#rapture tribune

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Benjamin Sisko

By Ames

We’ve segued so smoothly into Deep Space Nine for our character spotlights here on A Star to Steer Her By that you didn’t even notice it. Thank you, Worf. So this week we’re doing an in-depth look at one of the more complex lead characters of a Trek series, Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. He might be the leader who gets tested the most out of any of our main stars, and he makes probably the most wide-ranging decisions – though typically that decision is “let’s see how this goes.”

From first contacts with the Gamma Quadrant, to yet another standoff with Klingons, to full blown Dominion War, to whatever was going on with the wormhole aliens, Ben’s got a long list of moments for us to consider. So grab yourself a bowl of jambalaya, hop in your solar sail ship, and maybe get a little war crimes as a treat! Scroll on below for our Sisko spotlight and listen to a ton of spare moments on this week’s podcast (jump through the wormhole to 1:04:00). Ow!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

There’s no hurry Our first contact with beings from the Gamma Quadrant is also DS9’s first breaking of the Prime Directive. In “Captive Pursuit,” Miles is trying desperately to save Tosk from his hunters and Sisko is doing his best to technically stay within the rules, and it’s a rare success of doing both. Telling Odo to take his time in apprehending O’Brien shows that Sisko is coming from a place of real morality.

Find something you love, then do it the best you can We could name great moments between Ben and his son all day, but there’s more to our list than that, so let’s sum things up with a perfectly pure moment of excellent parenting from “Shadowplay.” Sisko is immediately accepting of Jake not wanting to follow in his footsteps and join Starfleet, and melts our hearts. Doing something he loves and being true to himself is far more important than legacy.

Cardassians love cosmetic surgery Appropriately, we watched Enterprise’s “Judgment” on the podcast this week and spent most it comparing it to The Undiscovered Country and “Tribunal.” When O’Brien is on trial in Cardassian kangaroo court and his lawyer is doing nothing to defend him, Sisko walks in with an undercover Cardassian spy in tow and wins the whole thing without saying a word. Like a badass.

Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi We brought this up last week in our Worf chat too, but there’s a general racism towards the Ferengi all through Deep Space Nine. Quark calls Sisko out for it in “The Jem’Hadar” when Sisko and he are butting heads, and by the end of the episode, Sisko has seen Quark in a new light and refuses to leave him behind because Sisko got over some his prejudice (at least a little bit).

I’ll see that you get that chance Speaking of that prejudice against our lobed friends, everyone and their moogie is dubious when Nog claims he wants to join Starfleet in “Heart of Stone,” which would be a first for a Ferengi. But when Nog tells Sisko that he’s serious and looking for a life that will earn him real respect, the commander takes him at his word and vouches for him, putting in motion one of the best character arcs in Trek.

Some taboos are made to be broken Throughout the series, the relationships between characters are probably the strongest in Trek, and a true highlight is watching Sisko with his old/new friend Jadzia Dax. It’s such a beautiful scene in the equally beautiful “Rejoined” when Ben tells her that he’d still support her if she decides to break Trill taboo and hook back up with Lenara Khan. He’s that good a friend.

Don’t you see, Admiral? You’re fighting the wrong war. Around season 4, the show really tests Sisko with some ethical conundrums during the Dominion War. This is one he passes with flying colors. In “Paradise Lost,” Sisko is able to see his old mentor and silver medal winner from Jake’s Evil Admirals list, James Leyton, for what he really is: a megalomaniac who uses the Changeling threat as an excuse to incite a coup. Until Ben steps in!

Presenting the newest honoree in the Order of the Bat’leth It takes a certain level of crazy to think you can infiltrate the best warriors the Klingons have to offer, and luck for us, Captain Sisko is just that level of crazy. Avery Brooks seems oddly at home portraying a blood-thirsty Klingon being inducted into the Order of the Bat’leth in “Apocalypse Rising,” and even better, he and Odo (mostly Odo) expose Changeling Martok!

Don’t let Bajor in the Federation! We say it all the time on the podcast and today is no different: Bajor is NOT ready for Federation membership, no matter what Picard says. So when Sisko goes fully nuts after getting zapped by a plinth in “Rapture” and crashes the Federation membership ruling, we are fully supportive of his absolute batshit meddling. And ya know what, it works out for Bajor because of it!

Sisko, you’re baby crazy Any time Sisko is with a baby is truly joyful. This from a podcast of self-professed non-baby people. But this man’s mirth is so pure we’ve got to give it to him. Avery Brooks isn’t even acting in “Children of Time” when he dandles that baby, or in “The Abandoned” when he’s nostalgic about Jake as a baby, or in “Heart of Stone” when he’s delighted that Vilixpran is budding. This man just loves babies.

Let’s pretend that the Major’s not even here… By season 6, Gul Dukat is at his lowest point – he’s lost the station, his daughter is dead, and he’s more nuts than Ben in “Rapture”! And Captain Sisko plays him like a fiddle! “Waltz” is such an amazing showcase of acting talent, with Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo bouncing off each other like pros. Sisko pushes his Cardassian counterpart over the edge and survives the cave of madness, some-freaking-how!

The Emissary has completed his task Sisko’s final action in this corporeal plane is also the climax of the whole series, culminating the wormhole alien plot that was started at the very beginning. And while we may whine that the Kosst Amojen plotline in “What We Leave Behind” felt rushed at the end, we have to admit that it’s cathartic to have the Emissary make a huge sacrifice to take out the pah-wraiths in the series finale.

—

Worst moments

This is how you hold a grudge Interestingly, the first taste we get of the jambalaya-slinging commander is him being bitter and fickle in the series premiere, “Emissary.” The show immediately introduces him being a dick to Picard, stewing with rage over Locutus’s part in the Battle at Wolf 359 (as if Picard had any control of that!). He also clearly doesn’t want to be in command of the station, starting him off with character conflict that the series will build on.

If I hear of you hanging around with him… Continuing our running gag that the only alien species the show seems to think it’s okay to be racist against is the Ferengi we brought up last week with Worf, we see more instances of it from Sisko early in season one in “A Man Alone.” When Ben basically tells Jake to not hang around with Nog anymore, it’s flavored with that anti-Ferengi racism we’re sadly accustomed to.

When in the Mirror Universe, do as the Mirror Universe people do We have a lot of issues with how DS9 trots out the mirror universe all the time, and it’s at its most uncomfortable when Sisko goes over there and sleeps with his friends’ counterparts in “Through the Looking Glass.” Sure, there’s not much you can do when Intendant Kira sets her sights on you, but it’s simply wrong to take advantage of Mirror Jadzia, regardless of how hot she is.

Abusing your power is so romantic Sisko is so blinded by love in “For the Cause” that he ignores all the signs that his girlfriend Kasidy has been aiding the Maquis. And then Ben abuses his power as commander of the station to get her out of an inspection when she bats her eyes at him, which is straight-up unethical. As we’ll see, Sisko tends to make terrible decisions when the Maquis are involved…

Red – the blood of angry men Arguably the most immoral acts that Sisko commits are the war crimes in “For the Uniform.” Even after Starfleet tries to take him off the Maquis assignment, Sisko’s obsession with taking out Eddington has gotten so personal that it clouds ALL his judgment. If we gave Picard grief about removing the residents of Dorvan V, then we’ve got to rake Sisko over the coals for POISONING A PLANET and relocating more people!

Prophets, take the wheel! Half our Worst Moments come from the last two seasons when Sisko is tested more than any other Trek captain due to the Dominion War. And so often, he chooses the messed up response. I am still trying to figure out his Hail Mary play in “Sacrifice of Angels” when he flies headlong into the wormhole against thousands of ships and ends up asking the wormhole aliens to do a literal deus ex machina for him. Leeeeroy! Jennnnkins!

What’s a better response to a “Yo Mama” joke than this? I shat on this one in our time travel post, but Sisko using his status as Emissary to let Kira play with the Orb of Time in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night” because Dukat banged her mom and then gabbed to her about it is absolutely incompetent of him! Why anyone has access to that thing is incomprehensible because it just begs for time shenanigans!

I can live with it… because Vreenak can’t Arguably one of Deep Space Nine’s best episodes, “In the Pale Moonlight” forces Sisko to make the hardest decision a Starfleet officer has to make – and he jumps at the chance to pick the option involving committing more war crimes. While it is a huge benefit to get the Romulans on your side, Sisko knowingly accomplishes this through lies, counterfeiting, bribery, murder, and most damning of all: enlisting the help of Elim Garak!

Sisko SMASH! Here’s another instance when Ben abuses his power, this time in order to get access to an ancient artifact from Bajor in “The Reckoning.” And what does the Emissary do once he’s borrowed the tablet without asking permission, promising to take good care of it and that he’ll return it first thing in the morning? He destroys it utterly in a fit of rage, releasing some spirits that nearly gets Jake and Kira killed.

Pick a lane, Ben I will always give Sisko guff about this. In “Accession,” he has accepted his role as Emissary to the prophets while he’s already serving as commander of Deep Space Nine, and frankly, Ben, you can’t be both! It’s a HUGE conflict of interest. In “Tears of the Prophets,” Admiral Ross gives him some hell for this when he’s torn between the Prophets and Starfleet, and he’s right! Step down!

You’re outta here! “Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is a polarizing episode that fans either love or hate (even your SSHB hosts are mixed!), but you’ve got to admit: Sisko is a terrible baseball coach! He forces all of this senior staff to play a baseball game in the middle of wartime, cancels his girlfriend’s shipments to make her to play too, kicks Rom off the team, gets obsessively competitive about it, and then gets himself thrown out anyway! How many strikes was that?

They warned you that marrying me would bring you sorrow Finally, we are still cross with Sisko for knocking up Kasidy. In “The Dogs of War,” Kasidy tells him she’s pregnant because he forgot to take his contraception, even though Bashir is constantly reminding him! This is a world in which having children should always be a choice because future contraceptives are basically magic, AND he’s been told that he’s basically cursed, so take your damn meds, jackwit.

—

Well, we can live with it. We can live with it. We’ve also got more DS9 character spotlights on the way if you keep watching this blog, more Enterprise watch-throughs on the way if you keep listening to us on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, and more announcements from Ops over on Facebook and Twitter. Computer, erase that entire personal log.

[sjax001]

The answer.

‘I can feel His love for humanity,’ said Mathieu. ‘I can feel it all around me!’ He hesitated in his rapture. ‘Tell me, oh lord regent, truthfully – does the Emperor love us, my lord? Do not say I am wrong!’ The Emperor loves no one man, thought Guilliman. He cannot afford affection – that is the honest practical for the impossible task that faces the Master of Mankind. He did not love His sons, He does not love men, but He does love mankind. Yet I find it hard to forgive Him. Did His solution have to be built on lies? Lies upon lies?

……

‘My lord,’ said Mathieu into the primarch’s silence. ‘Please tell me, does the Emperor love us?’ We are so much more like you than you ever intended, thought Guilliman. You gave too much of yourself to us. Without realising, in your arrogance, you made yourself a father in truth. We are your sons, in every way. Did you see that? ‘My lord?’ said Mathieu ‘The Emperor loves us all,’ lied Roboute Guilliman. He looked over the broken statue and the few remains of the clock. ‘Now leave me be, Mathieu. I must consult with the tribune and the tetrarch. ’

——  Dark Imperium

Leodegarius, Pasanius and Cheiron left, leaving Uriel and the Lord of the Unfleshed  alone  in  the  ward.  The  creature  he  had  attempted  to  rescue  from  a  hideous  life  of  death and misery knelt before the bed of the man who had enslaved him and his tribe  and wept.   Uriel  could  not  begin  to  imagine  the  horror  the  memory  of  what  it  had  been  forced to do would be like, and did not intrude on the Lord of the Unfleshed’s grief  with mere words.   At last, the creature looked up and his gaze fastened on Uriel.   “Unfleshed did very bad things,” he said.   “No,” said Uriel. “All that hatred and killing, it was not you.”   “Yes, it was. We did it. My hand bloody. Tribe’s hands bloody. I saw blood and I tasted blood. Unfleshed bad.”   “No,” repeated Uriel. “Unfleshed not bad. You were used. It wasn’t your fault.”   “Emperor must hate us even more now.”   “He does not hate you,” said Uriel. “The Emperor loves you. Look.” Uriel  pointed  to  an  aquila  fashioned  from  beaten  steel  hanging  on  the  wall,  the  earliest dawn light from a window opposite shining upon it and making it gleam like  silver.   The Lord of the Unfleshed looked up at the gleaming eagle, his reflection thrown  back  at  him.  As  Uriel  looked  at  the  distorted  image,  it  appeared  to  ripple  like  the  surface of a lake, and he found himself looking at the reflection of a handsome young  boy, his face alight with youthful mischief.   The Lord of the Unfleshed gave a cry as he too saw the image. “Emperor loves me!”   Uriel moved to stand behind the Lord of the Unfleshed and raised the psycannon  Leodegarius had given him.   “Yes, the Emperor loves you,” said Uriel, and pulled the trigger.

————The Killing Ground

[candleiite]

I forgot who posted this but whoever on here said that the character we should worry about the most when it comes to fandom sexyman treatment after the bioshock netflix adaptation comes out is stanley is absolutely right because at least with the other candidates like atlas or sinclair or booker I can at least see the vision behind it. I'd even somewhat understand if it was cohen. but if you put a gun to my head and tell me to do the same with Stanley Poole, Writer For The Rapture Tribune I would ask you to tell my family I love them

[spacefinch]

A list of Star Trek episode titles that are one word each:

TOS:

Miri

Arena

Catspaw

Metamorphosis

Obsession

TNG:

Justice

Haven

Datalore

Symbiosis

Conspiracy

Contagion

Manhunt

Evolution

Allegiance

Sarek

Family

Brothers

Legacy

Reunion

Clues

Qpid

Redemption

Darmok

Disaster

Unification

Violations

Conundrum

Ethics

Relics

Schisms

Rascals

Aquiel

Tapestry

Birthright

Lessons

Suspicions

Timescape

Decent

Liaisons

Interface

Gambit

Phantasms

Attached

Inheritance

Parallels

Homeward

Masks

Genesis

Firstborn

Bloodlines

Emergence

DS9:

Babel

Dax

Vortex

Progress

Duet

Cardassians

Melora

Sanctuary

Rivals

Whispers

Paradise

Shadowplay

Crossover

Tribunal

Equilibrium

Meridian

Defiant

Destiny

Visionary

Explorers

Shakaar

Facets

Indiscretion

Rejoined

Crossfire

Accession

Rapture

Resurrection

Waltz

Inquisition

Valiant

Afterimage

Chrysalis

Covenant

Chimera

Penumbra

Voyager:

Caretaker

Parallax

Phage

Emanations

Cathexis

Faces

Jetrel

Initiations

Projections

Elogium

Twisted

Parturition

Tattoo

Maneuvers

Resistance

Prototype

Alliances

Threshold

Meld

Dreadnought

Lifesigns

Investigations

Deadlock

Innocence

Tuvix

Resolutions

Basics

Flashbacks

Remember

Warlord

Macrocosm

Coda

Unity

Darkling

Rise!

Displaced

Scorpion

Nemesis

Revulsion

Hunters

Prey

Retrospect

Unforgettable

Demon

One

Night

Drone

Timeless

Counterpoint

Gravity

Bliss

Juggernaut

Relativity

Warhead

Equinox

Alice

Riddles

Pathfinder

Virtuoso

Memorial

Tsunkatse

Collective

Fury

Imperfection

Drive

Repression

Nightingale

Shattered

Lineage

Repentance

Prophecy

Workforce

Q2

Homestead

Endgame

Enterprise

Unexpected

Civilization

Fusion

Acquisition

Oasis

Detained

Minefield

Marauders

Singularity

Dawn

Stigma

Canamar

Judgement

Horizon

Cogenitor

Regeneration

Bounty

Anomaly

Extinction

Rajiin

Impulse

Exile

Twilight

Similitude

Stratagem

Harbinger

Hatchery

Damage

Home

Borderland

Awakening

Kir’Shara

Daedalus

United

Affliction

Divergence

Bound

Demons

Discovery

Lethe

Brother

Scavengers

Su’Kal

Anomaly

Rubicon

Rosetta

Lower Decks

Envoys

Veritas

Grounded

Reflections

The Animated Series

Yesteryear

Bem

Albatross

Short Treks

Calypso

Runaway

Picard

Remembrance

Nepenthe

Penance

Assimilation

Watcher

Monsters

Mercy

Farewell

Disengage

Imposters

Dominion

Surrender

Võx

Strange New Worlds (so far)

Charades

[moonmaidensblessing]

Jasmine Jolene x Anna Culpepper / BioShock AU / pt. 1

I originally got this idea from this post talking about different BioShock AUs! The idea of Jasmine and Ryan getting married to save face and have Ryan an heir is really interesting to me. Of course, I took it in a sapphic direction because of course I did. :) This is a scene where Jasmine shares the news to her closest friend, Anna Culpepper, who is not happy about the situation. 

TW. alcohol use, pregnancy mention, general distressing tone. 

“I… I told him!” 

There was a shock like crackling thunder, ripping through the senses. “What?!”

“I told him I was pregnant!”

“Jasmine!” Anna felt breathless as she reflexively gripped Jasmine’s arms, held her as if she might suddenly slip away from her, out of grasp. Jasmine didn’t look right. Anna felt sick.

“Anna…” Bracing for the worst, Anna stared in wide-eyed horror, watching for something to make sense of it in Jasmine’s face. She waited for the punch, the wind to be knocked out of her, the worst thing finally to come true. “He.. proposed.” 

Like a freight train, wailing horns and grinding wheels and screaming metal and then everything stopped. 

“He.. he wants me to marry him, Anna.” 

Anna Culpepper was speechless, absolutely floored. Her grasp on Jasmine didn’t relax as she held her now as if to study her, as if she may just be out of her senses. Naive, helpless Jasmine. Her Jasmine. Maybe she was just confused. Something might have been misunderstood. Anna couldn’t believe it. She felt her brow furrow, concern cresting itself in her expression, slowly shaking her head.

“Jasmine… Are you sure?” 

There was a dazed gleam in Jasmine Jolene’s eyes as if she was not in this world but her own dream. Something else, too. Something that made Anna’s stomach turn, a creeping fear in her countenance, like something wasn’t right. Jasmine didn’t seem certain, her tainted happiness, an obscure sense of doom beneath a porcelain facade. “He told me we needed to be married. That’s what he told me, Anna. He said: we should be married as soon as possible.”   

The sick churned and made Anna all the more tense. No, this wasn’t right. It didn’t make any sense. Andrew Ryan never was a good part of Jasmine’s life, killing her chances at reaching her dreams, using her and never seeming to consider her a real, feeling person. Stringing her along all these years just for his own pleasure. Anna couldn’t stand the way Andrew Ryan treated Jasmine. Not to mention his hypocritical nature undermining his whole scheme for utopia. Andrew Ryan was a man who got lucky in order to gain wealth, and who couldn’t see the faults for his own ego. Anna’s favor of the man only fell rapidly over her time living in Rapture. She had seen enough of his true colors to know he wasn’t a reliable leader who would put his needs over his own values. An intensely individualistic capitalist was selfish. Go figure. 

Jasmine smiled softly, weakly. The blue color of her eyes was like misty puddles, welling with an emotion both wistful and sad. Anna didn’t understand what Jasmine was feeling, but she was apprehensive of her anyhow. 

“I know you must not understand… It’s okay. I wanted to tell you as soon as I could.” Jasmine brought her own hands up on Anna’s arms and gently urged them back to her sides. Yes, that little, light smile playing itself beautifully on Jasmine’s lips made Anna’s heart ache. The ache deepened as Jasmine went on. “I wanted you to hear it from me, and not in a gossip column in the Rapture Tribune. I’ll be moving into his apartments tomorrow, and I wanted to see you before I left.” 

Anna Culpepper felt like she had been dealt a blow, shocked and trying to grapple with what Jasmine was saying. It wasn’t what she had been expecting when Jasmine came over to her own luxury accommodations in Olympus Heights. It wasn’t like Jasmine was going to be far away, but under Andrew Ryan’s thumb, furthering his control over her, it made Anna afraid for Jasmine. She knew it wasn’t the right choice, that it would only lead to further ruin for Jasmine, but Anna didn’t know if she’d be able to convince her to break this off. Never had Anna been more worried for Jasmine than she was at this moment. 

“Jasmine, honey, please listen to me. You can’t do this. This isn’t going to end well…”

Jasmine made a small scoffing noise in spite of her pretty, tightening smile, a hardness, a guardedness, coming up into her gaze. “I know you don’t like him. I know you don’t trust him. But, this time, it was different. Please, hear me out! It was different this time, the way he acted was so serious, a seriousness I’ve never seen in him before!”

“Jasmine…” Anna began, practically pleading, shutting her eyes and dropping her arms in a defeated defiance. “I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in here.”

Jasmine lost her smile in pained disappointment, a wounded thing closing in on itself. Anna felt the ache deepen and cleave in half; she wanted to grab Jasmine again, hold her close to her, promise her that she just wanted to protect her! As Jasmine suddenly turned away, Anna frowned and sighed, submitting and balancing herself off of Jasmine’s reaction to a less assertive route in approaching her. The statuesque blonde woman took a few paces away from Anna, a soft sway to her gait that kept Anna’s eyes following her. Jasmine’s grace was effortless, an elegant creature of long dancer’s limbs and glittering eyes and smile and white-blonde hair. She was unreal, out of this world beautiful, and her whole being was as sincere and sweet as could be. Anna couldn’t stand to be the cause of making Jasmine frown, but she wasn’t about to let something bad happen to Jasmine. 

“Why are you saying things like that? I thought you might be glad for me. I’ve been in love with him for so, so long. I thought I’d never be with the great love of my life. Now’s my chance, Anna! Maybe, this was actually a good thing…” 

Anna couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she didn’t react so strongly, keeping a clamp on her overwhelming feeling of dread. “Jasmine.. Are you sure about this? We were just talking about breaking things off with him. What changed? Aren’t you worried?”

There it was again; the flash of uncertainty troubled her lovely face, stealing the focus of her stare as she brooded with unknown thoughts. Anna wanted to stroke Jasmine’s hair until she calmed back down, assure her that things were going to be alright. She feared she didn’t actually know if that was true. 

“No. I thought, as soon as I found out, that I should tell him. I was… scared. I didn’t want to tell him at first. But, after a while, I started to feel more and more urged to tell him. I wanted him to know. I wanted to see what he’d look like if I told him. It was.. Unlike anything I’ve seen before. He looked calm, a lightness about his movements that didn’t come from his confidence and ease… No, something changed in him when I told him. I saw it.”

“And you trust it? You trust him now?” The challenge in her voice began and, noticing it, softened. She didn’t want to drive Jasmine away, not now. She couldn’t stand the thought of her leaving here without hearing what Anna needed to say. 

Jasmine looked gently offended, a pained frown and sad eyes.“You don’t think I can take care of myself? You don’t trust me?”

“Jasmine–” I love you. I do trust you. I don’t trust him, and I never will. Anna wanted to confess, drop at her feet and beg her not to do this. It felt like madness, like some trip through the looking glass into a world where suddenly things didn’t make sense to her. “--Please, I’m simply worried about you! You told me you were so afraid of him finding out, scared to death, Jasmine! You were sitting right here, crying your eyes out! What do you expect of me?” Anna ran her fingers through her short, dark, curly hair, creating a wildness to her look. She stood clenched in her crimson, silk peignoir, still damp from her recent bath. Anna had been alone before. Or, so she thought…

“I know, I remember…” That troubled look, closing her eyes as if that might dispel the memory. “But, please, trust me. I want this. I know what I’m doing.” 

She was turning away again, lingering away from Anna, keeping a level of distance between them that hurt Anna to notice. Her paces took her along the room, towards the farthest wall; the wall was made of thick, heavy glass through which the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean shined with a deep blue that magically turned the room into a cool, dreamy oasis. Anna’s apartment was among the elite of Rapture, reflecting her love and appreciation for beauty and elegance. Many times, she and Jasmine spent time together here, even before Jasmine moved on up into the same neighborhood. They had known each other practically since she first came to Rapture. Anna instantly took a liking to Jasmine, and they had hit it off right away. Anna was a dedicated and loyal friend once you won her over, and she would go to great lengths to help the ones she cared for. Jasmine was the closest friend she had in Rapture, and she would be damned before she let the likes of Andrew Ryan destroy Jasmine’s life. This had gone too far. 

“Jasmine…” Anna tried to offer something, think of something to say that would make her see the danger that lurked. The silence teetered for several moments, and, with nothing else to say, she simply smirked and crooned, “Let’s have a drink.” 

Jasmine hesitated for only a moment. They both knew neither one enjoyed a long, drawn-out fuss. They hardly argued, but when they did it was always intense but quick. The smile returned to her face like two curved petals, tender and fleeting. Her eyes were weary but persistent, that spirit that shone in her despite it all, falling deep into her stare like freefall in a cloudless sky. The look was like a touch, gentle palm cupping cheek, an apology, or maybe a truce. 

“I’ll drink with you, but just club soda.” She said this now as she peeled the white gloves from her hands and put them into her handbag, following Anna as she made her way to a gilded, geometric bar cart all glittering and gold with its menagerie of bottles. Anna loved exotic booze, and she wasn’t going to let living at the bottom of the ocean ruin that… 

“Club soda? Are you on a diet again?” Anna chimed curiously as she handled three crystal glasses, ice twinkling against the glass as she lined them along a nearby credenza. She lingered a moment before she selected the liquor she preferred for the night, a fruity rum from Cuba that cost more than she was willing to admit. The third glass fizzed with a burst of club soda, dribbling and popping with froth. 

As Jasmine approached, Anna turned with two glasses in her hands; a playful look, the two women exchanged mischievous glances. “Why did you make three?”

Anna chuckled richly, a sparkle to her brown gaze that lit up her entire demeanor. That special magic she had was coming to shine: the show-woman, the powerhouse, the diva. Her laugh could fill up the room like light, infectious as Jasmine smiled wider in genuine amusement. 

“One’s for the baby, of course.” Immediately, she drained one of the glasses with a hearty eagerness that made one wonder if she truly was celebrating or snubbing out her anxieties. When drained, she placed it, ice glittering against glass as it moved, upon the credenza once more. She took the club soda that was standing by and handed it to Jasmine; a tingle danced up her arms as the two met eyes as Jasmine’s smile filled up her lovely face. Like the face of the moon, all dazzling and pearlescent, soft pink cheeks and lips framed by the sleek, curled hair. Anna could’ve kissed her, over and over, like reuniting with a lost treasure, like something precious that could slip away.

Jasmine took the drink gratefully, tipped the glass in the style of a toast. “Cheers.” She hummed before taking a sip. 

The two women settled upon a nearby couch, crushed velvet in rich burgundy, and nursed their drinks respectively. A tall, green palm fanned and shaded them from the glow of an elegant, vibrantly colored lamp overhead. The blues of the sealight and warm white-gold of the lamp met and softly blended into a cool, dreamy haze that complimented the lush colors of the furniture and walls. 

Jasmine and Anna sat in silence for several moments, the tension between them lessening into a calm lull of mutual respect and care; neither one could stay angry at the other for long. Jasmine knew Anna cared about her. Anna understood that Jasmine was free to make her own choices. They held a healthy boundary with one another most of the time, very rarely crossing a line out of genuine affection for one another. Anna knew she would need to cross a line tonight if she was going to save Jasmine. She was going to try and do it as gently as possible. 

[theygotlost]

Every episode of Star Trek DS9 ranked by me and @gar-trek (video)

Text version:

S TIER: Civil Defense, Rejoined, Bar Association, Trials and Tribble-ations, The Ship, The Ascent, The Magnificent Ferengi, Far Beyond the Stars, Change of Heart, Take Me Out to the Holosuite, It's Only a Paper Moon

A TIER: Babel, Rules of Acquisition, Necessary Evil, Rivals, Crossover, The House of Quark, Fascination, Past Tense parts 1 and 2, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, Family Business, Little Green Men, Our Man Bashir, Hard Time, Body Parts, Let He Who is Without Sin, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light, Business as Usual, Empok Nor, Rocks and Shoals, Behind the Lines, Favor the Bold, You Are Cordially Invited, Waltz, One Little Ship, In the Pale Moonlight, Treachery Faith and the Great River, The Emperor's New Cloak, Field of Fire, Badda-Bing Badda-Bang

B TIER: Emissary, Move Along Home, The Nagus, The Storyteller, The Forsaken, In the Hands of the Prophets, The Siege, Invasive Procedures, Melora, Armageddon Game, Whispers, Paradise, Profit and Loss, Tribunal, The Jem'Hadar, The Search parts 1 and 2, Visionary, Through the Looking Glass, Explorers, The Adversary, Hippocratic Oath, Indiscretion, Starship Down, Rules of Engagement, To the Death, Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places, Nor the Battle Too Strong, The Assignment, The Begotten, Doctor Bashir I Presume, Ferengi Love Songs, In the Cards, Call to Arms, A Time to Stand, Sacrifice of Angels, Resurrection, Who Mourns for Morn?, Honor Among Thieves, Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night, His Way, Valiant, The Siege of AR-558, Penumbra, Tacking into the Wind

C TIER: Captive Pursuit, Vortex, Battle Lines, Progress, Accession, The Alternate, Playing God, Blood Oath, The Wire, The Collaborator, Second Skin, The Abandoned, Heart of Stone, Prophet Motive, The Sword of Kahless, Sons of Mogh, Shattered Mirror, The Quickening, Apocalypse Rising, Things Past, The Darkness and the Light, Ties of Blood and Water, Sons and Daughters, Children of Time, The Sound of Her Voice, Afterimage, Prodigal Daughter, Chimera, Till Death Do Us Part, Strange Bedfellows, The Changing Face of Evil, When It Rains, The Dogs of War

D TIER: Past Prologue, Q-Less, Dax, If Wishes Were Horses, Cardassians, Second Sight, Shadowplay, Equilibrium, Meridian, Life Support, Distant Voices, Shakaar, The Visitor, Homefront, Paradise Lost, Crossfire, Rapture, A Simple Investigation, Time's Orphan, Image in the Sand, Shadows and Symbols, Once More Unto the Breach, Covenant, What We Leave Behind

F TIER: The Maquis parts 1 and 2, Defiant, The Muse, For the Cause, For the Uniform, Blaze of Glory, Statistical Improbabilities, Inquisition, The Reckoning, The Tears of the Prophets, Chrysalis, Profit and Lace, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, Extreme Measures

Don't remember well enough to have an opinion even after reading the plot summary: A Man Alone, The Passenger, Dramatis Personae, Duet, The Homecoming, The Circle, Sanctuary, Destiny, The Way of the Warrior, Return to Grace, Broken Link, Soldiers of the Empire

[vvatchword]

Metamorphosis

When Dr. Lamb published Metamorphosis, it was by her own hand. No publisher in Rapture would touch it.

“Why the hell did you come down here?” asked one, throwing the manuscript at her across his desk.

“It could not have been written had I not,” she said.

A simple cover in white linen. Embossed on the front, a jellyfish with its tentacles outflung, suggesting the shape of sun beaming down, and below, its larval stage, like a shining pearl.

“The chain of industry is characterized as a force outside of us,” wrote Dr. Lamb in her foreword, “but industry cannot and does not exist outside of human beings. Does industry form spontaneously from the earth? Does it emerge from any species other than our own? No. If it cannot exist outside of mankind, then mankind makes up its fabric, psychology, and utility, and it is foolish to ignore the donations of his time and body. Instead of representing the chain as a spiritual force above mankind, we are served better by imagining every link as an individual human life that exerts pressure on all its neighbors—a pressure which can be detected across the whole of the system itself.”

“Read at the Expense of Your Self!” wailed The Rapture Tribune.

“The Pinkos’ Little White Book!” howled The Rapture Daily Post.

“Eleanor Lamb’s Secret Father,” winked Do Tell!, which was, as always, ahead of the times.

Despite the cries of critics, the book was purchased in droves and ordered by bookstores all over Rapture. By the time the major publishers finally descended to beg forgiveness, Dr. Lamb had founded her own publisher and needed them no more. The little white building sat directly beside her own, churning out a hundred copies per day.

Most unconventional were the prices she exacted. For its wholesale price, she asked for $0.10 per book, well under market standards; from people, she asked what they would prefer to pay. “Free” was always an option.

“By demanding space between each other,” Dr. Lamb wrote, “we have only grown mad for human connection. Any promise of social interaction becomes as powerful as a drug; even the educated find themselves incapable of resisting the most questionable charlatans, and for such tawdry payment as ‘physical touch’ and ‘a listening ear.’ This physical need for touch, this psychological need for understanding, are basic requirements of every human body; not only do we ignore them at the peril of our individual emotional and physical wellbeings, we ignore them at the peril of our society’s.”

Andrew Ryan’s Sunday editorial spat acid.

“Beware the charlatan who rouges the words of science,” he wrote. “Prove that adult human beings require selflessness, Dr. Lamb: you will find a cash prize in your mailbox as soon as you do. Citizens: beware the morass of selfless living. Remember that to be selfless is to sell yourself to another’s service. And for what? The pitiful paycheck of social approbation? One must ask oneself: ‘What does Dr. Lamb gain from the sale of my soul?’”

Dr. Lamb’s editorial sprawled below his:

“Ryan is obsessed with the ‘tyrant.’ What is a tyrant? The tyrant is an individual who demands his wellbeing at the expense of all others; he suffers from the terror of victimization and the unpredictability of groups. When the tyrant views a world of plenty, he does not relax with the knowledge he shall be well; he glances aside at his fellow man and sees robbers. He fears he shall be excluded to the same extent that he would exclude them. Incapable of judging the true extent of his need and unwilling to try, he says, ‘All or nothing!’

“To the tyrant, selfishness is primarily viewed as a matter of survival: ‘If I have survived,’ he says, ‘it is because I have defeated others in order to perpetuate myself.’ Note that the tyrant describes his own manner of ascent; he does not explore alternative modes; he does not face down his own fears or heal his own psychological wounds. By fabricating a toxic environment where only he may prosper, he subjects a captive audience to his personal poison.”

In the first few weeks after the book was published, people could be seen wearing white hatbands or white ribbons on their arms—first by the handful; then the dozens; then the hundreds.

“All of us have dealt with the destructive nature of selflessness or we would not be here. Well do we understand the sacrifices demanded for the sakes of society, God, government, kings—always others, never ourselves. The erasure of our boundaries; strangers asking us to give and give and give even when we have nothing left; the theft of our time and our physical wellness and our labor with no acknowledgment or return. But if we can freely admit the failures of selflessness, we would be remiss if we did not examine those in selfishness. The true question is not which mode of thought is better; the question is, ‘In what context is it best utilized?’”

True Believers gathered on the street corners and watched her building, smoking cheap cigarettes.

“The astute reader will note that these beliefs are not limited to tyrants. Central to the philosophy is fear of attack and a citizenry at constant war with itself. But why should the philosophy fear attack in a modern society made up only of its constituents? Have we not invited only the best of mankind? Why, then, is it wrapped up in the terms of war? Who is fighting whom, and why? Why must all human interactions be defined by the brutality of battle? Why the expectation of destruction instead of that of diplomacy, friendship, communion, education, or art?

“And think of the outcome: for it is one thing to destroy the parasite—but here we destroy paragons, those who believe everything we hold dear, who possess incredible abilities and knowledge that might uplift us all—who, left to their own devices on the surface, might have brought that Sodom to some greater understanding.”

The buildings beside Lamb’s went up in white, one by one by one.

“How many geniuses toil here in obscurity? Have we taken them from the surface only to destroy them? What use is a destroyed glory? Who knows how many beautiful things we have lured down here to die? What use is the philosophy if it only benefits a few, if it upholds the monochrome monolith over the multi-faceted glories of ten thousand teeming brains? What happens when an environment has been tooled to benefit the few over the many?”

A pamphlet began passing around the Drop, ripped from the book and printed rogue by some starry-eyed stranger:

“The philosophy’s intent is to glorify the best in humankind. But what is the reality? It is this: the powerful destroys the powerless. What is the powerful? He who retains the most material goods, social currency, or physical strength—none of which depend on the quality of the idea, but the transmission of it.

“If the idea could come alone, by itself, and be instantly understood, this would be one thing; but all ideas come couched in human beings. Will a Negro scientist with poor diction and no funds fare better than a white Adonis with a charismatic disposition and a tycoon father? In my position, I have met many of the former and none of the latter.

“Why do we expect that the most excellent idea comes couched in power? Perhaps it is to justify the powerful class. Perhaps it is to justify the philosophy’s existence, to soothe our wounded consciousnesses, a survivor’s bias—to reassure ourselves that we have overcome because we have simply tried harder, cared more, possessed fewer vices. But how often does progress come as the dissenting voice, the voice of the small, the evidence we would prefer not to notice and can afford not to?

“In short, the powerless is not destroyed because he is incapable—far from it! No, the best idea might just as soon fall to a glib speaker who only excels in matters of speechcraft, to the more handsome and charming, or he who knows the boardmembers he begs for aid, or to he who crouches upon masses of pre-existing capital. The best idea cannot win until the philosophy acknowledges the natural formation of groups among human beings and deals accordingly.

“The astute reader might notice this: the powerful utilize the group and its mechanisms even as it is derided; the group is formed even as its influence is ignored.

“Why does the philosophy ignore the impact of the group?

“What is the philosophy but a philosophy of tyrants?”

UPRISING: BLACK SCRAPBOOK HUB

[missellaneousworks]

Here are some more old drawings of the La Loteria - Bioshock AU from a while back. In this AU, Bella is a restaurant critique turned investigative reporter for the Rapture Tribune.

Bella always had a nose for sniffing out trouble, if not diving headfirst into it. After someone very dear to her disappears without a trace, Bella throws herself into her work in order to uncover the truth behind the disappearances of Rapture's citizens.

[riserpturerise]

Rapture Tribune: 3

[sinkedparadise]

Nuestra trama “Guilty or Innocent?” ha finalizado, y con ello viene el primer número de Rapture Tribune. En los próximos meses se implementarán nuevas mejoras que podréis conseguir en la Tienda del foro.  Estad atento al post de pequeñas actualizaciones, donde avisaremos una vez se implementen.

[the-rapture-historian]

2K Games finally released something official for the BioShock franchise, it seems.

From what’s read in the article, previous rumours and “leaks” concerning a project called Parkside appear to be either false or information of something that wasn’t fully fleshed out at the time.

Here’s to Cloud Chamber and their work on the next installment of BioShock!

[matthewmiller49]

Seventy AD Eschatology

[neriad13]

Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con

Category: Gen

Fandom: BioShock 1 & 2 (Video Games)

Characters: Subject Delta (BioShock), Johnny Topside, Original Characters, Stanley Poole, Sullivan (BioShock), Andrew Ryan, Sofia Lamb, Kyburz (BioShock), Pablo Navarro, Harold Parson, Thomas (BioShock), Augustus Sinclair, Gilbert Alexander

Additional Tags: Male Friendship, Asexual Character, Aromantic Character, Historical References, Prison, ADHD Character, Found Family, Backstory, Sad Ending, Angst and Tragedy, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Drug Addiction, Suicidal Thoughts, Gun Violence, Panic Attacks, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Worldbuilding, Depression, Historically Accurate Memery

Language: English

Wordcount: 107,241

Chapters: 12/12

Summary:

Exclusive Interview - the Man Who ‘Discovered Atlantis’

Interviewed by Stanley Poole

You’ve seen the newsreel footage! Heard the rumors! Now hear the truth, straight from the horse’s mouth and only right here in the Rapture Tribune!

What is the real story behind the adventurer we call...Johnny Topside?

~Or~

You know the end of the story. But how it happened is a different matter entirely.

Nobody can look away from a good wreck.

[shelovescontrol91]

On his 14-track fourth album, Shawn Mendes is airy, grand, intense and rapturous. It is the sound of a man totally and hopelessly in love

San Diego Union Tribune

[toneelspeelster]

een klein leven/a little life theatre play review

someone asked me for a review on the a little life (een klein leven) stage play, and since i’ve seen it just today - here it is. i have a feeling it’s gonna be long.

now, one thing you have to know is that i think a little life is supremely difficult to translate into any medium. it’s very much a stream-of-consciousness experience, with flashbacks back and forth and imagery that i think wouldn’t at least work at all in a television or film adaptation. i think the best way of adapting it is theatre and this play did confirm that thought. it’s very close to the book language wise, and although i read it in english - i recognised literal passages in dutch. they translated long passages detailing each character’s background in long monologues and didn’t make it too difficult; it was all rather minimalistic. this play felt like reading the book. i think theatre is the only medium that explores the idea of “tell a lot, and show” a lot, whereas television benefits from “show, not tell” more. that said, i do think it’s kind of necessary to have some knowledge of the novel when watching this play. the flashbacks back and forth and still included, so when we think we’re done with brother luke after caleb, he still reappears. 

now, the play is set in the middle of a huge auditorium with tribunes on either side. what i found most striking of it is that they didn’t really change a lot of the sets, rather, everyone’s place was clearly there through the entire play. to the left were jb’s studio with his paintings (actual paintings! kinda ugly tho), malcolm with his miniatures (he was building them throughout the play), to the right were andy’s treatment room and harold’s kitchen (harold made actual dishes throughout the play that he distributed amongst the audience); in the middle, in the picture you can see willem’s space: a chair with a telephone and scripts (the actual script of the play was there! the actor was marking andy’s lines, lol) and lastly, most poignantly, since all of the characters had their space which made them happy.. there was jude’s: a lone faucet in the middle of the stage, surrounded by a red floor. 

now for the characters: there were rather little changes (you only got to know willem had a deceased brother at the very end, all of the wives and girlfriends were cut) but the most important i think are:

- jude is portrayed as way more angry and sarcastic at times than i remember him being. but then i do think that’s the consequence of bringing it to stage; the extremes need to be pronounced. he kept screaming his lungs out for brother luke and later willem not to leave him (amazing scene was when he kept screaming willem don’t leave me, but then turned around and actually interacted with willem and told him to go with a smile on his face). his sarcasm actually brought some levity too as he had quite funny reactions sometimes (even when they were heartbreaking). jude only had 1 costume change into his suit and then was in it for the rest of play, which was striking, his white shirt kept getting redder with blood (they made his cutting very visual. luckily i was close and saw he was just cutting into small blood patches but damn) and it drying up. it was a visual reminder that in essence, things didn’t change for jude; others did get costume changes to reflect the changing times. for jude the wounds were always there, bleeding to the outside, to his shirt. 

- ana, his social worker, keeps reappearing as jude’s conscience sometimes. he talks to her often and she replies. she’s the voice convincing him that willem isn’t the same as the rest of the men he’s been with. she’s the voice telling him to run when dr. traylor starts his car. she’s looking out for him, even after death. she also sometimes serves as a narrator, especially when jude tells willem about his past. 

- luke, caleb and traylor were all portrayed by the same actor (who is one of the best stage actors in the netherlands, mind you). he only changed little things about his outfit. i thought this was a fucking inspiring move - it only emphasises the fact that all the men hurting jude throughout his life; they are always the same kind of man. it doesn’t really matter who they are, it matters what they did.

- jb’s storyline was entirely the same as in the book (except for talking about his family) but the actor was great, especially heartbreaking when the guys try to intervene during his crystal meth addiction and he mimicks jude’s walk. terrible. malcolm, as in the book, was completely underused. andy was good, harold was sometimes a little off like the actor wasn’t having his day? but i loved his cooking and him bringing it around. they finished on his “and i try to be kind to everything i see, and in everything i see.. i see him”. 

and then, the portrayal of the abuse and love jude experienced:

not going to lie, this was very visual. they made it clear from the beginning that they were going kind of for realism; the cooking, the actors were actually smoking weed on stage and drinking beers, jude actually cut himself and it had to be cleaned up every time. the actors portraying jude and luke, caleb and traylor had some intense scenes together and jude was nude multiple times (the caleb throwing him outside on the pavement scene especially was horrific). although the sexual abuse is visualised it is done so very suggestively though.

the chemistry between the four guys was great and willem (maarten heijmans) and jude (ramsey nasr, also a famous dutch poet) were as expected amazing. willem was always kind, always supportive. after a few hours of horribleness, the night of jude telling willem everything (flashback to dr. traylor happened here) ended with willem dancing for jude, trying to cheer him up (doing the worm and all) and it was so so so sweet with jude crying but cheering him on, and with willem convincing jude to dance with him a little and they just hugged and hugged. willem was very tactile. you could see jude felt very loved in that moment. 

unfortunately, it came to an end when willem died. for a dialogue/monologue heavy play this was where jude stopped talking, the only one on stage just sitting in his chair. and oh my, they had willem - after delivering his final moments - come back and wash his hands and move a vase of flowers without speaking; as if jude was imagining willem still being around sometimes. heartbreaking. 

as was the case in the book, the stage play ends with harold’s perspective, and the interesting idea was that harold and jude were on stage, until the moment where jude killed himself, when a huge black square thing that was hanging on the ceiling slowly moved downwards and obstructed the audience’s view. when lifted again, only jude’s wheelchair remained. 

in conclusion, a 3,5 hour tour de force of theatre. i had some inklings of things i would’ve done differently (sometimes ana was a bit too much there for my liking but she was also the only woman on stage lol) but overall this was a great adaptation. knowing ita and the popularity of the play i am going to assume they will tour this adaptation internationally eventually. they are actually doing it in paris in june already. can’t imagine that being the end. if you love the book, you will love this adaptation.  

tagging @poetrysocks​ @ivory-in-rapture @canonicallyanxious​ bc i know you people were interested!

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

I finally drew him...and with how I have mentioned him in Rebirth. I make it sound like he’s some sort of messiah. He’s from this AU of mine. https://geekgemsspookyblog.tumblr.com/post/626141727587270656/bioshock-rebirth-timeline-this-is-a-timeline-of-an

But again I finally drew him...I drew Johnny Topside. I really hope no one minds my design of him. That I recall, I wanted to draw him with casual clothes. Including if I recall I got lazy.

Jonathan Gunnar. AKA Johnny Topside. AKA Subject Delta.

Born: 1967.

Voiced By: Elliot Knight.(Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2019)

Born and raised in London. Jonathan Gunnar enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16. Recently made a sergeant. He was assigned to search the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Iceland where a few ships and submarines have disappeared. During this search, he was the first person to discover Rapture on his own. But he was cut off from his fleet and stuck near the city. 

When he arrived in Rapture, he was captured. But due to Bill McDonagh convincing Ryan to let the man live instead of punishing him. It was one of those rare times Ryan felt some form of humanity he tried to hide. He let the diver live. But Johnathan could never return to the surface. Because of the possibility of Rapture being discovered by more people. Yet thanks to Bill, Johnathan had excellent living conditions. Including working as a construction worker to keep the city still working.

He was declared dead by his government. But he was accepted into Rapture, becoming something of a celebrity for his heroics. While some knew his real name. Most called him, “Johnny Topside.” A nickname given by the Rapture Tribune. He didn’t mind the name. But he genuinely liked it when someone would call him by his real name.

Despite being forced to stay in Rapture. His growing dislike towards the city and the upper class of how they treated the poor. Including his growing dislike towards people like Andrew Ryan. Despite growing up as a only child and losing his parents at 23 years old when they died in a boating accident. He was considered a genuine good man. Earnest, gentle, intelligent, and a formable soldier. Even though he can be a man who can give a cold lecture to anyone who deserved it.

He had a few friends, Bill, Daisy, Grace, Diane, Jasmine, and whoever else. But he was mainly alone. Just trying to live the rest of his life in this city he wanted to leave but couldn’t. He tried to make the best of it. 

But in 1998, his life will change as he will do things that will change the course of Rapture’s fate forever. 

I’ll just admit, I based Johnny on an actor. Which yeah his voice is that actor. Gonna admit I strangely get emotional about this character. Mainly my version and the shit he goes through. It strangely makes me tear up. Felt like putting before getting into Rapture. He was considered to be possibly become an SAS soldier later on if he didn’t go missing. There was the idea he’s both an SAS soldier and Royal Navy. But I decided to leave that out. Including it would of been tricky to make sense of that.(Was strangely trying to make Johnny sound more like a badass. XD) Hoping no one minds Johnny’s design. Including didn’t wanna write too much stuff. I’d suggest checking out the timeline if you’ve played all three Bioshock games. 

Originally was thinking voices like Kevin McKidd or Craig Fairbrass. But I decided not to do that. XD That I recall I wanted his voice to sound younger.