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#time is devoted to considering the mental health of his character and why exactly he has become dangerously violent during his time
mariocki · 15 days
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New Scotland Yard: The Come Back (1.2, LWT, 1972)
"This wasn't a sudden impulse. It was deliberate and calculated. He had to break in to get at the old man, and then - well, you saw what he did to him. I don't know if he's a psycho or not, but I do know he's a sadist and I know what treatment I'd hand out."
"Yeah, I can guess."
"It's the only way."
"You've a right to your opinion, just don't try and convert me."
"I wouldn't dream of it, I know what you think."
"I think it's just as well your job ends when we catch him."
#new scotland yard#the come back#1972#lwt#classic tv#tony hoare#tony wharmby#john woodvine#john carlisle#barry warren#claire warren#kenneth cranham#betty romaine#kenneth colley#robert hartley#mark dowse#geoffrey morris#shelagh wilcocks#after a thoughtful and provocative opener‚ this second episode feels a little more run of the mill; a classic 'villain out for revenge on#those who put him away'. we do get a little bit of debate about the possibility or not of reform whilst imprisoned‚ but it's brief stuff#where the meat of the episode is just identifying and tracking down the 'bad guy' (a young Ken Cranham; similarly not enough#time is devoted to considering the mental health of his character and why exactly he has become dangerously violent during his time#inside...). one odd thing; the first episode sort of established Carlisle's character as having some socialist sympathies‚ putting him at#odds with the greyly impartial (but probably vaguely conservative‚ with a small c) Woodvine. weirdly‚ their politics appear to have#switched entirely here; Woodvine is reticent to demonise Cranham without solid proof of his involvement‚ expresses some sympathy#for his situation‚ whilst his subordinate Carlisle is now apparently in favour of the death penalty and dismisses the idea#of an insanity defence out of hand‚ sneering that it's a cop out abused by serial criminals. perhaps it's just that this is early days#and different writers are playing with these characters that aren't entirely nailed down yet‚ but it's a weird contrast to their respective#positions in the previous ep. Warren returns as Woodvine's journalist brother in law‚ so it looks like that's a recurring role#and poor Ken Colley gets rather underused as an informant (or grass as Woodvine puts it)
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mysadcorner · 1 year
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Hiii! :D
So, because I saw you did hpd, if it is not too much and is alright I would like to kindly request a Billy Loomis x BPD!reader hcs (borderline personality disorder) i think it would be interesting as he too has a shown fear of abandonment
(and to me is generally a bit BPD coded personally but also that is probably me projecting anyway, I digress-)
But I would love to see how him and the reader as they are both kinda damaged individuals in their own mental state help and love each other as they are and grow as people in the process if that makes sense and isn't too romance novely lol!
Just some good ol Billy fluff yk :0
Thank you so much for even reading this!
have a splendid day!!!
Billy Loomis x BPD!Reader Headcanons
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- Credit to the gifs owner - Please be specific about characters wanted in requests -
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• Billy often feels trapped just like you do, except Billy likes to maintain an outward view of calmness around the people he knows. Because he knows how you feel about the people around you, and sometimes his own feelings of himself correlate to your own feelings of yourself, he finds it easy to relate and open up to you.
• Billy doesn't know who to turn to a lot of the time, he feels isolated as if he's surrounded by people who wouldn't be able to understand him for who he truly is all the time. You may not exactly feel the same way Billy does, but he does try to subtly reach out to you by hoping you understand him better than anyone else could.
• If you have any mood swings, Billy would be able to deal with them fairly easily. He can calm you down due to how attentive he is, he notices the small things and figures out through experience what helps you best. It's also something he suffers from, but he doesn't exactly realize it until you help him figure out why he suddenly switches so quickly.
• Anxiety is also something Billy would be able to help you through in private, although in public he may be rather stoic and dismissive about it. He isn't good at relating to other people's emotions, especially when he's in the middle of doing something. But when he notices how much your anxiety may affect you then he tries his best to help you through the situation even if he may experience a little bit of annoyance in the moment.
• Billy is constantly open to doing outlandish things with you on a whim, and Billy's impulsiveness definitely won't warn him about going too far. He may not consider the possibility of you being put in any danger until it's very close, and once he's noticed this he'll try to keep you out of serious danger until he decides he needs you for a kind of plan he's made up with Stu.
• Billy is probably very dismissive about little comments you may make about your mental health until he realizes what you're actually going through. Many of the things you open up to him about he can relate to on different levels, and over time this encourages him to be honest with you and potentially help the both of you seek extra help for any struggles you may be facing.
• If you have something small stuck in the back of your mind concerning something that someone had done towards you then Billy will definitely get it out of you. Even if it's not serious and has been heightened by your thought process, he'll still deal with the person in a way he sees fit. Billy's devotion and obsession aren't something to be messed with when he thinks something may cause you to leave him or ignore him for a little while regardless of what you're going through.
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yandere-daydreams · 4 years
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Can we have a general yandere typing for the TW dorm leaders or your favorite dorm pls?
This is very, very general (it has to be, if I’m going to fit seven different characters into the same post), but I hope it covers what you’re looking for! I’ve been meaning to write a ‘darkest fantasy’ drabble for the dorm-heads but,,, this’ll have to do, for now.
The NRC Dorm Heads as Yanderes.
TW: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Dehumanization, Implied Kidnapping, Unhealthy Relationships, Mentions of Non-Consensual Touching, Mentions of Blood, and Implied Violence.
~
Riddle is Domineering.
He can’t change what he is, and even if he could, he wouldn’t see the need to. Riddle loves you, he loves you so, so much, but to him, you’re so reckless, so impulsive, so inept, it makes his underclassmen seem cautious, in comparison. He worries less for your safety than he does for your carelessness. He doesn’t think you’ll impale yourself on a banister or trip and manage to break your neck, and yet, he’s managed to convince himself that, the moment you’re left into your own devices, you’ll twist, distort, manage to take something that’s so precious to him and turn it into something perverse, something that doesn’t deserve to have a caretaker so devoted. If he has to take a few hours out of his busy schedule to make sure you understand why he’s so adamant that you obey him, then so be it. He’d rather have a perfect, prized doll who can’t meet his eyes without trembling than someone he doesn’t even know, someone he can’t even love. Someone who won’t let him love them, even when he’s made it so clear that if he suffocates you, it’s only because you've forgotten that you can only breathe because he lets you.
Leona is Jealous.
It’s such a classic younger-sibling complex, isn’t it? It’s not that he’s possessive, he’d be more than fine with carving you up and handing out the pieces if he knows who he’s sharing with, but he’s had a say in so little, he’s had so much snatched out of his grasp before he knew better than to let it go, he can’t stand the though of losing you like that, too. He needs to monopolize your time, your attention, he needs to monopolize you, because if he doesn’t someone else is going to come along to do it for him, and he knows they won’t treat you half as well as he will. It’s why he’s so quick to pull you away from conversations he didn’t give you permission to be a part of. It’s why he can’t seem to go five minutes without insulting your friends or implying that you could cling to him as much as he clings to you, even when the two of you have been along for hours. It’s why he’s so desperate to bite into your neck and burrow his nails under your skin and leave proof of his existance, if only to satisfy that repressed, buried, primal part of himself that just wants something he can own. And he will own you, by the time he’s done. He tends to be thorough, with the things he’s so determined to see play out.
Azul is Paranoid.
There’s a connotation with this kind of alignment that might be a little misleading, when it comes to Azul. He’s manipulative, too. He’s obsessive and he’s controlling and he’s so many other things, but above all, he’s terrified by the idea that one day, you might decide that he’s just some pathetic, pitiful bottom-feeder and move on to someone’s who’s worthy of you. His mindset seeps its way into his behavior visibly, tangibly, blatantly, whether or not he’s willing to admit it. A dozen locks on your bedroom door, a new contract he’s gone over a hundred times, a thousand kisses and a thousand promises and a thousand hours spent clinging to your waist, his face buried in your chest as he begs you to never make him let go. He feels like you’ll slip away if he doesn’t hold you close, like you’ll find a loophole or a way to leave him and he’ll never be able to get you back. It doesn’t help that he responds so reflexively to any change he didn’t acconut for. He can make all the plans in the world, contrive as many schemes as he’d like to, but all of his preparations won’t stop him from reacting so harshly when you say something he doesn’t want to hear or do something he didn’t see coming. Above all, he needs you to love him. He won’t respond well to any evidence of the contrary.
Kalim is Smothering.
You have to understand, he really, really thinks he’s just being the best boyfriend he can possibly be. Kalim is naive, like that. He loves you, and he doesn’t know better than to show that love off any way he can and every way he can. It kind of sweet, if you look at it like that. How is he supposed to know you wouldn’t enjoy receiving his gifts as much as he enjoys piling them onto you? You never told him how much his endless parties overwhelm you, so why would he ever stop throwing them? You always bite at your lips and look away and try to cover yourself when he gives you something pretty to wear, and Kalim just thinks you’re so beautiful, so wonderful, it’s only natural that he’ll - playfully, of course - pull you into his lap and go on about all the many reasons he loves you, layering on compliments so thickly, it’s only a matter of time before they start to seep into your lungs and force out the air. Remember, he’s blind to anything he doesn’t want to see, so by the time he finally crosses one too many lines and forced you to snap, he’ll be so caught off-guard, so heartbroken, he won’t know what to do besides buckle-down and give you more, force you to take more. He’s a simple man. If his antics were enough to make you snap at him, surely, more gifts, more attention, more love will only make things better.
Vil is Narcissistic.
This one speaks for itself, really. You might manage to worm your filthy little way into his heart, you might find a way to root yourself there and drive him to the point of near-insanity, but no matter how dear you are to him, no matter how much he loves you, you’ll always be second to the man himself, you’ll always be less than, compared to Vil. It shouldn’t be such a problem, he already acts like he should be the pinnacle of all mankind’s aspirations, but it’s taken to a new extreme when it comes to his closest companion. He expects to be doted on, to be worshiped, and when you’re not busy tripping over yourself to tend to his every desire, you should be hanging off his every word, letting him do whatever he’d like to because you’re just so honored he’d take a moment out of his day to look after you. If it takes a love potion or several, he’ll find a way to live with it. That’s the thing about a mentality like Vil’s, an obsession focused inward that just so happens to brush against someone it’s not meant to - he doesn’t really care about the parts of you that don’t lead back to him. Your health, your happiness, it’s all on the table if he has a chance to take hold of what he wants. He’s always been ambitious. You shouldn’t be surprised when he approaches your love with the same cut-throat attitude.
Idia is Possessive.
If it’s any help, he wants to lock himself away from the rest of the world just as much as he wants to isolate you. You’re the one person he can stand to be around, the one voice he’ll never get tired of, the one pair of eyes he knows will never judge him, even if he’d prefer that you call him more affectionate nicknames, as he explains that he’s just trying to keep the two of you content and alone. He’s greedy, when it comes to you, but that’s not his fault. He gets… sensitive, when you start to focus on other people, when you let other men touch you like they have any right to put their hands on something he deserves to keep to himself. It leads him to some habits he’s not proud of, some reactions that don’t exactly encourage you to indulge his more questionable habits, but while Idia still wants to be able to hide in your arms and ramble on to the only person he knows will listening, he stops caring about how much you want to embrace him, eventually. The world’s already so unfair in so many ways, and no one knows that more than Idia. He doesn’t think he’ll mind if you begin to think he’s as much of a disgusting freak as he already knows he is.
Malleus is Apathetic.
He wants to care. Don’t forget that - he really, really wants to care about your feelings, your interests, your happiness, all of it! He tries to care, too. Not a day passes where he doesn’t make an attempt to get you to smile, to coax out a hint of fondness from your scorned little heart, to sort through all the betrayal and the hurt and the pain and find something redeeming, something that proves he’s not making you any more miserable than he has to. He’ll give you what sparse freedoms he can, keeping your leash as slack as he can afford to, but when you take a step too close to an open window or refuse to hold his hand or he just decides it’s been a few minutes too long since you last swallowed your pride and showed him the affection he strives after like a touch-starved puppy, he never hesitates to pull you back to his side and ignore how violently you’re choking as he takes whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. He never feels guilty, either, not for the act itself. He’ll fret over the hatred in your eyes, he’ll loath himself whenever you flinch at the first signs of his touch, but in the back of his mind, he knows he deserves what he rips away from you. He’s doing you a favor. Humans are so fragile, so delicate, so easily tricked, and as a prince, a prodigy, a source of unadulterated power, he’s the only suitable candidate when it comes to keeping you safe, to guarding you as fiercely as dragon guards its hoard. He protects you, and he treats you like royalty while doing it, so he wants something in return. He doesn’t think he’s asking for a lot, considering how much he’s been denied.
You should just count yourself lucky Malleus might feel a little bad, by the time he’s done. At least he won’t leave you as bloody as he could, after he’s finished.
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voxvulpina · 3 years
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LITERALLY EXACTLY
also ppl who will scream about how dabi is ONLY a victim (not also an abuser now) and has done nothing wrong (Or is just expressing his pain or whatever bs i saw), are the loudest when it comes to hating endeavour, as if a man realising he was a cunt and is working on fixing himself and making it up to his family (who he understands can still hate him btwww) is to blame 100% for a grown man who decides to kill people rather than get help for his daddy issues. Like yeah dabis got trauma coming out his ass but blaming endeavour on his behaviour is ridiculous, man is in his 20's!! He can chose to not attempt to kill his own family (who are also victims of the same man LOL) aND I would love to see more of overhaul, im a sucker for redemption arcs BUT I'd just love to see how he's handling things, he's such an interesting character, his dependance (is that the right word? He wants his dad lmfaoo) on pops even now is sooo interesting!! Like ppl will excuse shigaraki due to afo grooming him but not even blink at, yeah maybe a child growing up in the fucking yakuza wasn't good for him>
PREACH, ANON, I AGREE WITH ALL OF THIS 100%
Would you believe Dabi used to be one of my favourites? His rabid fans put me off him entirely. 🤧 Yes, he's traumatised, yes, his dad was absolutely awful, and I understand why he feels so betrayed and angry. But he's not just a victim, he's also a murderous psycho who'll burn everything and everyone in his path (including his own family) just to hurt his father. And you can't simply pin the blame on Enji and absolve Dabi of responsibility for his heinous crimes. That bears saying, same as Enji apologists ought to admit he effed up BAD and is the main reason Dabi came to be. But there aren't nearly as many Enji apologists as there are Dabi apologists, which is why I eventually stopped going into the Dabi tag around the time of the big reveal, when it was brimming with poor-little-Dabi posts and furious rants against Enji and against Hori for giving him a redemption arc.
Oh boy, I could talk about Chisaki for hours. I was one of the few who was absolutely certain he'd be brought back into the story, and I KNEW he would be desperate to fix his dad. I didn't foresee his mental health being as poor as it now, but it makes sense – he said it himself, he's got absolutely nothing left except Pops (...who isn't going to be too happy with him, if he ever wakes up...).
I've always found it annoying how most BNHA fans don't realise that the crux of Chisaki's character is his attachment to his father...most people make it out to be his supposed aversion to Quirks (which I think is just an expression of his own self-loathing, because actually, he only considers people as useful as their Quirks. He even NAMED HIMSELF and his two subordinates after their respective Quirks). Or his germaphobia, which is something he developed later in life – he was brawling with his schoolmates no problem as a kid, and we're shown a panel of what appears to be a teenaged Chisaki, shirtless, maskless and gloveless, who's clearly just used his Quirk in a physical fight and is staring at his hands, with someone's body parts splattered on the floor. No, what's always been there and really defines him is his devotion to his dad and his determination to protect his "family" at all costs. It's a twisted devotion ("Chisaki's warped compassion", Horikoshi calls it). I wonder though if the boss considered Chisaki his son in return? He never called him "Kai", only "Chisaki", which potentially adds a layer of insecurity to their relationship, on Kai's side.
I would love for Chisaki to get some amount of redemption and fully understand the pain he's caused Eri and his father. I think "Overhaul" is very clearly dead at this point, but Chisaki still hasn't really grasped the magnitude of what he did, and I hope he will at some point. I realise his dad (should he wake up) can't really be expected to forgive him... but I can't help hoping that he will 😣
Anyways, sorry for the essay, I'll shut up now. But thank you so much for piping up, Anon! 🥺♥️
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usergreenpixel · 3 years
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Frev Prompts, Part 8! That’s right, I’m not done with these yet. 😏
71. Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, France. The protagonist is one of its many students in the 18th century and, due to his family’s social standing and his own success in academics, this boy is considered a popular student.
Most other students want to be friends with the main character but he is too reserved and suspicious of their intentions to get attached to anyone. That is until he defends two younger students from bullies. The boys, whose names are Maximilien de Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins, are naturally grateful that the main character defended them, so the three grow extremely close.
But will they stay close when some unpleasant secrets about the main character suddenly surface and threaten to ruin himself and his family? Will the trio be able to solve mysteries that suddenly pop up in the school? And what will become of them in the end?
72. The protagonist has just inherited an estate from their parents, who are among the few residents of France who still possess their noble title and their wealth, both of which their ancestors had reclaimed after the revolution.
At first the protagonist doesn’t think much of it - they’re used to living a wealthy privileged life. That is until circumstances lead them to inspect a boarded up room in the estate, only to find a capsule with a prominent French revolutionary unconscious and trapped inside it, hooked up to multiple life support machines.
To the protagonist’s confusion and horror, opening the capsule reveals that the revolutionary is very much alive, unaware of what happened to him and more than furious upon finding out the protagonist’s name.
Confused, the protagonist attempts to try to both calm the revolutionary down and figure out the reason behind this rage, only to find out that their ancestors were far from innocent victims of Madame Guillotine like the protagonist believed them to be and that their wealth had not been obtained by lawful and honest means.
Perhaps this eye opening experience is exactly what the protagonist needed in order to realize that there’s more to life than being a privileged spoiled brat.
73. For as long as they remember, the protagonist, their parents and their younger sibling(s) have always had a habit of moving from place to place, almost like nomads from movies, even though they live in a van in the modern era and don’t quite fit the part.
As a result of this situation, the protagonist has issues with developing lasting relationships and suffers from the feelings of isolation from their peers and the resentment that their parents keep moving so often.
But eventually the protagonist finally gets a chance to find out the reason why their family lives this way when they get kidnapped by the government to be used as bait to lure in their father.
The protagonist is thoroughly confused as they hear the kidnappers talk about time travel, the French Revolution, a Thermidor survivor...and all of this in relation to the protagonist’s father (or rather, as they find out, their stepfather).
What’s going on? Will the protagonist be able to escape and reunite with their family?
74. Through what can only be described as a twist of fate, the main characters cross their paths once again.
They are identical triplets who were separated at birth and now belong to three different classes. One was adopted into nobility, another wants to take a vow of celibacy and devote their life to God, while the third one is a commoner.
But now that the protagonists have been reunited, their plans change since they have no intentions of letting life tear them apart again.
Together, they become masked avengers and make it their goal to oppose corruption plaguing the high society of France, all while the revolution begins to truly pick up the pace.
75. When the protagonist was merely eighteen years old, they got locked up in a reformatory facility where they are forced to deal with a rather unpleasant company of the mentally ill, petty thieves, prostitutes and other kinds of unpleasant characters.
Their only source of comfort is a peer named Antoine, locked up for having tried to run away from home and stealing silverware. Traumatized yet defiant, he strikes up a friendship with the protagonist and even shares his new writing, Organt, with them.
Now lovestruck by Antoine to the point of obsession, the protagonist is devastated when they part ways and keeps looking for him.
What’s worse, when they finally find Antoine in 1793, he has seemingly changed and not in a good way since he keeps pretending he doesn’t know the protagonist but they are determined to restore the old friendship at any cost.
76. The protagonist, a teenager, is sent to France by their scientist mother to spend the summer break with their maternal uncle and his family.
At first the youth is sure that this will be yet another summer in France and nothing unusual will happen, only to be proven wrong when their mother goes missing and they begin to get followed by suspicious people.
As if that wasn’t enough, the teenager soon finds out a few shocking things. Not only is their uncle not actually their mother’s half-brother but he is actually a man from the past and used to be one of Napoleon’s marshals. The protagonist’s aunt is also from the past and, as the teen finds out, so was their currently missing father who was actually a prominent participant of the French Revolution.
Hoping to find both their parents and thwart the plan of their stalkers to steal their mother’s time machine and travel to the French Revolution to change its course, the protagonist joins forces with their aunt, uncle and cousins in this dangerous situation.
77. After the end of the French Revolution Charlotte Robespierre, left with no family and fearing for her safety, moves in with a man and his daughter, the heroine of the story, essentially becoming the girl’s stepmother.
As the heroine matures, she and Charlotte develop a close bond and Charlotte develops maternal instincts towards this young girl, seeing her as the daughter she never had and planning to make her her heir.
So, when the heroine falls in love with an extremely suspicious man, Charlotte opposes the union and while everyone sees her as the jealous wicked stepmother, the girl herself realizes that she is doing it for a much more selfless reason and something is genuinely wrong with this guy.
Together, Charlotte and her stepdaughter decide to investigate the suspicious suitor…
78. The protagonist is excited.
After years of living with their adoptive family, they managed to locate their biological parents and are getting along pretty well with them without severing ties with their adoptive parents.
But when the revolution comes knocking, the protagonist is torn between their royalist adoptive parents and Jacobin-supporting birth parents.
The protagonist loves everyone in their family but, unfortunately, they will have to make a hard choice for the first time in their life.
79. When the protagonist, an orphaned street urchin, rescues Jean-Paul Marat from an assasination attempt, they don’t expect anything to come out of the situation and move on with their life.
But when Marat rescues the protagonist from bandits later on and recognizes them, he decides to take the youth under his wing. Thus the protagonist ends up in the care of Marat and his family and even becomes fascinated with science thanks to their guardian.
Marat, his wife and his sister slowly find themselves attached to the protagonist and become determined to raise the kid despite all the revolutionary madness and danger that surround them.
Perhaps, this is the protagonist’s chance to have a real family and a place to belong at long last.
80. 1812. The Patriotic War against Napoleon’s army is in full swing on the territory of the Russian empire. On the side of the French emperor is the protagonist, Brutus, a 19-year old nephew of Louis Antoine de Saint-Just himself.
Severely wounded in a battle, Brutus ends up being rescued from certain death by a surprisingly sympathetic “enemy” who nurses the young man back to health and hides him.
Having recovered from his wounds, Brutus decides it’s high time to return to his family as they probably think he was killed.
Now that the war is over, returning seems like an easy task but the young man’s rescuer warns him that his journey won’t be easy and gives him a small cross as a memento so God can protect Brutus on his journey.
And so, with said cross on his neck, meager possessions and some food, Brutus embarks on a long and challenging journey home. Along the way, he will face plenty of trials and tribulations, make new connections and maybe even find love.
But will he make it back to his family safe and sound?
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soysaucevictim · 3 years
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“more than ever, hour (work is never over)”
Summary: Logan goes for a run, and hits a snag when Roman seems to have found himself in trouble. Again. (This happens about a year before “Cherry Cola”, to be clear. Sanders Sides, Gym Rat AU. One-shot. Ao3 link.)
Genres: Slice of Life, Fluff, Light Angst, Sickfic(?)
Characters: Logan and Roman centric. Janus, Patton, and Remus mentioned.
Relationships: Logince (platonic), Background Intrulogical (platonic/ambiguous), Background Roceit (sexual/QPP*), Background Loceit (platonic)
Warnings: Lots of numbers, Himbro Roman, Roman Is A Disaster, illness, over-training, sleep deprivation, heat exhaustion, (not as bad as what happened in “Cherry Cola”), vomiting (mentioned), Logan Is A Good Friend
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Logan was running his typical checklists before setting out for another HIIT routine over at the gym. He highly valued maintaining his cardiac and overall health. He wasn’t in the medical field like Janus is and Patton used to be, but he didn’t need those credentials to appreciate it.
Considering he was a 28 year old Homo sapien, his maximal heart rate would be 192 beats per minute. Obviously, he wasn’t keen on achieving nor surpassing exactly that red zone. To say there were diminishing returns, would be an understatement. Remus would take the notion as a challenge… to be sure.
But that value was necessary to calculate his initial target – 65% of that, to be relatively precise. 125, rounded up. He intended to reach that after some warm-up routine and the first lap or two. He would consider this the yellow zone.
Once that holds reasonably steady, his next goal was to go for 87% at the highest intensity. So, 167 BPM. Holding that line for at least a minute. 2 minutes, if he was feeling particularly bold, he was in pretty good shape at this juncture. This would be more of an orange zone.
After the spike in intensity, he would go down to 50% for recovery, or 96 BPM. Rest at that load for 3 minutes, in the proverbial green zone. And then crank the figurative gears back up to the 87% target.
He intended to repeat this for at least 10 rounds. Add more, if energy is willing. Sounded like a plan.
To hit these marks, one of the simpler ways Logan enjoyed were via the exercise bikes. But today, he thought he’ll do some laps around the indoor track. He felt he needed to work in some more devoted arm action, and that would be a reasonable way to hit this workout paradigm. This outline seemed elegant and flawless.
He reviewed all of that while he swapped out his casual shoes for runners, in the locker room.
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It was exactly noon when he approached the starting line. He popped in some earbuds to his prepared playlists.
He was listening to the mix named “Warm-Up Playlist”. He knew his fellows would jab him for the plainness of it, but the utility simply couldn’t be argued with. It was a selection of songs that started at 50, incrementing up to 100 BPM in tempo. It helped him keep his pace.
He stood to the side, spending a couple minutes doing some preliminary exercises. Ankle circles, leg swings, pelvic loops, arm circles, and hula-hoop jumps. It’s important to keep all the relevant joints stable and readied. Janus would probably congratulate his refreshing fastidiousness, among their motley crew.
After that micro-checklist was completed, he started going toward a brisk walking pace. He was going to check his heart rate after a couple laps to see how close to 65% he was getting.
Halfway into his first lap, he was nearly knocked over by a blur wearing a red crop-top sweatshirt and matching shorts. Roman, clearly not paying attention to what he was doing. Predictably. Logan snorted and rolled his eyes. He had to table his thoughts about his friend’s whole methodology (or lack thereof, as far as he was concerned), or else he’d fall too far out of rhythm!
Roughly a quarter of the way into the second lap, Roman closed in on Logan again, he was going at a jogging pace to a slightly faster walk to match up with Logan. Roman waved and smiled at Logan, “Hey! Didn’t expect to see ya here, Specs!”
Logan thought the voice was Roman-typically cheery. Frankly Logan would be mystified about this man’s energy, if he hadn’t met Remus first. “Salutations.”
“Why are you going so slooow? Wanna race me? I bet I can totally run circles around you!”
“No. I have a plan I intend to stick to, Roman. You know this.”
Roman melodramatically threw up his arms and pouted at Logan, somewhat impressively coordinated to his slow jogging. “Fiiine. I’m off – I want to see how many laps I can get in, like... the next hour. Adiós, for now~”
Roman went from a jog to a run before he could get a response. Logan tutted before refocusing on getting to that 65% - that yellow zone. After the second lap, he drank some water and checked his pulse… hmmm, 55%. It was time to hit a jog. He skipped a few tracks toward that range and worked to match.
By the time Logan completed lap 3, he reached and held at 65%. So, he turned on a 1-minute interval timer and his “HIIT Playlist”, on his phone. Much of the music went at 120 BPM, give or take 30. This phase, he was going to rely on his fitness bracelet to tell him where he’s at, not enough time to do things digitally… rather, manually or with his fingers, to clarify.
He and Remus programmed this thing to flash his percentage progress, freeing up some mental space to not need to calculate that value repeatedly, whenever he looked at the monitor.
He picked up to a run for about another quarter-lap and broke into a full-tilt sprint. Every 20 or so seconds, he glanced at the bracelet, while keeping the majority of his attention to his surroundings and form.
20 seconds, 73%. Not good enough.
40 seconds, 84%. Logan grimaced and pushed his cadence up a bit more.
50 seconds, 86%. For the love of Archimedes… it’s okay. It’s close.
BEEP! 60 seconds, 88%. Orange. FINALLY. Okay, he thought he had a good read now, being consistent for the next sets should be easier.
-
Time to, figuratively, dial things way down. He spent approximately 20 seconds running, 40 more jogging, and BEEP.
He took a couple sips from his water bottle, before spending the remaining 2 minutes going at a walk.
1 minute, 30 seconds, 78%.
BEEP. 2 minutes, 71%.
2 minutes, 30 seconds, 60%.
2 minutes, 50 seconds, 53%.
BEEP. 3 minutes, 49%. Green. Logan sighed to himself, “Margin of error, you have to account for it… anyways.”
-
Round 2.
20 seconds, 76%. Better.
40 seconds, 85%. Almost there.
50 seconds, 87%. Orange, again. Locked on, Logan smiled. Now hold this for 10 more seconds…
BEEP!
-
Second active rest cycle.
Once he got down to a walk again, he observed that Roman was on the opposite end of the track. Still going at what he could only describe as an absurd pace.
Roman closed in when Logan was 2 minutes into this interval. 69%, by the way. Logan groaned, some of Remus’s sense of humor “rubbing off on him”. Why must people ascribe such crudeness to an arbitrary number, he wondered.
Roman was panting quite loudly, shouting down Logan, “Nerd- Nerd’s got some SPEED!”
Logan took a swig of his water bottle. “This is not the first time you’ve seen me manage this.”
Roman looked like he just realized he should have followed suit, smacking his lips and drinking several gulps from his own water supply. “R-riiight.”
“You really should pace yourself. On everything. Honestly.”
“HEY. Only Snakey McSnakerson gets to tell me that!”
“Is he here right now? Am I wrong?”
Roman was back to pouting, “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”
“But you just-”
Roman cupped his hands over his ears, “Lalala – I can’t hear you!”
Roman ran off ahead of him again. Logan could only shake his head.
2 minutes 55 seconds, 51%.
BEEP. 50%. Green.
-
Round 3.
30 seconds, 80%. Not bad if he said so himself.
40 seconds, 84%. Margin of error.
50 seconds, 89%. Overcompensated somewhat, it would seem. Perhaps Roman’s competitive streak was “infectious”, today.
BEEP! 60 seconds, 91%. Orange, approaching red. Yeah, he was definitely overcompensating.
-
Third rest, fourth active, fourth rest, fifth active intervals... hitting his marks, pleasingly and without incident.
He was on his fifth rest, soon enough.
Once Logan was walking again, he thought he was up for extending his active intervals to 2’, for the next 5 sets. Things have been building palpable fatigue, but very manageable.
Roman still appeared to holding up, a short distance ahead of Logan, at this point. Perhaps he was slowing down. It was a few moments before the distance was closed again.
Roman was drenched, so Logan decided to ask him, “Are you quite alright?”
“Might be getting a little tired now, no big deal.”
Logan recalled some things Patton instructed all of them about and he looked at Roman more carefully as they walked slowly. Roman looked paler than usual. “Hmmm, is your head hurting, perhaps?”
“Maybe a little. Didn’t get enough sleep again, it’s probably that.”
“I imagine it couldn’t be helping but-”
Roman got a little agitated, “But what, Egg Head?”
“Are you nauseous?”
“I’m not ready to puke, not just yet, Bro Ham.”
“May I check your pulse? Or rather, how does it feel?”
“What are you getting at!?”
“Cramps? Dizziness?… I think you are exhibiting the signs of heat exhaustion.”
Roman looked like he was going to be short with Logan, but it was clear now that he was starting to get somewhat wobbly. Logan decided to prompt him again, “Here, let us go to the showers, you need to cool off.”
Roman knew he couldn’t fight Logan in his current state, “Fiiine.”
Logan was annoyed about cutting his workout short, but he could always resume later. This was more important, anyways.
-
Roman was lying on his back on one of the benches in the locker room. His outfit then saturated with cool shower water, holding a battery-power fan to himself that Logan let him borrow.
Logan was at his feet, “How are your symptoms now?”
Roman groaned, “You’re not “the doctor” in our group, would you please stop acting like it.”
“I do not wish to see you in the hospital, Roman.”
Roman sputtered a little, “Yeah well, I’m fine.”
“Stable, I suppose, yes. But I know you enough to know you are not “fine”.”
Roman almost shot up to rebut, but a wave of dizziness forced him back down. “Look. I just didn’t get enough sleep – mind was running a bajillion miles an hour last night. So many IDEAS to write down. And couldn’t get to sleep until way after… you know what? Nevermind.”
Logan did care and frankly saw a lot of similar tendencies between the two brothers. It disturbed him and made him wish he was able to help them get a better handle on their sleeping and general health habits. It seemed as though they were both at very high risk of something serious occurring. But at the same time, he recognized that this was not his area of expertise. All he could really do was try to be there for them.
“Speaking of which... I think I see my wall… approaching… going to-”
Before Logan could latch onto any inquiries about walls, Roman dropped the fan and started snoring. After a brief moment of worry, Logan was reasonably sure this was simply a nap, not a loss of consciousness. To his relief.
Logan thought idly, “I suppose I should at least inform Janus what occurred. Roman might not be fit to drive for a while longer.”
Logan tapped out a message, “Hey. I’m in the locker room with Roman. He likely had an episode of heat exhaustion, today. He appears to be doing okay right now. But I felt that it was worth mentioning it to you.”
It was not even 2 minutes before Janus responded with, “WHAT!?”
“He’s safe, just taking a nap. I suppose he wouldn’t mind if you took him home.”
“… omw. That dumb ass has some explaining to do. With love, of course.”
“Indeed, I shall see you shortly then?”
“Yeah, ttyl… thanks, btw.”
Logan supposed he should stick around to make sure Roman was safe before resuming his own agenda. He had to admit, like with Remus, he did enjoy seeing them get some greatly needed rest.
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the-river-person · 3 years
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Any interesting world-building tidbit that wasn't included in your tales? This is a very interesting world you've got
I have three major bits that I desperately wanted to include in the story but never could find the right moment for. 1. (This hilarious dialogue snippet from Gaster and Alphys that never made it into the story but I decided was too funny to not save.) Alphys: (laying on floor) I’m nothing. Not a scientist. Useless. I’m just garbage. Gaster: (glances down at her briefly, looking thoughtful).... you’re recyclable. Alphys: !?!?!?!?!?? 2. I wanted to better explore the area below Waterfall, the deep pits that all the falls plunge down into, where once Alphys stood and considered throwing herself down into. The concept of it was a sort of transformation for Alphys and Undyne. They return to this place that might have been a place of tragedy, and they make it the start of something amazing. The cliffs below were riddled with caves and openings, an entire city carved straight into the rock, with grand staircases that lead down, and elevators that see a lot of use for those who don't want to walk (or can't). Can you imagine the place? Beautiful caves where every window opens up to the underside of the cascading, thundering waterfalls. And because they had hundreds of years to develop it all, the Lower City had gardens and fascinating landmarks to visit, a gallery devoted entirely to the art of Alphys' favorite animes (and oh boy were there some truly gorgeous works there. For some reason there was also a portrait of Mettaton as God and Alphys as Adam in a lovely oil painting that is a sort of imitative transformation piece of Michelangelo's very famous "The Creation of Adam". Nobody really knows who painted it, nor why, but the gallery director informed the public that it was donated anonymously as a gift to commemorate the gallery's Grand Opening.) Because Undyne had a huge part in the City's inception, there ended up being several small schools for various physical activities such as: Wrestling, Ballet, Clogging, Modern Dance, Taekwondo, Spear fighting, Sword fighting, and Water Aerobics. Also one very tiny school for Piano that consisted of Undyne herself and whoever she was teaching to play at their lessons three times a week. Down below are the Depths, the deepest and darkest part of the Underground's caverns. A massive lake that the falls plunge into. Most of its life has been spent without light of any kind, and even now it's still very shadowy. The Lower City of the cliffs sort of spills out between waterfalls to drift around the shore of the lake. But even 300 hundred years later it hasn't all been explored and the Lower City hasn't expanded much more (even with the Underground populous trying their best to spread out, they can't possibly fill every space. I'm working with an upper limit of 1,400-2,000 monsters total in the Underground, with a lower limit of 322 for the souls visible coming from Asriel in the game when he breaks the barrier. Due to the fact that Ghost Monsters were excluded from the soul snatching event, and the fact that there is literally no way to estimate how many spiders are in the Underground, both have been excluded from this counting.) At the far end of the dark lake a lonely outpost sits, home to a very very few monsters who either prefer the total solitude and darkness, or have come there for reasons of science. To study the pools of super-heated water and geysers, or the aquatic life somehow managing to thrive in the pitch black lake that is swimming with garbage from humans and monsters alike, or even geological strata that possesses very interesting formations this far down. There are numerous guidelines in place that prevent Monsters from staying at the Outpost for more than two months at a time for Mental Health concerns. Both Royal Scientists tried (separately) to use their position to override this rule. Undyne was sent to retrieve Alphys and bodily carried her back despite protests, and Queen Toriel herself came to order Gaster back to the Upper Underground (there were fireballs thrown before he finally gave up). 3. And finally, I actually fully intended to have a scene in the story where Sans demanded that Gaster tell him exactly how long they spent trapped down there, after all, he's the only one who kept track of it if you recall. But I completely spaced it when it came to writing those last few scenes. So I'll tell you my final calculations here. We know that Determination had a strange effect on the magic of the Barrier. Whenever a Reset happened, time in the Underground would move a tiny bit slower than time outside. The time spent inside the Barrier, counting both the truly ridiculous amount of time wasted in resets by both the Human and by Flowey, as well as the 300 years afterward that this story covers, comes somewhere around the area of 51,967,952,715 years. Or Fifty One Billion, Nine Hundred and Sixty Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifteen. An insane amount of time. What’s my explanation for how the minds of various characters remained intact? Well, Gaster spent long long periods of time sleeping. He wasn’t fully himself yet as his assistants hadn’t managed to collect enough pieces of him. So unstable and having a warped perception of time kept him from actually going insane, instead letting him sleep for centuries at a time. Sans actually didn’t start to become fully aware until quite a long ways into the resets, and then spent a while trying to figure out what was going on, fought with everything he could for a while in endless genocide routes, and then eventually lost hope entirely and sort of... went on automatic for a long time before he woke up enough to change something (a single question was all it took). And Flowey stayed in a similar state for thousands of years, quietly repeating the exact same conversations, the same actions, the same patterns. The only times he was even aware enough to notice the passage of time was when something new happened. These are not in any way realistic ways of reacting to such a vast period of time. From what science we understand about the brain, it would barely last more than a couple hundred years at the very most, but probably less than that. And that’s if you can keep it in perfect condition without any decay. Memories would begin to go long before that, only fragments remaining and the brain keeping only what is relevant to you now. But lots and lots of old stories depict supernatural and magical beings as sleeping for centuries in forgotten temples, under castles, in sealed magical caverns, in caves on beds of treasure, and a thousand other variances. So I wanted to explore that in the way of a part of the Monster Soul that would act as a self defense mechanism to the Mind of the Monster who was somehow living and living and living without possibility of dying and needed to be able to stay sane throughout that. So it either makes them sleep, or in severe circumstances it can put them on a sort of automatic mode where they repeat a sequence ad infinitum. Both have their roots in folklore, but the way it works is my own interpretation of the idea. Outside the barrier, however, is a different story. The full total of time that has  passed out there is 10,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000. Known as Duotrigintillion, or also as one Googol. While the Underground got slower and slower and slower, the rest of the Universe continued on at its usual pace. The planet earth was destroyed by the Sun going into its Red Giant Phase, and then it became a White Dwarf. Then a Black Dwarf. Galaxies and super-galaxies went slowly dark, matter was dissolved or eaten by black holes, even black holes eventually began to decay due to Hawking Radiation. And because the light, garbage, and air being let into the Underground were the exact same stuff that was being let in at the beginning and was just on repeat forever, the Monsters never noticed. It was only when a run went on a little longer than usual, when the Barrier started trying to correct itself by syncing up time again, when you could see the darkness beyond. A darkness without stars and without life. Only cold and shadow, forever. The absolute and inexorable Heat Death of the Universe. Is it the only Universe in the Multiverse that has lived its full possible lifetime from beginning to end? Possibly. Ink would know. Whatever the case, its certainly a very very old Universe indeed (It probably is one of several branches off the original Universe, a stray timeline become a Universe in its own right).
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leafenclaw · 5 years
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Tag your 10 favorite characters of all time
They can be from every book/movie/TV show/Video game, then tag 10 people.
Tagged by @jamlocked, thank you! :D
But also, oh god. XD
Early on as I was making that list, I encountered three problems: 1 - Most of my favourite characters of all time are actually variations on a single character archetype, with a whole damn lot of them even wearing the same name (or similar enough lol). 2 - Most of the ones that don’t fall under this category are from the same 2-3 source material, unless... 3 - ... they’re from sources that I cannot in good conscience recommend anymore, like for example books from MZ Bradley or OS Card that were extremely significant and shaped who I am, but considering what their authors turned out to be, enough said lol.
So instead of a “my favourites of all time” list, I just picked characters that made a significant and lasting impact on me, even if they didn’t turn out to be my absolute favourite from their media source. I hope that’s okay!
Cut for length, because as usual I got chatty.
In no particular order, aside perhaps for the first two: 
1 - Jamie Moriarty from Elementary. My everything. <3 She’s made of... honestly, pretty much all the archetypes I inevitably fall for, male or female, but somehow she rises above the sum of her parts and I cannot even start expressing how much she means to me. Other characters in the same general type would be of course all the Moriartys, Magneto, Gellert Grindelwald, Red John, Alice Morgan, etc. A lot of those characters are heavily defined by their sky-high intelligence and deviousness, but more importantly by the shapes they leave behind when they aren’t on screen/on the pages or when they’re hiding behind masks and facets that never encompass them as a whole, and by the way they always make a extremely lasting impact on the protagonist. When it’s a TV show or a movie, the use of camera language (lighting, colour schemes, camera plans, etc.) around them is always tightly defined and significant, and when it comes to literature, the same effect is applied through metaphors and symbolism. It makes the layers to those characters absolutely endless and when it comes to storytelling, it’s the one thing that’s guaranteed to hook me straight away. (Jamie is also obviously my favourite from her source material, even though Sherlock comes high in second place, and Watson a close third. And I also have a baffling soft spot for Joshua Vikner that probably deserves a mention lol.)
2 - Vegeta from Dragon Ball. Started a genocidal alien who regularly committed mass murder, ended a devoted, self-sacrificial husband and father of two (three if you count his son from the future). Still the best redemption arc I’ve ever seen (and probably will ever see) in any kind of media ever. (He is also -by far- my favourite from his source material.)
3 - Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. My fae child <3 Literally the only female character I ever identified with in that whole series. People close to me still regularly tell me I channel her lol. (Favourite from her source material: it’s a toss between Gellert Grindelwald and Severus Snape.)
4 - Jareth from Labyrinth. My (other) fae asshole child found in a trash bin lol. Love of my life before I was 10, kept me sane and believing in magic when I most needed to. I learned contact juggling because of him. (He is my fave, although I love Sarah even when she’s being a dramatic whiny teen.)
5 - Rebecca Anderson from The Mentalist. I have a strong and everlasting love for pretty much all characters in TM, but this one extremely minor character made a chilling impact on me by the fact she’s exactly who I would have turned out to be had I not made one tiny little change at a crucial point in my life. So she makes the list if only for that. (My fave TM character is Lisbon, but the way she acts and reacts baffles me on a daily basis. I understand and identify with Jane much better. Fighting hard in third place would be Lorelei Martins and Madeleine Hightower, I think, but I truly love them all and by this point it’s just nuances.)
6 - Erik from Phantom of the Opera. This one stabbed me with a spoon and ate my heart out lol. I care a lot more for the original Leroux version than the Broadway/movie version, but the absolute top iteration of this character is written by Susan Kay in the pastiche Phantom and I bet every serious PotO fan will agree. (He is -by far- my fave, with the Daroga a distant second.)
7 - Eurus Holmes from BBC Sherlock. This one took me completely by surprise. One of the shittiest character arcs I’ve ever seen, and yet. She’s the one that pulled me out of the meta mindset I had been stuck into since season 2 and gutted me like a fish before I had time to realise what happened. (Jim and Irene share the top spot for their source material, but all three Holmes siblings are fighting for third place.)
8 - Hans from Frozen. The one character that made me realise the storytelling & camera language studies paid off lol (”wtf Disney doesn’t design its princes that way, there’s something off about him!”). I genuinely hated him right off the bat when I saw that movie because he made my gut twist with so many red flags, but the moment he revealed himself as a villain things clicked into place and now I love him lol (I’m so predictable xD). He shares the “hiding behind smoke & mirrors & facets of himself” with the Moriarty archetype, which makes him fascinating to watch and analyse, and for that alone I hope to see more of him in Frozen 2 because I never get enough of that kind of character. (Elsa used to be my favourite, but lately there’s been a disconnect. I’m not sure if I just out-grew her or if it’s a depression thing. As for Hans, it’s a strange kind of love/hate/fascination thing that I couldn’t define.)
9 - Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. For the sole reason that her fascination for Hannibal and the pull that makes her come back even though she knows he’s terrible for her mental health made me feel seen, and also validated my own fascination and love for villains, which people around me always found strange. (Obviously, my fave is Hannibal. I wish the recent show about him wasn’t so gore. Can’t watch it because I’m too sensitive to on-screen violence and body horror.)
10 - Laure/Mickaël from Tomboy This one is a little harder to explain, and to be honest I’m not sure I really want to. That movie is... questionable lol but maybe you’ll have an idea why that character made such an impact on me if you saw it. (Or maybe not. It’s okay.)
Runner-ups: Link from A Link to the Past, Sheik/Zelda from Ocarina of Time, Jake from The Dark Tower, Scotty Valens from Cold Case, Scar from The Lion King, Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot, Arya Stark from ASOIAF, Garraty from The Long Walk, L from Death Note, and many many others.
I have exactly 10 followers, one of them tagged me, and I tagged 5 of you earlier on something else so I’m not going to harass you people further. XD Steal this if you want to!
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hollowedrpg · 5 years
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CONGRATULATIONS, ANNE! — You’ve been accepted for the role of Sybill Trelawney. I’m so freaking ecstatic to have Godric’s Hollow’s own little seer! I’m so happy to have someone writing Sybill that understands just how complex she is. While so many members of the Order can escape the war by hiding away, for Sybill, there’s constantly a battle being fought in her mind, and you conveyed that beautifully. I can’t wait to see where you take her character.
Thank you so much for applying. Please create your account and send in the link, track the right tags, and follow everyone on the follow list. Welcome to Hollowed Souls!
ooc.
Name: Anne
age: (seventeen and up only) 31
preferred pronouns: she/her
timezone: EST/GMT-8
activity: (include a brief explanation)  I work full-time and am in a 6-month training course that meets once a month two hours away from me. I also haven’t rp’d in a tragically long time because of my mental health. That being said, I do have two days a week all to myself and a fairly generous work schedule, so there’s absolutely no reason I can’t work in a few hours 4-5 days a week. I’m also counting on my excitement keeping me going long enough to form a habit of checking the group regularly.
are you applying for more than one character?: Not at this time.
how do you feel about your character dying?: (in a roleplay centered on war, death is always a possibility. as an admin, it’s best to know ahead of time which players are comfortable with playing it out.) I would definitely be disappointed, but I could play it out. I’m a sucker for good plot and drama.
anything else?: (questions, concerns, etc.)
ic details.
full name: Sybill Audra Trelawney
date of birth: Nov 10th 1953
former hogwarts house: Ravenclaw. A reputation as a seer that left everyone clamoring for readings made them forgetful of the fact that Sybill was actually incredibly competent in most of her other classes. Transfiguration gave her some difficulty, but when she actually put in the time to practice, she’d master any of the spells and techniques thrown her way. The lives and futures of her peers tended to keep her preoccupied, at least until the courtyard accident in her fifth year. Traumatized by what she’d seen and then lived through, she dove into her studies as a way to distract herself and her inner eye. It didn’t work - she was still haunted by visions of the cruelty and violence burning through the country and of what terrible things some of her classmates got into when no Professors were around to catch them. The only thing her new devotion to her studies did for Sybill was successfully isolate her from the rest of her classmates, who in time stopped coming to her for readings as often. By the time she graduated, she was considered an oddity who they could mock, until they needed her for something, usually some hint of news of how a family member was faring in the war.
sexuality: bi/pansexual. Sybill likes to dramatically state that it isn’t the person she’s attracted to, but their aura and their sense of person. She isn’t exactly in the market for a relationship, however. Something about seeing the death of someone you dearly love can do that to a person. Sybill can’t yet bring herself to be too close to anyone in a long-term sense, but there’s nothing wrong with occasionally spending a long, cold night staying warm with someone else.
gender/pronouns: cis-female/she and her
face claim change: No, thank you! Zoe Kravitz is wonderful.
more.
how do you interpret this character’s personality? how will you play them? include two weaknesses & two strengths.
Sybill is incredibly complex and full of contradictions. She is intensely dramatic in her presentation, but down to Earth at her core. Part of her drama is all in fun. Since she was a young girl, she’s enjoyed teasing others and making fun of the stereotypes people hold about seers. She loves playing a role and being over the top. However, when it comes right down to it, she takes the inner eye very seriously and doesn’t appreciate it when others are flippant of the sight. Time is such a fickle creature and there are so many variables and players that being able to make accurate predictions is not some cheap parlor-trick (even if it is fun to play that part). However, as the war goes on, she finds it harder and harder to keep up the act. Sure, she tells her clients what they want to hear, but never anything too real. She won’t tell old Mrs. Boyce anything about her great-grandson, not even that he is actually still alive. The joy the old woman would feel would be beyond words. But then, how could Sybill protect the woman from searching for him and discovering the truth - that he’s a Death Eater who was responsible for the murders of his cousin and her family? Dark truths have always haunted Sybill, so she swallows them with shots of whiskey and assurances that the weather will be just fine for that small garden party you plan on throwing this weekend. Sometimes small and petty comfort is all we’re afforded.
Sybill doesn’t make friends easily. Her peers rarely seemed interested in her - just what she could do. She grew close to some girls in her year at first, but as time passed and her visions grew darker, she found it hard to be there for them. She would grieve twice for them - once when the vision hit, and then again when it came to pass. Her friends found it harder to relax around her. They would always be wondering what terrible things she had seen that she wasn’t telling them. If she did happen to tell them, they would desperately search for ways to prevent the vision from coming to pass, which more often than not was in vain and just served to make them resent her more. Her father’s condemnation of her curse ate away at her. After the accident in fifth year, it became a roar. Sybill would only ever bring misery and misfortune to others. The more she tried to bury her abilities, the more closed off she became. The day she graduated Hogwarts, she rode away on the Express in an empty compartment, with only her cat to keep her company.
She may not make friends easily, but she is not unfriendly. Perhaps distant, but never cold. She genuinely cares for others, even if she isn’t sure how to do right by them. Being surrounded by so much pain in Godric’s Hollow will be a real test to Sybill’s compassion. A platter of biscuits won’t be enough to ease the heartache felt by those who’ve lost everything. If she had done more, could she have prevented some of the tragedy? Her father had always told tales of how Cassandra brought misery and destruction when she unleashed her sight, but Sybill had done far worse by locking it away. Her guilt will not pass easily and will eat away at her until she can find someone to trust who can help her through it.
+Sybill is resilient. She could fog her mind and keep the visions at bay, but she refuses. She believes that she was given the sight for a reason, and that day Arabella found her was it. Sybill believes that she was always meant to prophesize the fall of the Dark Lord and now it is her duty to help keep the child safe. It’s why she’s come to Godric’s Hollow. Though a deceptively capable witch, she has no interest in war strategy and little stomach for battle.
-Sybill is often condescending. In school, things came so easily to her that it would baffle her that anyone could struggle or need her help with test questions. She just could not understand how people might have struggled with simple charms or potions. Her sight and ability to make predictions gave her insights to the manners of thinking of her peers and so she couldn’t understand how people might mis-read others. When her classmates would come to her for love advice or for answers to their homework, Sybill would often lose patience. It was all so simple - how did they not get it? For a time, she was forced to be a tutor in an attempt to get her to learn a little empathy and to make her a little less haughty, but it could only end badly, which it did.
+Sybill is reverant. She has a great deal of respect for her gift and for time itself. Though not common, she’s seen visions change midway through their playback and the outcome be completely different than what appeared to be the path at the start. She’s had the feeling of a vision float in the back of her mind, refusing to come into focus until moments before the event pass and then overheard a participant breathe a sigh of relief, stating “I had absolutely no idea how I was going to handle that!” She overall is a very respectful person. When she came to Godric’s Hollow, she first walked slowly through the town, breathing in the despair and heartache until she felt it. Stopping in her tracks, there was a house on the right. Pristine, except for a blown-out bay window that overlooked the destroyed garden. At that moment, she knew she’d found it - where she was supposed to be. While there are those who balk at her and call her disrespectful for taking up residence in the abandoned dwelling, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a house that has experienced such great love and loss that to simply abandon it and allow it to decay would be doing it a disservice. It’s not and never will be her’s. She is simply its caretaker. No one is coming back to claim it; she knows this. But she can’t let it fade away.
-Sybill is spiteful. She doesn’t get past slights easily. A lot of it comes from embarrassment of not always seeing the betrayal coming. The more blind-sighted she is, the harder it is for her to forgive. She forgave most of her school friends for their abandonment of her. She nearly always saw it coming and could understand why they did it. It was the kids who knew nothing about her but turned mean and cold that she couldn’t forgive. The kids who never appeared in any of her visions, who she had no reason to suspect, who suddenly turned on her - those were the betrayals that hurt the worst. When she was an adult, the hurt mostly came from those who still didn’t understand. Those who thought a seer in a dusty shop on Knockturn Alley would stop the war. They came wearing their mourning robes, throwing Sybill’s tea in her face and screaming that she ought to have told them - told them that their son was next. She should have told them not to let him go off by himself that day. She should have warned them that he was going to be snatched - that their family would be made an example of by the Death Eaters. She understands their pain and she tries to forgive it, but it hurts her too. Their blame hurts and is unfair. They’re adults - by now they should understand how this works (there’s that condescension again).
how has the war affected this character, emotionally and otherwise?
Compared to a great many others, Sybill has gotten off light and she knows this. Her family escaped being casualties of war by instead succumbing to completely natural calamities. If the Death Eaters know the source of the prophecy they fear, they haven’t considered her important enough to do anything about. That isn’t to say that she’s unscathed. Sybill has lost her friends. She’s lost any hope of making a significant connection with another person. She dreads the visions that come to her, showing her flashes of violence and misery. She is surrounded all day by death and sadness and that’s certainly taken a toll on her mental well-being. She maintains a dramatic and sometimes playful air, but it’s a desperate clinging to simpler times.
where does this character currently stand? with those who wish to hide in godric’s hollow until the war ends, with those who wish to rebuild the order and continue fighting the war, or on neither side? Why?
Honestly, Sybill stands with those who want to rebuild. She doesn’t understand how they can just hide until the war is over, when the Order is the only cohesive group fighting the Death Eaters. In her mind, if the war is ending and they’re hiding, then it’s only over because Voldemort has won. At that point, she fears that everyone will be too defeated (literally and figuratively) to resume fighting. If they don’t start getting their act together and begin striking back, then there will be no coming back.
But she never says any of this. Sybill is not a member and doesn’t feel that her opinion matters. She isn’t a strategist. She isn’t a warrior. She would be arguing for other people to do the fighting and she knows that isn’t fair. So for now, she keeps her mouth shut. She avoids vocally taking a side and she focuses on getting everyone somewhat settled in. She fixes up the home she has taken over as “caretaker” and she helps others do the same.
Has Sybill had any new visions since arriving in Godric’s Hollow?
No, I don’t believe that she has. It’s only been a few weeks since she’s relocated. While it’s true that she can’t prevent herself from having visions (not without powerful concoctions that she hasn’t taken since she was forced to as a child), she has been trying her hardest to make herself preoccupied by throwing herself into repair projects around the town. With everyone else reeling from the events from the past few months and walking on eggshells, Sybill doesn’t want to rock the boat with an untimely vision. But she can feel them brewing. She can feel them just on the edge of her sight, not quite in focus, but gaining form with each passing day.
Does she think she can help the Order, or does she believe her visions will only hurt?
Sybill wants to help the Order. She thinks she can help the Order. But she knows that her visions will only hurt - they already have. If it weren’t for her vision, Godric’s Hollow would still be a cozy village filled with witches and wizards of all ages. If it weren’t for Sybill’s visions, there wouldn’t have been such a massacre. The Order would not be in such a ruinous state and the war wouldn’t be stuck in some standstill threatened with mutually assured destruction if the fighting should continue on like this.
But as much as she blames her visions, they’re a part of her. They’re who she is and she wouldn’t change for anything - not even peace and an end to this bloody conflict. They all know that the boy will be the downfall of Voldemort. It’s just a matter of time and keeping the boy safe. In that capacity, Sybill is determined to help the Order. It was her prophecy that started this, it’s her responsibility to see it through.
extra
I wasn’t sure I’d be applying for Sybill, so I went ahead and tried to get a feel for her with the “if I were…” questionnaire. In my mind, she’s incredibly complex and loves the melodrama associated with seers
if i were a god/goddess, i’d be Hanuman - the Hindu deity of perseverance, service, and scholarly devotion, he aided Lord Rama in his battle against evil forces. After the things you’ve seen and witnessed, it would easy to admit that father was right - that you’re cursed and a bringer of dark tidings and misery. But you refuse to give up. You wrap yourself in another shawl and you persevere. Though great, you resist the temptation to give up and fog your mind or dull the senses as father made you do so many years ago.
if i were a season, i’d be false spring - the weather is on the upswing, the snow and ice have melted. The mud is thick, and grass will appear any day now. But up above, the sky is a deep blue and the wind has a biting chill to it that can only mean an impending freeze. Take the plants back inside and gather the firewood. These good tidings never last long.
if i were a time of day, i’d be early dawn, when the dew clings to grass and spiderwebs and a fog sits in the field - the day has barely begun and there’s still plenty of time for a few surprises.
if i were a place, i’d be the hidden reading nook in the dusty bookshop you didn’t know was still open - quiet, dark, but with a hidden hope and optimism.
if i were a type of weather, i’d be an oppressively hot day in summer - though scared of the power within, there is no denying its intensity. The opposition was given its first real taste of it and it made them desperate and overly aggressive. They paid a heavy price for their arrogance and there’s no telling what more tales of the future could do.
if i were a scent, i’d be coffee and whiskey mingling with an uplifting haze of sandalwood.
if i were a plant, i’d be a wisteria - beautiful in its blossoms, it appears delicate, but is incredibly resilient and can be poisonous.
if i were an element, i’d be earth - grounded and steady but intensely dramatic and moving.
if i were a color, i’d be a dark slate blue - haunted yet calming.
if i were a song, i’d be The Chain - your father promises that if you would just stop this foolishness, everything will be better. He isn’t mad at you, he still loves you, but you make it so damn hard when you carry this burden and insist on growing it instead of stamping it out. But he doesn’t realize that this thing that you have isn’t a burden. It isn’t a curse. It’s who you are. And if he can’t love you in spite of it, then, well… he never really loved you and never will.
if i were an item of clothing, it’d be a shawl - you cover yourself and who you really are. You bury yourself in the smooth fabric and become what they want you to be. You pull the silk over your nose and breathe in, letting it filter out the perfumed ash that hangs heavy in the air, the kind you’re supposed to sit in, as if that helps your inner eye see their futures better.
if i were an object, i’d be a candle - so smooth and solid from a distance, but covered in a thin layer of ash and brimming with uncertainty. A giver of light to illuminate the darkness, but reveals and strengthens the shadows in the process.
if i were one of the seven deadly sins, i’d be sloth - the fear of the known and the inability to stop it, leading to inaction. It is said that evil thrives when the good fail to act. When faced with visions of the future, it’s so much easier to forget it and move on.
if i were one of the seven heavenly virtues, i’d be humility - a deep respect and subservience to the nature of time. There are things that will always come to pass and others that are far more fickle - how do you know which is which? How do you know what won’t be made the worse with your meddling?
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themangaguide · 3 years
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The serious consequences of such
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The very first the naive mr lu manga time I review this manga, I was reading one more shounen-ai tale which is more engrossing and oh-so attractive (I'll be re-reading that collection once again and also publishing a review some time in the coming months), so I conveniently put this down considering that it's just a laid-back read, specifically when I got to at the very least ten chapters approximately and also I found the abrupt shift into the sex a bit disconcerting as well as undoubtedly rather offending.
This is still a continuous job, mind you, so I'm cautious not to have a very definitive viewpoint regarding the narrative right now although I need to state that this has a really appealing premise and it might have been a much more compelling, emotionally mature read if it was released as a josei work and not just a yaoi material.
Unfortunately, the desired objective for this manga was for some sexy times to commence, and therein exists the trouble because I get the sense that author Takarai-sensei must actually intend to increase on the inner conflict his protagonist is having problem with however considering that this is released as a yaoi, he needed to abide to the demands of editors to put some attractive stuff already because who wishes to review believable personality development handling a fear anyway?
Well, as it turns out, I do. Upon my 2nd reading today, I assume that it's worth keeping in mind that Takarai ultimately got to the point in this manga where he has given viewers with an extremely appealing backstory that directly made me really hope that he can recitify the unpleasant situation that his 2 leads obtained caught up in as a result of the early (as well as dubiously consented) sexual scenarios that occurred in between them. But I'm being successful of myself. There is a reason why I still re-read this work and that's because I wish to give my understandings on the direction of the writing as well as the representation of the personalities' struggles worrying his phobia. I'm not exactly sure I can advise it right now, however. With any luck the author will publish more installments which the story would certainly improve along the way. I in fact do want it to since I am fascinated with the dispute.
THE PLOT: A male in his thirties experiences severe mysophobia (a concern of dirt and also filth) and also satisfies a therapist from a mental health and wellness center who offered to assist him with his crippling ailment. The specialist puts him under what is referred to as 'exposure treatment'. To do so, the therapist had the mysophobe jot down his Top 10 checklist of things he is not comfy doing as well as brings him the most anxiety; with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the greatest. Product 10 was left blank, as well as this is where the patient's trauma originates from which we will certainly later on discover extra as the tale proceeds.
An attraction develops in between them which originated from stated mysophobe's dependence on the therapist (also known as transference), and also said specialist likewise begins to reciprocate the person's feelings (likewise referred to as countertransference) because these points often tend to happen in psychotheraphy. This manga analyzes the intricacies of such a condition yet also falls short to attend to as of yet the serious consequences of such a harmful partnership.
THE kokou no hito manga CHARACTERS: Shirotani is the mysophobe and Kurose is his specialist, a much more youthful man who has questionable values. From the very beginning, we see Shirotani has to use handwear covers to counter his fear of touching unclean things, as well as he additionally obsessively cleans his hands to the point that his skin is severely scarring and also peeling off in some location. He satisfies Kurose during a possibility experience, and also the latter provided his solutions as a therapist. Things were going well for a while due to the fact that Kurose appears devoted to aid Shirotani to overcome his fear bit by bit, and he held your horses enough to stay by his side also when Shirotani as soon as broke down in the center of a public transit as a result of a panic attack after being sneezed upon by crash. I believed Shirotani's characterization is well-written. I can have compassion with his battle, and I'm likewise interested regarding the recalls from his past when he was a child which later has a crucial significance regarding why he established his phobia in the first place.
On the various other hand, I was already questionable of Kurose which progressively faded when he made the sensible, assertive decision to distance himself from Shirotani after he realizes that he is coming to be attracted to his person. Sadly, suddenly cutting ties from Shirotani (INSTEAD OF RECOMMENDING HIM TO ANOTEHR DOCTOR, HOW IRRESPONSIBLE COULD YOU BE?) was foolhardy due to the fact that all the progression that Shirotani has actually made only fallen back, and he came to be extra withdrawn to the point where he stopped mosting likely to function. Kurose concerned his aid, and also ultimately confessed why he needed to steer clear of from Shirotani. That essential scene where he covered a jacket around Shirotani so he can hug him was genuine in such a way and also made me neglect for some time that what Kurose has done to Shirotani was already reckless, and also I possibly should not trust him at this point. As Well As I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO RIGHT!
THE CONFLICT: Good-looking therapist in his late twenties and also a hot mess of a man in his thirties with a crippling fear as his deal-breaker baggage locate themselves sexually brought in to every various other. It's a scrumptious premise that would permit an extra diligent author to check out problems worrying physical and emotional affection as well as co-dependence, all the while warning visitors with the fall-outs and troubles that might develop when an individual such as Shirotani engages in a partnership that could only hurt his progress as well as healing, considering it's with a psychological wellness physician that really should recognize better than to reciprocate his person's feelings.
THE GOOD: Let me review my favored part of this manga that was enough factor for me to re-read, assess and also look forward to the verdict of its tale. In a phase that highlighted Shirotani's youth, it was disclosed that he was elevated by a solitary dad who is a senior high school educator. They were close and also his daddy was extremely pleasant as well as caring to him. Nonetheless, a trainee of his begun remaining around both as well as it was suggested that she was his fan. Throughout a conversation at Shirotani's residence, the lady asked if he wants to have a brand-new mom, yet Shirotani stated he does not require one because he currently has his dad. The woman continued that his papa needs someone special in his life in addition to his boy, and Shirotani-- an innocent ten-year-old-- delicately remarked that he would wed his daddy rather since he understands he can make his dad satisfied. It was an extremely ignorant comment from a child who really did not understand better, yet the lady-- THIS HORRIBLE CUNT OF A HUMAN BEING-- snapped and also told Shirotani that he is a dirty kid for wanting to marry his father. Normally, someone who has a more compassionate heart would have laughed it off and also simply describe to the kid why the father would require to remarry. I could think about a dozen better methods to respond than exactly how that cunt did.
RATING SO FAR: 7/10 Check out also this related topic: https://allaboutmanga2016.wordpress.com/2021/08/25/55q818z5hzko43tactqe01629941271/
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bambyeol · 7 years
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Unlocked (part 1)
pairing/s: park jihoon x oc genre : fluff, domestic characters: Park Jihoon, OC (Bae Riseul), Kang Daniel, Ong Seongwoo, Park Woojin, Lai Guanlin
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I’m back with this second fic !  (≧▽≦)/  Pairing is the same, but I promise that I’ll expand the pairings as time goes  . I’m still swamped with school works, and it’s EXAM SEASON   (ಥ﹏ಥ) (and I really shouldn’t be writing honestly but lol) , but once it’s Christmas break, I’ll be fully devoting my break to writing wanna one imagines, so please bear with me for a while  (。•́︿•̀。) 
disclaimer: pictures used for the moodboard aren’t mine // I’m not the best fluff writer (I live and breath angst) , hopefully this fic meets your fluff standards  __φ(..) .... 
Lastly, Unlocked will be a TWO PART fic so I hope you support this baby. 
masterlist for other fanfics  
prompt: your apartment is next to mine and I can hear you and your partner dancing and singing and the bed moving and you two laughing and talking in hushed tones and it won’t let me sleep so I bitch about it to you 24/7 and one day it stops. One day turns to one week and then months, and I haven’t seen you smile in forever.. please let me in, I’ve been knocking for ten minutes now. (credit goes to: au prompts list)
song inspiration: 갖고 싶어 (I Wanna Have) by Wanna One
UNLOCKED FINAL
Park Jihoon probably remembers her as the snarky, bitchy neighbor considering that all their communications included her trying to cut his throat with threats, but to Bae Riseul’s defense, Park Jihoon is not exactly the best neighbor.
He is pretty rude  . Scratch that, more like hella rude.
Because who even sings karaoke at 1 a.m with the music blaring through the walls and though she appreciates his melodic low voice, it doesn’t make up for his failure in belting (which he unfailingly does every time he tries karaoke), and then Jihoon and his girlfriend’s laughter would reverberate in the apartment, drowning in the mishaps and blunder.
Because who even decides to dance their asses off at 10 p.m. and incorporate a lot of feet movements. The vibration generated by their stomping, rustling and sweeping flowed through her apartment.
She sighed when she heard the remarkable shrill of their voice reaching the depths of her apartment again. She is used to this. Riseul even developed her sense of observation through the sounds and movement. This time, the sound that entered her apartment went by Pew pew !
Riseul sees the wall protrude a little – the nerf bullet grazing it. Enough is enough. She headed to the apartment next door.
“Mr. Park,” she breathes viciously when the tall figure of Jihoon emerged. He is holding a nerf gun and strapped on his eyes were protective glasses. “I’ve already told you.. for a millionth time that there is a right time for everything and playing nerf gun at this godly hour is not where RIGHT belongs!”
“Jihoonie !” a sweet, high-pitched voice perks, and Jihoon and shifts a little to the right. Everything blurred because there was a sudden sensation of rubber against her forehead. “Oh my,” eyes bugging out and mouth wide with shock.
Riseul closes her eyes tightly to contain the annoyance from spilling further and reopens it only to watch Jihoon stifle his laughter.
“Is there something funny?” Riseul’s eyes narrows down to Jihoon who immediately straightens up like he was being scolded by his boss. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry about our noise,” but she could still see his lips quivering and one end tugging upward.
“Look, I get it. This is a pretty cheap apartment, and I don’t want and I never will file a complaint to the landlord because that’s just going to make this more complicated, so let’s all be adults and try to settle this by ourselves,”  Riseul crosses her arms, and looks at him straight in the eye before she turns back and slams the door.
The noise from Jihoon’s apartment fades away, proceeding to the bathroom for a facial but is greeted by a large red dot on her forehead. “PARK JIHOON !” Riseul cries out, rage unmodulated, and she hears from across the other room, “We’re sorry !!”
She forgives them though when they sent some baked pastries, but maybe it was also a disclaimer that they would return to their usual activities because not less than a week since that incident, Riseul hears the moving of furniture, and the uncontrollable giggling and hushed tones (Jihoon sucked at it because she still heard him saying, “Let’s make some fort with the bed.”) .
So for the next hour, she tolerated the wood scratching, toe stubs, and bickering on how to build the fort.
She likes them – despite their antics and her frequent episodes of raging into their apartment. Bae Riseul has a soft spot for them because she was the witness of their relationship, so she was always quick to forgive. Maybe they knew about it, so they keep on looping back into their childishness. Not that it matters.
They are good people who looks out for her in their own way. One time, Jihoon’s girlfriend barraged the doorbell to check Riseul’s health when she was down with a bad case of flu. Afterwards, she prepared a bowl of porridge and even prepared the medicine because she didn’t have any energy to cook nor even move from her bed.
But one day, all the noises dissolved from Park Jihoon’s apartment, and Riseul was given a proper night of rest. There were some rattling from time to time but Riseul knew that it was just clanking of metal. Park Jihoon was just cooking. There weren’t any wasted movements, no high-pitched squeal and laughter. She shrugged it off at first, and enjoyed the freedom from the disturbance, but one day turned to one week. A week turned to month, or months, and Riseul didn’t know what excuse to come up with to brush away her worries.  
So, without thinking of a plan, she heads out to Jihoon’s apartment, her knocking continuous (for about 10 minutes now).. Riseul stood there freezing, and knocking and mentally debating whether to head back to her apartment, but she has already invested 10 minutes of her time and she was too prideful to call this a failed attempt.
Park Jihoon opens the door, and she breathes with relief. He scrutinizes her from head to toe before turning back to her face, “Is there any problem?” he asks with a polite smile - a smile Riseul is not accustomed with. Gone was the smile that annoyed Riseul, but puzzlingly, she misses the goofy grin that withstood whatever dose of bitchiness she threw at him. “Oh, uhm,” realizing that she didn’t plan for this after all. Riseul bites her lip with reluctance, “Would you mind having dinner with me?”
She mentally slaps herself because it was the poorest excuse she could even muster, and who would even agree to suddenly act all chummy and have dinner with the neighbor who used to tear him down?  But his stare means that he is considering it, and he looks back at his own kitchen where Riseul sees a glimpse of plates dumped in the washer, unattended for a few days now (he was tidy when she was still there..) and he contemplates for a few seconds as if he was seeing someone who wasn’t there and asking for her permission.
Park Jihoon turns back, eyes a little glazed with same fake polite smile.
“Sure, I’d love some company,”
The kimchi stew boiled, and Jihoon turns off the fire while Riseul chopped the onions, minced the garlic, sliced the vegetables and marinated the meat in a way that would put professional cooks to shame. She didn’t know what he liked, and he wasn’t disclosing anything about him when she asked what he wanted for dinner.
“Anything’s fine,” he tells her, so she went with the basics – kimchi stew , chicken and bibimbap.
It is the first time she entered his apartment, but the design of his room that is akin to hers made her feel less nervous. He excuses himself, and begins decluttering the kitchen from the unwashed dishes and pointed towards the refrigerator to just get whatever she needed. She ties her hair and goes to work.
He sets up the table in silence, and sits, staring at her back while she hummed and twirled the chopsticks to the beat (Riseul forgot that she wasn’t in her apartment) . “Do you need some help?” She shakes her head before bringing the bowl along with the chicken and bibimbap.
Riseul watched Jihoon with expectant eyes because she was aware of her cooking prowess. He leans, grabs a morsel of every dish. Nervousness seeps in when she realized that this is the first time she ever cooked for another person.
And why are they not even weirded out by the turn of events?
He takes a small bite, chews for a while before his eyes lightened up. “This is good,” he affirms, fishing out more food from the serving bowls. Riseul fist pumps under the table.
“You’re not going to eat?” His eyebrows creasing with concern. Riseul raises her hands defensively. “Oh. I will eat now. Don’t worry about me,” hastily and stiffly picking up food leading to losing grip on some food. Jihoon laughs softly, and covers his mouth upon realizing.
“I’m sorry,” he tried to hide his growing smile. “It’s just. I can’t take this heavy atmosphere any more like we’re going to battle over dinner,” he places his chopsticks back on the table and let out a laugh like the one he makes whenever he was with her.
She blushes deeply when Jihoon points out her stiffness, but enjoyed how he was reverting to his old self. “Mr. Park, no elbows on the table,” she reprimands as a joke which he understood when he immediately took it off and placed his hands in a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”
They talked over the dinner and she realized that Park Jihoon is more mature despite his seeming childishness. Soon, dinner is over, and she helped clean before leading herself out of his apartment.
“Ms. Bae?” Jihoon calls out, his movements wavering, and voice marked with reluctance. She turns, her hand still on the doorknob.
“Would you mind if you continued having dinner with me?”
Riseul blinks a couple of times. Jihoon looks at her expectantly, and maybe she can sense his loneliness that built up over the past months. She shakes her head with a kind smile. “I don’t mind. Then, I’ll see you again tomorrow, Mr. Park,”
What started as one day of having dinner turned to one week, then month and finally to months. They began having rotations on the cooking, and apartment even if there really wasn’t that much difference in their apartments.
“No. That’s not how you cook it,” pushing Jihoon away from the sizzling cauldron, and she looks to her side, “Oh my God! Don’t put that!” but she is too late, and fire lit up from the pan. Riseul rushes for the baking soda and pours it all over the burning pan.
“Jihoon-ssi” She breathes calmly but menacingly. Jihoon gulps nervously, adam’s apple bobbing, and a single thread of sweat trickles down from his forehead. “What did I say again yesterday?” Riseul smiles as she raises the burnt pan.
“That I should not copy your techniques, ma’am,” Jihoon stands straight, hands tucked behind. Riseul places the pan back to the stove, “It’s okay,” and Riseul breaks into laughter. “You really thought I’d get angry ?” smacking Jihoon’s tense shoulders.
“Oh please, you’re always angry,” Jihoon retorts and Riseul feigns fake anger. “Now, I’m angry.” Jihoon reverts to his worried phase, forehead slowly showing its crease. “Anddddd. I got you, again.”
Jihoon slumps to the floor, and looks at her with shimmering eyes and pouting lips. “Please stop confusing me.” She sticks out her tongue, trying to remain unaffected with his cutesy act. For the past few months, they discovered so much about each other, and now there is growing affection inside her.  
She might possibly have a crush on Park Jihoon….   How else could she explain why she finds his unbearable personality as endearing?
Park Jihoon is a Gemini because one second he’s the most inspiring, wise and mature man she has ever known, and then the next, he would point his prized nerf gun to Riseul, blackmailing her to surrender her chips in the pantry. “Riseul-ssi . You remember how red your forehead was for 3 days when the nerf bullet hit you in the forehead, right?” Riseul would glance at him before admitting her defeat by giving him the key to the chips cabinet.
Park Jihoon is a huge softie. He works at the local veterinary as assistant veterinarian even though he is the most sensitive when it came to animals. One night, Jihoon knocked at her apartment pleading that they watch a documentary about hedgehogs. Midway through the documentary, he was bawling his eyes out.
“I’m sorry, they’re just. One hedgehog died awhile ago and I just remembered Marty.” Riseul looked at him with questioning eyes. “So… You disturbed my precious day-off to bear with this 2 hour documentary just so you could open up about Marty?”
She kicked him out of her apartment, but to make up for it, she sent him cute pictures of animals to cheer him up.
Why is she so tolerating towards him again ?
“You’re grinning on your phone,” Daniel raises his eyebrows when he caught Jihoon. “And I bet you’re not realizing it.” Jihoon rotates his chair and places the phone facedown. “What were you saying?” Seongwoo peeks from the doorway, eyes growing larger with fascination. “I told you so!”  Seongwoo shouts to Daniel. Jihoon looks at them, tilting his head unable to understand what the two have betted on this time. Daniel leaves the room to tend to the store, eyes crinkling, too amused. Jihoon rolls his eyes, and scrolls through his phone again.
“Chicken and beer?” Riseul texted. “Your treat? (✧ω✧)”   “What? No. (‡▼益▼)” “Who poured one whole pack of chili pepper again to the dinner and messed with my stomach as a prank? (」°ロ°)」” “Ok. Fine, wink boy. My treat later, but you’ll still be coming home crying and drunk,” “At least my wallet wouldn’t be empty and crying, [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] ”
The bell attached on the front door jiggled and Jihoon leaves the room next to the store to attend to the new customer. Upon arriving, he finds Seongwoo silent and Daniel tapping the shoulder of the black-haired man, leading him out of the store. Jihoon raises his eyebrow, and gets a better view of the guest.
“Jihoon-ah,” she smiles softly. “May I have some of your time?” Jihoon finds himself nodding.
Riseul enters the restaurant and reserves for the table near the cashier. Jihoon and Riseul are frequent customers of the restaurant just 5 minutes away from the train station that boasts of delicious braised ribs, chicken feet and blood sausage, but more than that, their liquor is cheap, and for Jihoon and Riseul who agreed to hold their Friday dinner as a liquor day, the restaurant was perfect.
“Gonna order now. Hurry up, I’m hungry (」°ロ°)」” “Coming soon, mad dragon 🐲 “ “Childish piglet ヽ( ˋ(00)´ )ノ” “How dare you !  Σ(□_□) (°ㅂ°╬)ヾ(`ヘ´)ノ゙ Fite me.”
She catches herself grinning, and mentally scolds herself for it. Park Jihoon’s childishness doesn’t equate to affection. It is natural for him to act that way to everyone (though she isn’t exactly sure of that because she hasn’t seen him interact with others apart from her…) …
It has been an hour since he texted her, and Riseul tapped the table impatiently. The table has already been laden with the food, and hungry is an understatement. She is famished. She is about to text Jihoon another text when she notices him breezing in the entrance.
She waves to him, and motions him to walk faster, and he smiles back and mouths off, “I’m sorry, I’m late.” Riseul’s stomach does a double flip. All her immunity to Park Jihoon has been chipped off.
“Hard day at work?” she rests her head on top of her knuckles standing on the table.  
He pauses for a moment and scratches his neck “Got sidetracked a bit.”  He pulls a chair in front of her and sits. “Let’s eat now?”
Riseul sips on the 6th bottle of soju, and notices Jihoon wobbling, eyes fluttering messily in what seems to be an attempt to keep his consciousness. She sets down the bottle deciding that it was time to go back before he even starts to become a sobbing mess (which is Riseul’s frequent predicament when she drinks with Jihoon)
“Let’s go home?” she bends her knees as she talked with Jihoon like that of an adult talking to a child. Jihoon stretches his arms wide, and shakes his head, eyes closed.
“Carry me?” he pleads, and Riseul wanted to spit the soju she just drank because of how ridiculous the situation is.
“I can’t do that. I’ll hold your arm instead,” she tries to speak with an understanding tone. Jihoon pouts but accepts her suggestion. They walk out of the restaurant and begin the long trek towards the apartment.
“Riiiiseeeulll – sssii,” Jihoon stops, and turns to her while tilting his head as if he was in deep thought. “Whyyyy are youu so uptight?” he peers, pointing accusingly as he slurred.
She shakes her head, used to the situation she found herself in. Park Jihoon is an annoying drunk because he always makes fun of her, of her voice, her attitude, her inability to become intoxicated. Everything in general. She knows, Jihoon means no harm with his words, so she tolerates it every time.
“You’re drunk, Jihoon-ssi.”
Jihoon breaks free from Riseul’s hold, and walks a few steps back laughing as he falls to the ground. “Seeeee. Youu are uptighttt. Iff you weerren’t, thenn youu’d be calling meee Jihoon-ahh or Jihooniee.”
“Heyyyy, callll my nameee… Jihoooniieee” he tugs her clothes when she approaches him, but she steels herself to not fall further.
“I don’t see why I should,” but of course that’s a lie. She wants to call him like that- filled with affection, but one-sided emotions aren’t ideal and she’ll just hurt herself in the process.
“Youu like me though,” he pouts and her heart thunderously beats. “I’mmm perfecttt afterrr all!” he shouts his proclamation. Two, Park Jihoon is a narcissistic drunk. He laughs, but tears were forming on his eyes. It is starting. The most annoying phase of Jihoon’s intoxication.
“Why are you so uptight?” he sobs. “And you’re always angry,” he hiccups. “Call mee Jihooonieee already so I can call you Riseullll,” he wails like a petulant child.
Between controlling the heat that spread across her cheeks and managing Jihoon’s drunken stupor, Riseul didn’t know what weighed more because all the butterflies in her stomach were flying and her face as red as Jihoon’s flush from the alcohol.
She tries to make him stand but he doesn’t stop his tantrum. “Call me Jihoonie.” He looks at her straight in the eyes.
How can a drunk man look so ? ? ?
“Jihoonie,” she breathes out and she was afraid that maybe Jihoon could hear the beating of her heart, but Jihoon smiles and inches closer. She stays there frozen. “Risseuulll.” He lets out and he was about to reach for her face.
.
.
.
“I… think I’mmm gonna throw up..” making his hand retreat and cover his mouth instead. Riseul didn’t know if what she felt was relieved or regret.
They were in front of Jihoon’s apartment and he scrummaged to find his apartment keys inside his bag. When he finally finds it, he notices two dangling keys, and he looks at Riseul, untangling the other key.
“Oppeen your hands,” he instructs her, and Riseul follows unaware of what he was going to give her. She feels the coldness from the metal, and furrows her eyebrow confused.
She thought that maybe Jihoon was asking her to open his apartment for him, but when she tries to unlock the door using the key, he stamps the floor. “No! ! ! The keyyy. Keep itt,”
She stands dumbfounded. “Why should I?”
“Soo.. So you could just go inside mine?” he grins and laughs softly, running his hand across his hair.
“My apartment is literally next to yours. Keep it. You need this more than me,”
“I already have one,” he waves his key in front of her as-a-matter-of-fact. “Theree’s no use to have two keyssss for one person, youu knowww.” He pokes her cheeks playfully. “Sooo. Keep it, and good night. Riseeul-ssi,” and he pecks her cheeks, unlocks his door and closes it.
Meanwhile, Riseul stood there – still registering everything that happened, appreciating the coldness coming from the key because everything was burning.
The next day, she stood in front of his apartment door. There are bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Park Jihoon was drunk, then. She thought to herself as she clutched the key hardly, its shape being imprinted into her palm. She needs to return the key, but when Park Jihoon emerged from the hallway carrying a few paper bags because he went to the market and smiled like he didn’t do anything that threw her off, all her courage of returning the key vanished.
Slowly, she slipped the key into the pocket of her coat.
“What are you standing there for? Let’s go in,” and he unlocks the apartment.
She remembered the fourth thing that makes Park Jihoon an annoying drunk.
Park Jihoon forgets all the shit he pulls.
And that’s a cut there ( I really should be learning how to write shorter fics because this is a whole lot draining that I first thought it would be but I’m happy writing this (☆_@)  ( ´ ∀ `)ノ~ ♡ ). I’ll be posting the final part tomorrow or on a Sunday  ^O^ .  Thank you for reading and I’ll be very happy to talk with you  ヾ(・ω・)メ(・ω・)ノ
update:So that you wouldn’t scroll back up.. Here’s the link for the Final part 
Unlocked Final
masterlist for other fanfics
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hoshiko2000 · 7 years
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The Boy On The Bridge & The Dangerous Myth Of The Autistic Robot
I want to begin by saying how much I love M.R Carey’s The Girl With All The Gifts! A highly original addition to the sci-fi genre, it centers on a race of human/zombie hybrids discovered in the fallout of a devastating apocalypse. Told through the eyes of Melanie - one such of these unsettling, eerily intelligent children - it paints a terrifying and unnervingly tangible picture of a decimated England. It was a book I found utterly impossible to tear myself away from, so when a prequal was released in late 2017 I couldn’t fail to check it out.
Set around 10 years before the original novel, The Boy on The Bridge follows the ill-fated former crew of the Rosalind Franklin; an elite team of soldiers and scientists who will become the first humans to encounter the mysterious ‘hungry’ children. It’s a intriuiging premise, promising to provide answers to the many burning questions left over from the previous novel. 
But as much as I wanted to lose myself in this exciting tale of post-apocolyptic survival, devastated cities and fungal-plagues, I quickly found myself distracted by one specific character. A character who, from the moment they first appeared on the page, immediately began to grate on me.
They’re not someone I’m at all unfamiliar with. I’ve encountered characters exactly like him many, many times over. While once they were rare, today they seem to endlessly bombard us in movies, on TV, across countless genres of fiction. They are a character who embodies troubling, regressive cliches that – in 2017 – I was hoping we were finally beginning to see the back of. A character who is, supposedly, just like me.
His name is Stephen Greaves, and he’s autistic.
 (TW for references to both the fictional and real life abuse of autistic children)
I should correct my previous paragraph by stating Stephen’s not ‘actually’ autistic. The author does have the forethought to pull the disclaimer-card of saying he might just have severe PTSD instead. It’s the same convenient ambiguity that always seems to precede terrible, regressive depictions of autistic people; Christopher Boone being another key example.
Considering that this is a kid who literally watched his parents get eaten by zombies, the idea that Stephen may have PTSD does feel fairly plausible. Probable even. But this still doesn’t change the fact that Stephen is heavily, heavily autistic coded. By which I mean he is yet another exaggerated stereotype of how neurotypical authors believe we think and behave.
From the moment he first appears Stephen is strikingly, undeniably ‘odd’. At 15 years old he rarely speaks, is terrified of physical contact and devotes much of his time to avoiding other people. He is a scientific savant who views the world through a detached, analytical lense and considers human relationships an unwanted distraction. This doesn’t stop him from forming one close relationship - with his mentor and mother-figure Dr Khan - but this is clearly an exception to a rule.
Like many other autistic caricatures in fiction, Stephen is obsessed with facts and has a neurotic preoccupation with the truth. More bizarrely, he is physically incapable of telling a lie. Like, genuinely physically incapable. If forced to lie, he will literally begin uncontrollably stuttering out the truth as though under some bizarre curse.
Out of all the myths regarding us that exist in fiction, the one that says autistic people can’t lie is the one that completely baffles me. Autistic people can lie. I told a lie just yesterday; ‘I’m not drunk’. A claim I refuse to believe was at all undermined by the fact I was unable to walk straight at the time.
Some autistic people are, in fact, talented liars. Parents of kids with pathological demand avoidance will attest to this. Neurotypical writers keep returning to this cliché under the misguided belief it offers us a ‘virtuous’ quality; it doesn’t. It’s patronizing and dehumanizing; dismissing us as individuals with free will and turning us in to the helpless puppets of some ‘robotic’ internal wiring.
And this is the fundamental issue with Stephen’s character: his uncomfortable robotic quality.
Unusually for an autistic character, a great amount of effort has been put in to exploring how Stephen thinks and feels. But this is only to emphasize how fundamentally different he is from other human beings. Stephen doesn’t function like a human being, he functions like a computer. His machine-like mental processes are depicted frequently, and in tedious detail. He is not a character who exists for non-autistic readers to relate to. He is instead constructed to be as strange, as baffling and as dramatically different as possible. Not because this is how autistic people actually are, but because we apparently make much more interesting reading this way.
 A lot of neurotypical readers are probably wondering why – outside of the blatant predjudice, loss of relatable representation and piss-poor, lazy characterisation - the ‘robotic’ stereotyping of autistic characters bothers me so much. And that’s because outside the realms of fiction, the dehumanization of autistic people has devastating repercussions. The most harrowing example being the all-too-frequent murders of autistic children at the hands of their parents, and the disturbingly sympathetic news coverage that follows them.
These reports follow a distinct formula. They paint a tragic picture of the murderer; their ‘hellish’ existence as the parent of an autistic child, the eventual ‘breakdown’ that drove them to commit this ‘desperate’ act. They will gloss over incriminating details like online-evidence suggesting the murder was being planned weeks in advance, or previous accusations of exploiting their child’s disabilities for money or attention. We will hear all about their ‘mental health problems’, their manslaughter plea, how ‘dedicated’ a parent they supposedly were prior to stabbing, drowning or – in one inconceivably horrific case – burning their own child to death.
The one person they say little about is the murdered child.
Unlike other young murder victims, we rarely see quotes from grieving relatives or teachers about how they were ‘a delight to teach’ or ‘a bubbly, affectionate little girl’. We don’t hear about how they - like other kids their age - loved cuddles and bath-time and watching Peppa Pig. We often don’t even get a photo.
Instead we are presented with yet another faceless autistic monster who has driven their parents to desperation.
 It gives me no pleasure to detail these horrendous acts of violence. I know this segment must be deeply distressing for many of you to read; it was harrowing to research. I’ve not included it because I wish to upset you. I’ve included it because I want you to understand that the dehumanization of autistic people across the media - the depiction of us as emotionless, affectionless and not quite human -  is a very, very dangerous thing.
At best, it robs of us our identities as sensitive human beings who experience life in diversely individual ways.
At worst it legitimizes the abuse we suffer; turning us in to the deserving recipients of our own victimization.
 And indeed, the way Stephen is portrayed in The Boy on The Bridge is only one half of the problem. The other is how the rest of the cast treats him. Stephen isn’t just treated with dislike by the other members of his team, he’s treated with open contempt. He is nicknamed ‘The Robot’, a cruel moniker that is used so frequently you’d be forgiven for forgetting his actual name. He’s called ‘emotionally disturbed’, ‘an idiot’ and a ‘fucking retard’; the verbal punching bag for the frustrations of a terrified and disillusioned crew. When a panicked Stephen locks members of his team outside during an attack, this abuse boils over in to physical violence and he is viciously slammed against a wall.
There are two very important things to remember when we talk about how Stephen is treated by the other character in The Boy On The Bridge.
This is the abuse of a literal child at the hands of adults twice his age.
This is abuse of a child at the hands of characters readers are sympathize with. Characters who have their own chapters, voices, storylines. Characters readers are not meant to always necessarily like, but are expected to relate to.
We are expected as readers to empathize with fully grown adults victimizing an autistic child. The bullying, isolation and violence Stephen is subjected to by the rest of the cast is presented as cruel, but seemingly understandable.
Because Stephen is different, and that makes them uncomfortable. And that is the only defence they need.
 I don’t want anyone to leave this post with the wrong impression; I’m not writing this because I don’t want to see autistic characters in fiction. I do, desperately so. I yearn for characters I can relate to, characters who represent my own experiences. Autistic characters who, like me, who have struggled with a life-time of misdiagnosis. Autistic characters who are told they ‘don’t look autistic’. Autistic characters that struggle with subtle, frequently misinterpreted difficulties which are constantly overlooked.
 Autistic characters who represent the sum of our real experiences, not creative interpretations of how non-autistic writers imagine we ‘might’ function.
 I don’t want to see yet another tiresome savant with intellectual abilities way outside of human limitations.
I don’t want to be represented by caricatures so cartoonishly exaggerated they are unreIatable to most autistic people, let alone neurotypical people.
I don’t want to see the abuse I have suffered legitimized through the myth that my supposed strangeness ‘drove’ my abusers to it.
I don’t want to be shown the world through the eyes of another emotionally-detached robot, and be told that this is how people like myself think and feel.
 Those are not my eyes, that is not my story.
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thechembow · 7 years
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Overcoming Mind Control Means Recognizing It First
By Sharon Daphna - The New Agora, Aug. 2017
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Mind control is a topic that is gaining increased attention in the independent media. There are websites and YouTube channels devoted to exposing mind control in Hollywood, and because of the fascination with celebrities and the veils of illusion beginning to lift, exposing the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, these sites and videos are becoming increasingly popular and videos on the topic are going viral. Considering how the parasitic agenda is perpetrated through media programming, one must wonder how come celebrities continue to promote harmful and amoral ideas to corrupt the minds of the masses. One of several explanations given is that they are under trauma based mind control, or MK Ultra, and are literally mindless puppets of the parasitic order.
The MK Ultra program started as an experiment done by the CIA in the 1950s and 60s to create mind controlled assassins. It continues to be used today in the entertainment industry, according to some insiders, such as Roseanne Barr, who came out about MK Ultra in Hollywood in an interview for RT a few years ago. When a victim is traumatized through physical and mental torture, the pain of the situation causes them to disassociate, developing alternate personalities in order to cope with the trauma. Beyonce has described an alternate personality called “Sasha Fierce” that comes out when she’s on stage and does things that Beyonce herself would never do. Nikki Minaj has a boy named “Roman” who lives inside of her and she cannot get rid of him. Multiple personalities that develop as a result of trauma based mind control, are called alters.
It’s easy to recognize the extreme mind control in the media, but it is much more difficult to observe the mind control pervading our own lives. Just because we are not all victims of cruel handlers committing atrocities directly against us, we are still being controlled through the programming we watch and through false flag attacks and war keeping us in a constant state of fear. Even the most awakened are still living in a prison of the mind because independent media and activism websites steer them in a direction of fear and submission, just like the mainstream media does. They are often encouraged to appeal to the government to solve the very problems that the government caused. Instead of embracing solutions based in science and spirituality to free humanity from its collective cage, the better funded activist groups make sure that their followers remain terrorized by issues such as geoengineering and “forced” vaccination. Whether or not they are aware of it, these groups act on behalf of the parasitic world order by urging their followers to take the pointless route of protest, rather than embracing ideas like orgone energy, reclaiming our own minds, rejecting the poisons of GMOs and EMF in our lives, and ceasing to give our power away to a fictional authority. They don’t tell you that the government is merely a business entity with no legal jurisdiction over other businesses or over living men and women, nor are they ultimately responsible for our plight here on Earth.
It seems like there is no way out of our troubles sometimes, and this is exactly how the parasites need you to feel in order to remain in power. Besides brainwashing through the sights and sounds on television and the internet, we are also manipulated with electromagnetic fields designed to bring out the worst in us. Most people are not aware that the cell phones they carry around are literally controlling their thoughts and actions. Wireless devices of other types, especially wireless routers in the home, have an extreme mind controlling effect on human beings in addition to the health issues caused by frequencies that are incompatible with our bodies’ energetic fields. People are largely unwilling to switch to hardwired internet because of the slight inconvenience it poses. Cell phone towers are transmitters of frequencies that create a certain atmosphere for the day, which can change from one day to the next. Their goal is generally to make a population feel physically weak and tired, and to think and act in a lower vibration of consciousness than they would without the interference.
Most people are living in a false reality manufactured by the matrix of frequencies, images, and ideas promoted by the parasitic agenda, which is control over humanity, who they see as their cattle. In John Carpenter’s documentary, “They Live,” it is revealed to the protagonist that all of the world leaders and celebrities are not human, but are monsters from another planet enslaving humanity. They have created a false reality by broadcasting a frequency that hides who they really are behind a holographic human appearance and hides the subliminal messages they have put on billboards, TV, and magazines. An underground activist group has created sunglasses that when worn, reveal the truth. Since this film was created in 1988, before the internet, the only way that this group can get their message out is to cut in on a television signal. The activist broadcaster says that the TVs emit a frequency that controls our minds even when turned off, just as our cell phones do today! There is a tower atop a tall building that constantly puts out a mind control signal that makes the parasites invisible to the humans and obscures the brainwashing messages, just as cell phone towers do today! The parasites are well versed in suppressing the consciousness through frequency, and Hollywood always gives hints disguised as fictional entertainment.
If you begin to pay attention and even document strange or negative behavior among your friends, family, and coworkers, you may start to see that there are times when they are not “themselves.” You may even notice it in yourself, if you’re willing to examine the times when you feel negative emotions or feel just a little “off.” There is a reason that smart meters are replacing analog meters, and why wifi is being added to everything, even when completely unnecessary, such as in digital cameras or watering timers. This is the frequency fence that literally restrains the awakening human consciousness. It’s becoming more oppressive and heavy because humans can no longer be deceived with images and fake news stories alone. The awakening humans are bombarded with the energy of fear just as the sleeping ones are. If one is too strong to be effectively mind controlled, then those close to them are targeted and induced into exhibiting the behavior necessary to bring down that individual’s state of mind. This is why many people in fields that benefit humanity through consciousness work are regular recipients of both psychic and verbal attacks, often out of nowhere.
When you examine any negative interaction with someone you know, it helps to look at it from the perspective that they may be acting out of character because something has taken over their mind. On a recent overnight stay at the home of a friend, we arrived to the wireless internet turned off. The host was aware of the health issues posed by exposure to EMF. That night we had wonderful conversation over tea, and he expressed both an appreciation and an understanding of our personalities. He was complimentary and gracious, and shared anecdotes from his life openly. We turned in for the night around midnight and an 8am wakeup was agreed upon.
The next morning as the sun rose, I awoke with a headache, took some Tylenol and went back to sleep, waking up naturally later in the morning. Since I was not woken up, I assumed that it was still before 8:00, and I didn’t have my phone on or a working time piece on hand to check. Upon greeting our host, he told me he had “decided” to let us sleep in. It was 11:00 and we were late for an appointment. Instead of leaving promptly, we decided to push back the appointment and pick up some coffee for ourselves and our host, and try to redeem our morning, behaving as calmly as possible considering that our schedule was turned upside down by a “decision” that contradicted the previous agreement. We had not yet realized that he was no longer the man he was the previous night, which is why his judgment had become impaired. When we returned with the coffee, our host began a conversation that was the polar opposite of the one the night before, in which our personalities and even our physical appearances were criticized. We took the criticism lightly, thanked him, and left. Hours later, we realized that my headache had started when he woke up and turned on the wifi, and deduced that his personality took a complete turn at that same time. It was as though he was not in control of his thoughts or actions at all. This is precisely the agenda behind the pervasive wireless technology around us.
The parasites activate our negative thoughts because our misery is their food. They are psychic vampires. Eckhart Tolle describes the “pain body” in A New Earth. This is the part of us that is accustomed to negativity and feeds on the negativity of others. He describes it as being like a psychic parasite. With this in mind, the parasitic world order activates the pain body in order to feed, and these pain bodies activate each other in different people. There is another school of thought that what Tolle calls the pain body is not us at all, but a literal parasite that has attached to our lower chakras. There are many healers who try to remove these entities, but unless they and their clients have rejected wireless technology, the healing may not last. The mind is easily brought back to negativity through the frequency control, making the client once again an easy target for parasitic infection. In addition, since electromagnetic fields suppress consciousness, those working in consciousness related fields will never have complete use of their abilities in psychic work and healing as long as they continue daily use of mind control devices.
Human beings are actually quite distrustful of computers and artificial intelligence, but also gravitate toward laziness and a desire to have someone else do their thinking for them. In a recent survey by the Automobile Association of America, 78 percent of respondents were afraid to ride in a driverless car and 90 percent felt unsafe sharing the road with them. This shows how even in the mainstream, people doubt the ability of computers to safely operate without human intervention. If you take one look at the driver next to you, you may notice that they are looking at a phone and texting, rather than looking at the road. They have no idea where they’re going because they let the GPS tell them. At the same time, the GPS and phone, which are both tracking and mind control devices, are impairing the judgment of the driver through manipulating their thought forms. The screens take the driver’s eyes off the road. The driver is being controlled by computers! What is the difference between this driver and a driverless car, and which one actually poses the greater safety risk?
It is often too troubling to look into one’s own life and see the manipulation happening. It is, in fact, something that offends the ego. To admit that you have been lied to is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but also the most liberating. The next step is to understand that you have actually been carrying around, living with, and sleeping next to devices designed to suppress your consciousness and control your thoughts and actions. This is a step that even the most aware human beings usually refuse to take. In the fight scene in “They Live,” Roddy Piper’s character tries to force the sunglasses onto his friend so that he would see the truth too. The bloody battle that ensues is the physical equivalent of the mental war we engage in when we try to coerce our loved ones into waking up.
Ditching the cell phone and wifi is the equivalent of putting on the sunglasses. It can only happen when someone decides for himself that he is ready for the challenge of conscious living and using the mind rather than having a machine think for him. Today, we have the option of distributing “sunglasses” to the masses by placing orgonite near cell phone towers, neutralizing and reducing the mind controlling effects. But ultimately, everyone has to remove the veils from their own eyes. It’s time to make a choice. We can allow the ego to continue to say that we are above the mind controlling frequencies because we’re “star seeds” or “indigos” and somehow more special than everyone else, or we can leave behind the New Age dogma and realize that we’re all human beings with the same suppressed multidimensional abilities. We must be brave and be willing to do things differently so that we may see the truth and become free. The power of the mind is what is being suppressed, and it no longer benefits us to remain in the electronically induced cage of lower vibrational existence.
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theteenagetrickster · 5 years
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Job Interview: Producer Troy Taylor consults Mayor of R&B, Career-Defining Songs, Whitney Houston & Extra
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Three-time Grammy Award-winning Songwriter, Report Developer & Vocal Arranger TROY TAYLOR that commemorates 30 years in the popular music field this year has teamed up with everyone fromBoyz II Men, Brian McKnight ,Tyrese,Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie , Aretha Franklin,
Mary J. Blige,
The O'Jays, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton , Trey Songz to Jacquees to call a couple of
. I overtook the hit-making tremendously developer to review the experience, his advocate Mayor of R&B, career-defining tracks, Whitney
Houston & even more ... TERRANCE: This year notes your three decades in the popular music industry. What has the quest felt like hence far? TROY TAYLOR:&It's been actually interesting I would certainly point out in a feeling. I went by means of a separation when I was forty and also I must additionally make that Trey Songz Ready album in the method of going
with that divorce, to ensure that was actually one of the most difficult aspect of it. I began as a partner in a developer duo gotten in touch with The Characters. In 2002, I ventured off by on my own and also started a manufacturing firm,Songbook Amusement.
It is actually been testing but because I enjoyed it so a lot, I've found out how to adapt to transform with the moments. TERRANCE: You have actually an initiative gotten in touch with Mayor of R&B. Speak about that and also the goal. TROY TAYLOR: So I developed this Mayor for R&B as a campaign to dedicate my encounter, my love for music, my affection for R&B to devoting it back to plans, arrangements, bridges. All the traits our company do not listen to in songs today, thus when I place it as a campaign, it just simply suggests dedicating on my own to this age group to reveal them the market value of these changes that creates R&B have the sense that we understand it to become. TERRANCE: What was your innovative involvement in K. Michelle's latest cd,
All Monsters Are Actually Human!.?.!? TROY TAYLOR: Well, some years back I made some of her Gold single people contacted"Can not Elevate A Guy "however ever since, it's resembled one of those points that, K. Michelle recognize that there's certainly not as well many individuals than may control her as well as pull the most ideal away from her without her intimidating all of them off therefore I'm none of those individuals she scares off simply or even in any way. It enables me to pull the very best out of her as well as so she often tends to finish up calling me since she knows I would certainly be able to obtain the most effective out of her.
TERRANCE: Talk about the brand new Dru Mountain single you produced gotten in touch with "What You Need". TROY TAYLOR: So I really Executive Produced the entire cd as well as our experts have a lot of incredible songs
."What You Need"is actually a tune that they experienced would be actually a good tune to start off along with simply off of it possessing the initial Dru Hill type consistency and also audio and it is actually a great track to blend in along with their extremely initial tune"Inform Me". Collectively, they as a matter of fact mix it belong that track, so it is actually just something they experienced will be excellent to start with. I performed a considerable amount of tunes on the project.
TERRANCE: What was it like dealing with Kevin Ross on his singular"Trait Got in touch with Passion". TROY TAYLOR: Well, Kevin is among my proteges actually. He utilized to become my artist when he was authorized to Motown as well as our company simply permitted him vacate, as well as permit him spread his wings out a little bit of bit extra to venture out and also do his very own trait, but he as well as I possess a friendship at the same time, so whenever he needs me I am actually regularly mosting likely to sympathize him. He possessed the tune, however with the method he videotaped it, I thought his vocals needed to be
stronger. TERRANCE: As a recognized Songwriter & Producer in this particular sector, what creates a song great? TROY TAYLOR: What makes a song excellent to me, is actually a tune that has the capability to take you no matter where you require to be when you require to go. If you wan na be actually satisfied, it may make you pleased. A good song ought to create you feel the emotional state of whatever it is actually claiming as well as it should have the capacity to be a soundtrack throughout your day to express whatever emotion you believe. TERRANCE: What are your five career-defining songs you possess created and/or produced? TROY TAYLOR: Certainly not in any type of certain order, it would be actually, of training program"Sugary food Lady"by Tyrese."Neighbors Know My Call"through Trey Songz, considering that there's no track in the background of songs keeping that title."The First Noel ", a Xmas tune that I created for Whitney, considering that it arrives each year. "Merely Came Right Here to Chill" through The Isley Brothers, due to the fact that Ron Isley is actually like some of my beloved, preferred
."Your Passion"by Boyz II Males, since that song was supposed to be actually for my album and also when I heard all of them vocalize, I provided it to all of them. TERRANCE: Which years in popular music you would claim determined you one of the most and why? TROY TAYLOR: It's gon na be actually a cross between the 70's as well as the 80's along with the
80's probably initially given that a bunch of music I grew on in the 70's I remember, however didn't analyze until the 80's. In the 90's I discovered just how a lot I found out coming from the 70's. TERRANCE: Where perform you see R&B entering the future? TROY TAYLOR: I believe it's gon na come back. It's visiting definitely be extra efficient, because the millennial age group is actually growing up currently, so they wish a lot more out of music. They're heading to manage it a little
better, since it is actually going to stand for exactly how they think currently.
TERRANCE: What are your ideas when you believe you do not receive the debt you should within this electronic songs age? TROY TAYLOR: It's worse right now than ever before, considering that there are no CD's or inlays to consider and also read. Thus now I have to turn to performing tags and as much as I do not like tags, I perform understand right now the usefulness of it, is for individuals to know that I worked with that song. I do not essentially like it, yet it's what I need to do. It is actually all portion of transforming along with the moments. TERRANCE: Everybody have their viewpoint of what excellence is actually. Exactly how would certainly you describe it? TROY TAYLOR: Results to me is actually when you're at
the factor where no concern exactly how challenging it acquires, you still discover a technique to smile. That is actually effectiveness. Given that when you can not, no issue when it obtain difficult as well as you can not locate a technique to grin and also to always keep progressing, then you're certainly not effective. When you possess something that you really love and also you are actually productive at it, when hardships come as they perform with everything, you tend to be attracted in the direction of the thought and sensation of results, you know?
I can't allow this break me, to ensure to me is what effectiveness is. TERRANCE: What was the experience like to win Dove Awards for your recent deal with Donald Lawrence & Koryn Hawthorne? TROY TAYLOR: That's amazing considering that I didn't see that coming given that I am actually an R&B fella, despite the fact that I grew up in Congregation. I carry out, do Gospel music however I still wouldn't have actually anticipated that to happen, to ensure that was
definitely, really excellent. TERRANCE: What was it like teaming up along with Whitney on" Unashamed "for the Merely Whitney ... album? TROY TAYLOR: Well, that was actually a definitely, really exciting track for her if you listen closely to the lyrics. It was a little bit of in advance of it 's time I would state. I likewise teamed up with her on her Christmas time venture which was incredibly
fascinating considering that I was able to audio document while I was partnering with her. I possess a great audio of our team communicating along with one another while I was actually collaborating with her which was actually tremendously funny to hear her in her aspect, only being absurd as well as only being Whitney. The very most essential and also most reputable thing is that it is actually for me only and also nobody worldwide possesses it, therefore in my masterclasses that I do around the globe, I have a segment where I play those sounds for individuals to listen to how she was. TERRANCE: One of my preferred Kenny Lattimore cds is Weekend break. What was it like teaming up with him about that task? TROY TAYLOR: Kenny is my individual. He's one of my closest pals in this particular songs field. Carrying out that venture was actually really excellent since it stretched him vocally. I performed like six tunes on that particular cd. I managed to really, truly, definitely press him right into little a lot more edgier functionalities as opposed to the smooth singing that he is actually made use of to.
" arial", "helvetica", sans-serif;'> TERRANCE: You teamed up with the late Tony Thompson formerly of Hi-Five back in '95 on his solo debut album Sexsational. Why do you assume that cd didn't live up to it is actually possible? TROY TAYLOR: I presume a ton of it concerned his psychological health and wellness. Mental health and wellness had not been a major package in the past, yet he was definitely enduring and had some psychological health issues that decreased him below performing each of things that he required to accomplish to advertise it as well as to be all that he needed to be.&That is actually from my viewpoint coming from at that time from what I observed. I just found an unhappy person that had not been actually right into it as he might've been actually. TERRANCE: One of the exciting points concerning the remake you made for Brownstone got in touch with "I Can't Inform You Why", is actually Maxee performs the lead vocals on the cd model and Nicci performs the top vocals on the single version. What led to that switch? TROY TAYLOR: That is actually an amusing one considering that I seemed like if you know the original Eagles song, it's a rather smooth song and it's rather relaxed. I performed an R&B variation of it, I seemed like Nicci is precisely the diva but I felt like Maximum's vocal fitted better. It became a little bit of political because in order for it to become a solitary as well as to have the Brownstone audio, Nicci will've needed to be actually the lead performer on it consequently for the remix they exchanged all of them out.
TERRANCE: There is actually an SWV gem you produced named "Shock Me". Refer to that. TROY TAYLOR: That is actually a song where I had each one of the group sing on. Of program Coko performs the lead, yet they all possess parts in it, you recognize what I mean? I thought that if you are actually a group as well as you could possibly all sing, then you must all of have parts. The track could finish along with the top vocalist taking it residence, yet despite having like Boyz II Men. Commonly Nate or Shawn would certainly begin it off as well as either will go next and Wanya would deliver it home. To me, that's what a group carries out. TERRANCE: And also talking, exactly how performed you associate with Boyz II Guys? I recognize you dealt with them on their Cooleyhighharmony and II cds. TROY TAYLOR: Once Again, I was an artist on Motown at some aspect dealing with my job. When I met them, I chose I failed to desire to be a performer given that it was extra delightful to become behind the scenes as well as performing what I really love, somewhat to become in face consequently after finding their effectiveness I determined I really did not desire to be a performer any longer. TERRANCE: Are actually there any forthcoming tasks that you are actually working with that you can tell our company regarding? TROY TAYLOR: Well, I'm always cleaning performers. I'm still a large follower of Performer Progression, so I constantly have performers under me who I am actually brushing and also focusing on. The following approaching point is the Dru Mountain job. I have actually been actually dealing with Queen Naija and also I'm operating along with Pink Sweat $, to ensure ought to be awesome. There is actually a tune arriving along with Lil Duval featuring Storage tank & Jacquees and it is actually heading to be actually super hilarious as well as it is actually a truly great R&B file and also gon na be actually really suitable for R&B. TERRANCE: Exists anything not reviewed you would love to show your fans, fans & the audiences? TROY TAYLOR: I 'd claim follow me as well as ready to elect me as your Mayor of R&B. When individuals inquire, what does that indicate? That only simply suggests to help me assist the original elements of what R&B popular music should possess. The reason why it's certainly not in a lot of popular music today is actually due to the fact that the kids do not know just how to accomplish it. They do not recognize how to make improvements. They do not recognize any kind of idea, so they just usually tend to keep it repeating given that it's secure.
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crimsonrevolt · 7 years
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Congratulations Arya you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Marlene McKinnon!
↳ please refer to our character checklist
Wow -- let me tell you that it was a struggle figuring out the right Marlene for us -- given that we had some amazing applications for her. But ultimately yours won us over because we could feel you breathing life into Marlene with every word you wrote about her. Every section of your application was so well-crafted, with new information scattered around everywhere until we got a grasp on exactly how you saw her and were planning to write her in this roleplay. We’re so excited to see her on the dash and for you to explore all of the various complications and imperfections that make her Marlene! She’s going to be an amazing addition to our roleplay and we’re so excited to see you write her! *your faceclaim change has been accepted
application beneath the cut
OUT OF CHARACTER
INTRODUCTION
Hey I’m Arya and I’m 21. I live in beautiful California so I’m from the PST timezone. My preferred pronouns are she/her.
ACTIVITY
I’d say I’m a solid 8. I work about 30 hours a week and when the school year starts again I will be a full time student, but I’m still on my computer for a few hours a day.
TRIGGERS
*removed for privacy
HOW DID YOU FIND US?
Stalking the tags for a new rp.
WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?
Ugh, okay, so my dad used to read me the books every night and I remember falling in love with Hermione. I know, so did everyone else, but I was so thrilled to see a bookworm who loved being a bookworm and didn’t really care what anyone else thought. I also loved Luna, but I didn’t really identify with her much. Towards the end of the series I started identifying and sympathizing with Draco and how he was always trying to keep up with his family’s expectations for how he should be. I definitely got that same vibe from my family so seeing a character struggle with it was great.
ANYTHING ELSE?
This app contains some triggers, namely addiction and PTSD. Please read with caution, health always comes first.  
IN CHARACTER
DESIRED CHARACTER
full name : Marlene Audie McKinnon 
Marlene - A mix of Maria and Magdaline, which mean “Star of the Sea” and “of Magdala”. Marlene has always been a little unimpressed with the lack of deep meaning in her name unlike like the Black’s constellations or the Carrow’s mythology. Even Lily has her flowers. Marlene has never really been a fan of her plain name. When she went to Hogwarts and people started calling her Marls and Marly, she fell in love with the nicknames.
Audie - Meaning “Of noble strength”
McKinnon - Meaning “Fair born” or “love”. She’s also been called McKitten, McKnockers and McKnickers. Most warrant a slap.
FACE CLAIM
Freya Mavor is my preferred FC, but that’s totally negotiable. For alternates I’d say Candice Accola or Teresa Palmer
REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER
Story time: I first applied for a Marlene character about two years ago for my first time in the Marauders fandom. Her traits were something along the lines of being wild and passionate and a bit aggressive which is right up my alley. So I got accepted and on a whim went to look for some aesthetic things and was absolutely horrified because her name came up. I didn’t know she was actually a cannon character and thought the admins had stolen her from another RP. I freaked out to a friend because I thought I was playing a stolen character and he finally told me that she existed and had just gathered a fan base on tumblr. Brilliant.
Since then I’ve fallen in love with Marlene as a character. Because she’s a canon character that there’s very little known about, it’s easy to have her plot lines go in all different directions and I love the amount of versatility I get. It means that every RP has a different vibe. Either she’s in a different house, or a different blood purity, or has family conflicts or different friend groups. I adore every aspect of it. Playing out so many different possibilities makes everything extremely unique and bring out different development aspects from the character.
Admittedly, there are certain Marlene skeletons I don’t really vibe with. I’m not a fan of playing her as a stone cold bitch or some sort of ice queen, it’s just not my preferred portrayal, though I still think it’s really cool she can be played in so many different ways. Personally, I’ve always played her more as a bubbly, sarcastic bitch when she wants to be, who doesn’t really recognize she’s upsetting others until they’ve drifted away. She’s hyperactive and passionate about everything in her life with an intense devotion for her friends, family and the causes she believes in. Overall, I’m just a huge Marlene fan.
Mini rant time: I know some people in the fandom don’t really like the character of Marlene because they see her as a cheap romantic partner for Sirius or a fifth Marauder that never was (these are the most common complaints I’ve heard). I understand how that can become frustrating, but it also breaks my heart a little. A lot. I don’t think it does justice to most Marlene players and their characterization choices. I firmly believe she can and should be played in a way that is inclusive and balanced with as many ups as she has downs. End rant.
Speaking of downs, she sure as heck has some. I love that she has an addictive personality, kind of a “I’ll try anything once” gone wrong. She’s the kind of girl to take a handout at a party, not caring what’s in it as long as she’ll be having a good time. She rejects authority unless the authority works in her benefit. Having a wild child character who is equal parts bold and terrified, extroverted and insecure, comforting yet comforted by substance, and supportive but envious is my dream character and I’ve been able to find that in Marlene.
I also love her stance on the war. Marlene is obviously fighting the war, passionate about rejecting the mentality of the Death Eaters. However, Marlene hates the war and hates the fact they have to fight it in the first place. She doesn’t want to be a child soldier, doesn’t want to see her friends being picked off. As someone who believes in the good in everyone, she’s often tried to sway Death Eaters away from their side, but often the conversations end up frustrating both parties to the point where it just turns into a fight. If she was any less emotional, I could see Marlene being a neutral party, someone trying to get both sides to just chill and love everyone. However, because that’s not possible, she’s gone in full force to defend people’s ability to exist how they want.
Being a character that embodies happiness and compassion, but struggles with the cruelty of the world and her own intensity, I’ve fallen in love with Marlene and totally dug her skeleton, so here I am, babble-writing about why I think she’s an incredible character. Marlene’s a force of nature and if nothing else, is willing to tear the world down while sweeping up and bringing everyone around her into the chaos.
PREFERRED SHIPS // CHARACTER SEXUALITY // GENDER & PRONOUNS
Alright, I’m about to go in because I have some pretty strong opinions on this one. To state it simply, I play Marlene as pansexual and demiromantic. She’s cisgender and uses she/her pronouns.
I’ve always seen Marlene as an extremely affectionate character, especially when it comes to her friends. She’s that one who’s going to be sitting on laps because she feels like it, giving cheek kisses to say goodnight or insisting on piggy back rides. Part of this is because she’s a very physical person so it’s a physical outlet for her to show her affection and love for her friends. Another part is it makes her feel validated, wanted. She needs that affirmation
Romantically, Marlene struggles. She doesn’t like the thought of being contained to just one person she’s allowed to be affectionate towards. Additionally, she struggles with coming to terms with romantic feelings and rather than working them out, just shoves them down and ignores them, preferring to stick to herself. She hates the culture of “Grow up, get married, have kids, live happily ever after”. Admittedly, some of this stems from her fear she’d make a terrible wife and mother. Okay, a lot of this stems from that fear. Especially as she’s watching her friends coupling off one-by-one, Marlene feels like she’s being left behind, which only makes her more resentful of relationships.
Sexually, Marlene is adventurous. She doesn’t care who you are or how you identify, if she finds you attractive, that’s all there is too it. Marlene sees sex as just another form of intimacy and doesn’t quite understand why people shame casual hookups. Of course, she’d never consider shagging someone like James, he’s like her brother and that would be gross. But Dorcas? Remus? Sure, if they wanted too, she’d be interested. That doesn’t mean she has romantic feelings for them (clearly, given the above paragraph), it’s just fun.
In terms of ships, I’ve never really had a particular ship for Marlene, considering I do play her heavily disliking romance. I have been interested in testing the waters with ships like Marlene/Fabian or Gideon, Marlene/Dorcas and I have a guilty pleasure (but not really guilty) for Marlene/Death Eaters. It’s still always been weird to ship Marlene for me since her attitude eventually seems to turn most people off anyway.
CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER:
-A MOODBOARD
Tagged on this blog as { Miss Moody } http://mckitten-marlene.tumblr.com/tagged/{ Miss Moody }
-AN AESTHETIC
Tagged on this blog as { Aesthetic } http://mckitten-marlene.tumblr.com/tagged/{ Aesthetic }
-A MOCKBLOG
http://mckitten-marlene.tumblr.com (the account this is send from) is my mock/muse blog for Marlene. Some of the content is inconsistent, but it overall encompasses my characterization. The tag { Thoughts Can Consume } is general muse stuff and { Delve Deeper } has more to do with character development.
-A PLAYLIST
Tagged on this blog as { Chained to the Rhythm } or Playlist. http://mckitten-marlene.tumblr.com/tagged/{ Chained to the Rhythm }
-EXPAND ON TRAITS
✓ Open-minded: Marlene falls in and out of love with everyone she meets. People are fascinating. Their energy, their flaws, Marlene wants to learn everything she can about people without looking down at them. Not everyone shares the same beliefs and she’s okay with that, to an extent of course. She believes that the world is constantly changing and people should be willing to change along with it. Never one to make judgments on how others choose to live their lives, she seeks to learn from the differences she sees in others rather than reject them. Perhaps the slight exception would be the mentalities of Death Eaters. Marlene hates prejudice, but she hates it because it shows exactly how close minded people are. However, she’s tried to understand them, to find out where their hatred comes from. When she came up with nothing, she’s decided to firmly reject their discriminatory mentality.
✓ Eager: For adventure, for a rush, to learn, to fight. Marlene is always looking towards the future with excitement. She’s a bundle of energy and can’t stand to simply be sitting around and doing nothing. Rather, she’s always looking for the next big thing, whatever is waiting over the hill or around the corner. Always grinning, bouncing from person and person, she wants to experience everything she can. Life is short and with the war, she’s almost certain her life will be short as well, so she might as well do everything she can while she’s still here. If she can pull a few others along with her as she goes, even better. There’s always something waiting ahead and Marlene wants to be the first one to find it.
✓ Forgiving: Marlene believes in the power of honesty. When she was a child, her parents told her it was kind to always accept apologies when they were given and that mentality has remained with her. However, Marlene is not one to say she accepts apologies, but does not trust other after they’ve crossed her. Instead, Marlene forgives others wholeheartedly and accepts them back into her life without a second thought. Though to many it may seem a weakness, to Marlene it is one of her greatest strengths. People deserve second chances and she is more than happy to give them out to those who seem to genuinely seek them.
✓ Intelligent: Though an outsider would never make the assumption, Marlene has always been exceptionally intelligent. She would’ve made a great Ravenclaw like the rest of her family, but shaped her intelligence into something different. Rather than simply reading and becoming book smart, Marlene learned how to be clever, to wiggle in and out of situations, to manipulate. It’s a subtlety, something that has become naturally ingrained into the blonde. She left behind the idea that intelligence existed in black and white and has devoted her time into developing her own kind of brilliance.
✕ Aggressive: Fists first, talk later. Marlene got into her first fight when she was in her second year at Hogwarts when a kid taunted her family during an argument. Since then, getting into verbal and physical fights became a norm for her. Going hand in hand with being too emotional, Marlene is extremely aggressive. She doesn’t like to talk out what she’s feeling, most people don’t understand and don’t want to, so she pushes it into her attitude. Snappish, competitive and willing to fight her way out of any situation, it often is misconstrued for her being a mean person. Marlene’s far from mean, she’s just intense and doesn’t know how to manage her anger.
✕ Emotional: Marlene feels too much of everything. There is no such thing as experiencing emotions half way for her. She is ruled entirely by her heart rather than her head. However, Marlene rarely sees this as a negative (despite the fact it almost always is). In her mind, she’d rather be every emotion bundled into one person that barely be able to feel anything at all. However, given exactly how ruled by her emotions she is, it’s a source of conflict for her in many of her relationships. If she’s angry, she’s complete fury and rage. If she’s upset, it’s as if the world has fallen apart and slipped through her fingers. Managing someone with such intense emotional reactions is a daunting task for any of her friends.  
✕ Clingy: It’s ironic, given how easily she pushes people away with her brashness. Marlene doesn’t like to let go of people, nor does she like to ever be alone. If she likes the people around her, Marlene attaches and does everything she can to keep them in her life. It makes her overbearing, obnoxious and frustrating to deal with when she feels like she’s being rejected. Being alone is boring and brings forth the fear of being alone permanently, one of her greatest fears. In an attempt to counter it, she’s desperate for attention and doesn’t let go of people easily.
✕ Self-deprecating: Despite her cheery demeanor, Marlene has deep seated insecurities. Some stem from her family, specifically the constant competition between her brother and her. She often feels second best, leading to her believing that she’s the problem. Then, there comes the people around her. Pushing people out of her life was a common occurrence, but one she has always despised herself for. Again, she takes this all internally, knowing she’s the issue behind it, but unable to change her attitude. For someone who puts on a convincing front of being carefree and confident, internally she’s constantly battling herself and her insecurities. Any sort of failure weighs heavily on her mind and it’s not easy for her to let them go.
-A FEW HEADCANONS
Marlene makes her first kill when she’s 21. On a mission for the order, her group ended up separating from each other and being ambushed by death eaters. With the command to immediately fall back if something went wrong, she found herself stuck in a duel with another. After being injured severely, she speaks the killing curse for the first time before apparating away. Since that day she constantly wakes up with nightmares of what she did and until her own death, was never able to entirely get over the guilt, though she goes on to kill several others.
Since she was young, Marlene has felt that she existed in her brother’s shadow. He was perfect, everything any sensible parent would want from their child. Marlene was anything but. Despite being a naturally intelligent person, at school she was constantly compared to her brother academically, so she learned how to hide her intelligence. In her opinion, no one cared to notice anyway so there was no point to her bothering with putting in work for school. In her mind, she was always going to be second best and despite having a close relationship, there has always been strain in their family because of it. All Marlene has ever wanted to be was individual, but an individual who was recognized for who they were, not who their family was. As a kid, it’s why she acted out as much as she did. Now, as she’s grown older, she’s begun to internalize the belief that she is the “second best”. It’s one of her largest insecurities and something she regularly berates herself over.
When Marlene watched the kidnapping of the Minister of Magic, she was fascinated. Initially, she joined the Order to be a fighter, make a difference in this war. But they seemed to be stagnant, always held back by some idea of what proper justice was. Aversio was different, they acted boldly and apologetically. Immediately, she knew she had to find a way to join them in their cause. Of course she loved being in the Order, it was where her mates were and they acted with a high standard of morality. However, she needed something more than that, needed to make progress rather than just talk about it. Consequentially, she found her way into the folds of Aversio and hasn’t looked back since.
Marlene loves cats. The little shits have an attitude similar to her own and she identifies with them. Cats and Marlene are aloof, keeping to themselves most of the time, but not opposed to a friend or two joining them. They’re only sweet when they want to be and half the time it’s fake. If they like you, they’ll let you pet them, though they’re still prone to swipe you with a paw. If they don’t like you, they hiss and spit until they’re left alone.
As an affectionate person, Marlene always wondered what it would be like to have a normal life after the war. Growing up, she’d rejected the thought of getting married or starting a family. However, as she gets older, the desire to settle down like so many of her friends only grows. Convinced she would be a terrible wife and mother, Marlene is never able to bring herself to get married, or even entirely entertain the idea.
Marlene is a baker. Much to the surprise of her friends, the hurricane of a girl loves being in the kitchen, particularly if she’s making sweets. It started when she was younger. The kitchen was where she and her mother had their own time and place. She grew up preparing family meals by hand, rather than using magic, and continued to do so throughout her time in the order. Some home cooked food might provide comfort to the war ridden, or so she hoped.
She’s always been smart for her age. Most people would consider Marlene a bit of an airhead with a ditsy grin, but you don’t wiggle your way out of as many situations as she has without being exceptionally intelligent. When she was younger, it was easy to see she was nearly as gifted intellectually as her brother was. However, as she got older and made strides towards becoming her own person, she pushed down her “book smart” side. Instead, she applies her intelligence through being clever, manipulating conversations and people without them knowing she’s aware of what she’s doing.
When she was sorted into Hufflepuff, Marlene was thrilled. Most of her family was Ravenclaw and they had some Slytherins and Gryffindors in the mix, but Marlene was the only Hufflepuff. It fit her, she was a bubbly bundle of energy who fell in and out of love with everyone she met. They were loyal and so was Marlene, as long as you could tolerate her ups as much as you could the downs. Everyone praised the snakes and lions, but have you ever met a badger? Sure they’re cute, but they’ll rip your face off the second you try to mess with them or their family.
Marlene is currently a barmaid. Initially, she wanted to be an auror, someone who can openly fight for justice. However, her grades were too low to get her into the auror program, despite her tenacity and constant pleading with ministry officials. Rather than simply take another ministry desk job instead, Marlene went to one of her favorite bars and begged them to hire her. Fortunately, the owner eventually agreed after taking her up on one of her offers to make him a drink. Though it’s far from her dream job, Marlene is content enough in the position for now. There she’s able to work as she pleases, make enough tips for her to get by and meet fascinating people. Since joining the order, it’s also become an amazing opportunity for her to gather intel.
On the MBTI test Marlene is an ESTP. ESTPs are outgoing, enthusiastic and excitable. Blunt, straight-forward risk-takers, they are willing to plunge right into things and get their hands dirty. ESTPs have an uncanny ability to perceive people’s attitudes and motivations.  ESTPs use this ability to get what they want out of a situation. Rules and laws are seen as guidelines for behavior, rather than mandates. However, the ESTP tends to have their own strong belief in what’s right and what’s wrong, and will doggedly stick to their principles. The Rules of the Establishment may hold little value to the ESTP, but their own integrity mandates that they will not under any circumstances do something which they feel to be wrong. They typically make things up as they go along, rather than following a plan. They love to have fun, and are fun people to be around. They can sometimes be hurtful to others without being aware of it, as they generally do not know and may not care about the effect their words have on others. It’s not that they don’t care about people, it’s that their decision-making process does not involve taking people’s feelings into account. The ESTP often has trouble in school, especially higher education. The ESTP gets bored with classes in which they feel they gain no useful material which can be used to get things done. The ESTP may be brilliantly intelligent, but school will be a difficult chore for them. ESTPs have a natural abundance of energy and enthusiasm, they get very excited about things, and have the ability to motivate others to excitement and action. They are not usually so good at following through, and might leave those tasks to others.
Marlene is a whopping 5′1″. She’s always been petite and stopped growing around her fourth year. As her friends became long and lean, she remained…well, little. A source of teasing from others and a hidden insecurity, she let her personality speak louder than her size and embodies the idea of “tiny but mighty”. Still, it bothers her more than it should that she has to look up at most people if she wants to look them in the eyes.  
Despite her love for them, Marlene’s boggart is not her friends or family dying. Instead, it’s a reflection of herself, all appearance of happiness gone from her face and on her forearm sits the dark mark. It’s worse than death. Beyond anything else, Marlene is terrified of turning her back on her family. She’s always been loyal, it was a trait she carried with pride. The thought, or image rather, of her so blatantly betraying everyone she loved is her greatest fear. On top of the horror, it means she disappointed them, that she went against everything she’d spent years fighting to defend.
-A FEW POTENTIAL PLOT POINTS
Sugar We’re Going Down Swinging - Oh my gosh I’m in love. Before the Marlene skeleton was posted, I knew that if she wasn’t already in it I was going to request she be a member of Aversio. A group that wasn’t seeing progress quickly enough so they decided to go in harder than ever? Yes. Right up Marlene’s alley. I’m incredibly excited to see what her activities in the group cause in her character development, especially if they come in conflict with the Order. Considering the mess of Aversio attacking the Death Eaters attacking the Order all together, being on more than one side makes things complicated and interesting.
I Got Issues, But You’ve Got ‘Em Too. So Give Them All To Me - I’ve always headcanoned that Marlene is linked to some of the death eaters as she grew up a pureblood. While she certainly doesn’t believe that people are inherently good, she does think she can sway the side of the war they’re on. Playing out her relationships with characters that follow the Dark Lord is one of my favorite things to do because, really, Marlene just wants to stop the hate. She doesn’t necessarily want to kill everyone involved (although she will if she has to).
One Hit, Bad For Me, But I Give In So Easily - Addiction is rough. Marlene has always had an addictive personality, meaning she slips into very real, dangerous addiction easily. Especially given her trauma (as indicated below), I see Marlene slipping more quickly into legitimate substance abuse beyond just drinking or taking a handout at a party. Obviously, being as stubborn as she is, she’d try to hide it or insist she was in control. But no one is in control of addiction. It consumes the user and their loved ones without giving anything in return.
I’m At An All Time Low - As someone who suffers from PTSD myself, I’d love to explore that side of Marlene after her kidnapping experience. I imagine her doing her best to shove the trauma down and act as though it doesn’t exist. However, ignoring your emotions doesn’t stop random panic attacks from happening or eliminate night terrors. It’s also a misconception to say individuals suffering from PTSD become victims. Instead, some decide that they’re going to do everything in their power to tear down whatever it was that tried to hurt them.
Not Ready To Make Nice - In general, exploring how Marlene tries to find balance in her life during war is fun. She’s a fighter to the core, but also wants to be a positive light while dealing with an ever-darkening world. Exploring her struggle to maintain her drive for the cause while her friends and family are disappearing around her is always a good time (not for the character, but for me). She’s desperately trying to maintain her positive demeanor, despite her struggles.
IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE
The following section should be looked at like a survey for your character. Answer them in character and feel free to use gifs. Or, if you’d rather, answer them in third person or OOC without gifs. Answers do not have to be extremely lengthy.
♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it:
“A spell that lets you talk to creatures.” There was no hesitation when Marlene answered. “I’d use it to talk to animals, obviously. Don’t underestimate it’s significance,” Crossing her arms over her chest defensively, she pursed her lips. “Think about the uses! You could have a cat just hanging out picking up information for you if you give ‘em some milk after. Or being able to talk to dragons!” Leaning forward with wide eyes and a grin to match, she rambled on.
“Can you imagine being able to talk to dragons? They seem angry all the time, but maybe you could make friends with one and they’d let you ride ‘em. No one I’ve ever heard of had a dragon animagus.” Then, she sat back. “It’s not fair that only one in a trillion people are able to talk to snakes and animagi don’t count cause they just become one animal. With this, you could talk to any animal you wanted and they’d be able to talk back. Best spell ever, honestly. I’d name it…fuck. Um. Maybe animustalkus. Something like that. Or someone who’s better with Latin can name it for me.”
♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you:
“Can I pick alone? I’d love to go it alone. Tried during school but the groundskeepers were always one step ahead.” There was a ring of bitterness in her voice when Marlene spoke of the groundskeepers, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. “I can’t? Well that’s no fun. Not Marcus, he’d be too insistent on going back to the school with a stick up his ass the whole time. Maybe Caradoc or Dirk, they’re alright blokes. Or maybe,” Suddenly, her head snapped up.
“Dorcas. I’d bring Dorcas along. We’d kick so much ass in that forest together. As for an item,” She trailed off for a moment, her eyes going to the ceiling while twirling a curl around her finger. When she focused again, she was grinning. “A muggle record player, so we could listen to rock while we explored. Can you imagine it? Someone should make a movie or write a book about this.” Clearing her throat, she did her best radio voice, “Two women go into the forest alone at night. The forest…is forbidden. With them they only have a wand and a record player. It may get messy but one thing is certain: they’re going to have a blast.” She finished, before breaking into a fit of giggles at her own shit humor.
♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?
“Uhmm,” Chewing on her bottom lip, the blonde’s brows furrowed and she stared down at her hands. “Well, everyone’s always saying I don’t think before I do stuff, so I don’t make that many decisions in the first place.” She said with a laugh, ruffling a hand through her hair. “But, I guess if you were to ask something like ‘if you had to save your mum or dad, who would you choose’, that’d be a tough decision. I don’t think I could make it.”
The crease between her brows disappeared as she straightened up and grinned. “So, that. Choices to do with family. Those are really hard to make. I don’t want to upset them, y’know? I mean, I do, but never on purpose…okay, rarely on purpose.” Her grin faded away, the line between her brows reappearing. It was an expression she was becoming more familiar with as of late: worry. “I wouldn’t want to make any decisions that’d hurt my family.”
♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you?
Rolling her eyes, Marlene leaned back in her chair. “Nothing. Honestly, if you spend your life worrying about what people might say about you, you’re never going to have the chance to live.” She chided with a shake of her head. “I don’t care. Let them say what they’d like. If it’s the truth, that’s that. If not, who cares?”
Marlene would never want to be called a traitor, even in jest. It’s too real of a possibility and something she’s still insecure about. She’s loyal, that’s her Hufflepuff thing and she takes great pride in it. Since the war begun, she’s seen how easy it is for people to turn their backs on friends and family. Marlene never wants to be like those people and would loathe for someone to ever refer to her as such. Unless they’re calling her a blood traitor, that she’s entirely fine with.
WRITING SAMPLE
Note: This is actually a drabble from an ask meme “A situation where our characters kiss” from a past RP. I think it sums up a lot of Marlene and how I portray her and is one of my favorite pieces. If you’d prefer something tailored specifically to this RP, please let me know and I’d be more than happy to write something up.
Marlene absolutely positively with all of her heart and soul hated this. Her family had “broken away” from the other pureblood beliefs and yet there she sat, right in the middle of what must have been two dozen pure blood families. She wanted to scream, to rip her hair out and thrash the stupid mansion they had decided to hold the bloody cult gathering in. Most of the adults, and especially their children, glowered at where she was seated, half under the table with her arms tightly across her chest. And she scowled right back, meeting them eye for eye until they broke away to go spew shit at someone else who treated their words like gold.
She hadn’t realized she was literally snarling under her breath until the shuffling of clothing sounded from next to her when someone sat down. Like hell Marlene was going to spend the rest of her night breathing in the fumes from some rotten perfume or cologne. Her stance should have been enough message that she didn’t want company. Whipping her head around, more than ready to give them a piece of her mind, Marlene stopped herself before a sound could escape when she met Peter Pettigrew smiling meekly back at her. Letting out a sigh of pure relief, Marlene dropped back with a groan and rolled her head onto his shoulder.
“Oh thank the gods you’re here, do you want to bail with me? Please tell me you want to bail with me.” She breathed out quickly, looking up at him with her best impression of puppy dog eyes. When he nodded in response, Marlene was standing in a heartbeat, not giving Peter any chance speak before she was trying to pull him through the crowd of people. Freedom. She would finally be able to breathe air that wasn’t choked full of egocentricity and narcissism. As melodramatic as it would have sounded, the thought of getting away was pure paradise for Marlene and they were so close, so close to escaping when a thin figure stepped in their path.
Marlene could have sworn she felt Peter laughing at her choked back sob. She didn’t even remember who this woman was or why she was asking how their year was going and even more so, Marlene didn’t care. It was a miracle she hadn’t run off already. She was trying to be good. But from the corner of her eye, she caught her father’s gaze and the message in his expression was as clear as day. Behave. And who would Marlene McKinnon be if she did anything but the exact opposite. “Is anything new with you, dears?” Who did she think she was, their grandmother? Sure as hell looked like it. Smiling, Marlene shrugged her shoulders lightly and reached back to take Peter’s hand in hers, giving it an affectionate squeeze.
“Well, we’re expecting our first born next year, so we’re quite thrilled about that, aren’t we love?” Marlene could have sworn Peter gagged on his own spit as the woman before them very clearly did with her glass of wine. Batting her eyelashes up at him, Marlene waited for her friend, her one ally in the room, to either back out now or play along with the blonde’s games. Much to her enjoyment, he did the latter, though it was a barely-managed nod rather than full affirmation. But it was good enough. It seemed that Sirius and James really were wearing off on him. “But other than that, the doctor recommended I take it easy and you know my Petey, he’s just been like a mother hen. And here I thought I was the one giving birth.”
Every move Marlene made was exaggerated, making it clear that she was supposed to be telling a joke she thought was brilliant, and she died a little with joy when the woman tried playing along with a broken laugh of her own. “I’m sorry, but we were just headed outside due to a stomach ache. I guess those glasses of wine weren’t such a great idea after all! Now if you’d excuse us, I’d hate to ruin your shoes. But please, feel free to pass along the good news for us!” Marlene chimed, slipping around the woman, her hand tightly clasped with Peter’s while she basked in the look of horror on the stranger’s face.
Not bothering to look back, Marlene finally let out a laugh when they stepped out into a massive garden. Even walking side by side, Marlene didn’t bother releasing his hand, but began to swing it between them, giggling under her breath. “Your family is going to kill me.” Marlene rolled her eyes at that, but caught the edge of humor in the words and grinned up at Peter, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “Maybe. Doesn’t matter though, they’ll forgive it. That’s what families do. Put up with the bratty kids and try to focus on the good ones.” She chimed, coming to a stop at a bench.
While Peter took a seat where any rationally minded person would, on the actual bench, Marlene plopped straight down onto his lap and threw her arms around his neck. Without warning, Marlene took his lips with her own, light and slow. Really, it was a habit most of her friends were probably used to. She liked kissing, liked being physically close to others. There was nothing sexual about it, not to her. It wasn’t about getting the other riled up or turned on, it was just comforting, one of the few ways the blonde found to relax. She needed the affirmation.
And bless his heart, Peter must have felt like indulging her erratic behavior that day. Marlene could have cheered when there was no refusal or rejection to be found in the other. For all she knew they could have been out there for minutes or hours, occasionally breaking into light conversation before their lips would find rhythm with one another again and Marlene let herself sink into the warmth of the hands on her waist and figure far broader than her own before her. Though it was rare, there were times like this when Marlene just let herself be. The hurricane of a girl found her clam in the touch of others.
But all good things must have come to an end for her sooner or later and she groaned when they were interrupted by an intentionally too-loud clearing of a throat from behind her. With a scowl on her face once more, Marlene leaned back from her spot in Peter’s lap and twisted her head until she could smile sarcastically at her brother. “Yes, hello, can I help you or are you just determined to ruin every shred of happiness I can grasp in this cold, cold world?” She drawled, blinking blankly at him. “We’re leaving.” He spoke back and Marlene was half tempted to just cling to Peter and declare that she was never going to leave. Instead, she stood with a dramatic flourish of her dress and stomped over to him before dropping like a dead weight.
Luckily, as much as she wished he didn’t, her brother had good reflexes and grabbed her before hauling her up over his shoulder in a fireman carry. Reaching out dramatically, she called back to Peter while her brother carried her off. “My love! I’ll care for our child until we meet again! Remember me, even in your darkest hours!” From behind some bushes, Marlene could hear Peter’s laugh ring out. It was fine, it was okay. Even stuck in the middle of a quickly brewing war, that made the night worth it.
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parkersrevenge · 7 years
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Anonymous submitted:
Poe/Mutter Chapter 2
Several weeks go by without incident, Thomas tells his wife, Mary, about Mrs. Poe and she immediately goes to pay the younger woman a visit, the two hit it off remarkably well for being completely different from one another, and so Thomas eagerly sits through his wife’s stories of what Virginia tells them about Edgar during their quilting circle gatherings.
That man is most singular, and to think, such a man, an author? With a disposition like that, he ought to be a detective or a police officer, but the obvious affection and devotion for his wife speaks of a hidden gentleness that is not obvious to the average onlooker. An affection and devotion which Thomas does not have for his own wife. He’s ashamed to admit how he married her for her money and name in an effort to increase the renown of his medical practice, he….cares for her, but not in the way a lover should, why he can hardly consider himself a lover. He can’t even bring himself to give her the one thing she wants, children. Can’t even bring himself to try.
According to Mary’s stories, Edgar is coming home injured increasingly often, and is giving Virginia no explanation other than “writing material, darling.” Thomas, endeavors to make a house call while he’s in the neighborhood, Virginia answers the door with a large smile and a chipper “Mary told me you were coming!” He hears a groan from the other room, that must be Edgar, and then a gruff voice.
“Please tell your quilting ladies that I do not need any of their romance stories for poetry inspiration.”
“Darling, it’s Dr. Mütter, I’ve asked Mary to get him to look at some of your wounds. And in any event it’ll do you good to have some socialization.” An argument has obviously started for formulate in the man’s brain, but Virginia walks over to press a light kiss to his hair. “Please dear, he is our friend.”
“You mean his wife is your friend.”
“I mean, he said he was our friend and I elected to reciprocate the gesture.” Another groan is heard, this time she kicks his chair in frustration. “Edgar, the good doctor wishes to be your friend and by God you ought to let him. Heaven knows he’ll be your friend even if you aren’t his.”
She walks out of the room in a huff and whispers a gentle apology as she passes by the doctor before she’s caught in another coughing fit, though not violent enough to be worrying.
“Come in Mütter.”
“Please call me Tom, or Thomas if you’d prefer more formalities.” Upon receiving an icy glance from the poet he whistles softly. “Or Mütter, that suits me just as well…. How are you feeling Mr. Poe?”
“Angry.”
“Ah, yes, I might have supposed such.”
The poet, is apparently, not a fan of humor, Thomas makes a mental note. “Your most exquisite violet eyes darken when you’re angry.”
Poe frowns, Thomas makes another note. The poet, also, does not like compliments.
“You have lost any sanity I thought you had when first we met Mütter.”
“I shall take that as a compliment Mr. Poe, most men think me completely mad upon first meeting, you, however, thought I possessed sanity. You are far too generous.”
Yet another glare. The poet, it seems, is also not fond of optimism.
“Get on with your purpose here Dr. Mütter.”
“I-uh. Sir, it appears that your wounds exist under your clothes.”
“And?”
“In order to serve my purpose here, you would need to remove them.”
“I refuse. Good day Dr. Mütter.” Poe returns to his poem, and Thomas makes his way out of the house, stopping to pay his respects to Mrs. Poe and wish her the best in health and of luck with her husband.
Upon arriving home, Thomas makes a sketch of Poe sitting as his desk, but he adds a smile, the poet would look most interesting with a smile. Mary walks in as he’s finishing. “There’s a woman here to see you. Says she’s a Miss Lee and you’d remember her from your childhood in Virginia?” There’s an accusatory tone in her voice, but Thomas jolts up and practically runs to the lobby of his practice.
“Tom!” “Annie!” The two friends exclaim as they embrace, Thomas recognizes the Annie of his childhood instantly though she’s been marred by burns.
“My father said your guardian told him that you had studied medicine, and how to put women like me, back together.” She whispers softly, suddenly ashamed despite her earlier excitement.
“Annie, there’s nothing about you to put back together.” He implores earnestly. “Tom, please. I’m hideous, my brothers’ wives can’t even look at me. You’re the only person I’d trust to fix me.”
Thomas almost agrees immediately, but realizes how this must look to his wife. “Mary, this is Miss Annabelle Lee of Virginia, we were childhood friends.” She fixes him a stern look. “She’s engaged Mary.”
“Was, I’m afraid. He can’t bear to look at me anymore.”
“You’re scarring is minimal, that man must not be worth anything.”
“He’s worth several thousand a year. Which is why father wants me to marry him so badly. Oh, but you know how I’ve always loved a good poet.”
“We don’t know any of those.” Mary interjects hastily.
“Any that are single.” Thomas amends.
Mary replies with a harsh. “That man Poe writes garbage, no wonder he has a dispute with Mr. Bob.”
Thomas shrugs helplessly, as Mary stalks away grumbling. “I’ll be sure to schedule your surgery. It really shouldn’t be too extensive, your scarring is minimal, you’ll look as beautiful as ever when you’re healed.”
A tall man with brown hair walks in taking off his hat. “Are you flirting with yet another woman Dr. Mütter?”
“Dr. Pancoast! Will you excuse me Annie? Dr. Pancoast is here to talk about the medical college drama.”
“Drama at the medical college? Are they borrowing your clothes for costumes again?” Miss Lee asks coyly.
“Not that kind of drama, Miss Lee, although I’d love to hear those stories one day.” The teasing was out of character for one who barely knew the first name of the man he was teasing, but Pancoast had always been easy around others.
Thomas flushed, and tried to make it clear to Annabelle that she ought to leave, but she simply sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room forcing Thomas to take Dr. Pancoast back into the cramped examination room, Thomas took his usual seat on the rickety stool.
“You’re a peculiar man Dr. Mütter.” Pancoast begins, although there’s no malice behind the statement. “You have so few patients and yet all who have visited you praise you as a savior of the broken. The powers that be are considering you for a professorship at the college.”
“You can call me Thomas, Dr. Pancoast.” Is all Mütter says in response, making no mention of the job offer, he’s already begun giving some lectures at the medical college, but only because Dr. Harris had insisted.
“Dr. Mütter, your lecturing style is completely unique and the students rave about you. And yet, you don’t have enough patients to warrant the fame that surrounds you by most standards. What makes you so exemplary that the college wants you to teach full time?”
Mütter shrugs. “I’m not sure why they would want me to lecture. I’m more concerned with helping people who are so desperate they come to a doctor with no reputation, who lectures once a week when Dr. Harris can’t be bothered, and who has only been in practice for six years. It is those people I wish to serve, not the men who have continually treated those people like monsters.” He sighs. “And please, Dr. Pancoast, call me Thomas.”
Pancoast is taken aback for a moment, but then smiles. “It seems to me Thomas, that you are exactly the kind of man the medical college needs.”
“Well then, Dr. Pancoast, they’ll have to ask me themselves.” Thomas smiled softly, but he was taken aback by the forwardness of the other man. Pancoast was a surgical legend, and rumors heard from Dr. Harris speculated that he’d be selected for two chairs when the college hired new professors, why he’d seek out Mütter was beyond him.
Pancoast nodded. “You ought to take care of the woman in your waiting room.”
“I’ve yet to schedule her surgery.” Thomas answered softly.
“She seems fond of you.”
“I am married.”
“Then perhaps you should wear your ring.” Pancoast smiled. “But then again, so should I.”
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