bit of a mad lad, has several stolen street signs, good, met reader through frat and Yuki is the only one patient enough to explain some games to reader, they cuss people out on mic

Esteban: good man, has a full ride scholarship, actually studies, also good study buddy, Dan's little, plays soccer but maybe on a rec team because he prioritizes school, very sweet guy as well, probably chose a really practical major/dual major, met reader through Dan and are also dragged similar places by him

Antonio: manbun, philosophy or classics major possibly business dual, generally good natured but can be seen supplying his own wine at parties, used to be really into metal but kept the hair, does not know that people find him attractive, soccer boi, met reader through frat and she's the only one who will (pretend) to listen to him rant about philosophy

Alex Albon: another full scholarship guy, somehow gets along with everyone, switched majors due to an asshole professor, electrical engineering or computer engineering, actually studies, helps with frat pets,will show you pictures of his cats at home, sweetie, another contender for will hold your hair or walk you home, probably met reader through a class or club and found they had mutual friends and that reader is friends with his gf

Notable alums:

Checo - dad, successful in finance somehow (he looks like an really successful accountant of CFO to me idk why)

Kimi - dad but people forget he is, holds the record for most drinks in 24 hours that will never be come close to by anyone else, shows up on random alum weekends with 2 kegs, legally cannot tell you what he does or he would actually have to murder you

Valterri - was good at a sport when he was there, now a very effective lead engineer at an architectural firm

Seb - environmental or mechanical engineering, all around good guy with someone the best grades in frat history

Alonso - legendary for sexual exploits (consensual)

Anyone I put as actually studies is probably the type reader would hang around for more serious stuff/schoolwork and would probably be closer to, with the exception of Dan bc I feel like he'd be like we're friends now :)) we shall hang or Charles bc he will just show up. I also imagine she has a pretty good friendship with any existing gf, however if a driver does have a gf and he is the love interest sorry bb girl u gotta go for the purposes of this fic

Sorry this is so long hahaaaaaaa glad you liked my Charles thoughts ilu

i honestly wasn’t going to share this like the rest of the anon asks i’ve gotten that i keep close to my heart but this was just too good to keep to myself.

LOOK! AT! THIS!

f1 drivers as frat bros/college students headcannon

i’m writing a series - each “chapter” will be a smut with a different frat bro and i’m hoping to post a sneak peek this week some time but here’s something to hold you over and give you some ideas

to my vcard anon - i appreciate this so much. my inbox is always open for ur thoughts bc they are SO GOOD !! can’t wait for you to read the first part of the series bby

PS if some of this doesn’t make sense to u feel free to send in asks (i know a lot of this is focused on american college culture so if u don’t get it i’m happy to explain)

#f1 smut asks #headcanons #f1 imagines #vcard anon #f1 blurb #f1 headcanon #f1 as frat bros

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justagirlsearchingforamuse · 4 years ago

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Since you guys enjoyed my male cyberpunk romance options post, I decided to finally get to work on the female/non-binary ones. So first of all, let's start it off with our main girls, Judy and Panam. I plan on doing a part 2 and currently working on the part 2 for the boys.

1st. Judy Alvarez:

I enjoyed her romance quite a bit and love her as a character and I believe since we don't have any lore for her or anything that convinces me otherwise that she should be bi. I think she should be strictly for female/non-binary V with and more feminine features.

I feel that she should've had her own ending and not one that ties into Panam's, one where you decide to leave Night City with her, and or I would've enjoyed it if you could've taken any one of your serious romance options out of town. I feel that an ending with V deciding to call up Judy and there is an option to pack up your things, at least your weapons and clothes and just leave to the next city over. It ends up with you helping Judy and packing up your things in her van, Judy decides to drive and asks you where do you plan on going, you can choose from 3 options.

The first choice you can say anywhere and that you don't care, you just want to live your final moments with Judy. The second choice should be something like Atlanta to see your family and or to wherever Judy used to live in the past. The last choice you can choose to give Judy some money to leave town and say to wait for her in the next town over so it can lead to you choosing whether to go with Hanako's plans or Johnny's. I can imagine the last ending resulting in Judy being seen, arguing years later to keep your stuff when she's selling some of her old things. She ends up fighting to keep the necklace that V is always seen with and she wears it, it ends with Judy entering her van and promising to never forget you.

Also, I believe that she and most of the serious romance options should have at least one quest where you can go on a date with your partner, I believe hers would be you helping her with Clouds. Though it's not much of a date, you insisted on helping her fix things, and you guys spend most of your time trying to protect Clouds from The Tyger Claws who end up trying to attack again. It ends with Judy losing hope in Clouds, almost wanting to give up on the place but you can choose to convince her to keep fighting for Clouds. Or to give up and just sell the place and let all the hard work you guys did go to waste. If you choose the first, it leads to Judy promising to come up with more things and saying how she'll make some calls to some more people. The first choice ends with you both making out and you falling asleep at her place after she orders pizza and watches a few movies with you.

The second choice ends with Judy being hopeless and asking to be alone for the moment, ruining the date almost and putting a small dent in your relationship.

I believe that Judy is pretty well developed for a love interest and as a character, she stands strong on her own and is an interesting character who fits well with V. I enjoy their relationship as I do with most of the relationships which are very adult in the way that V tries not to rush things and doesn't promise their love interests the world. The love interests have their own lives and don't act like a bunch of teens or young adults, trying to make drama out of something small. They respect V, they add more to V and give V another reason to keep fighting, another reason to want to live, to get the damned chip out of their head.

Also, I want more Johnny and Judy interactions in the sense that I want to hear more of his thoughts on Judy and hear how he feels about V and them being together. He doesn't seem to hate her and maybe even would like to see that if you romanced Judy and did the Temperance ending he tells only her or your romance interest that you're gone. Well, he does it vaguely or sends your romance interest an anonymous email, vaguely stating that V is gone and that they disappeared/passed. Judy I feel would react in confusion as well as emotionally, she's nearly crying in the voicemails and is talking about the email or voicemail Johnny sent and is asking where are you.

2nd. Panam Palmer:

I like Panam Palmer as a character and I feel that her quests do explore a lot of the nomad lifestyle, her quests explore more about the people of the nomad lifestyle. I feel that she should've been bi and I was hoping that she and Evelyn were the 2 bi options because literally in my first playthrough was worried I was gonna romance her. Cause she was flirting a lot from what I saw and thought that you'd be able to romance her during the sandstorm. I feel she should've been bisexual or pansexual along with Evelyn.

I feel she should be able to be easily romanced by male/non-binary V with a more masculine appearance and she should've been a little harder to get with by a female V/non-binary V with a more feminine appearance. Also, is it just me but I wasn't a big fan of her sex scene, imo I feel they should've changed the sex scene to possibly happening during the sandstorm or after V confesses to dying. Or even them making out in the big ass tower before being interrupted by Saul. Also, wouldn't have minded learning more about Panam in terms of hobbies, like I would've loved it if she was a singer or was a decent guitar player. I also would've enjoyed scenes where we actually just chill with the Aldecaldos and like chill by the campfire or help out with some of their everyday problems, etc.

I like her but I didn't feel a seriously deep connection to her like I did with the other 3 romance options, I wish they added more depth to her and more of a serious tone to her. I do like the more serious tone towards the end and how her path explored being a nomad, what it means to have family, etc.

I do wish everyone in terms of romances had as many quests, depth, and just effort put into but her path is decent just not my favorite personally.

I feel she and Evelyn should've been the main bi options, she should've been easier to get with a male' V but also should've been able to date fem' V. The paths should've been similar or even show Panam having fem' V be her first-ever official girlfriend, show a new side to Panam with fem' V. I would've seeing Panam being a little shy and or a bit reserved around fem' V, I would've enjoyed seeing her hesitate a bit first before having her first kiss with V. I would've also enjoyed love scenes for bi characters being kinda different in the sense that I would've enjoyed Panam and male' V's love scenes to be raw, a bit filthy, and Panam is not holding back. Maybe it's just me but I disliked her love scene with all the green and all the switching really turned me off tbh. I would imagine Panam and fem' V have a love scene either being in a tent or during a quest in which fem' V and her share some beers, look at the stars, and relax.

Her love scene with fem' V would show a more gentle, natural, and aesthetic kind of scene, a lot of kissing, Panam going down on you, you kissing/nibbling on Panam's ear whilst you slip your hand in between her legs. It ending with Panam's arm wrapped around you and you wake up to the morning sun above you.

I feel another quest she should've had was you and V (Doesn't matter what gender) could've gone out on a road trip all around the badlands and you guys just have a good time together. Blasting music and making fun of each other's music, drinking beers, turning up to some music, and you both kissing in the backseat much to Johnny's annoyance.

3rd. Evelyn Parker:

So I feel she should've been the main female bi romance option and she should've held a much bigger part in the story, becoming either a replacement for T-Bug if she dies in your playthrough or just finding out about her. She at first could be bitter towards you considering how you treated her in the beginning or she can come off as distant and wanting nothing to do with you at first. She wants to run from you and talks about leaving Night City with Judy, how she needs a fresh start. Similar to Judy, she stays because of how close she's grown to you, because of how it's hard to leave you to your inevitable death all alone, she finds it hard to leave you after I'd say her first 3 or 4 quests. She'd be one of the mysterious and harder romances to get, considering that at first, V thinks Evelyn wants someone who can help her and help her solve her problems. But in reality, she wants someone who will have her back, someone she can trust, someone who will make her life worth living.

I'd imagine she'd have about 3 to 5 quests and 2 of those quests lead to a romance, her quests would be about finding The Woodsman, getting rid of him, taking care of T-Bug, etc. I'd imagine that her romance starts in her second or third quest, she doesn't quite trust you yet but she's finding herself falling you all the time.

One of her missions would probably be her either taking you out to a really expensive bar or something where it ends with a love scene that progresses to the car if you're male' V. But if you're fem' V I feel the love scene would progress to her apartment, Evelyn pegs me as being kinda kinky but nothing like Meredith who broke the kinky scale. I'd imagine in the love scene with fem' V she'd be choking you a little bit, caressing your face and she's in control this time, you eat her out, she fingers you right before you come before fucking you from behind with her fingers. She's also making you suck on her fingers. It ends with fem' V waking up to Evelyn rushing out of the door, saying she has business to take care of and that she enjoyed last night and would later text you asking to meet up at her apartment. She asks if you want something serious and you can choose what you want your relationship to be, if you choose something more serious she ends up giving you a key to her apartment.

Male' V love scene would have Evelyn being more submissive but more like a power bottom, she gives male V' oral which leads to you fucking in the backseat of her car in the missionary position. Leads to her riding you until you both come. She'd be pulling on your hair, she'd grab your hand and make you choke her for a little bit, she's kissing on your neck a lot, etc. It'd end with Evelyn lighting up a cigarette and asking if you'd take her home, you take her home and it ends with you kissing her before she goes home and asks you to call her in the morning. This leads to her calling to ask you if you want something more serious or something less than serious with the first option ending up with you getting a key to her apartment.

She'd play a decent role in the game, actively working towards getting the chip out and getting things back to the way they were. I imagine in one of the endings specifically The Temperance ending, she'd be one of the few to know that Johnny took over and it ends with her begging Johnny to give her a response, to tell her something. I'd imagine Johnny is fine with her at least after a while but at first, he's not gonna be too nice to her.

4th. Meredith Stout:

She could remain simply a one-night stand but what I would enjoy is being able to initiate either phone sex or be able to meet up with these one night stands again. But she also could have a few more quests, maybe some that revolve around her missions she can't get done without you and it leads to V wanting to romance her and wanting something more serious. Call me a bitch but I personally can't see Meredith wanting or feeling as though a relationship would be right at this point in her life. To me, Meredith from our first interactions come off as kinda manipulative and a bit unhinged when things don't go her way, maybe V helps kick her entitled and stuck up habits. Makes her realize how she sees people who don't have as much as beneath her is a terrible way to see people and a terrible way to think.

Or you could just screw around with her and help each other with whatever missions and shit like I'd imagine that she'd be apart of the endings or plays a similar role to Alt being able to help you take down Arasaka. I'd imagine if you romanced her or made a big impact on her she'll agree but if you are just fuck-buddies and or haven't completed all of her quests then she'll hang up or say she can't. If you do she manages to get militech and what not to help as reinforcements to help you in some way so you can get to Mikoshi in one piece or at least help you most of the way. But the endings still are the same but in the credits, she talks about how she hasn't heard from you and how she just wants to know if she's alive. She says she respects if you just want to be gone off the face of the earth.

Sorry Meredith stans but I can't see her being too serious with you if so then she's gonna spend time bettering herself before she delves into a serious relationship with you. But I'd imagine if you did have an impact on her, in The Sun ending/Path Of Glory she'll be in your bed and she'll be a bit kinder towards you and you'll have relationship problems.

5th. Misty Olszewski:

I love her as a character and how sweet she is, I feel that she could've had a deeper relationship with V, and them becoming best friends could've also been a good thing. She gives me pansexual vibes very much and will be willing to date all V's just treat her with love and respect. But I do feel that if you were able to romance her, the relationship would happen almost like a one night stand or something, maybe you both get drunk and sex happens. I feel Misty would feel as though she's betraying Jackie and being with you, which makes things complicated and weird. If anything I feel she'd be included in DLC as a more serious romance option, any DLC where Misty has time to process Jackie's death and has time to grieve. Any DLC that is later on or caters to an ending such as maybe the Nomad ending or The Sun ending perhaps.

First of all, she'd have like 3 or 4 quests where you just try and grieve with each other and or just be good friends, I'd imagine that one of the quests would be you suggesting teaching her how to swim or something because something tells me she wouldn't know how. Misty comes off as shy but open to try it if you give her enough encouragement and make her feel like things will be fine. You both go hang out somewhere out of town and end up going swimming and you teach her, but maybe something happens similar to Judy with the relic where you end up fainting or passing out. She ends up saving you miraculously and expresses how she feels like she's losing you and how she feels you're withering away from Night City. It results in Misty taking you back to your apartment, insisting you rest and try and get some sleep but you can insist on her staying and if she does, she ends up sleeping in bed with you and a kiss happens. She ends up pushing you away or the night after and saying how it's not fair to Jackie. How she enjoys your company but things feel better with you guys being friends, insisting that it was wrong to have a romantic relationship just sometime after Jackie passed.

I imagine things with her can end up being weird and awkward for a little bit afterward but she remains your good friend and she genuinely worries for you a lot, she won't play too big of a role in the game. But would play a similar role to Judy, I'd imagine that if you didn't romance anyone but her or if you romanced Judy, you'd be able to pick her to take along with you in the Nomad ending.

She'd be apart of the small list of romance options/good friends you'd be able to take with you in the Nomad ending.

She's really sweet though and you learn about her insecurities, learn more about her relationship with Jackie and how he planned on teaching her how to swim, he planned on getting her a beagle or finding her a dog. You learn a lot about Jackie and her and she's a really good friend of yours who wants to take things slow and make sure things are great when you start a more serious romantic relationship.

6th. Claire Russell:

She should've been a romance option or at the very least a ons, she might be straight but I'd say she gives off strong bi or pansexual vibes, she'd date any kind of V regardless of gender. I'd imagine that sometime after you murder the corpo cunt who killed her husband, she calls you up asking for a drink or asks you to meet up at her garage. She expresses how she thought she'd feel better after hearing he's dead but she feels the same, you both get a bit drunk and talk about past relationships and struggles. You both end up dancing to some music and it leads to you both slow dancing and if you play your cards right then you'll end up being able to kiss her. Claire and you both end up on the couch in her living room and you both have a grand time, I imagine she kisses you a lot, gives you plenty of praise in between sex, and she gave you some oral.

Afterward, I can imagine she wants to be with you but she needs a little more time to just enjoy being alone, dealing with Dean's death and such. Also, she talks about cars a lot and you can find her at her garage fixing up Beast and you can talk with her about fixing up your cars and anything like that. She doesn't play a huge role but she'll call you and you can call her before the final mission, similar to River you don't tell her what's up and you tell her how you'll always be her biggest fan. How you want her to keep racing and keep living her best life, she gets a little suspicious but can't put her finger on why you're saying all this. In the credits, she keeps saying how you won't answer and how she just wants to get a text or something, saying how you disappeared and how she really wants to see you.

Also, she gives me very much into working out and homegirl stopped working out a while ago because she had little to no motivation to do so. But when meeting you, she'll text you pics of her at the gym, her muscles, and saying how she has better muscles so she can cuddle you better.

I'd imagine that she'd be apart of The Sun ending and you both have a decent relationship with her, she expresses how she'd follow you anywhere and to let her know if things are wrong.

In the suicide ending, just as she's calling to find out what happened to you she gets a knock at the door and drops the phone, you can hear Misty and Viktor tell Claire of your death and it ends with her breaking down in tears before she pitches her phone at the wall.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #cyberpunk claire russell #cp2077 #claire russell #misty olszewski #evelyn parker #judy alvarez #panam palmer #meredith stout

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 3 years ago

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Outlanders: How Jinjer survived a revolution and built their own world

Jinjer’s resilient spirit was forged in the civil war that erupted their native Ukraine in 2014. As the groove metal quartet prepare to unleash their fourth and most complex album to date, singer Tatiana Shmayluk relives the turmoil that shaped them. Cue: one of modern music’s most remarkable tales of survival, resistance and sheer determination…

It was when the first fighter jet flew overhead that Tatiana Shmayluk realised she had to run.

For the past few months, the mood in Ukraine had been growing increasingly tense. As a former USSR state, in spring 2014 the country had only had independence from Russia since 1991. Many citizens had wanted then-President Viktor Yanukovych to sign an agreement aligning the country closer with the European Union in November 2013. Plenty of others wanted to stay close to Russia. Protests began across the country. Then violence. Then Yanukovych was ousted from office in February 2014. Then more violence.

“There was a revolution,” says Tatiana. “There were huge riots in the main square of Kiev. In the end, our president, his ass was kicked out and he left the country. That was crazy. And then everything turned into chaos. And that’s when people really started hating each other.”

That April, following a highly suspect vote on whether to stay or go which resulted in a widely disputed declaration of autonomy for the region around Tatiana’s home-city of Donetsk in the east of the country, on the border with Russia, armed conflict commenced, involving Russian troops, tanks and air power. So began what Tatiana calls “a civil war – Ukrainians attacking Ukrainians”, with those loyal to their former Soviet masters on one side, and those wanting to break free, and have independence and closer ties with the EU on the other.

You may remember news footage of protesters banging dustbin lids at lines of soldiers and riot police. The politics of the situation are obviously layered and complex, but the simple version is: imagine a turbo version of Brexit that actually tore the country in two and resulted in one region declaring an independence that’s somewhat disputed by most of the world that isn’t Russia. And with a lot more violence. And a conflict that’s still piling up bodies now.

Tatiana was having a barbecue when she realised what was about to happen. “We were at a picnic, not far away from my building where I lived,” she says today from her flat in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. “We were just chilling on the grass, eating food and stuff. And we heard this loud sound in the sky – we looked up and saw a jet. And that was that. We just grabbed our stuff and ran home, and we started figuring out how to leave before it was too late.”

Had Tatiana and her friends – including other members of her band, Jinjer – waited much longer than they did, their passage to Lviv some 1,300 kilometres to the west, where bassist Eugene Abdukhanov and his wife were already living, might have been much more hazardous. Even as they “packed all our shit into a van” and made a break for it, the country was starting to change shape around them.

“Already there were borders built being built around our region,” she says. “And I remember when we were crossing it, we were met by a guy, a soldier with a weapon. And then we heard [machine gun fire] somewhere very close to us.”

As she describes this, Tatiana makes an almost amusing machine gun noise, but she is painfully aware that even seven years on, the situation remains a serious one. “There’s no way out for this problem,” she says, “No solution. And that’s really, really sad.” If one needed an example of the lasting effects here, her parents have remained behind in what she calls, with almost mundane succinctness, “the war zone”.

“There’s an actual border between Ukraine and the former parts of the country, and it’s all blocked. And due to the pandemic, they have no chance to cross borders,” she explains. “They cannot receive money from the government, their pensions. I always tell my mom, ‘Hey, mom, just try once to do this, make really big effort and cross this border, even [if you have to go] through Russia. Just come here and stay here. I can help you in any way possible.’ But she is old school. And when you have been living on this earth for over 60 years, it’s really hard to change your way of living.”

But that’s what Tatiana and Jinjer have had to do. And growing from such trying circumstances has only made them more rigid in their resolve. Because literally having to run for your life will have an effect on a person. “Growing balls, maintaining your balls,” is how she puts it.

“Of course, it makes you stronger,” she says. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Today, Tatiana has lived in Kiev for more than five years. As Jinjer’s singer, she is one of the rising stars of European metal, and made her living visiting countries as far-flung as Argentina, Australia and Japan to play her band’s music. Next week, the band release their fourth album, Wallflowers, a furious, razor-sharp work of metal that will delight fans of Cradle Of Filth and Conjurer alike, and will add nicely to streams that, in total, already sit at over 100 million.

Though she says that she’s only been recognised around town a handful of times, and that she probably gets noticed more for the tattoos that cover her arms and neck (“Old women who were born in the Soviet Union really reject people with tattoos,” she says. “They look at you like you’re a prisoner, or a prostitute…”) than for her music, at 34 life for Tatiana is very different to what she knew growing up. As a kid in the early ’90s, after the collapse of the USSR, her family were, she says, “average”, but there were clues that the Shmayluk family were not one of society’s ‘haves’.

“I remember that we couldn’t afford meat,” she recalls. “After the Cold War ended we got a lot of American food, like veggie burgers. It looked like oatmeal with brown [fake] chicken that you make into patties, and then you fry them. You eat them as kind of meat, but it’s not. It’s just some shit, like some very plastic stuff. I realised how poor we were. And I was crying, ‘Mom, I just want some meat. I don’t want to eat this.’”

Elsewhere, though, Tatiana remembers her childhood as being “great”, a time she looks back on with fondness. “We didn’t have internet and stuff, so we just played outside all day long. And school was awesome.” The food imports post-Cold War might not have been the most brilliant thing she had ever seen, but the new order also brought with it more western culture. MTV introduced six-year-old Tatiana to hip-hop (“I’d practice dancing like MC Hammer”), but via going through her brother’s room and raiding his tape collection – often bootlegs – she also got turned on to Nirvana, Metallica and The Offspring.

“We had this family tradition that every evening we had supper together around the same table,” she remembers. “When I discovered The Offspring, I put Smash on my huge headphones. I was sitting in a chair, eating, and I wasn’t talking to anyone from my family, just listening to music. And then when I finished, I just sat back and just enjoyed the music, doing nothing.”

Her ability to both lose and find herself in music turned into doing something more significant at high school when, after years spent doodling herself playing guitar in a band with other girls in a sketchbook, Tatiana performed her first gig as part of a talent contest, doing covers of songs by Limp Bizkit and German metallers Guano Apes (“No-one voted for us,” she laughs). Her first gig as an audience member, meanwhile, came a few years later, when Soulfly played in Kiev. Despite the fact she didn’t actually get to see Max Cavalera and his band onstage, it was an experience in itself.

“I traveled from Donetsk to Kiev, like, 700 – 800 kilometres,” she says. “My parents were very protective, they didn’t want me going anywhere on road trips or anything, and they didn’t give me any money to spend. I only got to watch maybe 30 minutes of the show, because my boyfriend got drunk and started a fight with someone. Security grabbed him and threw him out of the club. It was quite a shitty day!”

In 2010, aged 23, having completed language studies at university, and working briefly at a dating agency, Tatiana joined Jinjer. Two years later, they self-released their debut EP, Inhale, Don’t Breathe. A year after that, they played outside Ukraine for the first time, in neighbouring Romania. “That gave us a push to move forward, because we really liked it,” she says. “And although we didn’t bring any money back – we didn’t earn anything – we realised that we want to do this, and we’re going to overcome any obstacle that is waiting for us.”

Eight months later, this would be put to the test by fleeing the war. Having moved to Lviv, Jinjer – Tatiana, Eugene, guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov and then-drummer Yevhen Mantulin – then all moved into what the singer describes as “a summer house” just outside the city. Soon, the band became a full-time concern. They still had nothing, but it was a more fun nothing.

“We were all just hoping for the best, touring just with money that we had, earning nothing, like one euro,” she says. “Sometimes we didn’t have anything to eat, basically, because we were broke, because everyone had just quit their jobs. We just had some coins to buy a beer. That was intense. But I remember those years only with a warm heart. That was fun. That was a really huge challenge for just people who had never done that before, but we happened to overcome all this shit because we stayed together.”

But as touring became a more regular thing and things for Jinjer seemed to be on the up and up, the band once again found themselves faced with bad luck that most will, mercifully, never know. On tour in 2014, they had a long drive to Russia for the next run of shows. Stopping at a friend’s house in Kiev for the night, Tatiana took a taxi back to her own place, leaving everyone else to continue partying and drinking. At 4am, she got a phone call about Yevhen.

“They said, ‘You have to come here because he’s broken his spine,’” she recalls. “He fell out of the window. Everyone [had gone] to sleep, and he stayed there in the kitchen, sitting on the window frame, smoking. And then he fell asleep, and fell from the third floor. They heard someone screaming in the middle of the night, but they didn’t realise – they thought that it was maybe a dog or something. And then someone checked the kitchen and he was not there. Then they looked down and saw him just lying there.”

By some miracle, he survived, though he no longer has use of his legs. Tatiana says she and his bandmates were “in shock for many years”, and that, “I remember we were all around him, toured with him, just hanging out, and then he’s just like… bam.” But even this incident, which left him in a wheelchair and unable to return to the band, is talked about in the same spirited, fighty way that Tatiana talks about every challenge.

“He seems very positive,” she says. “He’s doing music and he tours around Russia with a band. It’s kind of a hip-hop band, and he plays guitar. He’s still doing tours, so that’s awesome.”

Should you ask Tatiana to describe to you the Ukrainian national character, she’ll tell you that they are “stubborn”, and that as a whole they feel “we have nothing to lose”. She’ll also tell you that, “Ukrainians are very passionate people. Not like Italians [are passionate], for example, or Spanish people. We are passionate with a straight face, you know, not smiling – more like Russians.” When it comes to danger, meanwhile, she says that “we take risks easily”.

Surprisingly, despite the above description matching the impression you get of Tatiana from her story, she doesn’t think of herself as “a typical Ukrainian”. She does, though, nod in confirmation when asked if she sees playing music as a form of resistance. Before any of the bigger events and challenges, this spirited defiance started with becoming a musician at all, at home.

“The first time I resisted something that really prevented me from doing what I love was my parents,” she says. “Mostly my mom, who didn’t want to see me as a musician. In Ukraine, it’s kind of a big thing. If you’re a musician, it’s not respected. From 17 to 23, I was protesting [her], silently. I didn’t, like, yell at her; I didn’t fight with her. I just said, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and I did my own thing. That’s when it started, and it’s still going this way.”

An example: on Wallflowers, there’s a song, Disclosure, in which Tatiana vents about treatment at the hands of certain media outlets in her homeland. Even being used to internet haters, giving the band shit for everything from daring to escape a warzone, to daring to have a female member, to daring to become successful, the experience left her boiling.

“Earlier this year, in March, me and Eugene went to some studio to do an interview with a Ukrainian guy who is a YouTuber, and he used to work on Ukrainian TV channels,” she says. “So there was a tense atmosphere, and very angry vibrations between us. And he was so manipulative. We had differences in our political views and stuff, and he didn’t want to accept that. So he really wanted to show us in a very bad, bad way. I was pissed off for three days after that, and wrote the song about it.”

As people with a profile, do you think you’re a target for that sort of thing?

“We absolutely are targets for those people, for haters,” Tatiana says. “They hate us for different reasons: for me being a woman, you know. And people think that we pay for [success], like with our money – some of them think that we are hugely rich. My mom is a bookkeeper! My dad worked in coal mining, he was a worker, just working class. But no-one cares. They always find something to blame us for. But at least they don’t do us any harm. Only with words and comments. It’s distant. They’re poison, but it goes nowhere.”

Tatiana Shmayluk is a self-evidently tough woman. She’s also extremely nice. Equally, she’s extremely modest. When she talks about her life’s trials and triumphs, survival and successes, she does so in a manner that almost shrugs these things off, that possibly anyone could do them. Possibly, if pushed by the sight of a war literally kicking off while you have a barbecue, we could. But it’s still surprising that, for someone with more real things to get angry about than most, she describes what she’s putting into Wallflower as simply “my whining and insecurities”.

“Every album, I find something to be angry about,” she says. “It’s pessimistic, but it’s nothing to do with the pandemic. The pandemic gave me some time to just sit and think about, different stuff that I’ve been going through. And we have to agree that the whole world isn’t getting any better – I put myself into this kind of state of mind that, ‘Okay, it’s almost the end of the world.’ Maybe the next album will be more optimistic and more positive. Maybe…”

Pessimism or not, none of it makes her story of prevailing against the things she has any less stirring. Never mind the fact that the band she fronts come from a country most tours don’t even stop at. She’s – rightfully – proud of Jinjer’s success, and the work ethic it’s taken to get them where they are, but she’s almost at pains to share the glory with her bandmates. And in part, it’s this that’s carried Jinjer through all this the most. It’s this, she says, that’s helped her both survive, and to thrive.

“I would never do this myself. I wouldn’t be able to work on so many obstacles just by myself,” Tatiana admits. “And if I had some type of my own personal career, just a single singer, I wouldn’t even start doing that. I really need those guys. And the guys, I hope they need me. That’s just how it works: all together. Even having nothing in our pockets and empty stomachs, we could work.

“It just depends on how big your dream is.”

#tatiana shmaylyuk #jinjer #2021 interviews

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renegadewangs · 3 years ago

Text

Van Zieks - the Examination, part 5

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

It’s time to return to the first game for case 5, The Unspeakable Story!

Episode 5: The Unspeakable Story – Part 1

Prepare yourselves, this is a big one! So big, even, that I'm going to have to split it into two parts. Fortunately, we can skip over the entire Investigation segment, because virtually none of it is relevant to Van Zieks. In fact, we don't even learn Van Zieks is the prosecutor until we enter the courtroom and see him standing there. Somehow, no one thought to ask who Ryu would be facing. What we do learn during the Investigation is confirmation that McGilded was indeed a lying scumbag who murdered Thrice-fired Mason. He asked Gina to lie for him in a court of law, too. So indeed, Ryu backed the wrong horse in The Runaway Room and Van Zieks was right to suspect the defense of deceit. He was wrong in how he worded half his arguments, though.

An extra thing worth noting is that after the conversation in which the blood is found on Gina's coat and the truth of McGilded comes out, it's revealed that Gregson was hiding nearby in the shadows. He insists he didn't eavesdrop and only just walked in, but it's implied much later in the trial that he knew about the blood on the coat. This means that Gregson is, from this point on, holding the full knowledge that McGilded was McGuilty in the omnibus murder.

So into the courtroom we go, where it is shown we're facing Van Zieks. (And nobody is surprised, because who else would it have been? Auchi?) It is now two months after the Runaway Room and the two Clouded Kokoro cases, so immediately upon starting the trial, the judge basically asks Van Zieks whether he's gone insane- in his own words, that is. First he asks how many years it's been since Van Zieks retired, to which Van Zieks replies that it's been five. The judge notes that Van Zieks resurfaced rather suddenly two months ago, (then basically handled three cases in a single week,) and showed up again today.

HAH. I love how on the nose this judge is when it comes to dissing the prosecution. He goes on to state that Van Zieks used to deal exclusively in matters concerned with 'the highest echelons of society and government', yet today he's trying 'a simple case of burglary and murder'. We already learned this from Gregson in case 1-4, but it's nice to have it repeated again.

Van Zieks replies that there's two things he cannot abide: “Wealthy scoundrels who hide behind a mask of philanthropy-” (hi McGilded!) and... “Secondly- even more loathsome... Those wily scoundrels who masquerade as allies only to effect total betrayal in the final hour.”

So that settles it then. He's specifically taken on his three most recent cases because there were Japanese people involved. He's also outright admitting that which Ryu had already guessed: Van Zieks hates Japanese people and going by his wording (“betrayal”, etc.) he has some bad experiences. Ryu wonders whether that 'torrid look of hatred' in Van Zieks's eyes is directed at him or at all Japanese people. Frankly, I think that in a subconscious sense, it's neither. The way I see it, that torrid look of hatred is directed at a man who died ten years ago. But I'll get back to this when it's time to address the backstory. The judge finds that an “alarmingly scathing explanation”, but welcomes the Reaper of the Bailey back to court all the same.

I love the implication that Van Zieks can apparently just come and go as he pleases in terms of prosecuting. Retirement can just be upturned on a whim and he's allowed to choose any case he wants. Who even is keeping him informed on which cases are happening and who the defense is? Is there a Chief Prosecutor in play we don't know about or is Stronghart slipping notes into his letterbox? Or has Van Zieks been entering the prosecutor's office every day for the past two months, demanding to hear news of 'that Nipponese attorney'?

So anyway, Van Zieks lays out the opening statement, pours himself a glass of wine, accuses Ryu of jumping to conclusions and reveals that he has witnesses. Remember when he threw aside his cloak halfway into 1-3 and it was seen as a big deal? … Yeah. It's not much anymore, now. He gets rid of it before the first witnesses have even taken the stand. The guys called forth are literal criminals who happened to break into the scene of the crime and, according to Van Zieks, “will face trial in the very near future” for their “various trespasses”. Alright, so he's acknowledging he's called forth some sketchy witnesses, but considers the murder itself far more sinister than their burglary.

Ryu manages to prove the taller Skulkin brother fired a gun at the crime scene and in doing so, struck poor innocent (S)Holmes. (Ryu presents a picture of a blood-stained calendar with a bullet in it to prove this, yet ten minutes later, he'll present the exact same picture and the entire court will act as if they'd never seen it before. Awkwaaard.) Van Zieks pours himself another glass of wine, toasts to Ryu's incompetence and later has another micro-aggression:

Scumbag points! And also possibly hilarious foreshadowing if he's referring to either Asogi Sr. or Mikotoba here. Though it's hard to say how well acquainted Van Zieks was with (S)Holmes and his partner roughly 16 to 10 years ago. Anyway, Van Zieks flings another chalice and basically admits that he already knew these two criminals gunned down (S)Holmes, but made a deal with them not to get into that. Though technically, Ryu was the one who got into it by proving it in court, so Van Zieks didn't break any unscrupulous deals. And maybe he was even expecting Ryu to do so? Maybe that's why he was pushing Ryu to present evidence? Either way, Van Zieks now owes 'his Nipponese friend' a word of gratitude, since he helpfully confirmed the two brothers couldn't possibly have shot the victim. Only one bullet was fired from their pistol, after all, and if it hit (S)Holmes it couldn't possibly have killed Windibank.

Van Zieks proceeds to “take a moment to consider the aforementioned Great Detective, Mr. Sholmes” (KEEP THIS LINE IN MIND), and brings up the security cameras (S)Holmes planted at the pawnshop so that he can present a picture of the defendant waving a pistol at the victim. Why didn't he present this evidence immediately instead of asking two shady burglars to testify? Who even knows, man. He's being erratic, just as the judge said. The jurors have seen enough and vote guilty, so it's time for a Summation Examination! Van Zieks poured himself another glass of wine before Ryu even asserted his right to that, because he knew it was coming. He has to stand in silence and so he will drink.

(Juror No 1, aka Mr. Garrideb, proceeds to piss me off by oggling the maid juror. I thought the whole point of this character was that his wife misunderstood and jumped to conclusions; that she's been punishing him wrongfully since he does indeed love her and will stand by her side no matter what, but apparently not.) Some tomfoolery later, we require the prosecution's help to prove stereoscopes are just as cool as wireless telegraphy.

I honestly think it's hilarious that he's meant to stay silent but has broken that rule several times, so now we're taunting him by asking him a direct question during the Examination. So after it's been proven the two criminals moved some stuff around inside the pawnshop, four jurors vote not-guilty and the trial continues. The two witnesses get called back to the stand and---

… Okay. So he definitely is against perjury. He seems to hate it, even. He apparently keeps giving them the evil eye as they testify, intimidating Ringo into telling the truth. But I just can't shake the memory of him feeding a lie to Shamspeare in Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro. Also, the game very much caught me off guard during this testimony when I presented a piece of evidence which wasn't correct, but instead of leading to a penalty led me to a unique set of dialogue not found when presenting other wrong evidence. That is to say, I presented a picture of Gina holding the sole gun to disprove the testimony that both she and Windibank were wielding guns, which led to:

Isn't that what we often do in these games? Van Zieks clearly hasn't been paying attention. Anyway, the judge points out that so long as I couldn't prove that Gina was still holding the only gun some time later, when Windibank was shot, the evidence wasn't relevant. So I had to present the picture of Windibank's body (not holding a gun) instead. Ryu manages to point out through that picture that the Skulkin brothers were lying and-

OKAY OKAY. I GET IT. Van Zieks hates perjury with a burning passion and Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro messed up. The trial continues on to the point where Ryu manages to suggest that the Skulkin brothers shot Windibank and Gina then locked the door to save herself. At first Van Zieks is shocked at the notion, but after Ryu details his logic, he just puts his hands down on the desk and chuckles.

This is the first time we see something close to laughter from him, and it's not even really laughter. It's just a malicious, bitter little noise. In fact, we've never seen him smile. He's not even smiling now, as he cackles. That's a stark contrast from other prosecutors, who all smile/smirk as they gloat. Barok's facial expression barely changes at all. Are they building up to something? Anyway, the judge wonders why Van Zieks finds this amusing, as he found the argument quite persuasive himself. Van Zieks pours himself another glass of wine and says:

“But such blatantly malicious conjuring tricks amount to nothing more than inexcusable pettifoggery here. Because you see, it contains a fatal flaw!”

Scumbag points! He then proceeds to imply all the members of the jury are too dimwitted to count (as he flings his chalice). Bullets, that is. There were two bullets found at the crime scene and there were two guns recovered, each having fired one bullet. So if the Skulkin brothers had shot (S)Holmes, they couldn't possibly have shot Windibank as well.

Bye wine bottle, rip person sitting behind him. Van Zieks proceeds to slander Gina for being “far from a law-abiding citizen” and having “a past riddled with criminal misconduct”. To further illustrate his point, he presents a piece of evidence that the defendant attempted to steal the day beforehand, not with the subtlety of a pickpocket but by brute force and brazen impudence. Gregson loses it at this point, shouting out a loud “Hold it!” before losing his nerve and stammering his way through his protest. He mentions that there was a meeting with the prosecution service where it was agreed that piece of evidence wouldn't be used. Ryu is baffled and thinks this:

And now I'm baffled as well, because thinking back on it... Yes, Gregson has talked about Van Zieks before in Investigation segments and has been called in to testify, but as far as I can recall, he hasn't ever addressed Van Zieks directly. Fascinating stuff. Van Zieks says he's unaware of this meeting- probably because he found out Ryu's defending later on and snatched this case up at the last second. Perhaps even took it from the originally-assigned prosecutor with brute force and brazen impudence. Gregson insists that 'the government bigwigs' were very insistent about not using the disc as evidence, to which Van Zieks says:

Good gracious, Van Zieks is a loose cannon! … Or wait, maybe he's a reckless renegade? Or is he perhaps a prosecutor on the edge with nothing to lose? (Alright, put on a pot of coffee- we're gonna get to the bottom of this!) ...Either way, the prosecution thinks it's sufficiently made its case by establishing motive, opportunity and baseness of character.

OY! I thought you don't read third-rate detective stories! But Iris specifically wrote that line into existence, so he must have. Me thinks we've got a closet Adventures of (S)Herlock (S)Holmes fan on our hands, here. The jury buys into his slander, votes guilty, Iris accuses him of being mean and Ryu enters Summation Examination mode a second time.

Oh he knows what he's in for. He knows. Several minutes of talking about bullets later, the topic of (S)Holmes's waist pouch is brought up and Iris wonders whether perhaps the bullet hit one of the glass vials with flammable content. Van Zieks suddenly speaks up with an ��If I may...”, catching the startled attention of Ryu in particular.

“I should inform the defence that I have the pouch in question in the antechamber outside the courtroom. As I understand it, when the police arrived on the scene and found Mr Sholmes injured, they removed the pouch in order to assess the wound. Since then, it has been in my safekeeping along with all other evidence relating to the case. I can personally vouch for the fact that it has not been touched since the incident occurred.”

This whole plotline cracks me up with how little sense it makes, considering the position of this pouch on (S)Holmes's outfit. But I'm not here to criticize plot-convenience of evidence, so let's move on and look at what's actually happening here. The defense is discussing possibilities with the jurors in hopes of changing their minds towards a not-guilty and instead of keeping silent, as he's supposed to during this moment, Van Zieks actively speaks up to admit he has a piece of evidence which may be of assistance. It's entirely possible that the pouch would have all three vials intact and thereby dismiss the theory that the bullet hit one of them, but... Regardless of whether he remembers seeing a broken vial with his own eyes, he's taking a risk by showing the pouch. He could've played by the Summation Examination rules, kept his mouth shut and then later when it comes out he had the pouch all along, just remind everyone he wasn't allowed to speak. That's what most prosecutors would've done. Naturally, it's revealed there was indeed a broken vial and some scorched leather, and even closer examination reveals a third bullet we can present to the jurors.

Scumbag point! So with all the confusion on the third bullet and the implication of there being a third gun, the judge does something pretty extraordinary. He doesn't wait for the jurors to change their leaning and instead actually suspends the Summation Examination until the matter is cleared up. This implies any judge has the power to overrule juror leanings, at the very least during Summation Examination, when they feel the case presented by the counsels is lacking important details. Anyway, closing argument on hold for now and the Skulkins return to the stand. Barok looks them straight in the eyes with his usual evil eye and asks them whether the third gun is one of theirs. When that's denied, he asks whether they had an accomplice, which is also denied. And it's kind of funny, because only a few minutes later when Ryu implies they had an accomplice, we get this line:

“Yet in all that time, there has been not a murmur of a third man. If this apparently wraithlike being exists...” pause for chalice crush... “The court must be shown hard evidence!”

But Van Zieks was the one who questioned the Skulkins about an accomplice earlier, so... Indeed, we don't have evidence, but the murmur was definitely already there. So now the prosecution wants two things: evidence there was a third person on the scene and their identity. The game prompts two options: Either present an answer to the prosecution's demands or, y'know, don't. Naturally I chose the latter option to see what happens and it goes about as well as you'd expect. Ryu stutters and trails off, Van Zieks notes the defense is unable to complete a sentence, let alone provide credible answers... Iris takes the place of Susato in telling Ryu off for faltering, so Ryu desperately tries to catch himself and push his argument. Van Zieks says: “So, my Nipponese friend, despite the swimming eyes you seem to think you have something to say...”

PENALTY FROM THE PROSECUTION, oh how I've missed you. Loading up the savegame and choosing the first option actually also leads to the exact same line of “so, my Nipponese friend, despite the swimming eyes you seem to think you have something to say...”, just with a slightly different posture and followed up with the words “this promises to be interesting.” Ryu presents the blood sample on the calendar once more and as I said before, the court acts as if they've never seen this picture before. Hilarious. Van Zieks asks why the blood is depicted as green and Ryu explains it's because of a new chemical (S)Holmes invented. The green blood is then linked to Eggert Benedict through the music disc. The court gets very excited, but much like the skin prints in case 2-2, this isn't admissible evidence. Van Zieks says “this has gone on long enough now. This flagrant ignorance of the mechanics of law.”

“The protagonist in a series of short stories for the vulgar classes. A god of detection or some such. And now you employ chemical substances devised by this fantastical persona in the highest court in the land? Do you expect us to take you seriously? The samples made by this plaything are not fit to be called evidence.”

These lines! I had a quick look at both Scarlet Study's and Taisa's scripts, and there Van Zieks outright accuses (S)Holmes of being a fictional character. He doesn't actually diss the stories themselves though, nor is there anything similar to that plaything line. He only says the chemical itself is 'rubbish'. What ultimately kills me is the “Yes, I’ve heard the name” as if this is the first time it’s being uttered in the courtroom. Let's be merciful here and take case 2-2 out of the equation. Yes, (S)Holmes is mentioned several times there, they establish the two have some sort of history and he even enters the courtroom at one point to address Van Zieks directly, but that case was developed after this one so accidental retcon is bound to happen. No, let's look solely at the cases in the first game. (S)Holmes has been mentioned several times throughout the course of this trial, even by Van Zieks himself. Even better, Van Zieks was the one to present photographs taken by one of (S)Holmes's playthings earlier on. OOPS.

Ryu enters despair mode because there really is no way to prove that the color green is unique to Eggert Benedict, nor would it be accepted as evidence to begin with. But that's okay, because much like the skin prints in 2-2, it was never about having it filed as official evidence. It was about influencing the jury and as Iris so smartly points out, the Summation Examination was suspended earlier. This means that technically, it's still going on. It doesn't matter what the prosecution or the judge thinks of (S)Holmes's invention, it only matters what the jurors think, as they now have the power to force the trial to continue. Naturally, the majority votes not-guilty. Van Zieks objects rather ferociously. “My lord, with all due respect, this is an outrage! The prosecution refuses to accept this decision!” (heehee, I really enjoy these lines. With all due respect, indeed.) The judge asks on what grounds the prosecution is objecting, and Van Zieks says:

“Then they are too ignorant to be trusted with the judgement of anyone's guilt!”

Gosh, he really doesn't enjoy how 'gullible' the jurors are, does he? Or rather, he gets frustrated when the jurors begin to think for themselves instead of taking the prosecution's word for it. The judge sets Van Zieks straight by basically reminding him that this is how the court works.

It is so satisfying to watch him squirm. Van Zieks wants us to play by the court's rules, so we're playing by the court's rules and now he's got no more comebacks. This is it folks, we're subpoena-ing Egg Benedict! He does indeed show up to court after a brief intermission and reveals his true name to be Ashley Graydon. Graydon expresses haughty dismay that the highest court of the land was swayed by some self-professed detective's homemade tincture. Van Zieks tells him it was the will of the jury, and their great British justice system demands that the jury's will is upheld. Graydon calls the jury members inept, as Van Zieks has done many times before, but agrees to testify. Ryu attempts to needle this guy several times by asserting he was definitely at the crime scene, but indeed, the blood sample doesn't count as evidence and Ryu doesn't really have anything else to back him up. Van Zieks oh-so-kindly reminds him that the obligation to prove the defense's assertion lies with, well, the defense. Eventually we do get there and Graydon starts making up some bullshit story about how he met McGilded in a gentlemen's club and bonded with him over unique music box music, so that's what that disc was. Van Zieks points out that Yard have indeed been gathering items believed to have been McGilded's property, presumably to aid their investigations. Gregson once again loses his composure here and tries to shut the conversation down.

Gregson and Van Zieks continue to banter back and forth about how Gregson is definitely not allowed to talk about these things and Van Zieks should also know better than to pry. Even Ryu thinks it's strange the two of them are bickering like that. Anyway, we're not allowed to discuss the McGilded stuff, so back to Graydon and his breaking and entering! Van Zieks asserts that if the police confiscated the disc beforehand and Graydon saw this happen, there was no reason for him to break into the pawnshop anymore.

Oooh, that's some tasty triumph over Van Zieks's ignorance! Ryu brings up the second item pawned by McGilded, a 'small box'. Van Zieks insists that no such thing was stolen from the pawnshop and he can prove it, since he has a picture of the shelves from before the break-in and one from after the break-in. You know, the pictures taken by that idiot detective's silly little plaything! Through the magic of stereoscopes (or the 3D Slider in the 3DS version), Ryu can see that a small box was moved.

It's absolutely hilarious that most of the court has to go cross-eyed to do the stereoscope thing and then there's Van Zieks, with a fancy stereoscope device that he just happened to have with him in a trial he couldn't possibly predict would require a stereoscope. He's so extra! Ryu asserts that if the box was moved, they have to raise the question of what was inside it and send the Yard to retrieve that thing at once. Van Zieks objects, saying that “some little box belonging to a man who died two months ago can't possibly be relevant to this trial.” The judge doesn't see it his way, though, and overrules his objection. Nice! So officers are dispatched to Baker Street to fetch the box and Van Zieks grumbles to himself about being hoodwinked by a farce.

The judge once again doesn't take kindly to Van Zieks's attitude problems and I love this. I can't wait for the prosecution to be penalized, because it feels like it's right around the corner here. Van Zieks elaborates that this whole thing is nothing but a smoke screen; a Nipponese specialty. Scumbag points for this one! I can't entirely connect this to Professor foreshadowing, I think it's just him being petty. Either way, he's going to jump through hoops now. Mere minutes ago he established that the Yard is still investigating McGilded's stuff and the 'aftermath' of his activities, but he's flipping it all over now. He begins to talk about how McGilded died two months ago, immediately after the trial in which he was found not-guilty.

“So I propose a toast. To my learned friend, and his most... insightful defense.”

So the logic being used here now is that McGilded was a fine, upstanding citizen and anything he pawned was truly innocent/ordinary, so why would someone want to steal it? The only way to prove that there's more to these items than might be apparent would be for Ryu to reveal that the acquittal was a mistake and the defense's argument was based on false information. They all suspected this two months ago, though. It was made abundantly clear that the only reason McGilded walked free was because nobody could say for certain whether the evidence was tampered with. Either way, Ryu's cornered now and wondering to himself whether Van Zieks knows the items in question are related to the omnibus murder. He probably does. He has access to the evidence, which means he has access to to the pawn tickets which hold some very specific dates on them.

The game gives Ryu an option whether or not to have Gina testify about what happened two months ago, but this option isn't real. If you choose 'leave it', Ryu still decides within two lines of dialogue that they have to uncover the truth. There's no penalty for stalling. So Ryu calls for Gina to testify and Van Zieks definitely knows what's up.

“In particular, the impact it will have on the accused's standing... And indeed your own.”

So this is a warning, clear and simple. Van Zieks knows shit will hit the fan. Or, as he later phrases it, it will bring the court down around Ryu's ears. But Ryu insists upon the testimony, the prosecution agrees and Gina is put on the stand. The judge tells Graydon he can step down, Graydon promptly sees this as an excuse to leave and bids them all a good day, but Van Zieks tells him to wait.

Oh, this... I like this. By now, Van Zieks has caught on to Ryu's little trick of watching the reactions from other witnesses during testimonies. He's purposely making Graydon stand there and listen to Gina's testimony just in case he reacts in such an overdramatic way, Ryu can pursue it. Iiinteresting! Now it seems as if he's on our side, but we're not quite there yet. Before Gina can begin her testimony, Van Zieks reminds her that if it turns out she willfully withheld information two months ago, she'll be prosecuted for perjury. That's just an intimidation technique to get her not to reveal what she withheld. … Which is weird, because you'd think Van Zieks would want her to spill those beans. Either way, with some encouragement from Ryu and Iris, Gina begins to talk about the lies she told. Aaand we're ending the essay here for now, because we're only about halfway into this disaster of a trial and the plot will only thicken from here on out. Stay tuned for part 2 of The Unspeakable Story!

#dgs #dgs spoilers #tgaa #tgaa spoilers #barok van zieks #thank goodness #the consistency is back #BLESS

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bedbellyandbeyond · 3 years ago

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He’s Back

(Story Post)

Kent didn't seem to know what to do with the crying werewolf on his front, but he patted his back until he settled down. Nathan eventually pulled away and wiped his eyes. “I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…” Dax decided to come out and make his entrance. “I thought you said you were going to punch him.” Kent’s entire demeanor changed and he was immediately on guard again, dipping to scoop up his rifle. “Who the fuck's that?” Nathan stepped back and held a hand out to his partner. “This is Dax.” “And who the fuck is Dax?” Kent said gruffly. “I'm his boyfriend,” Dax said, walking over and taking Nathan's hand. Kent huffed. “You really are one of those type, huh, Nate?”

“Nate?” Dax inquired. “He calls me that to antagonise me,” Nathan sighed. “I've told him a hundred times it's just Nathan. And put your damn rifle down, Kent.” Kent backed up to the porch to put his rifle down on the balcony. Then he just stood there and crossed his arms. “…So, did you have the kids?” Nathan crossed his arms too. “What if I did?” “Don't play games, dog breath. If I have children, I oughta know about it.” Nathan placed his hands on his hips. “I had my kids, yes.” “Where are they?” Kent demanded. “They're back home being babysat,” Nathan answered. Kent growled. “You came all the way out here and didn't even bring my fuckin’ kids?” “Well, I had Dawson’s kids, but he's dead,” Nathan said shrugging. “You damn mutt… You really want to go that way? You really want to say you had Dawson Grace's kids, the name that went down as the man executed for murdering four people?” Kent asked. “They're my fucking kids. I have a right to see them.” “Why the fuck should I bring them to you?” Nathan asked. “You literally don't exist to them. They're fine without you.” “So what, you've got this limp dick raisin’ my kids?” Kent growled, shoving a finger towards Dax. Dax pushed out a hip. “Nathan was right. You really are an asshole.” “Dax is there for me,” Nathan said. “He actually gives a shit. You've done nothing for me or my kids.” “Yeah, as if I had a fuckin' choice!” Kent scrunched his nose. “Don't you think I would've wanted to be there?” “You didn't even want me to have them!” Nathan said. “Yeah, when I was convinced I was gonna fry!” Kent said. “I didn't want to leave kids on this Earth with a fucked up legacy like mine!” “If you want to see my kids, you'll have to earn it!” Nathan stated. “You'll have to help me.” “Like shit. I don't have to do shit for you,” Kent stated. “Look at what you did to my fucking face.” He jabbed a finger at his own long scar. Nathan shook his head. “You'd be dead if it weren't for me.” “How the fuck do you reckon that?” Kent growled. “I told you APID could help you,” Nathan stated. “I told you my case workers would do something about your case, so long as you were really innocent. And they got this for you.” He motioned to the cottage. “Much better than that hell hole of a cave you had in the ravine.” “I liked my cabin,” Kent said stubbornly. “And if you hadn't come along, I would've still been there, alone, without the black suits bothering me all the time.” “But you'd still be a wanted man,” Nathan stated. “You'd get caught eventually and then the cover up wouldn't be a cover up. You'd be dead. But you're a free man now. They gave you a whole new life.” Kent grit his teeth. “I never asked for it. I was survivin’ on my own.” “Surviving's not necessarily living though,” Dax commented. “No one asked you, Dix,” Kent snapped. “It's Dax...” “Don't fuckin' care.” Nathan crossed his arms. “If you're going to keep being an asshole, we'll just leave and you'll never see your kids.” “I don't even know they really exist,” Kent said. “You could just be lyin’ to me.” “...Are you fucking kidding me?” Nathan grabbed Kent's shirt. “I wouldn't lie about the pain and labour I had to go through to bring those kids into this world. Is this a fucking lie?” He lifted his shirt, exposing his stretch marks and C-section scar. “Is this a fucking lie to you, Kent?” Kent paused and placed his hand on Nathan's stomach, feeling the scars that webbed across his skin. “You really were fuckin’ pregnant, huh? Man like you...” “Don't touch me!” Nathan pushed Kent's hand away and lowered his shirt. “I came here hoping you would help me. Do you think you could do that?” “Remains to be seen,” Kent said. “Do you at least have pictures of my kids?” “Yes, of course,” Nathan said. Kent sighed. “What do you need help with?” Nathan took a deep breath. “My transformation's started triggering during the day time, regardless of my wolf cycle,” he explained. “I become more of a half wolf, half man than the usual full wolf.” Kent nodded. “Ah.” “Does that ever happen to you?” Nathan asked. “What, this?” Kent immediately transformed, his height growing another foot, fur exploding out of his skin to cover him, bear ears and a big bear snout sprouting right out. The sheer added girth of him shredded his T-shirt and pushed Nathan back a step into Dax. They watched in shock and awe. Kent raised his head and let out a big bellowing bear call, making birds scatter from the trees. Then as fast as he'd turned bear, he was back to human, still a big bastard, but all trace of bear gone. “...You can control it?” Nathan asked once he found his thoughts. “Damn straight. If you're turning midday, it means you've got some control too,” Kent said. “Reckon you haven't figured it out yet.” “No, I haven't,” Nathan said. “Can you teach me to control it?” “Can you bring my damn kids?” Kent asked. Nathan nodded. “Next weekend.” Kent sighed. He eyed the APID agent still standing at the van, now lighting a cigarette. “Tell the black suit to fuck off and then come inside the house.” He waited at the door with Nathan, and Dax told their escort they’d be good on their own for now. Hanover got their overnight stuff out of the back before driving off. Kent held the front door of his cottage open for Nathan but promptly closed it in Dax's face. Nathan opened the door up again to let Dax in. On the inside, the cottage was surprisingly clean and spacious, open to a kitchen and living room, two rooms off the living room and a ladder up to a loft above. “Part of the deal is you stop acting like an asshole to Dax,” Nathan stated. “It's alright, Nathan,” Dax said. “He's just being the possessive ex.” “Ex?” Kent growled. “Are you fucked in the head? I'm not gay.” “The closet is deep with this one,” Dax remarked. “Let me guess, your parents told you God would send you to hell for liking boys.” “I don't believe in no fuckin' God,” Kent stated. “Where in the Bible did the bastard say ‘Thou shalt turn into a fuckin' bear and be hunted like a damn animal’? What fuckin' passage?” “The book of Daniel has some stuff...” Nathan muttered as he started looking around and picking stuff up. Dax blinked, turning to his boyfriend. “I didn't strike you as religious, Nathan.” “I'm not,” Nathan said as he fiddled with a little whittled wood fox. “Well, not really... I was the one whose parents told me I'd go to hell for being gay. They shoved religion in my face all the time.” “You never talked about this,” Dax said. “I don't like to talk about it,” Nathan said placing the fox down and picking up an owl figure. “It really changed my relationship with religion.” “Bunch of nonsense,” Kent stated. “Bible people really rub me the wrong way...” “So if it's not religious, why are you so scared to acknowledge your latent homosexuality?” Dax asked, taking a look at the wood fox as well. “There ain't nothin’ to acknowledge,” Kent said, taking the carving out of Dax's hands and putting it back on a shelf. “You can keep on as you are, I ain't gonna stop you. It just ain't natural, that's all. And it ain't me.” “We're not here to get hate-crimed, Dax. Show him your pictures,” Nathan sighed, placing the owl down again. “You take more than I do.” “Right, yes. One moment.” Dax pulled out his phone. “I made an album.” “Album?” Kent frowned and narrowed his eyes. “On your phone?” “Yeah, I don't think most people bother making them, but I like organising my memories,” Dax said before turning his phone towards Kent. The bear man took up the phone and squinted at it. He looked at the image that showed Nathan in the hospital with the twins bundled up in his arms. Their faces however were obscured in the photo by angle and all the swaddling. “Do you have a better one? I can't see them in this...” Kent huffed. “Yeah, just swipe through. There's a bunch,” Dax said. “Swipe?” Kent asked. Nathan nudged Dax's arm. “He lived under a literal rock for the last twenty years. He doesn't understand smartphones.” “Ohhh...” “Shut up, I have one of your damn smartphones the black suits gave me,” Kent said. “But do you know how to use it?” Nathan asked. Kent wrinkled his nose. “Just show me how to see the damn photos.” “You're going to have to learn to use it if you want contact,” Nathan said as Dax went to stand beside Kent and showed him how to swipe through the album. Once he got the hang of it, Kent started swiping on his own. Dax had taken what seemed to be hundreds of photos and they went up in chronological order from the day of the twins' birth all the way to a photo of Korsgaard holding them at his house just before the couple left. Kent didn't get that far, however. He was silent as he continued to look at each photo one by one. He would often pause at any photo that had both kids in it clearly and he would quickly skip over any picture with Dax in them. He was eventually transfixed on a photo of both kids holding hands while asleep on Nathan's chest. “Oh, that's a good one,” Dax commented. “They both fell into a food coma. Nathan, as a cis man, doesn't produce a lot of milk, so it's very rare that they’re fully satisfied once he's dry.” “Wait, what photo is that?” Nathan snatched up the phone. “Ugh, you had to pick one with my fucking tits out, what the fuck...” “What are their names?” Kent asked. Nathan sighed and picked a different picture before pointing to each child respectively. “Grace and Gabriel.” Kent blinked. “Grace Grace?” “Grace Cassidy, you selfish bastard,” Nathan said. “You really think I'd give them your surname?” “Kids get the father's surname. It's how it works,” Kent said. “Yeah, guess what? I'm their father,” Nathan stated. “What do you mean? You're the mother. You gave birth to them,” Kent said. “I... I literally don't have the patience right now to explain how wrong and insulting that is,” Nathan stated. “Not to mention, ‘Dawson Grace’ is dead, remember?” “So, Grace and Gabriel Rivera,” Kent stated. “I'm not changing my kids' names to their deadbeat dad's,” Nathan asserted. “Especially not a made up one.” “It was my mother's maiden name,” Kent growled. “Oh. Still.” Nathan shrugged and handed Dax back his phone. “Her name is Grace after my grandmother who raised me, not you.” “And Gabriel?” Kent asked. “I just like it,” Nathan said. “I might have trouble with religion, but I like biblical names.” Kent rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Nate.” “Stop.” Nathan balled his fist. “You saw the pictures. You better help me.” Kent turned away and went to the kitchen. “Tomorrow. It's gettin’ late.” “What? But wouldn't night time be better for the wolf and all that moon stuff?” Dax asked. “Yeah, if you want to go berserk and rip an arm off,” Kent said. “Best time to practice is when the wolf is the weakest. High noon, middle of your off weeks. Do you know where you are in the moon phases?” “Yeah, I keep track on my phone,” Nathan said. “You can do that?” Kent asked. “Yeah, there's an app for everything,” Nathan said. “App?” Kent asked. “Application,” Dax said. “Did you have a computer before going on the lam?” “No, not really.” “We're really at square one then, huh?” Dax sighed. “Well, I suppose we should call the agent to take us to our hotel.” “You're staying here,” Kent said. “There's a bed in the loft.” “No thanks, I like running water,” Nathan said. “I'm not asking,” Kent said. “If those damn black suits take another step on my property, I'll start shootin’.” “Incredibly illegal,” Nathan said. “Quick way to get your hunting license revoked. Not to mention, why do you need a hunting rifle? You're a literal bear.” “Hunting as the bear's real messy,” Kent said. “Not to mention, I don't want to be hunted. I got a few scars from that...” “Fair enough. Still not sleeping here,” Nathan said. “I have plumbing and power,” Kent stated. “I'm not used to using it much but it's there.” “But running water, though?” Dax asked. Kent turned on the kitchen tap and it ran clear. “Spring water.” “...Why do you want us to stay here so bad?” Nathan asked. “It's not like that. I just don't need you wasting my time getting back here tomorrow,” Kent stated. Nathan nudged Dax. “What do you think?” “I think he's lonely,” Dax muttered. Kent growled. “What?” “Can we see the loft?” Nathan asked. “Be my fuckin' guest.” Kent motioned to the ladder. “There's a mattress. Place was furnished when I got here.” “You're actually thinking about this?” Dax asked as Nathan started to climb the ladder. “Let's just see if it'll work for tonight,” Nathan said as he got up to the top. The mattress up in the loft looked to be of good quality, with fitted sheets, pillows and even a duvet folded up in the corner. “This is actually kind of nice...” Dax frowned and climbed up after him. “...We already booked the hotel.” “Call and see if we can cancel,” Nathan said. “Maybe it's just a fee.” Dax sighed and leaned over the railing of the loft. “Is there a good foot path around here?” “‘Round the lake,” Kent said. “Why?” “If I can get a good run in tomorrow morning, maybe it'll be worth it...” Dax sat on the bed and crossed his legs. The loft roof was so low there that his head brushed the ceiling. “What's for dinner?” Kent shrugged. “Venison.” “Oh dear...” “Correct.” Nathan sighed. “Dax's vegetarian.” “Then he can eat a tree,” Kent growled. “Come on, you had a garden back in the valley. You must have some greens,” Nathan said. Kent huffed and put his hands on his hips. “It's as cold as a witch's tit for too long up here. I'm working on it, but my garden's not even close to harvesting time.” Dax collapsed onto the futon. “And I suppose Uber Eats is out of the question?” “Uber what?” “I'm going to starve.” Kent checked his fridge. “Relax, you limp dick tree muncher. I went into town a couple days ago... I think I have some bread and butter... Oh, there's a jar of pickles and some mustard.” “...Can you do something with that, Dax?” Nathan asked. “There's plenty of berries I picked too,” Kent said. “I blend my own jams.” Dax sighed. “I can probably work something out... Maybe I can make a smoothie tomorrow for breakfast...” Nathan rubbed his shoulder. “When we have some time tomorrow, we'll get some food in town. For now, we can work with what's here.” “Easy for you to say. You can eat venison.” Kent, tall as he was, smacked the wood at the end of the loft floor. “Absolutely no fuckin' up there, got it?” “With your ugly mug around?” Nathan huffed. “Wouldn't dream of it.” “Hey, you're the one who busted it up in the first place,” Kent said. “I added character, but I’m not the one who added that nasty mullet,” Nathan said. “Fuck off... I’m going out for firewood.” Kent huffed and just walked off muttering ‘stupid dog’ under his breath as he put his hand through his hair. Dax sat up and watched until Kent went outside and the door closed behind him. Dax then put his hand on Nathan's shoulder. “He's really into you, huh?” “What?” Nathan shook his head. “He fucking hates me.” “No, he really doesn't. This whole interaction he's been trying to separate us. You didn't even see how he looked at photos of you with the kids. I bet you if I taught him how to delete photos, he would've removed any of them with me in it.” Nathan frowned. “You have nothing to worry about. He's not going to come out if that's true and I'm with you. I chose you.” “I know that. I'm not threatened, I'm just, well you know, I'm nosier than I am tall,” Dax chuckled. “He’s kept his eyes on you from the very second he spotted you until the moment he went out that door. If he ever made eye contact with me, it was only a passing glare. He's almost like another Wano, to be quite honest. I'm half waiting for him to declare a dual for your hand...” Nathan chuckled. “I don't think you have to worry about that. You're good.” “I mean, if you think about it,” Dax said lying back in the bed. “I almost feel sorry for him. The last time you met, you were single. He's been alone out here for months probably thinking about you and the kids. Must've been a slap to the face when I showed up.” Nathan patted Dax's leg. “If you're so obsessed with him, you can date him.” Dax smiled. “I won't lie. He's a lot more handsome than I expected from your descriptions. Not to mention, when he transformed right in front of you, tearing his shirt off, and then when shrunk down he was just shirtless and ripped... Come on.” “I’ll give you that. It was kinda hot...” Nathan admitted. “And pretty gay.” “Right? How old is he, anyway?” “Not sure.” Nathan thought about it. “He must've been in his twenties back when he was accused and it's been twenty years.” “So, his forties. You like your men older, don't you Nate?” Dax teased. Nathan frowned and lightly punched Dax's leg. “Shut up. Reid said the same damn thing... It's not true.” “How old was Hugh?” Dax asked. “You said he had grey hair.” “Shut up!”

#lore #Kent #Nathan #Dax #werewolf #werebear #thunderbird

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disabledrunner5 · 3 years ago

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Okay here’s some random head-canons I had about my Runner Five and Runner Eight (because I’m missing Sara, like three seasons after she went, is that normal?):

Five was a pure innocent little bean with a literal inability to swear until the apocalypse happened, she arrived in Abel and was partnered up with Runner Eight. Now she mutters one variation (usually child friendly) of a swear basically every mission.

We all know that Sara wasn’t the most trusting of Five at the start. But Five trusted her right from the off (my Five trusts people really easily, an issue which eventually came back to bite her once she met Moonchild and post series 3 she’s no longer very trusting of anyone beyond Abel). Anyway, this caused Sara to be a little annoyed by her at first but once she realised Five was legit they grew closer and after that mission Sara made it her mission to get to know Five better.

Sara was the third person to know Five’s real name after Maxine and Sam. She kept it a secret out of respect for Five, realising hearing her name might bring back painful memories.

Five regarded Sara as family. Sort of like a cross between an aunt and a mother figure. Even after her death, she regards to Sara as family.

Sara probably wouldn’t say it but I like to imagine Sara thought that Five was like the daughter she never had.

Sara taught Five to use weapons more accurately, until they were the most lethal duo in Abel Township.

With the exception of Sam, Sara was the person Five spent the most time with in Abel.

Sara KNEW about Five’s crush on Sam, she’s not stupid, she spent a lot of time with Five, there’s no way she didn’t know. Sam and Five were almost inseparable if she wasn’t training or on missions or if Sam wasn’t on comms duty. It was pretty obvious and she just wanted to bash the two of their heads together so Five could see that Sam felt the same way about her.

Poor Sara literally had to watch Five’s love sickened smile creep onto her face whenever Sam said something funny or said something reassuring.

In fact, Sara was probably the first resident of Abel township to realise that Five was falling in love with Sam, and vice versa, that Sam was falling in love with Five.

Sara once ‘threatened’ Sam once about hurting Five, just in a general ‘if you do end up with Five, and if you ever hurt her, then you’ll have to deal with me’ kind of way (even though she knew Sam would never intentionally hurt Five in any way and she also did the same to Five, Five being oblivious meant that she had no idea what Sara was on about though).

When Five and Sara met Archie and Canton Five, after being rescued by them from Van Ark, Sara immediately knew that Canton Five was somehow related to Five, since he knew her real name, shouting it when he laid eyes on them and was the first member of Abel to learn that one of Five’s parents were alive and running for New Canton. She was actually encouraging Five to go back to New Canton with her father and Archie, ‘in a do what you think is right’ way.

Canton Five offered Five the opportunity to join him and Archie back at New Canton, Sara was one of the reasons why Five refused to go with her father, she had a duty to all the runners, and so much to learn from Sara still, and Canton Five made Sara promise to look after Five.

During one mission, at some point during late season one, Five, Sara and Simon were all trapped in a pub and were struggling to think up of a plan that wouldn’t get them immediately killed. A jukebox randomly switched on and started playing ‘don’t stop me now’ and prompted Five to spring into action and make them re-enact her favourite scene from Shaun of The Dead... it somehow worked and Sara was seriously proud of her young protege.

Five never thought Sara had been bitten during the attack on Abel, but was relieved to see her on the boat alive and alright nonetheless.

Five refused to believe that Sara would betray Abel but she did doubt it briefly when Sara first pulled the gun on her and when Sara entered the room with Van Ark before she betrayed him. So she was glad when Sara turned on Van Ark, and was revealed to be a triple agent.

Five knew Sara was going to die, but refused to acknowledge it up until she collapsed on their way back to Abel with Paula.

Five started to tear up as Sara was dying, she knew she had to stay strong to be alert, but she managed to keep it mostly together as Sara died, holding her hand and kept it together long enough to promise her that she’d send Van Ark to her.

Sam was at the gates as Five and Paula arrived home and he caught Five as she broke down coming through the gates. Sara’s death was really the first significant step in Sam and Five’s relationships as they grieved her death together and became closer through it.

Five started to have outbursts of anger and crying fits after Sara’s death, she really struggled with it.

Sara’s death was also the first time anyone had seen actual vengeance in Five’s expressions and when Van Ark got blown up by Five without a second thought, it was the first time anyone actually realised just how ruthless Five could be and just how far her loyalty could stretch.

After Van Ark’s death, Five was sure she felt Sara smiling down at her as Van Ark was sent to her, and Five finally got with Sam, she could almost hear Sara saying ‘that’s my Five’

Five took the role of head runner because despite her reservations and nervousness around being a leader, she wanted to honour Sara and she was sure Sara would want her to do it if she was here.

This is somewhat canon but Five has once or twice heard Sara in deadly situations (it’s usually Moonchild, but Sara, I like to think has appeared in her head to encourage her to keep going and even though it’s happened once or twice in actual ZR, I imagine that it happens more frequently that Five would like to admit).

Five believes that she’ll see Sara again some day and that Sara is looking down on her, watching her, guiding her to make the right decisions.

Five has vowed to teach her probable future stepdaughter about her name sake (or one of them) when she’s older and tell her just how much of a legend Sara Smith, Runner Eight was.

Whatever happens, there is one thing Five is certain of, whatever state of mind she’s in and whatever comes her way, wherever she is, she’s always going to make Sara proud.

#runner 5 #runner five #sara smith #runner 8 #sam yao #slight 5am? idk #zombies run head canons #zr season 2 spoilers #zr spoilers

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hydroponicjj · 5 years ago

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pinky promise

pairing: jj maybank x reader

word count: 3.1k (i’ve never written anything this long before lmao)

warnings: swearing

summary: your birthday takes place over quarantine and because you can’t have an actual birthday party, the pogues host a netflix party for you but an unexpected guest joins which ruins the mood. jj decides to cheer you up from a distance.

a/n: hello!! i know i’ve been a little m.i.a. but, i promise that i’m back. send me some outer banks requests and i’ll be happy to do them (no smut pls) also, if you’ve sent a request recently, i’m working on em :) gif credit goes to hvitstark!!!

y/n/n “your nickname”

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

When summer first began, you as well as the rest of the pogues were overwhelmed with excitement. You didn't have to do homework, get stressed with school, take exams. Nothing.

The plans weren't set in stone but all of you had a general idea of what you’d do from day to day. From surfing to eating at The Wreck, there was nothing that could stop you and your friends from having the best summer ever.

All of you had seen news articles, talking about a deadly virus entering the United States. It first appeared in Washington, then slowly started to spread around the vicinity. But no one in the Outer Banks of North Carolina was concerned.

So, the beginning of summer break started with absolutely no delay.

After the first couple of weeks of the virus spreading across the country, slowly but surely, you watched as people started to get worried. It got to the point were you mother was cautioning you before going to hang out with the rest of the pogues.

“I pinky promise that I’ll be safe!” You’d tease before going outside and hopping into John B’s Volkswagen.

When you hopped into the back of the van, you noticed the disappointed looks on everyone’s faces while Pope was rambling (like he usually does).

“I really think that we should start to prepare because I think that this virus is very similar to the Black Death.” He finished, taking a deep breath.

“What’s up?” You greeted, raised eyebrows in confusion.

Pope smiled enthusiastically and gave you a warm welcome while the others groaned like a walker from The Walking Dead.

“What are you babbling on about today, Mr.Heyward?” You questioned.

“He literally won’t shut up about this stupid virus!” Kiara answered for him, resting her head on the window as she sat in the front seat.

“Neither will my mom. She’s all worked about this and telling me to ‘be safe’ before leaving the house.” You explained.

“It’s not like we know anyone that’s sick.” John B shrugged, starting the van.

Seconds later, JJ started to have a coughing attack. He literally couldn’t stop, even after he had multiple sips of water.

Both you and Pope moved to the corner farthest away from him, you were laughing because you knew JJ and his personality while Pope was terrified.

“Holy shit, he has it.” He whispered in your ear, eyes as big as a Watermelon.

“He’s about to cough up a lung.” Kie commented, turning around to see the blonde flopping around like a fish.

After a few more seconds, JJ recovered from his coughing attack and sat up, a huge smile plastered on his face.

“Not funny!” Pope screamed, kicking the bottom of his foot.

“You should have seen your face, it was priceless.” He chuckled.

You crawled over to JJ and rested your head in his lap, arms crossed over your stomach as you cackled, “Oh my gosh, that was hilarious.” You raised your hand and gave him a high five, intertwining for fingers and bringing it back down to your chest.

“I only did it because Pope needs a reality check. In a couple weeks everything will be fine.” He sighed, using his other hand to take the lighter out of his pocket and light the blunt between his teeth.

Before he could, you held out your left hand which was your way of asking him to place the items in your palm because no one was interested in getting a contact high at 2 pm.

Usually the rest of the pogues would snatch it from him but you were different. You didn’t feel comfortable being rough with him because you knew about his life at home and you didn’t want to set him off.

That was one of the many things that JJ appreciated about you. You were gentle with him and always took your time, not wanting to him to feel rushed. So, he always complied when you asked.

“Fuck it, I’m taking all the toilet paper.” Pope commented out of context, causing everyone to laugh.

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

Fast forward one week later and your entire life has flipped upside down.

Covid-19 shut down absolutely everything. Kie and her family were forced to close down The Wreck because they couldn't take the risk of hurting any customers or members of the staff.

All of your friends were separated, except for JJ and John B because they quarantined together, not wanting to be alone during this time.

To be honest, you missed everyone, especially JJ because the two of you always gravitated towards each other so it was pretty hard to be separate from him.

To stay connected with each other, you all texted in the shared group chat and had group facetime’s and netflix parties almost every single night.

John B insisted on inviting Sarah and you didn’t know how to feel about it. Sarah and Kie did squash their beef but, she told you all of the things that happened and it really rubbed you the wrong way. But, you wanted John B to be happy, no matter who it was with.

“Holy shit, y/n/n your birthday is in 2 days!” JJ noticed while the two of you were on facetime. John B was busy talking to Sarah so, he called you to pass the time.

“Yeah.” You replied, unenthusiasticlly.

“I know it sucks that we’re in quarantine but, I promise we’ll have a group facetime and you can pick the movie.” He smiled, you didn’t even have to elaborate on why you were sad because he knew you that well.

“Wait for real?” You laughed.

Listen, everyone has different taste when it comes to movies so, every time that you’re doing a netflix party, it’s really hard to decide on a movie that all of the pogues can enjoy.

“Okay, now I’m excited. This is going to be so fun!” You screeched, clapping your hands together.

“Shit, John B’s calling me. I’ve gotta go but, keep that same enthusiasm, okay?” He replied, smiling into the camera.

“Pinky promise.” You gave him the biggest grin known to man before hanging up.

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

Exactly two days later, you woke up to your mom towering over you with a cake in her hands, “Happy 17th birthday, y/n/n!” She took JJ’s lighter that was sitting on your nightstand and lit the ‘17’ on the cake.

“Woah!” You said, rubbing your eyes. It was still pretty early in the morning and you couldn’t fully comprehend what was going on.

“Thank you so much.” You sat up in your bed, making room for your mother to sit.

“Make a wish.” She encouraged, taking out her phone to capture the moment.

“I wish that I have the best day ever, despite not being about to see my friends.” and with that, you blew out the candles, smiling up at your mom.

“Awe were you recording that?” You smiled, covering your face.

“I was gonna send it to your friends,” She paused, “Speaking of them, are you gonna uh... party on neflix tonight?” She squinted.

You chuckled, your mom really wasn’t as aquatinted with technology as other parents, “Yeah, the 5 of us are gonna watch a movie on facetime. I promise to keep it down.”

“Thank you. I’m gonna go start on breakfast. I’ll call you when it’s finished.” She left your room, leaving the door cracked slightly.

After a few seconds of staring off into space, you checked your phone like you always do when you wake up and your phone was filled with notifications.

Your smiled from ear to ear. Unlike the average kook, you weren’t very popular but that didn’t matter because you had 4 of the best people on planet earth as your best friends.

The first thing that you checked was Instagram. You tapped through the stories that you were tagged in and were met with some of the best memories that were caught on camera.

From the time you accidentally set off the sprinklers at The Wreck, getting all of the customers wet as they were leaving to the time that you got stuck at the top of the monkey bars at your old elementary school and JJ had to come and save you.

You almost started crying because you hadn’t been apart from any of your friends for more that 12 hours and even though it’s only been a week, it felt like forvever.

Before you responded to the countless amount of texts from your aunts and uncles, you texted the group chat and gushed to them about how thankful you were that they all posted something in honor of your birthday.

They all politely told you to and I quote, “shut the fuck up.” because it was a given that they’d praise you for your special day.

You rolled your eyes with a smile on your face and threw your phone on the charger, heading to the kitchen to eat breakfast with your mother.

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

The sound of your phone ringing tore you away from the piece of cake that you were chewing.

“And the guest of honor has arrived!” John B gushed, JJ was sitting next to him and it looked like they were on the couch.

“Get any presents?” Kie asked, positioning her phone upwards so that she could be seen.

“Nah, unless you count cake.” You chuckled, showing them the piece that you were currently devouring.

“That looks so good.” Pope commented, he was staring into the camera, hypnotized by the sweet treat that you had just showcased.

“Snap out of it!” JJ started clapping his hands in the camera causing Pope to fidget slightly taking his face out of the camera.

You spent the first 30 minutes of the facetime call catching up about the stupid quarantine habits that you all picked up.

Kiara had given herself a few dolphin stick & pokes, Pope had started online shopping, like a lot. He had at least 30 new t-shirts in his closet. John B calls Sarah while JJ spends most of his time talking to you.

“Wait, wait, wait guys,” You paused, trying to get their attention because they were all screaming at each other, “Are y’all ready to watch the movie?” You questioned, opening a new tab on your computer.

“Yeah, yeah. Wait a second.” John B put himself on paused, you could hear JJ sigh because he does that at least once every time that you all are on a group call.

After a few seconds, you heard everyone's phone ding as well as your own. You all had gotten a group e-mail to join a netflix party. At first you were confused because JJ said that he talked to everyone and they agreed to letting you chose the movie.

A few more seconds passed and you saw another square begin to connect to the facetime call. It was a number that no one recognized so, everyone was pretty stunned (except for john b).

The mystery person finally connected and it was revealed to be Sarah Cameron.

You looked at everyone's little square and saw how wide their eyes were. JJ seemed furious but, he didn’t want to make a scene because after all, it was still your birthday.

Kie and Pope looked shocked that John B would add her without asking if you were okay with it first.

“Hey guys! Happy birthday, y/n.” Sarah greeted, smiling.

“Thank you.” You croaked back a response, going on your computer and opening the e-mail that was sent, clicking the netflix party link.

After taking a second to load, you saw that you were watching the 4th season of Riverdale. (yikes)

You rolled your eyes, praying that it went unnoticed.

“Is this what you wanted to watch, y/n? I thought you hated Riverdale?” Pope asked, still a little confused on the whole situation.

“Nope.” You stated dryly, shrugging you shoulders and falling back onto your bed.

“Oh, it was my idea.” Sarah chimed in, her bubble got bigger because she had said something, “You don’t mind, right y/n/n?”

“I kind of wanted to watch Back to the Future.” You revealed.

At this point, everyone was shocked, even you. You didn’t hate Sarah, she was currently being really nice but you wanted to spend your birthday talking to your best friends and she didn’t fit into that category yet.

“I don’t really like that movie.” John B commented, earning a slap on the back of the head from JJ.

“Actually,” You paused, contemplating if you even wanted to continue the sentence. You had two options, make a scene or leave peacefully.

“I’m not feeling to well. I think I’m going to go but, have fun watching Riverdale.” Before anyone could protest, you hung up.

Option two it is.

“Fuck birthday’s.” You concluded, turning off your light. You didn’t have the energy to argue with anyone so, you decided to go to bed and deal with it in the morning.

JJ muted the phone so that no one else could hear the conversation that was about to ensue, “Dude, what the fuck?!” He yelled at John B, who was very confused.

“You invited the girl you’ve been mackin’ on for a month to y/n’s birthday party. Did you even ask her?” He stood up, towering over his friend.

“Woah, woah, calm down. I didn’t think that she’d care.” He defended himself.

Pope and Kie were texting you while Sarah was too busy watching the cringe unfold on Riverdale that they didn’t notice that John B and JJ were arguing.

“All she wanted was a good birthday and you fucking ruined it.” He accused, poking at his chest.

“I didn’t ruin it. She was tired and had to go!”

“It’s literally 9:30 pm. You think she’d go to bed this early? We’re in quarantine! Everyone stays up till like, 5!”

The look on JJ’s face conveyed that he was seconds away from punching John B in the face but he had to remember that you wouldn’t want them fighting because of you.

The blonde took a deep breath that lasted at least 5 minutes, “I need to go check on her.” He stated, going into the guest room that he was currently residing in and grabbed a big basket but with how fast he was walking, it’d be impossible to make out the contents inside.

“You can’t go see her, we’re in quarantine.” John B protested but JJ didn’t seem to care.

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

The sun started peaking through your window at around 6 am. The heat of the sun beamed on your face, causing you to wake up earlier that you anticipated.

Groaning, you trudged to the one and only bathroom in your house, thankful that your mom was off to work. She works for Mr.Heyward and they’re currently trying to deliver supplies to as many people as possible.

After getting ready for the day in the restroom, you headed towards the kitchen. In your peripheral vision, you saw a big basket sitting on your front porch.

Peaking your interest, you opened your front door and grabbed the basket with two hands. It wasn’t that heavy but it appeared to be filled to the brim.

Perched on the very top of the basket was a ripped sheet of blank paper covered with medium sized writing. The penmanship was sloppy and certain words had been written over and over again, most likely because the marker was running out of ink.

Based on the lack of punctuation, you already knew who hand delivered this package.

On the inside was 3 of JJ’s shirts (without the sleeves ofc), a half empty bottle of cologne that he’d only wear on special occasions, a torn 2 dollar bill, and a hydroponic blunt.

If any other pogue was receiving this as a gift, they’d probably be really disappointed but, not you. You knew that JJ wasn’t well acquainted with showing and or receiving love so, this was a huge gesture.

Running back into your house, you grabbed your phone, ignoring all of the apology texts from John B, you facetimed JJ.

After a few seconds of it ringing, he answered, “What time is it?” He groaned.

“When did you deliver this?” You asked, ignoring his question.

“What are you talking about?” He didn’t falter, standing his ground.

“Don’t play dumb with me, JJ. What time did you put this on my doorstep?” You persisted, showing the poorly wrapped package that rested on your dining table.

“I genuinely don’t know what you’re talking about.” He chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

You squinted your eyes into the camera and waited a few seconds and sure enough, he creaked, “Fine, fine! I may or may not have decided to play mail man last night.”

“What the heck-?” You paused, attempting to take in what he had just said, “Wait, why?”

“Well, after Sarah crashed your birthday party, I thought you might want to wake up to something, uh, nice.” He grinned, awkwardly.

“You should’ve called me! I would’ve come outside to see you.” You replied, disappointed. He was mere feet away from you last night and you weren’t aware.

“Social distancing, y/n.” He teased. We all know that JJ is the pogue that’s most likely to accidentally break one of the rules during quarantine.

“JJ,” You took a deep breath, “Why did you all of this. I mean, it’s such an amazing birthday gift. A blunt and a 2 dollar bill, what more could a girl ask for?”

“IT’S BECAUSE HE LOOOOVES YOU!!” You heard John B scream from farther into the house.

JJ dropped the phone on the bed and put himself on mute, you shook your head, knowing he was most likely scolding John B.

“I’m sorry, he’s been spending to much time with Sarah.” He returned, “Also, I stole that bill from Kie, don’t tell her though.”

“I really really really miss you, JJ.” You sighed, frowning.

“I really really really miss you, y/n.” He mocked, of course he could not be 100% serious, even when he wanted too.

“Can you promise me something?”

He raised his eyebrows, face plastered with curiousness, “Uhhh, maybe.” He chuckled.

“Promise me that you’ll ask me out once quarantine is over?” You deadpanned. It was clear that it caught him by surprise because his face wasn’t covered with confusion anymore but shear terror instead.

“W-What was that John B???!!! You fell in the toilet! Awe shit, y/n, I’ve gotta go.” He replied, hanging up the phone.

Usually, you’d be a little offended but, you knew he was just messing around with you, especially because he was so used to making the first move when it came to getting girls.

Your phone was on silent so, you didn’t notice it a first but you had a new text message from JJ.

“pinky promise.”

#jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #outer banks #netflix #outer banks fic #jj maybank fic #jey's oneshots #rudy pankow #john b routledge #pope heyward #kiara carrera #sarah cameron #rafe cameron #imagine #outer banks imagine

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twh-news · 3 years ago

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Loki’s production designer on the Modernist inspiration behind the show’s stunning visuals | The Art Newspaper

By Helen Stoilas

Kasra Farahani explains why the Time Variance Authority waiting room looks so much like the Breuer building, and how the inside of a Fabergé egg became an alien train carriage.

Fans of Modernist design can find a lot to appreciate in Loki, the television series starring Tom Hiddleston recently released by Marvel Studios on the streaming channel Disney+. The stunning production is clearly influenced by Brutalist and Neo-Futurist architecture, as well as Soviet Socialist art and sculpture. Visual references can be seen from the very first episode, in which the magic-wielding god of mischief is apprehended by a universe-spanning police force known as the Time Variance Authority for “crimes against the Sacred Timeline” (stay with us).

One early scene, for example, was filmed on a custom-built set that bears a striking resemblance to the lobby of the Marcel Breuer building in New York which once housed the Whitney Museum—and now houses the Frick—while another was shot on location in the Neo-Futurist Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel, designed by the architect John C. Portman, Jr (with some monumental statues later edited into the soaring atrium). The Art Newspaper spoke to the series’ production designer, Kasra Farahani, about his inspirations for the look of the show.

The Art Newspaper: Loki's director, Kate Herron has called this series a love letter to sci-fi and you see a lot of visual homages to films like Brazil, A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner. But there's also a clear influence of Modernist design on the look of the series overall. You studied industrial design early in your career. Were there specific examples of Modernist architecture and design that you were looking at when you started working on the series?

Kasra Farahani: So many, everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Breuer, to Mies van der Rohe to Paul Rudolph—you have a shot in the John Portman building—to Oscar Niemeyer. And then a lot of Eastern European, Soviet-influenced Modernism played a big part in it as well. I can honestly tell you that my first and foremost inspiration was Modernism. Part of that is because the TVA (Time Variance Authority) is a bureaucracy and I think, archetypically, so much of what we know a bureaucracy to be is that post-war, highly funded institutional look. And there's a lot of different versions of that, whether it's the Washington, DC version, like the Hoover building, or whether it's what we had in Los Angeles, where I grew up, where there's a huge amount of post-war architecture built for the population boom. Like the elementary school, middle school and high school that I went to were all mid-century Modernist.

I was also looking a lot at Brutalism and the Modernism in former Soviet states, that are heavily influenced by Socialism and Soviet architecture, and where scale is such a big driving force of the design.

The size of some of the buildings in the show are kind of overwhelming. I know that some filming was done in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, with that huge soaring atrium. You just completely get dwarfed by that kind of architecture.

Yeah, that's right. That one we used for the TVA archives because we couldn't justify building a big set, but once I scouted it, I saw that we could bring in these massive Time-Keeper sculptures at the scale you would typically only see in an exterior, which is a fantastical thing. The TVA sets themselves, which were almost entirely full 360-degree sets, were very much designed as an intentional paradox between the stoic, large-scale Brutalism form language, and the surfacing and palette and whimsical patterning, which is very much taken from American mid-century Modern. Those two things create these spaces that feel at once super intimidating and then uncomfortably inviting and warm at the same time.

That’s kind of the irony of a lot of Modernism, Brutalism especially, it had these utopian ideals of creating affordable social housing, but then a lot of the people found it really oppressive to live in.

Yeah. Modernism has been that way the whole time—it was designed to be super cheap and utilitarian and routinely it ends up being the most expensive kind of architecture. Another thing readers may be curious to know about is the TBA expanse, which is essentially the view outside some windows.

That futuristic cityscape you can see….

Yeah. They had very strange and unique parameters to try to design that. The TVA exists outside of the physical world—so there's no weather, there's no roofs, there's no difference between interior and exterior, there's not necessarily even gravity in the way that we know it. But there are these meandering colonnades that we took a lot of inspiration from Brasilia—and obviously a lot of the super cities that were drawn in comics. But also there's some really beautiful conceptual sketches that Frank Lloyd Wright did of a version Los Angeles in the early 20th century that had Roman-like colonnades and plazas and a lot of that fed into what the TVA expanse is.

You mentioned all the sets you built for Loki, especially for the TVA. There's two that where used a lot. The Time Theater, where so much of kind of Loki’s personal story gets told, and looks like its straight out of the Barbican in London, with these huge colour-coded directional numbers on the walls. And then there's the Miss Minutes waiting room with those circular lights that looks almost exactly like the lobby of the Breuer building in New York—to the point where I reached out to the museum to ask if you’d filmed there. You even got the silver-tipped light bulbs right.

We were very inspired by that, but it's different in some very subtle, but for me, very important ways. Number one, the size of the bulbs is much smaller, they were manipulated to create eyeballs, basically. Another important difference is that in the Breuer building, they have these dishes hanging in space, whereas in ours, they're negative space, there's a solid ceiling. It creates a matrix of eyeballs peering down, like the always-watching Time-Keepers. And maybe the most important difference is that the ceiling is slammed down—you know the cheapest apartment you can go into has an eight-foot ceiling, this is six inches shorter than that, and our actor is about six-foot-three. The idea was to create a sort of trash compactor feeling in this claustrophobic space with this matrix of eyes, watching as all of this is happening.

The time theater was for me very inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi.

I liked that waffle coffered ceiling you have in that room.

Thanks. We were very happy with it, and it created this kind of forest of light columns which helps set the neo-noirish, interrogative nature of the space. And the unnecessarily large super graphics that you mentioned are a very Paul Rudolph sort of a thing, he did that in his building too, and I love that.

For me, it’s very important not to reference a set design from other films, that why I reference architecture, painting, photography, these other art forms, more than anything else, because inevitably when you’re working in archetypes, there’s a lot of overlap.

And as Loki goes into different times and locations, you get a completely different design environment in those places. There’s a scene on a train car, that has a very Art Deco look.

That was inspired by the inside of a Fabergé egg, Art Deco meets Alien.

And when you finally meet the Time-Keepers in the most recent episode, it’s like they're in a pre-Colombian pyramid or a ziggurat.

I was looking at Indian stepwells, this almost fractal quality with these descending stairs going into one another—but we imagined them going out every direction, with an Escher-like quality, like they are tessellating themselves to infinity.

I read on Twitter that you literally bought a bowling alley from Omaha and brought it to Atlanta to create Loki's Palace in the Void in the last episode, which is this crazy, surreal, amusement park, junk yard-like place.

We bought the floor of a bowling alley, everything else we built. That was a lot of fun because the script gave us a lot of runway. The proposal was to do this bowling alley because essentially everything in the Void has been discarded from time, and more things fall into it and accumulate and so you end up with these strata. I liked the idea of like a bowling alley that's been smashed over your knee or something. The net effect is when you first enter, you have all these lane lines pointing down at this throne, which was supposed to be stolen from a mall Santa. And then there's these crazy alien plants that are growing through it that have taken parasitic hold of the place. In many ways, I think its a narrative microcosm of the Void itself, which is like a salad bar of these disparate aberrations slammed together. Things like the bowling alley all have these micro-narratives that we in the art department have come up with to help flush out the design and make them specific. For example, there's portraits on the wall of like bowler of the month, and they’re not quite human. It's not in the episode, but those things are important for us in the art department.

At the very end of the most recent episode, we get a glimpse into this city that Loki and Sylvie (played by Sophia Di Martino) are walking into. Can tell us anything about what inspired those scenes, what we're about to see?

You can call me back in a week. All I can say is that the TVA is definitely the visual and narrative anchor of the story, but there's a lot of great worlds to see. And I think what people are responding to is the breadth of the visual variety of the show. And episode six won't be any different. It's really cool, and maybe some of my favorite stuff.

#loki #loki series #production design #set design #tom hiddleston #Kasra Farahani #article #the art newspaper

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annab-nana · 5 years ago

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House Party - Colby Brock

To celebrate the Trap House 2.0, the boys throw a pool party with all of their friends. Kat brings her friend, y/n, and Colby can’t seem to keep his eyes off her.

@sncnetwork project with: @lonely-xplr @sunnynsoft @reddesertcolbs @goddess-of-time-and-magic @xolbyz @reinad-snc @mariadotcom @cartiercolby @colbylover99

Warnings: some curse words

Word Count: 2.4k+

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“Can you help tie me?” I ask Kat as I hold the blue strings together behind my neck for her to grab. She nods before gripping onto the bikini top strings and tying them together. Once she is done, I step back to look at myself in the mirror as she sneaks a peek as well.

“Dude, blue is your color. It looks so good on you,” Katrina tells me as her eyes watch me through the mirror in front us. I roll my eyes and a chuckle escapes my lips.

“Says the literal queen of blue,” I say, pointing up at her blue locks. The girl literally has blue hair and rocks it on the daily, then has the audacity to say that it is my color. Um, no Kat, it’s yours.

“Well then you ought to believe me, considering it’s coming from the queen,” She tries to speak in a royal sounding accent and waves her hand in the air, showing me her queen wave. She stops for a second before we look at each other and bust out laughing.

“Okay your majesty, we need to hurry up getting ready for this party you’re dragging me to,” I inform her as I pull up my black shorts before running to her closet to steal a shirt from her. After searching for a little bit, I decide to where her white shirt that says, “I think she wants to be me” and tie it in a knot in the front.

“What do we think?” I ask Kat as I turn around and show her the fit. She turns around, still blending her eyeshadow, and smiles.

“Beautiful as always. Are you wearing your white vans? Those would be cute with that outfit,” She tells me as she turns back around, concentrating on blending.

“Katrina, when do I not wear my white vans?” I scoff as I slip them on.

“Oh, I know. They are barely even white anymore,” She jokes, moving on from eyeshadow to mascara.

“Hey, I will have you know that I cleaned them just for this party that you have been talking about all week long.” She rolls her own eyes at me before continuing on her makeup. I plop down onto her bed and watch her as she perfects her already gorgeous face with a little bit of highlighter and then completes her look with a touch of lipstick.

“I thought you said this was a pool party so why are you putting on makeup? I mean I have on waterproof liner and mascara and a little bit of lip gloss, but this will stay on in the water for the most part,” I tell her as she goes to her drawer to pick out the perfect bathing suit.

“Well, I don’t plan on actually swimming, like diving my head underwater and stuff. I’m just going to keep my head above the water because I didn’t do all this for it to wash away,” She says as she gestures towards her face. I chuckle at her before speaking again.

“But didn’t you say Sam is roommates with a bunch of goofballs? You’re definitely going to get splashed or something,” I inform her, and she shakes her head before pulling out a bathing suit and putting it on. She slips on some clothes to go over it and grabs her keys.

“Ready to go?” She looks at me. I stand up, sliding my phone into my back pocket, and nod before walking behind her to her car. After a car ride full of loud singing and cringy dance moves, we pull up to Sam’s new house.

“Woah,” I say as my eyes gander upon the huge house. With all the palm trees and the beachy vibe the place gives off, no wonder Sam keeps saying he’s “moving to Hawaii”.

“Wait til we get to the back. It is so pretty back there,” Kat tells me as she puts her car in park. There are a good amount of cars here, but not too many. We get out of the car and I follow Kat through the house and out to the back.

“Kat!” a small brunette girl with two blonde streaks in her hair yells as she runs up to Katrina. The two embrace before Kat steps back and pulls me in front of her.

“Tara, this is my friend, y/n.” Tara turns to smile at me and grabs my hand before pulling to another group of girls. Kat follows behind us with a huge grin on her face. I just roll my eyes and let the little woman pull me to wherever she desires.

“Guys, this is Kat’s friend, y/n. Y/n, this is Devyn, Cassie, and Xepher,” the small girl says as she gestures towards each girl as she says their name. They each give me a wave and say hi.

“Well y/n, we were about to hop in the pool if you want to join us,” Cassie suggests, and I smile and nod at her.

“We are going to go put our clothes in Sam’s room and then we will be right out with you girls, okay?” Kat spoke as the girls nod their heads and walk towards the tropical looking pool. Their whole backyard looks like a straight paradise. I follow Katrina back into the house as she takes me to a room.

“This is Sam’s room by the way,” Kat informs me before stripping off her clothes and setting them down on the bed. I do the same, folding my shorts and Kat’s shirt and placing them at the end of Sam’s bed. Kat flips her head over, throwing her hair up into a cute messy bun.

“I will never understand how you do that so effortlessly,” I say as she finishes doing her hair by pulling out little hairs to frame her face. She gives me a grin before we leave to go back outside.

“Oh wait, there’s Sam. You have to meet the roommates,” Katrina tells me as I follow her to the group of guys standing near what looks like a tiki hut thing.

“Hey y/n! I’m glad you could make it. I haven’t seen you in a while,” Sam greets me as he pulls me in for a hug. It’s nice to see a familiar face. Besides Kat, he’s the only one here that I know.

“Hey Samuel,” I say softly as I wrap my arms around his torso. I’ve always liked Sam, as friends of course. I love how he treats Kat and he is honestly such a nice guy. We pull away from each other before he introduces me to the guys around him.

“Guys, this is y/n. Y/n, this is Corey, Jake, and Colby,” Sam tells me, gesturing to each of his friends similar to how Tara did earlier when introducing me to her friends. Just as Devyn, Cassie, and Xepher, each of Sam’s buddies gave me a wave accompanied by a smile.

“We are going to head to the pool with the girls, but we will see you guys later,” Kat tells the group and then leads me over to the pool. We walk over to the girls who were sitting on the underwater stools that surrounded the rock table, talking. We join them and talk for a little while.

“I’m going to actually swim for a bit, okay?” I say to Kat as I nudge her to get her attention. She nods at me before joining back into the conversation.

I lean backwards before floating on my back. My ears are underwater so that I can’t hear anything clearly and I shut my eyes, letting the water take me wherever it pleases. Being in that state felt so calming. My eyes flutter open and I gaze up at the night sky, focusing on the tiniest of stars in the darkness above me.

Once more, I shut my eyes and kick my feet lightly to propel myself further, but my head hits something. I open my eyes to see one of the guys that Sam introduced me to earlier, but I can’t remember his name. I go back to standing up and turn around to face him.

“Oh sorry, didn’t see you there,” I awkwardly chuckle. Damn y/n, why do you have to be so weird? I’ve never been the best with new people, so that could be the reason.

“It’s no problem. You are Kat’s friend, right?” He asks me as he flashes a smile. Not gonna lie, this guy is really cute. I nod at him in response to his question before he continues to ask me another one. “How’d you get to know her?”

“Well, we both sing, but our managers linked us up and we’ve done a few songs together. But you know Kat, she’s literally impossible to not fall in love with. We just clicked as friends,” I tell him as he leans against the pool wall.

“Yeah, she’s really cool. I think I have heard some of your songs from her. You’re pretty good.” I blush at the compliment and shake my head.

“I don’t know,” I let out another awkward chuckle before continuing, “Tell me a little about yourself.”

“Well, I’m Colby. I post videos on YouTube with my roommates and I like to-“ His sentence gets cut off by someone behind me. I turn to see one of the roommates standing on top of the rocks on the edge, about to jump in.

“CANNONBALL!” The boy with grayish platinum hair with black tips yells before hopping off the stone wall. I turn into Colby to shield myself from water that splashes in every direction. He wraps his arms around me in reaction to me going towards him. I look up at him into his gorgeous blue eyes that I didn’t notice before. After staring for a little longer than I intended to, I back away from him.

“Sorry,” I whisper before looking over to where Kat was and the sight I saw was quite funny if you ask me. She was covered in water from the enormous splash that the guy made. I can’t help but bust out laughing. I told her earlier that something like this would happen.

“I like your laugh. It’s cute,” I hear Colby say. Again, I feel my cheeks warm from the blush that rises to them.

“Stoooop,” I say as an awkward giggle escapes my lips. He smiles hugely.

“Do you play basketball? We’ve got a hoop over there if you’d like to play,” He informs me as he gestures towards the basketball hoop.

“I’m no good at it, but I’ll go over there with you and maybe try a little if I feel like embarrassing myself even more than I already have.” He chuckles lightly before leading the way to the basketball court after we dry off a bit. He grabs the ball and hands it to me.

“Show me what you got, y/n,” He jokes before standing back, watching my attempt at a shot. I get into a stance and place one hand on the side of it, the other under it. Trying my absolute best, I throw the ball and it hits the rim but comes bouncing back towards Colby.

“See? I told you. I am ass at this,” I sigh in defeat as I turn to face him. He laughs at me before shooting the ball towards the hoop, making it perfectly.

“How do you do that?” I ask, my mouth wide open in amazement. He grabs the ball before walking over to me.

“First, close that pretty little thing before you catch a fly or something,” He says, using his finger to push my chin up and close my mouth.

“Second, would you like me to show you how?” I nod my head and Colby grabs my hand to lead me to where he was previously standing. He hands me the ball before standing in front of me.

“Okay so first we have to hold the ball correctly. This hand goes here…” He trails off, placing my left hand on side of the ball. He then grabs my other hand placing it slightly underneath it.

“Next, we need to fix your arms.” Colby lifts my right elbow and pushes it inward so that it is straight in line with my hand.

“Then, your stance…” He is so focused on making sure this is all correct and it is super cute to watch. He grips my shoulders and pushes me down a little so that my knees bend slightly. He steps back to get a good look at his work and gives me a proud smile before walking behind me, placing his hands back on my shoulders.

“Okay now focus on your target and then shoot by straightening your legs with a jump and use your right hand to push the ball. Don’t forget to follow through with your hand as well,” He says right into my ear before patting my shoulders and backing up. Doing exactly as he said and giving it my all, I push off the ground and use all my strength to push the ball, letting it roll off my fingertips and fly towards the hoop. Surprisingly, the basketball went through the hoop and fell into the net.

“Way to go!” I hear Colby cheer me on as I looked at him wide-eyed.

“That is the first time I have ever made a shot before. Do you know how many times my brother has tried to show me how to do that? Oh my God! I fucking made it. Thanks, Colby!” I shout as the feeling of excitement washes over me and I run over to him to give him a hug. In the moment of it all, I pull away from the embrace just a tad, but our faces are still very much close. A smirk falls upon his face and a smile plays onto my own.

“Want me to show you something else?” He whispers seductively into the small space between us.

“And what would that be?” I ask, returning the same sexual energy he was giving off. I guess making that shot was giving me some newfound confidence and I didn’t mind it.

“Well, it would start with this…” He lets his words fade as the space between us does as well. His lips press against my own, but before we can get any farther, he pulls away from me. A pout replaces what was a smile on my face and he chuckles.

“Get us out of here, Colby, and show me what you were talking about.”

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years ago

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Round-Up Review: WandaVision (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the Monday after the finale of WandaVision drops on Disney+, so if you haven’t yet seen the entire series don’t read on until you have.

So I was going to do a fully fleshed out review of the entire series of WandaVision, but just as I’m about to finish…Tumblr decides to freeze on me and I lose a day of work so I have now decided to work this review a different way and rather than giving a general reaction and going into a character analysis, I will be breaking it down into what I loved, what wasn’t there for me fully and where I feel we are going next.

General Reaction:

So I could of very easily gone through this series episode by episode...but based on the fact that not only was this a play-by-play mystery with a lot more questions than answers each week, but also as the series progressed, particularly after Evan Peters arrived at the end of episode 5, the fan-theories and potential spoilers almost made me not want to know what was going to happen because the theories were becoming so grand that the series could surely never live up to expectations, which is why I feel the director of the finalé stated that fans may be disappointed...because ultimately I don’t think the finalé did live up to expectations. But these were expectations built up as an culmination of fan-theories, comic-book insight and also MCU baiting.

By MCU baiting, I mean that the creatives of WandaVision decided to be creative, and possibly playful, by including several red herrings that went absolutely nowhere but were the main conspiracy theories driving the fan-speculations and fake spoilers throughout the latter half of the series.

Dottie...who was she? Nobody important. Evan Peters...was he Quicksilver? No. Was he Mephisto/Nightmare? No. Was he important? Not really. Monica’s mysterious engineer contact, a fan-favourite character? Not even a character from the comics, I think.

Now that’s not to say this series asked questions that weren’t answered satisfactorily, but a lot of them seemed to build up to what is to come rather than giving us all the answers in this series. Is that a good thing? Yes because I feel this will make this series more rewatchable than I feel it already is. I for one of re-watched each episode at least twice sometimes three times each week leading up to the next episode and having just seen the entire series as a whole product I can safely say that characters and elements from this series going forward may have call-backs to the events of this series which will make for clicks, more views and more plays.

Speaking of watchability, can we talk about how interesting it has been to watch half-hour scheduled programming for 9 weeks like the olden days, and the fact we can call television life before streaming “the olden days”?.

But honestly sitting down, for me on a Friday morning at 9:30am without fail, to watch what began as a 25–30-minute MCU sitcom before turning into a 30–40-minute MCU mystery every week harkened back to my childhood and coming back from school to watch my shows which only aired once a week at that time. Feige’s and the creatives in the MCU brought back that feeling of nostalgia for me which I never really expected from a comic-book property.

Speaking of classic televisual viewing, I really enjoyed the standard sitcom setup of this series. I knew of all the referenced shows going in like The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Malcolm in the Middle and Modern Family, but it was also nice to see some standard sitcom tropes seen in the majority of sitcoms utilized throughout. From Agatha posing as the nosey neighbour to the fashions of each sitcom era and even the fourth wall breaks both from Billy in the Halloween episode in a Malcolm in the Middle spoof to the following episode literally titled “Breaking the Fourth Wall”.

Also, I will say here that all those MCU “stans” who are complaining they didn’t get the big grand beginning of Phase 4 that was promised to us by Feige as “something different”, the guy’s mantra is to keep it simple and the finalé was hardcore Feige. “Something different” was the set up and delivery of this slice of the MCU and some fans are still moaning about that so some people are just never satisfied.

What I Loved

Scarlet Witch

Give Elizabeth Olsen awards for this season! Make gold rain down upon her! Honestly, I have loved Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff since her formal introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but now we have formally been introduced to the Scarlet Witch she is not only the most powerful female if not character in the MCU but also the best character in the entire MCU to date.

Not only is this series personifying how an individual deals with their grief, but when you consider the fact that Wanda, who is by all accounts a 29 year old woman due to being blipped for 5 years, and has lost her parents at a young age, her twin brother at 25-26 so still a young age and then the first love of her life twice, first by her own hand and then by the Mad Titan so that initial sacrifice was for nothing, it’s just a lot to put on one individual with this level of raw power without expecting her to finally snap and create an alternate reality where everything is under her control.

The creation of her twins, who I will get into further down, was well done and, for want of a better word, organic for the series. But I did like how they showed the real-life struggle of not just having a new-born but having twins. Wanda is trying to maintain control of this world she has created as well as keep Vision in check, but also because the twins are seemingly not under her magical control, she must juggle maintaining the world and its people with being a new mother.

But the biggest crisis for Wanda comes in when Fietro shows up, I still do not believe she ever truly thought this was her dead brother resurrected. It wasn’t until he said “long lost brother” that he asked “Pietro?” and she spent the entire next episode interrogating him until the façade finally slipped and she decided he wasn’t.

After this, everything falls apart for her. Not only is her reality literally slipping with Vision at odds with her, the world constantly shifting between eras and her not understanding what is happening.

This is of course when she is confronted by Agatha Harkness who has not only taken her twins but also been fooling her by being “Nosy Neighbour Auntie Agnes” for this entire time when in reality she is a with from the days of the Salem Witch Trials who wants to understand Wanda’s true potential and then absorb all of her magic.

But when we got to see Wanda’s true potential as she went “Beast Mode” as the Scarlet Witch complete with stunning new outfit and crown, this levels the character up to that top spot in the MCU as the best and most powerful character.

I am excited to see where the Scarlet Witch’s potential will take her next.

WandaVision Love Story

I also really loved the fact that as well as a personification of dealing with Wanda’s grief, this series was truly a love story between Wanda and Vision.

From the first episode when we see them getting “married” and being that unusual suburban couple trying to fit in with seemingly everyday suburban life when the entire set-up is Wanda’s idyllic dream world.

As Darcy said to Vision, the love these two have is real. I did an entire post on why Scarlet Witch and Vision are the best MCU couple, and this series amplifies that. It becomes clear that these two are not actually married and in fact this Vision isn’t even the Vision we have seen developed through the movies, but he is a replication of Wanda’s true love and this is how she chooses to show it.

The fact they go through all of the typical newlywed couple goalposts of marriage, homemakers, kids, a dog, domestic disputes. It’s all there and feels so natural even though we are talking about the relationship a potential Nexus Being and a Synthezoid.

Their final goodbye in the series finale is honestly as heart-breaking as any love-lost in a tragic romance movie. Seriously how many more times is Wanda, and by extension the fans, supposed to say goodbye to Vision?

Agatha Harkness

I love Kathryn Hahn, this series has solidified that for me. Not only is this the first live-action appearance of Agatha Harkness but also the way in which she was modified from the comics is in a way that I would be annoyed with any other way if not for the fact that it was Kathryn Hahn playing her.

Now yes, fans of the comics knew “Agnes” was really Agatha Harkness from the casting announcement, but the actual reveal wasn’t epic because we already knew, it was epic because of the way it was revealed.

“Agatha All Along” has honestly become one of my new favourite songs, it is such a catchy tune, incorporates a couple of classic sitcom nods and is very memorable.

But also, even the fact that the final line of “…and I killed Sparky too” has become so memeable without overshadowing the overall song is such an impressive feat.

The Lopez’s not only capitalise on their Frozen success but also Kathryn Hahn gets to show her musical talents by singing the actual song…it was just incredible.

But yes, Agatha being a villain, as she has been in the comics but not on this scale, was a great decision for this series because Kathryn Hahn managed to inject her own brand of cynical dry comedy with echoes of Cate Blanchett’s Hela to create a fully rounded menacing villainous character.

Not only do we learn about her origins of how she can absorb magic by murdering her entire coven, mother included, but also that she elevates that by being able to steal any magic, even that of the powerful Scarlet Witch, truly makes this witch a threat within the magical realms of the MCU.

Even though she was defeated I am thrilled she didn’t die, she has simply been taken off the board for now but is still able to be put into play if and when she is needed again, maybe in Doctor Strange 2 maybe sooner, who knows?

Monica Rambeau

I have to say, I do not know much about Proton from the comics and genuinely though Maria Rambeau was a bigger character than she was, but considering they killed her off-screen during this series I don’t think she actually was.

I loved how the effects of the blip are still showing their repercussions as Monica returns after being victim to the blip and is immediately thrust into a chaotic post-blip world that echoes the real-world COVID-19 crisis I imagine.

From the start once outside of the Hex, Monica hits the ground running as both a SWORD operative and a self-assured hero trying to do the right thing by saving the town of Westview and Wanda while thwarting Hayward.

I really loved how her “Boss Lady” persona that Agent Woo grants her was very well realised because she did not take any nonsense from anyone. She got the Space Rover so she could attempt to re-enter the Hex, she attempted to reason with Wanda not once, not twice, but thrice.

And when the rover couldn’t penetrate the Hex, she decided to re-enter unprotected knowing what the barrier would potentially do to her physiology…and it did not disappoint.

Monica got powers, she got powers in a spectacular way. I loved how while she was physically struggling to break through the barrier, she could hear the voices of her nearest and dearest (archive footage from Captain Marvel) which spurred her on until she finally pulled herself together and became the superpowered individual she was always going to become.

But she didn’t stop there, not only did she try to once again confront Wanda who at this point was rather unhinged, but she didn’t take her threats lying down and instead tried to break into Agnes’ house before getting caught by Fietro.

However, once she worked out Fietro was really Ralph and was able to free him from Agatha’s control, she wasted no time in running off and making herself useful and just in time as she stopped Hayward from shooting the twins and assisted them in subduing the rogue SWORD agents.

As for Monica’s future, she has been drafted by that Skrull to join Nick Fury’s new team and may return to honour her late mother’s position as director of SWORD. All I know is her future is as bright and vibrant as the energy waves she can now see.

Twins

I love Wiccan and Speed so much, I love the Young Avengers so much, I love Wiccan and Hulkling’s relationship from the comics that is inevitably going to happen hopefully, but the fact this was the origins of all of that gave me everything.

Even before their birth, I loved how the pregnancy was making everything in the house go crazy. Some fans believe this was Wanda’s powers out of control due to pregnancy, I think this was actually Billy’s reality warping powers either acting from inside the womb or amplifying Wanda’s reality warping powers.

When the twins were in existence, I feel Wanda wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen. Billy and Tommy had their own minds and weren’t afraid to show them. Not only with finding Sparky but also with revealing their powers.

It’s fascinating as both these characters have the powers of either their mother or uncle, Billy has reality warping powers and Tommy has super speed. But while both got great chances to show them both in the Halloween episode and also in the series finale, I do believe we have only just scratched the surface of particularly Billy’s powers.

Of course they were always going to be lost at the end of the series, as they were in the comics when they were reabsorbed into Mephisto, in this instance they were seemingly deleted along with their father and the Hex…but then we hear them calling out to Wanda while she’s examining the Darkhold? Is this really them? Multiverse variants? What does all this mean? We need answers!

Darcy Lewis

I was thrilled when I heard Kat Dennings was not only returning to the MCU but being part of different characters’ stories rather than just Thor.

I loved how Darcy was on it from the start by firstly identifying that she and the other three scientists in recruitment didn’t share any common field so that meant SWORD had no idea what they were facing, but then being the one to identify the broadcast of WandaVision.

It did truly feel like we were watching Darcy be us while she was watching the series, seeing her get so invested in the hijinks and the plot twists was very relatable. Kat Dennings sold that relatability just as she does in every performance for me.

Then her fan-girling over the wider MCU, Kat Dennings is a fan of the MCU outside of her own appearances, so the fact she confirmed Vision did not get blipped but actually died and also had that moment in first meeting Monica was adorable.

Also, the fact that Darcy was the one who figured out not only that Monica’s cells were being re-written but also that Hayward had nefarious intentions with wanting to track down Vision, it just gave Darcy a purpose in the series and almost made her invaluable. Monica and Jimmy don’t have the backgrounds to be the “person in the chair” but Darcy does, and I was happy she finally got the chance to showcase it.

Even when she was taken into the Hex and temporarily became the Escape Artist, she was still Darcy in a way, then she became Vision’s source of information and road trip buddy before being left on the side-lines only to then return and help defeat Hayward.

What Didn’t Work:

Too Many Red Herrings

As I said this series and the series creatives had far too many red herrings planted to either fool us or tease us without any solid resolutions.

The biggest one is definitely “Fietro” who as it turns out isn’t Multiverse Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men movies but is instead an in-universe actor named Ralph Bohner who was enthralled by Agatha to play the part of her husband and be her spy and lackey.

Honestly not only am I annoyed that Evan Peters was used for what was ultimately a boner joke, but also it does throw dirt into the wound as to the fact we may not be getting Mutants or the X-Men for a while yet in the MCU.

Then there’s Dottie...similarly to Fietro this could have been a smart way to bring Mutants into the MCU. While yes Dottie was believed to be Mephisto or a witch of some description, I was actually onboard with the idea that this was the MCU Emma Frost. It would have been poetic for Agatha Harkness to be working with Emma Frost to not only maintain her manipulation but also with Emma’s telepathic abilities but also potentially have Emma working as a double agent for the Hellfire Club who also want to harness the powers of the Scarlet Witch similarly to how they wanted to control the Phoenix Force.

Wanda in the MCU has already been compared to Jean Grey, so how about Scarlet Witch becoming the Black Queen of the Inner Circle?

Next, Ultron. A namedrop as many times as this deserves some sort of payoff. Ralph got his and it may have been disappointing but at least we got resolution. So why, when Ultron was named numerous times and we as fans even had Avengers: Age of Ultron being the next recommended watch for us at the end of every episode except the finale, did nothing come of it? If White Vision was voiced by James Spader I would have been happy.

Finally, there’s Monica’s engineer “guy”. We didn’t find out who this was because the contact Monica met with was an Air Force contact delivering the Space Rover, but who was the engineer who designed it? Why didn’t we meet him?

I personally feel this engineer is Reed Richards, there is obviously a rich history of space being connected to Reed’s origins as Mister Fantastic, we know the Fantastic Four are coming to the MCU, it would simply make sense to first introduce Reed as maybe a scientist for SWORD or Nick Fury’s team before bringing in the full team.

I know the other option is Hank Pym, but really if it was Pym then why couldn’t they just pay Michael Douglas for a cameo?

The Future of the MCU

So, what does WandaVision set up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Well, we know that this is the start of the Multiverse Arc that will continue with Spider-Man: No Way Home later this year and conclude with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness next year. It is confirmed that Scarlet Witch will show up in the latter of those two movies, but we have no idea what role she’ll serve in Spider-Man.

The other story this series sets up is Secret Invasion which will happen during the series of the same name starring Nick Fury and the Skrulls and also Captain Marvel 2 which will not only feature Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau but also the upcoming Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. This puts three superpowered women in the same movie and possibly will be the nexus of the Secret Invasion storyline before the concluding movie being an Avengers level event.

Then there’s also Falcon and the Winter Soldier starting in a couple of weeks, that series will most likely connect to Black Widow due to including Yelena Belova but also because that was originally supposed to come out before WandaVision it is tough to see if it or any other upcoming series except for Secret Invasion will connect to this series.

And of course, there is the upcoming Young Avengers project, we have yet to get confirmation of if this will be a movie or a TV series but we know we are having the players put onto the board in Disney+ shows and MCU movies. We have Wiccan and Speed, we know we are getting Kate Bishop and America Chavez as well as already having Cassie Lang just recast for the upcoming Ant-Man 3 to hopefully finally become Stature, and while we have yet to get confirmation of Hulkling it is possible he will appear in Secret Invasion given the Kree-Skrull elements.

Overall, I rate this series a solid 9/10, this series gave me practically everything I wanted and there were many times particularly in the finale that I felt this was the best Marvel Television series. I still stand by the fact that I think it is but the red herrings of Fietro, Mephisto, Ultron and Monica’s “guy” meant I couldn’t call it a solid 10/10.

Regardless of that, I felt this series gave us something different in an MCU mystery, formally introducing witches into the MCU, the love story of Wanda and Vision was intoxicating, meeting Wiccan and Speed in the early years was glorious and honestly Wanda embracing her destiny and becoming the Scarlet Witch…if the entire series was at that level it would be a 10/10 across the board.

So that’s my Round-Up Review of WandaVision, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Marvel Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

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imacrowcawcaw · 4 years ago

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Hi I come with a rather silly question, but I was curious, according to your perception how would you describe the personality of every girl in the GVF fandom here at tumblr

That's not a silly question at all, I think it's great and actually quite creative!!!

It seems to me that there are a couple types, which is normal cause there's a lot of us lol. We're not all the same, even if we have some interests in common!

Types of Greta Van Fleet Fans on Tumblr as Observed By Me

Type 1: The Casual Fan

She knows their music, but it's not her favorite. She might reblog a few photos or funny things about the boys on occasion, but her blog is no where near dedicated to Greta and they probably aren't even one of her hyper-obsessions, just another artist in her library. She's more on the outs of the fandom; it's rare that she's tagged or mentioned in anything because not many of us know her. Greta Van Fleet is, most likely, an outlier in her music taste: either heavier than she's used to, or more classic rock when she's a straight up metalhead. All of this is absolutely okay! This girl is generally chill and sweet when she does get to interact, although if she ends up liking GVF more and wants to get "in" on the fandom it can be frustrating to make herself seen.

Type 2: The Die Hard Groupies

I feel kinda bad calling them this but, if given the chance, these chicks would become groupies in an instant. They love the band with their whole heart, and want to live a life of peace, sex, drugs, and rock n roll with their idols. But since they are contained to Tumblr at the moment, these ladies contend themselves with thirst tagging, sending various friends like @satans-helper and @dreams-madeof-strawberrylemonade naughty fanfiction requests and confessions, reblogging pictures of their favorite groupies from rock history, and, of course, listening to Greta Van Fleet (cause they do like the music, I want to make it clear it's not all about sex). It's a toss up whether this girl is open to any and all of the boys, or has a lane she will die in. Jake seems to be the most common.

Type 3: The Accuser

This can girl is much, much more common on Instagram, but I've seen a few here too... The Accuser takes "cancel culture" to the extreme and is canceling a person for something every single day (and encouraging others to do the same) despite the fact that she still likes them apparently (you'll see that she still posts about this person who is "awful")? She thinks the boys are abusing their fame by not promoting social justice very publicly at all times, she has problems with all their girlfriends, she thinks the album is taking too long and that they're being lazy; she goes on rants about symbolism in the songs, makes every conversation about social justice no matter the relevance, and picks fights about the most ridiculous things. (Again, this was on Instagram, but I had two girls fighting over which twin had the larger gay following and things got INTENSE). This girl is quick to anger and accuse, wants everyone to be on her side and thinks even minor disagreements are Literal Death, and still proclaims to love the band despite finding fault in everything they do. High probability she excludes Danny or hates him the most. Yikes.

Note: If you're mad at "The Accuser" one cause, hey, sometimes there are problems that need to be addressed, keep reading.

Type 4: The Defender

While I prefer this girl over The Accuser, she is also... not perfect. The Defender, in contrast to The Accuser (and probably fighting directly against her in a reblog chain no one else bothers to read cause ugh this again), thinks that the GVF boys are literal angels on earth who can do no wrong. She agrees and backs up every decision they and their management make, and always jump to their defense whether it’s music, looks, actions, or online activity being criticized. She is probably a pacifist, heavily dislikes fighting, and wholeheartedly believes in “peace love and unity”. I wouldn’t say that she is naive or irresponsible entirely, but she tends to ignore anything that she dislikes or else immediately jumps to the defense. Think One Direction fangirls circa the early 2010s.

Type 5: The Happy Hippie Medium

This girl is what I, personally, would consider an enthusiastic yet responsible fan. She generally stays outside of the drama because it has nothing to do with her, she thinks it’s too silly to argue about, or she just values her sanity and peace. She does, occasionally, chime in on matters that she thinks are too important to be ignored, whether it’s the wait time for the album or their social media presence, and she’s always respectful about stating her opinion. She loves Greta and posts quite a bit about them, including original content, but she also has other interests that she blogs about. It could be other bands, aesthetic photos, astrology, artwork, tv shows, activism, it doesn’t really matter, but you’ll find that her blog is an interesting and utterly disorganized haven of herself. Gives great recommendations on all manner of things, and has probably been to a concert and had the time of her life.

Type 6: The Obsession Blog

This is the girl - or, rather, the blog - that is 100% about Greta Van Fleet. Every bit of content that comes in or out is GVF related; she’s the one you go to if you want a certain picture or an ear to hear your fantasies. Even more so if her blog has a specific topic, such as a Sam Kiszka blog! (Or @gretavanfleetconfessions lmao shameless self plug). She probably also has one or more side blogs where she has other content she is interested in, as well as personal information. I am surprised at how often I follow both blogs without knowing it’s the same person!!!

-----

So, I think that those 6 types covers pretty much all the types of fans of GVF on Tumblr, or maybe more accurately their attitudes and content. I admit that I probably walk the line between “Happy Hippie ” and “The Defender”; I try to keep a healthy balance between my obsessions and a healthy amount of affection to GVF, sometimes that means ignoring stuff!

I have also noticed that there are things that a LOT of GVF fangirls have in common that aren’t band related, but make this fandom more vibrant and close nonetheless. Many of us:

are musicians

are writers

are artists (plugging @sphoox cause she’s my favorite but seriously all the artists rock)

generally like to be creative, whether it’s crochet or cooking or making moodboards

have other shared bands, such as: Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Motley Crue, Guns n Roses, Nick Cave, Hanson, Harry Styles, Lana Del Ray, Twenty One Pilots, David Bowie, Pearl Jam, Metallica...

have other shared tv shows and movies, such as: Avatar the Last Airbender, The Witcher, Killing Eve, Mad Men, The Office, Parks and Rec, Labyrinth, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Adams Family, Pirates of the Carribean...

are interested in astrology and star signs

are interested in history

are interested in fashion

love to read and learn (not necessarily in school) and have all manner of knowledge

are in the LGBT+ community

are women of color, in and outside the U.S.!

are neurodivergent

love nature and being active outdoors

love and share various aesthetics, whether it’s cottage core or ‘67 hippy or 80s rocker vibes

I love this fandom community and hope I can remain a part of it for a long time! There are things that diversify us and things that bring us closer together, plus, of course, the four wonderful (and sexy) musicians that brought us all together in the first place. What type of fan do you consider yourself to be? Was I accurate (enough), are there more types? I hope I haven’t wildly offended too many people lol....

#greta van fleet #gvf #lulucrowproductions #my writing #gvf fandom #peaceful army #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #sam kiszka #danny wagner

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lokiondisneyplus · 4 years ago

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Sasha Lane always plays the rebel. “Somebody make me a f***ing fairy princess, please,” says the actor, sighing with exasperation. “I promise I won’t say f***.” She is the type of plucky young star you imagine can do anything but, until now, Lane has excelled at playing the daring renegade, whether it’s as a teenage runaway in American Honey, the dazzling coming-of-age film that made her name in 2016, as a spliff-smoking “bad kid” in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, or, this month, as a violent fugitive in Amazon Prime’s Utopia.

The 25-year-old puts these sorts of roles down to her 20 tattoos and her dreadlocks. “I’m immediately seen as dirty and dark,” she says, recalling when she attended the illustrious Met Gala event in 2018, wearing a white lace dress. “I had diamonds in my hair – diamonds,” she says, with faux indignation. “Somebody was like, ‘She's so grungy.’ I was like, ‘What about this outfit says: ‘I'm gonna do a head bang and burn a town down?’ No. I'm sipping with my pinkie up and feeling very graceful and I wish you would just let me have my moment.”

Lane is just as captivating to watch on Zoom as she is in her films. She plays with her distinctive dreads – piling them atop her head, sweeping them over her shoulder – and her hands spiral around each other as she talks in a rhythmic southern drawl. When we speak, Lane has just got off a video call with her one-year-old daughter. She's currently in Atlanta, where she’s rumoured to be shooting the new Thor-spin off series, Loki, with Tom Hiddleston. “I'm just gonna skip over that one,” she says, laughing, when asked about it.

No one could have foreseen that Lane would end up here, though she is easily one of the most intriguing actors of the moment. She’d never planned on acting, let alone liked it, and thought she’d join the Peace Corps after college. But in 2014 her life changed forever when, aged 19, she was spotted on a Miami beach by Andrea Arnold. The director had just lost her lead actor for American Honey, the dizzying, sun-soaked Cannes Jury Prize-winner about a girl who decides to cut and run with a band of misfits. Among the tens of thousands of students getting wasted on spring break, Lane stood out.

“It was a crazy trip,” says Lane. “Me and my friends had been kicked out of a hotel and we ended up on this beach. I had no care in the world and that's when Andrea saw me.” Arnold told Lane she was making a film and later that night, while two of her friends were passed out from partying on her hotel bed, Lane improvised scenes in the lobby. “I had definitely been drinking that day, but I can hold my own,” she says now.

The next day over breakfast, Arnold asked Lane to stick around for another week. Lane was cautious. “I was like, ‘Alright, well if you turn out to be a murderer this is not gonna go well for you. I know s***. You're gonna have to really hack up my body if we're gonna do this.’ Which is weird to say to someone, but I did,” says Lane. She stayed, and by the end of the week she’d been cast in the film opposite Shia LaBeouf. She dropped out of college and flew out to Oklahoma to start shooting.

Her resulting performance as Star, a teenager from a broken home who hits the road with a travelling, partying sales crew in the midwest, was magnetic. With no professional experience, Lane managed to delicately balance her character’s mixture of vulnerability and grit.

Lane, like Star, left her life behind to go on the road with the film’s cast and crew. “I didn't know how to act,” she says. “So I didn't know what to do other than pull stuff from my own mind. I got to the point where I’d be crying to Andrea, saying, ‘I can't tell the difference between who I am and who Star is.’ We were in a bubble and had no visitors. We slept in s****y motels together, we were in the van for hours. There was no escaping American Honey.”

Star’s love interest in the film is the crew’s wild, hyperactive “business manager” Jake, a rat-tailed LaBeouf who Lane was reportedly dating off-screen. LaBeouf was intense on set. In one instance, Star was supposed to be angry with Jake, but Lane was struggling to conjure the emotion. “I was just laughing,” she says. “So Shia started telling me, ‘You're ruining this scene. You're f***ing ruining the whole movie.’ I knew what he was doing but it hurt and it was pissing me off. I just snapped and then they started filming and it was like, ‘Oh right, I see what you did there. You f***er.’ It was smart.”

The kids in the film, who are from forgotten, midwestern towns, are in a demographic that Donald Trump claims to be the voice of. Our interview is a week ahead of the 2020 election, and Lane is not convinced. “He's had his time and he has nothing to show for it,” she says. “He didn't deliver. I understood, especially back then, why certain people voted for him. They just wanted to believe that he would put money in and give us jobs, but it didn't work out that way.”

Like Star, Houston-born Lane moved around a lot as a child, between Texas, Florida and Dallas, and helped raise her little sisters. “I don't really like to talk about my family but my mom was gone a lot,” she says. “I played this role of being the glue, trying to keep everyone together. I grew up really, really young. Bad things happened to me as a kid but I had this feeling that it made me a better person. I have empathy and perspective.” As a result, she continues, she “internalised a lot because I never wanted people to feel my pain. I wanted to appear strong and light and be able to take care of everyone. Meanwhile, I would sit in my closet, give myself like 10 seconds to cry, then I would suck it up and be like, ‘OK, move forward, time to go get my sisters some food and act like everything's OK.’ I got really good at pretending things were OK.”

When Lane went to college, she started to crack. “I ended up getting diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder,” she says. “There are voices in your head, things are really dark. It's hard to explain to people who care about you that you can't sleep and you're hearing voices all day and you're sad and you're just tired. By the time I was a teenager, I was so tired.”

In the weeks before Lane met Arnold in 2014, the voices were “saying something nice for the first time”. “They told me, ‘Hold on, something’s coming that will allow you to fill your purpose and let you breathe,’” she says. “People ask me all the time, ‘If American Honey didn't happen, what would you be doing?’ Truly, I don't think I'd be here. I think it saved my life.”

There is a serendipity to Lane’s acting career. First, American Honey came out of the blue. Then, in 2018, she starred in Desiree Akhavan’s gay conversion drama The Miseducation of Cameron Post as a girl raised in a hippy commune. The part resonated with Lane as someone who refuses to put a label on her sexuality and whose brother had a difficult time growing up gay and black in Houston. “I've never seen myself as someone who's like, ‘Hey, I'm queer, I'm bisexual, I'm this,’” says Lane. “I just have a very broad and open and unique way of loving. I can literally fall in love with a f***ing squirrel. Anyone.”

Her brother, she says, “always prayed he’d be normal”, much like the characters in Cameron Post try to “pray away the gay”. She says the film moved some elderly conservative viewers to tears and has helped to change people’s minds.

After that, Lane landed roles in the warm indie drama Hearts Beat Loud and the horror Daniel Isn’t Real, and her latest project is the US remake of Dennis Kelly’s Utopia, about a gang of bright youngsters who are in possession of a cult graphic novel that seems to predict disastrous real-world epidemics, making them the target of a shadowy deep state organisation. Lane plays yet another woman on the run, Jessica Hyde, who has been evading The Network all her life and who helps the young group survive.

Lane studied feral cats to get into the character’s mindset. “For them, everything is survival mode,” she says. “You're terrified someone's gonna capture you. You don't hang in packs because you're a loner. That's Jessica Hyde.”

She may be stuck playing the rebel but, through playing misunderstood outliers like Jessica Hyde and Star, Lane wants her work to bring people together and help us to understand each other. “I’m not the biggest public speaker,” she says, “but if I can make films that touch hearts and connect people, that's beautiful. Of course I want to be a part of that.”

#Sasha Lane #Loki #Kate Herron just like her tweet about acting during Covid #and she's in Atlanta

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