#{ post-takeover or near-takeover maybe!! }

[huntershowl]

@bloodykneestm ( masami ) liked x.

❝ hey — that was pretty rough. you feeling okay? ❞

[dcxdpdabbles]

Based on this post here https://www.tumblr.com/ourrechte-blog/740959709140484096

Danny and the latest incarnation of the Demons ends up in Star City. They're doing ninja stuff as a way to get resources and find a way home. Green Arrow overhears mentions of "Great One" and "Demon's Head" and maybe Dani is there and gets called dahlia and it's misheard as Talia

Ollie: Batman, come over here and get your de-aged villains

Bruce: What makes you so sure they're mine?

Ollie: They're ninjas and their leader, who kicked my ass, is referred to as "Great One" so yes, I'm sure these are the League of Assassins under an alias. Or clones

Ra's finds this entire thing hilarious. Damian, not so much

Oliver is not having a good time. He noticed some shady activity going down in his city's underbelly and decided to investigate. Star City wasn't as crime-infested as Gotham, but it wasn't sunshine and rainbows either.

It was far better hidden, but corruption ran amok in his home, so he had to run around to get things fair. He noticed the ninjas only after a while of them being in town. At first, they seemed focused on gaining territory.

They moved from the poorest neighborhoods to the richest, slowly beating out the top dogs. It seemed the leader had the same mentality of prison- beat the toughest person on his first day and become the new number one. Usually, that wouldn't work with such solid and old operations, but somehow, the ninjas were doing it.

They cut off resources. It causes discord in the lackey's ranks. Pulled funding from who knows where. And Blackmailed the rest into submission.

It was a hostile takeover. A plague on the control of the criminal empires station in Star City.

And there was nothing Oliver could do to stop them. He felt like a fumbling medic during a pandemic. Too many areas were affected before he could arrive, and too many loose ends were tied before he could gather enough information to know what they were trying to accomplish.

He contacted the Justice League when it became clear that it was too much for his team to handle. They sent over Dinah Lace and Gregory Sanders (Much to the joy of his bi-heart), who helped him trace the pathway the ninjas were taking, but ultimately, they were unable to catch up.

"It's like chasing ghosts," Gregory complains, his red bandana moving with his mouth. His eyes are scanning the towering buildings, fiddling with his guns. "I see them for only a second, and they are much faster than any of my bullets."

"It doesn't help that one of them is a meta with a similar power to mine," Dinah agrees. She was the closest to the taller figure, attempting to use her Canary Cry to capture him. Imagine her surprise when the figure turned and returned a cry of its own, easily overpowering Dinah's and flinging her away. "We might need a Speedster"

"And a Bat," Olver sighs. "They're far too slippery. A Bat should be able to devise a plan that might work for them. My tactical strategies are falling short."

"How painful was that for you to admit?" Dinah asks with a smirk.

"I'm choking on my blood," He deadpans, causing her to laugh. At once, Olover's heart launches in his chest. She has the loveliest laugh. He throws her a smile that he knows is disgustingly gooey, and her eyes crinkle with the gentleness she reserves for him.

"I overheard them speaking for a bit before one of them heard my guns click," Gregory says, eyeing the two of them like he knows they are flirting but won't point it out. He's a spoilsport. "One of them identified the other. Does the name Talia mean anything to ya'll?"

Crude. Whatever good mood Olvier was in for making Dinah smile is crushed with sudden dread.

"Yeah, it does. Especially if it was anywhere near the words "Demon Head" or "Great One," He wearily. At Gregory's nod, he covers his eyes with one hand, feeling a headache build behind his right eye. It's a familiar headache. It usually pops up whenever Bruce Wayne's love life is mentioned.

"I'll call the Big Bad Bat. He'll get her to stop or kiss her. Whatever works. " Oliver sighs, even heavier than before.

"Why?" Gregory asks mystified

"That's Bat's ex."

There is a very long pause before Gregory's guns click again. A rigid set to his shoulders and rage appear in his eyes. "The young girl is Batman's ex? Good to know."

"Young girl? No, Talia is about my age." Dinah cuts in. "Are you sure she answered to Talia?"

The safety is switched back on as Gregory relaxes."Yes. She appeared to be twelve years old or so, with white hair and green eyes. Does that match Batman's honey?"

"Not even close. I mean, the green eyes, sure, but the rest is wrong." Oliver hums. "So we aren't dealing with Bat's girl, which is good for us. The League of Assassins is a pain. Also very dangerous."

Vigilante's eyes widen at the mention of the ninja group's name. "I heard of the organization but was unaware of the members. Is this Talia important in it?"

"She's the big boss's daughter," Dinah confirms. "Also, one of the bloodthirsty and cruelest members."

"That's not very nice," a young voice cuts in, startling the heroes. They leap away from the roof edge, watching a boy with glowing white hair flout over it, crossed-armed. "My daughter is a goddam delight."

"Ra's," Olver shutters. Yes, he looks younger and glowing, but Oliver would never forget that monster's face. He appeared often in his nightmares about the island.

The boy tilted his head. "You know me."

Oliver pulled the string of his bow, training the arrow on the figure; beside him, Gregory had his guns up and ready while Dinah had planted her feet in her preferred combat position. "I never forget a face."

"There is a version of me here," the boy hums, implying so many things that make the three heroes uneasy. "Maybe I wasted time gathering resources when I should have gone looking for the other Fentons."

"What do you mean by that?" Dinah demands, but the boy is already looking away and snapping his fingers.

"Guys! There are other Fentons here!"

Five figures fly up from over a building. Two are glowing, and three are wearing bulky power suits. Oliver's breath catches in his throat. Younger versions of the Demons. The same assisans whose abilities build Ra's empire and are the only ones to control them- the reason he is known as the Demon Head.

"That's great, Danny!" A girl with orange hair cries. She's inside the power suit, and Oliver knows her by her codename. Claw.

"Maybe we can have your dad make us some fudge." A dark-skinned boy licks his lips. He also appropriates a power suit but seems far more decked out for support. Makes sense, seeing as he obviously Scales.

"Let's go. The faster we get home, the faster I can make Vlad by me an island." A glowing teen rolls his eyes. His flaming hair does nothing to take away the fact he is Fang.

"Which way?" the little girl, Talia, asks, making a small circle in the air.

"I saw we find destruction and follow that. It's bound to lead us to them. We can cause chaos on the way." The last girl offers. She points the hand of her supersuit to the west with a nasty grin. It's Shadow. "Can't be worse than the Black Plague incident."

"How was I supposed to know the rats were dangerous!" Ra scoffs, face red in embarrassment. Which would have been amusing if he didn't just admit he caused thousands of lives to end. Oliver really does not like the implications one bit.

"Everyone. Don't you read any history books?"

"I don't need no books to tell me. I was there!"

Oliver thinks they are distracted enough to risk taking a shot. His bowstring snaps into place as his arrow flies towards the closest one. Claw's reaction time is as fast as he remembers because she had already shot the arrow out of the sky before it could go anywhere near Talia. The foam meant to hold her in place burst, covering the six from view.

Gegory's bullets hit it seconds after, burying deep within the hardened foam. The sharpshooter springs to the right, looking for a better target, but it's in vain.

When the foam falls, everyone behind it is gone, and Oliver is reminded that they face ninjas. Gregory lowers his weapon with a frustrated click of his tongue.

What in the world was going on! They were all de-age and somehow powered up. None of this was good.

"We need to call Batman," Dinah says in the silence. "This may be out of our league even with them turned into children."

[hardwriterdeluxe]

Economic Hockey Boys Part Two: The Gradual Takeover

__________________

This story has been in the making for a while, and I kind of quit in the middle of it for months. I couldn’t find an ending or the right direction. I hope you all enjoy this version; I think I started over at least two times.

part one here: https://hardwriterdeluxe.tumblr.com/post/727576341242920960/economic-hockey-boys

_______________

Alex’s plan was meticulous, calculated to usurp Max's place both on the team and in the social hierarchy. It began subtly, with Alex hanging around Max more often, always conveniently there to assist or "help" whenever Max needed it. He started emitting a new, strong smell with a musk that seemed to dominate the air around him. The scent was potent, masculine, and it slowly began to take hold in the locker room.

At first, Max didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. He was too focused on maintaining his status as captain and the team's star player. But the others started to change in their behavior. They began looking to Alex for guidance, respecting his opinions more and more, while Max found it increasingly difficult to command the same respect.

One evening, after a particularly intense practice, Alex approached Max in the locker room. The space was filled with the pungent scent of sweat and Alex’s overpowering musk. Max was exhausted, sitting on the bench, wiping his face with a towel. Alex, freshly showered but still emanating that musk, sat beside him, a smirk playing on his lips.

“You okay, Max?” Alex asked, his tone laced with a mix of concern and something else—something that made Max uneasy.

“Yeah, just tired,” Max replied, trying to muster his usual confidence.

“Maybe you should take it easy,” Alex suggested, lifting his arm to adjust his jersey, exposing his pit. The musk hit Max like a wave, making him feel dizzy and disoriented. “You’ve been pushing yourself pretty hard.”

Max nodded, unable to shake the feeling of Alex’s dominance growing stronger with each passing day. The musk seemed to cling to him, invading his senses even after he left the locker room.

Over the next few weeks, the transformation began in earnest. Max started to lose weight, his muscular frame slowly wasting away. His once-bulging biceps shrank, his pecs flattened, and his six-pack abs softened into a smooth, slender torso. His legs, once powerful and thick, became thin and frail. His skin lost its healthy tan, turning pale and almost translucent. His face softened, his jawline losing its sharpness and becoming more delicate and androgynous.

The changes weren’t just physical. Max’s confidence waned as he found it harder to assert himself. The team, too, started to notice but couldn’t quite put their finger on what was happening. Alex, on the other hand, grew more robust. His muscles became more defined, his presence more commanding. He had started taking Max's place not just in performance but in the hearts and minds of their teammates.

Max’s clothes began to change as well. His gear, once snug and highlighting his athletic build, became loose and baggy. His jersey, bearing the captain's insignia, was replaced with a simple tracksuit labeled "WATER BOY" on the back. His locker, once prominently positioned among the team's stars, vanished, leaving him with a small, inconspicuous cubby near the entrance.

“Hey, Maxie, can you grab us some water?” one of the players called out one day. Max looked up, realizing with a start that he had been demoted to a mere water boy. The name "Maxie" stuck, a cruel reminder of his new position. His memories of leading the team, of scoring goals and celebrating victories, began to blur, replaced by feelings of awe towards Alex and secret crushes on the more manly players.

The team quickly took advantage of Maxie's new role. They would make fun of him, teasing him mercilessly. "Hey, Maxie the Service Boy, clean out my locker!" they'd jeer, throwing smelly gear at him, the odor overwhelming his senses. The once-proud captain was now an easy target for their taunts, his weakened state making him unable to fight back.

One evening, after a particularly grueling practice, the team decided to play a prank on Maxie. At Alex's suggestion, they locked him into a locker filled with reeking gear, the pungent smell of sweat and musk suffocating him. Maxie banged on the door, pleading to be let out, but the boys just laughed and walked away.

Finally, Alex came to "rescue" him. He opened the locker, a look of mock concern on his face. "Having fun, Maxie?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Maxie stumbled out, his eyes watering from the stench. "Please, Alex, I can't take this anymore," he begged, his voice trembling.

Alex's smirk widened as he grabbed Maxie by the collar and pulled him close. "You'll do whatever I say, won't you, Maxie?" he whispered, his breath hot against Maxie's ear.

Maxie nodded, unable to resist the overpowering musk emanating from Alex's body. Alex pushed him down to the floor, standing over him in nothing but his musky socks, jockstrap, and pits reeking from practice. "Show me how much you appreciate your new role," he commanded.

Maxie, his mind clouded by the intoxicating scent, obeyed without question. He serviced Alex, his actions driven by a mix of submission and a strange, overwhelming desire. Alex watched with satisfaction, knowing that he had completely dominated and owned Maxie, at least within the confines of the locker room.

From that night on, Maxie was Alex’s toy, a secret shared between the two of them. The team continued to win, celebrating their new captain and hero, Alex, while Maxie's presence faded into the background. In the quiet moments, away from prying eyes, Maxie and Alex found solace in each other, their bond growing stronger with each passing day. Alex had successfully stolen Max’s life, and in doing so, they had found an unexpected connection that neither had anticipated.

Hope you all liked it, comment down below!

[lumenflowered]

OOC: Right so the readmore just entirely gave up on my new and hopefully final intro post, so. Fuck it, we ball, I'm putting my OOC info here.

Hi. I'm Hope, you may find me elsewhere at @ofstormsandfire where I am routinely not remotely normal about my favorite fictional characters. One of said faves is Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, because I am really enjoying Bloodborne and also she's just. She's just a really cool character okay. Yes I know she has four lines it's about the ~implications~ y'all.

Last summer, a lot of my friends were getting really into pokeblogging so I made one myself, but I have not gotten anywhere near as invested with any of my other ones as I have with this one. Because I had the thought, the critical thought that started all this, that was "oh hey, people are throwing their faves from other pieces of media into here, I could totally do that too."

And then, near the end of November last year, I thought for too long about how hilarious it would be to throw someone from a tonally incongruous piece of media like Bloodborne into the comparatively much kinder world of Pokémon.

And then I thought for too long about how I could throw this woman who was, in all likelihood, extremely traumatized at a world far kinder than anything she'd ever known before. About how this could be a journey about healing, about falling back in love with life.

...And then I came up with the blog url and it was really all over for me from there.

My own ramblings on how this blog came about aside, Bloodborne is a horror game, it is normally fairly dark. Canon-typical themes for Bloodborne will be present, but I'll do my best to tag for anything that isn't your usual pokeblogging fare and if you'd like anything I'm not already tagging for to be tagged, just lmk, I'm happy to.

And now, assuming my readmore works here (I have my suspicions as to why it isn't on the other post) have some navigational tags under the cut!

Story tags!

#firebird arc: I combined the Radio Tower takeover and the Ho-oh subplot, made the Kimono Girls more relevant, and ramped up the stakes. Ho-oh is a firebird and I think there's a type of rocket called the firebird. I like puns.

#from the ashes arc: Giovanni became an actual threat, there got to be an entire Rocket base in Tohjo Falls, and Silver got traumatized more. Mind the tags and also the warning OOC post at the beginning.

#kanto rocket arc: There wasn't much to do in Kanto so I had Rocket start causing problems on purpose. Silver transed her gender and Giovanni... seemed to no longer be a problem at the end of it.

#downpour arc: Starting soon! First post in the tag is an OOC post explaining a little about what I have planned, there's a few others that are foreshadowing/buildup for it, and then once we're formally starting I'll make another OOC post with more detailed warnings.

Character tags!

(...I really should think about making a character tag for Ade at some point. That would require going back and tagging so many posts and I don't actually have an idea for her yet, but maybe sometime in the future.)

#passing stranger: Dee (better known as the Plain Doll in Bloodborne canon) is here! And is now on the blog full-time because I love her and it made thematic sense! The earliest posts from her are from her 24-hour takeover back in February, before anyone knew who she was in-character and Dee was then very invested in keeping it that way.

#milf time and sonboy hours, #milf time: The first tag was specifically posts from Ethan and Reina, but Tumblr stole my yellow and I think stealing it back broke the cut on the other post so I'm not going to risk using it here. Ethan might show up again occasionally, Reina is more likely to show up on her own though. She likes birds and may or may not have had a bisexual awakening when her kid brought a Faller home.

#rainbow wings: Posts from (or sometimes relating to) Ho-oh. They don't post that often but they're a giant rainbow bird they can do what they want. What they want, when they happen to be online, is generally for injustice to Not Happen. Good luck buddy this is the internet.

#the first to fall: The Hunter from Maria's world taking on the role of the player character in Bloodborne. Her name's Mallory, she got the Childhood's Beginning ending for people that means anything to, and she was a Faller in the other direction before dragging herself and Dee into the world of Pokémon. (And, unintentionally, Maria too. She's probably the only unintentional tag-along, though. Right?)

#what's with this sassy lost child?: Posts from Silver, before she got her own blog at @cosmic-crobat. These days she mostly uses her own blog, but she'll still get blue text when she shows up in recordings.

Misc other tags!

#ask game: Reblogs of ask games and responses to said ask games. This one isn't chronological.

#hints to the future: Specifically, responses to that one ask game with the gear emojis that lets you hint at future events. I am always accepting asks for this one no matter how long it's been since I last reblogged that ask game. I like hinting toward what's to come and I like writing prose.

#glimpses of the past: That one ask game with the hourglasses that lets you see into the muse's past. Again, always open because I love writing prose and I can write out prose for things that have already happened this way.

#pelipper mail: It's open, it keeps happening, it keeps causing problems. Note that while I do not have magic anons on, if you're sufficiently creative with Pelipper Mail and it isn't too story-breaking you can probably get a similar effect to a magic anon that way.

#sword lesbian things: Silly and fairly self-explanatory. For when Maria's doing things with her sword, now that she has it back.

#the death hole: Scarvio DLC spoilers! Maria decided to Pelipper Mail herself to Paldea to help a friend. The death hole lived up to its reputation, and she will probably be Pelipper Mailing herself to try and solve other people's problems by ignoring her own more often in future.

#the vampire allegations: Silly tag for posts involving the recurring jokes about Maria being a vampire. It keeps happening, due to her entire aesthetic and also me deciding she can be allergic to garlic for coincidental and completely mundane reasons.

[mariacallous]

As all journalists know fear sells better than sex. Readers want be terrified. And here in the UK, there appears to be every reason to frighten them.

A country that was overdependent on financial services has been in decline ever since the banking crash of 2008. Then, from 2010 on, the astonishing Conservative policy failures of austerity, Trussonomics and, above all, Brexit further weakened an enfeebled state.

I was a child in a happy family during the crisis of the 1970s. Like all happy children I just got on with my life. But even I picked up a little of the despair and hopelessness of the time. That feeling that there is no way out is with us again.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher came to power, and with great brutality, set the UK on a new path as she inflicted landslide defeats on Labour.

Obviously, our current Conservative government is heading for a defeat, maybe a landslide defeat.

But there is little sense that Labour will transform the country.  The far-left takeover from 2015-2019 traumatised it. As recently as 2021, everyone expected Boris Johnson to rule the UK for most of the 2020s.  

Johnson’s contempt for the rules he insisted everyone else follow and the great Truss disaster are handing Labour victory. But the centre-left appears to be the beneficiary of scandal and right-wing madness, not an ideological sea change that might inspire it and sustain it in power

Desperate to drop its crank image, battered by the conservative media establishment, fashionable opinion holds that a wee, cowering and timorous Labour party will come into power without radical policies that equal the country’s needs.

Just this once, fashionable opinion may even be right

And yet, and I know I will regret this outbreak of commercially suicidal optimism, there are reasons to believe that the UK’s position is not quite as grim as it appears.

1)    The economy may revive

Although no one has been as wrong recently as the economists and central bankers who predicted that inflation would be a transitory phenomenon, it is finally coming down. Falls in energy prices may even bring it to the 2 per cent target this month. Interest rates will eventually follow suit.

Lower interest rates mean lower government borrowing costs. They will reduce the extraordinary debt bill Labour in power will have to meet.

Chris Giles of the Financial Times calculated this week that lower government borrowing costs improve the public finances five years ahead by almost £15bn (about 0.5 per cent of national income) for every percentage point reduction.

Meanwhile the Conservatives have raised taxes so high (by UK standards) a Labour government may not need to risk unpopularity by raising them further.  Under Conservative plans the tax burden has risen from 33.1 per cent of gross domestic product in 2019-20 to 36.5 per cent in 2024-25 with further rises planned, taking it to 37.1 per cent by 2028-29.

If the 1997-2010 Labour government is any guide, Labour will be reluctant in the extreme to play into its enemies’ hands by raising taxes

It may not need to if economic growth leads to the revenue growth that would take the UK out of the rolling crisis that has afflicted it since 2016.

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I did not add that there are some pretty large caveats to make.

Economists missed the post-covid inflation surge because they forgot about politics. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine upended the European economy. An extension of the war in Ukraine or the Middle East, or, more terrifyingly, a US-China confrontation, or the return of Donald Trump could all derail a new government.

In any case the IMF predicts growth of 1.5 percent in 2025, which is nowhere near the 3 percent we need to fund the state.

And yet, with a bit of luck there is a fair chance that our fortunes may revive, albeit modestly.

2) Labour is not as scared as it looks

Near where I live in London is the Union Chapel, a vast neo-Gothic hall.

Will Hutton was there recently to launch his new book This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britian. I have interviewed Will for the podcast, which should be out in a couple of days. For now, I’ll just say his book is a classic combination of liberal and left thought, and makes the case for radical reform. Keir Starmer arrived on stage to the cheers of the crowd and endorsed Hutton’s findings.

The fashionable view is that Labour has abandoned difficult policies so as not to alienate frightened voters, and I can see why people think that way.

The grand plan for green job creation has been hacked back after fears the markets would not wear it. The majority of people in this country, and the overwhelming majority of people who vote for opposition parties, now recognise that Brexit was a disastrous error. Year in year out it drags the country down. And yet Starmer, who once argued for a second referendum, is terrified of mentioning the subject in case he upsets a minority in marginal seats.

There was a depressing little vignette a few days ago when the European Commission laid out proposals for open movement to millions of 18- to 30-year-olds from the EU and UK, allowing them to work, study and live in respective states for up to four years. Labour joined the Tories in rejecting the offer.

 It would rather squash the aspirations of young people than lay itself open to the charge that it was taking us back towards EU membership.

Yet Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer and David Lammy talk about the need for cooperation. “Success will rest on forming new bilateral and multilateral partnerships, and forging a closer relationship with our neighbours in the European Union,” Reeves said as she explained her economic programme.

Meanwhile the UK has been ruled by Conservatives for so long our battered minds can underestimate how much the country will change when they are thrown out.

The new parliament will be filled with politicians who support renters, more home building and the EU. They will at least be interested in a land value tax and a universal basic income. Radical that ideas have been forbidden for years will soon seem normal.

3) The impetus for change

The last Labour government of 1997 to 2010 did not change economic fundamentals for what seemed at the time to be a very good reason.

 When it came to power neo-liberalism worked. Indeed, is easy to forget now how successful the ideology appeared before the crash of 2008. Politicians like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair accepted much of what Margaret Thatcher had done because they thought they had no choice. Everyone knew, or thought they knew, that this was how you ran an economy.

None of that certainty pertains today. The Brexit nationalism that succeeded neo-liberalism has failed. Starmer and Reeves will not be like Blair and Brown: they will have no good reason to cling to discredited ideas.

That does not mean they won’t cling to them for fear of the Tory press or swing voters or because of their own intellectual failings. There is no guarantee that countries will turn themselves round. The UK could go the way of Argentina or Italy.

But the Labour leadership is made of serious politicians, and I keep asking myself why would serious politicians want to preside over decline? I can’t see why they would.

As I said, maybe I will regret writing this piece. But for the moment I think we can enjoy a rare moment of optimism.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I was never into the American Doll toys cus they weren't popular in my country, but I've always had the feeling that the XX century dolls all look like they are wearing adult's outfits. And tbh I don't think it's that bad cus some of the most iconic dresses of their respective eras weren't standard styles for children. I saw someone commenting that the styles on the 90's doll look like tv characters, and I think that's accurate for dolls from other decades as well, maybe it just irks us millenials cus that's an era we were closer to living so it doesn't feel natural.

It depends on the character, as far as I can tell! Going down the decades:

Samantha definitely looks like a little girl from 1904 (see: the dropped waists and short skirts on her dresses- adult ladies in that era wore gowns at their natural waists, with long skirts, and their hair pinned up).

Ditto Rebecca. Similar age rules to Samantha's era, all well-followed. No notes there.

Claudie...was made recently and therefore her collection is peak Mattel-tastic hot nonsense, painful as that is given how amazing her story could have been. Her Meet outfit isn't too bad? Like it's believable for a 1920s girl? But everything else looks awful, from a quick Google search. Not even Adult 1920s Fashion; just bad stereotypes.

Kit seems pretty on-brand for 1930s little girls' clothing, though we're getting further from my eras of expertise. The original collection, not the BeForever BS.

Molly is, again, getting way out of my wheelhouse, but she's definitely not wearing 1940s adult fashions. It's interesting to see the same era done with Nanea considerably later in the company's timeline, because it seems much more like their later "distilled" approach to the historical characters. Less researched, less detailed, less of the period and more Generic Vintage. Also, it's the 1940s and she has NO casual dresses? Really? I get that she lives in a tropical climate, but, again. 1940s. Little girls generally wore skirts most of the time, in any place where western fashion predominated.

(Class photo, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Waikiki. 1942.)

Maryellen is very...Intensely 1950s, but based on what I've seen, she's not Overly Mature in her attire per se. I feel like they're leaning too hard on the big fluffy skirts- didn't girls often wear a slimmer silhouette for school, out of practicality? -but it's not too old for her. I don't think. and of course, this is well post-Mattel takeover, as with Claudie's collection

I feel like they're trying really hard to differentiate Melody from Maryellen, but based on photos of my mother as a kid in the early 1960s, there was a lot more bleed-over between the two decades than people realize? this is another Mattel Made It Costume-y one for me, I think. it's not too mature exactly, but it's. Off, somehow

I kind of see Julie as the beginnng of the end, in terms of research quality in the company's history. It's not WRONG, but yeah, it's only one specific aspect of the era's clothing and it's more something popularized by adults. Kids did wear the hippie look in the 1970s, but it's definitely not what you think of when you consider a child's play-clothes or school-clothes back then.

Courtney is just. Okay, while she was considerably younger, my sister was an '80s kid, and she did not dress like Madonna or a Jazzercise dancer 24/7. Serious question- is AG allergic to jeans on historical character dolls from eras wherein jeans existed?

And now we have. Clueless and The Disney Channel Exploded, coming soon to an overpriced mall store near you!

This has been an unnecessarily long walkthrough of AG thoughts with Marzi! Thanks for giving me an excuse, and I'm so sorry.

[ritz-writes]

So... when I said that everything was the same in spotlight au... that includes Macaque making a deal with LBD. cuz who am I if I don't have some kind of angst hehe. Though, there are a few differences. The main one being that, when Spider Queen tries to take over the city, LBD keeps herself hidden from Wukong. This also means that he doesn't leave during season 2. At least, not at first.

This is another drabble that got way to long hhhh

Words: 1128

(Everything said in this post happens about a week after the attempted city takeover.)

By this point, Macaque's friends know Wukong is the ex and still don't rlly like him, but they can see he's trying, so they r giving him a chance. But, like I said, they have their ups and downs. At one point, they have a fight. I haven't worked out what the fight is about, but they both say things they regret later and Macaque storms off to the theater, his one place of solace (he and a few other long term actors have the codes to get in and are allowed to whenever they want). A few of his cast mates were there going over lines and immediately rush to comfort him, letting him vent out his frustrations.

Here's where the angst comes in >:))

It was well into the middle of the night when the lights flicker out, a man stepping out of the shadows, purring about how "easy it was to find the lady's little play thing."

Macaque immediately backs away in terror, knowing full well what the man was there for. Or rather, who.

(Theres like 6 people there including macaque, but i dont have any names, so I'm just gonna use letters to address them lmao)

"Uhm, excuse me sir?" A said nervously. "You can't be in here, you need to leave."

The man chuckled, ignoring them completely, his eyes zeroed in on Macaque alone. "You know, if you were trying to hide, you did quite a poor job of it."

B and C move forward, the others converging to stand in front of Macaque. "Hey, back off, man." C snapped. "You need to leave. Now."

The man raised an eyebrow, then smirked. He rushed forward and in the blink of an eye, had B and C by the throat in either hand, raising them off the floor.

Macaque pushed passed the other 3, eyes wide. "Stop!! Stop, let them go, please! I-I'll go with you, okay?"

D grabbed Macaque's arm. "Mac, are you crazy?"

Macaque ripped out of the hold, moving closer. "Let them go and I'll follow you without a fight. I'll do whatever she says, just... don't hurt them, please. " His voice was shaky, as were his hands. He thought he'd gotten away from Her years ago, thought he was free despite the feeling of chains in his dreams.

He now realized just how foolish a thought that was.

The man's grin widened. He threw B and C forward, the duo crashing to the others with a yelp. Macaque moved to help, but was stopped by and hand gripping the back of his neck, sending shivers by his spine.

"And the lamp?" The man hissed in his ear, smile ever present.

Macaque was near hyperventilating. He didn't want to do this. Gods, he did not want to see her again, but he had no choice. He had to keep his friends safe.

Shit, why did he have to go and get attached again?

E stood up, seeming just as scared as Macaque. "L-Let him go!"

The grip on his neck tightened. "The lamp, Macaque."

Macaque shut his eyes, tail curling around his leg. "I-It's at my house."

"Good. Take us there. We don't want to keep the lady waiting, now do we?"

Macaque bit his lip and summoned a portal under them. He opened his eyes long enough to see the terrified expression of his friends, B and D rushing forward, arms outstretched toward him.

He couldn't let them get hurt. He could probably--maybe--fight the man off, but he couldn't risk LBD using his friends against him.

Macaque reached into his pocket and, right before he dropped into the portal, threw his phone towards the group, praying to any god listening that they'd know who to call.

And that he'd be willing to help.

---

Wukong was surprised to see Macaque calling him. Normally they went days without talking after a fight. He honestly didn't want to answer at first, but he knew that'd probably just make things worse.

So, with a heavy sigh, he swiped answer. Before he could even speak, though, the sound of loud sobbing filled his ears, the noise coming from the background. He sat up from his couch, fur bristled. "Macaque? What's going on, who's crying?"

Someone took a deep breath, then spoke. Someone who definitely wasn't Macaque. "Sun Wukong?"

Wukong growled. "Who the hell is this. Where's Macaque."

"This is B. I'm a friend of his. He... shit this dude just came in and took him!"

Wukong jumped off the couch and ran out the door, summoning his cloud and taking off toward the city. "Took him? What do you mean? Who was it?"

"It was this weird dude in a suit, he came out of nowhere. I think Mac knew him or something. The dude said something about a-a lamp? I don't know, but he threw his phone before they left. I'm assuming he wanted us to call you."

Wukong swore under his breath, urging his nimbus to go faster. "Do you know where they went? Did the man say anything else?"

"Mac said the lamp was at his house, so he took them there. Uhm, the guy said something about a lady?"

Wukong felt cold. "A lady?" He repeated quietly.

"Y-Yeah. I think Macaque knew who he was talking about? He said 'she' at one point. I-I'm sorry, it's kind of a blur, everything happ—"

"Are you sure?" Wukong repeated, voice strained. He had to be wrong, please, he had to be wrong. "He said 'she'? Do you remember what Macaque said exactly?"

B took a shaky breath. "He said 'I'll do whatever she says.' He was trying to get him to not hurt us."

No.

Gods, he was such an idiot. How did he not see it before. People don't just come back from the dead on their own. Someone brought Macaque back, someone with a purpose. Someone who was supposed to be dead themselves.

A low growl made its way past his throat.

B spoke again. "You know what's going on, don't you?" It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," he answered. "What's his address?"

B hesitated, but only for a second. "It's ______"

"Alright. Thanks for calling me. I'll handle this."

"I'll keep his phone on me. Keep me updated."

"Sure."

"I mean it," B snapped. "You better keep me updated. I want to make sure Macaque is okay. I don't trust you, but he obviously still does. Don't let him down again. Please."

--

By the time Wukong made it to Macaque's house, there was no one there, the magical presence of the lamp faded.

The next day, Monkey King went on 'vacation.' He didn't tell B about it.

[darkscaleswriter]

For the director's cut ask game: I've bothered you to the end of time and back about this, but it's been a few years and I maintain that (while your ongoing TMNT one is GREAT, I'm loving the detail and the nuance!) Start It All Again is one of the best and funniest AUs you've ever written. Got anything left to talk about on that front?

(ask for a director’s cut on any of my fics!)

LMAO not a bother!! so happy you like Start It All Again enough to still be thinking about it, have a random assortment of thoughts under the cut :DDD

I don't really have any concrete plans for this au, but it's interesting to go back and re-read stuff that I wrote when I was in a very different place in life. I think if I were to rewrite this fic, the main change I'd make would be shifting the knights' professions from cops to… idk, firefighters or a search and rescue team or something. maybe a security or private investigation company, depending on the vibes haha.

for future fics, it could be interesting to explore the mechanics of reincarnation in this au since it's universe where the links are aware of their reincarnations and this ficlet is far from their first go-around. how many other characters are aware of their past lives? is vaati? I think it would be immensely funny for vaati's modern scheme to take over hyrule to be attempting to orchestrate a corporate takeover of hyrule inc., and the links thwart him by breaking into his server room and destroying everything with swords lmfao. ironically, vaati's company did not back up their data to the cloud. whoops!

vaati: well if i'd known you'd still be using SWORDS in THIS DAY AND AGE--

the links: dude literally when have we ever NOT used swords

ganon is of the opinion that this one's on vaati for failing to have pattern recognition, lol. ganon is also quietly making his own data backups, which isn't going to help him in the end, but it's cute that he tries.

re-reading the comments we spitballed back and forth when i first posted this fic, the adoption roadtrip could also be another fun direction to explore! i wonder if the reincarnated characters would've developed some way to reach out to each other upon getting their memories back, since they've gone through this at least a few times by now. depending on the pace of reincarnations (are the lives back to back? are they separated by a consistent timeframe? are they separated by a random timeframe?), they may or may not be familiar with current technology. use some kind of handwave-y triforce connection or something??

similarly, do people tend to reincarnate in the same family lines and/or physically near each other? are the links and zelda usually neighbors? is it completely random? i think it would be funny if it was random, and there was a life where by sheer dumb luck, everyone ended up on the same city block EXCEPT ganon, who somehow found himself on an antarctic research station or something. he got his memories back very late in that life, and by that point he was already an established uhhh let's say field biologist, so he decided to keep spending the rest of that life tracking leopard seals bc why not. he eventually runs into zelda and the links at a conference and there is very nearly a brawl. their labs proceed to start a bitter academic rivalry that is renowned in their field for years afterward.

speaking of academia, have any historians picked up on this group of people recurring throughout hyrule's history? do the characters look the same in their reincarnations, allowing for a possible record of the same faces showing up over and over again in records? how well-known is the reincarnation phenomenon? is it publicly known at all? on one hand, it would be immensely funny for academics to immediately start knockout tournaments over who gets to approach the reincarnated characters for interviews first. on the other hand, that sounds exhausting and annoying for the reincarnated characters.

it's easier to handle if the reincarnation thing isn't publicly known, which doesn't exclude conspiracy theorists and particularly dogged historians from figuring it out and tracking them down anyway, but this probably happens very infrequently if at all. any conspiracy theorists would be so vindicated though lmao. it's not a conspiracy theory if it's real!!

anyway, there's a lot on this universe that could be explored. thank you for reminding me about this au, it was fun to think about it again!! maybe i'll go back to it someday, who knows haha ^.^

[coconut530]

now that the first half of the season’s over…

SOLID STATE S1 PT. 1 DETAIL POST

(I’m quite obsessed still, strap in it's gonna be a long one. I'll put it under a Keep Reading for your dashes)

(each episode is one image, more or less, sometimes that’ll change but it’ll be listed. Also will have observations from my last post in it)

🩷CHAPTER 1: TAKEOVER💚

Takeover 1

Newspapers from Perth detailing another 50 degree summer in 2037, civil unrest, something with the world's newest trillion ?, and a newspaper from 2052

Concordia(n) Minerals sign

Dian's billboard to join WNDR

Shot of Egan, Recurring Background Character guy, and The Reporter

Recurring Union officials at a rally with a large mob facing the blonde police person

The Student walking in the Lower City

Prakash mentioning his meeting with the Temple of the Golden Hand that morning

Takeover 2

The implication of crime syndicates in the Lower City

One gang called The Vipers, headed by someone named Bishop

Eijiro being from a part of the Lower City called the Red Gate District (I’m assuming red gates that reference the ones in Japan that spirits can’t cross through, and Eiji’s more Japanese-leaning name, which translates to “reflective second son”(Google), which makes sense since he’s the second guy Prakash picked up out of the takeover gang 🤯)

Castel standing on a Tanser Tech truck

Takeover 3

Prakash telling Enzo to do as he's told, with a special highlight in his eye alluding to their past

Sign over the road saying "Remember your cooperation is required by law" which is...yikes

Takeover 4

The flying jav that Castel and Eiji use to get out of there in Takeover 8 being their wedding gift

The poisoned champagne being from Rook Tanser himself

The first shots of Tanser, Ecker, Aurun, Ramsay, and Iolanthe

"You know what they say... Prakash Malik knows how to invest!"

Prakash viewing both Enzo and Asha as "investments" which is... yikes. Eiji too I guess 😬

Takeover 5

"This is between me and him." Prakash is the one who had Enzo's eyes replaced, hence the focus on it (see Inheritance)

"Finally got the guts to make a move, eh?" Enzo tried to make a move in the past, and it didn't work (see Inheritance)

I think I deciphered Prakash's blurred dialogue

"I thought I taught you better than appealing to sentiment." (see Inheritance: “Enzo’s use may yet run out, and I will not hesitate over sentimentality.”)

Takeover 6

"You should be packing!" For Mars (see Inheritance)

Asha questioning Enzo’s eyes

Panel implying Enzo maybe disappointed Prakash in the past, resulting in his new eyes (they’re specially highlighted so maybe)

Enzo cutting Eiji off at the mention of Bruno, implying there's some special chemistry with them

Takeover 7

Castel wanting a panic room, mentioning they started to be built after some uprising

Meselon dealing with public health in Concordia

Asha's cybernetic contracts with Tanser Tech ( O_O ) (see Two of a Kind)

Ecker Byse owning the police force

Tanser Tech bribing every politician in the city

Takeover 8

Ramsay Hanan, of Hanan Heavy Industries

Ecker Byse, of Aegis Solutions International

Iolanthe Lieberthal III, Admiral-in-Exile of Heliodyne (Martian???)

Aurun Kastor-Valko, of Meselon

Rook Tanser, of Tanser Technology Augments

These are the people we're up against hahahhhaha

💛CHAPTER 2: SURGE🖤

Surge 1

Prakash about to go to Asha's wedding (Takeover 1)

The news headline above the upper city entrance saying "Police investigate union link" about Prakash's death

Subway Panel 1: Anti-union advertising, Recurring Union Leader, Jules (see Two of a Kind 4)

Subway Panel 2: Jules, Malik Industries advertisement "More than a company, we're family", Get Ahead Gigs

Subway Panel 3: VR thing, Rent-A-Friend

The subway slowly emptying, leaving Dian alone in the third panel, because majority of people don't live in the Upper City

Surge 2

Shadowy figure near Dian

Recurring Background Guy

Thommo and Beaux (see Two of a Kind 4)

Weird Priest Man implying someone or something purchases the failed uploading experiments (and someone in the comments validated by Veldenmire for wondering who could profit off that many dead people... Asha) (see Two of a Kind and Inheritance)

Surge 3

Jamilah and Dian arguing in front of a WNDR Prakash mourning event billboard

It shows how WNDR has put a wedge between them, as well as how far Prakash's death reaches

Recurring journalist outside Dian's house

The Reporter there as well

Surge 4

WNDR was expensive for people to use when it was first made, so they made their own technology, sedative pills and headsets

A screenshot from the Solid State short story published in the 2020 Brain Anthology of the protagonist Anya using this technology, as well as the old headset

Dian using the old headset and having a rough time

Surge 7 & 8

Egan being interviewed by that reporter (see Two of a Kind 1)

Foreshadowing of the events of Two of a Kind, how the robots are malfunctioning

Enzo's fancy new boots (Veldenmire said he was “going through it” :( )

💙CHAPTER 3: TWO OF A KIND❤️

Two of a Kind 1

The Surge happening in Malik Tower

Egg being flown over a Hanan Heavy Industries building

Egg being flown by the spot where Castel crashed the jav

Enzo’s MEMORIES, specifically the shot of Prakash, Enzo holding a lighter to someone (Bruno?????), and Enzo moments before he got his eye surgery

Enzo’s TATTOOS, Veldenmire saying he has one from each of the Takeover crew, Aoife was here, Butch woz here, Eiji’s possibly being the knife through the heart one, and I can’t pinpoint what Bruno and Giannis could’ve given him

Making you the best you can be (the best at what man?????? being a lackey????????)

Two of a Kind 2 & 3

ICOMA being on Ico's chest, what does it stand for?

Cyborg technology being illegal for decades, started in the 2050s

Cannot control them like robots, but much stronger than humans

Doctor from the Temple of the Golden Hand working in this dump on the cyborgs

Two of a Kind 4

The WNDR billboard being cracked and smashed

Get Ahead Gigs dog

Jules

Thommo and Beaux

The architecture of the Upper/Middle City pressing down on the Lower (Veldenmire said in the comments somewhere that some buildings run all the way up and down, but the Upper is always seemingly above (oppressing) the lower)

Two of a Kind 5 & 6

The slogan on the top of the elevator for Malik Industries: "...Malik, we're more than a company, we're a family!" which just makes the whole situation with the Takeover squad a little sadder bc Prakash preached that to them and then used it as his company slogan

The workers wishing they joined the Union

Enzo’s full name: Vincenzo Della Vecchia (he’s Italian, I wonder what Prakash was doing in Italy to find him)

The billboards Egan’s passing with: The person Dian yelled at in Surge 2, another recurring newscaster, and the Recurring Union Leaders

Union standoff enters 6th month

💖MIDSEASON FINALE: INHERITANCE💖

Eiji’s sword originally being Asha’s

Prakash implying the existence of Mars colonies in the 2100s (Veldenmire saying in the comments: "OF COURSE colonies on Mars are a feature in this timeline! We've done plenty of fun world building up there, and perhaps... maybe we've already met some Martians" ) (WHO'S A MARTIAN?????????)

Prakash using Asha to get what he wants (she learned from him how to use others)

ALSO SORRY IT’S NOT PICTURED BUT Asha blaming The Temple of the Golden Hand and the Lower City Union for killing Prakash

Enzo tried to make an attempt on Prakash’s life, and failed

Then as punishment Prakash replaced his eyes

Again he thought of him as an investment (see Takeover 4)

He’s been in pain ever since (poor guy… 🥺)

Jamilah and Dave asking people if Dian saved them during the Surge

Butcher…

The Reporter on a call, suspecting the turn of events for the Malik case

Anti-Union advertising on the subway (Concordia Business Council?)

Aofie…

Castel!!!! Not wearing only white!! They look good in pink!!

*deep sigh, trying not to scream* Asha’s Elite Units being the cyborgs of Butcher, Aofie, Giannis, and Bruno (she’s using Bruno specifically to break Enzo, implying again a special relationship between them)

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 will focus on these three here, who I’ve dubbed The Student, The Reporter, and The Brawler. We saw The Student in Takeover 1, and they’re in this other art by Veldenmire here. I assume they’ll cross paths with Eiji and Castel since they’re taking shelter in the lower city right now, and they’ll be caught in the middle while they’re both trying to outrun Giannis. Perhaps they’ll give us a small insight into the education system here in Concordia. The Reporter will obviously be showing us the journalistic world of Concordia. They painted a target on their back by pressing Asha with all those questions, so naturally one of the Elites is coming after them. Perhaps they’ll cross paths with Jamilah and Dave, covering their story, and then they’ll both have to dodge Butcher and Aofie (*sniff* this is not how they should be reunited waaaaaa). The Brawler I know nothing about, haha. I give them this name because they look like they’ve seen some action with their eyebrow scars (or could just be design who knowwwwws), and their expression looks joyfully poised for a fight. I wonder what the paint on their eyes is for. Maybe they’ll cross paths with Enzo and Bruno, and we’ll learn more about them. But I mean as much as I want out new protags to meet up with other storylines and previous protags, I know they still need to have their own stories, so I won’t put too much stock into that. Overall I’m quite excited they let us see them; letting me form these theories by just looking at their eyes is kinda cool.

Aaaaaand you’ve rEACHED THE END! THANK YOU FOR READING MY VERY LONG POST ABOUT VERY NICHE WEBTOON! SOMEONE’S GOTTA GIVE IT SOME LOVE, WITH HOW BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED IT IS, AND IF THAT PERSON HAS TO BE ME, IT WILL BE. THE HUGEST THANKS TO 🩷💖VELDENMIRE💚💖 AND 💛💙PANELPERDAY❤️🖤 FOR ALL THEIR HARD WORK ON THIS WEBTOON, MAKING IT LIKE THE BEST SCI-FI COMIC ON THE PLATFORM, HANDS-DOWN!! I LOOK FORWARD TO EVERYTHING ELSE THIS GORGEOUS STORY HAS TO OFFER NEXT!!

[dangerouscloudfestival]

I entered a writing contest a week or two ago. I didn't win, but I wanted to post it somehow. The prompt was "Broken Clocks" and was hosted by Morgana Stewart on Instagram with a word limit of 500. This was 486.

It was written from 1:20-ish to about 2 in the morning when I got struck by a bout of inspiration and plays with the prompt by stretching it a little.

What's the point of a clock if not to be seen and heard? Kept track of as the motion of time continues and evolving as humans do? A grandfather on a war-torn takeover? Smashed to pieces and not moving? But sounds are coming from it? Tick, Tock, my dear. Tick Tock.

It's set in the Tossing of Kites verse and happens before the villainous country is fully formed.

Dear Friend,

I wanted to fly. I wanted to believe that the only thing I couldn't do was be tied to the ground. Slowly, if I could, I would fly to the sky and burn the ground. Burn the punishment and lay over the universe. On the next plane, and settle in the stars.

But what's the purpose of a clock ticking and shattered in ruins, if no one can tell the tale?

I couldn't thrive on the gods’ plane, if I wanted to. I couldn't live with the guilt of the country falling. And my crown burning to ash. I can't thrive on to the next even if my blood is inevitably spilt.

I can't live with the idea that it was all for not. I can't live with the destruction that would follow. My line will thrive, but for now we must survive.

And patt of that was ending this time and not living near the Antys and his friend. I want to believe that I can live and see the next heir. My kingdom and hope being reborn in this life. But it's not possible for now and I must believe that time will pass and the comeuppance is coming.

There will be death and there will be life. But, by the gods, we must believe that it will come in handy for this curse. You can't live on one singular path. You do not grow. You do not know pain and grow your roots. You can not function half finished.

You can not live as a puppet just to be transferred to the next master. You can not breathe the same air. Time will pass and you will see. Their destruction is inevitable and I believe that.

But for now, while I breathe the crisp air and cross the frozen rivers that flow from the pores of the Earth's descendants with Hope, I will live to birth that one that my mother told me was coming.

With his feathered grandmother and seeing mother, he has the blood that can be altered that can find the source of the schemes. He will not notice until too late and only then will the clock count down.

My line is broken and scattered. My descendants are short on this branch and maybe the ones further down the trunk. Our ivy will not move cement and climb up the wall. We will not creep and crawl like Enriri. And our web will not emulate his.

But the gods will have favored us by then. And our patron will fly it to freedom, just like our birth into a new way of life.

My friend, do not fret, but I believe and have seen it to be true, at least on my end. May your line complete its end and live a fulfilling life alongside mine.

Sincerely,

Yiedshah Antyslan

Former Queen of Darya

[toshootforthestars]

How different would things be out there in America if, 15 or 20 years ago, some rich liberal or consortium of liberals had had the wisdom to make a massive investment in local news? There were efforts along these lines, and sometimes they came to something. But they were small. What if, instead of right-wing Sinclair, some liberal company backed by a group of billionaires had bought up local TV stations or radio stations or newspapers all across the country? Again, we can’t know, but we know this much: Support for Democrats has shriveled in rural America to near nonexistence, such that it is now next to impossible to imagine Democrats being elected to public office at nearly any level in about two-thirds of the country. It’s a tragedy. And it happened for one main reason: Right-wing media took over in these places and convinced people who live in them that liberals are all God-hating superwoke snowflakes who are nevertheless also capable of destroying civilization, and our side didn’t fight it. At all. If someone had formed a liberal Sinclair 20 years ago to gain reach into rural and small-town America, that story would be very different today. There has in recent years been an impressive growth of nonprofit media outlets, led nationally by ProPublica and laying down roots everywhere, from the aforementioned Baltimore, where the Baltimore Banner has sometimes been scooping the Sun, to my home state of West Virginia, where Pulitzer Prize–winner Ken Ward’s Mountain State Spotlight is doing terrific reporting. These outlets are welcome indeed. They do sharp and necessary reporting. But they’re nonprofits, which, under IRS rules, cannot be partisan. They have to be apolitical. What we used to call “the progressive infrastructure” has grown in the two decades since (Rob) Stein was showing his PowerPoint around town. Donors got together at Stein’s behest to create the Democracy Alliance. It helped seed the Center for American Progress, designed as liberalism’s answer to the Heritage Foundation. It helped grow groups like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. On the media front, it funded Media Matters for America, the broad left’s leading media watchdog outfit. But there is one job liberal benefactors have refused to take on (with a few exceptions, starting with the owner of this very magazine). The cost has been enormous. And by the way—this story isn’t over. By a long shot. I’m certain David Smith wants to buy more struggling newspapers and turn them into MAGA sheets. And there are surely mini-Sinclairs in formation. Prager University’s right-wing misinformation videos are gaining a foothold in some public schools. Right-wing outlets have zero interest in sharing the “media space” with the mainstream media. They want to crush it. And I fear that they probably will. There’s a story in the Times today about three moguls who bought prominent media properties, most notably Bezos with the Post, and the many millions they are losing. That’s sad. But what did they expect? You don’t buy a newspaper expecting to make money. You buy a newspaper because you want influence. You are passionate, as Murdoch is, about pushing the country in a certain direction. You either learn to live with the losses or you find a way to cover them. To those who say it’s impossible, I point out that somehow, the rich men of the right have figured this out. And so Bezos, who has no discernible public passion, will probably tire of it all and sell someday—and maybe to David Smith, whose public passion is very discernible indeed.

If you can’t imagine the Post as a right-wing rag, you’d better start smelling the coffee that’s been brewing for 20 years.

Michael Tomasky: "The Right-Wing Media Takeover Is Destroying America"

The New Republic | 19 Jan 2024

(source)

(source)

[evilkitten3]

like on the one hand. neato for him that his mental health improved

however it kinda feels like him becoming kazekage was just to say. look! a jinchuuriki can become a kage! you can do it naruto! even tho naruto as the protagonist was always going to do it.

would've been better if gaara had gone from being crazy and threatening his siblings to being crazy and protective of his siblings.

naruto hits gaara in the head -> shukaku shuts the fuck up for five minutes -> gaara takes his first minute of quiet in years to go "he maybe my mom.... would want to protect her other children also? omg" -> shukaku is kinda bummed at first but turns out the carnage is the same only with less risk to gaara personally bc his dad is too dead to send assassins after him so he ends up rolling with it -> temari takeover -> gaara is still a genin when naruto gets back from his trip bc rank never mattered much to him in the first place -> post-canon sasuke and naruto have to convince gaara to take the exams with them bc kakashi thought it would be funnier to deny them a field promotion for saving the world and gaara is the only genin on the planet who's anywhere near their strength -> no one else even bothers showing up -> their only actual test is fighting drunk gai-sensei. they lose

Gaara was so boring in Pt 2. He should have stayed a murderous little psychopath. Instead of becoming emotionally stable he should have screeched at people whenever they tried to touch him and killed Deidara for fun

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up September 30, 2022

Under the cut (the three main stories from today that could have each been their own post):

At least 30 people were killed and 88 were wounded, according to National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko. He said that among the killed were an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, while another three-year-old girl was injured.Three Russian missiles struck a highway where a long convoy of civilian cars was waiting to cross into the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, reportedly to evacuate people from there. (The number of people dead and wounded continues to change as this story develops.)

Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance on Friday and ruled out talks with President Vladimir Putin, striking back at Moscow after it said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions.

In the dirt car park of a sprawling car parts market just outside the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, the bodies told horrific stories of the moment a Russian missile struck a civilian convoy, killing 25 and injuring scores more.

At 7.15am on Friday, dozens of cars had gathered to wait for a routine convoy to set off for the Russian-occupied territory that begins 12 miles away. About 150 cars are allowed each day by the Russians to make the journey south heading for cities such as Mariupol and Melitopol.

The cars and minivans were full of items to bring to families still in the south – bedding and children’s toys, clothes and food. Some travellers would have hoped to pick up relatives to bring them back to Ukrainian-controlled territory amid fears that Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine will leave many trapped.

At that moment, a Russian S-300 missile ploughed into the ground 10 metres from the cars as they waited for an escort for their journey. The blast tore through metal, shattered windscreens and blew out the windows of food kiosks and shops over a wide distance.

Volodymyr Marchuk, a spokesperson for the local governor’s office, told the Guardian what had happened. “[The car parts market] is a logistic hub to allow people go into the temporarily Russian-occupied territories. The Russians only accept 150 cars a day so that’s why we created a programme where people could go there to register and get their number in the line.

“At 7.15 this morning there were a large number of cars waiting for their turn to cross, mostly people who want to go to and drop off aid to relatives. Maybe pick up people who want to leave on the way back.

“That was the queue they hit with an S-300 missile. There’s no doubt it is a deliberate war crime. They always say they are aiming at a military object and hit something else. But there are no military objects near that site. That’s why there’s no doubt that it’s a terrorist act.”

With scores of injured removed to local hospitals, emergency workers carried on with the grim task of identification and removal of bodies.

Among the dead were eight people who were travelling with drivers from Help People, a Ukrainian NGO, including a three-month-old child. The group’s founder, Alex Voronin, said they had intended to travel to Melitopol to meet family members.

“We had a car and a minibus going to Melitopol. Out of that group, two survived, a nine-year-old boy and his mother, but we don’t know their condition. They were going to their family who live there. They were trying to get home and get stuff and help relatives get evacuated.”

He added: “Every day there are a lot of vans going to Melitopol and Mariupol, but the rules of the Russians have been becoming more strict. There’s only one road – the green corridor, we call it.”

-via The Guardian

Early on Sept. 30 before Putin’s speech, three Russian missiles struck a highway where a long convoy of civilian cars was waiting to cross into the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, reportedly to evacuate people from there, the Interior Ministry said. They were among the 16 missiles fired.

At least 30 people were killed and 88 were wounded, according to National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko. He said that among the killed were an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, while another three-year-old girl was injured.

Russian forces used S-300 missiles for the attack. Their debris was scattered across a wide area after the attack, the ministry said.

The Sept. 30 strike comes more than two months after the last similar deadly attack in the usually quiet western city of Vinnytsia, killing at least 23 people, including three children, in what Zelensky called then “an open act of terrorism.”

“Only absolute terrorists can do this, who should have no place in the civilized world,” Zelensky said.

-via Kyiv Independent (Warning for graphic pictures at the link)

~

Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.

The signing ceremony, held in defiance of international law, took place in the Grand Kremlin Palace in the presence of the country’s political elites, and came on the heels of Kremlin-orchestrated fake referendums in the regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Putin kicked off the ceremony with a lengthy, combative and angry speech in which the Russian leader issued new nuclear threats, promising to “protect” the newly annexed lands “with all the forces and means at our disposal”.

“The people have made their choice. An unequivocal choice … This is the will of millions of people,” Putin said, adding that the citizens of the four occupied regions would be part of Russia “forever”.

Shortly after, Putin signed the “accession treaties” on a podium alongside the Russian-installed heads of the four regions.

After signing the treaties, the leaders gathered around Putin, linking hands and joining chants of “Russia! Russia!” with the applauding audience.

Putin’s loaded address, in which he railed against a “satanic” west, was described by observers as his most anti-western speech to date.

In a firm response to Putin’s ceremony in Moscow, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced in a video address in Kyiv that his country was formally applying for fast-track membership of the Nato alliance, adding that Ukraine would not hold any peace talks with Russia as long as Putin was president.

Hours earlier, Russian forces launched a missile attack on people waiting in cars in Zaporizhzhia city to cross into Russian-occupied territory so they could bring family members back across the frontlines, killing dozens.

Ukraine has indicated it will fight to reclaim all its lands, while western allies have previously said they would never recognise Russia’s claims on Ukraine’s territory. On Thursday evening the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the annexation “has no legal value and deserves to be condemned”.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, described Putin’s land grab as the “most serious escalation” since the war began​, while ​G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement that the annexation efforts “constitute a new low point in Russia’s blatant flouting of international law”.

At a session of the the United Nations Security Council, Russia vetoed a resolution condemning the supposed annexation, while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained from voting.

Meanwhile, the US imposed a fresh round of sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and companies in response to the annexation announcement.

-via The Guardian

~

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance on Friday and ruled out talks with President Vladimir Putin, striking back at Moscow after it said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions.

Zelenskiy signed the NATO application papers in an online video clearly intended as a forceful rebuttal to the Kremlin after Putin held a ceremony in Moscow to proclaim the four partially occupied regions as annexed Russian land.

"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," Zelenskiy said in the video on the Telegram app.

The video showed Zelenskiy in combat fatigues announcing the membership bid and signing a document flanked by his prime minister and the speaker of parliament.

The announcement was likely to touch a nerve in Moscow which casts the NATO bloc at home as a hostile military alliance bent on encroaching on Moscow's sphere of influence.

Before Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February, Moscow was demanding legally binding guarantees that Ukraine would never be admitted to the U.S.-led transatlantic defence alliance.

Kyiv and the West say Moscow used this as a pretext, among others, to launch a pre-planned military campaign against Ukraine. By applying for fast-track membership of NATO, Zelenskiy appears intent on showing Putin is failing in one of his main war goals - preventing Ukraine joining NATO.

In his video speech, Zelenskiy accused Russia of rewriting history and redrawing borders "using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies," something he said Kyiv would not allow.

He said however that Kyiv remained committed to the idea of co-existence with Russia "on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions".

"Clearly, with this Russian president (that) is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia," Zelenskiy said.

Zelenskiy said that while Ukraine waits for consensus among NATO member states, it could be protected under draft security guarantees proposed by Kyiv and known as the Kyiv Security Compact, which Moscow has rejected as an idea. read more

"We understand that this requires the consensus of all the alliance's members… and therefore, while this is happening, we propose the realization of our proposals regarding security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe according to the Kyiv Security Compact," he said.

-via Reuters

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (June 6/2021) - Techno’s Visit

It’s time for Techno to visit Dream in prison. After saying some parting words to Phil, Techno goes to Pandora’s Vault for the first time...

Later, Quackity, Puffy, Bad, Skeppy and Michael tour around Las Nevadas for a fun chill stream, and Quackity recruits Michael as a worker to build in the city.

A brief summary of the week’s total events can be found at the end of the post.

---

VOD LINKS:

Technoblade

Ranboo

Captain Puffy

QuackityToo

Michaelmcchill

---

- Techno goes to speak with Phil before he visits Dream

- Phil gets a horrible canonical headache and Techno offers him a canonical aspirin

- Phil isn’t sure going to the prison is a good idea, as every time someone’s gone something bad's happened, but Dream saved Techno’s life. Also views

- Phil has his concerns, but Dream called in the favor. Techno thinks he should go and check on him anyways, even without Quackity. Dream’s been in there for five months

- Phil offers his help, but Techno doesn’t want Phil to take any risks paying off his debt

- But there is something Phil can do: Techno wrote a will. He throws a signed book to Phil. Phil asks how many days he should wait. Techno says it varies. The instructions are in the will

Techno: “I took a vow. Those who treat me with kindness see it repaid tenfold...I gotta honor that.”

- He rings the channel member bell

- Techno wonders if he can bring Steve, but probably not. He says goodbye to Phil and heads off for the prison

- He makes it to the prison entrance and says hello to Sam, who welcomes him through the portal

- Techno says he’s come to visit Dream, but Sam says he’s not allowing people to visit right now. Techno throws Sam a book:

---

FIELD TRIP SLIP

---

Sam. Technoblade will be paying Dream a visit. This is business related. Let it happen.

It’s also tax write off :)

- Quackity

---

- Techno reads the waiver aloud and signs it “Techno Blade”

- Sam then asks the questions:

“When is the last time you visited the prison?”

“I have not visited the prison before”

“Where is your place of residence currently located?”

“I live in like this cabin in the north, it’s pretty chill.”

“Do you believe that the prisoner is deserving of being locked up?”

“I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea why he’s in there, so...”

“Are you saying no?”

“I’m not saying, like, yes or no, I don’t really -- I’m not really up to date on the news recently, if I’m being honest.”

“What are your prior relations with the prisoner?”

“Yeah, we’ve been business associates I’d say, in the past, you know. I wouldn’t say I’m like friends with him, honestly -- he’s kinda sus...I’m not gonna lie, it does not surprise me at all that he ended up in a jail, ‘cause that guy -- he’s a little weird sometimes, you know. A little strange...So you know, it’s, eh...it’s up and down.”

- Sam gets to the last question, telling Techno he’s the ultimate authority on the grounds of the prison

Techno: “Oh I love authority, everyone can tell you that.”

- Techno goes to store his belongings in the locker. There’s a bed in an item frame now which he uses to set his spawn. Techno opens up his Ender Chest and stores all of his armor and weapons in it

- Having run out of space in the Ender Chest, Techno puts his remaining items in the locker chest: Potions, gapples, golden carrots, an Ender Chest, Ender Pearls and a stack of stone

Techno: “Well. You know, you seem like a trustworthy man.”

- They go through the security protocol. There’s a new Ender Pearl stasis chamber in the first room that wasn’t there before. Techno zooms in on it before it activates, teleporting Sam in

- Techno’s impressed with the prison’s design. He gets Sam to open the vault door a second time to admire it

- Techno signs the next waivers “sub to techno” as “Technoblade (subscribe to technoblade”

- Techno praises Sam’s creativity with the prison, comparing it to the Butcher Army’s simple execution platform

- The lava wall comes down. Dream isn’t facing them

- Techno walks with the moving platform to the cell. The second Dream sees him, he starts shouting

Techno: “Yo, Dream! Dream, what’s up!”

Dream: “TECHNO NO! NO!”

Techno: “No what?”

Dream: “QUACKITY -- it’s a trap! It’s a trap! Techno--”

Techno: “What about Quackity? Dream, you need to -- I haven’t seen you in a long time, Dream.”

Dream: “(muffled) Techno...He’s been torturing me I gotta -- I didn’t write that note.”

...

Techno: “I’m not gonna lie to you, Dream, I -- I kinda had a feelin’ he was lying, but I kinda had to visit anyways, just to see how you were doing, get to the truth of things, you know? You know? And besides, Quackity’s not even here, man.”

Dream: “...Why did you come?”

Techno: “I wanted to see you! I need to figure out what’s going on here, Dream, and between you and me, I’m an anarchist, so uh -- (looking to Sam) Can he hear me at this volume?”

Dream: “They’re working together...”

Techno: “Who?”

Dream: “Sam and Quackity!”

- Techno asks Dream to tell him everything. Neither the lava wall nor the Netherite barrier have lowered yet

- Techno looks back at Sam, asking how long he has to be in there for

Sam: “I think you could do with a nice long stay with Dream...you’re probably the main threat to uh -- to Dream escaping, aren’t you, ‘cause you know, the two of you have worked together before, and...”

Techno: “I...would never defy authority, alright. I. Love. Authority.”

Sam: “I think we both know that’s probably not true--”

Techno: “Everybody will tell you how much Technoblade loves authority figures.”

- Sam refuses to send the bridge back, saying the two of them will have some catching up to do. He sends the lava wall down

Techno: “Sam, this is NOT DOING MUCH TO CHANGE MY POLITICAL OPINIONS!”

(Dream freaks out in the background)

Techno: “...Alright. Well that was nice.”

- Dream panics. Techno tells him it’s fine, that they’re not out of options

Dream: “I have been in here for six months! What do you mean we’re not out of options, it’s fine -- how?!”

Techno: “Well I mean, maybe you’re out of options, but like I actually have friends now. I know I was kinda like a loser when we first met...”

- He finds the books and quills and tells Dream to write down everything he knows about the prison

Techno: “So...hows it goin’, roommate?”

Dream: (quietly) “Oh my god...”

- Techno seems optimistic about the new experience. Dream tells him he used to have a clock as Techno examines the cell

- Techno tells Dream to get to writing and ends stream

- Ranboo goes back home and is confused by how much the trees have grown. He thinks Phil probably has something to do with it and that he knows something, even though Phil isn’t doing it himself

- He then goes mining

- Quackity does a chill stream on the SMP working on the roads of Las Nevadas while chatting about lore out of character

- He walks down the Prime Path when he gets suddenly jumped by Skeppy and Bad, who attack him together. Quackity threatens to blow up their house

- Captain Puffy joins the fray and stops them

- Quackity offers Puffy and Michael a tour of his country

- He goes eating at McPuffy’s and Michael comes over to give him food as well

- There’s a hostile takeover of McPuffy’s and Bad declares it McSkeppy’s now. Quackity takes the drive-through instead

- Quackity orders a BTS meal and Bad hands him a steak “with extra cruelty”

- He starts walking them all over to his country, asking them what their expectations are (Quackity talking to Bad at this point is non-canonical) Skeppy wants a lot of ducks

- Quackity falls into the Punzo Chunk

- He tells them that his country isn’t even near done, and he’s going to need a lot of cheap labor. Skeppy says it doesn’t sound very enticing, but Quackity says he’ll give him all the ducks he’d want. 

- Michael tells him about his experience with 2b2t

- Quackity shows him the concept of “the house always wins” (a picture of “Finding Doryto”)

- Quackity kills Skeppy and Skeppy logs off. Bad is horrified. Quackity tells Bad it isn’t his fault that Skeppy is dead as Bad buries Skeppy’s dropped things beneath the ground under the Needle

- Quackity shows the remaining people to the gambling machine, teaching them how it works

- Afterwards, he takes them to the strip club and starts stripping at the pole

- He takes Michael into the back, where he tries to mug Michael for his things. But Michael runs out the back door

- Quackity goes back to stripping and offers Bad to go into the back room for a “surprise.” He tries to mug Bad, but Bad goes running out the back door

- He returns to Puffy, defeated, and half-heartedly promises her a surprise in the back room too. Puffy, not at all suspicious, follows him and he tries to mug her. She gives him ink sacs, slabs, Ender Pearls and shears. 

He shows her out the back door

- Afterwards, Quackity takes the three of them to the Tommyinnit Restaurant 

- Then they go to the stage and Quackity puts on a “show” for them...

...Which is more stripping 

- Next up is the hotel. There’s nothing in it, so he takes them to the pool outside. Bad almost drowns

- He wants to show them “something embarrassing,” so he brings them to Tommy and Wilbur’s headquarters

- Quackity then shows them the Eiffel Tower to conclude the country tour and they argue about a trident

- He suggests Michael and Puffy possibly build some structures around Las Nevadas and gathers them at the Needle. He shows Michael the empty plot next to Fundy’s area and says he needs something put there in return for some free spins at the casino. Michael’s down for that

- Quackity tells Puffy and Bad to help Michael build there. Bad asks how much he’s getting paid, and Quackity says he gets free spins at the casino too. Bad and Puffy start arguing again and Quackity leaves, having gained a new worker

- Bad and Puffy continue to argue about the trident 

- Later, Michael builds a statue in Las Nevadas

END OF WEEK RECAP:

5/31 - Wilbur and Tommy visit Las Nevadas

6/1 - Ponk tears down a tower of L’Llamaburg, Tubbo builds an outpost, Techno’s birthday party, Quackity speaks with Foolish about Las Nevadas, Niki finds out about Wilbur’s revival, Bad and Puffy destroy the supreme fridge in an act of war

6/2 - Fundy speedruns self-care, Antfrost confronts Foolish, Bad and Puffy to apologize

6/3 - Nothing much happens.

6/4 - Ponk decides to sue Puffy and Bad, Pubbo

6/5 - Nothing much happens.

6/6 - Techno gets trapped in prison, Quackity tours Bad, Puffy, Skeppy and Michael around Las Nevadas

---

Upcoming Events:

- The final Egg lore stream

- Tales From the SMP: “Space Race”

- Ponk’s lore stream

- Dream’s lore video

[the-tiniest-one]

Parenting Rock Lee with Might Guy :)

Note:@xemaliahrssx here ya go! I hope it tastes just like you dreamed it would!

Sitting at the kitchen table, watching Guy and Lee devour the dinner you made, had you feeling nostalgic... You watched with your head rested on your hand. It was the little family moments that you appreciated more than anything else these days. "Yeah! and then I caught him in a cross block!" Lee said, describing their latest mission, his mouth full of food.

"Haha yes yes (y/n) you should have been there, our Rock Lee is becoming a real force to be reckoned with, much like his handsome sensei" Guy said with a wink in your direction.

"Handsome indeed" you said with a grin.

Thinking back to the days when you were a little more of a workaholic made you laugh. If you told your younger-self all those years ago that you would be Konoha's worst helicopter parent in just a few years, you'd have never believed it. Guy was a perfect match for you in that regard. You two were a well oiled machine when it came to parenting.

While Lee could do no wrong in your eyes, Guy was a bit heavy handed in his discipline of Lee's skills as a shinobi. You kissed every bruise and scrape, while Guy was teaching him how to prevent them in the first place.

Rock Lee has had more than his fair share of the short-end-of-the- shit-stick his entire life. BUT One could be forgiven for not recognizing the true level of hardship the boy has overcome in his short tenure as a shinobi. Lee is a true underdog.

Lucky for him, you've always been a bit of a sucker for an underdog.

You thought back to those early days......

Even before Lee evolved to a mini version of your childhood crush, you felt the need to protect him. Watching him fumble and practice jutsu in vain day after day.....early in the morning and into the night. You would watch him from a distance while training your own team. One early morning, you decided to check in on the boy with long black hair. He kicked at a post, counting off as you looked on...10....11.....12.....his kicks were weak even for his young age. As he got closer to 50 he fell back, overwhelmed by the pain of repetitively beating his shins into the wood without chakra to safeguard his bones.

Clearly angry at his situation, the thought occurred to you that maybe he wasn't using chakra because he couldn't....the boy had tears streaming from his eyes. It broke your heart to watch a kid who couldn't be more than 10, cursing his life.

"A kid working that hard shouldn't have to feel that defeated..." you said to yourself.

You felt conflicted. Torn between wanting to step in and takeover his training...but feeling the weight of responsibility that would come with encouraging a child to chase a pipedream that would only lead to disappointment. You knew all too well what happens to weak ninja. The reality was that it would be cruel to encourage the boy to peruse a life as dangerous as that of a shinobi. You were no slouch when it came to taijutsu but ninjas are able to compete with one another because of the advantages that come with developing kakai genki.

Could a boy with no use of chakra stand a chance against the generations of those families of ninja who use fearsome jutsu and tactics like lightning...wind....wood or even hereditary gifts like the dreaded sharingan or byakugen? The real answer was sad and harsh. No. He couldn't.

You wouldn't be so irresponsible as to tell the boy he could be anything but a failure.

If he perused that path, he would die young.

So you stood back, restraining the desire to comfort and nurture the little boy out of what you told yourself was mercy. Day after day, week after week....you watched on....until it became too much. You couldn't sleep anymore, couldn't function on missions the same way. Always thinking back to him still out at those training grounds.....always struggling.

....

One morning it was pouring rain. You called off training that day for your team and headed out to the place you knew he would be. He was there of course. He was doing his best to catch a cold while practicing hand signs to no avail. After watching him for a few minutes you finally asked, "What's your name kid?" speaking loud to project over the rain. Startled he looked up to where you stood, perched on a post a few feat away. "I...Im Rock Lee" he said timidly. You laughed at his shy but sweet face, "Im y/n" you said.

"Your kicks look like they could use some work", holding your palm about chest high, to show him where his blow should be landing. The boy grimaced...clearly angry with his lack of direction in training. You laughed and the both of you worked on his kicks for the duration of the morning.

"I think you'll be a splendid ninja someday" you said as you offered him a bit of lunch you packed. The boy looked up at you with the most heartbreaking fear in his eyes, "I can't use chakra" Lee said barley above a whisper, clearly ashamed to tell you the truth.

You ruffled his hair. "Look kid, life is shitty sometimes. But I can tell you are someone who will never quit. No matter the odds, and that is something worth more than all the talent in the world." He instantly smiled up at you, melting your heart for what would be the first of a million times. Laughing and showing you also first time you saw that shiny smile that you would come to love more that anything on earth.

From then on he was your responsibility. Your chest burned with pride in his concrete determination. Feeling instantly the protective burn and feral instinct to insulate him from anything that would hurt him.

....

It was about a year later when things evolved. You and Lee had become close. He, being an orphan as you found out he was, had taken your invitation to live in your spare bedroom. It wasn't long before you were nagging him to be sure and eat breakfast before class, take baths every night. You were often hearing your mothers voice echo in your own as you guided the child to a structure he lacked.

You even went to his parent meetings at the Academy, much to the surprise of Iruka (because he himself was 2 years older than you and had known you since you were smol) laughed when you asked to see Lee's reports.

----

Then one hot summer day you got the order... your team was dispatched on your first extended mission with your new genin. 3 months on a C rank mission to Suna. Your heart sank as you remembered Lee's graduation exam was in just a few days. Before you left, you kissed his forehead and promised a tearful Lee who had become just as attached as you over the last year, that would bring him back a graduation present.

You just knew he would finally pass.

....

Returning to the village near midnight you couldn't wait to see Lee. After giving report to Lord Third, you quickly made your way home. Quietly cracking the door to his bedroom, you peaked in to see his sweet little face. The snoring boy looked peaceful.

"He cut his hair?" you thought puzzled..."he must have done it himself, it looks a little odd." You laughed at the thought of him using a bowl to cut his hair.

Then your eyes traveled to the headband still around his forehead, "He passed!!!" you quietly celebrated, careful not to wake him up. You placed the promised gift on his dresser, a brand-new set of num-chuks you'd had made in Suna.

The next morning you were up before sunrise making a celebratory breakfast when an extreme round of knocking came from the apartment's front door.

You quickly answered, immediately flustered when on the other side was none other than Might Guy....the same Guy you'd had the hots for over a decade.

"Y/N!, I must have the wrong address! I was looking for one of my students!" Guy said in his familiar boisterous cadence. Laughing nervously you started to respond, when behind you Lee pushed his way through the doorframe. Your eyes widened at the sight.

The haircut made sense now, Lee stood side by side with his sensei. He was wearing Guy's jumpsuit... they could have been father and son.

Looking at the two of them standing side by side in front of you for the first time gave you the most jarring sense of dejavu.

"Guy sensei! Look what Y/N brought me from her most dangerous mission!" Lee brandished the weapon, beaming up at his teacher who laughed and winked in your direction. "Ah, a great choice! Only the most skilled ninja know how to use such a fine weapon! We must enlighten you at once Lee my boy!" With that the handsome jonin and your sweet Rock Lee were off to train.

You had known Guy since he was still struggling to gain entrance to the Academy, you knew that the man who radiated confidence today, only earned that ability through blood, sweat, and tears.

You apprehensively accepted that Might Guy was a good match to be Lee's sensei.

"Be careful!" you called, more than a little apprehensive at the thought of your sweet baby boy training with such an admittedly impulsive man. Feeling a small tug of sadness as you watched the two of them disappear down the street.

"Lee's getting tall..." you though as you closed the door.

....

Over the next few years Lee had grown into a strong young man. You felt such extreme pride in everything he did. Even though you being in your mid-twenties were not nearly old enough to be Lee's mother, he had taken to occasionally calling you mom.

Lee was never embarrassed of you as he grew into a teen like some of the other kids his age. He was always just as willing to give you a hug before a mission as the day you met him.

It would be a lie to say that the relationship you and Guy shared hadn't also matured along the way. Although you weren't Lee's biological parents, anyone would be forgiven for thinking that you were. Everything you had admired about Guy, his hot-bloodedness, his devotion to youthful perseverance, his love of his village had been passed down to your surrogate son.

It was only natural that you and Guy would become a team in raising Rock Lee. Over time after a few years of dinners, training sessions, birthdays, holidays etc...Guy decided to propose to you.

It was a literal dream come true. You couldn't say yes fast enough. But as required when two shinobi become married, when you went to sign the paperwork to make your marriage official, requesting a stamp of approval from Lady Tsunade....she extended to you a folder with a second set of forms.

Guy beamed as you read the contents. Adoption papers with Lee's name printed at the top in bold.

"He will always be our son. Since we are making it official... why not add one more?" Guy said with a laugh. The tears began welling in your eyes. "He's 17" you laughed, "I love you" is all you could think to say in response to the most kind gesture you have ever witnessed.

Guy held his trademark thumbs up high as he replied, "Lee will always need his mom, no matter how big he gets!" His words like music to your heart...

You'd never felt so complete as you walked hand in hand with Guy, on your way home to surprise your sweet son with the news.

Upon telling Lee what the two of you had done, he looked from the papers back to you. Confusion spread across the sweet ravenette's features. "But I do not understand" Lee said with a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Have you not always been my mom?"

The innocent look in his eye and profound sincerity in his voice made tears well in your eyes for what felt like the tenth time that day. You laughed and swept he and Guy into a hug that didn't last long enough. "What's for dinner?" the two men asked in unison and in that moment you knew you were the luckiest person in the world.

[authortobenamedlater]

Been writing this up for a couple of days and it’s clumsy but here it is.

If anyone thinks this looks familiar, it’s because I’ve posted similar things before. Or because you recognize it for the near-total Babylon 5 ripoff it is.

I don’t have Lasky’s speech written but it starts with him pleading with Osman & Friends to stand down, PLEASE just stand down, surrender, and he will turn his fleet around and pretend nothing ever happened.

Osman does not take him up on this offer.

To get here, though, some incident happens not too long after Spartan Ops that REALLY gets Lasky in ONI’s crosshairs. I don’t know what it is but it’s something he can’t stealth his way out of and his disobedience is pretty blatant.

Then Lasky gets wind he’s not the only one thinking ONI is becoming too evil overlord-ish, he’s just the only one with the guts to tell them where the dog dies. There’s rumors ONI is planning some sort of coup or takeover, and a not insignificant number of ships want to organize a resistance—and they want Lasky to lead them.

Lasky pushes back hard. Just because he gave ONI the finger in a very loud and probably foolhardy manner does not mean he’s leading anything. These people have the wrong idea. He’s not putting his crew through this. There’s nothing to join, everyone move along, find someone else to lead your merry fleet of outlaws.

Somewhere in here Sully (of course) comes along and spills the beans that Lasky has shown he won’t go along with ONI’s schemes so Osman is plotting to oust him. I want to have April in this too but don’t know how. 

Now Lasky can’t not get involved. This Thing is going to happen with him or without him, and it will be a whole lot uglier without him. Nobody else has his resources or firepower. Or his spine.

How everything goes down is fuzzy, but I imagine it wouldn’t take too long. Not only does Lasky have a fleet of volunteers, but he’s sitting on his own battle group. He also has most (but not all) of the government/military on his side. I would though want a scene where a couple of his frigate captains want out (insert debate about friendly fire and taking the law into your own hands) and Lasky quietly shuffles them off the Infinity battle group even though he could order them to fight. Because that’s who he is. There would be a scene like President Clark’s arrest (told you this was a B5 ripoff) with Osman, but Osman doesn’t kill herself first. 

I don’t know what would happen after the big final fight. Keeping Lasky in the chair seems…wrong somehow. Like maybe he was right but he DID point a gun at his boss. Simple solution is “you can resign before we fire you” but a retired Tom Lasky would be insufferable. Poor Chyler 🤣

Next solution would be some other military or government position, probably involving lots of that paperwork Lasky hates. Get him out of the public eye and give him a role rebuilding the government which is reeling from everything.

Least likely, but most fun solution: Promotion with now-Senator Del Rio giving the star like the last scene in Iron Man 2. The Infinity battle group should be an admiral’s command anyway, right?

I am absolutely entertaining questions. Unwritable plot bunnies make my world go round.

Coming off of the writing prompts, can you do something for Tom and Chyler with #8 in the Touching section?

(Is this how writing prompts are supposed to be done? Honestly have no clue.)

From these prompts.

8. squeezing hand for comfort and encouragement

This is how things might go were I to continue the storyline I began in Your Move. I have a whole thing about how we got here I won’t bore anyone with (that’s code for I will totally holler about it if asked but I don’t want to be weird 😂). This little piece is Infinity plus some unknown but fairly large fleet of allies about to lay down the law with Osman/ONI.

xxxxxx

I don’t want to do this.

Tom rarely sat in the command chair on the bridge, but right now he was afraid his legs might not hold him if he tried to stand.

Oh, I don’t want to do this.

A few nervous glanced flicked his way. Tom pretended not to notice. The captain was always in control, even when he wasn’t.

Please. I don’t want to do this.

“Captain?” Lieutenant Jett called from the helm. “We’re within range.”

Tom’s mouth went dry and his hands turned ice cold. He forced a full breath in and out. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” he managed. He swallowed twice. It didn’t help. “Lieutenant O’Hara, open a channel to ONI HQ.”

The comm officer regarded him for a moment before responding. “Yes, Captain.”

“And broadcast to the entire fleet,” Tom added quickly.

O’Hara nodded once. “Broadcasting to the fleet; yes, sir.”

Chyler moved next to the chair and Tom looked up at her.

“I’m scared, Chyler.”

“Whatever happens tomorrow, when it’s all over, I will still be here. And I will still love you.”

Tom replayed their conversation from the night before in his head and let it soothe his rattled nerves. If nothing else, he would still have Chyler after all this. 

And he might truly have nothing else.

“Channel open, sir,” O’Hara said.

Chyler reached for his hand and threaded her fingers through his. Tom squeezed back.

The gesture was wildly unprofessional.

But then, so was treason.

xxxxxx

Yes, I would absolutely have Osman give a Palpatine-like “It’s treason, then” in a continuation of this scene. Which maybe I should do because I really want to write Lasky’s speech to ONI.