#The environment he was in during that time was immensely abusive and dangerous for him

[zinbu]

Name: Kim Tae-woo

Nickname: Wolf

Age: Early 30s

Background:

Kim Tae-woo was born into immense privilege within a powerful Korean crime family. His early years were a blend of opulence and danger, as he was groomed from a young age to become a ruthless enforcer. However, his life was dramatically altered at the age of six when he was abducted by a rival Japanese gang. This traumatic event marked the beginning of a nightmarish transformation that would define his existence.

Trauma and Transformation:

During his captivity, Kim endured horrific torture and psychological manipulation. His face is badly disfigured, with deep, jagged scars and pronounced asymmetry, especially on the right side. His body is marked by numerous scars from various forms of abuse.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths:

Resourceful: Kim’s harrowing experiences have honed his instincts and survival skills. He excels at navigating dangerous situations and improvising solutions to stay alive.

Loyal: Despite his brutal circumstances, Kim remains fiercely loyal to those who have shown him kindness or earned his trust. His loyalty is a rare and precious trait.

Skilled Fighter: Years of surviving in a violent world have made Kim a formidable combatant. His fighting skills are a direct result of his extensive training and experience.

Weaknesses:

Emotional Instability: The psychological scars from his trauma have left Kim emotionally unstable. He is prone to intense outbursts of rage and deep bouts of despair, making him unpredictable and volatile.

Isolation: Kim’s isolated existence and the harsh treatment he endures have made it difficult for him to form meaningful connections with others. His profound loneliness is a constant source of anguish.

Vulnerability to Manipulation: Despite his intelligence, Kim’s emotional vulnerabilities and desperate need for connection make him susceptible to manipulation by those who exploit his weaknesses.

Hobbies:

In rare moments away from his grim duties, Kim finds solace in a few grounding activities:

Model Making: Kim is passionate about creating intricate models of animals using found materials. This hobby allows him to channel his creativity and focus.

Gardening: He finds comfort in tending to small plants and herbs in a makeshift garden, providing a calming connection to life beyond his harsh reality.

Secret Freedom:

Kim wears a wolf mask to conceal the severe disfigurement on the right side of his face. The mask, adorned with a menacing wolf motif, hides his deep scars and pronounced asymmetry from his abuse. It also symbolises the ferocity and inner turmoil that have become integral to his identity.

Although he treats his captors with a misplaced sense of familial loyalty, they regard him with disdain, confining him to a small, dimly lit basement that resembles a cage more than a living space. Despite this, one sympathetic woman within the gang secretly provides him with moments of freedom. Under the cover of night, Kim dons his wolf mask and roams the streets, observing the world with a mix of hatred, longing, and a faint hope for a sense of belonging.

Fun Facts:

Unusual Talent: Despite his rough exterior, Kim has an unusual knack for understanding animal behaviour. This talent is both a coping mechanism and a reflection of his deep connection to the creatures he tends to.

Favorite Animal: Kim has a soft spot for mountain goats, which he relates to deeply due to their symbolism of survival and strength. He often studies their behaviour in nature documentaries when he can.

Hidden Strength: Kim has an incredible sense of direction and spatial awareness, developed from years of navigating the complex and dangerous environments of both his captivity and his subsequent life on the run.

Unique Skill: He has a remarkable ability to mimic sounds and voices, a skill he picked up during his time in captivity. This has occasionally allowed him to blend in or deceive those around him.

Cultural Interest: Kim has a deep appreciation for traditional Korean and Japanese folklore, often finding parallels between the myths and his own life experiences. This interest provides him with a sense of continuity and connection to his heritage despite his suffering.

[panvani]

ANYWAY. Desperately introducing PH fans to the concept of a child PH SPOILERS IN TAGS

[your-angle-of-music]

So the MazM Phantom of the Opera mobile game sure takes some liberties

Here be spoilers. In summary: they are deeply iconic.

The Good

The de Chagny brothers have pink hair.

Little Jammes the ballerina is actually a canonical catgirl who unionizes the dancers and leads the first ever opera house strike.

She eventually grows up to be a women’s rights activist and early suffragette.

The Persian is the one who gave Erik his name. In general, their relationship is approached in a heartwarming, heartwrenching, interesting way.

The game (and Raoul) criticize Philippe more actively, calling out his obsession with maintaining a family image compatible with class and gender norms, his infantilizing treatment of Raoul which is bad as well as tender, and his relationship with Sorelli compared with Raoul’s relationship with Christine.

The Persian tells off Raoul for judging the Persian government, pointing out his role as a colonizer.

Interestingly enough, Christine’s relationship with her father wasn’t perfect either — he used to get drunk and depressed and borderline abusive, and it helps to explain why she might be particularly vulnerable to Erik’s manipulation.

There’s a mini-arc where Christine rescues Meg Giry from being trapped in Box 5 by the managers and drugged by Erik.

Meg leads a troop of opera workers to look for Christine after the final kidnapping by Erik, separately from Raoul and the Persian. They’re the ones who end up finding Raoul after he almost drowns and taking him back to the opera house.

There’s basically high-key Megstine vibes overall.

Holy SHIT the ending...it’s no longer about Christine (who has been trying to save everyone but herself all along) showing yet more compassion to the Phantom or thinking she can change him. Instead, Christine tells him that he can’t control her anymore and that he’s nothing without bullying other people and that she doesn’t think he’s a monster for his face, but for his actions. He begs her to love him, if he changes, and she says that even if he does change, she still won’t owe him her love. She leaves with Melek without kissing him or taking his ring (although she still does promise to bury him after he dies).

When Erik says his final goodbye to the Persian, he calls him his name (Hatim in this game) instead of Daroga for the first and last time and they forgive each other but only when the other is out of earshot and I never thought a mobile game could make me cry but here I am.

There are two possible endings for Christine: either she goes off with Raoul to the beach where they spent their childhood summer together and get to know each other again and Raoul has learned not to pressure her to marry him and they take their time to reconnect, or she goes off alone and travels the world and sings for herself and never marries and ends up visiting her mother’s grave in Sweden.

The Bad

Instead of Christine losing Erik’s ring when she kisses Raoul like in the book, Raoul makes her give it to him and he chucks it off the roof of the opera house even though she told him quite clearly that taking it off would put her in danger.

Erik as the Angel of Music is so obviously creepy, controlling, and just kinda...mean from the beginning that I don’t really buy Christine’s initial loyalty towards him, or that she would believe he was the Angel.

Like, he really does genuinely seem to hate Christine and isn’t weirdly nice to her during the two weeks after the first kidnapping like he is in the book. He doesn’t like it when she expresses any emotions, talks about herself, or reads books.

As awesome as MazM Meg is, she is aged up and much more serious and caring, so we do lose Leroux’s sassy feral preteen Meg whom I love so dearly.

Everyone is so, SO mean to the Persian, and both Raoul and Erik and even you in the future (it’s a bit hard to explain) assign him way too much of the blame for how Erik turned out because when he was spending time with him in Persia he focused on making his life slightly less miserable instead of taking it upon himself to teach him right and wrong??

And then yeah the Persian is directly responsible for the Shah trying to have him murdered because he made up a rumor about him intending to get him exiled so he could leave the toxic environment of the Persian court but then the Shah decided to have the Persian execute him instead. But he still did end up saving his life at immense personal risk. And even fragile Erik recognized that. Plus he protected Raoul and Christine just because he thought it was the right thing to do. Why does the narrative keep trying to uncritically frame the Persian as selfish when he’s very much not??

The Baffling

The managers are legitimately evil now and try to frame Christine for the murder of Joseph Buquet for...reasons.

So Christine wasn’t Erik’s first “love.” Oh no. You see, he has a blind Turkish woman named Melek locked up in his basement after she refused to marry him. She used to be his interpreter and servant, and she was nice enough to him, and he thought she might love him because she was blind, but because she knew about the torture devices he built for the sultan, she spurned his advances. So he has imprisoned her for ten years now. Throughout the game, Christine tries to help her escape.

I don’t think the game designers realized that Jammes and Sorelli are last names (Jammes’ first name is actually Cécile in the book), and so they renamed them Jammes Petit and Sorelli Dupont.

Yeah Erik really didn’t convincingly change and while what Christine said to him was really important to her arc, I’m not sure if it made him act too differently. For example, he never chose to save Raoul for her sake — he never found out that he survived the torture chamber flooding and told Christine that he died.

The game even makes a point of having Erik call Christine “the cruel devil” several times after she makes him set her free (quite the opposite of book Erik calling her an “angel” later). On one hand it’s really good for Christine but on the other hand his reasons for giving up the Phantom and the money seem less clear.

This is the character design for the detective/narrator:

[fandomoverdrive]

Okay I just need to go on a rant about Whirl because I love him he might just be the most tragic character in the entirety of MTMTE and considering the candidates that’s a pretty hard position to cinch. Some of this is gonna have mentions re: self harm, suicidal tendencies/ideation, overall bad coping mechanisms etc so if that’s not your cuppa please scroll on. 

This gets long so here’s the obligatory read more. 

Let’s write “tragic” in flickering neon letters with the fact that Whirl’s first appearance in MTMTE, dropping the titular “how to say goodbye and mean it,” is a personal soliloquy delivered as he’s in the midst of constructing his own funeral pyre. Whirl is lost, directionless, trapped and unwilling to be such in a postwar environment. But how did we get here? 

Whirl is without a doubt a driven character. In the prewar functionist society, he had no qualms switching careers, risks be damned. Whether he’s always had a knack for disobeying authority or was simply driven by passion or both isn’t elaborated on, but he’s got a hell of a hardheaded streak that’s impossible to ignore. When destroying his business wasn’t enough to deter him from further rebellion, the Senate was happy to turn him into an empuratee and destroy not only the opportunity but the capability of continuing to rebel by pursuing his passion. This is what I’d personally consider the big ‘whump’ moment, less so the use and abuse as a pawn that followed but the point of trauma at which we begin to see Whirl’s psyche begin to twist.

From this point forward we see Whirl in and out of prison, let loose when he can be useful to someone else’s ploy and otherwise incarcerated for a buffet of offenses. No longer able to be constructive and having little if any control of his life, Whirl becomes aggressively destructive. In response to having everything he aspired toward ripped away from him, permanently, he builds a mental defense of bitterness and anger and paves over his black hole of self worth with a veneer of outright assholery. It’s here that he bares his metaphorical fangs and pushes - with gusto - anyone who might even suggest they’re trying to appeal to reason or get close to him as an individual. 

It’s hard to imagine, given even subtly different circumstances, that Whirl would not side with the decepticons for the war. While he’s single-handedly responsible for radicalizing Megatron towards violence, the ‘con intent at the start of revolution - that movement in society should be possible and a caste system based on alt mode is unethical - aligns quite nicely with what he’d already aspired to do with his life. His conscription to the side of the autobots is just another instance in which his autonomy is cast aside. 

Whirl is a tool. Whirl had a passion for watchmaking, but now he can’t, so his new passion is violence. Whirl is a gun and someone else has always told him where to point and all he’s ever been given for his cooperation is the blame of pulling the trigger. Whirl is an asshole, Whirl is unpredictable, Whirl isn’t a mech anybody would ever think twice about saving - the answer would always be no. Whirl wants to die. Whirl only wants to die on his own terms and he’ll be damned if he’s going to keel over under the orders of someone he doesn’t respect, for a cause he doesn’t believe in. 

A few years of this sort of treatment would be enough to drive anyone insane, let alone the millennia of warfare he suffered through. Worse yet is the one time he found a group, a team that was known for the unorthodox and taking on the big messy challenges, the Wreckers kicked him out. Whirl was too much for the mechs that were too much and there’s no way in hell that doesn’t still sting. 

That’s how we get here:

Whirl defends himself through isolation from others. He can’t be hurt by others if he never lets them close enough to be hurt by. In a hypersocial society, he has no close long-term friends, he is one of the few with no roommate aboard the Lost Light. He made himself as unpalatable as possible. He’s crass, he’s volatile, he makes it clear with every word and action that Whirl is first, you don’t mean anything, I’d leave you for dead in an instant..... But that’s not true, is it? 

Whirl is shown being completely, dramatically, self-destructively caring throughout the series. Between risking his life for the scraplet colony disguised as a protoform, participating in an untested spark jumpstart to save a life, coming up with a plan to rejuvenate Tailgate’s spark, and performing a spark transplant surgery on Megatron - without whom the world would never have been even a fraction as cruel to Whirl as it had been - Whirl is far from the most selfish character in the series. It’s in his nature, however, to deny such, to the point where he more than likely believes his own narrative that he’s irredeemable, self-absorbed, invincible, degenerate, and neither capable nor deserving of close interpersonal relationships. 

It’s also how we get here:

Whirl is one of the characters that we more frequently see in a state of disrepair. He fights passionately and recklessly, with no regard whatsoever to whether or not he makes it out of a scrum with all his limbs intact. Injuries like these, and those that he experiences elsewhere in the series, would put other mechs out of commission through pain alone, but as long as Whirl is conscious he doesn’t stop until the fight is over. 

As depressing as it is to think that Whirl is simply at this point accustomed to extraordinary pain, it’s even moreso to think about the more likely concept that he wants to be hurt. Whirl doesn’t have control of a lot that happens to him, but do you know what he does have control of? Who he chooses to shit-talk. More often than not we see Whirl being blatantly disrespectful of his superiors, and some of the more dangerous mechs aboard the LL. While obviously his intent when insulting Ultra Magnus isn’t to start a fight, harping on Drift (and subsequently getting cold clocked) or Cyclonus is a little more self-destructive in nature. 

While Whirl has been in therapy, we see during the encounter with Fort Max that he’d shared very little of what he actually considered traumatic with Rung. With no material to work with, Rung wouldn’t have been able to give Whirl instructions or advice as far as a healthy coping mechanism, and so I’m firmly of the belief that Whirl goes out of his way to get himself hurt as a way to have a vague sense of control. 

On his actions and guilt:

Whirl is immensely guilty. When he’s overcharged, he admits that everything feels like his fault - and unfortunately a lot is. Whirl believes he’s the bad guy, and he’s willing to take the fall for actions that others might find immoral. There’s a lot Whirl has done that he’ll likely never forgive himself for, even if he garnered the ability to start forgiving himself for the small things, but the character he’s created for himself has been part of him for so long that it’s near impossible to tell where to draw the line between caricature and his genuine self. 

At this point in time, Whirl is not capable of improving himself without external assistance. 

He has accepted (however wrongfully) that he is not cared about, trusted, wanted, or respected. 

His assumptions become self-fulfilling prophecy as he - consciously or not - works to perpetuate his image. Whirl is a dick, he’s unfazed by anything anyone says about him, if someone is insulting him they’re probably right, why bother arguing unless it’s with the intent to get in a fight? He doesn’t pay attention to others, he doesn’t pay attention to himself, nothing that anybody could say could possibly make a difference. 

Right? Right?

Wrong. Part of what makes Whirl so heart-wrenchingly tragic is that it is so incredibly clear that nobody has ever told him he mattered. Rodimus throws out what could be interpreted as a snide remark, “even the crazy bastard makes a difference,” and that aside sticks with him. Millions of years of warfare, of being a tool to use, an expendable soldier, a rabid dog to throw at their enemies, and not once did someone turn around and say he was anything good. He’s been thanked for saving lives, for contributions, for individual acts, but his reaction to Rodimus really cements in my mind that nobody has ever said that he, that Whirl, was important. 

Whirl is a broken character. He’s subsumed by his own self-hatred that he perpetuates and justifies with a mask of cruel indifference and aggressively abrasive snark. He’s alone, by what he thinks is his own choice but is really a horribly misguided attempt to keep himself safe. He’s got no potential for growth unless someone wants to force their way through his defenses in order to help him find the line between who he is and who he pretends to be in order to keep from being hurt. Whirl is terrified of abandonment, and guarantees that nobody will ever be able to leave him by never letting them come close to begin with. He’s not a good person, he’s violent and callous and has little regard for the consequences of his actions, but he is that way because of the life he was forced to lead. He falls into consistent patterns because he craves control, even if those patterns are self destructive. It’s proof of the little growth he was allowed during the course of MTMTE/LL that after their quest was over, he didn’t attempt suicide again but instead got into the revolving door of incarceration for petty offenses. 

All in all, Whirl is one of the saddest characters in any media I’ve consumed and please someone get this despicable bastard helicopter a new therapist and a stiff drink 

[casualneonglitterpainterposts]

So I've been working on something over the last week and here's what I've been up to:

Meet my Robot Master/ Reploid OC Miss  "Ivory Plant" (Ivy for short or Ivory woman) and her adorable Mutant Venus fly trap buddy Ivan.

She was inspired by my pal

YellyDany

Robot Master OC Gardener Man (I though he could do with someone to love besides his sunflowers)

Here's her profile and her back story too (just her heads up her backstory is a little long but really good- I promise) I recommend you read it sometime to better understand who Ivory is:

Name: Ivory Marguerite Plant  or just“Ivory Plant”

Nicknames: Ivy, Rory, Flower bud (Gardener Man), Poison Ivy (by Professor Chaos)

Age: 20 (resembles a twenty year old human female)

DOB: September 2nd

Race/ Gender: Reploid / Robot Master/ Female

Height: “5’6” (167.3cm)

Eyes: Magenta  

Family / Friends: Professor Enigma (Creator/ father figure), Gardener Man (Love interest/partner), Ivan (Adorable mutant venus fly trap pet), Professor Enigma’s Team of fellow scientists / robotics engineers( close friends).

Occupation: Botanist, Biologist, Peacekeeper Environmentalist, warrior/protector

Personality/Traits: Tends to be very quiet, a to herself kinda person- mostly due to her past, fun, loving, a little awkward at times, smart, kind, spunky, badass very friendly, loyal, selfless

Abilities/Powers: Can talk/ understand plants (physically/ emotionally- i.e she can sense when they feel pain e.t.c), Fast/agile, quick reflexes, very skilled blades woman,

Likes: Nature, the environment, gardening, her special little green house, plants, taking care of others (including her plants and other people), Ivan (her mutant Venus fly trap), biology, chemistry, doodling, fulfilling her duty as a robot master/peacekeeper and protector, being a badass warrior, poofy baggy clothing (she loves her one piece she wears all the time the most), The colours royal purple, parrot green, bright magenta and gold, watching her plants grow (over time that is), growing flowers, the art of Bonsai, roses, sunflowers and a certain Gardener robot master (Gardener man) 😏.

Dislikes: Her past, being used and manipulated for others gain ( reference to her past), professor Chaos, bad guys, criminals, evil/ wrong doers, those who purposely harm the environment, being a bit clumsy around a certain someone 😏, being disturbed during her work, early mornings, ignorant/ thick headed idiots, people trying to take her research/scientific works (she does some pretty cool advanced stuff), those who go in her lab without her know abouts.

Profile/ Backstory: Ivory was designed as a Robot Master, not an ordinary one- A protector of nature and humanity …

Her creator Professor/Doctor Garin Enigma Wanted to take his time building his Robot “Ivory Plant '', he’d begun to slowly piece her together day by day, after all Ivory was his most specialist /advanced reploid designs after all . On the other hand jealous Evil Professor/ Doctor Kirk Chaos had heard about Enigma’s robot, so late one evening he broke into Enigma’s lab, stealing both Ivory’s blue prints and her unfinished built body- Chaos was too quick for the police and managed to run away with Enigma’s robot- He made sure to hide well so Enigma could never find him or his robot master “Ivory Plant ” ever again.

After studying her blue prints and what Enigma had built so far, Professor Chaos decided to tweak Enigma’s Reploid Master a little. As he continued to finish the last few parts (Enigma had 95% of Ivory made) to her internals- He implanted a very Powerful yet unstable (in the wrong hands of course - wink, wink) module inside her. Taking advantage of so, Chaos used Ivory or Ivy/ Poison Ivy (as he renamed her destructive self) for his own gain- using simple mind control he’d manipulate her into causing havoc and destruction. Though after returning to her true sweet loving self  after each time, Ivory felt ashamed and disgusted that this horrid man was making her do so- she couldn’t escape his control and if she tried to fight back, Ivory was only abused by his goons.  

Though after many months of this horrendance torture, shame and mistreatment Ivory learnt the truth about her creation/creator though one of Chaos’s minions she’s managed  to give a “talking to”. It was devastating and hurt her deeply to find out what Professor Chaos had done- Such a cruel cold-hearted monster he was…

On the other hand Enigma and his team had been searching all over the entire city for her, Enigma was losing hope and soon became quite depressed after the loss of Ivory- she was like a daughter to him- she was to be a great Master and protector.. But now.. Now he knew all hopes of ever finding her again were very slim- He knew Chaos would do whatever it took to hide her from him…

During one of his latest searches for Ivory (though still feeling quite depressed), Enigma found himself caught in the middle of a frightened and terrorised runaway crowd of people. Enigma couldn’t help but go forward and explore the situation, for some reason this seemed very suspicious …

When Enigma made his way in towards the commotion- his eyes must have been playing some horrid trick on him, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing… It was his lovely Robot Master Ivory in her armoured form- though she seemed different and was acting very dangerously.. Pulling out his x-ray tech specks, Enigma quickly analysed her internals- he was disgusted  at what he’d found. He couldn’t believe that Chaos put such a powerful (dangerously powerful) and unstable module inside his reploid. Enigma just couldn’t withstand watching Ivory (under mind control) cause so much damage, quickly pulling out a small device  which would break her free of the mind control/ stabilize the module- he targeted the device at her and hit her right on the upper arm. Ivory returned to her normal self, she collapsed to the ground out cold and unconscious. Enigma ran over to her side and picked her up, he carried her back to his vehicle and took her home to his laboratory..

In the course of his return back to his laboratory, Chaos and his Goons were locked up and taken away. Enigma couldn’t have been more pleased to hear the news.Now with Ivory back in his grasp and on the repair table of his lab- Enigma did a full body analysis scan on his reploid to see what damage Chaos did to her. After doing the Analysis, he found exactly where Chaos implanted the powerful yet unstable module- right beside her heart. Removing it from her body sadly wasn’t an option- Enigma knew once it was implanted in a reploid it would bond and become one with the reploid, also if he were to try and remove it it meant taking her fully apart and wiping her mind completely.  Professor Enigma knew his only option was to make a special orb that could control the stability/ use of power from the module, but still allow her alone to use the immense power through a much more controlled way. So whilst she was still unconscious and resting- Professor Enigma set out to make her this stabilizing orb. Half an hour later the orb was complete- it took the form of a choker (he didn’t want to just randomly put it on her neck). Removing the temporary one he’d put on her earlier, he placed the orb choker around her neck- The left Ivory hooked up to his analysis machine- keeping an eye on her systems as he allowed her to rest.

Twenty-four hours later, Ivory awoke- she was a little startled and panicky at first, but then she realised she was safe when Professor Enigma (her original creator) came bursting into his lab to help her .Enigma unhooked her form his machines, the took her outside. The two sat down on the slightly cold stone stairs- though Ivory felt so lost and so ashamed for what Chaos made her do under mind control, She told Enigma everything. After their talk- Ivory sat there looking off to the side, sad, ashamed with a few tears in her eyes- Enigma comforted her and told Ivory that he would help her get past this pain Chaos caused. She smiled sincerely, grateful for Professor Enigma’s kindness.

Many months onwards, Ivory soon began to feel like her true self and her past pain faded away- she didn’t feel like a monster no more. She was out and about fulfilling her destiny to be a great protector, she also was an amazing and talented scientist too. When she wasn’t doing so, Ivory would spend most of her time talking to her one and only mutant Venus fly trap buddy Ivan (he’s like a lil’ dog ^^). Ivory was special- she had the ability to communicate and understand nature/the natural environment. She on many occasions would also help out / assist Professor Enigma and his team with scientific research or experiments.

One evening though, on her way back to Professor Enigma’s Laboratory- with Ivan in her arm, something (More like someone 😏) caught her attention. A tall fair young male reploid wearing a big floppy straw hat, working in his garden and talking to his big beautiful sunflowers. She stood there watching him, slightly blushing- Ivory was surprised to see that she wasn’t the only one who could talk to plants or loved to garden. She just couldn’t help blushing deeper a little more- this mysterious man was quite handsome. Ivan was starting to feel a little bit left out, he made a small screechy whine noise which caught the attention of this stranger and Ivory. When Ivory saw the handsome stranger turn around, she went beet red-turning around quickly herself to run off- Ivory lost her footing and tripped- heading face first towards the ground. When this mysterious handsome reploid turned around, he saw this young female reploid awkwardly falling to the ground. Gardener ran over to her side just in time- Catching both her and her Mutant Venus fly trap. Ivory’s eyes were closed tight, then she slightly opened one, only to find that she had been caught by the mysterious young reploid man she was staring at..

Gardener Man: “Are you alright?”

Ivory (Blushing, but shaking it off quickly): “U..um.. Thank you. I’m alright. But where’s Ivan?”

Gardener Man: “You mean this little guy? He’s alright”.

Ivory (Smiling): “Aww, I’m so glad you’re safe too Ivan “

Ivan made this cute little happy squeal noise, gently licking the side of her cheek.

The mysterious young reploid man raised his brow in confusion/ in a questioning manner- then politely asked:

Gardener Man: “You can talk to plants too? (he says blushing a little).

Ivory with Ivan in her arms stood up, blushing still, looking off to the side and fidgeting about a little…

Ivory: “Y..Yeah.. I can talk to plants, I have the ability to feel what they feel and understand them like no other”.

Gardener Man (Blushing a little more): “O..Oh.. Nice I can talk to plants like that too”.

Ivory (Awkwardly blurting out/ all cutesy red in the face): “Y..yeah I saw you could do that, Um.. that’s the reason I kinda tripped over and fell”.

The mysterious young reploid man stood there blushing ever so deeply, then awkwardly introduced himself to her…

Gardener Man (Still blushing deeply): “Erm..W..Well.. A..Anyway, I..I'm  Gardener Man, It’s nice to meet a fellow Botanist like yourself”.

Ivory blushed all cutesy as she bowed her her:

“It’s nice to m..meet you Gardener man. And I..I’m Ivory, some call me Ivy l, though sometimes Professor Enigma and his team call me Rory”.

He came up close to her, holding her hand, he gently shook it in gratitude..

Gardener Man (Still blushing a little): “ It’ was a pleasure to meet you Miss Ivory, oh I mean Rory”

She smiled sincerely once more, blushing, then she looked down at the sunset…

Ivory: “Oh crap!!!, I’m going to be late. I hope Professor Enigma doesn’t mind. It was lovely meeting you Gardener Man, but I better get going”.

Reaching into the frog pocket of his overalls and pulling out a small packet, he placed them into Ivory’s hand..

Gardener Man: “Here, take these. For your garden.I hope we can see each other again miss Rory”.

Ivory (Blushing deeply, Nodding her head):  “Oh..um, s..sure, I would love to spend more time with you , that would be great”.

He bowed his head once again, politely tipping his straw hat to her..

Gardener Man: “Good bye miss Ivory, Until we meet again”.

Ivory (Blushing, walking off and waving back to him from a distance): 

“ G...Goodbye Gardener Man.”

Eventually she arrived back at Enigma’s laboratory (Her home), he was a little puzzled when she arrived back so late, it wasn’t like Ivory- but Then he saw the packet of sunflower seeds in the little satchel pocket on her utility belt-he smiled sincerely, Enigma instantly knew why she’d returned back so late now. When she finally got back into her quarters, Ivory placed Ivan back on her desk, then went outside to her small greenhouse- planting the sunflower seeds that Gardener Man had given to her. After she planted them, Ivory just stood there resting her cheek in the palm of her hand- slightly slumped over daydreaming about her next meeting with Gardener Man.

Over the next few weeks, Professor Enigma began to see change (Good change) in Ivory- she seemed much happier and enlightened. He was glad to see her well being improve, especially after all the crap she went through. Ivory, was spending many of her hours out and about with Gardener Man- Usually helping him with the nature reserve/garden, hanging about with him or just spending quality time in general with him. Each time she met up with Gardener, her feelings for him only seemed to grow stronger and stronger. He too after spending all this time with Ivory- Gardener Man soon felt himself fall for her too. As things in Ivory’s life began to improve, a disturbance from her past was arising once more …

Professor Chaos, with a little help from his two trusted Goons- Spark and Rust, Escaped from prison. Of course though, his first plan was to get his hands on “Ivy” again-but this time using a special mind controlling collar that he built secretly in prison,  so he could use that unstable module of hers to take down the city and build his empire of ruthlessness and take over the world of reploid robotics..

Late one evening, walking through one of the many beautiful moonlit gardens, Ivory and Gardener Man were out and about together, Tonight though Ivory knew she’d finally muster up the courage to tell Gardener Man how she really felt about him …

As the two came to a halt on the open pavilion (round circular path in the centre of the moonlit garden), Gardener Man turned to face Ivory, Looking deep into her eyes- causing her to blush ever so deeply.  From in the bushes behind, unaware, Professor Chaos and his two goons sat their watching in disgust as they got ready to put the plan into action.

Meanwhile, back on the pavilion …

Gardener Man (still looking into Ivory’s eyes and clutching onto her hands): 

“ Hey, Ivy.. Look I must say it’s been wonderful having someone like you to talk too”.

Ivory (Blushing): “ It’s been wonderful being with you too Gardener”.

The two stood there blushing all cutesy and looking off to the side a little- the Taking a deep breath in, slowly releasing, Ivory spoke once more..

Ivory (Fidgeting about nervously a little, yet still blushing): “ Well um,  Y..you see Gardener, there’s something I want to tell you”...

Gardener Man (Blushing a deeper shade of red : “Y..You can tell me anything you like Ivy”.

Sighing out loud and blushing deeper herself, Ivory spoke once more …

“W..Well Gardener, I.. I just wanted to say ….”

Professor Chaos couldn’t take this disgusting sappy reploid romance anymore…

Professor Chaos: “NOW!!! NOW YOU FOOLS, GRAB HER!!!!!”

Ivory (with a slight tremble of fear in the tone of her voice) : “Huh? C..Chaos?...”

Rust Violently shoved and punched out Gardener Man into the shrubbery, Spark on the other hand grabbed Ivory from behind aggressively holding her down in a choke hold- shattering her stabilizing orb into a million tiny pieces. Ivory gasped, gaging- kicking and screaming , fighting back, trying to break free from Spark’s grip. But alas he was way too strong- then out of the shadows, a bone chilling yet familiar voice spoke..

Professor Chaos: “Well, well, well it’s been so long since I’ve seen you my beautiful “Poisoned Ivy”. Come now.. I have a wonderful gift for you”.

Ivory’s eyes widened in fear, with a few tears trickling down her cheeks as her past trauma flashed back through her mind. When she saw the horrendous collar he pulled out from his lab coat- she kicked and screamed louder and louder as Chaos got closer and closer..

Getting up and out of the shrubbery, Gardener Man- a usually calm, kind man was certainly enraged and unhappy that these Goons and Professor Chaos were hurting his Ivory. Gardener Man ran up to them, pulling out his futuristic hedge trimmer shears in defense.

Gardener Man: “HEY, GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY IVORY OR ELSE” (he came closer with the blades to Chaos’s ugly mug).

Chaos with a disgustingly smug smirk on his face…

Professor Chaos: “Oooh, whatcha gonna do? Trim some hedges to torture us?”

His two goons (the idiots that they are) laughed.

Gardener Man (stepping forward, in an unusual stern tone): “ I’M WARNING YOU CHAOS, LET HER GO OR ELSE”

Still standing there with such a smug expression on his face, Chaos did so..

Chaos: “Very well then.. Remember now.. This is YOUR doing. SPARK!!  DROP HER.. NOW!!!”

Just as Spark slammed her knee first to the ground, Professor Chaos swung his hand with the mind controlling collar and aggressively let it automatically tighten to her neck. Ivory was on her knees screaming in pain as electrical sparks flew out of the collar..

Gardener Man’s eyes widened in shock/ horror, Chaos stood there chaotically laughing like a maniac- Poor Ivory did all she could to fight the power and pain, but it was too late it now controlled her mind- activating the true potential and darkness of the unstable module from within.

Professor Chaos: “Good girl Poisoned Ivy. Now You WILL do as I say. Your First order, transform and get rid of this pathetic reploid. Then go cause havoc and destruction in the city”.

The collar shocked her once more, she bowed her head, knelt down on one knee…

“Poisoned Ivy” (Under mind control): “Yes Master, I shall”.

She stood before them Transforming (Magical girl style of course) into her true yet powerful badass armoured Robot Master self..

Gardener Man stood there, blushing quite deeply- he never knew how truly beautiful yet badass Ivory really was- seeing her like this was causing his circuits to overheat a little 😳🥵.

Alongside Ivory, her weapon of choice- a long bladed bo staff covered in theory vines appeared. Chaos with such a manic smile on his face..

“NOW POISONED IVY, DESTROY HIM!!!!!!!”

Gardener Man snapped out of his daze, he backed away, though in fury yelled out at Chaos-

“YOU MONSTER!!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IVORY? I’LL MAKE YOU REGRET EVER CONTROLLING HER MIND CHAOS!!!!!”

Chaos rolled his eyes and watched as his newly controlled “Poison Ivy” got closer and closer to the foolish Gardener Man- Swinging her bladed staff widely towards him…

As he walked backwards a little quicker, Gardener Man lost his footing and tripped- slipping. Though as he slipped and she wildly swung her blade- the tip scraped the top of his shoulder, only just cutting through to his internals- leaving some minor damage..

Gardener Man (holding onto his shoulder, gritting his teeth): “ ARGH!!! You’ll regret this Chaos”.

Gardener man got up holding onto his slightly damaged shoulder, staring into Ivory’s eyes.

Gardener Man (Sincerely speaking to his beloved): “I know you’re still in there Ivory, I’ll be back to save you”.

Poison Ivy Growled (she’s still wearing the mind control collar), just as she went to manically swing her blade once more, Gardener Man ran off clutching onto his slightly damaged shoulder. Poison Ivy was just about to go after him..

Professor Chaos: “NOW, Poison Ivy don’t worry about that pathetic reploid- go out and about- cause havoc and destruction in the city”.

Poison Ivy: “As you wish master”.

And with that she ran off into the city, taking down anything and everything that got in her way. On the other hand bursting through the doors of Enigma’s laboratory, still clutching onto his slightly damaged shoulder blade- Gardener Man called out for Professor Enigma. Some of his team (robotics engineers) took Gardener aside and repaired his damaged shoulder blade whilst Enigma came along.

A moment later and not too soon, Professor Enigma came running into his laboratory..

Professor Enigma (in a panicky tone): “What’s happened, what is it, where is Ivory?”....

Gardener Man looked off to the side, sighing heavily…

Gardener Man (in a sad yet disappointed tone): “ I’m sorry professor, but somehow Chaos has escaped prison, he ambushed Ivory and I, he destroyed that orb around her neck and replaced it with a mind control device”.

Professor Enigma: “CHAOS IS WHAT? AND HE’S DONE WHAT TO IVORY??.. Oh no!!!!”

Gardener Man (Sighing and looking to the ground feeling ashamed) : “ I’m sorry professor, I tried to protect her yet I failed to”.

Professor Enigma (placing his hand on Gardeners other shoulder): “ It’s not your fault Gardener, Chaos stole Ivory back when I was in the middle of completing he- he damaged her the moment he placed that unstable module inside her. But right now, all we need to do is stabilize that module once more and get her back..”

Gardener Man: “But how will we get Ivy to listen to us?, Chaos has turned her into a fully dangerous weapon of mass destruction”.

Enigma turned to face Gardener Man, with a sincere smile he replied: “You can talk to her, she’ll listen to you-for you see Ivory cares about you very much and loves you deeply with all her heart”.

Gardener Man (Wide-eyed and blushing): “ S..She loves me? O..Oh Um (he blushed a deeper shade of rose, looking off to the side).

Professor Enigma still stood there sincerely smiling. Then called upon his team and then finally turned his attention back to Gardener Man…

Professor Enigma (Gently tapping Gardener’s shoulder): “Come now Gardener, we have a reploid to save”.

Gardener Man (shaking it off): “R..Right Professor, Let’s go save Ivy”.

In the middle of town, a mind controlled yet deadly “Poisoned Ivy'' was causing chaos, causing havoc and destroying everything in her path. People and other reploids ran away in terror and fear as this mighty robot master unleashed such wrath and power from within. Professor Chaos and his two goons watched as their newly formed “Poison Ivy” tore up the town …

Professor Chaos (Evil Cackling): “Ha ha, Look at those fools run in fear, that unstable module certainly has such immense power. Ah she’ll have that city torn to shreds in no time”.

Spark: “He he you’re right boss. You’ll have your empire in no time”.

Moments later, back down in town, Enigma, Gardener Man and his team rolled up- Professor Enigma was hurt to see his beautiful reploid Ivory being tortured and forced to be violent…

Enigma (under his breath) : “You Bastard Chaos, you’ll pay for what you’ve done to Ivory”.

Then from his pocket he pulled out a small device, handing it over to Gardener Man.

Professor Enigma: ” Now Gardener, I need you to get close enough to Ivory so you can palace this small device on the collar- it’ll override the mind control she’s under and deactivate the collar - automatically separating itself from around her neck. Can you do that for me?”

Gardener clutched the small device tight in his hands, bowing his head to Professor Enigma.

Gardener Man: “I promise you professor, I’ll save her for you no matter what”.

Enigma sincerely smiled, nodding his head back in agreement. Gardener left the professor’s side and ran off to save Ivory. Sneaking up through the rubble, Gardener Man watched as his sweet little flower bud Ivory (under the control of the collar) tore the city to shreds with her mighty long-bladed ivy staff. He still couldn’t help blushing at Ivory in her armoured form, indeed she truly was a beautiful yet badass botanist..

Now though, wasn't the time to let one's circuits overheat again, Gardener had a mission, to save his sweet Ivory. Up on his perch, as he continued to watch “Poison Ivy” destroy the city, Chaos caught a glimpse of Enigma, his team and Gardener Man- This made his blood boil, he let out a loud cry in anger..

Professor Chaos (in Fury): “ARGH!!!! GOONS, GET EM, GET EM AND DON’T LET THEM GET NEAR POISONED IVY!!!!!”

“YES SIR!!!!!!” (Spark and Rust replied running after them).

The goons unleashed themselves and went on the attack- chasing down Enigma and his team- Spark and Rust on the other hand went after Gardener. They weren’t going to let him get near “Poisoned Ivy”. The two couldn’t wait to tear that little punk to shreds.

Just as he turned the corner to get to Ivory, Gardener was cut off by Spark and Rust..

Spark: “And where do you think you’re going flower boy?”

Rust (snickering and chiming in): “Yeah, why don’t you just run off back to that reserve of yours and plant some more seeds”.

The two goons stood there cackling themselves stupid at their poor mocking humour, Gardener didn’t have time for their crap- rolling his eyes he attempted running past to continue his mission.

Spark grabbed him tightly by the arm, slamming him up and against the wall

Spark: “You’re not going anywhere near her now flower boy”.

Rust: “Let’s break him Spark”

Spark: “Great idea Rust, here I’ll hold him down and you can throw the first punch”  

Gardener Man (getting frustrated as he tried to break free):  “ARGH!! I don’t have time for you idiots”

Spark: “Hit him now Rust. Go for that killer swing of yours”.

Just as Rust swung his arm, Gardener found the inner strength to break free from Spark’s grip- Dodging Rust’s punch. Instead Rust used his killer punch on Spark, right in the side of his left cheek.

“KAPOW”...

“ARGH, RUST YOU DUMBASS, YOU GOT ME RIGHT IN THE FACE”..

“Sorry Spark, that little flower boy punk dodged my punch”.

“GRRR, THAT’S IT, I’VE HAD ENOUGH, LET’S BREAK THIS LITTLE FLOWER PUNK UP”.

Gardener was concerned, he didn’t have time for this, nor could he back out from it either. So he decided to do the only thing he could do..

Stand his ground and fight back..

Gardener Man revealed a side of him he’d never thought or imagined showing others. Throwing his straw hat aside, he let his enragement unleash his power from within- he piled out his futuristic hedge trimmers, though this time they were long sharp holo- blades. Spark and Rust seemed a little intimidated but these idiots were willing to fight anything…

Gardener Man (in a smug tone): “So you two meatheads still wanna fight? Huh? Come on then, I’ll let you throw the first hit”. 

Rust ran towards to hit him, Spark went from behind and Gardener jumped up dodging their poor attack. They were furious- so they continued to fight- throwing whatever they had to stop him from saving Ivory. On the other hand, Enigma and his team were captured and taken back to Chaos …

Professor Chaos (with an Evil Grin): “Ah, lovely to see you Enigma, please sit back there all tied up and enjoy the show. Don’t worry Ivory is in good hands now”.

Professor Enigma (growling): “YOU FILTHY BASTARD CHAOS, ARGH YOU WON’T WIN THIS”

Professor Chaos (getting up close in his face): “Oh Enigma, I already have”.  

He said cackling out loud. Enigma sat there watching Ivory, then Gardener Man..

Enigma (to himself): “You’re our only hope now Gardener, I know you can save her”..

Back down on the ground, Spark and Rust were exhausted trying to fight Gardener Man- it was no hope, he’d dodged all their attacks and managed to throw a few of his own attacks in. Just as the two- with the little bit of energy they had left- swung once more, the side of Gardener’s Holo-blade skimmed across the surface of their arms- cutting the surface of their disgusting skin..

“ARRGGGH!!!!”  

The two fainted/ fell to the ground in exhaustion and pain. Gardener Man stood their for a moment looking over them, then putting his holo blades away, he pulled out the little device Professor Enigma gave him and ran off to save his beloved flower bud Ivory…

From his perch, Chaos slammed his fist in anger…

“ARGHHHHHHH!!! YOU GOONS ARE USELESS, I’M GOING AFTER THAT BLOODY ROBOT MYSELF”.

And with that Chaos jumped into his hover pod and went down towards Gardener man and Ivory. Gardener caught up to Ivory once more, in that time she’d managed to do a lot of damage in town- it hurt Gardener to see her doing this under Chaos’s control. He just couldn’t take it any longer..

Gardener Man took a deep breath in, slowly releasing he came close to face  “Poisoned Ivy”..

“IVORY!!, I mean Ivy”

She stopped swinging her blade and turned around..

“Huh?”..

“It’s me Gardener, Come now this isn’t you. Please stop this nonsense and come back to me-Professor Enigma and I can help you”.  

Deep down inside her there was still a small part of her that Chaos couldn’t control, her heart- that part of her responded back to her love…

“G..Gardener?”

“Yes, yes it’s me Ivy, come now take my hand, let us spend the rest of our lives together in my nature reserve”.

He put his hand out, she sincerely looked at it- with a tear in her eye- she then moved her hand closer to his …

Professor Chaos jumped out from his hover pod and ran over to Ivory with the control to her collar in his hot wrinkly hand. Just as Ivory’s hand got an inch away from Gardener’s, Chaos pressed the button on the control, sending painful/ dangerous amounts of electricity through the collar into Ivory…

Ivory fell to her knees Wailing and screaming out loud in pain…

“ARGHHHH, ARGHHH, ARGGHHHH!!!”

“You disobedient little brat, how dare you stop destruction, now get up and fight you worthless girl”

Gardener was so furious, he ran up close to Chaos and violently swooped the remote out of Chaos’s hands. The remote fell, shattering into a million pieces- now no one could control Ivory except for the collar still around her neck. The mind control collar still had control of her mind and that unstable module inside was still overpowering her too much.

Then Gardener Man chained him up, leaving Chaos chained and in the hands of the law. Then he did the one thing he needed to do was save Ivory. Dodging all the rubble and havoc, Gardener Man had reached his love again, grasping the small device in his hands. He knew the only way to get through to her was with his words- so he spoke lovingly from his heart once more…

“Ivy.. Ivy it’s me again”

She turned around once more, with a cute yet confused expression on her face..

“Now Ivory, take my hand and let us be together forever, just you me and our beautiful garden”

“Y..you a..and me?”

“Yes Ivy, just the two of us”.

Ivory’s eyes welt up with tears, she let her bladed staff fall out of her hands and onto the ground. Then in that very moment she fell into his strong arms- not only out of love but because the immense power had destroyed some of her circuitry/ internal. Gardener caught her, placing the small device on the collar- it deactivated it and ivory was set free. Then she transformed back into her normal everyday self. Ivory was stone cold to touch, Gardener Man stood there cradling her in his arms- he wasn’t ready to lose his special flower bud.

“You’ll be alright my dear sweet Ivory” (he says gently running the back of his hand down the side of her cheek).

The police- well prepared this time took Chaos and his goons away to a very specialised and inescapable prison. Professor Enigma and his team were set free. Enigma made his way over to Gardener and Ivory- When he reached the two, he smiled sincerely…

“Great job there Gardener Man, you saved her. Now we need to get her back to the lab for some repairs- both that collar and module have caused severe damage to her”.

“Very well then professor, let us save her”.

Not long after they arrived back at his laboratory, Ivory was rushed into the Professor’s personal lab with the team for immediate repairs. Gardener Man sat in Enigma’s office, awaiting the news that Ivory was alright. Three and a half hours later- Professor Enigma entered his office Gardener lifted his head up with a questioning look on his face..

“I..Is she alright Professor?”..

Professor Enigma (sincerely smiling): “Ivory is alright, her body is repaired and I gave her a stronger stability orb- this one though is made of Lothanium- it’s both lightweight and indestructible- only she can control the module and the power inside her”.

“May I see her?”

Enigma nodded his head in agreement and with that one of his team members took Gardener in to see her. There in her quarters, Ivory lay slumbered in a healing coma, wired to the analysis machine to keep check on her internal systems, until she awoke. Gardener Man sat by her bedside until she awoke, he gently held her hand in gratitude as he was grateful she was still alive.

As days passed and she still remained slumbered, Gardener stood by her side. He couldn’t help but put sunflowers by her bedside table too- he knew how much she loved them. Very early one morning, Gardener sat asleep in the chair by her bed- Ivory awoke from her healing coma. She felt a little wobbly at first, but slowly sat up- rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Once she’d fully awoken, Ivory looked over at her bedside table- there in the center was a vase of beautiful golden sunflowers- only one robot Master grew sunflowers that beautiful…

Then her memory came back, it was horrible and thinking about it brought her to tears..

“GARDENER, GARDENER MAN, WHERE IS HE?” (she shouted with a slight sobbing tremble in her voice).

Her voice echoed through the lab, Professor Enigma and his team came running. Gardener Man awoke startled, yet overwhelmed with joy to see Ivory awake..

“GARDENER MAN, WHERE ARE YOU?????”

He got up out of the chair and sat on the bedside alongside Ivory comforting her..

“SHHH,SHHH,SHHH, your alright Ivy, it's alright. I’m right here, you’re fine. It’s ok you're safe now, I promise”.

Ivory turned around, her face lit up- she nearly knocked Gardener man off her bed. But lovingly hugged him. Professor Enigma looked through the doorway sneakily, he too was glad to see her awake, but he told his team to head back to their work- he thought it was best to let the two have some alone time so they could catch up.

As she sat there cuddling him, Gardener Man wiped the small tear drops from her eyes-Ivory just averted her eyes cutesy blushing as he did so. The she sat up, blushing some more and fiddling with her fingers, then in a soft sweet voice spoke:

“U..Um, Gardener Man? “

“Yes Ivory?”

“Look, a.. About the other night..” (Ivory blushing redder than before)

“Y..Yes Ivy?” (he says going red and blushing himself).

Ivory (coming a little closer- like an inch from his face, now completely beet red and her heart racing):

“ I.. I just wanted to say, um.. I really love you, like a lot and I wanted to give you this..”

Closing her eyes and as red as a beet, Ivory leant forward and lovingly kissed Gardener Man on the lips. Gardner’s eyes opened wide and his face went as red as hers, but he just kissed her back. Moments later the two sat their unlocking lips, averting their eyes blushing- then Gardener Man grabbed her hand the two just sat there together being adorable. Then Gardener mumbled..

“Ivory, do you still want to come live with me on my nature reserve, just the two of us?”

“And Ivan?” (Ivy chimes in cheekily).

“Of course he can Ivy” ( he says all cutesy glowing and smiling sincerely).

Many months later, Professor Enigma and Gardener Man helped Ivory heal over her trauma. During that time Professor Enigma let her go off and live with Gardener- after all he brought out the true happiness inside her. Ivory though would always go back to professor Enigma and help / assist him with many of his botanic experiments / engineer research and experiments.

Ivory was finally set free of her horrid past and now she spent the rest of her days doing what she loved with the handsome robot master she loved- flourishing their garden, looking after the reserve and protecting the people.

The End!!!!

Anyways, I hope you like Ivory as much as I do. Hopefully soon I can do some doodles of her and Gardener Man- also a sketch or two of Professor Enigma and Chaos too ^^!!!

"Ivory Plant belongs to me !!!!!!"

"Gardner Man belongs to my pal YellyDany "

[anastkantdhangar]

The Petrifying Situation of the Indian Media

India ranks so badly for press freedom because much of the media has simply stopped doing its moral job, and, as a culmination of facts, journalism is in some serious trouble in the world’s largest democracy. I’m afraid the consequences could be dire.

A cluster of mics of different channels of India's television media, accountable for shaping the social and political thoughts for the most of the country's population.

March 6, Vinesh Kunhiraman, The Media One anchor, goes on air, just like any other day in the office, about to tell his channel’s five million viewers in Kerala about the death anniversary of a famous comedian and the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic.

But just a few minutes into the broadcast, he sees the managing editor rushing towards the studio floor gesturing desperately. As soon as Kunhiraman realizes that something’s not right, his image dissolves into a blue screen, a message shows up on the screen saying that there’s no signal and that they regret the inconvenience. The channel’s uplink, all of sudden, goes dead.

Actually, this was no technical difficulty. The channel was cut off as a consequence of order issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to block the channel for 48 hours, because it had covered February’s biggest news story -- mob attacks on anti-CAA protesters and in Muslim-dominant areas of Delhi, which took place just a few days after the result of Delhi’s Assembly Elections, which ultimately flared into a broader unrest and the Delhi Riots --  in a way that seemed “critical towards Delhi Police and R.S.S.,” the order said.

This shows a glimpse of how tolerant the government of world's largest democracy actually is about it’s criticism, despite many of the government ministers and the Prime Minister Modi himself stating that he wants the government to be criticized as it makes a democracy stronger and motivates him to work better.

WIDE URGE TO ADVERTISE “POSITIVE STORIES”

PM Modi addressing the nation amidst the coronavirus pandemic and about the government’s steps to address it.

Just before he announced the world’s largest coronavirus lockdown, PM Modi met with top news executives and urged them to publish “inspiring and positive stories” about the government’s efforts. Then, after the lockdown stranded half a million migrant workers, with some dying along the highways, government lawyers persuaded the Supreme Court to order all media to “publish the official version” of coronavirus developments, although outlets are still allowed to carry independent reporting.

A large section of leading broadcasters were quick to welcome this decision of the apex court, but left many intellectuals with questions on India’s constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of press.

India’s media universe is vast, perhaps the biggest in the world: More than 17,000 newspapers, 100,000 magazines, 178 television news channels and countless websites in dozens of languages. Thousands of Facebook pages call themselves news publishers, and YouTube is filled with local bulletins on everything from real estate trends to police raids.

Under immense pressure from the government, many media owners have fired their journalists who have criticized the PM and his government, and asked their media houses to not to run stories of hate-crime trackers that may embarrass the government or the ruling party. Instead, media houses have been asked to, and have been running what is being called “positive and inspiring” stories so that a “healthy environment” is being maintained throughout the country, and that could actually lead to a number of conclusions from various points of views.

This is so evident at the time of the coronavirus pandemic, where media houses have been given official orders to run the “official versions of the stories so that people do not panic”. Indian media has been constantly pressing on to project the fact the fact how India have been tackling the coronavirus pandemic outbreak way better than the much developed western countries, but not many compared, what we should call, the “other statistics” -- the amount of daily covid tests conducted, and its comparison with the same countries it claims to be performing better from. 

Media, being the fourth pillar in any democracy, is morally obliged to present the facts in the way they should, in order to be in the best interest of the people as a whole. Even the academic study of journalism has part where it teaches the students, or the future journalists, to see government’s policies and steps with suspicion, as if media starts supporting government everywhere in any democracy, things could turn out to be disastrous, yes of course it is evident.

They can only ask PM about how much does he sleep, from where does he get the motivation, how much of a fakir he is. And this is the same person who left an interview with just three minutes into it because he was being asked bitter questions about his role during the 2002 Gujarat Riots, Modi was being interviewed by Karan Thapar then, and has not given any such bitter interview ever since even after becoming the Prime Minister of India, and has not even indulged in any press conferences but one, that too just before the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls, in which he did not answer a single question, in fact, gestured many to Amit Shah to answer.

Instead, days before 2019 Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi gave an "non-political" interview to a Bollywood actor, Akshay Kumar, in which he was asked questions like "how does he have his mangoes".

STRATEGICALLY CONTROLLING THE  COUNTRY’S THOUGHT PROCESS

It is a fact, even is a part of academic structures in schools, that Adolf Hitler ran a hate propaganda against the Jews for his political gains, most probably fulfilled his personal desires too through it, and eventually built such a large campaign that he was able to convince millions of Germans that a clear minority population composition of 6 million Jews were a threat to Germany and it’s integrity, and that to eradicate and eliminate them by killing them in large numbers and fleeing them was the only possible way to save Germany.

At first, this sounds outlandish for any democracy, as to solve differences between communities, especially by the side of government, rather sounds pretty un-democratic. But the fact that Hitler was able to convince this as only possible way out is very intriguing, as he off course had a popular public support. How was he able to do that?

Adolf Hitler addressing the people in a rally

In Hitler’s Nazi Germany, media was censored by the government, as a result of which what the media can open as news in public domain was solely controlled by the Hitler’s government, which led to media only praising Hitler as Germany’s Savior and projected every person who criticized Hitler as a traitor, giving Hitler complete power to prove so, and execute him. The whole anti-Jewish sentiment was a result of years of propaganda run by the Hitler’s media to earn a wide public support to execute his dangerous plans and unleash havoc.

Seems familiar? A considerable section of the world society sees the same signs repeating in India based on religious grounds. Starting from near-end of 2014, India’s media has run a large scale propaganda based on religious grounds, resulting in instilling of hatred against the largest religious minority in India, and convincing people that they do not belong here. As a result, India has seen a sudden upsurge in mob lynchings based on communal lines, a strong hostility against sections of society, challenging the integral character of India’s Unity in Diversity and it’s very traditional secular character.

CAPTURING THE STILL “FREE VOICES”

The current NDA government and PM Modi are backed up by an army of online allies who discredit and harass independent journalists; female journalists, in particular, have been besieged with abuse and rape threats. And the police say Hindu nationalists were behind the 2017 murder of Gauri Lankesh, a female newspaper editor hailed as one of India’s most crusading journalists.

And for the most part, Indian news outlets have knuckled under, concluding that since much of the public supports the prime minister, they should, too. Even skeptical journalists censor themselves, afraid to be branded anti-national by a government that equates patriotism with support for PM Modi.

The Modi government has been particularly concerned about broadcast media, which reach into every corner of the country. In such a scenario, months before 2019 elections, an ABP journalist, named Punya Prasun Bajpai, questioned the results of government’s scheme of providing financial help to farmers, and broadcasters stated that the broadcast of the show was being interrupted in various parts of the country until the ABP journalist was being asked to leave days after the incident. 

There are numerous such examples of journalists and reporters being left out and asked to leave by the broadcasters, so that they’re not being branded as anti-nationals, or lose sponsors or afraid that cases might be filed against them.

Arnab Goswami, from the Republic, hosting his debate program

Arnab Goswami of the Republic TV has come out be one of the most prominent Right wing, pro-government journalist in recent times, with constant praises for PM Modi, his government and his policies and of course his ideologies, and has constantly questioned the opposition for every misdeed in the country. He accused the Congress and Sonia Gandhi of sending goons to attack him in April.

Ravish Kumar, NDTV, in between his daily debate program

Ravish Kumar of NDTV, another popular journalist, this time one who has been critical of government, not only during the NDA tenure, but a hard critical of UPA government too. Being a hard critical of PM Modi and Amit Shah, he has been abused constantly on social media and death threats for him and his family, and the Modi and Shah’s BJP has now boycotted Ravish for years, by not sending any spokesperson in his show.

PM Modi, after taking over the PMO, gave his very first interview to Arnab Goswami, and Arnab has been backing up with frequent interviews of PM Modi, and his senior ministers.

Ravish won the Ramon Magsaysay Award, also known as Asia’s Nobel, in 2019. Even after this, no other channel even covered this achievement of Indian media. Many speculated that had Goswami win the Ramon Magsaysay, would PM Modi, or any of the senior ministers or his senior party members have congratulated him, or tweeted the same? Because not a thing even close to this happened.

THE CURRENT MILIEU

An usual Production Control Room of a news channel, responsible for working behind what we see on air

It is very much evident that the Indian Media is in a state of crisis, it simply ‘cannot speak the truth to the power’. From not being vocal about about how big a blundering failure the 2016 demonetization was and the dent it hit on the economy, to constantly attacking the opposition rather than questioning the power, to reporting from the AC studios and not about the situation from the ground, to initially having ignored the migrant laborer's crisis and much more, all this suggests that from the view of the best interests of a tolerant democratic nation, Indian Media has had been in a deep state of crisis.

If it had not been the case, no journalist in any democracy, can openly criticize the voters on live television of being freeloaders, anti-national and being abused for not electing those in central government in a state assembly election, and walk free without even a complaint. Sudhir Choudhury of Zee Media did the very same back in February after the results of the Delhi State Assembly elections, having called a democratically elected Chief Minister as a terrorist.

No wonder why India has further slipped in the latest Press Freedom Index Rankings to 142nd Rank out of a total of 180 countries, very close to Pakistan, ranked 145th, the only comparison most of the Indian Media understands.

If ever our future generations are allowed to look back upon how India lived in the hallucination of being in its best of times what actually also could be a very strong contender of being one of the most dark times in the history of Independent India along with the 1975 Emergency, Indian Media of the current times would also have to bear a lot of credit for the same, along with many strong names both in the government, and the government institutions.

Information and Pictures’ Reference -

The New York Times

Al Jazeera

Google

[biot08]

By Popular Request, Adagio’s Will Fragment, related to the Gaming Guardians roleplay (now long over)

I, Adagio Redwinter, being of sound mind and body, do declare this to be my last Will and Testament.

On the Execution of my Will

Over the course of my operational existence, I have managed to accumulate a great many material things of varying levels of worth. This, I suppose, is due to my natural curiosity leading to me find the new and interesting, coupled with a lifespan that is unnaturally long for many sapient species. As well, various endeavors throughout my existence have lead me to make investments and to head several ventures, with varying levels of success and prosperity. It is now, at the end of my operational lifetime, that I intend to try and give some of what I have received back.

To see to the immense task of administering my final accounts, and to assure that my final wishes are carried out properly, I authorize my executor, Zeta Aquilae, to use those funds and materials necessary to establish the Synapse Intercorporation. The Intercorporation's internal structure and method of operation will be determined by her best judgement. The Synapse Intercorporation shall oversee the execution of my last wishes as described in this will.

It is worth noting that parts of this will are hidden from public view. This is not so much to hide anything of true note, but rather to allow some of my instructions to have a certain reactive quality to them, such that if certain conditions are met, other instructions may be carried out that may not be otherwise. My executor is aware of all of the hidden portions of my will, as well as the encryption keys necessary to view them.

I have been working on this will continuously for several years, always ensuring that it accurately reflects my wishes in the event of my demise, whether accidental or not. My understanding is that many sapients who have a tradition of finality similar to a will tend to use them as instruments of encouragement and revenge. The idea of continuing to influence the multiverse at large after my existence has ceased is one that amused me. If I have misunderstood the purpose of a will, I hope others shall view my attempt here in a reasonable light. I would caution those who read this to be aware that I am not human, and indeed, I believe I am the first of my kind to have a will of any sort. I would also note that, as my operational lifetime was originally expected to be infinite, and indeed has stretched on for a great many centuries, I do tend to take a very long view on matters. In addition to ensuring my own matters are tied up neatly, and designating specific recipients for parts of my estate, I have also made several bequests that I hope will benefit all sapients everywhere, both Primarian and System born.

I have always sought knowledge, and much of my life has been dedicated to seeking truth. I have not yet found it, but I hope that, through this will, I may lead others to find it, both for themselves and for others. I would implore all those who read this will to look to one another, and, if failing in all other tasks, that they may reach the lofty goal of one day ... understanding.

To Zeta Aquilae, who sought to understand me, and who was with me on my many travels, I leave the bulk of my estate, save for those things otherwise covered by this will. I name Zeta Aquilae the executor of my estate and the head of the Synapse Intercorporation, in which capacity she will oversee the execution of this will in accordance with my wishes.

To Nightdark, my original second, and so loyal to me all these years, I give you back your life and your freedom. I only wish I could give you your old life back, Megan. I hope that your memories will suffice.

In the memory of a woman who I was often at odds with, and yet who I still feel a deep kinship with, I find myself able to do little. I now realize the trick you played during our last game, old friend, and I hope that in the afterlife I am able to give you the match you deserve. In her memory, I present a red queen chess piece to the orange queen who now rules the forest in Gamer's End. May there forever be peace and understanding in the world she gave her life to birth.

To Aria Winters, I leave my memoirs, and my core, should it still remain, to be disposed of however she sees fit. I hope your path in life will be less troubled than mine was.

To Kale, I leave the Defender, and the legacy that goes along with it. The history of this vessel is long and deep, young Kale. You should ask Majir about it. I also give him my spaces onboard Prometheus Space Station, and my apartment in Gamer's End, as well as the contents of my bank account on Prometheus Station, and the key to my safety deposit box for the same. Remember that while the mind makes the man, the tools allow it to act better on its environment.

To Sage, I leave the Colossus, a five kilometer wide space ship that was carved out of an asteroid in BESM-SF 87-5-29. I am afraid, my dear, that this is the last rock I am able to give to you.

To the first two hundred people who show up, I leave a can of Sprite from my storage unit onboard Prometheus. One of the cans contains an actual sprite, but it got mixed in with the thoroughly mundane cans, and I never did get around to determining which can it was. I figure this is both a good way to make sure the sprite gets some use, as well as getting rid of a fair bit of unused stock. (( Note: If you want the special can, just hop on IRC and get ahold of me before the end of March. ))

To whoever determines the identity and composition of those figures who are in charge of the Gaming Guardians to the satisfaction of the Synapes Intercorporation, I leave the monetary equivalent of 20,000 XP. Transparency in operations might go a long way toward building good will, my friends. As well as being profitable.

To whoever finds Wargolem, I leave 1 million XP or medical care for the remainder of their natural life, whichever seems most appropriate.

To the first party to determine what 'Velvet Fist' is, I leave behind 10000XP.

To the person who finds the original 'Wirrit', I leave 6000 XP, so long as they deliver a copy of this will to her.

To the original 'Wirrit', I leave my yo-yo. Spend some time with it and consider that the nature of the multiverse is not as you thought it was.

To Majir Sobaan, I leave co-ordinates to a little known Fallout system. Do not be startled by what you find there. Hopefully it will explain much.

To Solita Ariennye, I leave my Seattle, Washington condo, a motorcycle, and the assets contained in the safety deposit box to which she will be given a key. While it is not the world you know and love, I hope you will enjoy Seattle, and your second retirement. I imagine you've learned your lesson.

Once a year, a jet black rose, preserved by freezing, shall be delivered to Solita Ariennye's condo in Seattle, for as long as she lives there, as a reminder that some loyalties have too high a price for us all.

Because we who occupy jaunt space are not always so careful as we should be, the Synapse Intercorporation is directed to establish the System Defenders. The goals of the Defenders are as follows: to monitor potential abuses of jaunt space and its denizens; to protect the rights of denizens of jaunt space; to establish a set of parameters that will facility a working relationship between those from the Systems and those from the Primary; to create a sanctuary in Jaunt space for beings in search of a safe retreat; and to patrol Jaunt space in such a way as to ensure that junk and debris accidentally or otherwise left in Jaunt is cleaned up in such a way as to prevent any interference with normal system development. Since many of these functions are already provided somewhat by Gamer's End and Prometheus, I use my last act as an owner of a Captain's Seat to propose that the systems already in place be diverted to form a better, more unified front for members of the Systems.

To any who find a vessel looking like BeRT ( photo attached ), or its Pilot unit, I authorize the payment of 5000 XP for its finding, and 15000 XP for its destruction. The possibility of its existence could mean a dark time for us all.

To the first fifty so-called 'voidkers' who show up to any branch of the Synapse Intercorporation, I grant a token of my esteem. The terrible events that have occurred in the voided Shadowrun system darken all our lives, and I hope to foster understanding between those who were touched by it and the rest of the multisystems at large as we move forward.

For research into jaunt phenomena considered dangerous, such as Jaunt storms and void patches, I leave four million XP, to be distributed by the Synapse Intercorporation.

To Nightengale Nightforest, whose voice is the purest I have ever heard, and moved me nearly to emotion, I know from our conversations that you have no further need for wealth. So I leave 3 million XP to be donated in your name to the charity of your choice.

I leave one hundred thousand XP to fund an expedition to Jaunt system FC-F 00-13-225.

I leave five thousand XP to fund the summoning of a spirit capable of traversing jaunt and casting a permanent Sex Change spell on the Shadowrunner known as 'Suit'. The spell will need to be of sufficient power that he will require external assistance in dispelling or reversing it. While I do not think it will change his outlook in life at all, the change in perspective for him may be educational, and if not that, at least entertaining. If some other method of bringing about the same end effect can be established, so much the better.

To the person who successfully finds what is behind door 13-B in the main building of the Church of True Harmony, I give 10000 XP upon its revelation to an authority of either the Guardians, the Defenders, or the Synapse Intercorporation.

[angerissue]

Bruce is incredibly fond of children. He loved working with them during his time in Kolkata, and before the accident, he would occasionally tutor students at Culver University and other institutions. However, he doesn’t want children of his own.

I. Reasons.

Bruce has an immense fear of abusing his children, similar to how he fears abusing his partner. In essence, he can see numerous similarities between himself and Brian when it comes to emotions, especially anger, and he’s afraid this anger could eventually lead to violence towards his family. Domestic situations only amplify this fear, because it directly reminds him of the possibility.

Secondly, Bruce didn’t have a normal childhood because of the unstable environment he grew up in. He would want his children to have the opposite experience — however, this is easier said than done. He believes that telling his children about his condition would make them feel different and abnormal, and because of this, he would try to raise them without revealing that information. There is a drawback to this — his transformations have become very prevalent in his life. Moreover, maintaining the secrecy of his condition would require spending countless hours away from his children. He would be absent for a sizable chunk of their upbringing, and he couldn’t stand doing this. Brian was absent for most of his own childhood, at least in a sense, and he refuses to continue that pattern.

Additionally, Bruce knows that numerous organizations and people are interested in his condition, or the Hulk in general. If he entered a relationship with someone, he would trust his partner to understand the implications of said relationship, and that it involves a certain degree of danger. However, if he had children, they would become involved without having a say in the matter. They would be subject to endangerment they never consented to. This doesn’t sit well with Banner; he finds it morally reprehensible, and because of it, children are off-limits.

That being said — if the Hulk wasn’t a factor and his life was more stable, Bruce would consider having children. But he would need to adopt them. His condition did not change his genes, but his constant transformations make him infertile.

Disclaimer: The content in this post is unique to this adaptation of Bruce Banner. Feel free to like, but please don’t reblog without permission.

[wallacwest]

❌ —————— that might look like SEAN TEALE, but it’s really WALLY WEST/THE FLASH from EARTH-52. our records indicate that they are a TWENTY-NINE year old METAHUMAN using HE pronouns. unlike most HEROES, they are TRYING TO BE A SYMBOL OF HOPE which makes them perfect for THE JUSTICE LEAGUE AND THE TITANS.

basics —

NAME: wallace rudolph west ii

ALIAS: the flash

NICKNAMES: wally, kid flash (formerly), kid lantern (formerly)

AFFILIATION: the justice league, titans, flash family

SPECIES: metahuman

AGE: 29 years old

BIRTHPLACE: keystone city, kansas

CURRENT RESIDENCE: titans tower

OCCUPATION: mechanic for gotham city police department

HEIGHT: 6’0”

WEIGHT: 175 lbs

EYE COLOR: green

HAIR COLOR: red

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual

MARITAL STATUS: single

PARENTS: rudolph ‘rudy’ west (father), mary west (mother)

CHILDREN: jai west (son, eight years old), iris ‘irey’ west ii (daughter, eight years old)

RELATIVES: iris west (aunt, legal guardian), barry allen (uncle), charlotte west (aunt), bart allen (second cousin), jenni ognats (second cousin), don allen (cousin), dawn allen (cousin)

BEST FRIENDS: dick grayson, hartley rathaway

origin —

wally west was born to rudolph and mary west in blue valley, nebraska. when he was a kid wally would often dream about becoming the flash. he was the president and only member of the blue valley flash fan club. his parents and his aunt charlotte thought that wally was setting himself up for failure. they would often talk down to him, dampening his dreams in hash ways. his father was manipulative, emotionally abusive, and punched wally on one occasion.

he was hurt that his parents didn’t have faith in him. rudy would often yell at wally, not caring if it was in front of the rest of their family. he did this at west reunion which sent wally running to his room in tears. someone familiar who was thought to be his uncle came up to visit him, encouraging wally not to give up on his dreams. this advise stuck with him in the years to come.

one summer when wally was ten years old his parents asked iris to take her nephew in, and she became his legal guardian from that day forward. wally always viewed his aunt as a best friend, getting more love from living with her for one day than he got in the last ten years with his parents.

she introduced him to barry allen, her boyfriend. barry introduces wally to his idol the flash — it was unknown at the time that barry was the flash. the boy asks him all sorts of questions, one of the major ones being about how he got his powers. it turns out that barry set up a chemical cabinet identical to the setup had been when the weather struck it for him. lightning ended up storming the cabinet, and bathing wally in the same chemicals that created the flash. wally got his abilities in the same way that barry did. after this is when barry told wally his secreted and gave the boy a suit of his own.

he became the first kid flash! wally goes on to become a founding member of the titans.

when wally becomes an adult he takes on the mantle of the flash. he’s the second one to wear the red suit. this is when he realizes that he was faster than his uncle too. he balances his time between the titans and the justice league, able to do the two responsibilities at once.

he has two children, who happen to be twins. they’re eight years old — jai and irey. they’ll be living in the tower with him. they’re also metahumans, being speed force conduits. his daughter uses her connection for speed similarly to what wally does. his son has a different use for the speed force, temporarily growing his muscles to give him superhuman strength.

his best friend is dick grayson who happens to be nightwing ever since they were little kids. wally would do anything for him which is a fact. his other best friend is hartley rathaway also known as pied piper. he’s one of the rogues, but they care about each other a lot. often hartley opens his eyes to circumstances that he wouldn’t have noticed on his own.

powers and abilities —

SPEED FORCE CONDUIT:  wally is the fastest of all flashes. he is arguably the fastest person that has ever existed. he is currently fast enough to easily break all the barriers and even enter the speed force. wally has on several occasions — traveled much faster than light and entered and exited the speed force by his own volition. the flash is considered to be one of the most formidable and powerful metahumans on the planet.

SUPERHUMAN SPEED: wally west is by far the fastest being on the planet, according to max mercury he's the fastest man to have ever existed, making him one of the most powerful beings to exist. theoretically, speeds greater than Mach 10, are dangerous to both people and to the environment, but the speed force has shown that if needed, wally can use it to prevent such effects from occurring, hence why he is able to run at speeds much faster than light on the planet earth without it having devastating effects on the planet. he can also run across bodies of water and up the sides of buildings.

he is able to save and carry over half a million people 35 miles away from a nuclear warhead that had already detonated including the ones at ground zero in only .0001 microseconds (10 picoseconds, or 1/100,000,000,000th of 1 second) — a feat that would require moving 13 trillion times the speed of light.

SUPERHUMAN AGILITY:  wally's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are heightened to levels greater than any human being. he is able to easily maneuver on falling debris and objects, while moving at super-speed.

SUPERHUMAN STAMINA: wally possesses vast superhuman endurance that is nearly inexhaustible. he was able to run non-stop for over 10 days straight without tiring once.

SUPERHUMAN REFLEXES: his reaction time is enhanced to levels far greater than any normal human being. he is able to easily perceive the movements of other speedsters, and react to danger and events

SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH: he is strong enough to lift 800lbs with no sign of physical strain, even while running with it. he has also been seen single-handedly reconstructing several ruined buildings, and moving heavy beams and girders into place. while rebuilding a bridge in 30 seconds, he carries heavy beams and girders one at a time, during the course of the construction.

AEROKINESIS: sometimes called “air manipulation", this ability represents an individual's ability to manipulate currents of air. by running in a circle at a certain speed, wally is able to create a vortex with a variety of effects.

DECELERATED AGING: along with every speedster that draws from the speed force, the loved ones of the speedsters will gain eternal youth.

DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL: has shown to be able to traverse dimensions with his own powers.

ELECTROKINESIS: wally's body generates large amounts of the electrical energy that he draws from the speed force. this lightning emanates off of him, especially when moving at superhuman speed.

ENERGY CONSTRUCT CREATION: he discovered if he concentrated, the speed force could be used to create solid constructs which he used to compose his costume. the first time he used this ability was to create a solid armor enabling him to run despite having broken legs. his costume itself is a construct molded from the speed force.

ENHANCED MENTAL PROCESS: mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allowed him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of minutes, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. wally can also read at super-speed.

MOLECULAR ACCELERATION: can vibrate his molecular structure at various levels to achieve various effects. if he chooses, wally can excite the molecules of whatever substance he vibrates through to critical mass causing it to explode.

INTANGIBILITY: can vibrate his molecules to achieve an intangible state. while in an intangible state, the flash is immune to any airborne viruses and can breathe regularly. he can also vibrate so fast that light does not reflect off him, rendering him invisible.

PHASING: has always possessed the ability to control his speed and angular momentum at the molecular level, and control his molecular interactions to allow his body to pass through any substance.

SPEED STEAL: able to absorb the speed and/or momentum from anyone or anything.

SPEED FORCE AURA: his body is surrounded by what he calls his “speed force aura". this aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. wally can sync his aura with his children, giving him the ability to pull either of them to him with a thought.

SPEED FORCE EMPATHY: can sense when another speed force conduit is troubled, and can be drawn to the location of that speedster.

SUPERHUMAN DURABILITY: wally's durability is heightened to immense levels. it protects him from injury from high-speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents.

TIME TRAVEL: has shown to be able to traverse time with his own powers, unlike the other speedsters. he can traverse along the time-stream to specific points as they become visible, much like watching a movie in fast forward or reverse. in order to time travel to different periods, he must exceed light speed, which he can easily and instantly do

REGENERATION: accelerating his healing while using the speed force to sustain him, wally could heal from any injury instantly.

HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT.

MULTILINGUALISM: can speak english and french.

MECHANICAL APTITUDE.

TACTICAL ANALYSIS.

[pandemicstress]

What Seeds are You Planting?

Mary loves trucks and spent 20 years working for a multi-national vehicle manufacturer. In April 2020, she left the organization to start her own business. She has always had a dream to have a coffee shop and a deli. She has tried a few other entrepreneurial ventures. She had a store with repurposed furniture and a music theatre. She also had agencies selling construction supplies. However, none of these seemed to feel right with her.

A few days before lockdown Mary decided to take the plunge and she started a mobile deli. She lives on a small holding in South Africa’s busiest province and she has access to local farmers and suppliers. She developed a list of products to sell and she simply jumped in. It was a steep learning curve but the business took off within the first month.

She identified her target customer to be high income earners with sophisticated tastes. She created a list of products that were expensive and high quality. This worked very well and her customers were extremely happy with her offerings. In the early lockdown, citizens could only leave the house for food or medication. The emptiness of the streets was shocking for her when she was delivering to her customers. It felt surreal with no cars on the streets.

Her turnover was higher than she ever imagined it would be. She was able to pay off her car and she was also able to pay her rent in full which was something she has struggled with in the past. She typically pays when she can but now is able to pay her rent regularly. Mary’s passion for her work was obvious when talking to her and it’s clear that she loves serving her clients and supporting her suppliers.

Mary has faced many challenges in her life. She was married in the past and she never felt good enough. Her husband treated as if she was an inferior person and over time, she started believing it. In her corporate days, she received free trips as recognition for her hard work, but it was difficult to enjoy the trips as her husband put her through emotional hell with the guilt of going away.

She remembers a day when he was speaking to her in a way that was emotionally abusive. She walked outside and it felt like she was slapped with the awareness that she’s worth more than that. In that moment, she knew that she had to get away from him. It wasn’t easy for her to do this because he is a dangerous man. He made threats on her life and on the lives of their children. She made plans to escape from him while she waited for the perfect opportunity. She packed bags of clothes and hid them in the car and hid spare keys in various locations that she could access on a moment’s notice. She suffered so much stress that she lost 20kg when she moved out. Without his financial contribution, life has been tough but it was well worth the effort of getting him out of her life.

She realized that she has been putting off her dreams and had this ‘one day’ thinking which isn’t very action oriented. Mary told me that the subconscious never sleeps. When our energy reflects that we don’t deserve success and money and we live in a scarcity mindset, it’s impossible to shine.

Mary is an optimist and she has a special gift of thinking outside of the box. She is a natural entrepreneur and gaining the experience in a large organization set her up for great learning. Mary said, “It’s a matter of seeing the gap.”

In the spirit off entrepreneurial experimentation, she tried something else in her deli business. She created a budget-friendly list with the thinking that people might have lost income during the pandemic. This strategy backfired. She used a different supplier with cheaper produce and her customers did not respond well. This showed her that her original niche market was correct and she resumed her original strategy to serve her ideal customer. She realized that her market is the high-income earners. This was not a mistake but rather an opportunity to gain greater insight into who she is serving and what they want. Customer feedback is critical and Mary is excellent at listening to her customers and responding to their needs.

Mary was raised in a way that receiving was not encouraged. She has realized that it is a process to learn to receive. In her book, Rising Strong, Brené Brown writes that there is a certain power and control in giving and that it takes courage and vulnerability to receive. She writes, “When you judge yourself for needing help, you judge those you are helping. When you attach value to giving help, you attach value to needing help.” I can relate to Mary’s experiences as I have also struggled to receive. I’m trying to teach my children that it is an act of kindness to receive from others since it feels wonderful to give and we would not want to take that experience away from those who want to help us.

Mary’s daughter is a strong ice hockey player and was invited to Bulgaria a few years ago. With Mary’s income and being a single mother, there was no possibility of affording the airfare and accommodation. It broke her heart because she wanted her daughter to have this experience. She decided to overcome her past difficulties in receiving by setting up an online campaign where people could donate. She received money from so many kind people, one person donating R10 000! If she’d know who they were, she would have talked them out of it. But she does acknowledge that it feels bad when we are not able to give.

She has done an incredible amount of personal growth. She places sticky notes everywhere in her house containing affirmations. She is also intentional about her thinking. The psychologists call this ‘metacognition’ – the ability to listen to your own thoughts. I always tell my clients and readers that the starting point for any form of growth is awareness. Once we get into the habit of hearing what we think, we can start to shift thoughts and beliefs that are not so healthy. For example, if you realize that you are really unkind to yourself, you can develop the skills of self-compassion to reduce stress or if you realize that you are procrastinating or avoiding something, you can start to understand why and to address any issues within yourself that hamper your performance.

Mary is proud of her high standards and her drive and ambition. She has seen people around her struggling to show the same level of commitment towards their goals. She has not always been able to appreciate her strengths but she is on a journey towards self-love.

She told me about an author Mike Brescia who inspired her. He was homeless and an alcoholic and he went to seek shelter in a bookstore. He read book on self-improvement and he made classical music containing affirmations. He repeated to himself many times that he was the best salesman in the world. The bookstore asked him to sell books and he became an outstanding salesman. This book was the catalyst she needed to shift her thinking patterns and to use affirmations to move her life forward.

She loved Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week. He writes about having a morning ritual which she employed and adapted to fit her own life and routines. She journals almost every day and in this way, she releases things that are troubling her so that they don’t get in the way of what she plans to achieve. There is a lot of research supporting the positive effects on mood and happiness through journaling.

One of the most influential practices in Mary’s life is a regular gratitude practice. When she feels grateful for something, she expresses it out loud in the moment to acknowledge her blessings. She identifies three things each day that she is grateful for and three things that will make each day great. Each night at bedtime she says a thank you prayer for anything good that happened in the day.

It’s clear that Mary has made a conscious effort to be happy and to focus on the good things in life, all at a time that many people found enormously stressful. Operating this way is not only for natural optimists. In fact, Martin Seligman, one of the key founders of the positive psychology movement, wrote the book Learned Optimism to train his pessimistic nature to look for the positive. Mary says that it’s the law of nature that when we plant a seed, something comes up. So, what we are planting had better be good.

I asked Mary about how the lockdown and pandemic have affected her life. She had to make some big decisions that were not easy. Mary did not have Wi-Fi at her house so she sent her daughter to stay with a friend for the lockdown period. This allowed Mary to work very hard and for her daughter to have some company and some fun. It also reduced Mary’s costs for a period. She missed her terribly, however and was incredibly happy to have her back home again.

Mary’s sleep has improved since leaving her corporate job. There was so much red tape that she found it very frustrating and the stress would show up as a knot in her stomach. This insight was part of how she realized that the environment and the company were not right for her. This level of self-awareness is immensely helpful. How often do we feel symptoms and just brush them off or assume that everyone is super stressed? Before I burnt out, I completely ignored the physical warning signs my body was showing me. I’m so pleased to see that people like Mary are paying attention to the stress in their bodies and taking action towards a better life.

Mary is a natural giver. She dropped frozen meals at her father and another couple who needed help during the lockdown period. She was also saddened by the families that took advantage of her. She gave some needy people food but they traded it for cigarettes when they were banned, despite having children who did not receive regular meals. She also found out that some families were getting food from three or four sources, while others had nothing. She tried hard not to judge these people because she simply didn’t know their full story and what was happening for them internally.

Mary is no stranger to stress. She was a victim of an armed robbery which was very traumatic. She lives on a piece of land that is under constant threat. Before she started her business, she could not afford the costs of private security but thanks to her deli, she was able to install a security system with a monthly cost that is manageable. She sleeps better knowing that someone will come to her assistance if an intruder breaches the perimeter. She is also sleeping better with a proper meal in her stomach each night now that she can afford to eat better.

I’m always interested in how people manage their stress. Mary is very clear that positive stress drives her. Friday is delivery day and she thrives on the pressure to ensure all of her customers have their orders in time for the weekend. She is also aware of negative stress and that it’s healthy to acknowledge what she’s feeling. She doesn’t avoid or suppress the feelings. Instead, she identifies what emotion she’s experiencing and tries to understand the source of it. This approach takes courage as strong emotions are often very uncomfortable but Mary knows that she must sit through it to get to the other side. She says, “It’s not nice, but it’s worth it.” I was impressed by Mary’s courage to face up to difficulty in this way. It’s clear that she has suffered deeply in life but she is so strong and positive.

Mary also uses deep breathing to move through stressful situations. When faced with something challenging, she consciously takes three deep breaths to give her the time to respond well. This strategy is well supported by science. Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, inducing calm and allowing her brain to make good choices. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for decision-making and willpower. Deep breathing allows us the opportunity to think carefully before taking action that we will later regret.

One of my favorite questions in the interviews during lockdown was “What has become clearer to you as a result of this pandemic?” Mary answered without hesitation. She is exactly where she needs to be. She has freed herself from that ‘one day’ thinking and is living the life she has always dreamed of.

Many people are skeptical and critical of personal development and affirmations. As an author in this genre, I am subject to the snobbery of other authors and people who don’t think that personal growth is important. But it is very clear to me that our thoughts and beliefs are the starting point of everything. What we think and believe affects our behaviour and how we behave affects our outcomes. Many people have difficulty believing in themselves and I am certain that as soon as Mary began believing in herself, life changed for her.

Mary’s parting words to me were about how much she loves what she’s doing and how she can’t wait to wake up and get to work. She thrived through a period that most people found intensely stressful. She remarked how some people focus on what the government has done wrong and although she was concerned about the economic impact of the lockdown, she acknowledges that limitation is often the seed of invention. Mary said, “We all have talents and gifts and there is space for us all to achieve Situations like these force us to use our gifts.”

[lawinformation]

Getting yourself ready for a home study

On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Getting yourself ready for a home study with the immense procedure!

Divorce Attorneys in Houston: If you are involved in a contentious divorce or child custodycase or anticipate being involved in one, then you should be aware that home studies are conducted with regularity depending on the specific circumstances of your case.

While it can be overwhelming to consider the possibility of a stranger coming into your home, “studying” you, and then making determinations that can affect the outcome of your case, the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC would like to help you understand and plan for this stage of your case.

From my experience, I can relate to you that one of the most, if not the most, important factors that a judge will use to decide a child custody matter on behalf of two parents is the utilization of a home study.

Depending on the results of the study and how you and your home are evaluated, you could end up having very different outcomes. During the heat of a divorce or child custody case, you may not have time to prepare thoroughly for the day that a social worker or amicus attorney comes to pay you a visit. Therefore, now is the best time to begin to prepare for this important event.

A Child Custody Evaluation in Detail

In child custody cases that are highly contested a court may order a child custody evaluation to be conducted. This is done in order so that the judge may look into the specific circumstances of both you and your opposing party’s home lives. If you and your spouse are unable to agree to a possessionschedule, conservatorship rights/duties or any other issue related to your children a child custody evaluation may be in your future.

Since a judge only has a limited view of you and your spouse as parents from what is seen in a courtroom, the child custody evaluation is a more comprehensive look at your home life.

How you relate to your children, how you relate to your spouse and the specific needs of your child will be evaluated. If there are specific events that occurred in the past that the judge believes to be relevant those can be looked into as well by the evaluator and interviews conducted by appropriate parties.

Before all is said and done, the evaluator will have looked into every nook and cranny, literally and figuratively, in your life to help the judge determine what living situation is in the best interests of your children to reside in primarily.

Who is the child custody evaluator?

The evaluator in your child custody or divorce case will be an unbiased party who has no prior relationship to either you or your opposing party. The contents of his or her evaluation will be compiled into a document known as a report which your judge will rely heavily upon when making a determination about custody.

That is if your case makes it all the way to a trial. Often times the results of an evaluation will convince one side or the other (or sometimes both sides) in a child custody case to settle prior to even reaching the courthouse steps.

I should point out that the evaluator does not act as the ultimate decider of anything. While he or she will likely be a professional therapist, counselor or even an attorney, their recommendations are just that- recommendations. Ultimately it is the judge in your case who will be charged with making any final determinations.

There is no advocating that is done by the evaluator on behalf of either you or your opposing party. It can sometimes feel that way, based on what prior clients have told me, but from my experience, these evaluators are very straightforward and objective most of the time.

The child custody evaluator’s Report

Houston Divorce Attorneys: Once the evaluation of both your and your opposing party’s home has been completed, the child custody evaluator will create a report that discusses both their findings and their recommendations to the judge.

Conservatorship, possession, access and other issues will be detailed. This is a heavy burden for the evaluator to bear. The contents of the report will be admitted into evidence should your case make it all the way to a trial. Judges place a lot of weight and emphasis on the evaluations contained in the report.

How in depth does an evaluation get?

If there are issues raised in your child custody case that merit further investigation it is likely that a judge will ask the evaluator to focus on those. For example, if there are allegations made against you that you were abusive or neglectful of your child then it is probable that an evaluator will focus on how you interact with your child and look at your home to determine if there are any conditions in existence that could harm your child or put him or her in danger.

Your parenting will obviously be evaluated, as will that of your opposing party. Independent judgments will be made about each but comparisons between you and your opposing party will not be made.

Before you consider putting on a “show” for the evaluator to show him or her how you and your children interact be aware that this will likely not be the evaluator’s first experience in a home environment. As a result, your actions may come through loud and clear and hollow and façade-like. I would recommend that you conduct yourself in a typical manner for you. You will feel better about the study as will your children.

The different types of child custody evaluations will be discussed in tomorrow’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC

Divorce Attorneys Houston: If you are interested in learning more about the subject of child custody evaluations then I would certainly recommend that you return to our blog tomorrow to read more on this subject.

In the event that you have questions about custody evaluations or any other subject in family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC today. Our licensed family law attorneys handle divorce and child custody cases that involve evaluations on a regular basis and would be happy to share additional knowledge with you. A consultation is free of charge and is available six days a week ... Continue Reading

[friedandy]

Proud.

(written for M&S Bank “Moneybox” intranet - June 2017)

I don’t hold my Fiancé’s hand in public. I can’t argue that it’s because I’m not affectionate. I am. It’s even said I give good hug! When I greet friends in the street it’s usually with a hug. I am a hugger. But when it comes to he (who sits at the other end of the sofa) I walk alongside him at a respectful distance. When I meet him from work I still get butterflies. We say hello and ask how our days were and then we walk alongside each another at that respectful distance.  Not miles apart but not close enough for our hands to brush against each other. We don’t draw attention to ourselves. It’s as if I’m keeping him a secret – which couldn’t be further from the truth. I am immensely proud of him. He is the kindest person I have ever met. He is so clever. He is so engaging. He is also so clumsy and socially awkward at times. He laughs too loud, eats with his mouth open, and usually says the wrong things and I love him all the more for it. But I worry. I worry that people will take advantage of his gentle nature. I worry that by any public display of affection I’ll be endangering him. I’ll be making him a target of abuse that I can’t protect him from. I honestly feel to embrace him before he hops on a train to work would put him in danger. Who’s watching? Who’ll target him? And so I do what I can to protect him.

Every day I’m subconsciously adjusting to my surroundings. It’s a survival technique but not one that comes with a David Attenborough narrative. It’s simply how the majority of us who identify as LGBT live our lives. We just do it without giving it much thought. I attempt to be myself when I’m in a safe environment and attempt to blend in when I’m not. Even here at M&S Bank I’m second guessing reactions. We all work for a company that actively promotes diversity and inclusion but I still hear the odd: “Why’s everything got to be so LGBT? We get it. They don’t need to keep going on about it!”

I appreciate that by not knowing why it’s so important for M&S Bank to promote its LGBT colleagues it can come across as one too many rainbows. One too many acknowledgements in a Connect session. One too many awareness days in a D&I newsletter. “When are they going to drag out the unicorns?” But its vitally important for the company to make its LGBT support as visual as possible simply because it allows me and your other lesbian, gay, bi and trans colleagues to feel safe in our shared environment. These visual reminders are our protective shield. They allow us the same confidence within our roles as everybody else.

I’m proud to work for M&S Bank. And while M&S Bank encourages me to be my whole self at work and accepts me for who I am, it’s not universal. Once I squeeze out from those revolving doors at the end of the day I’m stepping out from behind my protective shield.

In many societies, being gay is condemned. People are punished, tortured and banished from their communities because of whom they love.  In more than 70 countries, being gay is still illegal. Only 50 years ago it was illegal here too.  The Stonewall Riots of June 1969 are considered to be one of the most important events leading up to the gay rights movement. Pride marches are now held to commemorate the impact of those riots across the world. The UK has come a long way in terms of tolerance and unity but it’s been a tough road and there is still so much we need to achieve.

M&S Bank recognises this and has once again extended its support by sponsoring the Main Stage at Chester Pride. It’s a powerful statement that the bank openly supports its LGBT employees and the community as a whole.

Pride is a testament to those who fought for our rights and for those who continue to do so. The heart of the city beats a little faster during Chester Pride. It’s huge, it’s colourful and it’s here on 19 August. It’s a celebration of how far we have come, how much has changed, and how strong we are.

It allows me to be part of a majority for a day. It also allows me to hold my fiancé’s hand in our home town. It’s the warmth of a community that accepts everybody for who they really are.

I’ve smashed the acronym LGBT throughout this blog but please know that Pride is not just for those identifying as LGBT. It’s for all of us. I’d absolutely love for you to show your support and get involved.  I’m hoping to be part of the parade on August 19th but M&S Bank are also looking for marshals to ensure the day is a huge success. You can cash in your CSR day and, because Pride is on a Saturday, you can claim back a day off during the week. And if that’s not enough to tempt, you could even rub shoulders with such musical greats as B*Witched and Sonia. How can you say no to that? If you’ve already got you CSR day booked for something else, come along for a few hours anyway. Come and watch the parade. Come and be proud of the difference you make every day. Be proud of your work family. Be proud of your community.  

[soulstream-rp]

JACQUES DEVRIES | TWENTY-EIGHT | MEDIUM | “DECEIT”

DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH: March 28, 1988 / Antibes, France SEXUALITY: Heterosexual OCCUPATION: Thief / Occasional musician at Pisces FC: Gaspard Ulliel TAKEN

BACKGROUND *TW: child abuse*

Saying that he was born in France can make it sound quite sophisticated by default. The truth is that there was nothing fancy, agreeable or that encapsulated the joie de vivre in the wrong side of the city where Jacques spent his childhood. His father was frequent client of Lex Roux Club, a guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants when visiting the table dance and ended up getting too tangled up with the star performer, Greta DeVries. A baby boy was born as a result of their sexual encounters and Jean-Luc Marchand showed little to no interest for looking after the baby, leaving Greta mostly on her own to raise him and provide for him. She could barely afford an education for him and juggling two jobs to maintain her little boy meant she was barely around, leaving the kid to be looked after babysitters who didn’t really care much for the boy’s upbringing. There were the times when his father dropped by sporadically, making his mom immensely happy and Jacques infinitely miserable. Jean-Luc was a violent brute who thought the best way to turn his son into a man was through fists and belt buckles. He never got a lot of affection and attention during his childhood. Certainly the kind of attention he got from his father wasn’t the kind he wanted, and in fact he feared him. He trembled every time his father stepped into their crappy apartment for one of his surprise visits, and Jacques would either run to hide his room’s closet or run out of the house.

As he grew up rules were an abstract concept for him, though, because no one truly educated him to follow them. The way he saw them, they were something to bend to his liking if needed be. Such a behavior was emphasized further when the teen became part of a gang of little rascals and petty thieves often called “The White Devils” by the locals, a moniker they earned for their mischievousness and because they were usually nearby a tavern by the name Le Diable Blanc. Even if he was just a fifteen-year-old at the time and was certainly not allowed to be in such a place as a tavern, Jacques and the owner of the place, Maximilien Canet, formed an interesting bond after a while. There was something in Jacques that reminded Max of his young self and so the boy gradually became an apprentice of his. He started to spend a lot of time at Max’s tavern in spite of his parent’s disagreement and protests, which only gave him further incentives not to show up at home because at last he could avoid his father. Le Diable Blanc became his new home, a place where he rubbed shoulders with the toughest and most cunning of Antibes, a place where learned to make himself at home in the harshest of environments side by side with ex-cons. He dealt with alcohol-infested clientele on a daily basis like it was nothing and when it came down to bare-knuckle fighting Jacques learned not to back down even if he lost his first brawls. He was hardened by that place and the young man loved every second of it, feeling empowered. He gained new talents, new skills to deal with people by charm or by harm. It was pure bliss to spend time in that place drinking, playing card games, pickpocketing the unsuspecting customers and even entertaining some of them by playing some good tunes on the piano. Maximilien Canet was the king of that duplicitous underground world and he had turned Jacques into his heir apparent.

A couple of years went by and Jacques dropped out of high school, investing his time in what truly mattered to him: Le Diable Blanc. Unfortunately for him and his mentor, the tavern was closed down by authorities by the time he was twenty, all because of the illegal dealings that often went down in the tavern. Then an opportunity arose for Maximilien to move to America and he chose not to leave his protégé behind and Jacques followed him to New York with no hesitation whatsoever, even if it meant further estranging his already distant relationship with his mother and abusive father. The pair of tricksters didn’t stay long in that city and hitchhiked their way across several states, pulling off their thievery mischief here and there. Three years ago Jacques’ world was turned upside down when Max and he pulled off a big heist in San Francisco. In just a month they got everything they stole into the black market and had nothing to trace them back to the heist. Or so they thought. The police’s ongoing investigation was catching up to them and by being in the wrong place at the wrong time Jacques learned that Max was going to rat him out. It was a hurtful blow to know his mentor, his father, was willing to let him carry the blame on his own. Without a second thought Jacques pulled that move against Maximilien instead and threw him under the bus, throwing all the blame on him. It resulted in Maximilien getting 3 years in prison and deportation back to France upon the sentence’s end. Jacques has been on his own since then, still playing the dangerous game of thievery and risking his freedom just for the thrill and the gain. Now that Max is out of prison, Jacques is certain his old mentor will try to make him pay for the betrayal which is why the young thief moved to Port Ashborne to lay low. Luckily for him, he’s always been quite skilled at misdirecting people to avoid being caught.

He speaks English fluently after living in the US for eight years, however there is a faint hint of his French accent.

He is technically unemployed, since his shenanigans robbing hardly count as a job. But he oftentimes plays the piano at Pisces and gets a decent enough amount of money out of it.

He had a criminal record back in France, however only for minor charges. He has never been arrested in the US.

FAMILY: Jean-Luc Marchad (father/estranged) Greta DeVries (mother/estranged) Maximilien Canet (mentor/enemy)

CONNECTIONS: N/A

PERSONALITY

Jacques is the result of lacking limits as a kid, understanding little about restraints and rules. If anything facing a restriction or law only ignites in him the will to break and to bend them. It’s all a challenge for him, and he rarely backs down from one. He relied greatly on Maximilien for years, the man he revered as his mentor and even as his father, but even since learning of his intentions to betray him, Jacques no longer put his trust on others. He’s a one man force of nature to be reckoned and he lives by the motto of “every man for himself” now. His moral compass is not pointed towards north and his choices are never permeated by ethics, he simply acts according to what will benefit him. Jacques is an individualist to the core and his past has given him a bit of a dissociative personality as a coping mechanism. He comes off as smug and so sure of himself, which to an extent are true traits of himself, but they also serve as the first layer of the shields he has put around himself. Being selfish and detached are ways in which he feels he can’t be hurt and in which he keeps others at a safe distance.

SKILLS:

Thanks to Maximilien he learned all the skills that he could need to survive as a thief and know how to avoid getting caught. He’s quite skilled from basic things ranging from pick pocketing and forging people’s handwriting, to break-ins, safe-cracking or disabling security systems.

He is a decent enough fighter when it comes to hand to hand combat. More than having impeccable technique, Jacques has the sheer ferocity and brawn to hold his own in a fight.

Jacques knows how to play the piano. He learned to play by ear and by seeing some locals play at Le Diable Blanc. He kept developing his playing skills with practice and playing the piano is a hobby of his. He doesn’t know how to read sheets of music.

He possesses medium skills, however he is not prone to perceiving ghosts all too well, he can only distantly hear them. His skill developed in the way of illusion manipulation, or at least in a subtle form of it. Jacques is capable of tricking people into seeing, smelling or hearing things that aren’t really there. The illusory changes he is able to create are small and subtle, but they have always been enough for him to avoid getting caught.

[recentanimenews]

Peter's Picks for the 2017 Anime Awards

It’s that time already. The 2017 Anime Awards are upon us and competition looks even fiercer than last year. Now that voting is open, I assume you all are fulfilling your civic duty and making your voice heard by voting. In case you find yourself stuck on a category, however, I’ve laid out all my votes and the reasons why I think each deserves to win on February 24th.

Best Action: My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia has all the best features of shonen series when it comes to fighting. The battles this season were creative, strategic, and possessed an emotional heart. Feelings are a tangible force in shonen that can both determine the outcome of a battle and ensure the struggle possesses real meaning. The fight between Deku and Todoroki put the absolute best of the series on display and Bones brought out the big guns, ensuring all the highlights were given unforgettable visual sequences.

Best Drama: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

On my shortlist for best anime this year, Rakugo is difficult to summarize; a story tackling many different themes and spanning over half a century. Following the practitioners of a niche form of Japanese theater, Rakugo tells the story of one performer's life, his influence on his loved ones and the future of his art, and his struggles with intimacy and his own mortality. It’s a disservice to this anime to describe it as anything other than a true masterpiece from the story, to the voice performances, to the wonderful visual direction.

Best Comedy: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Although some of the other series on this list may have drawn out more consistent laughs, I don’t feel like any of the provided such a complete package as Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, effortlessly weaving jokes in between cathartic moments and the daily life of one supremely bizarre found family. The series tackled humor from a number of directions so it never grew stale and often felt inventive, even using it in service of the plot. Discovering this series may have been one of my most pleasant surprises of this year.

Best Slice of Life: Tsukigakirei

This may be my most selfish pick among any of the categories, but I really feel like Tsukigakirei was something special, offering a romance that wasn’t about getting together but staying together. Kotaro and Akane experience firsts together, step outside their comfort zones, and force each other to grow. It’s a wonderfully affirming reminder that we’re all awkward. The series dips slightly into melodrama from time to time but the resolution is inevitably a message to do the right thing and put in your best effort. You may not always get what you want, but you can be satisfied in the end.

Best Continuing Series: March comes in like a lion

I’ve been onboard this train since the very beginning, but the new season of March comes in like a lion surprised even me, taking everything that made the first season great and turning it up to 11. Seeing Rei growing and learning to rely on his support network is indescribably rewarding and the new subplot with Hina absolutely devastating. This season delivered what I consider to be one of the best single episodes this year, introducing a conflict so frustrating and authentic you’ll be left feeling genuine bitterness until it reaches its resolution.

Best Girl: Chise Hatori

While many seem focused on a certain bone-headed magus, I was originally drawn to The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Chise. One of the joys of the series is watching her slow emergence from a dark place, the victim of abuse and certain that there is no person or place in this world that will have her, into a confident and capable individual with a sense of belonging. Chise finding satisfaction in the opportunity to help others and learning to allow herself selfish happiness are one of the features that make the series truly magical.

Best Boy: Rei Kiriyama

Rei is probably the most moving portrayal of an individual suffering from chronic depression and anxiety I have seen in fiction, full stop.  The series has tracked his progress of overcoming his self-isolating instincts of feeling that he is a burden upon others to reaching out to those who bring him happiness. Where Chise may be able to one day find contentment, Rei’s quest feels less certain, but he’s gained the conviction to find and hold onto as many moments of happiness as he can.

Best Hero: Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

All-Might describes Deku and the quintessential hero and who am I to disagree with All-Might? Horikoshi’s vision of what defines heroism is one of the features which I believe elevates My Hero Academia to the stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other legendary shonen series and Deku is the personification of that ideal. A person who instinctively reaches out to those in need, even to his own detriment, even if he knows he will regret it. Honesty, empathy, and altruism made him a true hero even before All-Might gave him the power to realize the demands of his heart.

Best Villain: Stain

The obvious choice, Stain is both a villain and the central point upon which the new arc of My Hero Academia turns, inspiring an entire generation of disenfranchised individuals to rise up against the authority which has failed them. This aspect of his character also makes him the only sympathetic villain among the nominations. He sees rampant corruption among the pantheon of heroes dedicated to protecting the helpless and rejects them. Although his methods are evil, the truth of his criticisms resonates with those who have suffered as he has.

Best Manga: My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness

I don’t know if I’ve ever read any work of sequential art as real as My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Nagata’s experiences reach the extremes of debilitating anxiety, depression, and existential uncertainty, but have such a universal element of struggle told with such candidness that it's impossible not to engage with her autobiographical tale and draw a sense of common struggle and optimism from her hard-earned lessons.

Best Opening: “SHINZOU WO SASAGEYO! (心臓を捧げよ!)”

Of all the ways Studio WIT delivers with Attack on Titan, their OPs and EDs may be my favorite part. Each and everyone feels like they deserve a place among these nominations (if only the Anime Awards had been around during the first season), delivering a concentrated dose of the bombastic, over-the-top style of the show itself. The newest is no exception, with an energized anthem to get your blood pumping for 20 minutes of tension, violence, and horror that will inevitably culminate in a cliffhanger.

Best Ending: “STEP UP LOVE (ステップアップLOVE)”

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond has an emotional and thematic rhythm that is very unique, portraying the extreme deadliness neighborhood of Hellsalem’s Lot in a strange, light-hearted sense, like a quirky clubhouse full of misfits that often kill each other. How is the ending sequence captures that bizarre contradiction is beyond me, but it sure is fun. I love everything about the ending, from the music to the psychedelic animation, showing off the cast at their wackiest.

Best Film: In This Corner of the World

Possibly the hardest choice on the list is between In This Corner of the World and A Silent Voice, but I have to give it to MAPPA’s creation half-a-decade in the making. The staff went in trying to tell a human story and portrayed one of the most evocative tragedies I’ve ever witnessed without exploiting the characters suffering as a selling point. The film is both devastating and inspirational, carrying with it a message that all-too-relevant at this moment in time.

Best CGI: Land of the Lustrous

2017 may have been the single greatest year for CG in anime, with several releases that really showed how it could be utilized in ways that 2D can’t replicate. I was surprised not to see Polygon Pictures’ Blame! make it into the nominations. Barring that, Land of the Lustrous was a beautiful adaptation that took Haruko Ichikawa’s framework and made its own visual world. The hand-painted backgrounds and CG characters never felt awkward against one another and the characters gestures and use of the gem’s colors on the environment were spectacular.

Best Score: Made in Abyss

I remember reaching the theatrical climax of the very episode. The camera panned across the city as the light from the sunrise broke over the top of the mountain and into the caldera then dove into the gaping maw of the abyss. The score in the scene absolutely sold the moment for me and the completeness of the experience had me sure the series was something special. It’s one of those series you know early on is going to have a vinyl soundtrack release.

Best Animation: A Silent Voice

As much as I’m a fan of Yutaka Nakamura battle cuts, Yoh Yoshinari’s absolutely wild effects animation, and the immensely evocative visual style of March comes in like a lion, A Silent Voice seems like the obvious choice since, well, it was a film that allowed the already sterling consistent quality of Kyoto Animation to put their absolute best into every moment. A necessity in a story that focused so closely on expression and gesture.

Anime of the Year: Land of the Lustrous

I can’t help but give this one to Land of the Lustrous. Haruko Ichikawa’s exploration of human nature through the unlikely lens of anthropomorphic gemstones is utterly captivating, stripping away all of our superficial layers one by one to reach some sort of ultimate truth of humanity. Orange’s adaptation is inspired, presenting one of the greatest arguments yet for the use of CG in anime. It’s gorgeous, mysterious, eerie in its ever-present sense of danger, and almost heartbreakingly tragic.

Those are my favorites for this year! Choosing between the nominees wasn't easy, but I feel confident the best of the year was represented in each category. What do you think of my picks? Do you disagree my choices? Share your picks in the comments below!

---

Peter Fobian is Features and Reviews Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[azworkingdogs]

Muzzles: the Why, the How and the Why Not

Ahhhh muzzles!

Muzzles are probably one of the most misunderstood tools in dog training.

The majority of society think that they are cruel.

Even when aggressive dogs come into the veterinary clinic where I work 98% of people don’t want their dog muzzled.

Certain European countries demand muzzles be worn by certain breeds of dogs while they are out of their house.

The truth is that muzzles keep people safe.

The other truth is that muzzles keep DOGS safe!

Dogs that bite are often deemed dangerous and euthanized.

I would much rather walk my aggressive dog in a muzzle than risk that he would bite someone and have his life cut short.

I also don’t mind him being muzzled at the vet or when he has his nails trimmed.

I actually think that having a muzzle on his face keeps him preoccupied and he is thinking less about anything else that is going on around him!

I have spent a good part of my career working with protection and police dogs and part of our training is to acclimate dogs to doing obedience in muzzles and even agitating them in muzzles.  Muzzle work is very important.

I have learned to love muzzles.

Let me tell you why.

WHY

Muzzles Keep Your Dog Safe

If your dog is in a muzzle, he can’t bite another person or another dog or animal.  This keeps him from being deemed a dangerous dog!

Muzzles Keep Me Safe

Muzzles keep me from being bitten.

I don’t want to be bitten, whether I am working with an aggression case or whether I am trimming a Chihuahua’s nails at the vet.

Muzzles Keep Other Dog’s Safe

If a dog is dog aggressive, it makes training and socializing with other dogs (which is essential for a normal life) safe.

I don’t want to take my own dog, who is my demonstration dog to help dog aggressive dogs to learn if the aggressor is not on leash and muzzled.  It is not worth it to me if she gets bitten or mauled.

She trusts in me to keep her safe when I work on rehabilitation with these kinds of dogs and I will always ensure that she is safe, even if the leash were to get dropped.

Muzzles Keep Other Animals Safe

I have worked with dogs that also have aggression or severe prey drive issues with chickens, ducks, sheep, horses, cows, cats, etc.

Keeping a muzzle on the dog that is learning and then working on obedience keeps the distraction animal safe.

Just like I don’t want my own dog mauled.

I also don’t want a chicken killed or a horse tormented (especially because horses kick and kill dogs)

Muzzles and leashes with obedience and focus are key to working with animals that suffer from this kind of aggression.

Muzzles Give Your Dog Something Else to Think About

I mentioned this earlier, but it also deserves more elaboration.

It is absolutely true, that if your dog is stressed or slightly fearful or aggressive at places like the vet, the introduction of a muzzle allows for negative or stressful things to happen more quickly and with less trauma.

Because the dog is focused on what is on his face, he is less fearful of the needles and the nail trimmers.  Sometimes it is amazing.

I even admit I have muzzled overly excited dogs in an attempt to just get them to sit still long enough for me to get nails trimmed.

This same phenomenon can happen with training; the muzzle gives them something else to focus on rather than overt aggression and their trigger.

It is kind of the same theory of the “Thunder Shirt”,  it places focus somewhere else and can, in some ways, take some of the aggression out of the dog’s “sails”.

Some dogs realize there is no way they can bite and they acquiesce to the situation, which makes training easier for the owner and more tolerable for the dog.

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Muzzles Give Us Space

I used to HATE how people would judge me and my dog, when my dog had a muzzle on his face.

I felt bad.

I felt guilty.

I felt that the dog and I were being judged harshly.

Then I realized, that I didn’t have to care.

People judge people, dogs and things all of the time.  Often our actions have little to do with other people’s judgement anyway.

I have gotten used to the dirty looks and the snide comments and I have lived to realize that it actually keeps people away from me and my dog when I am training.

I often put a muzzle on a perfectly social dog just to escape screaming children and explicit conversations about all things “dog” when I am out training.  Sometimes I don’t want to be social, I just want to train.

But the nice thing is that a muzzle keeps people and dogs out of yours and your dog’s bubble.

It doesn’t matter if your dog is dog aggressive, or if he doesn’t like people, a basket muzzle is a universal sign to give you space and therefore it allows you to train without stress.

If I have to worry that a toddler will sneak up behind me and my aggressive dog and he might bite the child in the face, it creates an immense amount of stress for us both; because my stress travels down the leash to my dog.

If I have to have my head on a swivel and am constantly on the look out for dogs that are off leash because my dog is dog aggressive; it also creates undue stress on the two of us while we are training.

I like to train my dogs with a calm demeanor, always, so that they too will feed off of my aura.  I can’t do that nearly as well, if I am afraid my dog will have an aggressive moment.

HOW

Make the Muzzle Fun

I feed my dogs out of their muzzle WAY before I ever strap the muzzle on their face.

I use duct tape to tape the end of the muzzle shut (sticky to sticky so that the inside is not sticky) and then I pour food into the muzzle and let the dog come and eat out of it like a feeding bag.

I can also use hot dogs or great treats in there.

After they have been acclimated to shoving their face in there, I take the tape off and being to slather peanut butter or liverwurst into the muzzle and allow the dog to lick this out.

Sometimes, at this point I barely hang the muzzle on their face.

Then I can click for keeping the muzzle on, while I insert great treats through the gap of the muzzle.

The important thing is to get them used to it before ever strapping it on and leaving it on their face.

They should be excited to shove their face in the muzzle!

From there you can add obedience, click and reward through the muzzle. For a great video series that shows how to teach basic obedience, click here.

As always, make it fun!!!!

WHY NOT

Why I Hate Muzzles

Over Use

I will agree that in some instances, people over use them.

They are not to be used all of the time in your home if you have dogs that don’t get along.

I think this is a cruel and unacceptable way to live.

Sure, they can be used to training for these situations too, but they are not meant to be a constant piece of clothing or a band aid without the use of any training.

Cloth Muzzles

I hate cloth muzzles, unless they are going to be on for less that 2-5 minutes.

Cloth muzzles restrict breathing and the ability for your dog to pant.

These muzzles should only be used by vets, vet hospitals or other people who just simply need to get a quick treatment done.

If you leave a muzzle like this on a dog for extended period, they will die.

I once knew a client whose neighbor left on of these muzzles on their collie because the dog barked outside in the back yard during the day.  Their solution was to muzzle the dog and put it outside.  The dog died of heat exhaustion within the day.

Muzzles are not an excuse not to train!

Muzzles are only a tool to help the dog and owner relax and a way to control the dog and environment to the best of the owners ability.

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[soulstream-rp]

Hi Eva! We're always blown away by the characters you make, seriously. Jacques is well thought out and we're really excited to see him on board. He's gonna work out well in our (not so little) town. We can't wait to throw all of our characters at him. Please make sure to follow everyone on our masterlist and to follow the tags for announcements, starters, follows & unfollows, as well as events. Also, make sure that your submit is activated for OOC chat link purposes. Congratulations!

OOC info.

Third Character App

IC info. Original Character

Character Name: Jacques DeVries

Age: 28

Character Type: Medium

True Name: “Deceit”

FC: Gaspard Ulliel

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Date & Place of Birth: March 28th, 1988 / Antibes, France

Occupation: Thief / Occasional musician at Pisces

Background:

Saying that he was born in France can make it sound quite sophisticated by default but the truth is that there was nothing fancy, agreeable or that encapsulated the joie de vivre in the wrong side of the city where Jacques spent his childhood. His father was frequent client of Lex Roux Club, a guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants when visiting the table dance and ended up getting too tangled up with the star performer, Greta DeVries. A baby boy was born as a result of their sexual encounters and Jean-Luc Marchand showed little to no interest for looking after the baby, leaving Greta mostly on her own to raise him and provide for him. She could barely afford an education for him and juggling two jobs to maintain her little boy meant she was barely around, leaving the kid to be looked after babysitters who didn’t really care much for the boy’s upbringing. There were the times when his father dropped by sporadically, making his mom immensely happy and Jacques infinitely miserable. Jean-Luc was a violent brute who thought the best way to turn his son into a man was through firsts and belt buckles. He never got a lot of affection and attention during his childhood. Certainly the kind of attention he got from his father wasn’t the kind he wanted, and in fact he feared him. He trembled every time his father stepped into their crappy apartment for one of his surprise visits, and Jacques would either run to hide his room’s closet or run out of the house.

As he grew up rules were an abstract concept for him, though, because no one truly educated him to follow them. The way he saw them, they were something to bend to his liking if needed be. Such a behavior was emphasized further when the teen became part of a gang of little rascals and petty thieves often called “The White Devils” by the locals, a moniker they earned for their mischievousness and because they were usually nearby a tavern by the name Le Diable Blanc. Even if he was just a fifteen-year-old at the time and was certainly not allowed to be in such a place as a tavern, Jacques and the owner of the place, Maximilien Canet, formed an interesting bond after a while. There was something in Jacques that reminded Max of his young self and so the boy gradually became an apprentice of his. He started to spend a lot of time at Max’s tavern in spite of his parent’s disagreement and protests, which only gave him further incentives not to show up at home because at last he could avoid his father. Le Diable Blanc became his new home, a place where he rubbed shoulders with the toughest and most cunning of Antibes, a place where learned to make himself at home in the harshest of environments side by side with ex-cons. He dealt with alcohol-infested clientele on a daily basis like it was nothing and when it came down to bare-knuckle fighting Jacques learned not to back down even if he lost his first brawls. He was hardened by that place and the young man loved every second of it, feeling empowered. He gained new talents, new skills to deal with people by charm or by harm. It was pure bliss to spend time in that place drinking, playing card games, pickpocketing the unsuspecting customers and even entertaining some of them by playing some good tunes on the piano. Maximilien Canet was the king of that duplicitous underground world and he had turned Jacques into his heir apparent.

A couple of years went by and Jacques dropped out of high school, investing his time in what truly mattered to him: Le Diable Blanc. Unfortunately for him and his mentor, the tavern was closed down by authorities by the time he was twenty, all because of the illegal dealings that often went down in the tavern. Then an opportunity arose for Maximilien to move to America and he chose not to leave his protégé behind and Jacques followed him to New York with no hesitation whatsoever, even if it meant further estranging his already distant relationship with his mother and abusive father. The pair of tricksters didn’t stay long in that city and hitchhiked their way across several states, pulling off their thievery mischiefs here and there. Three years ago Jacques’ world was turned upside down when Max and he pulled off a big heist in San Francisco In just a month they got everything they stole into the black market and had nothing to trace them back to the heist. Or so they thought. The police’s ongoing investigation was catching up to them and by being in the wrong place at the wrong time Jacques learned that Max was going to rat him out. It was a hurtful blow to know his mentor, his father, was willing to let him carry the blame on his own. Without a second thought Jacques pulled that move against Maximilien instead and threw him under the bus, throwing all the blame on him. It resulted in Maximilien getting 3 years in prison and deportation back to France upon the sentence’s end. Jacques has been on his own since then, still playing the dangerous game of thievery and risking his freedom just for the thrill and the gain. Now that Max is out of prison, Jacques is certain his old mentor will try to make him pay for the betrayal which is why the young thief moved to Port Ashborne to lay low. Luckily for him, he’s always been quite skilled at misdirecting people to avoid being caught.

Additional Information:

His full name is Jacques Gael DeVries.

He speaks English very well after living in the US for eight years, however there is a faint hint of his French accent.

He is technically unemployed, since his shenanigans robbing hardly count as a job. But he oftentimes plays the piano at Pisces and gets a decent enough amount of money out of it.

Jacques sends money to his mother every now and then. He sometimes attaches a small note for her in case she’d like to know how and where to contact him but she never does.

He had a criminal record back in France, however only for minor charges. He has never been arrested in the US.

FAMILY:

Jean-Luc Marchad (father/estranged)

Greta DeVries (mother/estranged)

Maximilien Canet (mentor/enemy)

CONNECTIONS:

n/a

Personality:

Jacques is the result of lacking limits as a kid, understanding little about restraints and rules. If anything facing a restriction or law only ignites in him the will to break and to bend them. It’s all a challenge for him, and he rarely backs down from one. He relied greatly on Maximilien for years, the man he revered as his mentor and even as his father, but even since learning of his intentions to betray him, Jacques no longer put his trust on others. He’s a one man force of nature to be reckoned and he lives by the motto of “every man for himself” now. His moral compass is not pointed towards north and his choices are never permeated by ethics, he simply acts according to what will benefit him. Jacques is an individualist to the core and his past has given him a bit of a dissociative personality as a coping mechanism. He comes off as smug and so sure of himself, which to an extent are true traits of himself, but they also serve as the first layer of the shields he has put around himself. Being selfish and detached are ways in which he feels he can’t be hurt and in which he keeps others at a safe distance.

Skills:

Thanks to Maximilien he learned all the skills that he could need to survive as a thief and know how to avoid getting caught. He’s quite skilled from basic things ranging from pickpocketing and forging people’s handwriting, to break-ins, safe-cracking or disabling security systems.

He is a decent enough fighter when it comes to hand to hand combat. More than having impeccable technique, Jacques has the sheer ferocity and brawn to hold his own in a fight.

Jacques knows how to play the piano. He learned to play by ear and by seeing some locals play at Le Diable Blanc. He kept developing his playing skills with practice and playing the piano is a hobby of his. He doesn’t know how to read sheets of music.

He possesses medium skills, however he is not prone to perceiving ghosts all too well, he can only distantly hear them. His skill developped in the way of illusion manipulation, or at least in a subtle form of it. Jacques is capable of tricking people into seeing, smelling or hearing things that aren’t really there. The illusory changes he is able to create are small and subtle, but they have always been enough for him to avoid getting caught.

Sample Paragraph: TW: rape and violence

“Marcos, please” she pleaded, eyes clouded with tears as she squirmed beneath the weight of his body. “I won’t go to the police, I won’t say anything. I promise. I promise I’ll stay quie-”. Her words were cut off as his palm collided against her cheekbone. It stung, a pulsating warmth under her skin in the place where he slapped her.

The tears fell down her cheeks and she met Marcos’ eyes again, silently pleading him to stop this. It was impossible for her to find the familiar softness she used to see her boyfriend’s dark eyes. It was gone now. They were pits of coal, burning with a type of cruelty that brought the deepest, rawest kind of fear in her.

“Please, Marcos” Lourdes pleaded once more, her voice quivering with sobs she couldn’t contain any longer. “Please don’t do this”. The young man was deaf to her cries and he hit her once more, harder than the previous one.

Panic found her once more when Marcos unzipped his pants, when his hand forcefully restrained her by the wrists. Lourdes did whate she could to fight him off, to try to get him to move from crushing her body against the floor. She cried out again, painfully aware that he would get to have his way with her yet again. No matter how hard she fought him, she couldn’t stop Marcos from hitting her, from ripping her underwear off her body. She was powerless to stop him from violently getting his pleasure out of her pain and suffering.

- - -

Lou woke up with a start, a scream dying in her throat when her eyes opened. There were tears already in her eyes and they just continued to fall as she curled herself up, her arms wrapping around her knees. Her body shook, quietly sobbing. She wanted to cry out, to yell, but she did not to make any sound that could wake up her uncle.

The emotions brought by what she’d dreamed about ran free. Her only comfort was that it had been just a dream. A nightmare… This was unlike the other times she’d relieved her experience with Marcos, this wasn’t the first time her mind took her back to that event. However, it was the first time she went through it so vividly.

That experience was seared into her brain. It only made sense that her worst nightmares were crafted with the sharp edges of those memories.