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im-no-jedi · 1 year

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MLWTBB: Business Is Business

aka the (continued) journey into my self insert nonsense✨

chapter summary: while the Bad Batch is away on a mission, an oddly familiar Devaronian kicks Cid out of her parlor and takes it for himself, causing several problems for Hannah...

notes: this is a continuation of my story, “My Life With The Bad Batch”; I highly recommend reading that first before this one! I created a few new planets for this story. I’m also not 100% versed in SW terminology, so forgive me if some things are labeled incorrectly! each chapter will be rated accordingly, as opposed to the overall fic. lastly, there is romance in this story. hope you enjoy! 💙

add. notes: this chapter was edited and proofread by my sis @jam-n-ham! thanks sis!! 😋💙 also, in case it isn’t obvious, this story is my version of episode 13 “Infested”. I tried to stick to canon as much as possible, while also delving more into one of my favorite side characters in the show (please more of the Durand family in season two 🙏🏻)

Chapter 1, 2500+ words, rated G (there’s mentions of alcohol and that’s about it LOL)

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✨MLWTBB masterlist✨

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It was yet another slow Primeday at Cid’s Parlor. Hannah had woken up a bit late that morning, but thankfully Cid didn’t dock her for it. So far, only Bolo and Ketch were in the parlor, like usual. There was a bit of mess to clean up from the night before, but it didn’t take long for Hannah to get that taken care of. It was an extremely boring time, even more than usual.

All Hannah really hoped for now was that she would finally see her friends come walking through the door again. They had been gone for a few days on another mission for Cid, something Hannah was quite used to by this point. But she was extra lonely this time and missed them more than usual. She thought about how she was going to give Omega the biggest hug ever when they all got back. She imagined Wrecker joining in and scooping both her and Omega up into a squeeze fest between the three of them. She pondered the sort of snide comments Tech and Echo might say about their mission, as they often did whenever they came back to the parlor. She dreamed about seeing Hunter again, the man she loved with all her heart, and telling him how much she missed him as she ran her fingers through his long, dark brown hair. It would be absolutely wonderful.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs towards the parlor. Hannah’s heart leapt into her throat, desperately wishing it was who she thought it was.

But it wasn’t. Not even close.

Several intimidating looking men in dark armor came flooding into the parlor, each of them carrying a weapon. Hannah bolted upright from the counter she’d been leaning against, unsure of what to do. Then another figure came stepping in, quite confidently. It was a male Devaronian with green skin, wearing a nice suit and holding some sort of small lizard creature in his arms. He was obviously the leader of this group. The room went silent as the Devaronian looked around, surveying the place.

Hannah had a moment of panic at the sight of him. Memories of Volruna flooded into her head, with the man in front of her briefly being replaced by the visage of Vin Drazundr instead. She had to literally shake herself back to reality and exhaled deeply. Then she looked to Bolo and Ketch, who were completely frozen in place. With a deep breath, she gathered up all her courage and decided to approach the newcomer. “Uhh, hello! Can I help you?”

The Devaronian adjusted the collar of his shirt before answering her. “I’m looking for Cid. Would you happen to know where she is?”

Cid wasn’t expecting anybody today to Hannah’s knowledge. She knew what she was supposed to do in situations like this. “I might... who exactly is looking for her, if I might ask?”

“Roland,” the Devaronian replied proudly. “Roland Durand. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

The name didn’t ring a bell to Hannah at all. The way he was acting though made it out like he was important in some way. Regardless, she didn’t like the vibe she was getting from this guy at all. It unfortunately reminded her of Vin again. “Yeah, a pleasure. I’m sorry, what is your business with Cid? It’s kind of my job to ask so she doesn’t get bothered unnecessarily.”

Roland chuckled. “Adorable. You’ll be a fun bartender, I’m sure.”

Hannah blinked in shock. “Excuse me?”

Roland then made a hand signal to the armored men, who began searching the entire parlor. Bolo and Ketch tried to avoid them as much as possible, insisting they were just there as patrons; eventually, they just ran out of the parlor altogether. Hannah opened her mouth to try and retort to what was going on, but Roland silenced her. Then one of the men discovered the back room and alerted Roland about it. Again, Hannah tried to speak, but was stopped by Roland.

“Be a dear and whip up some drinks for me and my men, would you?” he said as he walked towards the back room.

Hannah stood in place, completely dumbfounded. She was wrong before; this guy was somehow worse than Vin. “Jerk didn’t even tell me what kind of drink he wanted...”

Despite her curiosity, Hannah kept herself away from the room, much to her discretion. She knew Cid had told her to stay out of stuff like this in case there was trouble, but she couldn’t help wanting to rush in and at least see what was going on.

It didn’t take long before Hannah got her answer. The door to Cid’s room slid open, catching Hannah’s attention immediately. To her surprise, Cid was walking out of the hallway, hands in the air, with Roland and some of the armored men behind her.

“What’s going on?” Hannah exclaimed.

“A simple change of hands, sweetheart,” Roland replied. “Nothing more.”

“More like a hostile takeover,” Cid retorted. She saw the concerned look on Hannah’s face and reassured her, “Don’t worry, Red. This ain’t permanent.”

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” Roland said slyly. “Get her out of my parlor, would you, boys?”

Hannah scoffed. “Your parlor?”

As the armored men began literally shoving Cid out, she turned to Roland, shouting, “You better not lay a hand on her, Roland! You’re not her type!”

Roland rolled his eyes and scoffed before turning to Hannah. “Congratulations, you’re now a part of the Durand syndicate. You can thank me by getting those drinks I asked for earlier.”

Hannah was once again too dumbfounded to even move. She felt Roland step closer towards her and instinctively backed away.

“Now, now,” he reassured her. “No need to fret. I’m not your enemy, I promise. In fact, I’ll gladly double whatever Cid was paying you before as a show of my sincerity.”

Hannah scowled at him. “Why do I have a hard time believing that?”

Roland chuckled. “You’re a feisty one. Just do as I say, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.” He gave her a sly look before returning to the back room. A look similar to the one Vin first gave her at the Prism Palace.

Now Hannah knew she definitely had something to worry about.

*********************

The following day, Hannah decided to conveniently avoid the parlor as long as she could. It didn’t matter what Roland said, or even what he tried to do, there was no way she was going to work for someone like him. Especially while she was alone. Then again, that entire situation would never have happened in the first place if the Bad Batch were there. Hannah began imagining scenarios where the five of them had put a stop to Roland’s takeover of the parlor, if only just to keep herself sane.

In the back of her mind though, she worried. Any number of things could happen between then and whenever her friends actually came back to Ord Mantell. And Roland’s words from the day before still concerned her. She tried to not think about it, but her worries were too strong. The fact that nearly everything about Roland reminded her of Vin didn’t help either.

Maybe she could just leave. She could find somewhere else to stay until the Bad Batch came back and fixed everything. Mrs Ygreu had always said her place was open if Hannah ever wanted to visit, maybe she could go there.

No, Hannah didn’t want anyone else to get involved in this mess unnecessarily. She had to ride this out on her own, as much as she hated it. Maybe Roland would just leave her alone if she stayed away long enough...

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Hannah’s heart skipped a beat. Initially, she thought it might be one of the Clones finally coming back. Nobody ever visited other than them or Cid. Maybe it was Cid. Hannah hadn’t seen her since the day before. Did anybody else even know where she lived?

Another knock on the door. Hannah’s heart began racing. She had to know who it was. Throwing caution to the wind, Hannah went over to the door and opened it without a second thought, hoping beyond hope it was someone she knew.

Unfortunately, it was the one person she knew that she wished she didn’t.

“Ahh, there you are,” said the recognizable voice of Roland. His lizard-like pet, Ruby, was in his arms and two armored men stood behind him. “I was worried when you didn’t come in today. Is there a problem I should know about?”

Hannah almost laughed. “It’s my day-off,” she replied, a visible scowl on her face.

Roland pursed his lips and hummed. “Good to know.” His eyes began scanning the room behind her curiously. “Interesting space you have here. Mind if I give it a better look?”

Hannah’s eyes narrowed. “Depends. What’ll you do if I refuse?”

A snicker escaped from Roland’s fanged grin. “I think you already know the answer to that, sweetheart.”

There was a familiar pang in Hannah’s chest. Her breath caught in her throat, and a shiver ran down her back. It took her a moment to remember that she was talking to Roland and not Vin.

Without waiting for a response, Roland pushed his way past Hannah into the room. The armored men stayed outside, but waited in the doorway.

“Quite the collection you’ve got in here,” Roland said as he walked through the space. “Although I doubt all of this stuff is yours.” He gestured to one of the large crates against the wall and chuckled.

“It was part of our agreement,” Hannah told him, her arms crossed with a stern look on her face.

“How noble of you,” Roland responded. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the crate. The two armored men came into the room and began dragging the crate out of the apartment. “And now it won’t bother you ever again.”

Hannah maintained the stern look on her face. She could see what Roland was trying to do, and it wasn’t going to work. “What do you want from me, Roland?”

The small lizard creature in Roland’s arms began growling happily as her owner rummaged through Hannah’s fridge. “A drink would be nice,” Roland responded, pulling out a piece of food for Ruby to munch on. “But apparently, it’s your day off.” He sat down on one of the kitchen stools with Ruby in his lap, happily munching on the snack she’d been given. “That’s alright though. You’ll have plenty of time to make up for it tomorrow.”

The hairs on the back of Hannah’s neck were beginning to stand on end in anger. She walked up closer to Roland from behind the kitchen island with a mighty scowl on her face. “I’m not coming back tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or ever again.”

A small smirk grew on Roland’s face. “Defiance will get you nothing but trouble, dollface. And really, what reason do you have to be that way anyway? I haven’t done anything harmful to you.”

“You stole Cid’s Parlor from her!” Hannah exclaimed, nearly slamming her fist on the counter.

“So?” Roland bluntly responded. “How does that hurt you, exactly? You’ve still got your job. Your home. I’ve even helped clean up this place a bit for you.” He snapped his fingers again, and the armored men returned to carry out another one of the crates from the room. “There, I just did it again. You’re welcome.”

Hannah shook her head, the scowl still firmly in place. “I don’t care. I know how people like you work. You’re not the first crime boss I’ve encountered, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

“Living here on Ord Mantell?” Roland said with a scoff. “That’s for certain.”

Hannah took a few steps closer, now standing directly in front of Roland from behind the counter. Her tone was laden with malice as she spoke. “You can try to sweet talk me all you want, but it won’t make a difference. I work for Cid, not you.”

Once again, Roland snickered behind his fanged grin. “Quite the loyal employee, aren’t you? A good quality to have.” He took Ruby off of his lap and placed her on the counter between himself and Hannah. The little lizard creature looked up at Hannah and growled before snuggling up to Roland’s hand. “You’re better off putting that tenacity of yours to good use down at the parlor than trying to intimidate me.”

Hannah’s hands came slamming down on the counter so hard, it spooked Ruby. “Quit messing with me, Roland! I already told you, I’m not coming back! I don’t care what you do; take my whole apartment away if you want, I don’t care! I’d rather live on the streets than work for someone like you.”

The entire time Hannah was yelling, Roland’s expression remained calm. If anything, he seemed entertained by her outburst, with the small smirk returning to his face again. Once Hannah had finished, Roland chuckled to himself and began petting Ruby to calm her down.

“I wonder if Cid feels the same way,” he slyly responded. “I wonder if that’s why she’s stuck around.” He looked Hannah directly in the face, still smirking slightly. “I wonder... how things might change if she suddenly wasn’t around anymore?”

The serious determination on Hannah’s face began to fade. Her eyes went wide with realization, and she began to slink back away from Roland.

“I’m really not asking for much, sweetheart,” Roland said, shaking his head. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be fine. Cid will be fine too. It’s that simple. Or, we could make things more difficult, if that’s what you really want.” He slid off the stool and came up beside her, almost uncomfortably close. Hannah could just feel the smirk spreading across his face. “I don’t know about you, but I much prefer when things aren’t so complicated.”

Hannah said nothing and just stood still, absorbing Roland’s words and practically shaking from the weight of it all. Roland left her side and told her to enjoy the rest of her day off as he headed for the door with Ruby still in his arms. He paused in the doorway briefly to turn back to Hannah and said, “See you bright and early tomorrow, dollface.”

And with that, he was finally gone. Hannah was left alone in her kitchen, still shaken by the entire experience. She felt like crying and throwing up at the same time. With shaky hands, she leaned over the counter, resting her head in her hands and breathing heavily, with small sobs gradually creeping out.

In the back of her mind, she could hear Cid’s voice berating her for being so foolish. She wasn’t worth the trouble, is what Cid would tell Hannah. Save yourself, she would absolutely say. But Hannah couldn’t do it. She wasn’t going to sacrifice Cid’s life just so she could avoid working for Roland. Even Irridas back at the Prism Palace hadn’t been that cruel.

If working for Roland is what would keep Cid safe, then she would do it, no questions asked.

#the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #would y'all believe that I wrote this over a YEAR ago??#well the first half of it anyway LOL #I wrote most of this story before ever finishing the og MLWTBB #cause that's just how my brain works haha #star warz #my storiez

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trashlord-007 · 2 years

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I'm glad you have a sense of humor or at least realized that the killed a man question was supposed to be funny.

Lemme preface this by saying some of your questions about me I'm happy to answer, but others I'd like to leave until after the reveal if you'd still like them then. Gotta try and make it hard to identify me if you let curiosity get the better you.

Jongdae is a sweet man and deserves the world, I'm so happy for him getting the family he's wanted. Hopefully, we'll get a new album from him eventually. Did you have a favourite of his songs? Or a favourite bit of his from an exo song?

I do game a bit, although I've never played mass effect or far cry, I stick with the final fantasy and legend of Zelda franchises. Though assassin creed did catch my eye during the ff15 crossover event and I briefly contemplated playing it. I get the finding some semblance of peace actually...final fantasy 15 has a fishing option too though I'm more likely to pop that in and follow the storyline as I wander the world rather than fish. Same goes for Zelda really, I'm more of a start the game over and revisit the world and actions through the story line sort of person.

Problems are a valid creation lol. But gif making? That's a labour of love as far as I'm concerned, I've seen what goes into making gifs and gif makers have all of my respect for the work they do. Same goes for fic writers, fanartists, etc theres so much that goes into producing fan content and its amazing what people do for the things they enjoy.

What sort of things do you write? I'm afraid I haven't familiarized myself with your work. Do you have a favourite genre to write for? What about reading while we're talking about it?

Speaking of reading I squealed so loudly when I read the words gunslinger!!! That is one of my most favorite series ever in the history of ever. Please tell me you've read all of them. Lie if you must lol. Really though, "The man in black fled west across the desert and the gunslinger followed" is an epic opening line and it gives me chills even just typing it out. And don't get me started on when Jake told Roland "Go then, there are other worlds than these." And then purposefully fell. One act that sent Roland on his path to further redemption. The whole series is a masterpiece truly.

You said horror and scifi....I'm not much for horror, but some sci-fi I can do. I generally stick with fantasy and comedy and dramas tbh when I consume media. But there are a few notable exceptions namely the three star franchises...Stargate, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Also Doctor Who...not that my brain equates the doctor with sci-fi lol. Though some are more familiar to me than others. What sort of sci-fi are you into?

Uh most watched YouTube? Well my go to channels are nate the hoof guy and north of the border. I tend to stick them on as background noise since they're easy to follow along with without having to actually pay attention. I do listen to music sometimes when I create though when i do its whatever helps me concentrate best at that moment. Sometimes it's something wordless so I can just immerse myself in whatever I'm working on, or it's a certain song on repeat that I can fade into if that makes sense.

Best part of fandom is its people tbh. As for what I like to create....edits, moodboards, fic, eventually I'd like to try my hand at videos and sound mixing there's a few mash-ups on YouTube that are so cool. I also like to create food, and I love to fingerpaint. I absolutely suck at it but it's fun and messy and a great way to relax, I highly recommend it!

Speaking of creating, I'm not sure what I'll have the time for gift creation wise so how about you give me a few suggestions for themes for the edits or the moodboards, ( I can also do icons/headers/lockscreens) and maybe what you'd be looking for in a fic? Au?, type(angst,fluff,slice of life etc)? member?, that sort of thing.

Now for a a few new questions.... do you have any blog recommendations on here? People you enjoy interacting with or content creators whose work you enjoy. How about exo fanarts or artists? Do you enjoy those? Do you have any favorites?

I like to think I have a sense of humour!

hehe, I can respect that. I promise I won't search for you prematurely but feel free to ignore any/all questions you don't wish to answer!

Jongdae does indeed deserve the world! he's so lucky, too, to be blessed with not just one child but two! My favourite song of his is definitely Good Night! So, so beautiful T_T and definitely one of my favourite songs of all time.

oh heck yeah!! FF and LOZ! I have a FF on my shelf to play but haven't gotten around to it (I have many brand new games on my shelf that still need to be unwrapped, I'm so behind >.<). I don't have a Switch so I haven't played BotW but it sure does look fantastic. I think my last LOZ game was... A Link to the Past on GBA... no, nevermind, I just checked and I had Phantom Hourglass too. But my favourite was Wind Waker on GameCube!!

I'm hoping they remaster the first AC! To me, in my personal opinion, not confirmed (I'm just hoping!!) they kinda hinted that maybe they would?? at Ubisoft Connect this year! so I'm really hoping!! because I never actually finished it T_T I got pretty much to the end, too. Le sigh. I'm so close! But I lost my original save files on one of my earlier consoles >.<

I'm hesitant to replay older games because everyone is doing remasters or remakes these days! I bought the DLC for the Mass Effect games a few months before the remaster was announced with all the DLC included lmfao

I started playing FC6 again the other night (never finished it, oops) and my first achievement of the night was for catching fish so I think it's safe to say I'm obsessed with that mechanic haaaa.

I get that! I like to replay games for the story, too. Sometimes I even lower the difficulty if I'm in a mood to experience the story rather than the gameplay. That way I can finish it quicker! And I won't do 100% completion runs (like checking every planet in ME).

Playing through your favourite games is self-care! -- me, who is spending all my time gaming lately instead of being on here and responding to you in a timely manner (sorry!!).

It really is! I always knew it was hard to do but my God, I didn't realise the true extent of it. GIF creators are amazing. And you're so write!! Anyone making fan content is perfect, talented, and lovely. So wonderful, truly.

That's fine and also please DO NOT feel like you have to! You needn't read any of my fics!

I mainly write... well, I was going to say smut and yandere but my fluff masterlist is the longest so I definitely sneak those in quite often. My favourite genres to write for are the same as the ones I read! I know some people don't like to mix business with pleasure, but I love writing horror and sci-fi! Though I will admit I haven't written space-based sci-fi yet. And if a book or fic is sci-fi or horror, I will try it out. If it's a sci-fi horror or just based in space?? I WILL read it there and then!

OH HELL YES!! Another Dark Tower fan!! Dude, it's freaking PERFECT! You even quoted my favourite line T_T While it does have one of the best opening lines in the history of ever, Jake's "Go then, there are other worlds than these" really just punches me in the gut every time I think about it!! King really outdid himself with that series, my God. The Gunslinger will probably always be my favourite but I'm enjoying every book so far!

But, ahem, I'm still on the fourth book! I miss Blaine the Train T_T he was so much fun! I'm currently finishing Paolini's To Sleep In A Sea of Stars and then I will be go back to listening to Wizard and Glass!

Yes, I love me so good horror! I used to be, hmm, opposed to horror films because every year my birthday was overshadowed with Halloween (lol, don't judge me, I'm opening up here), but now I love them (and Halloween) so much!! And sci-fi... to vaguely quote Markiplier, "I'd sign up on a mission to space even if I knew 100% I would die".

I also don't really think of Doctor Who as sci-fi even though it is! haha, funny. I love the original 6 Star Wars films! I named my kitty cat after Anakin! I haven't watched the new ones yet tho. And, haha, I watched the original Star Trek series after watching the new films. So great, so classic!! I named a kitty cat after Cumberbatch's Khan, too. I never watched much Stargate aside from the original film.

I enjoy any sci-fi that is based in space! Interstellar is my favourite film right now~ and it used to be Avatar which is getting its second film soon!! I told myself I don't even like Avatar that much anymore and then watched the trailer and BOOM obsessed once more haha!

I don't know Nate the Hoof Guy or North of the Border. What type of content do they make? If I had to pick individual channels I like then I would go with Slogo and Markiplier (gaming) and Nick Crowley and Watcher (horror/paranormal investigations/stories etc).

What kind of music do you listen to when you create? Do you have any specific songs/playlists rn? and yes, that makes perfect sense! I like to repeat / loop music when I write, too.

Wow! You're a jack of all trades! that's so cool T_T edits and moodboards require such skill and talent and an eye for design. I also want to try out audio mixing. I make youtube videos occasionally so it would be fun to learn! You cook?? omg, you really are so !!! you know??? I can't cook, like, at all. Finger painting...? I think I'd be too OCD to do it T_T I freak out a little when my hands get dirty haha. I've been better about it lately but I had an episode the other day--- why am I talking about this? lol, I always ramble T_T

No worries at all~ don't stress yourself out over the gift. It's not a big deal! For edits and moodboards, my go-to request is always Jongdae and thunderstorms! For fics... I don't read for Jongdae but if it's platonic then I would! or a Baekhyun fic~ Anything genre wise except angst and MCD.

Honestly, anything you come up with will be perfect! <3

Blog recommendations... I'm assuming EXO-Ls?

@merinaart does the most amazing artwork ever! my favourite artist on the site tbh! @mel-loves-all is one of the sweetest people ever and she used to host this event! @myeoning-call makes some really amazing content, too! and she was my first giftee <3 and @your-sophie18 is my new friend, oml, love her + she tags me in cool things about EXO <3 such a real one. Then I can't forget my lovely @achenlove who made me the cutest little Chen drawing last year T_T I still cherish it!

oh,.. I kinda included the CCs I like to interact with ^ up there. I don't really interact with people that aren't moots very often, and when I do it's just to reblog and leave feedback on fics. I'm not very outgoing like that! hmm... how about you tell me some CCs you like and I'll check them out? or blog recs in general!

Hope you're well and sorry again for the delay! sometimes I just... eh, it doesn't matter. Always have some kind of excuse.

Sending you love and wishing you the best! <3

#long post #exo secret santa #such a sweetheart #much love to you!

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arcofacatboy · 2 years

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Do you like the unwind series? They are my favorite books ever! If so...

Which unwind character is: your favorite, least favorite, underrated, overrated, and had the saddest death/unwinding

I do! this is a general neal shusterman blog so like lol anyways! I'm gonna try not to do repeats Favorite: Cy-Ty! I actually have a fic about them in the draft. Not gonna go too in-depth but i just find the whole "there's another kid in my brain" thing relatable and seeing poor Cy-Fi struggle with Tyler is so heartbreaking but so relatable. They've gotten me through some hard times.

Least Fav: So fun fact the first time i read i hated connor for some reason? But my second read i liked him a lot more. I haven't read the series in like a year and a half but i've never really been fond of the Admiral, if i had to pick one? He's just forgettable imo Underrated: ARGENT! I LOVE Argent, and he's probably actually my favorite. Other than the fact he abuses his disabled sister (which my brain forgot about until like two days ago, which... yikes, really not cool!) I love his stupid little self serving antics. Like he's the definition of scrimbly. Fucked up evil man. I also really like Bam.

Overrated: Hayden. I like Hayden! But he's not my favorite.

Most sad unwinding/death: Literally anyone from Unnatrual Selection. Unnatrual Selection is the best thing neal has written imo, and watching the kids slowly wait for their shellings is SO heartbreaking. Roland's unwind isn't sad for me because he sucks but I really like that scene.

#unwind dystology #too lazy to tag lol #ask

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parasite-core · 2 years

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A few OC questions coming on through!

Which OC is most like you? In what ways?

Which OC is the most comforting to you?

Which OC’s design is your favorite?

I always love hearing about ppl’s charas! Excited to see what answers u give!

Ah, thank you very much for this pleasant surprise! You’ve made my night 😊

Which OC is most like you?

I always think Sai is most like me in terms of personality. She’s a bit timid and shy around strangers, and she doesn’t like loud noises. She isn’t quick to tell people about herself when she first meets them because she feels like she needs to gauge if they’ll judge her for who and what she really is, so she observes people first and grows to trust them before she talks about herself more. She also really throws herself into things when she decides she’s going to do them. If something’s going to get done, it’s either 100% or nothing. Also she has terrible eyesight and is my one OC who needs glasses 😂

Which OC is most comforting to you?

Roland is my comfort OC. He’s the one I always go back to. He was my first Pathfinder OC with a group of people, and he became very special to me. He’s always felt a little different from my other OCs, both before and since him. I remember back when I was playing him telling my GM that he felt like my character with the most emotional complexity I’d ever made. And I got so invested in him that when he had a mental breakdown during a traumatic moment, I actually emotionally crashed a bit as well during that week. I remember during that time telling my GM how much I regretted making a character with so much angst. It’s a big part of what led to Umbrolus and Lucien (at least his initial concept) having no angst at all. Then I got bored of that and went back to my angst full force with Draven. But I never got hit as hard by any moment with Draven as I did with Roland. That’s not to say I wasn’t invested in Draven. I’d probably call her my second favorite after Roland, I love my bad luck girl. But Roland really had a tight hold on my heart. And still does. Which given his literal ability to grab people’s hearts and rip them out…eh…

Which OC’s design is your favorite?

Oh man, see, this is the hard question. I have fun designing all my OCs so a lot of them are up there. After careful deliberation though it’s between my two tieflings. Either my gunslinger Kaius, or my barbarian Umbrolus. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good tiefling. They can turn out so unique, with different combinations of skin color and horns and glow-y eyes. Kaius has antlers, grey skin, a gunslinger duster over magic celestial armor, and a pistol that never runs out of bullets, so he’s got style and a flare for the dramatic. Umbrolus has two sets of horns and dark purple skin, glowing flame colored eyes when he’s angry, and wears a green fur rimmed cloak made of dragon scales, so he’s got the intimidation factor along with style. If you put a gun to my head and made me choose between them, I guess I’d probably have to go with Umbrolus by a very thin margin. I like the two sets of horns. He was designed to purposely evoke a very dragon-like visage, since he thought he was a dragon.

I have commissioned pictures of them both, so you can see for yourself. Both are by ioanamuresan on Twitter.

#my ocs #Sai Gwenn #Roland Terrasold #Kaius River #Umbrolus Arcantix #imaginarymen

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santaclaushohoho1 · 2 days

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Answer all 100 questions from that unusual asks post

SoundCloud, or Pandora? - deezer

is your room messy or clean? - clean-ish

what color are your eyes? - browm

do you like your name? why? - yeah i like it, it's a chill name

what is your relationship status? - taken 😈

describe your personality in 3 words or less - goofy vacation dad

what color hair do you have? - brown and a little blond and a little green

what kind of car do you drive? color? - brown hyundai tucson

where do you shop? - wherever i can get what i want for the cheapest amount

how would you describe your style? - ranged from 2000s teenager to 40 year old to 20 year old who vapes

favorite social media account - tumblrrr

what size bed do you have? - twin? i thin

any siblings? - i have one

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? - FINLAND BECAUSE I LIKE FINLAND

favorite snapchat filter? - the one that makes you uninstall snapchat

favorite makeup brand(s) - dont wear makeup

how many times a week do you shower? - 7

favorite tv show? - idk shrinking, fallout, barry, naby reindeer are my top 4 atm

shoe size? - 10

how tall are you? - 5'10 i think

sandals or sneakers? - sneakers

do you go to the gym? - i work out at home 😼

describe your dream date - ZOO ZOO WE GO TO THE ZOO AND THEN WE GO TO A PARK AFTERWARDS AND JUST LAY ON THE GRASS AND LOOK AT THE SKY

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? - $27 😳

what color socks are you wearing? - black 😎

how many pillows do you sleep with? - two but i don't really like it i just dont want my other pillow to feel neglected

do you have a job? what do you do? - jobless 😫

how many friends do you have? - at least 10

whats the worst thing you have ever done? - i killed a man in reno...just to watch him die

whats your favorite candle scent? - my favorite candle FLAVOR is the Christmas forest one

3 favorite boy names - john, roland, and thomas

3 favorite girl names - alice, elizabeth, Elaine

favorite actor? - barry keonig?

favorite actress? - nicole kidman maybe? shes perfect in everything

who is your celebrity crush? - dont have onee

favorite movie? - rn its still hereditary

do you read a lot? - not as much as.i want to be

whats your favorite book? - the dark tower ii

money or brains? - brains are tastier

do you have a nickname? what is it? - santa

how many times have you been to the hospital? - like 0 unless we're counting check ups

top 10 favorite songs - no fucking way am i doing this sorry

do you take any medications daily? - nope

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) - dry

what is your biggest fear? - idk not many things scare me

how many kids do you want? - between 0 and 2, probably 0

whats your go to hair style? - idk i get it wet then let it do what it wants

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) - its pretty big

who is your role model? - Chuck Tingle

what was the last compliment you received? - my boyfriend told me i was cute this morning

what was the last text you sent? - "how're you feeling?"

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? - im real... im literally answering these questions???

what is your dream car? - some fucking stick shift tiny 2 seat truck from the 90s

opinion on smoking? - dont do it! you'll die!

do you go to college? - i will

what is your dream job? - filmmaker

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? - rural 🤤🤤🤤 unless it's like the downtown area where i live cus i wanna live there

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? - nope

do you have freckles? - nope

do you smile for pictures? - not by choice, it's been drilled into me

how many pictures do you have on your phone? - 5000

have you ever peed in the woods? - yep

do you still watch cartoons? - if its a good cartoon

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? - vegetarian!

Favorite dipping sauce? - sweet chili sauce

what do you wear to bed? - t shirt and pants

have you ever won a spelling bee? - no but if WOULD if j participated in them

what are your hobbies? - writing

can you draw? - i wish

do you play an instrument? - i wish

what was the last concert you saw? - danny brown

tea or coffee? - coffee

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? - local coffee shops 😡

do you want to get married? - absolutely

what is your crush’s first and last initial? - AV

are you going to change your last name when you get married? - maybe? if we're hyphenating yeah

what color looks best on you? - no clueee

do you miss anyone right now? - my boyfriend 😫

do you sleep with your door open or closed? - closed

do you believe in ghosts? - i dont feel particularly strong either way

what is your biggest pet peeve? - "i could care less"

last person you called - my mom

`favorite ice cream flavor? - vanilla

regular oreos or golden oreos? - regular because im not fucked in the head

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? - chocolate

what shirt are you wearing? - its a shirt that says "i didn't ask to be the worlds hottest husband, but here I am killing it" (i am a minor and unmarried)

what is your phone background? - a cool as photo of the mountains

are you outgoing or shy? - introverted

do you like it when people play with your hair? - certain people

do you like your neighbors? - I LOVE HIM HES A FUCKING KING OF THE HILL CHARACTER

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? - just whenever i shower

have you ever been high? - nah not really

have you ever been drunk? - nope

last thing you ate? - nachos

favorite lyrics right now - i killed a man in reno just to watch him die

summer or winter? - autumn

day or night? - night

dark, milk, or white chocolate? - dark chocolate bitch

favorite month? - October

what is your zodiac sign - pisces

who was the last person you cried in front of? - probably my boyfriend but i dont really cry so idk

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the-technicolor-whiscash · 1 year

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Four through absolution it’s pretty good, I do wish the episodes were a little bit longer tho just so they could elaborate on more things.

My two favorite characters so far are Roland and Qwydion I think they’re both very fun though i with Qwydion could get a little more screen time to help develop her more as a character. In general I feel like for the characters outside of Miriam there hasn’t been a ton of like character building like most of it is very superficial so I feel like I don’t know much about these people but I get how the time limit of like 25 minute episodes restricts the amount of character building you can have. Overall I like what they’ve done with Miriam I think she’s a really interesting character and I appreciate the fact that (so far anyway) she has no sympathy for the man who literally owned her as a slave. Dragon age doesn’t always have mmm the best track record with themes like this so I’m pleasantly surprised with how it’s gone so far. I do wish she killed that cook tho.

Overall I think it’s a good like. Short story basically taking place in the dragon age universe. They probably could have condensed all the episodes into a movie honestly and tbh if they ever decide to do that and release it theatrically I will see it lmao. I hope the characters at least get cameos in other things like ik people get bitchy about that with dragon age but like I’d really like to see Miriam show up in a game bc I think her skills as a rogue would make for an interesting party companion.

#the whiscash administration

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kinetic-elaboration · 2 years

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October 25: Cabinet of Curiosities 1x01

Almost unfathomably tired today but I very bravely avoided taking a nap and I rallied enough to watch the first ep of Cabinet of Curiosities.

[spoilers below]

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot! I really liked the atmosphere, the sets and costumes, the actors, and the building mood of bleak mysteriousness. It was also very well crafted, which I am a known slut for: every detail was meaningful, every bit of information was used later. There weren’t loose ends or random bits.

My favorite parts as far as call back and important details:

The lights always going off and that playing a pivotal role in the creepiness of the final section and last scene;

Nick telling Amelia that she could use the padlock for something...and her using the padlock for something;

The storage unit sizes;

“There’s only one exit.”

I also really liked the concept as a whole: the man buys a storage unit and there’s Something Evil in it.

Am I particular fan of devil worship and demons and tentacles? No, not really. That was the weakest part for me personally. First because I don’t find it scary and second because I hate Lovecraft and this is inherently Lovecraftian. But the build up to the reveal was very good, and I wasn’t so much disappointed by the reveal as... I don’t know, I’m not sure how to put it. At first I had a lot of different theories about what was going on, but then they fell away slowly and I understood more and more, and then it made sense. Do I think some of my theories would have been better? Yeah, kinda, but that’s okay.

In particular, I thought the original owner was raising some kind of evil creature in there, and then he was harvesting it and that’s what we see in the beginning. Upon reflection, I guess it was the opposite: he was cutting up whatever that thing was, and he was going to feed it to the demon later. Begging the question, for me, of what the point is? He summons this demon, gets it to do something (presumably, boundless evil), but then he’s stuck taking care of it the rest of his life. He has to keep it bound up, and I suppose feed it, and he can’t ever let it free or he’ll lose a valuable book, I mean be eaten by tentacles.

The episode definitely was not subtle in its theme of racism and bitterness--”white rage”--and the sort of...the cycle of evil that comes from desperation and feeds into more evil. But I feel like there was something to in the old man and his fate. It’s sort of a traditional tale, right? You summon the devil, you get something you want, and then you pay with your soul later. Except he thought he was tricking the demon and winning: he’d just trap it and it could never collect. But it DID collect, in the form of a life of servitude to it, during which he lost everything else.

A recurring theme of unavoidable costs: of America’s war(s); of the lot itself; of the demon’s favor; of the books; Nick’s debt. Nick is so fucking angry because he paid the price for something that he didn’t start. At least the old man--and Nick later--were paying the prices of their own actions.

I wasn’t 100% of what to make of Roland. I assume he was a Satanist? I mean when he was describing the original owner’s evil deeds, it was very “And what were you doing at the Devil’s sacrament, Goody Roland?” I didn’t dislike Roland but Nick having zero time for/interest in his bullshit did make me laugh, and made me like Nick more.

I also enjoyed the irony of Nick, in his hurry and his greed, setting free the demon. He wasn’t thinking about consequences. He wasn’t think about the price.

And finally, I enjoyed that it was a short story, just filmed. It really read that way. Satisfying horror that is what it is and is economical and well-made and atmospheric. I’m not really into the eldritch/cosmic/tentacle horror stuff but I am hopeful I’ll find aspects of the other stories I like as well.

#the year 2022 #2022: fandom thoughts #2022: cabinet of curiosities

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panvani · 3 years

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Mochizuki Jun The Case Study of Vanitas Anime da Vinci Interview - pt. 1 -

An interview with MochiJun about Vanitas was uploaded to Anime da Vinci, and while I’d seen a lot of partial translations, I haven’t spotted a full one. This is my attempt. Corrections and suggestions are gladly accepted. The link to the original is at ddnavi, appended with interview/808972/a/. Since the interview is pretty long, I’ll be breaking it up into three parts.

The opening paragraphs of the article are just the same summary/promotional lines from every other official Vanitas source, so I won’t bother translating them again.

To summarize its contents: Mochizuki talks about inspiration for Vanitas and her time in Paris, how she wants to make people want to go to Paris, and a little spoiler.

She conceived the character of “Vanitas” during her first trip to France...

- Please tell us the details of how The Case Study of Vanitas was born. What kind of idea created this work?

Mochizuki Jun: Aahh, how far should I go back... ahaha...? For my next work [after Pandora Hearts] I’d been thinking, “I want to draw either vampires or a school setting~” and I conceived the character of “Vanitas” during my first trip to France. While sightseeing in Mont Saint-Michel, I mused on drawing “the story of a single vampire who’d watched over an island for something like one hundred years.” Everything else about The Case Study of Vanitas came from that one idea, and the general forms of Vanitas and Noé were born there.

MJ: There were a ton of things I thought about doing for my new serialization after Pandora Hearts, like increasing the number of romance and battle elements. With regards to battle scenes... to be honest, when I was drawing Pandora Hearts, the head editor told me to cut down on them since “you kind of suck at this,” and I wanted to give up. I started thinking, though, like “I don’t draw them so of course they suck! If I drew them more, they’d be good!” and frantically studied to improve with every volume. I have to get way better at anatomy and the composition of fight scenes in comparison to my last work... is what I thought.

- What drew you to vampires in particular? If there are any vampire stories you especially like, please tell us.

MJ: I don’t remember exactly what the first vampire I ever saw was, but when I was little I was really impacted by the movie Interview with the Vampire [based on the novel by Anne Rice.] When I watched it, I was captivated by the tragic and fleeting existence of vampires, as well as the blood sucking scenes, so those ideas were planted firmly in my mind. Plus, it probably had an effect on my fondness for stories with a dynamic between a young man and a girl. This is a little off-topic, but it’s actually where I got the name for the Crimson-Shell protagonist. [The two main characters of Interview with the Vampire are Louis du Pont, a young vampire man, and his adoptive daughter Claudia.]

- Why did you choose to set the story in 19th century Paris? What sort of impression did your first visit to Paris leave?

MJ: Paris was the first place I’d ever visited outside of Japan, so I thought it was huge. I’d been invited as a guest to Japan Expo, and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding the entire time I was on the plane. Everything I saw seemed so new. Noé and I shared our kind of joy for Paris.

MJ: Since then, when taking personal trips overseas, I’d pay really frequent visit to this on-site publishing house in Paris. Their accompaniment for every question or problem I had when it came to any aspect of French culture was really helpful. Since I’d been so blessed to have them, I was able to go into writing ready, thinking “yeah, I’m gonna draw a manga set in France!”

- Yamaguchi Ryuu-san, who got his start designing for Final Fantasy, produced some fantastic drawings of the Paris Catacombs and Notre Dame Cathedral for The Case Study of Vanitas. That being said, it’s interesting how your Paris has not the Eiffel Tower, but a huge “Tower of the Sun” in construction to conflict with the real Paris. Please tell us about any difficulties you’ve experienced when drawing Paris.

MJ: I’m always troubled by the balance between “where I should stay true to the Paris of this time,” and “where I should create a false Paris.” I’d be super happy if this manga made someone take the chance to go to Paris. So, I had a strong passion to invite favoritism for Paris, and wanted that “the manga backgrounds should be the same as Paris!” There are falsehoods in my Paris, but the designs were taken from the real, present day world.

- With such names as the unresolved Beast of Gévaudan Incident, the Marquis de Sade, and Dr. Moreau, never before has Paris been made to adopt such an uncanny and bewitching atmosphere. If you have anything that might be a little bit of a spoiler, please let use hear it.

MJ: The Paladins of the Catholic Church draw their motif from the legend of Charlemagne. The characters from Vanitas aren’t actually the same people as those in the legend, but I like to play around with the shared relationship dynamics and character traits. [”Paladins” refer to the twelve highest ranking Knights of Charlemagne from French mythology collected in what is known as the Matter of France- the most famous of these stories is called the Song of Roland.]

MJ: Then, all of the Malnomen have their motifs taken from fairy tales or famous works of fiction [i.e. Loup Garou, based on Little Red Riding Hood, and Naenia, based on the story of Faust.] At first I thought “well, it’s set in France, so I’ll limit myself to stories documented by Charles Perrault,” but by the second volume I’d expanded my boundaries to the Brothers Grimm and was getting my hands on other stories too.

Pt. 2 here.

Pt. 3 here.

#the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #jun mochizuki #animanga #logxx #logam

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possiblyimbiassed · 3 years

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The lying liars who lie

Years and years late to the party, I’ve finally gotten my hands on all the DVDs of BBC Sherlock, and I thought it would be fun to watch the extra material carefully, one piece after another, and also listen to at least some of the show makers’ commentary of the episodes. But at this point, after S4 where DVDs seemed to be a constant lying device in general, I tend to look at them with a bit more suspicious eyes...

I still love the show of course, but now that I’ve taken this deep dive into all the special features, I find them a truly hard thing to try to wrap my head around. Even this long after the fact, I’m amazed by the amount of shameless, self-congratulatory BS in the DVDs, where the people involved can’t have enough of complimenting each other and their show, while they skillfully avoid to discuss anything actually meaningful about the plot line. ;) For example, Moffat claims in the S2 DVD that “In fact, you’ll never see a more obsessively authentic version of Sherlock Holmes than this one”. But if we follow their light-hearted commentary, which basically takes the show at face value, I’d call that not just hyperbole, but an outright lie. If you want to see the ‘authentic’ stories from ACD’s work in this show, you’ll definitely need to go much deeper into the subtext and meta levels - neither of which are mentioned on these DVDs of course. Here’s my own (rather subjective) ‘review’ of the whole thing, trying to pinpoint why I view most of the commentary of the show from its own makers as an advanced art of deception.

(My musings under the cut)

Series 1 - a wealth of extra material

First of all - as many of you probably knew already - the whole of the Unaired Pilot is added to the DVD of S1. In the extra material about the making of the series, they (Sue Vertue, Mofftiss and others) talk about what things they changed between the Pilot and ASiP, claiming that many changes were necessary improvements once they knew that they had a whole series and a lot more time at their disposal.

Which I can perfectly understand and agree with in general. But I think what’s missing in their discussions is more interesting than what’s actually there (”Mind the gap” ;) ). Things that I would expect from the show makers when they go to the trouble of comparing the pilot version with the aired product. There’s not a word, for example, about the fact that they added both Mycroft and Moriarty to the story in ASiP - two characters who later turn out to play major roles and appear in almost every other episode until the end of TFP. Or about the choice that one of the screenwriters would play Mycroft.

Neither do they discuss why they chose to relocate the place where Sherlock was challenged by the cabbie from 221B to Roland Kerr’s School of Further Education. Instead they focus on the details, like for example the new design of the interior of 221B.

Not to mention the fact that almost every scene in the Pilot is mirrored in ASiP (as pointed out long ago by @kateis-cakeis X), but at Angelo’s in the Pilot Sherlock follows the events with the cabbie while looking in an actual mirror. I even noticed that in the Pilot the cabbie is offering Sherlock dark-coloured bottles with the pills in them, while in ASiP those bottles are transparent, as if the cabbie is offering Sherlock to play Black or White in the chess game that he is simulating. What’s with all these mirrors, though? Not a word on the DVD... ;)

Now, even though these rather remarkable choices are neglected together with a great bunch of minor ones, I still think that the most interesting fact about all this is that they actually included the whole pilot version within this DVD, which is sold by the franchise. Why even do this, when it raises far more questions than it answers? The only logical reason I can come up with is that they’re laying out a track of little hints that anyone with a deep enough interest in the show to actually buy the DVDs can try to follow. And it seems to me that lying by omission is one of the first steps in the long line of cryptic and misleading author comments on this show. But at the same time, they clearly want the fans to have access to it all, even the abandoned version.

Moving on to Series 2, time for bigger lies

In the extra material of this DVD Benedict himself describes how his character "faces one of his deadliest enemies in the shape of Love, and it comes in the form of Irene Adler, who is this extraordinary dominatrix [insert here a bunch of superlatives regarding Adler]...”. And then we see how Adler whips Sherlock with a riding crop (without any kind of consent, I have to add) while he’s lying on the floor, and we have Lara Pulver telling us how it was to have a go at Benedict on set. So Holmes whips dead bodies and Adler whips living; seems like a match made in hell! :))

Gatiss claims, grinning with his whole face, that “they’re clearly, absolutely made for each other”. OK, so I think we can see Sherlock being intellectually impressed by Adler, and even trying to protect her from Mycroft, and we can see John acting jealously. We can also see her being dressed and styled as a perfect, female mirror of Sherlock. But I’m still at a loss what all this has to do with love on Sherlock’s part? Especially since he’s not even responding in any fashion to her various attempts at seducing him.

And there’s more: Paul McGuigan, the director of ASiB, claims that the scene where Sherlock has a conversation with Adler inside his Mind Palace about the crime case with the car that backfires "is a part of a kind of love story, if you like...” No, I don’t. Maybe it’s just me, but if their aim really was to convey to their audience a love story between Sherlock and The Woman, I think they failed miserably. All I see is a guy ’mansplaining’ to a clever woman how to use her brain, while she’s trying to flirt with him by expressing her admiration (to no avail, though) and make deductions at the same time. Nothing new under the sun, really. John did the same thing repeatedly in ASiP (without making own deductions) and got far more attention from Sherlock, but I’ve never heard any of the show makers call that ”a love story”. But by ’lie-splaining’ the scene with Irene to the audience, they try to manipulate us all to see it as such...

In all the direct commentary of this episode, where Steven, Mark, Sue, Benedict and Lara are present, I get the impression that every time they even touch on the relationship between Sherlock and John, they hurry to add the term “friendship” or “man love” or similar words in case they forgot them at first, avoiding even the tiniest possibility that there could be anything more going on between them. They even explain that when Irene calls them “a couple” she does not mean anything romantic. This whole approach feels almost paranoic in the midst of all the laid-back jokes and light-hearted talk about the filming. It’s as if a sort of restrictive, heteronormative filter or blanket is being constantly applied, to teach the audience the ‘no homo’ lesson of it all. And the more I listen to this, the more tiresome it becomes.

In the commentary Moffat does reveal an interesting detail, though: that the ‘Flight of the Dead’ in ASiB was inspired by a cut out scene in the Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. To me this is just one more reason to question the ‘authentic’ quality of this scene, as opposed to possibly taking place in Sherlock’s Mind Palace. But I digress...

Listening to the commentary in general, it’s like it’s aimed to distract the attention from what’s going on at the screen rather than highlight it and try to explain their intentions. They do mention that Irene didn’t actually ‘beat’ Sherlock in the end of ASiB, but there’s no explanation of this obvious deviation from canon, where Adler does indeed fool Holmes, taking advantage of his prejudices.

The rest of the extra material of S2 is mostly about technical stuff, special effects and such, and also about filming techniques and Benedict’s delivery of fast deductions. But the part I really do love is the one where Andrew Scott talks about how much he enjoyed playing the scene where Moriarty dances before breaking into the Crown Jewels. That’s one of my favorite scenes of he whole show. :) Also, the takeaway message from this DVD is Moffat’s words at the end:

“These are still the formative years of Sherlock Holmes, and the most important thing about this series is not that it’s updated; it’s the fact that those two men are still young and they’re still at the beginning of what they don’t yet know is gonna be a lifelong partnership”.

And then comes Series 3...

...and its extra material, with the most blatant attempts at deception so far, I believe. At this point Sherlock is called a “psychopath” by both the show’s characters, John’s blog, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as if it were true, which is a big deviation from ACD canon. That simply doesn’t happen there; while Holmes is sometimes described as eccentric, no one in the books is ever claiming that Sherlock Holmes has some kind of mental illness leaning towards cruelty and egotism - not even his enemies say this about him. In the show, however, they begin in ASiP with making him torture a dying man for information (something that is not included in the Pilot). And in S3, where they avoid discussing the reason why they turned Mary Morstan into a ruthless assassin, this major shift is glossed over by the fact that in the same episode (HLV) they also turn Sherlock into a murderer, who cold-bloodedly blows the brains out of a blackmailer for threatening to make said assassin’s crimes public.

But without ever getting into the “why” of it all, the cast and crew seem overly happy and smiling describing these rather morbid choices as something positive; “fantastic”, "fresh and new” and "amazing” are their choice of words. Benedict claims that Mary, who has literally shot and almost killed Sherlock in HLV, is now "a new best friend of Sherlock’s”. Amanda claims that Mary “is protecting John” when she shoots Sherlock in the chest. Now they’re both psychopaths, and poor little John is forced to stomach them both because he’s addicted to danger. In Amanda’s words, Mary also “kind of gets in between the two of them, but she wants them to be together as well”. Which is a load of BS considering that Mary tries to kill the protagonist of the story.

Lars Mikkelsen thinks it’s “such a good script” because “you’re mislead as an audience”. But he never gets the chance to expand on what the misleading actually contains, because then Mofftiss cut in to express how much they love playing with “what ifs”. As if this whole mega-budget project of a show were just a big experimental playground without any actual story to tell.

Benedict repeats his line from HLV that Magnussen “preys on people who are different” and Moffat also says he “exploits people who are different”. Which is really confusing, considering what we can see Magnussen actually do in the show. Lady Smallwood and John Garvie are two well-established, powerful governmental politicians whom Magnussen blackmails by finding their respective pressure points. In Garvie’s case his pressure point seems to be alcohol problems in his past, but according to media he’s later arrested on charges of corruption. Lady Smallwood is blackmailed on the basis of her husband having sent compromising letters to a minor many years ago, in spite of later claiming that he thought she was older and stopped when he found out the truth. And then Magnussen is blackmailing an assassin who recently threatened to execute him but shot Sherlock Holmes instead, in order to try to get at Sherlock’s brother Mycroft, another powerful governmental figure.

But what does media seeking out dirt on certain people in power and their families have to do with “people who are different”? Despicable as the method may be, isn’t this unfortunately how political power play usually works in our society? Or are TPTB somehow a repressed minority group now? Unless this whole “people who are different” accusation is actually about something entirely different, something that none of the show makers even cares to mention... ;)

In these DVDs, none of the involved persons is ever discussing the change of roles with regards to canon, though, or the (lack of) logics in this turn of events, or even a hint about the narrative motivation behind them. It’s all about the great Drama, the extraordinary visual effects and the aim to endlessly “surprise the audience”. Which is fine by me to a certain extent, but when this is all that’s being said, it feels extremely superficial, as if the audience is merely seen as a bunch of consumers that have to be triggered more and more by horror, special effects and cliff hangers to be able to appreciate the show. (“Warm paste” indeed, like Gatiss has later criticized some viewers of wanting...) While the "why”; the idea behind this surrealistic adaptation, made by self-proclaimed fanboys of ACD, is not even touched upon. Around this, the silence is total and therefore totally confusing.

Maybe I shouldn’t even go into Series 4...

...but why not, since I’ve already started? :)

First of all, there’s a lot of extra material on this DVD and I particularly love the parts about the music and composing and Arwel Wyn Jones’ work with the design and build-up of John’s and Mary’s flat and the interior of 221B. Those bits are truly enjoyable. What I could live without, though, is the leading commentary that kind of instructs us, the audience, how we should interpret the show.

Benedict is on it again on this DVD, telling us that in TST they picked up where they left off in S3 and “It’s a very happy unit of three people that then become four.” Why does he feel the need to make this statement, considering how S3 ended? Actually, if there’s anything I totally fail to see in S4, it’s happiness. The banter between the three of them may seem entertaining for a while, but who could have a relaxed, warm relationship with someone who tried and almost succeeded to kill you less than a year ago? Without any sign of remorse? Now there’s a dark tone of discomfort and mean jokes that feels forced and not even a bit happy to me.

But Martin tells us how excited John and Mary are about starting a family and Amanda mentions how much they’re looking forward to the baby. Again and again it’s repeated, as though trying to rub it in: “they’re in a good place, they’re a loving, married couple”. Yeah, right - a child that (judging by TSoT) wasn’t at all planned and now with an assassin for a mother... Twice we see the new parents complain that their daughter has the mark of Satan on her forehead and debate which horror movie she’s from. The clichéd hypocrisy of it all is sickening, and I’m willing to bet that it’s really meant to be. ;)

But Gatiss chimes in, deciding for us all that the christening of Rosie is “a funny scene” and “they’re enjoying each other, enjoying being on adventures as a three”.

An interesting detail is that Gatiss also tells us that the working name of this episode was “The Adventure of the Melting power Ranger”. So this little blue guy was that important? :) And - even more interesting - is when he says: “Cake is now the code for violent death”. So how should we interpret Sherlock, John and Molly going out to have cake in TLD then, on Sherlock’s (supposed) birthday?

These might be jokes, though, but when they tell us that Sue cries every time she sees Mary’s death I strongly believe they must be joking. How could anyone feel truly moved by this overly sentimental long monologue where far more efforts are put into reacting to Mary’s speech than saving her life? And John’s mooing like a cow, is that also moving? :)

One thing Martin says about TLD that actually disgusts me is regarding the morgue scene where John assaults Sherlock and Sherlock lets it happen: “From there, really, their relationship can only sort of rebuild, that’s the absolute worst it can get”. As if outright physical abuse would be something that makes you want to rebuild a relationship? Wow - just wow... How far can they go with this crap?

Anyway, when we finally arrive at the absurdity of TFP and Sherlock’s ‘secret sister’, everything is of course discussed as if she actually does exist on the given premises, and everything she does is ‘real’, no matter how impossible it would be in real life. The abandonment of any attempt to have the story line make logical sense is skillfully covered up by more distraction with fascinating technicalities of the film making process. This is where Gatiss makes his now almost classic statement that after Sherlock and John jump out of the window at 221B when a grenade explodes there, it’s just “Boop! And they’re fine.”

Of course there’s no serious attempt at explaining this logically. Except perhaps Gatiss claiming that they both landed on Speedy’s awning - whatever good that would do to them, since the awning is leaning downwards, but never mind... But we never even saw that happen, did we? A great deal of time is then dedicated to show all the precautions to have Martin and Ben jumping safely at low level onto a madras supported by empty cardboard boxes.

Sian Brooke did say something interesting about Sherrinford, however, that got me thinking. She said that Eurus “wants revenge for the years and years that she has been held captive” there, isolated, and that in TFP the Holmes children are now “lab rats” and “it’s an experiment”. On a meta level, I think we can indeed see this episode - and maybe the whole show - as a kind of experiment, but maybe we, the audience, are also lab rats? Since Sherrinford is slightly shaped like a film camera (not commented in the extra material, of course), it leads my thought to all the adaptations through the years and years where Holmes and Watson have not been allowed to be together. A whole century when Sherlock Holmes has been held captive, restricted by the very same sort of heteronormative filter that all this extra material imposes; it’s like Sherrinford, isn’t it? Which gives all the more meaning to Moriarty’s arrival to the island, accompanied by Freddy Mercury’s “I want to break free”...

I think I’ll let the final words in this little exposé come from Mark Gatiss in The Writers’ Chat (my bolding):

“Moriarty is a fascinating thing in that in our sea of ongoing lies, one thing we’ve genuinely been completely consistent about is telling people he’s dead. But no-one believes it! And it’s a rather brilliant thing.” Again - self-congratulatory statements. But instead of providing some actual evidence of the death of this character, who has kept popping up in almost every episode since his supposed demise, they think that the more a confirmed liar repeats something, the truer it gets? And the more we’re supposed to believe them? Well, all we can do is wait and see. :)

Tagging some people who might be interested:

@raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @sarahthecoat @gosherlocked @lukessense @sagestreet @thepersianslipper

My earlier meta on a similar topic (X)

#bbc sherlock dvds #Deception in BBC Sherlock

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