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anthonybialy · 1 year ago

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Hammering the Reflex

Creators of agony hate responders to it. What did the former think would happen? Progressive restrainers of progress don’t grasp incentives, including and especially ones they spur. It’s natural to loathe the free market when one’s artificial system tastes like fake sugar.

Crime has been decriminalized, and the only ones punished are those dealing with criminals. Citizens committing the offense of using public transport keep getting placed in situations where they must confront, ignore, or flee. Responding to crime sure seems to happen frequently recently. I wonder who took over and told cops they were the bad guys.

Shoddy cartographers never figure out the source, in part because it would take personal reflection and growth to map this particular location. You might think Democrats would want to reduce the quantity of confrontations in cities they rule. But they instead open Arkham’s gates then fume when Batman deals with criminals.

The real victims are people trying to ride the subway. A brief glorious moment when people in public could ignore each other has lamentably faded. Peace naturally couldn’t be sustained after victorious Democrats decided enabling menacers was central to compassion. Civilization is a couple elections away from vanishing if you wanted proof voting matters.

Amalgamations just now decided to rip off consumers. The 2020s ushered in an age of humans discovering their capacity unabashed greed. I’m amazed this phenomenon went unprecedented this deeply into history.

Higher prices must be due to a gouging fetish, which becomes trendy as a way to keep enterprises surviving. Either go out of business or charge astronomical amounts in order to cope with policies imposed by enemies of humongous cash totals.

Blaming victims for coping is abject cruelty. Naturally, Democrats do just that. Scolding retailers for inflated prices and crime targets for fighting back is the ironically miserable way to make initiating such unpleasant encounters even worse.

It’s important to never examine why life is so unsparing five minutes after progressive goons implement their precisely-concocted dreams, as that sort of self-reflection could lead to changing one’s awesome beliefs. Confiscators of choices never figure out why beleaguered citizens suddenly need assistance right after implementing so much initial help.

Collecting more money that’s worth less is more a hassle than it is decadent exploitation. Record profits are the fault of those who believe in capital punishment as long as it’s the guillotine. Accusers being the actual committers is yet another nice touch.

Like everything else in this bloated emaciated era, currency piles come attached with an asterisk. Money left over after expenses isn’t an error or trick: you’re allowed to keep a little bit as a way of saying thanks. Explaining how the economy works outrages foes of selfishness who demand you just keep handing funds to the government to buy what they want. Repossessed bills aren’t worth as much because some meanie inflicted inflation just as Joe Biden ascended.

A minimum wage has maximized prices. Forcing hungry people to pay more for fries should start enabling foie gras budgets any day now. It’s easy for the useless to forget that work is about how much value one creates. Announcing how much a living wage is in one’s imagination kills jobs in reality.

Nothing’s tough like steadying oneself on shaky ground. Democrats cause earthquakes they blame on climate change. The capricious salary floor keeps increasing for mysterious reasons I’m certain have nothing to do with trying to get rich without working.

Politicians know things commoners can’t determine, like which number is greater. The cost of living in different places is one of countless factors cited in determining how much to force proprietors trying to keep humans fed and clothed at the most affordable price possible how much to overpay for the privilege. Economists wonder what would happen if we had a system where the workforce and employers bargained to determine how much money to use for everything.

Accountability by offering a useful skill confuses Democrats. Potential hires can take services to a different conglomerate if conditions or compensation are lame, which further baffles foresight fans who think efficiency will occur once government is the only option for everything.

Everyone misses how hard life was in the primitive era before Democrats decided to make everything easy. Don’t even try and remember, as bringing to mind anything from the time of free trade will cause tremendous anguish that will hamper your present euphoria.

Train your mind to avoid wallowing in distractions like how everything was better. Present life participants who’ve been around for a few decades might recall focusing on decadent aspects like purchases and food. Stalwart life participants seeking to build character by overcoming challenges feel fortunate to be past the era when we were not thinking about how products arrived on store shelves or diabolical forces lurking in shadows.

The nerve of you taking life for granted will not be tolerated by rather vigorous incumbents who maneuver scenarios in such a way that reactions can only minimize pain. Adults reluctantly choose the least worst response to childish scheming. A rueful nation is appreciative of how conditions were so pleasant that they went unnoticed. You won’t even thank today’s munificent despots.

#big government #economy #crime #liberty #business

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horde-princess · 4 years ago

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i should be going to bed but instead i think i am going to talk about how despondos is a metaphor about accepting your sexuality and coming out of the closet 😌😌

quick recap the first ones and the horde both represent evangelical christianity (not gonna get into that right now ldkfjdljf just trust me ok). mara led a group of rebel fighters to try and stop these empires from destroying etheria. but the rebels were losing so mara did the only thing she could to save everyone--she transported them to an empty dimension, away from the war... but also away from the magic of the stars and the rest of the universe.

i think the reason they included "friends of mara” as a nod to the old-school gay euphemism “friends of dorothy” is because mara’s rebels are meant to represent older generations of the lgbt community. we were fighting back then too but we also had to hide, as an act of survival against a society and religion that hated our existence. and that’s how it was for centuries.

she-ra is the story of a girl who grew up in despondos, literally and figuratively. her community (the fright zone) taught her to suppress her personal desires / hide in the closet. things only get worse when light hope reinforces these ideas, training her to repress her emotions and especially her sexuality in order to be a good sacrificial christian who would follow the “destiny” that god (the first ones) had planned for her.

what im trying to get at is that despondos is actually a big-picture metaphor for adora’s emotional state throughout the show!! s1-s4 she was trapped in an empty dimension, a closet u might say.... then the stars return, etheria is brought back into the wider universe just moments before she breaks the sword. its one of many examples where she-ra’s setting contributes to character development and here its creating a beautiful backdrop to emphasize that theme of breaking free of religious oppression

one of the final shots of s4 shows adora gazing up at the stars, a visual of how tiny and lost she feels after losing her faith -- but also the wonder of having the whole universe opened up to her after a lifetime of staring into an empty void.

of course as soon as etheria is transported out of despondos / the closet, horde prime is there waiting to attack.

the crew has mentioned before that the stars in she-ra are kind of a larger metaphor for the political climate in the U.S. The lgbt rights movement here really only gained traction a few years ago and for the first time in modern history our community is starting to feel safe enough to share our identities. but that openness also feels really scary and vulnerable. ik i dont have to remind anyone about the anti-lgbt stance of our last administration, elected by the christian right as a sort of retaliation against recent social progress. every day there seems to be some new headline that treats our existence like a controversy. in some ways it feels like /we/ have just been transported out of despondos..... out of a false sense of stability and now we’re facing a war with a giant horde army lol. ofc other places may have it better or worse and there’s still a lot of work ahead but we’ve seen the she-ra finale so we know how it ends right!! [queue she-ra theme song we must be strong we must be brave!!!!] 🌈💘

ok one more little fun fact and this could just be a coincidence but- this is the first thing anyone says right after etheria goes through the portal, and to me it appears to reference dorothy’s famous first line when she leaves her black and white world and takes her first steps in the land of gay oz

so if you’re buying into my absolutely wild theories here then despondos = kansas and the universe = oz and basically she-ra is a wizard of oz au lsdjkdjldjkfkl

in conclusion!!! despondos is so cool i love it. even without analyzing the details you can kind of intuitively understand the metaphor and it really underscores a lot of different themes in the show, so much so that the setting feels like a character itself which i think is something every story strives for but few have done as well as she-ra imo. i’ll never not be amazed by the writing in this show. ok its 2am hopefully i can fall asleep now thx for reading!! 💖

#my moms homophobic but her favorite movie is the wizard of oz..... who's going to tell her 😩😩#meta #religious meta #she ra

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marvelmusing · 4 years ago

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Making Time

Mobius M Mobius x Reader

Part 3

My Masterlist • Series Masterlist

“Here we go.” You whisper, looking between Mobius and Loki, then up at Mount Vesuvius.

“Shh, any minute now.” Mobius adds.

“Until this entire town is wiped off the face of this planet. Imagine. All that volcanic ash-“ Loki starts.

“I know. We don't want to get too giddy.”

“Oh, come on! It's cool.”

“No, it is cool, but it's just not in good taste because...”

“They're all gonna die anyway.”

“I know. Now listen, I'm gonna watch the TemPad for any variance energy.” He says, pulling the device out from his pocket.

“Okay.”

“Okay, because we gotta be careful.”

“If you're wrong, and there's a good chance you are, anything we do can create a huge branch.”

“Oh, Mobius! You make even the end of the world sound boring.” Loki complains.

“Listen! Okay, we're not meant to be here.”

“And we don’t need Minutemen rushing here to arrest and delete us, okay?” You tell him. He nods,

“Okay.”

“Anything we do can impact the course of history. Do you get that?”

“Yes. Yes.”

“So we're gonna start with very small disturbances. Very small. Can you make bird noises?” You both frown at Mobius.

“Bird noises?”

“Yeah. Bird noises. Like some, like whooshing noises?” He begins to imitate a bird call. You roll your eyes,

“Moby? I was on the side of caution. But we’re going to need more than that.” Mobius continues his bird impressions to the disdain of Loki who groans and runs off.

“Loki!” You hiss. He doesn’t go far, standing on a nearby cart and proclaiming to the people of Pompeii that they are all going to die. On a positive note you’ve come up with a new scale to rate nexus events: starting with bird noises and ending with prophesying the future. Loki then decides to release a hoard of goats. Fantastic. Loki halts his Latin monologue to look over at you and Mobius for a fact check,

“We are from the future, right? What is the TVA? I mean, it's from the future. It sounds from the future. It's pretty futurey.” You’re about to answer him when you realise you don’t actually know. You’d always assumed the TVA just existed outside of time. Though you’re not sure how that would work. You’re about to ask Mobius when the volcano erupts. Loki then proceeds to have what looks like an existential crisis. “Nothing matters! Nothing has any consequence! Dance while you still can!” You lean over Mobius’s shoulder.

“How’s it going?” You ask, nodding towards his TemPad.

“I don't believe it. Zero variance energy. No branching in the timeline.” He tells you. Overhearing what Mobius says, Loki approaches you,

“The TVA would never even know we were here. If it were me, this is where I would hide.” A colossal cloud of ash rolls down the hillside, quickly approaching the three of you.

“Erm, Loki, bud?” You say, concerned that he hasn’t noticed. You point over his shoulder, “You got a little something-“

On your return to the TVA, the three of you head to the archives, searching for all naturally occurring disasters. Turns out there’s a lot of them. Mobius hands you a pile of events from before you existed, which you appreciated. Whilst you were curious about what happened to the world after you left it, you’re not too eager to see the long list of apocalypses. After what feels like hours of searching the three of you decide to take a break.

You and Loki are sat in one of the TVA cafeterias, waiting for Mobius to return with some food. Two hunters pass by your table, and you keep your gaze on the papers in front of you.

“Why do they look at us like that?” Loki asks suddenly. You look up at him.

“Like what?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t noticed. You and Mobius don’t get the looks that you and I get.” He observes. You sigh,

“That’s because when it’s me and you, they see two Variants possibly plotting to overthrow the TVA.” That shocks Loki.

“You’re a Variant.” He states, and you nod,

“I was set to be deleted, until Mobius stepped in and saved me.”

“You must be very grateful to him.”

“I am.”

“So you believe in the all powerful lizards which dictate the existence of trillions of people?” You smirk, looking down at the papers in your hand.

“I didn’t say that.” You glance up at him, recognising the look on his face immediately. He was scheming. “Look Loki, I may not be a hundred percent loyal to the TVA, but I am to Mobius.”

“Mobius, who is a part of the TVA, who you don’t fully trust. How can you know he has your best interests at heart?”

“I don’t. I’m just hoping, that he does.” Mobius soon joins the two of you. After a brief discussion about jet skis the conversation quickly turns far too philosophical for your poor ‘I’ve just read about a million case files’ brain.

“I don't get hung up on believe or not believe. I just accept what is.” Mobius says with a sigh. Loki looks at him incredulously.

“Three magic space lizards?” Mobius nods,

“Time-Keepers.”

“Created the TVA, and everyone in it?” Mobius nods again. “Including you?”

“Including me.”

“But not me.” You add. Loki laughs softly,

“Every time I start to admire your intelligence, you say something like that.”

“Okay, who created you, Loki?” Mobius asks.

“A Frost Giant of Jo

“And who raised you?”

Odin of Asgard.

Odin, God of the Heavens. Asgard, mystical realm, beyond the stars. Frost Giants. Listen to yourself...

It's not the same. It's completely different. No. It's not the same.

It's exactly the same thing. Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose. Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real. “Fair enough. You believe it's real.”

“Yeah.”

“So everything is written. Past, present, future. There's no such thing as free will.”

“Well, I mean, you know, it's an oversimplification...”

“But practically, yes.” You say, not wanting to hear the in-depth workings of the timeline.

“So, in fact, in a way, us three here at the TVA, we're the only ones who are actually free.”

“Where are you going with this, Loki?”

“How does it all end?”

“That's a work in progress.”

“Those lazy Time-Keepers. What are they waiting for?”

“Au contraire. Because while we protect what came before, they're toiling away in their chamber, untangling the epilogue from its infinite branches.”

“So when they're finished, what happens then?”

“So are we. No more nexus events. Just order. And we meet in peace at the end of time. Nice, right?”

“Do we get to live in peace or do we just disappear because we aren’t needed anymore?” You ask, suddenly concerned that he mentioned the end of time. Loki continues his own questions,

“Only order?” Mobius hums in response. “No chaos? It sounds boring.”

“I'm sure it does to you.” Loki suddenly changes the subject,

“You called me a scared little boy.”

“I called you a lotta things.”

“You did. You're wrong, though. You see, I know something children don't.”

“What's that?”

“That no one bad is ever truly bad. And no one good is ever truly good.” Well that was deep. Mobius looks down at the table in front of him.

“Scared little boy.” He repeats.

“Yes, it was quite patronizing. I thought it was a bit too far, actually.” Loki admits. Mobius looks up, an idea dawning on his face.

“You're very clever.” He tells Loki as he stands up.

“I know.” Loki makes a ‘well obviously’ face as you stand and follow Mobius as he makes his way to the archive.

“The Variant left something behind at an old crime scene. A cathedral. A candy box. An obvious anachronism. I gave it to Analysis, but they couldn't find anything real.”

“Why does that matter?” Loki asks. Mobius unlocks a box on a nearby shelf, before opening it up.

“Cause now we have two variables. Apocalyptic natural disasters and... Kablooie.” He pulls out the candy box.

“What's that?”

“Candy. Do you have candy on Asgard?”

“Yeah. Grapes, nuts.”

“No wonder you're so bitter.”

“There’s a massive vending machine near Renslayer’s office. One time, I’ll buy you one of everything.” You tell Loki as the two of you sit down at your desk. Mobius returns with a huge stack of files.

“Okay. Kablooie was only sold regionally on Earth from 2047 to 2051. All ya gotta do is cross-reference that with every apocalyptic event.” The three of you sit, sorting through the files for sometime. Mobius looks up at you,

“Anything?”

“Well, it's not the climate disaster of 2048.” You tell him, flicking the page over.

“Or the tsunami of 2051.” Loki adds.

“Let's go. Let's go. Come on.”

“2050. The extinction of the swallow. Is that a thing?”

“We killed off the swallows?” You stare at Loki. “How the hell did that happen?” Mobius shrugs,

“Completely screwed up the ecosystem.”

“Krakatoa erupted in 2049 as well. No Kablooie.”

“God, it's just one damn thing after another, isn't it? Cyclone, famine, volcanoes, floods...” Mobius lists, and you can’t help but agree.

“Got him. That's where he is.” Loki pulls open a case file before offering it to you and Mobius. The two of you peer at the papers inside.

“Alabama, 2050.” You read aloud. Loki looks at you both, seeming rather pleased with himself. Mobius grins,

“You're gonna take my job if I'm not careful.”

Tagslist: @n0obmaster69 @mackycat11 @wibblywobblyjeremybearimy @boriqs @aloisia @fandom-lover-4 @lam-ila @momos-peaches @gracey07 @morganwilliams @greeneyedblondie44

If you’d like to be tagged, just ask!!

#mobius m mobius x reader #mobius x reader #agent mobius x reader #mobius #mobius m mobius #agent mobius #marvel au #mobius imagine #mobius loki #loki 2021 #loki show #marvel x reader

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cozymochi · 3 years ago

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Membrane

I must’ve reached a particular stage if this man is now an option to be suggested, huh? wonderful 😳

Headcanon A: realistic

Membrane barely classifies “social science” as a real science. It’s right there with paranormal and cryptozoology as some of the most bottom tier psuedo fuckery there is. To get him to admit “social science” as anything particularly valid on any level mean you REALLY must have struck a nerve, huh. It’s just that scientist elitism, man.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

Nah this is realistic. I fully can buy the idea that Membrane would want to one day create his own E.P.C.O.T (i.e Walt Disneys original city of tomorrow, plz it’s crazy) in which he creates a whole ass experimental city dedicated to progress and the future and science in which he also happens to rule over it because “he knows what’s best” for his citizens. What? Noooo it’s toootally not a dictatorship— how can u think that about a man of science??

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

None of my friends care about Membrane enough to find anything actually heart crushing. Not even the one meta I did in private.

…BUT this isn’t that meta lmao

Membrane isn’t helping the climate crisis and never had intention of doing so. It’s more like his science “helps” humanity enough to the point that they don’t bother thinking about it anymore. Thinking about it isn’t peaceful. The planet doesn’t NEED fixing if HE exists to correct any other problems 💕 Once he’s not there tho I guess ur plum outta luck. Good thing he’s working on life extending science!! Now he’ll NEVER leave!!

Also it’s his fault NASA-place shut down.

Oh I never said this would be personally heart crushing in regards to himself or angsty 😩 there is only progress

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

….mmmm You know? I think I’ll save this one for another day ;)

i swear it’s not actually a mess like the last three but. I wanna hold off.

#cozy ask #dont get these answers twisted i just like working at this angle with him #EDIT: for the love of god fellas it’s not that personal

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fishgut · 1 year ago

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script with dialogue put in order below the read me, (note it was put out of order intentionally in the images)

Michael, the Archangel:

"Nah, you see pollution is only a sin for those in charge of corporate entities - an individual’s effect on climate science is negligible at best, and in fact a moral obligation to leave evidence of your existence. Angels require the grace of God to sustain themselves. Demons sin. Humanity must increase the chaos and entropy within your world because without it, just as I am slowly rotting away the longer I stay away from heaven, you too will rot, being consumed by the Void that is all and nothing. Corporate entities are not true beings such as you or I am - even though I am technically a personification, I was created by the Hand of God, damned be Their Name.... Nestle - not so much. the best invention you humans ever created was the lifted 1969 F150, close second to the 2187 RENEW XL cabin, the superior re-release of the previous years flop. You really turn a bad situation on its head with that one. A truck which truly altered the course of your impact on the world as the first ever vehicle to run on oxygen. a few years later you learn how to burn alternate realities as fuel to truly cement yourselves as a force to be reckoned with. So you really should be driving diesel."

Agent Grant Scott:

"What... the fuck.... are you talking about."

=Next image=

Michael:

"You can write all this down btw. I'm the angel of justice so I know these things."

Scott:

"Michael I can hear the smile in your voice. What do you have to gain from lying to me?"

Michael:

"I am literally incapable of lying what are you talking about? These are grand truths about your universe I’m giving you."

Scott:

"Well I don’t believe you. If these are grand truths, why don’t you tell me something useful. Like what happens to us when we die?"

Michael:

"Because these truths are more fun to disclose. The nature of your humanity is that its fundamentally meaningless, only exempting your own attempts to find meaning, and try to prove to yourselves that you do exist. The nature of angels' meaning is to be slaves to god, and of demons' to fight Them. We have purpose where you do not, in that fact that you are able to choose your own purpose, than have your agency and existence all written out for you."

Michael, thinking:

"(I literally hate all of you. I hate you all so fucking much. You should all just die already)."

Michael:

"We as the divine exist, as beings created by God. You do not, nor ever were, and must create yourselves as you create other things. Where we are OF God, you are LIKE God - which is why we hate you for it. You have created yourself, Agent Scott, in and through all of your choices up until now. You perceive and are perceived, carving out your reality, through the process of entropy and-"

Scott:

"How did we even get to this topic?"

Michael:

"I'm not real, Agent Scott. Though I may enact my choices on your and my world, in the end, I am the product of other's actions, a consequence. My manifestation would not be present if conflict did not already exist here, that which I choose to do is not really my own choice but again, just a high density of products from the effects of the wills of those around me. It is in that way that true Sin is very difficult for you mortals to actually achieve, but damnation easy, as the divine bends to the will of God, or as you are LIKE God, the divine bends also to you. ERGO you should buy diesel."

=Next image=

Michael:

"Even this pitiful excuse for a physical form which I manifest in front of you through is not a choice of my own, but the product of what you mortals think I should appear. My effect on it is minimal. My voice is the product of what you would expect a powerful, frightful entity to have if it spoke. Deep and masculine, one that carries. Conflict is the nature of man so I appear as man, despite my true appearance being a cathedral. To look like you. Put yourself in my place now, Agent Scott. I, a being of infinite wisdom, power, and knowledge condemned to an existence no greater than what is to you a rock. Now existence here is defined as influence over your own fate, choice, and dare I say sentience. The appearance of the divine not reflecting its reality. I have seen this universe play out countless times, though not having yet lived through it and the fact I am unable to act on my own outside of the limits put on me as a being who is the consequence of others actions, I don't have the same power to perceive and be perceived. Not that it matters considering I already exist, though not in a way which matters to me. Most of the time I'm not even aware of this disillusionment, as what you so eloquently call a "Delphic" I tell you this not because you ask for it, or because it’s interesting or useful to you but because in part that I am not able to disclose what would be useful to you, but also to emphasize just how much I hate humanity. God may have made me, but it is you mortals who have shaped what I have become."

Michael, thinking:

"(leave me be)."

Michael:

"you, Agent Scott, believe yourself to be in good terms with me with such conviction I am not able to address you in a manner that truly reflects my true feelings toward you anymore. which I cannot express or begin to emphasize just how tempting it is to smite you down to the fire and brimstone with how much of an annoyance you are to me. I am above you. You are nothing. You tell me questions. I answer them as permitted. You demand for favors. I grant them as permitted. You direct the manner of our conversations. I follow as I am restricted to speak. You cannot even begin to understand how much of an entrapment it feels to talk to you. Your predecessor at least had the decency to live far away and visit only minimally. Though I understand the position which I put you in. I am an executioner when not on a leash, I do not have restraint nor do I wish to. But don’t you have any sort of fucking compassion to give me even a weekend to do what I am designed to do? Let me exert the only manner of influence I can on this life. Let me exist, Agent Scott. Shouldn't it be a comfort to you that there is someone who gets rid of filth for you? Someone designated by God to do so? There are so many who pray to me. Why not you?"

Scott:

"Michael, Please calm down."

Michael, thinking:

"(if only I could get rid of you)."

Michael:

"In your desperate need to exist, The 2187 RENEW XL cabin may not yet exist, but it still stands in my mind as the greatest creation you will ever make, suffocating yourselves in the name of progress, in the name of naming yourself. That year there are more RENEWs made than any other unit of model vehicle, creating a catastrophic deficiency in clean, breathable air - the creators of which do eventually go to hell for their negligence, but the individuals who purchased each vehicle left a footprint on the world which is remembered for decades and even centuries to come, more devastating than nuclear waste."

Michael:

"Can you relate?"

Michael, thinking:

"(you infuriate me)."

Michael:

"You are a kind soul at heart, Agent Scott, one of the few nowadays without a lot of true sin in their soul. but you will not be remembered."

=next image=

Scott:

"But your wrong. because you'll remember me. :) And I think, you have a lot more potential than you give yourself credit for, Mike."

=next image=

Michael:

"when you die I am personally going to be the one to deliver you to the hands of hell."

Scott:

"I look forward to it."

"So you really should be driving diesel."

#my art #angels who hate god #my writing #long post #long read

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terrm9 · 4 years ago

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The Ray Women

Ethan and Chiara visit her family in San Francisco for the first time.

Set in the renovations period between Book 2 and Book 3.

This is the fourth part of the mini series The Couple & the Others. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 can be found here.

Words count: 4 200

Author’s note: The final part is here! I do not think I have much to say, other than THANK YOU to Ruby @starrystarrytrouble for this beautiful moodboard and for reading the last part back then!

Warnings: mention of death (it’s Chiara’s background, there is no way I could have avoided that), other than that fluff

Ethan let out a long exhale as soon as they stepped out of the airport hall and he felt the first rays of San Francisco sun on his skin.

There were several reasons why he never considered to leave Boston and its reasonable climate was most definitely big part of those reasons. Boston was... normal. Bearable. San Francisco was hot and the wind was barely there and the sun was too bright and-

He turned his head to look at Chiara and decided to snap his mouth shut before he could mutter something about the hell being colder.

Chiara, with the wide smile on her face and eyes closed, the whole face turned up to absorb as many of those annoying rays as possible, looked exactly as she should at the moment. Like she was finally home.

It was no secret that Chiara loved warm weather and complained about the one in Boston for the good part of the year („How does your ass not freeze in this damn city?“) and until this moment, Ethan didn’t really think about it. But now, the situation was reversed and only now he realized that he would most likely never agree to live in San Francisco, because he wouldn’t bear the heat.

And Chiara was undoubtedly dedicated to stay with him in Boston, even though she could hardly bear the cold.

„Why are you staring at me?“ she opened her eyes suddenly and tilted her head slightly to get a better look at Ethan.

Deciding not to get into discussion about weather and how it spoke volumes about the difference between them – especially not now, when Diana was about to come to pick them up any minute – Ethan answered with a statement that was not at all untrue.

„Because you are beautiful.“

Chiara let out an amused laugh at that and squeezed the hand she was holding, but it didn’t escape Ethan’s notice that her cheeks flushed and not from the shining sun.

The moment of silence and unspoken confessions between them was quickly interrupted by a delighted shriek coming from behind them and arms – bare arms that didn’t look bare because of the tattoo sleeves decorating them, Ethan noticed - wrapped around Chiara’s shoulders just a moment after.

„Alicia!“ Chiara screamed when she turned around and hugged her sister tightly, the moment lasting long enough for Ethan to absorb the only Ray he hasn’t yet had a chance to meet.

Chiara talked about her younger sister a lot ever since they agreed to visit San Francisco – or rather, she warned him about Alicia.

„She is wild.“

„Should that surprise me?“ Ethan didn’t even bother to look up from his medical journal. „She is your sister.“

„Oh no, you don’t get it. She is really wild. Alicia is the copy of my mother, the exact younger version of her. And she is... she is out of this world. The laws of nature do not apply to her. She is loud and gestures too much and speaks her mind too freely and she doesn’t walk, she bounces and she... she is wild, Ethan.“

And it went like this for weeks. Even the flight from Boston was filled with Chiara’s occasional „please do not be surprised“ and „it is who she is, it is nothing personal“.

Ethan met Diana once before, although the circumstances were so tense they both tried to forget it. Chiara was fighting for her life and the whole hospital was fighting to find a cure in time – and Diana flew to Boston, her voice shaking and eyes wide and she pleaded, begged Ethan to save her daughter because she wouldn’t survive losing another child.

Neither of them wanted the first meeting to be that way, but life had its own way in creating surprises and so Ethan knew that Chiara inherited her mother’s hair but not her eyes‘ color, he knew what her voice sounded like and that she loved her children more than life.

All that Diana remembered about Ethan from those three days she spent in Boston back in November was that his voice was soothing and calm while his eyes were terrified and just as pleading as her words and that he managed to save her little girl.

Chiara didn’t lie when she said that Alicia was a copy of Diana – her hair, just as Chiara’s – were the color of a summer sky seven minutes before the sun set completely, but unlike her mother’s or sister’s, hers were not falling on her shoulders in soft waves. Her hair were much longer, falling almost to her waist in dozens of dreadlocks. Several piercings on her face – her lower lip, her eyebrow and her nose – attracted attention and Ethan had to fight his sudden urge to ask her if the upper part of her body is hot and her feet are cold when he noticed her outfit, made of a tank top and high-waisted shorts combined with black leather boots.

She is barely 20, he kept telling himself, an obvious explanation of the difference in their points of view. And she is wild, as Chiara reminded him so many times.

„So you must be the famous Dr. Ramsey, huh?“ Alicia turned to Ethan so fast he almost didn’t manage to look away from her. „Nice to finally meet you... in person.“

She winked at Chiara at that, earning herself an annoyed glare from Chiara, something Ethan wasn’t used to seeing often.

„Ethan is just fine,“ Ethan nodded, shaking Alicia’s hand – as impossible as it felt, even smaller than Chiara’s. „It is very nice to meet you too, Alicia.“

Alicia didn’t even try to be subtle as she took Ethan in and he tried his best to hold her gaze, to not give her any reason to doubt him as the right person for Chiara.

Finally, Alicia sighed dramatically, the sound that startled Ethan visibly, as he had not a single clue of what that sigh was supposed to mean – did he disappoint her already?

„Mom was supposed to pick you up but she had some work to finish in the atelier, so she sent me.“

She turned on her heel at that and without sparing as much as another glance, led the couple to her car.

And saying that Ethan was nervous would be an enormous understatement.

*** *** ***

Whether Alicia set up some kind of test on Ethan and he passed or she was just trying to make him feel uncomfortable – knowing rather well that nobody else would – and it stopped being fun, Ethan didn’t know. He knew, however, that there was no trace of tension or hostility in Alicia’s behavior from the moment they stepped into the house.

By the time Diana came home and joined them, Ethan has seen the whole spectrum of Chiara’s annoyed glares, along with her embarassing teen-years photos and love letters she wrote to Milo Ventimiglia when she was eleven, believing that he would read them one day.

„She‘s always had a thing for older men,“ Alicia winked at Ethan at some point and part of him wanted to feel embarassed, but it took one look into Chiara’s diary filled with Keanu + Chiara or Chiara Reeves notes and yes, Alicia was right.

Chiara has always had a thing for older men. (And he should be glad.)

Sitting in a cosy living room, Ethan didn’t feel uncomfortable, not in the slightest. He felt welcomed and overly happy that he finally had something to tease Chiara with in return.

The room was bright and filled with so many photos, Ethan felt like in an art gallery for a moment. There were pictures on the ledge of a fireplace, on the walls and on every shelf. Pictures of babies and toddlers and kids, all with the same red hair and wide smiles; wedding pictures of Chiara’s parents; pictures of a man Ethan never got to know but recognized in an instant, the greenness in his eyes so well imprinted to Ethan’s mind, as Dorian’s oldest daughter was the only child to inherit the colour.

Pictures of a happy family, of a family Ethan so long wished to have and that was took away from him at the age of eleven. With an ache squeezing his heart, he realized that Alicia was barely thirteen when the happiness of their family was taken away from her. Just a child, just as he was all those years ago.

„Dorian would love to talk to you, if he was here,“ Diana smiled at Ethan, breaking his thoughts.

„He would?“

„I am sure,“ she nodded, the smile not – never – leaving her face. „He always missed a rational brain in this house – I am an artist with my body and my soul, my head always somewhere far away, ignoring the basic laws of this world. He would be so delighted to talk about science and medicine with you and I am sure by the end of your stay, he would just nod and nod and say „A good man, this one“, without even trying to give you the typical talk about his precious daughter deserving only the best,“ she laughed at that and Ethan tried to laugh too, but the lump in his throat made the task impossibly hard.

It has been seven years in which the Ray women had to learn to live their lives without Dorian and Liam, but the way they talked about them today, with so much love and gratitude, it made Ethan feel as if they never truly left the house.

„Yes, and I would just ask him something like Dad, aren’t you gonna fight for me?, and he would just laugh and tell me that he didn’t buy Dr. Ramsey’s book all those years ago just to scare him off now,“ Chiara chuckled.

After exchanging some more stories of Chiara’s childhood, Diana decided to start cooking a dinner and just as she was leaving the room, she said: „You kids stay here and catch up some more,“ which was an innocent statement, truly, but it left Ethan feeling rather awkward – was he supposed to leave with her or did she count him as a kid too? Considering the fact that his age was closer to Diana’s than Alicia’s, he could hardly be sure about anything.

In the end, he stayed with the sisters that seemed like they were not physically capable of not talking, the only moment of silence falling over the room when Alicia left to make them all a coffee.

But it didn’t last long and for a moment Ethan wondered if Chiara has talked that much naturally and only learned to control herself around him.

Was he changing her personality?

„I met Marc the other day,“ Alicia spoke again while handing Chiara her coffee, her tone light.

Ethan felt his jaw tense at the mention of Chiara’s ex boyfriend name and despite himself, he held his breath while waiting to see Chiara’s reaction.

„You did?“ Chiara asked with her eyebrow raised, sipping the hot beverage slowly. „How is he?“

„Handsome as always,“ Alicia smirked, sighing dramatically again. At this point, it didn’t even startle Ethan anymore. „He still looks like Harry Styles with those long hair.“

Ethan has never heard the name Harry Styles before but seeing Chiara’s amused grin and the way she just playfully bumped Alicia’s shoulder with hers – and that was the only reaction she gave away at Alicia’s description of her handsome ex – Ethan slowly, subtly took his phone out of his pocket and seeing that the Ray sisters paid him no attention, he decided to do his research on who the famous Marc resembled.

Harry Styles was... young. And rather good looking. With the dark hair and bright eyes, it would be easy to say that Chiara had a type (if Marc really look like that), but that was not enough to calm down that weirdly uncomfortable feeling that tried to raise up his throat.

Marc was as old as Chiara and it was no secret that even all those years after the break-up, the two were rather friendly. And he looked like this Harry Styles guy.

As much as Ethan hated to admit it, there was a name for that feeling, the name known to him but no, he was not-

He shouldn’t feel jealous of Chiara’s ex.

But Marc was young and handsome and did Chiara feel the need to talk less around him, less than she wanted? Did Chiara feel that need with Ethan?

This was stupid, Ethan knew. Chiara chose him and that should have been enough.

But Marc probably didn’t hate San Franciso’s weather as much as Ethan did.

Ethan became so lost in his own stupid, not at all rational thoughts, that he didn’t notice how Chiara left the room to help Diana in the kitchen. He only noticed Alicia’s intense gaze on him, amused smirk on her lips and maybe there was a trait that both Ray sisters carried proudly, maybe Alicia’s ability to observe was just as great as Chiara’s and maybe – probably – she knew exactly what was on Ethan’s mind at that moment.

*** *** ***

„So what do you say?“ Chiara couldn’t help but ask the moment she closed the door.

It was not that she wanted her mother to tease or test Ethan, but was her family really giving up on her so easily? Were they all just ready to give Ethan their blessings and wishes of luck with Chiara, without as much as making sure his intentions are pure?

It was not fair towards him, she knew. Alan has been nothing but kind and exceptionally nice to her, always. And Bryce did make Ethan sweat at the stupid brunch all those weeks ago.

Still, she just wanted to see him flush and stutter. Just once. Just for fun.

"He is as handsome as the pictures you have been sending," Diana grinned at her oldest child over her shoulder. "Maybe even more in person."

"You know that is not what I am asking," Chiara whispered, not wanting Ethan to hear the conversation. It was not that she didn't agree with her mother, but anyone could appraise Ethan's good looks. And Diana was not anyone - her opinion mattered to Chiara more than she'd like to admit.

"I know Ethan is a great man for you, darling. He makes you smile so much I can see these little wrinkles around your eyes," Diana gestured at the corner of Chiara's right eye, too close for Chiara's liking considering she was holding a knife in her hand. "For so long I have only seen dark circles around them. Anyone who can make you this happy is more than welcome in our family."

Chiara exhaled softly and watched her mom cut the vegetables, mulling over her next words in her head.

Before she could decide on what to say next, however, Diana smirked and spoke again.

"Not that I was worried. I spoke to Bryce few weeks ago. About you and Ethan. And he made it clear that your relationship is one he approves of."

„You did what?“

It shouldn’t surprise her, she knew. Bryce and Diana called each other so often at this point, Chiara was pretty sure Bryce asked Diana for an advice before his own date last time he went on one.

„Yes, he called me after that lunch you all have had back in December? Or was it January? I am not sure, but it was the first time Ethan joined you and your friends.“

That damn brunch.

„He called you to let you know that he roasted Ethan already and so that you do not need to do that?“ Chiara chuckled, putting her question as a joke.

„Exactly!“ Diana exclaimed happily and unlike her child, she was not joking.

„And you just... believe him?“

Diana shrugged, turning to Chiara wholly now, her smile only partly amused. Mostly soft and affectionate.

„You know I love Bryce as my own kid. I know you love him as your own brother. Has Bryce ever hurt you?“

Chiara shook her head without any hestitation because no, no matter how many people did hurt her – Ethan included – Bryce never did. Never.

„He wants you to be happy and he would never let you date anyone who wouldn’t make you so. And I wouldn’t either. Ethan makes you happier than I have ever seen you, Chiara, and that is all a mother needs. For her children to be happy.“

Not needing to hear more, Chiara wrapped Diana in a tight hug, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

„And he looks damn good, too,“ Diana whispered into her hair before any of them could start to cry.

*** *** ***

Ethan was standing at the desk in Chiara’s old room, smiling softly at yet another photo of a wide-eyed, smiling redhead child with a hefty book in her hand. The plan for the second day of their visit was to see all of Chiara’s favorite spots in the city.

„Uhm, Ethan?“ Chiara’s voice resounded from behind his back and it was the unfamiliar hitch in it that made Ethan turn around rapidly to face her.

„Yes?“

„I... this is stupid probably and I will totally get it when you won’t want to go but, uh,“ she took a deep breath, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides, tension around her almost visible.

„There is one place I want to go to before we start the day and it would mean so much to me if you wanted to go with me but it is probably very morbid from me to want you to go and-„ the words left her mouth at such crazy pace they almost sounded like one very long word instead.

And suddenly, it became very clear what she was trying to say, even though she didn’t know how to go on.

With two steps Ethan closed the gap between them and gently put her hair behind her ear.

„Let’s go,“ was all he whispered before taking her hand and letting Chiara lead their way.

Chiara asked Ethan to give her a few minutes of solitude with her dad and brother and left him to stand under the huge oak tree while she sat down slowly, gently in front of the grave she used to visit every day.

For a long moment, she didn’t even know what to say, how to start. If at all.

She just kept staring at her crossed legs, letting the tears to fall freely.

How could it be that she had the privilege to have eyes to stare with and legs to stare at, while the mere privilege to be alive was taken away from them?, she wondered.

„Hi dad, Liam,“ she spoke at last, her voice just above a whisper.

Ethan didn't want to eavesdrop. It was not polite, not appropriate, it was invading Chiara's privacy.

It was also impossible not to do.

The place was small and quiet and the three he was standing under was too close to the place Chiara was sitting at and what was he supposed to do, sing? Whistle?

That would hardly be any more appropriate.

And so he heard everything Chiara said and he was sure he was not meant to hear any of that.

„Ethan is here with me,“ he heard her say. „I wanted you to finally meet him. I know the last time I was here, I was not overly happy about him, but he got back from the jungle and he is forgiven. So could you forget how I called him an utter asshole and just... be nice?“

Ethan’s whole body tensed and a regret washed over him like an icy shower. He couldn’t be anything but ashamed by the fact that Chiara already shared him at this place and that she probably hated him at the time.

„You would love him, dad. He is so smart, like, genius smart. As smart as you were. And he respects me more than anyone has ever respected me before. You always said that if the man does not respect my career, he does not deserve me, dad and if that is true, then nobody deserves me as much as Ethan.“

He heard her chuckle and there was a long moment of silence before she spoke again and with some kind of internal terror Ethan realized that he didn’t even try to stop hearing what she was saying anymore.

„And I am sure you would like him too, Liam. He is a great target of jokes and teasing.“

Another silence.

And then Chiara said something Ethan so desperately wished he hadn’t heard, something that made him hate himself for listening and even more for what he heard and he just wanted to run away, far away and hate himself in hiding.

„You know... I cannot say this to him, because he is not very keen on this kind of things and I don’t want to scare him but guys, I love him so much.“

*** *** ***

Chiara didn’t know how many times she thanked Ethan that he visited the cemetery with her, but she was sure it was not enough to express how grateful she was.

The least she could do was to make sure that their next stop would be her absolutely most favourite coffee shop in San Francisco and Ethan would get his morning coffee just the way he liked it.

Something was off, however. Ethan was extremely quiet the whole time and even though she was used to his moods at this point, it surprised her here, today. It was kind of their vacation, their free time, something they both so desperately craved.

Chiara could see that he was lost in his thoughts, brows furrowed and his gaze pointed somewhere behind the window. And doubts started overtaking her, because of course it was too much to take him to meet her dead father and brother. It would be too much for everyone.

Before she could decide on how to apologize for dragging him there, Ethan beat her to it and spoke first, although his gaze was still pointed elsewhere.

“I must apologize.”

Only then he turned to her and her confused raised eyebrow was the push he needed to finish the thought.

“For-“ he stopped, biting his cheek, mulling over his next words and by the expression on his face, even those he speaks next are not the ones he wished to find. “For making you feel like you cannot express yourself when you are with me.”

“Oh?” Chiara shook her head slightly, her confusion growing even bigger at the odd statement.

Ethan exhaled, suddenly aware of the place being rather empty. There were no groups of teenagers, no kids, nobody that would muffle his words and his wild heartbeat.

“I overheard some of the things you said to your dad back then,” he admitted slowly, softly, quietly and he was not proud of himself for not even trying to not to overhear it.

The confusion in Chiara’s eyes was quickly replaced by comprehension and just after that, panic.

“Oh,” this time, the sigh that left her was full of understanding.

It all clicked now. It all made sense and Chiara so desperately wished it didn’t, because she loves him and he heard and now he is scared.

She tried to come up with a response that would make everything make sense, her head starting to hurt from the pressure she put on her brain to just come up with something, damnit.

Chiara opened her mouth several times without any sound leaving it and she was internally panicking and Ethan was not even looking at her.

Until suddenly he was.

“I love you too,” he blurted out, the words a little bit slurred.

The third “oh” that left Chiara’s was so soft, had there been the teenagers or the kids, Ethan would have missed it. But he didn’t.. He heard it and it took all of the air of his lungs away, because it was almost nothing, mere two letters and yet they carried such meaning it made his throat tighten.

“You do?” she whispered at last.

“Yes, I do.”

“And it doesn’t scare you?”

“God,” Ethan laughed, pulling her closer to him and putting a long, lingering kiss on her forehead. “It scares me more than anything has ever scared me before.”

Chiara laughed softly, her warm breath tickling Ethan’s neck and she pulled away just enough to tilt her head and look at him and in her eyes, those emerald greens, so warm, so soft, so beautiful, Ethan saw more than Chiara could say at the moment, in those depths he saw that this woman, his Chiara, his light, loved him more than anyone has ever loved him before and it warmed his chest in a way he didn’t recognize and it was that moment when he knew.

There was one thing that scared him more than love. Than being loved and loving Chiara.

Losing Chiara.

And he knew it then, he knew he would fight his fears of that unknown warm feeling every day, every second of those days until it didn’t scare him anymore, because losing Chiara was not an option. Not anymore, not ever.

#open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfiction #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #ethan x chiara

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punkofsunshine · 4 years ago

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Neoliberalism, conformity, and the monetization of individuality

Hey guys, I’m back! Ready to get into some more heavy topics, this week it is the topic of neoliberalism, also known as the modern capitalist system.

First. What is neoliberalism?

Essentially, it is what was initiated under the Reagan/Thatcher administrations which “freed the market” and allowed corporations to globalize more than they were already. As some may know, capitalism subverts democracy by placing power into the hands of people with money, not those who are supposed to have control over legislation (the government). In that way, capital has more say in our political system than anyone/anything else making America a modern day oligarchy which is an extension of a traditionalist system of governance; monarchy. The (western) heads of the neoliberal governance are sometimes called “new world kings” due to their vast swathes of wealth and influence in governmental affairs, but it also became the reigning ideology among the people as well, however “unleashing the market” turned out to have disastrous consequences even until today. A research article by Vicente Navarro states “. . .[pharmaceutical] companies that systematically prioritize their objective of maximizing profits over any other ends, such as preventing and/or curing illnesses (which, by spreading, may turn into pandemics – as we are witnessing in the current crisis). Many other sectors of medical care show similar behavior. And it is this commercialization of medicine and prioritization of private interests over public ones that have affected very negatively the health and quality of life of millions and millions of people (see my book Medicine Under Capitalism, 1976). These behaviors have been accentuated in the neoliberal period, which started in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Western world.” This specifically discusses the neoliberal economic system and how it effects us here and now during the COVID-19 pandemic (which at time of writing *15/02/2021* is still going on in the US and various other places).

Due to the rise of the neoliberal mindset, punk and Gothic styles gained quick popularity among the outsiders of modernized society, as did a sub-genre of punk (specifically in the 80′s-90′s), cyberpunk. Cyberpunk imagines a world controlled by corporations, climate change, rampant crime, and no heroes to save the day. Real life cyberpunks didn’t adhere to the aesthetic we think of now, during the rise of the internet they were/are the code monkeys, the people who knew how to navigate commonly uncharted space by the rest of the people online at the time. As good as it all sounds, that’s where the problem begins however. As technology progresses so do the ways to exploit the people using that technology, same thing goes with everything we use now. Just as the outsiders created their own thing, a capitalist will find ways to sell that to you packaged as individuality, the good thing is that punks accounted for this already and are big users and advocates for DIY. However the Goths got the short end of the stick when their style got repackaged and put into malls, thus mall goths were born. I say all of this because now, when in pursuit of individuality one must be aware of whether it’s truly fringe and custom or just another re-branded aesthetic like mall goth. In other words, true individuality doesn’t come from what you buy or how you look, it comes from who you are. Conformity doesn’t come from how you look, but how you act.

Now why did I talk about mall goths and punks? Have you seen how much Gothic and punk style clothing costs? That’s the monetization of individuality, at least physically speaking. This also is applicable to Cottagecore, maximalism, plant parenthood, and other aesthetics/movements that cost money. To hear more about that click here to read about Marxian alienation, capitalism, and the commodification of the individual. And no, this is not me saying that if you have that style you’re a conformist, it’s just marketed heavily towards those who want to oppose capitalism and our blatantly imperialistic government, which is incredibly ironic. I personally know punks who made their clothes by themselves instead of buying clothes from fast fashion companies. If you don’t, don’t sweat it, although it’s really useful to learn those skills, sewing specifically. Just keep in mind that they’re trying to sell you rebellion. Anything that can be sold, will be sold.

Sorry for rambling so much this time, I try to not make it a habit. I hope you learned something though.

This has been punkofsunshine, have a good one and stay safe.

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obeymeshallwedate-latinplayer · 4 years ago

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Traditional costumes (Part 1) (GN!MC)

Hello there my darlings How´s it going? First of all, I must say the following:

OMG YASS! YASS I CAN DO IT!!! There are so many that It´s sad I can only put 11 of them but YES YES I´LL DO IT. I´m actually really excited about this, that we will have to parts of it!

Second: Thank you!!! Today we are 308 followers!!!! For me having this number of followers it´s still a dream, and I really loved so much the idea of the typical costume, that it will be a 308 followers special divided in 2 parts, welcome to the first part. Thank you for following! I will keep doing my very best!!

Lucifer (Jarocho Veracruz)

Lucifer was walking by, when he saw you taking care of a big white dress, the first thing he thought “A brides dress?” He wasn´t enterally wrong, but he wasn´t right.

He asked you nicely what were you doing and why did you have a bride’s dress. The only thing you could do was laugh, Lucifer might be the all mighty one above the seven brothers, but sometimes he was too naïve. Or maybe that was just your imagination.

He saw the embroidery in the apron that was over the skirt, and he wondered: How many hours it took to do that embroidery? Even the skirt was way to thick, and sometimes he forgot that humans had many ways to dress up. He touched the fabric, even that red fabric was so beautiful How was it called? Rebozo?

He looked so intrigued that you decided to tell the story about the dress.

“In the colony time, Veracruz were one of the most important ports around the world. Spanish women stayed in Papaloma´s river basin, the wore big old dresses, with thick fabric, but in Veracruz that doesn´t take place, not back then not even now, it´s beach and it has a humid climate. The Spanish and creoles used to dress a colorful skirt and an apron with embroidery flowers, also a shawl with lace, and silk ribbons, even a hand fan, by the other hand, indigenous and mestizas women used to use flowery skirts and blanket blouses with a rebozo and their hair were braided. But the dress of the Spanish and the creoles didn´t work out, the weather was so hot that they simply decided to use cotton and organdy. But I guess, this “new” dress was used for the creoles wedding dress. Now a days is typical to be use in folkloric dances.”

For someone like Lucifer, he didn´t waste a second, and he dreamt, maybe in some years you could use that dress on your wedding day.

Mammon. (Charro Jalisco)

He was sneaking into your room, for sure he was searching something to steal and then sell it, maybe the great Mammom would buy something for you, something nice. His human must use something nice, maybe a necklace. He knew that you kept your precious little something in the closet, so he check it, and oh surprise, that ain´t little.

That was a heavy suit for a human your size, and are those silver buttons? He was actually impressed, he looked to every single detail in the costume, that hat is actually so beautiful that he needed to use it, no matter what, he needed to put that in his head.

That´s why you discover him, he was in front of your mirror, you took a mentally note, he needed a charro suit to, maybe you will teach him the folklore dance. When he heard you laugh he started to blush, saying that he wasn´t doing nothing at all.

“Mammon. Would you like to hear the story of this suit?” His eyes had that childish sparkle, and he immediately sat in your bed, waiting for the story.

“The charro suit started from decades away, in the colonial time, must say in the XVI century, with a very fine work, with gold and silver buttons, embroidery of golden thread. But, you know, only the wealthy ones could use the accessories, the intelligent ones, would make their owns, with maybe some paint, and creating the best suit of them all, just like the saying says. “El charro de cuero se viste, por ser lo que más resiste”. Now a days mariachis and dancers use it, and also some horse riders for exhibitions. “

Mammon was as happy as a child, he needed that suit from old centuries, maybe Lucifer had one.

Leviathan (Azteca Tenochtitlán (This city does not longer exist, it´s not even a state) )

Levi was sitting in the living room, when he heard something, were does bells? No way that noise wasn´t a bell one, it was more like a bone sound, so he followed the sound, and there you where, in the garden, with your full costume, dancing for the gods and for practice, you didn´t want to forget the dance your ancestors made so many centuries away.

When you felt the presence of him you turned around and smiled at him. “Levi, do you like my Hueseras? My grandpa made them for me! Aren´t them cute? Oh maybe you prefer the penacho? It´s so hard to find the Quetzal feathers.” He just stopped breathing, you looked just like that final boss of the game: “Trying to avoid to be a sacrifice for the Gods and keeping my heart on my chest.”

He just nodded, after that a big silence started between the two of you. So you decided to keep dancing, and he was just there watching you, with stars in his eyes, and you decided to tell him the story about the clothing,

“Before the conquest, my ancestors used to use beautiful clothing, with animal skin and feathers of birds, they made each outfit for each person in the social pyramid, the Tlatoani used the Penachos, also some bishops did it too, and head military ones, usually the military were decorated with gold and seashells, and a difficult headpieces, women if they weren´t in the high society used to use Huipiles and Quexquémitl, with skirts and natural pigments.”

Levi was amazed, just like in his game, but this time he needed a translator to understand those words you said, he wanted to use one of them too.

“Now, how about I teach you how to dance.”

Satan. (Traje elegante Nuevo León)

Satan had been invited to an opening from a new restaurant in Devildom, sometimes he would ask himself if it was fine for him to go alone for this type of events. Today he wanted to take you out for a nice dinner. Formal clothing, or that´s what it says in the invitation, well you had the fanciest clothing in the whole world just in your closet, so you took it out, you prepared yourself and you were ready to go. The avatar of wrath didn´t mention a thing, although you clothing of tonight was stunning and tons of looks were on you that night, after few drinks, and you telling every demon, that the mezcal of your country was ten times better than the drink in the Devildom, some of those demons actually asked. “Why are you in a custom?” Oh dear, not even Satan could make something when you picked the microphone. “Demons, this ain´t a costume, now, sit and listen to the story of this magnificent outfit. It all started in the colonial age in Mexico, Nuevo León did not had that extraordinary change from the conquest, actually the indigenous were nomads and we don´t have much of their cultural information. Women and men needed to have a hard character. In 1960 the dress maker Ramón Validosera made this beautiful suit for all of us, in 1970 it was one of the most important yet one of the greatest folkloric costumes in Mexico. This suit was made for the ones that will work hard enough in the fields, even though the women one is more complex than the male one.” After the explanation they stopped watching you with smirks in their faces, they actually asked if you could take a photo with them. When the party was over, Satan took your hand and escort you back to the house. “You didn´t mention that the suit was made for a beer festival”. He told you, and you laugh. “It wasn’t necessary. And it will be our secrete.”

Asmo ( China poblana Puebla)

Asmo had this epiphany, he had seen a folkloric dance of Mexico so long ago, and he just remembered it, he was sitting in one of the library armchairs, watching an old photo album, wondering if you were in the house, he started to seek you. When he heard you in Levi´s room he took you away.

“Mc! You are from Puebla, right?” You made a silent nod. “So, do you own one of the folkloric dress?” The question leaves you thinking. “I guess, but is in the human realm.” With those words Asmo actually begged Lucifer for authorization to go into the human realm.

When you arrived into your house, Asmo asked you nicely if you could tell him all about the dress. “Well, the story starts in the Colonial age, the legend says, that a chines woman was sold as a slave, but ended up in the hands of the richest. Actually she wasn´t chines nor from Puebla, she was a princes from Mongolia, but they were in a war so she was captured and sold as a slave, from hand to hand was sold, just like Malinche, anyway she found a good person that protected her, and then she married a merchant in Puebla, after that she lived until her 70´s. Her clothing was so beautiful and weird for the age, in one part beautiful Indigenous colors and in the other Spanish silk, with big ornaments in her hair. After some years they improve the dress, It consists of a white short-sleeved shirt, low on the chest, made of fine cotton embroidered with various colorful motifs. The skirt is a long skirt of thick fabric in dark red, with embroidery on the front that reproduce the national symbols: the eagle devouring the serpent perched on a cactus, or the Aztec calendar. The outfit is completed by a fine silk shawl in the tones of the colors of our national flag; and the one that requires the bun braided with tricolor bows, several necklaces of paper beads and large gold earrings.”

When you finished the story Asmo was tearing, a poor young woman who was sold by a men, but she found true love, was just, too beautiful.

After that he made you use the dress and well, the rest is story.

Let´s learn some Spanish and more than that:

Malinche: Indigenous women that helped Hernán Cortés for the conquest in Mexico. And it´s also a volcanos name, so be careful when you talk about her, you might be talking about the volcano.

Huaseras: Bells that are included in the aztec dance, also known as: Ayoyotl.

Penacho: Set of raised feathers that certain birds have on top of their heads

Quetzal: Bird from Mexico, in Nahuatl the name means long tail of bright feathers.

Tlatoani: Head of the Aztec society, something like a president.

El charro de cuero se viste, por ser lo que más resiste” : The leather charro dresses, for being the thing that resists the most

Rebozo: Shawl or cloak of cotton, wool or silk of various colors, used by some village women to cover their heads, shoulders, chest and back as a coat; It is also used to wrap and carry a child.

#obeyme #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me headcanons #obey me asmodeus #Obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke

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gishwheshistorian · 3 years ago

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hi! extremely random question (and please feel free to shoo me if it's too specific or just truly not within the purview of this blog), but has GISH ever had an item where GISHers create some sort of dragon (preferably like a model dragon, out of clay or smthg similar), and if so do you know the year?

I know it's very peculiar; for this I am sorry.

A sculpted model dragon is a bit... tame for a Gish item- I think this is as close as you'll get:

March 2021 item 9: [IMAGE] Dragons often dwell in dungeons, but sometimes they prefer caves — and in a pinch, they’ll take up residence in a pit. You should know: there’s one in your left armpit right now. (23 points)

After that, these are the most dragon/mythical creature adjacent:

2013 item 155: Image. Kale bear and dragon clothes (51 points)

2016 item 93: Image. You know those Chinese festival dragons where several people are hidden under the cloth of the body and tail? Make one of those, but have it be the largest Castiel ever seen: there should be one “head” and then everyone else must be under a massively long, large, and brown home-made looking trench coat behind the head (there must be at least 7 people under the “coat”). Make sure your Castiel New Year’s Festival is celebrated in public in a crowded venue. (92 points)

2017 item 22: Image. We finally have a confirmed sighting of a mythical beast from urban legends (Bigfoot, Nessie, Yeti, etc.) suffering the effects of climate change. (50 points)

April 2020 item 35. [IMAGE] Some people believe big corporations are big bad monsters that gobble up little businesses, destroy our environment, and have way too much control over our buying habits. Others believe that their economic angels and that they help lower prices for consumers, provide more job opportunities, and stimulate economic prosperity. Clearly the individual that should resolve this dichotomy is… a child. With your child (or a child) as your lead designer, make a mythical creature out of all those boxes you have in your garage from big box stores and corporations that is either monster-like or fairy and angelic like – your child’s choice! – Inspired by Casey Elaine L. (35 points)

May 2020 item 104: [IMAGE] Find a crack on the sidewalk and use chalk or washable paints to draw the creature you think lives inside it. (10 points)

2020 item 5: [IMAGE] Livestream Challenge: The LEGO Master Model Builders are working to #RebuildtheWorld, which is full of undiscovered creatures. Luckily, Gishers are on the job. Build a hybrid animal or cryptid creature out of the legendary LOCKING BRICKS, then take a forced-perspective picture of it coming after you. Post your creation to social media tagging @LEGO_Group (@LEGO on Instagram), #RebuildTheWorld & #GISH (59 points)

October 2020 item 8: [IMAGE] Livescream Challenge: The dedicated cryptozoologists at the Cryptid Factor know all the lore about the creepiest creatures on the planet… Well, almost. You’ve stumped them with the specimen you just stumbled upon in your backyard. (21 points)

March 2021 item 18: [IMAGE] Air your dirty laundry: literally. Using dirty laundry, create a scene of a princess riding an airborne pegasus or dragon. (24 points)

March 2021 item 32: [IMAGE] Tablescaping and landscaping both exist, but you’ve never, never set the table like this: Create a tablescape that’s a perfect fairytale landscape of Neverland, complete with mermaid lagoons, pirate ships, and so on. complete with castles, a dragon, and a lake with a sea monster…. you get the idea. But it must also be a tablescape, so make sure that it’s possible to have an elegant dinner. (28 points)

March 2021 item 46: [IMAGE] Ride with us! Using forced perspective and not Photoshop, either walk through your magical kingdom or ride “on” a warg, a racing snail or a giant bat, R.O.U.S. (rodent of unusual size), a landstrider, or your pet transformed for battle… you get the idea. (You may not hurt or harm any fantastical or real creatures in the making of this item). - Inspired by Cameron R. (24 points)

Hope this helps!

#gish #gishwhes #item lists #ask #dragons

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sweetchup · 4 years ago

Text

Hot Cocoa Mix

Type: Kurapika x reader

Prompt: Jour de la Lumière givrée (Frosted Light Day) — A popular Winter Holiday commonly celebrated in the Yorbia Continent and the republic of Padokea. On the day of December 16, some people will go shopping for a gift at local shops to give to family members and/or lovers while others will prepare their snowflake lanterns. Such festivities will continue until 11:05 when strings of lights placed around the city or town will light up and people will begin to release their lanterns into the sky; creating a beautiful sea of lights.

Author Note: I hope you guys enjoy! I’m sorry this took so long, for so reason I just forgot how to write Kurapika’s character like it was insane. I had to rewatch the whole Yorknew Arc just to get a single idea.

(Prompts/Rules) (Holiday Masterlist)

The winter wind howled on from outside. Throwing around the snow that was falling from the sky with it, creating a painful whiplash to whoever crossed its path. Though that was the last thing on your mind at the moment for you could not hear the weather outside nor was aware of it as it was being drowned out by the loud chattering of people. Well, more like a swarm of people, who were interacting with each other throughout the tightly packed and crowded mall.

A clear sign that it was now the holiday season. More specifically, That today was officially December 16 and Jour de la Lumière, or Frosted Lights day, was upon you. Due to this many people, including yourself, were trying to buy lanterns or get a gift to give to family members.

“Oh I want this one! And that one as well!” Neon shouts out as she continues to pull out sweaters and throws them onto the pile of clothes in your hands. As people stare on and whisper to each other, quite confused at your strange group, You wondered if Neon truly even knew that she was supposed to be trying to get a gift for her father instead of herself.

“Miss Neon-n, aren’t we supposed to be finding a gift for your father? Eliza asks, worried about your well-being as well as how much the young girl was spending.

“Oh yeah… Well, I’ll just pay for these and then we can go find a gift for daddy.” Neon says happily, as she gives you her credit card and skips away with Eliza following in tow. Before leaving, Eliza gives you an apologetic look but you only shake your head. There was nothing for her to apologize for, it was your job as a bodyguard to take care of tasks such as this one.

Once the girl is reassured, you stagger over to go wait in line while balancing the large pile of clothes in your hands. Thankfully this line wasn’t as long as the other stores you have visited, so you should be able to catch up to the rest of the group rather fast.

As you wait in line, you let out a sigh while you ponder for a little. You wondered why you just felt so odd. Like as if you were kind of sad or…. gloomy? It was Frosted Lights Day, your most favorite times of the year, so there should be no reason for you to be feeling this way.

“Honey, I think you made a perfect lantern,” A young gentleman's voice says, catching your attention. Looking over, you see the man with an arm wrapped around another young woman. They both were in front of a vendor selling Make-your-own lanterns, the lady painting one herself. They must be a couple, you concluded to yourself as you continued to watch them.

The girl giggles happily to her boyfriend.

“You think so? I messed up the snowflake design though…” She admits, rather embarrassed at herself. The boyfriend laughs and kisses the girl’s temple.

“I think it’s perfect! Come on, let’s go pay for it.”

As the two pay for the lantern, you can’t help but realize your heart feels rather heavy now. Was that what was making you feel down? Because you couldn’t celebrate the Holidays with your own boyfriend, Kurapika?

You quickly took your eyes off of the couple, you were being ridiculous. It wasn’t like Kurapika was gone or anything, you would see him tonight like almost every night. You shouldn’t be feeling down just because Kurapika doesn’t celebrate the Holidays. It wasn’t his fault he grew up in a tropical climate and his people do not have winter-esk holidays.

You let out a groan as you start to feel even more gloomy than before. Why did Frosted Lights Day have to be your favorite holiday?

“Miss!” You are startled as you hear a voice yell in front of you, “It’s your turn to pay.”

You gulp, embarrassed you had spaced out and missed the fact the cashier had been calling your name for a while. Giving an apologetic bow, you walk up to her counter.

“S-sorry about that. I was a little spaced out.”

“I could see that.” The cashier mumbles out as she begins to ring up the items. You clearly heard the rude response but chose to ignore it. There wasn’t any point in starting a fight in a clothing store after all.

Originally you were going to go back to observing the area around you but you feel your phone buzz suddenly in your backpocket. Taking it out and opening it up, you see you have a message from Melody.

‘Miss Neon would like to pick up a cake from the bakery. It’s closer to your location do you think you could pick one up?’

Typing back a quick response in confirmation, you quickly put your phone back away and bring your attention back up to the cashier. You didn’t want to come off as rude or impatient for having your phone out after all.

After punching in the credit card when the cashier tells you the amount needed, you take the bags of clothes and leave the store. As you find a map of the mall nearby, you hoped Melody was referring to the cake shop you saw when you entered the mall. If not then you would have to deal with one of Miss Neon’s “episodes” for bringing her the wrong cake.

Swiftly moving around other crowds of people as you get to your destination, you notice something in the corner of your eye. Looking closer you see near another store stood a hunched over elderly lady seeming to have dropped some of her stuff. People walked by her but it seemed none were trying to stop and help her.

Letting out a sigh, disappointed by other people’s selfishness, you quickly make your way over to go help the elderly lady.

“Oh deary, thank you very much. You didn’t have to help little old me.” She tells you as you begin to pick up the dropped items for her.

“It’s not a problem,” You tell her, give her a small smile as you place the items back into the bag. Though as you were picking some of the items up you would pause for a moment to make sure your eyes weren’t tricking you. Some of them were quite peculiar. Usually gifts that were given or treats that were made for Frosted Lights Day were decorated with a winter theme in mind but this lady had more of a spring theme going on. Cookies and pastries decorated with flowers. Bright yellows, greens and orange colored wrapped gifts. It was far from the usual traditional way of doing things.

As if sensing your curiosity the elder in front of you begins to explain,

“Odd choice huh? Well, ever since I was a child I never liked the winter. Especially the cold weather and snow that came with the season. I much, much preferred the spring. The blooms of colors that came with the buds of flowers that grew. The many scents that you could come across. Just everything about spring was so perfect.”

You stopped picking up the last item to look up at the lady. Amazed at how happy and carefree she looked as she explained her love of spring.

“Though, my friends and family loved winter, especially the holidays that came with it. So, I just added my own signature twist to it.”

“As if it’s your own tradition…” You mumble out almost as if you are in like a daze as a thought comes to you. Finally putting the last item away, you hand the bag back to the lady as you stand up, “Thank you, Miss.”

The elderly lady didn’t understand why at first you had thanked her but when she looked at your eyes, without any words, she suddenly understood. When she had first met you, she saw an anxious storm brewing in you, with your eyes dark and a light sheen over them. But now, the storm was gone and your eyes were bright and shined like stars.

“Your welcome.” The elder mumbles out, giving you a small wave as you leave to travel further into the mall.

—.—.—.—.—

Kurapika lets out a heavy sigh as he punches in his floor number and leans against the wall of the elevator. He was utterly exhausted, taking care of the business in the place of Mr Nostrade was really tough. Though, Kurapika knew it would all be worth it.

As the elevator doors open on his floor, he clutches tighter onto the box in his hands. To anyone else walking by the package would look like a gift given for the holidays. But it was anything but that. For a pair of scarlet eyes laid in the box. Kurapika’s recent item he had obtained from his hard work.

As Kurapika continues to walk down the hall, he tries not to allow his anger cloud his judgement. Though he couldn’t help but feel an itching, almost burning, feeling come over his eyes as he recalls the events from earlier today. Those slimy bastards, Kurapika thinks to himself as their laughter and carefree manner echoes throughout his head. How dare they treat these eyes —the eyes of his brethren— as if they were just some sort of item to decorate their shelves. Some sort of useless toy…

“Kurapika,” The soft touch of your hand touching his cheek and your calm voice brings him out of his thoughts. As he slowly comes out of his trance, he realizes he had already gotten back home.

“(Y-y/n)...” Kurapika mumbles out, still slightly dazed. Even though no words are spoken between you two, you can tell what exact “item” was in the box he was holding. Especially at the fact his knuckles were white from clutching it so harshly.

In a slow manner, you lightly lean over and allow your noses to rest against each other. This Eskimo kiss type of act always had a calming effect on Kurapika, “Come downstairs when you are ready, okay?”

With that, you allow Kurapika to make his way upstairs to do his thing. You knew not to interrupt or press into him when it came to something like that.

In the meantime, you decided to finish up the activity you had planned for tonight. You just hoped Kurapika was up for it.

“Ah,” The sudden voice startled you. Turning around, you are surprised that Kurapika is already back down stairs. Usually, it takes him a while to calm himself when he finds a pair of scarlet eyes. Especially if he wants to find a safe place for it, “(y/n), what is all of this?”

A dash of heat comes to your face as you feel yourself slightly become embarrassed.

“W-well it is Frosted Lights Day and I know you never grew up with exactly ‘Winter’ and my holidays. But, I still thought we should celebrate in our own way.” You explain to Kurapika as you watch him make his way to the coffee table and grab the flowers and colorful paints you have placed out.

You can’t help but feel nervous as you wait for Kurapika to respond. Just waiting for a single word, anything at all.

“These are to decorate the lanterns right?” Kurapika mumbles out, breaking the silence as he picks up a white lantern nearby.

“Y-yes. It’s a tradition to make them.”

“Then, let’s do it,” Kurapika states as he gives you a smile, allowing all your worries to disappear.

Shuffling over to make room for you, You sit down next to Kurapika on the soft carpet decorating the floor. As you two begin to decorate the white paper lanterns you bought, you two converse about your day. You tell him about how guarding Neon at the mall went. While he slowly, almost hesitantly, tells you about his meetings today. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust you, you knew he would trust you with his life, but you knew it was still hard for him to open up to people about his vulnerable side.

“I see…” You say out loud once Kurapika finishes explaining. At this point in time, you were resting your head on his shoulder. In a slight way to comfort him while he was telling his story, “I’m sorry Kurapika. I wish people weren’t heartless, money grubbing bastards.”

Kurapika laughs, almost sarcastically in a way, before kissing your forehead. “I wish for that too. But soon I won’t have to deal with that anymore.”

“Oh yeah, your new job is coming up right?” You mumble, almost to yourself in a way. It was some sort of bodyguard job for an emperor if you were remembering it correctly.

“Yeah—“ Kurapika is cut off by a loud bell ringing out.

“Ah, it’s already time?” You shout out surprised as you take a look at the clock. It truly was already 11:05, you two must have been talking for a while.

As both of you make your way outside, with Kurapika helping you get to your feet, you gasp as you see the sea of blue and white lanterns. Even with the cold pricking at your skin, you can’t help but feel a happy warm-like glee fill you to the core.

“So pretty,”

“Yeah it is…” Kurapika states, almost breathless and amazed at what was in front of him. He had seen the lanterns a couple of times while he was exploring after the Kurta Massacre but always from afar, almost hard to make out the shapes. Never up close. Never like this.

After a little bit more of watching the lanterns go by, you feel Kurapika tap you from behind. Turning around, you see he has already lit both of your lanterns. “Ready?”

“Yeah..” You whisper out, breathless out how handsome your boyfriend looked in the soft warm glow of the lanterns you two had made. Taking your lantern, you two stand next to each other ready to send them off. “On the count of three, okay?”

“1…”

“2….”

“3..—“

“Ah. Wait.” Kurapika suddenly says, quickly searching for something in his pocket. Thankfully even though he caught you off guard, you are able to stop yourself from letting the lantern go. Confused, you look at your boyfriend as he finally finds the item out he was looking for.

“A string?” You questioned confused as your boyfriend grabs the lantern from you. Though, you soon realize what he was doing and can’t help but feel your heart flutter.

“Yeah, I don’t want them to get separated after all,” Kurapika explains as he ties the lanterns together, each with a bit of space in between so they don’t bump into each other when they float away. As Kurapika gives your lantern back to you, you can’t help but feel extra jittery now. “Ready, (Y/n)?”

“Yeah…” You whisper out, finally allowing both of your lanterns to slowly float up into the sky to join the others. In the sea of blues and whites, the warm orange glow from your colorful lanterns stick out like a sore thumb.

After the lanterns start to make their way higher into the sky, you quickly close your eyes and begin to make a wish to yourself. Though as soon as you are about to wish for something you feel something caressing your cheek. It took you a moment but you soon realize it was Kurapika’s warm calloused hand.

Quickly, almost worried you would open your eyes too soon, a pair of soft lips mold against yours. It’s hesitant at first giving you slight pecks but once Kurapika gains more confidence as he goes on, he dives in further to give you something more passionate.

It’s as if the world has stopped when you two slowly pull away from the kiss. It’s peaceful, quiet and as if nothing could ruin this moment.

Kurapika flashes you a rare smile and he rests his arm around your waist when you slowly open your eyes. Even though he ruined your chance to make a wish, you didn’t care in the slightest and press further into his touch by resting your head on his chest and draping your arms loosely over his shoulder. Softly, you two begin to hear some jazz music playing from a band down on the street below. Leaning in to rest his head against yours, Kurapika begins to slowly sway you two back and forth. There wasn’t any reason behind the actions, you weren’t even sure Kurapika knew how to dance correctly. But, all that you two knew was it just felt… right…

Taking in each other’s presence as the aroma of hot chocolate fills the air from somewhere, you can’t help but feel at peace. Especially as you watch your two lanterns float off into the horizon.

Never, ever, floating two far away from the other…

#kurapika #Kurapika Kurta #kurapika x reader #hxh #Hunter X Hunter

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edwardspoonhands · 5 years ago

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Dear Hank, In a video from this year, you said that the fact that people toss (100 companies release 71% of carbon emissions) is a way of oversimplifying things. Can you elaborate on this to help me understand? Thank you

These 100 companies produce fuels used by every industry. So you can blame just the oil company, or you can also blame the car companies and the plane companies and all of the companies (and governments) that depend on fossil-fuel-based international and inter-state shipping infrastructure (which is, I think, pretty much all of them.)

I am less interested in who is producing the fuel and more interested in who is holding us back from progress. For clarity, those are almost always the same companies and the fossil fuel lobby has been extremely effective in slowing our reaction to climate change and holding back governments from investing in renewable energy. But the frame of “it’s just 100 companies” makes it feel like this is something that just 100 people are subjecting the other 7 billion to. In fact, pretty much every company benefits from our dependence on massively subsidized fossil fuels.

I think the “71% of carbon emissions come from 100 companies” is a valid reaction to the “we can save the world as long as we all buy organic produce and drive Prius’” personal responsibility message of the 2000s which is, yes, complete crap. I think that pushing that narrative to the side makes complete sense. I also don’t always think over-simplifications are evil or anything, it’s just that this is an oversimplification.

To me, it sounds a little like, “If these 100 companies would just stop being bad, everything would be ok.” But, we can’t just switch tomorrow. If those 100 companies stopped producing fossil fuel tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if most people were dead within 12 months. So we have to invest heavily to begin the transition right now because it’s going to take a long time.

It also feels a little hopeless. Like, how do you get a company to stop making money voluntarily? I can’t say, “Company, you must stop making money!” But I can say, “Government, you must stop giving that company subsidies, you must tax them and give the proceeds to create better mass transit and help people who can’t afford their heating oil. You must invest in renewable energy infrastructure.”

I know this might sound nitpicky, but the story that makes sense to me is that our governments decide how they want to subsidize clean and dirty energy, and every dollar that subsidizes dirty energy digs us and our children deeper into an already very deep hole, and every dollar that supports clean energy begins filling that hole in.

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n7inky-fanfics · 4 years ago

Text

The Burden She Bears

The Shadow Broker does her best to keep Commander Shepard's information out of the trade. She knows, of course, that like all information on high profile figures it's out there. And of course, if she wishes to keep her identity a secret, some of her information must include information on Shepard, but she does her best to keep the most vulnerable parts out. As such, she is always careful to examine every new piece of information tagged as involving Shepard before she deals in it.

She is more than a little surprised, though, when her latest report on the Batarians is tagged as involving Shepard. Hazel has done her best to ensure that her work with the Alliance and the Council does not involve Batarians (too much bad blood there, even after the war). In an ever fluctuating and sensitive situation like this, it's best to leave incendiary figures out of it.

A month after the war, the Council received an urgent request for aid from the Batarians. In this request, they stated that they had helped to fight the war and that as such they feel it reasonable to ask for aid. They faced extinction if any more of their population died, and the destruction in their system meant a large possibility of mass death due to starvation, disease, climate, or debris. The Council used aid as a bargaining chip, and several weeks later they sent what they could to help after the Batarians signed into law an immediate ban on slavery. Now, over two years later, the Batarians have regained some strength. Their population is still rather small, but they are no longer suffering in such high numbers. They have rejoined Council Space, although they lack an embassy until they can prove worthy of it.

Liara opens the file and finds it to be information regarding several Batarian charities. These charities were all involved in reconstruction efforts in some way. One focused on sheltering those displaced by the Reapers across Council Space. Another focused on shelter for those still in the Batarian home system. Another involved supplying refugees in all systems, including the home system, with food and water. Each charity listed in the file is followed by recurring donation information. It seems that they all receive a monthly sum from the same anonymous source, which her sources have just named: Commander Hazel Shepard. Cross-referenced with intel on Shepard's monthly earnings, it appears that she donates fifteen percent of her income each month, which is not a sum to scoff at considering Shepard's rather sizeable income.

Liara marks the information as unusable and stores it securely before calling Shepard's apartment. Kaidan Alenko answers the call from the lounge. "Liara, how are you?" he asks, obviously pleased to see her.

"I'm well, thank you. I trust everything is well with you?"

"Peachy." Kaidan replies. Liara detects a note of sarcasm in his tone. "I've got some expense reports to write up for the Council and I just can't seem to get motivated."

Liara lets out a small, breathy laugh. "Good luck with that. Is Shepard home?"

"I think she's in a meeting with the Council right now. I can tell her you called."

"I'd appreciate it if you could ask her to call me back. I have something to discuss with her."

"Ah, did some information come across your desk?" Kaidan asks, smiling slightly.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

He drops the smile and he cock an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Liara hears a door slide open in the background. Kaidan turns around and calls "Hazel, in here." In a moment, she walks into the picture in her dress blues. A large gash trails down her right cheek, held closed by stitches.

She grins as widely as the stitches will let her and says "Liara, it's good to see you!"

"You too, Shepard. Unfortunately, this isn't just a social call. Would you like to talk privately?"

Hazel's smile fades into her trademark pokerface. All sense of a casual conversation amongst friends is gone, replaced by business with the well known Commander Shepard.

"Is this related to my work or is it personal?"

"Personal."

"In that case I doubt the information is classified. We can talk with Kaidan here." Kaidan nods in agreement.

"Your name has been linked to several monthly donations to Batarian charities. I thought you would like to know so that you could alter the accounts, for your privacy."

Shepard's face remains expressionless, but surprise splashes across Kaidan's. He doesn't say anything, but he obviously didn't know about this.

"Goddess, I'm sorry if I caused in trouble between the both of you. I didn't think that Kaidan wouldn't know. I-"

"Liara, it's alright." Shepard says calmly with a slight smirk. "Kaidan and I have separate finances. What we do with our money outside of paying the bills is our business." Kaidan nods in agreement, but the concern on his face suggests the subject will come up again later. Liara hopes she hasn't caused she hasn't created a source of contention between them.

"Thank you for letting us know, Liara." Kaidan says.

"Yes, thank you." Shepard adds. "Hey, let us know the next time you plan to be on the Citadel. We could go for drinks."

"Gladly. Take care, both of you." Liara smiles as she signs off.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

Kaidan and Shepard stand in silence for a moment after Liara hangs up before she says "Well, I better handle that before it becomes public knowledge" and walks over to her office. Kaidan follows her and settles into a rocking chair he trudges through his expense reports until Shepard takes the seat next to him.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I would like to ask. How long have you been donating to those charities?"

She sighs and buries her face in her hands. When she sits up, tears are gently rolling down her cheeks. "Since I got my first paycheck after the war. I just... Kaidan, I killed 300,000 people, their people, to buy us time against the Reapers."

"And that time gave us what we needed to win, even if some parties did not take advantage of it enough. It helped." As he speaks, he leans forward and gently wipes the tears from her eyes. "It mattered. What you did at that relay saved trillions." He holds her uninjured cheek in his hand and she leans into it.

"Maybe, but I still directly killed 300,000 people." Her voice, weighed down by pain and regret, is barely a whisper. "I can't just live with that, not without doing what I can to make things right. I can't be seen helping because it won't seem genuine and might cause more problems, but I can help in secret."

Kaidan stands up and reaches a hand out to her. She takes it and he gently pulls her out of the chair and into his arms. He places one hand on the back of her head and gently strokes her hair. "I wish I could lift this burden from you."

"No." She pulls back and stares directly in his eyes. "No, this is mine to bear."

"Then I will support you through it." She leans back into him and he holds her close. It's hard imagine Shepard making that decision. He will always regret that she had been left to make it alone. He can't change the past, but he can support her in the present and stay for her future, a future he is glad to be a part of.

#fanfic #mass effect #commander shepard #female shepard #kaidan alenko #shepard x kaidan #f!shenko #shenko #shepard #fshenko

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alexannah · 5 years ago

Text

MLB Incorrect Quotes: Gabriel Has a Plan

Nathalie: Let me see if I’ve got this correct. You plan to akumatize your own parents.

Gabriel: Yes.

Nathalie: In your own house.

Gabriel: Correct.

Nathalie: Don’t you think that’s a little risky?

Gabriel: I’ll be subtle!

Nathalie: Subtle? You? I can’t wait to hear this.

Gabriel: I won’t provoke the negative emotions directly. I have it all planned out.

Nathalie: I’m listening.

Gabriel: They’re arriving by train, so I booked them tickets for the weekend in which there’s maintenance works on three-quarters of the journey.

Nathalie: Won’t they wonder why you picked that weekend?

Gabriel: They know we have a strict schedule. I offered to book them a flight instead but they turned the offer down, as I knew they would.

Nathalie: Alright, what else?

Gabriel: I created a fake social media account for the sole purpose of setting up a huge climate change protest on their route from the station to here, encouraging the throwing of rotten produce onto environmentally unfriendly vehicles.

Nathalie: I was wondering why you’d told my brother the limo was in the garage and asked to borrow his car.

Gabriel: They’ll have to pass the Dupain-Cheng bakery on the way, and they’ll stop to admire the cakes.

Nathalie: Won’t that put them in a good mood? And how do you know they’ll stop?

Gabriel: I created another internet persona for the purpose of arranging a novelty cakes competition, and ensured the Dupain-Chengs’ entry will be in the window. I’ve spent the last six months using words associated with gardens in all conversations with Adrien in which he talks about Miss Marinette—

Nathalie: Which is a lot.

Gabriel: It is. And as expected, the moment she mentioned the competition to him, he immediately suggested a garden-themed cake. As you know, my father is absolutely obsessed with gardening. He won’t be able to resist stopping to take a look.

Nathalie: And that will cause negative emotions how?

Gabriel: Because no-one with a functional sense of smell can get near enough to that place to see the window display properly and not go in to buy something. My mother loves macaroons, and I bought up a large supply of flavourings to sell to the bakery, under a different name of course. She’s allergic to rosehip, and I spiked her favourite flavours with rosehip juice—not enough for the taste to be detected, but enough to cause a non-lethal reaction. Not putting that in the ingredients list, obviously.

Nathalie: …

Gabriel: What?

Nathalie: Knowing your parents, they’ll sue. Marinette is Adrien’s friend; I’m not sure he’ll like that.

Gabriel: I’ve already prepared a letter of apology from the “supplier” accepting all responsibility, so it doesn’t fall on them. And because Marinette is associated with Gabriel it gives me a justification for offering legal aid.

Nathalie: …

Gabriel: What now?

Nathalie: I’m actually impressed you thought through the consequences of your actions for a change.

Gabriel: I saw how worked up Adrien got last month when one of my victims sent the school furniture flying and caused a tiny graze on Marinette’s forehead. I know he’ll understand once he knows the truth, but seeing him that angry at Hawk Moth was quite … unsettling. I decided to minimise the mission’s effect on that girl where possible.

Nathalie: I’m proud of you.

Gabriel: *blushing*

Gabriel: …

Nathalie: Anyway, after the spiked macaroons?

Gabriel: Oh—yes. Well, by then they’ll both be frustrated and angry, and my mother will be feeling unwell on top of that, so when they arrive here, I’ve put in place two proverbial last straws.

Gabriel: Though last anvils might be a better indication of impact.

Nathalie: What’s the first?

Gabriel: Chloé will greet them.

Nathalie: So that’s why you offered her work experience. What will you have her do?

Gabriel: Be herself.

Nathalie: *winces* Poor bastards.

Gabriel: And then they’ll find Audrey in here, finishing up a meeting with me which will have run on because I will have ‘mislaid’ one of my designs.

Nathalie: *winces again* Knowing your mother’s lack of fashion taste, that will be excruciating.

Gabriel: *sounding gleeful* It really will.

Nathalie: Forgive me if I’m missing something, but … aren’t you going to a lot of trouble? Why exactly are your parents worth it? Do they have some amazing skills I don’t know about which will help you get Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculouses?

Gabriel: Er … no.

Nathalie: So … why?

Gabriel: …

Gabriel: Revenge.

Nathalie: …

Nathalie: Revenge? On whom?

Gabriel: My parents, of course.

Nathalie: For what? Causing you to grow up emotionally stunted?

Gabriel: No.

Nathalie: Not supporting your ambitions?

Gabriel: No.

Nathalie: Not buying you the childhood toy you desperately wanted?

Gabriel: No.

Nathalie: I give up. Revenge for what?

~*~

***TEN YEARS AGO***

Gabriel: … I don’t believe you’ve met Nathalie Sancoeur, my executive assistant.

Nathalie: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Agreste. If you’ll excuse me; I promised to tuck Adrien into bed and read his favourite bedtime story with him.

Nathalie: *exits*

Gabriel’s Mother: *gives a disapproving tut*

Gabriel: What was that, Mother?

Gabriel’s Father: Why is your secretary putting your son to bed?

Gabriel: Executive assistant, Father.

Gabriel’s Mother: That’s a glorified secretary. And you didn’t answer the question.

Gabriel: Because Emilie is filming and I’m waiting for an important conference call. And because Adrien likes her. Your tone makes it sound like you think that’s a problem.

Gabriel’s Father: It is a problem.

Gabriel’s Mother: I can’t believe you would hire someone, especially live-in staff, without doing a thorough background check.

Gabriel: I beg your pardon? What makes you think I didn’t?

Gabriel’s Parents Simultaneously: Because you hired her!

Gabriel: …

Gabriel: I see you’ve been doing your own research into my employees.

Gabriel’s Mother: I’d say that was a good thing, considering your lack of sense in this area.

Gabriel: I’ve known Nathalie several years, and I have never met someone more loyal and hard-working than she. I don’t care about her history.

~*~

***PRESENT DAY***

Gabriel: …

Gabriel: Did I say revenge? I meant … er … relationship. Yes, relationship.

Nathalie: *disbelievingly* Relationship.

Gabriel: Yes. I thought they could do with a break from their monotonous routine. To, you know, grow closer as a couple.

Nathalie: …

Nathalie: You do realise you’re not fooling me in the slightest, don’t you?

Gabriel: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Adrien: *enters room* Are they here yet?

Adrien: *senses awkward atmosphere* Is everything okay?

Nathalie: Everything’s fine, Adrien. We were just discussing your grandparents’ arrival.

Adrien: Great! I can’t believe it’s been so long since they visited. Father, why haven’t we seen them in ten years?

Nathalie: Yes, Mr Agreste, why haven’t we?

Gabriel: *glares at her*

Nathalie: *holds his gaze*

Nathalie: *stares him down*

Adrien: *looks from one to the other, trying to work out what’s going in*

Gabriel: *gives in*

Gabriel: Fine! If you must know, they took issue with … *now mumbling* where you spent your gap year.

Nathalie: *eyes widen*

Adrien: *curiously* Why, where did Nathalie spend her gap year?

Nathalie: …

Nathalie: Prison.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #mlb #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #mlb incorrect quotes #miraculous incorrect quotes #miraculous lb incorrect quotes #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancoeur #adrien agreste #gabenath incorrect quotes #gabenath #gabriel x nathalie

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