#and riz is his best friend in the world and he knows on some level that riz is simply not interested in having that kind of relationship

[biblicalhorror]

Aroace Riz real but also Fabian is SO clearly in love with him and Riz has no idea

[rooolt]

We are introduced to Bill Seacaster almost immediately, and immediately know what he's about. He's an infamous pirate known around the world for his awful deeds. He's filthy rich and most importantly, he LOVES his son.

We are introduced to Pok Gukgak only in passing. A small note of riz's long-dead father. And he's left as that for a while, because why would he be anything more. But then he is more, he's so much more. He's a badass and a spy.

Almost immediately we learn that Bill Seacaster is widely known for horrible things, and eventually we learn that Pok Gukgak was never known for all he gave.

With learning about Pok Gukgak comes learning about his death, which as all things involving Riz are, is a mystery. Riz slowly uncovers the pieces to a long warn-out fuzzy picture and even when he thinks he has it all there's always more. He was sick, no he died in a shipwreck, no he was eaten by a dragon, his partner lured him there. Pok Gukgak's death is avenged because of course it is. Riz's goal is to be like him and if he was a hero it's what he would've wanted, it's what he would've done.

Bill Seacaster's death is no mystery. Fabian is intimately familiar with the details. He was right there, he made it happen. Resurrection and incredible feats of healing are very possible in Solace. If Fabian hadn't stabbed him and Bill hadn't blown up, it was very possible that he would've survived. But he didn't survive because Fabian killed him because that's what his dad wanted, that's what he would've done.

Fabian Seacaster has to live up to his father's legacy. Even as he haunts the fiery levels of hell, his memory is still very much alive. Fabian has to live up to his father's legacy, something so very hard to do when his father's name is so boldly written upon the face of the world. The best thing Fabian can do is write his own as a footnote.

Riz Gukgak has to live up to his father's memory. He was a great man who did great things. Right? Riz Gukgak has to live up to his father's memory, a task so impossible as his very name was practically forgotten in the flaming belly of a dragon. Maybe his dad is in hell, maybe he deserves to be there. Why would Riz know? Why would he know anything?

He's nothing like him. He's nothing like him. How can you be like a man who seemingly everyone knows? How can you be like a man you barely knew?

He's nothing like him, but he's like himself. His friends don't need his dad to help save their lives, the world doesn't need his dad to protect it.

They're nothing like their dads but everything like them at the same time. They are notorious and unknown, heroes who do some unsavory things. Their dads are gone but they're right here.

[supercantaloupe]

on Aelwyn Abernant, the Reformed Villain Squad, and redeeming teenage antagonists

an analysis on antagonist character development in Fantasy High. spoilers through sophomore year and (mildly so) the most recent roll20 oneshot. essay under the cut bc i am very long winded

the turnaround with Aelwyn in s2 is handled so well  i cant get over it. she was such a major antagonist in the first season and just. despicable. she had no pathos. we hated this bitchy older sister who tried to kill Adaine and her friends and raise an evil dragon, and when she gets knocked on her ass and thrown in jail, we cheer.

and then s2 fucking starts saying “hey she’s in jail still if you’d like to look into that” and pursuing that thread ends up being almost as comedic an idea as it is a reluctant one; it’s also quickly shunted to the background as soon as more pressing leads present themselves, to the point where we almost forget about her until Adaine is kidnapped and then the first time you see her it’s just. viscerally upsetting.

she’s bad. she did evil. she got what she deserved.

but she already got what she deserved. last season.

she got her ass handed to her by a bunch of 14 year olds including her little sister (how embarrassing!). her plans were thwarted. she got punched in the face and made fun of. she already got her punishment.

it just……immediately registers as over-the-top Wrong to be told “hey, remember that antagonist you beat last season? she’s still being punished for that, except it’s way worse than just going to mumple.”

and there’s that reminder that like…this is a teenager. a child. who has been manipulated and abused. which is a really fascinating look at this character we used to see pretty much unilaterally as a one dimensional bitchy villain.

i mean we got a more in depth look at Penelope’s and Biz’s motivations in s1 (Penelope being the popular rich girl sorceress obviously hungry for power and the alllure of the high school clout that is being prom queen, but also we know that her having to turn on her best friend Sam Nightingale as part of the scheme was something she was reluctant and not happy to do; and Biz being that predatory incel creeper type dude besides just a nerd with computers and a lack of social graces). and they were as much willingly active in the plot as Aelwyn was. yet in s1 they really never do bother to explore Aelwyn’s motivations. i remember after watching s1 but before s2 that was one of my biggest lingering questions: why tf was Aelwyn involved?

well. she was manipulated and abused. her terrible parents raised her in an awful environment that conditioned her to Listen and Obey and Behave and Be Perfect, and then Kalina helped cinch the noose around her neck with threats and coersion into the KVS Kaper and the NMK crown debacle. she doesn’t freely choose any of it; she’s coerced, manipulated, abused.

and she already got justifiably punished for her bad actions in s1. the torture is almost literal overkill. it’s just……there’s this immediate turnaround in sympathy and view of the character. on first watch, it’s viscerally upsetting to see her getting so brutally punished for actions she already faced consequences for, and on rewatch, it makes your skin crawl to know she’s being tortured for terrible things she had little choice in carrying out. and tortured by some of the very same people who coerced her to behave terribly in the first place, to add insult to injury.

and it’s still fucking frustrating when they rescue her and her memory gets reset and she goes back to her parents because it’s like “well shit, she’s evil again, and we just wasted all that effort for nothing” but it’s also sad cause we know she’s running back to her abusers and she isn’t happy about it but doesn’t feel like she has a choice. and it’s sadder still that what eventually inevitably gets her to turn to good for good (i.e. away from her parents) is just. a full dissociative mental breakdown.

(but then she survives and it’s gonna be good!!! until Adaine dies in her fucking arms. which is. almost funny. she’s been through so much shit and that isn’t something that Brennan would have just. preplanned. like a written in plot point. no, that was just an unpredictable consequence of the battle. what a juicy fucking moment. she’s been through All That Shit™️ and has finally turned to fight for good and her sister just fully dies in front of her. yeowch)

and she turns out okay in the end. she comes out the other side alive and whole and supported by her sister and her friends, with the hope of a future and recovery. there is an acknowledgement that A) she can and will grow from her mistakes and damage, B) it’s going to be really hard, and C) the post-s2 one shots both prove that she’s doing okay now. hell, she has a whole squad now of other former-teenage-villains-turned-good-guys. she has friends now, Ragh and Zayn, with common ground, and a secret handshake and everything. they’ve all grown from the mistakes of their past into better, happier, healthier people

and about Zayn and Ragh. we’ve seen a lot of characters, protagonist and antagonist, teenage and adult, PC and NPC do some really fucked up shit and get punished for it. but why do they get happy endings? why are Aelwyn, Ragh, and Zayn the only members of the RVS and not someone else like Biz or Penelope or Dayne? 

well, the latter two are dead by then; but then again, Biz and Ragh were also killed by the Bad Kids in s1, and subsequently resurrected. (Zayn died too, but was neither killed nor revived at the Bad Kids’ hands, so i’ll get to him in a sec.) and there are plenty of adult antagonists the Bad Kids face who are killed and left that way by the Bad Kids without second thought: Johnny Spells, Coach Daybreak, Captain Wicklaw, the Abernant parents (presuming Arianwen doesn’t survive in the forest for very long, which i doubt). why do some characters get second chances while others don’t?

in the case of Zayn, his death was pretty much out of the Bad Kids’ hands, and they later found out he was manipulated by Daybreak into being bad anyway because of his sad living situation. he was a pretty minor antagonist in the scheme of things, and when we re-meet him as a ghost in the s1 epilogue, he’s pretty obviously remorseful for his actions. and dying seems like a steep enough punishment to me for the shit he did to contribute to the KVX caper; returning as a ghost, free from the trappings of his unfortunate living life, he now has the room and freedom to grow into a better person.

in the cases of Daybreak, Spells, Wicklaw, and the Abernant parents: these are bad people who should know better. these are fully grown adults who actively choose to do evil. whether they think it’s the right thing to do or not (in Daybreak’s case), whether they think it will benefit them and don’t care about anyone else (in the Abernants’ case), or whether they don’t care much at all and are just doing shit because they feel like it (in the cases of Spells and Wicklaw), these are all adults who consciously make the decision to do terrible things and hurt other people. of course Johnny Spells, who is generally a punk thief and thug, is not on the same level of bad as Angwyn, who kidnaps and tortures his own daughters for political gain, but the point remains. these fuckers should know better. they’re grown ups. they had their chances to be good and they chose not to heed them. their minds are set on bad actions and they are a continued danger to other people as long as they are alive. when they die, the Bad Kids do their damndest to make sure it stays that way.

now, in the cases of Penelope and Dayne: these are teenagers who actively chose to participate in an evil plot. Penelope, Dayne, and Biz were all fully cognizant of what they were doing trying to raise KVX back to his former power. why? well, to some extent, we can only speculate. i suspect Penelope was just one of those Regina George bitches who is rich and popular and powerful and obsessed with power and popularity within high school as if that’s the end-all-be-all of existence (which, like, when you’re currently in high school, is a somewhat understandable worldview i think). Dayne being her boyfriend and a musclehead jock probably falls into a similar line of thinking. they are actively and willingly trying to cause harm, and teenager or not, must be stopped. they’re killed, anyway, during the Climactic Battle™️ anyhow; it’s not like the Bad Kids were going to gain anything at that point by keeping them alive.

now, Biz: Biz is the creepy Nice Guy incel type, sees woman as a prize he deserves to win, yadda yadda. he does, like Penelope and Dayne, actively choose to help KVX. there might be something to be said about his motivation the Bad Kids discover after the arcade battle by detecting his thoughts (that being to upload the captured maidens from the palimpsests to “call the shots” himself) is an altered memory; whether this was his original motivation from the start or not, i’m not sure. but the Bad Kids do kill him – and then resurrect him for important, time-sensitive information. and they beat it out of him – he gets two of his fucking fingers blown off. and Riz reattaches them once they have their info, and they realize his memory is altered. of course, the Bad Kids don’t know at this point that the altered memory was something he, Penelope, and Aelwyn had planned and agreed on and done to themselves, but this points to something important in my opinion: the Bad Kids, and the narrative/show as a whole by extension, acknowledge that external manipulation affects how guilty someone is in a crime.

which brings us to Ragh. Ragh, introduced from episode 1 as the meathead jock. Ragh the archetypical one-dimensional high school bully. Ragh who works with the harvestmen in effort to (ostensibly) end the world/provoke international war. Ragh, whose low intelligence but high loyalty and internalized homophobia led him to be fully swayed and blindly led by his coach and captain, who have actively chosen to do evil. Ragh who is killed in combat by the Bad Kids and resurrected for information, not Daybreak. Ragh, who the Bad Kids realize was probably not aware of exactly what he was being made to do and how bad it really was. Ragh, who by their kindness in sparing his life and directing him on a better path, becomes a well-rounded character and an active ally to the Bad Kids during and after prom, an invaluable companion during their quest in sophomore year, and overall a really good friend and person. 

(it might also be worth considering the case of Jawbone here, too, who started out a very minor antagonist in a fight but ended up becoming a major NPC because the Bad Kids talked to him, found out he came from an unfortunate situation and set of circumstances, and showed him kindness in offering the school guidance counselor position, a kindness that isn’t really owed but given anyway and ends up changing his entire life for good.)

and then, Aelwyn, whose case is already discussed above. so, why is the RVS what it is, why them but not others?

if you’re familiar with Avatar: the Last Airbender, you’re probably familiar with Zuko’s character arc, and how it’s often lauded as a masterful example of developing a villain into a hero over the course of a narrative. what makes Zuko’s arc so well done and exceptional is that he starts out as a kid in a bad situation under the influence of bad adults seeking to do bad deeds, but he later realizes the error of those ways, actively removes himself from that situation despite the difficulty and danger in doing so, goes through a lot of shit and reflects on his past mistakes and learns from them, and then actively chooses to fight for good in the end with the help of close, trusted friends, found family. 

this, i believe, is the same in the case of Fantasy High and its treatment of the RVS. its members, like Zuko, are all teenagers who came from shitty situations and were manipulated by evil adults to do bad. they are punished for their bad actions, and they learn from their errors and mistakes. with the kindness and help of good people, friends and chosen family, they are able to escape their abusers and bad situations and grow into their own people. and they actively choose to improve themselves with that help and fight for good.

Fantasy High, through the arcs of Jawbone, Zayn, Ragh, and especially Aelwyn, asserts that it is not your fault if you come from a bad situation and are forced to behave badly as a result. it does not pretend that you are absolved of any responsibility for those actions; quite the opposite, as even though they were externally manipulated into their evil actions, all of those mentioned characters face tangible consequences for their actions and later express remorse for their mistakes. but Fantasy High also asserts that even if you have made great mistakes in your past, even if you came from a bad situation beyond your control, even if you were manipulated and abused, with care and love and support and a hell of a lot of work and effort, you can improve your situation and find good, happiness, peace, you can thrive. evil adults who should know better don’t get redeemed. teenagers who aren’t coerced but actively choose evil don’t get redeemed. but abused kids deserve another shot at happiness. with enough work, and some love and help along the way, they can get there, even from the lowest imaginable point, from rock fucking buttom. it’s possible. 

[legoshi-plz]

Late Night Visitor Part 2

Summary: Late Night Visitor Part 2. Things continue to escalate with Riz and you feel as if there’s no way out. Help comes in the form of an unexpected ally.

Part One

Warnings: Smut (NSFW 18+), Rape/Non-Con, Threat of Violence, Language, etc...

///////////////

“Deeper, don’t make me have to say it again,” Riz growled, his grip on the fur on the back of your head tightening. You opened your jaws wider to allow more of him down your throat while fighting your own gag reflex.

“Mhm, that’s it. Looks like old dogs can learn new tricks,” he chuckled at his own demeaning words. You closed your eyes to try and remove yourself as much as you could from the situation but it was hard with him stuffing nearly every orfice you had.

He currently had three thick digits stuffed inside your dripping entrance while he fucked your throat raw with his monstrous cock. He was completely filling you and the worst part was that you could feel your orgasm coming at any moment. That would be the final blow of shame for this evening, him berating you for ‘enjoying’ it when you literally had no choice. You had long ago lost control over the pleasure functions of your body. No matter how much you hated him with every fiber of your being, there were certain stimulation your body couldn’t ignore.

“You’re fucking soaking my fingers, Y/N. It’s getting late but fuck it, I gotta have you,” He groaned, slapping your face with his free hand to get you to let him go. You didn’t see what difference it would make what time it was, the two of you were already late to Drama club. Most evenings when he made you give your body to him, you were usually too fucked out to even show up at all.

You started to get up off your knees but apparently you were moving too slow for Riz, so he picked you up by your waist and slammed you into the abandoned classroom wall forcefully. Without a word of warning, he pushed the entirety of his length into you. You winced at the burn this stretch always caused but were relieved it wasn’t as overall unbearable as it usually is. You hated that you were grateful for him forcing his fingers into you earlier.

“C’mon baby, you know the drill,” his voice was husky and you knew if you played along this could be over quickly.

“Oh my god, Riz, your dick feels amazing,” you moaned. You could feel him quickening his pace already at your words.

“Tell me how much you love it, FUCK!” He growled, his thrusts pounding your cervix to punctuate each word. You knew he was desperate now and that you could end this in a few mere words.

“I love it when you use me like this. I love being your whore. And I really love it when you cum inside me.” His face was buried into your neck and he had his entire weight pinning you to the wall, nearly crushing you.

“Say you need it, say you fucking need it, slut!” His voice was high pitched and beginning to crack. It was all over now.

“I need your cum, Riz. I need you to cum inside me,” you moaned and your body suddenly jolted at your own orgasm washed over you unexpectedly. Riz was right behind you, shooting thick white ropes into you until it reached capacity and began spilling down the sides. You turned your head in disgust while he watched the sight as if he’d just discovered gold.

“It’s like you get tighter and tighter every time. Keep this up and I’ll have to carve you open just to fuck you,” he chuckled, pulling out of you. You didn’t laugh.

Once he set you down, you adjusted your uniform as best you could, trying to hightail it out of there as quickly as your wobbly legs would carry you. You made it to the hallway before he gripped your arm and jerked you back towards him, nearly ripping your arm out the socket.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He said almost pleasantly as if he didn’t just force himself on you yet again.

You silently reached up on your tippy toes offering your lips to him. He had to bend down to complete the kiss, his lips burning against your own. The kiss was hungry and all-consuming, much like everything else about Riz.

“There you two are!” A chipper voice rang down the hall and you felt your insides turn to ice. You could tell by the way Riz’s grip on your arm tightened that he had been caught off guard too.

Juno bounced down the hallway, her usual bubbly self. She had a knowing smirk on her face indicating she’d caught you two kissing. You prayed that was the only thing she noticed.

“Louis sent me to come find you, Y/N. He was gonna announce the parts for the Winter showcase but held off since everyone wasn’t there. He’s pretty angry,” Juno said as Riz loosened his grip on your arm and slid it down so it looked like he was holding your hand, not previously yanking you about in a death grip.

“We were just about to head there now,” Riz smiled as the two of you followed behind Juno. You wanted to make an excuse so you could head back to your dorm and scrub every trace of Riz off of you but his hand in yours told you that wasn’t an option.

“So how long have you two lovebirds been dating?” Juno chirped, smiling back at the two of you.

“We’re just really good friends,” Riz said pleasantly before you even had a chance to process her question.

“I see, keeping it under wraps for now. Oh how romantic! I wish a certain someone would notice me like that but he barely even notices I’m alive,” She sighed in her own world.

“Well that can always change, sometimes even overnight,” Riz said throwing you a shit-eating grin. You blanched at the memory of that first night.

The rest of the walk there was uneventful and Riz let your hand go the second the two of you neared the auditorium. The moment you two stepped inside it was as if he didn’t know you at all, barely even looked at you. You felt a minuscule amount of weight lift from your shoulders.

“Y/N! My office!” Louis barked the second he laid eyes on you. And just like that the stress was back on again.

You followed him in, barely making it inside before he slammed the door crudely.

“You want to explain yourself?” He said in a condescending tone as he plopped down at his desk.

“E-explain myself?”

“I was under the impression you actually wanted the solo slot for the Winter showcase yet your actions have done nothing but prove otherwise.” Louis admonished and you hug your head in shame. Ever since Riz took it upon himself to make you his own personal fucktoy at his every beck and call, the Winter Showcase was the last thing on your mind.

“I’m sorry, Louis,” You uttered lamely. You didn’t even have an excuse you could admit to him.

“That much is obvious. And the most disappointing aspect of this whole situation is that the part was already yours but you couldn’t even be bothered to show up....” Louis voice trailed off and he suddenly stood from his desk, approaching you rapidly. You tried to inch away but your back quickly made contact with the wall.

“There are bruises all over your neck... and your arms...” Louis examined you and seemed to finally take in your disheveled appearance.

“Did someone.... do this to you?”

“N-No!” You answered too quickly. That was all the clarification he needed.

“There’s been another member from the art department that happens to usually be missing the same times as you. It’s awfully convenient...,” Louis carefully lifted up your skirt, the view of Riz’s cum seeping out of you on full display.

“How long?”

“Louis...”

“How long has this been going on, YN?”

“A... a few weeks now,” you could have died right there from the shame you felt. It was one thing to be regularly abused by Riz but for someone to find out? It was a new level of mortification.

“Y/N, I need you to listen to me very carefully. You need to leave and scrape the very trace of him off of you okay. Does anyone else know about this?” Louis’s eyes were filled with concern and you felt the tears start to well in your eyes.

“J-Juno saw him kiss me but that’s it.”

“Okay, good. She’s very forgetful, especially about.... sensitive subjects. You’re dismissed, go straight to your dorm and stay there for the rest of the night. Do not be alone with him again. Do you understand?” Louis said sternly and you nodded.

“Alright well you better get going then. I’m going to take care of this for you, Y/N.” The tears started to spill at Louis’ promise and you couldn’t help yourself from wrapping your arms around him in a hug of gratitude. He hesitated then slowly returned the gesture.

“Okay, that’s enough. You reek of mating pheromones,” Louis smiled gently, pulling you off of him.

You followed his orders and went straight to your dorm and scrubbed every trace of Riz off of you. You went to bed that night with your mind racing with different scenarios of how Louis intended to ‘handle’ this. What if he just made things worse for you? What if he tried to talk to Riz about it and Riz killed him?

What if Riz killed you?

You didn’t get hardly any sleep that night.

///////////

The next day you drug yourself to class as usual to find it abuzz with gossip.

“Didn’t you hear-”

“They drug him out in handcuffs-”

“It took like three of them to even muzzle him-”

“Wasn’t taking his government issued suppressants-”

You tuned into the chatter only to discover that apparently early this morning, the police came and carted Riz off for the murder of Tem. You were shocked and horrified that you’d been getting raped by a literal murderer for weeks now but you also felt an enormous amount of relief and strangely enough, a tad bit of guilt as well.

What if you had been putting other students in danger by allowing him to do that to you for as long as he did and not speaking up about it?

That’s when Louis suddenly flashed to your mind. Had he been the one to orchestrate this? Had he been the reason Riz was being hauled off to juvenile detention. Did Louis really have this type of power?

You rushed straight to his office as soon as Drama club began to find out some answers.

“Louis, did you hear? About what happened to Riz?” You asked. Louis glanced up at you, a knowing look in his eyes.

“Yes, it is regrettable we had to lose such a dedicated member of our club in such a manner. Close the door behind you, will you?” He nodded, and you came fully into his office and closed the door.

“Lock it.” He ordered and you complied.

“Come here Y/N,” he said calmly and you walked to the front of his desk.

“Here,” he said curling a finger in his direction. You approached the side of his desk next to where he was sitting and he pulled you down into his lap suddenly.

“L-Louis! What are-”

“Did I tell you to speak?” He said sharply and you quickly shut up.

“Now, Riz is no longer an issue. I took care of that for you, just like I said I would. Isn’t that right?” He uttered, allowing his hand to creep up your thigh and under your skirt.

“Answer me!” He snapped and you nodded quickly.

“Y-Yes sir,” you could feel how hard he was beneath you even through the fabric of his uniform.

“Good girl. Now we just need to figure out how you’re going to pay me back for that. That’s one hell of a favor, so naturally it comes at a steep price.” Louis groaned as he moved your panties to the side and slide a long finger into your entrance.

“Do you know how you’re going to pay me back?” Louis slid another finger into you and began to pump slowly.

“N-no,” you said, squirming in his lap, the friction only serving to get him harder.

“I didn’t think so. Hop on the desk so I can taste you. That’ll be a start,” Louis’ eyes was full of lust as he watched you sit on the desk in front of him, spreading your legs for him. He quickly pulled your panties down and pocketed them.

He pulled you closer to the edge by your thighs and inhaled the scent of your core, his eyes fluttering slightly in satisfaction. He dove in, pressing his hot tongue against your slit and lapping at your arousal.

“Your scent has haunted me ever since yesterday. It’s so intoxicating, I had to restrain myself from taking you right then and there,” he moaned inbetween eating you out, “I knew your scent was divine but god you taste even better.”

Your hips bucked lightly at his words, giving away just how much he was turning you on.

“I see someone’s eager,” Louis placed the two fingers from earlier back into your aching cavern. “Be patient, my dear, we have all the time in the world.”

Despite how aroused and shocked you were at Louis’ actions, you couldn’t help the little voice in the back of your mind that rang in alarm.

You were getting the feeling you had only traded in one monster for another.

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ TAKING THE NEXT STEP ❜

with Obispo ‘Bishop’ Losa.

Warnings: none

Word count: about 1.2k

Aurora says: Just a fluffy idea running through my head! This writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: to my wonderful @sonsofeorl ✨

Masterlist.

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You have been anxiously waiting for your shift at the hospital to be finished, to go to Vicki's house. The crew has been on a run in Mexico for the last two weeks, without knowing anything about them until two hours ago, when they crossed the Calexico border. You can't lie. The one you have missed the most has been Bishop. He has been your best friend for more than five years, even if everybody thinks that you are actually in a relationship. You can't blame them. You sleep together a lot of days of the week, you have rode his bike, you have had some kind of dates. And there's a solid complicity between both, not needing words to know what the other is thinking in every moment.

You practically run out of the hospital to your car, stationed in the subterranean parking, speeding up as soon as you join the road. Your way only takes you ten minutes, excited to meet the crew, after much long time. Most of them are actually waiting for you at the porch of the house, cheering you up when you stop your Mustang next to them. Angel and Coco are the first to receive you between hugs and kisses, followed by Creeper and Gilly, and ending up with a smiling EZ who takes his time in narrowing you between his strong arms.

“How was Mexico, ah?”

“Bored without you, dulcecito”. Angel replies with a singing voice.

“You work tomorrow, mami?”

“Nah, I asked for two days off, so we can have a party tomorrow night”.

“Bonita e inteligente”. (Beautiful and smart). Gilly is very proud.

Coming into the house, Taza lifts you up surprisingly in his arms, filling your face with loud and short kisses. He's always the most happy to see you again, without counting with El Presidente. While Tranqs awaits to do the same.

“I will not ask for Riz”. Narrowing your eyes, they laugh, shaking their heads, assuming that he is enjoying the pleasure of ‘his house���. “Prez?”

“Outside, kid. Resting. Tired as fuck”. Taza sighs, raising a hand to the back door in the kitchen.

“See you in some minutes to share tequila shots”.

Making your way to the other room, you step out of the big house going downstairs to the back yard. Bishop is lying on a hammock with his legs crossed over it and an arm covering his eyes. You can't help but smile softly, being aware that he hasn't noticed your presence yet. Walking towards him and trying to be silent, you sit on the edge of the hammock, leaning forward to press your lips on his forehead for some long seconds. You hear him sighing, sounding alleviated, in the meantime that his arm over his face surrounds your waist to push you closer. Cupping his rough cheeks into your hands, you continue kissing his face, all around. His other arm gets placed on your back, pushing you to almost lie on his chest.

Sinking your face on his neck, you continue the soft kisses there, until resting your cheek on his shoulder, half-sitting yet. You have missed him more than you thought, exactly as he has done. Starting some caresses with his fingertips running to your back, his lips find your temple. It feels like if you are finally back at home.

“Are you gonna stay tonight with me?” He whispers with a hoarse tone of voice, keeping his eyes closed.

“On a scale from zero to ten, how much do you need me?”

“One million. Maybe two”. He chuckles, making you some space to lie by his side.

“Are you hurt?”

“Just tired, querida”.

“I am too”.

“Long day, ah?”

“More like I couldn't sleep too much for the last two weeks”.

Bishop embraces you, taking the liberty to put a leg over his. You don't want him to move a single inch of his body, needing to stay just like that. Closing your eyes, you imagine for one second that you two are alone in the world. No people, no pain, no worries. Your fingers draw some shapes on his chest. Slowly. Caressing his skin over the black shirt. Sometimes you have needed to be exactly like that. Lying against him in silence, calming you down just with the constant sound of his heartbeat, between his arms.

Leaning down to be at your level, his hand on your back travels to your head. Fingers getting tangled in your mane, pushing you a little closer until your noses almost touch the other. You love how warm his hold is, being able to protect you from the lower temperatures.

“I've missed it”. You whisper, not wanting to sound like a secret, but keeping it only to you two.

“I've missed you”.

Bishop brings a sweet smile to your face, opening one eye, for a moment, to find you with that gesture installed on the corner of your lips.

“Do you ever think about taking a step ahead?” Mumbling, you look for his dark eyes.

“Every day. Mostly when I'm on the road”.

Nailing an elbow over the hammock, you rest your cheek on the palm of your head, watching him from above. He lies on his back, putting his left hand on his abdomen. His eyes fixed on the dark sky.

“When I ride by night, I can't help but imagine that I'm coming back home and that you are waiting for me”.

“Well, I usually do”. You shake your head lightly, chuckling.

“Yes, but the fact is that I'm not coming back home. So, I imagine your arms wrapping me. A kiss on my nape. And that thing you do with your nose, caressing my neck”.

The smile on your lips just gets bigger, with your fingers continuing the invisible drawings on his chest.

“Do you?”

You nod, enraptured with your fingertips for a second, raising your eyes to his.

“Yeah, mostly when I wake up and my bed is empty, and I'm cold, and I feel a hole in my soul”.

“Here we go with the poetic shit”.

Palming his chest using some strength, but not hurting him, Bishop stirs laughing. Urging you to lie again between his arms, the mexican presses your forehead with his lips. You can hear his heartbeat speeding up a little, like yours. He has that power of racing your pulse just with one simple kiss.

“You can move to my house”.

You are aware that he tries to hide a begging behind an innocent invitation. But you know that he really wants it. Turning his head towards yours, he is waiting for a reply. An affirmative one. But you like to tease him more than anything. Clicking his tongue, Bishop twists his neck again, back to his initial position how you found him some minutes ago.

“Forget it. Was a stupid idea, querida”.

Laughing in silence, you force him to look at you again, grabbing his chin with three fingers. He is about to apologize himself when your mouth shuts him up. Your lips taste the tequila on the others, not wasting time on tucking your tongue into his cavity, deepening the slow kiss. Swallowing a gasp, the man holds you tightly onto his body, tangling your legs. Your lips dance with his, curving your neck a little, to mold them somewhat better. A prickly feeling roams your skin, bristling it, when you feel one of his hands squeezing your thigh over his.

“Take me home, cariño”. You ask him in ecstasy by his touches.

✨ Tag list:

@starrynite7114 ​ @chibsytelford ​ @dazzledamazon ​ @mara-mpou ​ @sammskellington ​ @gemini0410 ​ @1-800-imagines ​ @briana-mishell24 ​@sassymox @aquamento @sadeyesgf @viviansafizada @samcrobae @jade770 @witchy-wish @rebel-without-cause-x @xx--day-dreamer--xx @spiced-reads @tita127 @ifoundmyhappythought @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat @angelxshiba @destynelseclipsa @sheeshgivemeabreak @abbiesthings @knowles-morgan @lady-pswrld @minnicelli @marquelapage @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @jadesamhart @mycupoffanfiction @thesandbeneathmytoes @phoenixhalliwell @thewarriorprincessxo @sugary-x-sweet @multiyfandomgirl40 @imanerdychubbyqueen @iambabyharry @firebenderwolf @itsanofrommesir @noz4a2 @peaches007 @edonaspanca @irenne-stans @skyofficialxx @that-chick212 @arveeee

[rebel-without-cause-x]

Am I Not Enough? Angel Reyes x Reader

Requested by anon // Can I get this with Angel... he and the reader are hooking up this has been going on for a few months, the reader asks Angel if he wants to take things to the next step (relationship) but Angel tells her that his heart belongs to another woman, reader feels like he’s just used her and ends things with him. But it’s not until she’d out of his life that Angel realises how much she was there for him.   Sorry it’s not the best outline but hope it’s enough for you to work with.

A/N: Don’t worry there will be a part 2 

Sitting outside the local coffee shop with one of your best friends for your weekly coffee date. 

“So what is going on between you and Angel?” Luna asked as she sipped her coffee. 

“Nothing” you laughed shrugging “We are just friends who fuck” 

Luna stayed quiet for a second before smirking at you.

“Just friends huh? Well just friends don’t steal secret glances at each other. Just friends don’t get jealous when the other one talks about someone else. Just friends don’t get butterflies from each other. Just friends don’t hold each other like you two do, so are you sure its just friends” She winked “Just fucking grow some balls girl and just tell him how you feel” 

“If I tell him will you shut the fuck up” You asked raising your eyebrow at her. 

“Yup” she grinned. 

“Fine I will tell him tonight at the party” You sighed. 

“Yo Reyes” You shouted causing Angel to look up at you from across the pool table “Can I talk to you a sec” 

“Everything okay mi dulce?” He asked moving closer to you, placing his arm over your shoulder. 

“Yeah I think so” You nodded as you walked outside. 

Sitting on the top of the bench you sparked a smoke up, not looking Angel in his eyes. 

“What are we Angel?” You whispered. 

“What do you mean?” He asked, confused. 

“Like what are we? Are we just friends with benefits or are we more?” You sighed as he ran his hand over his face “Because I need to know, I am driving myself crazy over thinking things. And if I am being honest I have fallen for you and fallen hard, so I duno do you wanna drop the fwb act and take whatever this is to the next level” 

Angel stayed quiet, you knew it was a bad idea telling him. 

“I never meant for you to catch feelings” He sighed “I’m sorry Y/N but my heart belongs to another” 

The pain you felt in your chest was unbearable, why did you have to open your big mouth? 

“I’m sorry I said anything” You sighed, tossing your cigarette butt to the floor before heading back inside, as a couple of tears rolled down your cheeks. 

You hoped no one saw you wipe your eyes but as soon as you sat by Riz he put his arm around you kissing your head. 

“Por qué ha estado mi preciosa sobrina llorando? Tengo que golpear a algún pendejo?” (Why has my beautiful niece been crying? Do I need to beat an asshole up?) 

“It’s nothing” You said looking up at your tío who had his brow raised at you. 

“Come on princesa” He chuckled “You are forgetting that your tío Rizzy has brought you up for the last 10 years so I can read you like a book” 

“I don’t wanna talk about it” You mumbled taking his bottle of beer out of his hands bringing it to your lips as Angel walked in the room. 

“I see” Riz nodded glaring at Angel “Tell you what why don’t we go get some food and we can talk”

Not saying anything, you nodded placing the beer bottle on the table in front of you. That was what you loved about Riz, yes he was your Uncle and had raised you like his own daughter for the past 10 years but he was also like your best friend. 

As you walked by Angel, Riz turned to face him. 

“Pendejo” He spat as he guided you to his bike. 

It had been a month since you admitted your feelings to Angel, and since that night you had been avoiding the MC. You didn’t want to see him. 

“Has anyone seen Y/N? Angel asked. “I’m getting worried”

“She is fine, no thanks to you” Riz spat “I don’t think you have the right to ask about her”

“She is my best friend. I have every right” Angel hissed. 

“Yet you still broke her fucking heart” Riz glared as he sat down. “You are lucky I haven’t beat your fucking ass yet. I am still pissed off at you, messing around with my niece essentially breaking her heart, so coming to me first would have been the respectful play” 

“Have you thought that maybe I am suffering just as much as she is” Angel raised his voice “I thought it would be the best of both worlds, but when she confessed her fucking feelings to me I panicked.”

“What are you saying Angel?”

“I fucking love her okay, she is the one my heart belongs to” He shouted running his hand over his face “I haven’t slept in like a month because every time I close my eyes I see the look on her face from that night, I haven’t spoke to my best friend in a month the one person I trust with my life, the one person that makes the world right, the one that does anything for me no questions asked” 

Everyone stayed quiet. 

“I fucked up Riz, I know I did and I am paying the price now” Angel said with tears burning his eyes. “And I don’t know what to fucking do” 

Mayans Taglist:

@chibsytelford​ @starrynite7114​ @minnicelli​ @woahitslucyylu​ @talicat713​ @trulysuccubus​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @ifoundmyhappythought​ @abbiesthings​ @gemini0410​ @angelreyesgirl​ @destynelseclipsa​ @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat​ @jadesamhart​ @hermankopusortizorsumshite​​ @lady-pswrld​ @ly--canthrope​ @hennessyauntie​ @trhett21​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @corebore123​ @mystic-shadows42​ @sugary-x-sweet​ @blessedboo​ @noz4a2​ @skyofficialxx​  @terminallygenius​

If you would like adding to the tag list send me a ask or a message 💕

[natjennie]

I am thinking about the bad kids... 

I am thinking about figueroth faeth, going from feeling like she had no family and that she can’t trust anything from anyone to being surrounded by people who love and care for her. she is learning to love people, outwardly and honestly, as her whole true self. and that is the most painful thing she has ever had to do. if she is anything like me, she believes the personality she presents to her parents, her friends, her girlfriend, is performative. she’s scared that everything she does is simply the reflection of someone else. I hope she knows that people love her, not for her impressive magic, or her rockstar persona, but for all the bits of her that make her her.

I am thinking about gorgug thistlespring, who wanted so badly to know who his biological parents were, while still loving and appreciating digby and wilma for the warm and kind home they provide for him. he is gentle and sweet, only ever using all the anger that is built up inside him from years of not knowing, not understanding, feeling alone and abandoned, cast aside, to protect the people he cares about. if he is anything like me, he believes that this kindness goes unseen, unappreciated. he’s not doing enough, not smart enough, not helpful enough. I hope he knows he is wrong.

I am thinking about kristen applebees, a young religious queer kid with incredibly intolerant parents. she lives with the family she chose, her girlfriend, her best friends. jawbone. does she deserve them? she misses her brothers. are they safe? are they happy? she abandoned them, saved herself. she tries so hard to keep other people afloat, is it so wrong to heal herself sometimes too? if she’s anything like me, the overthinking keeps her up at night. how much of the world is kind? how much is cruel? why is it only ever the cruel things that come our way? what more can I do? I hope she finds peace.

I am thinking about riz gukgak, “first we get the friends, then we get the clues” to “how about.. no dead friends” always moving always working always going keep going go faster, they need you. they need you and what would you do without them? no time to take care of yourself, no time to eat, no time to sleep, there are people that need you. if he is anything like me, he is antsy, and paranoid. rehearse what you’re going to say before they take your order. stay quiet and pay attention, don’t be a bother. you’ll get more information that way. maybe then you can figure out what you’re doing. I hope he gets some rest, his friends will be there with a bagel and some coffee in the morning. let them help you the way you’ve helped them.

I am thinking about adaine abernant, the antagonistic relationship with her sister, the way she had to be the best and if she wasn’t she was ready to claw and kick and scream the best down to her level. unless it was unladylike or improper in any way. she has found a home, a caring sister, a supportive and understanding group of friends, a therapist, medication. if she’s anything like me, she thinks too much about how to be sincere, if her therapist really wants to hear what she has to say. she accidentally tells jawbone she’s been doing fine because she doesn’t want to be a burden and she can’t remember the litany of ways she fell apart this week. it’s much easier to say that everything worked out and you’re doing much better than it is to revisit that pain. I hope she allows herself to breathe, to not know something, to take a break. 

I am thinking about fabian seacaster, son of toxic, chaotic, bad influence bill seacaster? son of addicted, absent, selfish hallariel seacaster? the star quarterback, rich and popular kid, pushing himself to his absolute breaking point in every aspect of his life, to live up to a legacy built on falsehoods. he climbs and climbs and climbs and doesn’t know what he’s reaching for. he has grown to ask for help, seek advice, talk himself down before he does such rash things, but he has only ever learned these lessons the hard way. if he is anything like me, he is tired. and lonely. he wants to reach out, open up, but right as the words bubble up they catch in his throat. he feels selfish, entitled, people have had it much worse than him, who is he to complain? is anything he is feeling real, or has he just convinced himself something’s wrong? I hope he lets people in. his friends, cathilda, trusted adults. he can let his guard down for a moment, I promise.

[kristenbeeapples]

@apple-scrumper‘s tags on this post about Zuko and Azula having the same vibes as Adaine and Aelwyn got me thinking about an a:tla au for fantasy high, and it spiralled out of control into this super long post. Enjoy!!

Adaine’s family are Fire Nation and are Important Advisors to the Fire Lord Kalvaxus. Adaine and Aelwyn have that sibling rivalry going HARD – Aelwyn has already mastered lightning-bending and Will Not Shut Up About It. Really, Adaine, it’s not that difficult, I don’t understand why you can’t do it? (Adaine punches her)

Adaine is invited to sit in on a war meeting and has a panic attack when she realises the evil things they’re all up to, embarrassing her parents. They send her on what they think is a futile quest to find the Avatar to regain her Honour. She is accompanied by Arthur Aguefort, another advisor to the Fire Lord but one who is... a problem, to say the least. Two birds with one stone for the Fire Nation!

Kristen is from the Northern Water Tribe and is a pretty powerful waterbender, with a focus on healing. Her parents are super involved in this weird bloodbending cult but she’s pretty sure it’s normal, right??? 

She also has some kind of connection to the Spirit World, which makes her extremely vulnerable to the weird end of days sacrifice Daybreak is doing to try and reopen the spirit world.

Fig lives in the Earth Kingdom in a town that’s been conquered by the Fire Nation and joins some other rebels pretty much as soon as she can walk. She’s sure she’s going to be an earthbender like her mom and kick some serious Fire Nation butt, but then it turns out she can firebend? Gilear’s not her dad? Her mom slept with someone from the Fire Nation??? How could she???

(It’s only when they visit the Fire Nation several shenanigans later and meet Ayda that she’s like.............okay I get it now.)

The Thistlesprings are metalbenders, and live in the same town as the Faeths. They adopted Gorgug from a village that was destroyed in a fire nation attack and aren’t super sure where his parents were from. Gorgug can’t bend, but he’s happy to be just a Guy with an axe helping out Fig and the other rebels.

UNTIL one time in the heat of battle his axe is knocked away from him and there’s a Fire Nation soldier going for an injured Fig and he doesn’t think, just reacts on instinct and his axe flies through the air and knocks the guy tf out. So seems like he is a metalbender after all? Cool!

He’s not super great at it yet, so he sticks with his axe while he’s learning, and mostly uses it to enhance his attacks by bending the axe head to hit a target more accurately. 

Fabian is technically Water Tribe through his dad and Air Nomad through his mom but Bill and Hallerial have spent the past twenty years being a scourge of the seas to all the nations indiscriminately so they might have disowned him. He thinks he’s a non-bender like his dad and gets by with his sword and athletic ability. 

It’s not until later in their adventures, after his dad dies and he has a brutal encounter with some of his ex-crewmates, that he visits one of the Air Nomad temples (which aren’t as destroyed in this au I guess lol) where his grandfather is an airbending monk teacher (for teens, ofc). Telemine teaches him to dance and helps him figure out he can airbend like his mom! 

Like Gorgug, he mostly uses it to enhance his swordfighting ability rather than being a primary bender, but starts using his sheet to glide and do other airbending stuff while fighting!

Riz and Sklonda live in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, and both of them are earthbenders. Sklonda works for the earthbender guards but on the side she’s trying to work out what’s going on with the Dai Li, which Pok was investigating before he died. (Riz thinks his dad was killed by the Fire Nation.) 

Riz begins investigating the same thing without his mom knowing when his best friend/babysitter Penny Luckstone goes missing, presumed captured by the Fire Nation. His bending is this very precise form where he uses little rocks to go at high speeds like bullets and just fucking obliterate people, since in the middle of a crowded city there aren’t a tonne of places to practise with big rocks. 

The story begins properly when the rebels get word that very important people from the Fire Nation are visiting a nearby town. Fig and Gorgug lie in wait to ambush them and capture them for leverage.

Before they can attack, however, a pirate ship swings into the harbour, led by Bill and Fabian Seacaster, and opens fire. They don’t care about politics, they just want that fancy Fire Nation shit.

The rebels (read: Fig) decide, fuck it, we’ll attack with the pirates, and then the Fire Nation crew waiting on the shore go to fight them and it’s all extremely chaotic. 

Adaine is having a Very Bad Time.  She hasn’t found the Avatar, she’s no better at firebending, Arthur Aguefort is So Much All The Time, and now she’s being attacked by pirates??? Her life sucks. 

Fig, Gorgug and Fabian all end up in a standoff against her in the lower decks of the ship. Because it’s Adaine, she’s not going down without a fight, and she goes to blast the pirate-y looking dude with fire.

Except it’s not fire that comes rushing out. It’s air. 

Oh shit.

She’s the Avatar. 

Whilst she’s panicking about that, the rebel crew and Fabian agree that they need to get her away from the Fire Nation, and take her to Gorgug’s parent’s boat. Arthur Aguefort blows up the Fire Nation ship to let them get away and everyone thinks he died (spoiler: he didn’t)

Cue a series of insane shenanigans as Fig and Gorgug decide to adopt Adaine and take her around the world to learn other types of bending so she can restore balance to the world and kill her piece-of-shit abusive father (the Fire Lord, too, but the Abernants Are A Priority once Adaine warms up enough to them to talk about her parents). 

Fabian helps them escape but doesn’t join them straight away. They keep running into each other in weird places until eventually they’re like do you... just want to come with us?? Fabian: No. (Yes.) 

They save Kristen from this weird sacrifice thing whilst visiting the Northern Water Tribe, and she agrees to teach Adaine waterbending. She also helps her out with the spiritual side of being the Avatar.

Riz becomes Adaine’s earthbending teacher when they meet him in Ba Sing Se and help him figure out what the fuck is up the Dai Li. 

Once the Abernants and the Fire Lord hear what happened, they send Aelwyn after Adaine and the gang to finish what her sister started, not realising she’s the avatar. An epic sister/sister rivalry and eventually redemption on the levels of Azula and Zuko begins.

Stray thoughts

The entire point of this long-ass post was for me to say that Jawbone is Uncle Iroh in this au. He Just Is.

Tracker is a Kyoshi warrior. Kristen still has some weird internalised sexism going on from being raised in this cult and is like, women shouldn't fight!! They’re too soft and pretty!! Tracker helps her learn to let go of that, and then also kisses her and sends her into a gay panic.

Kalina is a bloodbender working with the Dai Li and is DEFINITELY involved in Pok’s death.

The Hangman as a Sky Bison! Boggy as Momo! (Adaine picks him up in the Swamp) 

This au is inherently funny to me bc Aang is a pacificist and struggles so much with whether or not to kill the Fire Lord, but if Adaine was the Avatar she would have absolutely no such qualms. Murder? Sign me up! 

The idea of Adaine, the avatar, with command over all four elements, bridge to the spirit world, still just decking someone when she gets mad is also really fucking funny.

So she learns waterbending from Kristen, earthbending from Riz, airbending from Telemine, and firebending from Ayda. I think she learns firebending properly last - it turns out the reason she struggled with it so much is because her parents taught her it comes from anger and hatred, and she needed to find and learn love before she could use it properly. 

Fabian gets the Zuko eye scar from being attacked by a firebender (Dayne) instead of it getting cut out. 

Gorthalax is a Fire Nation commander who rebelled and fled to the Earth Kingdom where he met Sandralynn. He got recaptured which is why he wasn’t around in Fig’s life, but they eventually find him in prison and set him free.

Gilear is the ‘my cabbages!’ guy, but he sells yoghurt. 

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 16

Into the Woods

We rejoin our Bad Kids (minus Riz, who we’ll get to in a bit) who are still on the Goldenrod while chaos happens around them. Fig adds to the chaos by successfully (with a 30!) pretending to be one of Goldenhoard’s minions to no real plot significant effect. I just feel the need to mention every time Fig rolls a 30+. The kids get Gilear out of his hiding place--a sarcophagus--right before it’s launched out as ammo. His safety proves short-lived however because, when Ayda pings that Riz is no longer on the same plane as them, Fabian recklessly sails the Goldenrod directly into Riz’s last known location, instantly killing both himself and Gilear. So he’s for sure back to his old self. 

Kristen brings them back up and passes some heals out generally while she’s at it. Meanwhile, with a Nat 20, Adaine fully Oracles out and knows exactly where Riz was being held. There, they find a smear of blood (which they taste???? even though they know the disease is communicable by blood???) and Riz’s briefcase, but no body. Plus Tracker smells Celestial energy and Ayda senses conjuration magic. But all that subtle sleuthing is made pointless by Kristen getting a Nat 20 (of course) to just stumble into the next room and find a room full of footage of exactly what happened. Wild. 

Bill can’t get them to where Riz is. The best he can do is get them to the Astral Plane. Fig remembers to check on the stuff she stole from Vraz. Baby just got a to-do list but Fig conveniently grabbed a scroll which will create a portal back to Arborly. Then, they cast Zone of Truth on Goldenhoard who gives them this information before they get to the Astral Plane:

Arianwyn was never working with him.

He repeats what we already knew about the NK giving him a coin as part of them working together in the past. He adds that his money being spent would mean it would come back to him 5 fold and also increase the spread of the NK’s power. 

He thinks the NK is a creep and says he never talks and only appears in weird dreams. At Fig’s prompting, he says he does look a lot like the skeletal figure in Adaine’s Scry on the Shadowcat. He also says he never dealt directly with the Shadowcat and can’t see her in the photo. However, the Shadowcat did put him in touch with Aelwen. 

The NK had more followers in Elmville but Goldenhoard doesn’t know who else was because he refused to join the Shadowcat network, which was a requirement. (I wonder if they include whoever the couple in Sandra-Lnn’s past was)

He let the NK have Sylvere when he was taking over the world because he didn’t care about it. 

Meanwhile, our little Angel Riz is en route to heaven with his dad who is happy-shocked to see him. Pok calls in that he’s coming in with a “good aligned, possible CI,” and it’s immediately clear based on the reaction of the person on the other side of the call that Pok talks about Riz all the time in glowing terms. They arrive in heaven and Riz sees that he has a little chair set up at a copy of his grave so he can sit and listen when Riz and Sklonda come and talk to him. Ally is almost crying. Lou is almost crying. I’m almost crying. 

Heaven--or at least this version of heaven--is set up like an office but outside. I’m picturing the classic Window’s XP background. We learn that Pok is a part of a special force called the Lower Planar Recon Task Force. Basically, it’s full of traditionally evil aligned races (like goblins and gnolls) who are perfect for infiltrating places like Hell. We also see that Pok has a plaque for getting his death avenged by his son.

Anyway, we see where Riz gets his attitude from when Pok kicks puts his gameface on (“Clues first, friends later.”) and has an extended puzzle solving scene with Riz (sprinkled with some father/son stuff). Highlights:

Heaven actually didn’t know about the Kalina=Disease thing. Riz and the gang cracked that for them. Kalina doesn’t ping a Detect Good/Evil but Pok thinks she would ping a Detect Poison/Disease.

He started seeing Kalina about 22 years ago after a mission with the Third Ring (see below). No, he didn’t cheat on Sklonda. If it happened via sexual contact, it would have been pre-meeting her.  

Kalina can’t pick things up but she can create the sensation of weight and substance by hijacking your nervous system. So, to his knowledge at the time, Pok had touched her.

He was introduced to Kalina by someone he already knew and trusted from the Third Ring (Falinel government agency). 

Kalina doesn’t have godly intelligence or omniscience. The way she blew her cover was accidentally mentioning seeing something firsthand she would have had no way of seeing (a river being in a certain place). He didn’t call her out then but he clocked it and started looking into her extra-governmentally.

Kalina got Sklonda her job in Elmville--which directly put Pok in the path of Goldenhoard, who ate him. He also strongly suspects that he got Pok’s citizenship revoked--an action that allowed Goldenhoard to harm him.

Pok thinks that, despite the Bad Kids’ focus on the sex aspect of the Shadowcat plague, it’s a lot more general than that (see eg: the life transference spell moving it from Sandra-Lynn to Tracker). 

Father/Son Interlude #1: Riz mentions that all of his friends are super horny all the time and he’s not about that. Pok says that he was a super late bloomer so it’s fine if he’s not into that now or if he’s not into it period--though he selfishly does want grandkids. 

Father/Son Interlude #2: Pok also shares a story about his own relationship with his superficially distant but actually loving 1st gen immigrant dad the twin theses of which are “People show love in different ways,” and “Work is an act of love,” a sentiment that workaholic Riz appreciates. 

Most demons can see Kalina. 

Pok was in hell undercover to try and figure out how devils had been successful in keeping Kalina at bay. He showed up in the Bottomless Pit but he was trapped there for a while--presumably because Gorthalax was in a gem at that time (also Riz mentions for the first time that Sklonda is dating him which he takes OK). 

Pok has a new body so Kalina can’t tap into it. Kalina must have learned where Pok was because Sklonda infected Gorthalax once they started dating and she got the info from him. And since Kalina spurred him to come rescue Pok than she probably wanted him to blow his cover. 

Kalina avoided having her picture taken. Once it was taken, she wasn’t able to do certain things she was able to before.

Pok says that Riz probably won’t be able to visit him again without pretty powerful magic, but Riz isn’t too concerned because he has some pretty powerful friends. And, with that, Pok offers to hire Riz as a consultant for heaven which, you can imagine, he is very here for. He takes his son to get suited up. 

Back with the other Bad Kids, they look at the assorted things Bill has looted and find some Holy Water, which they pocket, and a birthday present for Fig, which she is pretty easily convinced to open early. It’s a sick new bass which doubles as a literal axe (OK, not an axe, it has serrated edges, I just like the idea of an axe-axe) and can shatter rubies. They then say bye to Bill and get back to Arborly (with the Hangman who is still knocked out, but not destroyed like before).

The group collectively decides to leave Gilear in Arborly for both his safety and the safety of Kristen’s high level spell slots. Adaine takes some of his blood so she can Scry on him if necessary. Sandra-Lynn and Gilear exercise their parental rights to make their daughter feel awkward about her love interest. Speaking of said love interest, we learn what Ayda was working on in secret: a spell for Adaine! It’s called Adaine’s Furious Fists and it essentially lets her magic punch people. Adaine can punch people now! I mean, she’s been doing it since S1 but now she can do it effectually! Love that for her!      

Back to Riz. He’s in with an angel called Isosceles (think quasi-eldritch horror Biblical angel, not Halloween costume angel) who is like the Q of the squad. Riz gets hooked up with some new gear:

Trick bullets (like how Green Arrow has trick arrows)

A grappling gun attachment for his gun

Arcadian Watch: Equipped w/ a saw, laser (1d4 radiant dmg) and lockpick 

Seraphim Vest: Basically a wingsuit (temp fly speed of 40 but only laterally and down, not up)

Gregorian Tie: Equipped with a spy camera 

Once he’s suited up, Pok calls up a door that will get Riz back to the moment in time it was called. But, since they’re in no rush now, he asks Riz to take a walk with him and fill him in on some of the boring, mundane, unimportant stuff he missed from RIz’s childhood. It’s very sweet.

Afterwards, Riz pops back up in Arborly and everyone is super happy to see him. Riz almost blurts out what he learned about his dad but wisely moves the conversation to the Van where he tells them everything except the personal family stuff. Based on the info from Riz, Adaine thinks that Kalina was probably introduced into eleven society a couple hundred years ago by Landrynn Lear (fake cleric spreading the Kalina virus they learned about a few eps ago) so it’s not super weird Aelwen and Arianwyn would have been working with her. It’s less weird than Pok working than them. 

Kristen latches onto the part about the picture being taken of her taking away some of her power and they all do checks to puzzle that out. Adaine (with Arcana) realizes that Kalina has to maintain herself in all these people all the time and, if a picture is taken of her--has to make it so that she can be seen by all of those people at all times which is a permanent spell effect which is-as we learned earlier this season--very hard to pull off. Her not being able to do certain things once the pic was taken was probably just her losing power from the strain of this extra magical effect (my takeaway: don’t let her destroy that photo--or, use it as a bargaining chip). Kristen (with Religion) thinks the 4 transubstantiations (familiar to plague and spellbook to curse and so on) are curses which overlap and create synergy (my takeaway: take them out one by one and watch them exponentially drop off in effectiveness). Gorgug (with a Tinkerer’s check) surmises that the way to take the most pics of Kalina and weaken her would be to take a video of her and broadcast it to as many people as possible.    

Gorgug also has another thought: He wants to know if them having and spending their cursed money is actively endangering him. At the prospect, he decides to give all of his money away to the Tinkerer’s Hall (without telling them it’s dragon money, which means the curse won’t get passed on). Kristen, Fig, and Riz follow suit, much to Fabian’s shock and horror. Adaine opts to keep her money since she has no caring family to fall back on. 

They also--I’m just gonna bluntly say this insane thing that Ally conceived of--have another shrimp party which they livestream in hopes that it will go viral, gain a following, and then when they have video of Kalina, they can get lots of people to watch it. And you know what the craziest part is? It’s not a bad plan. It’s c r a z y, but not illogical. To quote Mr. Lee Mulligan, “The charity shrimp party goes super viral.” Amazing. 

The next day, Adaine brings back Boggy (who poofed in the last fight) as an owl so he’ll be a little safer while in Sylvere. Don’t worry, he’s still spherical as ever. The Hangman (now healed) stays behind, as does the Van--but they do take it actual gem out and take it with them. Baby is there and does come with them. Ayda and GaF also come at Fig’s request.

Fig is able to open a passage into Sylvere and they can instantly feel the ambient badness. They decide to start looking for the three things they need to make the Kalina Vaccine: Starmoth chrysalis, Herrowgray nectar, and Lundgreen pollen. The jocks and Boggy go for the chrysalis, Sandra-Lynn, Fig, Adaine, and Ayda go for the nectar, while Kristen, Riz, and Tracker look for the pollen.

The boys don’t find anything but, suddenly, there’s an image of a super creepy witch’s cottage in the gem, and Zathriel (the Celestial inside) bugs out before the gem goes dark. And Ragh is suddenly gone.   

In her group, Sandra-Lynn flies off on Baxter in search of the nectar but the flapping noises that should be happening suddenly stop. Ayda offers to fly after her but then also becomes distressed, asking why they’re in a house (the others can’t see it) before also vanishing.  

Kristen, Riz, and Tracker are looking around stagnant water for the pollen and they see Kalina’s reflection in the water. Kristen starts to film her on her crystal. Kalina (who they can all see at the same time for once) says that in Sylvere, nightmares are real, something demonstrated when Tracker fully wolfs out without the presence of an actual full moon. Kristen tries to Dimension Door out but they're too far in. They try to subdue her but Trcker vanishes into moths (?). Kalina says that Tracker is chasing down what she thinks is Kristen to kill her (which would make sense as being her nightmare). She says that she said she’d kill them if they got into the forest and here they are. She does a little damage to Riz to underline the statement and Riz starts recording her secretly. Kalina is doing small bits of damage (like 1-4 I think) but it’s enough that it will kill them before they have the chance to make tinctures. 

The jocks find the chrysalis and then look for the others. Fig tries to use Ada’s feather to find her but, like the sapphire, it’s dead. Through Boggy, Adaine can see the jocks are flipping out and find the nectar and go find them.

Kristen casts Greater Restoration of Riz and tells him to find Tracker. The attacks stop on Riz and double on Kristen. She’ll be dead before she can employ any kind of healing mojo than can help significantly and the other healer is MIA. Everyone is running to find each other and then they suddenly hear, emanating from every corner of the forest creepy laughter and they all see a crowned skull. Concerning! 

Detention

Fabian for Crashing the Goldenrod

This was almost like the ribbon dancing sequence except Kristen had something to potentially gain from that and this was an absolutely insane course of action for no particular reason. 

Honor Roll

Kristen for Using Her One Greater Restoration on Riz

What a quintessential healer move. Having one heal and giving it away to your party member. Listen, she may have rejected Helio, but he picked her for a reason. Girl is a BAMF.  

 Random Thoughts

“You can't make these things up. You can. We did.”

Actual Crazy Person Bill Seacaseter: I had to kill Gilear as a matter of course but I love Gilear!

Bill tells Gilear to kill any man who looks askance at Hilariel. Fig (mirroring a comment to Bill from last season) questions what he should do if any woman looks at her. An enthusiastic, “Dealer’s choice!” is the answer.  

"If you die in hell do you die in real life?"

Is the message of this season just “Vaccinate your kids”?

Fabian offers to threaten someone who’s bullying Gilear. You know what that is? Growth.

Bill brought the Bad Kids to the Astral Plane but they wanted to get back to Arborly ASAP. I wonder if there was something Brennan expected them to do there and they didn’t.

Fig ripping the scroll was wild but, honestly, I might have thought that was how it worked too. It’s for sure a thing sometimes. But, in a similar vein, very concerned Fig is going to accidentally shatter Gorthalax’s gem prematurely with that bass. Feel like she’s not 100% clear on how that works.   

“I don’t have a crush one anyone. I just want to be rich.”

Riz took over from Adaine this episode in unpacking my high school experiences, lemme tell you.

Wondering where Baron fits into all this. It seems like the kind of effect that Sylvere would be able to produce but he wasn’t in Sylvere when that happened and I feel like that wouldn’t be Riz’s nightmare (unless it represented anxiety about his not dating or s/t like that). What was that about? Who exactly caused it and with what ability? Is that just a standard demon power?

Not important but last week when Brennan said a halo formed around Pok he distinctly motioned around his head and not over his head so I felt happy to have interpreted that correctly when he said this ep that the halo was one of those you see in old pics of like the Madonna and Child and not a modern-traditional angel halo.

The idea of a lower plane task force is extremely dope from a world building perspective. Like, that makes total sense. 

“Don’t even talk to me until my death’s avenged.” I knew that was going to be a real mug as soon as it was said. 

The stuff with Pok and Riz was so unbelievably sweet. Him having a chair set up to listen to his family talk at his grave? Him clearly being the proudest dad and talking about Riz all the time? Him wanting to just talk about unimportant stuff with Riz because it’s his important stuff. Ugh, my entire heart. And Riz immediately reverting to full, “My dad could beat up your dad,” mode. I love them so much.  

I feel like Siobhan took coming up with a spell for Ayda as an actual out of game homework assignment which she should because Brennan *will* let her do it and then Ayda will save the party with it. That’s how D&D works baby I don’t make the rules. Hit me up with your best ideas.

Adaine actually asked Gilear for some of his hair in order to Scry on him and he’s the one who offered blood instead because he couldn’t spare any more hair. Feel like there’s gotta be a spell for that

Siobhan just casually says the phrase, “Mycelium web,” once again just being Adaine.  

Couldn’t Kalina just say, “Screw it,” and stop showing up in pictures if the strain gets too much? Like, if your cover is blown, it’s blown. Or is it set up in such a way that it’s gonna screw her before she has the chance to turn it off?

It’s funny that Zac is playing such a low Int character because he’s actually figured out a lot of stuff this season and he’s the one who remembered that dragon madness won’t get passed on if the person who gets the money has no knowledge that it’s dragon money. I wonder if we’ll get to see him play a non-Himbo next season.

Adaine, predictably, has no social media presence. Speaking of social media, I love the naming convention of just sticking the word “fantasy” in front of things like Twitter and Google--as in, “You guys are all over Fantasy Twitter.” Like, why even complicate things? You know what this is. 

Goodbye card for Gilear: Outside--Gilear I need you/Inside--to get me a cortado.

I had a stray thought that Riz could possibly use the door to come back after having done angel training for like a month but (1) that’s a little meta-gamey and (2) they were making an exception for him to be there that short time as it was. Anything else probably would have been pushing it. 

Is Pok’s heaven affiliated with any deity or is it just where all the good workaholic secret agents go? To me, it seems like it liaises with all the other heavens more than being it’s own main heaven, you know?

Oh man. Ayda disappearing and Fig clutching her powerful feather, begging her to come back after indirectly putting her the situation she’s currently in? Heartbreaking dude. 

I wonder why the people who disappeared disappeared beyond just getting rid of the NPCs.

Edit: Forgot to mention the part where Kristen rolled a -1 with her trash Dex so Ayda had to give her a portent roll to not instantly blow everything. 

The Bad Kids are in a very precarious position right now. If I trusted Kalina to be someone of her word, I might try to bargain with her--destroy the picture in return for letting us leave. From a DM standpoint, I think it’s probably a good time for an Abernant Ex-Machina. They’re in the forest too as far as we know and they gotta come back into the story somehow. This could be the time. 

Everyone going off about how Riz is a little angel and he could have told them if he was a Celestial and how much he loves Gilear while he’s not in the scene and can’t say anything is peak D&D. 

Bill Seacaster saying a bunch of insane nonsense and then Adaine being like, “Nice seeing you Mr. Seacaster,” is also peak D&D. 

This episode, Adaine, Fig*, Kristen and Brennan (as Sandra-Lynn) each rolled a Nat 20. Adaine and FIg each rolled one Nat 1 that was canceled by disadvantage and Riz rolled one Nat 1 that stuck. 

*I actually am not 100% Fig rolled at Nat 20. Kristen did for sure but I don’t have a Tally for her so I might have flipped those by accident.  If you happen to know for some weird reason, lemme know. 

[fairytellerxo]

More PT 1

This was an anonymous request. It was fun. Sorry it took a while.

...

“Sutton,” Angel Reyes leaned closer to the blonde and smiled goofily at her before he took another healthy sip of his beer. “I was thinking, it sucks that the fucker cheated and you broke up with him but it’s good, you were too good for him. You deserve better.”

Sutton nodded slowly as she looked up from her drink and smiled back at the man. In all the years that she had called Angel her best friend, she had never realized before that he was super attractive. Beyond just the friendship level. “Yes, I deserve a better boyfriend and better dick.”

“Yes, no lame dick,” he shook his head slowly. “Must’ve really liked him if you settled with bad sex.”

“I liked him so much,” she groaned before finishing her drink. “I am stupid. Now I’m single, drunk and horny.”

“Welcome to my life,” he scoffed. “That’s my daily issue.”

She shook her head. “You’re a guy though, you can stick your dick in whoever you fucking want. I cannot do it.”

“You can fuck, oh well the world thinks you’re a fucking slut. They’ll think it regardless.” He he looked at her before touching her face softly. “Sutton, you’re gorgeous.”

“You’re drunk,” she chuckled. “Super drunk.”

He smiled at her. “You’re drunk too.” He pulled her closer and nodded. “I have always wanted to do this.” He kissed her softly and sighed.

Sutton looked at him before kissing him back. “Is this happening?” She looked at him. “Yeah it is.” She laughed as she was pulled onto his lap.

…

“So, where are we going?” Sutton looked up at Angel as she laid on the living room floor. “Anywhere fun?”

Angel looked at her and shook his head slowly. “Nowhere if you don’t get up and get dressed, can’t fucking leave the house naked.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll get dressed depending on where you’re taking me. I gotta know it’s worth it before I get up and put effort into the day.”

He smirked. “I was just gonna take you with me to a party at the clubhouse. So maybe you can just stay here naked and I’ll go show face with my club.”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, do that. Just stay away from the hoes because you know I’m territorial and don’t want your dick straying.”

Angel scoffed. “My dick does what he wants to do. Lately he’s been all about you so that’s a thing.” He looked down her again. “You’re coming with me, just throw on a top and some jeans. You know the guys already.”

“We become fuck buddies and you wanna boss me around?” She stood up and smiled at him. “You’re like you’re handsome as hell.” She patted his cheek. “No bra, no panties?”

“Bra,” he nodded. “No one can tell if you have panties on or not when you’re in jeans.” He smirked. “Don’t be getting jealous either. I gotta socialize.”

“You can socialize,” she looked at him. “Just don’t go off and get laid by a little hang around or you can’t have anymore of this.”

“I thought we agreed, just sex, no feelings.” He followed after her into the bedroom. “Friends with benefits.”

Sutton rolled her eyes before looking back at him. “You’re right. No feelings just sex.” She smiled at him before grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt. “I won’t cockblock you. I’ll be your wingman.”

Angel watched her carefully as she pulled the clothes on, the top she picked barely covering her breasts. He groaned inwardly, already regretting his comment. “Killing me.”

.

.

Angel sipped his beer, watching as Sutton laughed and talked with his brother. He had been hating the entire night, the way the guys seemed to check Sutton out, doing their best to be discreet about it. He noticed it though. The way Riz licked his lips slightly as he passed her a drink or even the way Creeper tried to woo her with his unconventional charm.

He had feelings and he had them badly. He wanted her to himself. He wanted to be the only one who had her and he didn’t even know where her head was with the whole situation.

“Looks like EZ is finally gonna get under someone and get over Emily.” Coco smirked. “I thought your friend was dating someone. You said she was when I wanted to ask her out.”

Angel smirked. “She was taken when you tried to go for her but now she’s single and ready to mingle.” He looked at Coco before he looked at Sutton who was now trying on his brother’s kutte. “That’s not happening.” He stood up and moved towards the pair. “Sutton, we’ve gotta talk real fast.”

“Okay,” she looked at him in confusion before sliding out of the kutte and passing it back to EZ. “You’re right, it is heavier than it looks.”

He nodded as his brother before leading her out of the clubhouse. “Sutton.”

Sutton smiled. “You finally ready to admit that you have feelings?” She turned around. “Don’t play dumb.”

“Okay, I’ve got feelings.” He shrugged as he looked at his feet. “Do you?”

“Yeah,” she lowered a bit and stared up at him. “Why else did you think I was getting on you about fucking around?”

“Thought you were worried about STDs,” he smirked at her. “I know we said no feelings…”

“We said a lot of things.” She wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him. “I love you, alright, as more than a friend.”

Angel kissed her back and smiled brightly. “I love you too.” He nodded slowly. “So you love me huh?”

She pushed his face away and laughed. “You heard me stupid don’t make me say it again.” She shook her head frantically. “Let’s get out of here.”

[aion-rsa]

Why Riz Ahmed Committed to Punk Rock and Sign Language in Sound of Metal

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First-time director Darius Marder has crafted one of the best movies of the year in Sound of Metal. Riz Ahmed (Rogue One, Venom) stars as Ruben, a recovering addict and heavy metal drummer who tours the country with his musical and romantic partner, Lou (Olivia Cooke). Their nomadic existence is upended when Ruben experiences a sudden, terrifying loss of hearing.

Told by doctors that he may have little to no chance of regaining his hearing, the drummer is convinced by Lou to check himself into a sober house for the deaf. The home is managed by a no-nonsense fellow addict and Vietnam vet named Joe (Paul Raci). Yet even as he settles into a new existence there, learning sign language and teaching drums to deaf children, Ruben is haunted by the urge to find a way to reclaim his old life.

Den of Geek spoke with Marder, who co-wrote the film with his brother Abraham. The director was inspired to prursue the movie by a project called Metalhead that he worked on with friend and collaborator Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines). Metalhead was a documentary/narrative hybrid about a real husband-and-wife noise duo called Jucifer, which Marder used as the springboard for Ruben and Lou’s fictional band, Blackgammon.

“Derek’s such an awesome filmmaker,” says Marder. “He and I, we’re actually quite different in that we come from very different places, very different upbringings, and even our taste is different in ways, but we have this commonality. We just really are interested in this cross section of raw visceral truth and where that meets fiction.”

Marder explains that Metalhead began life as a documentary about Jucifer but became a mash-up of documentary and fiction after the drummer developed mild tinnitus. That narrative thread, along with research and filming that Cianfrance did in the deaf community in Atlanta, provided the seed for what ended up becoming Sound of Metal.

One aspect of Sound of Metal that is apparent right from the start is the film’s authenticity, beginning with the underground metal and punk live circuit that is the basis of Ruben and Lou’s life when we meet them.

“I’ve played a lot of music in my life, and my brother’s a musician as well,” says Marder. “In my teens, I was really in more of that punk hardcore scene and more of the Fugazi and Sonic Youth world of it. But I think that there’s a real commonality in there of experience and visceral raw experience. That was my world from when I was young, so I get really hot and bothered by movies that pretend, that show this fake music and this fake musical experience–it’s just such a bummer.”

Marder adds, “But at the same time, I remember Derek saying to me, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to make this movie, how are you going to do that in a true way?’ That was really the challenge. It was a challenge that really inspired me, it lit me up, because the act of striving for something real is the greatest gift you can give any actor–the act of building something that’s physical and visceral. Almost misguidedly, I scared the living shit out of every single actor I ever met for this role. That was by design.”

The director informed potential stars that they would have to learn to play the drums for real, without resorting to cutaway shots or using another drummer’s hands or feet for the close-ups. The actors would also perform live at a real-life club (the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts) in front of a real audience of, as Marder puts it, “actual music lovers that are specific to this subset of music.” Marder adds that his plan was to make the music sequences “impossible to fake.”

“Instead of saying, ‘I’ll make you look good,’ I’m saying, ‘You better make you look good. You have to own that and there’s no safety net.’ That’s the way we approached it. It’s actually the way we approached everything in this movie. It was the same with ASL (American Sign Language). You can’t just learn the lines, you have to be able to improvise with the deaf community in the same way that Ruben would after, say four to six months. You have to get to that level. That’s your job.”

The reality of living with deafness and becoming part of the deaf community was embraced fully by Ahmed, who took to that aspect of Ruben’s life with the same immersion that he used to approach Ruben’s musical abilities.

“Riz took a dive with ASL that I didn’t take,” recalls Marder. “I was too busy putting the film together. I was also spending a lot of time with the deaf community as I was doing that, but I never got to the level of proficiency with ASL that Riz did. But also Riz is 95 times smarter than I am. I think he must have a photographic memory. He’s extraordinary and his physicality is extraordinary. He doesn’t just learn ASL, he embodies it. Remember ASL is 50 percent in your face. Riz just took to it.”

While Ahmed dove immediately into learning ASL and educating himself about the deaf community, another crucial piece of the puzzle was finding an actor to play Joe, the sober house manager who was not deaf early in his life but lost his hearing in Vietnam.

“Finding Paul [Raci] was really hard,” reveals Marder. “That was a real gamble, and a very hard one because there’s some very nuanced aspects to the character of Joe that he’s playing. He’s late-deafened in the script, a Vietnam veteran, a person who came from hearing culture but went deaf later in life so he doesn’t have the deaf accent in his voice. So there was all these subsets to that character.”

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Although Marder initially looked for a deaf person to play Joe, he says that to get the movie financed he was “encouraged” to look outside the deaf community and meet with some name actors. “Probably the most alluring of them was Robert Duvall,” he admits. “I refused to have a meeting, partially because I said to the agent, ‘I’m not going to say no to Robert Duvall, therefore, I can’t meet with him because he’s not going to do what he can’t do.’ You cannot pretend this. I said, ‘I can guarantee you, he’s not going to want to spend three years learning sign language for a first time director.’”

It was soon after that Marder became aware of children of deaf adults (CODAs): “It wasn’t until I opened it up to CODAs that I found Paul [who is one], and Paul found me, and delivered the tape that just blew me away. Not only is he a two time Vietnam War veteran and has dealt with addiction and taught deaf AA groups, but the man’s been acting for 30 years. It was like finding a Picasso. It was like finding this outrageously talented person just hiding in plain sight.”

Raci’s performance in the film is so natural and so entwined with his own personal experiences that it just provided more verisimilitude to a movie already steeped in the real lives and journeys of people living with deafness. Marder tells us that much of his own experience making Sound of Metal can be summed up by a video he took one morning in Brooklyn, shortly after Riz Ahmed moved there to begin prepping for the shoot.

“I went to go get a coffee early in the morning, as is my pattern,” he remembers. “I go walking up to this coffee shop, I look to my right, and there’s Riz sitting at a table with Jeremy Stone, his sign instructor. They’re just talking in ASL, just having a full on conversation. I stood there watching this guy, on his own steam doing this, which he had been doing every day. I just thought, ‘This is the greatest gift. This is just so extraordinary.’ All those moments I just relish.”

Sound of Metal premieres this Friday, Dec. 4 on Amazon Prime Video.

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The post Why Riz Ahmed Committed to Punk Rock and Sign Language in Sound of Metal appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/37AoatD

[thedeviantsrp-blog]

Congrats Maranda! We are so excited to have you apply as another character! Your application was great and so detailed and we cannot wait to see your FC of Riz Ahemd as Demetri Rahim come to life on the dash! You know what to do: please follow the checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! And don’t forget to submit an AU description if you want him to be included in our next leg of the AU event!

OOC Information

Name: Maranda

Age: 20

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Timezone: EST

Any Triggers: RFP

Level of Activity: I’m still at about a 7 out of 10. But now things have mellowed out for the time, I can be active most evenings for a few hours unless something has come up. But even then I’m going to be on for a while each day.

Anything Else?: Would it be okay if I were to use Riz Ahmed as his face claim instead of the suggested ones?

IC Information

Character’s Given Codename: Astir Real Name: Demetri Rahim Faceclaim: Riz Ahmed, Matthew Daddario, Ansel Elgort,Nico Tortorella Age: 30 Hometown: London, England, United Kingdom Previous Occupation: Trauma Surgeon   Ability: Telekinesis

Description: 

Since he was young, Demetri dreamed of a life better than the one he had. Growing up in the slums of London, he was grateful for all he’d been given. His father, a brilliant man, worked three jobs to keep the lights on and food on the table. His mother did odd jobs, unable to get a career because back in her home country she was not allowed to finish school. In this new life, his parents fought to give them everything they could want. To give them the opportunity they had never had. The oldest of the three, Demetri seemed to grow up fast. Helping his mother the best he could even from a young age. He may have never understood what was going–not fully, but he wanted to help. As he grew, he took on more to help out–watching his younger siblings, keeping the house tidy, making dinner, etc. He knew his parents  hated that he’d taken this world upon his shoulders, but he never minded it.

Demetri a model student in class. He ached to learn as much as he could, spending hours in the library reading and studying. He would leave with a backpack full of books in hopes of learning all he could of what they studied and then some.He was willing to do whatever he could to save himself and this seemed to be the best way out. Sadly, his behavior outside of school was not quite as promising. He hung out with social pariahs– kids down on their luck and taught to fight for what they have. Kids like himself who grew up in the slums and forced to live a life they never wanted. But unlike Demetri they had become a casualties of the slums. They would be caught out late, picking fights with each other, underage drinking, and petty theft was often a past time. Demetri loved the thrill of it even if he was only a bystander–at least to the thievery. He kept his hands mostly clean, but often bruised. His mother cursed him for his fighting, but it never phased him.  He lived for the thrill and if no one, but him got hurt where was the harm? His father never said a word about it. He claimed it his son’s way of breaking free from having to grow up so fast and to get girls–he wasn’t wrong. By the time he was sixteen he had joined one of the local gyms and had taken up boxing–mostly to ease his mother’s worry. Still it didn’t stop him from sneaking out and causing a disruption when he could get the lads together. When he could find the time between the life he lived, the one he helped move along at him, and the one he witnessed with his friends–he would draw. His note books would be bubbling over with drawing that were carefully planned in a passionate drive to create. And by the time he was seventeen–he’d taken to the side of buildings as canvases when the couldn’t afford the money for a new book–borrowing his neighbor’s spray paint to leave his mark on the city and continuing his streak as a public menace.

As the weight of reality began to set in, he found himself falling away from the life he’d created on the streets and focusing more on what awaited him. Demetri graduated with high honors and planned to drive head first into university as quickly as they’d allow. He was the first in his family to go to college, the first to make something of his life and lead the way for future generations. Most of his friends hadn’t graduated–and one never lived to see it. Demetri never learned of the death of his best friend until he was packing his things over the summer. He’d known he’d gone to visit his brother in Ireland, but didn’t know he never made it there. His mother promised it was to protect him, save him from the pain. She knew this pain would keep him from leaving and she couldn’t allow that. But even with as clear of a head as he had–he couldn’t forgive her for that, not yet.

He carried the pain with him as he went to university–part of him wondering what had he’d done if he’d know. He tried not to dwell;  what mattered was what he did next. Knowing that is what his best friend would’ve wanted for him. He always encouraged him to not let anything stop him, this is how he’d honor him. Helping someone had been engraved in his bones so it almost seemed natural for him to go into the medical field. He didn’t want to be the one to find the cure for cancer or work in a simple office–no, he wanted to work with the cases that were often more than met the eye and would give him the chance to help those most couldn’t. Which is what drove him to what to become a surgeon.  It was far harder than the shows made it look, for four years he study tirelessly when he wasn’t bouncing between classes, labs, and his part time job. He was run thin most of the time, running on coffee and cheap food–it wasn’t the life he wanted, but it would get him there. And when the opportunity for him to go to grad school in America–he jumped at the chance. In the land of Freedom and new dreams, he would make his stand.

It was painful to leave the only home he’d ever known behind, swearing to write every chance he got and would call when possible–he somehow survived the long goodbyes at the airport. His new life at Harvard Medical School awaited him. Finally, he was free and life never looked brighter. But the land of milk and honey had gone sour. While he never experienced any trouble at school, the world waiting outside was a much different place. People would stare at him with a glare in their eye, muffled words would fall before he could catch them as strangers “bumped” into him, and other times people were far more blunt with their words. In a country founded up on the ideas of freedom from all that ailed you–he was nothing more to them than an immigrant. A word that stood for hope meant terror to those around him.  It was a new world, but the fight inside of him was greater than ever. He was better than their ignorance and stronger than the hate.

The next four years were far from easy, but he never gave up and after being in the country for five years–Demetri become an American citizen and moved to New York to begin his residency. He made his new home in Brooklyn, a small overpriced studio apartment, the neighbourhood reminding him of the home he left behind. It pushed him harder to make this all work out. When he wasn’t at the hospital, Demetri would fill his time with the friends he’d made at the hospital. He would fall in and out of relationships with girls who never seemed to want more than someone waste a night on, and when he found the time–he’d pick up a book to read or his paints and create. He fell into this flow and found happiness in it. A long term girlfriend, a cat named Chewie, three guys who he would risk his life for, and the long phone calls home to his family. Things seemed to be going right for once and shaping up to be his own American dream.

A year later, he’d finished up his residency and taken the open position as a trauma surgeon at the hospital. But three months into his dream–it’d become a nightmare. The explosion rattled the city, the ER over flowed with people and he spent what felt like days working to help those injured. He knew it would never be simple, but he never signed up for this. When he finally was able to catch a moment to himself, he’d sat in his office. His mind swimming with thoughts. He let his body relax for the first time–he felt weightless. But the moment crashed when his phone rang–and so did he. He opened his eyes to himself floating in his office chair–the whole room, every piece of furniture was floating as if it were tossed out to sea. But as the panic set in–he crashed to the ground along with everything else.  In that moment he knew, the nightmare had only just begun.

Ethos:

Demetri is of a very caring nature. He is very selfless, but that seems to often hurt him instead. He will put others needs before his own. He doesn’t take very good care of himself. He will often forget to eat or sleep, but he does all he can to make sure the ones around him are taken care of and in good health. He doesn’t realize he’s taken such a toll upon himself until it is too late.  Demetri has always been very ambitious. He will stop at nothing, do whatever had can to succeed not matter the cost. Even he as his limitations though. When he fails, he doesn’t take it well and often will take it out on others. He will push people away and often start arguments he can’t win to feel he regain some kind of control in these situations. Instead, he often breaks relationships and shuts himself away for a time.  He has been called a control freak in the past. It is something he’s working, but when the whole world feels as if it’s waiting for him to fail–he can’t always keep a clear head about himself.

[newsfundastuff]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using an iron fist to smash the protests over his latest effort to erode the citizenship rights of Indian Muslims. He, along with many of the state governments that his party controls, have dispatched paramilitary forces to storm Muslim colleges to beat up students, suspended the internet in many cities, and imposed a ban on protests including in Bangalore where police roughed up and arrested one of India's most renowned historians, Ramachandra Guha.Modi is out of control. Even China's authoritarian rulers have shown more restraint in dealing with the Hong Kong protesters.It is high time that his admirers in the West — politicians, business leaders, and Hollywood celebrities who fawned over him — admit that they made a profound mistake. They embraced him despite clear warnings that his high-minded talk about turning India into an economic and technological powerhouse masked a sinister Hindu nationalist agenda.He is not a hero of progress and development but a populist blood-and-soil nativist arguably more dangerous than any in the West.Let us remember what we once knew but seem to have forgotten: He cut his political teeth in the RSS, the militant wing of his party that is obsessed with avenging historic slights — real and imagined — that Hindus endured under Muslim rule centuries ago. One of its members assassinated Mahatma Gandhi whom some Hindu nationalists regard as a Muslim "appeaser." Modi himself has a long history of anti-Muslim animus. In 1992, he rode a chariot in the Hindu procession that marched to the iconic Babri mosque and razed it. But his feelings morphed into actual bloodletting in 2002 when he was the chief minister of the state of Gujarat. Hindu thugs, some connected with his party, went on a rampage and slaughtered 1,000 Muslim men, women, and children as the state police stood by.Modi expressed not an iota of remorse or regret for the events in Gujarat when he ran for the prime minister's office in 2012, even comparing the murdered Muslims to "puppies" run over by a careless driver.Yet after he became prime minister, the world gave him the benefit of the doubt — and the man who had been banned from many Western countries, including America, because of his role in the Gujarat pogrom became an international sensation.A campaign-style extravaganza that Modi held in Madison Square Garden to celebrate his victory was attended not only by 18,000 gushing Indian Americans but also 40 U.S congressmen. Hugh Jackman introduced him, applauding heartily when Modi recited Sanskrit shlokas or verses calling for world peace, totally oblivious to the irony.Even President Obama went beyond ordinary diplomatic protocol in welcoming Modi during that visit. He hosted a White House dinner for Modi and invited him to stroll to the Martin Luther King memorial with him. A year later, when Obama went with first lady Michelle to India for a state visit, he commended Modi's "legendary work ethic" and his fashion sense, even joking about wearing a kurta shirt to imitate Modi's sartorial style.The silencing effect that Obama's chumminess had on Modi's critics cannot be overstated. If the first black American president who fully understood the struggle for minority rights could endorse Modi, then Modi-naysayers were just paranoid hysterics whose hatred was blinding them to his manifold virtues.President Trump, who isn't shy about hobnobbing with odious leaders, has unsurprisingly taken things to a whole new level in a naked bid for the Indian American vote. He warmed up the crowd for Modi, calling him "his friend" and "a great man and a great leader," at the HowdyModi rally held in Houston to celebrate Modi's re-election this summer. A whole throng of Texas leaders from both parties, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson, stood behind Modi on stage like a hallelujah chorus.But even more disheartening has been the reaction of U.S. industry leaders. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg got the ball rolling five years ago when he enthusiastically served up Modi agitprop, holding a townhall event for him at his company's headquarters. Zuckerberg asked Modi such pointed questions as how much he loved his mother and how he planned to use his mastery of social media to transform India. Two weeks after this lovefest, India experienced the first in what was to become an epidemic of beef lynchings under Modi. Hindu cow vigilantes stormed a Muslim family's home in Dadri, a village not far from Modi's home in New Delhi, and pulled the old patriarch from his bed and bludgeoned him to death. Modi the transformative leader's response? Utter silence for days.But Zuckerberg is unfazed. He reiterated during Modi's HowdyModi visit that he "deeply appreciates PM Modi's commitment to Digital India." This was one month after Modi shutdown the internet in Kashmir and imposed central rule on this Muslim-dominated state, arresting its leaders and scrapping its constitutionally-guaranteed autonomy. That shutdown is now in its fourth month, earning Modi, the vaunted digital leader, the great distinction of engineering the longest internet shutdown in a democracy ever. But that still hasn't deterred Zuckerberg's fellow I.T. luminaries from piling their own encomiums on Modi.Microsoft founder Bill Gates this September bestowed his foundation's prestigious "Global Goalkeeper Award" on Modi for his "Swaatch (Clean) India" campaign and expanding access to toilets in the country. This elicited howls of protest from human rights groups. Muslim artists Riz Ahmed and Jameela Jamil pulled out of the awards ceremony. But Gates defended the award, calling Modi "brave" for tackling the issue of toilets.Then there is Bridgewater Associates co-founder Ray Dalio, who opined last month after India's economic growth hit a 10-year low and unemployment a 45-year high that "Prime Minister Modi is one of the best, if not the best, leaders in the world." And Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs proclaimed that Modi's leadership is "really moving in the right direction." And Unilever CEO Paul Polman declared that he was "very confident about the Modi government."The effect that such endorsements have in emboldening Modi and undermining the internal points of resistance to him is incalculable. Try criticizing Modi to his supporters, and they’ll instantly throw all his international awards and accolades in your face. But whatever the excuse of these leaders for issuing such deluded statements in the past, there can't be any now that Modi is taking the gloves off. He has demonstrated that fanatics may change their tune but they don't change their minds.The least these leaders can do now is condemn Modi's campaign of persecution. It has been painful for many of us who believe in India's pluralism and democracy to watch Modi transform himself from an international pariah to an international star with the help of Western elites. He may be unstoppable at this stage and who knows how far he is prepared to go to advance his Hindu nationalist project. But he is also a profoundly vain man, a publicity hound who craves international attention and respectability. So their condemnation now may well make a difference.The protesters in India are putting their lives on the line to stick up for their constitution and their fellow minorities. It is their fight and they are fighting it. But it is not too much to ask that his "useful idiots" in the West acknowledge their mistake.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Rise of Skywalker dominates box office despite devastating reviews George Conway has a savage new nickname for post-impeachment Trump Watch the absurdly slow crash of 2 mammoth cruise ships

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[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND  October 5, 2018  -  Venom, The Star Is Born, The Hate U Give

Going to change things up again this week as we get into October, because I want to give special attention to a film called THE HATE U GIVE (20thCentury Fox), which is opening in select cities this weekend but will expand nationwide on October 19.

In this adaptation of Angie Thomas’ book (which I haven’t read), Amandla Stenberg plays Starr Carter, a teen girl living a dual life with her family in the primarily black Garden Heights community and when hanging out with her bratty white high school friends who are always trying to act “ghetto” around her. At home, Starr has loving parents, Maverick and Lisa (Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall), a younger brother Sekani and half-brother Seven. When Starr sees her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) shot by a white police officer, she’s unsure whether she should come forward and testify. Her police officer uncle Carlos (Common) doesn’t think so, especially since Khalil might have involved with Maverick’s old crime-boss King (Anthony Mackie), who wouldn’t want his business known to the police.

It seems like a fairly simple plot derived from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, but there’s so much more to the movie than the ongoing battle between the police and the poorer communities they patrol.  In many ways, Starr is dealing with an identity crisis that I imagine   many African-Americans must face, having to be one way around white friends and co-workers and another way at home or with their family.

Besides the fact that this is Stenberg’s third movie this year where she had a hunky white boyfriend, she is so much better in this than her other films because she brings a playful energy to Starr that makes you want to follow her story.

Audrey Wells adapted Thomas’ book into a fantastic screenplay and director George Tillman Jr., whose filmography includes oddities like the biopic Notorious and Dwayne Johnson’s Faster, really directs the hell out of this movie

There are so many great scenes including one between Stenberg and Common where they have an honest talk about the different sides of what might seem like a cut-and-dry case of police racism.

The Hate U Give (which is derived from Tupac’s “T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E” motto that “the hate u give little infants effs everyone) is a movie that shares an important message without hitting you over the head with it ala Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman or some of the other films in the oeuvre release this year.

I guess my only misgiving about the film is that it goes on a little long, offering a few satisfying scenes that could have easily ended things there, but then continuing with a full-scale riot when tempers explode after the trial of Khalil’s murderer.

In my opinion, this is up there with some of the best movies I’ve seen this year, and only slightly behind A Star Is Born (review below) this week. While on the surface, it might not seem like a movie that would appeal to everyone, it works on so many levels, including as a straight-up coming-of-age film (and by now, you all should know how much I love those).

Rating: 8.5/10

The Hate U Give is kind of the Hollywood version of the #BlackLivesMatter story, but if you’re looking for something a little more grounded in reality, you should check out Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men (Neon), which is now playing in select cities. I got a chance to rewatch it this past week, and I was just as impressed as when I saw it at Sundance.  BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington is particularly impressive, again playing a police officer.

We now return you to the regularly-scheduled movie preview column after the jump…

This might surprise some but not others that this coming October is offering some of what might be the best films of the year, between this week’sA Star Is Born and The Hate U Give to next week’s First Man and Bad Times at the El Royale. We’re living in exciting times!  

VENOM (Sony)

In what looks to be the second to last “superhero” movie of the year, Sony is finally making a movie dedicated to Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis who later became a hero, hoping the fans will forget all about the awful version of Venom from Spider-Man 3.  A big selling point for the movie is that it returns Tom Hardy to the comic book world after playing Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and he better hope fans like his Eddie Brock/Venom more than they did his strange-sounding villain.

Hardy has been laying low recently, his last film being Nolan’s Dunkirklast year in which the actor was barely recognizable as a WWII jet pilot. It was two years before that when he appeared in Inarritu’s Oscar-winning The Revenant, the crime-drama Legendand George Miller’s long-awaited (and also multiple Oscar nominee) Mad Max: Fury Road.  In the years following The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy has also starred in a number of smaller films that haven’t gotten much traction, so it’s odd to see him returning to superheroes only six years after playing Bane.

Venomalso brings director Ruben Fleischer back into the Sony fold after directing the horror-comedy hit Zombieland and the comedy 30 Minutes or Less, although Fleischer has been focusing on television in the last five years since the Ryan Gosling crime-drama Gangster Squad. Neither of the latter two movies did as well as Zombieland, and it definitely feels like he has something to prove with Venom.

Unfortunately, people have already been vocally pessimistic about the movie ever since the first trailer didn’t bother to actually show Venom, and things got even more questionable after seeing Venom in a rather awkward longer trailer.  Much of the movie’s success is going to depend on whether reviews totally trash the movie or whether some critics actually like what Fleischer and Hardy are doing. So far, the RottenTomatoes reviews are at 28% Fresh, pointing more to the former, but one wonders if curious fans will still give the movie a chance.

Some have suggested Venom could open with over $60 million but I’m going a bit lower with around $55 to 57 million and $130 million or so total domestic. What’s interesting is that the opening range for the movie puts Venom into consideration to become the top October opening over Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, which opened with $55 million a few years ago. Regardless of whether it sets a new October opening record or not, I expect a fairly large drop after its opening weekend just because the fans will rush out to see it and then move onto other things.  Expect this to end up around $125 million domestic, which is not great, probably not enough for a sequel unless the movie surprises internationally.

Mini-Review: I’ve never been a huge fan of Venom as a comic book character. He always seemed a little one-dimensional to me, even as other writers/artists tried to flesh him and his host Eddie Brock out. (So far, Donny Cates’ take on Venom is well worth reading.)

I’m going to assume you know something about the character, his history as a Spider-Man costume-turned-villain and then how he became a hero. It’s obvious Tom Hardy and director Reuben Fleischer were making a movie for fans of the character who were disappointed with his handling by Sam Raimi in Spider-Man 3, and for the most part, it’s fairly faithful other than any references to Spider-Man.  In fact, the whole story has  been moved to San Francisco, as to avoid any other Spider-Man comparisons.

In this case, the symbiote comes down to earth in a space shuttle made by the Life Corporation run by an Elon Musk-type CEO named Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), and Drake does experiments on the homeless to try to make them hosts for the alien creatures. Tom Hardy plays investigative reporter Eddie Brock, a big-time loser who loses his lawyer girlfriend (Michelle Williams) when he snoops into a case against Drake. While investigating at the Life Corporation, one of the symbiotes takes to Brock, and you can probably guess what happens.

Although this is a straight-up origin story in the simplest terms, some things just don’t work and there are definitely issues, the first being the often silly screenplay that is constantly on the border of veering into campy Nicolas Cage territory. Much of that is due to Hardy, who plays off the silliness of the schizophrenic nature of the character,

On paper, Venom could have easily been a terrifying R-rated horror film with lots of gore, but trying to keep it at PG-13 means that Fleischer makes it more of an action-comedy, and there is enough decent action scenes and quirky humor to keep things entertaining.

Probably one of the things that makes or breaks any comic book movie is the CG visual FX and Fleischer’s hefty team of animators does a decent job making Venom watchable with long black tendrils that reminded me of the video game Prototype (one of my first Xbox games). Things do get a little messy when a counter-symbiote is introduced named “Riot” is introduce and the end battle has some of the same problems as the Ed Norton The Incredible Hulk in that it just doesn’t deliver.

Even so, if you ARE a fan of the comic character, you should be pleased with this incarnation just as those unfamiliar with the character from the comics will probably find the movie and Hardy’s performance to be off-putting. The film never deteriorates to the point of being a Catwoman or Fantastic Fourlevel trash fire, though. Despite some tonal issues, it’s often fun and entertaining, especially the action scenes, and if nothing else, there’s an end credits scene that will make people (esp. Venom fans) hope this movie does well enough to warrant a sequel. Rating: 6.5/10

Venom is going to have a lot of strong competition for older moviegoers and women of all ages with...

A STAR IS BORN (Warner Bros.)

This wasn’t even remotely one of my more anticipated movies of the year until it started getting rave reviews out of the early September festivals, but I’m sure it would have gotten a lot of attention for being Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, even if it seems like a shoe-in to win lots of awards over the next few months.

Obviously, this is a remake of a movie that dates back to the 1937 movie starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, which was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning for its story (as opposed to its screenplay). It was remade in 1954 with Judy Garland, and that was nominated for six Oscars and then again in 1974 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Krisstoferson, and that also only won one Oscar out of four nominations. Can Bradley Cooper’s version possibly break the “jinx” and make a movie that wins more than one Oscar? I think so.

Cooper has mostly been taking time off of acting to direct A Star Is Born, merely providing the voice of Rocket in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. He kind of hit a bit of a downturn in the years following his enormous hit American Sniper for Clint Eastwood, which grossed $350 million and got Cooper his third and fourth Oscar nominations. (Cooper has already been earmarked for a number of Oscar nominations for A Star is Born, for acting, directing and possibly even for writing some of the film’s songs.) Neither of Cooper’s 2015 movies with Jennifer Lawrence (Serena and Joy) did as well as their first two movies together with David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Cooper’s movies with Cameron Crowe (Aloha) and his cooking movie Burnt also didn’t do very well. Even so, Cooper had already been elevated to the A-list as an actor

The real ringer for Cooper’s debut is casting Lady Gaga in the role of Ally, the lounge singer who Cooper’s Jackson Maine discovers and falls for, because Lady Gaga has such an enormous diehard fanbase that even the younger girls might not be discouraged by the film’s soft-R rating. (Honestly, I still have to question the MPAA who gives this an R and Venom a PG-13 when there was WAY more swearing in that one.) Anyway, Lady Gaga is pegged to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance and probably one of her songs, too,

Another one of the films ringers is comedian Dave Chapelle, who basically just appears in one section of the movie but Warner Bros. wisely has cut a second trailer featuring him to play in movies like Night School in hopes of appealing to some of the African-American audiences that will see this movie as very white bread. More importantly, it stars Sam Elliot as Jackson’s older brother who has many great scenes with Cooper and is likely to be nominated for his first Oscar for it. (He should have been nominated for last year’s The Hero if you ask me.)

There are many easy comparisons for A Star is Born from Eminem’s 8 Mile ($51.2 million opening, $116m total) and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line ($22.3m opening, $119m total). There’s certainly the hype that came with 8 Mile going into opening weekend and Cooper certainly has enough box office pull, but the fact that this is a remake might already make some older audiences wary. At the same time, Gaga and Cooper’s modern take on the age-old story is likely to appeal to younger audiences, as will the music that runs a wide gamut of country rockers and ballads, including a couple that will likely be nominated for Oscars.

The good news is that the movie has been receiving rave reviews since it premiered at Venice and then played Toronto shortly afterwards.

This is the thing. I think A Star Is Born is going to do very well this weekend, probably more than $40 million, but I think it’s really going to kill in the weeks to come as word-of-mouth and repeat viewings pushes the movie up over the $150 million mark. If the movie plays as well as I think it does, I wouldn’t even be surprised to see it approaching $200 million once it re-expands to take advantage of inevitable awards.

Mini-Review: It’s been more than a minute since I saw the Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson A Star Is Born, so I’m not too adverse to a fourth remake, as much as I was concerned about a movie featuring an actor I’m so-so on and a pop singer whose work I never really cared for. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the film almost immediately as we see Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine performing on stage with the very loud live music coming from the Dolby sound system where I saw the movie.

Maine is an alcoholic so after the show he goes looking for a bar, winding up at a drag night of one local watering hole where it just so happens that Lady Gaga’s Ally is performing “La Vie en Rose” (maybe a nod to another Oscar-winning actress?). He’s immediately enthralled and goes backstage to meet her, and the two immediately hit it off, hanging out and learning more about each other. Ally immediately starts enjoying the perks of Jackson’s fame as he flies her to one of his concerts and pulls her up on stage to perform the song “Shallow.”

Things progress from there as Ally becomes famous from a video of her performance with Jackson. After one show, Ally is approached by a manager-type who wants to make her an even bigger star, and he proceeds to do what happens too many times in the music industry where he tries to transform her into some pop diva that’s

I really enjoyed seeing the romance and relationship between the two leads evolve, because Cooper’s Jackson Maine is quite a smooth-talker, even if he’s slurring most of his words. Gaga is also impressive, likely bringing some of her own struggles in the music business to the role. On top of that, the supporting cast, including Sam Elliot as Jack’s older brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s Dad brought a lot to the mix as Cooper ably balances the film’s tonal shifts from heavy drama to lighter moments.

Things do get a little bit predictable during the second act as Ally’s star begins to rise while Jackson’s starts to crash and burn, and he’s unable to accept how she’s becoming more successful than him, as his career begins to stagnate. He stops drinking, then starts drinking again and things just get worse and worse, as he seems to be hindering her career. The film’s last act is a stunner as Jack tries to get his alcoholism in check and Ally’s star continues to rise, making it obvious something’s eventually going to give.

A Star Is Born is an impressive debut from Cooper, not only for his direction but also how he elevates himself as an actor to keep up with his perfectly cast co-star. That’s not even considering that he co-wrote many of the film’s gorgeous songs. I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would, and I know that I won’t be the only person seeing it multiple times.

Rating: 9/10

Venom shouldn’t have a problem taking the top spot although we’ll have to see whether negative reviews manage to keep the fans away. Either way, it will beat A Star is Born on Thursday/Friday but then the latter will pick up steam, bearing in mind that Monday is Columbus Day so there’s no school and government offices are closed, which could help some of the returning movies, as well.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Venom  (Sony) - $55.6 million N/A 2. A Star is Born  (Warner Bros.) - $42.5 million N/A 3. Night School  (Universal) - $15 million -46% 4.Smallfoot  (Warner Bros.) - $14.5 million -37% 5. The House with a Clock in its Walls  (Universal) - $7.3 million -40% 6. A Simple Favor (Lionsgate) – $4 million -38% 7. The Nun  (New Line) - $3 million -54% 8. Crazy Rich Asians  (New Line) - $2.7 million -35% 9. Hell Fest  (CBS Films/Lionsgate) - $2.2 million -57% 10. The Predator (Fox) – $1.7 million -57%

LIMITED RELEASES

Other than The Hate U Give, this weekend is kind of a mixed bag for limited releases, since I haven’t watched as many of these as I probably should.

Almost a year after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s LOVING PABLO (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) starring Javier Bardem as the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar as it follows his rise to power while in a love affair with Colombian journalist Virgina Vallejo, played by Penelope Cruz. The film is based on Vallejo’s book, and it’s opening at around 15 theaters across the country.

Filmmaker Peter Bogdonavich pays tribute to the great silent film Buster Keaton with Buster Restored (Cohen Media Group), which combines footage from Keaton’s silent comedies with interviews by those he’s inspired including Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Knoxville. It opens at the Quad Cinemaon Friday along with a small Buster Keaton retrospective and then opens at the Landmark Nuarton Oct. 19

Matt Tyrnauer follows his recent doc Scotty and the Secret of Hollywood with Studio 54, opening at the IFC Center Friday. It looks at the New York nightclub that was the place to be seen between 1977 and 1980 but was exceedingly hard to get into as its popularity and notoriety rose. Tyrnauer was given incredible access to the man-behind-the-club Ian Schrager, who tells the story of Studio 54 for the first time. After a number of showings at IFC Center with Tyrnauer in attendance, Studio 54 will then open at the Landmark Nuart in L.A. on Oct. 12.

Opening at the Film Forum in New York is Joseph Dorman and Toby Perl Freilich’s Moynihan (First Run Features), a portrait of former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who tried to contend with poverty and racism in the greatest city in the world. (The latter bit is my own personal opinion. I haven’t seen the movie.)

Not to overshadowed by Bradley Cooper, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars and makes his directorial debut in Bayou Caviar (Gravitas Ventures), which stars Richard Dreyfuss as a Russian gangster who hires Gooding’s former boxer to take down an associate’s son-in-law with a scandalous tape. It also stars Famke Janssen, Katherine McPhee, Ken Lerner and Lia Marie Johnson.

Bella Thorne and Jessie Usher star in Jeremy Ungar’s Ride (RLJE Films) with the latter playing James, a struggling actor who drives people around L.A. for a ride-sharing service. The job gets slightly better when he hits it off with the beautiful Jessica, but the two of them are then taken on a crazy joy ride by another fare.

Following its run on DirecTV, Trevor White’s A Crooked Somebody (Vertical/DirecTV) stars Rich Sommer as a medium who goes against the advice of his minister father (Ed Harris) trying to call forth the dead, only to be idnapped by someone who desperately wants to make contact with the dead.

Terence Stamp and Ann Demetriou stars in David LG Hughes’ Viking Destiny (Saban Films/Lionsgate), the latter playing a Viking princess who is forced to flee her kingdom after her king father (presumably Stamp) is murdered, so she travels the world building an army to get revenge. In case you’re wondering what Game of Thrones has inspired…. wonder no more!

Michael Ironside stars in Michael Peterson’s horror film Knuckleball (Freestyle Digital Media) about a 12-year-old who finds himself alone on an isolated farm after his grandfather dies. (I assume Ironside plays the latter.)

I also don’t know a ton about Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Wobble Place (Breaking Glass Pictures), which has an exclusive run at Metrograph starting Friday with the filmmaker in attendance for a few screenings. Best I can do to describe this is to share the odd trailer…

This week’s Yash Raj Films offering is Abhiraj K. Minawala’s Loveyatri, a love story set during the 9-day festival of Navrati, starring Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain, a romance which almost comes to an end as she travels back to the UK leaving him in India.

Filmmakers Jukka Vidgren & Juuso Laatio’s Scandinavian cult-comedy Heavy Trip (Doppelgänger Releasing/Bloody Disgusting) will open in select theaters Friday before going to VOD on Oct. 12. It stars Johannes Holopainen as a guy stuck in a small Finnish village who is also the lead singer of metal band Impaled Rektum, a band who hasn’t played a single gig in 12 years until they’re booked to play a Norwegian festival.

And speaking of which, Bloody Disgusting’s Retro Nightmares continues with a double feature of Amityville: The Evil Escapes & Amityville: It’s About Time on Thursday Oct. 4 in select cities.

Lastly,  Anthony Nardolillo’s Shine (Forgiven Films/GVN Releasing), which won the Best Feature award at the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival, comes out Friday, starring salsa dancersJorge Burgos and Gilbert Saldivar as two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the gentrification hitting East Harlem.

STREAMING

The only major new film streaming on Netflix is Tamara Jenkins’ new film PRIVATE LIFE, which premiered at Sundance and just played the New York Film Festival. It stars Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a married couple who have been trying to have a baby and start looking at alternative methods after fertility treatments aren’t working. Jenkins is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of 2007’s The Savages, starring Laura Linney and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. (The movie also opens at the IFC Center in New York and at a theater in L.A.)

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

I’m pretty excited about my local theater’s latest series, an Albert Brooks retrospective that runs between Friday and Tuesday and including some of his classics like Modern Romance, Lost in America, Mother, Defending Your Life,Real Life and a program of SNL shorts.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Alain Resnais’ 1974 film Stavisky, featuring music by Stephen Sondheim, gets a restoration, which opens here on Wednesday.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Beyond Fest 2018 continues with a double feature of Flash Gordon and the West Coast premiere of the doc Life After Flash. Thursday sees a double feature of The Monster Squad and the new documentary about the movie called Wolfman’s Got Nards. Beyond Fest will then wrap on Saturday with a TRIPLE feature of Black Christmas and Halloween from 1978, as well as the brand-new Halloween weeks before its nationwide release.

AERO  (LA):

American Cinemateque’s other L.A. theater continues its own Beyond Fest Tribute to Cronenberg with a double feature of the director’s Crash and Spider on Thursday night. It also begins the series The Life of Reilly, as in John C. Reilly, with a double feature of Chicago and Step Brothers on Friday, and then a free screening of Reilly’s new film The Sisters Brothers on Saturday. Saturday also sees a screening of PT Anderson’s Magnolia with Reilly in person and a screening of A Grin Without a Hat (1977) to celebrate Icarus Films’ 40th anniversary.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

To help celebrate last week’s retrospective recipient Peter Bogdonavich’s new doc The Great Buster: A Celebration (see above), the West Village theater will also show a trio of Buster Keaton shorts, The General and other Keaton classics.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Along with a program of Jean Vigo shorts, the Hollywood theater will show the new 4k restoration of the director’s L’Atalante that screened at Film Forum last week.

MOMA (NYC):

The Unknown Jerry: Home Movies and More from the Jerry Lewis Collection at the Library of Congresscontinues with  Come Back Little Shiksa (1962) and The Re-Inforcer (1951) on Friday, Fairfax Avenue (1951), and a couple features on Gar-Ron Productions on Saturday and The Bellboy (1960) on Sunday, as it continues into next week. The month-long Modern  Matinees: Vincent Price will show Edward Scissorhands on Friday afternoon.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 7

Moms, Meltdowns, and Mayhem

Hello and welcome back to Fabian’s worst nightmare, already in progress!

We rejoin the Bad Kids who have linked back up the next day and are on their way to the library of the city Leviathan--The Compass Point Library. On the way there, they see the Crow’s Keep burning but Fabian, assuming it has to do with what happened to him, tells everyone to leave it alone.

Adaine questions why Riz hasn’t had any nightmares (Riz: In a way, my life is a nightmare) and the whole group goes into another round of Shadowcat speculation. Is she protecting Riz from nightmares for some reason? Why can Tracker and Garthy suddenly see her in the picture despite not having seen her irl or had any weird dreams? Is she masquerading as someone else? 

Anyway, they reach the library which is the cool, cobbled together and largely stolen (to Fig’s delight) pirate-y library of Alexandria type place. They meet an old pirate wizard named Rollins with a book of pirate spells that Fig immediately wants to steal and Adaine wants to borrow (or steal, she’s flexible). They all sign up for Compass Point library cards and go up to the observatory to look for Ayda Aguefort. 

In the observatory, they find a huge orange-yellow bird on a perch and this is the part of the recap where I have to inform you that Aguefort had not only banged a phoenix, he somehow managed to procreate with it. Meet Ayda Aguefort, the half-phoenix (shout-out to the anon from last week who called Ayda as Aguefort’s daughter). She’s got wings and arms, bird legs, a plume of red fiery hair, and eyes which are basically just fire.

Fig thinks she’s the creature Aguefort made for her for reasons I cannot begin to fathom. She tries to feed her but Ayda rejects the food, not wishing to be in anyone’s debt. Ayda is kind of intense, abrupt, and anti-social when they meet her. She’s fully is about to fly away instead of helping until Fabian yells that Garthy sent them and Adaine remembers she has the letter from Garthy asking her to help them. After some back and forth, she agrees to give Adaine the spell (which will take 6 hours to learn) for 150 gold. But these are the Bad Kids so, of course, we have several tangents before the plot goes anywhere, during which we learn Ayda is a divination wizard (like Adaine), she asks if her father has talked about her (Fig successfully lies that he has), and Gorgug spouts out some fortune cookie nonsense (“What is a telescope but a spyglass pointed at the stars?”) that convinces Ayda that he could be the greatest wizard of their age (Adaine does a spit take and Fig is loving it).   

Adaine hits the books to learn the sending spell with Sandra-Lynn keeping watch while everyone else splits up suchly:

Fabian wants to go out to check on the Hangman but Kristen absolutely vetoes that. Buddy. System. Ragh agrees to go with him and she lays off. He tries to see what the damage on the Hangman is. Nat 1. As far as Fabian can tell, the Hangman is full dead. Not only that, Fabian is poor people sick which he isn’t used to at all. Ragh isn’t doing much better on the emotional front. He just started making progress with processing his emotions and now his mom might be dead. Saddest Hoot Growl ever (seriously, it’s heartbreaking). Cathilda comes in, loving as ever, with food and kind words and an old lullaby, but that’s not enough to stop Fabian from rolling another Nat 1 and gaining 2 levels of exhaustion (which means disadvantage on ability checks and speed halved). Lou, please burn those dice. 

Kristen and Riz are researching the Nightmare King. They go into a religious studies section of the library and (on a 20+ check from Riz) find texts about a temple to a forgotten god in Sylvere (the forest of the Nightmare King). The god is never named in any of the texts which Kristen finds weird. Riz decides to steal the book and is able to do it, despite Kristen’s “help”. Later, Kristen cross-refs Riz’s info with her world religions book and, on a dirty 20, she finds with frustration that there’s a lot of information but none of it really matches up. The fairies, treants, and especially the unicorns all had mysterious deities but none of them really match with the forgotten god. [Note: Last time we heard about unicorns was in episode one and we learned that the last time people saw the great unicorn was the last time the NK showed up.] At the same time, it seems like there are elements of the god in all five of the cultures in the forest. Adaine checks and there’s nothing magic with the book so it’s just the contents of the book that are weird, not the book itself. Kristen thinks there might be a connection to her weird dream about not being able to draw the face of her god. Adaine wonders if Kristen might have been worshipping this unnamed god by mistake. Gorgug wonders if the god is erasing themselves (a theory backed up late when they talk to Aguefort).  

Fig looks for information on cursed gems and (with a 19) she finds a good amount--no surprise in a pirate library. She finds a book called Breaking the Evil Eye in one of the forbidden sections and learns that it could be possible to planeshift into the gem, dispel magic from the inside and get rid of the trap, before breaking the original curse. She finds all of this out after she steals the book (disguised as Rollins). Planeshift is a level 7 spell though so Adaine has a while to go before she can learn it (she gets her first at level 13). 

Gorgug asks the real Rollins for books about cheering up a friend. He’s brought to a small, dusty section of the library. Gorgug rolls a nat 1 on an insight check and thinks that Rollins must be messing with him. Rollins is confused because he super wasn’t. Adaine takes a break and uses this pointless argument borne from misunderstanding to steal his book. Dirty 20. Rollins instantly skelatizes. She hastily puts the book back. He comes back Wrong and in incredible pain. He begs them to take the book out and Gorgug does. Adaine peaces out to finish studying, leaving Gorgug to deal with her mess. Gorgug decides to keep looking at the friendship books. Even on a 5, he finds a secret door into a HUGE friendship library. Guided by his library card, Gorgug finds a book called Cheer Up Me Hearties. When he gets out, Gilear is being accosted for killing Rollins, but Gorgug is able to get them to stand down. Gorgug Thistlespring, winning pirate hearts and minds. They take the book and Rollins’ bones to get him put back together.   

Adaine finishes up as Ayda comes to check on her. Ayda is about to make another quick exit but Adaine tries again to make friends with Ayda, this time by directly asking and offering to let her hold Boggy. Ayda is immediately obsessed with Boggy (and Adaine’s backpack terrarium AND the backpack she makes for him at Ayda’s suggestion) and extremely impressed with Adaine’s spellwork in manifesting Boggy. It’s a very cute scene and Adaine has made a useful ally. Ayda can’t believe she met the two greatest wizards of the age in one day. Wild. 

Everyone regroups to call Aguefort now that Adaine knows Sending. He sends them back some more powerful magic so he can talk for longer than the 25 word response. Think of it as magic Skype. He very casually tells them that Ragh’s house is a smoking crater and his mom is super dead. He takes far too long to follow up with the information that, a long time ago, he hid Lydia’s real body under the school, made a clone of her, and used the Magic Jar spell to basically hook up her consciousness to the clone body (which held a fake demon shard). The clone body is what got destroyed. Lydia’s real body and consciousness are fine. Way to bury the lede dude! Upon being asked, Arthur says that he used to remember the name of the god of the unicorn but he forgot. Suspicious and troubling. He and Fig also renew discussions on the creature she ordered but never paid for. He says the cheapest option is a pentacorn for 30k gold (which sounds like a unicorn w/ 5 horns and pretty useless but I refuse to get dragged into this insanity, I am just the messenger here).

Aguefort leaves to deal with the situation at home. Meanwhile, Gorgug notices smoke again but he also notices that it’s on the wrong side to be related to what happened to Fabian. After giving Fabian and Ragh oranges to prevent scurvy--a tip from the pirate friendship book--he brings it up to Fabian who thinks it’s probably Captain Wicklaw making a power play and they should probably stay out of it. What? says Adaine. Nah, we should fight him. Yeah, says Fig. You deserve revenge! Fabian just wants to lay low so they can get their C+. Adaine is not here for that C+ and she’s not here for Fabian’s concerning attitude shift. None of the Bad Kids are. However, the cast is very here for absolutely roasting Lou for all of his choices by having their respective characters inadvertently reference every bad thing that happened last episode. When Adaine suggests that Fabian might be cursed, Fabian finally haltingly comes out with the entire story (which Lou has to laugh-cry himself through in one of the best scenes of the episode) and everyone interjects with comments that they (out of character) know will just make Fabian’s storytelling even more uncomfortable. It’s a very wild combination of very emotional (in game) but deeply funny (out of game). Like:

Ally (who knows good and well that Chungledown Bim told Fabian he was gonna shit in his mouth): Did Chungledown Bim help you?

Zac (who also knows good and well that Chungledown Bim told Fabian he was gonna shit in his mouth): Chungledown Bim probably saved you.

Murph (yet another person who knows good and well that ChungledownBim told Fabian he was gonna shit in his mouth) You know what we should do? We should go see Chungledown Bim.        

Amazing. 

Fabian finishes his recounting of the 20 car pile-up that was last episode by repeating his earlier opinion that they shouldn’t go after Captain Wicklaw because it will just end with all of them dead. Kristen tries to slap him back to normal and tells him to lose the Gilear energy. Led by Gorgug and Adaine, the gang tells Fabian that being Bill Secaster’s son isn’t the only worthwhile thing about him (in fact, it’s pretty annoying). He’s worthwhile all on his own. Tracker chimes in and says that she thinks Fabian might have some issues with depression so maybe their well intentioned efforts to get Fabian to buck up weren’t the best way to handle things. Adaine and Riz are skeptical that Fabian is like, capital D, Depressed but Tracker sticks by her read on the situation. The group eventually decides to at least check out what’s going on with the smoke but before they arrive, an interlude:

As they walk to Crow’s Keep, Cathilda walks with Fabian and Cathilda starts dropping information about herself and about how her own children died before Fabian was born and about how she sees him as a son--though she’s tried to keep the proper professional distance. She comforts Fabian on his bad day and then her eyes go full Terminator and she mentally buts Wicklaw on her “People I Need to Murder Today” list (more on this later).

When they arrive at the place where the smoke is coming from, they find that the Ramble (kind of a pirate meetinghouse/Courthouse) has been burned down. Jemina Joy is there and she lets them know that Wicklaw asked what was necessary to become the new pirate king. He was told that all he needed to do was get the crown from the former pirate king (because respect for/fear of Bill was the only thing keeping there from being a new king). He just burned down the Ramble to be a dick. Adaine damn near gets her ass beat by Jemina by arguing politics with her (her point being that she wants to install Jemina as Pirate Queen while Jemina is like, “I just keep this place from sinking. Lay off.”) but Riz, mindful of the fact that this is a time sensitive situation, takes off to Gibbety Square where the pirate king’s crown is (and where Wicklaw is headed).

They make it to Brennan’s latest battle mechanic: The Row and the Ruction.

This is the crazy, pirate bicameral legislative system. The Row is a huge fistfight (no weapons allowed--or really they are allowed but everyone will gang up on you if you use them) at ground level. It’s always in session and has been for 150-ish years. Above that, is the Ruction which is a fight with full weapon and magic usage alone. The idea is that you need enough support on the ground in the Row so you can use them to get up in the Ruction. It’s a king of the hill situation up there and if you can hold your position up there for long enough, you can make laws. Got all that? Good. 

They get there just barely after Wicklaw and his men who haven’t yet entered the Row. Wicklaw starts talking mad trash to Fabian but his friends back him up. They give him back his sword, his eye-patch, and Kristen hits him with a Warding Bond (which means that he gets +1 to AC and saving throws if he stays close to her plus resistance to all damage and, more importantly, she takes all the damage he takes). Fig gives everyone Countercharm. And, to top it off, Cathilda shows up with in an all black, super-badass pirate uniform to say she’s gonna feed him his own freaking brains! Let’s goooooooo!

But, Wicklaw has some new allies as well. Three elves bamf in from Falinel (same people who Kristen felt scrying on them earlier) and they’re there to bring Adaine back, and it doesn’t seem like they’re gonna just ask nicely.   

Detention

Adaine for Unnecessary Theft and (Accidentally) Killing a Man 

Adaine was kind of on one this episode. Not only did she inadvertently kill* a man while stealing from him, Adaine also ghosted at the first sign of trouble, leaving Gorgug and Gilear to catch all the flak for her attempt at pulling a Fig. Bad form, girl!

*She probably didn’t technically kill him but she turned him into a skeleton and he called the pain upon reconstitution worse than death so let’s not quibble about the details. 

Honor Roll

Cathilda for Being a Badass Mom 

Oh man, oh man, oh man. 

I’ve low-key been waiting for Cathilda to go full pirate since we learned that was an option and especially since Fabian got attacked because it was a pretty safe bet that was going to be her berserk button and boy did she deliver.

When did she have the time for a costume change? Is she that stealthy? Did she magic it on? Or did she just manifest the outfit on the power of her rage alone?

The scene where she says Wicklaw is gonna pay? Chills. Not only pledging to eat your enemy’s brains but also saying you’re going to feed him his own brains and describing exactly how you’ll serve it? So raw. 

But I also have to shout out the non-murderous mom stuff she did this ep. The little talk she gave Fabian about no one being defined by their worst day was very sweet and good advice out of game too. 

But honorable mention to Gorgug for being an absolute sweetheart all episode. Zac’s improv about pirates giving their friends oranges to prevent scurvy bodied me.  

Random Thoughts

Some very useful posts from @jamiebluewind: Character Descriptions, Location Descriptions, Transcripts of Cathilda’s speeches from this ep. 

During the initial discussion with Collins, we learn that the transmutation exchange rate is 50 Parrots=10 Bananas=1 Gold. How are bananas more complex than parrots?

Adaine: May we steal books?

Her later actions aside, I think it’s funny that Adaine’s first move is basically always to sweetly ask for what she wants and Fig’s first move is, “Gotta steal that book!” Adaine is like the most polite person in the group but also ready to fight 100% of the time. The role reversal in the Jemina scene where Fig was the one who asked an on point question and Adaine was the one who made it almost spiral into an actual fight was great.

I was just saying this re: Harry Potter in a different context but clearly marked but not blocked off forbidden sections of libraries are more a dare than a deterrent. 

Fig as a horned parrot (done by Rollins for trying to steal his book) is adorable. Please somebody draw that.

I love that when they see the bird that turns out to be Ayda and Murph is like, “I don’t think that’s a bird,” Zac is like, “Yeah, Gorgug doesn’t know that.” Zac (like Travis as Grog in CritRole) has a real talent for playing dumb while actually being really smart.

“My principal scammed me?”

Brennan truly did not have to follow through on Aguefort saying he slept with a bird. He really, really did not have to but he was like, “Nope! I said it so it’s happening! This is happening!” I really wish you guys could have seen my face as I realized in real time that the madman was actually doing that. 

Adaine to Fig who thinks Ayda is her creature: This is a full person.

“I like school.”/“You would.”

Lol at Fig trying to draw parallels between Ayda’s prickliness and her own behavior and getting absolutely shut down. “I think people think you’re really tender.” The running thing of Fig’s perception of herself as this standoffish loner being constantly reality checked by literally everyone she knows being like, “You tell us you love us literally every day,” is one of my favorite group dynamics. It’s even funnier because, besides probably Adaine and Fabian, the rest of the Bad Kids probably knew Fig (or at least had seen her around) before she started going through her emo phase. So they totally remember her in 8th grade wearing preppy clothes and carrying a unicorn backpack and listening to Fantasy Taylor Swift and all that.   

All ep they were calling Kalina a cat and I was thinking, “I feel like—in game—that’s gotta be offensive.” And then Aguefort straight said it. Wild for it to come from him since he’s the craziest person ever but I’m glad it came up.

“You seem simple to me.”/“Thank God.”

Aww at Ayda asking if Aguefort ever talks about her. Brennan, you gotta stop putting little emotional traps into otherwise funny scenes. I can only handle so much!

The gang did some experimentation with the photo in this ep with these results: Ayda and Aguefort both couldn’t see Kalina in the picture. They also took a picture of the picture but that picture had the same properties as the original picture. Weeping Angel rules I guess. 

There’s speculation in this episode about why Riz isn’t having nightmares. I have another question kinda on that topic. In episode 2/3, we see the lie/mirror/Baron thing that happened with Riz. And that was for sure super nightmarish. But it doesn’t match what happened to Adaine and Fabian. Both of them seem to have had more ephemeral experiences that quickly vanished. And they weren’t borne from lies so much as fears. Riz’s monster came from a direct lie and it didn’t seem to be a nightmare. It came out of the mirror and attacked not only him but his friends later. No one saw Fabian or Adaine’s nightmares besides them (although, that could just be because they got away). And no other lie-monsters have showed up as far as we know. I’m just wondering if there’s maybe something else going on or if it was a different NK follower who did that or just a different power of the same dude. Just something I wanted to note because it’s been bugging me a little and no one’s brought it up yet. 

Cool quirk of the sending spell Adaine learned: Because it was modified by pirates, curse words don’t count towards the 25 word limit. What I immediately thought (and what Aguefort actually ended up doing more or less) was that you could easily send very long messages with, say, Morse code. Just designate one curse as a dot, one as a dash, and one as a space, and you’re good to go. It’d be slow, but totally workable. 

Also, after watching Laura as Jester absolutely flying by the seat of her pants with every sending spell, it was wild to see the group take the time to carefully craft the perfect message. 

I said two recaps ago that I wouldn’t be surprised if Gorgug multiclassed into a casting class soon and boy do I hope this episode means he’s gonna do it for real. Adaine’s total disbelief at Ayda’s interest in Gorgug’s wizarding potential was sending me.

Oh also. Ayda has forbidden Gorgug from reading any wizarding books so he doesn’t lose is totally uncomplicated mind. I guess he’s supposed to learn everything the savant way? Imagine Adaine diligently studying her wizard books, trying to master some complicated spell and Gorgug is like, “I woke up and I guess I can use Mage Hand now? Neat.” Absolutely maddening. 

Besides Cathilda, Gorgug was the MVP in this episode. Dude has a knack for making friends that I think will eventually pay dividends. 

Also, speaking of, everything Brennan said during the secret shelf section was so good as to sound planned, however, how could you predict that that was a thing a player was going to ask to find? Brennan is just always 7 seconds of prep time away from giving an elaborate and super specifically themed speech about friendship I guess.  

Big ups to Kristen for not letting Fabian go off by himself again. Like, for the sake of the party of course but also the, “We almost lost you,” was sweet. She also helped buff him going into the coming fight with Warding Bond that means she takes all the damage he takes. I am SO glad they brought another healer with them because that’s such a risky move. Kristen is a LOT but she’s also very ride or die and all heart. I really love that the last time she used this spell it was on Gilear for a joke and now it’s getting used seriously. It’s a perfect establish existence of power to audience/bring back at plot relevant time setup. Improv storytelling is so inexplicably good. 

Technically, to cast Warding Bond, you’re supposed to have matching rings with the person you’re casting it on so imagine Kristen blinged out with a ring for each party member and each of them having a corresponding one in case she needs to cast it on them.  

Little bit concerned that Tracker still doesn’t know about Sandra-Lynn/Garthy. The longer it takes for her to find out, the higher the chance it blows up and becomes a Thing.

Fig: *Meandering philosophical question about why Ayda watches the stars*/Ayda: I study it so I can know where this big city is floating.

RIP to the Hangman. I don’t think he’s gone for good but it seems like he is for now. On my first watch, I thought that, on a 1, Fabian just fully thinks that the Hangman is gone but, the second time it seemed more like he’s just dead. Now, I’m not Brennan, but if I was in this situation, you know what I would do? I would have someone save the Hangman’s soul (or whatever he has instead of a soul) and store it in the Hangvan temporarily. Imagine how much he’d hate that. It’s full of potential for “roommate” shenanigans. 

Is there anything stopping them from just, ramming the Row with the Hangvan? Like, I know it’ll get them ganged up on, but will they be able to do much against a full van?

Also, if/when they hold the Ruction, I wonder what law they’re going to try and make. They didn’t really go in with a plan (understandable under the time pressure) so they’re really gonna have to improvise something on the fly. 

Also, I’m assuming Fabian stabbed the Hangman while he was asleep? I don’t think we were ever shown that scene, but Fabian must have been under some kind of compulsion since he woke up in the river (and the same happened to Ragh). 

Aguefort casually mentions that he has many children and this episode proves that Brennan can and will back up every single crazy thing that comes out of his mouth, so I’m excited to see if there is a single Aguefort out there that isn’t crazy.

Oh, also, the acknowledgement that occasionally that phoenix is a child is appreciated because that was def a question I was going to ask. Squicky to say the least but I guess that’s how phoenixes work so what are you gonna do?

Ally needing to roll a 10, rolling, being happy, checking Kristen’s modifier, and realizing it’s a negative 3 for a total of 9 is peak D&D.

Fig as Rollins: Look at how fast I can run!

I love Fig thinking Adaine could plausibly have 7 level spells. She’s like, idk bro. She’s the eleven oracle. She cares about school. She could know this too. Who knows? Certainly not Fig who thought she could buy wizard spells to use as a bard.

“Please speak more enthusiastically on my behalf.”

“It’s my brain guys.”

Fig mind controls Gilear into believing in himself and he fails his save. I wonder if this is could be valid therapy technique in this world. 

Aguefort mentions that a Wish spell can destroy a Magic Jar just fyi. That makes 3 pretty high level spells mentioned in this ep. Magic Jar is 6th level. Planeshift is 7th level. And Wish, basically the strongest spell in the game, is 9th level. We’re starting to deal with some serious magical mojo.

The whole thing with people in pictures that not everyone can see and memories that you know you once had but don’t anymore and information that should exist but doesn’t is hitting a very specific storytelling sweet spot for me. 

This is a little meta-gamey to be thinking about but I’m kinda wondering, why sideline Gorthalax? Obviously, it’s a good plot hook for Fig and that might be all it is. But I’m lowkey wondering is there something Gorthalax knows or can do that would solve the plot in 30 seconds if he was around? Like, was he roommates with the Nightmare King in hell or something?

Kristen finds it weird that the god’s name isn’t written anywhere but I’m sure that’s gotta be fairly common. Or at least not unheard of. Like, I know in Judaism you’re not supposed to do that. Anyway, watch the great unicorn be the Nightmare King just for the Nightmare/Night Mare pun.

Adaine being on brand no matter the situation: Everybody shut up I have to do my homework!

The, “Do you want a friend?”/“Desperately.” interaction killed me. 

“I don’t have any wizard friends.”/“I’m a wizard.”/(beat)/“I don’t have any wizard friends.”

Arthur cloned a woman, forgot to tell her, and then straight forgot. So business as usual from him. 

Fabian’s, “Nooooooo,” with the rising intonation every time someone made an assumption during his story and he had to correct him was amazing. Also, “He told me he was going to shit in my mouuuuwth.”

Ragh, Fig, and Adaine all crying about their parental issues at the same time. This has been, like, the longest week ever. I wonder if the 7 Maidens are unpacking this much trauma on their quest.

“Absolutely timbered.”

Lol at Brennan dropping the cool pirate sending spell “curses don’t count” detail and then being told from off camera that he needs to keep it PG-13. But then Cathilda needed to go beast mode so, like, what can you do?

Another cool worldbuilding detail is pirate clerics just keep shrines to every deity they’ve come into contact with to hedge their bets like Beni from The Mummy.

I know Lydia was attacked on orders from Kalina but I wonder if they knew about/had plans for the demon shard too. 

When Emily said she disguised herself as Rollins, I fully thought she was going to walk out the door the real Rollins was guarding and not go out the back door like she did. The idea of a back door didn’t even occur to me. I just thought we were in for some classic Axford insanity. 

Riz: You’ve gotta get better at talking to kids.

Riz: This is real Gilear energy.

Kristen: We brought one Gilear. We don’t wanna make that mistake twice.

Everything that happened with Fabian was really funny because there’s nothing I love more in D&D than players having a good time dunking on each other but, in game, Fabian is really going through it. Fabian low key has mom friend energy so to almost die and then for all of his friends to jump into the exact fight that almost killed him (including taunting the dude! Adaine!) against his advice must be giving him a level of anxiety and dread that I don’t even have the words to describe. Like, now is not the time for him to digging into that because things are life or death. Gotta save your life before you can fix it. But he def needs to at some point. Too bad Jawbone’s not around for a quick mid-battle therapy sesh like he had with Adaine during prom.   

Tracker suggested that Fabian might be depressed. I’m not an expert on depression. He could be depressed and, in any case, he definitely needs to see a therapist for a Lot of reasons. But having a breakdown because you saw 14 people die, almost died yourself, and were told that a man wanted to shit in your mouth less than 24 hours ago seems less like a sign of depression and more like the only rational human reaction.

Adaine calls the above, “a vaguely mediocre day”. Michael Scott Voice: Adaine you ignorant slut.

Also Adaine: You got that bike because you won it fair and square because we killed a lot of people.

This is the second time Adaine has said that Fabian’s lineage is actually the most annoying thing about him and these are the kind of tiny continuity details I live for.

Semi-relatedly, Fabian’s relationship with his parents v. Adaine’s relationship with hers is endlessly fascinating to me. Because they have such similar backgrounds but coming from, like, opposite directions of the same spectrum, you know? Can’t wait for those sweet, sweet parallels as we jump into her trauma! (What is D&D but group therapy interspaced with murder?)  

Speaking of Adaine’s trauma, it looks like we’ll be getting to it very soon as those FBI Falinel operatives have shown up to force her (and the plot) back to Falinel. This is Concerning to me for two reasons. First off, remember the Aelwyn fight from season 1? Remember how annoying that was? Now imagine that times three and also 2 separate pirate brawls are happening. That sounds like a Bad Time for our kids. They’ve leveled up some and they’ve been known to make some very clutch battle decisions, but this is gonna be tough any way you slice it. This is like two entirely separate encounters at the same time. A small good point: I looked up the language for teleportation and it can only be used to transport a willing creature. So they can’t just bum rush her and poof out. But they could give her an ultimatum to make her agree. The second reason this Concerns me is that Adaine high key doesn’t want to work with/for Falinel and they know this. The fact that they’ve resorted to kidnapping (fun international law fact: when a government kidnaps someone, it’s called rendition) tells me that they’re done playing nice which opens up two options to them they might not have otherwise used. They could coerce Adaine’s consent to be their oracle by threatening her life/her friends’ lives. Or, more troubling, they could just kill her. I mean, she became the elven oracle when the old one died, right? So, if she died, someone else would get the job. Probably someone less troublesome to deal with. I doubt they’re gonna go straight for that because they seem to want her alive, at least for now. But it is a concern. 

Of course, we’re assuming that what’s happening on the face of this is the whole story, but that’s not necessarily true. Iirc, all we heard was that they found the oracle and they were gonna bring her back to Falinel. For all we know, the elves could be working for Adaine’s mom. Of Adaine’s mom could be working with Falinel. Or she could be working with Falinel just as a way to get to her daughter. We really don’t know. The last person on this show that got kidnapped was Fabian and that was a friendly kidnapping. Anything is possible. 

Something that struck me as a possibility: This fight seems like it’s gonna suck. There is a world where the ideal move for Adaine is to pull an Evy (from the Mummy--two Mummy refs in one recap, did not plan that, I just love the Mummy) and agree to go with the Falinel elves if they help them instead (or at least stop helping Wicklaw) with the faith that her friends will come rescue her. I doubt they actually care much about what happens in the government of this pirate junk city. I’m curious about how they ended up together anyway. I’m guessing the elves clued into what was going on while scrying on the group and decided an alliance might be useful.

Brennan about both Ally’s Applebees Reference and Fig using a Leviathan phonebook: That is nothing.

Shoutout to Fruzzinoid in the chat who said Ally’s alignment is chaotic-chaotic. Accurate.

I love the laughing-squawk that Brennan does for Ayda as much as I hate the fact that he made the Choice to spell it that way.

Truly, the entire scene where Lou is recapping the fight from last episode and he’s laughing uncontrollably but Fabian is clearly crying and he’s expressing both of those things simultaneously is beautiful. 

A Fabian line that really hit but that I haven’t mentioned yet: “I probably have one follower running around. Never mind he’s my father’s just like everything else I have.” Ow. Such a deep cut but so off the cuff from Lou. As a writer, this show makes me so mad because that’s such a good line of dialogue that Lou just dropped out of his mouth like it was nothing. How dare he? 

Another good line I didn’t mention before, this tie from Riz: “We all draw strength from each other. You went in without your crew. What’s a pirate without his crew?” Ugh, Murph. Who gave you the right?

This episode has made me extremely curious about what Cathilda thinks about Hilariel. Because she sees herself as Fabian’s mom--which she essentially has been in a lot of the ways that count since Hilariel has been mentally out to lunch for the past however many years. To be clear, I do think Hilariel loves Fabian. She just hasn’t really been present even though she’s been literally present. The way Cathilda phrased some of the things she said and the way she seems to talk about Fabian’s dad so much more than his mom makes me wonder if she doesn’t...resent isn’t the right word exactly. Maybe, disapprove? It makes me wonder if she doesn’t disapprove of Hilariel’s parenting choices more than she lets on. 

Kristen’s, “Do you listen to music?” in the middle of actually useful questions for Ayda. 

Rich people sicknesses include having eaten too much caviar or smoked a cigar for too long in case you’re wondering.

“You want an orange, pal?”

On a practical note, we have two more episodes to go until the show breaks for the year so prepare yourselves from now people!

Riz, Adaine, and Gorgug each rolled one Nat 20 apiece. Fig, Gorgug, and Adaine each rolled a Nat 1 (but Adaine presumably cancelled out hers rolling with advantage because of Boggy). Fabian, who is still living his worst life, rolled three Nat 1s. Tragic.  

[jamiebluewind]

Charatcter Descriptions and Summary 2.13

As always, let me know if I need to edit or add anything and tag/ask/PM me about art and stories so I can check them out! I'll try to add warnings later. Also, we have 8 episodes left including this one, so the last one should be number 20.

***

Things

Dusk Moss

Hallucinogenic moss with very few alchemical properties that puts the user into a state of lucid dreaming where they are also concious of waking world (basically fantasy marijuana)

Is a flammable powder that cannot be unlit once lit

Crumpkin said his brother swears by it and that everyone should try it at least once.

It will even you out if you take a little bit and a quarter of teaspon will send one of them on a trip all day (so what about the size and race of the person?)

Can buy in a massive block from Tinkerer's Hall where a dose of the powder can be shaved off the block to use

Mystery Rune

The rune was abjurative magic: metamagic school (instead of protection, wards, and shields) which shapes the nature of magic itself. Specifically, the rune involved curses and a way to mask powerful curses and spells. One can take a tremendous amount of spellcraft (or the ability to cast multiple spells), put it into a curse, and have the curse ride under other curses. In other words, if connected to an object, the object would have been "cursed" to be a vessel for a wealth of other spellcasting (flash drive), but hidden under another curse (advanced encryption and a virus).

The larger and more permeable the curse, the more able it is to ride under another curse.

The curse on top (dummy curse) works best the more widespread, static (can't be easily ended or doesn't have random frequent spell effects), ambient, and passive it is like using a magical landscapes or creatures instead of a spell made by a spellcaster.

***

PCs With Datemates

Kristen

Took a picture on her crystal of the unknown goddess mural (originally wondered if it was a tequila advertisement)

Kissed Tracker and the tree she was hiding behind

Wanted rosé with the cold fratatas, but thought it was weird that he put both kale and spinach in them (as did Tracker)

Looked through the medical papers Adaine and Riz found and figured out how to cure the Kalina infection (greater restoration due to studying records or a tinsure that requires dusk moss, the alchemical supplies Gorgug got from the tinkerers, some things Adaine can pull from her jacket, and one or two things they'd only be able to find beyond the wall)

Her and the group decided on the tincture method despite the risk of curing behind the wall as she can only cast greater restoration once per day (only one 5th level spell slot and 5 infected: Tracker, Sandra Lynn, Ragh, Riz, and herself), but the option of using greater restoration on herself and Riz while leaving the others behind or inside Van was discussed (side note: could she team up with any of the locals bards/clerics/druids/artificers/celestial warlocks who know greater restoration and teach them the specifics of the altered spell while they wait on the others to get back?)

Suggested they pretend they all died after they take the tincture in order to give them an advantage due to Kalina thinking the party was cut in half (all but Adaine agreed)

Owns little handcuffs with her and Tracker's initials on them

"I don't know why I'm saying this, but Go Ball."

Assumed that the team in hell were just stuck in a waiting room, possibly drinking pina coladas

Investigated where Aelwen, Adaine's mom, and Killian entered the briar wall. It was much more tangled, far from Arborly, up a cliff with difficult rocky terrain between them and the temple. It was a place where they wouldn't be looked for, but it would take them longer to get there.

Tracker

Said the thing with Vraz made her werewolf issue with the Shrine of Thorns the second weirdest thing that's happened

Started transforming after glancing at the uncovered mural image of the unknown goddess, growling as half her head transformed as she fought changing before rolling off and hiding behind a tree (per Kristen's suggestion)

Couldn't go to hell because she couldn't enter the shrine

Gorgug

Got springs put in his shoes by the gnomes which gave them thick rubbery soles (Spring Coiled Sneakers of Bounding) and also asked for shock thing from tinkerers which would have a spare the dying effect (unknown if he got it)

Wears size 19 canvas shoes

Looked through a big log book with the alchemic ingredients in tinkerer's shorthand before buying the same alchemical ingredients that Killian bought (magnesium, antimony, and mercury which are used in magical candles) for 350 gold. Killian also bought two huge blocks of dusk moss incense (600 gold for both which he split cost wise with Fabian), but he was nervous about buying it (dusk moss details above).

Explained cell towers to the tinkerers

Considered jumping into space to either get to or place a satellite

Found a picture of his parents launching their satellite into space (Wilma and Digby giving double thumbs up, the van tipped on it's nose with it's back doors open to launch the satellite from the back of it, a lot of papers and a mobile desk in van's glovebox) and found space tech-esk routing info for the satellite in Van which allowed him to make a satellite phone

Originally left his crystal and the info with the tinkerers (original timeframe 1-2 days), but came back to help which speed up the process

Was curious why Gilear wasn't infected by Shadow Cat like Sandra Lynn and was later sorry he brought it up

When they found out they couldn't enlarge/reduce Van, he considered making a massive vest with massive pockets he could wear that everyone could jump in before they used enlarge/reduced on him, but the idea was scrapped

Suggested that if they played dead after taking the tincture to not warn Gilear so he wouldn't be acting when they "died".

"Hey, this is based on nothing, but I feel like Gilear is dead."

Believed that hell wasn't as bad as people said it was, just unfamiliar and like 5 degrees hotter

Ran into the briars after the portal closed

Likes a hot hot tub because warm ones just makes him wonder what's cooking in there

Was up all night sweating with his hoodie off (first time in a long time) working on his phone before finishing up the crystal pack (made his phone into a satellite phone). He felt pretty good about making it work.

Got a slew of unread messages once he turned his phone on (few old ones from Zelda, some from his parents checking in, and tour stuff)

Called Zelda with a video call, putting his hoodie back on as it rang and rang (most of the call is in Zelda section)

Told Zelda he loved her for the first time (after she said it first). Said he wished he was there, but hadn't figured that technology out yet and admitted that he might not have service once they went into the forest ("I'm here to communicate")

The gnomes erupted into cheers over the crystal working, but he was equally exciting over Zelda saying she loved him. They popped some gnome wine (pink fizzy champagne that smelled like cloying sweet strawberries) and shared it with him in celebration

Got a bunch of DMs from the other seven maidens saying "Way to go big guy"

Zelda

Was at Ostentata's house at night for a party (everybody was telling the story of when Gorgug jumped the fire elemental there and when he backyard wrestle smashed the beer pong table while time was stopped) when Gorgug called

Told her adventuring party he was calling before she went outside, but they followed

Answered her phone while still wearing her earbuds and assumed he was back, but was told he figured out how to make his phone work. He did it because he felt like it was important to be able to talk to her, the world, and her (not because it was part of the quest). She asked if they had cell towers, but Gorgug said that he had been working on artificer stuff and used his parents' satellite.

Started crying over Gorgug doing a whole bunch of new science to make his phone able to call back, apologized to him over getting upset, and said she missed him and he was the best

Was embarrassed by the other maidens eavesdropping (they called out "Good lookin out Gorgug! Stand up thing to do! You did it!"). Gorgug went on speaker and said "Well hello guys!" before she shooed them off to talk to her boyfriend

Made sure that Gorgug's friends weren't in danger over him working on his project, but was reassured that he was having down time and it would also help them in the long run

Told Gorgug that she loved him for the first time and freaked out (insulting herself) before he said that he loved her too. This was followed by her saying "oooh I just wanna... I just wish you were here."

Said the Red Waste was super hard, but they were done and thought they would get a good grade on it

Called Gorgug cool (and was called cool by him). Said what he did meant a lot to her. The call ended with one last quick I love you from Gorgug.

Fig

Subpoenaed to be a witness for Gortholax before a tribunal due to him being negligent for his infernal domain (after his 9th and final request for appearence lapsed). The print of her subpoena got so fine that it was mostly illegable without a magnifying glass. It was also in infernal (which she can read)

Asked Vraz if she could leave the door to hell open with them following later (left open, but was yelled at)

Considered disguising herself as Gortholax and offered to disguise herself as a famous lawyer from billboards to help Gilear

Wanted to know more about law so she could defend Gortholax domain and yelled "THE CHOSEN ONE!" when she discovered that Gilear knew the law

Wanted to start a grass roots campaign about the demons working with the nightmare king (as devils hate them both)

Asked her mom why Gilear wasn't infected and discovered her parents had slept together many times, but not in the last 3 years

Got upset with Riz over his opinion on devils (quote in dialogue link)

Had to be the first through the portal to hell, but straddled the flaming doorway with Riz on her back to try to keep it open

Tied a rope around Hangman so she could wakeboard while smoking a clove, library card behind her right ear

Thought Gortholax's home was tasteful and knew the door code.

Blamed herself for the quality of Gilear's life (quote in dialogue link)

To Vraz "What going on with you? Do you need a hug?"

Lit a cigarette in court, told them that Gortholax was trapped in a gem, put her feet up, and said Kalina the Shadow Cat used a proxy to trap Gortholax with the assistance of demons (but was able to hide the fact that she was the proxy from Vraz)

Asked for help getting into the forest of the Nightmare King, but got yelled at because calling a recess does not mean the trial is over

Cut her arm and offered the tribunal her blood as proof she was Gortholax's daughter, but the blood sizzled when it hit the ground and either summoned or created an imp which served as proof

Ayda

Told Adaine what the rune was (details below)

Still working on plane shift

Got upset over Fig getting sucked into hell, insisting that they had to go rescue her "Well, we should do whatever we can to make it happen as fast as possible because I'm going to get another kiss, whatever happens"

Said Fig's lips are the softest things she's ever felt (grossing out Adaine) and "If I don't smell Fig's hair again, I'm going to incenerate"

Asked Adaine for advice as the Oracle, wanting to know how many potential futures there were were Fig wouldn't want to kiss her or be around her anymore and if they could be avoided. She was also worried that Fig might have kissed her, but not felt attracted to her.

"If we kissed a bunch of times over the course of an hour, does that mean we are girlfriends or wives?" (potentially but ask to clarify)

Was worried that she would look sad, weird, or not normal from a social standpoint for asking Fig to clarify if they were girlfriends (to which Adaine said she was not and was in face very very cool).

Worried about her mind being foreign to other people and despite not being the same as Adaine, felt better after talking to someone who understands not being like everyone else.

Told Adaine "You're a very special person to me and your friendship means the world to me. I hope we study magic together for a long long time" and that she loved her.

Has notes on how her brain works and built an entire friendship section in the library because she was so lonely.

Went to the Synod to be alone because she lived "on a dirty pirate island"

***

Other PCs And People In The Party

Adaine

Released an aura in the crime scene and might have put on gloves

Found the non detection runes her mother had placed (to keep elves off the trail) and the remains of two rituals, one to kill Killian and one to put the Devil's Heart (with Gortholax) inside Killian. The rituals happened 24 hours appart, meaning they left the night the teens arrived or her mom knew to kill Killian before Aelwen arrived.

While looking for something in the room (something nice her mom might have said about her), she found a blank piece of parchment on a small desk and revealed a message using "the pencil trick" ("Aelwen is with me. You are betrayed. You have no other choice darling. Come with us.") which she believed was probably for her dad. Later got the original copy (wrote out for a sending spell) by using mend on ashes she found in a trashcan

Suggested a cold fratata picnic

Pulled beautifully printed pamplets out of her jacket for Fig's grass roots campaign, but they had a typo so she tossed them

Told the group to give a thumbs up to someone who had the message spell (currently only Fig and Adaine) if they had something to say to keep it from Kalina

Was caught by briars and ejected from the hell potral, keeping her from entering, but decided that heaven and hell were just reflections of each other so she wasn't worried

On dusk moss, said "I've heard it's good for anxiety." and suggested that they all got high while waiting on their friends to return from hell (but was unable to convince the others)

Discovered that the unknown goddess' spellbook had a distinguishing mark on it, an occult rune that was in a lot of stuff at Compass Points (which Ayda would have studied) and on the coin given to Kalvaxus (more info under mystery rune)

Liked a hot tub that started off very warm at first and then got more comfortable

Messaged Ayda late at night for help "Avast ye scurvy devil. How is plane shift going? Also, need info on rune. It looks like [x]" (answered back "I'm not a scurvy devil. Let's use the synonym. Right jacket pocket.")

Found a key made of glowing blue crystalline energy in her pocket as the keyhole on a nearby door started glowing slightly blue.

Was given a scroll with a first level spell by Ayda that granted her access to the Synod of Spyre which is a meeting place for wizards

Told Ayda "I think your great",  made her laugh by telling her that curses were "ten a penny", and told her that she enjoyed talking to her about their magic as Ayda is someone who gets it and is not mean to her

Asked Ayda to tell her everything (about the kiss), but then realized that she didn't want or need to know everything. She did say (about Ayda and Fig) "I support this. I am happy about it. I am amazed. Oooo she's secretive!" and that while on a macro level, some people will kiss without caring, Fig wouldn't because she cared about everybody (she did kiss those two older guys though?)

Admittedly that being oracle only let her help out a little every day and occasionally she got a terrifying vision, but she doesn't know when the event will occur or what will cause it

To Ayda, "If you like a person and they like you and the relationship is good, it shouldn't matter how other people feel about it? I think."

"I want to be alone and also surrounded by my friends at all times."

Riz

Worked the crime scene in the Owl and Harp with Adaine (putting on gloves before starting)

Found that the rituals were specifically to get Kalina into Silvar by bypassing the need for permission from a devil authority by using petrismosis to move from an infected creature into a gem to commandeer the devil within it

Petrismosis: The body's ability to start having elements of the magical gem within it to start permiating orgainic membrane; the process of an organic body and gem to become one which includes osmosis of blood to gem (ragh mom constrantly fights against the being within her gem using her rage, blood, and soul)

Told Adaine "It's great to fin- be around someone who just focuses up. Me and you? Everybody else is super horny. Super emotional. But me and you? *slaps hands together* No emotions between the two of us." (she was looking for something nice from her mom)

Discovered that Adaine's mom had packed WAY more rations than they needed to get to the temple, some alchemical ingredients, and all primary work, leaving only hints behind as well as some research and medical diagrams (which Adaine and Riz took). The medical diagrams were extremely old velum grave robber level medical stuff written in a character based pictogram language (think hieroglyphs, almost like emoji) that was most likely centaur. One medical diagram was of a disected and dismembered centaur with dark, very scary looking cat symbols (refered to as the disease or infection) behind eyes, in ears, on tongue, deep in sinuses, and on spine. It also showed that the brain was carefully taken apart and looked at, but the infection was not present there.

He and Adaine deduced that Kalina could only look through one person at a time using their senses and couldn't get into their brains, but could cause paralysis. The only safe place would be the moon haven/Kristen's hallow, but Kalina might be able to ride one of the infected into the haven if she was actively trying to do it. They could however talk anywhere using telepathy (such as the message spell).

Was worried about going to hell while infected, but later said "I meantioned that I was concerened about going to hell and her possibly being able to see the trial, but hell is also bad so I don't really care if they end up fighting and killing each others. Let's just go to hell. Also, they're super far along already. They have Gortholax and they're in. So it's not like... yeah."

Might have internalized racism/goblinphobia and has bias towards devils (both from his reactions in this episode and his reaction to Gortholax in season 1)

Suspicious of devils and doesn't think they should be super cool with them (quote in dialogue link), later becoming upset over what Hangman said about goblins ("Oh like goblins have such a great reputation.") and the others reaction to his and The Hangman's statement.

Road into hell holding onto Fig's back.

Upon seeing Gilear knocked out, said "See I told you that hell was bad! I mean, this is awesome, but this is bad." Pointed out the irony of Gilear getting mad at him a long time ago for stealing the first aid kit that gave him the healing feat.

After Hangman said the evil souls were murderers, thieves, and liars, he started sweating and said "Liars huh?" (side note: Riz has actually done all three)

Grabbed Gilear's face and investigated him to figure out why he was so confident (he said no to an offer from Sandra Lynn). Hissed at Gilear and then apologized, saying they were in hell, it was weird, and the things said about goblins earlier made him feel kinda crazy

Hissed at Vraz repeatedly, even after she threatened him.

To Vraz "Well I'm Riz The Ball and I'm just gonna ROLL WITH THIS! We're here! We're here for your trial thing! *hiss*" Is held back by Gilear while Fig tried to push him forward towards Vraz (told her to stop it)

Hissed at Vraz again (when she was mean to Fig) saying Vraz calling somebody in the middle of a trial was weird before the pair got in another hissing/screaming match. Asked The Hangman to hold him back and got his foot run over.

Fabian

Ownes 250 to 312 pairs of shoes (depending how many have been thrown away or given to childen), has size 5 feet (and is self conscious about it), said he had delicate feet and was lithe and dexterous, and his father had small feet and mother had normal sized feet

Said "god damn it" when he discovered Krumpkin wore the same size shoes as him, lied and said he had big toes and wore a 5.5 because he didn't to exchange shoes with a gnome, and quietly said "...let's go" when Gorgug asked if he wanted little bells on his shoes (side note: was he teased in the past?)

Completely confused by tinkerers logbook, so he deferred to Gorgug. Tried to help by rubbing his sheet on the gold coins they were buying supplies with, but nothing happened

Was nervous about buying or using dusk moss, saying he knew a guy who tried it while wearing a hat and now he always felt like he's wearing the hat. Told the rest of the group "We bought so many drugs." when they dot back.

Fabian's bardic "You feel the power of Fabian's support and care for you" (the explanation of his new stats is linked below)

When asked if he wanted to stay in the Tinkerer's Hall, he answered "Absolutely. With all these weird little men and women. No thank you. Ragh, let's go!"

Has a bunch of private stuff on his phone that he doesn't want anybody seeing

Tried to ride Hangman into hell, but caught by the briars and ejected as the portal closed

Told Hangman "You are literally the sweetest meanest thing ever."

Mutters "Go off The Ball, go off" while Riz was in a different dimension from him (yelling at Vraz in hell)

Said he didn't worry about his father as he was thriving, but he missed him. When told he could get word to him, originally assumed Bill would be busy, then agreed but asked Hangman not to be needy about it, then tried to pretend that he was cool either way and that he didn't need it and it wouldn't fill him with joy, then admitted that it would fill him with joy, and finally just asking "yes please do it"

Likes a warm hot tub due to it being better for his skin and he can stay in there longer

(Multiple quotes can be found in the dialogue link below)

Hangman

His presence (a devil) closed the portal to hell, seperating him from Fabian. He could still talk to Fabian telepathically, but freaked out. When asked to turn it down, he replied "I can't turn it down, I'm sad!"

Said that the portal was created for the dark tribunal and afterwards the devils are required to deposite them from where they came from

Gave Gilear his mark by making his eyes glow dark red pinpricks and etching an infernal ruin of blood and fire on his forehead

Got pissed off over Gilear having to ride on him, but did it to stop his complaining. Meanwhile, Riz also road on him (with a "Huzzah!") and Fig tired a rope around him so she could wakeboard on her skateboard behind him

Approved of Riz hissing at Gilear

Said the souls falling into The Bottomless Pit were evil and of murderers, theives, and liars

Got the tribunal to allow them to stay at The Bottomless Pit (as Fig was both Gortholax's daughter and she had passage there) instead of prison

When he was told only Fig was going to go in the hot tub, he pouted and said "I want to go too!"

Offered to send word to Bill Seacaster for Fabian

Gilear

Made fratatas (with both spinach and kale) immediately, but they all got very cold due to the teens being away for hours (were so cold that they thought he put them in the freezer)

He was not "the face" when he worked in Fallenel at the elven counsel (where he said he was a glorified paralegal), but was still an expert in international and interplaner law

When Fig told him that it was his moment and she needed him, he immediately replied with "Nope!". He eventually gave his word to help, but was confused about how they got into trouble in Arborly, discovering the trial was both in hell ("what? what? oh no.") and delivered by a really keyed up woman who was probably working through something ("I...what have you done?")

From Adaine's jacket, was given a barrister wig from Fig ("None of the cultures I've worked for use these wigs"), a gavel from Kristen, and a black robe from Adaine

Found that the subpoena had no clause concerning ther souls, but hell would send people to get Fig if she didn't go

Wears boat shoes and had a powerful aura of disease coming from his feet (again Gilear DOCTOR! or have a healer greater restore!)

His bald spot was hit by a bit of fire before a blast of fire hit him and knocked him out, setting his wig on fire. He was healed by Riz, but left with burns.

Was given the Mark of The Hangman, which was an infernal ruin of blood and fire etched on his forehead which caused a red force field to appear that protected him from the fire as long as he was with The Hangman

Noticed how Fig was acting (library card behind ear) and started asking her questions, but she dodged them until Riz confronted him about his confidence and got him to confess "I got confidence because Sandra Lynn asked to sleep with me and I said no!" Said that he and Sandra Lynn talking until morning and towards the end she made an offer, he said "No. Thank you", and everyone was still happy and fine afterwards

Told Riz he was very scary and intense sometimes, resulting in Riz hissing at him

Did not actually help during the trial due to fear.

(Has multiple quotes in dialogue link.)

Sandra Lynn

Covered for the teens messaging by talking about finding where Adaine's mom entered the forest as the teens nodded along

Had to explain to her daughter that her and Gilear slept together, but she could have gotten the Kalina disease anytime in the last 3 years and Gilear wouldn't have been infected ("I love you. It's weird. Sorry for all this weird info.")

On Kristen attempting to handcuff her "So help me god Kristen Applebees. I understand that I work for you, but so help... wow."

No longer with Jawbone, but ended on good terms

Was very kind to Gilear the first night in Arborly. She offered to sleep with him at one point and was turned down.

When she asked what the teens were messaging about (dusk moss), Kristen said Spring Break and suggested Sandra Lynn have a spa day with a hot tub soak and a massage with cucumbers on her eyes. Gorgug suggested cucumbers on her ears. Fabian said they should get the weird gnomes to pound her (dear god Fabian! XD) with Kristen saying "gnomes all over your body", Adaine adding that they would walk on her back, and Fabian adding that the little shoe bells would be meditative

Ragh

Asked for a lost spring from the tinkerers

Wears a size 17.5 shoe (quote in dialogue link)

Was paranoid about buying dusk moss (ARE YOU A COP!?), but after Crumpkin's reaction, he grabbed Fabian and Gorgug's arms and said "I think drugs are legal here"

Took a solid chunk of dusk moss and was found staring at his hand ("My hand is just little animal on the end of your arm")

Came into the van later, shirtless and looking like he'd sweat ten gallons. Said "Everything in the world is connected", (on Adaine thinking of trying it) "Adaine, for real? I can never be anxious again because I don't even know if I can ever be fully in my body again.", and (response to Fabian saying it sounds scary) "No no. I'm part of the universe dude" before drinking a glass of water and going off to go to bed.

***

Gnomes

Crumpkin Springbill

Head Tinkerer of the Tinkerer's Hall of Arborly

Confused as to why anybody would be mad about people buying or using dusk moss

Told Gorgug that it would take a long time and a lot of materals to build a cell tower

Size 5 shoes (but likes a little toe room) with curled toes so he can puts little bells on them (sounds like the general style of shoes for the gnomes there as well)

Said hello to Zelda enthusiastically over a video call

Polly Pullypad and Osmand Wobbletrouble

Accidentally flew into where they stacked all the old pots and pans (Polly)

Brought Gorgug his altered shoes back and bowed to Gorgug

Asked to examine Gorgug's crystal in exchange for the spring shoes (Osmand)

Suggested they try to skip building a cell tower and connect directly to a satellite

(Unnamed Twins)

Shallower cone hats with tufts of fur on the ends of springs

Took gorgug shoes off his feet

***

Devils

Vraz the Mean

Sarcastic erinyes with a +13 insight and a beautiful but uncannoy vally porcelain face with a beauty mark

When Fig and Kristen asked if she could leave the door open so they could follow "Are you guys having a fun time? BECAUSE YOU SEEM PRETTY FUCKING GLIB! Keep your sass to yourself!", but still left the door open

Got hissed at by Riz a lot (multiple quotes in dialogue)

Said she is having a bad time between her title (Vraz The Mean), species (Erinyes), running hell, and her title (Arch Secretary)

Called the tribunal into order (with her two co-jurors in a room with a small 3 seat judges bench), stating that it concerned the issue of Gortholax's infernal negligence

Tried to call her boss Blozo, but he couldn't come due to traffic

Found that being trapped in a gem counted as extenuating circumstances and he would not be punished, but they needed a new regnant for the Bottomless Pit so they called a recess while they consulted the bylaws.

Yelled at Fig for asking for help after the recess saying (in a durr voice) " *points at temple* Do you know what words mean!? Do you know what words mean!? *jacking off motion* Huh?"

Was going to imprison "the mortals", but was convinced by Hangman to put them under house arrest at The Bottomless Pit

Kystrona (Ky-stron-ah) The Chained

Vaguely humanoid figure that is just like

A person with chains coiled where arms would be as well as the torso and head, making a massive mound of chains

Moved with a lot of strain (including trying to shrug) and voice is muffled from all the chains

Lorzug (lore-zug) The Impaled

Bone thin naked person with incredibly pale skin and translucent vains all over

Impaled through the stomach about 10 feet up a jet black iron spike as they kick and scream

Only responded with screams

Retch Rot

Tiny blood red imp with a scorpion tail summoned by Fig's blood (calls her mistress)

Might look like a red Boggy with really long legs for his size (Ally wondered if he looked like "a really famous mouse", including suspenders, but I personally give Emily's description more weight as she is in fact in hell as Fig)

Valet to Fig while in the Bottomless Pit

Wanted to show them to their quarters and the many doors of The Bottomless Pit (but had to make it clear that the doors were just rooms in the pit and not portals)

***

Other Stuff From 2.13

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