#MP big case

[asleepinawell]

if hyth had been an ascian he would have greatly benefited everyone on all sides because he'd have been 100% onto fandaniel's bullshit early on and just have calmly murdered him without a word said

elidibus: where's fandaniel

hyth: he was planning to kill zodiark and restart the final days so I fed him to a morbol

elidibus: what

hyth: what

[theabigailthorn]

Do you think you’ll ever write a book, either philosophy related or maybe memoirs? I really love your content and your ideas and would love to know more about how you organize your worldview.

FUNNILY ENOUGH

I've been seriously considering writing a book about the way the NHS treats trans people, and more broadly about institutional pathologisation in the current global moment we're having. I've had meetings with some big publishers, even drafted an introduction and proposal, and gotten offers back!

BUT

I don't think I'm going to do it, for a few reasons. In no particular order:

Writing a book about that subject might raise the consciousness of a few folks, but does it help build material power for trans people against my country's healthcare system, and the other systems that subjectify trans people globally? Not really, no. In fact it would legitimise the elite media consensus that engaging with elite media is the path to achieving change. Books aren't just books, they're "media events," and accordingly they increase the power and prestige of the media they happen in. If I wrote this book, newspapers would review it, chart it, I'd be invited onto Radio 4 and shit to "debate" and "discuss" it... Does doing that actually help get medicine into trans people's hands? Not really! Writing books and "getting ideas out there" is pretty busted as a theory of change unless it builds power. The fantasy of writing a really good speech or article or book and suddenly the scales fall from cis people's eyes is just that - a fantasy. No minority group has ever gotten change or justice that way. All that would happen is I'd "enhance my brand" - which means that I, with my private education and privilege and opportunities, would make money and get clout whilst contributing to the elite capture of trans rights as a political struggle. I'd become "a leader in the community" and get invited to some dinners and media events and blah blah blah - meanwhile the violence continues. That media event would also enhance the brands of those cis-dominated media outlets and the "having conversations" industrial complex, who are part of the fucking problem! The struggle should be led by the poorest and most vulnerable among us and link up with other material struggles like resisting immigration raids, prison abolition, decriminalisation of drugs and sex work, etc. So I could likely do more good for my community by donating my time and money to good causes and also by some uhhhh... other stuff - let's call it 'direct assistance' - which I already do and find fulfilling.

The offers aren't that big! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Writing that book might do harm if it's co-opted into ongoing right wing attempts to dismantle the NHS and all trans care. It'd be intellectually satisfying but not creatively satisfying or fun. I'd have to immerse myself in a very bleak world for a long time: I would enjoy having done it but not the doing.

It'd ruin my career. Right now I actually fly pretty under the radar of a lot of my country's nastiest transphobes. That would end if I wrote a book about the NHS. Newspapers, editors, publishers, journalists, and probably some MPs and Lords would become very invested in tearing me down. I've seen it happen to queer writers and journalists before. Remember, Britain is a small country and our media is run out of one city by a very small group of people who all know each other and who also know all our politicians, in some cases because they're literally the same people! That book would be like kicking a hornets' nest. Maybe they'd come after me publicly, or maybe it would be more British: somebody would make a quiet phone call and I'd suddenly be radioactive. Bye-bye acting career, bye-bye any public career.

For related reasons, writing that book and doing the necessary media campaign would expose me to a WORLD of harassment and shit from some of the worst people in the universe, which I frankly don't want. That might include lawsuits.

My dream job is to play [REDACTED] in [REDACTED]. Writing a book wouldn't take me closer to that. It would cement my brand as 'trans educational writer' instead of 'actress and writer,' which is what I am.

So yeah, all in all, I don't think I'm going to do it. Not right now anyway. I reserve the right to change my mind. Think I'll write a screenplay instead!

[ihopesocomic]

That "everything My Pride got wrong about lions" list you mentioned in one of previous asks? Would love to actually see that 👀

We don't have an exact "list" per se but here's the main things that spring to mind that are shown in MP that are factually incorrect:

Prides are led by a single male and no other male may have control of the pride: incorrect. Prides can and will consist of more than one male and males will sometimes team up to run out the resident male or males.

Lions can bite through a rival's mane: a lion's mane is like thick, fluffy armour that protects the throat and it absolutely cannot be penetrated in the manner like Quick did with Starmane. This is why lions actually opt to attack the face, the back, or the hips.

Lionesses do not defend their cubs from rogue males: lionesses absolutely do defend their cubs from males, including those that are related to them by blood, such as the father. They're very protective mothers. There's even reports of lionesses running their cubs away from the pride and hiding them so the rogue male cannot find them.

Lions are active during the day: lions are actually crepuscular and more active at dawn, dusk and at night for the African nights are cooler and present better hunting opportunities. They tend to rest during the day. I know there are instances where this isn't the case, but that just comes with being opportunistic hunters. They will also hunt during storms, uilitising the weather to their advantage. Hence why Travellers have names related to the weather. We just thought it was a cool fact.

Lions have slit pupils: lions, like all big cats, have round pupils. There are theories as to why this is, but at the end of the day, only domestic cats have slit pupils.

Male lions are called manes: Yes, we know that this is a xenofiction thing and MP has every right to adopt their own vocabulary, but people literally think that male lions in a pride are called "manes" and male lions not in a pride are called "no-manes". So apparently it needs to be said that male lions are simply called lions, and females are lionesses.

Tsavo lions are a subspecies of lions that do not develop full manes: So, this appears to be a misconception that some MP fans have walked away with and I just want to correct the record on this. Tsavo lions are not a subspecies of the African lion. They are named after the geographical location where maneless lions are more apparent, because geography and environment seems to have an effect on how a lion's mane forms. Lions are sensitive to heat, so the hotter a region is, the less likely a mane is to form. The Tsavo region is known to be hot and dry and this is why lions there have problems developing a full mane. Genetics is also theorised to play a role. Such a thing has also been observed in West African regions and Ancient Egyptian art has also depicted maneless lions. It's also worth noting that Asiatic lions also have smaller manes than their African counterparts due to Asia having a hotter climate. This is why some of our characters like Fade and Larkspur do not have full manes. Both of them have either been raised in a desert region or a region adjacent to a desert and the heat has affected them developing a full mane. So, Moonstrike being described as a Tsavo lion was completely pointless and confusing. I can only assume it was Tribble trying to flex her lion knowledge but she also didn't even bother to explore why exactly Tsavo has a connection to maneless lions, thus fans assuming that the lack of a mane is down to Moonstrike being part of some sort of subspecies. I'm probably missing some things out but this is what I have so far. - RJ

[moonmaiden1996]

Consuming Love

This needed to be written. I want and need jealous and dark Rupert. Let me know what you think. There’s more to come, possibly from your perspective, where Rupert does sinful, irresistible things you can't escape...Comments are love....

Mature Warning!

Rupert Campbell-Black had never been a man to deny himself. He took what he wanted—thoroughly, ruthlessly, without regret. Women threw themselves at his feet, dazzled by his golden beauty, his effortless arrogance, the sheer brute force of his presence. And he indulged them, as long as they knew the rules: No love. No attachments. No silly dreams of taming the devil. The women who shared his bed understood that, though some tried to linger, stretching their time with him like spun sugar before it inevitably snapped. None were truly surprised when it ended—some even sold their stories to the press.

My Night Between the Sheets with the Bonking MP!Randy Rupert Strikes Again!

The headlines amused him. Good for them , he thought. They deserved their moment in the sun.

Then you happened.

A slip of a thing. Plush and full-bodied. Too young, too sweet, too unspoiled for the likes of him. A bookish little creature with big, luminous eyes that seemed to see through his carefully constructed façade. That was the problem—you knew what he was like, knew exactly what kind of bastard he could be, yet you were so fucking sweet to him. You blushed when he looked at you too long. Stammered when he spoke too low. Trembled when he brushed a knuckle over your cheek. But you didn’t succumb. You let him flirt, entertained him like one might a spoiled child or, in this case, a prowling, entitled man.

You thought yourself safe.

"Don’t be silly, Taggie. Why would he want me? He flirts with everyone. I’m too plain and boring for him. He probably thinks he’s doing me a kindness. You know how he is"

Oh, how wrong you were.

He should have walked away. Let you be. Let you escape. After all, Declan had warned him—you were old enough to be his daughter. Barely.

Rupert had told himself, at first, that it was nothing more than a passing fancy. That he merely wanted the thrill of chasing something that didn’t want him back. He had never been one for inexperience—too emotional, too much trouble. And yet, when he stared at you, he felt the unbearable pull to coax you out of your innocence, strip away the soft hesitancy. To corrupt you. To keep you.

You had ruined everything.

Because the moment he finally had you, he knew he would never have enough. Your virgin body, tight and untouched, should have been nothing more than a conquest—but when you giggled, breathless, body brushing against his in the tight quarters of Bar Sinister, something inside him snapped.

You were just so happy to celebrate, so trusting, so oblivious to what you did to him. You didn’t even notice how you pressed against him, how it wrecked him.

You haunted his thoughts.

He watched you in the Priory library on your breaks, curled up with your books, utterly lost in another world. You were exquisite. He could sit and watch you for hours if he let himself. The way your fingers toyed with the edge of the pages, the little crease in your brow when something in the text confounded you—it unraveled him.

But he was not the only one baying for your attention.

Rage filled him when Freddie leaned too close, demonstrating some new piece of technology, hunching over some blinking monstrosity. Declan was even worse, lingering in conversation, drowning you in his rapturous lectures on Yeats, some Irish poet or another. Worst of all was how you encouraged it, unaware that Declan was positioned perfectly to look down your top.

His little maiden.

Just like those ghastly romance books you loved, full of notions of purity and chivalry. And yet, Rupert had seen the well-worn copy of one of Lizzie's book peeking out of your bag—the one with the half-naked man plastered across the front. He wondered, then—was your mind as pure as your body?

Had you read those words and imagined things? Had you dared to picture yourself in such wicked scenarios? Had your fingers ever wandered beneath the sheets, your breath hitching in the quiet of the night, thinking of some nameless, faceless hero ravishing you?

Or had you imagined him ?

The thought nearly undid him.

He should have left you alone.

You deserved someone gentle. Someone kind. A bore, perhaps, who would marry you in some dreary registry office and move you into a grim two-up, two-down. The sort of man who would leave you unfulfilled night after night, who would give you a gaggle of children and a safe, dull life.

That, he convinced himself, would be the true travesty. To let you wilt in such mundanity, to see your light dim under the weight of mediocrity. You deserved to be happy.

Not with a man who wanted to take you apart and put you back together with nothing but his hands, his mouth, and his desperate, all-consuming need to own you.

But maybe—just maybe—you could be happy with him.

With him taking you apart every night with every part of his body.

He would have to marry you, of course. He didn’t mind the sound of that. He would have to. He would demand it.

The only real question was whether to take you before or after the wedding.

If he took you before, you would have to marry him.

If he waited, he could take his time, lay you out on his bed—no, your bed, their bed—and have the pleasure of seeing you sprawled across it, wrapped in the wedding dress he had chosen, the one that already hung in his wardrobe, waiting.

He could ruin you in it, rucking the delicate fabric past your thighs, bunching it around your hips as he drove into you, with his mouth, his fingers, his cock, branding you as his. For now and forever.

Then he could make you beg for it.

And you would beg.

Because by then, you would know.

You would understand that you had never belonged to anyone but him.

And God help anyone who tried to take you away—even yourself.

[kylermalloy]

This has probably already been said, but I have to talk about the courtroom scene and why it was a fantastic introduction to not only Levi, but Erwin too—and their relationship.

So we first meet Levi in the heat of battle. We see very quickly the type of fighter he is—confident, but not overly so. He has a strong command of himself and the people under him. He’s The Guy.

Then Erwin shows up and announces they’re pulling back—Levi immediately argues this. We might assume Levi is being set up as the guy who ~doesn’t do well with authority.~ You know the type. He does his own thing. Doesn’t play well with others. Chafes under orders. He’s too big and too important for all of that!

This impression continues when Eren meets Levi and Erwin in the dungeon. Levi is rude and mouthy, and Erwin’s chastisements do little to curb this. Levi’s confidence and skill give him authority issues…right?

So then we move to the courtroom scene, Eren’s trial. Erwin says beforehand that he has a plan, but we’re told nothing more. We see him propose to the court that Eren be given to the Scouts, and he says nothing more.

Levi is the one to scathingly go after the MPs during the debate, pointing out the flaws in their plan and how likely it is that they’re trying to save their own skin. First time viewers might assume that, again, while Erwin is a charismatic leader, he doesn’t go far enough. Levi is the one to say the quiet part out loud, to go to the places Erwin’s too ~respectable~ to go.

Then things start to go sideways. The court’s favor seems to be turning against Eren and the Scouts, fear and paranoia winning out. Eren is getting desperate.

Enter Levi.

And we get this glorious scene. Levi convinces the court that Eren is harmless to the likes of someone like him. Their best bet is to do what Erwin asked and give Eren to the Scouts. Please.

(Notice how Erwin is not shocked, nor does he try to stop Levi.)

Now again, to a first time viewer, this scene feeds into our preconceived notion of Levi. He’s the guy who isn’t deterred by silly things like rank or authority. He saw that things weren’t going Erwin’s way, so he took matters into his own hands. Maybe Erwin will be mad about this later, but Levi will shrug and roll his eyes and say “but I got results, didn’t I?” and Erwin will have no argument for that.

…Right?

Cut to the next scene, after the court has granted the Scouts custody of Eren—and Erwin’s like, “sooo…sorry about that. We had to make it look good.”

This whole thing was planned by Erwin.

The scene was more or less staged by the Scouts. Erwin wanted to present himself as the calm, collected leader with clean hands. And Levi was the one to do the dirty work, be the brutalizer—even though it was all on Erwin’s orders.

He’ll play that role. He’ll be the rogue, the rough one, the problem child, because his personality fits so well into that niche anyway. But he does it because Erwin wanted him to. If Erwin had wanted him to stand nice and quiet the entire time during the trial, if that’s what needed to be done, Levi would’ve done that instead. He’s not looking to get results; he trusts Erwin’s methods and does what he’s told.

And in this case, he was told to beat up this helpless brat. Gladly.

(How much do you want to bet one of the MPs said to Erwin after, “you need to keep your dog under control.” I would simply implode.)

Like, if this display will land anyone in trouble, it wouldn’t be Erwin—it would be Levi. Levi’s the one who got violent and mouthy during a military trial. He broke rank. He attacked the defendant. Erwin isn’t, ostensibly, responsible for this at all. Levi willingly put himself in that position because he trusted Erwin.

And so everything we thought we knew about Levi is turned on its head! Eren even says so in the next episode—he expresses surprise that Levi’s so diligent about following orders.

Eren, silly boy, assumes that being skilled means you don’t have to take orders from anyone. But Levi does. It’s his whole character. (Notice how, despite him ending up being the oldest member of the Scouts, he’s never in line for Commander? He’s the hands, not the head.)

And this whole thing provides so much insight into Erwin’s character as well! Pyxis says at the beginning of the episode that Erwin is very straight-laced. Well, by the end of the episode, we can see that’s…not quite true.

Erwin is conniving, willing to play dirty, do whatever it takes, to get things to go his way. All while keeping his own hands clean, maintaining the image of the honorable Commander. He simply uses the tools at his disposal (Levi) to do the dirty bits for him.

It’s a fantastic introduction to the Scouts, their leader, and his right hand (or is it the left hand that does the dirty work?)

[souvenir116]

all the lestappies are up in arms about this lando situation and rightly so. the side eye max was giving on the podium....(i'd be pissed if my so called friend did this on national tv but max is a bigger person than me). i was happy for lando's first win but with his antics yesterday and what he's been saying the last couple of weeks, not to mention the trump thing he's on think fucking ice again. max gave him grace and nothing but praise for his race win, shutting down the implication that the sc gave him the win and he repays it like this. our humble kings focused on themselves and how they can improve could never behave like this. lando has short man inferiority syndrome change my mind

Nahh the podium was crazy, it's not about being friends at all, its about having respect for your colleague.

Max looking at him for a while then tilting his head down and George's judging face? He knew something was not right, but Lando just kept smiling so big which is, not really nice in my opinion.

And I really don't understand how and why Max handles him as one his best friends on the grid because even recently, he said he gave his all bucket hats to Lando, he takes him to his private jet + Lando usually hangs out with Max during driver's parade, on the grid, and Lando just prefers to snap with "we are not friends. dont ever say that again."

As @valyrfia said, I believe that he's having more fun being called a wdc's friend rather than Max's friend.

I wont even talk about tr*mp case, but all in all, just thinking of how Max always encourages people, which it's George, it's not someone he usually hangs out, how Charles is nice to the other drivers, as well as when he told Tifosi to stop booing Max... You can win races and push your luck but it won't make you a good driver when you have no respect to other drivers.

Also, paraphrased, "Max wouldn't win without safety car." So do you.

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Part 22: This Misery We've Made

Summary: Approval numbers and public perception of Tommy's personal life force him and Lucy to face some painful realities.

Word Count: 3,519

Warnings: Polyamory and references to past abuse.

Notes: Not really sure if I'm entirely happy with this chapter, but I've been fiddling with it for so long and I just need to move on. Hope you all still like it!

Previous Part • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 1: Too Late

“No.”

Lucy sighed, looking pleadingly into Tommy’s glacial eyes as they hardened over with stubbornness. 

“Tommy, love, we both know it would fix all of these problems…”

“As we’ve already discussed to exhaustion.” His jaw ticked. “I won’t do it.”

“Sweetheart,” she broke eye contact with him to look down at the papers settled in her lap. Her hands fiddled with her rings, gaze glued  to the infernal numbers emblazoned upon the reports, as if staring at them hard enough would cause them to shift and change. “It’s not getting any better. If anything, it’s only going to get worse.”

“The constituents don’t seem to care,” he huffed, reaching into his pocket for his cigarette case. “Considering that they elected me.”

She frowned. “Because we bribed your way in. And besides, I’m not sure if a lot of them even knew then. You weren’t exactly shouting your marital status and Ruby’s parentage from the rooftops.” Not that he’d hid it, per say. He just avoided discussing it during the campaign and while in settings related to his work. “And they might not care now, but what about when your political rivals start harping about it in the press? They’re already using it to try to shut you out of certain things. Not to mention that arsehole from Oxford who keeps using it to try to cut down all your arguments in the house.”

“Fucking ridiculous,” Tommy shook his head, lighting his cigarette and releasing a puff of smoke from his lips up towards the ceiling.

They were seated in his office in the House of Commons, the big wooden double doors that led out into the workroom that she shared with the other secretary, Adam, closed. Not that they needed to be. Adam had already gone home for the evening, as had most of the other MPs and their staff. No one would be interrupting them. It was late, nothing but darkness and a flickering streetlight visible out the window. 

She was still getting used to spending her days working in the offices of the House of Commons rather than the betting shop or the office in Birmingham. While the general decor and design of the building was not all that dissimilar–outside of just being bigger–there was something distinctively different about this place. A stuffiness and sense of propriety that served as a thin veil for the egos and superiority that radiated from so many of the men who sauntered through its halls. It was a bit of a shock to go from Small Heath, where just about everyone knew her name and she was decidedly near the top of the food chain as far as both authority and respect goes, to here where she was lucky if the MP just next door could even remember her name. In these offices, she was not the Red Demon, or even Lucy Winters. Here she was just Thomas Shelby’s Assistant. And was treated as such. 

It wasn’t all bad, of course. She still got to spend most of her days at Tommy’s side, and the work was not that different from what she’d been doing for him before. 

“I agree, but that’s the way that things are, love.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “And your constituents do care. That’s what these numbers are all about,” she nodded to the report in her lap. “More and more of them indicated that while they’re happy with your performance and policies, they’re troubled by your conduct regarding your personal life.” She held out the papers, and he took them with a reluctant sigh, pulling his glasses from his pocket and sliding them onto his nose so he could look them over himself. 

“Doing…doing this,” Lucy swallowed, unable to bring herself to utter the thing that, ever since Ruby’s birth–and certainly ever since he was elected–hovered threateningly over them. The guillotine teetering precariously above their heads. “It would help improve your standing with the more traditional and family focused members of your constituents. And might even open up some more doors for you here with the conservative MPs. God knows we already have a hard enough time working with them.” Bunch of racist, classist dickheads was what they were. All too eager to look down their nose at the man who had clawed his way from the bowels of Small Heath’s dirty streets to the halls of power. They already had enough reasons to attempt to shut Tommy out, they really didn’t need to be giving them anymore ammunition. 

Tommy met her eyes, and she saw a crack appear in his resolve. Deep down, they both knew that she was right. This needed to be done. 

Even if it was going to break both their hearts. 

Tommy closed his eyes, head tilting up as he released another stream of smoke from his lips. His brow pinched with stress, the skin around his temples tightening. 

She forced herself to be strong. “You know just as well as I do how important image is to the people we’re now surrounded by. And to the people you’ve been elected to serve. We can’t just…shrug off what other people think of our personal lives anymore. Presenting the image of a proper family will solve nearly all the current problems outlined in those numbers.” 

His lips pursed. He was not seated behind his desk, but rather in the chair next to hers in front of it, one leg crossed over the other. One of his hands lifted to touch the side of his face, thumb moving across his lips while he examined her shrewdly and listened to her argument.

“We can’t ignore this forever. It has the potential to ruin everything you’ve worked so hard for.” She looked him hard in the eye, beseeching him to understand. He still just stared at her, clearly fighting against the knowledge that he knew she was right. “There’s only one clear solution that I can see that fixes pretty much all problems at once.”

How many times had they discussed this? Too many to count. And he always shot the idea down instantaneously. When Polly tried to push it harder on one of their more recent meetings, he’d nearly ripped her head off. 

“Look, you know what my suggestion for a solution is. If you have any others, I’m happy to hear them.” She was suddenly in dire need of a cigarette. Sensing her need, Tommy silently held out the one clutched between his fingers towards her. She took it with a noticeably unsteady hand, bringing it gratefully to her lips. Tommy watched all of her movements closely, knuckles pressed up against his lips, frown still firmly in place. Picking up the report of his approval numbers, his eyes skimmed over the front page once more before tossing it onto his desk, removing his glasses and putting them back in his pocket.

The silence while he mulled over her words seemed to stretch on forever, only interrupted by the rhythmic ticking of the clock on the mantle. Lucy had to fight back the desire to fill it with more near nonsensical babbling. 

Why was she even arguing for this so bloody hard? She should be happy that he’d instantly dismissed the suggestion the very first time that she brought it up. Hell, she was, from a purely selfish standpoint.

Tommy’s hand dropped from where it was resting against his lips to take one of hers, thumb running along her knuckles. 

“I don’t want to marry Lizzie,” he said softly.

She met his gaze sadly. “I know.” I don’t want you to marry her either. But she knew if she told him that, she would never manage to convince him to go through with it. He’d refuse forever all on account of her feelings, even if it meant that he could lose everything he’d worked so hard for.  

The idea that he could lose it all and it would be her fault made her feel sick with guilt.

“But we’re being backed into a corner here, love,” she chose her words carefully. “Being unmarried with an illegitimate child makes some of your constituents think that you don’t value families. If you want to stop your approval numbers from dipping, and even have a shot at reelection in a few years…”

“I haven’t even thought about reelection, yet.”

She gave him a look that was both stern and fond in equal measure. “Now, we both know that isn’t true.”

His lips quirked upwards slightly, eyes warming at how well she knew him. But when he scooted closer to her, sadness quickly leaked back into his expression, lips turning downwards.

“I don’t love her.”

“I know,” she repeated, feeling even worse at the spark of relief that statement brought her. Poor Lizzie. 

He shot her a look of deep, unending regret, brushing some hair out of her face. Her eyes fluttered at the warm press of his palm against her cheek when he cupped it. “I promised you that I wouldn’t marry her,” he whispered. 

“You said that you didn’t plan to,” she corrected, recalling the conversation when he first informed her of Lizzie’s pregnancy. The things he’d murmured to her whilst holding her on the floor of their bedroom while she cried. “Plans can change.”

“I am not leaving you,” there was zero room for argument in his voice, jaw shifting stubbornly. 

“Lizzie might not agree to marry you if you don’t.”

Tommy shook his head. “It’ll be a marriage of convenience only. You and me still being able to be together is non-negotiable. I’m not budging on that.”

She smiled a little in spite of herself at his devotion, leaning her face deeper into his palm. “It feels terribly unfair to her.”

“She can always say no if she really can’t handle it. We’ll be clear about what it’ll all entail, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea about any of it meaning something between me and her. Besides, she’s been warmer towards you lately.”

That was true. Though who knew how long that would actually last.

Scooting his chair closer to hers, Tommy leaned forward, holding her face with both hands, forehead resting against hers. 

“Are you sure you’re okay with it?” he asked urgently. Lucy swallowed hard. The thought of watching him stand up at an altar and make vows and promises to another woman, of having to live under the same roof as Lizzie and share him with her for the rest of their lives…

It burned harshly in her chest, cracks forming in her already fragile heart. 

But she could live with it. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant that Tommy would not lose all he’d worked so extremely hard to achieve. 

Maybe…maybe it actually wouldn’t be all that bad. He was right that Lizzie had been kinder and more amicable towards her as of late. Perhaps she would even be agreeable to all three of them sharing a bed from time to time, like they used to. And it would be nice to have Ruby in the same house as them so they could see her more. She and Charlie could be raised as proper siblings. 

“Yes,” she said, unknowingly sealing both their fates. “So long as we don’t have to break up.”

“I won’t ever let that happen,” Tommy promised. She leaned in closer to him, hands resting on his forearms. Tommy gave her a little tug. “Come here,” drawing her from her chair, he pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she murmured into his chest, arms winding around his neck. “I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but…”

He snorted, lightly pinching her hip. “Yeah, yeah.” Lips ghosting across her temple, he silently urged her face back enough so that he could kiss her softly. “I mean it. I won’t let us be torn apart.”

A small smile pulled at her lips, his reassurance like a band-aid over her fracturing heart while he kissed her again. 

∗ ∗ ∗

“Well,” Lizzie said, adjusting her fingers around her cigarette, straightening in her chair. Even sitting down, she looked tall, the way in which she sat with her spine entirely straight only adding to the effect. She looked between Tommy and Lucy seated before her at the other side of the round table in front of the fireplace in Tommy’s Birmingham office. “That’s one hell of a way to propose to someone.”

Lucy winced a little at the underlayer of bitterness in Lizzie’s voice, looking down at her hands in shame.

“Technically you aren’t being proposed to until we know that you agree to our…conditions,” Tommy was much less phased by Lizzie’s reaction, puffing on his cigarette whilst eyeing her from around the vase of deep red roses on the table between them. 

“I’m pretty sure that I know what those are already,” Lizzie huffed, shifting in her seat, briefly glancing at the fire crackling away in the hearth. She looked back at them, and gave a little gesture with the hand holding her cigarette for him to continue. “But let’s hear them anyway.” 

Tommy adjusted himself in his seat, leaning forward with one of his arms resting on the table. When he spoke, his voice had taken on the commanding edge that Lucy had heard him use when giving orders to his men or family members. 

“After we are married, you and Ruby will come to live at Arrow House. You will enjoy all luxuries that the home and the title as my wife offers. All we expect is that you help take care of the children and manage things that have to do with the household. You can continue to hold a position on the company’s board, if you’d like. But most importantly,” he glanced over at Lucy, holding her gaze steadfastly before turning back to Lizzie, “Lucy and I will still get to be together.”

The area around Lizzie’s lips tightened slightly. “So you aren’t offering me a real marriage, but only one of convenience.”

To his credit, Tommy did not flinch away from her stern, accusing gaze. “Yes; that’s exactly what I’m offering you.” 

Lizzie leaned back into her chair, nursing at her cigarette as she contemplated. Lucy struggled to meet her gaze when it shifted periodically over to her, guilt roiling through her like a tempestuous storm. She’d never been able to shake the feeling that if she were not around, Tommy and Lizzie may have actually stood a chance together. And she was pretty certain that Lizzie thought the same exact thing. 

“I want you to promise that you will be discreet,” Lizzie finally said very slowly. “I will not be publicly humiliated by my husband openly fucking another woman.”

“Of course,” Lucy nodded. They already had toned down most displays of physical affection whilst in public, presenting instead as simply colleagues who happened to be good friends. Gestures of romance were saved for behind closed doors. It was not unlike it was prior to Grace’s death, when the three of them had to practice restraint to avoid a scandal. “And we’re willing to make accommodations to make sure you and Ruby are comfortable.”

“Within reason,” Tommy interjected quickly. 

“I want a honeymoon,” Lizzie said decisively. “A real one. With just you and me.” Her eyes wavered from Tommy to fix on Lucy, then darted back to him. Lucy thought she caught a glimpse of pleading in her face. 

The mere idea of them going on a romantic vacation together without her left insecurity brewing beneath her skin, but Lucy forced herself to ignore it. Considering what they were asking of her, it felt like it was the least that they could do. “Okay.”

Tommy shot her a glance. “We’ll have to talk about it,” he modified. 

Lizzie nodded. “Of course.” The clock on the mantle chimed. “I have to head home. I promised the nanny I’d be back by half past five. I can come by this weekend to work out more of the details if you’d like.”

“Yes, that would be good. You have a ride home?” Tommy asked, both he and Lucy standing after Lizzie stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and rose to her feet. 

“Yes, Skudboat offered to drop me off.”

“Right. We’ll see you this weekend, then.”

“Give Ruby a kiss from us,” Lucy requested timidly. Lizzie shot her a smile that actually seemed half genuine. 

“I will.”

They bid her goodbye, Lucy waiting until the door swung shut behind her before sinking exhaustedly back into her chair. She was struck at how transactional the whole exchange had been. Like ironing out a business deal rather than arranging a marriage.  

The floorboards creaked under Tommy’s heavy footsteps as he approached her. Reaching out, he rubbed a hand up and down on her upper arm, bending to kiss her forehead. 

“Are you alright?”

She stuffed the guilt bubbling up within her back down, locking it away in a far corner of her mind. “Yeah.”

“I can get out of the honeymoon if it makes you uncomfortable. Or insist that you come along.”

“It’s fine,” she probably said it too quickly to be convincing. “It’s the least that we can do for her, considering.”

“I don’t like the idea of going without you.”

“Me neither,” she admittedly, finally looking up to meet his concerned blue orbs. “But it’s just one week.” She knew him better than to expect that he’d be willing to take more than that off work. “We’ll live.”

He stroked her face tenderly, brow furrowing slightly. “You don’t have to give her everything that she wants. I know that you feel bad, even though you really shouldn’t, but…” he trailed off, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, thumb brushing down her cheek. “If she pushes too far, if she’s unkind to you, or asks for something you aren’t comfortable with, all you have to do is tell me, and I’ll take care of it, alright?”

Nodding, she turned her face to kiss the center of his palm. “Thank you,” covering his hand with hers, she smiled weakly. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Ugh,” he made a face as though he’d just been told he was sentenced to be executed, rather than engaged to be married, and dropped his head forward until it was resting against her shoulder. Lucy wrapped her arms around him, burrowing her face into his hair, breathing in the scent of his soap and cologne. “I wish it was you,” he mumbled sorrowfully against her throat, and for a dreadful moment Lucy actually thought that she might start to cry. 

“I know.” And though she did not say it–for fear that if she did, he would call the whole damn thing off and throw his reputation and all professional prospects in the bin–they both knew the words circulating within her head:

Me too.  

When he first brought up the topic of marriage, all the way back in 1918, before Grace had even walked into their lives, she had told him that it was not something she was sure that she wanted. She was still living with the trauma of being previously engaged to a monster who hurt and abused her, and the only example of marriage she’d had was the loveless, horrific mess that was her parents. It was something he’d respected, unconcernedly promising that marriage or no marriage, he would still love her forever.

After Grace died, the topic had passed briefly every once in a while across her mind. With times changing and modern perspectives growing in popularity, it was no longer a necessity that she stop working if she were married. And with the slow passage of time, the idea of marriage no longer seemed to her like a cage to be bound and gagged within. She knew that Tommy would never expect her to change simply because he placed a ring on her finger. 

But she didn’t bring it up to him, both of them were still aching too terribly from Grace’s death. It was too soon. For them personally, for Charlie, and for either of their reputations. 

And then the vendetta had happened. And for a bit of fun they took Lizzie down to the canal for a fuck like they so often did before Grace stepped into their lives. 

If only she hadn’t still been so messed up on the topic the first time that he asked. If only she’d expressed her changing feelings on the matter with him before Lizzie got pregnant. Maybe things would be different. 

She could not say anything about it now. If she did, he would abandon this plan that was poised to solve so many problems for him. Not to mention that marrying her instead of Lizzie would create a whole new set of issues for him to deal with, some with the potential to wreck everything he’d accomplished.

It was too late.  

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[pepperf]

Whilst I fully get tumblr's bias towards artists, I've been side-eyeing the whole Jonathan Yeo speculation--because yes, on the whole, people in the arts DO tend to be lefty, good people, etc, but it's not always the case. Official portraiture, in particular, tends to be the most Establishment-friendly of all the arts, attracting the kind of artists who are technically very talented, but who also have no inclination to rock the boat and are very happy to schmooze with those in power.

I know next to nothing about Jonathan Yeo, but on a little digging, I found:

He's the son of a Tory MP and is good friends with the Earl of Snowdon.

He's known for a painting of Tony "war criminal" Blair that made him look as tragic and sympathetic as possible.

He's also done chummy portraits of David "pigfucker" Cameron, Camilla (when she was still Duchess of Cornwall), Prince "massive racist" Philip, and Rupert Murdoch.

The notorious porn collage of George Bush was (allegedly) after a an official commission was approved and then withdrawn, so - fit of pique? Who knows. He also did a porn collage of Lucian Freud, which, given that he's often cited as Freud's natural successor in the world of big name British portrait artists, is a little rude.

On the other hand, if you know anything about Damian Hirst, you would know that he must have LOVED to be painted with his crotch in your face, looking like Henry VIII. Dude is a knob.

No one in Yeo's position is going to imply that a D-Day veteran is a war criminal. Just. Full stop. No.

Furthermore, his whole schtick seems to be to paint the background to match the outfit, in a kind of weird, matchy-matchy, interior decor style that I personally find meaningless.

Chas chose to wear his beloved Welsh Guards uniform, which is a lurid, bright red. Whatever else Yeo did, red was always going to be the dominant colour of that painting. The butterfly was apparently his idea, too, because he thinks he's some kind of eco-warrior.

Yes, Yeo has painted Malala Yousafzai, and Idris Elba, and Kristin Scott Thomas, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and lots of other worthy people, too - it's his job, he's a portraitist.

If you want my opinion, the impression that Chas is swimming in buckets of blood or burning in hellfire is something the artist did not intend. Don't ask me how he didn't look at it and think, hmm, that's a little on the nose - maybe he'd thought too much about colour theory, too, idk. Judging by his past history, he's probably enjoying the attention rather than being mortified. Or maybe that was partly the intention. Just don't give him too much credit for being intentionally subversive.

But absolutely do keep reading into that painting as the indictment of British royal power that it ought to be; it's pissing off both the royals and the royalists, and I hope it burns, every time Chas has to see it.

[alien2835]

My thoughts on TMAGP 27 - Driven

These points are recorded in order as I was listening to the episode for the first time. I actually pulled up the transcript this time, since last episode I completed misinterpreted that sex scene.

Huge spoilers ahead, obviously.

- I am 80% sure this statement was given by Jonah Magnus: “If such were not the case, the Institute would not have been founded, nor would my fellows have selected me for its leadership, much less its name.”

- It also happens to be voiced by Augustus—who we believe to be Jonah, trapped inside of FREDDI.

- This coach seems to be a manifestation of the stranger, or tmagp’s equivalent of such. This incident seems to map surprisingly well into the fears we know from TMA.

- This subject seems to be quite similar to Gertrude Robinson, he does What Has To Be Done, without remorse. He sent an assistant into the “Growler” despite knowing that it would be fatal.

- HE SAID IT, HE SAID “vital to the Magnus Institute’s work.” Which means that this is most certainly a Magnus, most likely Jonah.

- “…may yet prove as important as any transmutation taking place within an alembic.” An alembic is an old type of flask used in chemical experiments. These bitches are doing actual alchemy.

- Sex is officially canon now. This episode is the TMAGP equivalent of TMA’s Worm Sex Statement.

- The Hilltop Center was mentioned by Celia. This is the only time it’s been mentioned (that I recall) other than the related statement in TMAGP 7 - Give and Take. We now know the location: “just off Cowley Road.” It was built in the 80s, after the Magnus Institute burned down. But, I cannot stress the importance of this enough, the Magnus Institute owned the Hilltop Center. And, they still own it. I think it goes without saying that this is connected to Hilltop Road. Pure speculation here, but maybe every reality has its own crack that connects it to the other worlds. If so, I’d reckon this is the crack in this world.

- Alice says “I swear, if I hear one more word about Trevor-bloody-Herbert MP I am going to blow up parliament.” Firstly, based. Secondly, another name drop? Really Jonny? So Trevor the Tramp is an MP now. And not just any MP, but the one inspecting the OIAR. I firmly believe that every name drop is going to be important, but I struggle to see how this will connect to TMA. The minister is definitely important in some way though, or the show wouldn’t be hyping him up for so many episodes.

- Alice explicitly says that the room she and Sam messed up in the institute ruins was labeled “Archivist.” This seems to concern Celia.

- Celia does not seem to think the name “Hilltop Center” is particularly relevant, or she would have made a big deal about it. I don’t think Jon, Martin, or Basira ever actually told Celia about Hilltop Road. Although she might have heard the name Annabelle Cane from Jon or Martin. I’d have to check. (Please let Annabelle Cane make an appearance, I love her so much. Jonny please I will do anything.)

That’s everything, do tell me if I missed anything obvious or misinterpreted something again.

[mariacallous]

A few days after the US presidential election, I wrote a piece about how the coming age of information chaos and the profound consequences on what comes next. The destabilisation in our information system that we woke up to in 2016 has now entered a wholly dangerous new reality: the merger of Silicon Valley and an authoritarian US state.

But, the speed of it still shocks. And the events of the last week show how fast this is going to happen, in a confused hyper-accelerated political news cycle that cannot even process what is happening let alone adequately respond.

The world has never seen power like this before. The state machinery of a global superpower allied to the power and reach of global information platforms. And this last week has been a preview of what this is going to mean: a restructuring of the world order and global geopolitics as we know it.

Flooding the zone

Trump’s threats against three sovereign nations are just the start. He’s said that he’ll acquire Panama and Greenland by force and Canada he will take through “economic force”. This is mafia tactics. And for us, in Europe, trade agreements aka “economic force” are nothing compared to the big one: US withdrawal from NATO, a sword of Damocles, over our heads.

But, the biggest threat is that we can’t even see or hear or contemplate this, what it means let alone engage in the urgent debates needed because our entire news cycle has been drowned in noise. This is how it happens.

Steve Bannon who may turn out the most prescient philosopher of our era said you don’t have to prove or disprove anything, you just need to drown the zone in shit. Or, in the case of Elon Musk a ten-year-old British scandal that has dominated the news cycle and parliamentary debate for day after day.

We are so ill-equipped to face the coming threat. Our entire news and information system was submerged by a barrage of noise from the richest man on the planet and because we’ve failed to grapple with the enormity of what’s happened to the underlying communication and power structures of our world, we are helpless to withstand them. We walked straight into Musk’s trap and allowed him - facilitated him - to set the political agenda in a crucial week.

Donie, who posted this, is an Irish CNN reporter who stood amid the insurrectionists on January 6, 2020, and said conspiracies on Facebook had done this. He’d spent months interviewing Trump supporters at rallies about the conspiracies they’d been reading on Facebook. And, through it all, he reported straight without judgment. I watched him that night, live on CNN, and saw him break cover and make that statement and that he had no choice: this was an insurrection that Facebook facilitated.

We need to start understanding that Elon Musk’s X is a weapon. It’s a weapon that is currently owned and controlled by a non-state entity. But from January 20, that changes. At that point, Musk’s behaviour must be understood in the context of information warfare from a hostile nation state.

That’s a week away and the UK parliament and half the press has been obsessively talking about the fire that Musk started rather than what that tells us about the colossal firepower he controls and the profound national security threat that poses.

This looks like a joke. It isn’t. And it’s exactly the same approach the Kremlin uses. It at least had to infiltrate an independent platform. Musk is the platform. It’s a whole new paradigm of threat.

Britain is utterly powerless against this currently. Worse, swathes of the British media actually increased the velocity and power of these threats. Meanwhile, the UK government is still refusing to even investigate foreign interference or how it works. That’s the entire thrust of the legal case I’ve helped to organsise with three MPs who are taking against the UK government: its failure to protect our right to a free and fair election.

The personal attacks against Keir Starmer, Jess Phillips and ex-prime minister Gordon Brown are exactly the the kind of witch-hunts that are going to accelerate from here. The third point in my guide “How to Survive the Broligarchy” was this:

What I didn’t anticipate is that those witch hunts would start in the UK against elected officials before Trump had even been sworn into office.

But that’s why this also goes far beyond a witch hunt. This is “foreign interference”, a fundamental threat to our sovereignty and security. Musk owns the information equivalent of an entire fleet of aircraft carriers and fighter jets. And last week he demonstrated his almost total command and control of the UK information space.

And this is all before contemplating the profound cynicism of Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he would not no longer allow “politically biased” factcheckers to establish anything so old-fashioned as actual facts. Truth will now be outsourced to a global community of bots and trolls, state actors and highly motivated online edgelords. The first victims of this will be the most vulnerable: Muslims, women, LGBTQ, children. But it won’t stop there. No-one will be immune.

It was the open society that enabled Zuckberg to build his company, that educated his engineers and created a modern scientific country that largely obeyed the rules-based order. But that’s over. And, this week is a curtain raiser for how fast everything will change. Zuckerberg took a smashing ball this week to eight years’ worth of “trust and safety” work that has gone into trying to make social media a place fit for humans. That’s undone in a single stroke.

So much has happened in a single week, the live-time dissemination of conspiracy theories and finger-pointing blame while the LA fire is still raging is another terrifying glimpse of our infodystopian future. The biggest danger in the coming months and years will be the exhaustion of our critical faculties, our failure to withstand the noise, and to retreat into personal spaces. Certainly, no good came this week from listening to UK political coverage: much of it was, at best, witless, at worst dangerous. The BBC Today programme channelling Musk’s political agenda into the mainstream is in the second category.

[antheshewro]

AOT headcanon — (My) personal analysis on Paradis

I previously wrote my own headcanon about Levi's sexuality, based on the official content we have about him. I saw that it was appreciated (23 notes for me are like a hundred so thank you!), which led me to share more headcanons of Attack on Titan. This time, in particular, I'll focus on Paradis as a nation—culture, moral values, etc.

First thing first, Paradis is a country that was secluded and was denied a technological development. Not having the knowledge that there is a whole world outside the walls and beyond the sea, they got to the point where their own development benefitted the military (think about the equipment the soldiers use, which is not really aligned with the middle ages setting). That leads me to believe that the progress in terms of morality got affected by this.

I can see their society being conservative; very "old school" type of approach when it comes to dating, for example. Men had to show up at their women's door to ask for their hands in marriage to their parents, wanting their daughters to be virgins when they got married, expecting them to settle and pop out a few kids. Men were expected to be the heads of their families, having a certain control over their wives. I would mention misogyny as consistent: when a Marleyan called Sasha a 'whore' completely unprovoked; when the Military Police's soldiers were discussing about Historia getting impregnated; the entire ordeal with Mikasa and her mom, about their heritage and the fact that they were targeted to be sold to the black market. It's useless to mention how much prostitutes were hated.

Hookup culture was surely a thing, and in my opinion, a lot of soldiers resorted to it. The Scouts are the branch that has the lowest survival rate, and having a committed relationship meant each time they would leave for their monthly expeditions, they always had the fear of not seeing their wives, husband or children ever again. Erwin, to me, agreed not to date Marie not only to focus on his duty, but also because he couldn't bear to think about her grieving if he died. Because of that, the Scouts either dated between each other or resorted in hook-ups with women who were drooling over soldiers—I can picture only men having those 'adventures'.

The Garrison, until the fall of Wall Maria, were as lazy and drunkards as ever. They only had to protect the civilians from the titans, which gave them a higher survival rate (though we could see how incompetent they were when Shigashina was attacked). That meant they surely had more opportunities to marry and settle; Pixis had a wife, for example. This, however, doesn't exclude the fact that men still hooked up with women, mostly to have someone to warm their beds.

The Military Police had it simple: their job was fairly easier and safer. Women would settle with them because their paychecks were higher; if men had one night stands, it was because they used their own ranks or job as MP officers to be entitled to women's attention. In this case, we know that Nile Dok had the possibility to marry Marie and also be a father, a privilege since he didn't constantly risk his life.

The fact that women were allowed to join the military was surely something that was allowed after ages. Yet, we can see the military where the percentage of male soldiers was surely way higher. The reason why no women became Commanders. When Hange got promoted, I could see tons of Scouts being against it, because of their gender. There's a bit of confusion since they use she/her with Hange sometimes, especially in the anime, but whatever the case is, they aren't male. And therefore, a Commander who's not male was surely a big no-no for a lot of people.

Paradis surely is a country where discrimination is rampant, and some people would turn their heads to the side whenever there was someone being targeted. Classism was very much normalized; the government completely ignored the poorer and lower classes. They never cared about the Underground, and when the fall of Wall Maria happened, with Shiganshina that welcomed most, if not all lower classes, it could be seen when their residents got sent to Wall Rose after evacuating. The government also sent the lower classes outside the walls to "work" when the food supplies weren't enough, and as Armin stated, the situation got a bit better. It wasn't surprising that they were all people who lived in Shiganshina.

I do see the richer classes being reluctant to lend a hand to the homeless, for example, whether it is giving them a few coins or engaging with volunteering. If they can, they avoid it. They're greedy, and if they can exploit the poor, they don't back away from it.

In terms of racism, it wasn't a thing until the discovery of Marley. From that moment, with the entire 'Eldian race' type of stuff, it surely flared up and mostly in the Scouts, because of the Jaegerists. It wouldn't surprise me that once Onyankopon began to help the Survey Corps, a lot of them (especially Floch) resorted to prejudices and blatant snarky remarks about his skin color, and of course, his home country—there was indeed a scene where he got cornered.

Homosexuality... I'm a bit conflicted about it. On one hand, I could see Paradis having several people believing that women had to only date men to assure that the Paradisians wouldn't be extinct one day. On the other hand, history tells us that homosexuality always existed and was a trait shared even in the Middle Ages. The only hint that Paradis had certain religious beliefs is the "cult of the walls"; though, the presence of pastors or some sort or alternate version of Catholicism or anything along those lines, which included the cult of the walls, was surely a thing. There, sodomy was a sin. A lot of homosexual encounters were perhaps shared in private places, or designated ones. In AOT, however, no one had anything to say about Historia and Ymir; everyone understood they weren't surely best friends. And since the barracks were divided into male and female ones (Isabel Magnolia was stunned by it once she joined the Scouts), we can't deny that there were gay cadets, or gay couples/officers among the ranking in each Regiment.

Finally, gender identity. If we push aside the entire "church and conservatives didn't approve that" thing, I can think of transvestites, mostly men. Hange is the only character that's canonically not a man nor a woman. When they joined the Corps, people surely questioned it; some were appalled, others were reluctant. Not out of malice, or better, not all of them, but I would say out of a lack of knowledge. When they saw that Hange was a valid member and Squad Leader, the Scouts realized that they couldn't care less about how Hange defined themselves: gender identity is the last thing you should care about when you're constantly a step away from being chewed like a chewing gum.

[transparencyboo]

For the last two weeks or so I've been playing the Mega Drive dungeon crawler Shining in the Darkness. I've recently been going through all the various action-RPGs the system had to offer and kinda found myself lusting for more, so I expanded the scope.

Shining in the Darkness had one of those cover arts I vividly remember seeing in game stores during the 90s, I understood already back then that whatever this was would be too complicated for my feeble preschool brain, but it had a shiny glossy allure that still beckoned to me with promises of daring adventures and grand battles. Questions lingered in my head: Who is that evil bastard zapping sparks at Cavin from the Gummi Bears? Why has the king entrusted the safety of his kingdom to a meagre boy and his two misfit friends?

Well, it turns out that big bad guy is called Dark Sol, the bane of all game difficulty discourse, and the reason the king has enlisted three poor kids is because there is no one else to rely on after your daddy went missing. Everyone else just sorta gives up along the way.

My initial conclusion of this game was to commend my young self for the striking assessment, my five year old self would never get anywhere in this game between the English text, abstracted navigation and number crunching battle mechanics. Shining in the Darkness is a bona fide classic dungeon gauntlet endurance simulator, where you traverse vanishing point block tunnels and encounter enemies. I've played one or two games like this before, like the original Phantasy Star, but this time a new desire struck me. I wanted to draw maps. Maybe I'm just getting older and more patient, leading me to wilfully ignore easily available resources online.

By my recollection, this is the first time I've dedicated myself to playing a game like this. Usually I just resort to my sense of direction, which I've gathered seems to at least be above average, since anytime I go anywhere with anyone I always end up playing shepherd so they don't get lost. Worst case scenario I'll just fall back to mapping efforts by online heroes from years past. For Shining in the Darkness I persisted blindly about halfway through until I admitted to myself charting a map of the labyrinthine caves would be a lot easier. Luckily, the game allows you to spend 1 MP to see a chunk of where you've walked, meaning I could get neatly organized segments to copy by hand.

Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this endeavour was how much of the game experience was expressed through this map project. I spent just as much time slaying beasts as I did counting tiles and filling them out with my pencil. It became a natural counterbalance that provided vital pacing to the game mechanics. Walking, fighting, charting. In turn, through the principle of learning by doing, I gained a more intimate familiarity with the environments by just replicating them out on a sheet of paper. I found that while the map helped, I actually didn't need it much for backtracking because my drawings had helped me remember the layouts of the corridors anyway.

I guess the lesson learned is that while old design sensibilities may appear to be arcane and cumbersome when easier solutions exists, the obfuscation is part of the fun. The game hands me an intentionally hard to navigate world, shows me that it's fully capable of displaying maps of it, but still asks me to provide that dimension myself. Through doing this, I discover that drawing maps is both surprisingly enjoyable and cognitively stimulating. I realize that had I downloaded some pre-packaged maps online and used as my bible, Shining in the Darkness would've been a vastly different experience, one of monotonous meandering through endless fights while confidently striding along the known path.

Perhaps that's why the game was called Shining and the Darkness in Japan, it doesn't flow as well as the western title, but at the same time it poetically reflects this act of discovery. I am Shining, the game provides the Darkness, we work together, we must unify to become whole.

As for Dark Sol, he turned into a big monster boy and was vanquished by a spunky cartographer child and her two cohorts. The unknown has been made known and the kingdom is once more saved.

/Kiki

[skepticalarrie]

I don’t think Harry’s press has been positive for some time now. I can’t think of one thing in the last few years that’s been positive about him. He did get some positive reviews for MP, and obviously he won quite a few awards for Harry’s house and that’s putting it mildly, but everything since then has been negative. They didn’t like what kind of boyfriend he was to TR, he didn’t support her as well as people thought he should have, he didn’t go with her to the Met Gala, he shouldn’t have broken up with her and that he really messed that up, the whole debacle that was the EmRata make out session in Japan, the whole argument about people‘s feelings that he should be more vocal about the war, about politics, not liking pleasing stuff or the pricing of it, the whole One Direction and not wanting to be part of the band stuff, now this Jade stuff. None of it’s been positive. And all the pictures of him in the last two years have been of him scowling. I think he’s got a lot to overcome when he comes back. It doesn’t seem like his team is doing much to counter any of this either.

As I mentioned before, Harry really needs to tone down the overly dramatic stunts, and both he and his team need to take a serious look at how they handle his public appearances, acting career, and speeches. The way things were managed with his movies, his Grammy win, and his acceptance speech was just so poorly executed... it was honestly brutal to watch, and I think they need to give this more attention. If they don’t fix these issues and take steps to reverse the perception, I agree that things could easily go south in the next few years.

That being said, there are two important things to keep in mind, anon. First, I get where you’re coming from... there’s often a hyper-focus within fandom circles on every little story or rumour. But honestly, most of the things you’re talking about didn’t even reach the general public, let alone have a major impact on Harry’s overall reputation. Second, it’s worth remembering that negative press tends to draw far more engagement because controversy and drama grab attention for everyone. And like, let’s be real, Harry’s fandom always falls for it... it’s honestly unbelievable at times. This has always been the case with him. Wholesome, funny, or philanthropic moments don't really trend outside the fandom, especially given that Harry is so often tied to big headlines about his relationships, fashion, gender norms, and similar topics.

That’s why it’s so important to separate what’s circulating in fandom spaces or smaller gossip outlets from how the general public views him. Overall, I still think Harry’s reputation is fine. Sure, there are things to work on, but I don’t think anything is irreversible. People tend to forget things quickly, and if he takes a better approach moving forward, this can definitely be reversed IMO. He just needs to stick to what he does best, returning with strong new projects and incredible performances 🤞 At least, I hope so! I miss him so much and I can't wait for a new era!

[nanomooselet]

Elendira the Crimsonnail (II)

It's within your right to care not at all about any defence I mount of Elendira in Stampede. This is profoundly not my wheelhouse and I'm no fan of the creepy little girl archetype myself - but I think she's not going to stay as she is forever, and I think she serves a thematic purpose. Whether that justifies the new backstory for her is, of course, up to you.

Right. I'll need to start with the fact that in Stampede, Knives hates women. Oh, certainly Knives attacks and kills a lot of people - after all, his stated goal is the genocide of the human race - and many of his victims are men, since they typically make up the majority of fighting forces. But with them he's eliminating a threat. He's efficient about it. They're dead or at least incapacitated before they know anything. Think the Plant technicians, the MPs in July, the patrol officer outside Jeneora Rock.

It's when he targets women that he's hateful. Rosa's people didn't have to die like that. Knives drew it out for fun and let Rosa live with witnessing it. Similarly, he hated Luida so much he went for the throat bare-handed. He didn't get to Meryl, but Knives was so determined to harm her that it took Vash a few tries to redirect his attention while she fled. Let's also not forget that his abuse of Vash is centred around trying to destroy all influence Rem, a woman, had on his brother. Knives is openly contemptuous of human women in a way he simply isn't with men - Meryl is a "disgusting parasite", Luida a "witch".

You'd think championing Tesla and the dependent Plants (whom he refers to as female) would check him some - but it doesn't! Because they're defined by helplessness. They can't argue or tell him he's wrong, nor can they leave him or hurt him or take Vash from him. I'm sure he cares about them but, well, he cares about Vash too, and we know how that works out.

And thus of Knives's closest followers, only Elendira is afforded a place among their ranks. No others allowed. I have a feeling it'll be a little more gender-balanced once Legato steps in (he's got an entirely different flavour of hang-up), but that's for the future.

So why is Elendira the exception?

For a start, she's more directly attached to Dr. Conrad than Knives himself. Conrad seems to treat her as his companion or child, though she doesn't seem terribly fond of him or inclined to respect him. She is loyal to Knives, enough to recoil from Vash for being a "traitor".

In addition, she's Knives's partial clone. Knives is extremely self-absorbed, and she does look like he did as a boy. On a creepier note, she looks like Vash, too.

She's also not human. From what I can tell, rather she's a sort of an Independent/dependent Plant, a hybrid of their characteristics. Her body has proportions similar to the dependent Plants when they're unfurled, except on smaller scale and without the "petals" - large head, big eyes, long hands/feet, slender body - and, like them, she lacks sexual characteristics (so, she's arguably not a woman either - but put a pin in that). She can survive outside her case and doesn't need to eat or drink. However, her Gate seems too weak to afford her the toughness and regenerative abilities of the twins. Which probably explains why she reacted the way she did to a relatively minor cut.

I think her genetic makeup might be why she hasn't grown beyond "childhood". She isn't a child, she's a fully-developed adult. It's just that she's got the proportions of a fully-developed adult Plant, which look childish to a human. And might explain why she flat-out murders Roberto for being unable to look past that and see the threat she represents.

Anyway, I imagine, for Elendira, the problem is that the whole fact of her existence brings with it... expectations. The most obvious:

Elendira is almost certainly an attempt by Dr. Conrad to further his "atonement" by recreating Tesla to give her another chance at life. He probably treats her like one, anyway, even if not consciously. (Whether or not she has any part of Tesla integrated into her is an interesting question but not relevant - it's an emotional thing.)

Yet Tesla remains a silent victim. It's her tragedy. That's all she ever got to be and all that she will ever be. Elendira simply isn't Tesla - might even have come to resent Tesla, because this poor little girl no one ever got to know has overshadowed her entire life. She's a sibling El can never surpass. Forever perfect because she never got to be enough of a person to disappoint anyone. It's no wonder Elendira hates being pitied if it means being reminded that Tesla, born an Independent, is a standard she falls short of - but all the ways Tesla was superior didn't save her from the fate she suffered. She isn't Tesla. She can't be Tesla. She refuses to be.

And then there's this asshole.

(Vash is of course the perfect precious boy, but I'm talking from Elendira's perspective.)

We don't outright hear how Knives talks about Vash to his followers, but Elendira gives us a hint. She calls him a traitor and won't allow him to even touch her. We know Knives is obsessed with his twin to the exclusion of anything or anyone else (ask Legato) - and I suspect he sought replacement in his followers… but you know how it is when you're around someone who's really hung up over an ex? (Again whether it's romantic or not really doesn't matter, he's Very Normal etc.) Knives hates every single choice his brother's ever made but it's painfully obvious that he'll never love anyone else. For Elendira, that's another sibling setting a standard she'll never reach in a game she didn't sign up to play. She isn't Vash. She can't be Vash. She refuses to merely be a replacement for Vash, who hurt Lord Knives so deeply.

So fuck all that, right?

Given the scanty details we've been given, I can easily imagine her deciding she won't play anymore. She won't be Tesla. She won't be Vash. Instead, she'll carve out her own identity. Tesla didn't get to grow up, so Elendira's an adult and nobody's victim. Vash is a sentimental idiot, so she's the woman who kills without pity.

I can also easily imagine her going to Dr. Conrad and leaning on him to make improvements after the Punisher defeated her. She already wears lipstick and colours her nails, along with wearing a pink dress - experimenting with her presentation - and uses very adult, aggressively femme body language and articulation.

In short, I get the feeling Elendira dislikes her look as much as the fans do. And she's going to try and remedy it at the earliest opportunity.

@ultraviolet-cello

Part I

And one more important detail.

[barabaitcharactergenerator]

scotty-scott of howl fame

ah yes, my icon. my muse. my silly rabbit.

favorite thing about them - his tits on a meta level, i think what i appreciate most about scott is that it feels as though he was bio-engineered in a lab to be specifically catered to me. hairy, bearded, muscular, jockish, funny, kind, endlessly optimistic, stupid as hell, AND has canonically committed multiple atrocities as a big, sexy werewolf? be still, my beating heart. i feel like the monster prom creators stalked my social media circa 2017-2018 and collectively agreed that they were gonna make a dating sim ro that would make this one specific gayboy so, SO happy.

least favorite thing about them - also on a meta level. look. im not a nasty little hater (except when i am), but i have to admit that the writers are CONSTANTLY shoving him to the side in favor of the rest of the cast. even in his own game, Monster Roadtrip, a majority of the events tend to lean on polly being the center-focus with scott acting as her sidekick. this was esp apparent in the End of the Road ending where Polly was basically the main character while Scott was also There (sort of). ill admit i partially understand this since polly is generally a more active character while scott is more reactive, but still, id love to see my boy get his kudos

favorite line - there's so many good ones but im just gonna with one based on a recent screenshot i took: "I really like macaroni, but I'm not allowed to boil water by myself, so I just eat the noodles raw."

brOTP - DA PRANK MASTERZ BABEY!!! Scott is my fav MP character and Polly is my second fav, so you it's only natural that I'd be obsessed with their dynamic. canonically bimbo and himbo besties.

OTP - Scott howl x ME!! i like him and brian a lot, i think they're cute. im a sucker for jock x jock and golden retriever x constantly tired so the two of them manage to hit a sweet spot for me.

nOTP - the game keeps trying to push scott x vicky or scott x amira and like, im sorry, but trying to get me to ship Bara Icon Scott Howl with women? im calling homophobia. besides im more of a vicky x vera and amira x damien guy so on all fronts those ships just dont really appeal to me

random headcanon - for reasons i cant disclose this has been canonically refuted but i always pictured scott's grandma as one of those very classic horror movie werewolves- all fangs, all carnage, very little sexy (unless you're into that sort of thing, in which case, hey. you do you). she used to be the alpha of the pack back in her day and was an absolute menace to monster society, until she got a little older and settled down. still, she secretly craves the old days when monsters could be monsters, and keeps trying to convince scott to embrace his more animalistic side, even though he keeps telling her that murder isnt actually really mean and you probably shouldn't do it.

unpopular opinion - the monster prom fandom doesnt really have that much discourse so i dont know whats an unpopular opinion vs what isnt. uuuh i think scott should have won that popularity poll back when monster prom was still getting updates and gotten the new secret ending instead of damien's "punch the sun" ending

song i associate with them - this was on a scott howl playlist and i like it so uh. through and through by khai dreams

favorite picture of them - obv my pfp pic is one of my favs but here are a collection of Certified Scott Images

and some fav outfits:

[thependragonarchives]

Grim Reaper Headcanon Blurb

here's just a good chunk of all headcanons I have for general Dispatch shenanigans!! below cut :> ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ-

✧ A general one shared with most of tumblr, but the reapers looking more inhuman. Sharp teeth, glowing eyes, pointed ears, the works! I personally think they carry the smell of decay with them. But I also think they carry physical traits from their deaths as well! A reaper who drowned would look bluish/greenish, a reaper who died of blood loss would be ashen, burned by fire have dryer/leathery skin, etc. etc.

✧ On the list of 'petty things to get written up for', unpermitted scythe modification is probably high on the list. Dispatch, regardless of the staff of the Management Division's own personal thoughts, requires everything and anything to be recorded and reported. Even if it's just a simple blade change. People forget!

✧ When a reaper first 'wakes up', they're treated with cold and clinical detachment. A statistic before anything else. Dying is incredibly traumatic, and 'waking up', a reaper is probably going to be in shock! It's easier faster to go through the paperwork first, before beginning to explain everything. Even then, there's this shitty information pamphlet the doctor hands you, called 'So You Killed Yourself! What Now?', to help explain the role a new reaper now plays.

✧ There's different levels of blindness a reaper can have! While they're all legally blind, some can see more than others! I personally think Grell and Othello can see colored blurbs, and can make out features but to really see specific details they squint, while William is almost-fully blind, only seeing big splotches of color. Like a bleeding watercolor painting.

✧ Birthdays aren't celebrated often. There's either no-time or no purpose to them, because a reaper is 'one age' forever. Death Days, while not celebrated however, are treated with kindness and respect and empathy- The whole shebang. Death Days are reminders of the fact this is a punishment for their suicide, making a reaper feel that anguish that caused them to take their life anyways. In certain, severe cases there's even physical reminders (an old bullet wound beginning to bleed, water being coughed up, feeling like one's burning alive). Calling out and having either your: Mandatory Partner, dear friend, or romantic/queerplatonic other half(ves) spend the day with the affected reaper is MANDATORY, due to how volatile it can be.

✧ Mandatory Partners!! My personal example is William/Grell before Will got 'promoted' to Management. Or Alan/Eric before the Tragedy. A mandatory partner is essentially someone a reaper in Retrievals works extremely well with, and the Higher Ups require reapers to NEVER BE ALONE and have someone else in the area. There's too many dangers to working alone, without backup a skip away. If there isn't anyone a reaper works well with (or their MP is assigned far away), a Mentor or Management position can take the place of the MP. London Dispatch, however, is usually short-staffed and can't supply this often, meaning reapers work alone instead of in pairs.

✧ While most demons can't permanently kill a reaper, they can severely wound one so a Bigger Threat (starving demon, Greater Demon, rogue deserter, Dispatch Itself) can kill them. Lesser-Demons however, can 'attatch' themselves to a healthy reaper, and create a parasitic relationship. A reaper's energy/'lifeforce' gets slowly drained unless they feed the demon the souls they reap, but this is considered low-class and taboo by demons, while reapers have very few cases of this. It isn't impossible though, with the right circumstances (and a bit of manipulation).

✧ Deserters aren't executed or jailed when caught! No, they're put into a 'reformation' process, ESPECIALLY if the Dispatch branch is short staffed. This is done as a 'final chance for redemption', before the brass takes them away forever. No one knows what happens to the ones the reformation didn't help.

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