#They want us to act like Americans right? Then let’s fight back

[iamtheaudacity]

I’m going to scream. The grass is still green, I’m still seeing birds and the temperature is bearable. In the middle of November. In fucking Minnesota.

yet they still try to claim that climate change is a hoax and that everything’s fine, yeah “our best interest” my ass they fight for themselves not their people. I’m just a teenager but I can’t even try to worry about drama and celebrity shit because the adults in control of my country, my home are going to kill the world before I have a chance to grow up in it. How am I supposed to care about anything that doesn’t directly affect me when I’m wondering if I should by all of the classic books before the end up getting banned andd if the ones I’m going to write will fall to the same fate, because I’m not letting so many voices, MY VOICE go forgotten even if I have burn in place of the very words I and so many others write. so many people tell teenagers to just focus on grades which is practically impossible when I have to think about whether or not I’ll have to use the fact that three women in my mother’s family have had breast cancer including my mother herself to convince the doctors and government to let me have top surgery. How am I supposed to care about grades when I might not be able to get into college because it would be made harder or less acceptable for me to go just because I had the misfortune of being born female and that means I have something these men want. That is if I make it through high school without being shot of course. the politicians say they’re doing all of this for the children (obviously that’s why they want to ban drag you know/sar) but won’t listen to us when we cry for change as they instead walk in the other direction, they say this is for us but then they make a world where green grass and birds make me want to scream

they won’t listen to our screams now it’s about time to start biting and scratching

[renard-dartigue]

Hi now i'm curious what is the beef with the rappers

Man this is going to be long so I'll try to keep this simple and entertaining. I hope this comes across as clear cause I'm shook right now.

Here is a glossarie to break thing up:

Prologue (The Spark 🔥)

Round 1.1 (Physical Education 💪🏾)

Interlude part 1 (Roots 🏠)

Round 1.2 (2 Warning Shots 🔫)

Interlude part 2 (Pusha the Seer 👁)

Round 2.1 (Knifes Out 🔪 )

Round 2.2 (The Nuke 💥)

Epilogue (All eyes on him 👀)

My Theory 🤷🏾‍♂️

Highly recommend checking out the tracks yourself while you read along.

Prologue (The Spark)

Let it be known that I am a neutral party and that I don't take sides when it comes to rap beef. I was here for the music and creativity. I am just trying to recount events to the best of my knowledge. Sorry if some details are inaccurate.

Okay so basically, Drake, J Cole, and Kendrick Lamar are the Big 3 of the rap world right now.

A month ago, Future and Metro Boomin (two rapper who supposedly don't fuck with Drake anymore) released a song with Kendrick Lamar called "Like That". In the song Kendrick took a shot at Drake and J Cole, saying there isn't a big 3, its only him on top.

4 weeks ago J Cole dropped a track called "7 Minute Drill" that is dissing Kendrick. However, in a move that is very uncharacteristic of J, he took down the official track and formally apologized to Kendrick. Thus signaling his exit from the rap battle.

ROUND 1.1 (Physical Ed)

Drake on the other hand dropped "Push Ups" 2 weeks ago, a diss track that went after other rappers he doesn't like but mainly Kendrick. In it, he made fun of Kendrick's height and his contracts. He then ends the song with "I was really try'n keep it PG" meaning he has a nuke on Kendrick that people don't know.

Not long later, Drake dropped ANOTHER diss track "Taylor Made Freestyle" with Ai voices of Snoop Dog and fucking 2PAC! Kendrick has stated before that 2pac is one of his idols so this must have been a deep cut. In the song Drake claims Kendrick doesn't write his own music and uses the writers of Taylor Swift. Relating a rapper to pop music is seen as disrespectful.

INTERLUDE PART 1 (Roots)

Before I continue, I want to give a brief run down on how the public perceives these two rappers.

Drake portrays himself as a superstar, he's always on social media flaunting his success and partying with other celebrities, seeing alot of women and living a lavish lifestyle. His music is catchy, something you put on in the club. Most of his fan base praise him for his sick beats and witty lyrics. He's been in the music industry for a while and is no push over.

Kendrick Lamar is a very private person, doesn't expose anything about his personal life unless its on a track. He almost never gets into fights with anyone. He is a family man, stressing the importance of being there for his wife and son and encourages other fathers to do the same. His fan base praise him for his creative lyrics and highlighting the black American condition.

ROUND 1.2 (2 Warning Shots)

2 Day ago, Kendrick Lamar came back with his first official diss track on Drake called "Euphoria". In this song, Kendrick goes in on Drakes fake personality. Drake has always been known around the community as a bit of a poser, he grew up in Canada and was raised by his white mother, a relatively comfortable childhood. He was a star on the popular show Degassi when he was young. garnering him a fan base early in his career. Kendrick doesn't approve of Drake appropriating black American culture and acting like he some tough guy. When in reality he is a Canadian nerd thats disrespectful to 2pac. All throughout the song, Kendrick hits at things that many people have know about Drake, such as his behavior around underage girls. He also called Drake a deadbeat father who isn't in his son's life, even referencing his lost battle to Pusha T. Then Kendrick finally warns him that he has more dirt that he is willing to share if Drake takes things further.

Similar to Drake, Kendrick dropped another track called "6:16 in LA" later that day. This song focuses on Drake's environment, specifically the people he hangs with. Kendrick implies that Drake paid people to dig into his background and when they didn't find anything, Drake made up stuff instead. Kendrick then says that someone in Drakes group is leaking information to him about something even more serious. Also planting a seed in Drake's mind that his supposed friends don't actually like him, just like the clout from hanging around him.

INTERLUDE PART 2 (Pusha the Seer)

Taking a quick break again, we need to discuss something that occurred long before Drake's battle with Kendrick.

5 years ago, Drake was in a rap battle with rapper Pusha T, someone who was smaller than Drake at the time in terms of popularity. Pusha dropped a song called "The Story of Adidon" where he dropped a bomb that Drake had a kid and wasn't taking care of him. Drake initially denied it but it was later revealed to be true.

Since then Drake has never responded to Pusha T's diss track, making Pusha the current winner. And Kendrick is bringing it back into the light.

Round 2.1 (Knifes Out)

Around 2 am EST time of May 4th, Drake drops his diss track, "Family Matters" one of his strongest songs, switching his flow 3 times in the span of 7 minutes. In true Drake fashion, its a club song with a catchy beat. Like his previous diss, its aimed at multiple people but the main focus is on Kendrick, even bring up "I was really try'n keep this PG".

Drake doubles down on his black identity and mocks the fact that Kendrick and other rappers are saying he isn't black, (incorrectly assuming that they are coming at him for being mixed when the real issue is that he is appropriating black American rap culture as a Canadian mixed man who grew up in a safe environment) Drake not only calls Kendrick a fraud who only raps about black issues for attention, Or that his activism is performative. He makes a shocking claims that Kendrick is a wife beater. Then Drake says that Kendrick's son doesn't belong to him and implies Kendrick's producer was the real father.

The track caused an uproar. But only for the span of 15 minutes. Because Kendrick did the unthinkable.

ROUND 2.2 (THE NUKE)

Almost as if expecting Drake's move, Kendrick Lamar did what no one saw coming. He dropped his diss track "Meet The Grahams" about 15 minutes after Drake released "Family Matters".

This time around, in a fashion almost unheard of from him, Kendrick strips all the usual metaphors from his lyricism and structures his track like he is speaking to Drake and his family, 4 parts per individual.

Kendrick begins by speaking to Drakes Son, Adonis, the same son Pusha T exposed Drake for neglecting 5 years ago. He's apologizing to him for his father's behavior. Kendrick speaks to him softly but sternly like a mentor, telling him not to be like his father. Kendrick tells Adonis all the things Drake did and warns him not to do them too: involved with escorts, plastic surgery to appear more black, surgery to look more muscular, hiding a kid. (Kendrick stresses that Adonis is black regardless of being mixed, further highlighting that he isn't discrediting Drake's blackness because he's mixed but because he isn't being himself.) Finishing of by telling the kid to be proud of who he is.

The second half is Kendrick addressing Drake's mother and father, Sandra and Denise. Kendrick speaks to her like he's revealing tragic news, explaining to her that her son is involved in disgusting things. He goes down a list of things, his tone growing more intense and angry. Kendrick then claimed that Drake is employing and enabling pedos in his group, and hopes they die. Even implying that his group is going to be raided by the feds some day.

The third half is the MOST shocking of all. Kendrick begins talking to an unnamed individual, simply calls her babygirl. Similar to Adonis, Kendrick takes on a somber tone and apologizes to her for Drakes behavior. He says its not her fault Drake abandoned her, says that she is deserving of love. He warns her not to become a target for people like Drake to pray on and says she has so much to offer the world.

Kendrick revealed Drake has ANOTHER kid and isn't in their life! (Allegedly)

To close of, the fourth half is Kendrick speaking directly to Drake, his tone tired. He tries to reiterate that he doesn't have hate for him. However, Kendrick says Drake was the first one to go after his family and he couldn't let it slide. He once again calls for Drake to take the mask off. Then says this isn't a rap battle anymore, tells Drake he is fighting himself.

Epilogue (All eyes on him)

And so here we are, waiting for what will happen next.

Drake posted an Instagram story denying the claim he has another kid. But given what happened with Pusha T, we can't quite take his word for it yet. We should wait a bit to see if anything comes out.

Kendrick hasn't put out a statement on Drake's claims about him but given the recurring theme of Drake being a manipulative lier, Kendrick clearly denies it. Given how private he is, its difficult to prove or disprove it. Much like Drake's claims, we will have to wait and see if any evidence comes out about it.

Drake and Kendrick stans are at eachothers throats right now, arguing over who one and whats real or fake.

Right now everyone is looking to see if Drake is going to continue the battle or stay silent like he did with Pusha.

My Theory

Personally as an outside observer who only followed the beef for good music. I think this goes beyond a simple rap battle.

Here is my theory: Someone from Drake's clique told Kendrick that Drake and his producers were writing something about him. Real or fake, Kendrick was pissed. And so he drafted 3 tracks, dumping everything he hates about Drake into them. And then, with the leaker's help, Kendrick baited Drake into a battle, goading Drake to drop the "Family Matters" track so he can shut the battle down with "Meet the Grahams". Or maybe his first 2 tracks were a warning to Drake that if he released a track with lies on him he would reveal he has another kid.

I do think Kendrick initially had good intentions in trying to help Drake be a better person. But maybe the more he learned about Drake the less sympathetic he felt.

But I don't know thats just how I see it.

Thanks for reading my essay. I hope it made sense heh. I encourage healthy discussions in the comments and reblogs please. But everyone agrees that Drake is inappropriate with young girls. We won't argue over that.

[ms-demeanor]

Knowledge Fight anon again - thank you for the list and recs! I look forwatd to checking them out. I was excited to see there's a West Wing podcast because I enjoyed that show, but yourself and the hosts hate it so maybe not for me lmao. Though I will still give the first episode a listen - very curious to understand why our feeligns about the show differ so vastly. And if you -want- to rant about why you hate TWW - feel free! I'm genuinely curious - I'm European, have never lived in the US, so for me it was one of the biggest tools of learning how US politics work, which made it absolutely fascinating to watch.

Anyways! I'll be looking at the other podcasts as well, they all seem very interesting, and the common-denominator format you describe them having does jive with me. Thanks again!

My very republican father and sister very much wish that all democrats would act like the democrats in the west wing. It's touted as a point of honor and a great example of compromise when Democrat Jed Bartlett appoints a republican justice to the Supreme court, any time there's an environmentalist or a union supporter on the show they're painted as extreme and uncompromising, in the later seasons the Jimmy Smitts character is running as a democrat on a pro-school-vouchers, anti-tenure/union (so anti-public school, basically) platform, the show as a whole is against entitlements (free college especially is something the ostensible dems in the show aren't even interested in enough to lament).

Idk at a certain point it gets frustrating to see anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-healthcare republicans being praised as the mature compromisers in the room with complicated motivations and good points when every time a leftist protest shows up it's a warehouse full of people without enough message discipline to talk to to cameras without erupting into a shouting match and getting brushed off as whiny babies by toby zigler.

"Oh, we need CJ to look a little loopy, let's have her agree with these cartographers who are pointing out that the mercator projection privileges the global north." "Oh we need to present something that's a ridiculous waste of money, how about a wildlife crossing that would prevent keystone species injuries in an area of urban incursion, that's bullshit that we shouldn't spend money on." "Oh, we want to explain why big pharma can't provide free HIV meds to african nations in 2003, let's suggest that it wouldn't matter even if they did because *Africans don't have clocks and can't take meds 12 hours apart.*" "this hollywood producer is pushing too hard for gay marriage in 2007, let's lecture him about how you need to slow down and respect the process instead of being an activist about it"

There's this interview with Aaron Sorkin where he's saying "America used to be the world's heroes, when my dad was a soldier people would say 'thank god, the Americans are here' and they don't say that anymore and it's because of Donald Trump" - Sorkin totally ignores US imperialism and the way that people in Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan wouldn't say 'thank god, the americans are here' to an extent that is genuinely startling, and that shows up in the show. At one point in the show president bartlett okays the assassination of a foreign leader and says 'today we enter the league of ordinary nations' as though the US hasn't backed coups or assassination around the world, as though the CIA isn't a thing, as though Henry Kissinger isn't a thing, and it's *bizarre* from a show that is supposed to be politically aware.

I'm actually super hesitant to recommend the west wing thing to general audiences because i don't always agree with the hosts or their guests but as an analysis of the surprisingly right-leaning politics of the show it's a worthwhile listen.

It's honestly something i could rant about for way too long because I had early warning signs about it. My sister *loves* this show and its politics. She's got a "my president is Jed Bartlett" sticker that she keeps next to her signed copy of one of Ann Coulter's books. If my sister thinks your liberal character is reasonable and level headed and has good policy positions, your liberal character isn't all that liberal.

The show is steeped in American exceptionalism and imperialist apologia but it's got a tearjerker soundtrack and maybe the best and most charming cast ever assembled so you ignore it when CJ wants to brush off constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure or cruel and unusual punishment (she's a huge fan of cops and intelligence agencies and not a fan of oversight) or when she shits on affirmative action (she believes her father lost his dream job to a less qualified candidate who was selected due to minority status, and that that job loss led to his mental decline - CJ Craig thinks that DEI hiring practices killed her father) because Allison Janney is an incredibly talented and charismatic actress who is elevating the hell out of her character.

But, you know, it would be kind of fucked up if a Democrat president's chief of staff was cheerfully on-record about the fact that she thinks intelligence agencies are more effective when nobody knows what they're doing so we should leave them to their own devices.

Thank you for the opportunity to rant i cannot fucking stand this show and i kind of want to do an episode-by-episode breakdown of various flavors of bullshit but there are much better things to do with my time so i don't but it's nice to have a chance to yell about the stuff that makes me crazy off the top of my head.

That said: if you want a podcast that is less vitriolic but does actually get into how parts of the US political system work, check out 5 to 4, which is a podcast by 3 lefty lawyers talking about Supreme Court decisions. It's great!

[sixofcrowdaydreams]

I was incredibly lucky enough to get to visit London and see Next to Normal twice in the short time I was there (and meet Jack Wolfe at the stage door!) But lots of fans might not have the same opportunity, so I wanted to share some details about the production and the changes/additions made to the performance since the Donmar production because I remember eagerly reading as many details as possible once upon a time.

Obviously, spoilers ahead for acting choices and stage directions. (Personally, I love spoilers and knowing what to look for in a production, but if you have the chance to see the show and want to be surprised, this is a good place to stop reading.

First off, Diana is shown as waaaaaay more crazy. Her behavior is far more erratic and there's never a moment when you think she's lucid and in control. Personally, I liked this change because I felt like in the Donmar production she was too... normal? She didn't quite behave as the person who broke down in the market, set the house on fire, crashed the car, and jumped in the swimming pool. Here, I completely believe she did all those things. Diana is hypersexual, ripping her top off as she runs past Natalie in the beginning to go have sex with Dan. She plants a kiss on Henry, to Natalie's utter horror, the first time she meets him. (Dan does not react to this, haha, he's used to it.) All of Diana's interactions with with therapists have an undercurrent of overly flirty, sexual dialog. Obviously, this is one sided and unreciprocated from the therapists. At one point she tells the therapist that she's flattered, but her husband is waiting in the car and it's impossible to see it as anything other than super sexual. (She's kinda into it though...) Diana lays curled on the floor more often clutching her head. You never doubt that she is manic.

Let's talk about Gabe.

Jack Wolfe rewrote the role of Gabe, there's no denying that. Instead of the menacing looming ghost, all American jock ghost, Jack plays him as a soft boy. The ultimate soft boy. And I didn't know it was possible, but he ramped that energy up 100% in this production. Jesus christ, he couldn't have been any more adorable if he stood on stage batting his eyelashes. Not only is Gabe played as a soft boy, he's particularly played as being very child-like. It's quite the duality. He has the body and mentality of a supposed 18 year old. He makes a joke about not taking coke "right now," and taunts his father with the location of the car keys at the beginning of the show. Later he reminds his mother that young people in love are horny.

Yet, Gabe's emotional responses, reactions to those around him are extremely childish. It really struck me how similar his expressions of joy, fear, and anger were to my toddler. Eerily similar. In a new addition, his face lights up with uncontrolled joy, giggling when he sees the music box. (His music box.) Gabe jumps to sit on the counter, and hugs it to his chest as he and Diana listen to the music.

There are moments when he is hurt by watching his parents fight and looks absolutely wounded. Like, shoulder hunched, chin tucked in looking down completely betrayed. Another new addition to this production includes Gabe turning his head away and closing his eyes as his mother flushes her pills down the drain. He does not want to see her do it. The dialog is a little at odds with this action because he still tells Diana that he thinks she's being very brave even though he visibly disagrees with her choice.

Gabe recoils in fear during the "chair moment" in a way you wouldn't expect from a young man. When Gabe and Dan crowd Diana during "I Am the One" she lashes out and grabs the chair, swinging it around, forcing them both away from her. Gabe jumps backward in surprise. But this time he also runs behind the counter, visibly terrified that his mother's anger is directed at him. He ducks as she swings the chair, unlike Dan, who is still on the same side of the counter as her and backs out of the way but continues singing and engaging with her, unlike Gabe who does it from a safe distance.

And when Diana's memories of Gabe, and Gabe himself returns after shock therapy, he unleashes the "I'm Alive Reprise" with what I can only describe as the same chaotic gleeful energy my toddler has when my kid starts evil cackling. It's a loud, full body laugh of delight that no one else takes any amusement in that, but that does not stop the child from enjoying it. It's a wild moment in the production. Gabe literally rolls around on top of the counter in delight at being unleashed.

Gabe is also more physically affectionate toward Diana. He hugs her several times and kisses her head. If he gets the opportunity to touch her, he will. In one poignant moment, Dr. Madden convinces Diana to look at Gabe's baby items and start letting go. Gabe tries to get her attention by attempting to hold her hand in order make her talk to him, and instead of taking it, she walks away and leaves him reaching toward her. He is devastated. In the Donmar production Diana and Gabe sat against the counter and leaned on one another. In this production that moment was substituted for Gabe kneeling on the floor and Diana lying on the floor and putting her head in Gabe's lap. He strokes her hair and reassures her.

Instead of seeming jealous or spiteful toward Natalie, Gabe seems enraptured with her. No sibling rivalry here. He tries, unsuccessfully, to get her attention several times and even places his hand over hers on the counter in a moment of comfort, not that she notices. In this production Gabe does not put Diana's purse or bag of pills in front of his sister, starting her addiction. She finds them herself.

This production solved one of the problems I originally had with "Super Boy and the Invisible Girl" in the Donmar production. In the original original New York run Gabe was played by Aaron Tveit as the very jock, athletic all American boy, which is in strict contrast to Natalie, the dorky anxious sister. At the end of the song Gabe joins Natalie singing, "she's not there," until his voice overpowers her and takes over the song as a vocal reminder that he's the favored child. Obviously, the Donmar production didn't do this because Gabe changed to soft boy energy. So Gabe joining the end of the song, singing at Natalie made less sense that the two are no longer in competition. THIS PRODUCTION instead had both Gabe and Natalie singing the end of "Super Boy and the Invisible Girl" to Diana, which was completely brilliant. Diana curls up on the floor clutching her head as both turn their attention toward her. Natalie stands at the top of the stairs and Gabe stands on the counter, both looming over Diana on the floor (asking her why she is not present in their lives and almost accusing her for casting them in the roles of Super Boy and Invisible Girl.)

Gabe is also present in more moments than the original Donmar production. He lurks in the background of several more scenes that did not feature him at the Donmar. This is an excellent choice. He joins Diana during her therapy session when she is hypnotized. Diana makes the joke about turning the light on at the bottom of the stairs to Gabe, both of them being playful and sharing teasing glances because they doubt the success of the hypnosis. (Jokes on Gabe) As Diana falls further into hypnosis, Gabe becomes less visible on stage until he's completely eclipsed behind Dr. Madden and cannot be seen at all even though he's still on stage standing behind the doctor. Gabe tails Diana through the house like a sad puppy afterward when she goes upstairs and retrieves the "baby box."

Gabe did not "try" to make his mother commit suicide. He grabbed his backpack and a dufflebag and started to walk out the door until Diana sang, "I'd die to dance with you." She had already made up her mind to die before Gabe turns around and begins to sing "There's a World." He seemed to help her after she already made her choice. It was less coaxing her into suicide and more guiding her through it, reassuring her of the what came at the end and how he would be there with her.

Gabe watches while Dan cleans up Diana's suicide attempt. He shows up just in time for Dan to sing the lyric, "And there's no one around," disproving Dan's claim that he's all alone. Now, looking this up, it seems like Gabe is supposed to be in this scene, but I have NO MEMORY of Gabe at this part in the original Donmar production. That could just be my faulty memory though. This scene really strengthens their confrontation later in "I Am the One Reprise." I also have no memory of the "sonogram scene" at the Donmar though I distinctly remember reading about it and was actively watching for the moment when Gabe stood on the upper floor and the curtain dropped, casting him in silhouette reminiscent to a sonogram while Diana listens to the music box. So maybe I'm just not remembering correctly? Still, this scene was also excellent and haunting as Gabe hummed the music box melody. The humming was beautiful and it broke me.

At one point in this production, Gabe almost touches his father, but pulls away first. Gabe, desperate to be acknowledged, stands in front of Dan, who reaches forward to touch Diana. Gabe quickly retreats in fear, and throws himself out of the way to avoid touching his father.

I'm not particularly sure anything changed during "I Am the One Reprise," but it's my favorite scene of the entire show, so I'm gonna talk about it. Because hot damn. Before this moment Diana talks to Natalie and sings "Maybe" While they talk Dan and Gabe are sitting against opposite side of the counter. (Dan in the front on the far left hands clutching his head, Gabe behind the counter on the far right curled into a ball, arms wrapped around his knees, forehead on his knees) When Diana finally tells Natalie (and the audience) how her older brother died, Gabe perks up at the mention of his name. He slowly unfolds, sits up, and listens as if it is the first time he's heard it too. Then Diana sings "So Anyway," and leaves. Both men watch her go. (To my utter amusement, Gabe turns into a prairie dog standing up on his knees -- again, reminding me of my toddler who does the same thing in order to sit up and see better -- as Diana leaves.)

Dan stands and starts singing "I Am the One Reprise" to Diana. But Gabe stands and starts singing the reprise to Dan. Then he gets to, "I know you told her that I'm not worth a damn, But I know you know who I am." And then the music cue drops.

It's so powerful.

For the first time Gabe looks angry. Confrontational. He demands to be recognized by his father while Dan denies his presence and begs him to go away. In a stunning leap of athleticism, Gabe jumps on the counter and grabs Dan from the back. It's almost violent. Dan struggles but Gabe refuses to let go until Dan spins around they lock onto each other's forearms and sing the same verse. It's so emotionally charged. Both actors are cry and yell at each other as they sing.

Then Dan starts to pull away and Gabe desperately reaches out trying to hold him again, but unable to from his position on the counter. He continues to reach out despite Dan growing farther away. it's heartbreaking. Dan finally says Gabe's name and recognizes him. It's all Gabe has wanted from his father the entire show. Gabe is so happy in this moment. They look like they are going to continue talking, but Natalie comes in and asks her father, "It's just us?" Now, I remember the line being "It's just the two of us?" at the Donmar, but it's been a hot minute, so I could be wrong (again). But I like, "It's just the two of us?" better because it forces Dan to deny Gabe once again. Dan deliberately looks over at Gabe on the counter before agreeing with Natalie. And Gabe just... gives up. He got the 10 seconds of acknowledgement he wanted from his father. Dan said his name and Gabe's content with that much even though Dan denies him once again in front of Natalie.

Gabe slowly gets off the counter, touches Natalie's hand, though she's unaware, and walks upstairs like a sad little ascending angel who watches over his remaining family.

Other thoughts:

I may not have talked nearly as much about the rest of the cast, but they were all perfect. I loved everyone's voice. Dan was sooooo sympathetic and I love him more and more each time I see the show. Natalie's voice is gorgeous. Stunning. Diana is an unreliable narrator and I think the audience often forgets that.

There are so many props in this set, it must be a nightmare to restock for each show. The food Diana throws around making sandwiches is real, as is the disastrous dinner. (During Diana and Dan's argument they clean up and Diana just throws the dishware into the trash, not just the food, the pan and bowl too and it feels so in character.) Everything else just gets shoved into the sink, haha. The sink does have running water. The birthday cake seems like a prop though and Diana did her best to keep the candles lit while she raced around the stage looking for her dead son. From the balcony on my first viewing I had a really good view of the baby box and saw the exact moment the "blood" began to leak from it. It happened very quickly before the stage turned around, which made me think the it was remote controlled and not set on a release timer (though it probably could be. Every movement from everyone on stage is extremely coordinated even though they are not dancing.) Sitting closer to the stage, the box seemed to leak from all four corners -- I'm just a weirdo who likes knowing these production details.

The cast popping out of the fridge was way funnier during "Psychopharmacologist and I" because they opened the fridge was used it as an ordinary fridge during the opening song. So it was totally unexpected.

Only one person audibly reacted in the audience to Gabe's death reveal between the two shows I saw. Lol. Everyone else went in knowing.

Jesus christ, I have no idea how the actors wore long sleeves and pants on stage. I sat four rows back on the second viewing and I WAS HOT from the stage lights and I wasn't running around the stage like they were. They definitely were visibly sweating.

A friend pointed out that the cast were using American accents, which I didn't realize. For the most part they sounded fine, especially compared to the interviews where the cast use in their natural accents. The most shocking difference was Natalie's actress -- she had the best American accent compared to her strong irl accent. Dan's actor too! Both Jacks couldn't quite cover up their soft vowels so my American ear didn't realize they were using an American accent when I heard their natural ones so clearly.

There were several stage mishaps the second time I saw the production. The curtain that goes up and down on the upper levels of the stage knocked over the "I'm Alive" microphone stand when it when down, knocking the mic off. The mic popped off and bounced down the stairs and rolled off the back of the stage where production presumably grabbed it. The actors picked up the mic stand and put the mic back on it in the next scene. The same microphone stand fell down again when Gabe turned around and his red backpack knocked it over. He picked it up very quickly.

During my "Psychopharmacologist and I" one of Dan's pill bottles, being used as a shaker, exploded. The actor froze for a second, then kept going as the "pills" scattered across the stage. He just put his empty hand in the pocket of the medical coat and continued. When the song ended, a production manager came out, apologized, and said the stage needed to be reset. All the actors left as the stage was swept. The audience looked at their phones for 5 minutes and then the production started again.

Next to Normal was such a joy to see. Like, yes, I saw it because of Jack Wolfe and he was absolutely a highlight of it. But I was never bored without him on stage. Though I did think "So Anyway" was a bit too long, but that's my personal opinion and the effect of jet lag may have influenced that thought. All of the cast and their voices were incredibly talented and I'm glad to be familiar with the show now.

This is long enough, but if you have any questions about the production, please ask! I am happy to answer questions to help those who might be able to see it in person visualize what happened on stage.

[fdelopera]

JVP Explained

So, I've been seeing WAY too many gentiles ignorantly uplifting an American "Jewish" group called JVP this past month.

Members of JVP have been very loud this past month, pretending that they speak for Jewish people. They do not.

As a Jew, I'm here to help you understand who this group is, why they act in the blatantly antisemitic ways they do, and why they are dangerous to Jewish people around the world.

And, as an ACTUAL Jewish voice, I am here to tell gentiles to STOP uplifting them.

If you have never heard of "Jewish Voice for Peace" (JVP), or even if you have, I want to give you an analogy that will help you understand this group:

JVP are to Jewish people what Blaire White, Kalvin Garrah, and Caitlyn Jenner are to trans people.

And it's worse, because JVP have gentiles (non-Jews) in their membership. (At least Blaire, Kalvin, and Caitlyn are actually trans.) So for JVP to even call themselves a "Jewish voice" is a lie.

Like Blaire, Kalvin, and Caitlyn, JVP's Jewish membership desperately want to be seen as "the good ones" by bigots, and they are willing to throw vulnerable people in their own community under the bus just for a chance to be accepted by those bigots.

JVP has been called out REPEATEDLY by the Anti-Defamation League for harassing observant Jews at synagogue, harassing queer observant Jews, invoking the antisemitic blood libel canard against Jewish people, and most recently, cheering on and uplifting Hamas after their pogrom on October 7. Among many, many other antisemitic offenses.

There are LEGITIMATE and VALID ways to protest the atrocities and war crimes of the Israeli government.

Let me say that again.

There are LEGITIMATE and VALID ways to protest the atrocities and war crimes of the Israeli government!

But JVP doesn't do that.

Instead, JVP chooses to amplify Neo-Nazi dogwhistles, harass American Jewish people at shul, and uplift Hamas — an antisemitic terrorist organization.

You DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT!! get to call yourself a "Jewish voice for peace" and then use BLOOD LIBEL, UPLIFTING ANTISEMITIC TERRORISTS, and HARASSING OBSERVANT JEWS as a way to "criticize" the Israeli government.

You are not a "freedom fighter." You are just a Jew who is a self-loathing, Jew-hating antisemite.

Now, if you're queer like me (nonbinary, genderfluid Jew here, hi!), you're likely aware of how Blaire, Kalvin, and Caitlyn have harassed countless other trans people, especially nonbinary people, for not being trans in the "right way." They do this because they are desperate for approval from right-wingers. Why? Because they, and trans people like them, have a deep sense of self-loathing, shame, and guilt about being trans. They think that if they harass other trans people, right-wingers will accept them. All they want is for right-wingers to tell them, "It's okay, we know you're not like those cringy trans people over there. You're some of the good ones."

Right-wingers then benefit from this "relationship" because they can deny that they are transphobic bigots. Right-wingers can say things like, "I don't hate all trans people. I watched a couple of Blaire White's YouTube videos, and she's alright." So by seeking out right-wing approval, people like Blaire are making it more difficult for other trans people to fight back against anti-trans bigotry. But Blaire doesn't care, so long as Republicans will pat her on the head and tell her she's "one of the good ones."

JVP are very similar to this, except that they are seeking approval from extreme left-wing groups. Jews in JVP may be on the opposite end of the political spectrum, but they are behaving in the exact same way as Blaire, Kalvin, and Caitlyn. They are members of a marginalized group who are seeking approval from bigots, and they're throwing their community under the bus in the process.

JVP's Jewish membership desperately want to be seen as "Good Jews."

(JVP's gentile membership, of course, are just leftist antisemites and are there to harass Jewish people they deem to be "Bad Jews.")

Why? Why do Jews in JVP want to be seen as "the good ones"?

Because Jews in JVP have a deep feeling of self-loathing, shame, and guilt about being Jewish, and they think if leftist groups tell them, "It's okay, you're some of the good ones," that this will somehow assuage their guilt for being Jewish.

This self-loathing, shame, and guilt goes far beyond the current Israel/Palestine conflict. That's just how it is manifesting right now. There have always been Jews who have wanted to assimilate into gentile spaces and be told that they're "the good ones." There have always been Jews who are ashamed of being Jewish.

Jews in JVP consider spreading antisemitic Neo-Nazi conspiracy theories, uplifting Hamas, and further marginalizing other Jewish people to be a small price to pay if it means that they are provisionally "accepted" by certain antisemitic gentiles. Even though these antisemitic gentiles will discard the Jews in JVP as soon as it is expedient to do so.

And of course, just like Blaire, Kalvin, and Caitlyn do with right-wingers, the Jews in JVP sanction left-wing antisemites to say: "I don't hate all Jews. I'm not antisemitic. I just hate Israeli Jews 'Bad Jews.' I just want those 7 million Israeli Jews 'Bad Jews' to be exterminated."

Sure, Jan. Sure, you're not antisemitic. You just want 7 million Jews mass murdered. In case you didn't know, you absolute ghoul, that's the very definition of antisemitic.

Oh, and Gentiles, many of you have gone mask-off enough with your Jew-hatred this month for us Jews to know that when you say "Israelis," "Zionists," "Zios," "Zio scum," "Zio rats," and every other permutation of those words, you really mean "those dirty Jews I'm allowed to hate publicly now."

But the Jews in JVP haven't studied their Holocaust history. The Jews in JVP don't care to remember that the Nazis, too, rounded us up into groups of "Bad Jews" and "Good Jews" — or, really, "Bad Jews" and "Useful Jews." Then the Nazis used the "Useful Jews" to attack the "Bad Jews." Finally, they shoved ALL the Jews that they could get their hands on into the gas chambers and tried to kill every last one of us.

And what I know from studying Holocaust history is that as soon as Jews start getting sorted into camps of "Good Jews" and "Bad Jews," you had better say, "Fuck no, I'm not being a Good Jew!"

You had better get into the "BAD JEW" camp as FAST as you can and start SPEAKING OUT, and uplifting the Jewish community, and supporting as many other Jews as you can.

If you try to be a "Good Jew," antisemites will just use you as a useful idiot and a pawn against other Jews. Then within a short period of time, you will find that EVERY Jew is lumped into the "Bad Jew" camp. And EVERY Jew is now in danger. Including you, O "Good Jew" who tried so hard to convince antisemites that you were "one of the good ones."

If JVP studied Holocaust history, they would see that they are being useful idiots for Neo-Nazis, Hamas, and other antisemitic groups that want Jews around the world to be eradicated. (You should read Hamas' excruciatingly antisemitic charter sometime. I have. The group is literally founded on Jew-hatred.)

But the Jews in JVP do not study Jewish history, or Holocaust history.

The Jews in JVP don't want to acknowledge the truth:

In siding with the Neo-Nazis, the Hamas supporters, and the other antisemitic groups that are co-opting the Free Palestine movement and turning it into a movement of Jew-hatred, the Jews in JVP are signing their own death warrant, too.

It's only a matter of time, O "Good Jews," before you are rounded up with us "Bad Jews." Because to antisemites, we're all just "dirty Jews who deserve to die."

[mugiwara-lucy]

I think Grandpa is mad he is LOSING HARD with the women vote 😂

Yeah when you mess with women’s rights or as him and his MAGAs like to argue, “sending them back to the states”, they WILL fight back.

Not to mention with his recent bullshit of his administration going to be “great” for women, it’s like he’s ASKING to get buried in the race:

And I say buried because if you all don’t know; women OUTVOTE men 3:1 and it varies by RACE.

So yeah women are going to SAVE our asses in this election because fucking with our rights? Uh you’re nutty if you think we’re just gonna sit back and let “the states” decide our rights made by old men.

Before I get on that point, I just wanna point out this sounds like a thinly veiled threat of “shut up and deal with us or else”. Because we ALL know Trump has NO respect for women.

But as for this whole “states deciding bullshit”; this has had NO positive ramifications. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the names Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. If not look them up along with the names Amanda Zuraski (my tumblr app isn’t letting me post links 😤) but yeah SO MANY women have died as a result of Roe v Wade being overturned and UNLESS things change, MORE women will die UNNECESSARILY when NO ONE but these FAKE Christians cared because over 63 % of Americans understand that abortion IS healthcare.

And also, putting my previous point aside, the reason why women are so angry aside from the unnecessary deaths is also because OLD MEN like Trump really have no place dictating what women can or can’t do with their bodies. Like, I want the men in my audience to imagine, let’s say Kamala Harris gets in office and orders men to have a vasectomy. Men would RIGHTFULLY get irate since a woman has no place telling a man what he can or can’t be doing with his body and it’s the same thing; these old men and congress can NOT give birth so who are they to tell us what we can do with our bodies??

ESPECIALLY creepy old men like Trump who have a HISTORY of sexual assault. Need I bring up his “grab em by the pussy!” Video?

These old washed up fossils like Trump HATE how modernized America is becoming and they want to go back to some conservative 1960s Ronald Reagan shit with women being stay at home moms along with trying to FORCE people to be Christians (see the 10 commandments and bible nonsense) like NO.

Down below are the voting registration deadlines that vary by state and you can also register to vote at vote.gov!

I’ve also seen people doing early voting which is great because as evidenced by Springfield Ohio along with Republicans bitching about getting “the save act or shut down the government” (Biden won’t allow any of the two to happen 🙄), them trying to have states hand count ballots like GA and then trying that “Winner Take All” Nonsense in Nebraska, EXPECT some fuckery from MAGA.

Let’s all be DONE with the nine year nightmare known as Donald Trump and his family ONCE and for ALL!!!

[verdantcreek]

thinking about the reboot mw games collectively and it’s so sadly unfortunate because like. when put up against the other two, mwiii fails so visibly.

first of all you’ve got their thesis/emotional core, right. for mw19, it’s all about the personal motivation of being a solider, the cost of war on an individual. what it means to fight and discovering the importance of what you’re fighting for. for mwii, it’s about trust. the importance of knowing that your team has each others backs, the weight that it has between individuals. what happens when that trust is broken and how it’s found again through vulnerability, because that’s how you truly know you’re there for each other.

and then there’s mwiii..? you should let your sergeant kill a prisoner illegally so said prisoner, when he breaks out of maximum security prison, doesn’t kill your sergeant 4 years later? you should illegally kill people who piss you off (shepherd)? sure there’s the whole “never bury your enemies alive”, but where does that come in to play outside of the soap/makarov interaction? it’s definitely not a valid reason for price to kill an american general in his own office. they could’ve used it for graves if they wanted to take it a step further, but no— graves doesn’t betray the team again, for whatever reason. we’re expected to consider him just a much a member of the team as anyone else, and the narrative treats him as such outside of a few bristly reactions to his involvement.

secondly i take a huge issue with how characters were handled in mwiii. literally everyone is here, and there is no reason for several of them to be. alex felt like a cameo— you see him actually on screen for maybe 30 seconds. farah’s missions feel forced for the sake of her involvement. not that farah shouldn’t be in this game, but makarov’s flimsy reasoning for targeting the ulf is so clearly an excuse to involve her. it feels very random and transparent as a decision to reuse her character because she’s familiar. again with graves— why is he here? i still genuinely do not understand why they decided to retcon his death. it was a perfect arc for mwii to kill him, and him being alive adds absolutely nothing to the story. he has nothing to do in mwiii and there is zero reason for his involvement other than “people liked him in mwii and he has a cool accent.”

within the 141, it’s mostly rehashing of the growth/personality that each of them showed in previous games. none of them have an arc, except maybe price if you’re willing to call the *post credit scene* where he commits cold blooded murder a completion of an arc. gaz, soap, and ghost are static versions of themselves that simply are just … there for most of the plot. they’re not out of character or ruined, but none of them individually have anything going on that can’t be tied back to price.

i think a lot of it comes down to the way they tried to shoehorn mwiii into the original trilogy’s storyline. people loved those games, and nostalgia sells. i don’t think it’s a coincidence that makarov was a big marketing factor for this game— and that’s not to say that mw19 or mwii didn’t abuse that either, but in execution you can feel the difference. price, gaz, soap and ghost are all their own characters miles away from their original trilogy counterparts. makarov… isn’t. he’s a poorly written villain riding on the success of the original trilogy— he’s scary because he’s *makarov*, not because he’s a real threat. it’s cheap. the knockoff “no russian” mission felt insulting. it’s a callback with no real impact in the story, just simply “look! remember when we did this in 2009 and everyone loved it?”

and all of it culminates into a shit ending with shock factor that it tries to make you feel emotional. i’m not sad over this character death. i’m mad, because it’s unearned and lazy. i realize it’s a lot to ask a multi-billion dollar corporation to actually put effort into their stories, but… it’s such a let down when the previous games actually had at least an ounce of passion. i’m just still so disappointed with this game ruining what could’ve been a really interesting and unique story.

[winxwiki]

Iginio Straffi talks about Winx Club's style and storytelling, compared to other western cartoons. Video by Winx Club Forever Italia, translation below, with some notes

If I can say, a little Rainbow style, if there is one... a Rainbow Style. This "contamination" that me and other guys around my age, some a little younger, some a little older, have lived. We grew up when we were tiny tiny with american cartoons, Disney, Warner Bros, (Hanna) Barbera, all those. But around the age of 10, back then we'd watch cartoons till age 13, 14... even when Winx came out we thought of a 12 years old target, with a complex multilayered story, many ways of reading, more teenager acts, the girls fighting, even if they're friends, etc. This kind of realism that we wanted (to implement), a little innovative, because we weren't talking to 4, 5 years old kids, but we did it 8-12 on purpose. But I mean, it can be 7-15 too... I was saying, back then at my age (of 10) that were even more mature: when I was around 10 these japanese cartoons appeared! (translator's note: he's talking about the anime boom in Italy exactly in 1978, when Straffi was 10). Rai began broadcasting these almost like a joke and then they got a hold of italian television as a whole, on Rai and private TV channels. So magically, my generation and the one right after had a bit of this influence, manga, anime, on both storytelling, which was completely different! We were used to small episodes of a certain length but always self contained with simple characters, then we got these japanese stories where there's narrative arcs, character starts here and goes there and if you missed some episodes you have to look up some summaries, how did this story get solved. Something completely revolutionary that kept us watching TV daily, everyday we were waiting to see how the story was gonna continue. But when I started writing Winx, I thought "For now, I don't care for what the italian, french, german, etc. markets want. They'd like self contained stories as usual. Let's do something more complex, that reveals itself season after season." And then, visually, like I said earlier, we didn't want to do something more western, more Disney-like, because we felt this need to "contaminate" our style with the japanese one. Something that we really liked. I remember for Winx I did a particular study on the shapes and luminosity of the eyes inspired from japanese products and we made these characters with these ... particular eyes. So that's how it is, in short. We lived in a different generation when it wasn't just Disney, the japanese came and we took it right when we were growing up, visually and spiritually.

[alltimefail]

Happy Day 3 of Cast Appreciation Week to Kassius Nelson!

Kassius is not on Tumblr (to our knowledge haha), but I’m singing her praises everywhere today! Thank you for everything you’ve given our fandom, Kassius!

Our perfect Crystal Palace Surname-Von Hoverkraft, we love you so much! 💜💀🔎

Transcript of my letter below the cut!

Happy Cast Appreciation Week! October 22, 2024

Dearest Kassius,

I want to start this letter by saying how blown away I was by your talent from the very start. To be able to balance comedic timing in scenes where Crystal is having a tift with Edwin with the more serious-toned, empowering moments where she's facing down her abuser or demanding justice for girls everywhere who were victims of Esther's cruelty is no small feat, and you did it masterfully.

Also, let me just throw out there that you get the award for "Best American accent by a British actor or actress." When I heard your true voice in an interview for the first time, I nearly fell out of my seat. I was already so impressed by your performance, but there was never even a single moment where I thought you had an English accent in real life (lol) so major props to you.

Now, on a more serious note: one thing that drives me nuts about a lot of fantasy shows is that women can be treated one-dimensionally, but that was never an issue with Crystal, and I believe a big reason why is because of the way you portrayed her, and the acting choices you made. There are not enough strong, complicated, nuanced, and yet incredibly lovable characters like Crystal Palace in media today, especially not for girls to look up to, and that's why I LOVED every second of her on my screen. You played Crystal's duality with such expertise and precision that it took my breath away, multiple times!

More than that, I found Crystal's storyline to be deeply moving and important for women everywhere, and that importance can't be stated enough. Too many women can relate to being abused and controlled in the name of "Love," and I found Crystal's experiences with David, her powers (and ancestors), and her realizations surrounding her parents to be emotional, compelling, and empowering. She is an incredible character who adds so much depth to the story. There is no Dead Boy Detectives without Crystal Palace; they are better for having her around, and I can't imagine anyone else playing her with the grace, care, and love that you gave to her.

I hope you know that you are beautiful and radiant, inside and out, and that our fandom is so thankful you have shared your brilliance with us. I also have to mention that your support of the fandom through engaging in the art, the edits, and so on shows how much you care not just about Crystal, but about us as well... and that's genuinely special. Not many fandoms can say they get that kind of love from cast members, but our fandom is especially lucky! I hope we can return some of that love right back to you today, ten-fold.

You are our Crystal, always and forever, and we will all be here to support you (and fight for you) in all your current and future endeavors.

All my love, Veronica “V” @ atfsims1

[leonstoenailunderhisbed]

Insurgency: Long Live The Queen

Summary: A totalitarian regime reigns over a South American country in which the virus is being distributed to its citizens at the pretense of a “cure.” Leon was sent to retrieve a sample of the virus mutation when he stumbled upon a group of anti-government activists whose main goal is to overthrow their government. Will Leon help the cause or will he fall down with the government as well?

Warning: Mentions of mature themes. Read at your own discretion. Slow burn. Age gap (Leon is 38 and reader is 21+). Reader is female.

Word count: 5,105

A/N: how we feeling about this so far? :3

[part one][part two][part three][part four][part five][part six][part seven][part eight][bonus]

“The whole question here is: Am I a monster, or a victim myself?” - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment.

Leon was put into a room after you guys reached La Sénte. He was given food and water as well as a bed for him.

What a nice welcome, he thought.

You were currently in a meeting room with Yarina and other Insurgents.

“The president is on to us. She knows we’ve been the ones targeting her military. From now on, we’ll be facing death head on. This is no time for hesitations. We must act or die,” Yarina stated as she looked down at the papers scattered on the table.

“Yarina, we can’t risk losing people. We will be outnumbered if we want to go to the city states-“

“Enough,” Yarina slams her fists on the table, “We cannot sit back and watch as President Mendez treats our lives as rag dolls. Yes, there’s a chance we will die but I’d rather die fighting than die a coward.”

Silence overtook the room, the atmosphere was tense and heavy. Ever since the President had broadcasted the message of public executions, everyone’s been at edge. Including you.

“Why don’t we use the American?” One of the insurgents spoke up, he seemed to be the secretary of Yarina. ��How do we use him exactly?” She asked.

“A life for a life. We send a message to President Mendez demanding that she freed all the captured civilians. In return, we’ll give him to her-“

“A swap,” you interjected. “It won’t work-“ you turned to look at Yarina, “Listen, those soldiers- they’re nothing like the ones we’ve seen. San Bandero is protected by tanks and endless troops. We’ll die the second we step foot there.”

Yarina hums and brought a hand to her chin as she thought hard.

“We’ll split up,” she pointed to the map, “Half of the available Insurgents will storm right into the city with our bomb artillery. I’m talking tanks and rocket launchers. The other half will go underground and perform an evacuation for the remaining citizens who are unharmed. I want this to be quick and efficient. We have no room for mistakes. Prioritize the children.”

Everyone nodded and began to scurry out of the meeting room to prepare for battle. “Y/n, can I talk to you for a second?”

You stopped walking and walked back towards her.

“I heard about what you did for Josue, that was really heroic of your part,” she said quietly.

“It was nothing, really,” you muttered back with a short nod.

Yarina chuckled and patted your back, “Humble too. You never fail to surprise me.”

She cleared her throat before continuing, “Listen, I didn’t just held you back to talk about your accomplishments.”

You could only nod slowly in silence, “I actually wanted to let you know that if I were to die tonight… I want you as our leader.”

Your eyes widened at her statement and you felt your throat run dry, “Yarina… don’t say that. How are you sure you’re-“

“Y/n. There is no guarantee that I’ll make it alive after the mission. The President is on to us and once she finds out that I’m the leader, she’ll kill me.”

You could only stare at her in silence. What she said was true. If President Mendez were to find out that Yarina was the leader of the rebelling group then she’ll most definitely die.

“Okay,” you nodded and agreed quietly, “I’ll do my best to be a good leader.”

Yarina smiled softly and squeezed your arm, “Good, now let’s get this mission over with.”

-

Leon heard the sounds of footsteps through the halls.

They must be making their next move, he thought.

He wondered how exactly everything started. Getting captured by a group of people who want to overthrow the government wasn’t really on his to-do list. But alas here he was.

The food was way better than other times he’s been to other missions. He had to give you guys credit for having edible bread and good chicken.

-

You were put into the group of Insurgents who will storm right into the city. Currently, you seating in a car with other members. Weapons in hands and boxes full of explosives ready to be used.

As you were driven there, the sun began to set. You’ve gotten used to fighting in the dark. It was better since the soldiers’ helmets didn’t really allow them to see at night. This was your advantage.

As you neared the city entry, everyone jumped out of the car and proceeded to blend in with the trees and bushes that surrounded the area.

Hiding behind a bush, you kept watch as the person next to you took out their rocket launcher and shot the city.

Multiple bombs were set off, each hitting a different thing. Buildings, tanks, soldiers- anything they can shoot. The ground shook and insurgents ran out of their hiding spot and began to attack the confused soldiers.

Your weapon ready in your hand, you shot the soldiers in front of you. You managed a few headshots. It was good that you had improved your skills ever since this whole thing started, it was good you were becoming alive.

-

As the insurgents in the sewer system began to drive the citizens of San Bandero out, they felt the ground shook. They needed to get out of there quickly before the roads collapsed on top of them.

“Madam President, there’s an attack in San Bandero. A group of rebels are shooting out soldiers and bombing out buildings. Do you want-“

“No,” the President cut the assistant off. She was angry, more angry than anyone has ever seen her. She stood up and walked towards the window to see. And sure enough, fire and smoke came out of San Bandero.

“Find their leader and bring them to me. I will end this once and for all,” the President said as she walked away from the window and back to her desk.

-

You and Yarina were fighting back to back as the soldiers tried to pounce at you both.

“Fuck! I’m out,” Yarina exclaimed as she tried to shoot with her gun but no bullets came out.

You took Yarina by the arm and dragged her into a collapsed building, giving both of you enough time to reload your weapons.

Yarina was busy reloading her gun as you kept watch, “Yarina…” your eyes widened as you stared at the TV on the tower. Yarina grew confused and then looked out towards the TV as well.

It was a video footage of the sewers- the citizens walking while the insurgents helped them out.

“Citizens of Pruye, let this be a reminder that traitorous acts do not go unpunished. Everyone in relation to rebellion will face consequences,” the President spoke.

Suddenly, a bomb fell down from a plane and into the roads. You and Yarina took cover behind a fallen piece of debris. The ground shook tremendously as heat and light took over.

You couldn’t hear anything for a good minute, only the constant ringing. You peeked at the scene and saw that the bomb had fallen right on top of the people evacuating. Your eyes trailed towards the TV and couldn’t help but let out a soft sob.

Children, women, men and insurgents lying dead on the floor. No trace of life after the explosion. Smoke and ashes filled the air and your hearing got back.

You heard Yarina scream and turned your head over your shoulder to find Yarina being taken away by two soldiers, “¡¡Come mierdas- todos ustedes!!”

You were about to start running towards her but another soldier lunged at you, pinning you the ground. You gripped their wrist and tried to not let them stab with the knife they had in their hands. With as much energy you could muster, you harshly threw the soldier off of you and shot them in the head with your gun.

You looked back at where Yarina was last seen but she was gone. Panic and anxiety coursed through you. You didn’t want to think about it. But you knew Yarina was going to die.

-

It’s been three hours since Yarina got captured. The remnants of San Bandero were the only thing that remained of what was once a lively city. Now it was just debris and dead bodies all around.

Some insurgents were being treated for their wounds and others were patrolling the streets. You were sitting down the sidewalk as you contemplated what to do.

It wasn’t until the TV on the tower turned on and President Mendez spoke,

“Citizens of Pruye, with every heartbreak comes good news. Although a city of ours has been destroyed, we too, have something that is worth destroying for those who oppose me.”

The camera pans to Yarina kneeling down before a soldier who has a gun pointed at her forehead. Her hands were tied behind her back as she had a piece of cloth around her mouth, gagging her.

“Yarina…” you whispered as you stood up and stared at the screen.

“Let this be a lesson for all. You cannot win a helpless fight,” the President continued.

The soldier hooked his finger around the trigger all while Yarina maintained eye contact with him. She didn’t fear death, she wasn’t scared in that moment. Yarina is a smart person, she’s known all along that by starting this rebellion she’d face her ultimate death. Not once did she flinch nor did she beg for mercy.

She took a deep breath and let her body fall to the ground after the soldier pulled the trigger. The bullet penetrating her skull, sucking the life out of her. A poodle of blood surrounded her head as she died with her eyes opened.

Gasps and screams were heard from the other insurgents around you. You, yourself, felt anger. Anger at yourself, anger at the government, anger at the whole world. But beneath all that anger, was a girl who feared and cried. She was hurt- you were hurt. And nothing is this world could do anything to settle the turmoil inside you.

-

Leon was brought to the meeting room right after everyone reached base. News of Yarina’s death reached everyone, including him.

You stood at the center of the table, the proclaimed new leader. Your whole demeanor changed, you were serious and angry. Your eyes held a pain that only Leon could guess and relate to, because he also knew what it felt like to lose people right in front of your eyes.

He didn’t say anything and allowed the insurgents to pull him in front of the table.

“Change of plans,” you started as you began to motion for everyone around the table, including Leon. He raised a brow but obliged.

“Everyone knows San Jolonia has medical supplies and weapons we can use. If we are going to fight Mendez, we must be ready,” your brows were pinched together and your tone was serious and a little terrifying to some.

“But San Jolonia has been abandoned. The President ordered for people to leave the city,” one of the insurgents said. You nodded, “I know, hence why I need to take this opening and take as much as we can- guns, medicine, food, clothes. I won’t let anything go to waste.”

“Wait… you’ll go by yourself? Y/n I don’t think that’s safe, you saw what happened to-“

“I know,” you mumbled and stared down at the map in the center of the table, “San Jolonia is abandoned. Plus, the American is coming with me.”

The insurgent’s eyes widened and Leon only stared at you with mild shock.

“Y/n- you can’t trust him. What if he-“

“If I wanted to kill her, I would’ve done so already,” Leon interjected. He stared at you and you stared back, the tension high.

“I saw what happened to one of your people,” Leon continued just a little bit softer. The atmosphere turned solemn and some insurgents looked away as he began to talk about Yarina.

Leon sighed, “I want to help.”

You furrowed your brows and narrowed your eyes in skepticism, “Why?”

“Because no one should deal with this type of control. You are fighting against a dictator and you’ll need all the help you can get…” he exhaled and looked away briefly, “I’ve seen people die in front of me as well. Feeling helpless and unable to do anything to save everyone… it’s a shitty feeling.”

Your face fell and you nodded slowly, he looked back at you from across the table, “Let me join you. If there’s anyway I can help, I’ll take it. No more innocent lives need to die.”

He was right, in a way. If you want to bring down the government, you’ll need help. And Leon was an American soldier. They’re known to be ruthless and strong. It would a great asset to have him.

“Okay,” you nodded, “untie him.”

An insurgent went behind Leon and untied his hands. He massaged his wrists and then looked at you.

“You and I are leaving tonight, do not be late,” it was the last thing you told him before you left the room.

-

You waited for Leon at the gate, it was dark outside. The night breeze flowing gently through the trees and grass. Leon approached you as he was checking his gun.

"You ready?" you asked him before opening the gate. He nodded at you, "Yeah, let's get this over with."

Since it was nighttime, you decided not to use a vehicle. It was dangerous already if the soldiers were to notice a vehicle roaming around, then they'd most likely shoot you. So, you settled on foot.

As you and Leon walked through the forest, he couldn't help but make small talk with you.

"So..." he started quietly as he pushed some branches out of his face.

"So?" you mumbled as you led the way, "Whatever you want to say, just say it."

He hummed and chuckled faintly behind you, "Aren't you the nice one..." He shook his head and walked beside you.

"Listen, I don't doubt your skills or anything..."

"But?" You raised a brow as you glanced at him before looking back at the forest.

"But don't you think you should... take a break? I mean- a lot has happened to you and not taking the time to process what just happened can cause you to-"

You stopped and turned to face him, "I didn't ask for a therapist. I'm fine- we need to push forward."

He sighed and watched as you walked ahead of him. He sighed and followed behind you.

-

You both reached the outskirts of San Jolonia, abandoned and ruined. Must've been President Mendez's doing.

"Don't stray off too far," you said as you walked towards the entrance of the city state, "I don't you to get lost so just keep close."

Leon nodded and silently walked behind you. It was completely silent, except for the sound of your footsteps. The night was cold and the air was soft. You walked towards an abandoned pharmacy and began to stuff your bag with as many things as possible. Leon stood behind you, keeping watch in case something were to come out.

There was a strange peace between the two of you. Like as if both of you already knew what the other thought. When you're involved in a battle, it can help bring people together.

And Leon couldn't help but feel sympathy for you. You were young, too young to be in something like this. Sure, wanting to fight for your freedom is a noble cause. But he also understands the pain that comes with it. He's conflicted. He wants to help in two ways- wants to fight alongside you but he also wants to avoid a war. But you seem set on the idea of war and there's nothing in his power that can change that.

You weren't dumb, you knew Leon thought this. It was written in his face. The man had a great sense of justice and only cared for the lives of the unfortunate. If you had to guess, you'd say he probably feels a lot of guilt. A guilt that kept on piling up as the years went by.

"We should camp out, it's getting late," You broke the silence and walked towards another abandoned building.

One of its walls was collapsed while parts of the ceiling were missing. You stepped inside the ruined building and began to set up a fire. Leon was too far behind, he walked slowly as his eyes looked around. It wasn’t everyday that he would get pulled into events like this.

After you started a fire, you sat in front of it and began to pull out some food you brought, “Hungry?”

Leon looked at you and shook his head no, “I’m good, thanks.” He went over to sit next to you as you shrugged, “Suit yourself,” you muttered under your breath before you took a bite out of a piece of bread.

Leon stared at the fire in silence. He was aware of the occasional glances you’d throw him but he hasn’t said anything, yet.

You sighed and looked back at the fire, remaining in silence once again.

“Why are you here?” You mumbled and looked at him.

“You told me to come-“

“That wasn’t what I meant,” you cut him off. “What made you come to this place?”

He looked back down at you before shrugging faintly and looking back at the fire, “Got sent here. Wasn’t really my choice.”

His voice was quiet and the light from the fire highlighted his features. You never actually sat down to get a good look at him but now that were, you couldn’t help but think hoe handsome he was. His foggy blue eyes piercing down at the flames as his dark fringe fell down the sides of his face. His stubble had been growing for a while- maybe even before he got sent here.

You exhaled softly and looked back at the fire, “So you were forced…”

He nodded, “Yep. I mean, it’s also partly my fault in a way. I work for the government and I get these… missions. Shits crazy when life hits you with the consequences of your actions, don’t you think?”

“I guess…” you mumbled and looked down at the bread in your hands, “So, you’re like a personal soldier or something?”

Leon chuckled and looked at you for a brief moment, “You’ve been watching way too many American movies.”

This time, you smiled softly and looked back at him, “What can I say? You Americans are the leaders of entertainment.”

That caused him to smile back, “Good point…” he exhaled softly before looking back at the fire, “But no. I’m not a personal soldier or whatever. I’m just an agent. I work in the defense department, lots of fighting.”

You hummed quietly and looked back at the fire in silence for a moment before speaking up in a cautious tone, “Was it your dream to become an agent?”

Leon felt his body freeze at that question. He blinked slowly as his expression fell slightly and then looked at you with a pained expression, “No, it’s not.”

Your own expression mimicked his as he continued, “I wanted to be a cop. Like the ones in Brooklyn 99 or Chicago P.D. But after…” he quickly trailed off, deciding whether or not he could tell you about Raccoon City.

“After?” You asked,

“After Raccoon City,” he replied quietly.

You were aware of what happened in Raccoon City. It made global news how the U.S. nuked it’s own people. But no one knew as much as Leon and you could tell that it left him with a big weight on his shoulders.

“When I escaped Raccoon City, my whole life changed… I was no longer the 21 year old rookie cop,” his gaze trailed on, no long focusing on the fire. Right now, he was somewhere else.

“I met this girl, when the whole Raccoon City thing started, she was like 10 or 11- and I couldn’t help but feel… anger. Not at her, obviously, but at everyone else. Children died that day, sisters… brothers… everyone died and I couldn’t save them,” he inhaled sharply,

“It felt like everyone moved on and I’m still stuck in that same fucking time-loop…” he looked down at you, “Not a day goes by where I don’t dream about it. About everything.”

You stared back at him and watched as his eyes told the story. His raw emotions emanated from within, “To this day, I still see them. Every figure and shadow of what remained of that goddamn city. The guilt to not have been able to help… it hurts more than anything in the world.”

He turned to look back at the fire in silence. You’ve never seen someone so hurt. Although it took you by the surprise, you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. All those years that went by and he’s still in the same place.

“Is that why you’re helping us? Because you don’t want to feel guilt?” You asked quietly.

He nodded, “If I can help… I wouldn’t let the opportunity pass by. I’ll take hold of whatever chance I get to save people.”

You stared at him for a moment in silence. It was very noble of him basically risking his life for people- dangerous but very noble.

"You know," you started quietly, "I didn't even know how to fight before.. all of this even started." Leon raised his brow at you and then chuckled. He shook his head and stared back at you, "I can tell. When we first fought, you had so many openings."

You rolled your eyes at him and then looked back at orange flames, "Give me a break. I was just some random girl working in a canteen... before chaos took place," memories of when the soldiers first came with their tanks filled your mind. You sat there in silence before finally saying something. If he basically trauma dumped on you then why shouldn't you as well?

"My brother died from a soldier," you mumbled softly as you fiddled with the bread, "He was out with his friends one night and some soldiers came up to him. They tried to arrest him but he resisted and eventually... he got shot."

The words barely came out of your mouth. It was painful to rethink about all of the deaths that happened, but Leon knew that. He understands the pain.

"I'm sorry about your brother," he mumbled. You swatted your hand in the air before looking back at him, "He wasn't the only one I lost. I lost my two friends from my job... we got bombed and one of them got squashed by a building and the other... bled to death..."

Leon remained silent as he listened to you. He may not have been there when all of that happened, but he knew the pain.

A dry chuckle escaped your lips, "And now Yarina is dead, and I became the leader of her group... I feel like life is mocking me. It's like, 'Hey! You lost your friends but don't worry! You'll lose more people'... These types of battles don't go well- i know that. But a part of me wishes that i should've just left. Left for America for a better future... Instead, I'm stuck here leading a rebellion." You took a bite out the bread and got quiet. Leon was just watching you, reading you. He could tell you were in a lot of pain, more pain than you believe.

He sighed and looked back at the fire, "Life's been shitty to the both of us, huh?"

The ends of your lips curled up slightly as you nodded, "Pretty much."

"You look young... life can get better for you, trust me," he mumbled softly.

"I don't feel young. Does it ever actually get better?" you asked as you turned your head to look at him.

He looked back at you and shook his head, "No, it doesn't... but you learn to live with it."

"I don't want to live with it... I want to forget everything ever even happened. I want to live a normal life..."

Leon looked at you with sad eyes, "But that's not the case, is it? You can dream all you want but the hard truth will always drag you back to reality... and it's a reality you must live in."

You stared into his eyes for a moment in silence as he stared back at you. The atmosphere was complicated. One minute you were cautious of him and then the next you express your inner emotions to him. And now the tension was high. For what? You don't know but you could swear you saw his eyes drift down to your lips.

It's not like you were a virgin, you had your own experiences. But yet, you felt something starting to build inside you and you could almost see it in him as well. Feelings were growing when they shouldn't be.

Your eyes drifted down to his and you leaned a little closer. But your subconscious mind pulled you back. You turned your head away, "We shouldn't..." you whispered.

He looked at you for a moment, his eyes lingering on your lips, "Says who?"

"This is wrong. It feels wrong... I mean, we're in the middle of an incoming war. Is it even okay?"

Leon brought his hand to your cheek and gently forced you to look back at him, "You're not killing anybody. It's okay," he whispered as his thumb caressed your cheek.

You swallowed and allowed him to gently pull you towards him. You closed your eyes and felt his breath on your face as he brought you two together.

His lips landed on yours in a soft kiss. Lips so soft and tender despite the environment. He kissed you gently and brought you closer as you rested your hands on his shoulders. His free hand traveling to your waist, giving it a gentle squeeze. You gasped softly against his lips and he took the opportunity to bring his tongue inside your mouth. His tongue entangled itself with your tongue. It felt so intimate yet so calm. He was kissing you as if he didn't want to hurt you. You've been hurt far too much already but this kiss felt like a band-aid on top of your scars.

He pulled apart to catch his breath, eyes opening to look at your face. Your cheeks were flushed and your eyes were already staring at his. He brushed some hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear. There was a moment of silence as the two of you just sat there staring at each other.

"Rest," he whispered, "We still have a lot of things to do tomorrow."

You nodded slowly and laid down on your side, giving your back to Leon. You closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Leon watched as you fell asleep, he took off his jacket and laid it on top of you. So many thoughts lingered in Leon's mind but he also had questions about your previous conversation.

He knew death was inevitable but seeing everyone- including you- fight with so much resolve made him believe that you had the opportunity to do something he couldn't.

To save people.

He wasn't jealous or mad, rather, he felt a sense of guilt. He didn't want to see you die. Leon wanted to see you and the rest of your people overthrow the government. He beg the heavens above to let you live just a little bit longer if it meant seeing you free this country.

He'd plead to whoever.

-

An announcement alarm went off and the TV from the tower turned on. Flashing images of people lined up, kneeling down with bags over their heads, with soldiers behind them pointing their guns at their heads.

You woke up as stared at the screen, which Leon did was well. The two of you watched as the soldiers began to shoot the people one by one. Their bodies falling limp against the floor and letting the blood pool around them.

Your heart felt heavy and you tried to move but couldn't. You were frozen in place.

"We've captured more traitors who must pay the price for their treason," President Mendez said.

You felt anger. Some were children.

In a fit of anger, you took your gun and dashed out of the ruined building you were in. Leon followed behind you, "Wait- where are you going?"

You ignored him and kept walking. He ran behind you and pulled your arm to stop you, "Y/n..."

Eyes welling up with tears of anger, you looked at him with so much anger, "Those were kids. And she's killing them like pieces in a game. I need to do something-" you harshly pulled your arm away from him and ran towards the tower. Leon quickly caught up to you and hooked his arm around your waist. He hoisted you up in the air and you thrashed in his hold.

You cried. Sobbed and screamed in anger. The once silent abandoned city was now filled with your angry screams.

"Let me go!" You struggled against him, but he didn't move. He knew you were going through a meltdown, and it wasn't safe for you to act in a fit of anger.

"I said let me go!!... let me go," your head fell forward as he slowly put you down on the floor. You clung to him as you cried loudly. You were so angry and hurt. This was the last straw for you.

It was heartbreaking, really. There was nothing you could do except watch as these innocent people died. President Mendez won this battle but you vowed to yourself that you'll win this war.

War.

You declared war.

-

Both you and Leon walked back to base. Something changed in you as you walked through the halls and towards the meeting room.

You slammed your fists on the table, "Send a message to the president," you started with anger on your tone and face.

"Tell her that tomorrow morning, we will start a war. And we will win this war."

The other insurgents looked at you and then at Leon who stood behind you. They all stood still and you only got more angry.

"I said- send her a fucking message that says we declare war on her. Now."

[codenamesazanka]

AFO+Shigaraki Tomura/Shimura Tenko Role Reversal AU

*

Terrorist Shimura Tenko, age 26, has been sentenced to death for his heinous crimes. Morning before he goes though, he's carted over to Central Hospital.

Little AFO, age 12, is brought before Shimura to give him five quirks - this will surely overload Shimura’s brain, but since he's about to be executed anyways, it doesn't really matter.

But right before the procedure starts, Central Hospital is attacked. It's the League of Villains, here to rescue their boss. As he marbles Shimura, Mr. Compress also ends up marbling AFO and taking him along.

Hours later, in a secret hideout, the League congrats themselves on a successful rescue mission, but wonders what to do about this weird kid they've kidnapped. They’ll have to act quick - Heroes and HPSC will come for them soon. The HPSC have to come for the kidnapped kid, because, the moment the League realized who the kid is, they know AFO as the central piece of HPSC's new direction for society.

*

Four years ago, the government made a paradigm changing announcement - they've gained the ability to take away quirks and will start doing so as part of criminal justice.

This is a great thing, as it solves the century-old question about what to do with Villains. Really Bad Villains will have their quirks taken away, and put into regular security prison. Mild Villains can exchange their quirks for a shorter sentence. Dangerous quirks can now be eliminated. Human rights will be improved. Society will be safer.

—At least, it will be, once the chaos the announcement created settles down. Because the remnants of the Meta Liberation Army straight up revolted, along with other groups and other people.

The League of Villains did not start with this upheaval - they were already active two years before the announcement, led by Shimura Tenko, as just particularly notorious Villains doing whatever they wanted, whether it was heists or killing heroes or feuding with other villain groups - but they have become embroiled into the fight through a loose alliance with the MLA, and due to the HPSC holding members of the League up as the reason why the new law was enacted in the first place.

The HPSC have kept very, very top secret the exact method they’re using to take away quirks. No one knows for sure whether it was a drug or surgery or implant. There was a rumor that it was a quirk that was doing this, but it was just a rumor—until now.

Though, the League didn’t expect that it would be a kid. So what will they do with him now?

*

For all nearly all twelve years of his life, AFO (and his younger twin brother) has been in care of the HPSC. This is the first time he's ever been kidnapped, is in real danger, but he knows exactly what to do:

Nothing.

In all honesty, AFO would rather destroy this 'League of Villains' - just a bunch of insignificant insects running around causes messes and ruining everything (like his day!) - and just go home using his own power. He doesn’t like being away from Yoichi; he still has schoolwork to finish; the new chapter of Captain Hero: New Ultra is out Monday; he’s got his life to get back to.

But AFO has been relentlessly counseled and drilled by the HPSC for this exact scenario: He is NOT allowed to use his quirk. No matter what happens, he is only to wait for rescue.

Not that using his quirks might help much. AFO has never been taught to fight, and besides his own ‘Give-and-Take’ quirk, he’s got only five other low-tier quirks he had only taken this morning that he’s never used. The HPSC won’t risk letting him keep the quirks, see, so the system they’ve come up with is this: the quirks taken from criminals are transferred immediately to a Villain scheduled for execution. (Given the explosion in criminal activity and revolt over the past four years, death row has just the right and regular numbers to supply.) They’ve even got a machine just for him, just for tracking his quirk(s), invented by the famous American scientists David Shield and Toshinori Yagi, so they know exactly what he takes in and lets out.

When AFO has just his own original quirk, it’s as good as no quirk.

The HPSC has to do this, because AFO is a born villain. They know it; he knows it, everyone who’s ever met him knows it. It’s just hard to describe otherwise a child who came into this world stealing everything within reach: his mother’s life, his twin brother’s health, and every person’s quirk he ever had come into physical contact with even as an infant - the homeless woman who rescued the twins from a decaying corpse, the police who later found them while investigating a dead body that was registered in the system with a quirk but autopsy had revealed zero quirk factors left, the doctors that examined the twin babies.

AFO has heard this story many times. He’s got a too-strong quirk that’s made him clinically diagnosed kleptomaniac with a Cluster B personality disorder. Quirk counseling, behavioral counseling, regular counseling, art therapy... He’s been handled extremely delicately and thoroughly his entire life.

And that’s…fine. That’s how the world works. That’s the price of power. It’s better than being dead in the grave with the mom he killed, or out there in the chaos, if the HSPC had never found them. AFO’s on the side that’s calling the shots and set to dictate the final reality of a post-Advent world - he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. One day, he’ll grow up and he’ll become part of the HPSC and he’ll get his rightful piece of the cake - really, they’ve let him have some of it already, when he first started taking quirks away for them five years ago (first year was trial year, before they went public).

His itch to use his quirk is scratched regularly. He got to keep Yoichi, who had once almost been adopted away. Being on his best behavior means he gets most of what he asks for. The worst AFO can say is that he’s bored - which is expected, his brain is wired differently after all.

All he has to do is stay calm, play nice with the League, and wait for Heroes to arrive. Someone will come save him soon enough.

Everything is in order.

*

But of course, this encounter with Shimura and the League will be the catalyst that will destroy that very order.

(In one universe, AFO tells Tenko he'll teach him how to take his rage and give it purpose.

In this universe, Shimura tells little AFO he'll teach him how to find his rage.)

[oneshortdamnfuse]

Fellow U.S. Americans,

If you’re concerned about KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act), I would recommend contacting your local representatives via badinternetbills.com. It takes seconds to fill out the form. I would also recommend using Resistbot. I’ve used that tool multiple times, and I’ve successfully gotten a response from my local representatives each time. This is critical as KOSA has bipartisan support, and there are a lot of misconceptions about what this bill could mean for everyone.

KOSA proposes to protect children on the internet, which seems like a noble cause and it’s easy for people to fall for harmful bills when they promise to “protect the children.” There are elements of KOSA that seem reasonable, such as limiting what advertisers can show to minors (e.g. no alcohol and tobacco ads) and requiring social media to provide safety features for children and parents so that their content won’t be used to exploit them.

The problem is that right wing conservatives intend on using KOSA to eliminate LGBTQ+ content and anything they deem “critical race theory.” They would also be giving parents greater control over their child’s internet access and online presence, which could endanger children in an abusive situation. And yes, this could impact censorship on any website a child could technically access. That means that adult content made by and for adults could be banned and censored altogether just because children might access the website.

I know that is all very concerning, but it’s really important that you share those concerns with your local representatives. They are there to represent you, and it’s important that they know that you’re unhappy with this bill. If they don’t listen to you, then you let them know that their job is on the line when elections comes back around. If you want to fight censorship locally, I would recommend getting involved in local school boards because fringe groups have been trying to ban books across our schools.

If you’re not from the U.S., please boost information about KOSA. This bill may still impact you as the internet doesn’t exactly adhere to borders.

[hikarry]

There should be more Good Omens x Supernatural crossovers

Fanart, fanfics, idc

Just

Castiel and Aziraphale's relationship would be fucking bomb! Hell, even Sam and Aziraphale's! They could be fucking nerds together

And don't get me stared on Crowley and Dean's dynamic! I just know they would absolutely annoy the fuck out of each other but become fast friends that just, ya know, thrive over fucking roasting each other but they would geek out over the other's car and music together. Just 🤌🏻 Crowley taking the shit out of Dean for him not only being American, but from bloody Texas of all places and Dean making a fake atupid British accent to annoy the shit out of Crowley because

Dean: "Look at me. Im a stupid demon that of all places in the world chose to become a fucking honorary Brit. How I love myself my stupid little tea at noon and pretend like I'm better than everybody else"

Crowley; "Listen here, you bloody Yankee, first off, tea is not my thing. Good whiskey, me. And I'm not bloody British! I'm a demon!"

Dean: "You sure act like one, posh bastard"

Crowley; "Posh? It's called having bloody manners! You fucking Americans must have lost them when you killed all the bloody natives and then came up with a stupid arse of a holiday to pretend you are the good guys"

Dean: "Says the Brit. Just the guys that enslaved half of the world and killed the other half."

Crowley: "I am not fucking British!"

Aziraphale: "He's right, Dean, dear. Technically we are not British. We don't have any nationality. We can speak every language and are nationless. Besides, we weren't involved with Britain's colonization. Actually, I believe Crowley spent most of his time in Iceland back in that century."

Crowley: "Oh yeah. We can speak every language but French, eh?"

Aziraphale: "We don't talk about that."

Castiel: "What's the problem with French?"

Crowley: "The problem is Aziraphale is absolute shit at it. It almost got him discorporated back in the French Revolution. Heavens, he can barely order a crepe when we go to Paris."

Castiel: "Why? It's in our nature to speak every language"

Aziraphale: "Oh for the love of all that's holy....I just decided to learn it the hard way, yes? Thought it might be fun."

Crowley: "Yeah. Just like the magic lessons you took. Which you are also shit at, by the way."

Sam: "Can't you like, do real magic?"

Crowley: "Precisely. But angel over here decided human magic was fun."

Aziraphale: "And I am correct! It's not my fault you are a cinic!"

Crowley: "You mean realistic. Every time I've seen you try to perform magic it's an absolute disaster. Embarrassing even."

Aziraphale: "Ah yes? What about my photo trick back in the 40s? Saved us, did it not?"

Crowley: "You did good there, yes. But, fucking Heavens angel-"

Dean: "Okay whatever. Let the fucking Brits have their little fight. We have work to do. Sammy, did you manage to locate the demon?"

Sam: "Actually, Aziraphale did."

Aziraphale: "It was quite easy, really. Crowley and I have dealt with them before"

Crowley: "You mean I saved your arse from them before"

Dean: "Oh for fucks sake, just let's go. Sammy, Cas, cmon."

Aziraphale: "Are you sure you don't want us to go? We could help."

Dean: "No. You both stay. Make up and makeout or whatever it is you do in your free time. We don't need you in the way"

Crowley: "Aziraphale, let's go. We gonna try and find some decent restaurant in this bloody city. Let them screw themselves. They will come begging for help before you know it"

Dean: "We've been dealing with demons for years, you pretentious fuck. We dunnot need your fucking help."

Crowley: "We've been alive for all the existence of humanity and have saved the world twice now."

Dean: "Big thing. We do that every other week. Open your mouth when you fight fucking God and then we will talk."

Sam: "Okay, okay, enough. You two go and do whatever it is that you want to do. We will reach out if we need help."

Aziraphale: "Jolly good. Come on, my dear. I've seen an amazing sushi restaurant down the street that looks decent enough."

[eugenedebs1920]

If you can’t win. Cheat! That seems to be the platform for the once, Grand Ol Party. That party died with Eisenhower. Nixon was a paranoid, racist criminal, who would do what it took to keep power. The “Reagan Revolution” was nothing more than a script written for a literal actor to do the bidding of Wall Street and big banks. W. Bush was more of the same , but at least he was a war hero. H.W. Bush was the least qualified candidate for president until his maga successor would stumble into the oval office 16 years later.

The Republican Party is the same racist fucks that use to head the Democratic Party before the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It’s not blue or red, Democrat or Republican. It’s conservative v liberal. The conservative holding on to “the good ol days”. Yea!? What were those!? When you could treat a person of color like a second class citizen and all your other white friends would smile with approval. Tradition. What tradition is that conservatives?! Do we need to go farther back than that?! How bout when you could own another human being and make him do the work while you sat around and reaped the rewards? If that boy get outta line he’ll be gettin the whip! Fucking disgusting! Conservative. What the fuck you conserving!? Sure ain’t morality! Sure ain’t the rule of law! Sure ain’t the planet! Sure ain’t “family values”! Sure ain’t the Constitution, or our democracy, or our institutions, the courts, the balance of power, ethics, honor, dignity, pride! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU CONSERVING!?!? Because from where I’m standing, it’s hate. Because from where I’m standing, it’s voter suppression. Because from where I’m standing it’s corruption. Just like Reconstruction, just like the Jim Crow south, same shit. Different time. Same assholes!

Prove me wrong……

I’m almost as pissed At liberals as conservatives! (Not really) Do you want to make a change for good in this world?! Do you want to see equality as the law of the land!? Do you want acceptance and love to be the norm!? Where everyone is taken care of, we’re kind to those we know, and those we don’t. A place where corporate greed isn’t the main itinerary. Where being well educated is achievable to all Americans regardless of socioeconomic status? Do you want to live in a country where the bottom 50% of earners make more than 3% of the wealth?! Do you want fair banking and lending practices? A clean environment to live in, to be able to buy a house, raise a family, in a nation where the air is safe to breathe, where the water is safe to drink, where you don’t have to worry if your kid is going to get shot up at school?! Do you want civil rights, woman’s rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights, elderly protection, environmental protection, liberty, freedom, the right to pursue happiness?! Is that something you would like?!

Then toughen the fuck up! Quit this cancel culture, delicate snowflake bullshit! We’re not woke!!! We’re liberals!. The racist are coming with torches to lynch a motha fucker, you gunna stand up and fight, or curl up in a ball and cry!? The fuckin rules have been thrown out long ago. These pricks DONT FUCKING CARE! They will burn this shit down and wait for us to put it out with our liberal tears. Fuck that! If they’re going to burn this shit down we’re locking them In the fucking building while it burns to the ground. The gloves are off. No more going in to the boxing ring holding true to the sport while our opponent has a baseball bat and is ready to swing for the fences at us.

The high road has got us nowhere but low. So let’s stay there. If they’re want to play dirty and skirt the rules, so can we. If we don’t! And fuckin soon! They’ll be nothing left to fight for.

[unnoticedunawarestillhere]

DEAD AND BURIED AU CAST

I highly encourage you to read this or at least try and find your favourite character in this! (I spent four weeks writing all this.) I'm aware I didn't put all BATIM characters in there and if there were certain characters you wanted to see, let me know. A lot of the facts I put in for characters are either funny or tragic. I will now be taking drawing requests and asks for my cast! (Ps: there's a reason why I put random CAPS)

Joey Drew:

Age: 40 

Height: 5'8 1/2

Gender: Male (He/him)

Sexuality: Undecided.

Nationality: American. Was born and raised in New York.

Condition: signs of depression. Tends to zone out and talk to himself (Not really a condition as far as I know, but seems important to just write. About it not being a condition, please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Phobias: Agoraphobia, Athazagoraphobia

Most important relationships to remember:

Henry Stein: very close friend and business partner. (After Henry leaves: TRAITOR D:<)

Sammy Lawrence: "friend" (Joey pretty much just uses Him.) and also accomplicE later on.

Thomas Conner & Nathan Arch: To Joey, both are annoying, but sees that the two have important value. Tolerate them. (Though tbh: Nathan was once considered a close friend as well.)

Bertrum Piedmont: A Work buddy who can actually drEam! Knew Bertrum through NathaN. Can put up a fair argument with Joey. 

Susie Campbell: Does acTually like Susie (not roMantically), but in reality is the worst friend ever to her. He did feel a tad bit guilty when he replaced her with Allison, but oh well! The show must go on!

Grant Cohen: SO VERY ANNOYING (to Joey). "All he thinks about is the numbers! No dreaming whatsoever. "-Joey (Though like Tom and NAthan, Joey tolerates him Due to him being pretty darn important.)

Others: Mostly just see the other workers as puppets with talent. Does have respect for certain people, but not worth mentioning who right now (maybe I'll write about that later, who knows.) Can also be seen making conversation with Norman, Jack and Wally.)

Notes or facts about him:

Joey has actually been in a fist fight with Nathan Arch and lost. Hates when someone brings it up.

Joey has been banned from the bar across the street due to uh..the fight with Nathan.

Loves to scare Wally with a Bendy cardboard cutout. When asked why he does this, he replies, "Oh just for funnies. "

Only has a little bit of guilt for murdering everyone. Also can be very arrogant and selfish at times.

Develops a limp later on when, in an act of self defence, Tom shoots Joey's leg with a pistol. (Will explain the details soon, probably.)

Henry Stein:

Age: 39 

Height: Due to having a slight hunchback, 5'6 ish

Gender: Male (He/him, but wouldn't care if called a they)

Sexuality: Bisexual (And proud of it!)

Nationality: American/ French (Can actually speak a few words!)

Condition: signs of anxiety, and depression. Insomnia as well.

Phobias: basophobia (Which I find ironic), acrophobia and claustrophobia (Strangely, only with elevators)

Important relationships:

Joey Drew: business partner, close friend. (After he leaves: he considers Joey as just a guy he worked with. Their friendship was lost after he left. When Henry comes back and sees the aftermath, he considers Joey as an enemy.)

Sammy Lawrence: close friend and maybe even love interest? Henry developed mild feelings for Sammy, but didn't act on them before he left the studio. Also didn't say a proper goodbye. (Whoops.)

Norman Polk: a good friend to talk to dUring break! (If Henry can find him.) Norman had been in the first war just like Henry and can relate to his Struggles with coping and healing. Also can count on Norman To save him a cup of coffee.

Wally Franks: ..this guy..is so FREAKING funny! Henry enjoys excHanging jokes with the janitor and can have the most randOm conversations. (Example: "If you could tame a wild wolf to go get your groceries, would you?")

Linda: Ex-wife, but stilL good friends with her. Things weren't working out and in the end both Decided to get a divorce. (DivOrce came just a few moNths after the studio was established.)

Jack Fain: Enjoys his tunes! Henry truly respects Jack's work and is full of pity for him when he finds out he was moved to work in the sewers. A friend!

Grant Cohen: if Henry ever needed to discuss politics and stuff, he looked for Grant. More like colleagues than friends. Also, they both know how difficult Joey can be.

Thomas Conner and Allison Pendle: Isn't too fond of Tom, but does respect him. He meets Tom kind of briefly before he leaves. Meets Allison after he leaves the studio. (A supermarket. The two met at the fucking supermarket.) He does also respect Allison, but hasn't really had the time to really get to know her due to Tom being protective.

Others: When meeting people, Henry is quite polite and friendly; this gains him a good reputation. He didn’t really meet Susie (Since he left), but later on when he comes back, he has a lot of confusion about her. The same goes for Bertrum, Lacie and a few other people. 

Notes or fun facts about him:

Henry was the first one to test out the new elevator in the studio. During testing, the elevator kind of just randomly stopped working  and Henry couldn’t get out for, like, two hours. During those two hours he was worried the elevator would drop. It didn’t, but you never know. 

For the first Valentine's Day, Henry bought Sammy a store bought card (C’mon Henry, really?) Later in the day, he actually wrote a lovish letter to him. Mostly because Jack was giving him a dirty look when he found out. “Really, man? A store bought card? The fuck is wrong with you.”-Jack

Threw Norman a surprise Birthday Party, which scared the shit out of Norman and made Norman point a pocket knife at him (Norman thought he was some sort of mugger) Later that day, Henry was trying to get the cake ready by lighting the candles and uh..almost caused a fire in the kitchen.  Wally was devastated at the loss of a beautiful chocolate cake. 

Henry was an American  soldier  in WW1.  

During the war, Henry had two pet dogs named Axel and Roger! One was a German Shepard while the other was a golden retriever. Unfortunately, Roger was killed in action and Axel died due to old age. 

-Also during the war, Henry loved making little comic strips for his comrades to read! One day, one of his comic strips blew away in the wind and landed in the enemy's trench. Henry was annoyed at this, but didn’t think much until a paper aeroplane hit one of his comrades, Richard, in the head. Richard handed him the paper and it turned out to be a paper full of cartoonish doodles! The paper had a few words in German and with the help of another comrade, it roughly translated to, “I like comics too.”  Henry still has that paper! 

Sammy Lawrence:

 Age: 34 ½  

Height: 5’6 ½ 

Gender: Male (might make him transgender?) (He/them)

Sexuality: Homosexual 

Nationality: American/German 

Conditions:  anger issues, anxiety disorder and signs of depression

Phobias:  Stygiophobia, Athazagoraphobia

Important Relationships:

Joey Drew: boss and considers him as a friend. Later on before he dies, Sammy thinks of himself as Joey's right hand man. 

Henry Stein: Madly in love, but is very hesitant about showing his feelings. Was  very hurt When Henry left. Still is kind of in love when Henry comes back. Their relationship is pretty complicated. 

Susie Campbell: best friends witH Susie! The two have a lot of laughs together and both like teasing each other about their crushes. Susie is always willing to hear SammY's new tune and Sammy is always happy to hear/ give feedback to Susie singing. Sammy was Destroyed when Susie dIed. (Got very angry at Joey..which kind of leD to Sammys demise.) 

Norman Polk: Ah projector head. The two are frenemies. Both will argue, trick and annoY each Other. However, at work, the two make a really good team. Norman Usually arrives early for work while so does Sammy. In grateful silence, Sammy aLlows Norman to hElp him set up chAirs for the band and music stands! Both haVe a dark sensE of humour so..yeah. They’re also both friends with Jack.  

Jack Fain: a good friend! Has known Jack since high school (both were in band) and has deep respect for him. The two caN be seen bouncing ideas off each other for a new song! The twO will always be friends…right? 

Johnny Polk: Sammy deep down has respect for his young assistant (who happens to be Norman's younger brother). He enjoys teaching him how to play the banjo and piano. Even if he doesn't show it, he’s actually pretty impressed by Johnny's quick learning. Can get easily frustrated though if Johnny is doing a task incorrectly or is a bit slow/late. 

Wally Franks: A pain in the neck. Sammy doesn't hate Wally, but he isn’t really too fond of him. Finds him annoying and childish. Instead of making jokes, Sammy feels that he could be cleaning more. Also wasn’t pleased when Wally accidentally knocked down one music stand which caused the rest of them to topple (Twice. Wally has done this twice).

Notes or facts about him:

When Sammy was a young kid, he wanted to be the next beethoven. (His parents laughed at this in amusement.)

When in band at highschool, Sammy met Jack by accidentally whacking him with a trombone.  Had to take Jack to the school nurse (he gave him an actual concussion.) 

Has written love songs for Henry, but never once shared them. (when Henry left, he tore them all up.) 

-Can speak fluently in German 

-When he was 23, and it was the fourth of July, Sammy was in charge of working the fireworks for his family reunion. He set them off outside and one hit his Uncle’s car. His Uncle was more than angry. All his little cousins thought he was the coolest  though (now they just think he’s old).

-Sammy was very close to being sent to fight in the war. 

Sammy once lost his voice while composing the band and kind of just dealt with it. Silently.

Wally Franks: 

Age: 27 

Height: 5’5 

Gender: Male (he/him OR they/them)

Sexuality: pansexual

Nationality:American/Canadian (Cause why not?)

Conditions: Has very mild Autism, but healthy!

Phobias:  Anatidaephobia, thalassophobia,  arachnophobia, forosophobia, Nyctophobia 

Important relationships:

Joey Drew: sees him as a friend! (until the studio goes apeshit.) Despite Joey trying to make him have a heart attack at age 27, Wally respects Joey! Well..did.

Henry Stein: a great artist and work buddy! If Wally ever needed advice, he’d go to Henry! When Henry comes back, the two friendships are reunited! However, Wally wasn’t happy when Henry turned his back on the studio. Still kind of has a grudge because of that. 

Sammy Lawrence: ah yes, the grumpy composer! Wally tries his best to avoid Mister Lawrence, not wanting to cause trouble. Might also be a little bit..terrified of Mister Lawrence.

Johnny Polk: best buddies! Wally loves hanging out with Johnny and humours Johnny with his jokes! Johnny always offers support and comes running to Wally if he needs help cleaning a dark area (due to Wally's Nyctophobia (fear of the dark)). 

Norman Polk: Mister Polk is actually pretty nice! Since Wally hangs out with Johnny, he often sees Norman (due to him being very protective of Johnny). When Henry left, Wally surprisingly came to Norman for advice! The two are good friends. As long as Wally doesn't blabber him with jokes before he has his coffee. 

Shawn Flynn: great friends! Wally may have feelings for the Irish toymaker, but isn’t really quite sure what to do with them. He worries he might not feel the same way, but maybe with some encouragement and insurance, he’ll tell Shawn his true feelings? :) 

Susie Campbell: if Johnny is Wally's first best friend then Susie would be Wally's second. Susie was always kind to Wally..until…she died, BUT yeah! The two, after a dull day at work, would usually get a drink together at the local cafe! 

Thomas Conner:  ….he majorly dislikes this guy. That’s it. Can hardly tolerate his ass and almost always argues with him. 

Others: Wally can mostly tolerate anyone (beside Tom, Sammy and maybe the people who steal the studios supply of toilet paper. Like c’mon guys. Not cool.)Likes talking to Jack here and there.

Notes or facts about him:

-One time, he accidentally left a window open and a pigeon had managed to fly into the studio. It caused fucking mayhem in the Music department and all recordings had to be shut down (cause all you could hear was people yelling and screaming). With Norman's help, the two had to capture it in a cardboard box and rushed it outside before Sammy could have the chance to kill it. 

-While cleaning out the vents, Wally found a dead rat and literally begged Joey to hold a funeral for it. (Joey declined because..well you know.) Wally ended up wrapping it in a towel, putting it in a shoebox and burying it at the local park. The only people that showed up to the funeral was: Johnny (who cried), Norman (who thought it was ridiculous), Susie (who was pretending to grieve), Shawn (who actually sang a fucking song for it), and Wally's mother and his two younger sisters, Mel & Catherine. Also Buddy was there. Only because Norman offered him a ride home. Buddy was just confused the entire time. 

-Has had a history of having food poisoning (especially from eating raw cookie dough.)

-Accidentally caused a pipe to burst and it kind of messed up Jack's office. (Wally plans to never tell anyone (beside Johnny) that he was responsible for this.  It was..pretty bad.

-Once punched Tom in the stomach before getting his ass beaten by him. In Wally’s mind, It was still a victory for him.

Thomas Conner:

Age: 40 

Height: 5’9

Gender: Male (he/him)

Sexuality: heteromantic 

Nationality:American/Africain

Conditions: Mild ptsd, anger issues and signs of insomnia 

Phobias: thanatophobia, atychiphobia, hoplophobia, aquaphobia

Important relationships:

Joey Drew: a major pain in the ass. Even before the studio got into shit, Tom hardly ever liked Mister Drew. Though he did respect him, he didn’t actually trust him. When Joey took his invention and called it his, Tom went ballistic with anger and his respect for Joey went dry. Hates it when Joey calls him “Tommy”. 

Henry Stein: Only met him briefly. When Henry comes back though, Tom does secretly have respect for Henry. And thinks of him as maybe..a friend? He hasn’t made up his mind. Also thinks he’s an idiot for coming back though. 

Allison Pendle: would do anything for her! Tom loves Allison with all his heart even if he doesn't always show it.  Was working relentlessly because he wanted to save up for a wedding ring for Allison (just when he almost had enough money saved up, he and Allison got killed by fucking Dreamer Drew).

Sammy Lawrence: “Ah, the insane music composer, I hate him.” Tom majorly dislikes Sammy from the beginning to the end. When he caught Sammy sneaking around the Ink Machine it led to a major argument between them. He knows it's Sammy that’s been stealing ink, but with so many problems mangled in his mind, he doesn't actually stop him.  

Norman Polk and Johnny Polk:  actually considers Norman as his best friend! The two have the same sarcastic humour and share a lot in common. They also like teaching each other how to do and make things (Example: Norman teaches Tom manners and Tom teaches him how to fix the pipes).  Since Tom hangs out with Norman whenever he can, he also hangs out with Johnny. He and Johnny are friends, but they’ll only hang out if Norman is there.  When Tom comes back as a toon, he thought that Norman and Johnny had gotten out of the studio, but to his dismay, the two died. Was pretty devastated by this. 

Wally Franks: an annoying kid who keeps forgetting his keys. Tom doesn't actually hate Wally, but just can’t tolerate him and his childish antics. Also wasn’t thrilled when he was forced to mentor Wally, which was a nightmare. He didn’t think Wally deserved to die though. 

Susie Campbell: when Susie first got hired, Tom didn’t have a problem with her. She was nice, upbeat and knew how to make Sammy calm down. He also knew that Norman had a massive crush on her, so he would talk to her here and there (trying to make his buddy look good XD). After the studio went to shit and decay, Tom sees Susie as a threat to both him and Allison. He does not trust her at all, regardless of what Norman says. 

Shawn Flynn: doesn't actually mind the toymaker and can actually be seen sharing a drink with him. A work buddy. 

Others: who cares? Tom never really paid much attention to anybody (besides the people above and GENT employees).  As long as no one pissed him off, everyone else was just a part of the background. Though, it’s worth mentioning now that he did not get along with Bertrum. (He did, however, have respect for Lacie)

Facts and notes about him:

-Tom was a combat engineer in WW1 for the US army.  Absolutely hates barbed wire and wants nothing to do with it. 

-Was born in America, but at the age of 4, moved to Canada. 

-When Tom was 12 years old (still in Canada) and it was Christmas, he ventured outside his winter cottage to go check out the woods. His parents were nonchalant about him exploring and told him to be back before supper. Anyway, he found a lake that had frozen over and just started sliding on it. However, the ice beneath wasn’t entirely solid and Tom fell through, almost drowning. To this day, he hates frozen bodies of water and refuses to go skating. No matter how many times Allison begs him to. 

-Welded Allison a necklace, but was too embarrassed by it to show her. Eventually he’d forget all about it until Allison (this is after the studio goes to shit btw) finds it and keeps it. 

-He and Norman love going on hikes. On one hike they encountered a bear and that was the first time Norman saw Tom lose his shit. (Both booked it to Tom’s truck) Speaking of Tom’s truck, Tom once accidentally hit a deer and Norman insisted on dragging the deer’s corpse into the nearest ditch and giving it a proper burial. He also made Tom say a few words for its funeral.  (His words were: "You stained the front of my truck. >:("

Allison Pendle:

Age: 39  

Height: 5’7

Gender: Female (she/her)

Sexuality: Bisexual/Asexual 

Nationality:   American/Dutch

Conditions: insomnia 

Phobias: cleithrophobia, atychiphobia 

Important relationships:

Joey Drew: when first hired, Allison liked and respected Joey! She thought he was a silly dreamer with a good heart. That thought was a mistake. When she slowly noticed how his dreaming was beginning to harm employees, her respect for Joey dimmed. When she found out that Tom had died due to him, she was furious and threatened to do more than to just sue him. Because of this, Joey panicked and killed her.

Henry Stein: Allison didn’t meet Henry when she first got hired. She did meet him before he came back. She thinks he’s a nice man who just worries too much. When they met again, the two seemed relieved to see each other and enjoy each other's company.  Allison considers him an ally!

Thomas Conner: Allison loves Tom, even if he can be rude. Allison makes it her personal job to keep his attitude in check, though of course, it’s almost impossible. Allison met Tom through a friend at a dinner party that Joey threw. Before being hired, Allison worked for a theatre company run by Joey’s sister, Susan. 

Susie Campbell: met Susie at the lobby and had a friendly conversation with her! Allison didn’t bring up that she was hired to be the new voice actress for Alice and Susie didn’t ask. Allison was there when Sammy and Joey broke the news to Susie and Susie looked like she wanted to throw a table at her. 

Sammy Lawrence: has a fair amount of respect for Mister Lawrence, but due to what Tom says about him, Allison isn’t quite sure she likes him as a person. When coming back after death, Allison is definitely NOT a fan of him. At all. 

Norman Polk & Johnny Polk: tolerates Norman only because of Tom. Since Allison works in the Music department, she sees Johnny pretty often and thinks he’s a nice kid. 

Grant Cohen: Sees Grant here and there. It’s only when the studio goes to shit that Allison really gets to know Grant. She thinks he’s pretty weird…

Wally Franks:  a very nice young man who actually appreciates her cooking in the kitchen. Despite what Tom says about him, she doesn't mind Wally and always makes sure to greet him and thank him for his work. 

Others: Allison doesn't really pay attention to anyone, unless they make conversation with her or she’s being introduced. She’s (was) pretty polite and easy going so people don’t have a problem with her. 

Facts about her: 

-Once had a cooking competition with Norman and forced Tom and Johnny to be the judges. 

-  As a child, Allison was really into fashion and making dresses for her little dolls. This interest was sparked because of her Mother, who ran a clothing shop downtown. One day, Allison ran out of scrap fabric and went on a hunt through her house for more. She found an old dusty white dress in the attic and cut it up into pieces. Turns out it was her Mom’s  and her Grandmother’s wedding dress. Whoops.

Actually had a fiance before Tom. His name was William and unfortunately died when his car hit a patch of ice and swerved off the road. Allison is always worried about losing Tom. 

One day, Allison was talking to Johnny and really wanted to make him laugh, so she tried singing like a person at the opera, but kind of made a mockery out of it. She successfully made him laugh, but at the cost of the recording window…

Susie Campbell: 

Age: 35 

Height: 5’5

Gender: Female (she/her)

Sexuality: hetrosexual/demisexual 

Nationality:  Canadian (grew up in Ontario)  

Conditions: healthy until the studio goes to shit  

Phobias:  arachnophobia, agoraphobia, autophobia, harm OCD 

Important relationships: 

Joey Drew: (before) a respectable boss who is quite charming and funny! (After) a self absorbed dick who can drown himself.

Henry Stein: didn’t really meet Henry before, only after. Isn’t exactly sure how to feel about him since Norman paints him as a “good guy”, but is unconvinced. She sees Henry hanging out with Allison and Tom and shows distrust towards him. 

Allison Pendle: When first meeting Allison, Susie wasn’t aware that she was there to replace her, only thought she was just a new employee. Was friendly towards Allison..until Joey and Sammy explained that she was getting replaced. When Susie comes back after death, she shows intense hatred towards Allison and hasn’t forgiven her for stealing her role. 

Sammy Lawrence: best friends with the grumpy composer! Loves teasing him and getting him to laugh. The two mostly hung out when Susie was done recording. But, when Susie noticed how distant Sammy was acting and how he kept having meetings with Joey, she felt hurt, left out and confused. Then when Sammy and Joey announced that she was being replaced, Susie was furious, screaming at Sammy and Joey. Hasn’t forgiven Sammy for that and is majorly still angry at Joey (like everyone else).

Norman Polk: when first meeting him, Susie was a little bit intimidated by him. But when they started talking and getting to know each other, Susie fell hard for Norman. She really wished that he would open up more to people so that they could see how nice he actually is.  When she was replaced, Norman was there to help. Even when she dies and turns into twisted Alice, she’s still very much in love with Norman! 

Johnny Polk: a friend! Loves teaching how to sing and always tries to cheer or encourage Johnny when he’s having a bad day because of Sammy.  If Johnny needs tips or advice for practising an instrument, he comes to Susie.  (Johnny secretly wishes that Joey made Susie his mentor instead of Sammy.)

Wally Franks: a close and dear friend of Susies! Almost always remembers to say thank you to Wally when he cleans up the music department. One time, she saw Wally and randomly asked him if he knew how to dance. He shrugged, then began to freaking dance with his broom, making Susie laugh. When Susie turns into Twisted Alice, she doesn't recognize Wally when he’s a toon and tries to kill him..  

Others: before she was replaced, Susie had no problem with any of her fellow co-workers. She got along fairly well with everybody.  Afterwards, everybody could go apeshit for all she cared. 

Facts about her:

Her father was a taxidermist and liked showing Susie and her siblings the latest animal he’s stuffed.  Susie was horrified by this. 

Loves celebrating Canada Day even if she’s stuck in New York…

Once drank entire bottle of maple syrup because of a dare…then threw up an entire bottle of maple syrup..it was not pretty.. (Fun fact: I’ve done this before as well. Do not do this.)

When Susie was about 10, she loved playing dress up in her Grandma’s old clothes and would speak “grownup” to the adults in the room. One night, she tripped on her long gown and fell down the stairs, breaking her arm. When her arm healed, it was bent the other way and the doctors needed to rebreak it and reposition it. After that, Susie got interested in anatomy.

When she was 6, she loved answering the family phone and would always have a long conversation with the person on the other line. Examples of what she would say: “Do you have a dog? I have a dog. She’s named Macie and she’s really fluffy and really big and-” (etc) Also her Dad would get so confused why no one called him back. 

Norman Polk: 

Age: 37 

Height: 6’1

Gender:  male (he/him)

Sexuality: heterosexual 

Nationality: British/French (yes, I’m aware he’s cannonly South Americain. Look at facts and I’ll explain) 

Conditions:  mild PTSD, social anxiety, signs of depression and insomnia (he’s not okay 🙂) 

Phobias:  pyrophobia, social phobia,  cleithrophobia

Important relationships:  

Joey Drew:  “Who the hell put this guy in charge?” Norman did respect Joey, but when he slowly finds out what Joey has been doing, he fully hates him. He still has a grudge on him in the afterlife. 

Henry Stein:  A good friend and man in general. Norman respects Henry, even when the studio goes to shit. Was disappointed and a hint hurt when Henry quit. When Henry comes back to the studio, Norman holds a bit of a grudge against him. 

“Johnny” Jonathan Polk: will protect him till the end. Norman absolutely loves his younger brother and would do alot for him. Norman and Johnny's mother died shortly after she gave birth to Johnny, but before she died, Norman vowed to take care of him. 

“Harriett” Polk: Norman loves his older sister, but gets into many arguments with her. Hates that he will always be “the child” in her eyes. She has had the habit of not always being there when things got tough, which frustrates Norman. She was the one to report his and Johnny’s disappearance.  She is the mother of Norman’s (and Johnny’s) only niece. (Might actually explain the niece part later on.)

Susie Campbell: if Norman could write a list of what he likes about Susie, that list would turn into a book.  When meeting Susie, Norman fell head over heels for her and when he began getting to really know her, he fell even harder.  Was absolutely destroyed when she died and massively wanted to get revenge.  When he came back as the projectornist, he still loved Susie and would always try to defend her. (even though she’s a hint crazy. Just a hint, guys.) 

Thomas Conner:  Norman considers him as his best friend! The two are pretty close pals! Both can relate to the horrors of the first war while also relating to Joey’s bullshit. When Tom went “missing”, Norman helped Allison plaster a bunch of missing posters and ask people if they knew his whereabouts (which is no easy task for someone who has social anxiety).  When Allison disappeared, rumours began to fly and Norman discovered the horrible truth that Tom had died. When he comes back as an ink creature, his and Tom's friendship resumes. 

Allison Pendle:  Norman and Allison have had their disagreements, but both care for Tom and will only team up if they need to save his ass. Norman wasn’t fond of Allison stealing Susie’s role and actually got in a fight with her because of it.  Norman, deep down, has a tad bit of respect for her. Tolerates her because she brings Tom happiness. 

Sammy Lawrence: Norman respects Sammy, but can get in an argument with the composer very easily. Despite this, Norman is aware that the two actually make a decent team and keeps that in the back of his mind. When Norman found out what Sammy and Joey were doing, he was absolutely pissed.  

Jack Fain: Finally, someone who still has their common sense! The two are friends and when Norman is sneaking around near Jack's office, he pays him a visit. 

Wally Franks: Norman doesn't mind Wally and is happy that Johnny has such a chipper friend. Norman can see why Tom can be frustrated with the young janitor as it’s clear (atleast, to Norman) that Wally isn’t the exactly brightest. Though Norman would agree, he certainly has a good spirit!  

Lacie Benton: Gets to know Lacie better when the studio is beginning to go into financial troubles. Has a lot of respect for Lacie and admires her skills. In truth, Lacie reminds him of his dear dead mother.  A good bond the two share!

Grant Cohen:  this friendship was surprising, but Grant and Norman are actually friends. The two can rant to each other about how fucked up the studio is and then laugh about it. 

Buddy Lewek: Norman has nothing against Buddy, especially since Johnny really likes him. Though, because Johnny really likes him, Norman is protective and makes sure Buddy gets the message NOT to hurt his brother..or else. 

Others: Norman doesn't actually have the best reputation around the studio as people are either a little bit intimidated by him or think he’s just weird.  Norman tries to socialise, but finds it difficult and overwhelming.  To his surprise, he does/did have a lot of friends. 

Facts about him:

-Norman and his siblings were born in Britain and grew up there. Norman was taught French by his mother as she wanted it to be his second language. After the first war ended, Norman and his siblings still lived in Britain, however, money was being put aside to move to America. After they (Norman & siblings) moved, Norman noticed that people would like to mock his accent, or would try to correct him. Tired of this, Norman just thought it would be better just to have an American accent. (He decided on Southern because of a certain movie he watched.) I know, he’s cannonly South Americain, but since this is an AU, I figured I should get creative! (Please don’t hate me for this)

-Norman actually had a twin sister named Abigail, but she tragically died at age 11.  

-Has had multiple injuries before and after the war. Examples: head injury, rabies, bullet wounds, etc) This guy has been through..a lot. 

-Norman was there at the Christmas truce (December 24, 1914). Johnny loves hearing about Norman's time at the Christmas truce. 

-Has been mugged before and now keeps a pocket knife at him at all times. 

Would always get so excited when he got mail during the war. Johnny’s little drawings and photos would keep him going through dark times.  

When the studio was going to shit, it was actually Norman who helped Lacie and Bertrum to start a rebellion against Joey and his followers. He recruited people and spreaded the word.

During the war and having a break, Norman and his friend Archie went to go rock climbing. Archie brought the equipment while Norman drove them to the place. While making their way up, something went wrong and ended up with Archie breaking his neck and dying. 

-Norman was once a boy scout and as a kid, he would always wear his uniform wherever he went.  (A lot of the kids at his school just assumed he didn’t have any other clothes to wear.)

“Johnny” Jonathan Polk

Age: 19 

Height: 5'8 

Gender: Male (He/him)

Sexuality: homosexual

Nationality: British/French

Condition:  war anxiety and signs of social anxiety  

Phobias: thanatophobia, basophobia (or basiphobia), trypanophobia 

Important relationships:

Joey Drew: Mister Drew is someone Johnny looked up to as he admired how calm and professional he always seemed to be. Johnny was also just grateful to have a job and because of that would try to defend Mister Drew if people (like Norman) were saying bad things about him. When Johnny was killed and came back, he was just destroyed at how naive he was.  

Henry Stein:  a good guy! Due to Norman respecting and befriending Henry, Johnny instantly befriends him as well! Johnny would sometimes even go to Henry for advice on drawing!

Norman Polk:  Johnny loves and looks up to Norman. The two can get into a few arguments here and there, but they usually don’t last too long. Johnny lives with Norman and the two split the bills and chores together.  Johnny usually doesn't mind Norman being protective, but can occasionally get tired of it. Always tries to talk Norman into asking out Susie.

Sammy Lawrence: Johnny doesn't hate Sammy, but he does fear him. Johnny tries his best to please his mentor, but sometimes can’t always fill his expectations.  When Johnny began to notice the little odd things that were going on in the music department, he didn’t actually tell anyone right away (which was probably a big fucking mistake)

Susie Campbell: absolutely adores Susie and wishes she were his mentor instead of Mister Lawrence. Likes helping her when she’s doing her recordings and always is always grateful for her advice and support. Johnny was also aware of Norman’s huge crush on Susie so yeah, he always tried to make him look good.  Was crushed when she got replaced. When he comes back, he isn’t quite sure how to feel about Susie now that she’s a twisted version herself.

Thomas Conner:  Johnny doesn't dislike Tom, in fact, Tom will sometimes even teach Johnny how to work with tools. Since Tom is Norman’s best friend, Johnny sees a lot of him and even shares a few inside jokes with him. Though, it’s worth mentioning that Johnny doesn't like when Tom is talking shit about Wally. 

Wally Franks: best buddies! Loves Wally’s jokes! (kind of already talked about this friendship so yeah..)

Shawn Flynn: a nice man who begs Johnny to teach him how to do a British accent. Really adores the toys that Shawn creates and has even begged Shawn to teach how to make a plush!

Buddy Lewek: close friends! Johnny also..sort of..has a crush on Buddy. Johnny always loves hanging out with Buddy and the two can talk about anything. Met Buddy when he was delivering something to Mister Lawrence and Johnny accidently whacked him with the door. 

Others: Johnny doesn't mind other people unless they are either mean to him or Norman. He gets along with a lot of people in the band and art department.  He can be shy at the start though. 

Facts about character:

-Johnny finally learned how to make a Boris plush! He gave it to Buddy as a gift <3 

-As a kid, Johnny would love trying to tackle his brother to the ground. One time, Norman saw Johnny charging at him and getting ready to tackle him again, so he took a step to the side and Johnny hit a wooden fence. (Johnny doesn't actually remember this and gets so confused when Norman still apologises to this day.) 

-Johnny is deadly scared of thunder to this day. He had an Uncle who got struck by lightning and died, so yeah, Johnny will bravely..crawl under his bed and pray for it to be over.

- Johnny never met Abigail, but as a young child, he did have this imaginary friend that looked eerily similar to her. She would always reassure Johnny that Norman was fine in the trenches and would survive. Turns out she was indeed right! 

-After finally getting his drivers licence, Johnny borrowed Norman's car for an errand and accidentally hit a brick wall with it. He was fine, only having a few bruises. Norman was absolutely relieved and pissed.

[jeonbunnie]

love language

pairing: reader x taehyung

anon requested: “If requests are still open, can you do love language by kelahni with idol taehyung? Bonus if the reader is a American (or just a foreigner) living in Korea with okay proficiency in Korean. ”

summary: Taehyung’s willing to learn all the ways to love you.

genre: slight angst; fluff

soundtrack: love language — kehlani

content/warnings: pg 13, established relationship, boyfriend!AU, inexperienced!reader, consent talk, mutual pining

word count: 1.3k

♪ Said I wanna be fluent in your love language. Learnin' your love language ♪

Taehyung was still learning how to love you.

There’d always been a language barrier between you, and you often failed to understand each other’s language.

Most of the time, it was easy to read between the lines. To pick up on your silent cues, the way you leaned in when you were interested in what he had to say. How you lowered your gaze when you were feeling shy or bit your lip while fighting back a shy smile.

It’s the same smile you’re wearing now, draped across his couch, cheesing over a romantic drama. He loved you like this: lighthearted and carefree. But lately, it’s a side to you he’d been missing.

And he hated breaking you out of your happy bubble, but Taehyung needed to speak to you to clear up something weighing on his heart.

“Can we talk?”

There’s hesitation in your eyes now that the questions have been asked. Taehyung waits for the tension to melt, patiently observing as you look him in the eye and nod.

“Are you not attracted to me?”

You blink, frozen in time for a second. And then burst into laughter.

“What?” You said the sounded light, letting Taehyung know you’re not exactly laughing at him or being rude, but he can still feel a slight blush creep up his neck.

“I’m serious,” He said, voice a bit more taunt.

“Wait?” You said, growing serious. You turn away from the TV to face him on the couch. Your brows pulled together in a way Taehyung’s learned to read as ‘concerned’ on your face. “Really?”

By now, Taehyung basically knew how to read you down to a science.

Some things were easier to learn than others. Early on, he figured out you weren’t a morning person. He found it cute that you were always so grumpy during the early hours and that the little scrunch between your brows meant you weren’t ready to talk before having caffeine. He quickly learned you appreciated him bringing you a cup of coffee more than a good morning call.

It took a little longer for him to learn you didn’t care much for gifts. Over time, he began to understand that you valued his time over his money. You never cared about the wrapping for a gift—you’d rather be wrapped up in his arms, spending sun-soaked days together in the park

And the little things, of course. Taehyung knew your favorite color and how to make your smile. He was fairly certain your love language was quality time (acts of service a close second). There were still parts of you he was desperate to know more—soul, mind, and body.

Taehyung cared more for physical touch. You, however, never seemed all that interested in being intimate. Whenever he tried to initiate something more than a kiss, you almost always slipped from his grasp, muttering a vague excuse.

“Lately…” He started, “It seems like every time I touch you, you pull away. So I just thought?”

He knew something was wrong. It had to be him, didn’t it?

You sent him a timid smile. “Taehyung, I’m beyond attracted to you. It’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like?”

A pause. “I just—I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You feel…” Taehyung licked his lips, searching for the right words. “Distant. Like you’re holding back.”

“Do you not like me anymore? Is that why you don’t want me to touch you?”

“What? No, of course not!”

“Then?”

“It’s the opposite.”

“What do you mean?”

“I-I think I like you too much, and I’m scared to be close.”

Taehyung often misunderstood the meaning behind your words. Usually, it was because you were using your own language or talking too fast.

This time the mixed message felt deeper than anything google translate could solve. Because you were speaking a language he understood, and he still couldn’t make sense of what you meant.

“I don’t understand.”

You sighed, covering your face with your hands. “Never mind. It’s stupid. Forget I said anything.”

Gently, Taehyung reached out and pulled your hands away from your face. “It’s not stupid. I just don’t understand yet. Can you explain it to me?”

It was quiet for a minute, but Taehyung didn’t rush you. He rubbed his thumbs against your hands, hoping to calm your nerves enough.

“I’m not that experienced….” You said finally, unable to look him in the eye. “So the idea of being close to someone like that…it feels..overwhelming?”

Taehyung felt his heart soften. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he said softly.

“I want to! It’s not like I mean to pull away. I get nervous. There’s so much I don’t know sexually, and I get in my head about things. Wondering if I’m making the right move or what I like and what you like? I want our first time to be perfect, and I just-”

You stopped, burying your face in his chest. “This is embarrassing. I’m going to stop talking now.”

Taehyung laughed. He could tell you were mortified to reveal this information like you wanted to sink into the couch hide. But he found you to be adorable. “You’re so cute,” he said.

It all made sense now. Your shyness, the awkward pauses. The way you seemed to want more but backed off every time things got heated between you. Relief coursed through him. All this time, he was worried for nothing. It felt good knowing you wanted him the same way he wanted you.

He took your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him. “We can go slow…whatever pace you need. There’s no rush.”

The furrow in your brow fades, and Taehyung knows he’s said the right thing to calm your nerves. Still, there’s doubt in your eyes.

“You don’t think it’s weird that I haven’t…you know?”

He shook his head. “Of course not. But I think it’s weird that you didn’t tell me.”

You try to look away then, but Taehyung doesn’t let you, taking your chin in his hand until you make eye contact again.

“Hey. I wanna know everything about you,” said Taehyung. “Your thoughts and your feelings. Even the things that make you nervous, even the embarrassing things you think you should hide.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I don’t mind if that takes time,” Taehyung continued. “I can be patient. But I need you to be open with me moving forward. Can you do that?”

“I can do that,” you said, finally giving him a real smile. The one he loved so much that made your eyes sparkle and shine.

Taehyung scooped you up into his lap, happy to know the two of you were back on the same page. “So, is this okay? Me holding you like this?”

You wrapped your arms around his neck. “I like it when you hold me.”

“And when I kiss you?” He asked, placing a chaste kiss on your forehead.

“I love it when you kiss me. And not just on my forehead. . .”

“Here?” He said, kissing your cheek.

“Taehyung…” you whine.

“Yeah? So you like this?” Said Taehyung, peppering you with kisses all over your face.

“Taehyung,” you giggled. “You know what I mean. Kiss me for real.”

“Mhmm,” he hummed. “Define real. You’re going to have to be more specific.” He knows what you want but can’t make it easy for you now, can he?

“You’re gonna make me ask?”

“Well, the last time I went in for a kiss, it didn’t go so well.”

You rolled your eyes, and Taehyung’s sure he would have to tease you a bit more, but then you surprised him, closing the distance with a kiss. It’s languid and sweet. Slow, saccharine goodness that has his mind running wild with possibilities. There’s still so much he wants to learn about you: how to calm your nerves, how to show you that you’re safe with him, how to love you, and how to make love to you. How to please you. What turned you on, what drove you wild…

And he knows it’ll take some time for you to be vulnerable with him. But if going slow means more perfect kisses like this, he doesn’t mind the wait.