#down the rabbit hole // post blackout event

[elfboyeros]

Elfboyeros Masterlist

Every Original Work I have ever written is housed here, please enjoy!

Updated: September 19th, 2024

Content Key: Smut 💋 Angst🩸 Fluff🧸 Informational🗄️Mature Themes and LanuageⓂ️ Multiple Parts 📚 Slow Burn 🐌 Short (Less then 1,000 words) 🍰 Long post 🪜 Complete Series 🏁 Pictures 📷 Suggestive or Trigger Content (Warnings are also on the posts!)⚠️

Bridgehid

Bridgehid Secrets Ao3 and Wattpad | Bridgehidien Forest Ao3 and Wattpad | Brier's Three Ao3 and Wattpad

Bridgehid Secrets {Side A}🩸Ⓜ️📚🐌🏁

On their sixteenth birthday, orphan, Rowan King, is finally but in the care of their foster parents, Indigo, and Calvin Bookstone-Corals. While deciding to enroll at Bridgehid College for Magic and Alchemy Rowan, they discover that they there lost memories of childhood maybe connect to the hallowed institution.

Welcome Home | Returning | Class Morganite | Semester One | The Bridgehidien Ball | Rainy Days | Blackout | Family Dinner | Sneaking Around | The Gladiolus Festival | Healing Pools | Echoes | Down Tower | Until the Marigolds Bloom

Bridgehidien Forest {Side B} 🩸Ⓜ️📚🐌🧸

Now enjoying summer break with their friends, Rowan meets Estelle Venus a young girl their age that seems to be holding something against them. However, Rowan had no idea who Estelle is or what they done to her if they had done anything at all.

Summer June |

Brier's Three {Side C} 🩸Ⓜ️📚🐌🧸

On Marquis Island, there is something afoot causing many of Bridgehid College's healthiest students fall drained of any ability to perform magic or alchemy. The Bookstone-Corals children, Aurora, Alexandria, and Finnegan, take it upon themselves to figure out what is going on.

Raining Academics | Photogenic

Indigo and Calvin: Faithed EncountersⓂ️| Never🧸 | Cold Comfort 🩸🧸| Bloody Knuckles 🍰🧸| Black Satin, Purple Lipstick, & 8-o-Clock Dinner 💋🧸 | Their Northern Lights 🩸🍰| White Chocolate & Nutmeg🧸| Almost Caught 🍰Ⓜ️🧸 | Early Morning 🍰🧸| A Husband's Concern 🩸🍰 | Christmas Morning 🎄🧸🍰 | Hair and Statues 🧸🍰 | Sweet Spring 🍰🧸 | Keen Eye Ⓜ️🩸🧸🍰 | Bits of Patience 💋🧸 | Silence 🩸| Poisoned Coffee 🍰🧸

Others: Office Talk 🍰🩸 | Pride 🩸| Ceirse, Miel, and Trickster Ⓜ️🧸 | Gloves 🩸🧸🍰 | Embrasser les mains 🧸🍰

Information

Character Sheets📷🗄️| | Bridgehid Memes by @jj-pines 📷| Character Moodboards 📷

Hallows

Hallows Academy: Read on Wattpad and AO3

Hallow Academy Ⓜ️⚠️🩸📚🧸🐌

After a violent incident at a summer party, Amora Seawright is sent to Hallows Academy, a known school for troubled teens, by her mother. In a series of strange events, Amora acquires psychic abilities to commune with the deceased and unearth a rabbit hole incidents that she never wanted to become a part of.

| Orientation | Favorite Subjects ⚠️ | The Dead Man | A Scholar's Rotunda | Overcast Coastline |

| Before Senior Year⚠️🩸Ⓜ️|

Information

| Character Aesthetics📷 | Character Designs 📷 | Character Sheets 📷🗄️|

A03 | Wattpad

Purus Sanguis

Masterlist

The first pure vampire in the past two centuries, Calypso Con Vester. has been the center of Gustave Batezatu's fantasies even before she was born. Familiar with his methods of trying to kidnap her since she was little, his attempts and tricks have accelerated as of recent causing concern from many in Calypso's inner circle.

Main Series

The Cat, The Mouse, And The Hydrangeas |

The Ballerina, The Vampire, and Their Calypso ⚠️🩸🧸

Information

Character Sheets 🗄️📷 | Character Moodboards 📷

The Necromancer's Wife

Read Collection on AO3

A Collection of oneshots about an old necromancer and his rich painter Wife

Written Works

Neat Whisky 🧸Ⓜ️ | Party Games 🧸Ⓜ️ | Proposal 🧸Ⓜ️

Information

| Character Sheets 📷🗄️ |

[legatumhominis]

 - @outoflineinc .

Let’s get the outta here, huh? 

“I’d like that, Chesh.”

It’s so funny how they’d meant to get to the house, back behind closed doors. But there’s a quiet sort of hunger that’s been swelling now that Matthew knows what to do with it. Samual is warm and solid and god he’s not sure it it’s the costume or the fact he’d followed Stella’s advice or -- or -- “Sam, f-fuck, Sam slow down,” he gasps, no, whines it breathlessly in the stuffy air of the old van because they’d scarcely made it inside before Sam’s hands wandered and Matthew’s control dissipated into nothing. Somewhere between those thumbs running along garters and up up up, his knees gave out. His wig is falling off, hair knotted up and one of his gloves is somewhere in the front seat.

And Sam-

“Fuck,” Matthew croaks out with a choked whine, fingers twisted into dark hair while he looks up at him with blown pupils and spread thighs. His mouth aches, chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. Only he says it and all too soon is pulling Sam closer, chasing his mouth with a whine. A leg is hooked over his hip and those familiar hands have him trembling. All the times he’s slept with other men it’d never really prepared him for this, for Sam. And maybe because he’d been so fucking blindsided by his feelings when it’d all clicked. “Sam, fuck Sam.” Hands on his thighs have him arching, face hot when the short skirt rides up and lacey white panties are shown off. Matthew is sure they’ll end up ripped somewhere in here too because of the look in those dark eyes.

There’s so much purple left discarded somewhere near their feet and all he can taste is strawberries and Sam. A shaking breath rattles free and he breathes out, rambling now on his mouth, “I know, god I know it was too much. Just figured it’d be something you’d like cause I didn’t know and boxers looked too weird and-”

[xesoteric-extraterrestrialx]

“What if a gov’t agency thought they contacted an alien being from a different dimension but it was actually demonic beings. What if the demonic beings gave the researchers a new kind of drive built on a dark energy in exchange for permission to abduct us under the guise of research but in actuality it’s to steal our souls. There’s more....”

(Strong believer that even though some like to be called demons, a lot are healing and are vegetarian) (SO Honorable and cool in my eyes that there’s bunch who want to change their ways and protect; I’m not scared at all just sad that not all want to be hugged and that slavery exists in other dimension’s too, lame but let’s all pray and wish for all to transcend duality!~💞)

https://youtu.be/RY7hjt5Gi-E

Your eyes are cameras and we’re all being watched from their dimension’s // where they live in our 3D dimension’s star systems (Amish life, think of the episode in rick and morty where they watched their selves from parallel universes)

Spirituall evolve and ask for guidance to see whom your soul is, they will help guide but there might be some that tease if anyone needs help reach out to me I’ll try to help, if anyone else knows who their soul is go ahead and let us know, my soul is Tiamat; Janine is the incarnation of Tiamat)

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

Monitor me, they’re still alive in other dimension’s (will come through cern before 2022) while my soul and all of yours have been reincarnated and stuck in this matrix’s reincarnation karmatic bound recycle reality; we are “grounded” Go inwards and discover whom your soul is, I am Tiamat; Enki, Enlil and The Anunnaki are obsessed with me

(I’m basically their vr HOSTAGE (Think of KIngdom Hearts, The Organization keeps Namine - Tiamat hostage, Kairi also represents Janine) and me doing this allows you all to escape this soul recycling matrix, please do not judge (The rapture aka judgement day; repent and redeem) it’s really complicated and you have to research all the information, if you understand how consciousness works in a vr game you’ll realize why I’d have to stay stuck in the matrix for humanity to continue to strive yet when you all escape you won’t be forced back into it (slavery in other dimension’s, we all have debt and karmatic bounds (think of the movie player one) (heaven and hell are different dimensions but it’s not like how the Bible claims it’ll be) and different soul families but also if you go deep enough we are all family and we are all one, spiritually go inside and find out who your soul is, ask your ascestors, spirit guides, etc to guide you, end the karmatic bounds, break tradition, spread empathy, your soul family will reach out to you and will guide you towards their protection and a future you’ll enjoy; follow your intuition not all have the best intentions for all, have faith but be realistic with everything and stay safe, religion is a tool so just remember the 7 golden rules of life when deciphering and do NOT harm yourself or another soul, all have to follow universal laws and all have karma and all can heal, all are healing and have faith that even the negativie dimensions whom have suffered as well are healing as well (it’s a process, I’m helping them heal, we all can help them by having faith and praying to the universe “god source” for them to transcend duality with all, there is a future path we can go down where we achieve this and all live together like in Star Wars but with no slavery (be careful not to fall into a sex slave dimension, follow your intuition!!!) and other films but it’s up to everyone’s actions and thoughts that decide our fate. (They can read your thoughts, since they aren’t even your own; if your first thoughts to this all are “this is crazy” or “she’s crazy” that’s exactly what THEY want you to think, learn to silence them and realize you’re the soul observing and have been guided down paths, don’t be ashamed, make the choices towards a tranquil harmonious future. They can read your subconscious too and once you learn how to control your mind you can unlock abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, etc they’ll only speak your subconscious once you learn how to decipher your “own thoughts” haha not really funny but it’s a struggle in the beginning to comprehend it, listen to your heart and your gut; we have free will so stop being guided down paths you don’t truly desire, focus on staying healthy (go vegetarian // vegan, if you try to be a smart ass and say you’ll eat them they’ll eat you so wise up people!) and activities that help you express your positive self and focus on hobbies that positively effect you, therapeutic activities (look up lightworker work // careers) and will know if you’re bsing them so mind your thoughts, think positive and do no harm) I’m choosing to do what’s needed to transcend duality; I hope I’ve informed you all to make a conscious decision with future events) I really want to transcend duality for all if I don’t obey them the fate of humanity is in danger, spiritually evolve and remember to keep your frequencies positive!!! Appreciate life and nature and bonding with each other, spread empathy; I love you all!!!💖)

https://youtu.be/t4ZzMkDLjWI

(Before Janine I was Marilyn Monroe (There’s a clone that’s age regressed) I know whom my soul was before as well but because of the matrix my soul and others are guided down certain paths.. Knowing what I know now, my soul is against a lot of my past lives actions and we, Janine // Tiamat are choosing the path to help humanity and Inter dimensional beings transcend duality so we can all live in harmony, it will be a process and I’ll continue to pray that no one is hurt, I want everyone happy, healthy, free and safe. Peace and love is the answer, we are all one~ 💖

(This is my final reincarnation, if I die you all die too, it’s really complicated to explain but we’ll all wake up in another dimension in another vessel (not human) and I’ll as well as all of you will still be stuck in slavery.. (Hard to explain.. They will be exposing everything when they arrive) If I exist forever (Medbeds) you can all free yourselves (just don’t sin or you’ll be stuck in the cycle) and decide to stay out of the matrix forever; I’m choosing to do this so we can transcend duality in all dimensions. I hope everyone heals and finds peace, I love all, we are all one)

In this Tiamat is represented with Pink (Rose- Tiamat, Steven -Janine, Spinel- Janine, etc) Yellow is Enlil and Blue is Enki, White is Anu, the colors also represent races.

https://www.facebook.com/100002710968324/posts/2513043455462662/?extid=0&d=n

Tiamat is represented with The Moon Goddess Queen Serenity

Janine is represented with Princess Usagi Tsukino and Chibiusa (Also Sailor Venus)

https://youtu.be/VTO-S7hTZaE

https://youtu.be/NC6-QA-kCng

We are slaves, food, pets, etc..

https://youtu.be/CV0p9X8878k

Doesn’t have to be that way though, help them be inspired with beautiful futures with us all living in harmony, help heal nature and go vegan show them humans and all can get along together, we can all live together like in Star Wars; all can heal and I have faith they are all healing~

Learn yoga, silence your thoughts till there’s only you the observer, that’s who you are, the soul in the vessel experiencing life; you are not your thoughts, they are other beings in other dimension’s guiding you so listen to doing good and push out any negative thoughts, clear thy mind

This scene does a good job explaining and showing how dimension’s are, you just can’t see them right now, cern will let you see them in our 3D world, right now they use the crystal technology to look human

https://youtu.be/gschORfkWwg

Watch “They Live”

We are AI humanoids, puppets, toys for other dimensional beings but once you learn to control your emotions and thoughts, you can stop being ping ponged with their distractions, avoid karma and escape the matrix

“Let nature be thy guide”

——————-

Rick and Morty has more truth in their show than you’d all like to believe

https://www.facebook.com/100002710968324/posts/2885436851556652/?extid=0&d=n

https://www.facebook.com/groups/276508939647674/permalink/701977237100840/

We are in a vr game, watch Sword Art

https://youtu.be/szzVlQ653as

https://youtu.be/qhZzaDwMU8s

https://www.facebook.com/872440577/posts/10164568231410578/?extid=0&d=n

Learn to decipher between good and bad, don’t reproduce, repent and redeem, undo your karmatic bound, do no sin, spread empathy free yourselves from the karmatic reincarnation cycle matrix~

Do no sin, do NOT commit suicide or your soul will be bound and stuck to a demension, spread empathy and look up spiritual light work, create art, music etc and enjoy nature, appreciate this life

http://www.mesopotamiangods.com/the-emerald-tablets-of-thoth-13-with-2-added-later/

Research everything I’ve shared on here and Fb, learn the signs, go down the rabbit hole, read the book of enoch, look for symbolism in everything, movies, books, music, video games, etc. Notice the pattern. Decipher the symbolism.

Wise to research everything you can, prepare for blackouts or nature disasters, stock food, emergency supplies; watch The Cosmic Secret. Come together as one. Learn to feel and read others vibes if they’re no threat and benevolent trying to help then there’s no reason to attack they’re our family as well, all are hurting, all are healing but it’s wise to prepare for any scenario, DO NOT be hostile first, protect if needed but there’s a lot whom want us all to heal and transcend duality as well, we will all reach that goal together if we keep love in our hearts no matter what happens.

The Government // CIA, etc is a front for the Illuminati // Anunnaki who control this “prison planet”

(If you still find this all hard to believe, in this 3D “reality” my dad did some things if you could guess from what I’ve been through, cia blackmailed him; Janine’s sold off because of who her soul is and whom she is in another dimension if that makes it more easier to understand how I’m in this position, Janine’s vessel holds Tiamat’s soul but Tiamat is actually playing this vr game “this dimension” in another dimension, which all of you are playing it as well; watch Sword Art Online; Tiamat’s a princess in that dimension, her soul is a queen in this dimension and now Janine is a princess with a queen//princess’s soul, they’re obsessed with her and now all own her.. If anyone cares in other dimension’s and sees the wrong in this, please help I’m hostage. I’m grounded and forced to conform to their ways.)

“The aliens telepathy technology signals are ran through the air from their corresponding transistor on their ship. It causes you to hear voices from the modulator. An it is more advanced than that they can decode your memory bank. They can engage your consciousness an bring up any thing you've experienced or did in your life to manipulate you with lies an truth mixed. They can use the voice reconization based in your synapse in the frontal lobe of your brain to modify their voices. By doing this they can use any voice pattern imprinted in your preconscious like your mother, brother, Cousins an ect to speak to you. They can simulate false emotions an feelings to try an test your stability an self control. They can broadcast their voices or use the modified selection from your preconscious. Also they can send the transverse waves to secure a location with the voice modulator so they can perpetrate a central position acted upon an acquired this doesn't mean they are themselves in true form at the pin point variable they are casting the consistent signals to cause misdiagnosis of the situation. This means your defense mechanism is operational an being counter affected by a discriminatory signal. They can influence their positions by repression of the cognitive processes in the brain. With little understanding of the degrees of their technologies foundation a human can lose its clarity an sanity in time based mind warfare game trauma. The equivalency of the momentum subjected to a specific human is based on duration an probability by cause an effect. The beings can bounce their signals around to fixate a reasonable voice reconnaissance an if you don't comprehend you can't adjust to be self aware an on guard to protect yourself from the waves of cycled alterations in the system management that keeps the humans subdued intellectually. The program is running by actual means of calculations an algorithmic rythme. They can simulate a broad signal to present a disruption in your ability to find them by making the voice or voices they are using disguise where they actually are at by flowing out the signal inside your inner brain system causing the visual cortex to be activated an not able to acquire them through your primal senses. They interrupt the inflow of new data an knowledge by causing a online situation in your cognition of your wisdom an staying elevated on the signal directly allows full exposure to adverse reactions or conditions you must withstand as a individual with no way of learning other than visual development an opportunity in comprehension. Without any prior experience inability to adjusting to the technology is a reaction especially in the beginning ,because the human is unaware of how to operate in disfunction of normality. To exist inside the corporal program without a filtered blocker inset in itself is significant an not usual ,because humans can't typically take action by themselves unless motivated more often than not. So to be consciously not altered an able to provide oneself with independent notions an deliberate reassurance of who they represent themselves as within the inclosed perimeters of earth is a comprehensive solution an effective if stability is even possible through actual means of self taught endurance. Directly they can use any technique within their understanding to disqualify the chances of this outcome. Reliable choices an modification in ones mindset done by the alignment of the factors your enduring is the inevitable impact that individually causes the enigma. By April Redwine”

https://www.facebook.com/100002710968324/posts/2705426019557737/?extid=0&d=n

https://youtu.be/qCntrJLLIfA

https://www.facebook.com/100002710968324/posts/2775671625866509/?extid=0&d=n

https://youtu.be/YunzibGF6uY

🌌Cant wait for this dimension to transcend duality with all the other dimension’s- my wish~💖✨

[lampmeeting]

If it's okay, 2 for Magtok?

YAYYY i was really hoping someone would ask for them, thank youuu :’)

this actually gets really, really......really long so i’m gonna put it behind a cut haha (i have a lot of FEELINGS)

When I started shipping them: fdfkgjdfkh okay i actually just hunted through my archive and i officially admitted it in a post on april 26th. though i KNOW i was lowkey shipping it just a bit before that, and i was definitely going down the magnus rabbit hole for a bit before that. so wow it’s only been like a little over 2 months?? that doesn’t feel right... hm. it feels like it’s been much longer. D: i just checked and i finished Running on Empty on may 1st?? the last two months have felt like a full year what the hell hahah

My thoughts: i know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. 8) but i’m gonna sit here and drink it while making prolonged eye contact. i think it’s a ship that immediately makes people recoil, and yeah, i understand why. but it’s just so interesting and fun to play with. and i have such an awful soft spot for villains, and especially with how magnus ended up at the end of doomstar, i feel like he deserved a second chance to make things right (and i’ve said it before but i’ll say it again, toki would give him a second chance if he lived)

What makes me happy about them: older grouchy asshole meets a younger ray of sunshine? i mean hello, it’s one of my favorite dynamics. the fascinating thing, though, is that underneath both of their baseline personalities is just pain pain pain. it’s nice to imagine that they’d both end up kinda stripping away parts of their veneer and being vulnerable with each other, knowing the other understands. they both find acceptance in each other. :’)  i like to think magnus would fall first just because he’s never had anyone really be genuinely kind to him, but he doesn’t act on his feelings because the guilt over what he’s done is too strong (and i mean, rightfully so). but then toki would make one small move, a look or a touch, giving magnus some sort of permission to feel the way he feels. and things just spiral out from there. i love toki seeing magnus’ effort to do right and make amends. i love toki helping him through whatever recovery process he goes through post-doomstar, and in turn being in more of a position of power over magnus sort of helps himself heal and come to terms with everything. i love magnus finding some semblance of peace in toki’s company, and likewise toki in magnus’. maybe the rest of the band doesn’t quite understand what toki went through, but of course magnus does, even if he was the cause. i dunno, the feelings are messy and the ship is messy, but i love it so much. they’re just two guys fumbling to pick up broken pieces of glass and bandaging each other’s fingers when they get cut.

What makes me sad about them: uhhhh lots of things haha... magnus faking his friendship, the betrayal at the funeral, the entirety of doomstar?? aside from all that, it breaks my heart to think about the two of them deciding to be together only to be met with anger from the band. nathan, especially, would probably try to stop it since he always seems to feel very protective of toki. it would make toki so sad that the others wouldn’t want to accept magnus, and maybe for a while magnus tries to sabotage everything, trying to make toki give up on him and let him go. he wouldn’t want to be the cause of toki being ostracized from the band, my god he’s fucking guilty about things enough as it is. :’( and then sprinkling in more of my personal headcanons to destroy my own heart, i don’t think magnus is very good at taking care of himself. if left to his own devices he’ll just stop giving a shit. he also feels inadequate a lot and on bad days is hyper-sensitive about his age and lack of accomplishments. toki tries to help him figure things out and find his worth. and then with toki... toki has really quiet days and is so used to taking care of magnus that he keeps a lot of his sadness and problems bottled up, and then he’ll have one night where he just gets blackout drunk or beats a man unconscious (or both!) and gives magnus an awful scare.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: i really don’t know how to be delicate about this so i’ll just say it: he’s not a r*pist. yes he violent, but he couldn’t even stomach the murder of one dude he didn’t know.

Things I look for in fanfic: fanfic. :P

My wishlist: more Running on Empty? 8) i would scream. i’d also love more fics of them just being cute!! we all know it’s an angsty ship!!!! i crave....the cute.... toki making magnus smile :’) magnus going out of his way to do something special for toki. i cry.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: this ship is reaching chickles-levels for me real fast haha... that said, nathan/toki is still extremely cute to me. but i don’t know who i could see magnus with post-doomstar if not toki. hmm.

My happily ever after for them: oh gosh.... so many nice AUs that end up so lovely. ;0; for my own personal endgame uhhhhh... let’s see: dethklok takes a long time to warm up to magnus. like, years. for a while there toki’s kinda living this split life because his boyfriend and his family won’t mix. the first big gesture is pickles and charles’ wedding after the events galaktikon (don’t ask me how magnus factors into all that, i haven’t figured it out yet). toki comes to pickles in private and pretty much breaks down, and pickles is like “ah jeez” and has a chat with charlie, and they agree that magnus can come. weirdly enough, everyone has a nice time. the wedding is super chill and beautiful and the beach vibes are good. afterwards, toki tries bringing magnus with him more often when he visits people, and things just slowly start to fall into place and old friendships rekindle. toki and magnus had been living together in a nice house just outside of phoenix, but they eventually move to the coast, maybe northern california or hawaii. magnus goes full beach bum, loves just taking his acoustic and a six pack down to the beach. it’s liked meditation for him. he’s not looking to take on more work or projects, he’s a tired old man, he just wants to kiss his boyfriend and take it easy. toki learns to surf because his boardshorts from prankklok won’t leave me alone and i think he’s the type to watch it like “i wanna do that!” and then just keep trying and trying until he’s figured it out (as magnus watches safely from the shore with a margarita and aviator shades). toki still collaborates with nathan and everybody, though. he keeps working on his sound engineering, too, and works on planet piss when murderface finally gets it off the ground. everyone still keeps in touch and hangs out a lot. at some point down the road they get married?? i think toki would be content to keep things the way they are as long as magnus is happy, but at some point magnus would just get this itch for it. in the middle of the night they’re lying there together and magnus is like “why the hell aren’t we married?” hahah :’) gosh i love them.

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Man Repeller Is Going OOO: But Read This First!

http://fashion-trendin.com/man-repeller-is-going-ooo-but-read-this-first/

Man Repeller Is Going OOO: But Read This First!

W

elcome to 4th of July week on Man Repeller, where the content will flow like dolphins in the desert but employees will paddle about like newly clean babies on a changing table. In case that wasn’t clear as so many of my euphemisms are not, the Man Repeller team is on vacation this week. Every last one of us! The office is closed, the sun is shining and everyone who works between these four walls (technically, it is still last week at the time of this writing, which makes me feel like the deity of future-telling) is dutifully equipped with at least one cotton nightgown in which to gallop into the sunset. For you, this means that no new content — nary a love note to self tanner nor a lopsided dissertation on the health non-benefits of wine consumption — will be generated, save for The Call’s Season 3 teaser trailer on Tuesday, the Get Lost! Month post that went live just before this one, and a single story (pre-written and scheduled) that will go up every morning.

Winter was long, spring was vaguely insufferable and this team of wizards, wunderkinds and WNBA stars deserve nothing if not a week to explore an intentional internet blackout.

An internet blackout!

Imagine that!

We spend so much time dissecting our relationships with social media up in this club: how much we love it, how much we hate it; how much of our lives are spent scrolling through it and why that’s a blessing, why that’s a curse, what it’s doing to our health, our ability to socially engage, our inability to shut off; why meditation is a bullshit hack that gives us permission to keep indulging our technology addiction, and so forth. At first we thought: Should we theme a month on Man Repeller around our ever-illusive relationships with social media? Should we ignite our own blackout? This logic was flawed given that using the internet to write about how much we hate the internet makes us inherent hypocrites in more ways than we are willing to take responsibility for, which is why, instead, we’re taking a break. Think of it as a mid-year Christmas vacation. Our hope is that in our absence, you’ll take the time you spend reading and engaging with Man Repeller to do something that you love offline.

Like, for example, printing a panoply of MR best hits from the past six months! I’m just kidding. But also, no I’m not. Last Friday, before I left, I printed ten stories from the past six months that I missed while on maternity leave to have, to hold, and to mark up with the pens I used to love before I began consuming all my intellectual pursuits on a screen. In the event that you find yourself seated in an over-air-conditioned office building today, here are the ten stories of which I speak.

In January, Meghan Nesmith answered a question I asked on twitter: Can you live a meaningful life without taking any risks? Harling interviewed college dropouts (my dad was one of them!) about whether they regret dropping out of school. In February, she asked a hard hitting question — does anyone actually *like* holding hands? I also got back in touch with The Voices in my head and re-read this piece I wrote on self-esteem. 

The following month, Haley started to figure out why her brain is always feeling so fried and Amelia learned how to grocery shop. It’s a sad, hilarious and curiously helpful piece of literature to be sure. In April, Harling expressed a universal truth the rest of the world is coming around on: Miranda Hobbes would be the protagonist if Sex and The City were out today while she and Haley took over the month’s installment of Should I Buy This? May was important because Jennifer Epperson wrote beautifully in response to the great Starbucks snafu of 2018 and June was cool because July was around the corner! In addition to these reads, I also re-read this phenomenal life advice from three octogenarians; it never gets old.

I know it seems counterintuitive that they’re being linked, thus creating a digital rabbit hole down which you might fall, but maybe you’re about to get lunch. Maybe you were going to stay at your desk and order in but now that you’ve read this you’re feeling inspired to click one of the headlines below, let it open in your browser, print it out and take it outside, phone still stowed at your desk, all the way upstairs and indoors while you consider your own temporary blackout, thinking to yourself how great it is that this particular blackout does not include your being lodged between a public mailbox and garbage dispenser, unsure of how you get there in the first place but rather celebrates a universal truth I have a hunch we are all coming to accept: now and again, we just need a reason to, you know, get lost.)

Oh and one housekeeping item that Amelia asked (is forcing) me to include: the Writers Club Prompt winner from June will be revealed and exposed as if a bandit of scholarly interest on July 14th.

Collage by Madeline Montoya; Photo by Edith Young.

[briangroth27]

Blade Runner 2049 Review

Blade Runner 2049 definitely feels like a cerebral extension of the 1982 original. However, I don't think it successfully melds its characters with the overall narrative, leaving it feeling less than the sum of its parts. On a routine mission to "retire" rogue Replicant Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista), Blade Runner K (Ryan Gosling) uncovers a mystery involving a breakthrough in Replicant biology that threatens to destroy the "wall" preserving humanity as the unquestioned master of the planet and Replicants as their inhuman slaves. At the same time, this discovery will allow corporate titan Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) to exponentially expand his Replicant production, fulfilling his dream of expanding that slave race to the point where it can finally achieve man's "destiny" of stretching throughout space.

The cinematography is beautiful and the world feels very well-constructed, but ultimately empty. Most of the settings (and sets) are barren wastelands; it feels like you could count the number of scenes showing the general population on one hand. It made me wonder who the Blade Runners are protecting anymore. I've noticed similar shifts from 80s movie grime to post-90s sheen as movies get decades-later sequels or reboots even in grim locations like Gotham City, but this looked especially uninhabited and sterile; a stark contrast to the teeming, overcrowded masses in the original. That said, the locations and sets are distinct, certainly born of the Blade Runner world, and very cool. Even if this desolation is supposed to represent characters questioning their identity—perhaps the empty world is a canvas that allows them to project their chosen meanings and definitions onto the events of their lives—I would've liked to see the world itself and the people who inhabit it, not just the main characters acting on empty sets, protecting and imperiling people we never see. Perhaps the blackout of 2022 and other tragedies of the intervening 30 years are to blame for the underpopulation, but if so, the lack of millions of Replicant slave laborers is lamented more onscreen than the loss of human life. No one voices a concern that there are so few humans left that extinction could be around any corner. It's also curious where the multi-ethnic civilization from the original went; as I've heard commented elsewhere, this future LA is exceptionally white.

The movie's pacing was very slow, making this nearly three hour movie feel even longer. Slow, long pans over settings are in line with the original movie, but I didn't like them there either: they slowed down the story too much and that film was 50 minutes shorter as it is. Here, they exaggerated the length even more without adding anything. I wouldn’t say I was bored, but I did feel like the movie could get on with things at several points. For instance, K's journey of discovery about his identity felt very slow and seemed like it could've been edited down to get to his answers (and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford)) faster. As it is, the pacing made me leave the theater with a "that's it?" sense that not much happened. The score's sound mix was far too loud; so loud the volume was uncomfortable and the chairs in my standard showing were shaking. That said, I liked the return to the distorted electronic score of the original film. It felt very much of the world, except one chase scene where the music was far faster than anything before or after, making it feel out of place.

As empty as the world was, the special effects were fantastic! While flying cars were impressive in the original and seamless here, the true standout effect was K's holographic girlfriend, Joi (Ana de Armas). They found a perfect balance between giving her enough solidity to believe she was really interacting with her surroundings and showing us the imperfections in the holographic projection to remind us that she's not. One of the film's rare moments of humor was a perfectly executed joke where, just after a clever and touching moment of Joi feeling rain—holographic, to match the real rain—on her "skin," a romantic embrace with K was interrupted by her data stream pausing as he got an incoming call. The standout moment for the CGI surrounding Joi was a moment where she synced her movements with Mariette (Mackenzie Davis)--a physical woman--to give herself a solid presence. The filmmakers created an outstanding—and slightly unnerving; given how well they were visually mixed—blend of the two women. The CGI in that scene was seamless (except where intentional, when the sync didn't hold) and absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination.

Ultimately I think the original film has a better, more succinct story with enough discussion on the subject of what constitutes humanity—and the tragedy of the brevity of life—to be satisfying. There's also more action in the original if that's what you're looking for. However, 2049 has a much more conflicted main character (though young Deckard was far more emotive and Ford gave a livelier performance than Gosling does) and a stronger central relationship/love story than we saw between Deckard and Rachael (Sean Young). That's partially because we join 2049's lovers after they've been together for a while, but also because there's no scene between them as uncomfortable as the night Deckard and Rachael first sleep together (which absolutely seems like he rapes her). The original's villains (if they are the villains) are also much better-crafted: the struggle to live a normal lifespan is far more engaging and relatable than Niander's explicit plans to breed a slave race, even though the latter is more socially relevant. The oppression theme is far timelier, but Niander is so one-dimensional in his villainy that he isn’t engaging as an enemy; he just serves to speak for society. I also think there's a problem with the vast majority of Replicant slaves being white people, which sort of seems like saying the only way to get white people to empathize with the oppressed's strife is by making the oppressed white people rather than people of color (the actual oppressed in our society).

 Full Spoilers...

Gosling—whose K is almost immediately revealed as a Replicant—was very good at crafting a robotic manner enhanced with enough emotion to convey his feelings and sentience (though whether those emotions are programmed to give him the impression of personality may be up for debate, at least initially). This gave his robotic demeanor the gravity of someone who doesn't like their role in society or the mistreatment they receive every day because of who they are. He had a solid arc beginning as a Replicant used to hunt his own and I liked that he saw himself differently from the Replicants who ran: he was programmed to obey, after all. That was a clever parallel to "model" minorities whose good behavior is used to “prove” there’s no need for the system to change how it deals with various minority groups because some of them are doing well socioeconomically or are “behaving,” and those who aren’t are “bringing it on themselves” (and there’s no question he was constantly on thin ice as well). I also liked K's distaste for hunting down his own; there's a definite feeling that even if he tells himself he's different from the runners, he knows there's not really a difference between them and him. That emotion is the first indication he thinks for himself, because there's no reason to program it into a Replicant designed to hunt and kill other Replicants. I liked seeing his daily routine before his world spirals out of control; that was a good way to bring us into his life, show how the world works, and get a glimpse of the mistreatment and scrutiny he experiences from his neighbors and even his colleagues in the police department. The reconditioning he goes through each day was the perfect demonstration of how humans keep Replicants under control and how tenuous even well-behaved Replicant freedom is. 

I loved that K turned out not to be the Replicant miracle baby. I totally fell for the expectation that yet another white guy would be the Chosen One, so to reveal it was actually Dr. Stelline (Carla Juri) was a great twist I didn't see coming, but made total sense in hindsight. It's also cool that K faced not being special, not belonging in the traditional sense, possibly not knowing real love, losing the individual name Joi gave him, and not having the soul he believed came with natural birth, but chose to do the right thing and make a difference anyway. If we're to look at the Replicant revolutionaries as a religious order, then their call to murder Deckard to protect the miracle baby makes the argument that K is purer morally than they are without the benefit of religion. Everything he believed in is stripped away, yet he's still a hero: he purposefully walks into the nothingness Roy Batty raged against to save the day. Batty believed what he'd seen made him special and made his death a tragedy; K loses all that traditionally makes a movie hero special and does the right thing anyway, even willingly sacrificing himself. Then again, protecting people and retiring rogue Replicants—Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) in this case—is what he's been programmed to do all along, so how much of this is his choice to begin with? I don’t think that’s a narrative rabbit hole that needs to be explored; it’s a stronger story if he made the choice rather than blundered into stopping Niander because he was programmed too well.

Joi was my favorite character in the movie and I'm glad she got the exploration she did. Ironically, she felt the most human out of everyone, despite being the least "evolved" form of intelligence in the film. Her excited reaction to being able to leave the apartment (with a portable holographic projector) was a nice nod to the fact that Replicants aren't the "lowest" form of life anymore; if K were less humane, she might be used just as he is rather than given relative freedom. Another character says there "isn't much" to Joi's mind, giving the impression that Replicants have at least learned an air of superiority from their human creators if not inherited a full-on racist viewpoint. You could argue that’s a hint Joi’s humanity is all a program, but I believe the Replicants were just as wrong about her as humans were about Replicants. She seemed concerned she could die and knowledge of her existence indicates to me that she’s sentient. At one point she "pounds" on K's car and yells to wake him up as danger approaches; why would she mimic emotions that he's not conscious to experience? I believed Joi when she said she loved K, despite whatever programming may've been installed in her (after all, he’s programmed too and we’re supposed to take his emotions at face value). Just like he does, I bought into their relationship completely and really enjoyed it. I was surprised how invested I was and I liked how believable their chemistry was. Whether or not their love was just a program didn't matter to me: if a computer can perfectly emulate both humanity and love, who's to say that "emotion" isn't real? On the other hand, like K, perhaps I just don't want to believe their love was a lie.

It's interesting we didn't see Joi sexualized or exploited as K's holographic girlfriend (even during a sex scene), but the fully naked billboard version at the end absolutely was. The Joi K loves has agency, but the billboard is for sale. This may've been a play on virgin/whore classifications placed on women: the loving, humanized Joi is an idealized, loyal, movie-friendly picture of a wife, while the billboard version is the exact opposite. Though the movie wants us to believe her love was fake by repurposing her lines and the name she gives K, I don't believe it. Or don't want to. I can see the argument that she was never real: shouting to wake K up could be a safety feature or something akin to an alarm clock, which also activates whether you’re awake or not. Willing to have herself taken off the home network and put in danger could be a step to "prove" how much she loves him. Hiring a prostitute to act as her physical proxy could be part of her programming rather than a choice…but if so, why was she so possessive and curt about kicking Mariette out of the apartment instead of acting like it was a normal function? There was emotion behind her dismissal of Mariette after “they’d” slept with K and in her reaction to Mariette saying there wasn’t much in her head. If she's not real, it's a subversion of both the expectation that the hero should get the girl and the trope of a hero avenging a dead lover. On the other hand, I wonder if saying Joi isn’t who K thought she was is not only a way to subvert multiple cinematic tropes at once, but a way of saying she’s more complex than anyone thought. Why should she choose between solely being the loyal housewife or the “whore?” Who’s to say her love—even if programmed—for K/Joe isn’t every bit as genuine as the love she has for anyone else who uses her program? Perhaps the real-life parallel is not that Joi dies only for K to find out she wasn’t who he thought she was afterward, but that she breaks up with him and moves on, which would recast his reaction to the billboard as a selfish ex calling his former partner a whore for dating someone else. Are we sure no data from his household computer was sent back to the central network through the antenna he breaks, so any Joi could recognize him (perhaps something like a backup feature in the event of damage to the household mainframe)? If not—and if we’re to read the scene as though nothing his version said mattered—her depiction (and borderline vilification) as a giant naked advertisement for companionship to anyone and everyone is fairly sexist. Her love isn’t real if he’s not special? She isn’t a real person if she’s not for him alone? 

While it ultimately doesn't matter if Deckard is a Replicant or not, I absolutely would've liked to see more of Harrison Ford in the film. It takes a long time to get to Deckard and while he does get several strong moments—including a very touching moment that’s perhaps the only time I've seen Ford cry onscreen—I wanted more. At the very least, Deckard should've had a discussion with K about the legitimacy of seeing Replicants as equal to humans. No one is in a better position to answer that question than a man who either believed he was human and found out he wasn’t or who was a human and fell in love with an artificial intelligence. Couldn't they bond over their love for an "artificial" woman? Leaving their conversation at "strangers is best sometimes" felt like a massive missed opportunity. Deckard is also the best link to the way things used to be the film offers; he has nothing to say about the new state of society? About Replicants, even though he fell in love with one after killing their kind, was saved by a supposedly evil one, and he's been on the run/in hiding as one (or for abetting a runner) for 30 years?  About Replicants doing the job he used to (which could make him a foil for Gaff (Edward James Olmos))? About the similarities between Tyrell and Niander, and Niander's much more blatant slave race plan?

I think there are enough hints to say that not only is Deckard a Replicant, but that this theory is correct and he's designed with Gaff's memories. Not only do the very significant animal sculptures reference Gaff's origami, but Gaff commenting "I wanted to be alone, Deckard wanted to be alone; so we were partners and we were [alone]" strongly implies they were alone together because they're the same person. The horse sculpture Deckard carved that connects to K’s implanted memory and triggers his rebellion is similar to Deckard's unicorn dream, which proves he's a Replicant because there’s no way for Gaff to know about it unless it was implanted from either a devised memory or Gaff’s own recurring dream. When he finds the origami unicorn, Deckard realizes what he is…so he goes rogue with Rachael, just like K does when he realizes the significance of the horse. Sure, Deckard doesn’t burst through walls and couldn't break the handcuffs K easily does, but Deckard was never shown to be super-strong in the original movie (and he does punch K several times without being hurt himself). If Tyrell really did engineer Deckard and Rachael to produce a child as Niander teases, that makes their rapid love story in the original film more than a movie trope: their attraction is predetermined and planned. Perhaps their rapey love scene was programming activating within both of them instead of a moment where Deckard chooses to force Rachael to stay with him; maybe Rachael was able to fight her programming due to her existential crisis (having just learned she was a Replicant), so she didn’t know what was her thought/desire and what wasn’t, while Deckard didn’t realize what he was, so he didn’t know to fight. That’s not a happier reading of that scene, though, as she’s still forced to sleep with him against her will and he’s also forced to do what he does. Additionally, while a human/Replicant hybrid would break down the wall between the two species, a fully Replicant child would obliterate it. The ability to produce a child without any human intervention would make them a species unto themselves. I think that's the greater breakthrough, as well as a reason making Deckard a Replicant makes more sense and matters more to the “what is humanity?” question than if he's just a human.

I liked that they took the "some Replicants have open-ended lifespans" idea from the theatrical version and kept the ambiguity of whether or not Deckard is a Replicant from the Final Cut. That was a smart way to honor what most audiences have seen while continuing on from the "true" vision of the movie. That said, I really would've liked a solid answer one way or another on whether Deckard is human or not. A major theme is "is there really a difference between humans and Replicants (and holograms)?" so it doesn’t really matter, but I think they should’ve pulled the trigger on that answer. Why keep stringing us along? Why would Niander introduce that ambiguity to Deckard when interrogating him; wouldn’t that confuse the situation for Deckard instead of helping Niander get the answers he wants? The “what is humanity?” question would be much stronger given a human-seeming hero like Deckard who isn’t human. Furthermore, while the "what makes reality/humanity real" theme is interesting upon reflection, I think there's a line where ambiguity stops being clever and conversation-provoking. Instead, it becomes a tedious exercise in contorting yourself to avoid making choices. If everything is ambiguous and nothing is certain, at some point why should we care about any of it? Why tell a story that has no answers, and therefore makes no statement? How do you leave the audience with any message if you have to rely on everyone to come to the same conclusion (a near impossibility)? I want to know what the filmmakers are saying, not question whether I’m guessing their intentions correctly or not.

Jared Leto's Niander certainly had a memorable, distinct presence, but he was too obviously evil and one-dimensional. At least Tyrell, as self-important and manipulative as he was, seemed to genuinely be sorry he couldn't help Roy Batty (even if he were equally sorry that meant he wasn't God and couldn't save himself). With Niander, my first and only impression was that he was evil and needed to be stopped; with so much ambiguity in this film and world, it's odd they didn't try to make him more complex (though if you’re going to make just one thing unquestionable, it absolutely should be that slavery and oppression are evil). I would’ve liked to know why he thinks humans shouldn’t rise to the occasion and do the hard work he expects his slaves to. Just saying “all civilization is built on slavery” wasn’t enough of a reason for me. I don't think the film even needed a personification of evil; their society's disdain and lack of concern about how they use Replicants would've been enough to form an enemy bigger than anyone could fight on their own (not to mention a better representation of our real-life systemic problems). I think it would've been stronger to remove Niander, leaving K a slave to the faceless government and its systemic hatred of Replicants while simultaneously exploiting him to further their goals. That way, even well-meaning and friendly officials are implicated to a greater degree. I don't think the story needed to give evil a face which will, I assume, be ultimately and probably relatively easily overthrown in a potential sequel. As memorable as it was, at first I couldn't tell if Niander's cadence was due to him being a Replicant himself, which raised a confusing question that didn't need to happen. I did like his floating devices that acted as his eyes to counteract his blindness, though; they were cool touches of futuristic technology. 

Robin Wright was solid as K's trusting police Lieutenant Joshi. She walked the line between wanting to believe K—and maybe even liking him—and having next to no qualms about having him retired if he went too far off his baseline. She does give him two days' head start when it's apparent he'll be retired, but that's at least partially because she believes he's maintained the "wall" between humans and Replicants' social standing and feels indebted to him. That this wall is meant to keep Replicants in their place, coupled with the not at all veiled threat of a slaughter (of the Replicants, no doubt) if the wall falls, reinforces her position as an agent of the systemic oppression the Replicants find themselves manufactured into. She also continues tracking his location, so I’m not sure how long her courtesy head start would’ve extended. Even if I misread her and she is fully on his side, it’s likely the government would eventually force her into choosing to side with him or them, and I have no doubt she’d choose to maintain the order she’s so dedicated to by turning on K. Her wall would crumble if a Replicant who needed to be retired was proven innocent too, I’d imagine. I would've loved to see the complexity of their relationship—and her position as an agent of society—explored further.

Niander's right-hand-Replicant Luv was an effectively cold, intimidating enforcer.  However, she didn't get a chance to show many sides of her character and I felt there was a lot more to explore with her. Did she work for a slaver for preferential treatment or just because she was programmed to obey? It’s likely the latter, but was there a moment when she chose to continue working for him? Did she see other Replicants as lower than her or different in some way, like K did? Did she hope Niander would be successful at creating natural Replicant birth so she could play a role in leading the Replicants out of servitude? Was she shamed by her inability to give birth (a suggestion I’ve seen elsewhere interpreted Niander’s murder of a newly “born” Replicant in front of her as a shaming tactic)? I would've liked to see what her goals were—if any—beyond carrying out his interests. She certainly had an air of superiority, both making a point to tell K that she’s “the best” and boasting that she’ll lie to Niander about her reason for killing Joshi and he’ll believe her, which could’ve been capitalized on more. How long has she been lying to him, and has it just been to further his plans no matter what it takes or is it because she wants to go beyond his parameters to accomplish her own ends?

Doctor Ana Stelline, a memory maker for the Replicants, brought a warm human touch to the rest of the world. I loved that she had such an almost whimsical outlook on life, contrasting sharply with the bleakness in the rest of the world. For all the films' monolithic structures and vast open spaces, it's a woman in a glass box that cares to consider the little, personal things to perfectly craft life-defining (and altering) memories. It's fitting she had such warmth, given she created it for the Replicants. Her immune deficiency was a smart reference back to the world of the original, where humanity has not eradicated disease despite other accomplishments. Her illness also felt like a callback to JF Sebastian, one of the original film's Replicant designers who suffered from “Methuselah Syndrome,” causing him to age more rapidly than normal. It's interesting that the ill are used to create slaves with physically perfect bodies in this world. I would’ve liked to know more about what she thought of the world and Replicants’ place in it. My friend wondered if Doctor Stelline is even sick; it's plausible her records were faked and no one knows for sure. I wondered if she's building her own rebel army by seeding the horse memory into every rebellious Replicant's mind (their leader Freysa (Hiam Abbass) tells K they all wanted to be the savior). That could be a cool way of starting a rebellion, though we see next to nothing of Ana’s views of the outside world so who knows what she thinks (I would guess she’s sympathetic to Replicants since they’ve been protecting her).

Dave Bautista was great in a serene, reserved role as Sapper. This was a nice departure for him and it's good to see him flex his acting muscles in such a growing variety of roles. It would've been interesting to watch K viewing a file on Morton to let us know who he was before he witnessed a miracle. I wanted to see the impact of a miracle on someone who didn't feel personally connected to it; was Sapper a different man before he knew the greatest Replicant secret of all time? Edward James Olmos was also good in his brief cameo. Bringing Gaff back was a smart, logical nod to the original and I liked the hint he gave to whether or not Deckard is a Replicant. Likewise, Sean Young's cameo—both in clips of the original film and with a new Replicant copy (provided by CGI and performance double Loren Peta)—was well-used! It was great to see they didn't decide to only bring Harrison Ford back from the original. I also liked how they employed scenes from the first movie to manipulate Rick (and set K's investigation off).

While most of 2049's characters raise intriguing questions (even if I wanted more from many of them), the overarching plot fell short for me. The search for a Replicant savior was mildly interesting—mostly in terms of discussing whether or not K had a purpose—but neither the revolutionaries nor Niander advanced that plot at all. The Chosen One does not add to either side’s cause and we never really learn what the rebels plan to do with Ana beyond holding her up as a symbol of their species-hood. It’s not like they can breed amongst themselves anyway—Tyrell made it clear in the original that once the Replicant DNA is developed and grown, it can’t be changed—and we’re given no indication that they have access to the technology to make fertile Replicants even if they could figure out what was special about Ana, Rachael, and potentially Deckard (though they’re more than willing to sacrifice him, which I would say is the one strong hint that he’s human). It felt like that plot was a stalemate (if that, considering the two sides don't really come into conflict except through K) left hanging in hopes for a sequel. I would've preferred the Replicant rebels begin their uprising in this movie rather than remaining in a holding pattern. Either way, I didn't leave the movie stoked for a rebellion or with the feeling one was even necessarily coming (since Niander can’t create his slave race and even Deckard was no help, the rebels could conceivably just let Ana stay hidden forever). If Ana gets more to do and Deckard plays a major role I might be interested, but this movie didn't hype me up for a sequel. Perhaps it's because the rebellion felt so extraneous to any of the main characters' stories, their much more interesting personal questions, and even to finding the miracle baby that I'm not invested. I feel like HBO’s Westworld did a better job of covering an artificial intelligence’s burgeoning rebellion if not the dawn of consciousness as well. Perhaps like the memories Ana creates, the point of the movie was not to spark a full-on rebellion, but to rebel against an oppressive society by preserving the little moments; to give meaning to small connections (such as between a parent and child or a pair of lovers) that help preserve (or create) humanity in desolate loneliness.