#and also i forgot amnesty

[boydykedevo]

Anyway just finished up FanX. I had a good time 👍

[theinfinitedivides]

the Sting and Bruce Springsteen!Every Breath You Take live performance is my sexuality now for the next week at least. sorry

[faithfulcat111]

Guys....

I just thought of a great crossover for Stranger Things and TAZ Amnesty.

Okay, so, for those who don't know TAZ Amnesty, there is a portal to another planet in this small town in West Virginia and not only do abominations come through to try and destroy the world, but also refugees from this dying planet named Sylvain. So these abominations are honestly kind of small (at first) and, when the portal first moves to West Virginia, a woman named Joyce is able to mostly handle them. She runs a lodge that houses the refugees coming through and eventually partners with another guy named Hopper. He goes through the portal to get a better understanding of where the abominations were coming from and never came back.

Jonathan, El, Will, and Kali are four of the refugees from Sylvain. (I am aging everybody up, so assume everyone is adults) The refugees are all what are considered "monsters" when they aren't wearing magical disguises. Jonathan is Joyce's main partner with the loss of Hopper, does a lot of the cooking and background work and runs the lodge if hunting the abominations takes Joyce out of town. Joyce gets help on one such mission from a stage magician named Max. Max discovers while helping Joyce that she has pyro-powers and Joyce takes her back to the lodge. Robin is a local park ranger who has prophetic visions that she blatantly refuses to deal with cause she ain't about to be a "chosen one" or whatever. She runs across a bear that she quickly discovers isn't and runs ending up on the other side of the portal where she meets Lucas who watches the Sylvain side of things. Steve runs a "Cryptidmania"-style museum that is very much full of tourist traps and partners with Dustin who runs the social media and marketing side of things. He decides to film a fake Bigfoot film to drum up some new people as business is slow and runs into Jonathan who is trying to track down the abomination in the woods.

Basically, Robin, Steve, and Max are the main team who take over fighting the abominations. Robin finally accepts that she needs to pay attention to her prophetic visions and starts taking fighting lessons from a strange guide from yet another planet named Vikki. Max quickly starts flirting and gets together with El and then picks a fight with the leader of a local punk gang/group/whatever named Mike who used to date Will before they had a falling out. An investigator named Nancy comes to town to look into the strange objects appearing in Steve's museum and decides the lodge is the perfect hotel to stay in, Jonathan immediately goes 'what the actual fuck Steve' and then later Jonathan and she totally start dating.

Holy shit, this is actually really good and I kinda wish it existed in the world already.

[utilitycaster]

What ACOC fanon are people getting so upset over?

Come traveler. Let me tell you a tale. For I, too, was unaware of it until they went absolutely bugfuck all over Twitter. But if you don't want the whole long-winded epic: people shipped Belizabeth Brassica and Saint Citrina and while there has been no evidence indicating this will or not be confirmed or even mentioned they FREAKED OUT about how Matt would OBVIOUSLY destroy the "widespread" fanon (it is not widespread), specifically implying he'd do so in a bigoted way. Then some D20 guests noticed because the people saying this are not like, unknown fanartists (in fact one implied they had been asked to create art for the season but forgot to check their DMs) and were like "this is entitled and stupid and needlessly cruel to Matt, who is like, a guy we personally know and generally like." The people then, rather than saying "my B" and taking this to the DMs like a normal person who wants to talk shit, repeatedly doubled down. As of a few hours ago they were accusing Jasmine Bhullar of subtweeting them when she was in fact merely promoting an entirely unrelated show, it's sparked both a heartfelt discussion about how Matt's discussion of body dysmorphia has helped people and a conversation about how there's toxicity in all fandoms but the D20 community refuses to even acknowledge it; and also I think they've burned their chances of ever doing fan art for an actual play of any size in LA, Chicago, New York, London, or the centroid that represents an equidistant point from all the McElroys which is, I believe, hilariously for Amnesty fans, in the Monongahela National Forest.

Anyway POV we're around a campfire, I'm drinking something lightly alcoholic, and you wish to hear of The Drama At Length:

Do you remember Belizabeth Brassica, aka Broccoli Pope loosely based in appearance on Queen Elizabeth I (technically renaissance rather than high medieval but like...people constantly mix those up in D&D so it's fine)?

Great. Now do you remember the Rocks Sisters? Not the twins played by Siobhan and Emily; Amethar's four older sisters who died in the Ravening War, before the story started: Rococoa, Lazuli, Citrina, and Sapphria. Rococoa was a general; Lazuli an archmage (and Caramelinda's wife before she died; Caramelinda then married Amethar because while Lazuli had been a love match, this was a beneficial marriage for political purposes); Citrina a devotee of The Bulb; and Sapphria a spy and diplomat. They get talked about a lot, for sure, but their presence in the story is to be absent and to haunt the narrative.

Anyway the fanon is that Citrina and Belizabeth were in a relationship. In canon, I believe all we know is that both were devotees of the bulb; that Citrina held positions that might be considered heretical by some (she was a passionate believer in love matches and supported Amethar's marriage to a commoner in the Dairy Isles) and that Belizabeth ordered that she be killed.

Here's where this gets fun. So ACOC aired pretty much exactly three years ago, and while I think it's considered by many to be a high point in D20's oeuvre, a lot of fans have, you know, kept up with D20 on the whole and not dwelt on it in depth. But a small group of people have been consistently focused on this ship between an NPC who is vitally important to the narrative but shows up in fewer than a third of the total episodes; and a character dead before the story ever started. Which, I need to stress, is fine; the joy of headcanons is playing in the empty spaces.

Flash forward to 2023: a creative director who was generally opposed to revisiting past campaign settings and preferred standalone has just amicably parted ways. Neverafter has gotten mixed reviews (I have to see the last 8 episodes; this is anecdotal but some of the editing choices, plus the both dense yet meandering plot, brought the momentum of a truly fantastic TPK and resolution early on to a shuddering halt), and really nothing but A Court of Fey and Flowers has truly stuck for some time. The fandom has been clamoring for Fantasy High Junior Year for quite some time to no avail. The switch to 10-episode sidequests from 6 episode sidequests has met lukewarm reception. In short: D20 could use something flashy to revitalize their next sidequest. Enter: Matt Mercer as DM.

Now, a lot of D20 fans who are not part of the (significant) overlap with CR fans hate Matt Mercer. This is in part because a lot of people who got Big Mad about ships in Campaign 2 went to D20 and proceeded to badmouth Critical Role, a show they happily watched and made art for until roughly episode 107-ish of Campaign 2, proclaiming it homophobic (wrong two women kissed); racist (one of the women who kissed is a dark-skinned woman played by a white woman, which would have still been true if she kissed the other woman but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯); and probably problematic in other ways. To be clear I am not saying Critical Role is above criticism, and it has made its missteps, but like, the fact that these complaints showed up conveniently only when a ship didn't happen and mostly from like, white teenagers who proceeded to simultaneously call the cast transphobic and deliberately get their names wrong means this is not the criticism that is valid and worth considering, as is the fact that technically Matt had nothing to do with the ship not happening, but they've realized being an asshole to Marisha about her character's romantic choices will rightfully get you flayed alive. Also some D20 fans just hate Critical Role in the way that if you live in Boston you're supposed to hate New York and vice versa but if you say "why? what if I just want the baseball boys to have a good time together?" no one can answer.

Anyway here's a diagram to illustrate the group I'm talking about; they're the green dot:

So: a couple of them decided a smart thing to do on Twitter in front of God and everybody was to say that they were worried Matt would contradict this "widely established" fanlore because he is not plugged into the ACOC fandom. They then proceeded to specifically (jokingly, but like, in a shitty way, still where everyone could see it) say that Matt would probably introduce Belizabeth as being married to her husband because she is 100% straight.

Now there's a bunch of problems here, and people pointed them out. Namely:

This is a weird thing to assume Matt would do, ie, automatically make an arbitrary NPC definitely straight, even if you're joking about it; like, he has a pretty decent track record for making NPCs of varying genders and sexualities, especially by C2 and C3.

This is not even widely established fanlore; this is a tiny group of fans of ACOC. See below for more on that.

Even if it were widely established fanlore, it's unlikely Brennan would know either.

Even if it were widely established fanlore and Matt or Brennan were aware of it, they are under no obligation to adhere to fanlore, because it's fanlore, not the established canon of A Crown of Candy. This does not make fanlore bad! It just means that creators are allowed to ignore it in the same way that fan creators are allowed to ignore canon; this is a two-way street.

Therefore, because this is fanlore, even if Matt did say "here is Belizabeth and her husband, and she has only ever been involved with men" this would not be homophobic because the character's sexuality has never been established and straight is one of the possible sexualities she could have. Obviously if he went super hard on her straightness that could get weird but that's a fucking bonkers stretch.

When people pointed it out, this group and a few other people who just fucking hate Matt kept dismissing them as CR fans. Then it caught the attention of various D20 guest cast members or people in the broader TTRPG scene, who have pointed out that like...the actual play and TTRPG industry is a place where basically everyone in a particular region knows everyone else and they are all good friends and this is shitty. The D20 fans mad that Matt is DM-ing The Ravening War kept doubling down and started making outright ad-hominem attacks on Matt (notably his appearance and dress which is like, shitty and irrelevant to this fanon thing anyway even before you consider the body dysmorphia) and whining that because they've made some charity fanzines, a thing people have been doing since the dawn of Star Trek TOS, they deserve...something. People rightfully called them out as 1. entitled brats and 2. needlessly cruel. They keep whining that CR fans are dogpiling them when in fact like, the entire TTRPG community including, as far as I can tell, the D20 community who overlaps with CR fandom and even the D20 community that does not but is neutral on CR, is like "you suck, you started it, this fandom is not exempted from typical fandom toxicity, and you will look back on this in 5 years and vomit from embarrassment."

Anyway this is all kind of tiresome, but also pretty funny because literally I'm expecting a bunch of fanartists who are immensely high on their own farts to be 100% blacklisted from ever receiving a commission from like, any Actual Play of note and also a lot of fans; there's an outpouring of support for Matt that far outstrips what there would have been without a handful of idiots starting shit; and also the season is fully filmed anyway so if this ship was confirmed noncanon, it happened a few months ago anyway and there's nothing anyone can do.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, pretty much all these losers are still 100% going to watch The Ravening War anyway so like, this has all amounted to a net positive for everyone but them.

[duck-in-a-spaceship]

Relistening to The Adventure Zone Amnesty and listening to Duck's french onion soup story and like idk fuck dude. It's kind of a cheesy (ha) sentiment of "living for the little things" but like...

Alright bear with me for a moment but I was making some soup the other day. Potato soup, not french onion, and I was on a call with a friend the whole time, for some company while I cooked. And man it took like 2 hours to make this soup that was supposed to take thirty minutes. I didn't have half the stuff for it, I put pumpkin spice in to try and substitute for old bay because we decided that checked out, had to improvise a potato masher, the shallots made me cry. But the point is, I had a really nice night just talking to my friend and making soup.

And it kind of makes you think, what would I give up for more nights like that? What would I turn down? For potato soup? For french onion soup?

Also I forgot their nonna comes in at the end and tells them the best french onion soup she ever had that was very SWEET

[eywaseclipse]

I totally forgot to post this excerpt from the comics. Way back when I talked about the lack of context in the film and my confusion on a time jump on date night. This provides a good amount of insight!! Got it from the avatar wiki page

“After the two put their kids to sleep, Jake and Neytiri go on a night date, riding their ikrans across the floating mountains. As they rest on the ground, Jake looks up and sees a massive light in the sky, making him realize the RDA is back.

The Conflict in Outer Space (Avatar: The High Ground)

Later, Jake holds a group meeting with the Na'vi where he insists they must fight the Sky People again to drive them away. For now, Jake insists everyone move to the Hallelujah Mountains which causes controversy. Meanwhile, one member of the RDA is tasked with killing Jake. Jake and Norm go to Hell's Gate where they discover there are 10 RDA ships. The Na'vi begin training in zero gravity, although Jake refuses to let one of his boys fight in the upcoming battle.

In a council meeting, Jake insists the Na'vi fight and tries to convince Yeyatley to agree, but Yeyatley instead insists the Na'vi offer peace instead. Akwey supports Jake's choice, though before the group can continue debating, they notice Jake's children are gone with the exception of Neteyam. They eventually find the children. Jake blames Lo'ak, though Spider admits he also deserves some blame. Neytiri agrees that Spider is at fault and orders him to stay away from Kiri, claiming they will never see each other again

A widespread message from General Frances Ardmore is heard, offering amnesty for those "illegally" occupying Hell's Gate. This causes many of the humans to panic and feel defeated. Jake tries to motivate the humans, but Mary expresses her concerns on why they should probably surrender. Jake says those who wish to fight to come with him for now to evacuate. Jake and Neytiri talk about their upcoming plan to fight the RDA in space. Neteyam does not wish to remain at High Camp, instead wishing to fight, though Jake again declines the offer. As the Sully family prepares to go their own ways, Kiri cannot be found. Jake and Neytiri find Kiri and Spider talking to Nash McCosker. Although Jake and Neytiri think Spider is best with his foster family, Kiri is upset and flees.

Jake and Neytiri "purify" their spirits with Mo'at by inflicting pain on themselves because they believe it should be done before they betray Eywa by using steel weapons and breaking the Three Laws of Eywa. Jake visits a tree and uses it to string himself up and inflict great pain on his body; the pain makes him remember the suffering of his deceased allies, and he reflects on how much he values Neytiri and his children. They depart on their space shuttle and Ardmore contacts them via a video message. Jake's team tries to blackmail the RDA by threatening destroy Hell's Gate and several other structures on Pandora that the RDA desire to reclaim. Ardmore's team agrees they will talk physically. As the Na'vi are in their shuttle, Jake and Neytiri are displeased to see that Neteyam has sneaked on board.

The Na'vi meet the RDA on their ship, though interactions between the two groups prove tense. Jake and Neytiri meet with Ardmore and Jake reveals that there is 3.2 trillion dollars worth of unobtanium stashed away on a derelict ship in space which is also rigged with explosive. He suggests that the RDA take this material and go, but General Ardmore remains adamant. In response to this, Jake orders his ground team to blow the refinery on Pandora, which they do. The RDA turns hostile but Jake reveals other buildings are still intact. Though Jake briefly attempts a treaty, he then goes onto say that the RDA would just break it again. Back at Hell's Gate, Jake's ally Meg Elkins is murdered by McCosker who then appears on a radio message saying the explosives on Pandora are disarmed and the Sully children have been captured. Jake and Neytiri are horrified that their plan seems to have failed by this unexpected turn of events. Jake orders Norm to use an explosion on the RDA ship. The commotion lets Jake and Neytiri separate and, with Josh Winslow, they decide to find the ship's auxiliary weapons to threaten the other RDA ships. It works, but Winslow ends up dying. After a large battle in space, Jake and Neytiri manage to get away, though Ardmore refuses to give up and proceeds to follow.

The ship carrying Jake, Neytiri and Neteyam descends back to Earth, with RDA ships chasing after them. Jake and Neytiri fly to Hell's Gate on their banshees to rescue the children with Neteyam following after them. Jake and Neytiri catch up with their children in the forest and the whole family reunites. Jake sends a radio message to Wu Mingxia for backup. After the slaughter of some RDA members, the Sully family makes it to a beanstalk where a Samson corners them. Ming arrives in a shuttle to fight off the Samson and opens a hatch for the family to jump into. The Samson fires missiles at the shuttle while they are over the ocean, causing its engines to fail and everyone prepares for a rough landing. Their shuttle must land somewhere, making the ocean the safest place. Water then begins to fill their room, leaving the family to flee outside. The group uses a beacon and Norm rescues them in a Samson.

Moving to the Metkayina Clan (Avatar: The Way of Water)

Sometime after the RDA returns, several of their ships, including the ISV Manifest Destiny, descend downwards through the moon's atmosphere rather than staying in orbit. Their high engines' thrust send firestorms right down to the ground and into the jungle, causing a region of the forest to be burned down and the local fauna that were evacuating from the firestorms were burned to death as a result. When the RDA dropped their Landing Module onto the scorched land, they started removing the remains of the animals and vegetation of the forest with their bulldozers.

Jake and Neytiri reached safely to higher ground along with the surviving animals and started watching the fires from afar. After seeing the burning, Jake cradles a distraught Neytiri as she started weeping due to the horror of the sight of the burned forest along with the rest of the animals as the destruction lead to the Omatikaya's land becoming torn apart due to the ongoing actions of the RDA.”

[amberthefantasy]

Nitimur in Vetitum

chapter sixteen: cena (dinner)

"For the first time in almost four years Livia Drusilla was back in Rome, and her return would change the course of history"-The Life of Livia by Adelaide Lyons

13th Day Before the Kalends of Sextilis (20th July)

Lucretia grunted slightly when her litter was lowered to the ground. One of the slaves held out a hand to help her stand and Lucretia took it while also placing one on her stomach as if to settle it from the outside. "Lucretia!" Octavia called, walking slowly towards her, arms outstretched. 

"Octavia!" Lucretia smiled, kissing her cousin on the cheek. "Scribonia," she smiled tightly at the third woman.

"Lucretia," Scribonia smiled. Then she winced. "Oh, the gods! I hate being pregnant."

"Try having three in four years," Octavia sighed.

"Marcus Antonius was always a bull," Lucretia commented as the three women began walking through the stalls. She ran her hand over some fabric to feel it's texture before dropping it with a hum. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Scribonia said, the excitement in her voice made Lucretia look at her with narrowed eyes. "I had a visit yesterday from my cousin Libo. You may not know, he’s now the legal guardian of Livia Drusilla, now that her father’s dead." Lucretia raised a brow. "He wanted to know if anything could be done for Livia and her husband," Srcibonia finished.

"What? She’s still alive?" Octavia asked in shock. Lucretia made a questioning sound in agreement, she had assumed after almost four years the woman would be dead.

"Mhm," Scribonia nodded. "They’re back in Rome, penniless. They’re living at Libo’s."

"The amnesty, of course," Lucretia gave a slow nod.

"Libo said they spent the winter in Sicily with Sextus Pompeius," Scribonia continued.

"He’s obviously hoping that you'll talk to Gaius," Octavia said, looking over some jewelry laid out on a stool.

"Yes, they're hoping to get some of their property back," Scribonia giggled.

"What a nerve," Octavia scoffed.

"Mmm, I can’t just do nothing," Scribonia sighed. " Libo’s family. And he wants them out of his house."

"Just send them some food and a slave or something," Lucretia rolled her eyes.

"Where’s the fun in that?" Scribonia asked her. She turned her eyes to Octavia. "You can't have forgotten what she said to us at her wedding?"

"Gods are you still going on about that?" Lucretia scoffed, Scribonia ignored her.

"No. But that was a long time ago," Octavia sighed, locking eyes with Lucretia over her friends shoulder.

"Aren't you curious to see Livia again?" Scribonia asked. Lucretia could admit she was slightly but Octavia didn't seem interested at all.

"Now that you mention it, not really," Octavia confirmed Lucretia's thoughts,

Scribonia chuckled. "Well I am. I'll take this," she said to the seller behind the stall.

"Why? What have you got in mind?" Octavia asked wearily. Lucretia had to contain a groan at Scribonia's answering giggle.

--

9th Day Before the Kalends of Sextilis (24th July)

Gaius bounced Fabia in his arms. "Scribonia is insisting on inviting Tiberius Nero to dinner," he complained.

Lucretia smirked, watching as Fabia attempted to grab at Gaius' hair. "She is a petty little thing," she smirked.

"It can become... grating," Gaius wrinkled his nose.

Fabia let out a little soft sound, "unc mad?"

"Oh no sweetheart," Gaius reassured the little one. "Just... annoyed."

"Annoy?" Fabia repeated.

"Not at you," he smiled and tickled her side to make the toddler laugh. 

Lucretia smiled as she watched them. Gaius was not always there when Fabia wanted him but whenever he was he was perfect. He'd make a great father to Scribonia's child. The babe in her own stomach seemed to know she was thinking of someone else because a sharp kick made her winch. "Yes little one, I know you're there," she whispered to her stomach, cupping her hand over it. 

"Moving?" Gaius asked, he had handed Fabia to one of the slaves and was walking over to her. "Scribonia's complaining about the same."

"Hng," Lucretia huffed. "Nothing special, better than Fabia was actually."

"Good," Gaius smiled. He placed a hand on her stomach. "It hurts my heart to see you in discomfort."

"Don't go all soft on me now brother," Lucretia teased.

"Me? Soft?" Gaius raised a brow. "Never."

--

6th Day Before the Kalends of Sextilis (27th July)

Lucretia should not have let Gaius and Agrippa convince her to come tonight. She shifted uncomfortably on the lectus tricliniaris she had claimed for the evening, fixing the sleeve of her dark blue dress. Agrippa was beside her, already engaged in conversation with Maecenas about some game or another. Scribonia was standing beside Octavia, who lay on her side, talking about something Lucretia could not be bothered to understand. 

Gaius was not here yet, but Lucretia knew he would not be late. Her dear brother would never be seen to be late to greet his guests. Just as the sound of a door opening reached her ears, Gaius stepped into the room. He was as handsome as ever in his yellow tunic to match Scribonia's dress. "Come Scribonia," Gaius said, though his eyes were taking in Lucretia's form. "Let us greet our guests."

There was silence in the room as everyone tried to catch snippets of the conversation. "Nero!" Gaius' voice reached her ears. But the rest of the conversation was too quiet.

"Lucretia?" Agrippa's voice asked softly.

"Hmm?" Lucretia looked towards her husband.

"You seem uncomfortable," Agrippa said.

"I am," Lucretia sighed. "I wish I was home, sleeping."

"We can always leave early," he offered.

"No," Lucretia shook her head. "We could not. We shall just have to endure."

Her eyes turned back to the entrance when Gaius and Nero entered. "Have you met my sister?" Gaius asked, nodding to Octavia and Lucretia.

"I have not had the pleasure," Nero smiled, though it obviously did not reach his eyes. 

"Lucretia," Gaius proffered his hand at her. "And her husband Marcus Agrippa of course."

"Of course," Nero smiled again.

"A pleasure to meet you," Lucretia gave her own fake smile.

"And Octavia, the wife of Marcus Antonius," Gaius introduced. Octavia greeted Nero as matronly as ever. A few moments later Scribonia and then Livia entered. They both took their places without a word and Lucretia shared a glance with Agrippa at the obvious tension between them. 

"Livia, when are you due?" Octavia asked.

Livia swallowed, "around the end of the year. How about you?"

"Autumn," Octavia answered. "Scribonia too. Lucretia is due closer to your time."

Livia turned her head to look at Lucretia who smiled. "You’ve got a little boy, too?" she asked.

"The image of his father," Livia nodded. The women went silent after that, listening in to the conversation the men were having, about fighting and races, boring things in Lucretia's opinion. She looked across the table at Gaius, he was not looking at her however, or his wife, or Agrippa. No, he was looking at Livia. Who was looking back.

Lucretia narrowed her eyes at the two. Watching intently at smiles began to twitch at their lips. She wasn't the only one who had noticed either. "So, do tell us about your travels, Livia. Been all over since we last saw you," Scribonia suddenly said, silencing all conversation. 

Lucretia felt a rush of discomfort in the following silence. "Yes, we were outlaws on the run for years," Livia said. "Italy, Athens… Sicily and Sparta. Anywhere that would have us. Hunted like pigs in a forest."

"Livia," Nero said warningly.

"With a price on our heads," Livia continued anyway.

"Troubled times. Everyone understands that," Nero raised a hand to placate her.

"Perhaps it's sad I had to lose everything to gain a little humility and wisdom," Livia said, her voice lowering. Lucretia locked eyes with Agrippa, and could see her own concern reflected in them. She sounded so sad. "But, as my father always said, 'If you want to watch the races, you have to pay at the gate.' "

Lucretia opened her mouth to comfort her but Scribonia spoke before she could. "Didn’t he kill himself at Philippi?" Lucretia felt her mouth drop open and saw everyone else's eyes widen in shock at her gaul.

"You sell yourself short, Livia. How many wives abandoned their husbands when they were outlawed?" Maecenas attempted to break the tension.

"Mm, some even betrayed them," Lucretia nodded.

"We honour your loyalty and courage," Agrippa finished.

"My father would have expected it," Livia said softly.

"We honour him, too," Gaius finally spoke.

"Excuse me," Livia choked out, standing swiftly.

Gaius rose to follow, Nero rising slightly slower. "I… I apologise for my wife," Nero said.

Gaius raised his hands to reassure him, "it’s OK, let me."

Lucretia turned her eyes to Scribonia, glaring harshly at the other woman. She looked smug, the bitch. "She provoked me," Scribonia attempted to defend herself. "You didn't hear what she said to me before dinner." Agrippa let out a groan and flopped down. "Did you see her looking at my husband? Octavia?"

Lucretia rolled her eyes, standing to follow Livia and Gaius out of the room. She slowed when she heard their voices. "I didn't come back here to beg." Livia. "Then what did you come back for?" Gaius.

"To find a new husband," Livia said firmly.

Though Lucretia couldn't see them she could hear the intrigue in Gaius' voice when he responded. "Anyone in particular?"

Footsteps suddenly neared and Nero and Scribonia came into view. "Livia," Nero said when he reached his wife. 

"Thank you both for tonight. We won't keep you any longer," Livia smiled. "Thank you," she said, eyes still locked on Gaius.

--

"She's very beautiful," Lucretia said. "Livia."

"Hmm, yes," Agrippa nodded.

Lucretia kept her eyes on Gaius, who was still looking up at the sky. "Scribonia was right, you know? You couldn't keep your eyes off of her."

Gaius finally looked at her. "She is beautiful," Gaius snapped.

"Yes, I just said that," Lucretia smirked. "You have a wife," her eyes cut to Agrippa. "You both do."

"I know," Agrippa raised his hands placatingly. "Observing beauty is not..."

" I know," Lucretia snapped. "He-" she nodded her head at Gaius- "didn't look like he was just observing."

Gaius ignored her and Lucretia sighed.

NiV masterlist / post masterlist

[phoomwhoosh]

@allvalley100 I’m happy to participate in the last Amnesty Week. I’ve got three drabbles but I’m putting two here because they’re consecutive ones. I went for the Amulet prompt with these two! They feature Mermen Cobras and Daniel. Under a cut since there’s two:

Daniel looked down at what he just been given then looked back up at Johnny. “What is this?”

Johnny grinned. “It’s to help you breathe underwater. See, the pendant is made from fish bones and the, uh, whatever the thing that goes around your neck is made from seaweed.”

Daniel looked at the pendant closer. It was in the shape of a circle and did, in fact, appear to be bone.

“Are you sure it’ll work?”

He shrugged. “If it doesn’t, I’ll save you.”

“That’s really not encouraging, Johnny.”

However, he put it on anyway and jumped into the water.

- - - - - -

So, maybe the amulet didn’t work the first time because somebody forgot to add the shell that would tie the magic together and let him actually breathe underwater and also go deeper without worrying about getting sick. But, with some trial and error, Daniel was soon able to join the Cobras in their underwater lair.

“This is a lot of stuff,” he commented, looking around. Then he frowned. “Is that my hoodie?! I’ve been looking everywhere for this!” He snatched it up and shook it at them. “Who put it in plastic and stole it?”

All eyes went to Johnny.

[boydykedevo]

Tagged by @friendamedes (and also @what-a-bastard a bit ago but I forgot until just now sorryyy)

Tagging (no pressure ofc!!): @thecheshirerat @interstellar-interloper @starryjoy @xxcalicofemmexx and @storyweaverofgondor :3

[1strecomdejablue]

〝 I see they remade you, Colonel. In the flesh. 〞 /There is a visible twitch in Paz's eyes when she eyes the Recom up and down. He looked like *him*. He talked like *him*. But it was not ... him.

/As one of the few survivors of the Assault on the Tree of Souls, Paz had made out a relatively peaceful and quiet living on Pandora the last decade. It was thanks to Jake Sully's and the Na'vi's mercy she had been given amnesty many, many years ago to raise Spider as one of the first generation of Pandoran humans. /And it was thanks to her son, that she had also undertaken a spiritual journey. Even though she was still a soldier at heart, Pandora had a certain effect on every human who had stayed back.

/But now the RDA was returning, and with full force too. Once again, Paz Socorro was torn between two sides. /And now the ghosts of the past had come to haunt her. /Was this *really* her Quaritch? The father of her son? He couldn't be—

/Judging her expressions, she was mistrustful. Not too long ago she had fought Na'vi by his side, but that was a long time ago. People change ... but did he?

/Paz scoffed with light amusement.

〝 They forgot your scar. 〞

————

[ Hey I hope it's okay I tossed you this starter into your ask box!! I don't usually rp on Tumblr but plan to make a Paz blog (maybe)!! :) If you'd be interested. Just testing her out if that is okay! ]

The voice had a bit of an echo from the past running through the man's head. She had died, had she not? He could have sworn the report was given to him. A reason for the man to fight a little bit harder against the indigenous enemy. "Forgot? You can't forget something you have to earn." His recom form only had the tattoos that were registered in his files. Scars earned on Pandora weren't implemented or mandatory for the RDA to keep track of them.

"Miles told me you were dead; Guessing that was a ploy to keep us from meeting again." It was also a lie; Spider didn't talk much of anything to him unless it was fighting against him. Even the teachings were a fight or flight tactic, and he respected the kid for that.

"Not like it matters much…I'm not the man you once knew."

[ghost-mantis]

Cool, so I’ve spent years researching this on my own time, and I really disagree with your take on the DPRK.

Let me open with a, don’t get me wrong, the government routinely feeds us a pile of lies about many countries. North Korea is so bad, they don’t have to bother.

The argument that the DPRK isn’t that bad basically loses all credibility when you remember that North Koreans literally risk death and the internment of their entire families to escape. This isn’t new, it’s been happening for decades. Firsthand interviews, books, survivors are available in droves from many, many sources.

Internment Camps that we can literally view from satellite images. Camps that are confirmed by information gathered by NGO nonprofits like Amnesty International from eyewitness testimony.

And countless interviews and testimony from escapees and survivors. Including members of their own leadership. And information gotten by relatives from South Korea when they could still speak with North Korean family during the Sunshine policy era.

But it’s also worth mentioning the whole kidnapping of Japanese citizens and then lying about it thing. And claiming they died and sending random remains because they forgot DNA testing existed.

The Arduous March and subsequent famines exaserbated by the diversion of capital to prop up their military. Interviews with people still living there in the last few years have show famine deaths are up but their government is attempting to cover it up.

The ghost ships continually washing up in Japan due to unsafe fishing practices and mandatory catch quotas.

So. Much. Cybercrime. Bank theft, hacking, stolen cryptocurrency, cyberattacks and ransoms for data.

The literal dictator family ruling with an iron fist for three generations is kinda hard to ignore.

The absolute chokehold on internet and TV access that prevents North Koreans from accessing non state-approved anything. And we do have copies of some of what state TV airs there, and it really is batshit crazy “our leader is a god” propaganda.

The fact that any tours are limited to strictly controlled sections of the capital. Tourists frequently report being forced to delete photographs of anything that suggests things aren’t perfect. The torture and murder of a tourist for taking down a hotel poster.

The half-finished capital hotel that is basically a frame with an outer shell to keep up appearances.

There are so very many independent sources confirming that the DPRK really is that terrible. I’m guessing none of the people defending it here would willingly live there. And by there I mean anywhere not the tightly scripted tourist bits of the capitol.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

me: the us govt lied to you about Palestine

western liberal: yes, I know

me: they have also lied to you about Iraq, Syria, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and China

western liberal: yeah what’s your point

me: okay so keeping all that in mind, wouldn’t it be plausible that the US govt has lied to you also about the DPRK?

western liberal: NO YOURE A FASCIST NORTH KOREA IS A DICTATORSHIP FULL OF BRAINWASHED ZOMBIES. ITS THE TRUMAN SHOW FOR WESTERNERS!!!

[snapplewapple]

God I forgot how enjoyable taz balance really is. I have a very soft spot for amnesty cuz I'm also from the Huntington area but yeah it doesn't get much better than balance. Petals to the medal goes hard as fuck and I was fighting back tears all over again at the end while I was sorting clothes at work

[afrinxvy]

Introducing My Characters!!

—————

Kim - feminine kid | art history club

Grey - kinda-gangster kid | debate club

David - people kid | investment club

Zynkal - smart-ass kid | creative writing club

Han Juk Soo - kind + wise kid | future medic professional club

Han Mo-ah - shy introvert kid | book club

Lucas - stubborn kid | robotic club

Felix - strict kid | amnesty international club

—————

While Kim look feminine, he never acted girly

Grey actually have a freckles, I just forgot to draw 'em

David is pretty much a people pleaser until someone cross the line

Zynkal is supposed to the your typical play-boy character, but when I changed his original name somehow his original personality is also gone

Han Juk Soo's name is HEAVILY inspired by orv and totcf

Han Mo-ah original name, if you read the writing, is actually Yoosung.

Lucas is 100% inspired from a character from wmmap with the exact same name

Felix's parent is very chill and easygoing, he got his strictness from his grandparents

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 3,467

==>

Author commentary: This is way too much blue text. I can't even read this shit. It's like trying to focus on a pack of zebras. Can someone tell me what they're saying? ANYONE??? Hang on, I'm getting a text from 500 years in the future. Oh, it's Robosteve8937501. You see? I TOLD you this guy would become a recurring character in the author notes canonspace. He says Vriska is just offering an incredibly lame apologist defense of her murder, because something something cultural differences, and also Tavros was reeeeeeeeally annoying, so she just haaaaaaaad to do it. Hmm. You know what? I don't think I like this guy's fucking tone. Sounds to me like he's harshing on our number-one girl. Well listen up, fucko. You don't get to do that down here. Not in THIS chuckle basement you don't. I'm going to block Robosteve8937501's number. Which will be easy, since it's contained right there in his name.

And then Vriska just keeps on going, revealing that it was her very first murder... Wait, except for all those other murders she did to feed her spider mom. But she didn't like those people! And her shitty spider mom was hungry. And yes, it may have been an absolutely genocidal number of murders, BUT. Look how sad she looks in that panel. D'aw, don't be like that Vriska. All is forgiven. Wait, what's that? There was a second friendmurder you forgot about? Aradia? Hmm, that one keeps slipping your mind, doesn't it. Well, that doesn't sound great, but we already just offered blanket amnesty for every bad thing you've ever done, because we can't bear to see you this sad. So that confession doesn't really count against you. Any more murders you'd like to confess? Because those are all fine too. Wait, maybe don't tell us about any more, so it doesn't make us feel any weirder about this. Just joking, you can tell us. You can do whatever you want. We're gonna allow that, because that's what it means to forgive someone who looks as truly sorry as you do right now.

[atozphantomsquadron]

Foreword

Where to bad folks go when they die?

They don’t go to Heaven where the angels fly

They go to the lake of fire and fry

Won’t see ‘em again ‘til the Fourth of July

―Nirvana

     The last entry in the second of Alanna Sharpe’s journals, dated July 2028, jolted me.  Not only because of the shock of the events, but also the simple betrayal I felt right alongside her.

     Cole Sharpe was a family friend.  I worried about him the whole time I interviewed his wife Ariel, wondered why he had not shown up at all.  To my relief, he appeared on the last night I spent in the Sharpe house, and we spent a lot of time discussing his perspective on some of Ariel’s story.  There’s no way he could have betrayed her like this, betrayed his daughter.  Even though she was only three when I talked to Ariel, the love that I felt between Cole and Alanna was …

     Well, “beautiful” is the word that came to mind before.  Something like “tragic” came now.  I could not believe it was the truth, even though it was outlined right there for me, in Alanna’s own hand:

            The crack continues to form, until it’s completely across the eye shields, completely crossing his face.

            They shatter, almost in slow motion.  They fall off of the man’s face.

            It’s one I know very well.

            It’s my father.

     Up to this point, she was assuming that Tyrelius Scolar, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the New Empire of America, had simply been another commander she would have to destroy.  She held a great deal of anger toward him, toward the Regent administration which rules the nation with an iron fist, and to the entire Supernatural Suppression Agency.  With every passing word, she transferred that anger to me.

     Now I was sharing her betrayal, as well.

     The remainder of that particular journal was completely blank.  Apparently Alanna was so incensed by the turn of events that she simply stopped writing them for a while.  I decided that I needed a break before I started looking for the next volume.  Fortunately enough, I had lost barely any time transcribing … the spell on the books was effective, that’s for sure … so it was still mid-morning by the time I took off the special reading glasses and stepped outside to take a walk.

     A newspaper lay on the porch of my building, seemingly left there for me since I don’t subscribe.  What caught my eye about it, though, was the headline.

MASS NEW EMPIRE PRISONER AMNESTY

     My hopeless, betrayed mood instantly lightened.  Perhaps this would be it, my family would be released this time?  I eagerly read the story, and although it mentioned no names, one thing stood out to me: a promise to the Canadian government that all political prisoners held within the nation’s facilities would be released and permitted to return to their lives.

     For many of them, that won’t do a lot of good since they’ve spent so much time imprisoned.  But for my family, perhaps …?

     At that moment I forgot that I wanted to take a walk.  I turned and ran back up to my apartment, propping the newspaper next to my computer.  The box with the journals would serve a good purpose as an easel, so that I could remind myself that this nightmare was almost over.

     The journals …

     I pulled out all six of the books from the box.  The weird Celtic runic symbols met my eyes, confusing them, obscuring their actual content.  Two of them, at least, I knew I didn’t need now, and I knew them by the colors of their covers: the two black books were the first two volumes.  I set them aside, and then returned the reading glasses to my face.

     Instantly time slowed down once more.  I was at my leisure to read the journals, and decipher which one was the next one.  As I spread the remaining books in front of me, I noticed that someone, in a different handwriting, had written a helpful set of numbers on the covers to show the sequence. I looked for number three, only to be surprised by the markings of many of the books.

     Eventually I found book three, dated January-June 2029, so apparently Alanna did no journaling for nearly six months.  Hopefully this would be explained in detail.  I turned my attention toward getting the other books ordered, and only then noticed the weirdness of the dates:

            Book four, 18 days

            Book five, July-September 2031

            Book six, October 2031-February 2032

     Now I was thoroughly confused.  If the fourth book only covered 18 days, why did the fifth book not pick up until two years after the third one?  I had assumed that each book was supposed to cover, at most, six months: what became of the missing year and a half? This was truly worth investigating, and I sincerely hoped the answers had been entered into the journals.

     Working from that assumption, I cracked open the third of the journals, fired up my computer once more, and began typing what I read, a shocking continuation of Alanna’s story which took her, literally, to Hell and back.