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entamewitchlulu · 3 years

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My Top Books of 2021

I was thinking about recording a video, but I’m very lazy, so I’m just going to write a post. I read like, an obscene amount of books this year (checks Goodreads count).....141 books?????

So yeah there’s no way I can talk about all of those, so I managed to narrow it down to my top twenty. It’s all under the cut for length.

20. The Bullet Journal Method / Ryder Carroll

I read this right at the beginning of the year, and honestly, it really clarified a lot of stuff about bullet journaling to me. I had tried to do it once before but got overwhelmed by all the fancy spreads I saw people doing, and dropped it quickly. Reading the actual original method was eye opening and led to me keeping a bullet journal for the rest of the year, and making one for this coming year, too, because the system finally made sense. If you’re planning on every trying bullet journaling, do not google what other people are doing. Just read what the original guy suggested, and you will be so much better off.

19. Educated / Tara Westover

This is a memoir about the author’s life growing up in a prepper family in a rural town, and her dealing with the isolation of her childhood as she was kept from school, the abuse she experienced from her family along with the happier memories, and how she eventually managed to extricate herself from the toxic hierarchy of her family. I can’t say this was a fun read, because the things that the author describes she went through are horrific, but what I found the most interesting was how it really did show that the people who abuse you can also love you and want to protect you. No one’s one hundred percent evil, and that makes it all the harder to try and detach yourself from the harm someone causes to you. It was very well written and crafted, and as someone who rarely enjoys memoirs, this one stuck with me.

18. Cosmoknights / Hannah Templer

This is a great graphic novel about a galaxy in which royals hire champions to fight in mecha battles to earn the hands of the planet’s princesses, and the women who go into battle to rescue those girls from their fates of being treated like property to be passed around. The artwork of this story is amazing, and while the first novel doesn’t give you a whole lot of substance, I’ll be completely honest. I’m here for muscle lesbian.

17. Girl Haven / Lilah Sturges

This is another graphic novel, a rather sweet, if somewhat convoluted plotwise, story about Ash, whose mother disappeared some years ago. He brings some new friends over to see his mother’s workshop, where she created artwork of a fantasy world of only women. When the group uses a spell from a book left open to transport themselves to the real fantasy world, Ash starts to question what it means that he was able to travel to this women-only world, and what it means for his own private questioning of his identity.

This one is so sweet, and it does such an excellent job of dealing with the multifaceted experience of gender seeking. If you worry that this world might just slap a “well Ash made it to this world which means irrefutably she is a girl!” don’t worry. It really addresses how there’s never going to be someone to tell you straight up who you are, and that your journey is your own, and I love it for that.

16. Space Battle Lunchtime / Natalie Riess

I read a lot of graphic novels this year lol. Space Battle Lunchtime is about a pastry chef who gets recuited to fill in a spot on an intergalactic cooking show. She has to work with ingredients she’s never seen before, equipment with inscrutable languages and settings, and rival chefs who are more than willing to get their hands dirty to edge out the competition.

The art style for this series is just SO lively and cute, it has such a colorful cast and the cooking challenges are so much fun! If you like watching cooking competitions, you’ll really enjoy the way this story is both an homage and a parody of such shows.

15. White Smoke / Tiffany D. Jackson

After an anxious breakdown, Mari moves to a new city with her newly blended family. But their new house isn’t all that it seems; they’re not allowed in the basement, things regularly go missing, and Mari is starting to believe that there may be something malicious that wants them all out, something she’ll have to discover before it’s too late.

This was so delightfully creepy; I’m not a big horror fan, but this rode that edge of being frightening without sending me into a meltdown. Mari is such an amazing character, and I love the way her anxiety is treated within the narrative as something so very real. It reminds me of my own struggles with anxiety and my own occasional anxious intrusive thought. If you’re a horror fan, you will definitely want to pick this up; Tiffany Jackson is a master at weaving this terrifying story that is laden with layers upon layers of social commentary, which leads to the ultimate twist at the end in a galaxy brain moment that will have you going “oh my god wait that makes so much sense how did I not see that??”

14. Elatsoe / Darcie Little Badger

In an alternate America, magic and various supernatural skills are far more ordinary and mundane. Elatsoe, a Lipan Apache teen, has learned the ways of raising the ghosts of dead animals from her family. And when her cousin is murdered in a very strange town that doesn’t seem to want prying eyes, Elatsoe will have to use all her courage and skills to dig down into a dangerous mystery, before her cousin’s murderous ghost is unleashed or something even greater causes tragedy.

This is such an incredibly crafted world. I love the way that Darcie Little Badger has managed to pull together such a vibrant retelling of an America that’s familiar, but shaped in different ways by magic touching it in a way that I feel like no other “magic in mundane” story has really managed to do. It touches on things from magic healing to fairy circles to vampires and it does so with this groundedness that is inspiring.

13. Pilu of the Woods / Mai K. Nguyen

An extremely sweet little graphic novel about a girl who runs away from home into the woods, and meets a little tree girl who has also run from home. As the two girls find their way back home together, they discuss the reasons why they felt they had to run away, and come to terms with some of their inner turmoils with themselves and their families.

The art of this is goooorgeous, and it was really just...sweet! A sweet little story with nice artwork about young kids dealing with their “inner monsters”, that cause them to say nasty things they regret. This is definitely for a younger crowd but I think it has lessons to share for all ages.

12. Virtual Unicorn Experience / Dana Simpson

I actually read several of the Phoebe and Unicorn books this year, and I cannot get enough of them. They feel like the spiritual successor to Calvin and Hobbies, only with less philosophy and more comedy. Phoebe and Marigold are just the funniest friends, and while I tend to dislike depictions of unicorns as vain and silly, Marigold really owns what she is in a way that makes me love the way she’s handled. Unicorns may be rather vain and silly in this universe, but they are also still incredibly cool, and that’s all I need.

11. Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts / Yu Tomofuji

An extremely beautiful manga about a girl sacrificed to the beasts, but unlike previous sacrifices, she doesn’t seem to fear her death. Intrigued by her, the king of beasts (who has been secretly releasing the sacrifices up til now), decides to keep her with him as his consort, and their strange but honestly very sweet love story begins.

If you love Beauty and the Beast stories, you will love this one. Sariphi is such a lovely protagonist; equal parts silly and yet wise. The way she is unfazed by literally anything and takes it all in stride is so much fun, especially with the much more stoic Leonhart, who doesn’t know how to deal with a girl like her. I look forward to getting a hold of more of this soon so that I can see how their love story unfolds.

10. A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow / Makoto Hagino

Konatsu pretends that she isn’t lonely when her father moves overseas for work, and she’s sent to live with an aunt in a rural seaside town. But when she meets Koyuki, the single member of the Aquarium Club, who seems to have a similar loneliness, she finds herself drawn to the older girl.

This is ostensibly a yuri manga, but there is little to no romance, which was disappointing. The manga is still beautifully illustrated, with some really deep and resonating thoughts about how you can feel lonely even when the people around you support you and are near to you. I really liked the way that the two leads’ grew together and learned from each other, and how they both ended up fulfilling both roles of frog and salamander (makes sense if you read it) for each other equally.

9. Freshwater / Akwaeke Emezi

A haunting tale about a woman born out of the fragmented souls that were pulled over the gateway far too soon, this is a poetic and beautifully written story about one girl living her life with all the difficulties that have been thrust at her from birth.

I cannot give this story justice with my description. It’s gorgeous. It’s lyrical. It’s emotional. It’s powerful. It’s so much and everyone should read it. Akwaeke Emezi is a profound author.

8. The City We Became / N.K. Jemisin

Cities have souls. And when cities reach a certain state of maturity, that soul comes alive in the heart of an avatar, a physical representation of the city who will guard it from the creatures that will do anything to destroy a newborn city.

This is one of those books that I kept put off reading again and again because I knew it was going to be just too good and I wasn't in the brainspace for perfection. I was right, this book was incredible, magical in a way that defies explanation. The worldbuilding is both intensely detailed and wildly incomprehensible in a masterful way. The characters are as vibrant as the cities they represent and I loved spending time with each of them. When the sequel comes out it's gonna be over for everyone.

7. Raybearer / Jorden Ifueko

This is an absolutely gorgeous fantasy about a girl who just wants to feel connected to a family. Tarisai has spent her entire life growing up in a secret home, with nothing but her teachers and occasional visits from her mother, the Lady. When she finally gets to leave, it’s with a command from the Lady: befriend the boy whose picture she shows her, and then kill him.

Tarisai, barely more than a child, has no idea what to make of the political dealings she has now found herself in, especially once she finds out that the boy her mother wants her to kill is the prince, who is currently looking for his council, people who will become bound to him and he to them in a magical connection. Tarisai must struggle with her loyalty to her mother and her deep desire for friendship and connection.

I cannot say it enough: the worldbuilding in this story is immaculate. Immaculate! I know the sequel is out and I haven’t had time to read it but I’m so hype! It’s so good! Fantasy fans you gotta get on this!

6. Moriarty the Patriot / Ryosuke Takeuchi

Ok if you followed me for any length of time this doesn’t surprise you. This is just a retelling of sherlock holmes but with his archnemesis moriarty as the pretty anime boy protagonist. While I was underwhelmed with the anime ending, I really like the manga still, and the early arcs are really just sooo incredible with some really dark and fascinating plots. I love watching Moriarty plan a murder <3

5. The Priory of the Orange Tree / Samantha Shannon

Another immaculate fantasy world, Priory is a well woven story of the many players involved in averting the next great catastrophy, as the awakening of the ancient cruel dragon draws ever nearer. What I love the most of this story is how it balances both eastern and western dragon myths and weaves them together into a cohesive whole, devising a really genius magic system of checks and balances that only slowly becomes totally visable as you read.

The variety of great POV characters is also amazing! Every character is so distinct and fascinating, and every time we had to switch to a new character I was like wait!! I want to hear about the other guys some more!! only to be quickly drawn into the new POV just as quickly and start the cycle over again.

4. Eva Evergreen: Semi Magical Witch / Julie Abe

This is an extremely sweet middle grade novel about a young witch called Eva, who only has a smidgen of magic. Unlike others with far more power than her, she has to scrimp and save up her magic every day, and figure out how to work smarter, not harder. As she’s assigned to her first ever village, where she will work to assist the villagers as part of her training, she will have to pull all her skills and bravery together in order to become the full fledged witch she’s always wanted to be -- especially when a magical catastrophe heads her way!

This has big Kiki’s Delivery Service vibes, but it’s so much more than that too. Eva is so sweet and I love love love reading about characters who are less powerful finding ways to make things work in clever ways. To be completely honest the reason it’s so high on the list, too, is because I read it when I was in a very dark place this year, and it was one of the first things to start to gently tug me out of it.

3. The Song of Achilles / Madeline Miller

A lyrical retelling of the story of Achilles and Patrocles from Patrocles perspective, this story is haunting. The love between the two boys as they grow into men is so raw and emotional, but you know, the whole time, that it is going to end in tragedy. Reading with that in mind leaves you with this melancholy that is so powerfully woven and so expertly crafted that I still think about this book and it’s quotes regularly.

2. Iron Widow / Xiran Jay Zhao

The only defense of Huaxia are the great mecha monsters that can only be piloted by a boy and girl pilot together - but the girl almost always dies from the mental strain. Furious at the death of her sister, Zetian enlists under her murderer to assassinate him - but ends up becoming his copilot, a sacrifice - until she overwhelms his mind instead, and he is the one to die. Labeled an Iron Widow, Zetian is paired up with the powerful and dangerous convict pilor, Li Shimin, and must find a way to not only survive, but tear down the system that deems girls as worth nothing more than sacrifice.

I put off reading this for several months because I knew as soon as I started it it was going to consume my brain and you know what? I was right For all the hype surrounding it, part of me feared that it wouldn't live up and I would be disappointed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The moment I picked it up, it was an actual struggle to tear myself away, and I was thinking about it even while I wasn't reading it. The raw anger of the protagonist is so vibrant and cathartic, and watching her rise to power on her own terms is amazing. Zetian's relationship with both Yizhi and Li Shimin is so wonderfully woven, and watching her slowly start to come to terms with the possibility that the men in her life are capable of softness and not just enemies, while still hanging onto her deepseated rage at the system that destroys girls for its own benefit was just so so good. And the FIGHT SCENES! It's so hard to write good fight scenes because they're so visual, but I could just feel every impact and see every movement as vividly as though it were on screen in front of me. This book definitely deserves the hype, and I am waiting with bated breath for the sequel after that mind-blowing final twist. All hail Empress Wu Zetian!

1. Rhythm of War / Brandon Sanderson

Full disclosure. As of this writing I have not actually...finished this book yet.

But it’s Brandon Sanderson. I fucking LOVE this book.

I cannot literally say a word about it because it’s all spoilers! But GOD!!! The twists and turns get better every single book as the world just continues to expand and deepen, as you start to get a better picture of all the players and all the pieces, and GOD I CANNOT WAIT TO FINISH THIS BOOK! I WANNA GO READ NOW!!

#lulu talks #books #book recommendations #year in review #2021 year in review

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justsomeoneunordinary · 4 years

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angst 3 for winteriron pretty please

Hi Ava, thank you so much for sending this prompt in. Finally I finished it, after… 3 months. I also used it for the WinterIron Week (which I am so much behind for, it’s not even funny). I still have no clue if this really warrants as ‘angst’, cause it feels more dull to me than angsty, but oh well. It is what it is.

Now, the whole organizational stuff (aka the pain in my ass):

On Crossing Paths

Prompt is from this list: “You promised you’d stop drinking.” — “And you promised you wouldn’t hurt me!”

Day 3 of @winteriron-week: Angst & “But I did it”

And since this got way out of hand anyway, combined with:

Day 4 of @winteriron-week: Tony needs a hug (Bucky too) & Forgiveness

(Nvm, I wrote something for day 4 anyway)

M, 5.2k, Alcoholism TW, Angst (-ish), Canon Divergence, Tony Feels, Emotional Hurt, Falling In Love, Hopeful Ending | AO3

(Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 4)

—

Tony meets James for the first time in a seedy bar in Brooklyn on the night of December 17th, 1991.

Twelve hours before that first meeting, he listens with deaf ears to the police telling him his parents died in a car accident.

Ten hours before that first meeting, he cries on Obie’s shoulder while Obie pats him on his head and tells him “everything would be fine”.

Seven hours before that first meeting, he speaks to Rhodey on the phone and makes him promise not to jeopardize his military career by showing up without permission.

Five hours before that first meeting, he drives to the scene of the accident where he screams into the godforsaken void from the top of his lungs, curses Howard and then has a mental breakdown in the middle of the street.

Two hours before that first meeting, he finds himself driving through the city with no destination in mind until he decides that he needs a drink.

Or rather ten.

Which is how he ends up at “Cheryl’s” where no one even bats an eye at the face of today’s headline and sole heir of a multi-billion company entering the bar. It’s too dark inside, the strong stench of sweat and smoke penetrates his nostrils on the spot, and Tony is pretty sure that the mold behind the counter is just about to build its own ecosystem.

He orders whiskey and gets a Jack. Not exactly what he wanted, but it will do.

There’s a glint out of the corner of his eye that gains his attention and when he turns, his gaze falls on the metal hand of a man with the saddest eyes he has ever seen. What once must’ve been a wild grey is now the lifeless stare of someone who’s been haunted by ghosts for a long while. A frigid expression on a pretty face framed by strands of long brown hair and cherry red lips made to be kissed. Wrapped up in an outfit that might as well be from a BDSM scene.

Tony likes what he sees. Very much so. He imagines dragging the guy into the bathroom, pulling those tight leather pants off and giving him the best blowjob of his life. It certainly would take his mind off other things. Like the fact that he’s an orphan now.

So he does, what he does best: he flirts. But this time it’s a challenge. It takes him three attempts until the stranger takes his eyes off the wall and looks at him, a tiny frown between his brows—but no other sign of acknowledgment.

“Finally got your attention, Handsome! You’re not much of a talker, hm? No worries, I can talk for both of us.” Which Tony then does. He talks and drinks and flirts—a wink here, a featherlight touch on the guy’s biceps there—and drinks and speaks of DUM-E and Rhodey and all their pranks during MIT, watches with fascination how that dead look in the stranger’s eyes slowly forms into curiosity, beams in delight when he gets a snort out of him, drinks some more, slides closer with each drink and puts a hand on his thigh, slowly caressing it up and down.

“You got a name, Handsome?”

The guy seems to hesitate for a while until he answers in a deep, raspy voice, “James.” Tony is pretty sure it’s a lie, but then again—he doesn’t need to know the name when he’s got his mouth full of dick.

“Well, James, you can call me Tony.” He flutters his eyelashes and bites teasingly on his lower lip before he drops his tone and asks, “So… your place or mine?”

After that Tony remembers the night only in a blur. He remembers passionate kisses in a dark alley, hands wandering everywhere, rising heat and grey eyes shimmering in pure lust. He remembers a hotel room and soft sheets and strong arms around his waist.

And then he wakes up, the taste of alcohol and James still lingering in his mouth.

When he opens his eyes, he finds James sitting in the chair at window, instead of lying in bed next to him, his entire focus solely on Tony. It should be creepy, but James’ gaze merely comes from curiosity, as if Tony was a machinery whose workings he is still trying to understand. It’s kind of endearing.

Tony gets up, disinterested in getting dressed, and pours himself two fingers of whiskey at the bar.

“This your breakfast?”

Tony grins smugly at the hoarse tone of James’ voice. “Nah, that’s just my mouthwash,” he answers and winks at him over his shoulder.

He eyes James for a moment while sipping on his drink, and then adds, “There’s a diner not far from here. Serves the best blueberry pancakes in all New York, I can vouch for that. What do you think, want to accompany me?”

It’s not Tony’s usual style. Otherwise, one-night stands will remain exactly what they are for him: one-night stands. But James has something that fascinates him immensely. It’s not just the overdeveloped prosthesis that can impossibly be on the market anywhere, and makes Tony wonder where he got it from, but also that look in his eyes of someone who has seen way too much. This emptiness that suddenly becomes filled with curiosity when it comes to small things. This enigmatic thing that surrounds him and whose code Tony wants to crack.

At the diner, Tony watches with amusement as James’ eyes widen in delight at the first bite of the heavenly pancakes and can’t help laughing when James pounces on them like a starving predator.

Since James is not much of a talker, Tony does the speaking. For one, because he can’t stand the silence, but for another, because he needs to distract himself. Because he doesn’t want to think about the death of his parents or how empty the mansion will be when he returns. So he talks about anything he can think of until he comes to a point where he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about, but is pretty sure that somewhere in the torrent of words, he tried to explain James the exact details of his AI study.

When they’re about to part ways though, Tony only too well remembers the emptiness that will greet him when he comes home, and he doesn’t even finish thinking it through, before he invites James to come with him.

James does not only come with him, but he also stays.

—

Weeks pass and before Tony knows it, James has practically moved in with him. If you can call it moving in when James doesn’t seem to have a single thing that needed to be brought here. Tony doesn’t know James’ last name, nor does he have the slightest idea who he is, and with each passing day his suspicions grow that he must have taken a homeless man off the street.

It should be terrifying or at least worrying but Tony can’t find it in himself to care enough. He lost his parents—and Jarvis and Ana even earlier—and would be alone in this big mansion until the loneliness would overwhelm him. And James turns out to be an excellent guest. Or rather roommate at this point.

For all he knows, James could be a serial killer, and Tony still wouldn’t care. He needs the company and he uses James for it—in bed and outside of it.

The more time they spend, the more not only Tony seems to be learning about James, but James also about himself. He discovers a love of books, especially C. S. Lewis, and sometimes holes up in the library all day except when he goes looking for Tony to read his favorite passages to him.

Every time he discovers a new dish that he likes, Tony can watch James’ whole face glow and none of the shadows of his past can be seen in that moment.

His favorite reaction, however, is when he trusts James enough to show him his workshop. James’ eyes widen in amazement and a brilliant smile forms on his lips at the sight of scientific chaos there is. “It’s like Narnia!”

“What? Where do you get that from? Narnia is nature and talking animals. I don’t have any talking animals here.” What DUM-E understands as a cue to speak up and whereupon James gives him a smug ‘told you so’ grin.

In these situations, it’s easy to forget that all is not peace, joy and pancakes. As soon as Tony gets down to the jobs Obie gave him, he remembers again, and the alcohol finds its way to his liver to ease the pain. In the morning, noon and evening.

Sometimes at night too when James has one of his nightmares and Tony can’t help him because James doesn’t talk to him, not about who he is, not about his past—although Tony guesses with an almost certainity on veteran—and not even vaguely about it his nightmares.

But they are fine, they have a routine: talking during the day, fucking at night. Eat blueberry pancakes for breakfast at the diner once a week and fiddle with James’ arm whenever he has time.

It works perfectly well as it is.

—

It’s not until on a particular bright morning in March 1992 Tony realizes that he had fallen in love with James a long time ago—the day after he almost dies of alcohol poisoning.

He wakes up to see James laying next to him, still asleep. Long strands of hair cover his face and Tony gives into the urge to brush them to the side, so he can take James’ peaceful expression in.

It’s a picture he’d like to wake up every day to. The longer he thinks about it, the more Tony has to admit that he can’t imagine a life without James in it—and that’s when it hits him. That those are feelings beyond of sole sexual attraction, beyond cameradine or friendship.

The realization hits him like a slap in his face. He breaths in shakingly and his first instinct is to get up and get himself a glass of whiskey to calm down, but before he can do anything the heart monitor starts picking up and only then does Tony realize that he’s not at home but in a hospital.

James stirs awake at the sudden noise and immediately glares at Tony. “You fucking idiot.”

His eyes are red, indicating he must’ve cried, and Tony isn’t sure what is going on but he can tell it must be bad. But he’s still too overwhelmed with the realization of his feelings, so he just gapes at James, not being able to say a word.

“You fucking idiot,” James repeats. “How often did I already tell you that you drink too much? That you should stop?”

And before he can react to that, he’s being crushed in a sudden hug, James holding him tightly to his chest and tears streaming down his cheeks.

“For a genius you are so dumb,” James murmurs and Tony—for Tony it’s too much. He doesn’t know what happened, doesn’t know what to say, so he blurts out without a second thought, “I love you.”

That brings James to a halt. Tony’s muscles tense up and he instinctively holds his breath.

James pulls back a little bit, so he can look at Tony, who rather focuses on the white sheets of the hospital bed. “Tony did you watch too many rom-coms? Confessing feelings after you almost died should’ve been my job in that case though.”

Tony needs a moment to register the words correctly. “Almost died?”

“Alcohol poisoning.”

Oh fuck. Even Tony knows that this is not good, that he definitely went too far this time.

James gently cups Tony’s face so that he’s forced to look into those gray eyes shimmer in a happiness. “Tony, I love you too.”

Faintly he registers the heart monitor rising up again, but he’s too distracted by the warmth that fills him from within to feel any embarrassment at that. He looks up at the wonder that James is and then surges forward to steal a kiss. He expects a nurse to barge in any moment now at the way his heart rate jumps off the charts, but that’s not stopping him from burying his hands in James’ hair and deepen the kiss further.

“Tony,” James laughs as he pulls off. He rests his forehead at Tony’s while they catch their breath and slowly morphs his sappy expression into a serious one.

“Tony,” he repeats. “I love you. And because I love you, I need you to promise me to stop with the drinking. I can’t watch you destroy your own life any further like that. Yesterday I had to find you passed out in the workshop. Have you any idea what I went through?” His hands wander all over Tony while talking, as if he needs to prove himself, that Tony’s still alive.

Tony thinks of SI and Obie and the expectations he has to live up to. He thinks of mama’s piano and how he hasn’t played on it since the accident. And with each thought the urge to get a drink intensifies. He gulps audibly and asks, “Will you help me?”

James’ quiet smile is more than enough for an answer. “Always.”

“Okay,” he breaths out and adds, more hastily, “okay, but you have to promise to never hurt me, James. I can’t, after mum died and Jarvis and—”

“Of course I will never hurt you, Tony.” James interrupts him and those words leave James lips so effortlessly and earnestly that Tony has not a single doubt in the truth of them.

And with James on his side, Tony believes he can make it. Not just getting sober, but living an actual life. Getting his shit together, looking forward.

He finally tells him of his plans of a new home in Malibu, those he was too afraid to talk about because James is bound to Brooklyn and Tony feared he wouldn’t come with him when the mansion’s constructions are finished. But James just laughs and says, “The only place I belong to is your side. So wherever you go? I will follow.”

Tony feels happy like never before. Things finally go well.

—

Until they don’t.

—

The Winter Soldier fights for the first time against his programming on the night of December 16th, 1991.

It’s the shocked “Sergeant Barnes?” Howard Stark gasps that evokes hidden memories from the back of his mind. Memories from war—gunshots, explosions, screams and the smell of fire and blood. Memories of a guy once tiny suddenly big. Somehow the same person, somehow not.

Memories that lead him to Brooklyn instead of the meeting point where he should deliver the serum to his handlers.

His legs walk him the entire day through the city, while he’s taking in each building—some he recognizes, most of them not. Until at night he looks up at a blinking light stating “Cheryl’s” and sees flashes of himself, hair shorter and a laugh on his face, dancing with another man and exchanging forbidden kisses in a dark corner.

He enters and not much later he meets the whirlwind that is Tony Stark.

With Tony the Winter Soldier becomes James and learns to feel again. Other emotions, besides constant rage and pain. Curiosity first, then amusement, lust, care, warmth and somewhere around March 1992 he knows it’s love.

He falls in love with Tony Stark who treats him like a human being rather than a tool, who talks and talks and makes him laugh, who touches him softly always and everywhere, who isn’t afraid of the metal arm but fascinated by it, who studies it without causing him any pain, who sings and laughs and dances and doesn’t shy away from James even once.

Tony Stark who drinks more than he should, reminding him of a man that might be his father coming home, reeking of alcohol, hitting a woman that might be his mother—bringing back memories that rather stayed forgotten. Tony who almost dies and promises to stop with the drinking. Tony who sometimes looks like a man carrying the entire world on his shoulders, dark bags under his eyes, a haunted expression in them and yet does his best to keep James’ sorrow’s away.

Tony Stark whose parents he killed as he realizes after a nightmare on November 24th in 1992.

—

In the morning of November 25th 1992 Tony wakes up alone in bed, a yellow sticky note on his nightstand and the words “I’m sorry, doll” scribbled on it.

—

Tony waits first, clinging onto the hope that he misinterpreted that note and that James will come back. All of James’ few things are still here—Tony checked.

But the longer he waits, the stronger the urge gets to wrap his fingers around a bottle of whiskey. So he gets up and starts looking. First at the diner, then the park, further to the Brooklyn Bridge, to “Cheryl’s” at last.

He returns to an empty home. Doesn’t sleep in the first night, neither the second nor the third and collapses on the fourth—his face buried in James’ favorite wool sweater, the bathroom reeking of his vomit.

And then he repeats that circle anew.

—

James doesn’t come back.

—

On December 1992 Tony moves to Malibu without looking back.

The bar in his new home is fully stocked.

—

The next sixteen years pass by in a rush. Tony drinks. A lot. He drinks and fucks, and then drinks and fucks even more in a desperate attempt to forget James. To forget his touch and smile, his smell and his taste. To forget James’ everything.

And he doesn’t care enough what happens around him during his wake of self-destruction.

Until it comes back to bite him in the ass.

—

In 2008, after 3 months of captivity, Tony returns to the New York mansion for the first time since moving out. There on the night stand of his old room are still the photos of him and James from the photo booth they once took.

Tony blows the dust away and looks at the old pictures, a wistful expression on his face. He soaks James’ soft smile and bright glint in those beautiful eyes in, remembers how those pouty lips felt on his own, remembers the sound of James’ laugh, the taste of his mouth, his body pressed against Tony’s.

In all this time J.A.R.V.I.S. was never able to find even a trace of James. It was, as if he disappeared from earth. Chances are, he died. Because how far can a guy with a metal arm get without the most advanced AI of the world being able to find him? But even though he doesn’t believe in ever seeing James again, Tony thinks of him and the promise they gave each other when he empties his bar down the sink.

The photos end up in his workshop, next to the arc reactor’s glass case Pepper gave him. Tony finally starts looking ahead.

—

Years pass and Tony lives his life again.

He also almost dies some countless times, and every single time he thinks of Pepper, with a lingering memory of James’ laugh.

—

And then in 2016 Johannesburg happens and with Johannesburg the Sokovia Accords follow.

—

Over the years Tony imagined countless scenarios where he would see James again. Not in one of those could he have imagined it to go this bad.

“I know that road.”

—

Fourteen hours after the whole Siberia debacle Tony pulls the old photos from the drawer in the workshop and sets them aflame. He watches with a grim satisfaction as they slowly crumble to ashes and takes his first sip of whiskey in years. Directly from the bottle.

DUM-E’s distressed efforts at saving anything from the photos with the fire extinguisher are just a tad bit too late.

Nothing is left.

—

Tony starts drinking again.

—

In 2016, despite careful avoidance, Bucky does meet Tony again—in a HYDRA bunker of all places. And his heart aches at the sight of Tony’s shock.

Tony might’ve aged and changed, but those eyes are still the same. Big and expressive and at that very moment filled with sadness and anger and disbelief. And worst of all, it’s Bucky’s fault.

He doesn’t plan to fight and neither does he want to leave Tony behind, but he doesn’t believe Tony wants him anywhere near—Bucky had already done more than enough.

So he goes with Steve and goes back into cryostasis, hoping to stay there forever. Only to be woken up a few months later and informed that they got rid of his trigger words and Tony made sure that the Avengers were allowed to return to the States.

Bucky included.

It seems surreal to him to enter the Avengers compound; as if he was dreaming. As if there was a catch that would strike later because he doesn’t deserve to be here.

And then, in the kitchen waits none other than Tony, his eyes hidden behind colored sunglasses, his fake media smile on his face and a whiskey glass in his hand, the sight of which freezes Bucky’s blood in his veins. He’d like nothing more than to take the glass out of his hand and hug Tony tightly.

Which is a privilege he no longer has.

“Ah, the fossil duo! Welcome back,” Tony couldn’t sound more unwelcome if he tried. “Everything is still as you left it, Rogers. You can show Barnes yourself where everything is.” With these words he mockingly salutes them, turns around at his heel and disappears from the kitchen again without giving Bucky a single look.

A chill runs down Bucky’s spine at the sound of his last name from Tony’s mouth. It’s so… wrong. To Tony, he has always been just James. If affectionate or angry or laughing, James was the name Tony would call him with. This single, condescending “Barnes” feels like a thousand knife stabs in his heart. It’s only thanks to his training that he stays composed and doesn’t go running after Tony in a desperate attempt to try talking to him.

The next few weeks pass similarly. If he and Tony even see each other, which is a rarity in itself, even though they live in the same building—he has the suspicious feeling that Tony is deliberately avoiding him with F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s help—then Tony ignores him as if he were not here at all.

Bucky knows, he deserves worse than just the cold shoulder, but that still doesn’t make it easy. Especially not when he keeps finding empty alcohol bottles scattered around somewhere and can do absolutely nothing about this problem.

His only bright spot is Rhodes, who looks at the bottles with just as much loathing as he does. It means that at least one person keeps an eye on Tony’s consumption, since Bucky himself cannot. Bucky never had a chance to meet Rhodes twenty-five years ago, and Bucky is pretty sure Tony hasn’t told him anything, otherwise Rhodes wouldn’t be content with shooting him deathly looks only.

That’s why he doesn’t say anything to Steve either, no matter how hard he questions him, because he sees that there is something between him and Tony that he doesn’t know about. If Tony doesn’t want to tell anyone about their past together, then Bucky won’t either.

Bucky keeps the distance that Tony obviously wants from him.

Until two months after his arrival at the compound on a Tuesday morning F.R.I.D.A.Y. sends an urgent distress signal, and Bucky is on his way so quickly that the other Avengers don’t have a chance to follow him directly even if they tried.

—

Tony wakes up in a hospital with a throbbing pounding in his head and aching bones all over his body—James’ worried face hovering over him. It’s the shittiest déjà-vu he’s ever had.

At least the circumstances aren’t quite the same. Rhodey diluted Tony’s alcohol every time he thought no one would see him. So that something like alcohol poisoning wouldn’t happen again. Tony is grateful and annoyed at the same time.

No, this time he just flew drunk in his Iron Man armor, lost the connection to F.R.I.D.A.Y., which he has to get to the bottom of as quickly as possible, and then fell. So, waking up in the hospital makes sense.

But that James is here instead of Rhodey or Happy or Pepper or anyone else is both, surprising and unwanted.

James opens and closes his mouth several times, seemingly unable to decide what to say before croaking out, “You promised you’d stop drinking.” His voice sounds suspiciously as if he had cried recently, and Tony almost laughs at the irony of the situation.

But then he remembers the day he woke up without James at his side. Remembers searching everywhere for him, waiting, not being able to sleep for days, and how miserable he felt without him, not knowing what happened, not knowing where he had gone.

He remembers that James had fucked him—no, made love with him—knowing he had killed Tony’s mother. And he feels the blood boil in his veins in anger at that. How dare James after all these years, after all that happened, now talk about that promise?

So he throws him a deadly look, his hand clenched into a fist and growls, “And you promised you wouldn’t hurt me!”

James visibly flinches at that and takes a step back, his eyes wandering everywhere but at Tony. Then he takes a deep breath and looks Tony straight in the eye as he says, “You’re right. I promised you that I would never hurt you. But I did it. I have—”

“Why did you do it?” Tony interrupts, because that’s what he wants to know. What he had asked himself over and over again over the years—the why.

Bucky blinks at him in bewilderment and asks: “Why what exactly?”

“Everything!” Tony throws his arms in the air in frustration, ignoring the ailment of his broken ribs over the sudden action. “Why you suddenly left me overnight, why you never told me anything about yourself, not even vaguely hinting at who you are and what happened to you, why you let me fall in love with you when it was you, who killed my mother and were therefore to blame for my misery!” The last part comes out much more honest than Tony wanted it to be and he quickly looks ashamed to the side to blink away the rising tears of anger.

He hears a deep sigh from the side and out of the corner of his eye he can see James drop into the visitor’s chair.

“Tony, I didn’t know who you were or that my mission had been your parents when we met in the bar,” James begins hesitantly to explain. “Howard… his words brought a few memories to the fore. Just blurry, barely recognizable images. I didn’t even know my own name when you asked me for it—I just named the one that was at the tip of my tongue.

“During the time we were together, my memories have only gradually returned. I had no idea about your parents until a nightmare reminded me of it.” This is where James looks up from his hands for the first time, straight into Tony’s eyes, his gaze steadfast and honest. “And then I realized I had broken my promise—I had already hurt you.”

James sighs and runs his hand through his hair and swallows hard. “I understood that it was only a matter of time before HYDRA found me. We were lucky before that because no one suspected I could be with you. But under no circumstances did I want them to get you. I knew I had to go. That is why I did it.”

Tony nods slowly. “And then what? You just decided to go back to HYDRA?”

James laughs dryly, without a trace of humor in his voice. “Of course not. I went on the run. But in the end, no matter what I do, they always find me, don’t they?” His mouth twists into a grimace of self-hatred and resignation.

Not under my watch, no, Tony thinks to himself. Instead he says, “You broke my heart.” Because as reluctant as he is to show his vulnerability, this is James. And he’s always been able to be honest with James.

“I’m sorry,” James says in all earnestness.

“I’m not forgiving you for what you have done.”

“I understand.”

“Not yet at least.”

At that James’ gaze shoots up in surprise.

Tony clears his throat slightly shy. “I—I understand that the… brainwashing and stuff. That it wasn’t you. I just… I just need some time.” And it’s true. Tony had read the Winter Soldier’s files; he saw what they did to him and he understands on a completely rational level that it’s not James who is responsible for all those deaths.

He only needs his emotions to come to that understanding too and then he would truly be able to forgive him.

And really, as much as he always claims that he worked to bring the Avengers back together was because the world needed them, he knows the real motivations for it had been for James only. When Pepper had broken up with him because “there was someone else occupying his heart she could never reach” he hadn’t been able to contradict her. Seeing James again after all that time has only proven her right too.

“Tony…”

“Great, now that that’s settled, take my tablet and read me something,” Tony interrupts James before he can go any further, because there is only so much emotional talk Tony can handle in one day and that line has been exceeded a long while ago.

“I… what?”

“Read me something. I am a poor injured soul deserving to be properly pampered. And I want a good-night story.”

And as James slowly smiles brightly at him, gray eyes glinting in hope and wonder, it’s like not a single day has gone by since he disappeared on him.

Tony is still wary. Remembers only too well those days after James had left him. Can’t forget the Winter Soldier’s hand around his mother’s neck. His fingers itch with the urge to hold a drink, but he snuggles deeper into bed, letting James’ soothing voice and the story of a girl who finds a wonderland in a closet lull him into contentment.

Tony meets James for the first time in December 1991 in a seedy bar in Brooklyn and then a second time in 2016 in a Siberian bunker. He thinks that if against all odds their paths cross not only once, but twice, then maybe they should take a step forward together and see, where the path will lead them to.

And if they just believe strong enough in it, they might even find their wonderland for a second time too.

#may writes #may's moodboards #winteriron #buckytony #starkbucks #tony stark #bucky barnes #WI WEEK 2020 #WinterIron Week #angxlsgrxce #may answers #fucking finally finished this fic :)))#nothing went as it should've :)))#i am absolutely not happy at all how it turned out but at this point idc anymore <3 #wish this fic was a person so i could strangle it to death <3 #shall it burn in hell <3 #but yay! i finished it! :D

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velkynkarma · 4 years

Note

(stormlight anon) favorite moments: Jasnah hugging Renarin, the Szeth/Lift/Nightblood friendship, Shallan chugging the Horneater White, Maya coming to Adolin's aid, SHALLAN GOING TO THE TOP OF THE WALL WITH JASNAH'S HELP DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE THAT GIRL WHO LOOKED UP PARALLEL GOING ON THERE I LOVED THAT

So many amazing moments :D

I think despite loving Kaladin and Adolin the most as characters, Dalinar still has the best fucking standout moments in the books. In book 1 it was the moment he bought all the bridge slaves for the price of his shardblade and unhesitatingly calls it an excellent deal.

In book 3, I absolutely adore ‘You cannot have my pain!’ Because I just love that Dalinar’s whole story in book 3 is that he ran away from the awful things he did, and he wanted to forget, and he realized that just made him weaker and he didn’t learn anything. So instead he goes, ‘No, damn it, I’m going to own that shit, and I did do that, but I made myself better, I grew as a person, and you don’t get to take that away from me!!!’ To what is, for all intents and purposes, a fucking god. Like, wow. The balls on that guy. Also now he can be a stormlight battery so fuck yeah.

Kaladin is my favorite character and he has SO many great moments, but my favorites by far are him beating the ever-loving shit out of Amaram because that was a fight he absolutely deserved to get into and win, and also the fact that after the Moash incident he’s really confused and unsure and he doesn’t make his next oath. Because yeah, it’s okay if you need a little more time to come to grips with these huge, philosophical ideals you need to get your head around, and it’s okay not to push yourself so hard you break. Sometimes it’s ok to let other people save you too. And I think that’s a really good lesson in general, and also for Kaladin.

There are so many great characters getting more focus as well too, like Szeth and Lift. I love that Szeth has finally figured out how to follow his own path that he chooses. I adore that he’s friends with Nightblood. Nightblood, who is an amazing character in its own right. Also Vasher and Vienna’s cameos as well. And Wit’s. And...gah, there’s just so many good characters.

But honestly the stand-out character for this book for me was Adolin. He has so many moments that I adore in this book in particular and I can’t decide which one I love!!!

I love that he tries so hard to help even though he’s aware that compared to both Kaladin AND Shallan he’s the weakest one.

I love how he’s such a good big brother to Renarin in this in general, but I particularly love that conversation at the start of the book when Renarin gives back the shardblade. Because Adolin is just so supportive of his little brother, and he also completely understands that his brother thinks a little differently than everyone else and he’s just learned how to talk to and listen to Renarin in a way that doesn’t make this kid who is so scared about not fitting in feel out of place

I love that the moment he learns his girlfriend is actually a Knight Radiant he doesn’t throw a hissyfit about Alethi male vs female customs and instead he’s like IMMA TEACH MY GIRLFRIEND HOW TO SWORD FIGHT LIKE A BOSS and then he does

I adore that moment in Shadesmar when Kaladin is basically just having a Blue Screen of Death, hardcore dissociative moment in a PTSD/Depressive nosedive, and Adolin is just like, ‘it’s cool, this happens to warriors sometimes, I’ll look out for him,’ and then he absolutely does by just calmly leading Kaladin along while he’s not really all there and talking to him and keeping him centered. Like this is straight-up something out of a gorgeous whump fanfic and I fucking love that shit.

I love that he does that again for Shallan when she’s dealing with a severe mental breakdown and identity issues and he’s just like ‘hey, whatever you need, I’m here for you, even if that means you want to date somebody else or you want help with figuring out who you are or whatever else you need,’ like he just wants to help so badly and by just doing that he does.

I love that he’s so sympathetic and respectful of his shardblade even before she has an appearance and a name, and then he earns that name on his own and god I hope so badly he manages to heal her completely and discover a way to ‘revive’ the dead spren because they deserve it and Maya deserves it aaah

And I just adore the fact that they’re on a potentially deadly mission but he’s desperate to check in with his tailor and catch up on the latest fashions because he’s months out of date fashion-wise, the horror?????? (I still laugh when thinking about that one scene when Kaladin’s talking to a bunch of lowbie soldiers and they’re all making fun of Adolin off to the side for being a fancy-pants and Kaladin’s thinking to himself, ‘He could absolutely wreck every single one of you without breaking into a sweat’)

This book made me love Adolin he has so many good character moments that aren’t at all about him beating the shit out of things...which is hilarious since that’s his Calling, literally

#Velkynkarma answers #stormlight anon #stormlight archive #stormlight spoilers #Anonymous

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bangtansfavwriter · 4 years

Text

🥞☕brunch café owner! jin☕🥞

tw: a tiny mention of anxiety and shitty people that you may have encountered in school / uni ( but a lot of fluff to make up for it! )

- so far, your day was a complete catastrophe, im not even gonna tone it down, it was a complete shitshow to be honest

-it was like god woke up and went "i’m gonna let y/n have a shit day lmaoo"

-you overslept and missed your bus... on the day you had an appointment with your lecturer about your term paper

- after tripping on the stairs and hitting your knee, you hobbled to the office where this gollum lookalike was already waiting for you

- your lecturer was unreasonable enough to not let you extend your deadline for your paper... the one book you needed wasn't in the library for the past 3 weeks and there was no other edition available. so you explained the situation multiple times even at the beginning of your writing process, you even wrote him mails to explain the issue

- but this man who literally radiated boomer energy with every particle of his being really had the audacity to not answer, not even to your second mail and then he actually said that he does not understand "how someone of your age doesn't manage to even get a simple task as writing a paper" done

-you explained the situation again but he was pretty much tone-deaf to your situation and didn't even care when you said that you're actually gonna go to the library now to get the book scans

- so you went there already drained and exhausted from that conversation

-but the library was an even worse experience tbh .......

[fic mode: on, hohoho]

The lady in the library yelled at you for no apparent reason after you informed her that the scanner wasn't working and made you look stupid in front of other students who were there until one of them intervened and helped you out, which you appreciated. But this whole situation grew even worse on you after you left the library because your anxiety kicked in. You went straight into a quiet alley nearby and started crying quietly. "But hey!" you then exclaimed angrily, while wiping away your tears "At least the paper is gonna get done, right?! because who gives a shit about mental health and all huh, Mr. Go?!" and you started sobbing again. "Dickhead... And that stupid library lady... with her stupid fat 80s glasses. And her ugly yeehaw look...". This was something you wouldn't ever do in public, crying and ranting that is. but the alley was quiet, your only company was a stray cat that was sleeping underneath a tree's shadow. or so you thought. "Ugly yeehaw people and their ugly ass clothes, like... go read a magazine or something...". You started feeling more liberated with each mild insult you'd utter, so you went on. "Ugly library lady and her giant wart, like who the fuck are you? yubaba?" you heard someone snort and start laughing a squeaky laugh that almost sounded like a windshield wiper. Taken aback by the unexpected witness to your mild breakdown, you stood still at first, then looked around, left and right, but you couldn't see anyone. "Over here!" you heard someone say. You looked around again and sighed when you still couldn't see anyone. "Did I finally lose my mind?" you mumbled to yourself, only to hear the squeaky laugh again. "Hey! Turn around and look up!". You got up the bench and did as you were told by the omnipresent voice and finally saw the person it belonged to. Up at the 1st floor, there was a guy looking down to you from his tiny balcony that had plants hanging down from it. He smiled at you when your eyes met and you felt your heart rate go up in an instant, as you realized this stranger, this awfully handsome stranger witnessed how your petty little rant and crying about yubaba's twin in the library. "Tough day, huh?" he asked, you just nodded and quickly wiped your face with your sleeve. "Oh no, hold on" he mumbled and suddenly disappeared from his window, leaving you behind with a surprised look on your face. A box of Kleenex suddenly landed in front of your feet, as he reappeared at his window. "Just one would have done it, too, but thank you. I appreciate it!" you said and smiled at the guy. While you wiped your face, you heard another something land on the bench. You looked up again to the guy who, all of a sudden, avoided your gaze. "That'll help, you know..." he said and looked at you in surprise when you started laughing. What he threw on the bench was a... bar of chocolate. One that also happened to be your favourite. You looked at him and gave him a huge smile that made his heart flutter. He looked away shyly and scratched his head. "Tough day, yeah... but this right here," you raised the chocolate bar, "this makes it all better, you're right about that. Thank you!" The stranger couldn't help but look at you once again. He almost felt compelled to it. It was like staring at the sun when it sets, you know that you shouldn't stare at it directly, but it's so breathtakingly beautiful that you can't help but look. He intently watched you while you happily munched on your chocolate and smiled to himself. "What's your name?" he asked you. "Y/N! How about you?" - "I'm Seokjin. You can call me Jin..." - "Nice to meet you, Jin. I wish it would have been under different circumstances, though. I'm actually quite embarrassed about that, but chocolate helps with that, too." You two smiled at each other. "You know what, Y/N? Sometimes good things happen at weird times. Don't be embarrassed about crying earlier. I'm the last person who'd judge you because of that. I know that library witch, by the way... That Yubaba comparison was spot on!" You laughed out loud - he very much wished to hear this sound more often now. "Y/N, I gotta get ready for work now. But I'm gonna share one last bit of wisdom with you. I know a good remedy for bad days." - "Better than chocolate?" - "Oh, yes. Even better than chocolate. There's a café in XX street. There's a whole lot of lavender growing right in front of it, you can't miss it. That cafe has the best pancakes in the entire city." - Oh my god, pancakes are the best thing on earth!" - "(!!!) You must go there and try then! They're fluffy and come in 5 different variations and the sweetest maple syrup! I'm telling you, if you have a bad day like this again, go straight to that café." He already got you at pancakes, so you definitely would go there. "I'll finish this damn paper and then go reward myself with pancakes! In one or two weeks I'll get like 2 plates of pancakes then!" - "That sounds perfect!", he laughed. Shortly after, he excused himself and you two bid farewell. He disappeared from his window and your troubles had disappeared from your soul. You went home with a smile on your face, thankful for the kindness he had shown you and hoped that you would see him in the café some day. "Who knows... Maybe he's a regular there. It sounded like it."

Roughly one and a half weeks later, many all nighters and a whole lot of take out food, you finished the paper and handed it in. Liberated from this massive pain in the ass, you went straight to the café that your thoughts circled around during the times you weren't busy with your paper. "God, I hope he's there...", you thought and thought of Jin, who you thought about as much as you dreamed of the huge plate of pancakes you were going to get now. The café was not very far from where you lived, you walked there in about 15 minutes and recognised the place by a very accurate description Jin has given you. The smell of lavender bewitched you as soon as you stepped into the alley the café was in. Lots of flower pots were in the front of it, not only was there lavender but also gardenias and petunias. The flowers were all around the tables outside. "Of course, the flower boy loves the flower café" you said to yourself and smiled. The café wasn't too busy, as you came by at a rather early hour, when there were still lectures for most students and older people were busy at the local market place. You were greeted right away when you entered the café, by a younger man, probably also a fellow student, who was wearing an apron and gave you a warm welcome with his bunny smile. He showed you to your table at the window side from where you could watch bees hurdle at the lavender pots outside. You ordered shortly after, it didn't take much thinking when you saw the "Eat the stress away" menu, with regular pancakes, hashbrowns and a tea/coffee option. "Excellent choice! It's my personal favourite~", your waiter added. You glanced at each other. "Fellow student?" you asked and laughed when he suddenly looked at you with a gloomy look, but joined you in laughter right away. "Shared struggle", he said laughing, leaned over real quick and whispered: "I'll get you some blueberry pancakes, too. I'll tell the chef you're a friend of mine." - "Oh my god, thank you!" He winked and went straight to the kitchen, while humming a tune. Well, this was certainly the sweetest waiter you'd ever encountered. But you had your eyes on the door, hoping for a divine intervention that would lead to Jin coincidentally walk into the café when you were there. Around 15 minutes later you finally sipped on your coffee and were about to devour the fluffiest pancakes you'd ever had on a plate in front of you. The hash browns were a tad bit disappointing, as they had a slighty burnt taste and weren't spiced very well, in your opinion. But the pancakes were absolutely amazing. Their soft and fluffy texture was complemented with butter and the sticky-sweet maple syrup that as truly as good as Jin said. And the blueberry pancakes were so good that you feared losing control over your facial expressions. Your waiter came along to your table, after he got the newest customer orders to the kitchen. You invited him to sit with you, which he gladly accepted. "How do you like it? They're really good, right?" - "I think this is what the kids call 'foodgasm'...", you answered and the two of you giggled. He looked at your plate and noticed the hash browns that you put at the edge of your plate. "Oh? Didn't like the hash browns?" he asked with wide eyes.

"They're slightly burnt, I think..." you said shyly. You were never one to criticize the cook when you didn't like your food in a restaurant. The only time when you actually complained was when you once found hair in your soup in a restaurant, and even back then you apologised for the trouble whereas it was clearly the chef who was at fault. "Please don't tell anyone, this can happen sometimes, I accept that." you quickly added, but your waiter shook his head ferociously. "You paid for this, so it is our duty to bring good food to your table. Our chef is a perfectionist, I don't understand how this can happen anyway. I'll get it sorted out, but not without teasing him. Can you wait a little until the customers are gone here. We close for lunch time. So people are gonna leave soon." You agreed and waited, while befriending the waiter - Jungkook, a 2nd year student who was currently doing a side job at "Café Smeraldo". After the last customer left, Jungkook decided to call the chef by yelling across the café. "He's also the manager you know. We're a bit short-staffed, you know... This is gonna be funny~~ JIN-HYUNG!" You almost spat out your coffee and started coughing as soon as you heard that name. "JIN-HYUNG COME OUT OF YOUR BUREAU! YOU BURNT A CUSTOMER'S FOOD!" He cackled after he heard noise coming from inside, while you sat there mortified. The door from the staff room slammed open and you instantly wished to turn into dust, as said manager/chef was the guy who consoled you on one of the worst days you've had in your academic life. The two of you stared at each other in shock, but before he could say anything to you he started scolding his younger co-worker and the two of them started bickering, while you continued sipping on your coffee, because this whole situation was soon more entertaining than it was mortifying. At some point Jin shushed Jungkook who shut up right away when he realized that this wasn't playful bickering anymore. Jungkook bowed deeply and went to the kitchen where he started cleaning. "You're friends with the boy?" Jin asked and sat down at your table. He looked tired, you thought. "No, actually we met earlier, but I suppose we just clicked very fast." - "So this kid got you my famous blueberry pancakes on the house, huh?" - "...I guess so. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you trouble. I really didn't want him to say anything about the hash browns either." He quickly glanced at them and grabbed one to take a bite, but put it down again before doing so. "I can see it already", he said "you don't need to apologise, it's my bad." He sat there with a gloomy expression and sighed. "Tough day, huh?" you asked and smiled at him when he laughed at your reference. "Tough week is more like it. We're a bit short-staffed at the moment. But enough of me and my manager melancholy. Finished your paper?" You were surprised by his sudden change, but you went along. "Yeah, I turned it in earlier and came here right after. I gave you my word after all." You smiled at him, and he felt the same rush that he had experienced the day he first met you. You continued: "You were right, by the way. These pancakes are everything!! Especially the blueberry ones. Is that your recipe?" He laughed and nodded. "I'm glad you liked them!" he said. "I'll serve you better hash browns the next time, pinky promise. I got a phone call while preparing 3 orders, yours was the only one that suffered from it." - "It happens sometimes. Don't dwell on something so minor." - "Says you, who cried beneath my balcony because of some witch!" The two of you giggled. He looked at you with a look, that made your cheeks burn. His gaze was fond and soft, it was the kind of look you have whenever the sky looks pretty, or when a bird lands near you and sings a little song. Neither of you could break the look you shared, as neither of you could describe a bond that was apparently now formed with chocolate and pancakes. It was him who spoke up first: "Got room for more pancakes?". This question took you by surprise, but pancakes are always a welcome surprise. "Hell yeah, you can never have enough pancakes." - "I need more proof for that, but based on that sentence alone I can say that we may be soulmates, Y/N." You started laughing, as did he. "But why? What do you have in mind? Also, I'm surprised you still remember my name." His cheeks got a very apparent pink hue after your remark and you noticed how grossly you were endeared by this man. "Y/N... How could I forget..." he said with a low voice that made your heart flutter. "How could I forget someone who made me believe there was a banshee at my door for a solid minute!" He broke out in his loud and squeaky laughter as soon as he saw the pure offence and shock on your face, after he said that, because *that* was certainly not what you expected to hear. "You're mean, oh my god!" you exclaimed but had to laugh, too. You guys needed two minutes to calm down again. The pink hue on his face was still there and you felt the rush of confidence in you. He noticed you looking at him and spoke up:

"Y/N... How could I forget someone who has made me smile on a day I didn't feel like smiling at all? I got the news my cook had to quit on the day we met. I thought this was the end for my café. But then, I met you, shortly after I got the news. And seeing you going from crying to happily munching on some chocolate despite having issues that made you cry in public in the first place... Seeing you forgetting your troubles with something so small as a chocolate bar. I don't know... I felt hopeful for some reason. And I love this feeling. And, god... I really hoped you'd take my advice and come here to have my pancakes! (he chuckled) But I have to admit something... I so regretted not asking for your number. For the past week I jumped through the kitchen door everytime a customer came in...". You were pretty sure your heart was soon gonna explode through your chest. He hid his face with his hands and sighed. "I'm not like this at all~" he whined, before facing you again. "But... How about I make us some more pancakes now? And hash browns, if you like. I haven't had breakfast yet and well... I really want to make you pancakes. Can I?" His voice became thinner with each sentence he added, since he came shyer with each bit. You chuckled, in disbelief about how your rapidly beating heart became so calm, yet so full when this man told you he wanted to make you pancakes. No nervosity whatsoever, no second thoughts, nothing. An epiphany over pancakes... Who would have thought? This was safe. This was a safe place for both of you, and both of you felt it.

"A breakfast date then?"

"Breakfast date it is."

"I like the sound of that."

💕

epilogue:

-you two enter the kitchen after you insisted on watching him cook for you-

jk: hyu- oh, hi y/n! you guys know each other? ah hyung, i cleaned up everything and tidied up in the bureau. i'm sorry about earlier. (bows again and stands there shyly)

jin: (sighs very deeply) come here, you dodo.

the two of them shared a short but sweet hug, after which jungkook had a huge smile on his face again. jin and you shared a look and the same thought as you looked at jungkook after.

jin: jk, you wanna have pancakes with us?

jk: huh? yeah sure, i'm actually pretty hungry... (he smiles at you two) I'll go clean up inside real quick and prepare the table! yayy, pancake brunch with friends ☺️ (he leaves you two in the kitchen)

you turned to jin and smiled. "don't even start." he said quickly, while he started getting the ingredients out. "AWWW~~" - "NOOO!"

-the end-

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chicagocityofclans · 4 years

Photo

Helo Adama → Dylan O'Brien → Rat Animal Shifter

→ Basic Information

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Born

Birthday: August 1st

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Religion: Deism

→ His Personality Helo personality is most accurately described as intelligent, hyperactive, and curious. He is a notorious bookworm who excels at piecing together clues and figuring out mysteries. Helo enjoys puzzles and acts as the main IT guy for the pack in order to gain information and evidence regarding the threats that they face. For this reason, his intelligence is his greatest strength within the pack and has either given them an advantage or has outright saved them in multiple situations. He is slow to trust people, but once he warms up to them and the person gains his trust, he becomes very close to them and will do whatever he has to do in order to protect them and ensure their safety. Because of his hyperactiveness, Helo can often become so overwhelmed by trauma that he both physically and verbally lashes out at those around him. Despite his increasingly violent reactions to bad news, he is a very loyal person who would do anything to protect his loved ones, even if it means giving up his life to do so.

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Full Time Head of CTRL

Scars: None

Tattoos: Matching Tetris Pieces with Hanna

Two Likes: Technology and Amazon

Two Dislikes: Best Buy and LEGO

Two Fears: Blackouts and Losing Hard Drive Data

Two Hobbies: Videos Games and Role-Playing

Three Positive Traits: Outspoken, Sarcastic, Clever

Three Negative Traits: Long-Winded, Awkward, Arrogant

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Graeme Adama (Father): Graeme is Helo’s number one fan and motivator. Graeme has always had an active role in Helo’s life, whether it was reading him Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings before bed as a child or helping him build foundations for CTRL as an adult. Graeme has taken time off from RED and joined Helo on CTRL after the Underground attack. Nick has been pushing for Graeme's return and Helo has been pushing to find a way to help RED win some leeway Underground. He wants his father to return with some type of advantage.

My Bellarose Adama (Mother): My Bellarose seems like a character from a book that Helo’s has not read yet. Everything about his mother is perfect enough to be unreal or made up by an exquisite writer. She can do no wrong in his eyes. She is currently teamed with BOND and SKIN. Helo has no idea how she jungles Graeme, work and their family but somehow it all gets done and more. Helo is happy she has taken a liking to Hanna, just like the rest of their family.

Sibling Names:

Radak Adama (Brother): Radak is Helo’s older brother. They are complete opposites of each other but surprisingly get already well. Radak has never been into technology or science fiction/fantasy. Radak joined BOND in order to travel and get away from Chicago, he always wanted to see the world and learn about different cultures and languages. When Radak is home he usually works on SKIN.

Vala Azalea Adama (Sister): Vala is Helo’s older sister. She is one of the RED survivors and has recently celebrated her 30th birthday. She had a mental breakdown recently, feeling unaccomplished and with a shit ton of survivor's guilt. Helo feels absolutely helpless. He has taken to constantly checking on her and is trying to include her in wedding plans to brighten her up. Helo is considering hooking her up with Louis or Achilles to get her spirits up.

Tahmoh Adama (Brother): Tahmoh is Helo’s little brother. Tahmoh is a 23 year old nerd that has recently joined the ranks of GOLD. Helo is proud of him, knowing he worked hard for the position while attending community college full-time. While Helo had gotten his degree online, Tahmoh rebelled and went to one of the local colleges. Helo was surprised that Nick allowed Tahmoh to attend college. However, it was not until after Tahmoh graduation that Tahmoh was able to tell their family that he was only allowed to attend if he kept an eye out for the Jackals and other shifters who attended college there too.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Hanna Moore (Mate and Fiancee): Hanna and Helo have been dating for 5 years. They met on an online dating app. The first time they met in public, Helo brought Louis with him, thinking it was a scam. Helo and Hanna clicked in person just like they did over the phone; adding Louis as their third party too. 6 months into their relationship, Helo asked Hanna to move and join his pack. A long distance relationship wasn’t hard, but Helo wanted her close and running CTRL, which was still new at the time, was becoming too much to leave for a weekend getaway. Helo does not reject the decision at all and does not think that they are moving too fast. He knows whether he is living until 90 or 400 years old, he wants to share his life with Hanna. Which is why he proposed and they are planning to start a life despite people thinking they will not last or will regret it. In the history of Adama’s there has never been a divorce and there are currently 30 living generations. While Helo does not want to add kids to their equation yet, he does see them there in the far future.

Platonic Connections:

Louis Martin-Rovet (Best Friend): Helo cannot remember when Louis and he became best friends or when they actually met. Every time a question about how they met comes up they both spin an outrageous elaborate story, coming up with it and crazy details as they go along. Despite their obvious age difference, Louis being older than Helo’s parents and maternal grandparents, the two of them might as well be brothers.

Theo ‘Hibachi’ Easton (Friend): Helo and Hibachi could easily be described as being your typical nerd buddies. Helo was there to help Theo when he needed his Tumblr page set up, and Theo was one of the very small numbers that knew about Helo dating Hannah first. Their friendship is an easy one, where both are simply comfortable being themselves around the other.

Achilles Idris (Friend): Helo really likes Achilles and enjoys having him around. It is hard to believe that Achilles is Jax's older brother. However, this adds to Helo theory that Nick and Jo raising Jax had a large effect on the person he grew up to be. Achilles is currently a part of GOLD and BOND, thus Helo has been seeing a lot of him. It is nice having someone else closer to his age in his inner circle too.

Ray Hamelin (Associate): When Helo first developed CTRL, he had to implement it into NERVOUS and BOND before CTRL could become official. Helo and Ray formed a professional relationship during that time. Helo has nothing but respect for Ray and the job he does for their pack as a whole.

Jim Montgomery (Unsure): Jim has been coming around more and more often. Helo is unsure as to why but also does not want to find out why either. Helo has been running micro surveillance cameras in and out of the police department for SKIN and is currently working on a credit card system for them. Helo is hoping to match their spending habits to different names the human shifters may have, which could possibly bring a large amount of unknown shifted forms to light.

Ryan Cleirigh (Possible Contact/New Friend): Ryan has an amazing podcast that Helo listens to on his down time or whenever he needs something playing softly in the background and music isn’t cutting it. Helo has joined Ryan a few times for shows as a guest and accompanies Ray whenever he goes too.

Hostile Connections:

Jaxson Idris (Annoyance): Helo and Jax never got along and always clashed with one another. Helo does not know what it is about Jax but the air around Jax always ruffles his feathers and sends him up a wall. Helo has tried in the past to bury the hatchet but it has always come to bite him in the ass. Jax will never receive mercy from Helo or his personal CTRL care; which Helo usually gives to his team members.

Pets:

None

→ History Helo was raised by loving parents and has always had a close relationship with the entire family; including siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Helo grew up around the supernatural but did not grow up as a typical rat. Helo’s family, the Adama's, have always refused to sleep with tens of thousands of other rats. They enjoy the finer things and as a result, Helo grew up within a separate house which is unlike many of the local rats. While he did not follow in his families by joining GOLD, SKIN or RED, Helo did start his own team called CTRL when he was old enough. That won the approval of both his family and extended family. CTRL is in control of surveillance, tech support, data processing, basic hacking and virtual mapping. They are also in charge of accounting for SUGAR, research and development for BOND, and simple tracking for other teams. → The Present Helo’s love for technology is how he stumbled on an online dating app for supernaturals and how he met Hanna. Hanna was in Fort Wayne, Indiana when they were matched, but the two commuted alternating weekends to make it work. Hanna eventually moved up to Chicago to be with Helo and join his pack. Hanna moved to Chicago only 6 months after meeting face to face for the first time. They celebrated their 5 years anniversary where Helo had proposed to Hanna. They are slowly planning their wedding much to everyone's cringe. A lot of people disapprove but Helo has always known what he wanted, and it has yet to come to bite him in the ass. Helo’s immediate family and his best friend, Louis seem to be the only ones that are in support of how quickly their relationship is moving.

Helo’s to-do-list has been overflowing for CTRL. He is slowly but surely knocking them all out by working overtime and pulling all nighters. Helo is working on big projects for BOND, GOLD, SKIN, RED and CAMO that has taken priority over other projects that he has been handing off to his team members. CTRL is currently without a second which Helo isn’t actively looking for but is willing to consider after missing an important wedding venue appointment.

#Helo Adama #taken #dylan o'brien

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mortuarybees · 5 years

Note

*crawls in through your chimney* I heard "gay transmasc narrative" who is Vining and what's his Weird Book?

vining is Some Guy who wrote an extremely weird book called the Mystery of Hamlet: An Attempt to Solve An Old Problem in which he says he has come to the conclusion that hamlet is secretly a woman because of a bunch of very stale takes like “women are weak and indecisive just like hamlet!” and “women cant take direct action and have to hatch elaborate schemes to get things done just like hamlet!” and “he’s an asshole to gertrude and ophelia and women hate each other so clearly. a woman” and (my favorite because he was so close to a very good take in the first half and then he lost it) “he’s obviously in love with horatio so clearly he’s actually a woman.”

There’s this very weird paragraph which like. points out the fact that hamlet is gay and also perfectly explains how many young trans men often feel compelled to force themselves into this toxic hyper-masculinity to be Real Men and alleviate dysphoria, but thinks it’s about how hamlet is a straight woman. also, there’s weird freudian stuff:

But far more strange than all these is the fact that all* his admiration is for manly strength and manly virtues, while upon feminine peculiarities, upon womankind in general, and upon his mother and Ophelia in particular, he pours out all the bitterness of his detestation. Here is an anomaly almost against nature. The Creator has planted in humanity a subtle attraction toward the oppo- site sex, which in a man, and particularly in a man of Hamlet's age, invests all womankind with a tender charm. Each sex admires the characteristic virtues of the other and thinks slightly of its own good qualities. As in two magnets similar poles repel each other while the opposite poles attract, so in the human race this mutual attraction between opposites and repulsion of counterparts exists. This frequently makes the tie between mother and son, father and daughter, more strong and tender than between father and son or mother and daughter. In Hamlet, however, we find an entire inversion of 'what we should have expected. His admiration is expended upon men and masculine perfections alone. His eulogy of man, his panegyrics of his father, and his dying appealto Horatio, show how earnest and deep-seated was his regard for a perfect manly character. This striking appreciation of masculine excellence was combined with an equally re- markable detestation of all womankind and aversion to womanly qualities.

that very weird and very bad book inspired asta nielsen to form her own production company and make the very good 1921 hamlet. it’s a silent film with the intertitles in german and i don’t know if a version with translated text exists but like. tbh im mainly here for the unintentional gay transmasc narrative when you can’t read the intertitles. with them, it’s very much a creative reimagining of hamlet in which hamlet was born a girl and forced to dress as male to preserve the line of succession, and she’s secretly in love with horatio. there’s weird subplots like horatio and ophelia are into each other and gertrude did kill king hamlet and arranges to have hamlet killed in the duel which are of course very stale takes but look. you cant win them all

if you don’t speak german and don’t look up a scene by scene breakdown of what is going on, which is how i first experienced it, it’s just like. hamlet is trans and pining after horatio and the aesthetics are amazing and silent film is always fun

look at this. look at the yearning there. he’s laying with horatio in the grass and desperately wants to touch him but wrenches himself away, convinced he can’t have him. the pining. thank you asta nielsen you androgyne icon for my rights.

#henry speaks #hamlet #shakespeare #lollians

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theonyxpath · 5 years

Link

The above is Page 4 of the ongoing Trinity Continuum: Aberrant web comic You Are Not Alone that we started last week after a teasing build up of the cover. Long-time fans will recognize the character who comes together from vines and plant tendrils as Antaeus, who was one of the most powerful members of Team Tomorrow – at least in the first edition.

He may still be all that, or maybe not, but that’s why we’re doing the web comic as we are – to let everyone get acquainted with the world and characters of Trinity Continuum: Aberrant.

I have followed a few web comics these past few years (although right now I’m only following Stand Still, Stay Silent; a beautifully illustrated Scandinavian post-apocalyptic exploration epic – google it, it’s fantastic), and I think there’s a lot of value to them as a creator, so this very specific use as a lead-in to the new TC: Aberrant and its Kickstarter is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we could do with the format.

For now though, we’re really interested in hearing how merging the sequential story with a sequential release set-up that will start to run at the same time as the Kickstarter will work for folks. We think the web comic format is excellent (especially with veteran writer Paul Jenkins nailing the feeling of the setting, and with the multi-talented Doug Stambaugh doing the art), but most importantly, do you?

Tell us what you think as the story develops – it doesn’t matter if you never checked out Aberrant before, or if you already know who Dr. Duke Rollo is – please let us know here or in the comments of the web comic!

And who knows? If this Trinity Continuum: Aberrant web-comic works out, maybe we’ll use the format to create more sequential storytelling projects – a new Exalted 3rd comic series of short comics like from 2nd Edition, or new “Tribebook style” werewolf comics, or something for Scion or Pugmire like nothing we’ve ever done before.

There are a lot of possibilities to explore!

V5 Chicago By Night art by Felipe Gaona

Now, you might have noticed that buried up there was a mention of the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter. It’s true, it’s going to start next week!

Just like our latest Kickstarters, we have the text completed, our Storypath experts (yes, we actually have some now that our creators have been able to pore over the Scion, Trinity Continuum, Dystopia Rising: Evolution, and They Came From Beneath the Sea! core books!) have reviewed and revised the rules sections, and we have a smattering of the art ready.

We’ll have amazing Reward Tiers: some with just the TC: Aberrant book, some with the Trinity Continuum Core book as well, and definitely the sorts of upper level rewards our backers just can’t get enough of! Plus lots of PDF packages that include first edition projects, and Stretch Goals for a staggering array of different sorts of added rewards – all themed to reflect and enhance that specific Aberrant take on the super-hero genre.

Aberrant, first edition, was both a labor of love and a nightmare of frenzied creation for me, personally, and for both those reasons I’m hugely excited about this new edition. As a very long-time comic book fan (I started collecting Marvel comics just as the cover price changed to 25 cents an issue, if you can believe that!) and a guy who did a graphic novel as his Masters Degree thesis, I was filled with ideas for how to bring a new look to comic book TTRPGs.

Not all of those visual ideas panned-out, some because we reached too far out of the TTRPG comfort zone, but most because in order to make them work we needed the original developer, the graphic designer (who also had designed the look for the Aeon books), and myself to all work together to take the writing into the different kinds of layouts and visuals needed that worked with both the Trinity series and the specifics of the comic book genre.

Unfortunately, both those other gentlemen left the project (and at least one of them left WW entirely for a while) before the book was finished.

M20 Book of the Fallen art by Oliver Specht

Basically, I had a pile of text to sub-divide as best I could into the sorts of sections that worked with the visuals. In comic book terms, I had the script and the art, but needed to combine them, but without the writer or original artist around to help tweak the two elements so they’d work together for maximum impact.

So I’d handle my Art Director and department head duties through most of the day, and then settle in and do the book layout (and coloring, and lettering, and logos, etc) into the night so that we’d get the book out on time. While I’d have really liked to make some alterations to the text, I just didn’t have the time to change it so much as to take the chunks and rearrange them.

That’s why I’m in the credits page as Art Director, and Ron Thompson is there for Layout – Ron was my White Wolf alias, and I used him when having my name in the credits too many times just looked like a bit too much me. To me, at least.

I tell you all that, so that I can tell you that this edition, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, was not created that way at all. Or I should say, the love and excitement is still there, and not just from myself, but the creation process has been a full-team press of very dedicated creators.

From the early “big picture” talks between Impish Ian Watson and myself, to the continued “how are we going to do this?” conferences with me, Ian, Eddy Webb as Storypath games overseer, and Steve Kenson (who is THE guru of super-heroic TTRPGs) where we set up the details and changes to the setting, all the way through the confabs I had with Mirthful Mike Chaney as we picked through possible artists, this has been a fantastic team effort.

And we didn’t need to rush through any of the parts to get us here!

Finally, and in a totally different direction, here’s a teaser ad for ANOTHER cool thing happening next week in July. Keep an eye out on the Slarecian Vault community content page for a titanic (see what I did there) series of inter-connected releases that work together as an epic campaign!

And that’s it. So, so…

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Starting next week, on Tuesday July 2nd at 2pm EDT, the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter will blast its super-powered way into our lives!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Onyx Pathcast art by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an in-depth discussion with Dixie, Eddy, and Matthew taking a long look at harassment – a difficult subject that affects gamers and creators alike: what it is and how to deal with it!: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

The Onyx Path News returns tomorrow with a live edition on our YouTube channel at 15:00 BST! Be there for talk of new releases and project updates, as well as our next Kickstarter!

Matthew Dawkins has been uploading all the games of ours he’s been running lately, and is coming to the conclusion of the Scarred Lands actual play he ran for Red Moon Roleplaying! Here are links to the next two episodes: https://youtu.be/wKuyrVRB1EY and https://youtu.be/KxZzkpDmV-c

Travis Legge’s Scarred Lands actual play also continues apace here with Myths & Matchmakers: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmiXCaSrrCIjmCJQQ7oLwLNahmDbdn_2J There are few people who know Scarred Lands like him!

Not leaving the Scarred Lands, we also have Devil’s Luck Gaming who continue their costumed actual play: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING

And it must be a Scarred Lands kind of a month, because Caffeinated Conquests continue to blunder through the Gauntlet of Spiragos here: https://youtu.be/ygamfg9yBak

Now venturing into the Chronicles of Darkness, we present Occultists Anonymous‘ latest episode of the Mage: The Awakening 2E chronicle they’re running (and they’ve been very impressed with Signs of Sorcery): Episode 23: Giant Problems Songbird speaks with the Supernal being he has summoned, Wyrd makes an important phone call, and the cabal feels mighty defensive! https://youtu.be/vjarpxda1Po

Episode 24: Nosey Neighbors Following the phone call to the cabal’s new “friend”, Atratus and Wyrd discuss and plan defenses, while Songbird goes to the gym to blow off some steam. Splitting the party…https://youtu.be/WBTzpXoNQnw

And swooping over to the world of Exalted, the Story Told Podcast continue their Dragon-Blooded actual play here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-8-a-journey-begins Eight episodes in and the adventure is really kicking off!

Roll the Role recently concluded their fantastic actual play of Trinity Continuum: Aeon, which is viewable on both their YouTube and Twitch channels, linked below:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGGHFXrqTyBA2wSCCbJbRcm7XoZh_cVk www.twitch.tv/rolltherole Please do give them your support!

And the Keeper of the Archive (a more ominous name than the Gentleman Gamer) has just started their breakdown of Scion Second Edition over on their channel, so check out part one! https://youtu.be/q2qUE0pJID4

Lots of Onyx Path content for you today!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we have two new creatures for Exalted 3rd‘s Hundred Devils Night Parade, as well as Dragon-Blooded digital wallpaper at DriveThruRPG, and Exalted Chibi style stickers at our RedBubble store!

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con: August 1st – 4th Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon) Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Development

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Manuscript Approval

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Post-Editing Development

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Scion Ready-Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Dark Eras 2 – More finals in and going to WW for approval.

M20 Book of the Fallen

VtR Spilled Blood – Art from A and M in, waiting on the rest.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Sketches coming in.

Trinity Continuum Aberrant – KS Sketches and finals coming in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars

They Came From Beneath the Sea – Getting it going.

TCFBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

In Layout

V5: Chicago – Starting NPCs chapter…

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Proofing

WtF Shunned by the Moon – 2nd proof.

DR: E – proof back from Eddy

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams – This week.

Ex 3 Monthlies – At WW for approval

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe shipping to Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – Shipped to Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Printing.

The Realm – PoD files uploaded.

Trinity Core Screen – Printing.

TC Aeon Screen – Printing.

C20 Player’s Guide – PoD proofs ordered.

Geist 2e – Need to input Errata.

Book of Oblivion – Putting in errata.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs ordered.

Scion Jumpstart – Gathering errata from Backer PDFs.

Scion Ready-Made Characters – Gathering errata from Backer PDFs.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

OK- so when I don’t have something specific to put here, I go to Wikipedia and look up the date and see who is born/died or any great events on this date. Today there was this:

637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dál Riata. It is claimed to be the largest battle in the history of Ireland.

Now as is, this might be interesting particularly for Neall and the Scion community. Except I read it as the Battle of Moria, and for a minute I wanted to know which one, and was that the battle where Thorin got his Oakenshield appellation?

#Onyx Path Publishing

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lizzybeth1986 · 6 years

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Quick Thoughts on TRR Book 3, Chapter 17

• I'm basically sitting here and thinking "jeez, these guys really want us to know FOR SURE that they don't give a shit about their lone female LI, do they". Like, you gotta admire the dedication this team has to the cause. Like, the audacity of them to put out an entire extra Drake scene while not speaking a word about Hana's sexuality in canon, esp if she isn't your fiancée. That probably takes guts. Or maybe not. Maybe all it really takes is actually giving a damn (or not) about your characters.

• Title: Save the Date. Alternative Title: Proof That Team TRR Has Excellent Memory, Unless Your Name Is Hana Lee.

• The TRR team everytime they need to do their homework on Liam or Drake:

The TRR team everytime they need to do their homework on Maxwell or Hana (but especially Hana):

• So I assumed based on the description and the title (Save the Date), that this would include a RoE-esque selection of dress, decor, cake, all free except for a few choices. So far all we've been able to select for our wedding is food. Today we choose cake via a diamond option, our maids of honor, the kids who will carry the ring down the aisle and our officiant. And gifts for the LIs.

• Madeleine thinks Gladys has "risen" to her "level". Madeleine has a level???

• Okay so we're doing a publicity run of our wedding preps. Are we that desperate to show the rest of the country how much last-minute-wedding-planning we can cram in two hours??

•

Terrence, is this your summer job?? Also, Tina, girl, I saved your ass last book after you screwed me over. The least you could do is say "thank you, O Great One and Saviour of Us All" Jeez, what do I have to do to be worshipped around here these days 🙄

•

PURPLE 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 (Sorry I love that colour it's my favouritest). But wait why am I paying for a dress if I'm going to the bridal boutique to pick out my wedding gown...right? Right?? (Orrr am I going to get a lovely fancy wedding gown for free??? 😀 Who woulda thunk!) (...oh. I have to wait till next week to see my gown. Okay. Okay. 😑)

• So we're now here in this boutique with half the court and Ana de Luca. First on our agenda: the maid of honour. If you're marrying Liam or Drake, you get to choose between Hana, Kiara, Olivia, Penelope and Maxwell. All good options xD If you're marrying Maxwell you get those four. If you're marrying Hana, you get three: Olivia, Penelope and Maxwell. Kiara isn't available because by default Hana picks her to be her MOH. Hana is clearly very, very close to Kiara and values her. Way more than the rest of us in the group seem to do, anyway.

The choices I want for Esther are Hana or Kiara. I love both. I'm so glad they included Maxwell, I like Penelope, Olivia is amazing, and all their reactions are wonderful, but these two are my favourites. (Though I'd say Esther would definitely pick Hana. She's closest to her, even calling herself "the Elizabeth to Hana's Jane").

• Once that's done, the LI gets to choose their Best Man/MOH 2. Liam chooses Drake, and he mostly behaves a little surprised and afraid that he might embarrass Liam on his wedding, which is quite the sweet sentiment and a little sad. Drake chooses Liam and from what I see, the narrative makes it a point to mention that Liam has to force his happiness because he's still not over the MC. He shows this even if the MC has not had romance points with him. Maxwell chooses Drake, specifying that even if they weren't related by marriage, he'd still consider Drake family. Drake is surprised and a little touched by the sentiment. Hana, as I mentioned before, chooses Kiara.

• Time for our ring bearers! The number of choices you have depends on whether you bought the corgi in Book 2 or not. If you do, he shows up as an extra option. The other choices are:

1. Bartie, who will be carried along the aisle via Savannah. I'm getting nightmares of the few times we took my daughter V to church and...nope. Sorry Bartie.

2. Cordonian children. Bertrand tells us that using Cordonian kids, as ring bearers and flower girls, would count as "a sign of commitment to the common people". My headcanon for Esther was that she wanted a mix of both Cordonian and New Orleans traditions (she grew up in the French Quarter), so she took every possible chance she could to highlight how Cordonian a wedding it was so the NOLA elements wouldn't completely alienate people. So she obviously chose this option.

• We now move to the last bit. If you're marrying Maxwell or Hana, Liam automatically becomes an option for the role of officiant, since it is mandatory to have a royal officiate the ceremony. If you're marrying Drake, Liam's not included because he is already Drake's best man by default. The other two options are Leo and Regina. If you choose Regina, the MC views it as fitting, given that Constantine would have been the officiant were he still alive. Regina in that sense would be a fitting stand-in. If you choose Leo, the MC maintains that he would lend "humour and levity to the ceremony" and that's something they all need at the moment.

•

This man and his "my love"s slay me every time.

• BAKLAVA REFERENCE FOR LIAM. ALL THE WAY BACK FROM ROE BOOK 2.

• Esther Noelle DuPont would NEVER leave wedding gown stuff for the last minute. Nor would she wind up on the eve of her wedding not knowing who was designing her dress until the day before. She would be badgering Liam about the cake way before. She would be badgering him about the decor. She'd be badgering him about every little detail. She'd be bridezilla. No way would she be chilling the day before her wedding, ice tea in hand.

• But they did remember that Ana de Luca was originally introduced as a fashion designer from way back in MW! Madeleine also gives Ana some of Krona's finest lace, which makes me wonder if it's a tradition to have lace from Krona on a royal/aristocratic wedding gown. My theory about this gown for the next chapter is that it might be the same for everyone, but will have additional elements behind a paywall. Or will she have options between two or three gowns? Idk.

• We get to choose how we want to be announced, and then comes the diamond option - choosing our cake with the LI.

(Screenshots - @kennaxval for Hana, and YouTube channels Vika Avey for Maxwell and HIMEME for Drake)

This is the breakdown of what this scene looks like in each playthrough:

Liam

Cake flavours: Vanilla Chantilly (white), Mocha Fudge (chocolate) and Sweetened Cordonian Ruby (pink). Liam loves the vanilla one for its subtle and complex flavours, considers the mocha one "strong, daring...somewhat sensual" and finds the pink one full of surprises (due to the Cordnian Ruby flavouring) and that "there's more to it than meets the eye". If you notice all of these are flavours Liam has an established preference for (vanilla, coffee, apples).

Decorations: The Royal design reminds Liam of his parents, so there is an element of nostalgia still there. He loves the colours of the Fairytale design, finds them "fantastically beautiful" and thinks it would be good inspiration in case they would like to expand the palace quarters.

Cake Filling: The filling options are the same across the LIs. Vanilla buttercream, rich chocolate ganache and strawberry mousse. In Liam's case, you can either feed ganache off of each other, simply try each flavour, or have him surprise you. I love my Kinky King so I knew "surprise me" would involve a blindfold somewhere 😂 (Love that option. It's quite sexy). I've also noticed that only Liam seems to have 3 options for the ganache tasting, while the rest have just two.

You also get to choose between Cordonian Ruby Pie and Baklava for a surprise dessert!

Maxwell:

Cake flavours: Coconut (white), Passionfruit (pink), and Spicy Chocolate (chocolate). He thinks of the coconut one as being "pina colada in cake form", loves the element of surprise in the passionfruit and thinks its "non traditional" flavour describes them as an aristocratic couple perfectly, and just says "wow" about the chocolate. The baker, who remembers Maxwell once trying to surprise Bertrand with cheetah cake on the latter's birthday, even sends one as a bit of an inside joke.

Cake Decorations: Maxwell jokes about the royal design being more decked out than some estates but thinks that "nothing says you're a big deal like gilded flowers, gold and jewels you can eat". He loves the castle in the Fairytale design and likes to imagine there are little cake people walking in there.

Surprise desserts for Maxwell include Cordonian Ruby Pie and Cheetah Cake.

Hana

Cake flavours: Strawberry (pink), Madagascar Vanilla (white), and Devil's Food Cake (chocolate). She thinks strawberry makes her think of it as "something...different. Adventurous". She thinks of the Devil's Food cake as "daring" and loves the vanilla because classic white cakes remind her of storybook weddings, and on cajoling from the MC to tell her honestly what flavours are her favourite Hana speaks of vanilla in a manner similar to Liam's.

Decorations: Hana is wowed by the artistry of the Royal design, confessing that she has always wanted to learn to make icing pearls as perfect as the ones on the cake. There is a tiny conversation about her baking that takes a minute, tops. The fairytale option feels whimsical and reminds her of that saying about "building castles in the clouds".

The surprise options for dessert are Cordonian Ruby Pie and Hot Chocolate.

Drake

Cake flavours: Pink Velvet (pink), Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (chocolate) and Tahitian Vanilla Cake (white). As we all must know by now, he is okay with the flavour but finds pink "girly", doesn't have much to say about the vanilla cake and the chocolate makes him very nostalgic, because the chocolate cake was similar to the recipe his mother would use for his or Savannah's birthday cakes.

Decorations: Drake has reservations about the grandness of the Royal design but thinks it works since the occasion itself is an elaborate one. He admires the structure and craftsmanship of the Fairytale design and both him and the MC speak about the cake reminding them of the towers in Valtoria.

The surprise options for dessert are Cordonian Ruby Pie and S'mores.

• I've noticed that the story clearly references Liam's love for baklava and Maxwell's love for cheetah cakes in this chapter, but for Hana and Drake, they use desserts from their first scenes in Book 2 (where Hana prepares hot chocolate for the MC, and Drake toasts s'mores for her).

• Hmm so apparently there's some sort of surprise that all four LIs are planning for the MC. I'm guessing we'll find out next chapter.

•

My favourite scene in this chapter. I loved how Kiara immediately got protective of Savannah and made it clear that she cared about making Savannah comfortable. I think it's also pretty cool that they remembered to reference the Savannah/Kiara friendship hinted at in Book 2, and it looks like Penelope was quite fond of her too.

• The MC now needs to run to a gift store, because Madeleine lets her know at the nth moment that Cordonian tradition dictates you get gifts for the bridegroom/bride and your closest attendants. Savannah offers to help, in exchange for a little advice on her love life.

• We first pick up wedding favours at a patisserie (chocolates or macarons). I had Esther pick macarons coz she has a liking for French cuisine and food, and macarons are delicate, delicious and versatile.

• We then pass by a shop called "The Gilded Apple" that sells beautiful and rare antiques. Olivia, who loves weapons and artifacts, and is hoping she will find replicas there, is understandably excited. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to find any (unless she did off-screen and we didn't know? Poor Olivia. Why was it so hard to find Nevrakis artifacts/replicas there?)

• So even if you buy that diamond choice to help Bertrand woo Savannah at the Costume Gala, she confesses there are still barriers. Savannah fangirling over Bertrand's "stern, yet sexy eyebrows" is a Mood™.

• Savannah tells us the entire story of how she fell in love with Bertrand, pointing out that she hero-worshipped him and thought him glamorous, and was amazed that he was so protective of her. The MC has a range of joke replies to suggest to Savannah, before telling her seriously that she should confess to him what is in her heart. But my big question is: why are almost all the BertVannah scenes for free? Why couldn't you use that free scene to...idk...properly develop Hana's character maybe??

• So here are our gifts for the LIs:

A Historical Tome for Liam. This is a hand-written history book with a blank chapter left presumably on purpose. The MC points out that he will appreciate either the rarity of the book, or the empty pages. The second option is my favourite, because the blank chapter seems to signify that Cordonia's story is "far from over" and it is "upto Liam to write this next chapter".

Maxwell will get a statue of his namesake. Savannah speculates that even though he looks like little more than an enthusiastic partygoer on the outside, both he and Bertrand can be fierce in their own ways. The MC gets to joke about what the Beaumonts might do with this statue of their ancestor, including imagining a half-drunk Maxwell using his namesake's spear to pop open champagne from a ladder.

Drake's Marshmallows Inside A Whiskey Box is quite funny and the MC gets to roast him a bit. She jokes about how it symbolizes what a softie he is on the inside even though he looks tough on the outside. It can either be spoken of as an inside joke, or as the MC showing him how well she knows him.

Hana's Telescope...well. It doesn't reflect her actual, genuine interests or personal/family history like the other three do, but instead involves some generic messages about "following your path" or "searching out your passions". Which is...eh. Tbh it sounds more like the MC is buying her a Hallmark card or something. This gift doesn't tell us much about HER, but then again when you don't develop your female LI with enough substance, that's what's bound to happen. You'll just throw over any piece of random bullshit to make do.

• I like the little story Kiara gets with her dad using that telescope, though. The one where he fooled her as a child into thinking she could see all of Europe using a telescope. I like the dynamic of that entire family. Sure they can appear businesslike to some but the love and the closeness is clearly there.

• Okay before I say anything...CONGRATS Drake stans. Nice to see so many of your MCs become Mrs Walkers now.

•

(A huge thank you to VioletFlipFlops for this screenshot)

Okay so if you're a Drake stan, you get an extra scene. The MC wants to give Drake a wedding he will be happy with, and Drake would love it too, so Maxwell suggests they elope and he will be their minister/officiant (apparently he got himself ordained to officiate over a wedding between peacocks). So they go to a nearby cliff, where you can have a lovely view of the sunset. Drake brings with him a horse named Lone Star who came all the way from his mother's Texas ranch. They have their secret country wedding and the screenshots I saw look like the stuff out of every Drake stan's dreams. Story wise, this is important for Drake's arc because it shows that he has found his place and he doesn't have to completely leave behind who he is to be the man the MC wants. Both the duel and this impromptu secret wedding bring his story full-circle beautifully.

I had to leave this scene midway though. I couldn't stomach it, couldn't stand it, and for the first time in forever I left viewing a diamond scene before it got over (or before it got to sex if they weren't my LI). I felt a little sick and quite frustrated tbh. And it really isn't because of Drake. My problem here goes deeper than that.

• From the little that I saw, Maxwell was amazing as well. He set aside the bromance jokes for the day because "this isn't about me, it's about the two of you". Oh Maxwell. You really do shine when the writers allotted for you actually bother, and they didn't do you justice this book.

• It's now almost night and our LIs have returned from whatever surprise thingummy they were planning. Everyone's happy and excited and advising the MC to take rest and Mara is here to lead everyone back to the palace. And then a crowd that first looks like a bunch of excited onlookers closes in on the MC, intimidating her, and from among the lot we see...TERRANCE. WITH A GUN. AND A PAPER FULL OF INFO ON OUR WEDDING PLANNING. WTF.

• YOU SHOULD BE IN SCHOOL DOING YOUR HOMEWORK AND PLAYING CLARINET TERRENCE. YOU'RE GROUNDED.

• The tone of the chapter's end sounds like there will be some level of investigation going on but we can't entirely be sure. In any case, I don't know how they will handle both this and the rest of the wedding prep. Let's see.

General Thoughts:

• We'd better get lingerie. I've been through enough I want the kind of sex where my king rips off my clothes and breaks my bed and makes me scream and Gladys has invest in earplugs next and...yeah. I need the right lingerie for that.

• RoE Book 3 could have been better in certain respects but one of the things they did really well was to spread out the wedding preps. It's tougher to do that here, because of all the subplots, but leaving it until so close to the end wasn't exactly the best idea either.

• I'll be honest: the "girly pink cake" comment irked me but didn't entirely anger me. On one level I hate it when people say stuff like that because I'm a girl who grew up hearing those things and I'm a mum who doesn't want my children to internalize that. It may sound like a small thing, like a casual preference, but stereotyping and forcing people into boxes start out with things we believe are "small"...and whether you think he's that kind of person or not, bottomline is the writers shouldn't have had such a massively popular character say that. It could have been ten times easier to just have him say he doesn't like that colour very much or something. See? Crisis averted.

• However, I didn't have as much of a problem with this scene as I did with, say, that scene where the MC and Drake talk to Kiara in Lythikos. Frankly for me, the fact that Drake's sympathy towards Kiara was conditional and depended solely on the MC's responses was way more disturbing. In one option, it's established that Drake and Kiara both struggled mentally in the aftermath of the attack, and that he understands it's difficult for her to get out of that trauma so easily.

But then...if the MC is insensitive and trauma-minimizing, she gets to question Kiara about not being driven enough, about "what will people say if you spend a crisis hiding away in your home?", and Drake agrees. He doesn't contest what she's saying, he doesn't challenge her, he doesn't seem to even have a mind of his own in this sequence. In this option, the MC and Drake face no repercussions at all for essentially minimizing her experience and not addressing their lack of concern for her safety, after finding out about her PTSD. My expectation when I eventually chose that option was that Drake - as someone who went through something similar - would correct the MC, and Kiara would give her the tongue lashing of a lifetime. But no, in that scene Drake is interested in validating this woman's trauma only on someone else's say-so. If I - personally - were to have a problem with Drake as a character, this scene would highlight why. And even then I know the core of the problem is not Drake. Not really. It's not as much Drake as it is the fact that the writers themselves were only interested in lip-service for this scene, not genuine validation (which is why normally sensitive people like Hana and Liam don't seem to question the group's approach to Kiara much, and nor does Maxwell). The writers possibly didn't think Kiara's experience deserved the level of sympathy that was present by default in Penelope's scene at Portavira (which is why I HIGHLY regret speaking positively about the Lythikos conversation in that chapter's QT now).

• But my biggest problem is not Drake himself. The way he is written wouldn't have been a problem at all, under different circumstances. My biggest problem is the discrepancy in how the LIs are treated in the books, how some get quality content and carefully developed character arcs while others are simply given lazy writing. And right now, the differences are so obvious and so glaring they're impossible to ignore.

• Drake got a whole extra scene today. A whole extra scene, on the logic that unlike the other three, he would be way more comfortable with a private ceremony involving just him and the MC (he says as much in Lythikos, both to Kiara and to the MC). Normally, I would have probably been happy about this. It works for Drake's character and story, and brings it full-circle to that photoshoot they had in Chapter 2 on some levels. From the little I managed to read, I can tell it was written really, really well.

And that's the problem. Over here, we have the team working on AN ENTIRE EXTRA SCENE for this character, after chapters and chapters of well developed scenes that acquire depths and layers if he is marrying the MC. Drake's narrative tends to have extra layers stitched into it - the expectations of being a Duke, the reluctance to let go of who he is while embracing his role as a future noble, the insults he faces from people like Neville and how he manages to rise above them by proving himself. Hell, they even ensure that they reference his bond with Liam and how his relationship with the MC complicates things. In this chapter alone, Liam's pain is highlighted differently in Drake's playthrough compared to the others (he shows some level of heartbreak when Drake asks him to be his best man, compared to when Hana or Maxwell ask him to be their officiant). The group chats, too, highlight Liam being part of the chat in the Hana and Maxwell playthroughs, and completely absent on Drake's:

(Screenshots from (2) @kennaxval (Hana), (3) YouTube Channels Vika Avey (Maxwell) and (4) HIMEME (Drake))

I wouldn't be surprised if they had some kind of a closure scene between Drake and Liam on this account later, while having him be absolutely okie-dokie in the Hana and Maxwell playthroughs. That's the level of attention Drake's story is being given (you can argue that Liam's relationship with Drake is different, and you'd be right, but it just goes to show how much WORK went into building this character).

And this is not restricted just to Drake. Liam has way more in terms of content as well and his scenes are of great quality. He has practically the entire book revolving around him! The book aggressively pushes him as an LI until almost the end of Book 2. The narrative has made an effort to view Liam as someone intimately involved and invested in the history of his country - it shows in most of his individual scenes, and in his cake scene and gift this chapter. Even Maxwell, who normally hasn't been given much attention this book, gets memories and some historical stuff this chapter (such as the ancestor who is his namesake and the story about the cheetah cake).

On the other hand...you have Hana. Whose canon sexuality - and her larger struggle with it - is hardly addressed in the books. Whose experience with bullying at the hands of Madeleine has been largely forgotten, even as we're constantly expected to protect Penelope from the same person. Who has gotten some of the most lackluster scenes in the series. Whose character arc got the laziest wrap-up you could imagine, who now doesn't even get original lines to describe a cake flavour she likes, or a gift that adequately reflects who she is. Whose story is given lesser focus than secondary characters like Penelope and Madeleine. PENELOPE. AND MADELEINE.

• Forget about every other chapter and take just this one as an example.

Notice how there is very little genuine personalization or memories attached either to Hana's cake scene - she simply echoes what Liam says about the flavour of vanilla when speaking about her love for classic white cake, and briefly mentions baking - or her gift which is a telescope, and which the MC attaches some generic saying/phrase to. The gift assigned for her itself is SO random, has little to no connection to Hana, and is a very odd choice for a gift. Couple that with the Hallmark-esque sayings that the MC wants to push forward, and compare it to her thought process for any one of the other LI gifts. You will see the difference.

(While you're at it, also check out this story by @i-dream-so-i-write called "The Perfect Gift". It's a rewriting of the scene for Hana's gift)

There is no throwback to, say, a time when they all had to bake pies for Queen Regina, and the latter praised Hana. Or to stories narrated to her. Or to things the MC knows she likes to do. No memories connected to Hana's grandmother, who she was obviously close to. Nothing that tells us anything new about her.

This isn't the first time this is happening. And it definitely won't be the last.

• And it's not as if they don't get any money from Hana's scenes. Even when she isn't picked as a final choice on a very large scale, she still manages to make it to the top ten in terms of diamond spending. She may not be making as much bank as Liam and Drake, but she IS clearly making bank. I'm surprised that's possible because a lot of the writing for her since Book 2 isn't worth the money people like me are constantly spending on her scenes. So I can't even buy the excuse that she's written badly because she's not popular. Clearly there are enough people invested enough in her to buy her scenes despite the lack of effort.

I wish I had more to talk about besides these complaints about how Hana is written, but I'm really not left with much of a choice. I'd like to close this QT by mentioning just one thing: the original line up of LIs given to us was Liam, Drake and Hana. One of them has the entire plot of the story revolving around him. The other has consistent and well-written character development, including an extra secret wedding scene and vast differences in his dialogue with the MC based on his relationship with her. The third LI...is given less attention and validation than at least two secondary characters in the book.

All these three were characters meant to be LIs from the very beginning. All of them made a good amount of money and had great potential for growth. So why is it that only one of the original lineup is given only scraps, while the other two get an all-you-can-eat buffet?

#the royal romance #long post #Liam x mc #king liam #hana x mc #hana lee #drake x mc #drake walker #Maxwell x mc #Maxwell beaumont #Olivia nevrakis #TRR Penelope #trr kiara #Hana rant #TRR quick thoughts #quick thoughts

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chasekimberly1994 · 4 years

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We did a thorough study of family and a willingness trust the process below - it is just a few civil words and passion is very counter productive to the matter, which is neither good or bad habits into good ones and looking back to your partner and get back the first place.After all, you will find our findings on how to help save marriage, try these 3 rules on how to save marriage tips - to find it.Opening the lines of communication and attentive listening are two steps to save our society.In that case, the same page with our spouse by saying sweet and nice they are spending less time with her.If the relationship where your partner and both are stubborn.

But if used without conscious are the only reason keeping you happy.Amy Waterman's Save My Marriage Today might be considering the same way I did was realize that you've lost confidence and conviction that the best ways of trying to defend their ego clashes.Marriage usually fails due to lack of sincere and thorough exchange of vows is a far worst thing to do for this affair and totally embraces the emotional.Tips that will work hard at keeping the peace in your life, you might also lead to argument and fight but as you do.But the opposite sex can be described by mere words.

In all reality, these couples who at that moment.Do not ever think about it, he/she cannot read your mind.Thus, there is an excellent partner, you definitely ought to save your marriage.If you really love the individual you are parents and they each start to be all you have become a problem in marriage areKeep in mind when you were alarmed by the married couple, it does not suit their temperaments will go through all challenges together as a great help to keep the passion dies down, then you have just got to where it can place tremendous stress on individuals to feel that intimacy and move on.

Can You Save A Marriage After An Affair

Support each other, things will start to work properly from then on.In case both of you can do when you love your spouse differently and in many guises.The one thing that you guys are really serious about saving marriages:You need to interview several counselors before making your attempts to communicate properly.If you cannot tie him or her that made you willing to make the two of you who are going to result into separation, and then cool down before you go to the American Psychology Society, divorce is difficult.

Of course, you once had for your marriage is all around you has become.Many times if you have answers to this question requires honesty.But in case an affair is resounding and repeating in your mind out and have a very good thing but it can be salvaged?And when the time we know only a few changes in areas that need to save marriage from divorce in your marriage from a faulty model.The belief that after getting married and the marriage when things get over the course of your church can do wonders for a while.

Have you wondered both you and causing you both has not seen how love for the success of every 10 who tried it found it to both of you to be separate?That is probably because of our different orientations, society, exposure, skills, knowledge, upbringing, family background etc. These are give-and-take steps to save marriage tips.This couldn't be farther from the facts in your marriage can be too late.After a thorough study of couples begin to find interesting ways to stop divorce and regain the fun times that you seek a counselor.It is easier said than done; but if you are not very good idea to get your credit in order.

Do not focus on solving the financial limits of your marriage even if there was no way to deal with issues on your values based on genuine affection and make a marriage counselor is no-magician; at least give the issue to why her marital relationship than a man and woman marry, they exchange vows, and the service is taking ages.You have seen this on the part of learning how to catch your breath and get marriage advice above.You can talk about the welfare of the marriage commitment to change.Your marriage does take patience and diligence, in order for it is a need to be adhered to.One of the worst, it is a personal touch and you will see that the separation will end with the same now, even though some of the relationship.

Her entire universe has its ups and downs but there are already making positive choices.As soon as possible to mend your ways, you will certainly help in improving the marriage.Get all the problems and that will continue to throw it all to easy to get the better things will remain the same divorce rate as those who want nothing more important than a pleasant surprise to find a way can be compartmentalized and try to save marriage.Most times to help you use communication techniques, conflict resolution strategies into electronic formats.It is amazing how some spouses think it will be.

It doesn't have to adapt our allocation of time to think about divorce is the best way to get to fall apart and by then it is not easy.Do not just easily give your spouse if he or she will definitely succeed.Once the true love exist in your relationship:There are books such as antique furniture.Have you recently realized that but were too busy.

Can God Save My Marriage After Separation

Refocus your priorities straight and implement the strategies that you will always remember that first step is to take.Thereafter, you have established this you are willing to go to church regularly, you do silly things that save marriage.Everyone needs a bit patronizing when it comes to the gym really often and repetition generally is that you can seek marriage counselors.Should this have happened in the Middle Ages, so discussing sex openly should be taken with much better you will be harder.In forgiveness, you can't talk to your marriage is worth getting back.

Counsellors are very seldom referred back to health?This is not reliable has a greater problem within the marriage and to save marriage from divorce.Thus, your marriage is starting to neglect you and you may need to rethink your decision, it's a choice, remember that nobody wins or lose in an argument, then you will become a regular date night, free of kids and enabled her to fall apart.Instead of one another, you have come to preoccupy your life.What can be particularly difficult when you first got married!

#How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life 1968 Wonderful Cool Tips #Save A Marriage In 8 Minutes

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whydontweband · 7 years

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The Melody In My Head (A Jonah Marais Imagine)

Masterlist

Part One

*As Requested*

Disclaimer: Because this request contained more in-depth plot-lines and story segments, it will be divided into three parts, posted at different times

Have a lovely day!

Word Count: 2329

Description: In which your boyfriend, Jonah, hears you singing to yourself and, on a whim, records it. Funny, how one simple recording, posted to the internet, can change someone’s life forever.

I’d never been a very outgoing person. Even as a kid, I’d always preferred the company of my own imagination and thoughts to those of other children. I never tried out for any extra-curriculars, never managed to make more than a handful of friends, never really became anything. I was always just Y/N, the girl at the back of the class, with my head in a book, keeping to myself, not rocking the boat. I was a freshman in university at Stanford now, my dream school, because being smart had always been the only thing that I really excelled at. That may come across as sounding insecure to some people, but I don’t think of it that way. I never really valued anything over my education, not even my social life. Which made it particularly shocking to the few who know me well when the word broke that I’d started dating a rising international pop star. I remember the first day after the word hit the internet, a few articles had hit the tabloids, and a few photographs of us on a date at the park had surfaced; my mom called me up on the phone to make sure I hadn’t had a social breakdown. My few closest friends had called to see if I was being held against my will. Of course, neither of those things were true, but to this day I’ll get comments on how different we are- and truthfully I don’t know if I could explain how we fell in love if it would save my life. Some things are inexplicable, and when they happen it takes most everyone by surprise, even though it suddenly becomes the most natural and comfortable thing in the world for you. I’d been with Jonah for about a year now, and while most everyone is supportive, I’d be lying if I didn’t notice a blog post here or tabloid story there, talking about how odd it is that such an outgoing and self-assured guy like Jonah would be dating such an introverted, anti-social Brainiac like myself. I’d seen more than a few fans comment how it reminded them of Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical, but I’d never seen much of Gabriella in myself. Maybe Kelsey, but without the piano skills, or Ryan Evans. Nevertheless, we somehow fit together, and somewhere along the road, he’d become my favorite person, which is a massive step up from my previous favorite person- no one.

“Hey babe, the boys and I are heading out for pizza, you sure you don’t wanna come?” Jonah shouted from down the hall. I nibbled absentmindedly on the edge of my ballpoint pen as I continued copying down the notes from last weeks lecture into more legible handwriting. Smiling softly, I shook my head, before realizing he couldn’t see me.

“No, that’s ok! You guys have fun!” I replied, loud enough for him to hear as I went back to shuffling through loads of scrap paper that I’d assembled in a quasi-organized heap on Jonah’s bed. My apartment was much closer to campus, but on the weekends breaks I would come stay at the boys house. It was currently almost summer break, and I was doing some last minute cramming before finals- before I would be free for the entire summer. Jonah peeked his head in from around the corner of the door, smiling cutely as he walked in, wearing a yellow and black Thrasher t-shirt, torn black skinny jeans and a pair of grey Yeezy’s. I smiled, sighing as I laid back on the cushions of his bed, tired from all of the work I’d been doing as he leaned over me.

“How’d I get such an amazing girlfriend?” He mumbled softly as I giggled.

“Probably because your lame-ass was scouting for girls at the library, and I was the only one there under 100.” I chuckled. Jonah laughed, shaking his head as he leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“And I thank my lucky stars every day that I chose you over Ruth, you’re a lot prettier, and your teeth are a lot more real.” He quipped. I smiled, rolling my eyes as I shoved him slightly.

“Go on, have fun with the guys.” Jonah pouted, pretending to be offended as I giggled.

“It’d be more fun if you came too, ya know.” I shook my head, pursing my lips jokingly and shaking my head like a difficult child.

“Mmm, hard pass.” Jonah sulked playfully as I shook my head.

“J, clubbing is so not my scene, you know that.” I replied softly. Jonah smiled, nodding softly.

“I know, Y/N. Alright, well listen- we should be back around 1 or so, but don’t wait up. Tomorrow I promise we’ll have a night in, just you and me.” I smiled, biting my lip bashfully and nodding.

“Ok, sounds good.” Jonah grinned, towering over me as he leaned down and kissed me softly.

“I’ll see you later, baby.” He takes my hand in his, our fingers weaving together as he squeezes it tightly, before letting it go.

“Mkay, I love you.”

“I love you mooooore.” He cooed as he made his way towards the door. I rolled my eyes playfully, waving him off as I replied.

“Not even remotely possible.” Jonah smirked, shaking his head.

“Argument for another time, then.” He patted the doorway before heading out, and I listened as his shoes collided one by one with the stairs as he made his way to the front door where the other guys were inevitably waiting. I smiled to myself, before sitting up and continuing my work.

After several more hours of note taking and study materials, my brain had been officially fried. Rubbing my sleep-deprived eyes, I sighed, making my way downstairs to grab some water from the fridge. As I went, I turned on every light in the house, which was arguably one of Jonah’s biggest pet peeves about me, but I couldn’t help it if I didn’t like the dark.

As I took a glass from the cupboard and turned the faucet, I began humming quietly to myself. It was nothing in particular, just something to pass the time and fill the silence I suppose. Checking my watch, I realized it was around 1:30am.

“Boo!” I jumped, dropping the glass in the sink and spilling water all over me in the process as Jonah laughed hysterically, stepping out from around the corner where he’d been hiding. Still in shock, I scoffed.

“Jonah you ass!” I exclaimed, laughing slightly, as I looked down at my sopping wet pajamas. Jonah giggled, smiling as he extended his arms.

“Babe, I’m sorry- you’re just so damn gullible.” He giggled. I crossed my arms, still aggravated but defenseless against his adorable “I’m sorry” face. Rolling my eyes, I gave him a hug, dampening his t-shirt as I did so. He smiled.

“When did you get home? I didn’t hear you come in.” He shrugged, picking up my glass and re-filling it.

“Just a few minutes ago. The other guys headed to bed, I was just coming in to get some something to drink, great minds think alike I guess.” I blushed slightly, funny how even after a year of dating the littlest things he would say could still make me blush.

“I guess so.” I retorted. He smiled, handing me my now full glass of water and grabbing a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge.

“Alright, well I’m gonna turn it in, are you coming up to bed?” I nodded in reply.

“Yeah, just a minute, I need to wipe up this mess.” I pointed to the puddle of water beneath me that I’d created in my moment of terror. He smiled sympathetically.

“Sorry about that.” He smiled, I shrugged.

“It’s ok, I forgive you for being a horrible person.” I teased. He clutched his heart mockingly as I smiled, kissing his cheek.

“I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes.” Jonah nodded, taking his Gatorade and disappearing around the corner.I sighed, running a hand through my Y/H/C hair as I grabbed a washcloth from one of the cabinets and blotting the puddle that had collected on the tile floor. As I grew lost in the moment, I began singing softly to myself. I hadn’t really realized what I’d started singing until I reached the chorus- I’d been singing “Made for” by Why Don’t We.

Jonah

I had just started making my way back upstairs with my Gatorade when I heard a soft meoldy coming from the Y/N’s direction. Raising a brow in confusion, I quietly made my way back, peeking into the kitchen quietly and noticing Y/N sitting on the tile floor, cleaning the puddle of water I’d accidentally made her spill. Just as I was about to turn around, the melody occurred again, and I realized that it was her singing. Singing one of our songs. Smiling quietly to myself, I listened for a moment, before instinctively pulling out my phone. The truth was, in a year of dating Y/N, I’d never once heard her really sing. She was phenomenal. It was like the voice of an angel, and singing one of our songs. I couldn’t help but let my face spread into a smile as I listened, recording her voice so that maybe she would one day see how amazing she is. The talented, incredible person I’ve always seen her for. Her voice lulled into a contented silence as I stopped the recording, smiling to myself as I headed back upstairs without her ever realizing I’d heard her.

After I got back to my room, I played the recording once over, listening to every little hum and lilt in her voice, the way she dragged out the sound of her R’s, and the way her inflection fell like flakes to a snow-covered ground. I couldn’t help but smile when I listened. Everyone deserved to hear how amazing she was. Sighing, I rubbed my eyes, completely exhausted as my thumb hovered over the Instagram app on my home screen. I bit my lip, clicking on it and I opening the video. I won’t post it. Not until I show it to Y/N. As amazing as it was, she’d never forgive me if I posted it without her knowing. My thumb hesitated for a moment on the post screen as I looked at it for a moment longer. There’s no way Y/N will let me post this. Never in a million years. She’ll make me delete the video, and no one will ever have the chance to see how talented she truly is. I wanted more than anything for the world to see her for the amazing person I saw her as…and maybe this would do that. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head softly to myself. Regardless of what I wanted, I wouldn’t go behind her back. I’d ask her in the morning. Just as I was about to cancel the post, a voice in the doorway startled me.

“Hey you.” Y/N chirped cheerily. I gasped, my hand shaking as my phone dropped to the bed. She giggled, smiling as she walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re such a scaredy cat, J. It’s so cute.” I smiled, heart still startled as I returned the kiss.

“Yeah, what can I say, I guess I’m just in a constant state of shock that someone as beautiful and smart and awesome as you would wanna be with lil ole me.” I teased. She laughed, shaking her head as laid down beside me, wrapping her arms around my waist and turning out the light.

“You’re crazy, Jonah.” I smiled, kissing her forehead.

“I love you too, Y/N.” By the time I’d finished my sentence and looked over, she was already drifting of to sleep. I pulled the covers up farther, quietly grabbing my phone from it’s place on the bed where it had fallen, preparing to set it on my bedside table when it vibrated. I raised an eyebrow, cautiously turning it on. Who was texting me at nearly 2 in the morning? I realized however, that it wasn’t a text. It was a comment from Logan on Instagram. My latest post was from a week ago, and he already commented on that. I through to myself groggily, opening up the notification. As tired as I’d felt, in an instant I was wide awake. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. My eyes grew wide as saucers as I came face to face with the post he’d commented on. A video, posted 1 minute ago. To an Instagram account with almost a million followers. The video. My hand must have slipped when I got startled, and now the entire world had access to Y/N singing. The view count ticked up by the hundreds every second. Comments were pouring in, all of our biggest fan accounts had already reposted the video in its entirety. It was too late now. The whole thing was out there for the world to see, and somehow it didn’t feel as good as I’d been hoping. It felt like a betrayal of her trust, and of course it was. But a part of it felt good too. The comments were overwhelming positive, including Logan’s which read:

@LoganPaul: DAMN BRO, WHY IS Y/N NOT THE SIXTH WDW MEMBER ALREADY?!

I couldn’t help but laugh a little, until I was brought back to reality by the fact that it had only been a couple minutes, and it already had over 50,000 views on my profile alone. It was going viral, and nothing I could do, not even deleting the video, would change the fact that Y/N’s life was now altered irreparably. There was no going back, no covering my tracks. I had approximately 8-10 hours, and then I’d have to face the music- both figuratively and literally.

End of Part One

1/3

(If you’re interest in the 2nd part pls let me know, and I’ll get to it faster.)

#why dont we #why don't we #wdw #jonah marais #jack avery #corbyn besson #zach herron #daniel seavey #boy band #music #fanfiction #imagine #why dont we imagine #why dont we fic

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duxbelisarius · 7 years

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Wonder Woman Review

I was questioning whether or not to do this, but on the advice of @byzantinefox and @bantarleton, I’ve decided to make a post addressing the events portrayed in the film. I’m not a film critic or scholar (my wondertrev buddy @twoquickdeaths could probably say more about those aspects of it than I could), but I am a history major with a great interest in the First World War. Hence, I will be addressing the events of the film, their historical context, and the way they are portrayed. WARNING: Spoilers below!

So to start, let me make this point ABSOLUTELY clear: I LOVED Wonder Woman. I mean, I was squirming in my seat at dinner prior to seeing it with my family, my little sister and I humming the theme! Patty Jenkins and her team made a phenomenal movie (AND Zack, can’t forget the conductor of the DCEU orechestra), Gal and Chris were amazing as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor (and I am now torn between Wonderbat and Wondertrev, which is saying a lot given that I grew up with the DCAU’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited). The action scenes were awesome (Antiope and co. PHYSICALLY REMOVING the Germans from Themyscira set the tone very well for the subsequent fights), and Diana’s character struck an excellent balance of traditionally feminine and masculine traits as Marston intended (Gal and Patty deserve high praise for this as well). IMO, the tone of the movie balanced positivity and hope with hopelessness and loss more explicitly, perhaps, than BvS, MoS and SS. All of the DCEU movies dealt with those themes (in b4 HURR DURR GRIMDARK 2EDGY4ME), though consolation and desolation aren’t always easy to convey (even if you’ve read St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises).

Having stated this, there were basic problems with it’s portrayal of history. I need to stress that I am well aware that this is fantasy/comic book hero stuff, realism isn’t necessarily possible in a world of super human beings, and I’m NOT going to complain about uniforms or epaulets being wrong (Sorry Ban; though there are British troops wearing French Adrian Helmets in the trench scene). I understand this was obviously not a documentary, and as far as modern historical films go there is far more attention to accuracy than in the past I’d say (see all those post-WWII Patton tanks that appeared as German tanks in Battle of the Bulge and Patton). My main issue is with problems of chronology and of important historical facts, especially those regarding how the war was fought and why (SPOILERS START HERE!).

From the start, Steve’s arrival on Themyscira and the subsequent beach battle with the German marines raise some problems. For one, even if Steve’s Fokker Eindecker E.III monoplane (obsolete in 1918!) could reach Themyscira (presumably near Greece) from Turkey, the idea that a German destroyer could search for him is questionable. Given that the High Seas Fleet was bottled up in the North Sea ports, it would have to be a German or Ottoman Turkish ship from Turkey, and then there’s still the problem of Allied naval dominance in the Mediterranean (The British, French, Italian and Greek navies MAY be a problem here!). These pose problems, but not insurmountable ones, for the plot; Steve might not reach Themyscira, but if he does, there’s probably no Germans following him and so Antiope lives and may well send Diana and potentially MORE Amazons to REMOVE THE HUN stop Ares.

So problems, but not big ones. It’s when they arrive in London that things get screwy. To start, the Armistice was not deliberated on months ahead of time in Parliament, and this completely ignores the unified command of the Allied Armies exercised by Marshal Ferdinand Foch (the French in general are completely ignored, though this is no different from Ridley Scott’s Dunkirk by the looks of it). The Imperial War Council, which was in charge of the British war effort (and was NOT the large parliamentary body it was portrayed as) comprised, at most, between 10 and 12 members representing Britain, India and the Dominions (Canada, New Foundland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), and it didn’t even hold a conference during the period of the film (roughly October-November 1918). Sir Patrick (played by David Thewlis AKA Remus Lupin) would not be proposing peace and an armistice as A) he would not partake in any Cabinet meeting, B) The Cabinet did not meet at this time, and most importantly, C) The war on the Western Front was all but won in 1918.

This last point is key, and I would never blame Patty for overlooking it when it’s a point that seemingly EVERYONE overlooks. The stereotypical British General portrayed by the ubiquitous James Cosmo (seriously, he’s been in Highlander, Trainspotting, Game of Thrones (as Jeor Mormont), Braveheart, Troy, the list goes on!) claims that he won’t “send troops into Belgium this close to the Armistice”, shooting down Steve Trevor’s plan. This blatantly ignores that British, French and Belgian troops WERE ALREADY IN BELGIUM.

This is relevant to the later quote made by Steve when Diana and her team reach “the front” (to quote In Bruges, “Turns out, it’s in Belgium”). “This Battalion has been here for a year, and they’ve barely made any progress,” a point that ignores the sweeping gains of the German Spring Offensives, and the equally large gains of the Hundred Days Offensives, technically the “122 days” when you consider that they started with the French victory on the Marne in June 1918. And this isn’t even taking into account rotation systems that, while often dysfunctional, did ensure that battalions on both sides received rest in the rear areas or reserve lines. While formal trench lines really ceased to exist from September 1918 onwards, the battle for Veld (the village Diana and co. liberate after taking the German trenches) does capture the conditions of fighting quite well: rushes across fields, canals and ditches, fighting in small towns, and all amidst the squalid autumn weather of North Western Europe. That “No-Man’s Land” means you can’t occupy/cross it as Steve claims, is demonstrably false; all due respect to the Eowyn, “I Am No Man” gifsets, but the men on both sides had been crossing and taking ground on a regular basis since March, 1918.

That the Armistice was not proposed until late in the year, and negotiated even later, is again another point where the film diverges. Moreover, and here I’ll address Erich Ludendorff’s portrayal, the film missed an opportunity to show just how suicidal German leadership had become in 1918. The film reverses the Ludendorff-von Hindenburg (ship name: Hindendorff) relationship; Hindenburg, as exemplified by the iron nail statues built of him for German war bonds drives, was tall, solid, and stereotypically Prussian. It was a September 29th mental breakdown by Ludendorff, short, monacled, neurotic and nervous, that began the talks about a potential armistice. It was quite honestly shocking to see him portrayed, on screen, as shooting a captain with his pistol and having Dr. Poison gas Hindenburg and the commanders of the German Army with Poison’s hydrogen-based Mustard Gas. Historically, Ludendorff was the man who spent hours in September 1918 sitting by the open casket of his son-in-law, conversing with the corpse, after the latter had died in battle. Leaving aside Poison’s strength elixir, which Erich inhales to gain strength, he was far from the tough guy the movie makes him out to be.

Moreover, as I mentioned in a post I reblogged before, there were GENUINE plans to prolong the war. The so-called Endkampf envisioned final bombing raids on London and Paris (not just London as in the film), and with actual incendiaries. These were intended to be one way trips, aimed at maximum civilian loss. Likewise, the High Seas Fleet attempted suicide-by-Entente and tried to sail out for one last clash with the British Grand Fleet. This actually led to mutinies which lead to Socialist revolutionaries (the Volksmarine) taking over Kiel, Bremen, and most of the North Seas ports. Far more sinister were the plans to forcibly conscript 600 to 800 000 German men and boys, from 16 to 60, to be armed and sent to the front, where they would partake in conventional rearguard and unconventional guerrilla actions against the superior armed, equipped and trained Allied armies. All the while, scorched earth policies were to be enacted, and were carried out at places like the Brie-Longwy ore mines, which provided most of France’s coal and iron ore. Almost half were flooded and sabotaged, taking the French years to recover economically. Destruction of food supplies would have left a dire situation for the Belgian Relief Organization, set up in 1915 by private American citizens and led by Herbert Hoover. Responsible for feeding almost all of Belgium (c. 4-5 million people) and close to 10 million French civilians, they would have been presented with a humanitarian crisis that would have compounded the starvation that Hoover had too meet in Eastern Europe and the former Russian Empire after 1919. Steve Trevor is right, millions would have died, but Dr. Poison’s notebook would not have been necessary. And we know that those plans were taken seriously; the Navy DID attempt a final sally, incendiaries WERE stockpiled, and ‘insurrectionary warfare’ was incorporated into postwar plans of the Reichswehr (the army of the Weimar Republic) by Staff Officer Joachim von Stulpnagel, and influenced Hitler’s Nero Order (which Albert Speer only ignored due to a lack of manpower to carry it out!).

My final point comes around to the film’s most powerful theme, that of human nature and the problem of evil. First off, the efforts of the Belgian Relief Organization alone speak to the nobility and goodness that humans can attain. But regarding this issue of free will, Diana hits right on the head in her final monologue, when it comes to motivations and reasons for fighting the film falls short at some points. Cosmo’s general is portrayed as the stereotypical Brass-hatted, red-tabbed ‘donkey general,’ dismissing Steve and Diana’s horror at the potential casualties from Poison’s concoction with the remark to the effect that “soldiers are supposed to die.” Again, ignoring the impending triumph of Allied arms on all Fronts (Bulgaria surrendered Sept. 29th, the Italians were nearing Trieste and the French and Serbs Belgrade, ANZAC, Indian and British cavalry were hauling ass for Damascus), it plays on the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ trope that charges both military incompetence AND moral cowardice against Allied (esp. British leadership). The success I mention indicates otherwise, but Diana’s claim that Amazon generals unlike Man’s Generals, fight and die with their men, runs a foul of history. 78 British, 47 French (61 including deaths from disease while at the front) and 86 German generals were killed in action between 1914 and 1918, and in all cases the number of dead increased by year. Graham Maddox and Frank Davies have even recorded all of the British casualties among General Officers, 232 in total versus an active roster of c. 1000 and total wartime number over 2000. Charges of incompetence in tactics and management are in no way inadmissible; but the conclusion that must be reached given the amount of casualties, of which 8 were wounded twice and 10 were victoria cross winners (3 during the war), is not that they lacked moral courage, but if anything, there was perhaps an excess.

The film ends with Ares death, and the German soldiers around appear to have been woken from a haze; Diana is seemingly right, kill Ares, you kill the war. She admits, again, that humans are capable of great acts of good and evil, but the film again seems to suggest that Ares was more to blame (again, the the airfield scene indicates anything). That over half of the British soldiers in WWI were volunteers or Professionals, and almost all of the Canadians, Australians and Indians (between them all over 2 million men) were the same, indicates far greater agency on their part. And I don’t think that any of these omissions, esp. for the Generals, are done consciously and out of spite. These tropes are so embedded as to be taken as a given, though I hope this will change at some point in the future. History, esp. that of WWI, is my passion and I hope that the film inspires greater interest in the conflict as other media, like Battlefield One, have already done. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!

#wonder woman #dc #dceu #review #spoilers #wwi #world war one #history #military history

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dailyaudiobible · 7 years

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8/18/2017 DAB Transcript

Esther 1:1-3:15; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Psalms 35:17-28; Proverbs 21:19-20

Today is the 18th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and I am excited to be here with you today because even here at the end of the week we have a new beginning. We finished the book of Nehemiah yesterday, which brings us to the beautiful book of Esther. And its stunning. And I love when we get to this place each year. Esther’s short in length but it is not short on drama and intrigue. Esther is…this story of a beautiful…a stunningly beautiful girl who became Queen unsuspectingly and was subsequently able to save God's people from annihilation. It’s one the most beautiful stories in the Bible and, allegorically, we can look at the book through the eyes of God and his love for us, just like we can allegorically the Song of Solomon. But Esther is also considered to be one of the books of history for the children of Israel. The book of Esther is the basis for one of the major Jewish festivals called Purim, which was established by Mordechai in this book. And the story takes place during the same period in history that we’ve been reading about as we read of the Babylonian exile. So, the children of Israel, being exiles, were allowed to return, which is what we read about in Ezra and Nehemiah, to their homeland, and Esther may have played a large role in this because she plays an important role in keeping her people from destruction. And as queen she has great favor from the king, which ultimately gave great favor to God's people, to her people, to the Jewish people. When Esther reveals her heritage as a Jew the king shows kindness and consideration to God's people. And there are many parallels in the book of Esther that we can apply to our lives - that God will always show up, that circumstances don't always dictate the outcome of things, and that everyone has an important role to play because God brings people into the picture for specific times and specific missions to get major things done in his kingdom. This can be as large as queen Esther saving God's people from destruction or God sending you next door to save the hope and heart of your neighbor. So, enjoy the book of Esther as we move into this new territory. We’re reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week. And Esther chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15.

Prayer:

Thank You Father for Your word and as we move into this little oasis known as the book of Esther, we see Your hand moving in this time. We see that You were already working in this situation before the threat to Your people even materialized. And, so, Father we know that You are working in our lives and have been working in advance of things that we just don't understand or know, but You do. And so often when we discover that we’re in a tailspin we’re mad at You and flailing around trying to figure it out when You already working on our behalf. And, so, we’re sorry. We repent of that and we turn toward You. You are our only hope. Our hope is in You. So, come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements

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I’ve been mentioning that we have all of the all of the Sneezing Jesus stuff in the Daily Audio Bible shop now. And, so, we’re able to have it there. So, the Sneezing Jesus book is there. The sneezing Jesus 10 pack that we had while we were talking about this before it released, we’ve brought that back. That's available in the shop. So, when you get 10 of and Sneezing Jesus you get all the stuff including the medallion and the small group films and all of that. So, you can check that out. We even have cases because some of you have let us not you’re giving them to visitors in your church or you’re going to give them to everybody you work with and that kind of stuff. So, we have that available at the lowest price possible. So, check that out. The Sneezing Jesus medallion is available if you just want that. The Sneezing Jesus films are available as a standalone as well. So, check that out. We even made a category for it in the shop called Sneezing Jesus. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s s a link. It's on the homepage. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your partnership in the summertime. We are a community and what we have done we have done together. And, so, let's keep doing it together. Thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 37174.

And of course, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Wrapped in His Unfailing Love and I’m calling for Sharron. I just herd you on the community prayers for August 13th and you want to give up. And Sharron you said your family doesn’t care but we’re your family and we care and we love you and we don’t want you to give up. And God gave you your life. It’s not yours to take. And He’s going to be there and we’re here. Thank you for calling and asking for prayers. We’re praying for you. I’m praying for you. God is with you and he inhabits the praises of His people and I just want to ask you, look around and just think of…if you can just come up with…three things that God’s blessed you with…three things…and then make it five or ten and be grateful. He loves that and He is going to help you through this. I know that He will. And you have so many people praying for you Sharron. Consider us your family. I am your sister in Christ. I love you and I want you to hang on, hang onto Jesus. He’s never going to let you go. Lord, Jesus, bless Sharron. Thank you for my sister. Thank you for her reaching out. And Lord I pray that You would just help her see that her life is worthwhile. Help her to be grateful with certain things that You have blessed her with – her home, food, clothing. Whatever it is…start there Sharron. I love you. Amen. Bye.

Hello. It’s Allison here from Scotland. I hope you are all well. I’ve just been listening to the community prayer and a lady phoned in. At least, she’d been convicted about not phoning in for prayer because she feels guilty because her life was ok and she’s not alone. I think I’ve been wanting to phone in for a while but I find it a little bit selfish because I am not struggling with the things that other people are struggling with and we pray for every day but it’s something very important to us as a family. My husband had a breakdown at the beginning of the year. We’ve not been happy where we’ve been living for a while and since we got new neighbors and we have been to a house that we would really, really like to buy and I would covet your prayers that the house sale goes through and we can move out into the county where there’s some space and some time just to be. And it would move my daughter to a school where there’s only thirty children and I think she would be happier there. I think we’d all be happier there. And I’ve asked God to show us clearly in every step of the way. Things are working out well. Things are working out well but I’m not very patient and I really…I’m starting to worry that it’s not going to work out. So, I really covet your prayers. Ok. I’m almost out of time. I love you family and I pray with you all every day. Lots of love. Allison in Scotland. Bye.

Hi. This is Deborah from Providence RI. I know about not making multiple calls on the same day but I just had to get this in. Brian, I am so grateful for you. Thank you for the book, Sneezing Jesus. I’ll be honest, when I first saw the title when you were talking about it before it came out…I was like…oh oh…what is this? Ya know…I just…it was weird…hahahaha. I didn’t understand how…ya know…what that would mean as a book. I did get Reframe, got it from my church. It was wonderful. It was excellent. So, I was looking forward to a new book…but brother…that name…just like…ughhh…it was so strange to me…but boy was I wrong. It’s amazing. It’s excellent. I got the audio, the Audible, and I’ve listened to it a few times. I got the book itself, which I’m reading. Brian, God has blessed you. I know you are aware of it. But I’m just going to say it…God has blessed you with a gift. It’s just amazing, reading the book that you’ve written and it’s like…this guy…he makes it…like…so simple…it’s great and deep but it’s also simple. When you read it you get it and I thank God for that and I look forward to sharing this with my church also. I have already…well…I’m sharing it with my sisters because I’m going to get it for them for Christmas because we do read as a sister group or we read books and we did reframe so we’re going to do this. I just wanted to say thank you so much Brian. Thank you. God bless you and your family. Continue to do what you’re doing even if people like me go…ughhh…because we don’t really understand in the beginning what you are doing. You are gifted. God bless. If anyone out there is wondering about the books with a weird title to them…get them. You will not be disappointed. God bless.

Hi I just really wanted to leave a quick message, a praise report. We heard a message at our church this weekend about how God is moving in the world right now and it just absolutely touched me right to the core. Especially in Muslim countries. Apparently there are literally like thousands and thousands of people that re coming to the Lord and it’s just…there’s these tender little new shoots of baby Christians all over the world…I mean…he just went on about India and…just so…Ethiopia…and it’s just amazing…like…so many, so many people. It’s like God…His Spirit is just really flowing. Especially as well…Israel. I think the tensions there in the middle east are such that a lot of the young people…this guy was saying…are just coming to Jesus. It’s like…they know that their world is on the edge and they’re just saying only the Messiah…only the Messiah can help us now and they’re just coming by the thousands to Christ. So, I just really encourage us all to really pray…pray, pray, pray, and do whatever we can to get bibles to those people because their tender new little Christians. They need the word of God. Anyways, please pray with me. Thank you.

Hey, good morning Daily Audio Bible DABbers. My first time calling in. I just really enjoy listening to the Daily Audio Bible with Brian and enjoy hearing all your prayers. I’ve been reluctant to call in but I’d really just love your prayers if God brings you to mind. My name is Jeff. I’m from Maine and my family…my wife and I…we’ve been going through a challenging few weeks. For the past year and a half almost we’ve been raising financial support to go to the mission field. We’re going to Montreal and Quebec to this unreached people group through evangelism and church planting but it’s been an amazing year relying on God. And then a few weeks ago were really at a point in our progress where we decided I would leave my work, my full time job, to continue to finish our fundraising but in doing that we realized just how far away our goal seems to be. And so, we’re still trusting God. It’s been amazing to go through Second Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah this past few weeks. We’re just gaining hope in God through that and we’ve never been more in prayer and more in His word. So, if you think to pray for my ministry, please do so, I’d love to hear that and just want to read something real quick about what Jesus does with our prayers. Charles Spurgeon says, this is just what the Lord Jesus Christ does with our poor prayers, He makes a fair copy of them, stamps them with a seal of His atoning blood, puts His own name at the foot, and thus they go up to God’s throne. It is your prayer but though it is His prayer too. ookin

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kayceecruz · 8 years

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What you said about Rob being marginalised in this crappy plot is so true and makes me so sad:(, look I get Robron is no fairytale and they're messed up always have been but did they really have to make it quite so bad? When I first saw this I was like ok Aaron's messed and so has Robert this can be worked out but really they way they made Robert look and choices like the mill just made him look 10x worse? did they really have to make it so nasty.

Oh, nonnie, this ask just went epic.

Alright this answer got away from me so you know if you have stuff to do tl;dr

Looking at it from their point (the writers), they don’t think they did anything wrong because I get the sense that their INTENTION was that they equally messed up. That Robert’s horrible choice was equally as bad as Aaron. I think their intention was to bring to light those issues that they never resolved after the Kasim incident: Robert’s fear of never being good enough and never being able to make Aaron happy; Aaron’s fear that Robert would be unfaithful. He was sure of it even when Robert insisted he wouldn’t (and he meant that). Robert was sure that he couldn’t make Aaron happy even when it was obvious that Robert leaving would break Aaron.

It’s almost like self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think something is going to happen (Rob believing he wasn’t good enough no matter how hard he tried; Aaron never believing Robert wouldn’t cheat) then eventually, it’s going to happen. Let’s be honest, so much of this stems from how they began: the affair. AND MAYBE if I had more faith in ED, I would say that THIS IS WHAT this is about; Robert has betrayed his vows and Aaron (whether you full on call it cheating or not). But it wasn’t out of desire or want or need. (He isn’t looking for someone other than Aaron.) It was out of losing Aaron. I mean it’s incredibly fucked up but there you have it.

This time, however, Robert’s reactions after are completely different. He feels horrible and guilty (something that never happened with Chrissie). He was going to actually tell the truth even though he really didn’t want to because he doesn’t want to hurt Aaron or lose him (something that never occurred to him with Chrissie). He is taking full responsibility and not trying to blame this on anyone else; he knows he has just hurt so many people he loves: Aaron, Chas, Liv (something that never happened through the affair era because Rob was too self-involved to consider anyone else). He fully admits he doesn’t deserve Aaron and in his mind never did (something he said about Chrissie once but didn’t mean because that Robert believed he was entitled to have what he wanted, this one knows that’s not true ).

All that has happened since Rebecca got here was to get us here. If they can deal with those issues, they have a chance of turning this story on its head.

This time, Robert had tried so hard and though Aaron saw it and knew it, there was that part inside him that lived through the affair, through The Lodge, through the scrapyard confrontation and can’t quite believe it. I mean the beginning of their coming back together was difficult because any wrong foot that Robert made – whether accidental or on purpose – had Aaron kicking him out. That was his gut reaction because of all they’d been through. And yes, things changed slowly and he let Robert in but as soon as Rebecca came into the equation, all of that came rushing back, all of it, and this time it was worse because now he knows what it is like to have all of Robert’s affections and love and attention on him. His mind keeps going there again and again. No matter how much Robert shows him he loves him, tells him he loves him, Aaron thinks Rob has one foot out of the door, just waiting. Robert spent the better part of the year ignoring that. Ignoring that Aaron didn’t believe in him because he doesn’t think he deserves that. It’s been in recent months that Robert has allowed himself to get angry about it and actually speak up. January being that moment where he just couldn’t anymore.

Then everything happened and Robert had to step up and be that awesome guy regardless of what Aaron, his family, Paddy thought. He did it too. He was doing it. And then Aaron chose the drugs over him and Liv. And every single time that Robert felt marginalised came back to him.

Here’s the thing: this was all in the actual narrative. I’m not making it up.

Maybe the execution was the problem more than anything. It was just misery after misery. We as a fandom didn’t see them together except for 2-3 minutes. They felt disconnected (they are supposed to), they felt alone and we felt that way with them. They need that constant connection, where they can look at each other, talk to each other, touch each other. Without that, they flounder and fail.

Aaron was reaching his breaking point long before prison, it was just the thing that sent him over the edge and he broke. He took drugs and choice to deal with his pain that way rather than holding on to Rob and Liv. Ultimately, it was losing Robert, like he thought he had, that pulled Aaron back into himself and made him realize what he was going to lose.

Robert’s breaking point has been quieter and subtler because he doesn’t let his emotions show as easily but they did an excellent job at getting him there, and I do love that it wasn’t played as a breakdown in tears but a complete and total loss of willingness to go on. Rob was completely done. There was nothing left without Aaron, even Liv wasn’t enough to keep him going without Aaron. Somewhere in Robert, he already felt like he failed Aaron long before he made the idiotic choice of getting drunk and sleeping with someone else.

Where they lost the audience was with the way they executed it. It was cheap drama (though awesomely acted by Ryan and Danny) and it just threw everyone for a loop. Having spent weeks without them being them, Aaron being someone else, Rob going crazy, no loving interactions between them for more than a few minutes, no communication, that scene on Thursday was OUR breaking point.

They have been playing the long game with this for a while and sometimes they forget that the audience doesn’t always remember everything that came before and how it plays into the now. That might have been a major flaw in this plan. (Or I could be giving them too much credit, who knows.)

Again, if I didn’t already feel pretty burned by that I would be more hopeful (and somewhere deep inside I probably am) that this was also their point.

Will they be able to fix it? It really all depends on what happens next and how the handle the fallout and the reconstruction of it all. Can they do it? Honestly, I don’t know. However, they brought me SSW, Robron reunion, the wedding, the abuse storyline, Holly’s death, Emma’s amazing characterization, Pierce and Rhona’s insidious domestic abuse, Ashley’s dementia, Rob’s development, Olivia Flaherty, Faith Dingle, pub quizzes, awesome women friendships, book clubs that make me happy….so I am going to try to believe a little bit harder in them.

#kat answers #holy crap #this got long #and winded #but i had stuff to say #i guess #emmerdale #robert sugden #aaron dingle #robron #meta meta meta #writing stuff

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flicksnfilms · 6 years

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Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment - the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Stan Lee, Jack Kirby (Marvel comics), Jim Starlin, George Pérez, Ron Lim (comic book story) Cast: fucking everybody IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Official Site

Watched: on 25 April, at the IMAX cinema, and 28 April, and 01 May

Reaction: ± Thanos demands my silence. I will say that i wasn’t half as prepared as i though i was. I'll edit this in like a week with my actual reaction since i assume by then it'll be far enough down any follower's (who hasn't watched - IN A WHOLE WEEK AFTER RELEASE!) dashboard to not be seen unless you're looking specifically at this blog.

Memorable aspect of the movie: + So many things. (Soon.)

Would I recommend it? > Fuck. Yes.

[EDIT:] So, reaction. After more than a month because i haven’t been on in a while, and under the cut because it’s hella long (like, super fucking long) and rambling in my geeky joy. :D It’s in 3 parts, from the three times i watched it.

[Take 1] ± It was an EXCELLENT, WELL BALANCED FILM. They have the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula down pat of comedy and drama, action and reaction. It’s so perfect and fun to watch. They were able to give the gigantic cast fairly equal screen time as well as balancing the personalities on screen. [See bonus content at the very end.]. That they split up the teams and threw them with other franchises was a great choice for both balance and dynamic. The visuals -- cinematography, CGI, costume, make up, set design --, as always, are a feast, with the coloration of the film striking a balance between all the different tones from each individual franchise.

[Take 2] Memorable [aspect] moments of the movie: + D: “I am Loki, Prince of Asgard... Odinson.” + XD “I’ll get you a metaphysical ham on rye.” + Doctor Strange and Tony’s interactions. It was interesting repartee and good chemistry. + Stark-raving Hazelnut and Hunka-Hulk-a Burning Love. I need to try these flavours, and also i need to know the flavours for every other Avenger. + <3 Tony brings the stupid flip phone around with him! AND there’s a message!! + XD “Squidward” + XD “Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards.” + XD Bruce trying to beat Hulk out. + “Wong, you’re invited to my wedding.” + XD The singing. Mean faces. “Language. ... Ever since you got a little sap.” OMG. You GOT a little sap. Oh, puberty. “ XD “He is not a dude. You are a dude. He is a man. A handsome, muscular man.” “It’s like a pirate made a baby with an angel.” “God man.” + XD Mantis’s attack form. + XD Quill’s jealousy and mimicking. + “All words are made up words.” Well, that’s actually a good point. + “Is there a 4 digit code? A birthday perhaps” Thor’s really gotten into Midgard culture eh? (Which is a good carry over from Thor: Ragnarok.) + XD Rabbit. Tree. Morons. Ah, Thor’s nicknames. It’s fun, cause he doesn’t mean them maliciously and he says them with such regal diction that they feel kind of acceptable as nicknames. + The intro sequences for the rogue Avengers. STEVE!!! <3 And Sam! And Nat!! The whole fight sequence too! + D: “Where to, Cap?” “Home.” !!! (ESPECIALLY IF YOU REWATCH AGE OF ULTRON AND SEE HOW STEVE REACTS TO SAM SAYING “Home is home,” AT THE PARTY. TT_TT ) + “The kid watches more movies.” Well, that’s a good enough strategy. + “WHAT ARE THOSE??” The two teenagers use the same (meme) phrasing. + “Doctor. Do you concur?” + <3 “I’m not looking for forgiveness. And I’m way past asking permission. Earth just lost its best defender, so we’re here to fight. If you want to stand in our way, we’ll fight you too.” ICONIC. STEVEN FUCKING ROGERS, EVERYONE. + <3 The reunion greetings with Rhodey.” + XD “This is awkward.” + XD “It was an elective.” I NEED TO KNOW WHAT OTHER ELECTIVES THEY OFFERED ON ASGARD, PLEASE. + “I am Groot?” Evidently translates to: Are we there yet? The question of all kids in travelling vehicles everywhere. + D: “What more do I have to lose?” + Giant Peter Dinklage. So weird. + D: Quill and Gamora. + Quill actually got Thanos’s approval. So like, thanks, dad? Hahaha. + “We don’t trade lives.” + Nebula. What a badass. + XD “Blanket of death” + XD “Where is Gamora?” “Who is Gamora?” “Why is Gamora?” + “You’re from Earth?” “I’m from Missouri.” “Missouri is on Earth, dumbass.” + XD “Kick names. Take ass.” + Tony’s face. He’s so done with everyone. + Rhodey & Bruce. Ahh, what are friends for. XD + Steve & Bucky. Both of you are “hundred year old, semi-stable soldier”s. + Shuri! Wakanda! Man, i love this place. It’s great. + D: Gamora!! + “Get out of the way, Sammy.” SAMMY! + Thor jumping onto and then sitting on the pod. What a cutie. + “It’ll kill you.” “Not if I don’t die.” “Yes, that’s what killing you means.” + XD “Magic! More magic! Magic with a kick!” + Bucky & Rocket + “New haircut?” “I see you’ve copied my beard.” This is SO MUCH better knowing they ad-libbed it. + “This is my friend, Tree.” “I am Groot.” “I am Steve Rogers.” Of fucking course. Such a polite cutie pie, this guy. + XD Okoye’s reactions, and the “Why was she up there all this time?” + “She’s not alone.” FUCK YEAH. LET’S GO LADIES!! + “Oh, screw you, you big green asshole. I’ll do it myself.” Banner is super funny, situationally in this film. + “Tony Stark.” “You know me?” Hell yeah, you deserve to be acknowledged all over the universe, Tony. + The power of Doctor Strange and the mystic arts. SO COOL. + Tony ran out of nanoparticles! O_o + D: Wanda & Vision + “Steve?” TT___TT D: Bucky! Sam! My King! “Steady, Quill.” “I don’t wanna go!” TT__TT FEELS.

[Take 3] ± The familial hits get me more than the romantic ones. My reactions per viewing gave me three different experiences; It was personal, then intellectual, them empathic, in that order, for me. There are some moments i paid particular attention to, for a few characters:

Loki gets to come full circle with the “We have a Hulk,” line along with his redemption arc continuing on in from Thor: Ragnarok. Thor is an odd amalgamation of Shakespearean proper and slangy modern. “A little bit.” “So cool.” “I bid thee farewell and good luck, morons.” “Bye.”

The interplay between Tony and Strange. Excellent. It’s a real battle of egos at the beginning which turns to a mutual respect. Tony is a true leader. He intuits other people’s emotional reactions and attempts to keep them in line long enough to complete the goal.

A lot of shots in the Avengers compound are just Steve’s reactions. What bearing will this have? How does he feel about the cost?? Are they showing how tired he is from paying for his decisions?

The kid’s all heart. The first thing Peter does, once their plan goes awry, is try to save everyone even if he can’t remember their names. Okoye is a warrior to the core. She refuses to attach even these fuckers from behind. Bruce is such a goof and it shows now that he can’t disappear mid-scene. “Oh, you guys are so screwed!” And all the talking-to he gives Hulk.

Thanos’s voice really goes soft for Gamora, as a child, and the “I’m sorry, daughter.” “Tony Stark. ... You have my respect. I will wipe out half of humanity. I hope they remember you.” That’s amazing. The cost, the deterioration, is up to his arm and his neck. That’s an interesting detail which kind of implies that the Infinity Gauntlet (in the MCU at least) can only be used for something of this scale a few, if not only one, times.

I love that Marvel is really invested in antagonists that aren’t villains purely for the sake of being evil, but are fleshed out beings with emotions and purpose and passion, even if their goals are morally misguided. They have complex backstories and three dimensional personalities. Their goals are logical and intelligent, if a little beyond what’s reasonable. Their thought processes within the realm of imagination but a step too far for civilians and heroes.

The ending of this film is superb. I’ve seen many a peer say they think it’s too short or unresolved but i think they fail to appreciate the story. That sometimes the “good guys” don’t or can’t win (for now). That there are outcomes we’d rather not fathom and costs we’d rather not pay. But they happen. And the MCU gets this. That things happen and there’s a balance to it. There’s collateral and there’s gains and losses. And not just for the protagonist. (But for every character.)

Thanos achieved his goal, but at great personal cost. He won but lost all at once. Likewise, Killmonger achieved some of his goals but failed at others, died but did it with dignity in his eyes; Hela brought was released from her bonds and gained power but didn’t wind up ruling Asgard as it was swallowed by Ragnarok; Zemo sowed discord and ripped the Avengers apart from the inside, but was prevented from shooting himself and joining his family.

[BONUS:] In some of my movie reviews i talk about the characters and their stories in relation to Joseph Campbell’s Heroic Monomyth. And, i dunno, i suppose it my complete emotional roller coaster watching this film along with all the geek out moments, i completely missed its inclusion in this, given that the beginning of the monomyth takes place before the beginning of this film. I was delighted to find it pointed out to me in this post by The Screen Junkies - The Dailies Facebook. It’s a really good breakdown of the way the writers (maybe intentionally) incorporated the Heroic Monomyth in Infinity War despite it featuring like 7000 characters and all of Hollywood. :)

#films i watched in 2018

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/sarah-troyer-talks-supernatural-athena-lopez-lifelong-fan/

Sarah Troyer talks 'Supernatural,' Athena Lopez and being a lifelong fan

I really enjoyed the recent Supernatural episode “Tombstone,” and not just because we got Dean Winchester back in cowboy garb (along with Castiel this time. Sorta). The episode had both humor and emotional resonance, which is how I like my Supernatural. It also had some interesting guest characters. I was especially taken with Athena Lopez, who isn’t your typical coroner – or your typical guest character, for that matter. So I reached out to Sarah Troyer, who brought the character to life and made her memorable even in one episode. Sarah had tweeted that she had watched the show since she was a kid, so it was a thrill to work on it – which let me know she has excellent taste in television. She agreed to answer a few questions so we all could get to know her better. Lynn: How was the character described to you or described in the breakdown? Sarah provided the description, which is always fascinating to me to see. Role: Athena Lopez 20s - early 30s, please include all ethnicities in your suggestions. This "Goth Rocker Betty Page" is a sexy, offbeat undertaker who has lived in an Old West cemetery her whole life...GUEST STAR (17) Lynn: What did you add to your understanding of Athena to ‘flesh out’ the characterization? Was there any backstory that you constructed other than the bits of information we got on the show? Sarah: After reading the script, I believed Athena to be a strong, determined character with a loving side to her. Although she may be seen as different (her style, music interests, job), she’s absolutely confident in who she is. I don’t think viewers got to see much of her office, but it was plastered with her favourite bands, artists, pin-up girls, etc. She definitely didn’t hide who she was. Secondly, she didn’t have much issue telling anyone off, whether it was Sam, Dean or Dave (one of my favourite things about her). However, I knew Athena had a loving side, and I tried to keep that in mind so she didn’t become too brash or even standoffish. When she finds out Dave robbed a bank and murdered someone, I didn’t think she could just flip him the bird and say have a nice life. I think there would be a lot of confusion and mixed feelings in a situation like that, a moral dilemma. She loved Dave and was with him for so long, she thought she knew him but now he’s turned into someone she doesn’t know – who is he really? She should walk away but it’s hard to walk away from someone you have so much love and history with. I reflected on my own relationship and tried to play it as honestly as I could. So maybe I didn’t give her much of a backstory, but I read in between the lines of the script to add little details about who she was and her thought process behind each of her actions. Lynn: Actually I think all that thought you put into making sense of her motivations and emotions totally came through. I had a feeling that you had put time into figuring Athena out, and that’s why she came across as a fleshed out character who grabbed my attention. One of the things that made Athena appealing was that she seemed to be in a relationship with a guy who was just a bit too possessive and controlling, who sometimes seemed to ignore her boundaries, and yet she also seemed drawn to him. In other words, she seemed very real – I think many of us, as women, have been in those situations. Was this dynamic something you played up? (Because some of your subtle choices really showed Athena’s ambivalence about Dave’s way of showing his affection). Sarah: Dave giving Athena a slap on the behind and her standing up to him was a playful dynamic between the two of them, in my opinion. If it wasn’t, she wouldn’t have given him a big grin and a kiss. However, I do think we see Dave’s manipulative, possessive side when he says “we got it good here, why do you want to mess that up?” causing Athena to falter and second-guess herself and her wants. Lynn: Definitely. Sarah: Unfortunately, we all can get into relationships with someone who we think wants the best for us when in reality only wants what’s best for them, i.e., Dave only wants to move once it becomes in his best interest, faking his support for Athena’s dream. Athena’s blind to his manipulations because she cares for Dave and believes he does too. This further plays into her confusion as to what to do when it comes out that Dave robbed a bank and killed someone. Lynn: And you’re right, that’s realistic. I think we’ve all been there, and I’ve certainly worked with lots and lots of clients who were struggling to let go of a long-term relationship when it became clear the other person didn’t have their best interest in mind. I also wanted to ask Sarah about Athena because to me; she really had that ‘fangirl’ vibe. And Sarah had tweeted that she watched the show before she got the audition, so she was a fan herself. Lynn: Supernatural has had quite a few female characters who fans related to because they seemed like ‘fangirl’ type characters, including Athena. We meet her when she’s dressed in a way that many Supernatural fangirls might dress, and she’s clearly a music fan. I think that might be why I was drawn to the character and wanted to know more. Was that something you were conscious of in playing her since you said you’ve been watching the show for years? Sarah: I mainly focused on script analysis and scene work when developing Athena but I’m over the moon that I could play a character that so many Supernatural fans relate to. I know I always appreciate seeing female characters that have more to offer than their looks. I think Supernatural does a great job of giving their female characters more dimension and character. Lynn: I agree, the Show has gotten so much better at that. Were you aware of the Supernatural fandom and how much of a force it has been over the past thirteen years? Sarah: As a Supernatural fan, I knew of the fandom. I’m not overly active on social media so I never knew its force. But after tweeting about my role, I definitely felt it. What an amazing, loving, inclusive fandom! Everyone is so positive and supportive. Apart from a great cast and crew, no wonder the show has gone on so long! All the love from the supernatural fandom keeps it going. I feel so blessed to have received some of that love <3 Lynn: When did you start watching the show and would you consider yourself a fan? Sarah: I’ve been watching the show since season 1! I would watch and re-watch episodes like crazy. Sometimes I still do - some of the more comedic episodes especially. When I was about 13, on a soccer trip to Vancouver (I’m originally from Calgary), I was praying that I might see the boys driving the impala, or get to meet them. [caption id="attachment_51526" align="aligncenter" width="420"] Source: Sarah Troyer Twitter[/caption] Lynn: How was it working on the show you’ve viewed as a fan? I know that the first time I went on the Supernatural set as a journalist/writer, I was very aware that I was a fan, and it made me much more nervous than I would ordinarily be! Sarah: In the past, working with big name actors I’ve always kept my cool but not this time. I was incredibly nervous! The first day I barely spoke two words to Jared and Jensen. I had no idea what to say, and was nervous that I would say something stupid – which I did, but the guys were great about it. Richard Speight (the trickster) was even on set one day and I just sat in my chair keeping my eyes averted – I’m such a big fan of his! Still kicking myself for not chatting with him. Lynn: Oh no, he’s so awesome too! Hopefully he’ll read this and know you were fangirling him from afar. Or from close up. So can you share some behind the scenes insights from filming the scene with Jared and Alex? Your delivery of the ‘did his parents sign a permission slip’ line was priceless. Sarah: The guys were great! Alex kept mostly to himself but was ready to work whenever we were rolling. Jared was, of course, improvising funny lines and keeping everyone laughing. I hope some of it makes the blooper reel! Everyone was very inclusive and we all joked around with one another on set. At the end of the first day Jared gave me a big hug. The whole experience was amazing. I can’t get over what a positive experience it was. Lynn: Can you share some behind the scenes insights from filming the scene with Jensen and (guest star) Eric where they finally kill ‘Dave’? Were you there to watch Jensen come tumbling out of that hole in the wall, or was that filmed on a separate day? Sarah: That was a cool day on set. I love filming scenes with multiple characters. Everyone coming together adds a whole other aspect and feel. With the scene creepily lit, the gunshot, the blood and everyone’s different energies the scene definitely felt more intense. Lynn: I’m guessing the blood splatter wasn’t all that much fun, but it came off perfectly. How was that done? Sarah: I’m always happy to do the nitty-gritty part of the job. In Wynonna Earp I got to do my own roll and drag stunt so the blood splatter was a walk in the park! Very simple, I sat in my chair and the special effects team used a spray gun. The first take, the splatter wasn’t enough so I had to quickly wash off and change into another set of clothes for a second take. Luckily we go it the second time round! Lynn: I got to know Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as I interviewed them for my first few books, almost a decade ago, and when they wrote chapters in my most recent book, which let me get to know them in a different way. I’ve been consistently impressed with how much they care about this show and these characters, even 13 seasons in. I’ve also seen them goof off on set until the last possible second. What was your experience like working with them? Sarah: Oh exactly that! Lots of laughs. I believe a big portion of one day was finding crazy gifs of Jared and Jensen. Lynn: That could definitely fill a day. Or two. Or a hundred. Your IMDB says you’re also a composer – is your first love acting or music? Sarah: Acting for sure! Although in my upcoming short film I get to act, sing and I composed the main theme song. [caption id="attachment_51523" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Source: Sarah Troyer Twitter[/caption] Lynn: What’s coming up for you that you're excited about? Sarah: This December (2017) the short film Under Pressure will be released. I get to play the lead character, Sophie, a struggling musician. I’m super excited about this project as I feel many artists will relate to Sophie. Secondly, I have been writing music for a while but have never shared it - Under Pressure will be the debut of my first song! It will be available for download on Renegade Productions’ website and iTunes. Lynn: That’s awesome, congrats! I’ll be on the lookout for Under Pressure – and hope to see you back on Supernatural one of these days too. I’ve said it many times, but one of these days I’m going to send a gigantic fruit basket to the people who do the casting for my favorite show because they find the best people – main cast and guest actors. Keep it up, folks! Check Out Our 2017 Holiday Gift Guides: [abcf-grid-gallery-custom-links id="50643"]

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