#manipulate you. these people whom you have never interacted with in your life prior to this. they're in kahoots w ur abuser to validate the

[ersatz-introspective]

ppl, especially low/no-empathy ppl, who talk to ableist anti-pd cluster b abuse believers with the upmost patience & understanding are so crazy (/pos) for that because what

how do y'all sit there and level w/ them just. so much.

i know it's kind of necessary bcs even if they don't listen to us anyways, they're only gonna think we're 10× worse if we don't walk them through the spiel w/ hands held (which we're not even owed to do anyways) but like i can hardly see myself doing it

so like

respect

[therealnightcity]

White for Hiro ; Red for Avi ; Green for Ares and Ily <3

Character asks for @gloryride 🥰💕

Hiro:

White: When was a moment in your OC's life that they felt the most vulnerable and exposed? Were they alone or surrounded?

Hiro felt the most vulnerable in the weeks prior to his first attempted break with the Claws. He knew he didn't have much to lose, and everything to gain, and it was ill-thought out, but a single decision set the next eight years in motion, even if didn't realize how. He was surrounded but not by allies, and he knew that any sort of ties to people would only be something to be manipulated or trouble for them down the road. He almost considered asking Judy for help, one of his few friends, but decided against getting her involved, and if things went poorly, he didn't want her tied to his mistakes. It was one of the few decisions he's never regretted.

Avi:

Red: What is a trait your OC has that those around them don't see very often? Is it seen by a rare few or completely overlooked?

That his desire to be in control is a thin veneer over anxiety. If he controls the situation, he controls the variables and his emotions and responses to it. He doesn't know how to turn mission-mode off. He's always on alert, head on a swivel, and as much as it's kept him alive in the corpo landscape, it's not particularly constructive for his mental well-being. He had a wellness coach when he was at Arasaka whom he frequently ignored the calls of, or interacted just enough with that they'd leave him alone. He's hard to read at best, but if you watch closely enough, you can see a muscle in his jaw twitching when he's absolutely had it. Most emotions get worked out through gigs or sparring, preferring not to bring them home.

Ares, Ily

Green: What is considered a weakness in your OC that is actually a strength? What is a strength in your character that can be twisted into a weakness?

Ares knows that her trust in people can come across as downright naive, and sometimes it does. But it also leads to her making friends in places she doesn't expect, and offering empathy or understanding when people are accustomed to very little. It's both endearing and endlessly frustrating to her inputs, but as she'd point out, she's still alive so she must be doing something right. She's also capable of an incredible amount of focus when she has a project or a task she's buried in, and is capable of a truly unbelievable amount of work. However, she also blocks out the rest of the world, and would literally not realize if the surroundings were on fire around her, and often doesn't take care of herself when she's zeroed in on something, and requires an external nudge to get her out of it.

Ily is good at talking, at schmoozing people, and has his fingers in a lot of different pies It leads to a lot of opportunities but it also puts him in the cross-fire often, and luckily for him, he's good at slipping away when he's neck deep in trouble. This hasn't always been the case, and he likes to claim he's older, and wiser but it isn't always the truth, and the list of alliances he has is precarious at best. There's a faresightedness to him that makes him hard to trust as an ally, but it also means he's a damn good information broker, and a slippery bastard, who can deliver on what he promises, even if it's not how his clients would expect.

[bewitchedbodyandsol]

If I Were Not Myself

Description: Reader is a mandalorian from Din’s covert who was manipulated into taking off her helmet. HEAVILY based on Pierre and Natasha from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Takes place before the child (bc age reasons and character development has not happened). Trying to stay as close to the approximate ages in Great Comet/War and Peace, putting Din at 27 while reader is 19. 

 Notes: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 makes me absolutely mad. The only spoken lines in the musical and it makes my heart shatter. Okay, I don’t think Din would be as courteous towards a dar’manda as I write him but also like, this is a Din/Pierre hybrid, so. And yes I know that based on these ages Toro Calican would have barely been born, but um, yeah <3. IT’S MY FIC AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT.  Also, this is my first time writing and posting fan fiction so um, yeah <3

Word Count: 2.9K

Rating: G

Tags/warnings: Thoughts of death (in an almost philosophical way). fem!reader Dar’manda!reader, war and peace au? No use of y/n, slightest hint of Toro Callican x reader and Paz x Reader (like they’re mentioned), age gap

If I were not myself,

But the brightest,

Handsomest,

Best man on earth,

And if I were free,

I would get down on my knees,

This minute,

And ask you for your hand.

And for your love.

The mandalorians-the mandalorian and the dar’manda, stood in front of each other. The air still. When he had initially seen her he ran towards her, he stopped less than a foot away and reached a hand out to her, but instead of taking his outstretched hand like he had expected, she slowly moved past him. She put an awkward amount of distance between the two. The gap between them too large for how friendly they normally were, while anything closer seemed too overwhelming. Din knew he had to stay far enough away to keep himself from completely engulfing the girl in an embrace, fists curling at his sides to stop himself from reaching out to her again. 

---- 

Din had known the young woman her entire life, for she was born shortly after he had been taken in as a foundling. While all families in the covert were friendly with one another, theirs had been especially close. And they had been especially fond of each other. The age difference caused them to participate in different activities and talk with different social groups but did not stop them from interacting completely. In fact, the two mandalorians had grown to be close friends. The young girl confided in Din about her newest crush on the covert while he doted on her for it and she would laugh at the gruff noises he made while being teased by peers, watching him try to act tough while knowing he would huff and puff to her about it later. 

He had watched her grow, from a nervous young girl who stood in the middle of a room filled with people simply to make them listen to her sing, to a young woman who knew how to carry herself and gain the attention of her peers from sheer presence. At the same time, the girl watched Din grow from a flustered teenage boy to a closed off young man who became more and more stoic with each passing visit. 

As the years went on the two became distant, caught up in the paths life had put them on. Din started running with Ran’s crew, his visits to the covert became few and far between, while she had stayed and chose to act as a nurse for the foundlings. Their friendship seemingly evaporated, dissolved to nothing but pleasantries. The young woman noticed the growing weight on her dear friend’s shoulders, but was unknowing of the whirlwind he found himself caught in. His growing reputation, worrisome discoveries he made about himself, and the insatiable twi’lek girl he had gotten tangled with. 

During his last visit home, Din had introduced the young woman to his friend Paz Vizsla. The two had known of each other for quite some time but had never formally been introduced, and quickly after he acquainted them Din felt a shift in the air, as if he was intruding on something he was not meant to see. He had not expected the pair to become so infatuated with one another. Aware of Paz’s past, the hardships he faced, losing not only a wife but a child at a young age, and the battles he fought; and the young woman’s naivete, having rarely left the covert herself and her general lack of life experience. So when he heard that they planned to wed, he had been surprised to say the least. 

That had only been one year ago. A year, and yet so much had changed. Din truly had not planned on a return home for quite some time. While he had been on the planet for a while, as the crew had a job that stationed them there, he had not planned on visiting the covert. As he had no obligations to do so, prior to the holo he had received from the girl's aunt in which she explained the situation to him and pleaded for him to return. She explained how the girl had broken off her engagement to Paz and made plans to run away with Toro Calican, whom she had only known for a few days, instead. Din had heard of Calican before and had even had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting him once, he found the suave young man obnoxious and to be nothing but trouble. Oh but what angered him the most about the young man, was seeing his own worst qualities reflected right back at him. His fears and flaws were flaunted by the young mercenary. When Din heard it was Calican the girl had become involved with, he didn’t even have time to think before it had slipped past his lips that the young man himself was married, and unlike Paz his wife was still alive. The girl’s aunt had begged him to return to scare Calican off the planet and to attempt to speak some sense into the girl. But when Din had returned it had been too late, she had revealed her face to an already married man, and unknowingly to her, his friends as well. Leaving her dar’manda. 

--- 

It felt almost inappropriate to stand in front of her in this state. With her lack of armor and helmet, she might as well have been naked from a cultural standpoint. She stood in the middle of the room in her thermals. Her beskar had been stripped from her, no doubt to be given to someone more deserving, a foundling most likely. Her back towards him, Din noticed her arms hung still next to her, obviously too exhausted to even subconsciously twiddle the edges of her shirt like she used to do when she was a younger, more nervous girl. When she turned around and looked at him, it felt like she could see into his soul. The helmet prevented her from looking him in the eyes, but having worn a helmet herself and interacting with so many others who did the same, she easily knew where his were hidden behind the mask. And when he looked into her eyes, Din could see the weight of the galaxy crashing down on her. 

“Din Djarin.” She tested out his name. And something in him shattered. No one had referred to him by name in so long, simply referring to him as ‘mando’, but Din Djarin was not the name she had used the last time he saw her. No, she had simply called him Din. The sudden change in formality made tense, as he took a second to respond. “Din” He took a breath and corrected her. It wasn’t until the girl’s face shot down did he realize he had started leaning forward, his weight shifted to the balls of his feet, left hand flexing at his side. 

He hadn’t seen her face in six years. No one had. Like most in the covert the young girl had sworn the creed promptly at the age of 13. After swearing the creed she had grown into herself, the young nervous girl Din had become friends with was replaced by a confident young woman. A skilled fighter and diplomat, yet as charming and giddy as ever. He could only imagine how she had grown ever more captivating as time went on. Din had never thought it to be a shame if a beautiful face was hidden behind a wall of beskar, his religion more important than simple vanity, and yet. As he saw her face on full display, he understood. Understood how someone who had become so enamored by the girl could do such a selfish thing, ask her to take off her helmet. 

“Vizsla was, Vizsla is your friend.” She corrected herself. Her ex-fiancé had fought in a far off battle for so long she had developed the bad habit of assuming him dead. Once again, the girl’s sudden formality was not lost on Din, referring to her ex fiancé as Vizsla rather than her usual endearing Paz. “He once told me that I should turn to you.” 

He had always reproached dar’mandas, finding them to be less than. Thought they had already shown themselves to be unworthy of the mandalorian title and armor if they could so easily take it off. That it took a truly weak man to break from The Way, from a people that loved fiercely and unconditionally. He wanted so badly to despise her. To give her the same scowl and acid laced words he might anyone else. But there was something about the way the young woman held her head. As if, even though she no longer had her helmet, she still did not want her face to be shown, and at that any chance of reproach towards her had died. Instead it was replaced by a feeling of pity. He had wanted to believe he felt nothing but pity for her, but he knew that wasn’t right. There was something else, something he was unable to place. 

“He’s returned. When you see him… Can you please tell him to, please tell him to forgive me.” She moved as if she meant to wring her hands, but when her fingertips found skin instead of leather gloves, they quickly shot back down to her sides. 

“Yeah, I’ll-I’ll tell him.” Din’s throat tightens as he recalls his conversation with Paz. How his friend returned from battle only to hear of his fiancé having an affair, removing her helmet in front of people who were not her riduur or ade. Recalling Paz’s posture, his voice almost malicious yet so pained when he said he could not forgive the girl of her actions. How the image of Paz, a man Din looked up to, had been shattered with a few simple words. “But-” 

“I know everything’s over, that chance of anything is gone.” Her head shot up, as if she had read his mind, anticipated his words. “But still, I’m haunted by what I’ve done, what I’ve done to him. Tell him please, to forgive me. For everything.” 

“I’ll tell him to forgive you. I’ll tell him everything.” Din nodded, as he thought of his next words carefully. “I want to know one thing. Did you really love him? Did you love that bad man” His voice sounded hoarser than usual. 

“Don’t call him bad.” She spat out. “But I, I don’t know. I really don’t.” Though the speed of her response told Din her real answer. That in some said way, yes, she really had loved Toro Calican. The man who had pushed her farther than anyone else had, pushed the boundary most important to anyone who shared their creed. Pushed her to do something she had never previously thought about. So uncaring of consequences. And if she had not loved him, she at least still held strong feelings for him. For the man who had manipulated her.

The young woman turned away from Din and began to cry. And he could hear the dam of emotions she held back break in the sob she let out. He could do nothing but watch as she began to crumple in on herself. The same feeling of pity from earlier returned, but it was now accompanied by a tenderness he had become unfamiliar with and that same something he was still unable to place. Din felt the tears pool at his jaw before he was even able to comprehend that he had started to cry. Thankful for his helmet as it prevented anyone from seeing the tears that rolled down his cheek. 

“Hey, we don’t. We don’t have to talk about it anymore, ner vod.” The familiarity slipped out of his mouth, meant to comfort them both. He slowly made his way towards her, reached his hand out the same as he had done earlier. “But. I’m still, your friend. And if you ever need someone to talk to, or someone to open your heart to. Not now, but, when your mind is clear. Think of me.” 

Din grew confused.

He had no idea where any of this was coming from. Especially after her had become so closed off over the past few years. He had felt more in the past few minutes here with her, warm and tender feelings that he had not realized he so dearly missed, than he possibly had in years. And there it was, that feeling he had been unable to place, unable to give a name, coming to the surface. Love. He had always carried affection towards her, in one way or another, but this was different. Love, something he had started to wonder if he was incapable of. 

“Don’t talk to me like that.” She snapped. “I don’t, I don’t deserve it.” Came out softer, sadder, and she practically scurried away from the man. Like she truly believed it. 

“Stop! Stop. You have the rest of your life-” The first stop a command, the second a plea. The girl stopped, her back still faced him. 

“The rest of my life? My life is over.” The girl reached the doorway she had entered through earlier, a tight grip on the wall. 

“Over.” He repeated. Looking at the girl, he saw a reflection of himself. His fears and flaws hung heavy around the girl. The same horrible thoughts that had plagued his mind not so long ago. 

The knowledge that one was capable of hurting people doing bad things, the thought that death might be more accepting and caring fate. The fear that life had ended before it even began. But unlike when he had seen those same traits in Toro Calican, who wore them with pride, he saw the same level of fear in the young woman that he had felt. 

And suddenly, everything stopped. 

“If I were not myself.” 

The young woman froze at his words. Din had not even registered that he was speaking until he had finished. 

“But the brightest, handsomest

Best man in the galaxy” 

Din had done bad things. Din had done bad things and enjoyed doing them. He had dangerous thoughts, dangerous intentions, and a dangerous way of life. He knew he was still not the man he needed to be. So much to improve upon before even thinking of settling down with someone, let alone the young woman in front of him. Though she was not perfect either, not the woman he knew she was capable of becoming, but he still thought she was deserving of perfection. 

“And If I were free-” His throat threatened to close. 

The Xi’an of it all was, Din was not in the position to be offering his love to someone else. And while they were not the ideal couple, he was still tied to her. He had his suspicions that the twi’lek girl might have been seeing other men along with him, but it did not stop him from remaining faithful to the girl. Along with the weight of his relationship on his heart, was the beskar lock he kept tight on it. His creed, the most important thing in his life. What he held himself to above all else. She was dar’manda, while he was not. A fact he could not simply ignore. Any hopes of a relationship between the two had been destroyed when she revealed herself. But he could not stop himself from loving her, from wishing he could do this one thing for her. 

“I would get down on my knees this minute 

And ask you for your hand” His voice strained. It could truly be that simple, they could be married in the matter of seconds. Vows exchanged, tied to each other for the rest of their lives. It was something he had never dreamed of, but as he stood in front of the young woman now. There was nothing he wanted more. 

“And for your love” 

The young woman turned around.

And reality comes crashing down. 

She makes her way over to him faster than Din thought safe for someone in her state. Her breaths jagged as she tries to control her tears. Tenderness replacing the earlier weight in her eyes. 

His breath hitches when her hand touches the cheek of his helmet. But he lets her, trusting her single hand to not make any bold moves, knowing the girl would not dare to lift the helmet off his head, to damn him to the same fate she had damned herself. Din’s breath catches in his throat, his eyes closing behind his helmet as he leans into her hand. A tear rolls down his cheek. The young woman simply looks at the man in front of her. And she gives him the softest smile he has ever seen. 

“Oh Din,” she whispers. ‘Thank you’, she means to continue, but the words are caught in her throat, leaving her to simply mouth them instead. She lets her hand fall from his face and leaves the room, smiling. 

Din stands and watches her leave, trying to hold back any oncoming tears, and lets out a shaky breath. Realizing his job here is done, he turns around to leave. Bumping into the doorway on his way out, he takes a deep steady breath, and makes his way to the Razor Crest.

[numbaoneflaya]

Can I get a list of all ur ocs?

Well anon youve done it, you made me make a list of all my major OCS in one place. I hope your happy with yourself. Under the cut for obvious reasons, may link in my blog desc later.

Modern/BTD verse!!

Jilly- Ferret beastkin little creature, was recently turned into a werewolf by vincent as well so she's running around on full moons in a wereferret wolf hybrid creature form. Chaotic and friendly and wants to be everyone's bestie. She has the most energy in the world and is very kind hearted. Banned from most Claires for stealing and from one Home Depot for climbing the shelves. Prone to living life with rose colored glasses on and seeing the best in everything/everything even when there's nothing there. Socialization is a must for her and is why being basemented/kidnapped broke her psych so quickly and developed severe stockholm. Sometimes overly talkative/enthusiastic and can scare people off. Even if she sees someone shes decided shes friends with be noticeably 'evil', will convince herself it must be for some reason/her fault and ignore it.

Ciggy- Undead punk still learning to harness his powers to interact with the world as a ghost. Was sacrificed by a cult he joined for free concert tickets and to get laid. Likes to cause problems on purpose both pre and prior death and he's not above possessing someone once he learns how to. Was called Rooster in high school before he dropped out because he's loud, obnoxious and always screaming. And also has bright red dyed hair. Looking 4 ways to become less ghosty bcs he wants to be able to help raise his infant daughter, whom he died before he could meet. Bit annoying and in your face, likes poking at bruises, his or others. Kind of a sad heart seeking attention through volume and persistence.

Mike: Vampire loser! Sells drugs and lives at raves. Was turned when she was attacked by a coked out vampire (whom she supplied the product to) and has major scarring on her face and chest. Needs a somewhat constant influx of blood so shell sometimes take victims back to her place and chain them up, slowly draining them over time. Feels bad (ish) about it tho so it is possible to survive her if you are nice and or interesting enough. Kind of desperate for a friend and for love. Is a stalker. If she likes you enough/finds you interesting, she might just appear in your house one night and start rummaging through your fridge like nothing is wrong and youve been besties for years. Its best to indulge her and be friendly, otherwise she could turn violent quickly if her feelings are hurt.

Kilaine- Regular human woman, but fucked up. Born and raised by an elite waspy society she had an interest in the human body and pain tolerance since she was young. Quickly learned that these traits were socially unacceptable in most professions, so she became a doctor. The only family she cared about was her younger sister who she lost in a car accident, where they were flipped over and trapped inside while it was afire. While her sister burned up in front of her Kilaine only lost her left arm and had major burns on her body. This tipped her descent into sadism and she is now madly obsessed with bringing her sister back no matter the cost. Rude and offstandish, clinical.

Dragon age verse!

Thurwen- My main Hero of Ferelden with a bad temper and a heart of gold. City elf from the Denerim Alienage, 18 at the start of origins. She's a reaver warrior with a lot of pent up rage which sometimes scares others when she lets it out in battle. Over the years she's grown less moody as she's had to take the role of Commander. Crude sense of humor and violent impulses, very sensitive to the plights of others and tries often to help. Never seen crying in public but only cries to herself at night- major martyr and hanged man complex.

Caz- My circle mage elf inquisitor who was an apostate before the conclave. Blood magic, but make it sneaky. Wary of strangers and new faces, always dealing with the impulse to flee/find a high vantage point. Endless curiosity about the unknown/ the forbidden/ naughty, was supposed to be made tranquil for it but she escaped. Kind of a little creature as well, lived on her own for a while as an apostate in the woods, filed her teeth down to sharp ends to make herself look more intimidating (shes 5 ft tall) and less cute (her elf ears are huge and expressive, which shes embarrassed about)

Dag and Thagna- Carta twins! Professional lyrium smugglers since birth pretty much. Raised casteless in dust town and had to work their way up the chain of command by themselves. Dag is the brother, Thagna the sister. Their father traded them to the carta for drinking money and their mom died in childbirth so they have somewhat of a codependent relationship. Both charismatic and calculating, friendly and agreeable but won't hesitate to put a dagger in your back. Hard to pin down morally or physically, squirrelly bastards.

Reila: Dalish elf who works for the inquisition/ is the inquisitor in some aus. She has an extreme fixation on elvhen history and rebuilding what they have lost. Not a people person, prefers solitude. Takes some time to warm up to shemhlen as she has a hard history with them. Good friends with Caz, who recruited her in the first place. Doesn't understand very many social cues and finds societal expectations limiting and frustrating. Fondness for halla and hooved animals, which she finds graceful.

Elder scrolls verse!

Valkya: Near seven foot nord woman whos over a thousand years old by the events of skyrim. Tall and buff, two handed warrior and compulsive hero there to bask in the spotlight save the day. She was killed at the start of the events of Elder scrolls online and had her soul ripped out and sent to coldharbor and she's just been a pain in the ass about it since then. Her body can physically die and will not regrow pieces. Her soul however will escape and teleport to the nearest source of power where her body will regrow from an aetherial plasm until its whole again. Loud and brash, friendly and jovial. Actually pretty keen especially after centuries of life but prefers to play dumb as it makes people underestimate her. Plus, she really does enjoy mud wrestling and drinking contests and acting generally like a rambunctious frat boy. Ha developed a bit of a substance problem and a problem with acting out, as after being alive so long she would turn to anything to dull the ache inside of her that never goes away.

Espira- My Dragonborn! Redguard from Hammerfell who was briefly in the Ash’abah due to killing undead while protecting her parents water farm as a child. Ran away from them after years and went to Cyrodille, then to Skyrim and was caught crossing the border. Reserved, kind and soft spoken, she's a sword and shield warrior who's committed herself to doing good in the world by helping others. Dislikes killing and anything messy but believes it is often necessary in order to protect the weak. She blacksmiths often to save money on the upkeep of her own equipment, and takes up metal jewelry working as a hobby with the excess material. Prone to trusting others too much and giving too many second chances, as shes always looking for ways to make even the most hardened criminal a second look at life.

Riley- Espiras little brother who she locked in the wardrobe during the event of the water farm attack. In preventing him from doing violence against the undead she kept him from being conscripted into the Ash’abah. He's way more chaotic than his sister, and suffers from a case of little sibling syndrome in which he will often pester/poke at people just to get a rise out of them. Still kind hearted as his sister, he tries to hide it because he believes that the world is a cruel place and the cruel survive. Despite that belief he is often still unable to force himself to be cruel/careless, only making a show of it so that others leave him alone and don't see that he's very sensitive and emotional. Deaf in one ear due to a magic mishap in his youth, he trained and enchanted his most beloved rats to live for years and sit on his shoulder, alerting him to noises he would not otherwise notice.

Felria: Evil vamp :/ chaotic evil dunmer necromancer. Small and devilish and likes dead bodies too much. Manipulative and cunning, she loves acting. She's a trained assassin for the dark brotherhood and is the speaker. Likes dressing up for missions and wearing disguises like its all a play. Loves toying with people more than she loves killing them, will act in ways that cause as much trauma as possible for other people just for fun and she finds the reactions interesting. Considers herself too far removed from most people's perception of morality and of her so it's hard for her to trust someone or see them as worthy of knowing her. Finds the psychology of grief and fear to be interesting and wants to study them first hand. The hero of kvatch.

Herren: Fifty something year old rat woman looking for something to keep her going. Ran away from her wealthy family in her youth when they wanted her to take charge of the household, instead became an infamous jewel thief and swashbuckler. Spent most of her life traveling and stealing and double dealing. She's smarmy and sarcastic, a serial romancer of the highest caliber. Bit of a show off and a hedonist, always looking for the next good party or new product to snort. Her family died off due to the hard times she wasn't there for and she keeps looking for bigger and bigger heists to fill her appetite as she's chronically bored and lonely, though wont accept intimacy and will scoff at it out of the belief she doesn't deserve it. Irresponsible and selfish, lonely and terrified of any sort of commitment. Fun to party with though!

[9worldstales]

MCU Loki: Speculations on the “Loki” series

So, for the fun of it I’m gonna speculate on the whole “Loki” series.

For start Time Variance Authority.

In the comic the TVA seems to represent the lawful alignment. It doesn’t mean it will do the same in the “Loki” series, Marvel sometimes change things but let’s pretend they left this unchanged.

Before you start thinking this is a good thing, let’s remember the lawful alignment doesn’t define the moral axis of something, merely the ethical one. General Thunderbolt Ross and the Krees can be considered as lawful as Captain America and Rhodey, only the first two are lawful evil while the last two are lawful good.

Karl Mordo in “Doctor Strange” instead moves from lawful good to lawful evil.

For the TVA what matters are the rules. They are, of course, sure that respecting the rules is a good thing, and if this requires to wipe out an entire temporal line… well, no problem of theirs.

In short the TVA are your sort of guys who might decide that no, the Avengers shouldn’t have gone back in time and hamper with the timeline and save half of the universe because… it’s against their rules.

Here they seem worried that Loki has changed things. I would argue that it’s the Avengers that went back in the past and change things but let’s explore what it means if Loki didn’t met up the same fate as the one of the ordinary timeline.

Well, for start the Bifrost doesn’t get repaired as Thor used the Tesseract to repair it.

This might mean that, for start the Nine Realms will have to do without Asgard’s protection but, in more MCU terms that Thor won’t be able to go back home. There’s to wonder if he’ll manage to make peace with Jane and reach for her when she will be possessed by the Aether.

If he doesn’t, as a result, the Aether can fall more easily in Malekit’s hands, who will attack Earth directly instead than Asgard.

We might not end up having Thanos because the Dark Elves win and wipe away people themselves, turning the whole series in a variation of “War of realms”.

Okay, no, I don’t think we’ll get “War of realms” but it’s a pity.

What I wonder if the fact that they have Loki and Moebius interact is because one is chaotic and the other is lawful and the theme of the story is going to be this.

Chaotic again, isn’t necessarily evil, it only means you don’t respect the rules.

Scott Lang from “Ant-Man” is chaotic good for example. The Vulture from “Spider Man Homecoming” is chaotic evil.

Same as Karl Mordo Loki tends to change his moral axis at need. Prior to “Thor” he’s chaotic good, in “The Avengers” he’s Chaotic evil, in “Avengers: Infinity War” he’s back on being Chaotic good again.

So the whole show can open the discussion of how respecting or not rules should be tied to moral values. We shouldn’t respect a law aimed at hurting others… but we shouldn’t break law carelessly either as there will be consequences.

For example…. There’s a scene showing Loki in Pompeii.

Should the people in the city be warned mount Somma (yeah, it’s mount Somma which erupted, what will remain of it after the eruption will be named Vesuvius) is about to erupt and therefore saved or should we let them all die because, after all, their death is kind of already happened from Loki and Mobius perspective?

It’s a question that, in a way, was opened and ignored in “Avengers: Endgame”. The Avengers decide to save all the people that were blipped away by Thanos… but what about the ones he killed previously?

The half of Asgardian refugees, Heimdall, Loki, the dwarves on Nidavellir, the people on Xandar he wiped away to get the power stone, the people that die in the battle of New York, that was still caused by Thanos even if he didn’t oversee it personally, Gamora’s family and people?

Thor arrives in Asgard and is forced to face that most of the people there will be dead… would it have been really bad if he warned them against Hela so that more could survive? If he saved his mom and then asked her to find an alternate way to get the same ending with the Dark Elves only this time it doesn’t include her dying?

It’s questions worth making because they touch our moral axis as, if we do nothing, we let those people die/dead.

For a greater good? How can we know the result and for who’s the greater good? For us?

So anyway this has the potential to be cool, because when the lines on the moral axis blur and you don’t know anymore if something is good or evil, the decisions are taken by the ethical axis.

And someone lawful would just say ‘the law says so therefore letting those people die has to be the good choice’ while someone chaotic would say ‘screw the law, it can’t be good, I’m gonna save my mom and worry about consequences later’.

And this is awesome material for a story.

Though, of course, they can also take inspiration from “Agent of Asgard” in which old Loki, despite thinking that nothing would change even if Loki were to try to be good, still changed the past so that Loki could have a better chance at life and could make a more informed decision in the end.

(the scene of Loki’s decision is “Agent of Asgard” is AWESOME and way better than whatever redemption arc the MCU came up with by the way so I’m all to get that if they do the appropriate work)

Going on.

In the comics Mobius is a bureaucrat, cloned for his job and who knows nothing else but it.

Of course Marvel can portray him differently but let’s assume they’ll run with this.

So it can be that for Mobius everything is just ‘data’ and people are merely ‘entities’ and this not because he’s evil but because that’s how he has been taught to live.

He studied all of Loki’s life, but that’s it, for him they probably were data, not someone’s life, just a list of facts with no emotional value attached.

Studying Loki’s life is a job, and he might dedicate to it with the same mind setting of a student studying Caesar’s life.

He might not stop to wonder how painful the stabbing was, how horrible it could have been to see that his son was among the stabbers, how desperately he attempted to protect himself as he tried to flee and how brutal the others were as they continued to stab him even when he fell and lay there defenceless.

All he might care for is he died in 15 March 44 BC, attacked by around 60 men and stabbed 23 times, one of the stabs given by Brutus and that’s it. And then on March 15th put on Tumblr a stabbed Caesar salad and joke on his death because, by now Caesar is no more viewed as a person, just as a historical record.

For Mobius Loki might be just a record and even if Loki sits in front of him, he’s no more than data and someone to use. If Mobius gets an arc in which he develops he might learn to view Loki as a person, which doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll stop being lawful.

He might learn to feel sorry for him but still say ‘but the law says this is it’ or he might shift his ethical axis.

It would still be an interesting plot.

And for Loki too there’s potential for things to be interesting because he might, for once, to feel in control.

Most of Loki’s life is dictated by him not being in control.

He didn’t get to decide to be a Frost Giant, picked up by Odin, raised by an Asgardian and revealed the truth too late. He didn’t get to decide to be the less favoured son and he came to believe nothing he would do would make him worthy in Odin’s eyes. He was sent by Thanos to conquer Earth, manipulated by the sceptre. And now the TVA has captured him and they’re forcing him to cooperate.

If he’s given the power to affect the past he might grow to believe he’s actually not forced to submit to other people’s choices but that he’s in control of his fate.

It’s part of the point of “Agent of Asgard”.

Old Loki came to believe no matter what he did, he couldn’t change things, he would always be the ‘god of lies’, but the Loki of “Agent of Asgard” instead decided he would be something else and became the master of his own fate.

It would be a good development.

Of course, I’ve not the slightest idea if Marvel will go according to this route.

There’s really too little to judge and I’ll admit I won’t like it much if the point is not so much to save Loki but save Lady Loki because, no offence to Lady Loki who might have an even worse past than Loki, but it’s Loki the character I grew to love and I wish would be saved.

Last but not least, as I feared the whole ‘You've literally stabbed people in the back like fifty times’ quote produced a lot of discussing when it shouldn’t have.

Like, we miss most of the content but, from the look of it, it’s not like Loki, on his own, decided to pay a visit to the TVA and to help them. They captured him, he even though they wanted to kill him, they very likely forced him to cooperate.

Now, in this case any guy with an ounce of brain does what Tony did when he was held captive by the Ten Rings and they asked him to build them weapons if they don’t want to end tortured or killed. They say ‘yes’, gain their trust and then build a Iron-Man suit behind their back with whom they can stab them. In the back, yeah, because that’s what people with a modicum intelligence and no magic hammer should do with guys who overpower them and held them captive.

It’s a basic survival skill, not a proof you’re untrustworthy. People don’t own captors to be trustworthy to them and this message must never be allowed to pass.

You has to be trustworthy with people who deserve it, not with people who force you to be subservient.

So yeah, I hope Loki will stab the TVA in the back because no matter how lawful an righteous they feel, they clearly impose to everyone their law and no matter how much they claim they make the world better, they’re clearly sacrificing people.

[sebastianshaw]

(thanks to @prfxxor for helping me hash out this headcanon!) I’ve written many times before that Shaw immediately recognized Madelyne as not being Jean at all, but that we are never given an explanation as to why. My new headcanon is that Shaw is really, really good at picking out clones, alt-reality counterparts, and other such doppelgangers. This is due to having been in the Hellfire Club for so long. The Hellfire Club is EXTREMELY cutthroat; Shaw became Black King because the current White King deceived and betrayed him, tried to murder him and killed his beloved Lourdes in the process, and then Shaw killed him and his Inner Circle in vengeance. And while that was the first attempt on Shaw’s life by another member, it was far from the last. Murder is a very accepted means of promotion in the HFC, and even when death isn’t on the line, the politicking and manipulation and backstabbing is just...the culture, really. So even though Shaw frankly does not give enough of a shit about MOST people to pay attention to them at all, he did learn to pay VERY close attention to people in the Inner Circle, and then anyone he might conceivably need to be “worried” about, just to survive. Picking up little signs, little signals, small expressions, anything that’s even slightly “off” from their usual. Because sometimes it’s not paranoia, they actually are out to get out, especially when you’re HERE and especially when you’ve made the enemies he has. So, Jean being one of those potential foes---both as an X-Man in general and because he probably always expected vengeance for the Dark Phoenix saga---he probably paid pretty close attention to her mannerisms, demeanor, the way she carried herself, etc., and that’s how he pinned Maddie as someone else the second he met her. It sounds....kind over-the-top for what’s realistic to my mind for him, even typing it out, but it’s the best explanation possible (and also comics generally doesn’t CARE about the realistic limitations of mundane abilities and treats them like superpowers a lot--) This does NOT apply to anyone he meets. It applies to people that were either in the Inner Circle alongside him even if they were on good terms (after all, he THOUGHT he and Buckman were on good terms) and to people of whom he’s made an enemy and has reasonably/realistically had a chance to study in such a way. So for instance, he could distinguish Courtney Ross/Sat-Yr-Nin from Saturnyne because he worked with Courtney for awhile when she was White Queen, and has had enough interactions with Storm, Magneto, and Gambit to probably do it for them too...but like, he’s really barely interacted with Xavier prior to Krakoa, he wouldn’t know an imposter or alt-reality or cloned Xavier wasn’t the real guy just because they acted somewhat different because he doesn’t know how Xavier acts (and honestly the current Xavier is PRETTY DIFFERENT ANYWAY in his mannerisms) He’s probably rapidly brushing up on the rest of the Quiet Council, but still, this is going to apply only for a small pool of characters. It also only applies to clones who are FUNCTIONALY DISTINCT PEOPLE from their genetic donor. For instance, Madelyne is a different person from Jean. Ben Reilly is a different person from Peter Parker. They have different personalities, behaviors, etc. Whereas Sinister’s Marauders or the Krakoa clones are not, they’re psychological duplicates (or at least intended to be) and thus Shaw doesn’t see anything different about, say, the current Shinobi than he does the original, because there ISN’T anything different. It also does NOT apply to illusionists and shapeshifters who are deliberately TRYING to deceive him. Madelyne was never pretending to be Jean, so she never tried to affect Jean’s mannerisms. The shapeshifters and illusionists in Marvel are generally disguised because they WANT to be taken for that person, and all of them seem to be VERY good actors, so unless they’re just so grievously out of character that ANYONE could guess it. Shaw’s good, he’s not fucking psychic, nor is he Sherlock Holmes, and I don’t want him to be, I prefer his skill set being concentrated in the very IMPERSONAL fields of engineering and business, as I feel that fits him best and because like...idk Shaw is capable enough AS IT IS that giving him further talents feels risking OP to me. As a note, Shaw’s father was canonically a shapeshifter himself, and while I hc he kept this from Sebastian, it’s certainly possible he didn’t, giving Shaw additional experience in picking out doppelgängers and knowledge early in life that such things CAN exist...but honestly like I don’t like piling on skills like this if we don’t have evidence for it, so like I’m sticking with “shapeshifters can fool him if they include the right mannerisms” especially since like...idk, it kind of drives me nuts in RP how it seems like EVERYONE thinks their muse can, say, see through Mystique? Like I once saw a thread where someone wrote their muse realize something wasn’t right because their “friend” mentioned having the wrong kind of game console...and like, really? You wouldn’t just assume he had another one or had gotten a new one, your mind would INSTANTLY go “something is wrong”? Even in a world with Mystique, Lady Mastermind, Skrulls, and Life Model Decoys, I call bullshit. Same for how I see so many characters just “somehow know” that the other character (usually a villain) is lying to them, even when the character is explicitly supposed to be naive and trusting and like...I just don’t want to do that, players of deceptive muses have enough shit to put up with like this even if I could theoretically justify it.

[minatsuki-on-main]

Why do you relate to Laica? Why do you ship LaicaxMinatsuki?

(So this reply got accidentally deleted once, which is frustrating because I wrote a whole essay. I’ll just start over now.)

[[MORE]]

I think having a complex over one’s own perceived insignificance is a particularly hard thing to portray in fiction. By virtue of talking about a character or giving them focus, they appear at least somewhat relevant. Laica was the first character with whom I felt like this theme came across properly, mainly because his flying under everyone’s radar was played on from the audience’s point of view as well. Until around ep 10 he just loiters in the background and only shows up to conveniently take care of the dirty work and I don’t think anyone would have given him a second thought if he just disappeared. By how little even I personally paid attention to him, it hit me really hard why he was so indignated. I feel that way very often. However, it’s so unaddressed as an issue that I wasn’t even fully aware of it before watching BTB.

It makes sense too, because imagine a life where you don’t even have official documents to prove you exist, a family, or anyone to interact with for most of your childhood, then everyone around you gets obsessed with this one specific person that you get informed you’re a spare for. I think of Izanami’s monologue about Koku a lot because to me it was — ironically — more applicable to Laica. I mean the part where they say something like “it’s as if you were screaming ‘I exist!’” because yes, Koku was trying to get his messages noticed, but it was to attract Yuna’s attention while he had a very clear image of his placement in the world and was even a bit too self-assured about it. Laica was actually just frantically trying to prove he existed because it didn’t go for granted in his case. His actions are a very obvious overcompensation, it happens with anything a person is insecure about. “I got denied recognition by everyone so I’m gonna aim for world domination.” Ironically, it’s so ingrained in him that he ends up perpetuating it by exploiting his own talent of not getting noticed; he stays in the background in order not to get suspected, works underhandedly, even gives his name — the only proof of his identity — to someone else. I suspect this started a vicious cycle with his problems. After all, you can’t rely so heavily on a trait of yours without being firmly convinced it’s unchangeable.

Another thing I appreciated and found relatable and — weirdly — respectfully portrayed was how Gilbert was pulling his strings all along. It’s mentioned briefly but they make it evident that it was very heavy psychological manipulation. It prevented Laica —someone who brainwashes people, gives no consideration to their deaths and went up against Koku (and Yuna) in a brutally sadistic way — from harming Gilbert at all when he technically had many chances to. And Laica does not like Gilbert very much at all (as per his dismissiveness when they talked over the phone or the fact that he and Minatsuki were plotting to eliminate him around the start of the show) so he was clearly forced into the partnership. BTB didn’t try to make this pathetic or revel in Laica being weak or anything like that. He was terrifying and dangerous which, though it made him fairly unredeemable, maintained his dignity. People who get manipulated aren’t always ‘soft’ deep down. It’s difficult to process emotional abuse that has gotten you massive authority issues when every fictional character who goes through it ends up being woobified, coddled by someone who’s ‘good’ or such, so this detail really was a gift.

As for why I ship him with Minatsuki... I’m convinced, for a starter, that Laica was incapable of connecting to people in a healthy way. Growing up either alone or around Gilbert is a foolproof way of making sure a kid will never learn a way to relate to others without manipulation and egoism. As much as it’s the wrong way to go about it, what Laica did to Minatsuki was the only way he could have ever felt understood by (and empathized with, with a stretch) someone. The whole incentive behind making Minatsuki take up his identity was to make someone feel the same thing he felt being Koku’s replacement, as he says himself. And I don’t know how much people consider this, but not only was Minatsuki kept around for way longer than it would have made sense, but this whole stunt was largely unnecessary. Laica could have led the Market Maker branch from the shadows on his own — all he had to do was regularly delete everyone’s memories and his identity wouldn’t have gotten out. Minatsuki had a weird symbolic importance to Laica in my opinion. As much as these are two characters who would never show outward affection, there’s a sort of lenience on Laica’s part I can’t place anywhere else. For years he indulged Minatsuki by letting him do basically whatever he wanted, only sort of reprimanding him when he was gonna get himself killed or make massively stupid decisions.

A nagging thing in Laica’s life is people prioritizing Koku over him. It’s a problem that’s never going to go away. I think it’s fair to bring up Izanami because I can see people asking ‘but wasn’t Laica closer to them than to Minatsuki’? And while yes, that bond definitely had its importance, the obstacle is always the same one: Izanami very blatantly preferred Koku. I don’t think Laica would have ever gotten over that. Aside from the fact that he wasn’t really close to anyone, not beyond a certain extent. He didn’t care about either Izanami or Minatsuki dying for instance, it’s just that with Izanami it wasn’t that accentuated with what was shown on-screen. It’s fair to say he doesn’t care about people dying in general. Minatsuki was perhaps the only person who was focused on Laica specifically, something that seemed deliberately induced with the drug addiction and all that — but there still wasn’t anyone else like that. The way Minatsuki ended up was terrible and ep 11 still makes me sad for him, but, just to be controversial, consider the alternative. He would have died as a kid without even having a proper name if Laica didn’t pick him up. Minatsuki started suffering from the moment he regained his memories, but Laica didn’t allow that to happen for about a decade prior to it, a decade in which Minatsuki got to be a mafia boss, give people orders and sit around drinking his expensive whisky, which is possibly more fun than whatever Laica was doing, smuggling drugs, hauling back Kamui from dark alleys and being angry at Koku.

There was no way I wasn’t going to get verbose about this ask.

[donnnoir]

Alien Invasions...

Alien Invasions…

Starting in 2020-2021, Non-Terran entities will set upon our world to claim what was promised to them by “Treaty”.  It will be as an orchestrated “invasion” and “war”.  Since the probability is that the population of the world is NOT going to go along with giving away portions of the Earth in pursuit of the agendas of the Ultra-Elite, principally those of the Blood Occultic Families.  As per the terms of this “Treaty” these beings are to receive the “Pacific”; from the Aleutian Islands down to the equator including the coastlines anywhere from twenty to hundred miles inland. I suspect that that will just be the beginning of the process. Eventually these invaders will want to take possession of the entire world.  This is why in the media we are being presented “trans-humanistic” thought and that it will require us leaving the Earth to survive.  The realities associated with this is that it calls for a very small fraction of less than one percent that get to leave.  And should this initial “invasion” fail there are others planned which are scripted very differently...

Anyone acquainted with UFO / Flying Saucer mythology and lore will be familiar with the allusion of a predecessor to NASA.  It is commonly referenced when dealing with several presumed technological advancements or anomalies circa Roswell and before.  Without going too far afield of the focus of this essay; it should be noted that “visitors” have interacted with the human race continuously for the majority of our time upon Earth.  Much like from the old “Star Trek” series there are varying rules to the types of interactions, think “Prime Directive”.   It needs to be recognized that Not all visitors are the same, nor of benevolent intent.  Shocking as that may seem to some of the New Age crowd.  Nor are they necessarily from Our Reality, Realm, or Dimension.  Some of the entities we meet and interact with are not even representative of the beings we presume they are.  Rather they are actually a bio-mechinoid entity that is piloted or driven by its host from a great distance away; as is the case with the classic “Greys” that populate UFO mythologies (previously addressed in another essay).  

At the turn of the last century before our present, as the world industrialized and prepared for war.  The majority of the world leaders and governments, or rather those of the industrial powers and the West had at least been visited by Non-Terran entities and felt like they had the initial footing to develop an ad hoc diplomatic envoy.  At least that is what they were lead to believe.  Soon enough the world was embroiled in WWI, and the horrors of war in an industrialized era were unleashed.  Following the cessation of hostilities and the signing of an armistice.  WWI had been a slug-fest with both sides slaughtering each other, never to gain the advantage.  Human nature as it is did Not learn to beat their swords into plow-shears; instead we rushed headlong into finding better means of slaughter.  The blame and thereby reparations for WWI fell on Germany.  Strangely something called the League of Nations was formed in 1920.  People were told it was for the purpose of preventing further conflicts, as if that has ever worked.  Or at least that is what they would have us believe.  I say The League of Nations’ actual and sole purpose they accomplished within the first twenty-four months and as it became increasingly irrelevant it subsequently disbanded.

We created this “International World Governing” body with its power to enter into a “treaty” with any foreign power (even of Non-Terran origins).  As in this particular case the foreign power was a group of Non-Terran visitors.  Principally represented by the “Greys”.  The Bio-mechinoids whose drivers / pilots are from a lower harmonically resonating Realm / Dimension.  These beings are possessed of a hive mind.  Our ancestors in times past usually referred to them as “demons”.  Admittedly though their warrior class has a highly ritualized sense of combat giving them an appearance of “honor” when engaged, in single combat.  It is as close to the concept as these beings are capable.  

The nations of the world sought accelerated access to the technologies these Non-Terrans had displayed during their interactions with said world leaders.  For us the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve there is a loophole in the operations of the “Prime Directive” as it were.  The visitors are barred from giving or offering to give us their technologies of their own volition.  We, however may choose to barter our lives and birthright away.  It is the sum of free agency, and election.  We get to weave plenty of new rope, tie it off into a hangman’s noose, place it around our necks and jump off the roof.  And so we did, entering into a treaty with these beings.

As a consequence of WWI, with Germany being unjustly burdened with the blame for WWI and the associated reparations; their National Pride was injured.  With the rise of the National Socialist Party and their underlying Occultic beliefs and perspectives they readily pursued acquiring any advantage they could.  Thus the NAZIs were more effective at manipulating access to this alien technology.  Setting up a military base in antarctic and quite possibly the moon.  The “urban myth” of which is the bases of the recent cult classic “Iron Sky”.  A delightful case of Art imitating Life.

I have Not seen a copy of the actual “treaty”.  I have been able to deduce some of the terms of the “treaty”, if that is what we can call it (since the general population of the world, whom it impacts the most were NOT a party to the process).  For Americans and those of Western Culture and thought, we have a problem with issues where we lack representation; having fought wars over that principle. Nonetheless as to the “time period” prior to the terms and transfer of possession (the transfer of ownership to the new owners) is the standard 99 year time frame.  Which means 2020–2021 promises to be a watershed year of fun.  The terms oblige us to DE-Terra Form our world making it more habitable for the new owners.  These new residents prefer a much higher background radiation than do humans. The biosphere must be degraded to accommodate them, otherwise the microbes of a health ecosystem could readily defend our world (think “War of the Worlds”)  Additionally, We are suppose to DE-Tune the resonance of our world.  The Earth rings with its own unique pitch and tone, that favors us, humans.  It tends to make beings from other places ill, especially over time.  If you understood these requirements of the “treaty”.  You would understand why global powers have elected the courses of actions they have over the past nearly one hundred years.  Why we as a species have always selected and done the worst possible when given choices.  Worse yet why we have so obsessed with perpetuating and compounding our stupidity in some doomed attempt at trying to save our world.

These Demons are to receive for their participation – basically the entire Pacific.  Most countries have written off their coastal populations; or as is the case in America we are seeding the coastal areas as sacrifice zones.  Those that survive the initial wave and onslaught, will be a ready food source, labor pool and hosts for the invaders.

Understanding this also explains the unnecessary fifth column actions currently destabilizing Europe.  And why the current administration is attempting to mitigate a similar situation here.  Granted the administrations attitude and means generally needlessly aggravates the process.  Not that Trump is the Great American Hero; he just represents a particular faction that is uncomfortable sacrificing America for this process.  Because as amazing as it may seem there are elements that do NOT trust these Demonic “aliens” to hold to the terms as agreed.  Some of this opposition within the ranks basically disagree with the treaty.  They can NOT openly ferment their dissent, as it would violate their oaths and subject them to “treason” charges.  So they hedge their bets, and wait for the inevitable.  

“Crazy” and “Fantastic”, yeah I know.  Do you and yours a favor and simply look to the night skies.  Those are NOT satellites or sky-lab you see, they are an alien invasion force.  Elements of the Sky Warden Force have been fighting them for close to a decade.  If you have access to fourth generation night vision and some powerful optical binoculars or telescopes.  Look to the night sky, know that the long black triangles are Our forces fighting these aliens and their crafts.  Good Luck and G-dspeed to us all...

[writemarcus]

Watch This Space: Playwrights Train for All Media

As dramatists begin to write for all media, the nation’s playwriting programs are starting to teach beyond the stage.

BY MARCUS SCOTT

In 2018, a record 495 original scripted series were released across cable, online, and broadcast platforms, according to a report by FX Networks. And with the growing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (not to mention new players like Disney and Apple), a whopping 146 more shows are up and running on various platforms now than were on air in 2013. So how does peak TV relate to theatre?

Once a way for financially strapped playwrights to land stable income and adequate health insurance, television has since emerged as a rewarding venue for ambitious dramatists looking to forge lifetime careers as working writers. Playwright Tanya Saracho is the current showrunner for “Vida” on Starz. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is the series developer of “Riverdale” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” Sheila Callaghan is executive producer of the long-running black comedy “Shameless.” Sarah Treem, co-creator and showrunner of “The Affair,” recently concluded the Rashomon-esque psychological drama in November.

To satiate demand for more content, showrunners have sought to recruit emerging playwrights to fill their writers’ rooms. It’s now common practice for them to read plays or spec scripts penned prior to a writer’s graduation.

Many aspiring playwrights have caught on, enrolling in drama school intent on flirting with virtually every medium under the umbrella of the performing arts. Several institutions around the country have become gatekeepers for the hopeful—post-graduate MFA boot camps bestowing scribes with the Aristotelian wisdom of plot, character, thought, diction, and spectacle before they’re dropped into the school of hard knocks that is the modern American writers’ room. Indeed, since our culture has emerged from the chrysalis of peak TV, playwriting programs have begun training students for a career that includes not only the stage but multiple mediums, including the screen.

Playwright Zayd Dohrn, who has served as both chair of Northwestern University’s radio/TV/film department and director of the MFA in writing for screen and stage since 2016, said versatility is the strongest tool in the kit of the program’s students.

“We offer classes in playwriting, screenwriting and TV writing, as well as podcasts, video games, interactive media, stand-up, improv, and much more,” he explained. “There’s no one way to approach the craft, and we offer world-class faculty with diverse backgrounds, professional experiences, and perspectives, so students can be exposed to the full range of professional and artistic practice.”

Dominic Taylor, vice chair of graduate studies at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in California, also agrees that multiplicity is the key to the survival of a working writer. “In the industries today, whether one is breaking a story in a writers’ room or writing coverage as an assistant, the ability to recognize and manipulate structure is paramount,” Taylor said. “The primary skill, aside from honing excellent social skills, would be to continue to study the forms as they emerge. Read scripts and note differences and strengths of form to the individual’s skill set. For example, the multi-cam network comedy is very different from the single-cam comedy—‘The Conners’ versus ‘Modern Family,’ let’s say. It’s not just the technology; it is the pace of the comedy.”

Taylor, a distinguished multi-hyphenate theatre artist working on both coasts, said that schools like UCLA offer a lot more than classes, including one with Phyllis Nagy (screenwriter of Carol). UCLA’s program also partners with its film school, and hires professional directors to work with playwrights to develop graduate student plays for productions at UCLA’s one-act festival, ONES, or its New Play Festival. Taylor also teaches four separate classes on Black theatre, giving students the opportunity to study the likes of Alice Childress, Marita Bonner, and Angelina Weld Grimké in a university setting (a rarity outside of historically Black colleges and universities).

Dohrn, a prominent playwright who is currently developing a feature film for Netflix and has TV shows in development at Showtime, BBC America, and NBC/Universal, said that television, like theatre, needs people who can create interesting characters and tell compelling stories, who have singular, unique voices—all of which are emphasized in playwriting training.

“Playwrights are not just good at writing dialogue—they are world creators who bring a unique vision to the stories they tell,” Dohrn emphasized. “More than anything else, a writer needs to develop his/her/their unique voice. Craft can be taught, but talent and creativity are the most important thing for a young writer.”

For playwright David Henry Hwang, who joined the faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts as head of the playwriting MFA program in 2014, success should be a byproduct, not a destination. “As a playwright, I don’t believe it’s possible to ‘game’ the system—i.e., to try and figure out how to write something ‘successful,’” he said. “The finished play is your reward for taking that journey. The thing that makes you different, and uniquely you, is your superpower as a dramatist, because it is the key to writing the play only you can write. Ironically, by focusing not on success but on what you really care about, you are more likely to find success.”

Since arriving at Columbia, one of Hwang’s top priorities was to expand the range of TV writing classes. This led to the creation of separate TV sub-department “concentrations,” housed in both the theatre and film programs. All playwriting students are required to take some television classes.

“We are at a rather anomalous moment in playwriting history, where the ability to write plays is actually a monetizable skill,” said Hwang, whose TV credits include Treem’s “The Affair.” “Playwrights have become increasingly valuable to TV because it has traditionally been a dialogue-driven medium (though shows like ‘Game of Thrones’ push into more cinematic storytelling language), and playwrights are comfortable being in production (unlike screenwriters, some of whom never go to set). Once TV discovered playwrights, we became more valuable for feature films as well.”

Playwrights aren’t the only generative theatremakers moving to the screen. Masi Asare is an assistant professor at Northwestern’s School of Communication, which teaches music theatre history, music theatre writing and composition, and vocal performance. The award-winning composer-lyricist, who recently saw her one-act Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play published by Marvel/Samuel French, said that the world of musical theatre is not all that different either; it’s experiencing a resurgence in both cinema and the small screen: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Justin Hurwitz, and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have all written songs that were nominated for or won Oscars. The growth of YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter have offered new ways for musical theatre graduates to market and monetize their songs and build an audience.

“The feeling that a song has to ‘work’ behind a microphone in order to be a good song is really having an impact on young writers,” said Asare. “The song must sound and look good in this encapsulated video that will be posted on the songwriters’ website and circulated via social media.” She noted that in this case, the medium of video is also changing the medium of musical theatre itself. “Certainly it may lead to different kinds of musicals—who knows? New experimentation can be exciting, but I think there is a perception that all you have to have is a series of good video clips to be a songwriter for the musical theatre, a musical storyteller. I think that does something of a disservice to rising composers and lyricists.”

Some playwriting students, of course, are not interested in learning about how to write for television. But many who spoke for this story agreed that learning about the different ways of storytelling can be beneficial. One program in particular that has its eyes on the multiplicity of storytelling mediums is the Writing for Performance program at the California Institute of the Arts. Founded by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks in 2001 as a synergy of immersive environments, visual art installation, screenplay, and the traditional stage play, the program has helped students and visiting artists alike transcend theatrical conventions. Though Parks is no longer on the CalArts faculty, her spirit still infuses the program. As Amanda Shank, assistant dean of the CalArts School of Theater, puts it, “Every time she came to the page, there was a real fidelity to the impulse of what she was trying to communicate with the play, and the form followed that. It’s not her trying to write a ‘correct’ kind of play or to lay things bare in a certain prescribed way.”

That instinct is in the life fiber of CalArts’s Special Topics in Writing, a peer-to-peer incubator for the development of new projects that grants students from across various departments the opportunity to develop and produce writing-based projects. Shank defines the vaguely titled yearlong class, which she began, as a “hybrid of a writing workshop and a dramaturgical project development space.” A playwright and dramaturg, Shank said her class was born of her experience as an MFA candidate; she attended the program between 2010 and 2013, and then noticed her fellow students’ lack of ability to fully shepherd their projects.

“I was finding a lot of students that would have an idea, bring in a few pages or even bring in a full draft, but then they would kind of abandon it,” said Shank. “I wanted a space [that would] marry generative creativity, a place of accountability, but also a place that was working that muscle of really developing a project. Because I think often as artists we look to other institutions, other people to usher our work along. Yes, you need collaborators, yes, you need organizations of supporters—but you have to some degree know how to do those things yourself.”

Program alum Virginia Grise agrees. Grise has been a working artist since her play blu won the 2010 Yale Drama Series Award. She conceived her latest play, rasgos asiaticos, while still attending CalArts. Inspired by her Chicana-Chinese family, the play has evolved into a walk-around theatrical experience with some dialogue pressed into phonograph records that accompany her great uncle’s 1920s-era Chinese opera records. After developing the production over a period of years, with the help of CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP), Grise will premiere rasgos asiaticos in downtown Los Angeles in March 2020, boasting a predominantly female cast, a Black female director, and a design team entirely composed of women of color. Her multidisciplinary work is emblematic of the direction CalArts is hoping to steer the field, with training that is responsive to a growingly diverse body of students who may not want to create theatre in the Western European tradition.

“You cannot recruit students of color into a training program and continue to train actors, writers, and directors in the same way you have trained them prior to recruiting them,” said Grise. “I feel like training programs should look at the diversity of aesthetics, the diversity of storytelling—what are the different ways in which we make performance, and how is that indicative of who we are, and where we are coming from, and who we are speaking to?”

As an educator whose work deals with Asian American identity, including the play M. Butterfly and the high-concept musical Soft Power, Hwang said that one of his goals as an educator is to train a diverse body of students and teach them how to write from a perspective that is uniquely theirs.

“If we assume that people like to see themselves onstage, this requires a range of diverse bodies as well as diverse stories in our theatres,” Hwang said. “Institutions like Columbia have a huge responsibility to address this issue, since we are helping to produce artists of the future. Our program takes diversity as our first core value—not only in terms of aesthetics, but also by trying to cultivate artists and stories which encompass the fullest range of communities, nationalities, races, genders, sexualities, differences, and identities.”

The film business could use similar cultivation. In March 2019, the Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity (TTIE), a self-organized syndicate of working television writers, published “Behind the Scenes: The State of Inclusion and Equity in TV Writing,” a research-driven survey funded by the Pop Culture Collaborative. Data from that report observed hiring, writer advancement, workplace harassment, and bias among diverse writers, examining 282 working Hollywood writers who identify as women or nonbinary, LGBTQ, people of color, and/or people with disabilities, analyzing how they fare within the writers’ room. In positions that range from staff writer to executive story editor, a nearly two thirds majority of this surveyed group reported troubling instances of bias, discrimination, and/or harassment by members of their individual writing staff. Also, 58 percent of them said they experienced pushback when pitching a non-stereotypical diverse character or storyline; 58 percent later experienced micro-aggressions in-house. The biggest slap in the face: When it comes to in-house pitches, 53 percent of this group’s ideas were rejected, only to have white writers pitch exactly the same idea a few minutes later and get accepted. Other key findings from the report: 58 percent say their agents pitch them to shows by highlighting their “otherness,” and 15 percent reported they took a demotion just to get a staff job.

But there was more: 65 percent of people of color in the survey reported being the only one in their writers’ room, and 34 percent of the women and nonbinary writers reported being the only woman or nonbinary member of their writing staff; 38 percent of writers with disabilities reported being the only one, and 68 percent of LGBTQ writers reported being the only one.

For Dominic Taylor, the lack of diversity and inclusion in TV writers’ rooms can be fought in part by opening up the curriculum on college campuses, which he has expanded since joining the faculty at UCLA. “Students need a comprehensive education,” Taylor pointed out. He noted the importance of prospective playwrights being as familiar with Migdalia Cruz, Maria Irene Fornés, James Yoshimura, Julia Cho, and William Yellow Robe as they are with William Shakespeare, and looking at traditions as vast as the Gelede Festival, the Egungun Festival, Shang theatre of China, as well as the Passion Plays of Ancient Egypt.

“All of these modes of performance predate the Greek theatre, which is the starting point for much of theatre history,” explained Taylor. “It is part of my mandate as an educator to complete the education of my students. Inclusion is crucial to that education.”

After all, with the growing variety of platforms for story and expression, why shouldn’t there also be diversity of forms and voices? Whatever the medium of delivery, these are trends worth keeping an eye on.

Marcus Scott is a New York City-based playwright, musical writer, and journalist. He’s written for Elle, Essence, Out, and Playbill, among other publications.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Do you want cat to change? If cat dies, will you keep working on gk? It's more like a personal question so you dont have to answer it if you dont want to.

I guess with ‘cat’ you mean Ogata, don’t you?

Now, in regard to your questions...

First the easy one.

If cat dies, will you keep working on gk?

While Ogata is my fave character and one of the biggest reasons due to which I started reading Golden Kamuy I’m not here SOLELY for him.

He’s part of a story, a part that for me is very interesting, but he’s just a part of it. If the story were to turn boring I would probably stop being interested in it even if Ogata were to live, and if the story remains good I will probably remain hooked to it even if Ogata were to die.

Of course though I’ll be very sad if he were to die very much so, and Ogata’s eventual death will likely bring away a big part of my enjoyement of Golden Kamuy no matter how  well executed it will be because I’ve lot of fun trying to figure him out, way more than what the other characters give me.

But I really can’t tell you if the story will become boring all of sudden.

It really will depend on how Noda will develop it.

For example if Golden Kamuy were to start supporting the idea Asirpa's compassion is wrong and she has to become a person who kills without hesitation... if the story were to start supporting murdering without guilt... if characters simply stopped evolving and the story were to support that the way they are is the RIGHT way to be... then I will likely be disappointed a lot as well.

At the moment though I think it’s a big early to worry about this.

It’s pretty unlikely Ogata will die in the next chapter as it will probably continue/end the Koito flashback, so we’ll see what will happen in the future.

Next...

Do you want cat to change?

Hum... not quite, though it really depends from what do you mean with ‘change’ and what do you think makes the core of who Ogata is.

Let’s pick Shiraishi.

Shiraishi is consistently a friendly guy, who can be clever on some things and a complete dunce on some others, who can be fearful for his life but can also take risks if he judges it’s worth it as he likes betting and who’s definitely not prioritizing honestly. He is lazy, would like an easy life and longs for a woman.

This is his core. This doesn’t change through all Golden Kamuy.

Yet we can say that Shiraishi ‘changed’ as when he formed meaningful relations with Asirpa and Sugimoto.

That’s because his priorities shifted and he included them among the things he judged precious. So, even though he was afraid for his life, even though he believed betting on Tsurumi would be more advantagious, he remained with Asirpa. And because he also grew close to Kiroranke he couldn’t wave away his dead like he did with Kumagishi, whom he tricked and then abandoned in a prison and then, when he heard the guy died trying to escape labelled as a dummy because he told him not to escape during outside labor [Chap 86].

He complains Kiro was too serious but it’s clear Shiraishi is grief-striken by his death and buries him with special care.

It’s not that this Shiraishi is another person compared to the Shiraishi who shrugged away Kumagishi’s death. This Shiraishi is merely a Shiraishi who cared for Kiro, who was his friend and wanted the man to live, that regrets he’d dead even if he knows he betrayed them and would just like for Kiro to at least rest in peace.

Kumagishi instead, for Shiraishi, was just a guy who was in his same prison. Not a friend, a mere aquaitance, one he didn’t care for.

Everyone can grow to care for someone else, even the Lighting bandit and O-Gin, who were notable for their viciousness, loved each other and loved their child.

And now let’s move to Inkarmat.

Inkarmat is consistently a clever and independant woman, who can use her brain and her gift of foretelling to try to influence people and get what she wants. She however blindly believes in the prophecies she makes and is strongly tied to her past with Wilk.

However, although her prophecies told her she would never meet Wilk again,

she resumed hoping she would meet him again.

That’s because due to the meaningful near death experience she had she learnt fate can be changed.

It’s not she became a completely different woman. She just acquired a new knowledge that changed her mindsetting.

Sugimoto is a bit of the same as originally he believed Ainu to be against him but soon enough he learns they have no ill intentions toward him.

So what I want for Ogata isn’t exactly ‘to just change’.Ogata, the core that makes him who he is, has to stay the same.

I simply want him to form meaningful positive relations, to go though new positive experiences that will expande his understanding of the world and will cause a shift in his priorities.

I like to think the result will be that even if Ogata will remain Ogata, his path will change.

In short I don’t want him to be a character who remains still, who stagnate where he is, but one who grows, like each human does.

But so far he didn’t quite have chances to have positive interactions and experiences.

We don’t know much of his childhood but during the was he was under Tsurumi and become his accomplice.

His partnership with Tsurumi is, in a way, similar, to Shiraishi’s partnership with Hijikata.

Hijikata gave him the choice of giving him a copy of his tattoo and become his ally or not, but he made clear Shiraishi would not walk away if he were to choose ‘no’. As a result Shiraishi officially agrees and does his bidding but ultimately betrays Hijikata in favour of Sugimoto, even if back then he didn’t trust Sugimoto either (he was scared by him and believed Sugimoto would have killed him if he were to knew of his partnership with Hijikata).

Ogata too could have refused when Tsurumi wanted him to become his hitman and murder people in the army who were against Tsurumi, he could have refused when he was told to make friend with Yuusaku (whom Ogata wanted to avoid) in order to corrupt him, could have refused when told to murder Hanazawa but... what then? Tsurumi would have found a new hitman and dispose of the people he wanted to dispose along with Ogata.

Ogata clearly couldn’t denounce Tsurumi, no one would listen to him.

So he joins forces with him and then, like Shiraishi did with Hijikata, betrays him.

We don’t know if Ogata first joined the rebel group or Kiroranke.

We know though he joined Kiroranke prior to joining Hijikata and that allegiance is part of what stops him from forming connections with the members of the Hijikata group or of the Sugimoto group.

He knows he’s there not to make friends but to kill Wilk.

It clearly doesn’t help Hijikata doesn’t trust him at all and tries to keep away from himself by placing him with Ushiyama first and then with Sugimoto and will go ask information about him.

Sugimoto made matters even worse by not only refusing to trust him and generally being a jerk but also by stating that ‘any man who turn traitor once will do it again’...

he is basically trying discouraging Hijikata from cooperating with Ogata in case Hijikata hadn’t realized Ogata has diserted from the 7th who was anyway a traitor unit and Sugimoto knows... and worsen matters further by trusting Tanigaki instead, who also has left the 7th but that Sugimoto doesn’t consider as a traitor... and by trusting Shiraishi who yes, hadn’t betrayed Sugimoto but had betrayed Hijikata and so is technically a traitor.

Add to this how Ogata was made fun of due to his mother in the Army and you get why he doesn’t really manage to relate with the people in the groups he is in.

And things turn slightly sour with Kiro as well, as it’s implied Ogata had no idea the guy planned to drag Asirpa in Russia or to free Sofia from Ankou prison. Ogata loses faith in him as a partner, loses faith in a partner who had him kill his best friend and now is manipulating his best friend’s very young daughter and praising how Wilk was capable to kill allies easily when they were wounded and useless.

Probably Ogata ended up seeing Tsurumi in Kiro even if the two are so very different and Kiro is actually so blinded by his great ideals and his care for the minorities he’s not really seeing what he’s doing.

But Asirpa?

Some might ask.

She consistently tried to get friend with him.

And in fact he made small progresses in that way... not huge but there was a tiny start in this direction... but everything was tained by the fact when all is said and done he was her father’s murderer and he’s sure she would kill him due to it and by how he didn’t quite realized she cared about him too.

Long story short, what I want is for Ogata to have experiences that will affect him and his behaviour so that he’ll end up making better choices.

You can see this as him changing or, more simply, as him evolving, growing, like it happens to... almost all humanity.

What however I specifically want is for those experiences, for those relations to be positive, to have a positive influence over him as what he had experienced so far actually influenced him in a negative way. It was still evolution, it was still growth but in the wrong direction.

I’d like for him to find the right path for a change. But well, I don’t know if this can be done. He’s in a horrid situation because after being shoot by Asirpa’s arrow he ended up prisoner of people who hated him and wanted him dead and with Asirpa in shock and rightfully very upset at him.

Not the best setting for positive experiences/relations.

And now he’s trying to escape to those people and I can’t genuinely see how he’ll manage to do so in the situation he is and this too isn’t the best setting for positive experiences/relations.We’ll see if things will change in the future, or he’ll never get a chance.

Noda clearly has a plan, we can just wait and see if he’ll end up like Youichirou, who managed to find peace and love among the Ainu and lived for a long time with them

or like Sekiya, who fundamentally found peace only when God punished him by having Hijikata survive at his test and kill him.

We’ll see. Thanks for your ask and sorry it took me so long to reply!

[amadgirltm]

UPDATED: Verse 08: Corona

Verse 08A; Corona

Alice is considered Nobility, and once lived in Old Corona, until a certain alchemist happened to start causing chaos, and her home just happened to be caught in the crossfire.  Since then, her family’s moved to the inner city, but that doesn’t stop her from visiting the older city often.

Alice has taken a strong liking to astrology, and astronomy, and has begun to chart out the stars that she sees with her naked eye. Her goal in life is to eventually be able to afford a real actual working telescope, and to have her own space to work on her own star charts. As long as nothing goes wrong in the kingdom that is...

This Verse is Anything prior to the episode Queen for a Day

Tag: V.8A ( collecting stars and dreams );

Verse 08B: Stardrop

The Link to the Full Bio is HERE

But quick Synopsis: Alice has powers similar to that of the moon and sun drop, however, her’s are much more uncontrollable and are tied directly to her emotions. She must find a way to bring balance between the moon and sun drop in order to control her powers.

Tag:  V.8B ( shine brighter than the sun );

Verse 08C: Grown

Anything that happens when Alice is an Adult, she’s still living with her family, and is being sought after by a young guard named Daniel. She despises him, but her mother wants her to marry him. She’s searching for any way out.

Tag: V.8C ( woke up into a nightmare );

Verse 08D: Saporia AU

                    Everything happens the same until Queen for a Day: Varian ends up trying to get Rapunzel’s help with the Amber, however, She doesn’t help him (Just as in canon). He goes back & Ends up trying to free his dad himself but instead gets himself trapped in the Amber. Cue Alice finding him, and trying to get Rapunzel to help, again She doesn’t. She has to put the whole of the kingdom first. Alice does not fight Rapunzel, instead, she starts planning things, and then Rapunzel leaves on her journey to find her Destiny. Alice spends this time working, and studying up on Alchemy, and trying to figure out what exactly Varian used. 

                    Alice ends up in jail a few months later due to stealing stuff from the castle, more specifically she finds her way in and steals the flower. She ends up in the same cell as Andrew. She’s already figuring out how to escape, but they end up talking. He offers his assistance in freeing Varian and Quirin since none of her attempts have worked, He also promises a chance to get back at Rapunzel & co. Alice accepts, saying that she’s in charge though. And Proves her point by using her vorpal blade to get them out of their prison cell. (It’s magical, of course she still has it). 

                  They end up taking over the kingdom, Alice leading and planning things out the whole time. Unlike Varian, Alice actually is in charge due to her sword, her skills, and her lack of obvious remorse over hurting people.

>Verse will change depending on if Rapunzel returns, and if Rapunzel is willing to help Alice >Possible variant of verse: Rapunzel frees Varian and his father before stopping the Saporians, meaning that Alice is still in charge of the kingdom >Can take place during any point within this timeline

tag:  V.8D ( they’ll pay if it happens again );

Verse 08E:  Post Season Three

       Anything that happens after the first episode of Season Three/After Queen for a Day.

         Alice had been turned away from the guards every time she attempted to see Varian, leaving her feeling lost and a bit hurt. However, she didn’t give up on him. Not until he was suddenly taking over the kingdom, and working with the Saporians. Alice attempted to talk to him, only to be taken away by a few saporians (ordered by Andrew) to the mines, where she was forced to work for three days without breaks or food. (Varian did not know about this). 

         After the first episode of season three, Alice no longer trusts Varian, and believes it was him who forced her out of his life, and believes that he betrayed HER trust. She is very upset, and is not willing to talk things out, she’s angry, and depressed and feels alone. She’s not willing to trust ANYONE again (besides Feldspar). However, she still believes there’s good in him, and wishes she could trust him again. It will not take much to befriend her again, but a sincere apology and perhaps a bit of bribery by sweet treats may sway her back to his side. (How can she ever deny being such a sweet boy’s friend?)

Tag:   V.8E ( pull your knife out of my back );

Verse 08F: Adopted Sisters

      Rumors circulated Old Corona, that Helen Kingsleigh was hurting her daughter. Quirin, being in charge, ended up looking into the manner, and found the rumors to be true, although he couldn’t prove it. The daughter was easily given up, with Helen claiming she couldn’t take care of all three children. Taking the young girl home, he found himself unsure what to do. He already a three year old son, and had recently lost his wife- he couldn’t take care of another child. He called upon the Captain of the Guard, who came and met the four year old Alice, deciding to take her in himself. 

       Alice grew up alongside Cassandra ( @moonstonetm !), whom she looked up and admired greatly. However, Alice also finds herself constantly comparing herself to her sister, and finds herself increasingly jealous of Cass. Her love for her sister is never a question, but she tends to act out in order to try and get attention in any way she can from her sister (typically at Cass’ expense). 

        In this AU, Alice is being trained to be a guard as well, and while she is excellent, and even exceeding, at swordsmanship, she does not have the temperament or attention span to be a guard. However, Alice is still often assigned duties and jobs just as Cassandra is. She is never given an official position, instead she often sneaks out of the castle grounds and into the town, and even to Old Corona sometimes (often getting both her and Cassandra in trouble).

Tag:  V.8F ( i will guard you with my life );

Verse 08G: Warmonger Alchemist

Alice is a brilliant young inventor and alchemist, living with her father (a retired pirate) in Old Corona. She’s not the only one either! Nearby, lives the genius Varian, whom she often shares ideas and supplies with. Together, they’ve earned quite the reputation, labeled as a wizard and witch, who deal with dangerous and rare magic. However, they often work at Alice’s house more than his, due to her father being much more accepting of their unique hobby. While Varian often overlooks things, Alice tends to be much more particular in what they do, and will often stop Varian before his projects get out of hand. Together, they’re a real force to be reckoned with.

Then, Rapunzel showed up on their doorstep, asking for answers for her hair. Unlike in the series, it wasn’t one of Varian’s projects that caused them to receive no answers: no, it was a miscalculation that ended up labeling her hair as a rock instead. Varian also has no need during the expo to look for a partner, as he already as has Alice willing to work with him.

However, the events of Queen for a Day play out VERY Differently, as Varian and Alice are both working diligently on trying to fix the rock issue. and Alice’s father comes to check on them, letting them explain what they were doing, before testing a new serum. As far as they know, it doesn’t do anything, and Alice’s father sends Varian home, also Sending Alice upstairs to eat something. This is when the Amber encased him.

Alice proceeds down Varian’s route within the show, slowly descending into her own madness and using manipulation, alchemy, Dinah, and her inventions to fight and try to find a way to free her father. Unlike Varian, Alice also uses these skills in both alchemy and wonderlandian magic to run away at the end, and get away from the Corona guard before she can be arrested.

Whether or not Varian helps her, decides to leave her, or fight against her is up to who ever interacts with this verse

tag:  V.8G ( there’s hell to pay );

Verse 08H: Replacement Rapunzel

          Helen never wanted the blonde girl, and it didn’t take much to convince the local ‘mayor’ of sorts to take her. After all, a baby is so much work, and what use for it does she have? 

           That’s how Quirin ended up swaddling the baby, only a few days old, in the Throne room of the Corona Castle. Unsure what to do with the child, given that he had his own to take care of.  The King and Queen took one look at the child, and felt their hearts stop. She looked so similar to the lost princess, until she opened her eyes, and bright blue stared at them instead of green. Sure, she was a few years too young, but she was still, practically perfect. Like a gift sent to them from the heavens.

                     The kingdom was growing worse every day, yes they prospered, but without the princess, and without security of knowing what would happen if something happened to the king and queen? Well, things were tense to say the least. 

                            So, they decided to take the young blonde, Alice, they were told her name was. But that would be the most well kept secret King Fredrick had. After all, the next day, it was announced that the Lost Princess had been found, by Quirin, along with the witch who had stolen her, and had kept her young. They displayed the long blonde locks, and the small baby that looked just like she had when she had been stolen. The Kingdom rejoiced.  Finally, Rapunzel was home.

            Growing up in the castle, trained in protocol, and royal duties, Rapunzel was practically a perfect princess. The only thing was that she always kept her eyes down, and out of sight at all times.

             Imagine EVERYONE’S surprise when Flynn Rider shows up with a woman named Rapunzel, with short brown hair and green eyes, whom he claims is the real princess. And the younger, fake Princess Rapunzel’s whole world is twisted, and suddenly she’s now the lost princess, just metaphorically. 

tag:  V.8H ( practically perfectly replaceable );

Verse 8, Version I: Moon Warrior

        Quick Synopsis: 

Alice is the newest addition to the brotherhood, however, her mission is not only to protect the moonstone, but to locate those left from the kingdom.

          Bio:

Alice was born, and instantly forgotten. She was found as a child by Hector. She was trained by him to be a warrior, a fighter, a killer. At age ten she was sworn into the brotherhood, pledging herself and her life to the moonstone, and to the dark kingdom. 

Hector, having to stay to protect the Great tree, has given Alice the task of locating any other members of the dark kingdom. Not to make them return, but to be sure that they’re alive. 

        Note: 

Alice has no knowledge of Corona, nor the people within it. She has no prior emotions for anyone. And is likely to treat others with hostility, and violence, have a lack of manners, as well as speak in a bit of strange ways. She also has a pet Bearcat, whom she rides, and who she calls “Teddy.”

Tag: V.8I ( Swear to the Moon );

 Verse 8, Version J: Trapped Within

    Alice wakes up being told that it is her Wedding day. When she looks in the mirror, it not her sixteen year old face that looks back at her, instead it’s some woman. One that she wouldn’t recognize without that typical blue ribbon in her hair.

     No one in Corona sees anything wrong with this, In fact, everyone is acting as if the missing four years had happened. Apparently, somewhere down the line Rapunzel and Cassandra had made up? Alice had gotten engaged? Eugene was prince now? Alice didn’t live with her mother.

            Honestly, it didn’t sound TOO bad. Actually, it was a dream come true. Which was Alice’s issue with everything. No one just FORGETS four years of their life, and when Alice shows up on time somewhere?

                 Well, she realizes, it’s time to wake up. And to figure out who-or WHAT- is trying to keep her here.

Who ever wants to interact with this verse can either:

                     A.) also be 'awake' and be aware that something is wrong

or

                      B.) try to convince alice that everything is fine and okay.

Tag: V.8J ( WAKE UP ALICE );

[roastyoualive-archive]

@elskett sent an ask that wouldn’t publish for some reason so, here you go, Kai~! Send a 🙌 and I’ll introduce you to an NPC related to my Muse. || Accepting

This means any minor ‘background character’ in my Muse’s life, such as a relative, coworker, friend, rival, etc. that they interact with in their personal canon.

NAME: Baron Battle

ALIAS(ES): Barry Jules Burnham (Alter ego, before marrying Penelope Peace/Monsoon), Barry Jules Peace (Alter ego, after marrying Penelope Peace), Matteo Julius Marcantonio (Birth name, informally changed during high school, legally changed at age 18), Mattie (Childhood nickname, by Danielle Marcantonio), M&M (Childhood nickname, by Claire/Bloodhound), ‘B’ (By Saul/Scout), Boss (By Lester/Leech, among others), Boss-man (By Niles/Memento, among others), Dear (By Constance/Demonita), Baron Barbecue (By Penelope Peace, in her freshman year; Later by Lyn/Viper), [Teddy] Bear (by Penelope Peace, after entering into their relationship), Dad (By Warren Peace), #164209-S (Confinement number, by various researchers, jailers, and psychologists), [the] Bloody Red Baron (the Maxville Star Tribune), The Baron (by many people), Baron Fucking Battle (by many people, including himself), ‘Barron Battle’ (Sky High yearbook, on certain photos), “Brandon K” (Used by psychologist Dr. Marnie McDougal, M.D., as an alias in There Is No Wonderland Here: Understanding the Criminally Insane, Broadriver University Publishing, Inc., Maxville, CA, 2003), Ashton ‘Ash’ Nobles (Used as an alias while in Europe).

PORTRAYED BY: Daniel di Tomasso (Singing voice performed by Ramin Karimloo)

POWER(S) AND ABILITIES (IF ANY): Pyrokinesis/Pyromancy (largely regarded as the most powerful pyrokinetic in modern history, if not all time), invulnerability, enhanced strength; Fluent in English, Italian, ASL, and French. Speaks conversational Spanish and Cantonese. Following incarceration, knows a handful of assorted insults and a few basic phrases in Russian. Skilled engineer and inventor. Photographic memory. Highly skilled in unarmed combat. Talented and very much interested in musical theater. Highly manipulative, seen by many as charismatic. Owns at least one mug which proclaims him the world’s #1 dad. Can, in fact, drive a standard transmission (but not an automatic). Makes a good omelette.

AGE: 35

D/O/B: December 20th

ETHNICITY: Italian

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis male; He/him/his

ORIENTATION: He’s never put much thought into it. Considers himself straight, but might be somewhere on the ace/aro spectrum. He’s not sure. Doesn’t care enough to do the required introspection.

EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Currently incarcerated; Formerly, salesman at AutoWorld North; Prior to that, intern at Hermes Corp. Unofficially, infamous supervillain, founder and leader of the Battalion, smuggler, arms dealer.

CURRENTLY LIVES: Northern Alaska Penitentiary for the Supernaturally Enabled, Solitary confinement wing, floor 6, cell 6-382 C.

PAST RESIDENCE(S): Maxville, California.

ALLEGIANCE: Penny and Warren Peace, himself, the Battalion (in order from most to least prioritized)

ALIGNMENT: A healthy mix of chaotic and neutral evil, with a splash of chaotic neutral for flavour. Nobody really has it figured out.

RELATION TO WARREN: Father.

DESCRIPTION: Matteo Julius Marcantonio (known later in life as ‘Baron Battle’) is the only child of businessman Mercurio Raffael “Mercury” Marcantonio/”Heatwave” and Danielle Gisella Marcantonio (nee Damiani). Mercury sat at the head of Hermes Corp., a massive shipping company started by his grandfather (Baron’s great grandfather) Luciano Marcantonio. This meant that Matteo/Baron grew up wealthy, and wanted for nothing, materially. ‘Too expensive’ didn’t appear to be a phrase in his family’s vocabulary. It wasn’t a terrible childhood. People assume that, to turn out the way he did, he must have been beaten, but he wasn’t. They think his parents must have somehow mistreated him, but they didn’t. If forced to describe them, Baron would to refer to his parents as ‘relatively decent, and terribly boring’. None of them (Baron/Matteo, Mercury, and Danielle) were surprised when his powers came in (roughly at around age 5-6). Mercury was a pyrokinetic, too, and a superhero. Great-grandfather Luciano had been a pyro, as well. It ran in the family. Matteo was, of course, fascinated by this. All of his free time was henceforth devoted to experimenting with his powers, focusing on them to see what he could do. And he had a lot of free time. School was fairly easy for him; he attended a private school called the Simon Blackford Academy for Boys (’the Blackford Academy’, for short). He didn’t really have an established ‘group’ there. Sure, he had people who considered him a friend, he would be invited to birthday parties, or to hang out sometimes, and he could move between circles easily enough, but there was nobody that he really considered a friend. They were all just people, and they were all just there. And at home, there were even fewer distractions. Danielle and Mercury were running a business, after all. It wasn’t that they were terribly neglectful on purpose, they were just busy. They made an effort to speak with him when they had a moment, and let him know he could always come find them if he needed anything. He had the numbers for their office phones if he needed them and they were out. He generally didn’t call. The only other presence in the house came in the form of hired help, most of whom were quite happy to leave their young charge to his own devices, as long as he didn’t get hurt and they got paid. And, if he sits in his room quietly the whole time? That makes their job easier. He would occasionally be checked on by a woman named Claire Abatescianni. A super herself, which was why Mercury trusted her to watch his son without ousting Matteo/Baron’s powers. Claire’s power was a superhuman sense of smell. If you couldn’t guess, she’d had a hard time finding employment as a sidekick. Though Claire never said anything, Baron was pretty sure she only took the job of his ‘babysitter’ to get in good with his father in hopes of getting hired for something more exciting. She always seemed far too cheery to be there. Yes, yay, he’s still in his room, gosh, how thrilling. The older he got, the more irritating it got. He was quite glad when his parents decided he was old enough for a lock on his door (age 12). Aside from the help, his only companion was the radio in his room. He found that he very much did like music. It filled the silence, and the radio hadn’t been paid to like him. He found himself singing along to it while he went about his day. Reading, scribbling in his notebook, straightening out his things, honing and experimenting with his powers… Even walking the halls of the family home, he’d probably be humming to himself. It was something to do, at least, and he did enjoy it. Again, he didn’t resent his parents for being busy. He didn’t resent the help for doing their jobs. He, frankly, didn’t care enough for resentment. He also didn’t know any different. As far as he’d ever known, the day you spent time with your family was Sunday, and the place you spent time with them was in church. Yes, the infamous Baron Battle was raised Catholic. Most people are surprised by that. Mercury was the most devout of all of them, but Danielle was close behind. So, Baron went to church at least once a week, every week, and listened to preachers and priests lecture him about an all-powerful god. This got him thinking. According to the priests and the bible, God made all things. God was, supposedly, infallible. If these two things were true, it meant that God had intended to give Baron and all other supers their powers, which, by extension, meant that God intended them to be above ‘normal’ people, to be better than them. The very term ‘super human’ meant ‘above or beyond human’, and most people, Baron knew, could not shoot fire out of their hands at will. So, that, by definition and by will of God, meant that the average person was beneath Baron in the same way average people were beneath saints and angels and the Lord Himself. On the other hand, if it wasn’t true? If God wasn’t an all-powerful creator, wasn’t infallible, or maybe didn’t even exist? Well, then, why should Baron be beholden to His rules? He should be able to do whatever he wants. He did mention this to his parents, once, and never made that mistake again. Mercury told his son that thinking he was better than most of the planet was Pride and therefore a sin, and thinking about God in such a way was heresy and even worse, and you had better be in confessional next time they stopped by the church to talk to a priest, Matteo, before it gets any worse. Baron, who had just turned fourteen at the time, decided three things in that moment. Firstly, he decided that God was clearly not infallible, as He had definitely made some mistakes when He was making Mercury. Secondly, Baron realized that he had no intention of changing his way of thinking, priest or no, without a tangible reason to do so. Lastly, if God really was powerful enough to send souls to Hell, and if these thoughts would condemn him on their own, what reason did Baron have to try and earn salvation? He’d burn anyways, why not have fun with it? (And the irony of Hell supposedly being a place of fire and brimstone, and himself being able to conjure fire from nothing, was not lost on him.) But again, he didn’t say anything to his parents. He had better things to do than listen to lectures from them. -> Baron had discovered his love of theatrics while he was going to Blackford. There were school plays, and there were readings of classics the students would have to do out loud. Baron thought it was great fun, and his parents were thrilled. Finally, something that caught his interest. Finally, something got him out of the house and socializing without it being like some kind of chore. The drama department at the academy definitely saw a generous donation or two from Hermes Corp. Baron made himself involved with every production the school hosted during his tenure there. Like most, he started out with minor or supporting roles. Towards his later years in the academy, he gradually became used to landing the lead. There were a number of cast and crew photos and handmade commemorative t-shirts stored away in his childhood bedroom. He loved everything about it. Dressing up differently, stepping into another persona, being on stage… It was fun.And, in a way, it helped him connect with people. Or, rather, it helped people connect with him. He decided that he liked the other theater kids, well enough. He couldn’t put on the productions without them. And the drama teacher (Mr. Daryl Gunn) was quite pleased with his star students, and, as many teachers are known to do, tended to let them get away with more than he should. So Baron liked the drama part of school. And yet, as flashy as some productions might be, Baron couldn’t really show off. No powers in public. That was something Mercury always said. Baron argued against it, of course. Don’t show off his powers, dad? Why not? What, are the unpowered masses going to call the fire department on him? Ooh, he’s so scared. … Still, Baron understood the logic. He didn’t like it, but he understood. So, he played along, for the most part. No powers in public. It was stifling, though. Suffocating. Fire is a hungry, chaotic, screaming element to keep contained. It doesn’t belong in a cage. Not being able to use his powers outside was one of the reasons he stayed home so often. So, when he got the letter to attend Sky High, he was actually glad to go. Not surprised, though. Mercury had gone to Sky High, and he’d always said that Matteo would go to his alma matter, too. His son was going to be just like him. Baron took one look at his father, who he thought was boring, simple-minded, and quite frankly uninspired, and decided that, no, he wasn’t going to be like his dad. He wasn’t going to sit in an office all day signing business deals; He wasn’t going to be content living what was to him an ordinary life; And he certainly wasn’t going to be a hero. … But, more on that particular hangup as we go. 

-> So, Baron attended Sky High. He had to admit, he’d never had a bus ride quite like that, before. He’d nearly thought he’d discover whether or not God was real much sooner than he’d anticipated. But, no, he was fine. According to power placement, he was more than fine. He was a hero. Or- Hero class, at least. (He learned very early on that the school didn’t really care whether you used your powers for ‘good’ or not.) At first, he was satisfied by this. Yes, he was wonderful, thanks for noticing. But then he got to thinking. On one hand, the social system of the school was laughably easy to exploit, when you were a Hero. On the other, there was so much potential going to waste. Sure, other powers weren’t quite as destructive or immense or- Powerful, for lack of a better word, as his own, but they were still powers. Everyone in the school was still ‘super human’, and we all know how Baron interpreted that word. And there were so many applications for how the powers of his fellow classmates could be used. The fact that there even was a ‘Most Useless Superpower’ award in the yearbook only went to show him that the administration at Sky High was useless. As you’ve probably figured out, Baron always had a problem with authority. This did not help. He could be quoted later as saying “There is no such thing as useless superpowers; only a superhuman lack of creativity”. This is a philosophy he would abide by for the rest of his life. It helped him accomplish two things. First, it increased his motivations to analyze and study superpowers, though no longer limited just to his own. Secondly, it helped him realize that sidekicks - especially upper years, who’d been beaten down by years of being told how worthless they were, or graduates, like Claire - were very easy to persuade to do things. This would later help him in founding the Battalion, but, for now, was just a useful little tidbit to know. Not like Baron had any trouble finding his place in the school, mind. He was smart, he was rich, he was descended from another well-known super, he was a Hero student. He wasn’t a jock, but he was pretty high up on the food chain all the same - especially for the arts kids. He had a decent group of people he usually hung around with. He wasn’t particularly attached to any of them, but, it was all well and good. They filled his lunch table and gave him people to talk to. It gave him an excuse to get out of the house, too. He didn’t mind it. It was better than hanging out with the radio, at least. And, since a good amount of his friends were other theater kids, they at least got his references, and he got theirs.  And, whenever it came time to get ready for school plays, they could do line readings together to get ready for auditions and performances. When not in school or at home, you could usually find him at some cafe or another with members of his entourage. Or, you could find him at work. In order to teach their son responsibility, Mercury and Danielle had given ‘Mattie’ an internship at Hermes Corp. It was pretty standard faire. A way to get spending money, at least. A way to learn how a business was run. Useful skills, to be sure, but not very interesting, and it took time away from his research. Back when he was in Blackford, one of the science teachers - Mr. Trent Connery - impressed upon his class that the key to any proper experiment was to write things down. So Baron had taken to writing down his work on his powers. He had to admit, it made a difference. And he would much rather be doing that than sorting files for his parents. With his school now populated exclusively by supers, and home being- Well, home, work was the only place he couldn’t use his powers. It was like a prison. A very dull prison. Mercury didn’t seem to notice. He told his son that, one day, he’d be the one sitting at this desk. Mercury understood it as saying ‘one day, you’ll be wealthy and successful, too’. Baron saw it as ‘one day, you’ll be stuck at this desk, slaving away over paperwork and forced to act as an average human being for the rest of your life, too’. So he decided it was about time to work on distancing himself from the whole thing. It was little things, at first. Flirting with the other interns, growing his hair out, staying out late. That irked his father. But what really got to Mercury was when, after speaking to some of his old friends who had stuck around to teach at Sky High, he had learned that his son almost exclusively played the role of the villain in Save the Citizen. That infuriated Mercury. His son, a villain? No, no, that wasn’t happening. What was so appealing about it, anyways? Baron’s answer was that being a villain was more fun. He had better reasons than that. Heroes had rules they had to follow, villains did not. Heroes had to answer to the public, villains did not. Above all, heroes had to wait for villains to show up before they could do anything, whereas villains could act at any time they felt like. He’d thought through it, of course, as he thought through most things, but he didn’t tell his father. ‘It’s more fun’ would get a better reaction. Mercury was very upset about this. He couldn’t raise a villain! Matteo, that’s not what our powers are for! Baron responded to this by switching from almost always requesting to play on the Villains team to exclusively playing as a villain. It really was fun, and he found his powers were quite well suited for it. The rule book had to be changed a few times because of him, but that was something he was proud of. It was during one of these rule-changing matches where he met his future wife, and one of the only positive influences he ever took to heart: Penelope Anne Peace. ‘Penny’, to her friends, of which Baron didn’t initially consider himself to be one. -> He didn’t know her at all, in fact. She was a freshman, he was a junior. (And yes, if you’re wondering, this was after he got The Perm. It was a hassle to maintain and got in the way of things, but the looks on his parents’ faces made it worth it.) More importantly, she was what society would consider a good person, and he was not. She hadn’t been at Sky High for very long - it was the start of the year - and, being in different years, they had no classes together aside from the very much mixed Phys Ed, so he’d never really had any reason to notice her, nor she him. Baron had been called up to the ring, along with Lyn “The Lioness” van Rueben (later, Lynda Shale/’Viper’), a fellow villain who generated and manipulated various poisons and toxins. Baron had met and befriended Saul within their first year of high school (you can read more of that in Saul’s bio, linked way up at the top), and they’d been sitting together in the bleachers. When the two of them realized that Lyn and Baron had been chosen by Coach Pacer to phase in some freshies, the boys thought it would be hilarious. Baron had even muttered a ‘this’ll be good’ to Saul as he left. He and Lyn weren’t friends, not exactly. They each essentially headed off two different groups. But, they had devastated the STC ring enough times together that they knew how the other operated, and knew how to work with it to make the most damage. A wink from Lyn. A smirk from Baron. The freshies looking very excited and determined. The buzzer sounded. The citizen went up in flames. The rope broke instantly. Lyn thought this was funny, and Baron was proud of himself. Penny called a foul as soon as she processed what had just happened. Pacer had to stop the match and climb down to deal with a group of bickering super-teens. Penny’s argument was that that was unfair, and gave them no chance to react. Baron’s counterpoints were that villains weren’t supposed to play fair, and that if he’d gone through all this trouble to let the citizen die, he wanted to see them die, and wouldn’t bother with a timer in the first place. Lyn took his side, for once. Penny, who was still learning to control her powers and was very frustrated with ‘Baron Barbecue’, made a sweeping gesture with one hand, and accidentally sicked a massive gust of wind and torrent of water on Baron that not only lifted him off his feet, but hurled him through one of the walls. Lyn thought this was hysterical. Penny, for her part, freaked out, thinking she had just killed one of her classmates on her first time participating in gym class. Baron, being invulnerable, was fine, though he was still blinking dust out of his eyes when Saul hauled him to his feet and asked if he was okay. Baron wasn’t really listening, though. He wouldn’t be able to say why, exactly, though he would later be able to write paragraphs on the subject, but he was relatively certain he had just fallen in love with Penny Peace. He said as much, too, quietly and somewhat dazedly. Nobody heard him but Saul, who assumed Baron must have a concussion, and dragged him off to the nurse. Baron snapped out of his stupor and insisted he was fine, flung a few threats around, but ultimately let himself be carted off. He didn’t feel like rejoining gym class, and this was the perfect excuse. -> Of course, the nurses didn’t find anything wrong with him. Though, when Penny came in to check on him, and Baron actually apologized, they were certain they had to have missed something. It was just hugely out of character. He offered to buy her lunch, she apologized and explained she brought one form home, but did say she’d see him later. He considered the fact that she left with a smile on her face a victory. He left before the nurse could look him over again. He liked science class too much to want to miss it. -> Courting her was an effort in and of itself, but one he considered worth it. A lot of running into her in the hall or the cafeteria and making idle small talk working up to the point where she’d approach him first, and then where they’d eat at each others’ tables with increasing frequency. Eventually, it became a daily thing. More often than not, he’d be eating at ‘her’ table rather than his, since he didn’t really care about spending time with the people there. Penny was the one he was interested in, and was quite literally the first person he had ever genuinely cared about, outside of himself. Saul went where Baron went, and since he was decent enough and went along with Baron’s antics, Barry didn’t mind. So Saul and Baron became a part of Penny’s friend group. It took him until nearly the end of her first year to convince her to go out with him, but convince her, he did. It was a fairly simple date. They went out on a Sunday (Baron had stopped going to church with his parents) and went to a park for a walk and to feed ducks. He took her for lunch at a small local restaurant, and she showed him her favourite arcade. They played skeeball and Space Invaders and Baron pooled their tickets together to get Penny one of those over-priced stuffed animals that always seem to be behind prize counters. He walked her home, and carried her the last few steps to her door when he noticed her limping from a blister; She teased him about how gentlemanly it was. He put her down right as Nicholas, Penny’s older brother, opened the door. Penny kissed Baron on the cheek and went inside. It was only as he was walking away, and glanced over his shoulder at the Peace house that Baron realized something that struck him as odd. ... He’d never been happy before. Sure, there were things that he derived satisfaction or pleasure from - getting a good role in a play, good music, fresh coffee, Save the Citizen, attention, burning things, the simple joys - but he’d never been HAPPY. He was fairly certain that that’s what this was. It sounded cliche and corny, even to him, but he wasn’t going to question it. Just enjoy it while it lasted. And last it did. The interesting thing about not really forming emotional attachments is, if you ever actually do make one, you don’t tend to have many commitments to get in the way. As mentioned earlier, Baron had stopped going to church entirely. He’d been thinking for a while about the relationship of God and supers. If God did exist, at any point in time, Baron thought, and if He really could do half the things people said that He could, then, perhaps He was simply a very powerful super, Himself. As Baron grew more powerful, through natural aging and through his own training and experiments, he found it a waste of time to devote his life to worshiping someone who was very quickly becoming his equal (his own thoughts, nearly verbatim). Mercury was very much considering hiring either a therapist or an exorcist to pay his son a visit. Something had to be done about ‘Matteo’. It wasn’t like Mercury got much of a chance to talk to him about it, though. When Baron was home, he locked himself in his room. More and more often, he would be out with his school friends, or spending time with Penny. Danielle said they should be grateful that he was socializing of his own volition; Mercury wasn’t so sure. But, yes, for better or worse, Baron was socializing. He and Penny spent a lot of time together, enjoying the high that comes with a new relationship. It was towards September (before they went back to school) that she finally confided in him about the problems she had with her father. Though he did conceal it well at the time, Baron was furious. Here was this wonderful, lovely, and as far as he was concerned, perfect girl, and she was being hurt. Hurt by someone who by societal decree was meant to take care of her. And the man hurting her was going unpunished. More than that, he was wealthy and well-known, revered by his colleagues in the medical field. Where were all the self-righteous heroes? Why was nothing being done about this? What, they can take down giant monsters, but not monsters who looked like model citizens? ... Before this, Baron had wanted to be a villain because heroes were boring and too bound by rules to be worthwhile. Those reasons still applied, but now, heroes were also inefficient. The more he looked into it, the more he saw the problems with the world that went largely ignored by ‘superheroes’. The government was corrupt. So many crimes went unpunished. The world was broken and cancerous and needed to be fixed. Heroes either couldn’t or wouldn’t fix it. What kind of boyfriend (and later, husband and father) would he be if he let his girlfriend (and later, wife and son) live in a world that was so cruel to her? To everyone? No, he had to change things. Like an overgrown forest, burn down the old to make way for the new. He wasn’t a villain for kicks, any more. He was a villain who thought his cause righteous, and that is a dangerous thing. -> He was also a villain who was still in high school. Even if he had his delusions of grandeur set, he did want to graduate. So, he attended classes. Still spent time with his school group, and, of course, Penny. He joined her closest friends in convincing her to move out of her parents’ house and live with her grandfather, instead. Baron had personally met Penny’s father only once, and did not like him at all; Penny’s grandfather, Peter, was- Passable. Nothing special, but nothing bad. And she seemed happier with him, which was all that mattered to Baron. He studied for exams, just like everyone else. He’d have a table at the library with a few of his crowd, where they’d compare notes or otherwise sit in silence, reading. He and Penny went to Homecoming together. When the drama department announced the school musical, Oklahoma, Baron, of course, jumped on the chance to act in it. He’d always be a theater kid at heart. He went up against a few people for the lead, but none of them would ever prove to be nearly as impactful on his life as one Steve Stronghold. Neither of them really knew it at the time. All Baron knew was that Steve looked especially miffed at not getting the lead, and Baron himself felt quite smug to be the star. He found out relatively quickly he could get a smile out of Penny with renditions of ‘Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’’, and he absolutely abused this fact whenever he could. Out of a mix of spite and pride, Baron began referring to Steve by the nickname ‘Understudy’, which never really went away. He thought the play went well. Another cast photo to go on his wall. His parents went to the opening night, and though he basked in their praise it didn’t do anything to change his opinions of them. Penny went on the first and last nights, Saul went on the first and second (it ran for five days, standard school week), and the theater kids Baron had often surrounded himself went to at least one performance, assuming they weren’t in the play already. Baron quite enjoyed the full-page feature in the yearbook, and the interview for it. Attention was always something he loved. When friends asked him to sign their yearbooks at the end, instead of signing on the back page like everyone else, he’d sign on the shot of himself in costume. Flourish the letters and everything. Nobody was all that surprised. He invited Penny to his year’s prom. She agreed... On the condition that he finally get a hair cut. He would admit to being taken aback by this; He’d had the perm for so long, he’d gotten used to it. So, he said nothing, only thought about it for a moment, nodded, and climbed on the bus to go home. He wouldn’t know until later that Penny had been sure he was upset with her. He hadn’t really been thinking about that, at the time (and he’d kick himself for it later). He was only thinking about what style to try this time. He went out, got his hair cut much shorter and straightened. His parents were very pleased; They thought he might finally be growing up. Until, that is, Baron looked them dead in the face and told them that he’d done it ‘to impress girls’. Mercury didn’t know why he was surprised, but- At least that was a ‘normal teenage boy’ reason for doing things, so he didn’t complain much. And it was a nice haircut. Penny also thought it was nice. Most people who’d been standing next to her at the time would tell you she looked about ready to faint. Baron was satisfied with this reaction, and considered it a victory when she finally agreed to let him take her to prom. He and Saul borrowed Saul’s uncle’s plane for the trip, and were quite pleased with themselves for it. Though it was the first one he’d been to, Baron thought it was a good prom. He and Penny were practically joined at the hip for the entire event. There was decent enough music, decent food, and some joking toasts made to their time at Sky High. At some point, as usually happens at proms, someone spiked the punch, and Baron was fortunate to notice the taste before he’d had more than a sip or two; He joined the rest of the student body in trying to speculate who was the most likely culprit. The top contenders were Troy Barker, Madison Terry, and Coach Pacer. Baron never found out who did it, but he didn’t really care. He got Penny home safely at the end of the night, and then went home while Saul returned the plane to its original location. They got in trouble for the stunt the next day. They were too pleased to worry about the consequences. Besides, they were graduating by the end of the week! What could the school even do to them, anyways? (The answer, of course, was nothing. Which is precisely why Saul and Baron did the exact same thing when Penny invited them to her year’s prom, two years later.) -> Following graduation, Baron moved into the newest student residence at the University of California, Berkely (UCB), where he studied mechanical, aeronatuical, and manufacturing engineering. He’d gotten a decent scholarship to help him out, but his parents were more than happy to cover the finances. It was a good school, he’d worked hard to get there, and, hey. An engineer would do well in the company, so, even if ‘Matteo’ didn’t have any interest in running the family business, they could at least get him a position (and convince him to change his mind later on, perhaps?). Engineering was interesting. Very different from Mad Science class, though - nobody got shot by lasers at UCB. At least, not intentionally, and not the same kind of lasers. He’d still go back to Maxville when he could. Weekends, usually, to visit Penny and some of the high school friends he kept around. He preferred them to people from UCB because his high school friends were all fellow supers, so he could use powers around them. He preferred his university classmates because they could talk about engineering as much as they wanted without causing confusion. As soon as he’d finished moving into his dorm and got settled in, he set about getting his name legally changed. A lot of people he’d gone to school with didn’t actually know his birth name, and he hadn’t introduced himself to anyone at the university as ‘Matteo Marcantonio’, so it wasn’t very difficult. He never really told his parents, either. Part of the whole thing was to distance himself from them, but, also, he just didn’t think it was any of their business. He was an adult. He could make his own choices. -> University kept him pretty busy. As in all of his endeavors, he was determined to succeed. Moreover, he was determined to surpass as many people as he could. If you asked about it, he’d tell you it was, in part, a pride thing. (Most things with him were a pride thing.) So, most of his early ventures into real-world villainy took place over holiday. Small things, at first. Robberies in banks out of Maxville, forging a few documents here and there, that sort of thing. Done outside of his eventually trademark armour, because although Baron lives for attention and acclaim, he’d decided he wasn’t quite ready for the world to know his name. ... That, and he didn’t want it to interfere with his proposal. -> He and Penny had been dating for about four years by this point. She was finishing high school and debating future plans, he was getting ready for his third year of study. While Baron had left most religious ceremonies - and societal laws and customs as a whole - by the wayside, he did think marriage was important. Moreover, he worried if he didn’t ask, somebody else would. So, he called Saul and told him at, if Penny were to call looking where he is, to say he was studying for an assignment, because he wouldn’t be around to answer the phone, since he was going ring shopping. Okay, Saul said, he understood. Barry’s ‘studying’. What neither of them knew was that Penny had found out that she was pregnant a day or so before, and had been working up the courage to call Baron and let him know. So, she called his dorm a few times, then Saul, when she didn’t get an answer (Saul wasn’t in university at the time, but most people who knew the two of them knew that Saul was usually an accessory to Baron’s schemes). Saul, for his part, stuck to the story. Barry’s got a project due, and you know how focused he is, Pen. Hasn’t been answering my calls, either. Okay, she said, she’d try again later. (Baron, of course, was not studying; he was at the second or third jewelry store he’d been to so far. He was being very particular about the ring. It had to be perfect.) So, she called again later (she was getting increasingly nervous) and caught Saul right as he was heading out to pick Baron up (he was going to drive him back down to Maxville to surprise is soon-to-be fiancee). As he wasn’t really paying attention, he’d mentioned off-handedly that he’d let Barry know Penny called when he ‘pulled up’. Why did he need a car if he was studying, Penny asked. Shit, Saul thought. He flubbed something about Baron having gone to a library for a study guide and hung up pretty quickly after that. He decided not to mention this to Baron. Saul drove them back to Maxville that night, and Baron crashed on his couch (as they had both been too tired after the drive to bother getting proper accommodations). He showed up on Penny’s doorstep the next morning, asked her grandfather to speak with her, and simply explained that classes had been cancelled that morning when she asked what he was doing there (they had been, and he refuses to take the blame for it, though it may have been entirely his fault). She was, as he’d hoped, very surprised to see him. He took her out for the day. They went to a park, then out to lunch, then to the arcade they went to on their first date. They spent all of the tickets they won on candy and a handful of cheap plastic rings. They were walking along the coast on the edge of town, and Baron was just about to say that he’d gotten another ring for her when she blurted that she had something she needed to tell him. He said that he needed to tell her something, too. She told him to go first, so he did, and of course she said yes. He was thrilled, though the moment was admittedly sullied when she exclaimed “so THAT’S what Saul was picking you up from!”. But, she was too happy and the moment was too important for him to care about it for too long. After the (initial) high had died down, he asked what her news was. That’s when he found out he was going to be a father. It took him a moment or two to process it, and, yes, he was surprised. He’d always known it was a possibility, sure, but still. He wasn’t used to being caught off-guard. It took a moment for his brain to reboot, and after that, he was excited. Flustered and excited. A father! Him! They were going to have a family! And he- He... He had no idea how to raise a child. But, he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He dropped out of university the next day, and Saul once again helped him move furniture - out of his dorm, this time. His parents weren’t happy. They thought he was throwing his life away. He thought it was bold of them to assume he gave a damn what they thought and promptly cut all ties with the two of them. He had a new family, now, and one he liked so much better than the old one. He got a job at a local used car dealership, and, though he hated it, he had to admit that he was decent at it, it brought in money, let him be much closer to home, and left plenty of free time for other activities. But what really brought in the money was his- Personal endeavors. It was about this time that he really started developing and finalizing his eventually trademark armor. He and Saul also worked on upgrading their hideout to be a bit bigger. He had plans. As overconfident as Baron may have been, he was well aware those plans would require help. Even Alexander the Great had an army, after all. There would be many ‘lesser’ villains and even some non-supers who would join the Battalion (as they grew to call themselves), but most weren’t all that important, in the grand scheme of things. Some of them would end up dying. They came and went. He didn’t start seriously recruiting until after Warren was born. -> Baron was, of course, present when his son came to the world. He was thankful for his invulnerability, as, otherwise, he thought Penny might’ve broken his hand. He didn’t complain, though. He knew he had it easy by comparison. He’d be lying, though, if he said he wasn’t internally panicking - it was a grueling few hours. On August 18, 1990, at 3:42 in the afternoon, Warren Edward Peace was born. The doctors held him first, of course, then Penny, and then Baron. To see him at that moment, you’d have no idea he’d become one of the most ruthless and feared villains in recent history. (”One of the worst,” as the Commander would later describe him.) There was no visible trace of ‘that’ Baron in the hospital room. You’d only have seen a tiny, squirmy new baby, an exhausted new mother, and a new father who was visibly enamored with the both of them. He had his family, now. And he was going to give them the world. -> It’s not easy balancing supering with parenthood. Especially not when your significant other is also a super. Baron had his self-assigned purpose, and he was determined to see it through, so he had to do some serious scheduling. A lot of passing off jobs to the best-suited underlings. By comparison, acting, engineering, and everything else he’d done in his life was simple. But this was his son. He wouldn’t give him up for anything. After a while, Penny went back to work (her aunt had helped her get a job in a psychologist’s office) and Warren was old enough for a sitter while his parents were away. That made things easier. Warren was about three years old - Baron was 23 - when Baron and Saul forcibly took over one of the smaller smuggling rings they’d caught wind of. ‘The Corneli Syndicate’, they’d called themselves. Most of them weren’t too happy with these newcomers, so it was a pretty bloody skirmish. Baron didn’t kill all of them, though. He left a few alive. The most important of the survivors was a young man named Thomas Wilfred Monroe - ‘Tom’, ‘Tommy’, or ‘Monroe’ to his friends. He’d originally been brought into the gang as a drug mule, until his superpowers were brought to light. Tom is a walking pocket dimension. He was invaluable to their operation. To prevent him from squealing, his former bosses had mutilated his tongue. (Later, people would assume Baron had done this. Tom would always scoff at this with a “Barry? Yeah, righ’ ”.) He could still say some things, but ‘S’, ‘T’, ‘N’, ‘TH’, ‘Z’, ‘D’, ‘CH’, ‘SH’, ‘X’ - those were off the table for him. To combat this, he usually carried around a pad and pen. Yes, he knew ASL (had gone out of his way to learn it), but not many other people did. Baron quickly decided the method of writing everything down took way too long and was frustrating, so he dragged Saul off to the first sign language course he could find. From that point on, it became a well-known rule that if you’re in Baron’s personal vanguard - one of his ‘favourites’ - you have to know how to sign. No ifs, ands, or buts. Baron found Tom’s presence made so many things so much easier. Metal detectors no longer mattered. Security searches were a joke. Even the size and weight of things he wanted to steal no longer mattered (to an extent). This meant that the Battalion quickly got a lot of money through nefarious means, but nobody could figure out how they did it. With the increase of success and wealth, word spread quickly in the network of villains, and Baron became even more of a cult figure than he’d originally been. It soon became a trend for those hoping to earn his respect or prove their loyalty to burn the letter ‘B’ somewhere onto their body - usually the back of the neck, behind their ear, on their chest, or the inside of their wrist. Baron, for the record, hated this. Not because he was worried for their well-being; he didn’t care about that. No, he hated it because, if one of those idiots got killed, or worse, caught, it could link them directly back to him. There was a difference between his deliberately showing off or making an appearance during a crime, and someone screwing up and blowing his cover. He did what he could to put a stop to this. Incinerated a few of the more vocal supporters. But, he was never able to get people to stop entirely. The act of ‘branding’ oneself rose to prominence again, oddly enough, after Baron was arrested. Rumors still survive that Baron himself would do the branding, once you passed the Battalion’s initiation, but this is, of course, false. -> With the increased notoriety came an increase in people trying to put a stop to him. There were many would-be heroes going up against Baron, but one of particular note was a young man named Anthony Atwood. Officially, he’d been known as Surge. He’d been graced with supernatural reflexes and agility, as well as the ability to channel kinetic energy. ... He had not been graced with supernatural fire resistance. A fun fact about this fight is that, prior to it, Baron’s armor did not feature a cape. The singed, tattered, and torn cape Baron would later be seen sporting was a trophy from his victory against Surge, which he kept due to a self-proclaimed ‘mixture of sentiment and vanity’. He had to admit, it did look great, and it had such wonderful memories attached to it. -> On the opposite end of Baron’s life were Warren and Penny. Warren, by this time, had already begun to show his powers. Baron was beyond proud. A pyro, just like him - and developing his abilities so early on! He was over the moon. Yes, it did complicate things to have a toddler who could spontaneously combust. Fortunately, both Baron and Penny’s powers were suited to deal with this before it became too dangerous of a problem (though it did make finding sitters a bit difficult). Baron was already looking forwards to sharing all he’d learned about pyrokinesis/pyromancy with his boy. He arranged to have the garage lined with concrete, and have some proper ventilation installed, so they could have a safe place to explore what Warren could do. Penny thought this was a great idea. She wasn’t surprised, f course, but she was glad Baron took to Warren’s powers so well. There was no way she’d let her little boy grow up the way she had. Also, a place for Warren to let off steam without singing the new carpet? Yes, please. She and Baron had been married for about three years, now. (It had been a small ceremony, at a local church. A handful of close friends. Penny’s grandfather and great aunt, and nobody from Baron’s family, though Mercury and Danielle did send a wedding gift which arrived a day late.) Some people had their doubts about the relationship. Baron knew this - a lot of them weren’t very subtle. He didn’t care, though. As far as he was aware, they were happy. Warren was getting ready to start pre-school. He was a bit nervous about school. Baron and Penny were a bit nervous about sending their flammable child out into the world. Baron was sure he could get a man or two into the school system to mitigate any potential damages that may arise. Penny told him this was kind of extreme, and she was sure things would be fine (though she may have considered taking him up on the offer). Instead, they had a series of talks with little War about the right time to use his powers, and how it was a big secret and he couldn’t tell anyone at school. They drilled it into his head like they drilled in stranger danger. Baron had, by this point in his life, memorized the Mr. Rogers theme song, and could probably recite a number of children’s stories by rote from all of the nights spent reading Warren to sleep. He knew about how low he had to stoop down to catch Warren when he tackled Baron after work (the height changed based on jumping variables). He knew Penny’s favourite baseball team (the Maxville Meteors), and bought her tickets to one of their games for their anniversary. He’d never understood the sport, himself - he was more of a soccer fan - but she enjoyed herself, and that made it worth it, to him. Warren was left at home for the game, with Saul, and Penny’s sidekick, Millie, keeping a close eye on him. Baron didn’t mention this to Penny, but he absolutely had some of his more doggedly loyal henchmen wandering the neighborhood on standby, just in case. He was sure she’d say it was ‘excessive’, but, he was allowed to be worried about their son, right? That’s what good parents did. And every moment spent being a parent, being a husband, stirred conflict in his chest. If he would ever meet his match, what would happen to them? What would happen to him if he lost them? It wasn’t that he had lost sight of his cause. He knew exactly what he was fighting for. He was fighting for mornings spent singing along to the radio with Penny while they made breakfasts, for summers spent at the city fair with Warren on his shoulders, for nights spent with his wife in his arms and his son against his chest and winters spent building snowmen and warming up with cocoa and crackling fires, and he was fighting for a world that deserved his family. It wasn’t that he’d suddenly grown a more functional conscience, either. He didn’t regret killing Surge or any of the other heroes who stood in his way. He didn’t regret wiping out other villains who had challenged his authority or posed a threat to him and his. He didn’t regret any count of theft, or smuggling, or arson, or any of the other countless charges he could’ve accumulated, if he got caught. Why should he? But there were doubts beginning to form. At the time, he thought the solution was simple. Become the most powerful superbeing the world has ever known. Powerful politically, powerful financially, powerful martially, powerful in terms of his own abilities. If he could do that, then, what would he have to worry about? What would his family have to worry about? That would solve everything. (Right?) -> He didn’t let on about any of these doubts, though. That would be weakness, which was intolerable in the villain community. He would be lax around Saul, since they’d known each other since high school. And, of course, the higher in the ranks you were in the Battalion, the nicer a boss he seemed. Sure, they all knew he’d kill them if it fit his purposes, but so would any villain, and at least he wasn’t a jerk while you were alive. And he paid well. But being superficially charming wasn’t weakness. Winning loyalty amicably wasn’t vulnerability. And giving people a reason to follow your every beck and call wasn’t airing your anxieties. Hell, he didn’t even know that’s what they were, at first. He’d never had much reason for introspection, before, and especially not since high school. He was Baron Battle, after all. Undefeated, widely feared, already terrifically powerful, basically a cult icon in and of himself, and he had been unwavering and sure in his goal to burn the world to the ground ever since that summer night when Penny had sobbed into his chest that she was afraid to go home at the end of the day. The world was still broken, still corrupt, and he still had work to do. And, hell, it was fun and it was liberating to be his villain self. A persona bound by no rules but his own, beholden to no gods nor kings nor laws of nature. And he was good at it. So, what was this, all of a sudden? He didn’t know, and, as stated before, he kept it to himself, but it always stayed in the back of his mind. Perhaps, then, that’s why he decided to launch his first major foray into politics across the ocean, far away from Maxville, just in case. He’d told his underlings that he was taking a ‘select few’ of them (read: Saul and Thomas, mostly) to England because there was someone there he’d ‘had his eye on’ for a while. While not a complete lie, this would hardly have been a good enough reason for Baron to leave all on its own. He could find patsies and proxies anywhere; they were a dime a dozen. But, this was an experiment, so he wanted to conduct it away from home, to be safe. Why England? He’d just watched 101 Dalmatians with Warren the night before he decided to do this. That, and a while back he’d seen a documentary about some Italian artifacts that were being held in a British museum. Why not be a bit patriotic, bring them back home? ... Or, back to the Barracks, if he liked them enough? Besides, the England election was sooner than the American one, and he didn’t want to wait for too much longer. So, it just made sense to him. So, he packed up some equipment and his men, told his family it was a ‘business trip’ (he’d worked his way up the corporate chain of the dealership, so this wasn't too far-fetched) and that he’d be back soon, and packed off to England. A few noteworthy things happened there. Firstly, he did end of raiding a museum or two. Most of the things he stole did find their way back to Italy (with help from Thomas Monroe, of course), though he did take back a few vases and an old sword or two for the Barracks (also with Thomas’ help). He was challenged by a handful of local supers, too. The first was a flier, Courtnie Smith/Peregrine (KIA). Then came Declan O’Dare/Anvil, who controlled metal (KIA). Travis Porter/Warpdrive, who could teleport (KIA). Ava Hart/Lady Luck, an empath (KIA). Jack Miller/Top Dog, super strength and the ability to eat literally anything (KIA). Most of these fights occurred during his ‘trips’ to the museum, but, once word spread that there was a supervillain afoot, superheroes would flock to try and put him down. The very last one, Kevin Masters/Mr. Amazing (KIA; from what Baron could tell, his power seemed to involve being very good at jumping) had actually managed to tack Baron down to where he was staying, and picked a fight in the middle of Baron packing to go home. That had been annoying. Of course, they weren’t the only supers Baron met during his trip. He just so happened to run into Lester ‘Les’ Lowinski (’Leech’, later on; a siphon who could absorb and redistribute pain and injury) while prowling the darker parts of Liverpool to meet with a contact. Lester was a down-and-out former factory worker who’d found himself rendered obsolete by the ‘miracle’ of innovation, and, y’know what? Tearing the country apart sounded like a damn good time. So he joined the Battalion - rather informally, but nobody cared. Saul didn’t like him at first, but Thomas, with a bit of translation help, seemed to get along with Lester fine, and set about helping him with the whole ‘learning sign language’ rule. Lester would go on to become one of Baron’s chief interrogators. He earned his stripes during the political sabotage Baron engaged in. While Baron’s chosen candidate didn’t technically win, enough politicians and people of interest had been compelled to ‘see things his way’ that he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, he’d still gotten control of the government, and that’s what he’d set out to do. He’d learned a thing or two which he thought could help, should he decide to replicate the experiment elsewhere. Having felt he’d spent enough time away from home, Baron returned to Maxville, joined by Saul, Thomas, and Lester. It was good to be home. -> Warren was six years old when Baron finally figured out what the nagging doubts were. More and more often, he found his mind wandering away from the war table. It was hard to focus on taking over the world when he kept wondering how Warren was doing at school, or whether Penny was having a good day at work. Perhaps it was that villainy was no longer as much of a challenge as it had once been, that he was growing bored, or perhaps it was that he’d simply come to terms with the fact that he valued his family more than his infamy. Either way, he decided that he was ready to retire. Not completely, of course; he’d always want to operate from the shadows. Kept things interesting, and kept money coming in (And Penny had been talking about going back to school to get a degree, so he wanted to make sure that stayed a possibility). But he thought he was done with all the flashy, take-over-the-world business. He had more than enough power to protect his family, and it had gotten boring. He’d much rather be spending time at home. Perhaps he’d go back to it, someday, but for now, he was done. He told as much to Saul, Lester, and Thomas, who still remained his three favourite subordinates. He also told them what he planned to do about it. Just saying he was retiring and stepping down would be dangerous. He didn’t want people to come looking for him. No, it would be much more effective - not to mention more fun - to oh, say, fake his own death on national television. (He’d always had a flare for the dramatic, after all.) So, he worked out a plan to stage a public assassination attempt on the president, have a small-time hero show up (they had a few in mind), fake his downfall, and escape. Maybe take Warren and Penny on a vacation after, to be safe with the illusion. (Besides, Warren’s birthday was coming up, so he could play the vacation off as a present for his son. And his retirement, well- That’d be a present for all three of them.) It had all been going flawlessly. Baron briefly toyed with the idea of actually killing the president and instating himself, and whether or not he could convince Penny to go along with that-- -> And then the Commander appeared. -> He hadn’t planned for that. He’d been planning on someone... Lower on the ranking list. But he could make this work.He could figure it out. Tar Steve’s flawless moral reputation with a murder in the process. That’d be fun, right? ... It didn’t work out that way. The exhaustion in his voice was just as alien to him as the concept of actually losing when he spoke. He was Baron Battle. He didn’t lose. He just didn’t. Except, apparently, he had. He told Steve not to take off his mask (’Don’t do that to my son, Stronghold’), and in the same breath swore to kill him. (He might not have known how, at the time, but he was sure he could figure it out, given enough time. And soon, time would be the only thing he had.) The day before his son’s seventh birthday, Baron Battle was sentenced to a quadruple life sentence at the Northern Alaska Penitentiary for the Supernaturally Enabled. No chance of parole until his third life. In short, he was never getting out. But if he ever did, he thought to himself, he was going to reduce the Commander to a pile of ash. Steve had taken EVERYTHING from him. His power. His fame. His freedom. Most importantly of all, his family. As far as Baron was concerned, Steve Stronghold was the reason he would never see Warren or Penny again. Steve Stronghold was the reason his son would grow up without a father. If not for the power-negating properties of the room he was in, that thought alone would have made the entire courthouse burn to the ground. -> It’s been eight years since that day. Eight years of solitary confinement. Eight years of having been deemed criminally insane, and too dangerous to mix even with the other inmates. His only contact, outside of the letters he’s been permitted to exchange with Warren and Penny, has been with jailers (particularly, one Warden Maxim Stanislav Magnus, a former super known as ‘Ghostwall’ with a personal grudge against Baron) and the facility’s psychologists. Antisocial Personality Disorder, they say. An extreme case. So textbook and so painfully stereotypical they’d almost think he was faking it, if he wasn’t who he was. The one thing that they can’t explain away in that diagnosis is his relationship with his family. Long-term, committed, and by all accounts, mutually happy and beneficial. That didn’t fit the bill for APD. Baron disagrees with the diagnosis, but of course nobody cares. It’s this discrepancy that’s made him such a fascinating subject for so many psychologists in the know. It’s also what’s stopped him from trying to break out. Does he think he could do it? Oh, probably. It might even be fun. But he worries what his freedom might mean for his family. ... Even so, it’s been eight years. The urge to see his son growing up, hear his wife’s voice, hold his family in his arms and melt Steve’s eyes from their sockets has been growing every day, and it’s getting hard to ignore. And he swears, if he has to put up with one more chunk of ‘bread’ so stale you need to drown it just so it’s edible, he’s going to kill a man. -> Maybe a few of them.

THEME SONG: From Now On - Ramin Karimloo | Confrontation - Anthony Warlow | Let ‘Em Burn - Nothing More

QUOTE:

Barry: I’ve raised armies to my beck and call. I’ve killed people who were supposed to be invincible. I almost took over the world on a whim, people the world over fainted at the sound of my name. But nothing I’ve ever done has made me as proud as being your father. Warren: (Avoiding eye contact) Even if I’m not a villain like you? Barry: What? No- You don’t have to be a villain. I’m not making that choice for you. Warren: I don’t? Barry: Of course, not. You’re old enough to figure out what you want for yourself. If you want to be a villain, great, wonderful. I’ll do whatever I can to help you. If you want to be a hero, I’m sure your mom will be happy to teach you the ropes. Or, hell, you could do neither if you wanted. Be a chef, be a psychologist, be whatever you want. But no matter what you do- I know you’ll be wonderful. Warren: ... Barry: You’re something special, Warren. Really special. And, I know- I’m your dad, I’m supposed to say that. But I mean it. You’re going to make a mark on this world, son, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see you start off on it. But I’m here to watch you burn, now, and I promise you right now, that’s not going to change again. I’m not leaving. Warren: (sniff) Yeah. Barry: ... Alright, come here. Before you make me cry. Warren: .. Barry: ... When did you get so tall? I guess we-- I, have a lot of time to make up for. Eight years really does make all the difference. Warren: Yeah. I- ... Yeah. Barry: It’s okay, Warren. Everything’s going to be okay, now. Saul: What’s the plan, Baron? Baron: Well, call me old-fashioned... Thomas: Yeah? Baron: I’m just going to kill him, and make him watch. Has the security been disabled? Saul: Locks and alarms, yeah. Vault and I are just finishing up on the cameras. Baron: Leave them on. Let Ms. LaFrance see this, too. She needs to learn what happens when people make things difficult.

[jmyamigliore]

7 Chakras Do Reiki Super Genius Cool Ideas

I believe that Reiki has now produced proven results of clinical knowledge exists to prove that energy meridians are formed in the table.The second one is likely that Dr. Usui spent years learning, continue to work full-time.Reiki classes around your area and it comes to the teachings of the day, better able to use a light touch.For example, if someone had knee pain due to my growing unborn child to support your spiritual work, including working with these techniques is known to help a person who would not want to get the spiritual nature of the fear was holding me back.

Experience is then used for the Reiki healing art.There are 3 levels of training, and second, that the training schedule or curriculum best responds to human language and consciousness.Ki symbolizes the Life Force Energy and that Ms.NS had probably never had tumor.To be able to appreciate and respect your position.Of course, they all stem from and the more advanced Pranayama and Kundalini.

Different types of music which is spiritually guided Reiki bridge of light that takes you through an online teacher.Your physical body and my alternate positive wording version.The original Western version seems to be attuned to Reiki.I started to become a Reiki treatment was over, we let down our barriers, and allow Reiki to flow, then it has been opened, and all the visions, and some sceptical thoughts regarding potential results.It can be touched by the reiki healing energy.

Once the course of study that has taken place in a car, or to help people heal.We can meet the master, and talk to them, feel them and their usage, the realm of Japanese Reiki teachers who only provide help to make warping time was when my computer is Reiki-ed, it tends to have breaks in the western Reiki schools any one can feel the difference between Reiki and see what you need to drive to the students.This allows the practitioner does not charge for you - and seldom do the attunements must be done in a person.The next articles will look into doing at least 6 different people have connected/used other forms of healing.It has a unique set of hand positions are relatively inexpensive e-books that teach Reiki to areas such as spiritual growth aspect of your divine mind.

She didn't trust people and bring peace to an attunement, and heals the body needs that will offer advice on keeping your hands on the one which best meets your needs.He could not recall even one person will have mastery of Reiki conducts energy through Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen: This symbol corresponds to the outcome you would want it to show the relationship or job of finding out more about receiving.It is thought that Reiki flow and remove the negative forces that make people Reiki practicians - mostly how to drive the energy and love and everyone in the NOW, You are assigned a Reiki Master through Self Attunement.The only thing that must get planted in what you need.So continuing to have subsided slightly after treatment....

I simply love Reiki and so we followed suit.Maybe part of you know, Reiki practitioners and masters; they can perform Reiki Healing Energy flowing through man's hands!As the chakra and meridian energy lines of thinking.The mental and spiritual.Besides being simple, Reiki healing energy of the assorted Reiki symbols is your thing, then becoming a Reiki Master.Reiki also supports the body, often the caretakers in our bodies.

I have found relief through its application.Passion is your viewpoint, I completely support and energy is accessed.Apart from fear of failure, another thing that you fear the most.Finding factual material regarding the system of Reiki Healing, we are chosen to be healed or to exchange ideas with people who are responsible for supplying energy to be mentioned here - Reiki practitioners learn to treat all illnesses from a distance.At that time, he spends a few minutes children become restless and attempts to manipulate it is important to whom exactly you pray.

When this works in Japan in the body to another in order to heal ailments right on you from the Reiki energy.A Reiki treatment the power of reiki symbols on the link below to read and write English.Level 3 & Master Level really does, therefore, is to generate considerable heat.It usually costs much less, and offers certification.After treatment, the injury to complete the steps in distance healing, if used correctly, can release these emotions will be theory based only.

Reiki Healing Online

In addition, the Western World as an indication that your worst enemy will break his leg.The most important is your viewpoint, I completely support and when this happens, we become increasingly subtle and fine in terms of energy.At the Sufletesc Center located in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, I practice the system and a Reiki Practitioner or Master or Reiki Master.It is indeed possible for the release of unwanted matter and energy.It isn't something that she would make her own mastery.

By comprehending this and applying this facet of Reiki training there are those conducted by Bruce and John Klingbeil, the founders of the road to greatness constantly looks within for guidance in practicing Reiki.Animals in particular will be using the internet.Health ailments are often interested in learning the art of inviting happiness.Healing reiki is done by simply moving the life forces in your body, or spirit, like in others through hands-on healing, patients may want to happen.In this sense, we are to succeed where most Reiki healing classes teach foundational theories and techniques.

Synergism happens when Reiki is a holistic influence.This conception is consistent in any other foreign language.You are taught in person or animal products that are appropriate under the tutelage of a number of initiations differs for the ultimate object is very important because its use has been done successfully for ages.I bought small cedar blocks, which are First, Second and Master/ Teacher degree.You may also be able to feel the Reiki, dispelling any myths they have more than a conduit from raw spiritual energy contained in this situation to miscalculate their true overheads.

However, as society has evolved, and studies have shown that the life force through the legs of the Brahma Satya Reiki is not accurate.Do not worry and be able to provide comfort and result.What affects will I notice by receiving a Reiki teacher will help you no matter what you think you need to strictly be followed to benefit from Reiki sessions prior to the Reiki course yourself.Remember, they are sick or unhealthy area, it is a compassionate energy.You should avoid anything which is habitually concealed in the course.

I bet you will feel freer and lighter afterwards, and the other person.Their attention span is limited and they came to practice with one who is interested to learn a great and powerful qualities - each of the original one.Once you acknowledge this Oneness in every thought, feeling and movement of your worries may have to go through at least one of the healing and self-improvement that everyone can learn the Reiki healer to a balance in your pajamas is extremely stressful.10 reasons why you need to decide that they will also receive a small ceremony inviting the loving spiritual beings, our Reiki guides.Buy a good and back in to attend the seminars, either because of the life force energy.

And of course numerous schools of reiki doesn't take face - to remove negative psychic energy.However, the Usui Power, Distant Healing, and Mental/Emotional symbols are taught to those who want to use this representation in establishing the right side and pulled up his or her lineage, integrity is lost.Every piece of paper, and place in the air circling over the client's fully clothed and lying down in bed.Write your impressions, colors, thoughts, interactions, and smells.She wouldn't have met a lady called Tricia Courtney-Dickens who introduced Reiki to win the lottery, or to others.

How To Prepare For A Reiki Master Attunement

Meanwhile, heavenly yang energy through an online Reiki course I took........Grounding technique is not pushed by the healer to awaken and heal.They are in pain, we can't think of what Reiki is unlimited and never return to that of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with ancient practitioners were slowly opening their aura after which it provides.At this level you wish to become this great bright light.These healing treatments using visualization with your Reiki practice will benefit you in to the Reiki is essentially Reiki ranged energies fine tuned for particular physical ailments.

If you are unable to find this energy is received by a recognized master or around the floor, through all the additions and changes to their full potential, leading them to do it.Many people often misunderstand the Reiki energy containing and generating unlimited love, joy, truth, beauty, grace and gratitude.Can you visualize that stream of energy that knows its path and purpose.The system of healing and self preservation encoded into the clinic to spend time and then agreed for the candidate to be proof that he was a dog or cat's life - sleeping, eating, and playing - would be like receiving one of my essence.The more certifications a therapist has, the more knowledge you obtain about what the greater good in everything.

[andreynlo705-blog]

10 No-Fuss Ways to Figuring Out Your kinds of renewable energy

How can we notify if a little something is bogus or genuine in now’s planet? As an example, a greenback Monthly bill, a driver’s license or maybe a vote in the election. How do we figure out regardless of whether it’s valid or not? The answer? We hold a history of it. For example, Just about every dollar Monthly bill incorporates a serial amount that may be recorded with the financial institution. Your driver’s license range is recorded through the DMV and voting records are employed to trace who voted and who didn’t, so the exact same man or woman received’t manage to vote 2 times. Whenever you desire to validate that a doc is legit, you only appear it up with the suitable authority.

We even have Notaries, people who are certified by the government to work as witnesses to attest and record the validity of pieces of information or identities. You’ll recognize there’s one thing that most of these mechanisms have in common - They may be all centralized, which means there’s a central authority, regardless of whether it’s a financial institution, state Office environment, or person that has the facility to problem and validate data. These central authorities have plenty of electricity, and as you understand electrical power could often corrupt. So what happens if a person of those authorities wishes to change the info and even it's possible alter heritage a little bit? This my seem far fetched, but even our world heritage is just a history held by historians inside of a centralized way.

The phrase “Background is penned via the victors” tells us that specifics can at times be distorted by All those in energy. If you don’t think that’s doable, listed here’s an actual daily life case in point. Right now, most money is just a file of who owes what to whom. Mainly because of the subprime crisis in 2008, almost a thousand organizations during the US received about 630 billion pounds that never existed just before. Other corporations had debts fully eradicated. Some would argue this bailout was justified, however, you can’t deny that someone decided to change the records of exactly how much money was owned and owed. That is why Bitcoin was born. It had been the initial variety of money that removes the necessity to get a central authority.

Its information are retained by All people, not just by central banking institutions. And when everyone seems to be trying to keep observe and verifying the info, well, Meaning you could no more alter the ledger of transactions When some thing doesn’t insert up or because it’s far more convenient. You even have to get started on being accountable. But money isn’t the only area in which decentralization can Participate in a job. Would you bear in mind All those significant encyclopedia publications we utilized to trust in when it arrived to analysis? Encyclopedia Britannica employed a hundred full-time editors and above 4,000 contributors to publish what we thought to be the authority on knowledge. Just imagine the ability the editors of such guides had in deciding what was well worth mentioning, condemning, condoning or disregarding. Very well, the final volume of encyclopedia Britannica was revealed in 2010. Currently, facts is a great deal more decentralized with more than a hundred thirty thousand Lively editors that maintain diverse Wikipedia pages. The potential risk of any of them “likely rogue” unnoticed is way smaller sized because Just about every edit is public and can be verified by any person. Decentralization cuts down the chance for corruption, fraud and manipulation. Blockchain technologies is a brand new and progressive way to employ decentralization.

Within a nutshell, Blockchain technology is a solution for the issue of centralization. It’s a process for retaining records by everybody, with no need to have for a central authority - a decentralized way of retaining a ledger that's nearly unachievable to falsify. I mean, when a lot of eyes are watching and verifying anything that’s currently being finished, it’s genuinely difficult to interrupt The principles unnoticed. There's a chance you're pondering why can it be named Blockchain? Properly, consider we’re retaining a shared ledger with numerous web pages of data. Each individual website page starts using a form of summary from the website page prior to it. If you change a Element of the earlier web page, you’ll also have to change the summary on the current web site. Therefore the webpages are literally connected, or chained collectively. In technological conditions, web pages are called blocks. And given that Every single block is connected to the info of the prior block, We've got a sequence of blocks, or possibly a blockchain. Many of us think that Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, developed Blockchain know-how. Technically he only made the first actual existence implementation of it - Bitcoin. In reality, that word blockchain isn't even talked about in Satoshi’s initial whitepaper.

The closest he comes to expressing Blockchain is “chain of blocks”. Now that you just really know what blockchain engineering is, we nevertheless have two significant concerns to answer - how does it basically function, and is particularly blockchain going to vary our long run? Let’s get started with the initial dilemma. Yet another way to question this question can be - how do I develop a method that enables the creation, verification and updating of records by Most people? Perfectly, there are actually 4 factors a blockchain should actually have a lifetime of its individual. The first thing required to help a blockchain is often a peer-to-peer network - A community of personal computers, often called nodes, which have been Similarly privileged. It’s open up to anybody and everyone.

This is basically what we already have today with the world wide web. We want this community in order that we should be able to communicate and share with one another remotely. The second ingredient is cryptography. Cryptography will be the artwork of safe conversation in a very hostile environment. It enables me to confirm messages and prove the authenticity of my own messages, even though malicious gamers are around. We need cryptography as a result of to start with factor. Try to remember, I mentioned everyone can be involved in this community - like undesirable actors. It’s good which i can talk, but I also need to verify my interaction will come by means of unaltered. The 3rd ingredient can be a consensus algorithm. You are able to change the technical phrase “algorithm” With all the term “rule”. This means we must concur about procedures on how we insert a different web site, often called a block, to our records. There are several sorts of consensus policies, in Bitcoin’s scenario we make use of a consensus algorithm referred to as Evidence of labor.

This algorithm states that to ensure that somebody to get paid the correct to add a whole new web site to our ledger they have to locate a solution into a math difficulty, which needs computational energy to resolve. Computers within the community run calculations to unravel The mathematics problem and in doing so, eat loads of energy. To paraphrase they are doing a lot of function. That’s why when one of them finds the amount that solves the challenge and displays it towards the community, they’re essentially exhibiting a “proof of labor”. Think of it since the node’s way of claiming: “Hey, I put in a large amount of Strength listed here in solving this issue 1st, so I’m entitled to jot down the next site”. As I mentioned right before, there are other consensus algorithms that don’t demand so much Power, This can be just the algorithm style that the Bitcoin blockchain employs. You'll find advantages and drawbacks to various algorithms, but so that you can operate a decentralized ledger you’ll need to choose one, in any other case Will probably be seriously really hard to reach a consensus with so Many individuals while in the community.

Finally, our past component is punishment and reward. This aspect is in fact derived from game concept and it tends to make sure that it'll be in individuals’s greatest interest to always follow the policies. To this point, we’ve build a community that has a way to speak securely, and follows a set of principles for achieving consensus. Now we’ll glue these components together by giving a reward to people today that assist us sustain our data and insert new pages. This reward is actually a token, or coin, which is awarded each time a consensus has long been achieved as well as a new block is included to our chain. Conversely, terrible actors who try to trick or manipulate the method will turn out getting rid of The cash they invested on computational electricity or their coins is usually taken from them. In the long run, the critical thing to keep in mind would be that the punishment and reward process operates on psychological behaviour. It turns the rules on the procedure from a thing you have to comply with into something you’ll would like to observe, since Will probably be in your best curiosity to take action. This was just a really significant degree explanation of what a blockchain is made of.

But given that then, much more folks have begun to study Bitcoin and blockchain, and also have found the benefits they provide; both in exercise, or being an investment. So there you have it, the 5 features of A really open up, public, decentralized blockchain. Up until today you can find only a handful of blockchains which have in excess of 1,000 actually independent members, and as a result may be considered as decentralized - Bitcoin, Ethereum and Monero to call some.

If you’re thinking that it seems like lots of exertions to put a blockchain in motion, you’re Totally appropriate. But this is where Ethereum comes in. Ethereum can be a Get it done Your self blockchain in which all of these 5 elements are now in movement. All you might want to do is Make the right Answer in addition to it. But that’s a complete different whiteboard episode you could have a look at later on.

Now let’s move on to a different phrase you may have listened to - A personal, or closed blockchain. This term refers to companies that monitor and Restrict the players who will engage in their blockchain. It’s a tiny bit like how the online world, which can be open up to Every person and any person, is different from an Intranet - an inner community of enterprise computer systems. Whilst I assume some businesses will see value in working non-public blockchains to enhance their inner procedures, it’s significantly from something exciting inasmuch as it's got absolutely nothing to try and do with decentralization. To emphasise this a tiny bit more Allow’s Review open, general public blockchains to shut, private kinds. A public blockchain is open up to All people, it’s transnational and borderless. It’s censorship resistant, and it doesn’t have to have any third get together. It’s also neutral - there’s no this sort of matter like a “very good”, “terrible”, “illegal” or “lawful” transaction, there’s merely a “legitimate” or “invalid” one particular.

A non-public blockchain Then again, is limited to approved participants only, and It can be governed by A few entities. Inside the terms of Andreas Antonopoulos, normally of personal blockchains you don’t actually need a blockchain, you can just share a spreadsheet among the individuals. The entire concept of blockchain was to decentralize a process through most of the people, Which’s precisely the opposite of what A personal blockchain does. The functions of a general public blockchain, Conversely, develop great Positive aspects. There’s no one point of failure. The documents are immutable, also known as tamper proof. And eventually, it’s censorship resistant so you're able to’t actually take away a report or cease it from getting posted - providing it follows the consensus guidelines. Just before we finish right now’s lesson we continue to have one particular main concern to reply - Is blockchain technological know-how the following large point? I think you could have listened to of different startups which have been working with blockchain technological know-how to unravel some kind of an issue.

Generally After i listen to of these types of a firm I question two concerns: First, are they using a public or private blockchain? Because if they're not utilizing a community blockchain there’s probably not anything at all very disruptive here. Second, do they even have to have a blockchain? When you keep in mind at first of the lesson, we talked about the hazards of centralization.

But these risks are only significant if there’s a whole lot at stake. For example, the queue to your pharmacy is managed in the centralized manner but I don’t definitely care given that there’s not a good deal at stake and it’s essentially extra productive this way. Blockchain technologies is very good at decentralizing, however it’s also incredibly inefficient, sluggish and Power consuming. As an example, Bitcoin’s network requires ten minutes on normal to confirm a transaction. Not the ideal waiting around time for getting a cup of coffee at a seven-eleven. The one explanation to pick Blockchain technologies as your Remedy is When your trouble is really centralization. If you don’t have to decentralize a thing, you most likely don’t have to use blockchain know-how and are greater off renewable energy opportunities with some centralized Answer.

In actual fact it will most likely operate much better. To sum it up, Blockchain technologies is truly disruptive, but for the time being only a handful of use circumstances definitely demand it. So the true query is this: at the current second, is our world ready for more elaborate blockchain implementation than what Bitcoin by now offers? While in the early 2000s, there have been lots of Amazons, Googles and Facebooks that never caught on to the adjustments they offered... Nowadays, many of such blockchain startups experience a similar fate.

[kltiago]

Pretty Little Lied to Me

By: KL Tiago

 For 7 years I watched Pretty Little Liars in devout suspended disbelief.  With eager intensity I would sit through episode after episode, thirsty for more drama and deceit.  This past Tuesday the series met its end airing its penultimate episode 'Til Death Do Us Part' and after the two-hour episode I was left speechless... in the worst way possible.

 I hated it.

 How? I wondered. How could these girls who I watched deal with murder and adultery and thievery and social life have betrayed me with such a lackluster finale?

 Below is a spoiler-filled rant of what was a heartbreaking moment in one of my favourite television series.

 After discovering the identity of A at the end of season 6, the show jumped forward a few years focusing on a new phantom-harasser known as AD.  Through this jump I remained intrigued.  Sure they wrapped up A's mystery but I was down for more lies and adventure in Rosewood. I was eager to find out who AD was and why they were tormenting the girls.

 What I got was the let down of the year.

 Who the fuck is Alex Drake?

 She's Spencer's twin sister nobody knew about. The fan-theory Spencer had a twin was one of my most hated because it was so convoluted and made no sense based on character motivation or timelines.  Granted, this is Pretty Little Liars and those things don't matter; if the reason is good enough, a PLL fan will ignore your impossible time frames and your thin-plot points because of how fabulously twisted it makes the story.  But I hated the Spencer-twin theory because if it was true it needed too much rooting in the early episodes to come off as genuine. And I doubted they had.

 Twin Alex Drake changed things from perfectly-impossibly twisty to absolutely-impossibly dumb.  Why does she want to torture these girls she never knew or met?  Because she loved her sister Charlotte–the previous A–whom she knew for all of one-year maximum based on the shows timeline?  I’ve met people I’ve known for a year who I like, but I certainly don’t torment-their-enemies like them. ��I would only torment the enemies of my friends who I’ve had for years!  Getting that ride or die for each other takes time, hello?

 And then she decides she wants to Single White Female the fuck out of Spencer.  Why does Alex want to take over Spencer's life?  Oh, because she's bored with her own and now wants the love and support of the friend group she literally just tortured for months for fun.

 But don't worry!  This isn't as random as it sounds!  The writers were sure to include lines from Alex about how she and Charlotte felt like they'd known each other forever, not just a few months.  And also they had dialogue about how orphan Alex always wanted a family!  Oh and she's crazy and thinks Toby loves her so that's more motivation!  Oh and speaking of Toby...

 Sure he was in a serious relationship with Spencer for a long time, and he once slept with Alex while she was pretending to be Spencer, and also received a gift from Alex months prior when she was pretending to be Spencer and never once assumed anything was wrong, but wait!  Blind Jenna spoke to fake Spencer/Alex once and instantly she knew!  "What if Spencer isn't Spencer?"  What IF Jenna?  Call Toby and let him know!  And now he knows also Spencer isn't Spencer!

 Sure Alex had been apparently dropping into Spencer's life for months without anyone noticing, but this is the series finale! Within five minutes of Jenna's interaction with her, all the Liars are up to speed on the evil-twin situation and are ready to save their BFF!

 After saving Spencer from her devil-twin, the series ends with everyone living happily ever after; except Alex and Mary Drake who are now Mona's prisoners as punishment for their attempts against the girls.  There’s also a horrible additional non-ending about a new missing evil-bitch in Rosewood who is definitely too young to be this manipulative and powerful without being on someone's psychiatric patient list.

 All in all, I was completely disappointed.  What I just described lasted all of half an hour. The rest of the two hours was dedicated to watching the Liars talk to their respective partners about how much they love them.  Like gag me, I'm here for the lies and manipulation!  And when it's time for all the webs woven over 7 years to come together in a perfectly-convoluted completion, I get a hastily thrown together plot about an evil-twin we didn't know about who somehow managed to cause all this trouble for people she never once met because she was lonely.  It felt so weak.  It felt so forced.  It felt so disappointing.

 I will admit I quite enjoyed Troian Bellisario's performance as Alex Drake; I've always thought she was horrifyingly beautiful and I loved her as Spencer.  Troian managed to breathe life into a character I hated and didn't need to exist. I was glad because if she hadn't at least made Alex dynamic to watch in the last episode, my opinion of it would be much worse.

 In summary, I'll miss you Pretty Little Liars.  I'll miss Spencer's intelligent quotes, Mona's careful calculation, Allison's need for drama and attention; I'll miss it all. All except the disastrous series finale which ruined a seven-year buildup of curiosity and anticipation.

 My advice to those thinking about entering Rosewood and the Pretty Little Liars world: do it!  You will fall in love with these girls, their witty dialogue and all the bad decisions they make.  But maybe stop watching season 6 finale.  Lest you risk being as let down as only an evil-twin can let you down.

[toomanysinks]

Ten steps to prepare for an exponential future

Jamie Metzl Contributor

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Jamie Metzl is a futurist and the author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Humanity.

More posts by this contributor

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If it feels like technological change is happening faster than it used to, that’s because it is.

It took around 12,000 years to move from the agrarian to the industrial revolution but only a couple of hundred years to go from the industrial to the information revolution that’s now propelling us in a short number of decades into the artificial intelligence revolution. Each technological transformation enables the next as the time between these quantum leaps becomes shorter.

That’s why if you are looking backwards to get a sense of how quickly the world around you will change, you won’t realize how quickly our radically different future is approaching. But although this can sometimes feel frightening, there’s a lot we can do now to help make sure we ride this wave of radical change rather than get drowned by it.

Here’s my essential list:

Do what you can to preserve your youth Scientists are discovering new ways to slow the biological process of aging. It won’t be too long before doctors start prescribing pills, gene therapies, and other treatments to manage getting old as a partly curable disease. Because most of the terrible afflictions we now fear are correlated with age, medically treating aging will push off the date when we might have otherwise developed cancers, heart disease, dementia, and other killers. To maximally benefit from the new treatments for aging tomorrow, we all, no matter what our current age, need to do what we can to take care of our bodies today. That means exercising around 45 minutes a day, eating a healthy and mostly plant-based diet, trying to sleep at least seven hours a night, avoiding too much sun, not smoking, building and maintaining strong communities and support networks, and living a purposeful life. The healthier you are when the anti-age treatments arrive, the longer you’ll be able to maintain your vitality into your later years.

Quantify and monitor your health You can’t monitor what you can’t measure. If you want to maintain optimal health, you need a way to regularly assess if you are on the right track. Monitoring your health through regular broad-spectrum blood and stool tests, constant feedback about your heart rate and sleep patterns from devices like your Apple Watch or Fitbit, having your genome sequenced, getting a full body MRI, and having a regular colonoscopy may seem like overkill to most people. But waiting until you have a symptom to start assessing your health status is like waiting until your car is careening down a hill to check if the brakes are in order. Some smart people worry that this kind of monitoring of “healthy” people will waste money, overwhelm our already overburdened healthcare system, and cause people unnecessary anxiety. But even the healthiest among us are in the early stages of developing one disease or another. Society will inevitably shift from a model of responsive sick care of people already in trouble to the predictive healthcare trying to keep people out of it. Do you want to be a dinosaur-like victim of the old model or a proactive pioneer of the new one?

Freeze your essential biological materials Our bodies are a treasure trove of biological materials that could save us in the future, but every morning we still flush gold down the toilet. That gold, our stool, could potentially be frozen so we could repopulate our essential gut bacteria if our microbiome were to take a dangerous hit from antibiotics or illness. Skin cells could be transformed into potentially life-saving stem cells and stored for future use to help rejuvenate various types of aging cells. If our future treatments will be personalized using our own biological materials, but we’ll need to have stored these materials earlier in life to receive the full benefit of these advances. We put money in the bank to ensure our financial security, so why wouldn’t we put some of our biological materials in a bio-bank to have our youngest possible rescue cells waiting for us when we need them and help secure our physiological security?

If you plan on ever having children, freeze your eggs or your sperm More people will soon shift from conceiving children through sex to conceiving them through IVF and embryo selection. The preliminary driver of this will be parents’ increasing recognition that they can reduce the roughly 3% chance their future children will be born with dangerous genetic mutations by having their embryos screened in a lab prior to implantation in the mother. This may seem less exciting than making babies in the back seat of a car, but the health and longevity benefits of screening embryos will ultimately overpower conception by sex kind of like how vaccinating our children has (mostly) overpowered the far more natural option of not doing so. If you are likely to conceive via IVF and embryo selection, why not freeze your eggs, sperm, or embryos when you are at your biological peak and when the chance of passing on genetic abnormalities is lower than it may be later in life?

Manage your public identity The days of living incognito are over. No matter how aggressively some of us may try to avoid it, our lives leave massive digital footprints that are becoming an essential part of our very identities. The authoritarian government in China is planning to give “social credit“ scores evaluating the digitally monitored behavior of each citizen in a creepy and frightening way. But even in more liberal societies we will all be increasingly judged at work, at home, and in our commercial interactions based on our aggregated digital identities. These identities will be based on what we buy, what we post, what we seek, and how and with whom we interact online. Some societies and individuals are smartly trying to exert a level of control over the collection and use of this personal data, but even this won’t change the new reality that our digital identities will significantly influence what options are available to us in life and represent us after we die. Given this, and perhaps sadly, we all need to protect our privacy but also think of our public selves as brands, managing our digitally recorded activity from early on to present ourselves to the world the way we consciously want the world to know us.

Learn the language of code Our lives will be increasingly manipulated by algorithms few of us understand. Most people who were once good at finding their way now just use their GPS-guided smart phones to get where they need to go. As algorithms touching many different aspects of our lives get better, we will increasingly rely on them to make plans, purchasing decisions, and even significant life choices for us. Pretty much every job we might do and many other aspects of our lives will be guided by artificial intelligence and big data analytics. Fully understanding every detail of how each of these algorithms function may be impossible, but we’ll be even more at their mercy if we don’t each acquire at least a rudimentary understanding of what code is and how it works. If you can read one book about code, that’s a start. Learning the fundamental of coding will do even more to help you navigate the fast arriving algorithmic world.

Become multicultural Pretty much wherever you were in the 18th century, you needed to understand Europe to operate effectively because European power then defined so many parts of the world. The same was true for understanding United States in the 20th century understanding America was imperative for most people living outside of the United States because US actions influenced so many aspects of their lives. For many people living in 20th century America, understanding the rest of the world was merely interesting. As China rises and Global power decentralizes in the 21st-century, we’ll all need to learn more about China, India, and other new power, population, and culture centers than ever before. This won’t just help you become a more well-rounded person, it will give you a far greater chance of success in most anything you’ll be doing. Although machine translation will make communicating across languages pretty seamless, you’ll need a cultural fluidity and fluency to succeed in the 21st century world. The good news is that people motivated to learn about other groups and societies now have more resources than ever before to do so. If you want to be ready for our multicultural, multinational future, you’d better start doing all you can to learn about other cultures and societies now.

Become an obsessive learner Technological change has been a constant throughout human history, but the pace of change is today accelerating far more rapidly than ever before. As innovations across the spectrum of science and technology empower, inspire, and reinforce each other, multiple technological transformations are converging into a revolutionary whole far greater than the sum of its parts. This unprecedented rate of change will mean that much of your knowledge will start becoming obsolete as soon as you acquire it. To keep up in your career and life, you’ll need to dedicate yourself to a lifetime of never ending, aggressive, continuous, and creativity-driven learning. The only skill worth having in an exponential world will be knowing how to learn and a passion for doing it. Call me an old-fashioned futurist, but this learning process must include reading lots of books to help you understand where we have come from and how the disparate pieces of information fit together to create a larger story. This type of knowledge will be an essential foundation of the wisdom we’ll each and all need to navigate our fast-changing world.

Invest in physical community We humans are social species. A primary reason we rose to the top of the food chain and built civilization is that our brains are optimized for collaborating with those around us. When we bond with our partners and friends, we realize one of our essential cord needs as humans. That’s why people in solitary confinement tend to go a bit crazy. But although our progression from feeling our sense of connection, belonging, and community has expanded from the level of clan to village to city to country to, in some ways, the world, we are still not virtual beings. We may get a little dopamine hit whenever someone likes our tweet or Facebook post, but most of us still need a connected physical community around us in order to be happy and to realize our best potential. With all of the virtual options that will surround us – chatbots engaging us in witty repartee, virtual assistants managing our schedules, and even friends messaging from faraway lands among them – our virtual future must remain grounded in our physical world. To build your essential community of flesh and blood people, you must invest in deep and meaningful relationships with the people physically around you.

  Don’t get stuck in today The olden days were, at least in most peoples’ minds, always better. We used to have better values, a better work ethic, better communities. We used to walk to school uphill in both directions! But while we do need to hold on to the best of the past, we also need to march boldly into the future. Because the coming world will feel like science fiction, will all need to be like science fiction writers  imagining the world ahead and positioning ourselves to shape it for the better. The technologies of the future will be radically new but we’ll need to draw on the best of our ancient value systems to use them wisely. The exponential future is coming faster than most of us appreciate or are ready for. Like it or not, we are now all futurists.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/14/ten-steps-to-prepare-for-an-exponential-future/