#and that includes acknowledging survival sex workers who only got into it because they had no other options

[short-serketing]

The people I've seen who're upset that Louis was made a pimp in the Interview With The Vampire TV adaption because they feel it is terribly out of character for our dear, brooding, gentleman vampire are sending me into orbit thanks to the propulsive force of my rolling eyes.

BOOK LOUIS OWNED HUMAN BEINGS AND FORCED THEM TO WORK ON HIS INDIGO PLANTATION, GIRLIES, C'MON

Him being a brothel owner/manager is a change, yes, but the writers are clearly exchanging his canonical participation in one disgusting system of human exploitation (slavery) for another (prostitution).

Some people have likely forgotten things as the book originally came out in 1976 and they may have last read it anywhere from a year to forty seven years ago, and his slave owning ends fairly quickly into the first book, but the point still stands.

[esoanem]

V.

“There’s always doubt, Billy. No sane man would deny that. No good captain would acknowledge it“

Major Content Notes:

Blood & Gore: shrapnel injuries and missing limbs caused by a ship taking a broadside head on are shown. A man is shot in the head with blood splatter  but no wound shown. A man’s neck is bitten through causing arterial bleeding, the wound is shown. A slave is forced to act as a suicide bomber, he falls on the bomb causing a bloody explosion

Physical Abuse of Genitals: a woman is douched by another woman using a metal syringe. She is very rough and clearly causes significant pain

Slavery: a cargo hold full of slaves is shown. A slave is shot in the head at point-blank range (no wound or blood is shown), another is threatened, and a third is forced to act as a suicide bomber

Wikipedia Synopsis:

Flint and his crew of the Walrus play a deadly game of naval warfare when they engage Captain Bryson and the Andromache on the open sea to gain precious cargo. Meanwhile, Richard forces his daughter's hand when he makes an announcement to the locals about his assets being liquidated. This causes a mob to riot against Eleanor, who seeks help from Hornigold. Rackham makes a career change for him and Vane when they become owners of the brothel. Also, Billy questions Flint about Mrs. Barlow, and Anne confesses to Max about her past with men.

This one’s got some pretty bad stuff for blood & gore so might be worth looking away or skipping those scenes if you’re sensitive to that, the sex slavery plotline is much less bad than in the previous two episodes

Timestamps:

As ever, all timestamps are from the “Complete Collection” DVDs which includes a Starz logo at the start, as well as a recap. Depending on your source, timestamps may vary a little, which is why I’ve included the timestamp for the opening titles. Timestamps are only given for the start and end of scenes featuring any particularly warning-worthy content

00:57: opening credits

21:22-23:40: Mrs Mapleton is taken to Max to douche her with a metal syringe to stop her getting pregnant. She is overly rough. Anne takes over and is more gentle. She tells Max she didn’t mean for this to happen when she handed her over to the crew, she only thought they’d kill her

31:56-37:31: The Walrus closes on the Andromache and is hit by her broadside. Shrapnel injuries and missing limbs are shown. Beauclerc shoots the helmsman, and the Andromache is forced to come alongside to be boarded. As they come alongside, a man is shot through the head. In the boarding action we see people shot and stabbed. Dufresne is forced to bite a man’s neck and blood flows out in an arterial spurt before Dufresne passes out

43:23-45:31: Bryson goes into the hold where the slaves are kept. Mr Scott is chained up there. Bryson tells Scott to assist the ship in leaving and he can return to Nassau. He shoots one of the slaves, and goes to threaten another. When the slave behind starts pleading, that slave is unchained and taken upstairs

50:17-51:49: the slave chosen by Bryson tells Flint that the Scarborough is knows where he is and is coming. At that point the Scarborough is spotted and in the moment of distraction the slave lights a bomb. He is shot, falling on the bomb, causing a bloody explosion

Summary:

As they chase after the Andromache, which is out of sight, BIlly goes to Flint to report their speed North by Northeast at 6kts, and Flint decides to discuss his concerns about Billy’s trust

“You don’t trust me do you? With any luck, we’ll sight the Andromache soon. Battle will begin. You and I will have our roles to play. We have the chance for a few minutes honesty first”

“Honesty? Men died yesterday, careening our ship faster than was safe. Men are going to die today attacking that merchant ship out there and they’ll die not knowing it was all based on a lie”

"A lie?”

"We don’t even know if the Urca’s schedule is accurate. We’re completely relying on the cook. How can you just pretend you have no doubts about this”

"Years of practice. There’s always doubt, Billy. No sane man would deny that. No good captain would acknowledge it. Take our present route for instance, we tacked north by northeast, along the Andromache’s best point of sail. If you’re Bryson, that’s the smart course.”

"Well he knows that I know that. So wouldn’t he have at least considered heading Northwest to follow the coast? Lose us in the dark? Or due East, on the chance we might sail right past him? There must be at least one chance in three that that horizon will remain bare and we’ll never see the Andromache again. That’s the truth. But what good would that knowledge do for any man on this crew trying to focus on doing his job? This crew needs certainty. And I need their support to achieve an end that is in all our best interests. So we dance the dance. Never was there a Caesar that could not sing the tune”

"Who’s Mrs Barlow”

Flint smiles to himself. “you’ve heard the stories haven’t you? She’s a witch, who pledged my soul to the devil and anoints me with the blood of infants to keep me safe in battle “

“Come on I’m not stupid”

"No, you’re not. So you can probably guess, it isn’t as much fun to tell stories about how your captain makes a home with a nice puritan woman who shares his love of books”

As Billy asks if that’s true, the Andromache is spotted and Flint smirks, going off to command the ship

Jack walks into the brothel with Anne & Vane. The madam, Mrs Mapleton (above) is talking to a sex worker about a client who did more than she agreed to. Mrs Mapleton is dismissive, suggesting that she ought to charge by the digit. When she sees Vane et al, she tells them that Mr Noonan forbad them to come in, but Jack gives her a piece of paper purporting to be a signed deed settling their dispute over Max by agreeing to purchase the brothel

She thinks this is quite odd and asks where Mr Noonan is now and Jack says he sought passage to Port Royal

“You’re telling me that Mr Noonan, who just a few hours ago had the intent of seeing your captain beaten to a pulp, that Mr Noonan, decided instead to sell you his life’s work?”

“And you expect me to accept it based on a piece of paper and your word? And to keep my mouth shut about it, when any halfwit can see that there’s foul play around?”

She clearly sees through the bullshit, but decides to play along for a raise from 3% of the gross profits to 14%

Eleanor storms into the warehouse and, after speaking to the man Scott knocked out last night tells him to get her horse ready so she can speak to her father. When she goes to her office, she finds Silver chained to Randall, having been stashed there to "stop what’s in my head spilling onto the deck of the Andromache“. Eleanor uncuffs Randall, but cuffs Silver to the couch. He asks why she seems to harbour so much anger towards him. She says it’s because not only did he steal from Flint & his crew, he also lured Max into “his selfish scheme”

“Hold on, I specifically tried to talk her out of getting wrapped up in my selfish scheme!”

Eleanor gets called outside urgently. Her father is giving a speech to a small crowd outside the warehouse, lying, saying that Bryson had known about his arrest before landing, and had been sent to liquidate their holdings in the Bahamas

"For years we’ve all profited in this place, trading on the stability of my family’s name, but unfortunately our circumstances have changed. A fortnight ago, his majesty’s navy attempted to place me under arrest. I am, since that day, a fugitive marked for execution by the crown. 

Unbeknownst to me, my family in Boston learned of this, and ordered captain Bryson to liquidate our holdings here. I convinced him to leave behind the contents of our warehouse, but that is all. 

To those of you owed credit, or for whom we hold goods in consignment, I leave it to my daughter to see you made whole as best we can. But once that is settled our business with you must be considered complete. 

I’m very sorry. God speed to you all”

The Walrus isn’t closing on the Andromache fast enough and won’t catch her before nightfall, at which point she’ll be able to slip away. Flint orders the topgallants (the uppermost set of sails) raised but de Groot protests that with that much canvas up the backstays (which stop the masts being pulled forwards) may not hold, and even if they do, the ship will dick in hard at the bow, possibly hard enough to “shake loose the rigging entirely”. Billy sides with Flint and the topgallants are raised. After a few rough moments slamming into the waves with the bow digging in, Flint wrestles with the helm to get the ship under control as the Walrus reaches 7.5kts - very fast for a ship of this era and the crew cheer

Richard Guthrie comes in to talk to Eleanor, who is furious. He says she “let Flint seduce you into this madness about the Spanish galleon, all in furtherance of the fantasy that you can resist English rule”

"You are a child. I am fully aware that captain Flint left in pursuit of the Andromache last night, but you should know, Captain Bryson sailed the Valesca(?) route for ten years and was never boarded, not once. 

Flint will be returning either empty-handed or not at all. This treasure galleon business is over. 

As for our future here, I am working on a deal that will make a safe place for us among the farmers in the interior. When the pirates are gone the landowners will drive commerce here. They will be indispensable to the lords and to Whitehall, and so we will make allies of them. We will adapt. And we will survive.”

She asks how he got Scott to cooperate, and he says “we talked like men, and he saw reason”

Eleanor goes downstairs, as Lilywhite is giving a speech to a large crowd. Hornigold and his men are keeping the crowd at bay, but he suggests she announce payments to settle debts immediately. She says she can’t pay, and he presses her, trying to work out what crews will take alternate payment, but she continues

“I’m not winding things up here. My business continues. 

Captain Naft of the Intrepid & Mr Walker her quartermaster, Captain Laurence of the Black Hind & Mr Harrison, and our friend Mr Frasier, get them all here now”

Hamund (above centre), the member of Vane’s crew who has been brutalising Max comes into the brothel with the rest of the crew saying “that Guthrie cunt is done”, and wondering what they’re doing in the brothel because they’ll be able to hunt again soon. Jack says that Eleanor is likely not out for the count just yet

"To assume that we’ve seen the last of Eleanor Guthrie is, well, not to know her. 

The fact that she appears to have captain Hornigold and his men propping her up only adds to my conviction. Right now we’d do well to keep our mouths shut and be thankful and be thankful we have some income from this place for the moment and bide our time”

Hamund tries to appeal to Vane, who is sitting there blowing smoke rings, but he just goes upstairs, and Hamund leaves with the rest of the crew

Jack moans to Anne about things never being simple. Smirking, she offers to make it simple (i.e. kill them)

"Darling, this is a lovely stop gap, but if we are ever to hunt as a proper crew again we will need - well - a crew. Right now those men are all we have. It is unfortunate perhaps, but no less a reality”

He then suggests Anne take Mrs Mapleton to Max to tend to her whilst Hamund is distracted

As the Andromache readies for battle, Bryson is writing a log when he is told the Walrus will be on them in four hours. He seems unconcerned, his only order being to pack the china plate in their hold with extra straw, so that it might arrive in Boston unharmed

Billy is below decks with Logan (above right), the armourer, going over their stock of weapons. Unfortunately, because they emptied the arsenal before careening, they only have short stocks left as it was all that could be managed before setting sail. Billy says to take it all up top and not hold any in reserve. Either they take Bryson’s ship or they’re “fucked” (Logan supplying the last word). Even Dufresne is given a pistol, and he’s taken aback

Max’s chain is chafing as Anne & Mrs Mapleton come in. Mrs Mapleton starts douching Max to stop her getting pregnant using a metal syringe. She is uncaring about the pain she causes. Anne sees this and tells Mrs Mapleton to leave, before lubing up the syringe, and continuing much more gently. Anne tries to ask why Max didn’t leave when Eleanor beat Hamund off her, and then suggests that Max ought to stand up to the men

“Once one of them came and put his balls on my shoulder whilst I was asleep. Thought it was funny. Last time he put them anywhere. If you take it, they’ll give it”

"Why do you say these things? You were the one who threw me to them in the first place”

“I only thought they’d kill you”

She looks ashamed and leaves

In Eleanor’s office Silver suggests she’s sticking her head in the sand about the situation, commenting that when a mob turns, the ones that gave rise to it are usually the most surprised. Hamund arrives downstairs and Eleanor goes down, coldly holding his gaze. He insinuates that she’s now getting exactly what she did to them and asks how that feels, before saying he’ll go back to Max on the beach

Billy explains the battleplan aboard the Walrus using two brushes for the Andromache (left) and the Walrus (right)

"As we close the distance to the Andromache, the captain believes Bryson will tack port and set himself for a clean broadside volley. He’ll loose his guns, pay off downwind and continue running. Now ordinarily, we would either match him, and return fire, or slip into his wake and make a run at his stern. Unfortunately, we’re too outgunned for the former, and Bryson is too skilled a captain for the latter. He’ll just keep shooting and delaying, shooting and delaying until nightfall, at which point he’ll just slip away.”

Logan asks how the hell they’re going to board her if they can’t shoot at her and can’t get close to her, as the crew nods. Billy says they go straight at her (this headlong rush into the enemy’s broadside is similar to what Nelson would later do on a much larger scale at Trafalgar)

De Groot then says they’ll be sitting ducks for the Andromache’s guns, being raked bow to stern and Logan adds “we’d be boarding bow to midship. For all you virgins in the room, that’s also known as fucking suicide”. Billy says that “of course we’d need to board alongside her. We just need captain Bryson to accommodate, and bring the Andromache about for us to do so”

Billy tells the crew that “Mr Beauclerc is going to convince him”. We see Beauclerc (below centre) whittling in the corner and, as the crew turn to look at him, they seem to accept this

Dufresne tries to talk his way out of being involved in the boarding action, showing Billy the ledger saying he saved the crew a huge amount being good at accounts, and asks if any other man can say they’ve earned as much. Billy says that every man on the crew had a first time, and Dufresne is overdue, despite never having shot a pistol which he’s told is alright, because half the time they don’t even fire

Vane is watching Lilywhite rant when Idelle enters saying she was sent by Jack to tend to Vane’s wounds. She says he should pleased that Eleanor’s finished after what she did

“You hate her. I hate her. They all hate her. Look what good it’s done us. 

No captain on this island’s ever known that kind of power. Power that doesn’t care how many votes you can tally, who loves you, who hates you, who fears you. Power that just is. 

Truth is, none of us have any right to hate her for it. She’s strong, and we’re weak. 

That’s the reality of things here, and no-one down here’s strong enough to change anything”

As he traces the scar on his chest she asks if he isn’t strong enough, and he says he thinks it’s time he found out

The crew of the Walrus are hunkered down to be ready to board, as Dufresne tries to conjure up possibilities where the fight won’t happen, saying he doesn’t think he can do this. Billy tells him an encouraging lie

"Yes you can. Listen, Listen to me! You will make it through this! No-one eats it their first time over the side. I’m telling you, it’s never happened. Not on this crew. Don’t ask me why, it just is.”

"Men die all the time, it can’t be true”

"Not first-timers. Name one. You’re gonna be alright”

Bryson gives the order to fire and we see the result on the Walrus, with men with shrapnel in their faces, and limbs blown off. Beauclerc is in the crow’s nest with several longbarreled muskets (presumably early rifles). He picks up the first, aiming for the Andromache’s helmsman, but a wave rocks the Andromache away obscuring him

The Andromache fires a second volley, and Beauclerc shoots, narrowly missing the helm, and getting spotted. Beauclerc grabs his second musket & Bryson orders the helm to stay where he is and to bear away before they lose the wind. This time Beauclerc hits the helmsman and the wheel spins free, with the Andromache turning to windward, as the Walrus need. Another man takes the helm and the rest of this volley from the Andromache misses. Beauclerc shoots the new helmsman and, as the wheel spins again, they lose their wind and Bryson is forced to give the order to prepare to repel boarders

As the Walrus comes alongside, Dufresne puts his glasses in a pocket. One of the crew is shot clean through the head. Blood splatter, but no wound is shown. We follow Dufresne with subjective shots seeing men get shot and stabbed as they board the Andromache. Dufresne tries to shoot a merchant, but his pistol misfires, the merchant then tries to shoot Dufresne, but his pistol misfires too. They grapple for a while, and Dufresne bites his neck, and blood spurts out. Dufresne falls back and passes out. Later, after the deck is cleared, Billy finds him, covered in the other man’s blood and helps him up

Eleanor has gathered  Captain Naft of the Intrepid (above left, in yellow), Captain Laurence of the Black Hind (above left, with the bottle), their quartermasters (right), Mr Frasier (above left, behind the captains) and Hornigold. She tells them that she means to establish a consortium, with them as the heads. Mr Frasier has a charter from the Massachusetts Bay Provincial Authority that could be used to pass customs houses, and the Black Hind and Intrepid are the largest ships on the island, and least profitable. Captain Laurence is insulted

"My men aren’t merchant sailors, they’re hunters”

"Yes, but they’re bad at it Jeffrey. What good is that doing anyone?”

"I put this to them they’ll vote me out before I stop to take a breath”

"I’m amazed they haven’t voted you out already given the shit prizes you’ve been chasing. Your men will earn three times as much in half the time, not facing a single sword or pistol in the process. You’re telling me that you can’t sell that?”

Laurence remains unconvinced, asking Hornigold if he supports it. He says he will, if she lifts the ban on Charles Vane, saying the mob outside thinks of her as a tyrant, with this as one of her most egregious acts

"Charles Vane is an animal! As are the men that remain with him”

"Because they saw fit to punish a thieving whore?”

"And I am not about to say otherwise for the benefit of captain Lilywhite or any of the other idiots out there listening to him”

"I’m listening to him - your commitment to this place is admirable, but you’re young, and you’re rash. Show everyone your motive here is for the common good. Show them that you can be trusted to keep petty animosity separate from business. Rescind the ban on captain Vane and show me that. Do it and I’ll back you as your father’s successor here. The boss behind all trade. Until then I’m sorry, I can’t help you”

"I won’t do it”

"You have until dark to come to your senses. At that point I will withdraw my men and the business of the street becomes your business alone”

The crew of the Walrus have taken the deck, but the Andromache’s crew are stashed below, and the pirates are hacking ways into the lower decks with axes. Gates has checked the dead and injured and Bryson is still alive. The crew get into the quarterdeck bunker to find just three men inside, puzzling Billy. Meanwhile the three pirates of the vanguard are on their way to clear the cargo hold

De Groot tells Flint the rudder isn’t responding, so the mechanism must have been cut belowdecks. Flint orders the vanguard recalled, as we see them cut down by a volley of musketfire ringing out from a second bunker on the lower gun deck as Bryson’s second in command suggests it is time to send terms

Bryson goes downstairs into the hold and looks contemptuously at the cargo of slaves. He stops at Mr Scott who is chained up there with them. He tells him that if he assists in getting the Andromache away he can return to Nassau, but that he should have known there would be consequences for siding with Eleanor against Richard. He has one slave shot in the head, and goes to threaten another. A third slave starts pleading and this slave is then unchained, and led upstairs

Eleanor returns to her office and Silver urges her to accept Hornigold’s terms, asking what she cares. She feels guilty for Max’s suffering. He points out that Max had the opportunity to walk away, but she says she can’t proclaim to the world that what happened to Max was acceptable and apologise to them for ever having said otherwise. As she is on the verge of tears she asks Silver to convince her to “betray Max a second time”

“Max chose. Why? I don’t know, maybe it was spite, maybe it was strength, maybe it was who the fuck knows what, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t care. Because the moment I start making choices based on her decisions I give her a hell of a lot more power over my life than I’m quite comfortable ceding to a perfect stranger. Guilt is natural. It also goes away if you let it. And losing your life’s work, that doesn’t go away”

Vane walks out of the brothel and Jack hurries after him. Vane has requested a skiff. Jack says it isn’t his business, but they may soon be able to hunt again. Van just says that there “problem isn’t in there, never was” and carries on, jumping into the skiff as Jack calls after him, referring to him as “Chaz” (apparently this was attested this early, but I cannot take it seriously because to me it sounds way too modern)

At the Walrus and Andromache Gates tells Flint Bryson is in a reinforced hold directly beneath them at the fore end of the lower gun deck, with doors and roof as thick as the outer hull, so there’s no way for them to breach it, plus they’re right in front of a powder magazine, so they can’t blow their way in or else the ship will sink fast, and there’s no way to get the guns off as it is because anyone sent down will just get shot

"It doesn’t make sense. If Bryson wants to force me to withdraw, what’s to stop me burning the ship once we leave? We’re missing something”

Dufresne is reading the papers in Bryson’s cabin as Billy enters. Dufresne said he wanted to get a headstart looking through them before saying the name “Jameson”

“You said no man ever died his first time over the side, but you forgot about Tom Jameson, Bosun’s mate, about two years back”

“Hm. That’s right. Also, Christian Toms, Will Robins, John du Bois, that Portuguese guy with the lisp, what was his name?”

“Oh that is funny. Thank you. For doing that. It helped”

Billy spots a sealed letter labelled as from Miranda Barlow to “the Honourable Justice Addington, Thomas, the Massachusetts Bay Colony” and goes to open it as he hears a shout from the deck to get away from the hatch. He pockets the letter before stepping out

The chosen slave climbs out of the hatch as pistols are drawn and pointed at him. He asks for captain Flint and then, with one of the pirates as interpreter conveys a message from Bryson

“I’m secure in the hold below, with twenty of my men, I can wait, you cannot. Before departing, I sent a message to the captain of the Scarborough, told him where I was headed, told him where he would find you”

At that moment, the Scarborough’s sails are spotted to the East. The Slave lights a bomb and runs at Flint but is shot by Billy. The Bomb explodes beneath him, sending blood everywhere

[pernatius]

Lost in Space Part 10: Ch 5

Previous 

Summary: Significant changes have occurred while she was unconscious. One of them includes the imprisonment of Syco. Part 10 deals with the unnamed Space Explorer’s reconciliation.

Lost in Space on Tumblr

Lost in Space on ao3

Shiitakee and I came barging back into the ship’s command center panting and sweating from cutting what was supposed to take fifteen minutes from the basement to the center by walking to a forth by running. My running companion is gripping the door frame as he tries to catch his breath. Between breaths, he mumbles how he needs to cut back on smoking as I include myself into the meeting at hand, which continues to proceed even with our unexpected, loud arrival. I take my position at Saamuki’s right. She and several Tauvoxes, high-ranking ones, including the lieutenant, of course, are looking down at the large holographic three-dimensional layout of what I can only guess is Commander Knox’s spaceship. One of the rooms, a big one, is missing. So, there’s a giant hole in the middle of the illustration. I don’t get the chance to guess what it is because when Saamuki points at it, she figures it out for me. 

“That must be where the ship’s crystal is, but why isn’t its room showing up?”

One of the Tauvoxes, who I’ve only seen one other time, which was when Syco carried the three of us back on the ship, speaks up after saluting her. “Pardon me, Commander Saamuki, but is it really wise to stage an assault on Commander Knox? They outnumber us one to ten million and most of them are our own.”

I only caught a glimpse of him the last time I saw him. Now that he’s standing to my left, I can see his brown fur has sprinkles of white and grey. His body type is similar to the others in that he is muscular and about double either mine or Saamuki’s heights, but he’s wider. His stomach is protruding. There’s a scar over his left eye, and a small metal pole has replaced the bottom half of his right leg. The captain, as I soon learn his rank, truly fits the physical description of a pirate. 

“Captain, if it comes to that, we just have to give it our all. That being said, our best option should be having a small group sneaking onto the ship and assassinating Knox while he’s busy conquering that planet. Rescue the others as well, but finding Shiitakee should be our priority.”

“Then, I volunteer to go, Commander Saamuki,” the lieutenant offered. He saluted when Saamuki made eye contact with him.  

“No. We can’t afford to bring any Tauvox with us. This mission requires stealth. Besides, you’ve proven you can keep this entire ship from blowing up.”

“That would put you at four hours if Commander Knox defeats Commander Zel in the time I calculated, which my calculations are never wrong.” This Tauvox standing right across from Saamuki would look like any other Tauvox, but his fur is longer than the rest. He tied the ones on his head into a ponytail, which looks like a wolf’s tail because of its aged appearance. He gets out a screen and tosses it towards us. Once it’s right above the replica of the enemy ship, it changes into three shapes. One is a large ball and the second is a dot slowly inching towards the larger shape. The third is a clock that shows how much time we have left. We’re at eleven hours, twenty minutes, and thirty seconds. “With such limited time, Commander Saamuki, if none of us can join you in such an imperative mission, one that will decide the fate of the entire Universe, who could possibly qualify then?” 

All these men had their eyes on her. As someone who was once a sex worker and one who still looks like one, even with her conservative outfit, the look of these men isn’t of lust. They are hungry, yes, but not for a taste of Saamuki. Instead, those eyes hungered for answers and hope, hope for their commander to make the right decision.  

The fate of quadrillions is in the hands of us—a snake possessed by some nonbinary ghost, a mushroom with a smoking addiction, and a human with a magical crown. They flew towards Commander Knox’s spaceship using Saamuki’s much smaller spaceship. Her Tauvoxes are following not too far away. Commander Knox had apparently defeated Commander Zel an hour earlier than predicted, which got a rise out of the ponytailed Tauvox. While the three of us didn’t show how anxious we are, I could feel it in the room. Shiitakee and I stayed silent. While piloting her ship Saamuki mentioned how we’re finally getting the others back, but I didn’t vocalize my excitement.

I didn’t vocalize anything because I was far from excited, even if I’ve been longing for this moment. I just sat and watched the stars fly past us, looking like lines because of how fast this tiny ship was going, with the outfit I copied from my dream using my crown. I did look at Saamuki, though. Without words, we shared something, and that was acknowledging our contingency plan. If we failed, then one of us would need to stay behind while the others escaped. The one that does would have to detonate Knox’s crystal. That would instantly kill everyone in a hundred-mile radius. Not even an overpowered Watcher could survive such an explosion, which would mean the one that would stay behind wouldn’t either. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. 

Quadrant Eighty-Five. The planet is called Vecta. It’s the same as I remember it. Its moons light up the night sky, this rocky landscape, and its light glints around the edges of those ahead, on the other side of this boulder. I can see Tauvoxes, Virmuses, and other alien species fighting on Knox’s side. No signs of Skeema, Ashley, Mikrovos, or even Khavas. They clash against the Talten’s blazing weapons and the weapons of the other figures. I spot a red-painted symbol, which is glowing, on one of the wrists of the Talten’s allies. Not only may Licata be part of the fight but Sakhra too. Saamuki doesn’t know who she is, of course, but I can see she realizes the same thing I do in the case of her long-time rock friend. She turns to us with fiery blue eyes. “We have a mission. We can worry about the fight later. Come on you two while everyone is busy fighting each other.”

Saamuki, with a blaster far more superior than the ones we used in the beginning, is the one in front leading us to Knox’s ship that’s about a yard away. I’m in the middle with my dagger in one hand and my own blaster in the other. It’s just as strong as the one in her grip. Before we separated from her Tauvoxes, I watched her test them. They went through five walls of what’s been her ship for about two days now. It nearly took off an inch of the Tauvox in one of the rooms she shot through. Luckily he dodged just in time, or he would’ve joined Apulsion in the afterlife. Shiitakee is last in case he needs to omit one of his gases and is empty-handed. What he can do with that cap compensates for his lack of weaponry. 

With every step we took to bring us closer to the spaceship ahead, the louder the battle to our left became even though they continued to be well far away from us. Screams are heard as well as curses to Knox’s followers. Hundreds of blasters are going off, probably from the Virmuses, but only a Talten is heard collapsing from the shots. Horns, those from Tauvoxes, rip through flesh, and screams follow suit, but Knox’s side isn’t in complete control of the battle. I smelt flesh being burned. Some of the Taltens set a few Tauvoxes, which howled to the night sky, on fire. Sakhra’s group is pulling their weight in the fight, hitting the opposing side with their symbols.

In the corner of my eye, Sakhra’s group slaughters hundreds on Knox’s side. I can’t even imagine how many have been killed. The battlefield must be covered in bodies, blood, and whatever insects are on this planet. While over here, it sounds brutal enough; the fight taking place above our heads doesn’t seem too merciless either. Several factions of Space Pirates are shooting at each other. Thousands are probably fighting outside of their ships, fighting out in space. There must be hundreds of corpses floating out in outer space now. 

One of the ships catches my eyes. Banners stretch over their sides. Those long strips of cloth have the symbol of the Lords, which means one of the battalions has joined the fight. This must be their last stand against Commander Knox, but Saamuki’s Tauvoxes aren’t taking part in it. Knox would know we’re here if they were, but the lieutenant is in command of the ship if they’re spotted. 

Saamuki activated her screen, which has the layout of the ship. She took a moment to study it, and then she motions for it to vanish. “Shiitakee, this will take a bit. Watch out backs and,” she turns to me then continues with, “Make sure both of your weapons are at the ready in case there’s someone on the other side.” With that, she held down her blaster’s trigger, causing it to become a blowtorch. Sparks flew, and the metal groaned as its being forced to tear. I held my weapons even tighter as she got closer to finishing. When the piece finally gave way, we were thankfully not greeted by someone pointing their blaster at our heads but instead a four-sided hole the right size for each of us to easily slide into and enter a dimly lit room with flickering lights and some crates. The room must be for storage. Our leader’s eyes are fully engulfed in blue. Then, as quickly as they swallowed the rest of her eyes, they went back to just filling her pupils. 

“I didn’t see anyone in the room. So, let’s go.”

We stepped inside. The room is far more expansive than what it looked like on the outside. It’s about the size of the library, but a lot colder. Someone set the air conditioner to the max, it seems. I’m shivering even with this armor. Shiitakee is too, but not Saamuki. She has her supernatural powers to thank for that. 

For such a big room, there isn’t much in here. We walk past a few crates as tall as Shiitakee. “Those boxes are giving me the creeps. Please, can we walk a bit faster? They’re weirding me out and I’ve been friends with Syco for years.”

Saamuki jokingly remarks, “I’ve known Cabelo all my life and I have to tell you Syco has nothing on Cabelo.” 

“Cabelo? That guy that owns that whole sex hotel? That Cabelo?” She nods. “I knew you looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure since you’re you know wearing that whole get up. Never heard that you had the whole blue thing going on until, well, we met, but it’s really cool. I wish I could do what you can. I would’ve shot Syco a long time ago.”

She giggles. “I haven’t always been able to shoot fire out of my hands. My powers are recent. It has some ups and downs too.” She shrugs.

“You got to tell me the story behind it, especially how you and her met. A human. Wow. I mean Syco already told me a long time ago, but I’d still love to hear it from you two. Also, about your friends that are on this ship. Who’s Mikrovos? Syco complained about him plenty.”

I felt the tension emanating from Saamuki. She is facing away from me, but I just know the mention of Mikrovos made her uncomfortable. Her vibe is making me uncomfortable, but Shiitakee hasn’t noticed. Our backstories must’ve distracted him from his worries, but I get a terrible feeling. So, I slide the dagger underneath my breastplate, grab Saamuki’s hand, and bolt towards the door. Shiitakee follows suit but asks what’s happening while he’s trying to catch up with us. Saamuki is questioning too. Both are answered when a hand to my left smashes through its wooden container. We’ve run past it, and I try not to look back around, but it’s Shiitakee’s cursing that gets me then Saamuki to glance back. An oozy, hairless, and eyeless body goes splat onto the metal floor. Their mouth opens, or what is supposed to be one does, as strands of skin have stuck parts of their lips together. They struggle to make a noise. They muster out a groan and begin crawling towards us. Their slime spreads around them and trails behind them as they slither closer to us. When we’re right about to exit through the door, they reach their hand towards us. I turn back around and force myself, with Saamuki still holding onto me, to sprint the distance left. Once the two of us then Shiitakee finally escape, I get out my blaster and shoot the door’s control panel. Whatever it is won’t be reaching us anytime soon. 

As the three of us try catching out breaths, Shiitakee comments, “Thanks for almost leaving me back there. A little warning next time, don’t you think, but what the hell was even that? Saamuki, I thought you said you didn’t see anyone in that room?”

“I-I didn’t. It must not have a soul.” I’m hit with another sense. I look away from them. My grip on Saamuki tightens. I’m standing stiff. “What’s wrong,” she asked me.

I respond to her, “Her.” On the other side of the hallway is a red-headed figure. Unlike the last time I saw her, she’s been fitted with gauntlets that stretch to her elbows. Like before, her eyes are dead.

“Who’s she?” Shiitakee finally looks to where Saamuki and I are looking. 

“Ashely,” I told him. 

[loversfr2-blog]

How To Navigate The 5 Stages Of Intimacy

Intimacy is many things: it’s not almost sex. But on the way toward a real, loving relationship, there are five stages of intimacy: infatuation, landing, burying, resurfacing, and love. anything is just lust. then there are non-physical intimate relationships which will occur between friends, co-workers, and significant others.

Here we break down the five stages of intimacy so you'll determine what level your relationship has reached and the way to bring more intimacy into your relationship.

Infatuation First, an outline about the five stages that cause a standard, full physical, mental and emotional relationship.

Infatuation is the emotion that you simply feel once you meet someone whom you think that you'll spend the remainder of your life with. Nothing that person could ever do is wrong and sometimes you’ll even end up dismissing bad habits or characteristics because, in your eyes, that person is ideal.

Landing Landing is that the second step: it’s where you begin to note that the person you're infatuated with is human. you'll find little habits annoying and see other habits that would be disturbing, like drinking, smoking, partying an excessive amount of, or maybe characteristics that signal darker, deeper problems, like depression, the lack to manage anger or signs that the person is often mentally or physically abusive.

Burying Burying is that the third step: during this phase, couples will often sink into the grind of lifestyle alongside its challenges, including money, work, family, friends, and the way to affect these external forces also as how they relate to the connection. It’s not that “the thrill is gone,” it’s just that real-world has worked its way into the connection and therefore the honeymoon high isn’t as prevalent because it was within the very beginning.

Resurfacing Next comes resurfacing: if you survive the truth of the way to affect life and the way it affects a relationship, resurfacing is that the stage where you begin to fall crazy together with your partner everywhere again. you'll acknowledge his or her faults also as your own and whether you're ready and ready to affect all of them, good or bad, for the foreseeable future.

Love The final stage is love: if you've got happened to survive the primary four stages, likelihood is that you'll are together with your partner for a couple of years already. There are likely no more shocks or surprises in your relationship and you've got grown to believe one another and love one another to the purpose where a permanent commitment is on the horizon, whether it’s ongoing monogamy, marriage, or simply a silent commitment between the 2 of you to measure the remainder of your lives together, warts and everyone.

The elephant within the room here though is sex. It happens through all stages of intimacy, but there are some relationships where sex begins the table, literally. If your partner is unable to interact in sex due to physical injury, illness, or a mental situation, it can put a strain on some relationships that sex was the middle of the relationship: it had been how you and your spouse communicate.

In cases like this, if the connection doesn't continue, it's likely because it had been one among lust and not pure like, to begin with. Couples who manage to figure around this level of physical intimacy and continue their relationships are really on land. Physical intimacy doesn't peak just with sex. It’s important to understand that intimacy doesn't always need to play a call physically. Some people think that engaging in physical intimacy outside of a committed relationship is that the only sort of cheating; however, if you discover yourself sharing secrets with friends or coworkers, be mindful that this very act can cross a mental and emotional line within the sand if you're counting on that person for the mental and emotional support that you simply would normally get from your spouse.

[nancydhooper]

Behind Closed Doors: The Traumas of Domestic Work in the U.S.

Like other essential workers, domestic workers are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic without the luxury of being able to telework, social distance, or even take a sick day. They also face unique and challenging circumstances due to the nature of their work, which is undervalued and under-regulated by the U.S. government. As a result, domestic workers often endure horrific abuses that go unchecked. Many are brought to the U.S. by employers promising a better life, only to find themselves subjected to forced labor, denied wages, and threatened with deportation. 

Today, the ACLU joins a coalition of workers’ rights organizations calling on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to acknowledge and address the U.S. government’s failure to protect the rights of domestic workers. These workers are overwhelmingly women of color and/or migrants, and include house cleaners, nannies, caregivers, and others who work out of public view and in their employers’ homes. Below, four domestic workers explain in their own words the all too common abuses that continue unheeded because of the government’s failure to act.

FAINESS

My trafficker was a Malawian diplomat to the U.S. I had known her for years back home in Malawi, where I worked for her as a nanny before coming here. When she was stationed in D.C., she asked me to come with her, promising better opportunities — I could get an education, get a better job, get out and see the world. As a young person, what else could you want? She gave me a contract and travel documents and rushed me to sign them even though I could not speak or understand English at the time. After I was granted an A3 visa, which is a special visa for diplomats’ domestic workers, we left for the U.S., where we moved into a home in a beautiful neighborhood in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

Everything changed when we got to the U.S. My trafficker was no longer the person I knew in Malawi — she turned into a tiger. She forced me to work more than 16 hours per day for less than 40 cents per hour, cooking and cleaning and doing laundry, even ironing the family’s underwear. Who does that?

I lived in my trafficker’s home, but not as an equal. I lived like a slave. She made me sleep on the basement floor and forbade me from using any of the family’s soaps or other items, so I would not “contaminate” their belongings. She cut my phone access, so I was not able to communicate with my family at all for three years. I was refused medical care when I was sick. The only food I could eat were leftover scraps. Many times, I had to watch the family eat while I was starving and malnourished. 

While I lived there, I was raped by a family friend. I could not receive any help because I did not speak English and did not know what to do. Whenever I tried talking to my trafficker about anything, she would call me ungrateful because she had taken me from my poor home village. Often, she would say “I can do anything I want, I’m a diplomat, I have immunity.” She also accused me of sleeping with her boyfriend. 

The pain was too much. I was dying slowly, and I could not take it anymore. I wanted to die, but I knew that if I died in that house, my trafficker would throw my body in a dumpster and no one would ever find out. So I thought maybe, if I die in the street, people will find me and my family will learn of my death, maybe on the news. 

One day, I found my passport and snuck out of the house through the garage. I was so thin, I managed to squeeze myself through the gap beneath the garage door. Then I ran away, leaving everything behind. 

Today, I am a survivor. What happened to me doesn’t define me. While I still have not overcome my traumas 100 percent, I empowered myself through learning about who I am, my rights, and trafficking laws. I learned that trafficking is not just sex trafficking, and it was labor trafficking that brought me to the U.S. and entrapped me. Now I am a leader. I am a member of the National Survivor Network and a board member of the Survivor Alliance. I have spoken before Congress and at conferences. I work alongside NGOs to change policies, including a labor statute in Maryland that I advocated for. 

Still, I am angry that domestic workers are invisible to many people. The whole time I was suffering, nobody saw me. I remember shoveling snow in my trafficker’s driveway, without gloves, boots, or warm clothes, watching cars pass as everybody missed those red flags.

It’s hard to identify trafficking of domestic workers since it usually happens behind closed doors, but the community should learn how to identify these situations and hold labor traffickers accountable. Domestic workers deserve fair treatment, decent pay, and benefits. The government, Congress, and our communities need to make sure survivors always have a seat at the table. Nothing about us, without us. It’s our pain and our story. You cannot fight trafficking without survivors, period.

CARLOS

When I first came to the U.S., I didn’t realize I was being trafficked or that my working conditions were not normal. I had come here for the same reason as a lot of Filipinos — a simple dream, especially as a father, to bring my family out of poverty. I didn’t know about my rights. All I knew is that I came here to work. I was just so happy and excited to be in America. 

Before I came here, an employment agency in the Philippines found me a job as a cook at a country club in Florida. I had to pay them $3,000 just for all the paperwork to get here. Once I arrived, I stayed in a small house with a bunch of other workers, about six or seven of us in each room. I thought it was all normal. I believed in the lies my employers told me about the contract, the salary, the house, the visa. They told us we would get green cards and be able to bring our families here. 

After working for a few months in Florida, they moved us to another country club in Arkansas. They told us our visas had expired, so there was no contract and no paycheck, just a cash advance of $500. My pay was only enough to cover my basic needs in the U.S. I had no money left over to send back home to my family. 

They threatened that if we tried to leave, they would call the police and report us to immigration. The treatment was so bad that some of us ran away anyway, but I was too afraid of being deported. I said to myself, I’m here in America for my family. They were still suffering so much to get food on the table. All they could afford to eat was rice and soy sauce.

One night I decided to do it. I got on a Greyhound bus at 3 or 4 a.m., with just my passport and $500 in my pocket, and traveled from Arkansas to Texas, where I stayed with my aunt for a little while until my uncle found me a job in California. I took that job, but it ended shortly after. I had no work for three months. I felt homeless and that I had ruined my family. That’s when I became an alcoholic. I wanted to be drunk all the time, to fall asleep and forget everything that had happened in America. Every time I try to remember everything, it all comes back to me, all the depression and fear. 

I thought about going home, but I knew I could not go back to the Philippines for a very long time. I told myself I was already here and that I needed to be patient. Back home we call America the land of opportunity. At that moment, I didn’t know if I could call America that, but I never surrendered or stopped looking for a job. I kept fighting for my family. The only thing I had to hold onto was my faith. I prayed that one day it would all be okay. 

My life restarted again when I found a job as a cook and housekeeper in a big house in Beverly Hills. Now I am in another job, working as a caregiver. I still have anxiety every time I see police and fear being caught. I still have trouble sleeping. But I got help for substance abuse and treatment for my depression and anxiety. Today, the trauma is still there, but it’s not as heavy anymore.

It has been 13 years since I was home in the Philippines. I still have hope to bring my family here and get a fresh start. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to my children. 

SAM

For me, coming to the U.S. was the realization of a dream, not only for myself but for my family. I was a physical therapist in the Philippines so I was really happy when an employment agency got me a job doing the same work in the U.S. But when I got here, it was nothing like they promised. We were thrown into a hotel in a rough neighborhood. There was no work, no visit to the jobsite, no employer nor a representative who came to welcome us and see how we were doing. We were left on our own. We survived for 14 days eating noodles from the 99 cent store.

I endured the treatment because I had no choice and I didn’t know the laws in the U.S. It was tormenting and traumatic being in a foreign land with no knowledge of the laws, specifically laws about employment and immigration. I also didn’t know before I came that I would have very, very limited job choices as an undocumented immigrant resulting from my trafficking. Living in fear of being deported was stressful and suffocating. Even more because I cannot afford insurance or medical care so I had to just take vitamins and pray to God, and by God’s grace I was able to stay well.

I learned a little from a childhood friend who has been a U.S. citizen for a long time and also works as a physical therapist. He told me that he learned about four physical therapists who had reported their agencies for violations of human trafficking and that they won their cases and got justice. At the same time, my Filipino values of perseverance and faith somehow deterred and delayed me from seeking help for myself. 

Information about domestic workers’ rights and human trafficking abuses should be readily available to immigrant communities. It should be easy for workers to contact authorities, even their local embassies, and get help. Labor rights should be plainly black and white and both employers and employees need to adhere to them. There should be a collaboration between the host country and the country of origin of trafficking victims so these predators are stopped from the very beginning. We must treat each other with respect and humanity. We are human beings too and not just nominal subjects for profiteering.

MELANIE

I came to the U.S. from the Philippines to support my family. One of my children had cerebral palsy and was prone to pneumonia, and was always in the hospital, which was expensive. I could not afford his treatment. So when I found an opportunity for a job abroad, I tried my luck and took it. 

An employment agency in the Philippines connected me to a job in a chicken factory in Washington State. To get here, I had to pay the agency $5,000 plus airfare. All the problems started when I arrived. The agency told me and other Filipino workers it would cover housing, but when we got there we found out we had to stay in another employee’s home for the first three weeks, and during that time we had to do her housekeeping and take care of her three children, on top of going to work at the factory. Finally they moved us to a housing unit. We were 20 people with one bathroom and no furniture. The women slept in the attic, about 10 of us. 

Working at the factory was difficult and dangerous. My job was to debone chicken with an electric sensor on a conveyor belt. We had to work fast, which made it hard to protect ourselves. Fingers were always being cut. There were also immigration raids so we were in constant fear of being caught and deported. I had a visa, but some of the other employees did not have papers. All of us were afraid.

After six months, the company let us go even though our contracts were for a year’s work. Some of my other coworkers from the Philippines were afraid they would lose their visas from being out of work, so they went home. I missed my family and wanted to go home, too. I wanted to provide for them but at the same time, I have to pay my debt. I am still paying off the loans I borrowed to pay the employment agency fees. 

In the Philippines, we have this idea that going to America will bring you a bright future. So even though I wanted to go home, I knew people would treat me like a failure if I did — I had been planning to bring my family there and I had failed. All of a sudden you’re back with nothing but debt. People think only criminals get deported. So I stayed. 

To get another job, I had to pay the agency a $500 processing fee and they placed me at a resort in Sedona, Arizona. Our living conditions were better there, but the work was physically exhausting. We worked in teams of two to clean 20 rooms per day. I got sick with high blood pressure and vertigo, which made it very difficult to continue working, but I didn’t go to a doctor because it was expensive and I didn’t know about insurance. I decided to resign, but when I told my employer, he threatened to deport me. I ended up staying for three months before I finally broke free. Then I started looking for another job, one that would not take a toll on my health.

My friend found me a job as a caregiver in California. That’s where I live now. I share a place with a senior who needed help paying rent. I spend most of my salary on phone cards calling home, and while the job is steady, the landlord threatened to evict me because I am not on the lease. California’s eviction moratorium has prevented that for now. 

I came here to support my family, but I am still trying to save up enough money to see them. My son passed away from his illness last year and I was not able to be there. Many times, I wished that I never came here, that I never had to go through what I did. Had I known that what my traffickers had promised were lies, I would have stayed in the Philippines in the first place. 

All I want as a domestic worker is recognition. Domestic work is seen as a lowly job but it’s a decent job and it’s vital to society. We should not be ignored. We are important.

There are potentially thousands of domestic workers living across the U.S. right now, who have been trafficked and forced into labor while being subjected to many of the same inequalities other essential workers face. In fact, COVID-19 has only laid bare the dangers and abuses of domestic work that long predate the pandemic: low wages (often below local minimum wages), overwork, unhonored or nonexistent contracts, employer surveillance, lack of access to healthcare, and more. 

The ACLU’s petition demands immediate action to address these abuses, and draws from the expertise of four individual domestic workers as well as workers’ rights organizations including National Domestic Workers Alliance, Adhikaar, Damayan Migrant Workers, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Human Trafficking Legal Center, Fe y Justicia, and Pilipino Workers Center.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/behind-closed-doors-the-traumas-of-domestic-work-in-the-u-s via http://www.rssmix.com/

[snownowworld]

How To Navigate The 5 Stages Of Intimacy

 Intimacy is many things: it’s not almost sex. But on the way toward a real, loving relationship, there are five stages of intimacy: infatuation, landing, burying, resurfacing, and love. anything is basically just lust. then there are non-physical intimate relationships which will occur between friends, co-workers, and significant others. Here we break down the five stages of intimacy so you'll determine what level your relationship has reached and the way to bring more intimacy

 Infatuation 

First, an outline about the five stages that cause a standard, full physical, mental and emotional relationship. Infatuation is the emotion that you simply feel once you meet someone who you think that you'll spend the remainder of your life with. Nothing that person could ever do is wrong and sometimes you’ll even end up dismissing bad habits or characteristics because, in your eyes, that person is ideal. 

 Landing

 Landing is that the second step: it’s where you begin to note that the person you're infatuated with is human. you'll find little habits annoying and see other habits that would be disturbing, like drinking, smoking, partying an excessive amount of, or maybe characteristics that signal darker, deeper problems, like depression, the inability to manage anger or signs that the person is often mentally or physically abusive. 

 Burying 

Burying is that the third step: during this phase couples will often sink into the grind of lifestyle alongside its challenges, including money, work, family, friends, and the way to affect of these external forces also as how they relate to the connection. It’s not that “the thrill is gone,” it’s just that the real world has worked its way into the connection and therefore the honeymoon high isn’t as prevalent because it was within the very beginning. 

Resurfacing 

Next comes resurfacing: if you survive the truth of the way to affect life and the way it affects a relationship, resurfacing is that the stage where you begin to fall crazy together with your partner everywhere again. you'll acknowledge his or her faults also as your own and whether you're ready and ready to affect all of them, good or bad, for the foreseeable future.

 Love

 The final stage is love: if you've got happened to survive the primary four stages, likelihood is that you'll are together with your partner for a couple of years already. There are likely no more shocks or surprises in your relationship and you've got grown to believe one another and love one another to the purpose where a permanent commitment is on the horizon, whether it’s ongoing monogamy, marriage, or simply a silent commitment between the 2 of you to measure the remainder of your lives together, warts and everyone.

 The elephant within the room here though, is sex. It happens through all stages of intimacy, but there are some relationships where sex begins the table, literally. If your partner is unable to interact in sex due to physical injury, illness, or a mental situation, it can put a strain on some relationships that sex was the middle of the relationship: it had been how you and your spouse communicate. In cases like this, if the connection doesn't continue, it's likely because it had been one among lust and not pure like, to begin with. Couples who manage to figure around this level of physical intimacy and continue their relationships are really on land. Physical intimacy doesn't peak just with sex. Embracing, holding hands, kissing, caressing and just engaging in and maintaining physical contact are very intimate actions and signal a deeper connection between two people. 

 It’s important to understand that intimacy doesn't always need to play call physically. Some people think that engaging in physical intimacy outside of a committed relationship is that the only sort of cheating; however, if you discover yourself sharing secrets with friends or coworkers, be mindful that this very act can cross a mental and emotional line within the sand if you're counting on that person for the mental and emotional support that you simply would normally get from your spouse. Now that you simply realize the five stages of intimacy, you'll use your knowledge to strengthen the intimacy in your relationship.

[pluckyredhead]

Daredevil 101: Born Again, Part 1

And we’re back!

Now I tried, guys. I really tried to condense this down as much as possible. But Born Again is the most famous Daredevil story - and one of the most famous comics - of all time. There’s so much to talk about: the plot itself, the craft, the impact, the character analysis, the religious symbolism. Parts of it really are That Good, while others are...less so (there are plot holes, and it pretty much falls apart at the end).

I had to break it up into two posts, and they’re gonna be long ones, but please stick with me - it’s worth it. (And of course, the comic itself is worth a read, for its landmark status if for nothing else.)

So. When last we left our hero, Nelson and Murdock had gone under and things were tense between Matt and his nearest and dearest - Foggy and Glori at this point, basically. It’s at this point that Frank Miller comes back to the book, teaming up with David Mazzucchelli, who frankly doesn’t get enough credit for the sheer beauty of his work.

We start in Mexico, where we see...Karen Page, who has been AWOL for nearly a decade at this point. When we last saw her, her Hollywood career was taking off, but...things have changed:

Karen is now a junkie, eking out a meager living by making really low rent porn, because in Frank Miller’s world, all women eventually become sex workers. It’s less the sex work that bothers me - though it’s part of a gross pattern for Miller - and more how low Karen’s morals have sunk here, and the abuse she suffers in this storyline. She’ll turn it around, though! (P.S. Deborah Ann Woll’s absolute disdain for this plotline brings me so much joy.)

Back in New York, Matt is blissfully unaware that his life has just been destroyed:

These opening splash pages of the first four issues, all of Matt asleep, are famous and with good reason. If you took out the rest of the comics, they’d still tell a story. Anyway, even though his full bed is oddly narrow, please take note of how sprawled out he is. He’s still twisted in the sheets, but he’s taking up horizontal space as well as vertical.

(Also, this is just gorgeous. Look at that lighting!)

But Matt wakes up to a very bad day:

Those last two panels are, of course, the machinations of Fisk, who is using his knowledge of Matt’s secret identity - and his enormous behind-the-scenes pull - to systematically destroy Matthew Murdock’s finances, credibility, and life.

To add insult to injury, that cassette tape is Glori breaking up with Matt for being flaky and emotionally unavailable, which...legit, honestly.

And the hits keep coming:

Matt’s never really had financial problems as an adult - even when first the Storefront and then Nelson and Murdock were struggling, Foggy insulated him from that by taking on all the bookkeeping responsibility himself. (Whether or not Foggy wanted to do that, or whether either of them ever acknowledge that that’s not fair, is never addressed.) Even though he’s unemployed at the start of this story, you can see how cocky he is about how quickly he’ll bounce back in the first panel of the page above this. Born Again never really delves into the class issues at play here - nor do any Daredevil comics, really - but for someone who has been tremendously well off for his entire adult life but who grew up in poverty, this must be even more of a nightmare.

Meanwhile, Glori’s apartment gets broken into and trashed. Uncomfortable calling Matt, who she just dumped, she calls Foggy instead (remember, he’s an ex-in-law as well as a friend). He rushes over, helps her file the police report, and gives her a place to stay when she’s too freaked out to sleep at home. And, well...

This is a little fast, yes - and it’s a rebound for the recently-divorced Foggy as well as for Glori - but hey, they’re both free agents and she’s not Matt’s property. (Foggy is a perfect gentleman and sleeps on the couch while Glori takes the bedroom, btw.) But as far as I’m concerned, Glori has the right idea: ride the Murdock train as long as it’s fun, then hop off and let Foggy comfort you and ply you with coffee in front of a cozy fire.

Meanwhile, the cruelest blow of all strikes Matt: a cop named Manolis, a former witness in one of Matt’s trials, comes forward and says Matt bribed him to lie on the stand. Matt stands in very real danger of losing his freedom, let along his legal license. Fisk is gleeful:

Please note Fisk fanboying over Foggy in that last panel. Please also note how gorgeous that last panel is. I want to see a whole comic in grayscale from Mazzucchelli (and colorist Christie Scheele).

Foggy manages to get Matt’s sentence reduced to being disbarred and not fined or jailed. And, well, I could’ve probably cut this next page but I’m always gonna include avocado hugs:

Aw. P.S. Foggy why do you look like you’re going to the opera right now.

Devastated, ruined, and barely clinging to sanity, Matt returns home - but here’s where Fisk screws up. He can’t resist that final grandstand play, even though he knows he shouldn’t do it:

He blows up Matt’s house.

Despite having someone to blame, Matt’s sanity is fraying even faster, especially since he’s effectively cash poor and homeless. (SWEETIE. GO STAY WITH FOGGY.) And so we get the opening of issue #2 (yeah, that was all one issue up there!):

Compare this to the first issue splash and you can see how much more twisted and compressed Matt is, how tangled around himself he’s become. (This pose in particular is homaged again and again, especially by Samnee.) When he wakes, his thoughts are equally tangled:

In his rambling, broken thoughts you can see that he’s losing it - struggling to follow the thread of what’s happened to him and what his plan is. I love the way Mazzucchelli draws his arms up like that, held up for a block but also like he’s trying to figure out a way to fit into those compressed, claustrophobic vertical panels.

And then:

This is the very next page, and I honestly gasped aloud the first time I saw it. It’s such a brilliant visual contrast - Matt in tight, twisted red verticals; Fisk in these expansive blue horizontals. Fisk fits perfectly in his panel. He has plenty of breathing room. He owns the whole city. It’s so wonderfully, masterfully done.

Matt pulls it together enough to call Foggy for help, but Glori answers at 7 am - remember, she spent a chaste night at Foggy’s - and Matt, already paranoid to the point of irrationality, snaps further. He starts calling over and over again, veering between threatening them and begging Foggy for help because there’s definitely something wrong with him:

He makes his way outside, vaguely on his way to kill the Kingpin, but goes into another paranoid funk on the subway and attacks a cop. He leaves more pleading messages for Foggy from a pay phone - but without putting any money in, so he’s hallucinating a lengthy conversation with the operator - and finally makes it to Fisk’s.

(Side note: Matt’s “insanity” is never specifically diagnosed as any particular condition and comes on very fast (though believably, in context). Take the depiction of mental illness in this story with a thirty-year-old grain of salt, please.)

Meanwhile, what’s up with Karen? Well, she’s still strung out, and now Fisk’s assassins are trying to kill her, so that he’s the only one alive who knows Matt’s secret. All Karen knows is that she needs to get to New York, where Matt can protect her.

Simultaneously, Matt makes it to Fisk’s:

It doesn’t go well for him. (And yes, Fisk wears a speedo a LOT in the comics.)

Fisk kicks his ass, then has his underlings douse Matt’s unconscious body with whiskey, stick him in a stolen cab, and push it into the river, so that the cops will assume Matt got drunk in the aftermath of his ruined life and drove blindly off the docks.

But.

Now in these panels Fisk’s blues are giving way to red, and though they’re still horizontal, they no longer have the peaceful majesty of the ones above. He’s too big in the second and too small in the third; he doesn’t fit comfortably in his space anymore. His control is crumbling. #VISUALSTORYTELLING

Anyway, Matt survived! He makes it from the East River to Hell’s Kitchen (which is on the Hudson, but whatever), where he is promptly hit by a cab, then passes out in the garbage, because he is Matt Murdock.

In his little garbage nest, he dreams of a mysterious woman who came to him in the hospital, right after he was blinded:

And so we begin issue #3:

IN THE LITERAL GARBAGE. #trashpigeon Curled tighter and tighter because he’s still on his downward spiral. In fact, he is promptly stabbed after this. Because why not, at this point?

Meanwhile, Ben has started to investigate Matt’s disbarment, because he knows Matt wouldn’t bribe a witness. He goes to talk to Officer Manolis, the witness in question, and discovers that Manolis has a sick child and that Fisk is paying for his medical care...conditionally. But the son dies, so Manolis agrees to spill to Ben:

Matt collapses at Fogwell’s.

Meanwhile, that nurse, Lois, is actually one of Fisk’s enforcers:

Ben is effectively silenced for a few terrified issues, and the Manolis lead is dead in the water (and literally).

But salvation is coming! Literally, because Matt is found by a nun who brings him back to her church and nurses him back to health:

This is the start of issue #4. I’ll get into the rest of the issue in the next post, but I wanted to include this with the three splash pages above (and the last page of #3 ends with an equally religious pose, with Maggie holding Matt Pieta-style. Here we see Matt almost-but-not-quite in the crucifixion pose - his arms are down but held awkwardly out, his legs together in a way no one would ever sleep, a wound in his side. He’s even got a Jesus beard.

[EDIT: @lifted-nevermore helpfully pointed out to me that "the pose in the last splash reads a lot more as Jesus rising from his tomb to his disciples after his three days of death. Less crucifixion and more resurrection” which of course is a far more logical interpretation, given the story context. Whoops!]

This is the heaviest religious imagery we’d get in Daredevil until “Guardian Devil” 25 years later, and honestly the show hits that note harder than the comics ever have. But here’s where Catholicism and Matt Murdock become inextricably linked. (Obviously there have been religious themes throughout the story, they didn’t start with this page.)

But who is Maggie, and why did she come looking for him? How does Matt get his life back together? What will happen to Karen, and Ben, and Foggy and Glori? STAY TUNED.

[bluebubblewater]

Sorry for the long post. :)

This is a breakdown of a post I saw and this is my response to it, issue by issue.

“Okay, it’s time to rant. I am really starting to get fed up with this whole “Women’s rights” thing. What the heck is wrong with women these days?”

Women’s rights is not a “thing” it is a movement for equality between men and women of all ages, ethnicity, belief systems, sexuality, position in society, place of origin, and political beliefs. A movement that has existed for more than 100 years, promoting the rights of all humans beings based on the fact that we are ALL human and not some sub-category that is somehow worth less than another. It is a powerful movement that has enabled women to: vote, own property, choose a spouse, choose to have kids, divorce her spouse, drive, go to school, go to college, press charges against rapists and harassers (both of men and women), work in places of power, effect change, and so much more, the main thing is it has been from this movement that we as women can CHOOSE. What is wrong with women indeed, there are enough struggles we have to face without other women adding to them because of being uninformed.

“Let me get this straight, Trump was voted president, and this ruins your life how? What has he ever done to you?”

The fact that we now have President Trump in office for the next 4 years doesn’t “ruin” our lives but it does have the potential to make them harder and to jeopardize some of our human rights that he thinks we shouldn’t have. In my humble and fairly educated, and constantly evolving, opinion, no one should be able to place a law on what I want to do to MY body, ever. Especially not a bunch of rich, old, white, MEN. My body my choice, would I personally ever choose to have an abortion? Probably not, but I want that choice, because until it has at least a small chance of living outside of my body it is not  its own person and is simply part of my body.

“Sure, maybe he insulted women once, but you know what? IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! “

Our President Trump has insulted women more than just “once” and on more than a “few” occasions. Quite frankly he doesn't seem to see what is wrong with doing so, but thinks/says that it is all in good fun. Here’s a couple quotes that I was told when I was a kid and stuck with me “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” and “If the person the joke involves isn’t laughing, it isn’t funny”. I don’t find insults to women or anyone really as funny, I find them rude and a good portrait of the person saying it.

“And frankly all women who take THAT much offence to a few insults deserves to be insulted”

“Deserves to be insulted”? Really so if I call some a “bigoted, fascist, egotistical, emotional infant, bitchy bastard of a SOB, mother f*cker” then they have no right to be upset because if they are then they deserve it. Right? Think about that for a bit.

“I am a woman but I don’t care that Trump is president, and Trump has three daughter and a wife, do you see them taking any offence? No!”

I am a woman too, and to be entirely honest I thought we were going to be screwed with whoever became president because none of them were fully a “good” choice. Fact check he has two daughters named Ivanka and Tiffany and has had three wives. And how do you know that they don’t take offense? People around me who don’t know me can’t tell when I take offense unless I either let it show or tell them. Just because they are supporting their father and husband in public does not mean they agree with him in private. Don’t make assumptions, they make you look like an ass.

“Besides, it’s not like Trump is taking away all of our rights, when did he ever say he was going to do that?”

He is cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, which is not just an organization that does abortion. It is an organization that provides information about: Abortion(what it entails and other options), birth control, contraceptives, the importance of body image, general health care that includes testing, screening, vaccines, and exams, etc., men’s sexual health, pregnancy, relationships, sex, sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, STDs and women’s health. All of this important information and services and President Trump is cutting the funding for it. He is trying to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in the Roe v. Wade case where it was decided that women’s right to privacy and therefore abortion is protected under the 14th amendment as long as the abortion happens before the “fetus is viable” meaning it can survive being born. It is a human right and I will fight to protect it. But you have a point he didn’t say he was going to take”away all of our rights” but it starts small and as the saying goes “give an inch they’ll take a mile”.

“So can you guys stop freaking out over EVERYTHING?”

We aren’t freaking out about anything. We are legally voicing our objection to the wrongs committed against us as human beings. We are legally voicing our objection to the proposed laws and ideals that infringe on our human rights.

“And stop with the women’s marches! What exactly do ya’ll think that’s going to do? Get Trump thrown out of office? Nope.”

The point of the women’s march was not about President Trump. It was about equality for everyone and the opportunity for people who support different issues within the realm of equality and human rights to come out and support each other under the banner of Women’s Rights. The march was about standing together and knowing that we are not alone. It was about supporting each other across the world as one people not as sub-people groups. Some people used it as a platform to tell/show the world that we will not allow anyone to oppress us again and to not even try it. Some people used to the platform to oppose President Trump, his beliefs, and plans. Some people used it as a platform to encourage people in countries across the world to fight for their freedom and equality. Some people used it as a platform for pro-choice. Some people used it as a platform for workplace equality and equal pay. It was NOT about Trump, me or you, it is about equality for everyone. Period.

“All it does is prove his point about women and annoy all of the other billion of people who disagree with you!”

I’m sorry how does 3.6-4.6 million people across the globe marching together for equal rights prove his point? Explain it to me. How do you hear about that many people across the world marching together unified in their stance of equality, and think something negative about that?

“(Oh, and btw after you guys did your little march thank you SO MUCH for leaving all of your signs strewn about the streets! I’m sure that there were many female sanitation workers that had to stay out late last night cleaning up after you geniuses ^_^)”

Yes because you know other marches and protests for other issues NEVER leave signs on the road. And yeah there were people who had to pick the stuff up just like they would if there was a parade and they got paid for it. As long as the men and women doing the same job get the same pay, I don’t see an issue.

“Oh, and to be honest, I have no idea what the hell you guys are even marching for!”

Well that has been quite obvious. Maybe look up what you bash before you bash it next time.

“Women’s right?”

Human Rights and Equality.

“God gave us breasts and a uterus so that we could stay home and raise a family while the men worked to provide for us.”

Well if that was the only reason we exist then why are there women and men who physically can’t have children? And don’t give me the “atoning for their sins” crap if that was how it works a whole lot less people could have kids. And news flash! Women have taken an active part in building societies and settlements since the beginning of time. I come from a home where my biological father physically and emotionally abused me, my mom, and my three siblings. He couldn’t keep a job and would quit whenever he felt like it, moving my entire family literally across the nation in his quest of finding a job he would keep. Six states, countless jobs and escalation of physical abuse happened before my mom finally filed for divorce. and he said to my 14yo sisters face that he didn’t want anything to do with us kids. He paid parts of child support for about 2-3 years before he dropped off the map to avoid paying for almost 8 years. He only began paying after he was found and taken to court. So forgive me if I think that “men=provider” and “women=supporter” is fucking bullshit. I was given breasts and a uterus so that I could have sex with the ability to have children if I so choose to. I was given a brain to use to its fullest. I want a career and I don’t really want kids of my own, that may change as I get older but then it will still be MY choice. I will be a provider for myself and anyone else who I decide to bring under my care.

“But now we have the right to vote, to work, run companies and even run for president!”

You say that women have the right to vote, work, run companies and run for public offices as if they were some kind of gifts that we were given. Women and men fought for those rights, human rights that should have been acknowledged in the first place.

“So what more do you want?”

I want to walk alone at night in the city and not have to worry about cat calls and rude gestures from the men I walk by possible evolving into sexual assault because they “think” I am encouraging them by ignoring them. I want the rape culture we have in our Great American Society to change so that we are teaching our boys and men that it is not ok to continue advancing when you have been ignored or told “no” or “go to hell” or “leave me alone”. Instead of teaching our girls to not dress “sexily” or “revealing”. I want my saying “no” to have more weight than me saying “I have a boyfriend” when turning someone down. I want equal pay for equal work. I want equality. Simple.

“Did you know that in Pakistan and certain places of the Soviet Union women are still used as slaves!”

I did know that actually and that is another issue that the women’s march addressed. We want to end inequality everywhere, that does not mean that we make things less equal here so that people don’t feel so bad about the inequality elsewhere. If anything we should continue to push for full equality here in the United States of America so that we can be an example of an equality to the world.

“And that around the world there are women being sold as prostitutes?”

Once again, yes I did know that and yes it is horrible and should be abolished throughout the world. So why do you try and use the women who have it worse off than us, women in America, to put us down, to try and make us submit to men like they are forced to? I will never submit my will to anyone, it is my own as is my body and mind. I will fight for mine and every woman and man’s right to choose what they do with their own body and mind.

“But “Oh no a big bad man told is we’re not allowed to murder our unborn children now we must rebel…”

What the? First why is a man trying to tell me what to do with my body? Second it isn’t alive until it can survive on its own outside of the women’s body, therefore I can’t murder it. If we were going to rebel this would be a small point on the vast canvas of grievances.

“Here’s some advice: Either get over it, or get out of this country.”

Um no, we are in America I can say and believe anything I want to because that is my right, a protected right, as a human being. How about you accept that your opinion is just that an opinion not a fact or law.

“And to be clear, no, I don’t think that Trump is going to be the greatest president there ever was,”

Well looky there we agree on something.

“and did he have to say those things about women? That’s debateable.”

Nope not debatable, no one “has to” say mean things to or about anyone ever. Period.

“But I have faith in him to lead our country right because while nobody is perfect, it’s clear that the good he can do for us outweighs his bad tenfold.”

You’re right no one is perfect and I hope with my whole heart that he will prove me wrong and does more good than bad for this country and the people living in it. I do not think that his “good” plans outweigh the negatives he has said and plans to do, but I don’t compare them as a balance but simply pros and cons.

“And that is all I have to say. And for all of you who disagree with this post feel free to hate me and insult me. I don’t care because I’m not going to take offence…. Thank you.”

I think I am also done. I am glad you won’t take offense to me disagreeing with you but please don’t feel as if I am hating on you or your post, I simply have a very different opinion than you do.

Also, offense is spelt with an -s-.... Maybe while you are checking your facts, check your spelling too.