#(maya is going to be Screaming about this discovery)

[thefirstknife]

They're killing me with Echoes.

Some stuff from the exotic mission that is really interesting. I'll start with the stuff you can only get after you've done it once and you can start finding secret chests. On runs after your 1st, there will be a conflux in one of the side rooms that is otherwise empty.

Once you activate that, there will be a small puzzle and then a chest will appear. This will also change the room slightly and activate several Vex portals, turning the room into a sort of a nexus that will be used for other chests. More under, spoilers and long:

This is the room, btw, when you first run it and there's no conflux:

Okay. Although a lot has been altered, they're continuing with the trend of stripping away Mercury for parts: this is the base layout of the inside of the Lighthouse. Kicking and screaming and throwing things and eating through my walls.

Anyway, after you activate the conflux and the puzzle, the extra gates around the area will transform like this and the area will get a name "Ancillary Transit Nexus" :

This will later be used as portals to go into areas with other chests. There's two extra chests this week and we go through two of these portals, but there's a third as well. I'm assuming it might be some sort of a rotation by week.

The second chest you get this week is where the interesting part starts because you return back to this area, use one of the portals and go back to the area where the mission started where you do a puzzle and then get the chest. But when you do all that, you get new voice lines. This time... From Chioma Esi; one of Chiomas that got simulated by the Vex:

Aspect lore book fans stay winning!!!! So this is the format of how different iterations of the 227 simulated Ishtar scientist teams were designated and how they communicated with each other. Two of these teams are also specifically mentioned in Aspect. We don't know about .130 (130th iteration), but we do know .59 and .97. A devastating one for .59:

227.59 You lose Maya. You mourn. The thought of all the other Mayas out there doesn't help. They weren't the Maya you'd puzzled with over living basalt flowers, a world with seventeen moons, a continent that Shim had sworn up and down was sixteenth-century Australia and that Duane-McNiadh couldn't be dissuaded from calling Pangaea. You'd found a simulation with a city where you discovered a jewelry store, picked out a necklace, brought it home to her, and wished her a happy pseudo anniversary. Maya didn't like bracelets, said they always fouled her work. Her hair had been getting shaggy again and was due for a trim. She could never decide whether or not to grow it out. She laughed at you lifting weights to maintain simulated muscle, but she spotted for you all the same. There are other Mayas out there, layers of them, all the way up to the original, wherever she is. You hope they're doing well. But that doesn't stop you from missing this Maya, missing whatever arguments and discoveries you'd have shared in the rest of the lifetime you'd promised to one another. Shim and Duane-McNiadh pull you up from beside Maya's marker. A basalt lily rests on top of it, petals thin enough to let light through. You go on.

And .97:

227.97 Here's how it goes: you and Maya and Shim and Duane-McNiadh take your first cautious, sliding steps out into the Vex information network. You get your footing. You've got to translate everything into metaphor to understand it, here, and this is like tightrope walking on a greased line. You and Maya lean into each other. Shim slips, and you help him up. You explore. You go on.

They're both in the same lore tab. These groups were so distinct between each other and experienced vastly different things, so much that Praedyth could differentiate between the groups and knew which voices belonged to which number of them. These groups communicated with him to coordinate their potential escape.

The interesting bit is that in the voice line from this week we see .130 Chioma calling the Chioma from .59 (the one that lost and buried Maya), asking about the .97 group with whom they've apparently lost contact. And in Aspect, we see the .97 group doing fine. At least here at the beginning. But it appears that the idea is that at some point they either died or simply vanished, as they're not responding.

The third chest is the same; you go to the nexus and from there to another room where there's a puzzle and when you solve it, you get a chest and voice lines, this time from one of the simulated Mayas:

This Maya is from the 65th iteration and she's telling us that a lot of inviduals from each team are vanishing. We don't really know what that means and what is happening, but we do know from Aspect that at the end when they attempted their escape, there were significantly fewer individuals, possibly whole teams either vanished, dead or simply unreachable:

A hundred and sixty Mayas reach for the Chiomas by their side. A hundred and fifty-eight Chiomas reach back.

Down to 160 from 227 is a lot (and only 158 Chiomas). We never really knew what this meant and we still aren't sure now, but this might be an explanation. Something was happening to them in the network.

What makes this even more interesting is that this Maya mentioned "our singular friend." This can be none other than Praedyth. He wasn't a simulated copy, he was just one Praedyth, communicating with them from the Vault of Glass and helping them escape; a singular friend.

One Praedyth, waiting for the conductor's baton to drop.

Interesting word to use in this lore from 5 years ago. There's also no way that this is it and that they won't give us more lines about this because it feels like just the start of the explanation so I'm going absolutely bonkers insane. We have to get more lines next week and the week after since this is also all a way to get the pieces for the exotic gun. And there's one more portal that we haven't gone into so there has to be some sort of rotation and more information on this.

Besides this, the mission had another gut punch with Maya and Chioma, namely showing us Conductor!Maya experiments with Exo!Chioma; basically booting her up and checking her with personal questions until she finds the Chioma she wants. The lines are truly something else:

So that's fine. A few points that are interesting. Parthenogenic incubation! Really interesting look into the Golden Age technology; this is basically a way to reproduce without the need to fertilise an egg which allows for, in this case, two women to have biological offspring. Degaussing is also an interesting word to use; it's a complete destruction of data by affecting the magnetic field on magnetic storage. This is basically what the Veil was doing to Exos to erase them.

That aside, yeah. Maya was booting up Chiomas and testing them, then erasing them if they were proven to be unsatisfactory in some way which is obviously upsetting to Chioma who would at that point be a fully conscious person. She was also being booted in really bizarre hybrid Exo-Vex bodies like this:

Yeah.

Now we need to keep coming back to this place to find out more. I'm hoping for more exceptionally fucked up voice lines like this and also more voice lines about the whole simulated scientists part because there's no way that this is all we'll get. Maya is going through the network, searching through simulations for her Chioma, or at least a Chioma that he thinks is the best of them, as narrated at the start of the act. She wants not only to bring a Golden Age to the whole system, she wants to have her personal Golden Age with the woman she loves.

And ofc at the end with the seasonal lore book page, we get some insight into this as well, more about Maya, her using the Veil, ending up in the Vex Network, making herself a body and how she was looking for Chioma.

I left the reach of the Veil's threads when I collided with the familiar angles of the Vex network… didn't I? Yes, I did.

Maya also seemed genuinely convinced that Chioma would be amazed and proud of this and that she would join her. But we know from Veil Logs that Chioma was instead horrified. And the Maya that entered the network and shaped herself a body and realised that she can command the Vex? Her first impulse was to search for Chioma. I am crying!

"TELL ME HOW LONG HAS PASSED SINCE I LAST ENCOUNTERED THE VEX." They do, through the Vex at my feet; they whisper it in unencoded ease. The number is gargantuan. I begin to panic. It is impossible, and my first thought is of her, her— "TELL ME WHERE CHIOMA ESI IS." They search, and they tell me the woman who holds my heart in her hands has laid in a grave for hundreds of years. In a rage, I tell them to mutilate one another. The milk at my feet boils in violence. My Chioma would not depart so mundanely. My Chioma would come find me, my Chioma is still here. My beloved does not rot in a grave.

And the thing is... She's correct. Her Chioma didn't depart mundanely. We know this from Veil Logs. Chioma called the Vex to take her.

Chioma Esi: Years ago, back on Venus, the Vex simulated copies of us — Maya and I. Trapped in a virtual hell. After so long, even hell can look like heaven, can't it? [chuckles] I'm tired. I'm done. Maya has to be out there. The Maya I remember. And all I want is one more moment with her. To hold her in my arms. Tell her that I love her. So she can tell me to "hush" one more time. If… if we learned anything from the Veil, it's that eventually… we all have to learn to let go. So… I made contact with the Vex. I'm ready. And it's time to say goodbye.

So there's a Maya looking for this Chioma and a Chioma looking for this Maya, somewhere in the network, among other 227 copies of them that have been through so much and some of them are also vanishing. This makes me insane. Hello. From this week's lore tab:

Chioma, my world, my life, cannot be dead. She must have joined the VexNet again; she would have searched for me there, sorted among the hundreds of copies of us to find the TRUE version of myself, HER Maya. So, too, will I search. I love her, I would know her in the darkness of a cave and the blinding glare of a sun. She is unique in all ways, precious and without fault. I know the real Chioma is alive.

Why are we here? Just to suffer about old woman yuri? Yes.

We also now know what "primary query" is:

"PRIMARY QUERY; FIND THE TRUE CHIOMA ESI," I command through my tears.

And yeah, the parallels with Osiris and Saint? So deliberate. I will explode. Osiris noted so a long time ago, also because of Veil Logs, how much Maya was similar to him. And they basically had the same goal; find the person they loved who was lost to them. Except Maya is doing this in a way that's deeply unhinged and hurting Chioma, while Osiris did it also deeply unhinged, but hurting himself. And listening to the Veil Logs and Chioma's perspective affected him greatly and genuinely was one of the biggest points for his development when he realised just how much obsession could've destroyed him and all he loves further if he didn't stop it.

It's all about Chioma and Maya. They're such an important piece of lore literally for ten years and now we're getting so much about them and their interactions together and all the pain and suffering. Please please please this has to end with them reuniting somehow. Please.

Anyway, wanted to point out some of these things that are connecting to older stuff, especially Aspect and also Veil Logs. I will be running this mission maybe another 100 or 10000 times. Looking forward for extra stuff in the next two weeks.

[livbhanu]

Peanut Butter with a Sprinkle of Sugar: Blake Maxwell

In my story, Peanut Butter with a sprinkle of Sugar we have our second (and other main protagonist) Blake Elliot Maxwell. Blake is a young man in his late teens who, just like Reese, is also on the journey to self-discovery. Unlike Reese, though, he is a little farther along the way in the fact that he is working his way to achieving his dream of playing in the NHL as a starting center for the New Jersey Devils.

When he's not daydreaming about hundreds of fans screaming his name rink side he can be found Hanging with his Friends at the family cabin, throwing parties, hanging with his best friends Conner Maxwell (brother) and Evan Sanderson( Hockey mate and since fifth grade bestie), dating pretty girls, loving the shit out of his siblings and drooling over the gorgeous new nanny, Reese Gilligan. He knows that he has absolutely no shot, but hey, a guy can dream, right?

BLAKE'S CHARACTER SYNOPSIS:

Name: Blake Elliot Maxwell

Age: 16

Hometown: Calabasas, California (Born in Palm Springs, California)

"Occupation": Teenage Hockey Player

Education: Calabasas High School

Favorite Color: Blue and Sometimes Orange

Favorite Food: Ramen

Hobbies: Playing Hockey, Throwing Parties, Hanging out with Friends/Siblings, going on dates, swimming, going to the family cabin

S/O: Maya Reed

Dream Career: Center for the New Jersey Devils :)

If you like it, please read the whole thing!

XOXO

Love,

Liv Bhanu <3

[malkaleh]

This is so incredible! Also now I’m thinking about what the press release(s) might have looked like because wow that would have been a meeting and a half! (Also revamping the interpretation materials!)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Tudors (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Archivist making discoveries, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, ot3: political power trio, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary:

During rewiring work at Welles Hall, a most curious sealed wooden box is discovered behind a fireplace.

Written for @writersmonth day 2, ‘chance’.

I don’t normally go here, but I am an archivist by profession so when the lovely @mihrsuri  was talking on Tumblr about the discovery of What Norwich Did To Thomas Cromwell in her Tudors OT3-'verse, I found myself chipping in. And then there was one of those 'what would you like to see me write?’ memes and she said she’d like to see me write the discovery of the evidence, and day 2 of Writers’ Month is 'chance’, and…well. It all fell together perfectly. :D

Big thanks to @mihrsuri and @allegoriesinmediasres for AU-'verse advice and checking! :D

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, After All the Other edition.

"I need to walk down a sidewalk somewhere on a shady afternoon, find a table outside a cafe, sit down, order a drink, and I want to sit there with that drink and I want a fly to land on that table. Then, in the background, I want to hear somebody laugh. Then I want to see a woman walk by in a green dress. I want to see a dog walk by, a fat dog with short brown hair and with grinning eyes. I want to die sitting there. I want to die upright, my eyes still open. I want an airplane to fly overhead. I want a woman to walk by in a blue dress. Then I want that same fat dog with short brown hair and grinning eyes to come walking by again. That will be enough, after all the other, after everything else." [Charles Bukowski]

[Image: Ellsworth Kelly's slippers]

*

Unquotable in the best way, this is quite the ride [Sophie Heawood]

Welcome to the chaos era of social media [Annalee Nevitz, The Atlantic]

"They presented an irreverent version of adulthood that I had never seen on TV or in life: a playful yet sophisticated world where grown-ups joked and laughed together and didn’t take themselves too seriously, even when everyone around them was being very serious indeed." On Seinfeld's relevancy, 25 years later [Maya Salam, The New York Times]

"Why on Earth would it be odd to eat alone, or go for a walk alone, or live alone, or do virtually anything alone? Everyone’s their own person, we live in a free country, what possible reason could you have not to do whatever it is you want to do, accompanied or not? Equally, must we really pretend that it is always fun and great and liberating to do all those things by yourself?" [Marie Le Conte, The New Statesman]

"In 1990, my parents decided to raise me in the United States, and we all had a chance to choose a new identity. They asked for my 3-year-old’s opinion: What would I like to be called in this new place? I answered, the story goes, with Connie, after that pretty “ayi,” or auntie, we watched on TV. That ayi was Constance Yu-Hwa Chung, or, as the world knows her, Connie Chung." All the little Chinese girls named Connie [Connie Wang, The New York Times]

Why so many autistic people still identify with the term "Asperger’s" [Zoe Corbyn, The Guardian]

"Let me grapple! Let me exist!" Less TikTok, More Screaming [Persinette}

My Taste Is Basic. So What? [Samantha Irby, Harper's Bazaar]

“Amazon doesn’t care about books … a book is just another thing in a warehouse,” [B&N CEO] Daunt says. “Whereas bookstores are places of discovery. They’re just really nice spaces.” How Barnes & Noble bounced back #BoycottAmazon [Lauren Aratani, The Guardian]

Why don’t we realise how screwed up the UK really is? [Jonn Elledge, The New Statesman]

Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter [JR Moehringer, The New Yorker]

"That we’re not the most beautiful is a frequent accusation, as if the only currency exchange for male power is perfect female beauty when, as Eve Babitz worked out and wrote down, an equal conversion for a woman is self-possession." [Emma Forrest, The Guardian]

Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop - Downtown San Francisco will survive this, but it will be a sad few years [Elizabeth Weil, Curbed]

No, Cities Aren’t Doomed Because of Remote Work - it's complicated [Alissa Walker, Curbed]

The Best Beer Gardens In London, mapped [Londonist]

13 truly great ads [George Mack on Twitter]

The colour of the city: The argument for red [Peter Ackroyd, Londonist]

[collabwithmyself]

1-3: Turnabout Transfix (2/2)

The article in the paper under the list of missing persons had the wrong name before "Wright, age nine," and a lump formed in Miles's throat.

"That's not his name," he tried to say. It came out as a croak. "We told them his name was Phoenix. I know we did."

Ray, sitting beside him at the dining room table, looked disgusted but defeated. "They added it as a footnote," he pointed out. ""Responds to Phoenix"... Nick's not a dog."

Miles wanted to hunt down every copy of the paper and throw them all into the trash can. His best friend was missing, and people were calling him the wrong name because he wasn't there to stop them. It wasn't fair.

Miles looked to Ray as though he had an answer to right this horrible injustice. Ray looked as tired and frustrated as he felt, chewing on a thumbnail as he thought deeply.

"We can head down and talk to them," he offered, after a long pause.

That was what Father would have done. He would have marched right down to the office where they printed the paper and demanded a retraction. But nobody was going to take a freshman law student and his newly adopted nine year old seriously.

"It's worth a try," Miles responded, because a defense attorney should never give up hope.

⁂

Staying up late to scrutinize the series he already knew by heart for clues of some sort was a mistake, and Miles knew it. His eyes began to droop only partway through the season as Maya snored against his side, and he was vaguely aware he was becoming less and less alert every time he had to pull his head back up from his chest.

It didn't occur to him that he shouldn't be letting himself doze off in the presence of company.

His sleep was never restful. Every night, his subconscious was forcibly yanked back to the day everything changed.

Some nights, he found himself reliving what he was certain was a memory. The dialogue never changed, the action never shifted. A heated argument in the elevator, a foolish bid to stop it, a single gunshot, and that horrid, high-pitched wail of agony that he knew belonged to one of the people he'd lost that day.

Other times, he dreamed not of his father, but of Phoenix.

Those dreams changed, but they remained the same nonetheless. Whether running through the streets with Larry, or through the backyard of his home, or through the hallways of the courthouse, the same thing always happened - Phoenix disappeared. Maybe he ran too far ahead, or lagged too far behind, but Miles's friend was suddenly nowhere to be found, and he felt painfully, crushingly alone.

His subconscious had decided to grace him with the former that night, and when he woke up with "father" on his lips and sweat on his forehead, a rumpled-looking Maya was staring at him in undisguised concern.

"...are you o--"

Miles turned away from her and said nothing, effectively stopping the conversation before it began.

Maya was silent, and when Miles glanced back over, her gaze was fixed on the television, which was still playing through the old episodes of Steel Samurai. She lacked the enthusiasm they both shared for the show, however. She seemed deep in thought.

"...you don't wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly.

He and Uncle Ray never talked after nightmares. One would get up to find the other in the kitchen nursing a cup of tea, and silently join them, knowing the other was thinking of the same thing but not having the courage to voice it aloud. Saying it gave it form, and Miles refused to shed any more tears over something he knew full well was his fault.

"No," Miles responded, sharp and blunt all at once.

"You wanna talk about something else, then?" Maya glanced sideways at him. "I used to talk with Sis after I had nightmares. It helped get my mind off things."

Miles hesitated. "Something else sounds nice," he said quietly.

"How about court today? Prosecutor von Karma was hopping mad, huh?" Maya let a grin stretch across her face as she leaned towards Miles. "She looked like she wanted to tear her hair out. Or maybe yours."

"That woman needs to see a therapist," he muttered.

"I think we all do, My."

"...you've got me there."

⁂

As the trial wore on throughout its second day, Sascha von Karma continued to act stranger and stranger. Before the judge could reprimand her for being far too harsh with the witness, Cody Hackins faltered and lost the confidence Miles had been working hard to build up about his witness account, a terrified look in his eyes. To his surprise, von Karma went ashen and actually stumbled back a little, like she hadn't meant to push a little boy nearly to tears.

Honestly, with her disposition, Miles wouldn't have thought she would care. But here she was, clutching her side, eyes blown wide with something like fear. Something in Miles's stomach turned over. Was he actually feeling sympathetic for this ferocious woman?

But it wasn't just him. Mia beside him (that had been a jolt to his nervous system -- he hadn't been able to see her clearly the last time Maya had summoned her) had her brow furrowed in concern as she stared at the prosecution. "I haven't seen her make a face like that since..."

Miles glanced at her. "Since... what?"

"...don't worry about it. Focus on the trial here and now, Miles." Mia gave him that mysterious smile that meant she was withholding important information from him. He knew it well. He huffed at her, and she huffed back.

Despite Mia's testimony, von Karma had that same look on her face as Vasquez took the stand the next day, wide eyes flicking between the witness and the defense bench. She was strangely silent, not offering a single protest as Miles proceeded with the cross-examination.

But he couldn't afford to wonder about it. Vasquez was clever and tight-lipped, and his attempts to wring her testimony dry and find something to pin her down were fruitless. She and the judge had both gotten irritated at this point, and when Miles hesitated, scrambling to find some point he hadn't pressed, the latter decided he'd had enough.

Miles cursed inwardly as the judge raised his gavel. Vasquez adjusted the pin of her shawl, self-assured in her victory. This was the end. He was prepared to accept defeat.

He couldn't have possibly prepared for what happened next, however.

"OBJECTION!"

Miles jerked his head up. Beside him, Maya gasped in surprise.

Across the room from him, left arm outstretched in a frantic point, was a frazzled, trembling Sascha von Karma.

She stared blankly at her own hand, as though it had moved of its own volition. Then she jumped - actually jumped - when the judge demanded to know the meaning for the interruption.

"Right! Uh. Um. The reason I objected," she babbled, "is because... uhh..."

It was the least composed Miles had ever seen her. He was bewildered. What did she think she was doing?

"...I don't have a reason," she admitted, shoulders slumping.

"Er..." The judge blinked owlishly at her. "Very well. Now--"

"OBJECTION!"

The poor judge looked as baffled as Miles felt. "Miss von Karma?"

"I... I request that the witness testify again!" she blurted out, digging her fingers into the desk. She looked disheveled, stray hairs having slipped out of her ponytail to poke out at a very odd angle. "I, um... I want to hear about... the, uh..."

Vasquez snarled with impatience. "Why are you badgering me? I'm your witness!"

"I'm inclined to agree!" the judge added. "I see little point in making Ms. Vasquez repeat herself..."

Miles looked at Maya. Maya looked at Miles. What?? Maya mouthed at him. Miles shrugged helplessly.

von Karma floundered. "Uh... yeah... great point... ummmmMMM! I want to-- I wish to hear about the body discovery! What happened after you found it?"

That hadn't occurred to Miles. But what could that possibly reveal? And why was von Karma risking sabotaging her own case by asking after it? She practically had the win in the bag, and after Miles had humiliated her so thoroughly after their last clash in court, she had no reason to let this continue.

What was going on?

⁂

The relief of a not guilty verdict and the butterflies of being in such close proximity to Mr. Powers yet again were a powerful combination that filled Miles's mind with fuzz and forced out any less important thoughts, like von Karma's odd behavior or Maya tugging on his coat.

"M-My! Hey! Miles! Kilometers! Little My!"

"H-Hrm?"

Maya pointed to somewhere behind him. "I, um... I think you're in trouble."

Miles turned, and flinched when he found himself nose to nose with a furious prosecutor.

"You," von Karma snarled, "should not be expecting a repeat performance of today! You're lucky I took pity on you! You got that?!"

Her voice raised to a yell as she spoke, and her burning eyes pinned Miles where he stood. He leaned away, but she just leaned forward.

"Don't you dare be expecting a shred of mercy from me from now on! You may be the son of that loathsome excuse of a defense attorney, and the favorite of that voluptuous wretch--"

Now, Miles was not going to sit there and take that. "You should never speak ill of the dead, Miss von Karma," he snapped, straightening his spine and making her flinch away. He met her glare with all the intensity he could muster...

...and then paused.

How curious.

"Wh... What? What is it?" von Karma's hastily plucked brows furrowed as an edge of nervousness worked its way into her voice, and Miles realized he'd spoken aloud.

"Your eyes," he continued hesitantly. They were heterochromatic - one brown, one blue. "They reminded me of someone. An old friend."

von Karma inexplicably blanched. She looked distant for a moment, and her left hand dug into her right side, just below her ribcage. "You... wh..."

Then she shook herself, and that boiling anger was back full force. "Why are you getting all nostalgic on me, you-- ugh! You listen closely, Ed... E-Edge..."

Again, she went pale, looking ill. Miles was starting to worry after her health at this point, despite the fact he was in the middle of being screamed at. "Er..."

"You... you listen closely, Worthless!" She thrusted a finger up towards him, nearly jamming it up his nose with how close she was. "These eyes... you'll see them and know nothing but despair once we meet again, you hear me?! I'm going to crush you, and I'm going to enjoy it!"

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and stomped off, seething.

Maya coughed weakly. "Uh. Wow. What was that all about?"

Miles stared after Sascha von Karma, his gut clenching with inexplicable grief. "I have no earthly idea."

⁂

You failed again.

You can't even blame him this time.

This is all your fault.

Victory was within your grasp.

All that matters to a von Karma is perfection.

And yet you gave him an opening.

A von Karma should be swift and merciless.

You're weak. He's gotten into your head. You can't stop thinking about him.

Even his name makes you sick.

Miles Edgeworth...

...

...why does it feel like you're forgetting something?

[malkaleh]

I just made a very serious post about the discovery of the Tudors OT3 letters by the bb!historian in question (she was working on a PhD proposal at the time her eventual phD was The Tudor Triad book) which it was because Maya is very smart and very good at her job but it did also involve her shrieking WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK OH MY GOD and then calling her wife going BABE YOU CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND CLEARING OUT BOXES YES YES OF COURSE I AM TOTALLY CHILL and then after calling her advisor person to come over and like double check the authentication - (actually that’s a question I need to ask - how does the authentication process go?) she sat down and silently screamed into the void for fifteen minutes.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: My Body Is Not an Apology by Megha Sood

TO ORDER GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/my-body-is-not-an-apology-by-megha-sood/

Please share/please repost [PROMO]

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Megha Sood is a Pushcart-nominated Poet, Editor, and Blogger based in New Jersey, USA. She is a Poetry Editor at MookyChick(UK), Life and Legends (USA), and Literary Partner in the project “Life in Quarantine” with Stanford University, USA. Works widely featured in journals, Poetry Society of New York, Kissing Dynamite, and many more. Author of Chapbook ( “My Body is Not an Apology”, FinishingLine press, 2021) and Full Length (“My Body Lives Like a Threat”, FlowerSongPress,2021).Recipient of Poet Fellowship 2021, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, National Level Winner Spring Mahogany Lit Prize 2020, and Three-Time State-level winner of NJ Poetry Contest.Blogs at https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/.Tweets at @meghasood16

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR My Body Is Not an Apology by Megha Sood

My Body is Not An Apology is a testimony of female rebellion and a journey of self-discovery in a most wanted and unwanted way. The poems roar to voice the pain of silent torture, cruelty, and agony of a woman’s heart to reclaim her dignity not only as a female but also as an individual. This book is a fierce approach to life in poetry, and the poet dissects the ironies of women’s existence with razor-sharp language, intellect, and courage like Simone de Beauvoir. In the poet’s own words, it is a triumphant proclamation and an unfettered declaration.

–Kalpna Singh-Chitnis (Poet, Writer, and Filmmaker)

Sometimes with acerbic irony, sometimes with wise comeuppance, but never with hopeless resignation no matter how bleak the refracted rays of reality, Megha’s stanzas find their way through the blind alleys of patriarchy and misogyny looking it unblinking in the eye. The vulnerability of her perception is also her strength, as each stanza duals with difficult truths using the female body and the form of poetry as weapons of grit and gumption. This little book is a fist of fury and unveiling.

–Rochelle Potkar, Author of Paper Asylum & Bombay Hangovers

These poems recognize the body as the ‘eye of the storm’ in the turbulent churning of our age. The guttural cry of the feminine forges these poems with a primal rawness cast in images as varied as radishes, pickles, broken book spines, and armchairs. Megha Sood joins her unapologetic voice with urgency to erase any error of ambiguity, ‘You don’t own shit’. These poems will ‘sit like a welt’ on the tongue of the world.

–Usha Akella, Poet & Founder, Matwaala, South Asian Diaspora Poetry Festival

A unique feminist exploration through the written word, investigating the body and the world society overlays atop women, Megha Sood does justice uncovering, discovering, and discarding herself to find an inexorably beautiful woman within. Sood’s My Body Is Not an Apology chisels away at the construct our society imposes on women, revealing an exemplar poet of the highest caliber.

–Joshua Corwin, author of Becoming Vulnerable

Megha Sood’s “My Body is Not an Apology” is a powerful debut with poetry that contains multitudes. These poems are fierce and unapologetic as they explore the toxic culture around gender-based discrimination and reproductive rights. Sood crafts with cutting precision as we read about personal experience and the influence of these issues in the wider world. Far from a desperate cry of the disenfranchised, these poems raise a fist and demand to be heard from a position of strength. Woven in and around every poem is the question that asks: what would life be like if we could change this? This book is a clarion call to eradicating gender-based injustice. It is also a book full of hope and empowerment.

–Juliette van der Molen, Poet, Writer,Feminist

My Body is Not an Apology by Megha Sood is a woman’s journey through gender-based discrimination. It is a cry and a plea as Sood questions, “How can you live a life like a broken spine of a book?” In her poems, we see a parallel to Sylvia Plath, and her words bring alive the voices of the Bronte Sisters, Emily Dickinson, and Phyllis Wheatley. At the same time, we see similarities to Sarojini Naidu’s rage and certitude when Sood says, “But I never give up …as I learned from the footsteps of warriors.” Sood’s My Body is Not An Apology is a whimper, a roar, an awakening in the feminist world.

–Meenakshi Mohan, Ed.D., Professor, writer, painter, critic

Megha Sood’s poems show a vulnerability that is welded to resilience in remarkably ingenious ways because poetry occupies the interstice between the felt and the unspoken.

Don’t let the aroma leave the pickle jar

Keep the lid tight

my granny used to say–

Some things are better left unspoken. (Even My Grief Should Be Productive)

Here’s the wisdom of an entire civilization. Sometimes it comes pickled in a jar. Call it Indian or South Asian, or what you will. It teaches you how to hold one’s own, anywhere.

–Lakshmi Kannan, Poet, Novelist, Short story writer, and Translator.

Megha Sood’s chapbook, My Body Is Not An Apology is exactly what the title says. The human body is not an apology for anyone. It’s not meant to make us feel ashamed simply for being born as we are, for existing, for belonging to any race, religion, gender, age, or any diversity markers that exist in our world. Our body is also not space where anyone can reside with abuse, disdain, or evil. Our body is a temple where our soul lives protected and safe. Megha through her deeply sensitive and poignant poems urges readers to ponder, deliberate, and act upon ensuring that our body is not an apology. Megha’s poems are fierce and tender at the same time. They are like raging storms or quiet whispers; both compel us to listen, look and consider. Megha delves into a plethora of issues that plague the human mind and in consequence the body. She questions and pulls the reader back again and again to her poems leaving behind a memory of heightened awareness. Very few writers can do as such. This collection of twenty-five poems will surely leave a mark upon your heart. Among the contemporary diaspora writers, Megha Sood is one to definitely read!

–Anita Nahal, poet, professor, flash fictionist & children’s writer. Find her works at: https://anitanahal.wixsite.com/anitanahal

“I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”—Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

The gripping, riveting poems of Megha Sood’s chapbook ‘My Body Is Not An Apology’ carries the inherent legacy of the truths that our exemplary literary predecessors Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, Nikki Giovani, Alice Walker, Kamala Das, and others, embodying unabashed feminism, upheld in their poetic creations.

When the poet utters her angst and her rhetoric reflects a discourse, built around the quintessential strength of a woman, these lines are born from her pen: “My body is not an apology/ it’s a roar: a declaration/ an unapologetic/ unabashed/ straight truth in your face/ a war cry:/ a deafening scream from the silence.” These lines hit the nail at just the right place, confronting the age-old power dynamics of a patriarchal social structure. As a strong woman of color, as a sensitive poet, her verses in the collection are like smoking cinders of the thinking feminine voice, empowering and liberating the feminine psyche. In the growth of her poetic voice, she has successfully absorbed the little nuances of her Indian roots and her grandmother’s legacy of truth (reflected in the poem ‘Even My Grief Should Be Productive), at the same time, having the deep insight of a woman acknowledging that her ‘body goes from a shade darker than yesterday’, as she gives birth to her ‘own revolution’. In the collection, the body and being of the poet as a woman reaches its zenith of celebration as she categorically unfolds the themes of the feminine identity, body politics, repression of womanhood, and also, the rampant rhetorics of violence ingrained in our postmodern society. Her voice is both subtle and empowering, essential and redeeming, hence the chapbook will indeed be an asset in the ever-evolving arena of feminist writing and art.

–Lopa Banerjee, Critically acclaimed author, poet, translator, editor from Texas, USA

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

[puddygeeks]

Wᴇ Cᴏᴍᴇ Rᴜɴɴɪɴɢ - Tʜᴇ 100 Bᴇʟʟᴀᴍʏ x OC - Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 36: Nᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ Oғ Tʜᴇ Bᴇᴀsᴛ

Masterlist

Episodes: Coup De Grace; Rubicon, Resurrection

Rating: Mature

Summary: During her time in the Skybox, Indigo formed a precious friendship with fellow outcast Octavia Blake, the girl under the floor. At first they thought their departure from the oppression of the Ark was a blessing, but quickly came to rely on Indigo's keen survival instincts. The 100 struggle to meet the challenges of Earth whilst Bellamy strives to lead the wavering teenagers and his irresponsible attitude fuels constant conflict with Indigo. Their only shared interest is in protecting Octavia and Indigo beings to suspect that there is a deeper cause to Bellamy's seemingly irrational choices. As the consequences of his actions mount up around him, he finally begins to confide in her and she discovers more than she ever bargained for. 

Fandom: CW’s The 100

Pairing: OC x Bellamy Blake

LONG TERM ONGOING PROJECT :)

My writing is entirely fuelled by coffee! If you enjoy my work, feel free to donate toward my caffeine dependency: will work for coffee

Warnings: Mature content. Non-consent, language, sex, self harm, suicide, anxiety, helplessness, torture, captivity/confinement, alcohol/drug use.

Chapter Thirty-Six

I used the simple bunker showers to wash out the home made dye and towel dried my newly red hair. I hurriedly dressed back in the black dress as I felt vulnerable to kidnapping the entire time that I was in the bathroom. I felt an immediate rush of relief as I slid Bellamy’s jacket back around me and wrapped myself up in it’s safety. I stood with my eyes closed for a few moments as I held the jacket tightly and took some deep breaths to relax my rapid heartbeat. 

As I reflected on my earlier conversation with Jasper I knew in my gut that my dependence on this jacket probably wasn’t healthy, but I couldn’t fathom parting myself from it just yet. I was in the process of the relaxation exercise that I used to guide Octavia through when the intrusive images of Monty burst through and I snapped my eyes open with gasp. It had been helpful to keep busy earlier with Jasper but now that I was alone I had no defence against my fear. I quickly snatched my things and strode back toward the dorms.

I power walked through the halls and I became aware that I was losing control as panic took over. My heart was hammering in my chest and I felt my hands shaking. Visions of Monty screaming for help flashed through my mind too quickly to fully comprehend. I reminded myself that I just needed to get to Jasper, he would be able to calm me. The hallways seemed to grow longer and I felt disoriented as I tried to navigate them. The narrative in my mind unexpectedly changed and the screaming quietened slightly only to be overlaid with Bellamy’s voice. 

“You have to find Monty.” I shook my head violently in an attempt to dislodge the sound, but it got louder and I covered my ears in desperation. “Come on Indigo, what are you doing? We don’t let anyone come for our people! Find him, rescue him, do whatever it takes.” 

I couldn’t tell if my sanity had finally snapped, or if my conscience had taken on Bellamy’s voice but it was unbearable to hear. As the words repeated in an inescapable loop, I became convinced that he truly would be upset with me if he were here. My anxiety accused me of losing the strength that I had possessed in camp and berated me for letting Monty down by simply waiting for Maya to find him. I started to convince myself that she was involved in his disappearance and that I would never see Monty again if I didn’t act now.

I found myself in a hallway that I didn’t recognise with no concept of how I got there. I could hear footsteps approaching and tucked myself into a small alcove to hide. I watched as one of the medical assistants from the unit approached a door and they checked over both shoulders before lifting their pass to the scanner to open the door. I felt a red haze overpowering my vision and without thinking leapt forward to seize them. I grasped their coat to drag them backwards before slamming their face into the wall as forcefully as I could, causing them to collapse. I snatched the pass from around their neck and waved it in front of the scanner. The moment that the door opened I rushed through and slammed it behind me. 

As I was met with another unfamiliar area I started to panic and broke into a wild run through the halls with only a subconscious awareness of where I was going. I stumbled around a corner and recognised the elevator that Monty had used to transport me from quarantine. I reached the doors and repeatedly hit the button in a fluster as I became aware of hurried footsteps echoing from behind me. I swore under my breath as I watched the screen above the elevator progressing through the floors at an agonising rate and aggressively probed at the button with clammy hands. It finally chimed to announce it’s arrival and I leapt to stand in front of the doors nervously. I was prepared to jump in at the first available opportunity but as the doors parted I was met with a swarm of guards. They descended over me like a tidal wave to tackle me to the floor and I felt a sharp pain in my side that I knew well by now.

***

I slowly became aware of a strange thrumming sound and the rattling of something metal. My body was weak and it seemed that I was tightly compressed. I blinked slowly in an attempt to force myself to wake up and immediately noticed my head spinning from the effort. I could feel something cold and hard digging into my skin, and as my surroundings came into view I was struck with the realisation that I was in a cage. My entire body flooded with adrenaline as my mind processed this terrifying information and everything came rapidly into sharp focus. 

I sat up in the cage that was barely big enough for the movement and glanced down at myself to discover that I had been stripped of my usual clothes. My skin was barely covered by some kind of surgical gown and I gulped as I analysed the need for this. I dragged my head up and was startled by the sight of Monty who was staring back at me from the other side of the bars. I threaded my fingers through the tightly gridded cage and he grasped my hand in return. As my eyes roamed his form, it was clear that we mirrored each other and I registered that he was contained in a cage next to mine. 

“Monty!” I gasped as I studied him in a mixture of relief and terror. Although I was pleased to find that he was alive, I quickly assessed that we may not be for much longer. “What happened? Where’s Harper?” I breathed in a fluster and he seemed heartbroken as he met my eyes.

“She’s behind me, next cage along. She’s in really bad shape.” He confirmed and I fidgeted within the tight containment in an attempt to view behind him. I glimpsed blonde hair just over his shoulder, but was unable to manoeuvre myself into a position where I could communicate with her. “This is fucked up Indie. They’ve moved us from storage to here and they’re getting ready to do something with us.” He rambled in a panic stricken manner and the fear was evident in his wide eyes. I felt my stomach fill with dread at his words and I was unnerved by the stark contrast to his usual calm demeanor. “What the hell are you doing here?” He quizzed as he seemed to suddenly realise that my arrival here was strange.

“I was searching for you.” I breathed as I squeezed his fingers to reassure myself and his eyes filled with tears. 

I scanned the small room and noticed there were only around a dozen cages in here. As I peered out of the front of the cage containing me, I clocked a barbaric operating table that was fully fitted with restraints and my stomach lurched at the discovery. On further inspection, I identified several monitors on the far wall with a trolley full of assorted medical tools that more closely resembled torture instruments.

The door swung open to reveal the friendly female doctor who had tried to reassure me when we volunteered for blood transfusions, followed by a large male doctor that I didn’t recognise. She approached the cages and examined us each in turn with a threatening expression. I glared back at her with murderous fury and she smirked as she moved back toward Monty. I battled to contain the anxiety that threatened to leap out of my chest and worried that I might prompt her to harm him if I antagonised her. I held my breath as she passed him to stand in front of the cage that Monty had described as containing Harper. 

“This one.” She spoke firmly and the male doctor obediently started to unlock the cage.

Monty rattled the door to his cage aggressively but it made little difference as they lifted Harper out. Now that she was in my field of vision it was clear that she was weak and exhausted; her face was bloody and I could identify multiple wounds on her body just at a glance. I could tell that she had already endured several procedures and I felt fury coursing through my veins as they lifted her almost completely limp body up onto the operating table. It was obvious that she had no remaining energy to fight them and I understood in this decision that they were no longer sympathetic about their treatment of us. The reassurances of the medical unit were nowhere to be found and I was disgusted to witness that they were willing to operate on someone in such a state.

“Stop it!” I barked as my words escaped without my permission but my voice earned no reaction from the doctors. “Are you fuckers too scared to deal with someone who can fight back?! Take me! I’m still full of life, I’m a much better specimen.” I yelled as I desperately stomped on the cage to create as much noise as possible. 

They continued to work as if they couldn’t even hear me and easily secured Harper into the restraints. They busied themselves with preparing tools and covered her body to the neck with an operating sheet. I could hardly breathe through the rage that threatened to destroy me and I was becoming frantic in my efforts to stop them. I knew that there was little chance of escape at this point and instead I focused on keeping us alive for long enough that Jasper could find us. The female doctor picked up a scalpel and cut into Harper’s hip in a long exaggerated motion. This cut earned a horrifying scream that burned into my memory and I flinched as I felt the colour draining from my face. 

“Please stop, she’s too weak.” Monty begged as he sagged against the care door in exhausted distress. I couldn’t stand the hurt that seeped into his words and I watched the agonised expression on his tear stained face with a heartbroken familiarity. I understood his feelings for her better than anyone and I recognised that being forced to witness this was as torturous for him as it would be if Bellamy was on that table for me.

“Don’t...don’t...not again.” Harper could barely manage a whisper through her panicked breaths and yet the doctors still behaved as if she were nothing more than a science experiment. I wracked my brain for ideas as I analysed Harper’s weak form and calculated that she was unlikely to survive many more of these procedures. I peeked at Monty through tearful eyes and struggled not to crumble at the idea that he would eventually take her place. 

I knew that I could not endure anyone harming him and I decided that if I had to sacrifice myself here to protect him, it would be worth it. I had already tried reasoning with them. The only logical solution that remained in my scattered mind was to get under their skin and to motivate them to hurt me instead. I heard the sound of a drill whirring and Monty frantically cried out at them to stop. The horror of the situation hit me at all once and I went berserk under the pressure. I snatched the cage door with both hands and began slamming it manically against the lock, shrieking like a banshee as I unleashed the overpowering fury that poured out from my core. 

“You sadistic fucking bitch, I’ll kill you! When I get out of here you’re dead! I’ll tear you apart, you sick, lying bastards!” I swore in a raving manner and when this failed to earn a reaction, I fell backward to repeatedly kick the cage door with all of the force that I could muster. Once it became clear that I had no intention of stopping, the doctor switched off the drill to sharply turn on the spot and faced me with a thunderous expression of annoyance.

“Sedate the loud one.” She ordered with frustration evident in her posture as I continued to lash out. The male doctor rolled his eyes before he approached the cage and my movements became even more frantic. I hadn’t anticipated this outcome and I descended into chaotic panic as I made every effort to stop them from being able to inject me.

“Fuck you, I’m not scared of you! I’m a murderer, I’ll kill you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine!” I roared as I glared over at her in disgust. 

I didn’t even feel the injection through the extreme adrenaline that was pumping through me. The door to the room burst open with a deafening slam but I couldn’t focus on the blurred figures that hurried inside. I remained conscious for long enough to notice the female doctor leap away from the opening table in shock before my eyes were forced closed.

***

When I next regained consciousness I recognised the dorms surrounding me and realised that I was lying on the floor. I slowly sat up to notice that I was hidden protectively behind a crowd of our people who were behaving as if they were recovering from some kind of attack. I brought my hands to my head to combat the disorientation of the movement and was taken aback when Monty rushed into my sight to grab my shoulders. 

“Thank god you’re okay!” He breathed with furrowed brows and I studied him in confusion. “I wish I could give you a gentler wake up but we don’t have time. Get dressed and ready for a fight, we’ll catch you up when we can.” He handed me a pile of clothes and I glanced down at my body to find that I was still wearing the surgical gown. I raised my brows in shock as I realised that I hadn’t imagined the time we’d spent beside each other in cages and it only intensified my confusion. I carefully struggled to my feet and quickly changed back into my dress and boots. Although I felt immediately better to be in a full item of clothing again, I couldn’t deny the continued sense that I was exposed with my arms uncovered and I scanned the area in concern for my jacket. I couldn’t find it anywhere within the tight corner of the room that I had woken in and my eyes were drawn to Monty in the crowd. I took a deep breath and approached him for answers. 

“Good, you’re done. We need to be ready to fight our way out of here.” He seemed frazzled as he addressed me in a firm tone and I peeked at the fearful faces that surrounded us with a feeling of dread.

“Monty, what the hell is going on? Last time I saw you we were in cages?” I breathed as I met his eyes with a feeling of urgency that I didn’t understand. I surveyed the room and felt an unease at the way the group huddled together. Although I was unsure what was happening, I knew that I had missed something important and I could sense the tension in the air.

“Jasper convinced President Wallace to release us from the cages and sent us back to get our  people ready to leave. The problem is that he’s not in charge any more, his crazy son Cage has taken over and it turns out that he’s the one who’s been running the experiments this whole time. So instead of walking out together like we were promised, they locked us in here and the guards come with Dr Singh every four hours to take someone else. We tried linking together to stop them but they just tackle us until they can separate someone. They already took Del and Max.” He explained with an exhausted expression. I glimpsed over his shoulder to discover that the double doors to the dorms were closed and I rubbed my head in a gesture of stress.

“Okay, this isn’t over yet. Linking together is too defensive, we need to fight back, hard. We can create weapons with things in this room, we did it at camp. We need to overwhelm them.” I ordered as I assessed our surroundings for inspiration and focused on the fire of determination that lit in my stomach. 

“You’re so alike.” Monty smiled fondly at me with his cryptic statement but before I could question who exactly he was comparing me to, Jasper stepped into my view with an abundance of relief in his warm face. 

“You look like you’re missing something.” He crooned as he handed me the heavy fabric of Bellamy’s jacket. I sighed in relief and smiled thankfully as I slipped it on. “I remembered to grab it on the way out of the lab.” He announced with pride and I finished adjusting the jacket with a familiar wave of comfort. “But Indie, I have to tell you something.” He added and I noticed that his body language became nervous as he shuffled on the spot. I gulped and raised a brow at him in anticipation. “Looks like you’ll be giving that back pretty soon...He’s here.” Jasper spoke in a slow, significant manner and I frowned back at him in bewilderment. 

“Who’s here?” I asked as my stomach dropped and I rapidly rescanned the faces of everyone in the room. I knew that he couldn’t possibly mean Bellamy but I felt my heartbeat quicken at the implication. 

“Bellamy! He's disguised as one of the guards. He told us to fight harder, we just have to keep them busy until he can get us out of here.” Jasper asserted and I felt as if the rest of the room crumbled around us. I could sense Monty’s concerned observation as I processed what I’d just heard and I felt myself staring open mouthed at Jasper. I found it hard to force words out as I fought for control of my own frantic mind and my tongue tied itself in knots as I tried to articulate the storm of my thoughts.

“Jasper, w-what are you talking about...that’s i-impossible.”

“Indie, I know this is hard for you to understand.” Monty put a hand on my arm to draw my attention to him and his eyes were filled with understanding. I could hardly hear him through the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears and I battled to remain focused on his explanation. “But I’ve questioned Jasper repeatedly about this. He already thought he saw Bellamy through the door earlier and now he’s had a conversation with him, that confirms it.. Bellamy is here and he needs our help. You already said the same thing he did, that we need to fight.” Monty attempted to pull me from the building madness that whirled inside my mind and I couldn’t comprehend the words that I was hearing.

“You don’t have to process this right now, I just need you to hold it together.” Jasper stepped closer to position himself at Monty’s side and pleaded in an attempt to reach me. “We need you Indie, we need your instincts. They’re going to come back and take another one of us, we have to stop them. They’re not just taking blood from us anymore, they’re killing us.” Jasper clarified and his words finally pulled me from my internal crisis. I pushed the information about Bellamy to the back of my mind. I refused to believe it so that I could cling to what remained of my sanity and forced my focus back into the room.

“The bunk beds are metal, see if you can take them apart at all.” I commanded as my analysing nature was drawn to them and I continued to search for other items that we could use as weapons. I felt the boys move beside me and when I glanced back they were both smiling at the suggestion.

“There’s our girl.” Monty muttered proudly and squeezed my arm warmly. I felt my arms shaking even under his grip as I battled to hold myself together and the anxiety pounded against the mental wall I had raised to protect myself. 

“He also gave me this.” Jasper pulled a gun from the back of his trousers and I raised my brows at him in surprise. “If you guys can overwhelm them, I’ve got a shot at taking someone out.” He elaborated and I was glad for Bellamy’s considerate thinking. I glossed over the acknowledgement of how we had attained the gun and instead considered the best use of it.

“It has to be the doctor, take the head off the snake.” I growled with more aggression than intended. “She seems to be leading the procedures, losing her would slow them down at least.” I explained as I reigned in my tone and tried to present a logical case. 

“Alright, good plan.” Monty agreed and I was relieved that I was still able to contribute. “Let’s arm up. We don’t have long.” He ordered as he spurred us into action and we parted in different directions.

We busied ourselves with deconstructing everything in the room that we could and managed to release several poles to use as weapons. I slid my hands under the mattress of my bunk in search of the scissors that I had used to cut Jasper’s hair and was relieved to find that they were still there. I was proud that I’d thought to hide them and I spent the last of our preparation time sharpening the blades into a weapon.

Jasper described the plan to the group and I listened with interest. The front row would link together in the same tactic as before to avoid suspicion; anyone with weapons would stand behind and keep them out of view. We were to wait for Dr Singh to choose someone and once the guards turned their backs on the group, we would ambush them. When Jasper had the opportunity to take a shot, he would shoot the doctor causing enough chaos for us to potentially overwhelm them. We banded into a tight unit as the time grew closer and I waited anxiously in the second row. Although I hadn’t seen the first few collections, the way that Monty had described them to me sent chills down my spine and I could feel the terror levels in the room. 

“Everyone! We stick to the plan, they’re not taking anyone else out of this room without a fight!” Jasper yelled and I was proud to witness him inspire the others. The buzzer sounded near the doors and multiple people in the crowd around me flinched in reaction. “Get ready.” He ordered and I nodded firmly as I steeled myself.

The doors opened to reveal an organised wall of guards with guns raised in front of them as they marched into the space and I couldn’t deny that the sight was intimidating as the others around me fidgeted nervously. 

“Disperse.” They ordered as they closed in on us, before they suddenly parted to allow Dr Singh to saunter through carelessly. She reached the front row with a controlled interest sparkling in her eyes and I shuffled my position to ensure that she didn’t notice me. She glimpsed between Jasper and Monty with a hunger that made my skin crawl and I felt my stomach lurch with terror. She finally settled her attention on Monty and pointed at him confidently. 

“This one.” She ordered, causing the guards to pull him from the barricade that we had created with practically no resistance. I battled every instinct in my body to attack as I reminded myself of the plan. I waited with shaking hands for the guards to turn their backs with him and as I stepped forward to fight, Jasper raised the gun in front of him.

“Hey! Get your hands off him!” He howled furiously. His vicious demand caused a guard to turn and raise his club in preparation to attack. The gun fired in what seemed to be an accident and I gasped in shock as the bullet struck the guard in his bulletproof vest .

The shock of the gun only stopped things momentarily, before the guard swung the club to easily disarm Jasper and all hell broke loose. Miller lunged forward to swing a metal pipe at the guard and his movement launched the group into battle. It was impossible to track what was happening amidst the chaos and I surged forward to tackle a guard to the floor, before another of our people stepped in to strike him with a pole. 

In barely a matter of seconds most of our people were violently apprehended and I stepped back to frantically search the room for Monty as the guards herded us backwards. Dr Singh approached our huddled group again and surveyed us with an offended expression, as if she couldn’t believe that we had the audacity to fight for our lives. I spotted Monty on his knees beside a guard on the other side of the room and was glad that he was at least still within my reach. Dr Singh glared down at Jasper, who was on his hands and knees. 

“Take him instead.” She ordered as she indicated to Jasper in a frustrated gesture.

“No!” I screamed, unable to hold back my emotions any longer and tried to battle my way through the crowd. “You can’t take Jasper!” I snarled and I watched two guards seize him by his arms as I fought my way to a gap that was no longer protected.

“Search the rest, make sure there are no other weapons.” Dr Singh stated as Jasper was dragged through the doors screaming. I burst out of the crowd and grabbed her before she could escape. I pulled the scissors from my pocket and plunged them into her gut as hard as I could. I twisted the blades maliciously as she fell away from me and I was forced to the ground face first in a painful restraint by the guards. 

“Bring her too.” Dr Singh wheezed from above me and I was hoisted back to my feet with my arms behind my back. The last remaining guard in the room supported her side and helped her to walk. As I was hauled along behind her I could hear Monty’s desperate cries fading into the background as we exited the dorms. The doors slammed behind me and I came face to face with Jasper, who studied me in confusion.

“No, Indie! Let her go! You already have me!” He pleaded as he hysterically fought against them with a renewed spirit at the sight of me.

“She stabbed me!” Dr Singh spat as she indicated to the scissors that protruded from her gut and Jasper’s eyes widened at the sight of the wound, which poured blood at an alarming rate. “As soon as we’re in the lab I want her prepped. I’ll start on her the second I’m stitched up.” She ordered the guard at her side and I scoffed at her words.

“Does it hurt bitch?” I laughed darkly as I glared at her. I couldn’t suppress the depraved enjoyment of her suffering and she turned her attention to me with a fury burning behind her eyes. “It’s such a shame that we couldn’t have more time together. I had such plans” I drawled and could feel Jasper watching me with panicked eyes as we waited for the elevator that would take us to our deaths. I was fearful but relieved that she’d decided to operate on me first, hoping that I’d bought enough time for rescue to come for Jasper.

“I usually struggle to harm you kids, but I’m going to enjoy harvesting you.” She spat threateningly as she stared at me, before she appeared to gag and her hands grasped at her throat.

“Ugh, something’s wrong.” One of the guards holding me groaned as he started to choke and I inspected the area in confusion. 

“Radiation! We need to get out of here.” Dr Singh’s voice cracked as she spoke. She panted as she grabbed the radio from the guard beside her. “Containment breach, level 5.” She cried into it as the guards around us collapsed and left Jasper and I free to move. “Seal the whole floor.” She struggled to get the words out as her skin burned up and bled. I watched her suffering with a sadistic smile and refused to break eye contact as she collapsed to her knees. 

“Bellamy.” Jasper breathed with a tone of amazement and I glanced over to see him staring at the ventilation fan at the end of the corridor with a grin.

“Come on, we don’t know how much time that gave us. Let’s get the others out.” I ordered as I grabbed a pass from one of the guards and rushed to open the doors to the dorms. “Let’s move, everyone out!” I urged those left trapped there into action and they flooded out of the space in a panic.

“Let’s go! This is our chance!” Jasper called as he directed people down the hall and I remained at the doors to usher them out of the room. “Take the level! Monty, get the cameras! Miller, get their guns! Go!” Jasper ordered and I was pleased that he took control of the situation. I waited until the last person had been moved from dorms and ran around the corner to find Jasper standing at the elevator doors. I paused at his side to check whether he needed help and found Dr Singh lying inside the space, pleading for her life. I was quickly joined by Monty, Miller and Harper as we all glared down at her in disgust. 

“I hope you know that you’re incredibly special to us.” Jasper spoke poignantly and I understood that this was something she must have said to him before. We all watched as she screamed in agony, burning up in the radiation until she finally died. I placed a hand on Jasper’s shoulder and squeezed it supportively.

“We need to take a space that we can hold, somewhere we can defend until rescue comes.” I advised firmly and Jasper nodded distractedly.

We followed him into the dining room and busied ourselves with barricading the entrances. I seized a handful of table  knives and focused on sharpening them to a dangerous point. Once I’d finished I stowed them in every pocket that I could find and even hid some in my boots for an emergency. I hoped that no one would get close enough for me to use them, but after our last plan came so close to getting Jasper and I killed, I needed to be prepared.

“We took the level, but now we need to hold it. They will be coming and we need to be ready!” Jasper called over the chaos as we rushed around. I found Fox knocking down surveillance cameras from the ceiling and grabbed a pole to assist her, smashing any cameras that I could find into pieces. As she destroyed the last remaining one, I noticed Jasper and Monty speaking near the doors and marched over to them. 

“Hey guys, anything specific you want me to do in this plan?” I investigated in the hopes that between them they had formulated tactics that were better considered than my last suggestion. 

“You’re a great shot, probably the best we have left. Get a gun from Miller. I’m counting on you to take down as many as you can.” Jasper ordered and I nodded. I assisted in the final steps to build the barricade and assisted in a few other defensive ideas as we attempted to use every available moment to add to our arsenal. I noticed Harper setting out buckets of water and was about to question it when Monty stepped into the centre of the room. 

“Alright listen up people! I’m sure you all remember the smoke grenades they used in camp to bring us here. There’s a good chance that they’ll use those again. If they do, we’re ready. Grab the grenade and get it into any of the buckets of water. We have to be able to fight, we’re only going to get one chance at this!” Monty announced and I smiled at him proudly.

We all settled into our assigned positions, ensuring that we were spread to cover the room as densely as possible as we waited for an attack that we knew would come. Monty watched the hallway cameras on a small screen for any sign of battle commencing and we all strained to remain strong.

[rochey1010]

HI, ok so this second post is about Eliott posting obscure movies and how they are or will relate to the plot:

1: NIGHT OF THE GHOULS - this movie is basically made by an amateur movie director known as Ed Wood. Now this one did confuse me for a bit as i had multiple threads going in my head. So i'm just gonna list them all. This is setting up the ELU trust/insecurity issues to come. It's also setting up the connection between Eliott and Lola, and it could be setting up Eliott and his suspected uni movie project.

● ELU trust/insecurity issues- the girl in the clip is panicking over something being outside. She's very hysterical and unsettled, and refers to what's outside as ghosts. The guy in the turban is basically telling her she's a fool and that there isn't anything outside. So theorising here, the girl is lucas. The ghosts are the ghosts of the past AKA abandonment issues. They're so deeply rooted that there's a struggle to get through to him. The turban guy is Eliott and he's frustrated that his reasoning isn't getting through. That the fears are unfounded = possible misconstrued nature by Lucas of Eliott and Lola's friendship.

More obscure theory but actually starting to build ground as the show goes on. The girl is Eliott and it's simply that the ghosts of the past have returned (upcoming Benny.Taxi post) and he's freaking out over it.

● this is the BTS, and i think very important for the Lola and Eliott friendship. So Ed Wood the director of the movie formed a friendship with Bella Lugosi (star) but it was through the making of this movie that Wood got Lugosi through the darkest days of his depression and alcoholism. His friendship saved him and put him in a better place. How does this relate? Lola is spiralling at the moment and Maya is distant. She needs a connection and she's one step away from going on another bender. This is where Eliott comes in. He's empathic, sees the bigger picture and has shown concern towards Lola. Their connection is being built on self identification. Basically someone who can relate and understand. Lola needs that right now. Eliott has reached out and they are gonna be friends. He's gonna help her and i suspect the movie will be part of it.

● this one is just about Ed Wood and being an amateur director. I must say a really bad one. I'm thinking it's Eliott BTS and his possible Uni project, and his insecurities over his ability and talents because he was hurt when POLARIS failed to get the funding it needed in the past.

2: MAX AND MARY: A story about a long distance friendship between two lonely outlier souls. There is an age difference but the bond is innocent between them. They converse as penpals and in the end Mary goes to meet Max but he died. this is basically setting up not only the friendship between Eliott and Lola but that Lola will meet Eliott in the next few days. It's also screaming another theory (Benny.Taxi) but i'm gonna talk about that in my last post. The clip is Mary knocking on Max's door. Now my theory is that Lola goes to find Eliott possibly at his job but just misses him, and ends up slipping and going back to the club or more likely she now reaches out to him and meets him.

Edit: next movie Eliott just posted on his insta story.....

3: Unbreakable: This is a 2000's movie directed by M Night Shyamalan. There are 2 important characters. One is a security guard called David (Bruce Wilis) and the other is a comic book store owner calked Elijah (Samuel L Jackson) They come into each others lives and force each other to confront their true selves. They are opposites or polarities of each other. POLARIS i see you there. 👋 but at different places in their lives.

Elijah says "however unreal it may seem, we are connected you and i, we're on the same curve, just on opposite ends"

David is damaged psychologically. He's trying to fix himself and his world. He is numb and just going through the motions of life. He has no passion or drive. Then he finds out about his super powers. That he is super strong like iron, and through this knowledge, and using those abilities, he heals his soul and feels complete.

Elijah is physically damaged. He has brittle 'glass' bones and is in a wheelchair. He learns of David's abilities and he seeks to understand them. Elijah thinks that himself and David are connected and it's through this presence in David's life that they both go on a journey of self discovery and knowing their purpose. Elijah acts as a quirky sort of mentor for David. A guide you would say.

Elijah: "it's alright to be afraid, David because this part won't be like a comic book. Real life doesn't fit into little boxes that were drawn for it"

It's a very ambiguous sort of movie, as both characters are simply grey people. They are very flawed and they have hurt people. There are themes of heroism, self worth, destiny, fear identity and purpose, and really it's about becoming your own hero in life. So how does this relate to the show?

Ok, Eliott is again forshadowing the plot and the issues these characters will face and overcome. Basically i feel it's again the dynamic that Lola and Eliott have. How they will affect each other and the meaning they will bring to each others lives. So Lola is David and she's depressed and numb right now. She's directionless and feels she has no place in her world. Eliott is Elijah and he meets her at a place in life where he ends up helping her to see her true potential. Through this Lola starts to take the reigns of her own life and be her own hero. And her world around her begins to flourish once again e.g. friends, family, love etc.

Elijah says to David at one point "do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you're here"

That screams so much fear in both of these characters, with their own insecurities and trauma's. Eliott could possibly be to me at a crossroads in his creativity. That now that he is trying to bring POLARIS back again, that he is crippled with doubt and insecurity from the first time it failed. His personal insta movie stories seem to me to be him trying to find inspiration to finish POLARIS. And through them it's like he's doubting himself (Elijah's "i almost gave up hope there were so many times i questioned myself")but also through them, the thread is there that he will have help to make POLARIS realised finally.

Ultimately the movie and the show is referencing the realisation of who a person is, what they are capable of, and finding closure from the past and putting your fears and doubts to rest. This to me is both Eliott and Lola's journey.

So basically Eliott's movie is coming. Possibly E6. And POLARIS will be the crux of the life changes in Eliott and Lola. I feel Lola being involved in Eliott's art may even start changing the way she views her own. (damage) and i feel POLARIS will help Lola come to terms with her love for Maya. Thanks to anyone who continues to read my ramblings. 😊

OK my last post is about Benny.taxi and how it's looking like it will be Eliott and not Daphne. And how Eliott's past connects to that.

[whirlibirdy]

Borderlands screams queer rights

I want to list off confirmed or HEAVILY implied characters who, in the Borderlands games, are shown to be LGBT+ in one way or another. THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BORDERLANDS 3, VERY MINOR SPOILERS

I may miss a few so if i do anyone is free to add on;

Moxxi is an NPC who appears in every single Borderlands game as of right now. She has been shown to flirt with any player character (Men, Women, and NB people) and has canonically dated both men and women. Moxxi is bi/pan.

Mr Torgue is the CEO of the Torgue gun manufacturing corporation. He is an NPC that appears in every game. Torgue has been confirmed to be Bi/Pan.

Maya is a playable character in Borderlands 2 and has appeared in Borderlands 3 as a major character. Maya has been confirmed to be asexual.

Axton is a playable character in Borderlands 2 who has a dialogue when reviving Maya that is seen as flirtatious, the developers didn’t make this Maya exclusive so he ended up saying it to all the other player characters when reviving them. Gearbox then decided to keep it like that, essentially going “fuck it hes canonically bi now”

Zer0 is a playable character in Borderlands 2 and a major npc in Borderlands 3. His age, race, species are unknown but what is known is that Zer0 is agender and uses he/they pronouns.

Tiny Tina (one of the franchises most adored characters) is a major npc that shows up in Borderlands 2, the Pre-Sequel, and Borderlands 3 has been confirmed to have dated both men and women in the past, and doesn’t seem to care about gender. She states in a hidden echo device that “MONOGOMY IS A PRISON!”

Sir Alistair Hammerlock is a major npc in Borderlands 2, the Pre-Sequel, and Borderlands 3. He is a gay man whos canonically dated other men as well as having a long term boyfriend as of the third game.

Ellie is a major npc in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3, she often flirts with any player character regardless of gender, implying her to be bi/pan

Athena is a major npc in one of the orignal Borderlands dlcs and the spin off Telltale game “Tales from the Borderlands”. She is a playable character in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel and is a lesbian, shown to be planning to marry her girlfriend.

Janey is an npc in the Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands, she is a lesbain and Athenas girlfriend.

Fl4k is a player character for Borderlands 3, Fl4k is nonbinary (even constantly wearing a nonbinary flag pin) and uses they/them pronouns exclusively. Gearbox has gone on record for saying any use of he/him pronouns for Fl4k will cause you to be banned as they consider purposeful misgendering to be hate speech (I fucking love gearbox) Fl4k will also flirt occasionally with characters regardless of gender despite also claiming to not fully understand the concepts of romance and sexuality. Fl4ks entire journey and motivation is self discovery (and killing things) so like, trans rights baby.

Zane Flynt is a playable character in Borderlands 3, described as pansexual and has been mentioned to be “married in a couple of planetary systems” so take that as you will.

Wainwright Jakobs is a major npc in Borderlands 3 and Allistair Hammerlocks boyfriend.

Lorelei is a major npc in Borderlands 3, she uses she/her pronouns but has been confirmed to be transmasc nonbinary and has been heavily considering reassignment surgery. I adore her. There are MANY npcs that aren’t major that reference being gay or lesbian often, these games don’t shy away from representation. very few characters have been confirmed to be straight so it’s safer to assume most aren’t even if they haven’t been confirmed. If i forgot anyone please feel free to add on!

[risingphoenixrp]

Titus Mulciber | 24 | Slytherin | Pureblood | Deatheater | FC: Avan Jogia

Date of Birth: 1953, England

Occupation: Potions Apprentice to Rodolphus Lestrange

Ship: No Set Ship

Biography:

For many, obsessions start young. For Titus Mulciber, discovering the body of his Grandfather was the start of his. The little boy had laughed upon the discovery, thinking his grandfather was playing a trick, and his laughter continued once it became clear that Deacon Mulciber’s death was far from fake. Death was delightful to young Titus,  he saw it as something sacred instead of something to be feared. Since his first funeral, Titus began planning his own the way that many young children plan their wedding or their future. Every detail, down to what he will be wearing has been planned into oblivion. Normal parents would have worried about their small child’s obsession with death, but Illidora and Morgan Mulciber were far from normal. His father had been close with Tom Riddle during his time at school, and had married his mother with the sole purpose of breeding more children for Voldemort’s army. Out of the three sons they have, Titus is easily their favorite, and his obsession with dying and darkness was fueled along by his parents and extended family, needless to say the Sorting Hat screamed Slytherin before it had even touched the boy’s head. He quickly joined forces with the other boys in his year who were just as pure, just as reckless. Roiser and Nott among some of his closest friends, the boys who were signed on with Voldemort before birth.

As he got older, his obsession manifested itself in darker and darker ways. One of the few students who actually enjoyed History of Magic, he began researching the most gruesome deaths in Wizarding history, and he often found himself dreaming of perfecting genocide the way Grindlewald did, or punishing people the way Morganna had, never bothering finishing the end of their stories because he knew none of them were as strong as the Dark Lord was. As he went through school, he would pick random half-bloods or muggleborns and fantasize about killing them, before finally, in his 7th year, it just became too much. Mary MacDonald, as he had been saying for several years now, would make such a lovely corpse. Before bed he would picture her body sprawled out on the floor, dark black hair fanned around her last expression. He saw her one day, walking alone, and he couldn’t fight the temptation any longer. He made her scream, and he felt something inside of himself burst with joy, he had to be stopped, knocked unconscious by some fool teacher who didn’t see, didn’t understand that he was doing her a favor. Had it not been for his father’s remembrance of Slughorn’s love of crystalized pineapple, he would very likely be in a cell at the moment. He was required to stay away from Mary for the remainder of the year, and though his fantasies generally changed subject, he still dreams of killing her.  Probably due to his obsession with death, Titus is also obsessed with bondage and blood-play. He doesn’t care who is in his bed, as long as they come close to killing him. He lives for the moments where he feels he is going to die, and gets off on it because each time he doesn’t he cheats the best mistress.

Upon his graduation, Titus made his parents proud and fit quickly into the ranks of the younger Deatheaters. Voldemort rewarded his patience and his parent’s loyalty by allowed Titus to make his first kill. The face, the scream, the flash of green and the thud of the body when it hit the floor will be cemented in his mind forever, this muggle woman much more important than whomever he had lost his virginity to. For now, it has been decided learning the trade of potion making from Rodolphus Lestrange is the best use for him, but Titus knows its only a matter of time before he claims his next victim. Death has become something Titus can cause, and while he still keeps his funeral plans in the back of his mind, he plans on being the cause for many others before his own death comes.

Connections

Cassiel Avery

Maya Zabini

Regulus Black

The Carrow Twins

Rodolphus Lestrange

Mary MacDonald

Evan Rosier

Lucius Malfoy

Severus Snape

Barty Crouch Jr.

Status: Open

[lukasmcsbr]

MCSM Season 3 Chapter 8:The Quiet One

Please Share,@final-gift,@grayscaleocelot ,@silversilence14 , @atarimarque and @mulberrycheeseburger

With Jesse and Aiden separated from their friends,they decide to keep searching for the temple where the Ender Pearl of Hatred is stored without the rest of the New Order of The Stone,so they walk through the vast jungle,cutting down the vines in their way using their swords,while talking:

Aiden:Do you really think it's possible?To bring someone back?

Jesse:I've seen a lot of things in my life,at first i didn't,but now...i'm not so sure...but if they really bring Romeo back...the thing that scares me the most is_

Aiden:He won't be the man you'd recognize?

Jesse:(nods)I had Beacontown's greatest villain as Romeo,we had an...unusual relationship,but as much as we fought,i still miss him,he sacrificed himself for us,and all he wanted was have some friends

Aiden:He wans't the greatest villain

Jesse:No?Oh,you probably think it was Cassie,or the Wither Storm,oh,don't tell me,Ivor!

Aiden:No!Uh,it's the one you never knew it was there in the first place,the one who gets away!

Jesse:The Quiet One...

As they keep walking,a strange giant creature emerges from the lake besides them,and runs after them

Unknow Creature:[roars in rage]

Jesse and Aiden:AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Jesse:Run!

The creature almost catches them,Jesse tries to attack it with his iron sword,but the sword easily breaks at the creature's claws

Jesse:There goes a very good sword...

Aiden:[spots a lake]We'll lose it there!

They jump in what they believe to be an lake,but it turns out it was a waterfall,but they only realize this when they have already jump

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the ship,the New Order of the Stone is trying contact with Jesse and Aiden,but they aren't succesful

Petra:Ugh,we'll never find them if we just stay here!

Olivia:But we need to stay here and guard the ship,who knows what's inside that forest?

Radar:Petra's right!We should be looking for them out there!

Ivor:It's best we stay here!There are things in this island that doens't give value to OUR lives!

They hear a monstruous roar,followed by what appear to be two males screaming

Lukas:Jesse and Aiden...

Jack:We better finish these repairs before they turn into monster food

Ivor:Guys,i've just finished my investigations!

Olivia:Investigations of what?

Ivor:To find out The Quiet One's identity!

They hear an loud giggle,realizing the Blaze Rods are in the island

Gill:Look!There's a ship in the beach!

Maya:[spots the ship]Um,this is gonna be fun,hahaha

BR Biker #1:Hum...it's just...

Gill:What is it?

BR Biker #1:What about the others who went here and never came back?

BR Biker #2:And the legends about the sea monster?

Gill:And what do you think the Quiet One will do to you,hum?

BR Biker #1:uh...

Maya:It will be worse then whatever we find in this island,i promisse you!

Gill:Let's keep moving!

They keep heading towards their enemies,but they stop in a cliff with no bridge

Gill:Why are stopping?

Maya:Because i don't fly!(points at cliff)

Gill:Why Fly?When you have THIS![he reveals the Ender Pearl of Deception,and places in his right arm]

Gill's eyes start to glow orange,the spot where he placed the pearl(his arm)begin to liberate what appears to be some sort of orange energy,wich almost covers his right arm ,then,Gill gains telekinetic powers,allowing him to move a pile of rocks to form a bridge so that the Blaze Rods could cross with their bikes,and he evily laughs with a demonic voice given by the pearl while doing so

Gill:HAHAHAHAAHAAAHAHHAHA!!!![he takes the pearl off and returns to his bike]

Maya:Now let's go!Yeyeyeyeyeyaaaaaaaa[she giggles]

They head to the New Order of the Stone,who are talking about Ivor's discovery

Olivia:So you know who the Quiet One is?

Ivor:Yes,i've been investigating for a while,but then i realized he's been under our noses all this time!

Everyone:...

Ivor:Ugh,people come on,it's so obvious,only one person could possess such hatred in Jesse,to form an evil biker organization to ressurrect his worst enemy!

Olivia:Wait!I get it!In the palace,the only known person that was out of there to warn the Blaze Rods and set those explosions was...

Everyone frezzes with the shocking realization

Lukas:Aiden is The Quiet One!

They all look at eachother,shocked by the news that they were being tricked all this time

Olivia:We must warn Jesse!Immediately!

Lukas runs to the ship's wheel,but before he could bring the ship back to the beach,Maya blocks his hand from the wheel with one of her sais

Maya:Ah-Ah-Ah,I woudn't do that if i were you!

The Blaze Rods climb in the ship and surprise them,evily laughing

Maya:The Quiet One wouldn't like that!

The bikers then attack the New Order of The Stone with swords and biker knifes

Blaze Rods:[yelling as they attack the New Order of The Stone]YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Since the Order was out numbered,they coudn't fight for long,even if they were all trained in martial arts[Ivor taught them],they were able to draw their respective weapons and hold back for a minute,all they were able to do was throw the bikers away from the ship,kicking and clashing swords with them,but when Lukas clashes his spear with Maya's sai,Gill reveals the Ender Pearl of Deception to them and uses it,while The White Pumpkin shows out of nowhere and uses the Ender Pearl of Vengeance to gain four arms and four axes,it was there that the New Order of The Stone realized they are surrounded and captured by the Blaze Rods!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesse and Aiden emerge from the river they fell early and swim to land

Jesse:Arf,Arf..Aiden...we made it!

Aiden:Yeah,barely

Jesse:No,i mean,to the temple,we found the temple!

They see the temple were the Ender Pearl of Hatred is stored,behind the waterfall they just fell,while Jesse is looking at it,smiling,Aiden is behind him,making an evil smile.

~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter~~~~~~~~~~

Please share and like✌

[calamity-chaos]

Over Your Dead Body

Paring: Eventual Demon!Gabriel x Reader

Warnings: Demon Gabe’s kind of a dick

Word Count: 1621

Part Two

The air was silent, save for the soft crunch of frost underfoot, as you made your way forward. You were the only person present…well only living person, you amended, briefly glancing down at the grey headstones.

It made sense, you being the only person there. It was almost sunset, on a cold grey day, it would have been stranger if there had been other people in the cemetery with you, but still…the silence was oppressive, it felt wrong.

You kept finding yourself tense with your hand on your gun, as if ready for a fight. You shook your head, trying to refocus. Kneeling down, you tried to make out the faded name engraved on the nearest headstone.

The blood in your veins turned to ice, and you read the name again, and then again. Maya Sinclair.  Your best friend.

“No” you whispered, “No, that’s impossible. I burned you.” You shot to your feet and stumbled backward, before tripping on yet another tombstone with yet another name: Your Brother’s.

Panicking, you whipped your gaze around wildly, as names, all very familiar, and all very dead, jumped out at you from the crumbling tombs. You jumped to your feet again, pulling your gun out of your holster, swinging it around in a panic trying to find a target.

The cemetery was still and silent, and after a minute your panic was replaced with embarrassment at your loss of control. Lowering your gun, you sat down on the nearest headstone trying to calm your nerves.

Something still felt wrong. The air felt heavy and the silence suffocating and the names. The names of people you had loved and lost, people you had failed to save. You head ached and you tried to remember why you were here, what case you were on or even where you were. With a rising panic, you realized you had no answers.

Once again you stood and started to run back the way you had come before your foot hit a root and you went crashing to the ground. Your nose throbbed and you tasted blood in your mouth. Blinking tears from your eyes, you struggled to rise, before realizing that your foot was still caught on the root.

You turned to untangled yourself and then froze. It was, in fact, not a root that you had tripped on. A hand had wrapped around you. A decomposed, sticking out of the ground, honest to goodness zombie hand.

“What the fuck” You breathed, still rooted to the spot. “What the fuck, What the actual    f u c k!!”

Another hand broke the surface, and you ripped your leg free and sprinted for the cemetery gate. You could see the movement as you passed, more bodies pushing free. The silence was finally broken by the groans of the dead, and you gagged as the smell of decay assaulted you.  

You reached the iron gate, almost slamming into it in your rush. You shoved at it, and when it didn’t budge your eyes fell on the thick chains that held it shut. Your gaze flicked up to the top of the gate and walls surrounding and there was nothing, no trees or vines to help an otherwise impossible climb.

You turned to face the cemetery to find corpses slowly limping towards you, tripping over tombstones as they went. Raising your gun, you took aim and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Nothing but the faint clicks of an empty gun.

There were no bullets. Of course, there were no fucking bullets.  Your mouth twitched before an explosion of giggles escaped you. You slid down the gate, body shaking with hysterical, manic laughter. And just for a second the whole scene in fount of you paused as if you had confused whatever malicious director was responsible for your own personal horror movie.

…Malicious Director…

           Something in your brain finally clicked, and your laughter slowly petered off.

“Gabriel”

The moment you spoke the shambling corpses stopped dead in their tracks. Your hair stood on end, and you suddenly felt an intense gaze on you.  You fought the urge to curl up into a ball to escape the oppressive stare, and instead scanned the area for any sign of the fallen angel. After a few a few agonizing seconds he finally spoke, not aloud but inside your head.

“Well,” the Archangel said “That’s new” Then there was the faint click of fingers and the world once again went dark.

 “Goddammit” You desperately turned the key in the ignition. The poor engine gave another feeble attempt to start before failing once again. Cursing, you got out of the car, and slammed the door behind you. Shivering, you pulled your jacket tighter around your body as the cold wind whipped through your hair.

The night was cloudy and the harvest moon hung low in the sky, bloated with menace and promising despair. You angrily wrenched open the hood of your car to find a dead battery. Pretty much what you had been expecting, but that didn’t make it any better.

The road you had been traveling on was barren of any traffic, and this late at night it was unlikely there would be any. The thick wall of trees that bordered each side of the road blocked your view. Sighing, you gritted your teeth and began the long walk to wherever the nearest point of civilization was.

Reaching a bend in the road, you turned and the trees thinned out enough to see an old castle just a few miles ahead. And-as if on cue-bats began to fly out of the tallest spire.

“No,” You said to the air. “No way. Uh-uh” You turned on your heel and began walking back towards your car. “Hey Hitchcock, you forgot the Stormy part of ‘A dArK aNd StOrMy NiGhT’

Lightning lit up the sky and thunder roared making you jump. An icy deluge soaked your clothes instantly, and you quickened your pace. You rounded the bend again only to find that your car had mysteriously vanished.

Asshole

           You stalked towards the nearest tree and sat under it crossing your arms. You fell backward, arms flailing as the entire forest disappeared, leaving you sitting in an empty field. You began to feel numb and the castle beckoned, seeming somehow closer than before. You shook your head again and curled up to into ball.

And then the rain was gone, and the silence rang your ears. You lifted your head and found that you were now inside the castle, leaning against a stone wall. A fire cracked welcomingly in the hearth on the opposite side of the room. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. “No”  

All at once the fire went out, leaving you in darkness. The walls became wet and you caught the coppery reek of blood. You heard faint skittering noises and the distinct sound of something breathing.

You sneezed, not even bothering to be quiet. “Oh c’mon,” You said with the desperate confidence of an already dead man. “Is this really all you’ve got, the cause of all the ways to go, this is just…lame.” You wiped your nose and inched away from the bleeding walls. “ ’way Ketch was talking about you…I dunno, I expected more than…campy horror movie…

You blinked, blinded by the sunlight. As your eyes adjusted you found yourself standing in an enormous coliseum. The crowd roared, and you flinched at the sheer volume of noise. As your eyes adjusted, you made the unfortunate discovery that the audience was not, in fact human. They were monsters, werewolf’s, spirits, wendigo, vampire and more that you didn’t recognize.

Your gaze traveled up the stands until you saw Him. Sitting in the box meant for an emperor was Gabriel himself. Your eyes met briefly, before his gaze traveled down, smirking. Flushing you realized that the armor you were now wearing was designed more for aesthetic than anything else. At least you had a sword.

The screech of metal had your eyes snap forward, and you watched as the giant gate opposite you slowly creaked open. A blast of hot air hit you, and your breath caught in your throat as the beast stepped out.

You knew what it was, of course, although the drawings in old books didn’t do the real thing justice. About the size of an elephant, the monster had a lion’s head, and a serpentine tail attached to a goat’s back legs. A Chimera.

The monster stretched and yawned, curls of flames licking around its teeth. Its gaze scanned the arena before locking on to you. Roaring, it spewed white-hot fire at you and you turned and ran.

The crowd jeered and laughed as you desperately looking for any escape. The Chimera roared again, and you dropped to the ground to avoid the flames. One of its paws slammed into you and you went flying, smashing into the wall.

Your head erupted in pain. Rolling over you spat out blood and teeth. The crowd was now calling for death and you lifted your gaze. Gabriel was smirking, and when you caught his eyes, made a mock pout before giving the thumbs up.

The crowded roared in approval and you could see the Chimera charging, but something was bothering you. You looked from Gabriel to your own blood on the floor as your throbbing head tried to find the connection. You began to frantically draw in the dirt and blood, praying to anyone that would listen that this one would work, that the Men of Letters had gotten just this one right.

Vision growing dark, you brought your hand down on the sigil, and the last thing you heard was a primordial scream of rage.

Gabriel: @hankypranky @luciferseclipse @nobodys-baby-now

[askaceattorney]

Previously on Ask Ace Attorney...

Let us begin.

O Holy Mother!  We hold this character essay in your name!  Let the eyes of everyone here be clear, and our ears be blah, blah, blah, anyway, let’s do this...

Rayfa Padma Khura’in -- Princess, Royal Priestess, skilled dancer, and courtroom prodigy...and all at the young age of 14.

But she serves as something even more important from the very first moment we see her in Spirit of Justice -- a symbol of the Kingdom of Khura’in itself.

Beautiful, elegant, proud, ornately decorated...  At the same time, however...

She’s also a bit disdainful toward those she doesn’t like.  That, unfortunately, characterizes most of Khura’in as well -- any defense attorneys who show their face there meet with not only disdain, but hatred, and the Princess is no exception.  In fact, there may be no better example of pure, unbridled prejudice toward outsiders than the kind she expresses toward Phoenix and Maya.

One has to wonder, what could have inspired so much hatred against an entire group of people?

Whether the blame falls on her, her surrogate parents, or both, this is one issue where she refuses to budge.  That is, until...

Out of nowhere (or out of Japanifornia, to be accurate), a foreign lawyer suddenly rushes to the defense of a boy who’s been charged with murder.  Just the fact that he’s willing to put his life on the line to defend him is crazy enough, but when his interpretations of her Divination Seance turn out to be truer than hers, her reaction, as well as the entire courtroom’s reaction, is one of utter disbelief.  Disbelief and anger.  In fact, it gets to the point where the bailiff has to pull her out of the courtroom, screaming childish insults at the barb-headed lawyer.

This leads me to one of my favorite things about Rayfa.  When I first saw a picture of her before the game was released, I imagined her to be the calm, mature type who spoke and acted gracefully.  At first glance, that’s precisely how she is, but later in the game, when you get to see her true personality...

She’s kind of a brat.  There’s really no other way to put it -- she has a short temper, a big ego, and an unwillingness to let others get their way if it inconveniences her.  With that in mind, it’s no surprise that having a foreign lawyer constantly point out her mistakes makes her want to have him sent to prison, beheaded, de-tongued, etc.  Luckily, all she’s able to do is “ka-tonk” him on the head with her staff.

But the realization that her Insights can be inaccurate is just the beginning of a string of revelations that she (and everyone in Khura’in) is set to experience.  As Phoenix and his team uncover more of the sinister truth about the country’s monarchy, Rayfa is hit with one disillusioning moment after another:

BOOM!  People outside of Khura’in are capable of channeling spirits.

BOOM!  The Queen and Minister of Justice are using a murderer in disguise to quell the revolution.

BOOM!  The Minister of Justice tried to stage a coup d’etat against the Queen.

BOOM!  The Queen’s just as murderous and corrupt as he was.

And to top it all off, BOOM!  They aren’t even her true parents.  She is, in fact, the daughter of a rebel leader and the former Queen, who had been presumed dead (yet another revelation).  Not only that, but she’d been living with her mother (under the guise of her caretaker) all this time.  The only way the Princess’s life could be even more bizarre is if she turned out to be from a faraway galaxy!  Oh, wait...

But there’s one more amazing discovery she makes in the end -- what she’s truly made of.  After the trial involving the Inmee couple leaves her with, as she puts it, a “heavy truth in (her) heart” -- the realization that any number of her past Insights could’ve been wrong -- she begins to seriously question her ability to do what she’s been doing so proudly for years, and whether or not she’s even worthy of doing it.  Luckily, thanks to a small pep talk from Maya and Phoenix, she doesn’t lose her confidence entirely.

But then, when the moment of truth arrives, she herself is the one who proves that she’s, in Maya’s words, “more than capable.”  After everything she’s been through -- losing her surrogate father, learning the truth about her family, and experiencing her first failure at performing the Divination Seance (and not a pleasant one, either), not to mention the discouragement and verbal abuse she endures from her surrogate mother -- she’s faced with the decision to either give up or try once more against her surrogate mother’s wishes.  No one could blame her if she did give up, but...

With the encouragement of Phoenix and Apollo, Rayfa pushes past her fear and discovers for herself what the true value of her power is for the Halls of Justice, and what her sacred duty is, contrary to what she’s been taught up until now.

And hey, would you look at that?  She even removed her own robe.  This moment was such an important one for her (and, once again, Khura’in) that it wasn’t just given its own animation, but also a voice-over.  At this point, Rayfa not only proves herself to be a competent Royal Preistess, but that she has the potential to be a better ruler than Ga’ran ever was.  While most of the credit for dethroning the Queen goes to Apollo, it can easily be argued that she was also overthrown by her own 14-year-old niece.  You can afford to be quite proud of yourself, Princess.

And what really makes her story amazing is the fact that she’s essentially a side character, and her story is mostly a side-plot to go with the main one.  Even as a non-playable character, her development throughout the game is just as intriguing as Phoenix’s, Apollo’s, Athena’s, or anyone else’s.  You have to hand it to Capcom for making her so enjoyable as a spoiled Princess turned hero behind the scenes of the main story.  That’s my Insight of her, anyway.

-The Co-Mod

[milesgotomoon]

New Zealand- Enjoy While You Are Alive

TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND FOR TRAVEL LOVER

Auckland: Sailors Heaven

On the North Island of New Zealand, you'll find Auckland, a large city place around stunning inlets and bays. Unsurprisingly, most of these Auckland's most celebrated activities are to do together with drinking water. Included in these are supper cruises in the refuge and also swimming with dolphins.

Shipping: how to do around and there:

Newzealand's main worldwide airport is situated in Auckland. Flights additionally operate domestically from the South Island into Auckland.

Auckland town covers an extensive area, therefore, it is wise to circumvent making use of a bicycle or taxi. To reach different attractions and towns, you will find bus and rail providers.

Climate

Owing to its location from the southern hemisphere, summer in New Zealand is from November to April. In summertime temperatures are approximately 20 C and also sunlight is fairly light since it doesn't ordinarily suspend.

Lodging: Luxurious budget remains

The net provides some of the best information around the price tag, scope, and site of all accommodations in Auckland.

Sights & Occasions

There are functions held annually in Auckland, even though the city comes to life in the summertime.

Decision Sports lovers can appreciate January together with the Open Tennis Championships as well as also the Captain Hobson Salon Day Regatta.

Conclusion In March, Western Springs holds the Pasifika Festival with Polynesian performances and music.

Auckland Botanical Gardens have a show in November called the Ellerslie Flower Show.

Wellington: Exquisite town of viewpoints Home towards the main federal government properties, Wellington also has a bustling restaurant and amusement culture.

Transport: the best way to do there and around:

Domestic flights from Auckland and Christchurch, as well as some other destinations, connect with Wellington airport. A ferry additionally makes it possible to reach the south island city of Picton.

A big bus route runs from Auckland to Wellington. For around in and around the city there are regional train and bus services, in addition to taxies.

Weather Conditions

Located on the coast, Wellington could suffer from windy weather.

Accommodation: Luxurious funding stays

The web provides some of the greatest advice about the price tag, range, and site of lodges in Wellington.

Attractions & Activities

Numerous cultural and sporting events happen while in the capital city, listed below are just a few.

Throughout January, the town hosts Wellington Cup Week together with style, live songs not to mention horse racing.

The Jazz festival and Fashion Festival are equally throughout October.

Christchurch: Have pleasure with character

Of Christchurch, it is possible to get character and have pleasure in New Zealand's lakes, lakes, mountains, and beaches. Getting the largest city in the Southern Island, you will find always attractions for people like the Antarctic Centre, wildlife showcases, gondola excursions and more.

Transport: how to do there and around:

The international airport in this South Island is currently in Christchurch, connecting with Australia and several different locations. Air New Zealand serves other domestic places. Navigating around is simple using the town's cost-effective bus support and also a reliable railroad system.

Lodging: Luxury to funding remains

The web provides the optimal/optimally advice around the cost, scope and site of lodges in Christchurch.

Attractions & Functions:

A global festival of flowers is held in Christchurch throughout the month os February.

Fine audio, food, and wine may be appreciated throughout Augusts International Jazz Festival

Even though occasionally times from the shadow of its inner neighbor, NewZealand is worlds besides some other adventure seen everywhere plus it's geographically significantly further inland than many men and women visualize. Newzealand is really a former British colony, even using fascinating ethnic influences as a result of its spot in southern Polynesia. Massive swaths of black meadows, screaming geysers, creaking glaciers, and also endless stretches of enchanting beaches invite visitors to create the long drag across seas to gratify at the disarming normal magnificence of NewZealand year annually.

Newzealand was among the very last landmasses to become occupied, just found out in 800 advertisements by Egyptian navigator Kupe. The discovery initiated a regular flow of migration out of French Polynesia before Dutch Abel Tasman last but not least James prepare came round the temples and maintained them to get its British Crown, dominated by Australia. The indigenous Maya men and women continue to be a significant minority, so accentuating the cultural weather of this predominantly European (Pakeha) state.

Cinematic Sanctuaries and also Bungy* leaping Buffs

NewZealand's tradition is broken up to 2 leading metropolitan islands. Based on the place you traveling and some time of the year, those things to do and topography will vary radically. The South Island is known because of its one of a kind relics of this past Ice Age, '' the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers, that dive just under the Hawaiian island's tallest summit within the Southern Alps, Mount prepare. All these glaciers are especially striking since they keep to stream by means of temperate volcano strikingly near Sealevel. Cold temperatures from the Alps location is good for ski, mountaineering, and film-making -- scenes in The Chronicles of Narnia had been filmed right here. To get an exciting wildlife adventure, don't overlook out the South Island's Otago Peninsula at which you may delight in a comfy breakfast and bed one of the sea turtles, sea turtles, and penguin lands, to list a couple.

The North Island is warmer throughout summertime and warmer all calendar year. Put your self on border' using a day at calm Lake Taupo,'' which likewise appears to meet without the caldera of a few among the biggest super-volcanoes on earth. Extreme outside sports tack on both the islands, as NewZealand could be your initial inventor of Bungy Jumping (additionally bought at Lake Taupo) one of other visually dangerous pursuits. The west coasts are acutely popular for blackwater rafting or else called cave rafting. This thrilling encounter shouldn't be missed by the newcomer. When a fresh hub speed is perhaps not everything it is you're interested in finding, create your holiday approach to Ninety Mile beachfront in the exact north of this island; even the title isn't deceiving along with the adventure will be complete paradise at the summertime. The good Barrier Island into the east is really a mind-blowing submerged underwater adventure for the majority of scuba divers and also an equally magnificent escape for its sand-bound.

Newzealand can be a vacation destination for many reasons, together with activities exposing the components along with cities that are progressive to maintain yourself updated with people of more quickly tempo. Newzealand may possibly be a long ways from many places from the planet, nonetheless, it's undoubtedly worthwhile almost any amount of traveling to relish the benefits with the country's presence. Go to New Zealand and practical experience on your own.

SOUTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND

Exhilaration is not far apart from the South Island. Quickly flowing rivers run throughout the rugged ravines, subsequently growl throughout deserts stripped from the Southern Alps. Exotic lakes deliver boundless diversions, along with also the assorted substances which sweep over the eastern and western coasts take food along with a wide range of striking marine daily life.

Up while from the north gold sand and also innumerable un-touched coves bring a stable field of sea kayakers and canoeists into Abel Tasman National Park.

Only across the corner, the profoundly incised slopes of the Marlborough appears to draw boaties along with fisher-folk into it really is fiords and inlets.

The combination of cold and hot currents and also the diving continental shelf attract bees, minke, humpback, and southern right whales into over a couple of areas of this Kaikoura shore, together side orcas, dolphins, and other creatures.

One of their absolute most dramatic rides are located on the Shotover and also Kawarau rivers nearby Queenstown, the hotel called the venture capital of the earth, at which in fact the drivers estimate openings into this meter and play thrilling twists and finishes out.

For all individuals following having a marginally slower tempo, whitewater rafting may draw the exact whoops and cries of glee.

From the profound temperate corner of the South Island, the powerful fiords of Fiordland do have significantly more openings, as thick rain makes a coating of black stained fresh-water, underneath which certainly is a wide scope of corals, fish, and sponges.

[sfdfmoviereviews]

Upcoming Flicks January 2018

Here are the upcoming films being released in Australia in January 2018, accompanied by my personal thoughts of them.

January 1

·         Pitch Perfect 3

The girls have reteamed for one last hurrah and are on tour with the USO, singing for the troops overseas, along with some other musical groups. Genre: Musical Comedy Director: Trish Sie Stars: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp, Ruby Rose Recommendation: I reckon it won’t be worth the price of admission. The first one was a great success. The oddball characters thrown together were comedy gold, but should not have been repeated. The sequel provided nothing new and now I think they are milking a cow that’s giving sour milk. It’ll be aca-crapa.

 ·         Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

After the police fail to solver her daughter’s murder, Mildred Hayes buys advertising space on local billboards slamming the local police. Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama Director: Martin McDonagh Stars: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Caleb Landry Jones, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage Recommendation: Three Billboards won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, is  being critically acclaimed. There is a fantastic cast with what looks to be a compelling story and characters. I think this is the perfect movie to start 2018.

  January 4

·         All the Money in the World

Inspired by true events, All the Money in the World is the story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, whose rich oil giant grandfather doesn’t hand over the $17M the kidnappers are demanding. Genre: Thriller Director: Ridley Scott Stars: Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Charlie Shotwell, Charlie Plummer Recommendation: You may have heard about this movie after Ridley Scott recast and reshot the film with Christopher Plummer after the controversy around Kevin Spacey. Probably a better choice anyway as Plummer would be closer to the age of the tight-arse grandfather. The trailer looks good. It has an intense spy thriller vibe. See it.

   January 11

·         Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour is the war biopic of Winston Churchill as he is sworn in as Prime Minister of Great Britain just prior to the first World War. Genre: War/Biopic Director: Joe Wright Stars: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, John Hurt Recommendation: See it. It’s a great piece of history concerning an integral person who changed the course of the world. Plus, you cannot go wrong with Gary Oldman.

 ·         The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature

Some animals need to stop a greedy mayor from destroying their bit of nature for an amusement park. Genre: Animation Director: Cal Brunker Stars: Will Arnett, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Katherine Heigl, Jackie Chan, Maya Rudolph, Isabela Moner, Bobby Cannavale, Sebastian Maniscalco Recommendation: To quote my wife “There was a Nut Job 1?” I’m surprised they made the second. Skip it.

 ·         The Post

The U.S.’s first female newspaper publisher uncovers government  secrets that have spanned four presidents, and seeks to make them public. Genre: Biographical Drama Director: Steven Spielberg Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson Recommendation: Spielberg, Streep and Hanks. The three biggest names in Hollywood comes together to make a hard hitting bio drama. Count me in. Spielberg is my favourite director and Hanks is, in my opinion, the greatest working actor today. You cannot miss this. Also, everything about it screams Academy Awards.

 January 18

·         Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Thomas and his mates must break into the Last City, the deadliest maze of all in the third and final instalment of the Maze Runner series. Genre: Sci-Fi/ Adventure Director: Wes Ball Stars: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Katherine McNamara, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosa Salazar, Barry Pepper, Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson Recommendation: At least the Pitch Perfect cow was giving sour milk. This is like milking a dead cow. Critics and audiences agree that the first was average at best, and the second was just plain terrible. May as well complete the trilogy, I suppose. Skip it.

 ·         Swinging Safari

This Australian comedy shows us the sexual swinging 1970s in a small beach-side town. Fearless kids and carefree parenting by day, key party by night.  Genre: Comedy Director: Stephan Elliott Stars: Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Radha Mitchell, Julian McMahon, Asher Keddie, Jeremy Sims, Jack Thompson Recommendation: Australian comedies set in the 70s and 80s are hilarious. I loved the trailer for this. Elliott directing Pearce again with Neighbours legend Minogue (I also think she sings) tops it off for me. Julian McMahon… I haven’t seen him since he shimmered out of Charmed. See it.

 ·         The Commuter

Michael, an insurance salesman, is riding the train home when things go amiss. Michael gets caught up in a criminal conspiracy and races the clock to uncover a mystery passenger before it is too late for them all. Genre: Action Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Stars: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Sam Neill, Patrick Wilson Recommendation: Collet-Serra sure likes to get himself a bit of Neeson. I suppose we are lucky he wasn’t cast in the Shallows or the shark would never have had a chance. It’s weird. The start of the trailer intrigues and surprises me. It mystery aspect has me yearning to see it but then the last half of the trailer makes it seem like a generic Liam Neeson actin flick on a train, which has me yawning, so I’ll give it a 50/50 chance of it being any good.

 ·         The Shape of Water

During the Cold War, a mute cleaner of a top secret government laboratory forms a relationship with their experiment, a creature who looks like should have come from the Black Lagoon. Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Thriller Director: Guillermo del Toro Stars: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Lauren Lee Smith, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins Recommendation: This really looks fantastic. I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Coming from the mind of del Toro with this cast and Doug Jones (aka Suru from Star Trek Discovery) as the creature I have high hopes that I’ll be talking about this in my ‘Best of 2018’ list.

  January 25

 ·         Den of Thieves

Den of Thieves follows a group of bank robbers who have their eyes set on the Federal Bank, while the elite unit of cops with unconventional police morals chase them around every turn. Genre: Action Director: Christian Gudegast Stars: Gerard Butler, 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Recommendation: Skip it. There is nothing new here.

 ·         I, Tonya

If you were curious about the upbringing and what led to Tonya Hardings ice skating success and her attack of a fellow competitor, this is your chance to find out. Genre: Biographical drama Director: Craig Gillespie Stars: Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan Recommendation: Who knew ice skating could hold so much potential for a decent crime drama. Surprisingly, I am keen for it. See it.

 ·         Sweet Country

Based on a true story, Sam, an aboriginal stockman, in the Northern Territory in 1929, kills the white station owner in self defence and goes on the run. Sam and his wife flee into the outback only to give themselves up due to the health of his pregnant wife. Genre: Biographical Crime Drama Director: Warwick Thornton Stars: Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Hamilton Morris Recommendation: Sweet Country looks to be a great Australian western. There is such a rich story to be told here and the trailer has me wanting to see how it all unfolds. See it.

  As usual, January in Australia is mostly biopics and Oscar bait films with a few shit ones thrown in for good measure. My picks for the month are The Post, The Shape of Water and for a good laugh, Swinging Safari. Let us know what you are planning on seeing.

-Terry