#according to all the laws of nature he is DEAD

[swan2swan]

"The Jedi say I can't exist."

Oh, that's beautiful double meaning layered in there.

I don't make the rules. The Jedi do.

THE ACOLYTE | 1.05: NIGHT

[sapphicmsmarvel]

Azriel: Through Feyre's eyes

This absolutely follows my favorite fic plotline where Feyre and Y/N are childhood best friends and when Nesta and Elain are taken, Y/N is taken as well and Cauldron Made. 

This is Feyre, watching her best friend fall for her brother in law 💙

I def recommend reading The Night Court’s Justice and The Beginning of Your Life with Azriel. I’m pulling stuff from both those fics.  

Feyre truly didn’t know how Y/N would react to this world. 

Y/N hated change, she hated socializing unless she had her emotional support extrovert with her (Feyre or Elain), but, at the same time she loved adventure. 

And this was possibly a bigger adventure than even her favorite books were about. 

According to Rhys’ messages while Feyre was at the Spring Court, Y/N was taking a while to warm up to them. Shorter than it took Feyre (which was surprising) to warm up, but Y/N even left her room after a few hours being cooped up. 

She had helped nurse Cassian and Azriel back to health with Madja, quickly finding her footing even though Y/N absolutely hated medical things. 

When Feyre came back from the Spring Court, Y/N nearly took her out with her new strength. 

“Sorry, I'm still getting used to it. I broke a mug this morning.” She said into Feyre’s hair. Then pulled away from her, “Actually I’m not sorry, you left! Again!” She scolded Feyre, and Feyre had never been happier to be scolded. 

Feyre grabbed the necklace she always wore, the one she had matching with Y/N. “I had you with me.” 

Y/N rolled her eyes and grabbed her own necklace out of her shirt. “Bitch.” 

“Loser.” And you two clinked your necklaces together.

And that was that. 

The first dinner that night, Feyre introduced you to Lucien. She saw the blush on your cheeks and knew you thought he was handsome, Feyre herself thought he was. 

Eventually, everyone had sat at the table, you were in between Cassian and Azriel, almost like you had every dinner since she was gone. 

“Your friend is a horrid nurse.” Cassian wrinkled his nose. 

“Okay listen, I’m not used to this shit.” You said, passing the beets to Azriel. Who graciously accepted it, a light blush dusting his cheeks that told Feyre everything she needed to know. 

She glanced at Rhys who widened his eyes slightly and said in her mind “He’s been pining since she told him to ‘sit the fuck down’ when he tried to get up too early.” Rhys had a hearty chuckle, “Meanwhile I decided I wanted her around.” Feyre let out a small smile. 

“You should not gag when seeing a tendon in your patient's wing!” Cassian declared. 

Y/N gagged at the reminder. 

-------------------------------------------------

Watching her best friend fall in love brought Feyre an incredible amount of joy. She was a natural meddler and nosey in general. 

She watched as Azriel and you became inseparable. Although she had her mate to thank for that, after all you became the Night Court’s Justice and then you and Azriel began a professional partnership. 

It stressed her out, you being away. You were her emotional support person, even before her husband and mate. But you two would have mental conversations every day if you could. Unless you and Az were deep undercover. 

The secret smiles, the inside jokes, the memories that you and Az shared. She loved witnessing them.

Then, your accident happened. 

She hadn’t felt terror like that since Rhys ‘died’. When Rhys had informed her that you were on your deathbed, and that he had instructed a carriage to come and retrieve you and Azriel, she thought she was going to throw up. 

She insisted on being in the carriage, which then prompted Rhys to insist she take Nesta with her as Nesta had all the training of an Illyrian and could, frankly, kill someone with a single swipe of her hand. 

That worked out just fine for her, as Nesta and you were close as well. Her and her sister were repairing their relationship. What’s a 12 hour jaunt through the forest to retrieve their near-dead friend? 

A lot. That’s what it was. 

They argued, they threatened. But it all came from a place of worry as those arguments would end with hugs and comfort that they both needed. 

They didn’t rest either, not until they saw you. About four hours in, Rhys had reached out and alerted Feyre that you had awoken, you were eating and giving Azriel shit. 

She was so relieved she wept, and when she shared the news with Nesta, she swept too. 

When they arrived at the Inn, and alerted the Innkeeper Esther greeted them and let them know you had just woken up and Azriel would bring you out shortly. She made her husband bring out your belongings. 

He brought out a bag and she could smell your blood on the clothes in them. It made her nearly sick. She knew Nesta felt the same way. They wouldn’t ease until they saw you. 

But they didn’t wait long, once they got your bags put away in the carriage, Azriel was coming outside with you in a bridal carry.

And the best part? You were smiling. 

She let out a breath of relief that Nesta echoed. Then the smell hit them. “Their mating bond has snapped.” Feyre whispered to Nesta. 

Nesta gave her a shit-eating, conspiratorial grin. “Oh, the boys will have fun teasing him.” 

And they did when you all got back and they watched him bridal carry you into your room at the townhouse. They then watched him nurse you back to health, like you did for him many moons ago. 

If she could’ve designed the perfect male for her best friend, it would’ve been Azriel. She had never seen him smitten because she had obviously just entered his life, but she’d say he was smitten for you.

You never lifted a finger. He’d get your doors, push in your chairs, he treated you like a princess. And he was your prince because you gave that energy right back to him. 

You had a habit of rambling. In the past, she watched as your partners would ignore you and the light dimmed from your eyes when you realized they weren’t listening. Azriel however, not only clearly listening, he smiled while you talked as if just your voice brought him joy. He would respond with questions and let you go into another rambling as you explained the answer. 

She watched you become a shell of yourself with your old partners. You blossomed with Azriel. 

You two always had some point of contact with each other. Not in the gross PDA way, but like your thighs touching sitting next to each other. Your foot on his leg. A hand hold. Hand in arm. Anything. 

She was happy to see the changes in him as well. Rhysand felt the same way. He was outwardly smiling and laughing. More affectionate with his friends. Hell, he was more confident in his hands, he allowed others to touch them and even wore rings now that he loved. 

Rhysand had told Feyre “He’s always wanted to wear jewelry but was worried his hands would look bad with them. I will forever be grateful to Y/N for making him more confident and comfortable.”

His shadows even buzzed about more. You giggled because they loved your hair. 

The honeymoon phase wasn't a ‘stage’ for you two. It was the whole relationship. Of course, you two had your arguments, every partnership did. And she definitely heard about them. But you always came back together in the end, you always knew you would. It made her so incredibly happy you had that security and safety with him. No matter what argument, you knew in your soul and bones, he would never cheat, never leave. 

She felt content knowing her best friend was taken care of. She also looked forward to a lifetime of double dates.

[melodymidway]

Just a few hard pills to swallow about the Westerosi succession for Team Black stans.

The Greens weren't at all delusional or selfish to expect Aegon to be named heir.

As a matter of fact, the firstborn sons of lords and kings become heirs the moment they were born, and without the need for specification. It doesn't matter if the first wife, or the second, or the tenth, has given birth to said son. So when Otto and Alicent advocated for Aegon's birthright, they asked for a basic thing in their time and society. No matter how much people want to ignore this fact and call Aegon 'usurper', his claim was very real and very strong. This is why he, his sons and his brothers would have found themselves on the Wall at best and dead at worst even if they had adhered to Viserys's whims.

Lucerys has zero claim to Driftmark. And no, being the great-great-whatever grandson of Alyssa Velaryon doesn't make the slightest difference.

Not even legitimisation would have helped Luke retain his Velaryon heirship because he isn't a Velaryon. Period. The argument about his being Alyssa Velaryon's descendant, which is somehow supposed to justify the actual usurpation of the other House's seat, is one of the most nonsensical takes I've seen. Naturally, the noble Houses intermarry all the time. If every lord opened his pedigree and decided that he has a claim to his great-grandmother's family's castle, Westeros would drown in blood. That's why succession laws exist, as unfair as they can be. For some reason, I don't see people saying that Doran Martell should be crowned king because he's descended from Daenerys Targaryen.

Women in Westeros can and do inherit. Rhaenyra isn't special.

As the Andal law goes, a son inherits before a daughter, and a daughter inherits before an uncle. While the male primogeniture is a thing, there's a clear clause of female inheritance. Cersei becomes the Lady of Casterly Rock when her brothers are out of picture. Rhaenys operated on the same law while trying to get her lawful heirship. There are cases when uncles attempt to steal their nieces' birthright (as in the situation with Sansa Stark and her uncle Jonnel), but plenty of women do rule their ancestral seats. Saying that Rhaenyra is the first woman to be named heir is wildly inaccurate.

If Rhaenys had ascended the Iron Throne instead of Viserys, the matters of succession wouldn't have changed.

For some reason many people believe that Rhaenys's ascension would have magically wiped out male primogeniture (same for Jace if he had become king). I'm sorry to disappoint, but Laenor would have been Rhaenys's heir, not Laena. The latter would have been made one only if Laenor had met his canon fate and died with no legitimate issue. As I mentioned earlier, Rhaenys strived to get her inheritance based on Andal law, according to which she does have an advantage over her uncle Baelon and his sons. If she had been the older sister of Viserys and Daemon, she wouldn't have pressed her claim. By the same logic, if Viserys had never remarried, Rhaenyra would have had a legal advantage over Daemon (though Jaehaerys's 'brilliant' management of Rhaenys vs Viserys debate might have gotten in the way).

The Greens are pro Andal law, not anti women in power.

And these are two different things since, as it had already been said, the Andal law does include a clause of female inheritance. So no, it isn't hypocritical of Alicent to offer to make Baela heiress of Driftmark. Laenor is dead without legitimate children. Laena is equally dead. The circumstances make Baela a very viable candidate for the Velaryon heirship.

[tianasficrecs168]

The Sandman Fic Recs

Magnolia35: Moonflower (Hob/Dream) • "Hob has to do a double take because Dream is crying; big, ugly, hiccuping sobs that wrack his skeletal frame to the point where Dream looks like a leaf in the wind. The raven that’d been following the man the last time they met— Mike or Martin or Matthew or something— pecks at the guys shoes. The story of how Hob Gadling starts a pub, beats up a god, stares down Death, falls in love with Dream of the Endless, and amasses a small army of fidget cubes. Not necessarily in that order.

TinyButFierce: "Into Darkness and Howling (I'll Keep Him From Drowning)" (Hob/Dream) It was beginning to sound like Roderick Burgess had something or someone trapped in his basement. Hob was starting to wonder if he should do something about that.

MonstrousRegiment: “The Uses of Adversity” (Hob/Dream) What led Hob Gadling — at the time known as Robert Stranger, because he’d been in a permanent state of pettiness from 1889 to about 1904 and now he was stuck with it — to the dank, cold, and dark basement of the Burgess house on March of 1957 was not so much coincidence or fate as it was curiosity. Yeah. Cats isn’t the only thing it kills. Alright, wait. Back up. Let’s start from the beginning. It was 1957 and Hob Gadling was, by no action or choice of his own, sort of — it’s a bit embarrassing — a criminal master. Not mastermind! He hadn’t planned any of it. Honestly.

CeruleanHeart: - “Darker, Still” (...) (Hob/Dream) When Dream doesn't show up for their appointment in 1989, Hob decides to devote a part of his immortality to looking for his mysterious friend. He is dedicated not to wait and hope for another century for the slim chance of seeing him again. Even if he has to bribe, lie and steal, use every trick in the book he's learned in the past 600 years, he will find him. After over a century, Dream has almost given up on the hope of ever escaping his prison when help finally shows up in the form of someone least expected, compelling him to re-evaluate the nature of his interest in an old acquaintance.

Snits: - “Country Roads (Take Me Home)” (Hob/Dream) • Hob and Dream go back to Hob's for a nightcap. While they're there, they address some trauma, and Hob finally learns the name of the man(-shaped being) he's known for seven hundred years.

Sonhoedestrazao: “These days of dust” (Hob/Dream) There is something different about him, though his appearance is identical. The curious part of Hob Gadling, the one that ensures that his wish to live persists through the ages, can’t wait to figure out what it is exactly. (Or: the New Inn encounter continued.)

Sonhoedestrazao: “Stuck in a season” (…) (Hob/Dream) Hob Gadling opens his eyes in the year of our Lord of 1889, in a tavern that he somehow knows no longer exists, among people long dead. Alone at a table for two, he leans over and says to no one in particular, “He’ll be back. You’ll see.” (Or: how to deal when your nameless friends keeps appearing in dreams and a talking bird approaches you with dating advice.)

Majestickasztan: “Painted by sorrow” (Hob/Dream) • When Hob looked up and found his oldest friend looking back, he was, one could say, taken aback. But when you're immortal and things go according to your expectations, life gets very boring very quickly, so he couldn't bring himself to complain. Not that he wanted to. He was pining for this guy since 1489, after all.

KatieKat527: “Perchance to” (Dream/Hob) • Hob Gadling muses on modern advancements. Only as they pertain to a sleepy morning in bed with his “stranger.”

Newfandomnewpseud (Broodthaers): “A Mug’s Game” (Dream/Hob) Hob Gadling teaches history, flirts with Death, gets a boyfriend, and accidentally breaks the laws of the universe.

Brackets (…) means it's still being updated/not done/WIP – and I'm paying close attention to it

Zeros with a strikethrough (000) Disappeared off the net (I still have a doc of it saved somewhere)

A black dot • means it's a one-shot

Ship with + means it's either time travel or dimension hopping – something along those lines

A heart ♡ means it's focused on Sexy times (it's pure filth PWP)

[quitealotofsodapop]

Imagine a trial where a monkey did something REALLY BAD. Like, intentionally put a cub in danger badly. And now Wukong has to somehow explain to MK, who got caught up in it, that FFM has some rather archaic laws about it that are not so palleteable for the modern-day sensibilities of he and his friends. I think in this case, he'd opt for a quick beheading or eternal exile, something softer, but only because they didn't want to have to explain to the kid after the fact that cannibalism is technically a valid form of execution for the monkeys of FFM.

Prev post.

I have been talking in the DMs with @crazysaru99 about the idea.

I do think that Wukong only saves such punishment for the *worst* offences.

And even still, the wording of the law has it that the accused can be consumed by theoretically anything. For example:

A nearby Volcano.

The Ocean.

Buried so that the Earth takes them.

Bugs.

Rats.

Other species of primates.

It isn't a rash decision either. Wukong gets every village leader, Stalwart, and a few celestial/demon lawyers involved to deliberate sentencing. Since the King himself has been the victim of harsh punishment in the past, he goes through immense measures to ensure that there's proof of the accused party's guilt or innocence before deciding their fate.

MK... def could not stomach seeing an Alolai-style execution.

Wukong and the rest of the legal council would be trying to sentence an attempted cub-killer, only to see the young prince and promptly decide that they shall be "eaten" by a volcano. It would be kinder than letting MK see the traditional method.

Wukong: "After many weeks of deliberation, it has been proven without doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crimes accused. Since the crimes committed threatens the sanctity of our community and of life itself, the guilty party has been sentence to... Death by Consumption." Guilty Monkey: (*attempts to flee, and is retrained by guards*) Monkeys in the stands: (*excited hooting!*) MK, whispers: "Consumption??" Marshal Ma: "Yeah. This guy is a real piece of work. He filmed part of what he did. The trial took so long because we needed to process all of the evidence with the Underworld. Whole kingdom has been calling for his head for months." MK: "No, what did Monkey King mean by Consumption?" Marshal Ma: "...you may want to cover your eyes and ears, prince."

If the Monkie Kid puts up enough of a fuss, Wukong will change what the criminal is fed to, but nonetheless, they are getting eaten by something.

MK: "But WHY!?" Wukong, serious: "MK, our people once struggled to survive against hundreds of different threats to our lives - including other troops of monkeys. To be eaten is the greatest insult of them all. Even though we do not eat our own species any more, it is still symbolic that we feed the worst offenders to nature so that they better the world in their death." MK: "You guys used to EAT EACHOTHER!?!" Wukong, rolls eyes: "No! I outlawed such warfare when I became King! We're not monsters MK, just a different culture." MK, calming down: "Oh... it just seems so visceral." Wukong, comforting: "Hey I get it. It's not nice. But, it's not something decided on a whim. We have multiple celestial and infernal lawyers on both sides go over the evidence. We even contact the Underworld in the case of victims who've lost their lives. So many monkeys were caught or proven innocent because Kṣitigarbha held onto the restless dead for us. Death by Consumption is admittedly harsh, but if it prevents a single proven predator, or trafficker, or cub killer from repeating their crime, then it protects our kingdom. We don't put thieves or anyone who kills in defence through such punishment." MK: "I... I think I sorta get it... I mean, according to Tang things in the justice system used to be really bad before yaoguai started coming back. At least you guys confer with the gods themselves before deciding things..." Wukong: "I don't expect you to just accept that this is what we do... maybe in a couple hundred years you might be able to phase it out entirely." MK, hopeful smile: "I hope so too." Wukong, smiles back: "Hey, it's not the first time ancient laws have changed - I've done it myself! And of course so have Heaven... animal spirits sentenced to death used to be fed to the Queen Mother afterwards." MK, blanking again: "Wut?" ( 0_0)

Heaven used to punish animal spirits by serving them to the Queen Mother."

[syrena-del-mar]

Selfish Desires and the Class War: Dead Friend Forever

Ever since @nyxelestia's great additions to my tags about how Phee has been able to process his grief in comparison to Tan, and succinctly stated how class theorists regard poverty as a type of violence, I can't help but take a bit of a socio-economic look at the DFF's group of friends. Particularly, episode 10 really served to solidify my theory on the underlying commentary DFF is making regarding selfishness and the different abilities to skirt punishment dependent on class.

For this one, I'm going to break this down in a couple of categories: first, I'm going to explain Hobbes' theory on human nature and Marx's theory on class wars. Then I will be listing out the 'class types' each one of the DFF boys are in (sans White). Finally I will be analyzing the THC gang with Non, then Phee and New.

Keep in mind that here I will be defining 'selfish desires' as to the innate human inclination to prioritize one's own needs, wants, and interests over that of others. Meanwhile class war/conflict will be in reference to the societal divide into different classes dependant on their relationship to their means of production and value.

Human Nature According to Hobbes

In Hobbes' 'Leviathan', he delves into understanding human nature. His conclusion is probably best summarized by his most known phrase, "'the state of nature." In this state of nature, where Hobbes hypothesized about a life where there is no government, no laws, or state of order, just simply individuals that are able to live without constraints. Hobbes found that life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, short, and brutish."

Hobbes' comes to the conclusion, that absence of societal constraints, humans are driven by desire to secure their own survival and fulfill their desires. Hobbes states that there is an universal, fundamental drive for self-preservation that leads to a state of equality among humans. Yey, instead of being able to live in harmony, the equality, particularly in vulnerability to harm and death, breeds competition since it is human nature to scrounge, secure, and vie for resources— even when it means taking advantage of one another.

Central to Hobbes' theory of human nature is fear—fear of others, fear of harm and fear of uncertainty. Without structure, humans are trapped in a perpetual state of insecurity, creating a 'war of all against all'. Hobbes acknowledges that individuals have natural rights, particularly the right to self-preservation but with a lack of governing authority, the enforcement to this right is essentially meaningless.

Tldr; there are four main components to human nature: self-preservation, fear and insecurity, equality and competition, and natural rights.

Theory of Class Wars

Now, enter Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and we have the theory that a society is divided into two classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. The bourgeoisie, own the means of production and are able to explore the labor of the proletariat for profit, which ends up leading to human alienation and inequality.

When it comes to the relationship of selfish desires and class war, at its core, the idea instills that a capitalist system incentivizes and rewards the selfish pursuits among the bourgeoisie. The accumulation of wealth and exploitation of labor and the quest for profit are the driving forces between constructing and maintaining class inequalities.

Dead Friends Forever: The Intersection of Social Class Divide and Selfish Desires

The thing about Dead Friend Forever is that there is a visible class division between Por and Non, which drowns out the undercurrent class differences between the rest of the DFF gang.

Por: He is born into power and higher class. His mother ever states "Do you think I'll be in trouble for kind of thing?" He is born into awareness of his status and the privilege.

Jin: Just from the house that he lives, you can tell that he is relatively well off. The finishes in the house both interior and the exterior show that his family, while not as rich as Por, are likely more than financially stable.

Phee: His dad is a police inspector, which likely provides decent money, as he is able to send his son to a private school on a single household income.

Fluke: We're given enough information that we know he wants to be a doctor and make his mom proud, he's attending tutoring classes and there's no mention of money issues.

Top: No mention of struggling for money, can safely assume that he lives comfortably.

Tee: Struggling, has a lot of debts to Uncle Joe in order to keep his dad alive.

New/Non: Their whole family is struggling even before Non went missing. What little money they had was sent over to New, even taking on debts to be able to provide for him abroad. They were one paycheck away from losing everything, which they eventually did.

Non and the THC Gang

Aside from Tee, the main group are all born into various levels of wealth and privilege, whether it be purely monetary or with the jobs of their parents, so they're able to navigate their life with an air of entitlement. Their desires are all shaped by the comforts and opportunities that their status affords them. Por's family alone was able to get their high school film reported on and with a viewing, merely with the mother's flippant mention of the project. Not to mention that Por's mother explicitly sets the tone of how she would be treated compared to Non's mom. It's a stark contrast, Non stands out as the outsider, not only due to his lack of friends in the school, but also marginalized by his lack of wealth and social standing in comparison to the rest of the gang. And in an odd way, it's likely why he felt a certain degree of kinship with Tee, who is the only other individual visibly struggling to survive, even if he mostly keeps his money troubles away from his group of friends.

The whole reason Non even gets involved with the group is because the group, particularly Por and Fluke, are driven by their hunger for success and recognition. Por likely wanted his parents to find some pride in him and Fluke needs it to round out his resume when applying to medical school. They desperately want to win the sponsorship, so they need and use Non— not as an equal but as a means to an end. They exploit his talent in scriptwriting and they use him as a pawn, not even inviting him to the presentation when its Non's script their using. Hell, they barely could stand being close enough to take a picture with Non. They quite literally use him as a pawn, an easy exploit, reminiscent of Hobbes' notion of self-interest as a driving force.

As the show continues on, the exploitation of Non takes on darker shades, echoing Hobbes bleak depiction of the state of nature. The initial bullying, that is rooted in class-based prejudices, transforms into a calculated campaign of cruelty. While Tee might be struggling financially, he's actually the true leader of the group. Sure, Por may have the money, but the guys only follow what Tee wants. Top and Tee use Non's marginalization against him, almost as if vultures feeding on the weaker. Top doesn't have to pay for the camera and Tee is able to find Uncle Joe's next victim for the horse accounts, a complete parallel of Hobbes' description of the strong dominating the weak in the absence of a social contract. In doing so Non, the 'marginalized' becomes fodder for the selfish desires of Tee and Top, initiating a chain-reaction event to Non's detriment.

While Por, Tee, and Top have the more obvious benefits with how Non is treated, so does Fluke. Fluke, in the hierarchy of status within the group, is at the bottom rung. With Non there he's able to be treated better and he no longer is the scapegoat. He admits it in this episode. He needed Non to be mistreated, because he feared being targeted by the rest of the THC gang, and having Non around kept everyone else's attention off of him. He was no longer the one being harrassed. He's able to sacrifice Non for his own benefit.

The thing about Fluke is that he doesn't overtly try to harm Non, not in the same way that the others do. No, his covert damage that he causes Non is in his silence. He sees Top destroy the camera, Tee come up with the idea to target Non, he sees Jin film Non and Kru Keng, he even questions Jin's intentions to film, but he's spineless. He cares more for himself, he prioritizes his self-preservation. He maintains the status quo and utilizes Non's weakness so that he isn't the next target.

Initially, Jin's treatment of Non seems to defy the expected narrative of class exploitation, since out of the group he's the one that is the most compassionate and understanding. From a Marxist perspective, this initial compassion could be understood as an acknowledgment of the inherent inequalities that exist between the affluent and the marginalized. Jin's actions might suggest a fleeting moment of solidarity, recognizing and acknowledging Non's humanity beyond his status. However, his demeanor shifts dramatically when he realizes that Non doesn't reciprocate his romantic feelings and worsens when he sees him with Kru Keng.

Hobbesian human nature, which is driven by the pursuit of power and self-interest, comes to the forefront as Jin's wounded pride and sense of rejection fuel his actions. In Hobbes' state of nature, individuals are driven by their desires and fears leading to betrayal and conflict. His change in behavior to Non reflects this as he seeks to assert dominance and control in the face of perceived rejection by punishing Non. Jin's betrayal of Non's trust and kindness underscores the harsh realities of class divides, where compassion can quickly give way to exploitation. Hobbes argued that individuals in the state of nature are in constant competition for power and self-preservation, here Jin's realization that Non does not reciprocate his feelings leaves him feeling vulnerable and exposed.

Non's role as a commodity within the framework becomes clear as filming continues. His talent is valued solely for its ability to bring profit and success to the friends. Yet, despite his contributions, Non remains alienated from the fruits of his labor, he's always the worker and never the leader. Continuing this trend of being a pawn in group's quest for recognition. Marx's concept of false consciousness is evident, since Non remains unaware of the true nature of his exploitation until its too late.

The group needs to get rid of Non, because he's become a lose cannon. Tee needs him delivered to his Uncle, so that he can survive and continue to receive the payments he needs to keep his dad alive. The depths of their depravity are laid bare and echoes both Hobbes' and Marx's grim assessments of human nature intertwined with class conflict. Non becomes a victim to their cruelty, to their selfish desires, and the stark reality of coming from a poor family. He disappears into the abyss of the mafia, while the rest of the group continue to live their lives unperturbed, shielded by their wealth and privilege.

Interestingly enough, every single one of the guys that come from a better socio-economic status have begged for Non's forgiveness while under the influence of New's hallucinogens. The only one who doesn't is Tee. Yes, he is under the distress of confessing his crimes since Fluke is holding White hostage, but he's the only one that is willing to admit fault and ask for forgiveness without having to hallucinate Non's face or his voice. All this leaves me asking, what depths of betrayal and exploitation were the THC gang willing to sink to in their quest for dominance? Did Tee's penance begin when attempted to help Non escape his Uncle Joe? Was Non actually able to escape or had they sent him to his death?

2. Phee and New/Tan

Even through Phee and New, we can see Hobbesian and Marxist themes in their different versions of grief they experience over Non's disappearance.

New embodies the the essence of Hobbesian human nature, bringing around the idea of 'war of all against all'. His relentless pursuit of revenge becomes a primal instinct for survival, since he has lost everything good in his life. His brother, his childhood home, his education, his mother, and finally his father, in that very order, over the span of three years. New's grief over the disappearance of Non becomes a consuming force that propels him into a world of darkness. In Hobbes' state of nature, individuals are typically driven by self-interest and the pursuit of power, which New's quest of revenge reflects this fundamental aspect. His quest against the friends responsible isn't solely about revenge, but it's a desperate attempt to assert agency and justice in a world that has denied his family both.

Marx argues that in a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie will exploit the proletariat for profit, perpetuating class struggles. Non was exploited for his script, but New represents the proletariat, the oppressed working class fighting back against the forces of oppression. His revenge is a revolt against the oppressive structures of class inequality that have marginalized his whole family. In Marxist terms, his journey is a symbol of the proletariat struggle against exploitation and injustice, which echos the revolutionist spirit of Marxism.

On the other hand, Phee, who is financially well-off and still has his father, represents the privilege and the detachment from the struggles of the proletariat. He never fully understood why Non wasn't receptive to his help, similarly he's not completely understanding New's own thirst for revenge. While Phee is initially driven by a desire to uncover the truth about Non's disappearance, and while he still loves Non, it's mostly driven by guilt and grief within the context of privilege. Phee has things, people, in his life that still matter outside of Non. Yes, he loved Non, but he's able to move on from his grief, reflecting the detachment and apathy that can settle in with privilege. Under Marx's critique of the bourgeoisie, who exploit the proletarian, it's because Phee still has his Dad and other things he loves in life that he is able to move on from the type of anger in grief that New finds himself overwhelmed in.

It's going to be interesting where Phee and New's friendships heads in the last two episodes. Will it New and Phee collide in a violent confrontation that mirrors the clash between the oppressed and the privileged? Is DFF trying to make a comment on the class war where New's relentless pursuit of revenge against the THC gang represents the proletariat's revolt against exploitation, while Phee's detachment echoes the bourgeoisie's indifference to the plight of the marginalized? Or it will show that Phee and New are able to put their social status aside in order to find revenge against the true bourgeoisies, in this case the THC gang, that exploited Non for all his worth until ultimately destroying him.

Final Thoughts

While this episode may feel significantly weaker in comparison to the last five, I think it's providing us with the necessary exposition as we head into our final two episodes. We're seeing the destruction of the 'bourgeoisie' by their own hands with just a little nudge from the sole proletariat. As Hobbes would likely agree, it's a dog eat dog world in that cabin. It always had been with Top, Por, Tee, Fluke and Jin. There was an equality between them, but now with an outside force, their bonds are breaking and they are willing to kill each other just to survive.

Dead Friend Forever is going beyond the standard slasher genre, even beyond horror. I truly think it's making social commentary regarding the classes and human nature. It's going to be interesting to see who comes out the survivor of this party from hell, if there is anyone.

Tagging @slayerkitty for DFF's meta round up.

[luimnigh]

You ever just get the stupidest idea in your head?

So this week a TV documentary about the late Christopher Lee came out. And in it, according to a Yahoo article I saw posted on Reddit, Lee's son-in-law Juan Aneiros claims that Lee watched The Lord of The Rings the night before he died.

And the first thing that popped into my head was:

"That's a claim you could theoretically back up with evidence."

See, all you'd need to do is get British TV listings from the week of June 6th/7th, 2015.

So I did a few searches, tried to buy a digital copy of a decade-old magazine, and in the end the only information I could find was that it didn't air on a BBC channel.

But then I realized that I didn't need a UK TV Guide.

The Irish National Broadcaster, RTÉ, publishes a weekly TV Guide, the RTÉ Guide. And despite the name, it covers a ton of UK channels as well, because most Irish people get them too.

And the National Library of Ireland naturally keeps a copy of every issue of the RTÉ Guide.

So. Theoretically.

I could request the June 2015 issues of the RTÉ Guide, wait five days because issues from after 2003 are stored off-site, and then travel up to Dublin to look at them.

All to fact-check an anecdote by a dead man's son-in-law.

...I feel that's just a dumb idea.

[kitkabam]

The One With the Wyvern Toy - Part One.

[Summary: Comet, also known as our beloved Rook to the The Veilguard, decides that out of appreciation for his recent work on the field that she would make Lucanis a gift. There's just one small issue— how do you make a Wyvern plush?]

Written before the official release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・

The Fade worked differently than the real world, this fact known to just about all citizens of Thedas who dabbled in the depths of magic and the workings of the veil that stirred in every corner of this world, and perhaps many others. One instance of the Fade not following the natural laws of reality was in regards to time— night and day did not simply exist. Perhaps the scenery could change according to the memories reflected in dreams, painting over the walls of the veil like vivid murals created from practiced and precise hands. But in the end it was all part of ones imagination if the dream captured a bright sunny day, or a muggy moonless night.

The Lighthouse itself was something still of a mystery to the those that currently occupied its vast space; the place was tucked into a corner of the Fade that could only be touched by its previous owner, who had used this as his hideout for all nine years before the present day. Before it was a clear reflection of the loneliness of the ancient god; a dining table that could fit well over eight seated only for one, a single plate and pair of cutlery at the ready. It lacked much for decorations, as if this place wasn't originally meant to really be a 'home' much less a refuge to more than a single being. Yet the Veilguard made due with what they could, adding what personal touches they wished, making this place livelier, filling it's quiet halls with unseen warmth.

Comet was proud to see what her companions have done with the place, on top of what they've accomplished so far with their mission. It made her heart swell with hope that things will be okay, that the consequences of her actions at the ritual sight would be properly cleaned up and Thedas can one day breathe a sigh of relief knowing it's people were closer once more to true peace. Maybe that was a little too optimistic, but as she passed the giggling pair of Harding and Neve that lounged on one of the sofas...well, perhaps their energy was contagious.

The elf did her best to remain as quiet as she could, her foot falls light upon the Fade woven floor, not wishing to disturb the moment between her two friends. Comet just wanted to grab a quick cup of something— water, maybe, or something warm like tea. Emmerich had gifted her a blend from Nevarra that he said promoted better sleep. 'You'll be so deep in your slumber that we might think you're dead! Er, that is to say of course, it won't kill you—' He had to reassure her almost immediately, since her features morphed into one of genuine fear at the idea that such a harmless brew might bring her end closer than she would like. And after ten minutes of breathing exercises lead by the old gentleman and another round of assurance, Comet believed he spoke the truth and promised to try it as soon as she found the opportunity.

It just wasn't on her agenda to have it be a month later. Oops.

Once she entered the threshold of the kitchen she was greeted with the smell of something covered in a perfect blend of spices and different to the young warden— especially since she had mostly lived off rations and the occasional tavern meal. The sounds of a busy kitchen filled her ears, making their pointed tips twitch in response; a sizzling pan, something being cut across the cutting board, and the low murmur of a flame kissing the edges of tools used solely for cooking great dishes. It was...comforting, making the ambience of the hideout even more homey. Comet could get lost in the atmosphere...if it weren't for the cook who had caught wind of her approach before she even had a chance to make her presence known.

After all, Lucanis Dellamorte had been trained to sharpen all five of his senses for his work— it was inevitable he would learn the exact way his newfound allies stepped around him, how to know when someone was nearby and who it was. He had heard her footsteps earlier, even when she tried to be more silent as she tread, and knew that she had the intent to be here. What she wanted....well, he could figure that out too.

Hence the kettle on the stovetop that was close to a boil.

"It'll be done in three minutes." He moved the chopped carrots into the pan where he surveyed the meat being cooked- just another minute before it needed to be flipped- before he placed celery onto the cutting board,"Do you need my assistance in pouring it again or can I trust you won't burn yourself?"

Comet jumped at his voice, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest to run back into the other room. A yelp left her, loud and pathetic, followed by a cringe as soon as she realized such a sound could be heard throughout the entire lighthouse. Her cheeks burned with immediate embarrassment; her bright teal eyes darted to her feet as her hands called into fists at her sides, her composure tense like a frightened cat.

"S..Sorry! I..I didn't meant to-" She gulped,"...I can pour it myself, I just need to remember where the rag is so- wait! H..How did you know I was gonna be here f..for tea?!"

"...Every night you drink it before going back to your room."

"O..Oh. Yeah, that does make sense then.."

The silence was much louder to the elf than it was to the crow who moved with quick precision as he placed the cut pieces of celery into the pan, smoothly flipping the juicy cut of meat over to cook the other side to his liking.

But...it wasn't anything uncomfortable. No, in truth, Comet found that Lucanis didn't really try to make things awkward— it just happened, mainly because that's how she was. Awkward, and terrible at keeping conversations with possibly good looking people.

"...What are you making?" Her voice came out a bit strained, but that was mostly due to nerves. Her hands shook a little as she fiddled with her fingers, making her way further into the kitchen,"...It...smells good."

"Antivan dish. If I want a good meal around these parts from home, have to make it myself." Lucanis looked at her from the corner of his eye— her hair was out of its usual messy updo; strawberry blonde curls pouring over her shoulders and backside like unruly springs. She drowned in her navy dyed tunic- she swore when he questioned it was more for comfort than appearance- half of it tucked into the leggings that left little to the imagination of the shapes and curves of her...- ahem, moving on.

Comet nodded, her attention glued to the tea kettle as she waited for it to whistle. Her palms started to sweat, the young woman quick to wipe them on the sides of her leggings.

"I hope you enjoy it..I know you're a great cook, so...! A..As I'm sure everyone else would agree!" The last bit was rushed out, a quick attempt to cover up any chance it might've been mistaken for something...more.

"Thanks."

Food sizzling, flames flickering...did Neve and Harding leave the next room, or were they suddenly just speaking quieter than before?

The kettle whistled. Before Comet could begin her search for the rag she used to protect her hands from the hot handle, it appeared right in front of her, dangled by the assassin's fingers like it were a treat meant to tantalize her. She took it with a quiet 'thank you' before wrapping it around the kettle handle, bringing it over to the counter.

"What kind of tea are you making yourself tonight? Chamomile? Jasmine?" Lucanis swooped in and turned off the flame that once boiled the tea kettles water, knowing she'd forget, she always did,"...I doubt you'd want black tea this late. Unless you are writing another report for the Wardens?"

"No, I plan on writing one tomorrow night. I want to try these tea leaves that Emmerich brought me from his home. He says they should help me sleep better at night." The tip of Comet's nose twitched,"I don't remember the flavor notes...he described them to me, but I..I might've zoned out a little."

"Emmerich...brought you tea?" Lucanis asked before he could bite his own tongue,"Careful. It might have 'hints of grinded bone from some undead Nevarran noble for richness' ,or just something dead related."

A giggle, like the gentle clinking of wind chimes in the spring breeze, left her. The corners of her eyes crinkled sweetly too— it quelled the pinch of something bitter that threatened to sour the Crow's mood.

"I doubt that detail would slip past me, even if I was lost in thought. He reassured me...several times in a row actually...that the tea is good and won't harm me. So I'm sure the leaves are a combination of your usual with, perhaps, a hint of some plant known only in Nevarra. Kinda like that one tea that Neve bought a few weeks ago. Said it was a Tevinter specialty, but the only difference that I remember was one ingredient." Comet rambled as she got herself a mug, poured the hot water (carefully, with as steady of a hand as she could) before she placed the kettle back on the stovetop (when did the flame get turned off?) and opened a cupboard to find the bag of tea leaves as well as a steeper,"Although the tea Neve got was definitely spiced...good for clearing up a clogged nose, not as a sleep aid."

Her eyes searched long and hard, eyebrows knitted together when she couldn't find exactly what she was looking for— especially because she remembered Emmerich precisely saying where he placed the bag of tea.

‘Oh, don't worry about putting that away! You look dreadfully exhausted and I'd hate to add to it further with such a small task. Allow me to do so- I'll place it in the cupboard to the right of the stove, on the top shelf!’

Ah…yes…the…top shelf. That would explain why she wasn't able to spot it so clearly from first glance. Comet strained her neck back to get a better view of at least the front of the highest shelf in the cupboard. Low and behold there it was; a velvet pouch, the fabric a beautiful verdant green, sitting peacefully besides some other herbs and spices. She had definitely forgotten that little detail in regards to the conversation between her and their neighborhood Mourn Watcher. Her eyebrows furrowed further, a frown on her lips. How was she going to reach all the way up there on her own…? She was almost as tall as a dwarf! Hells, only just a few mere inches taller than their own dearest scout! There was no way she would be able to reach it!

…But she wouldn't be a proper Grey Warden if she didn't give it her best shot, she supposed.

A short, mental, pep talk later Comet went to the very tips of her toes, her dominant arm- her left- stretching the furthest it was capable, strain visible on her face…only to brush against the exterior of the bag with the edges of her nails. She let out a defeat puff of air as she lowered herself back to standing flat on the ground, shoulders slumped downward in a pathetic display of what she considered immediate surrender. She can't believe that out of all the enemies she's faced so far this is what brings her down! Maybe she should suggest they find a durable step ladder or perhaps she could look into a spell that'd conjure one with the flick of her wrist.

Now that would be useful…why hadn't she thought to look into that one sooner…?

“Ahem, if I may?”

Oh, right, she wasn't alone in the kitchen.

“Last I checked, you weren't doing any better with reaching that shelf either.” Her eyes fully met Lucanis' own this time, fueled by the brief spark of adrenaline that pumped through her veins to voice such a playful remark aloud,”...Or are you calling Neve a liar?”

Lucanis feigned offense, though dropping it in favor of turning off the flame that fanned beneath his cooking pan so that he could step to stand closer to the elf without worrying he might accidentally overcook his homemade meal.

“Even a detective, who works to expose the truth about her cases, might fib now and again. But I digress, while at times I may struggle…I have a technique to help.” He flourished one of his daggers— always sharpened like new, hidden across his figure in places none may suspect—”Watch me.”

He didn't need to tell her twice.

With the quickness and precision of someone who has done this plenty of times to get it just right, Lucanis used what reach he had to get as close as he could before using the knife as an extension to his person, the tip of the blade catching to the rope that held the top of the velvet bag closed, careful as to not cut it clean in the process, and lowered the knife with the bag dangling helplessly. The corner of the antivans mouth twitched upward as he held the knife pierced bag to the speechless warden.

If anyone saw this, it looked as if Comet was truly starstruck by the assassin who accomplished such a great feat in her honor. The truth? He reached the top shelf without having pulled a single muscle whereas she would've given up after one single try.

“Unless you want me to steep the tea for you, I'd suggest taking the bag.”

“A-Ah! R..Right!”

She held out the palms of her hands, cupped with not a single finger leaving room for the slightest crack, and Lucanis pulled his blade out from the rope holding the bag closed, letting it fall gently into the young woman's waiting grasp. Comet gave him a small smile of thanks before she looked down to the bag; there was evidence of tampering from the knife, but she didn't mind. If the rope did end up eventually giving up before she could finish the bag full of leaves, well, she'd find a replacement.

“Do you also use that technique of yours to get jars…?” She asked as she prepared the tea leaves for steeping.

“...No. In truth, I have multiple methods. You have to, when you come to accept you won't be growing any taller.”

A chuckle filled the spice scented air before the kitchen fell silent, much to the dismay of the two eavesdroppers in the next room.

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・

It wasn't long after she finished preparing her tea that Comet made her way back to her own personal quarters. It was a space that was only now slightly decorated; her bed was a messy pile of blankets of various different fabrics, pillows of all sizes that looked to have only a bit of worn to their appearance, and a single handmade crow plush that sat in the center, as if the little fella was the proud owner of what a real bird may consider the coziest best to ever be created by feathery…wings. Not hands, because birds don't have hands…right? Right!

She placed the cup of tea on the wooden table beside her bed, allowing it to take a moment to cool down some more as her body melted into the mattress that welcomed her with open arms. Her nose was immediately buried into the biggest of all the pillows that encircled her, arms tucked beneath it to pull it closer as she inhaled the scent of ticklish lavender, refreshing pine, and a hint of cherry- most likely because of her favored perfume oil that she loved to apply after a much needed cleaning. A heavy exhale was let out into the pillow before Comet rolled to lay on her back, eyes facing up to the ceiling as her hands and legs remained outstretched to make her seem more like a harmless starfish in a sea of mix matched fabric.

In her mind swam the memories of several minutes prior— especially the times where she'd catch a peak of Lucanis’ tiny smile, the way his laughter filled the air, the hint of a twinkle in what she'd describe to be the most beautiful pair of eyes that she's ever seen…

Comet’s face burned, her heart swelled up at the mere thoughts that would best be compared to the writings in that one series Varric wrote— Swords and Shields. She never read it herself, really, she only heard some comments floating about in Weishaupt. Some of her comrades were romantics, always having their attention enraptured by the sappy words printed upon some page held together by thread and binded to a cover with greatly exaggerated art of the lovers. It was inevitable she'd end up hearing tidbits of some romance novels, and from what she gathered they were always over the top with the descriptions. Much like her own imagination, especially when she got too deep into her racing thoughts in moments where she needed a clear head.

Except…right now she didn't really mind the images her brain conjured for her since they were going to be memories she would never get tired of seeing played out behind her eyelids.

This silly crush was going to be the death of her.

Not that she thought it was horrible of such a thing to have developed; no, no, surely it was something that couldn't have been helped given that Lucanis had done so much- not just for her, but for the Veilguard as a whole. He was the one that brought darkness to the light, getting his hands messy where everyone else wouldn't have the heart to do the same. An Antivan Crow, whose death was falsified and identity kept hidden the best it could, decided to help their cause, even if by all means he didn't need to do so. Sure what they faced threatened the very state of the entire world, however Lucanis could've very well have passed up the offer to join to continue on his own way.

And the fact he didn't…was enough to draw forth feelings of appreciation alone. Comet had no idea what she would've even done had he rejected the invitation— crawl up in a hole and die in embarrassment maybe, mourn the loss of what could've no doubt been a great asset to the team. Of course she didn't really need to think about that coming to fruition , but it was still enough to make her wonder if, well…Lucanis knows how much his efforts were welcomed and appreciated.

Comet was aware that he viewed his work with the Crows to be…more like a job that paid well more than his life's passion. He was good at what he did- killing, obviously - but here he treated being a part of their ragtag group as more than just some duty he needed to uphold. Well maybe he didn't see it that way, but the mage did at least! So with that in mind…perhaps there was a way to show how much his time spent towards their goal meant to her- to everyone.

But what could that be? Think, Comet, think! What's something that Lucanis would like that he'd be a little touched to receive for his contributions thus far? Would he like flowers? No, no, with her luck he could be allergic. Or maybe she could cook something for him for a change! No…no wait she didn't know a thing about cooking…

A frown fell upon her lips— whatever could she possibly do? The idea of asking the others for their ideas embarrassed her, flushing her face an even deeper shade of red as the images of them poking fun at her flashed into her head. She shook them away, determined to not let herself get deterred!

That was when it hit her.

Wyverns…Lucanis likes them, right? Or he had a fascination with them at some point? What if…

Comet's eyes trailed down to her little crow- Caw. She's not as crafty as the Senior Warden who practically raised her, however if it was for him…for the opportunity to make him smile…it was worth a try!

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・

[Writers Note: Hello! Thank you so much for reading part one of a one shot that was meant to be one huge part but ended up being so long I decided to separate it into two! I hope you all enjoyed reading! 🩵 I can't wait to continue writing more. Feel free to like, reblog & share! I appreciate the support.]

Link to my ko-fi if you want to tip, or even commission me 👇

[silkieswift]

Post-canon Luffy/(temp) fem!Law AU

I thought of this about a week or so ago and been expanding on it ever since privately; also, I wanted something more feel-good/wholesome (a lot of fem!Law stuff I've glanced over involves dubcon/rape, which I don't like). Maybe a bit OOC, but whatever. Quite long, so behind the cut.

(Can also be “other-setting AU with powers” if you want.)

Luffy/Law have been married for a few years; sometimes they talk about raising children

Luffy's happy with adopting (in whatever way) but Law decides no, he wants biological children as the ultimate expression of their (romantic) love for each other; he knows Luffy's friendly with Ivankov and that the latter's powers can cause sex changes

So they and their crews travel to Kamabakka; after some discussion and debating, Iva agrees to turn Law into a woman, but (s)he must live as a woman for several years to fully appreciate the experience (for Luffy's sake, Iva makes sure the change doesn't affect Law negatively)

Reactions across the world are varied (some well-wishing, others mocking/insulting, still others jealous; no-one dares try to attack, preferring to be alive, not (as good as) dead), but almost all surprised; the couple doesn't really pay much heed, since what matters is that they both want this, no coercion involved

They eventually have three children (two daughters and a son), with the other Straw Hats and Hearts being their aunts and uncles and their friends being their extended family (Luffy greatly dotes on them and perhaps spoils them a bit, but teaches them how to fight and to survive in hostile environments; Law also dotes on them, but also makes sure they know proper manners and self-discipline); they're all taught to fight and be able to defend themselves according to their personal preferences and interests; each of them is taught about the sex-change situation when they're deemed able to understand (not in a lewd manner, though)

(Elder daughter is much like Luffy, but with above-average intelligence/common sense; younger daughter is more like Law - reserved and a bit standoffish, medical prodigy, polearm fighter, eventual snake-Zoan user; son is more even-tempered and is a natural at underwater activity)

Law spends (between 7-10) years as a woman, and changes back after talking with Iva about the experience; it was challenging and sometimes very difficult, but (s)he didn't regret it for a second

[ai-the-broccoli]

if I had a nickel every time an episode in Ace Attorney involves a murder orchestrated by a pair of partners-in-crime where:

the one who wanted the victim dead and who's calling the shots is the yang-esque partner, an orange/red-coloured and explicitly cat-coded villain antagonist man with a misleadingly nice title/nickname/slogan ("tender"; "refreshing" etc) that doesn't suit his real nature + a bright conspicuous motorbike that is currently out of use, whose main thing is acting i.e. playing different characters & roles, and is able to fool many around him with his act, who is the primary antagonist or "real" bad guy in the episode narratively and,

the one who was enlisted by the cat-coded biker to help with the murder is the yin-esque partner, a black/white-coloured character with an ostentatious visible sign of past injury on their head and an eerie aura designated to invoke fear & creepiness from the moment they appear on screen, who consistently makes it sound as if they might kill you or someone else any second when they speak, but is ultimately treated as less antagonistic/more sympathetic than cat biker by the narrative.

and

cat biker stars as the leading role of their murderous two-man act, while the scary accomplice plays a supporting role in the background costumed in the uniform of the service job (e.g. maid, butler, waitress, bellboy) they're disguising themselves in.

despite serving the cat biker, scary accomplice is actually far more powerful in reality and both of them know it. scary accomplice's last name is infamously powerful in the criminal underworld and strikes terror into people's hearts; when brought up to the law enforcement for the first time, the player is told that other outlaws fear them and the police can't reach them.

cat biker acts tough and intimidating with the rogue face he puts on but he's actually a coward absolutely terrified of scary accomplice's actual power, because he knows the only reason they hasn't got him dead yet is that he is still on the accomplice's good side and they trust him.

and

the duo carries out the murder according to cat biker's wish but they're unsatisfied without making sure biker never gets convicted, so they decide to take a step further and mess with the lawyering as well. so they target phoenix wright personally, which eventually becomes their undoing because it just pushes him to find out the truth even more.

moreover, phoenix hates betrayal personally, and during his search he finds out that cat biker has been deceiving scary accomplice all along, despite scary accomplice's strong devotion to and forceful dedication to trusting cat biker. cat biker also even expresses his contempt toward them for this foolish trust behind them

phoenix breaks the truth about this betrayal to scary accomplice but couldn't get through until he provides evidence with the correct explanation, because accomplice has wanted to trust cat biker. after phoenix gets the truth through, scary accomplice completely turns against cat biker and wants him punished, which eventually helps phoenix gets him convicted and jailed with the help of unconventional methods

...I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but,

did you know that AA2: Justice for All was originally going to have 5 episodes, and Recipe for Turnabout was supposed to be 2-4 while Farewell, My Turnabout was originally meant to be 2-5, before they ran out of space and switched Recipe for Turnabout out for AA3 instead?

which means if it went as planned, Recipe for Turnabout would've been right before Farewell, My Turnabout. I wonder if that means this parallel could actually have been not completely unintentional?

anyway it's hilarious to me to think that Farewell, My Turnabout (the Engarde & De Killer case) would've been exactly one case after Recipe for Turnabout (the Tigre & Viola case) and exactly one case before the Dahlia & Phoenix case (Dahlia is a villain tied to the theme of deceit + comparable to Matt, while Phoenix is all about trust and trusting your clients + foils Shelly). fellas is it gay to strongly parallel not one, but multiple doomed godawful dysfunctional canonical m/f romances thematically

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Charles P. Pierce: Hard after Thursday night’s television debacle, the Supreme Court leaped in to destroy the separation of powers and, as Elie Mystal pointed out on Xwitter, to engage in the biggest power grab since Marbury v. Madison. Through the now-customary 6–3 vote delivered by the carefully manufactured conservative majority, the precedent of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, aka the Chevron deference, is now as dead as Julius Caesar. And thus forty years of administrative law comes to a rude and abrupt end. The decision further illustrates that the dedication of the carefully manufactured conservative majority to corporate oligarchy is utterly unshakable, expertise—scientific and otherwise—be damned. Don’t believe me? Ask Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion.

“Perhaps most fundamentally, Chevron’s presumption is misguided because agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do.”

So instead of career scientists deciding that the E. coli convention in your pork loin makes it inadvisable to eat, some twenty-two-year old law clerk fresh out of Regent University School of Law will. Bon appétit!

Getting rid of Chevron was one of the golden dreams of the country’s oligarchs and the judges and lawyers in their pay. Along with Roe v. Wade, it was number one on the conservative hit parade. But Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose concurrence is chock-full of the kind of tinhorn erudition so beloved by the carefully manufactured conservative majority, has perhaps a special reason to dance on Chevron’s grave. His mother, Anne Gorsuch, was hired by the Reagan administration to run the EPA—into the ground, apparently. From The Washington Post:

Anne Gorsuch—like Reagan then and President Trump today—was a firm believer that the federal government was too big, too powerful and too eager to issue regulations that restricted businesses. As a result, she slashed the EPA’s budget by nearly a quarter and, according to a Washington Post story at the time, boasted that she had reduced the thickness of the book of clean water regulations from six inches to a half inch. She filled various departments at EPA with subordinates recruited from the very industries the agency was supposed to be regulating.

By the end of her stint at EPA, Anne Gorsuch was under siege. A half dozen congressional committees were looking into allegations of mismanagement of the Superfund program, which was designed to clean up abandoned toxic waste sites around the country. The House voted to cite Gorsuch for contempt of Congress for failing to turn over subpoenaed records.

In addition to its dollar-store history, Gorsuch’s concurrence pretty much turns the concept of stare decisis into Silly Putty. Return with us now to those thrilling days of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Justice Neil Gorsuch, your host.

"Other consequences followed for the role precedent played in future judicial proceedings. Because past decisions represented something “less than a Law,” they did not bind future judges....At the same time, as Matthew Hale put it, a future judge could give a past decision “Weight” as “evidence” of the law....Expressing the same idea, William Blackstone conceived of judicial precedents as “evidence” of “the common law.” And much like other forms of evidence, precedents at common law were thought to vary in the weight due them."

Matthew Hale died in 1676. He was a notorious witch hunter and once argued that the existence of laws against witchcraft proved that witches existed. What the hell he has to do with PFAS pollution or workplace safety in a chicken plant is beyond me. But we live in his universe now, and Neil Gorsuch got his own back for his mom.

https://www.esquire.com/.../supreme-court-chevron.../...

[leohtttbriar]

"if I hadn't realized what he had done"-- there are two very separate people in this sentence. the verb tenses are insane, too, because, like, kira is dead. but here jadzia is trying to blame yedrin for the second death-yet-to-come. making this the first time that jadzia has not claimed the shared-person of the symbiont as some form of self. maybe it's because yedrin is a future Self? but it doesn't ring true to how jadzia has acted about her various Persons before. in an almost mirror to the fake-doubling/separation that yedrin has "proposed" as a way for the crew to leave the planet while also staying, jadzia is not claiming yedrin's actions, even if he is technically jadzia (and curzon and joran and...) as well as himself. his decision to lie to them belongs, in some part, to her--it has to, since joined trill have never been shown to be able to truly distinguish their complex actions and decisions from one person to the other.

which means that jadzia is in this scene not just realizing she's responsible for kira's death (i mean, she's not) from the first time through the barrier but also responsible for kira's death again for this maneuver from yedrin (which, like, yes. she is within yedrin the whole episode. there are in fact two jadzias present).

with all time-traveling stories, there's a circular nature, since it's not like any of us are capable of imagining going faster than the speed of causality and escaping the single-direction-move along the temporal dimension of all 3D beings; which inevitably turns our time-travelling-stories into closed-circuit-deterministic-circular narratives or makes us lose our minds about butterfly theory. which is probably why the character who seems most comfortable with this whole situation is kira who's used to considering a future-already-written as just a law of reality. she references the prophets to odo and the others several times and you can't really argue that much with her because so far everything her gods have spoken has come true.

but jadzia i think is running up against determinism here not just from the situation itself (her future being told to her by her ancestors and the future dax host--her obvious discomfort with the idea of marrying worf according to their relationship in the present moment with the sort of flip side that is miles's discomfort with marrying someone who is not his wife in the present moment). in addition, i think she's struggling with the determinism associated with being joined. there's a weight to the fact that her person is not wholly controlled by her but cannot be separated from her. would jadzia choose to let kira die? no, not at first. but then she does because that's what kira wants--and everyone else sort of agrees. would jadzia lie in this way yedrin does to get her way? would jadzia "save" the lives of 8000 at the sacrifice of one? would jadzia betray her own self? would jadzia take a very difficult decision out of the hands of a past life, another self? she can't answer that question now, but also she can--because a future self does all of that, a future self that cannot be separated from her.

before this episode, obligations to the past-lives of the symbiont seemed to come easy to jadzia. well, not easy, but she doesn't spend a lot of time struggling with accepting them and carrying their burdens. here, she realizes she will be a burden for yedrin. so, on top of everything she thinks she's to blame for, she also now has to confront yedrin's existence, who carries kira's death as jadzia would. all of this seems exactly the kind of thing that jadzia, who will happily deal with the consequences of her past lives' crimes or the personal heartbreak of her own decisions, is not prepared for. she has not yet been in a situation where someone else has to carry her.

[myeagleexpert]

The Silence of the Seven

Synopsis:

The peaceful atmosphere is shattered when Yuu finds one of her friends in a coma of unknown causes. Determined to uncover the truth, Yuu and her friends begin investigating the case and discover a curious pattern that links the victims. But as the investigation progresses, they find themselves in a tangle with powerful enemies, and this time the danger is out of Twisted Wonderland. Yuu and her friends will have to fight against unknown forces to find answers and unravel the mystery before it's too late.

Notes: I won't give many warnings before each chapter, because, you know, the suspense. Yuu is a girl and is around 18 years old. I'm just saying that we will have many platonic and romantic moments in the series, and that you always read until the end of the chapter <3

Chapter I: I'll Get You

Yuu walked through the long corridors of the ancient library, passing them as if he knew every old corner and every forgotten book. Because actually, she does. As soon as she arrived in this strange world, she tried in every way to return to her original dimension, digging through all the books on multi-dimensional travel, mining any and all information about how to return home. But that's not why she's here today and with Riddle much less.

“If you want to survive in this world, you have to learn about it”

It was the purpose Riddle insisted on taking some classes with the foreign student. The leader of Heartslabyul had crimson red hair and the temper of a kindergarten principal, his nostrils always smoked and his mouth recited the 810 questionable laws of the Queen of Hearts. If not for the beautiful blue-gray eyes, Yuu would have joined the chaos of anarchy, but being peaceful she opted for one provocation or another.

"Riddle, I've been wondering, are these laws really necessary?" usually this led to some fun discussions with the grinning Cheshire cat

Today they were at a secluded table in the ancient library, discussing the origin of some figures and mythology.

“According to historians, the Queen of Hearts had a proportionate head, but due to an accident just before the coronation, she suffered an injury that led to swelling of her head.”

“And your ego…” Yuu muttered, he had several things to say about the tyrannical majesty but bit his tongue… today at least

"What did you say?"

“What about the creatures from the Kingdom of Roses?”

“It is said that the creatures are extinct species from the kingdom during the colonization…- he stopped and looked for the page in the book with illustrations- When the settlers tried to explore some unknown lands it was reported that they found flowers so tall that they stopped them from going on, so they decided to cut them down and heard voices from the forest expelling them.” Was that supposed to be scary? An idea flashed through the mind of the magicless student, her eyes glistening with memories and she did the best horror storytelling voice she could muster.

“The legends here are very interesting, but in my world we have a different view of nature”

“Ah, please tell me Yuu.” Riddle leaned forward as Yuu approached, naturally curious and thirsty for knowledge.

“In the era of exploration, a rich farmer wanted to increase his lands and for that, he destroyed the protected lands of the indigenous people. Once he took his foreman to open the forest in a sacred land and on this day, the furious nature sent a creature with a head of fire and feet turned backwards to end man's miserable life.”

Widening his eyes and holding his breath, Riddle silently nodded his head for Yuu to continue "With an animalistic scream the creature drove a fiery stake through the heart of the man who fell 'dead' to the ground-

“Why the quotes? Is he not dead?” Rido questioned the physical quotation marks his friend made, but felt an immediate chill when he saw how much his face darkened.

“However… he was so hideously terrible that both heaven and hell rejected him and earth refused to bury such a devilish soul. The now Dry Corps was cursed eternally into a condition of filthy spirit doomed to roam the cities until the end of time but… it is said that if the Dry Corps finds a host as bad as it is, it will possess it and use the living body to do even worse evils until a stronger entity of nature appears.”

The so stern leader of Heartabull kept his eyes fixed on a specific corner, he felt anesthetized with so much information that he had just heard so much that he didn't even notice that Yuu had gotten up from his chair with the mischievous intentions of scaring him from behind.

“Riddlee~” with a light pat, the red-haired one let out a high-pitched squeal that, yes, the entire library heard.

“Oh by the Seven! Yuu!”

"Riddle-chan, you shouldn't make noise in the library, you know?" teased him

“I wouldn't have yelled if you hadn't—

“Yanoo….cans of tuna…” a darling feline, Grim, was sleeping peacefully with no problems on top of the books when he escaped words in his sleep Such an action, brought to the two leaders childish and innocent giggles, which were muffled by the soft fur of Grimm. A sweet moment few would ever see…

And like all good things come to an end….

"Aaaah Kingyo-chann I know you're there" a very familiar voice of the two echoed through the halls

“Aa-ah Floyd! He can't see me, otherwise I'll be late for the Riding Club" his little antennae flick up in warning and in agitated whispers he turns to Yuu

"I distract him, Grim takes him to the corridor 03 passage" whispered back Yuu and traded a can of tuna for his companion

The girl knew the secret passages of the NRC like the back of her hands, and Riddle trusted them so because Ramshackle's memorable duo were like brothers to him, which was very difficult considering the walls and barriers that had been built since his overblot .

“See you later, thank you.” "Thank you"

A code of signs was exchanged between the two before Riddle entered the dark secret passage on the other side of the library, the language was created little by little, a mix of the sign language of his dear world and Twisted Wonderland that deepened as he went. that the bonds with the other person were deepening.

“Who was Koebi-chann talking to?” The twin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, he was at the table they'd been studying at just now, his posture relaxed with the familiar wide, sharp-toothed smile.

"Floyd, let's play."- determined she started her plan in mind.

“Aaah, I'm not in the mood to play tag with Koebi-chan, I want to play with Kingyo-chan"- Already uninterested Floyd got up with a serious expression

“What if we make a deal?” When Yuu stepped in front of the tallest one, he didn't expect those words from her "If you catch me in 3 minutes, I'll tell you where Riddle is, but if not, I won't tell you anything." Oh that got his attention, already setting the timer on her watch

“Koebi-chan is so creative! Let's play! I count ok: 1…2…3 and that's it! Run fast or I'll catch you~” the twin hummed, lazy voice but a predator's gaze

The two ran wild leaving the library, Yuu was dodging the tables while Floyd, the mermaid, preferred to jump on top of them to annoy the students. Outside, the girl got a good boost down the hall, taking advantage of Floyd trying to get through the door.

2 minutes…

Each on the opposite side of the hall, Floyd showing his sharp teeth and Yuu a playful smile, the laughter of both spread in the hall: loud, uncoordinated and without any concern. As she turned a corner that led to the patio, she lost Floyd and only then did the adrenaline let her remember a little thing: Where there's fire, there's smoke. And the horror twins, as Grim calls them, are a real fire. Floyd is here…where is Jade?

1 minute-she checked her watch

"Ahh I'm so close to getting rid of this crazy guy!"-She thought with her chest rising and falling and breathing heavily. Her eyes searched every possible place to climb or hide, Floyd is faster but if she can stay away from him until time stands still…

"The tree!"

30 seconds

The girl ran with all her might towards the patio tree, her loud footsteps alerted Floyd who was trying to see where she was. The little bug was out of breath and was trying to circle the patio trying to kill time to get to the damn tree just didn't count that—

“Oya oya, what do we have here?”- She didn't see where the voice was coming from, she just felt someone put her foot on her for her to fall, Floyd who is not silly at all, took the opportunity and grabbed the student rolling them both on the floor.

“I got you Koebi-chan!~~~” for a moment they forgot why they were running, laughing until their stomachs hurt, biting each other- hey, that's a sign of trust, right?- “Come on little shrimp…I got you ahead of time. You have to do your part of the bargain!”

“You cheated Floyd! I made the deal with you and not Jade-

“I was just passing by and coincidentally tripped over it just as our dear Yuu was running. Oh, I'm so sorry. What a tragedy.” With her hand on her chest, Jade helped her to get up from the ground, but her smile had nothing innocent about it.

“Don't even come with that Jade-” not here you felaa-” Floyd, it was supposed to be you alone but since I'm in a good mood today let's do this: I'll tell you where Riddle is NOT and you can hug me more…”

“What a good treat Koebii~” Floyd didn't need any more words to convince him, throwing his tall frame on top of Yuu and her brother, taking them to the ground.

But she was used to the twins' unpredictable tendencies. After all, 1 year had passed since his arrival. When she arrived in this strange world, everything was very “strange” for her, so much so that reality only dropped three days later, and when it did, all she could think about was hiding in a dark corner of the abandoned house.

The sun was setting when they got up, after laughing and talking about various topics Yuu would probably regret someday. After so much brutality, Floyd extended a gentle hand for his friend to stand up, his eyes widening as he realized—

“Neee~Koebi-chan, you're getting heavy and meaty too!” happily he comments

“Hunhun, and it looks stronger fufu. It ran a lot further this time and endured my brother's hugs longer” Jade congratulates her, looking at her legs and biceps that were no longer fragile matchsticks

“But if you grow too big, I won't be able to call you little shrimp anymore…ah! Ah! I know! If you grow any bigger I’ll call you the little lobster, okay?”

“Well, get ready, honey, I’m going to be a lobster!” determined Yuu hugs her friends and then says goodbye. She didn't know it, but there were eyes watching her...

A year later adaptation arrived, his body that had lost a lot of weight due to the excessive work of a certain crow and the constant stress that brought it, was weak and thin, but now with the balanced diet that Vil himself had prepared and physical exercises with Vargas she was able to get back to the body she was: strong, toned and curvy, she could keep up with the athletics group with Deuce and go for morning jogs with Jack - when Grim pushed her out of bed she inevitably woke up and by coincidence Jack was passing by Ramcharchle. Killing two with one stone.-

It was at the start of quiet sophomore year that her hair, once a shade of brown with golden, curly strands, was dyed night-black. Her hair was opaque before and didn't reach her chin, as the foreigner used her impulsive cuts as a defense mechanism, saying it was "not to draw attention". A year later, her hair was bust-length, shiny and perfectly brushed and styled.

At first glance, her ties were deepened here, but there was a symbolism behind it that left your mouth bitter. Her natural hair was her memory of home, something that says "I'm not from here, I have a place to go back". Crowley was the one who came up with the idea "Well, if you're going to stay longer, why don't you look like your beloved director who welcomed you as a father figure, my little bird?" Crowley and Crewel became very attached to the girl, always taking care of the puppy with affection but with hugs that didn't allow her to go very far. .

In her second year, she improved her beast taming capabilities. Occasionally, she is seen piloting a great blue dragon through the skies, or combing the fur of a dangerous chimera, or stopping Grim from stuffing his mouth with fish at Scarabia's dinner. The latter, he finds to be the most useful skill.

Not far from there, Riddle had finished his Riding training, saying goodbye elegantly to his colleagues and walking to the Heartstabull...unfortunately he didn't get there.

Trim..trim…

'Huh? Call from Carter?' - In the middle of her sacred coffee with Grim, Yuu receives a call from her senior, Carter Diamond. What would the magicam star want at a time like this?

-Hello? It's Yuu, all right senpai? -A-ahh Yuu, I need you to come to the dorm now! -Is it really necessary? I put my coffee on now… -What Yuu?? I'm not l-l- istening! Something… interfering… -The toast is warm too…want to have a coffee with me? -I'm serious Yuu! It's- an emergency! Come quickly!

And hung up…

Her precious coffee was already in the cup filled to the top, waiting to be taken and enjoyed by the tired student, but the agitated and trembling voice of the so cheerful Carter made her take only three sips worriedly, leaving quickly with Grim meowing that the toast would get cold. Until a hoarse, frightening scream interrupted her mind and the thousand scenarios of what could be happening.

“How strang-!!!”- Yuu gasps, clutching Grim protectively in her arms, despite being flustered the girl takes a moment to record the image of the sound maker, who was on an old pole near the house.

It was a white bird, a type of owl with a heart-shaped face and eyes like completely black spheres, then a hook-shaped beak. The creature turns 160 degrees and stares at Yuu and Grim, the girl feels a shiver run down her spine and a bad feeling settles in her stomach but….

Yuu decides that with so many fantastical creatures and so many overblots, a white owl is the least of her problems right now and continuing on her way more quickly she thinks back to what could have happened in the dorm, which she considered her second home.

Of all her imagined scenarios none came close to the vision in front of her.

Riddle was lying on the floor. His body pale and icy. His eyes were completely white, without corneas, without irises and without pupils. His red hair was an aged shade of red, as if all of his life had been sucked out of him. Veins, now transparent, pulsing reluctantly to life and bringing a barely existent low breath, no signs of waking up.

“Carter! What's going on? What happened to Riddle?”- one of the clones of the red haired one grabbed Yuu who ran when he saw the scene and tried to calm her down, while Trey covered his fallen friend's body with a jacket.

“Riddle took a long time to come back, 15min late. This has never happened before.”- Trey replied from afar.

“We arrived here and when we saw his state, we called you and the Director”- completed Carter, who was trying to take Yuu to check the body, he himself didn't have the courage- “We cast an invisible barrier spell, and we waited for the director to arrive to take him quickly to the infirmary.” he concluded.

“What do you think it could be?”

“I don't know, I've never seen anything like it. It must have been something really strong to catch him off guard and leave him with…”- swallowing the fear and sadness trapped in his throat, the green-haired one tries to continue, being the responsible senpai ever-”… with that expression. terrified in the face.”

There were no signs of violence on the body, no spell fighting, no signs of poisoning. Grim didn't smell any different, saying it was the same as the one in the library.

“Let's sort this out, guys.”- giving one last look at his friend, Yuu puts his jacket over him again and stands up to look and investigate.

They checked every inch of that area, but the wind blew a small white feather from the enclosure.

You are here Next>>

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

VH - Lost Soul

(tw: it’s backstory time for Vampire Hero, and it isn’t very nice. Lots and lots of torture mentions.)

Vampire Hero was in hell, although not for the reasons Villain thought.

According to his watch, he’d been trapped in this maze for hours. Amid the many gifts his vampire nature had given him, a sense of direction wasn’t among them. He’d tried to punch the walls, but that would have taken too long to burst through them. They were even thicker than the skull that had thought of such a stupid thing to build. What he could do was leaving a dent to make sure that yes, he’d been there before. He had his phone on him, but there was no wifi, so no way to use his GPS. He had very little battery left anyhow– he had emptied most of it to send his wife pictures of bats on his way, which was as far as he was concerned a very good and judicious use of it. All of that was already a bore, but to make the game even funnier, the labyrinth was full of traps.

Full of pathetic traps. The ground collapsed under his feet, rocks were falling on him, all of that accomplishing nothing – but it was annoying enough that it disrupted his concentration, preventing him to find a way out. That was not the main problem, though. There were screens everywhere, too high to reach, and Villain. Never. Stopped. Talking.

“What is good and evil ? Do you know for sure what the limit is ? Good is supposed to follow the law, but is the law always good ? Isn’t it pride to do what feels right ? You think you want to stop me, but aren’t you being selfish by doing what you want ?”

She’d kept going like that for hours now. Nails on a blackboard would have sounded nicer. Not only the words were as hollow as a dead snail, but the inflection of that pompous voice was unbearable. Vampire Hero was seriously tempted to hit his head against the wall to stop hearing anything, but that didn’t seem like it’d work in the long term.

At his limit, he stepped up, his lips pinched, and finally yelled back:

“Four words. Grow the fuck up.”

“That’s all you have to say ? You’re not much for philosophy.”

“You call that philosophy ? I hate to break it to you, but knowing that good and bad are social constructs is not some kind of genius insight. All I see is a kid yelling at me that she’s very smart. You don’t give a crap about all of this. You just want to prove to yourself how very superior you are.”

“Do you think you’re better than me ?”

“The bar is low.”

“Oh, because you’re good now ?”

Vampire Hero stopped dead in his tracks:

“Even before, I was better than you."

He raised his arms and bared his teeth, his voice loud:

"You think that you’re bad ? You’ve got nothing on me ! I lured people and made them dance with me over broken glass. I had them rot blindfolded in animal cages for days until they had to lick their own blood. I had cozy nights with them having a friendly little chat in the living room while I was drinking from a corpse, and they knew that if they broke they were next. I made them starve and eat their loved ones. And I loved it ! I loved all of it ! I loved the light dying in their eyes. I thought I was clever ! I am half the reasons you’re shaking at night !”

“Zdiiiiiiiingbonnng,” made the rock on Hero’s head. He sighed in exasperation and stopped talking, wiping gravel from his hair.

“I know about you.” said Villain. “The hero agency’s lackey. Aren’t you ashamed ? You were a great prince, once.”

“Actually, I never was really tall.”

“Go ahead, hide yourself behind this kind of childish retorts. But admit it: you’ve sunk low. You arrest people who weren’t caught like you and you bring them to the authority, like a good dog. Has it ever occurred to you how much of a failure you’ve become ?”

“No.”

“Then why did you stop ?”

“If I tell you the story, will you finally shut up ?”

“Perhaps.”

“Worth it.”

Vampire Hero jumped over a couple of spikes, groaned when he realized that his jeans had a new hole, and said:

“Once upon a time, asshole, I was living happily in my castle all alone. I was rich, I was immortal, I had everything I wanted, and what I wanted was a lot of toys.”

He glanced around him, noticed nothing that indicated he was on the right path, and sighed.

“By toys I mean humans, of course. I chose among the prettiest, kindest, bravest, and I tortured them to death. I hurt them until they didn't have anything to break. I was good at it. I experimented things that would give you and all of you so-called Supervillains nightmares for years. But, you know. Decade after decade, still doing the same thing – I was getting bored. I felt empt- aw man, a dead end again ?”

He turned on his heels, swearing. That was obviously the wrong way to solve his problem. The walls were smooth and impossible to climb, so it had to be arranged. He caught a rock and throw it against the hard surface with a little more strength than necessary.

“Well, anyway. I heard there was a great conqueror who wanted the world. I made my first travel since decades, by curiosity. I wanted to see by myself who could challenge me.”

“And you fought him and you lost ?”

“I told you to shut up. I met her, and not long after I was her lucky, lucky husband. I never had her ambition, but of course I supported her. She encouraged my own little hobby in return, so I became her special torturer. My life was even more perfect, and there was this void inside me, and I hated it, and I didn't understand it. And what happened happened. I tortured the wrong person.”

“Define wrong ?”

“It was the daughter of a vampire hunter.”

“A poor choice.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. The guy was really good at his job. He was already pissed off because of the world-conquering plan, but after I did that, well, he cursed my wife and I – oh, enough with this.”

Punctured by rock impacts, the wall in front of him wasn’t so smooth anymore. Vampire Hero took a run-up, jumped and landed on the top of it. He had a nice view on the labyrinth now. For the first time, he took the right direction.

“ That’s cheating,” complained Villain.

“I don’t care.”

“What then ?”

“What then ? I had a bad century. The hunter couldn't kill me, so he drank my blood to prolong his own life and tortured me. He got good at it, too. I felt what I’d made the others feel, but only at first – after ninety years it was back to nothing. I was 300 years old and reality was fading. I was a leech. I hadn’t made a thing for myself.”

“You mean you went soft because of a little torturing?”

“No. I got old. When you have a couple of centuries, this torture-people-to-death shit doesn’t have the same kind of kick anymore. You try to get creative, but it doesn’t help. You feel nothing. So there’s nothing else you can do but stop. And speaking of stopping, it’s your turn.”

Vampire Hero was now at the center of the labyrinth. He jumped to a silver door, decided he was too done with the whole thing to use the knob, and broke it open.

Villain turned towards him, a small smile on her face, and opened her arms in a welcome gesture:

“Behold, vampire ! This room have been made of silver walls and floor. You won’t be able to enter without squirming in agony and -

Vampire Hero stepped in. Villain braced herself for his cries of pain, but there was none. He still looked bored out of his mind. There was a long silence.

“That’s – that’s not possible.”

Hero laughed. A slow, sinister laugh that made Villain’s eyes open wide.

“What are you ?” she whispered. “You can’t be a vampire. You should be crawling on the ground.”

“Don’t you listen ? I told you I’ve been tortured for decades. You know what an immortal body does when it regenerates back for the hundredth time ?"

He pointed to himself. There was a subtle change in his appearance. He still looked like his unimpressed self, but his usual lightness was replaced by something much darker. It was his eyes. Staring into them was like gazing into some horrible, nameless abyss. There was nothing human about them. They could only belong to some ghastly creature who'd lived centuries, not particularly nice ones.

Vampire Hero chuckled, and Villain shuddered.

"It gets tougher," he only said. "I’ve lost touch and taste. I feel nothing. Nor warmth or cold, and certainly not pain. My body is cut from the outside world. There's not much that feels real to me. You know what it is?”

He walked towards Villain, who took a step back and said:

“I hope you realize you’re monologuing yourself.”

“Habits die hard. I want to go back tonight and kiss my wife on the top of her head, just in the middle. It’s our habit. That’s all that matters. If I have to be on this side to support her, so be it. I don’t care about evil or good, and it won’t prevent me to eat your vocal chords if you’re off again. So, are you going to keep talking or finally shut the hell up ?”

“You know what, I think I’m good.”

*

Vampire Hero is a recurring character. His job is to troll current villains. Check the Vampire Hero Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with him.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[ceiling-karasu]

Watched Black Cat Detective and started thinking about Squirrel and Hedgehog as well.

It's been a few days so I have lots of thoughts and rambling. I'll start off by saying that since the main villain of Black Cat Detective is named the 'one eared mouse,' and we already have one of those in this fandom, I'll be calling him Lǎobǎn (no idea if there is already a fan nickname for this guy).

Putting these two together in a room would be fun, but I think Oegwipali is way smarter, to be honest, especially since he is a trained soldier. I'm not sure they would get along.

I would not do a Squirrel and Hedgehog and Black Cat Detective crossover in The Rod That Blocks the Lightning, though, since on is a North Korean cartoon and the other is strictly Chinese. I would be interested in doing a cross over in another, less serious, AU, though, since it is pretty similar with the violence and some other themes.

I watched the original series, then the reboot, and then the movie. Animation wise it does have that 'these kinds of thing happen in the first few episodes' issues, but it is only five episodes so they don't get ironed out. Still entertaining! It was pretty interesting, although I think the movie takes place in a different continuity. The series takes place in a forest with its own 'Forest Law,' and the movie is set in a massive futuristic city with space faring technology.

(I think the giant hairdrier is a leg section of what is a science museum of futuristic space vehicles).

It is about as violent as people say it is, especially for the time period and the fact that it was made for children. I thought it really could not be that bad, that the FH spike impalement scene was wild, but no, an eagle really does beat a bunch of children and eat one alive on screen. Said child is never seen again. The police even know what is going to happen.

Also, are the 'rats that eat cats' supposed to be vampires? Those are some wet slurping sounds, and then the talk of drinking blood later...

I really wish that had been expanded upon. It would make for a fun murder mystery AU.

Definitely a police propaganda cartoon, but maybe (maybe?) not as much racism as we previously thought. The cats in the first episode do not jump to the assumption that the mice stole all the food immediately, and actual detective work is shown throughout the series. I think I saw a mouse living in a village normally in a later episode, and the cats don't even blink an eye at her presence. But when they do figure out who committed the crimes, they do not hesitate to brutally beat the mice half to death and shoot limbs off, if not shoot them dead, with absolutely no mercy. They are overly enthusiastic in sprinting forwards with their batons to beat criminals unconscious in general. At one point there's a stun baton, and they deliberately use it in sensitive areas for extra effect.

Then again, later, a criminal elephant trying to murder a group of cops later is simply tranquilized, so make of that what you will. Although, honestly, the elephant is referred to as a citizen of the forest, and the mice are not. Which would actually rival Flower Hill's xenophobia on the matter, and they don't even have a war going on. Maybe. They have tanks in the forest in the reboot outro?

We noticed a weird issue with the clinking of shackles and chains on arrested prisoners being one of the loudest and crispest sounds in the audio.

There's also the fact that Black Cat will reveal to the public that a prisoner committed a terrible crime, but declare them innocent based on the fact that the crime was 'only in their nature' and they couldn't help it. Which is a very strange thing to say, feels weird, and also suggests that the mice trying to steal and kill everyone were making a choice which is why (according to whatever lesson is being taught here) they 'need' to be punished so brutally and killed without mercy (the elephant and company needed a mineral in the laterite bricks they were stealing, so they were 'only ' sentenced to heavy labor so to speak).

They start talking about using interpol to track down Lǎobǎn at one point.

Which means I think it would be pretty interesting if Lǎobǎn managed to escape to Flower Hill or something like that, and the cats were the Special Forces of the Rabbit Village police. Or the surviving mice could end up with the Weasel Unit and used a propaganda tools of 'this is why we hate Flower Hill, look what they did to your fellows' type thing.

Now as for the movie:

I'll be honest, there was no English release of the movie, so I watched it raw in Chinese while discussing it with rei-does-stuff and sah-headcanons. Maybe we can make a post of our live-blogging with each other later.

There's a Tumblr user named ernestelm who made a review on it, but it is one of those things where none of us would have bothered getting into Squirrel and Hedgehog if we listened without taking a look ourselves.

I'll have to rewatch the movie frame by frame with a deepl translator, but what I get is that a gorilla gets betrayed and floats off into space, and comes back with telekinesis and fireball magic he learned out there and wants revenge.

Either way, he needs some sort of special green star gravity device so he can kidnap people in a museum, and enlists the help of Lǎobǎn for some reason (in case he gets captured or because he might be a local?). Except a pig kid sees this all happening, and Black Cat realizes that this kid has seen too much, and takes him into police custody for his own safety. Amazingly, he tells the parents he has to take the kid with him, from what I can tell.

It makes sense that the police would have Black Cat take care of the kid, since he has apparently always had a way with children.

Side note: What is this character? We think it's a fennec fox? The ears don't look right enough to be a cat. I'm not even sure it's a living person, it might be a computer program. Black Cat sure does give commands into an electronic watch a lot.

ernestelm is completely right about the duck/goose, though. I watched one of the most entertaining animations I've ever seen with meteors damaging a prison complex for six minutes, and then got hit with THAT voice. Maybe he is actually useful, I don't know yet, I'll need the translator. Not one of the police officers hesitates to follow his orders and start a musical number, which turns out of be a legitimate distraction, which means the singing was police protocol intended to confuse a target. Everyone keeps forgetting he can fly at crucial moments?

And why do unimportant characters have a different animation style near the end?

(What is this? Why is it like this it looks like The Amazing World of Gumball?? Also reminds me of Pleasant Goat but these are not goats)

Black Cat Detective is just a slight bit expressionless as well. It would have been nice to see him actually in trouble or in distress like the original, instead of the calm to cocky attitude the whole time. Oh no, he's falling from very high up. Luckily the kid who hero worships the police enough to have studied their flying bikes, and whose father is a pilot, has been hanging around on said bike for just such an occasion. No peril at all.

The real question in the movie is this;

They just casually happen to have a containment unit for the gorilla? Are superpowers and magic just a thing in the Black Cat Detective movie universe, and common enough that they have protocols for this? So many questions.

The city, plus the casual power containment unit, reminds me of Loonatics Unleashed, honestly. Someone could easily make a crossover out of this.

Funny enough, the three of us found that this cat police officer looks a lot like Geumsaegi or Commander Darami.

There's always the idea that Black Cat Detective takes place in the same universe as Squirrel and Hedgehog. The amount of firepower these police officers have is far too much if they are not expecting a war to happen, even if they are referenced as a more elite unit. The implication is very interesting.

Now, if I get to writing the Clever Raccoon Dog PSA fun series, which I headcanon as taking place in Flower Hill because it might be canon (they are both SEK anyway), I would most definitely have the main characters visit and do a ride along with Black Cat Detective (preferably in the cartoon series universe. They are fine with criminals being beaten up, heck they do it themselves!) for a chapter or two. It sounds like it would be fun!

The other one would take place in the movie universe. Maybe a kind of Jimmy Olsen situation with a mouse reporter who keeps getting into trouble, and Black Cat or other people in the police force have to keep saving him. Although, we still have that pig kid who wants to be a police officer, if I understand correctly. It actually sounds better if I just used the pig child continuously getting into situations and needing to be rescued by the police, all the while trying to balance school into the equation. Maybe he becomes a young deputy.

[elletromil]

Made up fic title: blue dragons

See, at first i was all 'oh that fic would be about characters being dragons or some mythology thing'

But then i thought that was way too predictable and decided that you know what? If I was to write this fic it would either have to be a pacific rim style of au, where the characters pilot blue dragons or something

And like maybe i would start this as an non-modern au? Like start writing it as if it's your common handwave medieval/fantasy-ish setting. And people are telling legens of the blue dragons or something. And there is no way to tell its actually a big mecha until you finally get to the full action and realise that oooh, its actually a steampunk-y au! And the characters that were followed for the first chunk of the story were just living too far from the capital. And even then, it would be start of steampunk, mostly it's just the mecha dragons

And oh oh! As i write i keep having ideas

You get a read more because this got away from me 😅😅😅

Ok so story would start with Eggsy living in your run of the mill isolated/poor village in your generic fantasy-medieval setting. You'd get hint of like dragons being those tyranic overlord and you would think 'oh ok, fantasy setting with opressive fantastical beasts as rulers' and you'd hear also about the legendary blue dragons, dragons who are supposed to uphold the law or something and how they were betrayed but they are totally gonna come back to free then from tyrany.

There's even been some rumors about one distant village who was freed recently from tyranic golden dragon Valentine and that they might be protected by a blue dragon. Its only rumors though and Eggsy had never even heard of the village's name before so who knows. Oh, oh and we would learn that Lee was killed when the tyrant dragons first did their coup to seize control of the continent

Anyway, while Eggsy sometimes have some fantasy of getting to work with one of the fame blue dragons (who according to legend only let the most worthy ride them), Eggsy is no damsel in distress. He's not waiting on anyone to save him and his loved one so of course he joined the resistance.

But then one fateful night, the resistance who was either betrayed or not as careful as they should be gets attacked! By golden dragon Valentine himself no less, not just some of his army! He's come to personally squish the resistance and make an example out of them considering the rising unrest and the renewed hope from the rumors of blue dragons being back!!

All is lost and Eggsy is sure to die and his village completely destroy until right at the last moment, bam!

In comes a blue dragon! The day is saved!

Except not really, because the blue dragon gets trashed by Valentine!

Eggsy runs to the blue dragon, maybe in shock, maybe out of stupidity, maybe bravery, who knows, not even himself.

Anyway, he goes to the fallen blue dragon and that's when the description for what he sees becomes mechanical in nature (before the dragons were just describe in size, colors, power and shape), describing debris and cogs and stuff.

He gets to the head and gasp! He finds a human inside! It's James (probably dead, sorry James)! And like the dragon is trashed but there is still power humming through it and Eggsy knows nothing about it but he's done much more stupid things in his life! So he takes James place inside the dragons head and tries to do control the dragon via the neural link (Eggsy of course doesnt know any of this, he just needs to fight and protect and feels himself connect to the dragon and instinctively start to fight Valentine)

And the blue dragon is trashed but it's not destroyed and Eggsy has no finesse, but he's desperate and he manages to hurt Valentine enough to make him retreat!

So yeah, Eggsy manages to drive Valentine away for now and maybe he passes out because he's not used to controlling a dragon? And when he comes back to, it's to a second blue dragon and its rider Harry Hart who asks him how he feels about joining their ranks and overthrow the tyranic dragons?

And like there could be so many wordlbuilding thrown in about what makes the dragon a certain color (their building material mostly and oh wouldn't it be neat if the blue dragons would be made from some kind of meteorite? They were the first made and every subsequent dragon have some of those meteorite because that's what allows a mental link to control such big constructs? And all the other are copycats) and Chester King being the leader of the blue dragons but ending up being a traitor because of course

And oh!! Why were the blue dragons defeated/pushed back? What if its actually a full-blown sci-fi and the blue dragons and their riders come from outer space? And their technology fell into the wrong hands on this planet and only a few could come and help make things right because there is a full-blown interstellar war happening at the same time?

Eggsy feeling like Harry and Merlin aren't telling him everything and yes it's true they aren't, because they're alien and the reveal comes when Harry gets hurt in a way that should kill him but he gets better because of his alien physiology and with the planet liberated from the tyranic dragons, well they gotta go back to space to help with the war efforts and would Eggsy like to join?

And maybe James wouldnt be dead either thanks to that.

And then you get to the space warzone and that's where you get to meet Roxy and Tilde and just yeah

I wanna write this now

I won't

But i wanna