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theoutcastrogue · 2 years ago

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Masterposts

How to Rogue: a D&D 5e Masterpost

D&D 5e: Roguish Archetypes Masterpost Part I & Part II

Building a Rogue in 3.5 and Pathfinder: Collected Resources

Rogues in Fantasy Literature Masterpost

Dagger Fighting Masterpost

Thieves’ Cant Masterpost

Lock Picking Masterpost

Traps Masterpost

Tags and Credits

Basic Tags

How to Rogue: Exploring the Rogue class in D&D and assorted roleplaying games. Includes #fluff (roleplaying tips, character concepts, #backstories), #crunch (optimisation tips, guides, #magic items, #homebrew), and memes.

Rogues in Fiction: Exploring the Rogue archetype in literature, folklore, poetry, comics, games, etc, and #analysis thereof. Also relevant art.

Rogues in Theory: Exploring the Rogue archetype in history and society, and relevant subjects. Also #words of the trade (#etymology, synonyms, #thieves’ cant, linguistics).

Rogues in Practice: Tips on #how to stab and #how to steal (or, ahem, how to write/roleplay about stabbing and stealing), #exemplars of the trade (real life rogues and their exploits), and some less exemplary exploits. See also our esteemed colleagues in the #animal kingdom.

Art - Rogues Gallery: Rogue character portraits.

Art - Scene: Landscapes, fight scenes, #bar brawls, #heists, dungeon-crawling, etc. For urban landscapes, see #the city speaks.

Thieves’ Tools: Lockpicks! And assorted tools for breaking and entering where you’re not supposed to.

Tools of the Trade: Weapons! Mostly knives and daggers from all over the world (see the Dagger Fighting Masterpost for all the relevant tags), and some pretty swords and crossbows and the like.

Prison Ballads: The soundtrack.

…There is some overlap.

Quirky Thematic Tags

The ecstasy of gold: For loot, treasure, gold, and the deadly sin of greed.

The city speaks: For the hidden splendour of the city, from the gutters to the rooftops.

Heroes and villains: For good and evil and that grey waste in between which Rogues so often populate.

The phantom of liberty: For freedom, and storming the gates of heaven.

No tears for the creatures of the night: For the deadly sin of lust and its professionals.

The gambler’s face cracks into a grin: For gamblers and card cheats.

Dishonour on your cow: For honour among thieves, criminal codes, omertà, and blood feuds. File under the deadly sin of pride.

Fearlessly fleeing: For craven rogues and clever rogues. Wait, there’s a difference?

The ramblin’ rover: For vagrants and vagabonds and for the long-winding road.

The right to be lazy: For the deadly sin of sloth.

The hired man: For (mostly against tbh) the Rogue’s nemesis, the cop. See also #prison.

Swinging from the gallows tree: For the ignominious end that awaits us.

The quirk is strong with this one: See also #the potatoes of defiance, #big thief little thief, #the thrill of the heist, #the rich remember, #daring escape, #be the chaos you want to see in this world, #carnival, #stabbity, #only knives left, #dubito ergo sum, #fuck the king, #profanity makes everything better, #information wants to be free, #a begging I will go, #forbidden fruit, #the groaning rogue, #I fought the law, #the deserter. (#Tag namer explains some of the quirkiness.)

More Tags

Tabletop tales: It happened in somebody’s game.

D&D history: The conceptual and mechanical evolution of the Thief Rogue class in D&D, and other interesting stuff from the history of #roleplaying.

TRS: The Rogue speaks. Not to be confused with TSR.

Self explanatory: #D&D, #3.0, #3.5, #5e, #Pathfinder, #Pathfinder 2e, #AD&D, #roguish archetype, #feat, #skill trick, various #skills (#deception, #sleight of hand, #stealth, etc), #rogue fashion, #correspondence, #long post.

For anything else, try the search function and hope, but don’t get your hopes up because tumblr’s search function is appalling. Googling with the parametre site:theoutcastrogue.tumblr.com might actually be better.

Credits

All original work published here (i.e. the words and the occasional photograph of @theoutcastrogue aka @we-are-rogue, 2016–2023) is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Avatar image: “Tymora’s Luck” (detail) by Ryan Pancost, from Dragon Magazine #388 | Wizards of the Coast 2010

Header image: “The Thief” (detail) by capprotti, for the game Exile Gods | Distant Orbit 2009

The WeAreAdventurers collective was started in 2016 by @wearepaladin.

See also the archival blog @wewererogue.

#rogues gallery #blog stuff #I finally made a Pinned Post

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zalrb · 3 years ago

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SKINS REWATCH - CASSIE

1. I will never get tired of this theme song.

2. And again, Cassie waking up in a gross room with a bunch of passed out teens would be a “statement” in Euphoria, in Skins, this is just the lifestyle for these teens. The reason why Cassie is feeling a type of way right now isn’t because they partied but because it involved food.

3. But seriously, this is really gross, lmao.

4. “Michelle, it’s me, Cas.” “Crazy bitch. Never fucking eats.” Yep, I’m leaving your ass to sleep in so your mother comes home and freaks the fuck out.

5. I said that if Jal were with them last episode, they would never get into a brawl with posh kids and then drive a stolen car into the river but I mean, she was there for this disgusting food party and now they’re all jumping out of Michelle’s house in their underwear, so.

6. Cassie’s episode is actually pretty dark/sad considering that no one is actually leaving her notes to eat but she manifests that Sid is sending her texts/leaving her notes in her mind because a) she knows she needs help and she wants to eat b) she wants someone to actually see her/care about her enough to notice that she isn’t eating and she wants it to be Sid.

7. Also Cassie’s parents

would be Delena as parents

But actually, they leave Cassie to feed her infant brother so they can go upstairs and have sex

which Cassie can hear

8. Lol there are no responsible adults in this world.

9. I also love that the woman checking Cassie out of the institution is the mother of Abigail who’s the posh girl’s party they went to in the first episode, such a great callback “Carpets were ruined!”

10. And the Mad Twatter being in Group. Great tie-ins.

11. POSH KEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY LOVE

12. Lol it’s funny how I did an essay on feeling represented in Skins because Jal code switches when she’s at home with her brothers and when she’s at school and the slang the Black kids use is patois (Jamaican) and it’s the same in Toronto.

13. Sid, that looks like a truly disgusting lunch.

14. I would not continue eating my fries if someone reached over and rearranged them.

15. And Cassie showing how she gets away with not eating is always a really good scene, a really heartbreaking scene and it’s also a part of the flow of the show without it being like AND WE ARE MAKING A STATEMENT HERE.

16. Sid’s vague protection of Cassie when Tony is a complete dick is sweet. But also, lol, Sid. I remember a friend who LOVED Sid and I was like ............ OK. I don’t hate him, just, bold choice.

17. Lmao Chris yelling THAT’S ANGIE is just lol. Obviously that relationship is entirely problematic and should not have happened but Chris is sweet. Which is WHY he shouldn’t have fucking DIED.

18. I like how no one just thinks to ask for a bit of money from their parents and pool it but it’s also just very teen. We’ll think of a solution to keep you from being worked over by an unhinged drug dealer ............................... well I have sociology.

19. Nice ending. I’ve watched Skins a few times over the years but I think this is the first time I’ve ever thought that Alan was a figment of Cassie’s imagination.

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adamwatchesmovies · 2 years ago

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Kill Boksoon (2023)

As an action film, Kill Boksoon has the pulse-pounding sequences of hand-to-hand combat you're looking for. When the picture slows down to focus on its family drama and side characters, it can’t help but feel derivative of other works. Whether the stunts and choreography are enough for you, I can't be sure. For me, I found it lacking.

Single mother Gil “Kill” Bok-Soon (Jeo Do-yeon) is a hitwoman working for M.K. Ent, one of several criminal organizations specializing in discreet - or not-so-discreet, if that’s what you want - assassinations. Gil is also a single mother who struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, Jae-yeong (Kim Si-a). As Gil contemplates retirement, the two worlds she’s worked so hard to keep separate start moving too close together for comfort.

I never buy into these “assassins with a code of honour” movies. Bok-Soon’s boss, Cha Min-Kyu (Sol Kyung-gu) goes into great length about this airtight secret society of killers he and his peers assembled, how they won’t slaughter children, will always do the jobs they’re assigned (among other rules) and how this has made the criminal underworld a better place. It just doesn’t hold up. Firstly, any drug addict will accept to do pretty much anything if you give them $100, so how exactly can Min-Kyu and his sister Cha Min-Hee (Esom) guarantee only "sanctioned" killers are "working"? We see them take out targets outside of Korea. Are we supposed to believe there aren't any mercenaries anywhere else? Next, that code of honour. Give me a break. So you’re not killing little kids. What you are willing to do is make them orphans, and the second someone turns 18, they’re fair game so don’t pretend like you have some moral high ground. You didn’t see Mother Teresa handing envelopes of cash to get someone whacked. What I’m getting at is that no matter how much the film tries to get you to sympathize with Bok-Soon, a part of you will always think “she freely admits she’s going to Hell because of all the crimes she’s committed. I’m pretty sure the planet would be better off without her.”

Even if you don’t have issues with the problems above, the premise isn’t original. You figure Bok-Soon will eventually have to turn on her fellow assassins, with her boss - the man who taught her everything - facing off against her at the very end. We’ve seen that a thousand times. There is a bit of intrigue in the family drama stuff. After a violent incident at school, mom wonders if the apple doesn’t fall so far from the tree. Too bad that business makes the film swell up to a needlessly hefty 137 minutes. Way too long.

The action scenes are the reason to see this picture. Director Byun Sung-hyun does this cool thing where he has his protagonist imagine how a scenario might go, and then show Bok-soon snapping out of her fantasy so she can try something different. It’s a clever way to extend the fights and more than once, catches you by surprise. The stunt choreography is great, with an extended brawl in a bar is the film’s highlight.

In North America, Kill Boksoon is being released via Netflix, which means you can see it "for free". This is a film that ultimately, I doubt you'll remember, which means that's the right price for it. From the comfort of your home, you can set aside the blemishes and focus on what works, which are the action scenes and to a certain extent, the family drama. (Original Korean with English Subtitles, May 21, 2023)

#Kill Boksoon #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Byun Sung-hyun #Jeon Do-yeon #Sol Kyung-gu #Kim Si-a #Lee Jae-wook #Esom #Koo Kyo-hwan #2023 movies #2023 films

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maxwell-grant · 4 years ago

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May I please ask where you set the boundaries when constructing a crossover? (i.e. How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work? How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix? and so forth).

I could be off the mark here, but this question sounds like you yourself got a very big idea planned but you are unsure of how far you can, or want to, push the concept. Two words of advice upfront: 1: Stop overthinking it, and 2: Run your ideas by people whose judgment you know and trust. I run some of my biggest and stupidest ideas by friends of mine and they help me make them less stupid or at least stupider but in a better way.

I mentioned in my post about potential Shadow crossovers that "boundaries" are not the priority to fret over so much as having a good working knowledge of the characters. And part of that is because a crossover, by design, already constitutes the breaking of boundaries. That's by default what a crossover does. You don't wanna test or break boundaries, then you picked the wrong kind of story.

A crossover is still a story like any other. Two characters meeting is not a story, it's a premise. You don't start a story by defining where it can't go, before you've even decided where you want to take it. Some boundaries are important, others aren't. Some boundaries are hard-coded and unbreakable, and others HAVE to be broken for the story to work, and the process of deciding which is which is easier when you have a clearer idea of what are the characters and what is the story you want to tell, and what you can and can't do with either. You gotta understand the properties you're working with, or at least, understand WHY you want to work with them and make this crossover happen in the first place.

For example, you could, very easily, write a crossover between The Shadow and The Spider, just by going through the motions. They are urban vigilantes with fairly similar designs who live in the same time period and fight crime with their supporting casts. I'm sure most writers offered the job wouldn't think twice of putting them together. But as someone who's read their stories quite extensively and who likes and obsesses over both characters, I would not cross over the two, because their stories and characters are fundamentally incompatible with each other in a more "serious" narrative, and you could not merge the two without seriously fraying one or the other.

It's a story that doesn't work, with characters that are not supposed to function together or in each other's narrative real estate, even with a character as malleable as The Shadow. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good Shadow and Spider crossover, but to me, personally, these two are hard-line incompatible. That is, if it's a crossover based specifically on these two, because that changes if said crossover expands to more characters, as I'll get into.

Regarding the question:

How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work?

By default, any crossover is already going to have to create new settings from scratch based on relevant bits and pieces from the properties in question, so you do get more leeway for bending it.

But regarding characters, it's a question that cannot have a unified answer, because it's even more so dependant on a case-by-case basis. You could argue "only as much as necessary for the story to work", sure, but that's not really a good answer, because a story can do anything it's author wants to, and sometimes the story is not good to begin with, or the characters are just not made for being in the same narrative or even partaking in a crossover to begin with.

No amount of justifications for a story or characterization can excuse an unsatisfying result. Joe Yabuki and Guts are two of my favorite manga protagonists, but there would be no point to even attempting to put them together in the same story, because you'd have to twist either their narratives or their characters past the point of recognizability, which defeats the purpose of making a crossover to begin with.

Like, yeah, we've all heard the argument that Zack Snyder's Superman makes sense in the context of his movies, doing his own thing. Sure. But there's a reason any discussion of that character in the context of Superman in general comes prefaced with "Zack Snyder's" first, and why mainstream audiences who earnestly looked forward to Batman V Superman walked away feeling cheated, because, to borrow RLM terms here, they got "MurderMan vs Captain Hypocrite", and you can't even tell which is which in that description. You gotta give audiences at least a bit of what you promised them.

How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix?

This one actually DOES depend on the story, because most stories that aren't just short narratives require multiple settings for it's scenes. Chances are your narrative will already be combining multiple settings, because setting is a word that can refer to "Korea during the Joseon dynasty", "spaceship traveling through lost nebulas" and "the McDonalds parking lot", as if they are the same thing. And in a way, when you look at a narrative's bones, they basically are.

To an extent, I think opening yourself up for a massive crossover of multiple properties of different characters and settings can, indeed, be a better choice than just going off purely by X meets Y. You start off by making it very clear to the audience that the boundaries are thin and you will be breaking them, and you use said framework to instead tell a myriad of stories, big and small. Stories that you couldn't really tell if you stuck to an existing framework or defined strongly the boundaries you can't cross. I'm gonna use Smash Bros as an example:

Smash Bros is arguably the biggest "official" crossover of all time, and it doesn't really have a "story" other than the basic framework that the series was built on, that these were representations of Nintendo icons dueling it out, and the few details that used to define this in the older days (like the characters being trophies and copies, and not the real deal) have been basically pushed aside. The most story you get in Smash nowadays is in the form of what the trailers showThe "point" of Smash was never really to tell a big, dramatic story with these characters. And maybe you really can't tell this kind of story, or a good story, with this many characters to juggle.

But they tried it once.

I'm sure most of you who do remember Brawl, as anything other than the blistering shame of the franchise that it's treated as these days, remember it mainly because of Subspace Emissary, which was this big, dramatic storyline where the end of the world was at stake and all the characters had to pull their weight to fight it. Subspace didn't have dialogue, it didn't have much story other than characters going from scene to scene while fighting, several of the characters either got nothing to do or were written poorly (mostly Wario), and none of this mattered at all, because Subspace, I'd argue, was the one and only time Smash Bros ever really recaptured that childhood feeling of smashing toys together that the franchise was built on.

Because if you remember being a kid smashing toys together, you remember not just doing it because you wanted Max Steel to kick Cobra Commander's butt. No, you did it because you wanted to tell a story where Max Steel got trapped in a rapidly filling water tank along with He-Man's Battle Cat while Cobra Commander kidnapped Max's girlfriend April O'Neil and bombed the city, and Max Steel had to talk Battle Cat into not eating him so they could together save the city and April from evil, and so they reconciled their differences and saved the day. Those things mattered to you. They were the stories you could tell with the resources you had in hand, sagas you did for the sheer fun of it, regardless of whether they were "good", you probably didn't even think of that. Why would you? You had bigger things to do.

And that's what Subspace did. It was big and dramatic and the world was at stake and all these heroes were coming together. Ness sacrificing himself to Wario so Lucas could have a chance to run away. Diddy Kong dragging along seasoned Star Fox pilots to rescue his buddy. Samus and Pikachu forming a bond. Peach stopping a deadly battle just by offering tea. ROB's story arc culminating in actual genocide, hell, ROB having a story arc to begin with. To a lot of people who played Brawl as one of their first games, this would have been their "introduction" to a lot of these characters in any sort of narrative, and to characters like ROB or Ice Climbers, this would have been the only chance they would ever get to be part of a great big dramatic narrative. Hell, Pit sure looked like he was on the same boat at the time, until Smash brought the Kid Icarus franchise back from death, and now Smash is where characters or properties get to stay relevant or at least on life support (Captain Falcon), or make glorious comebacks (King K.Rool). Brawl was what destroyed the idea of there being boundaries as to who could get in Smash or what kind of story could be told within it.

And people don't seem to recall this nowadays, but Brawl was when Smash exploded in fan content, specifically inspired by Subspace. This was the period of the Machinima craze and the fan mods galore and fan remixes and fan art and fan headcanons and fan films, and suddenly it hit people that, just because the games couldn't accomodate the stories they could tell with the premise, didn't mean that they couldn't start telling them on their own. We even got the formerly longest piece of English fiction off of it. The devotion Melee inspired in competitive players, Brawl did for artists and creators who got their start off in Smash fan content.

And because of it, suddenly a lot more people started writing stories with ROB and Ice Climbers and Pit and Captain Falcon and so on than there would have ever been if it wasn't for Brawl and Subspace. Smash gave ROB a story the character likely would have never gotten otherwise. And if you don't grasp what I'm getting at because you still think that fan content is a long way from being "official" or at least respectable, I don't know what you're doing following someone who rants about pulp fiction all day.

The point I want to get across is, boundaries in a crossover are important, yes, they exist for a good reason, but the boundaries should be defined by the story and characters and whatnot, not the other way around. Boundaries in fiction exist to be crossed or tested, they exist to tell you where you can't go so you can try to do so anyway and either fly high or crash.

Sometimes, bending or twisting characters and settings can be both a grave sin, as well as the thing that allows them to survive. Sometimes there are rules that seem unbreakable until someone breaks them without trying. And sometimes, going big and stupid and carefree over-the-top is either the worst, or the best outcome. It's fiction, taking risks and having fun is part of it.

So I'm afraid I thankfully cannot give your question a universal answer.

#replies tag #rambles #smash bros #brawl #super smash bros #subspace emissary

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wromwood · 4 years ago

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So because of a mishap with my family’s cable box, I missed the first half of the fourth episode of CBS Ghosts “Dinner Party.” .... but I watched the second half because my mom INSISTED on watching it. Here are my thoughts on only the second half:

(Thoughts on first half will appear later)

- So the rich couple in this show (the Farnesbys) have different vibes to the rich couple in the BBC show. The BBC rich folks are outright unpleasant, mostly the husband. He’s so confident and caught up in his own greatness that he forgets Allison’s name and is totally unaware of how much of a chore it is to be around him. Also his wife is just kinda there at his side.

The Farnesbys in CBS are more of a team, each one bringing their own judgement to the table. They’re unpleasant, but in an outwardly friendly American way. Like, they’re still proud of their accomplishments, but in that faux-humble self-congratulating way that’s cloaked in “friendly” laughter. I’m thinking suburbanites. And they’re also just kinda dull in their interests.

I do like the fact the CBS rich folks are a team, but they’re a bit less interesting to watch. BBC rich guy made me want him off screen because he was that oily and unpleasant. (Which I actually liked because that’s the whole point) CBS rich couple made me want them off screen because they’re just not that interesting. (Which may have actually been the point, I’m not sure, but it’s not as fun to watch)

- Rich guy seems to just be very knowledgeable of codes and official rules. (Note from future me: this will be explained in my notes on the first half)

- Sam just said “I wasn’t even alive in the 80s.” This means she is canonically 31 at most. Also, even though I am younger than that, the fact that the 80s are so far away surprises me for some weird reason.

- Now Sam brings up a good point here that I don’t remember Allison making in the BBC Ghosts show, or at least not that much: “No hotel, no me.” If she and Jay fail at their BnB, they will sell the house and “God knows who could buy it.” This means no companionship for the ghosts, since the ability to see and hear ghosts is, at the very least, SUPER rare.

I feel like in the BBC show, the audience just understands this dynamic inherently, while the ghosts and the living focus on either co-existing or butting heads without mentioning it. But in CBS, it’s spoken aloud. And I actually appreciate that. This dynamic needs to be defended.

- Trevor and Flower are among the two ghosts who weren’t invited to the dinner party (more on that later.) At one moment, Trevor explains why not being invited is hitting him so hard. He has a story of not being invited to a yacht party. It had models and a “vodka luge like cleavage.” The sad sympathetic music even plays in the background as he laments about not going to this epic party. You’re clearly supposed to feel sad for him.

I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT. Nothing about this story makes me feel bad Trevor was excluded then, nor that he’s being excluded now. You can’t frame this as a sad moment for me.

- Flower’s sad story (without music, so this is just framed as a joke) is that one time, her throuple made love without her. “Just the two of them. How does that work?” This moment just reminds me how i don’t know Flower at ALL as a real person. She’s JUST a hippie joke. I’d rather see more of headless guy.

... who doesn’t show up at ALL in this episode either!

- Ooh, there’s a moment where all the ghosts are fighting around Sam during the dinner party, and the shot changes from a loud, raucous flickering-lights brawl to a totally quiet scene. That’s a fun interesting shot, and done very effectively!

- There’s a moment in this show where Sam angrily points out that she and Jay are alive, and therefore have more claim to the house. This leads to a whole “Didn’t expect you to drop the “A-word” on us” scene. And it’s played as... super harsh? Like, the ghosts are INSULTED, and Sam is immediately remorseful.

This is mostly confusing to me because 1) I’m very sure both the ghosts and Sam have used the word “alive” around each other before, and 2) this wasn’t built up at all. Like, there were no clues that the ghosts would find this hurtful. So it just comes off as a lame joke that leads to semi-serious emotional consequences.

- Sam and Jay end up winning over the Farnesbys by saying their BnB will “be like Newhart.” Sam blurts this out randomly because Pete mentioned earlier he LOVED Newhart when he was alive. It turns out that the Farnesbys LOVE Newhart too, so Sam needs to get on the ghosts’ good sides again to use Pete’s Newhart knowledge. It’s not an exciting reason to move the plot along, but not a bad one.

- I do like that in the CBS show, the ghosts actually want to participate in the dinner party because it makes them feel alive again. "Moonah Ston” from the BBC series is great for its own reasons. Seeing the ghosts participate in Robin’s ritual is super fun and sweet, and the episode delves into Robin’s feelings about being dead while also stuck watching the years pass by. I think both episodes have good reasons for the ghosts to be “meddling” with the livings’ plans, with their own character accomplishments.

- Oh, this is a nice moment. At one point, Alberta helps Sam and Jay impress the Farnesbys by naming great jazz musicians. Suddenly, Thorfinn blurts out

”Louis Armstrong!”

Alberta looks at him, impressed.

“What? You talk, I listen.”

This is so sweet! I love moments where the ghosts prove they actually interact with, listen to, and learn from each other.

- Ohhh, and these interactions about Newhart and jazz leads into a discussion of appreciating what came before you. That’s clever. Good on you, CBS.

- So the Farnesbys’ big secret is that they tore down the carriage house. (An ordnance says you can’t tear down existing structures.) The ghosts hear the couple discussing it, and Sam and Jay blackmail them with this info because the rich folks want a $20,000 donation in order for them to push the permits. I actually prefer this over Julian already knowing about his rich dude’s illegal bank accounts. The carriage house reveal is more interesting, leads to more ghosts helping out, (connects to an earlier moment in the episode of the ghosts snitching on someone) AND doesn’t make me think “why didn’t you mention that EARLIER?” about one of the characters.

- Hetty tries to cheer Trevor up by telling him every exclusive club needs a prominent snob. Yeah, EXCLUDE HIM. EXCLUDE HIM FROM THE SERIES.

And now for the notes for the first half of the episode! You get my personal experience.

- Ok, I do like how the ghosts will gleefully snitch on Jay doing stuff like eating all the Oreos. That’s a fun idea, especially how they’re all SUPER into snitching in their own ways. (Although this did make me notice how Flower reuses a phrase with Jay. Here, she calls him a “cookie Bogart-er” and later she calls him a “cupcake Bogart-er” when he eats a ton of cupcakes. It just reminds me of how her character feels the most same-y and archetype-y so far.)

- Ughhh this is just your daily reminder that I am sick of “hah it’s funny because the joke he made wasn’t funny” jokes.

- Hetty just remarked that a nip of cocaine would take away your allergies and this led to a mildly amusing discussion between her and Pete about how to him, cocaine is a Schedule II Narcotic but to her it was a wonder drug, but I couldn’t focus on this because I couldn’t stop thinking “if anything, taking cocaine would make your sniffling/sneezing/red eyes worse, wouldn’t it? maybe that’s just if you snort it. what are the side effects of cocaine taken in other ways?”

Lost points for making my mind wander.

- Ah, so here’s the conflict. Sam and Jay applied for all the permits they needed, but Mr. Farnesby is the head of the Preservation Board. He has the power to reject all the permits, and he doesn’t like the idea of a loud BnB next to his property.

- I feel like we haven’t properly heard this house’s name yet until now: Woodstone. In BBC Ghosts, “Button House” is said a lot. From the first couple episodes, I was aware that this was Button House, and that Fanny was doubtful that Allison would ever be a true Button. In CBS Ghosts, I literally didn’t know what the estate was called until I heard Hetty say “Woodstone” in episode 4. They might’ve said it earlier, but I did NOT retain the information.

- OK, according to Hetty, the Woodstones and the Farnesbys were rival robber barons. She also said “the children that worked in our factories were far happier.” Which. I get is an amusing remark, but now I don’t feel as emotionally invested in her and her life. Like, I don’t know much about what Fanny’s life was life apart from her husband’s infidelity and murdering her, but I’m at least not conflicted about her being a robber baron who had children in factories.

- So it wasn’t Samantha who limited the amount of ghosts at the dinner party. She didn’t want any of them there. It was Hetty who insisted on coming and bringing three ghosts of her choosing. She excludes Trevor for asking why she got to choose (she claims that she “built this house”) and for not having pants.

- Ah, the dropping the bottle of wine joke. This actually makes me wonder, for both shows, how fragile a wine bottle really is. I’ve dropped less thick bottles from that height, and they didn’t even crack. I get that the bottles break for the sake of the joke, but it always puzzled me.

And now I’m all caught up! I hope my notes continue to be interesting and/or informative.

#CBS Ghosts #BBC Ghosts

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warsmith-38 · 4 years ago

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How I would do RWBY pt. 1

Revised Timeline of story events (This is not a script, but a semi-loose outline of the story)

Red, White, Blake, and Yellow trailers can stay. They’re perfectly fine as is, barring some early series production foibles (and the voice acting).

Series would be split into three arcs with three seasons each. 1. The School Arc 2. The World Travel Arc 3. The War Arc. (4. The epilogue season of mini episodes just to cap a few things off)

School Arc.

Season One.

Ruby is shopping.

Roman tries robbing the place.

Ruby gets involved because ‘fight good yes’.

Fights Roman and goons.

Beats goons but starts losing against Roman.

Glynda intervenes.

Roman am-scrays and Ruby is detained by Glynda.

This is not the first time Ruby has been called in like this.

She’s been doing free-lance vigilante stuff for a while now.

Tai comes in, worried to hell and back… again.

It’s almost routine by now, but he has a heart attack each time.

Ozpin gets wind of it this time.

Is impressed by her and offers her position at school.

Ruby says yes.

Tai says Ruby is too young to be-

Ruby says yes.

Tai keeps trying to argue-

Ruby. Says. YES!

She wants to be a huntress like her mother was more than anything else in the world.

Next few days is various entities trying to get Tai to greenlight the idea.

Ruby constantly begs, Yang says it’s a good idea, Ozpin is quite forward as to the benefits, et cetera.

Tai relents when Qrow calls him and argues that Ruby is never going to stop her vigilante thing and should at least be doing it legally and with training.

Tai tells Yang to watch over Ruby.

Yang only promises to try.

Ruby instantly loses her after they arrive at Beacon.

Yang tried, just not very hard. Wants Ruby to be independent, both from her and Tai.

Ruby meets Weiss.

Carefree and rebellious Ruby immediately clashes with stuck-up and bad-tempered Weiss.

Blake intervenes, slags off the SDC, everyone walks away annoyed.

Ruby meets Jaune.

Jaune is less bumbling.

More of an Octavian figure. Meek of body, but quite strong of tactical and strategic mind.

Jaune meets Pyrrha.

Has no idea who she is. Not all that into celebrity gossip, especially whole kingdoms away.

Comes off as polite and charming, if a bit oblivious.

Ruby encounters Blake on her own.

Says thanks for helping ward off angry Weiss.

Blake seems a little standoffish but Ruby’s infectious friendliness makes her give her a chance.

Have actual conversation about books.

Have minor debate over the exact meaning behind the symbolism of a character in a story.

Y’know, nerd shit.

Orientation.

Ruby and Weiss talk again.

Goes roughly as canon. IE: poorly.

Ren and Nora introduced, again, roughly as canon.

Ren talks a bit more, less of Nora motor-mouth with him just being there.

Have brief conversations with Jaune and/or Pyrrha.

Relic hunt starts.

Catapult!

Ruby and Weiss meet each other faster than usual.

Grimm show up and they kill them together.

Weiss calls her an idiot but agrees that she’s at least competent in a fight.

Blake and Yang meet each other.

Have actual conversation.

Blake tries to be standoffish and curt but Yang’s winning smile and corny sense of humor makes it hard.

Jaune and Pyrrha meet again.

Jaune has actual plan to get relic.

Have conversation about aura and semblances in a way that doesn’t make Jaune seem like he was dropped multiple times on his head as a child.

Says that he hasn’t unlocked his semblance yet, but he says that he scored high enough on his aptitude tests to make up for it.

Ren and Nora meet up because… well, duh.

Meet Jaune and Pyrrha and decide to team up to speed the overall process up.

Bumble into pissing off giant grimm.

Ruby and Weiss start arguing, come to brief blows even.

Teenagers, am I right?

Big grimm shows up.

They bond a little by fighting it off together.

Main characters start to coalesce at the relic site.

Future JNPR is there too.

Everyone has brief hello with each other.

The two large grimm from earlier show up.

Each would-be team gets one.

Happy teamwork scene.

Kill the grimm, get the relics, same old shit.

Teams RWBY and JNPR are made official.

Team CFVY are present as the designated senpai group.

Cue bonding scenes.

Ruby and Blake create book club with Ren, Jaune, and Yatsuhashi.

Yang, Fox, and Ren have Kung-Fu training scenes.

Velvet passes around the collection plate for Wild Call, a large and helpful faunus rights group.

Blake and Velvet are kind of tense with each other. No one knows why.

Then again, Blake is pretty tense with everyone, but especially Velvet and Weiss.

(Velvet knows that Blake is a faunus and dislikes that she hides it. Blake dislikes Weiss because Schnee.)

Ruby is happy to talk to Coco-senpai and her crazy purse mini-gun.

Nora, Yang, and Pyrrha have push up contest. Ruby wins.

Weiss helps Ruby study with things like flash cards, note taking strategies, and other things she ignores.

Weiss has tense moment or two with Ruby but Yang delivers some context as to why Ruby is so unruly.

Mom died, dad got WAY overprotective of Ruby and more than a little distant with Yang.

Ruby always wanted to be like her badass of a mother and saw their father as being in the way of that.

Weiss empathizes to a degree.

Weiss and Yang team up to be the semi-responsible ones for Ruby.

CRDL are cunts.

Act racist to Velvet.

Push Jaune and Ruby around a little.

Say ungentlemanly things to Yang and Pyrrha. (They do it to all of the girls, but to them the most)

Cunt stuff.

CVFY can’t do much because A. They can’t be brawling with underclassmen and B. They wouldn’t be able to not kill the little pricks and that’d be a bad look for them.

JNPR is just trying to ignore them.

This leads to a confrontation between CRDL and RWBY.

They make a bet over a set of sparring matches.

If CRDL wins then RWBY has to operate as their maids or something creepy like that for the school year.

If RWBY wins then CRDL has to fuck off for the school year.

Best of four matches with a team battle if a tiebreaker is needed.

Ruby actually loses to Cardin due to his tankiness, him being the most (IE: only) competent part of his team, and secret cheating.

Weiss beats Russel rather handily.

Blake loses to Dove due to him cheating and everyone still not noticing yet.

Yang traumatizes Lark as a warning.

Team battle!

CRDL takes an early advantage due to RWBY having some coordination issues.

RWBY figures out that CRDL is cheating via wire tapping into their team communications.

Ruby takes the reigns.

Coordinates with her team via code with an old inside joke to Yang, a literary reference to Blake, and one of those studying tricks to Weiss.

They act in ways that CRDL aren’t expecting and can’t cheat around.

RWBY wins.

Yang and Blake take CRDL aside and threaten them that if they renege at all they will make what Yang did to Lark look like a massage, not to mention telling the staff about the cheating.

They are scared into avoiding RWBY and co. where convenient.

CRDL slink off to be cunts elsewhere.

Pyrrha, because fuck ‘will they won’t they’, asks Jaune out on a date.

Jaune, breaking dense anime boy tradition, says yes.

They’re cute together and N+R support them.

Beginnings of Vital Festival starts.

Team RWBY sees Sun causing chaos.

He briefly introduces himself to them and then runs off to cause more monkey mischief.

SSN are right behind him and are rude bastards who don’t introduce themselves while fleeing the cops.

Penny meets team in glorious awkwardness.

Ciel, whom Weiss recognizes from Atlas (they went to the same starter school together), is constantly chasing after her and her antics.

Her other two teammates are just combat bots with special retrofits. (They’re prototypes for Penny)

Gives context of tournament and her place in it like an awkward robot would.

Weiss says something pretty damn racist directed towards Sun.

RBY call out Weiss on racism.

Blake gets angry with her.

The topic of the White Fang comes up.

R + Y both agree with Weiss that the White Fang are assholes, despite also condemning Weiss’ racism.

Weiss has horror stories about what they’ve done, including kidnapping her at young age.

Points to her scar for emphasis.

Blake can’t argue against what they’re talking about but counters with the horrible stuff the SDC has done across planet.

General scumbag corporate crap as well as paramilitary actions that break most international laws.

R + Y also agree with Blake that SDC sucks too.

Weiss is a little taken aback.

She genuinely had no clue that things like that were happening.

Blake lets slip that she was White Fang.

Runs off before people can react.

Team gives chase.

Blake thinks they’re going to turn her in and/or lynch her.

They only want to talk to her and get the full story.

Weiss is conflicted about things.

Sun finds Blake, says that he remembers her from a White Fang attack in Vacuo, despite the masks they wear, and wants some answers.

Sun says that general opinion among faunus (at least in Vacuo and Mistral) is that the White Fang are asshole supremacists that cause more problems than they ever solve or even try to solve.

Blake gets reality check about White Fang.

Confesses that she was involved with some acts of violence but thought it was for the greater good.

She makes a point of saying that she, herself, did not kill anyone. If anyone was killed it was not by her.

If someone died, then it was either an ‘accident’ someone else did or Adam swung the sword.

Also thought that the genuinely horrible stuff she heard was propaganda or just Adam being a dick.

It was said dickishness of Adam’s cell that was tolerated by larger organization that made her leave and try to repent.

She had no idea that Adam was only marginally more of a lunatic than other cell leaders.

Blake happens to see telltale signs of White Fang attack. Uses them as an excuse to change subject.

Sun gives her benefit of the doubt on her attempt at personal redemption and assists her in trying to stop terrorist plot.

Penny has nothing better to do so she gives Ciel the slip and starts helping Ruby look for Blake.

Have conversation about friendship, freedom, and weapons.

Weiss airs concerns to Yang about future of team.

She seems scared at the idea of losing a friend like Blake.

White Fang are taking orders from Torchwick and his goons.

Blake tries to appeal to their good side.

They call her and Sun race traitors and try to kill them.

Blake and Sun vs Torchwick.

Neo (Roman’s adopted daughter) shows up to help Torchwick.

White Fang go all out.

This is a problem.

RWY and Penny arrive to brawl.

Penny solves problems.

Sun and Penny take on the White Fang

Roman + Neo are final boss of season for RWBY.

Hard fought fight, but it is clear that RWBY is going to win.

White Fang have contingency explosive.

No one important dies, but Penny is grabbed by her superiors in the confusion.

Weiss and Blake confrontation.

Both apologize for the mistakes in their earlier arguments and for flying off the handle.

Both still have rose-tinted glasses about their respective sides but the tint is wearing off.

Blake stops hiding being a faunus because the rest of the world isn’t as horrible and racist as the supremacist terrorists told her it was.

Agrees to be more transparent to her team.

Weiss agrees that #notallfaunus and that the SDC has done some dirt.

Torchwick meets with mysterious benefactor about problems with latest job.

Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Adam tell him not to worry and that Evil Plan is still a go.

Season one done.

#RWBY #RWDE #I guess #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Ozpin #JNPR #How I would do...#Hate if you wish #Team CFVY

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pagesofkenna · 4 years ago

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ok this is gonna be a little rambly so im putting it under a readmore; critdice and tonight’s talks related

(hows that for code switching)

i dont watch talks but i occasionally catch the summaries that get posted on tumblr and the comments on essek both amuse and frustrate me because a) liam and sam are right and they should say it, i love essek but hes NOT (wasnt?) a good person and just getting over everything he did because the fans think he’s hot is stupid. he has work to do and he’s not a protagonist so he doesn’t have to do it onscreen

but b) liam apparently makes a comment to the effect of ‘there are other heavy hitters i’d bring in’ and why do you NEED a heavy hitter?? this isn’t a fight! the players keep treating their interactions with the tombtakers as all a big foreplay for a showdown and it’s really not! the party didnt HAVE to take the job in eiselcross, and if they hadn’t all this tombtaker stuff would be happening in the background without any nein intervention at all

not that the nein should just let lucien do whatever he wants or even help him but they’ve been approaching lucien’s alive-ness as evidence of a boss battle to come since day one, which has colored how they’ve approached interacting with him in a way that frustrates me so much. there’s a scene where beau is trying to tell the party, before they potentially go see lucien, that they just need to talk to him to find out whats going on, because they knew jack! and everyone else was all ‘we’re not joining him wtf are you talking about of COURSE the only two options here are join his cult or try to slit his throat!’ GAH

which brings me to the fact that i have been TELLING my computer for WEEKS now that they need to go talk to essek. he’s RIGHT THERE matt obviously PUT him there to be a deus ex machina intervention in everything going on, but now the party’s suspicious of his motives and apparently don’t want to deal with him, and worse off dont think he’s be helpful in the big rodeo brawl they’re planning on having no matter what

i dont know WHAT essek would be helpful with, other than another NPC to bounce ideas off of. they can’t talk to dagon (why have they even been stringing dagon along??), their local empire contacts are all either dead or in a position to pin those deaths on the nein, and they can’t leave for fear of not being able to return. so go talk to essek!! they’ve been following the tombtakers around like lost puppies with zero plan and even less of an understanding of the situation theyre in. at the worst the dynasty outpost gets them away from the tombtakers for long enough to reevaluate their situation and figure out an actual plan

(at best the dynasty outpost will have some method of transportation that would be super helpful? like, the time between the peace treaty and the nein discovering essek had been reassigned to lead this outpost across the continent from the dynasty was only, what, a couple weeks?)

i’m scratching my head to think of any goals the party has beyond dealing with the threat lucien is presenting (deal with trent, deal with u’katoa, visit the tal’dorei council) so i understand why the cast is churning their wheels on this, but while typing that i realized the somnovum threat was probably intended to be something they dealt with after u’katoa?? like there’s other things you can be doing besides following lucien around waiting to be pumped up enough for the wrestling match you’ve decided to challenge him to?

idk. i wish they’d go talk to essek. and if it wasn’t essek running the dynasty outpost i wish they’d go talk to whoever was. they’ve been spinning their wheels in the snow for weeks and it really feels like that one move will get them back on track and they refuse to do it

(also, to change topics, apparently liam said some good stuff about mental health and recovery and talked about how caduceus’ positivity hasn’t been helping caleb because it doesn’t, idk, actually work for the situation caleb is in, and i kinda think that both a) cad’s positivity isn’t going to ultimately work for anyone? because it’s part of cad’s character flaw? i remember seeing meta a long time ago about cad not ever addressing some of his own negative feelings and that leading to a flawed sense of self, or something, but also b) caleb and maybe even liam are misunderstanding some of cad’s mental health advice as just blanket ‘positivity’? i don’t think cad’s ever been a ‘just choose happiness’ kinda guy? but i’ll have to rewatch a bunch of cad convos before i try to fully make this argument)

#critdice #tldr is just that i continue to wish they'd stop treating all interactions with the tombtakers as a prelude to a fight #because i believe they're the ones deciding this is going to be a fight not matt and anot the tombtakers #and also i wish theyd just go to the dynasty outpost already

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aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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The Mandalorian Recap: What You Need to Know Before Season 2

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This The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

Five years after Return of the Jedi, a gunslinger comes to town in the latest Star Wars phenomenon. The Mandalorian took the internet by storm last year, thanks to the central duo of Pedro Pascal’s titular bounty hunter and the adorable Child, aka Baby Yoda. Even if you aren’t a hardcore Star Wars fan, the story of a heavily armed mercenary suddenly becoming a father figure to protect the mysterious and Force-sensitive Child is very charming.

With the show returning for a second season on Oct. 30, you might need a refresher on how Mando and Baby Yoda met, what the Empire is up to, why IG-11 is constantly trying to self-destruct, and who the Darksaber-wielding Moff Gideon is. If so, you’ve come to the right place!

Disney dropped a season 1 recap video earlier this week that plays the hits. Check it out below:

But if you need a proper recap of The Mandalorian season 1 in more detail, we’ve got a chronological timeline of events below:

The Client Hires Mando for a Top Secret Bounty Involving the Empire

From the very start of the show, the Mandalorian, whose real name is Din Djarin, has a job to do. He’s a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, good at his job but low on credits at a time when the fall of the Empire has destabilized the galaxy. And the highest paying job right now, according to Bounty Hunters’ Guild leader Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), is from the unnamed Client (Werner Herzog), a crime lord loyal to the Empire. He will pay top credits for Mando to find a 50-year-old escapee referred to only as “the Asset.” Working for the oppressive Empire isn’t at the top of Mando’s list, but he needs the cash to keep his ship, the Razor Crest, running and send some home to his clan, which is hiding in a secret Mandalorian conclave on the planet Nevarro.

Mando Suits Up with the Help of the Armorer

The Client is willing to pay in beskar, the highly durable metal Mandalorians use for their legendary armor. Before heading out on his next job, the Mando checks with his clan’s Armorer (Emily Swallow) to make sure his pay is the real deal. A skilled blacksmith and community leader, the Armorer explains that the beskar came from Mandalorians lost in a Great Purge.

The Armorer builds Mando a new armor piece and talks about the importance of the signet, a symbol of a Mandalorian’s victories. Every time he finishes a job, he’ll return to the Armorer for a new piece. Her work also gives him time to think about his own past as a foundling, orphaned during the Clone Wars.

Kuill Helps Mando Find the Asset

The new bounty leads the Mandalorian to Kuill (Nick Nolte), an Ugnaught farmer on the desert planet Arvala-7 who used to be an indentured mechanic for the Empire. Getting to the Asset isn’t going to be easy: Mando has to ride ornery animals called blurrgs, and he isn’t nearly as good at it as he is at killing. Kuill mentors Mando with patience and insight, and he agrees to help him find the bounty.

IG-11 Is an Assassin Droid with an Enthusiastic Self-Destruct Mechanism

When Mando reaches the target’s location, he discovers he isn’t the only bounty hunter there. IG-11 (Taika Waititi), an assassin droid with the ability to spin his body all the way around and fire in any direction, agrees to work with Mando to find the Asset. IG-88’s deadpanning and his eagerness to self-destruct when facing overwhelming odds bounce off of Mando’s straightforward, serious demeanor, and the two become effective teammates.

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Mando Forms an Instant Bond with Baby Yoda

It turns out the Client was a bit misleading when he said the Asset was 50-years-old. It’s a child of Yoda’s mysterious species, and Mando remembers the loss of his own parents too keenly to consign anyone else to orphanhood. The Child, who has no known relation to the Jedi Master despite the fact the majority of fans call him Baby Yoda, is green, cute, and harmless, and while Mando initially wants to turn him in for the money, a deep bond begins to form between them as soon as they meet inside a mercenary hideout.

Needless to say, the reveal of the little guy was as surprising to Star Wars fans as it was to Mando, since we rarely see any other aliens of Yoda’s species, and certainly never a child. When IG-11 tries to kill Baby Yoda, Mando takes him out, and a new heroic duo is formed.

Baby Yoda Reveals His Force Powers

In order to leave the planet, Mando has to wrest his ship back from scavenger Jawas who have dismantled the Razor Crest for scrap by offering a trade. They want a mudhorn egg, and, naturally, the rhinoceros-like mudhorn doesn’t want to let him into the nest.

Mando’s acquisition of the egg turns into a messy, muddy fight, the animal’s bulk almost proving a match for Mandalorian beskar and weapons. But just when it looks like Mando might lose, Baby Yoda levitates the monster with the Force. Do Jedi abilities run in his species? We don’t know, but the little guy’s magic enables Mando to kill the beast.

The Mandalorians Pledge to “The Way”

When Mando returns to his people, it sparks an argument about whether Mando is doing the right thing by taking Imperial bounties. Through this we learn more about the culture of the Mandalorians, who had to go into hiding after the Empire took control of their homeworld of Mandalore. “This is the Way,” they intone, emphasizing the seriousness of their creed to stay hidden, keep their helmets on at all times, and be loyal to one another. At one point, the Armorer has to break up a fight between Mando and another Mandalorian warrior.

Mando Hands the Child Over, Then Steals Him Back

Technically, Mando does his job, turning the Child over to the ominous Client. But when he learns that the Client’s men plan to do some kind of experiment on him — there’s a strong implication that Baby Yoda is an early strand-cast, just like the Emperor’s clone in The Rise of Skywalker — Mando can’t live with that. He sneaks back into the Client’s Imperial facility and cuts through the crime lord’s ranks of stormtroopers.

Stealing the Child back, Mando soon finds himself at odds with not only the Imperial forces on Nevarro but also the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, which can’t standby Mando after he breaks their code. Ultimately, Mando’s clan helps him escape and rocket away on the Razor Crest.

Cara Dune Brawls Her Way into the Story

Trying to find a safe place for himself and the Child to hide from the Empire and other bounty hunters, Mando winds up on the planet Sorgan. There he meets the ex-Rebel shocktrooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who suspects he’s there to collect a bounty on her. After a fistfight emblematic of The Mandalorian‘s more down-to-earth take on sweeping Star Wars combat, they become fast friends.

We learn Dune turned to the mercenary life after the end of the Galactic Civil War because she wasn’t interested in the peacekeeping career for the New Republic. Fighting for credits suited her better.

Mando Finds Himself in Trouble in a Quiet Village

Mando’s next stop on Sorgan is a small village that he needs to protect Seven Samurai-style. The village is under threat of attack by Klatooinian marauders, with a farmer named Omera (Julia Jones) and her daughter leading the defense.

In order to get Mando on their side, Omera offers Mando sanctuary: he and Baby Yoda cab hide from the rest of the galaxy in the village. Mando, who seems to develop feelings for Omera during his time in the village, almost shows her his face, which is forbidden by his clan, which would banish him. Mando stops Omera from taking off his helmet at the last second.

Ultimately, Mando, Omera, and Cara Dune defend the village, but they can’t stay together. Baby Yoda still has a price on his head, so Mando and Cara move on.

Gunslingers on Tatooine

When his ship falls under attack by another bounty hunter, Mando is forced to make a quick pit stop on Tatooine to do repairs on the Razor Crest. While on the famous Star Wars planet, Mando meets both the friendly mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and the young bounty hunter Toro Calican, who is searching for an infamous assassin named Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). Toro asks Mando for aid taking down his target, promising to split the bounty.

While the two successfully defeat Shand in the desert beyond Mos Eisley, Toro ends up betraying Mando in an attempt to collect the bounty on Baby Yoda. This turns out to be a poor decision.

Mando’s time on Tatooine is particularly notable for the final scene of the episode “The Gunslinger,” which teases a mystery character wearing armor and spurs not unlike those worn by another famous Mandalorian bounty hunter from Star Wars‘ past! Based on the season 2 cast list, this is either Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) himself or a sheriff from the books named Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), who finds Fett’s armor in the novel Aftermath by Chuck Wendig.

Kuill Dies Protecting Baby Yoda

Mando, Cara, Greef, and Kuill, who has reprogrammed IG-11 as a fast-shooting service droid, eventually have come up with a plan to throw the Imperials off Baby Yoda’s scent. They’ll turn in Baby Yoda’s pram to the Client while Kuill takes the kid himself to safety. But it doesn’t work: the Client’s boss turns out to be Moff Gideon, an Imperial warlord who knows exactly who he’s up against. Gideon recommends the Client double check the kid’s whereabouts and the plan falls apart. With the season coming to a close, the Client’s troopers catch up to Baby Yoda and kill Kuill, while the others are trapped in Nevarro’s cantina by Gideon’s Imperial forces.

Moff Gideon gives the Mando an ultimatum: surrender before nightfall and he’ll let them live. The good guys try to break out of the cantina, but they’re thoroughly trapped.

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IG-11 Saves the Day, But Pays the Price

Fortunately, IG-11 swoops in to steal Baby Yoda back. In a blaze of blaster fire, he breaks through the Imperial ring around the cantina, then blasts his way into the underground network of tunnels where the Mandalorian clans live. But Mando is injured and faces another type of exposure: IG-11 needs to remove his helmet to heal his wound. Although Mando can’t show his face another living being, the droid is no such thing, so he gives in.

With the wound stabilized, they limp into the tunnels. After a cascade of action sequences including the Armorer kicking stormtrooper butt, IG-11 finally self-destructs to give his friends their only possible way out of the Imperial trap.

Mando Takes Down Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter

The last piece of equipment the Armorer gave Mando is the perfect counter to Moff Gideon’s starship. Mando activates his jetpack and follows Gideon’s advanced Outland TIE fighter into the sky, putting to use all the skills he’s learned since he started earning back his beskar. He plants explosives on the ship and brings it down, seemingly killing Gideon in the process. It’s a bittersweet victory for our heroes, who have lost a few friends along the way. At least Baby Yoda is finally safe, right?

Moff Gideon Wields the Legendary Darksaber

Wrong. Moff Gideon has one more surprise to show. He not only survived the crash, but is able to cut his way out of the wreckage with the Darksaber, a black-bladed energy sword that was once the symbol of the true leader of the Mandalorian homeworld.

Last seen in the hands of the Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, the Darksaber shouldn’t be in Imperial hands. It’s an insult to the Mandalorian people and suggests Gideon is out for them personally. With Din Djarin’s people scattered after the Imperial attacks, Mando and Baby Yoda really are a clan of two against the world, and will have to face overwhelming odds to finally defeat the Empire.

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Mando and Baby Yoda Embark on a New Journey

At the end of the season, Mando and Baby Yoda follow the Armorer’s suggestion (although it’s more like an order) to find the Child’s people (the Jedi, ancient sorcerer enemies to the Mandalorians, the way she tells it) out among the stars. Meanwhile, Greef and Cara Dune stay with the Bounty Hunter’s guild, sharing a final farewell with Mando and Baby Yoda before the head out to parts unknown on their new mission. This is where season 2 will pick up!

The post The Mandalorian Recap: What You Need to Know Before Season 2 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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antihero-writings · 5 years ago

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A Touch of Song and Salem (Ch2)

Fandom: Hetalia (Firefly Crossover)

Summary: Earth got used up. They got used up. So the nations of the world had to flee into the black...but they'll only ever be half alive now.

America forgot how to smile at the academy...but maybe a day out planetside is all she needs. Hopefully the people on said planet won't try to burn her down.

(A fusion-style crossover with fem!America and Canada from Hetalia in the Firefly universe, cast as Simon and River during the dance and witch scenes of the episode "Safe.")

Notes: Written for my friend @ladynephthyss’ birthday!! The characterizations of the Hetalia characters are based on her characterizations of them!! (She plans on posting some Hetalia stuff soon, please go check her out!!)

We both love Firefly, especially Simon and River, and as I love writing fusion-style crossovers I thought this would be perfect!!

I’ll reblog this with links to Ch1, as well as reblog ch1 with ch2 soon!!

If you enjoy this fic, please consider commenting and/or reblogging!! It really means the world to me!!

Chapter 2:

Amelia doesn’t remember everything. She doesn’t remember every war between countries, every petty squabble between her family. She doesn’t remember all the things Jackson said when he was angry, and Roosevelt when he was calm. She doesn’t quite remember how she felt when it rained after too-long summers. She doesn’t remember the feeling of wildfire, of too-long winters where they had to eat the men after all. Of every man hunt over silly things like color, if we’d like to share everything after all. Not entirely. She doesn’t quite remember what it was to have fields, open and untamed.

She doesn’t remember Roanoke; she doesn’t remember Salem. She tries not to.

She doesn’t remember how the sea boiled, the earth choked, and the sky burned when they had to move off world.

She doesn’t remember what it felt like to burn.

She doesn’t remember everything from the academy. She doesn’t remember how school was more like that of fish; that they had to stick together or they’d be picked off one by one and devoured. She doesn’t remember how they shoved needles into her brain like toothpicks, and gobbled up the pieces, her thoughts appetizers—(so what was the main course?).

She, smart girl, sane girl, doesn’t remember sending letters made of jumbled notions, speaking of monuments and worlds they’d never seen, events to which they’d never been. A fraud in coded verity. She doesn’t remember laying, eyes open, knowing tomorrow would not be molded together out of sunshine, and rain, and open air, it would be sewn out of blood and their own brains.

What she does remember...fragments. A flash here. An emotion there. She sees ghosts. Some benign. Some…not so. And she’s not always sure what’s a ghost and what’s a figment, a figment of yesterday, or just today’s unlucky daydreams. Though perhaps she’s always seen them.

She feels things. Too much.

She doesn’t remember everything. All of American history is too much for one girl’s head.

But she does remember Matthew.

She remembers how much he risked to save her from the needles. She remembers the feeling of his arms around her for the first time since she left him—(all for the sake of a little knowledge…She hated how she could be so petty sometimes). The way he still, after all this time, smelled like maple, and freshly fallen snow, and cigarette smoke. How he saved her.

(Though some of her got left behind.)

She remembers how Matthew danced with her, long ago—though the occasions bleed together.

They never much liked parties.

She remembers sitting curled up with him, and a good book, by the fire, petting a dog with her toes. Thinking of home. Knowing they were close enough.

So when they take him…she forgets how to smile.

It’s a game, surely. Hide and seek. She remembers that, at least. She must be “it”.

That thought alone keeps her from breaking. Breaking. Breaking the world down, herself in it.

So she counts to ten, and she runs. Through the forest, each tree—(no sweet sap from them this time of year)—like scarecrows pointing no particular way, just there to scare off the birds, and maybe a sensitive child or two.

She remembers the farms, and the wind over the wheat, scarecrows like sentries.—Why do they say ravens are bad omens?—The farms, the plantations, and the songs gliding over them, songs of a home those working in the fields could never return to.

And she finds him. He wasn’t hiding altogether well. In fact, he’s with people out in the open, some strangers—Are they friends? Are they playing too?

“Found you~!” The smile returns. It’s okay. He’s safe. They can go back to dancing now.

The horror in his eyes tells her the world might just have to break after all.

“Amelia! Amelia, no!” He breaks free from the not-so-friends holds, grabbing her too tightly, pushing her away.

“Found you—!” She repeats the words, though the tone is entirely different, choked ang confused, as the men wrap their arms around her, and their grip is not kind, and they smell like blood.

Well…if they are to return to the needles…at least they will be together.

******

Matthew knocks lightly on the door to Arthur’s study and walks in, despite having been given no sign of welcome.

Arthur is sitting at his desk, his glasses on the tip of his nose, scrutinizing a book, his brow creased a little too hard.

Matthew sits in the chair across from him, and sets the letters down in front of him; the topic of conversation.

There is a full cup of tea on the table in front of Arthur.

Full? Yes. Steaming? No.

Arthur never lets tea go cold.

That alone would be enough to warrant the next words;

“Something’s wrong.”

Arthur looks up, those blue eyes stormy and perfectly clear at the same time. “Yes, I gathered that as well.”

“You called me in here?” France knocks lightly before marching in. Despite it being Arthur’s study, Matthew is the one who responds;

“Yes.” The Canadian is tapping his foot a little too much, a little too quickly, a dull ache in his bottom lip. “It’s about Amelia’s letters.…Didn’t they seem strange to you?”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one.” Francis sits by the bookshelf. “They seemed quite odd indeed. Especially the part about the Darbanville’s. We don’t know anyone by that name.”

“What do you think is going on?” Arthur’s eyes fix on Matthew.

Matthew looks between them, then at the letters, the words rearranging themselves on the pages. He hoped they wouldn’t think he was crazy.

“I think there’s a code.”

The two older men exchange a glance, slight surprise on their faces, then resolve. Matthew presses on.

“We get a few letters, then nothing, then this? …She’s trying to tell is something.” The knot in his stomach just keeps getting tighter, the ache in his lip sharper. “Something that someone doesn’t want her to say.”

There’s a moment of thought

“…What do you suggest we do?”

He looked down, fidgeting with his hands before looking up, fire in his eyes.

"We go get her.”

******

The moon is particularly bright this night. Not whole. Almost. Just a little bit off. Like them.

The moon. In the sky. Where it belongs. Something from a spellbook, that would turn them into wolves when drunk on starlight. Not just a dull hunk of rock in the vacuum-shield in front of them.

On better worlds this would have been a quiet night. There would be crickets and frogs, and a brother and sister would have smoked weed or tobacco, lying on the grass and named the stars. On better worlds they would have spoke of life, and politics, and absolutely nothing at all.

On better worlds Salem had ended.

But this is not a better world.

So everything is so loud. The shouts of a people who forgot they lived in a universe where superstition was just that renders the silence speechless. They speak of God, and broken little girls, and this not-Earth resonates with their tones. One word rings through the mob like gunshots, and everything sounds a little too much like yesterday.

The word, the yesterday it conjures, mix into poison in his veins, which turns to venom on his tongue.

Matthew marches up to the patron. A respectable man, with a sense of justice. A cruel man; a sense, yes, but he filled the blanks in the wrong order. The words a bitter demand, and not a plea. No desperation in his voice, no hesitation; his head is level, and he thinks the patron’s is too. The trade would be fair and simple. There’s still hope. There’s no reason to resort to anything drastic just yet. The anger in his voice is barely bleeding through;

“Take me instead. Take my life for hers.”

“The witch must die. God commands it.” He didn’t even ponder it in that thick, empty skull of his.

At those statements, the two fists shaking at his sides, want to take this man’s neck and snap it between them, singing an old war song, and throw his body over a cliff, letting hungry waves devour him, or better yet out the airlock, where he will float breathless into the void for eternity…or maybe just lead him into the fire they’re intending to feed his sister to.

He could do it. He wanted to. He could fly away on Serenity’s wings and never have to answer for such a crime. He’s killed better men in wars before. And sometimes outside them.

But, no. He must sit quietly, and watch, and wait for the end. Amelia may not be very happy if her brother killed a man in front of her. Or…

He tried not to indulge the thought that maybe she would.

And when he sees the other men holding torches, torches licking their lips, about to let them lose on his sister—

—Lighting a poor girl on fire for the simple the charge that there was a demon inside her, like we all don’t all have ten or twelve—

All that anger comes pouring out. And before he fully comprehends what he’s doing he runs to them.

“Get away from her!” that venom drips off his lips, his hands fangs, grabbing at their clothes and wrenching them and their orange beasts away.

One of them throws a punch at him. Matthew may look weak, but he has been in far worse brawls against far bigger men, in far darker streets, and these ones just so happen to intend to hurt his sister, so it’s no trouble for him to knock the three of them down.

Once they’re on the ground or clutching their faces he turns to the crowd, rage boiling in his gut—

—Why? Why? Why is it always her? Why do they do this to her? When she was just a girl who wanted to live her life in peace?—

“She has done nothing to you!”

Because she never did. She never did anything to hurt anyone, and they always found some reason to kill her for it. Some charge worthy of death. Some reason to light her on fire. They always do that with the good ones. She knows this better than anyone. And he says the words he always wanted to say, to all of them, sadness breaking through the venom—It was so simple, why couldn’t they get that seeing ghosts is no charge worthy of burning?—

“If she dies tonight it won’t be God’s will that killed her! It’ll be you! Your lunacy! Your ignorance!”

He stares out at them, and they don’t respond in word or action: they don’t try to refute his words, or pull him away. They just stare, their eyes blank, a court of zombies. They’re at a stalemate, neither giving up the floor.

And he does what he should have done long ago, what he should have every time, every time he saw her in pain, every time they persecuted her to the point of torture, or death:

He raises his heel, and takes a step back onto the platform beside her.

“That’s not gonna stop us.” Says one of them.

He resists the urge to say Never once did I think it would.

Amelia turns to him, and he expects to see fear and bloody memory in her eyes—

But she smiles. Like she had hours ago. Like nothing’s wrong. Like they’re still dancing. Playing war games. And she says, calling back to something he told her earlier today;

“Post holer. Digging holes for posts.”

He looks at the post behind them; the one she’s tied to. The one that just might be the death of her.

Post holer. For the ground.

Long ago she had ground. In America. When they caged her wild plains in with fences and wire and laws, plowing holes and raking lines across her amber fields, and it wasn’t always bad, some were nice, there were farmers who just wanted to make an honest living, a pair of explorers, once, who just to see a little bit of the world…

They weren’t always bad, no…but she’d rather be free.

And now they dug a hole, and put in a post to burn a not-quite-girl, with her golden locks, and her wild fantasies—wild fantasies like being happy, some day—this girl who, earlier today, was smiling for the first time since the academy. Some savage mob on an innocuous world dug a hole for a post to burn America down.

He wraps his arms around her, and she is warm, and she smells like hay, and summer, strawberries, and gunpowder.

There’s no hesitation, no pain, nor even anger in the words this time. They are sheer resolve:

“Light it.”

He is willing to die for her. With her. If they can die at all. If they can, it’d be fitting it’d happen out here on a twisted echo of a worse America.

They’ve spent too much time starving in the black.

“Time to go.” Amelia says softly. And the words are not pained or afraid…there’s almost longing there.

If this is it, if this is how things will end, he thinks, it’s not the worst way to go. Fire’s certainly better than water, because at least in fire you can breathe. It’s better than the cold, because the cold has a way of ridding you of feeling before the end. At least in fire you can feel something. Because the cold is slow, and makes you rather eat your friends after all…People don’t do that with fire. He always thought burning would be a fitting end for the Great White North. It’s not the worst way to go; by his sister’s side.

This will be how America and Canada end: on some nameless world, tied to a post, devoured by flames and ignorance. And…they’re alright with that.

Then there’s another sound. A sound that isn’t shouts or flames or anything natural. Something that sounds mechanical. If he was delusional he’d think it was the whirring of a ship’s engine.

He feels a gust of wind brush by him, and a bright light forces him to open his eyes, squinting.

“Well look at this,” Out of the smoke a voice breaks through, and he says it like he came upon a good game of cricket. “Looks like the twins have got themselves into a spot of trouble.”

Arthur is marching through the crowd holding a gun, Francis at his side.

“It appears we arrived just in time. What does that make us?”

“Ehh, how would le’Amerique say it?” France puts a finger to his chin as if thinking, then says in his best attempt at an American accent; “Big damn heroes.”

“Ain’t we just.” England does the same. Then, as he arrives in front of the platform, in his normal accent: “So sorry for the interruption, gents. But it appears you have something that belongs to us. And we’d very much like it back.”

“This is a holy cleansing, you cannot think to thwart God’s will.”

“…Would you be ever so kind as to direct your attention to the lovely lady hanging out of the spaceship with the rather large gun?”

Matthew did the same, only to see Ireland; red hair like flames in the light, another line of red piercing the air as she aimed the gun around, looking like she’d like nothing more than to pull the trigger. He’d been privy to such a look on her face only a few times, and he could confirm hesitation was not in her vocabulary.

“I’d like to introduce you to my sister. She has taken a liking to the girl currently tied to the post, and she might just be in the mood to kill one or two of you. So rather, it’s her will you ought worry about thwarting.” He backs up, speaking to the twins now. “I must say, the two of your’s ability to get yourselves into trouble is near miraculous.”

“…Yes I’m very proud.”

“Cut her down.” And there’s a sting to his words this time.

“She’s a witch.” The patron says, as if, upon hearing the words, Arthur will reply Oh? A witch? I wasn’t aware. Go about your business.

“Quite frankly, I’m surprised you’re bright enough to notice. Yes, she is. But she’s our witch.”

His eyes aim at the respectable man, and they’re far more threatening than the gun pointing at his head. The words contain a venom related to Matthews, but it’s the way his eyes blaze that remind Matthew that he’s watched the world burn more than once;

“So cut her the hell down.”

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saintheartwing · 5 years ago

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Demon Slayer: A Full Review

So! At long last, the excellent manga series Demon Slayer’s reached its end. I’m very sorry its over...I’m going to miss it, the same way I’m going to miss reading new “The Promised Neverland” every week or so. But with Kimetsu no Yaiba, also known as “Demon Slayer” finished, I can now dive in deep into the story and explain why its so good. Warning.

SPOILERS.

Let’s begin with the basic plot. Tanjiro lives out in the woods with his mother and his brothers and sisters. His father, alas, passed on a few years back, now Tanjiro’s a primary breadwinner as oldest man in the house, and his sister Nezuko remains behind with the rest of his family one day as he goes into town to sell his wares.

That night, it’s getting dark out. It isn’t safe to return home. Not because of bears or the like...but demons. So he stays the night at an old man’s house who talks about demons. Tanjiro doesn’t exactly fully buy into it, but...then the next day when he gets home, his family is slaughtered. It’s a horrifying scene. But...Nezuko is heavily injured, not dead. So he tries to carry her to town...only for her to turn into a demon as he’s trudging through the snow! And he can’t bring himself to hurt her.

That’s when a demon slayer appears. The Water Pillar himself! He tells Tanjiro he has to kill his sister, she’s turned, she’s dead now, he’s not going to get her back. Tanjiro however, is able to impress the demon slayer with his skills, and when the demon slayer sees Nezuko trying to save her brother’s life...he realizes MAYBE there’s something special about her.

And so Tanjiro sets out to find a way to cure Nezuko, becoming a demon slayer himself along with Zenitsu, the cowardly Breath of the Lightning user, and Inosuke, a youth raised in the wild who wears a wild boar’s head as a mask. The culprit who murdered his family? Muzan, who’s been alive for eons, who can change his appearance, and has incredible powers, and can convert other people into demons like him! Can Tanjiro defeat him? Can he save his sister? All this and more in...DEMON SLAYER!

The characters are what makes the story so engrossing. Tanjiro is a sweet, kind, compassionate sort. He recognizes that demons have to be defeated, but he recognizes that they too are victims as well, many of whom were FORCED into becoming what they are. The cycle of abuse is very prevalent in the story, many of both the good guys AND the villains are the way they are because of abuse. Zenitsu was always being put down and emotionally abused by his comrade in training, fellow compatriot of the Lightning Breath, whom he viewed as a brother and his mentor as a grandfather figure. The Snake Pillar was abused by his family, only raised to be eaten by a snake demon who enjoyed eating the infants of the family he belonged to, but who was keeping him alive because of his unique heterochromatic eyes. The Wind Pillar’s father was abusive to him and his brother, forcing him to become, when their dad died in the street in a drunken brawl, to become the head of the family and try and protect their mother...but then when the mother became a demon and a murderer, the Wind Pillar was left with an even bigger responsibility. Now with only his brother left and the rest of his family dead, he ALSO became abusive because of the additional responsibility heaped on him AND the pressure AND because he wanted his brother to stay as far away from his demon slayer life as possible, so he thought being overly harsh and ignoring him would make his brother give up and just leave him alone. Several of the “Moons”, the main enforcers of Muzan who are demons, endured horrible abuse when they were young and that abuse led them to lash out at the world and, in their desperation to get out from their horrible life...to become demons. Akaza was dirt poor, forced to steal to buy medicine for his dying dad, and nobody sympathized with him, instead just beating him for stealing and threatening to cut his limbs off. He loses his father...then, just when he finds another father figure at a dojo, and true love, and spends years training as a martial artist and growing closer to the two and becoming happy...they get poisoned by a rival dojo. Akaza’s world is shattered, he becomes a demon because everyone he wanted to help and protect...is gone. The cycle of violence and abuse is continued and he becomes the sort of bully and coward he once hated so much.

That cycle CAN be broken...but it takes concern for others, and love. It is the love of others, and the desire to want to do right by them that helps lift them out of that cycle, that redeems them in the end.

That DOESN’T mean Tanjjiro won’t kill the demons. He has to, and often does. But when he can, he tries to be honorable about it, even to make it painless. He’s not a coward, nor cruel, and he’s totally devoted to his sister.

Nezuko, in turn, doesn’t speak much in the story because, to keep her from going wild with demonic power and eating humans, she has a “Seal” over her mouth. But she gets a lot across with her actions, like her dramatic refusal to drink blood or attack a Pillar that stabbed her earlier, even when he’s offering his bloody arm for her to sup on. Her gentle treatment of others, the way she can shift her size and tries to avoid fighting unless absolutely necessary speaks to a pacifistic but strong soul.

And no, there’s no ass shots or breast shots of her. The clothing she wears covers that up completely. There’s no fanservice-y shots of her. I appreciated that.

Zenisu is a cowardly moron, but has hidden talent within that can be awakened when he’s asleep. When he dozes off, its as if his inner warrior rises up, and with a single sweeping cut, he can slice through ANYTHING. He’s also a pervert, who likes letting women touch him, or touching women. Naturally, he gets beaten the hell out of for this. At the same time though, he’s portrayed as being very compassionate too. He KNEW Nezuko was a demon, just as Tanjiro has a superpowered sense of smell, HE has a superpowered sense of hearing, he could “hear” that Nezuko, (kept in a box that Tanjiro carries around because, as a demon now, she’d burn up in the sunlight), was a demon...but because Tanjiro’s so kind, and because Tanjiro said the box was more important than his life...Zenitsu lets Inosuke beat the living SHIT out of him just to defend the box. ANYTHING to keep Inosuke from hurting Nezuko inside it. He doesn’t even raise a fist to defend himself.

Inosuke, at first, starts off as a roughshod, rowdy jerk who, beneath that boar’s head mask, has a BEAUTIFUL, almost girly face. But it makes some sense, because he grew up without any family. No mother, no father, raised by boars, and only barely able to read because of the kindness of a few strangers whom he hung around their porch sometimes. Nevertheless, he’s got incredible raw power and skill and has a very strong code. He’s not emotionally open...but he when he DOES show it, his heart is on his sleeve and he’s able to cut right to the point.

Tanjiro is a good straight man for these two rather rambunctious, ridiculous types. He’s also clearly the heart and moral compass of the group, and the story. He’s able to touch people, to reach out to them and connect to others by being earnest, compassionate, and down-to-earth.

The story, aside from diving into themes of how terrible abuse is and how it affects people and how we should break free from it, also dives into “what makes a human being a human” as it looks at the sad lives of many of the demons. Is there anything human left of them? What does it mean to BE human? The demons are just as much victims as victimizers, they’re pitiable, pathetic creatures as Tanjiro insists.

Another thing the story has for a theme is that family. Many of the main characters have unusual families, or else tragically LOST family members, and this impacted them heavily. The Flame Pillar’s father was a good, sweet, loving father until he lost his wife, and then he turned into a despondent drunk. He’s too angry at the world and also, himself, to cry when he hears his son is dead, but when he hears his son’s final words were for him to take care of his body...in essence, “please stop drinking, you’re better than that”, he can’t help but sob uncontrollably. Tanjiro’s family is tragically taken from him and that loss motivates him to become strong. Inosuke was raised by boars because, alas, his mother and father aren’t around...but not by choice for his mom. She was FORCED to drop him off a cliff into a river after writing his name onto his diaper because she was being chased by a demon and she couldn’t think of any other way for him to survive. Zenitsu was abandoned himself, his only family was his grandfather mentor figure, and his brother Kaigaku. Both of them were very harsh on him, but his “grandpa” did truly love him and wanted to bring out his potential, despite not being of flesh and blood, and Rui, the Spider Demon, who ended up killing his own parents when he became a demon, ends up creating demons to replace his parents and to make a “happy little family” because, deep down, he wants to be happy with his family again...but he no longer really remembers what it means for a family to have a true bond. It takes dying and seeing Tanjiro protecting his sister to remember it again. Not everyone has to be family by blood...family can come from anywhere. But at the same time, there’s a responsibility that does come from it...a responsibility to be decent. To be kind. To protect those you love, and to try and do right by them.

In fact, the ONLY decent thing the Wind Pillar’s dad does...besides dying...is giving his wife company. She, becoming a demon, murdered her children. She can’t go to where they’re going...she’s going to Hell for that. And the Wind Pillar, on the verge of death, is happy to give her company. But...nope! His dad is there. It’s not time for his son to die yet. HE’S going to keep his wife company, punishment for his own sins and his own pathetic life. The Wind Pillar has to keep living...and stay strong. So he literally saves his son from slipping into Hell as a final act of remorse. The only good thing he did in life...or rather, after-life. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve Hell...but at least his final act was to try and do right by his son. And that does mean something.

So yeah, you should know this. The story is NOT afraid of death. It’s not uncommon at all for major supporting characters you’ve gotten to know very well to die. Quite a lot of them die. And I won’t give away any more spoilers beyond that. But..like, a LOOOOT of them die. A LOT a lot. Remember when I said the flame pillar tragically dies? He’s, like, the FIRST major death. Keep that in mind. He’s just the first indication that the manga’s willing to kill off its characters no matter how important or likable they are.

The villains of course are very memorable in their own ways. Some of them are just incredibly powerful swordsmen, others have magical abilities, and others are just so raw-powerful with their martial arts they’re a force to be reckoned with. And their leader exemplifies another theme of the story...that of selfishness and the disregard for life. Muzan is a selfish, egotistical, thinks-himself-perfect type who only desires to conquer the sun to be truly perfect. He’s insanely powerful, has NO value for human life or even much demon life, is manipulative, abusive, cruel, capricious, and quite sadistic. He’s like a baby, everything has to be HIS way and if he doesn’t get it, he throws a temper tantrum.

It’s a bit of irony. When he was born, he was born dead. They were about to burn his body when he started crying, coming back to life. So in essence, EVERYTHING he’s done can be boiled back to that. It’s all about just staying alive and f-k the consequences for anyone else or really, EVERYONE else. He doesn’t care how he does it. And he’s killed COUNTLESS people over the years.

So who leads the Demon Hunters to oppose Muzan’s Twelve Moons? Kagaya Ubuyashiki. He’s got a lovely wife and...creepy kids. Kagaya Ubuyashiki, tragically...can’t fight. He can’t even swing a sword properly. He tried, but he’s terrible at it. All he has is his money, his cunning, his wisdom, his MIND. He’s the brains behind their organization...and he’s also been blind for years. He’s slowly dying, in fact, which everyone’s aware of in the Demon Hunters. He’s not a king though on the board, he’s a pawn too, and he’s perfectly willing to kill himself if it means he’d hurt Muzan at all. And on top of that, he’s memorized every single name of every single individual who joined the Demon Hunters. It’s the least he could do.

But I know what some of you are wondering. “Are there any...problematic elements in the story?”

Well, several of the characters talk about being stuck in slavery, but its portrayed as clearly a disgusting practice, and society is viewed in the wrong for its horrible treatment of the poor. A magistrate angrily yells at one character to just get a f--king job instead of stealing, ignoring the fact that the medicine the character has to buy for his sick father is INCREDIBLY expensive, he can’t just go out and GET a job, nobody would hire a violent kid like him, and he’s desperate. Many girls are forced to be prostitutes just to get by, and it’s a somber thing, portrayed as a tragedy that they’re often at the whims of abusive johns or women who own the whorehouses they work at.

There is also some clear bigotry against the demons from the Pillars, but this makes some sense. They’re supposed to fight and kill demons, and the overwhelming majority kill and eat humans, often very cruelly, so if you’re exposed to that type of being constantly and never see any demons being kind or decent, you’d think ALL of them were like that. For them, the human inside died when they turned into a demon, you shouldn’t pity them. But as Tanjiro says, that’s the wrong way to look at it.

There’s also two demons that are friendly, “nice” demons. Tamayo and her assistant, Yushiro. Tamayo is an expert doctor and chemist, who seeks to try and help Tanjiro return Nezuko back to being a human, and she opposes Muzan. Tamayo was one of the first people Muzan converted and she was also a victim of his manipulative behavior. She was dying from a disease, all she wanted was to see her children grow up, and Muzan said sure, he’d cure her, all she had to do was drink his blood. Well, she did...and she became a demon and killed her family and a host of other people, and regretted it ever since. Since then, she’s sought a way to defeat Muzan...to kill him! It’s difficult though. You can’t cut off his head, his body is too strange. But the sun? The SUN can kill him, the same way it can kill other demons, who dissolve away in the sun. With her and her assistant Yushiro, the Demon Slayers finally have a way to beat Muzan.

Also, the anime is really gorgeous as well. I highly recommend it AND the manga. So anyway, the story’s great, check it out if you can.

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #manga #anime #review #spoilers

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recalcitrantlycaffeinated · 6 years ago

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DND: an update

We convinced pretty much a whole town to join our ship as crew

We went to another town, where we:

Were really bad at a drinking game

Corrupted the youth from our townspeople-crew by attempting to take part in a religious festival, angering their elders

Met a weird would-be pirate captain with no ship and practically no crew who was searching for treasure and wanted to commission a ship to help her

She said whoever arrived first at her table in a neighboring bar would win the chance to treasure hunt with her

We weren’t impressed because she didn’t have a boat or a crew so we decided to amble over slowly and just kill everyone who got there first

Had a giant bar brawl where we decimated some poor rubes who thought we were going to use nonlethal damage when like...that has penalties associated with its rolls...we’re pirates...we don’t take penalties

Successfully intimidated the pirate captain into allowing us to be her ship/crew in exchange for half of the treasure

Burnt down the whole fucking town because the bar owner was mildly upset that we had scared his patrons away???

Almost got sold into slavery and had our ship confiscated because of this, but somehow our teenage girl bard passed an insurmountably high bluff check to convince these townspeople that our townspeople-crew-elders were to blame instead

Still had to have a minor fight to get out of town

Fled the scene of the crime, only to immediately be boarded by another party, who apparently had beef with our new treasure captain lady

Let them kill each other while we all just sat around and watched

Did I mention we’re pirates

Decided to travel to a legendary keep where whoever owns the keep is destined to come into great power or something

We had heard about this keep like 8 months ago out of game so all our memories were really foggy

But three of us remembered it existed because it was called Tidewater Rock and so we had been repeatedly singing “Welcome to the Rock” from Come from Away whenever it was mentioned, which we remembered much more than any actual lore

We heard the lady who currently owned the keep hated our mortal enemy/former captain, since he killed her husband. I also spent roughly three minutes trying to ask the DM if we remembered if stories said she was a badass without using the word badass, because, toddler.

Got to the keep and were super truthful about everything. She asked if one of our party would be willing to be locked in another room with guards in order to prove our lack of treachery while the rest of us were treated to dinner. Our sorceress immediately volunteered our shark shaman (who had been the one who burned down the last town and almost got us all sold into slavery).

Used diplomacy to make the lady willing to help us. She wanted to solidify our alliance formally using part of the local pirate code.

Only a handful of our PCs are familiar with the pirate code. One of the bards figured out that she meant solidifying the alliance through temporary marriage

Being Ultra Dense, I asked who we needed to marry, and was told (like it was obvious) that she was asking one of us to marry her

She further specified that she would only marry one of the male members of our party. This presented a problem.

Out of our party of now-7, four of us are male. Three out of the four are teenagers. Our captain is in his 30′s. Our DM hinted that this would be preferable.

I interrupted to say I would marry her. From the beginning, I had written into my character that I wasn’t going to pursue anyone romantically, because it was beneath me to beg a possibly-uninterested woman for her time and attention. I would only engage with someone who was already asking for MY time and attention.

The lady asked me to make my case for why she should marry me, despite the fact that I am eighteen and she is...significantly older. She strongly hinted that she would then like our captain to also make a case.

I very straightforwardly pointed out that she had already married for love once, and anything she was seeking out of the marriage other than an alliance likely had to do with missing some aspect of her former husband, and that I would be a perfectly malleable form upon which she could logically dictate her preferences.

Our sorceress, out of character, said, “I’ll be your boy toy? THAT’S your argument? This is a crit fail.”

I rolled a 27. We got married.

I now technically own the legendary keep. This had not occured to me at the time.

#dnd: pirates edition #guys i have a wife now?

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neverwatchedonepiece · 7 years ago

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One Piece Movie: Strong World

The only thing I knew about this before wading in was Strong World was written by Oda himself. This was a good sign. After all, Toriyama wrote Battle of Gods, one of the recent Dragonball movies and I liked it a lot. Mainly because it was funny, but it also expanded the universe and opened up a ton of new potential plot directions. (Granted, I haven’t watched the latest DB series, so I have no idea if this was a good idea or not.)

The first thing I noticed about Strong World was, of course...

Hello, Movie Budget!

It is beautiful.

Seriously, look at those floating islands. The scope. The detail. Tiny Luffy in the right hand corner. If this was a video game, I’d be thrilled to play it.

Everything in this movie was that little bit lovelier than usual. There are a couple of scenes that stick out in particular. When Robin, Franky and Brook escape from the armed ants near the beginning (the swirling blossoms, the vibrant colour scheme). When the Strawhats look up at Shiki, stood on a stonehenge-like trilithon with the setting sun behind him (nice silhouette of the Strawhats) and, in general, those amazing shots of the Strawhats lined up, ready to fight.

Everyone looked great, too. All the Strawhats had new outfits (Robin suited the glasses and casual jumper dress, and Franky was perfect for that leather jacket).

Plus that Nami fan service...

But I suppose the important question is this: why was Luffy tearing about on those floating islands, running away from a hilarious conveyor belt of murderous animals that culminated in a giant preying mantis being suplexed by a huge sloth bear?

The answer is this guy.

This Is What You Get For Being Nice, I Guess...

Shiki was a good movie villain. Threatening enough to cause trouble for the Strawhats but not over-powered to the point it disrupts the main canon plot (I hate it when that happens in movie specials). I like how he was integrated into the main plot (at least in the anime). There was that teaser back in Marineford when Sengoku mentioned Shiki in the same vein as Roger (and I thought it was something noteworthy, haha).

Well, it was a bit.

Post-Marineford, Shiki, who had been defeated by Gol D. Roger twenty years prior, had returned. After destroying a few innocent towns in East Blue, he flew his vast, floating island of a ship through the airspace of Marineford, its oars cutting through the clouds and left Garp and Sengoku a little message to remember him by. (That scene was good, if a bit CGI-tastic.)

On his way, he encountered the Straw Hats, who were just hanging out on the Sunny. The Coo News dropped and they discovered the grim situation in East Blue. Then, a vast ship passed overhead. Amazing, right? But it was headed straight into the path of a dangerous storm that Nami had spotted. Luffy, being decent, gave the order to alert the floating ship.

Shiki, being a villain, reacted somewhat badly to this news. He shot every single Navigator on his ship. What did he pay them for? Honestly! But look through yonder telescope. There was a sexy, young Navigator on the Sunny. The one who was sharp enough to spot the coming cyclone. And there was a vacancy. Several, in fact.

Aided by the power of his Float Float Fruit, he descended onto the Sunny’s deck. His design is cool. Those sword legs are awesome. It did not take him long to “invite” the Strawhats to his place: the floating islands of Merveille.

I say, “invite”. Kidnap is much more accurate.

Shiki’s Diabolical Fanservice-Filled Plan

And that was how the Strawhats ended up on Merveille.

And Nami in a swimming pool in a bikini, of course. (Don’t think I didn’t notice that scene when Nami pulled up those impossibly tiny shorts. But hey, it’s a tropical island. It’s hot, right?)

Mid-swim, Shiki and his goons showed up. For some reason, they performed a dance number. One of his goons was also one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen in a movie. His shoes made a dumb fart sound. His name was Dr Indigo, but I’ll call him Fart Clown.

Fart Clown rushed in with a new test subject: a duck that generates electricity. Shiki has been engineering fighting animals using a drug they developed from a local plant: the IQ plant. Nami did not approve and asked him what the hell he was doing. Shiki refused to reveal his goal, but dropped a few Significant Lines. “I’ll tell you once you join my crew. There are certain favours I’ll only do for crew members.”

Of course, Nami wasn’t planning to stay long. As soon as she found an escape route, she was off, with Electric Duck Billy in tow. Flying around with Billy, she spotted Luffy because he had amassed an increasing stampede of roid-raged creatures after his blood.

Tear-Filled Reunions?

(Best joke in the movie. Why do you pretend to hate each other? You are fooling no one, guys.)

Meanwhile, the other Strawhats had been finding out interesting things.

Sanji and Usopp dodged sabre-toothed tigers and sharp-shooting buffalo and found themselves at a village filled with malnourished older residents and young children. They found out about how Shiki controls the village, takes away working-age residents to work at his palace, how the rest can only scrape by and that DDMs patrol the streets, recording everything anyone says or does. These people also had feathers. Why? No one knew.

Zoro and Chopper rescued a small girl (there is always a filler kid in movies) who had strayed from her village in search of a plant to help her grandmother. The grandmother was laid low by an airborne malady that originated in the Daft Green trees that surrounded the village. A double-edged sword: the trees kept them safe from the marauding animals but were also poisonous. There is a cure, but it’s derived from the IQ plant, and Shiki takes them all for his mutant animal projects. Chopper, by the way, did not have a good time around the trees.

Robin, Franky and Brook (well, not Brook, ahaha) avoided being stripped of their flesh by a crowd of angry, armed ants, then Franky improvised a Crawley Davidson (ahaha) to travel across the island in search of the others. There, they came across Shiki’s Palace. Elite pirates had gathered. There was a dress code. A random pirate told them Shiki had plans to demo his world-domination plans by destroying the village where all the feathered people lived, just like he’d destroyed the other towns in East Blue. (I liked how quick Robin was to play along. She’s such a good intel-gatherer.)

Unfortunately, they were too far away from the village to warn the other Strawhats.

Nami figured it out, but it was too late.

Vanguard Nami

This was the part of the movie when the protagonists suffer a defeat. It had to happen.

Shiki appeared to recapture Nami. He was delusional, saying Nami really wanted to be part of his crew, honest. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper tag-teamed Shiki, but the villain had an iron plot shield. His power was cool, though. You can tell Oda was behind it. The uses of it were very creative. Shiki made the earth float, engulf the Strawhats like a tsunami and them in a twisted spiral of dirt.

Then he forced Nami into a corner. She agreed to join his crew. Usopp tried to stop her, but Shiki still had his iron plot shield. Shiki decided to be nice and let her leave a Tone Dial message for her old crewmates.

Of course, when Robin, Franky and Brook finally found them an dug them out, Luffy listened to 80% of the message and got the wrong idea. How could she say Shiki was stronger than them, that he’d never measure up to a guy like that?

I knew there had to be more to that message. Nami would never say something like that, would she? (Interesting that Sanji was the one who asked to hear the message again.)

Luffy’s anger fuelled his epic rescue mission!

Which was just as well, as Shiki had executed his plan to tear down the protective trees. Murderous animals swarmed the village. The downtrodden people had to flee for their lives. Nami had been caught trying to betray Shiki (I still don’t get why she wanted to blow up the trees with dynamite) and he imprisoned her, leaving her to succumb to the Green Disease.

As Shiki headed towards East Blue, the Strawhats rocketed towards his palace on the Sunny.

Robin Must Have Mentioned the Dress Code

The big fight scene was great.

The explosions, the smokey silhouettes, the sharp tailoring and the badass walk in were a joy to watch. Even the guns and the Kill Bill style brawl (you think you can take on the Crazy 88?) were fun. I liked how the first words out of Luffy’s mouth were: “Is Nami okay?”

Then, when Shiki lied about her doing just fine, Luffy respected Nami by saying, “Nami didn’t sacrifice herself. She came here to fight as our vanguard. Prepare yourself. We are the main force!”

Luffy acted like the captain. Gave Usopp and Chopper orders to find Nami, while the rest of them cleaned up. Franky fought the scrubs. Brook stealing the limelight when Sanji fought the gorilla for Robin was hilarious (”I WILL SHEAR THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!” “I have no flesh.”)

Luffy ran after Shiki and Zoro was elevated to angel status in my eyes for offing that IRRITATING FART CLOWN.

And a word of advice: don’t say anything bad about being born in East Blue to Zoro.

“Don’t Bother Our Captain.”

I agree, Chopper. He is cool.

Hasta la Vista, Fart Clown The only good thing about you is that you had some pre-made Green Disease cure about your person that Chopper and Usopp looted from your unconscious body.

They found Nami just as she exacted her Revenge Plan. Billy the Duck lit the dynamite fuses and the Daft Green trees surrounding Shiki’s palace were obliterated. The enraged fighting animals stampeded in and smashed Shiki’s palace. It was wild. Fun to watch.

Enraged, Shiki tracked Nami, Usopp and Chopper. But guess who followed him and was, at that point, literally steaming with rage.

Monty Python’s Grand Finale

“NAMI, I’M GONNA BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA HIM AND WE’RE GONNA GO HOME!”

When Luffy makes a promise. He delivers.

And this is where the movie budget came into its own. That Gear 3rd animation was glorious.

I liked how the Strawhats took down Shinki. It reminded me of when they teamed up to take down Oars. They have come a long way and are now a well-oiled machine of efficient teamwork.

While Luffy used Billy the Electric Duck to counteract his lack of reach (I mean, Luffy’s reach is great, but Shiki can fly. What can you do?) Nami used an approaching storm to their advantage. Usopp and Chopper menaced the navigation team to turn the islands directly into the path of the storm. Robin helped Usopp and Chopper blow the palace to Kingdom Come. Franky prepared the Sunny for a quick getaway.

Shiki was caught mid-gloat (always the villain’s Achilles’ Heel). Merveille sailed right into the coming storm. Nami, of course, revealed her Clima Tact and called him out. Usopp sent a lightning attack deliberately into the rumbling clouds. Brook called everyone else back to the Sunny, leaving Luffy to clean up.

As Luffy’s lightning-charged, giant foot screamed towards Shiki, I thought: yes. This is exactly the kind of spectacular, over-the-top finale a bigger budget movie needs. GET HIM, LUFFY! (It also had shades of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. You ever seen that giant grey foot in the opening? The theme song was stuck in my head for ages afterwards.)

So it was that the Strawhats saved East Blue and the feathery Sky Angel People! Two birds with one stone. How about that? Let it never be said that the Strawhats cannot multi-task! (The feathery Sky Angel People bit didn’t make much sense. How could you forget you were a race of Sky Angel People? But whatever, I just went with it.)

At first I was confused as to why the Marines were arresting Shiki’s goons. How did they know where to find them? Then I realised Garp and Sengoku had probably been chasing them since the stunt Shiki pulled at Marineford.

And the heart-warming (ship fuelling) scene at the end with Nami’s real message played at the end?

“Promise me you’ll come rescue me.”

Awesome. Good movie. Glad you guys recommended it.

Shiki has clearly never watched One Piece.

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #strong world #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #sanji #usopp #nami #tony tony chopper #nico robin #franky #shiki the golden lion #monkey d. garp #sengoku #fart clown

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shoot-i-messed-up · 7 years ago

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L and V (Part 9)

A/N: oof where did my motivation go? also, there may or may not be foreshadowing in this chapter

Tropes/Pairings: Analogical, background Royality, hero x villain, soulmates AU (the one where if you draw on yourself, it shows up on your soulmate’s skin), and superpowers

Summary: Corbin informs Virgil of the new conspiracy theories surrounding Anxiety and Logic, and Virgil has to face the consequences the next day. Fortunately, the next day isn’t a field day. Unfortunately, he still has to face the agency bully and his assistant.

TW: This one guy who’s pretty much a stereotypical school bully, a fight, dread, a ““dark side”” but this is a human!au

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Virgil sleepily stumbled into the kitchen the next day. After the fight with the A-team and Logan’s announcement, he had collapsed in exhaustion as soon as he caught sight of his bed. He had slept peacefully, for the first time in a long while.

“Hey, kiddo,” Patton greeted Virgil as he cooked some pancakes.

Virgil slowly made himself some coffee and become aware than your average zombie. As he nursed a cup of warm coffee, he cherished his day off, though off days were usually after a tough battle. After a long sip of caffeine, Virgil replied, “Hey, Pat.”

Patton flipped a pancake sloppily. “You have a day off?”

“Yeah, you?” Virgil nonchalantly took another swig.

“Yep!” Patton chirped. “I’m going to spend the day with Daphne.”

Virgil squinted in thought. “Isn’t she that crazy woman you met at the library?”

“Kiddo,” the elder scolded, setting the pancake onto a plate before turning to look disapprovingly at Virgil. “She isn’t crazy. Far from it! She’s a genius! She showed me this really good book!”

Virgil nodded slowly. “That sounds fake but okay.” He drank some more coffee. He casually turned his phone on to check Tumblr, but he was bombarded with a bunch of texts from Corbin.

Corbin: THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Corbin: CODE ORANGE!

Corbin sent a link.

Corbin: COME OVER TO THE St. CLAUDIA PARK!

Corbin: Pick up!!

Corbin: Look at the news!!!

Corbin: Did you see the news?!

“What the heck?” Virgil wondered aloud. To start, Code Orange, if he remembered correctly, was a scandal or an information leak of some sort. He quickly typed in the password to his phone and pressed the link Corbin had sent him.

Logic and Anxiety: Dating Confirmed?!

The picture below it was a slightly blurry photo of Virgil and Logan making out the day before.

Virgil’s face was drained of blood. There. He was done. His hero reputation was ruined by this scandal. A hero soul mates with a villain? He was surely going to be treated as a traitor within his agency. And outside his agency, things would be worse. People would shoot him dirty looks in the streets and outright harass him. He was ruined, like how Hamilton when he had published the Reynolds Pamphlet.

How would Virgil pay his bills if he wasn’t a hero? He supposed he could get a different job, but he had dropped out of college to become a full time hero. Virgil would have to freeload off of Patton, but he didn’t want to strain Patton’s finances, especially if Patton suffers the consequences of the scandal, too. Patton had a higher position in the agency, if Patton’s bank account was anything to go by.

And L? Villainy was his job, it was how he kept food on the table. He would get treated as a traitor, too. His own friends would probably turn their backs to him. Virgil scrolled through the news, heart sinking when he realized that the pictures were all over the news. On social media, both villain and hero agencies worked hard to get them off the Internet or to loudly dismiss it as photoshop. Half other people on the Internet thought it was just as “fake” as the proofs of Anxiety and Logic being soul mates.

Corbin: When are you going to get your BUTT over to St. Claudia’s Park?! I’m freezing! And I know you’ve read my texts!

Corbin. Could Corbin fix it? Virgil hoped so. Corbin could fix a lot of things. Corbin fixed his cracked pot once, and Virgil still had no idea how.

Corbin: Virgil! Don’t ignore me!

On second thought, maybe Corbin couldn’t fix his way out of a paper bag, but he could sure as heck order others to. Virgil slipped his phone into his pocket and flew out the door to go to the park.

Reluctantly, Virgil went to work the next day with a pit in his stomach. Some other superheroes shot him murderous glances and others shot him pitying ones. It was a paperwork day, not one in the field, to which Virgil was thankful for. He didn’t think he could handle all of the taunts of villains and the heavy suspicion citizens. He worked quietly at his desk, thanking the universe that he had a private office. His assistant, Imani, typed furiously in a separate desk a few feet away from him. Imani sniffled as she filled out the forms. For the sake of not having awkward silence, Virgil played some classical music from his computer.

“So,” Virgil said, breaking the silence for first time in the hour they had been working silently. He drummed his fingers on the wooden desk, trying to manage a way to get words past his lips without sounding like a fool. “Have you, uh, seen the news recently?”

Imani looked up but kept typing. “Yes, I have!” she said in her British accent. She grinned. “I read the article on the dog and the rabbit becoming friends!”

Virgil stared at Imani in disbelief. “…So you don’t know about the Code Orange?”

Imani’s grin wavered and her eyes seemed lifeless for once. “I do know about that.” She stopped typing. Her smile dropped. “Is it true?”

Virgil ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah,” he sighed.

“Goodness!” she gasped. Imani stood up and slammed her hands onto her desk. “How could you do that? Logic? I didn’t believe all those rumors, but this…this…”

Virgil sank further into his chair and hid his face in his sweater. “I-I-I’m sorry…”

Imani teared up and sniffled. “I’m afraid ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it. Logic almost put my family business out of business!”

Virgil squinted and wondered if this was going where he thought it was going. “…What’s your family business?” he asked hesitantly.

“Family Hashen Bakery,” Imani sniveled. Virgil handed her a tissue, which she took gratefully. “We think someone broke into it sometime ago.” She aggressively blew her nose.

Virgil winced and guilt ate at his heavy heart. “Oh…”

After a few minutes of Virgil passing tissues to her, Imani calmed down a little with only some sniffles. “Virgil, I know you’re a good person, but Logic…Logic isn’t.”

“I know,” Virgil admitted. “I think the universe made a mistake.”

“Virgil, this is the plot of a million books,�� Imani said as-a-matter-of-factly as she could when wiping tears from her face. “The universe doesn’t make mistakes.” She and Virgil solemnly locked eyes. “I hope that’s true.” Then she sat down and continued typing almost as if nothing had ever happened. Virgil stared at her, surprised to see how easily she had slipped back into work. After a few minutes, Virgil sat back down, too, and filled out more paperwork.

The two sat in tense silence, except for the music Virgil still played. He had turned it a little louder, to cut the tension. An hour later, Virgil stood up. “I’m going to take a break,” Virgil muttered at Imani. He watched her for a reaction, permission, something.

She looked up. “Then take one,” she said professionally, almost coldly.

He shuddered at her warmthless voice and opened the door. The hallway was suddenly a lot more inviting than his office, and most other heroes didn’t give him any more trouble other than glares. He made his way to the first floor. He was almost at the vending machine to get his usual granola bar when he was stopped by a thick hand on his shoulder.

“Well, Anxiety, so good to see you,” a man boomed high above Virgil’s head.

Virgil silently cursed his luck. Why did it have to be Chad, of all people? He was very much a jerk, and he only got through the ranks of the agency because of nepotism. At least, that was what everyone thought. Virgil had seen Chad fight, and he was afraid of Chad. He was the stereotypical jock of the agency, which was saying a lot.

“Hi, Chad,” Virgil said. He tried to walk away, but Chad’s hand kept him firmly in place. He wondered why Chad of all people had to have super strength, but that’s how the universe went. Virgil had heard Chad’s soul mate’s power was to weaken others. Balance, Virgil supposed.

Chad’s grip on Virgil tightened, bringing Virgil out of thought. “I heard about the Code Orange,” he said. Some heroes started to take notice of the scrawny 21-year-old and the jacked 30 something by the vending machine.

Now, Virgil knew he was lucky to be at his polite, well-mannered agency, but that didn’t mean that fights between heroes still didn’t happen. He had heard about an argument that escalated into a full-on brawl, but the heroes had telekinesis and pyrokinesis, so naturally, the fight was destructive.

“I see,” Virgil said politely.

“Are you soul mates with Logic?”

Virgil winced at Chad’s fingernails digging into his shoulder, and he was sure that Chad was using his power. He needed to defuse the situation before it turned into a fight, but if he wanted to not cause a scene, he had to stall for time. He subtly started to adjust the gravity around them.

“What?” Virgil asked innocently. In his peripheral vision, he saw a figure in black and grey. He hoped that was who he thought it was. “Yeah, I thought it was obvious by now.” Virgil heard some dramatic gasps the shouts of his colleagues, and perhaps the exasperated sigh of some after Dot fainted. Again.

“You’re not going to betray the heroes for that scum, are you?” Chad spat.

“No,” Virgil said as calmly as he could. The black and grey outline started to come closer, and Virgil’s and Chad’s feet were almost off of the ground.

After that happened, Virgil would have the advantage. Chad would have to float aimlessly about. And if he wanted to go anywhere, let alone fight, he would have to push himself. Considering Chad’s power, that would be very destructive, and with all of the precious or dangerous items in the building, even Chad’s father wouldn’t be able to pay that amount of money. All of this banked on whether or not Chad could figure this out, and Chad wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. That’s where they came in.

“No,” Virgil repeated a little louder. “Really the opposite!” With that, they shot off of the floor, and Virgil was once again thankful for the high ceilings and the interior balconies of other floors. Before Chad could do anything, Virgil wiggled out of his grasp and dropped himself off at the second floor.

“Hey!” Chad roared and tried to sprint after Virgil but he propelled himself upside down.

“Chad, don’t!” Elliot yelled from the ground.

Chad grumbled loudly, but he knew he couldn’t do anything. Elliot was 90% of Chad’s impulse control.

With light feet, Virgil sprinted down the halls into his office. He almost ran past his door. He quickly opened his office, shut the door behind him, and locked it with his keys. He trembled with nerves and panted from exhaustion.

Imani quickly sat up straight. “What happened?” she said, shocked.

“Everything,” Virgil gasped in between puffs. “But more precisely, Chad.”

Envy looked around the dark and dirty street around him. A few shady people milled about the place as Envy looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. He entered into Killer Koffee warily and looked around at the black sofas with suspiciously red splatters. “Hello,” he greeted the grumpy barista. He pretended to squint at the menu as if he wasn’t already instructed on what drink to get. “I would like a mocha with whip cream, extra sugar, and hold the milk.”

The barista raised an eyebrow. “Who is it for?”

Envy smiled. “Phthonus.”

“Well then,” the barista said, “right this way, sir.” She led him into the back of the store, where only employees could enter. The employee led the villain into a broom closet and shut the door behind Envy, almost nipping his heels.

“Code word?” a man chirped in a dreadfully cheerful manner. Envy could almost see the spy’s glasses highlighted in the dark closet and shivered. People like the spy in front of him always intimidated him.

“Confucius,” Envy answered. “Now, what’s the info?”

Taglist:

@cyberpunkjinx

@jemthebookworm

@preyed-llama

@a-ghosts

@alicehatter529

#l and v sanders sides #analogical #superpowers #simu writing #soul mates #human!au #virgil sanders #logan sanders #cartoon therapy #sanders shorts #sanders sides #patton sanders #corbin cartoon therapy #envy sanders #tw fight #tw dread

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constablewrites · 7 years ago

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Give Your Characters a Breather

I love me a good action movie. Tense standoffs, well-choreographed brawls, car chases that make me go, “Oh, shit!”… I just eat it up. But you can definitely have too much of a good thing. No matter how much you love a given food, if you eat nothing but you’re going to get sick of it. As great as action is, it needs context for us to be able to care, and if it’s unrelenting, it overwhelms us and causes us to tune out. This is the mistake of a movie like King Kong, where everything ran twice as long as it should have been, to the point where I’m checking my watch during a fight between a giant gorilla and a dinosaur.

So speaking of dinosaurs, let’s check out a movie that understands that good pacing is a balance between crazy high-powered action and quiet character moments. YouTube ahoy!

youtube

Now, Jurassic Park isn’t an action movie in the shooty explody sense; some of its greatest moments of tension are in the frozen terror rather than the running and screaming. (“He can’t see us if we don’t move” is bad science, but very, very good cinema.) Things go steadily south as treacherous code monkey Nedry enacts his plan to shut down the park and steal the embryos, until we get to the midpoint and the T-Rex busts out and wrecks shit up. The next several scenes show the characters trying to evade and survive, until everyone still standing has found a place to hunker down for the night.

If you can’t watch the scene above, Hammond is eating ice cream (which is melting, since the freezers are off), and he tells Ellie about the flea circus he used to operate. Up until this point, Hammond has been the smooth showman, more concerned with getting his park open than with the danger it represents and the people who’ve been injured and killed. But here, he gives us a little explanation for his obsession, and in that moment, he’s vulnerable and human in a way he hasn’t been even when shit is headed fanwards.

More importantly, he’s still hanging onto the obsession until Ellie directly calls him on it. She has to remind him that the safety of their loved ones–remember, it’s his grandchildren and her boyfriend still out in the park–is more important than even his lifelong dream. It’s a pivotal moment for Hammond’s character, the first time he’s forced to seriously consider that he might not be able to salvage this project. The scene ends with a sad echo of his proud refrain: “We spared no expense.”

Hammond’s meeting with Ellie is flanked by two scenes of Dr. Grant and the kids, first reaching a safe place to sleep and then waking up and interacting with the brachiosaurus. As with Hammond’s scene, this provides a significant character moment, showing Grant’s growing connection to the two children (symbolically represented by him dropping the raptor claw fossil he’d used to antagonize the brat at the Badlands dig). Of course the audience saw how far he was willing to go to save Lex and Tim from the T-Rex, but the scene in the tree is the first time Grant himself has had the chance to stop and think about what he’s doing and what it means.

It might seem odd to have this fairly lengthy interlude in the middle of an action movie, but it’s really quite necessary. We’re just not capable of sustaining fear for very long; our baselines readjust because otherwise our hearts would explode. This lull gives both characters and audience a chance to make that readjustment after the devastation of the T-Rex attack. It lets the characters process the events and deal with their reactions, and it helps remind the audience of what’s at stake by reintroducing the characters as rounded people after they’ve spent the last few scenes as screaming dino chow. And, of course, there’s the narrative convenience of letting us skip ahead to the next morning, because daytime shoots are cheaper and easier.

Contrast is an extremely useful tool in the writing arsenal, establishing patterns and providing context the reader can use to derive meaning. Without some moments of quiet, the loud whizbang action just isn’t as effective.

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