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fyodorkitkat · 1 year

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***Minors DNI with this post***

Otome best worst boys poll results!

Meet the losers!

Whether it's because they are from less popular, less available, or unlocalized titles, or they just simply weren't best boy material (even for a worst boy) in comparison; these 4 LIs just didn't make the cut.

Here is a not so fun little introduction to these four trashbags and their series, as well as a list of some of their crimes!

Potential spoilers for Princess Closet, Black Wolves Saga, Moshi Kono Sekai ni Kamisama ga Iru to suru Naraba, and Dead Wishes under the cut.

TW/CW Warning:

***I've tagged the post as best as I could, but just in case. The following descriptions include mentions of potentially disturbing and triggering content, including physical abuse, psychological abuse, coercive control, SA, confinement, CSA, death, and dismemberment.

Please take care of yourselves and move along if necessary for your own health 🙏 It shouldn't need to be said but obligatory "I don't condone the actions of these characters, this is fiction and should stay as such" statement as well.***

First up, our biggest loser, garnering approximately 0 votes, Akito from Princess Closet! (Now defunct as a mobile app, but available on Nintendo switch through the Eshop)

Princess Closet involves the MC being discovered by a fashion designer randomly and being chosen to become a model. This leads her to having to work with a few new men in this endeavor.

Enter Akito, a professional photographer who is here to help the MC do her best!

.....Except not so much. While normal and nice around others, Akito verbally degrades the MC when alone. He strangles her on their first outing together, and isolates her from everyone else when she moves in with him. He controls her food and diet, and eventually buys a human sized bird cage to confine her in.

A full on abusive and highly volatile yandere, he definitely is the most trash LI in a game that is otherwise rather light.

Second up! Masato from the JP only game for PS Vita Moshi Kono Sekai ni Kamisama ga Iru to suru Naraba (MoshiKami).

The MC and her childhood friends are pulled into a new universe after writing letters to God and throwing them into the ocean, a lot of complicated things happen from there. If you are looking for a detailed description and review of the game and its route, breadmasterlee dot com has an excellent very detailed one!

Masato is the MCs stepbrother, and during their childhood the MC suffers CSA at the hands of her step-dad, which Masato knows about but sadly for the MC keeps secret. Masato becomes obsessive over the MC during this time. Eventually, him the MC, and one of his friends go to the beach. The friend assaults the MC, and when Masato discovers them he kills his friend then SAs the MC next to the corpse.

While the MC eventually blocks this event out, Masato continues to obsess over her.

His actions eventually pile up to include pulling her hair out of the shower to lick it, collecting her finger nail clippings, jacking it to her while she sleeps in the next room, killing her friends and family, and SAing her next to their dead bodies.

He got more votes than Akito....peace and love to whoever voted for this horror show, I hope you stay safe and take care of yourself 🙏

Next up, Mejojo Von Garbaldi! This cat is from Black Wolves Saga, available on PS vita and PC. While the game is unlocalized, an English fan patch exists for PC (which I can't provide instructions on because I never could get it to function, all apologies, Google and reddit are your friends!)

In Black Wolves Saga: Bloody Nightmare our MC is living in a tower due to her illness and weak constitution, until she is accused of being a witch and taken by Mejojo and his brother Auger to their castle.

Mejojo is obsessed with the MC, but seemingly as a stand in for his dead fiance that ran off with another person and was subsequently killed. Mejojo has done a lot of terrible things and is very warped from his past, if you are looking for a well done and detailed description of his route, there is an excellent one by Cherry on visualnovelreviews dot com!

In our MCs journey with Mejojo, he physically tortures and psychologically abuses her. He also is responsible for perpetuating the genocide against the wolves in this universe, and is behind the events that caused the MC to be taken from her home.

Overall, incredibly toxic! If this pretty and cruel cat boy was your choice, I wish you health and safety! 💜

Last but certainly not least....Mateo! Who is from the OEVLN Dead Wishes (available on steam and itch.io).

Dead Wishes is a horror themed romance with men and women as LI options and multiple story paths. The game opens with your MC being dead broke and about to be evicted, from there they meet various people that determine the next events of their life. For better, or worse...

Mateo is a member of the mafia is head of a gang of homeless youth. Unfortunately for our MC and well, everyone, he is extremely volatile, manipulative, and incredibly sadistic. He "helps" the MC but proceeds to commit all manners physical and mental abuse on them. At one point he jokes about SAing the children in his gang in order to force the MC to comply with his demands. Oh and he eventually amputates the MCs leg and leaves them in a dumpster until they lose their mind...

His route feels like a giant "how much more screwed up can we make this?" Writing exercise tbh. He is truly a terrifying sadistic yandere! But to someone, he was best, as he got multiple votes. I hope you are doing well and staying hydrated Mateo stans 🙏.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading my little summaries of the last place LIs in my otome best boys only options are worst boys poll! And if you voted in the poll, thanks for participating!

I was team Yang but he didn't win 😔.

#otome #dead wishes #moshikami #princess closet #black wolves saga #cw yandere #cw csa mention #cw sa mention #cw violence mention #cw abuse mention #cw death mention #cw amputation #yandere

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servin-up-surveys · 1 year

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survey #098

(taken january 5th; uploading surveys taken while gone)

When’s the last time you rode a bike? All the way back in high school.

What color was the car you were last in? White.

Do you own many hats? I own literally one from a Carolina Hurricanes game I went to with Dad, but I never wear it; it's just a memory thing. I'm not a hat person.

Listening to music? What’s the opening and last lyric of the song? CHRIST I've discovered "Pussy Liquor" by Rob Zombie and I hate that I love it lmfao but I'm not familiar enough w/ the lyrics yet and don't feel like looking it up right now.

Have you ever taken an underwater picture? No.

What was your favorite color when you was little? Has it changed? It was red, until I truly became conscious of pink being a color. It eventually changed to maroon, but it's been back to pink for a long time now.

Are you a fan of cheesecake? It actually depends; I fucking ADORE The Cheesecake Factory's cheesecakes, but I've heard people say that's not a "real" or "proper" cheesecake or whatever. I've come to notice I don't generally really like homemade ones.

Who’s the last person that slept over at your house? Girt.

Do you know anyone with an eating disorder? Who? I know at least one person who recovered from one. Realistically I probably know WAY more.

What was the last thing you screamed? I have zero idea.

Do you love your best friend? I wanna marry him so I love him in more than one way, lol.

What is your favorite lyric? I have WAY too many.

Do you have a nativity scene in your home? We keep one up around Christmastime, yes. Or rather, Mom does. It's not something I'll do in my own place.

If you’re a girl, what color is your favorite bra? I don't have a favorite, honestly. Because of my size I don't have much variety or nice designs to choose from.

Does creating make you happy? YES. Almost more than anything.

Do you have abusive family members? I might, idk. No one in my immediate circle, though.

What US city would you most like to visit? Absolutely no idea.

What country in the world would you most like to visit? South Africa.

Do you have your wedding all planned out in your head? Definitely not. I have ideas for various things, but nowhere near everything.

What is your dream job? A great nature photographer, I guess, that gets to travel a decent amount and is able to support herself well enough...

Do you parents support your dreams? Yes. No one believes in me more than my mama, especially.

Have you ever had feelings for someone and never told them? Yep.

What’s your favorite Disney theme park? I went there once as a young kid, too young to remember these kinds of details.

What’s the theme of this year’s calendar? Don't have one, but I DID get a planner for this year! I want to be better at keeping up with things like my doctor appointments and stuff. Most of its pictures involve birds and fruit and stuff.

Do you get stage fright? If I was up there by myself, I absolutely would. When I did dance though, it was never TOO bad.

What pharmacy do you use? Walgreens.

Would you rather go to a '50s diner or a brewery? AHHHHH '50S DINER!!! The AESTHETIC, y'all. We actually had a diner kinda like that near my house, but it shut down due to Covid and I'm still very bummed about it. There's another around here too, Hwy 55, that's still open and does this really cute thing where some foods, like the fries, come in cardboard vintage cars, and they were SO cute. I remember I kept one as decoration for a while way back.

What do you like on your nachos? I honestly just like nacho cheese.

Do you still talk to your first best friend? No, we drifted apart in like, middle school.

Owls or penguins? Owls. I LOVE owls.

Charlie Brown or Snoopy? Never been into the Peanuts, but Snoopy is cute.

What was one of the stupidest things you cried over when you were little? There is literally a home video Mom has of my older sister's birthday party and I cried over not being able to pin the tail on the donkey lmfao. I was very very young, but still, damn, lol.

Have you ever drank milk from the carton? No, that REALLY grosses me out.

Do you ever sneak scraps to the dog even though you’re not suppose to? I never, ever give Cookie human food because she begs TERRIBLY, like absolutely obnoxiously, and I'm not encouraging that behavior. Mom feeds her stuff and I hate it because she acts very entitled to human food by this point; if my mom is eating, she will NOT be left alone. Cookie just stares at her food like it's the only thing in the entire span of the whole universe that matters, and she basically nearly bites my mom's hand off when she's offered anything.

What was the last book you were required to read for school? The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Fucking phenomenal and very, very haunting as a woman.

Do you like cherry Coke? Yes.

Do you think guyliner is hot? YES

Would you eat a sucker if someone already ate some of it? What the fuck, no.

Would you chew somebody else's gum? No???????????

Ever said something to someone that you didn’t mean to say? Oh yes, my mouth is great at being very impulsive. I'm really trying to get better about it.

Have you ever been in a tanning bed? No, those have always sounded like literal torture to me.

Would you ever want to be a part of the army? A couple days ago I saw a shirt that said "I'd rather be served rat poison than serve this country" and I honestly want it lmfao, if that answers your question.

Would you rather sing or dance in front of your crush? Sing, I couldn't dance to save my life in the shape I'm in. I don't think I'm a great singer either, but it'd be less embarrassing.

Did you ever in your lifetime like Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus? I enjoyed the show quite a bit, but never her as a musician. "The Climb" and "Butterfly Fly Away" are fucking fantastic, though.

Does your best girlfriend have any talents that you don’t? I honestly don't know who my best female friend is, so. Besides my mom, and she can do a hell of a lot of things I can't. I think she's notably good at crafty stuff.

Does anybody send you money in the mail for your birthday? No; my dad gives me money in person, but no one mails anything.

Do you own any shirts that have a year on it? No. Well, maybe some stored away ig, but none that I wear.

What do you think about mullets? I tend to really not like them, but sometimes they look okay.

Do you know anybody who has a birthday in November? Uhhhh... I probably do, but none that I have memorized. Teddy's birthday was November 1st, but he's been gone for a few years now...

Do you have any video game systems in your room? Which one(s)? Not in my room, no.

Have you ever done another person’s make-up? Heh, I gave Jason a makeover once. That's the only time, though.

Have you ever spied on your neighbor? No...

When was the last time it rained? There was a literal severe thunderstorm yesterday. In January. And it was over 70 degrees. That NEVER happens here, ever. We've already had one winter thunderstorm before this, so this is just very odd.

Honestly, do you double dip? If I'm sharing with somebody and you're not my long-time significant other where it's no longer weird, no.

What color is your birthstone? Purple.

What is one thing you don’t like sharing? DRINKS. In almost no case will I share a drink. I don't even like sharing with my s/o, but I will if I need to.

Where on your body would you NEVER get a piercing? I wouldn't get a genital piercing. I also find corset piercings to be REALLY gross.

Which Adam Sandler movie do you like the most? I don't know, he has so many.

Did your parents ever read stories to you before bed? My mom did. I can actually remember reading books with her as a young child.

Have you ever been hit on through a text message? Yeah.

Do you have to do any yard work? No.

What’s worse, ignorance or stupidity? Deliberate ignorance. Then you're just trying not to learn.

What was the last topic you did thorough research on? Why? AI art, its effects upon real artists, and its morality debates. An anti-AI art picture is going around dA and I've shared it on both of my accounts there considering I am VEHEMENTLY against AI "art" being a genuine form of artistic expression, and on my main's upload, I shared links to multiple articles that I read in full addressing this issue.

What is an article of clothing you would never ever wear? Thongs look so fucking uncomfortable to me, to name one. Even if I was in great shape and proud of my body I am VERY doubtful I could tolerate one.

Will you go outside today? I think Mom and I are getting Sonic for dinner tonight so yes.

Are you a kinesthetic, an auditory or a visual learner? Kinesthetic as fuck. I can learn *some* things visually, though, but I'm definitely less likely to have that information permanently stick that way.

Do you have any pets and are they cuddly? Cookie is a TOTAL cuddlebug, like all she wants is to be with/on a person, and Roman is also very cuddly, especially if he's tired and wants to sleep. There are occasions where he wants to be left alone, though. Venus is a snake, but for a snake I still do consider her quite cuddly! Like the average ball python she likes to find a spot where she's comfortable and just chill, and that's often against me or even inside my shirt, lol. She definitely proves again and again that she trusts me.

Do you like the smell of coffee? Despite hating the taste of it, coffee is very, very high on my list of favorite smells.

If you have a favorite photographer, can you describe their work? Probably surprisingly, I honestly don't. There's a shitload on deviantART that are absolutely contenders, though. Jovana Rikalo/thefirebomb on dA might be the queen actually, her account name always sticks with me because I just find her art so impressive. There's another female photographer on there who is very popular for portraiture with live, sometimes even ordinarily dangerous animals (I should mention that these animals are all handled/owned morally for various reasons) that are simply stunning and have such a fairytale vibe. I managed to find her via Google, if anyone's interested: Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya. Incredibly talented.

How did you choose your particular Bzoink icon? I don't have a Bzoink and never have.

When you see a good-looking girl in skimpy clothing, what is your initial thought? I wish I had her confidence and probably her body too, haha. People can dress however the hell they want, and if that's in a way that shows more of the body they're proud of having? That's wonderful for them.

How many cars does your household own? One.

Do you know anyone named Edward or any nickname of that? I don't think so.

#survey #surveys #random questions #personal questions

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llendrinall · 3 years

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I'm with you on how terrible we found Fantastic Beasts. Now let me ask, how would you have written/built the Fantastic Beasts storyline?

I have not watched the 3rd movie so it’s possible that they have managed to turn it all around, but to start with I would give some actual connection to the movies beyond the title and characters. Otherwise it just feels like those children books: “X goes to the park”, “X in the supermarket”, where we see the same people in different situations but they are disconnected from each other.

I probably would have gone a different route all together, but suppose Warner has already hired the actors and started building the sets so we must use at least some elements from the movies. In that case I would make a story of discovery and reflection in three parts, with narcissism being the main theme.

First movie

Newt goes to NY with his magical bag. Most of the film is the same, but we get a sense of Newt being less childish (less painfully obvious and thinly surreptitious wand waving around muggles) and a bit more selfish. However, we should like him more for it.

Newt is, to the society of the time, completely mental. Rather than going on hunts and collecting trophies, he is recuing animals! I would emphasize that the animals he keeps have been compromised and can’t be safely returned to their habitats and since conditions and wizarding zoos are deplorable, he keeps them with him. The exception is that thunder bird he has come to release.

And that’s his goal, releasing the thunder bird, which he pursues with extreme focus. He doesn’t care about anything else which is why he is so open to Jacob the Muggle. Newt could be imprisoned* and Jacob would be obliviated into a stupor, but Newt doesn’t care about personal risks so he doesn’t care about the danger he poses to others. He is selfish that way. A generous kind of selfishness, sure, but dangerous.

I’m sorry, but the President of the MACUSA is not a woman nor a POC. It must be a white man surrounded by white men, one of whom might be either Catholic or Jewish and that’s all the diversity you see. Are there POC wizards? Yes. But not in positions of power. There is a bigger emphasis on the separation of wizards and No-Maj, with waaay more surveillance and harsher punishments. Suspicion alone may be enough to break your wand in some cases.

* And that’s how I could believe that POC wizards and witches (WWs from now on because “magicals” sounds weird) aren’t intervening in muggle spaces. They must be suffering similar levels of racism. They are tolerated, maybe they have better prospects that POC muggles, but that’s it. I can’t believe none of them would show some solidarity to the Non-Maj, unless it meant being summarily executed.

(Oh, and there would be this scene in which we see law-abiding and conscientious Tina stalking the house of an African-American muggle family. Nothing is said of it, other that Tina used to work with a muggle-born partner but now she works alone. Keen-eyed viewers will notice some hoodo trinkets in Tina’s flat, and a photograph of Tina with an African American woman, and then we will know).

I don’t remember Credence’s storyline very well, but it doesn’t matter. What is important is that Graves (powerful white man Graves) develops some sort of empathy. He doesn’t want it, but it’s there in his heart now. Maybe something with Newt’s animals. Some “beast” (look at how they say beasts and not animals) should have maimed and eaten Graves, but doesn’t because Newt is there in all his animal-loving glory. Graves gets to see the monster as merely a scared and hurt animal and learns to treat others with some decency and kindness.

That would be a nice classic movie, (prejudiced man gets over himself), but we can’t end it here. I would even allow for Tina’s scene stalking the house to be cut in order to have time for the climax: the moment when Graves realizes his society and his government may not always be right and defies direct orders by helping Credence. As I said, I don’t remember what the deal with Credence was, but Graves fixes it. There will be a personal cost to his career, but losing a promotion is nothing compared to saving a life, which is what he does. No ambiguous explosion or cloud of smoke. Credence is evidently and irrevocably safe at the cost of Graves being demoted.

There is no Gellert Grindelwald whatsoever, except maybe some government secretary mentioning they like that guy from Europe.

Second movie

Set in London rather than Paris. Newt receives the visit from a lovely, lovely, gentleman who, as it turns out, doesn’t think Newt is a fool. The charming gentleman asks Newt about the dragons, specifically the ones in Gringotts and oh, oh, Newt is against it. It’s abominable and unethical. But Newt would rather not think too much about it because, what can he do? He would rather focus on helping those he can and on spreading his thoughts on animal conservation. He is publishing a journal, although he admits it doesn’t do too well. He has twelve subscribers and seven of them openly mock his papers during dinner parties.

The charming gentleman says, but what if Newt could do something about it? What would Newt be willing to do? Would he break the law?

Newt laughs. He is forbidden from leaving the country. He is no stranger to jumping, crossing, tampering or breaking the law.

Marvelous! The charming gentleman reveals that he, like Newt, is unhappy with their society. It is weak and corrupt* and someone must do something about it. They have to fix it.

So the charming gentleman introduces Newt to some other like-minded friends and together they plan a heist to get into Gringotts and release the dragons. It is time to build a society one can feel proud of!

We get the heist, which is clever and delightful. The charming gentleman is brave, smart and powerful with his magic. There is a moment when some of the co-conspirators, and even the charming gentleman himself, get inside some vaults. This is not what they had planned! Not at all. But the charming gentleman assures Newt that he has good reasons.

They get out. And here comes the Nagini moment. Meaning I really, really, really, don’t need to see an Asian woman condemned to whatever that was in the second movie. I don’t need to have beautiful Neville kill a woman who has been turned into a snake and then a Horcrux.

But, do you want an “oh no” moment? Here it comes.

Because of the heist, Gringotts revises their security measures. That poor dragon in Deathly Hallows? The one with scars who had been conditioned to fear a certain sound? Newt’s fault. And the charming gentleman doesn’t care.

We have established in the previous movie that Newt is somewhat selfish and short-sighted. He rejects his society and cares only about his animals which is very nice. Newt is well intentioned, but that is not enough. Not caring about politics is the privilege of those in the elite (and despite Newts’ eccentricities he is very much the elite). The previous movie had Graves’ awakening. The man discovering something about himself in this movie is Newt.

Newt realizes that he must be an active participant in society. Sadly, he only realizes it after he has helped Gellert Grindelwald steal a number of very important artefacts as well as some gold to fund his project to reform Europe.

The epilogue of the movie has Albus Dumbledore visiting Newt, telling him not to be too hard on himself because he, Dumbledore, also fell for Gellert lies. And if Newt wants to do something about it, Dumbledore has some ideas.

* History fans might not realize immediately, but hopefully they will catch on the fact that all of the beautiful arguments from the charming gentleman are about weakness of the state, which is a common fascist trope.

Third movie

In which characters from previous movies are brought back without having to completely destroy their personalities.

Graves is in Europe and he pays a visit to Newt to ask for his help. Graves is using his new found empathy (that he didn’t want) to investigate a series of highly suspicious murders and incidents. The victims were all Latinas so it was dismissed, but Graves thinks there is something.

Two scenes later in comes Tina, who has quitted her job in order to track the murderer of some friend’s friend. An African American child is dead, no it was not the No-Maj, it was someone else, someone who wanted to cover their tracks and leave no witnesses and Tina is going to eat their heart.

Is it possible that Graves and Tina are after the same person? Yes and no. It is two different henchmen but Dumbledore has no trouble going beyond the small picture to see the pattern. He knows Grindelwald always had an interest in powerful artefacts, not just the Deathly Hallows.

Grindelwald has stolen the Macguffin, a powerful artefact belonging to a Latin-American community. With that and the Elder Wand he will be unstoppable. Oh no!

But! Newt realizes there is something missing. The raven is not a symbol of death in all cultures. Grindelwald might not fully understand what he has taken or how to use it.

So Graves and Tina go fight Grindelwald’s organization and be awesome together, delaying Grindelwald’s big coup. Meanwhile, Newt illegally leaves the country, goes back to NY, takes Queenie and deploys her. Because Queenie is nice. She plays the vapid pretty woman, but she is above all nice and if someone can make a hurt and distrustful community open their door to strangers, it is going to be Queenie with the help of Jacob’s bread.

And, indeed! They succeed. The bruja Latina explains about the Macguffin. Grildelwald doesn’t understand what he has stolen. It is not meant to be used like that at all.

They go back to Europe quickly, Newt relays this information to Dumbledore and he steps to his duel with Grindelwald armed with the knowledge and insight that comes from showing some measure of respect to other people for once.

(And if it seems that Dumbledore’s victory rests on other people’s work, well, Dumbledore’s main trait is his ability to earn people’s trust and devotion. But I guess Newt and Queenie could have brought the bruja with them and after a nice chat with Dumbledore she agrees to share their secrets with him, so he has the opportunity to show he is different).

Rather than having a man realize something, this movie is about the consequences of not opening your eyes: Gindelwald’s fall. It would also nicely establish Dumbledore’s best manipulative traits. If we must have het couples, Tina saves Newt’s from some mook and taker a kiss. Graves goes with the pretty Lestrange, I guess, to have a long life of morality sanctioned crimes.

(A TV show. Twelve episodes. Cancelled after the first season. Graves and Lestrange are back in the States helping oppressed communities and dodging the MACUSA and whatever the equivalent of the FBI was back then).

#asks #harry potter #fantastic beasts #alternate universe #textpost

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dansnaturepictures · 3 years

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27th August 2021: Ring-necked Parakeet, Great Crested Grebe and Moorhen with young, Migrant Hawker and more at Lakeside and home

Sunshine greeted me once more as I got up this morning and I took the first picture in this photoset of a scene out the back and a nice sky scene as the morning went on. Before getting out for my lunch time Lakeside walk I enjoyed Woodpigeon, Collared Doves, Starling and House Sparrow in the garden and on the roof visible from my room with Woodpigeon and Starling combining nicely which was great for a photo once more I tweeted some photos of them on Dans_Pictures tonight. I took the second and third pictures in this photoset of berries by the entrance to Lakeside and a view there as I made my way towards the field north of the steam railway station and cut through the wooded area seeing a great Robin along the way in the southern fenced off nature reserve area where I’d not been for a little while.

Coming through here out towards the gate to the path south of this area and I was delighted to hear the high-pitched trill of a Ring-necked Parakeet. I walked up some steps and into the car park area and the sound became more prominent, not knowing if it was one bird first of all I pinpointed to a quite bushy and in full leaf tree. I stood there and walked around a bit for a fair few minutes and eventually was so excited to see this emerald beauty pretty well camouflaged within the tree just getting a view of it. It seemed to be alone. And I got the record shot in the fourth picture in this photoset of this bird I do really like which I was happy with. One of my best birding whilst working from home moments lately and one of my standout bird moments this month.

I have gone a bit quiet on the parakeets on here not seeing any since late spring, but as a brief recap these are birds that up until 2020 I only ever saw yearly on trips to Richmond Park and Bushy Park in autumn part of their London stronghold. But early last autumn I was amazed to spot some flying from my bedroom, but not totally unexpected as I knew a colony in the Southampton area was rather developing in a bit of a spread of the birds in the south. This made me extremely excited though and I photographed one at a distance the next time I saw them whizzing by. I just about saw one at Grantham Green a place I visited a lot when younger in the town too where others had spotted them. Then fast forward to this March 2021 and I was thrilled on a special spring day to see some at Lakeside my first on patch a very exciting moment. And I did have a decent sized handful of sightings of them at Lakeside this spring, flying and still with some intimate moments as it became surreal I was seeing them with some nesting nearby it was felt. But for one reason and another I’d not managed an outdoor local photo of one since they’ve been around and it became a bit of a quest to take a picture of one at Lakeside and with my big lens on my DSLR this year I was determined today and I was so happy to get the record shot.

Around here also I saw a lovely small brown butterfly a possible White-letter Hairstreak or something else. I took the fifth picture in this photoset looking over Concorde lake which I’d made it to and it did look so beautiful, as did the purple loosestrife still adorning the areas around it. I had come around here in the hope of another precious glimpse of the Great Crested Grebe family and very young chicks on this lake.

And I was over the moon to get to see them from the grassy walking area between the lakes and a vacant fishing jetty. I got exquisite views of this immensely beautiful group of birds with the two adults and three chicks. I really made the most of seeing these and appreciating them, and managed the sixth picture in this photoset among others of some. It was comical and quirky to see the adult who’s back the greblings were characteristically sat on have a little shake and inadvertently I am sure spilled their offspring onto the water surface. There was no need to worry with them soon clambering back on and I am sure it is good swimming practice too. An exceptional moment to observe with these phenomenal birds for me.

A deliciously blue Migrant Hawker darted past me over the water, a dragonfly that I saw for the first time in 2021 a week ago at Lyndon nature reserve at Rutland Water a star sighting today.

Then I loved seeing some little Moorhen chciks which were fluffy and adorable and they made a sweet little squeeky sound. Its been great to discover this fresh batch of chicks this week too in a week the Great Crested Grebes have dominated. I enjoyed taking in these lovely Moorhens a couple of times. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of the youngster and enjoyed seeing with its parent well getting a picture of them together which I tweeted.

I have to say my lunch time walk today was a brilliant bit of escapism in my day as it always is and it all of a sudden felt a lot busier for seeing wildlife, with maybe the variety of butterflies about decreasing and being in an in between stage in the bird world with the nesting season seemimgly all but over and autumnal migrants coming through lately and that’s not a criticism just what happens naturally. But this week new life has literally been breathed into the breeding season here and butterflies even to a lesser variety are still very much about, and of course dragonflies are really in their peak season now as I’ve observed so much this week. So this combined and all of a sudden I felt I saw a great deal at lunch time. On my way out I took a photo looking up towards the northern path area I needed to get to in order to walk back out and I just managed to photograph the steam of the passing train into a picture which was interesting to use.

After intending to do my frequent second walk in a day on a Friday when I finished work I was quite a way delayed as I was engrossed in some huge football news for my club. But this did prove useful as the sun rather disappeared around mid-morning and despite snatches of it starting to poke through didn’t really fully return until well after I had intended the walk so I did a bit of a later evening one in just like Wednesday’s evening walk in divine sunshine. It was really amazing to see and make the most of a lovely summer’s evening at the beautiful Lakeside. And around the estate and in Lakeside there were wonderful scenes such as the tarmac path which I have seen lit up by streelights and sunlight on a wet surface before lit simply by the sun with the landscape as a whole different to what I might normally see with angles of shadows tonight. It was a brilliant start to the weekned doing this which is what the second Friday walk is all about and it was great to see some wild carrot flowers looking stunning and bright around the estate on the way back which I got a picture of. I took the final three pictures in this photoset tonight of the steeplebush in our front garden and views at Lakeside looking gorgeous in the sun. A beautiful spider which I took and tweeted a photo of tonight awaited me in the living room when home a nice view of a lovely one and after seeing it in the morning again the bright blue sky before it got a bit overcast I enjoyed taking a photo of a very compelling and bright moon tonight a memorable one for sure. I hope you all have a nice and safe weekend.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: One of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Black-headed Gull, Ring-necked Parakeet, Woodpigeon well at Lakeside and home, Collared Dove, some of the growing group of Feral Pigeons beyond the regular pair we nickname Violet and Rex now again, Starling, House Sparrow, Robin, Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood well, Small White, Migrant Hawker, a lovely hoverfly, fly and spider.

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ivyglow · 4 years

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the bigger the secret, the greater the damage | Carter Hart

A/n: I’m not used to finishing my pieces with angst, but I hope this one reaches the expectations. Let me know what you think by sending me a private message or an ask (feedback is always appreciated!).

Thanks one more time to @guentzgoal for proof reading this piece so fast. You’re the best, Tori! <3

Requested: yes

Word count: 2.4k

Warnings: just to love birds dating in secret and fighting about it.

Prompt: 32. “It just feels really shitty, to be the secret boyfriend/girlfriend.”; 86. “could we pretend that we’re in love?” 88. “i guess i was wrong about you”

Working for the flyers was probably a dream for any media marketing undergraduate, but it was not a dream for you. Not when your dad was the head coach and made sure to let everyone know it after one month. He could not keep his mouth shut and honestly, you couldn’t blame him. You were each other’s only family and he tried to make sure you knew how much he appreciated you after struggling to accept your career choice during the early months.

The first few weeks working with the players sometimes consisted of focusing on the databases behind the doors and eventually even going as far as photographing some moments, and you were able to blend in, no different treatment or anything. Well, except for Carter Hart, he treated you differently since the first day and he made sure you knew it.

You liked the transparency, it was nice to not keep worrying if you were reading too much between the lines. But at the same time, you knew better. He and any other player were in the list of things you should never get too close to.

Still, your best reasoning was not able to keep you two apart.

Two weeks later, you two were constantly messaging each other and talking about everything and anything, except for your relationship with his coach. Carter was in the dark about you being the coach’s daughter, and he was mad for some days after discovering with everyone else.

It made sense why you were so private and wanted him to keep it low key.

It was not only the job, it was the father.

And of course, when Alain finally told everybody his daughter was working there, he also told that no one could lay a finger on you (especially his players).

It was too late, though. He probably should have told Carter sooner.

So the two of you kept talking. You developed a friendship with some other players as well, thanks to TK because he would always joke around about you being the daughter of the boss. But still, they didn’t know about you and Hart, you made him promised not to tell anyone, especially his teammates.

It was three or four months after you guys decided to turn the flirts and make-out sessions into something more serious.

Well, something more serious that wouldn’t involve meeting parents, posting pictures, or changing relationship statuses on social media. It was not quite what Carter was expecting, but still, he had you and you were exclusive and it was enough, or so he thought for some time.

It was a Sunday morning, the sun was creeping through the blinds hitting your face and giving the room a comfortable glow while your boyfriend watched you sleep beside him. Carter was used to the early morning practices, they were the reason why he was always the first to wake up, spending his time cooking breakfast, or just enjoying your company. Today was the latter.

He watched as soft snores came out of your slightly open mouth. You were holding him by his arm and even though the relationship was recent, it was long enough to Carter know some of your manners, he was very attentive when it comes to you. You were holding him not only for the warmth of his body but because you were used to sleeping holding something to. It went as far as when he wasn’t there, you would eventually cuddle a pillow that he mockingly dressed in one of his Flyers away jerseys.

You liked the routine you two created together, and yes sometimes you missed doing normal couple things like walking hand-in-hand or kissing without worrying if someone was around, but you had him and you feared that if things changed, your relationship would change, too, but for the worse.

Carter smiles softly at the faces you’re doing in your deep sleep and you stirred with the click of the camera, but his chest felt so comfortable against your arm and his muscles were in the best position next to your face. You could lay there forever.

And you did, not forever but as long as possible before you felt his stomach grumble in your hand that was laying flatly against his abs.

“Babe, as much as I would love to just chill in bed with you I really need some food” his voice was raspy, but not too much and that’s how you knew he was awake longer than you had imagined. You throw your body lazily on top of his searching for more warmth and lazily asking him for some stimulus.

His mouth was fast to found his favorite spot on your neck, close to your ear, the same spot that sends shivers through your whole body. He dragged his lips until they met your jaw seconds after.

“Wakey wakey, c’mon” he mumbled, hands gripping your waist.

You ignore his calls, choosing to get comfortable on that spot. “Alright, I’m posting this really cute picture and I thought you would want to help me with the filter since it’s you gripping me in your sleep…”

You jerked, almost falling off the bed.

“What picture?” Your heart racing, the image of your father discovering about your relationship with one of his players suddenly clouding your head.

Carter seemed to sense your uneasiness, “Hey, relax, I’m not posting it…” his forefinger found your chin guiding your face to his so it was easier to read what you were feeling.

“I’m sorry, Hartsy, it’s just nobody...we can’t let them discover...at least not like that…” you try to explain, the words suddenly vanishing.

The way his eyebrows furrowed and his lips formed a thin line you knew he was hurt. Carter wanted to tell everyone since the very first time, he wanted the whole relationship experience, he wanted to tell everyone how cute you were while sleeping, or how he cooked better than you, he wanted to post pictures of you two and comment in each one you posted. He had so many pictures of you. And he had small videos of you doing mundane things such as singing along your favorite song while driving and eating your favorite ice cream.

“It just feels really shitty, to be the secret boyfriend.”

“I get it, but you know I truly like you, right?” this time you were the one to bring his face to yours. You felt a pang in your heart with how his eyes looked everywhere before finally settling on your face.

He nodded, almost saying that he was tired, that he wanted someone real, something real. But it just took your lips to found his for him to give up the idea.

He didn’t want to give you an ultimatum, but he also did not want to keep getting hurt.

You two lay there for a few more minutes in silence while Carter’s mind worked on overthinking the situation.

“My mom’s coming to town next month…” he started once your fingers found his hair, massaging his scalp lightly, “I was wondering if you wanna meet her.”

You stopped your movements for some seconds before his question settled. “Meet your mother?”

“Yeah.”

“That sounds...a big step. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just...I don’t know, Carter…” you trailed off. Meeting the parents was a step you were not sure about, first, you wanted to deal with your own father, and that’s the answer you gave him, “I kind of wanted to have a talk with my father before taking this step.”

His silence told you a message, loud and clear. And before you could try sugar coat it, the pang on your front door caught your attention.

You grabbed your robe and left the bed after giving Carter a peck. The walk to your front door took you less than one minute and once you reached it you regretted doing it so fast.

“Hey, dad!” the high pitched tone made your dad look at you, a confused expression on his face.

“Hey, y/n, you were still in bed?” Alain entered the house discarding his shoes at the entrance and heading to the sofa.

“I went to sleep late last night…” you told him before sitting on the other end of the couch. “I was working on some essays…” well, now you lied. You went to sleep late because that’s what happens when you and your secret boyfriend have the next day free.

Your father gives you a pointed look and you answered with a small smile, before bowing your head to pick with the nail polish that was almost disappearing on your nails.

“Is there something you wanna tell me?” he asked suddenly and you cursed silently.

Alain knew you better than your mom did, he knew your traits and how you used to act when you were either nervous or trying to keep something. He wasn’t home very often in your childhood, but the time he could make it, he made sure to take the better out of it. He was attentive off the ice too.

“Nah, there’s nothing, dad. I’m just...exhausted.”

“Y/n, I’m your father…”

“I’m aware of that…” you mumbled sarcastically with a light tone before chuckling. He rolled his eyes.

“I was talking with your mom last night…” he started and you cursed again, cause when they teamed up to make you do something, it usually worked, like the time you did not want to go to the doctor after two days of high fever or when you wanted a cat but they both didn’t. “And she thinks you’re dating someone.”

They were a good team indeed.

And you thought it was cool that they weren’t together anymore, but they still talked like old friends.

“What?” you chided suddenly scared of what he was thinking. What if he wandered through your small apartment? It wouldn’t take much for him to find Carter.

“Yeah, she heard someone last time she called you and she also said you seemed to be at the clouds with distraction.”

A groan left your mouth and you got up, “I hate how mom’s always thinking that I’m dating someone. You know how I act when I like someone, dad, and I don’t like someone right now” you started your rant, “See, she probably heard this boy I was seeing for some months, we met at my first workplace, but it wasn’t nothing serious. The last thing I want right now is a relationship.” You were so caught up into making your father give up on the idea that you were dating you didn’t see Carter standing behind the door to the hallway, “and, to be honest, you know if it was something serious I would have told you by now. Have I told you something? Have I mentioned someone to you, dad?”

He seems to study your face for some seconds before making an unexpected turn, “You do remember we made a promise of not dating any of my players, right?”

You sight before nodding your head.

“This boy...was it really from your old job?”

You nod again. You couldn’t risk losing your father’s trust and you couldn’t go back to live with your mom, he was ok with everything and he meant it, everything but dating his players. It was important to him and you promised you wouldn’t do it. Alain was your only family on this side of the country. It was him or going to France with your mother.

“Dad, you know me when I’m in love. You remember Trevor when I was in middle school?! Or Dennis from our beach house...Do I look like I used to when I was head over heels for them?” Your question was answered with a chuckle, you were obsessed with these two boys. Trevor was the first boy you liked, you remember writing about him in your diary every day, and then Dennis came during a summer in high school, he was tall and very cute and you loved his dark hair.

“I guess you have a point, y/n,” he said finally, “I just came to see if you want to grab dinner tonight. I was expecting to grab lunch, but I supposed you didn’t even have breakfast yet…” his light tone says everything’s alright and you relax tossing your body on the couch.

“I’m sorry, dad. But dinner sounds perfect,” you wondered.

“Great, I need to go now. I’ll find someone else to have lunch with” he dropped a kiss against your forehead and you giggled with his words.

“You should get a girlfriend” you joke before he reaches the door.

“Yeah, who knows…”

You groaned, before getting up in minds of going back to bed, but Carter was already in your living room with one big step. You felt the blood drain from your face.

The evident look of hurt on his eyes.

“Harsty,” you try to start but he just shook his head.

“I knew I liked you more than you liked me, but I didn’t think you thought so little of me…” the way his hands were on his sweatpants pockets and his eyebrows furrowed, his whole body language screaming that he was hurt and it was on you. Your fault.

“No! That was me trying to keep us from getting caught.”

“You’re the one with this damn idea that we should keep it all in secret. You had the perfect chance to simply come clean and tell him everything, but you chose to lie...well, tell him half of the truth, considering you don’t like me the way I thought you did.”

Your eyes were watering and you tried to reach him, touch him, reassure him that it wasn’t as bad as you made it seem to your dad minutes ago. This time Carter didn’t back down and so you held him by his large shoulders, trying to catch his eyes, trying to make him see that it wasn’t your intention.

“Could we pretend that we’re in love?” he whispered, his tone so small if you weren’t so close you would never hear. “Can you treat me like this Dennis or Trevor guy just for once...cause I guess I was wrong about you.”

You stutter, the words getting stuck, your stomach low on your belly and before you could get yourself together he slips through your fingers.

“You don’t have to worry about keeping it away from everyone, there’s no secret to keep anymore. I’m done. We’re done.”

You can find more of my writing here.

#Carter hart #carter hart request #nhl imagine #flyers #Philadelphia Flyers #hockey imagine #hockey goalies #nhl fanfic #travis konecny #mels writing

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introvertllux · 4 years

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Copia’s World: Chapter 1

Story Description: Lena is gifted with extraordinary powers, that much is true but what happens when she discovers that her powers are more of a curse than a blessing. Will Lena be able to fight the dark path she seems fated for or will she be able to confront her ever-growing powers in order to forge her own path? Secrets and lies discovered as Lena navigate through family, love, and self-discovery.

Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy, Drama

Warnings: 18+, depictions of bullying, Christianity discrimination, mental health, mental disorders, racism, suicide, discrimination. (Please do not read, if you may be triggered).

*Any depictions referred to in the warnings are based on MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. Please do not think I’m making fun or or mocking anyone, again these experiences are based on what I have seen and, or been through myself. Also, I am not intending to romanticize mental health or disorders in anyway. Lastly, If you do decided to read this story I am very thankful and I hope you enjoy it. : )

Notes to add:

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS

THE ORIGINAL STORY IDEA IS MY OWN

THE CREATION OF THE CHARACTER PROFILES ARE MY OWN DOING (I DO NOT OWN THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ART WORKS OF EACH CHARACTER. HOWEVER, I DID EDIT THE PICTURES OF MY OC (BRI HALL) TO MATCH MY OC DESCRIPTION.

THIS STORY WILL TAKE SOME EVENTS FROM THE COMICS, ANIMATED SERIES, AND THE LIVE ACTION MOVIES.

IN THIS STORY ALEX IS YOUNGER THAN SCOTT AND THE AGES VARY BASED ON THE ACTOR THAT PLAYS THE CHARACTER AND FOR THE SAKE OF THE PLOT

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Third Person’s P.O.V.

Friday, July 27, 2019

Lena inhaled the crisp cool summer air as she gazed outside of the large crystal-clear window of the deep corridor. A breathtaking blend of coral and peach sunlight filled the sky as birds soared high and low while chirping a captivating melody. She exhaled, as she gently opened her yellow-amber eyes and watched the pattern the birds flew in. Lena, then gripped the frame of widow seal, careful not to crush it underneath her superhuman strength. Oh, how badly did she want to leap out of the wind and fly, to soar, and join the feathered-winged creatures.

(You look like you want to join them) she heard a voice say inside of her head.

(More than anything…) I responded back.

(I think that freedom is what you seek more than anything, Lena) the voice said.

Lena looked at the person next to her from the lower corner of her left eye.

(Grandpa, freedom is the one thing I desire the most out of this world. It’s funny you know… how easy it seems to be able to have. To get too. It’s literally right outside my door. But for me, it seems unreachable. It’s bittersweet to know that my only desire is so close yet so far. But as a mutant as… me, I know that I would rather give up my dreams to protect my family and those who can’t protect themselves.)

she said as she turned her full body towards the founder of the Xavier Institute.

(As usual, that’s very brave, kind, and noble of you Lena. But as I told you many times in the past you can be all those things and more without giving up on the things you want. Balance is key to anything you do in life, Lena. Once, you've mastered that you’ll be impossible to stop) Professor Xavier said.

Lena let out a sigh, (Grandpa you and I both know the circumstances that prevent me from being free. I-I just want to be like them) I communicated to him as I pointed my arm out of the window at the birds in front of me. (How long do I have to be a caged bird? How long until I can use my powers to help instead of hurting. How long until my powers stop feeling like a curse. How long until nobody fears me and they except me! How long until I can be free!?)

She yelled telepathically causing the man next her to groan in pain as he gripped the sides of his head.

Lena’s P.O.V

“Uh! Grandpa, I’m so, so, sorry!” I yelled as I kneeled next to his wheelchair. I tried to gently console him, trying to be extra careful of my strength and the volume of my voice.

“It’s alright, Lena.” He said softly.

I looked at him with glistening eyes, “I’m sorry. I’m so stupid.” I said quieter.

“Far from it my dear, very far. You just have trouble controlling your powers is all. We’ve all been there. I have your mother, your father, and the rest of the students that live here. Your case is just a special one… and like the rest we will find a way for you to control them.” He said optimistically.

I stared at him for a split second as I read his facial expression. Although he always made sure to remain level-headed and positive at all times, I know that deep inside he’s afraid. He’s terrified. He more than anyone that we know, knows how much of a ticking time bomb I am. He knows that I’m capable of the world ending power, yet he masks it all in hopes that “we” find a solution in an unpredictable time.

“Now, Lena if my time is correct and I’m sure that it is you have about 5 minutes before Colossus will be looking to join the others in the Danger Room. You know how organized he is.” He said smiling softly.

I mentally rolled my eyes as he mentioned Colossus.

“Have fun, and make sure you pay specific attention until how each student is managing their powers. I think it might help you find your source of control.” He said.

“Will do, grandpa. Have a nice rest of your day.” I said as I ran down the long hallway and down to my room.

As I entered my room, I quickly opened my side table drawer and pulled out black gloves that covered every inch of my hands. I quickly pulled them on my hair, careful not to tear them. I looked down at the gloves as I started to feel anxiety.

Looking at these gloves was a constant reminder of how defective I was. Usually, when I felt my powers start to lose control in the slightest way, I would put these gloves on. Today… when I broke the telepathic link with my grandfather was a sign of lack of control, although not a big one it was still something.

One of my first abilities I was able to master at a young age was telepathy but seeing as of late I’m losing my grip over it I think the gloves will stabilize me. God forbid I go to training and I bump into someone and I absorb their abilities or hurt them in any other way.

With about two minutes left before training, I left my room (which wasn’t too far from the danger room only about 10 feet). I walked with a neutral expression on my face as I entered the control room. I took “my” seat next to a standing Colossus whose body shined in pride at his team below.

“Nice of you to join us today, Lena.” He said without looking at me. I nodded my head back at his as I looked down at the white dull sneakers on my feet that seemed to pique my interest at the moment.

“I didn’t see you for breakfast, AGAIN. How can you expect to be a good hero if you aren’t eating a well-balanced meal?” He said in a lecturing tone.

No, how can I expect to be a good one, if I’m not allowed to use my powers?

I heard the sound of his body turning towards me, I hastily moved my hands behind my back so he wouldn’t see that I had my gloves on.

He cleared his throat and said, “I want you to watch closely. Today the team will be working on teamwork protocols. As a member of this team, I need you to see and understand how each team member's abilities work as well as how they complement one another.” He said as he turned back, getting ready to speak into the intercoms.

This is why I hated “training”. First and foremost, I’m not really a part of the team. I’m what you call the “final choice”. I’m the SWAT team to the police force. The Hulk to the Avengers. I’m the big guns. If our chances of winning are extremely low, they are banking on me to bring the bacon home. From an outsider’s perspective, it sounds like an honor… but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. I’m the caged animal that they only let free on the special circumstance. They don’t want to see me, talk to me, or USE me until they need me.

As for their powers, I know them left to right. I know every single one of my teammate’s power sources, origins, and weaknesses. How could I not? I live my life watching them all have fun with their powers and showing them off while I stay dormant, in complete comatose. Get this… isn’t it hilarious, how my parents always told me that mutants were special, that I was special but one mistake… and now I’m too special to use my gifts?

Don’t get me wrong at all. I love every and any kind of mutant good or evil no matter what their gifts are, they are all special and unique to me. But that all goes out the window when: 1.) I don’t use my powers so I’m basically a regular person and 2.) When I have the ability to absorb, replicate, and keep any power I’m exposed to. Having that ability, that curse, makes everyone around you feel ordinary and that’s something I hate about myself. I never want anyone to feel less than. I rather it is me so that they never know how it really feels.

Okay, team, I’m commencing the portal now. Get ready.” I heard Colossus say. A few seconds later I saw the lights deem as the computer speak:

Commencing Protocol 24389: Team Civilian Rescue

I sat up in my chair slightly making sure to keep my hands in a place where I knew Colossus wouldn’t be able to see. Within a few seconds, I analyzed the protocol. It seemed as though each section and customized by each person’s powers. Each person had their weakness placed in each section but would require help from a member to move through. Their ultimate end goal was to rescue an elder-women and her cat (Ha, how cute Colossus).

I continued to watch for a few moments, already seeing that they were not working as a team. I glanced up at Colossus from the side of my eye and noticed his stone-cold expression.

Which I knew was translated to mean anger, disappointment, and shame. It seems like the only person that was trying his best was Alex, better known as Havok. He tried to guide the team and even give some advice but he was stopped but Mr. Hothead himself Pyro, or John who’s ego was so big he wouldn’t take direction from anyone because he was the leader and what he said went even if he was wrong.

Then there was Jubilation Lee or Jubilee who was a poor long-term focuser so when it came to making plans and strategies, she wasn’t all the way there. And last but certainly not least the Lovesick King, Sam aka Cannonball, he was so in love with Jubilee all he heard, saw, and thought about was her. If it didn’t involve her, he wanted no parts and that’s exactly what was happening.

A few more minutes went by and I heard the screams of agony ring throughout the control panel. I flinch and quickly stood up hoping that nobody was hurt. The lights slowly turned on as I realized that the scream I heard was from the elderly women hologram. I let out a small sigh… glad that everyone was okay (well almost everyone).

Protocol 24389: Team Civilian Rescue. Failed.

I heard the computer say as the light was on completely. I heard Colossus' large steps start to exit the control room. I knew better than to try to leave and retreat back to my room. I hated conflict and I knew this would be another confrontation and I knew deep down inside It would be my fault because that’s just my role on this team.

“This! This is teamwork!?” Colossus yelled as he waved his hands in front of the other students.“Well, If John helped out more- “Sam started to say before he was cut off by everyone auguring back and forth all at once.

“Enough!” Colossus yelled once more.

“This is not what good teams do! Arguing and fight one another. That’s for the villain, not the heroes.” He said

.He let out a sigh, “You, “He said as he pointed at John, “You are the leader. You are supposed to lead them with humility and a good plan. You did neither of those. If you do that on the real battlefield do you expect to lead your team to victory or their deaths.”

He said sternly. “Jubilee, you need to focus on the battlefield you can get yourself and others hurt or worse. Samuel, you need to focus on your team and the civilians, keep your head on the battlefield, not on your heart.” He said as he exchanged looks between the both of them.

Colossus looked up and down at Alex swiftly, “Alex, great work for what little you had to work with. Keep it up. It’s clear that you all need more training so… I will see you bright and early at 6:00 AM tomorrow.” He said as he began to turn around and walk off.“But… tomorrow is Saturday!” I heard Jubilee yell. Colossus just waved as he exited the room. I turned, trying to leave the room unnoticed.

“Where do you think you’re going.” I heard John say. I stopped for a moment, deciding not to let him get to me today.

I heard him snort, “Got the gloves on, huh? Bad day?” He said with a chuckle.

I quickly grabbed my hands and folded them up to my chest tightly as I kept walking.

“You know it’s your fault we failed that protocol.” He said with venom in his voice. I stopped in my tracks, my back still facing him.

“You just sit up there in the control room acting all high and mighty while we do all the work. What’s the point of doing all the work, when you can do it? You have the ability to have any and every power known to man yet- because you’re so defective we have to do the work. It’s pretty pathetic, to be honest.” He let out a sarcastic sigh, “I guess… I’ll always have that over you, huh? being flawless, being more than enough.” He said in a taunting manner.

“John, back off.” I heard Alex say.

“Shh… your leader is talking. And as the leader, I say my “team member” needs some constructive criticism.” He said wickedly.

“You know… now that I think about it I kind of own you. Everything I say goes. I mean look your powers are banned. You don’t train with us, you can’t leave this house, and… a big part of that is thanks to me. One of my greatest accomplishments to date I think.” He said as he started to laugh widely.

I began to shake in my spot, tears threatening to spill. I didn’t want to look up at John. All I wanted to do was run and retreat back to my room, the place I knew I would always be the safest. But instead, I decided that I had to look up, into the eyes of the man that made my life living hell every day for years. Not one part of me wanted to think he was evil or malicious when he tormented me on a daily. I wanted to see the good in him, as a fellow mutant, as a teammate, as a person. But all I could see what a selfish and wicked cold-hearted man.

I speed to my room devastated and broken. This was nothing new under the sun. Every day, John would take his shots at me tearing me down in front of our peers and they would just let it happen. John hated him with all his heart and soul and the rest didn’t understand me. They didn’t bother too. That just knows about the accident that leads to my powers awakening and from then on, they’ve avoided me like the plague. It just me to see that even in my own home that I will never kind anyone who truly gets me or a place where I belong.

I laid on my bed fast down as I cried myself to sleep. What felt like a minute later, was actually hours as I heard tapping on my window. I walked to my window and opened it wide as something swiftly flew in. I looked at the figured and smiled.

“Cuzzo! It’s been a while!” I heard my cousin Peter yell.

I quickly jumped on him as we landed on the bed with my hand covering his mouth. “Shh,” I whispered.

Of course, I was very happy to see my cousin Peter. It’s been too long but like a true prisoner, I am not allowed to have any visitors and the same goes for Peter even though he’s family.

Peter’s eyes roamed down to my gloved hand and he mumbled something against. I moved my hands down and looked down at my lap, knowing how concerned he would be to see my gloves on. I didn’t want to ruin our reunion, but I felt as though I already did.

He grabbed both of my gloved hands and squeezed tightly, “Lena…” He expresses in a worried voice.

“Peter, I’m fine. I promise. Let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about you I haven’t seen you in so long, aren’t you taking Online Summer courses at MIT?” I asked genuinely interested.

Peter’s looked lingered for a few seconds before he gave in, “Yeah I am actually. They’re killer. Dad wanted me to try and stay on campus and do the whole college thing a try, but I wanted to be able to patrol at home and- “He said before I interrupted “And your crush” I said in a teasing voice.

“Lin.” He said in a whining voice as he pursed his lips and I continued to laugh a bit.

“Well, I think uncle Tony just wants you to give you a fair shot at the whole being a “normal” kid type of thing. But you’re too far gone, Spider-Man. We’ve lost you to the dark side.” I said as I continued to joke.

“Tell me about it, right now I’m on the dark side of college homework.” He said as he began to pull out his homework from his bag.

“I also brought some ice cream. They’re rock solid, so by the time I get done with this they should be defrosted.” He said.

We talked back and forth as Peter did his homework. I helped quite a bit with the equations he was having problems solving.

“Lena, I always knew you were smart… but you’re better at solving these problems than I am. Maybe you should be at MIT, instead.” He laughed.

“No, way Peter. You’re a genius. I just like a challenge that all. Plus, engineering isn’t my passion.” I said with a shrug.

“To be honest you’ve never really talked about your passions before.” He said sounding intrigued.

“Um, my first one would be getting out of here. I might get spontaneous and travel to every state.” I said laughing while being serious.

“You know… being here all my life and not being allowed to leave unless supervised never gave me the chance to really find myself. I went to school here and never had the chance to go to college. The one constant thing that I find myself doing that I like is helping. I also like kids too, even if I’m not around them often. But when I was around Franklin and Valeria I was in awe. I wanted nothing but to see them happy you know. I don’t know maybe… maybe I’ll become a teacher.” I said quietly.

“Well, I think you’re an amazing teacher. You’re creative, smart, kind, and you always put other's needs before your own.” Peter said as he smiled softly at me as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

I flinched back, as he stared at me with his arms in surrender at me. “ah… um, I’m sorry.” I said frantically. “I just… my powers and the gloves um...” I said starting to panic.

“No, no. I’m sorry Lin I should’ve known better.” He said. “Um, ice cream?” He said after a few moments of silence.

I nodded my head as he handed me, a mocha chip flavored ice cream. I smiled and thanked him. He always remembered by favorite. As we ate my ice cream, he talked to me about his dad and what the rest of the Avengers were up too.

“Wait so Thor is fat now?” I repeated. “Yeah, but he’s got more a dad bod thing going in verses the devastated drunk bod. He’s getting there. Aunt Nat and Uncle Clint are taking care of the psychical and dad are doing his version of emotional support and the rest of us are doing real actual support.” He said as eat another spoonful of ice cream.

I smiled, “I miss them. I wish I was there to see their faces.” I said feeling low again. “I know they all miss you, I missed you. I promise even though I have these dumb classes I’m coming to visit you more often even if Uncle Logan tries to kill me and hang me over the fireplace.” He said in a joking yet serious manner.

“When I told dad, I was going to sneak into your house, he said, “Why go all Bond on them, we can walk right up and make it a party.” He said laughing.

I shook my head, “I think at that point it’s more about our dad’s deep intense hatred for one another.” I said.

“They have a lot in common that’s why. They both think they know everything or can do anything better than another person.” Peter said.

“Ugh, tell me about it. Back to the party thing, it’s almost your birthday in two weeks what are you going to do. I know Uncle Tony will want to throw you a big bash.” I said.

“Yeah, now you tell me about it. I told dad something quite with the family but of course, it went in one ear and out the other. At this point, I don’t care what he wants to do. If you can’t come then, I don’t want anything.” He said.

“Aww. Peter, no don’t throw away your party for me. It’s not worth it.” I said. “What? Lena, are you hearing yourself? You’re my cousin. I’m not going to have a party that’s supposed to have family and friends there and you not be there. I don’t care if I have to invite every single member of this household in order for you to be able to come, I will do it.” He said.

I was a bit stun that he said he would invite everyone just for me. I know Peter wasn’t super close to the rest of the team members closer to our ages but Peter was the extroverted one out of the both of us so if it came down to it he would have no problem socializing with them, even if it were for a minute.

A few more minutes pass and Peter and I exchange goodbyes as he exited out of the window. About 10 minutes later another knock could be heard from the window.

What’s with my window tonight.

I raised the window and looked outside of it. “Hey, Angel.” I heard my Uncle Angel say to me with a wave. I waved back. He drew in closer to the window. “Hard day?” He asked as he nodded towards my gloves. I shrugged but didn’t say a word.

“How about some Angel Time.” He said as he referred to the nickname, I called our flying time together when I was a child. I knew the repercussions that would follow if we left the house without telling anyone, we both did, but I need this. For me flying was like a rocking a baby back to sleep, it was soothing to me, it was liberating.

I took a step back from my window and leaped out. Smiling widely as I levitated in the air. I began to fly up higher with my arms stretched wide. This is the feeling I’ve been missing for so long. I continued to smile as I fly all around my uncle. We flew together for a while until he landed on a cliff and patted his hand down on the grass near him. I flew down and landed gently.

“You know, when you’re up there flying around, you look just like your mother.” I smiled softly at his observation.

“Before you were born your mother and I used to fly all the time. It’s one of the only times I’ve really seen your mother look so happy, that or when you or your dad are around.” He said.

“Is that why you fly. Because it’s your freedom too.” I asked. He looked over and smiled at me. “You know before I discovered my wings I was from a very wealthy family. From the outside, everyone thought I was so happy and perfect because of it but I was so miserable. When I discovered my wings, I got on my knees and praised God because nothing could stop me from escaping the hell in which I lived. I had the power to leave and discover my own path and that’s what lead me to the school. Flying doesn’t solve all my problems, no. But it helps me to get on the right track.” He said with passion.

I hummed in satisfaction at his answer. It was so detailed and liberating. I related to it in many ways. Uncle Angel and I continued to laugh and talk about things from my childhood and things of his past, until sunrise. As the sun rose so did my anxiety and panic because I knew when I got home, I was in trouble. I knew I probably missed training so that was a dead give away that I wasn’t home like I was supposed to be.

We flew back home, with Uncle Angel telling me he would help explain the situation to my parents. However, that didn’t make me feel better considering the fact that there was no reasoning with parents as overprotective as my own.

We landed swiftly and opened the door to the mansion and made our way to the kitchen, figuring they would be there having their morning coffee and tea.

“Lena Oni Howlett! Where have you been? You just don’t leave the house without telling us or someone going with you!” I heard my mother yell.

“I know. “I mumbled quietly that only my father could probably hear with his advanced hearing.

“Wait Ororo, please don’t yell at her it was my fault,” Angel said as he stood in front of me.

“She was having a bad day and-and I know flying helps to calm her down, so I took her.” He said trying to explain the situation.

“Do you have any idea what could’ve to happen with her flying up there. “I heard my father say with a growl.

“Nothing, I was with her-“ Angel tried to finish before he was interrupted “Then you’re dumber than I thought birdbrain. Her powers are unpredictable right now. We don’t know what triggers then and what doesn’t. You could’ve gotten yourselves both killed.” He said with anger in his voice.

I flinched when he called my powers unpredictable and when he said I was capable of killing both of us. It was true and I didn’t want it to happen. I never want to hurt anyone ever again but the way my own father was describing me it was like I was some kind of monster.

“Logan…” My mother warned.

“Can you believe this bullshit!” He yelled as he slammed his hand onto the marble countertop causing a crack to form.

“Watch your language!” My mother yelled at him.

“As soon as we do a better job at keeping track of our own, damn daughter. Oh, or do you not remember the stakes that are at hand!” He roared.

“Of course, I do! That’s why we’re taking the percussions we are now!” He yelled back. At this point, they were arguing with one another about me in front of me completely ignoring how I feel at this point. I felt awful knowing that my parents were arguing because of me. They rarely argued. Mostly playful banter. But I was the cause of this me. I hate conflict but I had to make it right.

“Stop!” I screamed at the top as my lungs as my eyes glow dark pink and my hair floated up in the air slightly. “Have you ever thought for a second how this all makes me feel? I’m the one with uncontrolled powers. I’m the one that ends up hurting people. I’m the common denominator! Keeping locked up like-like some monster won’t solve any of it.” I said looking at them with my eyes still glowing.

“This-” I said as pink aura started admitting from my body, “You say it’s special, but I have to hide it. You treat how society treats mutants. I don’t know whose side you guys are on or if you see me as some dangerous mutant…. or as your daughter.” I said in a shaky breath.

“I’m warning you both now. That if you don’t give me some space… or just an inch of freedom I will explode and nothing- and I mean nothing in this world will be able to contain it not even me.” I said sadly as I turned my back on them and left the kitchen quietly.

I went to my bedroom and looked into the mirror on the way to the far right and stared at it. My eyes were still glowing, and my pink aura was still surrounding my body. I sat down gently and started to close my eyes and take deep breaths until I felt my power level constrain back into my body. I take a few more moments before I hop into bed.

I take off my gloves and lay them on the side of my bed. I stare at my hands. The hands of murder. The hands of filled with extraordinary power. The hands of a murderer.

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Link to:

Masterpost

Chapter 2

I wanted to thank everyone who has liked or reblogged anything that has to do with this story. I want to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to the following people for showing me some support (I apologize if i’m missing any names)!!

@jaydeee86 @cyberdoshee @princess-of-fuckup @nygoddess @kenbechillin @queenwinchester27 @themilkcartoonkid @nunubug99 @discowh0requeen @my-massivelyhopefulcollection @eroticababylv @cocoplovely @loveinsunlight @grandetan @deansblackbeauty @lumbs17 @rls905 @girl-oddity @noble-kale @love-livinglifetothefullest @rudebot @black-is-beautiful18 @kaylahemsworth @sanders2017 @save-feza @alexthesupergay @missellaineous @princessshanae14 @mismerccray @amethyst09 @bunniotomia

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thecursedhellblazer · 4 years

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‘Cause We’re Living in a Mad World

{ @adventurepunks }

(( Hiiii! I fished this out of a couple of memes I had done ages ago and...it seemed fun and it gave me the chance to ramble about stuff we mentioned, so...here you go! It’s mostly Nick and John, but I throw in some Zee because the gal deserves some space :3 ))

Who said “I love you” first Definitely John. He was either drunk or totally out of it for not having slept in days (or both) and Nick had been forced to escort his sorry ass to lie down somewhere. Among all the incomprehensible, nonsensical babbling he had been doing, at some point he had just gone on and mumbled something on the lines of “N’ aye, tha’ th’ bloody t’in’, Cap. I think I do love yeh...I bloody do”. By the time Nick had registered the non-sequitur, John had been out cold and drooling very much unattractively on his pillow, leaving his mentor to wonder, hardly for the first time, what the hell he was supposed to do about his disaster youth.

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background Neither of them does. John doesn’t have a phone (and that’s the reason why both Nick and Zatanna dread the times he uses the one in the Sanctum to phone Chas back to London...Two hours of non-stop Scouse rambling about everything one can find worth complaining about). As for Nick, he simply doesn’t bother with such things. However, John has one, slightly creased picture of him and Nick (a Polaroid taken by accident by some tourist who had been nice enough to hand it over to John) and another with the two them and Zee glued against the wall of his bedroom, right next to a group photograph of his closest English mates, a picture of him and Chas and a black and white one of a younger Cheryl. Also, Zatanna has made sure to have a better, properly framed picture of the three of them hanging inconspicuously from one of the walls in the main room of the Sanctum, not enough to catch the eye, but in a position that makes sure that you must look at it if you know that it’s there. Nick never acknowledged any of those, but you might catch his eyes wandering in the direction of the pictures every time he is in the room with them (yes, at times he dares to wonder in that reign of chaos that’s John’s bedroom).

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror John...when he is trying to be funny. Usually he writes the messages on some other window or piece of glass and then magicks them on the bathroom mirror when he knows that either Nick or Zatanna are inside. Of course, he doesn’t always get it right and at times the wrong person receives a message that wasn’t intended for them. Like Nick finding questions about women lingerie (he never asks, because he is pretty sure that, whatever John wants with it, it’s not something he wants to know or guess). The most memorable mishap, at least in Zee’s opinion, has been when, after having come back from one of her shows at 3 am and after a very much earned shower, she had found herself staring at the suddenly foggy mirror while the words “wudl u shag me een if I ws a gost?” materialised on it. Judging by the bad spelling and by how smeared the calligraphy was, John had to be shitface drunk, wherever he was. Not that the fact excused him in her eyes. Not in the least. She had marched out of the bathroom, told Nick that John wanted to talk to him and then had gone to bed. Useless to say, Nick had gone from confused to extremely unimpressed as soon as he had seen the note on the mirror.

Who buys steals the other cheesy gifts John is the one who, from time to time, comes back from his wanderings bearing “gifts”, pretty much like a not so domesticated cat would do. Thankfully, usually they aren’t dead animals (aside that one time with the still dripping goat’s head...but they don’t talk about it). They range from things he has won at the poker table to stuff he has either con out of someone’s hands or straight out nicked. He has learnt pretty quickly that he can’t tell Zatanna if he’s giving her something he has stolen, not after the one time she has forced him to return the necklace he had got her, much to his annoyance and embarrassment. This has also caused him to get more stuff for Nick than for her. She’s always suspicious now (and with reasons), while his mentor doesn’t really care how he has got his hands on it. The only one time the older sorcerer has shown concern about John’s kleptomaniac habits has been when the younger man brought home a very ancient, very valuable, and also very cursed book. The cleansing ritual took them hours. However, on the other hand, it turned out that the contents of said tome were very much worth the trouble, so John got away with just a mild scolding, much to Zatanna’s incredulity.

Who initiated the first kiss Nick did...after John had driven him crazy with half angry flirting and ambiguous provocations (and talks about shagging ghosts). The whole situation had started from a lot of unresolved tension between them (and not of the good kind), but considering where it has landed them...It might as well have been worth it, even if the original issue lies still mostly unsolved.

Who kisses the other awake in the morning If anyone does in the first place, it would probably be Nick, for the mere reason that John isn’t an early bird (unless he simply forgoes sleeping completely), no matter in whose bed he falls asleep. However, it’s still far more likely that Nick chooses to wakes him up by shaking him or with a shove, simply because something as light as a kiss wouldn’t do the job. Or it would lead to John getting his hands busy even before he has opened his eyes and that’s unacceptable when they have a schedule and lessons to attend to. A few times, John has crawled in Nick’s bed before dawn and, in those occasions, he is the one to wake his mentor up with kisses. There’s an equal chance of either being kicked out of the room pr being allowed to carry on, and, in his eyes, the second thing is definitely worth facing the risk of rejection. John usually gets his nicest wake up calls from Zatanna, when she lures him out of the sheets with a kiss on the cheek and the promising smell of coffee and bacon. She has also learnt to throw a fresh pair of underwear in his face before walking back to the kitchen, though, because that’s the only way to make sure he doesn't show up stark nake for breakfast.

Who starts tickle fights Tickle fights aren’t something that happens frequently, but they did happen. Mostly when they were all at least a bit tipsy. John started the very first one, almost accidentally, by rambling about how Cheryl used to tickle him till he cried and couldn’t breathe as a payback for when he messed with her things. Useless to say, that led him to ask Zatanna if she was ticklish and to the poor homo magi being assaulted. Nick had made the mistake to declare that he found the whole affair “undignified”, which had been enough to make John tackle and tickle him too. Zatanna might have retaliate, on them both (John for starting it, Nick for not defending her), even though, if asked, she would deny it. After that episode, both Zatanna and Nick have become very, very wary of whenever John is drunk and feeling both touchy-feely and playful. Of course, he still manages to find a way to catch them both off guard.

Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower John’s “asking” consists in him sticking his head inside the bathroom (or straight past the shower curtain) and make comments about how there’s just enough room for another person under the stream or about how great he is at scrubbing backs, full trademark smirk in place. Nick usually asks before anyone gets in the shower and it usually happens after a very intense roll in the sheet when all the participants might use a wash up. However, there have been times when he has just hopped in the shower while John was already in it, without warnings or questions, because the smug idiot can use a taste of his own medicine from time to time. The main issue with that tact is that John, after the initial moment of astonishment, always gets a bit too mesmerised to really grasp the lesson.

Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch Nick can get completely absorbed in his studying and researches and John at times forgets that human beings need to eat to survive, so it’s definitely Zee. When she is around, she makes sure to bring them both, if not a full meal, at least a snack twice a day. She has found that it usually also prevents John from raiding their fridge during the night and, considering how messy that affair gets, it’s a very good thing. When Zatanna isn’t around, Nick is the one who has a more “regular” (if it can be called that) routine, so he takes over the task of keeping them both fed (also because John can’t be trusted around the kitchen at). There are times, though, when John knocks at Nick’s door, after making sure that the older man is done with whatever he’s doing, with takeaway already laid down at the table or saying that he has discovered a new pub that makes nice steaks or pizza and that they should totally go and try it out.

Who was nervous and shy on the first date Definitely John, even if, as per usual, he covered it up with cockiness and smugness. Especially since he felt like a idiot for being nervous in the first place. He and Nick had gone out plenty of times together (with and without Zatanna), so sharing a night that was perhaps a bit more intimate shouldn’t have been such a big deal. And yet, he still spent an incredibly long amount of time (especially for his standards) tidying himself up in the bathroom and deciding which of his clothes were more suitable for the occasion. It earned him a few raised eyebrows from Nick’s part, which made it clear to them both that the older man knew, but John obviously refused to acknowledge both the gestures and the fact.

Who kills/takes out the spiders Spiders are usually either left to mind their business. Zatanna might use her magic to coax them out of a window when they are in the way, but for the rest no one really cares. It doesn’t happen too often that they manage to get inside the Sanctum, so when they do...it’s safe to say that they have earned their right to stay. There are times, though, when the poor creatures become the unfortunate subjects of John’s practice. Once he has learnt how to open portals towards other realms, it has become very much not unusual to see him trying to shove the spiders inside very small rips in the fabric of reality. Nick has pointed out that he has no way to find out whether or not he has managed to send them where he was planning to, but he has soon given up trying to make John see his point, because his words always earn him nothing but a snicker.

Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk John, even if calling his drunk claims “love declarations” would be pushing it. For the most, what leaves his lips are comments about his and Nick alone time together and far too bold to be nice compliments. And, if he is really in the mood, also short rants about what he would love for them to do that they haven’t tried yet. Whenever magic or the undead start being thrown in the mix, Zatanna takes it as her cue to dump him in Nick’s capable, even if exasperated, hands and go spend the rest of her night elsewhere. The real slips can happen after John has ceased being loud, when his mind is more in Dreamland than on the material plane. They are quiet whispers, compared to all the noise he makes before, and that alone is very telling of how much more sincere they are.

#john constantine #nick necro #zatanna zatara #long post #(( this is me upgrading the whole ))#(( 'let's find the guts to tag peeps' ))#(( so I'm showering you with my idiocy ))#(( hopefully the effort will make up for the stupid ideas ^^" ))#adventurepunks #* My reality is eleven tenths perception. * ::headcanons::#* Once Upon a Time We Three could have had the World * ::John&Nick&Zatanna::#* Show Me the Way and We'll remake Destiny in Our Image * ::John&Nick:: {adventurepunks}#sv. Every Shade between Darkness and Light

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animation-recaps-by-sean · 4 years

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DuckTales-Challenge of the Senior Woodchucks!/ Quackpack! Recap

Huey and Violet compete for a junior woodchuck title and later the Duck family find themselves trapped in a sitcom. Spoilers below.

We are greeted with a new intro that features Della. I love it.

The Duck family is at a junior woodchuck ceremony. One woodchuck is going be picked to be a senior woodchuck. The choice is between Huey and Violet. She is joined by her two dads. Huey is shocked that he’s not just the best.

As the race between them starts, Scrooge finds a map to a secret treasure hidden by the founder of the Junior Woodchuck. So he takes the rest of the family on an adventure; Donald is bothered by a mosquito. Dewey gets sidetracked by a silly bird, dragging the rest of the family with him.

Huey keeps running into things like lighting rain and a bear. And Violet deals with these things so much better than he did. This upsets him so much he hallucinates a talking guide book.

The contest leads the kids to an active volcano. The hell Junior Woodchucks? Huey stubbly uses the broken bridge while Violet builds a glader. When the bridge collapsed, Violet catched Huey. She offers a tie, but Huey refuses. She’s better than him and he has to accept that. When she puts the flag in, the platform goes down.

They end up in a room when Scrooge and the others wander in. It turns out that the treasure was the founder’s journal detailing treasures she never found. Violet is named senior woodchuck and Huey gets a failure badge.

But the mosquito, a spybot built by FOWL. And now they know about the treasures.

Later, the Ducks find themselves preparing for a family photo, but the kids are dressed like they were in Quack Pack, Scrooge is in his bluecoat, Donald with his Don Cheadle voice, and there's a laugh track.

Quack Pack was a Donald Duck and nephew series that aired in the nineties. It was very good and isn’t all that remembered. It was notable for the nephew getting more individual designs and separate voice actors for the nephews. Something this show actually did as well. It also had ducks interacting with humans.

Scrooge and Louie go to fix the study, but Huey discovers that his guidebook is blank, then he starts hearing the laughs. Webby thinks the photographer is a spy and takes him hostage. Meanwhile Goofy visits Donald in the kitchen.

The episode is interpreted with a fake opening, character catches that parody that Disney Channel wand wave, and even a pep commercial starring the photographer.

Back on the show, Huey realizes he can get the others to believe him by looking at the fourth wall, which is just a studio audience. They try to remember how they ended up in this mess. While looking for a magic lamp, Donald wished to live like a normal family while touching said magic lamp. But it turns out the last time the genie was free was the nineties so his knowledge on normal families comes from nineties sitcoms. The genie himself is based on the genie from the DuckTales movie and is voiced by Ukrel himself, Jaleel White.

So only Donald can undo the wish, but he doesn’t want to. Donald just wants to be normal. Even if it’s a fake sitcom normal. But Goofy says that is no such thing as a normal family and shows him pictures of Max and the pictures include PJ and even has Max and Roxanne going to a dance and she looks super cute. Guys MY SHIP LIVES!! I love Roxanne, she’s like one of my favorite underused characters in Disney. She’s only been in The Goofy Movie and one episode of House of Mouse and hasn’t been in anything since 2002. You all have no idea how much this means to me. I care too much about cartoons!

This makes Donald rethink. Meanwhile the rest of the family tries to escape but the audience is revealed to be humans, in a nice Quack Pack reference. They attack the Duck family as Donald wishes everything normal. The genie informs Donald that he still has one wish left, so much to Louie’s annoyance, he wishes for the perfect family photo.

This premiere was great. It did a great job of setting up Huey was the lead this season, the main family goal, and the villains. The second episode is great fun, some amazing easter eggs, and a well executed joke.

Challenge O fThe Senior Junior Woodchucks gets a 3 out of 4 while Quack Pact gets a 4 out of 4.

#ducktales #ducktales spoilers #scrooge mcduck #della duck #quack pack #disney #animation recaps by sean

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Before becoming a filmmaker, Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis was a musician and performer in the experimental group called The People Show. Before that, he played trumpet and guitar in the experimental jazz ensemble The People Band, whose first record was produced by Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts. He is also the founding patron of an online community of independent filmmakers called Shooting People. You can say Figgis is a People person, which makes him the perfect director to capture Ronnie Wood in the documentary Somebody Up There Likes Me.

One of rock and roll’s most iconic guitarists, Wood is good with people. He plays well with others. He is the Stone who’s never alone. Before he began weaving guitar licks with Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones, Wood helped shape the British rock sound in bands like The Birds and the Creation. He was the bass player to the guitar maestro in The Jeff Beck Group, which featured the distinctive voice of Rod Stewart at the front. They put out two albums, 1968’s Truth and 1969’s Beck-Ola, before splintering just as they were to appear at Woodstock. Wood and Stewart inherited the Small Faces from Steve Marriott and dropped the album First Step in 1970. They realized they were too tall for the diminutive moniker and renamed the band The Faces. They released the albums Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse in 1971, and Ooh La La (1973), before splitting up in 1975.

Wood guested on albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, the Band, Donovan, B.B. King, and on Stewart’s solo albums. He spent so much time flavoring other performers’ works, he didn’t put out a solo album of his own until 1974 which he aptly titled I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Wood also went solo for 1981’s 1234 and collaborated with Bo Diddley on Live at the Ritz in 1988, Wood’s seventh solo album, I Feel Like Playing (2010), featured guest spots from ex-Faces bandmate Ian McLagan, as well as The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Billy Gibbons, Bobby Womack, and Jim Keltner.

Somebody Up There Likes Me isn’t structured like most music documentaries. It is primarily a conversation, and it veers from much of Wood’s vast output. The hard-partying musician beat lung cancer and candidly blames his excessive indulgences. He saw bandmates, contemporaries and friends, like Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and John Bonham push past the lethal limits of chemical reactions. Wood himself remembers telling Keith Moon to take pills, not bottles of them. Richards remarks in the documentary how the two Rolling Stones guitarists share strong constitutions. Wood began recording with the Rolling Stones when they were halfway through their 1976 album, Black and Blue, and has been steady even up to their recent pandemic live stream.

The documentary also captures Wood’s visual artistry. He was an artist before he was a musician. His drawings were featured on BBC TV’s Sketch Club when he was a child, and he studied at the Ealing Art College. Wood did the cover artwork to Eric Clapton’s 1988 box set Crossroads. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee continues to capture visions like Mick Jagger’s dancing in a Picasso style, as well as the shots in Somebody Up There Likes Me of him capturing the grace of a ballerina on canvas.

Born in northern England, director Mike Figgis was raised on jazz and Jean-Luc Godard movies. The inventor of the “fig rig” knows when to experiment, such as he did in Timecode (2000) and Hotel (2001), how to get drama out of romance, as he did with One Night Stand, starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski, and The Loss of Sexual Innocence. He is adept at crime dramas, directing the “Cold Cuts” episode of The Sopranos in 2004 and Internal Affairs, which starred Richard Gere. He also mines deep emotional schisms in films like Mr. North and Leaving Las Vegas (1995) for which he was nominated for Best Directing and Best Screenplay Oscars. Figgis spoke with Den of Geek about cinematic jams and studio sessions with Ronnie Wood.

Den of Geek: Over the course of the film, you produced a song using nothing but your backings and an orchestra of Ronnie Woods. How was he to produce?

Mike Figgis: He was a delight, actually. We did most of the interviews and everything where he was painting, he was in his own space for that. Then the dialog, he’s very very witty and so on. But at the end of the day, the man’s a musician. Quite later on in the process I said, “Let’s go into a studio and do something.” I think the minute we got into a studio it was different. For both of us because I’m a musician too. It’s just a different kind of reality and the language becomes much simpler between musicians and understanding the equipment, the whole vibe.

Originally Mark Ronson was going to do a soundtrack for us which would have been fantastic and then he just got very, very busy because we got late. I presented him with a kind of template of how maybe could make a nice soundtrack, which is basically what we did anyway. So we did it without Mark and Ronnie was very comfortable with that.

He very much left it to me. He added a lot, obviously. He said, “I’d like to do this as well,” and so on. So, we had a pretty full couple of days in studio time. But he was great to produce.

There are a lot of musicians working on this besides you and Ronnie. Rosey Chan did the score for a painting scene.

Rosey’s my wife by the way. She’s a phenomenal concert pianist and composer and musician in her own right. She’s releasing an album now. She’s an amazing pianist, I just needed something to take us into a different zone, so I asked her to compose some piano pieces for that. Then I did some score myself. Just when he’s talking about drugs. I put a little bit of a weird score on that one.

So is this film more of a cinematic jam that you just edited in the mixing room?

Yeah, I think so. I think that’s a good way of putting it, actually.

Ronnie also worked with Bob Dylan, Prince, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin. Did you allow the interviews to determine what parts of his career you were going to include?

I actually wanted to avoid anybody else. I said, “Let’s just make it about him painting and us talking.” I wanted to make it as simple as possible. That didn’t happen because as soon as you sort of uncover one little stone, you kind of say “Oh, well obviously we should interview the Rolling Stones.” Then he started thinking, “Well, Rod’s around, we can use Rod.” When I discovered about Damien Hirst, “Actually that would be an interesting, unexpected one. That would be good, yeah.” So yeah.

It was kind of organic, really. It was all sort of scheduled based in a sense that, “When are you available?” And, “When am I available? When are these people available?” So, getting the Stones was actually the trickiest thing. You had to go to Berlin and get them between gigs when they were watching the World Cup. In between World Cups actually. Very specific.

I know you’re in the People Band which had an album produced by Charlie Watts. So, were you in the same periphery of the Stones as Ronnie Wood back then?

No, the connection with Charlie was very interesting because the People Band was a free music ensemble. I mean really experimental. Really way out. The drummer was this phenomenal percussionist, still is, called Terry Day. Terry Day went to art college with Charlie’s wife and he knew Charlie because they were both drummers, so they got on really, really well. Charlie Watts has always been a huge jazz fan. Through Terry, it was one of those moments where Charlie says, “You know, we can record you. We got a mobile studio. We can either send the mobile to you wherever you’re playing.” I’m talking about in those days, in ’68 or whenever it was, the idea of a mobile multi-track was pretty amazing. “Or you can come to Olympic Studios,” which was where they recorded Beggars Banquet and everything. It was an amazing studio. And, “We’ll just give you the studio and the engineer, and you guys do what you want.” That’s how that came about and it was really lovely.

Over the years, once in a while I would see Charlie and just catch up, talk about drumming, really. And jazz. So it was really nice interviewing for this one again.

When you were asking Rod Stewart about Peter Grant, he sort of cut back and he became the young man that was bullied.

He did, didn’t he? When he said, “I’m protecting my hands and my face.”

The gangster aspect of that mid ’60’s period, especially with Peter Grant, how did that affect the musicians and the working? Do you think it actually in some ways was good for it?

Well, you know that comes about from a very strange coincidence which was sort of touched on in the film. But, quite a few years back, Malcolm McLaren was wanting to produce a film. A feature film about Led Zeppelin and as a result of that, he and I went and interviewed Peter Grant which is where that footage comes from. I did a huge amount of research into Led Zeppelin and Peter Grant at the time, and spoke to and interviewed a lot of the people who were involved with their success. I didn’t interview Johnny Bindon, but he was a key figure. Johnny Bindon was a kind of very violent criminal. In London. Very good looking. He became an actor for a while. Had amazing sexual legends built around him involving royalty and all kinds of things, and was part of a kind of fashionable gangster scene. The craze and all the rest of it. The London gangster scene.

Sort of became fashionable because people went to all their clubs, and hung out with them, and David Bailey photographed them and all that. So there was a kind of a zeitgeist about gangsterism. There’s an incredibly good book written about it called Jumping Jack Flash which came out two years ago. Bindon became one of the agents for Led Zeppelin and famously beat up somebody so badly on one of their tours that was hospitalized. He was a very mean individual.

The whole association with Led Zeppelin was very much gangsterish because of Peter Grant and his associates who had those stories and so on. So that was a kind of one aspect, and also a lot of the management were fairly crooked in London at that time. There’s a bit of a gay mafia and all the rest of it, so part of the folklore of that period of British rock and roll is very gangsterish, and very much part of the story.

Whenever I think about gangsters and British rock I think of the movie Performance. When you’re filming conversations in the moment, are you saying in your head “this is filmic?”

Not consciously, no. I accept it as being part of the fabric, actually. I try to make everything filmic anyway, so I’m always trying to get as far away from any kind of documentary feel. I like things to have a live element to it.

I loved Peter Grant’s Gene Vincent story. In the Beatles Anthology, George Harrison tells a similar one. What did Gene Vincent mean to young British rock and roller’s that everyone’s got a story about them?

Oh, because he was there, he was around. A little bit like the stories about everyone remembers Big Bill Broonzy and everyone remembers Sister Rosetta Thorpe. Main reason for that is they were a part of a very small group of musicians who were allowed to visit the UK during the Musician’s Union ban on touring. We were basically deprived of a lot of American musicians after the war, and the only reason Broonzy got in and Sister Rosetta Thorpe, was folk musicians were allowed in as opposed to, say, Louis Armstrong.

They all came in as folk singers even though they weren’t. I mean Broonzy was a fully-fledged Chicago blues musician and so was Sister Rosetta Thorpe. But everybody knows that. Anybody that was anybody around at that time would know those names. And Gene Vincent has become a kind of UK legend.

Do you see Ronnie as a very varied painter?

I wanted to capture a certain aspect of his art which was the line drawing. When we first started talking, I looked at all his art books. He does huge canvases with a lot of color, featuring the Rolling Stones, et cetera, et cetera. I was less interested in those. Those sell for a lot of money apparently and people really like them.

But when I saw his line drawing, his very quick drawings. Line drawing is very, very important. Sketching is very important in the same way that when you hear a very basic demo from a musician, there’s a certain truth about that. Then you can produce it and over produce it, and you can make it super sophisticated. I was interested in the bit that leads up to the way that he started producing. I wanted to set up situations where I would just see his line drawing. His ability to control lines, that was amazing.

Then physically watching him do that is fascinating. I love filming people playing their musical instruments. There’s a certain truth about that, they get into their thing. And watching him draw I thought was fascinating. His concentration, absolute. Even in the interview with Damian Hirst. He’s so focused on what he’s doing that he doesn’t really pay much attention to Damian Hirst. Sort of answers the question. He doesn’t pick up on any of the jokes. Because he’s really focused on what he’s doing.

Watching his live stuff, Wood is a different person. While he’s playing guitar, you see him and Keith joking around.

I think that has something to do with the eye. Because I think it’s about blues guitar. You can see the finger memory is really, really strong so I mean in that early footage he’s smoking at the same time, right? He’s smoking, joking around, getting to the microphone, late usually, for the backup vocals. And moving around and having a great time. He doesn’t have to look at the guitar to do that. However, if you are drawing something, either you make that contact with your eye, so creating the triangle between the subject, the canvas, and your eye. And you’re quite right. Radically different body language, and that’s interesting. There are two physical sides of him demonstrated on film, which you don’t really have to explain. There it is.

Is Somebody Up There Like Me a flip side to Leaving Las Vegas?

Maybe. You know, people have had a life, have had experience and come through darkness and coming to light and so on. For me, it just becomes 10 times more interesting than people who’ve just had a nice life and behaved well. Look a little puzzled that they’re not sort of 70 or something because it’s all been quite peaceful, you know? So there’s a kind of turbulence there which I think he says quite well when he says, “I see a fork in a road I take it.”

Like he says, “I would do it with my eyes more open now if I did it again.” I kind of admired that. It’s not like me. I’m much more protective. But I also loved the way he talked about the drugs. He talked about, “I would never get to the point of losing control because I always knew.” Because he’s very ambitious. “I always knew where I had to be next and I never wanted to be at the place where I couldn’t control where I wanted to be.” I’m sure there were a few exceptions to that, but in general, that was quite truthful.

You’re known as a very experimental filmmaker and I was wondering how you keep coming up with different ways to look through the camera?

I got sort of bored with 35mm and started going back to 16mm and then when video got more interesting, looking at video. Then as video got smaller and XLR happened, that radically changed the possibilities. Then as the world changes, like with at the beginning of this conversation we talked about the coronavirus effect. And how the Timecode principle, how that then ties in with what is possible in terms of filmmaking, really.

When you were making Timecode, did you know that you were predicting pandemic filmmaking?

No, although looking back I can think where it’d be really useful now.

The Rolling Stones streamed their performance early in the pandemic, is this the future of entertainment and is it an imposition?

I think in a way it is. Obviously at some point we will get coronavirus under some kind of control. But there are dire predictions about what’s coming next in terms of the unleashing of the demons that come through global warming, et cetera, et cetera.

On the one hand, maybe these variations of these conditions will continue well into the future. But I think even if it was just coronavirus, I’m talking about making films with various people right now, it’s almost like unless you actually acknowledge the world as it is today and has been for the last six months, any film that you make is going to have an air of unreality about it because this is quite definitely a global reality now. The way we’re communicating now and so forth.

I’m doing a masterclass in London at the film school next week and I’m going to be talking just about that to young filmmakers. The best ways to go about making films now.

As a jazz musician, what did you make of Jagger’s classification of jazz from back then?

It was pretty accurate, actually. I’d done the blues documentary with Martin Scorsese, the history of the British Blues, Red, White, and Blues. So, I covered that period and I was fascinated by that unique British period anyway, which is why in a way Marty and I got on so well too was because unlike America, the post war British music scene was heavily into traditional jazz and then bebop. Then folk music, and skiffle, and all those things. They all combined. If you talk to anybody, Eric Clapton, anybody, they’ll all make the same references. Big Bill Broonzy and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and then Woody Guthrie, and so kind of everybody was listening to all those influences and people were coming out of traditional jazz and then making quite dynamic decisions about this, that, and the other.

But the Trad boom was, the commercial aspect of the British jazz movement was very commercial, and immediately commercialized. There are some great musicians, but not the hippest genre in the world, so Jagger’s commented quite rightly if you want to be a young, sexy, happening musician, you’re not going to base your style on your grandfather’s taste and the rest of it. It was a kind of nice point of view. I loved it when he said, “I like the MJQ because of the way they looked and the way they played. I’m not sure I was crazy about the music or something like that.”

And I loved that he said, “We can be like that or we can be something different.” I love that moment in the film where you actually suddenly see the Stones kind of go, “Yep.” That’s pretty different from those two choices. That was, you’re creating a new genre there. And I have to say, my respect for the Rolling Stones went very, very high in making this documentary. I always like the Stones. I preferred more basically a blues band and I was listening to a lot more complicated pop musicians and jazz musicians.

I read that you’re doing a K-drama about the #MeToo movement. Would that be in the K-pop industry?

Yeah, I became interested in Korean film of course like most filmmakers. And then on an impulse, two and a half years ago, I bought a ticket to Seoul and I went and stayed there for three or four weeks, and just went around meeting people and just trying to get a handle on their film scene, initially. Then, I kind of got hooked on K-dramas as well and started to meet the actors. That’s turned into a project that’s been in development for about a year now. It’s going really, really well, but coming up with this series of scenarios. Sort of loosely around the #MeToo movement, really but just to do with the Korean social pop entertainment scene. And that’s what that was there.

I didn’t know that the Stones had originally thought about asking Ron Wood to replace Brian Jones. As a musician, you said they stuck to their guns. Do you think that would have been more true had they skipped over Mick Taylor and gone straight to Ronnie Wood?

It was interesting because that period, because obviously Jagger comes from a very much blues background. But by that time he was a megastar and the Stones were very much “Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.” He was making movies, he was hanging out at the clubs, he was the hip guy. So obviously his horizons were expanding and he said that having Mick Taylor in the band really expanded his horizons as a songwriter because the voicings that Mick Taylor used. Mick did incredibly lyrical runs as the guitarist. Not a straight down the line blues player by any stretch of the imagination. A great blues player, but that’s not all he did.

So, I can imagine at that period, it would have been totally understandable if they’d continued to go in a different direction. I think what happened when Mick Taylor walked out, there was a kind of obvious cause of action to go to Ronnie. That probably then put Keith in a more comfortable zone in terms of the two-guitar thing because I would imagine that with Mick Taylor in the band, Keith’s role must have been definitely not so much the two-guitar thing because they are functioning at different levels. Probably in a way, back to a kind of grassroots level by bringing Ronnie back in.

Also, he looks like them. They were like brothers at that point. There’s a kind of a, suddenly a cohesiveness to the band as a band in a different way. Mick had a wider range in terms of songwriting and performance. A different way to go, but I think he was more than happy to go back into the kind of grassroots journey that they’d been on.

It’s very interesting how one musician can radically alter the destiny of the band, the longest lasting band in rock and roll history basically now.

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Ronnie Wood: Somebody Up There Likes Me will be available as a Virtual Cinema release at www.ronniewoodmovie.com starting Sept. 18 running through October. It will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe hardback book release on October 9.

The post Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood appeared first on Den of Geek.

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wherearethegirlbands · 4 years

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FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSICA SEYMOUR

18-year-old Jessica Seymour is a Liverpool-based photographer about to embark on a filmmaking degree in Leeds. She tells us about her gig photography work, her favourite venues, and the Liverpool scene.

Tell us about your work. How did you get started?

I bought a DSLR camera after I finished high school to get into film, but before I had a chance to start making my own films, I ended up falling into photography instead - though it wasn’t the fastest process. I messed around for nearly a year with the camera, taking photos with friends and on days out without really knowing what I was doing before I started taking my camera more seriously. I only started to do gig photography in 2019, because I saw a friend at college doing it, and knew it would be something I would love. I reached out to ask how she got into doing photos for bands and she offered to take me with her to her next gig. As luck would have it that’s where I met Tilly Louise, who I still work with now.

Beginning was the hardest part. Starting from scratch without knowing anything about cameras and having to teach myself was awkward – mostly because I refused to read anything, and just decided to “learn as I go” for a few months. I wouldn’t recommend that approach at all, you do really need to know how your settings work and affect the picture before you mess with them! And even harder, personally, I found was going to the gigs and meeting new people. As exciting as it was, I was not very confident and was meeting people who I considered (and still do!) as being very cool and extremely talented. I’d also never been good at meeting new people, and meeting people who knew what they were doing was quite daunting. Everything about starting made me anxious! Sometimes I still get anxious when I feel like I don’t know what I’m walking into. Especially at new venues – I have no idea what the lighting will be like, or where I can stand or put my things. All these new experiences I had no idea how to handle, so I just tried my best! I was very lucky that my friend (@gina_may_photography) took me to my first gig. If it wasn’t for her, I very much doubt I would ever have had the confidence to go alone and start getting experience.

Despite all these worries, taking the jump into the deep end and doing my first gig was the best thing I’ve ever done. I say this a lot, but it changed my life in such a positive way. It opened a new creative outlet for me, and helped me discover so much incredible music that I never knew was just hiding in the city. More importantly, I think photography has given me a purpose I didn’t know I was lacking. It has continued to build my confidence, and has led me to create great friendships and memories, which is more than I could ever have believed would happen from that first gig.

What draws you to photographing musicians?

I’ve always been interested in music and loved going to gigs. It just seemed natural to me that I would want to spend my time doing photography there and taking pictures of the action. For me gigs are special because you get lighting unlike anything else, and some really dynamic shots from the band (without having to try and pose them!). My favourite part though, is that you get to capture some memories and try and convey the feeling and atmosphere through your photos. It’s like all the best parts of photography wrapped into one for me – aesthetically I love the colours, lights, and action that you can get from a performance on stage. And with all this, you also are capturing important memories for the band. Especially when you get to go to special gigs – a song release, a big crowd, opening for a favourite band. Being asked to be the person that saves those memories for someone feels like quite a big deal sometimes.

Do you have a favourite band/venue to photograph/set of photos?

I couldn’t choose a favourite band! I feel so genuinely privileged to have seen and worked with some amazing artists around Liverpool.

The artist I do work closest with is Tilly Louise though. We’ve become friends from all that we’ve done, and she’s very special to me. She is not only the most incredibly kind person I’ve met, but the root of my whole ‘career’. She has wonderful people around her (I would describe her as a magnet for amazing people, I don’t know how she does it), and because of that I’ve got to meet and network with so many others, mostly surrounding LIPA. Tilly does so much for me and the people around her, and I admire her so much not only for her heart but her incredible drive. So, if you’re reading this and you don’t know who Tilly Louise is, go and check her out! She will take on the world.

My favourite venues are Jimmy’s, Sound Basement, and EBGBS. Jimmy’s has the coolest lights and shooting The Blue Room there for a charity gig the other month felt very special. That’s been my favourite gig to shoot so far, because I don’t think there was a single person there who didn’t have an incredible night, and I still managed to get photos I am really proud of. Sound also comes out with some of the best photos – the lighting there is on a loop of steady colours, which I really love. EBGBs also has some nice spotlights... So anywhere with nice lighting is basically my favourite place. I would love to have another go at the O2 or try the Arts Club soon though, and other bigger venues like the Invisible Wind Factory!

As for my favourite photos, they genuinely change every time I take new ones! I guess that’s a good thing as it suggests that I keep improving. I think a set that really stands out for me though apart from The Blue Room’s ones I mentioned, are the set I did for Tilly Louise and The Beautiful Boys at EBGBs, for Tilly’s single release. I did more than just her set that night and I’m still pretty proud of all those pictures.

Has this been a good way of connecting with local musicians, or is the dynamic perhaps more separate?

It’s been a brilliant way to meet people and network! I’ve made some incredible new friends from my work, which I wasn’t expecting. I found so many people and such incredible music too, that I would love and be listening to even if I wasn’t there as a photographer. I do try to go to gigs sometimes just for the music rather than to work, since it’s such a different experience behind the camera. I don’t think people would believe I’m sincere if I tell them I’m such a big fan of their work, as it looks like I only want to sweeten them up in the hopes they’ll invite me back for more photos - but I am so privileged to hear their music and get to work with the people I do. I hold so many of them in the highest esteem and know I would be a genuine fan even if I was not working for them.

Is your work ever experimental?

Not really, and definitely not as much as I would like! I have started trying some more long exposures (and I am still trying to improve my technique), as I’ve seen many photographers use them and think they look incredible. I also would love to try using some sort of prism sometime. These techniques are both heavily used though, especially for gigs, so I would love to come up with something truly different that people haven’t seen before. As to what that is yet, I have no idea. Maybe start taking a drone to gigs to get some shots from a bird’s eye view? If I had the money and the venue was big enough, I think that would be quite different! However, I have a feeling that that won’t be happening...

What are you working on at the moment?

Nothing in particular, considering all gigs have been cancelled. I was meant to be shooting Melon Yellow Festival and Sound City very soon, and I was very excited, but now I’m not sure if it will work out. They would be the biggest gigs I’d ever shot! So I am ridiculously upset about missing them. I had such big plans this year! We’ll just have to see what happens. I hope I can make them in September but I already know Sound City clashes with another postponed gig I had tickets for, which is gutting.

What makes the Liverpool scene different to any other?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any comparisons to make here. I’ve only ever worked in Liverpool, but it will be interesting to see how Leeds compares when I move up there. I do hope I will be able to find a balance of going between the two cities though. I feel like I’ve really settled in with the Liverpool scene and love the people and opportunities here. I already know I will miss it desperately.

Why do you follow @wherearethegirlbands?

I love this account so much. I think it is perfect for building a supportive and interconnected community, and creates a great space to discover new people around the area. Knowing who is in the community and building a supportive network to showcase other creators and be inspired by them is great for everyone! Without the help of many people, I would not be doing what I am now. Plus, I love to see other photographers on the scene absolutely killing it. There are so many talented photographers in Liverpool who I look up to and feel constantly inspired by when the post, they give me so much excitement and passion to keep challenging myself. It’s also great to see which bands are in the area too: to see who you connect with, and even if I am not approaching it from a work point of view, it’s great to find new people you love as artists.

What’s the best live music to see in Liverpool?

I’d always say try and see everything and anything you can! I still have so many people I would love to cross paths with at some point, and so many different areas of the scene I would love to explore. I think some of the women in Liverpool really are the best though, so if you’re going to go anywhere, I’d try there!

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noirornothing · 5 years

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The Cider Field

Word Count -- 1956

Genre – Descriptive Drama, Established Business Partners

Warnings -- Brief similies related to child abuse and spousal conflict. Allusions to alcoholism.

“Evidence is dead, Tinsley.”

It was the end of the world as he knew it.

Empty streets haunted by the reflections of what may or may not have been eyes, tracking his every move. The invisible glint of a gun barrel under the streetlamps accompanied by phantom scuffing of leather shoes on the pavement.

He ducked into an alley, back pressed against wet, crumbling bricks as he listened—his efforts met with nothing but dripping water, pooling beneath his feet. Remnants from the rainstorm earlier that day.

Convinced he hadn’t been followed, Tinsley continued down the alley, traveling with brisk steps as he traversed the near-abandoned neighborhood. It was the district that separated his office from the more upscale facilities closer to the city’s core financial sector. Essentially, it was what stood between him and the only man who might be able to save his life.

A cat hissed on his right before scrambling behind some debris, earning a gasp of surprise. Once he recovered he discovered he was almost out—the bright lights of professional buildings shining bright in the distance, despite the odd hour.

Goldsworth hadn’t answered his calls. That meant either he had returned home for the evening, or he’d been targeted as well. The latter was unthinkable, so he refocused on the former. The home of Ricky Goldsworth.

Tinsley hadn’t ever mentioned it, but he knew the address—a short three minutes from the man’s respective office. An easy commute.

He picked up the pace, crossing a wide street which signified a transition into a finer neighborhood. The street was only three blocks away and there hadn’t been any cause for concern, but nevertheless, he bordered on running. There was no time to waste in love and war.

Thankfully not long after that, the apartments came into view— nice, but not overly extravagant, offerings. He conquered the staircase in seconds, racing up two flights after crossing through the unguarded lobby. It wasn’t until he reached the door marked 214 that he stopped, knuckles hovering just over the wood. He dropped his hand at the last second, opting to press his ear against the door instead.

Muffled voices. Charismatic. Scripted.

He knocked, three swift motions, and waited. His chest rose and fell with more intensity than he would have liked, but he felt it was appropriate regarding the situation.

A shadow appeared in the space between the door and the floor. No sound or twisting of the lock meant the man was checking to see who had come to his door so near to midnight.

“It’s important,” he said, once he was certain Ricky was listening. The shadow shifted, and the knob subsequently turned. For a brief second, he entertained the idea that it might not be Ricky at the door but shoved the thought down with the rest of his worries. There was nothing he could do about it if that was the case.

Fortunately, when the door slid open it revealed a figure that was very much Ricky Goldsworth.

He was clad in partial work attire—dress shirt, pants, and shoes still on, though Tinsley suspected a jacket had been discarded. His hair was undone, and an unfamiliar set of glasses sat on the bridge of his nose. The usually sharp, coy, and cutting eyes replaced with a soft confusion.

“Better than an inquisition,” the man said, voice a bit quiet as if he were still trying to make heads-or-tails of the situation. “What is it?”

“Someone broke into my office,” he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, where to put them. All he knew was he felt utterly exposed, stuck in the hallway. “And I think I know who sent them.”

That was all he needed to say as Ricky’s demeanor switched from leniency to business in the blink of an eye. The man stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in, and locking the door behind them once he did.

It was a well-furnished place, just as the man’s office was. Neat accents tying the place together which said he had either good tastes or an interior designer. But there was no time for that.

“I didn’t stick around, in case they came back,” Tinsley explained as they made their way to what appeared to be the kitchen, “but the files on my desk were missing.”

Ricky didn’t look back at him, instead pulling a bottle of scotch off the shelf and digging two glasses out from an unorganized cupboard. It seemed to be the least orderly sector in the home, as if most else went untouched. Tinsley noted the bottle was half empty, and subsequent bottles on the shelf were in similar states.

Ricky himself seemed a bit thinner than when they’d first met a couple of years previous.

“The ones regarding our favorite law firm,” Ricky guessed, pouring the drinks and sliding one over to Tinsley.

He wrapped a hand around the glass and took a sip, casting a casual glance out the window. “The very same.”

The other man swore and looked as if he might crush the glass with his bare hands. Tinsley leaned an elbow on the counter, trying to ignore the rapidly-firing signals in his brain to ACT.

The whisky vanished down the other man’s throat, but he didn’t return the glass to the table. Instead he moved to pour another and drank that as well. Once finished, he retired the near-empty bottle to its resting place before turning to face Tinsley.

“How’d they find out it was you,” he asked, as if discussing the weather.

“It’s like you said,” he shrugged, trying to ignore the persistent heartbeat in his chest, “the PD wanted a scapegoat.”

“It’s the beginning of the end,” Ricky said with enough scorn to make him feel like a battered child, trapped in the corner beside two feuding parents.

All he could do was nod in agreement. But what else could he have done? Turned them down and risk the entire department going after his practice for to non-compliance? It was a twisted world in which he had no say in being a consultant as soon as the force decided they wanted a new man on a case. A man who existed on the outside. The farthest target at the shooting range.

Both glasses discarded, they made for the living room. A faint, colorless glow illuminated the mostly well-done room, the charming drone of reporters acting as white noise. A few papers were sprawled across the coffee table. Tinsley recognized a photograph of the police commissioner at once.

“You know there’s nothing in those files to incriminate you,” he tried, though they both knew it was a futile effort. They’d become too embroiled in the affairs of other, more important people to find themselves innocent in the eyes of those who sought to criticize them.

If they’d been in the same positions as when they’d first met, things might have been different.

He’d been working a case regarding some missing funds—by no means was he an accountant, but they were charity funds, so he had made an exception. The funds had been funneled over time by a member of the board so that he could pay off a blackmailer. At first, Tinsley had thought he could kill two birds with one stone and pin a thief and a blackmailer until he’d discovered the reasons behind it.

“Heard you’re on my tail,” the other man had flashed him a smile from across his desk, casually reclined as if he were a confident client, “you might want to think twice about that.”

The Boardman had a secret mistress. The mistress had no money and a severely ill son who bore a striking resemblance to the barely compliant Boardman. So, in a bizarre turn of events, that stolen charity money had, at least in part, gone back to a good cause.

Though, once Ricky had found out where the Boardman's money had been coming from the smile had fallen off his coy little face, along with a promise to find other means of taking care of the situation.

Tinsley had never bothered to follow up on those means once he’d received confirmation that the funds would no longer be disappearing at random. But at the same time, he’d unknowingly been added to Ricky’s long list of business contacts.

They’d shared brief communications and overlaps since then, occasionally learning subtle facts about one another. Ricky, for example, had secured his own safety outside the boundaries of the law after forcing the previous commissioner to step down and be replaced by the current.

Coming together on the Night and Co. offices had been their most recent escapade and only true cooperation. The firm had been putting a bit too much pressure on Ricky’s business, and Tinsley had been dragged in by the forces that be. So naturally, they’d done everything in their power to prevent exactly what had occurred that night.

The firm had pressed where it needed to press, likely using its resources which had greatly exceeded both he and Ricky’s expectations and found the police’s consultant. Eliminating him would be the final straw, as he was the last in a fairly long line of consultants. After that, either the force would bend to the wills of organized crime, or the city would find itself engulfed in a power struggle the likes of which it had never seen. Countless lives would be lost, and all the remaining inncoents would be left to sort through the wreckage.

Tinsley would be the catalyst, and Ricky would be a simple casualty.

“Evidence is dead, Tinsley.” Ricky draped his arm over the back of the couch, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the cushion. Tinsley hesitated only a second before taking a seat on the other side. “And so are we.”

“I don’t want to die,” he said so softly it could scarcely be heard above the broadcasted chatter. It was some internal voice that only emerged in times of crisis—foreign to his day-to-day identity. But, once the images of brutal killings and blood seeping through pavement cracks invaded his brain, there was little else to do. No one deserving of the firm’s wrath had escaped it, thus far. In short, it was hopeless.

“That’s the difference between you and I,” Ricky said, eyes still closed. “I’ve been faced with that possibility my entire life. I may not welcome it, but at least I’m prepared.”

He peered lazily at Tinsley, who didn’t dare to sit back so casually. Despite their acquaintanceship, Tinsley was painfully aware of some of Ricky’s more controversial acts. Ones which only bordered on justified or dove hard into the opposite direction. The man was capable of far greater evils than he.

“But you’re more than welcome to join me for the finale,” Ricky watched him, careless as if he were considering which apple to pluck off a tree.

He didn’t answer, simply tugging his coat tighter around his body as the gore dripped and crackled in his imagination. Fear, potent and real, pervasive in every breathe.

Seemingly realizing he wouldn’t get an answer, Ricky rose from his seat and stretched a bit. He cast a glance towards what Tinsley imagined was his bedroom.

“Or just stay the night,” Ricky shrugged, and took a few steps closer, pausing in the doorway. “Either way, we’ve got an early morning.”

The door closed behind him, leaving Tinsley alone and terrified in an unfamiliar house. Eventually, he sat back, feeling the fabric press against his spine as he stared at the ceiling, listening for noises in the dark.

Left to wonder what might have been if the city hadn’t curdled like milk in the sun.

#cc tinsley #ricky goldsworth #buzzfeed unsolved #the cider field #i've been reading too much present tense #take me back to the PAST #practice piece #my writing

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queerchoicesblog · 5 years

Text

Missing You (PM, Alana x F!MC)

This fic was requested by @esteladannishreyakamilah for the VDay project hosted by @endlessly-searching-for-you ! It’s inspired to the song You Belong To Me by Jason Wade (yeah, the Shrek song xD) which I also quoted below!

In short, Leah (PM F!MC) is sad because today is her and Alana’s first anniversary but her girlfriend is not there. Our beloved Interpol agent’s still on a mission and it’s almost a week since she last heard from her. Leah has always been perfectly aware of what being with agent Kusuma implied, but she cannot help but feel lonely and nostalgic. Sure, Alana is on a job but did she truly forget about their anniversary?

Prompt: Long-distance relationship

Word Count: 1170

Perma Tag: @brightpinkpeppercorn @psychopathdreamer21 @abunchofbadchoices

Tags: @kennaxval

_____________________________

Leah was on her way back home when it sank in. She did her best to keep herself busy at work but now she was sitting in the metro and she had nowhere to run. No errand or small talk with a colleague to distract herself with. In a desperate attempt to fight the melancholy growing inside her, she decided to put on some music but she sighed in defeat as the first song of the shuffle selection started playing.

See the pyramids around the Nile Watch the sun rise From the tropic isle Just remember darling All the while You belong to me See the market place In old Algiers Send me photographs and souvenirs Just remember When a dream appears You belong to me

She felt a lump forming in her throat. That song always reminded her of Alana, her adventurer.

And I'll be so alone without you Maybe you'll be lonesome too

Today was her first anniversary with Alana. But she wasn’t there. She was still on an Interpol mission and on silent radio for almost a week. Leah sent her a few messages, knowing well that Alana didn’t want her to call when she was away: she would make a call whenever she was safe and free to talk. So far she always did so, this time she just briefly answered her that she was okay and not to worry.

Leah had always been aware of what being in a relationship with Alana implied, she knew from the start. She could still see Damien grimace when she told him:

“Are you sure about this, Leah? Being with Alana can surely be exciting at first but you soon discover that’s tough too. She’s an Interpol agent and she will always put her career first. You’ll spend more time miles away from each other than together, you won’t hear from her for days maybe weeks when she’s on a mission...I’m not saying this because I’m a sore loser and I don’t want you to date my ex, Leah, I - well- speak from experience. I’m just a concerned friend: as I told, you deserve someone who would make their heart your home and I’m afraid she will never do that”

What he didn’t understand was that Alana did make her heart her home but you can’t put a rare bird in a cage and expect it to be happy. You just have to let her go and hope your love is strong enough to make her come back to you.

But he was right: it was tough, tougher than she first thought. Sure, Alana made it worth it - underneath her cynical and detached appearance, she was a very caring partner- but Leah felt lonely nonetheless at times. It’s the price to pay in a long-distance relationship, she repeated to herself. It helped but it didn’t heal her melancholy. Her heart tightened when she woke up alone in her bed instead of in Alana’s loving arms. She missed every moment with her: coming back home to find Alana waving at her from the couch, cooking together, laughing and watching movies curled up in each other arms, holding hands in the street, the way her girlfriend’s body still stiffened sometime in an unexpected embrace only to relax as soon as she realizes she was home.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by her doorbell ringing. She put down the glass of wine she had already poured and headed there, sighing.

When she opened the door, her neighbor Kurt was standing there.

“Hey Leah! How’s my favorite neighbor doing?” he said chirpily.

Leah managed to give him a weak smile.

“Long day at work, what about you, McDreamy?”

Kurt laughed.

“Don’t know why you keep calling me that way but consider myself flattered. And I feel you, girl. I’m on my way to the hospital and I got assigned to a 24hour shift. Say a prayer for your favorite paramedic”

Leah pouted and gave him a sympathetic look.

“I will cook something for you for when you come back”

“You’re a blessing, I swear but no need to, Leah. I know you’re busy too! Oh before I forget about it” he nodded to a box in his hands and handed it to her “I collected this for you this morning. I literally bumped into the mailman and since you had already left and the poor man had other packages for me, I took this one too”

“Thank you, Kurt. That’s sweet of you...but I haven’t ordered anything lately”

Kurt playfully bumped her arm.

“Maybe it’s a surprise! Cheer up, girl! I better go now, I don’t wanna be late. Have a nice evening, Leah!”

Leah greeted him and closed the door. Then she walked to the kitchen counter where she left her glass and put down the box. When she opened it, she saw a leather photo-album and a letter on top of it.

When she began to read it, she gasped.

Leah,

This photo album caught my attention in a flea-market in Old Town. I know it's not new and the edges are a bit worn-out but I’m pretty sure you would have loved the booth where it was laying. All sorts of antiquities and “objects that once lived a life of their own”, as you put it. I walked closer and smiled thinking of all the comments you would have made: you would have stayed there for hours! Then...it reminded me that I won’t be there for our first anniversary and I felt awful. I will never give up my career nor settle down for a romantic relationship but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you as much as possible. Especially on days like our anniversary. I’m so sorry, Leah.

In the end, I bought the old photo album and put some photos in it. You know I’m not good at expressing feelings and all but...I would love to fill this album with you. It will take a while cause there are tons of frames and well, to be honest, this is actually why I chose it. Future plans still scare me but I think we make a good team. Will you fill it with me?

Happy anniversary, my love. Oh and in case you forgot:

“Just remember till I’m home again I belong to you”

Alana”

A sob escaped Leah’s mouth as she opened the album to find the photos Alana already added: the whole squad smiling to the camera at Hayden’s new house, Leah playing with Hamza, a photo Nadia took at one of her parties of Alana and her dancing, a selfie of them sharing a New Year kiss, Alana smiling fondly at her over her shoulder as she walks to the airport gate.

Alana always found a way to make it worth it. She’s worth it, Lena whispered to herself.

She took a sip of wine and grazed her fingers against the empty frames.

You’re truly something else, agent Kusuma.

#VDay prompts #february challenge #perfect match #alana kusuma #alana x mc #playchoices #choices fanfic

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zakariazakri · 4 years

Text

9 Beginner Photography Mistakes and Tips For How To Avoid Them

Are you guilty of creating any of those mistakes? Let’s check out each of them in additional detail and a few ideas on conquering them

1- Not getting close enough

This is the most important issue that I see with new photographers and pictures that are less effective; not getting close enough to the topic. this suggests you've got to either concentrate together with your lens or in many cases get physically closer. once you are shooting take a test shot then analyze it.

check out the technical aspects such as; focus, exposure, and white balance – on the other hand, take a glance at the composition. Is everything that you simply have included within the image necessary? Does it increase the composition or is it distracting? Does it help tell the story and draw the viewer's eye in, or is it competing for attention?

Make a conscious choice about what you include in your image and what you exclude.

If there's something inside the composition that's not adding to the image and isn't a part of the story – then it's removing from it. So, get obviate!

If you discover yourself cropping your images tons in post-processing or on the pc later – then make a note to urge closer once you are shooting.

2- A blurry image due to small aperture and slow shutter speed

You may have heard that shooting in aperture priority mode when shooting handheld is the way to go, I would tend to agree and that’s how I shoot most of the time. However, what I find is that many beginners set the aperture much too small and the result is the need for a really slow shutter speed as a consequence.

Remember the aperture and shutter speed are like a teeter-totter, they need to keep in balance to make a good exposure.

The more you close down the aperture (smaller opening, larger f-number) the slower shutter speed will be required to keep the exposure balanced.

So when you select an aperture like f/11, the shutter speed often goes beyond what is acceptable for shooting handheld.

3- Always shooting at eye-level You see the planet from an equivalent height all the time, your eye level. So once you see a picture taken at that very same height it can feel very familiar and ordinary. once you step outside of that and alter your camera level your photos will become more interesting to your viewers almost instantly. Get up high and use a bird’s eye view, get down on the bottom and use worm’s eye view, get close-up, or use an extremely wide-angle view; all of those options add interest.

They are alternative ways than most of the people see the planet so directly they're going to be more interested in your images if you employ these views.

Look at some images by your favorite photographers and see what percentage falls under the range of eye level; I’m getting to hazard a guess, not that a lot of.

4- Shooting in manual mode, missing the shot

Another thing you'll have heard is that you simply got to shoot in manual mode to be a true photographer, or that's how the pros roll in the hay so you ought to endeavor to use manual all the time. Camera dial set to a manual mode I’m here to mention – horse cookies (if you’re a M.A.S.H. fan you’ll remember that Colonel Potter phrase well)!

I see too many missed shots thanks to newbies trying to mess with the exposure settings in manual, or simply forgetting to line the exposure, and getting an unusable image that's either way under or overexposed.

As a beginner in photography, it is often completely overwhelming to find out all the buttons, settings and dials on your camera, believe composition, and check out and obtain the exposure right – all at an equivalent time.

So what I suggest is to start in Auto, gradually give way to using aperture priority, and use manual mode when you’ve gained more confidence using your camera and doing photography generally.

image of the controls of a digital camera assail autoSo don't stress out or beat yourself up if you can't use manual mode yet.

I only use it myself when I’m shooting with a tripod and therefore the lighting conditions are constant, and therefore the subject isn't changing rapidly – like night photography or doing a portrait.

Take one step at a time.

Don’t compare yourself to anyone else and track your reach see how you’re doing.

If your images are better than those you took last month or last year, then you’re getting in the proper direction. If you’re easier and assured together with your camera, then it’s all good.

5- Not knowing your camera and buttons well enough

knowing your camera and all its buttons and settings is key to being able to shoot in a hurry when necessary. Being able to do that takes practice, plain and simple. Ideally, you want to be able to adjust your ISO, shooting mode, focus point, exposure compensation, aperture, and shutter speed without taking the camera away from your eye, or having to go through the entire menu system

6- Missing a good shot due to not being ready

You probably take really good care of your camera and lenses – that’s a good thing. But, what I often see with beginners is that you take too much care of the camera to the point of missing shots because the camera is turned off, the lens cap is on, or it’s zipped up nice and neat inside your bag. Has that happened to you?

So find a happy medium between taking care of your stuff, and being ready when a photographic opportunity presents itself.

7- Not employing a tripod in low light or night photography Tripods – does one have a love/hate relationship with yours? does one avoid using one whenever possible? Using a tripod is just about essential in situations of low light, when using really small apertures for max depth of field, or doing night photography.

8- Shooting at the incorrect time of day, or not understanding light When you first start doing photography you'll have a bent to go out at midday because there's tons of sunshine – that's the number. But something else you would like to start out considering is that the quality of sunshine, or how good it's in terms of capturing the mood you would like, flattering your subject, and keeping the viewer’s interest

9- Using on-camera flash

The flash that comes together with your camera, the small pop-up one, isn’t great for many things. It is often good for lightening shadows to scale back contrast but using it as your main light will create flat, textureless images with no dimension. If you’ve used your flash indoors and gotten that deer within the headlights look from your subject – the flash and direction of sunshine are the problems. Even putting an external Speedlight on top of your camera isn't any better because the direction of sunshine remains straight on to the topic.

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lynxgriffin · 5 years

Text

Here Comes The Sun

It’s already time for more KH3 commentary! Under the cut for anyone who wants to avoid spoilers!

All right! It’s time to move on down to Tangledtown, it looks like!

There were some terrible gummi ship messes in the way, let’s see if I can manage to get past them

Still suck at gummi missions but at least I can survive them after like…a try or two

And heck yeah we’re off to Tangledtown!! I mean Corona

Honestly the ultimate video game challenge will be rendering this super long hair

Sora: Why are we here? Who cares, it’s pretty!!

OMG Flynn

Once again, beautiful music here! And yaaay learned Aero!

Sora you giant dingleberry

Ugh this world is so dang pretty

Pretty much repeats of the movie so far

Flynn: I’m thinking exposition to myself!

You’re not quite nailing The Smoulder there, Flynn

There’s eel in this here river!

Ugh I found a lucky emblem but I can’t find a good spot to photograph it from!

Sora: First time outdoors?? Yikes…that’s dark

It’s okay Rapunzel, you got the order right, everything’s fine

That’s the fluffiest Heartless in existence

Okay heck yeah that was a fun battle type deal!

HIIIIII MAR MAR

Did Norted Marluxia just Mar Mother Gothel? HOW MANY LAYERS DOES THIS GO

Dandelions! WE FOUND ALL OF AVA’S KIDS

I think my fav attraction flows so far are the carousel and rapids ride

We have obtained: BUNNY TREASURE

You can make Sora splash in the water sooob

Oh we had Heartless flowers and now Nobody flowers!

I like how everybody’s like “Flowers? SUSPICIOUS!!!”

Gotta say that Mar’s lesser Nobodies are pretty kickass, tho

HAS-BEENS

HERE COMES THE SORA SASS

Aww Mar doesn’t want to remember getting his ass handed to him —I’m not counting data battles argh—

Well Mar that’s…not quite true honestly

Mar: And when I say “use the Keyblade to keep her safe” I mean “LOCK HER IN THE TOWER HURR HURR”

Oooh now getting into the spooky forest

Goofy: Well let’s use proper names for the terrible villain!

Sora: Well excuuuuuuuse me, evil stepmother

CALL YOUR MOM, SORA

Oh hey we finally found Maximus!

WE HAVE HORSEY SEAL OF APPROVAL

the flap-flaps are back!!

Pfff this Heartless monkey all like “EAT MY ASS, I HAVE A SIEGE TOWER”

Oh gosh this Heartless

SUPERJUMP??

I must give Rapunzel this halo of birds

I gotta agree, I think this is the prettiest world so far

I’M TAKIN ALL YOUR FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES NOW

Don’t mind me, just swimming in your water digging for shellfish

WTF the dancing part was so ridiculously cute I can’t

Funny I don’t remember them actually having the satchel at this point?

Sora: EXCUSE U FOR NOT APPRECIATING THIS MOMENT

Must’ve told her that his name was Eugene while Sora and co were out

LMAO Marmar that was the most flat delivery of that line

LOL sure Mother Gothel just beat those giant Nobodies to death with a stick

SHE DISCOVERED THE POWER OF STICKBLADE

Damn they pulling up the chess metaphor again

No one told the other Princesses that their job was finished!

Oh wow so apparently Mar can just! Do that??

I do love that moment with the sun symbol tho

Mother Gothel: I’m extra the bad guy now because of the dark darkness smoke

Oh geez they’ve been there all night

He was awakened by the kiss of true horse

Maximus: I CAN CARRY FOUR PEOPLE IT’S FINE

STABB’D

Sora: Just let me get there I’ve got a cure spell!

AND THIS WHOLE SCENE

Marluxia, please, put any emotions at all into your voice

Oh now THAT’S a freaky-ass Heartless, nice nice

That was a pretty kickass boss battle, gotta say

Sora: WTF people can’t actually die that’s not allowed!

Sora: Told you sooooo

WHELP WE DID IT WE PLAYED THE MOVIE

Donald: “Rapunzel’s the tough one actually” HE’S NOT WRONG

Sora: EXCUSE U if I matchmake THEN I GET IN ON THE SECRETS

So yay! Finished that world! Will have to give this Keyblade a try, but I do really like the Toy Story one

Pete: WE KEEP GETTING SHAFTED

It’s Etch-A-Sketch’d

Please please let Maleficent and Pete end up being the monkey wrench in the Organization’s whole plan just because no one thought to notice what they were doing

Let Aeleus have a line!!

Oh well this looks ominous

HI SAIX

Even: Humanity is for CHUMPS

Vexen: Friendship ended with Basic Decency, GETTING NORTED is my new BFF

Oooh oh oh new worlds to choose from!!

Looks like the next spot we’re going is MONSTERS INC, YAAAY I’M EXCITE

But I’ll talk about that in the next commentary post, so this is already getting a bit long!

More very soon!!

#kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts spoilers #lynx plays kh3

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dansnaturepictures · 3 years

Photo

14/06/2021: Part 2 of 2-The wildlife photos and experiences at Lakeside and home

On a scorching day I enjoyed a lot around the home before I went for my Lakeside walk, including the lovely rose on a bush in the back garden seen from my bedroom window which looked nice I took the first picture in this photoset of this. I was then thrilled in another productive photo session in the front garden to see some poor man’s weather-glass aka scarlet pimpernal (the latter probably the most common name for it, but I found it using the PlantNet app when I was first getting into flowers last year as the former when I first got into flowers in the late summer a time I look back on fondly seeing this on the green out the front and then at Cley and Salthouse Marshes in Norfolk). This was a flower I really loved learning last year one I find so addictive, sweet, small and colourful to see so I was thrilled to see this looking so nice. I took the second picture in this photoset of these. Alongside speedwell, daisy and some willowherb a nice tiny contingent of flowers making it to our stony front garden lately which is great these did look scrumptious and bright red in the sun. The cuckoo spit on the lavender flowers was still present after I noticed it on Friday and I couldn’t resist a macro photo of it gleaming in the sun the third in this photoset.

After taking in stunning views and noticing a lovely bright purple mallow on the grass by Lakeside which I tweeted a picture of tonight on Dans_Pictures another flower I loved learning last summer I reached Lakeside and was thrilled to spot a Swift gliding effortlessly through the bright blue sky on arrival. Low enough with my big lens on at this point to try for a photo not the easiest one to photograph they are of course so fast, but I just about managed a couple including the fourth picture in this photoset of this.

I reached beach lake the westernmost one and set about looking for one of my targets the Black-tailed Skimmer a lovely dragonfly that my Mum had seen here yesterday and I had for the first time of the year in 2020 on the 1st June that year. No sooner had I started taking in the wonderful views over this lake especially which I mentioned in my previous post about today than one of these excellently marked and bright coloured dragonflies danced over the grass in front of me leading me to a little reedbed area at the base of the lake where I confirmed it was this favourite dragonfly species of mine. I loved looking at it and taking it in for a little while being so in aw of it. I took the fifth picture in this photoset of it. This sparked a memorable and packed few minutes when as I caught a sight of some Mallards with ducklings in the northern edge of beach lake I saw in my binoculars with them was a beautiful burgundy Little Grebe. This was fantastic to see, I obviously see Great Crested Grebes so well here so often but this was only the second time I’d ever seen its smaller cousin here after last November. It was completely unexpected today and another amazing bird moment lately I loved watching it for a little while. Walking north of the lake a bit I couldn’t quite get a clear shot closer through the reeds and trees but I did see some nice heath spotted-orchid along the fringes of the path and I loved seeing these and yellow iris mixing together well and dominated the edges of the lakes which made for stunning views which I captured and tweeted photos of both star flowers recently. I did manage the sixth picture in this photoset of the Little Grebe with my big lens on for this and the dragonfly. Noticeable behind the grebe was a damselfly or it may have been a dragonfly

I then took some landscape photos and put my normal lens on. The lens I discovered the Saturday before last is a great option for dragonfly pictures with one of a Broad-bodied Chaser I was quite pleased with. I couldn’t have written it better then when the only seen fairly fair away in reeds and zipping past before during my lunch time walk today Black-tailed Skimmer or a Black-tailed Skimmer settled right next to me well within range for my 70-300mm lens I lapped up chances for photos of this tweeting the photo I took forward from this set. It was a utopian late spring/early summer afternoon as I watched the skimmer one of my favourite dragonflies three of them I believe which I didn’t really realise was at Lakeside having seen them at other locations before working from home patrol the bright blue lake.

I liked seeing damselflies around this lake and Swifts fly over and skim the lake here too. I also liked seeing the baby birds again; Canada Goose and goslings like the one in the seventh picture in this photoset, Coot chick like the one in the eighth picture in this photoset and Greylag goslings along with the ducklings. It was nice to enjoy all of this again. In the searing hear I went towards Concorde Lake through a very well grown up path here and almost brushed up against a lovely Banded Demoiselle here and I also spotted a bright Red Admiral flying around the vegetation which I was very pleased to see so well one of my favourite butterflies.

Going home past the visitor centre and looking over the southern fenced off nature reserve area where I hoped to see Meadow Browns and other insects on this route the Meadow Brown my Mum also saw at Lakeside yesterday on this stretch. Walking along here I was captivated by a great light coloured dragonfly prominently flying around. I watched it landed for ages trying to get a picture from the other side of the fence with my big lens I didn’t succeed. I worked out it was a female Common Darter thought another star of Lakeside last year which I found brilliant to see. It was my earliest ever sighting of a Common Darter in a year how many times did I say that about butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies including here a lot last year in the early progressing spring this year slower so it was nice to, to really show how in hot weather in June anything can happen. My previous earliest was 18th June at Bolderwood in the New Forest in 2017 for me.

What made the special Common Darter fly off was a butterfly flying into it and that was my target the Meadow Brown! I enjoyed a fantastic time watching this bright and warm looking butterfly on an oxeye daisy which I took the ninth picture in this photoset of. I was so happy I’d seen it, one of my next targets and my 25th butterfly species this year a figure I am thrilled with. But the Meadow Brown is often one of my most important butterfly sightings in a year as so often as it was this year (its only usually the Large Skipper that is the other one) its the first of the summer butterflies I see in a year. With the weather like this and now two key sights I see as summer rather than spring and signpost when the season transitions for me, this and foxglvoes on road verges on Saturday it feels very summery! I saw another Meadow Brown on the way out and enjoyed the meadows carpeted in bright oxeye daisies which I just loved seeing and taking in such beautiful scenes. I enjoyed at the flower patch in the estate on the way back the glorious poppies again one looking enormous and I took a photo I was happy with of that. There was something I found out in our personal life today which was something very sad about an important person in my life, but I felt at lunch time I did what I do best and let nature uplift me which was much needed being able to see these targets locally and it felt great to sneak them in before our holiday next week.

I did take a second Lakeside walk this evening with other things on including a day off an an organised walk we are going on tomorrow happening and preparation for holiday as the week goes on this the last evening walk with a camera and binoculars I’ll do before going on holiday. I loved taking in some beautiful scenes in the meadows of Lakeside to the east the area that would be my commute when working in the office, especially with the grass looking very long and some nice sky scenes formed at this time too. A lovely Kestrel flew over which I got a great view of near the kissing gate entrance where the Swift had darted over at lunch time. This evening it was great to enjoy Woodpigeon and Collared Dove on the roof visible from my room in the lowering sunlight, moth in the house again and a Lesser Black-backed Gull out the front which I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of. I hope you have all had a nice day.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Meadow Brown, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common Darter of the year, one of my favourite butterflies the Red Admiral, Common Blue Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Lesser Black-backed Gull at Lakeside and home, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Coot, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Little Grebe, Swift, Kestrel, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw including some on the green out the front where the Starlings and gulls have been spending a lot of times in the evenings lately adding to this well, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Starling, some lovely Long-tailed Tits at Lakeisde a great view, House Sparrow and Goldfinch.

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