#also have none of you heard of a rhetorical question. no one wants you to tell us where theyre from

[sheila--e]

yanks are mad under that carpincho post

[astrolynnworld]

eiffle tower

pairing: matt & chris x reader

summary: chris sees the way you look at matt. so he gives you the opportunity to have both

warnings: smut! cheating, plot twist, exhibition, degradation, praise, language, oral, penetration, switch matt, dom chris, pig roast, little bit of aftercare.

a/n- the highly requested duo smut 😩

word count: 2,073

i love chris so much but .. sometimes i can’t help the idea of “what if i had chose matt instead”

he carries himself so well and despite the fact that they’re triplets.. i really do see him as another version of chris

the version that is more tame.

whenever he sits with us at dinner and he just looks so pretty and proper

just eating his meal, observing the conversation, sharing a joke here and there.

he’s not too loud or quiet, he’s the perfect middle ground of enjoyable.

and he’s so caring towards me when chris isn’t around

he’s cooking? he’ll serve me first. dropped my phone? he’ll pick it up for me. too anxious to speak up? he’ll talk for me, regardless of the fact that he also has anxiety.

maybe it’s because i’m his brothers girlfriend but i just sense the underlying message of care

often times then not, chris will catch me staring off into a haze at matt.

i always have to play it off as if i just got lost in thought.

i mean i did get lost in thought..

the thought of matt’s eyes rolled back as i strok-

“y/n??” matt snaps me back into focus

“mhm?” i question as i stand at the fridge door aimlessly

“i think you dozed off again” he laughs slightly, “did you hear what i said?”

i shake my head no softly as i take a seat on the chairs behind me

“you okay?” he asks while inching closer and putting a hand on my shoulder

i look up at him standing over me

“i’m fine” i mutter out

“you’ve been out of it a lot lately. wanna know what would help?” he asks rhetorically

you.

“what?” i say before chris walks into the kitchen

“a hot tub?” chris answers, acknowledging that he had heard a bit of our conversation

“you always wanna go to the hot tub” i laugh as i switch my gaze to him

“it’s not the worst idea chris has had” matt remarks

“i could be down for a hot tub” i reply enthusiastically now that matt is down

“i’ll go ask nick if he wants to come while you guys get ready” matt says

“wait im coming with” chris follows behind matt

i walk back into the bedroom and roam around for something to wear

shortly after, chris comes back into the room

“nicks not coming, he has a fever” he informs as he tries to grab his swim shorts

i nod my head and sit on the bed as i watch him change

“see something you like?” he flirts as he slowly approaches me

“a whole lot” i smile as i look up to him for a kiss

“alright love birds. we can go now” matt comes in fully dressed

i grab my bag and quickly follow behind matt

our go to hot tub spot was at the warehouse, which was only 10 minutes away from their house

once we get there, matt grabs his key card so he can unlock the gate to the pool

we trail around the side of the pool and make our way to the hot tub

they both take off their shirts before stepping into the hot tub

i could see the masculine structure lining in their backs

the broadness of their shoulders

the width of their arms as they lean back against the wall of the hot tub

i’m so lucky that i at least get to fuck one of them bec-

“wait! i forgot my headphones at the warehouse last time. i need to grab them before i forget again” chris says in a hurry as he gets out the hot tub and makes his way back to the house

“and bring some towels please” matt shouts after him

“watch him come back with none” i chuckle at his attempt

“no yeah for sure. kids gonna come back with a pepsi and forgot what he even went in for” he says as we share a laugh

“how do you even put up with him?” he says in a curious manner

“what do you mean?” i question

he starts to inch closer from the other side of the hot tub

“i see how you act, you’re not like him. you’re polite.. clean.. civil.. well mannered. how do you put up with him?” he says while fully towering me

“i- we- well because i love him” i nervously speak

“do you love him? because i see the way you look at me y/n”

i freeze in my spot

“you think i don’t notice but i do. you’d rather be with me huh? you’d rather it be me that you lay with every night right?” he taunts over me

“me who fucks you to sleep? every. single. night.” he whispers into my ear

“matt what are you doing..” i shyly whisper out

“say it baby. say you want me instead” he puts his nose to mine

i look into his eyes, “i want you instead”

he closes the gap between our lips with passion

sloppily pulling away and going back in for more as he wraps his hands around my waist

i feed into the passion, feeling a fire of energy ignite in me

“i KNEW it.”

i heard a voice speak from above us

i jump back from matt’s arms as i look up to see an angry chris standing outside the hot tub

matt starts to slowly back away as chris gets back in the hot tub and comes straight for me

he grabs my throat, “you’re such a slut. making out with my brother when i’m less than 30 feet away? you thought i wouldn’t find out or you just didn’t care?” he asks

i stay silent as i try to release his grip from my throat. only making him squeeze harder

“you know.. i had a feeling you were a slut. that’s why i put him up to this”

————————————————————

earlier:

“wait i’m coming with” i followed behind matt

after y/n walks back to my room i stop matt in his tracks

“i might need you to do a weird favor for me.” i speak hesitantly

matt was a great brother but i don’t know how deep that great would go for me

“what?” he asks

“i need you to tempt y/n into cheating on me”

“.. why the fuck would i do that?” he questions

“i’ve been seeing the way she looks at you recently. i need to know if she would or wouldn’t fold”

he can hear the genuineness in my voice. i wouldn’t ask him to do something like this if i wasn’t serious

i still love her..

i just needed to know if she likes him or not, how far she was willing to go about it.

“alright bro. i’ll try” he says before continuing to walk up to nick’s room

————————————————————

present:

i gasp as i start to find it hard to breathe.

he lets go of my throat and pulls my hair back so i can look him in the eyes

“you wanna fuck my brother so bad right?”

he pulls my head back to matt

“here. have him”

he turns me around and bend me over in front of matt

“bro.. i don’t know about-“ matt starts to speak

chris grabs my throat and shrinks down to my face, “tell him how much you want him baby. tell him how you want him to put it in. beg for it”

i silently stare at him in shock of his new aggression

“tell him.” he slaps my cheek

“please put it in matt.” i turn back and speak

“beg him for it” chris continues

“please matt, i beg you. just put your cock inside me”

matt slides my bathing suit to the side and slowly starts to align himself with my hole despite the water making it hard to see

“good girl” chris speaks before placing a kiss on the cheek he just slapped

matt lets out a heavy breath as he slides himself along my walls

i gasp as i feel the added pressure

“feels good doesn’t it baby? feels good to be a slut right?” chris speaks

i nod my head with my pout

“say it baby. say it feels good to be a slut” chris adds in

“it feels good to be a slut” i whimper out as i back into matts cock while he meets me halfway

chris traces his fingers against my lips, “who’s slut are you?”

“yours chris. i do whatever you say” i whine out as i squint my eyes from the feeling of matt’s cock hitting against my cervix

“mhmm. so good for me baby” chris says as he pushes his fingers in my mouth for me to suck

i can faintly hear matt trying to hold back his moans and whimpered pleasure as he feels my walls suck him in

the tightness of my walls clenching and pulling around him as he struggles to identify wether it’s the warm silky wetness is from me, or the hot tub.

shutting his eyes to focus on the pleasure

chris on the other hand, is so turned on by the idea of me getting slutted out for his pleasure

he likes the idea of another man being able to enjoy me like he does

i can see the bulge peering out through his swim shorts

i couldn’t let him go attentionless so i free his cock and start to jerk it under the water

he pulls away from me and slaps me once again

“did i give you permission to touch me slut?”

i pout and shake my head no

he places his cock on my cheek, “fuck. i could cover your whole face baby”

“please put it in my mouth daddy” i beg, tired of the teasing

“you want me to face fuck you baby? you wanna be a good girl and let daddy face fuck you?” he rhetorically questions

“yes please. please put your cock in my mouth and use me to your pleasure” i whine out before he shoves his cock in my mouth and starts to fuck into me

it’s like every time chris pulls out of my mouth, matt pushes into my hole. and when chris pushes back in, matt pulls out

it was a back and forth train of stimulation that sent my head into a spiral

i lost all my thoughts and all i could focus on was the whines and whimpers that poured out of my mouth into chris’s cock

“fuck keep moaning baby. it feels so good around my cock” chris whines out

“you’re squeezing- around my cock y/n.. fuck i don’t know how much longer i’m gonna last.” matt throws his head back as he starts to speed up the pace, sending me flying into chris’s dick

i know im gonna cum soon. i just feel so dirty, getting fucked and stuffed by two brothers in a public hot tub. it felt so nasty and so wrong, i couldn’t help but think of how hot that was

and imagining if someone caught us. how gross and nasty they would think i am. how much of a slut im being right now. fuck i’m gonna cum

i squeeze around matts cock as i let out my orgasm.

as soon as i finish i feel matt pull out of me, followed by trickles of warm liquid splatter all over my back.

“you’re such a fucking slut baby. you let guys cum all over you? you like when guys treat you like a fucking toy and use you to their liking?” chris continues to degrade

“fuck i’m gonna cum baby.” he finishes his final thrusts before coating my throat with his cum

he pulls out and i sit up in the hot tub with a fucked out expression, not being able to think for myself.

tears dry up against my face from not being able to breathe

matt starts to fix and play with my hair while chris wipes my eyes

“it’s okay baby, i still love you” chris says as kisses into my lips

i don’t respond. still trying to regain my sense

“we should probably get her back to the house” matt suggests

“yeah. let’s go” chris adds before he picks me up and carries me back to the car in a cradle position.

————————————————————

a/n- hope yall enjoyed 😘 i put my back into this one fr

taglist: @sturniologirlfriend @cutiepatootie36273 @secret-sturniolo @sturns-blog @sturniolo-2003 @mayaaatok @sturnswrites @mattsleftnipple03 @mattybswife @tropicasturn @princessbetsy123-blog <333

[jaythelay]

It's GG. The country has fallen, the whole of us will feel the death of freedom and the ability to buy food.

It's GG. It's over.

Blame can be had but let's be honest, it was rigged, we saw all the gerrymandering, closure of polling places, we heard them threaten to shutdown the government in order to make voting harder, we saw all this and it's pretty blatant.

I also blame dems, the voters for pushing anti-genociders away (turns out ya needed them!!) the politicians for waiting to Do Anything til the latter half of the year. All around the messaging was basically "Don't blame Biden" and "Stop caring about where our Tax dollars are going" and Oof, that flopped.

But it was rigged. Make no mistake, it was rigged as shit. For R's, like every election. It's why ya don't push potential voters away when shit is close. Idunno what to tell ya other than, at least they got a (faux) decent image??

I guess telling voters that they can't nor should try to cooperate with elected officials actually drains confidence from side-viewers. Who knew pro-genocide was such a bad thing.

Ya'll can be mad at people for voting third party or not voting at all, I'm just saying ya made the table of dems for them rather uncomfortable Being Pro-Genocide. It was easier to demand better and be shown they'll listen to us, instead, we got drowned out by pro-genocidal rhetoric just to defend an image instead of doing a good job.

But at the end of the day, it means nothing. It was rigged. And Dem politicians won't do shit to protect us.

It really is blatant for someone who lost every popular election spiraling downward to Randomly be UP in votes. It's bull. Entirely. Nothing was done to improve his image and yet there it goes. Incredible.

Only true, real thing to blame is Biden. He did a Dog Shit Job ya'll. You can scavenge around for his hidden accomplishments but the fact is he didn't change anything in our day to day. Sure, he stopped bad shit happening and that's the bare minimum, he fixed up Dump's garbo job, but he didn't do anything to noticeably impact the day to day. Other than take PR hit after PR hit for dumbass moves.

If dem politicians were serious they'd have really tried. They didn't. They seem to actively push voters away in fact, for those first 3 years.

Really Dems just didn't try til the last half of this year. They really, really didn't. Had they started with Kamala I'm certain it'd been closer. But they waited.

To put it clearly, Biden really fucked us. He really, really, really, fucked us. If you wanted to run No One against Dump, that was Him.

The fake interim president set us up for failure. Just impossible to think otherwise given how awful he was at talking to people. Sure he flubbered some words but he believes so, so little and can't bring the energy for what he does believe. It's just a boring 9-5 to him in my eyes, one he held onto for far too long when he was always supposed to be interim.

Oh well. All in all, I'm really quite stunned. The country actively decided to do the wrong thing, and this time it WILL be felt. The question is, does that even matter? Or is it down to a popularity contest entirely. His policies, his actions, his words, none of it matters, all that matters is the Larp, and the Larp fuckin won.

Still, it was rigged. It was most definitely rigged. Nothing can be done about it. The electoral college is a nightmare. GG folks. GG.

[anulithots]

Anuli out of context

Hmm, we'd make a very unreliable narrator, Anuli. Agreed, Anuli, agreed. Very well that we'd also make a very unreliable murderer. Also agreed, Anuli, agree-

I love writing Anuli's 'talking to faerself' monologues.

Somewhere in the world, a wasp plopped a leaf hat upon its head and found it quite pleasant.

Kamari clapped. I startled. My heart decided today was a fine day to take up an off-beat dance obsession.

I nodded. "Much ta da's"

Or, in this case, regular droplets inched, one after the other, with sunlit taunts, refracted over their lack of edges, in sparkles, shooting stars that traced the diffused sage of leaves with silver etches

Existence is a paradox, Anuli Or perhaps paradoxes are why I talk to myself, Anuli

I nodded, rustling the stolen moss - which started to mourn the water with its almost rough tips, and water heard none of its cries - beneath me.

Good thing I was not the protagonist. Only a side character... or, not even that - a narrator!

The story would stagnate, meander around in a useless monologue - much like this one - before the inevitable end of DEATH because NOTHING HAPPENED and the DUMB CHARACTER BRINGS NO JOY. ONLY UTTER DISPAIR AND INTERNAL SCREAMING.

It was fun writing an Anuli chapter about executive dysfunction

I poked my head. Be functional. Make stories. You have one job.

In order to avoid death one must follow the call to adventure! Hopefully the character's life means something to them and they don't... just... accept death.

Existence requires action. Do you hear me? Head? Thoughts? For now, I address thee, and banish thy dillydallying sliminess to the land of 'bleck'. BEGONE!

If it did, if it chose a path, the butterfly would have to admit its doomed narrative, and no one wanted to acknowledge their doom until it curled in their lap and ate a finger. The sillies. Nothing good comes from finger eating.

yes this is a reference

Sense trickled over the sides, left my insides dry, and clumped in static mush near my throat. Oh, wonderous. Quite wonderous. What joy.

Slipped through my fingers. All the wonders that could've been, left as dead buds, petals that never saw the sunlight or the stars

Ha! Silly Place of Tethers. Didn't it know that such villain advice - even when said with semi-sincerity - fell upon unhearing ears, for it was dumb.

The Kamari in question lilted faer voice to weave between the chirps of early crickets - early because cricket society values those with the almost recklessness needed to risk the light for a song - as a full moon spilled and sparkled over faer leaves.

Sometimes I feel like rhetorical devices are just a way to seem witty without actually being witty

The world set the scene for utmost joy while I flew in hapless circles and died beneath faded petals

"I - no-" I shook my hands but the tears clung. Silly things. Didn't they want a munity?

Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Plot holes and darling murders; what was wrong with me?

'Too soon,' said the earth, 'Yet welcome, welcome little one; it was not your fault.' 'Oh, but it was,' said the butterfly, between sobs, 'for I wanted to fly forever.'

The funniest thing is that I only use 'said' for Anuli's characters.

Going insane whilst alone with the Place of Tethers would be perfectly in character

And that's it! Anuli out of context! Thank you for getting this far, and I hope you enjoyed the corners of faer brain... it only gets weirder and sillier from here!

@waitingforthesunrise @sm-writes-chaos @holdmyteaplease @full-on-sam @osbob-the-existent @awleeofficial @clearcloudlesssky @gummybugg @sleepy-vix @starryeyeddarlings @sea-dwelling-wizard

lmk if you'd like to be added or removed <3 🌿

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

This is a fic for the Adventure Time AU by @un-lucky1114

He hasn't uploaded anything about it yet, as he's still working on some things, but I highly recommend checking out his blog regardless! He's a brilliant artist and a good friend of mine, and this au is great too, so I'm very excited for when it becomes completely finished.

Also cast list:

Finn - Jax

Jake - Gangle

Rainicorn - Zooble

Princess Bubblegum - Ragatha

Marceline - Pomni

Ice King/Simon - Kinger

Betty - Caine

Anyway, onto the actual fic

Pomni and the Ice King sat on the edge of the 'mouth' of one of the main mountains in the Ice Kingdom. They had been silent for a while, with Ice King staring out into space while Pomni looked at the ground and kicked her feet. The sun had set not too long ago, so it was safe for her to be outside. Yet the stinging pain sensation felt like it was still there.

She loved the man, but it hurt to be around Ice King, especially since she knew him before the crown. Every so often, she studied his features, looking for signs of the Kinger she had once known. It was his body, but not his mind. It hardly was his body anymore, the crown having altered it enough that she struggled to hope that Kinger was even real anymore.

With a deep breath, she pushed those thoughts away. It was better to dwell on them when she was alone. For now, she should just try to enjoy this time with Ice King, even if she'd rather be with Kinger instead. That was when the king spoke up, startling Pomni.

"Princesses are beautiful, aren't they?" Something in his tone confused Pomni and made her brain come to a fierce halt for a few moments. His question wasn't rhetorical. Ice King was genuinely asking, as if he didn't know.

"Well, yeah, I'd say so." Her thoughts couldn't help but drift to Ragatha, the princess Ice King kidnapped the most for some reason. "Some of them are really beautiful... but, uh, why do you ask?"

"Oh, haha! I just wanted to be sure!" Ice King laughed, an innocent expression on his face that made Pomni smile, although her curiosity still wasn't abandoned. "It's just that I've heard all about princesses being beautiful, but none of them really feel beautiful."

Pomni arched an eyebrow, feeling her skin prickle in anticipation. She wasn't sure why, but what he was saying didn't feel normal. "What do you mean?" She corrected her tone to be lighter. "Are these princesses not good enough for you?"

"Oh no, no no no! They're great! They just..." His gaze drifted, trying to figure his problem out enough to put it into words, "aren't the right beautiful."

Pomni's hands tightened around the edge of the ice underneath her, waiting for Ice King to continue. When he didn't, she risked pushing him further. "Why aren't they the 'right' beautiful? What are you looking for?"

"Hmmm... well, I'm not sure. But I know there's something. All of these princesses are great, but none of them are really my type." Ice King sounded confused by his own words, unsure of what he even meant himself. However, it all felt true. He wanted something, someone, beautiful, and the princesses were beautiful, but it was never what he wanted.

Pomni thought over the last thing he said. His type.

When she was younger, about 1000 years ago, Kinger had often told her stories of his life before the Mushroom War. Of his studies. Of Caine. Caine Grof was his fiancé, a genius like him. He had talked of him often, how he intended to search every corner of the globe to find him again. However, his first priority was always Pomni's safety, so that mission had to be somewhat abandoned. Maybe there was a part of Kinger still fighting the crown, refusing to give up his quest to find his Caine again. He had often called Caine his 'beauty' as well.

Pomni sucked in a sharp breath. Kinger remembered. He was looking for someone who he knew was beautiful. Someone he thought was more beautiful than anything else. The fact that that was the only detail he could recall saddened Pomni, but it was still something. He remembered. That was why he spent so much time with her. It was Kinger sitting next to her. The gentle and brilliant man who had helped to raise her in a world that should've killed them both. If he remembered his pet name for Caine, maybe he remembered that too. Kinger had never listened when she'd told him to leave her alone in the past. What if he had the faint memories of protecting her? Did he still feel like he needed to?

"Is... there anything else you're looking for? Uh, what is your type?" Pomni knew that if she pushed it too far, he might forget again, so she was careful with her wording. She wanted to check if he remembered when she was younger, how he'd saved her life time and time again, but she would get nothing from it. Better to keep it simple, to be safe.

"What, are you gonna be my wingwoman, Pomni?" Ice King laughed, "I appreciate that, you know. To tell you the truth, it's all pretty fuzzy. Basically everything is. But, I do know I want something about teeth." Pomni stared, her widened eyes and desperate look begging Ice King to continue. "No one's seemed to have big enough teeth yet. Not even Dentist Princess!"

The vampire couldn't help but laugh. It was all she could do to keep from crying. It was so little, it was so vague, but they were memories. He was in there, still fighting the crown. One day, he might even win. "I'm sure the person of your dreams is out there somewhere, with perfect looks and the biggest teeth you've ever seen."

"Well, looks aren't everything, Pomni! Don't be so shallow. I bet they're really smart too, and almost as charming as me." Ice King shot Pomni a look of disappointment. "I expected better from you. You should really be more respectful."

Pomni burst out laughing, but quickly turned it into a cough when she saw Ice King's confusion. His face still softened, though. "Sorry, you're right. I know they'll have a great personality."

With a quiet sigh, she leaned her head on the king's shoulder. He jumped, not used to people enjoying his company that much. After a few moments, he affectionately, albeit awkwardly, ruffled Pomni's hair. "Very good."

The pair stared at the moon, basking in this moment of joy, even if they both felt a sharp pain in their chests. Ice King was used to these seemingly nonsensical aches, so he ignored it. Pomni knew the reason for hers, though. Kinger was still so desperate to find Caine, despite him very likely being dead by now. If that was his reason for kidnapping princesses, then it showed how much his desire to see Caine again had consumed him. As unlikely as it was, Pomni hoped that some freak accident had saved Caine. If she could be kept alive by being half demon and a vampire, and Kinger could be kept alive by the crown, surely it wouldn't be too much to ask for something to have saved Caine as well.

Pomni decided it was best to abandon all of those thoughts for now, at least until Ice King brought it up again. As she leaned into him more, she realised that it was suddenly a lot easier to pretend she was next to Kinger than it used to be.

[muffinman1900]

Soukoku (Dazai X Chuuya)

“Your married?!”

I apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors! I am dyslexic and proof reading isn’t my best skill.

(This is 638 words!)

Dazai ran into the office, quite obviously short of breath. He had been running.

“You’re two minutes late Dazai.” Kunikida stated.

“I tried to be on timeeee” Dazai wines in his usual sing song fashion.

“What do you have going on in the morning that’s so important you're late for work.” Kunikida states. It was said as more of a rhetorical question, as he didn’t think Dazai had anything going on, ever.

“Well it’s none of your business.” Dazai was serious this time- and walked away after his statement, leaving Kunikida stunned. He’s never serious about his whereabouts? Actually, come to think of it, the agency didn’t even know where he lived.

The agency didn’t keep a record of postcodes, but the team usually went to each other's houses if they didn’t live in the dorms.

Dazai had a dorm, but if anything he used it for storage, and he went home every evening.

Whatever happened next is unexplained, but it ended with Dazai literally pinned in a corner with no escape, and the entire agency surrounding him. He couldn’t resist now, he had to answer all their questions, and he was feeling quite truthful today. It was too tiresome to keep up the mask all the time.

Kunikida started the questions, “Why are you never free after hours on a Wednesday?”

And Dazai answered truthfully, “It’s my turn to make dinner on Wednesday.”

Silence.

The room was engulfed in silence.

“You have a girlfriend?” Atsushi asked in utter shock.

“Nope, but I do have a husband.”

Even more silence, followed by a single giggle from Ranpo.

“You figured as much I’m guessing, Ranpo?”

“Yes, I never believed your double suicide with a woman thing. I mean yes I bet you want to commit double suicide and all that- but I can’t see a single heterosexual bone in your body.”

“Well done Ranpo! I am in fact married to a man!” Dazai announced to the room as he pulled out a necklace chain from under his shirt collar, at one end there sat a black ring with a single small diamond in the middle.

“Ok then, who are you married to? It’s the only part of the puzzle I can’t figure out.” Ranpo stated, shocking the people around the room, he always figured things out. But there was just too much about Dazai he didn’t know.

“Hehe.. you're not going to like this, especially Kunikida… has anyone ever heard of Double Black?”

Kunikida’s interest was absolutely peaked by the fact that he ‘wouldn’t like it’; he didn’t like a lot of things about Dazai but if he was so sure he wouldn’t be happy with it, it definitely made him question who it was.

“Double black? The duo from the Port Mafia, famed for bringing down an entire ability using organisation over night? People speculate one of the members was Nakahara Chuuya, but had no idea of the other’s possible identity.” Kunikida listed off.

“Didn’t people think that the duo were also lovers? Or was that just me? And they haven’t been spotted recently, although apparently they still do some missions that don’t have any meaning to any organisations in the area?” Ranpo also interjected.

“Yes, that one. Well, it is Nakahara Chuuya, and I’m the other member, surprise!” Dazai said losing confidence half way through his sentence.

Silence filled the room once again.

“We are married. We live together and everything- and to answer your previous question, yes I make dinner on a Wednesday, AND I’m in charge of breakfast every day.”

“WHAT?!”

“Yes I know no one expects me to know how to cook!” Dazai jokes.

“You're married to one of the strongest Port Mafia executives.”

“And yet he’s only strongest when in a duo with me?~” Dazai’s iconic voice comes back slowly with each word.

[pfffsfic]

Post-Fall Falls False Starts- Chapter 15: The Possibilities

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

"Our sleep schedule is kinda messed up, if you think about it. You've been conking out constantly. But one time I spent 5 hours working on a rarepair doujin for this event thing, even though it was a school night, so is it really that messed up? Ehehe!"

Rob was unconscious and unresponsive. His chest rose and fell gently; he was alive, and that made him a good enough conversation partner for Sarah.

"No way am I getting the money by tonight! When he comes back, I'm gonna try to cut him a deal. And then I'm gonna try and get us a job! I have this whole plan, but I don't know if you can hear me, so I won't waste my breath. Aaah! I'm so excited!"

She squished her cheeks.

"I can't wait for you to tell me more about the whole time loop thing when you wake up, because if it's real, I am gonna milk it, you have no idea. I have so many things I want to try! Like- let me tell you about all my plans. And- and- I also have plans for if the time loop thing isn't real, because of course I do, you know? I'm the obsessive one! Not to toot my own horn."

-

"…and none of it makes ANY sense! Does any of it make any sense to any of you? Not a rhetorical question, guys, I want to see hands up. Raise your hands if this makes any sense to you, and those of you with no hands, raise… something, whatever, just raise something. Nobody? That's what I thought. And that's what drives me so mad about it! Beliiiiieve me, I like nonsensical stuff as much as the next guy, but ∆⎔▰▰⊜!"

A few vacant stares were directed at Bill- and the majority of them were coming from Amorphous Shape's many eyes. Many more vacant stares were directed elsewhere.

"Not to question you, man, but you said a few hours ago that you'd never bring them up again after you finished talking," offered Kryptos.

"Hey, smart guy, did it ever occur to you that I'm NOT DONE TALKING?"

There was no verbal response. In fact, the room was silent, and nothing was ever silent around here. The next noise anyone heard was Bill resuming his rant.

"The $% ! audacity of them! I know what you're thinking- how am I letting them get to me? And the answer is, I am not! They aren't getting to me, okay? So don't say they are! I know nobody said anything, but you were all thinking it, and I can say that even without reading your minds. They aren't getting to me, which is exactly why I have to make that perfectly clear. So let me go over the situation again from the top…"

-

"Order of business one: I want to see if we can get jobs at the Mystery Shack. As exhibits, I mean. But wait, you ask!"

Rob didn't ask anything, mostly because he was asleep.

"Doesn't us being bona-fide supernatural creatures make that impossible since, according to the show, people here only like fake stuff? Well, it does, until you remember that hiring us would also be child labor, so it cancels out and makes it likely to work. Basic narrative math. And if that fails I can superglue a zipper onto your back so you look like a guy in a suit."

She prepared for a rebuttal along the lines of, 'why not superglue a zipper onto your own back if you want to do this so bad?' but none came. Silly me, she thought.

"…And if that fails we can find jobs on Craigslist."

-

The twenty-cutout threshold had been reduced to 10 after a week, then 5, and then two- and it had just been, in a moment of hopelessness and frustration, reduced to one. Gumball had failed a dozen times in a row to get that one successful hit.

"I'm lowering it to zero," deadpanned Nicole.

"No! No, I can do this."

"Sweetie, if you've made one thing clear, it's that you can't do this."

"Shut up and let me make you proud of meee!"

With sloppy form, he took down one of the cutouts, which had already faced a hundred different beatings at the hands of the other members of the family. Tensions were at an all-time high, and the family owed that partially to the fact that, at lunchtime in a few hours, they would be forced to share the final remaining can of baked beans in the pantry. It was expired (and has been since 2003), mostly because none of them liked baked beans very much, but the only other food in the house was a fruitcake so stale that a fork had turned to dust against it days earlier.

"Cardboard cutouts are really nothing like the real thing, anyways. If we want to survive out there we have to get some practical practice! Isn't that right, everyone?"

There was mass nodding.

"Then it's settled! 4 to 1! We're going to the surface. Get your bats- things are about to get messy."

For the first time since the void swept in and claimed their surroundings, the Wattersons' basement door slowly creaked open.

-

"Do you think you would have a shot with anybody here, Rob? I mean romantically. If you think about it, this whole thing is like a self-insert story, only instead of stand-in characters who are like the us we wish we could be, it's just us! Isn't this crazy? I mean, if you really think about it?"

She gently lifted his chin and opened and closed his jaw, and thankfully he was too far gone to wake up and protest. "Why dontcha try 'n romance one of the locals if yer so passionate about it, huh?" she spoke as him, adding an accent by accident that he didn't have.

"Oh, you know I have a reservation back home," she said as herself. "Besides! I've been expanding my horizons. Why include myself in all my ships when other people have so much chemistry with each other? Like- imagine this. Are you imagining it? I know you are."

Rob was in a dreamless sleep.

"If you cleaned up a bit you could have a chance with Mabel I think. But that's kind of easy pickings, right? And besides, your personalities, I dunno. I think it'd have to be a slow burn, which is not her style. You know, I thought what might be fun is you and Dipper. Hear me out, okay? He's into the supernatural. But not like that, you say? Well, that's where we sort of have to stretch our interpretation. You two are the same age, you're cool and confident… uh, sometimes, and you're also totally freaky looking, no offense. He'd be all over the chance to study you… maybe. We'd have to set things up, but I think I could totally do that. I'm an expert matchmaker, by which I mean I make imaginary matches between my friends and acquaintances! How much harder could it be to do in real life? Or, I guess this isn't really real life, huh? All the better."

-

The artist's rendition of the suspect on the wanted poster looked as if it had been drawn in crayon by a 7-year-old. Dipper turned it around, held it at arm's length, pored over it for a few long moments, and then set it down and put one tense hand on his forehead. And then picked it up and started the whole process over again.

"Find any new details, Dip-dop? You've been looking at that thing for like an hour."

He made a small noise of surprise and set down the poster on the table.

"Take a look at this." He pointed to the face of the drawing. "They forgot to add one of his eyes. That's gotta mean something, right?"

"Maaaybe he only has one eye. And he's coming for yours! Rob, the master eye thief!"

"Don't joke about that! What if you jinx it into being the truth?"

"We can just give him one of those eyeball jawbreakers in the jar on the counter, and everybody will be happy."

"Jawbreakers? I always figured those were real eyeballs."

"Well, even better!"

He folded up the paper as if to put it away, then, as if driven by instinct, opened it up again and continued to look it over.

"Do you think he became a robber because his name is Rob, or that he goes by Rob because he's a robber?" Dipper asked, looking down at the perp's name as if to somehow glean new information from it.

"Do you think Robbie is gonna get angry about his position as the town's most important Robert-adjacent dude being stolen? Heh, stolen."

"…What do you think about going on a manhunt? Or a cyclopshunt?"

"You're kind of getting ahead of yourself with this whole cyclops idea. On the other hand, I am on the hunt for a man!"

"That's, uh, not what a manhunt is."

"With love we make our own definitions, brobro."

-

"If we wanted to really mess things up we could leave the DVD where the twins could find it. If you found out your whole life was a TV show created by people in a whole 'nother universe, that would be pretty messed up, huh? I don't even want to think about it."

Sarah shivered and her whole body momentarily wobbled like jelly. Rob, who had been through that exact experience, was not available for comment.

"We could just erase everybody's memories afterwards, easy peasy. And if the memories came back, they'd just basically feel like two of the same memory, probably, so there wouldn't be too many alarm bells. That or they'd have lifelong psychological trauma. Maybe this is actually not such a good idea, especially if there's no time loop! Wouldn't it be messed up if there was a time loop but then we started noticing the things we did in one loop having effects in the next?"

She puppeteered his mouth and said, "Oh, definitely, that would be so messed up."

"You feeling alright, mate? You've been looking a little overworked lately."

"Aw, no! It's just hot in here. Don't tell me you aren't feeling that."

"Are you lads feeling that?" Several shaken heads (or bodies, or celestial bodies) resulted. "I think it's just you."

"Maybe I'm coming down with something."

"You should get that checked out."

"By who?"

"Good point."

"Mars, care to get a little closer and take a look at this spot in North America that itches?"

"Love to, but I'm currently away. Orbits and all that."

"Quite alright. I'll see you when you come back around."

"Sure hope I don't catch whatever you have, Earth!"

-

"You know what could be cool? If we became, like, universe hoppers. We experienced the apocalypse back home and we're probably gonna experience it here. So, I was thinking, we could convince the van guy- do you know his name? I feel kinda awkward just calling him the van guy."

Rob didn't know his name, not that he could have told her either way.

"Whatever. We could convince him to take us around and maybe we could visit some more apocalypses. Be folk heroes or something! Wouldn't that be cool? It would have to be after we've gotten our 40 dollars' worth out of this place, though."

It may have been worth 40 dollars in fares for the both of them, but in reality all they had collectively paid for their rides was 20 dollars.

"We could commandeer his vehicle. It'd be two versus one. And I have been known to be pretty convincing," she said, pummeling one palm with the other fist.

-

Something stirred inside Wrecker's cage and his eye gently fluttered open. Normally, the darkness of the blanket was enough to put him indefinitely to sleep in this little corner of Rob's subconscious, but someone was speaking unintelligibly from on high- that, and the ground was shaking. He made his way out through the hole Bill had bent some time before and meekly opened the door out of the office onto an entirely unfamiliar scene.

Every one of the memory islands beyond the school was in the process of crumbling. Even the TV static backdrop was losing its scintillation in favor of a painfully static- that is to say, still- pattern of gray and white squares, like a transparency layer. His heart jumped into his throat and before long he found himself dashing back into the office and unveiling his three companions.

"You guys," he said in an uncharacteristically fearful tone, "you've got to see this."

"See what? Is it something good?" asked Memory-Rob #1.

"No! It's something very bad!"

Wrecker tried to no avail to bend the bars of the other cages. Just then, a brilliant, half-familiar seam of light split the floor into a crevasse right where he stood, and he only narrowly jumped out of the way as a chunk of the ceiling sizzled into nothingness above him. Memory-Robs #1 and #2 were frightened, pushing at the bars. Superintendent-Rob was looking up with a look of anger and resignation.

"Does anyone here know what's happening?" Wrecker asked, and the others shook their heads.

The ground beneath the cage cracked and splintered.

Debris fell down, down, and then blinked out of existence as it hit some invisible floor.

Memory-Rob #2 made the mistake of standing in the corner of his cage… and then the whole thing plummeted. There was a chilling scream that came to an even more chilling abrupt end.

"Go," said Superintendent-Rob. "See what you can do. No use in staying here and dooming yourself."

Judging by his face, Memory-Rob #1 wanted to protest, but he said nothing, and so Wrecker turned and ran away from the checkered tide just as the school fell into nothingness. The dreamscape was malleable enough for him to leap successfully to the next island, and then the next one, eventually settling on the edge of a nature island where a rusty 'NO BILL ALLOWED' sign guarded a dark forest. This place was stable! All of the other islands had been quaking. He sighed in relief- and then he looked up and saw himself, or rather another Memory-Rob. He wasn't aware that any more existed. No, wait, this wasn't necessarily a memory- could this be his main consciousness?

"What's going on?" asked Wrecker again.

"What do you mean, what's going on?"

"Your memories are crumbling!" Wrecker gestured angrily to the dreamscape in disarray around them.

"It's a good thing I'm safe here, then," said present-Rob(?) with a little smile on his face, one that Wrecker wanted to wipe off. "Who are you?"

"Who- you're asking who I am?"

"Sure I am, dude, I just asked you that."

Wrecker tried to answer, but found that he couldn't. It was both of their minds crumbling.

"I don't know," said Wrecker, "but that's bad."

"Bad?"

For just a second, present-Rob's face flashed with concern, but it faded.

"Yes! Can't you see that something is clearly wrong here?"

"I don't see anything wrong."

Wrecker tried to hold on, he really did. But- even though this island should have been safe- his voice was abruptly cut off as his consciousness, just one part of a larger consciousness, was taken by the encroaching nothingness, leaving a lone Rob staring and wondering who exactly he was just speaking to.

Convinced that this was all just a surreal dream, Present-Rob turned on his heel and walked back into the forest with a content smile. REM sleep was coming to an end, and truth be told this whole thing had made him rather well-rested. The feeling that he was forgetting something occurred to him for a split second and then it was gone.

[bestworstcase]

@nightmare-foundation from here

To be completely fair Salem has kinda been harassing, killing, and ruining Oz's lives for millennia 😭 she tortured a 15 year old boy who wants nothing to do with her, and it's directly stated by jinn that Salem manipulated Oz. I love Salem as a character, but as a person she's repulsive. Oz isn't perfect but he's infinitely better than her (no pun intended lol, also not looking for an argument or anything)

not out to pick a fight here, just want to lay out my thoughts:

the question ruby asks is "what is ozpin hiding from us?" and the answer jinn gives her is couched explicitly as a fairytale ("once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower..." and of course the episode itself is named the lost fable). this in a narrative where the veracity of fairytales is consistently questioned and ozpin explicitly leverages fairytale and legend to conceal information and control the narrative.

(see also 'the story of the seasons' and 'the two brothers.')

moreover, in "fairytales of remnant" ozpin's commentaries on 'the infinite man' and 'the girl in the tower' specifically discuss propaganda and the importance of skepticism: "no one who wasn't there could know what really happened. and even then, they would only have a small part of the story." and "one must always be prepared to think about and question everything they read or hear, especially if they are told it is the absolute truth."

likewise, "question everything" is a key theme of V5 and that theme largely centers around ozpin's dishonesty. so this is the narrative context in which TLF occurs: is jinn an objective narrator, or... is she answering exactly the question ruby answered, and telling the story as ozpin remembers it?

i think TLF sits firmly in the "ozpin's side of the story" camp, and i read it with the presupposition that the narrator is unreliable.

so, with that in mind: jinn insinuates that salem lied to ozma ("salem, fearing ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world on the gods") and draws a rhetorical equivalence between salem's rebellion and what she tells ozma they should do ("the hearts of men are easily swayed.") the implication that salem manipulated him is quite clear.

however: TLF is what ozpin was hiding.

by definition, you cannot hide things you don't know; ergo, none of the information revealed in TLF was unknown to ozma prior to ruby asking jinn this question.

it follows that either salem told him the whole story, including her own part in it, or ozma asked jinn what happened. given ozma's utilitarian usage of the lamp ("where are the other relics? what powers do they possess? how can i destroy salem?") and the effort he devotes to burying the past, i think it is much more likely that he heard it from salem.

further, what salem told ozma according to jinn isn't a lie. in fact, salem blaming the gods for the end of the world corroborates the explanation the god of light gave to ozma ("a... tragedy has befallen your home at the hands of my brother"). yet: "ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his task and the relics a secret."

salem's account of what happened differed significantly enough from what the god of light told him for ozma to doubt her; where light blamed his brother, salem blamed both gods.

the scenario that i find most likely is that salem initially glossed over the rebellion but told ozma everything else: that she petitioned the brothers to bring him back, that they cursed her, and that they eventually decided this wasn't punishment enough, declared humanity a failed experiment, and wiped everyone out. then, later on, she admitted that she incited rebellion against them and told ozma why she hid that from him at first.

after all, "salem blamed the end of the world on the gods" tells us absolutely nothing about how much detail salem went into. just the conclusion she came to about who was to blame.

meanwhile, we do know exactly what secrets ozma kept from her: he didn't tell her about his task or the relics. this is important, because ozma later voices concern about humanity being "more divided than ever," and salem answers without having the full context.

"we could become the gods of this world. [...] we can mold these lands into whatever we want—what you want!—create the paradise that the old gods could not." <- this is a course of action she suggests in response to ozma bringing up "humanity is divided" as a problem he would like to solve. from salem's perspective, ozma just told her that he has an ambition (uniting the world) that dovetails with her own desire to make a better world without the gods, and she really does believe they can do it!

but what ozma actually wants is to unite the world on behalf of the gods, then summon the brothers back to remnant to judge whether humankind has earned redemption or not. his true goal is the exact opposite of what salem proposed, but he doesn't tell her!

"the hearts of men are easily swayed"—but she did not exactly twist ozma's arm, here. all she does is enthusiastically go "we could fix that!" in answer to ozma fretting about the state of the world, and ozma... doesn't object, at all. her wording makes it abundantly clear that she would never accept the divine mandate, so he... keeps that a secret from her. for years!!

one of them is being manipulative here. it isn't salem.

and—well, look at how she reacts when he finally does object.

"are we sure this is right?" <- he's explicitly asking for her opinion.

"you said we needed to bring humanity together; in order to do that, we need to spread our word, and destroy those who would deny it." this is an indirect answer: whether right or wrong, their actions now are what's necessary to achieve his stated goal. but is it a manipulative answer? does she intend to shut him down?

or is she trying to broaden the discussion? he asks, "is what we're doing right?" and she answers, "well, it follows from our objective. does the end justify the means?"

he says, "this isn't what he asked of me." <- hard objection.

she says, "what did you say?" <- request for clarification.

he tells her everything: "the true reason the god of light had brought him back, the relics that lay scattered around the world, and the day of judgment he had been told to prepare for."

salem—though visibly unhappy—listens calmly, without interruption, until he's finished and turns to her for an answer. and of course her answer is to reject the mandate altogether ("don't you see? none of that matters anymore!") because in her view the brothers are tyrannical monsters and the world is better off without them, as she made crystal clear from the very beginning.

but she doesn't reject ozma; she holds out her hand and asks him to forsake his task and try things her way.

and what stands out the most to me about this whole scene is that at no point does salem appear to be unwilling to have the discussion. she answers his first question in a very open-ended way, asks him a question when he says something she doesn't understand, sets her own feelings aside to hear him out, and then couches her rejection as a question—why does it matter what the gods told you, why should we try to "redeem" these humans?—whilst making a gesture that very explicitly invites ozma to engage with what she's saying.

but like, at no point in either scene does ozma reciprocate that; he doesn't push back at the start, and when he doesn't like the answer she gives him he appeals to divine authority rather than engage with what she actually said, and when she questions the mandate he straight up just walks out. is that salem's fault? does it make sense to read this as learned behavior caused by salem's treatment of him when he acts the exact same way from the start?

in the real world we call this missionary dating.

just as ozma isn't to blame for salem attacking him, salem isn't to blame for ozma doing this to her.

anyway, as for the idea that salem has been hunting him and tormenting him ever since:

jinn says, "no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt"—and what we see is two beowolves attacking the town.

but:

salem does not control every grimm in the world, and there are many, many examples throughout the story of grimm attacks happening without her knowledge or control. most notably, grimm attack the argus express, with oscar on it, at a point in time where salem doesn't even know ozpin is back yet.

as per 9.10, twelve years ago, ozpin's last-minute secret urgent missions so regularly turned out to be false alarms that he had a catchphrase about it. his own inner circle told inside jokes about his paranoia! and the sheer level of destruction salem has achieved in just two years calls into question the assumption that this is a normal state of affairs.

over the course of the show, we've seen ozpin make several grievous miscalculations based on the assumption that salem will prefer to remain in the shadows. her first move involves orchestrating a massive terrorist attack on an internationally-televised sporting event. she openly lays siege to atlas and smiles while she watches ruby reveal her existence to the world.

ozma sees salem's hand in every grimm attack and every crisis he's weathered throughout the years. he also very badly misjudges her strategy and tactics when she actually goes to war.

do we trust his perception that salem is the mastermind behind everything bad that has ever happened in his vicinity?

on the other hand, ozma explicitly believes that "if humanity were ever to stand a chance of being united," salem has to be destroyed. he explicitly decided to search for the relics in order to "rid the world of her." and after asking where to find those relics and what they could do, the third question he asks jinn upon finding her is "how can i destroy salem?"

there is zero ambiguity about this. for thousands of years, his main goal has been to get rid of her. and... considering that she was legendary when ozma first returned ("during his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters..."), he's been quite phenomenally successful in eradicating her influence and presence even though he cannot, of course, actually get rid of her.

the point of this is not to justify any of the things salem has actually done—ozma is no more responsible for her actions than she is for his—but to argue that she is justifiably angry at him.

i think the text makes it quite clear that salem was profoundly traumatized by the way he treated her, because he took advantage of her trust to lie and manipulate her into serving gods she vocally rejected and then spent thousands of years crusading to get rid of her. i think the common fanon—that salem is a spoiled brat who abused ozma while they were married, "ruined her own happy ending," and now unfairly blames him and wants to destroy the world to spite him or punish him for "leaving" her—is flatly countertextual.

[zuleyhasposts]

Stand By Your Man (Negan/Reader)

Chapter Seventeen - Apologize.

When you finally woke up, you heard two distinguishable voices: they were clearly Simon and Negan. You couldn’t decipher what they were saying, but none of them seemed angry.

You stood up from the bed, supporting your body on the walls, until you finally reached them. You didn’t care if you were wearing Negan’s t-shirt and sweatpants - which were a bit too big for you - they definitely saw you in a worse condition.

“Look who is up!” Simon said, as he stood up and helped you to sit on the couch with them.

Negan wanted to help first, but Simon beat him on time. He let it go and waited for the both of you to sit again.

“Well, you could say I’m still here.” You said with a laugh. Your head was still hurting, but way less than yesterday. Later you would have asked for a painkiller, after eating something.

“You should eat, doll.” Negan said while he pulled the tray closer to you.

“Did you eat?” You asked.

He smiled. “I did. My personal maiden here, Simon, brought food also for me. Don’t you see how sweet he is?”

You laughed and you could hear Simon under his mustache breathing a “fuck you.”

You started to eat and heard Simon and Negan talking about business stuff. Something happening to Alexandria, or whatever you understood. You didn’t like putting your nose into these matters, especially because it involved other people.

As soon as you finished eating everything you could, the pain in your head faded away, making you consider that you shouldn’t take the painkiller.

The both men were still talking, but you decided to tell them what happened, because you knew they wanted to hear that.

“I think I should explain what happened yesterday” You said, looking at them.

“Only if you feel comfortable, doll.” Negan reassured you, making you understand that there was still time for the question.

“I think you should explain from the start,” Simon added, “Negan doesn’t know shit about what happened between you and Marika.”

“Don’t care.” He retorted with a sing-song tone. “That shit is less important than what happened with Edward.”

Only by hearing his name, you trembled. You couldn’t believe that someone like him could be crazy enough to get to that point.

“Simon is right,” you look at Negan, “if we think about it, it’s what started everything.”

Negan sighed. “Alright then, explain everything from the start.”

“Everything happened when Marika came to me and provoked me. I still don’t know what kind of intention she had, but for sure not good ones. She called me with a bad word that I’m not gonna repeat but Simon knows it.”

Simon smiled under his mustache, he wanted to laugh but it was better to keep it from himself. “I know the entire story.”

You kept telling Negan. “We fought and I have to admit that it made me extremely tired. I didn’t know that Marika could fight…but anyways, Simon took care of me by cleaning all the blood around my face. It’s when he left me in my room that the nightmare began.”

Negan’s gaze was all over you, not missing a word and neither a movement of yours. You also got Simon’s attention because you were starting to talk about Edward.

For a moment, you looked at your hands. “I admit that it’s also my fault…when I felt someone in my room, it was too late. He hit my head with an iron bar.”

“Where the fuck did he find that?” Simon asked a rhetorical question. “Possible that nobody in this place noticed a freak with an iron bar?”

“It’s not that strange,” you spoke again, “Edward started to speak about how invisible he was for his entire life. I suspect that nobody here paid that much attention to him, me included.”

Negan had a concerned look on his face. “Did you speak to him before this?”

You nodded. “But I didn’t speak to him…it’s more like he tried to speak to me. I avoided him as much as I could. I think my behavior made him angrier.”

“Wait, wait.” Simon stood up, his hands in his pockets. “A freak starts to flirt with you, you reject him and he wants to get his revenge by kidnap and then kill you? That’s some psycho-killer mentality.”

“I mean, it happened to me, yes, but it could have easily been someone else.”

Negan couldn’t deny he was feeling angry again. He wanted to ask you more questions, more details, but the shape you were and Simon’s presence made it not the wisest choice. He decided that he would have asked you more that night, hoping that you stayed in his room.

“Alright kids,” Negan said while he stood up too, “it’s getting fucking late and I still need to dress myself for the day. Simon, we will go to Alexandria and see how shit is going there.”

“Alright.” Simon answered, reaching the door to leave.

“Wait!” You grabbed the hem of Simon’s shirt, catching the attention of both of them. “Before you leave, can you take some clothes from my room? I want to take a shower.”

“You should be fucking grateful to wear my clothes, doll.” Negan said laughing, while he disappeared into his room to change himself.

“I think you both fucked up your brain if you think I’m some kind of maiden.”

You almost begged Simon. “Please! Do it for your ill friend…”

Simon sighed, probably giving up because he definitely didn’t want to hear your complainings. “Wait here, I’ll come back soon.”

You took advantage of the situation to reach Negan, who was putting on his famous black leather jacket.

He smiled when he realized of your presence. “You wanted to give the big bad old wolf a goodbye kiss?”

You rolled your eyes but smiled at him anyways. “No, but I wanted to tell you something.”

“Mh?”

“When I wasー” a knock on the door interrupted you, making you surprised at the thought of Simon being so fast. “Wait, I’ll check. Maybe it’s Simon with my clothes.”

Negan followed behind you and he had the same confused expression as you when you opened the door only to see Sherry.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Negan asked, carrying Lucille again on his shoulder.

Sherry waved with her hands with an embarrassing expression. “Hi! I wanted to check…to see if (Y/N) was feeling better.”

You tried your best to smile back at her, trying to not remember the past few days. “I’m feeling better, thank you.”

In the brief moment of silence, Simon arrived too. Looking confused at Sherry while he passed you the clothes you asked.

While you grabbed your clothes, you looked at Sherry again. “Do you need something?”

“Yes, I want to talk to you,” she looked at you, “in private.”

Negan laughed at the request. “Lady, this is my fucking rooー”

It was Simon who stopped Negan before things would get worse. “Alright boss, why don’t we go back to work?” He said while his arm was on Negan’s shoulder.

“Wait for me.” Negan said to you in a low voice, just to follow Simon out of the door right after.

“Let’s talk inside.” You suggested Sherry and she nodded.

You started to play with your hands, looking over Sherry who took place on the couch. You couldn’t stand the idea of sitting too close to her, not after the mess.

She noticed it, fixing her gaze on the floor. “I know that you don’t want to sit next to me, probably I wouldn’t do it either.”

You bit the inside of your cheek. “I can’t, Sherry. Even if I force myself, it’s still impossible.”

You both looked into each others’ eyes, until Sherry spoke again. “I think you want an explanation.”

You nodded. “In reality, I want to ask you some questions first.”

“Go ahead.”

“Whyー” words felt like knots in your throat, making it even more difficult, “why did you go back to Negan if you called him a monster?”

Sherry smiled weakly, remembering the question that Marika asked her. “I know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t alone in this room with Negan, there was also Dwight. Negan acted like nothing happened because of him and I should actually thank him. But the reason I was there was because I wanted to try to get him back, I don’t want to lie.”

You felt the sensation of relief relaxing your body. You were grateful that nothing happened between her and Negan, but at the same time it made you realize how much you sucked at communication.

“I still don’t understand why you hate me, Sherry.” You admitted.

She looked down, sadness filling her body. “I don’t hate you, believe me. Everything is my fault, also what happened with Marika is.”

“What do you mean?” You sat in front of her, with the right distance between you both.

“I asked her to provoke you,” she said while swallowing the knot of guilt, “it’s my fault if all this mess happened and I’m really sorry.”

Even if her excuses seemed sincere, you didn’t know if you actually wanted to accept her apologies. You remembered all the time you cried and it seemed too easy to go away with it by just saying sorry.

Sherry saw on your face the being indecisive, and for this reason she decided to keep talking. “You don’t have to accept my apology, but at least believe me. I meant with my heart everything that I said right now.”

“I know you’re not lying, but it’s so difficult for me.” You said by briefly looking at her.

She stood up, not because she was about to leave, but to get closer to you. You didn’t flinch at the sudden closeness, even if you didn’t enjoy it.

She looked down at her feet, not wanting to meet your eyes because she didn’t want to make you even more uncomfortable. “You know…I was so blind that, even if I missed Dwight, I pushed him away.”

It was a matter of seconds that your mind started to think about Negan.

She kept talking. “If I could go back in time, I would change a lot of stuff, but it’s too easy to say now. I just know that I’ll make him understand that I care for him, more than I’m able to express.” She looked up at you again and smiled, but you didn’t know what she really meant by telling you about her and Dwight.

Then she reached the door, leaving you thinking what you should do with her apology. You thought you could talk about it with Negan, since he’s also a “victim” of Sherry in this story.

At some point, though, Sherry stopped. “I think he feels something for you.”

You didn’t have the time to ask her what she meant, she left already.

Negan and Simon were finally done with the work. The visit to Alexandria was pretty quick and also the checking around wasn’t too difficult. It was their routine and they knew what to do even with their eyes closed.

Negan knew that Simon wanted to tell him something, this was probably the reason he decided to pick up a car instead of a truck. He wanted to talk about something in private. At the beginning he thought it was related to what happened with Sherry, maybe he wanted to tell Negan that he needs to chill out, but he was wrong.

“I know you’re falling in love with her.” Simon said, as he kept watching the road in front of him.

Negan laughed for a moment, thinking that his friend was not serious. “I see you’re in the mood for jokes today.”

Simon smiled, still focused on the drive. He spoke again, his tone was dry as he intended to make Negan understand he was dead serious. “No, I’m not joking. I can see it straight on your face that you’re falling in love with her.”

Negan didn’t answer back, instead he kept looking at Lucille. He felt like she already knew of his feelings and his doubts.

Simon looked away for a second, catching his stare on the bat, he focused again on the road.

“You know it’s something that she also wants. You still can't grasp the past forever. Don’t you think it’s time to let it go?”

Negan looked up again, watching the road in front of him. In that moment, Simon was being the logical part he was missing all along. “I thought about it. Yesterday night, after we saved (Y/N).”

“And? What did you realize?”

Negan sighed, as they were getting closer to the Sanctuary. “That I’m ready to let of Lucille.”

───────────────────────────────────────────

AO3 Link:

[boy-above]

on this pride month i've decided that the current closest descriptor for my gender is...

i'm gonna do a whole lot of talking abt my gender and stuff, honestly it's mostly for myself to organize my thoughts but i do like talking abt myself sometimes so if you read, thank you i guess

before i figured out i was a boy i ID'd as nonbinary for several years, i was hesitant to ID as masculine because at the time the community was so drenched with radfem ideology that myself and a lot of other transmascs were afraid to come out / even think about exploring masculinity because we were constantly being told how evil men were all the time. so instead i went through like, so many nonbinary labels, but none of them really suited me, i discovered. agender, bigender, genderfluid, i tried a lot of them. the thing is that i knew i didn't want to be a Girl, but was very hesitant to consider i was a Boy because of the previously mentioned radfem rhetoric being spread. this isn't a post to talk about that though, you've heard a lot about that from me already lmao. it's just an important component of the struggles with gender i had growing up.

anyway, once i finally accepted i was a boy, i was excited. i checked the boxes for a trans man, i wanted a dick (and am still mad i don't have one), i wanted he/him pronouns, i was comfortable being called a boy, etc. and i still want all of those things, so why am i starting to question the trans man label?

i think mostly it comes down to how my gender has been shaped by societal and environmental expectations. i have gender dysphoria but not in an entirely "traditional" way. i want a dick, i want a flat chest, i want a deeper voice. but im also gender nonconforming, and have no interest trying to do traditionally masculine things to "fit in" with cis men. i don't think femininity is some horrible thing to be avoided, i like a lot of feminine things and don't think so many things should be gendered in the first place. i don't think trying hormones would fix me because there's other ways i Don't want to look like a man. if anything i would say Nothing can truly fix my dysphoria because i don't want to look like Anything. there is no perfect me i can envision in my head, if anything i don't even want to look human; i don't even want to be perceived. there's also parts of me that no amount of surgery to fix, im only 4'9 for example, and even cis men get berated for being short let alone trans men.

that's why i've only told my immediate family, my friends, and my doctor that i'm a boy. i never plan of publicly coming out. on the rare occasion i do, i settle with they/them instead of my preferred he/him because it's just easier that way. you get a lot of laughing and eyerolling as a feminine looking person if you try to use he/him. ive been trans for so many years but i can never truly escape the chance that people might perceive me as a "trender" (hate that word, gag) because i simply don't pass. and then of course there's my parents who refuse to use he/him and will only use they/them. they know i want he/him but they won't even try. they're just like "you can't really expect us to call you a boy."

i have so much sympathy for fellow closeted people. the community never considers you and it ends up being a lonely place. you don't fit in with cis people but other trans people don't want you. once i read a piece called "i am a trans woman, i am in the closet, i am not coming out." and i can't even tell you how important that writing was to me. i read it at just the right time, years ago when i think i really needed it. it's one of the only things that made me feel like staying in the closet was an option. that i can only be out where i feel safe.

i've questioned before if my gender nonconformity and the way people treat non-passing individuals is the true reason i've become skeptical of my trans man identity. i think most likely it is, i think that if we lived in a world where it was perfectly socially exceptable to be a feminine trans man and people in public would accept me and treat me like a boy, i'd have no problem saying "i'm a trans man", but we don't live in that world. the world we're in right now has no room for people like me, and it's something i've had to accept. another thing worth mentioning is that i don't even really like the word 'man' being applied to me, i just felt like i had to use it because some people treat trans boys badly if they prefer 'boy' over 'man'. but i like being a boy. the word boy suits me better. the word man just doesn't seem applicable to me. i'm not masculine enough and the word just feels kinda wrong in my brain, the same way being called "handsome" does. i want to be cute, and calling me handsome would just be inaccurate. do you get what im saying?

but anyway, i think demiboy suits me because its more 'loose' than trans man for lack of a better word. its less specific and i think thats what i need right now. im a boy, but calling myself binary doesnt quite feel right. calling myself nonbinary also doesnt feel right though. like i said i ID'd as nonbinary for several years so i have no problem with the label in general, it just doesnt feel right when applied to me personally. it's kinda weird to describe, i know demiboy is not a binary identity, therefore is by definition nonbinary, but the word nonbinary itself just doesnt vibe with me, so i guess i would prefer not to call myself nonbinary??? i dont know how to describe it, it's just a labels thing. because like i said, i feel like trans boy isnt an entirely wrong way to describe me Either. im rambling now because i know my labels problem doesnt make sense. anyway uh yeah. i'm a demiboy. and for anyone who didn't see the post i made a while back, i use he/him and sometimes it/its. unenthusiastically throws a handful of confetti

[anfie-in-the-box]

Dreamtale_Not_Found & Aftermare Week

Notes

Another difficult day, but once again I did it! And I do feel better already. Bend but never break.

As usual, minor spoilers for the main work — Dreamtale_Not_Found.

。。。

Neither fight nor flight

"so how're things with the villagers?" Geno asks with barely concealed worry. They rarely talk about Nightmare's troubles in Dreamtale, but when they do, there are always heartfelt words of reassurance and love at the end of their conversation. Geno's always had a way to see right through Nightmare, to know when he needs help the most.

Today isn't a bad day though. They sit together on the carpeted floor of Geno's room, chatting about everything and nothing when Geno just asks out of the blue. Surprised and perplexed, Nightmare answers, "Most got bored a long time ago, but that also means only the worst ones stayed; but you already know that. Why ask?" 

Geno looks at him, calmer than before, "i don't know. maybe i just anticipate good news?"

"You know what? I have no idea how you do it, but you're right again," Nightmare admits. "I think… I think I no longer care about them or what they do to me. It was a long journey, but I'm finally here. A few days ago Dream brought a piece of fabric and together we made a cape for me so I could go to the village unnoticed. Not because I'm afraid but simply so no one wastes my time."

Geno blushes bright red suddenly. 

"What?" Nightmare asks, alarmed. "Was it something I said?" 

Geno smiles widely and whispers, as if sharing a secret, "it suits you to feel so confident and strong." 

Nightmare pretends to be surprised (and not flustered, nu uh, no way) and exclaims, "So you're enamoured! Why, Geno, that's so sweet of you!" 

"quit teasing, i'm simply telling the truth; whose fault is it that you're so ethereal?" 

Embarrassed, Nightmare tries to change the topic, "Are we flirting or talking about my life?"

"flirting while talking about your life, especially when it's getting better," Geno grins. "any complaints?" 

"None whatsoever." Nightmare smiles in return and makes a hand heart. Geno pretends to shoot an arrow, and Nightmare falls on his back, gasping, "My heart!" They laugh and then stay comfortably silent for a few moments. 

Nightmare is the first to continue their conversation. "Today was actually the first day I tried the cape on and went to the village," he says, quietly. "Nobody cared for who was likely just another traveler. It was so… freeing. Exhilarating. I finally got to explore my own world." 

Moving closer to Nightmare, Geno murmurs, "you felt trapped all your life; you were trapped, the same as me." 

"Yet so differently," Nightmare adds.

The conversation ceases. Geno lies down close to Nightmare; their shoulders would be touching if Nightmare were tangible. They glance at each other, their eye-lights shining with fondness. Both can't help smiling; or at least Nightmare can't.

"you know what?" Geno suddenly asks. 

"What is it? Do tell." Nightmare looks at him, interested. 

"ever heard of the fight-or-flight response? don't answer, it's a rhetorical question. what i want to say is, you got to the stage where there's neither fight nor flight anymore. even before, at least for just a moment, you forgot all about those who hurt you so terribly. and now, they have no control over you at all. you're your own hero. you're stronger than them, and i said it already but will repeat it again — oh, how it suits you to feel confident and strong."

Nightmare hangs onto every word, enchanted with Geno's emotions — there's so much love, so much pride in his soul, it'd be impossible to ignore even if Nightmare wanted to.

"Neither fight nor flight… You're absolutely right," he whispers. "I love you so much. You're so very loveable; and, as you and Dream remind me, so am I. Let's not forget that."

"together."

"Yes. Together."

。。。

Credits

Undertale © Toby Fox

Nightmare!Sans © jokublog

Aftertale © loverofpiggies

Aftermare Week © @bluepallilworld

。。。

Notes

I had no ideas for either of the prompts, so I used both and neither at the same time, and it worked!

Take care 🌻

[gretavanfleetlove]

a spicy oneshot of lenny bruce x reader but the reader is a known comedienne

Can a Man Change His Mind?

Anon i must say, I like the way you think. Lenny Bruce x Fem!reader

Warnings- none?? Kissing I guess? Oh also guys tell me if you think this needs a part two becuuuuuuz I’m tempted to make one….

Request? Yes.

Summary: Reader is performing at a comedy club when her old friend Lenny Bruce stops by.

“Y/n!” I heard a voice shout from behind me. “Y/n! Finally.. I was wondering if you’d ever slow down.” They laughed

“Lenny?” I ask with a smile. “The one and only.” Was his reply. Definitely Lenny.

Taking my arm he led me through the crowded club to a dimly lit table. “Lenny, what are you doing here?” His answer was exactly what I’d expect. “Here to see you doll, why else?”

I scoffed at his particularly vague answer. “No… I mean what are you doing here?” Lenny hates or hated? So-called fancy comedy clubs. I know, says the man who got a gig at Carnegie Hall. But he dreads this place. Whether it’s because they wouldn’t take his jokes so lightly or because he thinks any where nice is full of pricks. “Ohh, oh I see, what am I doing here in this place specifically. Since you are such an extravagant comedienne why come here?”

Of course this being asked by Lenny was a rhetorical question. That didn’t stop my curiosity. I nodded with a flattered grin, waiting for the official answer. “I was just in the neighborhood .. I saw you were performing and didn’t have a good reason not to stop by.” He says quiet and slow, like he is every time he’s in a one on one conversation. “Yeah?” I question, It seems like every time I even speak to Lenny. As simple as this. Uncontrollable butterflies start to erupt inside of me. Every little compliment, even the facts he’s here to see me makes me smile like an idiot. “Yeah,” he says in a reassuring tone. “Although I was a bit offended you didn’t-” The fellow comedian was cut off by a young looking slim, tall, man.

“Please excuse me Ms. L/N. I’m sorry to interrupt but I was hoping to get an autograph?” He looked very awkward, continually looking back at a group of friends giggling and watching intensely.

“Oh my gosh. Of course!” I made myself turn my gaze away from Lenny. Writing my name on a newspaper “Y/N L/N AND LENNY BRUCE AFFAIR?” With my face in the middle of a skit as the cover. ‘Flattering picture! An even more flattering title!’ I sarcastically thought. “Thanks so much!” He exclaimed, giving a wink. Laughing to myself I looked back at Lenny. “I’m sorry Lenny what were you saying?” I asked. Having completely forgotten the topic of conversation. “People ask for your autograph now?” He asked more seriously than anything before.

“Well sometimes… that’s not a regular thing! No I guess he must’ve just seen me perform here before or something I don’t know but-” “Calm down!” Lenny stated in a more playful tone than the one before. “I wasn’t asking to call you out or something, it’s just incredible.”

A sigh of relief and embarrassment came from my chest, “Oh!” “You no that was a pretty interesting News headline, yeah?” The feeling of embarrassment hit again. I know I talk about Lenny a lot in skits. Wether it’s making fun of him or telling some story relevant to the joke. And hey maybe we’ve gone home together after a show once… or twice. But I know Lenny doesn’t want a relationship with me. “Friends with occasional benefits” he always said.

“ Interesting, you could say that….” I managed to choke out. Lenny laughed, “They’re not completely wrong, are they?” He asked with a cheeky smirk. “I wouldn’t call it an affair… persay.” I tried to keep my cool as he leaned in closer, making my breathe hitch. “Maybe not, but it’s definitely something.” He continued, leaning in closer. “Lenny, you’re the one who said that.. we were only friends, you know, better off that way?” He seemed to consider what I said, looking down, and back up at me. “Can a man change his mind?” Before I could come up with an answer he leaned in to kiss me. More gentle than any that he’d given me before. But before I could enjoy it I felt the flash of a camera hit us. “Lenny, we can't do this here.” I whispered. He answered quickly, “I know, come on.” Lenny ushered us through a near exit outside. It had just begun snowing. Falling and sticking on the city buildings and ground. Lenny walking quickly, still looked my outfit up and down. Black dress, black tights, and a light cardigan. “God, you’re gonna freeze out here.” He scolded, taking his suit jacket off and handing it to me. I thanked him, knowing he wouldn’t let me reject it. As a taxi cab drove by I quickly stuck out my hand and whistled. Lenny and I, freezing, hustled inside the cab. “Where to?” Asked the driver. Before I could answer at all, Lenny gave his address to the driver, and followed it with a wink to me. “I haven’t been here in awhile, you’ve changed a few things!” I admired his apartment, which definitely got a few upgrades over the past 8-9 months. He nodded “Yeah I’ve rearranged, even decorated.” I nodded whilst admiring the unfamiliar looking apartment.”Y/n?” Lenny asks at a quieter volume then he was speaking before. “Hm?” I hum in response “You never answered me. Earlier at the bar. When I asked if… a man can change his mind?” His eyes looked at me with a gleam of hope, along with underlying lust. My senses were overwhelmed by the apartment and Lenny’s longed for presence that it took me a moment to process what he had asked. “I think…” I started “that a man can change his mind.. if he really means it.” Without hesitation Lenny answered “He does.” “Is he sure?” “He is” “Then kiss me.” Lenny following the spontaneity of the previous interaction leaned in with a kiss. Less empty feeling than before. Now it felt full. It felt full of emotion and longing. The kiss deepened. “Bed.” He said sharply. Then picking me up, hooking my legs behind his back, without breaking the kiss he took us to his bed. “I love you.” He smiled, before showing his face into the crook of my neck.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A federal appeals panel appears inclined to restore the limited gag order in former President Donald Trump’s federal election subversion case, but may loosen some restrictions so he can more directly criticize special counsel Jack Smith.

A three-judge panel of the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Monday in the closely watched case, which stems from Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election and obstruct the lawful transfer of power. He pleaded not guilty.

None of the three Judges embraced Trump’s claims that the gag order should be wiped away for good because it is a “categorically unprecedented” violation of his free speech rights. Yet they also posed sharp questions to prosecutors as they tried to find the boundary of where intense campaign trail rhetoric crosses the line of undermining a criminal case.

“We certainly want to make sure that the criminal trial process and its integrity and its truth-finding function are protected, but we ought to use a careful scalpel here and not step into really sort of skewing the political arena,” Circuit Judge Patricia Millett said.

The limited gag order from District Judge Tanya Chutkan – which was temporarily frozen by the appeals panel when they agreed to hear the case – restricts Trump’s ability to directly attack Smith, members of his team, court staff or potential trial witnesses. He is allowed to criticize the Justice Department, proclaim his innocence and argue that the case is “politically motivated.”

The appellate judges, who are all Democratic appointees, heard the case on an expedited schedule and are expected to issue a ruling soon, but the timing is unclear.

Here are key takeaways from the hearing:

TRUMP POLITICAL RHETORIC CAN’T ‘DERAIL’ THE CASE, JUDGE SAYS

Millett repeatedly challenged Trump attorney D. John Sauer, saying it was important to draw a distinction between purely political campaign rhetoric and speech intended to subvert the legal process.

“First of all, we’re not shutting down everyone who speaks,” Millett said. “This is only affecting the speech temporarily during a criminal trial process by someone who has been indicted as a felon. … No one here is threatening the First Amendment broadly.”

Sauer argued that the restrictions on all criminal defendants against illegal speech like blatant witness tampering were more than enough to protect the integrity of the case. He said the gag order infringed on Trump’s “core political speech.”

Cutting him off, Millett said: “Labeling it ‘core political speech’ begs the question of whether it is in fact political speech or whether it is political speech aimed at derailing or corrupting the criminal justice process. You can’t simply label it that and conclude your balancing tests that way. We have to balance.”

Sauer responded by arguing that the speech potentially being restricted by the gag order is “inextricably entwined with the issues that are being publicly debated in the context of the campaign.”

BUT TRUMP SHOULD HAVE SOME LEEWAY

Later in the hearing, Millett and fellow DC Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard both signaled that they think the existing gag order could be loosened to allow Trump to levy additional public attacks against Smith and his team of prosecutors.

Not that they think the attacks are well-founded, but that Trump should have the right to defend himself.

“It can’t be that he can’t mention Mr. Smith,” because most Americans have heard about the case in the context that it was initiated by Smith’s team. That has become the shorthand, Pillard noted.

“Surely he has a thick enough skin,” Pillard said of the special counsel.

Trump can’t be forced under a gag order to “speak Miss Manners while everyone else is throwing targets” at him during a theoretical GOP presidential primary debate, Millet added.

The names of Smith and the other prosecutors are all “part of the public record,” she said.

The current gag order prevents Trump from “making any public statements … that target the special counsel… or his staff.” In speeches and social media posts, Trump often says Smith is “deranged” and a “lunatic.”

Trump has criticized Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, at nearly every turn. Earlier this month, he called the special counsel a “disgrace to America.”

TRUMP ATTORNEY PRESSED ON HYPOTHETICAL THREATS AGAINST PENCE AND WITNESSES

Millett posed sharp questions about the potential of Trump to intimidate witnesses while he is campaigning for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination that hit on a well-documented pattern of Trump trying to threaten, discredit or cajole witnesses through public rhetoric.

She raised the hypothetical of Trump saying at a rally that a specific person is being “bothered” by prosecutors and that he thinks people who are “faithful” and “loyal” shouldn’t cooperate with prosecutors.

In response, Sauer claimed Trump hasn’t done that in this case.

Millet asked if it would acceptable for Trump to post: “Mike Pence can still do the right thing if he says the right stuff tomorrow,” on the eve of his testimony at the trial. (The witness list hasn’t been announced yet, but Pence is clearly a major part of the case.)

Sauer said this type of speech could only be restricted if there was a “compelling evidentiary showing” of “an actual threat” against Pence.

A significant portion of Smith’s case against Trump revolves around Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to abuse his position overseeing the Electoral College certification to block the lawful transfer of power after the 2020 election.

“The district court correctly found that the defendant’s well-established practice of using his public platform to target his adversaries, including trial participants in this case, poses a significant and immediate risk to the fairness and integrity of these proceedings,” special counsel prosecutor Cecil VanDevender argued.

CONCERNS ABOUT JURORS BEING DOXXED

At several different points, Millett expressed concern about Trump potentially revealing the personal information of jurors in his trial and how his speech might lead some of his followers to similarly attack jurors on the Internet.

The potential issue of online threats being directed toward jurors as a result of Trump’s speech could factor into the judges’ final decision on the gag order. Prosecutors have argued that those kinds of threats could prejudice the jury in the case.

“If the district court entered an order restricting a criminal defendant from making comments about individual jurors, and the defendant were a candidate for public office, would that order violate the First Amendment?” Millett asked Sauer.

“It would depend on the context, but I do concede there would be facts that could justify an order like that,” Sauer said, prompting the Judge to appear somewhat puzzled by his response.

“It would depend on the context?” she asked.

Millett returned to her concerns later in the hearing, this time pressing the special counsel’s office if it was possible to proactively protect jurors from online doxxing by Trump “loyalists” acting in response to the former president’s speech.

“Is there any way, preventatively, to protect someone’s technology? Like let’s say I’m a prospective juror, can I be protected technologically from like doxxing?” she said.

“Because we do have – as you appreciate – the problem of speech by the defendant, and then it has the knock-on effect with the loyalists’ zeal, and that’s then, you know, what causes direct efforts at threatening and harassing individuals,” the judge explained.

Assistant special counsel Cecil VanDevender said he wasn’t aware of any technological tools that would work to mitigate the issue “at the source.”

“If they exist, I think they are not widely used and not easy to incorporate, particularly for every witness and every potential juror,” he added.

CHUTKAN DEATH THREAT LOOMS LARGE

A death threat issued against Chutkan in August by a Texas woman loomed large over the hearing, with two judges bringing up the incident as Sauer, Trump’s attorney, was pressed on whether his client’s speech can lead to real world actions by his supporters.

“What the district court is finding is we have a past pattern: When the defendant speaks on this subject, threats follow,” said Circuit Judge Brad Garcia. “Why isn’t the district court justified in taking a proactive measure? Not waiting for more and more threats to actually occur and stepping in to protect the integrity of the trial?”

Sauer countered that there is “an evidentiary burden here,” and argued that despite Trump’s online comments on the case, prosecutors “haven’t come forward with a single threat that’s even arguably inspired by any of his social media posts.”

But Garcia and Millett quickly pushed back, with them both bringing up Abigail Jo Shry, who was charged in August after making the threat against Chutkan.

“The day after (Trump) said, ‘If you come after me, I’m coming after you,’ that threat issued,” Millett said.

Shortly after Smith unveiled the federal charges against Trump, Shry called Chutkan’s chambers and left a voicemail message threatening to “kill anyone who went after former President Trump,” according to a criminal complaint.

The death threats also allegedly included racist comments against Chutkan, who is Black. Prosecutors said in court filings that Shry called the Judge a “stupid slave nigger” in the voicemail.

Sauer attempted to distance Shry from Trump’s comments, saying that in her case, “there’s no evidence of any reading of social media.”

“That particular threatener is a – unemployed, you know, mentally unstable, heavy alcoholic who sits on her couch drinking beer all day, according to her father. Never leaves the apartment, watches the news, not reads things on social media, watches the news on TV, gets angry about it and makes angry, threatening calls,” he said.

[jaythelay]

Kyle Gass is getting in more trouble than Dump has ever faced.

Actually he's getting in more trouble than most politicians saying the same thing. Kinda lile when Biden said there were headless israel babies but it was actually headless palestinian babies.

In fact he sure is getting a bunch of shit for a quick joke on his Bday.

A joke maaaaaaany made and makes 0 difference regardless. Would've never heard of it had JackBlack not made it so well publicised.

Anyone else notice that Dump is a pedophile wanting to destroy our democracy? Hey, quick question! Why do we care about the dude who got a shitload of undercover agents killed because he sold (realistically just gave away) information to our enemies?

Hey remember that time he lead AN INSURRECTION that tried to kill his VP? Or what about his Covid body count? Hell what about the horse paste he lead his followers into injecting? Or bleach? Hey remember how he made his fanbase wanna kill Fauci, Pelosi, and Pence?

Hey remember that time Dump saw an old man fall and hit his head, bleed, and all he could say was "That's disgusting, my marble floors are ruined!" (Legit not one empathetic action or word)

Oh wait, this is Convicted Rapist Donald Trump!

Who Also Mind You told you, told just grieving parents, to "get over it" (In reference to a school shooting)

So color me fucking pissed when someone says "If Only" about the guy and that's treated as some moral boundary killer. Dump deserves no humanity. He has forgone it for every single human being. He's forgone it for himself. You cannot expect your humanity to change these people, the same who mocked Pelosi's husband being attack with a hammer by, you guessed it, a republican.

IMO: L take by JackBlack, definite strong mark against him for this. Dump told you to get over it when it was children, but you show more care for the pedo, rapist, insurrectionist, treasonous, thief than achool shooting victims, free speech, or comradery for those around you.

That tax cut Dump stuck us with definitely helped him while you can barely afford food or medicine. All that heartbreak, cruelty, death, and violent rhetoric, and the one time it gets turned back on Dump BY ONE OF HIS OWN PARTY, suddenly we gotta act like the past decade, the past several decades of Dump forcing people off their property, of Dump skipping bills for poor people and bankrupting entire towns. Of Dump being friends with our national threats and Epstein. None Of It Happened.

B- Because one of Dump's own tried to kill him.

So color me surprised when people suddenly start clutching their pearls as if Dump hasn't escalated everything to that day where a Republican tried to kill him. And then his VP pick is one that called him Hitler. Hitler. And ya wanna defend these people blaming BLM, antifa, trans, leftists and blacks for the republican shooting dump.

He raised his fist in defiance of his own tyranny, leaving everyone in the crowd, and those meat shielding him, open to more gunfire, because he desperately hoped it was anyone but a White Male Republican. That image doesn't go hard. It's pathetic. What it stands for is himself against himself. And Dems wanna let R's martyr him anyways. Pathetic.

Sometimes. It's okay to just admit how you feel when a historical event happens. It's always always always okay to mock and wish negativity upon those that make everyone, literally, fucking everyone's life, worse. Sorry, but ya'll are letting R's run the show.

In every POSSIBLE form of morality, Dump Told You To Get Over It.

It is not a big deal. He does not see shooting of children as a big deal, so why the fuck is it any deal when it's the 34 felony counter?

Leftist. Stop clutching your fucking pearls. Because you're letting R's take away what is the biggest reason NOT to vote for the child rapist. His own party is escalating political violence from insurrections targeting other officials to himself.

Allow me to say one more thing: Biden may be old, but at least his party isn't gonna kill him. Biden'll last longer in office at this rate, because again, Republicans are as they've told us, Domestic Terrorists. Who escalated from lynching blacks and beating up women in bathrooms to insurrections and killing presidential candidates.

And ya'll are enabling it to happen again and again and again. Ya'll aren't fighting political violence pretending to be bipartisan with active threats. You're coddling it. Enabling it.

Had it been a minority, anyone not republican, R's Told You It Would've Been Civil War.

They would've broken into homes to shoot people. They would kidnap and torture trans and immigrants. They'd burn your house down for having the wrong flag.

And. And we're just gonna act like...like this is fine.

When you show empathy, they take advantage. When you do nothing, they take advantage. When you stop progress. They. Take. Advantage.

Regardless of abundance of shitty people or not in the R party, all the violence has been stemming entirely from R's. But sure, commenting on that is baaaad.

But hey sure yeah we can't make jokes about the child rapist with an immense dead body count who mocked shooting victims and the dead and our veterans because one of his own shot him.

And of course it just had to be them evil leftists basing information off videos of Dump's own fucking words and actions. That's what caussd it! I say, so fucking what. The world would've been better off. Sucks to suck, maybe don't be that much of a world wide threat? Just a thought. Of course I do not wish for assassinations or any violence, but when R's are doing it, it's stupid as FUCK not to point it out and it's even dumber to act like pointing out the obvious is as bad as assassinations.

Do Not let republicans morally bankrupt you into not speaking your truth: It fucking sucks it missed. It really does. But I do not want anymore of it. At fucking all. And the only way to STOP anymore is getting Dump tf in a jail cell for the rest of his life. Not the ground. The earth deserves better than that. I do not want anybody throwing their life away because of this monster. Which is why I'm relieved it was, Once Again, a Republican.

Because that's an opening in political discourse to point out that last election Dump too lead a streak of political violence at the capitol. Now it's moving towards him and ya'll wanna be quiet.

Speak the fuck up or allow it to come to you.

It is your moral obligation to mock Dump and the situation so that he is safe in a jail cell. To not, is to enable political violence and I'm not even joking.

[horizon-verizon]

Why do people think that Rhaenyra would either be forced to attack Alicent’s kids or that she would be willing to do so? (Rhetorical Question)

I have read metas about Alicent knowing about how her kids will always be a danger to Rhaenyra’s claim in the practical sense, basically agreeing with Otto. And I have seen others suggest through memes, TV edits, gifs and metas or short posts how Rhaenyra displays a hankering for green blood, often citing episode 7 and in Fire and Blood where she says that Aemind should be “sharply questioned” for calling Lucerys a bastard, weaponizing treason claim against him and Alicent. Emma D’Arcy’s quote about Rhaenyra weaponizing treason and their surprise at Viserys’ actor is also cited as evidence of Rhaenyra’s power-hungriness, bloodthirstiness, unjustified cruelty, and evil.

But here are a few things:

A)

In the book, Alicent demands for Lucerys' eye before Rhaenyra demands for Aemond to be questioned "sharply". Book!Rhaenyra responded to Alicent's cruel demand with her own to try and protect her child. 

While the show has Alicent demand for Lucerys’ eye way after Rhaenyra demands Aemond be “sharply” questioned/tortured.

I may be accused of trying to say that it only matters who did what first in a confrontation and some may claim that it doesn’t matter who did what first. However, the reasons why who did what first is important is”

to point out the antagonizer and find out why they antagonized (Who, What, When, Where, Why)

to keep track of people’s actions is to begin to parse out their motivations is part of a fair adjudication

some people have pointed out that Aemond dropped the rock before Lucerys attacked him again with the knife. If you argue this, then you yourself are arguing like me for “who did__first” to defend Aemond--you would have no room to talk

The book explicitly says to us that Book!Alicent was the one who wanted to violently hurt a child first. The very thing that some fans have used to reason we should all hate and blame Rhaenyra for. 

Afterward, King Viserys tried to make a peace, requiring each of the boys to tender an apology to his rivals on the other side, but these courtesies did not appease their vengeful mothers. Queen Alicent demanded that one of Lucerys Velaryon’s eyes should be put out, for the eye he had cost Aemond. Princess Rhaenyra would have none of that, but insisted that Prince Aemond should be questioned “sharply” until he revealed where he had heard her sons called “Strongs.”

(Fire and Blood; “A Question of Succession”)

However, HotD has Rhaenyra call for Aemond’s questioning before Alicent demands for Lucerys’ eye:

Viserys: Aemond...I will have the truth of what happened. Now. 

Alicent: What else is there to hear? Your son has been maimed. Her son is responsible. 

Rhaenyra: It was a regrettable accident. 

Alicent: Accident? The Prince Lucerys brought a blade to the ambush. He meant to kill my son. 

It was my sons who were attacked and forced to defend themselves. 

Rhaenyra: Vile insults were levied against them. 

Viserys: What insults? 

Rhaenyra: The legitimacy of my sons' birth was put loudly to question. 

Viserys: What? 

Lucerys: He called us bastards. 

Rhaenyra: My sons are in line to inherit the Iron Throne, Your Grace. This is the highest of treasons. Prince Aemond must be sharply questioned so we might learn where he heard such slanders. 

Alicent: Over an insult? My son has lost an eye. 

Viserys: You tell me, boy. Where did you hear this lie? 

Alicent: The insult was training yard bluster. The lot of boys. It was nothing. 

Viserys: Aemond... I asked you a question. 

Alicent: Where is Ser Laenor, I wonder? The boys' father? Perhaps he might have something to say in the matter. 

Viserys: Yes. Where is Ser Laenor? 

Rhaenyra: I do not know, Your Grace. I... could not find sleep. I had gone out to walk. 

Alicent: Entertaining his young squires, I would venture. 

Viserys: Aemond...look at me. Your king demands an answer. Who spoke these lies to you? 

Aemond: It was Aegon. 

Aegon: Me? 

Viserys: And you, boy? Where did you hear such calumnies? Aegon! Tell me the truth of it! 

Aegon: We know, Father. Everyone knows. Just look at them. 

Viserys: This interminable infighting must cease! All of you! We are family! Now make your apologies and show good will to one another. Your father, your grandsire, your king demands it! 

Alicent: That is insufficient. Aemond has been damaged, permanently, my king. "Good will" cannot make him whole. 

Viserys: I know, Alicent, but I cannot restore his eye. 

Alicent: No, because it's been taken. 

Viserys: What would you have me do? 

Alicent: There is a debt to be paid. I shall have one of her son's eyes in return. 

So if Book!Alicent has done the reviled-thing of trying to hurt a child first while the show has its Alicent do it after Rhaenyra does hers, the show is guiding us to see Alicent as the one who’s more helpless. 

It certainly helps that she tried her damnedest to divert attention or anger at Aemond between Rhaenyra’s demand and her own demand.

Aside from that, notice how she immediately tried to stop Viserys from actually getting Aemond’s account to try to clarify things:

Viserys: Aemond... I will have the truth of what happened. Now.

Alicent: What else is there to hear? Your son has been maimed. Her son is responsible.

Alicent wanted Viserys to immediately punish Lucerys without gathering accounts. She immediately thought that the Velayron boys were out to get Aemond and didn’t want what would have become a fairer adjudication, thinking that the V boys “obviously” were the only ones in the wrong. 

(While I don’t think this specific line was her intentionally trying to divert the conversation similar to how Rhaenyra does, the result is the same: diversion from addressing how this happened in detail and parsing out people’s actions.)

Quick summation:

Yes she still did it because she was angry that her son lost an eye. Yes, any caring mother would seek out punishment againt the kid who permanently maimed her kid. My problem stems from Alicent always having been prejudiced against the boys and Rhaenyra for more than simple motherly protectiveness which drives her into the unreasonable demand for another maiming of a child. especially when said the child was protecting his brother from her son fighting them, calling them bastards and saying that they will die screaming, that a large part of Aemond's hatred at his nephews stems from her feeding her kids ideas of the boys' unworthiness and thus the sens in Aemond that something is being "stolen" from him at all. That's he's put into danger when he never was. that he cannot see himself as a true perpetrator against the boys nor Rhena and Baela (as who the hell tries to make off w/their cousins mother's dragon or whatever right after her funeral? Someone who has no real care or respect for said cousins).

Alicent has actually been very responsible for this mess in the first place, and she wanted to make Lucerys pay for it.

But if we look back at the fight, we see that Lucerys brought the knife not because he knew Aemond was down there but because Baela and Rhaena woke them up so they all could go see who “stole” Vhagar. The boys went with the girls for protection in case this “thief” was dangerous, so of course they brought knives. But none of these kids thought Aemond was the one who did it before they actually saw him. (Video link)

So Lucerys didn’t take the knife for Aemond specifically, but for whoever he thought was a threat. This is the middle of the night after all. His cousins woke him and his brother up for protection. And as a boy who was being trained to fight because this is a medieval-styled world, he would bring a knife when his cousin brings him and his brother because that is what he has for self-defense and protection against the "thief". They don't even know that Aemond is the "their" until they go down and see him.

However, Alicent makes it seem that Lucerys intentionally meant to harm Aemond from the beginning:

Alicent: Accident? The Prince Lucerys brought a blade to the ambush. He meant to kill my son. 

However, Lucerys seemed to think that Aemond was going to hurt them with Aemond hurling “bastard” and other threats at them, even though he had put down the rock, but he actually picked it back up! (Video link)

It was a volatile situation among children. No one is thinking clearly: there was already a fight and siblings are involved. But one side is much younger than the other.

This could have been fairly settled if there were more focused and cooler heads or a family not set against each other swirling with unchecked and undeserved paranoia, but we have Alicent responding as an angry mother, and while it’s justified that she is angry that her kid was harmed we need to remember that immediately punishing a person for harm before understanding what exactly happened for this to even happen at all is unconstructive--so that one can point out things that went wrong to these kids--AND she put these kids against each other by telling hers they shouldn't respect or regard Rhaenyra nor her kids bc of bastardry.

We the audience know that Baela and Rhaena think one can steal a dragon. Aemond stole the opportunity to claim Vhagar, but Vhagar chose him. We, the audience, know that a dragon has to choose the riders right back for there to be a bond, but Rhaena misunderstanding isn’t what I’d call a sin on their part. But the really burning part is actually Aemond doign this right after Laena's funeral and not even looking contrite about it, flouting the girls' emotions completely, as I already mentioned.

This all should have been addressed in a fair, cool conversation. Lucerys would have been accordingly and safely/fairly punished. Aemond as well (not physically or dismissively, something like having to apologize to his cousins and nephews and do favors or something).

But it wasn’t because the mothers were desperate with Viserys not being as involved with his green kids, the rift b/t Alicent and Rhaenyra coming from Otto's manipulations, and Alicent trying to shut things down before they could be properly addressed: “What else is there to hear? Your son has been maimed. Her son is responsible.” 

Then Rhaenyra sought to redirect focus to the bastard-calling because this is something that, in this feudal society is “worse” and they all know that Viserys would have felt this was the thing to address seriously first and more. Because he is King, any and all questioning of the boys' legitimacy or "lies" about their parentage involves treachery, which then always involves disobedience of him, which then (in an absolute monarchy) is almost always treated first. That is the expectation of a King in this feudal world. Bad parenting, definitely. It only makes things worse, as it does not satisfy the objective need to punish the right people according to their actions, green or black.

So he went in, not addressing how exactly any of the kids even got down to fight each other -> Aemond claiming Vhagar and the others going down to confront the mystery “thief”.

And before there’s more arguments for how eye-for-and-eye was a valid mode of justice for these feudal people:

Book!Daemon also thought in this way when he concocted the murder of his nephew through Blood and Cheese to avenge Book!Lucerys--who Book!Aemond intentionally killed--YET SOME OF THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARGUE FOR ALICENT LOOK AT HIM AS IF HE WAS THE ONLY EVIL OF THE STORY WHEN BOOK!ALICENT ACTED ON THE SAME EXACT PRINCIPLE WAY BEFORE HE EVER DOES

if you are one of those who argues that Viserys and any man who marries a girl in her teens and younger are automatically groomers and it doesn’t matter that this was a feudal medieval setting and that it doesn’t matter that this was normal, and then you argue how eye-for-an-eye was “normal” for this medieval setting and Alicent was completely in her right to use this “normal” means of punishment and that is all of that argument

You’d be using double standards and saying that the rule of eye-for-an-eye is a privilege for some people over others. Why would you criticize the "15 years olds got married, sometimes to older adults" (a practice that was present and ubiquitous in this society where people died much sooner) and then turn around and defend eye-for-an-eye specifically on the argument that "those were the times"?!

When medieval persons actually tried to have people marry as close to age as possible most of the time for concern of not messing with humors and the safety of the girl. That it was considered perverse both in real life and in Westeros for a man to have sex with his new wife until she at least had her period. And that if the parents wanted the political benefits sooner or to lock them down, they'd choose to marry their children however convenient. Compare to eye-for-an-eye, that sort of direct "he stabs me, I stab him" sort of thing actually is not a legal medieval practice. Again, this is a monarchy. You do what the king says. And there is a that no known precedent for this anywhere in Seven doctrine nor is it mentioned in ASoIaF lore.

Meanwhile, eye-for-an-eye is not “fair” in of itself--even if it’s believed to be.

You’d be hypocritical and ignorant.

B) 

Even if Rhaenyra’s offer to marry Jacaerys to Helaena is was just desperate move and not one of pure good will, has Alicent herself really pursued Rhaenyra’s ruin out of soldiering for values that are themselves good and pure?

However, doesn’t Rhaenyra’s offer also show that she’s willing to create a peace that people claim that she isn’t willing to make? Does it not make Helaena a queen (giving Alicent more influence), regardless whether or not her husband was (and he's not) illegitimate? Have you people heard of Orys Baratheon, Benedict Justman, real-life Henry VII?

No, in that scene in episode 6, Alicent merely wishes to dismiss Rhaenyra, and we saw so with Rhaenyra pulling up the suggestion that they build fortifications against the Triarchy and Alicent dismissed them, when fortifications would be much better on the realm than constant war and using more peasant lives to fight for those constant wars...yet Alicent says they shouldn't hurt t"the realm". Who is the realm?! Certainly not the common folk, who would love to be less involved in warfare and lose family members in it?!

It’s not a peace of friendship but a sort of accord and bring about unity against the rebellious lords.

To which Alicent then rejects out of the idea that her daughter should not “lower” herself to create this “peace”? 

So what if it was a desperate move? It would bring desirous results. It would create some sort of unity against the supposed many, unaccepting lords, if that is really what’s feared. Not as much as Rhaenyra marrying Aegon (II), but what is to stop the lords from deposing or pressuring Rhaenyra if she married Aegon? Just try to force her to abdicate the throne for him instead if they would be so bold to try to pressure her at all after she ascends? If we go by Otto and Alicent's thought that there would be massive rebellion, and that Rhaenyra would be "forced" to kill Alicent's kids?

So what is Alicent's true motivation for dismissing this proposal? It's out of pride. Pride that cost her, as we know what happened later in the Dance .....

Alicent's main beef(s) with Rhaenyra is that Rhaenyra:

deceived Alicent so throughly with Aemma/the mother-is-dead element

was able to find some real intimacy/sexual agency (episode 4, Alicent in the garden scene talks about about the “romance” of being bale to choose amongst the suitors)

[part of last point] had sex outside of her unwanted marriage while Alicent is stuck with a decaying man who loves his dead wife over her.

gave birth to "savage" bastard children (“savage” is what she calls them after learning of the pig prank)

But wait....

Then all this means Alicent actually doesn’t want peace or harmony or even real safety for her kids (and thus HotD's writing unfurls itself). For herself, those in the Keep, or the realm (whatever this "realm" is, though I suspect it is KL merchants and rich folk since they'd be paying the taxes more often than not).

Because when we later see her talk to Viserys about Rhaenyra’s proposal, she didn't once cite realm-peace as her reasons or strong reason to not marry the two. She explicitly says and implies that Jacaerys is not worthy of Helaena.

And why isn't he? Because of his supposed bastardry. 

In Westeros, bastards are hated because the it’s believed that they are “born from lust, lies, and weakness, and as such, they are said to be wanton and treacherous by nature.” And that they will be competition for the resources and rights/privileges available to trueborns.

(Sounds like a mega-blood purist to me.)

And, she did at one point feel that Rhaenyra herself would not hurt her children nor allow them to be hurt, but then Otto basically told her the lords had much more ability to bend Rhaenyra to their will and then Rhaenyra lied to her using Aemma's death and their "bond" as friends in episode 5. 

Again, Otto is the one who tells Alicent to be scared of Rhaenyra by using the idea that Rhaenyra would “have no choice” but to execute her own half-siblings. and he does this specifically to motivate her into doing what he wants above all, not to actually look out for Alicent just for Alicent’s sake.

Rhaenyra lying to Alicent can be seen as "proof" that Rhaenyra doesn't:

see Alicent as trustworthy (and she’s not)

respect Alicent's authority as Queen Consort

or can be a good Queen 

As the logic is that if she can use her mom's death against Alicent--her psuedo friend--then she doesn't respect the customs and traditional values of the lords she will rule one day.

However, what Targaryen has ever really thought or acted as if Westerosi customs were either "good" or more important than their own rule? Jaehaerys, for all the good he did, did those goods not because he thought that the customs were inherently correct but because he wanted to keep his rule and the future rule for his descendants intact. He also married his sister despite the fat that the Poor Fellows and Warriors Sons were still about and thank lt his own mother and very powerful stepfather/regent opposed, actively trying to separate him and Alysanne. 

The Doctrine of Exceptionalism was a tactic/dispensation to keep this one Targaryen custom in "hard" incest (sibling and avuncular marriages) in a society that already practices "soft" incest (Andal and First Men first cousin marriage). It's all bad, this helps realize how I know some people will think about this.

There is always an element of selfishness and self-interest to both a royal rule and nobles' power over those they have under their feudal protection. And there is a practicality to following the "rules" that people wrongly think equals actually believing in those rules' validity, since people seem to think obedience absolutely equals agreement. 

And should we actually sit here and think that no Westerosi noblewoman has ever had premarital or extramarital sex and still go through the risk? 

How did some never get caught? By being smart, observant, and manipulative--which means that nobles, being human beings are always actually playing by the rules, including the women. (The Tyrells, Brenden Justman's noblemother, Elissa Farmon, etc.) Or just plain lucky, with the people around them accepting the hidden benfits of such children to come from it, o to hide if for the image, or because they genuionely wish their hapiness (could be a thing, ASoIaF is anot ALL bleak).

The problems and chaos does not stem from Rhaenyra. HotD tries to claim that it is the patriarchy limiting her and Alicent helping to do so. Fire and Blood, does it better.

So show!Alicent was both too indoctrinated and conditioned, too believing in the corrupt feudal moral ideology. Or she is just too afraid to disobey. 

So it was mainly personal with her, not political. People are thinking about what they would do in her position, not what she is actually doing.

Alicent in episode 6 is not thinking about the other lords or any endangered grandkids. She is thinking about who is willing and able to support her. As she reveals to Larys. Her other main goal in episode 6 was to get Rhaenyra punished.

Alicent wants Rhaenyra to act “womanly”, act submissively to the demands of society, herself, and Viserys without protest or resistance--like she herself has submitted herself into. 

Isn’t this a sort of narcissism, to expect someone else to act like you without bothering to really understand why they act as they do?

Let’s imagine that you have a got this new job with all the benefits and great pay without working that hard for it because you are part of a rich and infleuntial family that happens to be more influential than your friend’s family, which is itself still very influential and rich enough to them them a similar job that pays less than yours does. Let’s say that your friends has had to deal with a few pervs and you had to still deal with being made an example of and being doubted by many people around you because of your gender or sexuality, race, etc. Yet your friend comes up to you one day and says that you have it better than them and you don’t deserve to have better than them. (I don’t know if I made a great example, but I will run with it until I think of something better, since feudal monarchial states versus capitalist democracies have their own styles of patriarchy--but still, there are going to be ways we can draw parallels.)

A capitalist, modern set up is not equal to feudal/monarchial succession. I use advancement in socioeconomic position here as the shares trait, nothing else.

It’s similar to the Alicent-Rhaenyra thing. Alicent thinks that Rhaenyra has had such a good life and that she should suffer like her....but Rhaenyra has also been a victim of patriarchy, and much more than the grooming claims with Daemon if we were to bring that up. Her mother dies from having to birth an heir Viserys feels confident in--a male heir; thus Rhaenyra is made it feels that she is not enough her whole life and her mother dies for this goal but that's treated as being the risks of her "job" similar to how battles are for men. She's also having to grapple with the fact that the person she would have to marry will mostly look to her as a means to get dragons--Alicent is not the only girl to be married off for someone else's ambition. And Rhaenyra is also shamed for doing exactly what a male at her age and position would do. How is any of this fair to her?

Except Rhaneyra at least has allowed herself to seriously resist and question the patriarchal values and demands through her troubling with the pressure to become a mother and what that means for her agency, while Alicent never has. And Rhaenyra is still trying to do her duty, as she refuses Criston Cole. It's just that she is not being totally obedient body and mind while doing so.

Alicent has always been a static character because she learns nothing progressive that actually makes her stop a minute and consider how some of her own actions have made her more miserable than she needed to be. Or we’re not really made to dwell in it--just how helpless she thinks she is.

And I don’t mean the kind of "static" character that stays the same because they support the other characters and is a literary device. I mean she is philosophically too conservative and repressed to really change for the better while also just a really badly written character with nonsensical inconsistencies and behavior that is not psychologically veristic. Episodes 8 and 9 where she changes into a being that doesn't match the person of episodes 6 and 7.

8 and 9 are where she abandons her previous claimed motivation of protecting her kids to forgive and want to become friends with Rhaenyra...because Rhaenyra apologized. This is not complexity. It is bad writing and a huge misunderstanding of the psychology of friendship on the writers' part. .

C)

I already explained how and why Alicent hurts herself and Rhaenyra, how she has prompted her own suffering and that of her kids HERE, HERE & HERE. If you wish to argue against this notion, it’s best if you read and counterargue my points from these, as it’s long and I’m not going to extensively repeating myself.

Basically, Alicent has not given much assurance to us or Rhaenyra that she understands her and has ever truly had her best interests at heart. Ever. Her actions have given ample reason to Rhaenyra to build up ways of counteracting against her.

And that Alicent should have had more faith in Rhaenyra’s strength of will to not kill her own brothers and nephews/nieces before Lucerys was killed and before that stupid, inconsistent showing of her acting much more submissively in episode 10 when she was unwilling to actually engage in war with the greens because of the PrOpHeCy. I won’t even get into it here, it’d be long.

D)

When we look back at the 7th episode, we see that Aemond had ample time and space to leave the fight but he decided to continue talking [LINK] after he had beaten them back.

Aemond had proven he was stronger against this group. Why continue to hold his nephew and shout about how they were bastards? Because he’s high on his victory in both claiming Vhagar and having beaten back a whole group of kids.

Here’s another thing. the show have made it seem that Aemond was the long-suffering, stoic victim of bullying, but when we actually think about it.....Aemond was protecting Alicent by saying it was Aegon who called Rhaenyra’s ons bastards, and that proves that they both learned to see these boys as bastards undeserving of respect from Otto and Alicent. 

The Velayron boys would have endured the court treating them as burdens, pariahs, nonentities whenever they could and we know they did since we see them look nervously around in episode 8 when Rhaenyra comes back to court and they head to the front to the Keep where Aemond practices with Cole. If this society hates bastards so much, it’s going to manifest in adults mistreating children even when they are officially named trueborn. If you are a marginalized person or a person who has had a cultural stigma attached to them for most of their life, you can think what sort of looks these boys would have gotten, what passive aggressiveness and slights they would have recieved.

Funny thing is that we don’t get to see any of that when they were young and even in the 8th episode, we don’t really get to see the courtiers really show their dislike or disgust.

So we’re left with the impression that things aren’t so bad for these illegitimate boys, that they don't have people on their necks on a daily basis since they could remember. But logic and knowledge/observation of how Westerosi lords treat bastards tell us that it most definitely is happening.

And this matters because I am saying that Aemond and Aegon, even Daeron (not Helaena necessarily, maybe some non-malicious, out-of-touch comments) would have definitely mistreated and bullied the Velayron boys if the writers actually knew and felt the world of aristocratic Westeros and the dynamics of a royal court. But no, we don’t even get that, so we also discouraged to believe that Rhaenyra’s kids are in any real danger from Alicent. But we also now that if she were to succeed in proving their illegitimacy, they’d die.

The consistency and attention to subtext simply isn’t there. So why should I respect this show?

And this is what I said in a previous post:

Plus, we do see that it is possible to philosophize yourself into a more compassionate stance even when you’re being mistreated by both adults and kids by looking at Jon Snow, Arya, Daenerys Stormborn, etc. Being bullied or oppressed is not the absolute justification for violence and/or a return of consistent bullying, even if it is a prompt. I can feel bad for Aemond, but I realize what the writers are doing, what his authority figures have directly taught him, and know that Aemond is still responsible for his own prejudices because he is not as helpless as people may believe. He is still a prince and can use his undoubted trueborn status to either make his nephews lives a living hell (fore reason already started about how their bastard status could get them daily ostracized) or stick up for them. But we know that entitlement and desire for the throne (inspired by and encouraged by Show!/Book!Alicent and Otto), by the book, prompts all the green boys to hate the Velaryon boys.

So really, I don’t understand why Alicent’s narcissism isn’t obvious or that people don’t realize the show’s badly written and gives us more pushes to favor Alicent/the Greens over Rhaenyra/the Blacks?

Also a rhetorical question. It’s because sometimes people want the fantasy of being able to both follow the rules, get the material and social benefits for it, and still be considered a victim who others have to support and entertain above their own needs or desires.

[doueverwonder]

12th of July, 1806.

Warning: None

Pairing: side of AusHun

Notes: This was supposed to just be Erzí and baby Ludwig but Roderich and Gilbert as expected worked their way in. I have so many hc pertaining to Ludwig's birth (complicated) and how he grew up (even more complicated). But here's another piece of it. Also please don't tag this Pru*Aus*Hun if you do reblog it. Gilbert and Roderich are brothers in this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erzsébet had wanted another child for years, hours of prayer to saints, begging for another child. She made promises she honestly knew she wouldn't keep even, she was sure she would say anything as long as she was given another child. 

And now as she tried to catch her breath, a baby was handed to her. Immediately pressed against her chest. Erzí held the baby tightly, as she heard Emma tell her happily; "It's a boy" 

He didn't cry like Liesl had, goodness that girl had shrieked, he was quiet though; more whimpering than crying. As much as she didn't want to think about it, part of her was sure it was because he somehow knew what was coming. Emma had already appeared by the head of the bed, a towel to clean the baby up with in hand and seemingly a million questions on how Erzsébet was feeling. 

"Should I get Roderich?" was the last one, Emma asked the question half rhetorically. Of course the next step was to get the father so he could meet his son. 

Erzí hesitated though at the question, Roderich wouldn't be the only one to come in. Gilbert would as well, usually there would be no problem with this. She couldn't have cared less with Liesl if Gilbert had wanted to meet his niece immediately. 

"Can I have a few minutes, Emma?" she wondered how this sounded, "I just need–" 

"Don't explain." Her voice was calm and understanding. "I'll just slip out and assure them everything is alright." 

Erzsébet nodded, secretly happy to be completely alone with her son even if just for a few moments. She took her first good look at the boy, he was smaller than his sister had been, he was born earlier than her though. He looked up at his mother, wide eyed, his iris' a shocking blue; though that might change in the coming years. The blue-ish tint was already starting to fade, leaving his skin a soft pink. He was quiet for the moment, but she knew soon he would be ready to eat. 

"How is your uncle Gilbert planning on feeding you? Hm?" She talked to the baby, her mind already wandering to what was to come. It was unavoidable, Erzí knew that. But despite the fact that she was holding the baby, knowing she only had about two weeks with him: her mind still put it off. 

"I suppose he's not your uncle though," she sighed heavily, "Gilbert is your papa, your papa is your uncle Roderich, your sister is your cousin, and I'm not your mama, no, I'm your auntie Erzí. Is that too confusing?" 

The baby of course didn't think so, he wouldn't know anything besides what he was to grow up with. There would be no need to explain, at least not until he was an adult. Emma would be back any moment, and then she would let Roderich and Gilbert in. The curiosity of what Gilbert would name the baby had been killing her for months. It was the agreement between her and Roderich that they would let him pick, even though she knew they had a name picked out. Leopold. It was either that or Albert–which would have been Liesl's name had she been a boy–, she was sure they would have gone with the former though. 

"What do you think your uncle will pick, Leo?" she said it as if asking him the question was breaking some sort of rule, as if using that name was forbidden. "I suppose it won't matter what he picks, it is only a human name after all" 

"I'm not sure we'll want to use his actual name though," She looked up to see Roderich; Gilbert wasn't in sight thankfully. 

"And why is that?" she waved him over as she asked the question, he quickened his pace. Standing by the side of the bed, looking in absolute awe at his second child. 

"He's The Confederated States of the Rhine. Doesn't exactly flow" 

"Gilbert could pick something worse." 

"He better not give our son something worse" 

"His son, kedvesem," she sounded bitter saying it, sometimes she almost forgot they were asking Gilbert to take Leo. How could they willingly give up something they had wanted for so long. 

"His son." Roderich repeated it as if he were having to remind himself. They were keeping the baby safe from Napoleon, from François. There were other reasons too, but both of them just preferred to point at François, blame him for all their problems; it's what most of Europe was doing. 

They had been so happy when Liesl was born, but this time there was just melancholy hanging over the room. Last time Roderich had cried tears of joy, she was sure now if either one of them started crying it wouldn't be because of joy. Erzsébet could have ignored the Prussian hovering in the doorway, she was sure Roderich had seen him and that's what he was doing for the moment. 

But instead, "Gilbert come here." 

Despite the words he hesitated again, Gilbert had never expected to have kids. She knew that from the fact that he was sworn to celibacy, one of the few things he kept up from his Tuetonic knight days. In taking Leo he was also going to have to make people believe that he had broken that, it might be harder than any other part of this. 

He slowly made his way over, standing on the opposite side of the bed from Roderich. Looking tentatively down at his newborn charge, "That is a baby." 

"Really?" Erzsébet sounded rightfully offended, "That's all you have to say about your child?"

"I swear you get crazier by the day, he's not my child" He pointed accusatively at Roderich, "He's the one that knocked you up!" 

Roderich scoffed, "Thank you for the vote of confidence, but last I checked you will be the one raising him." 

Gilbert rolled his eyes, yet leaned down a bit to get a better look at the baby. Erzsébet had the instinct to pull the baby back for some reason, shield him from prying eyes. It was just Gilbert, she had to remind herself, it's not as if it were someone here to take him from her... well. "What's his name?" 

"We were going to let you pick," Erzí told him, still resisting the urge to keep Leo farther from Gilbert. 

"Why?" 

"Because he's yours" It was stated for a third time, the reminder that Leopold was only temporary. 

Gilbert looked at the baby closely, he hadn't thought it would be up to him to name the thing. He assumed his brother and not-technically-sister-in-law "Friedrich Ludwig?" 

"Friedrich?" Roderich asked, his eyebrows raising. His critical tone easily telling everyone in the room he didn't like it. 

"What?" Gilbert seemed offended, "Do you have a problem with it?" 

"No. No, if it's what you want to name him, go ahead" despite the approval of the statement Roderich continued to mumble under his breath about the decision. 

Erzsébet, despite the awkwardness of Roderich and Gilbert staring each other down over her, laughed a little; half whispering to Leo "Do you hear that kicsikém? They're fighting over you already" 

Both men stopped their stare off to look at the baby instead; all three new parents smiled softly as the baby yawned. 

"He's already tired, and he's only been here for twenty minutes" Gilbert joked, "Wait until he sees what's coming." 

Roderich shook his head, "He'll be fine, he has plenty of good people to watch over him." There was a meaningful pause, despite circumstances raising the baby was definitely going to be something they all took part in. They all just needed to acknowledge it. 

"I'm calling him Leo though." Roderich told Gilbert, half jokingly. 

Erzsébet nodded, "Oh definitely, Friedrich Ludwig is terrible" 

Gilbert guffawed, dramatizing being offended. "Do you hear them insulting you Fritz? My goodness, your own parents."