#(But it will not kill you to do some research)

[cosmicreaper692]

When I originally searched this up in order to double check the information I've been told, I found this.

"Usually, domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women; however, females may exhibit violent behavior against their male partners."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499891/#:~:text=Usually%2C%20domestic%20violence%20is%20perpetrated,killed%20by%20their%20intimate%20partners.

However, seeing how you found that, I decided to do more research and the results I'm finding are showing the opposite.

"According to the CDC, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience physical violence by their intimate partner at some point during their lifetimes. About 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 6 men experience some form of sexual violence during their lifetimes. Intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking are high, with intimate partner violence occurring in over 10 million people each year.

One in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have experienced stalking during their lifetimes. The majority are stalked by someone they know. An intimate partner stalks about 6 in 10 female victims and 4 in 10 male victims"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499891/

This:

"From 1994 to 2010, approximately 4 in 5 victims of intimate partner violence were female."

https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/

And this:

"Overall, 22% of individuals assaulted by a partner at least once in their lifetime (23% for females and 19.3% for  males)"

"Lifetime rates higher among women than men"

https://domesticviolenceresearch.org/domestic-violence-facts-and-statistics-at-a-glance/

However there is one more interesting piece in the last study:

"Past year rates somewhat higher among men"

The majority of research shows that women are more likely to be abused by their partners, compared to men, based on both that line in that article and the evidence you provided, there may be a shift in the other direction.

However, I personally do not currently believe there are enough recent studies to confirm this shift.

To anyone reading this though, feel free to take it either way, it doesn't take away from the main point of my original addition.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[clarisimart]

So yeah I've been cooking an AU with actual lore (because I've lost control of my life...

I present you the "Who Framed Billy Cipher?" AU

Some bonus images and plot points under the cut

Support me on ko-fi or commission me if you like what I do

I will do a lore dump and more images later but for now 4 important things for this AU

1) Everything up to the 80s goes the same way as in show cannon EXCEPT:

A) Bill appears to Ford as a disembodied voice or possessing other people so Ford doesn't actually know his real form.

B) McGuckett publishes Ford's research behind his back so anomalies become known to the world.

2) Because McGuckett published Ford's reasearch without telling him, Ford is furious and Fidds' not there for the test, ergo Bill's betrayal is not revealed then, but when Ford goes to open the portal for real with the help of a Bill possessed corpse, McGuckett intervenes and tries to stop it, and gets killed by Bill.

3) This causes Ford to shut down the portal midway while the part of Bill that was not possessing the body was crossing, causing Bill (without Ford knowing because the shack crumbles around them) to literally be split into three: Billy, the triangle with most of his powers but no memories after euclidia, William the humanoid form with Bill's charisma and perceptiveness but only basic shape-shifting powers and 0 memories, and Shadow Bill who later becomes Judge Birchtree, the Bill that was on the other side of the portal, who retains all memories but has no physical body unless he posseses someone. The barrier around Gravity Falls collapses, which means that anomalies are now free to roam and go around the world and are getting integrated into society somewhat 30 years later.

4) After all that, Ford moves to California, reconciles somewhat with Stan (he buys Stan a bar and Stan runs it and opens a museum of oddities as well) and abandones science to become an Anomaly (Anomalies here are Toons basically) oriented PI

BONUS: yeah because I am billford trash, ofc all three bills are obssessed/DOWN BAD for Ford

[asraindarkness]

then honey you need to go meet some irl queers. You cannot be experiencing queerness only from Hollywood scripts and light up screens we have in our homes and expect a real queer experience ... Fucksake. Go meet some elders. Reach out to communities and research local organizations...!

omg how don't u think i would've done it already? i wasn't waiting for a random anonymous on the internet to give me permission to do it you do know that right??

i just said i live in a country that will kill you for being queer. they hang you or beat you with rocks until you are fucking dead. government can legally do that!! do you think there is lgbt community here??? parents behead their own children for being queer here cuz it's against their religion and you want me to find irl queer community HONEY?

[mxltifxnd0m]

having a witch s/o headcanons ⟡ s. winchester

pairings: sam winchester x witch! reader, sam winchester x gn afab! reader

word count: 1.8K

warnings: none really, no use of 'y/n', mentions of death and violence, some angst, fluff, dean being dean and not liking witches, [a part of season of the witch verse!]

a/n: ahhh im so excited for this little universe i've created and i hope you guys enjoy it as much as i had making it!!

as always enjoy the fic! please like, comment, and reblog! your feedback fuels me <3

[here's my taglist; read rules before sending in an ask]

𝘴𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

⟡ before dating you/ how you met: 

the two of you didn’t exactly get off on the right foot when you guys met for the first time 

you taught at the local university in your town, trying to live as normal as a life as you could while being a witch

the boys were on a hunt in the town you were living in, and they thought that you were the witch that was killing the college students (they were your previous students, hence why they came to that conclusion) 

they had tried cornering you in your office after hours while you were working late but you managed to escape their grasp and flee. (you called in sick the next day and canceled classes) 

after the minor altercation the three of you had, you managed to track down the winchesters and confront them at their motel room, and you explained the situation to them (it was a rogue witch from your father’s previous coven that was seeking revenge on your family since they were betrothed to each other but your father had fallen in love with your mother, running away, and then having you)

you knew about the winchesters, who hasn’t? so you knew that they would be hesitant about accepting your help, but you weren’t doing it to help them; you were doing it to save your own behind and save your students 

dean outright refused your help, but sam, being the smart man he was, knew that without your help or knowledge, tracking down that witch would be difficult, so a hushed conversation later (you heard every single word that they said in that small motel room) they had accepted your help on the condition if you ever stepped out of line that they wouldn’t hesitate on killing you 

you rolled your eyes at their threat but agreed (you haven’t killed a human being in all of your years of being alive so you weren’t going to start now, though with dean’s attitude towards you, you just might break that record) 

working with the winchesters was like pulling teeth, but at the end of it all, you guys killed the witch, and the winchesters went on their merry way. 

you were hoping that would be the first and last time you’d ever see their faces, but alas fate is a mistress that you hate to serve, and they ended up at your office, posing as FBI agents once again and needing your help (it was mostly sam asking and dean standing next to him stone-faced)  

you flat out refused to help them, not wanting to be pulled into their world of crazy (your mother made sure you had as normal a life as you possibly could, and you weren’t going to give that up for the winchesters), so you swiftly sent them out of your office   but you weren’t very lucky later that night when sam had shown up on your doorstep and all but intruded on what you thought was going to be a quiet night

against your better judgment, you invited the gentle giant into your home, and you shared the pizza that you had ordered in silence before he tried once again to ask for your help 

it was either the wine you had consumed or his pleading puppy dog eyes (it was probably the combination of both) but you found yourself saying yes to help them 

you swore to yourself that this was the only time that you would help them 

but newsflash, they didn’t end up happening, after that hunt, you and sam had exchanged numbers, and you found yourself texting sam and helping them out with either research or spells that they needed for a hunt 

hell, even dean had gotten ahold of your number and texted you for help (but this was very rare and sam was typically the person to reach out and ask for help) 

then the texts with sam had crossed over from just asking for help and the two of you started to have friendly conversation with one another 

it was nice, being able to chat with him, you knew that sam was kind and intelligent in his own right so the two of you texted each other often before it turned frequent 

months had passed, and you had a tentative friendship with sam but before you knew it, you had developed feelings for the taller winchester and you were a little terrified about it (you knew that sam was generally more open about monsters, but there was a little voice in the back of your head telling you that he could always turn on you) 

you became distant with him, trying to be discrete about it but sam was perceptive and called you out on it, and you gave him a bs excuse about it 

turns out that wasn’t enough because a day later, he had shown up on your doorstep like he did when he asked for your help that night and practically confessed his feelings towards you

you were shocked by it, but managed to tell him that you felt the same, you melted seeing the grin that he gave you before he leaned down and captured your lips in a passionate kiss 

⟡ dating sam winchester 

at first, the two of you took it slow; you didn’t want to rush with sam, considering that you felt so strongly for him and sam to you

sam also had to deal with dean, knowing how his brother felt about witches, and even if you guys were on decent terms, the two of you had no idea how he’d feel if his little brother was dating a witch. 

so sam kept it from dean, but it wasn’t going to be for long, just until the two of you were comfortable telling him, but considering you lived a couple of states away, you’d hope it be soon because you knew that the older winchester wasn’t dumb and would question sam about his whereabouts if he visited you often. 

the two of you did long distance, which was difficult, to say the least, not seeing each other for weeks at a time, and with you teaching and sam traveling the states for hunts, it left a lot to be desired, but you guys found workarounds for it  

but there was an insistence that sam didn’t respond to your texts for at least three days, which was out of the norm (he usually took a day to respond if he couldn’t find time to respond if he was out on hunts) and so you panicked and tracked sam’s phone to a hospital (which worried you immensely). you immediately high-tailed it to the location where his phone was. you burst through the hospital doors, and dean was waiting in the lobby for his brother to be discharged and was confused to see you here 

then sam came walking (limping) down the hallway, and his eyes landed on yours, and before he knew it, your lips were on his, but he sank into your embrace nonetheless (dean looked at this scene with wide eyes and when you guys broke away, you expected dean to drag you off of his brother and possibly kill you) 

lucky for you and sam, dean liked you enough that you had his permission to date his brother (but that didn’t mean that he pulled you out of the motel room that the boys were staying in and threatened you lightly) 

soon after dean had given his seal of approval, sam asked you to move in with him in the bunker after a year of dating

you almost said yes immediately, but you said you would think about it since that would mean uprooting your life and abandoning a life of normalcy

it only took a week to think it through and about a month and a half later, you were moved into the bunker in Lebanon, Kansas living with the boys was a huge adjustment at first, but you guys eventually found your groove, and you had become an important asset in helping them out on research and spell work 

speaking about spell work, since you were born with your abilities (thanks to your father), magic came easy to you, but you only worked with healing magic and light magic (you studied everything else; it was good to be knowledgeable about all facets of the craft) 

but your healing salves and magic came in handy in their line of work any time they were injured 

you had a separate workspace when working with your craft (you had cleared out an old room that wasn’t being used and they were okay with it) 

you found yourself in that room more often than not and usually sam would come in and just study you as you bustled around the room (his gaze never strayed from your focused face as you worked and found it adorable when you slightly jumped when you looked up from the book you were reading to find sam smiling at you) 

sam never really expressed his feelings about learning about the magic you used, so you were thoroughly surprised when sam came to you asking if you could teach him 

you weren’t sure at first but eventually caved (those damn eyes of his would be the death of you) 

he was a good student and a fast learner, which shouldn’t have surprised you considering you knew how smart he was

but dating sam while you lived with him was a breeze (bar from the fact that even when he was a human heater, he stole the covers often and the little spats the two of you had, which most of the time were solved in a matter of hours and led to great sex) 

it was the first time in a relationship that you felt like you could be yourself for once, having to brush off the side of yourself as a hobby or hide it from your partners 

but with sam, you didn’t need to hide it and it felt so freeing

sam was understanding, compassionate, sweet, gentle, and so many more things that you could rattle off but it would take too long to even explain, but you couldn’t have asked for a better person to be your partner 

he’d given you the pet name of jinx, and at first it sounded like a nickname that dean would have given you, but it slowly grew on you, and he was the only one who could call you that (mainly because you threatened bodily harm if dean had called you by it) 

so in return, you’d given him the pet name of “my heart” which you thought was fitting because he did have it fully and you loved the blush that crept up his neck and bloomed on his cheeks when you called him by it

there were always going to be bumps in the road, and life-ending events looming over the two of you, but you were convinced that if he was by your side and you by his, you guys could do anything 

[itsfreerealestatelol]

Just. Really fast.

I really do try to keep politics away from my social media but...

I'm American. We just voted for the stupidest candidate we could have possibly voted for. If you know that one Cyanide and Happiness skit where the presidential candidates were a perfectly good, reasonable and professional person vs. a literal glutton for humiliation promising to make the country fall into ruin just for shits and giggles? Yeah that's basically this election right now. We fucking voted for a man so cartoonishly bad he is basically a Cyanide and Happiness character.

This country quite literally hates women more than it actually wants to have freedom. That's the bottom line here.

We are literally getting lambasted by OTHER COUNTRIES because we voted for Trump, our allies overseas are quite literally calling us idiots, and frankly? We fucking deserve it. People want to kill themselves over this election, LITERAL CHILDREN are concerned for the future of this country- I recently heard my very, very conservative, God-fearing mother express concern over her own future moving forward over Trump. It wasn't just her either, it was my entire right-wing family as well, they are all so concerned about what's going to happen with Trump in office, so it's not just the fucking liberals or whatever who are terrified of what's about to happen.

I'm scared for the hundreds of thousands of other queer folks out there who didn't get the chance to start living their truest selves before their rights got stripped again. I'm scared for the women who now have to live in constant fear of their own bodies because what if they get taken advantage of and don't want to carry the baby, or what if they miscarry or birth a still born? Congratulations you're going to jail! I'm scared for the POC people in our country who are about to face the worst racism this country has seen since the goddamn slave-years. I'm scared for every single person in this country who isn't a cishet white man because they're about to face the consequences of someone else's actions and have no say in it.

I'm scared for the businesses who are about to face tariffs so dumb they're going to have to restrict their worker's pay. I'm scared for the enviornment because Trump wants to go after the fucking climate crisis for some goddamn reason. I'm scared for my own future, because I want to go through college, I want to be an architect, and I may not get that opportunity over the sex I was born with and didn't get a choice in having.

I agree with the people that are saying shit like "if we can elect a president with 34 felons, then you should be able to get a job with one" because yeah. I think people are seriously forgetting Trump is convicted on 34 felony charges, is a rapist, a literal national security risk, is half a billion dollars in debt, is also convicted of fraud, whose own political party minus the loud part stopped supporting him, and his administration is not returning to the White House because they either hate him or are in jail.

And yet we elected him to be our president.

All of this to say-

Raise fucking hell.

Demand those votes be recounted, fight for your rights, donate to good causes, research what stores and businesses support human decency, do what you think you can do within your own limits to help our country and it's people.

We are not done fighting, we are not going to just wallow in our own defeat. If they get to be loud, then we get to be louder.

As Optimus says, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"

-

Edit:

Trump doesn't have the power to do shit right now. That is why I'm saying we fight before he does.

And also,

Our lives are worth more than the price of gas and eggs. Remember that.

[skeletboi]

Part 18 of the Intridimensional Au!

TW FOR BLOOD!

First /// Previous /// Next

__________________________________________

Fiddleford watched as the portal closed in front of him, and could swear he felt his heart stop.

“So nice of you to visit, Fordsy! Although, I would have preferred if you had actually followed my directions and opened the portal for me.” Bill said from somewhere behind him. “At least you kept it up and running. It'll be easy to find another pawn to open it for me now that it's complete!”

Fiddleford looked back towards the voice and instantly regretted it. There, sitting on a floating throne in the middle of what looked like some sort of asteroid field, was the one-eyed triangle being from the tapestries hanging around Ford's study.

“A pawn… Bill- I thought-” Ford started to say, but was cut off by Bill's laughter.

“Don't get me wrong, Fordsy, I do like you much more than the other human pawns I've used over the centuries! Although, I am upset that you didn't listen to me when I told you to keep Lesser Twin away from the portal! We could have ruled the galaxy together, Fordsy!” Bill said, his eye narrowed in anger, but his voice cheerful as ever.

“I- I didn't want that, Bill. I just wanted to further my research!” Ford said, hurt and fear evident in the shakiness of his voice. “I never wanted to hurt anyone!”

“HAH! Keep lying to yourself, Ford! I've been in your brain! I know what you want!” Bill responded, seeming genuinely delighted.

“Inside your brain?!” Fiddleford said, then clamped his hands over his mouth as Bill turned to him.

“Example A!” Bill said, his arm elongating to reach Fiddleford without ever leaving his throne. “Fiddlesticks here!” He said, dangling Fiddleford by his arm like a ragdoll. “You’re always thinking about how much you care about him, but you didn't even flinch when he told you he replaced part of his arm with a machine after he broke it on an adventure with you!”

“He did what?!” Stan said, finally speaking up. “Ford, what the fuck?!”

“I- that- that wasn't up to me! I was just interested in the mechanics! Of course I cared about him being hurt!” Ford said, looking frantically between Bill, Fiddleford, and Stan.

“Right, hah! You don't have to lie to me, Sixer. You and I are the same- we care about what people can do for us, not what we can do for them! Isn't that why you left him after college and waited until you needed him again to call?!”

“NO! No! I was just distracted with my research!” Ford yelled.

“I always thought he was pointless, anyway!” Bill said, holding Fiddleford up in front of his eye. “You definitely don't need him now! But don't worry, I can get rid of him for us!” Bill said, then squeezed his fingers together, crushing Fiddleford's arm.

Fiddleford screamed as he heard metal crunch and bones crack.

“FIDDLEFORD!” Stan and Ford both screamed behind him, but he could barely hear them over the blood rushing in his ears. He watched as his lab coat turned red with blood and his vision blurred at the edges.

“Whoops! Broke your toy!” Bill laughed, carelessly tossing Fiddleford towards the twins. “That's what happens wheN YOU BREAK MINE!” He said, his voice distorting and growing louder as he spoke.

Fiddleford crashed into Ford, sending them both flying a hundred yards from where Stan was floating.

“NOW I GET TO BREAK THIS ONE, TOO!” Bill screamed, as he turned from yellow to red and tripled in size.

He reached a hand towards Stan, but Stan just barely dodged him.

“DON'T YOU TOY WITH ME, LESSER TWIN!” Bill yelled. “SIXER SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU IN THE WOMB!”

Fiddleford and Ford watched in horror as Bill caught Stan by his good leg, holding him up in front of his eye like a fish dangling on a line.

“Fuck you, you geometric asshole!” Stan yelled, then grabbed his knife from his peg leg and jammed it as hard as he could into Bill's eye.

“Not the eye!” Bill screamed, letting go of Stan as he covered his face with his hands.

Stan used the distraction to get away, kicking off a piece of asteroid and making it, unharmed, to Ford and Fiddleford's side.

“Stan- I- I didn't know-” Ford stuttered, his arms wrapped around an unconscious and bloody Fiddleford.

“Not now, Sixer, we have to get out of here!” Stan said, glancing back at Bill.

Ford nodded and looked around. “The larger asteroids. We can hide in there for now.”

“Good plan, but let me carry Fidds.” Stan replied, holding out his arms.

Ford nodded again and passed Fiddleford over to Stan. “Now let's get out of here.”

They took off, jumping off of smaller rocks to make it to the main field in the distance.

“Here!” Ford whisper-shouted when he spotted a cave within one of the asteroids.

Stan followed after him and breathed a sigh of relief as he set foot on the solid ground. Ford glanced around as Stan carefully set Fiddleford down.

“This looks like it goes pretty deep, but we should be fine here for a bit.” Ford said, kneeling down next to Stan to get a better look at Fiddleford.

Stan nodded as he took out his knife and started to cut the sleeve of Fiddleford's shirt. He grimaced at the mass of gore that used to be Fiddleford's arm.

“There is not much left to work with, and I'm sure he'll wake up soon. We might have to…” Stan couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

“Amputate.” Ford finished for him.

Stan nodded.

“I'll do it. This is my fault, afterall. He may never forgive me, but at least I can help here.” Ford said quietly, taking the knife from Stan.

“You got conned, Ford. He'll forgive you.” Stan replied quietly.

Ford smiled weakly at Stan, turned to Fiddleford, and held up the knife.

“Woah there, stranger!” Someone said from further in the cave.

They both jumped and looked into the darkness as a hooded figure emerged.

“Don't worry, I am a refugee, too, but I have a better tool for that.” The figure said.

“A refugee?” Ford asked.

“In the Nightmare Realm. You're from another dimension, yes? We have been hiding from the Euclidean, too.” They said.

“Euc-a-what-now?” Stan asked.

“Bill. The Euclidean. We could hear him speak to you, and we can help. We should help your friend there, first, though.” They explained.

Stan and Ford glanced at each other then back at the hooded figure, and nodded.

The figure approached and pulled a knife from under their cloak. They knelt down on the other side of Fiddleford and hit a button on the knife that made it hum and glow a bright purple.

“It's a plasma knife.” The figure said. “It will cut and cauterize at the same time, but hold them down- I wouldn't want them to move and cut more than necessary.”

Stan and Ford nodded and held Fiddleford down.

“I'm sorry, Fidds.” Ford mumbled as the figure lowered the knife.

“On three.” they said. “One, two, three.”

The knife hissed and burned as it cut clean through flesh and bone. Fiddleford's eyes shot open and he screamed, looking up at Ford as he tried to pull away from the pain.

“I'm so sorry, Fiddleford.” Ford said again, tears streaming down his face as he let up on his grip so Fiddleford could move.

“It's done.” The figure said.

Fiddleford looked over at the figure and screamed again, shooting up and backing away until his back was flush against Ford’s chest.

“It's okay, Fidds. They were helping us.” Ford said, wrapping his arms around Fiddleford to try and calm him down.

Ford felt Fiddleford relax at his touch, but it only lasted a second before he realized his arm was missing.

“What in the fiddle-hoppin’ heck did y'all do?!” He screeched.

“Fidds, we had no choice- Bill crushed your arm.” Stan said.

“He-” Fiddleford said, then his breath hitched, and didn't stop. He started to hyperventilate and Ford held him tighter.

“I'm so sorry, Fidds. I'll fix this.” he mumbled into Fiddleford's hair. “I'll stop him, and I'll fix this. I- I- I'll kill Bill. He won't win.”

“We'll kill him.” Stan said, placing a hand on Fiddleford's leg.

Fiddleford’s breathing started to slow as he dug his fingers into the arm Ford had around him.

“I'm going to need an arm.” he said quietly between breaths.

“We can help.” The cloaked figure said. “Come. We can give you what you need to start your journey.”

_____________________________________________

This is not written well. Ignore that.

Might do more badly drawn comics from here on out since it's less serious plot, but there will definitely still be more written chapters.

I start my new job in like... 10 minutes... so expect less frequent updates. But there will be updates!

Also I know Fiddleford got over that panic attack hella fast... but he gets a bit more ooc from here on out because he realizes the only way to save the dimension his son still resides in is to fight back, and he knows he can help.

Anyways. Enjoy, I guess!

[x-files-polls]

Invisigoth/Esther Nairn: she has a doctorate and a truckload of eyeliner. what more do you need?

Jenn: To quote Lana del Rey, "He said to be cool but, I'm already coolest." She is. The coolest (and a disaffected genie). This is simply a fact.

Don't like this propaganda? Reblog it with your own or send some in my askbox

To jog your memory, here are the episodes they're from:

Kill Switch: While investigating the strange circumstances of the death of a reclusive computer genius rumored to have been researching artificial intelligence, Mulder and Scully become targets of an unlikely killer capable of the worst kind of torture.

Je Souhaite: Mulder and Scully's encounter with a man and his handicapped brother lead them to an indifferent genie whose willingness to grant wishes belies a deeper motive.

[l-in-the-light]

Finally someone said it! Every time I try to point it out, people just dismiss it, so I stopped yapping about it, but I will now, because I feel encouraged by this.

Franky, our resident specialist on cyborgs, checked up the PX-4 model they just defeated and declared it's a cyborg, not a robot. He's half-human, half-machine. That's why they bleed!

But who are the Pacifistas then? Why do they look just like Kuma? Look at Sanji's reaction there. We know that Germa actually CAN create humans/clones from scratch!

They all have the same face (and body shape). Just like Pacifistas that look exactly like Kuma.

Franky didn't know that you can create humans from scratch, so he thought Pacifistas are just Kuma's twins or cyborgs modified to look like Kuma. But thanks to Whole Cake Island arc we know human beings CAN be built from scratch!

Judge continued the research (that he did before with Vegapunk) by himself, escaping Government's grasp. The research was for copying and augmenting life which means they researched lineage factors aka the blueprints of life itself. They take OP's equivalement of DNA from a person and make clones.

Judge even keeps those human clones in a special bio-like substance, which we know is kinda neon green. Color green often appears in One Piece in science related to lineage factors (SAD, soldiers of Germa, Seraphim's green blood), and also in relation to soul (any time Brook activates his soul resonating abilities), and, curiously enough, the steam coming from Udon's prison camp chimneys is the same shade of neon green. And then people wonder why do I keep yapping about Green Fairy alcohol... I just see the pattern here, okay. It's green, just by that fact alone it's suspicious, and drinking it did alter Strawhats behaviour for a bit. It screams soul/lineage factors.

And here's a moment of angst for you all. Yes, those clones are people and are unaware they're clones. They're just living their lives the way they were programmed (in their life blueprints), blissfully unaware they're disposable living shields and military power.

The question of "free will" is being raised here. And we should ask the same about the Pacifistas (and perhaps Seraphims). They're also clearly programmed to act the way they do, which is very machine-like. But they are half-humans.

Caesar says this in chapter 684: "[Punk Hazard] is a military testing faculty! We're all here because the Navy wants a weapon that can kill as many pirates as possible!". Punk Hazard wasn't just some random science lab where anyone does whatever they want. They're all there for this purpose, not just Caesar. Vegapunk and Judge were doing things for the military as well.

We know that officially it's Vegapunk who discovered lineage factors. I say "officially" here because I have a feeling he wasn't actually the first, but it's just the obscure feeling I have about it, I don't have clear evidence. Anyway, Vegapunk worked on lineage factors and Judge is using lineage factors, so either VP shared the research data with him or Judge pursued it on his own after they went their seperate ways.

Judge proved to us one thing: yes, you can create human beings from scratch, as long as you're smart enough to make use of lineage factors. You can also use it to clone people! Judge can do all that thanks to Vegapunk's research, so it's likely Vegapunk can do that as well and even better. That's how Pacifistas were born. Seraphims are an even better versions of Pacifistas, because they use green blood with lineage factors for devil fruits and use the best lineage possible: that of Lunarians.

If Vegapunk has Lunarians' lineage factors at his disposal, then there are two possible deductions to draw here: 1. he was part of the research group that was performing really cruel experiments on King, because he is literally the last Lunarian present in the story and we know indeed he was captured by the Government at some point (guess in what science lab was King kept? On Punk Hazard). 2. Government (Saturn) shared with Vegapunk the results from the said experiments so he can develop Seraphims.

But let's theorize that Vegapunk did whatever he could not to dirty his hands and he only sticked to creating countermeasures to mass murder weapons, and whatever the Government was doing to the prisoners, he had no hand in it. But after he got captured by the said Government and forced to work for them (and created Egghead as the result, seastone coating for ships, Pacifistas and Seraphims, among many other things), it's likely he had to at the very least adapt the research data they gave him that they gathered from experimenting on humans. They also had to give him access to SAD (hence the green blood). And of course he had to use Kuma's lineage factors to make cyborg clones of him aka the Pacifistas.

Also, just to clarify, I don't think Vegapunk experimented on humans willingly, I think he was forced to either 1. ignore it and saw it being done under his nose (he was definitely not unaware of it, he was the leader of the science group on Punk Hazard) 2. use the data given to him that was gathered through human experimentation (Vegapunk is smart, he must have guessed how that data was acquired) 3. build cyborg human clones for the Government. Let's also not forget Stussy, who is apparently a clone made by Vegapunk as well!

But I do believe Vegapunk always did whatever he could to not cross a certain line. After all we know that while working on Punk Hazard, he earned Ibel Peace Prize for 'GP Flowers' that bloom out of gunpowder and did those very resistant protection suits that work even against deadliest gas weapons developed by Caesar. But he also did some human enlargement experiments (most likely on the prisoners, but at least he never experimented on children, Caesar made sure we know that). It's simply that in the world of One Piece there's only so much you can do without making your own conscience guilty, if you work for the Government.

Also, Vegapunk might have had a choice to leave and live the rest of his life as a runaway, but then he wouldn't be able to do science anymore. His only choice would be doing it for the criminals in some emperor's empire, like for Big Mom. We can treat him as Government's hostage who just couldn't oppose their power or views directly. Or, quoting Sanji, Vegapunk could have just given up on his dream and hide for the rest of his life in some god forsaken hole, like Woop Slap in Fuusha Village or Wolf in the North Blue, to never openly attempt science again. (Hm, why am I mentioning Woop Slap? Oh, I dunno, just a hunch). I think Vegapunk's ultimate plan to send his research stratum to the clouds was his final stand against the Government. He never truly wanted to cooperate with them, not after what he learned that they do. But he really had limited choices there. Using their funds to create potential for better future of the humanity is really awesome way of flipping them a metaphorical finger for a goodbye though.

Also fun fact, but there is one interesting inconsistency about Punk Hazard's explosion. There were in fact, two explosions, not just one. We know Caesar pressed a self-destruct button (Vegapunk installs that in every research lab he worked in). But there was apparently one more explosion in a different lab. I like to believe Vegapunk did it by himself, either to make use of the situation and destroy the human experimentation site of the Government (he could even blame Caesar's explosion for that, which would be quite clever), or because he was simply mad about the human experiments. It would be basically him flipping them a finger as a goodbye, haha. Sadly he got captured by the Government later.

I like Vegapunk exactly because he is such a morally complex character, makes him feel very human in his struggle to stay at the side of "good" in the "good vs evil" debate.

But let's not forget when Clover visited him at Punk Hazard, Vegapunk himself voiced his concern, unprompted "you won't find the answer to good and evil in old stories", proving that this dilemma was always at the back of his mind when he stayed at the lab there.

Also the "stand down" advice seems genuine, maybe he also had to "stand down" to get through Punk Hazard phase of his life, witnessing the many horrors there.

Also, Vegapunk did think the clones he created are actually humans, as one can see from his interactions with Stussy. He never treated them like machines. Would he treat Pacifistas like humans as well, though? That I'm not so sure about. He might have planned them to be just living machines with a computer program instead of a brain, but as long as he uses people's lineage factors, the results always go beyond his expectations and comprehension. Pacifistas might as well be one of Vegapunk's unmentioned sins.

It will be commented on later by Drake, but something I feel that gets overlooked by the fandom is that the Pacifistas bleed. They're not pure robots. but utilize the Vinsmoke cloning technology and are like Franky--a slurry of mechanical and organic bits mixed together into one.

So when characters like the Straw Hats blow them up, it's not as simple as destroying a robot. There was a person in there somewhere, even if they were grown in a vat and had their brain replaced with a computer. This is a little bit more obvious with the S versions shown in Egghead, but no less horrific here.

[moominvalleysunset]

Jack & Joker episode 10 thoughts on P'Oh's death

I saw a poster who said they were abandoning the show because of their treatment of Trans characters (Their examples: making P'Saran's character Nulek the butt of a joke and killing off P'Jennies character P'Oh quite gruesomely.) And while I completely understand that this is a sensitive topic, especially right now, where Trans rights are being attacked in many if not almost all parts of the world and the result of the US-election does not bode well for a fair and inclusive future (and as you don't know me, let me emphasize: Trans rights are human rights, end of story!), I cannot agree in this instance. Loooong-ass Essay under the cut, be warned!

First of all, Thai culture is a special case as far as gender, gender identity and gender expression goes, both historically and in the progressive movements that are happening both in Thai society and in the entertainment (specifically the BL) industry. You simply cannot judge it solely by Western (or even other Asian) cultural conventions and standards, and by viewing it even more exclusively through an USA-centric perspective you are not doing anyone any favors.

I think that everyone watching Thai BLs regularily at least knows a little about the underlying cultural issues and practices, but for those who would like to learn more, I would recommend reading Dr. Thomas Baudinette's extremely fascinating and well-researched book Boys Love Media in Thailand (https://thomasbaudinette.com/boys-love-media-in-thailand-2022-3/) , where he also touches on the development of presenting trans and genderqueer characters in Thai TV and film (though only up until 2021/22, and the last two years have seen significantly more progress, diversity and inclusivity in Thai media both in front of and just as if not more importantly, behind the camera.) It's a great read, and I'm looking forward to the updated edition coming out next year. Or at least read a Wikipedia article or two about the subject if you haven't already, it's extremely interesting!

Now secondly, I want to take a look at the narrative. First of all, the two trans/genderqueer characters mentioned above are not the only ones in the show. We have Nulek's friend Pharao, Joke's disguise as Jessie (not a girl but a genderqueer person in drag, and emphatically NOT a caricature), Arun as a femme character and not to forget P'Oh's business – and maybe life – partner, a Trans man. Neither of them has been singled out, ridiculed or punished for their not conforming to any hetero- or cisnormative standards in the story (except for Arun by his dad, and nowhere is this presented as anything but reprehensible behaviour by a father). They are normal people struggling with social injustice and mundane problems, like anyone else. Which brings me to the first of the two instances mentioned, Nulek. While I understand that leaving them at a trash heap (I think we all can agree that getting them out of the way was just a plot thing that needed to happen) might raise some hackles, they are not the only one left there. The – very cismale – driver that Joke impersonated was also left at the landfill, so it is maybe not all that symbolic? Especially because Nulek and Arun's other subordinate Pharao get their comeuppance later on when they get their wonderfully petty revenge on their fallen boss. They have gained agency, rightfully enjoy their upper hand and are again not being ridiculed by the narrative.

And now P' Oh, played by the wonderful P'Jennie. I am horribly saddened by her senseless death, angry and frustrated, because it was so preventable and unfair, but her being Trans is not the most important part here IMO. She was trying, she was struggling, she was failing, she was succeeding, she was funny and sassy and beautiful and a smart businesswoman, and she was the only character apart from the mains, Toi Ting and Ama (who were not spared, either), whose death would send a big enough shockwave through the community to finally rattle them into fighting back  (but also leave the mains able to function and not utterly paralyse them in grief). That's why neither Toi Ting's dad nor Tattoo's mom were viable options. P'Oh was respected and liked in her community. Having her die was dark as fuck, but narratively speaking IMO necessary, and she didn't die because she was Trans. She died because she was the only character whose death would have the right amount of repercussions. So I cannot agree with the other poster that killing her was "shitting on Trans women". Really not.

Thirdly, we have to leave the show and look beyond, behind the camera. These people are longtime collaborators and by all accounts great friends and business partners. P'Jennie is a star who has written lakorn and BL history with her roles. There is nothing but love and respect for her from the makers of the show, you can be sure of that. And I would really like to hear her speak about her character and her role here. And Nuleks actor P'Saran and their friend Pharao have been collaborating with War, Yin and their managers since the first En of Love Anthology in 2019/20. YWPBs managers P'Go and P'Aun themselves can be read as femme. YWPBs work environment and the people they choose to collaborate with seem to be progressive, inclusive, diverse and definititely neither cisheteronormative nor tone-deaf to social issues, as we can see in all their works and public presence. Even more so in War and Yin themselves and in what they choose to say, do and stand for publicly. Are they all perfect? No (who is?), but it seems to me that they are trying really hard to do what's right.

So while I of course understand why someone could be triggered, angry and disappointed at what they see as yet another instance of a Trans character being treated unfairly, I would argue that here this anger might be misdirected and this reading neither does justice to the characters, the narrative, the actors and makers of this show nor to the very real issues Trans and genderqueer people still face in Thailand and around the world.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my essay/rant and I would be extremely interested in what you have to say in return!

[wake-me-up-inside-imagines]

Could you write about a Yandere that falls in love with someone that falled in love with you, so he tries to kill you but he ended falling in love with you so now he sees his old crush as his new rival?

Sure thing! I'm using a new oc for this one, hope you don't mind!

Yandere Akari who falls in love with you after planning to murder you

Gn! reader

Warnings: Stalking, breaking in and entering, attempted murder, murder, obsessive tendencies, needles, heart attacks, mentions of burn marks

Divider credit goes to @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

Yandere! Akari who hates you. He's hated you since the moment he found out who you were. You've never done anything to him, he doesn't think you even know who he is, but he hates you all the same. How could you have stolen the attention of his one and only darling? How could you possibly have managed to capture their attention so effortlessly, without trying? Did you even know that they liked you?

Why? Why not him? He knows he's not the most approachable person, and his burn scars can be pretty off putting, but he was still lovable! He was still worthy of affection, so why not him?

Reko is a passionate lover. Only the best for his darling, and as far as he's concerned, that's not you.

Yandere! Akari who diverts his attention to you instead of his darling. He hates to do it, he really does, but getting you out of the way is top priority now. All his thoughts are consumed by you, you and your stupid charm, and your stupid, incomprehensible allure, and your stupid cute face-

He needs you out of the way. He won't be able to focus properly on his darling if he doesn't. He can't have that, he needs you gone now.

Yandere! Akari who begins stalking you, figuring out his schedule the best he can. He's a crafty man so it doesn't take him long, although each second spent focusing on you instead of his darling feels like agony. Why must he spend so much time watching you when he should be watching his darling instead? It's not fair, this whole thing isn't fair! Why you? Why you?

Yandere! Akari who watches you whenever he has the time to, making sure he writes down every little detail about you he can gather. He hates to do it, he really does, but any information he can get is useful. Maybe he'll be able to use his notes to figure out why his darling likes you so much, or how to dispose of you as quickly as possible, or maybe...maybe he'll find some dirt on you, something that will change his darling's opinion on you. How wonderful would that be!

Yandere! Akari who finds no such dirt, much to his dismay. No matter how long he follows you, no matter how well he researches your life, he can't find a single thing significant enough to hold against you, not for his darling, at least. You're just too...clean! He can't find a single thing wrong with you, everything about you is lovely, even your flaws! He can't understand why you're so perfect, that shouldn't be possible for anyone besides his darling he's in denial.

Yandere! Akari who can feel himself growing more and more attracted to you with every second, and he despises it. Watching you has made him soft he thinks, seeing you during every moment, just living your life authentically. He wants to hate you, he's trying to hard, but his affection for you only grows by the day, threatening to overwhelm him. His thoughts of his darling, once untouchable, are being replaced by thoughts of you. His hatred is slipping, his plan isn't working, he needs to end this soon, for his own sanity.

It takes a while for him to admit, but he's beginning to understand why his darling likes you so much.

Yandere! Akari who decides enough is enough. He needs to get rid of you, for his sake and for his darling's. So he makes a plan, and waits until you're asleep, sneaking in through the window he skillfully managed to unlock. You're deep in sleep and he's quiet as a mouse, so you never stood a chance. He was going to rid him of you once and for all, leaving his focus free for his darling, and only his darling.

Yandere! Akari who walks to the side of your bed, gazing down at you as you seep peacefully. He tries not to think about how cute you look like this, blissfully unaware of what's about to happen. It for the best, he tells himself. For the greater good.

Yandere! Akari who reluctantly pulls out a syringe, holding the tip near one of your carotid arteries, just barely avoiding touching your soft skin. This is it. He has his chance, and he needs to take it. He can do this, he's never been opposed to the idea of killing, so why hesitant now? He needs to do this. It's time.

...Any moment now.

...He just needs to move a little, that's all.

...Why...

Yandere! Akari who can't do it. He tries so hard to move, to plunge the needle into your neck and release the air inside into your body, but he can't. The thought of hurting you, let alone killing you has become unbearable. It was better before, when he wasn't actively trying, but now? Now that he's making a real attempt? He can't do it, the guilt is eating him alive. You don't deserve this. You're too perfect to be removed from this world, at least by his hand.

Yandere! Akari who slowly backs out of the room, crawling out of and closing your open window. He's so frustrated, and mad, and embarrassed at his own weakness, but he can't do anything about it. But why? Why couldn't he get rid of you? Why couldn't he do what was best for his darling? Was he really that pathetic of a lover?

Yandere! Akari who quickly abandons any and all contact he had with you. He doesn't follow you anymore, he avoids places he knows you'll be, and he tries his hardest to stop thinking about you, instead focusing on his darling. If he can't get rid of you, then he at least needs to make an effort to engage with his darling more. He can't get caught up on you, he won't. He has more important things to think about.

Yandere! Akari who tries to take up watching his darling again, but...it's different now. He doesn't feel the same spark he did before he found out about you, not even close. He's not as obsessive over what his darling's doing, in fact, he finds that following them around has become more of a chore than anything else. The passion that was once there is gone, replaced by disinterest and boredom.

Yandere! Akari who is dismayed to find that not only is he bored of his darling, but he's disgusted by them. Certain habits that never bothered him before suddenly become an issue in his head, driving his already drifting affection away from them further. He didn't intend for this to happen, but...they just don't compare to you. You who were so perfect in every way. You who began to win over his affection, despite how much he wanted to hate you. You who he couldn't bring himself to kill.

Yandere! Akari who becomes increasingly distressed at this sudden realization. How could he have replaced his darling, especially with someone he was supposed to hate? What happened? No matter what he does, no matter how he tries to immerse himself with his supposed-to-be darling, he can't shake the disinterest, nor can he shake the thought of you. What is he supposed to do?

Yandere! Akari who gets hit with a sudden realization, one that changes his view on the world forever. It was never supposed to be them. It was supposed to be you. You were the one he was meant to love, how had he been so blind? You winning him over despite his hate wasn't pure luck, it was because you were meant for him. He couldn't bring himself to hurt you because he was supposed to love you, to protect you. You were his, not his old darling, how had he been so blind to that fact?

Yandere! Akari who becomes increasingly jealous after he realizes this. Hearing his old darling speak of loving you is still just as infuriating as before, but for a whole new reason now. How dare they think they're good enough for you? They weren't even good enough for him! How could they possibly provide you with what you need, how could they love you the way you deserve? From what Akari saw, they couldn't. They never would.

Yandere! Akari who doesn't know if you like his new rival back, but he's not willing to take any chances. he's drunk on his newfound love for you, and he'll be damned if he lets someone else get in between you two. Besides, he already has a plan, one that failed the last time he tried it. He won't let that happen again.

Yandere! Akari who waits until night time, sneaks into his rival's room, and takes out a familiar syringe. He doesn't hesitate this time, not even to reflect on what once was for him. There's nothing left for him to feel towards them now, not since you entered his life.

Yandere! Akari who stabs their artery, pushes down on the syringe, and watches as his rival convulses, their life draining before his very eyes.

Yandere! Akari who leaves no trace of his presence. he was careful to where gloves, just in case he needed to touch anything, and he takes his syringe with him when he leaves. He made sure his rival was dead before departing, he couldn't have them coming surviving, could he?

Yandere! Akari who doesn't waste anymore time thinking about his rival. After all, they were already dead, so what was the point? All he had to worry about now was winning you over. And that started by making sure nobody else could have you.

...He just hopes you aren't too sad about his rival's death. He wouldn't blame you, you're too kind-hearted to feel nothing, but hopefully he can make you feel better. Soon enough, you won't even remember they existed.

He'll see to that.

I hope you enjoyed!

[thetransintransformers]

Tryst (18+)

Cycmags Softcore basically

Stuck in the brig.

Servos chained above his head.

Listening to the sounds of Galvatron ranting and raving about his eventual demise.

No, not quite the situation Ultra Magnus wanted to find himself in.

How he allowed himself to be caught like this was still a mystery. The schematics he ran on how he would be getting in and out of the Decepticon base, the time he spent knowing exactly how every process within his mission was going to take, and hell, it’s not like he was dealing with much competition. 

As powerful as Galvatron was, he was a lunatic now, more obsessed with beating down his subordinates than actually getting anything for his cause done. Much like the real Megatron but, the distinction was still there. Then there were the sweeps: intimidating enough to look at but ultimately, so . . .  well Ultra Magnus hesitated on the word, how callous it sounded, but they were so DUMB. One vain, one a coward, one simply playing leader while having no clue of how to truly manage their cohorts. 

Yet, were they really so incompetent if they captured him? Or was Ultra Magnus just worse off than he realized? No, that wasn’t it, neither side. Because it was not the sweeps that caught him.

It was Cyclonus.

Cyclonus, he truly, was an odd one out amongst these new Decepticons. 

He remembered their time well as Quintesson killing jar combatants. Cyclonus was stoic, cold, calculated, a brave and noble warrior. The two seemed to find equal ground on opposite sides, a fierce loyalty to their sides. Where they differed was Ultra Magnus’ sense of justice, and Cyclonus’ need to prove worth. Yet somehow, those values still aligned all too well for them. The wonders Cyclonus could do if he was an autobot, but alas. Cyclonus was made in the image of evil, he would follow Galvatron to the ends of the galaxy. That was something Ultra Magnus would have to spend the next 5 cycles researching on. If he was given five cycles now that he awaited a swift death. Perhaps it would be Cyclonus himself to carry out the hit. At least then, Ultra Magnus’ pride wouldn’t be so wounded.

The door of his prison zoomed up, and in stepped a familiar purple-clad figure. Speak of the devil, it was his ghost again.

Cyclonus stared down at Ultra Magnus, gazes meeting one another in an intense glare. Ultra Magnus could barely make out the sound of Cyclonus humming, as he drew forth a gun. 

Game over, it seemed.

Ultra Magnus would not hang his helm though as he spoke. “Come to finish me off? Do it then. If you were hoping for information I would never–” BANG.

Ultra Magnus shuttered his optics behind his visor, gritting his teeth as the shot rang out. He held his arms down infront of him for some type of protection.

Wait.

His arms? He could move them? Ultra Magnus’ optics widened as he looked down to his now free servos. The mech craned his neck up to see where his arms were previously held hostage. A smoking black shot against the wall and broken chains were above his head. “Up. Now.” Cyclonus commanded, throwing the gun to the side. Despite his order, Ultra Magnus still did not move fast enough for his liking, so he took one of the other’s arms in his grip and pulled. Ultra Magnus stumbled to his pedes, looking at the Decepticon SIC in utter confusion. “You had the perfect chance to kill me and you–” Before he could finish the sentiment, Cyclonus was pulling the Autobot by the collar, and pressing their lips tightly together. Once again, Magnus’ optics went wide, stuttering even to comprehend what had just happened. Cyclonus even now seemed so . . . focused. Slotting their lips together as if they’d always fit so perfectly. Magnus nearly let his optics close, let himself sink into the moment before Cyclonus was pulling away, leaving the Autobot breathless. It took a moment to gather his thoughts before Ultra Magnus was stuttering. Gods, he was stuttering? What had the warship done to him? “I . . . you . . . why did you–” “Consider that your 5-click head start.” The warship interrupted, already pushing Ultra Magnus to leave the cell. “The others will be distracted only for so long.” “Wait, wait!” Ultra Magnus pushed back, turning to him. “Why are you helping me? Wouldn’t it mean the world to your leader if I was dead?” “Yes. It would.” Cyclonus answered back, without the slightest hint of hesitation. Well, good to see his priorities were still straight. “But,” Cyclonus began again. “It is . . . not honorable. You are meant to die on the battlefield, us, in glorious combat. Not to rot in a cell.” Cyclonus informed, rather poetic for the time. Ultra Magnus raised an optic ridge. “So this isn’t over.” Cyclonus nodded. “Not nearly. Now go!”

---- When they met again, the roles could not have been more reversed. Cyclonus hanged off the side of an autobot cargo ship, claws digging deep into the metal, threatening to loosen. One wing hung damaged and smoking. Even if it wasn’t painful to transform, there was no way he could manage himself in the air long enough to not crash. This was, pitifully so, the end for the Decepticon SIC.

Cyclonus mustered what breath he could still, and slowly let his servos unpierce the metal of the autobot ship. He closed his optics, waiting for the fall to brush past him and into oblivion. As his servo fell away from the ship, a hand from within grabbed his wrist roughly, stopping his fall before it even began. Cyclonus’ optics opened and he looked up to see a familiar autobot. “Magnus!” He called out before he was pulled up into the ship. Nothing else was exchanged between the two, as soon as Cyclonus was pulled aboard, Ultra Magnus had dipped him, slotting their lips into a kiss, not unlike when Magnus was kept in prison. It was Cyclonus’ turn for his optics to widen, dumbfounded as Ultra Magnus pulled away from the kiss. “What happened to dying on the battlefield, huh?” the autobot spoke, a smile twitching up on his features. How. How idiotic. How foolish. How casual. How–oh gods above, how charming. 

Cyclonus lunged, arms wrapped tight around Ultra Magnus’ helm, causing the Autobot to stumble back against his own control panel. The kisses started again, heavier, hotter, than before. Forget the fact that mashed-around servos were changing their flight patterns. Cyclonus pressed close, as did Ultra Magnus, taking the slightest gulps of air when the warship allowed him to.

Cyclonus pulled back, taking in a deep breath, eyes half-lidded. Still, he panted as he crooned, “Why must we always seek the unattainable?” “Shut up.” Ultra Magnus rather ineloquently interrupted, going for another kiss. “Just shut up.”

They went on like that for far longer than what was necessary. Not that any of this interaction was necessary. Not that their interaction in the Decepticon cell was necessary.

And yet. It became necessary for them. 

The paint transfers were a tad of a challenge, but nothing a well-crafted explanation couldn’t sweep away. ----

Their third tryst together was far less easy to explain.

Ultra Magnus sat at the edge of a berth, lavender scratches of paint covering his frame. The only sound that filled the room was a few deep breaths in the dark. By his side, a servo wrapped against one shoulder, while the other moved his helm to look his paramour in the optics. Cyclonus, with a satisfied smirk, pressed a kiss against Ultra Magnus’ cheek. “My breath must mingle with yours, lest it feel wrong.” he breathed out. Ultra Magnus hummed. “You just come up with that? It’s beautiful.” He had to admit, raising a hand to cup Cyclonus’ helm in his own, and giving him a more forward peck. “Cyclonus,” he began, letting the warship nuzzle into his servo. “We could be more than this.” Cyclonus answered, “Whatever do you mean?”

Ultra Magnus let a softer smile cross his features. “You could, well, you could join me. You’d be a fine autobot–” Ultra Magnus barely got another word in before the hand that just caressed his shoulder was at his throat, pushing him back on the berth. Cyclonus narrowed ruby optics, a sneer coming to his features. “Choose your words wisely, Ultra Magnus.” He spoke, getting close to the other’s face. “Do not ever ask me to betray my lord.” Ultra Magnus choked for a moment before he nodded as best he could. “Noted.”

Cyclonus loosened his grip, but he did not move from his position. Instead, his sneer turned to a smirk. “Shall we continue?” The warship soon was throwing his leg over the side of Ultra Magnus’ frame, straddling the Autobot's waist as he leaned down. Ultra Magnus chuckled, still collecting the breath that was knocked out of him. “Well, when you move like that.” He hummed. Soon, the Autobot’s face fell into bliss, brought into a few more kisses, that traveled down his neck cables. “Magnus,” Cyclonus whispered, “Your talents are wasted under a faulty prime like Rodimus.” He began. Odd dirty talk to have, but Ultra Magnus couldn’t help himself. This sort of talk was wrong to indulge in, but he pushed. “Go on.” Cyclonus traveled lower on his neck. “Your skills.” A kiss. “Your tactical mastery.” Another kiss. “Mmm,” Ultra Magnus let out, so perfectly in the palm of Cyclonus’ servos. “Surely you have wondered, how much farther your efforts would be appreciated under Decepticon colors.” There it was. Ultra Magnus used an arm to push Cyclonus up from his neck, breaking their contact. Magnus spoke, firm as ever. “Cyclonus. I don’t ask you to betray your lord. You don’t ask me to betray my cause. Got it?” For a moment, the room went cold. Cyclonus’ heated gaze turned. “Noted.” He echoed from before. “Will this be our last rendezvous then?” Ultra Magnus let an optic ridge go up and teased. “Hey now, I didn’t say that.” a chuckle followed, and the mood had been restored. Cyclonus hummed and leaned down for another kiss. “So then. Where were we?”

[thenexusofsouls]

"Yeah, it would be wild... in all the wrong ways," Wade said. "Better that, though, I guess, than... than losin' your kid entirely..." And just like that, he had kindof a moment with himself. His head shook a little as he tried to get rid of the thought. What would his and Rose's kid been like? Would she even have let him be a part of its life? If Crenshaw had lived, would Rose have wanted to raise the kid with him instead? He'd never know... 'cause Crenshaw, Rose, and the baby were all dead because of his catastrophic failure as a leader and a friend. Wade cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway..." he whispered.

"I'm definitely not the ideal candidate for 'dad,' that's for sure. I guess it couldn't hurt to try at some point, but... not with my life the way it is now. I don't wanna be the reason my kid grows up angry at the world because he had a shitty childhood, you know? It's a big deal, bein' a parent. If I don't think I can do it right, then I'm not gonna do it," Wade said firmly. That it was important to him was plain to see.

Wade felt so badly for Rockland. Clearly, he was a great kid. Good head on his shoulders. Some issues, but all good kids had a sprinkling of those. To hear him say he kept messing up all the time made Wade sad, because that wasn't coming from him, it was coming from someone who kept telling him that. "Sounds like a problem with whoever's sayin' that, not you. So what if you keep messin' up? Mistakes are important in life, man. That's how people learn things. That's how we find out what not to do, and how not to conduct ourselves. Every kid makes mistakes and screws things up, they're still learnin' shit. If someone keeps harpin' on that like it's somehow unacceptable or somethin' out of the ordinary, sounds like their hang up, not yours."

He knew well, though, how powerless kids were sometimes to help themselves. They only had so much agency and then it was up to the parents, the guardians, the relatives, etc. to be the teachers and protectors. If those people dropped the ball or were abusive, kids couldn't do much about that most often. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'd say you could come stay with me, but I think that's call child abduction in most states," he said by way of a little levity, since the boy looked so downtrodden. "But hey... I'm probably gonna stick around in this city for a while. If you ever need help, you need a place to stay overnight, you need a little cash to get by... you can always ask me, okay? It won't fix everything, I know, but maybe it'll take the edge off to know you've got a safety net, right?"

Wade let Rockland look at the photo as long as he wanted before putting it back into his wallet. "Yeah, they were. They were really good people who didn't deserve to die like that," Wade said stoically. "That photo was as painful as it was somethings he could never part with.

He tried his best to answer the boy's question without getting too dark again. "Yeah, I had the most experience out of all of 'em. We uh... Sometimes when you go after bail jumpers, things get ugly. They run, they fight back, sometimes there's guns or knives or explosives involved, so we had our own weapons and tactical gear and all that. We functioned like a military unit, and I was like their officer. Ronnie and me, we were actually retired military, so we had more formal training, and we helped make sure everybody else knew how to use all the weapons and equipment, everybody understood the laws and what we were allowed to do, all that stuff. I researched the jobs, I made the plans, and out in the field, I gave the orders, and everybody had their part. Sometimes time and safety were an issue, so we had to be a well-oiled machine, you know? And we were, I thought. 'Til I went and fucked it all up. They did what I said, no questions asked. I demanded it of 'em. I ran a tight ship. And I got 'em all killed."

"Opera? Get the hell outta here, what're you talkin' about, opera..." Wade said, laughing more. "Do I look like I'd belt out an aria to you? Nah, man, I'm all about rock. Classic rock, that's where it's at. What about you, what kinda music're you into?"

When Rockland whipped out his own family photograph, Wade nodded. "Nice. Is that you in there?" he asked, pointing to the woman's belly. "That's nice that you carry that with you like that. It's important to remember loved ones. It keeps us grounded, right? It's not good to go around with your head stuck in the clouds." He'd meant that as a real sentiment, but then, feeling things were getting a bit heavy, he tried to lighten the mood once more. "Foggy clouds in your face... gettin' rained on... every now and then a migratin' goose flies at your head, you get hit upside the head with goose ass, it's just not good to keep your head up there."

Well that caught their attention alright. A middle finger had shot into the air, directed at a group of teens across the street who were hovering by a Duncan Donuts long closed for the night. The boy beneath the hoodie, propelling said finger, sneered. Just like that, the group of five moved towards him, the tallest, Shacks, sauntering forward with an irritating air of confidence. And to think, there'd been a time when Rockland had thought he was cool.

"You can't seriously blame us, Rocky." He looked to the others with cruel amusement, "It was a prank, get a sense of hum-" Too busy searching for the favour of his crew, he'd missed the draw of the younger teen's fist before it met his cheek.

"Prank my ass, I could've been arres-oof." Rockland was tackled by Archie, the smallest of the bunch, who was about a head shorter than he was, but kinda stalky for his age, and with the element of surprise on his side. Cane clattering out of hand, and across the sidewalk, the lanky teen scraped across the pavement, electric pain radiating up from his tailbone. He caught the breath that had been knocked out of him just in time to catch the thump of a fist to the nose in return. - For Wade

Wade didn't know what to make of this city yet. He'd only been here a couple days and was still trying to get his bearings. It wasn't a bad city, he thought, just cold. Just... really cold when you're alone, like all cities are. Nevertheless, Wade did some hunting and stocked up on other supplies, always wanting to stay on the move. That's how he got jobs, and that's how he kept sane.

Tonight had been quiet enough so far... that is until he heard sounds of a fight. But a fight... between kids? Was he hearing this right? Wade made his way toward the sounds, and sure enough, some kids whose parents were absent and whose bedtimes must be fast-approaching were going at it. Or rather, several kids were beating up on one unfortunate one.

"Hey! Come on, cut it out, what the hell're you guys doin'?!" Wade yelled, hoping to scatter the bullies. "You know better than this, get off him! Don't make me call the cops!" he said, watching as they all scattered... save for one. Wade knelt down beside the boy lying on the ground. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" he asked gently.

[deoidesign]

Worry free, guarantee!

loved painting this one, I love illustrated advertisements

[starcurtain]

Just caught up with Natlan's archon quest and lord help me, I have a burning need to see Alhaitham and Ororon interact.

I truly feel that they would vibe perfectly. Not in a ship way, but like, in the way of Kaveh quietly wailing: "For archons' sake, he's brought another tacky thing into the house. Traveler, please do something; they've been staring eye to eye over the coffee table for like an hour now but haven't said a single word. I don't know what to do. Send help."

[reality-detective]

Did you know this 👇 law passed?

Last year, the Biden administration drafted a 2,700 page infrastructure bill with a total budget of approximately $1 trillion. While it is unreasonable to expect the average American citizen to read through every page of Biden’s infrastructure bill, some lawmakers have taken the time to do so. What they discovered was that this bill includes a measure that mandates automakers to install vehicle backdoor kill switches in every car by 2026.

There are a lot of vehicles that probably have this already since they are basically hooked up to the internet. Why do you think they have computer chips, GPS and sensors in them?🤔

[verdaneart]

THEMMMMMM

BFC PROPAGANDA: YOU ARE NOW REQUIRED TO LOOK AT ✨ HIM ✨

(And also pretty please read this post through; it's important, trust me.)

THAT IS A FULL GROWN MAN RIGHT THERE. BLACK FOOTED CATS ARE ALWAYS BABY.

Fact time because fuck you learn about my favorite animal right now 💖

The scientific name for these guys is Felis Nigripes, and if that first bit sounds familiar, it's because that's the same Genus as your house cat. They're so closely related that their only separation is on the species level.

BFCs are one of the smallest cats in the world, rivalled only by the Rusty Spotted Cat. They reach a maximum weight of 5lbs, around half that the average house cat, and average at 3lbs, which is 3 times smaller than the average house cat.

Although they're miniscule, they're mighty. BFCs hold the title of Deadliest cat in the World, with a hunt success rate of about 60%; 3 times that of any big cat.

Even then, they also have the highest body count; BFCs can kill and eat up to 15 animals in a single night. That's more than a Leopard does in half a year.

BFCs aren't picky either! If they can get their teeth around it, they'll eat it. This includes animals about twice their size, as well as venomous or otherwise dangerous animals.

A single BFC can have a territory that spreads for miles. They'll endlessly hunt within it for a mile or more in a single night, before returning to a burrow to sleep through the day.

In cultures that share space with BFCs, many legends and rumors have cropped up. One legend claims they can kill giraffes, while rumor among farmers is that they can disembowel sheep.

Some of the largest ongoing studies on BFCs are funded and staffed primarily by American and German Zoos and Organizations. Despite decades of research in the field, wild BFCs are still poorly understood, and require more widespread recognition to help in their research and conservation.

One way you can help Black Footed Cats is by reblogging this post to help spread the word!

If you can, also consider looking into different nonprofits that do research and education, and donate, share around, or even volunteer!

Lack of public knowledge is a big roadblock for the conservation of thousands of species, so a great way to help is to simply talk about them!

Please vote for whichever animal is cuter, not whichever one you like more!