#they gave him a hat and called it a new character. like that's the lowest effort alt skin ever. doofenschmirtz-ass shit

[antirepurp]

can't wait for the debut of the brand new character "Series Knuckles(TM)" in the third sonic movie who else is hyped

[felassan]

Dragon Age development insights from David Gaider - PART 3

This information came from DG on a recent SummerfallStudios Twitch stream where he gave developer commentary while Liam Esler continued playing DAO from where they had left off in Part 1 and Part 2. I transcribed it in case there’s anyone who can’t watch the stream (for example due to connection/tech limitations, data, time constraints, personal accessibility reasons, etc). A lot of it is centered on DAO, but there’s also insights into other parts of the franchise. Some of it is info which is known having been put out there in the past, and some of it is new. There’s a bit of overlap or repetition with topics covered in Parts 1 and 2. This post leaps from topic to topic as it’s a transcript of a conversational format. It’s under a cut due to length.

The stream can currently be watched back here. Next week LE will be streaming a different DAO playthrough with commentary from another guest. Two weeks from now LE and DG will return to continue this playthrough for another stream session like this one.

(Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

[wording and opinions DG’s, occasionally LE’s; paraphrased]

The Battle of Ostagar cutscene is one of the first big cutscenes that got made during production. When it was shown to the team for the first time, it was one of those moments where DG felt like “Awesome, this is a game!” Context: During the development of a game it feels more like doing a series of disconnected tasks and assets rather than working on a game, so seeing stuff come together at times like this is rad. The first time it was shown, it had temporary placeholder voiceacting.

Pathfinding is always a nightmare to do, especially in games which involve a party of NPCs. As soon as other characters are involved alongside the PC, it’s exponentially more difficult and takes up a lot more resources. The PC is the most complex thing going on visually on-screen, with so many moving pieces, and in party-based games you have four [etc] of them. So, some critique that’s made of the DA games in regards to this subject which compares it to games like The Witcher doesn’t really make sense, as The Witcher has a solo PC.

‘Weird mage hats’ didn’t really become a trademark ‘DA thing’ akin to their place of random pieces of cheese around the world until later games. For DAO, someone probably asked the artists to create “mage helmets”. Mage hats actually looked better in the concept art than they did in-game. What happened was that they were already modelled and then they didn’t have time to re-do them.

DAO was made for PC first. The plan from the get-go though was that it would be an all-platform release (PC/360/PS3). Games like these are always made for the “lowest common denominator” from among the various platforms that they’re being planned to release for. Games have to be made for the most stringent/basic of the platforms because this makes for less conversion rate. At the time of DAO’s development, the PS3 was getting weak graphically and getting old, and this was quite a limitation: “Why do we have to limit [crowds?] because of this one platform?” “Well, we just gotta”. The original models were a bit too detailed. Later on, the artists started making models that had lower polycounts that they could put in a bit more of. DA was never really focused on making environments realistic in an ambient manner (making environments less “gamey” and more lived in, like having crowded places). They could have put more emphasis there but this would have led to a resources issue. Ambience basically wasn’t a high priority. As a writer DG isn’t keen on this decision and naturally he wanted the world to look more realistic, but he noted that it’s easy for him to say this when this would be work that he didn’t have to do personally.

During DAO development, they might have just had a dev sphere originally that was called “tech design”. DG thinks this was later broken up into systems design, combat design and maybe level design. Level designers are the people that are the implementers of the plot. Narrative design is a branch of the level design spoke. System designers respond to requests from lead designers. Narrative designers and writers don’t interact with system designers much unless they have to. As an example of interaction here, system designers might come to writers and say, “Alright, so we’re doing combat, what are the sorts of things a mage can do in this world?” The writers would be like “Ok, these are the sorts of spells we imagined.” The system designers might then come back with “Ok, that fulfills 2 of the 10 things we need mages to be able to do in combat. Is it possible that mages could do [this]?” Sometimes it is, and other times it would be like “No, that’s really outside of the lore”. Still, sometimes said original-lore-breaking things would be added to the game a week later due to necessity and DG would be like “Oh ok”. This kind of stuff is an insight into how some aspects of the lore came to be or changed over time during development.

The system designers on DAO got a better idea of what could be done and what could not be done according to the lore as things went on. At first, DG had to keep telling them things like “It’s not that big a deal, but in the lore mages can’t teleport. Instant teleportation isn’t possible in the world”. The system designers needed a spell where someone could get from spot A to spot B really fast on the battlefield. DG said that that’s fine in itself, “have them turn into a cloud of bees or have a light that moves between the two places. We can use magic as a transition or as a speed thing, but what is against the lore is instant teleportation, to traverse distance like that”. At first the system designers weren’t on board with it, but they got on board with it later. 

This sort of thing doesn’t just depend on the system designers. It also depends on what the tech artists are willing to do. Sometimes a certain request made of them was too hard and they said they weren’t able to do it. Other times it was a matter of DG not communicating the request properly, or the tech artists had already done the work and so throwing out all their work to re-do it just because he didn’t communicate clearly wouldn’t have been cool. So sometimes the originally planned lore got contravened, and sometimes things other parts of the team implemented in the game became the new lore.

LE made an insightful observation at this point: You can’t think of game development as a cohesive series of decisions that everyone on the team is involved in. This simple isn’t how it works at all, especially on large complex projects. There are processes at some studios for decision-making, but most of the time, a bunch of decisions get made by system designers. Others get made by level designers, still others by narrative designers. Situations then arise where someone notices a certain decision and that that decision and another one contradict each other. This is where conflict arises and a solution has to be negotiated. This is why often in games we get elements in the end product that are dissonant, because it was discovered too late or by the time it was realized, it was too difficult to change. It’s actually a miracle that on a game of DAO’s depth and scope that all these things largely hold together. [My note: With this insight and the context below on documentation, it makes sense how BW sometimes appear to ‘forget aspects of their own lore’ or end up contradicting parts of the lore in different parts of the franchise]

Sometimes such things would be noticed in time and DG would go and say, “Can we not do that or do something else instead?” and the relevant parties would be totally accommodating and do it (depending on how much time they had or how much time it would take to remedy). Sometimes this worked out and sometimes it didn’t. For the most part, everyone wants to work together. DG couldn’t be involved in every aspect of systems design “like some kind of All-Watchful eye of lore”, so he had to rely on the people who were there knowing enough from the documentation. Not everybody reads every document however. There was so much documentation even back during DAO. DG can only imagine the sheer amount of world/lore documentation that now exists now in the run-up to DA4; he said he thinks that nobody at this point on the current team has read it all, as editor/lore-wrangler Ben Gelinas isn’t with BW anymore. Lots of legacy documentation accumulated very quickly. Sometimes, the old document would still be there. Over time it became harder for people to discern which was the most recent version of a particular document. Sometimes people didn’t update the relevant documentation after changing things. Lore documentation was particularly bad for this issue. BG wrangled all the documentation and created an internal reference wiki (essentially acting as a lorekeeper). He was constantly coming in and picking DG’s brain to clarify conflicting aspects or obtain the correct, in-date information etc (“Good on him”).

DAO was the first time DG was involved in voice-recording. Prior to that he was only on the receiving end, in that the recordings would come in and he’d review them as they did so. DAO is when BW set up their own VO department and where Caroline Livingstone came on. CL wanted DG and Mike Laidlaw to be more involved in the casting process. As a result, the writers then were to write casting scripts: like, ‘For Morrigan, can you write a 1 page script that goes through 3 big emotions? [like regular talking for a bit, then here’s a bit of heightened emotion such as anger, then here’s a part where they’re being funny if they were a comedic character] These scripts had to be kept short so that the recording that was made from it wouldn’t be more than 30-40 seconds in length.

For the initial VA sessions, DG and CL flew down to Technicolor studioin LA and they had all the major castmembers there (later on, recording sessions were done a lot more remotely; this became easier as BW’s setup got more sophisticated). The idea was that they would both be present live in-person for the first 2 or 3 sessions to help each VA find their ‘voice’, and for DG at the first session to sit down with each VA and walk them through who their character was, what DA was about, and help them figure out how their character should talk. Claudia Black was the first of these sessions and he was “a wreck” going into that one. It got easier after that however. CL gave directions into the soundproof booth and DG was present to give notes on things like pronunciation or the intentions behind some lines. He says he learned everything he now knows about VO direction from CL. The things and tricks CL can do to get a performance out of an actor are amazing. Sometimes an actor would get a bit fixated or stuck on a particular way of delivering a line. CL had atrick to help them past this; “I want you to clear your mind, and I want you to give me a version of this line that’s more yellow”. The idea is that they just had to break out of where they had been stuck in that mindset, and the thing was that it doesn’t matter what “yellow” meant, but what was important was what “yellow” meant to the actor. They could then take that new varied delivery and progress from there.

Alistair’s dialogue when the PC talks to Flemeth outside her hut was the first complex conversation DG wrote for DAO. It was the first one that had a lot of branching and fiddling to it. The hardest conversations to write are the ones with a lot of exposition, and when they do have exposition still making this interesting and natural. At this point in the game, the player has no agency, just reactivity. The devs talked a lot about this subject when they wrote the origin stories. Some of the stories allow the player to initially say no and refuse to join the Wardens, but you always end up being railroaded (the devs here ended up doing a form of the trope ‘But Thou Must!’). Do you give the player the option to say no? Is it important to allow them that option? At some point, writers have to accept that the player has some level of buy-in and is game to play. They discussed a lot where they sat on this and what is agency. “Maybe don’t worry about offering the player every possible choice, but about having reactivity.”

Loghain wasn’t okay with letting Cailan die. He didn’t sit and angst about it openly where the player could see, and once the decision had been made, it being Loghain, it was Made and Had To Be Done (he felt that it was something that had to happen). But he didn’t kill the son of the woman he’d once loved dearly as a random off-handed thing.

The Solas twist was planned from the beginning, from the DAO dev days. Such big things/broad strokes have stayed the same. However, some of the details have changed or been added along the way. They didn’t know for instance that Solas was going to be a companion; that was something they came up with when they were planning DAI. Flemeth’s true identity has never changed.

Zevran says Rinna was an elf, but WoT says she was a bastard child of a noble in line for the Antivan throne (the Antivan royal family being human). When asked if this was an oversight, DG said yes she was a bastard, but she may have been really far down the line of succession, i.e. technically in line, but would probably never have been allowed to take the throne in practise had that scenario ever actually arisen.

DA was maybe inspired a bit/some by ASOIAF. This was way before it was on TV of course. DG at the time had read the first book or so. He liked the fact that it was a fantasy setting but low-magic, and was about the people in the world and their politics rather than magic, prophecy and other high fantasy stuff.

It was only by DAI that the system designers decided that it was okay to think of banter as an “activity that players engaged in”. In previous games, the devs had inadvertently managed to ‘train’ players to immediately stop when companion banter fires so that they could hear it all (because if you do something else, it gets cut off). When the level designers put together the spaces, they accounted for what players would be doing i.e. how much time between combat. They didn’t however account for like “You’re travelling down this hall and there’s a banter for half of that space. This is an activity, so it’s okay not to put anything in there”. This is how the inadvertent training happened, when originally banters were supposed to be a thing that ran as you move around the world (as opposed to stopping and standing still). 

When asked if the Blight resulted from the creation of the Veil or pre-dates it: “I think you’ll probably have to wait on the game[s] for that answer, if it ever explains it”. He was also asked whether Arlathan is the Golden City. He won’t answer such questions naturally because they are “DeepLooooooore™~~ ♫”.

DG isn’t sure that he will play DA4 when it comes out. It’s not that PW and the team won’t do a good job, they will, it’s just that when DG plays RPGs he has an analytical mindset going on and finds it difficult to slip into the game and just enjoy. For DA4, as he was previously so involved in DA, there’ll naturally probably be an extra level of that with feeling like “What would I have done [for particular parts of the game’s design]?”. Alternatively he might instead feel like “Wow, this is awesome, here’s a game I would have made but didn’t have to do any work on!” DG stressed that it’s important to him to be fair about the work of his former colleagues - he wouldn’t want to come out and be like “I wouldn’t have made [this or that] choice”. He also noted that just because something might be a call he personally wouldn’t have implemented in the game, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad call. There are people out there where if DG intimated at all that there was an aspect of DA4 that he wasn’t keen on, he’s worried that they would pounce on it and use it as ammunition against the current team (who are his friends that he really cares about and wants to do well). He walked away from DA voluntarily and is happy his game will continue on. PW popped by in chat at this point and agreed that it’s definitely hard to play something that you used to work on.

Other assorted tidbits:

DG really opposed the part at the Battle of Ostagar where mabari are set to charge the darkspawn horde - “That’s not how you would use dogs [in war]”

There was supposed to be a cutscene where Flemeth rescues the HoF and Alistair from the top of the Tower of Ishal in her dragon-form. This was cut. DG remembered being angry about this like “nobody is gonna buy that you fall unconscious and then wake up in the hut totally rescued. [...] I guess I’m not always right”

When DG went to Beamdog there was a period where they thought about making a Baldur’s Gate 3. They put together a pitch and had a long series of discussions contemplating things like “What do we need from BG3? What do we expect it to have in order to have the BG name? What is needed and not needed to connect to from the previous games?”

DG isn’t sure who designed the DAO inventory system

PW in chat recalled a game writer from another company who was really ragging on DAI on the Christmas Day after release

Narrative designer and system designer are very different positions/roles with very different responsibilities

Simon Templeton as Loghain did all his voicework stuff in one take, which was very impressive

It would have been the marketing department that chose 30 Seconds To Mars for music. DA was really good at choosing up-and-coming acts for this that weren’t huge when they used their songs, but became huge afterwards

During work on Baldur’s Gate 2 was the most DG has ever crunched. He slept in the office a few times

“As soon as you get both Alistair and Morrigan in the party, that’s when it’s like ahh yes, this is a BioWare game”

Were Flemeth and Morrigan’s interactions with each other and the PC when Morrigan is being told to leave the Wilds and go with the Hero an act, considering that Morrigan did know about the OGB plan? No. That was The Plan, but said plan wasn’t like “Ok, she’s going to leave Right Now”

The elves and the inversion of the traditional elven trope are DG’s favorite part of the world/world-building

One of the original intentions for DAO was to make it so that the player wouldn’t need a healer in the party, or that there would be different kinds of healing, or that healing itself wouldn’t be a thing, but this just didn’t work out

The Imperial Highway used to be a really important part of the lore but it kind of got forgotten a bit

It’s kinda funny that after release some players expressed that Corinne Kempa’s accent as Leliana was “sooo fake”. It’s not fake, she’s actually a Brit that moved to France when she was young, so she has the exact type of accent that Leliana would have (Leliana was born in Orlais and is culturally Orlesian, but her mother was Fereldan and she considers herself as such)

They talked some about the need for documentation and how doing this can feel beurocratic and uncreative and how like you’re not working on a game or writing. PW in chat expressed that there was a year where they spent a lot of it working in PowerPoint and Excel, “so I feel this”

When they switched art directors to Matt Goldman, his first big complaint was about all the brown. He came to DG like “Is there a lore reason for or are you particularly in favor of the brown for story reasons?” DG was like “Uhh no” and Matt was then like “Ok good”

Console codes/commands aren’t usually stripped out of a game before release, they are usually still in the built, just disabled. The system itself is not removed but how to access said system is

BW doesn’t crunch as bad as we hear some companies do, and kind of prided itself on “not being terrible at crunch”. But BW’s “not terrible at crunch” is still crunch. We obviously don’t commend abusive family members for only abusing people on certain days of the week or whatever

Kate Mulgrew is American but she at times did the same thing a lot of the British VAs did, which was that the devs had a lot of struggle with getting them to say “darkspawn” correctly, with the emphasis in the right places. They’d say “dark SPAWN” as if it was two words with an adjective, and the stress put in the wrong place

Lack of children in DAI was a resources thing. They only had time to make a certain number of models. There was a series of meetings where they had to decide what things to cut. In the last meeting it was like ‘Here’s a bunch of things you don’t want to cut, we need to cut 4 of them’

They decided to put horned qunari back in DA2 because then they had the resources to do so. They then ended up having to explain why there were hornless qunari at the same time, and make this an in-world explanation as opposed to just ‘We didn’t have the resources, that was totally intentional’

Lots of players missed out on recruiting Leliana and/or Sten on their first playthrough and didn’t even know they existed/could be recruited. “Apparently we weren’t that great at pointing players in the right direction”

Tevinter is inspired by the Byzantine Empire (which wasn’t called that at the time incidentally, this is a name given by historians after the fact), what used to be the Roman Empire after the western part fell. This is the era Tevinter today is meant to encapsulate: decadent but clearly in decline, far away from the heyday and the heights of the former empire [source]

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

[Part 4]

[Part 5]

[Part 6]

[‘Insights into DA dev from the Gamers For Groceries stream’ transcript]

[realm-sweet-realm]

Prison Cell, chapter 2

This is a story taking place in an AU where the studio became the sketch dimension before most of the sacrifices were made.  While this AU will have an emphasis on horror, especially in the later chapters, I also want to show the resilience of some of these characters.

---

"Can I be the one to go down there?" Susie asked.

"No," Abby answered firmly. "First we need to decide what we're going down there for. And I'm sorry, but I don't think it's going to be a rescue mission. I don't trust you not to turn it into one. Beyond that, though, whoever it is, it has to be someone at least somewhat nondescript. So, not you- you're pretty well-known, and your size alone is pretty distinctive. And not me, either- there are no other black women in this studio, so there definitely aren't any who are loyalists. And not Henry- he's a wanted man. Any volunteers?"

In the end, Jack was chosen for the first mission. He was fairly forgettable in appearance, and the one of the two people down there who knew him well wouldn't be one to call him out. Of course, the other was Joey Drew, but he was nonetheless the best candidate.

After Jack had been assigned, there was a brief discussion about where to hide Henry, they found someone to replace Norman as the projectionist, and a circuit of people were chosen to keep watch of the elevator at night so that no one would be attacked.

---

The next day, Jack put on the loyalist robes, traded his hat for a mask, and headed down in the elevator. The first lower floor that the elevator stopped at was at the old breakroom. Two men were there, playing pool in uniforms but no masks. It was strange how normal it looked. Jack figured that the masks must have only been for specific uses, including any visits to the upper floors. Hopefully he didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

"Hey," he said to them, trying to disguise his voice somewhat, "I have to check on the prisoners. I'm covering for a buddy. But he forgot to tell me where they are. Can you help me?"

One of the men gave him a funny look. There were a thousand things that could have given him away. Maybe all loyalists already knew where the prisoners were kept. "Floor 3B. Take two lefts. You can't miss it."

Jack thanked them and left.

Floor 3B was the second-to-last one, and it opened in a nondescript hallway. Once he’d followed the directions, he got to what looked like an unremarkable row of office doors. They looked like that, but Jack could hear someone crying within them, and could smell human waste. This was, undeniably, the place. Jack tried a few doors and found them to be locked. So, after checking to make sure that there was no one else nearby, he tried talking to the people within them. There were six prisoners in total. One of them was Emma LaMonte. Four of them had been a part of a small insurrection early on. Their stories broke Jack’s heart. One of them, Lacie, had been left with a broken leg that they had done nothing to treat. It had set incorrectly and was now a permeant cause of pain and poor mobility. Another of them, Shawn, had been fed ink. The final prisoner was also a surprise.

“Allison? I thought you were a loyalist.”

“I was, but I wasn’t very good at following the rules. Tom caught me breaking a pretty big one. He doesn’t want me to end up dead. So, he dragged me in here, and told the others that I’d done something less severe. Something that would get me locked up a long time, but not killed. I get treated better than the other prisoners, and Tom comes to visit me and take me around most nights like I’m a free person, but he still doesn’t trust me not to get myself killed. I know it’s only temporary, though.”

“Temporary?”

“Well, Tom says that Joey is working on a way out for all of us. I hope that’s true. But I’ve been in the dark pretty much since the beginning.”

Jack nodded. “I’m real sorry this has happened to you. Can I ask what you were doing? Oh- and do you know where there might be more prisoners?”

“I don’t know about other prisoners. But as for what I was doing- I was visiting the outside without permission. I actually did it several times before I got caught. If you want to do it, the portal is on floor 2B.”

“Okay. Thanks again,” Jack said before leaving.

The portal was not hard to find. A door like any other on floor 2B was in fact marked with the word, “portal.” Someone had left their keys in the door. Jack pocketed the keys and went in.

The inside of the room had, in addition to many typical janitorial supplies, a rack of small vials of dark, nearly-black liquid, a set of post-it notes, and a set of instructions. The instructions read, 

Step 1: write where you want to go on a note and stick it to a door.

Step 2: pour a vial of blood at the base of the door.

Curious as to how specific one had to be and how far the door’s powers extended, Jack wrote “China” on a note and poured out a vial. He opened the door, and on the other side was wilderness. Perhaps this was the very center of China. After being stunned for a moment at being able to see greenery and smell fresh air for the first time in months, Jack realized that, since the portal worked, there was a much better way he could be using it. Giddy, he wrote down his old address and repeated the ritual. The door opened to a closet in his own house. He could hear his dog barking and the voice of one of his kids, and for a moment he considered abandoning the studio and everyone in it.

Then the door shut, and opened again. Jack was roughly pulled through it, back into the supply closet.

“What were you doing!?” a woman yelled at him. Then, her voice dropped to a whisper. “Okay, give me back my keys and don’t tell anyone I forgot them, and I won’t tell anyone that you snuck a trip through the portal. Got it?” she was clearly just as frightened as he was.

“I won’t tell anyone. But could you please just let me have this? Just for ten minutes. Please?”

The woman appeared to mull this over. “Sure. But seriously- you can’t go through there dressed like that. Here, I’ll hold your mask...” the woman reached for his mask. 

Jack backed up against the wall. “Actually, I changed my mind. But don’t worry, I still won’t tell anyone.”

“Wait... you seem familiar...”

Jack opened the door and scrambled to the elevator, not looking back to see if she followed. 

---

“Okay, so the good news is that we know that the insurrectionists are alive,” Abby began after Jack had returned back and composed himself enough to report his findings. “And now we know about the portal. That’s very interesting. The bad news is that the prisoners are being kept in awful conditions, and they’re probably going to suspect anyone who’s wearing the mask in public places from now on. I guess the best thing to do is use someone who looks specifically like someone from down there. So, try to remember how the people down there looked. And thank you, Jack. That was very brave of you.”

Jack nodded and left Abby to her work. Planning an insurrection was difficult, and especially so on top of directing the art department. Shortly after Jack left, there was a knock on her door. It was Susie.

“Susie! Hi! did you get that list I asked for?”

Susie smiled. “Yep. Went to every department. There’s a good dozen or so people who are ready to hit the demon with an ax!”

Abby smiled back. Susie had been a big help to her. “Great! I’ll assign them floors.” hopefully the gambit would pay off. Hopefully they weren’t just throwing good fighters away. The forced blood extraction might have been frightening and violating to the people who received it, of whom there were more than a couple, but who knew when the insurrectionists might need their best fighters? If the demon just dragged them away anyhow, then this wasn’t the best use for them. Of course, being a leader in these times meant making a thousand decisions like that with limited information and hoping that things turned out for the better.

---

Days wore on. The guard system on the elevators had lasted all of a single night. The demon, finding a guard on each floor, had taken to eviscerating one of them. By the time the other guards arrived, the demon was standing over a corpse that appeared nearly inside-out. The demon scurried back to the elevator, and left before anything could be done to him.

The missions went poorly as well. Security had increased after Jack had nearly been found out. While the insurrectionists had managed to map out the lower floors (save for the very basement, which was sealed off), and found out that a great many of the loyalists were sick of a mysterious disease that caused blackened, shiny skin, they were unable to steal keys, free the prisoners, or access the portal again. After two weeks of no progress and three deaths, two of which had been killed after having been found out, Abby called the rebellion off. She felt it was what was best for everyone’s welfare, and since the loyalists had banned wearing masks on the lower floors, going undercover had become immensely more dangerous..

Susie continued to bring people together for meetings. She was not organized and dominant as Abby had been, and her meetings tended to be chaotic. The people were angry and had been emboldened. One night, a man stole a uniform and snuck down to the lowest levels. He killed a man with a knife and injured another before being imprisoned. The next day, Sammy came to the music department and escorted Susie to the basement.

"Where are you taking me?” Susie asked as Sammy clicked the elevator button to bring her to the lower floors.

“Don’t worry. No harm is going to come to you yet. This is something that Joey Drew is explicitly allowing. He knows that he needs to stop this rebellion, so he’s going to use sticks and carrots. And, well, this is the carrot.” Sammy’s face was unreadable.

They went into the room labelled “portal.”

“The first thing that I’ve been asked to do is tell you why all of this is necessary. Susie, your blood can open the portals to the outside. There were only six people in the entire studio with the right blood properties to do that, and your rebellion killed one of them last night.”

Susie nodded. “What I’ve never understood is why you don’t just let everyone out. I mean, you have a portal.”

Sammy took off his shirt, revealing a black growth that had spread across his chest, stomach, and shoulders. “If I spend more than a day or two out there, I will get sick and die. The same is true of everyone who was in the room when the ink machine exploded. Some of us are too deformed to even be allowed through the portal anymore. Joey is looking for a way to cure us so that everyone can be free. And until then, he needs your blood.”

“That doesn’t explain why he’s keeping everyone else.”

Sammy cringed. “That’s probably his own selfishness- wanting to maintain his studio the best he can. He’s not exactly as sane as he used to be. But... you’ll find out about that soon enough. For now, Susie, I’m supposed to give you your carrot. We have some money to spend, and I’ve been given permission to take you anywhere in the world you want for the day and send you back with an offering of gifts.”

Susie thought on this. “What if I told you that I wanted my gift to be Norman?”

“You’ll find out about him tonight. He’s a part of the bargaining.”

Susie’s face lit up. “Okay, wonderful!”

The two of them spent a day in Paris together. Afterwards, Sammy sent her back with two first-aid kits. One of them was fully stocked and then some, as it contained much of the contents that had been in the other one. The other they had emptied. Anything from it they couldn’t pack into the first box had been abandoned on the street, and they had filled the box with knives.

“Please promise me that you won’t use these unless absolutely necessary. Joey doesn’t want it to come to war, but if it does, there is a lot he could use against you. The loyalists could poison you with ink, or they could refuse you access to any resources and starve you into compliance. And thankfully, we don’t have guns, but if things ever escalated, we could get them, and you couldn’t. So, please, for own safety, only use these for self-defense.”

“I won’t let anyone know about these. But I'm not sure I can control them. Angry people that feel like they have nothing to lose are... really hard to lead.”

Sammy went quiet.

“Something wrong, Sammy?”

“Well, I told you that we were planning on using sticks and carrots, right? Well, Joey- if I can still call that thing “Joey”- is about to give you your stick. He wants to crush the rebellion with shock and awe. And I’m scared that he’s just going to make everyone angrier.”

Susie didn’t know what to say to that. “It’ll be okay, Sammy.”

“I sure hope so,” he replied, starting to cry.

Finding the portal again was easy- it was right where it had been at the beginning of the day, in some supply closet in some department store. A loyalist checked over what Susie had brought back, but Sammy had made sure that the person to do so would be another sympathizer, so they were let go. They stepped onto the elevator again. “Alright. Time for the stick. I’m supposed to deliver you to the very basement. I’m sorry.”

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Saturday 1 August 1835

6 25

11 20

No kiss. At my desk at 7 25 at which hour F65° and fine morning - at George’s account and settled with Turner for stones and to come again tonight with estimate for stones for the tail goit - then breakfast at 8 50 - meant to have been off to Halifax to the District bank but Greenwood came convenient enough - I wanted to speak to him about sawyers etc but he came to speak about the letting Nelson have the Northgate house job - poor G- in a nervous agony about it - could scarce speak - damp cold pallor over his face - almost in tears - it was unfairly let  - Helm’s the lower estate and it was to go to the lowest - Helm a very honest man - should have his Greenwoods buildings without estimate - it was not he (Helm) who said anything against me - no ! he said perhaps it was for the best - ‘I had been over-seen’ but I had told him  I might have other building to do and I should not forget him - G- hoped I should excuse his coming to tell me - it was for my interest - ‘they’  (the town I suppose) might oppose me - might oppose my getting a licence - I had done wrong - I heard him very quietly then said what I had done could not be altered now - but I had done right according to my own judgment and conscience and if the town could act so unjustly as to oppose me, they might - if I could not get a licence I had immediately change my plan, and trouble myself very little about it - I wished Mr Harper to decide but he declined doing so, and I had therefore decided as I had told Brian Helm in a moment as  every might and ought to do in a case like this where right principle was the only guide  - I had taken the lower estimate - the case Mr Harper said was singular - yes! but I thought it clear - the price given for the old materials had nothing to do with the estimate of the work - I had a right to do as I liked about the materials - N-‘s estimate of the work was the lower by about £3.15.0 I believed and I had taken - when G- heard the price of the old materials he said he himself would have given £200 for them - if, said I, I had known that in time you should have had them - these were mine to do as I liked with - on hearing my explanation and seeing me so clam yet decided, G- began gradually to cool and said the thing was misrepresented - it only wanted explaining - I told him what I had said both to Nelson and Helm - adding that after the inquiry I had made, it certainly appeared to me that N- was the more experience person - BH owned he had never done any columns - à la longue - G-

SH:7/ML/E/18/0072

became reconciled and talked what he could do if he did set up the Inn - I mentioned his wife’s remark that they might as well put a stick into the house as herself and that G- had as many irons in the fire as he could cool - he said well! but he was master - yes! but said I, she must be mistress or it will not do -‘well! but she does not say so much to me’ - perhaps said I she might be fearful of speaking so plainly before you - however you must judge as well as you can - he said people asked if he would ruin Carr - no! he answered he would say all he could for him to me; but if he C- did not get it, it was another thing - well! said I, I will exonerate you on this point - you have already said enough to save your credit if you never say anymore - but I have not said C- shall have it - he has made no application to me - what have to expect from such a character? Remember the trick he played me about the manure - besides, his immorality is a disgrace - G- said yes! it was and he was very domineering and disagreeable - then inquired about the Hope coach - said I was going to London - bade G- take the 4 inside places and one outside for Monday morning to Sheffield if he could - ordered about hat-bore lined with coarse flannel to be sent home tonight - spoke about Charles H- G- said 2 1/2d. per yard in length would be enough for sawing up rails and settling them - the oaks-logs to remain where they are till my return and then go to Greenwoods to be cut up - G- thinks the Inn will pay me 7 ½ pc. in ten years - on going out found Wheatley the veterinary surgeon come to look at A-‘s pony - something of a splent and liquid blister should be applied - said I was satisfied to find him of my own opinion - George to call tonight for stuff and directions - W- agreed with me, it would be well to let the pony be from 8 to 9 am and from 6 to 7 pm in the paddock, and this would save the trouble of walking her above and would answer much better - then desired W- to examine the old mare – her jole already affected - thinks her not that bad enough to infect the other horses, but she ought to be kept apart - better to put her out of the way - then with my father and Marian - spoke about the mare - my father said nothing against it, but seemed hurt - perhaps it will be best to put the mare away and say no more about it - then had Mr Husband who brought the plans of the water wheel etc from Mr Harper - told  Mr Husband merely to make me out an account of Charles H-‘s work done on  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and in fact this week, and keep an account of what more he did during my absence - said I had spoke to him this morning he was now gone about wood and making a sluice for Spiggs loose a job  which the coal agent would settle about - Reminded Mr Husband that he was in a situation where 100 eyes would be upon him, he must do the best he could and his best plan would be to consult no interest but that of his employer - if there was the least rent to be found, it would be torn from top to bottom - I was anxious for him to be cautious - I said this in consequence of what G- told me - in his agony, he said, he admired Helm who had acted quite independently and never gone near Husband who had said in his G-‘s presence 3 times, and he G- would swear to it and had once thought of telling Mr Harper last night that he (Mr H-) could put £500 into any mason’s pocket and G- thought that very strong and improper language - yes! said I and very wrong and imprudent - I shall not forget it - but if there is anything to be laid against him it must be proved and then he will be off at a tangent - well, said G-, but he  shall be watched - I thanked G- said I should be much obliged to him to keep a sharp look-out, and only advised him to do it as quietly as possible - Perhaps G- had some interest in being for BH-? I shall ponder these things - I am more and more persuaded that the choice of N- was right G- said at last, he had no doubt, he could get a licence - no! no! the house will be licensed - I told G- if he meant to set it up, he had better say nothing and go and consult Gunter in London as to the manner of setting out tables etc G- having said he had seen as much of this sort of thing as Carr, and could buy in horses as well, but did not so well understand coaching -  Having G-  Wheatley and Husband for 3 or 4 minutes and writing the whole so far of today took me till 2 5 - then counting over the money to take to the bank   A- in bad humour about something and copying old parchments again  so I kept aloof   A- off on her pony to Cliff hill at 3 - I wrote and sent John off immediately with note to ‘Messrs. Rawson, Bankers, Halifax’ enclosing to Mr R- fifty pounds in Bank of England ‘on account of the new museum, making the amount of her subscription paid on that account £150’ - a little while talking to Marian and then at 3 ½ off to Halifax down the old bank to the Yorkshire District bank - asked what they would charge upon remitting £100 to London - answer 5/. i.e. 1/4p.c. their usual mode of doing business - to those who have an account with them they give and take 4p.c. and charge ¼ p.c. on all on business done - all bills paid whether in London or elsewhere but that ¼ p.c. includes postage and everything - said I had found fault at another bank with the charge of ¼ p.c. on remittances to London - I would consider about it  - walked off up the street round into Waterhouse street - doubted when opposite the Join stock whether to see what I could do with Mr Carr - then remembered Marian’s telling me her friend was one of the managers to whom all my concerns must be known - turned back to the Yorkshire District bank - asked to be shewn into their private room and opened an account with them leaving £1800 in Bank of England  20s.10.and 5s. and gave Mr. Rawson’s £5 for an order for £4.10.0 payable to ‘George Buckle Esquire’ (on a sheet of letter paper - in payment of his bill for the copies of wills for A- received this morning per parcel) -  returned up the old bank by Whiskam road to where Robert S- and his man Joseph Sharpe were gas-tarring the railing that parts off the new field road - left orders for all the gas-tarring to be done and the railing between Carr and my father to be done over again (i.e. 2nd time) and then if any time to spare during my absence Park-farm wood the little seedling oaks to have the grass cut from around them for 4 or 5 inches breadth and hedges to be cleaned - passed Walker pit - nobody there- sometime in Conery wood - saw A- returned about 5 ¼ - Mark Town came to me in the approach road - I see he would be glad to take the purchase of the cottage himself and said if George N-‘s farm was to sell Mr Ackroyd’s manager Mr Ingham would advance him (Mark) money to pay for it with - told him to make up

SH:7/ML/E/18/0073

 his mind to leave things as already agreed upon - I would take the cottage and do what he wanted he remembering his own proposal to pay me 1/. in the pound on all laid out - I wanted no better agreement - Had Charles H- also in the approach road - told him to saw up and set double railing round Mytholm dam, and to guard the trees in the Wheat field and in George R-‘s upper daisy bank, and enlarge 2 or 3 of the guards in Carr’s Shibden Land but 1st to get the Spiggs Loose shuttle done, and his work should be examined and reckoned upon on my return - told him to put up notice against hunters and trespassers in such places and as many as he thought would be best and enough, the printed notices being left with my aunt - paid Charles H- and Robert Schofield up tonight, and gave the latter £2 on a/c of walling done along the ft. of Bairstow - Dinner at 6 ½ - coffee - A- went upstairs I to my father and Marian for ¼ hour - said A- had a headache - It was bad humour did not like sometimes going from home with me and sometimes not   very different from what she expected   I could not at first guess what she meant   on explanation after coming up from my father she did not like my not taking her to Richmond Park but leaving her to call on or rather spend the day with Mrs Plowes   I explained affectionately and calmly  she cried and said she knew I should think it nothing and only turn  it against her as I had done two or three times before   she thought the sooner we parted the better   I said my greatest and first wish was her happiness if I could not make her happy I only hoped someone else might succeed better etc etc   very kind and affectionate said were I in her place I should not like being taken  as it were  to be looked [at]  I thought it bad taste but it should be as she liked  oh no but she had expected very different  something led to my recalling my expression about old Mrs Saltmarshe that perhaps it might be in her power to introduce Catherine Rawson then  said A- you should not not have claimed powers you did not possess  I reminded her of my saying I hoped to succeed but if I could not my failure would be better than many people’s success   but if left to do my own way I did not despair - she by and by came round  kissed me etc.   I took all well but thinking to myself    there is danger in the first mention  the first thought that it is possible for us to part   time will shew  I shall try to be prepared for whatever may happen 25 minutes with my aunt till 10 20 - very fine day F69° at 10 20 pm

[thefantasygirl3]

Negaverse stories: Quakerjack's backstory

Genre/warnings: Comedy, Slice of life, Action, Drama.

Word count: 3 080

Summary: After the events of Darkwing Duck coming to the Negaverse and helping the now called “Darkwing Ducks” save st. Canard, the four heroes decided to adopt the adorable little Gosalyn, buy a house and start a life together. But the little duckling is curious over how all her dads became heroes to start with, so she asks them to tell her that story.

Notes: The second story out of four, featuring the friendly four. This one came out a little later than expected, but it’s finally here now. Link to other parts of the story: 1 - Megavolt. 3 - Bushroot. 4 - Liquidator.  

Gosalyn let out a heavy sigh as she stepped off the school bus, standing by the bus stop as it drove off. "Haaaaaa… camping… never again" she muttered grumpily as she began trudging along down the road towards her house. The duck had just made it home from her field trip, where they had been camping out in the forest for one night. It was AWFUL! It was cold and wet and the boys kept throwing mud everywhere. Plus there were bugs crawling everywhere, even inside the tent as she tried to sleep. She could have sworn she saw Honkers try to eat one. Made both her and Tank want to throw up.

She soon reached the door to her house, turning the door handle and dragging herself inside with a big pout on her face. As soon as she made it inside, she was suddenly swept up off the ground and quickly placed onto the shoulders of her kooky dad, Quackerjack. "My little doll! Welcome back home!" he cheered as he then started running into the living room with her, not bothering to let her remove her shoes before starting to run around the couch with her. 

Gosalyn just giggled at her daddy's excitement, feeling much better already. 

Quackerjack pulled his daughter off of his shoulders and plopped her down onto the couch, falling down right beside her with a small chuckle. "So! How was the school trip? Did you have fun TOUGHING it out in the forest and surviving on only berries and beaver meat?!" he questioned her as he made gestures with his hands, as if struggling to choke out a snake or something.

"Daddyyyy! It was just one night! We had lunches with us! YOU were the one who snuck those cookies into my lunch box!" she answered him back with a whine and laugh, giving him a weak shove. The colorful duck started giggling softly as he muttered a small "Oh, that's right". "You did what...?" A quiet growl was heard from behind the two. They looked up and saw Liquidator towering over them, holding a stack of papers while wearing a suit, hat and a sour face. 

"Um… nothing, bud" the duck said nervously while sinking down into his seat. As the dog made out of water glared him down, Megavolt put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Come on, Bud. One cookie isn't going to kill her. Now weren't you and your fedora going on an online meeting for your ad thing?" he commented with an obviously self-aware tone, knowing exactly what the so-called thing was. "It's a homburg! Not a fedora!" the dog corrected before storming off upstairs to his online meeting.

As Gosalyn watched her rat dad walk off, she remembered what he had said two nights ago, after telling his backstory. It made her shoot up in her seat hop onto the jester beside her, yelling excitedly. "Hey, daddy! Can you tell me your backstory?! Tell me why you and the other Darkwing Ducks decided to be heroes!" she kept demanding answers, overwhelming the poor, confused dad underneath her. 

He was flabbergasted by her request and just stammered nervously. "U-umm… I-I-I'm not sure it would be a very interesting story to tell! It would be very boring for a kid…" he explained anxiously as his eyes drifted away to the side, soon thereafter adding on a quiet "and I… rather not dig up all that stuff again…".

"Huh? Why?" the little duckling asked confused as she moved off of him, tilting her head curiously. "Well… it's the lowest point of my life, so I'm kinda touchy about it. Plus it involves a lot of complicated business talk" he explained to her as he sat back up, rubbing his neck awkwardly. She just tilted her head more with a confused look, not understanding how business problems could lead to someone fighting crime. Quackerjack noticed the look on her face and gave away a sigh. "I guess I could try to tell it in a way that you can understand, if you really wanna hear it" he murmured softly and smiled an awkward smile. She nodded excitedly, and he pulled his legs up, taking a moment to recollect his memories again.

I used to be the owner of one of the largest toy companies. It was called QuackWerks! We were big in the classic, retro toy market, making a lot of simple little playthings. Dolls, action figures, rocking horses, building blocks, board games! Anything and everything! We were a pretty close-knit company. All of my workers enjoyed working for me and cared about our business. I even considered them my friends, always being so nice to me and complimenting me! They used to say things like "Nice work, Boss! Today's toy ideas were great" and "This is the best company I've ever worked for!". 

We were giants for some time. But then things started to change as the times did. Toys started to advance and become more complicated than we had been prepared for. But our company wasn't willing to get with the times. We stuck with our old-timey toys, as of the rest of the employees' wishes. 

They were all very adamant about not changing our products and to keep them the same as we always had. I, being a nostalgia lover, was more than happy to obey their wishes. They all seemed to appreciate that decision, a lot of them saying things such as "it's so great that you're keeping it simple and not selling your soul to the mainstream". I'd always respond with something like "Well we don't want to… conform to the norm, now do we?", just joking around and such. 

But… things started to get really rough for us during the years, as our sales started to drop. Not a lot of people wanted regular toys anymore, not when there were moving and talking action figures and video games. Video games… the beginning of our downfall.

"What's wrong with video games? I like video games! I play Pet Town and Fertile Farm, and they are a lot of fun!" Gosalyn interrupted his story, seemingly offended by his tone of voice when talking about games. Quackerjack snapped himself out of his little daze and realized how emotional he had probably gotten already without realizing it earlier. "Oh! Well… I didn't mean to say anything bad about them. The games you play are very cute! But at the time, I really hated them because of what it did to my company" he explained with an embarrassed look on his face, attempting to save the slip up. He just gets a suspicious pout from his daughter as she crosses her arms in front of her. "... A-anyways!" the duck said abruptly, so he could return to the story. 

As video games started to get more and more popular, we just kept losing money. No one was interested in boring toys that didn't do anything special when they could be going on an adventure in the virtual world. It was starting to take a toll on me. Our products weren't selling, and we would soon have no more money to buy new products or keep QuackWerks up and running. I had to do something in order to not lose everything!

Then it happened. One day when I was looking through our mail, I found a fascinating one. It was from the Wiffle Boy company, the one that made those Wiffle Boy games the kids were so into. It came as a shock to me, that they would be sending me a letter. So of course I had to see what they wanted. Their message read something like "Hello sir! We heard that you made some nice quality toys. We here are a big fan of your G.I. Melvin toys and were hoping you could make us some Wiffle boy merchandise. Please respond as soon as possible". I couldn't believe it. A game company wanted to join a partnership with us, a well-known old-school toy company that hasn't upgraded their products for years. But despite my dislike for video games, the offer was very tempting. It would boost our sales quite a bit, so I was completely onboard and decided to call everyone to a meeting to announce the news.

I gathered everyone into the meeting room, having this big grin plastered on my face. I thought they were all going to be happy to hear that we were finally going to up our numbers again, so I was feeling very excited.

"Everyone! I am so glad you all came here today. I have very exciting news for all of you!" I told my staff happily. My employees seemed to all be delighted to hear me say that, one of them saying "Well spill it then, boss! What's the news?". "Glad you asked! Because I just found a way for us to increase our sales! We can finally make money again!" I explained to the room while trying my best to not start bouncing in my seat. They were all interested by then, listening very closely to what I had to say. "See, I just received a letter from the Wiffle Boy company, saying they want US to make their new merchandise! The most popular game company in st. Canard wants OUR business to make them toys of their little game character! This is amazing! We will definitely be making loads of money from this!". 

The room got completely silent after that, you could hear a pin drop in that packed meeting room. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. One of the employees finally broke the silence by saying "You're kidding, right? Tell me this is a joke". I was so confused. I didn't understand why they were acting so on edge when I thought this was wonderful news. "You're serious?! You're going to be business partners with people who make mindless dribble for a living?! I thought we had standards in QuackWerks!" Another of the guys yelled at me, scaring me pale. All I could do was stutter and stare in shock. But another one of the employees spoke up, shouting "I thought we weren't like the modern garbage business owners! We didn't conform to the mainstream trash!". "B-but… I thought… it would help us earn more money…" I tried to explain while shrinking together in my chair.

"OH! So you're also a sellout?! I thought you were different…" this other girl said while turning her head away from me angrily. I just sat there stunned, trying to figure out what I should do. "I… come on! If we don't do something about this, I will lose my company. All I worked for, my hopes and dreams, completely gone! I gotta do something if I wanna stay afloat!" I pleaded with my now furious workers, but they didn't seem to care at all. "That's a lot of me and I. What happened to us? Tsk. You know what? I'm out! I'd rather work somewhere that got higher standards than this!" the first guy barked as he slammed down his nameplate and stormed out. Not long thereafter, the rest of my employees did the same, leaving me to sit all alone in the meeting room. No workers, no partnership, no company.

"Wow… that's so sad. They just left you because you needed money" the little duckling sighed sadly as she was laying against her daddy's side, giving him a comforting hug. "Yeah…" was all the jester had to say, his head hanging low and his bells jingling somberly. Gosalyn then tilted back, asking "Theeeen… you decided to turn to crime fighting to stop their injustice?". "Um… no. Not exactly… I actually got very sad and had to give up the company" he muttered softly, avoiding using the word "depressed". The girl's smile turned back to a frown as she gave him another hug. 

After I had done the paperwork to sell the company, I decided to head down to our product storage. I couldn't stand the thought of all my wonderful, lovely toys going to waste. I couldn't leave that building without bringing some of my treasures with me. There was one in particular I just couldn't leave behind. It was a prototype doll I would consider my favorite creation. I would have long conversations with him while I worked in my office. Mr. Banana brain. There was only one of him and I would not leave him behind. I packed up all my favorite toys into a bag, including Mr. Banana brain, and headed out the front doors. I said goodbye to the building and headed out.

But I couldn't bring myself to go home, I just wandered around the streets aimlessly, suitcase and paper bag in hand. I just couldn't believe I just lost everything. My brain was swarming with all the things I could have done to stop it. But after a while, my legs were feeling tired. So I just sat down on the curb of the sidewalk, letting out the saddest sigh ever. I just sat there for a while, beak in my hands and a sad frown on my face. After a while of doing nothing but sitting, I looked over at the bag and saw Banana brain peeking out. So I started talking with him. 

"What now? I just lost everything. I'm ruined!" I cried out and covered my eyes with my hands. "Hey, come on! Don't cry, pal. I'm sure you'll be able to fix this!" he tried to comfort me while I was bawling my eyes out. "How?! How am I supposed to fix this?! Mr. Banana brain! I have no employees, almost no money and no one would want to work for a business that's as outdated as mine! It's… it's over" I muttered quietly and hung my head with a soft sob. "You're a creative guy! I'm sure you can figure out something! You started that company all on your own, so fixing it should be no issue for someone like you!" he kept encouraging me, making me feel a bit better. "Yeah… I'm sure I can… think of something. Maybe I can do something with this offer" I tried to reason as I pulled out the letter from the game company.

As I did so, this random cat guy suddenly ran right past me, grabbing my suitcase and bag before continuing to run. "H-hey! Give that back!" I yelled after him, but he just shouted back "Take it back yourself, if you can!". I was panicking, sprinting after to catch up with him. "Mr. Banana brain!!! MR. BANANA BR-Oof!!!" I shouted as I ran, until I tripped on the sidewalk and landed on my face. I looked up and saw him disappear around the corner. All I could do was watch as I had lost pretty much everything. I felt completely defeated. I felt like nothing. So of course I started crying on the ground.

But only a few seconds later, I heard a scuffle from where he had run. Then I heard a loud ZAP, followed by a thud. Though I was confused, I started feeling scared when I heard footsteps coming closer to the turn. I could only yelp and hide myself under my arms, probably shaking in fear. I soon heard the steps stop right beside me. I couldn't bring myself to look and see what or who was there, until I heard a voice. "Hey, Don't be scared. I'm back!". I lifted my arm and peeked out to see Mr. Banana brain right there in front of me. Immediately, I shot up and shouted "MR. BANANA BRAIN!!!" in relief. I then saw ha was being held by this weirdly dressed rat man. He was wearing yellow overalls and what looked like a plug on his head. He was smiling at me while holding all my stuff that that other guy had stolen. "Don't worry, This guy just saved me!" Banana brain told me before the rat guy handed over all my things. I held Banana brain close while staring at my savior. "Who are you? I mean- thank you! Thank you so much! Um… what's your name?" I asked him before wiping away my tears. "I'm Megavolt! St. Canard's hero!" he announced in this heroic way. I was stunned. A hero? In st. Canard? Seemed impossible to me. 

"Hey… how about I'll help you home? It's not safe to wander around alone this late" he suggested to me and then offered me his hand. I didn't even hesitate, I grabbed it immediately and squeezed as close as I could, saying "yes please!". So Megavolt helped me home and on the way I explained everything. I explained my current situation and how bad everything was for me. So he offered me some help, saying that he could need some help to cleansh the streets of crime. It was a wonderful offer. I could use my creativity and craftsmanship for good! I could help people! So I started working together with Megavolt, forming a great crime fighting duo.

"So that's what dad meant? You started fighting criminals because of him?" Gosalyn asked while looking up at Quackerjack with expectant eyes, having listened intently while he told his story. "Yes, he did. If he hadn't shown up, I would have probably ended up either in a boring desk job or as another thug on the streets. So I have to thank him for what he did for me" he sighed while looking over at the stairs, seeing Megavolt walk down them and heading over to the kitchen where Bushroot was. He had been listening in on the story, forgetting the food that was set on fire. Megavolt helped him put it out. "So… what happened after that? How did papa and father join?" the little girl asked while watching the disaster go down in the kitchen. "I think you will have to ask them about that. I'm sure they know the details and can tell it better than me. But how about we forget about that now and play with Mr. Banana brain instead?" Quackerjack said excitedly while pulling out the banana toy. "Yeah!" she cheered happily as they both ran off towards the backyard, ignoring the two men who had finally put out the fire.

[popculturebuffet]

Jingle Belle: A Very Special Jingle Belle Special or A goofy holiday comic and a long tired rant about the animation industry

Ho ho ho and merry Christmas as we reach the final stretch of Christmas reviews and it’s all Christmas all the time for the rest of the week for obvious reasons. So we’re starting off by wrapping up Jingle Belle for the season with one more comission. While it’s from my usual client, It’s via patreon as for 5 bucks a month you can get a review a month of your choice. But since that hasn’t taken hold just yet, and won’t till next month, he asked to swap it for this month and here we are.  Not much to cover though this is the very comic where Jing hopped publishers from Oni Press to Dark Horse. The whys I genuinely do not know and at the time, I just know it’s weird to talk about Dark Horse these days. Their not dead nor entirely irrelvant, Resident Alien, which I really want to check out as it has a really engaging premise, is getting a tv show that I also want to check out as while i’m not sure if it’ll be good, it’s still Alan Tudyk playing an alien who can barely pass for human and it hilariously shows. Whenever that streams i’m not missing a second of that and we all know it. And Umbrella Academy, started during bigger days for the company, is one of netflix’s hottest shows and one of many shows on my to do list I haven’t gotten to because I procastinate like no one else and as taking an entire month to get to the newest loud house shows to the point another one popped up, it bites me in the ass a lot. Point is their not GONE in relevance.. but at the same time they’ve lost the huge tide of liscences they road in on. Except for the Joss Whedon stuff, Marvel’s pretty much taken EVERYTHING from them via various deals: Star Wars, Conan and now Alien. Their still standing and makes good art books and clearly given Resident Alien good content, they’ve lasted this long their not going anywhere, it’s just really weird to think about. I will however give them huge credit for giving out tons of comics in early quarantine, and being easily the most generous company next to marvel. I.e. one of the few that actually gave out full collections. 

But yeah at the time this was probably a safe move as Dark Horse had a love of one shots and likely a larger budget. Hence why from here on out the stories are in living color, and have a slightly diffrent art style to boot. Granted the character would shift artists but now it’s got a clear more cartoony art style I like a lot better courtsey of Jose Garabaldi. So yeah with christmas on our heels, let’s ring a ding jing, it’s A Very Special Jingle Belle Special. 

We won’t be covering the backup for this one though it is quite good, it’s just not what kev asked or paid for. 

We open on a parade!

While batman foils the joker’s poisioning scheme, Santa rides on a float proudly and   Jing is hanging out on the back grumpy. It’s a great introduction for new readers showing Santa being big and jolly and what you expect while Jing grumps in the back with a “Sheesh, Daddy”. That’s how you establish a character well in only a few panels. IT’s really great is what i’m saying. Some teens pop up but don’t belivie her about being Santa’s daughter and when going to a christmas shop to try and find figures of her, the owner claims he dosen’t.. and well violence insues. You’ve met jing right?  Anyways Jing is understandably a wee bit absolutely livid the world dosen’t know about her. Her parents sure but her? Nope. And it’s easy to see why: She’s the daughter of the world’s most famous man.. but despite all the holiday lore and junk she’s just the part he likes to hide from people.. or that’s how it feels. While he ducks it, she even gives him a nice save fatty it’s clear that even if she brought it up to rile him a bit.. she does feel on some level like he likes to tuck her away and hide her because he’s ashamed and because she’s not perfect. Granted she does act out and stuff, but she’s still his kid and i’ts still gotta sting. Though she has the perfect idea to fix this: A christmas special. Santa suggests just doing good deeds but Jing is right: her idea is better. Mostly because, as cyncial as this is.. more people are going to pay attention to a good holiday special than a celebrity’s kid doing charity and for far longer. A good christmas special just sticks in the brain and sticks with you forever. It’s why Santa Claus is Coming to Town and A Charlie Brown Christmas have lasted decades or why my list of best chirstmas specials is pretty weighty. They just stick with you so while this can’t possibly end well.. her plan is actually a really good one this time. 

So Jing takes her friends off the line to help her animate it, stop motion styles and they remind her of her LAST christmas special. 

I mean I’m a sucker for any refrence to Star Wars Holiday Special. You’d think after several decades of jokes at it’s expense, with tons of youtubers, many of whom are dead to me but that’s besides the point, tackling the thing without it getting stale, that we’d eventually grow tired of mocking it but .. no. It’s a bottomless well of what they were thinking. The only question left is why isn’t it on Disney Plus.. I mean.. you made a second one as an affectionate parody and in lego. Kids are going to know about this now. Just put the thing up. Even edited down or just some clips. You put Rise of Skywalker up there, you’ve proven your threshold for shame when it comes to this franchise is vast. Just person up and do it.  But Jing’s learned her lesson.. stop motion only and to follow the bouncing formula to sucess. So in the special which sadly isn’t all stop motion and is just drawn to resemble the specials, probably for the best but still, Jing and her animal pals are sneaking into a town where christmas was banned! Meeting the chirstmas legion of doom.. well okay that’s what i’m calling them. Burgermeister Budweiser! Bungle the Abominable Snow Monster! Frost Master and Heat BLister! The Frost Fakir.. wait the what?

........

I mean where do I even begin? I know this was during the war on terror, I know that.. but still I expect better from Paul Dini for a crosses the line twice joke than “hey let’s just make bin laden into an ice wizard!”. I mean South Park made fun of him too, but they went all out with a looney tunes homage. Put effort in. And even years after he died the lonely island did this beautiful thing in the film pop star: never stop stoppin, which you should watch seriously watch it it’s underated. 

Point is you can do better and if you don’t have room to do better then just.. don’t. You could’ve put in a t-rex in a top hat and monocle.  That would’ve genuinely been better... because it’s better than everything ever btu that’s besides the point. There’s also one last addition to the rogue’s gallery thank god. 

He hates her too. Now that gag is actually reallyf ucking funny. What’s also funny is how she solves things. By singing a nice and frinedly song about friendship to reform the villians.. or rather lure them over a bridge to get eaten by her orca friend. 

So Jing after showing it to her dad heads to market it with him trying to warn her netoworks haven’t aired this kind of thing in years. But she faces the greatest threat to all of television: network executives, who keep offering advices and basically change the thing all together for stupid reasons and think cartoons should only be for kids despite it wokring in the past. Aka the hells animators STILL go through. I think Paul was projecting just a wee bit with this one. Given again IT HASN’T CHANGED since then, I can’t blame him. Seriously Harvey Beaks was canceled, among MANY ohter nick shows including rise of the tmnt just because it wasn’t an instant hit, Cartoon Network and warner keep trying to make dumbed down remakes of great shows, and Disney, among other networks, is fairly homophobic and while finally allowing some gay on the network this year had to be fought and outright refused it on ducktales for no adquate reason, caring more about monney and the bible belt than doing the right thing. So yeah as you can tell this bit got to me a bit and was hard to read because it. hasn’t. changed. 16 years and not a lot has changed other than more women are getting a chance. And granted the “kids are our only audiencce argument” isn’t as strong and several shows are powered by other demographics it’s still an issue and still the reason several good shows have gotten the boot and why the jeph loeb era of marvel animation was terrible. Because guys like him thought it should JUST be for kids and the lowest common demoninator of htem. You can be clever and be for kids dammit. 

I apologize slightly for that it’s just something that’s been on my mind as shows dwindle and with ducktales gone the standard forbearaers for children’s animation are all pretty fresh faced. It’s just a lot to take in and i’ts been on my mind a lot. 

Back to the actual story the result is a pretty purtrid cutesy special.. Jing reacts how you’d expect, destroying the tapes covertly with a herd of musk ox and destroying the tape. But they find the 70′s special and we end on that which is pretty funny. The only thing I really don’t like here is the ending. The rest of this special is really good: it’s clever , has some good satire and some really funny jokes especially that hook one. The ending just feels a bit weak.. like yes Jing wanted to be noticed but it’s not really an unsympathetic motive and while she does some shady stuff the villians still basically win by airing her terrible holiday special all over again. It’s just not satisfying.  But yeah overall another pretty decent holiday comic with some good jokes. I”ll probably see Jing again next year, and it was fun getting to dip into these comics. THeir not my faviorites, but their still pretty decent and if the complete collection ends up on sale on comixology or you see it in a bookstore and you think it’d be up your ally i’d buy it. Again not my faviorite thing ever, but still enjoyable enough. Coming up this week of holiday cheer: ducks, more ducks, superheroes, and a best of list. 

Until next time: Courage. 

[lizzzybooo]

Your Mess Is Mine

Summary: “I know what you’re thinking,” he said with a serious tone, catching Dan off guard.

“Do you?” honestly, it wasn’t that hard to guess.

“Yes. You’re thinking that this hat totally clashes with everything else I’m wearing, and you’re not wrong.” He was looking at Dan with round, shiny eyes. Dan blinked at him a few times, dumbstruck.

——————————— A university!au where Dan is a third year student dealing with demons from his past, and Phil is the peculiar guy from his Greek mythology class who he just can’t quite get out of his mind.

warnings: mention of suicide (not discussed in detail), Minor Character Death

read on ao3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12640926/chapters/56116090

also check out the amazing art @ninapons made for this fic!! hereand here and here

chapter 15

words for this chapter : 5k 

total word count:  58409

notes: so... yeah haha i’m back! sorry for the (unreasonably long) wait guys, i hope some of you are still interested in this story ^.^ a huge thank you to @honeywreath for the moral support <3 she’s as aweet as they get <333 also as i’m really nervous posting this, i would really appreciate your feedback, so please tell me what you think! and... hope you like it lol 

read last chapter here

start at the beginning

For the first time in his life, Dan was grateful for exam season.

The days went by in a blur, meshing together while he was trying to focus all his energy on studying and passing his exams, instead of his unanswered calls and messages.

Ezra was finally back from the holidays, dividing his time between their dorm room and the library (as it turned out, Ezra’s uncle refused to take him back to work at the shop, even with his mother’s insistence, so Ezra was still out of a job and apparently pretty stressed about the whole thing).

Dan found that he actually preferred the times they were both in their room together to the times when Ezra would disappear to the library to study. Ezra wasn’t big on conversations, and honestly they didn’t have a lot in common either way, but even so, having a constant presence of someone familiar next to him brought Dan a surprising amount of relief. Ezra was constantly making some kind of noise, clicking his tongue or sighing loudly when he couldn’t get something right, filling the room with sounds and liveliness. And even though it used to drive Dan crazy, he started taking comfort in those sounds, in the knowledge that someone else was present in the room with him, welcoming the distraction. (Dan briefly wondered if it was a result of Phil’s never ending chatter that made him suddenly uncomfortable with silence, but he pushed the thought away quickly, not liking the way it made his heart clench painfully).

After a few days of feeling uneasy every time he was left alone in their room, Dan even started following Ezra to the library whenever he went (a fact that made Ezra unbelievably flustered and surprised the first few times, before getting used to the new arrangement). As it turned out, Ezra (like Dan) didn’t have a thriving social life, and more often than not spent his time studying by himself, so Dan didn’t really feel bad for intruding.

They studied next to each other in silence, each of them focused on their own laptop and books, and sometimes, when they both needed a break and a change in scenery, even went out to eat lunch together or drink coffee (though Ezra always stuck to tea, mumbling how coffee wasn’t good for his still growing body).

They usually sat opposite each other in the campus cafeteria, sharing the occasional word, but mostly Ezra kept his nose stuck in one of his textbooks, mumbling to himself, while Dan just stared at him absentmindedly, drinking his coffee or eating his sandwich.

It was on one of those coffee breaks that Dan noticed, to his surprise, that Ezra was actually quite handsome. It was an odd thought that popped into his mind suddenly, and it made Dan feel a little embarrassed, a little ashamed, that he never considered Ezra anything close to handsome before. If he was being honest with himself, Ezra’s odd personality and awkward behavior never let Dan look at him as anything other than his strange roommate.

But, he had to admit, Ezra was actually pretty good looking. Not in a flashy way, no- Dan didn’t think he would have noticed him or payed any extra attention to him if they have met somewhere outside their small dorm room (even if he didn’t know about his weird Beethoven obsession.) But even so, he had a nice, quiet kind of appeal to him.

He was two years younger than Dan, 19, and his face was still pretty boyish and soft (not unlike his own). He wasn’t as tall as Dan, but he definitely wasn’t short, and Dan had to admit his hazel eyes had a nice, cat like shape to them that he quite liked.

“You should get a different haircut,” Dan told him out of the blue, making him lift up his eyes and look at him in surprise.

“Excuse me?”

“Your hair, I think you should try having it a little longer, it would suit your face.”

Ezra was staring at him with wide eyes, pink coloring his freckled cheeks. Definitely cute, Dan thought.

“I always had it like this,” he said, his hand subconsciously moving up to the top of his head, petting his short trimmed hair.

Dan smiled, amused. “Of course you had,” he said, laughing when Ezra turned his face from him in annoyance, always quick to get offended by Dan’s teasing. “You have a pretty face though, I think longer hair would look good on you, but there’s nothing wrong with the way it is now,” he tried to say reassuringly, stopping himself from laughing more when Ezra’s face became unbelievably red and his eyes blew even wider.

“I don’t have a- a pretty face!” he protested, as if Dan threw an insult his way instead of paying him a compliment.

“Just my opinion mate,” Dan said, raising his hands in surrender, watching in amusement the way Ezra was avoiding his eyes pointedly.

He was quiet for a minute, looking stubbornly at his textbook before finally peeking at Dan. “You actually think I have a pretty face?” he asked, sounding suspicious and a little accusing, and all Dan could do to ignore that little painful pinch of Deja vu was nod. (Phil’s sweet, timid voice, asking him “do you think I’m cute?” while sitting on top of him, face pink but eyes a little mischievous, was the last thing he wanted to think about at that moment.)

“I do,” he confirmed, taking another sip from his coffee mug.

Ezra looked conflicted for a moment, looking between his book and Dan. “But… don’t you have a boyfriend?” he asked.

Dan almost choked on his coffee, coughing awkwardly. “I do,” he said, ignoring the way his heart dropped to his stomach at the mere thought of Phil being called his boyfriend. they were still together, Dan told himself, even if Phil was ignoring him, he was (almost) sure of that. “I wasn’t… hitting on you,” he said carefully, feeling his own cheeks heat up.

“Oh, of course!” Ezra said, looking so embarrassed Dan genuinely felt bad, trying to think of something to say to make the mortified expression on Ezra’s face disappear. He wasn’t sure how many people had ever expressed any interest in Ezra, and he was generally a pretty awkward guy, so really, he couldn’t blame him for jumping to this kind of conclusion, as unlikely as it may seem to Dan.

Also, Dan thought, maybe his comment wasn’t as casual as he thought. Maybe he actually said something weird. Maybe, he thought, a little horrified, after spending all his time with Phil and Martyn, he started to forget what was actually socially acceptable to say to a person you’re not all that close with.

Before he had the chance to say anything though, Ezra continued, his cheeks still red and his voice a little nervous. “It’s just that… you’ve been spending all your time with me since I came back. I don’t even have to tell you to stop talking on your phone at night anymore, so I thought maybe you guys, you know, broke up.”

Dan had the immediate desire to loudly protest. To defend his relationship, to get angry at Ezra for assuming. But he caught himself in time, taking a big breath. Truthfully, he himself wasn’t sure what was going on between him and Phil.

Dan felt like since Christmas, they’ve made a huge progress in their relationship. They talked openly about their lives and past, they expressed desire to have each other in their futures and Dan was serious in his conversation with Phil’s dad, he wanted to be there for Phil, always, to support him and make him happy. He wanted to trust him and trust their bond, but still, it was hard to do when he couldn’t stop the feeling of rejection from seeping into his body.

It hurt, to put it simply. It hurt and it frustrated Dan to no end and it made him a little angry. He gave Phil every reason to trust him, he gave him all that he could, more than he ever gave anyone before, and even though he wanted to be understanding, wanted to give Phil his space, he also wanted to get some kind of a sign. A sign that even in all this, Phil was still thinking of him too, that Phil could trust him with his grief, that they could share each other’s misfortunes instead of hiding away. That Dan wasn’t wrong in assuming they both felt the same way about each other.

More than anything though, Dan knew, even if he was more than a little irritated, that what he really wanted was to hold Phil and comfort him and be there for him. It made his heart ache to know that when Phil was at his lowest, it wasn’t Dan’s company that he sought out. It made him frustrated, upset, that when he finally decided to give himself to someone again, to give Phil all he could, Phil was pulling away with no warning. It made his heart ache, because he knew all too well what the possible result of not being trusted enough with another person’s pain could lead to, and even though he knew he was projecting, he couldn’t make his mind stop spinning with these thoughts.

Was he really that untrustworthy? Was he really someone the people closest to him couldn’t rely on?

“He’s going through some family stuff right now, but we’re still together,” Dan said, a little sharply. He definitely didn’t want to open the subject up for discussion.

“Oh,” Ezra said, looking back at his book “okay then.” He tried to regain his composure, but his cheeks were still pink and Dan knew he was extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation. Even so, he didn’t say anything else, letting Dan finish his coffee before returning with him to the library.

That night, when Dan couldn’t fall asleep, he put on a compilation of Beethoven’s finest for the second time since starting to live with Ezra, playing it loudly on his laptop speakers, ignoring the sparkle of hazel eyes staring at him from the other side of the dark room.

He lied back down on his bed, turned around to face the wall. “Don’t get used to it,” he said, his tone coming out more annoyed than he intended, and he cursed himself quietly.

To his surprise, he heard an unfamiliar chuckle coming out from the other’s bed, a soft airy sound that Dan was pretty sure he’d never heard Ezra make before. “I won’t,” he said, before Dan let himself close his eyes and let his mind be filled with the music, trying to push the intrusive thoughts away.

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

Phil didn’t turn up to their Greek Mythology exam. Dan scanned the exam hall 3 times, his eyes shooting up to the entrance door every time a new student walked in, but he couldn’t spot the familiar blue eyes and black hair anywhere.

He had to finally give up, a sour taste in his mouth, when the doors where closed and the exam started, leaving his mind desperately trying to focus on the questions before him while his chest was clenching uncomfortably.

He got up from his seat half an hour before the time was up, knowing full well his answers were just good enough to pass the exam and nothing more. He ignored the misplaced envious glances from the other students and quickly got out the door, leaning against the nearest wall, trying to calm his heart down.

Phil wasn’t Oliver. He told himself. He wasn’t he wasn’t he wasn’t.

Dan had to trust him to be okay, he had to. Not because he was sure of it, no, but because at that point, there was nothing else he could do.

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

Two week into January Dan got a phone call from Ezra. It was one of the rare times Dan wanted to be by himself, deciding to go walk around town one evening to buy some stuff he told himself he desperately needed for no other reason other than to distract himself.

He was desperately clinging to his exams, going to the library with Ezra and searching the campus hopefully whenever he was there. Neither Phil nor Martyn were answering his calls and texts, and when he tried going to their apartment one time, it seemed that nobody was even there. He wanted to respect their wishes to be left alone with their mourning, and he didn’t want to intrude, but he just needed, so badly, to know they were okay.

His chest was in a constant state of a dull ache, his mind hazy from useless exam information and worry, but he had to admit, walking around from shop to shop in the chilly January air was making him feel surprisingly better.

He was sitting in a coffee shop, looking outside the window and observing the people walking by while eating his lunch when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Without his permission, his heart leaped in his chest in expectation. No one aside from Phil, and occasionally his mother, ever called him (and since he had an awkward, six minute talk with his mother the day before that consisted of him avoiding all her questions and telling her he was too busy studying, he was pretty sure it couldn’t be her).

But when he took out his phone and saw Ezra’s caller ID, he couldn’t mask his disappointment, even though he wasn’t really expecting Phil to call him at this point.

“Hello? Dan?” Ezra said the minute Dan picked up the call, sounding hesitant and urgent at the same time, making Dan’s heart speed up again in expectation.

“What’s up?” he asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but something in Ezra’s voice was making him feel on edge, making him start to pick up his things absentmindedly, not bothering finishing his half full cup of coffee. Somehow, he had a feeling what this was about.

“Hmm, I’m outside our room right now, and your, uh, Phil, came here a few minutes ago. I told him that you’re out but he insisted on waiting for you, so he’s inside now, I hope that’s okay.”

Dan was already outside the coffee shop when Ezra finished his sentence, feeling his heart beating loudly in his chest, making his way quickly to the bus stop. “Yeah, that’s okay. Thank you, I’m on my way back now,” he said, not able to mask his urgency. “Can you just… can you make sure he doesn’t leave before I get there?” he added.

Ezra let out a distress noise. “He, uh, doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere,” he said, sounding so uncomfortable from the whole situation that Dan even started to feel bad for him.

“What do you mean?”

“He just… he looks like he’s planning to stay here, until you come, at least.”

Ezra’s vague answer did nothing but put Dan even more on edge. “Just… stay there, please, until I get back. I’ll be there soon,” Dan said, before hanging up the phone, not letting Ezra have a chance to respond.

Dan wasn’t sure what to think. A mixture of relief, confusion and anger was swirling in his stomach, making him feel a little car sick on the bus ride back. Logically, Dan knew he shouldn’t be that upset. It was only two weeks. Two weeks after a big, heartbreaking loss, and if Phil wanted to take a step back and be by himself a little, to proses, how could Dan hold it against him?

But still. The radio silence from both Phil and Martyn, Phil not showing up for his exam, practically disappearing completely… could anyone really blame him for finding it alarming? Dan knew, better than most people, that he had no way of knowing what people actually think. What they would actually do. He felt powerless and terrified, so even though he understood, he couldn’t blame himself for the way his palms were sweating with nerves, his heart racing in his chest, his stomach filling with angry, fluttering butterflies he couldn’t force to calm down.

He couldn’t blame himself for feeling the strange combination of longing and bitterness settle in his guts. He wanted an explanation, maybe almost as much as he wanted to hold Phil in his arm again.

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

When Dan got to his dorm room he didn’t quite know what to expect, but still, the scene in front of him managed to catch him by surprise.

Ezra was standing awkwardly at his side of the room, watching Dan’s bed with carful, uncertain eyes. On Dan’s bed there was a big, human size lump under the covers, showing no signs of movement nor letting out any kind of sound.

Dan felt his heart clench at the unmistakable sight of Phil, curled up hiding under the blankets. He felt weirdly uncomfortable, awkward, not knowing how to approach this silent version of Phil after two weeks of chasing any kind of communication.

“Phil?” he tried saying, legs stuck to their place by the door, heart speeding up at the lack of answer. The slight movement under the covers was the only indication Phil was actually there, acknowledging Dan’s presence.

Dan felt something tight in his stomach loosening, just a bit. It’s fine, he’s here, he’s fine, he told himself, finally finding the will to move his legs and approach the bed.

He sat down at the edge, carefully and slowly, as if we was approaching a scared animal and not his boyfriend he hadn’t seen in two weeks, gently laying his hand on where he assumed Phil’s shoulder was.

“Phil,” he tried again, voice soft and a little pleading, sliding his hand up the blanket, moving it a bit to reveal the top of Phil’s head.

Phil was still silent, but he moved to curl around himself even more, trying to hide his head under the covers again.

“Phil,” Dan leaned down, his upper body covering Phil, mouth near his hidden ear.

There was silence again for a moment, but just when Dan was about to actually start panicking, Phil finally spoke.

“Do you hate me?”

His voice was small, sad, muffled by the pillow and blanket, but even so, just hearing it sent something sharp and quick through Dan’s chest. Something like longing, and want, and relief.

“No,” he answered, pressing himself even closer to Phil, who was still clinging to the blanket like it was the only thing that could protect him from Dan’s wrath. Dan wanted to laugh, almost as much as he wanted to cry. As if he could ever want to do anything other than hold Phil close and cherish him. As if Dan could ever actually hate him.

“Are you mad?” Phil asked, voice a little stronger, wiggling a little under Dan’s weight.

“A little,” Dan answered honestly. He was, and he didn’t want to hide that from Phil. He was mad and hurt and confused, and he wanted Phil to know that. He needed Phil to understand that even though he could never hate him, he was still upset about being left behind, being left to worry and speculate.

“I mostly worried about you,” he added, when Phil stayed silent, and then when he was sure Phil won’t flinch away anymore, he reached his hand to the visible top of Phil’s head, tugging on his hair.

There was a sudden movement under the blankets and before Dan could register what was happening, Phil was turning around under him, throwing himself on Dan’s lap, arms squeezing Dan’s waist tightly.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” he said against Dan’s stomach, voice muffled and watery. Dan let out a shaky breath, letting his hands settle on Phil’s shoulders, rubbing them soothingly.

“Um,” Dan almost jumped at the sudden sound coming from the other side of the room, turning his head to look at Ezra (who he completely forgot about), still standing in the corner of the room, looking extremely uncomfortable. Dan’s hold on Phil’s shoulders tightened instinctively, afraid that the reminder of the presence of someone else in the room would make him retreat again. But Phil didn’t respond to the sound at all, staying still, curled around Dan’s middle.

“I, eh, can go out for a bit,” Ezra said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Dan was suddenly filled with gratitude towards his odd, kind roommate, who tolerated his moping and company and moods, and stayed in the room until Dan got there as he asked, even though it clearly made him uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” Dan said, softly, smiling at Ezra and making him flush bright red in response. Ezra nodded once, before moving from his spot by the wall to put on his shoes and quietly exit the room.

Dan let his attention go back to Phil, who was silently clinging to him and giving no signs of letting go any time soon. “I’m sorry,” Phil said again, a little more clearly, lifting his face a little to look at him, chin digging uncomfortably into Dan’s stomach.

His face was pale, even paler than usual, and his eyes were pink and wet behind his glasses even though he didn’t cry. He looked… tired, devastated, uncertain. And Dan was once again overwhelmed by the need to take all the pain away for him, to somehow make it all better.

“I know,” he said quietly, hand moving from Phil’s shoulder to his head, pushing his messy hair back. He wanted to say “it’s okay,” or, “you don’t have to be,” but he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie. It wasn’t okay, and Phil should be sorry, at least a little, for leaving Dan like he did. For making him sick with worry and speculation, for making him relive his biggest fears and insecurities.

“I was really scared,” he said instead, surprised to find his voice thick and tight with emotion. “I didn’t know where you were,” his throat felt like it was closing up around the words, making everything inside him burn painfully. “I wanted to respect your grief and I wanted to give you your time but I was so scared that… that-“ he couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t say it out loud. Two weeks of anxiety and loneliness and fear where catching up to him all at once, and it was too much for him to take after refusing to let himself think about it, trying to stop his mind from wandering into forbidden territories.

Phil moved urgently then, sitting up in front of Dan on his knees, eyes big and blue and regretful. He reached out with both his hands, cupping Dan’s cheeks, thumbs brushing the wetness Dan didn’t even realize was leaking out of his eyes. The cold, soft hands felt so familiar against his warm skin and Dan found himself leaning into the touch.

“Dan,” he said, and his voice was so pained it made Dan’s inside feel even tighter. “I would never do that to you.” Dan gave a small sound of protest, before he could stop himself, and Phil shook his head, leaning closer and pressing their foreheads together. “I know you hate when I say things like that, I’m sorry. But I wouldn’t I wouldn’t.” Phil was crying too now, fat tears running down his tired face, “I wouldn’t.”

“Okay,” Dan said, because he didn’t know what else to say, and wasn’t sure he could even produce a longer answer with the burning pain in his throat.

Phil let his hands slide down to Dan’s neck, pressing his face closer to him, nuzzling his cheek. Dan felt his own arms wrap around Phil’s waist instinctively, without his permission, holding him close.

“I needed… I don’t know exactly what I needed, I’m sorry.” Phil said against his cheek, quietly, softly, ”but I love you too much Dan, I love you, I would always want to come back to you.” Dan’s heart was beating loudly in his chest, Phil’s words screaming in his head. I love you I love you. It was so typical of Phil, to just say it like that, straightforward and honest.

“that is… if you still want me, of course,” Phil said, letting his hands fall down from Dan’s neck and scooting back a little to look him in the eyes, looking like he was genuinely scared to hear Dan’s answer. As if there was any way Dan wouldn’t want him anymore.

“I do, I do, of course I do,” Dan found himself say urgently, desperately, leaning closer and kissing Phil’s forehead and cheeks and eyelids. “You idiot, as if I would not.” Phil giggled at that, small and wet and a little sad, but Dan could feel his entire body fill with warmth at the sound.

“I just… please, just let me be there, for you, with you. That’s all I want, for you to let me be there, don’t leave me in the dark like that,” he said, clutching Phil’s sides tightly. “I know, I know I’m not good for a lot, but I’ll do anything for you, if you let me. Please trust me a little more, to be there.” He could feel the vague feeling of embarrassment, making his stomach flutter uncomfortably. It was still new to him, saying things so honestly, so openly, but Dan figured they needed a little honesty right now. Needed to put their cards on the table and hearts on their sleeves and tell each other what they wanted.

Phil shook his head in protest, “you’re good, you’re good,” he said, hands moving back to Dan’s face “you’re so, so good.” Phil leaned in, but stopped himself before his lips touched Dan’s. “Can I? Or, I mean-“

Dan didn’t let him finish, closing the space between them. Phil’s lips where unusually dry and chapped, and they both tasted salty from their tears, but it still made everything inside Dan’s body melt with relief. They kept it sweet, not pushing for more, and when Phil pulled away and pressed his forehead against Dan’s lips, demanding as always, Dan kissed the skin almost giddily, pulling Phil impossibly closer against his body.

“I’m so tired,” Phil said, leaning all his weight on Dan’s body, like all his energy drained out of him at that moment, all at once.

“You want me to take you home?” Dan asked, rubbing soothing circles on Phil’s back. There was still a lot to say, a lot to ask and a lot to understand. But it could wait. Right now, he just needed to worry about Phil. he just needed to take care of him, as much as he’ll let him.

Phil shook his head, pressing closer to Dan. “No, please, just… let me stay here, just tonight. Tomorrow we’ll do whatever you want, we’ll talk about whatever you want, but I can’t go back there right now.”

“Yeah... that’s… okay,” he couldn’t help but think about poor Ezra coming back to the room later to find him and Phil sleeping there in the same bed, the poor guy would probably combust on the spot. But he couldn’t say no to Phil. Not when he was like this, not when he knew how hard it was to be surrounded by all the things that remind you of your loss.

They moved to make themselves comfortable under the covers, not bothering to change clothes or turn off the light. It was probably not later than nine, but Dan could already see Phil’s eyelids dropping as he took off his glasses and put them on the nightstand. Dan felt too full of nervous energy to sleep, but he wanted nothing more than to lay there together, with Phil in his arms, for as long as he wanted him to.

Phil laid his head on Dan’s chest, cuddling close, letting himself be wrapped in Dan’s embrace.

“Hold me tighter,” he mumbled, and Dan couldn’t help but laugh, tightening his hold.

“Better?” he asked, but only got a soft hum in response, and then nothing. Dan lay there quietly, listening to Phil’s breath as he fell asleep. He still felt a little uneasy, a little on edge, but he supposed, for now, this was good enough.

Ezra came back to the room about 40 minutes later, when Dan was just starting to doze off. He opened the door quietly, carefully, his eyes scanning the room and landing on Dan’s bed. He averted his gaze immediately, face flushing bright red, still standing at by the door.

“Sorry,” Dan said, trying not to wake Phil up, feeling genuinely bad for making Ezra uncomfortable. “It’s just for tonight, he had nowhere else to go.” It wasn’t really the truth, but it was easier to put it like that, in hopes that Ezra would understand.

“It’s fine,” Ezra said, moving into the room and not looking at Dan’s direction. Dan wasn’t sure it was really fine, but he had no choice but to take it, hoping he could make it up to him at some point.

“Thank you, really,” Dan said quietly, trying to convey how actually grateful he was. Ezra’s face became an even brighter shade of red, if possible. He moved to lay down on his own bed, over the covers, back facing Dan.

They were silent for a few moments before Ezra spoke again. “Are you guys okay now?” he asked voice a little muffled against his pillow, catching Dan by surprise.

Dan looked down at Phil’s sleeping face, lips parted and a little bit of drool smeared against the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah,” he said, feeling all his different emotions swirling in his head, making him dizzy. “We will be.”

[ladychandraofthemoone]

Miraculous Pokemon: Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Team

Now that I more or less got this underneath control, I can finally talk about the main gang’s team to their rivals and enemies. So first thing first, we’re obviously  going with Marinette cause I have most of her team planned out for her and some may be surprising but don’t worry, i put in longer separate explanations later on explaining the reasons.

So let’s get started:

Her starter is a Froakie that she found being tormented by two starving Houndoom when she was off to get her very first partner when she was 13 years old. She gave up her macrons and took him to a Pokemon center to get treated. He later followed her and defended her from Chloe when she began hurting Marinette since she wan’t in her class and stepped up to protect her since Chloe injured him when he was exploring. Marinette was extremely grateful and with her cousin’s encouragement, she caught him as her first catch, calling him Chiffon for the scarf she gave him earlier. He’s protective of her and his friends along with being more than willing to model Marinette’s clothes. Chiffon’s also is capable of doing many things like beating up Chloe’s Snivy despite the type disadvantage to making sure Chloe wouldn’t get near them.

Velvet the Togepi came to Marinette as an egg. She didn’t hatch until a couple of weeks later with Marinette taking care of her with motherly protection and huge responsibility. She sees Marinette as her mama due to sensing her positive emotions, trying her best to be protective if someone makes her mama cry and wanting to make her proud. Despite being tiny and still a baby, she very powerful with the help of her ability Metronome much to everyone’s else surprise. The older ones look out for her and teach her how to survive in case something happens to Marinette. Despite being very naive and innocent which is understanding for her age, watch out if one dares make her cry, cause one will have a ton of angry pokemon catching after them.

While Velvet was still an egg, the technically second pokemon Mari caught was a Bounsweet that recently got caught up exploring and a bit of hiding away from her mother, who wasn’t the best mother and often punished her when she came back form exploring since she isn’t allowed to leave the jungle. Madeleine found Marinette when her hat flew away and landed on her, portecting her a from bird pokemon that were trying to eat her. mari chased them off and poliety asked for her hat back. Maddy decided to come along so Mari gave her a tiny bow on her stem that she absolutely adores. The older pokemon also watch out for her since she’s young. She dislikes that blonde girl that tries to hurt her and her friends, especially her shiny Tsareena, who often mocks her and makes her wonder if evolving is worth becoming someone so awful.

A Flabebe fell out of the sky from a group of Oricorio when the gang was wondering what to do and she landed on Marinette’s head. She was weak due to her loss of her flower and stayed on Mari’s head till they found a new one. When Team Kosmos arrived out of nowhere, she stayed to help and decided to remain with Mari after everything that has happened to where Marinette climbed to get a new flower. With the name Flora, she acts mostly like the peacekeeper of the group and enjoys being outside. Despite this, she’s quite terrified of Steel and Fire types as a result of what happen to her home being taken over by a scarred-face Lucario who despises humans. She hopes one day she will be strong enough to go back home and protect everyone she cares about.

A Hawlucha just decides to follow them when he overhears them talking about contests and is like, “Oh, a coordinator!” before making himself known when he was caught staring outside the next contest stadium fence and practicing dance moves from broadcast television.  He always wanted to join one of those after witnessing them on television and wanting to perform live but needed someone to help him, especially since he had scars that made him look intimating. Dior is a dramatic flashy bird, getting along well with Aurore’s water starter Hydrangea and Marc’s grass starter Juniper. He often clashes with Chiffon. Velour is the first one to fight back when his friends are in danger and can be rather rough when having to battling but he has a good heart despite being rather secretly flustered when being complimented on.

Marinette didn’t except an Absol to join but Jacquard is just incredible. He wanted to join but due to what people believed about his kind, many ignored him out of fear but not Mari, who wants to give every pokemon a chance. He ran away when she came close but began to follow them a short while later when Team Kosmos attacked by warning them beforehand. Now he’s alerts Marinette of incoming danger and with Jacquard finding an Absolite later on, he is now capable of mega evolving, wearing his megastone around an scarf that Marinette made for him, hence his name. Jacquard is a calm pokemon that can settle down arguments but can be rather intimating when made angered. 

Shaymin came when Mari was at her lowest point. Unknowing to her friends (except Aurore) her cousin Bridgette was often really ill and she apologized a lot over it. While Mari understood, she just secretly wished she didn’t have to cancel their plans often. Bridgette was Mari’s first friend. When she kept apologizing, she snapped, stating she hated her. She passed away so after. Mari felt extremely guilty over what she said and didn’t get to say sorry or goodbye. When she heard that Tapu Fini could bring people back to life, she was scared and tried to avoid it until she broke down and said she was sorry for what she said. After both of them expressed gratitude to each other, Shaymin appeared and decided to join Mari’s team despite not being caught, and is a representation of her late cousin’s spirit watching over her.

So these pokemon make up most of Marinette’s team. I’ll explain my reasoning in more depth later on but like most characters, Marinette’s names for them are base off of her being a designer so she has to know her things like different types of fabrics, laces, and cloths. More MPA items coming soon!

Other honorable mentions: Mimikyu, Leavanny, Morpeko, Sylveon, Buneary (They may go to someone else.) 

[cabinofimagines]

Young Again (Jason x Piper)

A/N: In this house we ignore canon -Danny.

P.S. You liked the song? You should totally suscribe to the band, just saying, they’re great.

Request: can u make a jasper fic?

Words: 1,312

Warnings: None, fluff all around and bad writing cause I did not proofread (not a surprise ik)

Listen to: Young Again -by Sorry, Peach

I’ve been searching for someone Like you, for so much time now I know that you can make me Happy if you tried to

Piper wasn’t the romantic type, but she was positively in love with Jason. Sweet, gentle, Jason Grace. He was the one. 

Or maybe she was the romantic type, maybe she unconsciously turned around every corner hoping to find someone good enough to take home, to have a normal life and never feel like she had to fight for a family ever again. 

He could turn any bad situation into an opportunity, with him things were simple, and time was nothing but a way to measure the memories. She was sure, Jason could make her happy almost like he was born for it. 

Blonde hair, blue eyes and oh that Smile, oh I could stay a While, right here in your Arms and, now I'm falling

By the time she and Jason had their third anniversary things were more than amazing. Sure, there were some ups and downs but all she could think of right on that moment, looking at his features reflecting the sun and the way his giggle turned into loud laughter, was that she could spend her forever like this and feel like it’s been just one lazy Sunday.

She fell while Jason held her during the campfires, humming in the lowest voice possible, one that no one but Piper could hear, and it was soft and calming. She fell every time he would laugh at her jokes or look at her for more than a second. Piper fell and kept falling but never let go of his grasp.

For you, you make my heart skip So close, so close I can't miss This love, this love on my lips All I ask is

Jason had a difficult childhood. Not bad, I mean, he had a home and friends and food, it was just... the whole fighting and the heavy responsibility he had to carry around just for being Zeus’ son. He was raised to be a leader, which meant zero fun and tons of homework. That, until the moment he met Piper and Leo. He still had to be the one leading but since his memory was not at its best he found himself finding the beauty in taking a break from time to time.

Jason had lost more than a family, sometimes he’d drown in the what-ifs, wishing for things to be different, hoping that maybe, in another timeline, he could get the whole thing: victory, peace, and happiness. All in one.

Piper was that for him. The dream life was tied to her pinky and Jason found himself tying the loose end around his wrist. Whenever things got messy and Jason didn’t find an answer Piper was there to help, brown eyes that were as welcoming as a newfound home. 

He was so close to happiness when they kissed, it was impossible not to call it love. 

Can we be young again Feel the air in our lungs again Oh my soul wants to fly again Can we be young Can we be young

All was reachable, he could restart in a life where no one asked him to be perfect, he didn’t have to take care of everyone, just him and Pipes. He could be young again and only worry about the little things.

Their fourth anniversary was fun, Piper was wearing a new hat and the wind took it away in a swift motion, it landed at the top of a tree and Jason told her he could get it. She, as stubborn as always, decided that could climb the tree just as fast and spurred into action. Of course, the branch broke in half. 

Obviously, Jason was already prepared to fly up and catch her in time.

Blue skies, your hand in mine I'm fine, staying right by Your side, and when I close My eyes, I'm still breathless

“Stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry,” Jason gasped, still laughing in the middle of the air, keeping her tight against his chest, “I think that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard you scream.”

“Shut up,” She said between giggles, “But I was right. If it wasn’t because of the stupid branch I’d have grabbed my hat already.”

“Yeah, what a bummer,” He smiled, “I can still help you get it?”

Piper sighed in defeat but nodded her head.

“Fine, put me down and I’ll let you do it”

“That’s not what I meant”

“What’d you mea-aHHH WAIT-”

He flew to the top of the tree and close enough so Piper could reach the hat, she extended one arm and her fist closed firmly on the edge of it.

“Alright, let’s go back to earth before I piss myself”

Jason let out a laugh and nodded, quickly going back to the ground.

Nothing, can compare to You love, let me show you My love, nothing can come Between us, we won't regret this

It was late and raining. Jason was brushing his teeth while Piper sat quietly reading a book on her side of the bed. It was a day after Jason had turned twenty-three and the after-party was still running in their veins, they spent most of their afternoon laying around on the couch and eating leftovers while watching their favorite shows. 

“You know, this boy is a total idiot,” Piper commented out loud from the bed, she was talking about the main character of the book, for some reason, this boy pushed all of her buttons.

“Why?” Jason asked, still brushing his teeth but leaning against the bathroom door, putting his attention on his girlfriend. 

“People keep giving him advice to help him complete the mission and he keeps running around in circles because he decided no one can be trusted, well shit. Guess the world has to die for your insecurities...”

“Give him time, he’ll learn...” He turned around to finish brushing his teeth and once he could talk properly again, he added, “hopefully.”

Piper huffed, turning the page and reading with a permanent frown.

“I don’t understand why you keep reading if you hate the guy so much,” He chuckled, walking towards the bed and sitting on his side, “you have other books waiting to be read, just quit this one and get a new one”

“My dad raised no quitter, Jason” She gave him a playful look before going back to the page, “besides, the side characters are good and the story is worth the pain of this dumbass leading it I guess”

Jason was about to answer but he stopped for a moment, the light coming from her lamp gave her profile a golden glow and she never looked as godly as now, tired eyes and slightly red cheeks, messy ponytail and her favorite pj’s. All was her. And he felt breathless.

“Can you answer something for me, Pipes?” 

She looked up again, this time intrigued by his question.

“Sure?”

“Will you marry me?”

Piper dropped her book on the floor, few painful and slow as hell second went by before she started to laugh.

“What?” He pouted, “I’m serious!”

“Exactly,” She said, “Jason Grace even when asking me to marry you, somehow you make it sound like you’re asking me to have those files ready by Monday” She snickered, “How formal of you”

“Ugh, get out,” He groaned, falling face down on his pillow.

“No, wait!” Piper kept on laughing, “Don’t get upset!”

“Get out,” He repeated, but let out a muffled laugh, “way to ruin the moment, Piper McLean”

“Don’t kick me out” She replied, then she took a deep breath, ending her laughter, “Don’t you wanna know my answer?”

Jason turned his head slightly to his right so he could look at her, “Yes?”

“Okay then,” She smiled, and it was that smile that caused Jason to melt no matter how hard he tried to keep it cool when he was younger. That smile told him the answer before she could say it out loud. “Yes, I will marry you.”

Jason didn’t reply, he just grabbed her by the waist and trapped her in a hug, she moved until they were face to face and he kissed her all over until their lips found their way into each other, full with bliss he let himself sleep and forget the world outside the room, he didn’t need it, he had his own right there, on his arms.

Piper fell asleep surrounded by him, his scent, his body. His heartbeat next to hers letting her know that this was real and they were together. This was the start of forever and she was taking her time.

--------------------------------------

-Danny

[recentanimenews]

An Ode to SHIROBAKO!

Today marks the five-year anniversary of one of my favorite shows, SHIROBAKO! I still remember tuning into the first episode in the spirit of the new anime season, that special mix of hope and morbid curiosity. The beginning gave me what I expected, cute girls in high school making animation together for a school project. But then there's a time jump: two and a half years later, we meet one of those girls again on the road, hungry and frantic, listening to voice actors on the radio promoting the show she's working on as she races another production assistant across the mean streets of Tokyo to be the first to a freelance animator's apartment. You can almost see the staff of SHIROBAKO rubbing their hands together in glee. “Ha, you thought this was another treacly drama about high schoolers? This is a workplace sitcom, baby!!”

    Despite its slice-of-life inclinations and cute character designs, SHIROBAKO is a fast-paced workplace comedy/drama in the vein of The Office and Scrubs. Except that instead of being set somewhere boring like an office or a hospital, it takes place in a down-on-its luck anime studio called Musani, staffed with employees who bear a suspicious resemblance to real-life figures in the industry.

  The producer is an older man who cooks curry for his staff, just like industry legend Masao Maruyama; the director is a talented but very indecisive, and looks just like the director of 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist, Seiji Mizushima. Maybe it's this reason that while it aired, SHIROBAKO made a reputation for itself as being an invaluable resource to understanding how anime is created, an unsparing depiction of how the sausage is made.

    Of course, the world of SHIROBAKO is a fantasy. It is a place where men take many shapes and sizes but women are all conventionally attractive; where dolls talk and animators hallucinate their characters while in the throes of creativity; where Musani's director can put on a cowboy hat at the studio's lowest point and snatch history from the jaws of defeat. This of course, is all to SHIROBAKO's benefit. The show is unapologetically a cartoon, about cartoons, and smarter people than me have already written about how it uses its medium as a fulcrum to leverage the power of animation to its best effect. But if Miyamori and her friends are larger than life, there's a grain of truth to them that those in the workplace will recognize. Like the plight of Shizuka Sakaki, who works a dead-end job while she frantically hustles behind the scenes to find the career she really wants. Or the animators at Studio Titanic, incentivized by an industry that prioritizes speed and quantity over quality to pump out shoddy work. Or Taro Takanashi, a production assistant so bad at his job that he must have been drawn from real life (and he was: according to the director, Taro was modeled on his own past self! At least he can admit it.)

  SHIROBAKO still has a devoted fan following since airing, enough so that a movie sequel is on its way. I'll personally always love the show for its memorable characters, cheeky nods to anime history and the story's willingness to let its cast face real danger in their struggle to make art. But some have criticized the series for being unrealistic. Not for being exaggerated, or calibrated for marketability (both true) but that it is “too optimistic” a portrait of the industry. Said one writer I followed at the time, “in the real world, Miyamori would have hung herself under the stress.”  It's a grotesque statement, but not fully removed from reality. In past years there have stories of animators dying of overwork. Stories of directors abusing their connections to sexually harass voice actors, freelance animators not being paid by their studio contractors, and companies refusing to compensate their employees for unpaid overtime because their work was deemed insufficient. The world of SHIROBAKO has its problems—difficult co-workers, a competitive industry, clueless and self-absorbed producers. But it is undeniably a kinder world than the one we live in.

    That said, I personally believe that the optimism of SHIROBAKO is earned. After all, the staff who worked on the series have weathered their share of disasters. SHIROBAKO itself faced a difficult production, resulting in the subbed release of the final episode being briefly delayed on Crunchyroll. I'd imagine the staff who worked on the show know what it's like to toil in the trenches on a series nobody likes, or do career-best work on the adaptation of a light novel that everybody forgets about in a month. SHIROBAKO features its share of genius characters, from the secret animation powerhouse Shigeru Sugie to eccentric and feared director Hidea—I mean, Mitsuaki Kanno. But it has just as much sympathy for the less obviously glamorous jobs: production assistants, sound designers, background artists, CG designers, script researchers and the countless other hands creating an animated series. All of them ordinary people doing the work in an unforgiving industry.

  This to me is the great lesson of SHIROBAKO: Anime is made by people. They draw, they eat, they struggle, they do exercise routines. Some of them have great fashion sense, others are fearless drivers. But they all have names, and they're all important. I've seen a trend recently of companies reducing “anime” to a brand, another marketing label to better enable the collection of consumer data. This year's Netflix documentary Enter the Anime gives us glimpses of a handful of directors, but never lets us into the studio. This is a mistake. Anime is never just one person, or a synopsis on a page. In this industry, the existence of any animated series that makes it from beginning to end is a miracle, enabled by the hard work and tears of countless dedicated staff. Not everyone reads the credits, but there is a story behind every person whose name is there, and behind the names of those left out.

    You might be a fan of anime, a fan of cute girls, a fan of animation for its own sake. There's something in SHIROBAKO for all of those folks. If you're a fan of jokes and daring escapes, there's plenty of those too! But SHIROBAKO is also a story about people, made by people. A love letter written to a very difficult and demanding job. Five years later, the airwaves adrift with countless beleaguered productions like paper lanterns, that job has never been more difficult or demanding.

  Are you, like me, a fan of SHIROBAKO? Do you ship anyone in the cast together? Do you know a Taro at your workplace? Let us know in the comments!

---

Adam W is a features writer at Crunchyroll, and the world's biggest fan of famous animated porcupine Andes Chucky. He sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? Follow him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[freifraufischer]

The practice of choosing a creature to represent each Olympics is now in its 44th year. It’s a job that falls to the host city’s organizing committee, which frequently relies on marketing research to create the mascot and public surveys to choose one, with final approval resting with the International Olympic Committee. While some mascots are human (children, usually), most have been animals (bears, raccoons, owls, etc.) And with the advent of CGI, several mascots have fallen into what’s generously termed the fantasy-creature category.

But whatever the breed of the mascot, most have shared one thing in common: They’re a little—and sometimes very—freaky. ("Loony," to quote Time magazine, or "downright scary" in the appraisal of ESPN.)

But why?

The most obvious explanation is that Olympic mascots are created by a committee—and you know how that too-many-cooks adage goes. Another complication is that an Olympic mascot has to do the double duty of embodying both the idealistic competitive principles of the games while also signifying the unique cultural attributes of the host country and city. It's why we’ve seen a given country’s beloved local creature dressed up in athletic attire and wearing the Olympic rings.

But according to Alan Behr, an intellectual property attorney with the New York firm of Phillips Nizer, the central problem is that Olympic mascots have to resonate with audiences both locally and globally.

“You have to come up with a character that works everywhere, and it can’t have a name that means the wrong thing in some language,” he said. “You need a mascot that will work in both North and South Korea—and in Albania, Cuba and the People’s Republic of China.”

The mandate of piling on multiple layers of symbolism onto a creature that must be clever, appealing and nationalistic without being offensive is a tall order. It means, Behr added, "that you need the lowest common denominator," which frequently results in "fuzzy sweet things that can't offend anybody."

It also means, as the examples here show, some pretty bizarre outcomes.

1 Wenlock – London 2012

Suggestive of a genetic experiment gone terribly wrong, Wenlock was—get ready—a blob of steel (to represent the foundries of Bolton) with a bump on his head (to represent the light on London’s famous taxi cabs) and friendship bracelets on his wrists (to represent the Olympic rings.) And why did Wenlock have just one eye? According to the IOC’s website, “his eye is the lens of a camera, filming everything he sees.” Like, say, terrified children running away as fast as they possibly can.

2 Izzy – Atlanta 1996

After rejecting a peanut, a possum, a peach and a bulldog, the Atlanta organizing committee gave the thumbs up to a cobbled-together "abstract fantasy" creature whose name—Whatizit?—was shortened to just Izzy. Better suited to a local fast-food chain than a global athletic competition, this head-scratching blue mascot roamed the grounds, posed for photos, and prompted embarrassed Atlantans to wonder exactly what the thing was supposed to symbolize about their city. Izzy, said one Atlanta Olympic Committee official, “has been a noble and gentle representative of our games.” But many disagreed, referring to Izzy as the “blue maggot” instead. Opined the Washington Post: “That mouth looks like the gateway to cartoon hell.”

3 Sam the Eagle – Los Angeles 1984

Drawn by Disney artist Robert C. Moore, Sam the Eagle looked a bit too plump to take to the skies, let alone run the 400-meter. And while a bald eagle would have been plenty to symbolize the United States all by itself, Disney decided to dress him up in Uncle Sam attire—bow tie and top hat—just for good measure.  According to the definitive Disney blog Mouseplanet, a team of 30 Disney artists had also toyed with buffalo, snakes and turtles (rejected for being too slow) and a bear (rejected because the Moscow Olympics had used Misha the Bear in 1980.) So they settled on Sam—a character that internal memoranda confirmed had a “bulbous middle section.”

4 Magique – Albertville 1992

After a mountain goat named Chamois got fired as Albertville’s Olympic mascot, this strange five-pointed creature named Magique got the job. On a thematic level, he worked well enough, wearing a snowsuit and the French national colors. But what did a tiny, five-pointed man have to do with the winter sports? And what was he, anyway? Variously called a “show imp” and a “mountain elf,” Magique was actually a “little imp” according to the IOC—which explained him no further. But if he confused attendees, Magique proved more useful as part of a computer teaching program taken by the games’ 7,924 volunteers.

5 The Fuwa – Beijing, 2008

Ready? Let’s see if you can keep up with this. “Bei jing huan ying ni” means “Welcome to Beijing.” Now, take each word and double the syllables to get Beibei, Jingjing, Yingying, Nini and Huanhuan. Next, apply each name, respectively, to a fish (to symbolize water), a panda (to represent the forest), an antelope (to symbolize the earth), and to sky and fire. And what do you get? The Fuwa, five “good luck dolls” that were possibly the most confusing mashup of Olympic mascots in history. Created for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, these characters were actually the winners in a global contest that garnered over 3,000 submissions. Unfortunately, after an earthquake, floods and mudslides struck China in the weeks before the opening ceremonies, many Chinese citizens blamed the “Curse of the Fuwa,” contending that there was no good luck in any of them. Meanwhile, the rest of the world wondered if the Fuwa were children, animals or space aliens.

6 Amik – Montreal 1976

Beaver pelts were central to the development of Canada in the 17th century, so when Montreal was chosen to host the 1976 Summer Olympics, it made sense to go with a beaver mascot. Not only was the creature already on coins and stamps, the beaver’s traits of patience and hard work fit nicely into the Olympic ideal. The problem wasn’t the beaver as such, however, but with the minimalist rendering. Stripped of its legs, ears and face, Amik (the word for beaver in the native Algonquin language) looked a lot like a poop.

7 Heidi and Howdy – Calgary 1988

When the IOC selected Calgary to host the 1988 Winter Olympics, the Calgary Zoo took on the task of choosing a mascot. Seven thousand Canadians submitted suggestions and, believe it or not, these brother-and-sister bears were the best of the lot. Dressed up as cowboys, the bug-eyed Heidi and Howdy wore expressions that suggested a mild form of psychosis. But they were harmless. After all, what’s to fear from two polar bears whose names derive from “Hi” and “How do you do?"

8 Schuss – Grenoble 1968

When a nervy skier heads straight downhill, it’s called a Schuss. In 1968, Schuss struck the good people of Grenoble, France, as a good name for this mascot. While he was sold as a souvenir at the games, Schuss wasn’t an official mascot. He did, uh, birth the idea of Olympic mascots—which the IOC enshrined in 1972 when a striped dachshund named Waldy became the official mascot for the Summer Olympics in Munich. Regrettably, many attendees didn't take to the name Schuss, and called him "The Skiing Sperm" instead.

Under the cut for some more of my favorite weird olympic mascots.

Rio de Janeiro 2016

Torino 2006

Athens 2004

Sydney 2000

Nagano 1998

Lillehammer 1994

Sarajevo 1984

Lake Placid 1980

1976 Innsbrook

[spacemonkeypantz]

A collection of memories from high school 2005-10

At orientation when a guy in my class called everyone by what was on their shirt and literally all of the girls ended up being Roxy (hello), Ripcurl, Billabong, or Rusty.

When I walked out of the change rooms before the year eight social and the girl known for her boobs saw mine for the first time and looked at my chest and said "woah".

When this boy I liked took my glasses and ran out of the room and I had to run after him screaming "Naaaaathaaaaaan!" and no one did a thing about it.

When my English teacher lost my exercise book and didn't believe me and made me look for it in my locker, and then months later she says to me "you'll never guess what I found!" and hands me my exercise book which she'd found in a HUGE TUB OF HER OWN THINGS SHE HADNT EVEN NOTICED SHE'D LOST.

When one of my friends passed around her asthma puffer before the 1500m like it was some sort of performance enhancing joint.

Being the go-to dealer of burnt CDs.

When my German teacher chased the dickhead student around the room singing opera at him until he hid under a table.

When the same dickhead set fire to a chair and his own pants.

When this popular guy left the library barely a second behind me and the alarm went off, and everyone teased him about it for months, but I secretly discovered after class that I had forgotten to actually borrow a book I'd taken with me.

When my Muslim boyfriend was telling me about all the sandwiches people gave him and I had to break the news that his beloved pink meat was probably ham.

When we had to do gymnastics for PE, and even aiming for the lowest pass grade I physically couldn't do enough of the challenges, so my teacher physically pushed me in a circle on the rings and said "that'll do".

During an out of school uniform day when this girl told me she didn't like my shorts (or as I called them, gangsta pants), and I said "well it's a good thing they're not yours then".

When I accompanied my best friend to the German poetry competition for moral support but our teacher made me enter as well and I won (sorry Carly >_>).

When our teacher took us to the forest for double English but it started to pour so the whole class got to go home as we were all too wet.

When my best friend and I printed out the lyrics to 'A Little Piece of Heaven' and sang it in the back of Media.

When two students had sex on the desks in the room where I had Business Studies.

When we had to do soccer tipping in German and my teacher lost my tipping sheet, but when she asked me why I didn't have my tipping sheet and I told her she lost it she got mad at me and hated me for the rest of the year.

When the brakes weren't working on the vending machine and we got a whole bunch of free chocolate Big Ms, but a teacher saw it happen, confiscated our free drinks, and handed them out to other random students in the canteen (still for free).

When we had to make a trailer for a fake movie after watching Freedom Writers and Dangerous Minds, so my group's trailer revolved around my best friend's character stabbing my character to death. With a pen.

When a bratty junior school student got sent to my VCE Psychology class as punishment for acting up, and when he tried talking back to the teacher by saying "to be honest I don't give a shit" the teacher said "you know they be laxatives for that" and the whole class just cracked up.

When my English teacher wrote "SIRNAME" on the board and wouldn't back down when we told her it's spelt surname, even saying "it's just a rare spelling" when we showed her a dictionary.

When I wore a giant fuzzy hat in my house colour to the athletics carnival, and my friend convinced me to enter the best dressed competition and I ended up winning a $20 voucher.

When I somehow got roped into joining the soccer team and became incredibly skilled at running away from the ball whilst appearing to run towards it.

When they based the year 12 awards on people's raw scores, so the maths award ending up going to a kid who did the easy maths.

When the winners of the maths and English awards both got presents, but the DUX got nothing but the responsibility of having to make two speeches over the next year.

BONUS: When my choir used my school during holidays for a weekend intensive, and when I opened my own locker the younger choristers gasped and looked at me like I was some kind of locker-opening goddess.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Do you think we'll see Dean and Jody discuss Cas? Does Jody even know Cas exists? They told her s8 angels exits and she was claire but still i thibk textually they never mentioned his name around her? Im guessing they are gonna discuss Deans feeling about Mary since Jody knew her but Cas?

I don’t know, which I know I say to like basically all questions about speculation but this one is something I don’t really have a clue about and I’m not even sitting on my thumbs pretending not to have an opinion because I’d rather not say anything on the record until I know I’m right or not… I really, genuinely, to the best of my ability to sound it all out and guess from the available information, don’t know :P 

It depends how they handle Cas being gone overall, whether Dean’s openly, loudly mourning him all the time every episode constantly, which is a detail where I’d only be able to offer you a confident speculation on the eve of this episode anyway after seeing the first 2. If Dean goes stoic and jaw-twitchy but quiet about it then probably not but that’s just like… super obvious and short term.

In the mean time, please assume the tin foil hat position you’d take to listen to a conversation that sounds like this:

There’s quite a lot to pack in with meeting Patience, and getting our guys some good face to face time with Jody for any emotional support they need to sponge off her. Sam doesn’t seem to be around so he may be off with Jack, but if he wasn’t, he’d probably want to learn how to be a mom to him from Jody, for all we know :P Thematically it might sort of be that way anyhow - if Patience doesn’t come in direct contact with Sam it seems ridiculously unlikely she’s not going to be thematically connected to him and therefore Jack through an extremely easy join the dots between 13x03 and 1x09. (Sam already kinda went one round with this sort of thing in 12x04 so in a way he’s got his booster shot of dealing with it directly so it can just be storytelling mirrors for him :P)

Certainly Jody is more connected to Mary symbolically and in general the Wayward Sisters stuff has been more about parenting and those dynamics recently, with 11x12 looking at how Jody copes and teasing us with hindsight for Mary’s return with Dean talking to her about wishing his mom had been around, and in 12x06 and 12x22 she and Mary sort of bounce off each other as moms directly in a continuation of that - in 12x16 she’s not around except on the other end of phonecalls but Dean’s carrying on parenting Claire as a hunter a lil bit. 

Of all of those, 11x12 was the only one to make a nod to Cas with Claire holding grumpy cat in one of her scenes, but the show has decided to treat him a lot as just the inciting incident to get her onto the road hunting by dragging her into the life, while Dean does the thing he does around feisty wayward teenagers, and probably was mostly responsible for switching Claire’s amateur detective attempt onto a hunting thing in 10x20. I don’t want to make Claire cringe but I think she thought he was actually kinda cool and inspired her or something, because she had not had any interest in the supernatural side of things before that episode… 

Despite all her connections to Cas I think Dean sort of birthed hunter!Claire, so the story sort of wanders that direction and leaves Cas behind because he’s more like Azazel in Claire’s story than anything, even if a very sad soft squishy Azazel who gave her a stuffed toy for her birthday :P Still they played it like her forgiving and hugging Cas was about the same as Dean finally getting to shoot Azazel, in both case freeing them to go do their job with the angsty backstory resolved…

In any case, I think Cas is probably an emergency contact Jody has for Claire-related stuff, although whether they told her to or not, she’d probably always call Sam and Dean first because she knows and understands them (and has met them), and I think the story is asking us to believe that with this symbolism of Claire getting past what Cas did to her family, she’s in a new stage of life he’s not a part of in the same way even if she does cling onto grumpy cat, and Cas is still family to people who consider Jody as family, who she considers family. Sort of shunting him from awkward dad no. 3 of 4 as per 10x20′s recap and symbolism to a weird uncle or something. (Although if Jody has mom symbolism to both Claire and Dean, that makes them siblings and Cas her brother in law… this found family stuff is really difficult :P)

So there’s all that shaping my expectations - Claire’s not in the episode and she’s our connection between Cas and Jody. Previous episodes have made it clear that Sam and Dean really hate calling even beloved friends with their shit and don’t tell Jody alarmingly huge things like that Mary came back from death. She’s been offering a shoulder to Dean personally while he’s been going through all his stuff, and in 9x08 I think Sam did open up to Jody more than Dean even when they were all in the same room, never mind in that and 7x12 they got split up from Dean and actually bonded (And I think this is also a quote from Kim Rhodes but also just something fairly obvious, that because Sam was the one connected to her more in her intro episode and ended up shooting her zombie son for her, they’ve always had a closer emotional bond via shared trauma). 

I don’t think it’s showing that Sam and Jody aren’t as close now to have her switch focus to Dean but that Jody is determined to get Dean to open up to her *too*. In 12x06 they have really different attitudes about her when Sam makes the comment about Dean’s “animated Japanese erotica” which show how they’ve grown in different directions with Jody. So I think Sam’s closeness to her is fairly accepted fact and now Dean’s the tough nut to crack for her :P Anyway she’s made the offer two or three times now that she’s there to talk if Dean in particular needs her (definitely 10x08 and 12x06… Can’t remember if she said as much in 11x12 although they did also have an actual personal conversation in that episode, so one point to Jody there). I think 12x06 made it clear there’s still an owed conversation of greater than that opening up and spilling the beans on what’s making him emo right now, so there’s that.

And Cas and Mary have been connected all through season 12, in their arcs, in the subtext, in basically everything, and Dean textually named that in 12x22 that in the start of the season he’d “got Cas back, got Mom back” and in 12x23 of course he loses both, again, in a highly inter-connected way, and so again they’re going to be parallel lines to him, though again I think showing how he feels differently about one and the other and hopefully we get to unpack what those individual losses mean by the way of having both at once (and Crowley, who often in these cases is included to put a finger on the scale :P). 

One of the things confusing me right now is of last night’s behind the scenes set peeking which revealed a Turducken Slammer relaunch from the ever-hopeful Biggerson’s, which is not letting frequent murder and mayhem and dodgy meat recalls on its premises stop it from trying. Even if it’s as overall irrelevant to the story in the sense of being mentioned or actually explored as the Mystery Spot sign in 12x01, it’s still telling us something and making connections. I mean yeah it can just be worldbuilding continuity but it’s always picked for a reason and they know what all these signs mean and how to connect them, which is why we have the beer language for example. 

And Jody is pretty deeply connected to season 7 and Dean’s arc. And this connection was obliquely referenced in 12x06 in that moment I already mentioned, where Sam outs Dean’s porn habits to Jody. It was a nod from Yockey that he’d watched past Jody episodes because in every way it was a season 12 style rehash of Sam’s “strictly into Dick” comment, which was from a Jody episode. And… look, maybe this is the best way to explain how I felt the season 12 references were kind of out of this world in their scope and intelligence :P 

For starters, that comment was not just a run of the mill Dick joke, that was a Robbie level Dick joke, which collected up a hilarious character thing for Sam (his fucked up moment when he should have made the barb, his determination to hang onto the Best Zinger Of His Life until Dean next gave him an opportunity and bless Sam’s cotton socks he delivered it like a pro :P) and Dean’s spiralling obsession with Dick as a Dick or Anime thing. Dean’s anime-watching was from 7x01, when he was waiting for Godstiel to blow up the planet in despair, and was at just about the lowest point we’ve ever seen him. In 7x02 Bobby gives him the “You just lost your best friend” pep talk, which is a role of comforting parental figure Dean then went and lost that season when Bobby died. And in the end of 7x02 Dean reveals how Not Fine he is to Bobby’s answerphone, which is important that it’s never commented on again but I think affects how Bobby treats him and in the subtext of 7x09 you have to know all that happened. 

In 7x09 Bobby’s on his farewell tour of comforting advice to his adopted sons, in the last great set of retconning episodes to embed him permanently into their backstory as having always been there for them, to make it hurt juuust that much more than it already does. Towards the end of the episode he has another talk with Dean that mirrors advice Dean will get from Frank and Ness in 7x11 and 7x12, and *that* is opened up by Dean getting drugged by the turducken slammer and going on about how he doesn’t care about how he doesn’t care, and that he feels great for the first time since Cas and the black goo. Like, wow, his depression and hurt and betrayal didn’t go anywhere just because he said he was fine, who knew :P 

And that’s the backstory to Dean’s obsession over killing Dick, who has taken everything from him by this point in season 7, told through the medium of anime and sandwiches and somehow always ending up about Cas and Dean’s feelings for him. The anime was an attempt to not care and not think about it that the slammer actually inflicted on Dean, and was used to get Dean to tell us how he really felt. By 7x12 it’s a joke for Sam to make implying Dean’s into lowercase dick, with one of those false binaries the show loves making. And like in season 13 Dean’s lost a love interest and a parental figure, and now things are really blurry about which one hurts more in this short run of episodes before they both reappear in the narrative and make it confusing. 7x11 makes the hurt most about Bobby. 7x12 subtextually tells us rather a lot about Cas, especially by making a Bobby figure to contrast in the background with the lady in the shop who literally calls Dean an idjit at some point, I think, or some other Bobby-ism, to make it clear that Ness is definitely not standing in for that and all those Cas parallels are probably where it’s at while Dean fangirls over him :P 

And nope I’m not even done unpacking the Yockey Robbie Edlund turducken because of course JODY is all tied up in this completely. She’s incidentally in 7x02 as a useful local beloved character who can get menaced by Dr Sexy and let them know there’s leviathan nearby, and so she’s pretty embedded in the early Leviathan worldbuilding. Of course Edlund being Edlund, while the lil girl leviathan is channel surfing for ideas, there’s a Biggerson’s advert, I think the same one that plays in 7x03 or 7x22 about their pie salad bar (it’s like a salad bar, but pie!) and in the end she lands on wanting to be a Dr Sexy when she grows up. 

(Stop me when you think this might somehow subtextually be about Dean :P)

The Dr Sexy leviathan has an amusingly childlike view on being a surgeon as a result of forming its opinions on that job while being a little girl, and apparently not listening to the memories of the poor guy it ate except to get a frightening knowledge of anatomy. It very much acts the part of being a doctor on TV who can just wheel patients off to perform unnecessary surgery, as per the malpractice of our favourite sexy doctor on TV - and there’s a thing to contemplate about “I’m not a doctor, I just play one one TV” but that’s digressing :P But it goes and menaces Jody and Bobby goes and saves her, and Robbie brings her back 2 more times in season 7, once in 7x06 to thank Bobby for saving her, and to link them romantically so she can even more handily take over the parental role by being romantically linked to their adopted father, which is just a sort of easy association to help. And in 7x12 of course she’s just there and helping and mourning Bobby a lil bit with Sam (since Dean was the one in the focus for mourning Bobby in 7x11), drinking his dubiously won scotch from 11x16 (… Rufus didn’t have to let him have that one, Bobby WAS insisting it was a ghost :P I think he just wanted Bobby to have a win after seeing how down he was.) But that IS a Jody episode so it would have been on Yockey’s list for homework for 12x06 and it contained the anime/Dick thing. 

And, if he’d watched the deleted scene, at the end of the episode Dean makes it clear that he’s not sitting alone in the dark watching anime, he is strictly into Dick, and goes and reads an article on Dick “erecting” a tower.

(I hope it is clear how much I love the Dick references in season 7 by now and I’m not sorry, they started it :P)

So yeah. Jody is already intrinsically linked into a ridiculous chunk of the Dean/Cas subtext from season 7, the absolute wild nonsense that Edlund and Robbie were messing around with with pie and turducken and Dr Sexy and anime and Dick, to create the absolutely most ridiculous, like… no one part of it on its own in isolation doesn’t make you cry laughing, bit of storytelling (that, of course, added up into a full picture, just makes you cry a lot in earnest for poor Dean right then).

To me this is the picture of Dean mourning Cas in season 7, and the unique elements to season 7 are the anime (already referenced in season 12 just as an aside and I don’t think as anything more than a witty reference to past canon except that Dean was “kinda bummed” about Cas being gone (and don’t worry, I’m getting to Berens :P)) and the turducken, and Jody as one of the key characters wandering through all this picking up the emotional baton from Bobby, which she has been attempting to use on them ever since season 9, when they got back in contact with her after neglecting her all of season 8. 

(And, oh gosh, I stared out the window to try and collect my thoughts for the next paragraph and washed up on thinking about Sam going and crashing out on Jody over the Dean in Purgatory period instead of hitting a dog and ending up with Amelia, like Dean with Lisa except by the time Dean gets back Sam’s probably been whipped into shape and is wandering around Sioux Falls in a deputy uniform…)

Anyway yeah, to go back to 13x03 finally… If the Turducken sign isn’t portentous of anything, I’m still seeing the Gas n Sip sign, in the maroon colours rather than blue one, but still, in a Berens episode. And if you can’t get mourning Cas in season 7 via Jody and a turducken related things to stick, you can totally shortcut through the fairly simple steps of Berens + Gas n Sip = 9x06 and assume whatever personal feelings stuff Dean and Jody talk about, this is a great way to cram Cas into the background via the enormous glowing yellow sun that has come to represent him. (And, of course, it was Berens who had the “morning, Sunshine” line for us in 12x03.)

So I think the set stuff and character stuff all have some fairly good slap to the back of the head things for Dean to maybe open up to Jody or at the very least for whatever he says to her to be heavily subtextually about Cas even if Jody asks about Mary. Because Dean’s wearing weirdly Cas-coded clothes, and Jody is wearing the family unity red n blue plaid colours. The maroon Gas n Sip seems to be more about family and even Wayward Sisters, since it was prominently used behind Claire in 12x16 and maroon has been a lot about family because of the infamous red hoodie that Kevin, Charlie and Cas all wore, and that Mary was put in maroon within an episode of getting back (and Chuck tried to cash in on it in 11x21 to make himself look harmless and cute and relatable in the same hoodie). But even in 12x16 having the Gas n Sip sun looking over Claire, with her connections to Cas, made it seem like he was watching over her too. The colours change the meaning in some ways but the overall message is the same. I think in 13x03 we have to remember it’s also going to be about the Wayward Sisters so whether Jody and Dean are having a personal conversation or not, the sun might be about Cas but the overall thing might be a more neutral family building thing for the main arc stuff. If it was a blue Gas n Sip I’d immediately think it was all about Cas and oozing tragic subtext *everywhere* and completely unavoidably.

(it might also just be that they’re maroon because Biggerson’s are and maybe there’s some sort of corporate alliance of Gas n Sips connected to Biggerson’s, because, after all, Dick Roman ended up owning both franchises and by 7x23 you can see that both are involved in his masterplan, which is part of why I love so much Cas is then intimately connected to both later while still in a gloomy penance mood about the whole thing and everything he’s ever done since…)

… So to actually answer your question, I can see some really really convoluted reasons in the history of the show that if Dean and Jody have their big important “seriously how are you” talk in this exact location while hanging out and hugging in front of all these signs, that they might either not mention Cas at all because he’s not a part of the openly stated story going on between Dean and Jody and all this family stuff and Wayward Sisters and everything absorbed into the entire chunk of the show about parental relationships, of which Jody has been a part since 7x06 thanks to Robbie. Or it’s a part of the emotional backstory to Dean losing Cas which Edlund kicked into high gear in 7x02 while dibsing all the important Dean and Bobby conversations which shine a light on Dean’s loss and Cas, also dragging Jody into a ridiculous web of Dr Sexy and stuff that Robbie and then much much later Yockey were playing around with.

Either way,

[gleek-runner]

Cool Kids | Chapter 6 |They tell me I'm too young to understand they say I'm caught up in a dream

Here's the thing; People grow apart and that's just how life works. As you grow up, you become a more complex character and even the environment in which you live changes progressively, therefore no one is surprised when people grow apart. It's  not enjoyable in one way or another but it happens and you can not stop it.

Sometimes change is scary. Everyone knows it-it's why they hold on to the past with everything they have. But life doesn't work that way. It moves and you are bound to move with it either slowly or all at once.

Here's another thing about humans and life; in the first years of one's life, they live in a bubble. Children are happy and careless, loving everyone and everything. They don't discriminate, they give their entire being to others because in their own little magical bubble everyone is as nice as they are. It starts with them learning to understand the dirty hidden innuendos in cartoons and evolves in learning about death and the world's real boogeymen.

From that point and after, you either die or survive.

You either embrace the end or live long enough to be the one person your parents warned you about.

(There's a third category in which you're just a broken vessel searching for someone to fix you. But isn't it ironic how the only people that will understand how broken you are will be just as broken and unable to fix you?)

.

Skye can't sleep.

It's been happening for quite sometime and it keeps getting worse. Her energy was at its lowest and she could barely stay awake in her classes. It ate her alive and neither her nor her parents could make things better. If something, they only made things worse and left a bigger mess to clean.

Skye figured out that no one could really help her and if she was to be saved, she needed to do it herself. With that thought in mind, she sheltered herself from the world and avoided everyone at all cost. Even her best friends who had already suffered the loss of both Newt and Brendon. Skye liked to believe that everything was for the best. When she would get better, because she would, she would run to her friends' arms once more.

They didn't deserve to be around a broken person like her.

"That's all I have."

"You know I brought you many stuff, I was expecting a little more from your part."the older boy mumbled making Skye frown. She might have been two years younger than him but that didn't mean she was scared. She could knock him out if needed.

"Cut it Puckerman"she shot back"or do I need to let principal Coulson know about your little drug dealing."

"Fine, shortie."he grumbled and put his hand on his bag. He reached for a small bag of pills and handed them to her along with a large cup of coffee"You know, when you get tired of these, I could probably find some LSD for one of my best clients."

"I'm not like you."she whispered and grabbed the coffee and pills from his hands"I will not end up like you."

"They all say that at the beginning, but it's never true baby-doll."

.

Dan didn't like drugs.

So he really had no idea what was he doing behind that damn alley filled with smoke to meet a sixteen year old who was obviously a drug dealer. When he had confronted Skye about shutting him out and she had explained to him that she had some problems, he didn't exactly expected a drug problem. Not in a thousand years.

"Will I see you next week? I might find something stronger."the voice of the one and only Noah Puckerman sent shivers to Dan's spine. The boy wasn't good news and he certainly didn't want him to hang around Skye.

"Depe--"

"Skye! No!"Dan yelled as he pointed his finger towards Noah"I'm going to help you come clean. My best friend will not be a druggie."

"What are you talking about?"Skye questioned confused before taking her bag of pills and handing it to Dan"They are not drugs. Technically. They are hypnotics."

"For your sleeplessness?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."he told her feeling a bit embarrassed with himself"Are your parents fighting?"

"What do you think?"she asked bitterly and motioned her hand for them to go. Dan was the only person who truly knew what was happening in the Johnson residence but since Skye had tried keeping her distance, he had never learned that things had gotten worse. He just thought her parents visited a marriage counselor ."Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't. Promise."

All Skye wanted was to be left alone, to fix herself and then let other people in. It was a good plan but she forgot that once you shut someone out, you couldn't erase the past and bring them back. Lucky for her, Dan wasn't going to let her give up on their friendship. The downside? Eventually, they both gave up on one friendship.

Just not their own.

.

"What about a book?"

"I've read many."

"But not all."Charlie argued gazing outside his room's window. Summer was just around the corner and with school ending, a book would be a great company for a lonely soul. Furthermore, there were a billion books in the world and one could not simply have read them all. He scratched the back of his head for a while and then jumped from his chair."How about a record? You like Wham! right?".

"You really don't have to get me anything."Quinn continued with a warm smile"I'm not even throwing a party."

"Why not?"

"Brittany has a competition and mum and dad will go with her to Manchester for ten days, until the tournament is over."

"And you'll spent your birthday alone at home?"Charlie asked shocked. He recalled Quinn's past birthdays, they weren't anything fancy-just the six friends eating, playing and sometimes staying overnight-but they still were enjoyable. This year, however, he knew that things would be different. This year it would be just her and him. And they both had a pretty rough year already, they needed to blow off some steam.

"You know what? My aunt is coming tomorrow,"as Charlie spoke he witnessed Quinn's eyes becoming brighter and a hopeful smile formed on her lips. It made him hurt twice as much as he shook his head."my mother's sister."

"Oh. Have you talked to him?"Quinn asked sadness filling her voice. From what Charlie had heard from her, they didn't have any news from Brendon and the few times she had called he wasn't there or didn't want to talk. Eventually she stopped trying. They all did. Newt, on the other hand, was not any better. His aunt and uncle had cut all contact with Charlie's family which meant he hadn't heard from Newt for almost an entire year.

"No."Quinn nodded sadly"Anyways,"he continued after taking a deep breath"She'll be in our house for one week but when she's gone, I could ask my parents if you could stay with us for a while. It will be one day after your birthday but it will be fun."

"Charlie, you don't have to."

"I want to."the two children smiled and shared a hug.

.

"You smell like smoke."

"And you smell like daisies."Dan said and coughed a little bit. He couldn't possibly be smelling smoke, he had barely managed to finish a cigarette. It wasn't that he liked smoking, it was all his brother's fault for not hiding his own pack of cigarettes well. Dan was only a kid and it was obvious that curiosity had gotten the best of him."Noah told me you wanted him to find you more nicotine."Skye explained"Since when is that a thing?"

"Noah told me you wanted him to find you more nicotine."Skye explained"Since when is that a thing?""I tried this morning."he told her"It's nice, a bit uneasy at first, but it calms me down. It clears my head too."

"It's a drug."

"Says you."

"I take pills because they help me."she argued and let herself lean against the wall"My parents are divorcing."The statement made Dan raise an eyebrow.

"Are they going to fight for your custody?"

"No."she chuckled bitterly"They don't want me. Neither of them."

"And what does that mean? Wha--they can't do that."

"It's a small town. No one will judge them."she stated sadly"They're going to sent me back to the orphanage."

.

In exactly one week things have fallen apart for Quinn. Something happen to Charlie, like he completely disappeared of the face of the earth. Dan and Skye remained distance with only occasional hellos if they were to cross paths and they usually chose to avoid those too. Then her birthday came and she believed something would change.

Nothing did change though.

And Quinn spent her twelfth birthday alone in an empty house with no people calling her to wish her a happy birthday, not even her parents. Only Brittany sent her a message in the afternoon apologizing on behalf of both her and their parents for not calling. Quinn was once more left alone.The one thing they had promised her she would never feel again.

"Oh, why are you crying, Quinny?"the voice was sweet and caring. Quinn lift her gaze and watched the girl talking. She was taller than her with long brown hair and a caring smile, a smile she knew all too well."Look at your eyes! Who made you sad, honey?"Next to her stood a taller brunette boy who Quinn thought she would never see again. At least she hoped she wouldn't.

"You're not real.""That's nonsense! Of course we are!"Marley argued and sat next to her"We heard it was someone's birthday and said we should stop by."

At that moment, Quinn brought her knees closer to her face and let her small 'birthday girl' hat fall from her head. She pressed her palms against her face and began sobbing. For she truly was alone. Marley and Ryder was just another proof of that."They all left me.""But we won't."and with that Marley and Ryder hugged her tight bringing the feeling of safety back to her. A feeling she had missed dearly.

.

"There is someone on the phone for you."

"I don't want to talk."

"They refuse to hang up though."the blonde woman told Charlie. The boy sighed, why couldn't they all just leave him alone? He left his bed and snatched the phone from his aunt's hand. The woman just scoffed in return. If only she wasn't that cold hearted. She might have been related to his mother but the two women had nothing in common.

His mother was kind and caring, she smiled and could light up the world. She brought hope even in the most tough situations, that was what his dad always said, and was prone to help anyone who was lost. She was a fighter and one of the most important people in Charlie's life. His aunt, though, was the completely opposite. She was cold and distant, she showed no expression or fear and Charlie was positive that she never cried either.

"Hello?"there was a pause on the other line. Charlie wanted to scream, it was one of these calls again. He hated doing these, he hated hearing all these distant relatives who suddenly remembered his existence. He hated hearing them pretending they care.

"Hi." the voice comes out in a whisper but Charlie would recognize it everywhere"My parents let me call. Grandma said, er she called and, it was just yesterday. I didn't know. We didn't."

"I know."

"You were in the airport."

"My aunt was coming, we went to pick her up."he said and sniffed his nose.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's okay."he whispered"It's okay that they aren't here. They are living a life beyond and travel the stars."

"In their red box?"Newt chuckled remembering the dream that Charlie had.

"Yeah."

"I still wish I was with you."

"I know."

"And what are you going to do now?"Newt asked sobbing"Live on your own?"

Charlie glanced at his aunt who was, rather apathetically, reading a book while drinking tea in silence. He turned his gaze to his shoes and sighed"Oh, how I wish that was the case."

[js2-hetalia]

Can’t believe it’s been a whole damn year since I created Hetalia Tomodachi Life. So I thought I’d make a little list of things that happened in the game that made me laugh, or get mad, or something. (Warning: it’s long!)

1. China is a dirty old man who pursues young women. Especially Nyo!Russia. He went after her at least a dozen times before she got married. Then he just started picking random girls left and right. For those familiar with Vinesauce Tomodachi Life, he’s basically Karl, except he actually gets the girl a couple of times, only to break up. His boy charm score typically sits at the -200 mark.

2. Denmark has been my best friend since the very beginning. Early on, everybody on the island, including us, shipped us together and wanted us to go out. I, the look-alike, wanted none of that, and foiled every single attempt. I got so mad that I made a song about it. But anyway, HTL Denmark is even cuter than canon Denmark. If I had to besties with anyone, I’m glad it’s him.

3. Estonia was a typical school nerd (still is) and Spain, the “baddest of the Bad Friends,” was his bully. Nowadays, the two get along fairly well, even making an agreement to leave their past behind them.

4. Nyo!Macau, a character with no canon personality whatsoever, actually wound up as one of my favorite characters. After I gave her the Meadow interior, I thought to myself that it kinda looked like the standard Windows 7 (?) desktop. Combined with her voice, I got it in my head that she was the personification of Windows, so I changed her name to that. Later, she started dating Ladonia. Fitting, since he’s the Internet future boy. But she’s WAY older than him. So then I got it in my mind that she was an old cougar. So. Her name’s now pronounced “the old cougar,” although one of her phrases is still “Error,” a leftover from her Windows days.

5. Austria had a jester phase. Seriously. I even made the game pronounce it “Jestria” for a time. Basically, I gave him a jester outfit and he just kept wearing it all the time. I eventually got sick of it and made him wear women’s clothes and other ridiculous outfits, which he still does to this day.

6. Nyo!New Zealand is all white. Empty white interior, white-painted hair, and only white clothes. It is white on white on white. I honestly can’t remember why I started doing that, but I did, and I will not stop until I have given her every white hat and outfit that I can possibly give her. Somehow she still hasn’t made it up to the top of my most pampered list.

7. Sealand is permanently known in my head as “Piss Stain.” There was this one time when he had a fight with New Zealand. He was wearing an all-yellow outfit (a body suit, I think), and I thought to myself, wow, he looks like a piss stain amidst all this white. Ta-da! Piss Stain. I think it fits his canon bratty personality, too. I can see England calling him that.

8. Rome x Liechtenstein is a thing. And they are boring as fuck, despite all odds. They don’t do anything of interest, and so far, they’re the ones who have had my least favorite baby by far. And they’re showing no signs of breaking up anytime soon. Fuck. At least Nyo!Russia x Finland was interesting, even if they pissed me off for reasons I don’t know.

9. Oh by the way, Nyo!Russia is married to Nyo!Belarus. HUZZAH!!! Now have a fucking kid already.

10. Fart Voice Bulgaria. I don’t know. I gave him the lowest-pitched but also squeakiest and, well, fartiest voice I could. I ran with it. I also love fucking around with how the game pronounces things in his voice, making his angry phrase nothing but a string of euro signs. It just sounds like “Yurururururuurururururu.” It’s hilarious. He has a son with a voice that’s just as glorious. I made a song about it. Bulgaria is proud of Nathan’s voice and likes to show it off. Nathan himself is ashamed.

11. Nyo!Germany and Romano were the first couple to get married and have a baby. Their first baby was all right. Nothing too exciting. Their second baby was a tree-hugging hippie.

12. France is called “Daddy.” It was a stupid joke. But one of the news clips made it amazing. The news about how a burger with a random-food ingredient completely fails, and it’s at the restaurant called “Big [islander name]’s.” It randomly picked France’s name, so the restaurant’s name is pronounced “Big Daddy’s.” It was so glorious I had to make his full name Francois “Big Daddy” Bonnefoy.

13. Luxembourg was given the catchphrase “High-claas!” That is not a typo or misspell. I accidentally typed “claas” instead of “class” and I liked how it sounded, so I kept it. lol

14. Nyo!Iceland is a wannabe fish. (Or a mermaid. But I like “wannabe fish” more.) She has the Seabed apartment and her worried phrase is “Time to spawn!” because I’m a weird fucker like that.

15. Somehow Japan always raised his hand to the really dirty Quirky Questions. Nice to know, dude...

16. EGYPT IS BORING AS FUCK GOOD GOD. I don’t like any coupling with him in it. Seriously considering deleting him even though he’s a mainstay. Also, I figured out a way to make him say “...” without the game pronouncing it as anything (normally it says “dot”). There’s period marks in the Greek keyboard. Those will stay silent. All of his phrases are “...”

17. Nyo!South Korea is also known as “That Bitch” with a trademark sign. Thing is, the game actually says “trademark sign” in her catchphrase. It’s soooo good. Plus, her best friend is Nyo!Poland, a catty girl herself. They’re absolutely perfect alpha bitches together. Her husband Australia was likewise given the catchphrase “She’s MY bitch!” They had two beautiful children.

18. Nyo!Spain is a teacher who’s hot for at least one of her students, and has no qualms about asking them out.

19. Spain and Nyo!New Zealand make the CUTEST babies. Too bad I have a strict two-per-couple limit. Also that they, uh, divorced. (Their son, Elijah, is a wannabe supervillain. Or is he just a wannabe...?)

20. There are two Carters. That’s Seychelles and Hong Kong’s son. The first one is forever stuck as a traveler on This Damn Island (who even streetpasses around here). The second one was recreated and lives on the island, but has a love for travel.

21. Winter is still the funniest character by virtue of how out of place he is.

22. For the longest time, I just typed the characters’ names and let the game try to pronounce them, and just run with it. (Now I actually try to get the game to pronounce them as correctly as it can.) This is especially hilarious when listening to the game mangle Finland’s or Chris’s (Russwe) last names. But even some of the simpler-seeming names get mispronounced - Natasha, notably, gets pronounced as “NAT-uh-shuh” without further fixing.

23. I made sure Nyo!Latvia’s name got as many A’s tacked on to the end as I could. It’s still funny.

24. Greece started life as a furry. Now he’s not, at least not openly. I remember calling him into his apartment when he was in a good mood, and as I’m searching through the menu, he says “Let’s get laid!” and I completely lost it. I did NOT remember giving him that phrase. The other great phrase of his is “Fuck Sadik!!1!” which he pronounces as “fuck SAD-ik exclamation point one.” It’s hilarious in his slow, monotone, dead voice.

25. Switzerland is another character whose voice is hilariously out of character for him. It’s high-pitched and the pitch curves upward at the end of his sentences. He’s still as pissy as he is in canon, with phrases like “GET OUT!!!” and “I’ll shoot!” This combination makes him one of my favorite islanders.

26. For whatever stupid reason, I gave Liechtenstein surfer dude slang for phrases. She also lives in the Ring (like, a boxing/wrestling ring) apartment. Maybe it’s just me, but Liechtenstein is my favorite character to make out-of-character.

27. Serenity, born to Japan and Nyo!Norway, is by far my favorite baby. Owen, Chris, Elijah, Alyssa, Sophie, and Nathan are really good, too. The HTL babies are my OC’s and I will cherish them. Don’t know if I’ll make fics with them or not...

28. Nyo!Lithuania is known as “Heartbreaker.” Why? Because she divorced Denmark on Valentine’s Day, and she’s only been dumping guys ever since. Although she has hung on to Romania for a while now...

29. Finland is known as “That Finnish Ass-Hall” (can’t say “asshole” in the game). I hated him for dating Nyo!Russia and being extremely persistent about marrying her. I don’t even know why I hated them so much, I just did. He still has his phrase “Fukk off, Yao!” from the days when he was chasing after her booty.

30. Nyo!Canada used to have the phrase “Please, Daddy...” because she dated France (”Daddy”) for a while. I’ve since changed it because it was weird, plus she’s married to Turkey, but I might change it back...

31. I originally planned for Nyo!Ukraine to be a total friendless loser, even giving him the phrase “I’m a loser.” Mostly because of my headcanon that he just has no confidence in relationships. Except, he made a lot of friends really fast, and it was Ripper, Nyo!France, and Monaco who were the friendless losers for the longest time.

32. Italy is living in the haunted mansion interior. For reasons.

33. I’ve noticed that in Judgment Bay, characters tend to form the same groups over and over again, and I’ve made some songs out of the results, such as “Slaughter Planet Earth” (all three Italy brothers, Australia, Nyo!Lithuania, America, Nyo!Prussia) and “Just You and I Here” (America and Nyo!South Korea, and later Owen).

34. Oh, yeah. There was that series I did with Egypt and Sweden where the lyrics to all the songs were just “..........................................” and “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.” One of the songs crashes every time lmao.

And that’s all I have for now. Damn, I invested a lot into this game.

[justsimplylovely]

US president to use state visit to promote House of Trump as he doubles down on Brexit bet Trump with the Queen in Windsor last summer. Next week, the monarch will greet Trump ceremonially in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP Donald Trump’s state visit this week to the UK is being promoted as a celebration of a close alliance tempered through war. It could be more accurately described as a personal lap of victory for the US president, performed largely at the expense of his hosts. Trump arrives in London having survived Robert Mueller’s last blow, a verbal recap of the special counsel’s finding that the president could neither be charged with crimes nor exonerated. The president is now on the counter-attack and may well use his visit to repeat his claim – called “utterly ridiculous” by GCHQ – that UK intelligence helped spy on his election campaign. The rich pageantry that the British monarchy supplies will not only distract from the lingering clouds of suspicion, but send a bright red, white and blue message of reassurance to the Trump faithful that, while his domestic enemies might yap at his heels, he is still treated like royalty in foreign capitals. “What he wants is the adulation,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the centre on the US and Europe at the Brookings Institution. “He wants the protocol and the grandeur and to be at the centre of it all. It is how he sees global diplomacy. It’s going from palace to chancellery, meeting leaders and looking the part.” For that purpose, the UK visit could not be more perfect. On Monday, the Queen will greet Trump ceremonially in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. He will inspect a guard of honour and there will be royal gun salutes fired from Green Park and the Tower of London. There will be afternoon tea and banquets and then, in Portsmouth, the martial grandeur of the Royal Navy. Trump is bringing his extended family, including the heirs to his fortune and political power, Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka. The most powerful of them, Ivanka, will attend a “business leaders” breakfast on Tuesday with her father in the company of Theresa May and the Duke of York. Travelling Trumps When Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a state visit to the UK on 3 June, they will reportedly be joined by the president’s four adult children and their spouses. Here's who is in the family entourage: Ivanka Trump Ivanka is Trump’s oldest daughter and works in the White House (unpaid) as an adviser to the president. Trump has relied on her often for overseas diplomacy, including sitting in for him briefly at a G20 summit, and he said he had considered naming her to head the World Bank. She has visited Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast on behalf of the administration to promote women’s rights. Before her father’s presidency, Trump ran her own fashion line. Jared Kushner Trump’s son-in-law is a White House senior adviser and the administration’s envoy to the Middle East (also unpaid). With his wife Ivanka he has also been the subject of a host of controversies – with a whistleblower alleging they were granted sensitive security clearances over the objections of career security experts. He has also been accused of conflicts of interest over his family’s sprawling real-estate empire. Kushner wears many hats in Washington. He is supposed to come up with a Middle East peace plan, as well as US immigration policy. Donald Trump Jr Trump’s eldest son and his brother, Eric, run their father’s business empire while he is in the White House. Officially, Trump Jr is executive vice-president of the Trump Organization. It was Trump Jr who met a Russian lawyer in an infamous Trump Tower meeting in New York in 2016, after the Russian offered him election ‘dirt’ on the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Kushner also attended. Although accepting campaign help from foreign nationals is illegal, the special counsel Robert Mueller said after investigating that there was not enough evidence to prove meeting participants knew they were breaking the law. Trump Jr may be accompanied by his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host. Eric Trump Eric Trump is the co-leader of the Trump Organization during his father’s presidency. He has defended his father from accusations of racism, and called the president’s critics “not even people”. He is parodied on the weekly US satirical comedy TV show Saturday Night Live and elsewhere as the not-so-sharp Trump brother, though supporters call this portrayal inaccurate. Most recently, a watchdog group has been pressing to find out how much it cost taxpayers when Eric and members of one of the family’s golf clubs travelled to Scotland to play the links. Lara Trump Lara Trump is a campaign adviser to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and wife to Eric. A vocal defender of her father-in-law, she recently made headlines by saying the decision to let in large numbers of migrants fleeing war- and poverty-torn countries for Europe was “one of the worst things that ever happened to Germany”. Tiffany Trump Tiffany is the lowest profile of Trump’s adult children and his only child with second wife Marla Maples. She headed to London ahead of the rest of her family. The 25-year-old is a graduate student at Georgetown Law in Washington DC. She travelled to the Cannes film festival earlier this month with her wealthy boyfriend, in a trip that has drawn scrutiny over its cost to taxpayers in terms of security for the presidential daughter. The scenes will eventually be marketed by his business empire and his re-election machine in the same way: the House of Trump and the House of Windsor, the top luxury brands of their respective nations, sitting down to make deals in the most sumptuous settings. In effect, the British royals will be serving as co-stars and extras in stock footage for Trump’s 2020 re-election ads. The only royal with experience of acting for a living, Meghan, the American-born Duchess of Sussex, is thought to be staying away. She is on maternity leave after having baby Archie, but she has called Trump “divisive” and “misogynistic” in the past. In return, he declared her “nasty” in a pre-departure Sun interview. Trump’s progress will be triumphal in other ways. May – who told him off for sharing far-right videos in 2017, and whom he has taunted mercilessly ever since for failing to deliver Brexit – will be in her last days as prime minister. The former Conservative foreign secretary Boris Johnson, whom Trump has consistently backed over May, and who he has said would do “an excellent job”, is tipped as most likely to succeed her. The Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, another Trump favourite, emerged victorious from the European elections, while the hardest of all Brexits remains a likelihood. The US president is winning all his bets in the UK, and it would be out of character if he did not remind the hapless outgoing prime minister of that fact. Johnson and Farage were expected to attend a banquet thrown at the US ambassador’s London residence, Winfield House, on Tuesday night, though Farage claims he has been banned from meeting the president by the May government. Trump was coy on whether he would meet them but gave them a resounding shout-out last Thursday as “two very good guys, very interesting people”. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Trump called on Britain to leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refuses to meet its demands, and urged the government to send Farage into the negotiations. The state visit is an opportunity for Trump to double down on his bet on Brexit, with the ultimate aim of striking his own bilateral trade deal with an amputated and weakened Britain. After arriving in the UK on Air Force One on Monday 3 June, US president Donald Trump will be formally welcomed in a ceremony in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. It will be attended by the Queen and Prince Charles. The president will then attend a private lunch at the palace, which is expected to be attended by Prince Harry, but not his wife, who Trump recently described as 'nasty'. Following a wreath-laying ceremony in Westminster Abbey, Donald Trump will join Prince Charles for an afternoon tea at Clarence House. The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince Harry will then host a state banquet in the evening, which will be attended by prominent US citizens who live in the UK, as well as political and civic leaders. On Tuesday 4 June the visit includes a breakfast meeting with Prince Andrew, and then talks and a press conference with prime minister Theresa May at Downing Street. On the Tuesday evening Trump hosts a dinner at the residence of the US ambassador. On Wednesday 5 June Trump will take part in commemoration services in Portsmouth to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The day ends with the Queen formally bidding farewell to the US president.  Trump’s entourage will also include two identical seven-seat black armoured limousines nicknamed ‘The Beast’, and a number of presidential helicopters. The president has at his side at all times one of five rotating military aides who carry the nuclear ‘football’ which can trigger a missile strike - equipped with communication tools and a book with prepared war plans.   “This is not about seeing where the UK is vulnerable in a post-EU environment and buttressing it; I think this is using US trade leverage to get as many gains as possible,” said Heather Conley, director of the Europe programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. That leverage will be used to peel the UK away from EU regulations to fall in line with US standards on food, healthcare and banking. The US president will be coming to press home his advantage. “Trump is pursuing a predatory approach to Brexit,” Wright said. “It’s an opportunist strategy to take advantage of Britain’s vulnerability.”

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2wumRKM