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inafieldofstarflowers · 30 days ago

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(@tessasilverswan it was sooo dangerous of you to enable me to talk about this scene. I swear I did not mean for this to get so long & so I added a little summary.)

Chapter seven of The Raven King is truly banger after banger, specifically in terms of three important conversations Neil has: there are his post-banquet conversations with Wymack and Kevin, and then—the one I want to focus on—his conversation with Nicky in the library. As a whole, I would argue that this chapter is a turning point for Neil. He already decided not to run, back when Andrew gave him the key, but this is the moment he’s deciding to be a Fox, and to be Neil Josten. His conversation with Kevin is a huge part of this, of course—it’s one of my favorite parts of the series as a whole, because it’s such an interesting insight into Kevin as a character—but his conversation with Nicky is both incredibly informative and�� foundational to a lot of the choices Neil makes in the future, but with the exception of a few moments (“Some of the strongest people I’ve known are women” is forever iconic, and also a moment of silence for Nicky Hemmick absolutely failing to clock the fact that his cousin is gay. rip.), it’s not really discussed outside of its work in establishing the pre-series timeline for the cousins, but there’s. So much there. So, in summary:

This conversation has some truly incredible lines. Nora did not hold back with it.

The details about Aaron & Nicky in this conversation are crucial to understanding how they interact with others—and, more specifically, with each other

This conversation is where Neil starts to understand both the root of the division between Andrew and Aaron and the contribution Aaron and Katelyn’s relationship has to that division, and as a result, plants the seeds for his eventual plan of therapy/using Katelyn to manipulate Aaron

Neil, freshly resolved not to run, is confronted with the idea of a future

Neil, freshly confronted with the idea of a future, is also confronted with the idea that he needs to hold onto something other than Exy (& begins to realize that he has already, unintentionally, begun to do so)

The longer version:

The conversation can easily be divided into two distinct parts: the first of which is a discussion of the twins & their relationship, sparked by Nicky commenting on Aaron and Katelyn, who are standing together a bit away from the table where Nicky and Neil are sitting. It’s significant that Nicky is the one who presses the topic, because it emphasizes that, until this point, Neil doesn’t see any reason that Aaron’s relationship would be worth noticing, even thinking that “his review was more important than something as trivial as Aaron’s maybe-relationship.” While Neil arguably never starts seeing Aaron’s relationship as anything other than trivial, this conversation is the first time he understands its role in the balancing act Aaron and Andrew are performing, and, in a way, the impetus for his later decision to use it as ammunition in trying to reunite them.

It’s also immediately apparent that Nicky and Neil have incredibly different perspectives on the events Nicky is about to relate: Neil, who has been getting closer to Andrew, listens to the story with him in mind, working out potential motivations for him, while Nicky relates them largely from Aaron’s perspective—it’s clear that Aaron has talked to him about these events and Andrew hasn’t, given that he’s able to relate events directly from Aaron’s perspective but can only speculate on Andrew’s thoughts/reasoning. The fact that Nicky can so neatly outline the series of events—most of which he wasn’t present for—suggests that the put a great deal of effort into piecing together what, exactly, got the twins to this place (which, in my opinion, makes the exchange in TKM in which Aaron accuses him of siding with Neil and he comments “It’s not like you’ve ever let me take your [side]” sooo interesting. But I digress.).

This half of the conversation also has two main parts: an explanation of everything leading up to the car crash and the crash/its fallout. This is the most detail that we’ve gotten about the twins’ past, and as he’s telling the story, Neil notes that Nicky’s facade of cheer has fallen away, leaving a humorless smile. I think this is maybe the most genuine we ever see Nicky: he’s performing less than he does around pretty much anyone else, perhaps because he’s been made a part of the family, but isn’t someone Nicky feels responsibility for in the way he does for the twins. Nicky opens with the revelation that Tilda put both twins in the system at first, and the dialogue emphasizes the sheer luck involved in which twin went where: they don’t know Tilda’s reasoning, but Nicky’s summarizes it pretty well in saying that “they each had a fifty-fifty chance of getting screwed, and that, in the end, they “both got the short end of the stick.” It’s one of the most concise descriptions of the way the twins’ relationship was doomed from the start: no matter which direction things had gone, this would always have been a wedge driven between the two of them.

What follows is a depiction of Aaron’s very-much-not-ideal™ childhood, which amounts to pretty textbook neglect (Tilda apparently “tried as hard as she could not to deal with Aaron at all”) until he learned about Andrew, which is “when Aaron says she started getting angry instead of just neglectful.” Nicky says that “Finding Andrew again was a turning point for Aaron in all the worst ways,” which is a brutal statement, but critical to understanding what I would argue is a big part of Aaron’s issue with Andrew: when he learned about his brother, everything fell apart for him, and yet he still tried to reach out to Andrew, and Andrew rejected him (for no reason, as far as he could tell, even though we learn why Andrew did so later). In general, we learn a lot about Aaron here, and specifically his relationship with Tilda, but that’s a separate post, and it can be pretty effectively summarized by saying that, and this point, Aaron’s life was Really Bad. Nicky mentions his mom’s concern about Aaron—so strong that she wrote to Nicky in Germany—and paired with his later statement that he “should have tried harder” with Aaron, it’s clear that part of Nicky’s choice to return & try to help the twins reunite was a result of misplaced guilt. (As a side note, I think Maria’s concern for Aaron and the fact that she at least sort of stayed in touch with Nicky while he was in Germany does a lot to explain why he has hope/any desire to try to restore that relationship: they’re threads of hope that she cares, and Nicky is clinging to them.)

At this point, we move into a discussion of the car crash, which is the clearest example of the Nicky & Aaron vs. Neil & Andrew division. Ironically, this is also maybe the only time Neil is a true Aaron Understander, because Nicky’s comments about Aaron’s relationship with Tilda (“It’s not like Aaron liked her, but she was his mother, you know? And Aaron never got to fix things with her, never got to understand why she was so messed up or why she messed them up so bad.”) are incredibly similar to his feelings about Mary, but that’s nevertheless not enough to stop him from suggesting Andrew acted “to protect Aaron.”

In the end, Nicky and Neil kind of dance around the truth of the matter, which is that Andrew did act as he did in order to protect Aaron, but that that doesn’t mean Aaron can’t/shouldn’t be angry about it. What they’re exactly correct about, on the other hand, is that this is a big problem, and I would argue that it is here that the seeds of Neil’s therapy plan are planted. He sees the problem (“I’m guessing they’ve never talked about how she died”) and Nicky agrees that there’s no solution in sight as things stand (“They won’t even talk about the little things. I don’t see them having a belated heart-to-heart about Andrew’s intentions anytime soon”), and so he forces a situation where the twins have to address it—and, by doing so, he helps Nicky in his efforts to fix their relationship, which even Nicky says he’s realized he can’t do on his own.

*A moment of silence for Nicky truly believing Andrew and Renee were a thing*

At this point, we transition into the second half of the conversation, which is essentially Nicky’s manifesto on the importance of love, kicked off by the incredible line “You can love Exy all you want, but it’s never gonna love you back” and Neil’s absolutely on-brand response of “So?” Neil immediately tries to backtrack, realizing that he does not want to have this conversation, and Nicky’s refusal to let it go is one of the few times in the series that I think Nicky’s pushiness is a good thing: this is a conversation Neil needs to have, and he is just not going to do it on his own. (Also, “Nicky snatched his math pamphlet off the desk and dropped it on the ground by his chair” is so funny to me because it’s so needlessly dramatic. I love him.)

It’s so hard for me not to just quote this whole conversation, because Nicky truly rolls out banger after banger: after this opening, for example, he hits Neil with “Listen up. There’s obsession and there’s dysfunction, You can’t make Exy your end-all-be-all. This won’t last forever, okay? You’ll shine bright, then you’ll retire, and then what? You gonna spend the rest of your life at home alone with all your trophies?” It’s important to me that Nicky isn’t discrediting Exy as a route for Neil’s future: he’s seen how much Neil loves it, and he recognizes that it would be pointless to try to argue that Neil should care less about it. Instead, he’s pushing Neil to recognize that he needs something in addition to Exy in order to live a truly full life.

I think it’s important at this point to pause and consider that Neil has been having a bit of a crisis since the banquet. Earlier in the chapter, Neil is reflecting on the Foxes and how “they were piecing Neil together and building a real person around all of his lies. They found the parts of him no disguise could change. Nothing they were learning would change this year’s outcome” (ie: his impending death) “or tell them who he really was, but it was frightening nonetheless. Luckily midterms were coming up, so Neil could use studying as an excuse to slowly pull back out of their reach.” In this moment, Nicky is directly refusing to let Neil use midterms as an excuse to pull away and avoid a conversation about his future that Nicky can tell he needs to have, as well as forcing Neil to confront the idea of the future he’s already decided doesn’t exist, and I think that Neil is terrified & made deeply uncomfortable by that idea, which is why he backpedals so hard. After the banquet, Neil told Kevin “I want to be Neil Josten. I want to be a Fox,” and the combination of the Foxes making Neil Josten real and Nicky’s focus on his future are proving that those words might mean more than Neil ever thought they could.

*An interlude to honor “Some of the strongest people I’ve known are women.” Neil Josten I love you. Imagine being Nicky Hemmick in this moment: this kid has asked why you don’t like women and answers your attempt to explain concisely by saying this. 10/10*

I won’t get into it too much here, because I’ve already discussed it, but Nicky continues to let his usual mask fall (“Nicky’s smile was slow and pleased…it was a more reserved expression than Neil usually saw on his face.”) and I think that this continued sincerity is part of why Neil finds himself unable to just ignore what Nicky’s saying.

This is where we get into Nicky’s past, which is so fun! So fresh! If it wasn’t already evident that Luther and Maria suck, it’s made clear as Nicky describes their responses to him coming out, and his description of the conversion camp ( “I spent a year learning that I was infected by a disgusting idea from the devil, that I was a living test for every other good Christian on the planet. They tried using God to shame me into being straight”) is so tough. This offers a lot of insight into why Nicky is the way he is: his openness is a pretty direct response to his parents’ lack of openness, but in his efforts to not be like them, he’s swung hard in the opposite direction and is often far too pushy about it. As a whole, this passage is genuinely one of the best depictions of religious guilt I’ve ever read—“It didn’t work. For a while I wished it did” and Nicky’s descriptions of feeling alternately abandoned by God and like he betrayed God are so grounded in reality and they make him feel so much more rounded as a character (which, again, I could say sooo much more about than I want to in this already long post). The whole description of Nicky’s mindset is interwoven with a heavy desperation and despair, which makes the fact that it was Nicky’s German teacher who “knew [he] was close to the edge,” while his parents were just “so proud of [him] for [his] so-called recovery” even more jarring: it emphasizes how willingly obtuse Luther and Maria both are, something we already saw in the fact that Aaron successfully hid evidence of Tilda’s abuse from them for years, and something which we see the worst example of later, when Luther refuses to take Andrew seriously and cries “misunderstanding” when Andrew tells him about Drake. (Also side note: shoutout to Nicky’s German teacher. She and Coach Hernandez are really out there looking out for their kids.)

“‘Erik Klose,’ Nicky said, sounding it out like he was saying it for the first time.” I don’t actually have anything to say about this line. It’s just really cute. I do, however, have a lot to say about what follows: “That’s what love is about, see? That’s why Exy isn’t ever going to be enough, not for you or Andrew or anyone. It can’t hold you up, and it won’t make you a stronger or better person.” This is arguably the thesis of this half of the conversation, and it stands in stark contrast to the flippancy and crudeness with which Nicky typically approaches the topic of love. Nicky is, or course, talking about romantic love here, but I think it’s pretty applicable to the idea of love in general, and that having a support system is important—which, again, is likely to hit home with Neil, who has begun to realize that he does, in fact, have one with the Foxes, and has begun to try to pull back. That Nicky is there, saying this to him, is unavoidable evidence that, just like he’s chosen the Foxes, they’ve chosen him, and they’re not going to just let go. This realization is followed by THE “Mary’s parenting kinda fucked Neil up, huh?” quote, in which he outlines a bunch of warnings she gave him on the dangers of letting people in, which is a Whole Lot, and is finally enough to push Neil to end the conversation, at which point we get the great exchange: “At least promise me you’ll think about it?” “Promise,” Neil said. “You are such an unrepentant liar.”

I love Nicky for dragging this promise out of him even though he absolutely doesn’t believe it’s true, and even though Neil does, in fact, prove him right by immediately trying to forget about the conversation, an effort which is only briefly successful, because he starts thinking about it—and specifically about what Nicky said about Erik—while watching Andrew during practice. This moment is the culmination of the tension between Mary’s instructions & Neil’s decision to first join and then stay with the Foxes that’s been building over this chapter. Specifically, Neil’s instinctual thought that “There was only one person in the world strong enough for all of Neil’s problems, and she was dead now” is countered by the realization that “he’d divided his secrets between Kevin and Andrew,” and that Andrew specifically had “nodded in the face of it and told Neil to stay.” In spite of this realization, he remains avoidant as hell and immediately thinks “that didn’t count, because Andrew was Andrew, and this was definitely the last turn he needed his thoughts to take,” which emphasizes that, even though he’s stepped away from his mother’s rules, he can’t quite let them go yet—or, perhaps, can’t acknowledge that he has already done so. The final line of the chapter, however—that Neil “vowed never to listen to Nicky again”—emphasizes that this has had an impact on him—otherwise, he wouldn’t be worried about what else Nicky would say if given the chance.

#nicky hemmick #the raven king #all for the game #aaron minyard #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg #aftg trk #trk

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definitelynotafurinasimp · 9 months ago

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Robin with a reader that's a journalist

Characters: Robin x gn!reader

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: It's ya boi, definitelynotarobinsimp, I have returned from my exile of writing for Robin and logged into Tumblr to write… for Robin... I gacha’d for the whole c4 Robin, I’m gonna use the whole c4 Robin!

I could have returned sooner with one or two stupid posts, but with this one we are at 999 posts and I am not wasting number 1000 on a shitpost. /hj

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Robin

Truth be told, when you told Robin you were a journalist, she couldn’t help but be concerned. A part of her committed to answering your questions for as long as they remained sensical and didn’t pry into her private life, while another worried about what she would do if you turned out to be another obtrusive one that wouldn’t leave her alone no matter what.

However, when you proceeded not to ask her anything afterwards, simply continuing with your conversation as if nothing had happened, Robin couldn’t help but wonder what your deal was. Were you not interested in interviewing her or did you simply want to lure her into a false sense of calm to get things out of her you usually wouldn’t?

And so, the first few times the two of you chatted with each other, Robin remained on her guard, making sure not to say anything she’d regret, only for nothing to happen each and every time and before she knew it, her walls were slowly but surely coming down when talking to you, the two of you growing closer as they did.

As Robin got to know you better, she came to realize that your interest in writing stories about her was as non-existent as it could be. Even if she said something she realized she had meant to keep a secret, there’d be no headline to suit it the following day, you simply responded with a secret of your own. Whether it was to make her feel better or to give her ammunition to assure mutual assured destruction, the songstress didn’t know, and before she knew it, she didn’t care either.

What you found great pleasure in however, was writing news stories about people writing news stories about her. Sometimes she’d find your name under an article writing about creeps taking photos of unsuspecting women while the pictures you took of paparazzis whenever you noticed one following the two of you on an public outing littered the article, other times she’d find it while reading about you being sued for the very same articles.

And yet, no matter how often she tried talking you out of it, you’d do it again.

The moment the two of you saw a bright flash emanate from a nearby bush, you hastily pulled out your camera, aiming it at the source before Robin even had the time to react, quickly trying to talk to you as you snapped your first pictures.

“Oh, I got his face”, you marveled excitedly as you glanced down at your camera, reviewing the photos you took as the songstress’ words failed to reach you.

“Wait, you don’t have to do this”, Robin desperately whispered to you, knowing full well how much trouble you were once again going to get yourself into, causing you to finally respond to her.

“Don’t they bother you?” You asked earnestly, only for her to quickly shake her head, cheeks growing ever so slightly red as she wasn’t used to voicing her less positive thoughts.

“Of course they do, but-” That was enough for you, as you shot her a big smile before once again looking down at the screen of your camera.

“Then I’ll do it. I already have a great headline in mind.”

“You’ll get sued.” She tried one last desperate attempt, only for you to almost look amused, that possibility never having stopped you from doing your thing.

“I have great lawyers.”

#hsr robin #robin hsr #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail #hsr robin x reader #hsr robin x you #hsr robin x y/n

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yandere-sins · 2 months ago

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Ivy random question in my head

You once mentioned that platonic yandere König often hides Kortac!Operator!reader from Ghost; where and how 💀

Did he just randomly push her into an empty room or storage when he senses Ghost and told her to wait or something-

AHA! Finally someone caught onto it! Let me write you some headcanons for that :D

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

♡ König's usual hiding place is easy and straightforward: His room. He'll ask you to meet him there or send someone to tell you to go there to retrieve some tasks or review documents with him. You'll have to go (begrudgingly), and he enjoys wasting your precious time by going on awkward yet never-ending talks. Even when you try to shift the conversation back to work, he still asks you about your favorite food, where you'd like to travel, and what you think of x, y, and z. It's tiring and unnecessary, and it adds double the time once he gets to the part where he actually reviews duties and operations with you. But you are untouchable as long as you are in his vicinity. No one gets past the door when König is having alone time with you.

♡ Now, sadly, he can't stay with you all the time. So he assigns you tasks! Fun... meaningless tasks. Sometimes he locks you in an office for that, returning to let you out a while later. Other times, he sends you across the whole base on a goose hunt for something he needs. He once assigned you to count ammunition... well, every bullet you could find. On a military base. You almost cried. But as long as only he knows where you are, König reached his goal and made it harder for anyone else to find you.

♡ In certain circumstances, he hides with you. And it's by far the worst thing. You don't like the closeness to him in his room? Tough luck. You two sat silently in a car once for hours in complete darkness just so König could make sure no one would snatch you from him at night. One time, you were doing inventory and unexpectedly got pulled into a container for an hour, with König refusing to let you go back to work just because he saw some suspicious activity that he didn't want to disclose to you in any way or form (he was really missing you that day).

♡ Despite having a high rank, his hiding shenanigans are occasionally overwritten by someone even higher on the list, and it's hell come true. König will be anxious, asking why you don't want to stay with him or why you are no longer listening to him despite you just doing your job. He invades every mission you are sent on, going berserk back at base if he isn't allowed to. You can watch him get angry, bluffing and shoving everyone in the base aside as he pouts and freaks out that your security is endangered, and he is watching you like a hawk constantly, just appearing wherever you go and not saying anything. He knows you must fulfill your orders, but he's not happy about it, and König will let you feel it.

♡ Fun fact: Ghost is usually close by when he's not on active duty. He hides in the shadows around you and even gets a thrill from invading König's hideouts with you. Even though König is trying so hard, Ghost will find you. But like a good hunter, he waits for the right moment, always keeping the colonel and you on your feet. You never notice that he's always right there with you until it's already too late.

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thebibliosphere · 11 months ago

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for pain stuff, if you can get it, gabapentin could be an option. it shuts off mast cells and also works on hyperalgesia and allodynia, and other kinds of nerve pain. plus also since it works on mast cells, it can stop the pain they cause by flaring, so that feedback cycle is interrupted.

here is a giant review article going over many different things about mast cells, it has a section on gaba: doi: 10.1186/s12974-020-02029-3

Thank you. I’ve been trying to get back on gabapentin for a while. (I was on it several years ago.) i just need the pain clinic to listen.

I’ll definitely bring it up at neurology when I see her again. Hopefully, the article will help give me ammunition.

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earthstellar · 1 year ago

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Brave Bang Bravern!: A Review for Transformers Fans

I've seen so much about this on my dash that I had to give it a try, and I gotta say, as someone who hasn't watched any new anime series since around 2008 at the most recent and I also hate the fucking military, this is a pretty good show.

THERE WILL BE SOME MILD SPOILERS. Nothing major. I'm not gonna spoil anything critical or mention characters that are introduced later etc. At of time of writing, only 6 episodes have been released.

Understanding Genre: The Trailer is A Lie

Now, while there is a trailer here, I want you to largely disregard it.

Why is that? Well, we need to talk about the "big two" robot show genres in Japan, which are as follows:

Real Robot -- This refers to a typically military setting or other serious setting, in which robots are handled as realistically as possible in terms of how they work and how they are applied. There tend to be less individual/sentient robots and more "suit" type mechs right along side human-made, more realistic machinery and mech designs, although that isn't entirely unique to this genre. Usually this stuff is labelled as sci-fi/action outside of Japan.

Super Robot (THIS IS THE SHIT TRANSFORMERS FANS GENERALLY WANT) --Essentially borderline seemingly magical robots with their own rules and in universe backstory for how they work, which isn't necessarily tied to realism. Usually this stuff is labelled as sci-fi/fantasy or space fantasy outside of Japan, since a lot of these tend to be space robots. They can be "driven" by pilots or just straight up sentient robots who are vibing with some human companions, although it's not exclusively that. It can be both, it can be neither, but no matter what, Super Robot shows are less about strict realism and more about really cool shit with robots that are basically their own people and exist according to their own rules.

Now, the trailer for BBBB (the acronym for the show is based on the Japanese title, which is Bang Brave Bang Bravern) is a COMPLETE FUCKING LIE.

It wants you to think this is going to be some dumbass GI Joe shit.

While there are elements of dumbass GI Joe shit, this is largely just to set up the premise for why shit is happening in the first place, and to help introduce the main threat (alien space creatures with fucking light beam lasers) as well as bring in our main characters under the premise of everyone having to work together to address this alien threat to Earth.

What we care about here amongst Transformers freaks is gay space robots, and this show delivers.

Getting Into Bravern: First Episode, Mild Plot Spoiler Summary

It wants you to think this is a Real Robot show.

The first episode sets things up as though it will be a Real Robot show.

There is a threat to Earth, a mystery space alien mechanical enemy, and nobody knows what the fuck to do. A military exercise between multiple nations using Titanostriders (which look very much like Shiro Masamune Appleseed-style mechs, human made in nature) to practice battle drills who are now instructed to swap over to real ammunition and go to fucking town.

Nobody knows how to do that.

They're skilled with the Titanostriders, sure, but it turns into a shit show. The alien mechanical enemies are using fucking space laser shit, it's a disaster---

--And then Bravern drops in from the fucking sky and it IMMEDIATELY TURNS INTO A SUPER ROBOT SHOW.

There's a "get in the robot, Shiji" moment where one of the Titanostrider operators, Isami Ao, is encouraged by Bravern to get inside of him.

He does. And immediately has no idea what the fuck is going on, Bravern is largely in control, and starts to blast his own theme song inside his cockpit as diegetic music while Isami is generally losing his shit, as one might do.

Humanity's reaction to Bravern is Real Robot genre type, where it is handled seriously by all the characters and organisations involved in universe, however Bravern is very much a Super Robot genre character who brings more of a Super Robot energy to the show at large.

The serious elements are mostly balanced by how fucking silly Bravern is, and there are some excellent moments in this show (currently only 6 episodes have been released) which make it entirely worth a watch.

Fun Things About Bravern Himself

Braven is very, very, very gay for his pilot.

Chances are, you've seen the screenshots of some of these moments on Tumblr already, but the delivery of these lines is magnificent.

Bravern sings his own theme song. It's the voice actor for Bravern doing the vocals, and the song itself is reminiscent of 1970s orchestrated big band energy mecha themes. For Transformers fans, it has a very Transformers Victory theme kind of vibe to it.

You gotta hear it, it fucking rules. The album cover shows Bravern holding a giant microphone.

Bravern is generally light hearted, doing his best to motivate his pilot while not hesitating to enter the action and try to defend humanity.

Now, why does Bravern care about humans so much? We don't know, but we'll talk about some mysteries in a later section below.

He is surprisingly insightful at times, while also fucking around and enjoying himself. (You may have seen screenshots going around Tumblr of Bravern with a loop of hot dogs strung around one of his chevron points on his forehead. This follows a scene in which he wants his pilot to take a break and associate with his peers for once, as a way to relieve stress. So they go to a bar, it turns out reception is positive and someone even brings weenies out for Bravern since he's too big to fit inside, lol.)

Generally, he's a very interesting mech, because we have so little information about him. He's fun, and clearly vibing, but he's also borderline if not outright obsessed with his pilot and has unknown origins, which has lead to some darker interpretations and audience discussion.

A lot of people have compared Bravern's energy to Rodimus, and generally I would agree with that. He has his high-energy silly moments, and his more serious personal moments (primarily with Isami, but also with Smith), and I think these aspects of his character work well to create a fun mech with the potential to be deep in a believable and effective way, with an equal capacity for being a doofus.

Bravern is obviously the number one reason to watch the show for most people, and I would say that if you're purely here for a giant gay space robot, then this is going to be a decent watch.

The Military Sucks: There Are Militaries Involved Yet Somehow This Is Still Watchable

I hate the fucking military, so at least the military here is depicted in an acceptable way (so far, at least). In episode 2, they waterboard Isami to interrogate him for information he doesn't have regarding Bravern, which is a realistically shitty and awful thing for the military to do-- They don't sugarcoat how fucked up the military is. These people very much have the capacity to harm their own staff, and they will do so if it means they might get an edge over the enemy.

At the same time, the actual characters in the military are depicted as primarily doing this shit out of a genuine personal desire to defeat these horrendously destructive space entities, which have attacked at least some of their home towns and home countries, so it's more personal rather than purely being a military directive that people are being forced to follow.

In this way, it's not really realistic, but everyone is on board for their own largely humanitarian aid type of reasons (there is a mission which is basically just locating survivors of an attack and then getting the fuck out) which makes the military context feel less oppressive and shitty.

Part of why this is more OK than other military depictions is because the military forces involved here are international (collaborating to defeat a global threat rather than kill each other's civilians) and because the military is clearly losing this war.

Because it's an international effort, this brings more diversity to the show-- There's a surprising amount of English interspersed between dialogue in Japanese here and there, and the military board consists of representatives from multiple nations, including some Germans who at first believe Bravern is some kind of secret American operation, lmao.

Bravern calls the military out on its shit, and essentially tells the military board to stop with the suspicious infighting bullshit and drop the internal tension because otherwise they'll all die to this mechanical nightmare creature threat.

They actually listen, which means this is an unrealistic portrayal of the military, lmao. I think they struck a good balance so far between showing that the military sucks and has problems, while also making sure that you're not really cheering for any given military force, but rather, you cheer for individual characters who just happen to be stuck doing this military shit as a premise for anything to be going on in the show at all.

So it's not the worst when it comes to the military shit; At least so far, it's watchable, which as someone who passionately hates the fucking military, is surprising to me.

It's less GI Joe and more "we just needed a reason for these characters to be involved in this situation".

Of course, your mileage may vary, but personally I found it easy to tune out or just skip through any military shit that got grating and I didn't miss anything important by doing so. At the very least, you can skip around and ignore a lot of this stuff and get right to the gay robot if that's all you want to do. It becomes clear pretty quickly what's going on if you skip around a bit, so no worries there.

Fun Speculation: What is Bravern?

Only 6 episodes are out at the moment, so there's tons of shit we don't know yet.

Bravern has a notable resemblance to a type of enemy in the show, called a Death-Drive.

Death-Drives are mecha who are distinct from the "minion" type enemies (which almost resemble flying saucers with laser gun arms and light shields), and have their own unique character designs and names.

Why these things are here, how they are here, why they are interested in Earth, and everything else is currently unknown.

Bravern looks like he could possibly be of the same mechanical species, although we don't know if that's true (yet). He has abilities that the other mecha don't seem to have, but how far this goes and what it might mean is not yet clear.

Bravern also seems to have knowledge of human media (he references The Abyss at one point and he likes 3D printing figures of sentai show characters lmao), and was immediately able to speak to the humans using language they would understand, so it's unclear if Bravern may have been studying Earth for some time before his arrival or why.

He is obsessed with his pilot and cares for him so much that he extends some care towards others purely based on their relation to Isami as co-workers; Why? What makes Isami special?

How does Bravern know seemingly every human language? How does his piloting system work? How similar is he to the Death-Drives-- Are organic beings critical to them in some way? If so, why are the other mechs killing so many of us? (These are big questions especially by the end of episode 6, due to some spoilers and a spoiler character who shows up later.)

We know little to nothing about a lot of the key elements of the show, including any motivations for the Death-Drives or what they are, what's up with the fucking UFO looking laser things, etc.

There's more to speculate on, but that would be getting into deeper spoiler territory so I'm gonna hold back on that for now.

Summary: It's Gay and Cool and Has Interesting Ideas

Bravern's not the sole source of gay vibes in this show, but it's fun that he is also a source of gay vibes in this show.

The designs are great, the Titanostriders remind me of Appleseed style mechanical suit designs which is nice, the Death-Drives are super interesting, Bravern is fucking fabulous but he's not too goofy to take seriously, and the military is unfortunately present but it's clear that they suck and are generally losing (and since the conflict is not between different groups of humans but rather is about human collaboration to defeat a non-human shared threat to our entire planet, this goes a long way to make the military shit tolerable).

It pretends to be a Real Robot show but has so much Super Robot show sprinkled in that you might as well consider it a little bit of both which the show balances pretty well.

I haven't watched an anime since around 2008 at the very latest, so I don't know how this might compare to any other robot animes since then and I am certainly not an anime expert by any means LOL, but this has been a fun show to watch so far.

It does have its problems, of course, but if you can get past the setup for the first episode (when it's still pretending to be a Real Robot show), from the moment Bravern arrives towards the end of that first episode, the show gains momentum and starts to get interesting very quickly.

It has some issues. But we're only 6 episodes in, so at the moment, they have plenty of time to potentially address those issues and we'll see where things go.

I'd recommend it if you want to give it a try!

I think there's enough here to appeal to the usual Transformers crowd and you might end up liking it, or at least having fun while watching it in the background.

If you end up wanting to to tap out then no worries-- I think it's worth giving it a shot and if it's not your thing, no problem.

Each episode is around 25 - 30 minutes, so while the first episode might feel like a slog to get through because fuck the military, once Bravern shows up the show actually gets started and I wouldn't blame anyone for just skipping to that point in the first episode and going from there, because there's nothing in that opening that you won't be reminded of or be able to figure out. It mostly just sets up the intro to the human characters and the collaboration training session, introduces the Titanostriders as a thing, and you can always go back and watch that part later if you want to.

All in all, pretty decent! Obviously we're Transformers people so we're here for the robots, and the robots are interesting and fun, and that's all I need to have a good time.

Hopefully this was a useful summary if you're interested or have seen Bravern stuff on your dash! :)

Thanks for reading!

BONUS: I forgot to mention this somehow, but there's a lot of overlap between Transformers and other Brave shows involving actual Transformers re-used in Japan for these shows; There's a good video about it here on YouTube which explains some of this, but if anyone's wondering, yes Bravern has a grounder alt-mode and it's pretty cool. Will we get a transforming Bravern figure??? We can hope!

There's another video here which mentions some of the Transformers elements in other Brave shows/Yuusha, which might be interesting for those of you who are unaware. :)

#maccadams #maccadam #bravern #bbbb #ba #bang brave bang bravern #long post #bravern review #transformers

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freetheshit-outofyou · 2 months ago

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President Trump, my President, your President is making big 2A moves. "Sec. 2. Plan of Action. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans. (b) In developing such proposed plan of action, the Attorney General shall review, at a minimum: (i) All Presidential and agencies’ actions from January 2021 through January 2025 that purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens; (ii) Rules promulgated by the Department of Justice, including by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, from January 2021 through January 2025 pertaining to firearms and/or Federal firearms licensees; (iii) Agencies’ plans, orders, and actions regarding the so-called “enhanced regulatory enforcement policy” pertaining to firearms and/or Federal firearms licensees; (iv) Reports and related documents issued by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention; (v) The positions taken by the United States in any and all ongoing and potential litigation that affects or could affect the ability of Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights; (vi) Agencies’ classifications of firearms and ammunition; and (vii) The processing of applications to make, manufacture, transfer, or export firearms."

#president trump #pro 2a

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beardedmrbean · 4 months ago

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Adair, Iowa, had a population of 794. So, it seemed suspicious when its three-person police department asked regulators to buy 90 machine guns, including an M134 Gatling-style minigun capable of shooting up to 6,000 rounds of ammunition every minute.

Federal agents later discovered Adair's police chief, Bradley Wendt, was using his position to acquire weapons and sell them for personal profit. A jury convicted Wendt earlier this year of conspiracy to defraud the United States, lying to federal law enforcement and illegal possession of a machine gun. Wendt is unapologetic and has appealed his conviction.

"If I'm guilty of this, every cop in the nation's going to jail," Wendt told CBS News just days before a federal judge sentenced him to a 5-year prison term. Wendt's crimes appear to be part of a nationwide pattern.

A CBS News investigation found dozens of law enforcement leaders — sheriffs, captains, lieutenants, chiefs of police — buying and illegally selling firearms, even weapons of war, across 23 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., from the Deep South to the Midwest, Northeast and California coast.

A nationwide review of government audits and court records over the last 20 years uncovered at least 50 cases of police illegally selling their weapons online, through dealers, out of their homes or the back of their cars. In many cases, the weapons were sold to gun enthusiasts, often at steep markups as high as 10 times what they were bought for.

In several cases, the guns wound up in the hands of violent felons and were used to commit crimes including drug trafficking, international arms dealing and, in one case, the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy attending a high school football game.

In 2011, federal agents busted a smuggling ring out of New Mexico involving a police chief, mayor and village trustee who delivered automatic firepower and tactical gear to a Mexican cartel.

A decade later, prosecutors uncovered a multistate conspiracy linking a sanctioned Russian arms dealer with three police chiefs, one sheriff and a Delta Force veteran who sold machine guns directly to a criminal trafficker. All of them pleaded guilty. An additional alleged co-conspirator, who worked as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, denied wrongdoing and his case is proceeding to trial.

Nearly 26,000 guns were traced from American crime scenes back to a government agency, law enforcement or the military between 2017 and 2021, the most recently available data, according to a report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It isn't known how many of those were lost, stolen or sold. However, when government auditors investigated firearms that law enforcement agencies reported missing over a 15-year period, the General Services Administration Inspector General found that more than two-thirds had not gone missing at all but, rather, were inappropriately sold or traded —including Uzis and grenade launchers that were never recovered.

Meanwhile, a separate Government Accountability Office audit in 2018 found $100 million worth of guns and ammunition bought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unaccounted for. In response, ICE said that it improved how it would keep track of its inventory going forward; there was no follow-up about the weapons that were already missing. ICE did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.

Of the 58 cases CBS News identified where law enforcement officers were criminally charged with illegally selling their weapons, 56 of them either admitted guilt or were convicted; two have denied wrongdoing in ongoing cases.

Those cases are just the tip of the iceberg, according to interviews with half a dozen former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who worked directly on these investigations. Several career agents shared anecdotes about letting police departments off with warnings after repeatedly finding their service weapons in the hands of private citizens. The agents explained that prosecutors have been generally reluctant to charge these cases, and the bureau stated that "it is our goal to educate, not investigate," according to a 2017 law enforcement memo obtained by CBS News.

"We're not looking to prosecute fellow law enforcement officers," said Eric Harden, former special agent in charge of the ATF's Los Angeles field division.

Harden authored the 2017 memo, which flagged a "growing trend" of "officers purchasing and then selling [restricted] firearms...for profit." The memo warned that anyone doing this was functionally acting as a straw purchaser in violation of at least two federal laws.

Harden told CBS News that if officers persisted after being warned, or if their weapons were traced to a crime, they should be held accountable. "If we don't do this, then it'll be turning a blind eye and saying officers are above the law." _______________________

Harden wrote the memo after his intelligence unit traced an outlawed pistol seized in a narcotics bust to a recent purchase by a beat cop in Pasadena, California. Now retired, Harden still remembers that officer crying on his shoulder when federal agents showed up to arrest him for illegally selling more than 100 weapons out of his home. The officer argued at the time that he didn't know he was breaking the law, but he later pleaded guilty. He served less than a year in federal prison and paid a $10,000 fine but was allowed to keep his Porsche and Alfa Romeo.

On the other side of LA County, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, with secret-level security clearance, was operating an even more egregious gun-running scheme that went on for 20 years. He too eventually pleaded guilty, in 2019, after an undercover agent busted him selling weapons out of the trunk of his car. His stockpile at the time totaled more than 250 firearms, including 41 machine guns and two short-barreled rifles.

The officer "betrayed his oath to uphold the laws of the United States solely to put more money in his pocket," the U.S. Attorney said in announcing the news of the officer's prison sentence.

Several cases involved sheriffs and police leadership who used their positions in law enforcement to gain access to military-grade machine guns, short-barreled rifles and explosive devices like grenades, and then sold them in violation of federal law.

Although the Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, there are limits to the kinds of weapons people are allowed to possess. Post-1986, these weapons — known to the ATF as Class 3/Title II and to the gun industry as "posties"— have been restricted for official government use because of their deadly firepower. Many of them are battlefield weapons used by U.S. and NATO forces in conflict zones. Some ammunition can take out a helicopter or blow straight through an armored tank followed by a concrete building, out the other side, then explode, hitting targets 18 football fields away. These guns can spew hundreds of rounds each minute, faster than the speed of sound.

"Congress knew almost 100 years ago, in the days of Al Capone, that fully automatic weapons were unusually dangerous," ATF Director Steven Dettelbach said a public address on Feb. 28, 2023. "They have no place in our communities."

The government loophole, however, has been exploited by opportunists who recruit law enforcement conspirators to help them bypass the American machine gun prohibition, according to law enforcement records and court filings obtained by CBS News that include text messages, videos and wiretapped audio conversations between people who were either convicted of or admitted participation in these schemes.

CBS News found a trail of activity in social media videos and online web forums frequented by firearm aficionados discussing how to entice law enforcement allies into this illicit trade, which can be highly lucrative. Amid a series of online conversations reviewed by CBS News, one poster suggested that after law enforcement acquired a $10,000 machine gun through the federal approval process, it could be worth $75,000 because it would be free of red tape. Wendt, the Iowa police chief, for example, at times earned more than a 90% profit margin, according to court records.

"Here is a breakdown of who signs for me," advised another online user, identifying one police chief, one sheriff, one SWAT officer and one deputy sheriff with whom he said he attended high school.

For police departments to get ahold of such high-powered weaponry, each one needs permission from the ATF. Even though it has been the law for more than three decades, the ATF only started vetting every machine gun application for the first time in January 2023 to confirm that a legitimate government agency was making the request.

According to interviews with half a dozen longtime ATF officials who worked directly on these cases, the bureau typically does not assess the appropriateness of the weapons for a department or track where they end up.

"There's no audits," said former Supervisory Special Agent Tim Graden, who worked at the ATF for more than two decades before retiring in 2022. "There was no second-guessing whatsoever. They weren't really — I don't want to use the word concerned, but I can't think of a better one."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declined requests to comment.

It's unclear how pervasive this is nationwide, but in Iowa alone over the past five years, the ATF did not deny a single law enforcement request for machine guns "based on suitability (or lack thereof)," according to court filings. By 2023, there were more than 1,200 machine guns registered to law enforcement across the state.

To find out how that compares to other places, CBS News filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests with the ATF for details about the high-powered arsenal it's granted to public law enforcement over the past decade. However, the bureau denied those requests, stating that it considers that private tax information exempt from public disclosure. Last week, CBS News filed a lawsuit for the information.

The proliferation of this high-powered weaponry is likely to become increasingly more relevant when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. During his first administration, Trump revoked an Obama-era executive order restricting the transfer of military equipment from the Defense Department to law enforcement nationwide. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

#nunyas news #atf investigating is funny #hello fast and furious #how's it going there #can we arrest barry for this one too now?

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camisoledadparis · 4 months ago

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"Life is unfair. I got nothing but the best."

Jean Marais

He was the muse and lover of the great artist/writer/filmmaker Jean Cocteau, plus he was an actor of considerable skill and certain charisma, a film and theatre director, writer, and visual artist.

Marais was born Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais in Cherbourg to a shoplifting, sometimes violent, sometimes loving mother. He was always drawn to drama of all sorts. Expelled from school when, to amuse his friends, Marais dressed as a girl and flirted with a male teacher. As a kid, Marais worked various jobs including newspaper boy, photographer, and sketch artist.

In 1937, 24-year-old Marais first met the 48-year-old Cocteau. They became acquainted when Marais auditioned for a role in a revival of Cocteau's play OEDIPE-ROI. Cocteau cast Marais for the role, plus he fell madly in love with the young actor.

Marais and Cocteau became partners in life and art. Marais nudged Cocteau to write a special screenplay for him to play the lead role. L'ETERNEL RETOUR (1943) was that film and it became a commercial success and a critical triumph for both the filmmaker and its star.

Marais continued to act in films and plays while the Nazis occupied France during World War II. Both Cocteau and Marais stayed in Paris during the occupation despite the very real danger of having nearly everyone in the city knowing that they were a gay couple. Cocteau had some powerful connections who protected them, even after Marais punched a Vichy critic for writing a bad review of one of Cocteau's plays. Their names were posted in the French press, which was controlled by those nasty Nazis, but because of Cocteau's friends in high places, they avoided being arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

Marais tried to join the Resistance, but he was rejected for being gay and also because of his reputation for speaking candidly. So instead, he volunteered for France's Second Armored Division after the liberation of Paris and drove trucks carrying fuel and ammunition to the frontlines during the Allied invasion of Germany. Marais was eventually awarded the Croix de Guerre for his bravery during his wartime service.

During the Nazi occupation, there were other gay couples in Paris, but it was unusual for any of them to be openly living together, working together, and behaving like a married couple. They were especially brave, even maybe reckless.

After the war in 1946, L'ETERNEL RETOUR was released in the USA introducing Marais to American film fans. Photographs of his handsome face and hot body became a popular pin-up for teenage girls and for gay fans slyly aware of his real relationship with Cocteau.

Cocteau didn't consider himself a filmmaker, but poet, and LA BELLE ET LA BETE (1946), his film masterpiece, plays like a visual poem in which Marais plays three roles.

Although Marais and Cocteau's romance cooled down by the late 1940s, they remained the closest of friends until Cocteau's final credits rolled for good in 1963. After Cocteau died, Marais stated: "I bitterly regret not having spent all of my life serving Cocteau instead of worrying about my own career." Marais enjoyed that career; it lasted more than six decades. His blond, classical good looks and skillful acting can be experienced in more than 100 films and television shows.

In the 1950s, Marais fell in love with American dancer and choreographer George Reich (1926 – 2013). Reich resembled Marais; both were blonde, athletic, and unworldly handsome. Reich was the first classically trained dancer to organize an American-style ballet company in France, The Ballet HO. He danced at the Lido de Paris, the Moulin Rouge, The Ballet De Paris, and in the MGM musical film THE GLASS SLIPPER (1955) with Leslie Caron, plus he provided the choreography for Marlene Dietrich, Joséphine Baker, and Edith Piaf's nightclub acts. Reich and Marais were a couple for more than a decade.

Marais sought to reconcile romantically with Cocteau at the end of the great artist's life, but rebuffed and frustrated, he returned to his old opium habit. Marais had been legally adopted by Cocteau so that he would be his inheritor.

Like Cocteau, Marais had no problem finding the company of handsome younger men. For one of them, Serge Ayala (1943 – 2012), he helped find acting work and legally adopted him as a son, taking the name Serge Villain-Marais. This adopted son became a singer and an actor. Marais enjoyed life with his protégé until he took his final curtain call in 1998, gone from heart failure, just like his former, fabulous, famous lover. The adopted son took his own life in 2012 at 69 years old after troubling inheritance litigation with Marais's estate left him lonely and depressed.

Marais's life story served as the inspiration for François Truffaut's film THE LAST METRO (1980).

Photo: Marais et Cocteau à la terrasse d'un café de Venise, lors de la huitième Mostra de Venise, 1947

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detta-pica · 2 months ago

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can i maybe please please please get a snippet of the witches au🙏🏼🥺🙏🏼🥺

Absolutely! I also made this �� face when I read your ask. It's so surreal to me that anyone other than me misses this AU. Thank you for letting me know it's not forgotten ❤️ (I swear I will be back with this series. I have some 60k words written and unpublished.)

Sorry I made you wait until WIP Wednesday, but I don't have that many shareable snippets left, so I need to be conservative with them!

“I’ve spoken with Higuruma--” “Must you talk about other men while we’re in bed?” Because Suguru is one in a million and actually enjoys Satoru’s sense of humour, he snickers, shifts to look at Satoru, and gives him a fond pat on the cheek. “Have some faith. I’m not self-destructive enough to be interested in a lawyer.” The post-nut giggles are hitting them hard today. Satoru curls in close to better breathe in the scent of Suguru’s hair as he laughs. They both know Suguru is more than self-destructive enough for an ill-advised relationship. And also that he absolutely can’t stand most people’s close proximity, so if he ever wants to cheat on Satoru, it’ll have to be phone sex or something. Does it mean that Satoru is immune to jealousy when Suguru pays too much attention to other people? Nope! But he gets to be playful about it instead of murderous. “Okay.” Satoru clears his throat. “What did you and your handsome friend with a prestigious job talk about?” Suguru leans in close until the tips of their noses are touching. “He’s too boring for me, Satoru. As evidenced by the fact that he’s agreed to help me review all cases involving homicide or criminal injury from the last five years caused by unusual or unexplained cuts.” Satoru nods, mostly to rub his nose against Suguru’s. “So boring. Why do you want to do it?” “To get more context regarding [REDACTED]’s activity. I’ve told you, there are so many rumours about this guy. I want to know how many of them are real. The stunt he pulled at the conference makes me think he’s no stranger to avoiding the law.” “That’s smart, but way more work than I’d prefer to put in.” Satoru lets his eyes slip shut. Maybe he can get away with a nap before he has to go back to his own research. “I’m not just doing it for you. I feel like I need ammunition against [REDACTED].” A witch’s intuition is a formidable tool. If that’s how Suguru feels, he should absolutely go with it. “Let me know if I can help.” “Higuruma’s going to pull some string to get the case files. If that fails, my next best bet is you.” Satoru turns his face into the pillow with a noise of disapproval. “Stop talking about him and pet me.” Suguru laughs at him, but his hand does end up in Satoru’s hair, so he’s forgiven. Probably, Satoru would forgive him if he committed the worst crimes. Does Suguru know all he has to do to gain the protection of the strongest witch is scratch at Satoru’s scalp for a bit? If he doesn’t, it should stay that way.

#jjk #stsg #satosugu #jjk fanfic #jjk stsg #stsg fanfic #satosugu fanfic #gojo satoru #geto suguru #jujutsu kaisen #wip wednesday #my writing #stsg witch au

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verdet-cadet · 22 days ago

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Extremely curious about Performance Review! Do I know anything about it already?

Maybe?! @fuckman360kickflip also asked about this, because I'm pretty sure she senses smut like a shark smells blood in the water (affectionate). Its a early HMD era Granby/Little praise kink PWP. I'm throwing a T-rated intro snippet below the cut

Augustine Little, he is distantly aware, doesn't give a shit.

Granby stares at the ceiling, seething at the injustice of it.

It is bloody criminal, that William Fucking Laurence, formerly of His Majesty's Fucking Navy, can ruin even these last few golden hours of summer evening. Granby is lounging in bed, still mostly clothed, next to the most tempting man who had ever deigned to let Granby into his bed, and all Granby can do is lay about and run his mouth off. If William Laurence ruins this as well, Granby will cheerfully cut straps.

"And God forbid he should show a little appreciation. 'Very good, Mr. Granby. That will be all, Mr. Granby.' Perhaps next time I shall let Dunne dump a week's worth of ammunition in the loch, for all the notice he takes of me stopping it."

He takes another breath, ready to continue his tirade, when instead Little levers himself up on an elbow to look over him. Granby falls silent, abruptly aware that he has no idea how long he's been raving. Little's mouth is quirked into a moue of displeasure. Of course he is bored; any sensible fellow would be. Granby feels a twist of guilt.

“I am damned sorry, Augustine, it is only–” he waves a hand, inarticulate with exasperation. “I would–”

“Poor John,” Augustine tuts in sympathy, cutting him off. Granby shoots him a sharp glance, incredulous, and Little moves quickly, rolling atop him and catching up Granby's hand that still hangs forgotten in the air Little’s thumb presses firmly into the bones of Granby's wrist. He leans over Granby and runs his other hand down the side of Granby's face. “Does no one show you enough appreciation?” he coos.

"Spare me your patronizing, please and thank you." Granby says tartly, but Little doesn't let go, only shifts closer, and certain traitorous parts of Granby abruptly begin to take notice of the compact body pressing against him and the firm grip on his wrist. Little's own arousal is a hard line against Granby’s hip.

“Hush, and take care of this for me?” Little says huskily in his ear and Granby feels the fight go out of him in a rush.

#temeraire #fic snippets

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cell151 · 7 months ago

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Okay, after this depressing Signalis idea, here's a happier one.

A much needed smoke break in a side corridor...

It was one of the few places in the facility where there was a spot that was out of view of the security cameras. No one would report such an oversight.

Maybe Adler, Star thought as she took a drag of her cigarette. She glanced at her superior officer fidget with her cigarette. The Storch was not a heavy smoker but always took a cigarette when offered. Sometimes she would light it and puff or she would do as she did now: roll it between her fingers. She often did that pens, paperclips or anything small she got her hand on.

"Ration for your thoughts, comrade," Star said playfully.

Storch took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "I really enjoy having you under my command. I value your skill and company, comrade."

Formal as always. "Is this my employee review?"

"If you like." Storch popped the cigarette in her and leaned down for Star to light it for her. "Danke." She took a drag on it and grimaced at the taste. "Would you forgive me for being blunt about something?"

Star shrugged. "You always are."

Storch took another drag on her cigarette and contemplated her next set of words. "I have feelings for you, Starling."

Star nearly spat out her cigarette, managing to grab it as she coughed. "What?" she wheezed.

"Shhh! Not so loud! The walls literally have ears." Storch checked the nearby vents for any eavesdropping Arars. For all their complaints about being overworked, the worker units had time to learn everyone's business.

"How come you didn't tell me sooner Legs? And why now?"

"To answer the latter, it's been pestering me lately and I wanted give you notice in case you wanted to switch to a different Storch." She noticed Star giggling to herself. "What? I want to be professional about this."

"Storch, be honest, is anything professional around here?" Star waved her hand around. As if on cue, a whole set of lights down the corridor flickered and died. "Not exactly Heimat or the space stations around Tannhauser Gate."

"I hold myself to a higher standards than most."

Star grinned. "Oh I know." She playfully poked Storch in the side prompting a snort from the taller Protektor.

Storch blushed and cleared her throat again. "Also I noticed you were quite close with the Eule in D Block. I didn't want to interfere and I didn't know if you were...interested...in me." She let the cigarette fall from her hand and she stepped on it. "That's it."

Star nodded and took one last drag of her cigarette before putting it out. "To answer that last question." She lifted her hand and placed it on Storch's chest armor. "I am."

Storch's eyes went wide. Protektor units didn't engage in casual physical contact, unless the Stars were sparing, and one certainly didn't put their hands on another unit's armor. A jab to one's chest armor was invitation for an ass kicking. A gentle touch was something different.

Storch nodded in understanding which prompted Star to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"As for the conflict that you raised, I guess I'll just have to upgrade from a duo to a trio."

This idea was completely foreign to Storch. "Wait. What?"

"Of course. Having two girlfriends doesn't break the Rule of Six." Star grinned as she saw Storch fight back laughter. Her fingers started drumming on the hilt of her baton as the Replika had to find something to fidget with as she went through a round of mental gymnastics.

"Huh," was Storch's conclusion after she composed herself. "I'm quite surprised by all this, Starling."

Star shrugged. "What can I say, Legs? I like to live an adventurous life."

Now it was Storch's turn to grin. "You mean like the time you almost blew up the ammunition dump because you wanted a smoke break?"

"That happened one time!"

A few cycles later...

Eule was excited for her meet up with Star, who said she had a surprise. The door opened and Star greeted her with a kiss.

"Hello there. Little Owl, I want you to meet a close friend of mine and hopefully she'll be a close of ours."

The Eule was shocked to see the taller Protektor standing in the room.

"Guten tag," Storch said with an awkward wave.

"O-Oh! Hello!" Eule let out a yelp as Star picked her up, sat on the bed and placed her on her lap. The smaller Replika's cheeks burned as Storch came over and joined them.

"I'm hoping we could all be friends," the Star said, wrapping her arms around Eule's middle while the Storch gently ruffled her hair.

Eule nodded enthusiastically. JACKPOT! When the two Protektor units paused and then burst out laughing did she realize to her horror that she said that out loud.

#Signalis #a happier idea #and thus the brainrot continues

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eretzyisrael · 1 year ago

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by Benjamin Weinthal

The previously non-reported IDF photographs of Palestinian children in combat gear reviewed by Fox News Digital show children under the age of 15. According to the U.N.'s website for Children and Armed Conflict, "Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law – treaty and custom – and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court."

The IDF said that "Hamas sends children for the purposes of delivering messages and ammunition. Also, children are sent to the battlefields after an attack in order to assess the damage and report it to the terrorists who are hiding in shelters."

Israel's army previously disclosed the investigation of a Hamas company commander in the "Zeytoun" battalion, who said children are used as part of the organization's fighting doctrine to deliver ammunition "with the understanding that the IDF will not harm them."

Hamas has a long history of engaging in alleged child abuse of Palestinian children to advance their terrorist agenda. The IDF's website contains a section titled "Status of Children in Gaza" that shows photographs of children immersed in the glorification of terrorism.

Fox News Digital asked Juliette S. Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), what the U.N. agency is doing to stop Hamas' exploitation of children. She declined to answer but said "we don't have any information on what you are sharing" with respect to photographs and reports asserting that Hamas trains children to embrace terrorism and loathe Israel.

#hamas #gaza #hamas child soldiers #idf #child soldiers #palestinian child abuse

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piracytheorist · 8 months ago

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Spy x Family Code: White thoughts!

Alright, time to write down my thoughts about the film! I liked it a lot, and for this anime only it was a HUGE satisfactory dose after not having had anything new since December 🥲 there were a few parts that I found meh, and I will mention them here too, but overall I got a very positive view of it!

Related to this, my mom was in the next room where I was sitting watching the film, and when I finished and passed by to get some water, she asked me what film I watched that made me laugh so much. So I think that speaks for itself 😂

Anyway, on to the film!

Having seen the trailer where Twilight rips off the disguise of a woman with long, curly blonde hair, as soon as I saw her here I was like is that her? But then that guy appeared and I recognized his voice and, dare I say I was confused XD

Damn, isn't that past their rating? XD

And then the music started! STRIX theme with a new twist for the film!

I think by this point we've already shrugged away Twilight's ability to make disguises. It gets even crazier near the end, so it should be of no surprise that he just disguised himself as that woman. Lucky she happened to wear a choker, too, good cover for his Adam's apple.

The way they showed the woman wrapped in a blanket underneath the desk, though 😳 that's the kind of visual you'd use to show a character died. What am I supposed to infer from this, guys?!

Then we cut to Yor!

There's a review on letterboxd saying how easy the film is to watch and follow for someone who hasn't watched the original, and I'm happy to hear that because as someone who already knows these characters and their dynamics, it didn't feel like it dragged on too much on that.

Yor, ever being the sweetheart, will call a guy a traitorous scumbag yes but she will be kind as ever when she kills him 🥰

The way she dodged the bullets! Queen! And also a set up to later show her dodge all the ammunition thrown from the shooters and Type F!

This. Was. Amazing. I actually gasped out loud. The animators understood the assignment, 10/10.

Right after that, we see Loid reach his door, and for the first time we see him go to use keys. A few other times I remember anyone opening the door they just... opened it. You'd think an apartment where a spy and an assassin live would have better security! XD

I love how they kinda showed it like Yor was going to attack Loid, and then Loid just turned and went like "Oh hey beautiful wife, welcome home! :D" It must have looked funny for anyone who hasn't seen the anime/manga before XD

Yor wants to cook! Everybody hide!

That... is a horror of an omelet. Yor's cooking is always for the "congrats lil buddy that’s the worst anyone’s ever done it" meme. She does try, though, bless her heart.

Anya evades the horror. And Loid wants to make... peanut butter pizza???? Is that even a thing??? WITH MEAT ON TOP???

What does it say about this film that this isn't the weirdest thing to happen in it

TITLE CARD WITH THE THEME ENDING AND THE ORCHESTRA GOING WILD <3333

Damian, shut the fuck up

... I mean, with a mother like that... I'll give this to him XD

Did Anya call him an asshole? Serves him right, tbh XD

Knowing that the story can't veer a lot far from the anime/manga canon, I already knew Anya wouldn't earn a Stella in that competition. But it was a good set-up for the rest of the film to move on from.

Twilight read Henderson's lips through a window and through the latter's thick moustache, and lip reading is already hard to do accurately, if not nearly impossible. Boy's nuts. But I think it only prepared us for a fucking falcon to fly above him and throw him the message from WISE. Show-offs XD

A rare view of Berlint!

DAAAAMN the higher animation budget is really doing those characters such good favour 🥰

Bro actually read a book by flipping through it. Get outta town.

The idea of having another guy take over Operation Strix from Twilight feels a little shallow. It's already a very delicate and long-term operation, it feels that it wouldn't make sense to replace their best agent with just a dude just because said dude has connections.

Twilight meets with Nightfall outside, and Yor sees them across all those streets (I mean, she is an assassin with a deadly aim) and... she doesn't recognize Nightfall? Is this supposed to take place before Nightfall visits the Forger household?

I mean, at the current time in the anime, Yor is supposed to be over her fear of getting replaced, but I get why they retreated back a little, so they could explain the later scene of Loid taking her hand and reminding her of his vows.

Very conveniently, Yor's coworkers are chatting about cheating men, and Yor, being inexperienced with relationships, immediately believes everything, her suspicions even taking root with what she just saw.

Back home, Twilight thinks about how, since he's dismissed from Operation Strix, he'll have to move out, and the camera shows their happy family picture 🥺 he's not ready to admit his feelings to himself but the narrative is.

Making the dessert that's the favourite of the judge and in particular the one he grew up with feels kinda cheating, no? XD

Come on, Loid. A child filling her bag with toys does not deserve that murder glare 😂

That train looked a little too modern for the supposed 60s/70s aesthetic. I know Germany has some top trains (as does Japan) but like, still XD it's very different from the train we see on the very first episode when Twilight boards one for Berlint.

Lovely visuals, though!

I wonder if there's any system as to how Bond's powers work. He has the vision of Anya finding the suitcase and opening it... but that's creating a sort of paradox because without the vision coming to him and without Anya seeing it, it wouldn't have been made true. I mean, I get why it was put there, but still.

Again, the story needed a little backtracking in order for Yor's doubts to make sense. I'm not sure how much they contributed to the whole story, but at least there it was funny. The small awkward laugh she throws at the end before she exits their booth to go look for Anya was hilarious XD

Gremlin Anya is best Anya <3

LMAO at least she enjoyed the chocolate XD

The following part was intense! I found myself saying "Run Anya run!" even though I knew from trailers that they'd eventually catch her anyway.

So the microfilm hides intelligence about a research lab in Westalis. Hmm.

I think it was at this point I noticed that they had Anya react to people's thoughts way too little. I get that it can get repetitive but with her curiosity she would have tried to look for more information through the guys' thoughts.

"Chocolate thieves" is actually perfect to describe those two. They were conveniently - and hilariously - incompetent.

But it did get intense. It's always like that when a bad guy threatens to hurt, let alone kill, a child.

I love how Yor asked Anya to close her eyes while she was beating up the guys but then told her she can open them when they were down and fully expected her to believe her lie that they just passed out XD

Also, her snowman jgvllublftlulbj

Chekhov's military airplane! I didn't expect it would actually work by the end, though XD

I love the music in the restaurant. Poor Bond being left alone outside where it's snowing, though 🥲 at least they brought him food!

Yor notices that it's rare for Loid to wear turtlenecks, and that's actually true. Too bad, though, they fit him so nicely :)

I actually laughed out loud at the guys jumping on Yuri to stop him. They were prepared. They knew who they were dealing with XD

"Rubble and Bonds"... the chef is very wholesome but he literally named his restaurant after his trauma and like... dude. Therapy exists. And then he starts laying out his trauma thick while Twilight is sitting there like yup this doesn't affect me at all

I don't think he was prepared for that when he asked about the restaurant's name. I was kinda disappointed they showed the exact same footage of him as a kid from the first episode. I think they could have afforded making a few seconds of new footage of the same imagery. But maybe that's just my anime-only ass who has been waiting for a certain manga arc to be animated for nearly two years now 😶

Snidel appears! And he has the absolute nerve to just... steal the meremere plate from someone else's table. Perfect way to make us hate him.

And... I'm sorry. I have to say it. When Snidel challenges Loid to a game and the camera focuses on Loid... that zoom-in and fade to black was SO CRINGEY. Sorry XD

The music there was nice, though. I think I notice a tiny bit of James Bond music influence.

Fucking Snidel shifting the goalposts with the amounts of sugar. That's not being detailed, that's not explaining the rules of the game properly. They really wanted us to hate the guy.

Twilight looks really stricken by the fact that he lost. And we know it's not because of despair - since he immediately says they can have meremere the next day - and it's not because his pride was hurt... so you can't take it out of my mind that it was because he was disgusted by how a grown-ass man practically stole a piece of cake from a little child, and Twilight was unable to stop him.

But then XD Loid has the absolute gall to ask a chef for his recipe, and then reprimand Anya for calling him stingy. Like mah dude it was already a far-fetched request to have the guy give you the recipe XD

Twilight being totally not suspicious and bolting through the market to buy all the ingredients. Cause that's what normal people do.

The way Twilight tries to cheer Yor up and he only manages to make her feel worse never disappoints XD

Right, I forgot this film was released in December in Japan. It feels weird for it to have a winter-y, almost Christmas-y feeling while I have my A/C on XD

I like how Twilight actually cared enough to expose the guy at the shooting gallery, and advise him to run an honest business. You'd think this would be low on his priorities... but having a child will expand your sensitivities. It feels similar to how he encouraged Carroll Campbell into playing tennis more fairly and to depend on his own strengths.

And then he wonders why a little child has fun on a train ride XD

I... am not sure how I feel about Yor's outburst there. It feels directly inspired by the Disastrous Date, if not a copy of it, and I'm not sure it helps Yor's character develop in any way. I mean, again, I get that the film can't allow the characters to develop a lot since it can't veer from canon, but still, it felt a little forced just to give Yor more screentime and to have a very subtle twiyor tease.

Anya finding out about divorce through Becky's soap-opera filter, though XD

They feel too confident leaving Anya all alone (even if she's with Bond) in a strange town. I know they can keep an eye on her from the ferris wheel cabin, but still.

Now that's a character development moment you can have without veering from canon: having Yor feel guilty for allowing Anya to notice her dark mood, and then feeling happy that Anya pushed her and Loid to having a moment together to talk things out.

Also, beautiful visuals!

Twilight, best™ spy™ of Westalis™, being unable to read the room whenever his wife is involved.

MAH DUDE. THERE'S ONE THING TO DESCRIBE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND THAT'S BEING TOO DIRECT

That's a phrase you don't wanna hear from your little kid, especially when you're fake married XD

Handler: Go and help Twilight. Nightfall: Yes ma'am! Handler: Not you. Nightfall: SENPAI WILL NOTICE ME SENPAI WILL NOTICE ME Handler: jfc

It was really sweet seeing Anya and Bond play, and then Yor joining in. That makes it more plausible that the film is set earlier on in the story, since it looks like Yor isn't used to playing with Anya.

No, really, what did that woman who was at Franky's kiosk want to ask him when she would come by with her friend??? 😳

One day the way Twilight abuses Franky's services will come bite him in the ass, I'm calling it now.

Yet another scene where character/relationship dynamic can happen without veering from canon: Loid comes back to the hotel and says he'll go out again, Anya says she wants to come too, and Loid tells her she has to stay in the hotel. Anya goes back to the bedroom dejected, but Yor reminds him it's a family trip and they're supposed to spend this time together, connecting that to her memories of Yuri being happy whenever he spent time with her.

And I think that speaks to another level of distance Twilight has kept from his emotions; he denies himself that he loves his family, but that also leads him to forget that his family won't like missing out on quality time with him.

I especially noticed his surprised reaction at Yor saying that being away from loved ones can make one feel lonely. I don't think Twilight has allowed himself to grasp just how lonely he's felt all these years, it was just the norm for him to have no-one. He's forgotten what it's like to have loved ones and to miss them when you don't get to spend enough time with them, and he's also forgotten that for most people, this is how everyday life is like. We love people, we like spending time with them, we miss them when we haven't seen them in a while. A master of disguises he may be, but this role forces him to face the thing he understands the least: human relationships.

And so, he realizes that Anya's motivation here wasn't petulance or restlessness. It was her need to have fun with him. He considered it easier to sneak around to find the liqueur if they weren't with him, but he failed to consider that casting them aside would actually impact them. Give yourself some credit, dude 🥺

Nightfall: I will surprise Twilight with my effectiveness!

Twilight when he sees her unexpectedly:

I did love however how he looked so sternly at her when they were outside. Like lady, first, bad timing, second, this is why Handler didn't want you to be the one to help Twilight XD

Once again, Bond's power works in a form of paradox. He saw the shop where the liqueur was, and Anya went there because she saw it. If she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have gone, and Bond wouldn't have had the vision.

I love how the military guys get a rough sketch of Anya and go like "Nah no-one can actually look like this" XD

Anya must have swiped some dalcs as she ran off. That liqueur wasn't gonna be cheap!

Poor Bond!

Endo has surrounded Anya with two physically exceptional parents and a big strong dog to protect her, so it's hard to make a case of her getting kidnapped believable. Realistically, I think Bond would have fought harder to keep her safe, but to achieve the kidnapping the bad guys would have had to get more violent with him. That would make for a sadder scene and also take away from the humor of those guys' incompetence, so the most violence against an animal they could resort to was a conveniently falling beer can.

And thus, the "Anya Has to Poop" side plot starts! With the amount of fear she went through in those scenes, I'm surprised she didn't just... accidentally let go 😶

I just realized when Loid was checking the plane's radio they were also refuelling it. Again, kind of a surprise the whole system worked XD They were a little too chill about the fact that Anya was with the military, though? Maybe I got the wrong vibe off of their acting, lol.

The way that Yor decides at the last moment to join Loid and just... runs and jumps into a plane that's right on takeoff. Madwoman. I love her.

Meanwhile, at least Nightfall is funny XD

They really went on and made an entire sequence in a different animation style for a poop joke. Respect where it's due 👏

Someone: So how did you save world peace this time? Anya: I refused to take a shit.

The incompetent duo have a bedpan that's shaped like a duck and, funny thing... in Greek the word for "bedpan" can also be called, colloquially, with the same word that we use for "duck". So. There's that random connection I found funny XD

Twilight tries to ask for permission to land on the airship and they immediately turn their guns on him and damn, that must be terrifying.

And damn, again, that's a huge risk he took just to get Anya back. My man was prepared to do anything. And he walked out of the plane crashing into the airship without a single scratch like GET OUT OF HERE. I wanted my whump and I only got a single drip of blood near the end 😞 when will I have my whump.

And then Yor just... ran on the top of the airship, fully exposed to the freezing weather of not only outside but also a few hundred (thousand?) feet off the ground. My girl runs on hot steam. AND THEN SHE ALSO FUCKING TOOK HER COAT OFF.

Meanwhile, Anya finally finds a private moment to take a shit. And that marks the end of the wackiest plotline in this movie XD

Okay now, look. I can maybe imagine Twilight quickly making up a mask of Snidel's face from earlier in the day (though he wasn't shown to have any time to do that), and he somehow had it ready when the time came for their duel. But making a mask of that random military guy? Yeah, my suspension of disbelief is stronger for that than for freaking time travel XD

Yor also has her moment of going like "Excuse me, may I ask a question" and immediately getting guns aimed at her.

Damn. What the actual fuck is Type F even. At first I thought it was a full-on robot, but apparently it's a modified human? The fuck. Also. Just how many fucking bullets does he have???!

For real, though, Snidel isn't fucking around. He not only is fine with murdering a kid in cold blood, he also finds it entertaining to make her terrified as well. Like, even that guy from the Doggy Crisis arc said "Nothing personal, kid," when Keith commanded him to kill her.

And then Twilight overhears the incompetent dudes mention Anya... and mighty spy Twilight's emotions get the best of him and he beats up those guys for no other reason than getting back at them? More likely than you think.

Fuck, that scared me. That bullet was literally millimeters from piercing his brain. Cool visual, though, with his real hair popping from beneath the mask.

Anya worrying about her papa :(

Okay, I don't care about the logistics. This was fucking awesome.

AND THEN THIS???

10/10. They understood the assignment.

AND THEN THE OTHER THING???

QUEEN SHIT.

No, but really, their fight was going in circles because Type F has a shit ton of bullets and Yor has great stamina and ability to dodge bullets. She can't win with her strength, so she has to use her brain and her environment. AND SHE SLAYS 👏👏👏

My dude why are you still surprised 😭😭 what did you expect your kidnapped daughter to do once she saw you came to her rescue 😭 HUG YOUR DAUGHTER BACK I BEG 😭

Nah, I know he can't yet, this guy's got the emotional type of constipation. He'll get there.

So we'll never know what he thought about her sneaking out to get him the liqueur, and why that made her smile, eh? Okay 🥲

I love how Yor and Loid just both buy each other's lies. Oh yeah I just decided to jump on your plane while you were taking off, no biggie! Yeah this military ship was totally run by chocolate thieves! And also, I was flying part-time as a student :D

(I also love how high his voice went there. It's full-on "nice sweet Dr. Forger" voice XD)

And then :)

My crops are watered :)

With the action part over, I gotta say that they handled it all of it awesomely! I felt that the whole film was a little slow at first, but I didn't really mind. The climax was great, I got my whump, I got my fake family working together with all of them pretending that oh it was just chocolate thieves and not an actual threat of war breaking out.

My question is... didn't Anya just gulp the chocolate down?

... how did the microfilm get stuck in her teeth?

... you know what, never mind XD

Aw, Twilight got Handler a bottle of wine! And she actually looked thankful for it!

... was she the one who went in disguise to trap Depple into cheating on his wife??

*squealing*

Yor offering to help with the dessert and everyone going "Naaaaah you don't have to 😁"

Damian, shut the fuck up.

It is funny, however, how Anya can say one (1) thing and unintentionally leave him a blubbering mess. Girl is not even trying for that, lmao.

And then, another trip! Buddy who has the time and money--

Oh, wait. Yeah they're going on vacation on WISE budget lmao XD

It's kinda funny to see this with me having the Cruise arc as the "last" I saw of them, as an anime only, cause it was "trip to the ocean!" then "trip to the north!" and now it's "trip to the beach!"

Aw!

Meanwhile, after the credits...

Hang in there buddy. Your time will come to get Twilight back XD

Overall, definitely recommended, it did have its weak parts and its parts that you had to happily kick your logic out the window, but it was great fun, with awesome action, character depth, and even angsty parts that I adored. This will keep my anime-only ass satisfied for a little while, hopefully we also get news about Season 3 soon!

#Spy x Family #sxf code white #sxf spoilers #sxf code white spoilers #Spy x Family Code: White

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