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maxineswritingcenter · 3 years

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You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 11

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As soon as I walked into the veterinarian office, I felt it. Like a total drain of my muscles and my head started to hurt.

“Mountain ash.” Dr. Deaton said as he came out from around the corner, “It weakens werewolf abilities so they cannot shift their form.”

“That would explain it.” I smiled, shoving my hands in my pockets.

“How can I help you, (Y/N).” He knew my name.

I squinted at him, “Have we met?”

“We have, but you wouldn’t remember. You were here with some minor injuries and your parents weren’t sure if you were going to turn and just in case…the hospital found something interesting.” He said, a small smile on his face, “But I see you have finally turned.”

I nodded, “Yeah, but I don’t know how.”

“I believe I may have an answer.” He pulled out a book from the front desk. It was a dark leather bound book, its pages were brown with age.

“It was a spell used by werewolf clans that were being hunted hundreds of years ago, in France, Scotland, England. In some cases, werewolf hunters would test werewolves in their human form with Mountain ash, rendering them unconscious. Et obscuratus lupum. Wolf Eclipse.” I looked at the book, seeing a drawing of what looked like a child, half human, half wolf.

“Parents would perform this spell to cloak their child from hunters. The Mountain ash wouldn’t affect them and they would be spared and safe until they could transform. This spell would also remove any memories of werewolf behavior from beyond that point so they couldn’t give away the rest of the clan by accident.”

I looked down at the desk, “But why now? Why did I turn now? And why am I an alpha? I’ve never killed anyone.”

“As for your turning now, many children are given back their power by their parents. Or if their parents were killed, they usually don’t unless something triggers the change - high stress, fear, terror, torture. But I can’t explain the alpha part, the only people who could were your parents.”

“Derek? Derek!” Isaac’s voice echoed through the building.

“What’s wrong?” Derek turned away from what he was doing. Isaac looked frantic and scared.

“My dad… I think he’s dead…”

“What did you do?” Derek asked firmly.

“That’s the thing…It wasn’t me.”

I woke up on the couch. Not the best place to sleep all night.

I sat up and cracked my back, twisting from side to side. I shuffled into the kitchen, seeing Uncle Noah already there.

“Morning, kiddo.” He said, sipping his coffee. He went with the dark roast this morning. Bitter. Something serious had happened.

“Morning.”

“We found Lydia, I don’t know if you heard.” He said.

I nodded, “Of course, talk of the town. Stiles is gonna get an A in economics.”

He shook his head, a small smile on his face. He was still slightly sleepy, meaning I could probably get something out of him about what’s making him leave this early.

“What’s going on?”

He yawned and raised his eyebrows. He looked around the corner then back to me, “Promise you won’t tell Stiles. And I’m only telling you because it involves one of your players.”

“Isaac?” I asked, “Is he okay?” Uncle Noah narrowed his eyes at me, clearly confused how I knew.

“I had my own questions about his home life. A guess.”

“Well we found his dad dead this morning. Mauled to death in his car in an alleyway.”

“Mauled?” Great… This is exactly what we needed with this hunter situation going around. Didn’t Derek tell Isaac that humans were off limits, especially right now? Isaac didn’t seem like the type, but if he was getting abused, maybe he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Yeah, not pretty. Oh, by the way.” He rifled through the mail, “This came for you at the station.” It was a brown envelope. It had multiple stamps and postmarks. The text was written in old English calligraphy.

“The Lunar Circle.” I shook my head, “Never heard of it.” I looked at the return address, “Scotland?”

“I guess so.” He looked at his watch, “Alright, gotta go.” He kissed the top of my head, making his way out the door.

I got into the locker room later than usual, but in time to watch Scott and Stiles stare at a chain that was falling out of Stiles’ locker. Coach walked between the two of them, staring at the chain as it finished pooling on the floor.

“Part of me wants to ask… the other part says knowing will be more disturbing than anything I could ever imagine. So, I’m gonna walk away.” Before I could speak to the two, Coach slipped the blind fold onto my eyes, the elastic slapping the back of my head.

“Good looking out.” I nodded vaguely in his direction. Stiles shoved a bag in my hands, Scott and Stiles started shoving the chain into it and froze, Scott tensed up.

Another scent. Someone like us.

“There’s another in here.” Scott said.

“Another what?” Stiles asked.

“Another werewolf.”

Once the players were on the field, Stiles pulled me aside.

“Alright, switch Scott with Danny for goal and then you use your sniffer on the guys on the bench.”

I raised my eyebrows at him, still not over what he said the other day.

He stared for a minute, then closed his eyes, “The silent treatment, really?”

I smiled slyly, nodding.

“Oh my god.” He groaned, “Look, I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to protect me. I get it. We can have this conversation later, please.”

I thought about it for a minute, then nodded, “Fine. I’ll go tell Coach.” I found Finstock and told him.

“Why would I want McCall in goal? McCall is co-captain. He needs to play offense.”

“That’s true, but what happens when Danny gets hurt during a match. Are you gonna put in someone from second line or someone with those reflexes?” He stared for a minute, thinking about what I just said.

“Think about it like this. Danny’s out, it’s tied and we are ten seconds from overtime. Who are you putting in? Second line or McCall.”

He nodded and chuckled, “Good thinking.” He turned back to the other players and blew his whistle, “Let’s go! Line up!” Players made their way onto the field, “Faster! Make daddy proud.” Daddy… I hate it. I scanned the line up, there was number fourteen at the end - Isaac.

Coach blew the whistle again, signaling the drills to start. Scott ran from the goal, tackling the player. Scott was many things. Subtle was not one of them.

“McCall!” Coach shouted, his eyes wide and his hair seemed even wilder.

“Yeah?”

“Usually, the goalie stays somewhere within the vicinity of the actual goal.”

“Yes, Coach.”

“Let’s try it again!”

“What the hell, man?” The player shouted. His name was… Matt Daehler if I remembered correctly.

Coach blew the whistle again, throwing another ball into play. Again, Scott knocked the next player down.

“McCall!” Coach called again, “The position’s goalkeeper, not goal-abandoner!’

“Sorry, Coach…”

“Let’s go!” He blew the whistle. Again, Scott knocked the next man down.

“Stiliniski!” Coach pulled Stiles up by his helmet. Stiles stood up from the bench on the other side of me, “What the hell is wrong with your friend?”

“Uh, he’s failing two classes, he’s a little socially awkward, and if you look close enough, his jawline is kinda uneven.” Stiles said in a rush.

Coach and I turned heads to the side, looking at McCall. Was his jaw always crooked? Had I not noticed in all of this time?

“That’s interesting.” He said, dropping Stiles' helmet. Scott knocked over Danny next, landing on top of him. Danny was having a good year so far.

“McCall!” Coach shouted, clearly frustrated, “You come out of that goal one more time, and you’ll be doing suicide runs ‘til you die! It’ll be the first ever suicide run that actually ends in a suicide! Got it?”

“Yes, Coach.”

“Yeah!” Coach glared.

Jackson looked at Scott warily, “Uh, Coach, my shoulder’s hurting… I’m gonna-I’m gonna sit this one out…” He watched out of the line and onto the bench. What’s gotten into him? Besides not the bite. Scott ran forward at Isaac. But instead of Scott taking him down, they both collided and fell to the ground. That’s when I saw Scott pause, he found his werewolf.

“Dad?” Stiles asked. I turned around, seeing Uncle Noah and two other officers heading towards the field. They must have been coming to bring Isaac in for questioning.

“Don’t tell them…Please don’t tell him.” I heard Isaac say.

I stayed back with the rest of the team while Finstock was talking to Uncle Noah. Scott was listening in on the conversation.

“His father’s dead. They think he was murdered.” Scott said.

Stiles looked at me, “Is that what you and my dad were talking about this morning?”

“There may have been something Uncle Noah told me not to tell you.” I grinned innocently.

“Come on…” Stiles sighed, “Are they saying he’s a suspect?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“Because they can lock him in a holding cell for twenty-four hours…”

“Like, overnight?”

“Those generally are the same amount of time, yes.” I said.

“During the full moon.” The full moon. Not only would it be Isaac’s first turn, it was going to be mine.

“Crap.” I mumbled.

“How good are these holding cells at holding people?”

“People? Good. Werewolves? Probably not that good.” Stiles said grimly.

“Stiles, remember when I said I don’t have the urge to maim and kill?”

“Yeah…”

“He does.” How Scott could tell that, I couldn’t tell. Because I didn’t get that vibe.

I made my way through the hall, seeing Uncle Noah in the hall outside the principal's office.

“What’s going on?” I asked, not seeing Isaac near.

“We’re interviewing Jackson Whittemore. He’s Isaac’s neighbor, we’re just trying to see if he knows anything. I’m just waiting to meet the new principal.”

“New principal?” I asked. Right after I spoke, the door opened. And there stood Gerard Argent. I tried to hide my shock when I saw him, since the last time I saw him I watched him cut someone in half.

“Sheriff Stilinski, I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting. Just a phone call from one of my teachers.” He said in his brogue, he turned to me, “And Miss (Y/N), assistant coach for our lacrosse team. I have been anxious to meet you.” He held out his hand. Oh, he was anxious? Yeah definitely.

I blinked, a small smile on my face, “It’s good to meet you as well. I apologize for my shock, I was not aware that you had been hired.” I shook his hand. His hands felt cold, like the ice in his heart spread through his veins.

“I understand. It was quite unexpected. But I am excited to get started.” He played his role well. An older man happy to help and be accommodating to his new surroundings. I knew the truth though, and it terrified me. But I needed to lay low and stay on his good side for right now. He declared war, no longer following the code and Chris couldn’t stop him like he stopped Kate.

“Of course. I’m excited to work with you too, Mr…?”

“Argent.”

“Oh like Allison. She’s such a sweet girl, I always see her at games.”

“She became a fan.” He nodded. In the distance, I could hear Jackson’ walking down the hall. How did I know it was Jackson? His brand new shoes squeaked.

“Well, I gotta head out. Delivery came to the front office for the team. Pearls and crosses. It was good meeting you, Principle Argent.”

“Please, call me Gerard.” He smiled.

I grinned and nodded, “Gerard.” I looked at Uncle Noah, “I’ll see you tonight.” I made my way towards the front office, glad that the hunter couldn’t hear my heart beating out of my chest.

“You okay?” Derek’s voice echoed in my head.

I sighed, taking a deep breath, “No. They took Isaac into lock up, Gerard is the principal, and I am going to turn tonight whether I want to or not and I’m scared.”

“We’ll talk.”

I sat on the front steps, looking over the envelope. The Lunar Circle. Was this something my parents were involved in? Just as I was about to open the envelope, I got a text from Scott to meet him and Derek at Isaac’s house.

So I met them there, looking up at the sky. I had already cracked all of my knuckles so now I just was wearing a hole in my shoe from tapping.

“Are you alright?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know, Scott, were you okay when you turned the first time? Because I can recall you almost killing me the last time.” My eyes flashing red.

“Hey, I apologized for that.” Scott defended himself.

“(Y/N), look at me.” Derek stood in my line of vision. The red left my eyes and I sighed.

“Sorry, I’m just… anxious.” I clenched and unclenched my hands.

We snuck into the Lahey household, making our way down to the basement.

“If Isaac didn’t kill his father, who did?” Scott asked as Derek led us through the house. Derek moved slowly, keeping a flashlight beam ahead.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Then how do you know he’s telling the truth?”

“Because I trust my senses. And it’s a combination of them.” He looked at Scott over his shoulder, “Not just your sense of smell.”

“You saw the lacrosse thing today?” Scott asked sheepishly.

“So you saw him tackle and sniff everyone on the field, his big plan.” I added.

“Yeah.” Derek said plainly.

“Did it look bad?”

“Yeah.” Derek and I said together. Derek opened the door and we all looked down to the bottom of the basement, Scott and Derek’s eyes lit up the space a little, enough to see what was below. There were the usual things - chairs, dust bunnies, boxes.

“You wanna learn?” Derek asked, “Start now.”

“What’s down there?”

“Motive.” We started down the stairs.

“And what are we looking for?”

“Follow your senses.” Derek said. I strayed from the group, seeing dust covered toys and games, covered with age and gray. It looked like a normal basement, but it felt like something terrible had happened here. Derek took my hand in his, pulling me back to them.

“What happened down here?” Scott asked.

“The kind of thing that leaves an impression.” Derek said in a low voice. It was kind of creepy, in addition to the spider web covered basement. As we went further into the basement, we saw chains hanging from the wall. My heart sank. I took Derek’s flashlight and lit up the floor, there were groove marks in the floor. Scott bent down and placed his fingers within the groove. Scratches in the cement floor. My attention was brought to a large freezer in the corner of the with a rusted padlock. The energy radiating from the cooler made my heart drop into my stomach.

“Open it.” Derek told Scott as we stood in front of it. Scott took off the lock and lifted up the lid of the freezer. My mouth fell open in shock, tears burning at my eyes. Scratch marks, covering the entire inside of the freezer. The worst were the rust covered marks, meaning that Isaac was so desperate to fight his way to freedom that his fingers bled. I turned away from the freezer, feeling nauseous. Leaning over, my hands on my knees.

“This is why he said yes to you?” Scott asked.

“Everyone wants power.”

“If I help you, you have to stop. You can’t just go around turning people into werewolves!” Scott had a point. It was dangerous to be a werewolf right now. That’s why my parents did that ritual on me.

“I can if they’re willing.”

“Did you tell Isaac about the Argents? About being hunted?”

“Yes, and he still asked.”

“Then he’s an idiot!” Scott shouted.

I stood back up and stared at Scott, “An idiot? He’s been tortured his whole life, Scott, and he’s the idiot for trying to save himself.” There was a growl in my voice as my anger rose. Derek put a hand on my arm.

“You’re the idiot dating Argent’s daughter.” Scott looked shocked at Derek’s words, “Yeah, I know your little secret. And if I know, how long do you think it’s gonna take for them to find out?”

Derek grabbed Scott by the shoulder, “You saw what happens to an omega. With me, you learn how to use all your senses. With me, you learn control.” He lifted Scott’s clawed hand, “Even on a full moon.” Seeing Scott’s hands, I lifted mine and saw the claws had grown in. I hadn’t even felt them come out.

Scott pulled his hand away, “If I’m with you, I lose her.”

“You’re gonna lose her anyway. You know that.”

I shook my head, thinking about the night Peter was killed. The look in Allison’s eyes as she shot arrows into Derek and I was cold, no emotion at all. “Scott, don’t you remember what happened? She shot us down.”

“That wasn’t her, that was Kate.” He defended her, like a love sick puppy.

“Was it? You didn’t get to see her when Kate brought her down to that cellar and watched as Derek got electrocuted, over and over. She did nothing to stop her, she knew it was wrong but she didn’t stop her. Allison’s loyalties are never going to be with us.” My voice was calm but the shaking was starting to take over. It felt like my chest was going to burst at any moment. Even my gums ached.

“Come on.” Derek said softly in my ear. He escorted me to the stairs, a gentle hand on the small of my back.

“Wait!” We turned back to face Scott, “I’m not part of your pack… but I want him out. He’s my responsibility too.”

“Why? Because he’s one of us?”

“Because he’s innocent.”

I sat in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s office, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. I can’t do this. How can I help break Isaac out of jail when I can’t even keep myself in control. I shouldn’t be around people. I shouldn’t be around Stiles or anyone else in the deputy department. I jumped when I heard the knocking at my window. Derek and Stiles stood there, looking a little concerned. I opened my door and got out, sticking close to Derek. If anyone could stop me from attacking Stiles it was him.

“Okay. Now, the keys to every cell are in a password-protected lock-box in my father’s office. The problem is getting past the front desk.” Stiles stared at me like I was from Mars, “I gotta tell ya, I don’t think I’m going to get used to the red eyes anytime soon.”

“Yeah, me either.” My voice had a growl too, quickly shutting my mouth.

“Well, there goes plan A. Letting you distract the front desk.” I glanced inside, seeing a woman sitting there, sipping her coffee.

“I’ll distract her.” Derek said, turning towards the building.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Stiles grabbed onto Derek’s jacket and pulled him back., “You? You’re going in there?” Derek eyed Stiles hand, then Stiles, telling him to get his hands off of him in his usual way - without words.

“I’m takin’ my hand off.” Stiles quickly pulled his hand away.

“I was exonerated.”

“You’re still a person of interest.”

“An innocent person.”

“Ah-” Stiles blew out air, “You? Yeah right.” He sighed, “What’s your plan?”

“To distract her.” Derek said impatiently.

Stiles nodded, “Ahuh, how? By punching her in the face?”

Derek let out a fake laugh, “By talking to her.”

“Is he even charming?” Stiles looked at me. Derek looked at me expectantly while I thought for a minute.

“Compared to when I first met him, he’s very charming.” I smiled awkwardly.

Stiles rubbed his temples, “Okay. Alright. Give me a sample. What are you gonna open with?” Derek only stared.

“Dead silence. That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?” Stiles asked sarcastically.

“I’m thinking about punching you in the face.” Derek said snidely. Once Stiles agreed, we made our way towards the station but before we went in, I pulled Derek aside.

“I can’t do this.” I looked up at the moon, “My body feels like it's going to fall apart and I feel so angry and-”

“Just hold out a little longer.” He placed a hand on my cheek, “As soon as we get Isaac out, I’m gonna bring you somewhere where you can let it all out and you won’t hurt anyone. But right now I need you to get inside and make sure nothing happens to Isaac. There’s a hunter in there who’s going to kill him.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

Derek led the way into the station, Stiles and I stayed low to avoid the deputy.

“Good evening, how can I help-” She paused, looking up at Derek, “you?”

Derek gave her a thousand watt smile, “Hi.”

“Hi.” The woman said with a little tremble in his voice. She leaned on the desk.

“Um, I had a question…” he chuckled, “Um, sorry, I-I’m a little thrown. I wasn’t expecting someone…”

“Like me?” She asked.

“Oh, I was going to say ‘so incredibly beautiful’, but yeah, I guess that’d be the same thing.” Derek said sheepishly. Stiles stared at Derek’s back in disbelief. I shoved his side. He shook his head and we crawled down the hall to uncle Noah’s office.

Once inside, Stiles used a code on a keypad on the wall that opened a small hatch. It was empty inside. In the next room we heard the jingling of keys.

“Oh no…” Stiles and I ran towards the source of the noise, getting closer and closer to the cells. On our way there we were stopped short by a deputy.

“Oh, sorry,” Stiles apologized, “Just lookin’ um…” I looked over the deputy, then I saw it - an arrow sticking out of his leg. I hit Stiles' side. He looked down, then back up at the deputy.

“Ah shhh-'' We tried to run for it but he grabbed us, pressing his hands over our mouths so we couldn’t scream. I wanted to rip his hand off with my teeth but that would be putting Stiles in danger and outting myself as a werewolf to a hunter if he got away. As we were dragged back towards the cells, Stiles pulled the fire alarm.

Once in the cells, he threw Stiles and I into one of them. I clenched my fists together tightly, desperately trying not to turn. Sharp teeth poking at my lips. Stiles grabbed my arm, bringing my attention to the other cell, the empty cell. Isaac was loose. The hunter’s shout brought us back to see him being attacked by Isaac. He pinned the hunter to an examination table, then threw him against a wall. The hunter struggled but got up, trying to stab Isaac with a syringe but Isaac grabbed his arm and broke it. Isaac slammed the hunter’s head into the wall, he fell, dropping the syringe.

Derek came into the room shortly after, stepping on the syringe. The sound of glass breaking turned Isaac’s attention to us. His yellow eyes took us in, his fangs and claws sharp. He stalked forward towards us. I shoved Stiles behind me, baring my fangs at Isaac as he came closer. Derek’s roar broke Isaac out of his trance, making him fall to the floor and scramble to the corner. He looked up from the wall, looking more human. He was trembling in fear.

“How did you do that?” Stiles asked, trying to catch his break.

“I’m the alpha.” Derek smirked, his eyes red.

Ignoring the trembling the best I could, I walked over and kneeled beside Isaac. He was breathing heavily, eyes darting around the room like he was expecting someone to show up.

“Isaac.” his eyes focused on me, “Let’s get you home.” I smiled and held out my hand.

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68 notes · View notes

sickhumor · 3 years

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Jokes for the more mature reader (dated humor)

On the ﬁrst day of school, the college dean addressed the freshman class to explain some of the campus rules. “The women’s dormitory is off-limits to male students and the men’s dormitory is off-limits to female students,” he intoned. “Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $20 the ﬁrst time, $60 the second time and $180 the third time. Does anyone have any questions?”

A male student raised his hand. “How much for a season pass?”

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A ﬂea had oiled up his little ﬂea legs and his little flea arms and was soaking up the Miami sun when an old ﬂea friend of his walked by. “Oscar, what happened to you?" asked the first ﬂea when he saw how terrible his friend looked——runny nose, red eyes, teeth chattering.

“I got a ride down here in some biker’s mustache and nearly froze my nuts off,” wheezed Oscar.

“Let me give you a tip, old pal,” said the ﬁrst ﬂea. "Go to the stewardess lounge at the airport, get up on the toilet seat and when a stewardess comes in, hop on for a nice warm ride. Got it?”

A month later, while stretched out on the beach, the ﬂea saw Oscar again, looking more chilled and miserable than before. “I did everything you said,” Oscar explained. “I went to the stewardess lounge, made a perfect landing and got so warm and cozy that I dozed off.”

��And so?” asked the first ﬂea.

“And so the next thing I know, I’m on this guy’s mustache again!”

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When does Michael Jackson’s kid know that it’s time to go to bed?

The big hand touches the little hand.

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An old lady—a spinster and a virgin, and proud of it—lived in a tiny village. She knew her last days were approaching, so she told the local undertaker that she wanted the following inscription on her tombstone: BORN A VIRGIN, LIVED A VIRGIN, DIED A VIRGIN.

Not long after she had made her wish known, the old maid died peacefully in her sleep. The undertaker told the stonecutters of the lady’s request. The men, practical to a fault, thought about the inscription and concluded that it was unnecessarily long. They wrote simply: RETURNED UNOPENED.

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RECORDED MESSAGE OF THE MONTH!

“Hello, welcome to the psychiatric hotline.

“If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press one repeatedly.

“If you are codependent, please ask someone to press two.

“If you have multiple personalities, please press three, four, five and six.

“If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line until we can trace your call.

“If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.

"If you are manic-depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press. No one will answer.”

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What’s a female bisexual?

A lesbian with car trouble.

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While at the fairgrounds, a woman wanted to take a ride on the Ferris wheel before heading home. Her husband waited while she took a spin. The wheel went round and round and suddenly the woman was thrown out. She landed in a heap at her husband’s feet. He gasped and bent down. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Of course I’m hurt!” she replied. “Three times around and you didn’t wave once.”

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A little boy walked in on his parents in the heat of their lovemaking. “Mommy, what are you doing?”

“Um,” she stammered, “well, Daddy is so fat that I’m bouncing all the air out of him.”

“I don’t know what good it’s going to do," the boy replied. “The lady next door is just going to blow him up again!”

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The young woman complained to her friend about her boyfriend's extraordinary sex drive, “I barely have the strength to go to work in the morning." she said. “Now that he's off on holiday. things will only get worse."

“How long is he off?" the friend asked.

“It varies," she replied, “but usually, time for one cigarette."

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One morning, a Texan walked up to his savings-and-loan branch office and found it closed. After several minutes of pounding on the door, the manager appeared. "We’re closed!" he shouted through the glass.

“But your sign says you’re open nine to ﬁve," the customer replied.

“Those aren’t our hours. Those are the odds we'll he open tomorrow."

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As soon as the famous movie director passed through the pearly gates, Saint Peter told him they had a ﬁlm they wanted him to direct. The director tried to beg off, pleading exhaustion, but Saint Peter explained that this was a very special ﬁlm—the script was by Shakespeare.

The director was tempted for a moment but declined. Then Saint Peter said the art direction would be by Da Vinci. The ﬁlni maker warmed considerably to the project but again decided against it,

“The music will be by Beethoven," Saint Peter added.

“Screenplay by Shakespeare! Production design by Da Vinci! Original score by Beethoven!" the director exclaimed. “I'll do it!"

“There's just one thing." Saint Peter said. “God has this girlfriend who sings. . . ."’

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An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a casket containing a mummy After examining it, he called the curator Ola prestigious natural-history museum. “I’ve just discovered a three-thousand-year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!" the excited scientist exclaimed.

"You can’t know all that from looking at ‘him," the curator replied. “Bring him in. Well see."

A week later, the amazed curator called the archaeologist. "You were right about the mummy’s age and cause of death. How in the world did you know?”

“Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that said, “10,000 SHEKELS ON GOLIATH.”

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What's the difference between a terrorist and your wife?

You can negotiate with a terrorist.

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A geneticist believed he had discovered a method for putting the theory oi human cloning into practice. He decided to clone himself ﬁrst. Everything went perfectly except that, through some minor miscalculation. his clone was rude, vulgar and foulmouthed. When he was unable to correct the problem, he threw the offensive clone out his laboratory window. The following day, the scientist was arrested for making an obscene clone fall.

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A man walked into a Porsche dealership, opened the door of a Boxster, took a seat behind the wheel and smiled. A salesman approached and asked, “Are you thinking about buying this car?”

“Oh, I’m deﬁnitely going to buy this car,” he said, “but I’m thinking about pussy.”

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Dave arrived in hell and was told he had a decision to make. He could go to capitalist hell or to communist hell. Naturally, Dave wanted to compare the two, so he wandered over to capitalist hell. He asked the ﬁrst man he met, “What’s it like in there?"

“Well, in capitalist hell,” the man replied, “they ﬂay you, boil you in oil, chain you to a rock and slash you with sharp knives.”

“That’s terrible!” gasped Dave. “I’m going to check out communist hell.” There he discovered a huge line of people waiting to get in. He pushed his way through to the head of the line, where he found Karl Marx busily signing in people. Dave asked what communist hell was like.

“In communist hell,” Marx said, “they ﬂay you, boil you in oil, chain you to a rock and slash you with sharp knives.”

“But that’s exactly the same as capitalist hell!" protested Dave.

“True,” sighed Marx, “but sometimes we don’t have oil, and sometimes we don’t have knives.”

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What’s the difference between an onion and an accordion?

No one cries when you cut an accordion in half.

_________________________

Billy Bob parked his rig in Florida for a few days before driving back home. He was about to dive into the surf but ﬁgured he’d better check out the alligator situation with the townsfolk. “Nope, no gators here,” a local assured him.

Billy Bob had swum out 50 feet before his brain kicked in again. “Hey, how come there ain’t no gators in here?” he yelled back to the guy onshore.

“Because they’re afraid of the sharks,” came the reply.

_____________________________

The high school student spent most of his afternoons in the basement mixing chemicals. One day his father went down to ﬁnd his son surrounded by racks of test tubes and pounding something into the wall. “Danny, don’t put nails in the wall,” his father admonished.

“It’s not a nail, Dad,” the young man explained. “It’s a worm. I found a formula that turns things as hard as a rock.”

“Tell you what, son,” the man said with sudden interest. “You give me the special formula and I’ll buy you a car.”

The next day when Danny got home from school, he saw two brand-new cars in the driveway. “Dad, what are these?” he asked.

“Oh, they’re for you, son,” his dad said, smiling. “The Toyota’s from me. The Mercedes is from your mother.”

_____________________________

What’s the difference between a dentist and a sadist?

A sadist has newer magazines.

__________________________

The couple had broken up but remained friends as well as neighbors in the same apartment building. Some months after their split, the two met in the elevator. The woman’s ex had his arm in a cast. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked sympathetically.

“Well, if it’s not too much trouble, would you help me take a bath?”

She agreed, and back at his apartment, she eased him into the tub and began to wash his back. As she lathered his chest she noticed his growing erection. “Now isn’t that sweet,” she cooed. “It still recognizes me.”

___________________________

A lady walked into a tattoo parlor and said, “Can you do a tattoo of a turkey on my right inner thigh and one of a Christmas tree on my left inner thigh?"

“Sure,” the tattoo artist said. “But if you don’t mind me asking, why did you choose those two designs?”

The lady smiled. “My husband,” she explained. “He says there’s never anything to eat between Thanksgiving and Christmas!”

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christinesficrecs · 5 years

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Lost Sterek Fics

So many lost fics! Please comment/message me if you can help. :)

***

- I’m pretty sure it’s kind of long but I could be mistaken, stiles and Derek have children and at some point their son becomes an alpha and the near the end of the book Derek and his son turn into these giant wolves and fight off a creature that I can’t remember and stiles is really upset about it cause they might never be able to turn back.

- it’s of sheriff spanking stiles and derek is in stiles room listening. stiles goes back in his room and they have sex!!

- Derek was confused by the other bitten werewolves saying things like "the wolf wants" or "the wolf part of me" because he always have been one since he was born a werewolf and never divided himself like that?

- Derek is drunk & thinks that his feelings are unreciprocated& stiles takes him back & tells him that they are not so Derek lines up his fingers with Stiles & counts them to 10,so basically he's saying that he is not dreaming& the feels behind that one!!!

- Derek is famous and powerful & he and Stiles start a relationship. What I remember is one scene in particular where they are being interviewed and they get some judgement because Derek and Stiles are versatile and werewolves consider an Alpha as a bottom a sign of weakness. I remember Stiles & Derek basically rolling their eyes at each other about the stupidity of that while being interviewed.

- Sterek are in love, but so are their kids. So they never get married, (because they don’t want to hinder their kids love) but their kids end up married at the end. (might be a series)

- Werewolves growls all have different meanings. Some generic ones everyone can understand. But some growls you have to know the wolf really well to know what that growl means. Derek has this growl that Stiles doesn't know the meaning of.

- Derek and Stiles are fighting and Stiles says something like "we don't trust ech other" and Derek brings what happened at the pool ans say something like "that doesn't mean nothing to me"

- Stiles is writhing the story of his life with Derek and at the end he write it as if Derek have died in fire and his last words with Derek is something like if I die I lose you and that scare the sh*t out of me or something then he stop writing because his husband -SHOCERK- enters the room and it is Derek

- Stiles and friends cheat at lacrosse to make their families happy. Because they were fired from Hale Company. And Derek and stiles are in a secret relationship?

- Stiles, and the others, end up befriending Erica while Peter is still going around killing people as an alpha. I only remember that Stiles and Erica, with some of the others, were at like a diner? And Peter attacks, and bites, Erica when they leave.

- i’m pretty sure it was a human au that was set in New Orleans. One of them, Stiles or Derek, worked at call center and the other worked at a diner. I think Scott was Stiles’ roommate." & "update i remember that Derek was a 911 call operator and Stiles was the one working as a server at the diner."

- Stiles is magic and when they were lilttleish kids makes Scott’s father go away, possibly forever.

stiles’ mother/grandma always made him a special soup, and he never knew what the secret ingredient was until Derek made it for him the same way, when he realised it was love.

- Stiles and derek are running away together to fight monsters. At some point there was a troll closing up on them and they hid on top of a tree and stiles got loopy?

- Derek and Issac are cops who follows who stiles is an agent gone rogue. I think stiles kills the bad guys in frond of them and saves Derek's life.

- Stiles and Isaac alone in a house and they hear a suspicious noise so Stiles is like we should call Derek but the suspicious noise actually ended up being Derek and he’s proud of them for thinking to call him?

- it's either a season1 or 2 au where stiles and derek enter an arrangement where they sex it up in exchange for derek to try to teach scott werewolfy stuff. i remember at one point danny and stiles talk abt the arrangement and danny later chews derek out abt being more gentle.

- I vaguely recall a season 1 canon divergence where Allison tells the sheriff that Kate has Derek chained up under the Hale house

- Stiles and derek are mates and Stiles goes out of town for a while and derek goes into his wolf form and sort of becomes a bit feral but then stiles comes back and helps him

- derek and stiles are at some sort of searching ceremony esque interview and derek unconsciously flashes his eyes at stiles. Peter explains later in the fic that derek was trying to pique stiles' interest (unknowingly).

- Stiles is patient/test subject on somenkind of shady facility where they do experiments on humans and I think he's been there most of his life. Derek is a new doctor in there and is the first one who is kind to stiles.

- Derek only asked stiles out to annoy Scott, but actually fell for him, stiles over hears Derek and Issac talking about it and I think he leaves for college, I remember near the end that the wolfs did something to his jeep so stiles had not choice to stay at the house to talk to Derek because Derek made a huge mistake and wants stiles back.

- to help defeat the alpha pack Stiles and Allison go to Derek. Derek says he can only do it if they join his pack. Derek proceeds to have sex with Stiles, while Allison has sex with Issac and Boyd. Scott gets pissed, and Allison has Boyd’s babies. I think it’s a series, 3 short fics.

- I'm looking for a fic that has Stiles at a party. I believe he is used as werewolf bait or turns out to be alluring to werewolves and didnt know it.

- I think Derek and Stiles are in a basement under the Halehouse, and because of some kind of moon Derek wants Scott to be in that basement. They make fun of Scott but he hear them and he lock the door when Derek and Stiles are inside. Smut happens

- Stiles being a spark and just learning how to use his powers, Peter Hale is helping him learn when he discovers that every time that Stiles uses his powers he gets aroused and Derek helps him out through it,

- Stiles and Derek are in the woods, and some type of creature makes both of them hallucinate. Derek then attacks Stiles thinking that Stiles is a monster. It was like a horror or psychological horror.

- everyone has a secondary gender (omega, beta, alpha) but there are werewolves as well. Derek is Alpha-alpha, and Stiles is human Omega while Scott turns into Beta-beta. It followed along the first season of Teen Wolf and instead of Derek manhandling Stiles in the show, he grabs his hand and squeezes it. (1/2)(cont) It progresses until Stiles, Lydia and Allison are shopping for formal wear for the dance and Stiles starts to get his heat when Peter shows up and takes them hostage. The end chapter has Derek helping Stiles through his heat as he looks up at the moon with red eyes.

- im looking for this accidental mating fic where scott and stiles are at dereks and stiles accidently mates with derek after he tries to run etc?

- stiles was helping derek with school I think and they got along and one night - stiles had a nightmare I think and was having a panic attack and called derek but didn't tell him about the nightmare and talked about something else and stiles got calmed by derek voice ..

- derek is an alpha and like everyday people try to fight him in order to get his powers? i think they’re all in high school and that stiles is the new kid?

- it’s where derek was at a clinic, and stiles was the one to ‘examine’ him — with sex toys, etc., — on the last chapter, it was established that they were already together and roleplaying. they were in the clinic that scott works at which stiles had gotten the keys to.

- It has two parts. The first involves someone poisoning the wolves so that they'll shift/go crazy. Stiles is in high school and he and Derek drink wine?? The second, the pack goes to college, and Derek breaks up with stiles to protect him. Stiles starts taking pain killers and gets depressed, the Alpha pack shows up, and Peter ends up being evil and trying to kill everyone??

- Stiles kinda is hurting when he has his first time with Derek?

- stiles Accidental Voyeurism on Derek showering and he is nervous because he is nervous to talk to him because he’s just that hot!

- stiles is adopted by the hales I think and Derek figures out he's his mate, I think there's growing up time skips, but the ending is Derek rushing home from college because the Argents are there to start the fire, stiles stays back with Talia to help defend their home.

- it’s girl!stiles and it’s where she has hairy legs and arm pits and just owns herself and she goes on a camping trip with Derek and they’re both naked because they don’t really care for nudity,

- I'm looking for a fic that had Stiles continuously flirting with other people to make Derek jealous after he realizes how good the sex is.

- There is a similar new fic called ‘User Error’ (first chapter looks great), it’s the troupe where Stiles is the brains behind the business and his partner (Scott?) tries to push him out/limit his input, Stiles is hurt but agreed to leave, but not before pulling out receipts of patents and just totally owning the situation, leaving but pretty much taking the rights to everything with him epically schooling those around him.

- stiles goes back in time to before the hale fire and tries to stop it, (fire is on night of a school dance) but he could only save Cora? I think he went be the name Cris or something similar

- Stiles had a boyfriend but he loved Derek and he thought Derek didn't loved him back so he would hide all his emotions from the pack, cause he was in so much pain. And they would fight a lot. I don't know if he was a spark or no.

- stiles and derek hate each other and When they lost their friends they were stuck together to search for them..

- Derek is in heat at the hale house and told everyone to stay away, but stiles didn’t and so Derek kisses him and makes stiles go into a pseudo heat and then they ride it out together.

- stiles finds out that derek has never actually gotten a good blow job bc his peen is that Big™ and he decides to rectify that, and i think stiles find out bc derek never lets him give him one im not sure

- It's an AU where the pack are all friends who are into surfing and are going down the coast (in mexico) finding small beaches and Sterek hooks up but then they get all awkward and depressed until Derek apologizes and clears things up. I remember it had some bi Erica and beach sex.

- I'm looking for a fic where Stiles has trouble accepting compliments from Derek and he buys himself a second-hand leather jacket to feel like part of the pack and Derek compliments it which Stiles thinks is sarcastic because obviously the jacket is old and damaged so basically he thinks everyone pities his loserness. low self-esteem drama ensues.

- I’m looking for a fic where Scott pushes stiles away for his own safety and then stiles befriends Boyd and one day Scott after a fight with some monster? Or big bad of the week? Scott tries to call stiles and his number has changed. Then it’s scott showing up at his house and basically trying to befriend stiles again..I think I remember something about Scott and stiles having plans to blow up stiles piece of crap phone

- a derek hale one shot. the plot is that the reader has a crush on scott and derek decideds to help her forget. i think the fic was called 'make you forget'

#sterek #ficrecs #lost fic

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justgotham · 6 years

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In my experience, Gotham is a polarizing TV series. Any superhero-themed program is sure to bring its critics, but Batman is a character near and dear to the American heart—as he is the last universally beloved billionaire—and it was certainly a risk going with a prepubescent Bruce Wayne. I’m a big fan of Gotham, and even I’ll admit that I’m not completely sold on its interpretation of the franchise’s main character. But that’s OK, because Gotham isn’t about Batman. It’s about the villains. And they’re almost all great. This was not an easy list to compile.

Gotham just feels like Batman, and it’s in large part thanks to the carefully crafted, over-the-top performances in some marquee roles, so without further ado, let’s get to the best Gotham villains.

I should also note that it would be impossible to do this properly without some spoilers. I’ll avoid any spoilers from the last few episodes of this season, but if you’re not caught up on this season of the show, some of this will definitely get you up to speed on where everything stands as of the Season Four finale.

15. Captain Nathaniel Barnes Played by: Michael Chiklis Michael Chiklis just looks like a cop, and that alone qualified him for the role of Jim Gordon’s boss. And his evolution from hardened lawman to judge, jury and executioner in the face of the future Commissioner Gordon’s heroics provided this political science major with a stark analogy for the tradeoff between idealism and pragmatism out in the real world. Every conflict of Barnes vs. Gordon centered around the way things should be versus the way things are, and the finale of Chiklis’ arc (for now, no one in this show is ever truly gone) raised good questions about where the line between the vigilante justice of Batman and The Executioner really stands.

14. Ra’s al Ghul Played by: Alexander Siddig The spiritual father of the proceedings carries a heavy burden. Not only must he justify the spiritual aspect of the rise of Batman (and the Joker), but Siddig also has to pull off whatever a 2,000+ year old man looks like. It’s a difficult ask, and he’s not had enough screen time for Ra’s al Ghul to seem like anything more than a narrator guide from a video game, but he’s given plenty of major moments, and he hasn’t come up short yet.

13. Butch Gilzean Played by: Drew Powell What Powell does with a character limited to being the main muscle on the show is the embodiment of the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” He is one of the chief figures of strength on Gotham (and that was before he fell in a swamp filled with goop from Indian Hill), but his moments of vulnerability are what bring life to the character. His romance with a woman farther up on this list than he is reflects Butch’s limits, but perhaps new frontiers will be unlocked with his evolution into the famed Solomon Grundy from the comics.

12. Commissioner Gillian Loeb Played by: Peter Scolari Scolari brought a new face to this eternal foil of Batman and Jim Gordon, as the comics’ brusque blackmailer in the pocket of Carmine Falcone has been replaced with a shadowy figure in the pocket of Carmine Falcone. Scolari’s semi-detached performance is a fitting reflection of where our political reality currently resides, and he is very much a figure emblematic of the times.

11. Ivy Pepper Played by: Clare Foley, Maggie Geha and Peyton List Poison Ivy is still in development on the show—as evidenced by the three actors who’ve played her—but all three did well building a foundation for what should be a future supervillain the likes of which Gotham has never seen before. Both adult actors have provided the sex appeal intrinsic to the character’s strategy to exploit the stupid part of straight men’s brains, but it’s the child-in-an-adult’s-body aspect that makes this version of a hall-of-fame Batman character so compelling. After falling in dirty water (superhero origin stories would lead you to believe that the healthiest thing you can do is shower in uranium), Ivy Pepper’s accelerated womanhood might’ve been a missed opportunity for more comic relief, but her relationship with Selena is always engaging. Without it, neither of these characters would have the humanizing characteristics necessary to make their time on Gotham worthwhile.

10. Theo Galavan Played by: James Frain James Frain’s arc on the show was an original storyline, one that began with a plot to kill Bruce Wayne, then elevated him to Mayor, and culminated with him assuming the character Azrael from the comics. Frain’s smooth performance is underlined by an intense focus on a mission that all just feels Batman-y, even though this arc is not found in the comics.

9. Tabitha Galavan Played by: Jessica Lucas Theo was powerful, but his sister got the larger share of the badass genes in the family. Like her brother, Tabitha is an original creation of the show, and even though we’ve since lost Theo (granted, death is far from final in this universe), it’s difficult to envision Gotham without Tabitha at this point. Her romance with Butch is the only one on the show that’s convincing at all (a major new one is still TBD), and she was clearly placed in this universe to provide a positive role model for Catwoman—who did not make this list because she’s still stuck at the kids table with Bruce Wayne. Of all the major muscle on this show, Tabitha is the muscle-iest.

8. Hugo Strange Played by: BD Wong BD Wong has played so many doctors by now that part of me actually believes he is a doctor. Of all the doctors he’s played, my favorite by far is Strange. The main reason why no one on this show will ever die, Wong does a wonderful job of straddling the line between madman and genius—nailing the image of what Gotham’s mad scientist should look like.

7. Barbara Kean Played by: Erin Richards The NBA has a most-improved player of the year award, and Barbara Kean would have won Gotham’s MIP award the last two years. Initially, I lamented Richards’ on-screen demise as she was cast as the generic wet blanket to Jim Gordon’s hero (Kean was Gordon’s wife in the comics). Gotham almost lost me early on with their romance—as I just cannot take network TV’s portrayal of relationships seriously—but this new “take whatever she wants with a freaking glowing hand” version of Kean has unchained Richards, and her talents shine through in every scene. Gothamis right to structure a central narrative around her.

6. Mayor Aubrey James Played by: Richard Kind I’ll admit I’m biased on this one. I’m a politics writer here at Paste, and Kind’s performance as America’s bumbling mayor is a little too real to consider given the madness that America’s former mayor, Rudy Guiliani, is displaying every day on cable news. His portrayal of the character is the perfect summation of every empty-suit politician who ever lived, and it really resonates in a country overflowing with these vessels for the superrich. The mayor’s cowardice behind the scenes when contrasted to his stern public statements is just…*kisses fingers*

5. Victor Zsasz Played by: Anthony Carrigan The infamous hitman is a perfectly sardonic bit of comic relief, as Carrigan always finds the right kind of oomph behind his “Hey, boss, so when should I kill these guys?” salvos. A hyper-competent, semi-powerful character is a difficult needle to thread, as there must be a reason why Zsasz has yet to rise to the level of other A-list Batman villains, and it’s simply because Zsasz loves his job as an assassin-for-hire. It’s not about the power he could gain through his proclivity for mass murder, but the pure, utter nirvana that he derives from of every shootout.

4. The Penguin Played by: Robin Lord Taylor Oswald Cobblepot is not just an awesome name, but a fitting vessel for a character whose only real lasting public face is Danny de Vito’s snarling performance in Batman Returns. Robin Lord Taylor has brought a more refined air to the ringleader of Gotham’s underworld, and The Penguin serves as the yin to Jim Gordon’s yang. The universe of Batman is based on the premise that crime is a major industry in America—oftentimes involving our political leaders, as Mayor James demonstrates. Cobblepot likes to present himself a pragmatic choice in a chaotic world, and when the Gotham City Police Department finds itself with its back against the wall, some of the moral choices he presents are inescapably compelling. If crime is going to exist, why not try to bring some order to it? The GCPD can’t do that, but The Penguin can.

3. The Riddler Played by: Cory Michael Smith When arguing sports, I typically argue that numerical rankings should be eschewed for tiers. It’s difficult to compare a lot of similar folks, and drawing lines in between good, very good, and great is a far simpler task. I bring this up because this is where the top tier begins. Cory Michael Smith’s depiction of what I have always believed to be an underrated villain belongs in the Batman hall-of-fame—and frankly, it’s better than Jim Carrey’s semi-unhinged version (which I also enjoyed). It’s clear whether Smith is playing Edward Nygma or The Riddler simply from his posture and facial expression, which makes the Jekyll and Hyde-ian battle raging inside of him all the more engrossing. (Photo: Michael Lavine/FOX)

2. The Joker Played by: Cameron Monaghan Technically, we’re not allowed to call this character with a high-pitched laugh, a thirst for chaos and a bizarre love of Bruce Wayne (and now a purple jacket!) “The Joker,” as Monaghan revealed on Twitter. You know, copyrights, branding and all. TV stuff. Monaghan’s portrayal of The Joker would make fans of The Dark Knight proud. The choice to literally sew a new face on to Jerome evokes the same uncomfortable madness as Heath Ledger’s scars, and the amount of emotion that Monaghan is able to communicate through that mess with simply his face deserves some kind of award. “Jerome” is a delightful madman who brings an unbridled sense of joy to his criminality. I’m excited to watch this new, more serious iteration of this classic character, but I will desperately miss his home run performance as Gotham’s signature weirdo.

1. Fish Mooney Played by: Jada Pinkett Smith Stick this character in any gangster TV show or movie, and tweak the surrealism depending on context, and she’ll fit—that’s just how good Jada Pinkett Smith is. Fish Mooney did not originate in the comics, and the creators of Gotham should be universally commended for springing such a Gotham-y character to life out of the ether. Granted, Mooney likely wouldn’t be as engrossing if not for Smith’s electric performance. The woman completely owns every single scene she inhabits. Fish Mooney gives this show a good excuse to ignore the rules of death, because why would anyone want to take that out? Screw death and copyright law. Fish Mooney deserves to live on for eternity.

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merlinthoughts · 5 years

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Season 1 Episode 5 - Lancelot<3

- YES BBG’s IT'S MY BOY LANCE

- he’s one of my fav characters u guys don't even KNOW

- like yah okay, i've only seen hiM FOR ONE EPISODE

- but he’s the light of my life

- and he may not even come back but he looks like a character that would come back especially if the fucking ep is named after him

- oh damn, i sure hope he does

- and goes into arthurs posse of knights or whatever, replacing val

- or what valerie was gonna be

- idek, lets get to it bc i could go on for days just picturing lance as a main character while continuously expressing my love for him

- BUT NOTHING ELSE OBVIOUSLY BC THIS IS NOW A CATHOLIC WEBSITE

- tumblrs trynna urge me to go with them nasty thoughts

- you wish tumblr

- you WISH you can ban me

- u can't live without sucking dick >:(

- wow slow down shev... wow okay sorry. christianism. i forgot

- it got the best of me

- back to the episode!

- omg it's buckbeak why he making a cameo in merlin??

- my inner potterhead(uwu) is coming out i hate this

- bet you can't guess which house i'm in ;)

- it's fucking slytherin, it's literally so obvious

- hissshiss motherfuckers

- ew guys

- this is so hard to type considering my fucking ‘-’ button (called a dash for u furries who only see a face) is broken and i have to literally smash it to make it work, so i'm just insanely typing up the next dash by screaming at my keyboard that i can't fucking fix

- and i have so many dasHES TO DO!

- that made no sense bc yall aren't living in my socks at the moment

- BUT I'M DYING IT'S SO HARD TO JUST GET IT TO PRESS

- fuck it copy paste, my best friend, you always come when the time is needed

- LANCELOT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL

- lowkey looked like that guy from the 100 though

- but better

- nothing against baloney of course

- lancelot literally just introduced himself, the camera panned in onto his chest, then he proceeded to faint or some shit with the camera still zoomed on his chest, and merlin reached up to grab his shirt, probably to yank it the fuck off and the opening credits rolled up. wtf was that scene.

- WAIT I REWINDED IT

- it's not supposed to be a zoom in of his chest lmao, my hoe ass thought we had a little fanservice for a second, but there's a big mushroom-looking blood stain on his shirt which i guess is supposed to mean he's fucking dead so it's not all that confusing anymore

- when was he stabbed tho?

- whatever. shit always goes down in BBC that's often unexplainable.

- “it had claws, wings…” arthur stops his sentence melodramatically while uther looks terrified. “and.. what?” WHAT UTHER?? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? YOU THINK ARTHURS GONNA BE LIKE “FANGS, STEVE BUSCEMI'S EYEBALLS, DANNY DEVITO’S HAIRLINE, TALKS LIKE JOHN MULANEY?? I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT I SAW, NOT WHAT I IMAGINED. FATHER”

- but no… livestock apparently

- that’s what uthers shocked by

- not that theres a fucking griffin living in his world

- wait theres magic, means theres magic creatures doy

- but still, even if we all had magic here, i think it would be a little shocking seeing a griffin come for buckingham palace randomly

- or i guess if youre reading this and are in america, in the white house

- oh and it took only people apparently

- i guess that’s a little more severe but i stand uncorrected

- they be having a wild time in the hippogriff’s house ;)

- honestly sounds like a fucked up hogawart house

- here we have slytherin, hufflepuff, ravenclaw and... *looks at smudged writing on hand* hippogriff

- okay, who tf has a dream of coming to camelot when it's the most feared place, with banned magic and an asshole king with his hot bitchy son and a sorcerer who just brings chaos to the land

- well i mean, me

- bc of the hot bitchy son but whatever

- camelot? more like cameNOT

- arthur calls himself the ultimate killing machine like the edge lord he is

- ARTHUR FUCKING KO’D THE BITCH

- knee to the nose and all wtf man

- this is probably foreshadowing smth with the “only noble blood can swoosh like a knight” thing, like somethings gonna happen and poor people are gonna revolt and uthers gonna be like “GEEZ fine, okay, no nobles can become a knight”

- merlins such a shit stirer, telling lance he can be a knight and telling him arthur would love him when we really know whats gonna happen bc of that rule

- and here’s gaius like uhh u liar wtf, crushing lance’s dreams while merlins just like wtf gaius, live in the moment, we can do anything, this is OUR show

- literally their such good friends and have known each other for a solid 10 minutes only

- i'm not that big into beards but id love to rub my face on lance’s

- HOMEWORK IS MERLIN’S EXCUSE, MERLIN UR LIKE 20 IN A WORLD PROB WITHOUT HOMEWORK

- haha little fault there, or like a minor inconvenience which isn’t important but i like to pretend to be smart: middle ages or well the show’s era was more in “AD” (476-ish is the start of middle ages, while the arthurian legend is supposed to happen in the 5/6th century so yeah, technically 400/500 AD), and homework supposedly only started up in 1095 so BOOM BBC GOTCHA

- no, merlin’s not gonna perform magic right in front of the librarian

- does he not know the wrath of librarians???

- our librarian at school literally kicked everyone out of the library once for the whole semester because there was an apple core on the bookshelf. this was during exam week. do u know how much i wanted to kill the person who didn't admit to their mistakes and let everyone suffer. WE COULDN'T ENTER TO EVEN STUDY

- OH GOD, HE'S DOING IT MERLIN IS A FUCKING MESS

- gwen and lancelot are my favourite thing, i literally want them to be together by the next episode

- or the next one with lance

- WAIT LANCELOT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A MAIN CHARACTER ISN'T HE BC I KNOW VAGUELY THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND AND LANCELOT WAS A KNIGHT WASN'T HE???? HE WAS A FUCKING KNIGHT AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NEXT TO LIKE IDK BEDEVERE OR SMTH THIS IS AMAZING NEWS GUYS I LITERALLY COULD BE A DETECTIVE

- !!!! the only heto ship on this show i actually adore !!!!!!

- i mean i only love two things: merthur and glance

- idek what gwen and lance’s ship name is so its now glance

- merlin would be the best wingman for them by being gwens bestie

- “you can start by cleaning out the stables” *lance looks to merlin while merlin gives him the biggest smile and thumbs up* this fuckING DORK

- harry potter au where everything is the same but that grim reaper looking human creature in the prisoner of azkaban executing buckbeak is actually lancelot in the future

- for symbolism purpose, not saying lance is like an animal killer but yknow

- same thing with the griffin yknow

- the two prettiest dudes in my world fighting against one another while sweat is glistening down their forheads is my new favourite aesthetic

- BUCKBEAK HAS COME

- oh wait no, people having been attacked by buckbeak have come

- netflix fucked up by subbing arthur as “orther” and i never laughed so hard

- don’t make me fucking laugh when there’s an ambush, netflix, this is not christian

- annd arthur’s pride is gone, and he goes up to chop lance’s fucking head off

- OH SHIT THAT TRANSITION THOUGH

- i'm so proud of my bb like genuinely so proud, lance deserves so much and here is is!! a knight!!

- MORGANA APPEARS THE LOML

- the three lomls in one room?? seriously bbc?? you really doing that to me?? for once im actually impressed and happy

- he's gonna get caught, i mean i KNOW that, but like it's still stressing out

- ewewewewewewewewewew

- arthur called morgana “isn't she so beautiful??” with a lovey dovey face pls don't lead this to that stepsibling porn bullshit i'm going to fucking puke

- i hated that shadowhunter bullshit like they seriously going to hit me with the indirect incest?? i was so done. i hated jace and clary, idc if theyre like the most popular couple, like wheres my raphael lovers at bc that's a boy i can enjoy

- “so if you could choose one... lance or arthur?” merlin subtly asks gwen like he doesn't have an answer himself

- it would have been so perfect geez, gwen and lance, merlin and arthur, myself and morgana

- i really wanna know what lance, merlin and arthur look like drunk bc that's a hell of a hangover they got the next morning and they probably cut out most of the soiree so like what did they do?? was there any drunk dancing and flirting??? bc i literally want to see that happen

- ik it's a bad thing but those drunk tropes where someone confesses their love to the person they like while under the influence is my favourite thing bc it's both hilarious, genuine and the other person often helps them to their feet and gets them to a safer place to rest and that's fricken adorable guys!

- not the drinking obviously, thats like a thing you can enjoy if you want but ya girl does not like drinking. or, well, she likes drinking with a limit. you can tell who likes to be the designated driver lmao. people here be drinking flat out whiskey and i tried it once and it burned by fucking throat

- merlin fucked up

- and this is technically his fault

- THEY GOT CAUGHT LMAO IT IS HIS FAULT

- hungover and caught this won't bode well

- “not worthy of a knighthood”

- hey so how do you retract a knighthood?

- do you like reverse the shoulder tapping

- like if you're christian, bc you know, we, as a christian group on this tumblr site, should already know about it... but when we do that cross thing on our shoulders, it means like a direct call with god or some shit. and if we do it the opposite direction it's considered the antichrist so is it the same for knighthood?

- OMG I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANy

- okay with christianity it's tapping the head the stomach, shoulder then shoulder, right? but the reverse is the anti cross like shoulder to shoulder, stomach and head. but… what if it were tapping the stomach, crotch, hip to hip? it would make sense right??? since the cross is upside down… it would lead to the dick and not the head. THAT'S WHY IT'S AN UPSIDE DOWN CROSS. BC YOU AINT SUPPOSED TO GRAB THEM BALLS UNTIL MARRIAGE!!! I SEE OMG I SEE YOU JESUS, TRYNNA HIDE UR FLOURISHING SEXUALITY

- omg guys, don't grab ur fucking balls in this blog post, it's considered the antichrist

- “you never will be” lmao he's gonna come back, he's lancelot, that's a main in the og legend

- how pissed will lance be with merlin

- i hope big time bc like... angry lance *dries off sweat with hands*

- aw damn lance isn't mad he's like “this is my punishment. mine to bare, mine to bare alone. stop blaming urself. i put this on me” this fucking goof is making me swoon once fucking more

- NOW BUCKBEAKS BACK

- he's a real goat x3

- buckbeak can literally fuck shit up in the air, camelot has nothing on him

- ARTHURS FUCKING DEAD LMAO

- oh wait he aint, just a few of his knights

- imagine being an extra and playing as one of those knights. having to fight next to bradley james, and have him look at you when someones doing something stupid like you can mentally agree with him and then pretend to die on camera. that would be my dream. make-a-wish better do me some good when i get diseased that will prob be named after me

- hoephagus

- stupidolis

- nah thats stupid

- ;)

- i now understand mulans will to pretend to be a guy and join the army bc i would literally do that if i could stay with arthur fucking pendragon

- aw it's called a griffin not a hippogriff

- i'm saddened

- harry potter has taught me WRONG

- this looks to be the climax where merlins like “fine guys, geez, i'll kill the griffin bc i'm magic!! wow!!! but arthur obviously knew, and i thought gwen was gonna know but she shocked me even more when she didn’t like fucking hell everyones oblivious. but since you can only kill buckbeak with magic, sigh, i'm exposing myself ig” even if it's like halfway through season 1 with 5 seasons altogether, this looks to be the right time

- this really sounds to be what we are waiting for, what kilgarah said about the destiny merlin will have

- WAIT WE HAVEN'T SEE THAT BITCH IN A WHILE

- wheres the dickwad gone lmao like was the actor busy the last few episodes or what?

- OMG ARHTURS BREAKING LANCE OUT OF PRISON SO HE CAN BE A KNIGHT

- how is the “arthurs pretty gay” theory not popped up more times on here

- like we all know merthurs pretty great and all

- but CANON wise arthur seems super gay to me

- like he just told lance to get up his ass because “i need… uhh... camelot needs” like he was just about to say he needs lance in his life

- have you not seen the glances??

- fucking hell

- arthur slowly comes closer to lance pretending to talk about what he knows about the creature

- lance also coming closer to ask if he truly believes that, with a raised eyebrow

- thought this shit was only in books and fanfics

- but no guys, we got a gay eyebrow raise

- bc we all know only the gays are capable of eyebrow raises

- fucking hell this is gay i cant even explain it

- like its subtly gay, but out of context youd think this is something out of a fansite

- and merlins not even in this scene

- “take the horse and never return to this place” OKAY NO FIRST OF ALL SECOND OF ALL FUCK OFF LMAO THIS ISNT GAY ANYMORE

- i mean he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart, saving him from prison and all but lance wants to like… be a good man and you aint letting him do that

- OMG LANCE IS SAYING GOODBYE TO GWEN

- LANCE BETTER FUCKING KISS HER

- I LOVE GWEN AND LANCE TOGETHER #STAN

- fucking kiss you fucking bafoon

- THEY DIDN'T FUCKING KISS WTFUCKINGFUCK

- merlin looks so dumb holding his dagger as if he doesn’t know what to do with it but i love that for me

- WAIT I THOUGHT LANCELOT WAS LITERALLY GONNA GO YEET OUT OF CAMELOT NOT TO FUCKING SACRIFICE HIMSELF AND FIGHT THE GRIFFIN

- bafoons, all of them

- big bouncing bucking bafoons

- arthur looks so scared i've never been so in love and want to PROTECT

- omg for all merlin and lance know, that scream was arthur fucking dying- OMG IT WAS ARTHUR

- HE'S FUCKAN DEAD

- nvm he's alive but like yall not think to check for some arterial wounds bc he could be alive now, but in 5 mins he could legit not make it

- slow music means death

- lancelot you were the best husband i've ever had, rip

- i would be crying more if i didn’t know what happened, but since i already spoiled myself on the first season by watching this about a year ago, i'm not that sad but its still getting to me slightly

- hahahaha so happy everyones okayyy

- ARTHUR AND LANCE TiME!

- arthur looks so happy for lance literally crack ship right there

- why does nobody talk about this wyd

- and here’s arthur defending lance’s honour

- but uthers being a bitch

- omg that transition from lance being told to wait outside, the camera following him out of the room and the doors slamming behind him just in time to hear uther yell at arthur from next door is what gives me chills

- uther better fucking accept lance

- “the law is the law” yeah but the law also says to stop being a stuck-up bitch, uther

- literally lance is the only fucking person to not see through merlins blatant magic tricks

- like he saw that shit, called it out and was not like “oh what its a trick of the wind, surely”

- and he's not fazed at all, u see merlin it aint that bad to tell some people

- the only thing he is worrying about is the credit he says he doesn’t deserve bc merlin killed the griffin and not him

- see how fucking great my husband is, guys

- he better not be like “sucks to suck, i lied again! it aint me, chief” to uther and arthur

- NAH OKAY HE’S JUST BIDDING HIS FAREWELL IM GONNA FUCKING CRY IN THE CLUB

- he better fucking come back soon >:(

- seasonal guest star at least

- main characters, big bonus

- we barely saw morgana this episode and i'm not okay with that, but at the same time it was more lance-centric so i'm aight actually. we got all the time in the world for my baby girl, but lance :’( good luck man

- literally everyone is so gay for lance

- gwens into him for sure, and i love that the most (guess thats not gay but whatever, beggars can't be choosers)

- arthur has a little crush ngl

- and merlins full out in love with him

- not to mention MY FUCKING SELF

- i mean, i won't deny that he’s literally perfect in every way and i've only known him for one episode, but i agree whole heatedly with these crushes

- “till next time, sir lancelot” merlin whispers with a smile

- yeah that's me right there

- BC I'LL BE SEEING HIM IN THE FINAL EPISODE OF THIS SEASON!

- greeting us all with the news on being cast full-time for the show, being the best guard around and a lover boy to all

- guys i feel like i'm on aphrodisiacs but instead of desire for sex, it's love for lancelot

- send help

#this is a long one yall #maybe bc i found a new crush but yknow #merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #s1 #s1ep5

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idolizerp · 5 years

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LOADING INFORMATION ON 1NFERNO’S MAIN RAP, LEAD VOCAL MOON DAEWON...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: Danny CURRENT AGE: 20 DEBUT AGE: 18 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 14 COMPANY: MSG Entertainment SECONDARY SKILL: n/a

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): Dan (mostly only called this by his dad), Daewonie, D-Day (dumb rap nickname he made up when he was twelve, he’s really embarrassed by it), Wonwon (by fans and teasingly by other members), Memewon (called this by fans because his expressions easily translate into memes) INSPIRATION: Danny wanted to become an idol because he wanted the world to hear his music. He wanted people to hear what he had to say, to understand the emotional struggles he’d been though. Music and especially rap were very important outlets in his life. Danny wanted to reach younger kids with music and encourage them to speak to their experiences with music as well. SPECIAL TALENTS:

freestyle rap - Danny is known for his ability to extemporaneously create raps, often humorous in nature about his fellow group members or variety show cast members. This occasionally extends to fans during vlives, instagram lives or fansigns.

group closeness - Danny can guess which 1nferno group member is in front of him, with his eyes closed, by touch alone.

language skills - In addition to being fluent in both Korean and English, Danny is conversational in both Mandarin and Japanese due a desire to communicate with the group’s international fans. He often pulls this out to converse with foreign variety show guests, impressing hosts and audiences alike.

NOTABLE FACTS:

Danny graduated from the School of Performing Arts Seoul in February 2018. He took fewer and fewer classes each year due to 1nferno’s intense schedules, leading to his late graduation. He is not currently enrolled in any university, much to his father’s displeasure.

In late 2017, Danny was a recurring guest host of After School Club.

In his free time (what little of it he has) Danny likes to play video games. This includes, but is not limited to, League of Legends, Fortnite and Overwatch. When their schedules match, he plays in live streams with a group of other idols.

Danny has three siblings: Nina (age 18), Olivia (age 16), and Alex (age 11). He tries to spend time with them whenever he can but most of their communication is on social media or through sms.

Danny has an encyclopedic knowledge of memes and will not hesitate to reference them in any situation.

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

His short term goal, as it always is, is to make it through to the next comeback. 1nferno is always doing something, be it promoting their latest comeback or going on tour. If, for some reason, there’s a lull in group activity, Daewon still rarely gets a rest as he often appears on variety shows in some form or another. Daewon is left with very little time to consider anything else but just getting through.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

Daewon’s longterm goal is to, even if just as a side project, write and release his own music. He’s written raps for years but MSG rarely uses what he’s written in anything. His lyrics tend to be personal, too personal for the light, happy image he’s known for. If only he had the time, he thinks he’d be able to write enough songs to perhaps warrant a lowkey solo release that matures his image and lets him speak his peace. At the current moment, though, that all seems very far off.

IDOL IMAGE

Daewon was just a kid when he came to MSG. 14 and looked even younger. He grew over the years, but even at 18, a legal adult in nearly every country in the world, management still saw the kid in him. That was how they cast him, the kid. Always happy, always laughing. Always doing something inadvisable, as though MSG didn’t carefully choreograph his every movement. 1nferno’s Danny is the class clown, willing to do anything for a laugh. The conspirator, convincing his group members and fellow variety show guests alike to make just as much of a fool of himself as he did with little more than a broad smile and an infectious laugh. Danny is the one to play pranks on his members and run away, giggling schoolboy. He’s the one to jump off a cliff into the water, shouting joyously the whole way down. Smile, laugh, be happy. Any worries he has are temporary, easily pushed aside. Life is there for Danny to take and he does.

It was an easy role for Daewon to play when he debuted. He’d grown in confidence, if not into himself, during his years as a trainee. He did want to make people laugh, to make them smile, to have them like him. What 18 year old doesn’t? He was a boy, not quiet yet a man, craving acceptance from the company, from his members, from the public. Daewon did what was necessary to get that acceptance. He still does, but it’s harder now. More than simple acceptance, now Daewon wants to be taken seriously. He wants to, sometimes, just sometimes, not always be the joker. He has so much to say, so much to share but none of it fits into the happy-go-lucky image MSG has sold for years. 1nferno’s Danny would never share his struggles, his pain the way Daewon wants to—needs to. That would be too much of a downer for his buoyant state of being. Danny brings people up, lightens their mood with his antics. He most certainly does not drag them down into existential crisis with him. He doesn’t feel those kinds of things. He can’t. Such internal conflict, a crisis of identity, does not jive with the ease through which Danny seems to move through life. There is no room for Daewon’s slow journey into maturity in 1nferno. Not when Danny, the reckless, carefree kid, looms so large.

IDOL HISTORY

Daewon was born in Seoul. Born and raised. Never lived anywhere else. Not that you’d guess that by looking at him. Western features mixed with, sometimes overpowered his Korean ones. That was all thanks to his father.

In the late 1990s, David Scott came to Korea for work, a cog in a wheel in a big machine. Though, admittedly, he was a rather big cog then, even bigger now. The trouble was David didn’t speak a word of Korean. So, instead of hiring an actual Korean to do their business in Korea, they got him a tutor. Moon Sungmi was a good teacher. Somehow, she got David to learn the language. Eventually he became something close to fluent, though that thick American accent never went away. Neither did Sungmi. By 1996, they were married. Before 1998 was even half over, they had their first child. A son. They named him Daniel. Or rather, David named him that. Sungmi gave him a more traditionally Korean name: Daewon. Daniel and Daewon. He learned to respond to both. They were both him, after all, and he was both of them. Two parts of a whole that never seemed to combine all the way through. He always had to choose between one or the other. No matter what he chose, it was never the right answer.

Daewon was followed by three others. First a girl, then another, and finally a boy. Six in one home would usually be cramped but David could afford to buy enough room for his large family. Daewon and his little sisters and brother never went without. There was no scrimping, no cutting back for the Scotts. They got what they wanted, when they wanted it. So long as their father approved. Nothing ever happened unless David approved. That was why, when the time came, Daewon was enrolled in an international-style school.

He was Daniel there. Only ever Daniel. His classes, apart from Korean language, were taught in English. His classmates, his friends, were all the children of expats living in a nation nothing like their own, looking for the comfort of the familiar. But he already was home. The only one he’d ever known. The only one he’d ever wanted. He didn’t want it. He didn’t want to be Daniel all the time. He wanted to be Daewon. He was proud of who he was. He didn’t want to hide his Korean heritage, push it to the side for something entirely foreign. But he couldn’t tell his father that. David Scott, who was so caught up in making sure his children were in touch with his culture, would never consider that, perhaps, they wanted to hold on to their mothers — theirs — as well. And so, he stayed Daniel.

Despite this, Daewon was not without connections to Korean culture. He spoke Korean at home, far more than English, mostly with his siblings and mother but even his father, if only for the convenience. He played with neighborhood children, his Korean mother sang him traditional nursery rhymes. Daewon and his siblings grew up watching the same programs as any other Korean child. Through his experiences outside of his father’s control, Daewon came to appreciate what he was missing at school. The main tethers Daewon had to his Korean heritage were his grandparents. Sungmi’s parents loved Korea. They were proud of who they were and where they came from, proud of their nation’s history. They wanted their grandchildren to understand why. They told them stories, taught them details about Korean history their teachers often breezed through, glossed over.. The Scott children learned things they were never taught in school. Daewon’s grandparents gave him enough books about Korea to fill an entire bookcase. Despite his father’s complete apathy toward it, Daewon grew to share in his grandparent’s pride. He might not be like everyone else around him, but he was Korean. No one could ever take that from him.

When he was eleven, Daewon decided that he didn’t want to go to his international school anymore. He didn’t want to be Daniel. At least not all the time. He wanted to go to a normal Korean school and be friends with normal Korean kids. He wanted the things he’d been deprived of. And so Daewon came up with what he thought was a very compelling argument: he spent years learning the way his father did, he should spend some time learning the way his mother did. He came up with a whole speech, practiced it with on his grandparents. He even had his youngest sister act as assistant, pointing out and changing the visual aides (all of which he created). And then… nothing. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t come with the courage to confront his father like that. His dad was going to say no, he knew that. Daewon couldn’t face the rejection.

A few weeks went by before Daewon heard a knock on his bedroom door. It was his mother. She’d heard from an anonymous source (his little sister) about his plan. And about how he’d abandoned it. Sungmi was proud of her son and didn’t know why he wouldn’t go through with it. Daewon tried to explain but words failed him. Sungmi understood anyway. For once, she put her foot down. Her son, her Daewon, would go to a Korean school.

Whatever Daewon was expecting at his new school, he didn’t get it. He thought it would be perfect. He thought he’d be accepted right away, make lots of new friends right off the bat. But of course, nothing is ever perfect. Nothing ever comes as easily as wanted. Daewon learned the hard way that his father wasn’t the only person he’d have to fight to claim himself as Korean. His new classmates thought he was a foreigner, not of their world. And in someways, he wasn’t. There were things that his grandparents didn’t, couldn’t prepare him for. Some cultural nuances, generational trends, he had to learn on his own. He persisted. Through force of will and a cheerful personality, Daewon won over many of his classmates. He’d always have his detractors but at least now Daewon felt as though he belonged, at least a little.

Daewon’s new friends didn’t share the burden of being in a foregn country the way his old school friends had. They were freer, it seemed to Daewon. They explored their talents and interests, shared them with each other. It was through these new friends that Daewon found his talent for rap. He’d always been drawn to music; he had guitar lessons, sang in school productions, but Daewon had never tried to rap. For a kid, he had a decent flow, good expressions. Daewon began writing his own raps after a while. It felt… freeing. Like he could finally say all the things he’d always been too afraid to. Like he finally had an outlet for all the frustration he’d felt fighting to just be who he was.

When Daewon was fourteen, he and his friends all made a pact. They’d heard from some older students about auditions for MSG. If they could pass the auditions, if they could debut, then the whole country would be able to hear their music. Being teenagers, they couldn’t see a downside. Eight went into the auditions, but only two passed. One of them was Daewon.

At first, Daewon didn’t want to continue after his audition. What was the point if most of his friends wouldn’t be there? It wasn’t like his dad would approve, anyway. He’d just chalk it up to a fun experience. Daewon didn’t expect the support he got. His friends, while a little jealous, yes, wanted to see him succeed. His siblings thought the whole thing was just cool. His grandparents were proud of him, his mother, too. Most surprisingly of all, his father supported it. David Scott realized, somewhat belatedly, that his son would never, no matter how hard he tried, have the same life he did. He would have his own experiences. He had his own talents. Daewon cried the day his father told him that. Tears of shock and yes, happiness. He would be an MSG trainee. He would become an idol.

Like everything, it seemed, being a trainee was harder than Daewon expected. Long hours practicing, instructors who didn’t care if he was just a kid. No one seemed to care that a daily schedule of before school practice, school, afterschool practice and homework might’ve been a bit much for a fourteen year old. Daewon wanted to quit many times, but his friends, his family were always there to motivate him. Though he sometimes forgot, being a trainee reminded Daewon of just how lucky he was. He pressed on.

Weeks turned into months, months into years. By the time Daewon was chosen for 1nferno’s final lineup, he wasn’t the same kid he’d been when he auditioned. He hit a growth spurt, his voice was lower. Most importantly, though, he was polished. Gone was the small, ungainly kid and in his place was a practice performer. He was vibrant, charismatic on stage and off. Confident in ways he’d never been. It was easy to see why management gave him a carefree and playful image to go along with the group’s debut boy next door concept. Being a young kid, just barely old enough to drink at the time of his debut, it seemed a perfect fit. Excited just to be debuting, Daewon even accepted the use of an old childhood nickname, Danny, as his stagename. He hadn’t been called that in years, but it was alright. The world would finally get to hear his music and that was what mattered.

While the groups concepts varied wildly over the ensuing years, 1nferno’s Danny stayed the same. To the world, he was still a kid. Quick to tease or crack a joke. The public expected him to do silly, sometimes dangerous things and he did them. More than once, he was injured in such a stunt, limiting his ability to perform. MSG seemed happy with the result regardless. Danny quickly became a variety favorite known for his willingness to do anything. This earned him a brief stint as a recurring guest host on Weekly Idol, among other appearances. Danny was always a joy to have grace the tv screen.

But Daewon is not Danny. Not all the time. In the same way that he wasn’t Daniel. After nearly three years, the act has grown weary. Repeated injuries and constant comebacks have Daewon feeling tired, run down at only 20. It becomes harder and harder to keep up the happy façade his image requires. Daewon wishes things would slow down, that the demands on him would lessen instead of increase. He wants the time to rest, to work on his own music. He wants to be able to put out songs that speak to his experience, that have his voice. It’s what he’s always wanted but he’s grown tired of waiting. Still, the world turns and MSG, 1nferno and the matches continue to expect a bright, cheerful Danny, so Danny he will remain. At least for now.

#id.bio #id.msg #id.inferno #id.chwe hansol #id.league

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bellabooks · 6 years

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10 Lesbian, Bi and Queer Women in Sci Fi and Fantasy TV Right Now

Lesbian, bisexual, and queer erasure has pretty much always existed in media, but it has seemed pronounced lately, especially in Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF) movies. We’ve seen Valkyrie straight-washed, as well as Wonder Woman, Constantine, Harley Quinn, Iceman, and Mystique. (I’ve barely scratched the surface. The list goes on and on.) In SFF TV, though, queer women are showing up in force. They’re super-powered and super-smart. We still need more and better representation, particularly for queer women of color, trans and nonbinary folks, queer women with disabilities, and every other member of the queer community who do not see themselves represented on TV. Jeri Hogarth, Jessica Jones Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) is a powerful, intimidating lesbian, lawyer, and counsel to the super-powered in Hell’s Kitchen. (Moss also played Trinity in The Matrix so you already know she’s one attractive lady.) In the comics, Jeryn Hogarth is a sort of dumpy lawyer and confidant to heroes. He’s more of a side character than an antagonist, while the Hogarth from the Jessica Jones TV show (and the other Netflix adaptations) is anything but a sidekick. She’s manipulative, conniving, and ruthless. In one of the eerier choices she makes, she salvages the potentially powered aborted fetus of the child of Kilgrave, a super villain who can make anyone do anything he wants just by saying so. She takes the cell tissue to see if she can find a way to harness his powers. She even helps Kilgrave escape from Jessica so he can help her with her own divorce negotiation. In the end, Kilgrave supercharges himself with tissue samples from the aborted fetus, which make him that much harder for Jessica to defeat. In Iron Fist, Hogarth helps Danny Rand prove his identity and get reinstated with his family’s company after he returns, and she hires Daredevil’s best friend, Foggy Nelson. She has him represent Jessica when she gets caught up in another huge case in The Defenders. You may not like Jeri, but her tenacity is admirable. Check her out in season two of Jessica Jones, which is set to release on Netflix on March 8th. Anissa Pierce/Thunder, Black Lightning Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams) recently started feeling strange. In times of great stress, she has exhibited supernatural strength and the ability to create shockwaves when she stomps. Unbeknownst to Anissa, her father, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), the principal of the school where she works, is the superhero vigilante Black Lightning. As Jefferson comes out of vigilante retirement, Anissa begins exploring her powers and finds that she is frighteningly strong. The first time she uses her powers on humans, she worries that she might have killed the drug dealers she was trying to scare. In a community plagued by police brutality, gang activity, and racism, Anissa starts to believe her powers are not just a gift, but a responsibility. Time and again, throughout the show, we see Anissa assuming the role of protector. One of the best things about Anissa is the fact that she’s just out. There’s no coming out story in the TV show, though her parents do reference her coming out at one point. She lives her life as a lesbian without remorse or regret. She has a girlfriend she breaks up with and meets the very cute Grace Choi. To see her manifest her powers on top of all her confidence and power is a sight to behold. Grace Choi, Black Lightning Grace Choi (Chantal Thuy) is a cute comic book nerd who Anissa meets in a library. They immediately connect and start flirting while talking about genetic mutation, which Anissa is researching. When Grace is knocked unconscious by a gang member, we see Anissa express her powers more drastically than ever before. Later, while she’s holding Grace, she wonders aloud if someone who could do something to right the wrongs of the world should. Grace affirms that they should. Grace has Anissa’s back and believes in her, even though she doesn’t yet know about her powers. Grace is out and open with her bisexual identity, even joking about it with Anissa. We don’t know if Grace will exhibit the powers she has in the comic books yet, but the first season has just begun. Power Coupling: #Thundergrace So far in the TV show, Anissa and Grace are just getting started as a couple and as heroes, but their attraction and support of one another has me really rooting for them. They are an extremely rare example of a relationship between queer women of color and we need more positive examples out there. Bring on #Thundergrace! You can see Anissa, Grace, and the whole Black Lightning team on Tuesdays on the CW. Sara Lance/The White Canary, Legends of Tomorrow After surviving a horrific boat accident, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) is recruited to the League of Assassins, naturally, and becomes a lethal force. While living with the League, she falls in love with Nyssa Al Ghul, daughter of the leader of the League. Sara, who made her first appearance in Arrow, fights alongside and dates the Green Arrow (or Arrow or Hood, or whatever Oliver Queen is calling himself at the time), survives her own death by use of a magical hot tub, and is recruited to join a team of time traveling vigilantes. A typical tale. She assumes the identity of the White Canary for her new role and as she travels through time, Sara flirts with and kisses nurses, a female Merlin, and her teammate, Leonard Snart. In the second season of Legends of Tomorrow, Sara becomes the ship’s captain and leads with humor, grace, and many, many stunning fight scenes. She tempers the ragtag team of heroes and damn, it’s nice to see a woman in charge. Season three of Legends of Tomorrow is still in progress, and things are heating up with Ava Sharpe. You can catch my favorite bisexual time traveling captain on Mondays on the CW. Alex Danvers, Supergirl Agent of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (D.E.O.) and member of her sister Supergirl’s team, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) comes out of the closet in season two of Supergirl. Some of us might be sick of coming out stories, but for a show created for a younger audience, this coming out story is powerful. Alex describes herself as always feeling like something was wrong with her, as if she didn’t want to date, until she met Maggie (Floriana Lima). An out and proud cop, Maggie assumes Alex is gay, which helps Alex out of the closet. The two begin dating, while fighting super villains and teaming up with heroes from other universes. Ultimately, Alex and Maggie split because Alex wants to have kids and that doesn’t work for Maggie. In the end, the actor, Lima, decided not to return to the show, so the split was inevitable. Decisive, powerful, loyal, and quite the fighter, Alex is a credit to queer women. You can see her on season three of Supergirl which is currently airing on Mondays on the CW. Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp The younger sister of the heir to the Earp Curse, Waverly Earp (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) is whip smart, adorkable, and an irreplaceable member of her sister Wynonna’s team. When we first meet Waverly, she’s wielding a shotgun, which is aimed at her sister Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano), who she believes is currently hooking up with Waverly’s boyfriend. Over the first season of the show, we see Waverly begin to question her relationship and her sexuality, as she comes into contact with the very sexy police officer, Officer Haught. When Officer Haught kisses Waverly for the first time, it is powerful, sensual, and blows Waverly’s world right open. As Waverly explores her sexuality, we see her transition from a shy woman testing the waters to a powerful woman who goes after what she wants. The second season also finds Waverly questioning her relationship to her family and her future. Officer Haught, Wynonna Earp Officer Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell) is an unshakeable force for good on Wynonna’s team. At first, the group keeps Officer Haught in the dark, but she’s a great detective and figures out that something is amiss in the Ghost River Triangle. When the supernatural happenings are confirmed for her, she doesn’t freak out. She’s just relieved she’s not the only one who knows something is wrong. She fights heterosexism, small town politics, and demons throughout the show. In the second season, Officer Haught is wounded by a demon-widow and falls into a coma. The audience feared the worst for Haught, but she comes out of the coma and lives to fight another day. Power Coupling: #WayHaught Officer Haught and Waverly are both awesome on their own, but together they make cute-sexy-funny-loving relationships seem natural. Things aren’t always easy—they make it through their own fair share of supernatural mishaps—but they’re an example of what love between two women can look like. You’ll be able to watch #WayHaught’s evolution in season three of Wynonna Earp, which is slated to air on SyFy sometime in 2018. Karolina Dean/Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Runaways What do you do when you find out your parents are super villains? Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner) and her friends try to answer this question in season one of Runaways. While sleuthing and being a hormonal teenager, Karolina also finds out that she has superpowers. She can manipulate solar light and fly. When the bracelet she was given as a child isn’t inhibiting her abilities, she shines like an iridescent rainbow. Can she get any queerer? In fact, she can! As they prepare to act like normal kids for a night at the high school dance, Karolina finally makes her feelings known and kisses Nico, her friend and eventual leader of the Runaways. They go on to kiss again later in the season and share a very sweet moment complete with eye batting and sly smiles. Nico Minoru/Sister Grimm, Runaways Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano) is a bad witch you do not want to mess with. She can do anything, but she can only do it once. (It’s a limitation of her magical powers.) She’s a member of the all-female Avengers called A-Force, and a general badass. Long before her reign as bad witch, though, Nico was just a kid in California–a kid with super villain parents–but a kid nonetheless. This is where we meet her in the TV show Runaways. She’s emo, she’s angry, and she’s mourning the death of her sister. When she and her friends find out that their parents are evil, she starts investigating her connection to a family heirloom, the Staff of One, which gives her the ability to manifest anything she can think of. During this confusing time in Nico’s life, she kisses Alex, another teammate, but after she finds out that Alex has been keeping secrets about her sister’s death, she rejects his advances. She and Karolina share a passionate kiss and this sets Nico down an entirely new path of self-discovery. Power Coupling: #Nicolina One of the best things about Karolina and Nico’s relationship is how far it deviates from the comic books, which are filled with off-hand heterosexist remarks and Nico distancing herself from Karolina when Karolina expresses an interest in her. In the TV show, we see two young women acknowledging their attraction. We’ve barely seen either use their powers and I’m really looking forward to what happens to #Nicolina in season two. You can join me in watching their relationship to each other and their parents evolve in season two of Runaways, which has been renewed for a second season on Hulu. Given when the first season aired, we might see the second season as soon as fall 2018. Cassandra Cillian/The Librarian, The Librarians Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth) is a genius with a brain tumor, which essentially gives her super powers. Recruited by the mystical Library to preserve magical artifacts, Cassandra is one of the three librarians who is new to the game. For much of the show’s run thus far, the show seems to flirt with the idea of Cassandra’s queerness. She gets enchanted and becomes a female Prince Charming. All the ladies in the town start fawning over her and she likes it. She flirts with a diplomat and gets her phone number, while also stealing her earrings, which are magical artifacts, so it’s totally fine. And, on more than one occasion, she makes eyes at her Guardian (not that kind of guardian, gross. It’s a magical thing.), played by Rebecca Romijn. I also make eyes at Romijn in this TV show. At one point, Cassandra makes advances toward an older male character and seems to have some sexual tension with another librarian who is male. After three seasons, the show finally lets Cassandra be out. When Cassandra’s life-threatening tumor is removed, she realizes how close to the end she was and rushes to see her friend, who is a vampire that she has been relentlessly flirting with the entire episode. They share a passionate kiss and boom, Cassandra’s out of the closet! The season finale of season four of The Librarians just recently aired. We’re waiting with baited breath to see if TNT will renew the show for a fifth season. http://dlvr.it/QJKcGZ

#SCIENCE FICTION #Television #Black Lightning

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heartlandhq · 6 years

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❝ he is an unyielding cornerstone made of steel and he would never shatter. ❞

INFORMATION,

full name ⋯ Daniel Song age ⋯ 32 years old pronouns ⋯ He/Him/His origin ⋯ New York, New York affiliation ⋯ Bergan Mercy Hospital position ⋯ Guard

SURVIVABILITY,

advantages ⋯ courageous & vigilant disadvantages ⋯ impulsive & stubborn preferred weapon ⋯ M16A4, ka-bar knife

BIOGRAPHY,

trigger warning ⋯ blood, death, violence

BEFORE DECEMBER 25th, 2017,

Born to wealth and the moderate degree of status, importance, and all the things that glittered that came with it. The whole package as it were. ‘You’ve got the luck of the devil himself, Daniel.’ Though, turns out too much of a good thing really can turn sour. He was six when his younger sister was born—Emily Song, a healthy happy babe all precious giggles and rosy cheeks. By that point, Daniel was so over the apple pie idea of a family that the TV had painted a pretty of for he and every other child in America. He was never sure his pieces quite fit, as though something was missing. But Emily? Emily was the only piece that felt right.

Maybe it was because she too was a blank slate. Or that she was the one constant in a house of rotating caregivers whilst his parents worked near constant hours away from home and country. Shouldn’t you be proud of your Momma and Papa, Danny boy? Out there sweating for the little people and saving lives? But what about me? A crushing desperate angry hunger within his child body that seemed to never know satisfaction despite the full plate of food atop the table before him. Quiet days and near dead silent nights within the seemingly impossibly huge three-story home only fueled a greater desire for something he truly had no name for.

There had always been an unspoken expectation to follow in his Father’s footsteps. A great man, strive to save lives and all that is good in life. While never cruel, never neglectful—simply absent. An expected outcome for any couple, even if their romance happened in a mere parade of snapshots. He wanted to be great, he wanted to give and give and give—if only so that someone else not feel the distinct wanting that he had. A vague hope, that if gave and gave that eventually something, however small; would be given in return. A smile, a laugh, a hug—thank you thank you.

He was fourteen when he received the new his parents had been ‘lost at sea’. Their plane suffering a catastrophic malfunction that downed them between points A and B.

Their lives signed off to next of kin, strangers moving into their family home. Faces they’d never seen. Never knew despite ‘Your parents were always so busy! Why I haven’t seen you since you were this tall.’ He didn’t know what to do with such life, such noise and colour. As if starting high school wasn’t a stressful enough situation, rumours flying of shipping him overseas to some private academy or another—a bitter laugh of what if he too gets lost at sea?

Daniel wished he had learned earlier, just how much gold can twist men into wicked creatures.

But, he did have Emily.

There wasn’t much of anything he wouldn’t do for his sister. An unhealthy relation some would say but as their home became more and more foreign she was once again the only constant in his life. His high school years, an uneventful stint. There were awards, pride in the eyes of his teachers and the ‘That’s what a good pedigree will get you!’ spoken by his peers. The moment he could, he abandoned ship, whisking Emily and himself as far away from their home as they could.

An impressive inheritance gifted to him on his eighteenth birthday provided him the funds for this upheaval a second wind would be coming on Emily’s own eighteenth year. Until then, the pair lived out of a modest apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Not wanting to squander the very limited wealth left to him, Daniel took up a series of casual jobs. Mostly construction, maintenance, and general odd jobs around the building and city for a passable buck; occasionally lucking out on shift work at a nearby bar. It was at such a bar he met Officer Brent Parker.

You’ve got the devil’s own luck indeed. The one and only night he’d been allowed to work behind the counter instead of mopping floors and cleaning sick and piss from the floors in the washroom—Officer Parker and company poured on through their doors looking to scratch an itch and Honest Steve’s cramped bar just happened to be the cheapest watering hole around. Eager to please what passed for upstanding customers in his eye he waited on their every need. Even giving them so much of a fine discount for the laugh they managed to coax out of him.

He was smitten.

With the idea of something more. Working at Honest Steve’s (and the guy wasn’t even named Steve) straightened out every skill he had, truly a jack of all trades job that demanded charisma, strength, and an agreeable sense of integrity to say the least. Daniel had manhandled his fair share of drunkards out to the curb, bore the weight of insults and derogatory words heaped on him, and was ready for the next customer with an easy grin in place.

It was a chapter of his life he yearned to keep secret from Emily, making time even after back to back shifts to attend her school events. Her classes and even showing up for several memorable parent teacher meetings whilst he tugged awkwardly at his foreign Sunday’s best. She wanted to be a nurse. She wanted to help people. Emily spent her weekends tugging him away to a volunteer event at the nearby hospital, Emily pulled him along to the animal shelter, wherever she wanted to go—he was happy to follow.

“Don’t you want anything for yourself?” she asked him one night over dinner and he didn’t know what to feel when no answer came forth.

When Officer Parker came back to his bar all charm and hot action movie stories, Daniel took a leap of faith and asked about becoming one of the boys in blue. He showed up at the next enrollment early, sitting straight in a plastic waiting room seat to fill out paperwork. Worried about his qualifications, felt an awful lot like he was applying for some prestigious university.

Keaton Harris of Honest Steve’s openly honest and fine drinking establishment wasn’t too keen on letting him go, but; like the name—he bled an awful lot of honesty for an establishment that turned a blind eye to a fair sum of illegal happenstances and gave him a glowing series of references citing impossibly overblown instances enough to make Daniel go red for a near hour every time he thought about it. But, he passed the written tests—he passed the physical. He was hardly number one, but he wasn’t no dead last either. Not only was he older than a fair few of his fellow applicants, but he lacked their considerable resume as well.

No prior combat experience outside of what passed for violence in a brawl (which, incidentally; was some truly terrible things). No post secondary degrees or certifications. Just a whole lot of heart in every breath. And sometimes, that’s enough—it’s a painful slap in the face, a breath of fresh air in finding someone so eager to serve.

A moment of celebration that was painfully short lived when he came home to Emily telling him she planned to go out of state for university.

He wasn’t her Father. He couldn’t forbid this. Though every fibre in him demanded he do so, hands desperate to clutch her close to home lest she too be stolen away from him. But, she would be turning eighteen shortly after graduation. She already had her acceptance letter. She already had a future. A taste of envy so powerful nearly overcame him but, he painted a smile on his face—nothing mattered more than Emily. And nothing would hurt him more than being robbed of her happiness. So, helped her pick out everything for her dorm. Talked with her soon to be roommate over Facebook, took a hundred photos with her about the city—made her promise to email every week and call as often as she could.

There was a very real fear of suffocating her. That when free of his presence in her life, she would forget about him. Emily would smile and laugh, and all his worries would disappear. He drove her across several states to Nebraska where he helped her set up her dorm, helped her roommate unpack as well ‘So nice having some proper muscle around, Em! Tell me, does he do personal requests too?’

It was easier then, to wake up and go to work. To not have to worry about the other body in his house even if the overwhelming emptiness of the place sometimes got to him. He moved to sunnier streets, a higher rise apartment in New York City following a requested transfer where he spent the better part of his first day staring out over the sprawling city from his apartment balcony. A housewarming party that Emily attended with her dormmate Lauren. She brought a truly awful looking plant. And then she proceeded to bring a new godawful plant every time she visited until his window ledge was decorated proper with them. He was accepted in S.W.A.T. where he could push himself harder and harder, where he could feel as though he belonged. His desk at work soon bore the overflow from his window ledge at home, a photo of him and Emily making faces at the camera sat just to the right of his desktop. Officer Parker still called him the odd time to check in on him, and he’d just caved under his co-worker’s pressure to enroll in the apparently new and hip trend of online dating especially if he wasn’t going to cave in and return the interest of the latest intern to slip into the station with big eyes and easy smiles.

It was…good. Life was good.

AFTER DECEMBER 25th, 2017,

Daniel wasn’t much of a social media guy. He liked to go online to keep in contact with people, to share stories and be a shoulder to cry on for those in need. Sometimes, he liked to join puzzle and mystery games with strangers but that was something of a dirty secret. So, it took Emily mentioning it in passing during one of their scheduled calls for the reality of things to slap him in the face. She sounded worried. She sounded scared. Bergan Mercy Hospital was showing an impossible influx of patients both paranoid and otherwise justifiably concerned.

The city slowly started to show its true colours as the station was swamped with more and more incoming calls from panicked civilians. Crime spiked to an all time high and further news and evidence flooded the internet. People started to see it as the end of days, and as such: the end of such silly things as consequences. On near constant duty, Daniel hadn’t seen the inside of his apartment in days by the time the diseased started to find their ways to their city streets. It’s supposed to be Christmas, a time to celebrate. Good will and good cheer, and all that. He hadn’t talked to Emily in days, his worry for her near eating him alive. She’s not here. She’s not in any place like New York so it’s okay Daniel. It’s okay.

Their phones went down. The network so overrun with calls that it simply collapsed into a constant loop of an automated messaging system. Officers went missing or simply never showed up. Several other emergency personnel stopped reporting in. There were civilians on their front steps seeking safety, protection—if ever there was a time to protect and serve…

Daniel didn’t know much about any other story from New York. He only knows his chapter, the fall of his station as it was overrun by the dead. The thick Kevlar and layers of his S.W.A.T. armor likely the only thing that saved his life. But even so, he’d seen too many of his brothers and sisters go down to teeth, hands ripping and tearing. There was no order. It was only chaos, everything happening in an instant as the barricades fell and the impressive population of New York City flooded their doors. A handful of survivors made it out, running blind only thinking about survival—there was no hope to contain it. To be able to circle back around and it hurts him so deeply to know there truly was nothing he could have done.

Spending the early days and weeks of the outbreak simply trying to survive Daniel tried everything he could to get word out to Emily. All he had was a series of increasingly worrying voice messages to listen to until his phone lost battery. He was limited on supplies in a dying city. It took days to simply even get out of the dead zones, passing through once thriving safe zones and choke points overrun with the dead. Key supplies lost forever as he looked through a pair of binoculars into the torn apart camps, the military transports stopped dead in crowded streets. What few survivors he did see, fled on sight; even in the apartments he broke into in passing did he find no friendly faces. Just more and more dead.

It took nearly a month of travel to get from the bowels of the city out into Omaha. A long dead cellphone in the pocket of his pants. Salvaging what he could whenever he could. Seeing far too much carnage and chaos for his mind to safely contain. Simply fixated on reaching his destination the only thing that ever pulled him from his goal was a cry for help. Some desperate human response—that often, he was told by the people he saved that they never expected anyone to come. He looked at their tears, the raw fear and gratitude mingling in their expressions and only ached.

Some remained traveling with him for a time, finding comfort in his person. In the armor he wore. The weapons he carried. They craved the direction and order he provided, some flavour of normalcy—of the world before, that they desperately wanted to hold once again. Several of these individuals broke off at the camps he stopped at along the way, parting ways with tight embraces the likes unheard of in the world before between strangers.

On nothing more than hope, he arrived at Bergan Mercy Hospital to find it overrun. Which…didn’t match with the reports other campsites at given him. There were people in there. Somewhere. Emily Emily Emily.

It was a trader heading back in that showed him the way, a sprint through the hands and teeth of the undead in the waiting area—their numbers dropped a fair sum by his own hand until he was steered away—‘Don’t bother, more always come.’

Emily wasn’t one of the remaining hospital staff inside. He hadn’t….he hadn’t seen her in the waiting room. Her car was in the parking lot outside (he checked, he obsessively checked) which meant that she was inside somewhere.

Daniel loathes sitting still, but he’s a welcome addition to the team with the firepower, information, and general experience he brings to the table. It seems no one really wants to touch upon the subject of his sister, most turning away from the picture he provides forth in desperation with pity in their eyes. He’s eager to explore the wings of the hospital, to clear them out—others call it a suicidal desire. He calls it wanting closure one way or another.

He hadn’t been present for the culling of the intensive care patients and if he had been, he’s firm in his stance that he wouldn’t have stood for it. Which, has only furthered ire against him—they were people, people like us—we go and do that, we aren’t any better than the monsters outside the door waiting for us. But…he knows, he knows he’s no different. He ran from that station despite the heaviness of his heart. Despite hearing his friends call out for him, scream for help, scream in pain, and simply scream and scream and scream.

His heart governs him more than anything else, leaves him blind to the grim reality of the situation at hand. But, it also brought him to this doorstep where he intends to be of use. For now, he’s usually seen on patrol or heading out on the odd scavenge run for extra security—Emily’s photo kept close to his heart.

CENSUS,

faceclaim ⋯ Steven Yeun played by ⋯ Bigby

#steven yeun #rp #rpg #zombie rp #town rp #{ a. }#{ m. }#{ 30. }#{ bergan mercy. }#{ guard. }#{ bigby. }#{ daniel song. }#blood tw #violence tw #death tw

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eddycurrents · 6 years

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For the week of 19 March 2018

Quick Bits:

30 Days of Night #4 gets into the first assault on Barrow from the vampires. It’s bloody and beautifully illustrated by Piotr Kowalski.

| Published by IDW

Avengers #685 is a whole load of fun and despair as a large portion of the US Avengers team (and Lightning, Vision, and Quicksilver) attempt to stave off the assault of the Immortal Hulk. It really feels like we’re headed towards the endgame now and the braintrust of Mark Waid, Jim Zub, and Al Ewing are just churning out an epic. Also, the art from Paco Medina, Juan Velasco, and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: Back to Basics #2 concludes the first arc with Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor attempting to stop Fenris and the Disir from bringing about Ragnarok. It’s a fun and action-oriented story from Peter David, with some great humorous moments, and the art from Brian Level (with colours by Jordan Boyd) is pretty much worth the price of the book alone. Great panel compositions and page layouts that greatly help the issue’s story feel meaty.

| Published by Marvel

Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #7 gets us close to the end, but of course it’s not as easy as rescuing Egg Shen and defeating Ching Dai, there has to be funny misadventures, in-fighting, and heaps of betrayal.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Cable #155 is pretty damn great. It begins the “Past Fears” arc from the new creative team of Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler, Germán Peralta, and Jesus Aburtov and leaps headlong into Cable’s past mixing it up with some body horror. Thompson and Nadler have a nice grasp on Cable and Hope’s characters, showing off their heart and stubbornness. Peralta’s art puts the book over the top, though.

| Published by Marvel

Dark Fang #5 brings to an end the first arc of the series, finally giving the lead character a name in-story itself. It’s a bizarre approach to vampires from Miles Gunter, almost like a twisted Disney fairy tale, but it’s entertaining and has some great artwork from Kelsey Shannon.

| Published by Image

Death of Love #2 features more wacky hijinks as Philo tells his friends about seeing the little Cherubs/Cupidae and...naturally they don’t believe him. It just gets more absurd from there as Justin Jordan and Donal DeLay push the series into new and more disturbing territory.

| Published by Image

Dept. H #24 ends what has been a good series with a nice bit of quiet reflection, Mia reminiscing about her father, her first case, and morality as she struggles upward for that last leg of survival.

| Published by Dark Horse

Dissonance #2 dives deeper into the machinations of the Fantasmen as they plot and scheme to control humanity. Singgih Nugoro and Ryan Cady are laying it on pretty thick, while making you wonder what all of it is truly for.

| Published by Image / Top Cow - Glitch

Doctor Strange: Damnation #3 is basically an issue’s long fight between the damned Avengers and the Midnight Sons. There’s some nice character bits and humour thrown in. Plus, a seemingly most ineffective plan.

| Published by Marvel

Evolution #5 sees Joe Infurnari and Jordan Boyd step up their game, and the art on the series was already incredible. It seems as we go on, the designs and presentation of the infected just get more and more impressive.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Harrow County #29 returns with the beginning of the end. Emmy is trying to come to terms with her actions in the last arc, while Hester’s return heralds more nightmares to come. Tyler Crook’s artwork is stellar, horrifying and evocative, elevating the terror with each subsequent panel.

| Published by Dark Horse

Ice Cream Man #3 is weird, trading in the more traditional horror notes of the past couple of issue for absurdist science fantasy, following a washed-up, fading musician who penned a one-hit wonder as he fades into obscurity. W. Maxwell Prince’s story gets pretty strange, but it allows for Martín Morazzo to really flex his muscles.

| Published by Image

Infinity 8 #1 begins adapting in English and North America’s standard comics format the Infinity 8 series that was previously published by Rue de Sèvres, created by Lewis Trondheim and Olivier Vatine. Part of the pitch for the book is an 8-part series each containing three issue arcs. The 8 parts certainly play into the structure of the story as each part will be done by a different creative team, and focus on a recursive time loop of agents exploring a debris field.

This first arc, written by Lewis Trondheim and Zep with art by Dominique Bertail, focuses on Agent Yoko Keren, a woman looking for a compatible mate among the ship’s crew so she can get pregnant and basically retire better off than she is currently. She gets to be the first guinea pig for the Captain’s time loop exploration of the debris, and it gets a bit weird when some of the ship’s complement of aliens decide that eating it is of the utmost importance. This story is weird sci-fi in the vein of Heavy Metal, but to me the draw is Bertail’s art. I’ve really been enjoying Bertail’s art in Ghost Money and he proves equally adept with wacky space stuff.

| Published by Lion Forge / Magnetic Collection

Iron Fist #78 jumps head first into Danny’s unresolved issues in what’s probably the best Damnation tie-in thus far. Ed Brisson uses the chaos of the event and the trigger of the penance stare to dredge up Danny’s feelings and reactions to what he considers his loss and failures, giving some really deep cuts into continuity in an organic, natural fashion. The art from Damian Couceiro and Andy Troy is also up to the heavy lifting. The layouts and panel designs at the beginning of the book as Danny navigates the surreal landscape of his memories and fears are particularly impressive.

| Published by Marvel

James Bond: The Body #3 has some great art by Rapha Lobosco, in the first of two series that have his work this week. His art is in a similar style to Eduardo Risso and it lends itself well to this dark tale of neo-Nazi arms dealers from Aleš Kot.

| Published by Dynamite

Kick-Ass #2 asks some important questions as Patience backslides into justifications for her criminal behaviour. Mark Millar steps up the moral quandary from just the vigilantism of the original Kick-Ass, even as she later protects a child from an abusive father figure.

| Published by Image

Lucy Dreaming #1 is fun. For starters, it’s nice to see Michael Dialynas again on another sci-fi/fantasy series after The Woods, even if it is just a limited series. His art naturally lends itself to the fantastical and it pays off in spades in this first issue, with nice designs for aliens, starships, and more. It’s also great that Max Bemis is bringing more of that weirdness and altered realities from his works like Centipede here. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes from here.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Mighty Thor #705 will break your heart. Epic storytelling and gorgeous art. Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Matthew Wilson should be proud.

| Published by Marvel

Ninja-K #5 brings the battle to the Acclimation Bureau and sparks off a deadly confrontation between Ninja-C and Ninjak. Christos Gage and Tomás Giorello bring this first arc to a stylish conclusion.

| Published by Valiant

Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #1 brings the adventuring party back for a new expedition, this time far beneath Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers. Crystal Frasier is a new voice to the Pathfinder comics, but old hat to the roleplaying game, so she slides in nicely to the writer’s chair here. There’s a good amount of set-up and humorous banter as the Iconic character Imrijka is introduced in the comic as an old friend of Valeros.

| Published by Dynamite

Punks Not Dead #2 gets into more of Fergie’s ordinary life and the supporting cast of characters at his school and beyond. David Barnett fleshes them out fairly well, setting up some interesting hooks for what might be coming next. Combined with Martin Simmonds artwork, this series really is a must buy for anyone who enjoyed the British supernatural flavour of mid to late ‘90s Vertigo or the later series Vinyl Underground.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Regression #8 sees Adrian explore the nature of the cult and their grounds a bit more, although there is a weird bit in that he’s seemingly all right with the past lives, the demons, the cult itself and such, but apparently an orgy is a bridge too far. Death, murder, and demons are copacetic, but as soon as sex is introduced, Adrian wants to bug out. I’m hoping that Cullen Bunn does more with that theme in a future issue.

| Published by Image

Rumble #4 mainly deals with the fallout from Bobby’s injuries, with John Arcudi penning a growing divide between Rathraq and Del. David Rubín’s art perfectly capturing the insanity and the heart of the entire situation.

| Published by Image

Runaways #7 begins the “Best Friends Forever” arc with the team trying to adjust to their new status quo and “normal” life. Rainbow Rowell is great at these kinds of interpersonal relationships and it makes for an entertaining read.

| Published by Marvel

The Spider King #2 is more glorious madness blending Vikings and bizarre alien technology. The artwork from Simone D’Armini just fits this action perfectly.

| Published by IDW

Summit #4 concludes the first story arc, with Val coming to the realization of Lorena’s motivations and Foresight’s shadiness that readers of the broader Catalyst Prime line already know. It comes a bit suddenly after a moment of misdirection, but it makes more story sense to get Val back to her friends at the MIT labs.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Tales of Suspense #103 is that issue that tells us exactly what has been going on with Black Widow while Hawkeye and Winter Soldier have been running around chasing after her body count. It’s kind of dark and has some fairly complicated potential Alien Resurrection style implications. Matthew Rosenberg still throws in some humour with Ursa Major, but this one’s really an opportunity for Travel Foreman to showcase some of the darker end of his skill set.

| Published by Marvel

TMNT Universe #20 continues the excellent “Service Animals” arc from Ian Flynn, Dave Wachter, and Ronda Pattison that’s getting to the core of what Null has been doing, and providing an interesting, humanizing look at Raphael and Alopex. The art from Wachter and Pattison is wonderful. There’s also a great back-up from Matthew K. Manning, Adam Gorham, and Brittany Peer that tells a humorous and heartfelt tale of Raph trying to get some sleep.

| Published by IDW

Thanos #17 is the penultimate chapter of “Thanos Wins”, featuring both Thanoses against the Fallen One, with a few surprise guests. Geoff Shaw really gets the opportunity again to showcase just how damn good he is at action and spectacle.

| Published by Marvel

Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #1 is the first of the series to follow the series of series format Dark Horse tends to use for Mike Mignola’s Hellboy universe. Regardless of the approach, this still has the same great Stan Sakai taste. Ostensibly we’re dealing with some fugitives, and a secret package, being tracked down by agents of the shogunate, but we’re light on details so far and high on mystery.

| Published by Dark Horse

Vampirella #11 is the second of the books illustrated by Rapha Lobosco this week as he and Jeremy Whitley bring this current volume to a close. This issue serves as a recap of Vicki’s adventures with Vampirella as she comes to a new understanding of herself, opening up to find a solution for the fake heaven and missing God problem.

| Published by Dynamite

Weapon H #1 is probably better than any one would have thought as ridiculous a concept as a Hulkverine would be. Spinning out of the “Weapons of Mutant Destruction” crossover and subsequent Weapon X follow-up arc, this series follows Clay, a former soldier and test subject for some mad science experiments blending Hulk and Wolverine DNA. Greg Pak blends those two aspects in the story itself, taking elements from both the Hulk and Wolverine legacy, and wisely begins this with a new take on the tale that introduced Wolverine to the world in the pages of Incredible Hulk with a new Wendigo. The art from Cory Smith, Marcus To, and Morry Hollowell sticks the landing.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #4 continues the trend of being another great issue of this series. Caitlin Kittredge is beginning to get into the meat of the lore behind the Witchblade and the thirteen Artifacts, tying the reboot in to the mythology of the original Witchblade/Darkness universe, while also fleshing out more and more of Alex’s backstory. The art, again, by Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza is some of the most beautiful on the shelves today.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #17, Archie #29, Babyteeth #9, Berlin #22, Corto Maltese: The Golden House of Samarkand, Descender #28, The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson #3, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call #4, Go Go Power Rangers #8, Incredible Hulk #714, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Fairies #4, Kill or Be Killed #17, Mata Hari #2, The Mighty Crusaders #4, Monsters Unleashed #12, Monstress #15, Moonshine #8, Ms. Marvel #28. Outcast #34, Quantum & Woody! #4, Southern Cross #14, Spider-Gwen #30, Star Wars #45, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #25, Superb #8

Recommended Collections: Aliens: Dead Orbit, Black Science - Volume 7: Extinction is the Rule, Giant Days - Volume 7, Harrow County - Volume 7: Dark Times A Coming, Iron Fist - Volume 2: Sabretooth Round Two, Moonstruck - Volume 1, Rick & Morty: Pocket Like You Stole It, Spider-Men II, X-Men Blue - Volume 3: Cross Time Capers

d. emerson eddy is doing stuff, Lori. Things!

#This Week in Comics

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior 9/4/20 – TENET! MULAN! I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (but now that I’ve seen Tenet and Mulan, I’m better)… and More!

It’s Labor Day weekend… it is, isn’t it? I can’t even remember what day of the week it is anymore, and it looks like movie theaters across the country are generally all reopened except for a few specific areas. While theaters seem to be playing a variety of old and new movies – and Chadwick Boseman’s breakout 42, in which he plays Jackie Robinson, will be shown in 300 AMC theaters starting Thursday -- it still feels like we’re not quite where we should be. That said, only three states remain fully closed as far as movie theaters go: New York (eff you, Cuomo!), North Carolina and New Mexico. California is slowly rolling out movie theaters reopening in certain sections but not in L.A. or San Francisco just yet. Honestly, I’m having a rough week, and I’ll be surprised if I even get through half the movies that I have seen and planned to review, let alone everything else I have to do.

Finally! The movie that’s looking to be one of the most controversial movies of the summer, if not the year, comes to the United States. Of course, I’m talking about Christopher Nolan’s TENET (Warner Bros.), his tribute to James Bond movies with John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) playing a super-spy (of sorts) who teams with Robert Pattinson to perform intricate heists on a mission to find out who has discovered bullets that travel backwards through time and brought them back into our time. Also starring Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh, the movie has received mixed to positive reviews with about 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read my full review right here and a second technical review here.

Right now, it looks like Tenet is going to be playing in roughly 3,000 theaters over Labor Day weekend with only a few states fully closed including my own (New York), as well as North Carolina and New Mexico. A few other states like New Jersey and Maryland are reopening but it may be too late to get Tenet in there. California has a few areas open but not Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Although I’m hesitant at making any predictions right now or doing a full-blown analysis – there so many unknowns in a pandemic -- I think a four-day opening of somewhere between $25 and 28 million should be possible even with limited seating in most theaters that have reopened. I think people are ready to go back to theaters despite the negative narrative created by certain irresponsible film critics who seem to care more about their own personal health than that of the industry that has allowed them to pay rent and live large for years.

Another movie that I’ve been looking forward to and actually my most anticipated movie of the year is Disney’s live action remake of their animated classic, MULAN, this one directed by one of my favorite filmmakers, Niki Caro of Whale Rider fame. I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally see this movie after being invited to a press screen back in March, and then have it systematically cancelled as everything else started shutting down. Fortunately, I got a screener and while not my favorite way to watch a movie, I absolutely LOVED IT!

It stars Yifei Liu as the title character, made famous in the 1998 Disney animated movie, and it follows a similar story of a teen girl who steals her father’s sword and armor and pretends to be a man to join the Imperial Army under secrecy. There are definitely major changes in Caro’s version, most notably the lack of songs and no sign of Mushu, the adorable dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy. This is also not meant for small children, because it’s PG-13 not because it has anything terrible like someone waving genitals or swearing but because some of the action does get intense without much blood or anything terrible. I mean, this is definitely a SOFT PG-13, if that’s even a thing.

The movie is gorgeous and in the vein of movies I love like Zhang Yimou’s Hero and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and it’s even exec. produced by Bill Kong, who produced many of those films. The point is that I love these kinds of movies, plus I’ve long been a fan of Caro’s, and everything just comes together beautifully from the performance by Yifei Liu to the fantastic characters around her, including ones played by Jet Li and Donnie Yen (reuniting from Hero!), as well as an amazing witch played by the indelible Ms. Gong Li, who is also terrific. Sure, there’s a few issues with the dialogue, but this is not a kiddie movie, as much as it’s something on par with the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and I just love all of the decision Caro and her all-Asian cast make in telling this story in a new way. I particularly liked how the film followed Chinese traditions and dealt with things like “chi,” but as with the animated film, the stuff in the army

On top of the amazing martial arts fights, there are also some terrific battle scene that would do Braveheart proud, and it’s all pulled together by Harry Gregson-Williams’ score, which may be one of my favorite pieces of music this year. Definitely a score I’ll be buying since it brings so much excitement and emotion to every scene, but that’s just as much a credit to Ms. Caro and her fantastic cast, who in a couple scenes, particularly between Liu and Li, had me tearing up almost as much as every single time I’ve watched Caro’s debut, Whale Rider.

I’m sure that fans of the animated movie (which I only saw for the first time earlier this year) will have different expectations, but you can’t fault Disney for being a little bit concerned and undeservedly dumping it to the Disney+ streaming service (which you can watch it at a premium of $29.95) rather than giving it the theatrical release it truly deserved. Honestly, if for some strange reason, Disney decides to play it in a bunch of theaters once they’re fully open, I would not hesitate to watch this again in what I consider a much-better environment for a movie which is likely to end up in my top 10 for year. It’s probably my favorite straight-up Disney movie (not including Pixar or Marvel) since maybe Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, although I kind of enjoyed Mary Poppins Returns, too.

I also have a crafts review of Mulan over at Below the Line, so check that out!

While I’ve generally been mixed on Charlie Kaufman’s movies that he directed himself, I couldn’t NOT watch I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, his new movie on Netflix, starring Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons as a young couple going to visit his parents, played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis. At first, it looks like they’ll get stuck in a snowstorm, but then they get there and then they leave and once again get stuck in a snowtorm. No, this isn’t Centigrade 2, but actually something far FAR worse, to the point where I’m not even sure where to begin.

It starts with Buckley’s “Young woman” – yes, Kaufman doesn’t even bother giving her a name – being picked up by her boyfriend Jake (Plemons) before the long ride through the snow to his parent’s house. The whole time, we hear her inner thoughts about wanting to break up with Jake for one or reason or another, her thoughts always been interrupted by Jake making a statement that seems out of the blue. When they get to his parents’ farm in the middle of nowhere, things start to get weird, and I don’t want to go into too many details because if you read my review and decide to sit through it anyway, then it’s your own fault.

Apparently, this was loosely based on a book of the same name by Iain Reid, but it was adapted by the guy who wrote Adaptation, so Kaufman pretty much just went off and did his own thing based on Reid’s general premise. What I find particularly weird is that some of the early reviews talked about this movie as if it was a horror movie, but I just don’t see that at all. It’s just a really dry and weird comedy that doesn’t really take off. While parts of it remind me of the comics work of Daniel Clowes (Ghost World), who I genuinely love, other parts just get so weird, and at times, it reminded me of David Lynch’s Eraserhead or M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit, but only because there are so many WTF moments that you wonder what the actors must have thought while they were doing what Kaufman told them to do. Again, I’m not going to ruin the experience of being thoroughly confounded by some of the weirder moments but after Buckley and Plemons leave the farmhouse, they’re back driving through the snow and having far more intelligent conversations about such mundane topics. At one point, I thought, “This movie must be over soon, right?” and I checked, and there were 43 more minutes to go. That’s when I went from angry to outright ballistic, because I knew that there were so many other things I could be doing than listening to all the talking, talking, talking… They eventually arrive at an abandoned school and go there for shelter, and I was like, “Oh, good, now we get to the horror stuff.” Nope.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is the perfect movie for the scant few that raved about Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, or those who consider Holy Rollers a masterpiece of the highest order. Awful, aggravating and almost unwatchable at times, I’d only recommend Kaufman’s movie to people as a practical joke. Nah, I’m not that mean. It’ll be on Netflix tomorrow. Good luck with it.

Filmmaker and Rooney* frontman Robert Schwartzman directs his third feature, the comedy THE “ARGUMENT” (Gravitas Ventures), which takes the simple idea of a cocktail party and turns it into a riotous and sometimes strange comedy of errors, of sorts.

Dan Fogler and Emma Bell play couple Jack and Lisa, he a writer, her an actress, who have been together for some time, and Jack is ready to pop the question. After the final of a stageplay Lisa is co-starring in, Jack throws a cocktail party at which he’s gonna propose. He invites over his agent Danny Pudi from Community) and his wife Sarah (Maggie Q) but Lisa has invited her amorous co-star Paul (Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris all grown up!), who brought his own bubbly girlfriend Trina (Cleopatra Coleman). As Trina starts drinking, thing just get worse and worse, and it inevitably turns into a full- on fight between Jack and Lisa aka the “argument” of the title. Jack is convinced that if they have a do-over on the night, they can prove who is right.

Oh, yeah. That couldn’t possibly work, right? Well, I’m not going to spoil it, but the one do-over turns into several, which turns into Jack trying to script the perfect cocktail party with the six of them … or rather five after Maggie Q’s character quits in a hilarious huff where she does impressions of the other five. (I’ve always found Maggie to be hilarious from talking to her years ago, and it’s great that her comic skills are finally being used, along with her beauty.) Eventually, Jack brings in actors to play each of them and perform the script he’s written so they can all sit back and figure out where things went wrong. Honestly, The “Argument” is more like the Charlie Kaufman movies I liked (such as Adaptation), and the movie has a vibe a lot like the play God of Carnage, which Roman Polanski adapted into a movie that nobody saw and few gave a fair shake. Also reminded me of Ike Barinholtz’s The Oath, which I quite enjoyed. The main leads are great, but I gotta give additional kudos to Maggie and Cleopatra Coleman, who gives a surprisingly layered performance as possibly the first ditzy African-American not-blonde “blonde” in movie history?

Although Schwartzman didn’t write this movie – it’s written by Zac Sanford who made The Chumscrubber -- he does a great job using his talented cast to throw many surprises at the viewer, and I was laughing quite hardily as the movie went on, because I really enjoyed the characters portrayed not just by the main six but also the actors playing the actors. Yeah, I know it might get confusing but at least this doesn’t have time travel, so if you want a fun and unexpectedly clever dark comedy, do check out The “Argument” which will be in theaters and On Demand, and apparently, you can even order it bundled with WINE?!?!? (*And you can also check out Rooney on Spotify!)

Another really nice surprise this week was Jeff Barnaby’s apocalyptic horror film BLOOD QUANTUM (Shudder/RLJEFilms), which was released on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-Ray earlier this week but is also on the awesome horror streamer, Shudder, I guess right now? It involves a community of indigenous people in the reserve Red Crow who face the undead when an infection hits the village through a bunch of animals who come back to life and then infect the humans. The movie starts on the first night of this plague and then cuts forward six months when the people of Red Crow have shut themselves off from the rest of the world with the hopes of keeping those still alive uninfected from the hordes of “Zeds” outside their gates.

I’m a little bummed I didn’t have press notes for this movie because there are so many great characters and performances, but it was hard to keep track of them without a scorecard. It does star Michael Greyeyes from Fear the Walking Dead, as well as Forrest Godluck (The Revenant), Kiowa Gordon and Elle-Máijá Tailfeatures, but other than Greeneyes, who plays the sherriff trying to keep his family safe, I could barely keep track of the characters or figure out who played them, and that’s a shame.

I generally liked the recent Train to Busan: Peninsula but Blood Quantum works just as little bit better, mainly from the interaction of the characters in a world full of sex and drugs and gore galore where you never who is gonna get killed but for the most part, they’re likely to go in a way that involves blood that pours like a waterfall. You add to the quick pace of Barnaby’s direction the amazing score that almost sounds like Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and you have a movie that makes you realize that Barnaby has made a film that perfectly captures the spirit and feel of John Carpenter’s best work.

I actually watched John Leguizamo’s feature film directorial debut CRITICAL THINKING (Vertical Entertainment), way back in March, literally my very last press screening before movie theaters shut down, little realizing that it would be the last press screening for six months! It’s written by Dito Montiel, who I’ve generally been mixed on, and it’s based on a true story from 1998 where a Miami teacher, played by Leguizamo, tries to save a group of Latino and Black teenagers from the inevitable drugs and crime that kids from the underserved ghetto usually get into by teaching them chess and getting them all the way to the National Chess Championship. I didn’t get to rewatch it to write any sort of intelligent review, but as you can imagine, it has a Mr. Holland’s Opus or Dead Poet’s Society feel, but mixed with the little-seen Disney movie, Queen of Katwe, which I generally enjoyed much more. I do think Leguizamo did a pretty decent job with his first feature as a director and maybe if the crazy early days of COVID weren’t distracting me so much, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. This is a movie that I need to rewatch with a better head on my shoulders.

Tyler Norwood’s doc ROBIN’S WISH (Vertical) takes a look at the last years of comedian and actor Robin Williams, who died from suicide in August 2014 at the age of 63. To everyone who knew him, from close acquaintances to fans, it was a mystery why Williams would take his own life with things going so well in his marriage to Susan Schneider. After his death, the autopsy showed that he was afflicted by undiagnosed diffuse Lewy body dementia, and apparently, that was enough to do his head in to the point where suicide seemed like the only solution.

This is a very different than the equally good Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, because it does focus so much on Williams’ last years and his relationship with Schneider, who plays a much bigger role in this movie with in-depth and intimate moments. It also does a good job talking to Williams’ neighbors in Marin County, who laud the comedian’s commitment to entertaining those in the community. It also interviews Shawn Levy from the Night at the Museum movies, who talks about how Williams wouldn’t let anyone around him know what was going on, maybe because he didn’t really know himself.

Williams’ death was tragic but even moreso when you realize what he must have been going through, and the only thing else I will say is that the notably teary documentary Dear Zachary may finally have some competition as the most tear-inducing real-life film you ever watch. Even so, it’s wonderful and does as great job shining a light on how hard something like dementia hits people when they least expect it. (Also, the score and cinematography for the film are fabulous at provoking those sorrowful emotions even more.)

Arthur Jones’ doc FEELS GOOD MAN is available right now On Demand via the Fantasia Film Festival and will be available via other film festivals, like Oxford Film Festival, starting Friday. (It will also be in theaters, including Oxford’s drive-in!) The movie follows the journey of comics artist Matt Furie, who drew a comic called “Boys Club” that featured a strange frog character named Pepe, who I never heard of, but apparently, the odd underground comic character went from being a popular meme to becoming a symbol of the alt-right. It sounds pretty crazy, but it is an absolutely crazy story as Furie sees his lovable and peaceful slacker character get out from under his control as right wing kooks like Alex Jones from InfoWars gloms onto him.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d find this as interesting as the HBO doc, Beware the Slenderman (which I also happened to see at Fantasia a few years ago), but the way that Jones tells Furie and Pepe’s story is really quite compelling, especially as he (and we) watch the craziness surrounding his character unfold, and Pepe becomes less and less like something he wanted to be associated with. (Furie and his wife spent thousands of their own money-making Pepe T-shirts and merch only to have to destroy it all once Furie gets pegged as the creator of a hate image. I mean, holy shit, this thing gets ugly!)

Apparently, Feels Good Man won an “Emerging Filmmaker” Jury Award at Sundance, and it’s well-deserved. I’d recommend the movie to anyone who likes comics or politics and doesn’t mind when the two things collide.

There are a few other movies that I want to write about that I didn’t have time to watch despite having screeners and who knows, maybe I can watch them over this longer weekend if things aren’t too crazy screener-wise. (I lost quite a bit of time with my trip to Connecticut to see Tenet, unfortunately.)

First, there’s Julius Berg’s THE OWNERS (RLJEFilms), which stars Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones and Sylvester McCoy aka Doctor Who #6 (I think?). It’s about a group of friends who want to break into an empty house in which there’s a safe full of money, but when the elderly couple (including McCoy) return home early, they turn the tables in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Yeah, it does sound like it could be fun, and it’ll be in select theaters, On Demand and digital this Friday.

Also out on Digital, as well as DVD, Blu-Ray this week is the anime CHILDREN OF THE SEA (Shout! Factory/GKids) from director Ayumu Watanabe and STUDIO4ºC who made Mind Game and Tekkonkinkreet. It’s about a young girl named Ruka whose father works at an aquarium where she comes across two mysterious boys who were raised by dugongs (a type of sea cow) so they’re very familiar and acclimated to water, to the point where they have to be in or near it at all times, kind of like Aquaman. I did watch a little bit of this, and I do have to say that it looks gorgeous, definitely more photo-realistic than the work of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I’m sure I’ll get around to watch the rest of it because I do enjoy well-made anime -- Weathering With You and Ride Your Wave are likely to be in my year-end Top 25, for instance – so hopefully, fans of anime and fantsy will check it out.

On Amazon Prime this Friday is Eric Merola’s doc THE ANDORRA HUSTLE, which look at the country of Andorra, located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains, holding a population of 80,000 people who find themselves at the center of one of the most convoluted robberies in history in 2015 when a the private bank Banca Privada d’Andorra was shut down by the government to destroy the Catalonian Independence Movement, leaving dozens of innocent civilians facing jail time for laundering money after losing their life savings.

A couple prominent science fiction series premiere this weekend, including the Ridley Scott-produced Raised by Wolves on HBO Max and Away, starring Hillary Swank on Netflix. Someday, I hope to have

There’s a lot of other stuff that I didn’t have to watch or even think about it, so yeah, this is a little bit of a “lite edition” of the Weekend Warrior, so I apologize. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do better next week.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#TheWeekendWarrior #Tenet #ChristopherNolan #Mulan #TheArgument #BloodQuantum #Movies #Reviews #DriveIns #VOD #Streaming

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dannycaing · 4 years

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JAMICH

JAMICH by Danny Caing Date Written: March 6, 2020

Scene 1 THE INSPIRATION

May 22, 2014, @ GMC Thursday Breaktime 3:28 PM

It was Thursday afternoon I was watching on the youtube channel, when I suddenly came across a program about a Girlfriend Proposes To Her Boyfriend (Jamich Proposal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29dKoxjHf4) at Jamich TV. I was astonished and heartily touched by their dramatic performances. I thought this was just one of their show like movies of Mandy Moore's A Walk To Remember, Ali Macgraw's Love Story and Lelee Sobieski's Here On Earth. I was sad to know that Jam has lung cancer. Right there on then, I wrote the song Sabi Mo Mahal Mo Ako, and later I change the title of the song called JAMICH for Jam Sebastian and Mich Liggayu Love Team.

Scene 2 THE FIRST OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE

July 19, 2014, @ Funky Monkey Bar, Q.C. Saturday 8:32 PM

Laykern Wredd of RADYO Band contacted me on the phone and invited me to join the PINOY WOODSTUCK gig event, a night with Arts show and Musical Talents of the underground bands like Howler Flowers, Roy Antonio, Alasmedya, Malaya, Trigger Happy, Lnguaje, ANO-Pilipinas, Earpens, and an American Wallpaint Artist - RAVEN. Good music, vibes, and drinks. This was the first time I sang the song Jamich live in public.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL306WwHhsc

Scene 3 THE RECORDING SESSION

August 21, 2014, @ Funky Monkey Bar, Q.C., Thursday 8:23 PM

"REMEMBER... IT'S ALL ABOUT HISTORY" by Proud & Loud Production and Rakrakan Na Tayo, featuring - Lazaro, Radyo, Laculus, Kashmir, Godzilla Versus Tokyo, Hoodlum, Danny Caing, Earpens and MAIA.

It was Norman Buena, the drummer of Hoodlum, who suggested to write as many songs as I can, record them and then post them on the internet. At that time I have composed 70 songs in which I was able to create an album called Spiral Echoes that consists of 39 songs. So, I told him that I have this new song Pila Dito Pila Doon, which might be a first good try for serious recording. After two months, we were able to set an appointment date for recording at Audiofonix Recording Studio on October 17, 2014, Friday 2:38 PM. The Studio was managed & owned by Gino Rafael of Trapeze Band. During the recording session, Norman, as the Recording Editor, proposed to me to record Jamich instead of Pila Dito Pila Doon. It took us 45 minutes to finalize Jamich acoustic song track, and then we have some pizza & drinks. I got the mp3 copy and posted it in Reverbnation (https://www.reverbnation.com/dannycaing) the following day. I wish to thank Gino & Norman for this unforgettable experience, it was an honor.

Scene 4 THE MUSIC VIDEO

February 18, 2015, @ Tremolo Music Bar, Mandaluyong City Wednesday 8:32 PM

Khakara Production and Tremolo Music Bar invited me to join the lineup performers on LOVE OUT LAUGH acoustic night gig with RJ Sun, Sacred Foyer, Gibb Capiral, Edward, Theresa Mae, Warren & Carl of Ww Are Living Aahes (WALA), Ruzkaya, Falling Debris, Raffleesia, MJ Legaspi, Talaarawan, Missing Since Thursday, and hosted by Vince Recafrente.

Joeman Papilla, Manager of Khakara Production, approached me and introduced a young student Film Director, John Angelo Sergio of Tercera Productions under VIDPROD class from Asia Pacific College, requested that his team plans to make a music video of my Jamich song as their midterm project and without hesitation, I immediately approved his request.

JOHN SERGIO: What can we give you in exchange for this favor?

DUKE: Nothing, John. I am just happy to know that you are going to make a music video of Jamich. It's awesome.

JOHN SERGIO: Thank you so much, Sir Duke. We will invite you once the music video is premiered in our school.

DUKE: I wish I could sing this song to Jam, you know.

JOHN SERGIO: That could be arranged, Sir Duke. Jam family is our neighbor and friend.

From that moment, I never thought John was serious about what he just told me. I can never forget this brief meeting.

JAMICH Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjwSNx4tJrQ

Scene 5 THE UNEXPECTED MEETING WITH JAM

February 21, 2015, @ Mang Rudy's Grill Makati on February 21, 2015 Saturday 8:32 PM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyvvfgH3ptc

5 PM: I have a big event that night, BAWAL SIMANGOT by Red Button Production, performing live with one of my favorites underground artists- Peso Movement, Jose At Musika, Consolidar, Black Wolf Gypsies, Tree Of Soul, Crab And Corn, Danny Caing, Injent, Fiasco project, Induljencia, A Series Of Fractions, Lem David, Izkala, WetDogi, and Blackboard.

While I was rehearsing in my room and preparing my things for tonight's gig show, my cellphone rang.

JOHN SERGIO: Good afternoon, Sir Duke. I have good news for you. We have arranged your meeting with Jam tonight at 6 PM, please be there on time in the lobby of St. Luke Hospital in Global City. My mother will meet you there.

DUKE: Wow! Thank you so much, John. God is good all the time.

JOHN SERGIO: Please don't forget to bring your guitar and a letter to Jam. I told them that you are going to sing your song Jamich to Jam. Good luck and God bless.

6 PM @ St. Luke's Hospital, Global City Saturday

When I arrived in the lobby at St. Luke, Mrs. Elvi Sergio (mother of John) was already there to meet me and escorted me to Jam's room. I could not believe that I will be meeting Jam Sebastian, one of the leading men on the very popular indie film called JAMICH at YouTube. Inside the room, there were few guests, close friends & relatives of the family including Jam's mother Ma'am Maricar. Later, Mrs. Charilyn Pajo (who arranged this meeting through Ma'am Elvi) and her daughter Maria Isabel arrived with 2 Jamich fans Jalai & Joseph Ahamil. After giving my letter to Jam, I explained to him about Jesus Words to feel His Words in his thoughts and pray the Lord's Prayer. We all prayed 3 Our Fathers for Jam and asked our Lord Jesus Christ to heal Jam's sickness. I touched Jam's forehead and asked him to repeat what I was about to say:

DUKE: Jesus Christ I need You. I open the door of my heart for my Savior and my Lord. Please take control of the throne of my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of my sins. I love You, Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ You are my personal Savior.

I could not believe I was singing Jamich in front of Jam, I tried to hold back my tears when I saw the expression of Jam's face, but I know deep in my heart, Jam will be fine in the hands of our Lord Jesus. Then, Jam requested me to sing more, so I sang one Beatle song called I NEED YOU, then the last song was one of my songs LIKE THE TUNE OF THIS SONG.

Jamich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS43eYQbTWM

Like The Tune Of This Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGdo_A1Bxlo

I wish to thank John Angelo Sergio, the Director of the music video JAMICH and the Tercera Production crew who were shooting that day at Hagonoy, Bulacan for making this meeting with Jam possible, John's mother Mrs. Elvi Sergio and her friend Mrs. Charilyn Pajo. It's been an honor and great pleasure to meet you Jam Sebastian and Ma'am Maricar and to all the friends, fans and love ones who were inside the room. Likewise, thank you so much, Mrs. Elvi Sergio, for taking the 3 historical live music videos. This is one of my unforgettable experiences. I love you all for a million billion years.

Scene 6 THE UNEXPECTED CALL

March 4, 2015 Hightek Production & Entertainment Presents: SWABE NIGHTS VOLUME 7 @ SaGuijo Makati Wednesday.

Guest Performers: Sentido, Pop U, Jeeps Over Taxis, Suicidal Genius, Project Based, Mutya, Pernella, Summer Project, and Danny Caing.

7 PM: I was celebrating a birthday dinner with my brother Dr. Dino Caing at Max Fried Chicken in Glorieta Makati. I was also excited that night because it was my first gig performance at SaGuijo, a well-known place for the famous underground Pilipino independent bands & artists. Suddenly, my cellphone rings and it was Goo Aurellia, Highteck Production Manager and Sentido frontman.

GOO: Good evening Sir Duke. Where are you, now?

DUKE: I'm with my brother, Goo. I'm sorry that I'm going to be late.

GOO: Press people are looking for you here, from ABS/CBN. They want an interview with you regarding your song Jamich.

DUKE: Why would they do that? What's up, Goo?

GOO: They told me that Jam Sebastian died this morning.

DUKE (something hit in my stomach): Jam. Died this morning. I'm sorry Goo, I cannot go to SaGuijo right now. I'll make this up to you. Please tell them that I cannot attend the gig tonight. I'm so sorry.

DINO (my brother): Who is Jam Sebastian, bro?

I accompanied my brother to MIA-3 that night instead. I just told him that the gig show was postponed. When my brother entered the Departure Area. I took a taxi home, while on the way to Skyway, I prayed 3 Our Father for Jam's soul to rest in peace with our Lord Jesus Christ. Jam was just almost 29 years old. Life goes on.

Music Background: "Jamich" by Danny Caing https://soundcloud.com/dannycaing/jamich-by-danny-duke-caing

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monotype-on-phantom · 7 years

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After all those depressing analyses, I think I owe it to myself to take some time to talk about the one pure and innocent thing we see connected to that otherwise gloomy future in The Ultimate Enemy. Despite being a minor antagonist that’s only in about 3 minutes of a single episode, Box Lunch managed to leave a pretty strong impression on me. She’s fun, likable, and combines all the best things about her parents into one neat little package.

Eh? Eh?

Ahem. So let’s take a detour from all this dreariness and talk about this cute little lunchbox (with maybe a little dreariness on the side).

First, who even is this Box Lunch?

Ah, yes. Thank you for screaming that out for us.

This is actually interesting. This is only the second time two characters became a couple in DP without breaking up by the end of the episode. We don’t see them together, but it’s still interesting to think about. Two ghosts, ones we’re very familiar with, became a couple and somehow had a child.

While it’s for a gag, this does bring up a lot of questions and give us a lot to think about. Ghosts can reproduce? How does that happen? Is Box Lunch capable of aging? What’s the difference between her and the spirits of the dead? How did the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady become a couple? When did they decide they wanted a child?

Because of the limited running time, these are all questions that are never answered. Still, we can do a little guess work.

I’ve got to applaud the design for Box Lunch. She’s an excellent combination of the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady’s designs and personalities. She has the Box Ghost’s coloring, but the Lunch Lady’s face shape and freckles. Her nose is more of a combination of both of their noses, pointed but turned up. Even her clothing combines the Box Ghost’s overalls, the color of the Lunch Lady’s dress, and the Lunch Lady's hat.

Her personality also combines the most recognizable traits of the two. She can flip between vicious and sweet without warning. She thinks she’s bigger and more threatening than she is. She’ll shout about how “doomed” her opponent is, despite only fighting with packaged foods. She proudly shouts the Box Ghost’s signature “beware.”

Looking at how similar she is to the two of them, it’s pretty unlikely that she’s a ghost child the two of them took in. She’s their actual offspring. How does that work, though? There’s no way they have reproductive systems capable of doing things the same way humans do.

I brought up one idea awhile back. Despite all the time that’s passed since then, I still can’t think of a better explanation.

The best idea I have is that offspring are similar to ghostly minions and Level 10 ghosts, as talked about in this post. I don’t doubt it’s possible to create a “minion” from two ghosts’ consciousness. One that could develop its own identity. Something like that could actually be necessary. Some ghosts could have obsessions related to wanting families. The Box Ghost and Lunch Lady are lower level ghosts, so they aren’t usually capable of creating minions. It would’ve been a risky process. With the two of them working together, though, it could be possible.

It’s hard to say whether she can age or if she came into being as a little girl and is stuck that way. I’m inclined to lean towards the latter, though. Most ghosts don’t age. Ember’s from the 70s and is still a teenager. So, unless something about Box Lunch’s psychology allows it, she’s not able to age.

There are definitely other possibilities. With the rules I’ve set for myself, though, these are the only things that makes sense.

Despite how non-threatening she appears, Box Lunch does come from the future with Dan. It says a lot about how she was raised that she’s still able to behave the way she does.

Her parents likely taught her to be brave and proud of herself. She shows no fear of Danny, even after realizing who he is. Only anger and the desire to spread doom and defeat. She even takes time to show her mother’s sweet side by offering Danny a side salad with his defeat.

The Box Ghost is far from unchanged, though. Somehow, it seems Dan was able to damage his physical form permanently. He’s lost a hand and an eye, and there’s even an actual scar visible under his eye patch. It’s also worth nothing that his supposed wife, the Lunch Lady, is nowhere to be seen.

Whatever happened, it’s not too radical to conclude that there was a huge fight among the ghosts and Dan. The Box Ghost was one of those who took the most damage. Perhaps the Lunch Lady was even destroyed in the fight. That could be one of the reasons he had to start taking things so seriously and learning to be a real threat.

If he has been caring for Box Lunch alone, then that’s amazing. He’s changed so much and yet been able to protect his daughter’s innocence. It’s unfair that he’s had to become so much stronger, but he’s an impressive father.

I wish we’d gotten to see more of this family, and I hope they’re able to exist in the changed timeline. They deserve a better future, and I’d hate to think Box Lunch will never exist outside of that gloomy one.

That got way longer than I anticipated for a character who only ever appeared in 3 minutes of the show. I guess it was a discussion about the lunchbox family in general, so it’s probably fine.

Can you tell I love these guys more than I should?

#danny phantom #box lunch #box ghost #the ultimate enemy #plot #lore #cast

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daresplaining · 7 years

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Yes! We would love that too, and we apologize ahead of time for taking this as an opportunity to talk about something we’ve been holding in for far too long-- our issues with the show’s handling of Matt’s origin story. This post has been sitting on the back burner since we started this blog, and we’ve been avoiding it because 1. We like to skew positive here. If we don’t like something, we tend to not talk about it; and 2. We’ve been way too busy blogging about other stuff. But we might as well just get this out there, if only for our own health.

Origins are tricky things to adapt, since it’s easy to get bogged down in them and forfeit the opportunity to tell a new story. The Netflix shows have stuck with a formula of relegating origin details to flashbacks, thus getting them out of the way and leaving maximum time for new narratives. This approach makes a lot of sense for movies, which have limited time to begin with (We are, for instance, fine with not witnessing Uncle Ben’s death yet again in Spider-Man: Homecoming). But while this is the third live action DD adaptation, Daredevil is still a C- to B-list superhero, who is not that well known among mainstream audiences and whose origin story is worth repeating. Besides, we’re not talking about a movie, here. The Netflix shows have thirteen hours to play with.

The main issue we take with the Netflix adaptation is the shortening of the timeline-- which both alters and eliminates key elements of Matt’s origin story in ways that, we feel, end up removing a lot of its power. And that’s key. Yes, we’re kind of complaining because we’re big nerds with big nerdy dreams for our comics adaptations, but we’re also complaining because the Netflix origin actively weakens the story as a whole. There are ways to cut Matt’s backstory down into its basic components without diminishing its effect, and this isn't it.

We will say upfront that we like Matt being blinded at nine. We’ve always felt his official comics age at the time of the accident-- fifteen-- was too old, so that’s an element of the Netflix Daredevil Timeline Squish(TM) that we appreciate. However, we completely disagree with the decision to kill Jack so early. This happened in the movie as well, and we’re not sure why it’s a trend, beyond possibly the easy shock factor of orphaning Matt at such a young age. But knocking Jack off this quickly limits the amount of time available to spend on developing Matt’s massively important relationship with his father. The fact that Jack was always there-- through Matt’s blinding, through hardship after hardship, into Matt’s college years-- is part of what makes him such a compelling character in the comics. By making his death a fact of Matt’s childhood, he feels less important-- just another long-dead parent in a world full of fictional characters with dead parents. His murder isn’t even relevant to Matt’s decision to become Daredevil.

There’s also the fact that Jack is, arguably, the reason that Matt gets into Columbia in the comics. He’s the one who pushes him to study hard, and to strive for a successful career and a better life.

Jack: “No, Matt, your homework comes first. I promised your momma before she... before she died... that I wouldn’t let you grow up to be an uneducated pug like me. Now you have to promise me something, son. Promise me you’ll study every chance you get, that you’ll become a doctor or a lawyer... somebody important! Promise me you’ll be somebody I never could...”

Matt: “I promise, pop! You’ll be proud of me! You’ll see...”

Daredevil vol. 1 #164 by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, and Glynis Wein

Yes, Matt’s a smart kid in his own right, but Jack’s support keeps him grounded and focused amid very difficult circumstances. In the Netflix show, with Matt left parentless and stuck in an orphanage before middle school, he is deprived of that support. We don’t get a lot of details about his life at the orphanage, and we know that Maggie keeps an eye on him in a vague, sneaky kind of way... but we do get this memorable shot of poor Matt writhing in pain, all alone in his sparsely-furnished room (complete with unnecessary desk lamp):

This does not seem like an environment that would empower a young blind kid with a tendency toward distraction to get into one of the most competitive schools in the country. College, certainly. But Columbia? Doubtful. If Jack had died later-- maybe while Matt was in high school, like in Miller’s Man Without Fear origin variation, he might at least have found the drive to succeed for the sake of honoring his father’s hopes for him. But that kind of thing can only last so long, and we can’t imagine little Matt managing to stick with that promise, all on his own, for ten years.

The one theory we have about the logic of isolating Matt at this age is that it smooths out Stick’s introduction. We’re very attached to Matt sneaking out at night and training behind Jack’s back for years and years, but removing Jack as an obstacle and giving Stick free access to Matt makes the whole situation a little more believable and less complicated. However, even this opportunity is wasted by the fact that Stick doesn’t stick around-- and since no effort is made to age young Matt in the show, we have no idea how long his training actually lasts. When they meet again in the present, in Season 1 episode 7, Matt says that Stick has been gone for twenty years. Matt in the present is in his early thirties, and we know that he can’t have been younger than ten when he first encountered Stick. This means they only trained together for maybe three or four years at the absolute most-- which is certainly not enough time for him to become as skilled as he currently is. If they kept Matt extra young for the sake of allowing him more time to train with Stick, then why didn’t they... allow him more time to train with Stick?

Orphaning Matt early also deprives us of a relationship that we’ve always enjoyed, and which dmcreif has been good enough to bring up: Jack’s relationship with Foggy.

Foggy: “Jeez, Creel’s a pretty tough customer, Jack. You think you can take him?”

Jack: “It’s like I’ve been tellin’ Matt all his life. You can do anything as long as you’re not afraid.”

Daredevil: Yellow #1 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

Foggy and Jack never will meet in the MCU, which is something we find very sad but which, arguably, isn’t a major detriment to the narrative. However, this also means that Foggy isn’t at Jack’s final fight-- which we do think is a big deal.

Foggy: “Hey, Matt! Wait up! I wanna read you the sports headline! It’s about your dad! He’s fighting Dynamite Davis tomorrow night in New York! How about that? Wanna go??”

Matt: “I’ve already got the tickets, Foggy... one for each of us!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #1 by Stan Lee, Bill Everett, and Sam Rosen

While it doesn’t come up as much as it probably should, the experience of going through this pivotal point of Matt’s origin story together is undeniably a major bonding moment for Matt and Foggy. The one problem with their relationship in the show is that they're nearly always fighting-- thus eclipsing the fact that they are, in fact, best friends. They are in desperate need of more bonding moments, to solidify the basis of their relationship-- and while the flashbacks we do have are wonderful, having this extra vital experience thrown into the mix would have really helped. To address your comment, @dmcreif -- while it’s possible, given that MCU Foggy grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, that he just happened to be at the fight, 1. We don’t think it’s likely, because that seems like something that would have come up in his early interactions with Matt in Season 1; and 2. Even if he was, there’s no way he was there with Matt, which makes all of the difference for us. “Hey, I saw that fight! That was pretty cool” just isn’t the same.

Not only that... but Matt isn’t at the fight either! He misses out on a key part of his own origin story! This would be like a Batman adaptation where young Bruce stayed home with Alfred while his parents went to the movies. He has to be there!

Guy: “This is it, Murdock. Just give him an opening and fall down like you should. Think about that boy of yours.”

Jack: “That’s just what I’m thinking about, you bum. I’m thinking my boy is out there-- in the audience-- and I’m thinking about how I told him one thing worth a damn. I told him to never give up. Never. It’s time I showed him his dad may be a loser-- but he’s no quitter.”

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1 by Frank Miller, John Romita, Jr., and Christie Scheele

And yes, they did manage to fit the most basic component of this scene-- Jack’s Matt-inspired decision to defy the Fixer and win the fight-- into the show. We really like Matt overhearing the conversation at the gym, and the idea of him confronting his father about it directly is actually a neat variation.

But this is still underwhelming and weak when compared to the actual scene from the comics. The only reason we can think of for Matt not being at the fight is that, in this universe, he's too young-- yet another reason the timeline squish was a poorly conceived idea.

So Foggy doesn’t get to attend the fight, Matt doesn’t get to attend the fight... and even the viewer doesn’t get to attend the fight. They skip Jack’s big moment entirely. Why? Budget? Time? We were sad about not seeing Danny’s big origin fight in Iron Fist, but we're also perfectly willing to allow for budgeting excuses for situations that involve dragons. Obviously, that doesn't apply here. Jack’s victory is such an emotionally-charged and vital part of Matt’s origin that we can’t imagine why the creative team would decide to completely skip over it.

Our last complaint could technically be its own post, but consolidating seems like a good idea for this sort of thing. It doesn’t involve the condensed timeline, but rather, it has to do with another key element of Matt’s origin: bullying. This is a big Daredevil theme, and beyond young Matt’s reference to Murdocks getting hit a lot-- which could be construed as a hint that he’s being abused by his peers-- it’s never addressed in the show.

Punk: “Come on, Murdock! Try it! What’re you afraid of?

Matt: “I can’t. I gotta read!”

Nate: “He’s gotta read! Man. That’s the Murdock spirit! Don’t hurt yerself turnin’ all them heavy pages, Daredevil! [...] Awww... you gonna cry? Huh? Daredevil gonna cry? Hey, Daredevil! I dare ya to turn around!”

Daredevil vol. 3 #28 by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez

That said, we don’t see much of pre-accident Matt in the show, and it makes sense for much of the bullying to stop after he was blinded. (They tried to make that work in the movie, and it... really didn’t, in our opinion.) And while this early abuse is a major factor in Matt’s childhood for all sorts of reasons, and ties into his relationship with his father and with his academics, his secret-keeping and identity issues, the inherent feelings of powerlessness that his superhero career helps to combat, etc. etc... and is a weird, major omission, we don’t feel it weakens the narrative as much as the stuff we griped about earlier in the post does. Our main complaint is that it messes with Matt’s superhero identity-- his name, in particular.

In the final episode of Season 1, Brett sets up the best opportunity for a dramatic code name reveal that a new superhero could ask for, and we were really hoping Matt would take that opportunity and come up with the name “Daredevil” on his own. As it stands, the moment is difficult to parse, since it cuts away so quickly, but all evidence suggests that Matt leaves without answering Brett’s question. There’s no set up for Matt coming up with his own code name, and we are left with yet another boring situation where the press gets to make one up. This happens all the time in “serious” live action superhero adaptations: the hero is handed a label that they consider to be a little silly, and then they get a “well okay, haha, I guess that works” moment, and that’s that. We’re annoyed they went with this in Daredevil, because 1. Excuse you, Daredevil is an awesome code name. (*Cough* And that is a completely unbiased opinion); 2. The “Man in Black” -> “Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” -> Daredevil progression they tried to go for in the show feels forced at best. (And if he's still being called “the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” on a regular basis in Season 3, we’re going to start throwing tomatoes at the screen. Honestly. Stop that.); and 3. Matt picking his own name is a major act of self-empowerment.

Matt: “The neighborhood kids called me Daredevil... but they meant it as an insult! I’ll make that nickname truer than they ever suspected-- and I’ll start in the morning!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #53 by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gene Colan

Power is a big Daredevil theme. Matt’s decision to step up and take on the Daredevil identity is wrapped up in all kinds of motivations, but a big part of it involves breaking a pattern of powerlessness that he has labored under for most of his life. Because of his father’s strict rules against violence, Matt spent his childhood unable to defend himself against the emotional and physical torment heaped on him by his peers. After his accident, he is forced to endure being seen as a “poor, helpless blind guy” by society, a symbolic theft of power that he cannot stand. But when Jack is murdered by people who are-- when you get right down to it-- glorified bullies, Matt decides to break the promise he made to his father, and to finally fight back. This is all symbolized by his decision to take the name “Daredevil”-- which was used ironically by his tormenters as a disparaging nickname-- and to reclaim it as a symbol of this new, empowered identity he has created for himself. Taking this decision away from him feels wrong. His ownership of his superhero name means something, dammit.

*Sigh*

In any case, it goes without saying that we like a lot of the decisions that were made on the show, and are very excited to see what’s in store for MCU Matt and Co. in future seasons. But we still reserve the right to critique and complain. We do it because we care.

#Daredevil #Netflix Daredevil #Matt Murdock #Jack Murdock #Commentary #dmcreif #We're so sorry for hijacking your comment like this...

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svubloods · 7 years

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Imagine waking up from a coma and seeing your boyfriend, Sonny, and your family, the Reagans, again

(A/N: For @samanthaofanarchy . I hope you and everyone else enjoys this and that it meets your expectations! Sorry if it’s a bit too long. I had a lot of fun with it. And fair warning. The continuity may be off because I wrote the first two so long ago and I’m not a medical expert and despite the reserach I did some of the details may be off and I apolgise for that!)

Unofficial part three to these imagines.

Part One HERE

Part Two HERE

Imagine waking up from a coma and seeing your boyfriend, Sonny, and you family, the Reagans again

As soon as Sonny left your doctor returned to check up on you. He’d only given you a brief examination while Sonny was there so not to intrude on your reunion. He gave you a proper once over this time. Talking you through all your injuries and your expected recovery time.

As you continued to talk you began to find it harder and harder to do so. He explained it was because of your collapsed lung and that you would need to try and limit talking and continue to wear the oxygen mask. He motioned to your skin which was tinged blue due to your lack of oxygen. He explained that you would probably have to stay in the hospital for at least a week. Which usually you would have hated, you hated being inactive, idle but you were so glad to be alive that you didn’t even care.

Your doctor propped your bed up slightly but cautious not to do bring it up too much as he didn’t want the sudden motion of when you put it back to sleep to tear your stitches. You being you asked if you could eat. He explained that you couldn’t go straight to eating normally straight away for a while because of your lack of eating for so long. You would need to be gradually introduced back to food and then you should be able to eat normally again.

He left you after reattaching your mask to your face, handing you a remote and warning you not to move too much before he left. You couldn’t move much anyway due to all the bandages, pain and injuries. From your new position however you could see the room much better.

You looked around the empty room. There was a seat beside you where Sonny had been sitting before he left and where your Father had been stationed for the days beforehand. The other side of you was a side table covered in flowers and get well soon gifts. From all the people you heard come and visit you while you were in a coma. You glanced around the rest of room and it looked used. Your family and Sonny had been basically been living in this room. Waiting for you to wake up and of course, you being you decided to wake up at the only time they had left you completely alone.

You could practically hear Danny saying ‘typical Y/N’.

You didn’t actually know where you were in regardS to where your hospital was. You’re assuming Manhattan so it may be a while until they got to you. Surprisingly, despite being asleep for over five days straight and being so excited to see your family again, you slipped back to sleep. You don’t remember falling asleep but you did remember, calling a nurse to ask about your pain medication, as after things went all quiet, they pain hit you. She explained it to you but you don’t remember what she said and then you fell asleep.

Luckily, for you, it wasn’t like when you were in a coma, you couldn’t hear everything around and you were actually dreaming instead of being in darkness and listening. It was like normal sleeping.

When you woke up again the first thing you saw was the clock. It read 2:00 am. You knew you had woken up at 7:00 am before and had stayed up to at least 8:00 as you had encounters with both Sonny, your doctor and your nurse. You must have been asleep for over twelve hours. You didn’t understand why you didn’t remember feeling that tried, you were just in pain.

The room was dark but unlike the first time you woke up, you weren’t alone.

It took you a couple of seconds to realize that someone was holding onto to your hand. You looked up to see your Dad holding your hand while sleeping beside you. Sitting beside you like he had been doing throughout your whole ordeal. He was sitting like he was awake but his head was tilted down slightly and he was breathing steadily.

You squeezed his hand gently, glad that you were finally able to do it after not being able to for so long. You didn’t want to wake him so you gently eased your hand out of his because it would be much more comfortable for him. He was dressed for work so you could assume that he had come here straight from work or like when you were in a coma was working from your bedside. Either way, you knew that he was hardly comfortable sleeping next to you.

You noticed one of his pins on his shirt was coming loose and you used all your strength to reach up, as your bed had been put down again, and fix it. Your arms were the only limbs you could move with a minimal amount of pain. You still fumbled and struggled to readjust it. You were so concentrated on it that you didn’t notice that he had woken up. He put his hand on yours and rested your arm back down. And then fixed the pin himself.

You looked up at him and smiled but you didn’t know if he could see it through the oxygen mask.

“Welcome back,” Your Dad said looking down at you and smiling while switching on a nearby lamp so that he could see everything clearly.

He then carefully and gently removed your mask so you could respond.

“Hi Dad,” You croaked unexpectedly, you surprised yourself.

“Here let me get you some water,” He suggested, getting up and pouring you a cup from the pitcher across the room.

He brought it back to you and helped you drink a small bit before helping you settle back down into the bed.

“Hi dad,” You repeated, your voice still strained but at least understandable now.

“Hi,” He returned, smiling broadly,

“I missed you, Y/N. You’ve been out for the count for almost a week. Sunday dinner wasn’t the same without you.” Your Dad said as he took his seat beside you again.

“I’m sorry,” You apologized, turning your head and looking up at him.

You reached up to touch his face like you did when the roles were reversed when you were seven.

“Why are you apologizing? You know I was only joking.” He asked confused.

“Because I made you cry,” You reminded, “I didn’t want that,”

“So you really could hear everything,” He inquired.

“I heard you, Dad. I heard what you said.” You confirmed your voice still helplessly course, “I’m really sorry I did that to you. I thought about you when it happened and Sonny. I just thought I was so stupid and I better survive this or…”

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Y/N. I’m your Dad if anything I should be apologizing,” He reassured, “I am sorry. If I had known you could hear me I wouldn’t have said any of those things. You don’t need to ever worry about that stuff, okay? It’s not on you to keep me happy and you should never feel like you have to make decisions with me in mind. So you don’t need to apologize. You did your job and I am and have always been incredibly proud of you. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“What about last night?” You asked, looking up at him with wide eyes, putting your whole hand on his cheek to make sure you had something to focus on.

“What about it?” He questioned, swallowing hard, he knew what you were getting at and it was painful.

“I died Dad,” You stated, “You were in the room and I died.”

“But you’re not dead, Y/N.” He reminded.

“I know but I did die and I promised myself I wouldn’t ever do that to you.And then I did You’ve lost so much Dad. I couldn’t let you lose me too and you did.” You explained, tears rolling down your face as you looked up at him.

“I didn’t lose you, Y/N.” He reassured, taking hold of your hands and holding them in his, “You’re here with me, right here. You shouldn’t have done that to yourself. You can’t promise me or even yourself something like that. We can’t control life and sometimes things happen that we don’t like. Life can be cruel and it can take things from you. And I think sometimes you forget that life didn’t just take my wife and son but your mother and brother too. No matter what happens. I will always love you. You’re my youngest. You made our family complete the second you were born.”

“I love you too, Dad,” You replied, lifting up as much as you could to hug him, he did most of the work.

He eased you carefully back down again. He tucked your hair out of your face and fixed your pillow.

“I don’t know what to do with you, Y/N.” He chuckled, “You’re so unpredictable. You go from cautious to reckless, interchangeably. You’re impossible.”

“Hey, all I did was step into to gunfire to protect someone which may I remind you, you did all those years ago.” You pointed out.

“I know,” He half chuckled, “You’re too much like me for your own good,”

“I like being like you,” You commented.

“Not when we’re arguing though,” He countered.

“You’re annoying when you don’t agree with me,” You said.

“You’re infuriating when you don’t listen to me,” He returned.

“You wouldn’t have done it differently would you?” You asked, cautiously.

“No, you did what any good cop would do,” He reassured.

“Is the boy okay?” You asked, suddenly remembering.

“He’s fine thanks to you,” He informed.

“Good,” You breathed, your breathing still labored and painful.

You winced trying to stop the pain and you were also battling or whether to tell him or not about your experience. You were curious but you didn’t want to upset him.

“Are you okay?” He asked, feeling your forehead.

“Yeah…my body just hurts,” You spluttered almost jokingly, trying to be light-hearted.

“You sure?” He persisted.

“Yeah,” You replied hesitantly.

“Y/N…” He prompted, using his ‘Dad’ voice, you used to think that you were good at hiding things from him but that was definitely wrong, he always knew when you were hiding something.

“I don’t know if I can say,” You sighed.

“You can tell me anything, Y/N.” Your Dad reminded, “You know that,”

“When I di…last night. I saw them,” You struggled to start.

“Who?”

“Mom and…Joe,” You finally confessed, “When I...you know. I saw them. They were there and we talked and I saw them. It felt so real, you know. Like they were really there with me,”

“Well, you might have,” He nodded, “We don’t know and probably won’t ever know. But if it felt real to you then it was real for you,”

“It might have been a dream,” You suggested.

“Did it feel like a dream?” He asked.

“No,” You answered.

“Then it wasn’t a dream,” He stated.

“Then what could it be?” You commented.

“Does what it really is matter? Or is the most important thing how it made you feel?” He argued.

“How it made me feel,” You agreed by repeating.

“Well?”

“It was nice.” You admitted, “They said they were okay and that they’re waiting for us but they didn’t want us back to soon, Mom said if she couldn't live that we’re going to have to live with her as well as ourselves. She said proud of us and that she misses us so much.”   “Sounds like her,” He smiled sadly.

“Yeah,” You grinned to yourself before losing train of thought and asking while yawning, “Why am I so sleepy? I just woke up. ”  

“You’re on a lot of pain medication, Y/N. It’s much better for you to be asleep than to be awake. You’ll heal better, especially with all the stitches you have.” He explained.

“Is that because of all the surgeries I had?” You inquired.

“Did you hear that too?” He countered with a soft smile.

“A huh,”You confirmed, looking away from him because your head was hurting, “Spleen, lung, abdomen and chest to remove the bullets,”

“Do you see why they want to keep you asleep. I don’t think they would want to redo all those stitches,” He commented.

“So are they putting me to sleep or are they giving me drugs that are making me sleepy?” You questioned drearily.

“It’s the pain medication they have you on,” He clarified.

“But I want to see everybody. So they know I’m okay and they can stop worrying. I heard them too.” You protested.

“They love you enough to wait,” He reassured.

“You sure?” You asked, your eyes heavy all of a sudden.

“They understand,” He confirmed, “You can see them tomorrow but I think it’s best if you go sleep for now,”

“It feels like I’m a kid again,” You commented as he resettled in his seat.

“I’m pretty sure that you haven’t gone to bed this early since you were a kid and had a bedtime,” He quipped.

“You can go home if you want,” You said, “You don’t have to stay here with me. That chair is hardly comfortable especially if that’s where you have been sleeping for a week.”

“I don’t mind,” He replied.

“You can sleep on the couch. It’s probably more comfortable” You suggested sleepily, motioning to the couch lifelessly with your arm.

“You don’t need to worry about me, Y/N.” He comforted switching off the lamp and pressing a kiss on to your forehead, “You get some sleep now,”

“Goodnight Dad,” You breathed, shutting your eyes and quickly falling out of consciences.

“Goodnight Y/N,” You heard him say as you slipped into sleep.

When you woke up again, the clock read 8:43 am. You looked to your right side and the saw the seat beside you was empty but when you looked to your left you saw your brother Danny sitting on the couch and watching the TV. The volume was low, you’re assuming not to wake you.

“Don’t you have a job that you be at?” You joked, your voice still dry and coarse.

“God,” Danny jumped, getting out fro his seat and standing up, “You scared the life out of me,”

“You are aware that sleeping people wake up?” You teased.

“You can usually tell when they are when they are in the same room as you,” He countered, before walking up to your bedside.

“I’m a quiet person I guess,” You shrugged still trying to be playful but pressing your head back into your pillow as your body registered the pain it was in.

“We both know that’s a lie,” He grinned before his face fell slightly as he looked at your pained face.

“How are you feeling,” He said sincerely.

“Like I’ve just been shot,” You joked dryly.

“Don’t you mean twice,” He added teasingly.

“You’re right,” You agreed with a smile.

“Seriously though Y/N, how are you feeling?” He asked genuinely.

“Okay,” You responded.

“You can’t lie to me, Y/N. I taught you how remember?” He reminded.

“I don’t know, Danny. I’m just really glad to be alive and that’s all I know,”

“I get it. It gets better. I promise. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it does. Anything you need. You ask and I’ll do.” He empathized.

“Thanks, Danny,” You smiled.

“You don’t need to say that to me,” He responded, “I’d take a bullet for you,”

“Pun intended?” You asked.

“Too soon?” He inquired, teasingly.

“Just a tad,” You chuckled,“Oh, how was Sean’s tournament?”

“You just came out of a coma and you want to take about a nine-year-olds soccer game?” He asked in disbelief.

“Why not? It will distract me and I need to know if he listened to me about the whole non-contact sports thing,” You reassured.

“So you’re the one that told him he should tackle the kids from the other team?” He chuckled disapprovingly, shaking his head.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if he got a red card because it was the last game of the season,” You retold.

“I really missed you, kiddo. It was boring without you around.” Danny chuckled.

“I heard. How did you survive?” You joked.

“Just barely,” He winked.

“Anyway, Sean’s game,” You prompted.

“I’ll start with the first tackle, shall I?” He questioned jokingly, taking a seat beside you to continue telling you the story.

Danny sat and explained the whole game to you in the detail, knowing how much you enjoyed them and how you hated the fact that you missed it. Danny stayed with you for about an hour before revealing to you that the family had decided to take shifts of staying with you as you had just woken up but still needed to stay in the hospital for a while. Your family and Sonny unanimously agreed to do this because they didn’t want you to be alone.

As sweet as it was, you felt bad for being such a disruption to their lives. You’d basically overtaken and overthrown their lives for five days and now even while you were awake you were still doing so. But Danny reassured you that you were disrupting their lives and that they wanted to stay with you. Your Dad apparently didn’t want to leave but had to because he was needed at work,

Danny had to leave before Erin arrived so you were alone for about fifteen minutes. Sonny had left your phone and your other essentials on your table so, you decided to call him because you knew it would be a while before you saw him.

“Hello,” You heard Sonny’s voice say down the line.

“Hey,” You greeted, an automatic smile appearing on your face.

“Y/N,” You heard him grin, “How are you feeling,”

“Great, now that I’m talking to you,” You beamed but there was no response so you asked, “Sonny?”

“Sorry,” He apologized, “It’s just so nice to hear your voice. I really thought I was never going to hear again,”

“Sonny” You whispered comfortingly.

“When you were in the coma, I called your phone just so I could hear your voicemail. I didn’t want to forget what you sounded like,” He continued.

“Why didn’t you tell me this, yesterday?” You asked.

“It’s hardly the first thing you say when you’re girlfriend wakes up from a coma,” He reasoned, “And you were just so happy,”

“I want to see you,” You pleaded.

“I would come to see you right now but I think you should spend time with your family first. They really want to see you and I already have.” He explained.

“When is it your shift then?” You asked, understanding.

“Later on tonight,” He informed.

“So, if I’m awake I’ll see?” You questioned.

“Yeah, but don’t try and stay up for me okay? You need to sleep,” He warned.

“Okay, I promise,” You reassured, “See you later,”

“Bye, I love you,” He said. “Love you too,” You replied before ending the call.

“Can I come in now?” You heard Erin’s voice say after the door creaked open slightly.

“Yeah,” You attempted to call only for you voice to break harshly, surprised that she had waited for you finish instead of coming straight away, it was strange, to say the least.

“Sorry about that,” She apologized, slipping in laden with bags, “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

You put your hand up in to reassure her of your forgiveness and you drank some more water to ease your throat. You watched as she put down the bags and shifted through them, casually. Trying not to look at you too much. She was trying to play it cool.

“Erin,” You said simply.

“Yeah,” She responded, finally looking at you.

“Hi,” you greeted simply.

“Hey,” She finally let out as if she had ben holding her breath.

“Are you okay?” You asked, slightly out off by her strange behavior.

“Fine,” She stated, keeping it up, “How are you?”

“Okay,” You replied, looking up at her with confused eyes.

“That’s great,” She commented.

“Erin?” You asked softly.

“Yeah,” She said again.

“Are you taking something?” You asked.

“What? No!” She stated adamantly, “Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re acting weird. Like you aren’t acting like you,” You explained, “Like, why aren’t you freaking out like you usually do. You freaked out when I broke my arm last year in that police chase,”

“Well, I don’t want to freak you out by me freaking out,” She admitted, instinctively tucking your hair behind your ear and grabbing a nearby towel and wiping your face.

“I don’t think you can freak me out, Erin,” You chuckled, “What is there to freak out about? I’m fully aware that I got shot. Twice, in fact.”

“I know but you’re so calm that I always feel like that I need to freak out for the both of us,” You confessed.

“If you acted liked me I’d be worried and freaking out constantly too,” You admitted.

“It’s not that,” Erin smiled, taking a deep breath, “I just that I feel so responsible for you. It’s like your my child or something. When I got the call, I was a wreck and I rushed down here and I couldn’t do anything. I just feel so protective over you. Like whenever anything bad happens to you. I feel guilty and personally responsible.” “I got myself in this mess Erin,” You reminded, “You don’t have to worry so much.”

“But I do and I always will,” Erin sighed but with a sad smile, “I promised mom I’d take care of you and when I got the call. I felt like I let her down,”

“You could never let Mom down, Erin. She adored you and so do I.If anyone let mom down it’s me,” You countered, “She told me to never become a cop and what did I do? Became a cop and got shot. Twice.”

“Mom knew you were going to become a cop,” Erin informed, “You didn’t let down Y/N. She was proud of you and if she was still here she still would be,”

“She knew that I was going to become a cop?” You asked.

“Oh yeah,” Erin confirmed with a smile, “She tried to encourage you not to with all the promises and stuff but she always used to tell me that she could see that thing in you. The same thing Dad has, Danny, Joe, Jamie. The thing that everyone has but me. She knew you had that thing that makes someone a cop, she just wished you didn’t.”

“Really?” You asked with wide eyes in disbelief.

“Of course, a mom always knows,” She reassured.

“I feel weird,” You informed.

“Are you crying?” Erin asked, almost excitedly.

“No, I don’t think so,” You said, bracing yourself.

“Your eyes are leaking,” She almost squealed.

“What’s wrong with you Erin? Who gets excited at hospital patients crying? What sort of person makes shooting victim cry?” You interrogated, wiping away the tears quickly.

“I didn’t mean too. I was just trying to stop myself from crying and freaking you at. Like I said before,” She explained.

“I know,” You grinned, calming down a bit, “It was just overwhelming hearing that stuff about mom. And it’s nice to know that you care so much about me. I feel like sometimes all we do is argue. Like, of course, I know you care but I didn’t realize you cared so much that you worried about me. Which you shouldn’t do too much of, by the way. I can usually take good care of myself,”

“I love you so much, iY/N. You’re my baby sister.” She spluttered, tearing up herself now, “No matter how much we fight. I will always be here for you,”

I love you too, Erin,” You replied, reaching up and wiping her tears.

“God, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry,” She chuckled.

“That’s not turning out well,” You teased, “By the way, there’s this really hot doctor around here that you just have to meet.”

“Are you trying to set me up again?” She sighed.

“Duh,” You confirmed.

“You’ve literally been awake for twenty-four hours. And most of it was spent sleeping and you already have found someone to set me up with?” She asked, shaking your head.

“Just wait till you see him and don’t forget he’s a doctor.” You grinned devilishly.

Erin could only stay for around an hour before she had to head back to work. Your Grandpa and Linda came next. Linda promised to bring the boys around tomorrow. Telling you that they had been waiting to see you but she hadn’t let them because she didn’t want them to see you like that. Which you appreciated. Your Grandpa stayed for ages, lecturing you about in simple terms how not to get shot again. As well as making sure you understood the emotional toll you getting shot had on him. But you knew he was only joking and that this was his way of messing with you and letting you know that he cared.

About twenty minutes after your Grandpa headed to the cafeteria to get some food. Jamie arrived, finally getting off his shift.

“Jamie,” You acknowledged, as soon as you saw him walk through the door.

“Y/N!” He beamed, hurrying over to you and engulfing you in a careful and cautious hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” He said, while still hugging you.

“You and me both,” You said as he let you go, “How’s my station?”

“Falling to pieces without you,” He joked.

“Jamie,” You whined impatiently.

“It’s okay. Your squad has been holding down the fort without you. You should have seen how excited they were when they heard you were awake. They would have come but Sonny told them you were still sort of out of it,” Jamie clarified.

“He’s right about that,” You agreed, “I slept for half of Erin and Grandpa and Linda’s visit,”

“He said he was coming later to see you as well” Jamie added.

“I know,” You nodded, “I called him.”

A silence fell over you.

“Sorry I wasn’t there for you, Y/N,” He apologized suddenly.

“Hey, don’t do that.” You ordered, “It’s not your fault,”

“I heard the call to be your backup before anything any ever happened and I and partner let another unit to pick it up,” He confessed.

“Do you think anything would have changed if you went?” You asked, “Because I can tell you. There was nothing you could do. The uniforms that were there did what they were supposed to and they didn’t even know anything was happening. They had just got there. You wouldn’t have been able to change it.”   “I know,”He sighed, “But if I had known it was you,”

“You would have rushed to come and save me?” You suggested. “No…I don’t know,” He attempted to reason.

“Everyone skips calls from the radio every once in a while. You shouldn’t blame yourself if something happens to them. Especially if they couldn’t be helped.”

“But it might have been helped. I could have gotten there quicker or…” He persisted.

“Trust me,” You reassured, “There was nothing you could do. The only thing that would have changed it if was I called in earlier. So it’s for me not anyone else.”

“I’m really glad you’re okay. I don’t know if I would have been able to cope if I lost you too, ” He gave in, grabbing your hand and shaking it gently.

“I feel the same way about you,” You smiled sadly, thinking about Joe, “You’re my best friend.I don’t know if I could live without our weekly grocery shopping trips.”   “Is it sad that we’re each other's best friend?” He asked jokingly.

“Better than having a relationship like Erin and Dannys,” You pointed out.

“Very true,” He nodded.

Jamie stayed for quite a while. You talked like the best friends you were, you don’t know when you fell asleep but you did, again. The best part about seeing all your family members was that they were better than the medication. They eased the excoriating pain better and more effortlessly than the pain medication. You had tried so hard to stay up so that you could see Sonny. You missed him so much and you didn’t want to miss him again because you knew that he had come to see you again after he left on that first day.

When you woke up, luckily for you Sonny was by your side.

Awake.

“Sonny,” You hissed, “What are you doing awake? It’s 4 in the morning.”

“You just woke me up,” He whispered, “You shuffle when you stir,”

“Why are you whispering?” You demanded but whispering himself.

He gestured over to the other side of the room. You turned your head to see Danny, Erin, and Jamie all sleeping on the couch in your room. You couldn’t help but smile at their peaceful sleeping faces. It was the longest you had seen Erin and Danny go without arguing.

“They almost look cute, when they're sleeping,” You commented before turning back to Sonny, “Hi,”

“Hey," he returned before leaning and kissing you, “I’ve missed you,”

“You’re like the third person to say that to me today,” You chuckled as he grabbed your hand and kissed it and held it in his own comfortingly.

“That’s because it’s true, Y/N. Do you not see the impact and effect that you have on all of our lives. I don’t think any of us could cope with living in a world without you in it,” He elaborated for you.

“Really?” You asked sincerely.

“Really. I don’t think any of us could live without you especially me.” He confirmed, “ And that’s why I like to think you survived. Someone up there, I know we have differing opinions as to who, but someone knew that we needed you and you still have so much left to do. So may people left to help,”

“You’re so sweet, annoyingly so.” You blushed.

“I quite enjoy making you blush,” He teased, leaning over and putting his face close to yours.

“I know,” You said rolling your eyes, turning so your faces were only inches away from each other, “It’s because you’re an ass,”

“Don’t you mean I have a great ass?” He asked.

You raised your eyebrows in him in surprise.

“Hey!” He protested, “You’re the one always complimenting it,”

“I can’t wait until I get out of this place,” You commented, biting your lip.

“You got plans for when you get out?” He asked.

“Just breaking up with you,” You joked, “I’m kidding,”

“Don’t joke about that stuff,” He warned, “Especially after I just told you that I couldn’t cope without you,”

“Could you really not live without me?” You asked softly.

“There is no future of mine I imagine without you in it,” He confessed, putting his hand on your cheek so you could lean into it.

“I’m really excited for our future, Sonny.” You admitted, “And I’ve never felt like this for someone before. It’s really nice feeling. I finally understand why people want relationships. Before I met you I hated the idea of being in a relationship but now it’s all I want but only if it’s with you, you know? Because relationship are just ehh but with you it’s so amazing.”

“I’m glad you feel that way…” Sonny half chuckled and half pretending to be offended.

“You know what I mean!” You swotted.

“I do,”

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justgotham · 7 years

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Ben McKenzie, the star who plays lead character James Gordon on FOX’s “Gotham,” has been waiting a long time for the 16th episode of the show’s third season, which will air Monday, May 1, at 8 p.m. ET/PT: It will be the first time he’ll be credited as a director.

In a recent conversation with Ben, I asked him about how long he’s wanted to be a director, the scenes in the episode he was proud of and how directing is like fatherhood.

When did you first have a hunch that you wanted to try your hand at directing? Probably when I stopped leaving the set in between setting up shots and started hanging out, watching what they were doing, asking questions and becoming curious about all that other stuff that happens after actors rehearse a scene and leave. I really pushed to start directing on my last series, "Southland," and came close, which made me even more excited to do it in the future. So, it's been probably 5-10 years since I've been wanting to do it, and I've finally been given the opportunity.

Better late than never. What was the preparation process for your directorial debut? The preparation process was smooth. I directed episode 16 of Season 3, so the writers needed to write me down in the episode prior to my debut – they needed to limit how much I was in episode 15. They wrote the episode so I was on location in 15, so we could shoot everything in one day. I only missed one day of prep to film as an actor in episode 15, and that allowed me to go through the full process, which, honestly, I've been through before because I've shadowed directors both on "Southland" and "Gotham."

Where does the process start? It always starts with the script. Sometimes you get it nice and early, a week or so before, maybe even earlier than that; sometimes it comes in the day before and you're working off just an outline. But once you have a script, you can start making a lot of choices, you can scout a lot of different locations, you can sort of get into it. This one was relatively smooth. It just required production to accommodate me in the previous episode.

What was it like to finally jump behind the camera – on a show that you star in, nonetheless? Were you surprised by certain aspects of it? As a director, you're given a lot of people coming up to you constantly asking for your opinion on everything from which location you should shoot at, how that location should be dressed, props, casting, dialogue. I was surprised at how much I didn't know that I knew, and I was able to answer more questions than I thought I was going to be able to.

Did you get any good advice before directing the episode? One piece of good advice that I got from Danny Cannon, who's our executive producer and director, and the guy that I owe this opportunity to, was: Don't make a decision on something you don't need to make a decision on quite yet. Everyone's going to come to you and ask you to make a million decisions on the first day. You don't need to make them all immediately. Some you need to make early on because they're more important and determine the rest of the shooting. Many can wait. You can take your time, think about them, and come to a more reasoned and thought-through decision later on, and everyone benefits from that.

Was it awkward to adjust your relationship with the cast when you went behind the camera? It surprisingly wasn't – maybe not surprisingly. We have a very good cast who is very professional, very accommodating. I think I was more nervous than they were because the first time you switch roles and you're on the other side, you're trying to guide a scene into a direction that you think fits the story. So, you have all these ideas in your head and, of course, when you show up and the actors come and bring all their ideas to it that are usually infinitely better than your own, you need to meld the two. You need to still accomplish what you set out to do and tell the story, but you need to listen to their input and use their input. It worked remarkably well.

What was challenging about directing? I took great pains in pre-production to streamline the episode so the focus could be on the characters rather than on the shots. The look of the show is very polished. It's a beautiful show to look at, and we owe that to our entire crew, including our fantastic cinematographers. But occasionally we're so ambitious with filming huge action pieces and incredibly complicated blocking arrangements in expensive and difficult-to-light locations that we run out of time for the acting. I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time for the actors to feel at home, feel comfortable and have many takes to explore. At the end of the day, I think it all turned out quite well.

Is there a scene in the episode that you are particularly proud of? There's a scene where James Remar, who plays my uncle [Frank Gordon], reveals that he effectively killed my father, pulls the trigger on himself and commits suicide in front of me. It's a very challenging scene emotionally. That was a scene I felt had to be handled delicately, for obvious reasons, and shot a certain way – more still than anything else. I wanted the dialogue and performance to speak for themselves. I'm very proud of how it worked. I'm also proud of the work of David Mazouz [who plays Bruce Wayne] with Raymond J. Barry, who plays The Shaman character who's mentoring Bruce. I think both David and Ray did excellent work, and their storyline in the episode culminates with Ray giving a call to action to Bruce saying that the city needs a protector and needs to be defended, and you see the beginnings of that glint in Bruce's eye showing he will become the Batman. With a slow camera push-in and the beautiful score swelling behind it, it's quite a moving little piece and I'm proud of it. Robert Hull, who wrote the episode and whom I should give a lot of credit to, delivered on some great dialogue. As a fan of the Batman canon, it was a real treat for me to direct an iconic scene like that.

In preparation for our conversation today, I googled your name and saw a lot of headlines about you becoming a father, so I was wondering: Do you see any parallels between fatherhood and directing? That's a great question and you're right to ask it. I do. I guess it's a line I'm cribbing from Spider-Man, but "With great power comes great responsibility." When you're entrusted with telling the story of, in this case, an episode of television, at the end of the day the buck must stop with you. You have to know what you're doing, come prepared, and adjust on the fly to the problems that will inevitably arise and fix them as best you can. That is quite a lot like being a parent. You are responsible for this little human being, or human beings in my case. At the end of the day, they can't feed themselves, clothe themselves or put a roof over their heads, and you've got to plan it out. The difference with being a director is that, in a sense, you're a father to grown children. These are smart, capable, successful people in their own right. You're just the one who has to ultimately make the call. I'm the final vote at the end of the day. You need to listen to everybody and treat them equally, but at the end of the day you have to make the call. Otherwise nothing happens. But like a new dad, I make lots of mistakes, and begging for mercy is never a bad thing, whether it's with an actor, a producer, a crew member or a 1-year-old baby.

Do you think we'll see you rack up more director credits in the future, either on "Gotham" or elsewhere? Well, I haven't been fired yet…

#Gotham #Jim Gordon #James Gordon #Ben McKenzie #Bruce Wayne #David Mazouz #Frank Gordon #James Remar #Shaman #Raymond J. Barry

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