#survivor as in the reality tv series just to be clear

[eggbagelz]

Can you imagine how fucking funny a terror survivor au would be

[rudystree]

Here's the thing!

Fandoms are always childish and entitled with a bunch of people that act like brats when it comes to plot points and actors. Obx is no different which is very evident with the outburst after the finale.

Fans needs to learn that things they dislike or disagree with doesn't equally unprofessionalism.

Fandoms are an echo chamber though and people lose perspective and grip on reality. It's very obvious when it comes to all the hate Rudy receives. It's completely unfair and unfounded but fans encourage eachother and legitimates it.

It's pathetic and childish if you ask me.

I do think it was always the plan that JJ would die. I don't think it was just because Rudy wanted to quit but I think it happened now because Rudy didn't want to continue on. And honest good for him. Outer banks has become significantly worse and I think less is more when it comes to this kind of tv shows. I understand people are sad and disappointed with him leaving but it's not stanger or surprising. Many main actors leave after a few seasons when they want to move one. I doesn't matter if its just one more season and he doesn't own it to anyone, regardless what fans think. He doesn't own the fans or the series anything beyond the contract and he didn't renew.

I can't comprehend how people don't understand that. I think the drama bts definitely influenced his decision but in all honesty leaving now rather than later was better for him anyway. It's not gonna be any better next season plot wise. I find outer banks wildly entertaining but the quality is not the same aa it was.

As for JJ they did him dirty by making him act way too reckless and stupid in the beginning of part 1. But I've seen people suggest they should have let him go on a surfing trip alone or travel the world (instead of killing him) and that's not only out of character but extremely lazy in my opinion. I don't mind the death at all I prefer the angst and sadness but the arc in part 1 especially felt lazy.

Killing him his heart breaking and I'm not super fond of them expressing clear depression and even suicidal tendencies only to kill him but it was the best option imo. It feels alot more honorable then let JJ go on a trip.

His death was sad and his arch was sad but I feel like that was always his destiny (I felt like it from season 1) he's my favourite character but I'm alot happier with him dying than going on a stupid trip.

That being said I wish the scene was different with all them present and not as quick. I wanted pope and john b there but no these writters think romance is more interesting and worth it than friendship despite the core of outer banks.

Finally Rudy killed part 2. He gave it his all in every scene and showed how much dedication he has. I love him and I think he can go so far.

I think jj and kiara could have been handled a bit better from all parts but I always prefered them as friends and wish the only coulpe was Sarah and John B. Maybe that's why i don't care about the lack of jijara and the drama off screen.

They shouldn't have been canon on the first place.

Thank you for being a sane voice. I've blocked at least 10 accounts already!

Perfectly said. Thank YOU for being a sane voice! God knows this fandom needs it.

Rudy did kill it. And as you say, he doesn’t owe anyone anything beyond his contractual obligations which he went above and beyond to fulfil.

The only thing I disagree with is that his death (or rather the way they executed it) was the best option. I understand the writers had a tough call to make in last-minute decisions. But I feel like they couldn’t have given him a worse ending. I always felt his arc was supposed to be one of healing - healing from his trauma, finding family in his friends, learning to be more responsible, more stable, more accepting of love. For many domestic abuse survivors and troubled teens, JJ was a beacon of hope for a better future. I hate the “it was destiny, he was doomed anyway” narrative, even if that’s exactly what the writers argue. They spend his last episodes completely destroying his sense of identity, making him spiral, breaking the peace with his friends, making him depressed/suicidal, and then quickly killing him for no reason. They say they want to convey messages of “never give up!” but JJ never gave up and he still got murdered at the hands of his only real family member. And you’re right — they wanted to sell that dramatic Jiara goodbye instead of giving some closure for the other Pogues who only reunited with him after it was already too late. But not even Jiara fans are happy about it, because how tf did she never even kiss him? How the fuck did she just stand there while her love had a knife stuck in his abdomen? Where the hell is season 1 Kiara? Because that wasn’t her. I don’t know, I’m still angry. Probably always will be.

[maxislvt]

Paradise From Hell

Summary: One grave mistake from your beloved manager lands you on one of the most notorious dating shows on the planet. You try your best to huff and puff your way through the season you'll be trapped in the house, but it seems fate had other plans for you. Stuck between your ex and a potential lover, will you survive?

Warning: Shitty girlfriends, awkward boyfriends, discussion of break ups, drama, not much this chapter tbh.

A/N: Sorry to all my Carol lovers, because she is not too kind in this but it's okay because every story needs an antagonist to some extent. Also major props to @cultofelizabetholsen for sending me this wonderful request and kicking off this amazing series!! i had so much fun writing this and can't wait to continue it :) hahah no I totally didn't repost this because I forgot the tags teehee

Series Masterlist

"No, absolutely not. I just won't do it!"

Your manager sighed and put the contract back in the crisp manila folder. "You're overreacting! It's just one season of a dating show. Plus, after you-know-who, your romantic life needs a little kick!"

Your manager meant the world to you. Keeping you booked, busy, and well paid. She was a sweet woman, but someday she had the dumbest ideas on the planet. Signing you up for a dating show without warning because you refused to go out and get a partner — was definitely one of her worst. By no means were you entirely above the world of reality television, but you would like to think you were better than being on some dating show. Big Brother, Master Chef, hell, even Survivor Island wasn't off the table for you! But some random start-up dating show? Not.

"No way! Burn it, rip it, and throw it in the trash can, whatever it takes to get me off the call list," You demanded. It sounded bitchy for your standards, but you couldn't believe your manager would betray you like that. "If you want me to go back to reality tv, that's fine! I'll do masked singers again — but I'm not going on a dating show." Before your frustration turned to genuinely ugly anger, you stopped yourself. You turned away from your beloved manager and gave yourself time to calm down. "I'm sorry, that was very rude."

"That's quite alright. We all have our moments."

You nodded slowly before speaking in a much calmer tone. "Thank you, but can you please terminate the contract? I'm really not up for this kinda thing." The stiffness of your spine decreased as you watched your manager flip through the pamphlet. However, the uneasy look on their face brought it right back. "What's wrong?"

"The termination period ended three weeks ago…and you're supposed to be ready to go by the middle of next month," Your manager mumbled while slowly closing the packet. "...I'm so terribly sorry."

"I'm going for a very long walk."

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Three hellish layovers, two weird introduction videos, and now one of the lamest parties you had ever been to before. You weren’t much of a party animal to start, but a half-assed masquerade by a pool wasn’t ideal for anyone. However, you refused to sour the mood with bitterness, so you decided it would be best to settle down at the bar. One copper mug filled with Moscow Mule because only the best alcohol could prepare you for the hell you were about to face.

“That’s a strong drink for a lady like yourself,” An oddly posh voice said from your left.

You turned your head and looked up. There wasn’t much that stood out about the man in front of you. That was mainly because of the mask that covered his facial features, but the trunks clinging to his waist were rather plain compared to everyone else’s. “Well, a strong drink to combat some strong feelings,” You said before taking another sip of your drink. The longer you looked at his mask, the bigger your impulsive urges got. “Did they let you pick this mask?” Without even thinking, you flicked at the elongated nose and giggled.

The man cleared his throat and stood up straight. “Um, no. I was the last one here. This was all they had left.” The shyness radiated off him in waves. You almost felt bad for just being the cause of it. “I came over because you seemed a bit—”

“Alright, party people, gather around!”

Before your masked friend could finish his sentence, your lovely show host arrived.

You turned your head and any hope left of having a peaceful time on the show immediately disappeared. “Loki,” You said through gritted teeth. Of course, it was him. Why would any random show host have access directly to your manager? Everything made sense. The shady contract, the lack of information on your castmates, and even the shitty masquerade party. “Is this secretly the first season of another show you’re hosting, or is this exactly what I think it is?” You already knew the answer.

“It’s what you think it is,” He proclaimed before clapping his hands together. If his personality wasn’t so charming, you would hate him.

You drowned out the rest of his lovely introduction. You’d heard it a million times before. Ex on The Beach, Loki’s new reality TV show about finding new love or falling back into an old love. The show wasn’t awful. It was just extra drama you didn’t want in your life. True love couldn’t be found on some dramatic TV show for millions to watch for entertainment. Even then, the chances of seeing your ex were gut-wrenchingly terrifying. It was better to die alone than ever try finding a partner here. Death itself would be better than getting back with her.

“Alright, beautiful people! Mask off!”

You were the first to rip yours off, eager to get to the house claim and room you could hide in for the rest of the show. At least you wouldn’t have to share a room with someone else. Your eyes scanned over the people you’d be sharing a house with. Some of them you knew. Tony Stark: the playboy coming from old money and had a strange thing for cars. Thor Odinson: A heart of gold with the best intentions. Peter Quill: Calls himself Starlord, insists he didn’t steal from The Weekend, and is a bit of a try-hard. Monica Rambeau: A welcomed surprise for you, your best friend since preschool, and definitely the only person you would trust through the whole thing. “Moni!”

“Y/N/N!”

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

“Would you two like to explain how you guys met?”

You never expected to have your first confession this early in the show, but you were thankful it was with your best friend.

The smile on your face never faltered. “Of course, but I think most of the people watching us already know it.” Your body moved in sync with Monica’s as you mirrored the excited movement of her hands. “When we were in preschool, my mom had actually forgotten to bring some of my school supplies. Obviously, not having crayons is the biggest deal in the world because you’re stuck with the shitty community crayons.”

“Fortunately for somebody, my mom gave me a sixty-four pack of crayons with the sharpener.” Monica wrapped her arms around your shoulders as you hugged her. "We were kindergarten married and we almost have a kindergarten baby!"

"So, did you two get kindergarten divorced too?"

"Oh, yeah it was a mess," You replied and dramatically pushed Monica away from you. "Someone wasn't up for sharing their rainbow goldfish so, I called things off since she didn't care about me or my well-being!" A fit of laughter filled the studio as you and Monica continued to ramble on about your rocky kindergarten relationship. Then suddenly you straightened up and made a serious face. "We got back together a week later because she got me a stuffed zebra from the zoo."

"Our romance was actually incredibly toxic!"

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

After the ground rules and expectations were laid out, you were quick to enter the house. With Monica close by, you were less averse to the whole situation. Still not interested in romancing anyone, but calm enough to at least play nice. The abundance of groceries in the communal kitchen made that incredibly easy. While everyone else mulled over the potential list of exes and new partners, you decided to brush up on your culinary skills.

"I really hate to bother you, but I believe we talked at the party earlier."

Your ears wiggled as you struggled to recognize the voice behind you. "Ooh, yeah you're the guy with the long-nosed mask! Sorry about the flick, couldn't help it," You giggled before turning back to the dough ball in front. Having a conversation wasn't exactly on your radar but he seemed nice enough. "You're Vision, yeah? I thought your little introduction video was cute."

His face went red and he nervously fiddled with the buttons on his t-shirt. "Oh, um thank you. Felt a little uncomfortable reading so close to the ocean. They promised me it would be okay but it slipped out of my fingers and straight into the second the cameras cut off," He punctuated his sentence with an awkward laugh. It became less awkward once you began laughing with him. A joke didn't do much to deter his tense spirit, but he was intent on carrying on the conversation. Unfortunately for Vision, you'd caught the eye of nearly everyone else on the show and they weren't going to lose you to some bumbling book nerd.

"Oh, it appears we have a little chef on our hands," Natasha said as she leaned against the kitchen countertop. As if it was as easy as breathing, the woman stole your attention away from Vision. Mainly because it was that easy. A crooked smirk, smooth voice, and finger quickly heading for the bowl of brownie batter in between you two — you were hers in not even half the time. "Awe come on, just one dip?"

You shook your head and pulled the bowl further away from Natasha's excited fingers. "Absolutely not, other people have to eat these and I'm not letting your little jogger fingers ruin it for everyone else." Though you wanted to stay firm in your no, it seemed Natasha had puppy dog eyes far too strong for your heart and you conceded faster than you denied her. "Fine, find me some pretzels and chocolate chips and I'll let you lick the spoon!"

And just like that, Vision was pushed to the background and practically forced out of the kitchen. It was like that every day for a week. He'd approach and suddenly everyone in the house wanted to show you something. Tony rambled about his tech company. Natasha needed a cheerleader while she worked out. Quil spent hours showing off all the places he traveled. Monica seemed to be the worst of them all. The others clearly had romantic intentions, but Monica seemingly just didn't approve of him. She never said it in his presence, but it was clear as day. A week had gone by and he hardly even got one conversation in.

As if his luck couldn't get any worse, The first three exes arrived shortly after. Competing for you with the other housemates was hard enough, three more would be impossible.

The group made their way down to the shore and sat on the beach chairs laid out for them. Of course, you and Monica shared one and Thor was able to wiggle his way onto the tiny bit of space left over. Then there was a human brick wall between the two of you. As Loki blabbered on about love and rekindling old flames or making new ones, Vision found his eyes wandering to you.

"Well, let's give it up for our first ex, Steve Rogers!"

The group whistled and cheered as a beautiful blond man made his way out of the water. Everyone seemed rather pleased by the man in front of them. Well, everyone except Tony. "Back in the water Blondie, no one wants here!"

"I don't know, Stark, I definitely have to disagree with you on this one," Thor joked before nudging your side. "So, what caused you two to break up? I just need to know before I start making some moves."

Steve laughed just as boldly as Thor spoke. A perfect match. "Well, Tony just couldn't let go of his playboy habits. There's nothing wrong with it, but I just didn't want that for myself," He said calmly. Despite his attempts at being professional, he was clearly caught off guard by the staring. "I'm looking to give Tony a second chance but if he doesn't want it, I'm willing to move and find someone new!" Steve was cute, but your eyes were already wandering to the woman riding from the waters behind him.

"Lovely ex number two! Wanda Maximoff," Loki shouted excitedly as she gestured to what was easily the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen.

Her swimsuit was a bit more modest than what the other girls wore, but you were more than capable of apprenticing the view. The one-piece covered her stomach but her toned arms and plump thighs made your head spin. You didn't care how obvious your staring was, Wanda was hot and you needed to take all of it in as best you could. As if you weren't roped into her web of beauty and confidence already, she looked back at you. It felt like magic. Some mysterious force dragged your eyes all the way up Wanda's body until you locked eyes with her. It only took one look into those perfect emerald orbs for every defensive measure you put around your heart to absolutely crumble.

"Well, go on. Introduce yourself to your potential suitors!"

Wanda smiled. It was easily the prettiest smile you'd ever seen. Bunny-like teeth poked out at her bottom lip and slightly crookedness made it all the more endearing. "Well, I'm Wanda Maximoff and I'm Vision ex-"

"You pulled that?"

A fit of laughter broke out amongst the group but you were quick to shut it down. A swift elbow to Thor's side and coughed loud enough to signal everyone to lighten up. Your attention shifted back to Wanda. "So, um, what happened," Thor asked, still clearly in disbelief.

"She wanted to go see…," Vision mumbled the last bit of the confession and turned his head. Whatever he was trying to say must've been embarrassing. Vision blushed a lot around people, but you'd never seen him so red before in your life. "God, just tell them what happened. They've wounded my pride enough this past week," He grumbled.

Wanda shook her head. "We just weren't working out. He wasn't willing to cut it off officially but I just wasn't going to wait for him. When my other ex offered to show me her puppies, I just went over there without thinking." She laughed as she spoke. It was a wonder Vision had any chance with her in the first place, but she clearly over him at this point in her life. "I just wanna move on from here. If I meet someone, that's great. If I don't, then I just don't. No big deal." She shrugged and stepped to the side. Wanda had hardly spared Vision and glance. Her attention was on. Neither of you believed in love at first sight but there was something between the two of you.

"Who do you think is telling the truth," Monica whispered to you and Thor. It was more a yell and Vision definitely heard it, but not a single one of you was concerned about his feelings at the moment.

"I think it's the truth, but the sad truth," Thor said through a near obnoxious burst of laughter.

That something seemed to be one of your biggest mistakes, considering you recognized the dirty blonde hair before she even fully got out of the water. "No, go back in the water and drown! Right now, go away!" You carelessly flapped your arms before turning to bury your face into Monica's shoulder.

"Awe come on, we didn't end on that bad of a note. Did we?" Carol smiled at you and stretched her arms, as if she expected you to run up and hug her. She awkwardly let them fall when she realized you weren't budging from your seat. "Well, I'm Carol, but if you're my special someone — you can call me Vers!" She threw a wink your way but you simply returned it with an unimpressed furrow of your brows. "I'm hoping to get back with Y/N, but if that doesn't work out I'll accept getting some real closure."

You huffed out in response to that, but decided to not cause more of a scene.

"Well, I think we should give our exes some time to talk. The rest of you head back up to the house."

You shook your head and quickly stood up. "Nope, no need. I've got bread to put in the oven!" Before anyone could object, you hopped out of your seat and began the walk, well run in your case, up to the house. You could already hear Carol shouting after you as you walked back up. It didn't make any sense to you. Why would she agree to come back to you? She broke up with you. You weren't upset about that by any metric but that wasn't going to make living with her any easier.

Carol was quick to follow after you but you were intent on ignoring her. "Come on, baby. Don't be like that! What happened to 'me and Vers?' I just want that back." Her hand reached out to grab yours, her grip needlessly harsh. "Just gimme another chance, please? You love me," She said as she attempted to pull you closer. For years that was how she got you. Twisted your words and then threw them in your face. You'd be hopeless against it.

But you were a lot stronger than that now. You snatched your hand away and stepped away from her. "I loved you, Carol. As in at one point I used to really care about you, but I just don't anymore. Meaning I don't want anymore of that 'me and Vers' stuff. I just wanna be myself for now." Despite your bold words and attempt at sounding strong, you cracked. Carol was everything to you at one point and anger alone wouldn't be able to separate you two.

Carol tensed up, clearly confused by your sudden lack of affection toward her. For as long as she'd known you, you'd been nothing but a pushover. Just something waiting to be taken advantage of and used by other people. You should've been thankful she was trying to take you back. Better her than someone who didn't give a shit about you. "Okay, you're still upset. I get that. I'll be here until you're ready to come back to me," She said with pride that she had absolutely no reason to be holding.

To say Carol struck a nerve was an understatement. She'd struck your entire nervous system but you refused to give her the satisfaction. She didn't deserve one. You took a deep breath through your nostrils and turned around. "Have fun waiting," You whispered before making your way up to the house again.

Though you were strong enough to not blow up in Carol's face, that energy needed to be released somewhere. You wouldn't dare risk exploding at your roommate. Unfortunately, the only thing you were comfortable with harming at the moment was the unused pasta dough you'd saved in the fridge the night before. The poor ball was ruthlessly slammed and folded against the counter for what could've been hours until someone was bold enough to snap you out of your anger-fueled trance.

"I'd hate to step on your toes here, but I think you've kneaded the dough more than enough." It was Wanda. Her accent was foreign to your ears but the sound of it was almost enough to melt your stress away entirely.

You cleared your throat before your mind could wander any further. A sigh escaped your lips as you held the dough up above the counter only for it to snap in half almost immediately. "I promised everyone pasta for dinner tonight, but I guess we'll have to do takeout." You got ready to throw the ball in the trash only for Wanda to guide your hand back. Normally, you'd be averse to sudden touch — especially after the grip Carol subjected you to — but Wanda's was soft. It was like you were as fragile as porcelain.

Wanda gave you a soft smile and slowly grabbed the ball from your hand. "I'm sure we can do something with this. You worked hard on it, there's no need to throw it out!" She quickly wrapped the ball in plastic and gently placed it in the fridge. "I can help you with the sauce and stuff while you redo the pasta. Teamwork makes the dream work!"

You couldn't help but giggle at Wanda's excitement. "I think that'd be wonderful, thank you," You said, just barely controlling your excitement enough to speak. Carol never entertained your interest. Monica tried her very best, but she was a mess in the kitchen. You both agreed it was best to keep her as a mouth to feed. It seemed you and Wanda were about equal in the kitchen and it made cooking all the more enjoyable. The two of you talked about nearly everything you two could think of while dinner was being made. The pasta dough had to rest a bit before being rolled out and cut into noodles so you decided to help Wanda finish the sauce.

Wanda smiled as you stood next to her in front of the stove. "I'm sure you don't wanna talk about it, but what's the deal with you and blondie over there," She asked and gestured her head toward Carol's direction. Respecting privacy was important, potential suitor or not. However, Carol had a mean stare and it hadn't left the back of Wanda's head since she approached you. "I get the feeling you want nothing to do with her, but…"

You leaned your head back and caught a look at Carol's face before she could twist it into a fake smile. What must've been your fifth sigh in the last hour escaped your lips. "We broke up six months ago and I haven't talked to her since," You said whilst shaking your head. Though you hadn't talked to Carol since you broke up with her, her tactics remained the same. "Don't even worry about her, she's only puffing her chest out because she thinks you'll take me from her." You cringed at the mere thought of "belonging" to Carol in any capacity. You were almost embarrassed you even dated her in the first place.

Wanda's arm smoothly snaked around your waist and pulled you close until your hips were touching. "Well, I'll happily play bodyguard if it means keeping her away from you," She whispered into your ear. A bold move, but the results were effective. The height difference between you two wasn't much to write about, but it was an advantage she'd happily abuse if it meant seeing the adorable tint on your cheeks again. Wanda could almost feel the heat radiating off of your face. It heavily outweighed the intense glare your ex was giving her from behind. She leaned in closer to your face.

For a moment, you considered leaning in. You swore of finding any love in this forsaken house, but god Wanda was so pretty and it was only a few centimeters between the two of you. For a moment, you tilted your head forward and just took in Wanda's scent. The smell of vanilla and cocoa butter had lulled you even closer to her. You were so close to her. Just one push forward and that'd be it. However, it seemed the timer had other plans and completely ruined the moment. You cleared your throat and turned around to handle the pasta dough and cut off the timer. "I'm gonna, uh, work on this over here. Just watch the sauce for me."

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

A frustrated grumble left your throat as you made your way down the confession corner. You hadn't been called down nearly as much as the others, so you were a bit confused. You plopped down the stool and swiveled it from side to side before settling down. "Can we be quick, Mr.Strips is gonna get cold." You yawned and stretched your arms.

"We just wanted to do a check-up on how you feel."

You sighed. "I'm doing alright. I'm happy to see Monica moving on, I like baking a lot now, but I still don't think anyone has caught my eye just yet." You shrugged and got ready to stand up, but stopped when you noticed the monitor in front of you. A groan slipped through your tightened lips and you sat back down. "Is there anything else?"

"So how are you and Wanda getting along?"

Caught red-handed. After she arrived, you and Wanda hit it off almost immediately. If you weren't forcing Monica to cough up details about Darcy, you find yourself comfortably wrapped up in Wanda's arms. Maybe she found a book to read or a new recipe to try. Either way, you really enjoyed being around her. It wasn't like that, was it? You shook your head and straightened up. "Nothing is going on between us, but I really do like her company." Like was an understatement, but you weren't up for feeding into the situation given. Maybe Wanda didn't like you at all and secretly wanted Monica. Maybe she was just bored. There could've been a billion reasons why Wanda was hanging around you. You didn't want to get your hopes up.

You were much too tired to catch the knowing glance the cast behind the screen shared, but you were thankful they let you go quickly. If you had only heard what Wanda said about you moments earlier.

[hitchell-mope]

I’ve realised something

So I’m taking an MCU break after I’m finished with Eternals. I’m doing this because I’m a little bit fatigued from playing catch-up. And it just occurred to me. The MCU is playing catch-up too. Tv studios and regular people weren’t the only ones brought to a standstill by covid. The MCU is a business just like anything else. And just like any other business it’s got a quota to fill.

That’s why we’re being bombarded by film after show after film after show. They’re trying to get up to where they promised they’d be back in late 2019/early 2020 before the world was brought to a standstill.

People, mostly on [tumblr] are saying give it a rest. Disney’s evil. Kill the mouse. Etc etc. But again. They’re not the ones in the crunch because of an international crisis that brought everything in the world, including Hollywood, to a standstill are they?

On a separate note. People say that the MCU will ruin the x men. And I’m like. What is there to ruin? The evil geriatric holocaust survivor who became worse than the Nazis but was let off by the fans because they thought he was gay? Or the evil Smurf who left the brother who raised her paralysed on a Cuban beach to die during the missile crisis because he was squicked out when she walked around naked in front of him?Or the lame ass triangle they made between an immortal man born during the frontier era and a stable couple in their mid 20’s?

Nostalgia clouds their minds. Only once it’s cleared can they recognise the x men film franchise for the groundbreaking albeit insanely flawed series it actually was. Take it from me. I rewatched the movies last year. So I’m able to pinpoint the flaws while they’re relying on out of character fanfiction for their background information.

For instance. People complained that they turned Peter Maximoff into a frat boy bitch on wandavision, because he laughed at his Hex name of Bohner. When. In the x men movies he was a kleptomaniac who would ABSOLUTELY have laughed at his name if he could. But they’re too wrapped up in the lousy dadneto fics to accept reality.

I just hope that when they bring the x men on that they treat Xavier properly because the ending he got, exiled from his home and the school he created, his name erased from his legacy, stuck in france playing chess with the monster that paralysed thirty years ago, wasn’t it. They’re pretty good at treating they’re character right. Even the ones that hate Tony have a reason. It’s not just rich man bad

Long story short. Its two very different fandoms. With two very different problems. For two very different reasons. This isn’t a Disney’s evil rant. This is a reality is more complicated than what you believe rant. And to preempt any nutters. If the you give me any “Disney’s evil” shit in the notes. You’ll be automatically blocked

[unwrittenlibrary]

Sole Survivor -> I

[eighteen plus blog and this fic holding eventual eighteen plus scenes mean minors should not interact with this story]

summary -> your first week on the island. alliances are made, rewards are won and tribes fall apart before they can even come together. [bucky barnes x female!reader]

word count -> 4.5k

warnings -> reality tv, some cursing, survivor references (tribe, tribal council, idols) past steve rogers x reader, non-enhanced marvel characters, jeff probst (please don’t sue me) some steve slander (steve i love you i’m sorry it was just so easy to make you the sweetest person alive and therefore a target)

notes -> there are more in-depth notes at the end! just want to say this is all for fun & not meant to be a serious fic!! just some fluff & humor as a break to any serious fics out there that you may be reading!

series masterlist here.

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Chapter I 𓆉 OUTWIT -> NEXT

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Bucky isn’t sure how he ended up on reality TV.

That’s all he can think about as his hand grips the side of the speedboat and he glances around at his fellow contestants.

His first application to Survivor had been a dare; One of his friends back home had made a drunken joke that Bucky wouldn’t last a day and well- Obviously, Bucky can’t really take a joke.

How was he supposed to know he would actually be selected? How was he supposed to know he would be a fan favorite...villian? Saying yes to this season was a no-brainer.

He wants the million dollars. He came so, so close last time. Runner-up wasn’t good enough. 

He had been handed a dark, red buff long before they had even stepped foot on the boat. He had wrapped it around his wrist, just like everybody else on this boat with him. His eyes move around slowly as he studies his new tribe members. 

The bright red hair catches his eye first, Natasha Romanoff, was considered the original Black Widow; It’s no shock to Bucky that she had been considered a villain. Her starting point was aligning with the men on her tribe and helping pick who she wanted out. It worked for awhile, she had them under her thumb, until she got a little too abrasive and was voted off shortly after the merge.

Clint Barton who Bucky knew was notorious for promising on his kids then stabbing his allies in the back; In the final tribal he had laughed and said they gave him permission. Somehow he had won. Him and Natasha had worked together, but he had been unable to save her after the merge.

His eyes find Tony Stark next, an original player, meaning had had never played a game with idols or tricks. Tony had won it all on the third season after betraying his number one ally in the vote that decided who he brought to final two. Bucky didn’t need to ask why he was a villain, it was obvious.

Bright red lips catch Bucky’s eyes next as he checks out Darcy Lewis. Bucky wasn’t actually sure if he considered her a villain, but he can see how it played out that way. She had kept her immunity idol secret from her alliance members and had jumped ship when it became clear her alliance wouldn’t win the numbers. She made it all the way to final three after winning puzzle after puzzle in the immunity challenges, she was more impressive than villainous, but sometimes they just needed some people to fill the cast.

Loki was the king of snake gameplay, but even Bucky could admit it got him far. His ability to tell people exactly what they wanted to hear is what handed him the million dollar prize. Bucky wonders if they called Thor too, they had been on the last season, Blood versus Water together.

There’s Stephen Strange who was probably considered a villain for his dry commentary, blunt confessionals and inability to keep his thoughts to himself. He was from the first few seasons too and he had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but Bucky found his blunt delivery humorous.

And then there’s you. You had originally appeared on Brains, Brawns and Beauty. Unshockingly sorted onto the Beauty tribe and gravely underestimated. Bucky thought you were definitely the prettiest he’d seen in that season and early on he could tell you would be a power player. No matter how many confessionals men did saying your charm wouldn’t work, they all fell for it, and you picked them off. Your tribe only lost one immunity challenge and you had controlled who had gone home. 

Steve Rogers had fallen in love with you that season and you had taken a page from Natasha’s book. When the merge had happened, you aligned quickly with the few girls left from the other two tribes. Then knocked the men out one by one. Steve, poor Steve, so kind hearted and trusting and it had been his downfall. When you had sobbed to him about the last three girls whispering about voting you out, he had given up his earned individual immunity. The four of you girls had laughed as you wrote his name down and Steve went onto the jury. 

That was the moment that coined you one of the most notorious, and your unanimous win later had marked you down in history as one of the best to ever play.

Call Bucky an idiot, but you’re who he wants to work with. He needs to work with people who will make it to the end with him. His original season he had come off too cocky to win. He had made the mistake of taking who he thought was a floater, but apparently had built friendships with everyone, and lost in a three to six vote. Bringing someone who knew how to play the game like him gave him a far better chance at winning. 

The heroes tribe are already on their blue mat when the villains disembark and make their way onto the beach. Bucky almost laughs when he sees Steve standing in the back, tall and broad as ever. Of course the fans loved Steve. Sweet, loyal Steve. He nudges your calf with his foot and you spin to look at him in surprise.

“Your lover is here.” He nods over to the mat, where Steve is staring straight ahead at Jeff Probst. You laugh with your head thrown back like it’s genuinely one of the funniest things you’ve heard.

“Didn’t you hear? It was a nasty divorce.” You smile before stopping in front of Bucky on the mat. Bucky snorts and drops his bag by his feet as Jeff calls for everyone’s attention.

“We’ve been doing Survivor for thirty seasons now. Fifteen years. Hundreds of people have played the game, yet the sixteen of you have made your mark as either hero or villain.” His eyes scan over the group before landing on Bucky.

“Bucky. You played this game six years ago. Season 18. How does it feel that even though it’s been that long, you’re still considered one of the most well known villains?”

“I’m a villain?” Bucky asks sarcastically as he looks around the beach. The crowd laughs and you look up at him with amused eyes. Bucky tries to ignore the flutter in his heart, damn you were good. “It’s all in the perspective, Jeff.”

Jeff laughs and nods before his attention shifts to Loki standing a few people away from you. “Loki, you’re our newest villain. Coming out of last season, how does it feel to be here with all these iconic names? Intimidating?”

Loki laughs and nods. “I guess so, yeah. I’m just so happy to actually play with people who love and respect the game the same way I do!” He looks over the group in a far more calculating manner than friendly.

“And heroes! Peter, you’re our newest hero on the tribe. Coming off a win that you got through heart and loyalty.” Jeff explains, like everybody here didn’t already know how much of a blatantly good guy Peter Parker was. Three years ago when given the decision to choose between a floater and his ally who was an equally as strong competitor, he had chosen to bring Ned to the final two. It had won him a million dollars. “You intimidated at all? Or should they be?”

Peter looks around bashfully. “Yeah! No, I’m intimidated, you know? I’m not the only winner here. These are all some strong people, I definitely will have to work hard to stay.” He answers humbly.

Bucky resists the urge to roll his eyes at the answer. “Okay. Anybody think we got it wrong? That you’re on the wrong tribe?” Jeff asks and immediately half the villains raise their hands.

The heroes and Jeff laugh. “What did we do, Jeff?” You call out in a flirtatious tone. “What’d we do that was so bad?” Bucky can’t see your face, but he would bet his life that there’s a pout there.

“Come on, Y/N.” Jeff says your name incredulously. “You are definitely one of the best, but you single handedly led one of the greatest all female alliances in the history of this game and picked off who you wanted one by one.”

You turn your head to look and the heroes tribe and Bucky can see Steve, Sharon and Shuri, all from your season, watching you. Bucky isn’t sure who made the worst move, Steve giving up his immunity and sending you to final three or Shuri for bringing you to final two with her. Loyalty could be your downfall or saving grace in this game, Bucky’s learned, it just depends on your jury. “Steve!” Jeff calls out. “Y/N. Hero or villain?”

“Villain.” Steve answers quickly with a forced laugh. You shrug and turn to look at Jeff. “I outwitted him. Is that being a villain or playing the game of outwit, outplay, outlast?”

Jeff laughs. “Okay, guys. Do you want to get to your first challenge?” The group looks around at each other extremely confused. It was rare a challenge was played the first day on the island, normally tribes were sent to begin working on shelter before it got too dark.

It’s a physical game. There are eight lanes, each lane has one weighted bag buried in it. In pairs of two, each tribe would go out to the selected lane and dig. Whoever brought the bag back to their tribe won a point and it was first to four points to win.

After an hour, it’s tied, three to three and the only pair to have not gone twice is you and Natasha. You’re against Shuri and Carol, Bucky is a little nervous, but he thinks you two can win this. Shuri was known for her agility and Carol for her strength, but Bucky had faith in your ability to play dirty. “Go!” Jeff’s arms drop down and all four women are darting through the sand.

Bucky can’t stop his eyes from trailing over your body, knelt down in the sand as you quickly dig. You had stripped off your shorts and long sleeve now only in your bikini top and bottoms, the red buff wrapped around your wrist.

He knows why it had been so easy for the men of your beauty tribe to fall at your feet. The way your legs look in the sand and sun has him wanting to kneel for you. He just hopes you want to work with him too.

Natasha pulls the bag out. Carol dives for her legs and sends her face first to the ground. Shuri follows soon after and both of them are fighting with Natasha as you stand back.

Good. Bucky thinks. Let them tire themselves out, then you have the strength to get it away and get the point.

Shuri gets the bag in her hands and makes a mad dash down the lanes, but your arm wraps around her waist and yanks her back into your chest as your other hand moves to yank at the bag.

Natasha gets up and holds Carol back with two hands around the waist. “Push, Shuri! Push!” Steve screams out. Bucky rolls his eyes at the nonsensical advice.

“Sweep her feet out!” Bucky’s voice overpowers the rest of his tribe. Your eyes meet his briefly. “She’s tired! She’s burnt out. She won’t get up quick enough!”

Your hands grip at the bag tightly and you swipe a leg underneath Shuri’s feet. Her knees give out and the bag is easily yanked away from her weak grip.

“Yes!” Your tribe screams as you reach the mat and Jeff calls out. “Villains win first immunity!” Bucky’s hand lands on your lower back and you turn to look up at him happily. He hopes you can see the praise in his eyes because that performance? That’s why he wants to work with you.

                                               You - Villain Tribe

“Looking at my tribe, we’re pretty stacked. We’re good. Heroes don’t have a chance.” You throw your head back in a laugh. “Is it awful I’m excited to take a million dollars away from Steve again?”

                                       Steve Rogers - Hero Tribe

“It uh- It sucks to lose. I hate losing. It sucks even more that we lost to the villains. I don’t want to vote any of our people out yet, we all deserve to be here. It just sucks.”

Day Two

You had underestimated how tense camp would be with men who had been used to leading their tribes in the past. Tony wanted to build shelter on flat land and Bucky thought sturdy trees for a sturdy base was more important.

Bucky was right, of course. You knew he was in construction, you had watched his season, and had seen the impressive shelter he had helped build. Tony just couldn’t get over himself, but that was no shock. You would use his pride as a chance to move forward in this game.

“They’re just being idiots.” You say softly as you and Bucky try to start a fire. Nothing is really working and the sun will set soon, defeat settles between you two. “Don’t let them get to you.”

You eye his metal arm. It had been what made him a favorite early on, way before he even got his villain marker. His story of a car crash that had resulted in the lost of his left arm and a generous doctor that had worked to give him this new age prosthetic.

“‘M not.” He mutters angrily as the smoke blows out and chance at a fire slips further and further away. “Just… fuck… Just annoyed at myself for not being able to get this.”

You look over your shoulder. “And at the fact that we’ll be sleeping in a shit hole tonight.” You shake your head. Bucky snorts and nods before falling onto his back and dropping the kindle that he had been attempting to light on fire.

Your eyes trail over his abdomen, put on display by his shirt that has ridden up in his new position. You bite down on your lip as your eyes trail over his thighs before you remember that the camera men are only a few feet away and caught every second of your staring.

You clear your throat and move to sit next to him. “I think we’d work well together.” You say just above a whisper. You glance over your shoulder again, but the rest of the tribe is too busy arguing over the shelter.

Bucky looks up at you hesitantly. “Yeah?” He asks just as softly. “Not gonna break my heart right?” He gives you a teasing smile that makes your breath catch.

You shrug and stand up, offering a hand to him. “No promises. I can’t stop you from falling in love with me.” You giggle, partly for the show of it but also because Bucky’s hand is huge in yours and makes your stomach flip.

He laughs and the two of you turn back and begin walking towards the shelter. Right before you reach it and have to go your separate ways, Bucky taps your back. “I think we would too.”

                                           You - Villain Tribe

“Getting my claws on Bucky first is the best thing for my game. He’ll be loyal to me longer than anybody else.” You smile. “And Bucky is the best guy here. Tony may be an OG but he played like thirteen years ago. Strange is kind of cold. Clint and Natasha played together, he’ll be loyal to her before me. And Loki plays a game too similar to mine.” You shrug like it’s a no brainer.

                                    Bucky Barnes - Villain Tribe

“I came to win this time, okay? No more aligning with underdogs. No more just physicality getting me to the end. I need strategy and she’s the best strategist to ever play this game.” Bucky smirks. “Just ask Steve Rogers.”

Day Three

It’s pouring rain by the time both tribes get to the challenge. Bucky had been right, of course he had. The shelter was weak and the rain was destroying it. It would need to be rebuilt when you returned to camp and he could only hope the rain stops long enough to allow him to build a real shelter.

“Heroes will be with me at tribal council.” Jeff explains. “So, today, you are playing for reward. Wanna see what you’re playing for?”

The entire tribe is huddled together in an attempt to keep warm as Jeff explains the challenge and reward. He lifts a cover to reveal a tarp, blankets, pillows and flint. Bucky almost groans at the sight. They needed this win. “I’ll give you a minute to strategize.” Jeff waves them off.

It’s almost every type of challenge in one. Physical, logical and strategical. Six members would build a boat from the pieces given then sail out to retrieve all the puzzle pieces from where they were clipped on buoys. Then bring them back to the remaining two members who would work on the puzzle. First to solve it wins.

“Darcy and I can work on the puzzle.” You say quickly with Darcy nodding along. Bucky and the rest of the tribe agree and get to their starting places.

It’s a crazy adrenaline rush when Jeff yells for everyone to go. “Heroes take an early lead!” Jeff narrates as they push their boat out onto the water. Bucky can feel his tribemates settle in defeat.

“Let’s fucking go!” He urges, forcing the last piece of the boat into place. He and Clint push the boat out before climbing in beside the rest of the villains. Bucky tries to drown out Jeff’s commentary, but it’s hard when every few seconds he’s pointing out the major lead the heroes are creating. ���Nobody panic. They’ve got Steve on the puzzle.”

That gets a small, tense laugh out of the group as the heroes boat reaches shore again and the villains remain collecting puzzle pieces.

Hope fizzles in Bucky’s chest when he hears your’s and Darcy’s cheers and the arguing of Steve and Carol, both placed on puzzle and both having different tactics.

“The villains are coming from behind!” Jeff says in an impressed tone as they finally push their boat to shore. “The heroes just can’t figure out this puzzle and are losing their huge lead.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Shuri calls out annoyed from the sidelines as Bucky hands off the bag of puzzle pieces to you. You dump them out and you and Darcy immediately start to spread them out to look.

“Wow! Heroes just cannot get this puzzle figured out!” Jeff shakes his head. Steve and Carol continue to argue and yank pieces away from one another. “Villains have made a remarkable comeback!” You and Darcy seem to be communicating amazingly and pieces just fall into place. 

“Jeff! Jeff!” You scream out excitedly as Darcy stuffs the last piece into place and you two step back. Jeff looks at the puzzle for a moment before throwing his arms up. “Villains win reward!”

Everybody screams in excitement and Bucky immediately turns to you. “Fuck!” He says excitedly as you jump up, legs wrapping around his waist. He wraps an arm under your thighs and tries hard to ignore how good they feel wrapped around him. “Darcy!” He waves her over into a half hug. “Puzzle queens! Puzzle queens!” He cheers, the tribe following in suit.

They’re allowed to celebrate for a few more seconds as the heroes groan until producers force them back onto their designated mats. “Villains. Take your tarp and flint, pillows and blankets will be delivered once the rain stops.” Everybody rushes forward as you take the tarp and flint into your hands.

“Heroes I got nothing for you. Except your trip to tribal right now.” Bucky glances over his shoulder as the heroes stare at Jeff in shock. “Yep! You lost immunity on day one and have had two days to discuss, grab your stuff and follow me.”

Bucky and you laugh with each other as you make your way back to camp.

                                            Shuri - Hero Tribe

“I’m just so… I told them to put me on the puzzle. Put me! Who won three puzzle challenges her season? I’m just so angry. We had such a good lead and we lost it because nobody wanted to listen to each other and everybody wanted to be a leader. Now somebody who deserves to be here has to go home while the villains live lavishly.”

Day Five

Your tribe wins reward again.

After the shocking reveal of Carol being voted out at the first tribal council, villains are perplexed. Carol had been strong, furthest from being the weakest link who was usually voted off first.

You know that’s what being on the wrong side of the numbers will get you.

This time it’s fishing gear. It sends a morale boost throughout the tribe. You grin as you watch Bucky reluctantly walk ahead with Tony.

Tony had latched onto Bucky after Bucky had helped create a better shelter. And once they had secured the tarp and loaded in the blankets and pillows, it was like a five star resort to the already tired and hungry tribe.

You can see Natasha fall in line with you in your peripheral vision and try to hide your smirk. “You’re good.” She murmurs.

You look straight ahead and shrug. “What makes you say that?”

“You and Bucky almost never go off together. Barely talk outside of groups at camp. Really only interact during challenges.” She says quietly. The group is far ahead and most likely couldn't hear if you spoke in normal tones, but you appreciate her caution. “He’s wrapped around your finger though.”

You almost stop, but refuse to let her see you stumble. She was right, you and Bucky were exceedingly cautious when it came to associating with each other at camp. “You think so? He has a crush?” You ask softly. “He’s cute, right? Not too bad.” You feign ignorance.

Natasha smirks. “Yeah.” Her hand wraps around your arm and pulls you to a stop with her. “Listen. It’s Tony and Strange on one side. You and Bucky on the other. We’ve been winning, so nobody is going to admit their alliances, but I’d rather be prepared for our first loss.”

You nod. “What are you saying?” You knew Tony and Stephen would team up. They were both considered original survivors, coming out of the first few seasons and still working on understanding this new version of the game.

“Clint and I can be numbers.” She says steadily. You lick your lips. Clint and Natasha had done Micronesia together. He had been the only one to not write her name down when she was eliminated. She had voted for him to win. It’s not a surprise they had fallen into working together again. “We protect each other. Final Four, after that we’re on our own.”

“I’ll have to speak with Bucky.” You begin to walk again. “But that sounds like a good deal to me.” You give her a small smile.

                               Natasha Romanoff - Villain Tribe

“I’m not an idiot. I know Y/N plays this game loyal to herself only. But I’m playing a strategic game. Clint and I make it to the merge with her numbers then we can flip of we need to.”

                                           You - Villain Tribe

“Final four?” You scoff. “Please. Two person alliance versus two person alliance in the final four? I’m not trying to draw rocks. Four people is good and then we’ll make the merge and I’ll work my magic.”

“I’m gonna get some firewood.” Your foot knocks against Bucky’s ankle. When he looks up from his spot on the ground, you subtly nod your head in the direction of the jungle. 

“I can help. It’s getting dark, better two than one.” He stands up. Nobody acknowledges your exit but Nat, who smirks at you before looking back at the rice cooking over the fire.

You two walk in silence, making sure to be out of earshot before stopping to talk quickly. “Natasha and Clint want to work with us. Final four.”

Bucky looks over his shoulder in the direction of camp before looking back at you. “We can promise them the merge. Final four with a two person alliance as solid as their’s is suicide.”

You look up at Bucky and laugh. Did he think you were dumb? “I know that.” You say slowly. “We should just agree to the final four then get rid of them after the merge.”

Bucky huffs out a breath. “That’s smart, but how do you know we won’t be turned on if we vote them out? How do you know Darcy and Loki aren’t already four with Strange and Tony?” His nerves are reasonable, but they make you want to laugh.

You shake your head instead staring up at him with reassuring eyes. “They won’t be. I’ve talked with Darcy a little bit. Plus, Loki works the swing vote angle as long as he can. You watched him last season, it’s how he made it so far.” 

“Okay.” Bucky agrees slowly. “So, we work with Clint and Natasha and work on getting Loki as a swing vote? What if they turn on us? These people’s word means jack.” Bucky’s arm shifts and your eyes immediately trail over it curiously. Did it do that when he was nervous? Was it normal?

“Don’t worry.” You place a gentle hand on his arm, you wondered how the metal didn’t heat in the sun the same way a metal slide would. Questions for a later time. “There are hidden immunity idols, Buck. We just have to find them.”

You walk past him then, picking wood up as you go. The cameras stay on Bucky, who you can feel staring after you. 

Men were so easy.

                                     Bucky Barnes - Villain Tribe

“She’s… She’s got it all mapped out. To the end. She’s not playing this bullshit tribe first, individual later game. She’s here to win. It’s hot.” He blushes before his eyes widen in realization. “I could win this.”

Day Six

The immunity challenge is grueling. Large crates in the tribe’s color have to be rolled from one end of the field to the other by two people. Six crates in total and Jeff had evened the teams out so each tribe only had six people playing, meaning each pair would go out twice no matter what.

Tony and Darcy had opted to sit out, and each pair had to go out twice. Bucky knew this would kill everyone, it had looked downright brutal long before Jeff shouted Go.

Bucky can be the first to admit maybe the team didn’t strategize correctly when choosing pairs. While he and Loki were able to bring the first crate back before the heroes, Clint and Stephen slow the group down. Once the heroes build momentum, they’ve got the lead. You and Natasha struggle to catch up.

By the sixth crate, everybody is downright exhausted. Bucky can’t even comprehend how the heroes had gotten through all six crates so fast.

“Villains start your puzzle.” Jeff calls out. Bucky thinks this is worse than the running. These crates are almost as tall as he is and definitely weighed damn near close too.

Setting the first two in place would be fine, the last four? Pure hell. They had to be lifted into place and Bucky wasn’t sure his tribe could do it. Not when Steve was already lifting crates up for the heroes and sticking them in place like it was nothing.

“Heroes with a huge lead!” Jeff narrates excitedly from the sidelines. “Can the villains catch up?” 

“Fuck this.” Bucky mutters taking a step back. His back hits something soft - you. You nails trail up his spine and he shivers before turning to look down at you. “That piece then that piece?” You point out and Bucky turns to look.

Loki and Clint have the first piece in place. Natasha and Strange are pushing the second. Two pieces have to be lifted next and you seem to have cracked the code.

“You’re so smart.” He punches your shoulder affectionately before yelling out. He starts calling out directions and suddenly everything seems to have fallen into place. The villains tribe is quiet and works together easily while the heroes fall apart, again. 

“Villains win immunity!” Jeff calls out again and the heroes fall into dismay. Yelling and arguing with one another even more. “That means the heroes will once again see me at tribal council. I’ll give you the afternoon to discuss, head on out.” 

Bucky carries the immunity trophy back to camp with a bright smile. These first few days couldn’t have gone any better. A winning streak, set alliance, and final two plan?

He was winning this time. No doubt about it.

                                     Peter Parker - Hero Tribe 

“It just sucks because… because now they’re talking about sending Steve home instead of like - Sharon. She’s smart, but she’s just not the strongest person here and we obviously need a stronger tribe.” 

                                     Steve Rogers - Hero Tribe 

“A line was drawn in the sand last tribal. Scott, Wanda and I on one side. Shuri, Peter, Sharon and Thor on the other. Now it’s just who they want to go home and I hope it’s not me.” 

                                       Thor Odinson - Hero Tribe 

“There’s talk of Steve going home, but I… I don’t know if that’s what will be best for us. We need our strong players and he’s strong! I’m gonna talk to them and see what I can do. We just… We just can’t lose strong people. We’ll get our asses handed to us.”

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

notes // you can probably tell, but until the merge, you won’t get inside on the heroes tribe. the focus of this is bucky & reader on their tribe. the confessionals are really you’re only hint to anybody else’s train of thought! i’m excited to explore this, it’s really just for fun & not meant to be a super serious fic. a break from harsh angst and all that! i hope you enjoy it, even just a little! the next part will have more to it & it will get more interesting! this is meant as an introduction, a season premiere if you will. :))

& if you’ve watched the real heroes vs villains season you’ll notice a lot of this follows after that set up, like the challenges and eliminations, but i’ve written it around these characters and personalities!

my writing is free & will remain free! but if you have the resources and enjoyed it, consider donating to my ko-fi :) & if that’s not possible consider reblogging or leaving comments! spreading my work or letting me know you enjoyed it means the world to me & lets me know i’m not shouting into the void!

[exit-path]

Is anyone else really hyped for The Power of Two?

This is the intro to The Power of Two, where it appears in the series’ first video at 16:06. And it’s incredible! The animation is very dynamic and high-quality. The audio is top-notch. Every character in the show is shown.

The first video of The Power of Two, or “TPOT”, was released in January 2021. In just four days, it had 1.5M views.

[Image Description: a screenshot of TPOT Episode 1: “You Know Those Buttons Don’t Do Anything, Right?” The video was uploaded 4 days ago and has 1.5M views.]

So that raises the question: if the animation in the intro sequence is so good, and the video got so popular so quickly, then what is TPOT?

TPOT is the sixth installment of the YouTube show called “Battle For Dream Island”. The show has been running for eleven years now, and it’s still going.

[Image Description: a collection of all the intro sequences from each of the seasons of BFDI. The seasons in chronological order are BFDI, BFDIA, IDFB, BFB (twice), and now TPOT.

(Note: the “4th” and “5th” seasons both called “BFB” are technically the same season, but it’s easier to visualize the changes in video production when it’s in this format.)]

The show was created by the Huang twins: Cary and Michael Huang. This show has followed them for most of their lives! And in that time, the quality of Battle for Dream Island, or “BFDI”, has grown with them.

[Image Description: a collection of scenes from various BFDI episodes over the years. Notice how all the scenes have Pencil or Match in them, and how changes in art style between seasons are evident in their design.]

Cary and Michael came up with the idea of BFDI when they were just twelve years old. It was based off reality TV shows like Survivor and Total Drama Island.

However, BFDI was also its own unique thing: it was completely Flash-animated, and it used fictional “object” characters rather than actual people. They voiced every character, wrote every storyboard, and animated every scene.

[Image Description: Cary and Michael Huang in 2009. They were in the 7th grade, and this was the year they brainstormed the idea for BFDI.]

The show was a success. They had pioneered the “object show”: a show in which inanimate object “characters” battle for a common prize, and get voted out if they lose. The last one standing gets the prize.

Cary and Michael would continue to develop the show alone until they went on hiatus in 2013. They wouldn’t touch the show again until three years later, when they returned to the show in 2016 with a new season.

In that time, the two of them had graduated high school. Cary got accepted to Stanford University. And on YouTube, a bunch of other high-quality object shows inspired by BFDI had sprung up in its place.

Having not lost their fanbase in their absence, in 2017 Cary and Michael teamed up with a new team of animators, voice actors and storyboard writers to reboot BFDI with a fourth season: BFB. They were back, and back for good.

[Image Description: Cary and Michael Huang in 2020. They’re now college students, in their first year for a master’s degree as of the time of this photo.]

Now to make sure episodes of BFB were being produced regularly, Cary and Michael took a more resigned role. They went from being head of show management to simply being voice actors. Their new team took the bulk of the work.

Their roles as voice actors weren’t a small task, however. Because they had voiced so many characters when the show was first created, they continued to voice those characters when they recurred in later seasons.

[Image Description: all of the characters and their respective voice actors in BFB 1. Note how although there are eleven voice actors, Cary and Michael voice over half the characters in the episode (31 of 59 total characters).]

(Don’t worry, I’m allowed to talk about all this information because they made it public.)

And now it becomes clear why the animation in the intro sequence to The Power of Two is so good. Cary and Michael came up with the idea of BFDI, but they didn’t animate the new intro. That was the work of the animators in the new animation team.

[Image Description: all of the animators for TPOT Episode 1. Notice how although there are fourteen of them, not a single one is Cary Huang or Michael Huang.

(Also, just a fun fact, many of the people on this list had created object shows themselves back in the time of BFDIA. Their animation skill had grown so much as a result that they were eventually hired to the animation team of BFB.)]

The change in management from Cary and Michael to the team was also made apparent with the new “host”, Two! Although Cary and Michael created the character “Two” back in 2008, Two would be voiced be neither of them.

The real voice actor of Two would be Niall Burns. Also known as “XanyLeaves”, he started his own object show called “Object Overload”, which lasted from 2012 to 2013.

His animation got so good as a result of working on the show that he was hired to the animation team for BFB, and later got the voice of Two in TPOT! (Fun fact, XanyLeaves also made an MCYT animation recently! You can watch it here.)

All this raises another, perhaps more confusing question: we know now that BFDI is a cultural phenomenon, but... why? What is the appeal of BFDI? What made it so popular back then, and what makes it still relevant today?

At some point, the whole point of “Dream Island” stopped mattering. You don’t watch to see these characters winning Dream Island, because they’re never gonna show it on-screen.

Instead, you watch these characters to see the infinitely complex interactions between them. Every character has their own personality, and how they face new tasks or obstacles are the subject of entire episodes.

[Image Description: the 22 contestants competing in BFDIA. At this point, Dream Island didn’t exist anymore, but they didn’t address it until Episode 4, because it was so fun to see them compete.]

Plus, there was the interactive feature. The losing team of an episode was put up for elimination, and you would go to the YouTube comment section to vote for who you wanted to get eliminated in the next episode!

I discovered BFDI in the summer of 2014. At the time, I was browsing htwins.net because it happened to be the website that hosted “The Scale of the Universe 2”, which Cary created. (I saw Vsauce promote it in a video of his.)

I clicked on the “More” box in the bottom right of the screen, and lo and behold, on the top right-hand side, there it was: a link to the playlist of all BFDI episodes.

[Image Description: the Htwins website back in 2014. (“htwins” stands for “Huang twins”.) At this point, Cary and Michael were high school seniors.

Notice how there’s “The Scale of the Universe 2” in the top left corner. Also, the second part of BFDIA 5 happens to be just below that, I just didn’t notice it at the time.]

I was in elementary school at the time, so I couldn’t stick around for long. But now I was a part of the BFDI community. We were in the midst of their hiatus, would they ever come back? It honestly seemed like they never would.

But they finally came back. All it took was three years. I witnessed the release of IDFB, then BFB, and now TPOT. I voted in a couple of videos. A whole new community of people jumped on board with the creation of BFB, and now here we are.

So now that you know what Battle for Dream Island is, do you like what you see? If so, then you can join the fandom!

BFDI has an active community on YouTube, but it also has an active fandom on Twitter! Even Tumblr has it’s own little community, with posts that get dozens of notes each.

[Image Description: artworks of TPOT that I snatched off Tumblr today. They’re pretty good :)

Art by oodl3doodl3s, maaaak, leafirnn, and littlbigplanet.]

The first episode of BFDI, posted 11 years ago, now has 60M views. BFB and TPOT are still going on, and the series will continue to evolve. So I recommend you be there when it happens.

You can watch Season 1 of BFDI here! (warning: I recommend you watch it on YouTube and not Tumblr. This is the entirety of Season 1 compressed into a single four-hour long video.)

And you can watch Season 2, known as BFDIA, here. (warning: same warning as the previous one. This is a single hour-and-a-half long video.)

[allwaswell16]

I am a sucker for reality TV au’s so my rec is the gif reality show au by deludedandlostcause and the new part 2 of a survivor au by lt2soon

OMG yes, the reality show au gif fic was such a gift to us! Thank you for these recs! The other one you sent looks so cool, too!

Reality Show AU: A Secret Story Gif Fanfic by @deludedandlostcause

Secret Story is a reality show that inherits the fundamental principles of Big Brother. The house guests are cut off from the rest of the world for 10 to 15 weeks in a house called “House of Secrets”.

They have to keep a secret while simultaneously trying to uncover each of their housemates’ own secrets. The secrets of the contestants are usually personal, but they can also be changed or imposed by the production.

Harry and Louis have been given a shared secret: “We are in a fake relationship.”

now that you're in it, what will you do? (keep your eyes open, they're coming for you) by starryharry / @lt2soon

Harry tells himself it’s fine. It’s clear that Louis knows what he’s doing and that he feels confident about it; he doesn’t seem nervous at all. If Harry could steal just a little bit of that from him, he would. He decides right then that he needs to pull it together and play for Louis.

Or the second part of the Survivor AU series; the game from Harry's point of view.

Series

Send me your favorite fic from 2021!

[thebladeblaster]

The Randomly Generated SMT Story

Shin Megami Tensei: The Devil Survivors

Summary: This story is the result of a roulette with various SMT characters from different series. The roulette decided their roles and various aspects of this story.

The concept chapter is chapter 1.

Chapter 2 Day 1:The Storm Has Just Begun

Note: The mechanics will be a mixture between Apocalypse and Devil Survivor. This is just to make everything simpler. For convenience characters will only summon one demon at a time. That’s how it ends up in most SMT manga anyway. They can have more than one demon in their stock, but can only summon one at once. With a large cast keeping track of them and their demons is tedious.

Sahori patted Flynn’s back as he sat hunched over on the bench. His face was a little paler than usual. His head was warm and throbbing. He crossed his arms laying his head in between them.

“Maybe it’s the heat?”, Isamu said.

“Your perfectly fine.”, Sahori replied, sweat dropping as she looked at Isamu’s full black get up in the Summer.

“Hey, what’s with him? Don’t tell me he’s freaking out again.”, Kanji questioned as he stopped before them.

“I’m just feeling a bit under the weather…”, Flynn replied.

“Then why did you come out, stupid?!”, Kanji questioned.

“Well he wasn’t sick at first. I think he may have finally worried himself sick.”, Isamu replied.

“My neck hurts…”, Flynn grumbled.

“Then sit up straight.”, Kanji replied.

“It still hurts…”, Flynn replied after he raised his head back up.

He quickly lowered his head again when he felt an onset of dizziness after raising his head up so suddenly.

“I think he needs a doctor.”, Sahori said.

Flynn raised his head again slowly as his vision started to clear. Above the heads of the three around him he saw a yellow number zero inside a red circle.

“What’s with these numbers anyway? Why won’t they go away?”, Flynn thought.

“I can’t…Naoya’s going to be here.”, Flynn said weakly.

He suddenly gasped as Kanji simply hoisted him over his head making Isamu chuckle and Sahori sweat drop.

“W-wait…!”, Flynn said as he struggled weakly in Kanji’s grip.

“He’s probably just scared of Sayoko.”, Isamu said, this made Flynn’s cheeks flush.

“Don’t worry. We can just call him and tell him you got sick.”, Sahori said.

His friends hauled him over to the Inaba Municipal hospital. As he was carried he found himself falling asleep.

In Flynn’s dreams

“Very soon things are going to change for us, Flynn!”, an obscured figure said.

His dream had TV-like static, any people in his dream were obscured by shadow. The voice felt deeply familiar to Flynn though he couldn’t decipher who it was. It bothered him greatly he felt like he should know this person.

“Yeah, I can’t wait! You’ll be the greatest samurai! I just know it!”, he replied.

“Hey, what about you? You think you’ll be great too right?”, the obscured figure replied.

“Hehe. Of course…”, he replied before looking to the side.

“Honestly, becoming one doesn’t matter that much to me. What matters is Issachar getting to live out his dream. As long as that happens I’ll be happy knowing he’ll be.”, Flynn thought.

In reality

“Issachar…?”, Flynn muttered in his sleep.

“It’s a car? What is he mumbling about?”, Kanji questioned, looking down at Flynn who was in a bed at the hospital.

Beads of sweat dripped from his brow as he rolled around in the bed. His cheeks were flushed red. The nurse took the unconscious young man’s temperature. She had black hair and grey eyes, a mole under her chin and wore a white dress shirt and a pink vest. She had a long white skirt and a white nurse hat.

“Oh! He’s hot!”, the nurse said, seeing his temperature.

This made Sahori blush, as she did the nurse quickly got an ice pack.

“I meant his temperature of course. Though he is pretty easy on the eyes.”, the nurse clarified.

“How did he suddenly get sick anyway? I haven’t seen him ever get sick.”, Kanji questioned.

“We don’t know either. He didn’t show any symptoms till he came into contact with some girl named Hikaru. Apparently she’s Naoya’s friend.”, Sahori explained as she looked at Flynn.

“Was she sick or something?”, Kanji questioned.

“She sure didn’t seem like it. She was real chipper.”, Isamu replied.

“What in the?!”, the nurse questioned, drawing their attention.

“What’s wrong?!”, Kanji questioned.

“His neck. Did something happen to it? There’s a massive lump in the back.”, the nurse questioned.

They gasped when they saw what the nurse was referring to. From the back of Flynn’s neck there was a bump almost pointed. It definitely wasn’t there before weirding them out.

“Is it a tumor?!”, Sahori questioned, worriedly.

“He didn’t have that yesterday! There was no bump!”, Isamu questioned, sweating nervously.

“I have never seen so much swelling in the neck before. This doesn’t happen overnight. Are you sure it wasn’t there yesterday?”, the nurse questioned.

“We’re sure…is he going to be alright?”, Sahori questioned.

“I’m going to get the doctor to give a diagnosis. I will be right back.”, the nurse said, before putting a ice pack behind Flynn’s neck and leaving.

Flynn gripped the sheets tightly in his sleep as he continued to roll around.

“Easy there. We need to make sure you keep that on.”, Isamu said as he put his hand on Flynn keeping him in place before putting the ice pack back on his head.

“Why…yewww…drammn…me…Walderr?”, Flynn muttered in his sleep, sounding like complete gibberish.

“Heh. Do you always talk in your sleep, senpai?”, Kanji laughed nervously, before looking more serious.

He couldn’t hide the worry rising up inside him. Thirty minutes passed and there was still no sign of her.

“Whhhayyyy…?”, Flynn continued to mutter in his sleep.

Sahori looked over to the door wondering what was taking the nurse so long. Flynn curled up as his heart rate increased. They noticed when his heart monitor started going wild.

“Oh crap! Oh crap! Where is she?!”, Isamu questioned, sweating buckets.

“Hey, senpai chill out!”, Kanji said as he put his hands on the side of the bed.

“Don’t yell that will make it worse.”, Sahori said.

They froze when they heard a bloodcurdling roar.

“That’s enough! Shut up you worthless humans! Don’t you see I’m trying to have a meal?”, a large purplish-red bird like creature said, which has arms with talons and a long tail, holding the body of a bloody patient.

The patient had several parts of him devoured. His right arm was completely gone and his brain was exposed. The teens all screamed in confusion and fear. Kanji grabbed a nearby chair and hit the mysterious demon over the head with it. The chair broke into pieces and the demon growled in pain from Kanji’s attack.

“H-holy shit!”, Kanji cursed as the monster got back up outstretching it’s wings.

“Now, you really pissed me off!”, the demon roared.

“Oh crap! Oh crap! What is that thing?! What are we going to do against that?!”, Isamu questioned, with his hands on his head.

“I just need something tougher to hit it with!”, Kanji said.

The monster lunged at teens who screamed before suddenly the monster was pierced by a shard of ice through the heart.

“Where did that come from?”, Sahori questioned, turning to the direction they came from.

They saw Flynn sitting up drenched in sweat holding his phone. Next to him was a cyan demon with two horse heads with unicorn horns. Its body was very muscular and it had hooves for hands. It stood upright and had a furry tail. It had small wings, a blond maine and gold markings edged into it.

“It’s been awhile since you’ve summoned me, Master.”, the new demon said, Flynn’s mouth was open in shock.

His friends looked equally shocked as the demon bowed to Flynn respectively.

With Dojima…

The detective sat at the agency downing some alcohol.

“I can’t believe this…”, Dojima said as he buried his head in his hands.

He had been entrusted to look after Yu and now he was dead. He looked over to his phone on the table still thinking of what to say to his parents. How could he possibly confront them again? There was also this indescribable pain in his heart. He believed it was because Yu’s death reminded him of his wife’s accident. It happened so suddenly then they were gone.

“I have to find out who did this. It’s the least I can do…”, Dojima thought.

He tried to make a call, but his phone had no reception. This greatly confused him since the internet in the agency should be fine. Soon after another member of the force walked in.

“It looks like there’s a blackout.”, the policeman said.

“That just figures…”, Dojima grumbled, rubbing his head.

He then thought about Nanako at home. He had her stay there since it had become too dangerous to go out. Without power she’s stuck in a house without air conditioning, or working appliances. His son was going to meet Naoya so he wasn’t there. This thought made Dojima get up.

“I have to go check up on my daughter.”, Dojima said.

Thankfully the others were very understanding and likely worried about their own children. He wasn’t the only one taking a brief trip home. As he walked down the street he heard what sounded like a chicken. But, he froze when he saw something bigger than a bird flying in the sky. It was a chicken demon like the ones earlier.

“I must’ve had too much to drink…”, Dojima grumbled, walking past the demon.

“Ooo! Fresh meat!”, the chicken demon said, before sending a ball of fire at Dojima.

“Move, stupid!”, someone said, before pushing Dojima out of the way.

Dojima paled when he saw the fireball burn away at the pole next to him. The same person who pushed him pulled out an automated rifle. He quickly shot down the chicken demon, killing it. The person was a young man with slicked back black hair and dark eyes. He wore a grey camo coat, a white shirt, long grey pants, and what looked like armor over his black boots. Slung around his arm was a sword with a red handle and in his other arm was another rifle.

“You're that guy. The one the kids call chicken little. How did you get hold of a gun?! You know that’s illegal right?”, Dojima questioned, and the man simply looked at him sideways.

“Are you serious? That doesn’t matter right now and can you guys stop calling me that stupid nickname! My name is Takeshi! We’re having a whole ass invasion!”, the man, Takeshi replied.

“What do you mean?”, Dojima questioned, nervously trying to reach for his gun but the man pointed his at Dojima making him stop.

“This is what I’ve been talking about. Monsters! And you all thought I was crazy. Well I was right, we have got to exterminate these bastards before they kill all of us.”, Takeshi replied.

“Alright…what do you know about these ‘monsters’?”, Dojima asked.

Back with Flynn…

“What the hell, senpai?! Why is this monster bowing to you?”, Kanji questioned.

Flynn looked down at his phone remembering a few minutes ago. All of the ruckus with the bird demon awoke him. He saw the demon and remembered the message Naoya gave him when he sent him the Demon Summoning Program. It said to use it to protect himself. Flynn grabbed his phone while Kanji hit the demon. He could see a list of demons in something called a Compedim. He could summon them with something called Macca. Right now he only had a little under 2000 so he summoned the cheapest one he could. He then summoned the horse demon that saved the others.

“Are you a demon?”, Flynn asked, the demon Maki the others gasp.

“Hmm…My name is Yoma Centaur. Strange, it seems you have amnesia. No, your power has reset too... Have you reincarnated again or…? No the program usually resets when a user reincarnates…”, the demon, Centaur said.

“Reincarnation?! What are you…what’s even going on anymore?!”, Isamu questioned.

“Flynn?”, Sahori questioned.

“I summoned Centaur using that app Naoya sent me. I didn’t think it really worked, but when that monster no demon appeared I tried it.”, Flynn explained.

“So, Naoya must’ve known this would happen.”, Sahori reasoned.

“It seems so. Why didn’t he warn anyone though?”, Kanji questioned.

“Who would believe him?”, Isamu questioned.

“I guess you're right. I wouldn’t believe what’s going on if I wasn't here myself.”, Kanji replied.

“It also seems your summoning program has been altered to a different version. Instead of three you can only summon one currently though you can have more in stock. Also less skill slots are available. You can see it by looking at your party.”, Centaur explained.

“I see…”, Flynn said as he looked at his party like Centaur advised.

Level 2

Yoma Centaur

Resistances

Gun

Fire

Weakness

Lightning

Force

Dark

Command Skills:

Bufu +1

Needle Shot +2

-

-

Passive Skills:

Knight Soul

-

-

Race Skill:

Tailwind

Flynn then noticed he was in the party and looked at his own skills. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he had some after watching Centaur.

Level 1

!ERROR! Flynn

Resistances

Null Light

Null Dark

Null ailments

Command Skills:

Bufu

Needle Shot

-

-

Passive Skills:

Enduring Soul

Almighty Pleroma

-

Race Skill:

!ERROR!

“It seems you have kept some of your abilities and mine have already been whispered to you after I defeated Gryphon. Talented as always.”, Centaur commented.

“Whispered?”, Flynn questioned.

“It means you can learn the skills of demons you own after watching them or being taught it. It can take awhile depending on the skill.”, Centaur explained.

“Woah, that means you can shoot ice too?!”, Kanji questioned.

“I guess…”, Flynn replied, before wincing as he grabbed the back of his neck.

Sahori pushed Flynn back down into the bed.

“You're still unwell.”, Sahori said.

“What’s happening to me? Oww…my neck. I can’t stay down while people are getting hurt!”, Flynn replied, he pushed himself up despite Sahori’s efforts.

Flynn got back into his feet pressing the ice pack against his neck.

“But Flynn…!”, Sahori said.

“We can’t stay here anyway. There could be more demons and victims like that guy.”, Kanji said, as he looked over to the poor devoured man who was already dead.

“This is crazy…h-here.”, Isamu said as he lent Flynn his shoulder.

“Thank you…I’m sorry about burdening you guys.”, Flynn said with a kind smile.

“As if! Even if your condition is bad because of you we have a demon to help us stop the other demons!”, Kanji said as he slammed his fists together.

He grabbed another chair to use against the demons.

“Alright let’s go. We should check up on our folks after checking the hospital.”, Flynn said and the others nodded.

Sahori got a leg from the broken chair to have something to defend herself. They started moving Sahori and Kanji opened the doors looking for other people. Some rooms were just empty though others. They gasped in horror seeing the corpses of some of the patients. Isamu looked a bit green trying to avoid losing his lunch.

“Was that all that Gryphon guy? Or is there more demons?”, Kanji questioned.

“It’s possible. We have to be careful.”, Flynn said.

As they continued through the hospital they found more staff and patients lying dead.

“They must have been killed quickly. We didn’t even hear their screams…”, Sahori said.

“Don’t say that!”, Isamu said in a frightened tone.

Flynn could feel Isamu shaking as they walked behind the others. Centaur was behind them to make sure they didn’t get flanked. Also, because Centaur seemed to be more proficient in ranged combat.

“Woah, just chill. You don’t want the demons to hear us.”, Kanji said.

“How can I be chill? Inaba has been invaded by demons and were surrounded by dead bodies?”, Isamu questioned, shakily.

He looked at the others, noticing they were a shade paler too and looked down.

“I’m just scared…”, Isamu said.

“We all are, but if we don’t remain calm we’ll get killed.”, Sahori replied.

Flynn patted his back.

“We’ll be alright as long as we stay together.”, Flynn assured and Isamu wearily nodded.

“I don’t smell any demons left. It seems most of them that were here have already left.”, Centaur said.

“Well, the hospital isn’t that crowded. So there wasn’t much people to…”, Sahori said, before looking away.

“I found someone!”, Kanji called out grabbing their attention.

He came back with the nurse from before over his shoulder. She had ripped off her skirt and wrapped it around her wounds. Flynn saw the number above her head changed from 0 to 4, before his eyes perplexing him.

“It’s you kids I’m so-oh no another one!”, she said.

“Don’t worry this one listens to senpai.”, Kanji assured.

“How…?”, the nurse questioned.

Flynn then explained how he was given the demon summoning program by Naoya.

“I see so that’s how you kids survived. Though it’s still strange why would your cousin send you it? Did he know?”, the nurse questioned.

“That’s what we want to know.”, Kanji replied.

Flynn looked down as he thought about Naoya. He wondered if his cousin had any involvement in the current situation. It was odd timing, way too perfect. Flynn had no idea why he wouldn’t warn anyone if he knew. Was it just a coincidence? He had to know and to know if his family was okay.

“I don’t want to lose them…not again…wait? Again?!”, Flynn thought, perplexed by his own thought.

It made him think back to what he’d been dreaming beforehand. In his dream, demons had invaded a small village. For some reason he called that village his home in the dream.

He mulled over his thoughts as they kept moving. They made it outside the hospital and were greeted with absolute chaos outside. Inaba was in flames and various demons roamed the streets. This made Flynn’s blood run cold as everyone else gasped. His mind flashed to the burning village from his dream and he felt himself shaking. He glared at the pig demon who charged at them, blasting it with a shard of ice pinning it against the wall behind it.

“He really can use ice too?!”, Kanji questioned.

Centaur finished off the demon with another ice shard. They looked back at Flynn who’s eyebrows were furrowed in anger. He pushed past his headache and nausea standing up on his own through pure willpower. He gripped his fist tightly glaring at the invading demons.

“Woah, senpai/Flynn...”, his friends said.

“I’ve never seen him look so pissed...”, Kanji murmured.

“These demons won’t take our home…!”, Flynn hissed in a low tone.

“Yeah…your right!”, Kanji replied, still stunned and the others nodded with their mouths agape.

Flynn got up to the front of the group with Kanji and Sahori. Isamu, the nurse, and Centaur stuck to the back. Flynn and Centaur had killed a few more demons. Kanji and Sahori tried to help, but their attacks were ineffective only serving to annoy the demons. However, this created good distractions for Flynn and Centaur to finish the demons off. They were met by a brown wolf-like demon with gold armor. It charged at them, but suddenly stopped when it saw Flynn’s menacing glare. The demon shook, dropping its weapon.

|Threatening Aura|

“I s-surrender! Just don’t kill me!”, the demon begged.

“You can recruit the shivering welp if you like. It would be smart to recruit more allies. Unfortunately I have taught you all I can. You need stronger demons.”, Centaur suggested and Flynn nodded.

“I’ll spare you if you become my ally.”, Flynn offered.

The demon hastily nodded covered in sweat. Flynn recruited the demon, returning Centaur to his stock and summoning the demon he had made a fresh contact with.

Level 3

Touki Kobold

Weakness

Fire

Ailments

Command Skills:

Snipe +2

Angered Hit +2

Fatal Strike +2

-

Passive Skills:

Phys Up

Life Bonus

Hero Aid

Race Skill:

Aggravate

“O-oh hello, my new Master!”, Kobold said.

“Let’s go, Flynn ordered, the shaking demon.

Kanji looked at Flynn with sparkles in his eyes while the others looked a bit worried at his change in behavior.

“Wow…Senpai has become completely badass.”, Kanji thought.

“Flynn’s never been quite like this before…I hope he’s not changing for the worse...”, Sahori thought.

“Why can’t I stop shaking? Why can’t I be like the others, especially Flynn? He looks completely fearless.”, Isamu thought.

As they traveled Flynn and the others found a corpse with a blade and other weapons. They ended up taking the weapons to defend themselves.

“Things have really gone to hell…we’re looting the dead.”, the nurse said.

“We’ve gotta do what we can to survive.”, Kanji replied.

They continued on cutting down more demons in their way with Flynn recruiting more demons. He started using Mido and fusing demons together. He currently had Tam Lin his first special fusion.

Level 13

Genma Tam Lin

Resistances

Light

Weakness

Dark

Command Skills:

Gram Slice +3

Hama +1

Bufu

Agi

Passive Skills:

Knight Soul

Phys Up

Hero’s Aid

Race Skill:

True Phantasm

There were various corpses of humans and demons in the streets. The police shot at the demons with their guns with civilians hiding behind them in front of the police station. Dojima was there with Takeshi and Nanako. The latter was behind with the other civilians.

“Damn, there’s too many of them!”, a policeman cursed before being torn to shreds

Suddenly, Cerberus appeared with Nakajima on his back, surprising everyone. He carried a flaming blade that he swiped at the demons with easily cutting them down and Cerberus did the same with its claws. Flynn and the others wondered how he got a hold of the Summoning Program. The pair had defeated the demon horde before they even made it to the station. Flynn saw his number over his head was 5.

“Flynn/Brother!”, Dojima and Nanako called out worriedly, especially seeing the demon with Flynn.

“You have a demon too.”, Nakajima said, after getting off Cerberus.

“Yeah…how did you get one, Nakajima?”, Flynn questioned.

“I’d like to ask you the same question.”, Nakajima replied.

“Do you have the program too?”, Flynn questioned.

“What?! You have a demon on your side? What are you talking about?”, Dojima questioned as he ran up to Flynn.

Flynn saw Dojima’s number was 7 and Nanako’s was 6.

“He has the Demon Summoning Program like me. How did you get it?”, Nakajima replied, looking at Flynn intently.

“Naoya sent it to me. After I touched it, I suddenly downloaded it on my phone. I don’t know how he got it or if he made it himself.”, Flynn replied.

“I see…Naoya huh. Does anyone else have it?”, Nakajima replied, making a mental note about Naoya.

“Not that I know of except you and me.”, Flynn replied.

“You're telling me Naoya gave it to you? Where is he?”, Dojima questioned.

“We don’t know. Flynn started feeling under the weather and we took him to the hospital. I used his phone to inform Naoya he was sick and to meet us at the hospital, but he never showed up.”, Sahori explained.

“Just great…hopefully he’s alright. He probably knows something about what’s going on. Why are you even fighting in your condition?”, Dojima replied.

He saw Flynn’s cheeks were flushed from all the physical exertion. Behind his white bandanna was the ice pack that was tied to the back.

“I had to protect everyone.”, Flynn replied, as he swayed a bit.

Dojima quickly caught his son holding him close. He could feel Flynn breathing heavily.

“You're way too reckless. You need to rest. I’ll take you in station.”, Dojima said.

To be continued…

[fencer-x]

Fencer’s Big Eva Review

Just got done watching the Eva finale, so it’s time to get out thoughts while they’re fresh! Caveat: Eva is difficult to understand for native speakers, and I’m definitely not a native speaker XD I feel like I got maybe half, and got the rough gist of like 10% of the rest, and the remaining was just no friggin’ clue. Would’ve gone better if there’d at least been JP subs, but you’ll have to deal with what I’ve got for now!

It should be obvious, but there’ll be HELLA MAJOR SPOILERS for the final Evangelion movie. Ready? Let’s go.

The movie very helpfully starts off with a ~2 min recap of the movies thus far. This was great because I didn’t have time to rewatch the previous three before going, and while I’ve seen them a few times, it took me a second the recall what had happened at the very end of Q, so I was glad to get a very brief recap.

The actual movie itself opens on...Paris! Or Paris post-Near-Third-Impact (Third Impact?), which is a red and black wasteland. It seems that Wille has been developing these things that look like Entry Plugs that they shove into the ground and restore everything to pre-all-impacts (so like, blue water and everything); couldn’t get HOW it managed that, but they had them and were attempting to restore Paris.

Would have been a walk in the park except for weird Eva-Angel-Machine hybrids that were trying to prevent them from activating the plugs. Lots of fighting happens, with Mari piloting her Eva to give them cover while the Wille staff set everything up. Eventually they manage it, and Euro Nerv is restored.

Then we switch over to right where Q left off: Asuka, Clone!Rei, and a catatonic Shinji wandering around trying to go who knows where. They eventually get picked up by...Touji! Yes, an older Touji now who lives in a commune of survivors, scraping out a semblance of a life in one of the areas protected by the aforementioned plugs (they had another name but I couldn’t get it).

In this community, Touji is the local doctor--and he’s married with a kid! He married Hikari, and they have an infant daughter named Tsubame. 

Now, let’s check in how our main three do when introduced to this relatively normal life they get to enjoy for a few weeks:

Asuka: Still in ‘fight mode’, ready to go at a moment’s notice. How she thinks she’s gonna fight when she has no Eva idk, but for this entire little bit, she’s either naked or in her plugsuit. She stays with Aida Kensuke, who’s kind of the handyman, and is generally just rude af.

Shinji: For 90% of this bit, he’s totally shut off. He’s incredibly fucked up from having JUST watched Kaworu die, essentially because of him, and Asuka has on a DSS choker, and every time he sees it, he collapses and begins vomiting violently. He stays with the Suzuharas at first but is quickly sent to stay with Asuka and Kensuke because they don’t really know how to deal with him. Kensuke manages to get him to open up a little bit, but eventually it’s Rei who gets him started on the path back to being himself. At one point he runs away and ‘lives’ alone for a while in what I think was either the building where he first met Kaworu playing the piano or one that looked a lot like it. He goes out to do odd jobs with Kensuke a lot, and on one occasion he’s taken to an ‘outdoor lab’ where some workers are experimenting with new gardening techniques. It’s here he’s meets...Kaji Ryouji. No, not that Kaji Ryouji. That Kaji DIED. This is the son he had with Misato (named after him).

Rei: Now, let me say I’ve never been super interested in Rei. I didn’t dislike her, like I did Asuka, but I wasn’t really interested in her either. She was just there. Guys.....I LOVED REI IN THIS MOVIE. I would have watched 2.5 hours of the Rei Learns To Be A Human show and been happy for the $20 I paid. Rei spends her time in the commune learning to be an individual. She stays with the Suzuharas and learns what different words mean, like “Good morning” and “Good night” and “Thank you” and “Goodbye”, she gets super close with a bunch of old ladies who essentially adopt her and teach her how to plant turnips and what a bath is, and she becomes her own person. When she first arrives, the Suzuharas think she’s “Ayanami Rei”, but she explains that she isn’t, so they call her “Sokkuri-san” instead (”Miss Spitting Image” essentially), and the old ladies find it amusing at first but then encourage her to choose her own name, and when she can’t think of one, they tell her to have someone choose one for her, so she asks the Uber-Depressed Shinji to choose one. These interactions are what eventually pull him back to himself, but ultimately he’s unable to come up with one, because “Ayanami is Ayanami”. She thanks him for trying anyway, returns his SD player to him..............................and then dissolves into a pile of LCL fluid, as apparently all clones eventually return to LCL. Fantastic, because Shinji didn’t need EVEN MORE TRAUMA.

Somehow, the above doesn’t break Shinji, and he resolves to go back to Wille and face his father I guess?? I’m not entirely clear on why (gotta go read some reports of my own I guess lol). Back on the ship with Misato et al., Shinji isn’t forced to wear a choker but he’s put in a cell with like explosives in it I guess. He starts having visions of Kaworu helping him accept things.

At this point it’s getting close to the climax, and Wille are going after Nerv/Gendo once and for all. During the final fight, Asuka tried to take out Unit 13′s core, and then she’s not managing it, she rips off her eyepatch, and we see that the patch was keeping the 9th angel bound within her eye, so she decides to throw away her humanity and let it take over to destroy Unit 13. Unfortunately, she’s killed in the end--how? She’s approached by a vision of her ‘original’. Yup, Asuka was a clone herself, like Rei, and she turns back into LCL and she and unit 02 are absorbed by Unit 13.

Eventually the fight comes down to Shinji vs. Gendo, who has thrown away his own humanity and bonded with Unit 13 in the hopes of completing the Human Instrumentality Project. He and Shinji go head to head as Shinji summons (???) Unit 01 from inside Unit 13, and there’s a really REALLY WEIRD final fight between the two that involves some weird animation choices. Lots of storyboards and overly CGI’d CGI, and some bits that seem to take them through the different incarnations of the Eva series.

We also get Gendo backstory by the boatload as he and Shinji have an actual goddamn conversation for once. Mari features prominently in Gendo’s flashbacks so she was definitely one of his classmates it seems, who introduced him to Fuyutsuki. I’m still not entirely clear on who she is/was.

However, through this conversation, Shinji gives the people he’s interacted with most closely/been closest with closure I guess? Gendo, Asuka...Kaworu.

So about Kaworu. Their conversation was VERY VERY WEIRD; it’s made clear that Shinji is also now aware of all the different iterations of their meeting. When they talk, it’s set at the beach where they first met in the TV series, and Shinji says he remembers all the times they’ve met before. Shinji mentions that Kaworu reminds him a lot of his father, and then there are some very strange flashbacks (????) of Kaworu’s that I feel like imply he’s to Gendo as Rei is to Yui. At one point, he’s seen talking to Fuyutsuki, trying to decide on a name for himself and settling on ‘Nagisa’ as it means ‘beach’, where the ocean meets the land. Fuyutsuki later addresses Kaworu, who’s sitting in Gendo’s desk, as “Commander Nagisa”. Kaworu reflects to Shinji that he failed so many times to make Shinji happy, but he’s realized now that that’s because he doesn’t know what would make Shinji happy and it was arrogant to think he knew better. He was looking for his own happiness all along.

In the end, after all these goodbyes, Shinji is left with the decision of what to do with, well, reality. He decides, in a conversation with Rei, that he’ll reset everything--create a ‘neon genesis’--to a world without Eva or Angels.

Our last shot is an older Shinji meeting his (presumed??) girlfriend Mari on a train platform. On the opposite platform waiting for their own train are Kaworu, Asuka, and Rei. Shinji and Mari hold hands and run, laughing, from the train station.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION GOT A HAPPY ENDING. 2021 REALLY BE OUT HERE WILDING.

My final thoughts:

Okay I’ll say it: the fuck with Shinji/Mari endgame? Believe me, it was completely out of left field even in this movie. They just happened to be the only final survivors. Mari flirted a hell of a lot more with ASUKA and was distraught at her death than she did with Shinji. They were a kind of cute couple in the end, but very ????? 

I’m disappointed Shinji wasn’t the one to give Kaworu his happiness in the end, after Kaworu spent so long and so many lives and realities trying to make him happy and failing. I’m choosing to believe, since these multiple realities/resets are canon now, that he did it in one of them. They all deserve the happiness of their choosing, not just Shinji’s, and Kaworu showed us time and time again that his happiness definitively involves being with Shinji.

I’m sure I missed a lot, because yanno, Eva, and it was long enough as is, but gosh I wish I could’ve understood more of everything that was going on, cause there was SO MUCH WEIRD SHIT.

If I watch this movie again, I will 500% just be watching those “Rei learns to be human with the help of a bunch of old cackling biddies” bits :> Those were THE BEST PARTS OF THE MOVIE.

[little-miss-dumpsterfire]

I think I made you up inside my head ~ a td au

Hi everyone (or anyone out there)! This is my first ever tumblr post, so apologies if I’m a bit rusty. I’m originally a Wattpad writer, but I think for this story in particular, I’m better suited over here (I like ‘em spooky).

So without boring anyone, I present to you, my total drama horror anthology - “I think I made you up inside my head ~ a td au”

Chapter One - I can still hear their screams

It was her eyes that initially gave him a profound feeling of unease. The vacancy of her stare was reminiscent of the eyes of the dead; a thick fog drowned the vibrancy of her irises, dulling the shine that they had once held. His heart pounded against his chest as he set up his equipment, trembling fingers fumbling with the intricate wires and cables. The atmosphere in the room, nay, the house he found himself in was suffocating.

One interview. That's all you came here for. The media attention you'll get for this will be astronomical. Just focus on that.

His preconceived notion of his guest had been immediately shattered upon meeting her earlier that day. The tabloids and news painted her as a 'psycho hose-beast', the living epitome of an LSD trip. Yet, it was her fragility that shone through most as she sat before him. Her signature frizzy orange hair had darkened, resembling more of a rich copper, combed neatly into a bun. Her fingers were slender and pale, like those of a porcelain doll, and gaudy rings embellished them all, minus her left ring finger. Her pressed teal pantsuit was a stark contrast to his jeans and a graphic tee, yet she was undoubtedly feeling more comfortable than he was.

He cleared his throat, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead before reading out his preprepared spiel.

"Hello all and welcome back to the Pop-Culture Paradox podcast. I'm Axel Riley, your resident tour guide through the scary side of Hollywood. In today's episode, we will be delving into one of the most infamous conspiracies in reality TV to date."

His voice caught slightly in his throat, catching him off guard before continuing.

"My guest today was an ex-contestant on the hit reality show series Total Drama Island, as well as its follow-ups Total Drama Action and Total Drama World Tour." Upon hearing those words, she visibly cringed and balled up her right fist on the couch next to her. "Welcome to Isabelle "Izzy" Danaher-Morgans!"

"Thank you for having me here, Axel," Izzy added politely.

Axel stared at Izzy quizzically. "I gotta say, you're a lot different to what I thought you'd be like."

"I get that a lot, I really do. And honestly, a lot of aspects of my portrayal were exacerbated by the producers. I have ADHD and had been on medication up to that point. Not that that takes everything away, I was just better at focusing and less impulsive. But for drama, they weaned me off of my meds. That fact, alongside the drugs they had to have been putting in the water, just pushed me off the deep end."

"And what has life been like for you since the show? Last time viewers properly saw you, you had transformed into your alter 'Brainzilla'," Axel asked, probing Izzy to reveal any dramatic details.

Izzy laughed awkwardly. "That was a time in my life I cannot explain, truthfully. I did get back to some normality with counselling and medication, and I now work as a therapist for former child stars escaping from the industry."

Axel sighed defeatedly, tapping his lead pencil against the corner of the coffee table.

This is too boring. I need something for listeners to really bite their teeth into.

Carrying on with the extended mundane conversation, Axel was carefully planning the perfect moment to poke the bear and reveal his main prerogative.

Interjecting Izzy mid-sentence, Axel raised his eyebrow and asked the question that had been eating him up inside since he arrived.

"So Izzy, tell me, is there really a Total Drama curse, or is this all just bullshit?"

The colour drained from Izzy's face as she locked eyes with the podcaster. She fidgeted with her rings, twisting them around her fingers repeatedly. Her mouth gaped open and closed like a fish, unable to form any coherent words. In response - the only way she physically could at that moment - she shook her head viciously.

"No? Hmm, that's really interesting. It must just be an extreme coincidence that a majority of your cast-mates have either perished or disappeared. Did you know that they were dead, Izzy?" Axel probed, salivating at the thought of the publicity this will bring in.

"I don't want to talk about this," Izzy replied curtly, looking down at her legs and picking at some invisible lint on her pants.

"Like when this all started with the death of-"

"I said I don't want to talk about this, Axel. I'm done here," Izzy proclaimed, removing the headset and standing up from her couch.

"Ju- wait a damn second," Axel jumped from his seat, yanking his headset cord from the soundboard before grabbing Izzy's wrist.

Izzy pulled herself from his grip, rubbing the sore spot on her wrist. "I said no. We don't need any more amateur journalists trying to disturb the dirt of the past."

"You listen to me for a second," he said, putting his finger close to her face, "I drove all the way from California to be here. You fucking owe me the details."

Scoffing, Izzy walked to her kitchen, grabbing an icepack from her freezer for her wrist.

"Kid, I went toe-to-toe with Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet for three seasons. No young tech boy from California is going to intimidate me." She paused and thought for a second, passing a cursory glance at a timber door down the hallway. "You know what? Fine. You want to talk? We can talk, but not on record."

Axel rolled his eyes and huffed out his chest. "Then what's the fucking point?"

"The point is... well... the point is that you'll be able to talk to the only known survivor of that fucking show."

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

Izzy lead Axel to the dead-bolted timber door situated at the back-end of her house, removing a key from an adjacent picture frame that sat on a table. The latch clicked and squeaked sharply as the door was pulled open, the pair slowly making their way down the dimly lit staircase. As the door slammed shut behind them, the force knocked over the precariously positioned photo frame; in its silver walls sat an image of twenty-two kids smiling on a rickety dock, blissfully unaware of what the future had in store for them.

Axel felt across the crumbling brick wall until he came to a light switch, coated in a thin layer of cobwebs. He flicked the switch, being greeted by a low humming noise before the filament brightened and burst, sending glass shards flying through the air, crashing noisily on the cement floor. A sudden scratch rang out as Izzy stuck a match against the matchbox, lighting the gas lamps that lined the walls.

"What... what is this place?" Axel asked, goosebumps emerging over his arms.

"Some may call it a museum. I prefer to call it a mausoleum," Izzy replied, glancing over at the confused boy.

Stacked in the centre of the room were rows and rows of wooden shelves, lined up next to each other. Assorted items and relics were neatly arranged, an antithesis of the lackadaisical nature of how the rest of her house was decorated. Axel looked at all the objects before stopping on something he thought looked familiar.

"Wait," he pointed at them, a confused look plastered on his face. "These beads... they're Beth's friendship bracelets... the ones she gave out in Action."

Izzy nodded slightly, her face illuminated by the flickering flame of the gas lamp. She stopped in front of a large white shirt, holding it up to her face, inhaling the scent.

"Mmm," she said quietly to herself, "still smells like chicken cologne."

"These things, these... relics. These were all from the cast. And look, you even have some from Revenge of the Island. Why do you have these, Izzy?" Axel asked, increasingly creeped out by the environment he found himself in.

"I keep a part of them because if I don't, I can't trust myself to remember if they were real or not."

She replaced the shirt back to where it was neatly folded and turned to face Axel.

"I lie awake at night, tossing and turning. I think to myself, 'I am the cursed one here'. And it's true," she said softly, her eyes prickling with tear droplets.

"How?"

Izzy chuckled sadly, tears gathering on her light eyelashes. She walked over to one of the many glass cabinets and stared at her reflection.

"Because even though they're dead, I can still hear their screams. And now it's someone else's turn."

[jadelotusflower]

June 2021 Roundup

It's been a month of highs and lows. Every year my city holds a cabaret festival, and I've seen some truly amazing acts over the years - including Lea Salonga, Kristin Chenoweth, and Indina Menzel. This year's Artistic Director was the great Alan Cumming, and although due to covid he didn't quite get to curate the program he wanted to, the opening night Gala was still a highlight, as was Alan's DJ set at the pop-up Club Cumming afterwards, where there was much singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to pop anthems and theatre tunes. At one point Alan, dressed in a onesie and perched on the shoulders of a man wearing only sparkly short shorts, was carried around the dance floor while Circle of Life blared. Reader, I was delighted.

I was also able to see his solo show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, which was hilarious and damn, he can sing!

As for the low, I was meant to fly to Sydney for the weekend to see Hamilton, a trip I have been looking forward to for almost a year, but had to be cancelled because of a covid outbreak and border closures. The tickets have been rescheduled, but I'm still kind of bummed about it (while completely appreciating the need for covid safety, especially when our vaccine rollout has been completely botched by our incompetent, corrupt federal government)

Anyway.

Reading

The Hundred and One Dalmations (Dodie Smith) - With all the bewilderment over Disney's Cruella, I decided to revisit the original novel which I first read as a kid. It's funny, I had very vivid memories of this book, or rather thought I did, particularly the scene where Roger and Anita have dinner at Cruella's house that fixed in my young mind as utterly disturbing with all this devil imagery and the implication Cruella was literally some kind of demon, which must have been either a) my overactive imagination or b) an illustration, because it's not as clear as I thought it was. The strangeness is there (food with too much pepper, Cruella's inability to keep warm, the walls painted blood red) but not the explicit demon imagery I had remembered. There is a part later in the book recounting the history of Hell Hall and the rumors of Cruella's ancestor streaking out of the place conjuring blue lightening, but clearly child me was reading far more into the book than was on the page.

But I still wish they'd gone with this version of Cruella's backstory, because to me an aristocratic, ink-drinking, heat-obsessed, possibly-demon spawn, high camp villain is more interesting and rings far more true than plucky punk against the establishment.

Smith clearly had Facts About Dalmations to share, and she does really craft a wonderful animal-based story that the Disney animated film is largely faithful to. Key differences include: Roger's occupation (he doesn't have to pay tax because he wiped out government debt somehow?!?), Pongo's mate and the puppy's mother is called Missis, Perdita is another dalmation who acts as a kind of doggie wet nurse, Roger and Anita both have Nannies who come to live with them (Nanny Butler and Nanny Cook), Cruella is married to a furrier (who changed his last name to de Vil). Also odd, on her first description Cruella is described as having "dark skin" but later in the novel her "white face" is mentioned, so I'm chalking it up to 50's descriptors not having the same meanings they do today.

The Duke and I (Julia Quinn) - After being just whelmed by the tv series, I wasn't really planning on reading the books, but I saw this on the top picks shelf at the library and damn, the top picks shelf is irresistible. This is very much Daphne's book (and I had known each in the series dealt with the different sibling) so many of the characters and much of the plot of the show is absent, as are some of the more baffling elements of the show like the Diamond of the First Water nonsense, which I always thought was a strange character choice in that it stacks the deck for Daphne when her character arc is better served as somewhat of an underdog (in her third season, the kind of girl who is liked but not adored), and the Prince subplot which was always far too OTT even for soapy regency romance.

It's a breezy, fun read (that scene excepted), even if the misunderstandings are contrived and I'm never going to take "I'll never have kids because I hate my dad" as a credible romantic obstacle deserving of so much angst.

Faeries (Brian Froud and Alan Lee) - A lovingly detailed and illustrated compendium of Faerie and its inhabitants, drawing from a range of European (but primarily Celtic) folklore and mythology. Froud was a conceptual designer on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and the link is clear in the art as well as the focus on faeries as mysterious but oftimes sinister beings, where human encounters with them rarely end well. Lee has illustrated several publications of Tolkien's novels, and was a lead concept artists for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and there is a touch of Middle Earth here as well, or rather the common inspiration of the old world. A useful resource for my novel!

Watching

The Handmaid's Tale (season 4, episodes 4-8) SPOILERS - So when I last wrote about this show in the Roundup, I was complaining it wasn't going anywhere. Well, I'm happy to be wrong because they finally changed things up with June finally escaping to Canada. That part of the plot following the survivors and their trauma has always been far more compelling than Gilead, and so it was a welcome development even if I side-eye some of the choices (none of these characters is seeing an actual licensed therapist why?).

This show has always been difficult to watch given the subject matter, and that has not changed after the shift in power dynamics. I will give the show credit for showing a broad range of trauma responses, from Moira wanting to move on and not let it consume her, to June, a ball of rage and revenge on a downward spiral, to Emily, trying to follow Moira's path but being drawn to June's, to Luke, trying his best but utterly unequipped to deal with what is happening.

But it is very hard to watch June go down this path - raping her husband (I concede the show perhaps didn't intend for it to be rape, but that's what is on screen and framing it as just "taking away Luke's agency" doesn't change that), wishing death on Serena's unborn child, and orchestrating Fred's brutal murder by particulation, then holding her own daughter still covered in his blood and it getting smeared on Nicole's face (an unsubtle metaphor in a series full of unsubtle metaphors).

There are interesting questions being asked of the viewer, and the show (perhaps rightly) not giving any answers. I can certainly appreciate the catharsis of Fred getting what he deserves even if I personally find the manner of it horrifying, but where is the line between justice and revenge, is revenge the only option when justice is denied, when does a trauma release become cyclical violence/abuse - the show is, for now, letting the viewer decide.

Soul (dir. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers) - In a world full of remakes/reboots/sequels, Pixar is perhaps the lone segment under the Disney umbrella committed to original content. However, there does seem to be a Pixar formula at work directed to precision tugging the heart strings, and some of the film feels like well-trod ground. On the other hand, it's hard to criticise the risk of centering a kids film around the existential crisis of a middle aged man, even with the requisite cutesy elements (and of course, the uncomfortable pattern of yet another film where the black lead character spends a great deal of the runtime in non-human form - herein, an amorphous blob or a cat). But the animation is stunning, it successfully did tug my heart strings, and the design of the Great Before and the Jerrys is original and fun.

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under - Drag Race is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, since I generally don't watch reality shows, and this is something I really enjoy even if I'm not invested in the fandom (which like many fandoms can be very yikes). This year it was time for the Australian/New Zealand (Aotearoa) queens to show their stuff, although it's been met with mixed reactions. Covid restrictions didn't allow for guest judges, relegating them to mere cameos via video calls, and its clear that Ru and Michelle really don't quite get all the cultural nuances - Aussie judge Rhys Nicholson was however always delightful. But it wouldn't be Australia without a racism scandal, with the great disappointment of the two queens of colour eliminated first, and one queen having done blackface in the recent past yet making it all the way to the top four.

In the end, the only viable and deserving winner was last Kiwi standing Kita Mean, and it was pure joy to see her get crowned. I do hope they fix the bugs and indeed do another season to better showcase AU/NZ talent.

Writing

A far more productive month - to try and get out of my writing funk I had a goal to try and write every day, even if it was only 100 words. While I didn't quite achieve a consecutive month, I did get a pretty good average, at least got something posted and two others nearly there.

The Lady of the Lake - 2441 words, Chapter 4 posted.

Against the Dying of the Light - 2745 words

Turn Your Face to the Sun - 1752 words.

Here I Go Again - 1144 words

Total words this month: 8082

Total words this year: 35,551

[kimbachan]

I’m ANGRY (and also crushingly sad)

Oh, dear. I‘m certainly not angry. Sad. Definitely. But Star Wars and fictional shows in general never truly make me angry. Am I emotionally wrecked from seeing baby leave to an unknown fate, certainly. (Yes, we KNOW what happens to Luke’s school, but I’m a firm believer in a deus ex machina that would leave our dear Grogru free and clear of that future ordeal). 

Just think, if it was something that didn’t actually make us feel anything at all, it wouldn’t be worth watching. (Which is why I don’t watch “reality TV”... I feel nothing for those fakers.) I am hoping that the Book of Boba Fett is a separate series, and NOT S3. I’m still unclear on that whole thing. I would LOVE to see more Boba (in his own show, hell yes) but not at the expense of losing Din’s story. Where is his Armorer? Where did the tribe survivors go, if any? Will he confront her (and maybe Paz Viszla!) about what it means to be a Mandalorian or at least learn their perspective on it? Will Bo-Katan fight him for the darksaber, we already know he yields it to her willingly. There are still stories to be told!

I hope after a few weeks on letting this all sink in, we can all go back to loving our Mando babes, and let whatever anger this chapter’s close stirred to dissipate. As Yoda once said: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” 

But also, let’s not be like Jedi... don’t close yourself off from attachments or forget that understanding your anger and fear and releasing sometimes can be very cathartic. 

**Internet hugs**

[u23art]

A LOOK AT THE STARGATE FRANCHISE

A Look at the Stargate Franchise Stretching over the expanse of nearly 20 years, the Stargate franchise persevered as best it could, entertaining audiences with scifi/ military adventures with various SG teams across many planets. And by golly, over the last month, I took it upon myself to watch all the Stargates. Starting with the Stargate film, the adventure begins with the discovery of an artifact in Giza, covered in glyphs, experts suspected the portal like object to have originated by an intelligence earlier than the Ancient Egyptians. Nearly 80 years later, historian/ archeologist/ anthropologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is recruited by a military outfit and successfully deciphers the meaning of the glyphs and the artifact. Each glyph coordinates with a constellation, using 6 around a destination along with a point of origin creates a wormhole to travel along between two of these artifacts called Stargates. Joining up with a team lead by Col Jack O’neill, they set off to a distant planet, meet an ancient life form that nurtured Earth’s earliest cultures and liberate a desert people from the alien that named itself their god. This film, though overshadowed by the media that came afterwards, is an earnest adventure story that knew what it wanted and nailed the landing. The world building is solid and doesn’t interfere with the story progression and creates a sympatico relationship with the character Daniel Jackson. The character’s enthusiasm for understanding the culture validates the importance of the world and the world in turn gives Daniel Jackson a muse to let him flex his intelligence, giving audiences some engaging and thorough analysis to connect with. James Spader gives a stand out performance with this character and becomes the backbone of the film, with no disrespect towards Kurt Russell. Combined with effective special effects, the 1994 film cements itself as a science fiction must-see. Following up the movie, running ten years from 1997 to 2007, Stargate SG-1 was a prime contender on Showtime and the scifi channel.

Recasting O’neill and Jackson with Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks, the two form a team with Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and a former enemy soldier Teal’c (Christopher Judge). Expanding upon ideas set by the film, the galaxy is under the rule of another parasitic race known as the Goa’uld. This show was balanced and well cared for. Some charms of this show carry over from the movie, namely the relationship shared between each new world and Daniel Jackson, and this time this aspect is improved upon by the performance by Michael Shanks. He had fun with his character, his character loved exploring and that validated each new world the team visits. On top of this, the worlds aren’t just one and done, with each new season brings evolving politics, making the story well-constructed and leaving next to no added fluff. Regarding the new actors aside from Michael Shanks, Richard Dean Anderson portrays Jack O’neill with a calm yet playful demeanor, making him a comforting presence in any seemingly stressful situation. Teal’c is portrayed by Christopher Judge, giving a performance offering strength, sensitivity and breathtaking deadpan comedy. Samantha Carter however, played by Amanda Tapping, is a bit of a double edged sword. Sam Carter is stubbornly professional, meaning that she approaches problems with calm inquisition, but she doesn’t actually have a character arc. Despite getting her chops busted constantly by coworkers and villains alike, she responds to nearly every show of pigheadedness with “with all due respect”. I can’t think of many instances where she gives an aggressive or sarcastic response to rude behavior, and further still I don’t think there was a single point where she cracked a joke. But I digress, all in all SG-1 is a well-oiled machine and earns it’s good reputation. Next up is Atlantis. Running from 2004 to 2009, we find ourselves in a new galaxy with a new SG team led by Col John Sheppard. Lasting only 5 seasons, the show left behind a few ingredients that made it’s predecessors as engaging as it was, but still provided fun character interactions. The show is more action based, most stories depicting each new world as a new danger and resolving many conflics with hammers rather than scalpels. And the team this time around lacks a character like Daniel Jackson, removing the element of curiousity towards the worlds and in turn the worlds begin to lack appeal. The writing began to lean more on characters than world building, but regardless, John Sheppard and his crew provide fun, banter and action. And then came Stargate Universe. Thanks, I hate it. This show lasted only 2 seasons and a comic book mini series, and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t remember the last time I watched such an uncharismatic show, with an uncharismatic cast on an uncharismatic set. Lasting even less time than Atlanis, with only 2 seasons from 2009 to 2011, adventure is abandoned entirely and replaced with a survival story. Here we follow a group of civilians and SGC personnel, dragged along by the obsessive curiosity of the total sociopath; Dr. Rush. Deciphering a Stargate address with not 7 but 9 glyphs, Rush drags over 40 survivors of a base attack onto an abandoned, ancient ship called the Destiny. Several galaxies away from earth and unable to control the ship, Rush seeks to uncover the mission of the Destiny while everyone else just wants to get home. The funniest aspect of this show is that it’s structured like a reality tv show, take a bunch of irritated people, isolate them and watch the chaos ensue. There’s even a surprise pregnancy, and I totally watch scifi for that. As for world building, there is next to none. Each world is one and done, managing only to give the characters brief periods to have some shenanigans before moving on. There’s plenty of intrigue regarding the Destiny, from the get go it raises a number of questions; what was the ship’s purpose, why was it abandoned, where is it’s crew. Only one of these questions is truly answered; the purpose of the destiny was to track down and investigate an energy signature supposedly left behind from the birth of the universe, essentially a journey to find God in a sense. Story progression drags it’s feet and without proper focus. The main point of intrigue is the Destiny and it’s mission, then there are the ongoing problems of cabin fever among the civilians and then there’s the emotional turmoil of the SGC soldiers and their emotional instability. None of this is executed in a way that works, the characters certainly perform but none of what they do contributes to learning anything new about the Destiny, leaving me with total apathy towards scenes with most of the characters because they’re irrelevant to the main point of interest towards the show. I found myself just glazing over the characters problems because they don’t contribute substance in tandem to the main story. This is not helped by the fact that the characters wear dull, dark clothes on a dull, dark space ship, leaving no scene looking particularly remarkable. In addition to the problems on the Destiny, there is an issue of cloak and dagger espionage on Earth, this becomes more interesting by default because we join members of the original SG-1 team in well-lit locations with a clear problem and characters willing to solve said problem. The series ends unspectacularly and  was followed up by an unspectacular comic that still doesn’t resolve the ongoing problems. This show bears the name “Stargate” but lacks all the elements that made what came before it so entertaining. The show was cancelled due to issues of poor reviews and financial trouble and at present there’s no chance of a return, and I won’t lose sleep over this. Then after wrapping up my time with Universe, I ended my Stargate marathon with Stargate Infinity. Stargate Universe was a standard 26 episode animated series from 2002 to 2003, airing on the short lived Fox Box and produced by Dic animation. Set years ahead of SG-1, Gus Bonner and a rag tag SG team are framed and accused of treason, finding themselves banished by Stargate command and chased by an alien race called Tlak’kahn. It’s a show for young audiences, and made by an animation studio that pumped out a lot of budget cartoons. Though to this show’s credit, it was more bearable than Alienators: Evolution Continues, another Dic cartoon based off a science fiction property which displayed embarrassing writing like a badge of honor. The show is cheap, has passable animation, toy like character designs and barely taps into the ongoing conflict, making nearly every episode a contained story. Had I watched this before I watched Universe, I probably would have looked on this show with more scrutiny. However, this is not the case, and I can look on this show more favorably now that I’ve seen what Stargate can look like without most of it’s pieces. Despite the show’s faults, it still retains the idea of adventure and exploration, and it has episodes that lightly touch upon issues like living in poverty or dealing with addiction. And Gus Bonner had so many insightful things to say on issues of science and history, I found it rather wholesome. I even appreciate the colorful toy-like designs after several hours of next to no color at all during Stargate Universe. All in all, the show retains the Stargate identity and gives a decent enough show with what resources it has. There were several other pieces of media that came out for the Stargate franchise, such as books and games, but as of this time the Stargate Franchise is on ice for the foreseeable future. It was an underdog that had some bite to it, and that didn’t go unappreciated. It was refreshing getting to watch the shows and get a more complete perspective for the scattered episodes I’d seen when SG-1 was still on the air.

[aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoldretired]

some p!g-drv3 theories (spoilers obvi)

First of all I think people demonize the pg versions wayyy too much because its a good way to be le sexy in like fanfictions. And i get it, villains are hot or whatever. and also hs is a horny age to be. But even the edgiest and horniest of teens aren’t like. that sexual/monstrous. its kind of insane the portrayals people are placing

maybe this could also be like me being older bc when i was early hs i was like yea its fair to place these super mature portrayals on a 18-22 year old they are like adults but young and now im that age and im like woah there pardner. might be an age/maturity thing. 

also like its normal for people to relate to and portray characters their same age in a similar fashion, but when adults write more sexual content about the dg kids i get hella fucking sus

idk where i was going with that first comment i guess its like a preface and in the end i think its important when characters especially teenage characters are morally grey not because they’re mature and dark/brooding but because they are still young and learning. fuck im older than like most of them, but im still young and learning. its good to be in turmoil and confused, especially the drv3 cast. they are more confused than anything.

which i think is a reason why people would join dr because if you are completely loss and in turmoil, it is appealing to be given a purpose in life and amazing talents/abilities. despite the morals of danganronpa, it is a simple reality to be told who you are and what to do

OK ONTO HEADCANONS (not doing all bc i dont have thoughts about all)

first of all i understand changing stories but i think, deep down, you can’t change fundamental personalities/values. so while the backstories might be different i think, in the end, a baseline is always the same

SHUICHI being a Bad Boy is like canon obviously but i dont think he’s as manipulative as people make him out to be. i think he falls in the more the bully role that like. mae borowski or tf2′s scout filled before they grew up. rough background, bad anger issues, lots of emotional turmoil, and the only way he knows how to deal with shit is by committing crimes and beating the shit out of people. and, similar to those characters, drv3 represents an older, more emotionally sober yet equally confused version of himself. the urges are still there as foreshadowed in the dialogue. i think he struggles with guilt, mostly survivors, but there is still a lasting impact of guilt of what he did in his past, even if he can’t remember.

KOKICHI is a child. a piece of shit motherfucker child but a child. I really do think he’s like one of the youngest people in the cast. he reminds me a lot of when my brother doesn’t take his adhd medicine and takes jokes way too far and does mean and cruel things because he thinks its funny and that its just a fun joke, but is hurting people. he desperately wants approval, which is why his leader role is so interesting because in the dr narrative he has the approval he craves and so he is satisfied. still, he does try to impress characters like rantaro and values his opinions a lot, even developing a brotherly relationship in the time they knew each other. this being said, its established kokichi was bullied before, but i dont think he’s like. the wimp people make him out to be. i think he’s more of like the class clown who desperately uses humor to make people like him, and ends up resorting to be the butt of most of his jokes. you don’t just develop a good sense of humor out of a brainwash, and that’s not something you can program in. i think that was a remnant of before, and he’s so good at bullying people and coming up with roasts - i just think that in p!g the roasts were about him.

KAEDE is baby but her p!g personality seriously reminds me of any ~quirky/edgy~ girl in a teen coming of age story who tries to be edgy and cool and act like she doesn’t care but deep down, she really does. if she didn’t have an empathetic personality, she wouldn’t want to end the game. i also think she has that self-identifying QuIrKy personality because its like she lives in her own narrative, practically announcing this story is about her and she is the protagonist. i know i used to self narrate like that and distinguish how i was different when i was like. 15-16. she has a tumblr. 

I really like the theory where KAITO is a make-a-wish kid who was better when he was younger but relapses later in teens. he never used his wish before, so he decides to use it now to be on danganronpa and become the hero he always wanted to be. i also think he might have joined as a way to raise awareness about adolescent healthcare. definitely the type who puts on a “heroic” character to make everyone else feel better about the fact he is literally dying of a terminal illness, and keeps that act up till the end. 

i think KOREKIYO is still a serial killer. i think honestly a reason why he mightve auditioned for danganronpa is because he is a serial killer. maybe his sister found out and he felt so much shame that’s why he auditioned. he probably mentioned why in his interview because duh, tell them im a serial killer and then only reason im coming clean is my sister found out and im ashamed, that is like a guarantee to get on the show.  i LOVE the theory that his sister is still alive, however, and has to watch her brother go insane because they wrote her into the story as the villain. because technically, she brought on this guilt, and is the reason why he auditioned - as a way to cause despair, twist it around so she’s the one to blame for his insanity. also, because its pretty accepted DR members become celebrities, kork’s sister is totally bombarded with paparazzi and is demonized in the media. she might end up writing a tell-all memoir about kork’s actual childhood and personality. quiet kid, thoughtful, interested in anthropology, she never thought he’d hurt a fly. watching her brother go insane probably destroyed her. 

I also think, timeline wise, kork is probably one of the oldest members along with rantaro. tbh i think kork actually graduated hs and went on a gap year doing the whole “hitchhike around the world to discover myself thing” which is where he began killing people. he was getting ready to go to college when his sister found out about what he did. this is when he decided to go on danganronpa instead of university. this would help explain why he knows so much about other cultures/travel/been so many places with so many memories/killed/is knowledgable on a level most other students are not. this would place him at like, 20-21, where everyone else is like 15-18.

ok so there’s two p!g RANTARO, p!g before 53 and p!p!g before 52. i’d like to establish now i think rantaro is the oldest of the characters, seeing as though he was already pretty old to begin with in 52, it takes time between television seasons, and he was in another game. so im placing him like 21-23, similar to yasuhiro in d1 being so much older than everyone else. i do think, in all iterations, rantaro was pretty much raising his sisters, though i don’t think he had twelve like the story (i think that’s an exaggeration, his sisters mean a lot to him, lets make him have a TON and then lose them all and feel GUILTY) rantaro joined the first game, partially to get money for his family and hopefully establish them as celebrities and let them have a comfy lifestyle, even if he doesn’t live...and also to finally ahve some sort of experience without his siblings tagging along. if he’s been raising his sisters all his life, he’s never had like something that’s JUST his. that’s his adventure. 52 is his ULTIMATE adventure. ahaha. mostly for money, kind of dreading it, still a tiny bit excited

ok p!g rantaro between 52 and 53 probably came back broken. he did the signings and appearances, but mostly wanted to spend time with his family and make sure they were set up. i think he knew the whole like few months between seasons he had to go on another show, but he did’t tell his sisters. his family found out when they saw a billboard with his face plastered on it hyping up the return of a fan favorite. yikes!

ok i get it a lot of people hate HIMIKO but i think she’s not nearly as similar as other “useless” characters in other games. its like, pretty clear she’s depressed, and the only thing she’s holding onto with dear life is magic. lack of hygiene, lack of personal care, constantly tired, social interaction exhausts - she has depression, but she’s not an UWU depressed character. so people find her depressive traits (which are some of the most realistic portrayals of mental health in the series) SUPER annoygin. she joined dr because she was completely lost and needed some sort of direction in her life, even if she’ll die for it. the thing is, even with direction, her mental state didn’t change because she wasn’t getting legitimate help. it’s like that one SNL skit that’s like. same sad you from before but in a new place. i also think she knows the magic is not real, because how could she not. i think she’s so adamant that it IS real, less as a way to convince others, and more of a way to convince herself. it’s like really super cruel that team danganronpa took a girl who is desperate for meaning and gave her literally a meaningless, fake talent.

i also kin himiko and find her a comfort character because i feel seen by her, replacing her useless talent of magic with mine of like shitty film making and comedy. i am seen.

related i don’t think she’s nearly as ugly as everyone says she is, i think she’s probably just depressed and takes absolutely no care of her hygiene and sleep and looks like sick and greasy all the time. same queen.

honest to god i think RYOMA’s backstory, tennis and all, is like 100% real and he’s the only one who keeps all of his memories except for the fact this is a tv show. i think he rolled up, a hot fucking mess, and the danganronpa team were like damn. we cannot improve upon this. 

[moonlightmurder]

Favorite True Crime Books – part 2

John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster by Sam L. Amirante : “Sam, could you do me a favor?” Thus begins a story that has now become part of America’s true crime hall of fame. It is a gory, grotesque tale befitting a Stephen King novel. It is also a David and Goliath saga—the story of a young lawyer fresh from the Public Defender’s Office whose first client in private practice turns out to be the worst serial killer in our nation’s history.

Sam Amirante had just opened his first law practice when he got a phone call from his friend John Wayne Gacy, a well-known and well-liked community figure. Gacy was upset about what he called “police harassment” and asked Amirante for help. With the police following his every move in connection with the disappearance of a local teenager, Gacy eventually gives a drunken, dramatic, early morning confession—to his new lawyer. Gacy is eventually charged with murder and Amirante suddenly becomes the defense attorney for one of American’s most disturbing serial killers. It is his first case. This is a gripping narrative that reenacts the gruesome killings and the famous trial that shocked a nation.

American Legal Injustice: Behind the Scenes with an Expert Witness by Emanuel Tanay : Forensic psychiatrist Emanuel Tanay has testified in thousands of court cases as an expert witness, including such notorious cases as those of Jack Ruby, Sam Sheppard, and Theodore ‘Ted’ Bundy. Tanay walks the reader through his experiences in the courtroom, explaining the role of the forensic psychiatrist in the litigation process and providing a ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of our criminal justice system, including individual chapters on some of his most interesting and infamous cases. Tanay also provides clear examples of the rampant injustice that he has witnessed and argues that the potential for injustice is built into our legal system in the form of incompetent lawyers, the imbalance of resources between the pricey defense lawyers hired by large corporations in civil trials and the inexperienced lawyers often hired by plaintiffs, and the political concerns of elected judges and prosecutors. American Legal Injustice: Behind the Scenes with an Expert Witness is a must-read for Law & Order, Court TV, and true crime enthusiasts.

The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer by Jason Moss : It started with a college course assignment, then escalated into a dangerous obsession. Eighteen-year-old honor student Jason Moss wrote to men whose body counts had made criminal history: men named Dahmer, Manson, Ramirez, and Gacy.

Posing as their ideal victim, Jason seduced them with his words. One by one they wrote him back, showering him with their madness and violent fantasies. Then the game spun out of control. John Wayne Gacy revealed all to Jason — and invited his pen pal to visit him in prison…

It was an offer Jason couldn’t turn down. Even if it made him…

The book that has riveted the attention of the national media, this may be the most revealing look at serial killers ever recorded and the most illuminating study of the dark places of the human mind ever attempted.

The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town in Terror by James Presley : Set in the rowdy, often lawless town of Texarkana shortly after WWII, The Phantom Killer is the history of the most puzzling unsolved cases in the United States.

The salacious and scandalous murders of a series of couples on Texarkana’s “lovers lanes” in seemingly idyllic post-WWII America created a media maelstrom and cast a pall of fear over an entire region. What is even more surprising is that the case has remained cold for decades. Combining archival research and investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian James Presley reveals evidence that provides crucial keys to unlocking this decades-old puzzle.

Dubbed “the Phantom murders” by the press, these grisly crimes took place in an America before dial telephones, DNA science, and criminal profiling. Even pre-television, print and radio media stirred emotions to a fever pitch. The Phantom Killer, exhaustively researched, is the only definitive nonfiction book on the case, and includes details from an unpublished account by a survivor, and rare, never-before-published photographs.

Although the case lives on today on television, the Internet, a revived fictional movie and even an off-Broadway play, with so much of the investigation shrouded in mystery since 1946, rumors and fractured facts have distorted the reality. Now, for the first time, a careful examination of the archival record, personal interviews, and stubborn fact checking come together to produce new insights and revelations on the old slayings.

The Only Living Witness: The true story of serial sex killer Ted Bundy by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth : Michaud and Aynesworth are a reporter and an investigator team who interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy while he was on death row in Florida. This volume chronicles his activities throughout several states but is at its best in a long section of transcripts from the interview in which, while he never admits his quilt, Bundy offers vivid details of the crimes and commentary on the mindset of a serial killer. This revised edition includes some additional information.

Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters by Peter Vronsky : In this unique book, Peter Vronsky documents the psychological, investigative, and cultural aspects of serial murder, beginning with its first recorded instance in Ancient Rome through fifteenth-century France on to such notorious contemporary cases as cannibal/necrophile Ed Kemper, the BTK killer, Henry Lee Lucas, Monte Ralph Rissell, Jerry Brudos, Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and the emergence of what he classifies as the “serial rampage killer” such as Andrew Cunanan, who murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Vronsky not only offers sound theories on what makes a serial killer but also makes concrete suggestions on how to survive an encounter with one—from recognizing verbal warning signs to physical confrontational resistance. Exhaustively researched with transcripts of interviews with killers, and featuring up-to-date information on the apprehension and conviction of the Green River killer and the Beltway Snipers, Vronsky’s one-of-a-kind book covers every conceivable aspect of an endlessly riveting true crime phenomenon.

Escape from Alcatraz: The True Crime Classic by J. Campbell Bruce : In 1963, just weeks before the original publication of this book, the last prisoner was escorted off Devil’s Island and Alcatraz ceased to be a prison. Author J. Campbell Bruce chronicles in spellbinding detail the Rock’s transition from a Spanish fort to the maximum-security penitentiary that housed such infamous inmates as Robert Stroud, aka the Birdman of Alcatraz, and mobster Al “Scarface” Capone. The chapters describing the daring escape attempts by Frank Morris and two accomplices from this “inescapable” prison became the basis for the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie. Discover the intriguing and absorbing saga of Alcatraz, whose name is still synonymous with punitive isolation and deprivation, where America’s most violent and notorious prisoners resided in tortuous proximity to one of the world’s favorite cities.

Sins of the brother: The definitive story of Ivan Milat and the backpacker murders by Mark Whitaker and Les Kennedy : Seven young backpackers brutally murdered. A nationwide police hunt spanning three years and thousands of hours of forensic investigation. And finally, the capture and conviction of one man.Sins of the Brother tells the gripping story of road-worker Ivan Milat and the horrific Belanglo Forest murders that shocked the world and forever etched themselves into Australian criminal folklore. It explores a family culture so twisted and bizarre it would lead inexorably to a serial killing spree, scrutinises the police case – its successes and failures – and reveals the chilling mystery left behind.Told in novelistic style from interviews with the Milat family, key police investigators, Crown lawyers and the lucky souls who escaped with their lives, Sins of the Brother is a classic of crime literature – a psychological thriller come to life and a disturbing portrait of a man whose delusions became reality.’More than just the suspenseful story of some notoriously evil murders, this shocking and strangely seductive book is a painstaking examination of today’s society. This is Australia on the slab.’

[Part 1]

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 10

~*~Sebastian~*~

 I parked next to Emma, grabbed the food, and followed her into the condo. The door opened directly into the family room. There were wood floors with a large patina gray and blue area rug. She had one of those couches with a chaise on one end. There was an oversized chair with an ottoman in the same dark gray. Tables sat at either end of the couch. Natural light flooded the room from a window on one wall and French doors on the other. A TV hung in the corner of the front door and window wall with a fireplace between the TV and windows. Pillows in a blue to match the rug and a dark berry were tossed on the chair and in the corner under the TV were a stack of three big floor cushions. My guess was they were for sitting in front of the fire. The room felt comfortable. I wanted to jump onto the chaise and hug one of the berry pillows.

I followed Emma's lead and kicked my shoes off in the entry. I don't wear shoes in my place either. New York streets are disgusting. I don't want that shit tracked through my home.

 She headed left to the kitchen. It was an open floor plan with a breakfast bar separating the two rooms. Grey fabric bar stools tied the areas together. Lower cabinets where black, uppers white, Carrara marble counter tops, and black appliances. There was another window over the farmhouse sink.

 "Wow. I love your kitchen." 

She smiled at me over her shoulder, "Thank you." 

I almost lost the ability to breathe. Her shy smile dropped my heart to my knees. She looked so beautiful with her hair messed up from where she'd pulled it out of the ponytail. Seeing her against the backdrop of her house... breath taking. 

I put our food on the bar, "Can I use your bathroom?" 

"Of course." She pointed to a door in the far corner of the kitchen. "Ignore the clothes." 

I closed the door behind me. Laundry room and bathroom. Convenient. There was a pile of folded clothes on a long counter across from the washer and dryer. 

When I came out, she had lunch set out. I sat on the stool next to her and put the roll I'd grabbed for her in the top of her take out container, "For you." 

"Thank you." 

I jumped in where we left off at Whole Foods. "It's really thoughtful how you use people's names."

 "I think everyone likes to hear their name and most people don't even look at the person checking them out or bringing their food." She looked over from her salad, "It may sound naive, but I hope that small nicety makes their day better."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it did. I don't think it’s naive. It's nice. Lots of people don't think to do the nice thing. Those small acts of kindness can change the world for someone." 

"Our brains involuntarily respond to the sound of our own names, even if we're unable to respond to or act on anything else." She smirked, "Can you ignore it when someone yells your name?" 

I'd just shoved a forkful of salad in my mouth. I chewed and shook my head. "Nope." I pointed my fork at my ear. "I wear earbuds a lot." I cringed, "Don't take that the wrong way. When I'm at an event or on a stage and people are screaming my name it's... fantastic and humbling. I'd be crushed if they stopped. But when I'm going about my day it's easier. I know people who can ignore hearing their name, but I can't. So, if I hear my name I look over and usually it’s taken as an ok to come over and talk." I cringed again. "It is. I like talking to fans. I love hearing stories. Most people aren't rude." My shoulders slumped, "Sometimes I just want to get to the subway and go to my friend's place." I shrugged and tilted my head, looking at her, "Earbuds." 

She nodded, "I get it. Those guys at the restaurant weren't rude and didn't stay too long." 

"I don't like when someone interrupts when I'm eating. They waited and, like you said, didn't stay too long." 

She looked curious, "What if they had?" 

"The hostess recognized me, so management knew we were there. Usually, if someone stays too long or lots of people start coming over, management will clear them away. If they hadn't, I would have gotten us out of there." 

She laughed, "Do you always know an exit route?" 

"Not even close." I laughed too, "I'm good at winging it." 

She ran her hand down my bicep, "If I made you uncomfortable, l'm sorry." 

I'd done a lot of cringing in the last few minutes. "Nothing to be sorry about. I'd rather you ask." Pretty sure I was looking uncomfortable again. "I don't want you to think I don't realize how blessed I am." 

Emma stopped me with another touch on my arm, "Not at all, Sebastian. Privacy shouldn't be the price you pay for doing what you love." 

This would also be a perfect time for a kiss. However, one of us had a mouthful of blue cheese and spinach. 

It wasn't me.

 We laughed and talked about the gym while finishing eating. There was a lot to laugh about from the yoga class. The woman who kept shushing us scared me. It was a good thing Emma got us out of there. She didn't believe me and laughed. When she laughs, she gets the cutest dimple in her cheek. Just one. Left cheek.

 Emma closed the lid on what was left of her salad, "You were right. The roll was delicious." 

"I would never lie about bread." I was finished too and closed the lid.

 Emma stuffed the containers back in the bag then into a garbage can under the sink. She came back around the breakfast bar, "I'll get you towels and show you where everything is."

 I grabbed my bag and followed her up the stairs. The bathroom was the first door on the right. Emma opened the second door, pulled out a set of towels and a washcloth, and handed them to me. "Thank you."

 "No problem." She pointed to the third door. "That's the guest room. You can use it if you want. I'll meet you back downstairs."

 I nodded and walked into the bathroom. When I pulled my phone out of my shorts, I noticed the blinking light. My mom texted asking what time I'd be home and when I was leaving tomorrow. Fuck. I was taking the train back to the city tomorrow morning. I leaned on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. I watched myself start to smile. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't taking a train anywhere in the morning.

 Naturally, I over thought this in the shower. There were tradeoffs to be made. I felt guilty blowing off helping my parents to go to a festival with Emma. If I stayed through tomorrow it would negate skipping out today. I could leave Monday morning. But that was the holiday. Schools are closed. Wonder if Emma has plans? I had plans Monday, but nothing I couldn't skip out on.

 I realize I've only known her twenty-four hours and I'm making decisions based on the rest of the day going well. I don't know why it wouldn't. This has been good and fun. Who the hell knows where it will go, but there's a little voice telling me not to go home yet.

 I beat her downstairs and sent a few texts updating my plans while stretched out on the chaise. The remote was on the table next to me. I hit the power button and brought up something like Netflix, but wasn't.

 I heard Emma come down the stairs and looked over, "Hey, what's this Plex thing?"

 She sat down on the other end of the couch. Too far away. "You look really good in that color, Seb."

 I looked down to see what I'd put on. Dark red t-shirt. "Thanks."

 Emma smiled and nodded to the TV, "My father digitized his entire movie and TV series collection. Plex organizes everything. It's like your own personal Netflix."

 I'd been poking around for a little while, "This is cool. How does it group things into collections?"

 "We do it. I can sign into the server and add things to favorites or fuck around with Amy's."

 I clicked on Fave-Emma. "You like a lot of reality TV."

 Emma laughed, "That’s Amy messing with me. I hate reality TV. It's like the worst parts of people sensationalized for the masses. I don't like watching people be horrible to each other. I don't like people being put in prescribed situations and rewarded for being nasty."

 It was cute how worked up she was. I must have smiled.

 "What?"

 I raised my shoulders, "No Survivor or Keeping up with the Kardashian's for you."

 She understood I was teasing, "Or Big Brother or American MasterChef. Australian MasterChef is good. I like Great British Bake off and The Repair Shop. Polite British reality TV."

 "What about movies?"

 Her demeanor changed to wide eyed excitement. "Oh, they're completely different. They're not real people being horrible. It's scripted. I love in movies what I hate in reality TV. One of my favorite movies is 'Closer' and it's," she shook her head and cringed, "harsh."

 I startled, "With Natalie Portman?"

 She nodded, "Love it. It's one of the most honest movies I've ever seen."

 I sat up, threw my head back, and put my hand up, pretending to be exasperated. "Honest? Everyone in that movie was a big fat liar." Her smile let me know she recognized the quote from the movie.

 "Everyone is incredibly unlikable, but Larry didn't lie."

 I raised my eyebrows.

 She stuck her tongue out a little and pointed at me, "He was a horrible person, but not a liar. He was so hurt when Anna cheated."

 I leaned forward, "No, no, no. That scene was horrifying."

 "Yes, but it was real in how people can destroy each other. The whole interchange where he wanted to know all the details. Where they were, what they did. He even asked what the other guy's cum tasted like." She fell back onto the couch. “In a movie full of lies that was the most honest thing I've ever seen." 

I leaned back, mirroring her. Partly because I wanted to pounce on her. The back and forth had been fun with both of us fervently involved in the conversation. Then she used the words “what his cum tasted like” and my brain short circuited a little. I laced my fingers on my chest and thought. I turned my head to look at her, "You're right. I remember sitting in the theater with my mouth hanging open. I thought it was the language, because it was almost obscene. Only now... I wonder if it was because it was a brutally unsanitized version of a break up."

 She smiled and shrugged one shoulder, "Made you think."

 "It's the teacher in you."

"Occupational hazard."

Important question. "Are first grade teachers allowed to say the word cum?"

She drew her eyebrows down with a look of disgust, "Not in front of the children."

 I laughed so loud I startled myself.

Emma shook her head, stood up, and held out her hand to me, "Let's go play, Sebastian."

 I took her hand, letting her pull me up. I put up enough resistance for her to drag me out the door. As soon as I closed the vehicle door behind her, I realized I'd missed the perfect moment. When she pulled me off the couch, I should have pulled her back, taken her in my arms, and kissed her.

I fucking missed it. Again.

 We pulled out and Emma told me which way to go. “One of my favorites is similar. Husbands and Wives. It’s funny and tragic. It’s real too. You'd probably like it. Godfather. Lots of classics for the acting and film making. I loved Boogie Nights.  Life of a male porn star. I enjoyed seeing how the porn industry worked."

"Tempted?" Mischief was in those green eyes.

 "Porn and acting aren't always so very different. Scum bags in both."  I wanted to hear more from her. "What do you love besides fucking cavemen?" Another quote from Closer.

 "Um, Sliding Doors. Princess Bride. I like trilogies. Lord of the Rings is the best thing ever. The extended cuts. Dad is a huge Tolkien fan. He read us the Hobbit when we were little. We couldn't focus on reading the Fellowship, but the movies worked. Loved The Force Awakens.”

I could tell by what she didn’t say she wasn't in love with number two, "Opinion on Last Jedi?"

 "Hated everything about Canto Bight. They made Poe both stupid and sexist." She growled, "Fucked up script."

 I nodded. I was biting my tongue. I wasn’t a stranger to fucked up scripts. I wanted to ask. She would tell the truth, which was good, but I didn't know the way she'd go. Next stoplight I looked over, "Dare I ask?"

 She laughed, "Don't care for the Hulk. Like Spiderman and Ant Man only in ensemble movies, not the solo films. Love Tony's genius and arrogance. I almost peed my pants because of fat Thor. Love Wanda and Nat. Love everyone in Guardians except Peter Quill and not just because he could have stopped Thanos. I thought I just didn't like Pratt because I didn’t like him in 10 Years and Parks and Rec, but loved Jurassic World. So its Peter. I can watch baby Groot dance all day. Did I miss anybody?" Her eyebrows were pulled down with the question she was facetiously asking.

I went with it. "Falcon. Hawkeye, Vision." Left out a couple of major players. The one’s I really wanted an opinion on. I put the ball back in her court.

"Snarky fun, steady, a bit over bearing." I just nodded and we were quiet. A few seconds passed before she put her hand on my arm, "I can't keep this up. Seems mean."

"A little teasing never hurt me."

 She smiled and went on. "At the beginning Steve and Bucky were all boy. They ragged on each other and I didn't really care for either. I know they were best friends, but I didn’t like how they interacted. Bucky was cocky and dismissive of Steve. Steve was annoying in his earnestness. I liked how the characters grew. Beautiful bad boy, who’s not really bad. I like broken characters. Bucky is definitely broken. Was broken. We'll see."

 I was good with her take on Bucky and Steve. I don’t completely disagree. "I hear there are plans for Bucky."

"You would know."

I nodded, "You thought Bucky was beautiful?" I said this with a straight face and looked at the road.

"Wanna know a secret?" 

I guessed she didn't want to answer, "Sure."

"Bucky is much hotter than Steve."

"I think I'm glad to hear that." Yeah, more than good with her opinion.

 Parking was a bitch. The positive about parking so fucking far away is I got to walk a couple of blocks down the street holding my date's hand. It's amazing how sometimes the simplest things make me happiest. Right now, I'm pretty damn happy.