#Amelia McBride

[shayziekaiziereblogs]

Captain Amazing and Kid Lightning fighting their sworn enemies

Then again, I think Kid Lightning is doing more of the fighting than Captain Amazing.

You know, I wonder how strong Iggy is to be carrying Reggie with one arm. Then again, Pajamaman is literally clinging on Bug like a monkey (perhaps he is lightweight)

[shayziekai]

Got my commission from the mail yesterday. Jimmy Gownley had commissions open and I got one of Bug and Iggy chasing Amel--I mean Princess Powerful.

It looks so awesome, I need a frame for it, and I have the perfect place to put it.

The folder the drawing was in has a doodle of the man himself thanking me for being a fan of Amelia and some signed comics.

I'm going to cherish these items for the rest of my life.

[shayziekaiziereblogs]

This series is criminally underrated, man.

Amelia rules………dude that comic had a entire arc abt losing friends at a young age and the way it dealt with a kind of very bitter grief that is just…………..idk i just remember . shit absolutely rocked me to my bones,,

i will spaz. out. Rn :/

[karlkapri]

The Pugilist

Joe Nelson, Fan films unreal view of Vancouvers Kyle Burroughs hammering Wilds Brandon Duhaime | Ariel Glucklich, Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul | Canucks Army, Analyzing what the Canucks might like about Wild forward Brandon Duhaime | Mikki Tuohy, NHL Trade Rumours: Will the MN Wild Trade Brandon Duhaime? | René Girard, Violence and the Sacred | Kayla Hynnek, Brandon Duhaime Brings It Every Night For The Wild | Max Bultman and Dan Robson, The mental toll of hockey fighting goes beyond getting ‘punched in the face’ | Joel Auerbach via Getty Images | Anne Sexton | Kayla Hynnek | 1 Corinthians 4:9 | Bultman and Robson | Catherine of Siena, The Prayers of Catherine of Siena (trans. Noffke) | Tyson Cole, Analyzing what the Canucks might like about Wild forward Brandon Duhaime | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (c. 1599-1600) | Bultman and Robson | Joe Smith, ‘Vintage Flower’: Behind the scenes of Marc-Andre Fleury’s emotional night in Wild’s win | George Bataille, Guilty (trans. Bruce Boone) | Toni Calasanti, Feminist Gerontology and Old Men | Becoming Wild: Brandon Duhaime via YouTube | Cole | Eimear McBride, The Lesser Bohemians | Cole | Vitor Munhoz, NHLI via Getty Images | Elly McCausland, 'Mervayle what hit mente': Interpreting Pained Bodies in Malory's "Morte D’Arthur" | Capfriendly: Brandon Duhaime Injury Updates | Calasanti | McCausland| Kenneth Hodges, Wounded Masculinity: Injury and Gender in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte DArthur | Becoming Wild: Brandon Duhaime | Dieric Bouts, Christ Crowned With Thorns | David Berding via Getty Images | Bataille | Brandon Duhaime vs Will Borgen Feb 24, 2024 | Michael Russo and Joe Smith, Brandon Duhaime traded by the Wild: Why they moved him, and what he adds to the Avalanche | The Winter House (2022) dir. Keith Boynton | Joe Smith, Wild’s special teams deliver, Fleury exits early on ‘Fight Night’: Key takeaways vs. Panthers | Vibeke Olson, Penetrating the Void: Picturing the wound in Christ’s side as a performative space | Joe Smith, What Brandon Duhaime’s deal means for Wild salary-cap situation and Filip Gustavsson talks | Girard | Ocean Vuong, Devotion | Caravaggio, Sacrifice of Isaac (1598) | Bultman and Robson | Bultman and Robson | Bultman and Robson | Amelia Arenas, Sex, Violence and Faith: The Art of Caravaggio | Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov | Girard | Michael Russo and Joe Smith, Wild GM Bill Guerin working phones ahead of trade deadline, no regrets over training-camp extensions | Concannon, “Not for an Olive Wreath, but Our Lives”: Gladiators, Athletes, and Early Christian Bodies | Matt Blewett - USA Sports | Michael Russo and Joe Smith, Wild trade tiers: Who is on the block? Who could be dangled? Who is untouchable? | Thornton Wilder, Our Town

[barricadescon]

The deadline to submit both Academic and Fan Track programming for Barricades: A Les Mis Convention 2024 has been extended to Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Submissions can address any aspect of Les Misérables. If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, some excellent programming from Barricades 2022 included: 

Les Mis Survival AUs: Building Character Community and Exploring What-Ifs by KCrabb88 and everyonewasabird 

South African Themes in Liesl Tommy’s Les Miserables by Christie McBride

Codes in Context: Queer Possibilities of Enjolras and Grantaire by Amelia Roberts

Fandom and Activism by starbright-cobweb and Isaac (yetintrepid)

Notification of proposal acceptance is still by April 15. 

For more information, please head over to our Submissions page linked here.

[vernanonix]

Working on a timeline of event for The Amelia Project. In Episode 4 - Nathaniel McBride, Nathaniel calls out Angelo (now Salvatore) as having had his body identified in November of 2012 and Mario (now Joey) having died in a shoot out "two years ago" in Paris. These deaths match up with the deaths presented in Episode 16 - The Italians. There IS a little bit of a catch though.

Some of the world events listed in the episode take place at the end of 2016, specifically the election of Donald Trump and Matt Terry's X Factor win. The script for the episode was likely written in 2017 so the placement of the episode can only really be as early as that with those events.

This means that, while Joey and Salvatore joined TAP in 2012, based on Salvatore's death faking from Episode 16 - The Italians, Joey's death wasn't faked until 2015 at the earliest.

I think Arthur just forgot to fake Joey's death for about two to three years and that's the funniest handcanon to me.

[ofpantheons]

Debriefs were maybe Bellamy's least favourite part of being an agent, other than maybe training. Sure, missions could be nerve wracking - especially for her - but they were planned to the last detail and generally she knew what was going to happen. If they did go badly, then she generally had a seasoned agent with her that could tell her what to do. Debriefs on the other hand, were sessions where she had to sit there and be told everything she'd done wrong, which was generally a lot. She'd just gotten out of one that had made her feel like an eight year old that had disappointed her parents, and Bellamy hated disappointing people.

"I was just in here to pick up my book, but I'll probably just head home, get a beer and finish inventory. I was kind of halfway through it when they called." She winced, realising Amelia probably wasn't that interested in her stock checking, but at least she'd managed to cut herself off before she'd rambled too much. "Do they really just let you off patrol if you don't feel like it?" She hadn't done it herself yet, but something told Bellamy that they wouldn't be so lax with her if she didn't feel like doing something?

She had to give Cerberus one thing, they were good at not getting their agents killed. They had a good system to identify weaknesses and weren't afraid to tell recruits what their limits would be until they improved. She had worked out early on this was a pillar for their success. Sure, there were slip ups and mistakes but serious agent injury and death seemed to relatively minor due to it from what she had seen in her 3 years at the company

"Mission done, debrief done and then onto patrol, if I feel up to it." It wasn't a particularly hard mission however, the debrief had been over 2 hours long in a room with bright lights and more screens than Amelia could be bothered to count. The light generated from the globes wasn't enough to harm her but it was enough to leave her feeling a little drained. Of course, an hour out in the dark night would fix how she was feeling but it wouldn't fix the reason for the long briefing. "What's your plans for the rest of the night then? Headed home?"

[callsignspark]

bumping into each other. mary and bradley

anon! you are so galaxy-brained for knowing that I wanted someone to send this one to me.

you'll be in my heart

pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Mariella “M&M” Vertucci (fem!OC)

warnings: 18+ minors DNI, fluffy with the tiniest bit of angst, this is set before they're together but they're already friends, also you don’t need to read Mar[r]y Me to read and understand this but you should anyway, also for your reference this takes place between part 2 and part 3/3.5 of the main storyline!

word count: 3.7k

note: happy Friday everyone! please enjoy this one which is dedicated to @gretagerwigsmuse who gave me this idea eons ago but I couldn't find a place for it in the main story!

The Bronco is peaceful and quiet. Or it had been until Bradley started humming along to some 90’s country song, half mumbling the words like a bad duet with the woman singing about the Fourth of July. It had been the week from hell, and this passenger seat was the last place she wanted to be.

“Will you shut up?! God, you’re so annoying!”

“You don’t like Martina McBride, kiddo?”

“You don’t like Martina McBride?” She mocks him, making her voice high-pitched and whiny. “I don’t care who it is, just stop singing!”

She watches him sigh, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turn white. “Listen, I know this isn’t how you want to spend your Friday night, but please remember that this is a punishment for me, too. And given your options, I’m the lesser of two evils.”

“Oh! Please explain how you are my best option tonight.”

“If you had to go with Mav, you would be sitting around Wood’s house listening to the stories of their glory days while they get drunk! About how they used to pull women and all the dangerous maneuvers they did! So I think going to the grocery store and spending the night at my place is a much better option! At least I won’t tell you that you can’t go on your phone or watch a movie! And I’m certainly not going to make you listen to my best combat stories!”

She folds her arms and sinks down in the seat, muttering, “That’s because most of them are still classified.”

“Well! Yeah! But even if I could talk about it, I still wouldn’t make you listen to the time Phoenix, and I managed to-”

“Oh, Bradley, please!”

“I’m just kidding, Amelia! Geez!” He laughs, making the turn into the grocery store parking lot. “What did you do to piss your mom off anyway?”

“It’s so stupid! I forgot to clean the bathroom when I was supposed to.”

“Kiddo…”

“Okay! Okay! She may have told me to do it like five times, and I forgot until we were about to have Aunt Sarah over for dinner. But I had a big test on Wednesday, so I asked Mav to do it, and he didn’t do it either!”

Bradley parks, reaching into the backseat to grab a few of the reusable bags strewn on the floor.

“Why do you have so many reusable bags everywhere?”

“I- uh-” Amelia’s eyes narrow when he fumbles around, stuttering over his words for no reason. “My friend won them in a raffle and gave some to me because there were so many.”

“Your friend?” She deadpans, knowing he’s hiding something. He doesn’t have friends outside of the Daggers.

“Mmhm. Yup.” His head bobs like a puppet on a string, furthering her suspicions until it hits her.

So she waits until he’s about halfway out the door, hoping he gets so flustered he’ll trip. “This friend wouldn’t happen to be that pretty friend of yours that you have a crush on, would it?”

“How do you know about Mary?” He doesn’t trip, but when he pops his head back in the car, his face is a combination of shocked and scared.

“Her name is Mary?! That’s pretty! Do you have a picture of her?” Amelia bounces out of the car, slamming it behind her.

“Amelia…”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to close it that hard! But can I please see her? Please? You know Mav doesn’t know how to work Facebook, and Mom wouldn’t tell me her name so I could look her up!”

He sighs as he grabs a cart from the corral, rubbing his forehead in frustration. “Only if you promise to not like any photos or do anything weird like friend request her.”

“Can we have pizza for dinner?”

She giggles in his face as Bradley blinks at her. “Only if you verbally promise me that you’re not going to be weird.”

“Promise. Now gimme!” Amelia snatches the phone as soon as he offers it, eyes glued to the profile of the woman her step-brother-god-son-in-law has a crush on.

“I’m being outmaneuvered by a teenager…” She hears him mutter under his breath before he tugs her close to the cart. “Hey! We’re in a parking lot; please pay attention so you don’t get run over! I’m not spending the night in the emergency room.”

“Sorry, Bradley.” She grabs his elbow and lets him guide her inside, her attention on the phone but knowing he’ll keep her safe.

He parks her and the cart in front of the bakery counter, getting a loaf of sourdough sliced before finally asking the question she can feel him holding back.

“So, what do you think of her?”

Amelia looks up, a snarky remark ready to fly when she sees his face. She hasn’t seen him this nervous and twitchy since the two of them were left to their own devices in Mav’s hangar after that mission a few years ago.

Holy shit, he really likes this girl.

“She’s really pretty, Bradley. She seems funny. I thought you said her name was Mary?”

“That’s her nickname; her full name is Mariella. Isn’t that pretty?”

“It is pretty.” You absolute simp. “Why haven’t you asked her out yet?”

He grimaces, directing them towards the bagged lettuce and tucking his phone away. “It’s a bit complicated. For starters, I don’t know if she’s interested. Which normally wouldn’t be a huge concern for me, but we have the same friend group, so I don’t want to make it awkward.”

She nods, appreciating how he never treats her like a dumb kid and explains things to her. “That seems like a very fixable problem.”

“It is, theoretically, but it gets a bit more complicated because we do work together, and she’s not Navy, so I’m not sure what the fraternization rules are.”

“Why don’t you just ask Mav? Don’t get that peach; look at that big bruise on it. Isn’t it part of his job to know those rules? And he could probably give you some advice.”

Bradley sets the bruised fruit to the side, choosing a better-looking one. “You want me to ask the man who is an enormous gossip and took over thirty years to get his shit together with your mom?”

Amelia blinks at him. “You should ask Warlock. He’d probably be better.”

“I think I’ll avoid talking to any of the admirals about it until there’s something to talk about. Alright, to the cereal aisle. Yes, you can push; just be careful.”

She heads out of the produce section, smiling that he knows her so well. “Hey, what did you do to make Mom mad? She didn’t tell me, just that I was spending the night with you.”

“I mowed over her new rose bush because Mav didn’t put up the little fence around it before I started.”

“We both got in trouble because of Mav. Why isn’t he being punished?”

“Don’t worry, if I know your mom like I think I know your mom, he’s definitely in trouble.” He rolls his eyes and puts a box of Cheerios in the cart. “Okay, pick out a fun cereal for me.”

“Fruity pebbles, duh. Now, onto chips!”

Amelia takes off, not running but still moving too fast for a grocery store at 5:30 on a Friday evening. She rounds the corner for the chip aisle and runs into a woman carrying a basket.

“I’m sorry!” She blurts it out over the woman telling her it’s okay, so flustered and embarrassed that she almost hit a stranger with their half-full cart.

Wait, isn’t that-

“Amelia! You gotta watch out! This is what I was talking about when we were driving last weekend!”

“You’re letting her drive? She looks a little young, Bradley.”

“Mary?”

Amelia watches in amazement as her normally calm and collected pseudo-brother starts blushing. Her head whips towards the stranger, who is no longer a stranger.

“Mary?!” She asks excitedly; the kind woman she almost ran over is Bradley’s crush!

And she’s even prettier in person!

Amelia admires the freckles dotting her cheeks and the cute earrings being shown off with her hair pulled back in a claw clip.

“Mary!” She says her own name, throwing her hands out in a ta-da move.

Oh, she is funny!

“Hi, I’m Amelia, his step-sister-by-marriage-twice-removed.” She shakes Mary’s hand, beaming when the older woman laughs at her joke. “Thank you. Bradley never thinks that’s funny.”

“That’s because it’s not.” Amelia turns around and sticks her tongue out at him, where he’s leaning against their cart. “Amelia is Penny’s daughter, which makes her not related to me at all but still occasionally my responsibility.”

“He says that like it’s some burden for him, like we’re not gonna eat pizza and gossip until he falls asleep on the couch at 8:30, with a World War II documentary on the TV.”

“You are just as funny as I thought you’d be.”

“You know me?”

“Of course I do! Your mom has told me all about you! Plus, you’re hanging on Mav’s wall, and Bradley’s got a photo of you on his desk.” Amelia watches Mary smile, crinkles appearing by her eyes, and she feels her heart warm.

She didn’t know that Mav and Bradley had photos of her in their offices. Her own dad doesn’t even have a photo of her. He has photos of his new family, though, she thinks bitterly before tucking the thought away.

“What photo do you have up?” She turns and demands.

Bradley rolls his eyes, straightening up from the cart. “It’s that photo of the four of us at your eighth-grade graduation last year.”

“It’s right next to the Dagger Squad official photo. It’s very sweet.” Mary adds.

“Oh, well, that’s Bradley. So sweet.”

“Knock it off or no more driving lessons.”

She wants to tell him to stop flexing; she can practically see him straining to make his arms look as big as possible. But she can’t take the risk of no dessert after dinner.

“You shouldn’t be teaching me to drive yet anyway. I’m only 14.”

“You’re almost 15! Besides, Mav was teaching me to drive at your age. It’s fine.”

“Fifteen isn’t even old enough to get your permit.”

“Behave, or I’m taking your phone away like Penny told me to.”

“Yes, Dad.” She exaggerates the name, knowing it annoys him.

Bradley slaps a hand over his eyes. “Please stop doing that. People are going to think I’m actually your dad.”

“Well, I mean, you are old enough to be my dad. You’re like, what, 53 now?”

Bradley makes incredulous eye contact with Mary, who has been watching the entire interaction with her hand over her mouth to muffle a laugh. “I’m 36, you little shit, and if you were my kid, I would have been 22 when you were born, Amelia.”

“People have kids younger than that,” Mary interjects, unable to stop the laugh at Bradley’s betrayed face.

“See! Mary gets it!”

“Mary is the same age as me, so she knows that having kids that young is possible but probably not a super great idea.”

“Actually, I’m 33, so I’m younger than you.”

“Oh my god, am I older than everyone?”

Amelia bounces over to the cart, patting Bradley’s shoulder where he’s dramatically resting his head against the handle. “No, don’t worry, Grandpa. Mav is still older than you.”

He peers up at her, a smirk spreading across his face. “No ice cream.”

Mary laughs at Amelia’s devastated face. “Well, I should get going. I don’t want to keep you guys.”

“No! Don’t go! Walk with us! Bradley is so boring; I wasn’t kidding about the World War II documentary.”

“Oh no, thank you, Amelia, but I couldn’t.”

“Yeah, you can.” Bradley clears some space at the end of the cart. “Here, put your basket in there, and we’ll finish out together.”

Amelia watches Mary hesitate, a silent conversation passing between the adults before she sets her basket in the cart. “Thank you, that was getting heavy. Where are you guys off to next?”

The trio continues making their way through the store, Amelia switching between riding on the end of the cart and walking behind the adults.

A scuffle catches her attention, and Amelia looks up from her phone to find Mary and Bradley smooshed together, Bradley’s arm wrapped around her waist as he presses her against the cart from where they bumped into each other.

“Oh, hey, sorry about that. You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Mary giggles, her cheeks turning pink. “We sure are graceful, aren’t we?”

“I think we could walk on stage at the ballet and fit right in.”

Oh my god. Is this his way of flirting?

Mary laughs at the joke, reaching down to put a can of tomatoes in her basket but making no effort to move away from his chest.

Oh wow, she’s into it. Weird.

“So what are you doing for dinner? Amelia Bedelia back there conned me into agreeing to pizza.”

“That’s not true, he bribed me.”

“Actually, you blackmailed me.”

“I’m making chicken parmesan,” Mary answers, grabbing a box of angel hair pasta. “Dani and I are having a girl’s night; apparently, the baby has been craving my mom’s secret chicken parm recipe.”

“What’s the secret?” Amelia hops back onto the cart, smiling as Bradley glares at her.

“You promise not to tell anyone?” Mary conspiratorially bumps shoulders with Bradley as they both agree. “Well… you have to use homemade tomato sauce, made the Vertucci family way. And when you bread the chicken, you add shredded parmesan to the breadcrumbs. It gives it extra flavor, and the cheese makes it nice and crispy when you finish it in the oven.”

“That sounds so good! I love Italian food.”

“Did you know that chicken parm is actually an Italian-American food? You won’t find it on the menus in Italy.”

“Really?” Bradley asks, paying close attention to her.

“Yeah! There’s some dishes that are kinda similar. Like melanzane alla parmigiana - made with eggplant - or carne pizzaiola, which is traditionally made with beef. But most restaurants in Italy have a menu that’s closer to the Italian peasant recipes that I grew up eating.”

“What are peasant recipes?” Amelia questions, unfamiliar with the term.

“They’re just recipes that peasants or the regular people would make. They’re very simple and made with ingredients that are easy and cheap to buy. My family didn’t have a lot of money when they came over from Italy and the Great Depression, so those are the kind of meals my grandparents grew up eating. And they’re still delicious, so they made things like pastina or pasta mollicata for us growing up.”

“What's your favorite?”

Mary lights up at the question from Bradley, her smile getting bigger. “Pasta e piselli, which is just pasta and peas. But it’s so good and filling and comforting.”

“Do you make it a lot?”

“I don’t actually, Amelia, even though it’s very easy to make. It’s one of those recipes I break out for a special dinner or when I need a pick-me-up meal.”

“Special dinner? You ever make it for a date?” Bradley asks as they turn into the last aisle.

Mary visibly flounders. “Uh- I- No. I haven’t made it for a date.”

“Why not? Amelia, what kind of ice cream do you want?”

“Chocolate chip cookie dough, please.” She answers, her eyes bouncing back and forth between the two adults, a bad feeling creeping up her neck.

“Well, honestly, it’s a special recipe to me - it’s my Nonna’s recipe. So, I wouldn’t make it for someone until I knew they were in it for the long haul.”

“Oh, that’s smart! You said it was easy to make. Would you mind sharing the recipe with me? I’ve been looking for a quality recipe that’s not too hard to make for an occasion like that.”

Amelia’s stomach drops as she watches Mary’s face fall.

Bradley! Get your head out of the ice cream cooler and pay attention! You’re making her sad!

She realizes that the situation is quickly devolving and pivots the conversation.

“Hey, Mary?”

“Yeah, sweetie?” The older woman pulls her eyes from Bradley’s back, which she’d been staring at dejectedly.

“You made those brownies Mav brought home a couple weeks ago, right?” She smiles when Mary nods. “Do you know how to make red velvet?”

“I do. Why do you ask?”

��Well, it’s my birthday next month, and I want red velvet cupcakes for my party. Could I order them from you?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Those brownies were amazing, and Bradley still talks about that strawberry shortcake you made.”

Mary’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline, eyes flicking to a sheepish Bradley.

“That lemon pound cake did things to me.”

“Okay, ignoring the weirdo. Do you think you could make them?”

“Of course! I’ll talk to your mom next week and figure out the details, okay?”

“Thank you!” Amelia jumps off the cart to hug Mary, sticking her tongue out at Bradley as she does. “My favorite color is red.”

“Noted.” Mary taps the end of her nose. “We should probably head for the checkout; I have a pregnant lady waiting at home that I need to feed.”

Nodding in agreement, Bradley pulls Amelia toward a cashier line while Mary grabs her basket and heads for the self-checkout.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Oh, I’m just gonna do self-checkout so I can get going. But I’ll see you on Monday.”

Bradley cocks his head like a confused puppy. “Are you sure? If you wait with us, I’ll carry your bags to the car for you.”

“That’s sweet, but I’ve got it. Been doing this all by myself for years now! Enjoy your pizza, guys!” She waves, her smile not as big as it had been ten minutes ago.

The duo watches her from their place in line, impressed with how quickly she scans and packs her reusable bags, ones that match those sitting in their cart. It’s not long before she’s loading up her arms and flashing a quick smile at them as she leaves, which they return.

“I feel like I did something wrong.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Amelia scoffs. “Whatever makes you think that? How she ran away from us as quickly as possible? Or the fact that she was faking her smile for the last 15 minutes?”

“She was faking it? Why?”

“You’re not seriously asking me that right now.”

It’s their turn to checkout, so Bradley doesn’t get a chance to defend himself until they’re walking through the parking lot to the Bronco.

“Okay, want to tell me what I did wrong?”

“You didn’t ask her out. And she definitely would have said yes if you did.”

“I hinted at it!”

“No, you didn’t! You made it sound like you were asking for her grandma’s recipe - that’s very special to her - so you could make it for some other woman! There was no point at which you hinted at that woman being her!”

He claps a hand over his face. “Holy shit…”

“Now he gets it! Ladies and gentlemen, Bradley Rooster Bradshaw! One of the Navy’s finest! Let's give him a big round of applause!” Amelia mockingly claps after she tucks the cart back into the corral.

“Alright, that’s enough, smartass; get in.”

“In the cart? In the Bronco? You need to start being more specific with your questions.” She sasses as she climbs into the passenger seat.

Bradley doesn’t move once he gets in; just sits there staring out the windshield. “Do you think I fucked it up?”

“No.” She smiles at him when he whips his head in her direction. “Just ask her out to something small, like coffee or something. Then you can work your way up and ask her to dinner, but you make dinner. Maybe even the pasta and pea thing she was talking about. I’m sure there’s recipes online.”

“You’re pretty smart for someone so young.”

“Thanks, I get it from my mom. My dad is the worst.”

Bradley chuckles as he turns the car on. “She is a smart lady. You know, my mom would have liked you a lot.”

Amelia freezes, half-way buckled. “Really?”

“Oh yeah, you have the same sense of humor as her. She’d think you’re a riot.”

“You never talk about her.”

“It’s hard to talk about her.” He swallows hard, fiddling with the radio until he lands on a station playing old music. “I miss her so much. It’s gotten a little easier over the years, but there’s so few people left that actually knew her, it’s tough. Especially because I keep losing those people, too.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes until Bradley turns the radio up. “She loved this song.”

She listens, trying to place the song. “This is the Tarzan song.”

“It is the Tarzan song.” He laughs, his throat thick. “She loved Genesis and Phil Collins, but You’ll Be In My Heart was her favorite. We listened to it a lot towards the end.”

Amelia unbuckles, throwing herself across the bench seat to hug him. She surprises him; she can tell from the way he tenses for a second before hugging her back. She tries not to cry, but she can feel a few tears build up, upset that Bradley doesn’t have his mom or his dad anymore. That he’s lived longer without them than he lived with them.

“Oh, Ames. It’s okay.” He rubs her back when he hears her sniffle.

“It’s not fair!”

“I know, kiddo. But it happened, and at least she’s not in pain anymore.” He pulls back, wiping a tear off her cheek. “Hey, has Mav ever told you about the time me and my mom pulled a Halloween prank on him?”

“No.” She wipes her face. “Will you tell me more about her? I want to know more about your mom.”

“I’ll do you one better. We’ll watch embarrassing home videos while we eat pizza; how’s that sound? Good?”

Amelia nods, buckling back up. “Can we get Hawaiian pizza, please?”

“Course we can. So about this Halloween prank, it’s 1997, and the movie Anaconda had come out that year.”

“Mav hates snakes.”

“Yes, Mav does hate snakes. Which is why we…”

And Bradley pulls out of the parking lot and heads for the pizza joint, making his little sister laugh over the story of how it was discovered that Mav’s screams could reach a soprano octave.

tagged some extra friends/mutuals, and as always if you’d like to be added or removed from the tag list, send an ask!

@gretagerwigsmuse | @hangmanapologist | @hangmanbrainrot | @notroosterbradshaw | @princessphilly | @hangmanssunnies | @thesewordsareallihavetogive | @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby | @katieshook02 | @hellojameshowyadoin | @aristotles-butthole | @atarmychick007 | @whatislovevavy | @kmc1989 | @sometimesanalice | @laracrofted

fic tag | Mar[r]y Me masterlist | credit for dividers here

[mariacallous]

Earlier this week, WIRED published a story about the AI-powered search startup Perplexity, which Forbes has accused of plagiarism. In it, my colleague Dhruv Mehrotra and I reported that the company was surreptitiously scraping, using crawlers to visit and download parts of websites from which developers had tried to block it, in violation of its own publicly stated policy of honoring the Robots Exclusion Protocol.

Our findings, as well as those of the developer Robb Knight, identified a specific IP address almost certainly linked to Perplexity and not listed in its public IP range, which we observed scraping test sites in apparent response to prompts given to the company’s public-facing chatbot. According to server logs, that same IP visited properties belonging to Condé Nast, the media company that owns WIRED, at least 822 times in the past three months—likely a significant undercount, because the company retains only a small portion of its records.

We also reported that the chatbot was bullshitting, in the technical sense. In one experiment, it generated text about a girl following a trail of mushrooms when asked to summarize the content of a website that its agent did not, according to server logs, attempt to access.

Perplexity and its CEO, Aravind Srinivas, did not substantively dispute the specifics of WIRED’s reporting. “The questions from WIRED reflect a deep and fundamental misunderstanding of how Perplexity and the Internet work,” Srinivas said in a statement. Backed by Jeff Bezos’ family office and by Nvidia, among others, Perplexity has said it is worth a billion dollars based on its most recent fundraising round, and The Information reported last month that it was in talks for a new round that would value it at $3 billion. (Bezos did not reply to an email; Nvidia declined to comment.)

After we published the story, I prompted three leading chatbots to tell me about the story. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude generated text offering hypotheses about the story’s subject but noted that they had no access to the article. The Perplexity chatbot produced a six-paragraph, 287-word text closely summarizing the conclusions of the story and the evidence used to reach them. (According to WIRED's server logs, the same bot observed in our and Knight’s findings, which is almost certainly linked to Perplexity but is not in its publicly listed IP range, attempted to access the article the day it was published, but was met with a 404 response. The company doesn't retain all its traffic logs, so this is not necessarily a complete picture of the bot's activity, or that of other Perplexity agents.) The original story is linked at the top of the generated text, and a small gray circle links out to the original following each of the last five paragraphs. The last third of the fifth paragraph exactly reproduces a sentence from the original: “Instead, it invented a story about a young girl named Amelia who follows a trail of glowing mushrooms in a magical forest called Whisper Woods.”

This struck me and my colleagues as plagiarism. It certainly appears to satisfy the criteria set out by Poynter Institute—including, perhaps most stringently, the seven-to-10 word test, which proposes that it’s “hard to incidentally replicate seven consecutive words that appear in another author’s work.” (Kelly McBride, a Poynter SVP who has described this test as being useful in identifying plagiarism, did not reply to an email.)

“If one of my students turned in a story like this, I would take them before the academic dishonesty committee for plagiarism,” said John Schwartz, professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin’s journalism school, after reading the original story and the summary. “I find this just too close. When I was reading the Perplexity version, I just thought, there’s an echo in here.”

Perplexity and Srinivas, the company’s CEO, did not respond to a detailed request for comment in which they were presented with the criticisms experts made of the company for this story.

Bill Grueskin, professor of professional practice at Columbia Journalism School, wrote in an email that the summary looked to be “pretty much ok” for a chatbot identified as such, but that it was hard to say because he hadn’t had time to read the original WIRED story. “Quoting a sentence verbatim without quote marks is bad, of course,” he wrote. “I'd be pretty mortified if a news org ran an AI summary like this without disclosing the source—or worse, pretending it came from a human.” (Perplexity, of course, isn’t claiming this material came from a human.)

Perhaps luckily for Perplexity and its backers, this is a literal academic debate. Plagiarism is a concept pertaining to professional ethics, important in contexts like journalism and academia where being able to identify the source of information is of fundamental importance but of no legal significance in itself. If a rival studio releases a film containing a reasonable chunk of footage from Inside Out 2, Disney would sue not for plagiarism but for copyright infringement; similarly, a letter Forbes reportedly sent Perplexity threatening legal action is said to mention “willful infringement” of Forbes’ copyrights. Here, legal experts say, Perplexity is on somewhat safer ground—probably.

“In terms of the copyright, this is a tough call,” says James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell University. On one hand, he argues, the summary is reporting facts, which cannot be copyrighted; but on the other, it does partially duplicate the original and summarize the details found in it. “It’s not a slam dunk copyright case, but it’s not trivial, either. It’s not frivolous.”

Grimmelmann sees a host of potential issues for Perplexity, among them consumer protection, unfair advertising, or deceptive trade practices claims he believes could be made against a company that says it respects the Robots Exclusion Protocol but doesn’t follow it. (The standard is voluntary but widely adhered to.) He also thinks it could be vulnerable to a claim of misappropriation of hot news, in which a publisher argues that a competitor summarizing its material before it’s had a chance to commercially benefit from it, or in a way that undermines its value to paying subscribers, is infringing on its copyright. Perplexity’s evident ability to circumvent paywalls “is a bad fact for them,” he says, as is the fact that its system is automated.

Grimmelmann also says that Perplexity may be forfeiting the protection of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This is the law that, among other things, protects search engines like Google from liability for defamation when they link to defamatory content because they are services passing on information from other content providers; as he sees it, Perplexity is similarly shielded as long as it accurately summarizes material. (Whether AI-generated material enjoys 230 protection at all is a matter of debate.)

“They’d only get in trouble if they summarized the story incorrectly and made it defamatory when it wasn’t before. That’s something that they actually would be at legal risk for, especially if they don’t credit the original source clearly enough and people can’t easily go to that source to check,” he says. “If Perplexity’s edits are what make the story defamatory, 230 doesn’t cover that, under a bunch of case law interpreting it.”

In one case WIRED observed, Perplexity’s chatbot did falsely claim, albeit while prominently linking to the original source, that WIRED had reported that a specific police officer in California had committed a crime. (“We have been very upfront that answers will not be accurate 100% of the time and may hallucinate,” Srinivas said in response to questions for the story we ran earlier this week, “but a core aspect of our mission is to continue improving on accuracy and the user experience.”)

“If you want to be formal,” says Grimmelmann, “I think this is a set of claims that would get past a motion to dismiss on a bunch of theories. Not saying it will win in the end, but if the facts bear out what Forbes and WIRED, the police officer—a bunch of possible plaintiffs—allege, they are the kinds of things that, if proven and other facts were bad for Perplexity, could lead to liability.”

Not all experts agree with Grimmelmann. Pam Samuelson, professor of law and information at UC Berkeley, writes in an email that copyright infringement is “about use of another’s expression in a way that undercuts the author’s ability to get appropriate remuneration for the value of the unauthorized use. One sentence verbatim is probably not infringement.”

Bhamati Viswanathan, a faculty fellow at New England Law, says she’s skeptical the summary passes a threshold of substantial similarity usually necessary for a successful infringement claim, though she doesn’t think that’s the end of the matter. “It certainly should not pass the sniff test,” she wrote in an email. “I would argue that it should be enough to get your case past the motion to dismiss threshold—particularly given all the signs you had of actual stuff being copied.”

In all, though, she argues that focusing on the narrow technical merits of such claims may not be the right way to think about things, as tech companies can adjust their practices to honor the letter of dated copyright laws while still grossly violating their purpose. She believes an entirely new legal framework may be necessary to correct for market distortions and promote the underlying aims of US intellectual property law, among them to allow people to financially benefit from original creative work like journalism so that they’ll be incentivized to produce it—with, in theory, benefits to society.

“There are, in my opinion, strong arguments to support the intuition that generative AI is predicated upon large scale copyright infringement,” she writes. “The opening ante question is, where do we go from there? And the greater question in the long run is, how do we ensure that creators and creative economies survive? Ironically, AI is teaching us that creativity is more valuable and in demand than ever. But even as we recognize this, we see the potential for undermining, and ultimately eviscerating, the ecosystems that enable creators to make a living from their work. That’s the conundrum we need to solve—not eventually, but now.”

[ao3feed-narlie]

Sacrificing Today for Tomorrow

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QRIrTZP by blissfullyparker Nick Nelson is suffering from the loss of his beloved pug, Henry. Through this journey, he realizes that he wants nothing more than to have a family of his own, like he sees with his friends. Nick now has to navigate what the ~truly~ wants in life, going on a journey of self discovery, self love, and preservation. Charlie Spring (he/they pronouns) is a recently single dad to daughter Amelia whose eighth birthday is right around the corner. They haven't had the easiest life, but with the help of Tao, Elle, and his new job at the veterinary clinic, he's slowly building his confidence back in himself as a person and father. An unexpected meeting between the two changes their lives. Words: 2378, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper), Tara Jones, Darcy Olsson, Tao Xu, Elle Argent, Christian McBride (Heartstopper), Otis Smith | Omar, Sai Verma, Original Characters, Original Child Character(s), Original Non-Binary Character, Henry Nelson (Heartstopper), Sarah Nelson Relationships: Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring, Tara Jones/Darcy Olsson, Elle Argent/Tao Xu Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Character Death, Nicholas "Nick" Nelson Needs a Hug, POV Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Nicholas "Nick" Nelson Loves Charles "Charlie" Spring, Confident Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper), Parent Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper), Friends to Lovers, No Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Read, No Smut, No Sex, Aged-Up Character(s), Veterinary Clinic, No Incest, Fluff, Friendship, Slow Burn, Protective Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Bisexual Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Bisexual Disaster Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Protective Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper), Supportive Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Eventual Happy Ending, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Found Family, Tags Are Hard read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QRIrTZP

[undrcssed]

MASTERLIST

A masterlist of muses that I have played throughout the years, that I am always willing to play. I do need to go over some of the FC's and probably make some changes since this list is YEARS old. But I will do that and update it!!

Abigail ‘Abbi’ Abrams FC: Victoria Justice 

Addison Smollen FC: Kendall Jenner 

Allison ‘Alli’ Ortiz FC: Madison Beer 

Amelia ‘Mia’ Abrams FC: Torrey Devitto

Ana Flores FC: Camila Mendes

Angelina Rose FC: Clemence Posey

Apollo Kona FC: Roman Reigns

Augusta ‘Gwen’ Porter FC: Hailey Baldwin

Avery Smollen FC: Kylie Jenner

Bailey Allwood FC: Katherine Langford

Bethany DuPont-Hunter FC: Rachel Bilson / FC: Crystal Reed

Benjamin DuPont FC: Theo James

Blaise Zabini FC: Keith Powers

Bleau St. Claire FC: Val Mercado

Braelyn Carter FC: Alycia Debnam Carey 

Caleb Kyriakos FC: Tom Austen

Callie Haverford FC: Gigi Hadid

Cameron Bartell FC: Natalia Dyer

Cathleen ‘Rey’ Murphy FC: Paige / Saraya Jade Bevis

Chasity Dean FC: Troian Bellisario

Clara Spencer FC: Alexis Ren

Connor O’Brien FC: Cody Saintgnue

Cooper Brozene FC: Joel Kinnaman

Cyrus Morgan FC: Scott Speedman

Daphne Greengrass FC: Pia Mia

Darya Smirnov FC: Taylor Hill

Davina Pace FC: Carmella Rose

Dawson St. James FC: Finn Wittrock

Dean Munroe FC: Jake Gyllenhaal

Demi O’Connor FC: Jessica Lowndes

Destiny Savvin FC: Eiza Gonzalez / FC: Salma Hayek

Dev Ambrogino FC: Nathan Parsons

Diya Gupta FC: Naomi Scott

Dorian Porter FC: Justin Hartley

Dylan Boyer FC: Olivia Wilde / FC: Odeya Rush

Eden Hunter FC: Danielle Campbell

Elizabeth Rush FC: Hayley Atwell

Evelyn Perez FC:  Bruna Marquezine

Genivive ‘Ginny’ Kennedy FC:  Alicia Vikander

Gracie Abernathy FC: Nicola Peltz

Harleen Quinzel FC: Margot Robbie

Hudson O’Connor FC: Charlie Hunnam

Hunter Munroe FC: Kit Harington

Irina Savvin FC: Claire Holt

Isabella Martinez FC: Naya Rivera  Christian Serratos

Isobel Garcia FC: Jackie Cruz

Ivy Hartley FC: Maggie Duran

Jack Collins FC: Tom Holland

Jalessa Myers FC: Jade Thirlwall

Jayden Munroe FC: Leigh Anne Pinnock

Jayson Hunter FC: Dominic Sherwood

Jennifer Martinez FC: Diane Guerrero 

Joanna ‘Joey’ Martell FC: Marie Avgeropoulos

Judith Grimes FC: Daisy Ridley 

Karina Smirnov FC: Irina Shayk / FC: India Eisley

Katherine ‘Katy’ Abernathy FC: Katie Stevens

Katya Ambrogino FC: Ariel Winter

Keith Newman FC: Travis Mills

Kimber Rhodes FC: Karla Souza

Layla Abernathy FC: Emily Kinney / FC: Candice Swanepoel

Leah Douglas FC: Nathalie Emmanuel / FC: Amandla Stenberg

Lee McBride FC: Dan Stevens

Lilliana ‘Lily’ Rey FC: Bella Thorne Luca Hollestelle

Lorelei Ambrose FC: Imogen Poots

Maddox Young FC: Amadeus Sarafini

Madison Nolan FC: Ashley Greene

Makenna Dean FC: Shelley Hennig

Mateo Fiore FC: Theo Rossi

Matheus Silva FC: Chay Suede

Matty Dodson FC: Cody Christian

Maximus ‘Mac’ Porter FC: Austin Butler

Melanie Rhee FC: Lauren Cohan

Mickey Wolfe FC: Troye Sivan

Natalia ‘Talia’ Smallwood FC: Emily Ratajkowski

Nate Ballard FC: Randy Orton

Nikolai Savvin FC: Joseph Morgan

Paige Stabler FC: Madison Davenport

Pansy Parkinson FC: Nona Komatsu

Parker Mercer FC: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Phoenix Dattolo FC: Avan Jogia

Piper Romero FC: Maia Mitchell / FC: Giza Lagarce

Priyah Jacobs FC: Alysha Nett

Psyche FC: Sophie Turner

Rami Armand FC: Zayn Malik

Reagan Powers FC: Allison Williams

Rhea Lockhart FC: Julianne Hough

Richard Thorne FC: Jon Hamm

Rose Granger-Weasley FC: Madelaine Petsch

Ryan O'Brien FC: Cam Gigandet

Samantha ‘Sammie’ Barker FC: Arden Cho

Sergei Savvin FC: Max Riemelt

Sierra Tsu FC: Dichen Lachman

Stella La’ei Kona FC: Nikki Reed

Sunshine ‘Sunny’ Jacobs FC: Dove Cameron 

Sydney Pearson FC: Zendaya 

Tanya Dash FC: Khole Kardashian Bree Kish

Teegan O'Brien FC: Lili Reinhart

Titus Kona FC: Jason Momoa

Tobias Graves FC: Travis Fimmel

Trent Lancaster FC: Andrew Lincoln

Valentino De Luca FC: Dominic Cooper

Veda Patil FC: Priyanka Chopra

Wyatt Cahill FC: Ryan Guzman

Xavier Waters FC: Don Benjamin

Zion Waters FC: Ricky Whittle

Zoe DiMarco FC: Bex Taylor-Klaus / FC: Ruby Rose / FC: Ash Stymest

[shayziekaiziereblogs]

You and the squad are ready to kick some ninja ass!

When I got back into the Amelia comics, I was amazed by the cover work of Issue #7. Just seeing Captain Amazing and his team expanded their numbers with Owen, Mary Violet, EarthDog, the Britneys, Reenie, and (the most surprising) Bug and Iggy.

You know, come to think of it, I don't think Owen, Bug or Iggy ever established their hero IDs.

In my opinion,I think Owen's hero name would be "Spy Bat", Bug would be "Tundra" and Iggy would be "Sgt. (Sergeant) Ignatius". What do you think of those names?

[shayziekai]

Punk Rock Bug

Iggy will come in a later date!

I think that if Bug does appear in the new Amelia Rules comic, he might have this phase. But I am not Mr. Gownley, so that is pretty much up to debate.

[red-and-black-forever]

Valentine By Martine McBride and Valentine by 5 Seconds Of Summer will be two songs I am going to use for my Valentines Day Videos.

Video 1- Valentine by Martina McBride

1. Icarly- Carly and Freddie

2. Victorious- Tori and Beck

3. ZOEY 101- Zoey and Chase

4. Zoey 101-Quinn and Logan

5. Spencer and Teddy- Good Luck Charlie

6. Austin and Ally

Video 2- Valentine by 5 Seconds of Summer

1. Liv and Major- izombie

2. Mike and Max- the following

3. Wynonna and Doc- Wynonna Earp

4. Anne and Phillip- The Greastest Showman

5. Piper and Leo- Charmed

6. Phoebe and Coop- Charmed

Video 3- Power Ranger Valentine by Martina McBride

1. Tommy and Kat

2. Adam and Tanya

3. Andros and Ashley

4. Astronema/ Karone and Zhane

5. Leo and Kendrix

6. Tyler and Shelby

Video 4- Power Ranger Valentine by 5 Seconds of Summer

1. Jayden and Mia

2. Mike and Emily

3. Dillon and Summer

4. Ziggy and Dr. K

5. Sky and Z

6. Javi and Amelia

[princess-peregrine]

Put Franny K. Stein or Amelia Louise McBride on there and i'm sold

This could do numbers

[barricadescon]

Deadline Extended for Proposal Submissions!

The deadline to submit both academic and fan track programming for Barricades: A Les Mis Convention 2023 has been extended to March 15, 2023. Notification of proposal acceptance is still by April 15. 

Submissions can address any aspect of Les Miserables! If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, here are just a few examples from the excellent programming at Barricades 2022:

Les Mis Survival AUs: Building Character Community and Exploring What-Ifs by KCrabb88 and everyonewasabird 

South African Themes in Liesl Tommy’s Les Miserables by Christie McBride

Codes in Context: Queer Possibilities of Enjolras and Grantaire by Amelia Roberts

Fandom and Activism by starbright-cobweb and Isaac (yetintrepid)

In addition, we are looking for volunteers to help review programming submissions! If you are interested in helping us select panels for the con, join us over at our discord!