#I think this is my first foray into fatal

[tokuvivor]

Well, last night, we had the first of three Halloween Movie Nights for this month, all with a broad supernatural/parallel universe theme to them. So, the highlights:

Skeleton Dance

Me: “That’s gotta hurt” (the cats pulling at each other’s tongues)

@writebackatya falling into the well and @tealottie pulling him back out

The stream cut out, so we didn’t get to finish the short. But if you want to check it out, you can do so right here.

Magica’s Shadow War

The fact that the episode was the original inspiration for Lena

Everyone wanting to smash Magica

@spamtoon: “i fucking forgot about 87 poe��

@puffyducks: “it’s ok the writers forget about 87 poe too”

Gyro’s invention being a camera with a spotlight

Puffy: “they just fucking flashbanged her”

Will: “me when Webby kicked the flash grenade back to Gandra”

Scrooge’s girly apron

The guy at the airport (Gus Goose?)

Scrooge White and the Seven Nephews (courtesy of @shewhowantsmouseears)

Evermore/nevermore

Scrooge covering all the bases with the shadow’s pronouns

Scrooge wearing a moose head

Me: “Keel moose and squirrel”

Mel: “They had to make a moose joke, given how her voice is clearly based on Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle” (Since June Foray voiced both Natasha Fatale and ‘87 Magica.)

Magica’s shadow looking like Madam Mim because of the hair (plus some lore droppage from Mel and @emeraldcity1900)

“Magica’s raven” That’s her brother!

AUGH

Launchpad!

Will: “Do you think every family member immediately groans to themselves whenever Scrooge starts his sentences with “I made my fortune””

Several people: “Yes”

Surprise Webby!

@alex31624: “is like... some shadow war...”

Endless drama with the dime (as usual)

Caro: “I was hoping Scrooge would SHPEDEHOOING the dime out of her hands”

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!

Lena time!

Scrooge in a deep sleep

Lena: “Aaaah…”

*theme song plays*

Will and Caro discussing how the theme song playing would impact the characters in real time

@spamtoon: “hi mark”

Webby’s long-ass speech about Scrooge

Magica being a terrible person

Blink-and-you-miss-it animation error where Lena isn’t wearing shoes

Gavin subplot!

Louie’s Kids

Darkwing Duck and Paperinik references (leading into Donkey Kong reference)

Will: “And then there’s Della! She’s dead.”

Sword horse!

Huey and Dewey being jerks to Louie in this episode

Puffy: “dewey time travel adventure is a touching story about him spending christmas with his missing mother and then louie time travel story is him just going to a 23rd century film set”

@godfrey-the-chaos-duck: “huey needed a time travel story”

Puffy: “I think huey experiencing any time travel would cause him to spiral”

Louie finding out Gavin’s conning them (and that his name is Gavin)

Gavin being like Bradley Uppercrust III

“Bigfoot, you just poked the bear.”

“The power…the body…”

Everyone losing their shit at Lena’s dream scene

Louie beating Gavin

“i win”

“Now go back! From whence you cameee!”

Everyone losing their shit again at the last scene

A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!

The fact that it’s a peak episode

Violet!!!!

Lena’s song and everyone else’s reactions (including Louie’s “TF did I just watch” face)

Friendship bracelets!

Violet being relatable AF

The fact that Boyd and Gosalyn should’ve gotten friendship bracelets in the show

“Let’s eat pure sugar!”

Us watching this episode coinciding with the server’s one-year anniversary

“Me!” “…Sleep.” (plus Dewey’s offended face)

“YOU’RE IRRITABLITY!”

The boys and Violet sleeping

Glowy stars ✨

The fact that we should’ve gotten a second sleepover episode

The sword horse returns!

The finale foreshadowing

What would Boyd dream of? Does he even sleep? (Plus this incorrect quote from Will)

The sword horse disappearing without so much as a sound effect for it

Dewey High!

Dewey’s love interest (queer allegory)

Puffy: “bro thinks she’s bill cipher”

Godfrey: “if they ever made a deal all of reality would collapse”

Cat Louie!

“Meow. Everyone pat my head.”

Wolf Lena!

WHY HUEY WHY

Seriously, long-legged Huey is cursed AF

Phooey!

Whale Launchpad!

“My dream is just to read more.” “Awesome!”

@hueberryshortcake: “the bond between a girl and her librarian is unbreakable”

Now for Lena’s dream

She looks cool in green, though

Lena would make jokes about Poe

Everyone in their dream forms rescuing Lena

Lena and Webby’s conversation (and the feels that come with it)

Mel: “friendship is magic, the ponies were right”

Alex: “friendship is the best magic”

Magica is dead! (Welllll…)

She actually just lost her magic. Which explains her white feathers. (LOL what a loser)

These drawings from Puffy (minus Violet, she will be added later):

Magica trying (and failing) to do a Darkwing-esque speech at the end

Ghoul Friend

Adorable or horrible style? (It was a joke, though.)

Zombie Goofy!

Screaming Squirrel

Goofy Holler!

“You wouldn’t hit a mouse with glasses, would ya?” (Also the only line in the short, which says a lot about how you don’t necessarily need dialogue to tell a story.)

Goofy died because Max failed the perfect cast

Coraline

Alex: “Coraline won, and everyone leaves”

Keith David being in the movie

Looking ahead to Coco, and talking about how much we will (or will not) cry

@ducklooney: “Skeletor robot on motorbike!” (Wybie)

(About Coraline’s dad)

Puffy:

Will: “Are ya winning dad?”

Blue boy in a painting

Puffy: “woah you know who ELSE is a blue boy in a painting”

I ❤️ Mulch

Coraline’s parents being too absorbed in their work to pay attention to her

The fact that her friends in Michigan gave her a whole billboard to say goodbye to her (courtesy of @story-blossoms-ducks)

Kangaroo mice!

Puffy: “woah.. mirror dimension... just li”

“wait everyone that watched infinity train with me is gone”

The food in the other dimension looking fantastic (even though it’s not real)

The mice are friends

Mr. B’s confusion over Coraline’s name

Puffy: “we're not even in the scary world and everyone is still a fuckin creepy weirdo”

Will: “yeah, isn’t it great?” “they’re good people. Just weird”

The fact that everyone is telling Coraline to not go through the door, yet she still does

Will: “I mean they had mango milkshakes”

Puffy: “wait you’re right I hadn’t considered that”

The garden in the shape of Coraline’s face (feat. the mantis cart)

Mouse circus!

How Lena would fit into the role of Coraline

Keith David is the cat!

Me: “That is a lot of Scotties”

Brain bleach moment with Other Spink and Forcible

Shit gradually will start to go down (Coraline given buttons for her eyes)

John Linnell of They Might Be Giants being the Other Father’s singing VA

Cocoa beetles

DuckLooney: “"You will eat ze bugs and you will be happy."”

Puffy: “-the lion king”

“Bad.” “Lost.” “Bad.” “Lost.”

Coraline and her pillow parents

CAT STARE

Mel: “dammit, beldam, spit will out right now”

Breaking the mirror=seven years’ bad luck

Will: “And she’s hanging out with a black cat who’s always crossing her path”

Into the trap!

Puffy: “girl that is NOT your mother”

@kaitosduckmania: “she is mommy tho”

Coraline trying to collect the ghost eyes (and thinking she’s out of time when it’s still going) (shoutout to the cat on the assist with the last eye)

People having the hots for the Other Mother’s spider form

Destroy the key!

Webby Wybie to the rescue!

That’s all folks! (Not really, the sound was messing up)

Will’s cat watching with him

Puffy and Mel with a Simpsons reference (We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well)

Why is Mr. B’s skin blue?

Will: ““So your sister’s dead. But good news; her soul is no longer held captive by the spider woman.””

It was a good movie. Very unique.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Clever Julie Burchill in Spiked: Harold "memorably recalled having a conversation with a toilet while out of his box on magic mushrooms though he may have confused this with his first date with Meghan Markle." by u/Von_und_zu_

Clever Julie Burchill in Spiked: Harold "memorably recalled having a conversation with a toilet while out of his box on magic mushrooms, though he may have confused this with his first date with Meghan Markle." Trump has the measure of Harry and MeghanDeporting the peevish princeling would only fuel the couple’s sense of victimhood.Brilliant. In pertinent part:As Trump does not care whether people poke fun at him, so he is similarly keen to deal it out. This weekend, the New York Post reported that the POTUS has decided against attempting to have Prince Harry deported. This is despite the peevish princeling being the subject of litigation, as the Heritage Foundation has alleged that his past use of recreational drugs should have disqualified him from obtaining the US visa that allows him to live in Montecito, California.Anyone who has read – or rather, suffered through – Harry’s autobiography, Spare, will know of his fondness for marijuana and the occasional foray into psychedelic drugs. He memorably recalled having a conversation with a toilet while out of his box on magic mushrooms, though he may have confused this with his first date with Meghan Markle. Rather than own his drug use, he once came up with the absolute howler of a theory that he became a druggie pretty much because the press said he was one*. ‘You’re then either the “playboy prince”, the “failure”, the “dropout” or, in my case, the “thicko”, the “cheat”, the “underage drinker”, the “irresponsible drug-taker”’, he said during one of his many court cases (this one in 2023). ‘I thought that, if [the media] are printing this rubbish about me and people were believing it, I may as well “do the crime”, so to speak.’*Whatever Harry’s reason for doing more blow than a Love Island love rat, Heritage’s Nile Gardiner was quite right to tell the Telegraph: ‘Anyone who applies to the United States has to be truthful on their application, and it is not clear that is the case with Prince Harry.’ He went on to suggest that the Biden administration might have turned a blind eye due to the doleful duo’s support of the Democrats (that went well!). But rather than react in a punitive manner, Trump told the New York Post that he has no intention of ordering Hazza never to darken the Staten Island doors again. ‘I don’t want to do that’, smirked The Donald. ‘I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.’ In the past, Trump has also opined that ‘poor Harry is being led around by the nose’.Trump knows how much this depiction, in particular, of Meghan will annoy her. She has several images of herself, from siren to saint, feminist to femme fatale, but middle-aged (her official age is 43) owner of a hen-pecked husband probably isn’t one of them. I strongly doubt she took Hilda Ogden, Sybil Fawlty, Hyacinth Bucket or Yootha Joyce’s Mildred as role models when a girl. The stereotype ruins her sexual capital somewhat, which has always been her strongest currency. [Stereotype or .... Archetype?!]I can’t help thinking that there’s a part of each of the Sussexes that would actually relish being deported, but for vastly different reasons: Harry so he can see his mates again; Meghan so she can cast herself as a tragic, persecuted heroine. But thanks to Trump’s intervention on Harry’s visa, Meghan’s hen-pecker-in-chief image will stick with her now, and their marriage will continue to go from romcom to sitcom.https://ift.tt/xEsvXnz post link: https://ift.tt/FLW2qK3 author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: February 14, 2025 at 02:47PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[chibi-honey-cake]

14. Dominance [Voretober 2020]

CEO Pred x Coworker Vore (Reader is Observer)

Contains: Soft Vore, Implied Fatal Vore, Half-size Vore, Fearplay, Male Pred, Male Prey, Reader Insert, Gender Neutral Reader, Reader is Observer

Word Count: 1.2K

Everyone knew about the CEO's tendencies. Sure, no one ever asked or mentioned it, but the rumors persisted. Whispered through the bathroom stalls, passed through secret notes at cubicles and desks that were immediately shredded... It wasn't too obvious but regardless, everyone knew.

If you watched closely, you could see the rumor in effect all around you. The lingering stares when the larger co-worker passed through, the presence and confidence he exuded kept everyone in line... Everyone was frightened of him, too nervous to stand up to him or ask questions. He didn't use his power over the company floor to push people into doing things, but they did things for him anyway with the vain hope that it might appease him somehow.

Then there were the disappearances. It wasn't too uncommon for someone to just- stop showing up for work. "Did you see Barbara go home?" "Is Finny on vacation?" It wasn't too often, but it was enough that it lingered in peoples' minds. After a designated two-week period unless otherwise stated, their desks were cleared quietly and someone was hired to fill their place.

You weren't an important person in the mix of things, an intern that had recently graduated to an office worker. You'd heard the whispers and you were smart enough to put the pieces together, but you still weren't entirely sure. After all, no one had claimed to have directly seen him in the act... But you had to admit that there was a possibility.

You knew better than to ask or to pry, being as low-ranked as you were, but you were still curious. You would stare as he passed with intrigue rather than fear. Was it true? Secretly, you hoped you could find out the answer one day. But, you were afraid that the day you found out- it would be the last secret you would know.

But then, it happened. You. You, of all the people on this floor... You were called to the CEO's office. Dread and anticipation mixed together in your chest. You were nervous. What was going to happen? But even stranger was that you weren't called to the office alone. Brady was standing next to you, the man looking pale and just about on the edge of fainting. His fingers were trembling as you took the initiative and pushed the doors open.

"You- called for us, sir?" you asked almost meekly as you both stepped in.

Sure enough, Mr. Talbot was sitting at his neatly-cleaned desk with a sly smile aimed at the two of you. "Yes, yes, so good of you to be on time!" he greeted as he gestured to a set of chairs in front of his desk, "Sit, I want to go over some things with the two of you."

You both hesitated briefly, but it was you who moved first. You stepped forward to take a seat, Brady timidly followed. Mr. Talbot smiled much wider as you both settled, leaning back softly. "You are not in trouble, Mr. Yales, you don't need to be so nervous," he regarded the man next to you gently, who flinched under his attention, "Now then, you are both newer here but you are learning how things work here, yes?" he asked, directing the question to you when Brady only nodded.

"Yes sir," you answered, "It's-" You stopped to think over your word choice. "-Been a learning experience."

Mr. Talbot seemed pleased with your answer. "Good," he replied, "Which of course means that you both probably know why you're here."

A silence raked over you and Brady, a tense and painful one as you both put the pieces together. Mr. Talbot was smiling, but it was getting more and more wicked with each passing moment. Brady blanched five shades and you were certain that your heart skipped a beat. Was- Was he going to- with both of-? A loud and hungry growl from the larger man's stomach cut through your muddled questions, spelling it out without a word.

Brady leapt from his chair first, sweating nervously. "Please, no!" he squeaked, "I don't- I-!" He glanced at you and you could see him line up the idea in his head. He jabbed a finger at you. "T-Take them, they're the newbie! They won't be m-missed-"

But before he could continue, Mr. Talbot had reached out quick as a flash and grabbed both of you by an arm. You yelped, Brady shrieked. "Oh, hush," the larger man dismissed Brady's whining, drool sliding past his grin, "This was already decided beforehand."

With strength that you hadn't expected, Mr. Talbot hefted Brady up by his shirt with one hand- and stuffed his upper body into his mouth. You stood, staring wide-eyed in dumbfounded shock as you watched your boss begin to swallow down the other man like it was nothing special. You couldn't move away, he still had your arm- but you couldn't tear your eyes away from this scene enough to run away besides. Shoving the flailing man in, Mr. Talbot slurped up his legs and swallowed the last of him smoothly.

He sighed in satisfaction, patting his filled belly with his free hand. He then turned his attention to you and you felt your heart drop. "Better," he sighed, then tugged you out of your chair.

You very nearly stumbled into his sizable frame and he chuckled. "I've seen your stares," he purred, "You're the only one that looks with curiosity rather than terror." He paused, studying your shocked face. "So I wanted to propose to you a promotion idea."

You could hear his stomach gurgling from this distance, muffled protests of what was your co-worker a moment ago beneath it. You couldn't bring yourself to react to it properly. "A-A promotion? Sir?" you stuttered with a squeak, looking up.

He kept smiling at you. "Yes," he replied, "I'm in need of a new assistant. My old one got too chatty and... quit." He left the implication in the air as he patted his tummy. "You would report directly to me. It's a simple job, really." He pulled you closer, pushing you against his warm stomach. His suit contained and concealed his belly well enough, but you could still feel the movements inside. "I just need some help from time to time."

"It would be a substantial pay raise. And you could test for the position right now- if you'd just help me with lunch." He lifted your arm to his stomach and placed it there before letting go. "Of course, I still have room if you disagree."

The threat was not lost on you. Helping- by rubbing your boss' belly after a meal? And if you didn't... You considered it briefly, your nerves buzzing in your mind. This was tense. And there was a serious chance that this might not go well. But... You weren't opposed to the idea, in both execution and prospects. You could use the money...

Carefully, you reached up with both hands and began to rub his large tummy . Mr. Talbot hummed in appreciation. "Excellent," he sighed, "Do a good job and you'll be promoted by the end of the day..."

[strititty]

for the shipping meme: hal pls

My NOTP for them 

who would i not ship hal with. hm.................................. ... ... no i don't have a strong notp vibe here either.

My BROTP for them

so in my last post i mentioned davesprite and hal and that still stands here! i think they they would have a good dynamic.

My OTP for them 

if i said anything but dirk and hal i would be lying and i would be lying very loudly and obviously. i am going to say that i have sort of an obsession with doppelgangers, and of all the instances of doubles in homestuck i think that these two best suit the niche of my desires. part of it is the way that hal actively takes dirk's place without telling others ig and part of it is the way in which he is trapped and who has done the trapping.

they're two sides of the same self-destructive coin and i think that that's PERFECT.

see a fatal error has occurred by mortior for something a little more in line with canon, or endangered by the very same for the ar/dirk smash hit that everyone who likes the ship has read and if you haven't i am genuinely surprised and curious as to how you managed to go so long without

here's a crimson peak au (seriously this author's fics are absolutely killer, the vibes are always impeccable) or maybe for something more modern you could read ghostlyAnarchist's haldirk fight club.

i'm also fairly proud of my a/b/o attempt at them--it's one of my first forays into omegaverse and i think i did alright so i am in fact going to shamelessly plug myself here ehe

My second choice pairing for them 

hal and roxy!! god i love the two of them. one day maybe i'll manage to finish the college au fic i started for them, but for now i'd like to give special honors to kimoi's inanimate, which i read years and years ago and it sort of planted halroxy in my brain. it doesn't really reflect how i think of the ship now, but i think it's fun to look at what got my fresh-faced young ass into things.

My fluffy pairing for them

a lot of the ships i have with hal aren't... fluffy. that said hal and roxy are probably the closest i've got so! see above. i love how roxy is one of the few people who's happy to talk to him and helps moderate between him and the others...

My angsty pairing for them 

dirkhal is a clear cut answer here too haha OOPS

My favorite poly ship for them 

where'd i put that hal/equius/dirk fic... AH it's one of laura's! i believe you are familiar with this one sz but i'll link it anyway. :3

My weirdest pairing for them

HMMMM. i have some vague thoughts about jade/hal but i can't remember exactly where they came from so that might actually qualify as something weird!!!

again also there's alpha bro/hal which given my tastes is also not that weird. i was looking for a fic with them on ao3 that was kind of lowkey guro, but i can't find it, so that might have also gotten taken down :pensive:

[myhahnestopinion]

THE AARONS 2020 - Best TV Show

It was prime time for TV in 2020, with many more free hours to fill. I managed to get through a lot of my backlog in fact, finally getting around to watching shows like The Strain. It’s a show about a deadly disease that tears society apart because a lot of arrogant people think they are exempt from quarantining. The disease turns people into vampires, so it’s technically escapism. Here are the Aarons for Best TV Show: 

#10. The Plot Against America (Miniseries) - HBO

It’s not TV, it’s not HBO, it’s real life. The Wire-creator David Simon’s penchant for illustrating the human fallout of institutional failures made him a perfect collaborator for HBO’s Plot Against America, an adaptation of Phillip Roth’s alternate-history novel. Following a Jewish family in New Jersey navigating the increasingly-fascist America of a hypothetical Charles Lindbergh administration, the show is a terrifying warning of what happens when hatred and conspiracy theories are allowed to accumulate political force. Notably, while the book ends with history back on the right track, the closing moments here are left ambiguous. The show was a limited series, but in many ways, The Plot Against America is ongoing.

#9. Mrs. America (Miniseries) - FX

Its interests are married to The Plot Against America, but Mrs. America traces the country’s rising extremism from a more historically accurate perspective. The miniseries centers on political activists in the 1970s on opposing sides of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, but its dialogue isn’t a strict dichotomy. The episodic format is expertly utilized to build out intersectional ideas from the likes of Rose Byrne’s Gloria Steinem, Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Crisholm, and Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug, detailing the difficulties in building a diverse coalition, and the dangers of a single-minded one. Drawing parallels to current debates, its compelling centerpiece is how conservative Phylis Shafley (Cate Blanchett) successfully defeats the Amendment; voting against your own self-interests, Mrs. America says, is as American as apple pie.

#8. The Outsider (Miniseries) - HBO

Societal collapse comes from within in the two shows mentioned above, but the threat in HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 novel is decidedly an “other.” King clearly had his mind on modern manipulations of truth when crafting the ingenious premise: a man is arrested for the murder of two young boys due to irrefutable DNA evidence, only to provide an air-tight alibi for the crime. To match King’s procedural prose, HBO brought on The Night Of’s David Price, who layers the original work with meticulous mysteries. The Outsider has all the pulpy jolts expected of the author, but the show’s true horror lies in its overbearing grief, best brought to life by Ben Mendelsohn’s Detective Anderson. To say more would be to spoil its secrets; you’ll want to be on the inside.

#7. Perry Mason (Season 1) - HBO

Just like the famous fictional attorney, HBO can’t seem to lose, with Perry Mason marking its third entry on this list. The reimagining of the long running court drama actually takes place before the character’s illustrious law career; here he’s a down-on-his-luck private eye caught up in a scandalous child kidnapping case. The result’s a gangbusters production of old-fashioned moody noir: political corruption, femme fatales, and a more morally-complicated Mason, as played by The Americans’ Matthew Rhys. The lavish period details and character-actor cast, including Shea Whigham, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Maslany, will help draw viewers in, but, I’ll confess, I was already hooked by the season’s chilling opening moments.

#6. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Season 1) - NBC

Dour seasons have dominated this list thus far, but Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist sings a different tune. It’s a lovably oddball premise: an accident during an MRI causes a young woman, played by Jane Levy, to hear other people’s thoughts in the form of popular music. It’s all karaoke, but, emphasized by the presence of Skylar Astin, a worthy inheritor to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s musical-comedy crown. The tracklist, workplace antics, and love-triangle drama all exist in a comfortingly familiar network TV realm, but the show takes additional steps for inclusion with stories highlighting Zoey’s genderfluid neighbor (Alex Newell) and an American Sign Language performance of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” During a year in need of shuffling off stress, there was no better time to queue up Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

#5. What We Do in The Shadows (Season 2) - FX

FX’s expansion of the mockumentary feature film of the same name lit up some of the darker corners of its universe in the show’s second season, transforming mundane-seeming material into something completely, uniquely batty. Each creature of Shadows took their turn in the spotlight this season, from a middle-management promotion gifting energy-vampire Colin Robinson unlimited supernatural power, to undead Nadja befriending a doll possessed by her own ghost, to Matt Berry’s Lazlo forging a small-town persona as a bartender/volleyball coach to escape a vengeful Mark Hamill. As always, it was the sympathetic Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), a Van Helsing descendent desperate to become a vampire, who gave the show its emotional stakes, and the vampires within a different kind altogether.

#4. Stargirl (Season 1) - DC Universe

Shadows was lit, but few things burned brighter this year than Stargirl (perhaps too brightly for the flamed-out DC Universe). The superhero drama is one of several that will outlive its original streaming service - fitting, given its obsession with legacy. Based on a character created by DC Comics stalwart Geoff Johns after the tragic loss of his sister, the show finds a young girl taking on the mantle of a fallen hero after moving to a town run in secret by supervillains. With sprightly fight choreography and an unabashed embrace of its comic book lore, Stargirl outshines the overabundance of small-screen superheroes out there. Its highlight is the bright performance of lead Brec Bassinger; put simply, she’s a star, girl.

#3. BoJack Horseman (Season 6b) - Netflix

Throughout its run, BoJack Horseman garnered acclaim for routinely delivering unexpected pathos, and the final season kept it on that track until the end. ...Get it, because horses run on tracks? The unexpected porter of television’s legacy of antiheroes ended in much the same vein as its sister shows - with consequences finally catching up with its protagonist. No amount of fanciful animal puns could soften that painful catharsis, as the show finally trampled its tricky web of abuse through bittersweet means. The series closed out with an especially thoughtful scene, the kind viewers who looked past the wonky pilot years ago were regularly blessed with; to the very end, BoJack, you were a gift, horse.

#2. Better Call Saul (Season 5) - AMC

As good as Bad ever was and better than ever before, the fifth season of AMC’s spin-off completely upended the world of its eponymous lawyer while bringing Vince Gilligan’s universe one step away from full-circle. Saul Goodman found himself in way over his head, and viewers found themselves way on the edge of their seats, as his first foray into “criminal” lawyering swiftly dovetailed with an escalating drug war. Despite the emotional distress of watching fan-favorite character Kim Wexler placed in perilous situations, there are no objections to be had with the drama’s continued masterful storytelling. Ramping up the slow-burn storytelling, season five saw Kim and Saul’s relationship develop in rich and unexpected ways, while still keeping their final fates unresolved. Fans are thus waiting with bated breath for the show’s final call next year. 

#1. The Great (Season 1) - Hulu

Who could be the best but The Great? There was a minor television controversy this year over Netflix marketing The Crown as a historical drama despite its fictional interpretation of events; The Great has no such pretentions. An asterix adorns every title card of the show, letting viewers know that its take on Catherine the Great’s coup against Emperor Peter III of Russia is only “an occasionally true story.” The show indeed is not great for education, but it’s the most entertaining television of the year, locking stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in a battle of wits and a fight for the country’s soul under the watch of The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara. The uproarious comedy slyly collates leadership based in cruelty with leadership based in goodwill in the background of its quite bawdy escapades, a subtle bit of relevant political maneuvering that lets it successfully claim the crown this year.

NEXT UP: THE 2020 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!

[talesfromgringolandia]

Underwing Challenge Day 6 - What does your portfolio look like? Talk about as many other WIPs as you’d like here.

So how far back do I want to go? I’ve had a lot of WIPs. Not as much as some people I’ve seen in this challenge. A lot of them I’m not actually working on anymore, but I’d like to get back to one day.

Besides Bo and Shen, these are the WIP’s that are still, well, in progress.

Elissa:

The next most recent WIP I worked on is called Elissa, because the main character is named Elissa.(I am very creative). Elissa began as a project with a friend of mine, based on a dream she had. The title character is an android who has been raised believing she’s human. The story begins when she discovers she is an android. She has been raised by two people: her adoptive mother is Claudia, a devout Catholic who has been following the rules of the lab by not teaching Elissa any of her faith. She regrets that now, and begins trying to introduce Elissa to the faith. The other is Jacob, a staunch atheist who doesn’t believe Elissa is honestly human. He hasn’t really been raising Elissa, not like Claudia has, but he’s been very involved as a scientist. Elissa has to deal with the existential implications of her nature, and that's before she learns about the apocalypse which occurred a hundred years ago.

The Technarchs Rule:

This one still doesn’t have a name, because there’s no one story so far, just a universe I find super interesting. It actually began as the history of the anarchic period of the world of Boot Camp Renus, but as things developed, I found myself more interested in a post-apocalyptic world instead. I also found myself forgetting my fictional planets more and more, and focusing much more on Mars.

The solar system has been colonized for a while. Martian Iron, the product of smelting the red soil, is one of the most powerful metals of the solar system, and is vital for modern spaceship hulls. It's also incredibly common, being the literal dirt on Mars.

Eventually, there is tension over who gets to use the dirt, as Earth-based companies continue to mine it without permission from Mars. This blows over into an actual war for independence between Mars and Earth, with all other colonies picking sides.

During the war, each side races to create the perfect AI, which could predict the location of a ship and its strategy in seconds. Mars wins this race by performing unethical experiments on children, creating the first Computer-Child. This boy soon rises through the ranks of the army, and once he has the authority, orders the nuking of the Earth's surface. This was a line that previously, neither side had dared to cross. After rendering Earth uninhabitable, the computer-child assumes control of Mars as Technarch, cybernetically enhancing himself until he is functionally immortal. The rest of the solar system falls into chaos and anarchy. This is the setting.

The Technarch creates a cult following around himself, and out of his followers, selects several (probably 12) to be his Olympians, cyborgs who had been enhanced to the point of being nearly unstoppable.

Other characters include assassin bots Kenta and Deko, and a bounty hunter named Van Dorn.

A Christmas Story / A Letter from Pelznickel:

Does it count as a WIP if it's finished? This is the only project I’ve ever finished, and it got second place in a writing competition. It's my idea of the origin story of Santa Claus. I can’t decide between the two titles. Pelznickel is actually a character in folklore believed to be a proto-Santa Claus, which is why I used that name. I tried to only use names in actual Santa lore, and it worked really well, I think.

Under the cut, I’ll include the WIP’s that hold a deep place in my heart, but I haven’t worked on in years, for various reasons.

Yellowstone:

One of my first projects ever. It's about a post-apocalypse but with superheroes. When a radioactive meteor lands in Yellowstone National Park and starts infecting people with a fatal disease, the government builds a radioactive-proof wall around the park and the surrounding areas, leaving the people trapped inside to fend for themselves. A small percentage of people are immune to the disease, and the children of these survivors are discovered to have strange powers. A generation later, people have left the cities and settled around farms and villages for food. Damon and his sister Emma are no different, living on the ranch of Jarod Levin, an immune survivor of the radiation. When a newcomer named Jonas Reed arrives trying to make the first map of the area, everything changes for them. By everything changes, I mean a raiding party appears, burns the ranch down, and kills everybody but Damon, Emma, their friend Ian, Jonas, and another girl named Melissa. I then realized I had no plot after that, and have not written for it since. But this was my first foray into worldbuilding with seven chapters of introduction to the world, as well as dynamics between the characters before the place burns down. They are definitely some of my favorite characters I have ever created, probably more than even the characters in Bo and Shen.

Boot Camp Renus:

My first foray into Science Fiction. After centuries of anarchy, the three colonized solar systems have finally been united under the Interstellar Democracy, or ISD. Deko Fost, a Martian teenager, is struggling with guilt after the death of his sister 2 years ago. In an attempt to redeem himself, he decides to join the Star Force, and is sent to the planet Renus, a small, dense world dedicated to the military boot camp. There, he meets Earthling Norenaya Amankai, daughter of missing war hero Roka Amankai; and Hagane Kenta, an Atlantean man who has no restrictions on what he will do to succeed. Minor characters are two twins who are intentionally carbon copies of the Weasley twins, just different hair color. The themes focus on Deko’s Catholic faith, and on his recovery. Norenaya, or Naya, is not mentally prepared for boot camp, and has to find strength to make it through. Kenta learns to respect Deko for succeeding even despite being sabotaged.

I wrote to the point they got to the bootcamp, and then had no idea what happened next.

My favorite part of this was the worldbuilding. I made three really cool planets. Atlantis has an atmosphere of water, and the Atlanteans live miles beneath the surface in specially constructed buildings. Atlanteans have stupid pale skin, and was also originally settled by the Japanese. Vrill is a massive planet with a strong gravitational pull, and is populated by massive dinosaur creatures that are big enough to build a city on, which people do. The only time people built a city on the ground didn’t end well. Vrillan settlers, over generations, have become short and strong. Kol is a planet that spews gas and dust constantly, and is full of valuables for mining. As such, it has a reputation as a planet of oppressors who exploit the population to maximize their riches. The people have been around the natural pollution for generations, to the point that their skin pigment is now a dusty gray.

The astute among you will realize I use the same names in Boot Camp Renus as in the Technarch Rule. This doesn’t mean anything, I was just lazy when coming up with names for my Martian androids.

[allyvampirelass29]

The Hourglass and The Oracle

A NOS4A2 Review By: Allyssa J. Watkins

A spiraling staircase A bold fuchsia beauty Lights flicker in your eyes As our energies collide And, Darling, you're starting to get to me......

I'm not your Darling, John Buy a girl a drink first Before you thirst For what you can't get your hands on Throwing my head back with a laugh You're going to fall And it's going to be too fast Who said I was yours to catch? Ask me again And I'll ask you to dance

May I have a moment of your time? I don't need to be a Strong Creative, Dear To tease your mind A turn of the hourglass A trick of the sublime You're like sand through my hands Sifting too fast to touch And it's not enough...... You're the exceptional exception When I say we're hard to love.

Sparks fly Drawing you in I'll make you believe in magic again Fate's siren song calls to the Hourglass Man I guess it's my turn To show you my hand But be forewarned, My Gentleman Friend There's no telling what happens When you open the door to the static You might not want the answer Once you have it Shaking the bag Rolling the Dice A cigarette burn is a more than fair price To watch time drain from the Hourglass' eyes Clutching the hurt As your knife catches my eye Shattering your glass Scattering your sand Close your eyes, You Hopeless Flirt This is me, skipping dessert I gotta say you put up one hell of a fight Say goodnight, John You've run out of time

CHECK. FREAKING. MATE!!!!! Ladies and Gentlemen, the MATCH has been called, and the Hourglass didn't stand a chance against the Woman of the Hour, Our Dauntless Oracle, and very own, Miss Margaret Leigh!!! My GOD, Maggie seized her time to shine in a dazzling foray of sultry seduction, and deadly spectacle, and while it may have been The Hourglass' last bow, it was the iridescent ORACLE who stole the show, and she alone deserves our standing ovation!!! I LOVED this episode, beginning to end, the intrigue, the sleek deception, the intense human drama, all beautifully intertwined in this beguiling game within a game, a chess match of like-minded Creative prowess!!! Brava, Miss Leigh, and bravissimo, NOS4A2, for spoiling us yet again!!! "The Hourglass," is a violin overture of vulnerable human moments, and intellectual powerplays, reaching the fever pitch of the most ghastly, scream-bloody-murder cliff hangar of the entire series.

Where last week Charlie was the blunt force trauma, the pounding hammer, smashing everyone and everything in his path to Wayne, Maggie is the stealth strike, the seductively wielded scalpel, removing Charlie's secret weapon with lethal precision, after he proves to be the more immediate threat to her best friend, now that Charlie's absconded with her son. She's a force to be reckoned with, a fuchsia femme fatale, as lovely as she is deadly, the perfect rosé of coy and coquettish as she flirts with time and death itself. It was her finest hour, hands down, and I LOVED that NOS4A2 gave her the spotlight, and that she literally KILLED, leaving us begging for more.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Two Strong Creatives walk into a bar........ Like an ingenue reminiscent of Old Hollywood, with every lilac strand of her rebellious florescence pinned in place, Maggie descends the long, spiral staircase, sending the lights to flicker, and drawing the eye of an instantly intrigued, Mr. Hourglass. I must say, The Hourglass Man's smooth, and tenacious pursuit of our Maggie, was a FANTASTIC blindsight, a surprise I never saw coming!!! Where I expected a smouldering duel to the death as soon as their eyes met, knives flying, I found myself drawn instead, irresistibly into the tantalizing tango between the two of them. Their witty repartee was both sparkling, and sharp-edged, as John advanced, and Maggie countered, playing hard to get, while secretly drawing him in. It's thrilling to watch, marveling at these seemingly unlikely lovers, and yet, with each move and countermove, I could see how much they thought alike, both crafty intellectuals, who knew how to play the game, and how to win.

"We're hard to love. People fall for us because of our abilities, but they always come to fear the very thing that drew them in. They tell us to tone it down, betray our gifts, like declawing a cat. It's cruel."

This is my favourite line in the entire episode, it struck me straight to the heart, tears in my eyes, overwhelmed by its tragic beauty and excruciating truth. It's also the one time that Maggie's smoky-eyed seductive veil slips, and she lets herself feel something very real. In that moment, as fleeting as it is, there are no sides, no waiting plots, or poised vendettas. There are two Strong Creatives, two kindred supernatural beings with very human feelings. Victims of their own gifts, with universal wants, and desires. Powers greater than their wildest dreams, but at what cost? In this moment, Maggie cares about John, connects with him, because she feels these words burn emblazoned, even hotter than the cigarette he's about to press into her arm.

Two Strong Creatives walk into a bar....... and only one comes out alive. These two take, "Get a room," to a whole new level!!! "I'm not going to hurt you, unless you want me to........." John says smoothly, before pressing a lit cigarette into Maggie's arm, telling her to harness the pain, let it consume her, until it's all she knows, and then whispers his question like a sweet nothing in her ear, nuzzling her close. John, with all of his scheming predilections and parlor tricks has found a way to cheat the Strong Creative check when it comes due. In event of seizures, or memory loss, you can hurt yourself...... or hurt someone else. I had always secretly suspected this proviso, I even wrote it into my own NOS4A2 Series, that my character's compassion gets punished by unknowingly hurting someone else, every time she uses her gift, but seeing John's shocking demonstration, breathing in with explicit pleasure as he burns her, watching Maggie's big brown eyes spark, both excited, and relieved that she can hurt herself and still use her powers, was an absolute ordeal. I have a feeling Maggie just discovered a dangerous new addiction........

Speaking of ordeals........ John shatters a glass table, ready to kill the messenger, when he doesn't get the answer that he wants, the fates formally denying his request for immortality. And it is here, in the midst of his ruffled, heartbroken, rage, that the events deviated dramatically from my own predictions. I thought Charlie had promised him immortality in exchange for killing Vic McQueen, and that Maggie had unwittingly unmasked this betrayal, proving Charlie had lied, offering the Creative Holy Grail that he intended to keep for himself. Immortality, apparently a non-transferrable work benefit. With our slighted Hourglass primed for revenge, and his particular fascination for Maggie, I thought for sure she'd be able to turn him against Charlie, brandish the Hourglass against his new business partner, rallying him to Vic's cause, and more or less, have him join Team McQueen to take Manx down once and for all.

I was wrong...... So, so wrong. I don't think any of us saw what was coming....... "It's rare I get such a hands on opportunity," John rasps, once he finds his stolen knife in Maggie's bag, teasing seduction climaxing into a crime of passion, as the two of them scrapple and scrape for the hourglass. "Sweetheart, give up. You're not getting out of here alive." Maggie gets choked, hurled over the shattered glass table, but you can't keep a good girl down, and The Hourglass is no Charlie Manx. "I tried to warn you, John, my tiles are never wrong." Maggie thrusts a shard of glass up into the Hourglass Man's heart, and with an anguished, hopeless cry he watches her stomp his knife into the ground, coming down on it hard, leaving nothing but shattered glass, and scattered sand. WOW........ I am speechless. I have to admit, I did not expect Charlie's new player and point man to be vanquished this early in the game, as awestruck as I am by this new fearless facet of Maggie's unique brilliance. She was elegant, badass, and beautiful, and I'm so glad he's dead, but I don't know....... I felt like his death was his third and final disappointment. Sorry John, we'll always have Parnassus.

Oh my God, if Maggie was this episode's Oscar Winner for Best Actress, Linda Freaking McQueen WINS for Best Supporting Actress!!!! She's the other sassy heroine of "The Hourglass," mouthing off to FBI agents like nobody's business, and it is SENSATIONAL!!!! "What does FBI stand for, huh? Failed. Bad. Incompetent? We're Americans!!! My husband works for the postal service, I go to CHURCH!!! Do better!!!" You TELL 'EM Linda!!! She's a delight in every scene she's in, standing up to the suits, and telling them what's what!!! She's had it with these big, fancy, feds not protecting her daughter, and she ain't afraid to get vocal about it. Aaaaaah and the whole conversation with her and Chris was AMAZING!!! There is something so fascinating about two hard knock realists, two complete skeptics talking about the possibility of the Supernatural.

"There's a difference between special, Chris, and magic. Our daughter ain't magic."

"How would you know?"

"Because I wiped her snotty nose, for Christ's sake!!! What kind of mother misses something like that?"

"The kind that's too busy hiding bruises and paying bills to look up."

Linda's emphatic disbelief is so perfect, and I just love the way she says that, "Our daughter ain't magic!" I also love how Chris is starting to believe in Vic, and it's that burgeoning faith in his daughter's abilities that makes Linda start to wonder if maybe her daughter could be magic. Chris owning up to his past mistakes, and blaming himself, for his wife's oversight, was such a bittersweet moment too, wanting so badly to let her off the hook. He's changed, they both have, and I couldn't be more proud. Another beautifully human moment that I really loved was between her and Vic, and here we finally find out why the McQueen women can't be close to each other. "I never felt that you needed me." It's a rare, deeply insightful look into Linda's heart, a vulnerable truth, and I feel like I know them both even better through it. Linda needs to be needed, she needs to have somebody to take care of, somebody that relies on her, and with a drunk, philandering husband who sought comfort elsewhere, and a fiercely independent daughter, Linda had no one. She felt listless, without purpose, and thus drowned her sorrows with a tipped back bottle.

The scene with Vic and Lou cuddling in his hospital bed also strikes a chord in this veritable symphony of human emotion, and with every new episode, I ship Team McCarmody even harder!!! Lou with a stint in his heart, and Vic with a concussion, and injured spleen, have this impossibly sweet moment, in the midst of the aftermath and ever-present horror of the abduction of their son. I love how they anchor each other, try to calm each other down, and still manage to make each other laugh.

"Han Solo ain't half the mechanic as Lou Carmody."

"Did you- Did you just refer to yourself in the third person...... and rate yourself....... ABOVE Han Solo?"

Vic's laugh in that moment is so pure, and a much needed relief, as she holds onto the love, the teddy bear of a man, that Charlie couldn't take from her, and in that moment, she decides to focus on what she has left, even while fighting for what she has lost. I'm reminded of a quote from my other favourite show, HEROES. "We're human first, and heroes second."

Charlie may take a back seat this episode, but he is still a coaxing, debonair presence with a teasing linger, and not without another clever trick up his sleeve. "There is no need to hide your cellular telephone from me, My Boy," He coos as Wayne fumbles to sneak a call to his Mom. I was SHOCKED when Charlie urged Young Bats to do just that, call his mother. "What kind of MONSTER do you take me for?" He asks silkily, feigning indignance, and with bated breath, we wait as the phone rings, and rings, and rings...... No way in HELL is Vic not taking that call, and yet, Young Master Wayne hangs his wildly curly head, defeated, as the call goes unanswered. "She's a real heartbreaker, your mother...... isn't she? Never there for you, no matter how good you are. It's not personal, Wayne. In the end Vic McQueen cares only for herself and no one else," Charlie chortles, and he knows it's working....... bit by bit, he means to turn his new favourite charge, against his own mother, convince him of her neglect and indifference. My theory? Charlie can block calls using his creative power, which would explain how he's avoided capture, and the FBI's modern trappings for so long. You sneaky, sneaky boy!!!

OH HELLO CRAIG!!!! Yes, you read that right...... CRAIG, Wayne's father who burned to death in the Wraith, like a ghastly apparition appears to his son, with singed skin, and glazed over eyes. At first I thought this was Charlie manipulating Wayne, showing what his mother did to his father, and how he wasn't ever going to be safe with her, but to my own astonishment, Charlie could not see him!!! Craig encourages Wayne, tells him Charlie's lying, gives him hope, and insists she's coming for him. I thought that was a spectacular, wide-eyed SHOCK that came out of thin air, and I couldn't help but think about how Cassie appeared to her daughter in this same way........ Hmmm can children, if they are Strong Creatives themselves, see the parents they have lost at the hands of Charlie Manx? Curiouser and curiouser........

My breath caught, everything going numb, when that bloody tooth fell out in Wayne's tiny hand. I LOVE that little boy with all my heart and soul, and I'm sorry, Charlie, but I do NOT want him to become a vampire!!! Wayne starts to change in other ways too, playing with a butterfly, as his usual cheerful self, adorably naming him Sunny, before killing it, ripping it into shreds, his sweet little face devoid of any emotion. WHAT!? I had chills like crazy, and I felt heartsick. I don't know though, did anybody else think that butterfly looked strange, almost not quite real? The way the Wraith rolled down the window to let it in...... It makes me wonder if this didn't just happen in Wayne's mind.

I did notice though, how long it took for the Wraith to siphon off Wayne's youth to heal the nasty gash on Charlie's cheek. Even Charlie starts to worry, checking the mirror again and again, only to find it slightly healed, and it's not until the near end of the episode that he looks one more time, nails resting on the side of his head, sighing into his hand with relief, when he sees his once again flawless visage staring back. It's like Wayne is fighting the car, slowing down its effects, because no child has gone this long without turning!!! All exciting further proof that Wayne HAS to be a Strong Creative!!! I also love how Charlie continues to be the perfect, doting father figure, ever so careful and patient with Wayne, and I just melted, with a besotted sigh when he asked him if he had to use the water closet!" That was precious!!! Also, my new FAVOURITE thing ever, is Charlie click-clacking his long, gorgeous nails along the Wraith's windows as he walks past it!!! Dear GOD, Handsome, WHAT are you doing to me!?

THAT ending though........ I'm crying....... I SOBBED, I'm so not okay. What the freaking HELL.........!?!? Just as we're all having cozy Charlie and Wayne feelings, fawning over them both, that DAMNED BASTARD Bing Partridge comes out of NOWHERE surprising our dashing vampire, shoving the gas hose in his face, and he goes down HARD!!!! Once he's disabled the Wraith, he abducts Charlie, and leaves Wayne behind. It's blood-curdling to watch....... knowing what horrors Bing has already committed, and what dark intention he holds for his once upon a time hero, now that Charlie's left him to die. I'm freaking scared. I was hyperventilating, and full of murderous fury even hours after the episode had ended. The wait for next week is going to hit a lot different, after that cruel cliff-hanger, and I can only hope Charlie can dangle Christmasland in an effort to thwart Bing's fat, homicidal hand. Bing Partridge, you hateful Son of a BITCH, if you disturb so much as one strand of Charlie's beautiful raven hair, I'm gonna KILL you SO DEAD!!! Time's run out for the Hourglass, will another of Vic's foes meet the same fate? Bing Partridge must DIE!!! Somebody......... SAVE CHARLIE MANX!!!!!

[causeiwanttoandican]

The Telegraph

How Harry’s very LA relaunch has only just begun

From Prince to campaigner and Silicon valley ‘tech bro’ what wider impact could the Duke of Sussex's new jobs have?

By Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor28 March 2021 • 6:00am

Jobs appear to be like buses for Prince Harry. Wait a lifetime for an opening and two come along at the same time.

The former Royal’s first foray into the corporate world has seen him take up the role of chief impact officer at Silicon Valley coaching firm BetterUp, while also sitting alongside Rupert Murdoch’s daughter-in-law on a commission aiming to fight “misinformation”.

Neither role appears to have required the 36-year-old former Army captain to submit a CV or go through the usual vetting processes as he adds mental health coach and anti-fake news campaigner to his résumé.

Yet in keeping with a new breed of “celebrity responsibility”, which has increasingly seen the rich and famous flex their corporate muscles for the greater good, the highly prominent positions look set to propel the cash-strapped Prince to ever more lucrative heights, as LA’s most sought-after recruit.

Just as when Jennifer Aniston became the ‘chief creative officer’ of a natural supplement range or when David Beckham backed a cannabinoid skincare company, these mutually beneficial ‘ethical’ tie-ups can be worth their weight in publicity gold. And not just for the company that gets their endorsement.

As showbiz agent Jonathan Shalit puts it: “Like corporate responsibility – this is celebrity responsibility. There’s been a shift in people’s mindsets. Two, three years ago the mindset was: ‘What’s in it for me, how can I get paid a shedload of dosh, how can I maximise my income?’ Now people desire to give back and give back support to the community.”

While pointing out that Harry is “above celebrity,” he adds: “Many celebrities are very responsible in trying to use the strength of their platform to help others.”

The announcement of both roles last week certainly played into the idea that this was more than just a money spinner for the Montecito-based ex pat – although there is no doubt all sides are set to benefit financially.

While BetterUp may be carrying out noble work in its offer of “personalised coaching, content and care designed to transform lives and careers” – it all comes at a price.

Having spoken about his struggles with grief following the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, Harry said of his appointment to the “unicorn” tech firm: “(I) want us to move away from the idea that you have to feel broken before reaching out for help,” insisting he intends to use the job to “create impact in people’s lives”.

The Duke added: “Being attuned with your mind, and having a support structure around you, are critical to finding your own version of peak performance. What I’ve learned in my own life is the power of transforming pain into purpose.”

He said his goal was to “lift up critical dialogues around mental health, build supportive and compassionate communities, and foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations” and he hoped to “help people develop their inner strength, resilience and confidence”.

It might strike the cynical as Californian word salad akin to Aniston’s declaration, upon joining Vital Proteins, that: “Collagen is the glue that holds everything together. I’ve always been an advocate for nourishing your wellness from within.”

Yet as Alexi Robichaux, who co-founded BetterUp in 2013, points out, Harry does bring a unique perspective. “He comes from a very different background,” to other executives, he says, adding: “He’s synonymous with this approach of mental fitness and really investing in yourself. It was not a hard internal sale. He will obviously have the whole organisation sprinting to help him.”

Robichaux confirmed Harry was joining the company’s leadership team as an “officer of the corporation”, which suggests it is a paid role, although public relations expert Mark Borkowski thinks it “highly likely” he has been offered equity in the firm, which values itself at $1.73 billion.

“This previously unknown start-up has now got instant recognition,” he says. “I always said that if Harry and Meghan wanted to generate income, they should look to Silicon Valley. Getting eyeballs onto the company like this, with all the competition, is the hardest job in PR – but now the whole world is talking about it. That’s the effect signing up someone like Harry can have.

“If he’s got points in this firm and it goes gangbusters, he could make some serious money.” Borkowski cites the example of shares in Cellular Goods, the synthetic cannabis firm backed by Beckham, shooting up by 310 per cent after it launched on the London Stock Exchange in February following news of the star footballer’s investment.

“This is all about the ongoing narrative, now,” adds Borkowski, referencing the Oprah Winfrey interview in which the Sussexes raised serious concerns about the Royal family’s handling of racism and mental health issues.

“The impact of generating more connections to his brand is an ongoing struggle for him. But by taking that narrative, which is embedded with that interview along with mental health issues, then he can certainly have a credible corporate platform.”

Yet considering some of the discrepancies that have surfaced since the interview aired in the US on March 7, can Harry really be considered a reliable voice when it comes to combating what he has described as the “avalanche of misinformation”?

Critics have been at pains to point out that his appointment to the Aspen Institute’s new Commission on Information Disorder, a six-month project that will examine the “modern-day crisis of faith in key institutions” appears somewhat at odds with the Sussexes’ repeated insistence that they do not look at newspapers, magazines or social media.

Equally awkward is the fact that the Prince will be sitting alongside Kathryn Murdoch, who is married to James Murdoch, the former chairman of News of the World publisher News International, who resigned from his father Rupert Murdoch’s media empire last year.

As with Harry’s decision to appear on CBS, despite the US network once sparking outrage in 2004 for showing a “distasteful” photo of his mother after her fatal Parisian car crash, the move suggests the exiled Murdochs are now considered reformed characters thanks to their new found work on democracy reform and climate change.

As Harry himself put it, information disorder is an issue that demands “a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy voices” including, apparently, the wife of a man who was found by a Parliamentary report in 2012 to have shown “wilful ignorance of the extent of phone hacking” and being “guilty of an astonishing lack of curiosity” over the illegal practice that Harry, William and Kate were all subjected to along with Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and a string of palace aides.

It is not thought Harry is being paid for his work with the think tank, founded in 1949, which will look at everything from last year’s US election to vaccine safety and marginalised communities.

It is his listing on the Aspen Institute’s website, however, which perhaps provides the biggest clue to the sixth-in-line to the throne’s direction of travel as he settles into life in the US.

Referenced by his full title, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the soon to be father-of-two is described as a “humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate and environmentalist.”

Despite his blood-born Royal status, Shalit believes this repositioning is actually intended to put him on a par with his high-achieving wife. For unlike her husband, who left school with two A-levels before training at Sandhurst Military Academy, it is Meghan – a Northwestern University graduate with a successful acting career under her belt – who is arguably the more employable of the two, on paper at least. As an American, the pregnant mother-of-one also doesn’t carry the burden of Harry’s complicated visa and tax arrangements, amid confusion over whether he is living and working in the US as a “diplomat” or as a person with so-called “special talents”.

“I’ve met Meghan on a number of occasions and she is a hugely astute woman, very bright, incredibly impressive,” says Shalit

“So for Harry to keep up with his wife, he’s got to find his own name and identity and this is the start. He doesn’t need celebrity. When you’re Royal, you’re the biggest celebrity in the world. But what this does is allow Harry to have relevance.”

When it comes to making an impact, Royal relevance is clearly going to be the jewel in the crown of Harry’s very LA relaunch.

[teamwindsorroyals]

Prince Harry clear anger over his mother's death and the lack of justice for her is understandable. I just don't think having a chat about it with the world is the right way to go. But then what is the right way? That's the problem. It got me thinking about all the loose threads that were easy to bury in the late 90s but would be picked over minutely in 2021.

Good overview. 👇Although the motive hasn't been identified, I think. Princess Diana was stepping on people's work in a way they didn't like. And I don't mean the royals.

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE CUCKOO CLOCK CONSPIRACY

January 13, 1951

“The Cuckoo Clock Conspiracy” (aka ”The Cuckoo Clock”) is episode #114 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on January 13, 1951.

This was the 16th episode of the third season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 31 new episodes, with the season ending on March 31, 1951.  

Synopsis ~ Liz bought George's Christmas present, a cuckoo clock, with a rubber check, and now she needs to figure out a way to make good on it so the store owner won't repossess the clock.

Parts of this script concerning the cuckoo clock where later used in “The Kleptomaniac” (ILL S1;E27), filmed on March 7, 1952, and first aired on April 14, 1952. 

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) does not appear in this episode, but his character is mentioned. 

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Mr. Haskell, the Jeweler) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973.

GeGe Pearson (Mrs. Haskell, the Jeweler’s Wife / Miss Russell, George’s Secretary) did two other episodes of “My Favorite Husband.” She will play a New York City tourist in “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” (ILL S5;E1) in 1955. She did the episode with her husband, Hal Gerard. The two actors were married in real-life. In 1956 the couple returned to CBS to appear in the same episode of “Damon Runyon Theatre.” She is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Crusader Rabbit. The couple died just a year apart in 1975 and 1976.

June Foray (Marie, the Beautician) was born June Lucille Forer in 1917 and was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Cindy Lou Who, Witch Hazel in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, Granny in the Tweety Bird cartoons, and many, many others. She provided the bark of Fred the dog on Season 6 of “I Love Lucy.” 

Ken Christy (Police Officer) later played the detective investigating the new tenants in “Oil Wells” (S3;E18) and will play the dock agent who directs Lucy to the helicopter that lowers her onto the deck of the S.S. Constitution in “Bon Voyage” (S5;E13). Christy was also featured on the TV series "Meet Corliss Archer” on CBS.

THE EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Cooper’s, it’s morning. George is at breakfast. Liz is in the kitchen talking to Katie the Maid.” 

Liz compliments Katie with the goal of getting a loan of $14.95. She explains that she bought George a cuckoo clock for Christmas using a check with no money in the account. To prevent George from finding out, Liz wrote the check on an account at another bank - one where she hasn’t got an account - and could face jail. 

In the dining room, Liz cuddles up to George with the same compliments she used on Katie! They smooch. George realizes that Liz is buttering him up for money. Liz directly asks George for a loan of $15 but banker George reminds her that borrowing money is a slippery slope into debt. 

LIZ: “Look, Dale Carnegie, I need the money.” 

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) was the developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. He was the author of the best-sellers How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), as well as several other books.

George reminds Liz that she made a New Year’s resolution to pay him $25 if she went over budget, so in giving her the loan, she would actually owe him $40!  Liz tells him to forget the whole deal - she will find the money elsewhere. 

At the beauty salon, Liz asks beautician Marie (Gege Pearson) where to find Iris Atterbury. Iris is having a mud pack which cracks upon hearing Liz wants a loan. She was just getting ready to ask Liz for a loan, too. It seems that Rudolph and George stated the new year on an economy wave. 

LIZ: “I guess it’s in the air. Darn those Russians, anyway.” 

In 1950 and well into early 1951, the US Government committed to what was known as an ‘economy wave’ in order to save money that might be used for civil defense and bolstering European strength during the cold war with Russia. This economy wave extended to all facets of American business, including Hollywood, so it would have been a topic familiar to the writers of “My Favorite Husband” in early January 1951. 

Liz explains her dilemma to Iris, who suggests she phone the jeweler and ask him to hold the check a few days. Liz thinks it is worth a try and calls Mr. Haskell (Hans Conried), who declines to hold the check a moment longer. Liz turns on the tears. Mrs. Haskell (Gege Pearson) gets on the line - she’s unsympathetic to tears. Liz and Iris rush off to get the clock out of George’s office before it is repossessed! 

Wilbur Hatch’s play-off music is “As Time Goes By” written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became famous when it was featured in the 1942 Warner Brothers film Casablanca performed by Dooley Wilson as Sam (”Play it again, Sam.”) The song was likely chosen to tie-in with the episode’s clock theme. 

End of Part One

Announcer Bob LeMond does a live commercial, giving a recipe for a quick dessert using Jell-O.  

Part Two

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers once again, Liz is speeding to George’s office to make off with the cuckoo clock before Mr. Haskell, the jeweler, arrives to repossess it. Meanwhile, George Cooper in his office is just going out to lunch.”

George asks his secretary, Miss Russell (Gege Pearson), to wind the cuckoo clock while he is out.  After George leaves, she tries, but overwinds it. She takes it to Haskell’s to be fixed while George is out to lunch. 

Liz and Iris arrive and can’t find George, Miss Russell, or the cuckoo clock. They assume that Mr. Haskell has gotten there first and repossessed the clock!  They head towards Mr. Haskell’s Jewelry Shop.  

There they see the clock in the window!  Mr. Haskell explains that the clock in the window isn’t hers, but one just like it. He is a nervous wreck, thanks to a busy Christmas season. Liz still thinks that the window clock is hers, but Mr. Haskell insists it isn’t and won’t give it to her unless she pays for it. She and Iris leave in a huff. 

Outside they scheme to get what they think is their clock back. Liz will divert Mr. Haskell while Iris sneaks the clock out of the store. Iris is scared, but reluctantly agrees.  A whistle will be the signal that Mr. Haskell isn’t looking. 

Liz tells him she is shopping for Mr. Atterbury, who wants to buy his wife a present. Deciding on a diamond, a clueless Liz guesses that she wants 200 carats!  When Mr. Haskell whistles at the high carat-count, Iris mistakes it for the signal and tries to come in!  Liz blocks the door!  When Haskell goes to the back room for a diamond, Liz suddenly realizes she doesn’t known how to whistle, so calls to the back room asking him to repeat it for her!  Iris gets in and out just as...

MR. HASKELL (returning to the shop): “Would you like me to whistle a chorus of “Come to the Stable, Mabel”?   LIZ: “No, thanks!  Well, I’ll be running along now!  Bye!” 

Liz dashes out of the shop and hides the cuckoo clock under her coat!  

At the bank, Liz is greeted by Miss Russell, who tells her George isn’t back from lunch yet. They are shocked to discover that the cuckoo clock is back on the wall. They realize they have stolen Mr. Haskell’s new clock and must return it before he notices it is gone.   

They arrive at the Haskell’s and find a Policeman (Ken Christy) there. Liz quickly hides the clock under her coat, but it continually ‘cuckoos’ loudly in the presence of the officer!  Just as she’s about to be arrested for theft, Liz settles the matter by writing Mr. Haskell a post-dated check for January 20th - 1953! 

Lucille Ball could not have known it at the time, but one day earlier, on January 19, 1953, she gave birth to her son, Desi Jr. and on the same evening, Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky.  On January 20, 1953, headlines like the one above dominated the nation’s newspapers. 

End of Episode!

Bob LeMond does another live Jell-O commercial and reminds listeners to look for their ads in leading January magazines. 

[Oops! While announcing the episode’s credits, Bob LeMond mistakenly says “Hans Conried played by Mr. Haskell” instead of the other way around. There is background laughter by the other cast members and LeMond starts to laugh a bit while finishing his announcements.]

ANNOUNCER: “Be sure to watch for Lucille Ball as a would-be cosmetics dealer in her latest picture ‘The Fuller Brush Girl’.”

[princesswithabraidedcrown]

Attempt 2.0 of reading Mo Dao Zu Shi has commenced.

The first attempt was sometime last year possibly around the time that the Untamed was ongoing? I possibly saw a gifset of pretty people, did research, and found the translation but I am not one hundred percent sure on the precipitating event. Maybe a mutual was talking about it. I don’t know.

I do recall staying up way too late to keep reading and according to the tab that is still open on my tablet, I got to chapter 31 before falling asleep. I kept intending to get back to reading it, but life happened and it languished, unread, but open.

Enter my tumblr circle collectively falling into the Untamed this spring/summer, with more pretty pictures and metas and memes and just being generally awesome about it, plus my realizing that oh yah, this is the thing that I read 31 chapters of last summer and I decided to watch. Ahem. Well. The Untamed has now taken the spot of current hyperfixation, which might have prompted a foray into learning another language (slowly, painfully slowly), and again all the meta posts from people prompted me to look back into reading the book. Mostly I wanted to be able to draw my own conclusions about “controversies” instead of relying on the interpretations of others. (That’s very Zewu-Jun of me now that I think about it)

It definitely helps that I now know a bit more about what the heck I am reading, especially in regards to titles, names, terminology, etc... I very much have a running track of the Mandarin words for the things like forms of address running through my head as I am reading, so that’s nice. I do kind of wish that on things like units of measurement, there was some sort of conversion unit plunked in the translator’s notes, but I suppose that could be easily fixed with my own research.

I absolutely have plunked Wang YiBo’s fantastic work as Lan WangJi into my mental mindscape when reading because I’m pretty sure I was basically Wei WuXian the last time and thought that book!LWJ hated everyone and everything, including the disaster bi main character. I like LWJ more when he’s not...um...like we are initially led to believe he is, so hence the transportation of WYB!LWJ into my visual movie. I haven’t really plunked Xiao Zhan into my mental movie because, hmm. I’m not sure why, but it might have something to do with my being subconsciously aware that WWX is in Mo XuanYu’s body at this point in the story and I guess I just haven’t meshed the Untamed’s WWX and MDZS’ WWX. I obviously like both of them, but I like them in different ways, so combining the two seems off to me.

I do very much like having thoughts and feelings about the characters as they are introduced, especially the Juniors, so point to watching the Untamed first. I’m aware that the Nie brothers relationship is not quite as ‘wholesome’ in MDZS as it is in the Untamed, so I’m not looking forward to reading those bits. I just have lots of feelings about the Nie Bros and I blame half of them on Fatal Journey and the amazing actors. Not as thrilled that Shijie has a diminished part or that we learn nothing about the various characters until they are plot relevant, but I will survive.

We shall see if I do any more long reaction posts on my feelings.

[mrsbenedictbridgerton]

The Shark

My first writing of any kind in like - years. 2K words of me playing with the toys I put away so long ago and missed.

Card shark Killian Jones has taken Mills Casino for a sweet half a million. So they send in the best woman for the job of bringing him down. But when sparks fly, can either of them keep a cool head?

Ao3

White teeth bit down upon blood red lips. Jade green eyes were framed by brows drawn into a straight line. The fingers of her free hand, the one not holding a fan of cards, drummed lightly against the emerald green baize of the card table. 

Killian Jones resisted the urge to smile. Such tells were clearly those of a novice, one not used to the high stakes of Mills Casino and certainly not the cordoned-off area in which they now played, one step before the high stakes section which sat behind a glossy back door behind her. He eyed the stack of golden chips that lay beside the tiny purse she had placed down when she sat, her long legs swivelling around the short stool, revealing the short hem of her red dress. Not short of coin, at least. He hid a smirk, this time by peeling off the black leather jacket he wore. 

The lass with the golden hair nodded, taking another card into her hand. He watched her brow wrinkle for a second. Bust. Then her eyes raised, meeting his cool blue ones, a flash of electricity racing through his veins. He took a deep breath. Aye, she was gorgeous, but so was he. Clearly he had been too long without company in his bed if only a glance from an attractive woman sent waves of heat through his body, his groin tightening and then thickening in response. Fuck. He frowned and concentrated on his cards.

This was child’s play, she thought, as she watched the dealer take her cards and her chips. Pretending to be bad at Blackjack, looking like a beginner, losing a few- hundred - dollars (expensed, naturally): piece of cake. If she were to be truly honest, the accent threw her. She knew he was British and had been prepared for the queen’s English. But the honey smooth timbre of his foreign tones had threaded straight through her the first time he’d spoken.

She schooled her features in the innocent mask she had practised that afternoon. But ignoring him, well, that had been a little harder. She’d seen a picture, of course. Mills Casino had tabs on all its high rollers, especially when they took the house for a cool half million only a week ago. Actually, Emma had anticipated having to work a little harder to track him down. Surely, he wouldn’t return to the scene of his crime so soon. But the card counting crook had. Maybe he was arrogant. He certainly looked arrogant. All dressed in black, fingers covered in silver rings, shirt unbuttoned to show an almost unseemly amount of chest hair. But that wasn’t just it. There was something there. It was magnetism. Something that didn’t come across in a security image or a copy of his ID. He radiated confidence and… heat. Even from across the table she’d had to thank her great foundation for the hiding the blush she felt when their eyes met and she saw their deep blue.

And blushing was not her. Not Emma Swan, hard ass, ex con, best damn bail bonds person on the east coast.

She signalled to the waitress and ordered a Manhattan. She didn’t often drink on the job, but this was medicinal. She needed to think straight. To relax.

Her lips caressed the rim of the glass. Images of more enjoyable uses for that mouth taunted him every time he looked in her direction. He should stop looking. He was here to work. Almost a week’s break - in honour of the nice payday he had won last week - had been unheard of time for him until now. Routine was important. Focus was essential. Mistakes - fatal. 

Tonight was for taking it easy. Perhaps it was brazen to show his face again, at least so soon. But he was almost certain his activities had gone undetected. That said he had done nothing illegal��� more frowned upon. Frowned upon with fists. By casino security. He flinched briefly as he remembered his first foray into the depths that department. He’d had a swollen lip and black eye for a week. And he’d learned a valuable lesson.

She ran her finger tips along her clavicle. Her long wavy hair had fallen over her shoulder, sweeping along the low neckline of her dress, the shade of her cleavage drawing his eyes. 

Bloody hell. What was it about her? He felt… drunk. Even though his two fingers of rum had remained untouched since he sat down. The cards were turned and he lost. Again. Three hands in a row, his count had been obliterated by blonde hair and long legs. 

Enough.

He picked up his glass and downed the contents in one go. He nodded to the dealer and tossed him a couple of chips before picking up his jacket and heading for the exit.

What the fuck?

She racked her mind for the file she had built up on him.

Killian Jones never, never, left a table before he had at least doubled up. And he never left the casino floor before 3am. She glanced at her watch. It was just after midnight.

She had to get him tonight. Tomorrow, he could be gone. This was the first sign of him in days. She could just call out regular security to stop him, but Regina Mills valued discretion above all else. She did not want even a whiff of a scene. Which was why her services had been needed.

A second later, she was following him, making rapid little steps in her too-high heels as she headed for the VIP exit that meant high rollers didn’t have to walk the whole casino floor to get to their hotel room - or back onto the street.

She nodded at Tiny, the tall, bearded security officer who held open the door for her, as she made her pursuit. But she had only made a few paces along the dimly lit corridor before she felt a hand upon her wrist. A warm, strong hand. It was him, he’d been waiting where corridor intersected with another, stepping out to block her way as she halted in shock.

She thought he had blue eyes? No, they were sapphire. Dazzling sapphire. Hot, glittering sapphire.

This was the moment when she should have protested, men did not grab her without hearing a piece of her mind. Instead, she shook her arm free and stepped back.

Killian enjoyed watching her expression change - from shock to curiosity to idignance. If he said he wasn’t used to the way women reacted to him, well, he’d be a liar. And a liar he was not. Bending the truth however... 

“Can I help?” he asked, rubbing his fingertips across his lips.

She looked momentarily stunned as if she did not know what to say. But she had followed him. He’d watched out the corner of his eye as she had seen him leave. Things were getting interesting. He liked interesting.

“Are you lost, love?” he asked, caressing the endearment with his tongue, taking a step closer and enjoying her flush.

Her shoulders straightened and she smiled. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

Interesting. Well then…

He reached out and cupped her cheek. “You blush when you’re winning.”

“I do not-” she protested.

His land moved lower and skimmed across the exposed skin of her chest. “Here,” he added.

He could feel the racing of her heart as his fingers moved. His own pulse answered with a similar beat. By God, she was magnificent.

This was not going according to plan, she thought, as her skin burned from his touch. The cuffs should be on already. He should have been dragged down to the security room by now. Instead she was staring, her mouth a little open, her gaze fixed upon his stubble coated cheek which his knuckles has just passed over. Would those little hairs be hard and rough, or soft? She held out her hand and touched it. Soft, she thought, kissable.

Clearly there was some mutuality in that thought. His gaze dropped to her lips. His free hand found her waist and drew her closer. Then, his mouth was upon hers.

Soft and warm and strong. He tasted like spiced rum. His musky cologne mixed with the smell of the expensive leather jacket he wore. She sank into his kiss, letting her mind block out all the (very good) reasons that this was a very, very bad idea. Convincing herself it was just a kiss as her fingers slotted into his hair and he turned her, pressing her back against the flocked wallpaper of the corridor wall, sliding his thigh between hers. His heavy arousal pressed against her hip and she ground against it. Revelling in the feeling of power it gave - well, the illusion at least.

If the urge to pull up her skirts and take her right there had been even a little stronger, he would not have been able to resist. But Killian Jones was nothing if not a gentleman and even for him, taking a lass up against the wall in a public corridor would be a faux pax. He didn’t even know her name, and such information was a bare minimum requirement for his bed partners, or not bed in this case. He let his hands caress her waist and the delicious curve of her hips, drawing under her buttocks and pulling her tighter against him, torturing himself with the sensation of bodies entwined save for a few layers of infernal clothing. He wanted her. God, he needed her. The ache in his blood since she’d first appeared was reaching fever pitch.

He moved his lips to her neck, nibbling down the soft skin, allowing his lust to cool a moment.

“Do you have a name, love?”

Name. Yes, she had a name.

The question had cracked the spell she was under. Not broken it, she still felt heady with desire and something a little stronger than lust. But her name... It was at stake. This rogue, this scoundrel, with the silken tongue and gorgeous accent was her mark. She laid her head back against the wall, took a deep breath and tried to clear her head and ignore the sensation his lips were making upon her neck.

“Yeah, I do. Swan. Emma Swan,” and with one hand she reached into her purse and pulled out the cuffs she had brought. “Mill’s Security.”

He froze, his lips pulling away from her skin as the words sunk in.

“Ah,” he sighed. He jerked, ready to make a move. But, she was quicker. In a few quick moves, she had his face pressed where she had been, his hands behind him and she was fastening the cuffs. He didn’t struggle, which at first gave her pause, until she swung him around and saw the arrogant smile on his lips.

“Well lass, if that’s what you’re into, you just had to ask.”

She rolled her eyes, “Watch it, buddy.”

“Indeed I shall,” he replied, his eyes travelling down her skimpy red dress.

She pushed him ahead of her along the corridor.

Well, this was a turn for the books. Never had he been bested in such a manner. It felt oddly amusing. Perhaps more so if he wasn’t still feeling somewhat amourous, his body protesting against the abbreviation of the enjoyable activities. He liked this woman, this Swan. The name suited her. Graceful, elegant, strong. No one messed with a swan; powerful buggers they were if you got too close. 

Well then.

He let her steer him along the corridor, taking a left before the exit, stopping at a large unmarked door. She punched a code into the security pad beside it and pushed the door open. Inside, there was a table with a chair on each side and little else to speak of. 

She nudged him to sit.

“So, Swan, not you have me all to yourself, what now?”

She might have rolled her eyes at his question but she couldn't hide the blush. “Puh-lease, you are far too into yourself.”

“Merely an avid observer of womankind.”

She licked her lips. “You sit, I make a call, I get paid and you…” She let the words hang in the air before shrugging. “Well, that’s not my area.”

He chuckled, noting the interesting shiver of disappointment that rippled down his spine. “Tis a pity.”

“Yeah,” she  hummed, letting her eyes linger on him for a moment as she reached for the door handle. She squared her shoulders. “Sit tight, revenue protection have a few things they want to talk to you about.”

One last time, she met his eyes. He fancied he saw regret. 

Then the door closed.

She made the call from the courtesy phone along the hall, cell service being patchy at best in the depths of the casino. Now all she had to do was wait, make the handover and then head home for a hot bath and a large glass of pinot. Or two.

Her skin began to rapidly cool as the fever of those moments together faded into memory. God he could kiss. And his hands… and… She flushed as she revisited the sensations. She’s almost lost herself in the embrace. If it had gone on a moment or two more-

The back of her hand pressed against her mouth. He was a fraud, a conman, a manipulator. Making people feel things was what he did. It meant nothing. Even if it had been so long since she had felt anything beyond the basic mechanics attraction. It had just been to long. That was it. 

She tapped her foot impatiently. They should be here in a moment. She should check on him. 

Hurrying back to the room, she stilled her breathing before entering the code to open it. She would just check. Make sure he was… well, something. The door opened and she peered inside. The handcuffs were on the floor, a corner of the carpet pulled away to reveal a small trap door. More importantly, there was no Killian Jones.

Mother fucker!

Brushing himself off, Killian made his way out of the underground parking lot. The cuff key he always carried was tucked away in his vest pocket. He made a mental note to send Tiny a bonus, those details about the service shafts has come in very useful.

If he felt regret as he joined the busy mele outside the casino, he pushed it away. She was just another woman, this swan. Nothing to concern himself over.

And if he paused at the next sight of blonde hair and red fabric, well, that was another matter.

[aion-rsa]

Ghost of Tsushima Review: A Beautiful Homage to Akira Kurosawa

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Ghost of Tsushima is a daring departure for Sucker Punch, who since 2009 has worked solely on the Playstation-exclusive Infamous series. While those games were steeped in modernity, offering sprawling cityscapes players could explore from top to bottom via superpowered “conduits” Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe, Ghost of Tsushima’s open world is set in feudal Japan. It’s here that we meet young samurai Jin Sakai, who must defend his homeland, the titular island of Tsushima, from an invading Mongol army.

Right off the bat, the shift in time period and milieu to 13th century Japan is notable because Sucker Punch handles it so brilliantly, especially for the team’s first foray into the samurai genre. Japanese history and culture are woven into every single facet of the game so elegantly and organically that you’d think the team had been developing games set in feudal Japan for the past decade, not sci-fi superhero romps. More than anything, Ghost of Tsushima is a moving homage to Japan, its history, and its people.

The story opens with a massacre. A massive Mongol army, led by the cunning Khotun Khan, storms the beaches of Tsushima and is met by the island’s woefully outnumbered samurai contingent. When the leader of the samurai challenges Khotun to a one-on-one, fair fight, the Khan renounces the honorable gesture in gruesome fashion, literally setting the courageous samurai on fire in front of both armies. The rest of the samurai are obliterated on the beach, while Jin’s uncle, Lord Shimura, is taken prisoner by the Khan. Jin is also fatally wounded but is miraculously nursed back to health by a new ally, a thief named Yuna who needs his help in return.

These opening moments set the tone for the rest of the game. The philosophical conflict between honor and deception is the beating heart of the story and permeates the gameplay in riveting ways. As you fight to take back Tsushima from the Mongols, you can approach enemy encounters in two ways. You can choose to fight honorably, like a true samurai, and challenge enemies to a “standoff,” a quick-reflex mini-game of sorts in which you and one of the baddies face off one-on-one and see who flinches first before one of you slashes his blade through the other. You’ll then have to take on the rest of the enemies all at once, which is no easy task.

The other option is to fight like a “Ghost,” sneaking into enemy camps, killing the bad guys in their sleep, poisoning them, using intimidation tactics to scare them into fleeing battle. It’s an effective way of evening the odds between you and your foes, but it rails against everything the samurai stand for.

Countless games offer the player the option to approach combat either stealthily or head-on. This is far from a novel concept, and in this respect, the combat in Ghost of Tsushima offers little innovation. But what is innovative here is how Sucker Punch has taken the classic device of stealth vs. frontal assault and given it new life by expertly integrating it with the themes of the story.

Jin meets a handful of allies on his journey, each with their own multi-chapter story arcs that delve into their respective backstories. There’s sensei Ishikawa, a master archer whose protege has gone rogue and joined the Mongols. Lady Masako is a warrior and grandmother whose entire family was murdered by the Mongols, though she suspects they may have died after someone close to the family conspired with the enemy.

Each of the characters explores the honor vs. dishonor theme in unique and surprising ways. The dichotomy is most starkly represented in the clash of ideals between Lord Shimura, who is unshakably honorable and would rather die than gain an unfair advantage in battle, and Yuna, who understands that, to beat an enemy who fights dirty, you may have to put honor to the side for the sake of saving your people. Of course, Jin is caught in the middle and struggles to decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Aside from the ties to the story, the gameplay is fun and engaging. The swordplay combines parries and dodging with a more strategic approach to melee, as you try to find ways to build up your enemy’s stagger gauge. You can also use “ghost weapons” to give you an edge in battle, like kunai (throwing knives), smoke bombs, arrows, and more. There are also four stances to master, with each being effective against a different enemy type. Switching between stances is integral to combat and becomes second nature over time. There’s also an insanely cool fifth stance that I won’t spoil here, but it’s spectacularly badass.

Stealthing is strikingly similar to what you’d see in an Assassin’s Creed title (this is a compliment), and the game gives you myriad ways to kill enemies without raising alarms, like throwable wind chimes and firecrackers that allow you to manipulate their positioning or hallucinogenic darts that turn them against each other. Again, this is all stuff we’ve seen before, but it’s pulled off well here.

Release Date: July 17, 2020 Platform: PS4 Developer: Sucker Punch Productions Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Genre: Action-adventure

Unfortunately, there are little gameplay flaws that needled at me, especially in the later hours of my playthrough (it took me around 45 hours to finish the game). The swordplay requires quick reflexes, and mastering parries and dodging is absolutely pivotal to your survival. The problem with the swordplay is subtle, and a little difficult to explain, but I’ll say it like this: in most games that are particularly challenging, when I die, I feel like it was my fault because I made a mistake, I just wasn’t fast enough, I hadn’t mastered certain skills. But on many occasions in Ghost of Tsushima, I felt like I died because the game didn’t give me a fair shot, like it was the game’s fault that I failed, not mine. It’s possible that I just wasn’t very good at the game, but it felt at times like I wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Your mileage will vary with the game’s difficulty level.

There are other things that bugged me, too, like the unreliable climbing mechanics (I swear, sometimes hopping onto a rope or branch that’s literally right in front of you is way, WAY too difficult). But overall, I had a great time playing the game and felt super powerful by the time I’d filled out my skill trees, which is no surprise considering the game was made by the same folks who made Infamous.

On a nuts and bolts gameplay level, Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t feel all that unique — there is some very familiar open-world stuff here. But on a presentation and storytelling level, the game is out-of-this-world amazing. Visually, the game looks stunning. The late-stage PlayStation 4 graphics really deliver, and coupled with the strength of the art design, Ghost of Tsushima is a true head-turner. The character models look fantastic and can emote on a level that supports the drama of the story. And while the different suits of armor that Jin acquires offer unique gameplay perks, I honestly just collected and upgraded them almost exclusively as an aesthetic indulgence. They look so freaking cool.

But the real stars of the show are the environments, which look picturesque from every conceivable angle. The wind-swept, verdant hills of Tsushima are intoxicatingly pretty, to the point where I’d get caught up ogling for minutes on end at the smallest of details, like the way the moonlight bounces off blades of grass or the way Jin kicks up crimson-red leaves that have blanketed the ground over time. I could go on forever about the dynamic day/night cycle, the beautiful rendering of different fabrics and materials, the horse animations. But instead, I’ll just say that this is the most breathtaking game, visually, that I’ve seen in recent memory.

A lot of love also went into infusing the game with Japanese cultural references, particularly in how the developers pay homage to the samurai genre. Each mission, for example, is bookended by cinematic intertitles that evoke old samurai cinema, Japanese characters, and all. But without a doubt, the most obvious/most amazing homage is “Kurosawa Mode,” which presents the game in black and white, with one of the best film grain filters I’ve ever seen in a game, resulting in an experience that looks almost exactly like a film from the iconic Japanese auteur’s oeuvre, right next to Sanjuro and Seven Samurai. If you’re a long-time fan of Kurosawa, turning the mode on may even elicit an “I’m not crying…you’re crying!” response — it’s that pretty.

I initially intended on playing the entire game in Kurosawa mode but quickly realized that it would be problematic to do so for a few reasons. Some missions require you to “follow the (insert color) flowers,” which is obviously impossible in black and white. And in combat, blockable enemy heavy attacks are signaled by a blue glint, while unblockable ones have a red glint. Combat is tough enough as it is, so…yeah. I only turned the mode on when I was riding on my horse through the countryside and I felt like treating myself to some eye candy.

Taking time to smell the cherry blossoms and have a respite from the game’s many missions and side missions is crucial because Ghost of Tsushima is a long, long game. The missions aren’t overly repetitive — most of them feel really special actually, like when you climb a mountain in freezing cold weather and must race from campfire to campfire on your ascent, or one armor quest comprised of several one-on-one duels with straw hat swordsmen scattered about the map, each with a distinct personality. But 40-plus hours is 40-plus hours, and while the main tasks of infiltrating enemy camps, liberating farms, and searching for special gear can lead to questing fatigue at the tail end of the game, the nice thing is is that you can always slow things down and just enjoy the scenery to break things up. There’s even a nifty photo mode to play with, and if any game warrants a photo mode, it’s this one.

Jin’s story isn’t just a means to an end, or a lazy excuse to drag the player from gameplay scenario to gameplay scenario. The story is incredibly well written and profound in its messaging and imagery, so much so that I believe it’s one of the best modern entries in the samurai genre, regardless of medium. All of the characters you meet and the little tales that unfold across Tsushima are filtered through Jin’s inner struggle with what honor really means and whether or not it’s worth dying for, which gives the story an incredibly strong narrative backbone. Despite the game’s epic scope, Jin’s journey actually feels quite intimate and personal. The same could be said of Kurosawa’s best work, and that’s just about the highest compliment I can give.

The post Ghost of Tsushima Review: A Beautiful Homage to Akira Kurosawa appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[scrumptiousalpacadeer]

Post Covid joyfulness; vole death; and why I love my Frida Cagnolino

Good morning dear reader(s),!.. indifferent universe, loving universe...

I hope you are very well this Tuesday. Things have been rather eventful since my opening post; yesterday I staked my row of snapdragons; planting sticks like crutches for them to lean on so they could bloom to their full potential, on Sunday I went to my FIRST OPEN AIR CAFE FOR THREE MONTHS!!! (that's a whole other story)  

This morning my daughter very nearly saved a vole’s life; she shook our murderous cat Laura down by the swing until she released the vole from its jaws before yelling at me through the kitchen door that she needed a Tupperware container IMMEDIATELY. We both kind of knew the vole wasn’t gonna make it; it was in full shock, quivering in the corner of the container, in that way that humans do after a car crash or some terrible news... the last energies go into the death shake - the ‘crossing over’ between life and death. However, vole didn’t give up without a final adventure - it escaped the container and dashed to the bathroom for one last foray in this world. Minutes later my daughter said; ‘I was wrong mama. He died. One minute I looked up and he was alive. And the next minute I looked up and he was dead.’ I resisted the temptation to say, ‘well, that's just life, kid!’ and instead told her she’d given him the best death a vole could ever ask for; passing away in a girls den along side her collection of Jacqueline Wilson books; if it hadn’t been for her interception he would have been de-bowelled; torn limb from limb, departing this earth is a chaos of blood and terror. ‘Can I bury him?’ she said. 

Vole is buried along with two of his brethren and a few mice down by the Camelia tree.   

However, the strangest thing that has happened since last waxing is that according to my daughter I said the words ‘Spicy Man’ in my sleep last night.....! Now that's funny. ‘Spicy Man’....!??????? Sometimes words fail. This is one of those times.                                                                                That's the gap where words fail. 

OK, so I promised you the story behind my background picture. Here it is in all its glory; it’s called ‘Frida Cagnolino’ - oil on Gesso - and was created by a lady called Kate Milson in 2015. 

I purchased it at the Battersea Affordable Arts Fair in April 2017. As with any creation there is the story of its creation and the story of its procurement; how it passes from the creator out into the world and lands, lovingly, into the hands of its receiver. And the story of how I came to buy a collage of the Virgin Mary with an owl on her head is quite something. 

First off, this original piece of art cost £1500. I want to be less of a twat about money Post Covid - there’s too much weirdness and shame attached to coins and notes - so there it is. I paid £1500 for this work - much more than I pay in a month’s rent now; far more than I could ever afford to pay for anything right now - but back then, in this other life, I was RICH BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS... I had come into a very large amount of money, having been furnished with half the assets of the sale of my father’s house following his death. In short; it was ‘sad money’; ‘dad’s money’ - and the story of ‘how I sp**ked my father’s inheritance up the wall on facials in exactly the same way he sp**ked his life away on a bullshit suburban life that he never believed in for one second’ is a whole other BLog post entirely. 

So anyway, at the Battersea Art Fair 2017 I have money to spend and I’m giddy on the freedom of it. That day I spend £2500 on three pieces of art. What’s interesting and highly significant is that I was also in a wheelchair that day; my beloved *David are *Boo are wheeling me around the various collections at Battersea Evolution Venue,  because, at that time, I was pretty much immobile due to having contracted six blood infections courtesy of some rank and highly illegal black mould in our basement Richmond flat. I was helpless; powerless; hopeless; but I had money to spend and it felt so damn good. I knew deep down that that I’d been corrupted entirely by my father’s fat wad; that I should be shelving it responsibly for my daughter’s college fund or some such; but screw that - I was gonna blow it on art.  And I could pretend I was an arts aficionado. I might not be able to walk 100m straight but I could converse with artists’ agents and immerse myself in astonishing beauty.   

And then it happened. I’m wheeling past a collection, about to turn down the next aisle, and all of a sudden Mother Mary catches my eye. I am drawn like electricity to this burst of read crazy colour, and a blue cloaked magnetic woman just looking at me... I instruct *David to put the brakes on and move towards this glorious work, basking in it for a while. I think I knew I was going to buy this thing from the very first second I laid eyes on it. I felt like Mona Lisa was looking into my soul but at the same time reminding me that life was a gas. 

Its largely a mystery as to why we’re drawn to particular objects. Why do I love this piece of art so? Let me count the ways. Well, it manages at once to be subversive, heretical, beautiful, chaotic, surprising, highly weird, spontaneous, and deeply joyful all at the same time. I love the singularity of ‘her’ - this figure; and I realise now that she represents this beautific mother figure - with infinite love, understanding and kindness - that I’ve been searching for my whole life. Even now as I look at the picture, hanging on the wall to the left of my bed, it’s her blue blue eyes I must meet first. I love her wild and free relationship to animals;  she has an owl on her head but manages to not only retain her dignity, but somehow embrace and be in partnership with this wild gesture. She’s composed, wholly and entirely a woman, but entirely humble and at one with nature and her environment. Somehow, even though she has inherent grace and a natural regality, she doesn’t stand on ceremony. This woman is all knowing; entirely free; a true punk. And I get to hang out with her every day.  

I love the unspoken bond between her and her beloved dog (a Bichon Frise?). ‘Cagnolino’ means ‘lapdog’ in Italian. They both challenge the viewer, inviting us to the party. I like to think the Post-Covid world we’re being asked to form is something akin to this; we have a chance now to choose punk joy and reverence to wild nature over stifling rules and dank conformity.

I love the fact that its a collage - bit and pieces from here and there brought together in one woman’s determined imagination.

 I love the way the brightest yellow surfinia bursts out of  pure blue sky of the most gentle hue, and how this sky in turn bursts out of the blood red streets of Venice; I love the way butterflies flitter all over the place. Perhaps most of all, I adore the purple crown sitting atop the dogs head - and how he wears it so well. 

I love the violent effrontery growingness of it. I love its revolutionary impulse. I love how it reminds me to be free and brave and enjoy the moment; and that when things get really hairy and scary, as they are prone to do from time to time, that there will always and forever be butterflies and surfinias throbbing into life, and if you’re really lucky, you might just get an owl landing on your head, bestowing upon you a scratchy blessing with its razor claws.  And I love the fact that I am the only person in the whole world who has this treasure.   

The artist Kate Milson wrote to me most generously days after I’d settled her art in my house. This piece, she told me,  was largely a collation of images from a bundle of old art magazines bought from a second hand book shop in Venice some years previous. The name Frida is a nod to Frida Kahlo - a woman who created art from a state of paralysis - having survived a near fatal bus accident in her youth. I like this nod to a woman who despite physical confinements, drenched herself in colour and beauty. 

She wrote that she recalled surfinia plants  in her garden when she was a child; how they ‘seemed tough, but once picked die almost immediately’ - and how there seemed to be ‘this combination of strength and fragility to everything in the natural world’. 

I like being reminded of this each morning; that being strong can come directly out of fragility - that they’re intertwined. 

So...there we have it. That’s how Frida came into my life, and actually, even though she felt very ‘costly’ at the time, and I was kind of basking in a wealth I knew couldn’t last, it is of great comfort that this piece will last through my lifetime and maybe beyond. And actually, considering all the hours that went into her making, considering that I may have, in my small way, contributed to an independent artist continuing her craft; and considering all the hours I’ve spent with Frida Cagnolino’s loving gaze  on me, well......she was worth every penny and much much more. 

[teenynyxpersonal]

When first they told him everything, he could scarce believe it. So many years, decades, lives, come and gone. They explained how they came to find him, how much time had passed from the beginning of his isolation until now, and then finally, of the Eight Umbral Calamity.

The mention of it, however surprising it might be to others, was not what he had wanted to hear right away. Certainly, it was a predictable thing. Umbral comes after Astral, a slate wiped clean, and people rebuild, as was the case with earlier civilizations. It is only when he hears the part she played in it that he feels dizzy, sick, and an inconsolable despair swells his chest.

His crystalized hand comes to cover his mouth, red eyes screwed tightly shut as he listens. He doesn’t want to hear it, doesn’t want to know the details, and yet he knows this is important.

“How...?” He manages quietly as the man across from him, Biggs, not the first of his name but a descendant, finishes describing the devastation. “I don’t understand how she could have died. She should not have been able to die so easily...”

“Ah, then you know about that.” He sits down, sighs and takes a drink of the warm tea he had poured them. G’Raha had yet to touch his beyond the first sip. “It wasn’t common knowledge, but yes, The Warrior of Light was essentially immortal. Both her and her sibling were blessed with finding those crystals long ago, which gave them strength and longevity. The ability to rise to any occassion and from any wound, no matter how fatal. They were to become Her champions, and Nyxia did follow that for the most part.”

“I am told after the mess with Ala Mhigo, she wandered, saw many things, touched many lives. Reverence for her actions grew in those who she met, and it is those who come from the ones she saved that labor today to pick up the pieces.”

He pauses, looks at his cup. It seems his words are too heavy, and G’Raha waits with bated breath, unable to look up from the floor.

“In the end, she was alone. Her sister Taja had perished from the corruption of Aether that seeped into the crystal she beared. Her comrades suffered a similar fate. Perhaps because she was the Warrior of Light, she did not suffer that. Hers was worse. The effects of that which caused the Calamity was that aether no longer flowed, was stopped, and stagnated. She could not recover, could not draw from outside sources, and so she had to use her own.”

“Alone with the looming of a terror too large to handle, she gave everything to put an end to it. I am told it was a beautiful and sorrowful event. The energy she harnessed and used was likened to starlight, and they say it did not stop raining the stuff for a month. At the end, when the dust settled and rescue crews could finally enter that empty ground, there lay her belongings, but not a trace of her.”

The miqo’tes hands clench in his robe, and he feels hot wetness welling behind his eyes. How scared, she must have felt at that moment, knowing she was about to die. Alone, afraid, desperate, she did what she had to. It saved many, but at such a cost... such an inexcusable cost!

“Eorzea plunged into darkness from then on. Riots broke out, the Grand Companies collapsed, chaos took hold. Garlemald ruled for a time, then perished, and order was never restored no matter who tried to take control. Murders happened in the streets, the world crumbled with her loss. Yet here, in this final place, you will hear stories of her, songs sung of her final moments and of her bravery.”

“Bravery.” G’Raha scoffs, angered, hurt. “Not a single thing to be said about the woman behind the Hero. Even then, even in our time, they held not a thought for her, but for what she could do for them!” His jaw clenches, teeth grating as he stands. He is furious, the most angry he has felt in such a long time. Even longer than he realizes perhaps, but that is beyond the point.

“She was more than a Champion to Eorzea! More than the Warrior of Light! More than anything, she was-! She was My Inspiration! My everything! Before she was a Hero, she was Nyxia, the woman who I-!” He chokes, his chest tight, and he sputters, coughs.

“Easy, easy, calm yourself. Getting worked up will only hurt you.” Biggs encourages, a big hand guiding him back onto the sofa. G’Raha lets him, only because he has not the strength now to stop it. He had only just woken up a day ago.

Nothing but the sound of labored breathing fills the room for a time, and then a choked gasp, a near silent sob. G’Raha shakes as he does his best to gain composure back.

“I knew... I knew I would likely never see her again.” From all those years ago, the events from then reoccur before his eyes. Bright ruby eyes to match his, snowy hair, a brave smile sitting on too tight lips. But she had smiled for him, had told him she would wait.

“Just you wait to hear what I tell you when you wake, ‘Raha! You’ll have so much to catch up on, it’ll make your head spin!”

“I wanted to believe that I would wake to find her waiting, but knew it was impossible. Still... still to know that she has been forgotten, that she left the world in such a cruel way...”

“Hey now, she hasn’t been forgotten. Did I not tell you that they still tell stories of her?” Biggs says and he snorts, shakes his head.

“Of her actions as a Hero. Not the actions of Nyxia Oni.” Not the life of his greatest companion, only distorted memories of her battles.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. Was that a flaw of yours from before? I think I read in a journal somewhere about your stubbornness, and your habit of jumping to conclusions, but this is excessive.”

Another flare of rage flashes through him, and he looks up, mouth open and ready to give a few choice words, but he is met with an old, leather bound book instead. He blinks, looking at the detailing, the dragon pressed into the cover, the title neatly inscribed in silver ink. Heavensward, penned by Count Edmont de Fortemps.

“Give this a read, will ya? Before you go off again, why not play a bit of catch up?” Biggs says, handing it over. G’Raha examines the tome, the old but preserved pages, and huffs. He’s of course interested, but is now really the time? He flips it open, reads the dedication page, and therefore loses himself to the words penned.

The author paints an intimate picture of the time, of the snowy landscape he had never seen first hand, a civil war taking a nation by storm, and in the middle of all of it, she was there. Count Edmont writes of her fondly, dearly, like a father of his child. His pride and care for her tear his heart at times, and make him laugh at others. The scolding tone when addressing her fashion sense, his adoration when recounting their conversations...

Several times, he has to wipe his eyes, pause to catch his breath, but by the end of it, he too is proud, triumphant. He had been wrong. His earlier hope, that she would be remembered in full, it was all here in this book. It is but a shame that he could not speak with the Count himself, praise his accurate depiction.

History had remembered her, and not just what she was. His earlier anger was misplaced, and from then on, he involved himself with the others, learned more of her deeds. In each tale he heard, her personality, her generosity, her self was present, and his heart swells with each new one.

“Each life she touched, she left for the better. Each action she made, she left a piece of herself to remember. History did not forget her. I am... so very thankful.” he finally confides to Biggs, the man who but a week ago, he was ready to brawl. In hindsight, he might not have gotten far... and he is embarrassed that he allowed his temper to get the best of him in such a moment.

With time to cool off, and the situation now clear to him, he thinks on what the true purpose of the dive into the Crystal Tower had been.

“Using technology from her foray into Alexander, and that of Ancient Allag, you and yours seek a way to undo that past Calamity.”

“That is correct. We had not expected to find you before we found our answer, though the Cid from years ago did leave record of your sealing.” Biggs tells him, and a lalafellin girl, Wawaru, she is called, nods. “We are still searching, for it is only a matter of time before this place too falls.”

The threat that she gave her life to stop had only been delayed. That is the true unfair outcome from all of this. Why should she have had to die not only alone, but for nothing? G’Raha will not stand for such a thing, oh no, and now that he is mostly over his despair, he is ready to get to work.

“I will be blunt. Even should you find a way to traverse time, it will not undo the Calamity, for that is not an action that was brought on by our particular star. The same events would simply repeat, perhaps with increasing consequences.” G’Raha begins. “In order to fix that which caused the death of the Warrior of Light, one must first look to the source of it, which is to say, which shard was destroyed.”

He lifts his hand, and a grid of light forms, showing thirteen orbs, and a fourteenth at the center. “Each Calamity that befalls us is the death of a shard. We here on the source suffer for the tragedy that engulfs another world. In order to prevent such a thing here, we would need to fix the problem of that shard. The question is... which do we start with, and ultimately, how.”

“We had hoped that using the Tower, we might gain insight to find a good solution. Is there not a way to single out which shard brought on the Eighth Umbral Calamity?” Wawaru asks, and G’Raha considers, going through the vast knowledge he had accumulated through his years. While he slept, he had absorbed much knowledge about the Tower. As the only one capable of using it in present times, surely there must be something...

“Ah. Yes. There is a way to single it out, and I do believe there is a way to even traverse that aetherial sea that lies betwixt each shard. Or rather there should still be.” He looks up, smiles smugly. “In fact, it has been managed before and none other than our Champion had made the leap.”

“You mean-!” Biggs is beside himself with excitement, and G’Raha nods.

“That is right. Nyxia had traveled to one of the shards before. The one that had fallen to Darkness to become the Void, home to Cloud of Darkness. The Allagan ruler from centuries before had found a way to patch into that dimension, and it held for all those years. If he can manage it, then surely I could as well.”

“Amazing... that you should know so much is truly something.”

He grins, ears twitching as he crosses his arms and sits back.

“I was told long ago that a man could study for two lifetimes and never know as much as I do. Let us put that knowledge to work then, and fix that which should never have happened. It will be an ultimate test, a message sent back to her from all of us. She was remembered, she was loved, and she is still needed.”

He will save her from that, surely. No one else will do to deliver the her from that fate.

“History is my passion, the study of ancients thrilling and endlessly entertaining, but if we must undo everything that has happened since the Calamity, then I will be the first to strike it from the books. There is no way I can allow it to happen, if it can be prevented.”

[ouchmaster6000]

RE that zim/anpanman post - while Anpanman doesn't get as dark in tone, Baikinman regularly tries to kill people and has done things like tear pages out of an anthropomorphic book and make food-based characters spoil and rot. Not as gruesome as doing it to "real people" characters but that's not the point really; the idea behind it is still there, so Japanese kids are just very accustomed to an alien being that sadistic within the context of their series

First of all, I should point out I agree that Japanese kids are probably used to seeing more intense stuff on TV than american ones. Alot of shows like Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Digimon and even Pokemon occasionally are known for having stuff edited out of the english dub. A pretty decent number of shonen series just flat out get marketed to an older audience in the states (stuff for kids in japan being aimed at middle schoolers here, stuff for teens being aimed at adults etc.)

Hell, I’m fairly certain Dragon Ball Z and Tenchi Muyo probably would have been marketed to adults in the US if it came out today too (Former for the violence, latter for the sexual stuff) and only got away with as much they did because they were on cable, and the idea that kids anime could appeal to adults simply hadn’t occurred to most western producers at that point.

I just…. Dont really think Anpanman is a good example of this? I also dont agree with the original poster’s Zim comparison. Granted, I suppose I probably should watch the show, but from everything I have seen of it, such as discussions on Bogleech’s website, it doesn’t seem that much edgier than standard kids show? Definitely a bit weirder and more violent than most preschool shows in the states, but overall, I doesn’t sound like Baikinman is much worse the your average kids cartoon villain.

I mean for starters, its pretty standard in kids media for killing and mutilating for non-human characters to be allowed, especially if said characters don’t have blood or flesh.

The obvious example is robots. Star Wars, Transformers, Doctor Who, Superman, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, Xiaolin Showdown, Age of Ultron,  - There are way too many shows, comics and movies to list that eithor aimed at kids or families, that have robots and cyborgs being torn apart in ways that would be pretty graphic if it happened to humans or animals.

Digimon is a related example - The only reason the franchise is allowed to have as much death as it does is because 99% of the fatalities happen to digital lifeforms that dissolve into pixels upon death.

Hell one of my favorite movies as a child was the original Toy Story, and all the scenes where Sid was mutilating and blowing up his toys would have gotten a hard R rating if he was doing it to people. I’ve heard a lot of people compare Sid to Dr. Frankenstein, but with toys, but at least Dr. Frankenstein used parts that were already dead (as opposed to tearing/cutting apart still living people) and put them together in a shape roughly resembling a human. Really, Sid’s toys are less Frankenstein and more human centipede.

I also remember Fosters Home for Imaginary friends having a similar reoccuring theme of “food friends” meeting a worse fate than Anpanman. This included half eaten, traumatized anthropomorphic food dreamed up by kids in stuck in fat camp, or a talking pizza dreamed up by the bully character and eaten and killed just seconds after being “born”

So, although obviously dark comedy, Baikinman doing those things isn’t really anything new for childrens media. Neither, is trying to kill someone, since a lot of cartoon villains have made serious attempts to kill people, they just never succeed.

But Zim successfully mutilating and removing the organs and body parts of human children is definitely not normal for a kids show.

Another issue I took with Revretch’s post was that she wasn’t just talking about Zim the character, she seemed to me to be claiming that “Invader Zim” the TV series wouldn’t be seen as edgy just because the main character is similar to Baikenman… but thats not really how it works? You can’t necessarily tell the tone of a show, just from the nature of its protagnist.

Like, by that logic, Courage the Cowardly Dog should be one of the most light hearted and kid friendly shows out there, but in actuality the world he inhabits is much, much darker, scarier and more surreal than Courage himself is.

Its true that, though the writers/network let Zim do much worse stuff on screen, there are plenty of other childrens cartoon characters whose personality is pretty similar to Zim, or whom are a lot creepier and more threatening. Mojo Jojo and HIM from the powerpuff girls are good examples of both of these, respectively. 

In fact, Powerpuff Girls, Xiaolin Showdown, Codename: Kids Next Door, Danny Phantom and plenty of other childrens cartoons all have both villains that are similar to Zim, and villains that are considerably more evil, creepy or serious than Zim ever was, but the tone of these shows, overall, is a relatively more optimistic one, where the main protagonists have more or less happy lives and good always triumphs over evil in the end.

Hell, even Gravity Falls, with its use of creepy horror imagery, occasional forays into adult humor, and having one of the most infamous big bads in childrens animation (and easily my favorite from the last 10 years) remains a fairly optimistic show at its core, about family and summer adventures.

This is not the case with Invader Zim, which is a show where humans as a species are portrayed as so comically stupid and mean spirited that, even if Zim somehow successfully killed or enslaved them all, it probably wouldn’t come across as a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

A show where the Irkens are depicted both commiting genocide, and electrocuting a disobedient slave on screen, and whose society is such a dystopia they are forced to udergo intense military training from birth and generally assigned roles for life based on genetics.

A show where the elementary skool is portrayed as a collection of all the absolute worst aspects of public school, both in terms of how its run, and how the kids treat each other, exaggerated to an absurd degree.

A show where a reoccurring joke character is a homeless man, who got taken advantage by a fast food chain, paid in free pizza and a room in the back of a resturant, became morbidly obese (Yes, this is Bloaty’s canon origin story) and was last seen in the original show sobbing uncontrollably because he hates his life.

Also, although this was obviously changed significantly in the comics and the Enter the Florpus special, in regards to what was portrayed in the original show, its really not difficult to make the argument Dib’s own dad and sister don’t give a shit whether or not he lives or dies.

Of course, this was all done for very dark laughs, as well as to create a setting that was just the right balance of humor and nihilism that the viewer could choose to either root for, laugh at or sympathize with either Zim or Dib without really worrying about the actual moral implications of either sides goals.

I’m not saying Zim is the edgiest show out there, comedic or otherwise. With stuff like Warhammer, Berserk, Venture Bros, Metalocalypse and all manner of gritty 90s anihero comics, Zims pretty light hearted and goofy in comparison.

But for childrens animation? Aside from some of the 90’s “grossout” cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and Cow & Chicken (which varied a lot in quality, imo) I can’t really think of any others that come close (Maaaaybe Billy & Mandy, but I think its too tonally inconsistant, with a lot of episodes being pretty standard cartoon slapstick.)

Wow, I sure did type a lot. Sorry about that. But Invader Zim is one of my all time favorite shows, and fictional villains one of my favorite topics, so I feel like I have a lot to say about them.