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orangedodge · 3 years

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@dannybagpipesarecalling replied to your text post:

I didn't realize those were Destiny's diaries either. If you would be so kind, can you explain how Emma knows? Unfortunately I haven't read enough comics to know this backstory.

I am glad you asked about this, because it gives me an excuse to post about it while hopefully not sounding like a conspiracy blog. I've been slightly obsessed with this idea since Emma first turned up in House of X, so I'm rather excited that “maybe Destiny's Diaries still exist” isn't just my weird crack canon any longer.

Emma was, in short, the last person who can be established to have control over the whereabouts of the diaries. And as one of the top five telepaths in the world, who has expressly defended that secret from the likes of Exodus and Mr. Sinister, she is capable of preventing Professor X from just taking the information from her. So barring new retcons, if Moira has the diaries now, they had to have been obtained directly from Emma.

That's not enough to say that she turned them over to Moira specifically. She could have given them to Charles or Er—okay, no, she wouldn't give them to Charles. There could be a circumstance where she'd trust them to Erik though. But in that contingency, I think there's enough context to support Emma knowing why they'd want them and for who. To be clear though, I would be less confident about making that assertion if Emma hadn't just opened the “Dr. Moira MacTaggert Memorial Public Hospital” expressly to freak out Charles and Erik, and if HoxPox hadn't already linked them by showing Moira to be worried about what Emma was up to.

(This got kind of long so I thought it'd be helpful to say the important part up front before spiraling down the continuity rabbit hole)

The origins and resulting chain of custody for Destiny's Diaries are as follows: One January, decades ago, Destiny began recording visions of the future in a series of diaries. Filling one book per month, she continued writing for thirteen months. This process was described as auto-writing, and Destiny herself did not have a complete memory of what she had written, nor did she understand the meaning of much of what she wrote.

Nonetheless, the July diary contained a recording of the events leading up to the defeat of Apocalypse, and another diary contained information on the life of Hope Summers, so they've been very relevant to the events of the modern era. It's not explicit yet that Krakoa's founding is also in the diaries, but because we know Destiny had at least one separate vision of Krakoa, and because Moira is interested in reading them, it seems fairly likely that whatever Moira, Charles, and Erik have been doing behind the scenes is also in there.

In the decades since Destiny authored them, most of these diaries were lost, except for five that Mystique kept hold of, and a sixth that Irene hid away herself. After Mystique killed 'Moira,' she sent her five diaries to Professor X, hoping that the temptation of using them would consume his life and lead him toward a ruinous fate. Destiny meanwhile had entrusted the sixth diary to Shadowcat (who Destiny met in 1936, while she was time traveling and having an affair with Moira's grandfather don't worry about it), who eventually became so freaked out by something she read in it that she vanished on a mission, let her friends believe her dead for weeks, and had herself deleted from Cerebro, while leaving the diary to Rogue for safekeeping while she was away.

(That last chain of events isn't incredibly important, I just think it becomes kind of lol in light of current canon)

Rogue went on to take that diary and the research that had been done on it to Storm. Storm and Rogue then formed a splinter team of X-Men, to journey the world searching for the lost diaries, believing Professor X could not be trusted. Along the way a seventh book turned up with a treasure hunter named Vargas (don't worry about him), and an eighth was found by Gateway and given to Rogue in a dream. Eventually Storm tried to get Phoenix to collect Professor X's diaries for her, but they discovered that they had already been stolen (Shadowcat did it).

The rest of the diary hunt isn't really important, just that Kitty eventually ended up retrieving the full set, before she rejoined the X-Men, which only happened after Xavier had left Scott and Emma to run the school. This timeline is important for establishing that Xavier has never possessed the full set of diaries himself, and was not involved in collecting the lost books at any point, nor was he present at the time the diaries were brought to the school and fell under Emma's protection. This rules out the possibility that the set of diaries we've previously seen were somehow forged by Xavier.

Xavier would not return to the school until after losing his mutant powers, whereupon he departed for space on an adventure to another galaxy. He was unavailable, therefore, to have undertaken any telepathic shenanigans, so what happens next actually happened, and is not a psychic illusion. While Xavier was gone, Mr. Sinister recruited Exodus and Mystique, and began a campaign of hunting down precognitive psychics, time travelers, and any other sources of information on the future. Scott, Emma, and Kitty meanwhile predicted that they were going to be next, and came up with a bananas plan to keep the books safe.

X-Men volume 2 no. 203 by Mike Carey (Writer), Humberto Ramos (Penciler), Carlos Cuevas (Inker), Studio F’s Edgar Delgado (Colorist), Virtual Calligraphy’s Cory Petit (Letterer), Will Panzo (Assistant Editor), Nick Lowe (Editor), Joe Quesada (Editor in Chief), Dan Buckley (Publisher)

First they hid the diaries somewhere in parts unknown. Emma then altered the minds of “all of us” (everyone who lived at the mansion at that time) to perceive a bunch of decoy books as the real thing. She then erased Kitty's memory, and her own, so that no telepath would be able to extract the information by force, before they gave each other a series of post-hypnotic triggers so they could restore one another's memories if they ever needed the books again. When eventually Exodus attacked the school looking for the books, they restored their memories, and decided to send another team to the hidden location where they'd buried a mystery box. Emma gave this location to Sam and Bobby, who dug up the box, which was never opened, and which was destroyed by Gambit during a firefight with Sinister's forces before anyone could confirm its contents.

This was intended by author Mike Carey to be the end of Destiny's Diaries, a dropped plot from a previous creative run, that was vaguely useful at building up to the Messiah Complex crossover, but was a lot more trouble than it was worth to an author who was writing about the X-Men trying to avert a bad future. But there's a lot of room in the story he wrote for the diaries to have survived after all.

I think it's actually really suspicious that the box was accessible to Bobby and Sam at all. Why not drop it under a mountain? Why not bury it under the ocean? Why not keep it phased in a tree? And it's a big red box with a big red 'X' on it. I know the X-Men love their branding and all, but that's going pretty far.

No one actually opens the box before Gambit blows it up either. It could have contained more decoys, or nothing at all.

And when talking among themselves, Emma and Kitty never actually say that they're sending the X-Men to retrieve the diaries. They say that they know where the diaries are, and then send the X-Men to a place where they've buried something. The intent of the author is clear, but there's room in the dialogue for a later writer to decide that this just was another plan to keep the books hidden.

So for the entire period of time between assembling the complete collection of thirteen diaries, and their seeming destruction, they are never unaccounted for. Only Emma and Kitty knew the full extent of what they did to hide them, and where they were hidden. If fakes were destroyed instead of the real thing, no one would have known.

We could just be in retcon territory, but I don't think so, because it's fine on its own without any direct changes to canon. And really, faking the destruction of the books to cover up their real location makes a lot more sense than believing Emma Frost actually sent Sam to retrieve the incredibly suspicious looking red box that contained the most important object in the world, while half the super villains on the planet were chasing him.

Believing the diaries weren't really destroyed just requires the reader to accept that Emma would lie to the other X-Men, and keep lying to them for years, and that she'd be willing to put Sam and Bobby's lives at risk to protect that lie. Which she was already doing in that story anyway. She was already lying to everyone when she changed everyone's memories. And she—and Scott and Kitty—was already fine with risking everyone's lives when setting up a decoy trap in a school. So that's why I think this works better as a continuation of the existing, known, story of the diaries, and not a direct retcon to what happened.

In conclusion I think Emma knows about Moira because Moira got the diaries from somewhere, and Emma is the person she could have gotten them from. Nothing proves a direct hand-off in, like, a formal standard of proof or anything, but Emma having access to the diaries for so long, and having been wrapped up in this whole weird plot thread—which involves Moira and most of the Quiet Council—is enough to imply the connection in a story sense.

(ETA - For completion’s sake, there is also a weird story I didn’t go into called Chaos War that was published in 2011 where Moira is resurrected and finds a book in the ruins of the Xavier School that may or may not be one of the diaries, and touching it causes her soul to merge with Destiny’s, who then possesses her and guides her through a quest to destroy an evil god. This was an odd story to place in continuity at the time, and has only gotten stranger, given 1. that couldn’t be the real Moira, 2. Destiny is not merged with her soul. If this is in continuity (it’s been suggested that Moira’s golem was the character in this event), and all of the characters are who they say they are, and if the book in question was actually one of the thirteen diaries (and not some other book that Irene also wrote), then it requires Emma to have deliberately left one of the thirteen books behind for “Moira” to find, which if anything only adds to the likelihood that she knows what’s up)

#x-men #comics #marvel #wednesday spoilers #long post

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palmett-hoes · 4 years

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Hi, I really loved your post with the monsters as Birds of Prey! Was wondering if you had any thoughts on the Foxes as Marvel or Mcu characters? I feel like I could see Dan as Carol Danvers and Andrew for sure is Jessica Jones, idk about the rest.

oh wow old post!!

haha unfortunately i’m not really a comics person so i don’t feel like i can really give the best analysis possible, but i have seen most of the mcu movies and bits and pieces of the netflix show so i’ll try my best. also im using dc characters too bc i want to

1. Dan: I think your instinct with Dan as Captain Marvel is spot-on (at least uhhh,, based on the movie lol sorry comics ppl). Her direct, forceful powers and fighting style are definitely reminiscent of dan’s no-nonsense leadership approach. similarly the themes of overcoming sexism and acceling in a male-dominated industry in the captain marvel movie is pretty much the same as dan’s story establishing herself as the first female exy captain (tho sports is way more valid than the military). plus there’s a lot of emphasis on love and friendship between women that dan is ALL about. also lashana lynch would be a god tier dan wilds fc. Dan could also def have that lawful good Okoye from Black Panther energy. Loyal, disciplined, no-nonsense leader. no powers except discipline. no hair. also danai gurira in 2012 with the dreads and the sword and the cape on TWD was definitely part of my middle school sexual awakening

2. Kevin: Aquaman. this is based pretty much exclusively on the fact that jason momoa is my #1 kevin fc and also that Pasifika kevin is phenomenal and mandatory, actually. otherwise i think he has a decent amount of stick-up-the-ass cyclops energy. or dick grayson nightwing energy but i don’t have any evidence for why. kinda looks like him tho

3. Andrew: andrew gets the most characters bc he’s my favorite. i think ur jessica jones instincts are absolutely correct, both in her storyline (i only watched the first season) and her powers. i’ve seen some powers au and the tendency seems to be giving andrew like,, psychic powers or the like, and i don’t really agree. andrew is a very direct character. he’s pragmatic, he confronts problems head on, and he doesn’t muck about in details. to me this really translates best into physical powers like super strength that help u big punch straight thru all ur problems. also i def think andrew would be not just a solo hero but a mercenary (or a detective) because he’s not altruistic enough to be a standard vigilante. he doesn’t care enough about other people to hang out on rooftops all night waiting for Crime to occur. there’s a price for that. which brings us to the NEXT andrew hero: deadpool. maybe in personality more of a drugged andrew but the superpowered mercenary is really a perfect fit for andrew. also, healing powers have a decidedly tragic poetry to them on andrew. already he’s self-destructive, if he had a healing factor his concern for his own well-being would be so beyond rock bottom it’d be in the earth’s core. even worse when you remember that with a healing factor, as opposed to indestructibility, you still feel all the pain. which brings us to Wolverine and X-23, who have the same thematic points as deadpool but are much more of a personality match and they have knife hands, which i really think andrew would appreciate. ending that sadness train and onto another tho, andrew’s aesthetic and Vibes fit the Winter Soldier just SO well (just that movie tho, not really civil war or anything past that) and a reinterpretation of the captain america story using the twinyards would be incredibly interesting. and finally, one last hero that would work really well for andrew: rogue, only remove the angst around not being able to touch people, andrew would love that. one touch and their comatose? baller. don't fucking touch him.

4. Matt: Shazam. I didn’t see the shazam movie but my dad and brother did and they said it was very funny and all the trailors looked like it had a lot of fun himbo energy and i really think that fits. in terms of matching himbo disaster energy i think i’ve heard good things about comics hawkeye (not mcu). thor?

5. Aaron: Mr. Fantastic. now this might be a stretch but aaron is a character who uses a skin-deep veneer of anger to cover the fact that he’s actually quite pliant and bends to other people’s wills. and he’s a doctor or w/e. he could alse be like,, antman. he’s smart right? hank pym not paul rudd. katelyn can be wasp

6. Seth: Arm Fall Off Boy. no i will not elaborate. ..... ugh fine, but i'm using my favorite piece of superhero media of all time: x-men evolution, the one where they're all teenagers in public high school. seth can be lance alvers/avalanche who’s a bit of a jerk and has a lot of issues with authority and has a rivalry with cyclops very reminiscent of seth with kevin, but still there’s the recurring theme that he’s lashing out because of low self-esteem and a bad situation and he’s a surprisingly sympathetic character who i’m very fond of. his power is earthquakes but i think the name makes that pretty self-explanatory

7. Allison: Iron Man. cocky, bitchy, and rich rich rich. sounds like allison to me. then to elevate it a level higher: emma frost, rich bitch extraordinaire. also if allison had telepathic powers she would be unstoppable. plus one more bitchy, morally-gray blonde (but chaotic this time): Harley Quinn

8. Nicky: Okay so I do wanna give a quick shout-out to Northstar, the first openly gay comicbook superhero, who’s a speedster which I’d actually say fits Nicky pretty well. However, if i had to choose a superhero to represent nicky in presence and powers it would have to be Jubilee from x-men (... from what i’ve heard lol. i’ve never actually consumed any of her Media hahaha anyway) she’s a joyful, energetic presence and her powers are setting off fireworks which i think is a good balance of nicky being a supportive cousin-parent AND a chaotic train wreck garbage trash man. also gonna throw in johnny storm for a cheap 'flaming' joke

9. Renee: Thunder/Blackbird from Black Lightning bc she’s a fufkin lesbian lol. (i don’t watch the show but i do follow nafessa williams’s tag). now the fr ones i’m gonna do together because to me they have the same Vibes so i chose them for the same reasons. Wonder Woman and Storm who to me have the same reserved, impartial, regal energy. honestly ethereal and somewhat otherwordly, and quite literally goddesses. also op as hell. black widow and her “red in my leger” looking for redemption story also fits thematically.

10. Neil: okay lazy answer first: the flash or quicksilver. get it? because they run fast? and neil run too? yea i like to think i've proven myself to be better than such a surface level interpretation but worth the mention ig. so for srs now, mystique and her shape changing powers would be an interesting interpretation of neil's identity issues, but i wanna push it a step further. nightcrawler would actually be possibly the MOST interesting hero to apply to neil 1. because powers still very movement go fast place to place 2. because of the thematic focus on neil's unusual looks and the lengths he goes to hide them, very much in line with the way nightcrawler will use a hologram-projector in order to look human, yet in both cases it's only a surface-level illusion, and 3. his parentage. here, mary would be mystique, which i also think works very well considering mary seemed to be the far more effective chameleon on the run than neil, and also fits with her place as a morally grey character, as mystique herself is often a villain or an antagonist, with her own agenda and shadowy motives. then nathan matches well with nightcrawler's father: azazel, a literal demon, and also where kurt gets his appearance. it's a shockingly coherent narrative between the three of them. then, to also give neil some powers that aren't contingent on his fucked up geneology and rather on his own merit and abilities, Black Canary and her sonic voice parallel the way that neil began to anchor his identity and take ownership over himself through his voice and his sick roasts

and 1 extra, wymack: batman, on account of his altruism, his dedication to second chances, and his many, many adopted children

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anon, ik it's been a sec since you sent this, so i hope it gets back to you. i had a fun time with it and it prompted like,,, 7 different au s that i'll never write

#Anonymous #txt #the foxes #im talkin #my posts

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ofhoneyblood · 4 years

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BRYCE ATLAS WINSLOW

pronouns: HE , HIM , HIS

age: THIRTY - EIGHT

species: HUMAN

nationality: IRISH , ITALIAN , AMERICAN

sexuality: PANSEXUAL / DEMIROMANTIC

sign: AQUARIUS SUN , LIBRA MOON , VIRGO RISING

occupation: OWNER & BOUNCER @ RED HOT PUSSY LIQUORS

+ traits: INVITING. FAIR. FUNNY. OPEN-MINDED. TOLERANT.

-- traits: GUARDED. DETACHED. DESPERATE. SELF-DESTRUCTIVE.

faceclaim: MILO VENTIMIGLIA

soundscapes: HERE

aesthetic: HERE

yo yo you yo , it’s lydia ( yes , that’s my real name ) here with my noble beast bryce winslow ! i have had bryce as a muse longer than any other and it’s been literal years since i’ve written him so i’m extremely excited. this is the first time he will be milo though and i’m super hype to get things going ! i have headcanon after headcanon for him , so hit me up if you want to do something bc i am ready to do some shit !! again , i’m lydia ( or nary , nettle , snottie , etc. ) and i love a good name change , twenty five years old , pansexual demigirl ( she / her & / or they / them ) residing in the central timezone.

this is THIRTY-EIGHT year old BRYCE WINSLOW , the OWNER OF & BOUNCER AT RED HOT PUSSY LIQUORS BURLESQUE AND BOOZE who uses HE / HIM pronouns. he grew up in DUBLIN , IRELAND but came to pleasance in JULY 2006 ON HAPPENSTANCE AND TO RUN AWAY FROM HIS PAST and now enjoys spending his time at FOR KEEPS AND RED HOT PUSSY LIQUORS. BRYCE is written by LYDIA.

PERSONALITY

element: air ruling planet: uranus — planet of originality body part: ankles good day: communicative , original , open-minded , fair , logical , inviting , tolerant , funny bad day: guarded , detached , self-destructive , out-of-touch , irrational , desperate , lonely favorite things: dancing , teaching , team sports , anything with a cause or mission , independent films , working out , baths , animals , preserving plant life / flowers , reading least favorite things: injustice , drama queens , feeling isolated , owing money or favors , having to choose just one thing , personal questions , gossip , cigarette smoke secret wish: to experience total freedom how to spot him: a cute smile lighting up a tired face , quirky movements , tired eyes , long legs , big hands , flannel , old beat up truck where you’ll find him: backpacking or hiking , protesting , coaching a team , revolutionizing the industry he works in , the gym , red hot pussy liquors , alone at home , working on a project , taking a walk by northwood lake keywords: friendliness , eccentricity , teamwork , humanitarianism , technology , groups , avant-garde

first thing to know about bryce winslow is that he’s a free-spirit that prizes individuality and plays well on a team. he has been known to do things his own way , moving on a path different from everyone else’s. some call him eccentric , others appreciate his cutting-edge originality and authentic style.

one of the many ways that the irishman is a paradox ? he’s highly individualistic , but also an amazing team player. he might look like the fresh-faced guy next door on the outside , but inside he marches to his own beat. naturally popular , as he’s vibrantly social and loves to be among people , telling jokes and introducing thought-provoking conversation topics.

people truly do make his world go round , and he can become friends with the most random strangers. can be a bit of an alien — a little “ out there ” in his approach to different things. not that he cares about offending anyone ! loves a good casual connection , bryce can disengage as quickly as he connects. in fact , platonic pals sometimes get better treatment than romantic partners.

while he can be a bit unsentimental on a one-on-one level , he can be moved to tears by the plight of animals , the environment or other social justice issues. yes , this big irishman is a bohemian at heart in some ways , but he also gets the job done. as a tenacious aquarius , he can be quite hardworking when he devotes himself to a goal.

a competitive ( and lesser-known ) type a streak can emerge when he really wants something. nothing turns him on like progress , especially in the name of his grander ideals ! playing hard to get REALLY works on him lol

philanthropic and objective , bryce is in a lot of ways innovative and avant-garde. from experimental electronic music to community-oriented living , there’s nothing that this man hasn’t or won’t explore. as someone who loves being a part of a good group or team , bringing people together is also one of his specialties.

intense bryce energy is cutting-edge , “ out there ” and even a little strange at times. a total nerd for all things futuristic , science fiction and wacky inventions. no topic is too cutting-edge with this irishman: extraterrestrials , stem cells , cloning , robots taking over the earth…yup , bryce will go there.

while he likes to influence rebellion and detaching from reality ( c’mon bryce , back to earth ! ) , he likes to help others see possibilities they wouldn’t otherwise. the essence of his true energy is: community-oriented , original , open-minded , fair , logical , humanitarian , connecting , and inviting.

the negative expression of bryce’s energy can be: guarded , detached , destructive , out-of-touch , irrational , and desperate. reluctant to express emotions — the irishman prefers rational reasoning and cool-headed logic to the messy tapestry of the human feelings.

one of his favorite authors is ayn rand , founder of the objectivist movement , and that’s pretty much all you need to know. objectivism has been a major influence on the libertarian movement , which has a real bryce flavor. it’s an organized system that also preserves individual freedom and limits government intervention. it’s very “ fringe ” and mainstream all at once , a fascinating paradox and something that really intrigues him.

playful gusts and a social butterfly whirlwind combines into a gale force of humanitarianism for all. bryce is a visionary , dreaming up quirky utopias and alternative realities that can shake up the status quo. emotional detachment , unpredictable energy and rebellion are major factors in the irishman’s personality. not going to lie , he can be “ type a “ and totally quirky all at the same time ??

a stabilizer — the one who sets up a solid goal or foundation then starts building. bryce can take the enthusiastic idea that someone else sparks and craft it into something real. he picks up the ball when another passes it , running the distance to the goal.

the trustworthy type who likes “ to-do ” lists and fancy titles. if a friend says , “ let’s go on vacation ! ” he’s already calling the travel agency , booking the tickets and hotel , and sending everyone a list of what to pack.

true believer in friendship and teamwork , so bryce tends to be more focused on a group than an individual. freedom is important to him , which is why he likes to keep things light on an interpersonal level. that way , he won’t feel bad about running off to the opposite corner of the world at a moment’s notice.

at times , this nomadic strategy backfires , leaving him lonely and disconnected. in truth , the irishman is uncomfortable with too much intimacy. this free spirit belongs to the world and feels off-balance giving his considerable energy to just one person.

while bryce’s friends get first-class treatment , family and lovers see a different side of him: moody , brooding , anxious and neurotic. he may pick one ( and only one ) person to open up to , getting attached to the point of obsession.

learning to accept and express his emotions would help him avoid the massive freak outs and anger flashes that come from pretending everything’s cool when it isn’t. bryce appreciates a quirky or eccentric twist , enjoying colorful characters and people with counter cultural personalities.

BIOGRAPHY

bryce atlas winslow was born into a very straight lace , play by the rules , catholic family. his father , matteo winslow , was an italian military man and his mother , deirdre winslow , was a cold irish homemaker. matteo was every bit the ‘ man of the family ’ and bryce grew up only answering to his father. deirdre would only every answer a question with ‘ ask yer da ’ or ‘ dija’ ask yer da ? ’

she was a mostly spineless , god fearing woman that was afraid of her own shadow and that’s what made her such a good puppet for matteo. bryce’s father was a stern , angry man that only grew angrier when drunk , no one dared put even a single toe out of line with him around.

( TW: implied child abuse ) with bryce being the first born and only son he was expected to be perfect , from a very young age he felt the pressures of that. it was like walking on eggshells , always afraid of making a mistake or displeasing his father. he did not have the fun , happy-go-lucky innocence a child should expect of their early years ; instead for bryce winslow there was not much more than discipline , hard work , and punishment.

for the most part , bryce succeeded at being the perfect son his father expected him to be — a robot more than an actual living boy. nothing more than a machine , a machine being bred for war.

it wasn’t until the beginning of his secondary school , when puberty and hormones began blossoming , that things became precarious. voice cracks , uneven patches of hair…. oh , and a sudden sexual desire for the same sex.

( TW: suicide ment. ) now , the winslows were catholic - extremely devout catholics - and bryce grew very self-loathing and afraid in this confusing time. he contemplated suicide , all because ‘ homosexuality was wrong ‘ and ‘ you go straight to hell ‘ if you engage in anything associated with it. it didn’t matter how good of a son you were , because ‘ man shall not lie with man. ‘ he kept it hidden for years , he also managed not to act on it until well into the last year of secondary school.

despite bryce’s fears and shame , when he was sixteen he fell in love for the first time. first loves can be explosive , dangerous even and this one was nothing short of just that. the boy kept his forbidden love a secret from everyone , his family and father above all others.

all good things must come to an end though or so they say , for the boys it came far sooner than later. matteo , bryce’s father , happened upon a note from the boy bryce was seeing , cian , and in said note was all sorts of information including a meeting spot. as you can imagine , matteo flew from the house in a drunken rage in search of his “ sinner “ of a son only to catch him red-handed.

( TW: assault , child abuse ) bryce managed to save cian from his father’s wrath , taking the brunt of the attack. cian watched as bryce was beaten , begging and screaming for the man to stop , that he was killing him. the drunken bigot was turning on the younger boy when bryce told him to leave and never come back , so that is what he did.

( TW: implied abuse ) to this day , he has never laid eyes on his young lover and that was probably for the best. after his father had tired himself out and satisfied his rage , he left his son there in the dirt and the beaten boy didn’t bother moving.

( TW: suicidal thoughts , conversion therapy ment. ) will to live depleted , too tired to go on , pain too much to endure — he just slept there until the next morning. he was awoken with a kick of dirt in the face , his father telling him that he was being sent to a ‘’ special ’’ facility where they would get rid of his ‘’ ailment. ’’

( TW: conversion therapy / facility ) time melded in the facility , but he estimated nearly a year of his life was wasted away in there. resistant and defiant for most of his time there , it wasn’t until his father visited him , the one and only time . that things changed.

( TW: suicide ment. , homophobia ) his father brought news that his mother had killed herself but this was a vicious lie , a last ditch effort to get bryce to change his ways and boy , did it work ! hardly a month later , the young man was discharged from the facility only to find his mother was indeed very much alive.

matteo up and moved his entire family to england after bryce got out of the facility. his father gave him nonsense about wanting to get away from the bad memories , starting over new , and ‘ lead not into temptation ‘ by sending him back to school with ‘ sinners ’ and ‘ sodomites. ‘

so , bryce finished out the remainder of his schooling in england and went straight into the forces as per his father’s wishes. sadly for him , he would never become what he so longed to be. he had just finished boot camp and life had just started to seem somewhat normal - if you can call anything the winslow’s had normal - when he lost it all.

( TW: eye injury ) the young man was honorably discharged after an accident that left him legally blind in one eye , when he returned home after his short stent in the defense forces there was no longer a place in the family for him. his father quite literally disowned him all for something he had no control over , a mere accident , but there was nothing more disappointing to matteo than a son that was ‘ kicked out ‘ of the forces.

( TW: gang ment. , human trafficking ) fast forward a year , bryce had found himself in a gang. this part of his background is the most unresolved seeing as it’s not part of his original backstory. long story short , he was involved with the gang until he was twenty three but it all became too much for him after his boss tried to involve him in human trafficking.

( TW: gang ment. , suicide , death ) when you join a gang you don’t usually do it thinking someday you might one day retire or quit said gang , but then as you get older you realize you’re not as tough as you thought. bryce was twenty-three when his mother finally really did ‘ commit suicide ‘ , the first time his father spoke to him since he returned home from the forces was only to blame him for her death.

( TW: death ment. , implied murder ) honestly , it was just the straw that broke the camels back. bryce wasn’t allowed at the funeral or anywhere near it , he’s almost certain his mother’s death wasn’t by her own hand or an accident but he’ll never truly know. after he was certain she was in the ground , bryce fled to america in the hopes of outrunning the gang and getting lost in the melting pot.

once in the land of opportunity , he got his hands on the cheapest ride he could find first and just started driving. it was well after his twenty-fourth birthday , right smack in the middle of a hot ass summer in ‘06 , that he found himself in pleasance of all places. he never had any intention at all to grow roots there , it simply happened.

other than that , the man busies himself with drying and preserving flowers , taking baths , working out , and playing with his dog. he parades around like this big , tough hard ass when in reality he’s quite the domestic goofball type.

ETC.

has a dog , it’s a beagle named shiloh literally

a big hobby of his is preserving flowers in his spare time , he keeps a small book of pressed flowers and plant life on him a lot of the time in the chance he comes across something he wants to preserve

can play guitar and doesn’t have a bad singing voice either

legally blind in one eye , but doesn’t wear his glasses often

has a younger sister that he does keep in contact with , but not very well ( WC ? )

a guilty pleasure of his is taking baths ; he enjoys adding bath salts , flowers , and other so-called ‘ feminine ‘ products like bath bombs , etc. to them and honestly takes one nearly every day

he was born and raised mostly in dublin , ireland and has a thick accent that only gets thicker when intoxicated or angry. he does use a lot of uncommon terminology to american’s ( yes , i own the feckin’ book of everything irish. . . it’s that serious ) but i’ll lyk in the tags what it means unless i forget

@phqextras

#DOSSIER.#phqintro #phqextras #am i doing this right ?#idk

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jemej3m · 5 years

Text

radio show au (p5)

yall are thirsty

Neil awoke to a rapping on his front door: Momentarily scared shitless, he scrambled out of bed, wished he had a gun, but resorted for a sweater over his thin white t-shirt and padded out into the hallway.

He glanced through the peephole and immediately unlocked the door.

“Andrew?” It was a Saturday night. Eight pm. Andrew was already meant to be at work. “What are you doing here?”

Silent, he nudged his way inside Neil’s flat and continued down the hallway. How he even knew what floor Neil lived on was a mystery: He locked the door anyway and tucked his hands into their sleeves, following Andrew out into his living room.

The man in question was gazing around with mild distaste, and Neil flushed. “How long have you lived here?”

“Almost a year.” He wiped sleep from his eyes and tried to flatten his hair. “I know, it looks empty and lifeless. Dan and Matt never shut up about it: It’s why they got me the rug. I just don’t see the need for material possessions.”

Andrew’s foot nudged the rug in question. It was blue and fluffy, with odd shapes. Neil liked it: It was soft.

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t come here to judge my home.” Neil said flatly, crossing his arms. “I have to leave for work in half an hour anyway. Speaking of, shouldn’t you be at yours?”

Andrew looked out onto the balcony, where there was only a plastic chair and a bowl for cigarette butts. “I got there. Then left.”

“Andrew, what’s wrong?” Neil stepped a little closer.

He took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and then held the thing so carelessly Neil though it’d fall out of his hand.

“Andrew. It’s Wymack. I want you and Neil in the prime weekday slots, every evening. I’ll give you until Friday to give me an answer.”

Neil sighed. “I told you to keep an open mind.”

“You told me to keep an eye out.” Andrew reminded him. “That did not entail getting hounded.”

Neil simply glared. “One voicemail isn’t hounding. All you need to do is think on it: It’s an opportunity. One you shouldn’t miss.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about Wymack.” Andrew reached out and curled his fingers into the collar of Neil’s shirt. Neil wasn’t scared. “You’re the problem. I don’t know what to do with you.”

“What, because I believe in you?” Neil accused.

Andrew’s brow furrowed as he leaned closer, lips turned into a snarl.

“Have you always been so self-destructive?” Neil wondered. “Because you always act preemptively, as though the world is out to get you. Did it ever occur to you that -”

Andrew shoved a hand over his mouth. “Shut up. Yes or no?”

“Am I shutting up or answering the question?” Neil spoke through his fingers: Andrew removed his hand to pinch Neil’s chin between his forefinger and his thumb.

“I hate you.” Andrew growled, leaning up to press a bruising kiss to Neil’s lips. It was chaste, Andrew retreated just as abruptly as he’d arrived, but he was warm, his skin softer than Neil expected. Neil wasn’t sure what he expected but it really wasn’t this. He kept his hands balled into fists at his side, an unbeknownst suspicion that this all rested very gently on a scale of Andrew’s tolerance: Getting handsy would be the last thing Andrew wanted.

“Think on that.” He said blithely, and marched out of Neil’s flat.

He stood, blinking like a goldfish, unable to rid himself of the memory of Andrew’s lips upon his own. It’d been unexpected but not unwelcomed.

Neil didn’t have time to dwell on it now. He had to get to work.

Wymack had rectangular frames perched on the tip of his nose as he looked down a schedule, pinned to his clipboard. Neil manned Allison’s lines, sitting cross-legged on an office chair whilst he fiddled with the sound board and managed the contestants across two different phones.

Dan, having just completed her hourly news update, was perusing the news for more. She was lounging across the well-worn loveseat in the sound studio, humming gently as she searched.

Allison held a contest every friday evening, something pop-culture related that Neil didn’t particularly care about. He was there to accumulate contestants to participate and queue music as Allison grilled her latest victims on their ignorance.

“Anything?” Neil asked, when one woman was on hold.

Wymack looked at him and shook his head.

Neil hummed softly, displeased. It was Friday, the window Wymack having provided for Andrew closing rapidly. Neil had suspected that there had been more truth to his words on Saturday than he’d initially suspected: Now he’d pushed Andrew away.

It was fine. He didn’t need to be the centre of attention anyway, nor did he need the pay rise.

And yet -

Hosting with Andrew had felt natural. Everything about Andrew had felt natural, from teasing over the phone when he called in, meeting him for the first time, meeting up with his the dozens of times afterwards, and then finally sitting across from one another at the sound booth and spending hours talking about anything and everything, good music filling the not-awkward silences between conversations.

The door slammed open, and Neil couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he glanced over his shoulder. Speak of the damned devil.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that.” Andrew warned. “If Kevin finds out about this I’m quitting.”

Wymack rolled his eyes, going back to his clipboard. Dan didn’t have the same caliber of indifference, glaring at Andrew with abject distaste. “Minyard? Is that really you?”

“The one and only.” Wymack grunted.

“Can someone explain why the psycho freak from college is here in our station studio?”

“Neil’s leaving with me.” Andrew said, aptly ignoring Dan’s confusion. “Give him the night off.”

“Thank god.” Wymack acknowledged. “I can’t get rid of him.”

“I don’t need to -” Neil protested, but it was too late: Andrew had hooked his fingers in the sleeve of his jumper and dragged him towards the door.

Neil let himself be funnelled into Andrew’s car, which was sleek and far more expensive than his salary would permit. They’d both agreed on don’t-talk-about-past rule, but maybe there would need to be a little more censure if there was going to be a this.

“What are we doing?” Neil inquired lightly, intrigued. When Andrew didn’t answer, he twisted in his seat to look at him. “Come on.”

“Shut up.” Andrew said, lacking his usual edge. Neil hummed, switching on the radio and settling into his chair.

Allison’s voice filled the space between them as she introduced a new song. Or, an old song.

“We can’t start the weekend right without some Mac, can we?”

Neil pushed his knuckles into his lip, trying not to laugh as the music filtered out of Andrew’s speakers.

tell me, tell me, tell me lies:

tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

“She thinks she’s funny.” Andrew huffed.

“She knows she’s funny.” Neil objected. Andrew simply responded with a dismissive flick of his fingers.

They swerved into the parking lot of a HomeDepot, which was close to closing. Neil dawdled behind Andrew and his trolley, ignoring the man as he picked out a lamp and a fluffy blanket. The trolley filled with stuff like cutlery and mugs, candles and photo-frames.

Only when Andrew paused by the throw pillows did Neil ask what the hell the man thought he was doing.

“I’m trying to decide which pillow matches your rug more.”

Neil gave him a quizzical look.

“You’ve been living in that place for a year and it feels like a storage unit. Choose.” He pointed between two square pillows that were pretty much the same, and when Neil started fighting him, he chose instead. Neil tittered angrily all the way to the counter.

“Keep whining and I’ll make you pay.” Andrew warned.

Then Neil threw a fit about Andrew paying for his own house decor, but he was having none of it, pinching Neil’s wrist when he reached for his wallet.

“You guys are adorable.” The cashier commented, sheepishly apprehensive when Andrew turned a glare on her. Neil gave her an apologetic shrug when Andrew stalked off, running after him.

“This really was unnecessary,” Neil started again.

Andrew pointed a butter knife they’d bought at him. “Quiet.”

“But -”

“Shh.”

Neil huffed.

Andrew had pretended not to notice Neil’s stares all evening. The way his gaze had changed since last Saturday. He didn’t want to point it out. Pointing it out was acknowledging that something was different and that they should act on it, and right now Andrew could only deal with one major change at a time.

Namely, his job.

After all this time avoiding presenting, he’d upped and got himself a prime-time slot anyway. It was a curse.

The shitty movie they’d been watching dawdled to a close, credits scrolling down the screen. Neil was fast asleep on the couch beside Andrew, tiny snores infuriatingly adorable.

They’d gone out to HomeDepot, then come home and set everything up. It was, in Andrew’s humble opinion, far better. Neil had photos for the frames, tucked away in a drawer, and Andrew had lit the candles to smother the scent of mildew with something more fresh.

They’d ordered takeout, queued a movie, and spent the almost two hours paying absolutely no attention to it. Neil’s eyes had barely moved off Andrew’s cheek, and Andrew was zoned out completely, shocked by how comfortable this domesticity was.

He’d like to have blamed chance for having this all work out, but he didn’t believe in fate. He’d picked up that phone and called Neil’s radio station. He’d rocked up after his shift with coffee and zero expectations. He’d chosen to come back, time and time again, just to see the knowing glint in his blue eyes.

Now he was here.

“Josten,” He said quietly. Neil stirred but didn’t wake, shifting in his sleep.

Andrew sighed, getting up from the couch and collecting empty containers. Neil was still asleep by the time everything was clean, despite Andrew’s efforts to be loud. He had to be truly exhausted: He’d mentioned once he was a light sleeper.

Carefully, he fitted Neil’s head against his shoulder and scooped up his legs with his other arm, slowly traversing over to Neil’s room. Andrew had never been in here, cautious as he shouldered the room open.

Careful, gentle, cautious: None of these words could be used to describe Andrew. And yet, it was all he could fathom being, laying Neil down on his bed.

His room was a little messy. Untidy sheets, a sock hanging off the washing basket, oddities strayed across surfaces. Scar cream, cologne, deodorant, a pair of running shoes peeking out from under the bed frame. Andrew shut the grey curtains and toed out of the room, refusing to look back at Neil’s sleeping figure before he left.

This was ridiculous, but he couldn’t help himself.

Let yourself heal, Betsy had once said.

Look at me now, Bee, he thought scathingly, giving the apartment a once over before he left. Finally proud?

That night, Andrew couldn’t sleep. He’d already quit at the bar, but he wasn’t starting at FM-OX until Monday. Neil’s last night shift was tonight, seeing as Wymack wanted him to get a full night’s rest tomorrow night for Monday.

He laid on his bed until the thought of trying to sleep had his scars itching, so he got up and snatched his car keys from the bench.

He didn’t bother with shoes but pulled on an extra hoodie, pattering down the stairs till he arrived at the garage. The smell of leather lacquer and fuel was comforting. He let himself sit in the driver’s seat for a little while, till he grew bored and started the engine.

He had a quarter of a tank left: He’d drive till he needed to refill before going home. At first the silence, underlined only by the muffled roars of the engine, was cleansing. As always, he found his fingers reaching for the radio dial.

“...You all better be safe out on the roads right now, going to or coming home from work.” Neil said. “Don’t need to be doing traffic reports at this hour, do I? Anyway, this next track is by a brand-new artist, heralding from Augustus, our neighbouring city...”

Andrew let the tension bleed out of him as Neil’s voice washed over him. By the time he’d filled up the tank and driven back to the garage, he was well sleepy, and had been listening to Neil for hours.

Before he could even acknowledge what he was doing, he was on the phone to FM-OX’s line, his phone at his ear.

“Neil Josten’s Mid-Nights,” Neil opened.

“Goodnight, junkie.” Andrew muttered.

The man’s voice softened. “Andrew. Hey.”

“You’ve got that look on you, don’t you. Quit it.”

“Rude.” Neil snorted. “Goodnight, Andrew.”

Andrew hummed and hung up, clambering out of the car.

He’d be lying to himself if he said Neil’s voice wasn’t comforting. He tuned into the chanel from his phone, put it on charge, and let the mellifluous tones lull him to sleep.

we’re almost there i promiseeeeeee

#andreil #radio show au #radio presenter au #andrew minyard #neil josten #all for the game #part five? yikes #pining #slow burn #jem writes

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tarysande · 5 years

Note

Random thought I needed to get off my chest. I don’t really like that there will be a season 5 of Lucifer. I feel like season 4 while not completely wrapping up the show was really good and could work well as a series finale. I am honestly not sure how they could continue with a season 5. It feels like there is so much and too little to cover. And with one season on Netflix (10 ep) can’t or shouldn’t create a new story line. What do you think they could do? Am I missing something?

Oh. Okay. I definitely have thoughts on this. Please understand that I’m not criticizing your opinion; mine is different, though. And I’m mostly going to look at it from a big-picture, dramatic structure perspective.

The showrunners have always had a long-term plan for the show; I believe Lucifer returning to Hell of his own volition, not as punishment but as protector–as a sign of his own growth and acceptance of responsibility–was always part of that plan. I don’t, however, believe that’s where the show was ever intended to end. That said, S3′s abrupt cancelation rattled everyone. I truly believe that Joe and Ildy–unwilling to take a risk on getting another season–wanted S4 to result in a story that could be an ending, if it needed to be.

But only if Lucifer were a tragedy.

Which it is not.

The basic difference between a tragedy and comedy is that the central character(s) either end(s) up in a worse place or a better one at the end of the story compared to where they started. At extremes (and looking at archetypal examples), this often translates to dead or married. Hamlet vs. As You Like It.

Season 4 works–and the ending felt (mostly) satisfying, if painful–because, as a season, they structured it as a tragedy (all that angst wasn’t for nothing!). In it, they give us a beautiful, archetypal example of a noble or high-status protagonist (Lucifer), whose hamartia (or tragic error; here, revealing to Dromos that he never intends to return to Hell), begins a chain reaction that reverses his felicity (Chloe finally accepting him and offering her love/returning his love) to catastrophe (returning to Hell, the place he swore he’d never return).

But wait! There’s more!

And that more all boils down to S4′s ending feeling mostly satisfying but not entirely satisfying.

It’s because Lucifer has never been coded as a tragedy. So, giving us a beautifully crafted tragedy of a season goes against the overall coding of the show as a whole. Lucifer has not shied away from darkness, but it has never given me the impression it’s telling a story where death (physical, emotional, metaphorical) is the endgame. Lucifer has, at its heart, always been a story about forgiveness, hope, joy, love, found family, creation over destruction. It is a story where therapy (healing) plays an integral part; this season involved the protagonist finally taking the first step toward forgiving the person he most needs to forgive: himself.

These are the elements of a dramatic comedy.

So, if Lucifer is a dramatic comedy, it cannot end with the protagonist separated from hope, joy, love, found family, ongoing forgiveness, or creation over destruction. In fact, narratively, S4′s ending is a fantastic example of what’s called a false climax. A false climax exists to trick the audience into thinking the story is near its end. More importantly, a false climax requires a reversal.

In the false climax of Lucifer, the writers tell us, “This is a tragedy. Lucifer has learned responsibility, and, as a result, he must now separate himself from everything he loves because that is the responsible thing to do.” Separation is often a hallmark of false climaxes. The true climax, which we’ll see in Season 5, should (will) address the deeper questions the show has been asking us since the beginning (the inciting incident, all the way back in S1), and which have recurred at pivotal points throughout the entire story: Where is God in all this? If Heaven and Hell are both flawed, what is the answer? Can Lucifer (and, consequently, we who identify with him) actually heal? And, most importantly, if someone strives, learns, grows, stumbles, and ultimately changes, does he (or she) not deserve to be in a better place at the end?

A tragedy would leave us with these questions. It would leave us with answers that say, “Nothing matters; we are who we’ve been created to be; free will doesn’t exist; choice is a lie; give up.” A comedy, I think, says, “This is the darkest hour, my love, but night is almost over. Let us hold each other in hope until morning comes.”

This is already long, but a couple more points to think about:

The show may be called Lucifer, but it has always been about partnership, equality, and the vulnerability this kind of relationship requires to be successful. That means Chloe is as much a protagonist as Lucifer. She, too, deserves to be in a better place at the end compared with where she was in the beginning (struggling single mom no one takes seriously; abandoned). She, too, has progressed from where she was and deserves to see that reflected in where she is as the show ends.

There’s no new storyline for S5. There’s the proper climax–the rightful dramatic comedy culmination of the growth and change and vulnerability the show has always been about. To get that, Lucifer must not remain in Hell, which means the question of Hell must be addressed. He must learn he has not been abandoned, that he is not alone, that people love him enough to face Hell to prove it. To get that, Chloe must finally have a partner who is honest, loving, and has no intention of leaving her–as her deepest fear is that the people she loves will always leave because fate wants her to be unhappy–her dad’s death; Lucifer returning to Hell–or they need more and she isn’t enough for them–Dan, Lucifer in S2, her mom to some degree.

The showrunners wanted six seasons. I think this means that the Lilith (and/or Michael) storyline they were telegraphing in S4 may get dropped or repurposed. I believe they may have to condense things they might not want to have condensed or leave plot threads dangling they’d really rather have tied up. But, after S4, I have no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that they’ll manage to give us the satisfying real climax the show, right down in the bones of its narrative structure, has promised us from the beginning.

And that ending is the one where Lucifer and Chloe achieve true and lasting partnership, surrounded by the chosen family they’ve collected and come to love along the way. It may not be a physical, archetypal marriage because this show has always delighted in bucking those expectations–but the partnership, the family, will be real, it will be absolute, and, in that, we will achieve as an audience, the real catharsis we desire and deserve: striving matters, truth matters, love matters, and even with our flaws and weaknesses and stumbles and doubts and fears and guilt and shame, we are better together than apart. In fact, what’s weak in me is strong in you, what weak in you is strong in me, and if we work together, we’ll always overcome the dark.

And I’ll take that over a tragedy every single time.

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laughing-one · 4 years

Text

youtube

Love Songs and Letters from the Heart of Darkness

💙🌎🌏💙Love from the Heart of Darkness.. for the Relentless Daimon and the One of Amberly Hair -- who Hear All -- above The Din of Time

Debussy's 'Les collines d'Anacapri'

https://youtu.be/B6JvZtgcVFE

.......................

Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau '

https://youtu.be/vJISo7YX6Nk

.......................

Jean Efflam Bavouzet's advice to musicians embarking on a career

https://youtu.be/TvfzSjcqbJo

.......................

And just to get the 'madness' out of the way.. how about quasi-satirist Bob Dobb's take on it (life n learning)Lol.. Praise Bob!! ... And catch the knack for Slack!!

Probably should have gone with 'selective resignation' on this one 😆 (see further comments on this thread)

Anyway.. there was some mighty strange stuff happening during the 70's haha.

'Church of the SubGenius -- Slack explained

https://youtu.be/BbHjybg50BU

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius

.......................

An angel said to me: I trust and live in your darkness. I know and relish in the consumption of all your pain!!

"In a world full of danger, to be a potentially seeable object is to be constantly exposed to danger. Self-consciousness, then, may be the apprehensive awareness of oneself as potentially exposed to danger by the simple fact of being visible to others. The obvious defence against such a danger is to make oneself invisible in one way or another."

As for the song.. it's so nauseatingly 'emo' in parts, that as a whole it's almost perfect!! Well the words hit a home run anyhow. Kinda. Plus how many times did I listen to these songs as a young, somewhat unspoken child, a 'silent god'.. a bittersweet technophile suburbanite. Another exhausting categorization! Let the 90's and 2000's post modernisms speak for themselves!

Third Eye Blind's 'The Background'

https://youtu.be/4O22adRD470

.......................

More perspectives from the aperspective..

"I don't believe in an interventionist god, nor any lack therof.. yet i know of an intelligent force beyond all words."

Nick Cave's live performance of

'Into My Arms'

https://youtu.be/FG0-cncMpt8

........................

😮😮❣❣

The City of Sefar: the world's biggest living prehistoric "Museum" (mass prehistoric rock paintings) in Algeria

https://youtu.be/jJSj5oxmAPQ

Tassili N'Ajjer: the most mysterious place.on the planet

https://youtu.be/5vMbNK6Z59s

.......................

In the book 'A Language Older Than Words' (much of it going into how we 'silence' our experience), Derrick Jensen's first chapter 'Silencing' , opens with the R.D Laing quote:

""Our behavior is a function of our experience. We act according to the way we see things. If our experience is destroyed, our behavior will be destructive. If our experience is destroyed, we have lost our own selves."

George Acosta's 'The History of Trance' music collection.. this one is called 'Silence' performed by Delerium..

https://youtu.be/3jfK-bloUYc

.......................

"We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love."

The din of time..

"We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing."

Busty Brown's 'To Love Somebody'

https://youtu.be/krsF3sStgF8

The Clarendonian's 'Baby Baby'

https://youtu.be/YY-qswyUGxU

.......................

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds."

Paradox

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world."

"Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death."

'Dolmenes de Antequera'

https://youtu.be/m23JFp7_oAY

'Antequera Dolmens Site: Nomination for inscription on the World Heritage List'

https://youtu.be/eYw8RxiQ3Dg

Incredible megalithic Japan. See how min 9:40 to 10:30 looks like the Serapeum's 'Sarcophagi' in Egypt?

https://youtu.be/1E9218vCn70

.......................

“The emotionally intelligent person knows that they will only ever be mentally healthy in a few areas and at certain moments, but is committed to fathoming their inadequacies and warning others of them in good time, with apology and charm.”

"The emotionally intelligent person knows that love is a skill, not [only] a feeling, and will require trust, vulnerability, generosity, humor, sexual understanding, and selective resignation."

Bruce Springsteen's 'I'm Goin Down'

https://youtu.be/3fdZWbIsrFk

Honestly just love the song! Nostalgia from childhood too!

But flip the script around bc I'm guilty!

"No amount of insight into the relativity and fallibility of our moral judgment can deliver us from these defects, and those who deem themselves beyond good and evil are usually the worst tormentors of mankind, because they are twisted with the pain and fear of their own sickness."

.......................

"We must remember that the rationalistic attitude of the West is not the only possible one and is not all-embracing, but is in many ways a prejudice and a bias that ought perhaps to be corrected."

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness's of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

~Carl Jung

Nick Cave and The Bad Seed's:

'Red Right Hand' (official video)

https://youtu.be/RrxePKps87k

.......................

"...And the mercy seat is waitin'

And I think my head is burnin'

In a way I'm yearnin'

To be done with all this weighing up of truth

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And anyway I told the truth

And I'm not afraid to die

And the mercy seat is burnin'

And I think my head is glowing

In a way I'm a-hopin'

To be done with all this weighin' up of truth

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And I've got nothing left to lose

And I'm not afraid to die

And the mercy seat is smoking

And I think my head is boiling

In a way it's spoilin' all the fun

With all this truth and consequence

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And anyway I told the truth

But I'm afraid I told a lie..."

Nick Cave and The Bad Seed's:

'Mercy Seat' (peaky blinders version)

https://youtu.be/wzjW68FHTYc

.......................

Born a Joneser..

"This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes."

~Hannah Arendt

"To think and to be fully alive are the same."

~Hannah Arendt

"The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error."

~Hannah Arendt

"I'm more than ever of the opinion that a decent human existence is possible today only on the fringes of society, where one then runs the risk of starving or being stoned to death. In these circumstances, a sense of humor is a great help."

~Hannah Arendt

"One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all."

~Hannah Arendt

"Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda."

~Hannah Arendt

"We are free to change the world and start something new in it."

~Hannah Arendt

"Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is 'in power' we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name. The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with ... disappears, 'his power' also vanishes."

~Hannah Arendt

We are all murderers and prostitutes - no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be.

~R. D. Laing

'Darkness' (2008 remaster) by Third Eye Blind

https://youtu.be/WlLyAMU7MtQ

"Blue come over

Born a joneser

And the cops roll out the radar

And shoot devious grins

Another day begins

I want someone to know me

Maybe tell me who I am

Cause I've faced down my demons

And cried out to a god

A god I've never seen

Lights

And the world darkens around me

Strange friends all surround me

New ideas in my head start to burn

Dropped out of schools cause of things I never learned

And the world darkens around me

World darkens around me

I want you to love me

Like you did before you knew me

And I never thought there'd be any help

For somebody like me

A vacancy

Sing

And the world darkens around me

Strange friends all surround me

New ideas in my head start to burn…"

.......................

And .. just to contradict and be ambivablent 😁😊:

"Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfill the way that is in you."

~Carl Jung

"The problem of synchronicity has puzzled me for a long time, ever since the middle twenties, when I was investigating the phenomena of the collective unconscious and kept on coming across connections which I simply could not explain as chance groupings or "runs." What I found were "coincidences" which were connected so meaningfully that their "chance" concurrence would represent a degree of improbability that would have to be expressed by an astronomical figure."

~Carl Jung

((It kinda made us 'lose our minds' which is what happened to Jung and what he documented in

"The Red Book" -- Liber Novus --

(He had visions of WW1 before it occurred etc.. see the article 'The Cry of Merlin' again.. there are some good videos on 'New Thinking Allowed' Youtube channel about Peter Kingsley and Jung ))

"It is indeed my opinion now that evil is never “radical,” that it is only extreme, and that it possess neither depth nor any demonic dimension. It can overgrow and lay waste the whole world precisely because it spreads like fungus on the surface. It is “thought-defying,” as I said, because thought tries to reach some depth, to go to the roots, and the moment it concerns itself with evil, it is frustrated because there is nothing. That is its “banality.” Only the good has depth and can be radical."

~Hannah Arendt

The Verve -- 'Bittersweet Symphony' (official video)

https://youtu.be/1lyu1KKwC74

.......................

Debussy's Preludes: 'Voiles'

https://youtu.be/8fUblobUhk0

Amorphic waves, sailing, trepidatious with glitters of ecstasy

........................

"In broaching the possibility of being, in some way, against self-criticism, we have to imagine a world in which celebration is less suspect than criticism."

~Adam Phillips

"Attempts to wake before our time are often punished, especially by those who love us most. Because they, bless them, are asleep. They think anyone who wakes up, or who, still asleep, realizes that what is taken to be real is a ‘dream’ is going crazy."

~R.D. Laing

"Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see."

~Carl Jung

Doubt is still the popular currency of the day, but magic lies in wait everywhere..

"You're It!" -- by Wookiefoot

https://youtu.be/g_PCOmVBobI

#Youtube

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robbyrobinson · 4 years

Text

President Election

"Coming to you live with the latest news on the presidential election is Dan Clancy. To my right is Republican Zachary Clark. To my left, this fine gentleman actually implored me to not refer to him by any name in particular backstage. He also isn't aligned with any of our major parties. In other words, he's in a league all to himself."

The man sitting on the couch adjacent to Dan was an exceptionally tall man with a dark complexion. He was of Middle Eastern descent resembling one of the old Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. He had a short-pointed mustache and beard. He was dressed in a black outfit and tie with sharp-toed cowboy boots on his feet. From a slight glance, he seemed completely normal. And yet, he had an aura that suggested he was not completely human. He nevertheless charmed the audience appointed to hearing the campaigns. Zachary had a more relaxed composure. To his right on the couch was a notebook that documented everything that he was intending to say during his interview. It was just on the typical issues such as illegal immigration, cutting funds to government programs, the usual. His opponent seemed to be bereft of any notes, which made him think that it would work in his favor.

"Alright," Dan said clearing his throat, "let's get started. Clark, do us the honors and state your views about raising taxes."

Zachary chuckled on cue. "Well Dan," he began, "you would already know I am against it."

The man in black snickered at Zachary's simple answer. Zachary himself tried to play it off as unimportant, but eventually, he became annoyed with the guest's poking fun at him. "What you think what I said was humorous or something, punk?"

The man grinned. "I seem to recall that you own a megacompany, Zachary, do you not?"

"It's none of your business," Zachary responded.

The opponent further laughed. "Remember that one man that you let go? About how he is now struggling to make ends meet." He leaned forward on the couch with his hands arched. "Wouldn't that fall on you?" Zachary remained speechless at the man's accusation. The man lifted his eyes with a smirk spread across his face. "It's always amusing to see how you mortals always take the easy way out rather than actually contribute anything to your society; how you big cats glut yourselves on all the luxuries life has while damning your fellow man to pick up after you."

Zachary's face fumed a deep red. "That is not my view, and you should know that!"

He continued to argue with the nameless candidate whose response was to further laugh at his expense. This further earned Zachary's ire. Dan managed to regain control over his talk show, this time turning the debate in the stranger's favor. "Alright, sir," he said, "what are your views on raising taxes?"

The man perked up in his seat. His eyes were a deep emerald color. "Actually, Dan, I'd like to ask you a question."

Dan shook his head vehemently. "Sir, that's not how this works," he attempted to say. However, the oddest feeling manifested within him. He couldn't speak or scream. Almost as though an invisible hand was keeping his lips sealed. The man stood up from the couch and walked in front of the live audience. Ignoring Dan's squealing for relief, he continued to speak.

"How does it feel to know that everything you've valued is worthless?"

Zachary stood up from his seat. "What the hell are you suggesting?" Without as much as a word, the stranger grabbed Dan's coffee mug and smashed it against his desk. He then took one of the shards and stabbed Zachary in the eye before slitting his throat. The audience screamed as they saw Zachary's body crumpled on the floor. The stranger looked at the shard in deep contemplation and tossed it across the set. He spoke again in the midst of the chaos. "See how life can easily be taken away with little rhyme nor reason?"

He snapped his fingers causing a wave of insanity to wash over the audience. A majority of their eyes became glazed over and they spoke an intelligible gibberish. The stage itself shifted with alien geometric shapes resembling no shape that mankind knew. Several were reduced to babbling idiots unaware of the fate that had befallen them. The stranger scanned the room seeing a few people that were not rendered insane hollow shells of their former selves. Two were a man and a woman desperately trying to pry open the doors of the studio.

"It won't budge!" shouted the woman.

They were too invested with their fixation on escape they failed to notice the stranger was quietly walking towards them. He grabbed the panicking woman's arms and forcibly pinned them against the door. "I'm afraid those doors are bolted shut."

"Please don't hurt me," she begged.

His smile returned wider than before, nearly taking up his entire face. "I'm not going to hurt you, my dear," he said in a reassuring fashion. He held his index finger in front of the woman's face and placed it squarely on her forehead. The woman's struggling against his grip subsided with her eyes getting plunged in the back of her head. Within seconds, her screaming returned, more pronounced.

"Get out of my head! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!"

She madly repeated this over and over even when her body collapsed on the ground spasming. He had shown her visions, visions of ancient guards invading the Earth subjugating and destroying human civilization. But that all paled to the vision of one of the gods awakening from their deep slumber spelling absolute destruction of everything there was and would ever be. It was the type of knowledge that would drive anyone to sheer madness. The man was cowering in fear.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The stranger did not answer wrapping his fingers around the man's neck and snapping it with ease. The man's corpse fell on top of the woman's throbbing body. The man started to change form becoming larger in scale and his body burst open. Waves of tentacles erupted from every orifice. His head transformed into a slender, hood-like shape with razor-sharp teeth adorning it. Four fleshy arms ripped through the sides of his abdomen.

The transformation and ensuing chaos were being broadcasted through different stations. More people were exposed to the man's true form and were being overtaken by madness. Fires began to spread throughout the streets engulfing civilians and causing massive accidents. Cars collided into each other and planes crashed into buildings. Soon nothing left of the city will become a reality. The stranger observed all of the destruction letting out a guttural chuckle.

"In the end, none of your pathetic lives matter to the likes of an Outer God."

Dan found himself alone in the studio the grip on his lips subsiding. Around him were the corpses of the audience members that were driven into ravage episodes of madness. The Outer God towered over him and glared at him with his many eyes. "Another city is washed in utter chaos, and soon the entire country will be driven mad as well."

Dan was on his knees. "Please, I'll do anything you want; just please don't kill me."

Another venomous laugh bellowed from the Outer God. "Why would I kill you? I can destroy your world right now as a matter of fact." He started to slither away, turning to look at the talk show host again. "I'll let you live but only so you could remember all of the nightmares that happened this night. I shall let that knowledge fester deep inside you until you've nothing left but an insane husk screaming night after night. It is then that I shall awaken my father Azathoth to turn your pathetic world into dust. Until then..."

The creature disappeared leaving Dan completely alone with his thoughts. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one left with the full knowledge over what transpired in his studio. And yet, he could already feel that his sanity was eroding ever so slowly. In time, he'll be back and the world will be destroyed. And there wasn't anything he could do aside from coming to terms with what he was told.

#Cthulhu Mythos #Nyarlathotep #president campaign #campaigns #H.P. Lovecraft #Crawling Chaos #Cthulhu #president #Outer God #outer gods

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giftofshewbread · 4 years

Text

Bible Talk ( current events )

By Daymond Duck Published on: April 12, 2020

Some thoughts on the Corona virus Crisis:

Jesus said there will be “distress of nations” (Luke 21:25; The nations are in distress now).

Jesus said “Men’s hearts will fail them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth” (Luke 21:26; Unprecedented fear exists now).

Jesus said, “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28; Christians are seeing the beginning of the signs now).

The prophesied Sequence of Events:

The Rapture must take place before the Tribulation Period (II Thess. 2:5-8).

The Bible doesn’t say, but I believe the destruction of Damascus and the Battle of Gog and Magog will take place before the Tribulation Period.

There may be a short period of time (a gap of time) between the Rapture and the Tribulation Period (The Bible doesn’t say how long that gap will be).

The Ten Kings or Ten Horns (Ten leaders) must rise before the Antichrist and Tribulation Period (Dan. 7:7-8, 24).

There must be a covenant with many in the Middle East before the Tribulation Period (Dan. 9:27).

The Antichrist will confirm the covenant, and that will be the first day of the Tribulation Period.

This is the point:

The Rapture can happen without signs or warnings anytime God chooses, but the Tribulation Period can’t happen if some things are not in place.

It is possible (emphasis on possible) that the world could come out of the Corona virus crisis for a short time.

The Rapture will take place and the Antichrist will appear, grow stronger and be given power over a world government (Rev. 6:1-2; 13:5-8).

The global economy will collapse and there will be a new global economic system (rider on the black horse; Rev. 6:5-6).

The False Prophet will appear and head up a global ethic (satanic world religion; persecution of believers; Rev. 13:7-8).

There will be unprecedented natural disasters (false Christs, war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, etc.; Matt. 24:6-7; Rev. 6:1-8).

The Antichrist and False Prophet will establish a cashless society and a global surveillance system called the Mark of the Beast (Middle of the Tribulation Period; Rev. 13:16-18).

The Second Coming will be seven years after the Antichrist confirms the covenant.

Some of the prophetic implications of the Corona virus crisis:

God is in control and His Word will be fulfilled.

Nothing happens that God doesn’t allow.

The Battle of Gog and Magog appears to be shaping up (Ezek. 38-39).

The Corona virus crisis has changed the world (Some think it could be an intentional act to bring in the New World Order and that will be on fast forward from this time on).

This crisis appears to be a major step toward the Tribulation Period with several implications (economic collapse, famine, Pestilence, Mark, etc.).

It appears to be a major pestilence or birth pain (not a local pandemic that is limited to one nation, but global in scope; a forerunner of Rev. 6:7-8).

It creates a need for someone that can solve the world’s problems (the man with a plan, the Antichrist; Did you hear about the April 1, 2020, headline in Dutch Newspaper “Searching for Leader?”).

It is a major step toward a global economic collapse (Africa is already in danger; Nations are printing trillions of dollars to try to avoid it; a forerunner of Rev. 6:5-6).

It provides a reason to establish a cashless society (We are told that the virus is on money; that we need to go digital; a forerunner of Rev. 13:16-18).

It provides a reason to mark people (Bill Gates wants to put a quantum dot tattoo on vaccinated people with information that can be changed, updated, and read by scanners or infrared light; a forerunner of Rev. 13:16-18).

It provides a reason to track and persecute people (those that take the tattoo will be allowed to leave their house, work, buy, sell, etc., but those that refuse the tattoo won’t be allowed to leave their house, work, buy, sell, etc. Note: $500 million to establish a tracking system was included in Trump’s $2.2 trillion stimulus package. Note: Pastors are already being threatened for holding services).

It is uniting the world to fight a common enemy (this co-operation could lead to the rise of the Ten Kings; Dan. 7:24, Rev. 17:12-14).

It confines Christians to their homes to shut down opposition to world government, world religion, the Mark of the Beast, surveillance, etc.

It is causing great fear.

It could mean that God will act soon (the Rapture).

Perhaps, world leaders would do well to recall another prophecy about the Tribulation Period: God said, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:2-3).

God established borders at the Tower of Babel (Deut. 32:8-10).

God made a covenant to give the Promised Land to Abraham and his descendants forever (Gen. 13:14-15; 17:7-8).

God intends to put His name on Jerusalem forever (II Kings 21:7).

Jesus intends to dwell in Jerusalem and for His Word to go forth out of Jerusalem during the Millennium (Psa. 132:13; Isa. 2:3).

Jesus is coming back as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).

Notice the accuracy of what Jesus said above (distress of nations, fear, pestilence).

The idea that world leaders can ignore what God said, give part of the Promised Land to someone other than the Jews, establish a world government, and give power to the king of fierce countenance (the Antichrist) to rule over it without consequences instead of King Jesus is ridiculous, ludicrous, irrational nonsense.

World leaders are creating a confrontation with God, and He will never allow them to establish a world government to rule over the Promised Land and Israel (and get away with it) because He promised that the King of kings and Lord of lords (Jesus) will establish His kingdom on earth (world government) and rule over Israel.

God will remove His Church and cut the nations into pieces for cutting His Land into pieces.

As an act of grace, He may be warning world leaders not to divide the land of Israel and not to establish a world government.

As bad as the Corona virus is, it is fun and games compared to what is prophesied for the seven-year Tribulation Period.

This is more than my opinion.

This is Bible talk (the Word of the one and only all-powerful God that does not lie).

One more thing: Everyone needs to A) Admit that you sin, B) Believe everything the Bible says about Jesus, that He was born of a virgin, He didn’t sin, He suffered and died in our place, He was buried, He was raised from the dead, and C) Confess your sins and ask Jesus to save you.

That is the only way to be saved (the only thing that God will accept to let a person in heaven; Jn. 14:6).

#covid #corona #virus #lockdown #shutdown #trump #weather #spring #easter #holiday #passover #seder #last #supper #communion #water #wine #bread #life #death #Jesus #Savior #Son #of #God #April #12 #2020

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inked-foundry · 5 years

Text

an isolated scene in which Castor is granted access to his magic once more.

input and commentary is much appreciated!

Castor was the only soul left in the cell block, sequestered into a corner, where the cracking concrete floor met dampened brick wall. His dark hair was more overgrown and disheveled than ever. Once broad shoulders almost looked small for his sweater, while the circles under his eyes had turned from shadows to eclipses.

Any flame in those burning red irises had long faded. While the echoes of a confused riot echoed upstairs, footsteps pounding on the floor above, Castor kept motionless in his corner to stare at the tiny barred window of his cell.

Eris remained idle in the cell block hallway, some sort of blockage in her throat. She swallowed and forced a step forward. And then another. The stride to Castor’s cell took a lifetime, and yet she couldn’t construct a greeting. She had come to break him out, to act as the savior, to return a favor that was long overdue. But she couldn’t think of anything sentimental to say.

Though she was already standing right in front of him, separated by a few flimsy iron bars. She could have slipped her narrow frame between those excuses for security all too easily. Yet some unspeakable force compelled her to stay on the other side.

Castor hadn’t even acknowledged her presence.

Eris scratched her shoulder awkwardly, noticing the lack of comforting weight.

“I lost your scarf,” she admitted. A heat bloomed across her face, nervous laughter pealing from her throat. She rested her hand on the wall and mused, “But the damn thing was old and fraying, anyways. Once we’re out of here, I’ll be out of my debts and I can buy you a new one—”

“Eris, shut up.” Castor’s voice was hollow and left a reverberation throughout the hall.

And for once in her life, Eris Arc stopped speaking. She heard dew droplets leak from the wall and settle on the floor. Her own breathing sounded heavy and incomplete, like there were bricks at the bottom of her lungs. Castor didn’t let off a single sound.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, he was dead.

But Eris was too damn stubborn to fall in line.

“I can get you out. If you’ve forgotten, your best friend kind of is a master escape artist.” Eris offered a half-hearted smirk in the hopes of rekindling some of his old energy. Though Castor still refused to look her in the face. “But you’ve got to work with me first, Cassie, and right now, you’re being about as helpful as the gulls on the docks.”

Still no response.

“As insufferable as those damn birds are with stealing every fried fish I’ve tried to buy, at least they’re entertaining, given how stupid they sound,” Eris mused. She ground her boot into the floor, all of her nerves suddenly too antsy to stay still. “You’re just being sad right now. Look, I learned the hard way that I can’t just wallow in my own self pity—”

“Eris, for the love of the gods!” Castor rose to his feet and slammed a fist against a wall. And he finally turned around. The lines of his jaw were made fuzzy by unkempt stubble. Deep creases on his face had damn near turned into canyons. Forming tears pricked the corners of his eyes. “Don’t you get it? This is over!” He drew in a long, grating breath, like someone had lined the sides of his throat with sand. “Pollux has me right where he wants me. I’ve got no magic left and no way to escape. No matter where I run, Empyrean has me by the gods-damned neck.” He ran a hand through his hair, teeth grit and chest heaving. “I’m as good as dead already.”

His trembling sobs filled the otherwise empty cells.

Eris nodded sympathetically. “Not to be a hypocrite, but you should really listen when I talk, even if I do say a staggering amount of enlightening things.” She reached into her pocket. “I did say I was an escape artist.”

Castor opened his mouth to retort. He immediately shut it when he saw the tiny vial that Eris drew from her pocket. The glass cylinder was suddenly infinitely fragile in her palm, the pale purple liquid inside more valuable than all of the royal jewels combined. Slowly and deliberately, Eris slipped her arm between the bars, presenting her peace offering.

She tried to keep her hand steady as Castor approached it. “Dan, Tory, and I rummaged through your notes while you went off the map. We found the last of the ingredients for that potion you’ve been obsessing over.” It took an effort not to flinch as Castor lifted the vial from her hand with surprising casualness. “It would have been nice if Bruyan plants didn’t explode so frequently, though.”

“Where did you get the last of the elements?” Castor sputtered. His words stumbled over each other, rushing out of his mouth faster than his brain could register the movement of his jaw.

Eris shrugged. “It’s kind of easy to find what you want when you have Atlas’s heiress and someone with the authority of the royal guard on your side.” She propped her hands on her hips, a proper, genuine smile gracing her mouth. “Although they should get credit, I do expect most of your gratitude for stealing some of the ingredients.”

Castor didn’t bother to show appreciation. Hell, he showed nothing but sheer awe and surprise, more expression donning his face in this one moment than Eris had ever seen. He glanced up at her and then back down.

“This is real?” He muttered.

“Down the thing like a swig of whiskey, and you should be back to your best in no time.” Eris pursed her lips, a new concern crossing her mind. “Though I met you after you lost half your magic, so… I don’t know what you consider full strength.” She grimaced slightly and requested, “Could you do me a favor and not kill me when you get your powers back?”

“Never,” Castor assured. He looked upwards—looked her in the eye—and held their mutual gaze. “I’m insulted that you’d think I’d ever hurt you.” Sentimentality rose into his voice. Nothing necessarily sad or joyful, but like he hadn’t truly felt anything in a long time. “You’ve… you’ve done too much for me, Eris.”

“I haven’t done jack, Cassie.” Eris gestured like she was brushing dust under a rug. “Now do me a favor and drink that thing before you break it or Pollux recognizes that my ass isn’t at his frilly party.”

No time was wasted. Castor was nearly trembling as he did so, but he uncorked the vial and flicked the topper into some desolate corner of the cell. He swallowed something; whether it be panic or bile or the weight of his past, he needed to clear something from his throat. Fingers curled delicately about the glass. And he threw his head back, downing the whole thing.

The glass tumbled from his hand and hit the floor, miraculously failing to crack. It rolled along until it bumped into the wall. Yet it was the only thing to move or change for a few dire moments.

If anything was alive in the hall, it chose not to show itself.

Eris felt her chest tighten. She crafted the potion incorrectly. Castor was still going to be trapped and he was still going to be left helpless, and it would be all her fault. She was already planning an apology.

Then Castor let out a gasp—a noise that was incredibly unlike him, with how surprised he sounded. Clutching at his chest and eyes closed tightly, he leaned on a wall to remain upright whilst his legs shuddered too furiously to support him. Eris could only watch in terror. Perhaps she hadn’t merely crafted a null potion. She may have created a poison.

Or so she thought until she saw a tiny set of horns creep between tufts of Castor’s hair. She held in a sigh of relief. Even if most demigods obscured their horns with some divine veil, it was an inescapable marker. And Castor had been hadn’t been able to uncover them for the better part of a century.

Though a phantom icicle dragged itself along Eris’s spine. She had successfully brewed a potion that would bring Castor’s power back, and she had no idea what the hell he could do.

Eris wanted to help. A part of her wanted to run between the bars and comfort him while the potion wracked his veins with whatever metamorphosis it caused. But she ended up taking a step back. She had seen a powerful demigod in Pollux. So if Pollux Metaxas was afraid of Castor’s full strength, what chance would Eris have against Castor?

Though he hardly seemed able to deal with it himself, just barely stifling a scream when a pair of wings burst from between his shoulder blades. Yet another emblem of divinity that he had been denied.

She skipped another step back when she heard a soft tear. Castor managed to stand upright. Except he seemed taller than usual, but perhaps that was the fact he had the confidence to stand straight instead of slumping over as he constantly did. No—he was taller. Eris could only watch as a rip formed along the seam of his sweater, where shoulder met sleeve. His figure had become a little too broad, chest as robust as a full keg of ale.

Mercifully, his sudden growth spurt halted after a few inches.

Eris hardly got a moment to catch her breath, as for when he opened his eyes—

Gods, his eyes were like staring into hellfire, from the warmth it exuded to the utter destruction that was teased in its light. But the gleam in his gaze was proof that he was alive again. She had never seen such an animated expression on Castor. He was the phoenix. He was a bird that had been in a cage for millennia, and his one option of escape was to let himself turn into ashes and be blown away.

Now he was reborn.

Eris took a step back for every step Castor took forward, until she bumped into the cell behind her. She had nowhere to go when (with a strange delicateness, still not used to his new form) Castor wrapped his massive fists about the bars. And he rent them apart with little effort, the metal creaking incessantly as it bent. He stepped through the opening he had created.

He was remarkably infantile about the whole thing. For a moment, he stared at the bars with awe that he could possibly do that sort of damage. Examining his hands, he turned them over and watched as slips of shadow weaved between his fingers with ease.

For the first time in the years that Eris had known Castor, the corners of his mouth quirked upward.

“Thank you,” he said softly. Nodding he repeated, “Thank you.”

Eris offered her own smile in response, but found it increasingly difficult to remain calm when from behind Castor, the shadows produced two oversized wolves, their fangs bared and mouths leaking something that was almost smoke.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. The utter weight of his power was surprising, Eris nearly crumbling under the touch. She felt something dash across her shoulders and watch as a streak of darkness race down her arm and back up her forearm. Panicked, she tilted her arm for her dagger to fall out from her sleeve—

Only to find that the blade was tipped with shadow. In an admittedly idiotic decision, she brushed her thumb along the toxin her dagger had been dipped in.

For a brief moment, she visioned herself just before her father’s death.

She ripped away her hand and threw her dagger to the floor.

“Careful,” Castor cautioned. He picked up the blade on her behalf and handed it back to her by the hilt. “Nightmare given form. You can attack with the dagger if need be, but…” For a moment, his words faltered. Had it been so long that he no longer had authority to describe his own magic? “The imagery itself should be enough to incapacitate.”

So this was what he was capable of. A missionary of terror.

A harbinger that decided to share the slightest bit of his dominion with her.

Eris tucked the dagger away. “Then let’s go raise hell.”

#writing #fantasy #fiction #writers on tumblr #writeblr #magic #original fiction #short story #stories #original characters #OCs #my characters #Of Debtors and Dissidents #Eris #Castor

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thewillowbends · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on Lucifer (TV) Season 4

So I've spot-rewatched parts of season 4, and I've more or less got a sense for what did and did not work for me. Lucifer is the kind of trash television I reluctantly love because I enjoy the characters so much, even as they are stuck in a painful mishmash of bad writing with the occasional moment of brilliance carried along by dedicated and talented actors.

SEASON 4 SPOILERS AHEAD OBVS

Let's get what I didn't like out of the way first -

Stuff That Makes Me Cringe

1.) Up first is my completely shallow dislike for the new devil makeup. The wings were really well done, but the face/body is kind of meh to me. It's not badly designed, per se, but it's definitely narm territory in some places. (While I do like the whole "king of hell" scene at the end and what it portends in terms of Lucifer's final decision, it is hilariously campy, too.) In my opinion, season two and three still feature the best up-close devil look, particularly in the reveal scene to Linda. It's disturbing in an uncanny valley sort of way that gets lost with the heavier makeup, and also...the wet blood is a really nice, creepy touch that I'm sad got dumped after the first try!

Also shallow opinion - Tom Ellis is fine as hell, don't get me wrong, and I appreciate that he worked out like crazy for this season, but I actually kind of miss his slightly less muscular look from the earlier seasons. I feel like he's a guy who looks better with shoulders that are a tad less broadly defined, yeah? It felt like it made more sense for Lucifer to be well built but not hyper muscular, since he wasn't a warrior in the way, say, Amenadiel or Michael were. Samael was the tempter - he's built for beauty and desire, with kind of a sly appeal to him.

2.) Eve. I really like Eve as a character over all, but I do wish her motivations were explored more explicitly. I do really like the vaguely feminist undertones of her story, that she's a woman whose entire life has been dictated to her by God and husband, and her decision to leave Heaven is a rebellion against that, a desire to pursue what she wants for herself even as she struggles to break free of old patterns. While the story does seem to suggest this is her true motivation, I do wish it was given a little more individual reflection. The thing I find the most poorly handled about her character is the punishment fascination. I get that it's part of her tendency to try and mold herself into what she thinks the men in her life want, good or bad, but I would've liked more clarity on whether it held any personal appeal to her - i.e. she discusses her son, Cain, but there's little attention given to what it must have been like for her to watch him walk the Earth cursed, much less losing her son Abel to Hell. Does she resent God? Is she angry that human life is so short yet the recompense for a life well or poorly lived is so permanent? Does she feel like her life was stolen for her in a way that other human's choices weren't?

She's already a foil for Lucifer in that she's daring to go against God's plan to explore her own freedom of choice, with the major caveat being that she left Heaven willingly in contrast to his exile. So while I do feel she was a relatively well rounded character (as far as she could be with what they wanted to do with her), a little more exploration of those motivations was in order, but I absolutely would love for her to come back in a potential season five. She has a lot of opportunities for growth and a lot of directions they could take her.

3.) Mazikeen. I'm actually not completely unhappy with the direction of her story. It feels like a natural continuation of her struggles in season 3, learning how to "human" and find her place in the world, but the problem is she isn't being given much to do outside of that. I like that her relationship with Linda is emotionally complicated (it's honestly one of the best female friendships on the show) with elements of platonic, erotic, and maternal love woven into it, but that the story is making it clear she still needs to learn how to develop herself independently. In season 2, Lucifer states that Maze is like a "baby bird that imprints on anything near." Now that we know demons are naturally inclined to want leadership and direction, that actually provides a literal context for why she's clinging to Linda for purpose afterwards. We just need to move that into a more strongly defined character arc. Since we know have the Lilim introduced as a legitimate threat, I feel like that's a no-brainer for what should happen if season five occurs with her. Let's see a storyline with Maze dealing with her family history (the Lilith), having to confront the fact that Hell is no longer her home, while grappling with a life on Earth minus the companion she's had for nearly all of her existence (Lucifer). Let her evolve into a fully fleshed out character.

4.) Cain. I'm not sad to see him go out with a whimper since they clearly had no idea what to do with his character in season 3, but the fallout gets completely brushed over way too easily. There's no way a federally investigated criminal revealed to be chief of the LA police wouldn't lead to absolute chaos in the precinct for quite a bit afterwards, and God knows, Chloe certainly would've been under the microscope for her role in what went down. It would've made more sense to have a throwaway line about how she was suspended for a month and kept away LA proper for a few weeks until they made certain the danger was clear and the drama had settled down media-wise.

5.) Chloe. I'll be up front that I actually don't mind her more dramatic response to Lucifer's face. For how easy it is to want to imagine she would handle it better, we've seen pretty much everybody freak the hell out when they see it, so she really shouldn't have been different. The context also matters significantly here - she encountered it at a violent crime scene shortly after he killed a person. HUGE difference from how a lot of the other characters were introduced to the truth. So I don't find her characterization completely OOC there, but what I wouldn't give for just one more episode this season exploring her feelings during that period, what drove her to Europe, what destabilized her sense of who and what Lucifer is. What I do like is that we got to see her make mistakes and have to answer for them - up until this point, it's been about Lucifer improving who he was to be somebody worth pursuing, but here we finally get to see Chloe's flaws, her struggles to be the better person she wants to be, to get told 'you f*cked up' and have to accept that she's possibly missed her chance. I felt like her relationship with Eve was well done, that they didn't go the easy route of them being catty with each other all season, but that each provided a different but ultimately legitimate perspective on Lucifer's complicated character. She could easily be set up as a primary protagonist of season five now with all the changes she's going through.

6.) The Father Kinley plot. I actually have no real problem with it for the most part - it provides a central antagonist that is far more threatening than Cain ever was, but I do wish they'd rethought the story of his introduction to Chloe. It seems to me it would've made more sense for him to seek her out in America. As a writer, I would've kept Chloe relatively local and had her confessing her fears and secrets to a local church pastor - who could have contacted the Vatican and brought Kinely to her in L.A. That would've conveyed a sense of Kinley's operation being part of a vast network of religious authorities "in the know" and provided a possible set up for later conflicts if there were others out there like him. Kinley actively seeking her out would've also reinforced her sense of how dangerous Lucifer is knowing that authorities had been tracking him for years, which could have undermined her own beliefs about who he is.

7.) The Caleb plot. I get what they were trying to do, and I appreciate that the show attempted to go there even as it is didn't fully succeed in treating the subject matter as well as it should have. I get that it's meant to show us that life can be unfair, and that embracing the right to free will comes with the potential cost of suffering, that we must accept the risks of loving and caring for each other. However, at the end of the day, you have a male POC killed off for a plot that ultimately leads nowhere, and that's...not great. I mean, I'd rather them try and stumble then completely ignore such things, but it's definitely not the season's shining moment.

8.) Other thing this season didn't shine on - the pacing. I get why it happened, since these writers are used to having more leeway to work with time-wise, and ten episodes is not a whole lot to pack in all of the emotional and story conflicts, but the first four episodes in particularly really feel strained. Even the humor feels slightly off kilter, like they were struggling to find the right tone. It's better than season three's tendency to sacrifice pathos for humor, but to date, season two remains their best work in terms of the over all pacing and tone.

9.) Dan. His backsliding and self-destructive behavior makes sense in light of his depression and sense of powerlessness, but it does feel redundant in light of Lucifer's own backsliding in season 3 and even here. Frankly, Dan has a legitimate point about how their tendency to write off Lucifer's worse behavior doesn't help him in the long run, but he's, y'know, one to talk. I honestly think the best direction for his character in season five is to leave the police force. In particular, I would not be unhappy to see him team up with Mazikeen to fight some supernatural demon crime, actually. I feel like their relationship has a lot of potential.

10.) Dan/Ella. I don't hate it, per se, but I'm just very neutral on it. The age difference is a little off-putting (he's fortyish, divorced with a kid, yo, and she's clearly a twenty-something), but I don't mind it being a hook up that occurred when they were both in a low place. I'm uncertain if I want to see it go beyond that.

11.) Remiel is a lot of fun, but I vacillate over whether her presence is particularly significant in light of Amenadiel's ultimate decision to stay on Earth. I highly suspect she's being introduced now as a placeholder for further events down the road if the show gets renewed. She's clearly there to generate conflict in Amenadiel rather than be the conflict itself, but I wonder if they plan on making Charlie's existence more of an issue if the series progresses.

12.) As always, I appreciate that the series' maintains an unflagging dedication to diversity. They cast an Israeli Jewish women as Eve. All of Lucifer's siblings have been POC. The show has probably MORE bisexual members in the cast than any other mainstream series that I've seen. It's not perfectly handled, it it definitely has its stumbles where race and LGBT+ content is concerned, but it's trying. That's more than I can say for most series.

The Stuff That Gives Me Life:

1.) Tom Ellis acting the shit out of that script, no matter how ridiculous the scenes they gave him were. I really appreciate that he's so gung-ho for giving his all to the character even when the material fails to rise to the occasion. Respect, too, for what I assume was basically him living in a gym for the past year. If Leslie Ann Brandt had to squeeze herself into leather pants two months after giving birth, I appreciate that he rose to the occasion for getting naked all over the place and providing an ass tight enough to bounce a quarter off it.

2.) Lucifer's character development was on point for me across the entire season. I feel like everything we saw building up from previous seasons - the anger, the grief, the self-inflicted wounds he refused to let heal - finally came together here. That moment at the end of episode eight is the perfect culmination of his character development, the painful realization he has about who really is responsible for everything that's happened to him. And now he can start making the real journey to being a better person. What happens at the end of the season is exactly what was bound to happen, no matter what story came before, because he needed to recognize the importance of punishment as a LESSON about the consequences of our actions. Responsibility sometimes means sacrificing what we want to protect what we care about. That's actually a rather clever nod to the comic version of the character who ultimately had to give up his individual existence to achieve total freedom - this version chooses submission out of recognition that to love and be loved, to be good is to be fettered to our responsibility to others.

(Which makes me really wonder if they are going to eventually push a story where Lucifer becomes a true king of Hell - not only a tyrant who deals punishment and controls the demonic masses but one who begins to show mercy and help some of those souls find release and forgiveness. Ah well, don't worry friends, if they don't write it in show, I'm already writing it in a fanfic.)

3.) Deckerstar 4 lyfe. I didn't expect them to wind up together because they weren't there yet, but it ended on such a pitch perfect note. Something this show has done remarkably well is avoid the idea of Chloe as the sole source of motivation for Lucifer to improve himself. It's emphasized over and over again that he has to want it, that he's the one who had to desire the good in himself. The worthiness comes with the recognition that you want to be worthy of love - and that you are. Lucifer had to come much farther than she did, but it was nice to see the dynamic switched up a bit with Chloe having to grow, mature, and reconcile herself to her mistakes.

4.) Eve was MUCH better as a character than I'd thought. I'm a little smug about predicting so much about her, but that's not an entirely terrible thing. While her storyline isn't perfect, I did like that it's a deconstruction of an idea of the "perfect woman/partner." Eve is in love with the idea of Lucifer and the idea of who she can be with him, not so much the reality of who they are. It makes me a little sad because I do think if they'd met at a point where she was further along in her character development, or he wasn't already in love with Chloe and so far ahead of her in growth, they could have actually worked and fallen in love with each other. And that's fine! Part of the point it's making with her character is how important our individual journeys are. At the end, Eve recognizes she needs to figure out who she is outside of God's plan or what she THINKS is what she wants. That honesty toward the end, that she really left Heaven for *herself* and not for Lucifer, is a huge revelatory character point that can go a lot of places next season.

5.) The demons. Just...everything with Dromos is gold to me. From his initial excitement at seeing Lucifer to his frustrated attempts to reason with him...to being much craftier and scarier than anybody possibly expected. Regardless of how we look at it, he played the endgame to the benefit of his stated purpose - loyalty to the infernal throne. Hell has a king again, one way or another. And now we have an established threat to keep Lucifer in line over the next couple of seasons, as well as tying up the arc that was begun all the way back in season 1.

6.) Pulling in the Vatican and a secret society of "in the know" sects was wise. While I wish the introduction had been slightly different, it leaves open opportunities for later.

7.) MY GIRL LINDA. Rachel Harris is such an underrated part on the show. She has such great chemistry with Ellis in the therapy scenes, and her becoming a mother feels like a natural extension of the underlying maternal element she provides the show. I like that we get to see her outside of the office now, engaging in a story of her own, which allows her to stay in the cast without losing significance of no longer being Lucifer's therapist.

8.) AMENADIEL. He's probably had the strongest and most well directed character development out of any secondary cast member on the show. Having him forfeit his power to stay on Earth with the humans he loved is such a nice touch, but I like that it was a decision he had to wrestle with. The idea of human life necessarily being complicated, messy, even unfair and unkind fits well with the theme of responsibility for our choices. If he stays on Earth, he has to accept that his son will not have a perfectly Heavenly life, that to be human is to accept all that comes with it. DB Woodside has great chemistry with the cast, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll do with him in future seasons.

9.) Lucifer holding baby Charlie for two seconds, awkwardly cooing at him, then immediately passing him off like a hot potato. That's real character development, guys.

10.) Amenadiel saying goodbye forever to Lucifer in the baby ward, for what is ultimately and tragically not the reason he expects it to be the last time he gets to say it. Woodside and Ellis have such great chemistry.

11.) Ella's loss of faith is handled pretty well. I appreciate that she had to reclaim it herself and not because she got to see the divine is real. Fits nicely with the theme that we have to actualize our own beliefs and realities.

12.) LGBT+ representation was better this season. It's too late for Lucifer's pansexuality to have any real meaning at this point, but I appreciate him stroking the guy's face while using his eye voodoo in episode 1. Little touches like that make the "Bi the way" aspect of his character seem less tacked on. Mazikeen, on the other hand, is where things got much better - she's actually seen dating both men and women, having difficulty parsing her complex emotional relationship with Linda, being openly attracted to and pursuing Eve (also openly bisexual). Please don't disrupt this improvement next season by giving her a male love interest, Netflix, I'm begging you. Give us at least SOMETHING here. She's got the most open-ended story for a relationship, and her development is clearly suggesting she wants family to call hers outside of what she has with the rest of the cast. (I know I was saying I low key ship her with Dan, BUT I TAKE IT BACK.)

13.) The dragon wings are admittedly very cool looking. I prefer the more streamlined devil makeup otherwise from seasons 2 and 3, but the wings can stay. I imagine the amount of fic tagged "wing kink" on Ao3 is going to increase several fold now. (Yes, that is an actual thing.)

14.) Lauren German showing up to play this season! She finally gets to do more than just be the straight man. All of her dramatic moments with Ellis were well done. No complaints. I have way more faith now seeing her move into a primary protagonist role in season 5 if we get it.

15.) LESLIE ANN BRANDT CAN SING!!! What a sweet moment and what it says about Mazikeen's development as a character (even if it is ruined by Eve's obtuse logic afterwards). How much do we want to bet that Lucifer's reaction to that is what made him decide to leave her behind on Earth?

16.) AJKLSJD;FLSAFDAS THANK YOU FOR FINALLY BRINGING IN MORE SUPERNATURAL STUFF. We finally get to see the throne!!! There are prophecies!!! WINGS!!! (How cool are Remiel's??) Demons can possess people canonically! The Lilim are a well established thing! Lucifer is back in Hell! So many place this can go now.

Anyway, I have good feelings for the most part. It’s still a heavily flawed series, but it’s not so bad that I’m going to dive out of it ala Hemlock Grove, which I’m fairly certain gave me brain damage by mid-season 2.

#lucifer #lucifer tv show #lucifer spoilers

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cosmiciaria · 5 years

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Persona 3 Dancing in Moon Night Review!

MILD SPOILERS OF PERSONA 3′S ORIGINAL STORY

Since the game's release more than a week ago I've been in a Persona 3 Mood™. I went back to my ps2 and started a The Answer playthrough. I also went to my (shhh secret) emulator and started a brand new playthrough in the psp version. I started listening to their songs again. I just couldn't help it! If you a pay a minimum of attention you'll see that my profile pic is FeMC. And with all the Persona Q2 thing, I was bursting with hype. I needed this game!

When it comes to the Persona games, you know Persona 3 is by far my favorite. That doesn't mean it has the best story or the best characters or (cof cof ps2 version) best gameplay. But it's just too important for me. These tragic characters, this bittersweet main protagonist, always hiding their pain behind a smile or a supporting shoulder, these social links that added more drama, like the girl with divorced parents or the guy who was suffering from a chronic disease. The music. The music around the last part of the game, where everything screams THE END IS NIGH and the protagonist knows what's coming their way. The "you've been a remarkable guest" at the end, when our main character gives all they got to defeat a little part of their soul. I just can't! And this is something I haven't experienced in P4 or P5, or even some of it in P2. It's only here, and it's here where my heart has been broken a thousand times.

A few days ago I bought the Endless Night Collection digital edition, but as you may've guessed, I mostly wanted to play this one. And it surely paid off.

I have NEVER played a rhythm game before, but I made this sacrifice because we are talking about the SEES members. I plunged into this musical world after training with the demo (yes, I used the word 'training', yes, this game was too hard for me at the beginning). There is no actual plot here: all these characters are summoned in a dream to dance at Elizabeth's request. That's it. No ridiculous story (cof cof p4 dan), just straight to the point. And you know what? I DON'T MIND AT ALL!

Well, there's a LITTLE plot going around. Elizabeth, eccentric as ever, has bet against her younger sister Lavenza that her team is going to win the dancing competition. Lavenza, of course, will try her best on her end (P5 dancing). So the goal is to give their all on the stage: to express themselves through their movements and yadda yadda. They needed something to fill some dialogues and I'm fine with it, because, like I said, I don't mind at all. Just seeing these characters in whole amazing 3D and HD, with normal proportions and most of their original voice actors and actresses gives me LIFE. Like, for real. This hypes me even more for a remake (but I'll never be fully content if FeMC doesn't make it to it).

Judging by their conversations, this game happens almost at the end, when they already realized what the twelve shadows were and after Shinjiro's event. The most intriguing thing besides the dancing is that we have kind of social links here, called "social events". You have eight ranks for each of the characters that you can unlock if certain requirements are met and, although they play very similarly to the old good social links we're used to, this time around our male protagonist has the chance to interact with his male teammates, something only available for the FeMC until now. And it's really enriching, for I've always believed that THIS is what the ps2 version is lacking: being able to hang around with the guys, not only the girls. Somehow I think this is an apology letter after the psp version was released.

You can also explore your teammates's rooms once you've reached rank 6 in their social events. There, Elizabeth has hidden a card, which you must find to get a reward. It adds a little gameplay to the dancing thing, but what's more interesting is that you can fully take your time inside each room and discover things about your friends. Their rooms are also well done in 3D, I could've never imagined I'd see them one day with this level of detail, when in the ps2 version the're just a box you can only see from an angle in and the psp version, just a picture on the background.

What surprised me a bit is that they've confirmed the male protagonist's name: Makoto Yuki, the one he's given in the movies. Given that we already have a Makoto in P5, I don't think it's the best decision, but who cares what I think! (oh god no please keep reading the review I swear)

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the game: some songs are challenging and put me in an epileptic state (oh GOD Mass Destruction with Ken that was WILD). But what this game gave me the most were laughs. I laughed a lot. I laughed during their social events, I laughed during some choreographies, especially the one where all the boys dance as a boyband BTS it's prICELESS. Each of the routines were carefully created to fit the character's personality. It's so well done I don't think I have a single critique about them!

But wait, you may say: laugh? This awful story with tragic endings? Laughter? Well, yes. That's why this game is so precious, and even the characters admit it at some point: this is a break from all those terrible things they're going through. This is a moment's respite for them. They deserve to just relax a bit and dance to their heart's content. Leave them be for a change, destiny!

Although I believe it's a love letter to myself, this game is far from being perfect, and I wouldn't recommend buying it at full price. I thought it would have more songs, for instance, and there's one song I particularly didn't like, because it's just a video of a concert of a song I don't even know and it's not even exclusively from P3. They could've added ANY other song, Tender Feeling, Paulownia Mall, Shadow, Tartarus in any of its versions, but nooo you had to put THAT concert song ok sure THANKS ATLUS. It bothered me a bit because I know numbers are limited and this was a decision made with care, so it kinda bugs me. I would've preferred to see more choreographies than that, but that's just my opinion! Another thing that bothered me is that they couldn't stop referencing P5 throughout the whole game. I know P5 is what's hot right now, but I came here to spend time with my baby boys and girls, not the Phantom Thieves. I will eventually play the P5 dancing game and I HOPE there are enough references there to P3 as well, because if not, I'm gonna be a tad mad.

Aside from those nit-picky things, this game is a gem to me. I already platinumed it and I wish there were more things to do because I need to spend more time with these characters. They're all so precious to me (ha ha no pun intended) and I just loved seeing them have a good time. There are some instances in which you remember this is just a dream and the outside world is harsh and painful, and those moments hit me hard, even more knowing what's coming. So that's why I say: enjoy it while it lasts!

Also, a friend of mine sent me this picture of her ps4 and it’s just too good not to show it to you, guys:

Just, DANCE WATER DANCE no sorry wrong game. But dance. Dance with your friends and enjoy the moment. Thank you Atlus for bringing these characters back to life.

#persona 3 #persona 3 dancing #p3d #persona 5 #makoto yuki #akihiko sanada #mitsuru kirijo #yukari takeba #junpei iori #fuuka yamagishi #ken amada #aigis #femc #videogame #review #videogame review #atlus #persona 3 dancing moon night

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whflibrary · 5 years

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playlist + downers and wastrels!!

this playlist is a 15-song compilation of music that reminded me of the downers/wastrels of we happy few, and are organized below the read-more by relevant lyrics and character types they pertain to!!

OVERDOSE / GRANDSON (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ i’ve been way too numb now, i’m living on the run now. oh, i gotta get out of this town somehow. ❞ + ❝ ‘cause the bad’s been slowly getting worse, and this fast lane - living, it’s a curse. better tell me - what’s your life worth? i think it’s time for a change. ❞ + ❝ ‘cause the drugs don’t work anymore. all fun and games until i hit the floor - overdose. ❞ + ❝ i couldn’t find the thrill again, i couldn’t seem to kill the pain. i was living in the moment, searching for a little serotonin, but this shit ain’t fun now. ❞

MEDS / PLACEBO (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ i was alone, falling free, trying my best not to forget what happened to us - what happened to me - what happened as i let it slip. i was confused by the powers that be, forgetting names and faces. passersby were looking at me, as if they could erase it. ❞ + ❝ baby, did you forget to take your meds? ❞ + ❝ i was alone, staring over the ledge, trying my best not to forget all manner of joy, all manner of glee, and our one heroic pledge. how it mattered to us, how it mattered to me, and the consequences. i was confused by the birds and the bees, forgetting if i meant it. ❞

MY RADIO / STARS (WASTRELS + DOWNERS + UNCLE JACK). ❝ it’s hard to remember days, mornings lost in a chronic haze. breath is fast and the trains are slow, i barely feel it though. all day long, i fantasize in the dark behind peoples’ eyes. and then they disappear, words get lost in the atmosphere. ❞ + ❝ the truth i’ll tell, i’ll tell the truth. you ask for facts, well, i’ll give you proof. ❞ + ❝ all i want is my radio, all i want is my radio. he speaks in a voice i know, sounds like sand when the tide is low. ❞ + ❝ all i want is a room somewhere, far away from all the chemo air. and when i go, my radio will play a song that lingers. ❞

CRY FORUM / MOTHER MOTHER (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ i stare at the populous in prayer - i look at them, talking to the air. i sing for them, they don’t seem to hear. i cry for them. ❞ + ❝ are they in outer space, on a populous parade? are they in some kind of race that i do not have the legs for? i’m not one to kill joy, but i’m just digging pro-choice. ❞ + ❝ are they all out of touch? are they touching it too much? are they on some kind of drug that i haven’t done enough of? ❞ + ❝ are they all out of turn? are they ever gonna learn? about the fires that might burn, about the feelings that might hurt me? ❞

ALONE / EYESHINE (WASTRELS + THE GARDEN DISTRICT). ❝ tonight looks like a cold one, if the moon decides to show and dance along the ocean. but none of us will know. none of us will know. ❞ + ❝ so, this is the end of it. it’s time for us to go back to where we started, back to what we know. do you know what it feels like to be alone? well, i do. ❞ + ❝ tomorrow’s never promised to you, this road we all share. ❞

EVERYBODY KNOWS / SIGRID (DOWNERS + ESCAPING WELLINGTON WELLS). ❝ everybody knows that the dice are loaded, everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. everybody knows that the war is over, everybody knows the good guys lost. everybody knows the fight is fixed, the poor stay poor, the rich get rich. that’s how it goes - everybody knows. ❞ + ❝ everybody knows the boat is leaking, everybody knows the captain lied. everybody’s talking to their pockets, everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stem rose. everybody knows. ❞ + ❝ everybody knows that the plague is coming, everybody knows that it’s moving fast. everybody knows that the naked man and woman are just a shining artifact of the past. ❞ + ❝ everybody knows it’s coming apart. take one last look at this sacred heart before it blows. everybody knows. ❞

PARIS IS BURNING / ST. VINCENT (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ i write to give word that the war is over, send my cinders home to mother.they gave me a medal for my valor, leaden trumpets spit the soot of power. ❞ + ❝ they say “i’m on your side when nobody is, ‘cause nobody is. come sit right here and sleep, while i slip poison in your ear”. ❞ + ❝ we are waiting on a telegram to bring us news of the fall. i am sorry to report, dear paris is burning after all. we have taken to the streets in open rejoice, revolting. we are dancing a black waltz - fair paris is burning after all. ❞ + ❝ enclosed in this letter, there’s a picture - black and white for your refrigerator. sticks and stones have made me smarter, it’s words that cut me under my armour. ❞

CROSSFIRE / STEPHEN (WASTRELS + THE GARDEN DISTRICT). ❝ he keeps waking up, but it’s not to the sound of birds. the tyranny, the violent streets, deprived of all that we’re blessed with. and we can’t get enough. ❞ + ❝ heaven, if you could send us down so we could build a playground for the sinners to play as saints, you’d be so proud of what we’ve made. ❞ + ❝ i hope you’ve got some beds around, ‘cause you’re the only refuge now for every mother, every child, every brother, that’s caught in the crossfire. ❞

CLINT EASTWOOD / GORILLAZ (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ i ain’t happy, i’m feeling glad. i’ve got sunshine in a bag. i’m useless, but not for long - my future is coming on. ❞ + ❝ intangible - bet you didn’t think, so i command you to. ❞ + ❝ you see with your eyes, i see destruction and demise. corruption in disguise from this fuckin’ enterprise, now i’m sucked into your lies. ❞ + ❝ i brought all this so you can survive when law is lawless. feelings, sensations that you thought were dead - no squealing, remember that it’s all in your head. ❞

THE STUPID, THE PROUD / IAMX (WASTRELS + THE GARDEN DISTRICT). ❝ god is dead - we get to sleep tonight. walk with me into the truth, out of your lies. ❞ + ❝ the armies of faithful, the killers of reason, the grief of the crown. the stupid, the proud - they blow our houses down. ❞ + ❝ exalt yourself, do it to stay alive. you must demand, they must abide. queer is the universe - habit the liberty, destructive in time. hunt down your future. and everything you know is not enough to survive. ❞

BLOOD // WATER / GRANDSON (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ we’ll never get free, lamb to the slaughter. what you gonna do when there’s blood in the water? the price of your greed is your son and your daughter. ❞ + ❝ look me in my eyes, tell me everything’s not fine. oh, the people ain’t happy, and the river has run dry. you thought you could go free, but the system is done for. ❞

OLD YELLOW BRICKS / ARCTIC MONKEYS (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ quite the little escapologist - you looked so miffed when you wished for a thousand places better than this. you are the fugitive, but you don’t know what you’re running from. ❞ + ❝ who wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up, blinded by nostalgia? ❞ + ❝ she was enraged by the way that the emperor put traps in the cage, and the days she seemed dull led to nights reading beer bottles. ❞ + ❝ she said “i want to sleep in the city that never wakes up, and revel in nostalgia”. ❞

KINGDOM OF ZOD / BILLY TALENT (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ we’ll never drink your medicine, and we’ll never think your way. masters of broken promises are born to manipulate. your mind is a vault of prejudice, but we see through the door - your dirty little secrets aren’t so secret anymore. ❞ + ❝ no room for your daft intolerance left in this day and age - we’re not gonna go down quietly, we’re not gonna be afraid. ‘cause under the cloak of sanities are madmen in disguise - are we blind? ❞ + ❝ i believe it, but i don’t understand. i feel it coming at the back of the head. if you think, you’ll be the one in command. it’ll tear us apart in the end. we’re gonna make it like a thief in the night. we’ll uncover up the evidence of their crimes. ❞

RACE TO THE BOTTOM / DAN MANGAN (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ and so the artist screams into an empty cup - he says that you’re a soulless bunch, but you could still wake up. ❞ + ❝ here’s what we know: we don’t know what we’ve got, or if we’ve got it. and what we had, we already forgot it. the race is evidently to the bottom - we don’t know what to say. ❞ + ❝ don’t know what it was, but we want it back, like every generation will repeat the last. put a halo on a figurehead or photograph - resist a little bit and you become “the man”. dreaming of a simpler time, it occurs to me that the past is hypothetical fantasy, and nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be. ❞

PLANET HEALTH / CHAIRLIFT (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ when i arrived on planet health, in the state of being well, i altered my self-conscious messes and body images. ❞ + ❝ i am feeling great tonight - we are feeling great tonight. ❞ + ❝ then i found out where you’re sent when you’re sick and sad and old - they kick you off of planet health, into a universe of cold. ❞

LIES / BILLY TALENT (DOWNERS + THE VILLAGE). ❝ forced conversation, hidden agenda - you think we’re stupid, how dare you? the rug has not been pulled over our eyes, you fool - we can see right through. ❞ + ❝ tiptoeing villains, eyes in the ceiling - your false intentions have worn thin. but we’ve been in your room and in your closet too, we’ve got one on you. ❞ + ❝ lies make it better, lies are forever. lies to go home to, lies to wake up to. lies from the altar, lies make you falter. lies keep your mouth fed, lies ‘til your deathbed. ❞ + ❝ inside an office, a fallen angel - a smiling buddha with snake eyes creates the latest trends. and i just can’t pretend - don’t call me your friend. ❞

#playlist #we happy few #we happy few game #whf #not notes #not images

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

Photo

JLA / AVENGERS SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2003 BY KURT BUSIEK, GEORGE PEREZ AND TOM SMITH

SYNOPSIS (FROM MARVEL DATABASE)

Krona, an exiled Oan villain from another Universe who has gained the powers of entropy, begins destroying entire universes in his obsession to find out how they are created. The Grandmaster, an alien who is obsessed with games, offers to give Krona the knowledge he seeks but only if he can beat him in a game. The game consists of forcing the Avengers and their heroic counterparts, The Justice League of America, from that Universe's Earth to battle each other in a race to find twelve items of incredible power that have been hidden around their worlds. With help from Metron of the other Universe, the heroes are tricked into participating. Krona is given the side of the Avengers and Grandmaster is given the side of the JLA.

When Batman and Captain America discover this, Captain America allows the game to end with a victory for the JLA, but Krona refuses to accept this and uses his powers to steal the knowledge directly from the Grandmaster's mind. In turn, the Grandmaster uses the power of the twelve artifacts to merge the two universes, trapping Krona at their center. However, this results in a chaotic world, and Krona begins to cause the universes to collapse, since he now knows that universal creation comes from destruction. The Avengers and the League join forces to stop him, aided by many other members from both teams' pasts (brought together by wild changes in time).

In the end, Krona is turned into a "cosmic egg" from which a universe would be born in a trillion years. The two universes return to normal, with everything that Krona destroyed being recreated as well (this would have consequences for the Anti-Matter Universe, as seen in a further Justice League adventure).

CONTEXT (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

In 1979, DC and Marvel agreed to co-publish a crossover series involving the two teams, to be written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Pérez. The plot of the original crossover was a time travel story involving Marvel's Kang the Conqueror and DC's Lord of Time. Writer/editor Roy Thomas was hired to script the book, based on Conway's plot, and although work had begun on the series in 1981 (Pérez had penciled 21 pages by mid-1983) and it was scheduled for publication in May 1983, editorial disputes - reportedly instigated by Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter - prevented the story from being completed. The failure of the JLA/Avengers book also caused the cancellation of a planned sequel to the 1982 The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans crossover.

An agreement was reached between the two companies in 2002, with a new story to be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Pérez. In a joint panel at WonderCon 2000, Busiek (then writer of the Avengers title) and Mark Waid (then writer of the JLA title) stated they had nearly come to an agreement to begin the crossover within the regular issues of the respective titles but the two companies could not come to a business arrangement. When the series was approved, however, Waid was unavailable due to an exclusive commitment with company CrossGen, and Busiek became the sole writer on the project. Perez also had an exclusive commitment with CrossGen, but had a clause written into his contract allowing him to do the series if and when it was approved.

INTERVIEW (FROM SYFY)

Kurt Busiek: I don't know if this is actual irony, but it's a coincidence at least, so it's the Alanis Morissette version of irony. One of my last jobs as a fan journalist, when I was working on a news magazine about comics, was to do an article announcing what was going to be the 1984 book. This was back in 1981 or 1982. I didn't know much about what was in it at that time, but over the years as it fell apart, there were interviews that were done about it where everybody kind of shouted at each other.

The problem with the first one was really a matter of personality clash. Dick's style of editing was "let's just get moving and we'll fix it along the way." Dick Giordano, as a long, long time award-winning inker, didn't believe there was any comic book you couldn't fix in the inks. And Jim Shooter was a very intellectually driven writer, who wanted it all in the outline. If it wasn't in the outline, it was wrong. So Dick was like "Yeah okay we have a plot, and maybe bits of it that don't make sense but we'll fix it as we go along" And Jim was like, "no, you can't start until you have an outline that works."

The final tally on work produced on JLA/Avengers '84: one fully plotted issue that may or may not have been approved, 21 pages of penciled artwork, and a litany of memos back and forth between Giordano and Shooter detailing which of their respective editorial teams were not at fault. After management changes at both companies, new crossovers between Marvel and DC characters to began to hit the stands.

Between 1994 and 1999, the companies would collaborate on 11 standalone stories featuring the likes of Spider-Man, Batman, the New Gods, Galactus, Superman, the Silver Surfer, Captain America and dozens more characters from each companies' respective library. They also put out Marvel vs. DC, a four-issue mini-series that was more like a battle royale pitting iconic characters against one another, with the outcomes voted on by gleeful fans.

It took another change in management to get the original JLA/Avengers idea rolling again.

Tom Brevoort: I was intimately involved in getting this crossover to happen. At the time, Joe Quesada had been installed as Marvel's new EIC and he was working through a program he referred to as "unfinished business": creator relationships that had fallen on hard times, projects that had never been completed as a result of some difficulty or another, that sort of thing. And so, at a given point, he asked me why the JLA/Avengers project hadn't happened back in the day. I gave him a rundown, and he said, "Okay, go make it happen."

I checked with our contracts people about the particulars of the overall deal for the Marvel/DC crossovers, and I discovered something: the deal called for each company to produce an equal number of books, but at that moment, DC had done four more than Marvel had. So that gave me some bargaining leverage.

I don't know what the decision-making process was like on DC's end — for Marvel, that was the whole of it. We did all meet once or twice to hash out some of the business aspects, agree upon the length and the creative team, as well as the publishing rights to the collection. That went to DC, as Marvel didn't have a machine in place at that moment to do collections—something else that Joe Q was instrumental in building.

So as the wheels were set in motion to get JLA/Avengers started, the talent currently working on both books were becoming aware this project might suddenly have new life.

Busiek: When things were fine between Marvel and DC, we heard about it and that there might be a possibility. I was writing Avengers while Mark Waid was writing Justice League and we came up with elaborate plans to do a JLA/Avengers #1, and then have the story appear in the next six issues of Avengers and JLA. Then there'd be a finale in JLA/Avengers #2 where we'd write our halves of it and we'd co-write the bookends. Ultimately Marvel and DC didn't want to do that because they didn't want to have any issues of the Avengers that they couldn't reprint because they were subject to a co-publishing deal.

An unlikely player then got involved: an upstart comic book company called CrossGen, which was founded in 1998 by Mark Alessi. Determined to make a huge first splash, they offered exclusive contracts to many of the industry's most talented creative talent. Two of the creators who chose to take Alessi up on his offer were Waid and Pérez.

Busiek: I was still on Avengers, while Mark left DC to go to CrossGen. There was no new writer on JLA. Mark was finished, or at least on the way out. I was the only guy left standing and they offered it to me and I thought, well gee, that sounds nice.

Brevoort: We also had to work around George's situation. At the time, he had finished his run on Avengers for me, and joined CrossGen as a staff artist. But he had a clause inserted into his contract that stated that, if an Avengers/JLA project ever happened, that he would be free to do it. So we needed to negotiate a little bit with Mark Alessi in order to work out the timing and make this happen, because the book was going to take George a year and a half to draw, since he wanted to ink it as well, which is a long time to have a key artist off the boards. And this is why we announced the project at the Orlando Megacon, a show which at that time was affiliated with CrossGen — it was their hometown show.

Stephen Wacker: I believe I only found out that it was finalized just a couple days before the 2001 Megacon where it was announced.

Brevoort: George was a no-brainer based on his connection with the original, aborted JLA/Avengers project from 1984. And I think DC wanted to be in the Kurt Busiek business, and saw this as a way to begin to establish a relationship.

The next step was hammering out the logistics of this event.

Brevoort: In all honesty, it wasn't too difficult. We had made arrangements to stay down in Florida an extra day following the Megacon announcement, and so myself, Dan Raspler from DC, Kurt and George sat around talking through the project and the story. Kurt already had a bunch of the pieces for what he wanted to do, and we very quickly all agreed that we weren't going to approach this from a company vs company standpoint where we'd be counting character appearances or worrying about who "looked better" or not.

We were just going to build a story that worked for us, like any other story — it just happened to star characters from two separate companies. Thereafter, there was a snowstorm that blanketed New York, and so Kurt and I rented a car and drove for 26 hours straight up the coast to get back to New York, and during that time we had plenty of further weary discussions about the project.

Wacker: We had some lunches which were friendly but the bulk of the work was done in email. And there were thousands. You could probably fill three omnibuses with them!

Busiek: I wanted to do a bigger project. The original idea to do it back in '84 was a 40-page book and I had impressed upon Tom a number of times, let's go bigger than that. Marvel versus DC and other projects that had been done as multi-issue projects. At one point, they came back to me with wanting to do three prestige format comics. I said, let's do four, because there are two publishers and you can't split three books into two publishers.

Wacker: I recall there was some worry that this was really just Marvel's Avengers creative team handling something that was supposed to be half DC. On the other hand, Kurt had co-written a Wonder Woman mini as well as a Red Tornado mini that only I bought in 1985, so I was on his team!

Busiek: I came up with the idea of having Marvel issues be called JLA/Avengers and the DC issues Avengers/JLA, because that way nobody seems more important. And more to the point I thought JLA/Avengers had a better rhythm than Avengers/JLA.

They also wanted a more ambitious story than had been done before.

Brevoort: The key idea was to not just do a typical fight between characters as had been done before, but to really delve into what made the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe different — to point out the stuff that each company did differently.

Busiek: I didn't want it to a story that just said, hey, here's the JLA, here's the Avengers. They team up, they fight somebody. They win, nothing happens that isn't on a pure superhero level. I said I want something deeper and that turned out to be exploring the differences between the two universes.

There's a reason why DC characters and Marvel characters don't just cross the dimensional gulfs — other than ownership — and team up all the time. It's because they're different places with different styles and even different physical laws. And I made the point along the way that the DC earth is slightly larger than Marvel earth because it's got more fake countries and fake cities to fit in.

Wacker: I know there was a lot of anger from fans about who could beat who, but I was always a believer that any character could win against any other character given the right set of circumstances.

Busiek: We wanted to get into the idea that, that the Marvel Universe is a place where heroes struggle and the DC Universe is a place where heroes are lionized. Superman is everybody's big brother, and The Flash is the pride of Central City. Even in Gotham city, Batman may be a scary guy, but he's THEIR scary guy. In New York City, Spiderman's a scary guy, but he's just a scary guy. Marvel has a lot more of a sense of the superhuman as dangerous. Whereas with DC, it's traditionally neatly divided into hero and villain.

Brevoort: That idea permeated throughout the plot and the series, including the one sequence that we couldn't make work to our satisfaction in issue #3 wherein we postulated what the Marvel characters would have been like had they been created in the DC Universe and vice versa. That failure led to the situation that broke the story, as it turns out.

While somehow making the heroes work together was crucial, they didn't ignore the villains, either.

Busiek: Tom and I were talking about what could be done and I had cooked up the idea that we need to involve Krona and the Grandmaster, right from those early discussions. Tom and I said this doesn't need to be exactly balanced at all. If we have Krona vs. Grandmaster and we have Metron involved, we don't need to have another Marvel supervillain involved at the same level just so that everybody gets the same number of seconds of dance montage.

So they had an outline. Now they just needed a story. That story told over four issues ended up being starting with a cosmic scavenger hunt with Krona on one side, and the Grandmaster on the other. The JLA and Avengers wound up being used as the chess pieces in this high stakes quest to gather 12 objects of power from the Marvel and DC universe, including a Green Lantern power battery and the Spear of Destiny from the DCU, and the Cosmic Cube and Infinity gems Marvel.

The story begins with the present-day versions of both teams at the time — Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Quicksilver, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye squaring off against Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Flash and Plastic Man — but through the course of the four issues would grow to touch on and contrast the full rosters of both squads.

The final issue ends with a knock-down, drag-out fight against Krona for the fate of both universes that is remembered by most (whether fondly or with scorn) for the image of Superman wielding Captain America's shield AND Thor's hammer during the battle. And in the end, Hawkeye (yes that Hawkeye) ends up winning the day for the heroes. Kurt's affinity for the character may have had had "something" to do with that.

It was an amazing four-issue run, but it didn't happen without its share of hiccups, as what goes on the page at times can pale in comparison to what it takes behind the scenes to put these projects together. often due to two completely different (and in DC's case shifting) editorial teams.

Busiek: I always got the impression that DC was looking over their editors shoulders on JLA/Avengers. That when I sent something to Tom and Dan Raspler for approval, approval came back from Tom 20 minutes later. He said this was fine, let's go. Dan read it. And I got approval back three days later because — they never said this, but I got the impression that it had to go up the chain and had to be seen by, Mike Carlin, by whoever was above him.

We had at least a lot of flexibility on the Marvel side since this was the Avengers creative team putting together the comic. Joe Quesada was not looking over Tom's shoulder. He would say "It's just going to say JLA/Avengers on it? It's going to have George Pérez art? It's gonna sell through the roof? I honestly don't care what Dr. Light does."

The main hiccup seems to have occurred around the story in the third issue.

Busiek: Issue four was difficult to do, no offense to anybody involved and I'm sure they were always all using their best judgment. But, the DC side of the process broke issue three. We had an outline. It had been approved by everybody. Issues three and four were originally intended pick up the merged Earths in 1983, and we see the teams that would have met in the original 1983 crossover. And then as time and reality collapsed and warped, they keep shifting to later versions. We would get to see the different forms that the JLA and the Avengers have taken, with multiple teams and such over the years.

We got told by the DC side of this, by Dan (Raspler) — I don't know how much of that was Dan and I don't know how much of it was people looking over Dan's shoulder — that no, we could not spend all this time in a JLA/Avengers crossover with Hal and Barry as a Green Lantern and the Flash. And the reason was that Hal and Barry were dead. They were never coming back. No one cared about them. It was Wally and Kyle Rayner. So spending too much time on Hal and Barry was just aiming it at the oldsters. And we needed to aim it at the younger fans so we had to pull apart issue three and put it together differently.

That meant that what was supposed to be a structured flow of time moved forward in a chaotic way. There just wasn't any structure anymore. It was just chaotic things as they're happening. And we tried to make as best an emotionally satisfying event out of it.

Brevoort: Mike Carlin — who was then DC's Executive Editor — and I got along very well, and were almost always on the same wavelength, which made coordinating and conceptualizing these crossovers relatively pain-free. Mike came on to edit the end of JLA/Avengers for DC, and that made things even easier. I kind of regret that he didn't come in just a few weeks sooner, as that was the point where the interaction happened that broke the back half of the story in my opinion, and that would almost certainly have been avoided had it been Mike at the helm at that moment.

Busiek: Issue #3 pretty much got reworked in ways that we weren't happy with. And issue #4 was kind of a mess because of that, but people seem to like it. So I guess we did it well enough. But yes, it was a lot of work at the last minute and I think we would've had a better book if we'd stuck with the original outline.

What no one had any regrets over was the work down by George Pérez

Busiek: We had close to 200 pages and we had George. When I started writing Avengers, George was the artist, and I asked do you know which Avengers do you want to use? And he said all of them. When JLA/Avengers comes along I said, well, which characters would you like to focus on? And I knew it was coming: George said "all of them." So everybody up to and including the Yaz showed up at least once.

Brevoort: We were able to schedule the series in such a way that George was able to ink as well as pencil every single page of it. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure that it represents the largest body of work that George both penciled and inked himself.

Wacker: Dealing with George was without a doubt the highlight of the project. I couldn't believe my life had progressed in such a way that I now had his phone number! My favorite memory was a voicemail message from George that I kept for years. He was … shall we say very "frustrated" that none of the references for JLA's moon base were consistent. I geeked out at every minute of him yelling at me!

Brevoort: The one fannish thing I did insist on in our earliest story meetings — and it's something that nobody objected to — was that the Flash be the first character to breach the dimensional barrier between the DC Universe and the Marvel Universe, much as he was the first character to travel from Earth-1 to Earth-2. In my office, that sequence was referred to as "Tom's page", and in fact, I did buy the original art for that page from George when he put it up for sale after the event had seen print.

Busiek: George finished the cover to number three that had every JLA member ever and every Avenger and he wrecked his hand. The fourth issue was late because George had had tendonitis from drawing that, which was a huge complicated cover.

Brevoort: At a certain point, we needed to send the original artwork for the cover to issue #3 — the huge piece in which George had drawn every single Avenger and Justice leaguer — back to George. But my intern at the time had misunderstood our instructions and instead sent George back a full-sized Xerox.

I remember coming into the office in the morning and finding a message on my answering machine from George, and I've never before or since experienced him speaking so quickly and so breathlessly. He was afraid that the original art was either lost or destroyed, and he was half out-of-his-mind with concern. Upon looking into things, we worked out what had happened, and were able to calm things down and get it back to him.

Given the size of the superhero business now, with sprawling cinematic and television universes even more prominent to the general public than the comics source material, it would seem unlikely that these two companies would team up again. The fact that they're owned by two multinational conglomerates — Marvel is Disney property, while DC is owned by the freshly minted Time Warner/AT&T — as unlikely as Captain America and Superman becoming North Korean citizens.

Brevoort: Those were really the final days of both companies being "Mom & Pop" shops. Now, with both Marvel and DC being integrated multi-platform companies, the inter-mingling of competing IP is a much more complicated and complex situation, along with the fact that you wind up spending considerable resources on a project for which you only recoup half of the eventual profits (and that you cannot utilize across other lines of business beyond the publishing) make it a lot more difficult to justify. It's hard to justify both the allocation of resources and also the difficulties of navigating the politics between two competing corporate giants. So it's not impossible that it could never happen again, but the factors against it happening are considerable.

It would be nice, though, if we could get JLA/Avengers and the other Marvel/DC crossovers of the past back into print.

Busiek: We got to do JLA/Avengers. I had a lot of fun with it and a lot of people read it. They thought it was cool. So the fact that it didn't stay in print is disappointing to me, but it doesn't outweigh the fact that we got to do it in the first place.

Wacker: At the time Marvel was in the beginning of a cultural reawakening that would climax with the movie and TV studios getting built. DC was just starting to wake up as well and really start taking seriously the need to compete with Marvel.

REVIEW

You can get lost in those pages. So many characters and references (even to the original plot of the series). This is the most ambitious mini-series I can remember right now (Crisis on Infinite Earths did the same with just the DC Universe, but this incorporates everything post-Crisis, plus the Marvel Universe).

It’s just amazing. And it’s not just the art. For a crossover, the Krona story is very advanced, it has more in common with Crisis than, let’s say, Batman/Spider-man.

This is also the last crossover between DC and Marvel. The corporate culture at both companies changed too much to allow another of these events, and most importantly, once Marvel got out of their bankruptcy, they had no reasons to boost DC sales (this was usually the excuse to not do the crossovers, as Marvel has been dominated the market for decades).

I am kind of glad that the 1983 crossover failed. I don’t think it would have been as powerful as this.

There are some problems in the third chapter. And everyone knows that. The issue had to be rewritten and it just stops the pace of the story. You could kind of not read it and you would get the same story (minus some valuable exposition).

If you are going to buy this book, I recommend the one with the companion book, that includes interviews around the failed project, (plus penciled pages for that book), and an exhaustive index of all the characters, page by page.

I give this book a score of 8

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amazingphilly · 6 years

Text

a wasted heart that just eclipses

ao3 link

Warnings: Major Character Death, Religious Themes, Mentions of Alcoholism

The peaceful silence of the church seemed to mock Dan as he walked slowly in. The dull thud of his footsteps echoed throughout the entire room. Nothing about the small building had changed since his last visit. The wooden pews sat empty, facing the altar and candles at the front, and the stained glass windows let the sunlight filter in.

Dan took a few more hesitant steps towards the altar. His plan seemed worse and worse with every inch he drew closer to the front of the room. A part of him, the tangled, miserable, scared part, told him to walk out. It would be so easy to leave, and keep pushing this off.

His feet kept carrying him forward, acting in contradiction to what his mind was begging him to do.

What were people supposed to do in church? He knew kneeling was a big thing. That was probably what the red padded benches at the front were for. He passed the last few rows of pews, and let his knees sink into the soft leather. Before him, a stained glass cross kept watch, daring him to speak and break the silence the chapel was drowning in.

He took a deep breath. “Okay.” Fuck. How was this supposed to start? He supposed just the way any other conversation did.

“Hi Phil. It’s Dan.” He almost cringed at his own awkwardness. “Uh, you know I don’t really believe in all this. But I know you did. You told me once that it comforted you to think about God. You said it gave you something…” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Something to hold on to.”

Dan’s knees shifted a little underneath him, slipping on the thin red carpeting of the prayer stool. “So I knew I had to do this in a church. This was the only one I knew, sorry. I don’t know what to say to you. I really should. Every day, I turn to say something to you, and I have to realize all over again that I can’t anymore.”

It was true. He’d see a funny picture, or get invited to some event, and automatically go looking for Phil to show him. Ten years of old habits die hard.

He cleared his throat. “So…yeah. It’s been almost a year since you-” He couldn’t say it. “Since you departed. You said to me that when it happened- when, not if- you wanted me to write you a letter, burn it, and spread the ashes with yours. But you know I’m shit at writing.” His eyes clouded over a little as he gave a quiet little laugh. He could almost hear Phil reprimanding him, telling him not to swear in a church.

“Every time I sat down to write, I couldn’t find the right words. So I decided you’d like it almost as much if I told you myself. So.. here it goes.” His chest throbbed with a dull pain, right below his ribcage, as if saying that his heart would self destruct with his grieving mind.

“Phil, I miss you. Oh God, miss doesn’t even begin to cover it. Losing you was like cutting half of me off. It still is. I’m so fucking empty without you. The flat’s too big. I know I always complained about how small it was, but that was when you could fill it up. You’re still everywhere in there. I haven’t touched our room all year. I just sleep in my prop bedroom.”

Truthfully, Dan hadn’t been able to sleep in their old room since the last night they’d spent together there. He’d clung to Phil, as if trying to pin him down to the very world they lived in. Almost like he couldn’t leave if Dan was holding him tight enough.

The next morning, they’d taken a taxi to the hospital for what the doctors promised would be Phil’s last round of chemo. Usually when you hear that, it’s good news, it means the person can go home soon. Not for Phil. They’d heard a bunch of complicated medical terms describing how Phil’s body was reacting to the treatment, but the head doctor on Phil’s case explained it best.

His body just wouldn’t accept the drugs anymore. Dan had thought no day could be worse than the one they received the diagnosis, but nothing hurt more than realizing Phil had stopped fighting.

The scenery in this chapel was too peaceful for this moment. It made Dan’s goodbye more beautiful than it should be. Because it wasn’t beautiful, it pulled at all the fragile strings that held him together, that bound all the love and pain and fear that made up Dan Howell. Saying this was sawing away at those strings, snapping them one by one.

“Everything would be so much easier if I could just stop loving you. But I can’t. There’s never going to be another Phil.” His chest shuddered.

“You were it for me.”

Most days, he could push these thoughts away, bury them in work or drown them in the burn of alcohol in his throat. Being sad and drunk was a lot better than sad and sober.

“I remember one of the first things you told me when we found out your prognosis. ‘Don’t find a vice.’ You didn’t want me to turn to drugs or anything when I lost you. Sorry for disappointing you.”

The last sentence had a bite to it, an edge of irony and anger that colored Dan’s words too often these days. He knew the stages of grief, and he’d been told that, in time, they would pass. Most of the time, though, he couldn’t imagine ever moving on from this point, this all-consuming rage that filled him.

All of a sudden, the air seemed too thick to breathe, the quiet beginning to choke him. How dare God sit there in silence when Phil was gone?

“It’s not fair! You did everything right. What kind of fucking vindictive god would still take you from me?” It was like a dam had burst somewhere inside of him, letting a year’s worth of filthy poisonous water rush out.

Something warm and wet brushed against his cheek. “You didn’t deserve this! I didn’t!”

He realized it was a tear. Soon they were falling thick and fast, leaving dark, angry stains on his gray shirt. Dan looked up, as if to speak directly to God.

“He was good! He was the best person I’ve ever met! There are so many murderers and fucked up criminals out there. Why did you decide Phil deserved to die more than them?”

The birds just kept chirping.

He couldn’t do this. Coming here was a bad idea. It would be so easy to get up and leave, to never see the last rays of the setting sun mocking him through the stained glass cross at the front of the room. To never feel his knees digging into the prayer stool beneath him, and his heart twisting its way down into the pit of his stomach.

You can go, said the little Phil in his head. I’ll forgive you. Dan knew it was true. As much as he was trapped by knowing he would never stop loving Phil, he could wrap himself in the knowledge that he was Phil’s first real love.

And his last.

Fourteen months earlier, Phil had told him as much. The doctor had stepped out of the room to allow the two of them some time to talk after delivering the news they’d been waiting for. Eight weeks left.

“Are you scared?” Dan had asked.

Phil had reached out and taken his hand, his skin so pale under the fluorescent hospital lighting. “No.”

“Why?’

Phil had looked for all the world like an angel, wrapped in white hospital sheets, eyes still bright despite everything. He smiled. “Because I have the rest of my life to love you.”

Dan squeezed his hand tighter. “But I have the rest of mine to miss you.”

“Dan.” Phil’s expression turned serious. “When I die, let me go. Don’t hold on, please. Live your life, and do great things, and change people’s lives. You’re strong enough without me.”

Now, that kept echoing in his head. Let me go. He was at a crossroads now. Either he could leave, and keep pushing this off, drown a little more in his misery, or he could face the reality: Phil was gone. And deep down, he knew the choice was already made.

Let me go.

Dan stood up.

He let his chest expand with a deep breath.

“I’m never going to stop loving you. But me being like this, it isn’t doing you any good.”

He turned on his heel, facing the light that poured from the window.

“I feel like you’re still with me. Like, I don’t even know, like you can’t rest when I’m holding on to you. Am I right?”

Only the wind answered him.

“When you died, everybody told me that it would be okay, that you weren’t suffering anymore. I didn’t believe them, because fuck, how could you rest when you’re dead?”

Dan’s breath caught in his chest. This wasn’t the time to start crying again. But maybe it was. Maybe it was time to start cracking the wall that held back all his memories, everything that could hurt him. So he let his eyes burn with the promise of tears.

“So I guess this is what I’m actually here for. To let you go.”

The first drop fell warm and salty down the side of his face.

“I don’t want to carry you with me for the rest of my life,” he said. “You deserve more than just being a memory. I want you to be able to relax. I want you to rest.”

The wall inside him wasn’t cracked so much as obliterated. For so long, everything that had hurt him or reminded him of Phil could be tucked neatly behind that barrier, and Dan could keep living in sanity. But walls keep things trapped inside as much as they keep them out.

Let me go, the Phil in his head whispered again.

The sun was so blinding through the glass.

Dan felt so exposed, so vulnerable. He’d poured himself out in front of Phil, in front of a God he didn’t even believe in. All that was left was the truth. All that was left was himself.

The tiny seaside chapel stayed as quiet as before, the shafts of sunlight illuminating tiny clouds of dust mites. Nothing was different. Everything was different. Dan turned toward the door, and took a couple steps in that direction. Then he stopped, and walked back to the front pews.

“You can sleep now, Phil. I’ll see you on the other side.”

The church was quiet except for the noise of the birds outside when Dan walked out.

#phanfiction #phanfic #phan #dan and phil #dnp #fanfic #fanfiction

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