#not a fan of this punisher guy so far. is this why police like him

[vulpinesaint]

"venom's moral code is inconsistent" OK YEAH MAYBE. BUT AT LEAST THEY'RE TRYING

[mrinafria]

From now on...I will protect you.

Only four more episodes to go *cries* and I still have so many questions/thoughts/theories:

Is Assemblyman the actual Satan/J? (I had written it off but episode 10 theory of dismemberment is making me rethink because he's more aged than everyone else on the suspect list.) That may explain why he's so keen on keeping Kang Bitna around--he probably knows who she is?

I think Assemblyman's elder son is not really a bad guy *chokes on water* He maybe more neutral, trying to keep Kang Bitna out of harm's way hence always going on and on about her leaving him alone (if he ends up being Satan imma forget I ever said this).

Assemblyman's youngest son may have seen his mom's murd3r (assuming she was k!lled) and hence turned to drugs and a hedonistic life to cope and not show himself as a threat.

Is it all really tied to the redevelopment project? In the initial episodes, I was quite sure that's what led to OG Kang Bitna dying but I'm not sure if there's something bigger at play here. Did OG Bitna learn about Satan/come face to face with J (because J supposedly kills everyone who sees him/her?)

Why did J leave Han Daon alive? It's been bugging me from the start. Gabriel the angel police came much later but even before that, Han Daon was all alone with the k!ller. Why did he not finish young Daon off as well?

I suppose only angels are able to see the dark aura around a demon, like the grandma angel/Gabriel is? Can s/he not help identifying Satan then? Or is it not part of the job description?

If Bitna's assumptions are right, she'll go back to hell as Justitia after fulfilling her mission, leaving real Bitna's body behind and making Gabriel's prophecy true: 'out of you and Han Daon, one will die'. But if Justitia loses all her powers (given the precap isn't just misleading us), will the mission still be on? There won't be any point going back if she doesn't have her powers, right?

Is this going to be one of those shows where she'd go back to hell, Daon would live the entirety of his life as a protector of justice, making sure criminals get their due punishment through the law, knowing well his Kang Bitna/Justitia in her Hell Trial would rightfully be sending them to the place they belong in hell. Then he'd have a normal death and Justitia would be rewarded by God to reunite with Daon in heaven. (not a fan of this ending but just a thought) I've noticed spirituality/hope in divinity as a running theme in this show so far, so maybe?

What is up with the girl at Bitna's office lol.

Why on earth is this show only 14 episodes? I am genuinely upset.

[clockworkowl]

Ace x Family: Mission P1: the rest of Part 1 

I’ve decided to change from posting 3 spreads at a time to trying to post in chunks that move enough of the action along, that they can feel a little narrative, we’ll see how that goes. So this contains spreads 4 through 13, which takes us up through the point that was the end of the canon class trial, but is actually the beginning of the real class trial. (Now I just have to finish writing the script for the trial itself!) Accessibility note: If you’re using assistive tech and need text descriptions of the images, because there is so much to describe as each image is a full 2 page manga spread, I am cross publishing in 3 image chapters to AO3 with full descriptions as the chapter text vs trying to fit it into alt text ui. Standing reminder: these follow standard manga reading direction flow of right to left.

Some random comments:

-Ryuunosuke gets flustered by Van Zieks’ state of undress, but then totally forgets he’s in his underpants while Barok tries to pretend he’s totally normal about him.

-You know what Chekhov said about backpack mice and plays?

-The objection page is I think my favourite thus far (outside of the dossier 3 shot) it kind of feels like if this were a real comic book it would be the pullout poster in the center.

-I love everyone’s little exchange with Larry when he abruptly about faces when it’s clear Miles is defending Phoenix, which fortunately is in character for his Eden academy counterpart, and I needed to do in order to have both Edgeworth and him utter their anime dialogue as a part of this.

-Not me kinning Edgeworth and projecting that impulsive desk-jumping fit of pique orating that then four seconds later turns into remembering one is introverted and doesn’t want to be the attention focus and like ‘ why and I on a desk and how did I get up on top of it?’

-The reason Gumshoe is wearing a blue uniform is because Themis doesn’t have police track so there isn’t a colour, they do have the judging track which is green, but that is only open once you get into the upper grades (mainly this was because I don’t want too many uniform colours) so I decided to assign uniform colours to non-prosecution/defense attorney characters based on whether I thought the reason they decided to get into law enforcement was because of a desire to help people and victims (blue) or a desire to punish bad guys (red) since those kind of align with defense and prosecutors. Except Larry who is red because of his position in Miles’ posse.

-Poor Franziska, Von Karma is dumping the same abusive self-worth issues on her in this universe too.

-I don’t think it end up being clear here, but Dad is what Miles thinks of Gregory as. (For him Father is Von Karma and Dad is Gregory, for Franziska Father is Von Karma and Your Father is Gregory she can’t bring herself to be casual or fond enough to use dad or papa especially after Gregory disappeared.) (For Phoenix, Papa is Barok and Dad is Ryuu)

-I now headcanon (though I guess that makes it canon for my own AU :)) that Gumshoe is a big fan of Columbo because he doesn’t realise that the rumpled, bumbling, scatter-brained persona is a ruse to make people underestimate him and it gives him the confidence to follow his detective dreams.

[jasmine-the-fox]

She got the helping hand she needed

Sorry for not writing anything for such a long time! Don’t worry Loose the model but win a hero is going to be updated soon enough... Just give me some time to read what I wrote so far and I might have a chapter or two up soon?

Marinette only wanted someone on her side after she spoke her side of the story, sure Chloe turned from believing Lila to protecting Mari and she had Kagami and Luka on her side... But her class, miss Bustier and her principal thought she was the bad guy, a bully, a thief or even a villain.

She really just wanted a friend, someone who would let her cry or someone who would listen to her... Even just give her a helping hand! But so far she didn’t have much help, she decided to go online to talk... With the hopes of finding her soulmate, yeah her soulmate... Something that Lila had claimed she was lying about, while Lila talks about her soulmate mark without showing it... Mari was showing her’s to her friends while trying to figure out who it was.

Chloe really wanted to help her, so she went on her international social media accounts and posted Mari’s mark asking for anyone who might have an idea on who might be her soulmate to reach out to her, she really hopes it might help as heck even Jagged Stone did the same thing! Asking his fans to help out with finding his niece’s soulmate making his fans agree and get to work, they began looking at the mark Mari has, asking there friends questions, asking what Marinette is like so they can try and pinpoint possible matches to the girl.

And so far people were doing there best to find something... But still there wasn’t much, anyone could match the orange and black smoking dragon wrapped around her neck and might not even want to reach out to her at all, it made sense since like Alya said if Mari does have a soulmate... They might not even like her and want nothing to do with her once they see her for who she is.

Until someone contacted her.

It was on her instagram, she was just uploading a new outfit she finished that was delivered that she could now reveal when she got the notification of someone reaching out to her on instagram, it was a boy around her age named Katsuki Bakugo. The guy was blond with spiky hair and sharp red eyes, he asked about the dragon design around her neck making her take a picture and sent it to him... Five minutes later he sent a picture of his left rib cage that shows a ladybug with a needle with a red thread.

He was her soulmate... They matched.

He asked if she was disappointed… Knowing her soulmate was an explosive guy who yells often... So it wasn’t smoke but explosions around the dragon, it then made sense to her and so she replied that she would like to meet him before making that decision, Katsuki explained that he was in Japan and he didn’t know if he would ever get a chance to go to Paris to meet her so she explained that she could wait and that for now this was enough for her.

But that didn’t mean her classmates cared about waiting...

They kept bothering her, kept pushing and hurting her, they laughed at her belief of having a soulmate when Lila claimed she was lying, for weeks and then months they kept going and made it worse for the young designer, then one day Lila claimed that the dragon was painted on her so Alya planned to dump water on Marinette to show the whole school that Marinette was lying about having a soulmate, so one day around lunch, Alya had with the help of Kim and Alix a huge container of water and waited over the entrance of the locker room for Mari to come out and when they saw her... They poured the water on her.

Everyone laughed at her... And then gasped.

The sight of the mark still being there proved that it wasn’t a fake... But seeing a boy with spike blonde hair with sharp red eyes glaring at everyone as he rushed towards Mari told them that he was her soulmate “You alright?” he asked softly as he handed her his jacket to cover her shivering body as they walked out of the school and towards the Grand hotel to get dry and dressed in dry clothes, Mari felt relief when she finally saw her soulmate for the first time, he brought her into the room he was staying in and brought her to the bathroom to take a hot shower while he get’s her a change of clothes.

Once she got out of the shower wrapped in a towel with her pigtails down, Katsuki had just set down on the bed a nice dress for her to wear, to find her hair down and slightly dripping with water made him quickly look away, tell her he got her some clothes and leave the room... He hopes she never finds out that he was the one to design her dress as a gift for when he meets her, it was Jasmine’s idea to be honest, Jasmine was his and Izuku’s childhood friend back when they were little and she with Izuku were known as the youngest people to find there soulmate since they met when they were four.

At the time, it was a big thing meeting your soulmate... But when your four? That’s something the world had to know, so Izuku did a lot of research about soulmates and proper gifts and discovered that handmade gifts show a great deal of love... So he made her a green bunny plushie as a gift, when Katsuki saw Marinette’s mark only through Jagged Stone’s fan website he went to look for Marinette and discovered she was his soulmate... Not knowing what to do Jasmine suggested he designs an outfit for her to wear... And he decided to not tell her he made it himself.

Just in case she rejects him in the end.

It was better this way... So he doesn’t feel the pain of her hating his work, he went to the room Izuku and Jasmine were sharing while his parent’s were out to get things ready for the photoshoot he was to work in, he knocked and Jasmine answered “Did something happen?” she asked as he barged into the room “Students laughed at her after someone dumped fucking water on her!” he exclaimed in anger making Izuku look at him in slight surprise “Kacchan... I get that your upset right now... But remember that you just met so your emotions are going to be all over the place right now” Izuku explained making Katsuki sigh and nod.

It was true, it has been confirmed that when you meet your soulmate or at least confirm who it is... Both person’s emotions go crazy for 24h of official meeting, so it’s best to be careful what you say of do when the pair is found “I just don’t know what to do?! What if she hates me!? I mean she was being bullied!! What will she think when she finds out what I used to do to you and Jasmine!?” he asked making Izuku sigh “I know it’s hard... But at least let her decide what she thinks? She might just surprise you” he explained as Katsuki sat down on the bed... He didn’t even notice Jasmine leaving the room to go find Marinette.

She walked into the room as Marinette cried with her phone in hand... She could tell the girl was going through something hard right now from something on her phone “Can I take a look at what is upsetting you?” she asked making Mari jump at her slightly, she then nodded and handed over her phone for Jasmine to look at... On the phone a girl named Alya was calling her a liar by getting a tattoo and claimed it to be her mark and then paying a guy to come over to the school to make them think there soulmates, a teacher sent an email saying she was getting detention for her actions at school and then a guy named Adrien was claiming to be disappointed in her on not taking the highroad like he said she should do.

She sighed and then moved to sit next to her on the bed “Allowing yourself to look at this isn’t healthy... Your allowing them to take you down into a depression to then end your life” Jasmine explained as she handed Mari her phone back “Katsuki would have been heartbroken if his mark vanished before meeting you... Let us help you to get better from this” she then offered and stood up with her hand stretched out for Marinette to take, she wasn’t all that sure of agreeing to be honest but the brunette seemed to be honest and kind... So Mari accepted the hand and follow the girl out of the room and towards another room where Katsuki and a curly green haired boy were.

The blonde turned to find Marinette still with her hair down but while wearing the beautiful sunset styled dress, he felt proud of designing the dress because she looked amazing while wearing it “You should call your parents and explain to them the situation” Jasmine said making Mari nod and quickly call them, explaining why she left school and her current location, they only ask for her to pick up her things from school and then stay safe where she was currently “If you want I can go to the school for you, just tell me your locker combination” Jasmine explained making Mari nod “Oh! Also i’m Jasmine Lessard and this is my soulmate Izuku Midoriya” Jasmine explained making the green haired boy nod to his introduction.

Jasmine left and came back with all of her things with a smile “Police came because someone witnessed the incident and demanded to see the CCTV footage and that the three students who dumped the water on you to be punished... So you don’t have detention anymore” she explained making Mari smile, but she was sure that it wasn’t over just yet, even so the trio began to talk to Mari about there life in Japan making Marinette happy about hearing all of this at the moment, after a while Jasmine left the room with Izuku to head out to find something to eat... Leaving Katsuki to reveal to his soulmate how he bullied his two friends from childhood.

And she still accepted him as her soulmate.

“Your trying to change your ways... The others changed for the worse while your fixing what you did wrong” she explained making him smile, the thought of her accepting him even after finding out that had bullied people before like she had gone through made him happy “I guess I should tell you... I actually designed the dress your wearing. My parents are fashion designers so it’s pretty much in the family” he explained making Mari smile at the news, the idea of her soulmate being close to designing made her happy at the fact he could help her in some ways, they began to talk about all kinds of things... Really anything they could think of until Izuku and Jasmine got back with Chloe right behind them with a look of relief at seeing Mari was alright.

For the next three days, Mari got to know Katsuki a little better making her really happy, after that he had work to do and wasn’t able to see her “Why don’t you come to the shoot? My parents have been bothering me since they saw the dress was gone” he explained making her smile and nod to the plan, when school ended she rushed home to put her things away and then went to the park to find Jasmine and Izuku were getting there make-up done for the shoot “Where’s Katsuki?” she asked making Jasmine look at her “He’s still changing... Turns out he and his mom don’t agree on something so there fighting at the moment” she explained making Mari nod as the two then moved to do the shoot.

She waited for a while as Adrien arrived with Lila, Alya and Nino with him, Lila noticed Mari and began to cry about how Mari had been sending her horrible texts about how her soulmate Katsuki Bakugo will hate her, Alya enraged was just about to head over when Katsuki went over to Mari with a lady who looked like him “Mari, this is my mom Mitsuki” he said making Marinette smile “So your the girl my brat Katsuki designed that dress for! My you are simply adorable!” she claimed making Mari blush at the woman's words.

Alya was lost, didn’t Lila say her soulmate was Katsuki? But that guy is Katsuki since she did show pictures of him... Did she lie? With a shake of her head she watched as Mitsuki took Mari away for something making Alya have no other choice but go back in defeat to her friends, Adrien moved away with Lila to get ready for there shoot while Alya told Nino what she heard “Maybe it’s the wrong guy? Just ask for his full name and see” he explained making her nod as she then saw Marinette dressed in a matching outfit to Katsuki walk over to the boy for a shoot together “You both look amazing! And your marks are in perfect view!” Mitsuki claimed as Alya saw the ladybug with sewing needle and red thread mark on Katsuki.

Lila lied. Katsuki wasn’t her soulmate... He was Marinette’s.

She looked over to Nino who had the same shocked face as she did, the duo then walked away for there shoot just as Lila and Adrien returned and a girl with short brown hair with the bottom half dyed red with glasses and a boy with curly green hair went to sit a little away from them “Oh my god it’s my BFF Jasmine! You know I actually helped her meet her soulmate Izuku a few years ago!” Lila claimed as Adrien while he did look interested... Actually winced at the lie “Dudette... Jasmine and Izuku were the youngest soulmate pair in history... They were four when they met and it’s still all over the news today” Nino explained as Lila went pale.

“You want to know something?” Alya asked the blind Lila who nodded with a smile “I saw the blonde boy, his name is Katsuki Bakugo and his mark on his left rib side... It’s a ladybug with a sewing needle and a red thread!” she claimed making Lila’s eyes widen in shock “The only one I remember being called a ladybug was Marinette who also loves to design clothes! We just began calling you our ladybug after you claimed Mari was insulting us and bullying you!” she exclaimed as Lila looked to be panicking at the fact she was found out like this.

Adrien on the other hand... Didn’t know what to do, he turned to look over where the two from the previous shoot were and saw that they were... Laughing and filming the whole thing, this was humiliating! If the video got out his father would be destroyed and known as the man who hired a liar as a model! He had to try and save himself, he looked around for some possible help but the sudden yelling fight between Alya and Lila made him move away to try and hide, he couldn’t believe he failed... He really thought that by being Lila’s friend she would at some point stop lying and change her ways... And yet it didn’t work... Instead his friends got hurt.

He began to look around for some help and ended up finding Marinette and Katsuki looking amazing during there shoot... Maybe even better then he and Lila ever could be really, he felt his heart break as he looked at his inner right wrist to where a beautiful vine of flowers graced his skin... He still didn’t know who his soulmate was and his father wanted him to date Lila, even so he tried looking at places with plants in Paris for his soulmate and could tell they weren’t in Paris at all... He just hopes to find them soon.

In the end Jasmine was actually livestreaming the whole incident with Izuku commenting the whole time in the chat... Letting everyone know about how Lila is a liar, how she tricked her classmates, teacher, principal and maybe even her parents and bullied his best friends soulmate... It went crazy and Lila was bombarded with insults on her social media... So much that she was reported and all her accounts were taken down, the class, Bustier and principal Damocles were also attacked for what they did to Marinette... Police ended up getting involved and investigated the school and class.

It took a month before the investigation was over, the class was punished, Bustier and Damocles were fired and Lila was sent to live in Italy... The class thought that things would then go back to how they were and would be friends with Mari again... But she never came back to class, there new teacher said she transferred to another school making them try to look around Paris for her... What they weren’t told was that she also left Paris for Japan to be with Katsuki and meet his friends.

She really did get the helping hand she needed all along.

[rollychan]

Okay, turns out I have more to say about the first Loki series episode already.

But first a preface/disclaimer: 1) I welcome all opinions if they’re stated respectfully / without any insulting of or jibing at others or other groups of fans (I mean it, any “some fans *rollyeyes*” will get you a swift block and Idgaf which side you’re on, I have no time for that bullshit) 2) I am a mere unintelligent trashcan of a person and also my native language isn’t English so excuse me if my thoughts here aren’t deep or intelligent enough or thought through. They are my own, though. 3) These thoughts will NOT be very organized. I apologize in advance.

Thoughts under the cut.

The TVA and Dystopian Themes

The first point I’d like to make is that the first episode gives me major classic dystopian vibes just set in a very bureaucratic world. I will explain why:

1) The fact that Loki is arrested for time crimes he wasn’t even aware he is committing and that are decided on by some mysterious few authorities nobody ever seems to see.

Let me expand on this. It feels very much like it’s another powerful dictator-like power, like Big Brother from 1984, like the ten world leaders from Brave New World. They dictate how things should be. They decide on exactly the one timeline that they allow to exist and any variance from that is punishable by death. In 1984, you had the Thought Police and an arbitrarily chosen enemy you had to hate that changed from time to time and everyone had to follow those changes, in Brave New World, it’s a bit trickier, but basically, people were genetically modified (was it before birth? I can’t quite remember that well the details of it) and pre-determined to be in one of three (or four? it’s been years if not a decade+ since I last read the book) classes by deciding on their intelligence and other factors. Pre-determination, rigid behavioral rules, no straying from the decided upon social norms. That’s what they all have in common. Not to mention the brainwashing. “War is Peace / Freedom is Slavery / Ignorance is Strength” anyone? The TVA might as well get such a slogan for themselves. The people working for the TVA all seem very brainwashed. The guy at the desk that stowed away the Tesseract grew up behind the desk, for godssake, he doesn’t even know what a fish is. Just like people in Brave New World are brainwashed from their birth.

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” (Brave New World)

The TVA, like the people in the Brave New World, want there to be no conflict (forced happiness is the thing in BNW). They believe in what they do, and Mobius is actually very much a product of that. He believes he is doing the right thing. He believes that getting a Loki variant on his side will solve the problem the TVA are facing with the other Loki variant they are chasing. He will do anything for this goal, but he does have a different idea from the other characters we have met so far. They don’t think a Loki variant will help, but they are still all working towards the same goal.

And, I mean:

“You will be lifted clean out from the stream of history. We shall turn you into gas and pour you into the stratosphere. Nothing will remain of you; not a name in a register, not a memory in a living brain. You will be annihilated in the past as well as in the future. You will never have existed.” (1984)

I get major 1984 vibes here.

(I do think that Mobius might change his stance towards the TVA throughout the course of the series and I think he’s an interesting character to follow. But in the beginning, he’s still wholly entrenched. Him having a different opinion from the rest of the TVA does look like some foreshadowing though.

I have seen some people say the TVA is framed positively, which I respect as their opinion, but I don’t agree. I have seen nothing that cements in stone they’re the good guys here (there are some scenes I view as neutral and Mobius’ introduction I view as framing him as not totally evil, not the whole TVA as good). If anything, I get the feeling they are very powerful dictators and Loki caved because he realized how powerless he truly is there. But I guess that could be just me.)

2) Nothing is explained to Loki. There is no instance that acts in Loki’s defense. In fact, from what we have seen, there is usually no way anyone accused of time crimes can influence the court verdict. It is entirely one-sided and pre-determined unless someone from the TVA wants them alive.

Like, that is a major indicator of something being very very fishy here. No one who has a shred of morality will think that is just. Everyone accused of a crime has the right to a fair process, to a defense, to an appeal. Nothing about this process is fair. Everything about this process screams dystopia to me.

Loki isn’t even treated with dignity like every fucking criminal still has a right to in democratic countries. Getting the clothes lasered off without a warning? Would be a major human rights violation. Getting dragged left and right and dropped through floors? Major human rights violation.

This is, partly, played for laughs, but also not entirely. Loki does realize how little power he holds in that place and that moment is played seriously. It’s dictatorian, it’s unjust, it’s rigid.

3) People are arbitrarily erased / killed (”reset” is the term they use, I believe? When they use those glowsticks?)

For things like refusing to take a ticket and then having no ticket. When nothing is explained to them before.

The court process is a joke. It’s a farce, they go through some (not even all) standard motions of court preceedings but there is 0 chance for the accused to win. It’s all an illusion, as Loki so correctly points out. Nobody questions it but him, but it very much is all an illusion, a mask for the dictatorship underneath.

I’m, like, 80% sure the ticket bs is there so they don’t have to deal with everyone and can get rid of the annoying variants before they ever reach the “court”.

Basically, I think the TVA are supposed to be dystopian. It fits right in. (There is so much more in my brain but currently I lack the words to express it)

Loki and Continuity

The first half of the episode feels very over-the-top. There is so much over-acting going on with Tom Hiddleston that I don’t understand. He feels incredibly OOC in that first half (save for a couple moments, perhaps). The panicky fumbling for the ticket after he saw another variant being “erased”? That’s so much NOT Loki it’s not funny. I can overlook the thing about signing the papers that are supposed to be “everything he ever said” but some things are so OOC they are not even in the same universe as Loki’s original characterisation (of the T1 & Avengers 1 Loki) is anymore. That ticket fumbling moment, for example.

They did go over basically all his life in that scene with Mobius (though Mobius was absent for a bunch of it). Those emotional moments were raw and IC, in my opinion (the way he reacts to his own death - btw, anyone reading this before watching the episode: they show the IW death scene and while the moment he dies happens while the camera shows Loki’s reaction to it, you can still hear the audio of it, so beware!) I think that moment he breaks down is well-done. And it’s in that vulnerable state that Mobius finds him and gives him the final manipulative push to tell Mobius what Mobius wants to hear.

If they pick up on these themes - the dystopian dictatorship that the TVA are in reality and Loki having to come to terms with never being able to turn back and freedom vs. determinism (chaos vs. rigid order?), it can turn out to be a decent show.

I have way more thoughts but I’ve already spent way too much time on this so here you go.

[marshmallow-phd]

Bottom of the Glass

Genre: Bodyguard!AU, Angst

Pairing: Jinyoung  x Reader

Summary: It’d been almost ten years since you left the life of glitz and cameras behind, never looking back. But someone refused to let go. When danger comes knocking, your father insists on hiring the best to keep you safe. Reluctant, you agree. Park Jinyoung is constantly by your side, but as the stalker gets closer, will he be able to keep you safe without getting too close himself?

Part: 1 I 2

**

This was the kind of life you always should have lived.

Teenage you wouldn’t be able to understand. That girl was too lost in the flashing lights and the glamor of magazine covers to understand the sacrifices that came with that lifestyle. Those things felt trivial: regular school, normal sleeping hours, being in charge of your own image and your daily activities. What was a classroom compared to flying to Paris for Fashion Week and being photographed on the red carpet?

As a child, you were used to being told what to do and how to behave, so it seemed like routine when your handler changed over from your parents to your manager. You understood that doing what you were told kept you on schedule and in work. They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty. An understatement if you’d ever heard one.

The paperwork and awaiting decisions could feel overwhelming at times, but at least you were the one making the decisions. You had a say and you weren’t treated as a money machine. Yes, as someone with employees, you had people depending on you for their paychecks, but the relationship was different. You weren’t being exploited. Rather, you were looked to for guidance. You might not have been the head honcho of the hotel business, but someday you would be. That was a legacy you truly held on to.

“A package arrived for you, Miss.”

You didn’t even bother to look up as you waved uninterested to your assistant. “Just set it down on the table.” Right now, these budget papers needed your attention. “I’ll open it later.” You hadn’t been expecting anything, but that wasn’t unusual. Partners or sponsors occasionally sent new products to test out or as a gift to keep the mutually beneficial relationship going strong.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jun put the small cardboard box on the coffee table set up on the other side of your office before bowing and leaving.

For another hour, you poured over the suggestions from the different departments of what they believed they needed to fully function for the upcoming fiscal year. All the numbers were beginning to blur together as a headache was starting to pound against your skull. You needed a break.

Yes, this was a much better career for you. Although those looking from the outside might see it as a step down, they didn’t fully understand. It was easy to look at the smiling face on a promotional campaign and stop. They didn’t dig deeper. The need to appear perfect but never reaching that level, the lack of decisions placed in your hands, the lack of privacy. What extremes had you gone to avoid paparazzi or overly adoring fans? How many dates had you gone on that were ruined either because the guy didn’t want all the attention or because that was exactly what they wanted?

Standing up, you stretched your legs by pacing around your office. Thankfully it was spacious enough to give you a good amount of room, letting you make large laps to get the blood flowing again. It was an office fit for a director with its tall windows on the top floor. Your father’s office was a few doors down the hall and even larger than yours. Maybe you should pace in there instead, to get more steps in. With the sun going down on the horizon, the chances of your father still being around were slim. Unlike you, he tried to keep to normal working hours. It made your mother feel more at ease about his health. A troubling concern that bothered you, too. When you were child, your father was Superman, invincible. As an adult, you were no longer shielded from the truths of an ailing body.

Before you could decide to check if his office was indeed empty, the package caught your eye.  The return address was a P.O. Box, absent of a name of whom it belonged to. Strange. It was also addressed directly to you, no formal title preceding it, as was often the case with promotional packages. You didn’t get too many delivers in this manner that weren’t of the router or legal envelopes variety. Grabbing a pair of scissors from your desk, you cut the tape and pulled back the cardboard flaps.

And then you screamed.

The box fell from your hands as Jun came running back into the room.

“Ma’am, what happened?” he asked frantically. With a trembling hand, you pointed to the package that was now spilling out all over your carpet.

Old magazine clippings covered in red smears - smears that were obviously made of blood.

“Don’t touch anything,” Jun swallowed thickly as he backed you away. “I’ll call the police and have security review who dropped it off.”

You nodded, unable to voice anything, too paralyzed by fear. Because this was no ordinary threat. This had nothing to do with who you were today. You knew those clippings, those old articles that you hadn’t thought about in years. That part of your life had long been behind you. The only remnant of it was the rare “Where are they now?” tabloid entry that no one read. So why had someone done this? Why now?

**

No.

No, no, no, no, and no.

There was no way you were going to agree to this. Your life was exactly the way you wanted it to be and you didn’t need some over muscled buffoon messing it all up. In your opinion, you should let the detectives do their work while you let this creep know that you weren’t scared of him. The initial shock of the first package had worn off and now you were just pissed.

“I don’t think that this is necessary. At all.” You were determined to with this argument as you sat across from your father in his living room. His face was scrunched with worry and dark circles pulled at the skin underneath his eyes. When he called you over to your childhood home, you thought he was simply going to give you an update on the police investigation into your stalker.

Hah.

Instead he had a bomb to drop on you – no pun intended. His idea of keeping you safe with this stalker on the loose. If it had just been the one package, you would have had a stronger argument. But the phone calls started two days later. No words were spoken, just heavy breathing. You couldn’t even get a creative psychopath.

“I will not lose my only child,” your father insisted.

“I can take care of myself,” you said. “Increase security in the main lobby and start screening all packages that come in. We don’t need to go to extremes.”

Your father was much better at presenting counter arguments. “What if the stalker manages to get through the front lobby? Or if the mail comes to your home next time? Or if he approaches you at a restaurant or the park? Distanced security will only go so far. I need someone who will be there in a split second if something were to happen.”

“Father, please, do not stick some stuck up, full-of-himself babysitter on me at all times.”

“A babysitter is meant for children, and from what I see, you’re a grown woman in trouble.”

In the doorway leading from the main hallway to the living room stood three very different, yet very imposing men in tailored black suits. The one who spoke stepped forward. His black hair was parted on the side, curling slightly over his forehead. Two little dots sat below his left eyebrow. He possessed a fierce sharp face that had the ability to look… bored, almost. The others that flanked either side were complete opposites: one short with light brown hair and a stocky build, the other tall with platinum hair and a lankier frame. Not exactly the run-of-the-mill bodyguards. Were these the ones that would be stuck with you all day and night?

“Ah, Jaebeom,” your father greeted as he stood from his spot on the couch opposite of where you stood. Walking around, he shook this Jaebeom’s hand enthusiastically. “Thank you for coming. Your agency came highly recommended.”

Jaebeom placed his hand against his chest, bowing gratefully. “We’ve worked hard to gain our reputation.”

“And will one of you three be guarding my daughter?”

“Only in the areas where extra protection is needed,” Jaebeom said. “Given the gravity of the situation, I’m putting my best man on this.”

Crossing your arms, you felt like the child who got caught with their Halloween candy under the bed and now the parents were talking about what punishment to deal out. “And who would that be?”

“Park Jinyoung,” the silver haired one smirked.

“He’s finishing up another assignment at the moment, so he couldn’t be with us today,” Jaebeom said.

You raised an eyebrow. “What kind of assignment?”

“A short term one.”

A bit cryptic, but you were smart enough to know when a battle wasn’t worth fighting. Whatever this Park Jinyoung was doing before he would stick to you like flypaper, it was none of your business. A small little prayer that his assignment would take longer than expected and wouldn’t show up at all was cited in your head. Pointless. Surely, Jaebeom would just insert another guard until “his best man” was available again. Your father would insist.

“I thank you for your attentiveness on this.” For the first time in weeks, the tension in your father’s shoulders released. Guilt twisted at your stomach. Though you were sure that, with a little bit of time, this stalker would get bored and move on, your father’s worry was unsurmountable.

You didn’t want to deal with this. Turning away from the others, your arms moved from a defensive position to one where you were holding yourself together. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not now that you were the boss, now that you were behind the scenes, away from the red-carpet premieres and flashing bulbs that burned your retinas. You had a grip on all aspects of your life. Your apartment was decorated the way you wanted, not your mother. You made final decisions for the company. That package was snatching the control of your life from your hands.

“Hey.”

You turned your head to glance over your shoulder. The stockier bodyguard had approached you, his hands in the pockets of his trousers. A sympathetic expression softened the sharper features of his face. He could be intimidating, with his broad shoulders yet lithe build shown off by the tailored suit.

“Jinyoung really is the best among us,” he said. “He’ll make sure you’re safe and I wouldn’t be surprised if he caught this guy in the meantime.”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” you sighed as you turned around fully, “but it's not the stalker that I’m worried about. I like my privacy, my life the way it is now. With a guard following me around all day, word about this will get out. And then the paparazzi will be back on me like clumps of sticky rice.” They wouldn’t be able to resist a story like this.

“I know it sucks, but it won’t be forever.”

You nodded, but more in acknowledgment that he had spoken rather than in agreement. It was easy enough to say that something would end; everything does. But what you wanted was to be able to physically be close to the end. You wanted to see it, reach out and graze it with the tips of your fingers. But there was no light in this tunnel. If you ever met this stalker, you would make sure that at least one of you ended up in the hospital.

“Jackson,” Jaebeom called out, catching both of your attentions. The leader motioned out the door with his head. “Let’s go.” He turned back to your father. “We’ll make another round at the office, get to know your security there, and create a rotation that will cover the area sufficiently.”

“I thank you again for all your work. I look forward to meeting this Park Jinyoung.”

“He should arrive by tomorrow evening. If something holds him up, we’ll contact you.”

Your father shook his hand before the three bodyguards left. When it was just the two of you again, you leaned up against the wall and let out a rather unseemly raspberry between your lips.

“Please, don’t be like that,” your father begged. “I’m only trying to do what I think is best to protect you.”

“I know, I know,” you said, exasperated. “I just… I feel like I’m sixteen again.”

Your father chuckled. “If I remember correctly, you enjoyed your bodyguards back then.”

“Because I was stupid and it made me feel important.” Very important, indeed. Not just anyone had big burly men surrounding them as they walked through airport to get to the blacked-out van waiting for you in the car park. They were the ones who kept the photographers and overzealous fans at bay. When you were young, you looked at those pictures where you were wearing sunglasses to block out the flashing and thought you were one of the coolest people in the world. Now the very thought of that situation made you feel pity – whether it was old pictures of yourself or newer one of the latest generation of young stars. There was nothing to envy. Not when all you wanted was to be able to walk through the airport and make it to your flight without worrying around being crowded or pulled at or hear the constant screaming. And you weren’t even a heartthrob popstar. You’d dated a few, though.

“Well, things are different now,” you father said in an attempt to be comforting. “and I spoke to others who had used Lim Jaebeom’s services and they said it was like his men were hardly even there.”

It took a lot of self-control to bite down and keep your tongue from spouting off. Because it didn’t matter how invisible the guards felt to the others – they were probably used to treating employees like they didn’t exist. You were not going to be able to do that. You were going to be too hyperaware of the extra presence in your life. Like a shadow creeping behind you down a dark alley. Always there in the corner of your eye, lurking and waiting.

“I should probably be getting home,” you said.

Your father nodded in agreement. “I’ll have Seonjo see you there.”

“Father, I-” One quick, stern look cut off any argument. “Yes, sir.” So much for being a grown woman.

Seonjo was one of your father’s own security. He was loyal to the family, your father most of all. He once sent a disgruntled employee to the hospital for trying to harm your father. He never directly admitted to having a license to kill, but you wouldn’t be surprised. As a child, he’d intimidated you. One time, he caught you trying to sneak out through the back kitchen door past midnight so you could go hang out with your friends. You thought that being thrown over someone’s shoulder was a stunt you would only have to perform in front of a camera. Needless to say, you didn’t try that again.

Out front, Seonjo was already leaning up against your car, waiting for you to unlock the doors. You didn’t fight him on who got to drive. You simply pulled your keys out and tossed them to the bodyguard before jumping into the passenger’s seat.

“How do you plan on get home?” you asked once you were down the road a ways.

“Rideshares are very common, you know,” Seonjo snorted. He’d become more playful as you’d gotten older. Your only guess as to why was perhaps he wasn’t very comfortable around children. Those little creatures were even more unpredictable than adults and from you had observed, Seonjo liked things… quiet. And orderly. Kids tended to be neither.

“But wouldn’t that break protocol?”

“They won’t enter the property,” Seonjo countered. “I’ll have them drop me off a little down the road and walk the rest of the way.”

“Always the man with a plan,” you laughed.

“That’s the job,” he replied with a smile.

Safe and sound in your own apartment, Seonjo bid you a goodnight and headed down the elevator to meet his rideshare driver down on the sidewalk. You were a bit surprised that he wasn’t staying the night to watch over you, but you were thankful. One last night of freedom in your own home before the lion came a’ prowling. It didn’t feel fair at all. But it just goes to show that the past never stays asleep for long.

**

“So, wait, let me get this straight: you… are… complaining at the fact that a man has to protect you and keep you safe from your crazy, maniacal stalker?”

You rolled your eyes at your best friend, knowing that you should have been prepared for this.

Dan had been by your side since the two of you costarred in a short-lived comedy series about high school students. Not that either of you were that sad about its less-than-a-season lifespan. Right after that, you snagged the lead in the show was the defining role of your acting life and Dan was able to move on to create his own fashion line. You couldn’t say what your other costars were up to now, but Dan was always – and would always be – a constant in your life.

“Its not that serious,” you said again as you leaned forward on your desk. Dan had come to your office to have dinner with you since he was sure that it wasn’t safe for you to eat out in the open in a crowded restaurant. You know, where witnesses were present.

“See, you keep saying that, but I’m not sure if you’re aware of the actual definition of serious.” Dan folded his hands and pulled up on his knee as he crossed his legs. “The phone callss might be passable, but the package of pig’s blood with old magazine articles about you isn’t as easily overlooked.”

“I get it. I really do. But I like how my life is right now. I don’t want to think about that pompous brat of an actress I was.”

“Okay, first of all,” Dan held up a finger, “you weren’t that bad because I never would have been your friend if you were.” Now a second finger. “Second of all, you can’t control other people, honey. I don’t know why they’re suddenly fixated on you after nearly eight years, but they are. And you have to deal with it.” A cheeky look came across his face as he lifted his glass of wine to his lips. “Besides, you never know. Maybe this Park guy will be handsome and the two of you will fall in love while he protects you from the axe wielding maniac.”

You gave him your best deadpan look. “You’ve watched The Bodyguard too many times.”

“Whitney Houston is an icon. She created one of the greatest ballads of all time with that movie.”

“Actually, the song was originally written by Dolly Parton.”

Dan jumped at the third voice, nearly spilling his wine. Thankfully, the liquid didn’t leave the glass, and he was wearing black pants anyway.

Standing in your open doorway was a man in a sharp black suit with a simple cut. It was the causal kind, like your father never wore. Hair almost as dark as the suit was parted on the side and slicked back away from his forehead. The smallest of smirks rested in the corner of his mouth, giving a little bit of light to his otherwise serious expression.

Surprised that he finally showed up after waiting all day, you stood to your feet and walked over to your new bodyguard. You held out your hand for him to take. It was a strong grip, but not so much so that it was intimidating. He kept eye contact with you, but in a way that was creepy or uncomfortable. “Hi. I’m (y/n).”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, (y/n). My name is Park Jinyoung. Jaebeom already informed you that I was assigned to watch over you until this stalker is caught.”

“Yes, he did.”

Dan hopped up from his seat and came to stand beside you. With his own hand stretched out, he took the liberty of introducing himself. “Hi, I’m Daniel Larken. The fashion designer? You might have heard of me.”

Jinyoung shook his hand, obviously amused by the forwardness. “The one with the reflective suits?”

“It’s actually a shimmer sewn in with the thread,” Dan corrected.

“Ah,” Jinyoung nodded. “Good work.”

“Thank you.”

Jinyoung’s eyes flickered back and forth between you and Dan, smirking. He was enjoying this. Well, at least one of you would be. And now that Dan was fully onboard, there was no one left to stand by you. It was official. You were stuck with this Park Jinyoung. As long as he agreed to stay out of your way and not completely upend your life, then this shouldn’t be too bad of an arrangement.

With a brewing smile of his own, Dan turned to you. “I want one.”

You crossed your arms sternly. “No.”

[fandom-imagination-ss]

Annual Halloween Imagine: Hopper freaking out over your costume length

Day : 1 Of the annual halloween Imagine!

Warnings: mention of sex.

Did I proof read?: One day I will! That’s not today !

********************************************************************

After A year of sneaking around, and having a secret relationship with the chief of police. It all came into Light three months ago when He asked you too move in with him.

Everyone in town now steals a glance at you both. Between the fact you are a raise of Sunshine always smiling nad happy and you were now dating the Town drunkin Grump who was always cranky. Or the fact that your Father is the Pastor and you were always the good girl who helps out at church, and volunteer in the elementary school, or the retirement home. Or the Bigger reason being your much younger then the chief of police. Some debut was between 15-20 years age different. (But really it was ten)

Eleven was out with her friends experiencing her first Trick or Treat. Since meeting her you both instantly clicked. Hopper was a great Dad but you were extremely thankful that you were there for Eleven when she needs too have “the talk” you can do it vs Hopper. Those you were equally curious how he would do it. But she had you. And you loved her. Hopper had the night off, you however promised too attend the Halloween Ball at the retirement home. The party should. Be over by eight. But still you had too get dressed up.

You decided too wear a witches outfit. Using a old black tulle skirt you had with a simple black t-shirt that you twisted on the bottom too give it you some shape. And a cheap witches hat. You weren’t going too go full warts and crooked nose. You were a simple witch. The problem wit dating Hopper was that he got jealous easily. You understood. You were younger and guys do check you out and are extra friendly. But you never paid them attention you had Hopper. And you didn’t want anyone else. Plus him being jealous was a turn on.

Why? You aren’t sure. But it is what it is.

Hopper was sitting in his lazy chair watching the Frankenstein movie as he had a bowl of popcorn he wasn’t thrilled about having the night too himself. He hated it. He even tried too convince Eleven too Stay home but you hit him on his broad shoulders and send her off.

Standing in your shared bedroom you looked at yourself. Hooper didn’t dictated what you wore- he loved whatever you wore. But today. Today! Was halloween and after working on the police force and having too deal with drunkin fools and the endless calls from the bar from idiots hitting on girls and getting too far.

Hopper only request for tonight was that your skirt was at least three inches below your knees. A Simple request which you happily agreed with mainly because you were going too ask him too join your family thanksgiving and bring Eleven which you Knew wasn’t going too go well. Your Papa hated Hoppers, and Hooper wasn’t a huge a huge fan of your Dad.

But you also wanted too tease him a bit So you hiked up your skirt up rolling up the top of your skirt too be just above your knees. With your mid drift showing you weren’t “scandalous” Most girls your age wear Less cloths. But from your background this was “scandalous” but Hopper has broken you out of your shell two years ago. You would NEVER wear something like this! But now you had confidence now. And it was all because of that big goof ball in the lazy chair. Getting out of the bedroom you were fixing your earrings as you grabbed your purse as you looked up at Hoper he was looking at the tv as you grinned. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.if that’s the case you’ll hike your skirt up even higher when you get home.

You were just about out the door when you called out too Hopper saying a quick bye and I love you. Hopper grumbled after taking a sip of his beer as he glanced over seeing you. “HEY! Hey! Three Inch Minimum!” He dashed towards you, but you were already out the door he caught you on the front porch as he spoke, ‘Hey! We had a deal missy!”

Hopper swooped over picking you up with ease and flinging you over his shoulder. You gasped at the swift movement as he marched back into the house . He plopped you down onto your feet once in the house as he looked at you stern. You couldn’t help but have a huge smile on his face. Seeing him all annoyed over your skirt. Seeing your smile only annoyed him more. The Chief huffed crossing his arms, ‘we had a deal Sweetheart.”

Nodding your head weakly you rolled your shoulders, “you know- I t bought about it more and I didn’t think it was Right for you too dictates what I wear.”

He crossed his arms tighter too himself as you reached over giving in on the teasing as you reached over kissing him softly. “Oh Jim Hopper you are So easy!” He didn’t budge as you gave him a quick kiss pulling away fixing your skirt.

“you think that’s funny Missy?” He’s work voice the voice that drove you crazy! When you first officially meet Him you were well- in school. But when you both started hanging out (almost. A year and a half ago now!) he used that deep heavy tone with you. When he was trying too give you a lecture about your tailgate light being busted. Now seeing him. He spoke “I’ll just have too teach you a lesson Miss.” You laughed as you spoke, ‘no! no! I’ll be late for the Ball Jim!”

You ran around the lazy boy laughing as he quickly caught you and kissed your neck quickly pulling you close too him as he caressed your thigh.

“think you need too be punished missy.”

“Sir. Yes sir!” He grinned kissing your neck as he turned you around too face him as he picked you up. You wrapped your legs around him as he carried yu too the bedroom.

You completely Lost track of the time so when your phone rang yu reached over Jim grabbing he cord phone as you spoke out breathlessly. “Hello?”

“Y/N? You alright you never showed up too the ball?”

Looking over Hopper realizing you not only were late. But Missed it completely. “Oh Shit! Sorry Margie! I- I- Fell asleep!”

“Oh that’s alright Child- I’ll see you next week for Bingo.”

“okay I’m sorry Bye..”

Hanging up the phone Jim chuckled as you hit his shoulder, “Not funny.”

“Yes it is- it’s your own fault.”

“Ha-ha. Jokes on you mister- you and Eleven are joining me for thanksgiving with my family this year.”

And just like that. He was grumpy again

Happy halloween

[princeescaluswords]

Just read people calling Stiles "The everyman" and that take is so far out of touch it's laughable. The guy whose father is the sheriff of the town he lives in. Who has committed multiple crimes and had his cop father cover up for him and said so proudly. I don't know what they consider an everyman but a spoiled legally protected white boy is not it.

“Everyman” huh?  

You know why I like Wikipedia?  Anyone can spend ten seconds looking up a common explanation of words.   Let’s look what it has to say about the ‘everyman.’

The everyman is a variant of stock character in storytelling media, such as novels, plays, television series and movies. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist, whose benign conduct fosters the audience's wide identification with him.

There’s a person in Teen Wolf who is an Everyman, but it’s not Stiles.  

Stiles is not ordinary in Season 1.  If he is a stock character, he’s the Weird Kid.  He’s a boy who drags his friend out to look at a dead body in the woods.  He’s a boy who is capable of realizing his friend is a werewolf and knows exactly where to find information about it.   He’s a boy who can listen into his father’s phone calls, get caught, and avoid punishment.  He’s a boy who knows all the deputies in town.  He’s a boy who clones the keycards for the police station.  He’s a boy who drives a 31-year-old jeep that happened to belong to his dead mother.  He never seems to have to study.  He never works.  He doesn’t even do chores.

He is most certainly not humble in Season 1.  Even though he’s not on the top rung of the social ladder, he has his heart set on the Most Popular Girl in School.  He does not simply long for her from afar, he acts on it, wooing her repeatedly.  He confronts an alleged murderer in the back seat of a police car.  He challenges a monster because he wants to get a better look at him.  He believes that he can teach Scott how to be a werewolf better than an actual werewolf.   

He does not often engage -- and this is going to get me in trouble -- in benign conduct.  He has convictions which he acts upon, but it’s Scott who wants to help people simply to help people.  He’s more than willing to mock and judge and, if necessary, arrange the death of people he doesn’t care about.  

Of course, his rabid defenders will say I’m slandering him, but I’m not.  Yet Stiles is not an Everyman.  This fan thinks he is because they’re confusing the power fantasy of the “Boy Who Runs With Wolves” with what everyone would do.  Everyone would not act like Stiles.  Most Average Kids would want to end this nightmare, not seek it out. This fan -- like most of his stans -- probably identifies with Stiles because he’s sensitive and insecure, though they simply want to edit out that fact that he’s spoiled and privileged.

An Everyman wouldn’t provoke and threaten werewolves as Stiles did.  An Everyman wouldn’t confront ruthless hunters the way he did.  An Everyman wouldn’t try to bribe someone into hacking into a computer to solve a mystery.  An Everyman wouldn’t shout at his date to badger her into dancing with him.  These aren’t criticisms of Stiles, but they are characteristics.  Average Kid wouldn’t have the entitlement that Stiles demonstrates; Stiles expects that everything he tries to do will just work because he’s smarter than everyone else and he believes that people should owe him because of who he is.

What amuses me so much is that the fandom invests so much in Stiles as Victim because he’s not a werewolf  and Stiles as Victim because his emotional needs aren’t paramount to every single peer (because they’re fighting to salvage their lives from being turned into werewolves or being savaged by werewolves or being hunted by werewolf hunters), and then turn around and make such a big deal about him being Smartest Genius Ever or the Spark of All Sparks! (It’s an analogy, people.) 

Stiles is not a Victim of his peers.  Scott doesn’t ditch him for Allison or Isaac or Kira or Liam, nor does he constantly order him about like a Tin-pot Martinet.  Jackson doesn’t bully Stiles; he simply doesn’t care about him.  Deaton doesn’t scheme against Stiles in the shadows.  Lydia doesn’t owe him attention and respect, though eventually he does earn that from her.

Stiles is spoiled and privileged.  Stiles lies to his father repeatedly and gets away with it.  Count how many times that Stiles shows up at crime scenes and his father rolls his eyes and sends him home.  In Season 5, Stiles commits a crime -- self-defense or not, you don’t get to lie to the police about something like that -- and his father not only does nothing about it but reassures him that he will never do anything about it.   His father gets him out of parking tickets.  His father obviously kept him from being held responsible for the nogitsune’s massacre when he was wearing Stiles’s face.   His father interferes directly with a federal investigation by freeing Derek Hale and Chris Argent in order to help Stiles (and yet insists that he’s going to make a phone call when Scott and Kira are kidnapped to Mexico).   Never once does Noah try to insist that Stiles stop breaking the law or stop lying to him.  And when Noah does demand Stiles behave, he either relents or is presented as the bad guy.  

An Everyman wouldn’t do these things or think to do them.  He’d want to stay out of trouble and finish school.  The parents of an Everyman wouldn’t just let the fact that he was found at a crime scene with an unconscious police officer with an arrow in his leg go without comment.   But calling him both the Boy Who Runs With Wolves and an Everyman allows them to highlight his merits while ignoring his flaws.

(I am going to mark this anti stiles stilinski even though I think it’s a more true version of his character, as a courtesy.)

[popcorn-hero]

How the villians reveal the issues in the BNH society

“Good deeds should be done with intention, not for attention. “

Honestly, stain was taken out of the story to quickly for my liking. I resonate with his ideology because I see it in regards to our culture. You see it on social media all the time: people recording themselves “helping” the homeless, or donating money. People must have their good deeds acknowledged and glorified.

But as I say, if you have to be perceived as a good person, you’re probably not a good person.

I think stains argument can be seen with the character Mt.Lady who comes across as an attention seeking, lazy, I’m only here so you can take my pic type of hero. What really drives her to be a hero? Is it because she can help society or is it for the fame?

And then we have the hero ranking system which I feel is the number one problem in this society. It’s a status that many strive for- like actor who only acts for the sake of getting "Academy-Award Winner” added to their title. Now theres nothing wrong with recognition, however, if your only you should strive to be the best at your craft for yourself rather than to get notoriety, that will come naturally.

And its not the heroes fault, its society as a whole that has laid out a culture that treats heroes as professional athletes. They get merchandise, riches, fans, etc. 

All Might is the embodiment of what it means to be a true hero. Get the job done because it needs to, not because it will make you famous. I would like to see an OVA of the world before it got to where it is now.

There are far too many silent sufferers.  Not because they don't yearn to reach out, but because they've tried and found no one who cares

- Richelle E. Goodrich

I can’t stand child abuse and that chapter showing us Shigarakis’ back story really hit me. Here you had a little boy who wanted to be a hero and was punished by his father for that. His father abused him, and his family enabled the abuse to continue. There was no hero for Shigaraki.

No one looking out of him No one there to save him.

You had a little boy who at first thought he was quirkless and then bestowed a very destructive power at his most vulnerable state. It was sad to see him accidentally kill his dog and ask his sister to help him after thinking he was in danger.

Then you have this child walking alone in the streets, half dead, starved, and traumatized, and no one saw him. (The old lady did, but when she saw his appearance, she moved on like it was nothing.)

No one thought to take this child to the police station? A hero didn’t see him?

Except for All-for-One. He saw Shigaraki. He saw a broken child that could be molded and raised to be his perfect vessel. 

And so he left one abusive relationship and entered another.

For a society filled with heros, there was non in his life.

“When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them.”

La Brava and Toga are characters that weren’t given a chance to be themselves. Both of their quirks take on an instinctual nature. Both of their downfalls happened in their school years.

Toga is naturally drawn to blood. It is blood, ones life force, that she needs to use her quirk. When she drinks the essence of someone, she becomes that person- its like the ultimate type of bonding with a person. Now, I think Toga may have had something mentally going on with her that was only amplified by her parents and peers view towards her. With positive reinforcement, consulting, acceptance of her nature, I think Toga would’ve lived a pretty normal life. If she wanted to be a hero, she would be good for stealth and spy missions.

La Brava is very similar to Toga in the obsessive nature linked to their quirk. La Brava has to know everything about a person and actually love them for her quirk to work. Her quirk is probably the best quirk to have on a support team. The teachers and her parents should have taken the time to understand her quirk (I’m sure quirk counseling exist.) and maybe have some type of quirk sensitivity class, so children can understand that not all quirks manifest in the same manner.

If La Brava had the right guidance and acceptance early on, she would be amazing to have on a team.

“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so....

- Mahatma Gandhi

Majority of the worlds population has a quirk. It may be mundane; it may be extraordinary. They may never have to use, or the have to use it to survive.

From what I understand thus far, you have to have a heros license (or maybe other licences) to use your quirk. Using your quirk without a license is a felony offense.

But is that fair? If someone has a quirk that allows them to fly, why should they be penalized for just wanting to get around faster? If they aren’t using their quirk to cause damage and harm, then why is it a problem. Why are people punished for their ability?

It would be no different from only professional singers signed with a label allowed to sing- anyone else will be fined.

In the MHA: Team Up Missions and Vigilantes, we get more a behind the scenes of the hero society. Vigilantes are classified as criminals even though the work they do is for good reasons. The little boy in the first team-up mission was holding the toxin of his quirk for YEARS because society forbids the use of quirks without a license.

What if your quirk is always active?

So now we have the Meta Liberation Army. They believe the use of ones quirk is a human right. I agree. By standing against a system that is flawed, they have become a terrorist group. They may have well done some terrorist actions thats not touched upon in the manga.

I kinda wish they didn’t merge with the LoV. I think them being a neutral opposing force between heros and villains would have made the story more interesting. 

Since it seems that Hirokoshi is releasing novels that takes a side path to the main story line, I hope to see novels that takes up back the beginning (like day one with the first person to be born with a quirk and a mutation)

It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias.

- Criss Jami, Killosophy

 @waxwingedhawks​   Did a good job at pointing  out mutant discrimination. I knew that spinner was ostracized based on his appearance, but some of the things that waxwingedhawks mentioned that I didn’t catch the first time around. 

Even when I’m reading the story, I question when do we consider whos human and who’s an anthromorph/object brought to life?  

Hawks, Miruko, and Tsuyu are people who’s quirk presents as animal traits. They look more human than animals. Then we have Tokoyomi, Mina, Kojiro Bonda, Centipede and

(Ok, idk if wash is really a washing machine, or thats their costume)

Who clearly are closer to being non-human that human

If Horikoshi does decide to shed more light on that topic, I would like to see that as part of Mina’s character development.

I’ve actually become disgusting engross in this world and I’m currently reading Vigilantes to pick up some more pieces on the shady nature of this society.

[onlyhereforangst]

Beware no grammer or punctuation: I just wanted to say that I wish the show would just move on without gibbs and give someone a chance as leader like mcgee now I say this because at this point it's not even the gibbs show it's the everyone show and that if someone else did take over it wouldn't matter that much and if they do do this he should get fired but every now and again when they need help they ask gibbs and he gives advice and goes back to working on his boat and now mark harmon can stop working so many hours also like why is ncis doing the whole police brutality thing now they never did but like I get it's topical but like the whole point is that you shouldn't do it so why not have a cop that murdered a guy and used accsesive force be then hunted down by ncis then have one of their own be the one doing the crime.

I certainly agree I’m over it being the “Gibbs show” but I fear completely getting rid of him would tank the show (solely based on fan base and loyalty). I think they could get away with having him in a more recurring/reduced screen time role (similar to Ducky before covid), but he’d have to still be there semi-frequently and even at that they’d probably survive 2 *maybe* 3 seasons.

As far as the police br*tality stuff...don’t even get me started (see old rage post 😅). If they wanted to truly broach this topic there were LOADS better ways of doing it *unless* this is going to be an arc and we’ll be seeing more appropriate punishment/backlash for the assault, the lies/tampering, etc. the show completely & utterly failed in touching on this extremely hot (& important) topic. I won’t continue but I could easily go on ��

[youngbounty]

Getting sick of me talking about Manfred Von Karma yet? Heehee I’m going to do another one. This time, I want to talk about perhaps the best adaptation of Manfred Von Karma from the game. That would be the live action movie of Ace Attorney. I’ve always expected the live action movie to give me what I wanted, that is the best adaptation of a Phoenix Wright movie, but it went far and beyond. The actors did a fantastic job nailing the characters, but I have to give a hat to Manfred Von Karma’s performance.

The biggest issue with making Manfred Von Karma is how easy it is to fall into the stereotype or making him the biggest, most evil villain. It’s easy, because of the fact he is the mentor of Miles Edgeworth, who has become everyone’s cinnamon bun. I object to that! He is Phoenix’s cinnamon bun, but jokes aside, making Manfred Von Karma so vindictive that he becomes the abusive dad or mentor to Miles Edgeworth or Franziska Von Karma does not make him more evil. Anyone, who knows his character well, would know that can only go to Blaise Debeste. Seriously though, Manfred Von Karma is a little more complex than that.

What makes Manfred Von Karma as evil and twisted as he is, is the fact he’s human. He is a good father to his children, a good grandfather to his grandchildren, a wonderful husband that takes pride in his wife no matter how unprofessional she is at something, a great mentor to Miles and Franziska and much more. Manfred Von Karma was not the kind of guy you would hate. He’s the kind of guy you’d want to have dinner or go bowling with. Yes, he was strict, but if you were ever in a pinch, he was always the guy you turn to for protection. He didn’t take Miles under his wing to cover up his crimes, they were already covered up, but because he did see potential and wanted Miles to grow. It’s clear he knew Miles had issues with his phobias and trauma, yet was willing to take him in instead of letting him rot. That’s not something you’d expect the other Ace Attorney villains to do, because why would any villain want to help their enemy, unless it benefitted them? I’m looking at you Kristoph Gavn, Dahlia Hawthorn, Blaise Debeste, Damon Gant and the Phantom aka Bobby Fullbright. 

Manfred Von Karma hits us hard, because he’s a genuinely good person capable of horrific acts of evil such as murder and corruption. In the live action movie, Manfred Von Karma was a genuinely good person that believed in perfection, because he wanted to rid the world of criminals. This is a very human trait each of us can relate to. When an injustice happens, all of us want to get rid of the one responsible for those injustices, whether it’d be murder, attacks on innocent people, animal cruelty, child abuse, police brutality, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism and the list goes on. Manfred Von Karma is the kind of person that would stand for those injustices. You heard me! But, that’s what makes him so twisted. In real life, many of the most notably virtuous people that consider themselves perfect and will stand for the injustices have done some of the cruelest acts of evil. People like Manfred Von Karma make themselves more evil than Matt Engard, because at least he has a façade. Manfred Von Karma does not. He’s both a genuinely good person and the most cruel human being on the face of the earth, no masks, façades or fronts he’s putting up. 

In the live action movie, when Miles Edgeworth loses his first case, instead of chastising him like most fans often predict, his mentor Manfred Von Karma gives him words of wisdom or encouragement. When he first meets Phoenix, he’s very polite and even greets him with a smile and handshake. That doesn’t sound like the kind of person you’d expect to frame his star pupil for murder or murder his own father in cold blood. Yet, that is exactly what Manfred Von Karma did. His obsession for perfection had pushed him, because he believed that was the only way to punish criminals, instead of finding the truth. Phoenix’s speech about the truth being much more important shows both humility and why Manfred Von Karma is such a complex villain. His fault was thinking and doing things in his own way instead of admitting or reflecting on his own imperfections. Anyone, who sees themselves perfect and flawless, will always be blind to their own flaws. Those who see themselves too flawed will prove to be wiser than most. 

Those of us that see Manfred Von Karma as the worst human being incapable of being kind have completely missed what makes him as evil and twisted as he is. He is kind and loving, but that’s all he sees himself as. Manfred Von Karma is not the kind of man that wants to be evil. He’s a man that wants to be good, but trying to be flawless and refusing to see his own flaws are what led to his downfall. They are what make him so twisted and evil, because that is how a majority of the most cruel human beings today are like. Aren’t hypocrites those that we consider more evil than the most evil of criminals? How is Manfred Von Karma any different? He is someone that is genuinely kind, loving and generous, but by refusing to see his own faults, he is someone that people would consider the most evil human being in Ace Attorney, even though he’s not. The fact he murdered out of the heat of the moment that would be considered Voluntary Manslaughter in the United States does not erase the fact all of us believe he deserves the death penalty, even if we may not believe in it. 

Manfred Von Karma is one of my favorite villains just because he represents the true evil of today. Sure, you may have your crazies and those who want to do evil, but that’s only a small portion of them. Most of the most evil human beings today are like Manfred Von Karma. They are the politicians, Hollywood Elites and Bill Cosby’s that we look up to that turn out to be the most wicked human beings on earth for preaching to us what is right and wrong, while doing the complete opposite.

[yeaahishowedupatyourparty]

@.JaneyPowellx: Thank you for the overwhelming feedback on chapters 1 to 3. I’m so glad that everybody has understood why I’ve decided to do this; not to romanticise or sensationalise my experience, but to raise awareness and give answers that I’ve never been able to verbalise.  I want to say again that if you choose not to follow this story, it doesn’t make you any less of a fan. In this book are experiences humans aren’t supposed to endure or witness, but unfortunately do. 

In the first instalment of this story, I gave you the build up to my abduction from my perspective. The purpose was so that you could see all of the mistakes I made, and all of the red flags I missed, and avoid making them yourself - or help somebody who you see in the same state of mind. In these next chapters, I’ll be talking about what actually happened while I was away.

So many people have told me that I don’t have to talk about it and that what happened while I was out there doesn’t have to be relived. But, I do understand the curiosity that coincides with stories like this. Most of us will never go through it but it’s something every single person fears to some extent. 

If you’ve read this far, thank you. 

Janey x 

TW: abduction, assault, murder

//OOC: This isn’t a full on story, just the outline! I think it’s taken her ages but she’d definitely record like a diary-styled retell of everything that happened to her involving the abduction that happened when she was 15. It’d be super cheap and available in stores AND online but all the profit would be go to appropriate foundations.

CHAPTER FOUR: MOVING DAY 

Janey would recall how she remembers falling asleep on the floor of the flat she’d been staying in and seeing the time on the microwave say 22:32 (10:32) on the last day of August. She was woken up abruptly at 03:00 by the men who were keeping her there. She was told to stay quiet and wait by the door. The boyfriend of her best friend dressed her in one of his hoodies and told her to keep her head down. She’d explain how she knew they were leaving because the police were getting way too close, but she also felt hopeful. If just one person caught her face while they left the tower block, she’d be safe. However, they didn’t take her out of the main exit but the fire exit, into a car that was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Janey would explain that she remembers running her fingers through the ends of her hair and trying to leave some on the stairs in a desperate last hope that someone might detect DNA. That was never the case as far as she knows.

She’d explain how she was put into the back of a seven-seater car and she had no idea where she was going, but knew they were moving out of the city because of how dark it got and the lack of buildings/street lights. She remembers thinking they might be going back to the Springs and if they were, she could make a run for it, but that never happened. They stopped off at a motel and picked up two other girls and a guy. The girls were also put into the back of the car and Janey remembers them looking terrified but never saying anything to her.  After more hours of driving and several stops at convenience stores and to get petrol, they ended up at a ferry port in Kent. All three girls were told to get into cases; which they did; and lay low. Again, Janey was almost certain they’d be found...but they weren’t. They were on a ferry and were kept int he car for another two days while the guys drove from France to where she now realises was The Netherlands and more specifically Amsterdam. 

The two girls Janey had been travelling with were dropped off with the guy and her friend’s boyfriend on the cusp of some city. The boyfriend’s friend and Janey were left in the car and she was allowed to ride up front. She remembers having to beg to use the rest room and get some food from a cafe. He let her and she’d explain how she tried to get a woman’s attention once she was in the bathroom, but there was a language barrier and the woman seemed almost scared of her.

The chapter would end with Janey arriving at a small house in Volendam. She would see out the rest of the year there and for the most part, she had a lot of her privileges back. She was allowed to venture out as long as she stayed close to the house. Most nights, guys would arrive and continue to sleep with her and she quickly realised this is what it was. As long as she didn’t draw attention to herself or kick up a huge fuss, she would be kept alive because she made good business. It didn’t make it any easier though; she was lonely and depressed and just wanted to go home. She didn’t speak the language and hadn’t seen anymore reports about her case since August. She felt forgotten and lost.

CHAPTER FIVE: WHERE DID SHE GO? 

Janey would explain how sneaky and subtle her traffickers were. They’d let her be in public and hide her in plain sight to not seem suspicious. She’d speak about how they went back to France briefly in the Spring of the following year and she was excited to see a brief broadcast of her case. But, she’d also recall how there were a lot of instances where she could have been rescued but she was scared - if something went wrong and she ended up having to stay with her capture, they could punish her for trying to speak. She’d mention how she was once approached by an English couple in Paris and just as she went to speak, the guy came out of the bathroom and took her away. It messed with her mind so she just focused on staying alive, rather than escaping. 

Janey would talk about how for the majority of her years away, she was moved around Europe; specifically Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. She’d explain that how some nights were worse than others but now she’s writing about them, she can’t pinpoint one. The majority of her time away is a blur and she’s sure she’s blocked them out on a subconscious level for her own well-being.

Janey would specifically talk about her last year of being in these people’s possession. It was a summer night in Russia and she was staying in an apartment in Moscow; somewhere where she seemed to get a lot of clients. At this point, she was living in a tiny room with five other girls who more or less did the same thing; she was nineteen. They were taken to a party which wasn’t out of character; there was alcohol, drugs etc. But, this particular party got raided. Janey decided to run while everybody was distracted by the police showing up.  She didn’t get far and one of the guys caught up with her in his car. She’d talk about how she remembers breaking down and remembers asking him why her? But, he’d always say why not.

She’d explain how being upset would earn abuse because it drew attention to them. She’d talk about how it was the worst night in the four years of being away and she cried herself to sleep in the apartment. Before falling asleep, she remembers hearing the friend and her friend’s boyfriend discussing going back to London because of how they’d raised a lot of suspicion in other countries. That’s when she decided she’d try one more time to get away. 

CHAPTER SIX: THE COTSWOLDS 

January 2020 - Janey would describe how she arrived back in London via flying and fake passports. She’d given up hope of anybody recognising her but was heartbroken when they went past so many officers and security workers with nobody recognising her or any of the men she was with. But, the relief of being back home, in the country where her family and friends were, brought her some sort of comfort. They had to wait at the airport to be picked up by another friend and Janey woud describe remembering how she’d been at Violet Springs airport so many times with her family and distracted herself by thinking about times she, Annabel and Harvey would run excitedly around airports or be falling asleep in the back of cars.  She also spent time watching one family with two little girls returning from a holiday; both being carried by their Dad. She figured that once upon a time, somebody had probably seen her too and never would’ve guessed where she’d end up. Who would?

Once they were picked up, she had the agony of driving through Violet Springs; past her old school, the downtown shops, the lake, even a friends house. She remembered how she always said she’d run if she got taken back home, but she didn’t. She was too weak, tired and felt like at this point, it was her fate to just stay put.  Plus, she’d probably be putting others in danger if she tried to reach out. Once they got to St Judes, she remembers seeing a group of kids walking home from a night out and she briefly wondered if any of them still thought about her. 

They drove out of Violet Springs and into a house in the Cotswolds (the countryside beyond VS, I think?). At this point, it was less about being paid to sleep with people and just being held captive because they couldn’t let her go. The guys were still abusing her but she’d become numb to it. She rarely saw anybody else and was never let outside. The only time she would leave was when the men wanted to go to the pub that they apparently owned. They’d take her through the back and leave her with in the storage room while they enjoyed themselves. 

Janey would speak about how one day, just before her 20th birthday, one of the guys brought her into the living room. They sat her down and told her to put on dark clothes. They explained they weren’t going to be a part of the ring anymore but still couldn’t let her go because she knew too much about them. Janey, at that point, swore she wouldn’t and begged them to let her go to no avail. They told her that it’d be her last night with them; they had to visit a few friends in London; but then she’d have to die. She was instructed to wait in the house until they got home from London. She was locked in the upstairs bedroom. 

Janey would admit how weirdly, it was the least scared she’d ever be. There were two endings for her now; to escape and somehow get home or to have her life ended & escape the mind games and torture she’d be living in.  She’d explain how she waited for an hour until she was sure they were gone and then started trying to escape. Her first thought was to kick open the door, which she did, but then everything else was locked and she couldn’t get out. So, the next thing she did was smash a window and climb out. She cut her leg on the way out but wasn’t about to stop to check it out. She’d explain how she ran faster than she ever had even though she was weak and hadn’t eaten in a while. She ran all the way to the nearest train station and jumped he barriers, she didn’t once look back and got on to the nearest train heading to Downtown Violet Springs. She wasn’t sure if she was going to actually get off there or hide out somewhere else, but she knew she had to get away from the house. 

[thenightling]

Opinion on the rioters who dressed as The Punisher

Opinion on the Rioters dressed as The Punisher:

I recently found out some of the Capitol rioters were dressed as The Punisher from Marvel comics.  Do I blame the character?  No.   However, i have become very cautious in regard to hardcore fans of the character and not merely over this.

First, I admit, I never really liked The Punisher as a character.   I thought of him as an edgy byproduct of comics gradually shifting to being darker and grittier.  He was one of the first heroes to not preach about justice and redemption but instead wanted to kill.  He was not a protagonist.  He started as a villain in the Amazing Spider-Man comics.  Stan Lee had not liked the character. (This is a fact that is easily checked and Googled).

In the late 80s and early 90s he became very popular as comics became darker and so he was given his own comic and appeared more often and often as a protagonist anti-hero.

I never liked the concept of him.  Sure, he had a sympathetic backstory but the “Killing is the only answer” never sat right for me.  The lack of mercy he showed even to the repentant, it always bothered me.  I got that he was supposed to be mentally-ill but in his own comics his behavior was, far too often, justified.

Other media tried to mimic the character.  The Ben Affleck Daredevil behaved more like The Punisher than Daredevil.  Instead of a defense attorney he was now a prosecutor.  And if he lost a case he would hunt down the criminal and kill him, brutally.   There’s one scene where he severs a man’s spine and then gloats as a train comes to hit him, as he lays paralyzed on the track. That’s not Matt.

Ben Affleck again played totally-not-Punisher in his portrayal of Batman.  A gun-using batman that was loosely inspired by Frank Miller.  And all the Zack Snyder Fanboys came crawling out of the woodwork, insisting that this was “realistic” and “more accurate to the comics” and “but look, he killed in these old comics!”   They either were lying by omission or didn’t know about Crisis on Infinite Earths and how main continuity Batman had been anti-gun and anti-killing since at least 1985.  The entire plot of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke was based on this established lore. 

There’s no doubt Punisher has had a serious influence on popculture and something I called Darkity, dark, dark writing or as others have named it: “Edgelord.” 

It’s a sort of “dark and gritty” “realism” popular among boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen who genuinely think crime would end if we shot every criminal and don’t realize that most real world police officers have never drawn their gun, despite what you might see in the news.  If murder truly was the norm, people wouldn’t still be horrified by it.

Now on to the fans.   There are far too many Punisher fans who think he was and is in the right.  They think he is an aspirational figure to admire and look up to.  A “realistic” hero by Zack Snyder standards, because hope and mercy are what is apparently unrealistic in a world consisting of aliens, Greek Gods, witchcraft, and even the folkloric Sandman (That’s in DC, not Marvel though Nightmare is arguably the Marvel equivalent).

I used to be Facebook friends with a Punisher fan.   He was equally obsessed with The Joker.  At first i just let it be.  You’re allowed to like edgy or dark characters.  There’s no harm in that.  But... he got creepy.   He would quote the Joker in conversation about “SJWs” and “progressives.”   He would say things like “My eyes were opened as yours soon will be.”   

He was convinced liberals tried to ruin The Joker movie and posted pictures of the Joker dancing down the stairs with “HAHAHAHAHA!  Suck my dick, Progressives!” in at least two of the facebook groups I run.  It got embarrassing that when people would search for my Horror Comics group, the sample post Facebook gave was that one.  

He kept talking about how both The Punisher and The Joker are right.  His facebook picture would alternate between the two characters depending on his mood.  He would post memes “explaining” why The Punisher is right.

He would post articles about this or that criminal being arrested and refer to them as “it” and “thing” and how “it should be tortured four hours before someone kills it.”   things like that, about various people who did things that were (admittedly) horrific and reprehensible but he would go into graphic detail about what he wanted to do with them   Very sadistic, Saw-like tortures before “Mercifully” killing them.  

He once casually told me how he wanted to kill all progressives.  I gently reminded him that I have liberal leanings and I got a “You’re different” sort of response.  

As his behavior got more fanatical and disturbing, the more uncomfortable I became.   After the progressives threat I made the mistake of telling someone who was mutually friends with us both that I felt threatened.  Needless to say the one I have just described to you called me a liar, insisted he never said anything threatening.  And accused me of being “one of them.”

I told him he had been acting increasingly strangely and needed to stop posting the pro-Joker stuff.  And it wasn’t just the film The Joker.  It was the version from Gotham (TV series) he tried to emulate and praised.  A woman celebrity he didn’t like was soon being called “It.”  Then some feminist (I didn’t agree with this person) was saying how The Mandalorian didn’t have enough female characters or diversity and should be canceled.  It was some stupid opinion piece published by a site like Buzzfeed or Io9 during the first season of Mandalorian. 

This guy was very conservative but had a bad habit of seeking out fanatical articles like this to make himself angry.  The only time I ever agreed with him on the matter was when he came to my defense for not liking the 2016 Ghostbusters.  Someone in my own Gothic Horror Facebook group had decided to call me a self-loathing misogynist and insisted the only reason I didn’t like it is because the characters were women.   No, I don’t like slapstick comedy.  I didn’t like that they didn’t bother to use real parapsychology or theoretical physics (as the original had done).  I didn’t like that the “genius” of the group licked her proton blaster and that was the common promo image for the film. I didn’t like that people who praised the film entirely forgot that there was a diverse team lead by a woman in the 90s. (Extreme Ghostbusters).   I didn’t like that they destroyed ghosts instead of trapped them.   That violates the law of conservation and most spiritual beliefs as even being possible. It was just a bad movie.

I agreed with him on that one but when this anti-Mandalorian article came out he went too far.  He insisted the woman who wrote it should be dragged out into the street and shot.  He called her “it” and “thing” and said she didn’t deserve to live . I told him he was going too far, and she couldn’t take the show away, that he was over reacting. 

He then blocked me.   I thought it was done and over with, then the Pandemic hit.

When the Pandemic happened he unblocked me and in a revisionist history of events insisted he had blocked me because I had “lied” and said he threatened me.   No, he had told me he wanted to kill all progressives, knowing that I am one.   And that was not why he blocked me.  It was because I disagreed about his death threats about the writer of a Mandalorian article.  He wanted to fight.  He alternated between insulting me and trying to show how good he was to come to me during a world crisis, like he was doing me a favor.  I blocked him this time.

That night my Facebook account was disabled.  Someone had reported my account as not being a real person, and Facebook wanted photographic proof that I’m real.   It was re-enabled as soon as I sent in a photo but as I don’t have a smartphone (I live in a deadzone) and I’m visually impaired it was a little bit of a pain.  This was not something that had ever happened to me before.  And I had witnessed this Punisher fan report accounts of those he wanted to “punish” before.

And now I find out some of these rioters were wearing Punisher shirts.   So yes, I keep my guard up around Punisher fans.

Do I blame the character?  No.  Not really.   If not him they would have found someone else to try to emulate and idolize.  Getting rid of the character won’t get rid of this mentality.   I never liked the character but I don’t want him banned.  I would be happy if less people were obsessed with him.  I would be happy if those obsessed with the character didn’t all remind me of the man I described here.  I would be happy if fans of the character were more likely to say that they don’t agree with the character’s actions, they just like his story.

There’s nothing wrong in liking a character with problematic behavior.  But if you can’t acknowledge that it’s wrong and instead glorify and romanticize the actions of the character, that’s the problem.   I love lots of characters who do bad things.  I love Count Dracula.  I don’t intend to drink blood and sic wolves on people.   And I have absolutely no interest in impalement.   

I think far too many Punisher fans don’t realize he’s in the wrong, instead want to be like him, and have trouble separating fiction from reality.  I do not blame the character.  They would have found someone else if not him.  But unfortunately, I AM starting to view hardcore / obsessively being a fan of The Punisher as a bit of a red flag considering how many of them behave this way...

[aboyandhisstarship]

i want a foxiyo Pendragon fanfic

ok...but it’s not really my best work, let me know what you think:

Pantora:

Riyo was sitting in her family home, in front of her was a human she had never met before, he was down on one knee saying “Riyo, it’s so nice to meet you I’m Press Tilton, and I have something very important to tell you.”

In his hand was a ring.

 years later:

Journal number 15, Coruscant:

SPACE! Now that I have your attention Mark and Courtney, this one is a bit weird; ok in fairness they are all weird.  You see this territory, is a not a single planet in an instance in time but a galaxy…like a full on alien life galaxy it is honestly sick.

One rub as there often is, is that this galaxy is in the middle of a civil war, ya I know that screams ol Saint Dane, But so far no signs of him.  Of course that does not mean he is not around. This is Saint Dane we are talking about the guy can be anyone.

But let’s get into it. I climbed out of the flume and I was in a concrete style  room. So this place is at least slightly advanced.

I glanced to the floor and saw the clothes of this territory. Yea, I was not a fan, in my time travelling Halla I have run into some questionable fashion choices. But this, this was rough.

First was a puffy shirt, a bright pink puffy shirt. Kind of like pirates wear, Bell bottom looking pants with weird metal boots.  And a Petty coat looking jacket, as I was getting dressed (leaving on my Second Earth boxers, I have to draw the line somewhere) I was thinking that maybe Saint Dane left these clothes here. I mean come on, I looked like a rejected Pirate in a Disney movie from the seventies, there is no way people actually dress like this.

Underneath the small pile of clothes was a black item, it looked kind of like a Nurf gun, but this bad boy did not fire foam darts, nope…it shoot lasers! Again Pretty cool.  But of course my bubble was burst pretty quick after all a weapon meant only one thing, Quigs…god damn it.

I gently pushed open the exit from the flume peaking my head out gun at the ready to shoot any yellow eyed freak I saw, but the room outside of the flume was pretty quiet, it looked some kind of spare parts storage room.

Scattered all around where scraps of metal and wire in what looked kind of like giant plastic boxes. I stepped out of the room closing the door to the flume, it looked like it was built into the wall, the Star was visible, craved into the wall as always.

I kept the blaster close as I crept out of the machine room and there I spotted them, robots! Like something out of Sci fi! I was starting to worry that maybe Coruscant was a territory of all Robots. Honestly that sounded kind of cool but then again, I was not fond of the idea of Saint Dane logic bombing an entire city.

As I crept along trying to figure out how to get out of the machine shop, a robot turned to me…and it’s eyes they were yellow.

Quigs…yea Gulp.

The machine let out a loud chirping and his buddy’s came calling, close to 20 or 30 of them carrying tools of some kind eyes glowing and they were coming for me.

I aimed the gun and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Now I have not actually fired that many guns in my time travelling the universe, most territory’s don’t have them.  I looked to see if I could find a safety like switch, as *ZAPPPPPPPPP* some kind of electric blade sailed past my shoulder, I rolled onto the ground and took off running picking a direction.

For once I actually chose right, the robots were hot on my heels but I saw an opening, where something that looked vaguely car shaped was waiting.

Ignoring the nagging reminder that I left Second Earth before I ever learned to drive I dove for the car thing, A robot jumped on after me but I managed to kick it off. Before I crawled into the driver’s seat saying “oh god oh god, ok pedals?”

I scanned the ground, no pedals; I didn’t see a key like cars on Second Earth.

Then on the steering wheel, ok it was not a wheel, at least not in the way you are thinking of, and more like a yoke, like on planes. Anyway there were two buttons on the wheel I hit them and the Car thing took off hard super hard.

“Woah woah slow down! Uhh breaks!?”

I scanned the controls for the brakes as I pulled up ending up in traffic, as I was bobbing and weaving saying “Please breaks, auto pilot, something anything.”

Now then I heard sirens, great the police…this will be fun to explain.

The police demanded “pull over!”

I called back to the police were on hover bikes along side of me “believe me I would love to, but I have no idea how to drive this thing!”

The cops fired a dart thing at my car and took control, think god.

We gently landed on some kind of platform, Aliens walked by clear as day. And they were dressed more cohertly then I was, as I was looking around before the cop said “sir, we need to see some ID.”

Uh oh, I turned to the cops, they were white armor with red stripes and they were armed, blasters at the ready, I smiled sheepishly “would you believe me if it told you I lost it?”

Another cop spoke “sir, put your hands up please.” It was a different guy from the one that talked before, and yet sounded the same, maybe they were robots.

They aimed at me saying “sir, hands up!”

I slowly raised my hands above my head, as they reached into my coat and pulled out the gun that was left at the flume…I forgot I had that.

I was surrounded as they said “hands behind your head!”

I did and was swiftly handcuffed, great start.

One of them asked “are you with the sepies!?”

I had no idea what he was talking about, well it was coin flip time. “uhhh yes…?”

The cops tensed up, welp wrong answer the officer said “on your feet I think you need to see the commander.”

I was shoved into their car thing as they went a lot smoother then my driving, which in fairness was not hard.  I looked around at the active and vibrate city of  Coruscant and I noticed the lack of green, I mean New York had Central park, in fact most Big cities I could think of on Second Earth had some kind of Green plants, but here nothing…it was literally all city.

We spent about 5 minutes travelling through the city before we arrived at a building, it was rather bland in design, and made of the same slate material as the rest of the city, I was led inside and shoved into a small room, but not before being searched again. I figured they would take my ring, but they examined and scanned it before handing it back to me and leaving me to stew.

After a few minutes I started to look around, after all I needed to bust out of here, either high tail it back to the flume and come up with a new plan or hopefully dodge the heat.

Well the room was escape proof, or at least seemed that way, so I was stuck there in my pink shirt feeling like a fool.

A few minutes later another cop entered wearing the same armor as the others. I was still not sure if this guy was a robot, he said flatly “my men tell me you are a separatist.”

A Separatist, I thought they said, ohh I guess I should have seen that one coming as I scratched my head “yea that’s me…big Separatist.”

I mean I had literally no other option but to stick to the story at that point, and just hope these guys would not shoot me.

That’s one the guy walked over to the camera in the corner and turned it off, uh oh I had seen enough detective movies to not like where this was going.  Then he maundered his armor before pulling out something on a piece of string it was a heavy sliver ring, with a large slate stone in the middle, a traveler ring!

I exhaled “oh thank god, I thought I had really screwed the pooch on that one.”

The guy took off his helmet and revealed a man, he was dark skinned, the closest thing I could think of in Second Earth terms would be the natives of Hawaii.

The guy said simply “my name is Commander Fox sir; I am the acolyte for this territory.”

I nodded “Bobby Pendragon, so what is Saint Dane doing here?”

Fox looked down, the guy looked tired. Honestly I was a little worried as he said “Kriff I have no idea, I mean if he is looking to cause Chaos, then he need not bother.”

He reached over unlocking my handcuffs as I asked “that bad huh?”

Fox nodded “worse, thousands dying a day, millions more displaced.”

I bit my lip, yea this had Saint Dane written all over it, I asked “can you get me out of ya know jail?”

Fox scratched his head “yea I will say…you’re an undercover spy for us?”

I looked at him “will anyone buy that?”

Fox answered “probably.”

Probably probably! I’m looking at whatever the punishment for treason is here and he is hitting me with the probably!? I stood up saying “I sure hope it does, I’m not in the mood to get the lethal injection.”

Fox looked at me before saying “yes I suppose, so you have done this kind of thing before?”

I followed him toward the door “the getting arrested after arriving thing? because honestly, this is a first.”

Fox said “no the, fighting Saint Dane saving the day thing.”

I sighed “honestly…I have lost count I have done it so many times, I mean I win some, he wins some…but every day is a new one.”

Fox pushed open the door “yea that makes sense.”

9 hours later, that’s right guys…it took 9 hours to get out, but when we did I was taken toward a truly impressive building., Fox told me “this is the galactic senate, the seat of government for the republic.”

Again, cool…but my gut was telling me something was off, I mean this territory was at war. The question was why and what role did Saint Dane play.

As we walked through the lavish halls, I saw some oddly dressed folks, Most glared at Fox like he had run over there dogs. And nodded at me like I was one of them.  I tried to blend into the background best I could, but it was hard.

After a few minutes we arrived outside of a room.  Fox knocked and a second later a voice said “come in.”

The door opened to show a quiet office, inside was a woman with blue skin, she looked to be maybe 20 years old, and her hair was purple she had strange gold streaks along her cheeks. She seemed flustered rushing to meet me.

The girl said “Bobby Pendragon? Press told me all about you, Riyo Chuchi traveler from Coruscant …but you knew that.” She babbled

I raised my hands “pleasure to meet you; you have a nice place here?”  Honestly my experice in this territory had not been super positive so far.

Riyo looked me up and down before asking Fox teasingly “this is what you left for him?”

Fox blushed “look…my fashion sense is not exactly.”

I jumped in to cover for him “it’s not the worst thing I ever had to wear on a territory.”

Riyo looked at me asking “oh and what is?”

I answered easily “Eelong, Humans are not considered to be intelligent beings, so they are…well long story short I had to wear rags…yea that place was not fun, almost gotten eaten by a raptor…oh and the Quigs were…”

I looked around the room  seeing there eyes start to glaze over, I scratched my head before saying “so you know what Saint Dane has planned here?”

Riyo looked down “I have no clue, he could be anyone…there is a lot of corruption in the galaxy…but there is one woman who can perhaps help us find out who is playing all sides.”

I plucked down on her couch asking “any paper around here, I got to start my journal?”  Fox hugged Riyo real deep before leaving…oh looks there is something there, nice.

That’s when I was given the freaking sweet holo recorder I made this journal on Mark and Cortney, I think this one is even better then Veelox? Your thoughts…well as I am writing this, tomorrow Riyo and I am visiting two important types…I am pretending to be from the distant planet of…Bronx, let’s hope they don’t space google it.

The fellows I’m meeting is a Senator like Riyo, Padme something and her secret husband a General Anakin Skywalker, who belongs to group of solider monks…sounds pretty cool. Oh and Riyo tells me they can read minds…great

 Miss you guys stay safe

 End of Journal 15:

[dreamingsushi]

True Beauty - Episode 6

So it’s a little late and I am a little tired, but I figured I could treat myself with another episode after doing some really boring homework. I must I’m quite proud of myself for being on top of game. But it’s just been one day since school started so... yeah... let’s not get too happy too soon.

Jugyeong does her best to comfort Suho and he now knows she remembered that day too. Right then, the fire alarm is ringing and people are coming to the rooftop because there’s a fire. But... WHY THE ROOFTOP? If there’s a fire you should get out and away of the building, not going higher up, if the building collapses because of the fire, you’re dead. Anyways, it’s a false alarm, everyone goes back down and Suho keeps protecting Jugyeong cause people are pushing pretty bad. Then they go their own way, because Jugyeong still thinks of what he said earlier. It’s so pitiful. It’s obvious that he didn’t mean that. And not just because Eun Woo isn’t exactly the best actor.

Jugyeong is not the only one thinking back on that. Seojun is also thinking about it. I guess he feels bad.

On his way home, Suho bumps into his father. The father is so greasy btw. Like, I’m glad my father isn’t anything close to that. Anyways, big star father wants to attend the teacher conference. Suho tells him not to, because he doesn’t want to be known as his son. And he just leaves. The hate is there.

Next day at school, students get their grades and Jugyeong’s are... pretty bad. But her mom and her homeroom teacher still manage to get out in peace. When Jugyeong comes, mom is ready to snap, but controls herself. And she forgets it all when Suho’s dad appears. And then she yells “I’ll buy you with money!” Probably a quote from his movie. Then she asks for an autograph and many women also asks for it. He signs on Jugyeong’s report. Which is so funny. Because, it’s such a bad report suddenly becoming precious xD In the cafeteria, a classmate asks Suho for an autograph for his mom, since she’s a fan of his dad. Suho leaves, probably angry because he didn’t want people to know who is his father. Since he dislikes him so much. Seems like Seojun dislikes him very much too. Which would make sense since he’s the CEO of the company in which was Seyeon.

While Jugyeong is looking for her mother, she happens to witness Suho confronting his father. But then the mom comes over, fangirling over the dad. So awkward. Suho leaves when his dad starts talking to Jugyeong and her mom asks for a picture too... Oh boy. But then again. You’ve not seen me sitting far away on the balcony of the One Great Step Tour, almost dying to see Dongwoo on the screen. I hope I would faint and be too shy to ever be like the mom, but eh. You never know. I could do that. But I did “meet” celebrities at work and I treated them like any other customer. So maybe I’m immune. Who knows haha.

So Suho’s dad kicked Seyeon out of the company. And didn’t feel bad at all about it. No wonder Seojun hates him.

Jugyeong’s mom is throwing away all of her make up to punish her for having bad grades. Meanwhile, Soo Jin gets scolded hard by her dad because she only got second place. I guess they want to picture her as OCD, since she always washes her hand like crazy? I’m not so sure, because they kind of changed the character from the webtoon.

Gowoon treats Jugyeong to thank her for her help and asks her to teach her make up. So they go over to her place. Seojun is there and didn’t know that he wasn’t alone, so he’s doing his thing, half naked haha. The look on his face when he sees Jugyeong. Then he keeps moving, pretending like there’s nothing until he’s out of site xD That was a funny one. She rawrs him when he thanks her for helping Gowoon. He wanted to walk her home.

Suho goes to the comic shop, probably looking for Jugyeong, but she’s obviously not there. But then, her mom comes in and as soon as she see Suho she’s all honey-dewy. So when Jugyeong gets home, Suho is over. Oooops. He’s been invited over for dinner. So the mom asks for the big table and her brother takes Suho to get it. He warns him not to mess with his sister. He can be a decent brother, sometimes. When they are about to install the table, Suho breaks one of the legs. Jugyeong and her brother fight as always, and as if things couldn’t any more embarrassing, Hee Gyeong comes back home completely drunk, again. She causes a power outage while tripping on an electric wire and the embarrassment is infinite.

The next, big sis is taking lil sis to the sauna. Bad timing, Seojun is there with a friend too. So she escapes and her sister makes her go buy hamburgers. Then, she bumps into her bullies from back then and runs away, leaving her waller behind. When she’s about to go get it back, Suho takes it away from those nasty girls, which startles her and makes her angry too. She didn’t want his help since he said it’s bothersome. Poor baby girl. He hides her too from Seojun’s friend and lends her his cap. He hugged her also. That was adoraaaable <3

When big sis comes back home, she sees the teacher getting tattooed eyebrows from her mother. Poor teacher. He tries to run away, still with plastic wrap on his face. She chases him to give him an umbrella, which they end up sharing. And then she kisses him. They’re cute.

Jugyeong gets “kidnapped” by some thugs that are acquaintances of Seojun. They’re using her as a bait. He gets their phone call after confronting Suho who pulled some strings to help Seojun’s mother surgery. Jugyeong manages to videocall her friends secretly so they would see she has been taken away on her way to the academy. Suho and Seojun also both rushed in to save Jugyeong. Suho is the one to find her and he charges in to save her. Why not call the police in the first place... guys be guys. Seojun joins the fight. And even Jugyeong attacks with a tambourine haha. The friends also come over and join the fight hahaha. Nobody thought calling the police would be a good idea. Or maybe in Korea they wouldn’t do anything about it? I don’t know. Well, they’re still kids. Seojun definitely caught feelings for Jugyeong, but she only has eyes for Suho. Poor baby. Even though he has been kind of a jerk so far.

And that’s enough for tonight. Sometimes, a drama doesn’t need to be that good. This is just enough for me to enjoy and I am thankful for it. Good night!

[space-blue]

Artist and Hound

Iain Hund, former supernatural homicide detective, now mere magical vandalism inspector, feels the staleness of his car's air like a strangling hand upon his thoughts. He sends a last baleful glare at the wall he has pointlessly stalked for the past eight hours and starts his car to drive back to the station.

In all his years in the Sup-PD, Hund had never doubted his own righteousness. When the Harris case had come his way, he'd broken all the rules necessary to land the damn man behind bars and still felt like it was right. He had accepted his demotion as a cheap price to pay to save the public from the likes of Jack Harris. So when he put down his things on his new cramped desk at magical vandalism, and even after a year chasing Blues dealers, petty curse carvers, and weres doing their claws on public property, Iain Hund had remained serene. Regret bloomed in him when the Artist's case was made his top priority.

Tom, whom he shares his desk with, is a cold shoulder to cry on.

"No chance with this new stake-out then?" Met only by moody silence, Tom pushes a box of donut accross the desk. "You look like you need some."

"You eat donuts like a road cop."

"Well, those guys know what's up. Didn't you work with them, back in the day?"

"Yes," Iain sighs, dunking his hand in the proffered box, "and this case is the most pointless and disheartening task I've been given in my career, which includes these old patrols with the normal's police, writing tickets and shit."

"Come on, the Artist has been taunting us for years, but she can't be flawless. Guy with an ability like yours, what's that? Magikolour synaesthesia? Why go for stake-outs and CCTV? Why not make some traps? You've got more magical ability than this whole floor put together!"

"Tom, I'd need so many warrants for one trap, it's not ever happening. I think I got given this task as extra punishment. Something senseless to run after until I retire."

"What if they really think you can catch the vandal who's never been caught?"

"Why do they want that anyway? Because some loony normal might scrap some paint off a wall and somehow figue out there's something off with it? What am I to say to her if I catch her? 'You're under arrest for artistry. Your fingers will be broken... No, sorry, I mean, I need your address so we can send you fines!' Don't you think we'd all be better off with more art like hers in NY, and less wendigos or murderous weres I could put behind bars?"

"Hund, I don't wanna disappoint, but the world's been doing just fine without you. Also, moaning to me isn't getting you back into homicide and you know it. Artist is no murderer, maybe you've got to change your tactic, get original."

Iain, knowing good advice when he hears it, wonders about the changes he could make. The police, sup or normal's, has no name or face to put on the Artist. Even her gender is as good as the street word, rumours from the guy who knows a guy who's seen her.

Dusting donut crumbs from his notebooks, Iain peruses through weeks of drawings. When seen by normals or photographed, the Artist's work is static, if beautiful graffiti art. The drawings were to capture the details of what sups–anyone with a shred of magical ability–saw instead: myriads of images, sometimes a whole scene, with characters turning to the watcher, mouth opening in mute calls, sometimes the paint exploding out of the walls, pulling you in clouds of coruscant particles. In his book Iain has little boats on the calm waters of a lake, the face of a submerged god half hidden under lotuses; a pale man weeping liquid gold; a woman playing a sitar, each sound coming alive in the shape of a fantastical animal; a highway bridge pillar turned into an aquarium in which twirled a bigger-than-life mermaid; and many more. His notebook is far thicker than the case file ever was. In the last pages he finds the sketches made of a long mural of dancers. Their appearance changed depending on the angle you looked at it, a masquerade of shape-shifters. In it is a message for the man the Artist knows is on her trail, for hidden behind the legs of a dancer stands a black wolf-dog and though it has no collar, a golden tag gleams beneath its jaws, etched in the faintest strokes with the name Iain.

That's how she must see me: the law's dog on his invisible leash.

"Alright, let's get original."

"Mmh? Where are you going?"

"Hudson Heights. I'm gonna get friendlier with our local alchemists."

He leaves Tom to choke on his donut.

Alchemists have no claws or tooth to rend through you, but they don't need them. The power they wield, and their tendency for single minded obsession, makes them a prickly bunch, and the Sup-PD has a special unit for policing them. Iain's badge feels like a flimsy shield in his hand as he steps down from the sunny, all-American street and into the subterranean entrance to the alchemy quarters. The skills of the Artist and the finesse of her alchemical paints has already sent Iain deep inside those hidden galleries of shops and studios, where his questions revealed envy, admiration, and wholesalers of raw materials who did most business online and all proudly claimed her as a loyal customer, whilst unable or unwilling to prove anything.

The man at the entrance smiles at Hund.

"What do you want this time, cop?"

"Just visiting Toby Smith as a customer today." Iain grimaces. "Please."

The doorman grins sardonically, Smith being a famously irascible alchemist. He reaches for the door handle and applies his magic to it. To Iain it looks like a blue aura. A small displacement magic, that opens doors to other places. He nods his thanks and scuttles past and right into the maddening chaos of Toby Smith's shop.

"You again? What do you want now?" a disembodied voice asks from all corners.

Smith does business like this, never bothering to be present in the same room as his customers, his store guarded by an arsenal of curses that would make any hardened criminal as docile as a puppy.

"Paints."

"You're still after the Artist?"

"Ah, yes sir."

"You planning on defacing her work?"

"No sir. I–well, I like her work too. She caters to her fans though, and I thought, maybe, I can get to discuss with her somehow?"

Drawers open at invisible hands, glass jars and packets start drifting towards Iain.

"You're planning some sort of painting show-down? You've got guts Hund, I like it. Leave two hundred behind, follow the instructions on the packs, and work on your magic before mixing, unless you want blowing your moronic face off."

"Thanks sir."

"You're a better guy than I assumed."

"Sir?"

"Mixing paints to life is a tiny magic, but it's also very rare. The Artist has a unique gift. That someone with such a high grade magic as yours can appreciate her work is good. Maybe with you on her case she won't get wiped after all."

Iain mouth goes very dry.

"Wiped? Why would..."

His mind reels. It makes perfect sense now. Why bother with breaking fingers, indeed! Such a small gift, to breath life into a pot of already alchemical paint. It would take a tiny trap seal with her name on it to erase her magic as surely as if she were born a normal. He can picture his bosses, patting him on the shoulder. Good job Hund.

"Hund?"

"Thank you sir. For your honesty."

Iain goes home on autopilot, lost in his thoughts. He spends several evenings practising, and more building the final spell-works and paints before going out. He's mapped the Artist's work throughout Manhattan, and picked a wall she is likely to walk by. Finally he sits behind the wheel of his car and works a small shifting magic on his face. He has decided to go into the night to do what he's paid to stop. He feels shivers of anticipation and dread, a kinship and a respect stronger than ever before for the Artist who so inconspicuously prowls the nights.

He does her portrait, suggested, unfinished, broad strokes of paint revealing how little he knows of her. Sitting beside her stands a black hound with a golden tag, his muzzle resting in her lap, adoring eyes gazing up into her unpainted face waiting to be filled. Artist and Hound, he titles it.

A promise.

Two days later, Iain finds that the mouth of the Artist has been painted over in a slight smile.

~~ October 2018 – Theme : Small Magics