#though I think this is cool. kids fighting back against the ‘boogeyman’

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

[a fic in which adam gets his ass BEAT by an 11 year old (also cw for blood and animal death)]

…

Ari was brave to a fault.

She was out with her friends, hours after her parents thought she went to bed. They had stolen candy from where Lucia’s parents had hidden—it wasn’t very well hidden, even though they’ve had it stolen before they always hid it in the same place—and they all quietly snuck out to their fort in the woods.

It was incredibly stupid of them to do that, Ari realizes, as she’s being chased by some kind of noodle-armed alternate that seemed very keen on snapping her neck.

“HEEHEE GAMES ARE FUN! WHY DON’T WE PLAY TAG, HUH? I’M IT.” it screamed the thinly veiled threat out loud enough that the normal, natural noises of the woods were silenced.

“SCREW YOU!!” She would have made a witty comeback, but she was too out of breath to come up with anything. It was like trying to outrun a car.

So the night started out normal, right? She went out to the woods with everyone, she brought her flashlight and her candy and her blanket and her stuffy, simon (don’t tell any of the others he’s the favorite, they’ll be sad).

They talked about the usual things elementary kids did in mandela county, when can we watch TV again, where did my dog go, why are the teachers making us take so many tests we already had five and that’s too much, the list goes on.

SNAP.

“..What was that,”

“I don’t know, it was probably like…a raccoon or something,”

“I’ll go check it out,”

“Nono, Ari you really don’t have to-“

“Mia. I’ll be fine! It probably is just a raccoon, and if it is, i get to beat the crap out of it,”

“I- ok, go fight a raccoon. If you’re not back in 10 minutes we’ll go in there with the shotgun,”

-

“fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK-”

Ari’s mom told her she couldn’t use those words until she was older, but she didn’t care right now. Her mom has clearly never been chased by a noodle monster before.

She didn’t even push the branches out of the way anymore, sure it stung but-

“ghhk,”

She choked as she was slowly lifted off the ground by her hoodie, the zipper digging into her neck.

She never got the chance to really look at it as she was running through the forest, it’s sweatshirt—which has the letters BPS printed onto it (they’ll probably be imprinted in her head forever as well)—was covered in dirt from running through the forest, its eyes were almost completely black, and its smile was wide—too wide.

“TAG.” It screeched, as it brought its other hand up to her neck.

NONONONO I JUST WANTED TO FIGHT A RACOON THIS WILL NOT BE HOW I DIE-

She somehow managed to pry the hand off her neck, and climb up it, as she did its smile grew wider.

It tried to pull her off its shoulders, but that attempt failed when she stabbed it in the eye. Hard.

It let out a horrible screech as it dropped her back to the ground, covering its face with its hands as its smile turned into a sort-of grimace. It was mad.

It ran at her again with its right eye dripping dark red blood, no taunts this time. It just wanted her dead.

When its face got close enough she stabbed it in the other eye, completely blinding it. The screech was even worse this time, she wouldn’t be surprised if her friends actually heard it this time.

Whatever it was realized it had clearly lost, and it sprinted back into the woods, bumping into the trees.

Ari stood there for a minute, trying to catch her breath.

Her friends came rushing in by her, worried looks on their faces, which turned into relief when they saw she was still alive.

“It uh…it wasn’t a raccoon,”

“CLEARLY. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” Mia shouted at her.

“Shh shh keep it down..we don’t know if whatever “it” was will come back,” Lucia put her hand over Mia’s mouth. Much to her dismay.

“Trust me guys. It’s not gonna come back. At least not tonight,”

They all stood in silence for a moment, Mia still carrying the shotgun (how did they get a shotgun they are eleven. anyway) Lucia still with her hand over Mia’s mouth, and Ari still carrying the bloodied knife.

“…we’re gonna find a new place for our fort. And we’re gonna take you to the hospital because that is a dislocated shoulder if I’ve ever seen one,” Lucia said, taking her hand off of Mia’s mouth.

As Ari’s adrenaline left her body, she felt a stinging pain in her shoulder.

“Yeah…we’re gonna be in so much trouble.”

“OH CRAP. I FORGOT ABOUT OUR PARENTS,” Lucia brought her hands to her head.

“Nono guys, it's fine. I can take the fall and go to to the hospital, you go home,”

“…really? You’d do that for us?”

“Absolutely.”

-

After Ari got treated for her wounds, which there were surprisingly little of, she was taken to the police station so she could reunite with her parents. She was lectured. Heavily. But she wasn’t really listening, rewinding the events of that night in her mind.

BPS.

What did the letters on that thing’s jacket mean? It looked like a failed copy of someone, so those letters clearly meant something.

She was going to try her best to find out. Right after her parents unground her.

Yooooo /pos

Adam gets his ass kicked by a kid, real-

[immodestmussorgskyy]

you have (1) new message

“I don’t believe in you!”

“I believe in you…”

You can’t help but snort, bursting into a fresh round of giggles. The dialogue in Nightmare on Elm Street is absolutely diabolical-- you struggle to figure out how anybody could consider this a horror movie. But hey… meteoric fame is hard to come by. It’s a cult classic for a reason. 

You’d usually be marathoning classic slasher flicks with your roommate, Chloe, but she’s on a month-long Hawaii dream vacation with her new boyfriend. What happened to bros before hoes? But hey, his wealth is apparently abundant enough to fund weeks of paradise beachside living, so good for her for getting that bread. And anyway, you’re content to sit alone in your little mousehole apartment and melt into the couch after work with a family-size bag of salt & vinegar chips under your arm. 

You watch the flickering screen with mild interest as you chomp down another handful of chips. Freddy Krueger is definitely failing to get you on the edge of your seat. Wiping your hand on your sweatpants, you pick up the remote and turn the movie off. 

“Nightmare, my ass.” you mutter under your breath. 

As much as you’d like to, eating nothing but salt and vinegar chips for dinner seems like a great way to end up with an upset stomach and a lot of regret later tonight. The pantry is well stocked with Chloe’s foods of choice-- organic steel-cut rolled oats, a billion different kinds of nuts and seeds all in cute little labeled mason jars, gluten free bread, a mockery of cheese puffs (chickpea puffs? Come on!). Your side is a library of boxed or canned foods in stark contrast: a couple opened boxes of Pop-Tarts, a few boxes of Kraft mac & cheese, a family sized box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and, the only thing not in a box: another bag of salt & vinegar chips. 

The fridge tells a similar story. Chloe’s avocados, farmer’s market tomatoes, and thick stalks of celery gleam in the vegetable drawer. She’s consumed half the shelf space with just kombucha and a few swanky craft beers. And bottles of oat milk, or soy milk, or some kind of thing pretending to be milk. You actually don’t have much in the fridge besides leftover Indian food from your favorite place downtown and a gallon of milk for your cereal, so you don’t mind her hogging more space. 

Muffy, Chloe’s ragdoll cat, stalks into the kitchen with you and gives you a tiny yowl. You lean down and give her an affectionate scratch behind the ears. 

“Scram, Muffy.” you murmur to her. “I’ve already fed you.” 

She looks up at you with a look that can only mean “and you’ll feed me more.” 

She stalks back into the living room, fluffy beige tail disappearing behind the wall in a flick and a wave. You tie your hair back and yawn. What’s on the menu for dinner tonight? 

Before you can think too much about eating, you remember that Chloe left you a voicemail before she took off. You fish your phone from your pocket and open your voicemail, tapping your toe against the linoleum floor as the dial tone plays. 

You have one new message, chirps the robot voice of your mailbox. 

“Hey girl. I’m boarding soon, so you probably won’t hear from me for a while. Make sure you feed Muffy, water the plants…” she clicks her tongue a few times, “take your meds, and don’t lay in bed for too long on the weekends. You know how that tanks your mood.” 

Chloe might be a total hipster health nut, but it doesn’t make it any less sweet that she frets over you so much. You break into a smile and make a mental note to call her back. 

“And. You can eat anything perishable of mine in the fridge or pantry while I’m gone. I doubt the bread or the veggies are gonna last long… you need to eat healthier anyway. No potato chips for dinner.” 

Your smile grows. She knows you so well. 

“I gotta go, but I’ll send you tons of pictures when I get there. Bye, babe.” 

You hang up and set your phone down on the counter. Eyeing the bland looking loaf of brown bread, you decide you’ll have breakfast a la Chloe for dinner. 

You toss the loaf onto the counter, then stalk to the fridge. The avocados seem pretty ripe. Tomatoes, too. You pick out one of each, then pluck a couple eggs from the carton you two share and set it all on the counter. Avocado toast with scrambled eggs sounds pretty Chloe. 

You gut the avocado, tossing its pit in the trash and scooping its innards out into a bowl. The fork makes quick work of it, turning it into a mound of mild green paste. Salt, pepper. Done. 

Hey, if Chloe let you eat her food, she’s bound to not mind that you’re using her nice kitchen knives too, right? You cut a few slices of tomato and grimace at its gelatinous, glistening center. You never liked tomatoes much, but she’s kinda right-- you do need to improve your diet. 

Before long, you’ve got a nice thick slice of toast slathered in avocado and garnished with ripe red tomato sitting next to a steaming pile of scrambled eggs. This may not be your beloved salt & vinegar chips, but it sure looks delicious. 

You snap a photo of your meal and text it to her. Am I healthy yet? you type, with a grin on your face. 

Muffy stalks up to you, looking up expectantly. You sigh and toss her a morsel of scrambled egg. “That’s all you’re getting, you little twerp.” you admonish through a mouthful of toast. It’s not… delicious, but it’s not bad for some mushed up vegetable on top of an excuse for bread. You curse yourself for not adding some cheese to your scrambled eggs. That would’ve really been delicious. 

You’d usually be scrolling through your social media right now, but something inspires you to look longingly out the window of the kitchen. The sky is a starless, inky black, obscuring everything except for whatever is illuminated by the weak orange streetlights. Usually there would be more traffic or drunk yelling-- you and Chloe didn’t exactly get lucky with the placement of your unit-- but tonight it’s eerily silent. That’s perfectly welcome to you, though. It’s much better than cranking up the volume of your music to drown out whatever street fight is occurring three floors below you. 

Suddenly, your musing and its silence is broken by the sound of your ringtone. It’s half past midnight… who in their right mind would be calling you right now? 

Unknown number. You frown and let it go to voicemail. Probably just some spam caller. 

You finish your dinner and sit there in the silence, then check your phone again. You can’t help but be curious as to what message they’ve left you. Gingerly, you open your voice mailbox again and listen dispassionately to the dial tone and the little robot voice. 

You have one new message and one old message. 

The voice that erupts through your speaker is unfamiliar, smooth, low. All you can discern is that it’s a male voice, its tone almost perversely cloying. 

“I was hoping you’d pick up.” A long inhale, a long exhale. “You seem a little lonely. Breakfast for dinner… cute.” 

Ice cold horror washes over you and you can barely move your fingers to hang up. This has to be some kind of joke. Some stupid kid getting really, really lucky with their prank call. 

But a question still sears into your thoughts:

Who would have known what you were doing? 

That you were alone in your apartment? 

Maybe, just maybe, by some insane stretch of the imagination, Chloe’s new boyfriend got ahold of her phone, saw your text, and decided to pull some prank. Yeah, that sounds about right. That’s the only situation that makes sense, unless… 

Somebody is watching you.  

You nearly jump out of your seat as the phone rings again. Unknown number. Your hands tremble over it as your panicked brain deliberates picking it up. Before you can think about it any more, you’ve snatched it into a sweaty palm and brought it up to your ear. 

“Chloe, this isn’t fucking funny. Cut it out.” you try to sound intimidating, but your voice trembles in just the wrong way with each word. 

“You picked up.” the voice breathes, and you swear you can hear a sinister smile creep onto whoever’s face it belongs to. “You must really be lonely.” 

“I said stop, Chlo--”

“My name’s not Chloe.” he snarls, and your empty threat dies in your throat immediately. Then, as if nothing had happened at all, his voice slips back into that relaxed, amused tone. “But I do wish I were spending a month in Hawaii right now. Lucky girl, isn’t she?” 

Another pang of fear hits you like a brick. You swallow hard, biting your lip. “Whoever you are, leave me alone. Or I’ll… I’ll call the cops.” 

“What exactly are you going to tell them, sweetheart? That some big mean boogeyman is leaving scary messages on your phone?” he lets out a mocking laugh. “They’ll send their best officers, I’m sure.”

“Leave me alone.” is all you manage to say, breathless and trembling, before you force yourself to hang up and practically slam your phone down onto the counter. Muffy jumps and cocks her head at you. You force yourself to break out of your panicked stupor and hurry over to the kitchen window, glancing hurriedly to the left and right of it. If somebody were on the fire escape, you surely would have heard it. 

At least, that’s what you tell yourself. 

You yank those curtains shut, then the curtains on the living room window, then finally the ones in your bedroom. You remember Chloe locking and shutting her windows, so there’s no need to check in there. Something tells you to anyway.

You creep to her doorway, palms sweaty. There’s probably nothing to see in there, you think to yourself, the curtains were already shut. 

Looking into her room, your stomach drops. 

The curtains are tucked neatly to the side, and her window is cranked all the way open, letting in the cool night air and the sounds of the streets. You nearly choke in horror and rush over to shut the window, making sure the lock is tightly down before throwing the curtains back over them. You must have just misremembered. She probably left the window open to let some fresh air in, or something.

But she never leaves her window open, or Muffy would get out, you realize. 

“Oh my God.” you gasp to yourself, before you sprint to the kitchen and grab the biggest, meanest looking knife in the drawer, as well as your phone. Muffy meows at you curiously, then yelps in indignance as you swiftly scoop her up by the stomach and fly to your room. 

“Sorry.” you mutter as you practically toss her onto your bed, then lock your door. It’s a pathetic, flimsy mechanism, and could probably be picked with a fork, but it’s better than nothing. You pause, surveying the room for any heavy objects, and settle on jamming your full laundry hamper under the doorknob. At least this way you’ll hear any intruder before they make it into your room. The knife you tuck under your pillow as you scramble under your covers and turn your lamp off. 

Your hands shake as you dial Chloe’s number. The phone rings once, twice, then goes straight to voicemail.

“Hey, Chlo,” you say shakily. “Uhm, I got some really weird calls from somebody tonight and I think our apartment might have been broken into. Or something. Uh,” you swallow hard, “Muffy and I are locked up in my room right now and I have a knife. I could be just imagining things, but if you don’t hear from me for a while, I probably got murdered or something.”

God, you sound so stupid right now, but it’s the best you can muster when your thoughts are racing at a million miles an hour. 

“I’ll call you when I wake up tomorrow. Bye.” 

You plug your phone in and set it on your nightstand, shrinking down underneath your duvet. Nothing is visible in your room, even as your eyes adjust to the darkness, except for the glow of the hall light you left on under your door. 

It’s going to be a long night. 

Check out this story and the rest of its chapters on AO3!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28688007/chapters/70331253

[kob131]

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2020/04/cook-serve-delicious-3-update-includes-gay-and-trans-pride-flags/106835/

David Galindo, the developer behind Cook, Serve, Delicious 3?! announced that the game’s latest update was designed to include trans flags and pride flags for the LGBTQIA+ community. This yet another game aimed at kids including propaganda to further push the gay agenda into your home.

“Propaganda” 

Noun

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

-the dissemination of propaganda as a political strategy.

There is no info presented thus, it CANNOT BE PROPAGANDA.

You on the other hand...

Galindo made the tweet on March 31st, 2020, looking to virtue signal in hopes of gaining viral attention on social media.

Proof? ... No? Cool, so that person over there claiming every depiction of straight people in media is propaganda should also be considered right since we’re listening to baseless statements right?

This is similar to when VoidPoint and 3D Realms donated money to an LGBTQIA+ organization as remittance for offending ResetEra with the hidden jokes they had in Ion Fury.

Bullshit pseudo-news quoting itself hoping you don’t look at the origin of the link.

Take a shot.

This is similar to when Matt Makes Games updated Celeste to include the trans flags, indicating that they support youth transitioning, a sick and twisted agenda being pushed by the Rainbow Reich.

In other news, The Mary Sue reports that all men must remove their dicks with rusty knives or they will mutate every night into rape machines.

This is what you sound like to me.

The idea is that if you can convince people to transition their kids, then the next step will be to convince people that hebephelia should be legalized so long as minors give their consent, and then after that it’s going to be pedophilia getting legalized so long as minors give their consent.

The first and second things have NO correlation, let alone with the third.

It’s a chisel that etches away at the statue of morality, with the erosion of each block being met with cheers by the purveyors of degeneracy for the Poofer Prefects… better known as Centrists™ .

Demonizing centrists because they don’t just mindlessly consume whatever biased bullshit is in front of them.

Take two here.

Transitioning is not a fucking moral conundrum and no sane person is gonna actually transition their kids. And if they do, they’ll pay for it when they rot away in a nursing home somewhere because they fucked up their kid.

Anyone who speaks out against the invasion of this culturally erosive agenda are shouted down by said Centrists™, even while drag queen story time continues to expand.

They say as the boogeyman in their heads also venhemetly hate centrists while centrists usually hate BOTH of them.

Number four.

Heck, even lawmakers are being drowned out by the degenerates even when all they’ve asked for is for parents to have a say in whether they want their kids exposed to sexual deviancy, as reported by The Daily Signal.

Checked the source, all it really cites is a tweet (https://twitter.com/BenBakerMO/status/1220354131124088832) and the just trucks along pretending anyone gives a shit about their unsubstainated claims.

We’re seeing the aberrant lifestyles promoted in kids’ shows such as Clifford The Big Red Dog, Adventure Time, and Young Justice, as well as gay weddings appearing in children media such as Steven Universe, Voltron, and Arthur.

None of the cartoons or kid shows admit that LGBTQIA+ lifestyles come with higher substance and drug abuse compared to heterosexuals, as outlined in a study by by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

None of them cover how lesbians and gays also have higher rates of domestic abuse than heterosexuals, as reported by the HOSB, and

None of them discuss how lesbians in particular are involved in more spousal abuse than heterosexuals, as reported and the NCADV.

They completely avoid mentioning gay men have higher percentages of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted diseases, as detailed in a CDC report.

And LGBTQIA+ suicide rates are much higher than heterosexuals due to shame and depression caused from fighting against their own biological standards, as outlined in a litany of resources on The Trevor Project.

Already addressed this but these studies are being manipulated to oversimplify things or even go AGAINST what they are meant to do.

Nevertheless, we’re seeing the promotion of LGBTQIA+ content more and more in kids media, with companies attempting to force people to believe it’s “normal behavior”, despite the fact that gays and lesbians only make up 1.6% of the U.S., population, as reported by Time Magazine. That means it’s not “normal” behavior, it’s aberrant behavior.

Cool.

Most living creatures on planet earth do not think or act like human beings. Therefore, we are aberrant behavior As was the freedom of slaves, the equality of women and the rights of the people over the king. Aberrant means ‘deviantion from an accepted standard’ you dumbass: it does not mean anything negative,

Even rappers noticed the abundance of gay material in cartoons and kid shows, as discussed in the clip below from Vlad TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6oxBLXtkU

And a certain youtuber noted that women tend to be ‘trophies’ for women, what’s your point other than ‘eat my bias’?

So why is such a small portion of the demographic gaining so much attention?

Cultural shift due to equal rights.

To normalize the behavior. To force acceptance of said behavior, lest you be castigated by the Craphole Communists that control social media.

Doesn’t Twitter have a fuckton of Nazis on it’s platform?

Also, what is your opposition? Replace ‘Craphole Communists that control social media’ to ‘Craphole Neanderthals who wish they control social media’: you’re both the same damn movement, just with tiny differences.

They use cultivation theory to continually pepper people with iconography (i.e., flags in games like A Hat In Time) and social inculcation (i.e., LGBTQIA+ references in games like Animal Crossing), and censorship for anyone who speaks out against it (viz., behavioral control via Big Tech, which is what happened to Meghan Murphy, as reported by The Federalist).

Yeah, unlike you, someone who has lied repeatedly and tried to trick people into gobbling up biased sources.

The idea is forced normalization, and more and more people are being brainwashed into accepting it.

While your idea is forced demonization, trying to play to people’s fears and worries to brainwash them.

You’re just pissy you lack the power to censor people.

There is some hope, though.

When Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon tried convincing parents that the lifestyle was a-okay for kids via social media posts, parents fired back and criticized both companies for trying to foist sexual content onto kids.

Thank god I’m drinking beer for these shots.

Expect the Centrists™ to run to the defense of said propaganda, as they always do. Just like a decade or two from now you’ll see them condemning anyone who isn’t okay with MAPs and legalized pedophilia.

You say as I bet if I were to bring up the Catholic Church’s protection of pedophiles, you’d go into a fit because you perceive the church as ‘on your side.’

You have no identity or purpose outside of opposing a certain group. And when that happens, you basically BECOME that group because you have no morals or standards other than ‘Oppose X’.

Fuck off, you’re making the COmmunists look right.

[sickandtideeeee]

By Bast - Chapter 14 (Erik x Reader)

A/N: This chapter was a tiny bit shorter than usual but I hope that it at least has a similar impact in terms of story progression :o. As usual, comments and reblogs are appreciated!! <3

How long exactly can this man run for? You were starting to feel the dull throb of ribs getting sore from the repeated impact of every step he took. This had gone on for about five minutes and you had had about enough.

“Is this really necessary?!” You shrieked, thumping him pointlessly on the back a couple of times.

“Nah, but it’s convenient as hell though.” He replied. Eventually, he plopped you down, but before you could straighten yourself up on your two feet, N’Jadaka pulled you back around a corner and softly clapped his large hand over your mouth. Your eyes grew wide in panic, but he put a finger to his lips, and brought you into a crouch with him.

Two guards passed by, their chattering louder as they approached. You wondered why you had not heard them initially while N’Jadaka clearly had. He peered around the wall and motioned for you to follow him.

You continued to sneak past station after station of surveillance in the castle. It was as though he knew the grounds like the back of his hand. Every footstep was quiet yet sure, and every turn was calculated. However, the most unnerving part of following him was that you seemed to traveling deeper and deeper to the center of the palace, rather than outside.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” You finally whispered, once you had reached the familiar ornate statues that adorned the entrance to the main wing. Instead of answering, he commanded you to stay hidden.

“Stay back.”

You nodded, and he went ahead, vanishing into the darkness. Out of view, you heard a muffled cry and a loud thud. Then a second.

N’Jadaka came back around to get you. You gulped, as you followed him back to collapsed bodies. Thankfully, bodies and not corpses. N’Jadaka caught you giving him a look, and raised an eyebrow. You quickly averted your eyes, looking to your feet.

Finally, the two of you stopped in a small room that seemed to house nothing but a large expansive mural. Your companion watched, almost transfixed at the image. On further inspection, you realized it was a painting depicting the royal family lineage from the time of the very first Black Panther to now. You noticed conspicuously that while his own father, T’Challa’s father and T’Challa and Shuri were accounted for in the image, N’Jadaka was not.

He made a sound between a half-hearted chuckle and a scoff, then reached into his shirt to pull out a plain necklace with a silver ring. He placed the ring on his finger and in seconds the mural appeared to dissolve. All that was left was a narrow, dark path and you both ventured inwards.

---

Nothing lay more than a foot before your eyes but pure darkness as you ventured through this secret passageway. However, staying close to N’Jadaka was a bit calming, if not dare you say, comforting. Never mind the fact that you were literally walking into the abyss with someone who could contend for the title of the real-life boogeyman. You made sure to keep a buffer of space between you as you followed closely behind him, so as to not accidentally touch him.

Too late. Losing your footing on what felt like uneven earth, you stumbled into his hard back. He stopped, and you felt a lead weight drop into your stomach.

“Walk in front of me.” He said, sternly.  You obliged, nervously. He closed the distance between you however, such that you could almost feel his presence physically. A few moments passed as you walked in silence before you were brave enough to speak.

“How did you know exactly where to go?”

Again your words were met with silence. N’Jadaka really was not trying to answer any questions today. You guessed you would just stay curious.

Suddenly, your leading foot tapped metal, and you stopped. N’Jadaka pushed past you and felt the air in front of him with his hands, then you heard the heavy creak of a metal door sliding open. He climbed up a couple of metal steps and then reached out his hand for you to follow.

You climbed up and found yourself in what looked like the inside of an old train car, about ten feet long from back to front. N’Jadaka had flipped a switch that illuminated the small enclosed space, and now he sat at the other end of the vehicle before an antique-looking control panel with switches, buttons and levers. He worked busily for a couple moments until the car shook and roared with life and suddenly you were moving.

You took a seat finally, and leaned against the window beside you. Outside you could make out train tracks, revealed by the bright yellow headlights at the front of the train. You were pretty sure Wakanda hadn’t had trains this primitive in the last hundred years. These must have been one of the routes of the original vibranium mines in the city you read about as a kid. Clearly it must have been sapped dry of all of its resources, since it was so dark, missing the soft purple glow of vibranium ore. This would have been perfect for an escape route for the royal family, now that you thought about it. You took a passenger seat, deciding to allow your legs to rest for however long this break would allow you.

You watched N’Jadaka from behind, noting how his broad shoulders relaxed as though he escaped imprisonment in foreign territory on the daily. Pressing your own hand to your chest, you recognized your own steady heartbeat and irrational calm. You were running away from your homeland with the man who had tried to turn it on his head and who had also murdered your only family. Things had stopped making sense the moment this man had arrived.

N’Jadaka had ruined your life, but seemed to be giving you a new one. Contemplating this, sleep came to overtake you like a sly thief, your eyes closing shut on the image of N’Jadaka finally turning back to look at you.

---

Your eyes creaked open the moment you sensed the train screech to a halt. Disoriented for a brief moment, you jolted back to life as N’Jadaka gave you a look before dismounting the train. Following him in a hurry, you trailed him as he made his way out of the mine.

For the first time in your life, you were in what could only have been called uncharted territory. The chirp of crickets and buzz of small insects that flew by night were sounds foreign to you, as were the hum of mosquitoes that attempted to bite your face and hands, the only exposed skin they could get to. Even though it was the few hours that separated the late night and the early morning, the cool breeze generated by the foliage was offset by a sticky, oppressive heat surrounding the two of you. You continued to venture into the jungle following your partner’s lead, N’Jadaka not saying a word to you.

You walked for what felt like hours, feeling more and more idiotic the further you traveled. Pursuing this man who would not speak to you, throwing away your whole life for what you think you saw, what you think you heard, and what you think you felt? This was dumb, so very dumb, you mentally scolded yourself.

Finally, you stopped in your tracks. N’Jadaka kept walking for several steps longer, then stopped once he no longer felt the echoing of steps behind him. He turned to look at you, wordlessly.

“Where are we going?” You demanding to know, calling out to him.

In the brightness of the full moon, you could see his neutral, tough expression soften ever-so-slightly. Finally, that familiar smirk materialized once again. You realized that you had begun to miss it in the span of just a few hours.

“I was waiting for you to ask, babygirl. Looked like you’d follow me to the ends of the earth, no questions asked. It was cute, though, no lie.”

Your eyes narrowed.

���We’re gonna find shelter for the night.” He reassured you. “Then there’s a cabin out-”

Your blood-curdling scream cut him off, as a beast came out of seemingly nowhere in the deep jungle and charged directly towards you with all its might. Your fight or flight response did neither in this instance, and instead as you crouched in a protective stance, hands above you to protect your face, all of your muscles and joints seemed to freeze. Your eyes clamped shut, waiting for the worst.

Nothing happened.

Your eyes peered open, and you found yourself surrounded by a translucent protective barrier. The animal must have been rebuffed and stunned by the shield once it pounced onto you, because it steadied itself shakily on its paws, shaking its monstrous head aggressively side to side. Still frozen in place, your eyes darted around trying to make sense of what was going on. They fell on N’Jadaka who looked at you in concerned shock. The jungle cat now seemed to have renewed rage at missing an easy meal and now repositioned itself to charge once more.

Before it could spring a second time, N’Jadaka charged the beast shoulder-first like a linebacker, knocking the snarling jungle cat to the ground once more. He gave it a crushing blow on its snout and you held your breath as he delivered next blow after blow, blood splattering and staining his face and clothing.

As the creature let out its agonal breaths, N’Jadaka stayed kneeling on the ground, heaving with fatigue after having pummeled this now helpless creature into the soil. Your barrier dropped as you moved slowly towards him. It was so, so easy to forget how violent this man could be, and this was your reminder.

He stayed still, watching the animal die for a moment as you approached. You placed a hand gingerly on his shoulder, hoping to snap him out of his trance.

“Thank you, N’Jadaka. For protecting me.” You said, softly.

His breathing slowed and he rose to his feet. You took a few steps back to give him space. You wondered if you had made that barrier yourself or it was divine intervention, or somehow even N’Jadaka himself. It really would not have been so strange considering you’d just forced your hand through a wall like a ghost just hours ago. You’d figure out what was going on later.

“Let’s keep moving. We gotta find somewhere to sleep.” N’Jadaka replied, his voice no louder than a murmur.

You nodded, even though he couldn’t see you and trailed him closely. He stopped suddenly, turned to take a long look at you, and with his expression still neutral despite a new warmth behind his eyes, spoke again.

“Call me Erik from now on.”

Tagging:  @syndrlla97 @iwantsomethingeternal@1killmonger @chasingsunlight @hoopshoney @destinio1 @wakanda-inspired @thadelightfulone @lalasparkles @pessimisfit @youreadthatright @stark-red19@ruruly20 @bossyboyd03 @autumn242 @heybriheyyy @thelovelyliterary@muse-of-mbaku @bidibidibombaclaat@supersizemeplz@romanceoftheeveryday @chaneajoyyy @lildashofmelanin @blackpinup22 @imayhavemisunderstood @raysunshine78

[briangroth27]

Halloween (2018) Review

This was great! They accomplished an awesome, iconic fall/Halloween feel to Haddonfield in the look and tone of the movie and I couldn’t ask for more on that front. This was scary, just the right amount of funny, very well-acted, and overall an absolute blast. This was the first Halloween that I saw in theatres and it did not disappoint! I can’t wait to watch this again when it comes out on blu-ray this week!

Full Spoilers…

A while back I read a comment online stating that Halloween had accidentally become the Choose Your Own Adventure of horror franchises, and that’s very true and pretty cool. Don’t like where one storyline has taken you? Go back and pick a new thread (there are five so far: Halloween 1978, 2, & 4-6, Halloween 78, 2, H20 & Resurrection, Halloween 3, Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1-2, and now Halloween 78 & Halloween 2018. Before seeing this, my preferred continuity was Halloween 78, Halloween 2, & H20—those three make for a really solid Laurie arc—but I think Halloween 78 & 18 has become my favorite. We lost nothing by making Michael (James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle) and Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) unrelated with the exclusion of Halloween 2 from the new canon IMO. It’s more mythical if he's only fixated on her because she happened to come by his house one day, as if dropping off the keys to the Myers house was her being sent into a dragon’s lair. Laurie happening to invade his territory, thereby incurring his wrath, is more in line with the neighborhood kids’ tales about the house being haunted and Michael being the boogeyman too.  Also, "he needs to kill the women in his family" is a motive begging for explanation, and I’d rather not know why he does what he does. Michael just being evil without any rhyme or reason is much better and scarier.

This installment takes the best parts of H2 (Michael stalking the streets on Halloween in classic fashion) and combines them with Laurie becoming a fighter like in H20, which were exactly the elements I wanted out of this. Jamie Lee Curtis was fantastic! I do wish we'd gotten more about Laurie herself rather than just how her choices affected her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak)—H20 may’ve been slightly better about getting her to open up on that front—but I was satisfied with what we saw. I was sad Laurie’s life was so consumed by her fear of Michael (the moment where she has a nightmare of the Shape returning was a perfect encapsulation of that), but after watching H20 again it’s apparent she was never going to have a rosy life after what she went through in the original. Still, I'm glad this one showed her at least trying to have happiness and you could tell she did find some with Allyson whenever she could get into her life. I also feel like if you were to watch H20 you’d get a glimpse at how Laurie raised Karen before losing custody. It was also so cool to see Laurie truly ready for Michael’s return! I loved how Laurie's plans and preparation come together and watching the Strode women fend off Michael as a family was perfect.

I liked Karen, even though she was so against Laurie (and therefore automatically wrong, given the genre and franchise). It was nice to see Judy Greer get more to do than just be the mom, and her big moment at the end of the movie did not disappoint at all. What a cool way to prove that she was still her mother’s daughter! Her husband Ray (Toby Huss) was also very entertaining and very ‘dad.’ Both of them played off of Curtis and Matichak really well.

Allyson was very likable as well and a great lead for the younger cast. I liked that she was capable and level-headed, though I think it might have been better if the podcast investigation into Michael had been her project: an attempt to bring Michael out of the shadows to explain him, thus freeing Laurie from her fear of unknowable evil while simultaneously getting to know her grandmother’s most guarded side better. That would've continued the theme of the Strode women protecting each other nicely, and would’ve made sense with the much warmer relationship Allyson and Laurie had vs. Karen and Laurie’s more standoffish one.

I liked most of Allyson’s friends and they all felt like real teens. Vicky (Virginia Gardner) working as a babysitter was a nice tie back to the first movie and she was truly likable despite only being in a few scenes; I was sorry to see her go. Dave (Miles Robbins) brought an entirely different vibe to his character than anyone else and it worked really well. Oscar (Drew Scheid), was the classic "nice guy" (with all associated negatives attached) and got some funny lines. I’m glad they had Allyson ditch him when it became clear he wasn’t just being her friend. Cameron (Dylan Arnold) turning out to be a jerk like the rest of his family really surprised me and I wondered why they needed that at first. I think it's supposed to create the idea that you are your family, paralleling Allyson being a fighter in the end, just like Karen and Jamie. On that level, the seemingly dropped plotline of Allyson’s love life works really well. No review of the young cast would be complete without mentioning Julian (Jibrail Nantambu), who was absolutely hilarious and played off of Vicky perfectly. My whole theater was cracking up at him!

The podcast journalists (Jefferson Hall, Rhian Rees) were likeable in their short roles (mainly serving to get us up to speed on Michael), but the movie might’ve been tighter without them. It’s not hurt for their presence at all, but like I said above maybe their podcast would’ve been a stronger element as Allyson’s project. I did like that their goal of understanding Michael was scoffed at by almost everyone. I’m with Laurie: there isn’t anything deeper to understand about him (that’s what’s so scary!). Will Patton was good as Haddonfield’s Sheriff and I liked how they wove him into the events of the first movie. His attempt to just kill Michael and not arrest him here made all the sense in the world. Dr. Ranbir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), the "new Loomis," didn't seem necessary at first, but he didn't hurt the movie for me. I liked him as an example of how warped you could get by staring into the eyes of evil for too long and trying to understand it rather than eliminate it. I didn’t expect him to be so crazy at all, but the twist that he wanted to help Michael worked for me. There’s a classic horror vibe to Sartain: the Lovecraftian idea that if you stare true unknowable evil in the face you’ll lose your mind (or you’ll die, like the podcasters), and I liked that he added to Michael’s Boogeyman mythos in that way.

Michael himself was an extremely intimidating force, even stripped of (most) of his supernatural trappings (he still appears stronger than a normal human). I liked that the movie brought up how unimpressive Michael's kill count was now that none of the sequels are in continuity. Letting us see that most people didn’t think much of him as a boogeyman anymore was a great way not only to make it so people would underestimate him, but so that Laurie’s fears would seem even more unfounded. Still, they definitely made up for the loss of all his victims here and having only killed a few people in the first one didn't make him any less scary! I always like Michael's moments of creatively arranging the bodies (someone online referred to it as Michael’s ‘crafting’ and I love that). I do wish there’d been more of that, but what we got was good: the jack o’ lantern was really clever and the ghost was a nice call back to the original. When this was first announced, I wanted them to really dive into the Samhain connection, but now I much prefer not knowing anything about Michael or why he does what he does.

The movie does have a lot of elements of the first, fourth, and seventh movies, but it never felt like a retread and always felt fresh. Shout-outs to the rest of the franchise felt like bonuses, not moments that derailed everything to stop and look back. The tone is perfectly tense and scary, and the genuinely funny moments are great tension breakers rather than tension-shattering missteps. The updated score was great: it was different enough to feel modern and new, but similar enough to feel like coming home.

I think the biggest drawback here is the lack of a definite ending. Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely satisfied with this movie, but I wish we’d gotten confirmation that Michael had indeed been killed instead of another missing body and hearing his breathing over the credits. I don’t really have any interest in Michael continuing from this point and I wanted to see Laurie win for real. I hope they don't make a sequel with Myers; more Laurie aside, the one thing I really wanted was to see their battle and get true closure to his character. I wish they’d the courage to really end him in this film instead of leaving the door open for a sequel, box office be damned. If the next movie just features Myers returning again (and likely killing Laurie again), that’s about the least exciting thing I can think of for these films. However, if they want to pull the trigger on making someone related to Laurie evil like Michael—which they almost did in 4/5 but backed out—I'd be interested. After all, Allyson still gripping the knife at the end was certainly foreboding (and would’ve been even moreso if she’d been the one trying to understand Michael through the podcast, just like Sartain lost his mind doing the same). If there’s a virulent element to Michael’s purest evil, I’d be down for it. As much as I loved the Strode women taking on Michael, it would be awesome if the next Halloween was about Laurie fighting for Allyson’s soul as she started to go down an evil path.

Watching this, I couldn’t help but imagine what Blumhouse could do to revitalize another classic slasher franchise. I’d love to see them reunite Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp for a new Nightmare on Elm Street, following the original series of films. Nancy did die, but what if she became a Dream being too and returned to look out for the next generation? She is a fighter who’s “into survival” after all, and she was able to drag so many things in and out of dreams in the first movie that it’s a fairly short path to letting her achieve the same semi-immortal status Freddy has. I feel like an arc of her leaving Heaven (or however they want to characterize the afterlife) to fight her way into the dream realm to defend Elm Street’s current kids and finally face off against Freddy on equal footing would be a fantastic hook and just as satisfying as Laurie and Michael’s face-off. It would be sad to lose Dream Warriors, but what if the gotcha! ending of the first film was Nancy and Co. being trapped in the Dream Realm, but she fought her way out? That’d be an easy way to rewrite anything you wanted in the sequels.

Anyway, Halloween is an exceptional slasher and easily the second-best entry into the franchise; I’d say it might even rival the first film given how active and awesome it lets Laurie be. Even though I didn’t get everything I wanted out of the Michael/Laurie face-off and I think the podcast subplot could’ve been more tightly bonded to the Strodes, I loved this movie and I’m excited to see it again. If you’re a Halloween fan you’ll love this and even if you aren’t familiar with this particular franchise, you should definitely check this out!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!  

[rassasassalin]

So, I suppose this is a way to start the show.  Nice to see that it was just a mistake on thrusday to play out Ziggler’s theme.  And by nice, I mean awful.  I know it’s supposed to get under my skin, and it works.  Just play the damn theme.

Interesting that Baron’s seeming to start a trend of going shirtless now.  I’d be okay with him tearing his tank off each match, honestly.

Still haven’t decided if they added Ziggler in so that Bobby doesn’t have to eat a pin, or so Baron doesn’t have to.  All I know is that someone’s being protected, and it ain’t Dolph.- I SAY AS DOLPH PINS BARON??? WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL JUST HAPPENED HERE???  Ahaha, glad I don’t ever actually place bets on these things, holy shit, wow, okay, you got my attention, Clash of Champions.

Shane’s custom made Ref shirt.  I want a special referee shirt that customized towards my own themes.

SHANE YOU’VE BEEN IN MATCHES WITH TWO REFS AT THE SAME TIME WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

Aiden’s looking nice.  I love his jackets.  I want his jackets.

Omg listen to them chanting Rusev Day I’m so happy what a good Bulgarian.  What a happy Rusev Day to us all!  AND WE GET ALL OF THE SONG!!!!!!  A whole month or Rusev, how exciting!!!  Fuck me sideways we’re Actually Getting The Whole Song, What voodoo magic has Aiden done to allow himself to go uninterrupted?  YES I WANT AN ENCORE!!!!!!!  Oh, oh ok, i see how this is.  Gable and Benjamin running for heel tagteam of the year.  I get it.

Those fucking pancakes.  I can’t even.  They make me feel emotions that I simply don’t have the capacity to parse through and understand.

Baby boy, no, ain’t no one singing about Christmas you sillies.  Rusev Day. (good crowd interaction though i’m impressed)

(Also don’t worry Simmon in the first row, we’ll see the Ascension tonight, I almost guarantee it.  Undoubtedly when they cost Breezango a win tonight.)

This is gonna be fucking chaos, but of the impressively athletic variety.  Wonder how long it will be before Xavier gets involved, considering it’s a No DQ.

“No it’s not, it’s Training Day”- Chad Gable, 2017

Things I just realized that I would kind of enjoy- the Usos and New Day getting twin pins, and them being forced to share the Tag Team Belts.  Co-Belt defenders makes for all kind of fun shenanigans.  I look back fondly on when Jericho had to share the Intercontinental Title with Chyna.

Rusev’s face when Aiden’s super sexy pin didn’t work.

Holy SHITE GABLE that’s beautiful, rolling bridging german suplexes That’s what I signed up to See.

...Aw......  Well, it was a damn good attempt Chad.  Like that they’re letting him go out looking strong at least.

And speaking of chaotic matches.  Kinda see Natti stealing a win outta this one, but also Charlotte does have a damn good record at PPVs, soooo...  anyone’s game I guess.  Also when did we stop calling it lumberjill matches???  Did I miss the memo?  I’m cool with it, don’t particularly care either way honestly, just find it kind of odd.  Maybe because they’re afraid it’ll remind people that Jillian and her really bad pop singer gimmick was a thing.  Can’t blame you WWE, those were dark times.  Not as dark as the time that the Boogeyman ate a mole off her face, but still dark.

Fucking love Ruby’s theme, it’s great.  Also I like how all the “teams” have like, taken their own sides of the ring.  Y’all can’t do that.  There’s not enough of you to fully circle the ring, so you gotta plan smart and like, circle around it where Charlotte and Natti are gonna be.

Come on Corey, Charlotte’s not totally surrounded by enemies.  Naomi’s out there.  ehehe, nattie has 12000 cats.  best quote from corey graves of the year.

Don’t call my riot squad jackals.  They’re more like... hyena’s.  Just probably without pseudo-dicks, but definitely with all of the viciousness.

Interesting that the Riot squad’s let Natti get hit, but got a couple of little licks in on Charlotte.  Hmmm.

Yep, okay, things are about to get messy.  Carmella’s gonna be the first to be murdered.

Thank you for the Eddie quote, Corey.  Amen.

“Boo...”- Byron Saxton 2017

I can’t believe it took this long to- ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING- oh my god, thank you Ruby.  No cashing in money in the bank tonight, thank you.

Things I kinda enjoy about wrestling- when a wrestler gets a wedgie and then they try to sneakily pull it out while acting like they’re super in pain.

Not how I thought that match was gonna end, but not bad.

...Nat, you were already a heel, you’d already had your back turned to the crowd, I don’t know how that’s supposed to work???

BREEZE I AM TRYING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR HEALTH AND SAFETY HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT WHEN I AM IN SHOCK AT THE SHORTS YOU’RE DARING TO WEAR INTO THIS RING???  Never, In ALL OF MY DAYS...!

RIP in Peace, Breezango.

Seriously, I thought for sure the Ascension was going to come out and fuck things up for them.  Or fuck them up. ...On tuesday, then.  They’ll either keep talking Breezango into trying and fight the Bludgen Bros, or they’re going to try and “defend their honor” by going up against them themselves.

How’s it gonna work with two refs, babe, honestly.  WIth Shenanigans.  It’s gonna work with shenanigans.  Also who was Sami trying to seduce at the start of this match???  Also hello again like 2013 Randy Orton Hair.

Byron “I’m a very confused boy and that makes me grumpy” Saxton.

I’m sorry, I just can’t be intimidated by heel Sami, like he’s so cute when he he’s all smug and shit like he’d have to do something seriously villainess shit to get any actual heat from me.  I’m talking like, spitting in the direction of someone’s baby level of assholery.  And I just can’t see him doing it.  So he’ll just continue to b my cute lil’ heel that could. “I think I can be bad, I think I can be bad, I think I can be bad!”

Dramatic Ref DB is great.  I love him.  I love when rasslers go in and take the Referee role, like they’re always so expressive with their gesticulations, like their such drama queens I love it.

Great camerawork, thanks, I love it when I don’t actually get to see the triangle locked in and jst get to hear about it.  After all, it’s not like I watch wrestling to actually see the moves or anything.

Honestly, if Shinsuke gets pinned tonight I’m gonna be annoyed.  I know he’s going to lose, because obviously, but like, it’s not going to hurt Randy any to eat a pin.  Wont kill his momentum.  But I feel like it could do some serious damage to Shinsuke.

Goodnight, sweet table, I knew ye well.

Ok, that was a hot powerslam by Randy, ngl.

Whoopsidaisey, here we go.  I thought it’d be Shane pushed into Daniel, but this works too.

Gasp!!!  Shane!!!!  You brought that fast count upon yourself.

Yep!  Yep!  Yep!

FUCK MY LIFE I forgot about the AJ Jinder match I turned off the app after the last match oops, ahaha, came to the realization just in time and turned it back on right as the match started ahahaaaaa says a lot about how I feel about this ppv that I totally forgot about the actual main event....

Welp, this is the best heeling that I’ve seen Jinder do so far, so respect for that.

Just noticed that the announce Desk got put back together.  That bothers me.  If it’s broken guys, leave it be.  Let it be a reminder of what happened earlier in the night, even if it was only one match earlier.

Way better ring psychology going on in this on than I thought there would be.  Ribs and legs, it’s good stuff.  Everyone came out looking better for it.  It’s nice.  Not a bad ending. -seriously hope AJ’s ribs are okay though some of those bumps looked really fucking nasty-