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bornagainmurdock · 4 months ago

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read my hands/read my mind

author's note: y'all ever had to finger spell directly into someones hands to communicate? nothing quite like it! also disclaimer, this is just one hoh voice and experience, and not universal for everyone that is deaf/hoh.

contents: fluff, matt murdock x reader, gender neutral reader, deaf/hoh reader & uses sign language while talking, sushi and a movie date night with matt

word count: 1.7k

Matt had started learning ASL quite early in your relationship, trying to find as many resources he could that catered to blind learners. You both knew it was a bit ironic that you were hard of hearing and Matt was blind, the major form of communication for one person was a struggle for the other. It made things interesting, and ultimately an interesting daily challenge.

Some days your hearing was better than others, and some days your hearing aids seemed pointless. Today was one of those days. You couldn't hear much, if anything at all, everything was unclear and wobbly, unstable and unmanageable. The first tell being waking up to Matt shaking you, mouth moving but no sound.

Matt kept his hands on your back, shaking you still when you opened your eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. He was still talking, but to no avail.

Lipreading was an art and a science, and Matt unfortunatley in the morning was a mess of words, most of them slurred with sleepiness. The most you got from him was every other word. Something about him thinking you were awake when he got out of bed to find you still sleeping when he was doing the final touches.

And then he mouthed, 'oh you can't hear today.' He nodded and pointed at the side table where your hearing aids were charging. He waited for you to put your hands in his and sign. Sometimes your voice was reliable, but it was too early and silence filled your throat.

You put your hand against his and signed 'no' before throwing the covers off your body and sitting up.

Matt wasn't the greatest at sign, but could finger spell and have basic converstion. Once you stood, sliding on your slippers and making your way to the closet to find clothes for work, he waved to get your attention, pointing then to the kitchen and signing 'food' with his eyebrows down.

You hummed in affirmation, doing your best to wake up your vocal chords.

Matt smiled, signed 'i love you,' and left the room for you to get ready.

You could smell breakfast being cooked in the other room, unable to hear the sizzling of the skillet or plop of orange juice into a glass.

You put your clothes on, settling on something basic and casual to stay comfortable at work, before grabbing a pair of oxfords and sitting on the edge of the bed to tie them.

Matt returned to the bedroom doorway and waved again, waiting for you to look up at him and confirm attention verbally.

"Hmm." You looked up and whispered, "Matty?"

"Hi love," He signed as he spoke, hoping maybe your brain and ears needed to just adjust to being awake, "Breakfast is ready. Eat with me?"

You hummed again, standing up to join him, grabbing his arm to walk.

"Matty, looks so good." You voice sounded distant and un-resonant, having to trust your voice over your hearing to confirm you were making any sound.

"Let's eat" Matt signed and spoke, raising a glass to cheers.

When you both finished breakfast, Matty wrote down his plans for hte day on the dry erase calender in the kitchen. You wrote your own schedule, and once you had both reviewed, you confirmed dinner plans.

'See you later, baby' Matt signed, handing you your keys and bag before opening the door for you to walk together.

'Love you Matt.'

'Love you.'

Work went about as good as it could when you couldn't hear, most people opting to send you emails or write on the notepad you kept on your desk for days like these.

Eventually sounds came back to you, just a little bit, but making everything more tolerable and clearer. You hadn't brought your hearing aids thinking it wouldn't get much better throughout the day, which probably wasn't the brightest idea, but the decision you made regardless. As the clocks moved closer and closer to 5pm, you became impatient, unable to sit still, packing your bag far too early and having to look busy for about 10 minutes.

One of your coworkers, Alex, walked to your office, waving to catch you attention and started signing about office gossip they'd heard throughotu the day that you hadn't been privy to yet. Almsot no one knew ASL at work, and this was one of the moments where that was a good thing.

Once you both had finished the conversation, you signed goodbye to Alex, and made your way down the elevator and out the lobby, waving goodbye to the desk staff there.

Once you had gotten home, you unpacked your bag, put on clothes for dinner with Matt, and placed the hearing aids around your ears, turning them on and using a YouTube video as a sound base to adjust the volume levels correctly. You sat down on the couch and scrolled through Twitter for a while.

Matt got home not long after you did, opening the door and unpacking his bag once he walked around the entry way to the dining table.

You turned back to look at him, Matt immediatly lighting up with a smile.

He signed the beginning of his sentence before realizing he could hear the buzzing of your hearing aids.

"Better than this morning?" He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.

"Mmhm. Not a lot, but enough to wear them. Still fuzzy and muddled together but working through it." You signed as you spoke, both out of habit and as a method of confort even though Matt couldn't see it. "Missed your voice."

Matt appraoched you on the couch, sitting next to you to pull you into his chest carefully, holding you to him.

"Well then I should keep talking, hmm?" He was leaned in, mouth near your ears to make sure you could hear the nuances in his voice. He started kissing there under your ear and across your jaw.

"Keep it in your pants, tiger. We got dinner plans." You placed your hands in his to sign, trying to be slow enough for him to keep up.

"Let me get dressed and then we can go." He signed back into your hands, speaking as well.

He got up to change, leaving you on the couch happy and buzzed with affection.

When he emerged out of the bedroom, you took his hands and grabbed your bag to leave.

"Sushi still okay? That place on the corner is doing happy hour right now." Matt said grabbing his cane.

"Yes, please."

He led you out of the apartment building, taking your arm to look like you were guiding him.

"Just one more block, left at the light." He pointed ahead, signing key words to help you in the sound nightmare of NYC.

Once you got to the restaurant, Matt asked for a table a bit isolated to give you a better chance at focusing on his voice and not distracted by the cities distorition.

Once they sat you, the waiter came by with cucumber waters, giving you a minute to look over the menus.

"What're you thinking, baby?" Matt felt your body become overwhelmed, heart pounding. "Tell me what you want and I can order when they come back."

"Cali roll with crab, eggplant roll, hmmm, edamame, and maybe the fried tofu." You pointed as you spoke hoping it would help you remain focused.

'Drink?'

"Lemonade, please."

'Got it.' Matt signed, taking a moment to put it all to memory.

The waiter came back and Matt ordered for both of you with ease, looking over at you ever other word to make sure you were still okay.

"Sounds good. We'll have that right out." The waiter said, closing their notebook and walking away.

'How was work?' You signed and spoke to Matt, your hands in his again.

"Foggy and I goofed the whole day to Karen's dismay. I think she's sick of us." He said, laughing.

'People at work were kind to me today but I just think they feel bad for me. Alex told me the office gossip. Boring day.'

"Good thing we're here then."

The food was brought out pretty quickly, you and Matt eating everything without a word.

He payed the check and smiled. 'Home?'

'Home.'

You walked back together, Matt signing stories the whole way home with one hand while the other held onto your upper arm.

When he opened the door you about collapsed, exhausted from the day.

He half-carried you to the bedroom, supporting most of your weight.

'Let's get these off you.' He signed, reaching for your hearing aids waiting for confirmation to remove them.

Once you nodded he gently unwrapped them from around your ears, placing them in the case and making sure they charged by listening for the hum of the battery working.

You were slumped on the bed still, itching to get out of the clothes you had on.

'Too much. Hearing Fatigued?' Matt said working at the buttons of his shirt to start getting undressed. 'Help you?'

You signed, with a verbal yes, sitting up for Matt to start stripping you.

'Movie? Couch?'

"Yes, and yes."

He hung up both sets of y'alls clothes and grabbed two of his oversized shirts, one for him and one for you.

Matt reached a hand out for you to grab, helping move you to the couch. He grabbed the remote, scrolling through options.

'New or usual?'

Matt had messed with the TV settings so the sound was audio descriptions of each scene, and the text was captions for you to read.

"Usual."

Nights like this felt simple, even with all the complications. Matt would sign, you would speak. It was nice. It felt like being safe.

He sorted through your favorite movies in his head, eventually spelling out a few names. 'Crimson Peak? Shrek? Train to Busan?'

"Those are silly options."

'American Psycho?'

"That sounds good to me."

'Start?'

"Mmhm."

Matt hit the speak button on the remote, pulling up the movie and starting it with ease.

You leaned into his body, cuddling into his side, looking up at his face.

"I love you."

'Love you.'

#matt murdock fanfic #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock fluff #fluff

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offside-the-lines · 11 months ago

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Tie me down, your hands like butter | Matthew Tkachuk

Summary: Matthew thinks silk wrist ties are an exciting pre-team dinner appetizer. And now the boys know. SMUT: 18 + ONLY. MINORS DNI. SAFE SEX RESOURCE. a/n: I live in a world where Matty's hair is longer than it is because I love his curls. Don't @ me. This is my first smutty piece here. Happy new year lol. I also don't typically like to write reader inserts but thought I'd play around with it; and I won't use "y/n" so there's a gratuitous use of "baby". Pairing: Matthew Tkachuk x Female!Reader (Existing relationship) Words: 3K Warnings: Mild bondage (wrist ties), Under negotiated kink (photo exhibitionism), Fingering, Oral sex (fem receiving), PiV, Unprotected sex (wrap it up kiddos), Creampie; Some chirping at the team dinner where the boys know what just happened. Requests: Open | Masterlist

SMUT: 18 + ONLY. MINORS DNI. SAFE SEX RESOURCE.

You felt the cold air brushing over your nipples and tried to focus on steadying your breathing. You wiggled your hands and felt the soft silk tug on your wrists. You couldn’t help but squirm a little, pressing your thighs together. Even though you were comfortable, you felt incredibly exposed. And the anticipation was starting to drive you crazy.

Where the fuck is he, you thought.

And almost like he heard you, you saw your boyfriend stalk out of the closet. He had gotten undressed and was wearing just his boxers and his dress shirt, open so you could see a delicious sliver of chest and abs. Almost instinctually you moved to sit up, trying to reach out to run a hand down his smooth chest. But obviously, you felt the tug of the restraints again.

He smirked. “What are you doing, baby?” He lulled, steps slowing as he walked towards the bed.

The impatience getting to you, “For fuck’s sake Matthew, I know that this teasing is fun for you but come on! It’s killing me”

He threw his head back in a laugh. “Oh yeah? It’s killing you, is it now? Well, tell me, what is it you want?”

You let out a noise of frustration that only comes out as a guttural groan. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the glint of mischief in his eye confirmed it. “Oh come on, really?”

He giggled and started crawling onto the bed towards you, painfully slow. “Yes, really. I want to hear you say it.”

“Fuck you.” You pouted defiantly while ignoring the heat pooling in your belly. You would definitely have crossed your arms if you could.

“That is the idea, baby. But I want to hear you say it first. Stop being such a brat.” He leaned over you, careful not to touch you. The heat radiated off his skin, making every hair on your body stand on end.

You stared at each other for a long moment, both of your eyes dark and pupils wide in anticipation and hunger, testing each other to see who would break first. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw his boxers twitch; without permission, your eyes were drawn straight to the movement. And the solid shape you saw there, pressing against the fabric, confirmed what you already knew.

“Oh fucking hell, just fucking touch me, Matthew.”

“Oh yeah? Just touch?”

“No, obviously not just touch. I want you to get your hands and your mouth on me, and I want you to fuck me.” He made a deep groan in response, dropping his head to your chest, his soft curls tickling you. “There, are you happy now?”

His head snapped up, eyebrows already raised and mouth cocked in a smirk. “Oh yeah, baby, don’t worry. We are both about to be very happy. Now, was it so hard to ask nicely?” he growled as he moved to straddle you.

He was leaning above you, his curls falling forward to cast a shadow. With one hand on the bedframe clutching where your hands are tied, he ran his other hand gently down your arm, your side, your waist, before reaching under you to grab your ass firmly. A surprised moan escaped your lips. As your eyes fluttered close at his tight grasp, he leaned in for a hot kiss, firm, pushing you deep into the pillows beneath you.

Slowly, he kissed and suckled down your body, leaving a trail of marks on your neck, chest, and stomach. You would have complained normally, but the anticipation was clouding your mind. He stopped when he reached the band of your lace thong, looking up through his thick eyelashes at your heaving chest, the lack of contact drawing a whine from you. He softly chuckled as he moved to reposition himself between your legs and you let your knees fall to the side before he even had to ask you.

“Eager, are we?” he mumbled into the soft skin of your thigh. But you were too hot and desperate to say anything snarky back, simply arching your hips up to meet him, earning a growl as he leaned back. “Now, now. Baby. You know you’ve got to behave. Don’t make me regret not getting out the leg restraints as well.”

His eyes, usually a sparkly blue, were so dark now, with a ferocious intensity in them. He bit his lip and watched as you tried to quiet your squirming. After a few torturous seconds, he reached down and tore your lace thong in half.

“Tkachuk! What the fuck! Those were expensive,” you shrieked.

“Yeah, yeah… I can afford to buy you more,” he mumbled as he leaned forward and licked his lips.

You wanted to argue, but your mind wasn’t coming up with any more words as your heart thundered, watching his shiny lips open to place a firm suck on your desperate clit. Before you could even react, he moved and licked a firm stripe up your dripping cunt. The sudden contact exactly where you’ve been craving him made you give out a sharp gasp, eyes slamming shut as you pulled hard against your restraints. It hurt your wrists, but you didn’t care, you barely even noticed.

He hummed, clearly pleased with himself, before he lowered himself back down to lick and suck at your clit. You had been craving attention for so long that you couldn’t help but grind your hips to meet him. And surprisingly, he let you for a few seconds before he placed a firm hand across your hips to hold you down.

The attention to your core was quickly becoming more than you could bear and you felt yourself heaving under his heavy touch and firm tongue. You didn’t even have a mind to be embarrassed about the utterly pornographic sounds you were making; too focused on the tight knot of heat gathering extremely quickly in your stomach.

“Oh, Matty, baby. I –” you moaned. And he hummed against you as if to say he knew exactly what you wanted.

He sucked gently at your clit and looked up at you through his lashes and you could feel the smirk on his face as he slid two fingers slowly into your pussy, angling them perfectly to hit the magic spot on the first stroke. A string of curses and moans fell from your lips instantly, as you arched your back.

You were close. So close. You knew it. He knew it. And he seemed quite happy with how quickly you were getting there.

*CHIME* *CHIME*

His phone lit up with a notification that snapped you both out of the moment. He looked up at you, clearly thinking about something. And while his fingers continued to pump in and out of you, brushing your g-spot every time, he sat up and reached over you for his phone.

“What?! Matthew. What are you – Oh my god! What – Oooh…” you tried to yell, but your voice came out breathy and strained as your body was still working towards a release.

“Don’t worry about it, baby. It’s just Benny. Snap streak to keep, you know how it is.” His voice was so casual you almost thought you had misheard him.

It snapped you out of your pleasure enough to call out. “What?” You tried to sit up but the way his hand was working you and the way your arms were tied firmly above your head meant that you were stuck. And the more his fingers continued to work their magic, the less you could string a thought together.

“I mean come on, baby. You know the boys are going to hound me with questions if I don’t reply. Don’t worry, they’re not going to see anything too revealing, I promise,” he smiled down at you, his hand stopping for a second. His voice was gently asking for permission, and you trusted him implicitly. So, you gave him a lazy smile as you rolled your eyes, hiding your face into the crook of your arm in embarrassment when his fingers started working again.

His fingers knew exactly where to hit you as he used his new position to press the palm over your mound, grinding against your clit; it felt so good that you couldn’t help but let your eyes flutter shut again, lost in the sensation. Without his other hand to hold you down, your hips buckled against him, finding more friction there.

You barely heard him say “Okay done” or the thud of the phone being tossed across the bed. You didn’t miss his warm breath brushing over your ear as he leaned back in, his curls tickling your cheek. You didn’t miss the way he started sucking at the sensitive spot near the base of your neck that drove you crazy. You didn’t miss the way he repositioned himself, using his muscular thighs to pin you down as your hips moved more and more wildly.

“Come for me, baby, I know you’re close,” he growled.

The sound of his deep drawl, thick with desire sent a shiver down your spine. The tension in your belly broke and you felt the wave crash over you, pulsing again and again as you arched into him. His fingers worked you through the orgasm as he peppered kisses gently over your face and neck.

“Fuck, Matty.” You breathed out finally as focus came back. Your eyes flew open. “Shit, what the hell did you send them?”

His brows furrowed, worried, “Babe, was that too much? I’m sorry. I got a little lost in the moment there… It didn’t have your face in it, okay? Just your hands. Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” you smiled, “Okay, yeah, that’s fine.”

“I probably shouldn’t have done that, we hadn’t talked about it before, I’m sorry,” he mumbled against your cheeks. His hands were rubbing circles on your waist, and it did calm your mind a little. You knew that the boys would still know exactly what was going on, but you were glad at least they didn’t see the way you looked blissed out underneath Matthew. That was just for him.

So, you leaned up and deepened the kiss, and felt him relax a little. His hands ran up and down your sides, gently stopping to knead your breasts and pinch your nipples. The sensation sent a shock through your body and you suddenly remembered the emptiness you felt and moaned a little into his lips.

“So, are you gonna fuck me or not?” You mumbled.

You heard a sharp intake of breath as he stiffened, pausing over you. But something about that seemed to convince him you were okay, as he leaned in, pressing his hard member into your thigh.

He slid his hands up your arms, causing you to shiver under his gentle touch, as he went to untie your wrists, rubbing soft circles on the sorer parts. As soon as your hands were free, you ran your hands down his chest. You always loved the way his muscles rippled above you as he carefully distributed his weight so as to not crush you.

After making out for a few moments longer, the burning heat was solidly back between your legs, and the need to feel him inside you boiling over. You pressed your heel into his ass, trying to get some friction from his hard cock against you. But he still seemed to be taking it slow, feeling a little bad about earlier.

Frustrated, you decided to take the lead, reaching a hand down; you didn’t waste any time, slipping below the waistband, you started stroking his hard length firmly. His breath hitched in his throat and slid into a deep guttural groan, clearly surprised by your sudden movement.

His mouth never leaving yours, he peeled off his shirt and slid his boxers down. With a thigh hitched over his hip, you felt his tip, slick with pre-cum, rub up and down your wet cunt, both moaning into each other’s mouths as he slid into you slowly.

Taking a few seconds after bottoming out, he started rocking his hips, guiding himself in and out gently. But you wanted more. So much more. You whined; your nails dug into his lower back, hoping he would take the message.

And he did. He pulled back from your lips and shifted himself so both your legs rested higher on his waist. He studied your face, completely still for a moment; his eyes were wild, soft curls forming a curtain around his forehead.

He must have seen what he wanted because he gave you a smirk before he slid almost all the way out, before slamming back into you, hard and deep. You let out a shocked moan as you felt a warm tingle radiate all over your body. He seemed satisfied with that response, his smirk widening.

Biting down on his swollen lip, he drove himself into you again and again, finding the perfect spot inside you that made you arch up into him in pleasure. Your hands clutched his toned arms for stability, moaning and swearing. Your name fell from his lips again and again as he told you how good you felt. How well you were taking him.

Sensing you were getting close, he reached a hand between you and pinched your nipples hard, before sliding it down to rub a thumb on your clit, never breaking his rhythmic thrusts. The added sensation almost sent you over the edge immediately. As you raised your hips to meet his stroke after stroke, you felt the edges of your vision get fuzzy and your body get blazing hot.

“Matthew, baby, fuck” you called out as your second orgasm crashed into you hard, causing your thighs to shake where they squeezed his torso as you dug your nails into his arm. As he fucked you through your high, you felt his rhythm get frantic as he chased his own.

“Matty, baby, I feel good?”

“Yeah, fuck, you feel amazing.”

“Show me how good I feel. Come on, Matty.”

He let out a deep moan as he thrust a few more times before spilling inside you, his hips stuttering. He collapsed onto his elbows, breathing hard into your hair.

After a few seconds of catching your breath, he mumbled into your ear, “Fuck, that was amazing. You’re amazing.” He kissed you on your cheek, your eyes, your mouth. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby,” you smiled into his mouth. As he leaned back, you gazed into each other’s eyes, just watching your wide pupils fill with love. You didn’t want to break the moment but, “Alright, Matty, we got to get ready for dinner,” you whispered, tapping him on the arm.

“Urgh,” he grunted, burying himself into your neck. “Why…” he whined.

“Baby, they’re your teammates. We got to go. You want to go.”

“Fine,” he sighed.

* * * * *

You walk into the restaurant, hand in hand with Matthew. You were running about 20 minutes late. He did decide that he was going to try and convince you to stay home one more time in the shower. Not that you were really complaining.

You spotted Barky across the restaurant who gave you a wave.

You knew something was up before the two of you even got to the table as you saw the guys nudging each other and snickering. Weird.

“Hey, Chucky. Nice of you two to finally join us. Glad we’re not interrupting a fun evening,” Sam Bennett said with a wink.

That’s when it hit you—the Snap. You felt your face turn beet red as you tried to hide yourself in Matthew’s sleeve.

“Well, Samuel, you gotta please your woman before dragging her to hang out with you boys,” you heard him say cockily.

You groaned, “I should just go home.”

“No, no! Don’t be silly. Come on, sit down,” you heard someone yell. You sat down next to Ekky, not meeting anyone’s eyes, feeling like he was a safe bet.

You placed the napkin across your knees, fiddling with the fold so you didn’t have to look at anyone.

You felt Aaron reach an arm across the back of your chair and give your shoulder a squeeze before leaning over to you and Matthew.

“Don’t worry. We didn’t see anything. Just your hands and some hair,” he said earnestly, leading you to breathe out a sigh of relief as he sat back. Then, he cleared his throat and chuckled.

He leaned back in, “Wrist ties, eh? Kinky,” he whispered to Matthew across you.

“Oh my god!” you whispered, giving him a slap across the chest. He let out a loud laugh, clutching his chest. Yeah, you should have known Ekblad was a bad bet. Should’ve sat next to Bob, who definitely didn’t use Snapchat.

Matthew, annoyingly, joined in on the laughing as he shrugged smugly. He didn’t think you’d see him put up 3 fingers and mouth “three times” at Bennett before winking; but you did. You reached over and shoved him, causing a sound of surprise as he lost his balance, almost falling out of his chair.

That caused everyone to laugh, and it seemed for the first time since you walked into the restaurant, the attention was on something else for a second. The Snap was only brought up a few more times that evening, your face turning red hot each time. But it was a good night, as it always was with the boys.

#matthew tkachuk #florida panthers #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagine #nhl fic #hockey imagine #nhl x reader #Matthew tkachuk x reader #hockey smut #nhl smut #nhl oneshot #matthew tkachuk imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #rox writes #smut

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the-wraiths-wife · 1 year ago

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I write a fanfiction about Kaz having a sister in Wattpad, named Adjala Brekker. And I just got the craziest idea. Kaz is always the baby sitter for Adjala's kids so why not write headcannons?

So I just made a few headcannons about Kaz babysitting his niece Jordan, and his two nephews Johannes and Kaz jr.

( Everytime you see a mom approved, it means the kids' mother approves of the activity )

1. "Uncle Kaz's House of Schemes": Kaz turns babysitting into a series of elaborate games and puzzles for the kids. It's like a mini heist every time they visit, complete with clues and riddles to keep them entertained. (Mum approved)

2. Kaz's version of "nap time" is "quiet planning time": When it's time for the kids to take a nap, Kaz uses this opportunity to quietly plan his next big scheme. He's convinced they're the perfect cover for his brainstorming sessions. (Mum approved)

3. Candy heist training: Kaz teaches the kids the fine art of candy heists, complete with disguises, diversion tactics, and a secret candy stash. They're the most resourceful trick-or-treaters in Ketterdam. (Mum not approved)

4. The "Ingenious Bedtime Routine": Kaz has a knack for getting kids to bed without fuss. His secret? He tells them thrilling stories about his heists until they're too excited to stay awake. (Mum approved)

5. Tiny suits and dresses: Kaz insists that the kids wear tiny suits and dresses, just like him, when they go out together. It's a comical sight seeing them dressed as miniature versions of him. (Hehe definitely mum approved)

6. Teaching the art of negotiation: Kaz imparts his negotiating skills to the kids, coaching them on how to haggle with street vendors for the best deals on toys and treats. They quickly become savvy little traders. They negotiate with daddy alot too, and their daddy always falls for this (Their dad hates this, so mum approved)

7. The "Kaz Jr. Inheritance Fund": Kaz secretly sets up a savings account for each of the kids, earmarking it as their "inheritance." He insists they learn about managing their finances from an early age. (Uncle Jes and Mumma approved)

8. "The Kaz Bunker" (my fav) : In the event of a "Kaz-sized emergency," he's built a secret bunker (a well-fortified blanket fort) in the living room. It's the perfect hiding spot for epic pillow fights and strategizing. (There's photo evidence -Inej) [mum approved - Kaz's sister]

9. Poker night (ft. Uncle jes, Daddy and uncle Wy) : Kaz introduces the kids to poker night, using candies as chips. It's all in good fun until Jesper's uncanny ability to bluff leaves Kaz Jr and Johannes with an empty stash of candy, while Jordie has a whole lot to herself. Wylan always gives his candy to Kaz jr in the end. Elijah (the kids' dad) sits their and sticks his tongue out to his brother in-law whenever he wins, only to me met by the Lethal Brekker sibling glower. (The mother doesn't aprove of this, their dad does tho)

10. Lessons in lockpicking (childproof, of course): Kaz teaches the kids the basics of lockpicking, with a set of child-friendly locks and tools. They think it's just a game, but it's secretly a life skill. (The parents don't aprove since candy is always being stolen from the kitchen)

11. Kaz and naps : when the kids' parents get back from date night of smth, they see uncle Kaz and the kids in the Kaz Bunker fort, or all of them on the ground, surrounded my toys and Kaz is laying flat on his stomach and Kaz jr is snoozing on top of him and Jordan and Johannes are snoozing in the corner. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how the bastard of the barrel gets his sleep. (Inej has photo evidence) [Daddy and mumma approved]

12: Lifeskills (ft. Uncle Matty, aunty 'nej and aunty Ninny) : so Kaz gets his gang together to preach Lifeskills to his nephews and niece. Uncle Matty adores the mini demjins. Aunty 'nej takes them in sea trips (Aunty ninny brings the snacks) [ pappa and mumma approved]

13. Shark stare classes 101: in which Kaz teaches his little trainees the signature bombastic side eye and shark like stare, along with the lethal Brekker glower, which always has the kids' dad running for the HILLS, cuz they look like his scary wife and terrifying brother in law. (Daddy and Mumma approved ladies and gentlemen)

A fanfic for this :

I'm tagging a few of the biggest SoC enthusiasts I know : @she-posts-nerdy-stuff @ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes @marsconer

#incorrect six of crows #six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #nina zenik #kanej #wylan van eck #shadow and bone #grishaverse #kazbrekker #headcanon #kaz BUNKER #wesper #matthias lives #divine violence #Adjala Brekker

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cpidscloud · 2 months ago

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LOVEPILL is an 8 member fictional South Korean boy-group under CLOUD Entertainment. The group is composed of leader Junghwa and members Romeo, Hyunwoo, Kenji, Theo, Hayden, Matti and Angel. They debuted in 20XX with debut mini album LOVESICK.

INFO❤︎ group name: LOVEPILL label: CLOUD Entertainment fandom: LOVELIES fandom colors: cupid’s arrow (#ffb8d2) cupid’s sorrow (#540321)

an overview ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ Not long after SON!C's first comeback promotions finished up, CLOUD debuted their first boy group. Their debut mv didn't have the best budget, as most of CLOUD's resources went to SON!C's marketing and future comeback, but the song made up for it. RUSSIAN R❤︎ULETTE's release did relatively well as COMETS tuned in to see SON!C's 'younger brothers' in the company. Its sweet and cute aesthetics paired with the subtle notes of something sinister underneath turned heads towards them as fans made fun theories on possible meanings behind the mv and song. Their debut stage had a good amount of views for a rookie group from a new company, and they gained a decently sized audience. Their next release was a single: saccharine. The music video had a sharp influx of views due to clips of it getting posted to different platforms for its slasher movie aesthetics layered on top of LOVEPILL's usual sweet concept. As an entirely English release, it was able to reach a larger audience. Its 'twisted-love' lyrics paired with the imagery in the music video made it stand out against their previous release, successfully drawing in new fans. LOVEPILL, as of nowadays, is most known for their dual-concepts; the 'LOVE' in their name representing their cuter, more fantasy inspired concept and the 'PILL' in their name representing their more darker, horror inspired concept. Going off their base idea of a group with dual-concepts, CLOUD decided to begin writing elaborate lore for LOVEPILL that would be depicted through their mvs, album medley films, and album photobooks. LOVEPILL's newly forming lore made its debut in their 2nd mini album SICKLY SWEET. The first music video to release was for their b-side, the rumor. The music video had a distinct vhs style filming and drew clear inspiration from found films. With the release of their title track, d❤︎pamine, their music video lore officially began. It seemed like LOVEPILL was sticking to their fantasy concept, but something more was definitely lurking underneath all the dreamy landscapes and imagery. Fan theories quickly gained traction on apps like TikTok and YouTube, which raised their view count and number of fans as LOVELIES were eager to see just where their storyline was going.

MEMBERS ♡ྀི DISCOGRAPHY ♡ྀི LORE ♡ྀི

♡ ‧₊˚ ⋅ ౨ৎ ‧₊ .ᐟ

#fake kpop oc #fictional idol group #fictional idol community #fake kpop group #idoloc #fictional idol oc #kpopoc #oc idol #idol!oc #fake kpop boy group

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freewillacquired · 4 months ago

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Q: 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐅. bold what applies, italicise what sometimes applies, strikethrough what never applies.

❏ ( . . . ) * 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄.

➤ Matthew Addison

* 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄(𝐒).

➤ "Matt" by pretty much everyone

➤ "Matty" by his mother and sister

➤ "Addy" by friends in college and at the FBI academy in Quantico

╳ FLAWS.

♔ STRENGTHS.

🖌 SKILLS & HOBBIES.

➤ 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘. — @wanderingaroundwithmysoul

➤ 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆. — Anyone who wants to do this! ^_^

#muse: matt addison #{ about the muse }

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tayfabe75 · 9 months ago

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Hello! So for a couple of days my feed was filled with videos from Super Bowl and the afterparty and I was like, I just can't believe it can be faked like that. She even posted a TikTok with him. It seems to me that in her world this is just a different level of relationship. So I just thought that there’s no way this is not true and then I came across a video where Matty says: “this show is about what you should or shouldn’t believe that you see on the screen.” I was just 😑 and it got me thinking again. One side of me believes that this simply cannot be faked, while the other begins to think after such conversations. But Matty is Matty and he could only mean his show and this thought slipped through very quickly and I don’t think it will reach the general audience. But it's funny because I look at the video of Taylor and Travis kissing and I think, well, everything should be clear, shouldn't it? And then there this little thought on my mind that you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the screen and I don’t even know what to believe anymore…

Also I can’t understand why she needs this, she can live a great life without any plans to prove something to someone in this way

Hi anon! First and foremost, if you see Taylor with her new partner and see or feel that nothing is amiss, that's understandable! It's perhaps even counterintuitive to see a couple kissing on television and think it's fake at first glance. For me, it's less about what I directly see, and more about how what I'm seeing is incongruent with what I have learned about Taylor Swift.

While I've always enjoyed pop music, I never really got "wonderstruck" with a pop star quite like this (at least not since I was a kid!) Even when I'm utterly obsessed with a band or singer, chances are good that I don't know the name of their PR agent, you know? lol However… Taylor is not just a musician. She's a phenomenon. She's not simply writing albums and touring, she's building mystique and self-mythologizing a whole universe of lore. Each fan is entranced by a different facet of Taylor Swift - be it the music, the spectacle, the celebrity, fashion, easter eggs, lore, muses, or the mystery!

"We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us."

The Reputation prologue is bookended with this quote! That is how important the message is, that she both opens and closes the prologue with this quote. I must stress: I do not claim to know anything about Taylor Swift. Please understand that when I theorize, it's based on my own personal subjective knowledge of human nature or what motivates us, and I apply that to what I see and hear (of course, I think everyone does this, it's just good to acknowledge!)

You said: "One side of me believes that this simply cannot be faked"

Again, bear in mind that Taylor Swift is a celebrity with access to more resources at her disposal than even other celebrities. If she wanted to create a "simulated" version of her life to throw people off the scent of her real personal life, I don't see why she wouldn't or couldn't (the greatest of luxuries is your secrets…) PR relationships are definitely a real thing that celebrities engage in for a variety of reasons. Here is an interesting list with some more insight (of course, this is BuzzFeed so take it with a huge grain of salt). Speaking of which, Taylor's current partner's PR agent has teamed up with Jack Ketsoyan, who openly admits to setting up "fake romances" between celebrities. If you can stomach it, the next time you see the PDA videos from the field or the club, try looking through the comments. I suspect you'll see a lot of people who aren't buying it (here's a good tweet about how these two were mic'd up! lol) Here's some additional insight into Taylor's current relationship with some stats that might shed light on the "why" of it all.

If you want to hear my guess as to what all the football stuff is about, well, I'll start off with two of my favorite Taylor quotes:

"People often greatly underestimate me on how much I'll inconvenience myself to prove a point."

and:

"Having the world treat my love life like a spectator sport in which I lose every single game was not a great way to date in my teens and twenties, but it taught me to protect my private life fiercely."

Obviously, Taylor doesn't need the money. And frankly, the NFL does not need nor deserve any additional female fans, considering women are excluded (unless they'd like to strip down and get objectified as cheerleaders, I guess). So, what is she up to? Well, everyone loves to call her "Mother" and I think she's about to teach us all a lesson - likely about media literacy and how much she's had to perform her celebrity persona and keep the media attention away from her real life, whatever that may be. I am one of the believers that she's intentionally oversaturating the market to recreate conditions appropriate to launch Reputation… Others think that idea is absolutely too wild or too "absurd" (fair lol)

I think the simplest explanation that makes sense to me is that she and Matty only ever intended to be public for one blissful month so that he could finally attend her shows as her boyfriend. But, she didn't want the heat of her fans on his back when he went on to do SATVB. Matty did not need cruel Swifties making fun of Peanut, for instance. That's a super vulnerable thing he's doing each night his band performs. So, what would get the most heat off of each other's backs? New relationships, but especially ones that fans would love because they were the manifestation of pre-existing fandom memes from circa 2020:

As for Matty… if his comments have anything to do with what's going on with his or Taylor's respective "relationships" (and I think they do), then they're not really meant to reach a wider or more general audience (yet). But the fact that The 1975 are (maybe) about to go on hiatus, yet Matty predicted The 1975 would be the most important band of the 2020's… might mean that he and the boys have some kind of trick up their sleeve! Perhaps their collaboration with Brad Troemel, who helped co-write SATVB, which ends March 24th, I think (unless more dates have been added). If you're familiar at all with the kayfabe theory, it comes directly from Brad Troemel, himself. I'll just say that it's highly interesting to me that SATVB should kick off in September, the same month as Matty and Taylor's new relationships! (If you're interested in a good rabbit hole, I'd check out my tagged posts on Brad).

Anon, please know it's okay if you don't know what to believe! Sometimes I don't know, either. As you might've guessed, I'm a big supporter of Taylor and Matty together. Based on all I've seen and heard, my deductive reasoning tells me they will be endgame and that we will get back there eventually. So, obviously, I'm not thrilled to watch the current turn of events, either… but they're strange enough that I also can't look away lol I am compelled to keep looking into why things aren't adding up, and these searches have been, and continue to be, fruitful. But even if I'm wrong and endgame doesn't end up happening, then I have to trust that they know what's best for themselves better than I do! And regardless of what Taylor or Matty decide to do in their personal (or simulated?) lives… they've both reeled me in as a dedicated fan, completely independent from whatever relationship they may or may not have with each other or other people.

In the meantime, I'm gonna keep studying their music, following their live shows, and filling this place with fun clips, connections, and edits! Even if they're truly over for now, or heaven forbid - forever, I'm still interested in archiving this unlikely yet inspiring love story of reconnection (especially when many big Taylor sources refuse to acknowledge him - like here, where they refuse to name whose concert she debuted Anti-Hero at, or this one, where they cropped him out of a photo from his own damned tour zine! lol So needlessly petty...)

Perhaps this desire to archive all things "Tatty" acts almost like a shield from current events for me lol Here's something I'll suggest if you want some Tatty-related reassurance: take a scroll through my blog... any time you see a tag that begins with "overlap:", click on that to see how that topic relates to both Taylor and Matty. Some of them are reaches! Some are silly. Some just show how similar they are. Others are... compelling!

Lastly, what I can also suggest is that, if social media is upsetting you, it might be nice to take a small break! I strongly encourage everyone on the internet to use the block and mute buttons as often as needed, and to mute any names or keywords you aren't interested in seeing content for. Curate your own experience! Your brain and your heart will thank you for it, I promise!

Hope any of that helped lol Thanks for the ask! 🤍

#answered #theory: kayfabe

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iorekbyrinson · 2 years ago

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BCS S1 Costume Analysis: Mike Ehrmantraut

The story of the grey man, going from light to dark

this has been sat in my drafts for toooo long so I'm posting it, I WAS gonna do Mike throughout BCS but, as you can expect, my brain kind of melted whilst going through S2 haha. I like the writing here though so here goes

BCS costume designer Jennifer Bryan (who worked on BB too) has summarized colour theory on BCS as:

"On Breaking Bad, the colors [showed] the character's journey. What we did on Saul is that the colors put you into your category in life. So good folks, let's say on the legal side of things, have a certain palette, like military colors, navys, and greens, and blues. Guys on the other side of the law, the hustlers and the cons, I had them in reds and oranges, and colors of the New Mexico desert."

The way I'm interpreting and analysing the costumes of each character are on the grounds of alignment - reflective of how the character perceives themselves, with some wider narrative themes thrown in. Less so red = evil, blue = good, more so a character in blue aligns themselves with good. Chuck, for example, is routinely lit and dressed in blue; he fully aligns himself with the law. As to whether his actions are actually good, however, is an entirely different argument.

And talking about wider narrative themes - looking back at Breaking Bad, the main theme of the series was the meth trade, and the character's proximity to it (the Breaking Bad wiki has an excellent resource about how Vince Gilligan used the colour wheel to demarcate this idea). In BCS, Gus's meth empire hasn't even been accomplished yet. The main theme of Better Call Saul is the legal profession - and how closely or loosely a character aligns themselves with their own interpretation of what that means. I'm also going to use Jennifer Bryan's description and various bits and pieces from Gilligould when relevant to structure these themes.

So to start off with - Mike. I'm starting with Mike because I think he has the simplest colour palette (black, white, grey). Mike's also an ex-police officer, so there's blue there too.

Going back to the first shot of Mike we have in BCS;

Blues with grey pants and yellow gloves. Mike's a cop at this point, but he's a bent cop, and his hands aren't clean; he's largely on the side of the law though, so the blues dominate. His grey pants could mean anything, but going from Mike's history I'm guessing its his moral ambivalence about taking an illegal stake.

Check out Matty, who's already matching his adored dad with the blue stripes. No grey here; Matty thinks his Dad's a hero. White too, because Matty's an innocent, but also orange - not because Matty's a criminal, but because he's going to get drawn into the criminal world unwillingly, and it's all because he followed his dad into the force.

Everything from the car dash to the clothes to the Boston scenery is matching here - browns, orange, blue, white. It's a family scene, all the more painful because we know how this ends. It's likely this is how Mike remembers his days with Matty, simpatico, with the tragedy far in the future.

The next time we see Mike, he's about to murder the men who killed his son. I kid you not, every single frame in this sequence is saturated in blue. In Mike's mind, he's pursuing his own law - he's righting a cosmic wrong. Because everyone in this scene is a cop (or was a cop), there's a preponderance of blue also. But Mike isn't wearing his blue on the outside - he's covered up with a coat and gloves. The coat isn't black - it's more of a dark camo green;

Which I think is more a callback to the coat Mike wears when all his sins come home to roost and he's shot by Walt in Breaking Bad.

He's wearing black gloves, which like the yellow gloves before are a marker - before Mike's hands were tainted with crime. In this scene, they're tainted with murder. We also see black a lot with characters who are a part of or become eventually Gus's faction. It's the colour Victor and Tyrus wear almost exclusively, and by Breaking Bad Mike is consistently wearing a black jacket. Black is the colour of death.

Also, amendment to what I said before; you can add green to Mike's palette too. It does crop up again in BCS - an allusion to Mike's military background, where he almost certainly handed out death, but it was government-sanctioned death.

Back in Albuquerque to re-connect with the daughter-in-law and granddaughter he hasn't seen in months, in a grey shirt. I'm not going to claim every scene of Mike can be analysed forensically, but there is significance in grey - it's Mike's "colour" in Better Call Saul (as Jennifer Wyman has mentioned here), and without much explanation I can assume that means as a "grey" morality - without definition, neither one side or the other, the conflict of which is his character's arc throughout BCS. Here, he's a killer, but he's deciding here to make fresh with his family and start over. Still, head-to-toe black. He's not shaken off the darkness that tails him, and underneath that jacket is a red wound.

Upstanding citizen Mike - grey parking attendant's uniform. Lighting ain't great here, but a better look;

Blue-grey uniform. Banal as it is, whilst Mike's working the parking booth, he's on the side of the law. It's miles away from the grey Mike wears later in the episode;

Throughout the episodes where Mike holds his daughter-in-law at arm's length, fools the police about his murder, colludes with Jimmy, and eventually reveals the painful truth about his dead son, Mike's light grey shirt has become a forbidding dark grey (grey + black). Hope to self-hatred. He's wearing dark blue pants (out of shot), again, he's talking with the cops and it's calling to Mike's background.

Later, Mike suits up in all-black to steal from the Kettlemans. No, it doesn't mean death here; he's hardly going to do covert business in anything else. All-black here is indicative of Mike's innate professionalism when he's outside of the legal world.

That being said;

He's a dark figure in the life of his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Stacey knows Mike's past, but she hasn't fully accepted him into the family.

Head-to-toe black again when taking on some protection work for Daniel Wormald (and throat punches Mr X in the parking lot). I'm not going to read too much into the striped undershirt; these are civilian characters that have fairly limited wardrobes (except for Jimmy), and you'll see the same clothes on rotation. We saw Mike wearing yellow gloves before, the mildest version of the non-legal colours in the story, and I think there's an association with non-violent crime here; Mike taking a stake, Daniel's dealing, Jimmy's car (Daniel's also gullible and naive). Daniel's just getting into the criminal world, but, as we learn later, doesn't define himself as a criminal - Nacho's an ambitious career criminal, and his associations with Tuco have had him deal in violence. But only one of these people has ever killed anyone, and despite the other security guys in the parking lot and Nacho's posturing, Mike's the darkest one here.

#better call saul #better call saul costume analysis #mike ehrmantraut #better call saul season 1 #“bugs why did you do this”#well I just think. it's neat #*tyres screeching away*#listen this isn't a medieval fantasy show ok there's only so much i could work with #and this old man wears old man clothes. we love him for it

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the1975attheirverybest · 2 years ago

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I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist but I've thought for while now that there must be someone in the industry trying to get him. And before y'all call me crazy, I'm a traumatized 5sos fan who was there when people were PAID to spread negative stories about them all because someone out there didn't want them to chart and be nominated for awards. No one knows who but it wasn't an average Joe for sure. Plus, this isn't new. PR teams have the resources to pay journalists to write articles with the intent of damaging someone's image which is particularly useful when they are "competing" against their clients. Or even when a musician says something political, it's not uncommon for people in the industry to spend whatever it takes to shut them up and punish them. I wouldn't be surprised if the 1975 were getting the same treatment considering that they are very outspoken and their album and tour were undeniably successful. I said what I said. 😶‍🌫️

I mean, Matty has stirred shit against SO. MANY. PEOPLE, gotten himself banned from a whole ass country, had a go at imagine dragons (as he should ), criticized Ticketmaster’s price gouging, shit on The Chainsmokers, upset Harry Styles fans, the list goes on and on…..I’m sure that the continued success of the band is not great news for at least one of the many people who got upset by him.

If you ask me, the fact that they lost the category to Wet Leg at the Brits is a real conspiracy, lmao. I say that as a Wet Leg fan!

I hadn’t thought about it as coming from a specific source who doesn’t want the band to succeed, but it is very possible! Like you said, it has happened to other celebs. The truth will out, as Matty always says. The band is objectively great and original, AND, despite what most of Twitter wants to say, Matty is a good person. So, fuck that shit.

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missizzy · 2 months ago

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A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 116 Hours In: I met Tara! And also some others

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

I spent most of this week wandering around Rivington and surrounding areas, clicking on characters and having them talk at me, having longer conversations with a few people, including my companions, sighing at the steady amount of lag, and occasionally battling followers of the Absolute, but nothing too difficult. It's been slow going at times. There was even one hour I played where when I expended too many resources and got stuck under the well, I just exited without saving, because there wasn't much accomplished to save for. But despite the mishaps, I enjoyed a lot of it. It even got me to write a another fic.

After seeing a little bit of Rivington and the the refugee camp last week, we started this week by bribing our way past the screening into the circus, much to Karlach's delight. I'm afraid she didn't have that good a time though. When we first approached the stage with the Dribbles impersonator, I even volunteered her to go up on stage with him, but that didn't actually make her happy from the start. When Sara ended up accidentally killing the old man civilian in the subsequent fight, I reloaded, and this time had her go up there herself, if only because I now figured that worked better strategically. Which it did, but the old man ended up getting killed by the beasts anyway. Guess there was no saving him.

From there, the conversations included:

Orin, again, this time administering the love test, which I'd only seen the start of, so I didn't even know it was her. It did feel quite romantic for Sara to answer questions about Gale that were quite easy for her (I'm sure Gale has at least shown her simple images of his tower by now), and I was only sorry there was no way to have questions about her for him. Sara, on the other hand, is now very worried about how much information they gave away to the enemy...

I had Karlach spin the wheel with the djinni, because I really did want her to have a little fun at this damn circus. But of course, she only ended up spotting that he was cheating, and I had her walk away before he turned her into a cheese wheel, since I didn't feel like dealing with that.

Yenna, when I then went back to camp to swap her for Astarion, due to the journal suggesting his siblings would be in a nearby flophouse. Sara had told her at their first meeting her mother was probably dead, because she thought she probably was (to the disapproval of all three companions she had with her at the time!), but she was happy to welcome her into the camp. Also Mattis after returning to Rivington, whom I managed to sell and buy a little bit from, but our gold is actually now starting to run a little low.

The Gur, who further added to her sad conscience when they revealed the bounty hunter she let Astarion kill wasn't working for Cazador. She nonetheless trusted his judgement on the likely fate of their children, but placated them by promising to at least kill he whom she and Astarion had decided to kill already.

Danzo Arkwright, Commander Lightfeather, and two more members of Pigeon Messenger Corps. Seriously, the latter three were priceless. Best use of a Speak with Animals potion ever. I was genuinely sorry when Sara proved of no use to them against the beast on the Temple roof killing their numbers...

...because said beast turned out to be Tara! Who may be a Tressym, but certainly was still behaving delightfully like a cat. Sara was so happy to meet her, she didn't even ask her to leave the pigeons alone. She didn't try retrieve Danzo's letter, either, since it appeared to have been opened.

She was even happier when this got Gale to talk about his mother and reveal his last name, and more still when he talked about introducing her to Morena Dekarios, and other things about his tower that reflected on him seeing a future with her there. As her backstory has developed in my head, I have also recently decided that her tribe didn't do family names, and Tully is in fact the name of her late wife. So now she is totally scribbling Sara Dekarios all over her brain, since it would only make sense to exchange a dead spouse's name for the new one's.

I have also decided (even if the game itself thinks otherwise), that she herself arrived at at Baldur's Gate in her early adulthood not exactly as a refugee, but very much a displaced person, which absolutely is dictating her response to all anti-refugee sentiments expressed to her. Including her conversations with the temple staff, when we then descended from the roof and talked to them about the murder of Father Lorgan, and made her all the more determined to keep the refugees from being blamed.

The longest lull in conversations of the week ended up happening here, as we went down to the Temple basement, got into the cave after I did enough button pushing to seemingly get them in the right order or whatever, and tried to sneak around the doppelgangers at first, but ended up fighting them while trying to steal their stuff. Finding the flophouse key and the murder weapon, we then exited into the Western Beach, watched the Guild and the Stone Lord fight, and then fought the survivors, which got us worn down enough to need a long rest. From there, the conversations included:

Wyll's speech about how "there's no place like Baldur's Gate" contrasted sharply with Halsin's the next morning when I rotated him in as party healer, seeing only the city's downtrodden and vulnerable. You have to recognize the latter is definitely seeing things more accurately, of course. Though Wyll would ultimately gain a lot of Sara's respect when the last thing I did this week was talk with him after we learned Gortash had ordered the city closed off to the refugees. His talk about the city being better than that she knows to be true; she was once among those who benefited from it being so, after all. She trusts his assessment of Gortash's motivations, too.

Sara asked both Astarion and Karlach if they might consider turning into mind flayers. She's making no more assumptions about what the former might or might not be willing to do for power, and was hoping the latter might find it a viable alternative to death or Avernus. I had in fact seen Astarion's response already, but Neil's performance there makes it worth a rewatch. When they both refused, she won't ask anyone else.

Vlaakith showing up to make Lae'zel a final offer, but noone was buying what she was selling anymore. Though Sara's a little disturbed by Lae'zel's now jumping right into devotion to Orpheus, without maybe considering making a life for herself and her coming hatchling that didn't need to be dictated to her by such entities. But when she insisted she could only consider her own future after freeing this prince, Sara resigned herself to doing so.

Karlach's once again getting overheated and thinking she's going to die soon, which finally got me to hammer out fic involving her and Wyll cuddling up. And also kissing.

So when the Emperor showed up in her dreams that night, with her newly decided she's going to betray him, she was pretty cold to him. It didn't help her view of him that he was now lamenting over the freeing of the Netherbrain that he had essentially ordered us to bring about.

After a long and fruitful walk of looting things up from the beach, I clicked on the side deck of a structure right by the South Span checkpoint to see if the characters could get onto it without jumping. Since they couldn't, they instead turned and starting walking around, only stopping when they hit the confrontation with the guards. Sara was extremely indignant at them demanding money for her to come into the city she's a legal resident of, but played along until the Steel Watch robot tried to scan her, at which point I had her retreat. I wanted to finish going around Rivington first anyway.

We went into Rivington General, but most of the stuff was way too expensive to buy. I sold off some loot, and bought a couple of arrows to placate the shopkeeper a little.

Our first venture into the abandoned windmill, we ended up waking and fighting the newly transformed mindflayer. When that ended up being part of the hour I ended up not saving on, I went into the windmill again just for the ring and the XP, and Astarion successfully picked it from his pocket this time without waking him. Then I went back to that structure whose side-deck came so close to the grass outside the checkpoint, and this time, had the characters jump onto it, getting us into Wyrm's Crossing unscanned by any robots.

So far, we've only been to the flophouse. Neil was once again at his best as Astarion turned nasty on his siblings, though unfortunately some of the effectiveness of his performance was diluted by the lag putting things out of sync. Sara went along with his abuse of his brother, but is now outright balking when he continues to talk about killing them to ascend.

Seeing all the locked chests on the second floor, I then decided to try the key on each of them, only for the guy wandering around to stop us twice. I ended up turning on non-lethal damage for the first time so Sara could knock him out. The key didn't work on any of them, but we found the ladder to the attic, and then the wardrobe the key did work on, and the smuggling space behind it with the remaining evidence we needed. I also managed my most fruitful use of the Speak with Dead spell yet, after we found Ffion Goldgrind's body and interrogated her. I considered some fancy way of getting out, but thankfully the guy Sara knocked out hadn't woken up yet, and so we were able to just walk past him and out.

Once I confirmed the investigator we needed to speak to was in the Sharess' Caress, I went back to camp to get Lae'zel, swapped her in for Astarion, and left off after the aforementioned conversation with Wyll. I'm kind of tempted to swap him in, too, though I'm not sure who I'd have him replace.

#baldur's gate 3 #barbarian tav #gale x tav

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ifeverdowefall · 2 years ago

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archive — poem — art — fics — aes — bugs

quotes — February — march

audio — jackles — people

nice things — zingers — funnies

saves — cool — taylor

matty — resource — writing

hs — nh — psych — movies

tv shows — pascal

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eldritchamy · 3 months ago

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Okay so for further context, and for anyone who is interested in a rough synopsis (I say, over an hour before I finish writing this post) of the idea, (bearing in mind I have not watched any Carmilla stuff in actual years and I am remembering this stuff basically off the top of my head, so some of the details might be fuzzy).

Basically my thought after seeing the Carmilla movie was "you know what, this entire thing only happened because of Carmilla's unnamed therapist that we know nothing else about, huh."

That therapist was the one who instigated whatever made Carmilla go back to Elle's house and get her mortality fucked with. Carmilla being a vampire again is a direct result of something that happened entirely off screen and was mentioned only vaguely.

What the fuck is up with that?

So I started asking some logical questions like "what kind of therapist would Carmilla be able to go to?" and "hey what's up with all those weird new reports in the credits where Laura has a bunch of misspelled names like Lauren Horlis?" and "what's up with Mattie's ghost showing up asking them to just deal with weird shit? WHY ISN'T CARMILLA MORE SURPRISED TO SEE THE MESSENGER OF ERESHKIGAL JUST APPEARING IN HER HOUSE???" and "how come nobody ever asked any questions or gave any answers about who the Corvae Corporation were?"

The idea that basically formed in my brain was "how do you continue what is very obviously an unfinished story while answering a LOT of the questions raised by what we've seen so far?"

So the premise of Becoming A Cryptid was that it would pick up IMMEDIATELY where the movie leaves off. (Or rather, during the flight home slightly before the final scene, when Carmilla had time to think about what just happened but not say anything yet). The fic would basically start with Carmilla being very quiet on the flight home and Laura being curious about it (of course) but also assuming that she just had a lot to process.

The first question it was going to answer was "what the fuck is up with this mystery therapist?" And my answer was going to be KindaTV's roughly contemporary series Inhuman Condition. You know, the one with the supernatural therapist that ends with that therapist getting removed from her position.

The bigger reveal, though, would have been Corvae's involvement.

To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person who ever really pieced together who the Corvae probably were and what their relationship to The Dean was.

What we know explicitly from canon:

The Corvae Corporation is a "post-occult resource conglomerate"

They had a LONG standing relationship with Silas University and, in particular, The Dean.

They had a significant financial interest in not only the school but in many of the occult artifacts located in, around, and beneath the campus

The plan left in place in case of the Dean's "demise" placed a pretty significant level of trust in them, far exceeding the trust she had in the Silas Board of Governors (who were mostly just expendable bearers for the four Talismans of Inanna's power)

They continued to pull the strings of her agenda, and push her plan along, even after the Board (especially Mattie) started deviating from that plan and going against her wishes. i.e., they had authority, they knew more or less what her plan was, and they faithfully executed that plan even without being able to deal with her directly

What I was able to infer:

Corvae is sort of like a cross between the Watchers' Council from Buffy and the SCP Foundation, except it's a super wealthy corporation instead of a clandestine government agency. They are very old, very wealthy, very knowledgeable, and control a LOT of magical objects and information from the ancient world.

They are the only ones apart from literal gods (Inanna, Enki, Ereshkigal) who seemed to have knowledge of the Gates of Hell, and they are the ones Inanna trusted with her plan above all others

They are probably from as far back in history as those gods

Which means they are most likely a modern derivative of a mercantile group that dates back to Ur and the Dilmun civilization, around 5-6000 years ago. They probably originated as a group of traders out of Ur (the seat of power for the Sumerian god Sin, Inanna's father) and were worshippers of his. They would have been wealthy and influential at the time, and certainly would have had dealings in Uruk, where Inanna's most prominent worship was.

Now. Why should "resources" be limited to ancient artifacts with magical properties? They are a corporation, after all. Why not, say, "Human resources" (remember: they contractually owned like 30% of the students' livers)? Or in this case, Inhuman resources.

I basically came up with the idea that Corvae had moved in after that one therapist gets ousted from her job, and they take over ownership of the practice, putting one of their own people in place there instead. This served two purposes: 1. it allowed there to be a reason for Carmilla's therapist to have some kind of involvement in things that were tied to her past, and 2. anyone she was likely to get a supernatural therapist recommendation from was probably affiliated with or influenced by Corvae anyway.

It basically was my way of explaining how the entire premise of the movie plot even happened. But I also needed to deal with where the movie leaves us story wise.

It ENDS with Carmilla renouncing that divine spark that Inanna used to restart her heart, and she goes back to being a vampire. This creates a problem for Laura and Carmilla as a couple: only one of them is aging (again).

There are ALSO a lot of loose ends in the world with Corvae meddling in the affairs of the supernatural, and maybe other victims of Lophiiformes trapped with their souls in limbo.

And there was that weird scene with Mattie, where Carmilla wasn't surprised to see her, and wasn't surprised to be recruited to go investigate and solve some supernatural problem.

SO.

Laura made a deal with Ereshkigal once. And she made good on that deal, even at the cost of her own life. Ereshkigal was EXTRAORDINARILY generous in allowing Carmilla to bargain for Laura's life at all, much less giving her such an easy riddle. The goddess of death had already taken an interest.

"All the dead are hers," and she does not like to give them back. But she DID give Laura back. WHY?

Because Laura made good on a deal, and she is a VERY good meddler in the supernatural world. Ereshkigal does not like when the dead are KEPT from her. She does not like when someone fucks around in her business. And Corvae fucks around in her business.

The Corvae Corporation would have been a major antagonist group in the fic. Essentially Mattie shows up and offers Laura what amounts to a warlock pact: I give you something to investigate, something to meddle in, and you go fix it for me. Do this, and I return the favor by withholding your death. You get to stay with Carmilla for the duration of her supernatural life. I solve your problem for you, and in return you solve problems for me. Ereshkigal is willing to offer Laura this deal because, again, Laura lived up to her end of the last deal (no pun intended). She knows Laura is a person CAPABLE of fixing her problems, and she knows she can TRUST Laura to do it in exchange for this specific deal.

And Ereshkigal is willing to make THIS SPECIFIC DEAL because Death is the only forever there is. What is a few decades to the god of death? Everything will be hers eventually. Letting one meddlesome mortal stick around longer than usual, in exchange for all the Corvae bullshit she can disrupt? That's a worthy trade. One gets a pass, for now, because she can put a stop to SO many things Corvae might do that she's not particularly happy about.

The old laws of the Underworld are very clear: the number of souls in Ereshkigal's domain CANNOT DECREASE. It IS possible for one soul to leave, if another soul takes its place. This is a key part of Innana's Descent to the Underworld. She was permitted to leave, but her lover at the time was not mourning her adequately and so he was the one she told the demons that accompanied her to take in her place. Laura would be allowed a few extra decades on earth in exchange for all the souls wrongly kept from Ereshkigal returning to her.

Remember all those news clips at the end where Laura's name is wildly misspelled, and some of them are about weird things like a Fountain of Youth? What if all the Luane Horleys are actually ALIASES? What if they're cover identities (bad ones, but she would refuse to use an anagram on principle) that get set up so Laura can go to strange places and investigate strange problems on behalf of Ereshkigal?

And she just becomes this weirdo who pops up all over the place and is always involved in something weird, and her name keeps changing but she doesn't seem to age, and she's always with some vampire girl who's oddly charmed by her, almost like the VAMPIRE is the one enthralled by this mysterious reporter who just keeps being involved in supernatural nonsense.

So Laura Hollis gets to stay with Carmilla for a very long time, do all the investigative journalism she wants, solve all kinds of mysteries on behalf of her patron, and live out her wildest Scoobies From Buffy fantasies, all while hoping no one notices it's the same mysterious girl at the site of all of these Weird Occurrences. The solution to all of her problems is just getting to live her best gay life with Carmilla.

because Becoming A Cryptid Is Gay Culture.

you know, I really DID have a great idea for a Carmilla fanfic back in the day that I never got around to writing

I wonder if anyone would be into it if I had the spoons to write it

the movie left off with some SERIOUS unanswered questions that would be really interesting to explore, and I had some GOOD ideas for how to explore them in a compelling way

and "Becoming A Cryptid Is Gay Culture" would have been a fantastic title for it too

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thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner · 2 years ago

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On Consistency and Beginnings

Some more thoughts on self-editing.

Hey Story Crafters,

I’ve touched on consistency in character as a self-editing tip in an earlier post, but it’s important to make sure all aspects of your story are consistent when you’re editing.

Regardless of where you fall on the plotter or pantser spectrum (if you identify the type of writer you are at all), there’s a good chance you end up discovering new, unexpected pieces of your story during the writing process. (This is part of what makes the writing process fun for me, as a writer. 😊)

The consequence of discovery-while-writing is that, usually, the last half of your story doesn’t match the first half. For example, there could be character development or a plot twist that happens partway through the story that isn’t set up (or foreshadowed) properly at the beginning, because you hadn’t thought of that character development or plot twist when you first started writing.

Inconsistencies like these are ones you’ll be able to pick out, once you’ve gotten some emotional and mental distance from your story. Editing can feel a lot like writing—rewarding and enjoyable at times, and incredibly frustrating at others. Since you were able to finish writing your story in the first place, approach self-editing with trust in the knowledge that no one knows your story better than you. This should help you work through the more frustrating moments of editing.

When you read through your story with fresh eyes—as a reader—I encourage you to make notes on your manuscript. Leave comments where you think “something” might be missing or could be improved (this could be detail-wise or storytelling-wise). You might find those details or storytelling elements are explored later in the story, and simply need to be established in earlier chapters; or they might need to be added to throughout the story to give it more depth.

One part of your story that will likely need to be reworked the most is the beginning. This is true even if you wrote based on an outline. The act of writing is different from planning out a story, because there are factors like voice and writing style to consider—factors that you usually can’t plan for, and don’t discover until you start writing. So the beginning of your story might sound and/or feel different from its ending.

It's important to polish the beginning of your story, because a good opening is what hooks a reader into buying and reading your story. For a resource, I recommend Paula Munier’s The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings: How to Craft Story Openings that Sell. She breaks down and analyzes what makes up an effective story opening, and gives several examples. She also goes into how an effective opening resonates through the rest of the story—in other words, how to plant seeds for subplots in the opening chapters that grow over the course of the story.

It's also important to consider reader expectation when finetuning the opening of your story. For example, a romance story will have a very different beginning from a mystery. And the expectations set at the beginning should remain consistent to the end (i.e., the expectations need to be executed and followed through).

Below are a few examples of opening paragraph(s) from books I’ve read recently:

Caption: Book covers for Near the Bone by Christina Henry, Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

(**Warning: Somewhat graphic description of an animal carcass. Skip to after the block quote if needed.)

There was a dead fox in her path.

At first Mattie only saw it as a streak of scarlet across the fresh snowfall. Her initial thought was that some predator had gotten a rabbit from the traps she’d come to check.

Then she saw the orange fur matted with blood, and the place where something sharp had torn through the fox’s middle. Viscera were strewn over the snow, the scent fresh and strong despite the cold air.

There weren’t many creatures that would eat a fox—a bear would, of course, a bear would eat anything. Maybe a mountain lion, sometimes an eagle, but almost no creature would take the trouble of killing an animal and then not bother to eat it at all. None, as a matter of fact, except people, but there were no people at the top of the mountain except for Mattie and William.

Right off the bat, there’s a clear sign of danger: there’s something in the woods that’s killing for sport. Maggie (the protagonist) provides the setting—the top of the mountain—and that she and William are the only humans on the mountain.

The reader expectation is clearly “horror,” here. Not only because of the somewhat graphic description of the dead fox, but also because there is a “hunter vs. hunted” relationship that’s being established. There’s an expectation that the humans might go from “hunter” to “hunted.”

Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black

Up in the far north, away from everything you know and dream about, lies a small village called Shady Hollow. There are many settlements in the woods, far from the cities and the bustling world. Shady Hollow is only one such community, where woodland creatures of all types and temperaments, from the tiny mouse to the mighty moose, live together in a successful and mostly peaceful society.

This is the first paragraph of the prologue for this story. Shady Hollow is a cozy mystery, and the “coziness” factor is established in the prologue by focusing on the setting of Shady Hollow. Community is the focus of this story.

While this opening doesn’t necessarily set up the expectation for a mystery, it does set the expectation that how the events of the story affect the community of Shady Hollow is what’s important, more so than an individual character. (There is, of course, a protagonist that serves as the focus point for the story.) Also, based on the prologue, the reader can expect the pacing and narrative to be relatively slow and steady, not the frantic rush of a fast-paced thriller.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.

I’d been monitoring the parameters of the thicket for an hour, and my vantage point in the crook of a tree branch had turned useless. The gusting wind blew thick flurries to sweep away my tracks, but buried along with them any signs of potential quarry.

Hunger had brought me farther from home than I usually risked, but winter was the hard time. The animals had pulled in, going deeper into the woods than I could follow, leaving me to pick off stragglers one by one, praying they’d last until spring.

They hadn’t.

There’s a sense of grim determination and desperation established in this opening. The protagonist is clearly a skilled hunter, fueled by the need to survive. This opening sets up the expectation that the protagonist will do whatever she believes is necessary to survive (in other words, she’s scrappy and resourceful).

Munier goes through the openings of several books in various genres as examples. You can do an exercise following her examples, or one similar to what I did above. You can choose books you’ve recently read, but I recommend evaluating the openings of books similar to your current work-in-progress, especially recently published books. This will let you see what openings are currently popular and effective with readers in your genre, and find inspiration for your own opening pages.

If you’re planning to pursue a traditional publishing path, polishing your opening is critical for getting an agent’s attention. If you’re self-publishing, the opening is just as important, because it’s one of the deciding factors readers use to decide whether or not to buy your book. Once you’ve polished the beginning of your story, it’s important to make sure the details and story elements added to the beginning are consistent with the story, all the way to the end.

Self-editing can get frustrating when you’re trying to make sure all the story elements and details are consistent from beginning to end, and then polish the language until it shines. I believe the journey ultimately helps you have a deeper understanding and appreciation for your story, and your writing ability.

But if you get too frustrated or if you’re uncertain at any point of the self-editing process, or if you’ve done all you can but still feel you need additional help, don’t hesitate to seek out professional editing help! I offer developmental, line, and copyediting services to independent and querying authors of fantasy, dark fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Learn more about my services, or get in touch!

Send me an email!

Best,

Leah

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/on-consistency-and-beginnings

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? If you're a writer, consider subscribing to my free Substack newsletter (you can check out the archives, too). You'll get a free writing resource on relationship mapping, and a special offer when you subscribe!

#Writers #Editing #Self-Editing #Editing Tips #Editing Advice #Beginnings #Consistency #On Consistency and Beginnings

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astoryinred · 3 years ago

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"Trese" and the truth in the fiction

In short: why the actual monsters in Trese don't have horns, wings, or summoning rituals

Finally the Netflix anime adaptation of the Filipino graphic novel/comics series "Trese" has dropped. It is available in several languages such as English, Filipino, Japanese, Spanish...just to name a few. It is not a perfect work, both in technical terms as well as an adaptation of the source material, but it is worth a watch. Go watch it. Please.

That being said, there is so much to unpack about the series, and I do not mean in terms of the voice-acting and the ethnicities of the persons involved, or just how crunched together the writing is. I will leave that to the critics. What I am writing here is a view as to the real life truths woven into the horror/supernatural threads of the "Trese" episodes, and why these are important. It's because for a lot of people encountering "Trese" at this point, the actual every day monsters of the tale (or at least of the first 4 episodes) are even more distant than the aswangs, tikbalangs, nunos and other supernatural beings that populate the anime.

This will go into spoilers below the cut

Episode 1: The series opens with a train stopping right near the "Guadalupe Station", and some of its passengers being attacked by aswang as they walk along the railroad tracks. During the course of investigating this and another case (that of a ghost murdered on Balete Drive), Alexandra Trese learns that other spirits using this train line have recently perished in a fire or have also been murdered by aswang in league with a politician.

The squatter/informal settler community mentioned in this episode is based on a real one. That area has gone up in flames from accidental and not so accidental fires over the past few decades. Some of the settlers have moved on, but a good many have stubbornly stuck around despite the land being eyed by a large property developer. That area is a symptom of the inequality that plagues that particular part of the metropolis, since it is only less than a mile away from some of the country's swankiest gated subdivisions. While the powers that be are (probably) not involved in selling anyone for meat, they still have a long way to go to address the woes of that community when it is not election season.

As for the other murder in the episode? There have been several cases of women associated with or married to prominent politicians who have died in mysterious circumstances, with some of these deaths ruled as suicide. In many cases, the truth has been hushed up, or simply swept under the rug.

Episode 2: While Alexandra is pursuing the trail of a tikbalang running wild in the city, she also is called to investigate a mysterious series of electrocutions in a gated village. Along the way she discovers that this is a form of human sacrifice to the bagyons manning the electricity providers of the city.

As reprehensible as the bagyons are, what is truly sickening is the seeming indifference of the people in Livewell Village. It's mentioned more in the comics (but also given a line or two of exposition here by the Nuno) that the people regularly offer an outsider, usually a skilled worker in charge of maintenance, to ensure that the bagyon will bless them. In real life there is the callousness that some people exhibit towards essential workers such as yes, repairmen and electricians who have to endure heights and storms just to ensure the "comfort" of consumers. Although the Philippines isn't a country crawling with litiginous folk and "Karens", there are enough of this sort to make essential workers' lives miserable on a daily basis.

Episode 3: This is a difficult one, both in the comics and the anime. One of Trese's cases leads her to cross paths with an actress named Nova, who is later revealed to have had her child left to die (hence making her a target for a specific type of monster). Nova's story is admittedly not easy to deal with and may be considered incredulous, but there are two important contexts to remember when watching it.

The first is that abortion is still illegal throughout the Philippines. It cannot be legally offered by any clinic or medical practitioner. There are clandestine alternatives available, but at a steep price.

That being said, most Filipinos regardless of where they stand on the abortion issue will still consider the abandonment or murder of an infant to be beyond the pale. Yet this does happen. Every month one can expect to read a story or two of babies being tossed in the trash or left in bathrooms---and those are just the stories that make it to the press. There have been exposes about mothers who have sold off their infants to "adopters" willing to pay thousands of pesos or dollars for an under the table transfer of custody. These happen because of desperation, poverty, and lack of resources to support mothers. Maternity leave is only up to 120 days here in most cases, and there are few resources to support mothers with PPD, mothers abandoned by their partners, or those with just too many mouths to feed. Questions of "bodily autonomy" are not first and foremost in the mind of many women who do the worst to their newborns; the question is food on the table for the next day or the day after. Survival is key. Not independence or empowerment.

With these in mind, it is not surprising that Nova is considered one of the most disturbing and reprehensible characters in this episode. From what we see, her choice of abandoning her child stems from vanity and pursuit of a glamorous career. We can see that this is not because she would be out on the streets if she had a child to care for, or because she was escaping something. It's just portrayed as pure selfishness.

It is interesting that Nova is introduced here almost as a juxtaposition to another mother, Ramona. Ramona, the mother of Crispin and Basilio, is an armed insurgent who engages in a ritual to avenge herself on the military men who forced her to murder her own comrades. It is also implied earlier in the season that it was not just murder involved, but that Ramona had also been a "prize" given to the soldiers who captured her. And yes in this context, it can also mean rape. The Armed Forces of the Philippines does not have a shining record when it comes to its treatment of women dissidents and prisoners. This backstory does not justify what Ramona does for the remainder of her screentime, but it does show why she has absolutely no sympathy or mercy to give to anyone outside of her two children. She is part of a cycle of killing that makes any peaceful resolution of the insurgency in the Philippines so difficult to achieve. Both sides behave abominably, and civillians do get caught in the crossfire (or explosions).

Episode 4: Much of this episode revolves around the events in and surrounding a certain police station located near a large public cemetery. We see that the police chief Captain Guerrero has his hands full with cases and keeping his subordinates in line. The cops in the precinct range from the innocent apparent newcomer Tapia to the more stereotypical "asshole" cops Reyes and company. Later it is discovered that the bodies apparently "stolen" from the graves are resurrected zombies who are being directed to attack the station for a specific reason...and it has to do with how the police run their often bloody operations.

The real life neighborhoods surrounding the cemetery have seen their share of violence and "extra judicial killings". In some houses there are still candles and placards calling for justice for family members killed in raids or accused of having been drug suspects (almost a death sentence in the Philippines 2016 onwards). Eyewitnesses and CCTV footage show members of the police force taking part in these raids and clandestine operations. The worst part? The neighborhoods surrounding that particular cemetery haven't even seen the worst of it. Other disadvantaged communities in the north of the metropolis have seen even more deaths of this sort...with some of the deaths being those of children. Google the name of Kian delos Santos as a test case. Kian's case was one of the few to have extended media coverage, and even then the resolution has been rather wanting.

It is tempting to go into the "all cops are bastards" line of thought with this episode, but I do like how Captain Guerrero is forced to interact with someone who he is trying to save in the station, since as it turns out this person has recently lost a family member to this form of senseless murder. Captain Guerrero and the audience are led to remember that these victims have names. They had families. They had lives. They are more than body counts and statistics. That scene is one of the most humanizing of the series, and shows that while not all cops are bastards, there is enough rot in the institution to make it a problem.

Episodes 5-6: I would go more into Episodes 5 and 6, but those deserve a whole new treatment into the nature of truth, compromise, and even gaslighting (even I am not sure how much of a certain character's narrative is true, and how much is just meant to confuse Alexandra with regard to what she knows of her father). The context she does face before those harrowing revelations is a very real one though: things going wrong in a penitentiary.

The penal system of the Philippines is alarmingly punitive and full of inequities. Privileged inmates like politicians do receive special treatment (including media coverage and becoming leaders of factions) while less privileged inmates languish and must struggle to survive the brutal social hiearchy in some institutions. And yes it has happened that inmates have been sent out to do "jobs" of murder and arson in the outside world, often being snuck in and out. A movie that tackles this aspect better is "OTJ (On the Job)" directed by Erik Matti. That one will keep you up at night.

The ending of Episode 6 is rather ambiguous, and it remains to be seen what Alexandra really experienced during her trials prior to becoming a detective, and what her father really did to her and her sibling. We'll have to wait for another season to get to the bottom of that. But if the anime will continue to draw from the comics themselves for stories/case files, we can count on seeing more societal demons and baddies alongside the supernatural ones. And those are the villains that Alexandra Trese cannot just readily beat; it will take a heck lot more than a babaylan na mandirigma to handle those!

#trese #tw:infanticide #tw:gore #tw:abortion #tw:horror #tw: suicide #tw: implied rape

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