#I can't wait to utilize my new powers

[aelswiths]

Leveling up 🥰🥰🥰

[exhaslo]

Over-Time

CEO!Miguel x Shy/Clumsy!Reader!

Warning: MINORS DNI, eventual smut, slow-burn, mentions of sex, bullying, cussing

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"Dear, (Y/N), you have been selected to join us for a group interview at Alchemax. Please arrive at appointed date and time below. Read and follow all instructions to ensure your interview. We can't wait to meet you."

Unable to fathom what you had just read, a loud gasp escaped your lips instead. All you really read was interview. Everything else blurred out since you were so excited to finally have a chance to leave your current job.

"Oh my gosh! Do I even have the proper clothes for an interview there?! I can't believe it!" You whispered, resisting a squeal.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Alcehmax was one of the biggest companies in Nueva York. Everyone in their right mind wanted to get even a chance to work there. Hell, some people were happy just being a janitor there.

It was all anyone wanted to gloat about. Getting an interview was nearly impossible and yet, your clumsy ass managed to get it. You had prayed to every God you could think of. The questionnaire was a nightmare and where people failed the most.

"Okay, okay! I have to prepare...I have to practice..." You told yourself.

Interviews were hard for you. You were nervous around new people and freaked out when asked hard questions. Glancing at yourself in the mirror, you just smiled. You got this far. You had an interview to take and succeed in.

---------

"Lyla, have we found anyone decent enough within the last two group interviews?" Miguel asked with a grumble.

Lyla, Miguel's private assistant, just laughed. She took off her designer glasses and placed them on Miguel's desk. Miguel was the CEO of Alchemax. One of the richest men in all of Nueva York, and a man with a quick temper.

"We have some potential candidates for the open slot in Marketing, but no one to replace me for when I go on my vacaaaation~" Lyla sang happily. Miguel felt his eye twitch,

"Yes, I know. You haven't stopped bragging about your damn vacation all week. Would have been nice if you mentioned it sooner-"

"Oh, don't give me that, Migs. I had it pop up on your calendar every week for the past three months reminding you! It isn't my fault you don't look."

"I am a busy man. You know that because you make my schedule," Miguel hissed lowly then pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just-Ugh, I just find me someone who won't try and suck my dick within the first week."

Lyla just snickered as she typed on her tablet, "You need to find someone. Maybe it will make you less of a grump." She mocked.

Miguel exhaled loudly, glaring towards his assistant. It was a good thing that Miguel could tolerate that woman. Lyla was a close friend of his and knew how to push his buttons.

Leaning back in his seat, Miguel closed his eyes as he took the moment to rest. Lyla was going to be gone for a few months. She sure knew how to utilize her vacation time. Hell, Lyla had a tough job dealing with him. She deserved it.

"I just need someone....quiet."

---------

How could a building give off such an intimidating presence? It was as if all those powerful inside were warding off the weak and frail. The start of a challenging, yet welcoming part of your life. If you managed to do good in the interview.

Inhaling deeply, you gripped onto your folder and finally had the courage to make your way inside. You heard the stories, but Alchemax sure was a force to be reckon with. The inside of the reception floor felt like another world.

You had arrived super early. You were scared of being late and well, knowing yourself, you were probably going to get lost. Hopefully, your clumsiness won't get in the way of your interview.

"Ah-"

Magic words. Just thinking of it alone caused you to goof up. You had accidently bumped into someone while admiring the inside of the building.

"I-I'm s-so sorry!" You stuttered, panicked that you were fucking up already, "I wasn't looking! I'm sorry!"

"It's alright. Are you okay?" The man spoke as you picked up your paperwork that fell.

Tears were starting to form as you thought of running away. Glancing up at the stranger you bumped into, you sniffed and tried to compose yourself. The man before you had bend down and helped with your paperwork.

"No need to be afraid, I won't bite." The man said with a warming smile. You gulped, finding him very attrative,

"I'm sorry again."

"Oh? An interview?"

"Ah, yes. I'm a little early, but since I've never been here I wanted to make sure...I wouldn't get lost," You admited as he handed your paperwork, "Thank you. My name is (Y/N)."

"Miguel,"

You stood up, staring at the towering man before you. That name sounded familiar, but you were so focused on your goof up to remember. Everyone was probably staring at you, laughing and knowing that you were probably going to flunk the interview now.

"Come, I'll take you to the floor you're going to be at. There are drinks in the lobby once you arrive. Help yourself."

"Ah, thank you."

You were just lucky to have bumped into someone as nice as Miguel. If it were anyone else, they would have probably made you feel worse than you already do now.

---------

Miguel stayed quiet as he led you to the elevator. He won't lie that it was slightly amusing to find someone who didn't immediately recognized him. That and quite refreshing. Miguel wondered what you would think if you found out that he was the CEO.

Glancing ever so slightly in your direction, Miguel couldn't help but smile. It was like you were in your own little world. You were fumbling with your fingers while you had a slight look of panic on your face. Honestly, that was how people should look for an interview.

Alchemax was not a place to enter with confidence.

"What position are you applying for?" Miguel asked, wanting to ease your nerves.

"Oh!" You gasped lowly, "Marketing."

"Hm. How good are you with planning and scheduling?" He asked casually. Your shoulders raised slightly,

"I, um, I like to...It's easier for me when I have everything in an itinerary. Makes for unnecessary distractions and delays. I find myself at ease with a schedule," You admitted with such a carefree smile.

"And organization?"

"If I'm not overwhelmed I'm great with organizing things." You chirped, "Oh, um, will I get a lot of people talking and asking me questions if I do get hired here? I...I'm just a little shy and if I get overwhelmed I do tend to be clumsy."

Miguel resisted a chuckle, finding you quite entertaining. After another second of silence, Miguel watched as you gasped and covered your face with your folder.

How cute.

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How embarrassing!

Just because he was a handsome face and kind to you, doesn't mean you could get comfortable! It took you hours to practice talking to yourself in the mirror to prepare for an interview and now you were blabbing away nonsense to a stranger!

Feeling the elevator come to a stop. You gasped lowly, admiring the lobby before you.

"Here is your stop." Miguel spoke.

"Thank you," You bowed your head slightly, still embarrassed from rambling off.

As you stepped off the elevator, you gulped. Nerves started to kick in as you took your first step to a better future.

"Oh, and (Y/N)," Miguel called out, causing you to turn, "Best of luck."

"T-Thank you!"

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Next Chapter

@timidquindim @decentsoupperson

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Lies, damned lies, and Uber

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in PHOENIX (Changing Hands, Feb 29) then Tucson (Mar 10-11), San Francisco (Mar 13), and more!

Uber lies about everything, especially money. Oh, and labour. Especially labour. And geometry. Especially geometry! But especially especially money. They constantly lie about money.

Uber are virtuosos of mendacity, but in Toronto, the company has attained a heretofore unseen hat-trick: they told a single lie that is dramatically, materially untruthful about money, labour and geometry! It's an achievement for the ages.

Here's how they did it.

For several decades, Toronto has been clobbered by the misrule of a series of far-right, clownish mayors. This was the result of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris's great gerrymander of 1998, when the city of Toronto was amalgamated with its car-dependent suburbs. This set the tone for the next quarter-century, as these outlying regions – utterly dependent on Toronto for core economic activity and massive subsidies to pay the unsustainable utility and infrastructure bills for sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes – proceeded to gut the city they relied on.

These "conservative" mayors – the philanderer, the crackhead, the sexual predator – turned the city into a corporate playground, swapping public housing and rent controls for out-of-control real-estate speculation and trading out some of the world's best transit for total car-dependency. As part of that decay, the city rolled out the red carpet for Uber, allowing the company to put as many unlicensed taxis as they wanted on the city's streets.

Now, it's hard to overstate the dire traffic situation in Toronto. Years of neglect and underinvestment in both the roads and the transit system have left both in a state of near collapse and it's not uncommon for multiple, consecutive main arteries to shut down without notice for weeks, months, or, in a few cases, years. The proliferation of Ubers on the road – driven by desperate people trying to survive the city's cost-of-living catastrophe – has only exacerbated this problem.

Uber, of course, would dispute this. The company insists – despite all common sense and peer-reviewed research – that adding more cars to the streets alleviates traffic. This is easily disproved: there just isn't any way to swap buses, streetcars, and subways for cars. The road space needed for all those single-occupancy cars pushes everything further apart, which means we need more cars, which means more roads, which means more distance between things, and so on.

It is an undeniable fact that geometry hates cars. But geometry loathes Uber. Because Ubers have all the problems of single-occupancy vehicles, and then they have the separate problem that they just end up circling idly around the city's streets, waiting for a rider. The more Ubers there are on the road, the longer each car ends up waiting for a passenger:

https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Uber-Lyft-San-Francisco-pros-cons-ride-hailing-13841277.php

Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. After years of bumbling-to-sinister municipal rule, Toronto finally reclaimed its political power and voted in a new mayor, Olivia Chow, a progressive of long tenure and great standing (I used to ring doorbells for her when she was campaigning for her city council seat). Mayor Chow announced that she was going to reclaim the city's prerogative to limit the number of Ubers on the road, ending the period of Uber's "self-regulation."

Uber, naturally, lost its shit. The company claims to be more than a (geometrically impossible) provider of convenient transportation for Torontonians, but also a provider of good jobs for working people. And to prove it, the company has promised to pay its drivers "120% of minimum wage." As I write for Ricochet, that's a whopper, even by Uber's standards:

https://ricochet.media/en/4039/uber-is-lying-again-the-company-has-no-intention-of-paying-drivers-a-living-wage

Here's the thing: Uber is only proposing to pay 120% of the minimum wage while drivers have a passenger in the vehicle. And with the number of vehicles Uber wants on the road, most drivers will be earning nothing most of the time. Factor in that unpaid time, as well as expenses for vehicles, and the average Toronto Uber driver stands to make $2.50 per hour (Canadian):

https://ridefair.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Legislated-Poverty.pdf

Now, Uber's told a lot of lies over the years. Right from the start, the company implicitly lied about what it cost to provide an Uber. For its first 12 years, Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar it brought in, lighting tens of billions in investment capital provided by the Saudi royals on fire in an effort to bankrupt rival transportation firms and disinvestment in municipal transit.

Uber then lied to retail investors about the business-case for buying its stock so that the House of Saud and other early investors could unload their stock. Uber claimed that they were on the verge of producing a self-driving car that would allow them to get rid of drivers, zero out their wage bill, and finally turn a profit. The company spent $2.5b on this, making it the most expensive Big Store in the history of cons:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/infighting-busywork-missed-warnings-how-uber-wasted-2-5-billion-on-self-driving-cars

After years, Uber produced a "self-driving car" that could travel one half of one American mile before experiencing a potentially lethal collision. Uber quietly paid another company $400m to take this disaster off its hands:

https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/10/why-is-uber-selling-its-autonomous-vehicle-division

The self-driving car lie was tied up in another lie – that somehow, automation could triumph over geometry. Robocabs, we were told, would travel in formations so tight that they would finally end the Red Queen's Race of more cars – more roads – more distance – more cars. That lie wormed its way into the company's IPO prospectus, which promised retail investors that profitability lay in replacing every journey – by car, cab, bike, bus, tram or train – with an Uber ride:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RN2SK/

The company has been bleeding out money ever since – though you wouldn't know it by looking at its investor disclosures. Every quarter, Uber trumpets that it has finally become profitable, and every quarter, Hubert Horan dissects its balance sheets to find the accounting trick the company thought of this time. There was one quarter where Uber declared profitability by marking up the value of stock it held in Uber-like companies in other countries.

How did it get this stock? Well, Uber tried to run a business in those countries and it was such a total disaster that they had to flee the country, selling their business to a failing domestic competitor in exchange for stock in its collapsing business. Naturally, there's no market for this stock, which, in Uber-land, means you can assign any value you want to it. So that one quarter, Uber just asserted that the stock had shot up in value and voila, profit!

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-nine-despite-massive-price-increases-uber-losses-top-31-billion.html

But all of those lies are as nothing to the whopper that Uber is trying to sell to Torontonians by blanketing the city in ads: the lie that by paying drivers $2.50/hour to fill the streets with more single-occupancy cars, they will turn a profit, reduce the city's traffic, and provide good jobs. Uber says it can vanquish geometry, economics and working poverty with the awesome power of narrative.

In other words, it's taking Toronto for a bunch of suckers.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

Image: Rob Sinclair (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night_skyline_of_Toronto_May_2009.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[rainydaydreamsideblog]

(X-Men) Logan Howlett x Reader: The Injury 2

You can't help but notice Logan is always looking out for you, and you wonder if it's because he thinks you're incapable. Little did you know there's another reason entirely.

Word Count: 2,236

Warnings: Typical X-Men Violence, Blood

Link to Part 1

Hands gripping the back of the jet seats, you exhaled loudly in a near grunt.

This was always the worst part.  Waiting.  Just standing there and waiting for something terrible to happen so that you could do something about it.

It’s not like you weren’t trained in combat.  You could handle yourself, at least.  But the fact of the matter was that your particular abilities weren’t geared for offensive attacks like the rest.  As Professor Xavier told you, you gave the team quite the strategic advantage when utilized at the right moment.

In other words, it would be no good to the others if you were the one who was injured.  

Fair enough.

But the waiting…

When the static came through in your earpiece, you straightened up.  Hopefully, it would be news of a successful mission and that the team was on their way back to the ship.

You weren’t so lucky this time.

“I’ve been injured,” Storm’s voice spoke weakly.

“Storm, are you alright?” you asked.  No response.

The realization tore through you like a jolt of lightning.  “I’m on my way.” Heart pounding, you exited the jet and checked that the coast was clear. When you reached the site, it took you a moment to evaluate the situation.  Fists were locked in combat.  It was mutant powers galore. Metal frames were flying.  You jumped when someone let a construction crane drop, causing the ground beneath you to quake.

A glimpse of white caught your attention.  You backtracked in your initial scan of the scene to see Storm lying beside a chunk of busted concrete. Her head was angled awkwardly with her face turned away from you.

Your muscles coiled as you prepared to dart into the fray of things.

Scott’s voice suddenly came through. “You need to wait.” He was in the midst of the fight, gloved fingers resting on the side of his visor, ready to activate it.  “Things are too chaotic at the moment.  You’re at risk.”

“It looks bad,” you replied immediately.  “I need to help her now.”  You sprung into action, dodging a worn, yellow hunk of what looked to be plating from another construction vehicle that was launched at you. There was no time to trace the path of that shattered piece and see where it came from.

But what you did happen to see in your race to Storm’s aid was a tall form standing slightly hunched in an attack stance, muscular arms tensed, with metallic claws out and glinting in the construction lights. Logan’s dark eyes were glaring furiously past you at presumably whoever had chucked that object in your direction, the bridge of his nose crinkling in a snarl. His chest rose and fell heavily with a growl.

It was a sight that lasted only a mere second as you ran past. Storm had your full attention as you knelt down beside her unconscious form. You removed your gloves and carefully turned her head to face you, revealing a gash of glistening red.

“Storm?” you murmured.  No response.

You gently rested a hand on either side of her head, closing your eyes and concentrating on your abilities.  A familiar ache started in the tips of your fingers and moved up your arms. Then came a splitting headache. 

Oh, her injuries were bad.  

The pain in your head made you groan aloud, but it was beyond worth it to see the gash had disappeared from hers, leaving only a streak of blood behind in her halo white hair.  There was no way of knowing exactly when the symptoms would fade. In the meantime, you were a sitting duck in the middle of the battlefield with your limbs weak and head in agony.

A gloved hand grasped your arm comfortingly, and you opened your eyes once more to see Storm with concern in her deep gaze. She helped you to your feet, her eyes flickering to the nearest safe place for you to hang tight while you recovered. You stumbled over to the edge of the site, hand grasping desperately at a metal frame to hold onto.

Logan was engaged in heated hand-to-hand with another opponent. Everything around him appeared a mere blur in your eyes, with the heavy duty lights casting a dusty haze over the site-turned-battlefield. Other figures of your teammates moved, but all you saw was Logan taking another swipe at his foe.

You must have not been in your right mind due to the recovery because all you could think about was him. Your eyes traveled the length of his strong arms instead of scanning for any encroaching danger to your hiding spot. It took you back to one of your last missions, when he put his arm around you, forcing you to the ground with him, to ensure you avoided a blast heading your way.

The sound of his close breathing.  The rise and fall of his chest against your back. The immediate question spoken in a deep, gentle voice, “you okay?” right next to your ear.  Not to mention the effortless way he set you back on your feet.

You steadied yourself, relieved that you were gaining your bearings. It was much easier to focus on the here and now with your mind cleared of the reverie.  The enemy was in retreat, and the battle turned into a scramble to snatch up just one of them so they could be interrogated for information on their leader’s HQ.

There was one dragging himself along the ground, bleeding heavily from his left leg.

It was hard not to pity him, especially when you saw one of his teammates just up and leave him without remorse. He was coughing and sputtering, spraying the ground with blood droplets.

“He’s too wounded to speak now,” Jean announced, kneeling beside him.  “He needs immediate care.”

“Let me,” you breathed, doing your very best to walk over without a stumble.

Logan immediately stepped in front of you, his large hand coming up to take hold of your outstretched one before it could make contact, resting his other hand on your shoulder in an attempt to stop you. It didn’t take much. You were still rather weak.  

“Absolutely not.”

As much as your body wanted to cave to his touch, your mind addled from pain, you were determined as ever. And his tone left much to be desired.

“Oh, excuse me, Dad,” you snipped, meeting his gaze to show you were still no less serious. “This is why I’m here.”

“You’re here to help the X-Men,” he pointed out, staring deeply into your eyes insistently. 

“I am helping the X-Men…by helping him. We won’t get anywhere with leads if he succumbs to his wounds on the way back.”

“This is the guy who just tried to off you about ten minutes ago.”

When you weren’t deterred by his addition, Logan scoffed, his hand remaining on your shoulder. Storm stepped in to offer up a less antagonistic word of caution to you.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “You still appear drained.”

Your tone matched hers, losing its edge because of her more amiable demeanor as opposed to the grouchy Wolverine’s. “Yes, I’m fine.  I am back to normal already.  Let me do this for the team. Please, I can’t stand watching him suffer anymore.”

All eyes were on Logan.

He released you, holding his hands up in a begrudging surrender to your wishes. You weren’t back to normal. Not really. Everyone knew it. Of course you still felt like you’d been hit by a garbage truck when you let your hand fall to the man’s neck to make contact. The ache in your limbs turned to fire, and your head was pounding again.

Ugh, it sucked. 0/10, not a good time.

You stumbled back, falling right down on your bottom in the dirt, and clutched your head.

At some point, you must’ve blacked out because you awoke aboard the X-Jet, strapped into your seat. All was quiet, save for the hum as it travelled at high speeds. Through the haze of waking from a short rest, the events already felt distant, like a dream. Unreal.

The lingering effects of your abilities had ceased, fortunately. Each breath you took was free from the splitting pain.

“Oh, look who’s up,” Logan grumbled.

“What happened?”

If looks could kill. “What do you think?”

“Okay, okay. Too much at once. I’ll try to avoid that next time,” you said, heaving a sigh. Trying to act nonchalant, you stretched a bit in your seat. “Are we almost back to the Mansion?”

“We’ve just arrived,” Cyclops replied, flipping a few switches that presumably activated the landing sequence. “When we get in, you’re going straight to the medical wing.”

“Yes, Sir.” You gave a little salute.

Logan practically escorted you the entire way, and for good measure he waited around while you got checked out. Fortunately, everything seemed to be fine at that point. As soon as you were deemed fit to leave the medical wing, Logan visibly relaxed.

It hadn’t escaped you that he only got that way when it came to your safety. Generally, he was a rather easy-going guy. Ask anyone on the team, and they’d agree that he wasn’t one to get involved in anyone’s business or make demands. He was very much a live and let live man when it came to others… Except when someone was at risk. And as of late, it seemed you were the focal point of his concerns in particular.

Naturally, you explored a series of reasons why that could be. One idea that stood out to you especially was that perhaps Wolverine’s incessant need to defend you on the battlefield stemmed from the way your abilities worked. Perhaps this made you seem quite vulnerable to him as someone fighting alongside a team of very powerful individuals that utilized their abilities during combat, rather than in the aftermath.

It hardly seemed fair. Your abilities may differ from the others, but you were quite capable of looking after yourself when it came to a fight. You knew your limits. You trained well with the rest of the team. His level of concern just didn’t seem to add up. It was a bit insulting.

“I’m not sure what I’ve done to warrant a babysitter,” you commented finally as the two of you departed from the medical wing. You walked side-by-side at a rather hurried pace. “I have only ever done my part. And I’ve done it well, if I do say so myself.”

“A little too well,” he grumbled, glancing in the other direction.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m confused. Do you, or do you not, think I can handle myself on missions?”

“I know you can handle missions,” he snapped, then took a breath and lowered his voice, finally halting to turn and meet your gaze sincerely. “I know that. That’s not the issue here.”

You realized that you must have subconsciously taken a step closer because suddenly you were captivated by his dark eyes and trying very hard not to let your gaze flicker to his lips. “Then why do you act like I can’t?”

“Can’t you just accept that I care about ya’?”

That and the fact that he was now inches away from your face was enough to short-circuit your brain. You were frozen in place, unable to form a coherent thought other than how you were lost in space, and the only thing grounding you was the texture of his hair, the way his brows furrowed beautifully over his eyes, and his lips which were still parted after his confession.

“Hey, I- oh.” Scott had just turned the corner and found you, clearing his throat. “I was just on my way to check on you.”

Logan looked the other way, and you took a few steps to put some distance between the two of you.

“I’m alright. I was cleared to head out,” you told him.

“Good. I’m glad.” He gave a slow nod. “I hate to do this, but our lead says he won’t talk unless you’re there. It seems he trusts you after you helped him. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind…”

“No, I don’t mind,” you replied, though the prospect of being present for the questioning was puzzling. Was it truly just a matter of trust? Or did the lead have something more sinister in mind? Security levels made the situation beyond safe. You knew that. But still, you couldn’t shake the uneasiness that suddenly gripped you.

Glancing back at Logan, you said softly, “this discussion will have to wait.”

“I guess so,” he agreed. As you started to follow Scott down the hall, Logan called your name. You looked over your shoulder to see him giving you a knowing look, as if he had read your mind. “Mind if I come along?”

You nodded. “Sure. Scott?”

“We could use you if there’s a need for a “bad 'cop' during the interview,” Scott added. “It would probably be best if you’re there. Just in case.”

You breathed a quiet sigh of relief that only you and apparently Logan heard. He walked by your side, though neither of you uttered a word about it. Ten minutes ago you might’ve rolled your eyes at the idea of him accompanying you to this interview… But now, you were beyond glad he was.

[aetherilyyy]

So, talking about Aether since I saw that you seem to like him a lot, I came on anonymous anyway because I have the wrong account at the moment. Anyway, let's go

-

I imagine he was the first to discover the player's existence, because the player is always connected with Aether, controlling him as if he were your puppet. At first, it's scary to think that a strange being may be controlling him and that it can lead him to death at any second, even if in Teyvat he somehow revives, it's still terrifying. However, are you helping him? Why are you helping him in the first place?

Aether hates to admit it, but after spending the entire Mondstadt mission, he likes to hear your voice and your complaints when he loses the 50/50, it's just funny. Aether can hear you now, he also hears and witnesses all the compliments you give to other characters, it's really cute; but hearing compliments also means listening to curses, (if you're a person who curses a lot, he learned new curses to defend himself when you're offline), he finds it funny when you start talking bad about the Npcs who don't stop talking for a second, even Aether got tired! Just stop talking and gid the mission soon! I want my primogems!!!

Aether feels on his skin, several times, what it's like to be exchanged, when you get your first 5 star, he's happy to have a partner, but hey, why did you take him out of the team?

Is he weak? Isn't he the meta?! What does that even mean?!

Aether is stuck in his thoughts, he only returns to your screen when some conversation or fight scene appears that has to be with him. But, Aether is hurt and doesn't understand why, he should be happy that your team is stronger! Not mad or upset...

His damage increases considerably and the 5-star characters come with more difficulty, first, he thought you didn't like characters who use sword, but you were looking for Furina?! Why her?! Is it because she's Hydro? He's Hydro too, look! Use him… Please...

The traveler is placed on the team again, you were testing the new powers he had gained in Liyue. Aether had almost forgotten how good it was to be praised for the new skills, and remember that I mentioned about his damage increasing? Aether will make his life goal: having higher damage and more utility for you!

Aether loves your concern for the journey and loves it when you get angry when he helps an entire nation to receive no information from his sister. You care about him... you’re so cute!

Before, it was cute to hear you gush with compliments and love songs for other characters, however, at this moment it is simply suffocating. Aether has to listen to you don't stop praising every sentence said by Xiao, and he's already losing his patience, especially with you seeing Xiao and him as a couple, how dare you?! His heart belongs to the person who helped him from the beginning!

Aether gets harsher and ruder with the characters you praise and- wait, what do you mean... getting married?! Excuse me?! You can't marry them!!!!

The traveler knows that you are the player, but he can also confuse it with a god, anyway, he wants you in Teyvat or enjoy the beautiful things of your world. Aether wants to hold your hand and be affectionate, he wants to tell all the love he feels. If you isekai in Teyvat, expect a room being made with a lot of love and affection, Aether calling you to be his new partner on trips and a very, very protective Aether, especially if he sees you embarrassed or interested in some character.

In case he stops in your world, Aether is taking the opportunity to hug you and he is even calmer, Hey, no rivals!!! He will stay in your house and God bless you if his divinity is already dating, because or 1. Bye bye gf/bf or 2. If the person break your heart, Aether makes this guy's life hell and, bye bye!

I want to talk about Paimon now, she will probably be the one who will notice Aether's change faster since she is always close to him. The giggles he gives when he is alone, his training getting heavier and heavier and the change of attitude when he talks to a character.

I'M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU AAAAAAAAAA

[seat-safety-switch]

SO-LAR-FUCKING-POWER. Or, as the appearance-obsessed image consultants want us to refer to it now, "photovoltaic energy." Yeah, okay, nerds. A lot of people have been shit-talking solar in the press, because they're afraid that individuals will set up their own power generation facilities in their backyards, roofs, sheds, community centres, what have you, and start pumping out electricity. That will make the big electricity corporations sad, so they've paid all these handsome people to come on the news and yell about it.

Let me put it this way: if there were a magic machine in the sky that shot out a bunch of candy bars every day, like an absolute shitload of Milky Ways, and you were hungry, would you run out into the backyard with a bucket? Or would you feel bad about it because Bob Milky Way, up there in his hateful Cadbury tower, is no longer able to perpetuate his existing business model?

Personally, I've gone big-league on solar, mostly because the utility company disconnected my house after decades of non-payment. Now, I can't afford the new stuff: even the cheap panels that the proud people of China throw onto AliExpress are too costly for my budget. What I've done instead is dig through the landfill (after hours, of course) for several hundred solar desk calculators.

These calculators are electronic devices that we used to use before smartphones in order to compute numbers. And they ran on the sun, because replacing batteries is annoying. After breaking open the calculators, I looped their solar cells together in series, and eventually built a big enough panel to cover my entire roof.

When I say it like that, it sounds easy, and this is the myth of engineering progress: it was actually a lot of stop-and-go stuff, bumps in the road. Rooftop fires. Wiring fires. I fell off the roof a few times. The cops came by at one point and were idling in front of my house, waiting to see if I'd come outside so they could bust me for stealing all those calculators from the dump. In the end, though, I am now able to charge my phone for free, and even run my coffee maker if it's a particularly sunny day. That coffee is the best-tasting coffee I've ever had, because it tastes like billionaire tears.

And I won't stop there, either. Things are going to improve dramatically at the old Switch Family Solar Array as my bougie neighbours throw out their old panels in order to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Pretty soon they'll be paying me to take them – I have it on good authority that the dump charges you like minimum $20 this weekend. If you flip to the last page in my investor deck, you'll notice that I have projected to be able to run my refrigerator by 2025. You better get in on this shit, or we'll bury you with the coal.

[wandafiction]

Water Fight - Just Us Chapter 31

Warnings 18+: Fluff, Smut, Thigh Riding (Wanda), Slight choking,

Word Count: 3679

Series List | Chapter 30 | Chapter 32

================================

"Okay what's the game plan?" Me, Yelena and Natasha are standing at the back of my car looking at all the water guns. 

"I want that one." Yelena's eyes have a devilish glint to them as she points out the gun.

"Okay so Yelena gets the Super Soaker Hydra." I grab it, passing it off to Yelena as she takes in the details of the plastic toy.

"Natasha, which one do you want?" Natasha doesn't speak, she just leans in the back grabbing out another one of the big guns, I also don't miss the pistol she puts behind her back. "The Super Soaker Soakzooker, excellent choice."

"What about you Y/n?" I turn to look at Yelena, a smirk growing on my face.

"I've got my baby right here." I open up a box in the back that I hid the gun in to make sure I got it. "Brand new Spyra Two."

I chuck the rest of the guns in a duffle bag, there are a few super soakers, a couple of pistols and one of those small rubbish pistols for Nathaniel to use as he is still too little to pump the guns properly to get them to work. We make our way into the house, checking our corners to make sure we are not going to get caught on our sneak attack, hopefully everyone is still in the garden. 

"Psst, come this way. Will can fill them up in the sink out here then sneak out the side door." Natasha waves me and Yelena over to the utility room, filling up the large sink so we can fill the guns up. 

All the guns take a while to fill up, because of course we had to choose the biggest of the lot but once we are ready we make our way to the side door that opens up to the side of the backyard that you can't see from the decking. Natasha leads, with Yelena close behind and me at the rear as she slowly and quietly opens the door swiveling her head left from right to make sure no one is in view. She lifts her hand in the air wiggling one finger silently, telling us to follow her. 

"Are you sure you're not a Russian spy Natasha, this all seems very tactical." I hear her huff out a laugh rolling her eyes at me as she turns to face me.

Just as she is about to say something we hear laughing close by and we simultaneously press our backs to the wall, crouching down to try and hide ourselves a little more. When the laughter moves away from us Natasha slowly slides her body along the wall putting her head past the corner to check the surroundings, holding up a fist to tell us to stay where we are. Me and Yelena hold our breath waiting for Natasha's singal.

We wait…

Her finger waves us to move as she moves around the corner.

"WATER FIGHT!" Yelena shouts as she rounds the corner immediately aiming for Sharon, firing with no remorse and laughing like a crazy person when she gets her right in the face. "Bullseye!"

I turn to see the children running away, so make my way towards them as Tommy and Billy group together to protect Nathaniel. If I wasn't so interested in attacking them with my water guns I would have melted at the sight, but I couldn't let it distract me. They hid Nathaniel behind their bodies who was shouting out about how the alien is after him. 

"Don't worry Nathaniel, we will protect you." Billy raises his arms in front of him, like has some sort of magic powers that are going to stop me.

"Your powers aren't going to stop me Billy." 

"Billy take Nat, I will distract her!" I smile at the nickname they have given him as Tommy shouts at them as he runs towards me, jeez Wanda's right this kids quick...but not as quick as me.

I turn my body running after Tommy who is already a few paces ahead of me, so as I am running I move my gun to aim for his back. When the cold water makes contact with his shirt he squeals a bit zigzagging around to try and put me off. He makes his way up the decking, essentially trapping himself so I spray him a few times and he dramatically collapses to the floor shouting 'man down, man down'. 

I turn around to search the backyard for the other two boys taking in the sight of Yelena chasing Sharon as she vaults over a plant pot or two showing off the skills Shield has obviously taught her as she avoids heavy fire from the young Russian. I also see Wanda, who has been cornered by Natasha, holding her hands in front of her face to try and stop the water as she laughs that gorgeous angelic laugh of hers. I pull my eyes away from watching Wanda, looking over to where I see Billy and Nathaniel running towards Wanda to go and help her. I smirk as I vault over the railing landing in front of them causing screams of horror to leave their mouths as they slide to a complete stop in front of me.

"Go Nathaniel!" Nathaniel darts back the other way as Billy holds up his hands waving them in the air. 

I stop all my movements like he has got me in his trap, frozen on the spot. His eyes widen slightly as he looks at his hands then back to me with a smirk. His smirk drops when my hand twitches, the gun moves ever so slightly upwards as the water makes contact with his face.

"I'm too powerful to be stopped by you Wiccan!" 

"Wiccan?" He tilts his head, wow he is just like his mother.

"Uh, yeah just came up with it now. Like you're some form of wizard with what you were doing with your hands."

"Oh cool. I like that." 

"Good because it's sticking."

"Does Tommy have a nickname?" As I'm about to answer I realise he is just trying to distract me so I shoot his forehead one more time.

"Don't distract me." He laughs at me as I scoot past his body searching the backyard for Nathaniel, smiling when I see his small body behind a tree. 

I take quiet steps till I'm close enough to the tree to get the rascal. I see his hand move to his mouth as he tries to hold his breath, obviously sensing that I'm close, but it's too late for him because I jump around and start shooting at his body. He shrieks as he runs back towards the other people who all stop their movements when they hear a very horrific scream only laughing when they realise it's Nathaniel being very dramatic. They all laugh as I wrap my arms around him instead of shooting him with water, and he kicks his legs around and he screams to the twins for help.

They make their way over to me trying to pry my arms open to allow Nathaniel to escape. I quickly bend down to place Nathaniel on the ground, as he turns to run away I quickly grab the twins wrapping my arms around their bodies so I can hold one under each arm. Damn they are heavier than I expected. So I don't drop them on the floor. I quickly make my way to the edge of the pool that is in the backyard and the boys look up at me in pure horror. I turn to Wanda to make sure it's okay to chuck them in, and as soon as I get a small nod I take a few steps back running towards the pool. As I jump I let go of the boys making sure to push their bodies away from me so we don't end up colliding as we go underwater. 

I bring my head up below the surface of the water, as the boys make their way to me pushing me back under. I flail my hands while under grabbing a leg of one of the boys, I hear a muffled scream from underwater as I pull the body under with me and push myself off the bottom of the pool so I come to the surface. I see Tommy above the surface so it was Billy I dragged under, I wait until he pops back above the surface before I swim towards Tommy who makes a quick swim towards the stairs. 

Tommy manages to get out of the pool, running towards Wanda and the other woman who have been watching this whole thing go down with Nathaniel standing there, his small body wrapped in a fluffy towel as his lips have a tiny hint of blue, he must have been standing still for too long. Instead of continuing the chase with Tommy, I stop and turn to Nathaniel even though we are having fun I can't let my little brother die of hypothermia.

"Do you want to dry off and get changed or do you want to put your swimming shorts on and get in the pool with me?" I see Tommy poke his head out from behind Wanda as he realises I have put a pause on the game we were playing.

"Ca-can I get in the pool. I want to p-p-play some more." His teeth chatter a little as he speaks.

"Of course let's get you warmed up a little first." I pick up his tiny body, making sure the towel stays securely on him and I tuck the extra length under his feet so he doesn't drip water through the house. 

"Can someone show me where our bags are please?" 

"I will come with you. Come on boys you should get into your shorts too if you want to stay in the pool." Wanda takes the lead as the four of us follow her inside, the other woman heading back to the table to catch their breaths and finish their drinks.

"Tommy, Billy your clothes are in Yelena's room so you can get changed in their and the bathroom opposite. Y/n and Nathaniel, your clothes are in the guest room with mine." 

Tommy and Billy disappear into a room on the left side of the hallway while I follow Wanda, Nathaniel still in my arms as he snuggles closer to me trying to keep warm, to the end of the hallway. She holds the door open for me and I place Nathaniel on the bed as I go to grab his bag, picking up his red and blue swim shorts. 

"Alright buddy, up." He pushes his body off the bed, as I bend down to match his height, rubbing my hands up and down the outside of the towel to help dry him off a little while creating some warmth. 

"Here you go buddy." Wanda pulls one of the blankets off the bed wrapping it around his small body to try and help warm him up.

"Thank you Miss Wanda."

"Wanda is just fine, bud." She gives him a gentle smile as she strokes a hand through his short brown hair.

"Okay Wanda." He shuffles his body closer to her, as she wraps her arms around him moving them up and down to help keep him warm.

"Are you warming up?" 

"Yes thank you Wanda." 

"Good. I will leave you to get changed, just come and get me when you're done so I can get sorted." 

"Okay. Thank you Wanda." I could really kiss her right now, but Nathaniel would witness. Wanda seems to be thinking the same as she takes my hand in hers and gives it a light squeeze, stroking her thumb on my knuckles before letting go and making her way out of the room.

"Okay buddy let's get you sorted so you can play in the pool."

Once Nathaniel is changed I tell him he is okay to go back outside as long as he is with the boys or one of the adults in the pool, while I get changed myself. Before he leaves he gives me a hug and squeezes me tight.

"You okay there buddy?" He nuzzles his head into my neck.

"I'm okay. I'm really happy right now! Thank you for today. It has been a lot of fun! Can we do this again sometime?" I stroke my arm up and down his back as a smile fondly at his request.

"Of course we can. We will talk to Wanda and maybe organise something with the boys and we can bring your brother and sister next time too. How does that sound?" 

"Amazing!" He gives me a sloppy kiss on the cheek before trying to wiggle out of my arms. "Can you put me down now please? I want to go and play again."

He gives me the biggest puppy eyes ever, so I give into his request giving him a quick kiss; and place him on the ground. I'm amazed when I see him calmly walking out of the room, closing the door behind him. He must know not to run in the house. I make my way to my bag pulling out my bikini, which is a Nike sportswear one as I'm not very comfortable with wearing two pieces of fabric held together by string. Instead this has high waisted bottoms, and a crop top like top. It gives me enough coverage to be comfortable but still shows off everything a normal bikini does. It's a win, win for me. 

I have just finished changing my bottom half, and as I'm taking my top half off I hear the door of the room open and close in quick succession and then a small click. I turn my head to see Wanda leaning against the door as she drinks me in with her eyes, her bottom lip between her teeth. 

"Take a picture it will last longer." What I don't expect to hear or see is the sound and flash of her phone taking a picture. I turn my head to look over my shoulder ready to give her the 'really' look, but when I see her eyes darkened with lust a small smirk plays on my lips. I see another flash. When she looks down at the picture and then up at me I see her gently squeeze her thighs together, eyes closing when she catches me staring. 

"Like what you see princess?" All she can do is nod, her lip still between her teeth as she puts her phone down on the desk by the door, her hands resting on her thighs gently scratching at them with her nails. 

I turn my whole body around now, her eyes drop to my chest a small whimper leaving her mouth as her thighs clench even more. I start walking towards Wanda as her eyes watch my every movement moving from my chest, to my chiselled abs back to my chest then up into my eyes. I come to a stop in front of her, looking down at her as she looks up at me, her pupils blown wide open with lust. I place my left hand on the door just above her head so I can lean over her some more, but leaving enough room for her to move if she needs to. 

My right hand comes to rest on her cheek, stroking it gently, before using the tip of my index finger to draw a line from her cheek, down her jaw to her neck then from her neck to her shoulder. My finger is barely touching the skin but goosebumps grow along her skin the further I get, her body arching slightly to get closer to me wanting more friction. My finger dances down her arm until it reaches her hand where I place my palm in hers, pushing my fingers between hers. I move my left arm down to do the same with the other arm, before suddenly moving them up above her head using one hand to hold both her wrists. My right hand coming down to hold her waist, holding her against the door.

"These stay here babygirl. Is that okay?" She gives me a nod. "Words babygirl."

"Yes, please, just please."

"Desperate, much? What's going you so riled up?"

"You." She states quickly.

"What have I done?"

"Vaulting over the railing. God that was so fucking sexy, like my god I didn't realise your muscles could look any better and then they tensed and your veins. Don't even get me started on your veins." She lets out a moan as I push my knee between her legs putting pressure on her core, she starts moving her hips riding my thigh.

"Keep going." My hand on her waist helps guide her movements against my leg, letting her know I am more than okay with her bringing herself to an orgasm.

"And when you did those press ups. Baby you're so strong, your muscles nearly broke through your shirt. I've had to control myself all day, to make sure I didn't drag you into the bathroom to let you take me. I need you." Her voice is becoming breathy the more she rides my thigh.

I stop her movements for a second, she lets out a small whine but moans when my hands make contact with her clothed core. I move my hand to the band of underwear pulling them down till they fall to the floor. I slam my lips against hers in a passionate kiss, keeping her arms above her head as I put my leg back between hers. The grinding of her core against my thigh immediately continues and I can feel the trail of wetness her movements are leaving behind.

"That's it babygirl. Work yourself up for me. Be a good girl and make yourself cum on my thigh." Her pace picks up as moans and sighs leave her mouth. I let go of her wrists, her hands drop to my shoulders for support and I bring the hand down to her neck giving it a slight squeeze.

Her breath hitches in her throat.

"Is this okay babygirl." She nods but then sees the look on my face.

"Yes it's more than okay." 

"Good because you have to be quiet there are other people here." Wanda bites her bottom lip to suppress her moans as her movements become erratic against my thigh.

"Please baby I'm so close." 

"Please what babygirl?" I squeeze her throat a little tighter, before releasing the pressure not wanting to hurt her or leave a mark.

"Please can I cum, I want to cum." 

"You've been such a good girl controlling yourself all day, so cum for me." I move my mouth against her ear, poking my tongue in her lobe to see how she reacts, I hear a moan from the back of her throat and smile. "That's it babygirl. Be a good girl now, cum for me."

With those final words her hips jutter as her head flings back against the door, eyes rolling to the back of her head. Her back arches, her body coming into contact with mine as I feel her juices release onto my thigh, her nails digging into my shoulders, one of her hands flies to her mouth to muffle her moans. Her hips move lazily against my leg a few more times before her body completely relaxes against mine slumping into me.

"You okay princess?" I cup her face with my hands, moving her hair behind her ears.

"More than okay." I smile down at her bringing our lips together for a few seconds before leaning my forehead against hers.

"Feeling better." She smacks my arms gently as I let out a small laugh.

"Rude, but yes so much better."

"Well seeing you cum against my thigh is something I'm not going to get out of my head." She hums as she pecks my lips a couple of times. "I think I am going to shower before I head back downstairs don't want to get in the pool with you all over my leg " 

Wanda's face flushes at the thought, burying her head against my chest to try and hide it. I don't say anything but start stroking my hand through her hair. After a few minutes of calm she rests her chin against my chest looking up at me. 

"Y/n I...I…I…" She bows her head, becoming all shy before taking a breath and looking back up at me." I want to join you in the shower."

"Won't your friends and the boys wonder where you are?" She shakes her head.

"Natasha told me to stop staring and just get laid. Her words not mine, she was fed up with me just watching you. And Yelena and the boys are playing in the pool." 

"Okay well I'm more than happy for you to join me." I grab her hand, dragging her into the ensuite locking the door behind us. 

I wonder why she got so nervous about asking to join me? I would never say no. Unless she wanted to ask something else but got too shy or nervous. I will speak to her later about it. For now I am going to enjoy this shower, which is definitely not going to stay PG for very long. I hear the water turn on and see Wanda stepping under it and I can't help but stare at her.

"Take a picture, it will last longer." I laugh at her using my own words against me as I step in the shower to join her.

"Your beauty cannot be captured by a single moment. A picture would do what I see in front of me no justice because you are too beautiful to describe, you Wanda are ethereal." 

"And you Y/n are ravishing." 

================================

[ultraviolet-cello]

Gooooood morning Trigun fandom, I'm up bright and early, ready to sink my teeth into today's analysis/detailed watchthrough episode - 11. To A New World.

I can't believe we're almost done with @tristampparty. These 12 days have been a blast and I'm very glad that I got to chat abt them!! I've been in a bout of artblock recently too, so I'm glad that I can just ramble instead!

Spoilers for Trigun Stampede and Trigun Maximum, and CWs for. okay this one is a Lot, but discussion of violation of bodily autonomy, sexual assault and trauma, pregnancy, transphobia, harm coming to children, Millions Knives in general, Vash's passive suicidal tendencies. If I think of any more I'll pop them up here but this episode is a heavy one!

If you wanna skip those first few CWs (Totally understandable <3), you can skip the paragraphs labelled with a [CW] at the front.

[CW] Okay so we're gonna tail off the end of Episode 10 for a second, but uh. Knives in this scene is using extremely Loaded Language to outright tell Vash that there is something wrong with him that needs to be fixed.

Just to be clear I do think Vash is very trans-coded (intentionally or not), and that very strongly influences how I interpret this scene - I myself am a trans man as well.

Cool, moving on! That's all really for the end of ep 10, I just needed to point out that Knives is using language that is commonly used to justify corrective sexual assault; which is pretty much what my reading of this scene is analogous to.

what in the fresh hell i got jumpscared by dub again. returning to subs hold on a moment. Like i've been checking dub occasionally to match up some dialogue and make sure I'm not being misled by Subtitle Jank but I'm one of those guys who can't listen to anything without subtitles lmao

But i also think i do get the funniest possible translation of this line - actually wait no i hate the double meaning (with Vash's body being used to kickstart the pregnancy imagery). was that intentional. who did this.

Anyway Meryl kicking Wolfwood is really funny but also like. Yeah. justified. She's having a no good awful time but like. She's so willing to believe in Vash, to chase after him even into Extremely Dangerous conditions (There's those hints of Trimax Meryl again....) and Wolfwood is being an ass here. (An understandable ass. But an ass nonetheless). Which is to say YEAHHH MERYL GET HIS ASS!!!

Knives' gay little like. bodysuit here. He and Vash have the same build but their respective clothes make them stand out very differently. Also that Knives' stuff seems to have more muscle definition (HYDRATE. You shouldn't have that Knives you need water :pensive:) which could be building towards his more intimidating appearance.

Also I'd be a fool to not show everyone my initial reaction to this

I've talked a little bit about how Vash uses his gun as a tonfa (thwacky baton) most of the time in melee combat, and I think that's a great way to show him utilizing something Knives gave him to Kill as a nonlethal weapon - in this, however, he doesn't have it and his normally very fluid very good form martial arts is flailing and panicked. Vash is pretty good at keeping his cool in most combat situations, and is a very skilled fighter. Seeing him lose that cool and just start struggling when Knives tries to grab him is :(

Once again the metal/organic dichotomy is coming into play - the creation of inorganic but the destruction that comes from the organic. Typically plant (as in flora) powers in media lend themselves to being creation powers, life, and healing. But Vash here has that plant (flora) theme but those are very much a force for destruction.

Also Knives with the angelic white, and Vash with the black.

I hate Conrad So Much (he's such a good character). Like we Know to some extent that dependent plants are self-aware enough to feel pain, to hold onto memories, to hatred, to love. They don't have consciousness the same way humans or Independents do, but they feel, they live, they understand what Vash tells them. Maybe it is a shallow form of themselves. But I think something a lot of people fail to realize is that (some, not all, because they are individuals even throughout a hivemind) plants appear to enjoy their purpose.

Once again the memory that is shared with Knives in Trimax of a woman and her child thanking the plant for her service and she smiles? After being fused, that plant held onto that memory. I've been given no reason to believe that plants in Tristamp are different, so Conrad is just,,, ignoring the subtleties of plants and taking away their agency to choose for themselves. Doubly so for Knives, who can communicate efficiently with them.

A very quick blink and you'll miss it detail is that Vash says "It was our fault humans crashed here!". The shifting blame and guilt between the two is something that is fighting the narrative allll the time, but Vash attributing to both of them as an appeal to Knives is interesting to relay how he feels.

I also don't think Vash is right, though, when he says the only reason humans abuse plants is because they crashed. Tesla was before, Chronica in Trimax has apparently seen independent fusions before (For what reason?). Like yeah to this extent it's a result of the big fall, but there'd still be problems without it. Nobody is right in this argument lmao

(except me. I'm always correct about everything ever)

[CW] Once again - violating Vash's consent and autonomy because he does not agree with or differs from Knives. Corrective violation, in this case. It's also important that it's Meryl who calls this out - she has to really really struggle for her autonomy to be important. She's small, carry-able, inexperienced, doesn't have any special powers or genetic modification. She's carrying a tiny gun from a man who can never back her up anymore. In fact, nobody is backing her up! She's out here alone! But she's sticking up for Vash. She cares about him,,,, so much

SURPRISE ROBERTO ATTACK [sobs]

Meryl pulled the nail out of him and placed his hands gently over the wound, as one might do in a casket. A memorial of cigarettes and his flask. All this will be destroyed soon, but Meryl did give him a funeral to the best of her ability.

Knives using Roberto's image is cruel as hell. Not to Vash but to ME. He's already dead you can't do this to meeee. "How do you think they'll react when they learn you caused the big fall" He will never learn it!! he never got the chance!!!

So fun fact you can actually eat geraniums. It's just that if Rem had said yes Vash probably would have eaten it right there and then. I've made that mistake before (told one of my class that nasturtiums were edible and he just ate one. right from the plant)

So; the Tesla scene. Something I do want to point out is that Rem finds them almost immediately, and Knives doesn't immediately pass out - Is he still catatonic enough to miss Rem's speech, or did he hear it? Because the reason that Vash turned out like he did is because he was awake to go through that with Rem - Knives was unconscious the entire time and didn't get to start that trauma recovery.

It's also important to recognize that these memories could be unreliable, especially as Knives tampers with them later.

I do want to know which version of the Bible Knives was reading. Because depending on translation/version, you can get Very different ideas out of that.

Anyway Knives is kind of beginning his spiral in that memory - "Humanity never learns" kinda shit, which seems to take place after Tesla. Who knows how long. But baby Vash calls that out and goes "yeah lets have faith"! Baby Knives looks a tad shocked and then Present Knives just. Cuts off the memory. What was the ensuing conversation!!! Hello???

Like he's clearly Having Thoughts (The Horror), we just don't get to know what those were.

So remember when I said it was interesting that Vash said it was "our" fault that the ships crashed, sharing the blame?

Yeah that gave Knives some ammo that just. Broke him. Shifts it allllll to Vash. Update Vash's description to running on 18 guilt complexes, CPTSD, and bisexuality.

[CW] There's so many different forms of assault, metaphorical and. Not. That is happening in this scene from mind violation to Knives literally using Vash's (specifically Vash's) body as a vessel to impregnate other plants which. Hey did you know that pregnancy is a massive fear of a lot of trans men. So many transphobes reduce trans men to their capability to have children, as if that's all they're good for (even if it would kill them.), and that often leads to corrective rape in order to "remind them of biological reality". In this case, Vash is a plant, he's meant to create, and yet he doesn't. But he's still being used to create anyway.

Again, Meryl also directly calls out Vash's lack of consent and gets shot down by Conrad. The whole scene is just. Hgnrhgnhrhnrnrn. It's So,,, everything to me, because it's a really good scene and shows you how far gone Knives is in Tristamp.

There are panels in Trimax that are,,, the imagery is there, but it's very overt in Tristamp.

Also hey yeah. Why is Conrad still alive?? Did he have access to cold sleep? or it's probably the robotics but did he not think of enhancing humans that way? It might just be a temporary solution, I guess, given that he is. Actively coughing up blood.

Alright! I have finished this part of the analysis that I always Feel Strongly about lmao - I have fun doing it but that's such an emotionally heavy episode.

[sarawritestories]

Stressed Out

Harry Wells X Fem Reader

Flash Masterlist

Summary: Y/N has been feeling stressed at her day job along with being one of Central City's Heroes. At her breaking point she storms away after having enough of Harry and Cisco criticizing her every move. As she sits at Jitters, Harry pays her a visit.

A/N: I'm so sorry for my lack of posting and getting requests out. Writing has been hard as the stresses of the real world so my inspiration has been low. However I have now gotten a wave of inspiration so there will be an influx of stories

Content Warning: Stress, random outburst of anger, Low self esteem (in the form of not feeling good enough)

Word Count: 1730 words

Tags: @eonash @yetanotherwells @twilightlover2007 @achromaticerebus

Emails flooded Y/N's inbox, all from Captain Singh, breathing down her neck about getting paperwork done and micromanaging how she responds to emails. She had been making small mistakes, typos on files, forgetting to sign document or dropping a piece of evidence and it shattered on the floor. No matter how careful she has been a mistake on her end pops up racking up anxious feelings.

Harry and Cisco have not helped her in anyway in S.T.A.R labs critiquing how she is not moving fast enough in the field, that her take downs are sloppy and causes too much damages. That they are tired of repairing her suit. The constant nagging coming from all fronts was beginning to cause a storm cloud of doubt to loom over her head. She felt uneasy and the stress and pressure she put on herself to do better and move more efficiently , all the while taking the criticism and swallowing the sinking feeling that settled in her stomach.

 Her computer pinged with a new notification, pulling her from her thoughts, that Captain wanted to see her in his office. She closed her eyes and count to ten before she responded that she would be right down and closed her laptop grabbing it and heading down the stairs to his office. Joe, Barry and Singh were in the office grim looks on her face. “Shut the door, Y/L/N.” Y/N felt bile rising in her throat as the door clicked shut.

By the time the meeting met its end, Y/N had to utilize all her will power to not cry. She made a beeline for the elevator, “Y/N, Y/N wait!” Barry's voice boomed in the bullpen. She slowly turned and saw Barry feigning that he was catching up his breath, holding up his phone with the notification a fire was happening, “Duty calls.”

In a blink of the eye they were at the fire of the high rise builder, hero attire on. “I'll take care of the fire, you clear the building to make sure everyone gets out safe.” Y/N nods and Barry speeds into the top floor of the building and Y/N began her descent down the floors, clearing each floor there was a scream on the third floor and she made her way there. A crying child was curled up in the corner, with speed she grabbed the girl and as she turned the whole floor caved in. The girl screamed.

Y/N held the girl close and whispered soothing words. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she took a running leap to get reach the doorway. She sped through the floors making sure there was no one left into the building before she got out of the building the young girls face tucked into her shoulder. A weeping older woman takes a look at the young meta with the girl in her arms and makes a dash toward her. “My baby!” She held her arms open as Y/N whispered to the girl causing the child to lift her head and squeal with joy and leap into her mother's open arms. The mother cradles her child's head rocking her soothing her sobs. The mom meets Y/N's eyes, “Thank you so much!”

Y/N gave her a small smile, “She'll need to be checked on by the paramedic.” She squeezes the mom's shoulder as she walks away and reaches her friend. “Everyone is out.” Barry's eyes widened and begin patting at her only then realizing her suit was on fire. “Can't wait to hear about that when we get back to the labs.” She mutters as Barry zooms them into the cortex of the lab.

Team Flash, begin talking stats about their current rescue mission. Y/N took off her mask, getting lost in her thoughts. As she takers off her jacket Cisco's voice boomed in the cortex, “Seriously, Y/N, can you go out, and maybe not destroy your suit.”

Y/N grips the chair tightly as she closes her eyes. Through clenched teeth, “Get right on that, Cisco.”

“I mean these materials are not cheap you need to be more careful.” Cisco keeps prodding on and on. Y/N kept counting to keep herself calm.

The pit in her stomach began grow as Harry walks in. “Who was in the lab last?”

Y/N groaned, “I was.”

Harry's steps approached her, “All the tools that I spent an hour and half sterilizing were on the floor, would you happen to know anything about that?”

Tears began to form and Y/N's resolve began to shrink opening her eyes to meet his, rage bubbling over, “Yes, Harry, I was running late and was so frustrated I decided to pull a you and throw everything on the floor.”

“That's cold, Y/N,” Cisco muttered as he began to clean the suit on her jacket.

“I was being sarcastic, you ass!” Cisco and the teams head snapped, “Harry, it was an accident, I'm sorry. I never intend to make you grumpier than you already are. But hey Barry got to watch me get suspended today because as much as I fuck up at being a hero, I can barely do my day job right.” Harry took a step back as Y/N took a step forward. She was about to explode and took pause, “You know, with the way everyone gets a pass for the mistakes they make, I apparently make so many that just causes everyone more problems and more work. I think I'll take myself out of the equation.” She looks at Cisco, “Keep your suit,” her gaze moves to Barry, “You can have the lab to yourself,” She finally meets Harry's intense gaze with his furrowed brows, “You'll never have to worry about me causing you any more problems, Doc.”

She makes her way out of the cortex elbowing Harry, and Cisco out of the way and left the labs tears streaming down her face. Leaving Team Flash taken aback by the sudden outburst.

 Not wanting to go home she made her way over to jitters. Y/N placed her order and waited for her drink to be made. She wiped her tears as she thought about how useless she feels. She grabbed her drink and sat at one of the high-top tables and let her thoughts her.

A tap on the table caused her to jump where her eyes met familiar blue ones shadowed under a cap. “Hey, Princess. I had a feeling you would be here.” He took the seat across from her interlacing his hands together, “What's going on with you?”

“Was I not clear? I was suspended from work, and when I'm not getting my flaws pointed out at work, my shortcomings are getting pointed out by you and Cisco. I can take a hint, the team is better off without me.” She shrugged and took a sip of her drink.

Harry's furrowed his brows, “How long have you been feeling this way?”

Y/N shrugged, “It comes and goes but that feeling of usefulness has been elevated this past week. I make too many mistakes, I'm human its going to happen I work hard to not make them again, and I feel like if I lash out or defend myself, I’m not taking criticism well. If I keep making mistakes I'm not growing, I just feel stuck and that I can't say anything without some form of backlash.” Her eyes began to water, as the words are pouring out of her. “I am not perfect, and I feel like I’m not even wanted anywhere or by anyone.” Y/N realized how much she was dumping all her feelings onto him “I'm sorry. I know you have gone through worst things and that you're probably only here because the team made you. Its just the stress builds up and I explode.” She stood from her seat and tried to muster up a small smile, “I’ll catch you later, Harry.”

Harry grabbed her arm, “Sit back down,” he looked up at her and muttered, “Please.” With a reluctant sigh she sat back down. “Princess, listen to me very carefully,” Tears streaked down her cheeks, and she swiped them away. Harry rubbed his hand over his mouth averting her gaze for a moment to figure the right words. “I’m not the best at bringing comfort, I am not the best in dealing with conflicts. Jessie is the first person to call me out on this and holding me accountable,” He placed his hands over hers on the table, “I do know one thing, you are something special.” She met his gaze, his eyes holding a level of intensity. “You work hard, and you are the Team’s beacon of light when all hope seems lost. We would be lost without you and probably would have fallen apart if it wasn’t for your optimism and kindness. Even when we don’t deserve.”

Y/N cast her eyes down to their hands and Harry gave Her’s a comforting squeeze. “If that is how everyone feels, no one ever treats me like I’m valuable. Not at work, not anywhere. Harry, you have been the hardest on me,” she sniffled, “All I have wanted these past few weeks was a friend to tell me that it was going to be okay.”

Y/N heard the chair move and suddenly she felt a hand under her chin and lifted her head up to meet his blue eyes sadness flooded his gaze. “Princess, I’m so sorry.” He pulled her into a tight embrace. She took a moment to register that she was in his arms before she wrapped her arms around his waist and let the emotions of the past of the few weeks release and sobbed into his shoulder.

Harry leaned his head against hers rubbing soothing circles on her back. “I know I’m not the greatest friend. But I need to you know that I care for you extremely, Y/N.” Y/N’s sobs were slowly turning into soft hiccups. “I promise I will do better to be there when you need me.” He softly pushes her away and rubs the tears from her cheeks and leaves his hands resting on her cheeks, “Just tell me what you need.”

Y/N nod and without thinking twice she reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, “Thank you, Harrison.”

His cheeks flushed and gave her an awkward smile, “Anytime, Princess.”

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Ficlet: Miraculous Strike

(Based off Six Hundred Strike)

(Seriously, go listen to the Epic Concept album)

Bug noire felt her body shaking. Even with her new abilities it wasnt enough to compete with all the powers that Monarch had.

She felt herself sinking into the water below.

But as she sank, she remembered all of Paris, the world, Her friends, Her partner, Adrien... She couldnt end it now!

[Kwami ensemble] Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous)

Bugnoire bursted from the water, utilizing her space power up, Her eyes glowing green and red. Cosmic Bugnoire was not going to give up! She charged at Monarch

[Bugnoire Singing] I don't think you seem to get it I can't afford to die 'Cause I will get back to my love And I will get back to my life

For every hero, every one of my friends Almost all of whom have suffered by your hand Miraculous strike!

Bugnoire managed to fling his weapon away and began hitting him with countless strikes

[Kwami ensemble] Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous) Mir-a-cu-lous (Miraculous)

[Monarch, spoken] You idiot

Monarch, his butterfly miraculous had been swiped away into the water, now laying, exhausted, his back against the coffin.

[Monarch] Can't you see? You sealed your fate just to bеat me You removed my miraculous when you attacked me Stopped your only chanceNow you'll never save them

[Bugnoire, spoken] You're goin' to call off your Alliance [Monarch, spoken] Or what? You can't kill me.

He said as he activated the miraculous of the bull and the Chicken. Making it so he will not die and resisting any cataclysm. Bugnoire did not change expression [Bugnoire, spoken] Exactly

Bugnoire lifted her staff, and it changed, making it more like a sharpened spear.

[Monarch, spoken] Wait Wait, ahh Ugh!

[Bugnoire , Monarch screaming] How does it feel to be helpless? (Argh) How does it feel to know pain? (Ugh) I watched my friends all suffer (Ah-ah) Crying as they were in pain (Ugh) I heard every moment (Argh) Calling their leader in vain (Ugh) Look what you turned me into (Ah-ah) Look what we've become(Ugh, enough) All of the pain that I've been through (Stop) Haven't I suffered enough? (Stop) You didn't stop when I begged you Told me to close my heart(You) You said the world was dark(Monster) Didn't you say that ruthlessness is mercy upon our—

[Monarch, spoken] Alright, please!

Bugnoire drops the staff. She takes off each one of his rings, He told her where all the controls were to stop the invasion.

[Monarch, spoken] After everything you've done How will you sleep at night?

[Bugnoire, spoken] Next to your son.

She took them and left him there as she went to go save the kwami that she knows were in the mansion somewhere.

[rjzimmerman]

Many of you know that I'm a lawyer, retired, but still a member of the bar. I don't practice law (can't), but I still read professional articles and media reports about environmental law and other laws that interest me. From my humble perspective, some of the recent decisions of the US Supreme Court are invalid because the decisions were issued by the Court acting not in its constitutional capacity of a court of appeals, but acting as a court of original jurisdiction. If I'm correct (and I'm sure I can find a slew of right wing lawyers who are laughing at me), then the executive branch of the US government, i.e., the President, is not obligated to enforce those decisions. Plus, the ethical issues of Justice Thomas.......what the fuck is he doing participating in a decision on trump's January 6 sins when Thomas' wife was furiously clicking away on e-mails encouraging the rioting and insurrection? Wishful thinking, but somehow sometime somewhere something dramatic has to happen to smack down the Supreme Court, or at least create some sense of doubt in their tiny little pointed heads.

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

A spate of decisions over the past two years by the Supreme Court has significantly impaired the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to limit pollution in the air and water, regulate the use of toxic chemicals and reduce the greenhouse gasses that are heating the planet.

This term, the court’s conservative supermajority handed down several rulings that chip away at the power of many federal agencies.

But the environmental agency has been under particular fire, the result of a series of cases brought since 2022 by conservative activists who say that E.P.A. regulations have driven up costs for industries ranging from electric utilities to home building. Those arguments have resonated among justices skeptical of government regulation.

On Friday, the court ended the use of what is known as the Chevron doctrine, a cornerstone of administrative law for 40 years that said that courts should defer to government agencies to interpret unclear laws. That decision threatens the authority of many federal agencies to regulate the environment and also health care, workplace safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more.

But more remarkable have been several decisions by the court to intervene to stop environmental regulations before they were decided by lower courts or even before they were implemented by the executive branch.

On Thursday, the court said the E.P.A. could not limit smokestack pollution that blows across state borders under a measure known as the “good neighbor rule.” In that case, the court took the surprising step of weighing in while litigation was still pending at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The court also acted in an unusually preliminary fashion last year when it struck down a proposed E.P.A. rule known as Waters of the United States that was designed to protect millions of acres of wetlands from pollution, acting before the regulation had even been made final.

Similarly, in a 2022 challenge to an E.P.A. climate proposal known as the Clean Power Plan, the court sharply limited the agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, even though that rule had not yet taken effect.

That kind of intervention has little in the way of precedent. Usually, the Supreme Court is the last venue to hear a case, after arguments have been made and opinions have been rendered by lower courts.

“This court has shown an interest in making law in this area and not having the patience to wait for the cases to first come up through the courts,” said Kevin Minoli, a lawyer who worked in the E.P.A.’s office of general counsel from the Clinton through the Trump administrations. “They’ve been aggressive on ruling. It’s like, we’re going to tell you the answer before you even ask the question.”

Collectively, those decisions now endanger not only many existing environmental rules, but may prevent future administrations from writing new ones, experts say.

“These are among the worst environmental law rulings that the Supreme Court will ever issue,” said Ian Fein, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “They all cut sharply against the federal government’s ability to enforce laws that protect us from polluters.”

The march of environmental cases is not over: The court has agreed to hear a case next term that could limit the reach of National Environmental Policy Act, the 1970 law that requires federal agencies to analyze whether their proposed projects have environmental consequences. Businesses and industries have long complained that the reviews can take years, inflate costs and be used by community groups to block projects.

[androphagy]

wait, sorry, whats wrong with impunkster-syndrome? i haven't really seen much of their(?) posts but they seemed to be normal, is something wrong with the term transfemmasc?

far be it from me to police how someone identifies gender-wise, but the specific issue here is that they are AFAB and are speaking over transfems and trans women while intentionally leaving out that fact when making posts about transmisogyny (however they didn't leave it out elsewhere on their blog, which is how i found out after they randomly came onto one of my posts a while ago. i don't have that specific conversation but if i find it i'll post it.) there are other posts that come up when you search up impunkster-syndrome from people who don't know that they're an AFAB transfem and were (rightfully, because they didn't know!) indignant about them being doubted as transfem because they spoke on transmasc issues as well. the term transfemmasc as i've seen it being used is solely by AFAB people positioning their experiences with femininity outside the norm and thus the direct equivalent to transfemininity.

i'm sure you already know this but just to be clear on my own stance, to be transfem or a trans woman you can't* start as assigned female then live your life positioned as a perceived girl/woman (depending on age) and then decide because your experience with femininity doesn't match the stereotype you can be transfem or a trans woman. transfemininity isn't a costume you can put on when you want to identity under those parameters and take off when the consequences of being a trans woman rear their head, even if you personally believe that you align more with the transfeminine struggle. if you align with that set of circumstances, it's much more conducive to not only yourself but other trans people around you to analyze why you believe you fit the label of "transfem" when you were already assigned female at birth, regardless of intersex conditions.**

culturally in eurocentric societies the concept of "womanhood" has been rapidly changing and fluctuating far more than the concept of manhood. someone's womanhood will always be doubted and ridiculed regardless of how much they try and align with the ideal; and once you bring transfemininity into it, you have this whole new layer of anatophobia that permeates every layer above and below their experiences as transfem. TERF ideology gets away with so much because they're preying on the historical precedent of "but the women and children!" and the societal need for a villain and punching bag. it draws people in because they want someone or something to blame for how terrible everyone adjacent to the feminine has it while not having to confront the people who can actually hold power and do damage (i.e. the cis men i've been talking about.) it also relies on the fact that they know people who believe that rhetoric won't go into anything with an open mind or willing to change -- they (and "they" can mean actual specific people or the TERF guidelines as a whole) know that the fear of the cis male is so prevalent that they can get away with making up ludicrous monster-in-the-closet stories about trans women and have them be believed for no other reason than their anatomy.

trans women, trans men, transfems, transmascs, cis women, and intersex individuals with prominent female sex characteristics are all at risk for misogyny regardless of how well they do or don't pass. there's nothing to be argued that misogyny is an extremely pervasive (i'd even argue one of the defining worldwide beliefs to all varying degrees) danger to anyone positioned too close to "female."

transmisogyny however is specifically directed from those who believe women and nonbinary people born with a certain set of genitalia cannot be women regardless of appearance, surgeries, experiences, etc and will thus utilize their anatomy (not just genitalia!) to justify targeted attacks anywhere from verbal insults to assault and murder. you don't have to be an all-out TERF repping JK rowling to perpetuate transmisogynistic rhetoric.

are there exceptions? yes, there are with everything. but the people who are claiming to be AFAB transfem are experiencing misogyny, not transmisogyny, and thus can't be speaking on personal experiences with anatophobia (and they always seem to be positioning arguments about the issues transmascs and trans men face along with their identity as transfem -- let me be clear here, trans men and transmascs absolutely face their own sets of issues more specific to those experiences, but that's not what this is about.)

*i mean, you physically can, but this is about the issue of transfems and trans women being talked over especially in regards to their anatomy and public perception.

**i don't talk about my own circumstances too much on here but let it be known that i have a lot of experience with intersex conditions from both ends of the male-female spectrum and everything in between; intersex does not equal transgender, and while some intersex people may identify with the transgender label, intersex conditions are very common and are repeatedly refused to be acknowledged as an intersex condition.

and as a last little aside, impunkster-syndrome's politics and beliefs aside from their transgender identity are full of "be want you want forever and words mean nothing" misused terminology everything is traumatic and pathologized echochambered-ness that gets extremely grating extremely quickly especially because they have that same bigot-brained ideal of "it doesn't matter what anyone else says because i'm right and thus i don't need to change my perception, it's everyone else who's attacking me and my beliefs."

[dragonagitator]

BG3 fanfic idea:

Modern Character in Faerun fic in which the author self-insert suffers from whatever chronic illnesses and disabilities the author suffers from IRL and Shadowheart inadvertently cures them all the first time she casts Lesser Restoration for something.

It turns out that you weren't that far off all those times you'd joked back on Earth that "God nerfed me by giving me [condition] because he knew I'd be too OP without it."

And all that extra effort you used to have to expend every day just to minimally function? That was like a lifelong intensive weightlifting program for your willpower because you were constantly forcing yourself to do things despite all the pain, fatigue, brain fog, nausea, etc. Once you're freed of the shackles of your chronic illnesses and disabilities, you're able to utilize that power in ways chronically healthy and lifelong abled people could never dream of.

Title idea: "Traded My Spoons For Knives"

Lore caveats: Lesser Restoration canonically cures the conditions diseased, poisoned, paralysis, and blinded. If you're missing body parts and want them back then you'll need to wait for the 7th-level divine magic spell Regenerate, which can't be learned in game because character progression is capped at level 12 but should be achievable fairly quickly in a post-game story because clerics and druids get access to 7th-level spells as soon as they hit level 13. If that causes you to inadvertently regenerate body parts that you didn't want back, the 9th-level spell True Polymorph can permanently (with your consent) change your healthy/whole baseline to something else. You'll need a level 18+ wizard to cast it, which Gale was before the orb since he was an archmage, and it's certainly plausible that removing the orb would allow him to bounce back to his old character level without needing to grind XP to get there.

(Inspired by memories of taking Adderall for the first time. That was a REVELATION, y'all. You mean I wasn't just stupid and lazy this whole time? This is what I can do when my brain actually works right? If my physical disabilities and chronic illnesses could also be cured/treated as instantaneously, I'd be unstoppable.)

(Also, how is it that as soon as I start writing my first attempt at fanfic, I start generating ideas for new fanfics faster than I can even write the ideas down much less ever actually write any of the stories?)

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

It's been some weeks but here I am now to respond to your response lol. So first of all, I'm definitely leaning towards nocorro but tbh I have like a few versions of this au in my head, all of which lead Spider down different paths depending on his love interest (or lack thereof) because I feel like each one would bring out something different in his ikran ambitions:

Spider/Neteyam - he fulfills his dream of becoming a racer.

Spider/Lo'ak - he eventually travels all over Pandora to learn everything he can about ikrans, becoming an expert in caring for, training, and riding them.

Spider/Kiri - he becomes an amazing ikran caretaker, focusing his energy on the health and well-being of them.

Spider/Rotxo - he realizes that the na'vi avoid riding the forest ikrans (which I imagine are what would dominate the forests of the Metkayina's islands) because of their size but he is just the right size. This leads to him being the first to utilize the smaller island ikrans with an interesting twist.

Spider/Ao'nung - he actually creates ilu racing in this one lol, it's all part of this storyline in my head where he manages to use his knowledge of both ikran training and human animal training methods to adapt to an ilu style and bond/train an ilu into helping him escape Quaritch. I'll tell you more info in another ask if you want it's a whole thing.

Spider/Tsireya - he paves the way for a new ikran sport: a mash between equestrian trick riding/vaulting, with quite a bit of acrobatics included.

Spider & the Sullies - he becomes their personal trainer, bonding with each individual family member and their ikrans and helping them to make their own marks on the ikran rider community all while helping to heal the distance within the family (among Jake and the boys specifically). I like to think that in this one he bonds with a forest ikran and carves out a place in ikran racing all his own.

And these are all very much active in my mind. I've always loved the idea that just one choice, one source of influence, could change your fate. I like the idea that there's a universe where Spider and Neteyam fall in love and become an ikran racing power couple and I like the idea that there's another universe where Kiri beat Neteyam to the punch and instead Spider focuses on all he can do to care for these amazing creatures, etc.. You can see what parts of him each path brings out.

On another note, some of your hc's will definitely be making an appearance because there were a few that I loved and thought fit so perfectly with what I pictured. I look forward to you seeing which ones stuck with me lol. And I love that others have their own interpretations that they want to write about! It'd be so fun to see what others come up with! Fun fact: I never intended for Spider to become a racer himself, I was vibing with the concept of him being this amazing ikran whisperer who brings a different perspective to the bond between person and animal, but because of the reaction that you and others have had I've added that into my thoughts!

Anyways, I know I work slowly but trust and believe I can't wait to get the next installment out so hang in there! Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to send you a link to my newest fic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48596428

You totally don't have to read it, I'm still not even 100% sure if I like it myself, but idk I've sent you a link before so it'd just feel rude if I didn't now that I've started to? Does that make sense? Another update is that I will in fact be adding on to Follow Me Down to the Peach Tree, which I figured is something you might look forward to :)

~ CherryApollo

Hello icon CherryApollo. I'm so sorry this ask has taken me SO long to respond to, I wanted to read back on our old chats to refresh my memory but just like the nocorro accidentally mated post that an anon asked me to find the other day, I cannot find the posts even though I know it's tagged properly. I don't know if maybe it doesn't show up unless the tag is in the first few tags of the post? Someone send help.

BUT ANYWAYS, we will have to just focus on this. I agree that every Spider love interest just brings out a different side of Spider, which would result in different Spider ikran racing ambitions all around. I find it interesting that he travels in the locorro one, because I've always associated it with Kiri and Spiri. The yearning to explore more of Eywa's creations and to connect with her in different ways, and to meet more Na'vi and to see where and how they live. It's so Kiri to me, just wanting to be more a part of Pandora and see more of Pandora. I don't hate it for Lo'ak though, he's so restless and he is such a fast and adaptive learner when he's invested.

I am OBSESSED with the idea of Spider and a forest ikran, and I'm shocked no one has done it yet. They are! Spider sized!!! It's so perfect! He can fit into smaller spaces and make tighter and faster maneuvers and turns, and I bet him and Neytiri could spend hours seeing how traditional ikran racing could translate to this slightly different creature and style.

OBVIOUSLY I want more info on Spider escaping Quaritch via ilu bonding?? That's amazing, it shakes up the whole story! Would he find Awa'atlu right away or would he end up at a different village first? I have been drawn lately to the Spider escaping and finding the Sully's fic's I've seen around, although I've never seen one get past a few chapters. It's such an interesting concept!

I absolutely adore always when people are inspired by my thoughts, and I think it will be so so fun to see what sticks and what you liked and what you change!!! Please don't worry about working slow, I've been answering slow lately.

AND I SAW YOUR NEWEST FIC, I am so behind on my fic reading but I checked yours out before I posted this. I commented :) and please, it's not rude at all to send me a fic, sometimes I miss them in the shuffle so I appreciate it!

I ALSO HAVE BEEN SO OBSESSED WITH THAT FIC, I'M SO EXCITED THEY'LL BE AN UPDATE. I'll tell you, I have been so stuck on the idea of writing something original in its world. Loosely in its world, I guess, but just a soulmate world where if your soulmate is dead you can see their ghost, but also all the ghosts can all see each other as well. I've been stuck on this idea of a person whose soulmate is a ghost and as a result they're kind of an unattached loner. They are a private investigator who uses their ghost soulmate talking to other ghosts to help solve crimes. I'm thinking that they'll end up with another person whose soulmate is dead that they meet, a sort of vibe where they aren't the others supposed person but maybe things worked out the way it was supposed to in a fucked up way. It's just a weird concept I haven't been able to get rid of that I figured I'd let you know you inspired, lol.

[tau1tvec]

Hello, hope you're doing well!

I don't really know where else to ask this, so sorry if this is annoying. I have seen your beautiful TS3 posts and It's making the craving I've had to play it for months even stronger lol

The problem is, no matter what I do I can't seem to get it to run without major lag/stuttering. I have a fairly decent computer with 16gb of RAM, and have followed all the steps I've seen on forums (Nrass mods and MCcc for cleaning up a save, lazyduchess' smooth patch etc.) and no matter what, it stutters. Sims 3 was my first sims game, so I know the usual amount of lag to have and what it's doing now isn't the usual normal amount; I can tell for some reason it's struggling to run smoothly and at the point it's at it's unplayable :(

Do you have any more tips that I could possibly do to get it to run? I feel so nostalgic for it :'(

Having a good amount of computer memory helps for sure, but the biggest help when it comes to games and smooth performance is your GPU memory, and the type of drive you’ve got the game installed on.

For The Sims 3 I think the minimum spec used to be 2gb, but I like to think these days 4gb-6gb GPU would be a better soft entry for it, esp if you plan to play with all packs, CC, and possibly an HQ mod. For storing the games files, I highly recommend installing it on an SSD ( Solid State Drive ), it’ll load things like objects and textures a lot quicker ( so long as it isn’t CC ), and you’ll get less pop ins, and waiting for stuff to render properly.

Now if you’ve got everything above, and are still getting lag without CC. Make sure the game recognizes your card, if this hasn’t been done the game isn’t properly using it. It would’ve been a step included in that one Steam Community tutorial I linked. The other thing is, esp if you’ve got a more powerful GPU, is to force fps ( frames per second ) to cap at 60 fps. This is so crucial bc The Sims 3 doesn’t have Vsync, it’s old as hell, if you’re running a brand new card, you’ll be pushing astronomical frame rates which is risky, and you’ll need to cap this through your GPU’s settings app, but doing it will save your GPU a lotta stress, and also stabilize The Sims 3’s performance, or any game for that matter.

Now if you’ve got everything above, and are still getting lag with CC. Especially if you’ve got a lot of it, there are ways to mitigate this. Try looking up tutorials on how to merge CC, and then to minimize load times, try using programs like Bulk Rename Utility to remove any spaces and special characters in CC file names. You want less than 100 files in your entire CC/mods folder, merging will help achieve this if you’ve got a lot of CC. I’ve got almost 30gb of CC, and my game takes like a minute and a half to load to menu.

Lastly just be sure your settings are set for your rig specifically, and honestly, even if your PC is powerful, things like high detail trees, and super water isn’t necessary, those settings will look fine ticked down a bit.

[swallowtailed]

palisade 50 / finalisade pt. 5

structure thoughts

okay, i have a lot of thoughts re structure this week. i had these last ep too, but i wanted to give it another episode to see how a few things shook out, because fatt tends to move quite slowly in that way. (also i had just gotten cursed with dawn work and had no brainroom for real thoughts.) i do still think there's room for some of these things to develop, and fatt tends to hang together much better in retrospect. but this is my read right now.

the reintroduction of cas'alear & co: i am content to wait a bit for some interaction with them or some explanation of why they're here, because palisade is currently being forced through seven separate funnels and a brand new problem won't fit somewhere instantly. that said. bro we better find out what's up. they're physically on the blue channel, that can't just get handwaved

and re material circumstances of blue channel & crew--to my eye the dice valuation of relationships is causing some real siloing off of characters and storylines. which is really unfortunate because the bonds between the crew were a huge strength of palisade and it just feels like an oversight to miss that in the finalisade. (this is also a factor of not doing a ton of rp in this game. one thing i'm really missing is bringing the misfortune options into the result of a scene.)

and on a similar note, i really liked august's scene with righteousness, but it could've been even better if palisade had engaged more with delegate characters and what it means to be a delegate throughout the season. instead this & a bunch of other thematic threads are being advanced way more actively than before now that it's the finalisade, which feels kind of hollow.

i also really wish eclectic was still around. having had a leap scene, i've solidly come down that it was a bad narrative decision to kill eclectic. introducing a new (to the season) character in the middle of the finalisade, on top of a bunch of other new/er pcs, was always gonna be awkward, and leap doesn't work here. his goal, to take kesh for every last cent, has a very similar problem to clem's--kesh isn't there. which is less of a direct issue when the end goal is just "steal", but it's still a goal from a partizan paradigm, not a palisade one. you know? like, leap's fixated on kesh and kesh is a shrinking speck on a planet with new and different problems.

also ideally leap's reintroduction would create contrast for the ways brnine and thisbe have changed since partizan. maybe we will get to that later.

hey i actually think talking about a justice system would be extremely relevant given how many characters have goals in that direction?

i think overall my sense is that finalisade feels disconnected from the rest of the season due to all the character changes and some rushed thematic work.

anyway obv this is fatt so there's every chance all of the above will be resolved by the end of finalisade but from here i'm feeling a little doubtful

various other notes

jesset's gun arm! i stopped to wonder which it was back when that happened, but since it wasn't addressed i figured it was intended to be his prosthetic arm. wild.

the autonomy reveal... love when a reveal is so well seeded and rings so true that you have to be like "hang on was that not already canon". very cool. very perennial. miserable, also.

taking a minute though to sit and think about perennial and loneliness. also taking a minute to think the phrase "did perennial effectively utilize girl power in creating autonomy itself".

re cori's scene: the suggestion that perennial's consecration might change the flora and fauna really caught my ear. not beating the "millennium break is also colonizing palisade" allegations. it seems like they went another direction (just the sky changing?) but that rang really weird to me, especially when the colonial angle of gardens wrt the bilats had just been raised a few episodes ago.

very much appreciated janine taking the time to explicitly bring up the framing of unction's fate as something that would, in-universe, be a question and a conversation