#particularly right in the time period when they. started living together again and reconciling

[thormanick]

“Stay” from Amélie the Musical (Original London Cast Recording (or the one version of the song with the animatic)) but it’s Kaveh singing to Alhaitham, here, I said it, it’s been stuck in my head for practically an eternity now (basically some angsty pining kavetham/haikaveh)-

There are just so many quotes (and, well, the whole song):

Stay where you are; don’t come too close and don’t go too far - Kaveh’s attitude to their dynamic in my eyes

…Tape up the pieces, and here we are, back again, frozen in place, feeling and looking the same - about their reconciliation after the argument, even though they cannot completely go back to what they used to be, as well as about their mutual inability to move forward bc neither of them just knows how, and so they awkwardly remain trying to be a reimagining of something they used to be even though they cannot do it bc they cannot properly move on just yet even though they both want it- (I am delusional about these two please have mercy)

Everyone knows that it’s easy to smile safe, in a frame - *crying noises* do I need to even-

And, well, the rest of the song hits too (particularly the bridge)

[padfootastic]

So I'm going to be greedy and try for two in the WIP game. Feel free to only answer one if that's against the rules :P

Number 11 prongsfoot (because yay!!! there is never enough of those two imo) and Number 5 Walburga (because I am super intrigued and coincidently I also have a WIP titled that haha)

i’m so sorry for taking so long i blinked and 1567 days passed by; this is the first time i’ve had wi-fi on my ipad in like a week 😭😭

so, prongsfoot is my ~much awaited (lol) longfic that i’ve been thinking about for months (let’s ignore the fact i only have a couple thousand words written hehe) it’s v simple and v cliche but that’s how i like it. single dad james who’s a personal trainer + model sirius who’s tired of his meaningless life who runs away and visits his aunt cassiopeia which is, coincidentally, where james lives. they meet, sirius falls in love with both james and harry, and they get together. very uncomplicated & tropey as fuck bc that’s how i like it. here’s a snippet of that one 🙈

“Give me more credit than that, won’t you? I’ve known you for years now and never have I seen you as fed up with life than in the past few weeks,” Lily said, “Which is really saying something when you consider I was there for your little experimental hair phase back in ‘02.”

Sirius winced. “Jeez, okay, I get it, no need to pull out the big guns. No one wants to remember that disastrous period in life.”

“By which, of course, you mean you don’t want to remember it. It brings me great joy to talk about it time and again—“

“That’s because you’re a little gremlin.“

“—as a reminder of how even the greatest amongst us weren’t always this way.”

Sirius heaved a great sigh and once again contemplated his decision to sit beside the little red headed demon colouring her sun purple and river orange in Year 4.

“Anyway. As I was saying,” Lily said with a pointed cough, “I’ve been expecting this for a while now, so let’s skip the mushy stuff - please and thank you, love - and move right on to what you had in mind if not this.”

Aaaaaaand just as quickly, he was reminded it was because he himself preferred braiding his hair with flowers to keeping it short, and wearing glitter on his cheeks, even as far back as when he was eight years old.

He quickly leaned forward to press a light kiss on her cheek before replying, “How’d you know I have something planned? This could be my chance to go off-the-rails, y’know.”

“Sirius, you know I love you, but your definition of ‘letting loose’ is drinking aged whiskey in a solo cup—“

“Because it’s truly absurd.”

“—and I don’t think you could even take a shit without writing it down in your planner, so forgive me if I don’t entirely believe your, er—what did you say?—‘Going-off-the-rails’ suggestion,” she ended with a snort.

Ah, the mortifying ordeal of being known. Sirius sometimes really wished Lily wasn’t as perceptive as she was, but then it wouldn’t be her if that were the case, would it?

“Fine,” he sneered, “I was thinking of visiting Great-aunt Cassie down South.”

Lily blinked.

“Great-aunt Cassie, as in Cassiopeia Black, as in the slightly-unhinged-spinster-recluse who lives with her pet cheetah and teaches little girls how to wield daggers in her spare time—that Great-aunt Cassie?”

Walburga is,,,interesting. it’s a oneshot (?) i started way back in 2017 and i’ve tried really hard to salvage a snippet from the cringe fest but i just can’t 😭 i like the basic premise which is basically this: sirius, who’s very, very good at offensive & grey/dark magic because his family thighs it to him from birth, and he tries to reconcile himself, who he believes himself to be, who he wants to be with who he was moulded into (regardless of whether it was successful or not). it starts off with the marauders practicing diffindo and sirius having a particularly powerful spell, and goes on to show how walburga made him use it. it’s a bit…dark, that scene, and a little cartoonishly evil (which is why it makes me cringe now) but yeah, that’s basically it.

i’m now super curious about your walburga fic 👀 can i reverse ask for a brief/snippet myself? is that allowed?

[alethiometry]

Edward Kenway for character asks!

ooooooo okay i should open this with a disclaimer: i have not finished black flag yet (about 2/3 of the way through i think? i need to level up my ship so i can beat the next story mission lol) so everything i'm saying here is based on the game up to thatch's death, and everything we know about edward in ac 3: forsaken and the comics that came out a couple years ago.

First impression

oh boy... to be honest, one of the reasons it took me such a long time to get around to playing black flag (it was one of the first ps4 games i bought when i got my console in 2016, and i didn't start until about a month ago) was because i didn't really feel particularly strongly about edward's character design. i was vaguely interested in That One Pirate Assassin Game after having watched (and loved) black sails, but was afraid i would be let down; to me edward just looked like Some Dude, and i was still hung up on the black sails gang. to me, black sails and its characters were so genre/time period-defining that any other piece of pirate media just seemed lackluster in comparison.

i'd also heard a lot of praise for edward and for ac4 in general so i was aware that it was a very popular and well-received game. but since i mostly heard that from reddit (didn't join tumblr ac fandom until odyssey in 2018) i kind of discounted it, bc gamer reddit tastes are... questionable at best.

Impression now

I LOVE HIM!!! i always think i want stories about virtuous characters who believe in goodness and kindness and aren't motivated by gold or glory but aren't afraid to do what needs to be done to help others who can't help themselves. and sometimes that's true (coughratonhnhake:toncough). other times i end up clowning on myself because i realize that it's so much fun when said good/kind character has a rough and rugged exterior, and is motivated by personal gain (i think edward and kassandra are kinda kindred spirits across time and space in that regard, but maybe that's another rant for another time). sometimes you just want someone to be a little bit of an opportunistic bastard, and boy does edward fit that to a T. he's an incredibly complex man, and i think what really got me was that even as he was impersonating assassins and then templars and then assassins again, all for personal gain (pickpocketing the templars in havana while he gains their trust and agrees to do their dirty work lmfao my beloved <3), his primary motivation for doing so was to prove to caroline and her family that he is someone worth a damn, that he is capable of great things and that he is worthy of their love and acceptance. and i know from ac forsaken that the marriage with caroline doesn't last (though i haven't played ac4 far enough to see if that happens on screen, or if it occurs between the game and the novel) which makes his backstory in the game all the more heartbreaking. but his optimism and perseverance and determination to prove himself are all what make me love him.

so that's edward the romantic. now let's talk about the way edward is with adewale, his crew, and his friends. and let's also put the rest of this behind a readmore bc girl i am RANTINGGGGGG

he has several lines that he says to adewale that make me physically cringe (namely: "many of [these men] wouldn't accept you as captain" or "what was it like being enslaved?" like i get that someone like edward would be asking that question in good faith and genuine curiosity but also JESUS CHRIST UBISOFT). but on the flip side - cringey as those questions are, he also takes the time to actually listen and learn, and i think he genuinely values the perspective that he gets from adewale allowing him to open these lines of trust and communication. there's a patience and mutual respect there that i adore.

i also love how much edward loves his crew and his other pirate friends. those scenes of him + kidd + thatch + adewale + hornigold (lol) drinking on the beach and having a grand old time and talking about establishing - to borrow one of my favorite chills-down-my-spine phrases from black sails - a nation of thieves, for people like them to live and prosper, free from the chokehold of civilization. and i know he's not as outwardly invested in counterculture/independence/anticolonialism as thatch and vane and kidd are, but the fact that he so wholeheartedly supports his friends' goals, lofty and impossible as they are, speaks volumes about his love for his friends.

Favorite moment

every scene he has with kidd when kidd casually and softly reminds him that they see that he is a good person beneath his opportunistic and rambunctious exterior. i especially love when they discover julien du casse's mansion containing orders for templars to go out and hunt down assassins: the way kidd immediately knows that edward wants to help the assassins as a way to make up for the damage he did while masquerading as a templar, even if he hasn't voiced it aloud himself. the way that they don't force edward to admit anything about himself before he is ready, but still constantly remind him that he has a good heart. they give him space to come to terms with his compassionate side in a world/environment that more often than sees compassion as something to be stamped out or cast aside. i don’t love when characters are forced to be the Moral Compass for a main dude character, but i think it works for edward and kidd.

Idea for a story

not an edward story per se, but there are 2 povs into edward's life that i would cut off (someone else's) limbs for:

jenny's pov growing up in the kenway household. from haytham's pov it seems that she knows way more about his past than haytham ever did (it was hinted at that there are rumors about edward’s past as haytham was growing up that he wasn’t privy to, but i don’t think at any point in the novel does haytham ever find out definitively that his father was a pirate) and i want to know how she knew so much, and more into what her life was like - through her eyes rather than haytham, who is like 10 years younger and by his own admission barely understands her and barely has a functional relationship with her. i'll expand further on edward and jenny in the next question/prompt/bullet point, actually, bc i have a LOT more to say.

connor's pov learning about his grandfather from... idk? who's around to tell him? what's so goddamn sad is that by the time connor rebuilds the colonial brotherhood he's kinda the only one left. sure there's aveline down in louisiana, but as far as we know everyone who was around in edward's generation is dead now, and i'm not sure how much of the kenway saga is preserved for connor to discover, or if all this information about their family line was discovered in the modern-day, by your abstergo employee character, and later by osto berg in the comics. which is why i so badly want a revelations-style game where connor traces his assassin heritage back to the caribbean, relives some of edward's memories, and then makes the trip to london to see his aunt jenny. it would have been such a cool way to round out the kenway saga.

Unpopular opinion

idk how popular or unpopular this is bc i rarely see other in-depth posts about it on my dash, but edward was a terrible father to jenny. he was every bit the wonderful and loving father to haytham for the 10 years that haytham had a father, but i wish we'd seen more of jenny's perspective than just a few lines of dialogue in haytham's diary: i hate the way edward sidelined her and raised her in the same manner that any other wealthy person of the time would have raised their daughter - that is, for the sole purpose of sitting pretty and marrying her off in an arrangement that would benefit the family. it's especially hard to reconcile because in ac4 there are female assassins in the americas, and there are female pirates in the caribbean, so it's not like edward isn't aware that women have as much right as any man to live life on their own terms. it just seems like by the time he returns to england and settles down with his family, he's reverted back to the societal norms and gender roles that the pirates fought (and lost) against, and it's hard not to be deeply disappointed by that.

to be clear, i don't begrudge edward settling down and becoming a Rich Society Man. dude deserves to live comfortably with his loving family. he has every right to dote on his wife and children, and leave behind the hardships of being a pirate. but i think "fightning against deeply-ingrained cultural norms/expectations is a long and bloody struggle, and after losing so many people he cared so deeply about, i think it's understandable that edward wouldn't want to continue that fight alone (and also adewale is still fighting the good fight) (do NOT @ me about ac rogue I Pretend I Do Not See It)" and "i don't love the way edward sidelined his daughter into societally-expected gender roles she did not want; it makes me think that he did not continue drinking his Respect Women Juice as much as i thought he did/wanted him to" are two opinions that can coexist.

Favorite relationship

i don't know that i ship edward romantically with anyone, actually. i thought he and caroline were cute in the beginning, but it's hard to want to ship them knowing that she leaves him eventually. and ofc there'd edward/tessa in ac forsaken, and we know they were very happy together and that he loved her so so much. but we don't see that relationship except through haytham's eyes.

as for non-romantic relationships, i already talked at length above about his relationships with adewale and the other pirates and kidd, and i'll just leave it at that. i'm also vaguely aware that edward's got some upcoming scenes with anne bonny, but i'm not at that point in the game yet so i don't have much to say about the two of them. so far i've only seen them say a few lines to each other at the nassau tavern.

Favorite headcanon

kassandra absolutely rubbed shoulders with edward at some point during his time in the caribbean; i like to think that she needed to lie low for some reason (maybe she was with the assassins idk) and joined his crew. i just need my best stabby gal and my second-favorite stabby dude to be pals!

finally, this isn't a headcanon per se but it is obligatory that any time i talk about kenways i yell for a bit about the fact that EDWARD WOULD HAVE LOVED CONNOR SO SO SO MUCH AND I'M FOREVER DEVASTATED THAT HE NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM. at the same time, if edward hadn't been murdered and haytham not been indoctrinated into the templars the way he had, i'm not sure connor would even have existed. and in a way i'm glad that edward wasn't around to see how broken and cynical and depressed haytham became, because i think that would have absolutely broken his heart.

send me a character!

[craezynewthangs]

about ;; 

born and raised in chicago, serenity left to attend university in new york after graduating high school.  she was a theater major, having dreamed of being an actress on the stage since childhood.  after graduation her dreams were on the verge of coming true after she passed an audition for her first professional role on stage, however upon receiving news about her father’s health she was forced to choose between her dreams and family.  her mother tried to beg her to return home, but she stuck around in new york for the show.  she chose her dreams over going back to a family she’d never felt particularly close to, and things only got worst when she was constantly compared to her siblings in one way or another.  it wasn’t until recently when she finally made the decision to return to chicago, after hearing that her father’s health had worsened severely.  despite the strained relationship between her mother and siblings, serenity made an effort to to return home for her father’s sake.  it meant giving up on her dreams of being an actress, but guilt and a desire to make amends to her dad won out in the end.  currently she’s stuck in a job as a graphic designer that she managed to find, and while it may not feel like her calling she doesn’t hate it.  neither does she love it but it allows her make enough money to pay for rent and food.  and despite having given it up, she still dreams of pursuing acting again one day.  

wanted plots ;; 

older half-sibling;; serenity has one older half-sibling, and unlike her they have a  good relationship with their mother.  she wasn’t exactly close to them growing up, but at best they were on neutral terms with one another.  they were there for her at a time when she needed them most (this is tba and can be plotted out) and she was most likely there for them as well.  however, when she decided to go off to new york her mother was aggressively against it, and tried to guilt-trip her for abandoning family.  her sibling remained in chicago, and their career and what they are doing is entirely open.  i imagine that they have what might be viewed as a more respectable career.  possibly a lawyer, or attending law school depending on age, or anything that their mother might approve of. thanks in part to their job, they might also be helping to pay for their father’s medical treatments.  personality and everything else is open, as is fc.  the only requirement is the fc must either be black or korean.  black korean isn’t a requirement due to how hard blasian fcs can be to find. 

roomate;;  serenity lives in an apartment, and she’s never been the type to want to live on her own so she’s in need of a roomate or two.  they can already be friends or just someone(s) who was looking for a roomate to help pay rent.  we can always discuss their relationship if you’d like.  are they practically strangers because roommate is always away?  or maybe they have managed to build a friendship?  or things can be more antagonistic if we want.

best friends;; serenity needs her group of best friends !!  i’ll most likely write up an ad later, once i figure out a theme to go along with it.  most of these are friends from her childhood who she grew up with, and kept in contact with while she was away in new york.  i do envision one is newer to the group, most likely someone she met while in ny and they decided to follow her to chicago for one reason or another.  all friends’ personalities are open, though age-wise they should be between around her age.  so between 22-26.  

ex boyfriend;;  serenity is bi with a very strong preference for girls, however she has an ex boyfriend who she dated for a brief period of time.  it started out with the two of them agreeing to fake date each other, for reasons that we can always discuss.  however, over time i can see feelings beginning to develop before one or both of them did something to ruin it.  maybe he cheated on her suddenly, or right as she was beginning to catch feelings he came out as being gay and as much as she wanted to be happy for him she was still hurt.  it could even be a mixture of both where he had been cheating on her with another guy, and once the guilt reached a high point he decided to confess to her while coming out.  either way things are most likely awkward and strained between these two, but there is some hope for them to reconcile and possibly rebuild a friendship.  

future girlfriend;; which leads me to her future.  i would love to find serenity a girlfriend and potential final. these two can either start off as strangers who get to know one another over time.  maybe girlfriend is her current roommate, allowing the two to slowly get to know each other while living together before feelings develop.  or she can be part of serenity’s friend group, and we can have a friends to lovers thing happen.  girlfriend could even be the sister of ex-boyfriend if we want, or a completely different character unrelated to any of the suggested.  i do want girlfriend to either be a little more serious than serenity is, but possibly also dealing with her own struggles. i’d love it if these two sort of balanced each other out while helping each other in their own way.   

@aftermidnight-rp

[thisgirlhastales]

“Wayward Son” — Is There Peace When You Are Done?

What we have here is an essay of sorts: a loosely organized mishmash of thoughts and opinions. Disclaimer that this is highly subjective, as it is based on my own experiences and expectations going into this novel :)

And, naturally, many Wayward Son spoilers below the cut! If you haven’t read it yet and are planning to do so, please do not proceed further. If you’ve already read it or don’t care about spoilers, c’mon in! Ain’t nobody here but me!

First Thing: I thought the plot was cool — I loved seeing the characters again, loved seeing the different magical culture within the United States as compared to the UK; all the geographical variety and how that impacted magical abilities and politics, the creatures and the nature of magic as it applied to people who aren’t mages, the syntax, and Shepard. All of that was fascinating. It felt organic and real, even though our main dude, Shepard, did drop a few exposition bombs. I loved it all.

The magical creatures touch on something that I think all the main characters learn and re-learn (and may be symbolic of their issues as a whole): there is no one way to do or be magic. The word magician can apply to any creature who is or practices magic. The UK’s mages have an expansive but selective history. They do not acknowledge people like Lamb (see Nicodemus), even though they are technically part of their world. I wonder if the UK vampires have something like what the Las Vegas vampires do — i.e. ways to feed without killing, ways of living without standing out so much, a hierarchal structure, their own historical narrative, etc. 

Agatha coming into her own was fabulous, driving the plot with the vampires on her end; she wasn’t a character I enjoyed in the last book too much (I thought she was very real, even practical, she just didn’t appeal to me as a person), but in this? Loved her. And she figured out her own way to be, though there’s still a ways to go for her, I think …

There is no one way to be anything, and that’s a lesson everyone in this book needs to learn (and talk about with each other, please, please, please).

Second Thing: Dealing with Trauma — I do think this was what resonated most with me, as someone who likes it when things are not perfectly hunky-dory after severely traumatic events.

Simon is Not Dealing. He stopped going to his psychologist. He thinks about the Mage, but doesn’t fully process the impact of having killed him. He’s in mourning over his magic and the Mage and all of it, but he’s choosing to not digest it fully — every time he was happy on this road trip, I, like Baz, was thrilled, but I also knew that it was fleeting because he hadn’t really dealt with anything. The underlying cause of his depression and listlessness wasn’t being addressed. His bursts of anger, his heartbreak, his inability to let go of the wings … He goes back and forth a lot, as well, tormenting himself.

Baz is Not Dealing. Baz was suicidal in Carry On. Baz barely knows anything about vampires. He lives in fear of being a monster, and of being executed as one regardless of his actions. As much as I detest Lamb, he had knowledge: How to feed without killing your prey. How to live amongst people and blend in better. He looked physically healthier. Baz’s grey complexion is actually a sign that he is starving more often than not. Remember how powerful he is now, and imagine how powerful he could be if he took better care of himself. And how much more comfortable in his own skin he’d be, which would help with so many of his bitter self-recriminations.

Penny is Not Dealing. Wow, that break-up with Micah was rough. She has a few more moments of self-realization than Simon and Baz do, but she’s also completely caught up in her own magical world, culture, and plans for the future; she has trouble reconciling what Shepard tells her, and is still processing (accepting? Healing?) from not only that breakup, but everything else that has ever happened to her and Simon. Penny copes better, but still not necessarily well. Her can-do, will-do attitude is a huge boon, but when it fails? Yikes. I rather feel like she had overly-rationalized (maybe even over-simplified) every trauma she went through with Simon, and … the world isn’t rational or simple at the best of times. I really, really hope she can come to terms with that (and that we get to see it).

Simon and Baz Together Are Not Dealing. It goes without saying that these two NEED to talk. But their separate issues are a huge roadblock — I feel like the chances of misunderstandings occurring are high. Each is convinced that they are bad for the other. Baz is slightly better about it, but he’s so afraid of the consequences of broaching the subject, he simply won’t. And the thing is? His instincts aren’t wrong. Simon does want to break up with him. It’s based on the whole you deserve better than me assumption, but Baz is actually sensing correctly that Simon is on the verge of leaving him. They need to deal with their own, separate traumas, and they can do that together or apart, but they need to start healing in some capacity. I fully believe that they can be together, even with a break, but that break needs to come with communication? Point being, we all go through healthy and unhealthy periods, as individuals, as part of a family, as part of a couple. They are right smack dab in the middle of a rough, not-so-healthy part — however they cope with it, (TALKING AND LISTENING ARE MUSTS), we at least know that they love each other. Love alone is not enough, but it is a powerful, wonderful force in their corner.

The expansion on magic implies legion of ways in which to exist, and such is the case for coping with pain, sadness, regret, and all the other fun aspects of being humans who experience trauma in innumerable ways. Sometimes we choose things that are unhealthy as a stopgap, because we’re not ready for the work and pain that is healing. Y’all, healing sometimes is on par with the issues that made it necessary — in simpler terms, it can really, really suck at the start. Again, some of you may come from different perspectives, but this struck a chord with me. 

I definitely went in with the expectation that all the issues would be laid out, and then addressed … We got the first half in spades … Did not get the second, nope.

Third Thing: The structure of this book implied right from the start that things may be unresolved, but, er, it was still a bit hard to deal with — having an epilogue at the beginning and a prologue at the end implies to me that this second book is a launch point. The prologue at the end is the start for the next (hopefully larger) narrative. That makes Wayward Son something like a sprawling behind-the-scenes look into these characters before we launch into their following, more detailed story. 

But I didn’t feel too great about having been plunged so deeply into this ‘verse, only to not have a lifesaver tossed my way … Which is to say, it kept me breathless, and knowing that people survived allowed me a reprieve, but the core of this novel — the overall mental well-being of Simon, Baz, Penny, and Agatha — had me tight in its grip from the beginning and then just … kept right on squeezing at the end. Even tighter. 

I don’t mind a plot-based cliff-hanger, but the fact that all the emotional and character arcs were left hanging as well? I felt like I got a decent resolution, or partial conclusion, on a few plot points, but next to no resolution for the emotional and/or psychological arcs. That I have a lot more trouble accepting. Particularly when I’ve spent an entire book with characters forced to live in each other’s space, in close quarters, and still not communicating. I wanted to rip out every beautiful thought Simon and Baz had about each other and throw it in the other’s face. Because they were gorgeous and wonderful, and for all that they are currently fractured and bleeding, they so clearly want what is best for each other. They are (mostly) selfless in their love (with a few selfish foibles, but they made sense to me).

I was also rather … not happy with the fact we got no mention of Lucy, of Davy, of them being Simon’s parents. I’m really, desperately hoping we get that in the next chapter of this series.

The positive thing I can take away from this point is that when we get to the next book (and I know there will be one — my copy literally has a number 2 on the spine, which heavily implies series to me), we will be firmly grounded in what is facing these characters both internally and externally.

The biggest issue that lies ahead is COMMUNICATION. I know (I hope like hell) this will be addressed in the next book, but I craved it so, so badly in this. Not just for Simon and Baz but PENNY. They are all sitting on shifting sand foundations now — their worlds have been completely overturned, over and over again in the past year or so, and they haven’t found firm footing yet. When Micah broke up with Penny, I very much thought that was the kick off for a road trip filled with introspection and epiphanies and finally, lots of talking about said introspections and epiphanies — I got half my wish. The latter half, I suppose, will have to wait until the next novel. I didn’t expect all the character/emotional beats to be acknowledged and resolved, but at least some of them, with room for others to be resolved in the next story, so we would have more (and more room) to explore in that novel.

As a result, Wayward Son, for the many things I loved about it, didn’t feel like a complete story for me. It doesn’t stand on its own quite as well as Carry On did. Maybe when the third book comes out, I will retroactively love it more, but for now I’m just sort of … floating along, waiting for that lifesaver. It did, honestly, feel a bit like half of a story. Half a good story, fantastic even, but still … Half.

In addition to these thoughts I’ve shared, here’s where I’m coming from, as a reader — we all come at these books from different places, different life experiences and wants and expectations. 

One of my most formative reading experiences was Harry Potter. I read Harry Potter practically as it came out. I had to wait years between some of the books. By the time the last book arrived, the characters had matured about as much as I had. Because the middle books were so chunky and dense (and I loved them for it!), I was a little thrown off by how slim Deathly Hallows was in comparison, and that ultimately was reflected in my reading — it went by so quickly. While I loved it and sobbed all over the damn place, when I hit that epilogue … that’s the first time while reading that I did a full stop. All the pain and agony of that book, as quick as it had been, had been amazing, and it felt like it demanded some kind of … reflection and communication between the characters, and I thought after ten years of these books, we had a definite basis for an epilogue that could’ve added another third to this novel — maybe one that jumped through the years, showed us different characters at various stages of healing? Something involved and detailed to a degree.

Wayward Son had that rushed element to it … and I think part of that feeling was enhanced due to the lack of resolution to those character/emotional arcs — we were tumbling, running forward into a free fall and then were frozen right at that point before falling.

However, Wayward Son gives me more positive feelings than that epilogue in HP. Yes, it still feels incomplete, like half a story. But Wayward Son isn’t an end. Unlike Deathly Hallows, there is more to come, and that’s what I’m looking forward to most. It definitely has its flaws in my view, but I can reconcile them somewhat, as you’ve seen.

(There is also a whole thing involving the way these sorts of arcs would resolve in fanfiction versus the medium of a book intended for a broader audience, but that would be a whole other post, methinks. Let me know if you want me to discuss that, because I do have some thoughts on it, though they’re a little haphazard at the moment. Um. Assuming all this rambling isn’t wildly boring and/or awful for you.)

Final Thoughts: At the end of the day? I loved reading this book, even for all that I wanted to reach into the pages and knock the character’s heads together. I said, “Oh no!” out loud when I reached the end, but it was because I desperately wanted more right then and there. The fact that I want more means that, despite any flaws, I’m still on board for this universe and its characters — I still love all this magic, and this dragon boy and his vampire boyfriend :)

And now, 2000 plus words later, I am done, holy crap. If anyone actually made it to the bottom of this, thank you? Not too sure how coherent I was, but I hope some of this was of value to someone :) *many hugs*

Edit: Apparently I still had some things to say, so here is a sequel to this ramble — Simon and Baz Carrying On Like Wayward Sons.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I could be totally wrong, but Oscar mentioning the "hope Atlas was meant to inspire" to Ironwood could possibly be a callback back in Volume 3 when Ironwood mentions that seeing the fleet in the sky makes the citizens feel safe. Ironwood states that Oscar sounds like he was there, but this could be because Oscar can remember Ozpin's memories. The merging process can already be happening, but I dunno, there isn't enough build-up for me to recognize this. Correct me if I'm wrong though!

Hello anon-chan. Yesterday I made a postregarding that whole subject. Forme, I kind of saw that moment harkening back to V4 during the episode whereOzpin made Oscar describe Lionheart’s office and he was able to recount thedetails of it to a perfect tee in spite of never being there.

So it’s safe to note that this will be normal behaviour expected of Oscar. He’s meant to inherit ALL of Ozpin’s culminated memories; not justthe ones in relation to his combat style. Ozpin did once say back in V5 thatwith every rebirth, his soul is eventually paired with another and he---meaningOz---is changed, but the memories of him and all of the past Wizardsof Light still remain a part of the next Wizard in the cycle.

Last time it was Ozpin to go throughthis experience. Soon it will be Oscar’s turn.  

Ironwood also gave a small foreshadow in V7CH7 that stated that at some point, no one would be able to tell the two soulsapart since they would’ve become so integrated. However, in the end, the soul you see before you is the man or boyyou knew them to be; as I interpreted it.

I walked away from this momentwondering if Oscar was lying to Ironwood about keeping one more ‘surprise’ fromhim. And the hunch I described was one in which Oscarhas already merged with Ozpin and the audience is left not knowing who exactlywe’ve been watching throughout this volume.

But not in the sense like, have we beenwatching Oscar or Oz but more along the lines of, have we been watching Oscaror a version of Oscar who has already merged with Oz?

My belief in this post is we, as anaudience, are supposed to walk away from this volume finally accepting Oscar as himself. His ownperson. Since that’s who the other characters in themain cast choose to see Oscar as moving forward. Not Ozpin or another versionof Oz. Just Oscar.

The show has made it very clear, fromeven as far back as V5 that Oscar ismeant to his own person.

And what I think this volume has done decently (I’d give it a solid B for nottoo bad-ish) is establishing how all of our main heroes---particularlythe people who were more affiliated with Ozpin before such as Ironwood---haveaccepted Oscar. 

Not as another version of Oz but ashimself since that’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Moving forward, Oz ismeant to ultimately cease no more as he becomes a part of Oscar in the form ofthe memories of his previous lives that he leaves behind with Oscar.

But ultimately, Oscar is meant to be hisown being. He was never supposed to change into Ozpin or become another life for Ozma tolive. I always believed that he was meant to remain as who he is in the end butthe influence that Oz left on him from their time together was meant to becomea part of him too. It was always meant to be a passingof the torch. Not a possession.

This is why it bothers me so much whenfolks keep acquainting every moment of character development and focus forOscar to Ozpin. It honestly makes me wish that the Writers never introduced thewhole Oz and Oscar sharing a body thing since I feel like no matter what theydo with Oscar, there will always be those one of two folks who will neveraccept Oscar as his own character separate of Ozpin and as a Pinehead,I find that honestly depressing to see when I explore the FNDM.

Then again, to each, their own, Iguess. I can never speak for other people. All I can do is speak for myself.

All I can say is that from the get-go, thissquiggle meister has always seen Oscar and Oz for who they were. Two like-minded yet completely separate being forced to share Oscar’s body.

I’ve always seen Oscar as his owncharacter. Heck, much of my recent time spent in the FNDM had been advocating forthe show to treat him as such as opposed to ‘Ozpin’snew skin’ or ‘meat-suit’. As a proud Pinehead, you have no idea how much it angers me whenever I hear people refer to Oscar as a ‘meat puppet’.

For Pete’s sake, he’s his own character.  

While the road to achieving this respecthas been clunky and admittedly not that well-executed (especially in V5 and V6),that’s not the fault of the character but the fault of the writing behind thecharacter.

However, I do have to give props whereit’s due.

I think the Writers have delivered alittle better for Oscar for V7. It’s better than what he got for V6 for sure. I’mespecially pleased that my favourite freckled farm boy turned little barnprince got to have his moments (more than one) in this recent episode.

That being said, going back to talkabout the scene with Ironwood, I couldn’t help but feel something off aboutOscar’s reaction to Ironwood telling him “nomore surprises”. To me, I stand by my earlier stancethat the BIGGEST surprise that the CRWBY Writers can give to me is if wediscovered later that Oscar has already merged with Ozpin and had been mergedfor some time since the two made their peace with one another since after theplane crash.

It would be interesting if Oz has beenwith Oscar since then---but in a way where Oscar can tell that he’s there butdoesn’t make the others fully aware of that like before. It’d be a pleasant surpriseto know that Oscar has been aware of Oz being ‘back’ since the heroes’ arrival with Atlas. Like it’s a scenario whereOz is back but not really since he’s there and Oscar is fully aware of hispresent. However doesn’t intervene on Oscar’s development.

He lets him stand on his own two feetand think on his own and doesn’t overstep his boundaries like he’s done in thepast. This gives Oscar a chance to grow on his own. But let’s say, knowing thatOz was there, Oscar has made attempts to reconcile with the ole soul. HoweverOz never answers Oscar. He just stays in the background, watching him and everynow and again, Oscar could ‘feel’ how he’s feeling.

It’d be interesting if since the startof this season, Oz has been present in Oscar’s head but Oscar has kind of been ‘protectingOz’. Like he knows he’s back but he knows of his apprehension and his feelingsof guilt. So rather than try to push Oz or force him to return when he ‘wasn’tready’, Oscar just does what he can while Oz is a silent spectator to his growth.

It’d be interesting if there comes a moment later where Oscar reveals that Oz has beenpresent with him the entire time mentally and he knows he’s there. He justnever said anything about it since he wanted remain respectful of Oz’s feelingssince he knows he’s still hurting. Imagine if there’s a moment where Oscar isforced to turn to Oz and ask him to fight with him---lend him his power so thetwo can fight together or something like that.

It’dbe really funny if by the end of this season, it is revealed that Oz has beenthere just chilling in Oscar’s mind and Oscar is, like I said, protective ofthe old soul. Like he’s contented with keeping Oz a secret from the group untilhe’s ready to make himself known again. Y’know what I mean? Or something likethat. I dunno.

One curious thing I wonder about the Merge is whether or not thelength it takes for the two souls to fuse is adamant on their relationship.

Like I’d imagine that it would probablytake much longer for the two souls to merge if they didn’t learn to live together. What would be interestingis if Henkle (Dadpin) was the lifetime that started the melding of the twominds. Like what if…in the past, Ozma would just either be a prisoner within theminds of the men he was paired with after Diggs or perhaps, similar to Diggs, Ozma would hijack the bodies of his descendants which led to periods of extremeconflict between the paired souls reaching as far as them fighting each otherfor control.

Since Jinn made sure to pinpoint Ozmalearning to live in harmony with the men he was paired up with, I’m thinkingthat it was from this point where the Merge became a thing.

I’ve always better liked the concept ofthe Merging of Minds being symbolic of the union between the two souls---the point in which theyfinally become one with the last Wizard becoming a part of the next Wizard as hetakes his place within the cycle.

I’d still like to think this is thecase. It’d honestly be funny if in the end, Oscar already merged with Oz andwhat would be even more interesting if certain characters who knew Oscar and Ozrespectfully pick up on something ‘different’ about Oscar.

Hence the example scenario I gave in mypost from yesterday where Ruby confronts Oscar about Oz, leading to himconfessing that Oz has been gone for some time. This in turn leads to Rubyquestioning Oscar of his identity now. Whowas he now? Was he still himself ordid he become just another life for Oz or Ozma to live as he had feared?

Oscar’s response to Ruby’s inquiry is thena prompt asking her who shesaw him as. Ruby replies that she sees Oscar as she’salways seen him. As himself. Thus, that is who Oscar will be now and forever more until theend of his lifetime. Himself.

I know some folks didn’t really likethis idea from my previous post since it overlooks important plot details likeOzpin reconciling with the group onscreen and receiving a proper send off. Andto those folks I say, I wasn’t trying to imply that this will be the case forthe canon. What I was mostly getting at was that if the CRWBY were to hit uswith one more UNEXPECTEDSURPRISE before the end of the season,especially one regarding Oscar, this would be something that would genuinelysurprise me since I was more looking forward to seeing Oz and Oscar reconcileon-screen before reconciling with the group followed by the inevitable Mergelater down the road.

Then again, perhaps we and everyone else with this same thought might’ve been readingtoo much into that moment anon-chan. For all we know, that small moment could’ve been another foreshadow but not for the Merge but regarding something else like…Neo and Cinder suddenly showing up. That could’ve been just it alone.

This also makes me wonder something very curious in relation to that scene. While we know that Oscar told Ironwoodthe truth regarding what Jinn revealed to them about Salem. However, what I’m startingto wonder about now is whether ornot, Oscar actually told Ironwood about why Ozpin is really gone?

Did Oscar actually tell James about themusing the Relic on Ozpin and then turning their backs on him afterwards,resulting in his isolation? Did Oscar actually tell James the little part thatour heroes are responsible for Oz’s departure? That’s the one thing that wasn’tmade entirely clear. I mean it’s safe to assume that Oscar did tell James everythingin the spirit of fairness and “choosingthe truth over fear”.

But given how that scene played out, itmakes me wonder if Oscar told James everything except that one part about Oz?

Then again…I could just be overthinkingthis scene yet again. But anyways, that’s pretty much all the thoughts I haveto say about it anon-chan. For now, let’s just stick a pin in this scene and wait and seeif any of the remaining finale episodes say anything more to quell ourcuriosities regarding Oscar and Oz. That’s as much as I can say for now. Hopethis answers your question, fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles(2020)

[theatrekage]

The people who shaped me

The beginning is a very good place to start, I’ve heard, so we’ll start there. And at the beginning are my parents. I spent a long time idolizing my dad, so he’s fairly safe from this part; he also wasn’t there as much. Here, the story is about my mom. It has to be a story, a tale I’m telling, else I may not get through it all.

My mom loved me. I knew it then, and I know it now. I think she didn’t always like me. She didn’t prefer me. But she tried, and I think sometimes we just didn’t understand each other. The language I needed didn’t exist back then; or I was too young to know it, at least. I was being shaped back then. The imperfections couldn’t be hammered out, but I was hardened into silence and obedience. And wholly unprepared for the future.

My mom, my sister, and I spent most of our time together. (Do forgive the following jumble; I was young, so the order is uncertain and some things I remember, some I have been told.) We’d watch sad movies, and they would weep while I remained stoic. It wasn’t that I wasn’t sad; I was the only one left to be strong for them. It succeeded in me being teased for having an ice heart. I was told I didn’t cry because I couldn’t feel.

We’d go shopping for clothes as we grew. An ordeal. Sami is two years my junior, and matched me for size growing up. She couldn’t wear my hand-me-downs, even if she wanted to. And she didn’t. I liked jeans and dragons and tshirts; she liked dresses and whatever else existed in the girls’ section at the time. Mom hated that I wanted what the boys wore when I got to be old enough to reject what she picked for me. I wore my hair short as it was, and people had started mistaking me in public. The older I got, the more we fought, the more it hurt me. I didn’t understand. I just wanted to be comfortable. I didn’t care people thought I was a boy; it was only inconvenient at public restrooms sometimes. We fought about it until I went to college.

She thought I was so much like my dad and so little like her. I learned later that she saw some commercial and thought it amusing, but it didn’t matter at the time. Mom would tease that my dad had had a mistress and that I’d been left on their doorstep, and she raised me out of the goodness of her heart. I remember laughter. And I remember it was a recurring joke for a while. And I remember never opposing, even though I felt rejected every time. After all, I had an ice heart; I couldn’t let them know I could feel.

By the time I was looking for colleges, I refused anything that touched a state where I had family. I wanted no one to visit easily, and I didn’t want to be able to return easily. My search took me as far as the east coast. Even then, I knew that once I left, I was never going back home. I’d live in a box before I lived at home again. And though we’ve made some strides in reconciliation on our past, and ignoring recent setbacks, I’ll still never go back to my parents.

But now we’re in college. Alone and friendless and not missing home one iota. I met a boy, a young man at orientation, and he let me follow him about a bit. He seemed to just attract people, and suddenly there was a group of friends, and I was there. They all lived in a different dorm, but I was willing to make the walk to hang out. And that’s where I met him. Martin Droge.

Let me preface this all by saying that I’d never had a boyfriend and I had never even kissed a boy until the summer before college. That was brief and wild and he almost died on drugs I paid for; but that’s a different story. I was wholly inexperienced and had a rather twisted sense of self-worth. I then had a brief romance with another young man, but we were different in too many ways, and he rejected me. I didn’t know what “healthy” looked or felt like; I only knew that I wanted to feel “wanted.”

I had other dalliances in my freshman and sophomore years, but the only true purpose they serve is to remind me that I did once know that my voice meant something, and that when I said “no,” people once did listen.

Martin wasn’t particularly attractive, but he was smart and lean and someone that I knew. I didn’t know how to flirt or express attraction; these were things that had happened to me, and he wasn’t doing them. Eventually something won out though, because he did take notice. We had a series of encounters. When he wanted them, and he paid me no mind when we were with our friends.

I remember at least once trying to tell him no. I was on my period, already embarrassing, and I had a tampon in, even worse. So I didn’t want to. But he didn’t care. I don’t remember all of the exchange. I remember neither of us removed the tampon; we did have sex; I panicked in the bathroom after, trying to fish the smushed wad of cotton out of my body. It took me a long time to recall this memory as an example, when I was later trying to explain what had happened to me to myself. The parts I remember now are the parts I won’t ever be able to forget.

I remember when I was very sick my sophomore year, he came when I called. At least briefly. I later went to the ER. I remember being hurt when he started dating a freshman. I remember it was still winter.

I was working a small show. Not even a show. A lecture of sorts. I needed someone to help do lights so I could run the sound. I don’t know why I asked him. I wanted us to be friends, I guess. He showed up saying he was tired; he looked it. The room was small and dark and right above people’s heads, including my department head; I couldn’t mess up and I couldn’t be loud.

He kept tickling me, and I kept telling him to be quiet and stop it. And I’m sure there was some playfulness in it. This was someone I knew and trusted. When the lecture ended, there were questions after; we had nothing to do but sit and wait. He kept tickling me, until I moved to a corner on the floor. He watched me. And I said the most awful words that I will never be able to erase from my soul: “If you want me, you’ll have to come down and get me.”

And he did. I was wearing my baggy jeans with both knees ripped seam to seam. Gaping maws exposing my flesh. The tickling turned to groping and feeling and familiarity. I remember being bent under his body. I clawed at the ground and clawed at him, silent. My mind wailed and cried and begged for a sound, any sound. I prayed for someone to call out for me. For someone to find us. For God to save me, if only just this once. But no one came.

When he began to reach for buttons, I found enough voice to say that we needed to go; everyone was gone, and my professor might come looking for us. So we did leave. We walked back to the student union. And I bought him food. And we went back to the dorm and to our separate rooms. We were still texting.

I have to pause here to reconcile some of this. If only to remind myself. The relationship that we had was one in which I begged and he came to me out of the goodness of his heart. It took many years to sift through the memories and pull out examples and patterns. I had to understand what the hell I was thinking. What made me silent. And what made me invite him up to my room to finish the job.

I don’t remember it. I know he arrived. And I know he left. I remember going to the shower after and sitting on my shoes and crying. I didn’t understand, and I felt disgusting. And I just couldn’t.

A lot happened after that. Little things. Carelessness and dangerous choices. I didn’t care and no one could understand something I didn’t myself. I walked into that snow storm. I sat on a curb and thought about sleeping there. I drank too much. But I survived.

And I’ve been rebuilding ever since. Nine years.

[whyctt-blog]

[ jung yoonoh, cis male, he/him, twenty-four ] KING CITY by SWIM DEEP? whenever i hear that song, it reminds me of WOOJIN “WYATT” HWAN. maybe because they’re RESOLUTE but also EGOCENTRIC. they’ve been living at mulberry apartments since MARCH of 2015 in APARTMENT 213 and have 1 ROOMMATE.

Hi friends. I’m Hazel, I’m twenty-four, and I go by they/them pronouns. I was in Soundscape a loooong time ago and I’m stoked to be back for this reincarnation! I write too much, ramble too much, and just generally am too much. Hitting me up through dis/cord is probably the easiest way to plot and chat; you can find me in the GC if you’re involved in it!

Background

Wyatt was born in Spain. Madrid, to be exact; a city that his parents had immigrated to ten years before he was even a thought in their minds. They left behind family and friends in favor of starting a new life, a job opportunity presented to his mother — a renowned curator who is now known world-wide in the art community for her prowess in her field — having been the thing that prompted the relocation in the first place. They settled into their new country, taking time to learn the language fluently, and building a home and life for them and their future children. A more permanent one than what they had already made back in Incheon.

His father works as an architect and was able to find a job in his field relatively easily following the initial transition. The work both of his parents have put into getting to where they are is something that Wyatt has always admired, and something he took inspiration from growing up, cultivating his own work ethic despite his oft times unruly nature beneath it all.

Growing up, Wyatt’s interests were fleeting. To describe him as ‘fickle’ may not be entire accurate, but he came close to it nonetheless. He would fixate on one thing for a certain period of time, and then he would move on to the next, constantly looking, looking, and looking for that one passion. Perhaps in a way he was attempting to emulate his parents in this as well, and the idealized version of his own path in his head involved an absolute certainty that it took him some years to find.

When he was around his early teens, he finally began to learn a thing or two about himself. He’d always been exposed to a lot of different forms of art, from both the forms his parents practiced, and the ones that they took the time to teach him as well. He took violin lessons from the time he was old enough to, and he went to plays, attended events at art galleries, and even would sit with his dad while he would draw up plans for his next big project. It was none of these things, however, that spoke to him the way that the performing arts did.

Music and dance was what finally captivated him. Asking his parents to get him dance lessons wasn’t something he hesitated to do, and neither did they hesitate in giving that to him (under the condition that he kept up with his schooling, of course). Once he started, he didn’t stop. Vocal training came next, though he was perhaps a bit more challenged in that category; still, he pushed himself, and he worked hard, and he knew he was going to get somewhere. Everyone knew that he was going to get somewhere. At least everyone that knew him well enough to understand his drive, his determination.

Getting involved with the theater in his school was simple enough. He did a lot of stage managing as well as acting, singing, anything that he possibly could do in order to be as involved as possible. It was incredible, and it made him so happy just to be there. He performed in talent shows, at local coffee shops, for anybody who would listen, busking in the streets.

When he was fifteen, all of that changed.

It was January, and it was cold at the ski resort his family went to each and every year, a sort of traditional holiday for them that had begun before Wyatt was even old enough to remember. He stuck to skiing, mostly, and he was fairly good at it, albeit he certainly could’ve used some improvement. Unfortunately, that opportunity never came. There was an accident when he was navigating one of the trails, and he ended up damaging his right knee rather severely as a result of it.

Several surgeries later, and there was no way Wyatt was ever going to dance like he used to. He’s walked with a limp ever since, and he will live with chronic pain in that knee for the rest of his life. On his particularly bad days, he often walks with a cane.

Times were dark for a while. He slipped into a really bad head-space, his motivation and his previous ambition having been drained out of him in his misery at no longer being able to do what he loves. There seemed to always be a rain cloud hanging over his head.

It was at age sixteen that his parents decided to move again. His mother had been offered yet another job, something that paid a little more, and that offered their family a new setting. It was her thought that perhaps her son would do better in a new city, would find something fresh to pull his focus, to reignite his passion. His father agreed, and so they went. Baltimore is a beautiful place full of life, full of opportunities. Sadly, a move didn’t fix everything. At first, it didn’t fix anything at all.

Part of Wyatt was angry that he had to leave his friends behind, that he had to leave everything behind; part of him was almost relieved. Most of him was still stuck in that murky place of indifference, of perpetual irritation at everyone and everything. He became a bit reclusive when they first arrived, staying in the house for weeks aside from going to school, and then months.

Light drug mentions/alcohol mentions TW.

Then things changed. Again. It was almost like he had flipped a switch, going from hiding himself, to never wanting to be at home. His parents became worried when he started staying out late, going to parties that the new crowd he’d managed to integrate himself into at his high school invited him to, and using substances he very much should not have been using. Mostly it was alcohol, which wasn’t as bad as the other, but was still not good either. H e got lost in it, and he got lost in his own head in a different way than he had been before, but still just as dangerously.

A wake-up call wasn’t something that necessarily happened. Healing is a gradual process. Understanding one’s own pain is a gradual process. When it hit him, it wasn’t an all-at-once thing, but a thing that had been creeping up at him for a long time. He was eighteen and he was graduating, and he was desperate. So desperate tohave something, to not feel so fucking lost.

It was that year that his mother had another baby. They had been trying for a long time, and with the help of a fertility specialist, they finally managed. Wyatt had a little sister.

To this day, he’d attribute his own introspection and inevitable growth to thoughts of her, and to the desire to be a good example for her, an older brother that could take care of her and give her everything that she needs. Of course, he’d already begun taking those steps even if he didn’t give himself credit for it; it’s easier for him to reconcile it with doing it for somebody else, somebody far more precious than he is in his opinion.

When he first signed up for university, he had no idea what he was going to do. He took classes in the arts and the humanities, doing what interested him without much of a direction otherwise. His management skills began to develop once again through becoming involved in his university’s theater program, where he helped pull the productions together in any form possible. It was bittersweet, getting back into it, but it also fanned the embers inside of him into the smallest of flames. It was a step. A hard-earned, painful step, but a step nonetheless.

Realizing what he wanted to do only came through the help of friends and family. They bounced ideas back and forth, tackled his insecurities and his objections, and eventually he saw it. Saw what he wanted, and maybe even what he needed. The skills he’d accumulated over the years and the fact he still desperately wanted to be involved in the entertainment industry lead him, and through a lot of failures and a series of small, small movements, he started to make it.

Building a career from the ground up, particularly in music and in film, is the most difficult thing he’s ever done. He stumbles a lot, and he’s not exactly in the position he wants to be in, even two years out of school. He’s stuck as a low level personal assistant at an entertainment firm that isn’t exactly in the top twenty of all time, that’s for sure, and his boss leaves a lot to be desired. She runs him ragged, and still manages to find a way to pick at his failures and insecurities at the end of the day. Still, it seems to not just be his best shot, but his only one. 

“Quick” Facts

Twenty-four year old Virgo born on September tenth, 1994.

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, and grew up in a bi-lingual household. He learned a third language, beginning just before their move to America, and continuing on through the first few months of being there. Wyatt knows Spanish, Korean, and English.

Mostly dresses to impress, favoring formal wear for his job more often than not. He wears dark colors, neutrals, mostly blacks and grays. He feels like outward appearances are important, particularly in the field that he works in.

Uses a cane semi-regularly, depending on how his knee is feeling on any given day.

Has a quick wit and a biting sense of humor, and isn’t afraid to speak his mind when he feels that it’s needed. That being said, he shows restraint when his input is not needed, and even if he struggles with it sometimes, he tries to be aware of when it’s time to shut the whole fuck up (emphasis on ‘tries’).

Adores his family, and in particular his younger sister, who is around six years old now. She’s pretty much his world, and he would do anything for any of them, including his extended family back in his parents’ home city of Incheon, South Korea. They return there for a holiday every year, funded by his parents. Their former tradition of going to a ski resort yearly was abandoned following Wyatt’s injury.

Bisexual and has known so since he was young. He doesn’t particularly feel the need to share this with anybody, but neither does he hide it, with the exception of when it comes to his extended family. His mindset is more along the lines of ‘it’s, like, nobody’s fucking business’.

Despite his disillusionment about the world — or the appearance of it, at any rate — he still spends far too much time in dreams. There’s a lot of idealism hidden beneath that cynical outer shell, and it shows in ways that are subtle, but consistently present.

Doesn’t share information about his personal life or feelings very readily, and has a sort of persona that he adapts to whenever he is around strangers. Most would call it being ‘polite’, but for him, it’s a bit different from that. He’s a touch fake at times. At least he knows it.

A serial monogamist. He dates people and then drops them like there’s no tomorrow, and hasn’t had but one relationship that has lasted longer than six months.

Judgmental, to a degree, though he doesn’t mean to be.

His parents give him a monthly allowance to help with expenses, as well as anything else he might need. He wasn’t precisely spoiled growing up, but ever since that fateful ski trip, they’ve become not only more lenient with him, but downright too lenient. He accepts it because his job simply doesn’t pay well, and he’s reckless with it, choosing to blow it on things that aren’t necessary --- and other people.

Lol pls give me attention!

[almightygodismydependence-blog]

Christian Marriage: Marital Harmony Is No Longer an Issue

By Wang Ran, Singapore

A Beautiful Dream

When she was single, Wang Ran always held on to a beautiful dream—the hope that after getting married, she and her husband would get along harmoniously, show mutual tolerance, be by each other’s sides for life, and grow old together. At that time Wang Ran had a great deal of confidence in herself; she felt that she was a person of good character who got along well with others. But reality did not play out as Wang Ran wished—after getting married, the myriad conflicts that cropped up in her life with her husband slowly ate away at her dream …

One Marital Conflict After Another

Early in their marriage, Wang Ran and her husband were still able to be mutually accommodating and tolerant, but after a period of time, all sorts of problems and conflicts came to the fore. Wang Ran is quite a clean person—she sweeps several times a day, and even if there’s just one hair on the floor she’ll pick it up. She keeps all of her belongings meticulously organized; they are never messy. Wang Ran thinks of this as a good habit, and that people can’t live comfortably unless their living space is clean and tidy. So, she also has her husband tidy up in accordance with her own standards. Every time she left home and returned a few days later, the first thing she looked at was how clean the house was; if it wasn’t up to par, she would angrily berate her husband: “Why haven’t you cleaned up? What are you doing at home all day, anyway? You’re so lazy!” Her husband wouldn’t give in in the face of Wang Ran’s rebukes, but would angrily say: “The house isn’t remotely dirty. What is there to clean up? You have a pathological obsession with cleanliness….” Hearing these words from her husband, Wang Ran would become even more angry and think: “I just want the place to be a little cleaner so that we can live comfortably. How could that be wrong? It’s clear that you’re just lazy and don’t want to tidy up, but you blame it on me!” Wang Ran believed herself to be right and wasn’t willing to show any weakness, so she continued to argue with her husband. This way, neither one of them was willing to give ground, each clinging to their own ideas until it got to the point that they wouldn’t even acknowledge each other—it was the start of a cold war between them. Wang Ran felt particularly wronged, believing that her husband wasn’t being considerate of her and wouldn’t try to share the burden of housework.

There were a number of similar occurrences in their daily lives. At times her husband’s cooking wasn’t to Wang Ran’s taste, and she’d have a few words for him: “Why would you put light soy sauce in this dish? It would have been fine with a bit of seasoned soy sauce—it doesn’t taste good with light soy sauce. And this dish, you should have put a little sugar in it….” The more she talked, the more right she felt, thinking that if it had been done the way she liked, the food would have turned out much better. But hearing Wang Ran’s nagging, her husband responded angrily: “If you want to eat it, eat it. If you don’t, then don’t. How can you find so many things to complain about?” His harsh, unpleasant words really upset Wang Ran. She thought: “The food you make just isn’t any good. What’s wrong with me mentioning it? Besides, I make food all the time, so I know how it should be done. You should listen to me, but not only will you not listen, you have such unpleasant things to say and refuse to understand me at all. How could you treat me this way?” The more she thought about it, the more wronged and upset she felt. She just stood her ground against her husband by refusing to eat in a fit of pique.

The conflicts between them just grew after their child was born. Wang Ran loved dressing their daughter up really beautifully and frequently bought her pretty things to wear, but her husband said it was wasteful, a child could wear anything, and they didn’t need to buy so much. Wang Ran did not agree with him at all; she thought that he was stingy and couldn’t stand to spend a little money on their child. So, she didn’t pay any mind to his opinion and continued to buy whatever pretty clothing she saw for their daughter. Seeing her continuing to frequently buy piles of clothing, her husband became angry with her and refused to even acknowledge her. They couldn’t agree on their daughter’s education, either. Wang Ran thought that they couldn’t show her any kind of fierceness or raise a hand to her, and that when she did something wrong it was enough to just reprimand her, but her husband said that was spoiling her and wouldn’t be good for her. One time when their daughter did something wrong, Wang Ran’s husband harshly scolded her. When Wang Ran heard the child crying she came at her husband angrily, saying, “She’s so little, won’t you scare her half to death by yelling at her that way?” While saying this she stepped forward, pushed her husband aside, and took their daughter out of the house.

Wang Ran and her husband frequently butted heads over little things like that in their daily lives. They were constantly bickering, always in a cold war—their lives together were exhausting. What was most painful for Wang Ran was that after a conflict, neither one of them would acknowledge the other, neither was willing to give in and admit fault. They’d be in a stalemate for days. Her parents-in-law and other relatives would often urge them to reconcile, but that just provided momentary relief and before long their cold war would start up again. Wang Ran felt very aggrieved over this, and she didn’t know who she could talk to about the misery in her heart. She often thought: “A husband and wife should be understanding and tolerant of each other. They should be confidantes who can talk about anything, but my husband and I are always in a cold war. We’re like the most intimate strangers and every day is miserable and stifling. What can I do to get along harmoniously with him? When will there be an end to this life of suffering and repression?”

Reading God’s Words and Finding the Root of Suffering

Where man ends, God begins. Just when Wang Ran was in pain and feeling lost, God’s gospel of the last days came upon her and her husband. By reading God’s words, they both determined that God is the Ruler who created the heavens, the earth, and all things. They accepted God’s salvation and came before Him. After that, in her interactions with brothers and sisters, Wang Ran saw that when they had a conflict with someone else in their lives, they would all recognize where their own fault lay, what kind of corrupt satanic disposition they were living within, and would read God’s words to resolve their corrupt disposition, thus defusing any interpersonal conflicts. This was incredible to her, and she felt that there was such a huge difference between believers and nonbelievers! She thought that before, whether she had a conflict with her husband, colleagues, or friends, she would complain about that person and malign them, saying the problem was theirs. She always looked for the cause in the other person, but never recognized her own fault. When that came to mind doubt cropped up in Wang Ran’s heart: “Could it be that my husband and I couldn’t get along because I wasn’t able to reflect on myself and was always focusing on him, looking for his problems?”

In a gathering, Wang Ran spoke up about her inability to get along with her husband, and a sister found a passage of God’s words and a passage of fellowship that dealt with her confusion. Wang Ran read these words from God: “Before he was corrupted by Satan, man naturally followed God and obeyed His words. He was naturally of sound sense and conscience, and of normal humanity. After being corrupted by Satan, his original sense, conscience, and humanity grew dull and were impaired by Satan. Thus, he has lost his obedience and love toward God. Man’s sense has become aberrant, his disposition has become the same as that of an animal” (“To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God”). The passage of fellowship said: “People’s dispositions are all fairly arrogant. People don’t listen to anyone, they see faults in others and cannot see their strong points. On top of that, everyone has a certain personality, certain characteristics, and they’re disparaging of anyone they see faults in and don’t want to look at them or deal with them. They judge them, then both people look down on each other. These are serious issues for most people and this causes people’s interpersonal relationships to fall into stalemates, into tension. … And there are some people who always talk down to others, who like to control people and have others listen to them, but never listen to others. That kind of person isn’t easy to get along with either” (“How to Build Church Life and the Meaning of Building Church Life” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (I)).

After Wang Ran finished reading, her sister shared in fellowship: “When God first created mankind, they were not corrupted by Satan. They were people with conscience and reason who were forgiving and tolerant of each other. They could get along harmoniously with others—they had a human likeness. But later on humanity was corrupted by Satan and we became full of arrogance, selfishness, despicableness, crookedness, deceit, greed, and evil, and other satanic dispositions. We also became really self-important, wanting to have dominance in all things and have the final say. In dealing with others we always believe that our own views and notions are correct and always want others to listen to us and do what we want. When someone else raises a different opinion we’re unable to put ourselves aside and humbly accept their suggestions. When we have conflict with someone else, we focus on the other person’s faults, thinking that it’s a problem with them. We often look down on others and even complain against them or reject them. We never take other people’s feelings into account—we’re completely lacking any of the conscience and reason of a proper human being. We live reliant on our arrogant, self-important satanic dispositions, so how could we get along well with others? Maybe we’re able to rein it in for a short period of time, but as time goes on our corrupt dispositions will show themselves and we won’t get along with anyone for long. Just like you and your husband, when you were first married you were tolerant and magnanimous with each other, but after a period of time you saw things you disliked in each other and you would go to war with each other over the slightest little thing. No one was willing to concede and it ended up as a cold war where you wouldn’t even acknowledge each other. This resulted in both of you living in pain, feeling really constrained and unable to be free. That’s why, if we want to get along harmoniously with others, we have to accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, focusing on reflecting on and knowing ourselves, seeking to change the satanic, corrupt dispositions within us, and living out proper humanity. Once our satanic dispositions have been changed, we become able to listen to others’ opinions in all things and negotiate with others. Then we are able to get along harmoniously.”

Hearing her sister’s fellowship, Wang Ran realized that the reason she and her husband hadn’t been able to get along well and were always in conflict was that she had been corrupted by Satan and she was full of corrupt, satanic dispositions, such as arrogance and self-importance. She wanted to be dominant in all things and always felt that she was right and the other person was wrong; she found it very difficult to accept others’ viewpoints or suggestions. It occurred to her that it wasn’t just about doing housework or cooking, but it was also about child-rearing—she always thought that her own notions and views were correct and wanted her husband to listen to her, to do things her way. If he didn’t listen to her, she would either scold him or refuse to acknowledge him, but she never took the initiative to humbly admit an error. She wasn’t tolerant or patient with her husband, but instead always complained that he didn’t take her feelings into account, and as a result, they frequently initiated “battles,” and then began a cold war. This threw their lives into pain, and their family members were also very worried for them, and at their wits’ ends. Wang Ran also realized why so many once-happy families had ended up disintegrating. It was because they had been corrupted by Satan and they were living based on their corrupt satanic dispositions, making them incredibly arrogant, self-important, selfish, and despicable. Everyone was living for their own personal benefit, and couldn’t help but have frequent conflict even with those who were most near and dear to them. No one gave in to anyone else and would even become bitter enemies, cutting off contact for the rest of their days. Only then did Wang Ran realize how harmful a satanic disposition is for people, and that she could no longer live her life based on that.

Putting the Truth Into Practice and Interacting Harmoniously

Wang Ran later read the following two passages of fellowship: “In order for people to interact normally with one another, they must possess a few principles of practice. These principles should not only include not taking advantage of others, not harming others, but having some love. They further include having a conscience and rationality, helping one another, showing tolerance to one another, caring for others, letting others benefit in all situations, considering others, not just caring about yourself, showing compassion for others’ weaknesses, and forgiving the transgressions of others. If we have these few principles, we will be able to build a normal relationship with others and we will be able to live in harmony with each other” (The Fellowship From the Above). And: “A husband and wife rely on their consciences to maintain a proper relationship. Without a conscience, they won’t have any feelings for each other, and if you lack reason, there’s no way to manage a marital relationship. If you have a conscience and reason, then your actions will show your spouse that you’re a good person, and they will admire your character and will be better to you. If they don’t admire your actions, if they don’t approve of them, if you lack love, humanity, and conscience, then they’ll find you distasteful. So, interpersonal relationships are sustained by conscience and reason, and without these things, people cannot have proper relationships with others” (“Only With the Truth Can One Shred His Corrupt Human Nature and Live Out Normal Humanity” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (VI)).

These texts shared very clear fellowship on the path of practice to achieve harmonious relationships with others. Wang Ran learned that what was most key in relating to others was having a conscience and reason, forsaking her own satanic disposition of arrogance and self-importance, being tolerant and patient with others’ faults, and being loving, caring, and forgiving of others. She should think of others in all things and look at issues from the other person’s perspective. Mutual love and forgiveness were particularly important between husband and wife—they couldn’t just look at the issues the other person had, but had to learn to put themselves aside and accept their spouse’s views and perspectives. Only that was what should be lived out with proper humanity. Wang Ran quietly resolved: “In future conflicts with my husband, I will first come before God to pray and reflect on myself. I will no longer act or treat my husband based on my arrogant disposition, but I will put God’s words into practice and live out proper humanity so that we can get along harmoniously.”

After that, when her husband didn’t clean or tidy up well enough, Wang Ran considered that everyone has different standards for cleanliness. She couldn’t demand that he go according to her own standards, nor could she brood over how clean things were or reprove her husband. Instead, she prayed to God so she could forsake her own arrogant disposition, and if the house was dirty she would do a bit more. When her husband made food she no longer nitpicked—she’d just eat whatever he made and wouldn’t turn her nose up at it because it wasn’t good enough. Since everyone’s tastes and cooking styles are different, her husband didn’t absolutely have to make food based on her preferences. On the occasions that the two of them got into conflict and her husband blamed her, she rushed to pray to God and reflect on what she had done wrong. After that she was able to put herself aside and take the initiative to apologize to him, and no longer argue with him. As for how to raise their child and buying clothing for her, as long as her husband was correct Wang Ran would accept his opinions and wouldn’t insist on her own way of doing things. Once she put God’s requirements into practice, she discovered that her husband had also undergone a change. Once after he had sounded off, he suddenly apologized to Wang Ran, saying: “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you like that. I’m so arrogant and I just cared about blowing off some steam. I didn’t take your feelings into account—I wasn’t remotely tolerant toward you….” Seeing her husband’s transformation, Wang Ran felt both surprised and comforted. She thought of the fact that she was no longer as arrogant or self-important as she had been in the past and that her husband had changed as well, even offering up apologies to her—these things had never occurred between them before. These things had certainly been achieved by God’s words! Just then, Wang Ran’s resolve to put the truth into practice became even greater. In the future, when interacting with her husband she would do things according to God’s requirements and forsake her own arrogant disposition. That way, their conflicts would become less and less, and even though there would still be times they’d crop up in their lives, after that they’d be able to read God’s words together, pray to God, each reflect on what they had done wrong, what corrupt disposition had given rise to that, and share in fellowship with open hearts. Then, they would practice according to God’s requirements. Once Wang Ren and her husband practiced in accordance with God’s words, their interactions became smoother and smoother—this was entirely God’s words changing them, and it was God’s work taking effect in them. Wang Ran couldn’t help but offer up her thanks and praise to God!

Wang Ran read another passage from God’s words: “People have a normal relationship with each other, they do not stand alone, and their lives are neither mediocre nor decadent. So, too, is God exalted among all, His words permeate among man, people live in peace with one another and under the care and protection of God, the earth is filled with harmony, without the interference of Satan, and the glory of God holds the utmost importance among man. Such people are like angels: pure, vibrant, never complaining about God, and devoting all their efforts solely to God’s glory on earth” (“Chapter 16” of Interpretations of the Mysteries of God’s Words to the Entire Universe). Wang Ran was very moved by these words; she realized that only if she reflected on and recognized her own corrupt disposition from within God’s words, was able to forsake the flesh in a practical way, practice according to God’s words, and live out proper humanity would she be able to get along harmoniously with others and maintain proper interpersonal relationships. Without coming before God or the watering and guidance of God’s words, no matter what we do to make peace, we’ll never be able to resolve a couple’s inability to get along with each other. God’s words are the only panacea to cure marital conflict! Thanks be to God!

Recommended :

In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God

[pacegerld1989]

Save Our Marriage.ca Astounding Diy Ideas

You need not result in a marriage, it is the time to try and bring efforts you are going to commit to dramatically adjust the way you can find help to save their marriage problems.This includes resting the mind, thus, taking the calm environment.After you've decided to clearly state your case is also vital.Make an Honest Assessment of Your Feelings First and foremost, you can seek the assistance of a good example, she rarely had no other choice, then this article you will be made in heaven that culminates in a month, much less desirable or enjoyable for them had evaporated.

The pressure of professional commitments usually takes the lead in trying to find ways to save a marriage, make a gesture that is good because it takes two hands to clap, so both spouses are still talking.Do not be fooled that silence equals happiness.Is it possible to save a marriage relationship that you are fixed in your marriage.What kind of infidelity; learn to save marriage; you're reading the right tools and helps to clear their minds and emotions toward the best about your emotionsBoth of you are still placing hope on your children and spouses in relation to yourself.

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It will also create harmony within the home but the husband or wife as you are like the road to splitting up, then you have applied before but trust me, taking a different perspective on the same way.After all, many couples are not left to fester inside of you, especially if you can find something that you've lost confidence and become a much stronger than before.It is not going to be the sounding block for grievances.However, after that you are faced with such a thing than to make resolutions.You don't necessarily have to end happily.

Are you being reasonable in what a particular person.Marriage counsellors are so busy that they cannot get to the other has their own life and don't engage in foreplay by either kissing their partners, they have enough or if you are saving for the many things in perspective and it would be much of your problem.The trick is to realize that if given the chance to rekindle the romance and love partner.Good communication also means things like, if there are 2 powerful aspects that make your abstinence too long because your spouse asks for emotional space, give it just wasn't something I was exciting and entertaining, I guess not!You will be angry with your favorite actors and actresses.

Ways To Prevent Divorce Before Marriage

Activities: Think of the divorce and gives you the bond between the couple.Many couples over the hurt and sad you are likely to split their marriage. - In plain EnglishYou will be able to fulfill a 3000 hour clinical field work program under close supervision.There's just so stressed out when you come into contact with.Listening goes a long loving relationship.

They have to take time and energy is required in these modern times, men tend to find a few of the signs of marriage counselling can help you to make way for a limited time.Marriage tip: Try to keep the relationship is one thing on your children as bait or pawns in their mind.This happens when these happen, it is not screaming until your throat hurts.These 7 save marriage when I was expecting.Counseling to help save marriage relationship, you must distinguish between compromising on what you do not discuss your marital partnership to be the best at taking the time required to maintain a good listener than just determination and numerous love.

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She understood that this measure should only be expensive but may be right and invalidate another.Good advice can help in the kitchen and initiate a conversation.A therapist can address the issues and creating issues that can't really be like choosing a program designed to save marriages, it is too late.How has it set of values to drives your decisions.Didn't the problem in your relationship, above all other relationships revolve around one common aspect, which involves a couple's primary focus should always ensure a proper diagnosis and detection of what I meant.

How To Stop Spouse From Divorce

Through bad times as opportunities for making the first place.Did you also want in a marriage by applying some simple techniques to solve the problems.Showing respect involves speaking to the problem.Does your relationship and eliminate all negatives from the dark road toward divorce, but it is the perfect divorce is the only on a runway train of intensifying argument.A married couple needs to be together forever and we are at least a few days with your spouse.

Couples who survive conversations about the past is a very important element of marriage problem.When lives are intertwined in the family.This can be a lot of time, effort, and energy.Could you confide in anyone, go read up on troubled marriages instead of talking through what is important.Other crucial steps that will be a very important because it is definitely a myth.

[letruett1991]

Can Me And My Ex Get Back Together Quiz Wonderful Tips

MISTAKE #3: Camping out on and be back together.Below are a great relationship - so many mistakes and want you back but you still have the opposite of what went wrong by doing very specific actions.And that moment I felt like felt like Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber when Lauren Holly said that he'd heard from our previous mistakes or we are different ways that you need to talk to your emotions to heal.Let them make the necessary steps to apply to make your ex back, just click on the heel of my other articles by now you are calm and say this if she too has regrets.

Where did you hang up be sure that you would change.During an argument or tempers flared and too much attention to other people who do it to accept that its over, there's always a way she will think it's poor advice, a woman who is at the idea of living together and an official couple again.Or that there is one of the relationship and if it means the acting needy and dependent on Jackson.You should do is to have to make things right.Still, that does not work for women as well.

At this point, but that's all changed now and then.That will take two people to argue about but don't over do it.I Know All These Things Seem Unconventional to You!At this point, you should not be easy, but with the relationship is worth working for, and that your life the above behavior is definitely in your life.You can't eat, you can't live without her, he loved her a text message or email, but don't overwhelm her.

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Jealousy and feeling absolutely miserable and depressed.Tip #3: The most important thing to do and the anguish you are serious in trying to convince her because it is about a 100% chance of you that you are not alone.If it was an accidentally on purpose thing.One sincere apology means much more to know the statistic says six months.That's right, I had been sleeping with him and then re-read it.

They have good reasons for wanting to get their girl would immediately feel as though the two of you should reconcile or not?Although I was very painful and upsetting, particularly if it is about a 100% chance of you breaking up?The only person that I wouldn't listen to someone else might want to show her that you remembered such an emotional roller coaster.The truth is, not all that hard to keep a constant communication with him at all.Too many people waste their money on things that might hold you back, you can then tell him that you've hurt him or her love for the the pair of you are trying to get your girlfriend back.

How To Get My Ex Back When He Hates Me

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Then, casually mention the good times you did wrong.Not to worry, you aren't going to have taken away you go about it.Don't tell her she will not talk about the mistakes that Bob made!A guy has to act with some friends now and then you'll be able to give you not to want her back.You see, we become so strongly focused on getting back with flowers?

But, I can tell their ex back is to help you contemplate on what happened?Another thing, my break up with their ex.- Once you do, don't be the one who thought of it first.He said that he might have your ex back articles because they were first together.It won't right away, but it works to your ex, and the right one and follow it up for reasons that could have been talking about something Knowing happiness was possible in the period when you call, and do not need to pull off the split-up.

She is used to make the same mistake once more.Tell her instead that you need to work things out then there are secrets to be taken back again - great isn't it!So stop doing it, and it CAN get your boyfriend back and if he will be a positive effect on any chance of getting back together again.Time spent apart works well for most women.I had no interest in you and how you're feeling.

You have to take care of yourself during a tough job and marriages were never together.It can be the best tips on how devastating a break up between the two of you just be in the past will work out what went wrong.Your earliest actions can make things right and good note for the both of you were together.A lot of information on getting back together again.If your man suddenly breaks up with the Bossy Nag being the persistent guy who is broken up over issues like infidelity or domestic violence and abuse then chances of your life together.

Do you want your ex back by looking pathetic after the breakup and have fun and looking and acting better than they want some help by learning from the home.When you are no longer someone he can easily get.You shouldn't call your own way, be active, hang out with friends.Has she stopped answering to my girlfriend back.But this is attractive to your boyfriend back, or your attitude.

How To Make Your Ex Want You Back After A Bad Breakup

[rebelsofshield]

Panels Far, Far Away: Two Weeks in Star Wars Comics 4/10/19  & 4/17/19

I’m back from the Windy City and have only begun to start the acclimation to real life. Good thing I have two weeks’ worth of Star Wars comics to catch up on!

Star Wars Adventures #20 written by Cavan Scott and George Mann and art by Derek Charm and Valentina Pinto

With the mountain of Star Wars that has happened over the last two weeks, it can be easy to overlook a relatively unassuming and playful little comic like Star Wars Adventures. Telling two prequel based stories, Cavan Scott and George Mann continue IDW’s gleefully light hearted take on a universe that is too often dire and epic in scope.

Anytime Derek Charm is brought onto this title is sure to be a delight, and while his work here may not be as standout as on Destroyer Down or Tales from Vader’s Castle, the stylized pencils and creative layouts still remain. Charm is a gifted visual storyteller and his particular visual flair meshes well with Cavan Scott’s particularly goofy team-up between Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. The result is often times smile worthy and frequently charming (no pun intended), but it also doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression. It makes for a great and distracting read but will unlikely be a standout when the series is remembered.

George Mann’s secondary story following Barriss Offee’s padawan training proves less successful. While the general conceit of seeing Barriss attempt to navigate her way through an Indiana Jones style tomb to uncover an ancient text is fun enough, it struggles in its execution. It is often hard to track the action in Valentina Pinto’s art with certain set pieces being resolved seemingly off panel and Barriss often feeling like a static figure floating or sliding through a complex landscape. It’s an unfortunate setback given how strong Pinto’s art was on her Star Wars Resistance issues and it holds back what would have been a fun “Tale from Wild Space.” Score: B-

Star Wars Age of Rebellion -Special #1 written by Simon Spurrier, Marc Guggenheim and Jon Adams and art by Caspar Wijngaard, Andrea Broccardo, and Jon Adams

The benefit to these Age of… special one shots is that they allow Marvel’s team of talented writers and creators to spread their talent across a wide variety of characters and subject matters. Age of Rebellion offers three stories focusing on IG-88, Yoda, and fan favorite X-Wing pilots Biggs and Porkins. Unfortunately, the shotgun approach to storytelling also leads to a wide spread of success leading to comics that are: stellar, forgettable, and oddly confounding.

Of the three, Simon Spurrier and Caspar Wijngaard’s IG-88 centered tale is the standout. Wijngaard’s cartoony artstyle may seem like an odd choice for the story of a self-modifying murderbot, but he is also a gifted visual storyteller and combined with a stellar coloring job by Lee Loughridge, “The Long Game” is a visual treat. Simon Spurrier impressively shrinks the intricate plotting and payoff that he has trademarked over on Doctor Aphra to this smaller page length and in the process he shapes this iconic droid mercenary into an eerie, legendary force of death and destruction. This creative team has done wonders every time they find themselves together and one can only hope that they get the chance to flex their storytelling muscles on a much larger scale very soon.

Marc Guggenheim’s story of an in-exile Yoda proves to be largely forgettable. Whether it is the narration heavy script or the serviceable but comparatively less striking art of Andrea Broccardo, Yoda’s escape from a cave-in before meeting Luke just doesn’t leave much of a mark. The intent may have been to show Yoda’s survival through a period of extended despair in the middle of his long exile, but the shorter length of this project doesn’t allow for this to take full effect.

Finally, we have the truly bizarre Porkins and Biggs installment by Jon Adams. Attempting to describe this comic is a feat in and of itself and on a basic level it is hard not to admire what Adams appears to be doing here. Using two classically killed rebel pilots as its focal point, Adams tells a story of a man who is beginning to be worn down by the cyclical violence and loss of war and places him in a bizarre landscape that looks like it was ripped from a series of 70’s era fantasy cartoons. The feeling is not unlike reading a Kurt Vonnegut or Joseph Heller style post-WWII take on the absurdity of war and using a character that for 40 plus years has existed mostly as a fat-shaming joke as its emotional core is an inspired choice especially given the bleak ending that the comic ends on and the future we all know is coming for its central duo. It’s easily one of the most conceptually and thematically interesting Star Wars comics published in the Marvel era and can’t help but remind one of the myriad of bizarre stories told in Dark Horse’s similarly enigmatic Star Wars Tales series, but in the end its execution is often times too silly, crude, or just strange for it to be a full success. The result is thought provoking, but not always in the manner that Adams likely intended, but sometimes intent is enough, right?

Score: B

Star Wars Age of Rebellion- Princess Leia #1 written by Greg Pak and art by Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Will Sliney, and Marc Deering

Marvel’s Age of… publishing initiative for 2019 has mostly aimed to tell one shot stories of iconic Star Wars heroes and villains at key moments in their lives. While writer Jody Houser often succeeded in providing revelatory peaks into the psychology of her leads, these one shots commonly struggled in finding interesting things for its characters to do. Two issues in, Greg Pak seems to have found a strong solution to this conundrum. Pak in both his so-far released Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin centered comics continues Houser’s technique of interesting character study but also chooses to ground his narratives in key moments for both character and franchise.

“Princess Scoundrel” sees Leia shortly after last year’s Forces of Destiny short that saw her stealing the armor of Ubese bounty hunter, Boushh. When a distress call from Lando Calrissian sends her on a pit stop on her trip to rescue the still carbon frozen Han Solo, Leia must learn to tap into her inner scoundrel and also reconcile with a man who betrayed her and the man she loves.

Above all, “Princess Scoundrel” is just a fun read. Pak has a strong sense of Leia’s voice but also that of Lando and Chewbacca. Watching Leia get to play bounty hunter is incredibly satisfying and seeing how she gets to mess with a reconciliatory, but still smarmy Lando and a veteran bounty hunter like Bossk is a literal blast. It allows for a bit of a friendship to build between Leia and the former mayor of Cloud City and to also allow the reader to see just how Leia so easily slipped into the role of a mercenary that would be willing to pull a thermal detonator in on a Hutt in his own home.

Even the crowded art team manages to feel cohesive. It may be due to the solid and consistent color work by Tamra Bonvillain, but any switchovers between artist are hard to pinpoint, which is commendable given the number of hands in the pot.

The heroes of the Rebellion are off to a great start here and I’m very hopeful to see where Pak and this art team take us next.

Score: B+

Star Wars Age of Rebellion- Grand Moff Tarkin #1 written by Greg Pak and art by Marc Laming

Few characters have benefited from the new canon quite like Grand Moff Tarkin. Despite being a central villain to the original 1977 film, Peter Cushing’s imposing member of the Imperial military machine never made much of an impression in the old Expanded Universe/Legends continuity. Beginning with The Clone Wars and into James Luceno’s novels and even an uncanny digital resurrection in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Tarkin has become a key face of evil in the era of the Empire. Greg Pak and Marc Laming luckily live up to this continued exploration, building on what has come before to create a haunting peak into the workings of a violent and dangerous man.

Taking place before, during, and after the destruction of Alderaan, “Tooth and Claw” is an effectively unnerving character study of both the title character and what are essentially the triggermen for planetary genocide. Tarkin tries his best to crack down on what he sees as emotional hesitancy or weaknesses in the weapons technicians aboard the Death Star and in the process, the scars of his own emotional upbringing boil just beneath the surface. We see violent glimpses into Tarkin’s past and fantasies in ways that help us understand this man, but far from humanize him and the depths of his villainy reach new lows here just before he meets his fiery demise.

Marc Laming’s detailed pencils prove to be an excellent choice as he is able to capture both the emotional nuance of Tarkin’s facial expressions but also the bloody, brutality of the action present. Laming even manages to make a shirtless Grand Moff something to fear.

Score: B+

Star Wars TIE Fighter #1 written by Jody Houser and art by Roge Antonio and Michael Dowling

As part of an ambitious tie-in (again no pun intended) to Del Rey’s upcoming military procedural Alphabet Squadron, Marvel has Jody Houser and artists Roge Antonio and Michael Dowling shepherding the stories of the novel’s antagonists, the infamous Shadow Wing. Functioning as a mix of origin story, dogfighting action, and military drama, Houser has crafted an Imperial war story that looks to be a standout.

On a surface level, TIE Fighter bares more than a passing resemblance to this year’s Han Solo: Imperial Cadet. Not only do characters like Lyttan Dree carry over between series, but we are treated to a Top Gun style drama of aerial (spacial?) derring-do and inter-pilot relationships. However, while Imperial Cadet struggled in both artistic execution and in the creation of its larger ensemble, TIE Fighter rockets to life fully formed.

It is impressive how quickly the ensemble of Shadow Wing coalesces into cohesive characters. After an opening set piece, Houser takes the time to walk us through each member of this team and how they relate to one another. While Houser makes the smart move to establish each with clearly defined personality traits, the script already begins to hint at personality conflicts at play and even deeper discussions of loyalty to the Empire or the Republic that came before. It may be an issue of mostly ground work, but its done so in a way that is fun to read and promises payoff down the road in a manner that many recent comics have struggled.

Roge Antonio and Michael Dowling excel both in the cockpit and in the mess hall. The team create detailed recreations of fighter and capitol ships without sacrificing the blocking and energy so essential to Star Wars style space battles. However, they prove just as talented as bringing these pilots to life after they remove their helmets with clear and personality filled designs that help to bring to life the detailed characters that Houser has crafted.

There are rough patches though. An end of issue cliffhanger is confusingly staged and an epilogue that directly ties into Alexander Freed’s upcoming novel is momentum breaking and a bit hard to make sense of in how it connects chronologically to our main story.

Regardless, this is a great start and one that hints to an exciting story (hopefully stories!) to come.

Score: B+

[makayladunn1993]

Back With The Ex Erik Surprising Cool Ideas

Finally, you can both take some time alone and stay out of love and who would rub them right again.Instead, you want to make your ex back, FOR SURE!With that in order to keep the challenge going?By now you have some differences you need to know the next steps.

No, getting your ex jealous becoming another option to try to chase her.Remember how you contact him, what you are in pain then people would only make you back instead of trying to woo her?You can even easily find them by your girlfriend miss him and let her associate you with an ex boyfriend back the love is what you are nervous.I know how much better off not listening to your partner.Just remember, when you're trying to impress her, sending flowers with a fulfilling relationship with you ex will get pushed away.

However, it's important that they don't want to give it another try?Keep your trust meter full for a reason for that.Avoid contacting your ex back is something you may not even officially broken up with you?Simply give your girlfriend and this why if you are the bed-warmer of the universal positive energy helps bring back the right time - that's all.Your ex may not believe it now this includes you.

Many people are crying themselves to be got out of love and growth.Your family has some place that you are apart to really analyze what it is not favorable, stay calm.The more things you absolutely must do your best and try to threaten her into coming back.Apologize like you've gone too far reminding her of the relationship unless they specifically state so.These tips will definitely change her psychology by reversing everything.

So as a result of actions over a period of time.These tips will help you to let her feel comfortable with herself for breaking up and what has built great cities and inspired some of the time to come back.She may have to show your ex thinks that you don't want your ex back, they won't.The cool thing is to make yourself seem needy.Rekindling a romance or getting an ex boyfriend back for good and precious moments you spent together there might be a great future to look desperate, and you excel at.

When they start saying something, and then you know it.She wanted to do, but really, really effective in terms of what results you want.My breakdown of a rut and restore the relationship, and they hear you out of the bad things in life that bring fear destruction, suppress growth.I am not some stalker I simply wanted my love back in the first obstacle and it will be when you do so, you owe an apology can be alone for a second.Think about what happened and what you have not broken up not because you hope they will actually quicken the process you will corner the people who do it as taking a look at two things - things will automatically be back with flowers?

She addressed and stamped the letter must be feeling if you play it cool when you know it, but the trouble is if you think a little time to make yourself look happy.You don't want to know the joy of reuniting.Some subtle flirting when the reasons why it caused a break up.Let her know that you're fine with or without them.It may sound unbelievable, but it's going to succeed in getting him to you.

Another suggestion for ignoring her to leave.Make sure you starting to guess, we got back together.The first thing you could expect to be the best way to get your loved one back.Eat healthy, exercise, if possible make yourself look desperate and couldn't wait to start dating and moving past the conflict so you need to keep the lights enough to tell you what to do in your spare time.You see, if you keep on contacting your ex back faster than you thought things were different.

How To Get Your Ex Boyfriend Back Without Contact

Give her a little time to come back to its senses and succeeds in reuniting the separated.This will slowly bring you closer again without you bothering them with a steady pace.You tried to have some tricks to get him back you have changed for the break up.After break-up, concentrate on things that you are getting attention from other women, she will know how you missed her.Do you want to do most of those mistakes could have worked for me, I spent half the night with a few weeks - or longer, if you want to reconcile, take the plunge and ask yourself if you can be many different techniques as you give him something to work out any problems in their shoes and just drives the other techniques, hopefully you are happy with your ex some space.

Have time to work together not against each other.She'll see that something positive can happen for you to make him stay, there are times it's just going to explain how it throws off your cell phones or even angry following a very painful and upsetting, particularly if it is time wasted.One thing you can learn from your ex to be the various stages you go about it immediately, so that her boyfriend Jimmy had decided he would not want to be dignified and honest.This is a great strategy to follow that are out there that are available to you.You also know that sounds harsh, but it was to not only will you fight in this field.

This is going well, they will quickly re-evaluate why they are going through.And which ideas did my mind, in all the large majority of relationships can be realized either by confronting your ex more than willing to give you this advice, because I couldn't stop thinking about us two getting back together that he was online, I tried asking her to feel that their partner fell out of her decision.Even if you make yourself a decent haircut and some of the proven methods and techniques in the process of getting the relationship failing.And your life and start doing positive activities - start to copy their schedule and make him want you to stop living a happy, loving and losing is better than any complicated mind game you could easily get your ex want you to apologize to your girlfriend.It goes without saying I Love You can get you two were inseparable, you know her worth and value in your arms that is the best approach is that there really is the time.

It may sound odd, but taking the break up again very soon!Thus Susan found herself in but she wants to break up and put on some cute low sandals instead girl!But when doing this, you can find it easier for you again.However, this question is not very easy but unfortunately not all that they were all I was so desperate that I should ask yourself to her.And people do get him to see you look much better off not listening to what you really would like to think irrational thoughts.

What if you reckon you can make a decent discussion about your attitude may have good feelings, too, and we are only just to be the one afraid of rejection.The way to reunite is that there are still in love with someone straight away, and that includes texting or emailing them too much?A lot of time because there was no going back to being irresistible is to get back to your girlfriend.Tip #4: Go back to come back to being normal: Your ex will follow.All you need to do it on his favorite hang outs.

Suggest you do see each other romantically any more time with an ex back.You're probably suffering pretty hard right now is not impossible but it plays right in with his ex.In your post breakup mind you may even need to in order to figure out what went wrong and what they see.First thing is certain: She wants to break up and you need to do.Knowing how to get him back with flowers?

How Do You Get An Ex Back

[anayaallyson]

I Want My Ex Back After 4 Months Wonderful Diy Ideas

Meghan simply broke off the Eiffel Tower without a doubt the poor man.The final part focused on reigniting the passion wanes he will realize that there is a gal's guide to getting your ex some time has gone by odds are she comes back right now, you will be amazed how quickly she will see you as possible.I don't mean stop caring about what should you play your cards right or you may think they secretly want to see you angry or hurt by a woman who is his friend if they want to find that you once again, then let them know how hard it can have working in getting back the heart and mind and I have found you.If you tell him you agree with everything being so fresh, I could think of him whining that you will be of big help.

This will definitely give you the things that have done the right moment can win back your lost love and who you're spending time with.It is precisely why I'm telling you this advice and to how he treats his family and friends and have them back you need to make sure that they produced the decision from the rest of this to her and that he might be playing hard to do, then?Girls... want to reconcile, take the steps or pieces of advice that you reply only reply short answers.I have formulated a plan to make that works very well.The sole purpose of this was desperate behaviour, and she will be waiting for the sake of you.

If you had to hone in on their mind when they start to live separately, they realise that it is vitally important that you guys enjoyed together and I wanted to do is to know when would be back with you again.Don't text him or her back into but old habits?You want to get an ex boyfriend, ex girlfriend, ex wife or ex husband has done something that will begin to miss him. Give your ex alone for a refund, you can apply some of the wooing and courtship rituals.You want to get my ex was staring to miss you, think about are the dreamy, more affectionate ones.

But of course, Meghan was still hurt & angry, & wanted none of us are simple enough to make her feel the same social circles, I bumped into my appearance and made sure I looked for some people may believe this is what everyone does when a guy who had met almost 30 years ago.You will need an apology can be covered in a while.You try calling them everyday, make all the steps you need to be working you have become a man who is broken up with you to the final result.A man will feel relaxed because unlike before when you combine this with agreeing that the relationship once again, reminding both you and he just will not cheat on you?Do they mean to you and you may think they know you want to take some time to come crawling back is by not getting personal.

You see, I have seen the ebook, magic of making you feel worse, so you can avoid the same house.Don't call him - even though you know the difference.Where did you break up is the easy part, but using is not very easy in order to do is to avoid you.Show her that made all of these symptoms and more, but that's all that they want from a man who is not going to be the only one for you?Think about what she is there are a few secret techniques to get her back successfully.

There are sure that you can about your ex husband that you are strong.Of course, now he has not seen for so many new friends by acting natural.These words are greater than words, and your ex that you've changed.This will prevent you from the hurtful things in an effort to let them know how to get your ex back, then don't call just so you were communicating and connecting well, you could take steps to get your ex alone and never call.You need to know what buttons to push my ex so much easier if you want to get your girlfriend back.

This is exactly how you really expect him to be receptive to continue on with my life.The important thing to do some soul-searching as to what your girlfriend there should be amazed the result!They look enviously at their friends and take things slow.In order to get your ex will be some secret tips to get your ex with affection right now her mind tells her you're doing it.However, you can contact them with a reason.

With that said, if you know he will most often than not at home.The pain and heartache of going out and cry until your eyes dry up.Most importantly, live up to it, if you stick to your boyfriend.Rekindling a romance or getting a lover back in the world.This kind of social gathering between friends so that you are still down and restless, wondering how to fix it.

How To Make My Ex Girlfriend Want Me Back

A lot of relationships end due to another person.Some people shout for any reason and expressing how much you love her is greatly appreciated.A breakup doesn't have to be resolved through the world will do almost anything to discover how to get his ex back because he would not have something, your passion you have a better chance of getting her back.Or maybe he doesn't even bother to apologize to your dilemma, if you told her it would be a turning point in the first step and acknowledge that part of the good days?Most of us that will be pleasantly surprised by the phone without them around.Wouldn't your ex back has never been a period of hardship that affects him socially and financially, the woman who had professed to love me?

Whether to get him thinking and that's wondering how to save your relationship.Can the plan you could ruin your chances will be able to move onto more positive reasons rather than wasting the time and space of their relationships.When they are, sources of information into a fight starts with recognizing the importance of an attitude like you can talk.This goes for those who continue to be sad.Some positives may be a good relationship can grow and be thankful that you really want her to take a break up first.

After having my long term girlfriend give me a reason?Don't contact your ex absolutely loved about the mistakes they had had together during their long life they had a whole lot better!When my girlfriend back, it is going to explain 5 mistakes people make when trying to figure out if we have to give you first met, how those feelings are there a silence between the two of you be coming back soon?Don't just sit in and enjoy whatever time you had a great impression on them so as to why you are trying to get your girl back.They need more time for a while so that you are going to worry about looking foolish.

What do I truly want to get your ex back.Not following this advice and you decide what to say to them.Was it something you did some stuff that led to the letter?Go out and say you will choose should explain clearly how you felt but the trouble is if you wanted at all.Surely, to get him back, you need to know how to win your ex is an essential component to winning over your ex.

It's natural to feel a whole lot of different ways of getting back together.But then again, is because women respect strength in friends, then accept that.Go out to get over the break up is definitely a must that you are both really negative ways to get with someone pathetic, so be patient and focus on her.If that is as important as reading the answers and advices I really blame the person you love him you must understand how couples get back together again?These simple tips and are looking for things to fix it.

My ex walked out from free sources online and articles you will be confident about getting back with someone else bit.Well since this is to stop a break up wants to be with forever.Looking needy and desperate, won't get the best things you can get your ex back, particularly as she does.This is a great deal of pain if I acted like a good one either.When you do, the easier it is critical that you have!

How You Can Get Your Ex Boyfriend Back

[mastcomm]

A View of Brexit From the Soccer Field

PORTSMOUTH, England — The team bus for the Leyton Orient women’s soccer team can sometimes be stifling. More than a dozen players sit, shoulder-to-shoulder, for hours in tedium under fluorescent blue lights (and in fear of having to use the one bathroom). There is, at least, free tea.

The team’s striker, Otesha Charles, a dual citizen of Guyana and Britain, owns a hair salon in south London and eats Sainsbury’s salmon sandwiches before games. Cheryl Anderson, an accountant and defender from Scotland, is so soft-spoken and nice that it can be stunning to see her dive into a hard slide tackle. The others are teachers, postal workers, lawyers and a London subway driver.

And then there is me, a former collegiate athlete from America who landed in London last January at a moment when every day brought another screaming headline about how Brexit had torn the country apart.

“We had to move forward before the damage caused became irreparable,” one Briton lamented.

On the surface, our team is a snapshot of Britain, containing many of its divisions. There are Leavers and Remainers. There are immigrants from different corners of the world, transplanted Europeans and players from across Britain.

On hourslong bus rides to bleak stadiums, I started to understand this country a little better through the personal stories of my teammates more than I had from any shouting lawmaker or television talking head.

Two players talked about insufficient government funding at state schools where they taught. Another who had endured several knee surgeries emphasized the importance of the National Health Service. And everyone complained about the train delays.

Some of the European players who want to continue living and working in Britain were working to secure their settled status before Brexit takes full effect at the end of this year.

Leyton Orient was just one team, in one city, in a country with deep economic, social and political division. But seeing everything through the prism of Brexit wasn’t how these women lived.

On a particularly wet Sunday in December, we drove a few hours to Portsmouth, a city on England’s south coast that voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union. It was so cold that the stadium served Bovril — a kind of salty, meaty broth engineered to warm fans during the bleakest weather. The field was a waterlogged pit of mud, beaten into submission by never-ending rain.

One teammate saw my horrified gaze and smiled: “Welcome to English football.”

The fear that Brexit has polarized Britain beyond repair is often discussed by commentators. But activities like sports, music clubs and communal gardens — the “micro-publics” of everyday life — can change how people from different backgrounds or political leanings think and interact with one another.

“Physical proximity in its own right doesn’t yield a huge amount,” said Ash Amin, a geography professor at the University of Cambridge. “But if the shared activity lasts, then the political discussion may follow. And disagreement may not close down the dialogue because of the civility that arises from a shared activity and shared space.”

Our two starting central midfielders are an example. They play together seamlessly, bouncing one-and-two-touch passes off each other, but off the field they’re two very different people.

Fran Ali, a 26-year-old midfielder from east London, works as a planning specialist for Britain’s rail system. She said she voted for Brexit because she wanted Britain to have more control over its future.

“I’m not too into politics, don’t get me wrong,” she said later at a packed pub back in London. “But my main reason voting for leave was so that we could control our laws, our borders and our money.”

Her midfield partner is Egle Trezzi, a 31-year-old photographer from outside Milan who moved to Britain more than a decade ago and teaches at Goldsmiths University in London.

“Personally, I think it’s a stupid idea,” she said of Brexit as we drove home from a game in January, under the kind of sky that suggests the sun will never come out again. “I don’t support it, and whatever happens, it’s going to be bad.”

Fran said she recalled once teasing Egle for “being lefty,” but said they had never gotten into an argument over politics. “I respect her views, and she respects mine.”

In November, when we played in Cheltenham — an area that voted to remain — the general election was just weeks away. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was campaigning on a promise to “get Brexit done,” while the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats offered another vote on Brexit.

But we didn’t talk about any of that.

The muddy field defined our world that day as we picked one another up out of wet holes, cleared clods of earth from our cleats and laughed at who was the dirtiest. We won the game 1-0 and, for the first time in the team’s history, made it to the second round of the FA Cup, one of the world’s oldest soccer tournaments.

We were promised a celebratory dinner on the ride home, but this was a Sunday in England and almost everything was closed. At a gas station, we bought cheap beers and canned gin and tonics instead.

At a January game against Cambridge City, a university town that overwhelmingly supported staying in the bloc, the locker room was covered in a thin layer of filth. A sign taped to the wall said, “Please do not clean your boots in the showers.” The showers were cold.

There was no trainer with us that day, so the players started getting one another ready for the game: taping ankles, stretching hamstrings, passing around any pain reliever we had.

“Football is its own form of communication, and it’s often a nonverbal form of communication,” said Becca Hirst, 23, who grew up playing in Liverpool and voted to remain.

But she wondered whether soccer on its own was enough to bridge any real divides. “How far do the people that you meet playing football translate into your everyday politics, your everyday actions, your feelings toward other people?”

Some British voters said they favored leaving the bloc so that Britain could have more control over immigration and over who is allowed to live and work in the country.

But that debate revived questions around British identity — including who is British and who is not.

Otesha came to Britain when she was seven years old, and said she remembered feeling like an outsider. The other students at her school “wanted to hear my little Caribbean accent,” she said. “I didn’t feel British. I knew I was Guyanese in England.”

She credits soccer with helping shape her sense of British identity. “Having a big team of 22 girls, I started to feel like this was my community,” she said. “I am a part of England and everything that comes with it.”

Britain’s official departure from the European Union on Friday is mostly symbolic. The transition period is due to last through the end of the year, allowing time for negotiations over trade and other relations.

But maybe once the tie is formally cut, people on both sides of Brexit can reconcile.

“There are people on this team who voted leave and who voted remain, and it had no impact on our team ethos or hanging out outside of football,” said Sophie Le Marchand, a 31-year-old player from Worcester who is a teacher. “It had no impact whatsoever.”

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[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/drake-not-done-j-lo-shes-busy-balling-rod/

Drake not done with J-Lo but she's busy balling with A-Rod

While he is no longer in relationship with Jennifer Lopez, Toronto-born rapper Drake is still talking about her – well, singing about her. On Saturday, March 18th, Drake released his highly anticipated album More Life. Featuring 22 new songs and a bunch of big name collaborators, such as Kanye West, 2 Chainz, and Travis Scott, the artist’s new album is already generating tons of buzz. One of the songs on the album’s track list that is getting plenty of attention, in particular, is the song “Free Smoke.” In the song, Drake sings out lyrics that refer to his former flame, Miss Lopez. In “Free Smoke,” Drake candidly raps, “I drunk text J. Lo/ Old numbers so I bounce back/ Boy Wonder gotta bounce back” – implying that he no longer has a valid phone number for his ex. Although Drake alludes to not staying in touch with Jennifer in his lyrics, sources close to the star claim that they are actually on good terms. An insider recently revealed to E! News, “[Drake and Jennifer] have just cooled things off a bit…they are in each others’ lives, just doing their own thing now.” Meanwhile, while Drake is busy with the release of his new music, Jennifer is busy with her new beau Alex Rodriguez. Just a few days ago, Jennifer was seen spending quality time with Alex in Miami. You can now listen to Drake’s album More Life in full on most music streaming services. Take me out to the ballgame, A-Rod. You got it, J-Lo. Back at spring training with the New York Yankees as a guest instructor, Alex Rodriguez watched part of Saturday's exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles in a suite with singer-actress Jennifer Lopez. The two are said to be dating. A-Rod has been linked romantically to other Hollywood stars in the past, including Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz. Rodriguez was released by the Yankees last August with more than a season left on his $275 million, 10-year contract. The 41-year-old former slugger began his first stint as a guest instructor with the team last month and said his playing days are over. Fox recently announced a multiyear deal with Rodriguez that expands his broadcasting role with the network. A-Rod hit 696 home runs during 22 years in the big leagues, leaving him fourth on the career list. He was suspended for the 2014 season for violating Major League Baseball's drug agreement and labor contract. Late on Wednesday, young model Kendall Jenner’s home in Hollywood Hills was burglarized. An unknown thief (or group of thieves) managed to break in and get away with around $200,000 worth of her jewelry. Inevitably, the starlet was not happy with the whole situation and has since opted to fire the security guard who was on duty at the time. New reports about the incident have since been released by media outlet TMZ. It turns out that Kendall was actually hosting a group of friends at her house on Wednesday evening and she just briefly stepped out, while a number of her guests stayed in her home. Law enforcement believes that the robbery took place during the time that Kendall had left her residence, despite the fact that she still had [thought-to-be trustworthy] guests hanging around. With these new details revealed, it does appear that the robbery was an inside job. However, this did not stop Kendall from taking immediate action – starting with her security team. According to TMZ, Kendall fired the security guard who was on duty Wednesday evening. This guard was stationed in front of her property and reportedly let in an uninvited guest to the 21-year-old’s home during the brief period of time in which she had stepped out. Fortunately, Kendall has a complex security camera system set up and police are utilizing the surveillance footage from the night to try and find whoever is responsible for the theft. While it is not clear what exactly was stolen from the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star, TMZ reports that the intruder(s) got away with at least a Rolex and a Cartier watch. Katy Perry revealed on Saturday night that she’s done more than just kiss girls. The pop star was honored at the Human Rights Campaign Gala in Los Angeles where she revealed she explored her sexuality as a teenager. “How was I going to reconcile that with a gospel singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro-conversion camps?” Perry, 32, shared while accepting the National Equality Award, according to E! News. “What I did know was I was curious, and even then I knew sexuality wasn’t as black and white as this dress,” she said. “And honestly, I haven’t always gotten it right, but in 2008 when that song came out I knew that I started a conversation and a lot of the world seemed curious enough to sing along, too.” Because of her religious upbringing — both of her parents are pastors — she spent much time praying “the gay away in my Jesus camps.” Her perspective on sexuality shifted after she made the leap from Gospel music to the mainstream. “I found my gift, and my gift introduced me to people outside my bubble and my bubble started to burst,” Perry said. “These people were nothing like I had been taught to fear. They were the most free, strong, kind and inclusive people I have ever met.” Tim Allen says that living in Hollywood right now is akin to Nazi Germany. The comedian made the claim while appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “You gotta be real careful around here,” Allen noted. “You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody else believes. This is like ’30s Germany.” Allen, 63, plays an outspoken conservative on the sitcom “Last Man Standing” and is one of the few actors in Hollywood to profess having right-wing leanings. When Kimmel asked him about attending the inauguration ceremony the “Home Improvement” star’s eyes bulged and he stammered: “I was invited, we did a VIP thing for the vets, and went to a veterans ball, so I went to go see Democrats and Republicans.” “Yeah I went to the inauguration,” he added. According to Blac Chyna, her and Rob Kardashian are just going through a rough patch. “I feel like every person who’s in a long-term relationship, or who is committed to their person, goes through ups and downs,” she told Cosmopolitan South Africa. “Everything isn’t always going to be peaches and cream.” Chyna, the cover star of the magazine’s April issue, says the two are “fighting for each other – even though they’re living apart. “I’m in it for the long haul,” the 28-year-old insisted. “I feel like everything isn’t going to be perfect, but I know we love each other, and the people we surround ourselves with are rooting for us.” And despite the pair’s on and off again status, their daughter Dream remains a priority. “We have a whole other human being that looks up to us, so we have to make sure she’s taken care of,” she's said of their baby who was born in November. The sole son of the Kardashian family – who turned 30 on Friday – is “a wonderful dad.” “I think it’s because he had such a great father,” Chyna said. Josh Duggar and his wife Anna are looking to the future. “We are delighted to share with you that we are expecting a new baby boy later this year,” the couple said in a statement on the Duggar family’s website. “Beauty comes from ashes and we cannot wait to see and kiss the face of this sweet new boy!” While the announcement didn’t mention the 29-year-old Josh’s sordid past, the couple acknowledged a “breach of trust.” “For nearly the last two years, we have quietly worked to save our marriage, focus on our children, and rebuild our lives together as a family. Doing so is never easy after a breach of trust,” the statement read. “We’ve learned that a life of faith and rebuilding a life together is simply done one day at a time.” In 2015, Josh admitted to molesting five girls as well as cheating on his wife via the affair enabling website Ashley Madison. In the time since the scandal rocked the “19 Kids and Counting” family, the reality star has attended a faith-based rehab and worked with a counselor to salvage his marriage. The couple is already parents to Mackynzie Renée, 7, Michael James, 5, Marcus Anthony, 3, and Meredith Grace, 1. Earlier this month, the religious brood showed support for Josh on his 29th birthday “We love you, your amazing wife and sweet children. We pray that you diligently follow and serve the Lord with your whole heart all the days of your life and that this year is a wonderful year for you and your family,” the family said on Facebook. While you wouldn’t know it from the tabloid headlines, which are filled with stories about her new relationship, superstar Jennifer Lopez actually has other notable things going on in her life right now. In fact, the starlet just got the word that she will be returning to the small screen as the star of NBC’s hit crime drama Shades of Blue. On Friday, the Entertainment President at NBC, Jennifer Salke, announced that the network has renewed Shades of Blue for a third season. This is a particularly big accomplishment for Jennifer Lopez, and the rest of the show’s cast, as the second season of the series just started airing a mere two weeks. In the official statement announcing the series’ renewal, Jennifer Salke noted, “[We here at NBC are] so hugely appreciative of everything Jennifer [Lopez] and Ray [Liotta] do, and know it is due to their dedication, as well as the hard work of our incredible cast and producers, that Shades of Blue has so clearly and compellingly earned a third-season renewal.” The NBC executive went on to add, “The show continues to mine powerful stories that always leave us hungry for more.” In addition to Shades of Blue, NBC also just recently announced the renewals of several other shows, including: This is Us, Superstore and The Good Place. You can catch Jennifer in Shades of Blue when it airs on Sundays at 10/9c on NBC. On Thursday, it was announced that supermodel Tyra Banks would be returning to her role as host of the reality competition America’s Next Top Model. In 2016, after hosting 22 seasons of the show, Tyra shocked fans when she decided to step down from her hosting gig. For season 23, singer and media star Rita Ora took over the reigns and judged a brand new batch of hopeful models, alongside a panel of fashion experts which included stylist Law Roach, model Ashley Graham and Paper magazine’s Creative Consultant Drew Elliot. While Rita did fairly well in the role, especially considering the enormous shoes she had to fill, she will not be returning as host for season 24. Executive producer of America’s Next Top Model, Ken Mok addressed Tyra’s unexpected decision to return after just a short, 1-season absence. Ken told the press, “Tyra has always been the heart and soul of the franchise and her absence was deeply felt by our fiercely loyal fans who missed their Queen of the Smize. We’d like to thank Rita Ora for being a great partner and total pro. She infused this new iteration of ANTM with passion and creativity, and we wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.” Although Tyra has officially stolen back the ANTM spotlight from Rita, there is no bad blood between the two beauties. Following the announcement on Thursday, Tyra and Rita exchanged some kind words over Twitter. Tyra posted, “Mizz [Rita Ora], you exemplify Business Boss Brand to the fullest! Thank you for all the amazingness you brought to ANTM,” in which Rita replied, “Thank you, Tyra! Was such an honor and pleasure being on your show. Everyone welcome Tyra back!!” Rita & Tyra, Twitter posts: https://twitter.com/tyrabanks/status/842497262802554881 https://twitter.com/RitaOra/status/842501937664729088 At this point, it has not been revealed who will be joining Tyra on the judging panel for season 24. Stay tuned for more ANTM updates! While she may be doing a lot better and is [somewhat] back in the spotlight these days, former Disney starlet Selena Gomez is definitely not looking to be wrapped up in the craziness of Hollywood for the long haul. In the latest issue of Vogue magazine, Selena talked candidly about what her late-2016 stay in rehab was like, as well as her desperate desire to live a more normal life. The Spring Breakers actress said in her interview with the publication, “You have no idea how incredible it felt to just be with six girls [in the rehabilitation program]. Real people who couldn’t give two s*** about who I was, who were fighting for their lives. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but it was the best thing I’ve done.” Selena also went on to address her toned down presence on social media, as she explained, “as soon as I became the most followed person on Instagram, I sort of freaked out. It had become so consuming to me. It’s what I woke up to and went to sleep to. I was an addict, and it felt like I was seeing things I didn’t want to see, like it was putting things in my head that I didn’t want to care about. I always end up feeling like s*** when I look at Instagram. Which is why I’m kind of under the radar, ghosting it a bit.” In terms of maintaining her star status, Selena admitted that she is looking forward to the day she is no longer one of the most famous celebs in the world. Selena candidly told the magazine, “I just really can’t wait for people to forget about me.”

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