#I'll do more concrete designs later

[aceinacloset]

A bunch of clowns.

[jewishvitya]

hi riki! this is a bizarre question ngl, but im wondering if you could please tell me about why you are anti-Zionist? Since i have FRESHLY (last month!! Woohoo!!) become bat mitzvah, and I’m not going to beit Sefer every week now, I’m starting to realize that what I was told about Israel and zionism miiiight be innacurate. Please feel free not to, but I would personally feel more comfortable hearing about Antizionism from somebody who is for sure not hiding any antisemitic biases. Thanks and I hope it’s not a bother!

Mazal tov!

I was debating if I should reply to this and how. You're only one year older than my son and I never considered talking about this with a kid other than my own children. But if you're online reading and looking up information about this, I'll just answer the way I would for anyone. Like I said, I don't mind explaining. But I don't have the energy to collect sources for you. I'll do that later if you'd like. For now it'll be a bit of a rant.

Basically, if you ask different people what zionism is, you'll get different answers. Some people say that zionism is just the acknowledgement of our connection to this land. That's not what I'm going against. I'm not denying that this is our ancestral homeland. I've never known a different home, I grew up near Hebron. Our history means everything to me. So maybe you could create some definition of zionism that I wouldn't be against. But then I'll be against the use of the word because in practice, politically, the movement has been colonialist. And that reality is more important to me. So when I say I'm antizionist, I'm not talking about whatever pretty idea someone might have, I'm talking about things that to me are very concrete.

Zionism uses whatever political terminology is useful to it at the time. Currently, it tries to paint itself as a sort of landback movement, placing us as the indigenous population of this land. This is a distraction. If you mean "indigenous" as "this is where we originated" - both us and Palestinians are indigenous, which makes this term pointless to this situation. If you mean "indigenous" as "a local population facing colonization" - they're indigenous and we're the colonizers. That's the more politically useful distinction.

And the thing is, zionists knew they were colonizers. Ben Gurion was welcomed by the local population and expressed hope that they're nomadic and could be persuaded to leave. Ze'ev Jabotinsky argued that no land has been colonized with the consent of its natives, so we should just take what we want like other occupying forces did. They knew what they were doing. At the time, there wasn't the broad political pushback against colonialism that you see today, so they didn't really hide it. They saw themselves as the colonizing force and the Palestinians as the natives and this distinction had them placing themselves above the Palestinians.

When I was in school, I was made to believe that Palestine was never truly a country and the population here was never a cohesive nation. You might see questions like "Who were the Palestinian prime ministers and presidents? What was the Palestinian coin? What Palestinian wars were there before the creation of Israel?"

These questions tell you nothing other than the fact that Palestine has been under foreign occupation for a very long time. They try to lead you to believe that Palestine and the Palestinian identity are fictional constructs designed to deny us our place in this land.

But Palestinians have their own dialect of Arabic. They have their own varieties of Middle Eastern foods. They have their own clothing, their own embroidery patterns, their own dances. They have a very rich culture that wasn't just made up from nothing within the last century. I still have to battle against cognitive dissonance every time I find something of the sort, because Palestinian culture goes against everything I was taught.

The truth is, the British had no right to occupy Palestine, and they had no right to offer it to us. If we pretend there was no population that was wronged when we took Israel, we can be "the good guys" with Palestinians being a sinister plot to ruin us. This turns normal families, normal people, into a conspiracy made to hurt us. We're not fighting a military force - every Palestinian person is a threat to our legitimacy. Israelis don't even really use the term "Palestinians" - they're just Arabs, their individual identity is stripped from them. We pretend that they belong to other countries around us.

Israeli propaganda will tell you that we only ever act in self defense. It's in the name of our military, it's called a defense force. Israel boasts that it has the only ethical military in the world. The only defensive one. But like I said, we define threats very broadly. And we whitewash a lot of history. I was taught in school all our fighting was defensive - and then I spoke to an elderly man and he said "of course we killed whole villages, it was war, that's what you do." Only as an adult I found out about things like the Sabra and Shatila massacre and our involvement in it.

For the existence of Israel as an ethnostate, every Palestinian is a threat. A lot of people are all in favor of Israel, but against the government actions of ethnic cleansing. The truth is, the ethnostate is not sustainable without the ethnic cleansing. You can't accept one and expect it not to lead to the other. An ethnostate is never a justified goal, and that's always been the goal of zionism as a practical movement.

And I know why this exists. We've had two millennia of persecution. Antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of bigotry. And we just experienced an attempt to industrially exterminate us, we lost millions, including from my own family. We want shelter and safety and the ability to defend ourselves. I just can't see that as justification for what we did and continue to do.

You can look up our human rights abuses, but personally, there were moments that hit me. When I saw a whole warehouse of mail intended to reach Gaza, mail that's been kept from them for years, including items like wheelchairs, in such bad conditions that some envelopes got moldy. I still think of the people who spent all that money to get a wheelchair and were prevented mobility because we decided to hold their mail.

I watched the biggest apartment building in Gaza collapse under our bombs and I cried thinking about the people inside, and about the potential survivors and everything they lost.

I watched our people beat up the pallbearers at the funeral of Shireen Abu-Akleh, a Palestinian reporter. They almost dropped the casket from all those beatings. They were no threat. They just carried her. There was no reason to hurt them.

On the news, after Shireen Abu-Akleh died, the description of the Palestinian response to her death was that they're "חוגגים על המוות." The literal translation is that they're celebrating over the death, but that's not what it means. The meaning is that they're exaggerating their pain and their grief. They're acting, pretending, milking the injustice of it for show. And that's a common Israeli narrative, that Palestinians make a big deal out of things and pretend to suffer more just to make us look bad. We've dehumanized them to the point where we don't believe their grief.

And before all of this, growing up, I saw what the "us vs them" mentality caused in children. I grew up in Kiryat Arba and the population there is very strongly zionist. It's a settlement. It's largely Dati Leumi (national religious? I'm not sure how to translate, dati means religious and leumi means national). Over there I saw children as young as six cheerfully talk about joining the military and killing Arabs. I saw a kid throwing chocolate past the electric fence separating us from them, and laughing when a small Palestinian child went looking for that chocolate, calling her a pig. I saw my high school classmates questioning if they should help the family of a six-months-old baby, first demanding to know if the sick infant is Arab.

The Israeli left has a bit of a slogan. הכיבוש משחית. The occupation corrupts. It means that being an oppressive force changes what we are. It ruins us. And I truly believe that. It taints so much about us and our culture, about our compassion and our ability to have solidarity with other humans. Many principles that kept us safe in diaspora are used now to harm gentiles living under our control, and Palestinians suffer most of all.

So these are the reasons I'm antizionist. I hate what we do to Palestinians. I hate what it does to us. And more fundamentally, I'm against colonialism.

[morellywrong]

Missing Out

Ethan Landry x afab reader (fem pronouns/nouns)

Warnings: stalking, obsession, Ethan's a pretty lil psycho, descriptions of murdering and torture, Ethan is actually fucked bro, reader is wearing a dress, Ethan is kinda neuro-divergent- coded (real), both Ethan and reader will be bi-coded because I said so, also some gross lil things in there for fun :)

Part 1 (?)

"Hey, y/n!" Ethan beams as he catches up to you, on your way to your morning class.

"Oh, hey Ethan...you sure are chipper this morning." You chuckle softly as he adjusts his bag strap on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't know, I guess I slept pretty good- I had a productive evening." He beams softly, walking alongside you, matching his usually long strides to better fit yours.

"Oh yeah, get all your work done?"

Flashes of the previous evening washed over Ethan's mind, his grin only growing.

"Please! Please, I didn't do anything!!!" The boy sobs, his eye swollen, lips bleeding and a deep gash on the side of his neck hes desperately trying to keep pressure on with his broken hand.

"...that's where you're wrong...you got in the way." Ethan hisses, his voice modulator clipped into the inside of his signature Ghostface mask, wiping the blood slowly from his knife.

"Please...please..." The boy begs helplessly, tears running down his cheeks, snot bubbling under his nose as he backs away weakly, only for his back to be met with the wall.

"Please, please...." Ethan mocks him, stepping closer, his heavy boots thumping against the concrete of the warehouse he'd dragged his latest victim to.

"No one will hear you scream...no one will remember you...not even her...youre nothing..." The boy yelled out in anguish, choked sobs becoming more and more liquidated-

Ethan snaps back to reality as he turns towards you again, still smiling brightly.

"Yeah, it was....good, I got everything finished sooner than I thought."

"Wow...maybe I should get you to do my coursework sometime." You chuckle softly, nudging his shoulder with your elbow. Heat spreads across his face as he lets out a breathless laugh, looking away.

"Y...yeah, well, maybe..." He mumbles, his dimples showing as he glances back to you.

"Oh, are you going to the frat party later tonight? Tara, Mindy and Anika invited me....Chad'll be there too..." You hum, offering the idea with a small grin.

Ethan's heart hammers in his chest, feeling that type of love sickness his Dad used to talk about with his mother.

Well. Before Wade had all his children assist in killing their mother. Ethan tried not to think about it too much.

"I...I'd love too, y/n..." He whispers, his pupils dilated so much one would assume he'd taken something to help him focus more on his studies.

Or watch the sky melt.

"Cool....uh, wanna meet at the party? Quinn offered to drive us girls there and back, since she'd got a date tonight..." You giggle slightly, even though you're glad there'll be a designated driver.

"Sure, uh, I've, uh, never really been to many parties, though. I get a little nervous in crowds." He lies, brows creased together, portraying that awkward, shy boy you know him as.

"Don't worry. You can stick with me the entire night....I don't drink much anyways..." You beam softly as you stop outside your class.

"I'll see you after Econ?" He nodded quickly, propping up on the balls of his feet briefly to try and contain his excitement.

"See you. Meet for lunch?"

"Defintiely. I heard there's pretzels today." You smirk softly as he lets out another breathless laugh.

"Yeah...." He murmurs in a slight daze as you walk into the lecture hall, giving him a small wave before leaving his sight.

He leans back against the wall, holding onto the straps of his backpack as his cheeks heat up even more, biting the inside of his cheek with an uncontrollable beam plastered on his pale face.

You had spent lunch with Ethan, sat on the grass outside one of the lecture halls, laughing together about how crappy most of the lecturers are, and exchanging mild stories about how boring your days were. But soon enough you had your last classes of the day to attend, afterwards he walked you to your dorm building.

He always insisted on walking you all the way to your dorm room, claiming it was safer.

"There's a psycho on the news, haven't you heard??" He beams playfully at you as you playfully push at his arm. He's been mentioning it ever since the first disappearances.

"Please, I'm not important enough of a target, let alone being noticed by some killer." You roll you eyes as he watches you take your keys out of your bag pocket.

Keys that he definitely hasn't got like 4 copies of each key on there. He's pretty sure one of them is just for a small indoor window, and another is to your old locker key that you still have on your keychain for some reason- even though he defintely has a copy of your current locker key.

It's the stupid little things he likes in life, after all. And something about you not caring to throw the old key out just makes him love you more.

"Nah, maybe the killer is secretly targeting you...maybe he's watching you sleep-" He grins playfully, watching you send him an unimpressed look.

"Alright, get out of here, you're not supposed to be in this building anyway...I think we'll be at the frat party at like 9, ask Chad, I'm sure Tara's told him all the details." You smirk whilst tapping the side of your nose playfuly. He taps his in return, grinning. It was no secret those two were grossly infatuated with each other.

"I'll see you later. Text me if you need anything." He responds like clockwork, a usual closing response he offers to you out of the kidness of his heart. And definitely not obsession.

"I will." You insist with a chuckle, before closing your door and leaving him beaming by himself crazily once more, rolling onto the balls of his feet once, twice then three times before he catches himself, correcting his body language quickly.

"You look so fucking good!" Tara beams, a shot or two already in her system, deciding to pregame before the party as you got ready with the other three party-goers.

She stood behind you, admiring your body as you stand in front of her bedroom mirror.

"I don't know...it's a bit revealing..." You mumble sheepishly as you glance at your reflection, at the new dress you had bought the last time you were out with the girls.

"Shut up, no one will care, if anything, it's a good thing, dummy." Mindy beams from the couch, Anika fixing the back collar of her shirt, both also a little tipsy.

"Yeah, girls and guys are gonna be all over you."

"Chad'll keep an eye on us though, he always does." Tara smiles gently as she helps adjust the straps on your shoulders, her fingers leaving a small tingling feeling against your bare skin.

"More like he keeps an eye on you." Quinn smirks from the doorway, eyeing your outfit up and down with almost hungry eyes.

"Nice dress, y/n...hey, you guys ready?" She holds up her car keys with a small shake, the metal jingling in her hand.

"Yes! Let's fucking go, girls!" Mindy exclaims, standing up and grabbing her girlfriends hand.

"Let's go!!" Anika grins brightly.

"Let's go, cmon!" Tara grabs your own hand in her's, practically dragging you behind her.

When you arrive the party, it's pretty much already at full force. Drunken jocks, flashy cheerleaders, theatre kids talking loudly in the corner, math wizz's awkwardly stood in their small gaggles. It's refreshing, in a way, to see the students enjoying themselves and taking a break from studying.

"It's fucking loud..." You mumble, glancing over at the giant speakers in the corner and the 'DJ' set up the frat house had set up for the party. Your ears strained as you winced, before gasping.

"I feel like i'm inside the fucking speaker!" Chad beams, his voice making you and Tara jump as he places a hand on your shoulder, the other on Tara's shoulder. His head appeared between you, but he was grinning at Tara.

You glance behind him, beaming softly as you spot Ethan stood there. He looks like he's already spacing out, disassociating from the crowd once he realises how loud and chaotic it was.

In reality, Ethan's zeroing in on a girl staring at you. She's one of the cheerleaders. Bitchy, blonde, ditzy, pretty stereotypical but there she is. She's whispering to her friends, gesturing towards you and smiling as they all giggle.

He's trying to figure out if she's making fun of you or if she's into you. Either way, he's going to paint someone's walls with her blood by the end of the night.

"Ethan?" He glances down at you, a smile breaking onto his face beyond his control.

"Hey! Sorry, uh..."

"I get it. I space out at parties a lot. It's jut so overstimulating sometimes." You reassure him, nudging him softly with your shoulder.

"Y....yeah, that's it! Sorry, I tend to space out pretty often..." He plays it off, before his eyes snap to your outfit- the tight dress you'd decided to wear, before he forces himself to meet your eyes, respectfully. He needed to have patience, he didn't want to creep you out or scare you away from him- at least not /yet/.

You didn't need to know about the cameras hidden in your dorm room.

"Hey, wanna grab a drink? I'll stay with you, don't worry." You offer, speaking over the music.

Ethan grinned a little more sternly than he had intended to as you playfully link your arm with his, his cheeks lighting up- he was grateful for the dark lighting of the frat party. The only real light was LED lights that blessed the room with a purple and red glow.

He glances back over the cheeleader, she's glaring at him, her knuckles tense as she grips her plastic paper cup so tight it starts to crinkle and strain. He just sent her a dark look, before walking with you to the kitchen of the frat house- where the alcohol is.

[ploppythespaceship]

Uglies - Movie Thoughts

On a whim, I decided to start re-reading the Uglies series a couple months ago -- so imagine my surprise when I found out it was getting a movie! Said movie is now out, and it was interesting to watch with the book being so fresh in my head.

Overall, it's... eh. It's not a complete train wreck, the way most critics seem to want you to think, but it is fairly bland and uninspired. It's a very watered down version of the book. It also has the misfortune of feeling like yet another a Hunger Games wannabe, despite the original book pre-dating that series by several years.

Spoilers for everything under the cut.

What I Liked

Based on reviews, I seem to be in the minority here, but I thought the cast was pretty good. People seem to hate Joey King as Tally, but I thought she was fine. Brianne Tju is easily the best in the cast, stealing the whole damn movie as Shay. Laverne Cox also gives an excellent performance as Cable, though I do think she should not have been given that role for other reasons (which I'll get into later).

I've also seen complaints that the characters aren't ugly enough. They talk about how ugly they are and point out their specific ugly features, when they don't actually appear that ugly. And I think everyone complaining about that is completely missing the point. The "Uglies" aren't actually ugly -- they're just normal people, who've been conditioned to think their imperfect features are hideous.

I was honestly unsure how the Pretties would be visualized -- in fact, I wondered if the book would just be fundamentally unadaptable because of it -- but they did a fairly good job. I think leaning on CGI and unnatural affectations was the right way to go. All the Pretties have this uncanny quality to them that suits the story perfectly.

The overall production design was solid as well. I like how Uglyville is all gray concrete and muted tones, while New Pretty Town is shimmering golds. Then upon reaching the Smoke, all the colors of nature finally come through. I do think that could have pushed that last one a little bit more, but it still works well.

Apart from that, I don't really have much to shout out. It's competently written, well-performed, well put together. I know it doesn't sound like I have much praise, but it is a competent movie.

What I'm Mixed On

By far the biggest change from the book is Peris becoming a Special. And I'm torn on it. On the one hand, it does make him a bigger part of the story -- he's honestly not much more than an inciting incident in the book. It gives him and Tally a unique arc that's probably the strongest through-line in the story. On the other hand, the Specials as a concept are so under-cooked (more on that later) and the actor is so bland that it still doesn't quite land the way it's supposed to.

What I Didn't Like

The pacing of this movie is by far its worst issue. We are flying through this plot. There is no time for anything to breathe, for characters to develop meaningful connections, for the bigger moments to feel earned. Some things do make sense to condense -- Tally's journey to the Smoke would have been incredibly boring without her internal monologue, so condensing most of that into a montage makes sense. But I do feel we lost too much. That's where a lot of Tally's characterization comes out, where we can see her bravery and ingenuity -- none of that comes across in the movie.

A lot of important beats are rushed. Tally agreeing to help Dr. Cable is over in a flash. It feels like Tally's in the Smoke for all of fifteen minutes. Tally and David barely interact, so their relationship has no real stake. Everyone is kidnapped by Special Circumstances, and then rescued immediately after. I almost think a 5-6 episode mini-series would have worked better -- but that might have introduced the opposite problem, where everything takes too long.

The movie also has frequent montages that don't really work. It seems like they were trying to show the passage of time, but it just makes everything feel even shorter.

The beginning of the movie has an exposition problem, as well. It opens with a montage explaining the entire setting... before leading into several scenes that also explain the setting through dialogue. We get fed the same details about the surgery and the Rusties and the flowers at least three times at the start, and it gets grating.

As already mentioned, Tally is pretty severely underwritten. In the book, she has a distinct personality and a unique presence. In the movie, she's just the main character because she happens to be the main character. Her intelligence and resourcefulness are pretty much gone.

I also think changing her motivation for going to the Smoke did her a disservice. In the book, Tally goes to the Smoke so she can have her surgery, and because she's convinced herself that Shay needs her help. In the movie, Dr. Cable tells her that the Smokies have a weapon, and she will be saving lives by helping to find them. I think giving her a more selfless motivation robs her of her character arc. She always comes across as someone trying to help, who wants to best for other people, rather than someone who had to consciously learn that.

The Specials are barely even a presence. I'm not sure they were even directly called Specials. People who hadn't read the book would never realize that there was an entire separate status of person here. You never see their disturbingly beautiful faces or their terrifying strength. Considering how pivotal the Specials are to the overall story, especially in the later books, it's really odd not to see them properly established here.

Like I said, Laverne Cox gives an excellent performance as Dr. Cable... but I think they should have thought twice before casting a trans woman. It's not necessarily that there's a trans woman in the villainous role, but that there's a trans woman in the villainous role who specifically wants to force people to have surgeries to brainwash them. Like... did the optics of that really not occur to anyone? At all? I think Cox could have played David's mother, instead.

[starriegalaxy]

question for my boyfriend husband beloved love of my life

head chef bot:

do you interact with the Glamrocks? what's your impression of them? (i'm especially curious about your impression of Chica)

okay! love ya! bye! (blows a kiss!) i'll see you when you get off work, pookie!

Head chef bot : 😀❓❓❓ (towards the nicknames but starts to sign anyways...)

Do you interact with the Glamrocks?

Head chef bot : Rarely. Only speak to them if they need a birthday cake done early.

(hums robotically, wraps left arm around tummy while his right hand is propped against his chin in a thinking pose)

...hm. They've visited more often. Say they need to take care of security guard. Confusing. First time this has happened. It's... Nice.

Individual Answers :

Freddy : He is nice. Too nice. Needs to take a break more often.

Monty : Gruff. Don't really like interacting with him...

Bonnie : Playful? Very friendly too.

Roxy : Fierce. Doesn't interact with staff bots often.

What's your impression of them?

Head chef bot : Very shiny.

... (processes, hands shaking and hesitates to answer but eventually gives in)

Chica. Intense. Very intense. When hungry. Um. Grateful she finishes the trash though.

okay! love ya! bye! (blows a kiss!) i'll see you when you get off work, pookie!

(blinks and widens eyes at the last sentence, misreading the word)

... Bye cookie??

(crosses arms)

I'm not food.... but (nods) see you later then, take care 👍🏻

Thanks for asking my dearest baby boy, head chef bot a questionnn 😚💞

P/S : If y'all wanna ask any of my OCs, go ahead! I just don't have concrete designs of them yet so I may only answer in text form :") thanks again!

[joannaliceevans-fanficblog]

Evermore: Part. 2: Chapter. Three

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with everyone and that everyone is having a good week so far. Work is work, and I love it!

2 Months Later

Andy pulled up to the base, flashed his ID to the guard, drove right through, and was still driving his best friend's truck. As he drove, he looked down and smiled.

When he came home from his morning run, he saw a note on the table indicating that you had made him coffee and packed lunch so he wouldn't have to grab food. Since living alone, he has been used to not cooking for himself and just eating out. He only knows how to cook instant noodles, Rice, and Eggs. Now that he’s back home, just having something like this made him happy, especially since it came from you.

Once Andy parked at his designated spot, he got out, grabbed his things, and headed into the law offices. Saluting some people on his way, he walked into the building and was greeted by his secretary. She stood up quickly, and before she could say anything, Andy opened the door and was greeted by a man sitting on the opposite side of his desk.

The man turned around, and Andy immediately recognized him. He turned back to his secretary and signaled that it was okay, and she closed the door.

“Major Navon, what brings you here?” Andy asked, taking a seat at his desk.

“Well, General Barber. I’m not quite sure.” Sam said, placing the thick concealed file in front of Andy. He frowned and glanced back at Sam.

“What’s this?” Andy asked. Sam sighed and wiped his face.

“Look, I know it’s been five years since your friend's death, but something came up, and I didn’t have a choice but to dig up his files.”

“What do you mean? Ari died in a Humvee accident.” Andy asked, knowing for sure that’s what happened.

“Just recently, more like a month ago, there’s been talk about that incident. So I asked one of the lawyers and the MPs.” Sam paused and leaned forward.

“Someone has been messing with the reports. Ari Levinson and part of the platoon in the car were murdered.” Sam said. 

Andy stared at Sam for a moment, almost wanting to laugh. But Sam was serious, and he quickly dismissed that thought.

“Sam, I don’t. This can’t be true, Sam.” Andy said, trying to process the information.

“Okay, but we both know the explosion that happened, right?” Andy added.

“Yes, that is correct. The Humvee exploded, and the driver lost control. That’s what his files say.” Sam said as Andy opened the confidential documents. 

Andy read through the files, and seeing Ari for the first time tore his heart away. Seeing the gruesome way he passed hurt him. Andy closed the file and looked over to Sam.

“I have to look this over with my team. I assume you want me to take this case?” Andy asked. 

Sam sighed and crossed his legs over, “Yes, nobody wants to take it. They all assume it’s a complete accident, and there is concrete evidence. And knowing you and your reputation? You can get this done.” 

Andy thought for a moment and leaned back into his chair. “Only on one condition.”

“Anything,” Sam responded. 

Andy sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Y/N cannot l know about this until I get enough evidence.”

Sam sat up, and the same with Andy. Sam then held out his hand, and Andy took it.

“A deal. If you have any questions-“

“I got it, Sam. I'll have my team come as soon as possible,” Andy said. 

And with that, Sam left. The moment the door closed, Andy sat down and leaned back into his chair. He sat there for a moment and then reached for his office phone.

Yes sir?

Hi Margie, I need you to gather the team and get them to Bedford as soon as possible.

Was there a reason, sir?

I have a high-profile case that is a high priority.

Okay, and was there anything else, sir?

Yes, give any case that I have to the Jr’s. I need my full attention on this one.

And with that, Andy hung up and went to work.

**

After a long day, Andy found himself driving home. You had called him earlier to say there was dinner at the house, and Jake was home, too. That put a sour taste in his mouth. He shouldn’t be jealous or upset. You deserve to be happy, but there is something about the man that he doesn’t like. By the time Andy had arrived, Jake’s car was in the driveway. Andy parked Ari’s truck next to Jake’s.

As he entered, he could hear conversation and soft responses from Chloe, and Andy sighed.

“Hey, Bug!” Andy called out, putting his bag down. The sound of the chair moving and little feet were heard.

“Uncle DeeDee!” Chloe yelled as she ran towards him, and he picked her up.

“Hi, Chloe. Did you have a good day?” Andy asked. 

Chloe wiped her hair away from her face and smiled. 

“We played in the park, and I did many pictures!” Chloe said with excitement.

“She indeed had a good day.” Andy heard that beautiful voice. He looked to the kitchen entranceway, only to see you and that bastard. Andy smiled and headed over to you.

Jake was about to shake his hand when he noticed the pin on his jacket. Jake raised his hand and gave him a salute.

“General,” Jake said. Andy gave a half smile and saluted him back. You rolled your eyes, and Chloe laughed.

“Anyway, Andy, you must be hungry. Have a seat, and I’ll make you a plate. It’s linguine and fettuccine Sauce, with a salad and bread.” You said, turning around and towards the kitchen. Andy placed Chloe down, and she ran to her seat, taking him with her. Once he was down at his seat, Jake sat before Andy. It was quiet for a moment.

“I hear that you and Y/N have been friends since she was five,” Jake said. Andy nodded. That is true, along with my best friend.”

Before Jake could respond, Chloe was by Andy’s side, tapping him on his arm. He looked to his side and saw she had a cold brown bottle.

“Uncle DeeDee, here’s your drink!” Chloe said. 

Andy smiled and took the cold beverage from her. “Thank you!”

**

After dinner, Chloe was sitting on the couch watching TV, and your phone rang while you were cleaning the kitchen. Andy was in the bathroom, washing his hands. You looked all over the kitchen for it until you realized that it was in your bag.

“Jake, can you get my phone? It’s in my bag in the living room.” You said. 

Jake nodded and headed to the living room. As he got to the table, Jake opened the bag, and a thick folder came out. Jake frowned and opened the file.

Ari Steven Levinson

Deceased

US ARMY CAPTAIN, 501st AIRBORNE DIVISION

Jake’s whole body drained of blood, and his body started shaking.

KILLED IN ACTION. A CAR EXPLODED IN FRONT OF HIS JEEP, CAUSING HIS DRIVER TO LOSE CONTROL AND SLAM INTO A BUILDING.

“That’s my bag.” 

Jake heard and turned around to see Andy standing behind him. Andy showed no expression as he snatched the file from him and placed it back into his bag. Then Andy grabbed Y/N’s bag and shoved it against Jake’s chest. He looked at Andy and quickly went back to the kitchen. Andy placed the file into his bag and closed the clasp on it. Before he headed back into the kitchen, Jake walked past him, and you followed behind.

“Is there something wrong?” Andy heard Y/N, and Jake sighed.

“I got a random important call from my major. I don’t know what it is, but it seems urgent,” Jake said, and Andy turned slightly. He knew listening was rude, but he couldn’t help it. The way Jake acted, and his body language told him he was lying.

For as long as he’s been a lawyer and the fact he’s damn good at it, he knows when someone is lying. And Jake is one of them.

The front door opened and closed. Andy then turned around to see you stumped.

“What happened?” Andy asked, placing his hands into his pockets. You sighed and shrugged your shoulders.

“I don’t know. He went to get my bag, and when he returned, Jake looked like he had seen a ghost,” you said. 

Andy looked at you for a moment. “Are you worried? You look concerned.”

You sighed again and shook your head. Before Andy responded, Chloe came in and hugged her mom’s leg. The two of you knew that it was her bedtime. You then picked her up and placed her on your hip.

“Sleepy bug?” You asked. 

Holding onto her Pua, she nodded and laid her head on your shoulder.

“Okay, say good night to Uncle DeeDee.” You said. Chloe lifted her head and held out her arms towards him. Andy then scooped her up and placed her onto his hip.

“Good night, Bug! Sleep tight and-“ Andy started.

“And no, let the scarwy monsters eat me!” Chloe said, giggling. Andy kissed her cheek and placed her down. Chloe ran to her mom and brought her upstairs.

“I’ll finish cleaning up here,” Andy said as he returned to the kitchen.

“I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit.” You said.

**

30 Minutes Later

Andy sat in the family room with two glasses of Sweet Pinot Grigio. He looked behind him to see you taking a seat next to him. You smiled while picking up the glass.

“Before we start the movie, tomorrow is Saturday, Andy. Do you have any plans?” You asked. 

Andy knew why Saturdays were important. Even when he was deployed in Germany, you would video call him and spend a few moments with his best friend.

“I’m free. What time do you want to leave? I’ll drive. I was also thinking of spending the day there, too.” Andy said.

You smiled once more. “Oh, that’s a good idea. Let’s have a picnic at the beach, and Chloe wants me to teach her how to skate.”

Andy laughed as a memory came to him. “You remember when Ari tried to teach you?”

Your face started to blush, which made Andy laugh even more.

“Yeah, and that ended up being our first kiss.” You said.

[dailydemonspotlight]

Datsue-Ba - Day 134

Race: Femme Alignment: Neutral-Chaos October 23rd, 2024

In several underworlds in many mythologies throughout the world, there are more figures than just the god of the dead, his companions, and the souls of the damned. Of course, demons come to mind to many, and they are the namesake of basically every monster in the SMT series, but even outside of the circles of Abrahamic belief there lie many creatures that haunt the hallowed halls of the dead. Today, we're turning back immediately to Yomi, however, as another figure that lies in the Buddhist underworld is today's Demon of the Day- Datsue-Ba, literally meaning "Old woman who strips clothes." Yep, it's gonna be a weird one, so sit tight.

Datsue-Ba are well established in Buddhist literature, appearing first all the way back during 11th century Japan, with our first concrete source being in the traditional Buddhist text the Hokke Genki, a story dating back all the way to the 1040's! Among the many tales consisting of the collection, Datsue-Ba appears in the story 'Renshū Hōshi,' wherein the titular monk Renshu ends up dying of an illness and meets a Datsue-Ba at the banks of the river to cross into the realm of the dead. She speaks to him, saying,

“Know this! This [place] is the Sanzu River 三途河 (Three Ford River) and I am an old lady of the Sanzu River. Take off your clothes, and I will let you cross.”

However, upon realizing that the monk had a devote connection to the Lotus Sutra, also known as the most foundational text to Buddhist belief overall, she bows in respect to the man and he returns to life. However, this is far from her only appearance, as the Datsue-Ba appears reoccurringly throughout several other pieces of Buddhist literature. She also appears in the text 'Jizō Jūō Kyō', though I admittedly can't find much about this text itself. In the text, Datsue-Ba is mentioned yet again, however, in much the same role as mentioned in the Hokke Genki, being a hag who sits by the waterside in the underworld and who steals something from someone as they pass by. The text also, interestingly, puts her under the reign of the Ten Kings... who I'll probably have to talk about someday, huh.

Curiously, now in her more important role, she steals things from the dead specifically in relation to how much they stole in their life. To quote the text's translation,

"Under the tree, two demons live. One of them is Datsueba, the other Keneō 懸衣翁. The hag demon breaks the fingers of both hands [of the dead] in reproof of the theft that [he or she] committed [when alive]. [...] All the dead are gathered under the tree. The hag demon strips away their clothes, and the male demon hangs the clothes on the tree branches. [By doing so, both demons] expose the gravity of [the sinners’] crimes and transfer them to the court of the next king."

This specific role of judging sinners is carried over to many future interpretations of the character, wherein she serves as a sort of moral judge to those who have passed, specifically in the way that she steals their clothes. Her generally agreed upon appearance is also somewhat similar to her design in SMT, though it differs in a few key aspects; agreed upon designs paint her as a withered old hag with exposed ribs, likely pulling from her more traditionally monstrous design in some traditional Buddhist texts, such as the Shiwang Jing scripture which depicts her as an ogre alongside the male demon she works with. Later depictions, influenced by the Jizō Jūō Kyō, paint her as a decrepit demon with sagging breasts.

This clearly influenced the SMT design for the demon, as Datsue-Ba in the series is a withered old woman surrounded by white, long hair. Her blindfold may be a connection to the idea of justice being blind, as the Datsue-Ba does enforce justice, in a way. I'm not sure what the giant paddle on her head says or represents, though, so if anyone can translate it, I'd be so glad. Still, the Datsue-Ba is an incredibly interesting demon and one that I wish we saw more in the series, as she only appears in Nocturne to my knowledge.

[waddlehekk]

Can you talk a little more about how Goemon is intended to be mixed race? I read the manga but never picked up on this; was it lost to translation, or is it extremely subtle (or just a headcanon)? Also, do you have any idea why his race was changed in the Pilot film (if it was at all)?

Though it is never outright stated, there are clear details in Goemon's design that I believe are included to suggest he is mixed race, being part Asian since he is still the descendant of the original, Japanese, Ishikawa Goemon, and part something else, which I'm thinking is part White. The themes presented in the Lupin manga and in MP's other manga of racial freedom coincide with this too.

It's important to also understand the context of the themes that surround Goemon's character, being raised under strict Eastern culture, but despite being naïve towards Western culture, he does not reject it in the way his masters do and is even curious about it.

Before I begin, I'd like to make it clear that MP is not the most consistent when it comes to his designs, especially in the earlier manga where he is still working out what he wants of the characters. It doesn't help either that he had to rush to meet deadlines for the manga. With that being said though, I will be focusing on Goemon's consistent character traits that become more concrete in Shin Lupin.

An obvious detail to Manga Goemon's design is his cleft chin. This is usually drawn in more western-like characters (for instance, he draws Yankee from Bakumatsu Yankee with a cleft chin but not Okita), so it's really interesting how MP chooses to show it in Goemon. MP drew it more obvious as time went on, but it did exist since his first appearance.

Also, notice how Goemon's hair is not fully inked black as MP does with other characters. Generally, aside from artwork for promotion of the anime, anime ost album covers, and artwork made after the manga's completion, MP would color Goemon's hair as blonde-ish brown. I've seen people refer to it as possibly being ash blonde, or dirty blonde, but I'm not sure.

I'll post examples below. If you've seen them before, please read the rest of the post! I have a lot more to show.

It's a shame though that in some instances, publishers tried to hide this by recoloring MP's artwork, even if it wasn't meant tor the anime at all. Likely this was done to appeal to the larger amount of fans for the anime, and much of MP's later artwork after the manga's completion would alter other parts of Goemon's design to resemble it too, such as by changing his facial features and removing the pattern on his kimono. If you look closely below, you can see how the publishers weren't perfect at covering it up.

You may have seen how in my other post, with the artwork of the English Conversation book, or in a small amount of MP's other drawings, that Goemon's hair is instead colored as grey, silver, or not colored at all. I think MP tends to do this to save on color, and you can even see this in how his clothing is colored only white and grey.

That's also why though Fujiko appears blonde in the covers of that same book, she is also colored with grey hair in its pages inside of the book. Notice how the color of her dress changed too to save on color.

There's a similar case of Fujiko's hair originally being portrayed as blonde in the manga, but MP coloring it as brown or red in some artwork to match the anime. It didn't seem to be as much of an issue though considering how inconsistent Fujiko's design already was in the anime and early manga, and with how the changing hair color does not suggest as much about Fujiko as it does for Goemon and his race.

Goemon's manga design already does not resemble his anime design, so to make it even more different by having a different hair color would certainly bring more confusion from the anime audience. Goemon in the anime is strongly associated with being Japanese in comparison to the others, so it makes sense why his hair color is not a blonde-brown when MP draws for the anime.

Unlike fully blonde characters like Fujiko though, MP tends to draw Goemon's hair with many lines. I notice that when MP isn't rushing to draw Goemon, he draws certain areas of his hair having more lines condensed together and other areas having empty space.

(This is kind of hard to explain so I hope the drawing below makes it clear)

My own interpretation for why he draws his hair this way is to show areas with more denser lines being a darker brown, while the less dense areas show the lighter blonde parts of his hair.

It's worth noting Jigen's hair gets drawn with lines too, but there are more lines to show how much darker it is, and it also lacks any lighter areas. Perhaps Jigen's hair is still meant to be black, with the lines added to show detail in the strands of his straight hair, but what if it was meant to show color in his hair too?

Part 3, the Lupin anime with character designs that resemble Shin Lupin's the most, makes the decision to color Jigen's hair dark brown to show this, despite it always having been depicted as black in the anime.

But back to Goemon, I've seen a few people believe that maybe his hair is dyed/bleached. I can understand this notion, given that when he is first introduced he is dating Fujiko who seems more knowledgeable in this, and we do know that Goemon is an open-minded person when it comes to new things despite his old-fashioned upbringing. I disagree though, in part because some of the more detailed color drawings of him give me the impression it is natural. His sideburns also appear to have color in some close-ups of them.

There is something that he cannot change, however, and that is his eye color. It also happens to share the same color as his hair, more proof that his hair color is natural.

If you look at this magazine cover, you can see everyone's eyes colored in as black, but MP specifically did not do that for Goemon. Perhaps he wanted this detail about Goemon to stand out to readers.

There are many smaller details too, like his fluffy hair that curls at the ends, and his body hair.

And I can't forget the sideburns either. Though having sideburns obviously isn't a genetic trait, it's more western-like design that MP uses. The point of Goemon having sideburns may be to help you picture a more western person from him.

Compare all this to Anime Goemon, who has straight black hair and smaller eyes with black pupils, no sideburns, no body hair, and a regular chin. There is a very different intention between what the 2 characters are attempting to portray, and it's obvious when you look at them side to side. These different intentions are the reason why the anime is so stubborn when it comes to incorporating parts of Manga Goemon's design.

You may be wondering, is it unusual that Monkey Punch would make a character like this?

Not at all!

We know for sure Lupin is mixed too.

"I don't need a passport because the whole Earth is my country!!"

"Everywhere on this Earth is my home, even the middle of the ocean."

The character Inspector John Starmow, who admits to Fujiko that his childhood memories are filled with him being bullied by both other children and adults because he has Indian blood in him.

MP's other work, "Western Samurai"

And of course, MP's "Bakumatsu Yankee"

Looking at the designs of the two friends, it almost seems like Goemon is a hybrid of the two that each represent the East and the West. Okita's fully inked in hair and Yankee's hair with hardly any lines, while Goemon has hair drawn with many lines. Also, Goemon's face resembles Okita's, but he has a chin like Yankee. A little off-topic but I've always thought that Goemon's personality was a mesh between the two: Okita's cheerful attitude and Yankee's calm demeanor.

Now onto the rest of your question, why was this not carried into the Pilot?

If you haven't read my old post, please do read it as it explains my theory on why Manga Goemon was not adapted to the anime, and how Anime Goemon was created: https://www.tumblr.com/waddlehekk/711176903837483008/a-theory-on-the-creation-of-anime-goemon-and-why?source=share

Essentially though, the Pilot and Part 1 very clearly wanted a fully Japanese character out of Goemon to clash with the rest of the cast who are very American.

In the Pilot, Goemon is portrayed with a much darker skin tone rather than being very pale like he is in the Part 1 and nearly every portrayal onwards. Additionally, Mystery of Mamo pushes against Part 1's famously established design, bringing back Goemon's original skin tone and also changing the color of his hair to a dark brown.

At first I thought this dark color was chosen so that the artists could show lighting in Goemon's hair and give it detail, and that therefore it was still meant to be black, but even looking closer his eyebrows were colored too. Fujiko, the only other member of the gang that doesn't have black hair in this movie, is also the only other one to have colored eyebrows.

I read a post recently saying that he's mixed because of this, but to be honest, I disagree. There are many people in Japan with the standards that being very fair-skinned and having black hair is what makes you beautiful, but that doesn't mean all Japanese people are just born like this, and some even try to hide it. If anything, I think the reason why Goemon is depicted like this to go against these beauty standards and show that Goemon is still just as much a good representation of a Japanese samurai. The teams still wanted to depict a message about racial freedom in Goemon, and I think this is in part why the Pilot and Mamo understand the tone of the manga much better than other adaptations.

On a final note, I'd like to add that if Manga Goemon is supposedly mixed, and these themes do exist throughout MP's manga, why not then see characters like Jigen, Fujiko, and Zenigata as being just as racially ambiguous? For all we know, Lupin and Goemon could be a combination of more than what I've said here. I'd love to hear any headcanons.

[scientist-of-love]

Talking a lot about my AITSF fan project!!!

As you may know, I really, really like Pewter. He doesn't get a lot of time so I really want to see things from his perspective. I like him so much, in fact, that I've made a whole project about him!

To preface: 1) It's still a huge work in progress, there's a few characters that haven't been named or designed and a ton of plot details to still be worked out

2) I'm not planning to make it anything concrete, like a comic or a fic. Maybe one day...

That being said, I wanted to share it! AITSF has become a huge interest of mine, and I know I have some AITSF followers now... So I want to share what I've been doing, and maybe get some talk going!

As of now it doesn't have a real title, but I've been calling it Pewtergame. The premise is a hypothetical prequel game all about him! (Though, moreso focused on just the story then how it'd function as a game. Hard to figure out how to fill in gaps without AI-balls and the like, let alone if there'll even be multiple routes.)

These are all the characters I've designed for it so far! This is going to be a long post, so I'll go into the actual story and character details under cut. (There are mentions of murder, but nothing graphic and nothing worse than AITSF itself.)

Plot overview so far!

The story is split into two segments: Past (2013) and Present (2018).

Past focuses on the trialling of the newly made Psync Machine, and the very first psync... And what goes wrong as a result. Alongside that, the case ABIS is investigating begins to escalate more and more.

Present takes place 5 years later. Pewter is enjoying his everyday life... Until a sudden murder pulls him into another perplexing case.

The main themes I'm focusing on as of now are love, and creation - specifically, creators and their relationship to what they make.

I'll explain the cast more indepth after this, but the story so far goes something like this:

Past

Pewter and Boss are tasked with using the newly made Psync machine to investigate a theft. Pewter's old friend from school (TBN) volunteers to psync with the prime suspect, Kurogane. They discover an unintended feature of the psync machine, that it can swaps consciousnesses. Kurogane escapes in the psyncer's body, and the psyncer is left behind in hers.

Pewter, feeling guilty about his friend's situation, involves himself directly in the investigation. As he investigates, his younger sister Makane meets with him. She introduces him to her good friend Tomoru Kouseki.

Later, someone from the investigation team lets Pewter know Makane was spotted lurking around an important location (TBD). He gets a bad feeling and goes to see what his sister is up to. He finds her crouched over Tomorou's body.

She's brought in for questioning, but won't answer anything she's asked. Pewter goes and sees her, and asks to psync with her since she's struggling to talk. She agrees. Pewter psyncs with her himself to make her more comfortable, as well as wanting to make sure nothing goes wrong on his end.

Her somnium reveals that she's completely innocent, as Pewter thought. After this point, I don't have much else fleshed out.

They find Kurogane and return her mind to her body. She's arrested on suspicion of both the theft and murder, and the case is quickly swept under the rug to hide the truth about the Psync Machine. Pewter has misgivings.

Present (I have a lot less figured out here)

Pewter enjoys some peace. He checks in with his friend and Makane. Later, he goes to see Renju for their anniversary. He gifts his lover the wristwatch.

A couple of weeks later, Renju is working late at Lemniscate. On his way out, he spots the silhouette of... Someone against the side of the building. He discovers the body of a woman. So starts the next case.

Hearing Renju is involved, Pewter immediately goes to see him. He asks some questions, but is more concerned with finding out how Renju is doing

I have barely any other specific plot events laid out, so most of the details from will be in the character section below this.

Eventually, the true culprit behind both Past and Present is revealed. Gin Shiratsuki manipulated his "friend" Kurogane, and had her take the fall for him.

And of course, after everything's resolved, there's a nice epilogue and a dance number led by Seiko.

Cast

Pewter - Past & Present

- 30 in Past, 35 in Present

- The man himself! Everything is from his perspective.

- There's a lot of focus on his relationships to the people he loves, as well as his relationship to his inventions (mainly the Psync Machine).

- I imagine there'd also be a lot of fun details! Like how he got involved in ABIS in the first place, what he gets up to outside of work, some of his personal insight into his creations, all that stuff that doesn't come up in AITSF. While I haven't come up with all that just yet, I hope I can include it in the bigger picture.

Boss - Past & Present

- 35 in Past, 40 in Present

- She has a similar role to AITSF, but she's more involved here.

- She has a lot of interaction with Pewter, and their relationship gets more focus. I think she's the reason he's part of ABIS in the first place, so that has some bearing on their relationship.

Mama - Most of what I have planned for her is for Present, but she'll probably appear in Past too

- 29 in Past, 34 in Present (Probably)

- Her role is the same as AITSF, acting as an informant. She and Pewter do have some good conversations, some about general events, some about Renju in particular.

Araya Kagami - Past & Present - He's there!

Renju Okiura - Present

- 35/36 in Present (haven't 100% decided when this takes place)

- Renju is a lot of things, but the most relevant here is Pewter's lover. Their relationship gets a lot of focus!

- His discovery of the second victim's body is what initially draws Pewter into the 2018 case.

- I don't have a lot worked out for him yet but I want to make him important! Also want to have some focus on him as an individual, go into some things AITSF didn't touch on.

The first psyncer (TBN) - Past & Present

- 30 in Past, 35 in present

- A good friend of Pewter's from school that he's stayed in touch with. She's a very kindhearted woman and is always eager to help people. Intrigued by Pewter's call, she offers to become the first psyncer.

- Despite being very rattled by the body swap, she still does her best to help where she can.

- In Present, she returns to take on the case as the main psyncer.

Makane Amanoma - Past & Present

- 24 in Past, 29 in Present

- Pewter's younger sister. Pewter nicknamed her "Kane".

- She's a pretty easygoing person, notably more outgoing and outspoken than her brother. She doesn't like sitting around doing nothing, and is very confident in herself. Teasing Pewter is a favourite past time of hers.

- Although she enjoys being a menace to her older brother, she does genuinely care about him. She trusts him more than anything, and they get along really well. After finding Tomorou's body, he was the only one who could get her to finally open up about what happened.

Numea Kurogane - Mostly Past, but makes appearances in Present too

- 36 in Past, 41 in Present

- A cold fashion model and designer who seems to hold her work above all else. She has a tendency to avoid people or push them away if they interfere with her time to work on her projects.

- She feels that no one understands her work, and she looks down on those who question her rather than inviting them to learn. She believes Gin is the only one who understands her.

- Gin is the only person she sees as a friend. She clings to that connection, and that's used to take advantage of her.

- She hates Pewter's guts and his outfit.

Tomorou Kouseki - Past

- 24 in Past

- A good friend of Makane

- Tomorou is a very friendly, very sweet guy who makes a living as a professional photographer. He's just a great guy to be around, really good company. Makane gets him to take a photo of her and Pewter together when she introduces him to her brother.

- I'm still working out the exact details, but he got a photo of something that pointed to Gin being the culprit. He lost his camera, and Gin held off acting because he hoped that'd be enough to stop Tomorou. But Makane found it and returned it to him. Gin decided something had to be done before he turned in the evidence.

- Just to be sure, Tomorou decided to follow up what he found at the (TBD) important location. He let Makane know he was gonna leave for a while. He never came back, so Makane went looking for him... And discovered the body.

- He's the first victim, murdered by Gin to make absolute sure he stayed silent.

TBN A - Mostly past, makes a small appearance in present

- Still deciding on his occupation (some kind of manual labour?) but he does creative writing as a hobby.

- I don't have a ton worked out for this guy yet, but he's a friend of another TBN character who appears in present. A steady, grounded guy with a straightforward perspective. He simply does what he thinks is right, no question about it.

- He has some sort of connection to the 2013 case.

- Pewter finds him very handsome.

TBN B - Present

- A painter who's always trying to find inspiration. In Present, he's struggling with art block.

- He's a pretty laidback guy who doesn't seem to have a lot of cares. While it's partially true, he's repressed a lot of real dark feelings.

- He was friends with TBN A in past, but a (TBD) event pushed them apart. He dealt with it by pushing TBN A away out of shame and fear, deciding to simply pretend the incident never happened.

- After he's psynced with, ABIS learns of his old friendship. Pewter approaches him and talks to him about it. He finally opens up, and makes an effort to reconcile with his old friend.

- Again, still working things out, but his connection with TBN A helps reveal the connection between the 2013 and 2018 cases.

Here's the concept sketches, B on the left and A on the right.

Seiko Kotetsu - Present - 18 in Present - A spunky, outgoing newbie idol who works for Lemniscate. Renju is giving her a hand putting herself out there. Pewter meets her while looking for him at Lemniscate. (She cluelessly tries to introduce him to his own boyfriend. Then calls him an old man.) - She's very passionate about her music, and a little desperate for it to be heard. She craves the attention and praise, something to prove she's on the right path. Alongside that, she's insecure about what she makes, especially if she doesn't get it perfect right away. - Her mother, Ukana, passed away in a car accident 6 years before Present. Ukana was a composer who was very passionate about her craft and her family. She taught Seiko everything she knew about music. Because of everything, Seiko believes Ukana lives on in the music she makes. She wants her music to be heard not only for herself, but so that her mother can live on in it. - She ends up spending time with Pewter, and takes a liking to him. She can tell Renju trusts him, though she doesn't fully get why. She doesn't really care though, as long as Pewter's not causing trouble.

Taichi Kotetsu - Present - 48 in Present - The husband of Ukana and father of Seiko. - A humble, mild-mannered jeweller. He wants nothing more than to support his daughter. He's her biggest fan, listens to all her music, and tries to help with whatever she needs. - He worries that Seiko is pushing herself too hard and wonders if the idol life is really what's best for her. But he's afraid of bringing her down, especially after she endured such a terrible time losing her mother. - He shares the grief of losing Ukana with Seiko. He knows he can never make up for the place she left in their lives, but he wants to do everything in his power to see Seiko smile. - He knew the second victim (still unsure how exactly). She bought a necklace from him, which was found at the scene. Pewter took it after Kagami confirmed it belonged to the victim, and Seiko saw it and identified it as her father's work. - He knows something, but I'm unsure as to what.

The Second Victim (TBN) - Present

- I have nothing worked out her yet asides from her formerly being a friend of Gin, and her having gold motifs.

- Pewter doesn't meet her personally, but she's talked about and learnt about that way.

Gin Shiratsuki - Past & Present

- 30 in Past, 35 in Present - The true culprit of Past and Present. On the surface, he's calm and friendly enough. He even comes off similar to Pewter. However, it's all surface level. It's very easy to set him off. - Much like Pewter, he takes great pride in his achievements and creations. However, he thinks that he deserves all the praise and recognition, and that anyone who's better than him is a threat. He thinks his way is the only way. - He drove away or cut off a lot of his friends because of that, leaving only Kurogane. He feels a genuine like for her, but he doesn't think using her in the way he does is really bad. - Figuring out the specifics still, but he was involved with the Wadjet System. (Maybe as a programmer?) He felt that his contributions were overlooked (whether they actually were is questionable) and grew bitter towards his co-workers. - He learnt about Pewter and the Psync Machine through Kurogane, and he hates Pewter for it. He acknowledges how talented Pewter is, and he sees that as a threat. His grudge only grows more personal as Pewter interferes with his plans. It turns into a something akin to a parasocial relationship, though it's more of a rivalry. - He calls Pewter by his nickname despite not knowing him personally (Kurogane mentioned it to him). He's not doing it to be friendly, but rather attempting to reduce Pewter to the name associated with his ABIS work. Pewter doesn't know why Gin is calling him that, but he finds it really unnerving coming from a stranger speaking with spite.

- I have all that, but I'm still working out the exact details of Gin's motives and crimes. Concept for Gin:

I did consider having Date involved but 1) it's hard to fit him in a way that doesn't sidetrack the story and 2) it's heavily tied in with the Psync Machine, and he is not allowed to know that! I did want to explore Pewter's relationship with Aiba, but perhaps that can be for something else.

The main things I'm working out are the exact details of the crimes, and how all the individual pieces fit together. I also want to make the cast more interconnected. Making something near as elaborate as AITSF takes a lot of work!

Okay, that was a lot...! But that's about the extent of what I have going on! Of course there are some other details, but this post is long enough. Maybe I'll post some of my other art for it. For now, I hope this was interesting! I am very very open to talking about what I have going, I'm very eager to share!

[apostleofthreedimensions]

Timeline

A timeline of every time a Spacelander has visited Flatland! Starting with...

Flatland's Year 0!

My friend @frau-line had the idea of a messiah and an apostle that fell in love and lived in Spaceland together. I also saw an idea for a god myth that included a picture of a sphere with a line orbiting around it and thought that that was a banger design for a god(s). Though I cant for the life of me find it now... its a small fandom I'll see it eventually.

With that out of the way, heres these two nameless but lovely ladies. I think at this point Flatland would be in like, caveman times or something, but the line is a fast learner and quickly absorbed all information that the sphere gave her.

As for Spacelands society, theyre far ahead of Flatland, but still not nearly as technologically advanced as they are in the film. Maybe like aztec times...?

Theyve just found Flatland and know exactly nothing about it. They sent the sphere to go check it out, and when she came back a month later they had a Flatlander with them.

They study the line and Flatland and they find out... something... that makes it so they set a concrete rule to only ever visit once every thousand years to impart knowledge upon the primitive Flatlanders.

I have no idea why they decide to do this every 1000 years. Perhaps the line dies shortly after her ascension to Spaceland (due to gravitational forces) and the sphere is heartbroken and bitter and shes like "Flatland is extremely fragile we must only interact with it rarely or we will FUCK UP and KILL things"

Year 1000

frau-line fuels this scenario and the next as well. Her ideas are some of the most interesting and compelling I've seen so its hard not to steal :P

The messiah of the Year 1000 wasnt exactly thrilled to do this job, but the first official visit was something highly anticipated and that he was specifically taught to do, so he studied hard and practiced well. He thought it easy and simple until, well...

Unfortunately, the year 1000 apostle must have been at least a little unhinged before enlightenment, so this messiahs mission went wildly off the rails. As soon as he finished his geometry homework, he started a massive country-wide riot, and martyred himself before anyone could ask what he was rioting for.

As for his shape I think he was either a hexagon or an octagon i cant remember im so sorry frau line 😖😖😖

Any fucking ways the messiah is like

And he has some like. Idk not trauma, but he is a little fucked up by it and thinks he should have taken it more seriously or whatever. Who cares though

Year 2000

Saturnius and Areia. Thanking frau-line every day for creating these guys, their plot is so captivating and I have a huge soft spot for Ariea specifically.

Saturnius is a noble sphere prince that takes his job deathly seriously, and Areia is a low class line determined to spread the gospel no matter the cost. The cost ends up being a holy war that is far more destructive than the year 1000 apostle could have even imagined...

Nothing I could say about them could live up to Suovetaurilia, so please give it a read!

Year 3000

You know who these guys are.

Year 4000

Finally, my home grown boys!

Xerxes is very lacking in the self confidence department and is trying to be the best most effective messiah to date to prove himself. His hopes are shattered when he happens to pick Claude, an average pentagon working an average 9-5 job, who doesn't give a singular shit about the third dimension at all. Xerxes doesn't give up easily, and secretly interacts with Claude even after the millennial visit in order to convince Claude to become an apostle. Unfortunately, it turns out Claude is just as stubborn.

...And thats all I have! This is all just my personal headcanon, so I'd really love to hear what you all think the timeline looks like!!

[floufli]

Admit It

Chapter 2 : Consequences (5k)

Summary:

Before the whole "multiverse collapsing" thing, everything was going pretty smoothly for you. As Spider-woman, you saved people, beat up villains and lived an calm and uneventful civilian life. But everything seemed to have changed the moment one boy was bitten by some radioactive spider. Now, the villains you faced have become more active, and always seemed to disappear before you could deliver them to the police. One day, you manage to finally catch the trail of the ones that kept stealing your catches, only to be left to discover another facet of your life waiting for you.

Will this end well for you? You could only hope so. But you are perfectly okay with risking it all, after all, that "Miguel" got one hell of an ass to make up for it.

Tags:

Miguel o'hara x fem!reader, violence, 18+ MINOR NON FRIENDLY SO HOP HOP GET OUT OF HERE, future tags

Chap: (1)

MasterList

Don't copy to another site or I'm gonna be big mad >:C and don't feed to AI obviously

Author notes:

Doing this instead of doing exam stuff related. Tried do to 3k didn't work now take this 5k and the smutty bit . I wanted to put Miguel's POV but it would have been 7 or 8k so it'll be for next chap.

I'll probably edit it later bc there're parts I find weirdly written but anyways-

Why did I do that already? Ah! Yeah! I remember, to " not miss all the fun". Silly me... HOW IS THAT FUNNY???

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT !!" You screamed at the top of your lungs as you almost immediately regretted going through that damned portal. One second you were walking onto a nice- beautiful even, concrete floor, and the next you got yourself propelled into a way too colorful void that made your eyes hurt.

Why does everything they have must be so bright? Does it not make their head hurt, like, please??

But right as of now, you thought the colorfulness of this new environment to be one of your less important problems. At least for now.

You were more concerned as to where you were actually heading, a slight panic running through your body as you realized you had no control whatsoever over your direction or speed. You didn't mind not knowing where you were going to land, no problem, but you would prefer not to crash into a building- or even better the ground, at 100km/h.

Quickly asserting the situation, you tried to take as much information as you could. Looking around yourself, you could observe ass you traveled into what could be a sort of invisible tunnel, if an invisible tube could be called a tunnel, it kind of defeats the whole purpose of the tunnel but anyway. Although you could see some kind of geometrical forms that set the global shape of the way, like guides that allowed the tunnel to go the right way.

The feeling almost made you sick. Sure swinging around was something you now excelled in, but being moved around so much that you lost sense of up and down was now something you dread to experience again.

That's something I'll never get used to. You thought as your eyes tried to find something to anchor yourself before you could throw up your last meal.

Thanks to whoever designed this thing, the experience was quite short, even if quite extreme. In only mere seconds after your entry into the portal, you were back in the real world. And not this weird in-between dimension that threw your senses off.

As much as you were thrilled for the experience to be over, your eyes stung at the bright lighting at the end of the way. But you got no time to rest and recover properly your vision. The moment your body went through the blinding light, gravity suddenly seemed to reappear, pushing you down toward the ground. Acting by instinct at this point, you let your body react by itself as it reoriented itself so you would land carefully on your two feet, and not head first.

" Ah.." You sighed, appreciating the comforting weight of gravity. You raise to your full height, arms by your side, you let your eyes take as many details around you as they could, while your ears tried to assert if there were any threats nearby.

That's a pretty big elevator.

Your eyes were amazed by the sight you were met with. By just looking from side to side, you could see the breathtaking, future-like sight behind the thick protection glass. Incredible buildings stretched so far up into the deep blue sky that you almost could believe your own eyes. How was it even possible? That must be some kind of dimension that's set well into the future for it to be so technologically advanced.

The scenery was pure beauty, roads were spreading around each building like a gigantic snake, embracing each gap and swirling in the place. And unlike your world, those were set up in the sky, allowing an astonishing field of green to surround the whole city.

OH.MY. ARE THOSE FLYING CARS?!

It was still hard to tell from this distance, and knowing that the elevator was actually moving upwards, but you could swear those cars looked weird as fuck.

…Wait, they definitely were flying...there wasn't any road for them to be on ??!

Too caught up in your own excitement, you didn't notice the three people waiting with you while the elevator moved. Running towards one of the glass windows you almost pressed your face against it to better examine this completely new view. But you quickly dismissed the idea once you saw that the elevator was in fact just a platform and putting your face against the window would result in your face being squished down along the elevator's movement.

Wait that's weird... why is everything upside down?

It took you a good minute to realize that your entire vision was in fact upside-down and that your body was in fact dangling into the void, only kept from falling by your talons. Despite the fact that the spikes on your feet were considerably huge, it seems like you didn't notice them piercing into the platform's ground.

Thanks, weird spider instincts. You thought amused, it would have been quite embarrassing if you had landed just for you to fall down because you couldn't spot that the gravity was inverted.

Parting from the glass, you looked behind you. Three different pairs of eyes met your own. You almost let a laugh escape your lips when you saw the scene, stopping yourself last second, but unable to help the smile on your lips.

While the two other Spiderwomen- you guessed you could call them like that for now, were standing perfectly straight on their feet despite the gravity trying to pull them down, Vulture was dangling weirdly, only hold back by the firm grip of the youngest Spider. Seeing something falling upwards wasn't really common in your job, as you almost never let yourself be put in a taught enough situation that would force you to be left head down.

Vulture wasn't as pleased as you were on another note. His face was one of pure worry as he frequently stared at the girl holding his restrained body and then the abysmal void separating him from the bottom of the building. You could almost catch beads of sweat sliding profusely from his now pale face.

"Enjoying the view?" The woman asked with a smile of her own, all the while she was playing with something on her watch-like device. From her relaxed brows, everything was going as usual for her. This told you a lot about the situation as a whole; if they were really who they pretended to be, fellow Spider-Men from; different universes, then they could be many more than just these two and the “Miguel” from before.

“Yeah, flying cars are not really a thing at home. This view is really something to behold.” You stated breathily, even if you didn’t know them- not even their names you realized, you could let your guard down, you could feel it.

It had been so long since you felt this safe.

Not having to worry about enemies coming to stab you in the back, always looking out for people's betrayals, it really was refreshing to say the very least. A much-needed break indeed.

“Miguel’s dimension is surely more advanced than most of ours, that’s for sure!” The woman laughed as if amused by your almost pure reaction to the scenery. Just as she finished doing whatever she was doing with her watch, the elevator started to slow down, and you walked up to where they were currently standing- waiting to arrive at your destination.

But just as you were about to stand before them a sudden vague of pain came through you. The feeling, despite short-lived, left you breathless, contorting in pain, you lost your balance and almost fell to your knees. But weirdly you didn’t.

It was as if you were shredded into pieces, and while you tried to scream, you could hear the bugged sounds that came out of your mouth. You really felt like a scratched disc that kept coming back to one scene over and over.

Thankfully, it went away as quickly as it came. You were now crouched down just next to the older woman, who had lowered herself in the meantime you were out. Now extending her arms, presenting you with a sort of elastic bracelet.

“Shit! I’m so sorry girl, that completely slipped out of my mind. There put this one on, it will stop you from doing that again, I know it’s not the best feeling.” She said to you, expression full of remorse while you quickly put on the thing.

“ That’s for sure..” You breathed, “Shit, that fucking hurt ugh-” You straightened yourself while she stayed near in case you needed help, but in mere seconds you were back to full form.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry again, a lot of things to do at the same time and you weren’t on today’s agenda.” Just as she finished her sentence, the elevator came to a stop, it’s lack of a door allowing you to fully take in the view in front of you.

“But don’t worry, Lyla will give you a real Goober since Miguel asked her to, you should have it soon enough.”

You didn’t pay as much attention as you probably should have to her words, too focused on observing the impossible scene.

There were so many Spider-Men and Spider-Women everywhere.

But you didn’t get the chance to admire them more, the two women and their package were already well ahead of you, still in the elevator.

Oops, wait for meeee!!

You quickly took off towards them, but still, let ourself look around the bright alleys. They were covering almost every centimeter available, from the floor up to the ceiling, thanks to the Spider capacities they surely possessed too.

You jogged behind the two women, avoiding the Spiders that came in your way while saluting the ones that acknowledged you.

“Jessica, do you bring us a new one? Does Miguel knows about that one?” A voice came from your right, a Spider-Man, his suit a deep red and light blue. He seemed to have been talking with others, but your presence must have caught his attention.

How does he even know I’m new here? WE ALL LOOK THE SAME. HOW?

“YES AND YES PETER.” The woman, Jessica, answered without missing a beat, walking unfalteringly toward a gate a bit farther into the ‘main’ way.

The other spider let go almost immediately after her answer, going back to his previous discussion.

“Don’t worry, they are all pretty chill when you get to know them.” The young girl spoke while you continued to look around, catching your attention.

“Yeah, since we’re all Spiders from different dimensions I figured we must be the nice guys I guess. I shouldn’t be too worried about them trying something.” You nodded, and the youngster laughed softly at your response.

“I could even present you some, I’m sure you could get along just fine with Hobby.” She continued as you all entered a darker zone of the building, the atmosphere changing immediately. It even smelled different from the main hall.

The scent is different here but it feels off. Like there’s something behind it? You took a long inspiration. It’s not strong but I can definitely smell something.

It smells pretty good too. Like a subtle mix of pine and oak, just strong enough to pick on but not too overwhelming either.

Hell, it smells divine.

As if in a trance, you followed while they approached different cells-like containers, each filled with what you could recognize as a villain from your own dimension, except slightly different.

Jessica stopped before what looked like an inactivated cell, pushing some sort of code into a nearby panel while the girl approached and put down the Vulture right in the middle of the device that served as the cell’s base.

The moment he left her arms the cel activated, a bright purple hue commit to completely encapsulated him, leaving him unable to leave.

“ They wait here before we send them back to their own dimensions,” The girl said as she pulled down her mask, before pointing toward another room, behind some control panels. “ We got a supper-and-absolutely-not-scary giant spider robot that scans their DNA before sending them back. Super effective.”

“Totally humane and professional.” You completed as you began to see white appendages leaving a hole you didn’t notice in the ceiling, red yes soon following as the gigantic thing came out to work on the prisoner that was just scanned.

Yep! Not scary! Not scary at all!

Quickly, you turned around before you could witness anything more this spider thing was about to do, and chose to follow the two women, staying closer to the girl that seemed more eager to talk.

“I’m Gwen between, I’ve not been here for much longer than you don’t worry, only a month or so. So I know what it feels like at first.” She tried to reassure you, that was easy to tell. But you weren’t stressed, or at least not as much as you think you should have been.

It’s weird. Since I smelt the scent I feel almost at ease.

But there’s more to it, I can feel my entire body heating up.

…Don’t tell me they got some strange laboratory things going on in there and I’m the only one affected… That would be so embarrassing.

You could feel your face heating as you walked. You chatted calmly with the Girl after introducing yourself, and she seemed eager to talk to someone, but inside, you were screaming. It was beginning to be difficult to breathe with your mask, the scent becoming stronger and stronger as you approached a somber room with a sort of platform attached to a metallic arm that stretched into the darkness.

It’s dark enough here, I should be able to pull it off without dying from a headache.

Mimicking the actions of the girl, Gwen, from moments prior, you raised your hand to pull your mask off swiftly, a sigh of pure satisfaction leaving you as the cold air of the room hit your burning face.

I hope I'm not too red or I'll need to make something up.

Thankfully no one seemed to notice your very much cherry-colored face, possibly due to the low lighting of the room to begin with.

Get your hormones in check for fuck's sake.

"Everything's alright here?" Jessica asked as she could tell something was visibly bugging you from the frown on your face.

"Yeah, Yeah everything's good. Just trying to take in all the new info you know?" You answered quickly, but not without missing the curious face Gwen threw your way.

Your eyes went back to Jessica, she was next to the control panel now, and just as she had been doing all the way here, she taped some code on the display. But this time, a holographic figure appeared just next to her.

"Hey, Lyla!" The girl next to you greeted cheerfully the hologram. Wait, THEY HAVE ADVANCED AI TOO?

"Hi Gwen, what's up? Still, sticking with poor old Jess? Miggy still hasn't let you go alone on a mission?" The yellowish woman asked, her form teleporting just next to the girl in question.

"You already know the answer to that Lyla-" Gwen answered, defeated, "I'm ready, at this point I'm just waiting for SOMEONE to tell him that I'm ready too."

The glare she threw at Jessica couldn't be missed, even if you tried, her eyes full of expectations but only met with blank ones.

"Hey it's not my job to babysit, I will have plenty of work when this one will be there," She said while pressing her hand on her belly," If you're sooo ready just go and tell him you are. That shouldn't be difficult for someone as good as you." She finished, a wicked smile playing on her features, obviously teasing the girl.

The two continued their own playful arguing, you could only stand by and watch, at least until the AI- Lyla apparently finally noticed you.

"OH! YOU'RE THE NEWBY MIGGUEL SAID TO MAKE THE GIZMO FOR!" The hologram appeared right in your face, causing you to jump in surprise. She looked like a twenty-something years old woman, a short brunette, and she smiled at you friendly.

"Yeah, I guess that's me..." Everything was starting to become a bit too much for you, having enhanced senses had its pros and cons, and being easily overwhelmed was one of them, and the strange but pleasant scent that invaded your mind didn't help your body to calm down.

"Good, I'm sure you got your own Spidey things to do so we're gonna be brief." She said happily, moving around with way too much energy for such a little thing. "Take that first, it's way better than the daily pass you have right there."

A bracelet similar to the one you saw on the two women materialized in front of you, and you quickly reached out to catch it, not wanting it to break.

Pulling off the elastic bracelet from your right arm, you rapidly replaced it with its metallic counterpart. Up close, you could see the amount of detail and work that went into the item's conception, from the small display to the multiple buttons there and there.

"We'll teach you how to you it don't worry, it's not that hard when you know what to do." Lyla declared confidently, from her proud expression, she must have been the one designing the item.

"But first-" Jessica turned from Lyla to face you.

"-First we'll explain to you everything that has happened." Lyla cut off, earning an angry look from Jessica.

Finally. You thought. it's not like I came here for that in the first place but kinda.

Suddenly the whole room became pitch black, and a beam of white light rose from the middle of it, urging you to come closer. The beam began to take the form of a tree, and from there you could only listen as both Jessica and Lyla explained to you the story of this organization.

"These webs linked us all together," Jessica started, "And one year ago, a gap was left in it, allowing people from one dimension to enter another, those we call anomalies."

"And if we don't do anything, all the worlds could be destroyed."

Waving goodbye to your new colleagues, you stepped into the portal after making sure it was set to your dimension. The trip wasn't as bad as the first, since you were now expecting the whole floating part, but still, it will definitely need to be improved.

When you landed, you were surprised to see yourself in your flat, in the middle of your living room. Almost falling to your knees in relief for the day to FINALLY be over, you caught yourself last second, instead falling face-first into your sofa.

Your body was aching everywhere and you could already feel the headache in your temple, the distinct throbbing enough to let a painful whimper escape your lips.

Need to shower and put this off.

After inhaling heavily, to prepare yourself mentally for the pain to come, you finally rose to your two feet and headed to the bathroom. You took your sweet time undressing, delaying as much as you could the moment the cold air of the room would touch your sensitive skin.

Your flat was modest, and so was your bathroom, you didn't have a very big salary at your local job, and doing Spider-Woman exploit didn't pay shit. Free work all along and still some people got the nerve to hold it to you when you made the slightest mistake.

'Go on take the work' You had wanted to yell more than once. But deep down you knew no one would take your place if it meant going through what you did to have this kind of powers.

As you managed to get most of your suit off, you couldn't but notice the smell that came from off of it. The same as the one in that place in the HQ building. Miguel's 'office' would you had learned it to be. The memory of the man's face still vivid in your mind.

Poor guy, he really lost everything he had. And I can't imagine the amount of guilt he has accumulated over time from that.

And still despite your kind words you couldn't help your body's reaction the moment your eyes met the sculpted body of your new boss. At this moment you thanked every god and goddess you knew the name of to have made this room so dark. If you think you were feeling kind of hot before, then now you were burning from the inside out, everything felt ten times as what you were used to. Sounds, images, odors, everything was multiplied and allowed you to sense almost everything that was going on inside and outside the room.

But it was useless, as your eyes only seemed to see interest in this Miguel's divine complexion.

And damn if your suit didn't make your body heat up once more. Chills ran through your entire body, your talons and fangs starting to stretch despite the fact you didn't want them to. You desperately tried to control yourself, tried to let go of the fabric in your hands, but it seems your body wasn't cooperating. Instead, your hand rose the piece of fabric to your face, allowing you to smell the full fragrance still enclosed in its fibers.

"Shit-" You hissed, as one of your hands grabbed the edge of the sink, your legs were starting to give up on you. You didn't feel this aroused in- hell you've never been this turned on in your entire life and that's saying something about yourself right now. Why was it happening now? It wasn't nearly as bad when you were there, it should have calmed down and not worsened!

You could only let yourself fall on your knees in an attempt to calm yourself, maybe the coldness of the tiles would help? Well, it didn't. Now you could hear a cracking sound coming from above and below you, your talons and claws surely pushing the ceramic of the sink and the tiles to its limit.

As embarrassing as the whole thing was would feel yourself growing soaked, your entire core on fire, waiting for something you weren't sure only your fingers could provide. But your resolution to control yourself started to falter.

So while your nose was still buried deep into the fabric, mouth agape while you inhaled the divine sent, your other slowly caressed your body, starting by your neck, luckily your claws still retracted the moment they touched your skin. You tried to imagine how his body would feel below yours, how his fingers would feel against your skin, would they be rough or smooth? Oh- What you could do to this man at this instant.

Your hand was now on your breasts, your hand easily englobing the mound of flesh, playing with it just the way you liked, causing small moans to escape your drooling mouth. Your hips began to move with a mind of their own, swinging back and forth against nothing, the feeling at your core begging to be too much.

Leaving your other breast without giving it the same attention, you let your hand make its descent towards you screaming for attention vulva. You breathed heavily into your suit, both yours and his scent mixed making your mind go crazy.

"Fuck-Ah!" You jumped as your fingers first made contact with your aching clit, the simple touch almost enough to immediately send you over the edge. Your whole body was tensing now, waiting for something to release the unbearable tension.

Tentatively, your finger started to play around with your sensitive clit, sending powerful waves of pure pleasure through you that left your mind practically blank- except for the image of this beauty of a man panting below you.

Hips grinding on your hand, chasing for more, you allowed one finger to begin spreading your wet folds, sighting in relief when a new sort of pleasure overwhelmed your senses.

But still, it wasn't enough, you were fully moaning into your suit while three fingers worked hard on spreading you and your hips still grinded hard on your palm, trying to get as much stimulation as you could.

You had the picture perfectly painted in your head, mimicking your current depraved act, you would be riding that man until he'd beg you to stop, or until you were fully satisfied. He would look so good with tears in his eyes, you thought, the constant brows on his face as its appeal but god- what would give out to be the one making sure he was milked until there was nothing much he could give you. 

You licked your dried lips at the thought, your tongue brushing slowly upon your bared fangs. You panted heavily, sensing your orgasm approach way faster than usual, the familiar tightness in your core becoming more and more unbearable, but promising a delightful end for all the torture it had been.

You curled on yourself when you grinded particularly hard on your clit, provoking a shockwave that made on fall on the floor of the bathroom. You must have been quite the sight, ass up in the air, hand pushing your suit in your face, all the while you now grinded with a desperate thrust into your hand.

Shit-shit-shit!!

Your entire frame tenses when your orgasm finally hit you full force, the hotness of your core spreading across every centimeter of skin, up until your face. Instinct taking over, you let yourself sink your teeth deep into the fabric still pushed in your face, and the moment your fangs sank in completely, you could feel your own venom ooze out of them.

"Ah AH-" You tried to muffle your sound but to no avail. Fingers still moving against and inside you, you tried to make the few waves of pleasure last as much as you could, even if it meant overstimulating you a tiny bit. After the last bit of pleasure eventually faded, you stayed immobile for a few more minutes, struggling to comprehend what exactly had just happened.

What. The. Fuck. Was. THAT?

Still slightly out of breath from your previous activity, you slowly rose back up, wincing at the feeling of your fingers leaving your leaking cunt. Sitting on your knees, you tried to assert the situation.

You looked intensely at your wet hand, your mind still not processing everything that just happened, as if it had been totally disconnected, leaving your body to be ruled solely by primary and animalistic instincts.

You stood up, not without faltering for an instant, where you incredible sense of equilibria when you needed it?

"Okay. Okay. That is just horny me, no need to think about it. It's just the Sider DND going berserk because of a pretty guy." Your reasoning was strong, at least you thought it to be, just enough to convince you would surely do the work. Looking up into the mirror about your sink, you stared at yourself, hand grabbing its edge with way too much force, causing your fingers to go white and a small crack to appear.

You looked absolutely disheveled, your already not very tidy hair now tangled in a messy patch of color. Your eyes were bloodshot red, your pupils still dilated, taking over most of your eyes, leaving no place for its original color to sip through. Along with you still, open mouth and bared fangs, your shoulder moving up and down in rapid breaths.

You looked monstrous, quite literally. If someone were to see you like this, it would be more than understandable if they suddenly took off running, fearing for their life. You seemed ready to attack anything that come your way, but you could help to find a certain charm to your current state. Sure you looked savage, but the good kind of savage.

Hell, you even though you looked pretty hot like that.

Turning on the sink you quickly rinsed off your hand, a sudden wave of fatigue shutting you down. You then took a quick shower to rinse off any residue of dirk of concrete from today's work, along with the last proofs of your own excitement.

In less than fifteen minutes you were out of the shower, patting yourself dry, and getting ready for bed after throwing your suit in the washing machine before the smell would get you to do this again-and it almost made you sad to know that the only piece of this sent would be gone. Leaving the bathroom after opening a window to evacuate the fog, you stepped into your leaving room for a quick dinner, nothing too fancy.

You took from the fridge some leftovers from this afternoon, some rice along with a small piece of marinated fish, which will be more than enough. You ate at your own pace, not bothered by the clock ticking, reminding you of today's day of work. When you finished, you took out your phone, making sure you didn't forget to activate your alarms.

You entered your bedroom languidly, the darkness of the room comforting you, and with eyes as sensitive as yours, seeing in the dark was included in the package. Putting your phone to charge and the watch thingy- a Gizmo you had learned, o the night table, you throw yourself into the smooth and soft sheets of your bed.

As you found a comfortable position to fall asleep, your mind went back to what today had taught you, memories of all the Spider-men and women invading your mind, and fatally- the image of this Miguel you didn't even know as you watched him lose everything he had.

What a shitty person I am for having this kind of thought toward that poor guy.

Your eyelids were now starting to feel heavy, and before you could react your eyes closed on their own accord, your conscience beginning to drift away.

Thought shutting down as you began to fall asleep you could help but come back to what you saw at the HQ, but this time without the guilty feeling, thanks to being half-asleep.

But he got that cake... Bigger than me.. that's for sure... 

Tag list : (tell me if you want to be added/deleted)

@stany0url0calwh0res111 @mira-dystopiancore @smotheredinlighterfluid @vvitcxen @st4rrlighttt @mstozierr @maxi-ride @miguelsmainb @autismsupermusicalassassin @bluevenus19 @jenniferdixon05207 @candlewitch-cryptic @ahoeformyself @rxionv

[sgt-scottymoreau]

Minor Setback - CIAJ

Summary: Patience is a virtue they say, but for a long can someone remain patient when everything seems to stay still? Soap is about to face the consequence of impatient. Ghost just want him to stay alive and no be reckless for once. On her side, Scotty try to help them all while struggeling with more feelings.

Warning: None

Words: 4.6k // Part1 - Part 2 // AO3 // Masterlist

A/N: I made some sketches/design drawing about this AU, I'll post them later!

Since that day, Scotty had been slightly more avoidant of Soap. Talking about what happened that night was out of the question. It wasn’t the fight in itself or the butterflies she had in her stomach for hours afterwards when she was in bed rethinking of their closeness. His hand on hers, his muscles twitching as he kept her pinned on the mat. That she could handle and accept. It was the idea, a crazy one, that he would see her as a potential third pilot. It was out of the question to be in control of the metal monster ever again. On top of this, she was already against the idea of letting one person her head, two? Never! Every time Soap would start even mentioning the possibility of drifting, she stopped him right here and there. 

“Do you want me to tell him to stay away?” Ghost proposed.

“No!” Scotty replied, planting her fork in the mash potato. “I don’t want him to be away. I just need him to let go of the idea that I would be somehow able to drift with you. Like… I'm a mechanic for fuck sake, I probably got lucky that night.” 

Bullshit. Ghost knew it was. He didn’t see the fight nor fought himself, but how Soap described it, it was obvious to him as well. Difference is he knew she had her reason to want to stay secretive and would let her. He was the same. “Talking of which, how are the tryouts going?” 

“Not so well. We have good candidates that are on standby for a potential three person drift. Soap’s condition is improving but… I don’t want to risk anything yet.” Ghost chewed on his food, jaw tense at the idea that it could all go wrong. “We are discussing maybe having Price or Gaz to see if the cadets can handle the new system.”

“That sounds like a good option. We finally finished removing all the interior of Tanker’s Conn-Pod. Tomorrow we should start rebuilding the motion center. It seems all is falling into place.” They both agreed on that. The more concrete some part of the project looked, the more hope they had that it would workout. 

Later that day, Soap was at the infirmary, sat on the bed, waiting for his brain scan result. It has been four weeks since the last one. Almost two months since the fatal accident. Fidgeting with his fingers, head down, he only hoped for the best. The doctor entered the room with the pictures and placed them on the light board. He pointed out a few parts with a smile. Soap was on a good slope. However, the doctor still restricted him to no Drift. The Scotsman held down the few swears and rage that was boiling inside him. If he was doing better, why did he still have to stay on the bench? He did his best to keep a positive attitude all the time, but this kind of news really took him down. He was so frustrated with himself. He left the wing ready to punch a wall. It was easy to say that he wasn’t ready yet, but what if he was? If they never connected him to the Neural Handshake again, no one will ever know. Obviously, they all preferred to play it safe. Soap was done playing safe.

Two days after his irrational decision, Soap wandered on the maintenance bay asking if anyone had seen Scotty around. Other technicians pointed to the cockpit. He found, deep inside what seemed to be the new skeleton of the motion system. He called her over. Scotty lifted her head and waved at him. She would be back up in a minute. A quick wielding work, climbed through the scaffolding and she was at his level. “What do you want?” 

“I was passing by and I was wondering if you would like to walk with me.” He smiled. Scotty frowned.

“Walking? Where? In town? Here?”

“Here. Well not here here, but around the dome… Look I just want someone to talk to that is not Ghost.”

“Oh, how come?”

Soap shrugged without really having any reasons. He just wanted to. Scotty told him that it was fine, she needed to get changed first. Her uniform was full of grease and not very comfortable to walk in after she just spent ten hours in it. That wasn’t a problem. They made a quick stop to her quarter and went on with a small stroll in the building. She mindlessly followed him, listening to what he had to say, commenting on some points, and kept him updated with her predictions when Tanker would be ready. The casual thing. She should have paid more attention to where he was dragging her because when the computer screens came into vision, Scotty’s mind went on high alert. Next to them stood a mock-up version of what was inside the Jaegers’s Conn-Pod on a much smaller scale. Soap closed and locked the door behind them. She turned around to look at him. “Soap, what the fuck do you have in mind?”

“Everyone tells me I’m not ready, now is not the time, it could be dangerous.” Soap walked to the computer and started to type some commands in it. “I say, I am.”

“No! This is a terrible idea!” He didn’t listen to her, grabbed the helmet on the stand and handed it to her. Scotty grabbed it still under shock. “Soap, don’t do this!”

“It’s alright! I’m not doing it alone.”

It hit her. He was planning to drift with her. Scotty placed the helmet back on the hook. “No, no, no! I’m not doing this, you are not doing. We are not! I won’t let you.”

“Too afraid to have someone in your head?”

“No! … Yes! That’s not the point! What if something bad happened to you?”

Soap chuckled, placing the helmet on his head. Felt a little tight, it has been a while. Scotty was having none of it. She headed back to the door, unlocked it but a hand grabbed her arm. Soap plunged his blue eyes in hers, pleading his case. Just this time, just once. If anything went bad, he would accept that he was not ready. She was upset and torn between the fact that he was right. There was no way to know till he jumped in the simulator. On the other hand, things could go terribly wrong. Soap promised that all would be fine. That and whatever he will find in the drift, he wouldn’t mention. She bit her lip. “Ok.” She let out.

Scotty walked back to the simulator, placed the helmet on her head. Soap had his confident smile, reassuring her that it would be ok. Scotty was not so sure about it. He pressed the button to start the countdown. 5… 4… 3… Scotty focused her mind on nothing. It was hard, but maybe she would be able to keep everything under control. 2… 1… The familiar sensation of falling back, to be absorbed into another dimension. Pulled through this strange tunnel and pushed back with such force. A farm with a family… Warm day in a land surrounded by green on top of a hill… Kids running on the football field towards the goal… These were Soap’s memories. 

Rainy days jumping in puddles… A father running to his kids in an army uniform… The smell of flowers on a new spring day… Her memories.

Scotty was pushed back to reality, her vision adjusting back to the room around them. Nausea caught her by the throat, she quickly took a few deep breaths. Her head felt heavy, like someone was crushing it strongly between their hands. She had forgotten how it was let someone inside. Slowly, she turned her head to check on Soap. He was standing, his eyes focused in front of him. His hands were holding on to the center panel between them. He pushed himself up, a little more steadily. They looked at each other and for a moment, they felt it. They connected. A quick glance at the screen in front of her, their waves were synchronized and stable. Despite the pounding against her skull, Scotty saw it. He looked sweaty, short of breath and shaking. A sharp pain pierced both of them in the chest.

The crushing of the jaw against the metal structure, the sensation of weightlessness, his back hitting the door lock, his head being almost impaled by a rode, a very sharp pain… 

The weightlessness… her hand desperately reached for the life pod ejection in vain… Johan called out for her to brace for impact… Sudden deceleration…

Blackness covered her mind for a second. Scotty grabbed on the upper panel in front of her, her eyes frantically looking at the screen. They were misaligned and the neural load was horrific! A loud thud resonated on her right. Her hand slammed the emergency button. The simulation stopped right away. In a frenzy, she removed the helmet, ran to the entrance door, slammed on the intercom to call out for help and returned to Soap. She took off the helmet, throwing it away without any care. She placed his head on her lap. His nose was bleeding, he was shaking. “Oh no no, Soap, come on! John please!” She panicked, tears in her eyes.

“How the fuck could you!” He shouted, fist clenched. Price was between him and the poor mechanic who was still crying. Price knew Ghost wouldn’t get physical, it wasn’t his style but better safe than sorry.

“I’m sorry! I told him it was a bad idea! I tried to stop him!” She cried back for the hundred times. Gaz was keeping her up, hands on her shoulders. Since he knew her it was the first time he saw so distressed. 

“You didn’t try hard enough! Fucking hell! That’s all your fault!” 

“Enough!” Price’s voice boomed in the room. These two were causing such a scene that no medical personnel dared to approach the group. “Simon, I want you to take a breath and calm down. This is not her fault, not entirely, let Soap explain himself when he wakes up.”

This only eased up the tension temporarily. Scotty didn’t blame Ghost for being angry at her. She should have put her foot down and refused firmly to go on with Soap’s idea. She should have left the room and told anyone about his dangerous plan. In retrospect, it made sense when Soap told her he didn’t want Ghost around. The Brit would have stopped him quickly. However he couldn’t put all the blame on her. How was Scotty supposed to know he would have a seizure! When the doctor came back once again in the room and asked who had let this happen, Ghost didn’t hesitate to point at her. The doctor shook his head, disappointed, yet barring good news. No further damage to the brain, he had been lucky. He allowed the team to go in the room.

Soap was looking out the window. The sun was setting in the distance with a beautiful mirroring image on the ocean. Lethargic, his head turned towards the door as his friends stepped in. Even from afar, Soap could tell that Ghost was pissed. The way he walked to his side, oh he was in for some chewing. “What the fuck where you thinking!” His tone was firm but never rose up. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“Of course not.” Soap’s voice was weak. He was still recovering. “But I’m tired of people telling me I can’t do anything when I know I can. Simon, it worked!”

“Like hell it did. Look at you. Look where you are for fuck sake!”

Soap’s hands clenched on the bed sheets. “This is just a minor setback. It was my first time back into the simulator. It will be better next time.”

“There won't be a next time Mr. MacTavish.” The Marshal entered the room, hands behind his back, posture fully straight and a strict look. As soon as the news reached that one of his rangers found himself again at the infirmary in an almost critical state, of course he would come in person. “You are grounded. The modification on Bravo Tanker will remain active, but you. Even if your condition gets better, you are forbidden to pilot till I say so. Did I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Soap mumbled under his breath. The Marshal then demanded Price and Gaz to follow him, they had to discuss possible deployment plans now that it seemed like his second main Jaeger will be staying in the garage for a little longer. Scotty was uneasy, uncertain what to do. Ghost and Soap were looking at each other in silence. Maybe it was better to give them some room. Without a word, she turned around ready to leave, but someone grabbed her upper arm. The amber eyes pierced her brown one with intensity. Ghost asked her to stay, he wanted to talk. All three of them. He sat her on the bed and he watched both, very disappointed. At least his rage was gone. Soap’s eyes avoided his, focused on his legs hidden under the blanket. “It worked.” He let out after a few minutes of silence.

“It did not, Johnny. If it had you wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m not talking about me jumping in the simulator, Simon. I’m talking about her.”

Scotty’s head perked up. He was pointing at her with a weak smile. “What worked?” She asked, confused.

“We were stable. We drifted, we were on the same length… till that stupid memory came back. I threw us off.” It was impossible to forget the sensation, how real it was. Scotty felt what Soap did as if she had been in the cockpit. That fraction of seconds where it all played was the reason she had been accidently also thrown off the rail as well. Maybe after all, it was partially her fault if Soap found himself in the infirmary again? “I have a question. Who is Johan?”

She tensed up at the name. Her hands crisped on her knees, head looking down. Of course, if she saw his memories, he saw hers. So he saw the one that made her lose all control before his seizure. “My… My old co-pilot… I used to pilot, yes.” 

The lack of reaction on their part made her guess they figured this much even before. Obviously, if he was asking he saw everything and knew. Scotty didn’t remember the last time she openly talked about what happened that day. Soap connected the dots; this is what had upset her after their fight. He lived that memory and understood why she kept it secret. Scotty decided to let it all out. She explained how they had been deployed to protect the coast near Dunkerque. One massive category three who gave them more trouble than expected. It found a way to be too close from the beach and they had to evacuate anyone in a three kilometer radius. Roughly similar to what happened to Bravo Tanker, their Jaeger integrity has been compromised. They received back up but it was far too late. The kaiju used its heavy tail to slam one last attack as it turned to face its new opponent. The tail hit directly in the structure of the neck already heavily damaged. This hit was enough to decapitate the poor mecha. The sensation of free fall grabbed them by the stomach. During the long seconds of it, they tried to use their life pod, hoping this would absorb the shock better. The Conn-Pod came crashing on the shore, seventy-six meters below. When she regained awareness of everything around her, she had a broken arm, half hanging from her station. Everything else was broken; spark bursting from loose cables, metal pieces bent, broken, sharpened. With much effort, Scotty manually removed the harness holding her and fell against the broken visor of the mecha; their window to the world. Which in itself was quite a fall and she landed on her bad arm. She cried out in pain. A weak voice called for her. Ignoring her injury, the pilot pushed herself up to see where it came from. The vision she found forever scarred her. Johan was there, laying on the sand, a pipe lodged in his neck. Blood gurgled from his mouth as he desperately tried to reach out for her. His eyes filled with fear. Scotty kneeled next to him frantically trying to save him, but what could she do? He was lucky… or unlucky that the pipe didn’t reach all the way to the back. He would have died instantly. He weakly reached for her hand and in a twisted turn of event, they realized they were still connected to each other. His fear and pain was hers, hers his. She felt him slowly drifting away, thinking of his wife and kids at home. Tell them I love them please. Tell them I’ll always watch over them. Then it all stopped. No more fear nor pain. Not more breath nor warm. Silent and cold. His hand slipped from hers, the life in his eyes faded into a glassy look.

“The kaiju had been taken care of in the meantime and the medical team was able to evacuate us. But it was too late. He had been dead for ten minutes. I was incapable of saving him.” Tears rolled down her cheeks again. She wiped them quickly. The two men remained speechless; they didn’t know what to say. Yet they understood why she refused the pilot again. After that, she struggled hard with survivor guilt to the point she wasn’t capable of letting go. Every simulation was a failure because of this memory which haunted her every waking moment of the day. So she gave up and took a job as J-tech. Ghost sat next  to her, his hand reached to rest on her leg as a comforting gesture. Soap’s fingers brushed on her hand and held her. All her pain and sadness was suddenly replaced by confusion. Scotty knew they wanted to show support by these gestures, however her brain had all the wrong signals. Why were we doing this? Was there something more behind it?

“I’m sorry to hear.” Ghost let out. Their eyes met for a second; for someone who was pissed at her not even twenty minutes ago he showed so much kindness in his gaze.

“Thanks for sharing it with us.” Soap reassured. “We understand if you don't want to pilot, but you looked pretty good at it.”

She smiled, understanding his meaning. He also caught a glimpse of her fights. “I’ll never pilot again.”

“You should really reconsider.”

Two weeks laters, after almost ten hours shift over another one, none stop working between days and nights, fighting logistics to make sure all parts would be on time and in good conditions, the new interior was done. Bravo Tanker was officially ready to welcome three pilots onboard. Some touch up where needed, especially in the calibration system. They had to make sure that each pilot would share an equal amount of load. They tried different test runs on how the Jaeger would react to certain percentages input; so far every test came back with good results. To the whole crew it meant everything, their hard work, had paid off. The true test would be so to see in action and not some simulation, but everyone was quite happy. 

Soap had learned his lesson and accepted once and for all to stay patient. Because of his permanent grounding, the Marshal had put the recruiting on hold. He wouldn’t accept reckless behavior without consequences. The Scotsman kept it to the minimum, physical training only in moderation. Despite all that, he did find a new training partner. 

Scotty kept her word; no piloting. However with the truth out, she felt lighter, a burden lifted and more open to return to some old habits. She wasn’t afraid anymore to be in the Kwoon room. Not that she ever had been that much, but it always felt like someone would know her secret. Only her superiors were aware of her past rank. This allowed Ghost to feel what Soap had.

They trained together four times in that period. Each time, it was the same. The same connection, same dance, same feeling. Depending on the martial art they chose that session, it often ended in a tie or with one winner, but the score was so close. The fencing sword stopped right under his chin. “4-3. I won!” She grinned out of breath. Ghost admitted his defeat. His arms dropped on each side, exhausted by the intense workout. He walked away to get some water. Soap handed a towel to Scotty. An idea crossed his mind. 

“I dare you to jump on him.” He whispered.

“What? Why?”

“Oh you know, a surprise attack. Let's see if he can predict that.”

Hmm what did she have to lose? The mat tempered her steps so it was easy to sneak close. With a small run-up, she launched herself. Ghost looked over his shoulder, turned just enough to grab on her wrist, flung her above him. Scotty’s back hit the mat roughly, she deserved that. He took the opportunity to sit on her. “He will get you in trouble every time, love. Stop listening to him.” He smirked behind the mask.

The smile on her face dropped. “Love?”

“Don’t like it? I thought I could try since you and Soap seem to be so keen on pet names.”

“Uh.. No, no it’s fine.” Her cheeks burned. These two! She really wished she could know what game they were playing because she was getting more and more mixed signals. Maybe she should tell them the truth? Maybe, some day.

The next day, the kaiju alert rang through the building. 

Ghost and Soap were talking with the Marshal as it happened. The man told them to follow him to the LOCCENT. Being grounded didn’t mean they couldn’t follow what was happening. Arriving in the room, the Marshal was quickly greeted by a woman who looked scared. With reason. The reading on the screen showed the category of the monster. The first ever Category Four in the region. From the data they had from other ones that showed up around the world, these were thought bastard. The Marshal had to consider his options. His strongest Jaeger was inoperative. But his newer teams were now fully capable alone. One Jaeger would be too little, two acceptable, three safest. Three out of five. If anything happened to all of them, he lost more than half his defense. They wouldn’t be able to protect the coast effectively. 

“Bravo Brawler, Vulcan Striker, Fury Hunter get ready for deployment.” He ordered through the intercom. 

The three Jaegers were quickly dispatched to the last known location of the beast. From there it went from bad to worse. This kaiju was taller and larger than the mechas, it was robust and strong. It barely took him five minutes to destroy one Jaeger. Fury Hunter, the last of the Mark-3 the Shatterdome hosted. It was too slow to react. The kaiju’s carapace made any regular blow almost ineffective. Bravo Brawler tried the missile but missed the target by a few meters as it squirmed away. One moment of inattention was all it needed to strike on another Jaeger taking her down.

In the LOCCENT tension was rising by the minute. The Marshal kept his composure despite his mind being crushed when the second announcement came up. He just lost two Jaegers. Four pilots, dead. Soap was restless, arms crossed, bouncing on his heels. He knew what had to be done. They couldn’t waste more time or life. His eyes went to the Marshal then to Ghost who had the same expression through his balaclava. His eyes spoke of the anxiety that was crippling on everyone's minds. “You have to let us assist!” The Scotsman spoke up.

“No. If you steps in-”

“If we don’t do anything, Price and Gaz are going to die!” He cut off the Marshal. “By the time you make your decision, this Kaiju will have reached the shore and killed us. Either way, there’s a chance I die!”

“Johnny, we are not going!” Ghost intervened. “We don’t even have our third pilot!”

“Yes we do! Scotty is the perfect match and you know it!”

“Ms. Moreau?” The Marshal was confused. “She is a J-tech.”

“She was a pilot and she is the only one who can help us right now!”

“Soap, we can risk-”

“Give me a break, Ghost! We have to try or more people will die! If I die, at least I tried and didn’t stay still doing nothing!”

Ghost’s expression hardened. His reasoning was right. They had to make a choice now.

Scotty was in the Conn-Pod refining some tuning on the calibration system. Heavy stepfoot echoed around. Suddenly, more technicians poured inside. She froze up for a moment. What was going on? A tech told her to follow him to the Drivesuit Room, this only added to her confusion. In the room, she was greeted by an already fully suited and armored Ghost and Soap. It has been ages since they wore the ‘uniform’. “Can anyone tell me what is going on?”

“Suit up.” Soap smiled, throwing a suit to her. 

She awkwardly catched it, totally taken aback by the situation. Suit up? Hold on! They weren’t going to go fight this new category four were they? With her? Ghost noticed her moment of hesitation. “No time to waste Scotty. Price and Gaz need us, come on.”

“I-I can’t! I can’t pilot again.” Tears blurred her vision. Too many emotions took her by the throat in a second. Soap held her by the shoulders.

“It’s going to be alright. We will be there for you, we will support you.” He gave her a pat and jogged towards the Conn-Pod, too excited to be back in the action. Ghost stopped next to her. He lifted her chin, whipped a tear with his thumb.

“You can trust us. Also, you know there’s no way we can change his mind now so better indulge him. Even if it kills him…” 

Scotty was left alone, suit in hands and stunned by the gesture Ghost made. She looked at the circuit prints on it, the fabric felt like an old dream under her fingertips. She could push through and save the day or she could back down but this would mean the death of so many, including people she deeply cared about? No. This war had taken too much already and it was time she stopped playing cowards. In record speed, she changed from her technician clothes to the full armor of a pilot. It was heavier than she remembered, not that she minded at the moment. She walked determined to join up with the other two. They had a smile on their face as she walked in, helmet under her arm. Ghost took his place on the right as usual, Soap setting up his side on the left. This was their regular formation. Scotty stopped him. 

“Let us handle the load, you take the third seat.” She said in a tone that left no room for talk back. “We are the strong base, you are at the top. For now we are your support, just like a triangle.”

“Now it is not the time for a shape lecture.” Ghost chuckled. 

All three pilots locked themselves to their respective harness. Everything secured and held in place, it was time to plunge. The onboard AI made the countdown. 15 seconds to Neural Handshake. Scotty took a deep breath, it was time to see if all their efforts in the previous months were worth it. 5…4…3…2…1 Neural Handshake initiated.

[ystk-archive]

CAPS LOCK turns ten today! Any thoughts about it looking back? (Yes, it's your time to write that essay!) And do you think Nakata should release an album like this again? I remember you saying that CAPS LOCK should've been a Nakata album, not a CAPSULE one.

It's kind of crazy that anyone would remember something I probably said when I was nineteen, but that's a good (incorrect) opinion of mine to take me to task for since it's a great jump-off point, lol.

I most likely said that not so much because CAPS LOCK doesn't use Toshiko's voice enough -- it uses it extremely well, really, better than the more recent Metro Pulse -- but because the album seems so pensive and insular and bizarrely personal. capsule's music increasingly incorporated gloomy and oppressive overtones starting from FRUITS CLiPPER (and I'll ascribe it as a function of the genre change), but capsule was fundamentally always pop, and moreover always a "good time." The music was supposed to make you get up and dance, not sit and listen in a quiet space. CAPS LOCK was him shifting his ethos, it was an abrupt rejection of what he had been doing. It was close to what I'd always envisioned a "solo Nakata Yasutaka album" to be -- largely or entirely instrumental, completely inscrutable, and room to do more than what he could (or would) with his normal 9-to-5 cubicle musician pop production acts. And it was the first time a capsule album made me feel sad and reflective instead of immersed in a fantasy of a world that I know nothing about and cannot access. It's a sobering album instead of an intoxicating one.

If those are a lot of frou-frou words, I can also call CAPS LOCK the end result of what happens when you talk to Sakamoto Ryuichi just one time (will never stop thinking about how he met him for S&R in 2012 and a year later we got this album lmao); I'll admit there's a sense of insincerity to the album that was sharply amplified by everything that followed (WAVE RUNNER and six years of silence) and it's partially just the sci-fi film score Nakata is never going to be asked to do (wish he'd fund his own, he loves movies and it's not like he ain't got no money). It's also an album that makes the listener want to know more about what's going on there -- it suggests a story (as Toshiko pointed out in this column) though there is none that can be concretely pieced together, it tries to and I think does create vivid environments through its sound design, and some tracks are unenjoyable slogs to hear for those who come to capsule for snappy pop music. There's a fetishizing of recorded sounds here instead of synthesizers; CAPS LOCK is entirely about what every moving part of each song accomplishes in tandem.

But all of this really just functioned as a declaration of capsule's plasticity. Anyone can examine their albums between 2010-2012 and see someone endlessly repeating themselves, sometimes trying to violently elbow their way out of a pigeonhole. CAPS LOCK was so much of a properly-done reversal that I got the impression that, regardless of how fans personally felt about the music itself, it piqued curiosities and got people really invested and excited for what could be created through capsule. It achieved this visually and sonically; basically, it felt like an album that was truly considered and made instead of cobbled together with a black backdrop. It presented Toshiko's voice in an entirely new way, where she actually is an instrument and to remove or replace her with something else would alter the effect, and it evoked enough familiarity with their previous work while still transforming the scope of what a capsule album could justifiably be and how it could make listeners feel.

This has been a whole lot of incoherent rambling but to answer the other question, yes, he absolutely should do another album "'like this," though I struggle to explain what exactly "like this" is even after everything I just wrote LMAO. Another album with a specific intention behind it? Something that is music for music's sake and not a collection of advertisements and safe pop?

[practically-an-x-man]

"What is a 'slay queen', and why did they just call me that?"

Prompt idea for you

Oooooh this is an Eris prompt if I've ever seen one

____ This Time It's Not So Literal

Word Count: 1.5k Content Warnings: none really, it's pretty cute ____

"This goes against everything I stand for," Eris grumbled, his fingers twitching for his spear. He didn't have it with him, regrettably, and their restless fingers found the fabric of their skirt instead.

"You look great, though," Rick offered, glancing down from their right side. Eris shrugged, fighting hard not to feel uncomfortable with the clothing.

She ran her hands down the front of her sundress, smoothing down the fabric. It was dark red, the color of old blood, and the fabric rippled loosely around her legs as she walked. His arms were bare, showing off their array of freckles and scars. At least it had pockets. He had a knife, only about three inches long and sheathed in a leather case, tucked into one of them.

God, he wanted his spear.

"A thousand years, and I've never worn a dress for longer than a few minutes," he muttered, "I guarantee it."

"I'll have to take your word for it." Rick said, a faint smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, "You don't like dresses?"

"It's not that I don't like them, I just..." Eris huffed, taking loose fistfuls of their skirt for emphasis, "How the hell are you supposed to fight in this? I mean, it's got movement, but there's just so much fabric. It gets in the way, someone could grab it... it's a hazard. It's just as bad as wearing a cape."

"Point of today's that we shouldn't have to do any fighting," Rick pointed out, "Besides, I'm sure you'll just cut that skirt off if we happen to run into something."

"Damn right I will."

"Besides, all I said was to pick a disguise," he added a moment later, "Why pick a dress if you don't want to wear it?"

"Because it's pretty," Eris sighed, taking an extra step to make the fabric ripple a little more dramatically, "And I didn't think it through at the time."

They were approaching a fountain, spitting jets of water high into the air, and Eris hopped up easily onto the low concrete wall surrounding it. If nothing else, it was a lovely day for espionage, and a lovely park to spend it in. The grass was green and the sun was high, and their dress seemed to shine like a jewel when it caught the right light. He kept finding Rick's eyes on him- much more than usual, for whatever reason.

She walked along the edge of the fountain with loose, casual steps, letting her eyes scan the scene ahead of her. Rick was squinting. Eris wasn't. Her eyes were a lot darker than his were, after all. She was built for bright summer days like this. Under the warm sunlight, her skin practically glowed.

"He's on the other side of the park," he said, his voice light and casual, "Down by the water. Feeding the ducks."

"Hm. Looks like we'll be having ourselves a little picnic, then," Rick replied, lifting the basket in his other hand, "If we want to be close enough to listen, that is. Good thing I came prepared."

"I'm starting to think this is all by design," Eris said, their smile flashing bright as they looked down at him. Standing on the edge of the fountain, it was one of the rare occasions she stood taller than him. The backsplash of the water sent a cool, gentle mist over her skin, and she allowed herself to bask into the feeling for a moment or two.

"Yeah? What design's that?"

"I think our target's a ruse." he said in the same faintly amused tone of voice, "I think you set this up so you could court me."

"It's a very real target, darlin'. Straight from Waller's list." Rick responded, glancing from Eris down to the other side of the park, "The fact that I opted to catch him here, though... alright, maybe that was me."

He lifted his free hand up to them, palm up in invitation. Eris just stared at it for a moment or two.

"Rick Flag, are you seriously suggesting I hold your hand?"

"We're s'posed to be a couple."

"We are a couple." Eris pointed out with a shrug, "By most modern definitions. Aren't we?"

"I mean we're s'posed to look like a couple." he corrected, though his fingers twitched like he was about to withdraw his hand. It did look a little awkward there, held up in an unacknowledged invitation like that. Rick shrugged. "I'll let go if it looks like there'll be a fight. I promise."

It was the same reason she wasn't very fond of hugs. One hand devoted to holding onto someone else's was one hand out of use in an emergency. Or even worse - not that they thought they were in danger of this with Rick - that someone could get a more dangerous hold on her, like a bear hug with a knife to her throat, with just a well-timed tug. Besides, he was on their right side- their dominant side. The side where her only weapon was tucked into her pocket.

It was... unsafe.

Eris sighed and placed her hand in his own. Rick beamed so brightly it looked like a second sun. It made something flutter deep within her.

Still holding Rick's hand, he hopped off the edge of the fountain and smiled at the way it made his skirt float out around him. His feet hit the ground, sandals scratching against the pavement, and they couldn't resist twirling themself around Rick's hand. It made their dress flare out, rippling like soft red flower petals on the surface of a pond.

"Slay, queen!" A passer-by called out, drawing Eris' eye. The stranger was tall, with multicolored hair and a panting terrier on a leash trotting out ahead of them. Eris' brow furrowed, and she tilted her head at the stranger, but they'd already shifted focus.

"Rick?"

"Hm?"

"What is a 'slay queen', and why did they just call me that?" Eris asked, rather bluntly. Rick let out a strained cough, poorly disguising a laugh.

"It's a good thing, doll. It, ah, it means they like your dress." he said, clearly biting back a smile, "That was kind of cute, that thing you did there."

Their expression darkened at his use of the word cute, but Rick seemed undeterred. He reached over, managing some kind of... maneuver that ended with his arm across Eris' shoulders, and lightly tugged her in against his side. It was far too smooth for him to be annoyed. The clever moves always got him.

"You're not allowed to be so charming, cowboy." they told him. They could feel Rick chuckle from beside them.

"Yeah? Why not?"

"It's... unbecoming of me."

"Unbecoming?" he teased, "I know you know more modern slang than that."

"Sometimes the old words work best." Eris pointed out, then twisted around to press their knuckle into the space between his ribs. It couldn't have hurt, but it made Rick squirm a little. "And you're changing the subject."

"Which is?"

"Which is stop it." she huffed, "I think you're starting to forget who I am."

"You are a thousand-year-old metahuman who claims to be war incarnate, and I believe it. You've got so much blood on your hands, you could make your own damn ocean. I didn't forget that, hon," Rick said, then shrugged, "I just don't care. Believe it or not, wartime, you're not the first bloodthirsty meta I've spent time with."

"You're gonna regret that when you get your throat slit before your fortieth birthday."

"I'm forty-three." he drawled, then fired her another bright grin, "And maybe I'll live to be ninety, and you'll be holdin' my hand at my deathbed when I kick it. You'd made a pretty last sight, doll, I gotta say."

Eris scoffed and ducked their head, refusing to let him see the way they flushed.

"I thought I told you to stop that."

"I thought you'd learned by now that I don't listen," Rick fired back, grinning at her. The sun brought out a few different colors in his eyes, their usual muddy gold-hazel blooming into a surprisingly vivid green around the edges. Eris held his gaze for a moment or two longer than she really needed to. She always thought he had such interesting eyes. Almost.... lion-like, in a way.

Rick's arm tightened around their shoulders in a bizarre little side-hug. Shit. He'd noticed the staring. He didn't seem to care, but he'd noticed.

"Where's the target?" Eris muttered, craning his neck to look past Rick's broad frame. He thought he saw a glimmer of amusement pass over Rick's face, but it was gone with the mention of the mission at hand.

"Still feeding the ducks," he replied, then lifted the basket still held loosely in his other hand, "Should we get on with our picnic, then?"

[dropthedemiurge]

Guide of my creations

For all the new people stumbling upon my blog – I know it's very confusing, but I do have some art and fanfics and indie games and other stuff. I finally got around to collect all the links and tags here, thank you for the pressure xD

Feel free to interact even with old stuff and send me asks about anything, even if you just want to chat or discuss new thai lakorn.

Welcome, take some pizza and roam around!

ART COMMISSIONS POST [currently open, DM for more]

ART TAGS:

#my works — everything from art to animations to flash games to random edits etc

#dropthefanart – my fanart (2021-present, mostly Thai BL series + K-pop)

#phanart — Dan and Phil fanart (also animations and flash games)

#supernatural — Supernatural fanart (quite old tho xD)

#dropthegame — my future visual novels (I'll update other games to this tag later)

#dropthemeta — some of my meta posts for Thai BL series

FANFICS:

#dropthefanfic — my recent fanfics (also mostly Thai BLs)

(AO3) Birds On Concrete Wall (Thai BLs and my passionate practice of writing in English)

(AO3) AmetistLex (K-pop, iKON, I have a huge desire to delete it all but for now it's there)

Ficbook (Fanfics in russian + Bad Buddy novel translation)

OTHER:

Love for Love's Sake translation+culture details+meta

Time of Fever recap (Unintentional Love Story spinoff spoilers)

My social media (iKON, phanart, album designs, AR apps, IG masks and filters, vlogs and my other creative projects)

My website with cool projects I made inspired by K-pop group iKON (and their approval :3)

List with my plans and ideas (messy)

[atomarium]

So @neoncityrain,

I'll being again.

You have probably heard the words "nuclear" reactor at least a couple of times. Many people fear them and don't understand. Some fear them because of that. In the principle nuclear reactors are actually incredibly simple on their own. It's basically a kettle with a turbine that heats using shiny rocks. To be specific about what happens in the process of "fission" (the process of atoms doing the absolutely mental). We fire a neuron, it hits a heavy atom like uranium 238 (238 indicates the number of protons inside the atom, this is important because different amounts of neutrons make different isotopes of the same element. And while some isotopes are stable, some are incredibly radioactive. This is needed to calculate the energy potential.) After the neutron gits the atom, it splits in to two atoms of a lighter elements. For example uranium 235 when split produces either barium and kripton, strontium and xenon or tin and molybdenum. Depending on how it splits. When the atom is split it releases other neutrons, Wich are moving very fast and carry an energy potential. It's also called the neutron temperature. Basically how much kinetic potential it has. Kinetic potential is basically temperature. As movment in atoms is heat. It in itself is important for splitting lighter elements or achieving higher efficiency. But I'll come back to that later.

So basically green rock Magic happens (it's actually emits blue light not green). And it heats a pot of watter Wich we make in to steam and then in to energy.

With the rock Magic done we come to the part of construction. Eich is my favorite as you see there is a lot of concrete metal and vey sturdy stuff in general.

Main concern for people that are afraid of nuclear reactors is another Chernobyl, Fukushima or three mile island.

Wich is a completely valid concern. However they are all human error. Fukushima was built on a shore... with tsunamis.

Chernobyl was managed by my ancestors, Wich they did incredibly porly and did experiments to the reactor that it was not Designed for.

Nuclear reactors altho do have uranium inside of them, just as nuclear bombs. Their are utterly and absolutely Incapable of exploding like one. It's just not as pure and condensed. And it's also not being exploded together. That's just not going to happen.

With today's technology in automatic control units, Materials and stuff, reactors are incredibly unlikely to fail. Unless humans do stupid human stuff. France for example is Europes largest nuclear powerhouse. And it's energy sources are basically carbon neutral. Also the concern of people that radiation will spread and radiate the area is very unfounded. I blame the Simpsons for that fear. Uranium is not a green glowy liquid. It's a metal ish metal, maybe greyish. And you can calmly hold it. It generaly doesn't contaminate watter. And not is it in direct contact with it. It's inside it's heat transfering case. The heat from the uranium case rods is transfers with either watter molten sodium or salt. (It sounds scary but each of them has their own benefits). There is a three loops design usually implemented. The first loop takes heat directly from the uranium. And transfers it via a heat exchanger (a radiator basically) to the second loop. The second loop uses the heated watter to spin the turbines. And then at the end cools it even more with the help of the third loop. The third loop is usually just taking water from a river and spraying it in the air after it took the heat. Those are the huge cooling towers you usually see. It's not smoke or radiation. It's just steam. So you can drink it without problem. Wich I proudly day I did. (it's almost like an iterator)(wait nuclear powered iterator) (a universe where the didn't discover void fluid energy) (holy shit I made something creative)

Nuclear power occupies a very important niech. It can produce A LOT of power on demand. Meaning if suddenly it's a holiday and everyone has decided it is time their ovens on. Renewables won't be able to compensate. As you see, if there is simply no wind or sun. There is nothing you can do. You can build batteries, but litium ion are very expensive and bad for the environment. And batteries that pump watter up so it later can spin generators falling down (usually called a gravity battery) are good and massive. But can't be everywhere.

Nuclear power plants can ramp up their energy production to cover that spike rapidly and efficiently. Making sure your country won't suddenly be low on energy ((KHEM KHEM GERMANY)) in the winter. Because uranium doesn't care for the weather.

Nod for the main part and the most interesting.

NUCLEAR WASTE

I shall repeat again. It's unfortunately not a dlurpee. And it doesn't leak.

Nuclear waste has 3 stages.

Fresh out of the reactor.

This kind needs to be actively cooled, because altho it has much of the useful uranium used up. There is still a little bit of wamrth. It needs to be cooled in a pond for a couple of months.

That's the cooling pond. It's about a years with I think. Fissile material is incredible energy dense. One kilogram of enriched uranium is enough to power uhhh. A lot of stuff for s long time. The voyager for example has been out there since uhh. A log time. And it's own small littler radio isotope nuclear generator is what keeps it warm and alive.

The second stage is splitting stuff that could be useful,such as enriched uranium. 238 neutrons. It can still be used. And recycled. Wich many do.

The third kind is the bad kind. The stuff thats radioactive enough to be dangerous but not useful. Right now it is stored underground in metal and concrete husks.

This is of course bad. As it accumulates there and isn't useful.

However, there is not that much nuclear waste. It's actually doesn't take up that much space. And in the end you're putting radioactive rocks back were you found them.

HOWEVER

here comes my favorite part.

THERE IS A WAY TO AVOID ALL OF THAT.

it's called fast neutron fission reactors. Those are experimental reactors right now. So there aren't any used actevly. But they posses a very useful trait. They feed using nuclear waste. And guess what it produces as a result ?

NUCLEAR FUEL.

This means it's an infinite energy glitch (not technically. Some of the matter is concerted to energy)

You put nuclear waste of normal reactors, in to fast neutron reactors ( also referd as breeder reactors or fast spectrum reactors) and get fuel back. And we'll 1 Gramm or so of trans uranics (the nasty nuclear waste) per ton. Wich tooooo be fair... it's just a Gramm, just pour it underground it'll be fine. Or keep it in a bottle as a lava lamp.

Altogether, nuclear reactors altho not as simple as burning coal or shining the sun at a panel. Are INCREDIBLY powerful. And are just misunderstood behemoths capable of boosting our civilization past the climate change. Many people fear them, but they shouldn't. They fear the complex, and refuse to learn about it.

Germany should really revisit it's nuclear policy.

Ah and by the way. Most biggest reason why we aren't building more faster is because they are expensive. However. Most of the cost comes from turbines and cooling stuff. The exact same as in coal power plants or gas powerplants. We can just put a kettle of cool rocks in there and get one free powerplant for relatively cheap and no CO2!!

Feel free to ask any questions, I have absolutely no problem with that. Also i apologize for my grammar and typos, I just don't wsnt to correct the entirety of the text. Hopefully I didn't screw something up badly.

Also @eltanin0 you might find this interesting to.

Bonus argument

JUST LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS

Literally rainworld irl

The last two are scientific reactors, nuclear powerplants don't look like this

Oh and a schematic just in case.

Forgot to mention the control rods, it's just to stop neutrons when you don't need them. It's like graphite or similar. And its safer to be gravity droped so if there is suddenly no power they shutdown the reactor automatically.

Also one of the reasons Chernobyl went boom.

Yeah I'm definitely fucking autistic