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ai-katsuu · 3 years

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Hi. So based on the recent post of RSEA x bishonen tanteidan crossover, could u do a scene where Audrey is introduced to the f7 in a similar way Manibu introduced the Pretty Boy Detective Club to Mayumi? Oh and definitely that scene where Mayumi asks Michi to brew her tea like in the pic w Jack and Audrey. Hope it’s not too much 👉👈. Thx.

Sure! This was pretty fun to write!

“Are you okay?” the male asked grinning, holding her in his arms as he moved his face closer to hers.

Audrey widened her eyes. Where did he come from? What’s with those eyes? It’s too alluring...captivating. The man had brown hair swept to the side, his eyes the same color. He donned a navy blue outerwear and had the appearance of a sorcerer.

“Thank you…” she muttered as she finally tore her gaze away from his face.

The man smiled and hummed as he stepped back and looked at her. Audrey didn’t know what he was staring at, so she refused to look back at him as she tucked her hands behind her back.

“So, you like the ocean?” he asked as if implying something.

Audrey finally looks at him a little surprised, “What makes you think that?”

“Why, that’s a quite simple, elementary deduction.” he simply responded with a snap of his finger, “After all I can’t think of any other reason to be on the beach alone at this time of season.”

Indeed, it was winter. Not exactly the most favorable season for people to visit the location. But regardless, this man was right.

“I love the sea too,” he continued, “The beautiful sound that you hear when the long awaited waves crash onto the warm sand, the way it reflects everything in its path. It’s too beautiful!” he spread his arms as he faced the water.

He paused and took a deep breath of the salt watered air, turning back to Audrey, “Looking for something?”

“What makes you think that?” she asked once more. How does he keep guessing what exactly her motives are?

“Why, another elementary deduction,” he puts his hands on his hips and confidently walks towards her, “The most elementary of elementary speculation. Only someone completely absorbed in searching for something,” he leans towards her smirking, “would fail to notice my spectacular self standing nearby.”

‘He said that, he totally said that. ‘My spectacular self’...’ she thought as she frowned, slightly moving back and away from him.

Suddenly, the male then brought out a magnifying glass. He blinked a couple of times before making a sound in realization.

“What now…” she muttered.

It took awhile for her to notice, but he was not looking at her, rather, he leaned down and looked at the edge of the shore behind her. The water should’ve gone back to the ocean like any wave does after it crashes onto the sand, but the area surrounding Audrey doesn’t. It circulated around her shoes.

“I of all people was a bit careless here. I just noticed it, you have a connection to the water.”

Audrey gasped and quickly hid her hands in her pockets. As soon as she did, the water surrounding her shoes went back to the ocean.

He tilted his head in confusion as he put his hand on hips, “Hm? Why’d you stop? A shame to hide such magnificence. No need to worry, talent is not something to compare.” his gaze went to the little talismans he had in his pocket, “Even if you stand next to me your powers will not be dulled!”

Having enough of this conversation, Audrey bit her lip as she took a deep breath and huffed. She turned to him, her foot stomping on the sand as she presented her best forced smile with her fists clenched.

“You’re right. I am searching for something. Would you be so kind as to assist me?” she said through gritted teeth and a grin.

“But of course!” he beamed with self confidence, completely unaffected by her obvious expression, “After all self service is what me and my boys do!”

He then took her hand and started running across the sand, “Come with me!”

“W-where are we going?!” she quickly asked.

“That should be obvious!” he smirked as he looked back at her, “To the Fearless Seven headquarters, of course!”

---

Audrey had heard of the Fearless Seven, or the F7 in short. They were the greatest heroes nationwide, but also the most mysterious. They have never shown their face to the public, and when their clients were interviewed they were forced to keep their mouths shut as per the contact that the F7 gives to them. The members whole identity is kept a mystery.

“Creepy…” Audrey pouted as she thought about this, was it really a good idea to ask for their help?

…

“Eh..?”

After arriving at their destination, Audrey was somewhat surprised that the nations greatest heroes lived in...how would she put it, a ‘down-to-earth’ home.

“This is...Risky Rock?” she spoke to herself as she looked around what seemed to be the living room.

“Hmm?”

Another voice came from the end of the room, sounding displeased at her arrival.

“What’s this? This time you brought over a girl who doesn’t even look like royalty. For all we know she’s a commoner.”

The irritated man had his back turned to her. He wore a blue vest and his blond hair was swept up. He had his hands on his hips as he held a small hand mirror towards his face.

“I bet she doesn’t even know the first thing about how to greet princes. She probably stumbles over her words and can’t even curtsy properly.”

“Princes…?” she questioned in a whisper before realizing what he said and raised her voice, “Excuse me! But I’m-”

Though it was at a distance, the man held his mirror up to look at her in his reflection. That was when the slow realization hit her and she gasped.

‘Prince Jack. The man who climbed the beanstalk and came down wealthy. The rags to riches prince, the wealthiest man in all of Fairy Tale Island. He was obviously well known around the island but has been noted to be hard to approach due to his motto:

“Time is money.”“’

In other words, every second speaking to him would probably cost Audrey her entire month's budget on meals.

“Come now, Jack.” A second, more gentler voice came from the other end of the room, “You should not say something so endlessly rude to a woman you just met.”

The man had a large sword in his lap, and Audrey heard the sounds of what seemed to be him sharpening it, “We haven’t been getting a lot of requests lately, try not to scare off our money this time.” he chuckled as he threw the slab to the side.

“...Prince Arthur!” she widened her eyes.

‘He was the most revered of the knights in Fairy Tale Island. Heir to the throne of Camelot, he was known for defeating many monsters, witches, and beasts with just his brute strength.’ she marveled in her thoughts, ‘Who knows what he could do if he put that sword of his to proper use…and to say the least you won't find a girl who’s never heard of him.’

“The richest prince, Jack, and the strongest prince, Arthur, who basically makeup part of the well known princes in the Island, are in the same room together.” she mumbled to herself, “I couldn’t possibly hide my surprise.”

Jack scoffed as he turned to Arthur, “Don’t complain while you’re drinking the tea I brewed for you. That stuff is from my personal collection.”

But Arthur merely chuckled, “Come now. The tea that you give us is excellent, Arthur.”

“Yup! That’s right, Jack!”

Another voice, this time coming from where the couches were arranged, interrupted.

“You nabbed a girl as cute as her, and you’re saying she’s a filthy commoner?”

‘Eh...a second voice? But they sound just the same…’

“Right? I thought you’d propose at first sight like ‘Let’s live together!’”

‘No, there are three voices!’

Simultaneously, the voices stood up to reveal themselves to her with a grin, and for the third time, Audrey had to gasp.

‘Princes Pino, Noki, and Kio!’ she thought as she swallowed her throat, ‘They’re known for being the best and smartest inventors, not just among the princes but on the whole island as well! Not to mention, rumoured to be extremely handsome under those hats.They were revered scholars that surpassed even their father, the great inventor Geppetto...how on earth are they all here?!’

“You’re the traveler who controls water right? Audrey!” Pino snapped his fingers.

Audrey pouted, “How did you…”

“All in a day's work, nice to meet ya.’’ said Noki.

Kio (she hoped she was telling them apart right), stood up and went to what seemed to be the kitchen of the estate. “Hans, cook up some pasta for us will you? Something tells me we’ll need a feast for this meeting.”

Audrey’s gaze went to the gingered haired chef who stood in front of the stove, ‘Prince Hans. One of the twins from the kingdom of sweets, and the master of all cooking. He’s won many competitions and restaurants have been clawing at him for him to even just to make an appearance or try their food so that he would leave a review.’

“I see…” she stepped back and looked at the six men, “This really is the ‘Fearless Seven’, so many talented and famous people...no not just people, princes. If people knew who they were, they would come flocking with requests.”

Audrey frowned and put her hand on her chin, “But that’s what makes it all the more bewildering. Why would these six participate in such a group?”

Then, a confident and boisterous laugh was heard behind her. Audrey quickly turned around to see the man that guided her here. Now that she had the proper lighting, she could finally see who he really was. It all made sense.

“Once again, I must say I am pleased to meet you, Traveler Audrey.” he took her hand and looked her in the eye, “I am none other than the leader of the Fearless Seven, Prince Merlin.”

‘So the proclaimed leader who had the wealthiest, strongest, smartest, and talented in tow…’

‘...Wait.’

“Who are you…again?” Audrey squinted at him.

Merlin’s smile remained before morphing into a shocked and betrayed expression, “W-What do you mean who I am?!” his filter completely fell as he put his hand to his chest and leaned towards her.

Kio could help but burst out in laughter, “Oi, is she serious? She really doesn’t know who he is? This must be a low blow for you, Merlin!” He held his stomach.

“Truly a humbling moment, you’re not as well known as you think you are.” Hans smiled as he glanced at their leader.

“Shut it you two!” Merlin balled his fists then turned to Audrey, desperate to have his name known, “I’m Prince Merlin of Camelot! Greatest wizard of all time? Greatest sorcerer? The most well known in all of Camelot?!’ he yelled the last bit.

He had moved towards her with each sentence, causing her to step back and fall back into one of the luxurious chairs in the room. She leaned back on it as a worried expression started to form on her face.

“...I thought Prince Arthur was the most well known in Camelot...and that the greatest wizard and sorcerer was a mouse called Mick-”

“I brought that mouse his intelligence! That was me! The papers just don’t acknowledge it!”

‘Exasperated’, ‘Out of breath’, and ‘Flustered’ were the right words to describe Merlin right now.

“Let it go, muchacho.” Arthur sat with a sly grin etched on his face, “Not anyone can best me in terms of popularity.”

“How true,” Jack, now having a smirk on his face, walked up to Merlin who still frowned at him, “Poor little wizard is not as well known as we are.”

But when it came to Jack, Merlin’s complexion changed and took...no that’s not the right word, gripped his hand and pulled him close, “Better shut that pretty face of yours up and pay special attention to our guest. It’s your job after all.” Merlin forced through a smile, though it was blatantly obvious to everyone.

Jack’s smirk faded and rolled his eyes, walking towards Audrey.

‘Huh…?’ she thought, ‘He just obeyed him like that, even though he’s a prince. This Merlin really is the leader...is he really a prince like he claims?’

“Well?”

Audrey snapped out of her thoughts and yelped as Jack suddenly appeared before her, leaning down with a disapproving look on his face. “Don’t look at me with that stupid look on your face. What do you want?” he said, getting impatient.

“Geez, they must’ve been real attentive to the boss back home.” Audrey frowned at him, not bothering to hide her thoughts.

“Watch your tongue, commoner.” Jack kicked her chair with a good amount of force before kneeling down to her level to look her in the eye.

“Now, now, Jack.” Hans said from the kitchen as he prepared the plates for everyone, “Might as well get her something to drink. She’s here regardless.”

Jack looked annoyed at the chef before looking back at Audrey who thought about this a little too seriously. Feeling relieved that Hans was on her side a little she outstretched her arm towards him and closed her eyes.

“I’ll have tea.” she attempted to sound confident, but the expression on her face betrayed her.

“You’ve gotten rather shameless.” Jack noted as he knelt down.

#red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #red shoes movie #red shoes #rsat7d #rsatsd #red shoes ever after #red shoes jack #red shoes merlin #red shoes hans #red shoes arthur #red shoes pino #red shoes kio #red shoes noki #red shoes Audrey #pretty boy detective club #bishonen tanteidan

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thisentertaining · 4 years

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Instinctual - Instincts to Guide in the Storm

Zuko isn't sure what prompts him to start talking.

Maybe it's the possible impending doom.

Maybe it's the novelty of having someone to tell who might care.

Maybe it's just that kind of storm. The one that makes you want to curl up around a fire to tell stories, and he and Sokka aren't exempt from that even on a perilous ship.

Regardless of the reason, Zuko begins to tell the story that the Freedom Fighters never bothered to even ask about.

Read on Ao3

Instinctual Pt 1

Sokka and Zuko leaned the entirety of their weight against the ropes holding the sail as the wind ferociously attempted to wrench it from this side to that. As one particularly powerful gust of wind pulled at the abrasive rope, Sokka yelped and made to drop it, to retreat into the small cabin like that fisherman and pray that the small ship would somehow survive, but Zuko didn’t so much as falter. It was as though the laws of physics warped in response to his stubbornness. Though the wind should have far overpowered him, the boy simply refused to move, and nothing the rocking seas or the rushing wind did could tear him from his goal.

Finally, the pair managed to force the sail into position just enough to make it so that the vessel was facing the waves instead of allowing the waves to hit the side of the boat. Sokka rushed to throw a makeshift storm anchor out the back of the boat and the pair collapsed as much of the sail as they felt they safely could before dropping onto the deck, mostly sheltered by the cabin, but close enough to the workings of the ship to get to them in an instant if needed.

Sokka let out a loud sigh of relief as he sat down, and couldn’t help casting the other teen an impressed look. Zuko was breathing very heavily, arms collapsed at his sides as though he couldn’t bear to move them. Kid was strong for someone who had been trapped in a cave. Sokka had known that, distantly. He’d seem him climbing over the great divide like a mountain-goat-squirrel, but it was different here. This could not be attributed to flexibility or finesse, it was all brute force and tenacity.

“I can’t believe we did it!” He said, suddenly giddy with relief and wanting to share his sudden joy. Zuko cast him a soft, exhausted smile. “You man, you just, stuck with it. I swear that should not have worked, but you just kept going until it did. Awesome.”

Zuko didn’t say anything for several long moments, and Sokka was happy to sit in his relief, pelted by rain and constantly shifting to try and stay upright on the roiling boat.

“Never give up without a fight.” Zuko said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“When I was a kid, my Uncle sent me a souvenir. It was a knife with the engraving ‘never give up without a fight’.”

Sokka snorted, then coughed when the motion send rainwater up his nose. When he could breathe again, the boy said, “Wow so you got like, one present and were like, ‘that’s it, this is my life motto from now on’.” He laughed. It just fit Zuko so perfectly. This was a kid who had been chained in a cave for literal years and still yelled at his captors. This was the boy with no stamina that practically ran himself into the ground to get to Gaipan and save it.

“Not exactly.” Zuko said, so softly that Sokka had to fight to hear it over the roaring of the waves, wind, and rain.

“What do you mean?” Sokka asked, just as quietly. There was a heavy pressure in his chest, one that was entirely separate from the fear and adrenaline that came from sitting in a storm. This was about to be a Serious Conversation.

“One time… I didn’t. I gave up without fighting. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

Sokka didn’t ask. He didn’t look at the scar. He didn’t push. Maybe that was why Zuko actually answered. Maybe it was because Sokka had freed him, and Zuko thought it was only right that he leaned the truth that the Freedom Fighters had never bothered to ask. Maybe it was because on this roiling, rioting, flailing excuse for a boat, the next day did not seem certain, and Zuko wanted at least one person to know what had happened to him.

Maybe it was simply the kind of storm that prompted people to huddle together and tell stories by the fire, and they were not exempt from the desire even out here on the waves.

“Back… home, in the fire nation I…” Wait. There was truth, then there was stupidity. Zuko did not always think things through, but… well, when you were surrounded by people who talked endlessly about defeating the Fire Lord, it didn’t take a genius to know that you shouldn’t tell them that he was your father.

He was giving truth tonight, but he was hoarding it as well, just as he had in the cave. He’d hoarded his identity, his inability to bend, his weakness. His people had learned from the dragons, he knew how to hoard. Just as his father hoarded land and his sister hoarded praise. He would give some of his hoard away, but was keeping the brightest jewels for himself.

“I belonged to a noble family.”

Sokka snorted. “No duh.”

“What?”

“I mean, that bit was kinda obvious.”

“No it- how?”

“You just your kinda whole… deal.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He roared, his voice loud enough to be crystal clear over the deafening wind and waves.

“Nothing, nothing.” Sokka said, and Zuko narrowed his eyes but decided to leave it.

The moment had definitely ended though. “My family was… extremely influential, and when I was around ten there were some… there was an incident, and I personally found myself in a much more important position.” He’d gone from fifth in line to the throne to second, from never imagining himself sitting upon the flaming dais to being groomed to take over.

It had been a lot.

“But I…” Had a sister who was so close on his heels that they were blistered. A sister who was favored and who could very well take over his destiny if he didn’t fight for it. “Wanted to prove myself. So when I was thirteen, I convinced Uncle to sneak me into a war council. He said that he would but made me promise to keep quiet.”

An impossible feat. Zuko should have known. If it had been anyone but Uncle, he would think that it had been an intentional sabotage to put him in a position where he had to hold his tongue. If Father was thinking, he probably would have done it long ago to have an excuse to… well do exactly what he did. Not Uncle though, he had always believed in Zuko far too much. Iroh had trusted him, and Zuko had failed him just as he had failed everyone else.

“I’m guessing you weren’t quiet?” Sokka said softly as Zuko continued to be silent, lost in thought and self-incrimination.

“I- I couldn’t. What they were planning- it was horrible. And no one else was saying anything. I couldn’t just let them- I couldn’t.”

Sokka watched him with solemn eyes. Zuko wasn’t sure what he was thinking. Was it something noble? Did he imagine Zuko had even then been questioning the war? Was he imagining that Zuko was speaking out about imprisoning earthbenders? Destroying crops? Marching through poor towns? What would he say if he knew that Zuko had simply been protecting the lives of his people? Of soldiers? Would he care that they were new recruits being sent to slaughter?

“I argued against the general in the middle of the meeting in front of the Fire Lord himself. F- The Fire Lord said that it was an act of complete disrespect, that my actions were shameful and without honor. He said that the only way to resolve it was though an Agni Kai, a firebending duel.”

“Oh. Are you- were you a good bender?”

No. “I had the best masters in the land. I wasn’t their best pupil, but… I was confident that I could beat the general who- who made the suggestion.”

“I guess he was better than you thought.” Sokka said carefully, his eyes straying to the scar for the first time.

Zuko let out a bark of laughter that was more pain than anything else. “I don’t know. I’ll never know. When I got to the arena… he wasn’t my opponent. I had been disrespectful in the war room of the Fire Lord. When I made that challenge, I wasn’t just disrespecting the general.”

“You were disrespecting the Fire Lord.” Sokka breathed, his voice full of wonder. “You fought the Fire Lord?” His voice squeaked at the end.

“No. I didn’t. I never intended to fight the Fire Lord. I didn’t want to- I wasn’t trying to- I was a loyal-“ Son. He wanted to be a loyal son. But he couldn’t say that. “I was loyal, and I didn’t want to fight my Fa-my Fire Lord.”

“You gave up without a fight.” Sokka said softly, remembering the beginning of his confession.

“I begged for mercy. But the Fire Lord has none. He burned me when I was on my knees, cupped my face as if in comfort and-“ Pain. Days and days of pain. “He claimed that by refusing to fight I showed extreme cowardice. He banished me, never to return to my family or home. Never to regain my honor. I was still injured when the boat ferrying me kicked me off. Jet found me a few days later and… you know the rest.”

Zuko’s mouth suddenly went try, as though he couldn’t bear to speak another word. He had never actually… told anyone about this before. He wasn’t sure how widespread the news had gotten after, Father would have tried to quiet it as much as possible but with something like this it was hard to say how successful he might have been.

He’d told his story though, and while that did not change his circumstances, it somehow eased the pressure on his chest, just a bit. Taking a deep breath, the boy looked to the sky, watching the far off haze of the moon attempting to permeate through the thick clouds. His eyes narrowed when a spot of… something passed in front of the moon. Was that-

He wasn’t able to think beyond that as a particularly high burst of wind and wave sent the ship careening and he scrambled to hold onto something lest he be thrown overboard.

______

Sokka eyed Zuko in the fierce wind, squinting against the rain that battered against his eyes. He… wasn’t sure what to take from this. On the one hand, good news: the Fire Lord was an even worse person than they thought and barbecued random kids for talking at inappropriate times.

Side note, this is also even more incentive to keep Aang from this man at all costs. Except in a ‘coming to defeat him’ kinda way.

On the other hand though, Zuko had made a point to say that he was loyal to the Fire Nation (is loyal? Had been loyal?). How deep does this loyalty go? Have they already said too much? Would Zuko betray them for his people? What does he consider honorable?

Why had Sokka thought that spending years imprisoned by the Earth Kingdom would make him more eager to fight his people?

But there was that bitterness he had whenever he spoke about the Fire Lord. There was the way he spoke about how the man had burned him, hurt him, a child.

There was the way he didn’t question helping the refugees through the canyon, despite knowing that they were running from his nation.

Sokka opened his mouth to ask, because ‘hey are you loyal to the Fire Nation or not’ was a great friendship and trust building conversation that they should definitely have when it would be easy to make his death look like an accident, but before he could say a word a sharp wave brought brackish water into his mouth. The teen alternated between spitting out the water and clutching a part of the boat for dear life as the waves rocked it to and thro.

“Sokka!” Zuko suddenly shouted, pointing to the sky, at first the Water Tribe teen didn’t see anything, then he did. Appa was swooping through the storm, diving for the boat. “Get the fisherman!” Zuko commanded as he fought with the ropes once more, attempting to keep them aloft until the bison could arrive. Sokka ran into the small cabin, where the grumpy man was huddled under a table, and pulled him up. The man yelped and attempted to protest but Sokka barely heard as he forced him onto deck.

Sokka pulled the man to the bow, which rose and fell with the waves. Zuko abandoned the ropes as Appa got closer and joined them. Appa lowered enough for Aang to drop on a rope, commanding those on the boat to grab on. Sokka grabbed the rope first, holding it steady for the fisherman and Zuko to grab. With a fierce burst of airbending, Aang utilized the natural winds around them to send the rope flying with a snap, arching it so that it would land the three figures safely in the saddle.

At least, that was the idea.

As soon as the rope crested its highest point, the movement, rain, and coarse rope proved to be too much for the elderly man, and he lost his grip. The man went flying through the air, spitting curses at Aang as he went.

“No!” Zuko shouted, immediately dropping the rope after him, with no regard to his health and personal safety.

“Zuko!” Sokka yelled as he landed safely in the boat. Aang yelped and used wind once again to send the rope flying through the air, this time Zuko grabbed it with one hand, the other wrapping around the old man’s waist. By that point the rope was half-underwater and had lost its momentum. Sokka and Katara had to pull them up as Aang fought to keep the bison from going under.

Finally they pulled a shaking Zuko and shuddering man from the water. Sokka clapped him on the back with a grin. He still didn’t know if the firebender was still loyal to the Fire Nation. He didn’t even know if he was really… for Aang. But he did know that he was a good person. And for the moment, that was enough. They could work on the other stuff.

Sokka flashed a quick grin at his sister as they safely flew away. “So… what did you and Aang get up to while we were gone?” He asked, striving for a bit of normalcy after a night of near-death experiences and horrifying revelations.

“We just… talked.”

“Hm. What did you talk about?”

She didn’t answer. Sokka couldn’t really blame her though, he wouldn’t have wanted to answer that question either.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #atla #Atla:The Storm #Zuko #Prince Zuko #Sokka #Fanfiction #My Fanfics #Instinctual Fanfic

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duskdragon39 · 4 years

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dust can’t settle: Commentary

I thought you were done with credits and notes and commentaries, I hear you say. You had an entire chapter dedicated to credits and notes. Why do you have more notes?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, @stellarfoam and I wrote a thing for @pod-together, got a whole ton of talented people to help us read it, and created the first ao3 relationship for the tag “Original Fear Entity Avatar Characters & Original Fear Entity Avatar Characters (The Magnus Archives)” except the tag was too long so the “the” got dropped. You can find that here. If, however, you have already read/listened to/somehow otherwise experienced our oc/self-insert-heavy original statement fic, welcome! I assume you’re here because you wanted to listen to me ramble on for yet another thousand words. If you’re not looking for that, well, here it is.

Under the cut, anyways

The World of DCS:

This is, very technically, the Magnus Archives fanfic.

I say technically, because nowhere in this does canon appear. It appears in the inspiration and base worldbuilding, but other than that... yeah no.

So this started when Kai and I looked at the worldbuilding TMA has for the U.S. and went “yeah there’s got to be more than one institute.” Thus the San Francisco Institute for the Unusual and Paranormal was born, along with its satellite offices in Denver and Chicago. Those same satellite offices also serve The Usher Foundation in DC. The branch offices collect statement, both written and recorded, and other research on the paranormal. Every five years, SFIUP sends along a couple of archival assistants to go and transfer those files to long-term storage in San Francisco or DC. The relationship between the branch offices and SFIUP can be best summed up as follows:

Chicago & Denver: Bigger archives are always bossing us around :( San Fran & DC: Alright but can you like, actually store your statements Chicago & Denver: No.... San Fran & DC: Okay, so...? Chicago & Denver: DON’T TELL US WHAT TO DO

Also, we said screw you to Smirke’s 14. There’s every chance that by defining and putting boundaries on the 14 he actually helped shape them into those roles, and we figured that different places would have different mergers and interpretations of those 14. Most of our statements merge or ignore the defined fears- Something There is Dark/Hunt/Eye, Hung is Vast/Buried, Beauty is Eye/Vast, Shasta Lake is just a weirdly big fish, Dragon’s Cauldron might be Hunt? It’s more just a “alright but wouldn’t it be COOL if...”

We also have another giant document about how the fears might manifest in different parts of America.

Because there is never an end to the worldbuilding.

The Car:

Some random facts about the car for your enjoyment: - It woke up because something something knowledge = power and Lee and Dusk (LD) kept reading it statements - So now the equation knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass applies, which is to say that the trunk is a transdimensional space that LD primarily use for storage of random things. - Also a flesh monster. - It’s just back there. - It tried to kill them at one point while crossing through Minnesota. They shoved it in the trunk. It just sort of. Remains there. For awhile. - The car did not approve. - In case your wondering, the car is more or less a traveling archive, and LD are its archivists. - However LD did not sign up for this, and so their road trip culminates eventually with them killing the car. It is a long and terrible battle, and the two of them nearly die. - I have, somewhere on this computer, right now, a recording of the Car’s lovely voice actor Lynx doing a variety of absolutely terrible voices, including petulant teenager and valley girl.

Statements:

We have two pages worth of statement ideas still that we’ll get around to writing someday. If we stop adding to them. Here’s the stories behind some of the ones that made it into the fic, and some other general things I wanted to talk about.

Chapter 1: Archivist’s Note, San Francisco, Shasta Lake:

The recording classification system does not have much thought put into it, but follows the following format

[Media type];[Supernatural Classification].[Year].[Month]:[Employee(s) responsible for the case]

So in the case of [S;F15.2015.06-09:LD)], it’s: Statement(s);Multiple fears.2015.June-September:Lee & Dusk

Is this a perfect system? Hell no. Did this get as deep into archive classification systems as I wanted to go for a 15k fic? Yes.

The Shasta Lake statement pulled heavily from several sources, including the Shasta Lake fishing website, Wikipedia, and an actual news story about a couple of guys who saved a sturgeon from choking on a catfish. It’s kinda an amazing story, especially since the fish was actually about 8 feet long.

Things I don’t want to run into, thank you.

Chapter 4: Empty City, Gas

Empty city was, as mentioned in the fic, inspired by a statement @laurenbrightwing gave to us. And yes, LD absolutely have gone and explored graveyards and abandoned buildings for the Aesthetic of it.

Gas, however, came from The Car, an absolutely beautiful TAU fic by Feneris. Don’t ask what it runs on. You don’t want to know. Chapter 6: Greenway

Fic-Dusk used to work for the Denver Branch Office before going to San Fran. The branch office never forgave them for their treachery.

Chapter 7: Hung

Eastman Chemical Company is an actual company stationed in Tennessee, and this statement was very heavily modeled after Mag 124: Left Hanging, except with more buried vibes.

Needs more buried should be a motto.

Chapter 9: The Dragon’s Cauldron

Guess who went down a research hole? It me.

Research notes for this statement can be found here.

Sources: Debunking the Myth, Fear of Yellowstone (U.S. National Park Service) Native Americans and Yellowstone National Park: Hot Springs, Legends and Sacred Places Explore the Fort Yellowstone Historic District (U.S. National Park Service) Whittesly Yellowstone Myths.pdf Timeline of Human History in Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Legend of the Sheepeater Indian Tribe in Yellowstone - My Yellowstone Park The History of our Local Tribe: The Sheep Eater Indians - Bitterroot Ranch Dragons in Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Chapter 10: Something There, Archivist’s Note 2

RIGHT. This is a fun chain of events that have taken about three years to mature into this story.

Something There started off with a nightmare about something stalking me through my house. I was thoroughly creeped out, and then promptly forgot about it for the next day until I went to walk through my house at night and thought I heard something moving behind me.

About a year later, my composition teacher told us to write a speech. I think the prompt was truth?

So I went off about the thing supposedly living in my house, how no one would believe me if I told them, and implying that I absolutely was lying about the entire thing. My teacher loved it, and I got the highest grade I’d gotten that year for that assignment. (“They lauded me for that, did you know?”)

If that sort of vaguely existential crisis sounds like something you’d have fun reading, the full speech can be found here.

A bit later, I read the same speech for an open mic. One of my friends there yelled out that she believed me- something that did make it into the final version. (“One of my friends told me she believed me, once. I… I just shrugged and told her that there wasn’t actually anything there.”)

It eventually made its way into this project via me trying to figure out what the hell to use for a more spooky statement and stumbling across the speech sitting in my google drive.

I managed to scare myself to the point of not being able to go upstairs in the dark for about a week with the updated version.

I wrote it.

This seems counterintuitive.

Does this make this a self insert story? No. Statement giver here does not in any way respond like I would have in this situation, and they’ve since drifted even farther into full OC territory.

The “they can’t hurt you if you’re watching/if you see them comes from the lovely tma time travel fic “Strangers in the Dark” by Mayarene Rose.

MouseK also gave us the closing line for the fic! It wraps it up so nicely, and I’ve already squeed about this in the fic itself, but they deserve more because the line’s amazing and I love it. Conclusion:

Thanks to everyone who gave us statements, inspired us, and helped us with the project. It’s been an excellent time, and there have already been discussions of either statements collected on this journey or short stories set in the same universe being written.

Thanks for reading!

- Dusk

#podtogether 2020 #the magnus archives #statement fic #twisting roads #duskwrites #too many thoughts head full

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letswritefanfiction · 4 years

Text

Lost in Halloweenia! Ch7

Crosspost from ffnet and AO3.

Summary: It’s Halloween! Ash and the gang are living it up trick or treating when they stumble upon a strange house with some strange artifacts. What mysteries do they hold and…wait, who are those three lurking behind them?

Word Count: 3,932/27,343

Previous chapter here

Next chapter here

Chapter 7: Double Double Toil and Trouble

Well, folks, we were left with quite the cliffhanger last time, weren’t we? Last we knew, Misty was nothing short of hopping mad and Ash had just discovered the nefarious Team Rocket in the home of a still-mysterious Umbreon named Kitsume. And poor Brock was left as the sane one. Hey, wait! If Brock is the sane one, then what am I?

“I’m getting that crown back!”

“Hold on!”

Ash stopped in midair as Jessie and James suddenly shifted to standing, before they realized that they were standing square on top of their Pokémon. They then took a single step off and cleared their throats before sinister music began in the background as if from nowhere.

“Prepare yourself, twerp, for double, double, toil and trouble!” Jessie began.

“And make it double as fire burn and cauldron bubble!” James continued.

“To protect Halloweenia from devastation!”

“To find our way out of this mysterious nation!”

“To denounce the evils of ghosts and goblins!”

“To extend our reach up out of a coffin!”

“Jessie!”

“James!”

“Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!”

“Surrender now, or prepare to fight!”

“Meowth, dat’s right!”

“Wobbuffett!”

After pleasantly sitting through the motto, Ash steeled himself for Battle. “Then let’s fight! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!”

“Victreebel, use Vine Whip!”

“Arbok, Poison Sting Attack!”

“Oh, yeah? Two can play at that game! Cyndaquil, go!”

An all-out Battle began in Kitsume’s house, but against all odds, Kitsume couldn’t have been more thrilled. She strapped on her vacuum and sucked up every Attack as quickly as it was called, leaving the Battle at a complete standstill.

“Razor Leaf!”

“Ember!”

“Acid!”

“Agility!”

Sweat began dripping down Ash’s brow as not a single Attack made contact. He was hoping that Pikachu’s speed would get him to land an Attack before it was sucked up, but somehow even a blast of electricity was able to be bottled up and contained for posterity.

He quickly was growing frustrated. “Try a Quick Attack!”

But, as Pikachu ran into the fray, even he began to feel the effects of the strong vacuum and had to scramble back to the sidelines just to avoid being sucked up.

Ash grunted. This was going nowhere. “Pikachu.” Ash’s expression hardened as Pikachu turned back to look at him. “Thunderbolt on that Umbreon!”

Kitsume, for her part, hardly looked disturbed. She simply smirked and before Pikachu’s cheeks could let off so much as a crackle of electricity, she said, “I don’t think so.”

And the whole world changed.

“Whoa!” Team Rocket intoned, their voices wavering like they were struggling to keep their balance atop a surf board.

Suddenly, the cabin as a whole disappeared, and Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket found themselves standing in a swirling world of black, purple, red and pink, with no floor or ceiling to ground them. They were floating in space as all of the objects of the room swirled around them, like gravity had simply given up.

Kitsume, however, was the biggest surprise of all. Her body was now leaner and bipedal, her snout had lengthened and sharpened and she had grown a long mane of pointed red hair. Ash looked at her, completely taken aback.

“What’s that?”

Ash couldn’t help but—even in the confusion—pull out his Pokédex and aim it towards the…whatever it was that had just manifested before them.

“Zoroark, the illusion fox Pokémon and the evolved form of Zorua. Each has the ability to fool a large group of people simultaneously through the use of illusion.”

“Oops, there goes my secret,” Kitsume said, though her smile was anything but rueful.

In her new form, Kitsume quickly scurried about the strange space and gathered all of her now-floating objects into her arms. Then, with nothing more than a blink, Kitsume created a break in the illusion, a window where the one in the house had been. She made as if to take off out of it before, in a split second, darting across the room and grabbing Jessie’s sack as well.

“Bring more Pokémon if you want the bag back! If you can find me! Haha!”

Not a moment later, she was out the window, leaving Ash and everyone else with nothing but a gust of wind and the echoes of Kitsume’s cackling laughter.

But Ash wasn’t about to stand for that. “Not so fast!” he shouted.

In a moment, Ash leapt out of the window, Pikachu and Cyndaquil on his heels as they chased Kitsume outside.

Team Rocket, wary of being left behind, ran to follow Ash, but just as they made it to the window, it winked out of existence altogether. Then, to their horror, they were trapped in the swirling illusion, now with no way out.

“Team Rocket’s left behind again!”

“Okay, the king doesn’t have the crown. The king has never not had the crown! Not since I’ve been alive. So I don’t know how long he can be without it. And how long can a Fairy help him? And a baby? Not long, I guess…but then how long has the crown been missing? Oh my GOSH how much time do we have left? I can feel my life slipping away from me. This is the end, I know it! Goodbye, cruel world! So should I help these kids with my final minutes or…”

After Misty’s outburst, Brock had managed to pull her back from running around a mysterious castle with the threat of attacking a reigning king still on her tongue. Since then, Misty had calmed somewhat, but Litty…

“But I was supposed to just have fun by following these kids, and now my life is in danger? UGH!”

…had gone around the bend.

Litty, while monologuing, was pacing in a very small circle, around which Broomba was sweeping. Not that Litty left much of a mess, but it seemed to…soothe Broomba? Brock and Misty didn’t know—it didn’t have a face!

It was even worse than having to identify Staryu’s emotions.

“Litty!” Misty cried out, her desperation finally coming to a head. “Help us find Togepi!”

Suddenly, Litty snapped out of it and turned to face Misty. “Right. You’re right. The king will be fine. We should just help the Fairy.”

Brock and Misty nodded, smiles finally gracing their faces in resounding relief.

“But we will not be fine if we go challenge the King, just the three of us. This problem is bigger than either of you can imagine.”

Misty’s eyes widened in worry. “Then what should we do?”

Litty looked resolved. “We go to the library.”

“Is that where Blair and Lassie are?” Brock asked.

“No. But backup is.”

Litty seemed to know the castle surprisingly well, and they made it to the library in no time once Litty requested Brock carry him the rest of the way. Apparently, no matter how well you know a castle, it’s all for naught if your legs are the size of a seeded grape.

The library was a large room, dimly lit with racks upon racks of books. And there were books heaped everywhere. Open on the floor, scattered to the wind, every which way. This perked Broomba up immediately, who then went after every book on the floor, despite not having hands with which to pick them up. Broomba just kinda of…scooted them around. But it seemed to be enjoying it!

…Once again, that would be if one could tell if Broomba enjoyed anything.

As for the rest of the figures in the room, there were some Zubat hanging from the open beams on the ceiling, a skeleton sleeping—at least, Brock and Misty hoped it was sleeping—on a settee, and a Litten all curled up by a fireplace in what was clearly a reading nook.

And there were dozens of Chandelure floating about, providing most if not all of the light in the room.

“Uh, shouldn’t that be a fire hazard?” Brock asked, pointing to some of the closer Chandelure, floating about autonomously.

“Nope,” Litty chirped, hopping out of Brock’s hands. “This is our residence! Besides, our natural fire doesn’t tend to burn paper so much as it burns souls.”

Brock and Misty took an enthusiastic step back away as Litty glanced about.

“Okay, fam!” he called, putting a hand to his little mouth. “We’ve got a real problem on our hands!”

Suddenly, Brock and Misty found themselves surrounded by all the Chandelure in the room. They gulped nervously at their expressionless faces. Their eyes were just so wide…and…soulless.

“Let’s go see the king!”

At those words, Misty, at least, finally got her fire back. “And save Togepi!”

The going was dark. And Kitsume was dark; her body fading entirely into the shrouds of the forest that she had led them into. A break in the trees led to the moonlight casting enough light to occasionally catch sight of her red hair, but aside from that, it was hope more than knowledge that fueled his footsteps.

Eventually, Cyndaquil got in front, setting its back ablaze to add a little extra light to the night. “Thanks, Cyndaquil,” Ash huffed as they continued zigzagging through the trees.

Pikachu too ran in front of Ash, as Pokémon tended to have better vision in the dark than humans did. Hence why Kitsume seemed to so effortlessly weave between the trees without having to worry about tripping over a root or, let’s face it, running straight into one of the trees, like Ash did.

Then, suddenly, there was a clearing in the woods. It was still dark with the cover of trees, and eerily silent, but it was a whole circle of open space. And Kitsume entered it, only to completely disappear from sight a moment later. Ash, Pikachu, and Cyndaquil ran into the center and looked around, but to no avail. All that was near was darkness.

“Kitsume?” Ash called out in frustration. “Come out here!”

“Pika!”

“Quil!”

Softly, they began to hear a whisper from the trees. It grew into a laugh before evolving into an all out cackling, sounding like it was coming from all directions—from the very trees themselves.

Then, Kitsume appeared from out of the woodwork, her head lowered and her eyes sinister. “So you really want to show me some moves, huh?”

“No, we want to get that bag back!” Ash declared.

The bag, however, was nowhere in sight. Kitsume must have stashed it somewhere in the woods.

Kitsume was undeterred. “I think you’ll change your mind.”

Suddenly, all around in the woods, red eyes began to glow, one by one until nearly twenty sets of eyes were staring at them. Slowly, they came closer until bodies came to form in the darkness. It was a whole pack of Zoroark.

Kitsume smiled, eyeing her family members. “I think you’ll want to release all of your Pokémon to battle us.”

Ash grit his teeth. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

He reached for his ‘Belt and grabbed his remaining four PokéBalls, enlarging them all at once. In a blinding burst of light, out came Totodile, Phanpy, Noctowl, and Bayleef, who promptly ran over to Ash to nuzzle him, pushing Pikachu out of the way as she did so.

“Hi, Bayleef,” Ash said awkwardly. “Sorry, but we kind of have big problems right now.”

Bayleef turned back to the pack of Zoroark, and immediately cowered, like all of the rest of the Pokémon were doing. The Zoroark wore mirrored menacing smiles, each like a perfect shadow of the one next to it and made not a single sound. Like they weren’t even breathing.

Kitsume opened her arms, barring her chest to steal Ash’s focus back. “Battle us for it.”

Ash narrowed his eyes, turning his hat around and widening his stance. He could do this. He would do this.

“Fine, I will! Cyndaquil! Use Flamethrower!”

Cyndaquil let the flame on its back grow as it created a ball of fire in its mouth. Kitsume was nearly salivating in anticipation, her vacuum at the ready.

“Cynda…quil!”

The Flamethrower lit up the dark woods, blinding everyone for a moment. Nevertheless, Kitsume managed to suck up the Attack, leaving it flickering in a little glass bottle like a harmless candle.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“Not even close!” Ash shouted. “Noctowl, use Confusion on that side and Bayleef, use Razor Leaf on the others!”

Noctowl and Bayleef stood back to back, each taking on half of the circle. However, Kitsume ran around swiftly, her footsteps light and soundless as she stole both Attacks from out of the air.

Ash wasn’t used to having to handle so many Pokémon in a Battle. Never had he even seen a Battle with so many moving parts. But it was clear he’d have to figure it out sooner rather than later. The problem was that darn vacuum! If only he could destroy it somehow…

“Okay, Totodile, Water Gun! And Bayleef, use another Razor Leaf!”

Totodile immediately began spraying in the direction of half of the Zoroark and Bayleef took on the other half. But Kitsume, as predicted, ran around as fast as she could with that vacuum. Ash looked to Pikachu who was as ready and determined as he.

“Pikachu, you aim a Thunderbolt right at that vacuum. Then we’ll be able to fight this Battle fair and square!”

“Pika!”

Pikachu charged his cheeks, readying to attack while Kitsume was distracted. It was hard to aim while Kitsume darted around, but as fast as she was, Pikachu knew he was faster. With a battle cry, Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt into the air and watched it jut out in jagged angles on its way to Kitsume’s back. But, to everyone’s horror, it only made it about half way across the clearing before fizzling out. Everyone gasped.

“What’s wrong, Pikachu?” Ash asked worriedly.

Pikachu looked confused, if not a little scared. “Pika pi!”

“No!” Kitsume bemoaned. “It’s already losing its Electric Typing. It won’t be long now before it can’t use its Attacks at all.”

Ash and Pikachu looked to each other in terror. It was almost too late.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Ash said, trying to be encouraging as that worry settled on both their chests. “We’ll just have to try something else.

Luckily, at just that moment, a spark of inspiration hit Ash. He turned back to Pikachu with fresh hope. They weren’t out of the game yet!

“Pikachu, Quick Attack!”

Kitsume faltered as Pikachu came charging at her. “What? No! I can’t do anything with that!”

Ash laughed hardily. “I know! Now, Bayleef, hold her back with Vine Whip!”

Kitsume was busy trying to dodge Pikachu, who was flashing in and out of visibility as he kept up his Quick Attack. She didn’t even notice when Bayleef’s Vine Whip came out of the darkness and grabbed at her legs. They continued pulling backwards and before she knew it, she was face down on the ground.

“Great! Now, Phanpy, use a Take Down Attack on that vacuum!”

Phanpy, eager to be used, cried out happily and began barreling towards Kitsume, or rather, her vacuum. She smashed right into it, but it held strong.

Still, Kitsume was scared. So she let out a scream, and that was enough for the world to morph around her.

The other Zoroark began shifting, moving around so quickly and so stealthily that Ash couldn’t tell where one ended and one began anymore. But one thing was clear; they were fast approaching. “Phanpy, keep using Take Down. Everyone else, attack the other Zoroark!”

Suddenly, the clearing was flying with Pokémon, each trying to outrun and out-hit one another. But without any more Special Attacks lighting up the night, Ash couldn’t see much more than the dim light of the coals burning on Cyndaquil’s back. There were just too many Zoroark, and soon it looked like his Pokémon were lost in a cloud of them. All he could do was try his best to call out Attacks that could possibly help.

“Pikachu, confuse them with Agility! Noctowl, blow them back with Gust from above. No, don’t hit the others! Keep at it Phanpy!”

Eventually, it was all he could do to keep from getting hit himself. Pokémon were flying all over the clearing, and he was standing right in the middle. He didn’t even know if Bayleef had a hold on Kitsume anymore, or if Phanpy was having any luck with the vacuum. There were Pokémon cries and grunts and smashes of bodies impacting all around him, but he could hardly distinguish one from another. It was just a flurry of battle.

It knocked the wind out of him entirely when suddenly Pikachu’s body went flying limply through the air, colliding with his gut. Ash gasped and wheezed, but recovered as quickly as he could to see after his friend. Pikachu looked up at him with sleepy eyes, giving a dull, “Chaa.”

“I’m sorry, Pikachu. You’re too weak to battle right now.”

“Pi ka,” Pikachu said stubbornly, shaking his head.

“Leave it to everyone else. It’ll be fine.”

But it wasn’t fine.

Ash’s eyes were beginning to adjust better to the light, since there weren’t any more fiery or electrical Attacks to light up the night and ruin his corneas. And what he saw was unsettling.

His Pokémon were wearing thin. Noctowl was flying above to avoid getting hit, but hardly landing any Attacks. And it just got worse from there. Phanpy was reliably still going at Kitsume’s vacuum, but the Take Down Attacks were beginning to take their toll. Meanwhile, Kitsume wasn’t sitting motionless. She was firing various Special Attacks that Ash couldn’t recognize at Bayleef, who was standing there and taking them like a champion. But though she was still holding strong with her Vine Whip, she was looking battered and Ash didn’t know how much longer she could take it.

Ash grit his teeth as he looked at the scene. Pikachu crawled onto his shoulder and the two of them looked around helplessly. Their friends couldn’t hold on much longer. And it almost seemed like the Zoroark had doubled in numbers, far from slowing down.

In that moment, Ash realized that he had to admit defeat. He couldn’t do this to his Pokémon any longer. He reached for Totodile’s PokéBall, about to call him back when, suddenly, his savior arrived.

“Disable!”

All at once, a pink glow pierced the dark forest, shooting straight towards Kitsume, dodging all of Ash’s Pokémon. Ash looked to the source of the pink light and saw, in fanciful illumination, an old friend.

“Mantar!” Ash cried in relief.

As the Attack made contact with Kitsume, freezing her to the ground, suddenly the other Zoroark dissolved into little particles before vanishing into thin air.

“They were just an illusion,” Ash murmured.

“Finish the job, Ash,” Mantar said bluntly, his spoons pointed out towards Kitsume, whose face was stuck in an irritated frown.

“Right!” Ash looked to his Pokémon, who were scooping themselves off of the ground, brushing off their battered states. With a moment to catch their breaths, they all looked much better. “Cyndaquil, use Flamethrower on the vacuum, then, Totodile, cool it off with a Water Gun. Then you should be able to break it with one good Tackle Attack, Phanpy!”

The night lit up further when Cyndaquil readied itself for another Flamethrower Attack as Bayleef reined in her veins, to avoid them getting scorched in the process. As the tongue of flame ignited the vacuum on Kitsume’s back, Ash turned to Noctowl.

“Noctowl, scan the forest; find that sack!”

Noctowl gave off a soft coo and flew off into the trees, her night vision rendering her perfect for the job.

Then it was Totodile’s turn. The Water Gun Attack hit the vacuum with a sizzle, letting off some steam into the air. It also hardened the vacuum, leaving it solid, but brittle.

“Do your thing, Phanpy!”

With one last heave of energy, Phanpy ran for the vacuum and smashed into it. Upon impact, the vacuum shattered into a million pieces before being lost to the darkness.

Mantar took that moment to release his hold on Kitsume, putting his spoons down. The second she had her body back to herself, she let out an ear-splitting screech that echoed through the night.

“What did you do?!” she screamed to Ash, quickly running up to his face.

Pikachu quickly began sparking his cheeks and growling deep in the back of his throat. He was not about to let another Pokémon attack Ash.

“Oh, pipe down, pipsqueak. We both know you can’t do anything anymore.”

She reared back in an attempt to lunge towards the both of them, but before Ash could so much as shield his eyes, Mantar had her frozen again, holding a spoon out towards her as he walked over to Ash.

“Perhaps we should leave her here for a while,” he said.

Ash nodded, taking a deep breath. “Maybe.”

At just that moment, Noctowl came flapping back into the clearing, hooting victoriously. Hanging from her talons was Team Rocket’s sack, which she dropped right beside Ash. Ash quickly opened it up, and was relieved to see that the crown was indeed sitting in it, right on top of a pile of candy.

“Ooh, candy!” Ash exclaimed.

“Pi pikachu!” Pikachu concurred with eyes wide and glistening in excitement.

Mantar smacked himself on the forehead. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Ash somehow tore himself away from looking at the candy and turned to Mantar. “How are you even here? Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the gate?”

“I used Substitute and left a dummy there. So I’ll be summoned if I’m needed. But I could see that you needed help here.”

“See?”

Mantar pointed to his brain. “See.”

“Oh.” After understanding dawned, Ash went back to the bag and picked up the crown. It was even more beautiful than the projection that Mantar had created showed. Even in the nearly non-existent light of the forest, it gleamed, seemingly with its own inner light. It seemed that the jewels in it were not jewels at all, but rather just colored spires on the crown. They just appeared gem-like because of their incandescence.

It was so mesmerizing that Ash couldn’t help but just stare at it for a few moments. It was only after Mantar cleared his throat that Ash pulled out of his reverie.

“I guess we should take care of this,” Ash said, gesturing to the crown.

“Yes, we have to get it to the king right away,” Mantar urgently reminded him. “It’s already getting to be too late.”

“How are we gonna get there?”

“Teleportation,” Mantar stated. “Return your companions.”

Ash returned his Pokémon one by one to their ‘Balls, promising to reward them all later for their hard work. Perhaps with candy.

“What now?”

“Stand away from the Zoroark and prepare yourself.”

Confused, Ash followed Mantar’s instructions, circling around behind Kitsume. In a moment, Mantar released his hold on her and she continued her lunge, but only reached air. And by the time she turned around, Ash, Mantar, and Pikachu were gone.

Kitsume growled. “The good guys always win.”

Mantar to the rescue! More than that, Ash finally found the crown. Now he just needs to deliver it to the king so that they can get Togepi back and still find a portal so that they can all make it home…Oh, no. How are they supposed to do all that in only one more installment? Find out next time in the Lost in Halloweenia finale!

#pokemon #pokeani #anipoke #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon fanfic #pokemon fic #ash ketchum #ash ketchum fanfiction #ash ketchum fanfic #ash ketchum fic #togepi #team rocket #pikachu #meowth

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stories-by-rie · 5 years

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#1 Jeanne Everley

Jeanne Everley.

If there was someone who didn’t speak her name as she walked pass them, they at least thought it. This wasn’t due to her looks which clearly couldn’t count as exceptional. With her short dark blonde hair and pale white face, she wouldn’t be able to catch the attention of a whole school at once.

No, what made Jeanne so special was her heritage. It should be clear from the beginning that her presence there alone was outrageous at best. After all, she was the daughter of Alastair and Victoria Everley. The couple that had turned the whole Searcher’s Society upside down only a few decades ago.

Call it what you want: dishonoured, expelled, fallen out of favour – they had succeeded on every level to turn into Searchers that no one dared to speak positively of.

Not only that, but also did they raise four children of which every single one had tried to follow their footsteps by applying to the Searcher’s School of Guhlsdorf. Obviously, none of them had been taken. None except of the youngest, Jeanne Everley.

With her straight posture, soft steps and kind smile on her face, she walked down the old-fashioned corridors.

The floor was tiled in a dark brown, the walls were lined with dark timber that nearly looked red under the yellow light. There was a special smell that hung in the air, some strange mix of lavender cleansing agent and time. The Searcher’s School of Guhlsdorf was very prestigious and founded more than six hundred years ago. A fact that they liked to be proud of, and a fact that gave them the right to be ignorant when it came to their own mistakes. Though, let’s not dwell on that, the future will hold plenty of occasions to judge for oneself.

It was the first day after the summer holidays, the first day at the school for the new students. The first graders walked together to the assembly halls. As most of them just had finished their general school education, none of them were too nervous about the new environment. Especially since those who had been accepted, weren’t likely to get worked up about such a trivial matter.

Their futures would hold plenty of far more nerve wrecking situations and they all knew that.

Silence fell onto the assembly hall as they all had sat down and waited for the head mistress to start her speech. Latter was already looking at her papers one last time and adjusting the microphone in front of her.

Still, barely anyone paid attention to her. How could they, if Jeanne Everley was sitting right there in the third row. The silence didn’t matter at all.

Trying the best to ignore the more than obvious tension in the hall, the head mistress coughed lightly and put on a professional smile.

“Good morning everyone, and welcome. For those who might not know; my name is Ms Amber Williams and I am the headmistress of this very School of Guhlsdorf. We have the great honour to educate young students from all over the country into becoming well respected Searchers. If you are sitting here, it means that you went through the application process that counts as one of the hardest among all professions. Short: it means you are one of the best.” She delivered that line with a friendly tone and winked at the audience, as if she wanted to weaken her point. But that would have been a lie. The audience responded with polite laughter. “This high standard we are seeking is not without purpose. As future Searchers you will have to carry a heavy responsibility to serve our country and help the nation both in the fight against the creatures, and to follow our tradition of science. As the great Searcher James Duncan, who graduated from this very school in 1756, once said: The becoming of the golden glass is what secures the order, and the becoming of the order is what makes the golden glass possible. This is the origin of our school’s motto Illi ordinationem, qui aurum creant. Those who create order, create gold -”

Suddenly a scoff interrupted her, prompting the rest of the audience to freeze. The dark brown eyes of the headmistress fell onto the person who had laughed, be it only so quietly. It had been no one else than Jeanne Everley. The head mistress had stopped only for a second. It was far more than enough to expose both herself and Jeanne, in a way it was the first time she acknowledged the alien element within their walls. But Ms Williams was not that easily angered. Like a professional that she was, she continued her speech. “And I want to remind you and urge you to act up to that motto every day.” Without doubt she kept to her script and finished her speech a few minutes after with useless effort.

Not a single person except for Jeanne had continued to listen to her. Had they tried to ignore the scandal before her in the beginning, those attempts were forgotten as Jeanne had openly laughed at the head mistress’ welcome speech. Angry looks from the staff and other teachers pierced the crowd, but those quiet murmurs were decent enough and could not be called out without addressing the elephant in the room.

The head mistress left the stage and a man in his fifties entered. The mayor of Guhlsdorf couldn’t miss an important event like that. It was the Society’s School after all that made his town so wealthy, its students that kept it safe, and their parents who paid the handsome taxes. He pointed out his gratitude, talked about Guhlsdorf’s famous background and popular attractions – in vain.

After a full hour, all speeches and instructions had been given. The audience’s attention had been barely enough for them to catch the important information on what to do next, but they finally managed to follow the instructions and sign their names into the house lists. There were five dormitories and before attending their first day, the students had been assigned theirs. Now they only had to sign behind their name to check that everything was without mistake.

Needless to say, there was one list where the students waited sparsely. Jeanne had walked up to her list and signed quickly, yet the others’ hesitation was severe. After all they would share a dormitory with her.

A girl with long dark brown hair and rich tawny brown skin finally stepped out of the crowd, shrugged and grinned broadly. After she signed she walked over to Jeanne.

“So, they actually let you come”, she said and suddenly Jeanne burst out in laughter.

“Yeah! Yeah they did, but I guess I am still on probation”, she replied and just with that, the ice was broken. The girls laughed at each other and that had been all it took for the whole hall to finally relax. In a matter of minutes all students had signed their places and collected the orientation booklets before they left the assembly hall again.

“My name is Ahn, by the way. Le Trang Ahn.”

“Well, I’m...”

“Yes, yes, yes. No need to introduce yourself. If there was an outsider here who didn’t know about your family before, they sure do now.”

“Has your family been in the business?”

“They have been for six generations now.”

“Wow, that is very impressive!”, Jeanne gasped sincerely.

Even if it was quite common for the Searchers to keep the profession in their families, there were only a handful of families that could reach back further than ten generations.

“So, I am being blunt here, but why did they actually accept you?”, Ahn asked.

“I think it was the interview. All my siblings did excellent on the tests, but failed the interviews. I just talked my way through them and even if it was a pain, they probably just couldn’t find anything against me. Also, I heard that they need some extra money to build a new dormitory, so since my family is pretty rich and likes to donate… “ She left the sentence open, obvious what she was aiming at. Ahn just answered with a broad smile. With a sudden sigh, she pulled out her phone from her jeans pocket.

“I’m sorry. It’s just my mum asking how I am doing and if I have made friends yet. Oh! Should I answer that I made friends with Jeanne Everley? Haha! That would really turn the tables!”

She typed down a message and kept giggling. Jeanne just kept her smile, either indifferent to that statement or polite enough to not make a fuss out of it.

As they left the central building, the cold autumn wind blew into their faces. Single leaves danced in front of them, the first ones that had fallen from the great oaks that grew on the small park in front of the school. Both the school and the dormitories were well hidden behind a big wall, not because it would be a secret place. Back when it had been built, Guhlsdorf had been one of the most dangerous towns in their area, so the wall had actually been a protective measure to keep the inexperienced students safe.

A distant church bell rang ten times in the distance, a little proof of the outside world. Somethign that didn’t go unnoticed.

Ahn pulled her scarf tighter, her phone clenched tightly in her hand. “It’ll be pretty lonely here, won’t it?”, she wondered and for a moment, Jeanne just looked back at her until she shruged her shoulders.

“Do you have a big family?”

“Oh yes. All my grandparents live at our place. And the great grandparents of my mother’s side. And I have two siblings. So. It’s not exactly quiet at home. This school feels so sterile and strict. Have you read the house rules? You’re not even allowed to run or sing on the floors. What if I am late for class?”

“I doubt you’d be punctual if you sang on your way getting there.”

Ahn laughed and nodded. “You’ve got a good humour, Jeanne.”

They were just about to enter their dormitory, as they were stopped by two boys. One of them looked rather shy and a little as if he didn’t want to be there at all, whereas the other had a mean look on his face. As Ahn and Jeanne had fallen back from their group, they were the last ones to enter, but those kids blocked the way quite obviously just for them.

“Jeanne Everley, what let you think you’d be allowed to be here?”, he asked with a thin voice.

But Jeanne didn’t even spare him a look. She rolled her eyes and set out to walk farther. A hand landed on her shoulder to hold her back.

“I asked you a question”, the boy said.

“I decided to ignore it”, she replied. It wasn’t some weak come-back. It was not an answer that left room to discussion. She just decided that he was at least worth to be informed of the matter, and then walked straight pass him.

And consequently, it was the first time that Ahn frowned at the girl before her, and the power that she seemed to hide underneath her surface.

~ masterlist ~

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S4 Ep6: Gozaburo Kaiba Just Casually Started WWIII And Only This One Guy Cares

Welcome to November, where we celebrate writing a 50,000 word book as if I don’t do that every single time I write about an episode of Yugioh. Hello, this is my season. It’s wordy season. I’m so freakin good at doing this. I can’t say most of what I’ve made is any good, but I CAN say at least I’m prolific. Do enough content to fill that bitter pit and walk right over it, that’s been my motto for the past 5 years.

Anyway, I had an awful flu this past week. (Everyone I live with had it so every bathroom was like ground zero) It was SO bad. I still can’t eat spicy food over a week later (Which is so hard for me because usually I can keep up with my Indian friends, that’s my spicy level--max spicy, please--but since this illness, my white taste genes went into overdrive and I tried putting pepperoncini slices in my sandwich and it set my mouth on fire. Pepperoncini. It’s v embarrassing.)

I did attempt to write this post. Unfortunately I never made it past this cap because I got VERY distracted by the emblem on Alister’s face, and how it isn’t proportionally adjusted to match the angle of his face, and it was like three paragraphs of just wanting to talk about it. And then at some point I got very distracted talking about how many empty glasses I was given at my place setting at this baby shower I went to during the flu epidemic, and it mattered a whole lot to me at the time, but I think, overall, was mostly just some sort of nonsense. The things I’ve spared you.

(bro has just informed me that the 4 gold-lipped crystal goblets I was given at this baby shower was actually very distressing and a very big deal and that I should absolutely talk to at least someone about it, but maybe he’s just saying that to make me feel better, but I have no idea. I am too sick for sarcasm at this time but my god why was I given so many glasses????)

I straight up have no memory of if I’ve made this joke before. Maybe.

(read more under the cut)

Since it feels like 8 years since the last time I could just eat chicken without feeling like I consumed an entire Thanksgiving meal, a little recap:

-Alister pretended he was Pegasus to lure Kaiba and then, off screen, murdered everyone in Pegasus’ castle

-Pegasus got murdered by I’m pretty sure Mai (which is like...OK then...)

-Yugi and Co went on vacation by driving directly through San Francisco and peeking out the window and saying “yeah that’s enough for me”

-No adults, not even Roland, bothered to come with their kids this time, so the only adult of the entire crew--Pegasus--is dead

-Rex and Weevil are luggage

-The Eye of Sauron showed up and it was the end of the world but Yugi threw a dragon at it so I guess everything is OK now

-Monsters are real but they are hard to animate so we’ll just pretend like they’re causing havoc everywhere although most of the planet seems basically unaffected by this.

-The Grim Reaper is a friendly monster that hangs out in a Japanese park and that feels fairly on brand.

And I think that was all that was happening so far.

In a weird twist of fate, Mokuba is the only one in this room that isn’t trapped which sort of...if you’re the only one NOT kidnapped wouldn’t that also be a type of being kidnapped?

And we finally get to figure out why Alister wants to Murder Kaiba so bad and, spoiler, it reaches.

???

I’m gonna get more to the obvious problems with Alister’s devotion to murdering all the Kaibas in a bit but yes, Alister is in fact going to try and Kill Kaiba on this kid’s show because of Kaiba’s Dad, who is such a horrible and abusive person that Kaiba essentially drove the bastard out of Japan and straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Just kinda feels like Alister has been living under a rock...which, I guess he has been. He has been living in some weird Atlantis structure so I guess he never got the memo that Gozaburo Kaiba is hella dead.

So that’s what they’re up to. How’s Sausalito?

Um.

Huh.

So the North Bay is a really classic scenery. It’s rolling hills. It’s NAPA. It’s like...definitely not Arizona. California has a couple of mesas but they’re no where near here and the Monument Valley style Mesas really only exist in Monument Valley.

And I know it’s because the background artist for Yugioh is all horny for horny rock structures but like...this couldn’t be farther from the Bay Area in the way that it is drawn and it is such a shock after all the work they did last episode to research that Bay Area lore. Once they crossed the Golden Gate they were like “well no one will care about this part” which is true not only of Yugioh but also of real life Californian politics.

Anyway, I have been making a map, but unfortunately my original file will not suffice. time to fix it.

There we go. Now they’re in the right place. Just smack dab in Monument Valley, Arizona, smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation and so hypothetically, not even in the United States anymore.

While in the car, Yugi has just been anxious as hell the entire time, and just going “y’all I have a bad feeling I’m uncomfortable I have a bad feeling” while Joey and Tea just patiently stared at him flipping out in the corner. So...kinda like a normal trip with someone who has high anxiety/possessed by a ghost. I kinda feel like this is every girls trip to Disneyland for me. There’s always one Yugi who’s like “no one said anything about CROWDS.” and you kinda just gotta let them do their thing. Just let them get it out of their system and hide in the bathroom when they need to hide in the bathroom and don’t fight it, they’ll be fine. Just hold their spot in line when they desperately look for a secret place to medicinally vape because there’s too many freakin children at Disneyland.

And it is HILARIOUS that Yugi is able to have this type of premonition but cannot figure out that they have somehow missed San Fransisco and have wandered into a DESERT.

Back in Pegasus’ California (an island that legitimately looks more like California than actual Yugioh California) Alister has decided to go completely off the rails and it happens so fast and without any warning.

the line is actually “This doll used to be my brother’s” which is a very different meaning but both are likely from weird ass Alister and this weird ass show, so I’ll leave the cap like this (although yes, this is what I thought Alister was saying for kind of a while until I recorded it for this blog and was like “oh shoot I heard the line wrong when I had the flu huh.”)

Man, RIP Noah, he would have been excellent this episode.

Honestly seems like just yesterday when Seto and Noah were pitted against eachother by a cyberdemon Dad-head floating in the sky, Mokuba was possessed for some reason and being used as a human shield, Tristan was a robot monkey, and Yugi was just shrugging at Kaiba from across the field like “Kaiba if you don’t play good you die--oh my gods, he died. Well that was bound to happen...again.” Man.

Alister should be their best friend, this is nonsense.

So lets do the math to 7 years before 2002.

I searched Wikipedia for wars during 1995 (they do have a list of 90′s wars) and looked for any that involved heavy use of tanks and their artillery fire (on big swatches of cities like this), inner city western architecture, temperate landscapes, and western clothing that match Alister and Mikey (AKA WWII vibes) and found out:

Nothing fits that description

UNLESS Alister and Mikey are time travelers from a WWII bombing in Europe. This is Yugioh. That could happen. Probably not, but youknow...it’s not too late for Yugioh to bring in time travel.

I mean if you don’t want to get super political in your cartoon just invent a world war I guess? We’ve already clarified that Gozaburo was Big Boss, so at this point I can easily see him inventing wars just to sell ships.

(I could probably add thousands of more deaths at this point but I have no idea where they are, if they’re on a tiny island or an entire country so I’ll just...leave the count alone but just now it’s implied that a hell ton of people died during this episode)

People going off about how Sesame Street is so amazing for talking about issues like you’re Dad going to prison while Yugioh was straight up talking about the intricacy of the War Economy. Yugioh being all “don’t forget kids, your good capitalist economy survives off of the undeserved bloodshed of civilians in other countries! Eat the poor!” and it’s like hot damn this heavy commentary came out of freakin no where.

Anyways, this is stuff most kid’s shows will delicately skip over but nah, Yugioh is going to go here, and they are going to steamroll directly through it with massive tanks.

So, lets kill this kid’s entire family and talk about the terrors of the World War of 1995 and all the war orphans who get recruited to become soldiers at the ripe old age of 9. Alister was 9 when he was recruited to be a child card soldier.

This kid’s show.

Alister is...basically Raiden, right? Like as long as we’re talking about Metal Gear, this kid is just one step away from cyborg implants and weird colored blood?

Better wear bright red when you visit the war crime scene, surprised Gozaburo didn’t invite like an entire photo -op crew to incriminate him even further.

Now we did look up “where the hell is Alister from Yugioh from?” (there is no answer) and we did find out a little factoid. In the Japanese version of the show, Gozaburo had bought the land and was just forcibly evicting Alister and his family from their home with tanks.

Which is wild.

He just straight up evicted an entire metropolitan city????

Like the dub did a way better job than the sub at this one, I’ll give them that.

It’s just so weird that Gozoboro just didn’t like...raise the rent like a normal bad landlord. Instead he was like “rather than gentrify my land and save me a ton of money, I’ll just destroy everything I just bought and murder everyone here” which is like...

...Seto did the world so many favors when he kicked out his Dad, right? Like Damn. I don't understand why Alister isn’t freakin worshiping Seto right now when his whole deal is “I must kill Gozaburo” and Seto’s like “yo I already did that. Twice. I didn’t even have to literally kill him either, I just embarrassed him so bad that he killed himself. His stupid tank company sells joke games now. I literally turned the man into a joke.”

Then again, Alister is on the green magic and like I think it alters your brain chemistry somewhat.

(How ripped did Alister get in this episode, by the way? The kid is like 16 years old or something so how did this happen? ...The perpetual horny line running straight through Yugioh, man. Look at it run. That 16 year old is drawn like he’s 28 and really into Crossfit and his crop top gets smaller and smaller like every scene.)

So like this is a very gray issue that I cannot believe they brought up in a kid’s show (like can you imagine if Scrooge McDuck had to face facts that his company murdered tons of people???), but also this is Seto Kaiba. Seto grew up in the system, so like he doesn’t need to be lectured to about dirty money because he was on the losing end of that not too long ago. Seto is himself basically a upscale war orphan since he was adopted by Gozaburo to continue the machine like a freakin maniac (a Solidus Snake, if you will) so of all the people on this show I don’t get why Seto would care about this. This is just how Seto views the entire world as either losing or winning and no reason to feel bad about it because he’s been both.

Also...Seto stopped the machine. Kind of. He was unaware that cards were the same thing as weapons, but at least he stopped the sale of huge child-stealing tanks.

So they play the game for a little while and Seto does kind of poorly as usual, and just when I thought this episode couldn’t get any weirder...

And just like that, Seto peaces out. Like he does almost every single time he has ever played a card game solo except for that one time he was playing Joey Wheeler. (Which was also one of the few times Seto ever won.)

Like I just want to remind you that this segment is in the same episode as WWIII and the tonal whiplash is pretty remarkable.

That’s right, we’re back in the Unnamed Monster World, which is not the Shadow Realm, and which I thought you could only access if you were dreaming and able to search through the puzzle maze.

Apparently this can just happen at any time and all that stuff with the guiding Kuriboh and Yugi and Pharaoh trying to find this place was just...them wasting time.

Again he ditches the legendary sword so freakin fast because who needs a sword when you have a dragon? Only this anime.

And that’s how Seto, who was absolutely going to lose this game, somehow just barely came to a draw.

So just to recap, Seto has yet to win a card game that he didn’t get prophetic help for via a hallucination or Yugi telling him what to do. Unless you count Joey and grandpa.

Then, the one last adult I forgot about, the driver of Yugi’s car, decides that it’s about time that he also died and left this show as adult free as possible.

THE HELL ARE THEY?

Also...maybe it’s the angle but the writing on that gas station looks a lot like kanji.

Yo, what if this is the backgrounds for a different show and they’re just sharing? I mean I doubt it because Yugioh had a good enough budget but...what if? What if that’s why they’re in Arizona?

Anyway, next time we’ll find out if this guy just drops dead or has been a Yugioh monster this whole time, and I think maybe both?

And if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in chrono order

#yugioh #ygo #photo recap #episode recap #yugi muto #seto kaiba #mokuba #alister #joey wheeler #tea gardner #tristan taylor #Arizona

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martinacollenderplaywrightblog · 5 years

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Interview I did with #FierceWomenCollective

Name: Martina Collender

Occupation: Playwright and Repeal the 8th Activist

Nationality: Irish

Country of residence: Ireland

Languages spoken: English

Contact: [email protected]

Tumblr blog: martinacollenderplaywright

Twitter: @Teenycollender

Availability: Martina is available to teach Creative Writing and Drama to all ages and also to give workshops on Play-writing. She is also available to gives talks on Repeal The 8th Campaign.

Advice to other women: "Everyone has a story in them. Write that play. Write the play you need to write. And don't ever, ever let anyone tell you you can't do it, because people will. They'll tell you, "You can't do that. You're not able to do that," and it's their own self-worries projected onto you. So don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it."

Today I'm joined by an incredible woman who has a really long list of accomplishments up her sleeve. Involved in theatre and performing arts industries, Martina Collender is a playwright, writer and performer who is also actively involved in teaching of writing and drama to many young people. But in addition to her paid work, Martina is also a fierce campaigner for the Repeal the 8th movement in Ireland, which I will let her go into more detail about shortly. Welcome, Martina.

Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, it's wonderful to be able to speak with you today, and I really appreciate your time. Look, I thought we could start with talking about your theatre career. First question I had was, have you always wanted to be a playwright, and what is it about performance that captures your imagination?

Well, I joined Waterford Youth Arts, which is a youth theatre company based in Ireland. They do drama, arts, dance, creative writing and film. I joined when I was 16 and I left school quite young. I left school when I was 13 or 14, and I didn't really know what to do with my life. I quickly discovered I'm not an actor, I'm the worst actor in the world, so I was about to give it all up. I hated acting.

When I went to see a play by a local playwright called Jim Daly, To Leap From Paradise, and it might as well have been the West End, I fell in love with the lights, with the performance, with the idea you can tell a person's heart on stage through writing and performance. So I couldn't act, I couldn't do too much else, so I decided I was going to be a writer. So I got loads of plays out of the local library. I got Brian Friel, I got all the classic playwrights, and I read them all and I fell in love with it.

Ever since then, I haven't really been able to do anything else and I'm just enthralled by the idea that theatre can give a voice to the voiceless. And any good theatre, I think, if you pay your money for your ticket, you can sit down and you can see your own life on stage. That's the magic of theatre for me. I can't do anything else so I'm kind of stuck with writing.

Oh, it sounds absolutely beautiful. You left school so, so young and it's hard for an adult to imagine what they want to do, let alone a young person of that age. Was it easy to infiltrate the performing arts scene in your local area? Were you welcomed?

Well, I was really, really lucky. I was incredibly supported. I had Ollie Breslin at Waterford Youth Arts who welcomed me with open arms and gave me every opportunity I could possibly hope for. And then in Garter Lane Arts Centre, our local theatre, Jim Nolan opened doors to me, a professional director, and training me up as a stage manager. And then I went onto Ben Hennessy with Red Kettle Theatre Company, another professional theatre company, and they opened their doors for me and allowed me opportunities to learn. I think with theatre, you can't really learn from a book. I think you have to learn by doing it.

I then went onto Liam who gave me every opportunity, and Liam said a great thing once. He said, "The only thing you can ever give someone in this life is your time. Money and all of that other rubbish doesn't matter. The only thing you can give someone is time." And I was really lucky that I had all these professionals give me their time and patience and knowledge and look after me and take care of me when I messed up again and again and again. And what a wonderful thing to do. They weren't paid for that. They had no reason to do that. They just saw a young person who loved theatre and desperately wanted to learn, and they gave me everything they could. So I've been incredibly supportive. I've been very, very lucky.

Ah, that's absolutely wonderful. I must say, the idea about time being the most valuable thing you can give someone, I completely agree. It really is amazing what that can do for somebody's life. So it's wonderful to hear that other people around the world use that motto as well.

Yes. When Liam said it to me, and he said it to me two years ago and it was like a revelation, I was like, "Oh my God, you're right! That's all we can give each other. Yes!"

Martina's first play, written at just 17 years old.

What about the process of writing for you? How old were you when you produced your first play?

I was 17 when I had my first play put on, and that was a youth theatre play, so I work with youth arts regularly and I write for the old people. My first adult production put on in 2013 in the Theatre Royal with Red Kettle Theatre Company called Lover's Dust, which was directed by Ben Hennessey. That was a huge, huge opportunity for me and I learned a lot of lessons from it. The main thing Ben gave me was the confidence. He gave me the confidence that I was someone and that I could write.

In terms of the process of writing, it's really hard. It's really hard to write a play. It's really hard. But I picked up a lot of skills over the years on how to do it and how to sit down with it. I suppose, again, it comes back to support. The best thing you can do is get a group of actors in a room who read the play with you and say, "Oh, that doesn't work. Maybe try this," and you take a pen and you start cutting things.

Okay, so this is probably a really ignorant question, but I'm going to ask. What about the selection of people, the casting selection for the play? When you are writing something, do you have a strong idea in your mind of who you want to portray that or is that something that kind of happens organically?

I wouldn't. I suppose a lot of people are writer/director. I don't have the skills to be a director, so through the audition process I just don't know. When I write my character, I don't write them for specific actors. There's obviously actors I admire desperately and I dream of having them in my play, but I kind of leave that up to the director. I'd hand over and I'd trust the director and I'd be like, "I don't know what to do now. You take that over. You do that bit."

Does that partnership always go well for people around you as well?

Yeah. Well I suppose it's the thing I love about theatre. It's one of the one art forms that's all about collaboration. You can't to theatre alone, and it literally is collaboration, so you have to work with the actors. So if an actor says, "I can't say that line," you won't get anywhere if you go, "Well I wrote it. Say it." You have to work with them.

The magic of theatre is it's collaboration down to the person who's sewing a button on someone's shirt so it looks right. It's collaboration down to the person who sweeps the stage. It's collaboration down to the light designer, the sound designer, the set designer. Nothing happens without a group of people coming together and saying, "We're coming into this room and we're going to try and create something together."

If you write a book, it's very much yours. You've got pure creative control over it. Like, you work with an editor, but that world you're creating's yours. But in theatre, when I create a character, what a costume designer might do with that character might be completely different to what I had in my head. And it's hard. It's hard sometimes. Like, you would be having fights with people, you would be killing each other, but that's all part of it and that's what I love about it. And it's why I don't write film scripts, it's why I don't write books, it's why I write theatre.

'Cause we live in an age now where we've seen so many progressions in the way we experience culture, I guess. People used to go to the theatre and then there were movies and now there's Netflix. Have you found that people are still as interested in theatre and attending a theatre performance as they always have been? Or have people increased their interest in theatre? What's your experience there?

It's a tricky one. It's a tricky one. It's difficult to get people to come to theatre. It's very difficult, and because of Netflix and because of the cinema, and it's hard to get people in the door. I suppose you're trying to sell different playwrights to people as different authors or different filmmakers, so I do think it is difficult. On the flip side of that, I will contradict myself. I have seen a lot of younger playwrights come up and therefore a lot of younger people going to the theatre. But it's hard. Publicity for theatre is one of the main things that you have to push.

I do think it has changed. I think theatre has changed. I think Friel and all the classic playwrights, I don't really see a lot of that anymore, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I think we can always have respect for Friel and Shakespeare and the old school playwrights and we can also make room for the new playwrights. It's just about advertising it a way so people know if you're coming to see this place, you know what you're going to get. But in Waterford Theatre is alive and well. We're lucky with that. We're very lucky in Waterford 'cause we have Spraoi, we have a national street theatre festival, so we have a lot of arts in Waterford. Sheila Penkart has recently taken over Garter Lane Arts Centre, and she's worked in theatre since she was 11, so I'm incredibly excited to see what she'll do. But it's a constant battle to get people in the door. But I find once you have them in the door, they're hooked. We just have to get them in the door.

Yeah, this is the thing. The thrill that you get from a live performance cannot be rivalled by anything that you see on screen, and that's not to take away from movies. Obviously we enjoy movies and they tell a story, but I know for myself, there's nothing like a live performance and connecting with a character or a theme.

Absolutely. Like you have to nail on the head ... nailing it on the head there. The cinema's great, books are great, these are all extraordinary art forms, but when you're in a theatre, if theater's done well, you're feeling what the characters are feeling, you're in the courtroom, you're going through them with it and it's happening right in front of you. If you're lucky enough to see a group of extraordinary actors, you feel like you're living the story with them. That's why I much prefer to go to the theatre than to go to the cinema because, with the cinema, there is a block of screen, and also the magic of live theatre, you don't know what will happen every night. With a film, if you mess something up you can just do another take. You don't know how the audience will react. Sometimes the audience will laugh at one thing, they won't laugh at another, so you don't know. So every time that curtain goes up, who knows what will happen? Who knows what will happen? When things go wrong, they're the stories you're going to be laughing at 20 years from now. It's really magic 'cause you're watching human beings be live on stage, and you don't know what will happen. But as with like Netflix, you can pause it. Do you know? You can press pause when you're bored. That's exactly what I'd be selling. That's exactly the reason I sell theatre to people.

I'm sorry, I have to ask: obviously you're working with professionals and you have strategies with dealing with that, but what does happen when things go wrong? Is it just a matter of ploughing ahead or have you seen any real disasters?

I've worked with nine year olds, I've worked with amateurs, I've worked with professionals, and everything has gone wrong. Whether you're a professional or you're a nine-year-old child acting for the first time, what we say is keep going. You just keep going. You keep going. I've heard ... there's a hilarious story about this. There was a play, and there was a coffin on stage, and they had a mannequin in the coffin to play the body. The actor was giving a really big emotional speech and the head of the mannequin fell off and rolled across the front of the stage, and all he did was he walked down, picked up the mannequin and he said, "Right, well that's it then." You have to keep going and you have to have a sense of humour about it. Now, for the actors, it's the worst thing in the world to happen, but if you keep going, I guarantee you it'll be the best story to tell. It's the best story to tell.

I just love that so much. I mean, it's good. I think you do have to keep a light heart about that kind of thing, and you're making memories at the very least.

Yes, yes. Looking for the positive, always.

You just mentioned it there about you work with a lot of young people. In what ways do you think drama and creative writing are benefiting young people nowadays?

Well, one thing I think that theatre does for young people, it's very little to do with the play. I'd actually say the play, the end product, is the last on the list. I think what theatre does for people in general is give them confidence. It gives them confidence. So when we do drama classes, for me it gave me confidence, it saved me. I work with Shine Discovery, which is for people who are recovering from mental illness, and I work with young people. So what if none of them pursue a career in theatre? That has nothing to do with it. But the confidence they get, and they get a group of friends and they get a summer of memories and they get to laugh and they get to know it's okay to laugh at yourself. Like, they do. Do you know, it's like, "We're going to make a show of ourself here. If something goes wrong, doesn't matter at all. Doesn't matter. Laugh it off," and so their confidence soars. And whether it be with speech, or finding out who they are ...'Cause being young is really hard. I don't think young people get enough credit. You're 13, you're in a new school, you're trying to find yourself, you're trying to keep up with study, you're trying to keep your parents happy, you're trying to find friends, you're discovering the first pain of friends not lasting forever, you're trying to find out who you like, you're discovering alcohol, you're discovering drugs, and all this time you're expected to smile and be perfect. So if they can come into a room, and we run around and play games and we get to find out about each other and we get to discover empathy and, more importantly, they're told they have a voice and they matter. Even if that voice is saying, "I'm really angry at the world," that's incredibly important. A lot of them leave and go off to do other careers, but they carry the confidence with them that they got in drama. So that's actually what theatre does for people. It has very little to do with what the audience sees. It's teamwork, it's importance, it's responsibility, it's valuing you as a human, and it's telling the world that we care about you and if you're not here, this play isn't going to happen. That's how important you are. So that's what I think's the real magic of working with kids in theatre.

It sounds absolutely beautiful. As you know, this project is about developing confidence in people, and it's wonderful to hear that there's a medium out there, particularly in young people, help them during, as you said, what is quite a vulnerable time in their lives. Is it easy to recruit young people to come along and learn about drama and partake in your activities?

We have a huge membership at Waterford Youth Arts, but I suppose the barrier I feel when I say to young people, "Come and do drama," they think we all sit around wearing black, talking about Shakespeare sat down and I'm like, "We don't do that! Come along." So that's the barrier, I find. But I do believe, and I understand how difficult it is to walk into that room. It's very difficult to walk into a room for the first time, but if you can just make that first step, once you come in, you'll stay.

And what about the teaching side of things when it comes to writing and drama? Obviously, as you've just said, it's not just about coming out with a finished product, it's about developing all these special skills and individual skills as well. But is it easy to teach someone to think creatively and be involved in drama, or do you think that it really comes from the person themselves?

I think it definitely comes from the person itself. Well, I fully believe, hand on heart, there's not a single person who walks on this earth who is not creative. I fully believe that. So my role, as a tutor, is getting them to find their voice, getting them to find what they want to say, getting them to find their confidence in making their art. I can give them tips and tricks and formulas that they might find useful when they're trying to figure out what they want to create, but at the end of the day my main goal is to help them find their voice.

Like, when it comes to teach creative writing, I'm dyslexic. I left school quite early. I have no time whatsoever for marking someone's work or spelling or grammar. I tell you, when I teach creative writing, forget about spelling or grammar. Let's just get out what's in your head. I give them writing prompts. For example, with the 15 to 19s I'm working with, the most recent prompt I asked them to do was secrets. We all have a secret, so they all wrote down their secrets and swapped them with someone else, and that was a writing prompt. Or with my nine to 11 group, I asked them to bring in their favourite teddy bears, 'cause our teddies know everything about us, they know everything about us, and we wrote the adventures of our teddy bears, and that was extraordinarily beautiful. We had one teddy called Froggy who is afraid of water and hasn't been washed in all of his life.

What I find as well, with young people, if you give them that skill of their teddies, if they're feeling scared or they're worried, they find it easier to talk to the teddy. So they're able to say, "Well, Froggy's a bit scared of this," and then it's "That's okay." So it's able for them to talk through their problems without having to say it's me. So when I teach performers, when I teach drama, I just teach them the basics. I teach them blocking and focalization, I teach them that. But mainly I teach them the self-belief and confidence to walk out on stage.

It sounds like the impact you're having transcends the drama itself, which is just so wonderful. What about in terms of young people that you work with that do want to pursue a career in the arts? I know for myself and people around me growing up, pursuing a career in the arts could be dissuaded because it's perceived as an unstable career path. I was wondering, for yourself, have you experienced any negativity pertaining to wanting to be a playwright, or do you feel that the children that you work with have those fears as well?

Well, I've been quite lucky. I've been incredibly supported from my family and from my community and from my friends. But at the same time, I do acknowledge that it's a tough career. Like, financially, I'm quite lucky. I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a family, I don't have kids, so I just have to look after myself, and I know a lot of people who are professionals in this career and are still not financially rewarded. What I always say to people when they say, "I want to study creative writing," I always say you do what you need to do. If you need to study theatre or creative writing, don't get to 90 years old and regret it. You have time. You can study creative writing and drama, and if it doesn't work out you can go back to college as a mature student. What I always say to someone who's unsure, I say you never have to give it up. You can be a nurse, you can be a guard, you can be any other career in this world and you can still write, you can still perform. This is not something that will ever be taken away from you. It's not a direct choice. And obviously the people will say, "I don't want to study it." I'm like, "Cool, best of luck but please come back and visit."

But it's tough, and I'm not a parent but I can imagine the anxiety that parents have when their child wants to do it, because it's a tough business when you go to your fifth audition and you don't get the part, or you get your age rejection letter, and you need the support of someone sitting there and telling you it's okay. It is a tough business to get into, but it just comes back to it's you don't want to regret that you didn't give it a shot. Like, there is time. You can try it. And if it doesn't work out, so what? You'll get memories, you'll have learned a lesson, you can keep it up, you can go on to teach creative writing, you can go on to teach drama, you can do an amateur production of a play. It doesn't end. But if you're 18, you have nothing to lose, you have no one else to look after in this world, apart from yourself, go for it. Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?

On the flip side of that, if you're 50 and you've had your job and you're kids are reared and you think maybe now I could write a play, do it. Do it. Do it. Absolutely, do it. If the thoughts in your head, do it. What's the worst that could happen? Someone will say they don't like it and you tell them to go away. That's just one person's opinion. Do you know?

That's exactly right. So what? I do feel that sometimes we're so caught up in other people's opinions that we forget that it's okay to live and just do what we want to do. If we're not hurting other people, why not give it a go?

Absolutely. And look, I'm not saying I don't get hurt from people saying I didn't like the play, but it's part of it. You have to go, "Yeah," and do you know what? It's better to have the audience halved and one half saying I liked it and one half saying the other liked it. The worst thing in the world is a group of people to come out and say, "It was nice." Nice! Steak is nice. I'd much prefer for someone to be so angry by hating the play and have an emotional reaction rather than going, "It's grand, yeah."

Actually, I've never thought of that before, but that must be so true. I think, yeah, I'd rather polarise reactions than the word nice, for sure.

Yeah.

And so we've covered it a little bit. You say you've experienced negativity and you move on. What about performance itself, or even the idea of presenting your work to other people? Do you ever feel nervous about doing that and, if so, how do you tackle those nerves?

Yeah, I'm terrified constantly. I'm terrified on a daily basis. If I send an email to someone, I am terrified, and when it gets to opening night of one of my plays, I freak out. I completely freak out. It's agony. Do you know? It's tough. It's very, very, very tough. I don't have a solution. I don't have a magic solution. All I know is that it's worth it when the audience say or the actors say or someone says it had an impact on them. I think self-doubt. In any creative business you're always battling with self-doubt, you're always going, "I'm rubbish. This is rubbish. Who do I think I am to be a writer? Everyone's going to hate it." And it's part and parcel of it. It's part and parcel of it. You have to find ways to cope.

I walk a lot. I find exercise genuinely saves my mental health. I talk to my friends, my very close friends about it, and I cry a lot. I cry a lot. I cry so much. But I think it's important to release it out of your body in some way, because if you keep it inside you, you're just going to end up being unwell, so if you can find a way to get it out of your body, I think is the only advice I can offer. And do you know what? If you feel that nervous about it, then it means you care about it 'cause you're having to put a lot of your heart into it, so it's a good thing to be nervous.

And what about your experience as a woman in the performing arts industry? Obviously it sounds like you've had a very supported career and that you're surrounded by supportive people. Would you say that women are well represented in your field?

Yes and no. We had to....in the feminist campaign that hit the Abbey Theatre, which is the national theatre of Ireland, two years ago, and it was making the point that it was a lot of male writers that had been chosen by the Abbey in the recent years, and it was making a point of women being underrepresented and represented in the arts.

To be honest, it's a tricky one and I struggle with it. I wouldn't want to see a situation where five females and five males have been chosen because we need five females. I think it should always come down to talent. I think in every show I've worked with there's been equal men and women been involved, but I do think it's a campaign worth noting because I don't think it was always that way and I do think there is still battles with women being asked to take lower wages and having to fight your way to top, and there are horrible people you meet who make sexist comments and I don't think that's representative of the industry, I think it's representative of horrible men, but they are in the industry and I'd like to see that broken down that there's a way where you don't have to engage with them. You can get around it. But, in my opinion, like, both of our theatres in Waterford are being run by Mary Boland and Sheila Penkart. They're the strongest women in Waterford Theatre, so I'm quite lucky living in Waterford. I'm surrounded by strong female role models and there's even more coming up. But I do think it's a question we should be asking ourselves as society.

There's been a lot more information about this kind of thing recently, so I know there have been in studies, in academia, showing that if a person's name is put on a list and the gender is revealed or the gender is inferred by their name, that men will often be put to the top of the pile or selected over a woman. In the theatre industry, are there ways to combat that? In a selection of plays, is it possible to remove people's names so that it is based on the play itself and not the person associated with it?

Yes, that is possible, and my name is Martina. I've often thought about, when I submit plays, would I change it to Martin? And I didn't out of principle. I refused to. I think the danger of removing the playwright's name for the posters is you're taking away the credit to the playwright. But that is a solution, do you know, and I think it's very important we're having the conversation. Let's find solutions, and even if 50 of those solutions are wrong or don't work, we're having the conversation.

Now, that would just be my opinion. A lot of people would say the playwright has nothing to do with it because it's on stage at this point, so it should be regardless whether the playwright's name is mentioned. But I would just argue back for the playwrights it's important to have the acknowledgement of the name on the poster.

Yeah, and I can absolutely see, of course you put all that work in, and it also has implications for future work for you as well obviously if you're names on a poster or whether it's not. It's a very complicated issue. How do you get to the root of that problem and that bias that's still in there?

Absolutely. I'm intrigued by the fact it's so complicated. I'm like, well, let's keep talking about it, 'cause anything worth doing never had an easy answer, and if it has an easy answer I think it would've been done years ago. But I think it's so important this dialogue is opened and it's talked about with people within the industry, people outside the industry, how do they perceive it? Male, female, transgender, everyone needs to be involved in this conversation until we find a solution for it. Because we can't bury our heads in the sand and say, "Oh, that's too difficult." I think as society, as the world, we need to address yeah, there's been a problem, women been oppressed for years. Just because we're not oppressed anymore, just because we're fighting and we've risen doesn't mean that we're not still holding onto old habits that need to be erased from the way we speak about women, the way that we address and acknowledge women, and it's just keep conversation open.

What are your thoughts then, as a woman in the performing arts industry, on the recent MeToo campaign? Obviously this is a huge ... there are many campaigns around the world, there've been people for many years discussing these issues, but obviously this has blown up and it's very topical at the moment. Do you have any thoughts and opinions about that campaign or things pertaining to it?

Yes, absolutely. I suppose I might get in trouble for saying this. I'm a bit controversial on the MeToo campaign to be brutally honest. My problem with the MeToo campaign is this is brilliant, we're finally breaking silence. Absolutely. I am 100% behind it. I can't imagine the pain of women who have suffered this. But my problem with it is it's blown up, it's everywhere, it's on Twitter, you can't escape it even if you want to, and I'd be very concerned the counselling services been put in place for women who have suffered this abuse.

In Ireland, counselling for survivors of sexual abuse is very limited, and recently the MeToo campaign broke in Ireland. I'd be very concerned about women who are very distraught, very upset, open wounds have happened, and they're on Twitter asking for someone to help them. So that's one of my concerns with the MeToo campaign.

My other concern with the MeToo campaign, we have a court of law. Whether we like it or not, that's our court of law and we have to abide by it, because if we start taking the law into our own hands we're going to end up destroying each other. Literally destroying each other. And what I'd say to the MeToo campaign, I'd like to see the MeToo campaign as tackling the court of law.

In Ireland, there's one per cent, one per cent of conviction of rape cases, and the way a woman is treated in rape or sexual assaults in Ireland is disgusting. It's the only crime, it is the only crime where the victim is a liar until proven innocent and you're underwear is shown to you in court and you go through eight days of cross-examination, and if you had any alcohol in you you're just not believed. So I would like to see this campaign move forward fighting for counselling and also fighting for conviction of rapists.

I heard a brilliant quote. Someone said, "My experiences deserve more than a MeToo hashtag on Twitter." Twitter is 160 characters. How can you put what happened to you into 160 characters? I think it's brilliant that we're vocalising it, but I think we need to follow up the vocalisation with action, and I think the law needs to stand up and admit that they've been treating women horrifically and they need to change the law. Because, at the minute, I can't actually imagine why anyone would go to the police if they'd been raped because you're treated horribly. You're treated like you're the one who committed the crime. In Ireland, for example, if you go to a sexual assault and rape clinic, you're asked is there mental illness or alcoholism in your family? If you're stabbed you're not asked that. What does that have to do with the fact that you've just been raped?

I'm delighted, I'm really, perversely I'm using the word delighted, that it's been acknowledged, because for years women, and men who've been raped as well, have just had to get over it themselves and know there is no justice for it and that's it. And particularly with Facebook and camera phones now, that's an issue that needs to be addressed. People are having pictures taken of them and put up without their consent. So it's great, but I'd like to see us moving forward with it and putting in practical solutions and help for women that just has not been there.

You have articulated your thoughts on that absolutely beautifully, and I must say that I mirror a lot of those sentiments. I find it very concerning the idea of a trial by social media, and I also feel that in today's day and age it's very easy to become complacent, that we feel that if we comment online and don't actually do any action in the real world that that is participating and actually helping to change things, and I think that's only very true on a very limited scale. It's very good, as you said, to talk about things and get the knowledge out there, but at the end of the day action is what is going to change things, and I think that's a beautiful perspective. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Thank you very much. Thanks a million.

Moving on, I think it's a really good time actually to introduce talking about the Repeal the 8th campaign that you have been a fierce campaigner for yourself. You obviously have very strong opinions and are very passionate about topics pertaining to women and women's rights. For those overseas who aren't aware of the Repeal the 8th campaign, are you able to tell us what the campaign is about and why you support it so strongly?

Yes. I've spoken to a lot of my friends who are overseas, and they found it incredibly shocking when I told them what Repeal the 8th is. So, the 8th Amendment, basically if you're pregnant in Ireland, under no circumstances can you have access to an abortion. That includes rape, that includes if your life is in danger, that includes if you're told your child won't live, you still have to carry that child. That includes if you have had an accident and you're on life support. If the foetus has a beating heart, you will be kept on life support.

Wow.

It's very, very, very restrictive. Under no circumstances, under no circumstances are you able to access an abortion in Ireland. Abortion pills are illegal. If you're caught taking an abortion pill you can face up to seven years in prison, I think. So our option at the minute for thousands of Irish women is to travel to England for an abortion, and that costs a lot of money. It's averaging a thousand Euro to get over there, including flights and including the money for the procedure once you get over there. We have heard horrific cases, we have heard horrendous cases.

In 1991, there was case X. She was a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a man known to the family, and became pregnant. She decided she wanted to have an abortion and her mother was going to go with her, and the family told the Guards that they were going over there because they just wanted them to know, and they also were hoping would there be any evidence that they could get to try and identify the man and get him convicted. They were stopped from going and that girl was forced to remain pregnant. At 14, raped, she was forced to remain pregnant. They eventually went to court, and she eventually ended up having a miscarriage. But if she hadn't miscarried, that 14-year-old child would've been forced to remain pregnant. Most recently, last year, a teenager requested an abortion, and she was put into a psychiatric ward and was forced to remain pregnant.

Now, they're the extreme cases on the most basic level. No woman in Ireland has the rights to her own body. No woman. We have to be forced to remain pregnant against our will, so if we're suffering mental illness, if we just don't want to have that pregnancy for whatever reason, whether it be cases of rape, whether it be an abusive situation, whether it be financial strain, whether it be that they're in college and they want to live their own life, whether they feel they have three children and they can't afford to feed them, whether it be their last child was a stillborn and they can't go through with another pregnancy, it doesn't matter. You have to leave your own country to access basic healthcare.

Look, I must say it blows my mind, and I am actually at a loss for words. I mean, this is 2018, and I firmly believe that my body is my body and what I do with it is my right, and so I would love to believe that there's enough support in the community to repeal the 8th. But the fact that it's still there is concerning, from what you've said. So what is the feeling like in your community at the moment? Are you confident that the 8th will be repealed, or is there still strong resistance to keeping it there?

I'm terrified. We're going to have a vote in May and we're campaigning, we're canvassing, we're going door to door, we're doing stalls, but I'm genuinely worried. I'm really worried whether it's going to come true or not because the Pro Life are against the 8th Amendment being repealed. They've got a huge amount of money and also they're quite aggressive with their lies. They tend to tell lies, and they tend to also pull on the heartstrings. Like, they're going around saying, "Oh, if abortion is allowed in Ireland a woman can have abortion at nine months." That's absolute lies and its ridiculous. But they are pulling on the heartstrings and they're very emotionally abusive, I think. So I'm genuinely worried.

In the past five years, there's been a huge uprising, a huge uprising for Repeal the 8th. There's a woman I work with, Sue Larkin, she's been fighting for this for 35 years. That's a very long time, and she said when she used to go out 30 years ago, people would throw bottles at them, they'd release dogs on them, they'd call them murderers. You might get three people to go to an event because people were so afraid to say that they were pro-choice, but it was happening. It was happening. Thousands of people were going to England. So in the last five years there's been a huge, huge uprise, and there've been T-shirts and jumpers done, and it's starting to feel like there's a community behind it. Anyone who's going to vote no on this is crazy and is ridiculous because they're trying to control a woman's body. But I don't know, I think it'd be very dangerous at this stage to say we have it in the bag. I think the whole world is looking at Ireland to see what you're going to do, and I hope that pressure will put it forward, but I'm going to keep canvassing and hopefully we will make a difference.

And what about the idea of the referendum itself? This is something that I'm not sure of what my opinion is on it, but the idea of a referendum sounds wonderful, it's very democratic, but we're talking about a decision pertaining to someone's body, and you're allowing the masses to make that decision when you would hope that the people that you have elected to parliament have the good sense and the education and understanding to be able to pass these things in parliament without referring to the people.

As we've seen in recent years, I mean, just because there's a referendum, doesn't mean that sensible choices will be made, and I don't need to go into anymore detail about that. Are you happy with the path of a referendum? Do you think this is the only way to change it in Ireland at the moment?

No, I'm not really ... What happened in Ireland before Christmas, they had a thing called the Eighth Committee, so they had people who've been directly affected from both sides give their say on it. So they had a wonderful woman speaking about foetal fatal abnormality, and they had people from the Pro Life side, and this went on for weeks. I followed it and I genuinely thought that was enough. I thought that was enough because they had hundreds of women saying this has affected me directly, and the cruelty of the journey of travelling. But it's our legal system and I have to abide by it. Whether I agree with it or not I have to abide by it.

I do hope the people of Ireland will make the right decision because what's bizarre at the minute is there's no aftercare for women when they come home, and we're all pretending like this isn't happening. It's 12 women a day are making an horrific journey. It was admitted that at least one woman bled out flying home. When you go over there, you're told, once you've gotten the procedure, to go to a cinema because it's warm, and if you collapse there'll be people around you to help you. When you return home, you're expected to go to work on Monday morning.

It's very difficult to find counselling that isn't from the Pro Life side. Just physical aftercare, it's not there. You're given Panadol and you're expected to be silent about this. Even if you are 100% sure you're making the right decision, this is one of the hardest things you're going to have to do in your life, and you have to carry it around by yourself, so if Ireland is saying abortion is illegal, they're completely ignoring 12 women a day who are travelling.

I heard a great thing. A couple moved to Ireland from America because they thought that Ireland didn't allow abortion that we had great care for people with disabilities. And we don't. But they presumed because abortion is illegal we've got all these supports. We don't at all. We don't at all. And there's a group, People with Disabilities for Choice, and they're making the point, well, what if I have a disability and I want to have an abortion? So there is a huge, huge uprise, but it is shocking. Ireland is very, very shocking with the way we treat women.

I always find that very interesting that you on one hand don't provide the support to women to enable them to have control of their bodies and have an abortion, and then on the flip side of that also don't provide support. It's almost like an extension of punishment to women: yes we're not going to allow you rights to your body and if you do take that path, we're not going to support you and give you the help that you need afterwards to make you a happy and healthy person in society. It just blows my mind, in short.

Absolutely. For a single mother, there isn't a lot of financial support and it's very difficult to get that support. You're treated horribly by the system. We have a housing crisis at the minute. Do you know, a lot of families are homeless at the minute. A lot of families are homeless at the minute. If you do choose to have the baby, it's impossible to get counselling after a pregnancy. There's no support. There's no support for any kind of pregnancy. And contraceptive isn't free. Contraceptive is not free in Ireland. You have to get the contraceptive pill on prescription from your doctor. Condoms aren't free. Our sex education is horrendous. There's no sex education for gay or transgender people. So what I'd say to the government, how about you put a lot of money into fixing the housing crisis, how about we allow free non-catholic, non-religion-based sex education that actually answers people's questions, and free contraceptive. And then when they've done all that, they can say, "We don't want abortion here."

That's a very, very valid point. And the idea that church and state are still so intertwined is very, very concerning. What about the topic of abortion itself? Obviously it's a very serious one. There are probably women who are listening to this who are Pro Life and don't agree with it, but in particular if you do support abortion, it tends to leave women open for attack in a variety of horrendous ways. I was wondering, have you personally experienced any negativity about your beliefs and, if so, how do you cope with those attacks?

I do. I do. I experience a lot of negativity. I have no problem talking to someone who's Pro Life and we can debate it calmly, and more often than not we have to shake hands 'cause I'm trying to change their mind and they're trying to change my mind and it's not going to happen, so we just have to part ways and leave it go. But there is the extremists who will call you a murderer, who will scream at you. And the way I cope with it is because I know right now, on a plane, there is 12 women going through the worst day of their life, and they are hoping someone is going to do something about it. So if I wear a jumper, if I have a protest, if I buy a badge, if I have a conversation, it's me helping those women in a tiny, tiny way. And you know what? Abortion is very upsetting. No one wants to have an abortion. There is not a single person in this world who wants to have an abortion. It's a crisis pregnancy. Crisis. And they deserve our support as well. And often people who have an abortion, they are thinking about the child. They don't want to bring the child into their circumstances or this world for a reason, and they should be given support in making that choice. In terms of negativity, it's getting very hot here in Ireland, it's getting very heated, and I think it's going to get worse in the next couple of weeks. I just have to practise self-care. I need to be warm a lot. I find being warm helps me, or exercise. And not engaging with it. Do you know, if someone is becoming abusive, I would never become abusive to someone who is Pro Life. I respect your opinion, I respect that you would never make the choice to have an abortion, but how can you take that choice away from someone else?

That's exactly right. And what would your advice be to Irish women out there who may be pregnant or lack access to contraception and feel they have no options? I mean, you're obviously very aware of the campaign, you know the ins and outs of the law, are there support services you can recommend that they may be able to access?

Women on the Web is a fantastic service, and they can offer you advice. My main thing to women is when you're googling, be careful of the sites you look up, because sometimes sites you're looking up is Pro Life and they're trying to change your mind. And now it can be easily solved by just clicking on whatever site you look up and making sure that they're not trying to lead you in one way. And also to contact clinics in England. BPAS, B-P-A-S, is fantastic. They're a brilliant clinic. They can offer you counselling, they can offer you options, they're going to explain exactly what's going to happen to you. They look after you and they'll take care of you. Unfortunately, they're looking after Irish women, 'cause we won't look after them at home. But they are a fantastic service and they will look after you.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. I can't imagine the fear that a woman must feel not being able to access services that she so desperately needs. I'm sure that even if one woman knows that there is now a site that they can at least go to or some way that they can maybe get out of their situation, I'm sure that is a huge help. Concerning the campaign itself, what if there are women who want to support the campaign but don't really know what to do or how to go about it, do you have any advice for them?

Yes, absolutely. Well, if you're in Waterford you can contact Pro Choice Waterford. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and our email is [email protected]. What we are saying to people is, 'cause a lot of people want to get involved in the campaign but they're saying we don't have time or we don't really feel comfortable standing on streets, so we offer a wide range of things you can do to help.

If you've got half an hour spare and you can drop some leaflets in your area, that would be a fantastic help 'cause we can't get to everywhere. We're based in the city centre. If you would like to sell some badges or T-shirts, that would be brilliant for us if you want to take five away. If you'd like to help us set up a table quiz, because it is quite negative, so if we have a night out and we're all supportive of each other, that would be fantastic. If you want to share us on Facebook, that would be great. If you could give us a like, even to build up a community. If you'd like to write a letter, this'd be very important. Writing a letter to your local newspaper — letters to the editor have to be printed — just on why you're supporting Repeal the 8th. If you're national in Ireland, you can get involved in the Abortion Rights Campaign, if you're across the seas and you want to help, you can order merchandise from the Abortion Rights Campaign. All money goes back into the campaign and it would greatly help us. So if you just check out the Abortion Rights Campaign, Pro Choice Waterford, we've loads of events coming up, and even literally, it sounds stupid, but if you can buy a mug for a fiver it would be a huge help for all that money to go back into this campaign.

Fantastic. And what I love about that, as you said, there are so many ways that you can hep that can fit in with your lifestyle and your ability and your ability to speak out, because I understand there may even be women who are really in support of this but can't speak out because of their certain situation at home or whatever it may be, so that's wonderful that you have so many avenues that women can access.

Yes, absolutely.

You said you're on Facebook as well, and I have to draw attention to that because a lot of people do use Facebook nowadays, and so sorry, is it Repeal the 8th at Facebook? Is that what you're campaign is?

Yes. We're on Pro Choice Waterford. If you type in Repeal the 8th at Facebook, you'll find all the Repeal the 8th pages, and you can find the national one and the local one just so you can find out more information. If you want more information on what the 8th Amendment is in Ireland, you can find it all there.

Moving a little bit to a little bit more about you. Obviously you are an amazing woman, you're achieving great things professionally, you're a writer, you've achieved your dream of working as a playwright, you're also helping young people, you're also very educated and supportive of women rights generally with your involvement with the Repeal the 8th campaign. We've already spoken a little bit about confidence, but everything that you do really requires confidence, and you, yourself, have acknowledged how important confidence is. So, how do you foster confidence in yourself? Is it something that you actively have to think about, or do you think it's something that is innate within you?

Well, I was never very, very confident, and I still would freak out and get very anxious about even sending an email. I suppose someone said to me once, and it was a brilliant thing, "No one is confident, but we all pretend we are." So if you are scared and if you are nervous, pretend you're confident. And I do that daily. I'll meet someone for coffee, I'll give a talk, I'll write, I'll go to the open night of my play and I'll come home and I'll collapse in exhaustion, and I'll allow myself then to be scared.

When it comes to learning to be confident, it's very difficult for anyone in this life to be confident, but if you smile and if you can pretend you're confident and if you can get passionate about something, if you're really passionate about something, I think confidence comes hand in hand, 'cause if you really care and if you really want to make a difference, you will find confidence to shout.

When I was younger, I was very scared of everything, and I still remain to be scared, but I'm so passionate about Repeal the 8th and I'm so passionate about young people being given a chance, I find myself standing up then and going, "No, we need to fight for this. We need to fight for this," 'cause we only have one life and if you do anything in your life, be kind to each other or help someone. But it's a daily battle and I think a lot of people listening to this will recognise that. It's a daily, daily battle.

For some women, makeup. I find when I wear makeup, when I'm particularly nervous, gives me a confidence boost. I don't know why. I think mainly, if I'm wearing foundation, no one can see me when I go red. When I get embarrassed, no one ... And such a simple thing. It's such a simple thing, but it helps me so much. When I wear high heels I feel confident, because I'm quite short, so I feel confident when I'm wearing high heels. Like, little tricks. Tricks. That's all they are is tricks. Water. Whenever I go anywhere I need to have water with me 'cause my mouth gets very dry. When my mouth gets dry I start panicking, I start gasping. So, little tricks. You only know it about yourself, you know? Some people say it gets easier when you get older, but any person I know who's older says it doesn't, it gets worse. You just get better at pretending. You get better at pretending. And it's hard. It's hard. Life is hard. Do you know, life is like one really bad awkward day that doesn't end, and we have to keep going. And laugh at yourself. Oh God, when it comes to confidence, laugh at yourself. I get so embarrassed and worked up over little things, and this is something I'm still learning to do. I get so upset over nothing and so I'm trying to learn to laugh at myself and going, "It doesn't matter and it'll be fine," and most of the time things end up being fine.

I'll tell you what, everything you've said resonates so much with me. I must say, it's so true about finding what works for you. I mean, what helps with someone else's confidence may not work with yours, and I think that holding that with you ... If wearing makeup is enough to get you through the day or through an interview or whatever it is that you're going through, if that works for you, go for it. There's no harm, is there, in doing what works for you.

Not at all. Absolutely not. And it comes back to caring what people think. I heard a great quote: "When we're younger we worry about what people think of us. When we're older we don't care what they think of us. When we're old enough, we realise they weren't thinking about us at all."

Do what's best for you. Wear high heels. If you need anti-anxieties, if you need medication, use it. If you need water, if you need makeup. And if anyone says you're stupid for them, they've just got their own insecurities that they're trying to put onto you. So it's very important to recognise that they have stuff they're working through. It's nothing to do with you. Do what works for you because it's your life. It's your life. And it's hard. Do whatever makes it easy on you.

On yourself. That's right. And you only get one life so try and enjoy it as much as you can.

Exactly, yes…you're like. I mean, when it comes to it, we all know we're all going to the grave. The last person to latch down is the undertaker. You don't want to be going down with worry, and life's too short to be worrying. Look, I'm saying that and I spent all day yesterday worrying. I'm not saying I have it down to a tee, I'm just saying I'm trying to laugh as much as possible.

As well as encouraging confidence in women. We want women to stand up and be proud of what they do, and so I wanted to know what it is today that you're most proud of. When I say that, it can be with your writing, it can be with the Repeal the 8th, it might be something completely different, but you're very accomplished. What is it something that deep down you are really proud of that you've achieved?

That's a really tough question. It's a really difficult question. It's a really tough one. I suppose one of my proudest moments, and there's different levels of pride in your life. One of my proudest moments was when I got my first paycheck and I cashed it. I went home and I was able to give very small money to my mam and my dad and my sister, 'cause they supported me, they gave me money, they gave me dinner, they gave me love when I didn't deserve it, they gave me everything. And that was just a wonderful moment of all the years they spent collecting me, having dinners ready for me, giving me money when they had nothing, giving me everything, showing up to plays. It was a wonderful moment walking in the door at home. And it wasn't money, it was able to say thank you. It was able to say thank you. And I'll never be able to thank them. You can't thank them for everything they've done for me. But what an extraordinary moment to go, "You've supported me all this way and I got paid for it. People applauded and you were in the audience and thanks." And, you know, we got chips out of it and we had a great night and it was just a lovely, lovely moment. It was a lovely moment.

And just on that, I know you only asked me to say one, but when we did a Repeal the 8th protest and I was standing on Ballybricken and it was freezing cold and we genuinely thought no one was going to show up, I looked down and there was about nine or 10 of my friends. I knew they were going to walk down that quay with me if it was only the 10 of us. It was only the 10 of us and that was such a proud moment because I know if I've done nothing else in my life, I've gathered these wonderful humans and they love me enough that they will walk with me anywhere, and they're all wonderful. How lucky am I to have them as friends, and how lucky am I to have them as friends who go, "All right. Grand, girl. You want to do a march. Okay, we're with you. Okay, this is a bit crazy but yeah, we'll go with you." So those are the moments that stand out.

I just love that response so much. For me, it's the fact that, as you said, you can have pride in so many levels in your life and those are very different places to have pride, but they also revolve around the people in your life and how they've helped you too, which I think speaks bountifully about the kind of person that you are, so congratulations on those achievements. I was just sitting there thinking about that feeling you would've had, being able to go home and do that for your family. That would've been amazing.

Thank you so much. Thank you so so so much.

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years

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Psycho Analysis: Team Rocket

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

“Prepare for trouble! And make it double!”

I feel like there are few anime villains who are quite as iconic and memorable to the current generation than the bumbling trio of Team Rocket: Jessie, James, and Meowth (that’s right!). These three have appeared in nearly every single episode of the anime, indisputably being main characters on the level of Ash and his pals. Hell, they actually have more of a right to being main characters than franchise staples like Brock, Misty, or whatever girl of the season Ash has tagging along. Team Rocket are pretty omnipresent.

Of course, they’ve had many ups and downs over the years. From some poor showings to voice actor changes to being so overexposed it’s hard not to get tired of them to some absolutely awful decisions the characters make, Team Rocket are just as imperfect creations as most of the other characters in the show. Still, I find Team Rocket to be more consistently enjoyable and even for the most part more compelling than Ash Ketchum. It helps that, unlike him, they have rather interesting backstories and characterization.

Actor: Originally, the trio were voiced by Rachel Lillis (Jessie), Eric Stuart (James), and Maddie Blaustein (Meowth), though in the case of Blaustein and Stuart they actually weren’t the first in their respective roles; Nathan Price and Ted Lewis were the first to voice their characters. Blaustein and Stuart are easily the more iconic voices, however, so I’m going to focus on them.

Lillis is also the original voice of Misty, as well as Jigglypuff, though she has a pretty prolific career in anime voice acting outside of Pokemon; her performance of Jessie really cements her as an abrasive, stuck-up witch who constantly sounds like she’s talking down to everyone; you can practically hear the sneer in her voice, it really is something.

Eric Stuart you may know as Brock or perhaps Seto Kaiba, or perhaps as Meta Knight from Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Or maybe you know him from his music career. Either way, you know that he gave James that sissy, foppish charm that we all know and love.

Maddie Blaustein… She was easily the most talented of the bunch here, and that’s really saying something. She was a woman of a thousand voices, to the e point where you’d never know she was voicing someone unless you saw her name in the credits. Like, can you believe she was Solomon Moto and Sartorious in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise? Or Omega in Sonic 06? She was one of the greats, and as such is it any shock she delivered the best performance possible to the sneaky little wise guy mascot of the bumbling trio? Her presence is definitely sorely missed even today.

Of course, these three really made the characters who they were, but they did eventually get replaced, and while I don’t think Michele Knotz as Jessie, Jimmy Zoppi as James, or Carter Cathcart as Mewoth are bad by any means – they still manage to give great performances and keep the characters lovable as ever – I do think that it really is hard to live up to the iconic originals, especially in Blaustein’s case.

Motivation/Goals: Team Rocket are introduced as menacing, competent criminals very early on in the anime, with the same goal as any Team Rocket member would have: stealing Pokemon. Of course, after their fated encounter with Ash and the witnessing of his Pikachu’s incredible power, they become single-mindedly obsessed with nabbing Ash’s Pokemon pal and using him for their own nefarious purposes, and the rest is history. Of course, Team Rocket occasionally finds time to look for other goals, such as getting food or money, but most of the time they just try and find new ways to steal Pikachu and fail at doing it.

Personality: Their personalities are really what sets them apart and makes them so interesting. Jessie, for instance, is definitely the more evil of the three; she’s willing to keep going at Team Rocket goals even when there’s no need, while her teammates are far more willing to just abandon stealing Pokemon if better opportunities arrive. Jessie can be callous and cruel, she has an extremely short temper, she’s loud and brash, but even with all that she truly does love her teammates. Even Wobbuffett. Jessie really epitomizes “jerk with a heart of gold.”

James is flamboyant and just as willing to take part in evil schemes to steal Pokemon, but out of everyone in Team Rocket James is easily the nicest guy. He’s sweet and doting to his Pokemon, he has quite a few morals, and he has a lot of the more genuinely compelling emotional moments. All of this also leads into him being probably the smartest and most level-headed of the group, for what that’s worth anyway.

Meowth is snarky and loud, but he has a lot of depths, much like his colleagues. I mean, this guy taught himself how to talk (at the cost of being able to learn moves like Pay Day), so he’s gotta be at least a little smart, right? WELL… while Meowth does have some smarts, especially street smarts since he grew up on the mean streets of Hollywood, Meowth is also the looniest of the three if you can believe that. Have you perhaps seen the numerous fantasies of Giovanni doing something ludicrous with some random Pokemon? Guess who is the person responsible for thinking most of those up. Go on, guess.

There are things all three members of the group share: all three are incredibly friendly to the point where they’re only villains because of their loyalty to Giovanni; they’re as likely to be friendly with Ash and the gang as to be trying to steal his Pokemon, o the point where they’ve not only helped him, but have directly had a hand in saving the world on quite a few occasions. All three are pretty hilarious in their ineptitude as well, and all three are actually very competent at disguising themselves. They all tend to be pretty hammy as well. All in all, the three are really enjoyable and fun for what they are.

Final Fate: Whenever these three do evil, there is only one fate in store for them: blasting off. Still, they always end up somehow coming back in the next episode to cause a ruckus.

Best Scene: In a series as long as this, it’s hard to single out one scene among the hundreds of thousands of scenes they’ve had. Still, the entirety of “Go West, Young Meowth” counts as one for Meowth, culminating with him taking out a Persian by himself, as well as Jessie and James coming to Meowth’s aid before said duel.

Best Quote: I hardly think it is possible to overstate how good their original motto is:

Jessie: Prepare for trouble!

James: And make it double!

Jessie: To protect the world from devastation.

James: To unite all people within our nation.

Jessie: To denounce the evils of truth and love!

James: To extend our reach to the stars above!

Jessie: Jessie!

James: James!

Jessie: Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!

James: Surrender now, or prepare to fight. note

Meowth: Meowth, that's right!

From 1998 to 2006, this was how they announced their arrival on the scene, and while they’d go through other mottos and songs and whatnot over the years, nothing can top the original.

Final Thoughts & Score: Team Rocket are some of the most memorable antagonists in all of anime, despite amounting to what would just be nameless, faceless mooks in the game series the anime is based on. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine the anime without them involved, and even when they introduce more serious villains they rarely ever match up to Team Rocket. Hell, even other members of Team Rocket fail to live up to their entertaining standard; does anyone remember Atilla and Hun, does anyone actually care about Butch and Cassidy?

In fact, it’s pretty easy to say that in many ways these three are even more interesting than Ash. You see, we know from the start Team Rocket is going to fail in whatever evil schemes they have going on in any given episode, so unlike when Ash inevitably loses the championship, Team Rocket losing is expected, making their victories sweeter as opposed to Ash’s victories feeling like inevitable buildup to failure. It also helps that unlike Ash, all three have pretty interesting, compelling, and even tragic backstories, with Jessie following in her mother’s footsteps as a Rocket grunt, James fleeing from an abusive arranged marriage and tossing aside a life of riches for crime, and Meowth learning how to talk by itself and growing up on the streets. Team Rocket just ends up feeling so much more interesting and fleshed out than the main character of the show, though considering the amount of screentime they get they easily could be considered main characters.

Jessie, James, and Meowth across the board get 8/10. I’d definitely say it’s the high end of 8, but they are held back a bit by some truly dumb decisions they’ve made over the years, dumb decisions to rival Ash’s, such as the frequent letting go of Pokemon the audience has likely grown to know and love, with Arbok and Weezing being the most offensively egregious example. Still, this gang has stuck around for over 20 years, and the show and series at large just wouldn’t feel the same without their continued presence. Good, bad, it doesn’t matter; Team Rocket’s iconic trio is a core part of the franchise, and their impact can’t be ignored.

“Meowth, that’s right!”

#Psycho Analysis #Team Rocket #Jessie #James #Meowth #Pokemon

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crystallized-shadow · 5 years

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The Killer Meme

Tagged by @a-kid-named-hiro

[Me, Myself, I]

What is your philosophy/motto in life? Always try your best; you can’t always be the best but you can do your best.

How did you choose your User Name, and what does it reveal of your character? It’s my username from a different site and I really like it. I guess it could mean I’m the shiny thing in the dark?

What did you want to be “when you grew up” when you were younger? If your current job/plans are different, why did you change? I wanted to be Veterinarian when I was a kid but an allergy to dogs put a kibosh on that pretty quick.

What was the worst nightmare you have ever had? I usually don’t remember my dreams, but I can remember one where someone me shot in the back.

Tell the story behind one or more of your scars (physical, not emotional). I have several but the story is the same: I’m a fucking klutz.

What one thing would you like your great-great-grandchildren to know about you? What one thing would you NOT want them to know? I don’t intend to reproduce.

How do you learn (things-for-exams)? Re-reading notes and frantically cramming right before the exam (I do NOT recommend this method)

What was the cause of the worst physical pain you have ever been in? I slipped on the ice; over-extended two tendons, concussed a nerve, bruised my tailbone, and hurt my knee (I had to sit through 4 hours of classes before I could do anything about it, not fun)

Where do you live (a country is fine, just name a place)? USA

What is your biggest fear? Not living up to my own expectations

[Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used to Be]

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done? (Not the best, or the most accomplished, or the most life-altering, just the coolest). Gone tubing down the river

If you could change one event from your own personal history, what would it be and how would you change it? I let something very dear to me go, if I could change anything, I would never have made that decision

Describe the one thing you have learned in the course of your education, either inside school or outside of it, which you consider the most valuable. Actions speak louder than words, especially among people who are supposed to be your friends.

What memory would call up your personal Patronus spell? (in other words, what memory is your happiest or sweetest?) Any memory featuring my precious people happy

Describe the three best pairs of shoes that you’ve ever owned - favorites because of comfort, the way they look, the brand, any reason at all. Any shoes that I don’t have to tie are fucking amazing

[If I Ruled the World]

If you could have been born and grown up somewhere else, where would that have been? I liked where I grew up, so I wouldn’t change it

What would you demand in exchange for giving up your personal freedoms and civil liberties? Would never give them up

If there were no laws, which (former) crime would be the first you’d commit? I’d make all student loans disappear forever!

If you could do one thing or grant one wish for someone else, what would it be? I’d wish that those near and dear to my heart be happy for the rest of their lives

If you could know anything about your future, what would it be? If I’m happy with my life

Owing to a peculiar concatenation of events, you are the wealthiest person in the world, and the latter will end in 24 hours. Money being no object, and saving the world being impossible, what would you do during that last day? I’d make it the best day ever for everyone I care about. If we’re all going to die we might as well go out with a bang!

If you could hunt down one childhood tormentor (whether it be bully, tattletale, mean teacher, or friend’s mother who hated you for no good reason) and exact revenge upon them in some spectacular, prankish fashion without worry of consequences, who would you choose, and what would you do to him/her? That’s hard to say since karma has taken care of a few of these people. There is one person I’d love to slap in the back of the head for being incompetent when I got hurt, so I guess I’d do that.

If I offered you a chance to have anything you wanted, the cost being someone you didn’t know dies, would you accept? If I could stipulate the that person has to be a piece of shit that no one will miss, then hell yeah! Otherwise I’d have to give it some thought.

If you could have any one superpower, what would it be? Time travel

If you could punch any one person from any point in history, who would you pick? I have a list of people that deserve a good punch in the face

If you were given the opportunity to live another life, what kind of life would you like to have? I’d want a life where I could be happy and not have to worry about anyone hurting me or those close to me

If you could alter history in one specific place, where would it be, and why? Stopping someone close to me from ever dating the fucking whore who did nothing but fuck them over

Assuming you (or a group of friends) conquer Earth, which section(s) of the planet would you personally desire, and why? Somewhere quiet with good wi-fi so we could have a place to relax

If you could, with no repercussions, subject anyone you wanted to one day of utter and complete torture, who would you choose, why would you choose them, and what would you do to them? Conversely, if you could give anyone you wanted (other than yourself) one day of perfect happiness, who/why/what would you choose? The fucking whore I mentioned earlier, I would subject her to a day of torture, without hesitation.

It might be cliche, but my mom deserves the best fucking day ever so I would pick her.

[Media and Culture]

Hollywood called: they’re filming your life story. Who do you cast as yourself? I would just laugh and hang up the phone

They want to make your life into a Cartoon. Which graphic artist do you want to draw it? Not sure why anyone would want to do that, but I would pick @sinyaru or @artbythedarkside because I fucking love their art!

Your favourite Blackadder episode and why? ???

Movie adaptations of books - heinous, evil and always disappointing or perfectly acceptable? It really depends on the book and the actors they pick

What one song brings up the strongest emotion (negative or positive) for you? Hold Me Tight or Don’t by Fall Out Boy Killing Kind by Mariana’s Trench

If you had the choice to live in any fictional world, as in transposed into a book, which one would it be? Please explain why. Naruto, preferably during the Fonder’s Era because I want to me Madara and Tobirama! Also ninjas.

What is your favorite artwork (painting, sculpture, etching, whatever) and why? I can’t say I have a favorite piece, but personally I enjoy painting.

Name twelve songs for the soundtrack of your life. (In no particular order)

1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day) 2. Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea (Fall Out Boy) 3. THNKS FR TH MMRS (Fall Out Boy) 4. It’s My Life (Bon Jovi) 5. High Hopes (Panic! At the Disco) 6. Natural (Imagine Dragons) 7. Teenagers (My Chemical Romance) 8. Head Above Water (Avril Lavigne) 9. I Don’t Care (Fall Out Boy) 10. Numb (Linkin Park) 11. Victorious (Panic! At the Disco) 12. Get Out Alive (Three Days Grace)

If you could have only five cds, which would they be? No burned cds count - only ones you physically purchase in a store/online. (In no particular order)

1. Mania (Fall Out Boy) 2. Phantoms (Mariana’s Trench) 3. Save Rock and Roll (Fall Out Boy) 4. Them vs. You vs. Me (Finger 11) 5. Pray For The Wicked (Panic! At the Disco)

Batman or Superman? Loki

What fictional character do you most identify with and why? If I had to pick I would say maybe Tobirama Senju. I can come across as cold, will do odd things to satisfy curiosity, and my intentions can be misinterpreted by those that don’t know me.

[The Completely Hatstand Section]

True or false: pineapple on pizza is wrong. False.

If you were a color, what would you be and why? Black or red, they are my favorites.

If you could be an inanimate object, what would you be and why? A dictionary so no one would use me

Assuming reincarnation exists, who do you think you may have been in a past life? How would you like to come back in the next? The running joke in my family is I was a pirate in my past life because my alcohol of choice, when I drink, is rum. I’d like to come back as a cat so I can be lazy and knock shit over XD

If you were a weapon, what would you be and why? A katana because they are badass

Do you wear orange? Why/Why not? Not really, it’s just not a color I own a lot of.

If you could ask your deity of choice one question and have it answered, what would you ask? I’m honestly not sure, maybe what’s the secret to the universe?

True/False: Green buffalos come from Albania. (seriously, now.) Um, false?

[Fair Trades and Dilemmas]

If remaining a virgin (or abstaining from sex) for the rest of your life would allow you to do real magic, would you do it? Fuck yeah! Magic is fucking awesome!

How much money would it take for you to appear naked (full-frontal) for five seconds on national television? A fuck ton of money, like more money than currently exists; I am very self-conscious.

Would you rather be a complete idiot with a charming personality, or intellectually brilliant but have no friends? I’d rather be intellectually brilliant, because my true friends would still be my friends, regardless of how smart I am.

You can start any business of your choice, whether for-profit or non-profit, regardless of whether this business exists practically in the world or not and whether there’s an existing business model to make your chosen business work or not. Irrespective of what it is, it will start off moderately successfully and eventually become very successful. You will make a very satisfactory wage and your investors/sponsors will be very pleased with your work. What business would you start? Some online business that rivals Amazon.

Would you sacrifice an unknown portion of your life so that a loved one could live for one more year? Without a doubt

Tagging @theintellectualweeb @sinyaru @artbythedarkside and whoever else wants to do it

#Crystal speaks #tag game #thanks for the tag Hiro!#sorry it took me so long to do it!

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elizadoolittlethings · 6 years

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Mark Gatiss on The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse, The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who and Dracula

'I’m writing Dracula for the BBC with Steven Moffat which will go into production next year.'

This week will see the opening of The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse with Mark Gatiss taking on the lead role. We catch him during rehearsals to talk theatre, Nottingham and the Netflix society…

You’re starring in The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse – what drew you to this story?

Adam Penford, the artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse directed me in The Boys in the Band two years ago and I’ve known him since he was an assistant director at the National Theatre when we did Seasons Greetings together. He asked me if I would do The Madness of George III and I said yes.I’m a huge Alan Bennett fan – he’s one of my formative influences. I love the play and I was very flattered and thrilled to do it. I also love being King!

Why should people come and watch the show?

It’s a marvellous play – obviously it’s one of Alan Bennett’s best-known and best-loved works and I think it’s an ambitious project to do for Nottingham. And it’s very relevant actually – as all the best historical drama is – you can pick out threads which are pertinent to the way that we’re living now… and the idea of a slightly dysfunctional head of state (or leader) - draw your own conclusions!

What drew you to the character of King George III? What can people expect from the show?

He’s an intriguing man - I did George III and his ministers for history ‘A’ Level so I knew, at some stage, quite a bit about Fox and Pitt and the whole set up of the Regency. The big characters of that period, I find, as Alan Bennett does, very interesting and the king himself is a very sympathetic character I think – unlike George I and George II he feels properly British as opposed to German and I think he had a kind of sensitivity – they called him ‘Farmer George’ – he was interested in actually making a success of the monarchy and making his family into an ideal unit – you could cite it as the beginning of the modern monarchy. But then obviously his illness threw everything off track and his terrible relationship with his son came into sharp focus. I think he’s a very interesting and contradictory figure.

It’s a very moving and slightly harrowing drama about mental illness but it’s also a grand, sweeping, historical epic with lots of fascinating political characters - many of whom you can find modern comparisons for.

You said in an interview that before a play you feel ‘terror’ – what makes you so nervous/ terrified/ excited about performing?

Same thing as any actor – weirdly I went to see Alan Bennett’s new play Allelujah at the Bridge Theatre the other night and I got out of the car and saw my friend Sacha Dhawan tucked around the back of the theatre, pacing up and down, nervously going over his lines and I thought I wouldn’t interrupt as I knew exactly what he was going through.

Everybody goes through the same thing – you can’t really imagine why you put yourself through something so stressful and bowel-wracking yet again, but you do – and then you get through it and then it’s ok.

The play is set to be screened as part of the National Theatre Live – what makes this so exciting for audiences and cast alike?

The NT Live scheme I think is a fabulous thing and I’ve done one from Donmar – a nerve-wracking but exciting experience. To think you’re being beamed all over the world from the theatre at that point - it’s lovely to have a record of the show but also to know that it’s reaching far beyond the narrow confines of its original base.

I remember doing Coriolanus and getting a message from a friend in Canada who said they were sitting down in a small cinema on Vancouver Island to watch it – slightly thrilling idea that it was being beamed from Covent Garden all around the world.

NT Live is an amazing opportunity for Nottingham and the East Midlands as a whole – why is it important regional theatre gets a share of the spotlight and raises its profile?

I think the reasons are obvious – this is one of the first NT Live events from outside of London which throws a spotlight on the fact that there is great theatre happening outside the metropolis. It’s fantastic to make people aware and also celebrate regional theatre and its incredible contribution to the national whole.

Do you think performing in a city like Nottingham will be different to London and if so, how?

Yes, I guess so – I’ve toured a lot and there is an interesting difference from city to city. Different places have a certain feel to them and you can get the sense of how audiences are different especially compared to London. I think what’s wonderful is that Nottingham has such a loyal audience and I know Adam’s play about the miners’ strike [Wonderland] recently had an extraordinarily different audience profile to the one you might expect and we can only try and encourage more of that and get people to the theatre who wouldn’t normally think of going.

Why did you want to work with Adam Penford?

It was blackmail, mostly. No, I’ve loved working with Adam and I think he’s immediately done a fantastic job taking over as artistic director at the Playhouse – there’s a real buzz about it which I think is so exciting.

I was very flattered to be asked to play a classic part in a great play and with Adam directing, it’s a great package.

What led you to becoming a writer, actor, producer – who or what inspired you in your life?

Well it’s all I ever wanted to do and I’ve been fortunate enough to get away with it so far. I was genuinely inspired by all kinds of actors – particularly people like Leonard Rossiter and Alistair Sim - people who combined great comic timing with proper dramatic skill – who could make you cry and make you laugh. Those were my heroes.

Alan Bennett himself was a massive influence on me – a fantastic combination of melancholy and truth and proper “Northerness” which is what he’s managed to celebrate. I remember seeing a film of his called Our Winnie with Elizabeth Spriggs taking her daughter to a crematorium on a Sunday and every single thing about it rang so true. I remember thinking: “How does he know all this?” – it was like he’d taken a peek into my own life. That’s why he remains a hero.

If you weren’t an actor and writer, what do you think you’d be doing now in terms of your career?

The only other thing I actually wanted to be was a palaeontologist, but I didn’t have the Latin (as Peter Cook used to say).

What was the first ever production you starred in - were you ever cast as a tree in a school production?!

I was never a tree – the first thing I was in was definitely Old Macdonald had a Farm in 1971. Then I was a carpet bearer to the 'Tsar of all the Russias' in ‘Baba Yaga ‘– the house with hen’s legs. My first starring role was in an adaptation of a children’s radio series called Journey Through Badlidrempt and I played Brains! I can still remember the song I had to sing in it.

In an on demand, ‘Netflix society’ what continues to make the theatre relevant for young people?

Well I think everything goes in cycles. It’s very interesting what the Netflix revolution has done for storytelling. You could argue that longform stories and the boxset mentality has returned us to a similar era when people used to read very long serials or huge Victorian novels. I think it’s all part of the same desire and hunger for stories which people have always had and will continue to have. With theatre it’s genuinely different every night and actually watching people live in front of you is an entirely different experience.

The League Of Gentlemen at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham - first night review

What’s the most valuable piece of advice you were given that you pass on to young people working in this highly competitive industry?

My motto is “Work Hard, Be Kind” – that’s the clean version of it! I would say in terms of writing there’s no such thing as a would-be writer – just get on with it. Have a go. There’s nothing to stop you except the voice in your head telling you that you can’t do it. It may not be great, it may not be any good at all but unless you actually pick up that pencil or tap that keyboard for the first time you’ll never know. Don’t let that stop you from doing it. Generally, as Woody Allen once said: “90% of success is turning up”. There are a lot of people who don’t turn up and there’s always a thought that they might have been able to crack it had they had a go. Don’t hold yourself back – you’ll regret it.

Have you been to Nottingham before? What do you like about the city? What do you like about the theatre?

I toured there with The League of Gentlemen. I’d like to do the Robin Hood experience very much. I went to visit the theatre with Adam to have a look around all the departments. It’s a fantastic theatre – I love its history and the fact that John Neville, who’s one of my favourite actors, used to be the AD there.

I think it’s a fantastic regional beacon and I’m hoping it will once again really boost the East Midlands. It’s a brilliant stage with a brilliant history and you look at the walls of past productions and at John Neville’s past seasons and you can’t quite believe they did all these amazing plays in one season. It has a great history and a great future.

Do you have any other personal or professional links to the East Midlands?

Derbyshire – only because The League of Gentlemen was filmed there in Hadfield. I don’t really know much about the area but that’s the bit I know quite well.

What role/ character do people tend to ‘shout out’ to you the most?

It will be for Sherlock or The League of Gentlemen. Mostly people just say they like my work which is a very nice thing to hear.

What’s been your proudest career moment to date?

I’ve had a lot and I’ve been very lucky. One of my happiest experiences was making An Adventure in Space and Time – my drama about the creation of Doctor Who. That was a lot of things I love coming together at once and it was an almost entirely trouble-free shoot. A very beautiful experience. I’m always very excited about the future and the idea of playing this part is very exciting so hopefully George III will be one of them.

Do you ever get star struck?

Rarely – and I’m not being blasé about that. I always think of the story that the great Anthony Hopkins once told about his father meeting Laurence Olivier and talking to him about the football and Anthony Hopkins getting slightly sweaty that he wasn’t giving Lord Olivier the deference he deserved. His dad just looked at him and said “Well, he breathes air doesn’t he?”

However, the first time I was properly star struck was when I met Michael Palin who, again, was a huge influence on me. I got a bit tongue-tied around him.

Where in your home do you store all of your awards?

They’re on a small shelf that we’ve recently discovered damp under. That must be a metaphor for something.

After The Madness of George III, what’s next for you?

I’m writing Dracula for the BBC with Steven Moffat which will go into production next year.

The Madness of George III runs from Friday, November 2 until Saturday , November 24, including a special Gala performance on Thursday, November 22, with proceeds going towards Nottingham Playhouse’s 70th Anniversary Fund.

The Madness of George III will also be broadcast to cinemas across the globe as part of National Theatre Live on Tuesday, November 20.

For tickets visit nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call 0115 941 9419.

To receive one WhatsApp message a day with the main headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07790 586202. Then add the number to your phone contacts book as 'Nottingham Post'. Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group.

#MG #mark gatiss #whats on #the madness of george iii #nottingham post #the man behind the genius #all things MG #interview

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antoine-roquentin · 6 years

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ROSALIND HELDERMAN: Yeah, that's right. She's charged with acting as the agent of a foreign government without properly registering with the Department of Justice. This is not an espionage charge. Espionage, which has been used for people like Robert Hanssen and others, is a charge that's applied to people who release classified or defense information that could be harmful to the United States. And that is not what Ms. Butina is alleged to have done. Instead, what she is alleged to have done is, essentially, act as a lobbyist for a foreign government, to have worked to advance their interests without letting the U.S. government know.

I would note that a number of people we would more traditionally think of as Russian spies have been charged under the same statute in recent years. It's the same statute, for instance, that was used to charge Anna Chapman. Who people may remember - the other redhead charged a few years ago with living undercover for years and working for Russian intelligence.

DAVIES: So Maria Butina is alleged to have contacted people, tried to influence our political system without registering it in ways that we're going to get into in some detail. But let's start, kind of, back in her story.

She grew up in Siberia and then around - I don't know - what? - 2012 or so, establishes a gun rights organization in Russia, which is pretty unusual. And she connects with Alexander Torshin, who is a senator in Russia's party who - he happens to be a member of the National Rifle Association, right? How is a Russian senator associated with the NRA?

HELDERMAN: Yes. So our understanding is that Torshin - Senator Torshin, now, central banker Torshin became affiliated with the NRA before he became affiliated with Ms. Butina. That's our best understanding. We've reported that he knew a lawyer who lives in Tennessee named Kline Preston. Mr. Preston had done a lot of work in Russia and at some point introduced Alexander Torshin to the president of the NRA at that time, Dave Keene, who's an important figure or has been in Republican politics - conservative thought, really. He had worked as an opinion editor at The Washington Times. And so Torshin had his own connection to the NRA. He had become a lifetime member. And he had actually written a little booklet in Russia featuring cartoons advocating for the expansion of gun rights which borrowed heavily from statistics and even sort of mottoes of the NRA, but all written in Russian. He and Ms. Butina got connected, our best understanding, is through the organization that she founded in Russia, The Right To Bear Arms. He went to one of their rallies and then quickly became a sort of patron and supporter of hers.

DAVIES: And the gun laws in Russia - what? - permitted hunting weapons but not handguns?

HELDERMAN: Yeah. They're very restrictive. And that's exactly right. They - you're allowed to own a hunting rifle. And apparently, you know, in Siberia, where she grew up, that's fairly common. Hunting is a pastime there, as it is here. But you're not allowed to own a handgun. And so there was a lot of room if you wanted to say you wanted to expand gun rights to try to do so. And, in fact, her organization did do some actual lobbying of the Duma to try to expand gun rights over there.

DAVIES: Maria Butina establishes gun rights organization in Russia, which is kind of a curiosity and she does it in association with Alexander Torshin. That leads to relationships with gun enthusiasts and conservatives from the United States which eventually leads to these political connections for Maria Butina in the United States in what the FBI alleges is an effort to influence American politics. And it raises the question of was this gun rights organization in Russia a real thing? I mean, you can look back and say maybe it was part of a Russian sponsored initiative to connect with conservatives and find a way into Republican politics. Is that a stretch?

HELDERMAN: Experts I've spoken to say, no, it's really not a stretch. We don't know for certain that that's why it, in fact, happened. But they do say it's very odd to think of an organic gun rights group in Russia. Vladimir Putin is an autocratic leader. There have been street protests over the years in Moscow and elsewhere that he has not appreciated and has done real crackdowns against. And so, the notion that he would allow a group to push to arm the citizenry is very unlikely. What we've been told is that this group would have been done at least with the approval and knowledge of the government, if not its sort of direction. And so you do have this kind of question, was this all an attempt to make ties with American conservatives?

DAVIES: Right. And that kind of assumes a real long game mentality within the Russian government. You've got to plant this thing and hope that it leads to something. And I guess a critical question would be Alexander Torshin, Maria Butina's ally, and his relationship with Putin and the Kremlin. Are they close?

HELDERMAN: We do believe that they're close. He was a senator from President Putin's party. You don't get to be a central banker, which is a role that in Russia the way it operates is going to allow for some opportunities for personal enrichment, without government support. He was, in fact, sanctioned by the U.S. government this year because of his closeness to the Russian president. So, yes, we do believe that he has important ties to Putin and to the presidential administration there.

DAVIES: In 2013, Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin invite David Keene, who was then the president of the National Rifle Association - right? - to Russia with some other American gun enthusiasts. Why would members of the NRA be interested in Russia? What was this about?

HELDERMAN: Well, I think that one thing that happens in this time period is people are intrigued by the idea of gun rights in Russia. You know, a lot of people at the NRA sort of came out of the anti-Soviet movement. And the notion that freedoms were opening up, particularly the freedoms that they valued like the right to own a gun, were opening up, was quite interesting. I also understand that the trip was quite fun. This was a trip to attend the annual meeting of Maria Butina's group, The Right To Bear Arms. And so there were dinners and there were events. We're told one event was a fashion show featuring women wearing clothing with - designed for concealed carry.

One person who was at that event told us that he went to dinner with Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin, he and his wife, and they presented him with very carefully chosen gifts that showed that they had researched he and his wife's interests. Special fabric for his wife who was a needlepointer and stamps for him. He was a stamp collector. And so it was a fun trip. There was also a lot of hunting, big-game hunting in the wilds of Russia that a lot of NRA folks were quite interested in.

DAVIES: Maria Butina, she wasn't exactly a typical figure that you'd see at these NRA functions. What was she like? How did they react to her?

HELDERMAN: Yeah. You know, it's interesting. You can kind of see what her appeal would have been at an NRA convention to the leadership there to - you know, the men. And it's not entirely men, but it is largely older men who are running that organization. She had a sort of frontiers woman quality that I think a lot of people found appealing.

She had grown up in Siberia, which is quite exotic. She talked about how she had lived in the forests of Siberia, where she had learned to hunt bears and wolves. She had, at a very early age, started a chain of furniture stores that had been, apparently, somewhat successful and then sold the chain and moved to Moscow with the proceeds to kind of make her way in the world. So she was kind of a capitalist. She was, obviously, attractive. She was a real networker. She would urge people to become friends with her on Facebook. She would hand out her card. She was very friendly, wanted to make friends with people.

And the other thing that we've heard was that some people assumed that because she ran this gun rights group, she was actually sort of anti-Putin. I don't think she would make comments against the government. But there was a sort of assumption that Russia was a restrictive society. And so she was doing something sort of feisty and rebellious by organizing this group. And it doesn't seem as though people gave a lot of thought to the fact that that was probably a sign that the government was actually supporting her. And of course Alexander Torshin was part of the Putin government.

DAVIES: All right, so we have Maria Butina and this senator, Alexander Torshin, hosting these American gun enthusiasts. And as this story unfolds, some of these relationships lead to important contacts for her in the United States with Republicans, which lead to some of this influence efforts that are at issue in these charges. But another interesting aspect of this, and you wrote about this, is a renewed interest among American conservatives, particularly Christian conservatives in Russia. What was going on here?

HELDERMAN: Yeah. This is really interesting. You know, when Donald Trump came onto the scene in 2015 and started kind of talking warmly about Putin and how it would be great to get along better with Putin, for a lot of people, that kind of came out of nowhere. You know, the Republicans have traditionally been sort of the anti-Russia party. And so that was really confusing. And it's true that that did part ways with the Republican foreign policy establishment.

But there was this kind of more subtle movement that had been happening in conservative politics for the last couple of years that it fit much more in line with. You know, you had Mitt Romney in 2012 saying that Russia was our No. 1 geopolitical foe. But conservatives had started to become intrigued with Putin's Russia around a few issues. And one of them, as you noted, is conservative Christians. Russia was a much more traditional society than ours. There's a valuing of traditional gender roles that many conservative Christians find appealing.

The Russian government has also been very famously anti-gay rights, which Christian conservatives also appreciated. There's also been a renewal of the Orthodox Church, which is something that Vladimir Putin has really advanced for his own goals in many cases. And so there's been this kind of intrigue for American conservatives in what's been going on in Russia.

DAVIES: So how do we see that expressed? Were there articles written? Were there trips by conservatives to talk to Russians?

HELDERMAN: Yeah. There's all of that. There are articles that are written. Pat Buchanan wrote an opinion column in 2013 urging Americans to take another look at Putin. You see American conservatives who actually go to Russia and testify in front of the Duma in favor of anti-gay laws. There are various kinds of conferences that are held. Torshin actually hosted or helped host in Moscow his own prayer breakfast, kind of similar to the National Prayer Breakfast that you see here in Washington each year. It brought together Russian Orthodox leaders. But some American Christians started to go to Russia to attend that event. And so that was a way for Torshin to meet Americans as well.

i really like this interview cause it’s like

“oh yeah russians, like many in the third world, were eager to take from and adapt republican philosophy, like pro-gun laws and discriminatory acts against lgbtq people, from the republicans wholesale”

*immediate whiplash*

“but you know, putin is a dictator so there’s no way he’d accept the ultra-democratic practice of lobbying for these things, he’s clearly playing the long game to infiltrate american spy agencies”

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fluentlanguage · 6 years

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#clearthelist August 2018: The German Retreat!!

Welcome to my latest language learning update through #clearthelist, which is a language learning round-up sharing monthly language learning goals, support, and accountability.

I’m writing this a few days into August after a week fully focused on the first German language retreat - more about that later!

What Happened In July?

As ever, lots of stuff happened! July is a long month packed with travel and events that took me out of my routine as a learner, but gave me new growth and motivation as a professional.

Earlier in the month I attended Shout Out Live, a podcast festival in London. I met a wonderful community of supportive and unique people who are killing it with their podcasts, and picked up some tips for the Fluent Show. After that it was time to prep for 2 weeks spent in Germany, some of it with my family and the second half on the first Fluent German Retreat.

The German Retreat

The German Retreat was a very small, all-inclusive language trip to Munich.We welcomed three motivated learners at level B2/C1, and for 5 days the motto was to learn, live, and speak only German.

I taught a custom German class focused around speaking German independently, and each participant was challenged every day. One attendee told me she’d been worried her language level was not good enough for speaking German only for so many days, but she certainly surprised herself. At the end, she told me “I have grown in confidence so much over the last week, I didn’t think I can do this and now I know I can. I am so motivated to continue and speak German.” As a teacher, the retreat experience was second to none, and I cannot wait to repeat it.

Every day of this trip offered something special, including a guided tour by a retired American history professor, a visit to the (non air conditioned 🚒) Deutsches Museum, and of course a huge giant pretzel and a beer in the beer garden. In other words, the perfect combination of a good week out and a language “level-up”.

Oh, and because I am me….we also cooled ourselves off in a river.

Our next German retreats are already scheduled in the diary, so watch this space and register on my retreat list if you want to experience a trip like this.

The Fluent Show

My favourite episode this month was our discussion on language bias, and whether our hidden prejudice holds us back from learning certain languages. As Lindsay concluded at the end, we might not have answered the question but we had a great conversation about it.

In August, the show is hitting a milestone: We’re celebrating our 100th episode with a live broadcast full of games and special guests. Every language lover is invited! If you want to join us, click here for more information.

Language Goals and Progress

All right, all right. I bet you didn’t come here for a diary entry, so let’s get to the goods. How did I learn languages in July 2018?

¡Oye! ¡Español!

My moments with languages apart from my beloved Welsh continued. Checking out an upcoming Fluent Show sponsor’s wares, I decided to see what they’ve got to offer in the Spanish department…and found myself in an online lesson speaking Spanish for a full 60 minutes!

I learnt Spanish during my foreign language training in 2001-2003, and got to a level of B1/B2 for conversation and business letters. Thing is, after the end of the course I never had another formal lesson. And after 15 years, turns out I’m still good enough to function in Spanish!

Here’s my tutor’s assessment:

Moral of the story: Don’t worry if you do have an ex-language somewhere (see podcast episode 98). Your brain has way more skill stashed somewhere up there than you imagine possible.

Chinese

Still dabbling!! I spent an hour or two practicing what I already learnt and adding a few question words. At this pace, I’m on track to be “officially learning” by 2020 and fluent by the year 3000. I like it!

Learning Welsh

Yes, I’m still learning Welsh. In fact, I’m volunteering for a few days at the National Eisteddfod Cymru next week. If you’re coming and spot me speaking Welsh in a high-viz, dyweduch s’mae os gwelwch chi’n dad! Having said that, I didn’t reach all July goals. Let’s take a look.

Listening

I wanted to listen to Welsh for 90 minutes every week. This started off well with radio and television, but while I was in Germany it dropped to zero.

Reading

I wanted to try and finish the book Sgwp!…and then I didn’t touch it all month. My Welsh reading really took a dip and I’m not too proud to tell this to the internet. Luckily, there’s always another month to improve.

Speaking

The goal was to have 1 long lesson and 3 conversations, and I did have a fab lesson with my tutor. It helped me lots with that yes/no issue in the grammar. Conversationally, things were quiet though I did chat in Welsh on social media. Good job I have a trip coming up!

Writing

The goal was “write one poem, any kind”. That one got done, one sleepy morning when I put my thoughts down on the Notes app in my phone.

You might not think this is much, but sometimes it’s necessary to set the goal at “more than zero” and then move from there. After all, a small goal achieved feels better than a big goal missed.

Monthly Contact Goal

Every month, I log my “daily contact” with the Welsh language. In July, I logged 12 days of contact. I know there was more but being in Germany meant my tracking habit was off. Still, it shows that when the daily contact drops, everything drops.

Goals For August 2018

Cannot wait for this month - it’s going to be very Welsh!

Listening and Speaking

These two areas are grouped together for the National Eisteddfod, where I’m going to be from 8-11 August. Although I’m getting organised very late (my airbnb fell through), my plan is to stay on the Maes Camping and hear and say everything in Welsh while I’m there.

I also plan to volunteer for a bunch of hours. This is all organised in Welsh, so I’ll get plenty of input.

Reading

Guess what….I’m gonna whip out Sgwp once again! I’m also due a new issue of Lingo Newydd. Let’s say I’ll get halfway in this book!

Writing

I’m not entirely sure what to do for writing practice this month! I might sacrifice that writing time, not set a goal, and instead spend a little extra time on Chinese. That sounds good to me!

So there we have it, my new goals for August 2018 are set and I’m ready to go visit my target language country.

How Was Your Month?

Have you ever visited a language retreat? Do you write bad poetry in Welsh? Are you setting goals?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about it!

I would love to read about what you’re up to in the comments below!

If you want to write your own goals and join the #clearthelist linkup and share your own goals for the month, hop on to Clear The List hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

#clearthelist #go #goal setting #accountability

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mymelodyheart · 4 years

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Starting Over Chapter 11 ~The Devil's Advocate~

Geillis walked into Claire's bedroom with a tray of tea and placed it on a table. "Right, lass, start from the beginning. Tell us what happened."

Massaging the centre of her forehead, Claire took a breath. She hadn't been expecting Geillis and Joe to come this early in the day and bombard her with questions. She wished now she'd delayed sharing her news so she could wallow in her hangover. Alone.

After she'd walked out of the A&E last night, she'd bought a bottle of white wine, sent voice messages to her friends, including Jamie and her uncle explaining to them what happened and switched off her phone. She'd spent the night drinking and watching reruns of the stand-up comedian Kevin Bridges show, in the hope her favourite comic would somehow lessen the pain of losing her job. Then she'd ended up literally crawling to her bedroom and falling asleep on the floor until she was woken by her friends' frantic knocking.

Joe, who was sat beside her on the bed, squeezed her hand and gave her an encouraging nod.

"There's not much to say other than what I've already told you in the voice message," she sighed. "I had a showdown with Dr Brown and Frank, and when Frank threatened to destroy my career, I realised I've had enough. It's just not worth my peace of mind."

Joe stood up, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch. I wish I'd done that a long time ago."

"Joe, I need you here and not in jail. So no more talks about killing, okay?" Claire coaxed, stifling a smile. "Come back here and sit down. Anger doesn't become you."

"But Frank can't be allowed to get away with that," Geillis fumed. "Ye need to get yersel' a lawyer and be advised appropriately on how to proceed. He's not that powerful that he can destroy your career. He's just a bloody doctor!"

Claire grabbed a newspaper at her side table and tossed it at the edge of the bed. "And a national treasure, according to The Guardian."

"Yeah, such a treasure that you want to bury him."

"So morbid, Joe," Claire clucked. "I know you both mean well, but let's drop the subject on Frank for now. Please? I left the hospital because I need to regroup. I can't fight him when I'm physically and emotionally drained, and Frank has been banking on my weakness to strategically manoeuver me back to his life. He's got the whole staff against me, and unknowingly, they're doing his dirty work for him. It's pointless reporting him now or getting involved with lawsuits when he's got the backing of a lot of important people inside and outside the hospital. What's important is I get to live another day to pick the right battle for me."

Geillis plonked herself on the bed and grabbed her hand. "So, what are your plans now? Transfer to another residency program?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm taking a break for a few weeks. That should be enough time to sort my head and plan my next move."

"But what about your things?" Joe asked. "Shouldn't you call the police for that?"

"Frank can keep my stuff. I couldn't care less. While I was growing up with uncle Lamb, we had so little need for things because of the travelling we did. Actually, it's quite liberating not to have a lot of possessions to weigh me down. Travel light has always been my uncle's motto."

"Yes, but you're not ..."

They were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Geillis, already looking on edge, immediately went on defensive and alert mode and jumped out of bed. "I'll get that."

Claire laughed. "That better not be Frank. Otherwise, he's skewered."

"Look who's morbid now?" Joe grinned.

A moment passed, and Geillis walked back in with a hamper encased in a decorative cellophane wrapping paper. "Is this Frank's way of trying to apologise or what?" she muttered trying to peer at the card.

"Wot? Let me see that." Claire got on her knees and reached out for the package. Impatiently, she tore the wrapping apart and was astonished to find an assorted collection of Thornton's and Lindt chocolate, beautifully set in a basket. In the middle of the sweets were a small stuffed teddy bear bearing the word smile and a card in a red envelope. With trembling hands, she slipped the card out. "It's from Jamie," she whispered.

"Whoa!" Joe exclaimed under his breath.

Geillis peered over her shoulder.

Dear Claire,

I got your message last night. I tried to call you, but I guess you switched off your phone. So, here's a little treat to make you feel a bit better after the horrendous night you had. I wish I could bring this to you personally, but I have to see my agent.

Jamie x

PS Don't cook for us tonight and don't eat too many chocolates. I'm taking you out.

"Weel, weel, what's this about? Is Jamie wooing ye?" Geillis asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Wooing?" Claire laughed nervously, opening a box of the Lindt chocolate and popping a sweet morsel into her mouth before offering it to them. "Are we in the eighteenth century or what?" She was about to change the subject when a thought came to her. She hadn't told Joe and Geillis about the arrangement she made with Jamie and she really ought to, before they were photographed and the story hit the newsstands. In as much as she hated lying to her friends, she couldn't tell them that it was all a stunt to get Jamie the job. The fewer people know, the better, Jamie had said. "Um guys, I have something to tell you."

Joe's brows furrowed as he settled against the headboard. "Ay, yeah? What is it, LJ?"

She held her breath for a few seconds, licked her lips and then hoped for the best. "Jamie and I are ... umm ... sort of seeing each other," she blurted.

A heartbeat passed.

Then as if in slow motion, she watched her friends' expression changed from concern to sheer shock and then confusion.

"What?!?"

"What do ye mean sort of? Either ye are, or ye aren't," Geillis pointed out, grabbing the card from Jamie to reread as if the clue would be found in his written words.

Claire looked at her friends and knew they were very perceptive, so she needed to up her game if she was to be believable. "Well, we've been kind of spending a lot of time together, and then ...one thing led to another ...you know ..." she trailed off, the lie tasting bitter in her mouth.

"No, we don't know. So have you slept together or something?" Geillis shot, tactless as usual.

"No! God, no! Of course not!" Claire stammered. "How could you think that? I-I mean we're not that far ahead. Yet. Umm ...There's an order to these things you know. Yeah, an order."

Joe gave her a questioning look. "An order?"

"Yes, an order," she responded, annoyed.

"So, chronologically speaking, in the sequence of things, where are you and Jamie at?" Joe asked, looking puzzled.

"Dinner date. Tonight." She grabbed Jamie's card from Geillis' hand and waved it at their faces, feeling triumphant and hoping that would bring the end of their inquisition. "See? We're going out tonight. We have a dinner date. That's where we're at."

Joe and Geillis exchanged a look. "Listen, hen. I don't mean to interfere with yer life and all, but don't ye think it's a little too soon? I mean after what happened with Frank."

She cleared her throat into the silence. "I thought of that. But I've stopped loving Frank ages ago. I just didn't know it back then, and I realised it almost too late. And this with Jamie, I wasn't exactly sure when it happened or even when it started. All I know for sure was that right there, and then, something was happening. And we both want to explore that and see where it leads us to. It might not amount to anything anyway as we're very different people, but at least we're willing to take the leap of fate." Jesus, did I just sound earnest there? I'm getting good at this.

Joe let out a huge exhale. "Well, LJ, you're a big girl. Maybe Jamie is the distraction you need right now after all the palaver at the hospital. Just take care of that little heart of yours. I'm not saying he will break it, but he'd mentioned it once or twice he has commitment issues when it comes to relationships. It's not a secret."

Claire gave Joe a grateful smile. "I know that too. But hey, this is just a dinner date. Like what I said, it might not amount to anything." She got out of bed and stretched. "Right, I'm going dress shopping for tonight. I have nought to wear."

"Don't. I'll stop by later and bring ye a few of mine that I don't wear anymore," Geillis offered, standing up with her.

"Thanks. I appreciate that." She touched her friend's shoulder and looked at her. "Hey, I know you're not convinced about Jamie. I can see those little furrows on your forehead getting deeper by the second. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Geillis hugged her and patted her on the back. "Och, dinna fash, hen. I ken ye'll be fine. I'll make sure of it. I'm keeping my eyes on Jamie Fraser."

Uh-oh. Knowing Geillis like the back of her hand, Claire could only hope she wouldn't prod too much.

..........

Jamie cut off the engine to his car and stilled for a moment. He was a tad bit apprehensive knowing that tonight could be the night he and Claire officially become a fake couple. She'd warned him earlier in a text that Joe and Geillis knew and soon the rest of the world would too. Maybe he should have just stuck to letting her cook at her place. Although wary about the idea of a fake relationship, agreeing to her crazy plan had given him an excuse to get a little closer to her. And last night, after finding out she'd walked out of A&E, he wanted to do something special. But he hadn't thought it through, and there was a possibility, being photographed in public together could go very wrong, making Claire's already delicate circumstance even more awkward.

At this point, he couldn't care less what the tabloids wrote about him, but the thought of her life put out on display made his stomach sour. Hence, he'd made several restaurant reservations to give Claire an option, not just on what to eat but an alternative in case she changed her mind about being out in the open. He knew of places where they could dine together without the danger of being photographed.

Now that Claire's free of Frank, he wondered where and how he would fit in her life. He'd thought about it often enough causing him many sleepless nights. But, what would a smart and brilliant doctor such as her see in him? An ex-rugby player without higher education and perceived as a three-dimensional womaniser that's so totally wrong for her. And as if that wasn't enough to alarm him, he'd gone through the whole spectrum of feeling protective, possessive and missing her the entire time. All these strange and confusing feelings were foreign to him, and he hadn't a clue where to go from there.

But what if Claire decide to go ahead with their plan and it worked, and he got the job? Wouldn't that mean they had to part ways afterwards? After their encounter outside his apartment a couple of days ago, he'd found himself wanting to demand what was inside her head and to address the burgeoning attraction between them. But she'd left in too much of a hurry making him wonder if he'd frightened her.

He realised his hands were gripping the steering wheel and forced himself to let go. Swallowing an odd lump in his throat, he checked his mirror for any lurking reporter. When he saw the coast was clear, he quickly climbed out of the car and headed towards Claire's cottage.

He knocked twice and waited. The light penetrating the peephole darkened and then brightened again a couple of seconds later. He heard shuffling sounds from inside the cottage, but the door remained close.

"He's wearing casual, Claire," a familiar muffled voice said from the other side. Geillis? "And he didn't shave!"

His hand automatically rubbed the scruff along his jaw. What the fuck! "Geillis! I can hear ye in there! Care to open the door?"

"Ye have to wait. I'm helping Claire choose a dress I brought her. And she's only got a towel on, and we're in the living area. She has nothing to wear for yer date tonight, ye see."

Ah, Christ, why didn't I think of that! Too bad, he wouldn't have minded seeing her with just a towel wrapped around her. Although at this rate, he wouldn't mind seeing her in a potato sack. "Geillis? How about ye let me in and I promised not to look? I'll go straight in the kitchen and wait there. How's that?" he wheedled, mentally counting backwards from a hundred so he wouldn't lose his patience.

A beat passed before she answered. "Fine." The peephole dimmed again. "Close yer eyes then."

Jamie obeyed. He heard the bolts unlatched before the door creaked opened. Then Geillis' hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged him through the entrance and guided him to the kitchen. "This is bloody ridiculous," he muttered to himself as he was being pulled along.

"Ah, haud yer wheesht," Geillis scolded, as they came to a stop. He heard her move about, shoes scraping the floor, a cupboard banging shut and then there was silence.

"Are ye just going to let me stand here looking like a prick or am I allowed to open my eyes? I'm feeling slightly at a disadvantage here."

"Okay, ye can open yer eyes now."

Jamie blinked and found Geillis sitting on the countertop wickedly grinning at him. Although he was annoyed with her, it loosened something inside of him and put his mind at ease. It was good knowing that Claire had friends who cared for her well being and were there for her through good times and bad. "Is Joe with ye?"

"Nope, it's just ye and me pal," she smirked.

"Too bad."

"So, where are ye taking Claire?"

"None of yer business."

"I don't usually interfere with Claire's life, but after what happened with Frank, I'm making it my business."

"Are ye always this difficult?

"Is it true what they say about ye in the newspaper?"

He narrowed his gaze at her. "Sassenach?" he called out into the cottage. "Ye nearly ready?"

"Behind you."

His body tightened at the sound of her husky voice. Finally, thank God! Slowly, he turned to face Claire. The amusement in her amber eyes told him she'd overheard his exchange with Geillis. Maybe a little gratitude for putting up with her gobby friend. That's all he had time to gather from her expression before she sauntered towards him, and he became aware of her long bare legs, its length accentuated even more with the nude high ankle strap wedges she was wearing.

Claire's floral green short-sleeved dress wasn't even revealing, and the front buttons came up high enough that you could classify the attire as modest. Her usual swept-up hair had been replaced by soft curls left cascading over her shoulders. But it was the loose high hem that flirted with the middle of her thighs and the sheen on her bare skin that got his heart pounding wildly in his chest. His first coherent thought was how much he wanted to back her into her bedroom and lock them both inside it. He already had regrets for suggesting to go out for dinner tonight.

She stopped in front of him, and he felt a slow stirring in his belly as her fresh orange blossom scent went to his head like back-to-back shots of whisky.

"Uh-oh, what's going on in that head of yours, James Fraser?"

If he'd told her the truth, she would probably cancel their date and lock herself in the room. Or in true Claire-style, escape through the window, never to be found again. Aware of Geillis' eyes on them, he knew he had to play the smitten boyfriend part which wasn't really difficult considering he was itching to get his hands on her.

Slipping an arm around her waist, he pulled her in and brushed his lips against her cheek, soaking in her warmth and sweet fragrance. And when her arms slid around his neck, he felt a dull ache penetrate his heart. They weren't out in public yet, and the danger line was already precariously blurring. "Ye look absolutely stunning, Sassenach," he murmured for her ears alone before drawing away to look into her eyes.

Her lip-glossed lips spread into a smile. "Then my dress is doing its job." She pulled away and blew Geillis an air kiss with a quick gesture of her hand. "Thank you for doing this."

Geillis gave them the thumbs up and jumped down from where she was sat. "Have fun. I'll go and hang the rest of the dresses in yer wardrobe, and I'll lock up afterwards. I'll take yer spare key with me." She stopped beside him and poked him on the arm. "And ye ...Mr hotshot Jamie. If ye hurt my friend, I promise ye ... I will cut yer heart out and have it for breakfast."

Claire laughed. "Stop scaring him! We'll be fine."

Her friend nodded, winking at them, letting them know it was all just jest and banter before she left them on their own. Despite the lightheartedness in Geillis voice, it was quite obvious he had his work cut out before Claire's friend could trust him. And he was alright with that. Bring it on!

..........

Claire's hand felt oddly natural in his as they walked into The Devil's Advocate Bar and Restaurant. Of all the options he'd given her, she picked this place where he would most likely be recognised. The popular and often crowded establishment served the Fraser Whisky, and their distillery had held several whisky tasting events there in the past; hence the Frasers were known by the staff. After she'd forgone the fancy restaurants he'd suggested, he'd come to a conclusion Claire was definitely a pub girl. Casually cautioning her about the possibility of paparazzi in the area, she'd seemed to be unperturbed about it. "It's now or never, Jamie. Time to show the network you're not what the tabloids say you are," she'd said. Despite wanting to keep her to himself without the world watching, he'd conceded with a nod. It was their original plan, after all.

So far, so good, no one seemed to have taken notice of them except for some admiring glances launched at Claire. Not liking it at all, he tugged her closer as he led her to the bar area and helped her to a stool. "Drinks first?" he asked.

She nodded. "Whisky, please. Make it Fraser single malt. Neat."

Warmth pervaded his chest. "That's my lass."

He tore his eyes away from her smile and gave their order to the bartender. Jamie sensed the staff recognised him, but not a word was said as he prepared their drinks. Edging his stool closer to Claire's, he leaned in and took her hand in his.

"Oh, we're going to do this now, are we?" She gave him a conspirational wink. "Let me know if I'm doing something wrong." She turned on her stool to face him so that her legs were between his.

Jamie almost lost his smile as he gave her a tight nod. "It's alright, Sassenach, We're fine." He lifted her hand to his lips and felt a strange twinge in his chest. "One rule tonight. No mention of Frank's name. Deal?"

"Deal," she whispered. "I haven't thought of him since we left the cottage."

"That's good then." He nodded a thank you to the bartender when their drinks arrived. "So tell me, why does Geillis dislike me so much? Can ye give me a clue as to why?"

She sighed. "She doesn't dislike you. She's just protective of me, just like Joe. I guess with everything going on in my life, they're worried."

"How about ye?"

"How about me, wot?"

"Do ye like me?"

A beautiful blush bloomed on Claire's cheeks, and her eyes lowered, looking at their intertwined hands. And then after a few heartbeats, she looked at him directly in the eyes. "I do like you, Jamie. A lot. And I like the fact that I have you in my life." Her soft gaze settled over him, making him feel as though they were the only people in the room. And then she leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. "So ...what's the game plan for tonight?"

"Game plan?" The question threw him off guard.

"Well, you know ..." she shrugged. "Eventually, someone's bound to look up and take a good look at you and put two and two together. I've never had a fake boyfriend, so I'm not really good at this."

"Ye didn't have to remind me." His tone came out a little too harsh, too late and cursed himself when her eyes dimmed in response. In a rush to make it better, he squeezed her hand. "No game plan, Sassenach, none at all," he said softly this time. "I asked ye out because I felt ye needed cheering up. That's all there is to it."

She seemed to lose her train of thoughts for a while and looked somewhat embarrassed. "G-goodness, I'm failing miserably at this, aren't I? I'm just feeling nervous, and you appear so relax. Can we start all over again?"

If only she knew how nervous he felt too. "Of course," he smiled, taking their drinks and putting one in her hand. He raised his glass to her. "To fresh starts?"

"To fresh starts," she echoed and took a sip of her whisky.

When she was accidentally nudged by a customer at the bar, he pulled her stool closer, her knee now touching his thigh. "Are ye hungry? We have a table booked, and we can eat anytime if ye wish."

She shook her head and leaned in more so he could hear her over the music and the growing crowd chatter around them. Her face was just inches away from his, giving him a close view of a smattering of faint freckles he hadn't noticed before. "I'm alright at the moment. So, remind me again how many restaurants did you book for dinner tonight?"

A rumble escaped his chest. "I've lost count."

"Mmm, you're a little dangerous, did you know that?"

"Oh, am I? Why is that?"

"You're giving me the feeling of being in charge of this date when really you had this all thought out. I'm very impressed."

"I'm glad ye're buying it. My evil plan is working." When she laughed out loud, and her hand landed on his knee, an alarm started to build in Jamie's gut. Nothing about their date felt remotely fake, and he knew, to an observer they were definitely succeeding in being stamped a couple. He cleared a block in his throat and found himself twirling a curl of her hair in his finger. "Joking aside, I wanted to give you options, and you've chosen the busiest place. If ye're not careful, soon it would be so busy, you'll end up sitting on my lap."

"Ah there you go, I knew there was a plan." She took another sip of her whisky and ran a tongue on her lower lip, seemingly enjoying the taste of the peaty alcohol. He couldn't tear his gaze away from her mouth and wanted to be the one to taste the residual sharp bite of her drink on her lips. He was tempted to kiss her there and then, but he didn't know who was watching. All it took was one photo before it was out there for the world to see - James Fraser with yet another woman and Claire was anything but. "Oh, dear!" she whispered. "There goes that look on your face again. I think I know what you're thinking, James Fraser."

Arching an eyebrow at her, he couldn't help being himself. "Ye might know the what, Sassenach but ye dinna ken the how." He heard her breath hitch and felt the pulse racing on her wrist with his thumb. She was definitely aware of the attraction between them, and it was made even more evident when she didn't pull away. Damn the photographers, I'm going to kiss her. Ignoring the warning echo in his head, he closed in.

"Jamie!" A hand clapped on his shoulder, turning him around to find his brothers and brother-in-law standing there grinning at him. His head fell forward onto Claire's shoulder with a groan. To his utter shock, he felt like weeping in despair.

Glancing back at them with an exasperated sigh, Jamie could only hope their presence was a blessing in disguise, preventing him from making a public mistake. Because at the rate he and Claire were going, he had a strong feeling that their fake relationship was either going to give him a heart attack before he got the job or start to feel far too real before it was done and over.

#melodyheart #startingover #Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser #outlanderfanfic

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