#also getting arrested for unspecified SOMETHING

[covertblizzard]

sometimes jaykyle is about the battle between Kyle i-can-fix-him Rayner and Jason i-can-make-him-worse Todd of which they're both simultaneously winning and losing

crucially if this is a teen jason-lives au, it becomes Jason i-can-fix-him Todd and Kyle i-can-make-him-worse Rayner

[undercovergamer]

✨Lawful Lessons or something✨

requested by anonymous

⚠️This fic focuses mainly on tickling. Please do not read it if that upsets you.⚠️

idk the title doesn’t make sense anymore cus the story took a different turn. My original idea was tickling Itto til he promised to follow the law, but I ended up writing something else lmao 😭

Anyways…

Looks like Itto got into some legal trouble in Fontaine, ending up in the Fortress of Meropide for an unspecified amount of time. Oh, what would it take to qualm his worries and have him behave himself?

Since Wriothesley can’t exactly leave his important post for vacation, I decided to bring Itto to Fontaine instead. How? Business trip with Ayato. Why? Boyfriend shenanigans. Hotel? Trivago. (That joke is still funny, I swear!)

CW/TW: There’s mention of Itto having a meltdown in this fic. It’s NOT caused by tickling, he is just very stressed and overwhelmed from the Fortress of Meropide. Also there’s swearing.

Word count: 4696 (nice)

Ah, Fontaine: the region known for its impressive machinery, beautiful ocean, and strict legal system. Some find the laws ridiculous: one of them forbids people from unleashing any flying objects within three months of visiting or something like that, which is so oddly specific it got Itto in trouble.

Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t the only law he broke. His attire was deemed inappropriate, Ushi was considered an exotic animal and therefore illegal to bring without a permit or something (he’s fine, don’t worry), he accidentally vandalized and destroyed property, and got into a fight with a citizen which lead to another fight with an officer, which lead to resisting arrest. He was also charged with disturbing the peace, and was really angry about his other charges as he argued. Wriothesley was almost impressed at the sheer speed in which the oni racked up all that chaos.

Kamisato Ayato and his sister were on a business trip to Fontaine, see. Itto had practically begged to come with them, and Ayato just couldn’t say no to that puppy-eyed face. The Arataki Gang didn’t come along, though, since that would be too many people. Most of them stayed behind to help Granny Oni, so Shinobu could join the trip. She wanted to get to know Ayaka more, but knew she’d have to keep her boss out of trouble as well…

…which she sadly failed to do since Itto appeared to be a magnet for chaos. After his assault charges, he was sent to trial, which was exhausting to go through. The Oratrice Mechanique D’Analyse Cardinale found him guilty of his crimes. Itto felt really overwhelmed and stresed by such a dramatic and public trial, and worried sick over how long his sentence would be. Before being sent to the Fortress of Meropide to atone, he had emotional goodbyes with his friends, and especially with Ayato.

“You’ll get through this,” he’d said to Itto. “We’ll make sure of it. Don’t worry.” But it was easier said than done, and Itto had only spent a bit more than a week there before having an overstimulated meltdown caused by all the built-up stress. Wriothesley decided enough was enough and brought the oni into his office to calm him down. He knew better than to leave a strong and overwhelmed oni alone in an unfamiliar place such as the Fortress; especially one as emotionally unstable as this one.

Over the week, Wriothesley had tried to make accommodations suitable for Itto, such as letting him swap any lunchbox with beans in to one without for free and giving him an extra pillow for his cell, but the overall environment and uncertainty still lead him to a violent meltdown. Other inmates were mean, his cell smelt weird, the blanket felt scratchy, his new uniform was uncomfortable, he missed his friends; all the little things built up over time just to break him. So, Wriothesley thought a smaller, more controlled area like his office would be the perfect place for Itto to de-stress.

He figured Itto would feel safe there since they knew each other by now, and he hoped the oni would trust him enough to relax. But to say Itto was pissed was an understatement, and also not entirely accurate. He angrily vented his frustrations about wanting to go home, how Fontaine’s laws can kiss his ass, and how he felt lonely and confused. Wriothesley sipped some tea, letting the oni vent and pace around the office, occassionally nodding and responding to show he was listening.

“I just-! I-… I wanna go home…” he said eventually, his anger turning into sadness as his rage faded. Wriothesley sighed slightly and got up from his seat to offer Itto a hug, which wasn’t something he usually did. However, the duke figured Itto needed one by now and liked his vibe, so he didn’t mind. Perhaps they could officially become friends.

Itto burst into tears once he accepted the hug, sniffling and sobbing in the man’s arms. On one hand he felt ashamed to cry so much with someone that wasn’t Ayato, but on the other hand he’d trust Wriothesley with his life if he needed to. Though he kept complaining, gradually calming down from his distress as the two hugged tight. He was always quick to trust people like that, often befriending them earlier than they did him. Most of the time it was awkward, but this time it seemed reciprocated.

Once Itto had stopped sobbing and gotten quieter, Wriothesley spoke up again. “Listen, I can tell you’re not a bad guy. Cus if you were, you wouldn’t feel even an ounce of remorse.” he said.

“I don’t mean to break laws all the time…” Itto mumbled, sniffling while resting his chin on the other’s shoulder.

“Even so, I can’t free you yet even if I wanted to. That’d be an illegal abuse of power, and it’d hurt the trust people have in our law enforcement.��

“Your law enforcement is stupid.” Itto huffed without missing a beat, making Wriothesley chuckle as he patted the other’s back.

“Pff… That may very well be the case. Our system is different to that of Inazuma.”

“Mm…” Itto sniffled and pulled away, wiping his eyes. “I know, but still. It’s stupid… I hate it.”

“Mhm. Now, unfortuantely I can’t tell you when you’ll be freed exactly. Despite your crimes, you’ll be here for less than a year total.”

“Why? I mean, why would it not be more? I thought Fontaine was strict like that.” Itto seemed much calmer now, thankfully…

“It is, but right now we’re having some complications with your cases. It would seem your travel companions want you out as quick as possible, and they’re working on bail negotiations with Monsieur Neuvillette as we speak.” Wriothesley went over to his desk as he spoke, sitting back down to sip his tea.

“Wha- Really?! Why didn’t you just say so??” Bro was positively flabbergasted to say the least, getting excited at the idea of an early release. Shinobu would usually bail him out in Inazuma, but maybe he’d have to rely on Ayato this time…

“I tried to, but you were in the middle of a rant, so it would’ve been rude of me to interrupt.” Wriothesley smirked a little, somewhat amused by the other’s reaction despite everything.

“Oh, ha ha, very funny. Hmph…” Itto sulked, crossing his arms with a glare on his face. Though it didn’t last long since he couldn’t help but smirk as well.

“Haha, I’m serious~! You would’ve only gotten angrier if I had tried to butt in.”

Itto chuckled and rolled his eyes in respone, not wanting to admit the other was right.

“Heh, now come on, take a seat so we can discuss all this properly.”

“Ah, fine, whatever.” Itto huffed and sat down with the man, arms still crossed stubbornly.

Since Itto was mostly calmed, Wriothesley decided to give him a thorough explanation of why he’s in jail and what he should expect from it. He tried his best to answer any questions the oni had, hoping to completely calm his worries and help him understand. None of Itto’s crimes were intentionally harmful or pre-meditated, he’s just very good at getting into trouble.

“Now, are you still worried about how long your sentence will be?”

“Yeah… Didn’t you say some people stay here forever? What’s up with that? I don’t wannaaaa…!” Itto flopped back on his chair like a disgruntled teenager, which made Wriothesley chuckle.

“Pfft, heheh, you don’t have to, y’know. That part is usually optional.”

“Hey! It’s not funny!”

Wriothesley cleared his throat. “Mph- s-sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. It’s been ages since someone with your mannerisms talked to me so casually. It’s refreshing.

“Hmph…” Itto crossed his arms.

“Anyway, like I said, your friends on the surface are negotiating with Monsieur Neuvillette, which will determine whether or not we transfer you from Fontaine to Inazuma.” Wriothesley explained. “Turns out the Kamisatos are willing to pay your bail and whatnot, but you still have to serve time for your crimes regardless. Just less. Perhaps with good behavior you could get out early.” he added, chuckling to himself.

“Tch, you’re not getting any good behavior outta me!” Itto argued stubbornly.

“Oh really now? What a shame~” Wriotheslay teased, chuckling at the other’s reactions.

“Don’t look at me like that! I’m not changing my mind.”

“Hahaha, sure you aren’t…” Wriothesley was amused by Itto’s attitude. He found him rather charming. “Anyway, hm…”

“Yeah?”

“I believe you mentioned sensory issues during your rant earlier. Am I right?”

“Yeah..? What about them?”

“You know you’re free to retreat back to your cell to rest your head, right? I got a document from that shinobi girl that states you’re neurodivergent.”

“Huh?? Shinobu? When did she give you that??”

“What’s more important is letting you know you can rest in your cell, or in my office, when things get too noisy for you. And that includes all senses, ya get it?”

“I think…? But won’t I get in trouble if I’m in the middle of work?”

“Hm, you might, but I could try getting you some noise cancellers to decrease that risk.”

“Is that allowed…?”

“For disabled inmates, all accommodations are allowed. So, yes. I definitely should’ve gotten you more of those earlier…”

Itto looked grumpy instead of responding to that.

“Speaking of which, about your uniform…”

“I hate it. It’s too tight and scratchy and hot and stupid, I can barely breathe!”

“Right. I assume it’s a size too small for you, is that right?”

“Dude, yes! I’ve been trying to tell you over the week, but you’re too damn hard to get a hold of!”

“Hah, sorry about that. Being the admin of this place is a lot of work, you know.”

“Being in this dumb stupid outfit is also a lot of work. These suspenders are shit, the collar is itchy, the sleeves are stupid-”

“Yes yes, I know. Your uniform isn’t the right size, so we’ll simply have to get you a new one.” Wriothesley tried not to laugh at the other’s “work” claim.

“Hmph… Do you even have my size?”

“Boy I sure hope so. Though, I’ll have to take your measurements to be sure.” Wriothesley reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out a tailor’s measuring tape.

“Huh? How convenient…” Itto wasn’t expecting the duke of all people to have one of those laying around.

“I know, right? Now, first and foremost, you must consent to me touching you for this, alright? I’ll have to wrap it around you and whatnot.” Wriothesley explained as he stood up from his chair, followed by Itto doing the same thing.

“Sure, man! I consent. It can’t be that bad.” he said confidently.

“Right, spread your arms real quick. I’m gonna need to measure around your waist and chest. Probably your hips…” Wriothesley explained, mildly surprised when Itto did as he was told without protest.

“Okay, what else?” he asked.

“Well, you’re a pretty big guy. If you’re too large, you might have to get a custom uniform.” Wriothesley said while he moved to wrap the measuring tape around the other, surprised at the slight jump he got.

“Hmph-! I-Is that so?” Itto jolted a little at the brush against his side and tried to play it off cool, hoping his reaction went unnoticed.

“Mhm. Hold still.” Wriothesley took note of the measurement before moving the tape down to the other’s waist and so on. Itto struggled to stay still though, growing tense. “Heh. Are you ticklish or something? How convenient.” Wriothesley joked, giving Itto a playful poke.

“Pfft- naha-! Sh-Shut up… I’m not ticklish, you just surprised me!” Itto stifled a chuckle and tried to be still. “I’m not used to getting measured, okay??” he said defensively.

“Mhm? I can see that.” Wriothesley chuckled at the other while measuring. He couldn’t help himself noticing the struggle when he measured from Itto’s waist up to his armpit. Itto snickered and yanked his arm down at a mischievous poke to the pit.

“Oops. Hold still now.” Wriothesley could’ve just measured on his back instead since the uniform isn’t supposed to be a tight fit, but he chose that previous area on purpose just to tickle the other.

“Heh! Stop tickling me then!” Itto gave up on T-posing to at least keep his armpits safe.

“Haha, I’m trying!” Wriothesley said, poking the other repeatedly to tickle him.

“Ahaha! No you aren’t!” Itto replied, giggling himself silly while trying to cover himself with his arms.

“Just relax, and let me measure you.” he said, wrapping the tape around his waist again while tickling him all the way around.

“Ahahahahahahaha!!” Itto jumped and laughed, trying to wriggle away to escape.

“I thought you said you weren’t ticklish?” Wriothesley teased, tickling the other’s side for a moment.

“Pfft, hahahaha! Staaahp! You’re doing all that on purpose!” Itto protested with a playful smack to the other’s hand.

“Hm, doing what? I’m just trying to get your measurements.” He rubbed his hand a little before chuckling.

“Like hell you are! Liar…” Itto crossed his arms and scoffed, making Wriotheslay laugh. “It’s not funny! You ass.” Itto turned around and pretended to hit him on the shoulder for the funny.

“Ahaha, sorry! Sorry…” Wriothesley chuckled and composed himself before speaking again. “Now, you did mention the sleeves were too tight and “stupid,” am I right?”

“Yeah, they suck.” Itto nodded.

“What length would you like them to be?” Wriothesley asked while he measured the length Itto’s arms.

“Uh, I dunno? Short? Can’t long sleeves be separate? I really hate how these are- like- half long, half short. It’s so uncomfortable!” Itto responded, having no trouble standing still now. He was very compliant, lifting his arms when needed as the tape was wrapped around his bicep and whatnot.

“Perhaps. Cold inmates usually get an outer shirt so they don’t get sick and such. It might be a little scratchy for you, though. I dunno what fabrics you like.”

“Oh boy, I dunno either… Ask Ayato.”

Wriothesley chuckled at Itto’s response and continued measuring until he was done with the oni’s upper body. “Now, are your pants fitting alright?”

“Eh, not really... Why do I have to wear suspenders? The waist feels weird and these- these *things* are too small.” he said, fidgeting with the suspenders.

“Hm. Eh, we could probably just pick a pair that’s one or two sizes bigger. Might have to cuff the legs though...”

“Huh? Whaddya mean by that?” Itto looked confused while processing what the duke just said.

“Eh, if they’re too long we’ll have to fold the legs up a bit… eh, the fold *is* the cuff, see.”

“Ohh, yeah, that makes more sense! I thought you meant, like, handcuffs?” His misunderstanding made Wriothesley laugh out loud in astonishment.

“Did you really think I’d be cruel enough to cuff your ankles?” Wriothesley asked, in disbelief after such a ridiculous assumption.

“Can you blame me?? It’s been a long day, bro! That’s why I was confused!” Itto replied, laughing as well.

After the two of them had finished laughing and calmed down, they could resume their conversation. Wriothesley noticed Itto seemed a lot happier than when he first came in, so he assumed he’d be fine to return to his cell.

“So, new uniform, noise cancellers, and um… huh, was that all?” he asked.

“I think so? I forgor.” Itto replied.

“Hah, time sure does fly. You should get back to your cell.” Wriothesley tried to usher him to the door.

“Ugh. Do I have to?” Itto huffed and crossed his arms. He didn’t want to leave yet.

“Yes, assuming you’ve recovered. You seem fine, so move along.” Wriothesley tried to coax the oni to follow him, but he refused.

“And what if I don’t wanna, huh? What then, big guy? Gonna toss me out yourself? Ha! I doubt it.” Itto instigated, grinning with mischief.

“That’s-… not a bad idea, actually.” Wriothesley’s expression matched that of Itto as he approached.

“H-Hey, wait! I was kidding~! C’mon, man!” It was at this moment that he knew he’d fucked up.

“Tsk tsk tsk. C’mere, you.” Wriothesley chuckled and made a playful effort to capture the oni, even though he tried to keep the office’s desk and chair between himself and the duke. However, Itto made one small misstep that landed him right in Wriothesley’s grip.

“Ack-! Hey! Let me go!” Having his Vision confiscated had made him weaker (unless that’s not a thing in Fontaine, idk), so wriggling free didn’t work very well.

“Nope. Hold still.” Wriothesley smirked, held him tighter and started tickling his sides, keeping him trapped in a tickle-hug from behind, which instantly made him laugh from surprise.

“Pfft, hahahahahahaha! HehEHEhey!! Whahat gihihives?!” Itto wasn’t expecting tickling, that’s for sure.

“Since you won’t co-operate, I thought of a way to convince you otherwise.” Wriothesley said, also hoping the tickles would calm him like Monsieur Neuv- I mean, uh, whaaaat?

“Thahat- that’s not fair!! Stohohop~! Ahahahahaha!!” Itto wiggled and giggled, protesting playfully every now and then while trying to push the other’s arms away.

“Only if you surrender. Hm, it kinda looks like you’re resisting arrest~” the human teased, poking in different spots whilst holding the oni firmly in place.

“Nohoho! I- heheh- I’m ahalready in jahahail!” Itto snickered, trying to not give away any of his weaker spots.

“Ah, that’s what they all say.” Wriothesley noticed every twitch, smiling as he poked at the other’s ribs repeatedly, earning himself a lot more giggles and playful protests.

“Whohoho do you thihink you ahahahare?!?” Itto was flabbergasted to feel the other already finding out his weakness.

“Oh, I dunno, the duke? Your arresting officer? I’m the boss around here, you know.” Wriothesley chuckled with amusement as he bullied the other.

“Uhunhahahand mehehehe!!” Itto protested, giggling his head off whilst trying to swat the evil pokes away.

“Mm? No, I don’t think I will.” Wriothesley found the situation very funny. He quickly transitioned his pokes to playful flutters and scritches, revoking his office’s status as a quiet place.

“Whaha! WahahaHAHAIT-!!” Itto nearly squaked at the sudden change of pace, his giggles getting louder and more uncontrolled.

“Ticklish, are we?” Wriothesley’s fingers were quick and skillful as if he’d done this regularly, tickling the other’s sensitive ribs despite all the thrashing.

“WAHAHAHAHAHA!! L-LEHEHET GOHOHOHOHO!!” Itto yelped, trying very hard to escape the other’s grip while he laughed helplessly.

“Say “mercy” and I’ll stop.” Wriothesley said, slowing down his tickling to make sure Itto heard him, giving him an easy way out.

“Pfft, never!” Itto retorted, feeling silly having that sensory need fulfilled by the dude that arrested him. He never would’ve guessed…

“Ah, suit yourself, then.” Wriothesley chuckled at the other’s boldness and resumed the quicker tickling, finding the other’s laughter somewhat contagious.

“Pfft! Wahahait! PlehehehEHEHEASE!!” Itto nearly squealed, laughing his ass off once again as he squirmed in the other’s grip. Alas, the tickles had weakened him also; he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Begging already? Oh dear.” Wriothesley chuckled and switched to vibrating his fingers into the other’s ribcage, nearly sending the poor oni to the floor.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” He was laughing too hard to protest, wriggling and thrashing so much Wriothesley nearly lost his grip.

“Wow, you’re really freakin’ out, huh?” He joked, continuing to tickle the other.

“SHUHUHUT IHIHIHIT!!” Itto replied (barely), indeed flipping his shit over how badly it tickled.

“You ready to give up yet?” Those damn vibrations… How did Wriothesley know to do that? So unfair!

“STAHAHAHAP!! Rehelehehehease mehehehehehe!!” Itto squealed before he wheezed and struggled to breathe. “I’ll take that as a yes.” the other commented, chuckling at the other as he stopped tickling. “Heh, you okay?” He asked, chuckling as the other pretended to go limp in his arms.

“Ehehe… heheh…! You’re evil…” Itto said, giggling while catching his breath.

“I know, but that doesn’t answer my question. Are you okay? … and stand up, you’re not a ragdoll.” Itto chuckled with amusement before a short tickle attack to his armpit jumpstarted him again.

“GAHAHA-!! Gods, don’t do that! Heheh…! I’m fine!” he said, standing normally whilst keeping his arms down to protect himself, giggling slightly between breaths.

Wriothesley was surprised, letting the other catch his breath before he spoke again. “Really? You’re “fine” after all that?” He asked, letting go of him.

“Tch, yeah, it’s not like I’ve never been tickled before!” Itto boasted confidently, throwing shame out the window for a moment.

“Is that so?” Wriothesley chuckled at his admission, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah? I’ve-… I mean-… I guess I’m used to it?” Itto tried to hide his embarrassment, but his ears were slowly turning red despite his efforts. He tended to blush that far when he felt shy and whatnot.

“Right, I’m not surprised considering how goofy you can be. It’s not every day I get to tickle an inmate, haha!” Wriothesley joked, giving Itto a ticklish poke.

“Pff- hey! Hahaha…! I guess you’re lucky?” Itto added, chuckling with the other.

“Heh, I suppose. So are you gonna leave my office and behave yourself, or am I gonna have to start round two?” Wriothesley threatened playfully, making sure to keep a lighthearted expression as he crossed his arms.

“Oh I bet I can take you down this time! Everyone’s ticklish somewhere, ya know!” Itto retorted with equal silliness, cracking his knuckles in an overconfident stance.

“So you’re-?”

“I’m gonna fuck around and find out!” The oni interrupted, knowing there would be consequences, but that he could at least survive them.

“Hm. Try me, you won’t.” Wriothesley challenged, getting ready to wrestle the oni down if he had to.

“You’re gonna get it!” Itto taunted before he made his approach. Wriothesley chuckled and attempted the same desk-between-them strategy Itto had used before when trying go escape him, which proved to be a rather fun game. Eventually, however, the duke got distracted once he bumped his hip into the corner of the desk, wincing slightly in pain before Itto managed to catch him.

“Ah, damn…” he muttered briefly, held like a grumpy cat as Itto lifted him from behind for a moment to celebrate his victory. “Still got some strength left in ya, huh?” he said. It seemed Itto didn’t notice he got hurt.

“Dude, of course! Vision or no, I’m still an oni!” Itto said proudly before setting the man down. “Looks like I win!” he added, keeping the other hugged.

“And who said I gave up?” Wriothesley asked, chuckling to himself. The situation was so unusual and amusing he couldn’t help himself.

“I did, cus I’m about to defeat you!” Itto replied, initiating his silly attack without further warning. With his arms wrapped around the other’s middle, Itto tickled his sides, which caused him to jolt and snicker slightly.

“Mpfft-! A-As if I’ll- *snrk* g-go down so easily…” Wriothesley said, hoping to keep his composure as he tried to break free, but that only caused Itto’s hands to slip a little bit as his grip loosened slightly. “AhahAH-!” The tickles hadn’t stopped, and the slip caused them to move to the sides of Wriothesley’s ribcage instead, which made him jump and laugh with surprise.

“Oh? What was that?” Itto chuckled and kept going, giggling along with amusement.

“Shihihit-! Hahahahahah!” Wriothesley had forgotten how ticklish he could be, and he certainly didn’t expect Itto to find a good spot so quickly.

“Ooh, is the boss a little sensitive there~? Hahahaha! Oh poor you.” Itto teased, mischievous as ever. Wriothesley wheezed and bucked, trying to break free from the ticklish grip.

“Hahahahaha!! Fuhuhuck- stohohohop!” Wriothesley felt embarrassed to make such a fool of himself.

“You givin’ up already?” Itto asked, giggling while he kept tickling, switching spots to the other’s abdomen.

“HahahAHAHAHA!! NOHOHOHO-!!” Wriothesley laughed louder despite his best efforts, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment. He could barely believe he’d gotten himself so ticklish with an inmate of all people.

“Tickle tickle tickle~” Itto teased, tickling the other’s tummy. As luck would have it, Wriothesley finally to break free from Itto’s grasp. He’d love swiftly turn the tables, but he had to breathe first.

“Ah- shit- wait, wahahait! We can talk about this!” Wriothesley glared at him, intimidating the other. Itto tried to bargain his way out, but the duke was having none of it once he approached.

“Oho, I think we’ve talked plenty. Get over here.” Wriothesley replied bluntly, ready for revenge. Itto tried to back away, but Wrio caught him before he could try to escape. “Not so fast.” he said.

“But-! Please! Ihi-!”

“Nope.”

“Ahahahahaha!! Nooo!”

Wriothesley interrupted Itto and tickled him again before he could finish speaking, this time managing to wrestle the other to the floor to really wreck him. Or, well, to defeat him at least. Despite everything, Wriothesley knew better than to overstimulate the oni himself.

“NahAHAHAHahah-!! C’mohohon~!! Ihi was just plahayihihing!!” Itto kept laughing and squirming on the floor, his legs kicking as Wriothesley held his wrists with one hand while tickling him silly with the other.

“I’d have cuffed you for real if I wasn’t feeling merciful…” Wriothesley muttered, acting all grumpy after the tickles he’d faced just moments ago. “You surrendering yet?” he asked.

“NEVERR!!” Itto shook his head.

“You sure about that?” Wriothesley smirked and tickled his way up to Itto’s armpits, switching between them with his one hand.

“Pfft~ ahahAAH!! NAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Itto screeched and tried to get away somehow, making the other chuckle.

“Heh. Didn’t know you could sound like that.” Wriothesley commented. Itto managed to free his arms, but at the cost of his ribs as Wriothesley switched spots, once again tickling his ribcage with vibrating fingers like he had done before. “Do you yield?”

“FFAHAHAHAHAHA!! FIHIHINE-!! YOHOHOU WIHIHIN!!” With his head thrown back, the poor, ticklish oni didn’t last very long before surrendering. Wriothesley finally stopped and pulled his hands away.

“Heheh, you sure put up quite the fight.” Wriothesley was sort of impressed with the other’s endurance.

“Hah… eheh… hehe *hic* heh…! I hate you~ haha…!” Itto struggled to reply while catching his breath, still covering his ribs with his arms just in case.

“Heh, hate’s a strong word. I didn’t kill ya, did I?” Wriothesley joked, reaching out to help Itto get up with him.

“Hahah…! You almost did…” Itto replied, still giggly while he was helped up.

“I didn’t think you could handle all that. I’m impressed.” Wriothesley admitted, smiling at the other.

“Heheh, shut up! You’re cruel!” Itto gently punched him in the shoulder as a playful gesture.

“Hahahaha! I know I am. Still, you’re quite the fighter, huh? Have I told you about the pankration ring yet?” he asked, crossing his arms as he spoke.

“Heheh… huh? The whuh?” Itto chuckled, finally recovered from their tickle fight.

“I’m sure I showed you the area when you got here. Didn’t I?”

Itto lagged for a moment while his brain processed before he remembered. “Oh! Yeah the uh, that boxing arena thingy, right?”

“Yes, that one.”

“What about it?”

“Heh, you could be a pretty good fighter in there y’know. It’s a great way for energetic inmates to blow off steam.”

“Is that so?” Itto was interested already.

“Yes. You should check it out sometime… after your accommodations and whatnot, of course. Just be sure not to hit your opponents too hard, alright?”

“Right, yeah…! I’ll kick your ass for sure!”

“Oh? Is that a challenge?”

“You bet it is!!”

“Haha, I’ll let you know when my schedule’s free for that. You’d best not underestimate me.”

“And you’d better not tickle me! I’d rather lose in real combat than be humiliated like that!”

“Hahahaha! Fine, no dirty tricks from me.”

Although Itto was confused by how quickly their tickle war had ended and how casual conversation had started again, he stuck around to keep discussing with Wriothesley before he felt satisfied enough to return to his cell. He hoped he’d be able to get out soon, but he also wanted to spar with the duke someday.

Who knows how fun that would be?

[muttering-folklore]

thinking abt frollo and esmeralda’s relationship and how it heavily fractures after frollo realises he has a lack of control over her. ramble beneath the cut

during her introduction song, he immediately jumps to the conclusion that her dancing is inherently evil and sinful behaviour because it arouses him and he just doesn’t know how to respond to that or deal with it other than reacting in outrage (since he is an archdeacon and must remain celibate).

he only views esmeralda as something desirable after she steps foot into the notre dame and admits her interest in religion to him. after he runs into her in the notre dame and she says she’d like to learn more about christianity, he almost immediately softens his behaviour and approach towards her, saying something akin to “you’re one of the good ones”, because he sees that she has a trait he can view as agreeable.

it also provides him with an ‘in’ to her due to his high-ranking position within the church. if she’s interested in religion then she’ll come to the notre dame frequently, and they’ll likely interact more often. he views it as an opportunity, which he then attempts to take.

in quasimodo’s belltower they have a conversation where he says that she can stay in the notre dame for an unspecified amount of time and that he’ll tutor her in her studies of the bible — he’s pushing this point extremely heavily, proving his interest in her, and providing her with an opportunity where he’d exert some control over her and have a relationship based on power imbalance (that of a teacher and a student). and, it’s almost like he’s unaware that he’s sexually interested in her because he’s squashed that side of him down. he can’t recognise what he’s feeling anymore.

after esmeralda points out how he’s acting towards her he immediately gets violent and aggressive (grabbing her arm, telling phoebus to drag her out of the cathedral to arrest her, accusing her of twisting the truth), because he doesn’t know how to cope with the fact she saw straight through him and rejects his crafted plan that allows him to exert power over her.

this eventually sets him on a downward spiral, where along the way he gets progressively more twisted. he even attempts to assault her when she’s in a cell after she was caught and arrested as a sort of “last resort” to see if she’s changed her mind about him (the whole “choose me or your pyre” thing), and only when she physically fights back against him, rejecting him and his attempted influence and tight grip over her in a way he can’t fully ignore, is when he finalises the decision that she’ll be killed and allows phoebus in for them to say their last goodbyes. the entire time he acts like he has authority over her (even though he really doesn’t), and is incredibly possessive over her too.

he also lashes out at quasimodo whenever he discusses or shows that he has feelings towards esmeralda, because frollo does have authority over quasimodo and projects heavily onto him (he berates him and screams at him etc until he gets quasimodo to promise he won’t even think about esmeralda anymore, because that’s what frollo wants to do)

[cogentranting]

A little collection of untangling the knot of Tim's thought process:

A direct line from "I led my men into a situation that got them killed" to "I can't let Lucy be involved or I will also get her fired/arrested/killed/worse."

A slightly less direct line from those two thoughts to "I can't be with Lucy because my judgment/character is compromised overall and so I will lead her into [unspecified bad thing]"

He's being forced to face some decisions he's made that call into question his entire view of himself and the principles that he's built as his foundation

Tim actually did the leaving and that's significant because I don't think we've seen him do the leaving before. Certainly not with Isabel or Ashley, but even with Rachel where it was closer to mutual, even though she did ask him to come with her she is still the one who moved away and left him. But especially with Isabel and Ashley there is a very strong sense in which they ran away from him. I don't think it's as directly correlated as him reacting to that by leaving Lucy before she can leave him, but I think there's something there.

[koinomegaluvr]

If you have any lore/info you'd like to share abt corey/coreymichi I'd love to hear it! (I love his design. Such a little guy.)

thank you 🥹 I am genuinely flabbergasted anyone is curious about corey jacob “cj” larkin……

The general plot of his story is that he’s an american foreign exchange student who is essentially “shipped off” to another country for a year to study and make better of himself.

…corey is a 15 year old boy from new york city and comes from a shitty neighbourhood and a shitty school (as if he actually attends school to begin with lol)

…he’s known to be quite volatile bc he struggles with violent anger issues and a nicotine addiction. His anger issues stem from untreated, moderate to severe ADHD and a rocky upbringing (dad’s in jail, mom has issues. His anger outbursts were a lot worse when he was a smaller kid), but he attends community counselling for his issues and is on mood stabilizers for his anger. When he takes them, he’s a lot more lethargic and nonchalant in his day to day life..

…nearly his entire friend group all have unspecified gang affiliations, except for him and his best friend and though he tries to stay out of that business, he is still valued by a lot of his gang friends…and alas still ends up in a lot of trouble with the law, regardless. He steals for his buddies a lot, beats on others when he’s mad, particularly on a rich spoiled brat kid named Riley, spends nights in jail/juvie…he gets arrested for something a lot more serious and narrowly misses getting tried as an adult for it, but i’ll go more in depth into that possibly later or on a separate post…

On his literal first night in Japan, he accidentally runs head-on into Takemichi on the street making michi drop his food on the ground. This triggers him to absolutely HATE corey with a burning passion—but like. how could he not. Corey looks like an entitled tourist, speaks clumsy japanese, and has a standoff-ish and lethargic personality…

…so for the entirety of the summer break leading up to the start of school, Takemichi and his boys pick fights (not just ass whooping either) with Corey, and much to Takemichi and Corey’s anguish they end up attending the same school.

…they start become more friendly with one another after Corey is tasked with helping Takemichi with his math lessons (my man’s is failing so hard), and with every study session, they grow to understand one another more and more and there are homoromantic undertones to their friendship

also michi doesn’t really tell Corey about Toman business bc he doesn’t wanna involve some random american in that shit (and i’m undecided if i even want corey to have any connection with toman to begin with because he doesn’t rest fit into all that…but…we’ll see…), so this is precisely where the lore gets messy and needs some revising….

[angie-j-kay]

Good unspecified time of day! I have 5 hours of sleep in me and I feel like bothering some people. Feel free to use this ask as a space to talk about anything on your mind. If an unspecified question is too daunting lemme put some forth!

If you could go back to experience a wonderful time in your life, what would it be?

Would you rather be able to forget a movie to watch over again or a book?

What would you consider is a skill that doesn't get enough hype? (Like doing your own taxes, growing a garden, being knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna)

Brownies from the edge, side, or middle?

Is there anything small (or could be considered small) that you accomplished or had happen recently that just made your day?(folded laundry, made a good drink, took a nap in the sun)

I'm taking the skill question, because it's a RANT.

The ability to make one's own clothing is a skill that is SEVERELY underrated in the modern world. The fast fashion industry controls so much of what's available to us, and has for so long, that we just sort of accept these days that we've got to accept inconvenient, uncomfortable, unsustainable clothing that's going to fall apart in just a few months' time because that's all that's available.

What do you like to wear? Doesn't matter, you only get what's on the market this month. Can't wear certain fabrics? Hope you have buckets of money and a mess of free time to go looking for clothes. Favorite colors? Nope. You're at the mercy of WalMart and Zara. If you're a woman, it's even worse, because gods help you if you want to wear anything that actually lets you go live a life and do stuff. And if you're a dude? Get ready to be bored. It's just variations on the same drab theme from now until the day you die.

As an added bonus, most of what you find in stores is only kinda-sorta designed to fit a certain body type, and if it doesn't fit you perfectly then you're implied to be too [whatever you are] to wear "nice" stuff. This is your fault, don't you know?

If you learn to sew, and it's not nearly as hard as people think, you can make things specific to your clothing needs for cheaper than you would ever be able to buy them. And your clothing will last WAY longer than anything you'll find in a shop. Also, if you want to wear something that just isn't made these days... look, no one's gonna arrest you for wearing a floor-length cloak or a pirate shirt out to the grocery store, okay? Trust me, I know. I wear 18th Century stays and petticoats to work on the regular.

[dandelionsprout42]

Police departments in mahou shoujo shows aren't particularly smart.

Let's take H2O G1 as an example. Had I been a police constable in southeast Australia, it'd take me a mere 10 episodes into season 1 before I'd caught them wide open.

The approach would be simple: • Navy anti-torpedo radars would detect seeming torpedos blasting around at freaking 130km/h forth and back between Unspecified Australian City and Mako Island. • Once the "torpedos" stop to a halt, local boats' fishing radars would detect something at the stop area that was the size of a small dolphin or three.

Already at that point the mermaids would be an easy deal to find. It wouldn't take like 9 seasons across 4 generations to do. But just in case: • Set up detection equipment and underwater cameras along the approximate route. Set the cameras to a recording livestream, and also look out for if any equipment get damaged in unusual ways (Safe to say coastal Australia in mid-summer doesn't have cameras freeze to ice). • To hammer the deal, set up wildlife cameras along the west, south, and east beach-to-forest treshold, and a few inside the forest too. Plus some cameras outside local surf shops and piers in the city.

At that point, it's game over for the mermaids, but they'd be paid big money™ to fix underwater pipe leaks at 150m depth and to join swimming shows. Quite possibly would people find out how to transform more people into mermaids. They would not be dissected, no matter how much District 9 four years later claim they would.

(And this isn't even getting into how I'd get Hawkmoth raided and arrested in Paris within 4 weeks.)

[officialcreature]

For some reason my brain just decided it would spend today really picking apart how in medical settings I'm expected to set achievable and measurable goals, but governments just get to say shit like "War on Terror" and spend more money than a human mind can comprehend.

Like, "Destroy Hamas." What do you mean by destroy? Arrest, kill, prevent from being able to take action in some way, get them to agree to something? Who do you mean when you say Hamas? Specific government and military officials, anyone involved with them, all Gazans? Like we just let people say their goal is something as nebulas as "destroy Hamas" and go with it.

Depending on how you define 'destroy' or who you define as 'Hamas' the goal could easily be unachievable. The lack of specific objective also makes it impossible to measure progress or when the goal has been achieved.

I mean there are obvious reasons for this, such as changing situations, the pressure to act quickly, the ability to change how you're classifying things in order to say you achieved the goal, not giving away your specific goals to prevent the opponent from shifting resources to prevent it, justifying all sorts of things because you can bend them to fit the goal, etc., but it's wild we just do entire wars without set goals.

There are also obvious drawbacks like the fact that you end up in interacted conflicts with no set goal because you overextended yourself, you end up involved in conflicts that literally never benefited you in the first place, it's easy for different actors to take advantage of the unspecified goal to get funding/backing for their own goals.

Also fuck Israel and Zionists, this was just the example that is most being discussed right now so it's what my brain was attaching it to.

[cyarskaren52]

Trayvon Martin.

The Paul young man in Kansas City.

Trauma we relive way too often.

Thinking about Sandra Bland too. The policing of Black bodies is overwhelming.

Ron desatanist this is the Florida you want and don’t you dare say otherwise!

HOMELATESTCULTUREENTERTAINMENTBEAUTY/STYLEAWARDS SEASON 2023

RACE MATTERS

Woman in Fla Was Fatally Shot by Her Neighbor, But the Shooter Walked Free. Why?

This will anger you: Ajike “AJ” Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor who was allegedly yelling racial slurs at her and threatened her children.

By

Kalyn Womack

Published3 hours ago

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How does a woman get shot and killed and her shooter is still on the loose? Residents of Ocala, Florida are asking the same question in the killing of a Black woman who was gunned down by her neighbor Friday. According to NBC News, the incident was the result of an ongoing feud.

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Ajike “AJ” Owens’ children were playing in a fieldnear an apartment complex when suddenly, a white woman came from the area and began yelling racial slurs at them, according to an account from attorney Benjamin Crump. One of the children accidentally left behind their iPad which the woman seized. When the child went to retrieve it, the woman allegedly threw the device both hitting the boy and cracking the screen. The woman also allegedly threw a pair of roller skates at the children as well. 

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Naturally, the children went back home to tell their mother what happened. Owens then walked over to the neighbor’s door to speak to her about the incident but things took a fatal turn.

“She knocked on the door, and at that point, the woman allegedly shot through the door, hitting AJ, who later died from her injuries,” Crump said in the statement.

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Read more from NBC News:

At a news conference Monday, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods did not confirm or reject Crump’s account, telling reporters he was not “going to stand here and tell you what they’re putting out there is inaccurate. It’s just I don’t know yet.” Here’s what the sheriff said he does know: - There had been a long-standing “neighborhood feud” between the shooter and Owens about her children. - The children may have been hit by an unspecified object. “Was something thrown at them? Yes, but not directly at them of what we’re being told now,” Woods said. “It just unfortunately may have hit them.” He added: “The children are a big part of answering a lot our questions.” - When Owens came to the shooter’s door, there was a heated exchange. Owens was shot through the door. - At least two of Owens’ four children may have witnessed the shooting, which occurred about 9 p.m.

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Because Florida is a good ol’ “stand your ground” state, law enforcement must determine whether Owens posed an imminent threat or was simply acting as a mother trying to get to the bottom of an attack on her children. While they dilly dally on that decision, they are not authorized to make an arrest, the Sheriff Woods said. 

Well... they made an arrest when Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl from behind his front door - the same manner Owens was shot - despite Lester’s self-defense claim that he was frightened by the teen. 

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“A closed, locked door. The door never opened. My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said via NBC. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0221GBwwquPMbu6X7jpLb1TBsK8dyzwxzempQ4thD1EMkKSwkpXspW6GDJ87tdeRzGl&id=26423400230&mibextid=ncKXMA

Sent from my iPhone

[osarina]

as i promised i will elaborate.

anyway, and i hope i can articulate this properly, but the driving difference between pmreader and mori, and also pmreader and beast!dazai, is that she does not care for yokohama the same way they do—bear with me. one of mori's few positive traits is the fact that he will always do what is necessary to protect yokohama, and beast!dazai too went to extreme length to preserve the world, and thus the city, if only to protect oda.

pmreader wasn't born in yokohama, she was born in a town that ended up being an unspecified warfront during the great war, she was brought in by mori and lived on the warfront for years trying to hone her ability, when the war eventually ended, she spent a handful of years at the underground clinic with mori until he was brought in by the previous boss as a physician, and when she was around 12/13, she was sent to kyoto to be mentored by one of the previous boss's executives. she wasn't brought back to yokohama until she was 16.

our girl has three driving motives throughout wykyk and the other aus: 1) validation and praise from mori, 2) love, and 3) revenge. both times she she ends up becoming pmboss, she loses 1 and 2—mori is dead when she takes over, and in civzai she has no memories of dazai once she becomes boss, while in beast, he's dead. she has never found a home in places, but rather people. yokohama isn't her home—the port mafia is. mori is. dazai is. chuuya is. klaus and itou are, and they're not even from yokohama. the people she works with are her home, so she was never able to come to love yokohama and have that instinct to protect it in the same way mori did. so she loses mori, and she loses dazai, and in beast she loses chuuya, all she has left is 3—revenge, and thats why both in civzai and in beastzai, yokohama ends up being in caught in the crossfires of some VERY bad conflicts. she doesn't have the same restraint that mori, dazai, and even chuuya would in her pursuit of revenge and in her ambition to make the port mafia stronger, because revenge and the port mafia is the only thing she cares for anymore.

so in her hands, the port mafia becomes something far more destructive than it ever was under mori or dazai. they maintained a careful balance between control and chaos so that yokohama could thrive, and that's lost when she takes control. she doesnt care for yokohama as a city or as a home because it never was her home; she doesn't care if it thrives unless it suits her interests, but with both of them (and chuuya in beast) gone, her only interest left is revenge, and if yokohama is the cost of getting it, then so be it.

at her core, and i know some of u might disagree with this, but bear with me, pmreader is VERY selfish. she furthers the port mafia because it's what mori wants and she wants his approval. she goes through hell with dazai's wishy washy-ness because she wants his love. her driving motives are inherently selfish. and honestly, this is probably something mori has seen since the beginning, and it's why he never intended for her to take over as boss except in civzai, where he tried his best to mold her into taking over after him, but dazai comes along and fucks everything up. i think maybe if she assumed control naturally in the civzai universe, and she didn't have to kill mori to protect dazai, she might've been a good pmboss to honor mori's memory, but everything becomes so tainted after the events of civzai, and she's so bitter and angry and confused because she doesn't remember dazai and doesn't understand fully why she killed mori, that she tries to find ppl to blame for everything that went wrong. and mind you, this city has never been kind to her anyway—in civzai she got arrested and publicly persecuted, she doesn't get along with the ada in any au, nothing ties her to the city so she doesn't care to try to preserve it unless it suits her interests. which it typically doesn't once she loses both mori and dazai (and chuuya).

anyway thank u for coming to my ted talk, i hope i articulated this correctly.

pmreader so funny because chuuya & dazai always complain when she whacks them or suggests dealing with an enemy thru force bc they’re like what the hell youre supposed to be the peaceful/diplomatic one of the three of us, and then in the only two universes she becomes pmboss, her time as boss is literally the most violent since the prev boss & she starts not one but two wars that rip up yokohama

[runawaymarbles]

Hii!

I don’t understand what’s going on with AO3 and the election? I’ve been using it for about a year so this is all new to me! Is Tiffany getting elected actually bad?

I hate censorship, so seeing posts about them censoring stuff is concerning but idk how much truth to it there is 😳

I just want to be informed, and understand!

Hi! Welcome to AO3:)

since I'm not sure how much you know already, the background (background as interpreted by me: I am not speaking on behalf of the OTW) is: Ao3 is run by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the nonprofit that also runs Fanlore and publishes Transformative Works & Cultures. Anyone who has donated $10 to the OTW in the last year, and chooses "yes I want to be a member" at checkout is an OTW member. (This is not the same as having an ao3 account.) Every year, there is an election to fill either 2 or 3 seats on the Board of Directors. OTW Members (i.e. people who donated between 7/1/21 and 6/30/22, in this case) get to vote on this.

Most of the time, this election is only really followed by people on fail_fandomanon. Sometimes, it isn't.

Things the Board of Directors does: writes posts to send out to the general public when Things Are Happening (the recent csam attacks, the requests for more antiracism measures.) Writes posts to send to volunteers when Things Are Happening (see prev.) Keeps track of what all the committees are doing and how it ties in with whatever the strategic plan says they should be doing. Deals with the IRS/US laws. Approves large funding requests. Deals with emails that someone else has deemed outside their own wheelhouse. Herds cats. Proposes priorities. Points at something shiny, pats the org on the flank, and says "walk that way, walk that way!! Come on buddy, you can do it!!". etc etc etc.

Things the Board of Directors doesn't do: unilaterally determine ao3 content policy. Let us use the word "porn" on ao3 drive merch. Make decisions that are going greatly affect other volunteers' work without input and some level of agreement from said volunteers.

Anyway. This year, one of the five candidates for the three open board seats is Tiffany G. (More information about all the candidates and their platforms is at https://elections.transformativeworks.org)

Tiffany is a tag wrangler from an unspecified country that is, from context, assumed to be China. The candidate Q&A can be read here. Her answers were a little bit confusing, but she said she wanted to update the ToS policies on 'pedophilic and illegal content' because, quote, "people think we host child porn content and such things... It might... be helpful to clarify that to the public." Further down she said:

a) I support 100% “maximum inclusiveness of content”, yet there is always a boundary to everything. Since OTW is already an influential org, we need to protect our image and hold a better image to the public. I want the public to think of us as an inclusive and socially responsible community. So in general, we have to do something to change. Things like making the rating system more specific and obvious to users will be what I want to do. b) Not really restricting the content being posted. I hope it is like more warnings and ratings for posting work so people know what to expect. And all of these are not surprising to people who do not wish to see this.

I took this to mean "she wants to clarify to outsiders that ao3 does not host csam, is not only for erotica, and update the ratings and warnings system." I don't think that those things are necessary or should be a focus of the org, which is part of why I didn't vote for her.

Other people took it to mean "Tiffany is against pornographic or underage works and wants them to be banned." Some people took this, combined with her nationality, to the conclusion of "Tiffany is a secret plant of the Chinese Communist Party who wants to join the board, get all the ao3 user data, and then have the users from mainland China arrested" (despite the fact that this is not information the board would have access to, if for no other reason than ao3 is blocked in China so anyone trying to view the site from mainland china has to use a VPN anyway.) Some people are upset that the OTW elections committee "allowed" her to run in the first place, because they think that not letting anyone with opinions the current board or elections committee didn't like is an absolutely great precedent to set.

There are a bunch of comments on tw.org, and some in fail_fandomanon, that give more context to her comments in terms of Chinese fandom (though most posters still disagree with her position.)

This got... longer than planned. But to the question "Is tiffany getting elected actually bad" - If my interpretation of her statements are correct, I think it would be annoying, because she does not have the experience I think that being on the Board requires, and focuses on priorities I disagree with. Which isn't to say she'd never have a valuable perspective or ideas about something, but there are four other candidates that I think are much better suited to it at this point in time. If the people who think she is an antishipper bent on censorship are correct, she could probably make life very annoying for the rest of the board-- but considering the rest of them are not pro-censorship, I can't see how she'd have much influence in that direction in the org as a whole.

If the people who think she's doing espionage on behalf of the CCP are correct, then... look, I can't even finish that sentence because I find the idea of the CCP deciding that a) they need to get ao3 user data and b) the way to do that is to run a clearly unqualified candidate in a public board election absurd.

the tl;dr of this tl;dr is that there's a lot of fearmongering going around, and a lot of accusations and hate (and racism. let’s be real a lot of this is racism) directed her way. I don't know her, so I don't know what her "real" opinions are, but regardless of who wins the board election, ao3 is not going to be censored any time soon.

if for no other reason than if the Abuse team was told on top of all their other work, they now had to assess and remove fics reported for being "problematic", they would say "we'd prefer not to" and then proceed to not do it.

It's awesome that people are realizing the board elections and OTW membership are a thing now, though. We kept talking about how to encourage membership, and "running a very dramatic and wanky election" did not occur to us. In retrospect, I don't know why.

[killed-by-choice]

Donna Heim, 20 (USA 1986)

California resident Donna Heim was 20 years old. She was perfectly healthy other than a history of asthma. In 1986, she found out that she was pregnant and ended up going to Her Medical Clinic (which was actually an abortion facility) when she was in the second trimester.

On August 11, 1986, an unspecified HMC employee inserted laminaria dilators and told Donna to come back the next day. Donna was not warned about the risks of abortion and had no idea that she was going to die.

The next day, Donna underwent the abortion at the hands of abortionist Mahlon Douglas Cannon. HMC had not bothered to check Donna’s medical history other than a brief record of the past two weeks. It was already documented that Donna had asthma, but HMC didn’t bother to make sure that Donna was receiving any oxygen or that the drugs administered were safe for her. Donna was also not given a pre-op exam.

During the abortion, Donna suffered bronchospasms and/or laryngospasms. A nurse anesthetist started trying to get Donna to breathe normally, but did not check her medical records or administer any treatment that could have actually helped. Cannon was aware of the situation, but he didn’t help try to save Donna or call 911. Instead he just continued the abortion.

4 or 5 minutes later, Cannon actually tried to do something about his dying client— in a completely incompetent way. Instead of giving any medicine that might have had a chance at saving her, he attempted the Heimlich maneuver. It is unclear why he thought this would do anything. When Donna still couldn’t breathe, Cannon laid her down flat and put his fingers in her mouth. It didn’t help.

By the time someone finally called an ambulance, it was too late. Paramedics arrived to find Donna in full cardio-respiratory arrest. They desperately tried to save her, but she was declared dead shortly after.

The next month, another young client named Liliana Cortez who was perfectly healthy other than having asthma was killed by HMC in strikingly similar circumstances.

(Medical Board Documents)

[addictedtostorytelling]

Was the comment made by Sara about Grissom stopping LH from killing the nazi doctor creep meant to imply that Grissom had given her that info? Or was it more “you didn’t tell me about your relationship with her but I have known”? What’s your take? I have to believe the writers had her say it (as opposed to anyone else) for a purpose. Thank you!

hi, anon!

it is very possible and i think even likely that grissom did fill sara in on the events of episode 06x15 "pirates of the third reich" at some point after the fact—and particularly as they were dating at the time when said events were taking place, so it would have made sense for him to confide in her—however, it is also possible that sara learned about heather's attack on leon sneller/jacob wolfowitz from some other source than him.

presumably, after grissom halted heather's attack, he would have called medical and police services to the scene to tend to sneller/wolfowitz's wounds and arrest him, so there would have been other lvpd employees who witnessed the immediate aftermath of the event and heard directly from grissom the story of what had happened. also, as we learn in episode 07x23 "the good, the bad, & the dominatrix," heather was charged with an unspecified crime in connection with the attack (presumably either assault/battery and/or attempted murder); even though she ultimately escaped conviction of said crime due to her connections to a local judge, what she had done would have been a matter of public record and definitely would have been something that was discussed around the lvpd/lab (i.e., "did you hear that supervisor grissom stopped a dominatrix from whipping a nazi to death in the desert?!"). her actions also likely would have been brought up at leon sneller/jacob wolfowitz's trial, at which the entire team, including sara, likely would have been called on to testify, as they had all worked the case.

in any case, whether grissom told sara what happened directly or she found out in another way, i don't believe her purpose in bringing up the events of that night is to insinuate that she knows more about grissom and heather’s bond than grissom has ever told her.

i think that sara's reasons for bringing up that particular incident from grissom and heather's history have more to do with her drawing attention to heather’s (in her view) criminal tendencies than anything else. 

while of course sara is preoccupied with the notion that grissom and heather may be having a sexual relationship during the events of “immortality,” she is also attempting to work a serial murder case in which, at that moment, heather is the prime suspect. however, her efforts in this regard are receiving a lot of pushback from none other than grissom himself.

ever since grissom showed up in vegas, sara has been going back and forth with him, trying to get him to at least entertain the notion that heather could potentially be the perpetrator behind the serial bombings—just as all of the evidence to that point in the investigation seemingly suggests—however, grissom has stubbornly refused to do so. 

sara’s frustration with grissom has mounted as the man who always used to preach to her to not allow her personal feelings to cloud her professional judgment and to “follow the evidence” above all else has basically stuck his fingers in his ears and gone, “la, la, la! i know you’re saying that all of the material and circumstantial evidence in this case so far points toward heather, but i’m not listening because she’s too special to me!”

of course, sara’s fears about the nature of grissom and heather’s relationship atm and her annoyance with grissom’s comportment regarding the case go hand in hand: she can’t help but think that the only reason why grissom is being so pigheaded about insisting that heather is innocent is because he’s involved with her somehow—and that possibility smarts to acknowledge (particularly given that sara feels as if grissom didn’t ever “fight for her” when they were married/heading toward their divorce in the same way he seems to be fighting for heather now).

however, for as much as her personal feelings about grissom and heather’s relationship are coloring her actions throughout the investigation, they’re not her sole concern.

she does also care about solving the case, and to do so, she needs to get grissom on board with following the evidence. she also cares about grissom’s safety and welfare because, goddammit, she’s still in love with him, even if he’s moved on from her and so wants to warn him about (what she views as) the real danger heather poses to him.

so when henry walks in bearing news that one of the major pieces of evidence so far in the case is the dismembered body of a man heather once tried to kill, sara seizes on the opportunity to remind grissom that heather is perhaps much more prone toward violent and even homicidal behavior than he has to date been willing to allow.

her saying “he's also the man that lady heather almost killed, until you intervened” is tantamount to her being like: “look, gil, i know you don’t want to admit that heather might be involved with these bombings, but you can’t deny that she has a history of violence! the only thing that stopped her from killing sneller/wolfowitz was you showing up when you did and bodily pulling her off of him. the leap from ‘attempted murder’ to ‘murder’ isn’t a big one. do you really think it’s totally outside of the realm of possibility that she could (as the evidence suggests) be guilty in this case? really, when you better than anyone have seen the kinds of things she’s capable of doing when provoked?”

essentially, she is pointing out a pattern to him. 

she means to confront him, in a way: to make him own up to the fact that, despite his high opinion of her, heather does have it in her to kill.

and, yes, she does want to make this point due to her own feelings for grissom and jealousy over how she perceives his bond with heather: because there is more than a small part of her that is so deeply hurt by what she views as his unconditional loyalty to heather compared to his conditional (and ultimately “broken”) loyalty to her; because she wants to make him see that this person he (in her view) has “chosen over her” doesn’t deserve his allegiance.

but she also does so for the sake of the case: because they can’t afford to keep ignoring large swaths of evidence due to personal attachments.

and she also does so for the sake of him: because she doesn’t want something bad to happen to him because he’s putting his trust in (in her view) the wrong person—and especially not someone as potentially dangerous as heather.

there’s jealousy there, sure.

but there’s also frustration.

and there’s also genuine concern.

and underlying everything, there is a feeling of impending doom, like, “why can’t you see what’s right in front of your face?! this woman is trouble, and i can’t stand the thought that you might get hurt because you’re so blind to who she really is.”

she’s trying to give him a wakeup call, to force him to acknowledge, whether or not he wants to, that at this point in the investigation, all roads really do lead to heather as being the mastermind behind the plot.

particularly now that grissom has become a specific target, she feels it’s important for him to be aware of what’s in front of him.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[lurking-latinist]

(also I’d I’m allowed a second ask, I have to once again be predictable and query about the Aftermath Of Trial Story With Brax. because that sounds like a GREAT premise.)

no you may NOT make my askbox more interesting. HOW DARE. lol.

ok so this would be a sort of thematic sequel to The Wrong Idea, my fic about Brax during Invasion of Time. That one's all about Brax thinking the Doctor is a genuine traitor (and probably the real Deadly Assassin) and getting an entirely, well, wrong idea about who he's become.

(The Gallifreyan outsider's POV of the Doctor's career is fascinating--we get a bit of it with Spandrell and Engin in Deadly Assassin, but there's lots more potential. He's a well-connected ne'er-do-well who made the planet too hot to hold him in some unspecified way and fled. Arrested, tried, and convicted, he definitely cuts some kind of secret deal with the CIA [Season 6B]. He eventually leaves them--but does anybody really leave the CIA? they continue to use him for odd jobs--undergoes his sentence and becomes a mercenary. [I mean what would you call working for an alien paramilitary organization in exchange for nice clothes and fancy cars? Even if you don't technically draw a paycheque.] Having regenerated again he is arrested for the murder of the President, for which he gets off by the skin of his teeth, through the most transparent of legal fictions. We've all seen the way he behaves in IoT, even though it's unclear how much of that is eventually remembered. He runs off with the heiress of Heartshaven and apparently misplaces her in a different universe--for which he doesn't seem the least bit sorry. His public reputation, at least among those in the know, is a little better by Five's era, when at least they apologize for trying to execute him for no fault of his own, and he does some national heroics in The Five Doctors and ends up as President again. But then they depose him in absentia and he ends up on trial for his life again. He's a criminal turned the shadiest possible kind of politician turned public figure turned criminal again. Bear in mind that Brax is the respectable one.)

Sorry. Digression. What was I saying?

Oh, yeah, that was all of the misread-backstory that I'm not explaining. I really only have the concept of a scene from this that I'd like to build around. The only way I can make sense of Six not going back to look for Peri is if he tries, and there's some kind of temporal cordon around the whole space-time area that stops him getting there. He keeps getting stopped by CIA agents--proper ones, in uniform--and he's getting very frustrated. He makes a scene. Several scenes. Which reach the ears of Braxiatel, and even though he hasn't actually been part of a We Need To Do Something About Theta conversation for several centuries, he decides that we do, in fact, need to do something about Theta and goes off to find him and give him a talking-to about the terrible mess he's made of his life.

A bunch of old misunderstandings get hashed out, and this is how Brax and the Doctor get from where I left them at the end of The Wrong Idea to, you know, being able to speak to each other in the VNAs.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to do a scene set earlier, during Trial, during the court recess between Mindwarp and Vervoids, where Brax tries to convince the Doctor to accept a court defender. That scene would be a failed attempt at a reconciliation--from Brax's perspective he's trying to help save his thoroughly undeserving brother's life, but from the Doctor's he's just trying to get him ensnared in Gallifrey. And the Doctor, who doesn't know that Brax believes his adventures are those of a professional mercenary and paid agent, has no idea why Brax is treating him with ill-disguised contempt.

[becomewings]

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>

     BTS Universe Story Highlights, pt. 1 / 4

» pt. 2

Introduction

BTS Universe Story, a mobile game published by Netmarble, was released on September 24, 2020. While the majority of the app is essentially a sandbox and engine for users to create their own interactive stories, it also includes official and canon BU content. The first eight segments were introduced between the release date and December 2020, gathered under the title The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>.

“I’m Fine” is half of the I’m Fine/Save Me ambigram introduced in the Love Yourself era. Notably, all of the BU content available in the game so far falls between events of the webtoon Save Me (also called HYYH0 in its logo) and The Notes 1—chronologically, that is, while bearing in mind that time resets to the morning of 11 April Year 22 whenever SeokJin fails to avert a tragedy among his six friends. I want to assure anyone who is unable to play the game that you are not missing any new, major plot beats from the overall BU narrative. Instead, the stories provide more insight into the motivations and consequences of SeokJin’s decisions in the earlier time loops, as well as more depth to individual characters and their circumstances.

The goal of this guide is to summarize each of the eight stories and highlight noteworthy details, especially if they are not yet present in other BU media. Within each story (which I often refer to as an arc, due to their character-focused nature), episodes must be played successively, but the stories themselves can be played in any order. I will present them over a series of posts in the order they are listed under the <I’M FINE> heading. The Prologue and NamJoon’s arc are free to play; the rest are paid content. Please note that due to the app’s Terms & Conditions, I will not include in-game footage here. The images in this guide are sourced from the official trailers/videos and the live action MVs as appropriate.

Content warning: contains references to death, suicide, suicidal ideation, child abuse, domestic violence, blood, homicide, depression, trauma, PTSD

This guide contains major spoilers and includes references to other BU media

Do not repost, copy, or quote without permission

Game Mechanic

Before diving into the summaries, I would like to address the primary mechanic of the game: the user’s control of character choices at designated moments in the stories. It’s a primary marketing point that the player can influence the progression of the narrative, with a frequent in-app tip also declaring, “stories’ endings can vary depending on your choices.” The latter is not strictly true—and it cannot be true due to the structure of the game. Choices are presented within most (not all) episodes, but each episode is an isolated unit: episode 2 provides the same content regardless of what you choose in episode 1. Since the consequences of your decisions are not cumulative, each episode reaches the same ending, and each decision inevitably rejoins the “main” story path (effectively reducing the script size).

So what is the point of this mechanic? While the system is not nearly as complex as what major platform titles are capable of nowadays (I suspect due in large part to the story creation portion of the game), it does foster a sense of interaction with the narrative that isn’t present in static visual media like comics or film. The episodes with choices also have incentive for replay to discover the impact of changing a character’s dialogue or action. Sometimes the differences between the outcomes are inconsequential, but other times you unearth new details, interactions, or memories that are missing in the other path.

I say this partially in reaction to all of the comments and tweets I read for the game trailers and even Smeraldo Book twitter’s choose-your-own-adventure style teasers with The Notes 2 excerpts released last summer. Many users expressed excitement, through words or memes, about finally being able to give the boys the happy ending they deserved. I don’t fault anyone for wanting that happy ending—I wish for it, too. But no matter what the rather overzealous marketing has claimed, I don’t believe that the canon ending of BU is ever meant to be in the audience’s control. But I do feel that this mechanism fits the BU narrative. It echoes the “countless loops” SeokJin has experienced in an effort to save his friends, the choices he must make at every crossroad, and the butterfly effect those actions have on all of their lives. I think it is reasonable to interpret the simple branching paths in the game as alternatives SeokJin has explored across multiple loops in his struggle to find the “right” way forward. I’d love to hear if you have theories of your own!

Prologue

The prologue is a brief episode introducing SeokJin’s repeated struggle and failure to save his friends. He wakes up yet again in his bed on 11 April Year 22, the beginning of the time loop. After reflecting on the tragedies that keep befalling the others, SeokJin realizes that he has only tried to fix the problems he can see. He wonders: “Have I tried to understand the root of my friends’ misfortunes? How much do I really know about my friends? Maybe I was never brave enough to confront their real scars and the worlds they’ve been living in. But I need to do it. Because it may be the key to saving them all.”

How to Offer a Hand

In this story, SeokJin attempts to prevent NamJoon’s arrest after he gets in a fight with a rude customer at Naeri Gas Station, his place of work. The first episode opens on the night of 11 April Year 22 with NamJoon curling his fists, glaring as crumpled bills lie untouched on the pavement. (The money looks similar to the shot from the I Need U MV.) SeokJin reaches for his shoulder, but NamJoon shrugs him off and strides away to punch the customer who deliberately dropped the bills for him to pick up. The gas station owner runs over at the customer’s furious shouts and orders NamJoon to apologize. He refuses, and police officers soon arrive and charge him with assault. No one listens to SeokJin’s protests that the customer started it first. The man sneers as NamJoon enters the police car. “Do you even have money for a settlement? Hey, you’re done for.” NamJoon is sentenced to prison again, and SeokJin hears glass shattering before the loop resets.

Rising from his bed on the morning of 11 April, SeokJin reflects on his failed efforts so far. He has hit the customer’s car, called for NamJoon in the middle of the incident, and stopped the fight himself, the latter of which caused his friends to avoid him later. The fight has even escalated; the details are unspecified, but the audience is provided an ominous shot of SeokJin speaking to a police officer alone at the scene. NamJoon is not the kind of person who would normally respond to that kind of provocation with his fists. SeokJin realizes that he cannot merely stop the fight but must discover and fix the true cause of it.

With this in mind, SeokJin heads to Naeri Gas Station during the day and tries to engage NamJoon. This is their first time meeting since they both returned to Songju, although SeokJin has experienced it in many loops already. “It’s been a while,” he greets (as he does at the end of the Blood Sweat & Tears Japanese version MV). Before SeokJin can dig deeper in their conversation, NamJoon is called away by his boss. SeokJin enters the small employee break room which serves as NamJoon’s living space when he’s not at the container, hoping to find some clues about his friend’s life. SeokJin locates something bundled in newspapers. If the player chooses to open it, he sees a strange shard of glass inside that may belong to a car or motorcycle headlight. He continues on, finding the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan and a notebook. SeokJin hesitates over the invasion of privacy but decides to read it since he needs all the information that he can gather. The journal entries detail NamJoon’s daily life since returning to Songju: his work at the gas station isn’t too bad despite the occasional rude customer; he purchased a book and hopes to get more in the future; he picked up a second job at a wedding hall to help catch up on bills; his brother NamHyeon got in trouble again, leading to more expenses; and his dad’s health has worsened, with hospital bills after an emergency surgery rising to levels that the family cannot afford. SeokJin knew that NamJoon was the de facto head of household due to his father’s illness but was unaware that it was to this degree. He feels sorry for NamJoon yet is also impressed by his maturity, for NamJoon never writes how difficult his situation is.

NamJoon arrives and asks what SeokJin is doing in the room. If the player chooses to answer “reading” instead of “just sitting there,” SeokJin privately observes that the conversation flows more easily when they talk about books. NamJoon says he must leave and declines when SeokJin offers to wait for him there. SeokJin knocks over a pile of books along with money and receipts as he stands. He thinks it is unusual that NamJoon picks up the books before the money. The books seem to be more than a hobby to NamJoon, holding special meaning. Walking to his car, SeokJin wonders if it is pride or determination not to falter that keeps NamJoon from journaling his grievances. He realizes that money is a constant source of frustration and misery to NamJoon, and that’s why he can’t stomach being insulted over the customer’s dropped money. SeokJin’s new plan is to prevent NamJoon from picking up the money. He also calls Palgok County Hospital and offers to pay the patient bill for NamJoon’s father. Anticipating that NamJoon will be angry if he finds out, SeokJin says the payer is Songho Foundation.

That night, SeokJin returns to the gas station with the excuse that he forgot to fill up earlier. The luxury car arrives with a honk, and NamJoon hurries over to assist. He shakes with anger when the customer drops the money on the ground. “Why aren’t you picking it up? You don’t want it? What’s with that look? Pretty arrogant for a part-timer, aren’t you?” goads the customer. SeokJin intervenes. Whether the player chooses to have him advise NamJoon not to pick it up or to order the customer to pick it up himself, the end result is the same. SeokJin asks the customer, “Why are you harassing a pitiful part-timer?” The customer drives away, and something about NamJoon seems off. His face is expressionless, not mad or humiliated. “SeokJin, you…” He stops. “Never mind. Thank you for your help.” The words sound difficult for him to speak.

SeokJin believes that he has saved NamJoon, although this ending feels sloppy. He continues on in the loop to rescue JungKook and later YoonGi, but uneasiness plagues him. Though he meant to help NamJoon with his actions, SeokJin wonders if he hurt him instead. On 5 May Year 22, he returns to the gas station and follows NamJoon when he leaves work early. NamJoon enters a bookstore, and SeokJin sneaks in after him to watch from afar. He overhears employees talking about NamJoon, worrying that he might dirty the pages of the book he’s perusing. NamJoon is too absorbed in the book to notice one of them calling for his attention. SeokJin recalls a memory from their school days when he found NamJoon reading alone in their classroom hideout: he asked why NamJoon read so diligently, and his friend explained that he found it comforting to empty his thoughts of everything else while focused on the book. In the present, SeokJin wonders how he forgot how much books mean to NamJoon. He sacrifices some of his food and transportation budget to afford them, but they enable him “to endure the weight of the world he’s forced to bear on his shoulders.” After realizing this, SeokJin wants to apologize for carelessly sympathizing with the reality that NamJoon has weathered alone.

The next episode is from NamJoon’s perspective, revealing his excitement over being able to purchase a book for the first time in two months. He wants to buy two but can only afford one. The employee at the register sighs and asks why he leafed through a book he wasn’t going to buy. NamJoon apologizes, and she mutters, “So dirty.” He notices his reflection, clothes worn and smelling of gasoline, and realizes she’s talking about him, not the book. He tries to shake off these depressing thoughts, but he is still not accustomed to this treatment despite experiencing it regularly at work. As NamJoon begins to exit the store, the security alarm goes off. The employees demand to check his bag despite his insistence that he didn’t steal anything. Their certainty of his theft angers him. NamJoon allows them to look through his bag, and they are suspicious of the like-new book in it which he brought from home. One begins to call the police until SeokJin appears, vouching for NamJoon by saying he saw everything. The employees accept that the alarm malfunctioned and excuse their suspicions as a mistake.

Outside, SeokJin asks NamJoon if he is all right. NamJoon is thankful but wonders how SeokJin materialized right when he needed him. “How’d you find me here?” he asks aloud. SeokJin explains that he happened to notice him while walking through the neighborhood. NamJoon wonders if it’s because they said goodbye on a weird note last time. He thanks him and turns to leave. SeokJin calls after him. “I’m sorry. I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you that day at the gas station. It was a mistake to have called you pitiful. If my rash actions hurt you, I’m really sorry.” NamJoon accepts his apology, believing it to be sincere, and says that things would have turned out a lot worse if SeokJin had not intervened. Thunder rolls overhead, and NamJoon uses the impending rain as his excuse to depart. He declines SeokJin’s offer of a ride and runs home, feeling his friend’s eyes on him.

Before he can settle down to read at home, NamJoon receives a call from his cheerful mother. She thanks him for paying off the entire hospital bill. NamJoon is perplexed and asks what’s on the receipt, since he didn’t pay it. His mother wants to leave it be, but he insists that they investigate so they don’t get in trouble or sued. She reads that the Songho Foundation is credited as the payer. NamJoon calls the hospital, introducing himself as the guardian for Kim YoungMin, but they can’t transfer him to the administrative department at this time. Disappointed, he looks up the foundation’s website, unable to recall why it sounds familiar. He wonders why a scholarship foundation in the city would get involved with him. Spotting photos of a recent launch ceremony on the site, he recognizes a few people: Songju High School’s principal, the familiar-looking face of the foundation’s chairman, and SeokJin. First, NamJoon forces a laugh, and then it’s difficult for him to breathe. He thinks that SeokJin really had pitied him at that moment. The only thing keeping NamJoon going is the idea of getting through life on his own strength. Why does he have to live like this?

The last episode opens on 5 May back in SeokJin’s perspective. He is confident now that he has saved NamJoon, although it occurs to him that a better alternative may have been to simply pick up the money himself instead of stepping forward. (This decision is enacted in a later loop and depicted in the Euphoria MV.) While reflecting on what comes next to save his other friends, he receives a text from NamJoon. “What’s your account number? I’ll pay you back for the hospital bills. I don’t need your help. I’ll handle my concerns on my own.” Heart sinking, SeokJin wonders how he found out. With a sense of foreboding, he tries calling NamJoon, but no one answers. SeokJin texts him back, pretending that he doesn’t understand, and tells NamJoon to call him. SeokJin’s second attempt connects while he’s gathering his car keys to visit the container. “That’s enough. Just send the account number over text,” NamJoon instructs. SeokJin coaxes him to talk for a moment, and NamJoon asks flatly, “Are you going to apologize again?” SeokJin attempts to salvage the situation, but his friend turns cold when he insists that NamJoon is misunderstanding and that he just wanted to help. “So, why? Why are you helping me?! Yeah, you’re always a good person. You’ve done nothing wrong and I’m the one misunderstanding.” SeokJin apologizes again. NamJoon refuses his request to meet in person. “No, I thought maybe there was a reason for everything you did… But I guess I misconstrued it. I’ll pay you back, so I’d prefer if you stopped contacting me.” Long after the call ends, SeokJin stands holding his phone, feeling that the glass is going to break at any moment. He wants to believe that it’s not over, but hope is slipping through his fingertips.

The episode finishes in NamJoon’s perspective. On 8 May and 9 May, he accepts part-time delivery work and reflects on his three jobs. Whenever he thinks he’s at his breaking point, he focuses on his new goal of returning SeokJin’s money. On 10 May, NamJoon wakes up to his buzzing phone and is called in to work. On a scooter, he passes by a bus stop and notices graffiti. (This is the same bus stop, with matching graffiti, that appears in the Highlight Reel.) Mesmerized, he wonders if it’s TaeHyung’s. As soon as NamJoon looks up, the scooter’s brake fails, and he crashes. The shattered glass on the cold pavement reminds him of the headlight shard and the kid who looked like TaeHyung. (So the piece of glass SeokJin saw in April was really a memento NamJoon retrieved from the scene of the crash in the mountain town, where the delivery boy whom he privately called TaeHyung died. This event is described in NamJoon’s 17 December Year 21 entry in The Notes 1.) NamJoon’s vision grows blurry, and the distant sound of an ambulance doesn’t come any closer.

The arc concludes there, but it obviously marks another reset for SeokJin. It is interesting to note that in this failed loop, NamJoon suffers the same fate that he narrowly avoided in the snowy mountain town before returning to Songju.

Please stay tuned for the next Highlights post featuring JungKook and YoonGi!

[rotationalsymmetry]

I had an…awkward…interaction today related to BDSM and inclusivity. I’m putting the rest behind a cut -- it’s not any more explicit than anything else on my blog, but it’s kinda personal and raw and please don’t share.

I’m asking myself (not especially kindly) “what did I expect”? The person in question was about my parents’ age. When she was coming of age, being gay was something you didn’t talk about. Sex was something you did not talk about unless you were condemning what other people were doing. A lot has changed since then, changed fast. I came of age with Dan Savage. There probably literally wasn’t anything like that when she came of age. Not something that you could just stumble across if you weren’t actively seeking out people like you, anyways. Society was so much more buttoned up. And these days even still, if you’re not seeking out information it’s not going to just come to you.

What I expected, in all honesty, was the Uncomfortable Truce. That thing where I don’t bring it up and I don’t have to hear whatever private messed-up opinions anyone else has. The We Don’t Talk About That thing.

But not talking about it isn’t a comfortable or safe place to be. Not talking about it means when someone does break the truce, or gets it broken for them, suddenly all the private misgivings come up to the surface. What other social rules is this person violating. Are they safe to be around kids. Is it better to just quietly ostracize them.

You can get arrested for being kinky (there’s legally no such thing as consenting to “battery”). You can lose your job for being kinky. You can lose your kids for being kinky, especially if it’s a disputed custody situation. There are no legal protections.

(Also, specifically; it can make it really awkward to navigate the criminal justice system if you’re trying to prosecute a rape and it comes out that you like this stuff. A lot of people in practice see some categories of people as being fundamentally unrapeable, and being into BDSM is one of those things that can push you from the public perception of “innocent and in need of protection” to “who the fuck cares.”)

This came up because someone else at some unspecified time in the past was pushing for What It Is That We Do being seen as a protected class. (She said S&M, but unless the encounter happened decades ago I doubt the person she was talking to did. Nobody says S&M any more.) So there’s this…do I think it should be seen that way?

And on one side: it’s innate (I mean, it’s a behavior, many see it as “a lifestyle”, but for many people it’s more an identity than a thing you do, and I’m one of them.) It’s something people do suffer severe consequences for when they did nothing wrong. It’s one of those harmless differences that you can be hurt for.

On the other side: “everybody knows” that’s complete nonsense. So if I come out swinging for “yeah that’s how it is”, am I going to be laughed out of the metaphorical room?

Sigh.