#I was proven wrong and now I suffer the consequences

[bladekindeyewear]

Why are all of John's friends trying to gaslight him constantly? He was proven right about Candy and yet they all still treat him like he's nuts. Especially Jade.

But John ISN'T right. The Candy timeline being a "funhouse reflection" doesn't justify his proposed assertions and actions. I went into deep detail about that in my liveblog post, person by person. Just about all of the adults are wrong in important ways (besides Karkat), and are proving themselves wrong in that very conversation-- but John is the MOST wrong, the furthest from the point of this story, the most obviously suffering from his shortcomings as a person.

You get the sense you may have missed something.

This line, as everyone is standing over him, isn't just a joke about what's going on behind them all... as I covered in my liveblog post, it's a key statement about the core mistake John is making. About how ever since he arrived on Earth C, he's been looking for "true meaning" everywhere outside himself when it has to come from within.

ROXY: john did you listen to a single fucking thing i said to you JOHN: yes! JOHN: like, okay, you were right. JOHN: this place IS real.

In their argument in this update, Roxy and John alluded to their home conversation toward the end of the Candy Epilogues, when John was trying to insist that everyone's actions made no sense and that this timeline didn't mean anything... and Roxy dismantled his assertions. That just because the Candy Timeline was so strange and intentionally read at first like poor fanfiction -- likely because it was born from CALLIOPE'S fanfiction, the Meat version of Callie wearing the Ring of Life who is constantly said both in the Epilogues and Homestuck^2 to have been drawing events on her walls that sound suspiciously like the events of Candy -- that doesn't mean the Candy story, that a noncanon fanfic, isn't real or doesn't matter. Just because some of the events seemed absurd from John's point of view, OUR point of view, didn't mean they didn't have underlying reasons... right down to Yiffy's name as we discovered in this update from Karkat's insight that Jade was naming and treating Yiffany like the child she imagined she'd have had with Dave without his involvement. Just because it's not the "original author's" method of characterization doesn't mean that fan characterizations hold no worth, that fan stories hold no value.

John is right that all the former heroes in the Candy Timeline (besides maybe Karkat) have made a great many HORRIBLE decisions, giving in to their insecurities and neuroses and past trauma. But his solution is to ditch all the consequences of their "fanfic" story, consign it to the trash bin, and instead pursue "relevance" as if a new adventure, as if something more "Canon", would would be best for everyone... mainly himself. That allowing fanfics to be real, or making a difference in their own world despite their flaws, is "too much freedom".

JADE: john... this is what i mean. JADE: you have no idea what it is you actually want, do you? JADE: being happy to you is just chasing after whatever it is you dont already have. JADE: and we know how that always turns out. JOHN: what does THAT mean? JADE: it means, john, that you're going to drag harry along on this big awful adventure and then, itll end! JADE: and even assuming it ends well, he might get what, one good year with you? JADE: maybe two? JADE: until you get bored and angry and avoidant all over

JADE: john... JADE: you cant actually believe everything will be fine if we just leave, right? JADE: no matter where you go, john, youre still going to be... this. JADE: i wish saving you WAS as easy as snapping our fingers and going off on some other adventure, JADE: but well never be 13 again. JADE: and... looking at you in that old outfit makes me nauseous. JADE: you were right, a lot of the time i dont like it here, and i DEFINITELY dont like whats happened to us. JADE: but its our own fault, and now its all we have left to work with.

Jade proved herself one of the "craziest" ones here in this update, with us seeing the real reason she chose a name as absurd and offhand-Dave-Strider-joke-like as Yiffany Longstocking, and in particular with the way she wants to CONTROL her child to live the life she THINKS is best for her from Jade's own experience, living a "normal" life vicariously through her, rather than letting Yiffy live the life she actually WANTS to live. She deserved Yiffy's final, parting "FUCK YOU!".

But the point she's making about John here is TRUE, and is even more important.

John has been constantly defining his self-worth by adventures outside himself, listless and depressed and UNCOMFORTABLE in his own being, thinking that happiness and fulfillment and satisfaction is something he has to go out and find on some sort of story quest. His time in Sburb was the only time the world around him was doing the heavy lifting of convincing him that he had meaning. But he was never comfortable JUST BEING HIMSELF. Never confident in BELIEVING in himself, by himself. Quests and chasing goals given to him were only ever temporary patches over his own insecurity, his feelings of wrongness in the very act of existing as the person he is.

"no matter where you go, john, youre still going to be... this."

"You get the sense you may have missed something."

John is so wrong, so horribly inconsiderate to everyone in this update, so insistent on the next dose of adventure even if it means consigning the entire timeline to the trash bin, because he is MISSING the key thing that would actually make him really, truly happy. Confident, fulfilled. Satisfied enough to live for OTHERS, like his child, more than just for himself.

Which is why the update ALSO gave him a GLIMPSE of what he was missing, what he needs to find INSIDE himself -- not outside -- in order to love himself.

And what he needs to find inside himself... is HER.

June Egbert would love herself enough to start truly living for herself and others. To believe in herself enough to show herself off so confidently in the stage's spotlight, to know she's a Hero beyond her prior inner doubts. The dead version of John in the Meat timeline seems likely to become her first, but the lesson is the same. John keeps trying to look for a way to "escape" his problems, causing all sorts of issues and insensitivity because he can't escape himself, and this is the true key to the self-acceptance he's been avoiding.

That's been the slow, steady, Andrew-blessed drumbeat that's been building in the background ever since the beginning of the Epilogues. It wasn't just a Toblerone wish, that was only the final excuse. Andrew had been talking obsessively with others about this repressed-transfem interpretation of John throughout Homestuck ever since fans brought up the idea before the Epilogues, before the Toblerone, and HS^2 and Beyond Canon's writers (and the Epilogue's cowriters) have all been standing with Andrew on this idea. The fact that Candy was so "weird" and non-canon was never what was actually making John "miserable" for so long. He's still projecting blame for his unhappiness onto that idea instead of seeing the truer way to be herself. It's been hinted at and reiterated throughout the new stories, and confirmed by its authors:

That's just the biggest key to JUNE'S issues, though, not everyone else's. From now on, all the heroes who were left behind in Candy -- possibly with help from those in the Meat Timeline who believe in them -- WILL SAVE the Candy Timeline from dissolving into the ether.

ROXY: john... i know things didnt work out the way you thought they would but we cant just up and fuck off???? ROXY: i feel it in my gut, we can save this place, we have to!

Together, they WILL prove the overarching theme that our drive to create fanon and fanfics and fan characters, that the wild and disagreeing interpretations on what could happen next (or what could have happened) that live on after the story in the reader's hearts, that the versions of these CHARACTERS that live on in our hearts, matter just as much or more as the grip of plot relevance and "canon" by a tyrannical author. That being trapped in a "story" necessarily tortures them for the sake of dramatic impact and that the characters deserve to be freed from its clutches. The overall message of the original "Homestuck" -- it's in the very NAME -- was that the heroes had to ESCAPE THE STORY to find true happiness instead of simply winning by its rules, by a tyrannical storycrafter like Lord English's rules. Homestuck's original ending was too strangely executed to spell out that lesson for most people. Homestuck's sequel is making that message EXPLICIT so none of us who stick around will miss it.

And Beyond Canon has been REALLY good at convincing me that they're going to pull that lesson off RIGHT. :D

[domribo]

No Lessons Learned

Pairing: Haechan x gn!Reader

Word count: 5,104

Content: Bratty sub Haechan, mean dom reader, omorashi/piss, somewhat public wetting (nobody saw though), humiliation, crying, degradation, handjob, a little bit of praise

A/N: Basically Haechan is being a brat and not listening before a roadtrip when you tell him to use the bathroom and he suffers the consequences. You are very mean but he likes it and there are safe words (very important!).

You watched in concern as Haechan chugged a cup of coffee. It was just one, but impulse control wasn’t always his strong suit. You had a road trip planned, and you knew this wouldn’t end well if he decided to be stubborn. "Haechan..." you started, trying to balance your tone’s gentleness and firmness, "let’s try to slow down on the coffee. You know we have a long drive ahead of us, and your bladder…isn’t what I’d call huge."

Haechan goofily grinned as he dismissed your concern, pouring a second cup. "Aww come on, don't be such a nag! What’s wrong with me making sure I have enough energy on the road? Plus, if I have to go, we can just stop at a gas station." He tilted the cup back, chugging half of it faster than he poured it.

You frustratedly shook your head at your boyfriend’s stubborn dismissal of your valid concerns. There was little he was better at than charging headfirst into embarrassing situations, blind to the consequences until they met him face-to-face. You sighed and redirected your focus to double-checking the car, mentally noting to pack a change of clothes. Haechan's antics were going to catch up to him eventually, and you weren’t going to let it slide this time. But for now, all you could do was wait to be proven right once again.

"Whatever, don't cry and beg me to stop the car when we’re in the middle of nowhere," you called over your shoulder, "and don't you dare say I didn't warn you!" Haechan just scoffed and rolled his eyes at you, pouring creamer into his third cup of coffee. "Geez, I'll be fine! I'm a grown man, I can control my bladder. When are we even going? Hmm?”

You knew it was pointless to try talking sense into him. He seemed to love intentionally defying you, even when it was at his own expense. Even so, you wanted to try one more time. You turned to look at him as you spoke, "We can go now but…come on, let’s at least go to the bathroom before we leave," you lowered your voice, trying to reason with him. He pouted and crossed his arms, glaring at you stubbornly. "No! I don't need to go, I'm fine." He insisted despite all the coffee he chugged.

You sighed, "Baby, listen to me. I know you don't feel like you have to go right now, but all that coffee is gonna catch up to you on the road," your voice grew stern as your patience started to wear thin. Haechan huffed as he heard your rational argument. He puffed out his cheeks and and stomped his foot on the floor. "Ugh, you're so annoying! I already told you, I can hold it!" he argued stubbornly, determined to prove you wrong.

You took a deep breath to keep your cool before raising your voice again, "You better listen to me. This isn't the time to be petty. If you don't go to the bathroom right now, I'm not going to stop for you on the road, and there’s no way you can hold it for the whole ride."

Haechan rolled his eyes and and mumbled “hmph" under his breath as he stomped towards the car, still stubbornly convincing himself that you were overthinking. But deep down, he knew you were most likely right and that gave him…mixed feelings. You shook your head as you followed him to the car, knowing he’d soon regret being too stubborn to listen to you. You got into the driver's seat and started the car. As you drove down the road, you occasionally glanced at him, waiting for that attitude of his to crumble. He began feeling pressure grow in his bladder quicker than he hoped, fidgeting in his seat in an attempt to ignore it. He glanced over at you with a forced smile and tried to play it cool, "So, uh...how long is this drive gonna take again?"

You easily saw through his facade, keeping your eyes on the road as you answered him, “It's about two hours away." You paused for a moment, then side-eyed him with a knowing expression, “And no, we aren’t stopping just because you drank too much coffee."

Haechan's fake smile dissipated into an embarrassed frown, knowing that you weren’t buying the act. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, hoping you wouldn’t notice him trying to discretely press his hands between his legs. "Ugh, fineee. Two hours, I can handle it." You smirked, finding it amusing how he still kept up that feisty attitude. "I know that you can handle it, baby. You're so strong. Two hours is nothing to you, right?" you responded mockingly.

His face flushed in anger and embarrassment. He glared at you and puffed his cheeks again. "Shut up! I can hold it, alright? Don't tease me!" He yelled, his voice cracking a bit as he shifted in his seat and crossed his legs over each other. As the minutes passed, Haechan’s fidgeting only grew. He glanced over at you occasionally, desperately trying to downplay his need. He became increasingly more anxious, but his pride prevented him from just admitting that he needed you to make a stop. As the car made its way onto the backroads, it suddenly went over a speed bump, making Haechan gasp and grip the armrest. He couldn’t help the whimper that left him as his hands flew between his tightly pressed thighs.

"Ah..f-fuck!" He gritted his teeth in discomfort, mumbling curse words as he fidgeted in his seat. You saw his thighs clamped together tightly in your peripheral vision. His plight was obvious, but pride was still holding him back from admitting its urgency. "Ugh..c-can’t we hurry up?" he murmured, shifting uncomfortably. You chuckled softly at his request, knowing exactly why he asked to hurry up, but you decide to play along, “Baby, we're still about an hour and a half away from the hotel, remember? We’re already going over the speed limit, so we're not going to get there any faster by flying. If anything we’ll just get there slower if we wreck or get a ticket.”

Haechan whined at your response, desperately squirming in his seat to find a comfortable position. He bit his lower lip, holding back a whimper as another wave of desperation hit him. “Ugh…I wasn't asking you to speed up, meanie! I was just asking if we were on the quickest route so we can get there as soon as possible,” he mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. He looked at you pleadingly, “P-please, just hurry…”

You gently patted his thigh, reminding him of his words, "You know…who’s the one who said you could hold it for two hours? That was you, was it not?" Haechan whimpered softly, fidgeting as his bladder practically reached its limit. He covered his red hot face with his hands, his thighs squeezed together tighter than a dam holding back a flood. "Sh-shut up! You think I don’t know what I said?! I didn't think it would be this bad!" He whined, his hands muffling his voice. He knew that you were right, but he still felt that it would kill him to admit it. He took a shuddered breath and trembled slightly. "I...I’ve really gotta pee..." he admitted in a barely audible whisper while still covering his face. He looked at you pleadingly from between his fingers. "P-please...let’s just find a place to stop. I don't think I can hold it much longer..." he begged you, shifting his hips uncomfortably in the seat while his bladder screamed for relief.

You occasionally caught glimpses of his embarrassing state, enjoying the sight. You reminded him once again of your earlier conversation, "If I’m remembering right, I told you that we wouldn't stop just because you've had too much coffee, didn’t I? But did you listen to me? This was your own choice, Haechan." Haechan whimpered defeatedly, knowing fully well that you were right and regretting his stubbornness. His body was writhing at that point, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. "I get it, okay?! I should have just listened to you. Please, let’s just find a rest stop or something! I really can't h-hold it much longer. I-I'm…I'm gonna have an accident if we don't. Please, please,” his voice cracked desperately as he clawed the seat beneath him. You knew he was completely at your mercy now, his pride completely shattered by the overwhelming need to relieve himself. You couldn’t help but feel a sense of thrill in seeing him all pathetic and begging for relief.

You somehow managed to keep your composure and sighed, "If I’m being honest babe, you don't deserve an option since you knew what you were getting yourself into. But if you really can't hold it like you said you could, then you have two choices." You gave him a stern side-eyed glare, "You can either use a bottle or go on the side of the road. It’s up to you."

Haechan's face flushed even deeper at the thought of letting go into a bottle right next to you. Tears welled up in his eyes as he squirmed even more frantically in his seat. "N-no way you’re serious! That's..that's so embarrassing, I can't do that next to you! A-and going on the side of the road?? Someone could see me…I..I can't…” He practically spasmed in his seat, tears streaming down his red face. "Please, there’s gotta be another option…I don't wanna do that. Let’s just pull over and find a bush or something, anything, please..."

You shrugged apathetically, enjoying the delicious sounds of Haechan whining and begging in desperation. You knew you had more control over the situation than him by that point. You emphasized your next words slowly and firmly, "Baby, you did this to yourself. I told you to go to the bathroom before we left, remember? You’re the one who refused. I told you that I wouldn’t stop if you didn’t use the bathroom at home, but chose not to listen to me. This is exactly what you asked for,” you shook your head, feeling a mix of sympathy and twisted enjoyment. "You had a chance to go earlier, but you didn’t take it. And now look at you, desperate to pee and left with no choice but to use a bottle or go behind a bush like a...like a dumb, disgusting puppy,” you failed to suppress a smirk as those words left your mouth.

Haechan whimpered loudly as your words sunk in. He finally accepted that you were right even though it bruised his ego and humiliated him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he desperately tried to hold back the overflowing liquid in his bladder. "I..I'm sorry, okay? I really should’ve listened to you…I was being stupid and now I'm dealing with the consequence. B-but...a bottle is way too embarrassing!” You sighed and shook your head as you caught a glimpse of Haechan’s tear-streaked face and trembling body. You almost felt bad for him, but you also enjoyed seeing him in such a degrading and desperate state, forced to deal with the consequences of his cockiness.

"Yeah? Embarrassing? Well, let me tell you something, Haechan. This is a pretty embarrassing situation you’re in right now. You’re squirming and whimpering like a damn dog, all because you couldn't take a single minute to use the bathroom before we left for a two hour car ride. What's your idea of an alternative? There’s no gas station for the next half hour, and there’s clearly not much time left for you to decide."

Haechan clenched his jaw and squirmed again, his thighs trembling uncontrollably. He looked over at you with desperation and humiliation all over his face, “I...I can't take it much longer. I…I really am gonna wet myself. I…I can't…” His bladder felt like it could burst any minute. The pressure was becoming almost painful, and every single movement caused a wave of urgency to crash in his body. He couldn’t sit still, trembling so hard that he practically vibrated in his seat. He knew he was fighting a losing battle and would eventually face defeat if you didn’t pull over within the next ten minutes.

You saw his desperation and anguish in your peripheral vision and almost wished you could see it better. You knew that he was reaching his limit, so you couldn’t resist the urge to tease him a little more, "Baby, look what a scene you’re making, acting like you're gonna burst at any second. You’re just embarrassing yourself even more. Now unless you wanna piss your pants and my car seat, you’d better make a choice. Either you piss in a bottle or on the side of the road." Haechan's face flushed impossibly redder at your harsh bluntness. He knew that you were right once again, that he was making a fool of himself. His body was leaned forward in his seat as he strained every muscle in his desperate attempt to hold it in. He glanced around, hoping to see a gas station or discrete trail, but all he saw was a practically endless maze of trees and fields. He shook his head frantically, shaking like a leaf. His voice came out in an almost pitiful gasp, "Actually…I can hold it. Just...just until we're off the back roads. I can do it. Just keep driving, please. I...I can make it.” The car bouncing on the seemingly endless back roads only intensified Haechan’s desperation by the second. Every bump on the road made him squeeze his thighs together somehow even tighter as it made the waves of pain and desperation crash in his bladder and making him gasp out loud.

“Oh? You still think you can make it after all? I love your confidence. You must have a bladder of steel, huh?” you retorted, “Y’know baby, considering how much coffee you drank, I’m surprised you haven’t pissed yourself already,” you added on with a hint of mockery. Haechan's face burned at your words. He knew he was hopeless in this situation, and your teasing is only worsened it. He clenched his thighs even tighter, body jerking more frantically every minute. "Leave me alone…I...I said I can hold it. I'm fine," he insisted in an unconvincingly shaky voice. You fell silent to fully focus on the road ahead. You knew Haechan was about to lose what little bit of control he had, and you can't help but find some sadistic pleasure in that. After all, he was the one who refused to listen to you earlier. He couldn’t keep his body still, and he couldn’t keep quiet. He let out a series of low whines in humiliation and need. The car bumped over a sizable pothole, and he gasped in horror as he felt a small leak escape him despite his effort to hold back. “A-ah, no no no! Not now, please not now!" he yelped in a high-pitched, desperate whine. His body froze in shock and he immediately clamped his thighs even tighter with all of the strength he had left.

You smirked as you caught his panicked expression in the corner of your eye and heard his desperate pleas. He gasped and thrashed around in his seat when the car hit another bump in the road. "Baby, you okay?" you pretended you didn’t already know the answer. "Are you losing control already? How embarrassing for you," you cooed in faux sympathy. Haechan whimpered pathetically, tears running down his burning red face at that point. He couldn’t form a sentence, only pathetic sounds of desperation as he hysterically shook his head. “I-I’m not…I can hold it, I can…” Haechan whimpered in a cracked voice. His bladder was a ticking time bomb, the pressure becoming fully unbearable. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer, no matter how hard he clenched his whole body to hold back the inevitable.

You knew too that he was just moments away from losing it completely, and a part of you couldn’t wait for that to happen. "You still think you can hold it, baby? You look like you're about to piss yourself right here in my car. Is that what you want? To make a mess in here, in front of me?" you ask, your tone laced with mock pity as you kept your eyes on the road ahead. The car bounced over an even bigger pothole, and you heard Haechan let out a strangled yelp as his body jerked violently in the passenger seat seat. Tears flowed down his face he shook his head weakly. "Nonono! I-I can't...I'm gonna...ahhh!" Haechan cried out, voice breaking as he felt his bladder finally give in. A stream of urine started soaking through his pants, and he squirmed desperately as if he could stop it. "Pull over…I’m peeing, I’m peeing, ah!" He gasped shamefully as the warmth of his piss spread through his pants onto the seat beneath him.

You smirked sadistically as you heard him whine and cry, seeing the tears staining his face. You glanced over at the dark patch spreading across the front of his pants, the smell of piss filling the car. “Couldn't hold it after all, babe? Poor thing, look what a mess you're making," you say mercilessly, enjoying his humiliation. Without a second to spare, you pulled the car over to the side of the road. As soon as the car came to a complete stop, Haechan’s shaky hands fumbled with his seatbelt. "Go on, get out and finish your business in a bush or something. Hurry up," you demanded, pointing to the side of the road. Haechan looked at you with pure mortification on his face, obeying you without hesitation. You watched him stumble out of the car when he finally managed to unbuckle and found a sadistic satisfaction in the trail of piss on he was leaving on the pavement. As soon as he got out, he ran to the nearest bush, his trail following him into the grass too. The sound of his zipper being frantically undone reached your ears as he tried to unzip his pants while still wetting himself. When he managed to pull pants and underwear down to his knees, he gasped at the feeling of the cool air on his half-hard cock. But as he tried to aim it at the bush, he realized that there was nothing else to let out. His bladder had completely emptied itself.

As you heard him weakly dribbling onto the leaves, you waited a moment before walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder as you whisper, "All done now? I hope you feel better after making such a mess of yourself and being too stubborn to listen to me.“ Haechan stood there and shivered as his harsh reality set in. Humiliated tears rolled down his cheeks, his pants and underwear completely soaked and the air chilling his exposed, dripping cock. His blushing face turned to the ground, too ashamed to speak or look in your direction as his cock still dripped with weak remaining piss. "I-I'm sorry. I know I should’ve listened..." he stammered.

As humiliated as he was, Haechan also felt a twinge of excitement from it paired with your degrading words. From behind him, you wrapped your arms around his waist and pressed his shaking body against you. He shakily whimpered when he felt your body press against his back. “Shhh, it's okay, don't worry about it. I'm glad I got to witness your beautiful display of self-control," you tease, gently squeezing his waist. You brought your lips to his ear, warm breath tickling him as you whispered, "The whole reason I wanted you to listen to me earlier was to save you from embarrassing yourself this way. But I have to say, you seem to enjoy being put in your place like this." He shuddered at your warm breath and your teasing words, burn his face even hotter with embarrassment and…something else.

You pressed his backside against your hips, feeling undeniably aroused about this yourself too. You chuckled softly against his ear, "Does it really turn you on that much to humiliate yourself in front of me, you naughty boy?” He couldn’t deny it. His cock hardened fully at the humiliating situation since the threat of wetting himself had passed. "I-I don't know what you’re trying to say..." he mumbled. You smirked as you feel Haechan's hips twitch back against you, betraying his words. He knew that he should be petrified, that this should be a situation he wants to forget about, but the degradation of pissing himself in front of you awakened something sick and perverse in him.

You pressed a soft, teasing kiss to the side of his neck and ghosted your hand over his hard cock without actually touching it. Haechan let out a shuddered moan at the feeling of your lips on his neck and how maddeningly close your hand was to his cock, making it throb with need. “That’s why you defied me earlier, isn’t it baby?” your voice goes low and sultry, "You wanted me to put you in your place like this?" You punctuated your words with another gentle kiss on his neck, feeling his pulse skyrocket on your lips. "I-I don't know...m-maybe I did want this..." His cock leaked with his breathless admission. He tried to subtly thrust his hip at your hand for friction. His mind was spinning from the thrill of his pathetic state turning you on too. You placed your head on Haechan's shoulder and tilted his chin to meet your gaze, wanting to ensure he's truly okay with where this is going. "I knew that you did, you poor needy thing…what's your color?" you asked, your voice softening with genuine concern. He gazed at you with hazy eyes and a trembling lower lip, desperately craving your touch. He knew he did something shameful and disgusting, but your hungry eyes made his heart race. "G-green...please, want you to touch me…" he mewled with unrestrained desire. His hips writhed as his leaky, twitching cock sought direct contact from your hand.

Once he made it undeniably clear that he desperately wanted your touch, you decided to give it. With a grin, you wrapped your hand around him, slowly stroking him from base to leaking tip. He cried out in bliss as he finally felt your hand touch on his aching cock. His back arched delightfully against you, a strangled moan escaping his lips at the much-needed touch. "You're leaking so much already, you dirty boy," you cooed as you slowly pumped his slick cock. "Getting all riled up from pissing yourself in front of me, defying me on purpose, and making me a mess of yourself. You're so pathetic, aren't you, my little slut?"

Haechan’s voice needily cracked out, “Y-yes...I'm pathetic, such a pathetic slut for you..." He desperately thrusted into your hand for more friction, more stimulation. His cock pulsed in your grip, the tip red and leaking with precum. "Don’t…don't stop. I...I need you..." In this moment, he had surrendered to you completely. The slick sound of your stroking hand on him filled the air, and the humiliation and pleasurable sensations brought him close embarrassingly fast. His desperate pleas and wildly throbbing cock showed you that you had him exactly where you wanted him, ready to fall apart in your hands. "Don’t worry dirty boy, I won't stop," you coo squeeze his shaft tighter as you glide your hand up and down it. "I can feel you getting close…go on, baby. Your piss is already all over my hand and on the bushes," you rub your thumb over his leaking slit, "so go on and make an even bigger mess. Cum for me," you growl seductively in his ear.

Haechan throws his head back onto your shoulder with a loud cry, his body spasming uncontrollably as your degrading words and skillful hand tug him closer to the edge. "Ah, ah, can't...I can't hold back...m gonna...ahhh!” his voice grows higher and higher with each moan as he erratically fucks into your stroking hand. The sounds of his dripping cock being stroked mixed with his loud moans and cries makes you feel almost like you could cum just from hearing them. The pleasure became too much for him to bear.

"Mmm…gonna cum...fuck!" Haechan cried out, his body going stiff in your arms as he finally reached his climax. You held him tighter as the pleasure sent surges through his body, his hot cum spilling over your stroking hand and onto the bushes. You kept guiding him through his intense orgasm, pumping out every drop until he was completely empty. As his cock softened and its twitches slowed in your hand, you gently let go of it. You trailed delicate kisses along his neck and jaw, whispering soft words of praise, “That’s my boy, Channie. You did so good, letting yourself go for me that way.” You nuzzled into his neck and gently rubbed his tummy. He melted into your touch, still trembling from his intense orgasm. He had never felt so ashamed yet so turned on before in his life. "T-thanks…you made me feel so good," he breathily giggled with a small smile forming on his still-flushed face.

You helped him pull his pants back up and zip them so nobody saw more than they needed to on your way back to the car, and you caressed him until his breathing slowly steadied. "Let's get back on the road, baby boy. We still have an hour ahead of us," you say softly, placing a soothing hand on his lower back as you walk him to the car. He turns to look at you with adoring eyes. "B-but...what about the mess in the seat? And my wet clothes..." Haechan asked meekly, wincing as he looked down at his soaked pants. After the excitement of the humiliating situation wore off, he wasn’t sure how to handle the aftermath. You smiled comfortingly at him and tenderly kissed his cheek as you two approached the car. "Don't worry about the mess, baby. I'm the one who made you hold it in, so it's only fair that I clean it up," you reassure him, opening the trunk. You rummaged through it and pulled out a blanket, cleaning spray, wipes, and a change of clothes. You handed Haechan the clothes and blanket as well as one wipe. “I’m gonna take care of the seat, so here’s a wipe and a change of clothes, plus this blanket for warmth and privacy. You can get cleaned up while I deal with that, okay baby?” you said with a gentle smile, guiding him into the back seat and patting his shoulder before closing the door.

You walked around to the passenger seat and opened the door, scrunching your face a bit as the lingering smell of urine hit your nostrils. You sprayed it with the cleaning solution and dabbed it up with the wipe. Haechan’s head poked through his privacy blanket and he watched you clean after him, feeling a bit guilty that you were cleaning the mess his disobedience caused. He sighed and wiped the mess off of himself, slipping on the comfy clothes you gave him once he was as clean as possible. After he changed and you finished cleaning, he bundled himself up in the blanket and blushed at the vulnerable state you could see him in. He looked at you through the mirror, a hint of lingering arousal in his gaze. “Thanks for…taking care of my mess. Even though I’m the one who didn’t listen to you,” he mumbled timidly, “You weren’t really mad at me, were you?”

You made your way into the driver’s seat, returning eye contact through the mirror with a smile, “Of course I wasn’t mad at you, baby. I know you. I knew you were being bratty on purpose, that’s why I brought an extra pair of clothes. I knew that you knew you couldn’t hold it. You’re lucky I find your perverted antics cute,” you responded playfully, turning back and giving him a genuine smile. He blushed again at your words, feeling comforted and shyly smiling back at you. You reached over and patted him on the head, looking into his eyes with sincere words, “I love you so much, Haechan. You know that?” His eyes shined with adoration as he responded, "I love you too, so so much.” You ruffled his hair playfully and continued, "Would you like to lie down in the backseat with your blanket for a nap? Or do you wanna come back up here in the clean passenger seat with me?"

Haechan shyly admitted, “I wanna be next to you,” and glanced away for a moment before climbing up into the passenger seat. You turned on the seat warmers to help it dry faster, and the heat comforted him since he still felt a bit cold. You leaned over and kissed his cheek before starting the car again. He blushed yet again at this, shivering slightly at your affection. You pulled back onto the country roads and placed your hand on his thigh, resting it there comfortingly. “Have we learned any lessons today, baby?” you ask half-teasingly, keeping your tone gentle, “Maybe about using the bathroom when I tell you to?” You glanced at him with a playful smirk and gently squeeze his thigh. He giggled at your remarks and placed his hand on top of yours, mischievously smiling despite his lingering shyness. “Hmm…I can’t make any promises. The only thing I’ve really learned today is that…maybe this awakened something in me,” he smiled shyly, rubbing your hand with his thumb. His laugh made your heart melt, and you squeezed his thigh again as you shared laughs together.

“There we go, that’s my naughty boy. But…I can’t act like this didn’t awaken something in me too. So don’t think I won’t put you in your place like this again if you decide to defy me again,” you shook your head, grinning at his cheeky behavior. You brought his hand to your lips and kissed it as you continued to look forward at the road ahead. Haechan giggled again at your kiss, and you knew that his playful demeanor was returning despite how embarrassed he seemed before. His eyes glimmered with mischief. “Mm, then I guess I won’t be listening to you next time either. I’ll look forward to it, hehe~”

[imagitory]

I've never been more heartbroken in my life.

I was gobsmacked in 2016, don't get me wrong. I was devastated and frightened and shaken beyond words. I even had to go behind a wall and collect myself at one point that horrible November 9th, 2016, after colliding with a man wearing a red MAGA hat at work. A good chunk of us at work talked amongst ourselves about it, offering each other comfort.

But this? This is different. I could imagine dumb people making excuses for voting for Trump in 2016 -- saying that they thought a businessman would be good for the economy, saying that they wanted someone who wasn't a "Washington insider" like Hilary Clinton. Sure, it was stupid, but people can be stupid. Quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid, in this country and otherwise.

But now? Anyone who voted for Trump now has voted for a man who not only rounded up immigrants and put them in concentration camps separated from their families; bungled the response to COVID-19 so badly that the American death toll easily surpassed every other country on Earth; has poisoned the Supreme Court to the extent that they overturned years of precedence with Roe V. Wade and has basically given Trump cart-blanche to do whatever he wants while he's president; was the first president in history to refuse to concede on election day; was impeached for crimes in office not once but TWICE; was instrumental to and passionately supportive of the full-on attempted coup at the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021 that could've very easily resulted in the deaths of his own Vice President and multiple members of Congress; has spoken glowingly of despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and even said he will be "a dictator on day one" if elected again; has both used slogans originally used by modern American Neo-Nazis ("America First") and purportedly told one of his ex-subordinates that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler's...but also has by the day proven more and more just how mentally inept, vindictive, and mean-spirited he truly is.

And unlike in his previous races, Trump is ahead in the popular vote too. We can't just blame this on the electoral college being antiquated and gerrymandered AF like in the Trump-Clinton or Bush-Gore elections. Even if all of the third-party voters in this country had grown a bloody brain cell and voted for Harris so as to show solidarity against Trump and his form of American fascism, it still somehow wouldn't be enough. We could potentially blame this on lower voter turn-out -- according to what I'm seeing so far, even with all the votes not counted in this race yet, it looks like there were far less votes cast this election than in the last one, though likely still more than the 2016 race. But even so, I don't think that's the only problem. I truly think there were just a lot of people who turned out en-masse to vote for Trump. And all I can think in regards to those people is...

This is beyond stupidity or even selfishness. This is cruelty. This is large swaths of people deciding that they want fellow American citizens to suffer -- because in their minds, if those people suffer, that'll somehow make them happy. This is a large chunk of America saying, "yeah, you know all that crap about 'liberty and justice for all'? Screw that, I want a 'strong man' to bully people different from me for my own amusement." And -- perhaps -- there's also an element of feeling like their vote doesn't really have any consequences for them, so why should they care if the man they voted for is a god-awful person? It's not like that man will hurt them.

I had hoped. I had hoped, seeing the outpouring of support from liberals, independents, and conservatives for Harris/Walz. I'd hoped, seeing how many ex-Trump appointees were standing up against him, how much people were shouting their disdain for Project 2025 from the rooftops, and how many women were protesting in the face of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I truly had started to hope that America would prove we'd grown beyond our country's own original sin -- how our United States preached freedom for all while still being built on the backs of slaves and refusing to grant a vote to over half their population -- by electing a smart, successful, charismatic woman of color who sees our country as great in potential and wants us to pursue that potential as our first female president, rather than backtracking all the slow progress we've made over the last 200+ years.

But now...my hope has faded. My heart is in pieces and the world is so dark. I hardly know how I'll function at work tomorrow, even if I know somehow, I have to try. We'll all have to stand somehow. Somehow, someway...we'll have to find the strength. We'll have to stand, and we'll have to keep moving forward, even when it feels like we're a Little Mermaid walking on knives.

We'll have to stand.

[vickyvicarious]

It seems like the general first impression was "The Demeter crew is suffering and sleepless and dying, while Mina is having a nice sightseeing vacation", but... Doesn't it seem less of a contrast than that?

Lucy's now increasingly odder sleepwalking was there from day one of Mina's arrival, making Mina sleepless. While the crew sleeps with one eye open.

Even on the first day on Whitby, Mina was taking about death and lost ships. While the crew was beginning to lose men. Mina and Mr Swales talk about tombstones and suicide. While the First Mate jumps to his death.

*Mina voice*: the reports of my hot girl summer have been greatly exaggerated...

You're onto something here, definitely. Of course, in the original book, we don't see anything from the Demeter until a little ways into Mina's stay, so it (re)reads as more foreshadowing than it seems like a parallel, but that's one of the really fun things to notice in the daily format! I'm reminded of Lucy's three suitors and her letters about looking into her mirror coming so soon on the heels of Jonathan's encounter with the three vampire women and with his mirror getting broken.

I never noticed just how much a lot of Mina's storyline here lines up so well with the Demeter though. And now that I'm thinking about it... There's a bunch of those kinds of connections!

Of course, there are overall ones. Like you said, Lucy's sleepwalking begins right away, and it robs Mina of her sleep. Meanwhile, the crew of the Demeter are kept awake by storms, by double-watches, by having to pick up the work that no one else is left to do. But though that's pretty overarching, there are also some moments that line up really well. For example, July 27: "Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving about the room." and July 28: "Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out."

Then there are Mina's conversation with Mr. Swales, especially the latter one with its talk of suicide, of going to hell - only two days before the mate leaps to his death rather than allow Dracula to get his soul. Mr. Swales also parallels the first mate a bit in being, as Mina says, "a most dictatorial person in his day" and very insistent that there's nothing supernatural going on, though as yet he's not been proven so terribly wrong about that the way the first mate was.

On July 24, Mina says there is "a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is lost bells are heard out at sea." That same day the Demeter is approaching more bad weather, and later on they get lost in the fog. (Though we never get mention of any bell ringing.)

Mrs. Westenra is afraid of Lucy's sleepwalking because she "has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place." On August 2, the captain is awoken by a cry that sounds close, but which he cannot see the source of in the fog. The next day, the mate runs up onto the deck crying out after being figuratively 'wakened' to the true horror of who he's up against just before he leaps over the side of the ship. Also on August 3, Lucy goes about searching for the key so she can get out, and the mate went searching through the boxes in the hold. He clearly found what he was looking for, and it had terrible consequences; if Lucy finds what she seeks in her sleepwalking, what might happen to her?

And, one that I can't believe never occurred to me before... Mina's not only worried about Lucy, of course. She's very afraid for Jonathan. Because he, much like the men on the Demeter, has vanished unseen. He went off to his work (on watch/work trip) and hasn't been seen since. Even when she hears from him, it's brief and she can sense the letter is uncharacteristic of him, short and lacking detail. The reason, though she doesn't know it, is of course that Dracula stopped him from saying anything else/more. Jonathan's real sentiments and words were 'lost in the fog' so to speak (the false trail laid by the letters being the metaphorical fog here). It reminds me of the one sailor's cry that awoke the captain. And even with that, she's still waiting for more word of him and should have had it by this point. But he's simply gone.

It's not endless horrors for Mina at the moment, but the ominous tone is certainly building over time despite more positive moments happening too. To use a weather metaphor, more and more stormclouds have been gathering over time, looming threateningly overhead. And it looks an awful lot like the weather Dracula brought to the Demeter.

[gaybananabread]

May I pretty pls request headcanons for the high guard(before Megatron)? Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave?

𓆩༺High Guard Tkl Headcanons༻𓆪

~UUUUH ABSOLUTELY YES!!! These robots are probably one of my top three hyperfixations right now; I have SO many ideas! I’ve got stims for DAYS of their g1 voicelines. Thank you so much for this request, and I hope you Enjoy!~

🛦 Starscream 🩶

General:

Tell me Screamer doesn’t give lee-leaning switch vibes

That dramatic diva would love getting destroyed, though he isn’t above occasionally “disciplining” his guard. 

He can and will deny the existence of tickling altogether if you try to squeeze either confession out of him. Good luck, soldier (-_-)ゝ

Lee:

These moods are harder to spot than a single bolt in a collapsing energon tunnel. He’s the distinguished leader of the High Guard, after all; it’s beneath him to crave such childish things.

However…

Sometimes, the cravings are just too persistent, too annoying to ignore; he’d be at a disadvantage in battles if he let the need fester. Or, at least, that’s what he tells himself.

After he finishes his little crisis, he’ll try to provoke one of the ‘Waves into tickling him. They’ve proven to be loyal enough, and they haven’t tried to kill him yet—checks all the boxes.

It’s not an exact science, though; bots don’t usually think of tickling their bosses, much less homicidal ones who rule through fearful respect. It works about 35% of the time, usually with Soundwave picking up on it and deciding to be a decent bot.

I’d say he’s pretty ticklish; he’s just gotten good at hiding it and suffering quietly. You have to force a genuine reaction out of him, but he’ll look like a kicked puppy if you stop before then; then he’ll scream and send you out on a full day’s scouting shift.

Worst spot would be his waist, specifically his hips. That snatched waist will be his downfall; it’s just too grabbable. Immediate target for anyone tickling him, and it kills him every time.

Melt spots are his big wings and upper chassis, specifically his pectorals. Get him on either of those spots, and he’ll become a big kitten.

His laugh is very pitchy; he sounds like a teen smack-dab in the middle of the voice-crack phase. Giggled threats, squeaks, squeals, and nasally laughter. If you go for a bad spot, he’s true to his nickname: Screamer.

SUCH a cuddle-bug after being wrecked. If you comment on it, he might bite you, but he loves to just be held for a bit before going back to being the fearsome leader of the High Guard.

Ler:

GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN, SAVE YOURSELF—

He’s a VERY evil ler: flustering teases, death spot attacks, smug comments, no escaping whatsoever.

You really can’t run from him. He’s a jet, and he’s been training for years to push himself to tip-top speeds. Good luck dude.

He can and will torment you with the same teases that overheat him; man CANNOT take what he dishes out, but “consequences are for cowards.” (He always regrets saying that.)

“What’s wrong, runt? Does this tickle? How unfortunate for you.”

“Ah, yes, insanity and helplessness; music to my audio receptors. Which spot made you scream again?”

“I’m barely touching you. How do you expect to rise in the ranks if you can’t even handle a little scribbling?”

Not the worst at aftercare, but you’re gonna have to spell some things out for him. You’ll get an energon cube, whether your body is made to ingest them or not. He’ll stay with you until you recover, but after that, you’d best keep your mouth shut about the whole ordeal.

📼Soundwave💙

General:

Okay quiet boy here is a solid ler. 

Aside from the fact that he doesn’t like to laugh or speak much, he simply prefers to tickle others. If he can keep some of the other guard members happy, he’s accomplished something.

(I wish he had his recordicons in the movie; I have so many ideas 😞)

Ler:

He gets ler moods every so often, though he usually tickles bots to cheer them up or fix their moods.

Someone is sad about a guard member who got injured? Gentle tickles to make them smile.

Starscream is being more of an arrogant showboat than normal? Yeah, waist tickles to take him down a peg.

Shockwave has been cooped up in his lab for Primus-knows-how-long? Yeah, tickles to force him to intake some energon and recharge.

Now, Soundwave is VERY respectful of people’s wishes. If they want him to frag off, he’ll leave them be. If they tap out, he immediately stops. 

On the flip side, if you don’t stop him, he WILL wreck you into oblivion. It all depends on what you want

I feel like he’d use short, teasy observations to make his lees blush. Just something to fluster them and get them squeaking.

“Ticklish one: adorable.”

“Commencing stomach analysis… Results: conclusive. Very ticklish.”

“Laughter: changes pitch frequently. Claw tickles exemplify this quite nicely.”

“Hmm… Tickle. Ticklish. Tickl— Ah, my observation is correct: the word makes things tickle more.”

Absolutely ZERO issues with saying the t-word. If you can’t handle hearing it… well, it was nice knowing you.

So…we know how he can blast out sound waves, right? I’d bet if he did that on a MUCH lower setting, it’d tickle like crazy. 

All the effects of a massager, in as wide of a range as he feels like pushing out. Could be your entire body, one spot, multiple different ones…

The possibilities are endless, my friends.

Amazing with aftercare. He’ll give you hugs and headpats, bring you energon or food (depending on which you need), and tell you how well you did. Lots of love from the quiet one 💙

💡Shockwave💜

General:

This brat feels like a 50/50 switch to me. 

Like, he gives me SUCH lee vibes, but you can’t deny that he’d wreck a bot when the opportunity presents itself. 

Chaos boi energy by beloved 💜

Lee:

He absolutely refuses to admit that he’s ticklish. Does he want to be wrecked? Absolutely. Would just a few simple pokes make his entire orbital cycle? No doubt about it, yeah. So, how does he respond when asked if he’s ticklish?

“Uh, no. Only weak scrap-bots are ticklish. Now, get back to work before I introduce you to Primus!”

Ya know, like a smart bot.

Only Soundwave and Starscream have the lugnuts to try him after he says that. The moment the tickling actually begins, his fight seems to just evaporate into thin air.

I feel like his little eye-light flickers when he’s getting wrecked to pieces. Sort of like a smile for him ✨

His laugh is really boyish and joyful when you really get him. Just imagine a six-year-old laughing his aft off.

Shockwave generally isn’t that ticklish; only certain spots get him screaming. You either have to know exactly where you need to strike, have him restrained, or be quick enough to find one before he kills you. Speaking of which…

Worst spots are his blaster hand and side plating. All it takes are some light scribbles on either spot to make him flail and lose his processor functions.

Melt spot would have to be his finials. You can’t tell me those big ol’ things wouldn’t be ticklish. He’d lean right into it and close his optics, mumbling something about “needing to recharge, no other reason…”

Ler:

SUCH a smug aft-hole of a ler. 

He’s such a brat in the movie; you can’t tell me he wouldn’t carry that over to wrecking his fellow guard members.

Shockwave doesn’t really need a reason to wreck someone; he won’t even attempt an excuse. He’s just gone up to random guard members he was close with and attacked.

Not to say he’s disrespectful. If you seriously don’t want him to tickle you, he’ll begrudgingly back off. He’ll whine, of course, but he won’t push.

When he does attack, he’s a rapid-fire kinda bot. Get every spot he can think of, see which makes you laugh loudest, and THEN focus in.

Plus, all the teases he knows will get to you. He’s a bit of a jerk about it, but lucky for you, it’s easy to get revenge.

“I had no idea you were this weak. How have you survived this long?”

“You’re laughing so loudly. Think I’m gonna need to get my audio receptors checked after this.”

“Imagine if our enemies found out about this. You’d be down in seconds!”

“It tickles? No scrap. That’s the whole point of tickling you.”

Despite all his smug talk and bravado, he’s pretty good at aftercare.

Big ol’ hugs, cuddles if you’re up for it, energon or water and snacks, and maybe even some science rambling if you just want some white noise. He’s a softie afterwards, though only when it’s just you two.

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 73

This is a new meaning to "Eating your words"

Look at that giant pillow! This has probably been the most comfortable sleep the party has had in weeks.

Laios offhandedly mentioned he's borrowing some clothes from Thistle. Delgal was wearing something similar but I didn't find any panels of anyone wearing that specific coat. I bet Laios chose to wear it because it has a fur-trimmed collar. He seems to have a light preference for that design element, maybe because it was normal to wear it in his youth.

So. Many. Pillows.

I take it Marcille never drank alcohol before, or at least not in large quantities. She doesn't know what a hangover is.

They're talking about their journey almost being over (again). At least this time, we can already tell how things are going to go horribly wrong. Becoming dungeon lord is not a good idea at all, and we still need to see how the Canaries screw everything up for them.

Laios has developed an understandable fear of the dungeon rabbits. He got spooked by the bird because he thought it might be a rabbit jumping out of the bushes.

Y'know, Laios did refer to Kabru correctly back in chapters 38 and 52 so he remembered Kabru's name for at least a week. First time I recall Laios getting Kabru's name wrong is chapter 66. I want to say there were two distinct days between chapters 52 and now (57-60 and 63-72) but there's room for several days to have passed between them since the party was near the start of the seventh floor in the first day and they had climbed all the way to the bottom the next time we see them.

I wonder what was going through Kabru's mind when he saw Falin. It would indicate the party must have come into conflict with Thistle and very recently too. So now he has to be concerned about whether or not he's too late in stopping Laios from becoming the new dungeon lord.

Kabru pulled his sleeves down to hide his cuffs.

Now that I think about it, Kabru wasn't wearing his armor when he left the dungeon in chapter 38, but he had his equipment on in chapter 53. Maybe someone else carried it back through the portal or maybe he had to buy a new set when he got back.

Laios shook Kabru's hand back in chapter 38. He's not good at remembering names or picking up on people's intents, but Laios has proven he can pick up on behaviours. So even if he can't tell why something is off, he can tell Kabru's handshake is not the same as last time.

Is that what a succubus actually looks like?

I love how Pattadol's fairy always expresses Pattadol's emotions.

Chilchuck is making everything worse. He might as well have said "We used black magic on this journey." And then he never says anything else or tries to stop Laios during the rest of the interrogation.

In an alternate timeline where the lion didn't warn the party about the Canaries, this entire interrogation could have gone differently. The Touden party still needs to be concerned about the elves finding out about Marcille using ancient magic, but they wouldn't have any reason to believe the Canaries are a threat and might be willing to explain the situation.

The Canaries are a task force designed to prevent demons from escaping the dungeons, so the last thing the Winged Lion wants is for its pawns to work with the group that is specially-trained to stop it.

Why is one of the ingredients for bavarois "That one milk"? The only milk I can think of is succubus milk.

Never stops being funny watching Kabru suffer the consequences of his attempts to manipulate Laios.

That slime is the one from floor 1? They've been traveling for about a month now!!

I think Otta does have a point about the slime coming from a graveyard. Who knows what kind of bacteria is inside it.

I'm disappointed Cithis managed to hypnotize them that easily.

For someone with a bad sense of direction, Mithrun is very good at showing up where he's not wanted.

Nothing replaced Izutsumi meaning she was teleported to an open space.

back

[eucatastrophicblues]

The problem I have with the attitudes in American Catholicism is that they’re cowardly, and hypocritical, and built upon this frustrating double-edged sword of “I don’t actually want the consequences of my actions to happen BUT I don’t want to change the way I vote”, and no one seems to want to face that. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that the reason they voted Republican is because of abortion, because they believe abortion is murder. Okay. Murder is bad, we agree on that. Now, what about environmental degradation through pollution that causes pediatric cancers? What about the campaigns on the right to delegitimize and ban vaccines? What about the dismantling of social safety nets and anti-welfare attitudes? What about the hatred for the homeless, or the insistence that they jump through hoops to access resources that are not good enough? What about the privatization of government agencies that service the vulnerable? What about civil forfeiture and police brutality?

All those things are murderous too. You’re voting for the party that’s for them.

Okay, you say, but those things don’t directly cause the murder of children. Except they do. Take a peek at infant mortality rates before our robust food and drug safety standards and widely accessible vaccines. Congrats! That’s what you voted for.

For the past eight years I’ve been told by countless Republican Catholics and Christians that voting red didn’t really mean they’d go after Roe v Wade, that voting red didn’t actually mean that the kinds of utterly horrific human suffering that pop up in countries with a total abortion ban would happen. “This isn’t really going to happen,” they say. “But we have to vote for it anyway!” They want to lose, because they want to continue protesting and continue feeling like moral exemplars but they don’t actually want to face the fact that they might have voted in a tyrant. They don’t even personally care about abortions - pro-life activists reliably get abortions all the time, while loudly insisting that this doesn’t actually make them pro-choice. They also coerce people in their lives to get abortions all the time. This movement wasn’t started to save babies. It was started to convince gullible Christians to vote for tyrants.

None of you want to believe that you’ve voted for someone evil. You say “oh, I’m a sinner” and wring your hands in a self-shielding, self-soothing way. You twist yourselves into knots to acknowledge that you’re imperfect while professing lies (I’m not responsible for what that man does if he’s elected, I voted for a single issue and my choice should only have that consequence, I’m not culpable if I’m just wrong about what happens, God doesn’t care about elections) because you can’t face that you, yourselves, with your own hands, did this.

You are the cause of tens of millions of mental health spirals. You are the reason people are frantically passing around suicide prevention hotlines. You are responsible for the panicked and desperate prayers for impossible salvation coming from the mouths of countless frantic Americans of all stripes. Your choices have caused several people I know to plan to flee the country. You have increased the amount of human suffering in the world.

It’s your responsibility and your duty as a Christian to face that. To own that. To take it before the throne of the Most High and ask for forgiveness. You don’t get to say we’re all exaggerating. You don’t get to say we’re panicking for no reason. Republicans tried to overthrow the government in a violent coup. The other side is begging their friends not to commit suicide.

You caused this. You caused it because you thought that the hypothetical deaths of hypothetical children (who, because you voted for Republicans even though state constitutions have been AMENDED TO GUARANTEE ABORTION ACCESS as a direct result of Republican policies, can be proven to not actually matter to you!) were more morally vital than the real deaths of real people happening right now.

[wackpedion]

My Analysis of MSI's Royally Fucked

This is going to be a look into Mindless Self Indulgence's song Royally Fucked through the lense of it being about csa (child sexual abuse), if such themes are uncomfortable or triggering this may not be for you

before I begin, I will note that I will be using they/them pronouns to refer to the perspective presented in the song. This is because I don't know if Jimmy Urine is a victim of csa, I don't think he's ever commented on it and for all I know this is a song simply in the perspective/character of someone who did experience it, and its frankly not my business to speculate on his personal life and so I am keeping it ambigious when talking about the views expressed in this song.

Now let us begin, starting with the first verse:

They start off with cursing out some unnamed figure (likely their abuser), right off the bat painting a negative and hateful picture. And then there is the next line, which I think is very significant in setting the tone for the song

"Mom, Dad, why don't you finger me too?" Always sticks out to me when listening to the song, for how gross weird and especially overt it is. To me I think it signals a warped mindset they have from past abuse, that a similiar trusted adult authority figure has hurt them in the past and so such thoughts come to mind. If such a person has done something like that to them, why wouldn't there parents? It wouldn't be so abnormal or shocking.

Then follows the chorus, which is quite self deprecating.

The "I will never be young" line I think refers to how, as a child they never really got to be a child because of the abuse and trauma they suffered through, this is especially relevant to csa in where victims are subjected to adult things, and often told or made to feel more 'adult' (e.g. "you're so mature for your age"). And now having grown up to be an adult that window of time to be a child is closed and gone forever. They will never get to be young.

"I will never be loved" is a self deprecating thought that often derives from low self esteem, which is common among abuse victims. It is then followed by "I will never be wrong", which is a statement in relation to the past lines, stating that they won't or dont think these statements will be proven wrong. They won't ever be young, and they won't ever be loved, and they're not wrong for thinking that.

"I am royally fucked" refers to how they're fucked in the head from the abuse and trauma, and also how their current life is a mess because of the complications from all of that.

Onto verse two, it starts off with "love it, love it, love it, love it, you son of a bitch". To me it sounds like it's about how the perpretator took pleasure in the victims abuse, and how they hold further resentment for them for that.

Now this is where it gets interesting, "All of them dead now, let me be the same". I believe this has a sort of double meaning. For one the more literal one, in that the people who hurt and aided in their abuse are dead now, and they wish to die too. Suicidal feelings are common among victims of abuse. However I interpret this to be a sort of metaphor of sorts for moving on.

"All of them dead now" being that these people are gone, and they got to move on from what happened. Whether it be the more literal interpretation in that they got to leave what happened behind in/through death, or simply being gone and removed from the victims life and not having to suffer consequences for what happened, being as good as dead. The victim wants to be able to move past what happened too, "let me be the same", but is unable to, as shown by the line "fall on my knees" which invokes imagery of a broken down, vulnerable weak person.

The chorus follows and then there is this bridge

"Don't let them see me now, don't let them see me like this" expressing that they don't want anyone to see them as they are being now in the song, broken down and vulnerable. After this a final round of the chorus plays, reiterating their self deprecating thoughts.

And that concludes my analysis, I have been listening to this song on loop for several days and I wanted to put my thoughts down to share.

Some tags for the people who expressed interest in seeing my interpretation/analysis:

@ilovebeatingmywife @sourbombz @shinigamichan @infinitebearrreblogz @msi-obsessive

[kedreeva]

Sorry about the color mix up. I appreciate the reply and additional info! I guess bc I know nothing about peafowl (and the fact i dont breed any type of animal), I'm having a hard time understanding how being sterile would be unethical. I do somewhat get the shortened life span. I really would like to understand this, I just sometimes need stuff explained like I'm 5.

Up front, there's no "somewhat get" to a shortened lifespan being caused by a mutation in captive populations. If an animal is capable of living 20+ years (and some live 30+ or even 40+!) and some non-essential mutation is causing them to live 7-9 years, it's flat out absolutely unethical to breed that mutation, full stop, regardless of anything else going on. That's indicative of a MAJOR problem in their genetics. There's NO ethical reason to breed that because humans like how it looks. So, even without the sterility, these birds would 100% be unethical to produce.

The short answer on sterility is this: we don't know WHY they are sterile, but they shouldn't be, and that means something has gone wrong. When something goes wrong with an animal, and it's something genetic that can be passed on, the ONLY responsible and ethical thing for a breeder to do is to stop using that animal for breeding and closely monitor any already-produced offspring for signs of the problem, and likely not breed them, either.

The longer more complicated answer is this: sometimes it's possible to separate the problem from the aesthetic when it comes to morphs, like it was for cameo + blindness, but sometimes it's NOT, like it wasn't for spider + head wobble for ball pythons. In those instances, it's... difficult. Because you're LIKELY going to produce animals that suffer the same problem as their parent(s), in the attempt to separate the problem from the aesthetic, and sometimes that's ALL you're going to produce. As a breeder, it's your absolute responsibility to NOT release the offspring into the general population, where the problem may be replicated without control, and to keep or cull the affected individuals if the problem cannot be separated from the aesthetic, or AT BEST find them guaranteed pet-only homes that will NEVER breed them.

Sometimes the problem IS purely aesthetic or harmless, like it was for pied in peafowl, and sometimes it's not, like it was for vitiligo in peafowl. The problem comes when you ASSUME a mutation is the first, and treat it like the first when it's really the second. This has caused FAR reaching consequences in the peafowl community, and I'm sure in others, where now the autoimmune disease that first bronze had has been passed into genpop by folks who thought they were breeding a harmless new variation of pied. Hybrid animals are often sterile (not in peafowl though, hybrid cristatus-muticus birds are fertile) because of a mismatch in chromosome pairing numbers, and often that's harmless. So, in some cases sterility is not an issue because it's the expected result or is otherwise harmless... but in the case of peafowl, it's NOT an expected result and we don't know if it's caused by something harmless or not.

Some species, like mice and horses and cattle and dogs, genetic testing and DNA mapping done with millions of dollars has proven that while some stuff isn't purely aesthetic, it also doesn't cause harm to the animal in a way that affects quality of life or that can be adapted for in captive care. For example, in chickens, the frizzle gene causes curled feathers in single copy and an absence of feathers in double copy. This gene is considered ethical to produce IF the breeding is done responsibly by putting a single copy bird over a zero copy bird, which produces smooth coats and frizzle coats, but it is unethical to produce double frizzles (called "frazzles") because frazzles cannot thermoregulate, can easily sunburn, and easily suffer skin injury during normal chicken activity.

For peafowl, we have NO genetic testing. We do not have the genome mapped. As far as I know there's a research group working on it (mostly for green peafowl though, in conservation efforts), but that's not remotely finished or available to the public to test anything. We don't know where any of the morph mutations sit, or what is causing them or if they do anything beyond just change the color. Sometimes color mutations are the result of malfunctions in enzymes. For charcoal specifically, we don't know what the mutation does, besides what we can observe on the outside- the birds have half or less the lifespan of normal birds, poor feather quality, and the hens are sterile. Is the sterility harmless like it is in some hybrid animals, or is it actually a major organ failing? Is it the only major organ that fails due to this mutation, or is it just the first sign of their shortened lives? Is it some deficiency in something the birds need to be healthy? Does it hurt the bird? We don't know, but we do know the mutation and the problems (multiple, please do NOT forget that this is one OF MORE THAN ONE problems) can't be separated, and so until we do know why and whether it's harmless or not, the ONLY ethical response to seeing a problem in a major organ's function linked inextricably to a mutation in color is to not propagate that mutation. If someone wanted to fork over the millions it takes to sequence and map genomes and then determine exactly what is going on with peafowl, that would be nice and good, but I don't see that happening. When I win the lottery big, I'll be doing it, but til then we can only follow normal breeding guidelines

Also, to put this into perspective... peafowl mature sexually around 3 years old. They are chicks until the turn of the new year following their hatch. They are yearlings that year, and immature 2yo next year. They aren't actually considered fully grown until 6 years old, and should live another 14+ years. Charcoal birds die a 1-3 years after full maturity. Is it a coincidence that they fail to thrive shortly after full sexual maturity, or is it linked? Again, we don't know. We don't know if the sterility is fine or if it's just a symptom of something worse.

Even without the sterility, though, charcoal has enough issues it would be unethical. If it was JUST sterility, with no other deleterious effects, then maybe it would be different. But it's not.

[greylittlebird]

I do find Hogwarts Legacy’s ham-fisted moralizing of Sebastian’s storyline hypocritical and superficial. We’re supposed to see Sebastian’s determination to heal Anne as obsessive and dark but see Natty’s and Poppy’s equally emotionally-charged and dangerous missions as good and reasonable even when they have bad consequences. Both of them can succeed, only Sebastian’s mission is forced to be unachievable (despite obvious logical solutions the game just ignores) because the story wants to shove down our throats that Sebastian is wrong on very flimsy ground of “dark magic bad”. It never shows us WHY what he’s doing is bad other than superficially “it sounds and looks bad”.

Why is some kids with zero experience trying to stop organized criminals at real, tangible risk to self and others not considered “taking away darkness you shouldn’t” but trying to cure your sister’s terminal illness by understanding the source of it at the very vague possible risk that may or may not exist is? Why are we supposed to ignore Natty’s mom’s concerns for her safety (which end up being proven far more than Sebastian’s supposed danger) but listen to Ominis remind us every 5 seconds that “dark magic is bad” when he has no actual knowledge other than his family are sociopaths who torture people for fun (which would be evil no matter what they used). Sometimes you do need to accept things as they are but sometimes you have to take risks and sometimes a price is worth the reward. Doing something and not doing anything both have risks and rewards - and since the game never fucking tells us what the actual price or risk is in Sebastian’s story how can we make that choice? We can’t. The game keeps us in the dark.

And, no, Sebastian killing Solomon doesn’t show he’s gone dark because Solomon undeniably tried to kill Sebastian and his other 15-year-old friend. That had nothing to do with dark magic and Solomon fucking deserved it. Solomon came in like a big stupid oaf and destroyed the only thing stopping the zombies from attacking and then attacks the kids instead of protecting them from the zombies! Solomon continuously sent immobilizing and fire spells at kids who are being swarmed by one of the most deadly enemies in the game (and he doesn’t stop no matter how close to death we are). If you were running from a pack of wolves trying to eat you and someone who saw the wolves kept throwing a net around you to trap you, would you say they’re trying to kill you? Yes, you would so don’t even try me with trying to say Solomon didn’t mean to kill them or Sebastian “started it” with one basic cast. Sebastian and MC both tried several times to reason with and even begged Solomon to stop literally trying to kill children and he didn’t so killing him was self-defense (and defense of us) and completely 100% deserved.

Neither Anne nor Ominis witnessed Solomon relentlessly attack Sebastian and MC, if they did or if MC had a dialogue option to explain that I honestly think they’d have a different perspective. But the game can’t let us view this story for ourselves, they’re so dedicated to restricting the player to one interpretation and treating us like we can’t think for ourselves. Afterwards, Sebastian says “he never protected us, not really” and he’s right from all evidence we see. Solomon ALWAYS put his zealous beliefs and need confirm his biases over their lives. He seems to outright hate Sebastian so I doubt that abusive behavior started only after Anne got sick. He literally never once says a single positive thing about or to Sebastian who is 15, lost both his parents and is now losing his twin. He never once says “Sebastian means well but -“ (although he says this about MC who he just fucking met but not his nephew) or “We’re all suffering but -“. There’s no hint of compassion or affection, he is completely cold. Solomon is a despicable human being, even if he were 100% correct about Anne he would still be a vile piece of shit and a complete failure as a guardian to Anne and Sebastian. But likely he’s not right and he constantly puts his irrational, absolutist beliefs over Anne and Sebastian’s lives. They were never and would never be safe with this angry, selfish man.

When Anne was almost murdered by a loyalist, first of all, it’s worth noting that Sebastian only had to save Anne because Solomon failed to. He was the adult responsible for Anne and knows she is vulnerable but clearly wasn’t paying enough attention to her. He was more focused on telling us to not fight back (which is fucking stupid) than protecting Anne. Yes, there was a lot going on but an ex-auror should be able to multi-task and prioritize in a battle. And when Sebastian did save Anne, Solomon could’ve had a reasonable, moderate reaction where he was disturbed by the dark magic but was at all grateful or at least relieved that Anne was alive. He didn’t care at all about Anne’s life that was just almost ended, Sebastian was the ONLY threat he saw. Even if he reacted worse at first, he could calm down later. But, no, Solomon is a zealot who cannot be reasoned with like a normal human being. No reason or logic gets through to him, he just demonizes MC if we try. Solomon’s reaction in the moment and after is utterly deranged and indefensible. He couldn’t care less whether or not Anne was murdered, he ONLY cares about the spell choice (a choice that made sense because Unforgivables are the only thing guaranteed to break through any shield the goblin may have put up and it was a split second choice). Solomon clearly would’ve been happier to see Anne die rather than an unforgivable be used on a coward who was about to murder a defenseless young girl.

And of course throughout the entire story, Solomon is willfully letting Anne die a slow, painful death constantly gaslighting her that there is no way to help after trying only the most basic options available. And, no, I don’t buy that Anne just “knows” intuitively she can’t be cured. Anne reached for the shrivelfig and was visibly excited until Solomon crushed it before her eyes (even though it’s not even “dark magic”) and caused a flare-up, he won’t LET her have any hope at all. The kids aren’t allowed to think differently than him. Anything outside of his scope of understanding is bad. And Anne is too isolated and weak to fight him like Sebastian can. Him using some kind of dark magic once doesn’t make him an expert on it, Sebastian actually knows more after all his research. And it’s not even just a dark magic thing, like I said even the shrivelfig he wouldn’t allow. He may not want to give Anne false hope but that’s not all his choice to make for Anne and Sebastian. That should be the choice of the sick person and it’s very clearly from Solomon’s reaction to Sebastian that this isn’t a safe environment for Anne to decide for herself how she feels.

Honestly, I think we should’ve had a choice if we took the ancient magic to remove Anne’s pain and I don’t think what happened to Isidora’s father would happen. The issue there was Isidora took away her father’s grief, the only way to take away grief would be to take away love. Grief is deeply personal. That’s why he became a husk. But Anne’s pain is the opposite of that, it’s a curse forced on her from an outside source. It’s like a foreign virus that can be removed. Maybe that wouldn’t be how it would work but we don’t know because the Keepers (who I could write a whole other essay about, fuck the Keepers) and everyone was unwilling to learn, they got scared after one bad effect happened when one person used this magic one way. All magic can be used for good or bad but apparently we should just avoid things we don’t understand and never try to learn or grow or help people? We’re supposed to just bury our problems in a big hole in the ground and never deal with it (cause that worked so well before this games whole plot didn’t it…)? What an immature and stupid moral. Anyways, Sebastian did nothing wrong.

[thegreymoon]

My Country: The New Age

I really tried to like the female characters on this show but they have been so annoying so far.

The only point of Yeon seems to be having the main guys angst over her and to force the plot in what would otherwise be a very unnatural direction. And don't even get me started on Hui-jae.

Anyway, I can't wait for her to die so that Hwi can finally be free to kill them all. Will not shed a single tear for her.

***

Actually, I will get on started on Hui-jae.

I am almost halfway through this show and she has done nothing but annoy me. I am so done with her throwing her unearned weight around and facing absolutely no consequences. She is so poorly written, she's the epitome of a shallow Mary Sue, her backstory is the most cliched thing ever. She keeps powering up for no reason whatsoever and she is supposed to be so intelligent yet all she does is cause stupid trouble. She lives in a kisaeng house with all the privileges that come with that without being a kisaeng herself because god forbid that the special snowflake has to actually service clients for her power climb.

She starts out as this super spunky rebel doing the most stupid shit imaginable and it is Hwi and Seon-Ho suffer the consequences because she is insulated by her plot armor simply by the virtue of being a girl. She regularly yells at the Ihwaru madam and keeps getting away with it. She insults an actual prince with no negative consequences, she regularly threatens powerful people and it is always others who face the backlash and end up having to clean up her shit.

Also, this actress is so wooden, she comes on screen and does absolutely nothing and her romance with Hwi is so unearned. She loves him why, exactly? Because his father saved her life? It's like the writers didn't know how to write an epic love story and opted for this cheap shortcut instead.

Anyway, there are still 8 episodes of this drama left and I'd love to be proven wrong, but as of now, my opinion is that she could have been completely cut from this drama and nothing of value would have been lost.

***

Yes, baby villain!

Do your worst!

***

Rolling my eyes so hard at this entire sequence.

Where is Bang-won? Bang-won, save me from this lazy writing and even lazier acting!

***

He and Bang-won are what is making this drama so good.

***

Be careful what you wish for!

And speaking of female characters, I do love her, even though her screen time is minuscule, and the Ihwaru madam, even if her motivations make no sense.

***

BELOVEDDDDD 🤗

So happy to have him back! Hui-jae and her drama have been putting me to sleep.

***

Stupid people, baby!

Go full villain on them, I'm rooting for you!

***

BANG-WON 😍💖💕💥💕💖

I do fully realize that here I am, rooting for the murder of a child, but you must understand the extenuating circumstances.

Bang-won is hot.

***

Oh, lady, the way you just signed your death sentence.

***

Oh, shut up.

The way she is dragging this drama down is just 😫😫

***

And of course she is chosen as the successor of Ihwaru. LOL. LMAO, even.

***

My clever baby 🖤

The way he is carrying this show like there is nobody else in it!!

***

When the show's villain has an actor that is leagues and leagues better than the hero and you have no choice but to root for him 😌

He's so charismatic and well-written, I love him to bits!

***

NOOOOO, DON'T SHOOT BANG-WON!

Now, I know that he won't actually die because his Wikipedia page says that he lives to kill his brothers and become king, so I'm not worried, but I'm so over Hwi 🙄

[dr-abitat-blog]

Whumpay Day 18: Falling Out

T/W: Falling out, references of experimentation, lab-setting, betrayal

“Viktor?”

“Oh, there you are. I thought you’d already started making preparations without me.”

My colleague peers over his shoulder as he addresses me, as distracted as always. “Did you need something?” “Actually yes,” I answer standing a little straighter, “I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you.”

“What about?” he asks, still occupied with rifling through the project files in his hands, “Did something happen with one of the subjects?”

“No…not yet anyway.”

That succeeds in getting his attention.

“...I know how hard it is when things go wrong,” he speaks solemnly, “but ultimately, our work will be worth it. We are working towards something revolutionary, something that could save so many lives for the greater good – and the E572 Trials will eventually—”

“We have to stop.”

Viktor’s eyes grow wide behind his glasses. His entire posture stiffens. The hope in his eyes quickly evaporates, replaced by initial disbelief. Then…

“...what are you talking about, Fern?”

His voice sounds…cold. Colder than I’ve ever heard it. Tension collects in my own muscles, but I stand my ground, squaring myself.

“...the trials,” I reply as calmly as I can, “They have to stop. What we’re doing to those subjects – to those children – there’s no excuse for it, Viktor. None at all.”

I stare straight back at him. I can feel my eyes blazing from behind my glasses. “You say it’s for the greater good, but at what cost? Their lives? Their sanity? Their chance to actually be kids?”

“...with great reward comes great sacrifice.”

His fingers clench tightly as his voice seemingly drops an octave. “You know that better than anyone. You accepted that when you agreed to lead this project with me—”

“That was before it got to this stage. I thought we were doing the right thing, but now…all I see is their suffering. I see the terror in their eyes. I hear them crying from the nightmares—”

“And that is exactly why we do not allow ourselves to get attached—”

“They’re children, Viktor!”

His eyes narrow as I raise my voice at me. Now I glare at him, shaking my head so hard that my brunette braid whips against my shoulder. “What if it was your boy who was on the table? Could you really stand back and act like it was nothing?”

“...part of the reason we are doing this is for him.”

Viktor glares back at me, gritting his teeth tightly. “This could be his only hope. As a parent, I must do everything – everything – to give my child a chance. I promised him I would and I promised her I would—”

“She wouldn’t want this—”

“Enough!”

The barked command quickly silences me. Anger begins to fill his face. “You have no right to say what she would want! I knew her better than anyone and she would understand—”

“Understand that we are torturing innocent children in the name of a so-called greater good?”

Viktor doesn’t respond. I take that as my cue to continue. “Viktor, it’s not too late. You’re a good friend and I respect you – but I can’t keep on doing this. You don’t have to either. We can find another way to help—”

“This is the only way,” he argues, “I am not giving up on everything we’ve worked for and A.5.H is the best proven way to—”

“He's not just a three figure code, Viktor - he's a boy!"

My friend says nothing.

“...like I said. The consequences of getting too attached.”

I ball my fists in my pockets. My hand tightens around the tiny remote in my coat pocket as he stares at me with…something akin to betrayal. “I really thought you were different, Fern – that we were in this together—”

“We are! I want to help you, Viktor. Believe me, I do! All I'm asking is that you at least think about—”

“Nothing will ever persuade me to terminate these trials. No matter what it takes, or what I have to sacrifice, it will be worth it!”

Finally, he is exposing his true colours. Slowly, the hope and respect between us trickles away. The former friendship we had...begins to fall apart.

“...and I thought you might actually listen to me, Viktor. …I guess we’ve both changed then.”

“Indeed we have – and if you’ve become too weak to see our work through, then I strongly suggest you relocate yourself to a different project, Dr Reed.”

That last part is what finally does it. It’s what forms that final rift, the one that keeps us on opposite sides. There’s no changing his mind. Not now, not ever.

“...believe me, Viktor. I intend to.”

I turn on my heel and quickly leave the room before he can say another word. Then, without any hesitation, I press down on the remote in my pocket. The signal carries through to the outside – the signal that it’s time to put an end to this madness – and I will put an end to it.

With or without him.

[notstilinski]

She Started It Starters !

Taken from the 2023 novel by Sian Gilbert, She Started It! Some of these have already been edited. You can change them however you see fit! Potential trigger warnings include violence/murder, substance abuse, self-harm, etc.

“I’m not going to turn down a free first-class flight and stay on a private island.” 

“The problem with you, (Name), is you’ve always felt like the past doesn’t matter because it’s over. You don’t think about how actions always have consequences. You’re too focused on yourself and not focused enough on other people.”

“I don’t think we should go. This seems a bit suspicious to me.”

“Who’s carrying anything around? I’m not.”

“Maybe they actually earned their way there without connections.”

“Desperate enough to be loved by anyone. You always were greedy.”

“I don’t think I like (Name).”

“Haven’t the past two years proven just what I’m doing out of the goodness of my heart?”

“Never mind. I was just being a bitch.”

“I know you were joking, but don’t do anything like that again.”

“You’d say if there was anything wrong, wouldn’t you?”

“This isn’t how you start a conversation. It’s how you start a war.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m used to being the butt of a joke anyway, so if they try anything I’ll recognize it in a second.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll kill them at school, just you wait.”

“What part of ‘leave me alone’ don’t you understand?”

“They’re dead. I’m going to kill them.”

“Not if I kill them first. To sending that bitch to hell!”

“Could we do it? Would anyone even care if they… never came home?”

“We need to look for them. Search the island. Just in case they’re hurt somewhere.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Why would someone come and just hurt (Name).”

“Hey, you only need to look around this room to see how talented you are.”

“If someone confesses to murdering (Name), maybe we can help you cover it up.”

“Ah, yes, they just picked themselves up after all that blood pouring out of her and took themselves on a nice little walk.”

“You sneak into my room and you’re the one asking me questions?”

“Christ, (Name). You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

“You don’t have to like someone to care about their murder!”

“We just have to make it until morning. (Name) is coming first thing. We just have to survive the night.”

“I tried to! None of you would listen. None of you wanted to talk about the past. You all pretended like nothing ever happened.”

“Rather you than me. Close the door behind you.”

“I’m sorry. I was a complete idiot, like (Name) says. I’m selfish. I only think about me. And I guess I’ve always been jealous of you.”

“I deserve them. Look at what we did to (Name). I deserve everything they’ve ever done to me.”

“We all kept things from each other. And I know better than most that we can all do terrible things.”

“I’m so done with this. (Name) deserved to die anyway.”

“Sorry, that was mean of me. I don’t mean to be such a bitch all the time.”

“We can’t have (Name) suffering. Not the leader of our gang.”

“If that were the case, why are you still alive?”

“You can’t be here. You’re dead.”

“Thinking about stabbing me in the back, (Name)? Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I think the butcher thought I was some kind of cultist. He didn’t ask too many questions.”

“Something can be edgy and controversial and still within the rules, you know.”

“Did you think that was going to be a fresh start for you, is that it? A please where no one would know about poor little (Name)?”

“Things will get better. I believe you when you say it wasn’t you.”

“So you’re the one who gets all the attention at the moment and I’m still doing favors for you?”

“I forced myself to watch the entire thing. What struck me most was the sheer joy you all got out of it.”

“(Name) killed themselves the day after  they told them they deserved to die.”

“Even right now, after everything, you’re still thinking about how you’re going to kill me before I can kill you. Isn’t that right?”

[theviceadmiralswife]

Kizarus death... fan theory /speculation

Salute recruits and soldiers to this massive Monday ⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️

Here's a topic I mentioned in my recent post briefly but I think it deserves more of explanation. Feel free to disagree for the sake of discussion. And keep in mind this a fan theory and therefore speculation until proven wrong or right.

The vice admirals wife over and out.

Ooooh god... where do I start with this one....I hate this theory and I don't want to piss off all the "Lino" lovers...I like Kizaru as a matter of fact he's godfather to mine and Dobermans kids.

But I think with the way Kizaru acted during the Egghead a disturbing and broken pattern emerged. A pattern of behavioural inconsistencies and emotional stress.

From confident smug....

...to utter break down..

Now just to be clear Dr Vegapunk isn't an innocent victim in this either and I hate the OP fandom taking a one sided approach to this. Vegapunk knew what he was doing and was aware of the consequences. A friendship is nourished on both sides and while Kizaru assassinated Vegapunk it was Vegapunk who meddled with the world government in the first place, thinking he can outsmart them utterly, without a proper back up plan.

Okay im getting sidelined here it's an intense topic and the arc was a disaster. As far as I'm concerned what Oda did to Kizaru is emotional r***. Plain and simple.

Sue me if you don't like it. But it is what happened. Clearly everyone of the Marines will be at the very least shaken up if not downright suffer Ptsd after these events.

I observe severe depression in Kizaru as we have seen with very untypical outburst of his at Sakazuki.

And show of raw emotions.

His own statement that he needs to rest because he's injured without any obvious physical injuries.

Again this I kinda blame on Vegapunk if he truly is Kizarus best friend he would have known that Kizarus mentality is that he thinks of himself as a mere cog in the machine. Something that needs to be considered.

Now on the flip side Saint Saturn is to blame too for the lack foresight here he should have substituted Kizaru for Aramaki, or brought the green admiral as second escort, let's face Aramaki that Celestial fanboy would have had less issues killing Vegapunk or bonney.

The more I read th manga the more I see a disturbing trend by Oda himself. The hate he seemingly has for the Marines. Turning some into joke characters, representing them as a bunch of hobos, rather proper military, character assassination and killing marines off which unlike maybe Sakazuki and Onigumo aren't military extremists. The most noticeable vice admiral T-bone, who was maybe not the most popular but hell he sure was one the honest and nicest marines.

Okay makes a mockery out of the Marines!!

So I think it's likely that Oda to make Kizaru commit suicide ... suicide and PTSD in veteran marines he hasn't exploited yet and the shock factor of this would definitely spike the numbers of readers and people's interest in season 2 of One-piece on Netflix. Oda using a main character death to push for more interest... possible. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Kizaru gets killed of via unaliving himself before the new season starts.

>>>>>(The Kardashians have done something similar, I think it was Khloe Kardashian and her boyfriend that broke up before a season aired but people had to watch the series to find out) <<<<<

So applying a similar strategy isn't that far off.

Kizaru will NOT join the strawhats and there won't be a happy end for the light of the Marines.

Please don't hate me I like Kizaru and this is just a fan theory. But I can't shake this dreadful final feeling. Please anime gods let me be wrong !!!

Found this picture on Reddit, credit to whoever you are you lovely artist spot on.

(I think cam be found reddit via user admiral agenda)

[lovecanbesostrange]

X-Men '97 keeps being amazing. Now one more episode to nail it all. Not gonna put everything in tags, so let me ramble on about Tolerance is Extinction Part 2:

What I love most already is that every decision makes absolute sense from a character's pov. Which kinda is the most important thing. Tensions are running high, emotions are cranked up to 11 and some words hit like very painful slaps. But everything makes sense. And this isn't about one character being totally right and the other being totally wrong (except Bastion of course, the ultimate villain and all).

Oh yeah, starting with him. When he cries in the opening you want to spit on him. He is responsible for all the suffering the Prime Sentinels - including his mother - are going through. But wow, when he says that everything is silent, because the blackout has killed all electricity and in that moment Bastion knows a new kind of peace? Great. Jumping ahead here, gonna be honest. If my great plan to save the world would hinge on putting some tech on my very powerful oponent, I would put the teleporter on that team. I'm not saying this lightly. I love Second Coming very much and the panels of Nightcrawler's death in X-Force #26 still haunt me. So I don't want my precious Elf anywhere near Bastion, but... I mean... he has the best chance to use the element of surprise, while Jean would deal with a powerful distraction. Which didn't happen because of Sinister, but from a planning stage Kurt was more needed there. He didn't even go up against Rogue in space to hammer on the connection there.

Now, I'm glad to see that Magneto's worldwide EMP does have consequences. This is however the second thing I'm a tiny bit miffed about. Thousands upon thousands people are probably dead because of this total blackout. Just think about every ICU in any hospital anywhere just for starters. And the truth is, Magneto did kill mutants with that move as well. He sure saved some by shutting down the Sentinels, yes, but also mutants are definitely among the... collateral damage. And this is where "Magneto is right" is very important to me. I think a lot of people like to run with that slogan, but don't see that what Magneto is right about is his fear. Not his methods. Charles is too idealistic, believing in the very best of humankind to win. He is too naive. Magneto is proven right over and over. And that is a sad thing, nothing empowering about it.

What I like is how Erik describes his feelings, how he focuses on Leech. That little mutant boy clinging to him in his final moments. Who believed that Erik could save him... Magneto's anger makes sense. Ultimately his actions fall under cool-motif-still-murder, but oh the motif is heartbreaking (I will not steer into real world territory and the topic of radicalization).

So Rogue is my fav. She is my absolute favorite character in any superhero comic I have ever read. She is one of my top tier alltime favorite characters in anything ever. I have been with her through a lot with so many writers and so much bs... AND I ENJOYED EVERY SECOND OF HER THIS EPISODE!!! Starting with the costume, which is just asdksdnfälsdmrfäüwe4foip34jtfpowmf I LIVE for her green hoodie outfits, from her villain era to later variations. To step away from THE 90s costume (which was put back in the comics, because it is her most iconic look), uhuhuhuhuhuhuhu I knew something was up. Again I do believe that ultimately Magneto is doing far more harm than good, but I understand why Rogue went with him. The one unfair thing was that Kurt was actually there with her on Genosha. He even saved Magneto and Rogue from a blast. But she kinda ignored him and adressed everybody else. But the one thing she's been living with is that yes, she chose Magneto when offered to be with him on Genosha as his chosen Queen. BUT romantically after that dance and kiss, her heart chose Remy. And poor Gambit died without even knowing. I am very happy with how they retconned the whole prior Rogue and Magneto encounter into it all. His dreams of a mutant island nation and Rogue wanting to see such a place. For a few minutes they had all of that on Genosha. It would have meant to leave the X-Men. Which would have been interesting. To leave behind her spot on the superhero team, but Kurt was part of Genosha, also Madelyne. I like the way they greeted each other in Ep 5. Rogue was ready to change the whole direction of her life once again -- even though her heart definitely belonged to Gambit. And then there was death everywhere.

I like that Rogue and Cyclops both question the Professor, but come to different conclusions on how to deal with it. I have to say it, while it was fun when the whole stick of Professor Xavier training a few mutant teens was examined more and the dark underbelly of what he was doing was revealed, it was refreshing. But a part of me is soooooooooo over all the shady-Charles-stuff over the years (ugh, Krakoa... DUDE). The character was crushed under the weight of his pursuit of peace. I like when there is some nuance and a spotlight on how he is the embodiment of "meaning well". One person alone can't fix everything. Humans (mutants) make mistakes. All this to say I liked the talk Charles and Scott had. That Charles believed so much that his old friend Erik could be persuaded to try (he was right, it did take a whole genocide to push him over the edge, that's something) and that this sorta betrayal would push a door open for Scott and Jean to walk away. To have a life. He acknowledges that he put so much burden on them... but he miscalculated. Scott can't walk away from responsibilities. He couldn't sit back and raise a son when the world was still on fire (even if nothing bad had happened with Nathan). It's too late. Charles already raised him to care.

When Roberto stepped forward to go with Magneto I wasn't surprised. He hid his powers for so long, always in fear of what his parents might say - and they fucking let the Sentinels take him. Wow. Of course he feels betrayed and this peaceful talk from the X-Men... it's hard to not choose violence. But it was even better that when the time to fight came, it was clear he never wanted to hurt Jubilee. Or really any of the others. Not when he knows people. And oh, poor Jubilee, burned up his card (Claremont Avenue, I saw that XD ), because of course from her perspictive he's just being dumb.

I have a question about that Muir Island base - do the mannequins for Cyclops and Wolverine have wigs under those masks? Who sat down and made those for Storm, Jean and Rogue?? Also kinda funny to see those costumes, when... well Rogue was already wearing a version of that. (AND SHE WORE GAMBIT'S COAT THAT SHE LEFT BEHIND OMG THE FEELINGS I HAVE...)

Anyway, Storm and Jean - the mutant wives!!!!! Aaaaahhhh, even more feels. Storm was... not treated well this season. I mean the depowering story is great, but she was missing from so much stuff, that was terrible. But when she is on screen, she is her best version, love it. And I also loved how angry she was when the tech to take away a mutant's power was mentioned. So personal. This is the true meaning of "wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy". A Goddess! With this Storm it's even possible to portray someone who is Lawful Good to a fault.

And then they casually pull Fatal Attractions out of the hat. Well, parallels work before that. Gambit's death compared to Illyana's in the comics, so Rogue takes Colossus' place. And now Wolverine had the displeasure of the adamantium being ripped from his skeleton. Fuck. They used so many storylines this season (for the record, I am waiting for Apocalypse and am also in the camp of people who believe he might bring Gambit back as Death).

So many things happened. Morph as Hulk was a treat. That they are able to copy physical traits, thus powers, makes them S-tier. And yet, I would have put Kurt in that spot. That Morph thought disguising themself as Sinister would get them close was sorta funny. "that cowardly weasel would never"

Then there was Jean vs Sinister and Cable. AND HOW SHE TALKED TO CYCLOPS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh The emotional pummeling left and right...

But really it's great that everybody has a reason for what they are saying and doing. Including Wolverine, being the best at what he does - a SNIKT in the back when the fight is too dire. Although killing Magneto is a problem if you want to save earth (yes, hallo, Polaris, we could need your help).

[shadowmaat]

Neuralemon

I am filled with dread. The first human test subject has been implanted with Melon Husk's brain chip. They have survived, inasmuch as detecting a "neuron spike" implies some level of aliveness. I sincerely wish them all the best, whether that's a full recovery or a painless death.

I understand the importance of medically-implanted devices to help improve someone's life (pacemakers, bionic eyes, neuromodulation devices for epilepsy, etc). I agree that they're important. However, I've also heard stories of, for example, companies going out of business and leaving the owners of those implants without any chance of software upgrades, tech support, or support of any kind. If someone's implant glitches or stops working, there's little anyone can do to help. There are so many ways that things could go wrong, even if a company has ethical intentions.

When a company only cares about maximizing profit and will cut as many corners as they can, well. It gets grimmer. And when the CEO of that company has proven over and over again he has no idea what he's doing (other than making money) and won't listen to the smart people he hires to run his businesses for him? A brain chip exploding or burning the flesh around it is not outside the realm of possibilities. I also wouldn't be surprised if it gets turned into some kind of subscription service: if you want your chip to continue working, you'll pay up or suffer the consequences. What happens if there are connectivity issues, as happens frequently with his cars? What kind of support network will users have, especially once the trials are over? And if the company folds, what then? Do people have until whenever the chip fizzles out to enjoy the benefits of its use and then they revert back to whatever state they were in before? Does he cut them off immediately? Will he have his people go in to remove the chips so no one can "steal" proprietary data? That's IF the chips even do what they're supposed to, which is a pretty huge IF.

I'm appalled that the FDA gave the go-ahead for this, but not overly surprised. Their credibility has been on a steady decline for a while, now. E-lon's was never high to start and just keeps digging itself deeper into the sewage.

May the gods help the recipients of these chips, because E-lon sure won't.