#Will I ever read Crime and Punishment? I hope so… because I don’t think I can watch the film adaptation without reading it first

[jeonscatalyst]

I read this from the cult arguments so the reason why they think jikook using Buddy program for enlisting confirms them not being couples is because in south korean military service as you might already know they prohibit the gay sexual intercourse while ON BASE and if you do you face the consequences right? So according to them now that jikook are using the Buddy program by chance IF in future they come out as queer and start dating each other the government is likely to investigate them for using the Buddy program for their advantage, or say they can get investigated for falsification and breaking the law of gay relationship n all during military service and given BTS are Big deal even if jikook come out after many years they will still likely face very serious consequences for breaking the law cause you know how sk is when it comes to BTS like e.g. suga's recent incidents.

So does anyone have a better understanding of this whole act of gay se* + military service and the consequences you face like this law as whole?

Hey anon,

I made this post a while ago about this topic. You can check it out

I’m not sure if you are the same anon who sent this link of this taekooker trying to “prove” why two people in a romantic relationship cannot enlist together but this is the link…….

My thoughts about enlistment and how it works can be found in the post I linked but just to something about what these screenshots say….

This right here is what I like to call manipulation. This person has a very good knowledge of the system and what article 92-6 actually states but they use their own words to completely twist things. I’m not a lawyer but i’ve watched enough shows to know that people have gotten away with murder or heinous crimes because of loopholes in the written law so I’m pretty sure who ever drafted out military laws must know this so they must have EXPLICITLY written down everything that they didn’t want to avoid any loopholes.

Anon, I’d like you to check out what article 92-6 states and show me anywhere that law criminalizes two people being in a relationship. Is there any place the law talks about punishing two people just because they are gay and are in a relationship? I must have missed it so maybe you can show me if you find it.

This is such a simple thing to understand so I truly don’t get why so many people choose to ignore it.

The military doesn’t criminalize people being in a relationship (atleast not officially) they only have a problem with people committing indecent sexual activity on base. So why on earth would there be consequences if Jimin and Jungkook leave the military and decide to come out at some point later? As long as they didn’t break the law by having anal sex or engaging in anything the law considers indecent sexual activity, they are good. Is there any law that states that two lovers cannot enlist together as buddies? There is literally NONE! Also, this makes no sense because not everyone who in romantic relationships have sex (surprise surprise) and seeing as the military has only mentioned having an issue with sex while on base, then why would they go after people who didn’t commit a crime?

If the South Korean military didn’t want two lovers enlisting together as buddies, they would have boldly written it down. Yes, queer people face some injustice and discrimination in the military and sometimes are deemed unfit for service because of their sexual orientation which is unfortunate and sad but the truth is, Jimin and Jungkook have never come as as queer have they? So officially they are just two normal bandmates and friends who decided to enlist together and even if they do come out later, the military would have to prove that they were a couple while enlisted if they want to have an issue with it (which I doubt they would) and we all know that they wouldn’t be able to prove that Jikook were a couple at the time of enlistment unless they got caught having sex, because guess what, it is possible that they could have only become a couple after their military service. So you see how the whole thing doesn’t even make sense right. If you want to consider that the military might try to punish people for being a couple while enlisted, then there are just too many loopholes in the law. I am not even a lawyer but I can make a very good defense case for anyone whom the military tries to prosecute for this using their own written laws.

[hazzypisce]

Starchaser/Jegulus mini one-shot

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

But my heart lies with you

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55288129

Summary:

Regulus writes a love letter to James. One that also talks about his thoughts, feelings, problems and desires. Even if they are not so happy as one would wish.

Notes:

This is all my sadness and stuff that is going on inside my head and I projected all on my poor guy Reg.

Sorry for any confusion or spelling mistakes.

Hope someone reads this and gets the vibe I wanted.

Words:

628

Additional Tags:

Love Letters, Sad and Sweet, Suicide thoughts, Regulus Black Needs a Hug, Regulus Black Deserves Better, POV Regulus Black, Light Angst, i think;

Oh, I feel the burden that is to be alive.

Every thought I have is about how I am going to die. Probably soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe today.

But my heart lies with you, and your existence fills my entire being with love and peace.

This puts me in a very weird position, at the same time that I want to end my suffering, I crave to spend the rest of my life and grow old with you.

If I don’t kill myself, someone will.

In an ideal world, you, my love, would have been living happily ever after with me, maybe with 2 or 3 children even, but life is not fair for anyone, especially with us. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I have any time left or desire to live another day. I can feel all my energy being sucked out of my body and my soul being stolen by some faceless person like someone is targeting and running after me as if I were some kind of plague that needs to be extinguished or else the entire world will die horribly.

Maybe I am a cruel monster that needs to be punished for all my crimes and sins, but you are the angel that lights up my days, and if I can be selfish one more time, let me take you and make you mine, so every day I can see your face and be reminded that there are good and beautiful things in the universe that make living a little bit better. That way, even if I die soon, the rest of my days will be filled with love and good memories.

Even if it’s not my intention, I know that it hurts you .My lack of self-love, my will to give up, my sadness, my silence, my absence and my impossible desire to be fulfilled by you- it’s probably a burden to you at this point.

Something good can happen because of this situation. Maybe it will make you grow as a person and force you to go on with your life, even if it’s not with me. I wouldn’t want you to be alone if I am gone, you deserve everything good in your life, more than anything that I could ever have given you.

Sometimes we have to let things go. They can still pester our thoughts. They can still eat us up.But we are free from their restraints and limitations.

Life can be a punishment for me, regardless if you are by my side or not, but it doesn’t have to be one for you too.

James, I love you.

I love you with all my being.

I don’t even know who I am without you.

Furthermore, I want to be selfish. I do. If I were in your position and you were to die, there’s not a chance I would survive. And that’s one more reason why I need to die-to end the dark thoughts that reverberate inside my head 24 hours a day, every day.

You can go on and live your life, I couldn’t.

This is a weird love letter about my love for you. One that transcends life and death.

And this is also a letter telling you my thoughts and feelings, because I’m afraid of them, but more so, I am afraid to lose you.

Marry me now and let’s give our lives to the universe so it can decide our fate, or, leave me and get going with your life, just don’t look back and get stuck in the past.

I really love you James; you are the single most precious and beautiful man that’s ever walked on earth, and I am glad that I could have called you mine someday.

Love, Reg.

[kybelles]

hi love! I'm feeling devious so for the choose violence asks, 24 and 25

HIII BABY 💞💞 i sincerely hope you don’t mind me answering everything via your ask 🥹 i just didn’t want to spam the tl with my non-stop posting!

1.the character everyone gets wrong

JOKASTE!!! 😩 sooo many times in fan creations she’s a mustache twirling villain and look i get it! she needs to go in order to lamen to be together but i don’t know why each time she needs to cheat on damen…. people can break up for other reasons yk…..

i feel like people don’t really get how much jokaste holds damen in such a high regard. the first time she talked to laurent she was full of praises for damen and yes although the majority of the reason was to taunt laurent, it was too heartfelt to be faked entirely. i find her a quite tragic character honestly. in another world she would be proud and happy to be to be damen’s queen 🙁 i wish more ppl cared about her OR stop portraying her as this cold unfeeling girlboss who was sooo sick of damen’s bs that she punished him by gleefully fucking kastor….. i really really don’t think that’s who she is. she loved damen in her own way. she was also a sentimental woman. (her last letter to damen will never make me not emotional….)

3.screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

SCREENSHOT OMG hats off to any brave soul who actually posts it….. also the collection on bad takes is so rich idk what to choose… ok i got one: so i genuinely don’t remember the details but a few years ago there was a post circulating about how laurent was actually Good All Along (yes even in book one where he drugged damen and then threw him into a rape ring and also had him whipped after intentionally setting him up 🙂 ) and it had so many likes…. i’ll never ever understand the need to whitewash book 1 laurent’s actions. like why do you even stan a controversial character if you don’t like his controversial aspects…. i really believe this is quite the disservice to such a multidimsensional character like laurent. :/

7.what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how the fandom acts about them?

hmm i wouldn’t say hate but some posts i read about auguste made me sorta dislike him  😬 idk when and where i read it but there was one post in particular that said they wish auguste would come back to life and beat the shit out of damen and i was like WOAHHH??? you want the mc (who you spent three books with) to be beaten brutally by some canon fodder?? for what crime???  i was honestly weirded out.

there’s also the fact that i genuinely HATE l*uguste (despite not being an anti shipper in general or anything! this ship just rubs me the worst way bc laurent experienced so much trauma from the way ppl made up incest rumors about him and auguste) so any interpretation (even if they aren’t written as a romantic pair intentionally) where auguste and laurent have this unhealthy codependent bond with auguste acting like a ferocious caveman to any potential romantic suitor of laurent and laurent being all meek and allowing this treatment is a big no for me. ✋ so yes even tho i don’t hate auggie boy i can’t say i care a great deal about him. sorry baby i’m sure you are just dandy.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

that damen is an unreliable narrator 😩i talked about it in my previous post!

12.the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

EGERIA THE MF QUEEN OF AKIELOS 🗣️🗣️ i actually like every member of the akielos trio (theomedes-hypermenestra-egeria) sm because their situation reminds me of turkish harem dramas. 🤭 the lack of canon information about them allows me to make various hcs and backstories and idk i just think it’s fun!

13.worst blorboficiation

JFC i’m SOOOO old i’m ANCIENT bc i have no idea what this means….. i’d be happy to answer it if you give me some clarification (hiding my face in shame)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

oh luckily i already answered it here!

17.there should be more of this type of fic/art

I’m always a huge advocate for bottomianos even though i myself shamefully haven’t made a contribution 💔 as for art i’m beyond grateful for our wonderful artists and i humbly would like to see more of the old gang! (theo, egeria, aleron, hennike etc.)

21.part of canon you think is overhyped

hmm i unfortunately can’t think of an answer for this one, i’m sorry!

24.topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

OH DEAR… so one of the first times i actively participated in the fandom i made a post about how frustrating it was to see theomedes portrayed as an absent father despite the glaring lack of canon evidence while aleron got off the hook much easier despite laurent actually confirming he was an absentee and said i think it was about the way people perceive them (theomedes=brown and toxic, aleron=white and tastefully distant) anyways, some user whom i never talked to before (and they’re still blocked to this day despite the fact i pretty much never block anyone here) said i was “making it up” and right after i blocked them after they continued talking to me in a very rude manner some asks ✨mysteriously✨ appeared in my inbox and the person who sent them called me an “illiterature white bitch” who made up nonexistent drama…….. so yes i guess the colorism issue really ruffles some people’s feathers :) i wonder why :) 

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

“why didn’t damen figure out the regent’s abuse of laurent sooner is he stupid” setting aside the 574619 different pacat interviews where she talks about how damen needed to be oblivious bc otherwise laurent would never open up to him, why is it so wild to think damen wouldn’t assume the regent would do something like that to his own nephew? as if the entire canon events didn’t happen bc damen believed families would never hurt each other…. just wow

[the-owl-tree]

no fr. the authors seem to really believe that squirrel needs to be punished over and over again for a “crime” she committed in universe years ago. like almost a decade. aren’t Jay and Lion like 7 years old?? fucking christ leave that woman alone. there’s cats in this clan born who don’t even know what happened and would reasonably not give a fuck because it’s old news. and why are they so obsessed with it! it’s tiring and annoying to read through. I’m so sick of “well squirrelflight is a LIAR and LIED to her mate and clan and the three. SHE’S SO UNTRUSTWORTHY AND NEEDS TO FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR BEING A LIAR” like okay but we did this last week and the beginning of this week. we will do this again on Friday I know, but can you give it a rest at least today

I stg if in the coming books they pull some shit like “squirrelflight isn’t actually leader uwu. she LIED about getting nine lives just like she LIED about the three. see? she’s only ever been a liar~ can’t trust her at ALL :3c” I’m releasing coked up 6ft tall chimps into the writer’s room

the entirety of squirrelflight's hope is just the narrative going "why are you treating these nobody inferior loser loners as being worthy as Not Dying as clan cats?? do you ever think about the consequences of your actions???" like yeah i'm sorry i do think it's fucking insane to 2 v 1 a group that has done barely anything but be antagonized. "they kidnapped squirrelflight and leafstar!!" and those two still got fed and were treated kindly. bramble "time to throw my weight around because my mate bruised my ego" is ready to let one of the sisters die a (PREVENTABLE) slow and painful death in front of them.

and before someone goes "well, the sisters attacked-" actually they didnt give af about that. they didn't know. the reason they were down to let them die was because they saw them as inferior for being outsiders and call me a snowflake but i think that's a bad message to tell kids <3

the fucking trial is dumb as hell. they did everything right, starclan is unreasonable. garbage ass conflict.

[zephrunsimperium]

HEAR ME OUT:

Gravity Falls/Crime & Punishment

“I am wicked, I see that. But why are they so fond of me if I don’t deserve it? Oh, if only I were alone and no one loved me and I too had never loved anyone! Nothing of all this would have happened." - Raskolnikov Ford Pines

"Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth." - Raskolnikov Ford Pines

“I came to you(, Fiddleford) because I know no one but you who could ever help… to begin… because you are kinder than anyone—clever, I mean, and can judge… and now I see that I want nothing. Do you hear? Nothing at all… no one’s services… no one’s sympathy. I am by myself… alone. Come, that’s enough. Leave me alone." - Raskolnikov Ford Pines

And the REAL kicker...

“...I’m sick to death of all of you and I want to be alone," (Stanford) answered calmly. "Alone? When you are not able to walk, when your face is as white as a sheet and you are gasping for breath! Idiot!" "Let me go!" said (Stanford), and tried to pass him. This was too much for (Stanley); he gripped him firmly by the shoulder. "Let you go? You dare tell me to let you go? Do you know what I’ll do with you directly? I’ll pick you up, tie you up in a bundle, carry you home under my arm and lock you up!" "Listen, (Stanley)," (Ford) began quietly, apparently calm— "can’t you see that I don’t want your benevolence? A strange desire you have to shower benefits on a man who… curses him, who feels them a burden in fact! Why did you seek me out at the beginning of my illness? Maybe I was very glad to die. Didn’t I tell you plainly enough to-day that you were torturing me, that I was… sick of you! You seem to want to torture people! I assure you that all that is seriously hindering my recovery, because it’s continually irritating me. You saw (Fiddleford) went away just now to avoid irritating me. You leave me alone too, for goodness’ sake! What right have you, indeed to keep me by force? Don’t you see that I am in possession of all my faculties now? How, how can I persuade you not to persecute me with your kindness? I may be ungrateful, I may be mean, only let me be, for God’s sake, let me be! Let me be, let me be!" (Stan) stood a moment, though and let his hand drop. "Well, go to hell then," he said gently and thoughtfully.

Thanks to @athgalla-arts for the inspiration! Hope you enjoyed. Everyone should read Crime and Punishment!!

[smellyrottentrees]

Writerly Questionnaire

No one asked but my love language is infodumping so here we are.

About You

When did you start writing?

I do not recall. When I was very young, probably not long after I learned to write at all.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

Somewhat. I don’t actually read much high fantasy, I’ve never even opened a Tolkien. I dwell more in horror and sometimes mystery (think Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown) and gothic literature. I do like fantasy on occasion, and absolutely eat up books about ancient myths.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

I read Madeline Miller and fell in love with her writing style. I like Stephen King’s quite a bit for the way he can present a horrifying thing and it actually make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I try to emulate the gothic style, very calm and rational and descriptive while monsters casually run amok. I don’t think I’ve been compared to many authors out there.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

I either write on my bed (comfy, but no neck support) or on my parents’ living room rocking chair (can be distracting)

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Go out and live. Some of my best ideas are born of very mundane days for myself when I have time to think.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Probably more than I would admit. My childhood home was very rural, an isolated neighborhood surrounded by farmland. There were open expanses of grass to run around in for what felt like forever, with mountains visible from the bedroom window. Where I live now is very wooded, less rural but somehow almost more isolated. I’ve always found a sense of comfort in spaces where no humans dwelled. I hope my stories show that.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

I think the idea that morality is somewhat nuanced and situational comes up a lot. Like, when is killing someone okay? Is it ever okay? Is the punishment suitable for the crime? Are people always either all good or all bad? Is true evil and true good real? That kind of thing. It does sometimes creep up on me a little, I sometimes subconsciously write morals into a story and then read it back later and go, “what the hell??”

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

Arroti. There is no question. He’s just so weird and never what people expect Him to be.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Khet. I like kind people with good humor, and he’s very kind.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Yetova. There is, again, no question.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

Usually the world comes before the characters. Most characters start solely as art, then their personality and lore comes next.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

I don’t know. Anxiety and depression seem to afflict a good number of them, but that’s just the name of the game when it comes to the things they’ve experienced.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I know I draw them a certain way, but that’s because my aspirations are greater than my current skill. I see them in my head as real people, though not people who already exist like actors. They simply are.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

I am a creator at heart. Writing is just another outlet for my creations. And isn’t it fun to have a world to share with your own?

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I haven’t gotten too many comments to know. One time someone on here called my writing style romantic and I rode that high for a week, though. Writers do love feedback!

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

Just a guy, I guess. A guy with a lot of stuff in my head.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

My worldbuilding. It really fleshes out a story, in my opinion.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

I don’t share my writing much so I don’t get much feedback, but some people have told me they like my descriptions.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

Like anything, there is room for improvement.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Yes. Before I had any social media, that’s basically what I was doing—art and writing for myself alone.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

The story itself is just what I enjoy. When it comes to formatting (e.g., when I decided to split my book into two arcs for easier marketability) I do sometimes make decisions based on what I feel others will enjoy. But the content itself is determined solely by my own whims and interests.

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64-65: TwoMulti-part finale (part 4: Knuckles in King of the Hill)

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! So after all that ranting about Endgame I needed to take a little break, even though I’m very close to the end of this series. But I wanted to come back fresh before I started ranting some more about Ken Penders’ writing. 😛 So let’s take a look at the first of the two stories that ran across the final three issues of Knuckles the Echidna, issues #30 - 32.

King of the Hill features Kraven Hunter the Hunter and Monk the Monkey Gorilla. …okay, I know that Sonic character names are typically very self-descriptive, but for some reason these two feel more on the nose than usual. This story is one that I’ve covered before, but it’s been awhile so let’s give this a full look rather than just skimming through it.

The story opened with Hunter the Hunter assembling a rifle and shooting down a bird, and Monkey the Monk lassoing the Floating Island from the surface of Mobius as it flew overhead, so that he could climb up it.

Damn, that’s actually a pretty impressive feat. I don’t know that even Link in Breath of the Wild could have pulled that climb off. Meanwhile Knuckles had no idea that these two troublemakers had shown up on his turf, because he was too busy reading 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But his quiet reading time was interrupted by his best friend in the whole wide world, Catweazle the Cockatoo, a bird whose very existence usually seemed to annoy Knuckles and who also famously pooped on Vector the Crocodile that one time. Catwheazle was upset because his… friend? Girlfriend? Roommate? Work colleague? Drinking buddy? I dunno, Catweazle never bothered to say who Snowpidgeon was, so let’s go with drinking buddy. Catwheazle’s drinking buddy Snowpidgeon had been murdered by some psychopath with a weapon, and quite reasonably, he was hoping that the island’s guardian would step in and do something about it. Knuckles went to investigate but was knocked out of the air when Monkey the Monk threw a rock at him, and he found himself lying at the feet of none other than his childhood bully.

Knuckles at this point had a flashback to Monk beating him up and stealing his yo-yo, whereas Monk’s flashback involved something much more traumatic.

Jesus Christ! Again, this is something I’ve ranted about before, but I still think it’s pretty appalling. Look, you will never ever hear me defend bullying - people who do it are horrible and usually don’t have any regard for how they could be ruining their victims’ lives. But this seems like an EXTREME overreaction on the Brotherhood’s part. “What’s that? Our chosen one has a bully? Well then:”

So for the crime of stealing a yo-yo, the Brotherhood decided that Monk must be executed. They could have taken him somewhere else on the planet, given him a stern warning and told him to never return to the Floating Island, and honestly, even that would have been a harsher punishment than what is really warranted for Monk’s crimes. But no, these supposed good guys abducted a teenage (possibly preteen?) boy during the dead of night, tied his arms, and tossed him over the edge of the island into the ocean below. Make no mistake, the League of Extraordinarily Racist Grandpas wanted this child to die.

So naturally, Monkey the Monk was now just a liiiiiittle bit upset with Knuckles, not knowing that Knuckles had not been in any way involved with the attempt on his life and in fact didn’t even know why Monk had one day just disappeared from the island without a trace. They got into a fight but were soon interrupted by Hunter the Hunter, who knocked Monk out by… pointing a tv remote at him? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At this point you may be wondering why Knuckles’ dodgy ancestors hadn’t shown up and tried to execute Grape Ape all over again. And by now perhaps they would have, but somehow Hunter knew all about this secret society and had managed to disable all of their cutting edge surveillance equipment.

This suggests that either Hunter was incredibly aware and clever, or the Brotherhood was incredibly incompetent. Or I don’t know, maybe Moritori Rex, the Dark Legionnaire who infiltrated the Brotherhood, published all the Brotherhood’s security protocols on the Mobius equivalent of Wikileaks or something. Anyway, after the Grandpas couldn’t find the source of the problem within Haven itself, Archimedes showed up and he and Locke decided to go try and find out what was interfering with their systems.

Meanwhile Hunter the Hunter had had his robotic drone Aryu One-Two (...why?!) carry Monkey the Monk to his ship, and Knuckles went along with them because… Hunter asked politely, I guess? Knuckles wasn’t exactly being held at gunpoint or anything at this point, so I don’t know why he was bothering to cooperate. Maybe he was hoping to find a chance to escape with Monk, although he would later claim that he didn’t care what happened to him. 

Hunter proudly showed off his ship to Knuckles, and… well…

I’m with Knuckles on this one. For God’s sakes, Mobians are people in this universe. Having Sonic the Hedgehog’s decapitated head staring blankly at us from the page is a bit disturbing. So this is the point where the threatening actually came, with Hunter the Hunter wanting to Hunt Knuckles for sport, and threatening to shoot a photo of Julie-Su should Knuckles not cooperate. And Knuckles must have really liked that photo, because he agreed.

I would like to once again point out that Ken Penders, who both wrote and pencilled this story, copied this pose of Hunter from Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond movie, The Man with The Golden Gun. In fact, if you google Scaramanga, that’s the first image that will come up in the search.

Man, Penders was just trying to get all the old sci-fi and action movie references into this story, wasn’t he? I’m surprised he didn’t have Hunter say, “A duel between titans! My golden gun against your… knuckles.”

Locke and Archimedes eventually found the source of their sabotaged surveillance systems and started to track the one who was responsible. But while they were fumbling around outside, Monk the Monkey had regained consciousness.

Hunter forced him and Knuckles to put on electric collars and gave them orders to run for their lives. Monk tried to head off on his own, but found out the hard way what would happen if they got too far apart from each other.

Knuckles led Monk down into Hydro City (definitely not Hydossity), where he hoped that they’d be able to escape, or at least use the unfamiliar terrain against Hunter.

And it did initially look like they’d been able to give him the slip, but when their footsteps seemed to disappear for no reason, Hunter was able to figure out there was a hidden trapdoor they’d used.

Meanwhile Locke and Archimedes had found Hunter the Hunter’s ship and invited themselves aboard, accidentally activating a self-destruct failsafe. Locke wanted to try and deactivate it so that they could investigate further, but Archimedes convinced him that they were better off retreating before the entire ship exploded.

Again with the overkill in this story. Hunter had said previously that this ship was his home, and he’d just casually blown it all up. His trophies, his mandroid, his means of transportation, all of it. I’m no home security expert, but I’d think the point of having a home security system would be to protect the home from intruders, not to blow it up should they come a-knocking. Earlier in the story Hunter had threatened Monk and Knuckles with a series of laser guns in his ceiling - why not have them programmed to pop out and shoot intruders? Messy maybe, but it’s better than coming back to a smoking crater where your flying house used to be. Also, don’t give your enemies time to escape. If you’re determined to blow up your house anyway, then you might as well do it straight away before your intruders can respond. Just saying.

Back down in the sewers of Hydro City, Hunter the Hunter had managed to catch up to his prey. Knuckles and Monkey the Monk had tried to set a trap, but Hunter had managed to spot them above him and fired at Knuckles.

It’s not entirely sure what happened here - I think what happened is that Knuckles was hit by the shot but wasn’t hurt and just lost his balance, because he is Echidna Jesus. Either that or Knuckles just fell out of the way and Kraven was unable to accept that he’d missed. With Knuckles falling away from Monk and their collars zapping them again, the livid gorilla attacked Hunter.

Unfortunately for Monk this left him wide open, and Hunter was able to fatally shoot him. Knuckles went ballistic at this and his dormant chaos powers kicked in to do…

...that. Is that supposed to be blood coming out of Hunter’s hands? Because I’m pretty sure blood’s not supposed to be that colour. I’m not quite sure what’s going on there, unless it was an attempt to be edgy while also being timid enough to not anger the Comics Code Authority. Whatever, the battle was won, and Locke and Archimedes finally showed up too late to be of any help whatsoever.

Prisoner the Hunter was stripped to his underpants and locked up in an underwater bubble with no obvious toilet facilities, and thus the final Knuckles story in his own comic book series came to an end.

As you can probably tell, I’m really not a fan of this story. Hunter the Hunter is a very obvious Original the Character Do Not Steal TM, and Monk the Monkey gets tiresome very quickly while he and Knuckles are on the run. His hatred for Knuckles is so severe that he just cannot help himself from bickering and endangering them, even while they were being hunted.

And again, while the League of Extraordinarily Racist Grandpas has always been a bit dodgy and had questionable motives, their attempted execution of a literal child, just because he’d been bullying their Chosen One, was really quite disturbing. There weren’t even any repercussions for this either! As far as we know, Knuckles never even found out about what his father and other assorted grandfathers had done to Monk. It’s possible that they talked about Monk’s unexpected reappearance at some point offscreen, but do you think Locke would admit to his son what he’d done? I very much doubt it. I expect Locke’s reaction would be more along the lines of, “Oh, he came back after all this time? After being missing for years? Wow, that’s crazy! I wonder why he left way back when?” Because Locke is a terrible person.

While that story is done with, I’m not finished with the Knuckles series yet. Those three issues also had a B story focusing on Espio, so next time I’ll be looking at Hiding in Plain Sight, The Best of Friends, and The Worst of Enemies.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Hey Disco, how are you and your pets? How's life? Anyway, I have to ask: don't you think the Fandom Police are gaining an alarmingly large number of new members? Or am I just lucky enough to run into them more often than others? I'm asking because you've been fighting these people ever since I started following you, and it seems like you might be the one to know if things are getting worse (I noticed you have anon asks turned off, so I took the liberty of assuming) I'll admit that a lot of my arguments are about minors. Others usually climb up high to their moral Everest and start lecturing me about how it's wrong to read ff about fictional relationships with minors. Which is ridiculous if only because the minimum age for sex is defined differently by law in every country and because the characters we're talking about aren't real. It's very frustrating to talk to people like that who simply call me a pedophile and then feel like they're on some grand mission to cleanse a Fandom and bring back a Fandom Jesus or something. I'm not even in most of those Fandoms but every time I turn on tumblr there is another 20 something year old dumbass screaming into the void that anyone who will ship 15 year old with a 19 year old is a vile human being that needs to be punished. Anyway, I'm just interested in your take on the situation. Is there more of them? (I noticed they are all pretty young) or is it just my imagination? Other people's opinions are also welcome. 🙂 Ah and how are you holding up with the porn bots situation?

DW: Me and the pets are well, and I hope that you are too! 

I turned off anon asks after one brave anon kept telling me to kill myself. I think they thought if they sent it 30 times a day, that eventually the sheer volume would make me do it? I just got sick of cleaning out my inbox. Joke’s on them anyway; I’m now intending to live forever out of sheer spite. 

I have so many porn bot followers, lol. Like, hi, porn bots, but I’m not buying what you’re selling.

I don’t know if the fandom police are getting worse, or if they’ve always been this way. Apart from a few notable suggestions, they do all seem very young. I hope it’s something they’ll grow out of as they mature enough to realise that art isn’t a safe space (it has never been a safe space and never will be) and that nobody has any right to tell creators what they can and can’t create. And guess what? It’s up to you to curate you own online experiences--the back button is there on any fic you don’t want to continue reading. 

You can’t hurt fictional characters, however many times you kill them. You can’t protect them either, because there’s nothing to protect. 

When I was 16 I was dating a 19 year old. And we even had sex! (TMI? Probably!) Anyway, although I’m sure the morality police would love to tear that guy into pieces, guess what? Totally legal here... and thanks to stuff ups in both our schooling systems and general life circumstances I won’t get into here, we were in the same year level at school and everything. We actually met when we were put together for a joint class project. 

The fandom police need to spend more time in the real world, and less time attacking creators over thought crimes! 

[onewholivesinloops]

going to dump my thoughts on sunu sumu muriku no koibito here because the sooner i do the sooner i can move on from this. content warning for transphobia and sexual assault.

this manga feels like a story written by a cishet dude so far up his ass he thinks he knows the first thing about trans women and other queer identities even though he doesn’t know shit and won’t bother to go out of his way to do any research or actually talk to any queer people. this was already my impression of him after wonder egg priority so it’s amazing how little he changed within a decade. i really hate that not once are we allowed to sit in the trans girl’s interiority or view the narrative from her perspective. we're always seeing events through the lens of the male protagonist who's her childhood friend. and to make matters even worse, NOT once is she ever allowed agency over her life in any way, shape or form. she's NEVER allowed to make any meaningful decisions about her life. the entire series is just about her childhood friends constantly making life decisions for her, supposedly to make her happy, and she just sits in the corner like an emotional toy for them to either admire or lust after. even when she travels to thailand for her bottom surgery it's because everyone collected money for her and pushed her to do it. there's literally not a single moment where she's allowed to be proactive and do something because she wants to do it.

and then the worst part comes after she goes through with her bottom surgery. she basically becomes hysterical and has these panic attacks where she acts as though she's possessed because, uhhh, fuck if i know. they didn't even bother to explain anything about it other than some bullshit about an s gene that makes people feel anxious and guilty after “committing crimes” (the implications here are pretty yikes as you can probably tell) and there’s also something about how she needs a “transplant of the heart”. this is all resolved by her opening up to the male protagonist about how she's being "punished" by god because she rejected the body he gave her by transitioning (i hate this btw), and in order to help her he makes her refer to herself with "watashi" instead of "boku", then it’s implied he fucks her newly constructed vagina until he tears open the stitches, which causes her to bleed and almost die. which is. literally what. i’m not sure what my takeaway from this is even supposed to be. but now he needs to go on a trip to find his “heart” again because he gave her his or something. what the fuck is this even saying. that he cured her trauma by raping her in her hospital bed and making her nearly bleed out to death???? i say rape because the consent is REALLY dubious in this moment and it makes me feel very uncomfortable... even if it were supposed to be consensual (which i doubt) this isn’t great. is the point that everything is okay because she was allowed to have sex with a man?????? there’s a subplot before about how she’s jealous of the male protagonist’s girlfriends because they don’t need to make effort to be girls and be liked by him so it reads as though they’re saying she became content as a girl after letting a man fuck her????? i’m VERY confused. i also hate everything about this. if you can’t tell. i hope you can though.

there's also another character and they’re a "girl" who identifies as bisexual but it feels like the manga is conflating that with transness because they say since this person is willing to fuck any man or woman who's pretty then that means they have the body of a woman but the heart of a man and it feels like they’re meant to foil the trans girl. their conclusion is getting infected with HIV/AIDs btw so uh. that’s very fun. there’s also a bit where the male protagonist compares a trans woman wearing the girls’ school uniform to journalists beheaded in iraq or something while trying to convince everyone else to let her do it. idk what the fuck i just put myself through but i know i made myself feel very horrible lmao.

never let this man cook with lgbt identities or women or anything ever again. also i’m going to actually kill anyone who tells me to give wonder egg priority the benefit of doubt. it was at the cost of making myself more mentally ill but at least i have knowledge now.

[earlywintermourning]

i’m a fuuta innocent truther, and here’s my essay on it! by me

Hi hello I love Fuuta Kajiyama very much and I have many thoughts about him, particularly on his innocence/forgiveness. TWs: basic Milgram stuff (murder, doxxing, etc) along with mentions of past abuse. Also, I hope this is obvious, but I’m not supporting any Milgram character’s actions or crimes (except for Yuno, abortion is a human right), this is just my perspective!

I have a few points I’d like to make, but first, I’d like to lay out my perception of Fuuta, along with a few theories I have about him that seriously influence how I vote on him. It’s important to remember that Fuuta is a college student, and it’s implied that he’s had his online platform for at least a few years. That’s... a lot of pressure for somebody who’s twenty years old, and has presumably had a large following since their late teens. The quick escalation of Fuuta’s actions, from simple insults to outright doxxing and death threats, seems to me like Fuuta was worried about losing the following that he probably relied on both financially and emotionally, and his actions became more and more drastic as he tried to keep their attention (a little like Haruka).

Another thing that I think important to mention about Fuuta is that it’s implied that he faced some sort of abuse from his father. It’s unclear whether this was verbal, physical, or both, but he calls his father a “pathetic fogey” in one of his interrogations, and doesn’t expand past that, which reads as an abusive situation. None of this is confirmed, so I don’t let it influence my vote for Fuuta too much, but I personally believe that many of his actions stem from the need to prove that he isn’t a coward because his father planted that idea in his head.

Next, I’d like to look at Fuuta’s reaction to both his crime and his 1st trial verdict, because I think that this is what truly makes him one of the most redeemable characters in Milgram. Some characters know that they committed murder but feel no remorse (Kotoko, Amane), and it’s easy to say that others feel guilt, but that guilt is often directed more towards who was affected by the crime than the actual act of killing. For example, Haruka is easily one of the most guilt-stricken characters in Milgram, but when you look closer, Haruka is actually guilty because he feels that his crime didn’t get him attention and care. Fuuta, on the other hand, feels genuine remorse for his victim, despite his reluctance to admit it. Just look at his face in his 1st trial music video: Fuuta is scared. As a character, it’s pretty easy to see who Fuuta is: a young adult who puts on a tough front because he is terrified of being perceived as a coward. While it seems like Fuuta isn’t truly remorseful because of this tough act, it’s easy to see that he feels extremely guilty about what he did, in a more genuine way than other characters.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: Fuuta’s is the only crime that isn’t, like, a major felony in Japan. Admittedly, I don’t know the intricacies of the Japanese legal system, and while online insults can get you up to a year of jail time, it’s nowhere near the consequences that literally every other character would face. Seeing how Fuuta is also the only character to not actually make the conscious decision to kill someone (he made posts, yes, but arguably didn’t know the direction it would take), Fuuta is the only character who, in the eyes of the law, isn’t facing capital punishment.

To sum it up, Fuuta is different from other Milgram characters in many ways. He does see his crime in a bad light, and, while scared to admit it, Fuuta feels a true guilt for what he did - from a metavoting perspective, it’s highly unlikely that he would ever do something even close to doxxing again. Fuuta’s just a scared kid who made a very, very bad mistake, but who deserves the opportunity to make amends. TLDR: vote Fuuta Kajiyama innocent 2k22

[bluboothalassophile]

Just curious if you may continue "Crime Lord AU"? It has me hooked, like a good detective/action story. It a certain way reminds me if Agatha Christie murder mystery novels.

#ravendeservesarobin

Hello,

I hope you continue to Enjoy the Crime Lord AU though it isn't really a mystery AU. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! =)

Garth

Jason was not having a good week, no he was not, he was not interested in whatever bullshit his business was creating. The cops were circling the wagons, and Jason’s renegotiations with his own dirty cops, and the union leaders, it was enough to have him tearing his hair out. Throw in the fact the hunt for the people who had dared to threaten his morning routine had been turning up as dead ends. Artemis wasn’t pleased being on little bird detail, he didn’t care though, the threat to his morning routine, the one good point of his day consistently, was not to be tolerated.

Raven, though, as he was still mentally adjusting to the fact she had a name, a real name, was contently oblivious to the fact he had someone following her.

He kind of wanted to grab her up, shake her, sign her up for self defense classes, or observation classes, but he didn’t want to ruin her. Just some self-awareness would be welcomed though, because Raven was important to him. Unbelievably important to him, he didn’t want anyone to know, and he didn’t really know what to do with the knowledge that she important to him. Until earlier this week he didn’t even know her name!

He paused as he stepped up behind her, her nose was buried in Crime and Punishment, by Dostoevsky.

“Heavy reading,” Jason observed dryly. “And in Rusian?”

“My Russian is rusty,” she muttered as she looked over her shoulder.

“You read and speak Russian?”

“Da.”

“What else do you speak?”

“Je parle français. Ich spreche Deutsch. Jeg snakker hebraisk. A little bit of Spanish, small amount of Yiddish, and Diné bizaad,” she answered.

“Marry me, please just… marry me,” Jason pleaded playfully. “I’ve never met another polyglot,” he smiled.

“What do you speak?”

“German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Pashto, and Yiddish,” he answered.

“You speak Yiddish?”

“I do,” he nodded.

“Are you?”

“Jewish? No, are you?”

“I am,” she smiled. “My adoptive mother is also Jewish, but one of those DNA tests… I’m Ashkenazi,” she explained. “Through my paternal line, I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know much about my biological family, so piecing it together is difficult, my moms both gave us DNA tests, screeners for genetic problems, health concerns, and so forth, but they did do some diving into our heritage. I’m Ashkenazi, German, and Navajo,” she smiled. “You?”

“Nothing special, American really,” he shrugged. He didn’t know about his heritage, and frankly, he hadn’t cared to know or learn.

“American is good,” she smiled brightly and he smiled back slightly. “By the way, about the game? Do you still want to go?”

“I’d be happy to, but are you sure you don’t want to invite Garth?”

“Garth doesn’t even notice my existence,” she sighed.

“The moron,” he muttered.

“Raven?”

Both he and Raven looked at one another, then she leaned back, around him, her dark eyes were wide and curious as she peered around him, he subtly glanced over his shoulder at the new comer.

“Garth?” she sputtered.

Jason frowned as he moved a little to examine the ever-elusive Garth. He was classically handsome, black hair, violet eyes, tanned skin, even with the dark blue stripes over his eyes weren’t even ugly. The guy screamed surfer, with his khaki’s and ratty shirt with flip flops. The immediate flash of jealousy was startling in Jason’s mind as he blinked a few times and looked down at Raven.

“Hey, it’s great to see you!?” he smiled as he walked forward, grinning wide as he hugged Raven, Raven hugged him back and Jason shrugged when she gave him the bewildered look.

“Great to see you too?” Raven said as he released her.

“Who’s your friend?” Garth asked looking at him finally. Jason was still taller than the man, and unlike him, Jason wasn’t lean.

“Oh… this is… Jay, my morning coffee friend,” she smiled as she stepped beside him. Jason saw Garth eyeing him, sizing him up, which had Jason raising his brow at Raven who smiled brightly at him.

“This is the elusive Jay who’s going to Vic’s game with you?” Garth asked.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Raven smiled.

“I’m just in it for the book talk, the game is a bonus,” Jason chuckled. His phone rang, which had him glancing at the screen. “Rae…” he handed her the money.

“Right, I’ll get your order.”

“Thank you, little bird,” he said as he walked out of line, answering his phone. “I’m busy Rose, what is it?”

“I’m coming to town, Daddy has something he wants to talk to about.”

“Whatever it is, I’m not interested,” Jason stated as he looked over at Raven who was chatting with Garth.

“Oh, come on, Jay, we have fun,” Rose giggled.

“Drop the giggling, just makes you sound like a psychopathic serial killer.”

“As oppose to a normal serial killers.”

“Or sociopathic ones. And I’m busy Sunday, so I’ll meet with you on Monday.”

“What are you doing on Sunday?”

“None of your business, Rose,” he snapped.

They chatted for a bit when he hung up. Raven materialized with his change and his coffee in her hand.

“Hey,” she smiled.

“Thanks,” he smiled back as he took the coffee.

“How are you?”

“Fine.”

“You seemed upset with that phone call,” she sighed.

“Ex-girlfriends,” he sighed honestly.

“Atrocities, and she’s an idiot.”

“So we’re both hung up on idiots, we have questionable tastes.”

“We’ll weep about it over beers after the game.”

“Good plan. By the way, should we tailgate?”

“I can’t grill.”

“I can.”

“Do you want to?”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, it’d be fun, but I have to warn you, if we tailgate you’ll have to mee my moms, and a few other people.”

“So long as I get to cook, then I’m happy to meet other people,” he chuckled.

“You like cooking! I might accept your marriage proposal,” she mused.

He laughed.

“See you tomorrow,” she chuckled as they waved off one another and went in opposite directions.

[tcookies777]

I’m sorry to see those entitled readers that are b!tching about the ending of act 1 and the lack of smut. I hope you can take a good rest and ignore them. At first I was sad that it’s gonna be a really long time before the 2nd act start but now seeing these people constant b!tching about the pacing, I hope you take a break as long as you want and hopefully those readers turn to dust by then. I know you said you will finish this fic but If I were you, I would have stopped writing (Please don’t abandon this fic though🥺) so these little sh!ts get nothing. I’m sorry you have to constantly deal with these people for such a long time now but thank you for not giving up on TAOL.

On a side note, the animation quality for Sasuke retsuden……it’s over for us💀 . We can only rely on the manga now.

There are many times when I just want to abandon TAOL. I have all the outlines for the chapters done like a movie script, so technically I can read the story just fine for myself. There are also plenty of other fanfic projects I've been eager to work on.

But then I am reminded of a story that I was telling another reader in a chat just earlier:

The whole time the writer had been updating the fic, she had been secretly battling cancer too. Of course, that's not something you'd want to tell your readers and neither is it their business to know. And sadly she received very few comments when updating. Most of the readers wanted to wait until later in the story or at its end to comment at all.

But the moment she stopped updating, everyone came out of the woodwork to flood her comment section demanding when the next update is. They were getting sick and tired of waiting. It was a mystery fic so many questions they had about the story were left unanswered. So the more they got impatient. When the author didn't respond (because she had died of course), they started flooding her comments with hate, harassment, and insults, and such entitlement to make your lip curl in disgust. Out of the whole sea of vile comments, only 1 reader had bothered to stand up for her. To this day, it's still the most toxic comment section I'd ever laid eyes on.

Every time I think of that writer, I think of all the other writers who had abandoned their fics. They already have so much to deal with in real life, and constant harassment or entitlement from even 1 reader is more than enough to wear them out. So they quit the fic. I've heard some writers even fake their own deaths just so that they can abandon their fic and avoid harassment from enraged readers. Some writers, unfortunately, even commit suicide because of all the online abuse.

So while I do take breaks from the fic for my own sanity and health, I don't want to abandon the fic because it feels like I'm letting the haters win. And also I've been receiving so much support and kindness from so many readers like you. I know very well that only like 5% of my audience are trolls and haters - everyone else has just been wonderful. Like I said in that Love Note, it's not fair to punish all of you guys just because of the crimes of the few.

As an aside, I want to apologize that you guys even had to see this whole mess in the first place. I hate that it's ruined the fanfiction experience of so many readers.

Also, I haven't seen the animation for Sasuke Retsuden yet, but now I am terrified after seeing your Ask 😰 I already had low expectations to begin with because I actually don't like the current animation style for Boruto. Especially the faces... they look so weirdly chibi because the jawlines are rounded too much for my taste.

Idk maybe it's Dad weight 😂

But also, I was still hoping that the animation team behind the Shinden season would animate Sasuke Retsuden. I mean Shinden season animated many of the other Retsuden novels anyway. The Shinden arc was like the peak animation.

But you're right, at least we still have the manga :')

[hime-hime-club]

LE MAD BANANA'S RANDOM BLABBERING ABOUT YOWAMUSHI PEDAL

* Yes there was a Spare Bike movie -- but was that just it? Would there be a chance to make it into a proper anime series!?

* Miyahara (a.k.a. Class Rep) has finally given a name -- SUZUKO. I'm gagging

* Fight me or not, Manami is actually... hermit-smart. You know what I mean?

* Was it mentioned in Spare Bike that Arakita is bad at Math? All I know is that he easily falls asleep just by seeing numbers swimming on the blackboard, but I don't remember reading one part that he sucks at it. Because what if he is actually hecking good at it? I mean, he won't be able to get into the course of his choice in Yonan if he sucks at Math.

*And I am tell you, since Onoda is now captain, one possible punishment he could give to his juniors, if and when they didn't finish their laps or anything similar, is to make them perform Love Hime's opening theme -- complete with costume and such. Fellow third years are NO EXCEPTION.

* I won't be surprised if KyoFushi will win this year's Inter-High. I have mixed feelings for Midousuji, but he is a one damn opponent since day one.

* Who made their first impression that Teshima and Aoyagi were like evil stepbrothers in Onoda's life -- but they proved us wrong and they are now one of the most celebrated pair in the series? I'm raising my hand.

* And yes, I’m signing their adoption papers now.

* Who knows Aya Tachibana, Miki's BFF from the tennis team? I wanna see more of her, because reasons.

* The funniest character in the series IMHO? FUKUTOMI. Watch the omakes of the first two seasons and you'll understand why.

* Am I the only one who thinks that Toudou is a good dancer? I mean, he was trained in traditional dance, right?

* Imaizumi is a great representation of all closet otakus.

* I'm one of the victims of wrong impression that Makishima is a bad person because of his looks. I humbly apologize. From then, I saw the light, he's the patron saint of awkwardness. He is MY patron saint.

* Okay, Toudou is, obviously, my number one. But for whatever reason since I watched Limit Break, I’m sinning against him because of JUNTA GODDAMN TESHIMA.

* Speaking of Teshima, is there really such thing as an ABACUS COMPETITION? That was as per their Wiki.

* Speaking of Limit Break, TO OMIT THAT DEATH MATCH SCENE BETWEEN TESHIMA AND URAKUBO IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. And to make it worse, Urakubo in the anime was denoted to a mere side character. I’ve read the manga, and I’m so brokenhearted.

* What’s more heartbreaking? Where the hell are our dose of omakes every end of the episode!? We finally had a glimpse of its eyecatch -- AT WHAT COST!?

* My sincerest apologies for not reblogging translated recent chapters due to lack of time, but GOD BLESS ROKUDAI. I would love to see him grow as the series go on.

* So knowing that Izumida et. al. already graduated, do you think they will have their own Spare Bike chapter? I believe they should.

* I believe Watanabe-sensei has a knack of molding side characters into MCs one day. Perfect examples of this redemption technique are Teshima, Aoyagi and Kuroda -- to the point that they even underwent a makeover!

* Midousuji has the most number of different hairstyles in the entire series -- so far.

* Have you ever wondered if Hakogaku even had a manager like Miki?

* As much as I’m having doubts about Limit Break at this moment, I still hope they would show the last ‘episode’ where Team Sohoku would go back to Akihabara and then go to a karaoke to celebrate.

There might be a lot more in store but these are my thoughts right now and I hope you don’t mind me blabbering about this because in all honesty, I regret not knowing about this eight years ago.

[squirrelno2]

15 Lines Game

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture their character/personality/vibe. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well.

Thanks for the tag, @mwolf0epsilon! the hard part was uhh picking an oc. I picked a few because I love them and also if I talk about Sneak I have to talk about Nali those are the rules.

(Tagging @rikki-roses, @magicallulu7, and @sith-shenanigans if any of you are interested - no pressure of course but I feel at least confident in the knowledge that you all. uh. have ocs.)

Sneak

“Can I take three more of these? Bolt bet me I couldn’t.”

“We’ll be lucky if she keeps her mouth shut,” he said. “You know natborns.”

“We both know I could do that in my sleep. You’re just saying that to get me to do it.”

“Well, you said I couldn’t do it, sir, so what else was I supposed to do?”

“I hated my commanding officer every day that I knew him, and he still made me a sergeant,” Sneak said. “I disobeyed almost every order he gave, and he wanted to punish me, and I still made it look like I never meant to do any of it. So I’m a liar, which is how I know you wouldn’t believe me if I told you I was that good.”

“They’d know,” he said. “It’s too suspicious, we always wear armour and if you were injured there on Kamino – we’re investments, the Kaminoans aren’t going to let us go without being able to track our records, if I can’t be scanned then –“

“She’s good,” Sneak said awkwardly. “Helpful. Spiral’s gonna be safe with us. We’ll find him someplace to go.”

“You don’t have to tell me what it means to have a sibling around,” Sneak said. “Or what it means to be alone. The difference here, sir, is that I know my fellow clones can take what the galaxy gives them. You seem to think people run from the front because we’re fragile. I’ll admit it feels that way in the moment. But we stay gone because we deserve better than to die for some Jedi’s ego."

“A man has to know when to hold his tongue,” said the deserter. “I don’t speak freely when I don’t have an escape plan.”

“My brother used to do this thing. When he was nervous, he’d bounce his leg. When he was happy, his hands would shake. He liked to run places when he could, or if he couldn’t he’d walk on his toes. Trainers always assumed it meant he couldn’t control his body, but I think he did control it. He just liked how those things felt, and he did them.”

“He should really assume that when unidentified pirates steal a disgraced clone, it’s us."

“How’s your battle droid impersonation?”

“You understand, of course, sir, that I’m only reading you in because it wouldn’t do for you to think we’re deserters.”

“I was hoping your clever smuggler’s brain would have thought up a way out!”

"We spend all our lives playing on people’s feelings and assumptions. Using symbols to get the job done. You are a symbol. From one perspective, where you are now you’re running the greatest con of all."

Nali

“I won’t snoop. Unless you want me to, that is.”

“I get that all you’ve ever been is a soldier, but nobody just walks out into the galaxy and has a life fall into their lap. Do you want to hide away on some farm somewhere, never be touched by the war again? Are you looking to get into crime? Or are you hoping to wander off to die somewhere?”

“If we thought you were looking for a friend, that’d be different. Look, I’m one of your boss’s favourite middlemen for a reason, so if you want to start doubting my judgment now, it’s a little late.”

“I’m the person who saved a bunch of people, and you’re the one only looking for one guy.”

“You’re things to them,” Nali said, her voice unusually hard. “They make you, and they sell you. What else are you going to do with a failed investment?”

“He’s got a criminal mind, so he can help out. Please? The guy’s never so much as made a credit before.”

“We’re not the army. We’re not you. It’s not our fucking job to punish you, so stop trying for it because we won’t. Can you shut up and deal with that?”

"Wait, are you smiling? No, I think you are and it's just hidden under that forest on your face -"

"Where he goes, I go, mostly because he can't fly a toy speeder."

"Oh, good," Nali said. "Twice as many people as bunks, and homemade explosives that we're smuggling off a Separatist world. This is exactly what I signed up for."

"I thought, I got a lot of people free already, doesn’t that pay my debt? Doesn’t it strike a blow against slavers, just doing what you can to stay free?”

"Maybe I think that we're in the business of handing out second chances and I don't want to stop now."

“What? You trying to ask me if I’m his girlfriend?” Nali laughed. “No. It’s… we’ve saved each other a thousand times. He knows what nightmares I have most, and I know what he’s thinking when something reminds him of his past. You know?”

"Then don't act. Be a clone soldier who’s never known anything but loyalty. Be a trapped vod. Be a man who was never allowed to be a man.”

“I have enough respect for you I’m not going to sugarcoat it just to get you to do what I want.”

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Welp I’ve done it again.

I have about twenty shiny new ebooks in my library. I read two of the short stories (“2 B R 0 2 B” and “The Beach Scene”). I definitely liked the latter better. It was very good. (Unreality and paranoia warning on that one for sure though). The first one kinda left me with a bad taste in my mouth; which prompted me to read the second lol

[nothorses]

This is an old article, but it's relevant, and I want to revisit it. I really recommend folks read the entire article; I'm just going to pull some excerpts, but there's no way they can do justice to the reading in full.

"Very few people want to defend a target of disposability."

I was told by one person that she couldn’t risk losing her job, another that she didn’t want to become a target too. I was threatened into not defending myself, gaslit into silence, told that people knew “things” about me that were never explained. When I asked how I could do accountability, when I said I would do whatever they wanted, they said that I was “incapable” of accountability, that my crime was unknown and my sentence was permanent.

"Accountability" is to callout culture what "justice" is to the punitive justice system: an empty word to wrap around your actions in order to justify them. Anything is okay as long as it's in pursuit of accountability.

Callout culture does not actually want accountability, though, and all attempts at real, honest accountability will be avoided, ignored, or outright rejected. If accountability is achieved and you are left intact, callout culture has failed.

My attackers were expert pathological liars who had been getting away with it for years—entire fictional realities playing out on their social-media accounts like soap opera. Escaping from abuse is the most certain way to become painted as an abuser, and being an abuser is the most sure way to be believed. You know how movies are realer than reality? How the sound effects and physics become so normalized to us that reality seems flat and fake? Talking about abuse is kind of like that. Abusers know what sounds “real.” They are like expert movie-effects artists. Victims are stuck with boring fake reality.

Feminist/queer spaces are more willing to criticize people than abusive systems because they want to reserve the right to use those systems for their own purposes. At least attacking people can be politically viable, especially in a token system where you benefit directly by their absence, or where your status as a good feminist is dependent on constantly rooting out evil.

Think of these things the way you think of any other system ostensibly designed to change people's behavior for the better: what methods have been proven to work? What methods haven't? Why do those systems exist anyway?

Systems that reduce crime rates are designed around rehabilitation. They seek to remove people from toxic environments, heal them, equip them with better tools and resources, and send them back into the world ready to do better.

Systems that actively increase crime rates are designed around punishment. They remove people from society, hurt them, teach them they're trash, force them into either worse and more toxic communities and ideologies or into altogether isolation, and if they ever re-emerge, they are so irreparably blacklisted that there is no hope of them ever rejoining the society they were originally torn from.

So when people write all those apologist articles about call-out culture and other instruments of violence in feminism, I don’t think they understand that the people who most deserve those things can usually shrug off the effects, and the normalization of that violence inevitably trickles down and affects the weak. It is predictable as water. Criminal justice applies punishment under the conceit of blind justice, but we see the results: Prisons are flooded with the most vulnerable, and the rich can buy their way out of any problem. In activist communities, these processes follow a similar pragmatism. Punishment is not something that happens to bad people. It happens to those who cannot stop it from happening. It is laundered pain, not a balancing of scales.

Consider who callout culture most often targets. Consider how often people like them are defended not only by others like them, but by the larger feminist and queer community.

Not only that, but account for the position that individual is in, and the tools they have available to them. Do they have stable housing, work, and income? Do they have the ability to sink valuable time and energy into defending themselves? Can they risk trying and failing, or is their livelihood attached to any attempt to do so?

One of the most common tools of exclusion is through mobbing, which is rarely talked about because unlike rape, murder, etc, it’s not easy to pin it on a single person (or scapegoat).  Mobbing is emotional abuse practiced by a group of people, usually peers, over a period of time, through methods such as gaslighting, rumor-mongering, and ostracism. [...] Here is why it is horrible: 1) It has an unusually strong power to damage the victim’s relationship to society, because it can’t be written off as an outlier, as some singular monster. It reveals a fundamental truth about people that makes it difficult to trust ever again. People become like aliens, like a pack of animals that can turn on you as soon as some mysterious pheromone shift marks you for death. 2) The insidious nature of emotional abuse: How do you fight ostracism and rumors? They leave no bruises, they just starve you. 3) Mobbing typically occurs in places where the victim is trapped by some need or obligation: work, school, circles of friends. This can prolong exposure to damaging extremes.

Consider what tactics are being used to punish this person, and what is being demanded. If the people appointing themselves judge, jury, and executioner turn out to be wrong, is there any hope of recourse?

From a report by the Australian House of Representatives Education and Employment Committee: “90 percent of people being bullied make the comment: ‘I just want it to stop.’ They don’t want to go down a formal path, but just want the behaviour to stop.”

"RESISTING DISPOSABILITY"

— Let marginalized people be flawed. Let them fuck up like the Real Humans who get to fuck up all the time — Fight criminal-justice thinking. Disposability runs on the innocence/guilt binary, another category that applies dynamically to certain bodies and not others. The mob trials used to run trans people out of communities are inherently abusive, favor predators, and must be rejected as a process unequivocally. There is no kind of justice that resembles hundreds of people ganging up on one person, or tangible lifelong damage being inflicted on someone for failing the rituals of purification that have no connection to real life. — Pay attention when people disappear. Like drowning, it’s frequently silent. They might be blackmailed, threatened, and/or in shock. — Even if the victim doesn’t want to fight (which is deeply understandable—often moving on is the only response), private support is huge. This is the time to make sure the wound doesn’t become infected, that the PTSD they acquire is as minimized as possible. This is the difference between a broken leg healing to the point where they can run again, or walking with a limp for the rest of their life. They’ve just been victim-blamed by a huge number of people, and as a social organism, their body is telling them to die. They need social reintegration, messages of support, and space to heal. — Be extremely critical about what people say about trans people, especially things said in vagueness. The rumor mill that keeps trans people out of spaces isn’t even so much about people believing what is said, it’s about people choosing the safest option—a staining that plays on the average person’s risk aversion. — Ask yourself if the same thing would be happening if they were white/cis/able-bodied. — “Radical inclusivity recognizes harm done in the name of God.” —Yvette Flunder Marginalized spaces can’t form healthy community purely from rejection of the mainstream. There has to be an acknowledgment of how people have been hurt by feminist spaces and their models. — A common enemy isn’t the same as loving each other. — Don’t be part of spaces that place an ideal or “community leader” above people.