#and everyone ia going to have to suffer because of it

[blueboybot]

In Your Cold Dead Arms

I don't care! I need to show yall one of my weird pairs.

Twigs and dry leaves snapped under feet that were in a hurry, wind blowing violently enough to feel as though it was one more step from uprooting trees and flinging them carelessly about with its strong might. Rain droplets fell from the dark and cloudy sky, rapid rainfall increasing with every droplet that hit skin and cloth, each one harsher than the other.

Some might find struggle with this kind of weather condition but for him it was way nicer than dealing with someone who could manipulate the weather at will. Luckily for him it was simply an act of nature, no powerful foe was attacking him and he could appreciate that once he got out of said rain.

As he ran his eyes continued to look out for shelter, something he could only hope to find in an area like this. More trees and plants overtook his vision, his temper starting to flare as rain fell even harder, almost feeling as if it were lashing him. Thunder boomed from above and lightening soon followed after, clouds lit up and illuminated the area for a few seconds.

On que, lightening striked next to a tree he was close to making him instinctively dodge out of the way. The tree took major damage, its base split in two and some of its green leaves burnt black. Fire appeared for a quick second before immediately being quelched by the rain. However with the destruction of the tree he was able to see a path, and further in the distance some kind of structure.

With the discovery of shelter he headed straight for the building, his legs picking up speed with the promise of soon being out of rain. Getting closer he saw that the structure was a mansion, an abandoned mansion at that. Not one to be picky he pushed open the gates with overgrown vines, finding them unlocked and bolted straight towards the front door, ready to use his body to force it open only to find out it was also unlocked and opened when his hand pushed on it.

Entering the mansion his first red flag came when he laid his eyes on the interior of the place. It was much nicer on the inside than the outside, the floors were clean and shiny, a chandelier lit up with flames hung high from the ceiling, red carpet and wooden decorations greeted him from where he could see them. Overall, the mansion gave off the vibes that it was well kept and that meant he may have just broke into someone's home.

"HELLO, IS ANYONE HERE?"

He expected someone to come rushing out of a door, cursing him or attacking him for entering their home as an unwated guest but he got nothing.

"Please tell me I didn't walk into some kind of haunted house." He mumbled.

Arsenal stood near the entrance door, wiping his boots on the mat and trying to dry himself with the warmth of a nearby candle. He tried to contact the team but something was blocking his signal, so for now he was stuck here until the rain stopped, but judging from the sounds outside that may take a while. He himself think back to how he got into this situation in the first place.

They were flying in the bioship when they got attacked, while trying to manuver through the air the ship got hit and plunged into the sea. He remembered exiting the bioship to look at the damage, only to be swept away by a current that appeared out of nowhere. He ended up on a beach and tried to contact the others but his communicator didn't work. Leaving the beach to explore the rest of the island storm coulds appeared, then it started raining so he ran to find shelter. Now, he was here in mansion that may or may not be haunted.

With a hesitant first step he continued to explore the mansion, going up the long steps that lead to the second floor. Turning left he was met with a hallway, dark brown with a few candles lighting up the way from which they were positioned from each door. Peaking inside, he saw a room with the same dark brown wood, but this time there were elegant designs carved into some of the walls, soft looking chairs and a rug lay in the center surrounded by bookshelves on the wall, a window showcasing the rainy outside world.

The sound of something falling against the floor in another room caught his attention. He whipped out his bow and readied an arrow, cautiously, he drew nearer toward the sound, stopping infront of the third room on the right that was slightly open. Slowly, he pushed open the door back, coming to halt when he saw nothing but furniture covered in white sheets.

He didn't lower his bow though, and his theory of something being in here was proven correct when movement came from a sheet close to the window. Arsenal stepped closer, arrow aimed directly at what he assumed was its head, whatever is under there could be dangerous for all he knows and he wasn't taking anymore chances. He wasn't about to lose another arm or any other limbs for that matter.

The rustling stopped and the sheet pulled back, revealing the face of someone that was definitely close in age to him. Hair so dark as if it was trying to mimic the void of space looked wet, strands clinging to their forehead. Freckles dusted over their cheeks and nose like they were carefully placed by the gentlest of hands. Blue eyes stared at the bow and then him, looking at him with a hint of curiousity only to turn to fear a second later at remembering that there was a weapon very close to their face.

Those blue eyes intrigued the red head. They were unlike any blue he had seen before, mesmerizing in a way, tempting him into their hypnotic trance. Looking away was becoming more of a challenge the longer he continued seeing into something so enchanting. They reminded him of the ice and a burning blue star. So out of this world that he swore his body was beginning to tingle as those eyes gaze back into him. He was locked in a view so breathtaking that the word did little justice to describe how he felt as he stared.

His trance was broken when the teen scrambled away from him, hitting hard against the underwall of the window, and likely hurting his back if the way he winced was anything to go by. The other boy quickly got up an moved to side, hitting his head into a piece of covered furniture that reverberated with a clang sound.

Aresenal winced, deciding he needed to step in and do something before the teen knocked himself out while trying and failing to get away from him.

"Easy easy!" He put away his bow and arrow, looking at the boy on the floor with his hands up to come across less dangerous "I'm not going to hurt you, I was just curious as to why I heard a noise coming from this room."

The teen looked at him with those blue eyes, accessing him to see if he was lying. He must of taken a gamble and decided to somewhat believe he meant no harm because the boy rose to his feet once again, looking at him with slight caution now.

"Do you live here?"

"No, I was trying to escape the rain and came across this abandoned mansion." He replied, looking away from Roy and opting to stare at the carpet.

"Got a shy one." Roy thought looking over the boy and his body language.

His clothes looked a little too big for him. A white t-shirt with short red sleeves and an oval pattern in the middle, black cargo pants, and red shoes with white lacing. There was also a metalic looking wristband the boy wore on his left hand. Overall, Arsenal took him for a pretty boy who wasn't used to these sorts of situations, one who doesn't do much except for sit in quiet with the popular kids and have everything handed to him without much of a resistance from other teachers or students.

"So do you have a name or do I just call you boy?" Roy asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"I'm not a child!"

Oh he was going to have fun with this one.

Roy's face split into a grin as he waited for the boy to reply. The other teen rolled his eyes at him.

"My name is Danny." Danny looked him up and down, "Did you just come from a cosplay party or something?"

He raised an eyebrow, "I'm Arsenal!"

This time Danny raised an eyebrow at him.

"Protégé of Green Arrow."

The boy's face remained the same as Roy's changed.

"Part of the Young Justice team."

Still no look of recognition.

"The Justice League."

"I literally don't have a clue on what any of those are, is it like some kind of sports team?"

"How do you not know the Justice League?"

"I'm from a small town, a lot of outside media doesn't get through to us." The boy mumbled something with a hint of annoyance at the end.

Roy groaned in frustration, putting his hands up to his masked face. He silently wondered if he was going to have to tell pretty boy here about the existance of aliens and meta-humans.

"Woah!" He heard the boy exclaim, feet that barely made a sound ran up to him. "Cool arm!" Roy spread his arms apart from his face to look at him, seeing that the boy's focus was entirely on his prosthetic.

"What kind of lights did you buy for this?"

" Lights? What no— This is how it is." He growled out the last part, remembering what Lex did still left a sour taste in his mouth.

"No. Way!" Danny's eyes seemed to sparkle with awe. "Can I touch it, please?"

Roy let the other teen poke at his arm, watching as fascination filled those blue eyes. The only other person that showed this much interest in his arm was Bart and the little menace would always ask to look at it or try to wrestle him, resulting in him always winning because there was no chance of him losing to someone with those kind of arms.

"This is amazing, can you wiggle your fingers for me?" Roy did just that and watched as a smile etched onto the boy's face.

"INCREDIBLE! The black metal, the desgin, everything was made to fit you. But, I bet I could do a way better job."

"Oh really?" He raised an eyebrow.

"My parents are inventors and scientist, I obviously picked up a thing or two from being around their equipment for so long." Danny placed his two hands on the prosthetic, providing Roy with the knowledge that he was two inches taller than Danny.

The vigilante catalogued the information given to him for later. Even if Danny meant him no harm that didn't mean he trusted him right away, sue him, but the other's parents being scientist that built enough inventions for Danny to alledgedly make his own made him wary.

"You're not a bad cosplayer." Danny said, leaning his head against the metalic arm while looking at Roy.

Those too blue eyes pierced his soul. Danny had to be a meta or alien of some kind, there was no other explanation for his eyes.

"It's not a cos—"

*SCREECH*

An unholy noise screamed out, sounding like a high pitched call and simultaneously a warning from whatever creature it came from.

Roy quickly grabbed Danny by the waist and pushed the boy behind him, shielding him as he armed himself once again.

[connorthevgfan78]

A Quick Word on the Internet Archive:

On October 9 2024, the Internet Archive suffered not only a massive DDOS attack that took several services (including the Wayback Machine) offline, but also a data breach that saw the emails, usernames, and passwords of nearly 31 million accounts leaked.

As of the last time I checked, the Internet Archive remains down, and the hacker group claiming responsibility has openly stated that they took down the Archive because it’s “owned by the US Government” (Spoiler Alert: it’s not, it’s an independent non-profit that happens to be based in the US):

I was very upset, to say the least, when I heard of the Archive getting taken offline, and appalled at the reason given as to why it was targeted. The fact that someone would want to, or in this case, go through with taking down such a rich and diverse center of information, as well as the Internet’s very own history book in the form of the Wayback Machine, is disturbing. Additionally, to have this come nearly months after the Archive lost a landmark copyright case against book publishers, and two months after record companies announced their own lawsuits against the Archive, makes this situation feel like a cup of salt being poured into an open wound.

The Internet Archive is such a vital source of information for everyone on the Internet, whether it be people wanting to revisit an old website from their childhood on the Wayback Machine, or looking for any other form of media from digitized VHS recordings to full books and magazines that are out of print. The Archive is a vital resource for all, and one that we must defend and support now more than ever.

At this moment, the Internet Archive remains down and the details of the breach have been imported to Have I Been Pwned (if you have an IA account, I highly encourage you to check your email address on HIBP to see if it was in the breach data). When it comes back online, I feel like we need to evaluate how we can help the Internet Archive going forward. Whether it be with downloading and storing Archive content on our own systems or supporting the Archive monetarily when able. One thing is clear: going forward, supporting the Internet Archive is going to need to be a community effort, like it has always been since the first files were uploaded to its oldest servers. We’ll all need to contribute in our own ways, so that content from the Internet Archive continues to be preserved and accessible, even in a catastrophic event like this one.

[ev3rm0re-q]

study nights.

desc: you have a hard time trying to get taehyun's attention as he tries to study and accomplish his physics homework.

pairing: taehyun x shy reader

genre: fluff

warning/s: nonee

wc: 1,548 words

a/n: bro he looks SOO fine in these pictures i canttt. anyway, im so sorry for being so ia huhu but i j wanted to thank everyone for all the support the first post has been getting <33 i want to reply to the comments but im so bad at simply interacting with others that im scared to sound awkward kjdfnajkd. ik this is another fluff but i swear ive been working on a muchh longer fic that i wannna post soon, so stay tuned and i hope u guys enjoy this one first!!

Only the scribbling of words on some papers and the sound of typing on a keyboard could be heard in Kai and Taehyun's shared room as the two of you went about with your own separate activities.

Kai, his roommate, was currently in the living area with the other boys, given that he didn't want to interrupt you two during your time alone. Which was a bit of a wasted effort considering Taehyun seemed to be using it more for his solo study time. 

At the moment, your boyfriend was devoting his utmost attention to his academics, with different papers and books systematically scattered all around the small study desk. His favorite pen on hand for extra notes, and he had a laptop propped up by a stand, followed by a Bluetooth keyboard on which he was currently typing his heart out.

You, on the other hand, were sat timidly on his bed with a good novel pressed against your nose. You did not wish to disrupt the boy because you knew how serious he was about his studies.

He had been trying to complete an extremely difficult homework for his Physics class, and because you didn't choose that as one of your classes for the year, you'd have no idea how much pain and suffering he'd have to endure in that class.

Like he was even going to suffer with that Professor Kim around.

Taehyun was very academically inclined, and as a result of the way he behaved himself, participated in class, and excelled in all of the work given to him, he often became the teachers' favorite student.

You could not help but admire your boyfriend for it. He truly possessed a lot of exceptional qualities.

Though your relationship was not as fresh as it used to be―you both being together for eight months long―you could not help but let your bashful manners take over when it came to situations like these.

You'd always been a shy and reserved kid who couldn't seem to take a stand for what you wanted in public interactions.

Of course, you could still converse with strangers when they needed directions and whatnot, but you never bothered to join large gatherings or tried to blend in with the other kids because you felt it was pointless and time-consuming. Basically being the opposite of Yeonjun... but you were still close friends with him.

Which is why you've often questioned how you managed to catch the attention of the extroverted boy sitting at the desk across from you. Maybe it was the random exchanges in the hallways- or you being well-acquainted with the rest of the boys.

Who knows?

You were just thankful that someone saw something special in you.

You looked up from your novel, expecting him to be almost finished with what he was doing and offer you some of his attention. Instead, you were disappointed to see that he remained deeply absorbed in his study. His focused gaze visible in his dark-brown eyes.

Because of this, you began to wonder if approaching him for attention was even a good idea. You decided to move a bit forward from your position until you were directly behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed.

For the following thirty minutes, you continued to silently read as he worked, giving him subtle hints that you wanted him to at least feel your presence from right behind him and take a glance at you.

"Tae?" You murmured out softly, unsure whether you wanted him to actually hear you or not.

He continued to focus solely on his work as he hummed out in response, "Hm?"

"How's your worksheet going?" You awkwardly questioned.

"Pretty rough, if I'm being honest. Why, love?"

"I-uhh just wanted to make sure you were doing alright." You uttered out before going back to your book.

Another hour had soon passed, and his prior hyper radar focus appeared to have cooled down to a more relaxed state as he progressed more with finishing his homework.

You were finding it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand because of the guys' occasional loud noise s outside, which was beginning to increase.

"You know, if you needed my attention, you could have just said so," He suddenly stated, out of the blue, eyes still glued to his screen.

"Huh?" You let out, not expecting him to even notice what you've been doing the whole time he was so immersed in his work.

"You heard me, love." He turned his chair around to finally look at you after hours of having his full attention on his homework.

"I'm not needy for your attention." you sneered, not wanting to appear 'needy' to him.

You hated that word. Needy. You were particularly insecure over having that trait in your relationship. You wished to prove to your boyfriend that you were just as responsible and self-sufficient as he had always been.

You frequently walked yourself home from school and even took precautions as to avoid spending too much time with him by only seeing him once or twice a week or texting him a lot but not too much to bother him. 

Even while you were out with all of your friends, you took care to keep your proximity to him to a minimum so as not to overly suffocate him. It was a pretty big deal to you.

"So you wouldn't mind if I keep going until Soobin calls us for dinner?" 

"Not at all." Your stubbornness took over as your y/e/c eyes never left the book.

So he continued studying for another couple of minutes and you were getting more impatient by the second. 'I fucked up.' you thought, remembering how much Taehyun truly sticks to his word.

You slowly started to fidget with the corners of the pages of your book, looking over your phone every now and then to try and find something to entertain you. Until, you finally broke. You stood up from the bed and headed over to where he sat to place your hands on his broad shoulders.

"Honey~" you called him out and him just humming back again in response.

Actually, he had finished the entirety of his worksheet a few minutes before. He was just pretending to do work to simply get a reaction out of you. The boy only wanted you to get over the shyness you still had, at least a bit, whenever you sought his attention or desired affection. To at least voice it out to him.

You spoke his name out once more, but he simply responded with another hum, seemed to barely acknowledge your calls.

"Can we... you know.."

"Huh?" His eyes still glued onto the PowerPoint he was currently 'studying'.

"...cuddle" You barely whispered out, not even sure if anyone could have heard what you just said.

"Excuse me... can we what, darling?" He teasingly replied.

As soon as you realized he was merely doing it to playfully taunt you, your stubborness resurfaced.  

"You know what, never mind." You immediately took your hands off of his shoulders, backing out of your previous statement and started to walk back to his bed.

You suddenly heard another loud squeal come from the living room, it was probably Yeonjun teasing Kai again. That's when the idea popped into your head. You started making a beeline for the door, trying to leave without muttering another word to your boyfriend.

"What do you think you're doing?" His eyes left the screen in front of him.

"Well, I figured the rest of the boys were just playing around outside, and since you're busy, I figured I could just get extra cuddles from Kai or Beomgyu, or something." You blurted, your novel still safely stored in your hand, as you inched closer to the door.

You then felt a soft hand grab your empty one, swiftly pulling you back. Your body was tenderly encircled by familiar arms from behind, and you felt his body's warmth envelop yours as his head rested on your shoulder.

"Just say it, please." You heard him barely mumbling it into your shoulder.

"Say that you want my attention. That you want me." He practically begged into your ear.

Since he was so close to you, you stammered out "I-I" as you felt his hot breath brush up against your neck like a feather.

"You don't have to look for it from other people, Y/N. I'm here." He reassured you before slowly guiding you back towards his bed.

You two simply lay there together as you gazed into his large, dark-brown eyes that nearly had the appearance of dark pearls. As he was witnessing your open gawking at him, he couldn't help but let out a soft giggle. 

"Why are you laughing so much." You pouted as he continued to tease you.

"I don't know, honestly. I just can't help the fact that I find you pretty cute." He remarked.

"Ugh, you're such a tease Kang Taehyun."

He then brought you in even closer before sealing the already little space between you with a gentle but hungry kiss.

--

"Were you really going to ask for cuddles from Beomgyu?"

"I think you missed the part where I also said Kai."

End.

[unprofessionalprofessionalbinger]

Put it down Spencer Reid x fmc

Big shout out to everyone that liked my first little writing. Y'all give me motivation <333 summary: Spencer suffers silently, thinking nobody notices. He's wrong. Spoilers for criminal minds season 2 episode 12

tw: cursing, drug abuse, addiction, eating disorder(?), short little hint at selfharm

"Don't you think Spencer has been acting weird lately?" I ask Morgan concerned. I let it slide the first three weeks. It isn't something small to get kidnapped by some crazy guy with three personalities. It wouldn't be unusual for Spencer to act weird or close himself off a little. But he's done such a 180. The only thing that stayed is his awkwardness. Sweet Spencer Reid sassed at me multiple times the last weeks. He even insulted me (I made a joking jab at him and he told me I'm wasting the precious oxygen a tree is tiredlessly producing)

His hands are shaky. He fumbles more. He rants less. He's gone colder and quieter. He scratches his arms through his sleeves and seems tired and unfocused. He's also gotten paler. And thinner? "He won't talk to anyone, it worries me, what if he needs help but can't bring himself to ask and then one day it'll be too late and-" Derek quickly interrupts my ramble before I go any further down the rabbit hole.

"Hey, pretty girl, relax. I'm sure he'll be fine. He just needs some time to really get back, y'know? Hankel did quite the number on him, you saw how Reid's foot looked." His voice is soothing. He always has that soothing tone. But it doesnt work. My mind easily picks words and the way they sounded apart and leaves only the cold, harsh truth behind.

"Exactly what I mean! He was digging his own grave and then had to shoot a man he pitied! That's horrifying! I don't expect him to be fine, but I sure as shit expect him to talk to one of us. Better, all of us. Not at once. But it's important. Who does he trust? JJ. He trusts JJ. I should go ask her if she knows anything." My tone is determined as if nothing could bring me from that path.

"Go ask if JJ knows what?" Prentiss. Prentiss joined not long ago. She's trying hard to fit in, but Gideon isn't exactly easy on her. Not that I can't relate. Looks like the only women he can stand are JJ, Greenaway and Garcia. Well, not that bad. But he's honestly a little... how can I say it? Different.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just about Reid. Do you know how he's doing?" I don't expect her to know. But I'm not shutting her out. She seems nice. At first I feared she was a nepo baby, but she definitely proves herself well. She had gotten sass from Spencer too. Honestly, for the lack of a better word, I'd say he's acting bratty. But I strongly doubt he enjoys whatever is happening.

"Well... last time I asked him what's going on with him, he told me quite clearly that I have no idea what I'm talking about, so I guess I'm not exactly the right person to ask, I'm sorry. I don't actually know him that well anyway." She seems genuinely sorry that she cannot help the issue. "It's alright, Em. I'm sure we'll get him back somehow." I reply with a gentle smile.

Turns out JJ doesn't know anything either. But I know. Not because he told me, but because it's obvious. Also, I'm pretty sure the others know too. Either they're in denial or just decided to ignore Spencer's obvious drug addiction and let him fight it himself or rott alone in his apartment. Great. So much for 'we are a family'. First Elle pulls the fucking card of just shooting the rapist. Then she has to leave? I mean, I'd get it if there was evidence, we couldn't have let that slide, legally speaking, but IA said it was legit. Self-defense. She got shot in her own home, she was traumatized and not ready to come back. Then she got pushed. Further and further. Instead of helping, the team just pushed her away. I can't let that happen again. Not to Spencer.

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

I have been knocking on this damned door for ages now. I knock again. Maybe knocking is the wrong word. It had evolved into more of a banging. An angry woman opens the door a couple feet over and glares at me. I throw her an apologetic look and tell her I'll stop.

Just as I turn away, a muffled thump reaches me from the other side of the wood. My mind immediately spins. What if he's hurt? I knock one last time and call out "Reid?!" He doesnt answer. Without thinking, my hair is let down, pin in my hand. Then the pin is in the lock, next thing, the door is open. I step inside, gently close the door again, dump my bag and scan the room. My eyes quickly find the hunched over figure on the floor of the dimly lit room.

After closer looking, I notice the small bottle of medicine next to his thigh and the syringe tightly grasped in his hand. "Fucking hell, Reid put that down right now." He lazily tilts his head in my direction and squints weirdly at me. Dipshit is already higher than his IQ. He slurs a 'no' in my direction. "Don't make me hurt you." I say, half jokingly. With a few quick steps, I reach him. My fingers wrap frimly around his hand. His knuckles are white from how tightly he holds that damned thing. But that needle will not breach his skin again.

"Spencer. Please. Put it down." I say gently. It seems like he's high enough to not have that much willpower in him. He lets go and slumps back against the wall. I carefully put the drugs in my bag. He needs rehab. But that will cost him his job. He can't lose his job. It'd end him. The only way is to help him quit without getting forced by someone else's hand. I definitely need to have an insightful conversation with sober Reid.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow is when our few little paid vacation days start. Ten days without a case. It'd be a great time to start withdrawal. I leave a container with pasta, chicken and creamy sauce in his kitchen, put a post-it on it saying 'Call me when you're sober ~Romanov' and take his dilaudid with me.

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

I should've expected that I wouldn't be able to sleep in until lunchtime. But hey, can't blame a girl for trying. My phone rings at nine and I pick up with a sleepy voice, not looking at the caller ID. "Are you seriously still asleep? Did breaking into my apartment and stealing from me make you that tired?!" Spencer's sassy voice reaches me through the phone. He sounds upset. I get it. I pinch my nose and sigh.

"No, actually, I'm just tired of getting shut out." I reply in the same tone. The line goes quiet for a while. "What do you want?" his voice is suddenly small and quiet, it breaks my heart. "I just want to talk, Goldie. Need some company the next couple days? I swear I'm great company." My voice is soft. An underlying plea swings in my words. "Depends. You got some more of that pasta? Haven't thrown up in two hours. And it's really good." I can't quite put what about his tone it is, but it makes my heart melt and I can't help my next words. "I could teach you. We could do a little cooking lesson. Promise I'll wash my hands really, really good." I add the last part teasingly, wanting to bring a little more lightness. "This is not a question, by the way, it's now officially an order. My place, four o' clock. I'll send you the address. Don't be late. You have to bring nothing but yourself in one piece. Don't think I didn't see that knife yesterday. You can't hide anything from me, Goldie." I hang up without letting him answer. I know Spencer Reid well enough. He'll show. He can't argue with me if I hang up, and if he doesn't show, he will 100% feel bad about it.

Morally problematic? Maybe. But it's for a good cause.

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

Alrightyyyy, this is it for tonight. Might be rushed. Isn't proofread. I again didn't write enough Spencer aghhhhh.

But tomorrow. I promise. I'll feed fluff. Cooking together and a little angsty talk. Cuddles, lot of trust aaaand more fluff!

Again, thanks for the support, every last little thing means the world to me. It is an honor to know people actually read my shit (even if it's only for Spencer)

Feel free to leave any kind of critisism <333

[ultyso]

It’s so hard to focus on anything anymore. Everything is so heartbreaking. I hate these stupid uneducated countries governments supporting I$rael by backing them with millions to keep murdering. I hate they took our tax paying money to support them murdering more people. I hate all these companies supporting them with millions. I hate all these celebs supporting them and signing petitions in support of them. As long as all of these greedy fuckers have their dirty money, they don’t care. They willfully allow in the genocide of Palestine. Heartless.

Hearing how they’re now bombing journalists and their entire families in Palestine. Bombing hospitals, safe houses, and schools. Bombing where aid are trying to help the civilians in Gaza. How they warned Palestinian civilians they were going to bomb an area and told them to evacuate on specific roads, then they had the audacity to bomb where all those civilians went that was claimed to be safe. Tell me that wasn’t on purpose, a trap. How can anyone see this as anything but genocide?

I$rael is shoving so much propaganda at you all to try and make themselves look good. They aren’t! They are killing so many innocent people. So many children. So many babies. So many animals. And countless people are on tiktok laughing and happy that this is happening?????? How absolutely twisted do you got to be to praise the death of innocent lives especially children’s lives? Palestine has no running water, food, electricity, and army, yet they are seen as the threat???

This same kind of shit going on with Ru$$ia and Ukraine but ohhhh countries around cared about that and were quick to support Ukraine. Now why is that? Oh because they’re white. How can so many people UNDERSTAND the issue with this war but then be completely fucking stupid with I$rael and Palestine? Mindboggling.

How can anyone keep looking away from the issue? How can anyone be neutral about all of this? How can anyone willing support them? How can these people who cried about their own innocent children being harmed be JOYOUS that innocent Palestinian children are dying? They should UNDERSTAND the pain of not wanting kids hurt but they don’t care they take pride in it. They want the Palestinian children to suffer. How heartless do you fuckers have to be to DESIRE death upon children????? How little humanity does everyone have?????

How many damn Palestinian people have to die before people wake the fuck up and show an ounce of care??? We are seeing in real time the genocide of Palestine. This is not okay it was never fucking okay.

Please be informed. You can start here: https://uscpr.org

Educate yourself. Show compassion. Share the word of Palestinians. Do not let them be forgotten. From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free. 🇵🇸

[self-loving-vampire]

You're my favorite preservationist blog, so once again I wanted to hear your take on this:

I may not fully understand the situation here, so take this with a grain of salt,

but wasn't it a risky move for the Internet Archive to allow 'unlimited concurrent lending' indefinitely?

Yes, the pandemic still exists; yes it would be better if greedy publishing houses couldn't threaten the existence of petabytes of preserved data over the equivalent of a few bucks,

but as one of the last bastions against the relentless onslaught of IP law, in some cases literally the only thing preventing content from falling into lost media territory,

shouldn't they have stayed a little more within the rules on this, rather than risking legal exposure they can't afford?

Isn't it their duty as an archive to play it safe and act within the law so a loss like this doesn't mean everyone loses access to everything?

Is it worth fighting a costly legal battle to maintain a more ideal state of open access if it very well could mean the end of all they've worked for and media preservation as we know it?

All the commentary I've seen so far has been rightfully angry at the publishers for pursuing this, but if the IA goes down because they fought for the right to help the most people possible and lost, the resulting harm will be irreparable, and from an archivist's perspective that seems woefully irresponsible on their part.

I think their objective should be to preserve as much content and maintain as much access as possible, yes, but this feels like an all-or-nothing gambit that could have been avoided by just going back to how they operated pre-pandemic.

I'm afraid of what will happen if fighting the good fight means dying for the cause. Some loss of access, even if it's a change as drastic as going from unlimited to limited, doesn't seem like the hill to die on if it means total loss of access.

Please correct me if my understanding of the situation is factually inaccurate, but this is the conclusion I've come to given the information I currently have.

(Also thanks for hearing me out on this. It really means a lot that I have someone I can express my thoughts to, on this and in general.)

I am honored that you see this as a preservationist blog! While I think media preservation is an extremely important thing I saw myself as just a normal person with opinions and some resources to share rather than any kind of expert or activist.

As a result, my understanding of the laws and consequences involved is probably not more advanced than yours. In the best case scenario the archive survives and only the book lending service suffers, but even that seems like a catastrophic loss. In the worst case scenario, the lawsuit could cost them so much that it could impact other parts of the site. This ruling is definitely bad either way.

That's also saying nothing of the effect this could have on other digital libraries, which could begin to limit their own services to avoid similar lawsuits.

Due to that lack of understanding of the nuances of the law, I don't know how strong their legal case was and therefore can't really comment on whether providing this particular service was unusually reckless.

However, on a moral level I am proud to have financially supported them even if just in the small ways available to a random person on the internet, and will continue to stand by them throughout the appeal process.

One thing about preservation that is always worth keeping in mind is that it's not about just keeping the texts or putting them in some restricted archive or a museum. Ideally, I want as many people as possible to be able to acquire whatever information they wish with ease and become vessels for sharing it themselves.

That not only keeps the information more "alive" by letting people actually interact with it but also makes it more resilient. If the only copies of a work are kept in a museum then said work can easily be lost if something happens to said museum. However, if the work is downloaded and shared by thousands of people around the world then it becomes much more likely to endure.

Most of all I just wish for the end of copyright law and the very concept of intellectual property...

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S04E09 - Impawster Syndrome - Part A

I like this one better than the previous one but... I disagree with a lot of the things Jesse says, and mainly with how he thinks his coworkers should have treated him in this case.

Black letters in quotes: Actual show quotes.

Green letters in quotes: What I come up with my twisted brain.

I wonder if they had Justin Kelly voice the criminal in the opening scene to throw us off.

Wait, I take it back. They probably did because they already had him play that scene.

Oh, that rascal.

Remember when we thought that the worst thing to come out of technology the last decade were deepfakes? Good times.

Dear Hudson and Rex, I think your actors are suffering from the cold again.

lol why is Rex the most annoyed that Jesse stepped on evidence? Everyone else is pretty chill.

I bet this won't come up later as sketchy behavior.

Sarah: "Wait, I need Charlie to translate Rex-speak for me." Rex: "I wait for no one. Follow me."

That's what they all say.

Why would he not assume that since his car was stolen (crime) it was used in the robbery (also crime)?

I wish. What I mean to say is that they took a long time to actually act like they should impartially investigate this.

I'm sorry but Jesse's acting like a child. He knows the procedure, he should know that if this case went to court and he was on it without having been cleared beforehand, he would be the one to blow it and create doubts for the court. He should know that it doesn't have anything with his friends not trusting him. Which, later, they will actually have ample reasons not to.

On my first watch I'd actually thought she had something to do with this.

Dude, you stepped on evidence and your face is on camera committing a crime, and there's currently no explanation for why this isn't your face. You can't be surprised they don't want you anywhere near this case.

Oh my god stop! I mean the thing with the tongue, I can't concentrate. Also, stop joking around because we definitely will be doing the "I'll hear something my friends are saying about me out of context and take it the wrong way" trope.

What did I say?!?! Jesse, this is just how they do foreplay, I promise. It has nothing to do with you.

Charlie is actually doing his job and entertaining the possibility that Jesse might have had something to do with this, even as a joke.

Yes, guys, after all this I, too, would assume that Jesse's car was used in the robbery. I'd bet on it before finding it.

I'm not sure what joking about Jesse having many action figures achieves when the house does look geeky. A loading bar on the wall? An entire gaming installation in the living room? That's how I'd imagine it. Does it have to have action figures? Not to mention that I don't remember Jesse mentioning action figures a lot. I'd love to go to Comic Con too but I don't want to buy action figures.

Not sure they should have done this. Then again, if it was any other case, they would have done this. They have had Rex sneakily search again and again. And I think they mostly did this because they thought that would at least clear Jesse.

Not Rex too!

Sarah is the one who's supposed to clinically examine the evidence, how did we get to that point?

Oh, he was. Which definitely didn't make all this any better.

I'm not sorry for suspecting Imari. She was the red herring, anyway. She always popped up at the right time. And was too chipper for this job.

I think the most clear sign that Jesse hadn't done this would be the fact that he wouldn't be so stupid to deposit robbery money into his own account. He's worked so many cases. Although that's not exactly a defense and they'd still have to keep searching.

I'm sorry, you're interrogating him and you say "We're on your side"? This is insane. Will IA review the interrogation tapes?

Jesse plays online poker. That's not as weird and out there as they make it seem.

Crypto again. I know that in my country most of the gambling websites that gave winnings in crypro have been banned. Probably in the EU (although the law here has a pretty funny idea of who is and who is not allowed to run a gambling website).

"Are you doing a search of my apartment?" Shocked Pikachu meme. Are you serious right now, Jesse? Yes, of course they are! The evidence is piling up.

All this is because you were gunning for Charlie's job in the previous episode, Jesse lol

Aaand, they found a shotgun.

"Nice find, Rex." May I ask how you humans were searching Jesse's apartment all this time? Because it was literally on the chair under a blanket.

Sarah: "If I take your approach forgetting we're talking about Jesse and just looking at the evidence..." The investigative, approach, yes.

Indeed. At this point, the frame-job is getting way too obvious.

I got to the image limit in 16 minutes of episode runtime. This is not good.

To be continued in Part B.

[barbechoanthony]

DEFINITIONS

Science fiction:  Is a genre of speculative fiction, which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

Tale: A fictitious or true narrative or story, especially one that is imaginatively recounted.

Story: A narration of a chain of events told or written in prose or verse.

Preserving the Flow: A Water Conservation Crusade

It was the year 2040 and I was lying on the sofa watching television. Suddenly a message appears saying: "Ecuador is running out of water". Since then, life in my country has been horrible. Everyone was struggling to get at least a drop of water. A friend, who will remain anonymous for the time being, helped me build a time machine. The day has come to put the time machine to work. We had put a lot of effort into creating it. 

Before carrying out the water recovery plan, we reviewed it. It was to come up with evidence that I am from the future and tell the young people that the bad habits and water wastage of that time caused the country to run out of water.

- Ready," said my friend

-All for the preservation of water in my country- I said.

Then, we started the machine and set the next date 2023, where the people of this country started to have bad water usage habits. Consequently, it continued to worsen over the years, up to my present.

Immediately, I went to talk to all the schools and showed them what happened in the future. All this was done against the government and the big companies because in the future they had total control of the little water there was in the country. Although I had this against me, I had faith that the schools cared about the future of their students and this was the only way to get my message across the country.

To sum up my speech, it was about how difficult it was for citizens to drink a simple glass of water. Moreover, of those children who were wasting water and making fun of countries that had no water, in my present time many died of thirst or were suffering from scarcity.

I had to go through difficult situations and run away several times to avoid being caught by the government. But that effort was worth it in the end. When I returned to my time, I saw that the water had already returned and I started to reflect on how small bad habits can trigger the scarcity of such an important resource as water. But thanks to the efforts of the people of the past, the inevitable end of water in our country could be prevented.

I created the image in the ia image editor and I write "Time traveler giving a talk to the people of the past about contamination".

REFERENCES

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, October 15). Science fiction. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Science_fiction&oldid=1180294282

About kemetale — kemetale. (n.d.). Kemetale. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from https://www.kemetale.com/about

(N.d.). Collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/es/diccionario/ingles-tesauro/story

[oliversmith1]

Why You Need a Workers Compensation Lawyer

Are you a victim of carelessness on the part of your employer? How can you go to deal with your own clinical costs alongside your family's future? In this grave circumstance you and your family needs support, both intellectually and monetarily. During their disability, not everyone is capable of covering their own costs. Will you allow your responsible side to get away with it, even if you have enough money to take care of yourself? If you answered "no," you need to fight for your rights and get your employer to pay workers' compensation. Cases involving workers' compensation can be extremely challenging. It is crucial available a particular legal counselor who can unravel the legitimate bunches and assist you with obtain an effective result.

There are a few questions that many people are unable to answer when it comes to hiring a workers compensation lawyer Boston. The most frequently asked questions and their responses will assist you in understanding your rights:

If my employers refuse to compensate me, what should I do?

Inquire about financial compensation and inform your employers of the incident. Get written medical records from a doctor. A workers' compensation attorney should be consulted as soon as possible if your employers refuse to cover your medical costs or if they delay payment for an extended period of time. Only by doing this can you protect your rights and get enough money for your medical bills.

If I file a lawsuit against my employers, will I be fired?

No, you cannot be fired by your employers for asking for what you deserve. However, once you have completed your disability period, it is in your best interest to look for a new job. Assuming you keep doing likewise work, you might deal with a few issues. Because you have filed a lawsuit against them, your employers won't like you, so it's better to start over.

How can I locate a competent attorney?

You can get recommendations from your neighbors, coworkers, or friends. You can also search the internet online. After finding a lot of names, think about each one separately. Choosing a lawyer who has successfully handled a large number of workers' compensation cases is crucial. Make sure you hire the right attorney by looking at his credentials and reputation.

Therefore, do not allow your employer or insurance provider to deprive you of the benefits you are entitled to. Find a lawyer who will fight for your rights and assist you in obtaining financial support. You can find a lot of lawyers in Iowa City (IA) if you want to file for workers' compensation. However, ensure that the attorney you hire has experience handling cases involving workers' compensation.

Workers' compensation Boston: As a result, this is the best option for you if you're looking for skilled and seasoned lawyers who specialize in workers' compensation. To provide you with high-quality services, Bellotti Law Group, P.C. has lawyers who are highly skilled, knowledgeable, and trained.

What law governs worker's compensation?

On a construction site, a worker might get hurt. This could be because of anything. The worker's inattention or the office staff's or employers' negligence could be to blame for the injury. Workers who suffer injuries as a result of employers' carelessness may be eligible for financial compensation to cover some or all of their losses.

Where are the injured workers?

There are some jobs that are referred to as high-risk jobs. In these positions, high possibilities of the laborers are being harmed. For instance, there is a possibility of physical harm if the worker is required to work in a mine or in high-temperature areas like a furnace. Even death may occur. Workers' families may seek financial compensation from the business in these instances.

Who are lawyers for workers' compensation?

Laws and a lawyer: People who are familiar with the specifics of a state's worker's compensation laws are called worker compensation lawyers. A worker's compensation attorney can be consulted in the event of an injury to a company employee. The regulations vary from state to state. The specialist pay legal advisor knows the standard which is pervasive in the state and can recover the expected measure of cash from the business in the event of injury brought about by manager's carelessness.

A lawyer's assistance and company guidelines: He can also provide you with information regarding worker's injury compensation if you consult your company's worker's guidelines. Even if you are unaware of the differences in compensation between businesses, a lawyer can advise you on how to determine the correct amount. The consultation with the attorney is very important because in some cases, you might only be able to get some of the money back. You can get the full amount of compensation if the personal injury attorney helps you.

Laborers Remuneration is a type of protection that is given by organizations and proposed to workers as a type of clinical consideration pay. Employees who sustain workplace injuries are offered this sum of money. The employee forfeits the right to sue the employer by accepting compensation from the company.

Examples of fraud by employers: There may be instances of fraud by employers. The employer refuses to pay the sum in this instance. If the employer still refuses to pay, the worker compensation lawyer talks to him or her and drags him or her to court. When requesting compensation, the employee's payroll and the position performed are all taken into consideration.

[dirtydancingdean]

✨ fic recs ✨

ok so back in like 2014 i watched supernatural for a solid 3 years until they killed kevin and charlie and i got bored of the bmol storyline. now im here again let’s not talk about it. BUT during this time i accumulated a Lot of fic and in the past two months i’ve gone through all 213 of my bookmarks and gone through like every rec list made after s12 in order to read fic set during every specific season while i rewatch the show. because im insane <3 im on s8 rn and wanted to share my list of favourites from each season so far as well as my favourite aus ! they’re all generally nsfw so minors be careful, and also check the warnings ! and i will update this when i finish s15 <3

aus

asunder by rageprufrock (23.8k, e, background samruby)

obviously the most perfect thing to ever exist. 

and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (56k, m, background saileen)

poet dean fic need i say more. part dean studies if dean studies was elaborated on lovingly in detail for 56k words, part gorgeous and beautiful poetry, part incredibly clever commentary on meta and fan allusions, and part stunning exploration of the relationships in the show turned on their heads.  

one white little lie by komodobits (11k, gen)

this is SOOO cute. cas is so embarrassing i was covering my face the entire time i was reading it. if u want to be cheered up. read this. 

broadway musical by griftings (12k, m)

this is genuinely sooo funny. big “castiel did you fuck the michael sword” energy and jimmy novak as that “am not against gays” tweet, plus jo <3

c-s-t-l by komodobits (90k, m)

i haven't read this in a while but from what i remember it was incredible and also had cassie <3 

rest is under the cut because it got long fhjfkfklf

pre-series/season 1-3*

a turn of the earth by microcomets (time travel, 95k, standford era, m)

i think everyone’s read this at this point but if u haven't. what are u doing. go read it. it’s absolutely everything i reread it in the week before the finale without remembering half of the stuff it talked about and i was a WRECK. if u think about standford era dean every day read this. cas punches john winchester in the FACE. 

geography by aeli_kindara (3k, teen and up, warnings for discussion of rape/non-con and prostitution)

not dean/cas but a really wonderful and needed conversation with sam and dean during 2x02.

season 4

so says the sword by komodobits (85k, e)

yeah. i dont need to say anything.  

consequences of falling by fayjay (37k, e, background samruby, warnings for rape/non-con)

THISSSS FIC. pls it’s perfect literally everything i wanted when i was watching s4 and obsessed with love as an act of worship + ruby and cas parallels. ruby and cas get drunk together! ruby says this: “dean and castiel sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes the fall from grace, then comes battling the hosts of hell and wishing that you’d managed to get your skinny ass laid before the freaking apocalypse”! what more could u want!

named by rc_machlan (94k, m)

literally the best fic in the world i am not going to say Anything if you love dean and angels and the mythology of s4-s5 that was promptly dropped, you absolutely have to read this.

four people ruby seduced & one she actually fell for (or: ruby's epic love affair with humanity in general and sam in specific) by tuesday (3.7k, e, samruby, ruby/jo)

this is more background deancas than anything else and does contain brief, not romantic in any way dean/ruby and dean/cas, but like. if u love ruby (which i do) u have to read this.

season 5

final fantasy by orange_crushed (1.9k, m)

endverse.....this made me want to die

the (mostly accidental) courtship of dean winchester by tuesday (11k, m)

a classic for a reason. really cute and soft and the handprint and cas beating dean up in 5x18 are angelic marriage rites. what more could you ask for.

the girlfriend experience by rageprufrock (15k, explicit)

of Course i mean of COURSE. thee s5 deancas fic.

strike me down and i’ll come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine by trinityofone (10k, gen)

post 5x22 dean and cas rescue sam from hell with the help of some special guests. PERFECT. the only valid good omens crossover.

season 6**

something stupid by zatnikatel (20k, e)

this broke my heart and put it back together. one of my favourite cas characterizations, takes place over s5-s6 and it’s just stunning. 

a crash course in someone else’s history by annie d (11k, teen and up)

s4 cas ends up in the body of cas in 6x20. fucking life-ruining.

season 7

make known by domesticadventures (16k, teen and up)

this is a really heartbreaking look at dean’s headspace near the end of s6 and throughout s7, and it’s really wonderful with a hopeful ending.

redemption road by a whole bunch of people (652k, virtual season, explicit)

oh boy. ok. know ur herstory ! this was written from 2011 to 2012 and it is thee s7 fic, a virtual season written by 17 fans all together. it’s very very long and it suffers sometimes from having being written a decade ago, but im making my way through it right now and it still fucking holds up. i really do recommend reading at least some of it, you can stop around halfway through and you should be fine.

season 8***

rinse, repeat by ias (3k, teen and up)

exploration of cas when naomi forces him to kill copies of dean and then his perspective in goodbye stranger.

my keeper by whelvenwings (5k, gen)

another goodbye stranger fic, this time with bonus artist cas!

though the course may change by imogenbynight (51k, e)

au after 8x23. i love this fic so much. dean accidentally ends up making himself have to go undercover with cas and pretend to be fake engaged. also, charlie and kevin. do i need to say more.

apres by imogenbynight (24k, e)

au after 8x23 where dean goes to find cas after the angels fall in paris 🥺

*i have found exactly one bela fic that i loved, and zero henriksen fics that i loved, so IF u have recs for those. i would appreciate that.

**mostly the s6 fics i read were uh...vampire dean fics...

***have found one (1) good dean/aaron fic but im still searching for the perfect purgatory crew fics 

[theblackrivergame]

Hey everyone! Today is my beloved @nyehilismwriting ‘s birthday! So I fleshed out a snippet request she made very jokingly one day for her, and she said I could share it with everyone! ^_^

(it’s a post-game-content Vanator wedding snippet, in case you’re curious hehe)(also please go and wish her a happy birthday!)

Most of it is under the cut cos it’s a bit long!

--------

The door at the end of the corridor in front of you is not particularly substantial. It is, however, extremely well-guarded. You’re in one of the former Wolven Empire’s fancier hotels, which at least means that dotted along the length of the cream wood-panelled walls are various urns and statues that you can hide behind. That won’t help you get inside, unfortunately, but it’s a start.

There’s a quiet, almost inaudible whistle from behind you as Enarra also sidles into the alcove that’s currently sheltering you.

“I think she’s gone,” he whispers, and you nod gravely.

If you’re going to get in there, you’re going to have to time this perfectly. You meet his gaze for a few moments, tense but ready. He knows the stakes here. You trust him to keep you safe.

“I’ll watch your back,” he says, clasping your hand in one of his firmly for a second. “Go!”

You don’t need any further encouragement. You set off down the hall as fast as you can feasibly go without your armour clanking; it’s annoying that you’re stuck wearing this overly formal outfit, but you suppose it’s better than having no protection in case things go wrong.

No sign of the guard coming back yet. That’s good.

Once you get within ten metres of the door, you give up on the stealthy approach and break into a dash for the last few steps. You can’t wait anymore! It’s already been too long!

The second your hand touches the doorknob, however, you feel yourself lifted off the ground from behind, a powerful arm wrapping around your waist and hoisting you into the air.

“Come on, Luminita!” you whine, legs flailing helplessly as she carries you away from the door and dumps you back some ways into the corridor. “This is ridiculous!”

“I can’t believe you thought you could fool me,” she snorts, ignoring your pleas. “After all this time, you think I don’t know what you smell like?”

You fold your arms across your chest, sulking. “I had to do something!”

She pauses for a second, giving you something that approximates a fond, if toothy, smile, and then leans around you, calling out to Enarra. “I can smell you, too!”

“That’s a weird thing to just say to people, Damaschin!” he calls back, from his alcove. “I hope you know that!”

She just shrugs, her feet firmly planted on the ground, making it clear that she’s not going to let you past.

Suddenly, you hear Vanator clear his throat behind her, though it’s muffled somewhat by the fact that he’s behind the door still. “Is everything all right out there?”

As Luminita is distracted, you slip by her and dart over to try and open the door – but it doesn’t work. It’s locked, presumably from the inside.

“Come on, let me in,” you plead. “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? This sucks!”

“It’s bad luck for people to see each other on their wedding day before the ceremony,” he replies through the door, but you can tell from the tone of his voice that he’s a little less convinced by this explanation than he was when he and Luminita first brought it up.

Excellent! That means you can wear him down…

“Please, Vanator?” you entreat him, and then grin as you hear him sighing in response.

Luminita, however, also seems to have noticed him wavering, and appears beside you again, growling. “If you even touch that door handle I will eat you both! Neither of you needs any more bad luck!”

“You Wolven are so weird,” Enarra says from somewhere behind you, clanking his way along the corridor.

Luminita gives him an unamused look, though she doesn’t seem offended – probably she’s just generally disappointed in him for going along with your scheme. “Shouldn’t you two be leaving to head to the church?”

“That’s why we’re here,” you tell her, reluctantly letting go of the door. “I wanted to see him before we left.”

There’s a soft thud sound from inside the room that you think might be Vanator hitting his fist against the inside of the door – or maybe his forehead, it’s hard to tell.

“Do not open that door!” Luminita tells him, firmly, and he sighs again.

“I won’t,” he says eventually, though you’re glad he at least sounds like he’s suffering as much as you are. “I’ll see you at the church… it won’t be too much longer.”

“I just need you to know that I hate this,” you tell him, sullenly, and he laughs.

“So do I.”

With that, you direct one more largely toothless glare in Luminita’s direction and turn to leave, though it still really sucks. You don’t think there’s a single Wolven custom you’ve come across that does anything other than make things harder for you.

--------

There were three separate assassination attempts for you to foil on your way to the church, so despite leaving first, you and Enarra ended up arriving somewhat late. You then had to spend about five minutes outside the church trying to get all of the masonry dust off your armour and fixing your hair, extremely glad that you’d all at least known this would be a possibility beforehand.

By the time you get inside, everyone else is already there; it’s a relatively small crowd (for security reasons), so you can pick out your friends among the group fairly easily. Ia is there in the front row, wearing what looks like about half a suit, and Dassine, who looks as regal as anyone you’ve ever seen in her new High Judicar armour, is one row back alongside Annos and a very confused-seeming Omilitís.

Kebisa, who is officiating, is dressed in a gorgeous purple gown and silver ceremonial cape, while Luminita has changed into a sharply-cut scarlet dress uniform, but your eyes inevitably get drawn towards Vanator and become stuck there.

He’s still dressed mostly in black (of course), but you actually don’t think you’ve seen this particular tailored coat that he’s wearing before. The edges on it are so crisp that you wonder if maybe he had it pressed using magic somehow – it feels very at odds with your “the blood probably isn’t too visible against my dark outfit” armoured visage.

He doesn’t seem to mind, though… in fact that’s mostly why you can’t seem to look away from him. He’s just… staring at you. You think that maybe seeing you walk into the church has made the weight of the whole thing you’re both about to do really hit him, and then while you’re thinking that it seems to hit you as well, and suddenly you’re both just staring at each other, dumbstruck.

Enarra elbows you in the midriff sharply, bringing you back to reality. The look on Ia’s face tells you that neither you nor Vanator will probably ever live this down, so you keep your eyes fixed firmly on the altar and just concentrate on walking.

By the time you’ve reached the altar, he’s still staring at you – he’s making that unbearably soft expression he always makes when he has a thousand things he wants to say but can’t find the words. You take a deep breath, wondering if you’re going to make it any decent amount of time into the ceremony before making a fool of yourself again, and nod at Kebisa, who is standing between the two of you looking like she has to try very hard to maintain a stately demeanour and not just hug you both.

She’s just opened her mouth to speak when suddenly Luminita punches Vanator.

It’s not hard, at least not by Luminita’s standards, but it’s enough to knock him forward and send him stumbling into you. There’s a bunch of titters from the crowd; you exchange a look with him as you help him up wondering whether this is another Wolven wedding tradition, but he seems just as surprised as you, and in some amount of pain as well.

“Oh, are we skipping to the objections part already?” Ia interjects before anyone can ask what’s going on, standing up from their seat and pulling something out of their waistcoat pocket that looks like a list. “Because if that’s the case, I’d like to-”

“Shut up!” you hiss at them, desperately trying to keep the whole thing from getting further off the rails.

Your only reward for your efforts is a dramatic smirk; behind them, Annos bursts out laughing.

“What was that for?” Vanator demands, turning to Luminita, who looks affronted by his question.

“You said to punch you if you looked like you were about to start crying!”

“I didn’t mean in the face!” he counters, still cradling his jaw.

Kebisa covers her face with her hands in an unsuccessful attempt to muffle her giggling.

“Gods,” Enarra groans, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “Can we just get this over with? This dress armour is killing me.”

It’s at this point in the proceedings that the doors into the church are blown off by an explosion.

It doesn’t stop the wedding, of course – your vows are shouted over the cacophony of the ensuing gunfight, and the signing of the marriage register an hour later once everything has calmed down is a suitably dignified moment spoiled only slightly by the fact that Luminita is covered in blood (not hers) and her dress uniform has been shredded into ribbons. All in all, it’s one of the less exciting afternoons that you and Vanator have spent together.

It’s everything you had expected it to be, and yet somehow also more.

[jellogram]

I saw the Logan Paul suicide forest video on IA and I watched it because I wanted to see his reactions for myself and while I don't recommend watching it because it was exactly as disturbing as you'd expect, I do think it's really interesting sociologically.

So much of Logan's reactions do seem genuine. He is genuinely upset and uncomfortable but he doesn't know how to express that in a way that fits his persona. Here is a man who's spent so much time inside the altered reality of internet fame that he's lost touch with anything else. All he understands is content. But this is a dead body. That doesn't fit. That's not his brand. The façade he's constructed around himself doesn't have room for tragedy, and it doesn't allow him to express genuine distress. He knows he needs to appear sympathetic, so he throws in some performative bullshit about suicide, but in reality his content goggles are blurring everything.

There's a moment towards the end of the video where he comments that he wore a stupid hat for the occasion. This was supposed to be fun, his says. Logan's life is the story and the world is his stage. He can wear a stupid hat and goof off in the suicide forest, because he's the main character and nothing will happen unless he scripts it. The world wouldn't dare intrude into his narrative. Or so he thought. And for a few brief moments, barely visible in the video, he realizes he's a complete fucking idiot.

But then he gets back to the parking lot. He greets some young fans. He still seems shaken but he's back on. He's back in His World, where he calls the shots. This will be fine. We can frame this. We can shape this into a narrative that works for us.

And what does the internet content machine do with tragedy? What is the only way that dark topics like this become readily consumable? They're sensationalized. They become clickbait. They must have all their real pain and suffering removed and replaced with mimed sympathy in order to let curious viewers indulge with a clear conscience.

So that's what Logan does. It's all he knows how to do. He's no longer operating by human rules; he's part of the machine. He's a brand. He's soulless. The human part of him is trapped somewhere behind his eyes, genuinely disturbed by what he's witnessed, yet too small and feeble to affect his judgement.

So he posts the video. And suddenly, outrage. He discovers that not everyone else is also inside his Content Bubble, completely devoid of humanity.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this and perhaps it is after 2am and I should be going to bed instead of writing essays about Logan Paul, but this one video encapsulates so much about social media, content creators, and fame. It's such a perfect snapshot of a man's destroyed soul.

Like I said, I don't recommend watching the video, but I am glad it's been preserved for anthropological purposes. There's been a lot said about how and why this was a terrible action (which like, duh) but I think the mindset that causes a person to do such a thing is interesting to unravel. Selling your soul for fame or success is such an old concept, but rarely do we get such a clear cut example.

[linkemon]

Dark Side (Todoroki Shōto x Reader) [Soulmate AU]

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you're interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

"ɪ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ɪꜱ ᴍʏ ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ, ᴍʏ ꜱᴏᴜʟᴍᴀᴛᴇ. ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴡʜʏ ɪ ʜᴇꜱɪᴛᴀᴛᴇ. ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴍɪꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇ."

ᴀᴅᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

1. ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ꜱᴏᴜʟᴍᴀᴛᴇ ᴀᴜ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ʟɪɴᴋᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴅ ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ꜰᴀᴛᴇ ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ꜱᴇᴇ ɪᴛ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴀᴡᴀʏ.

— Todoroki-kun!

At the sound of his surname, he turned to face me.

— Congratulations on getting your license!

Now killing him will be even more difficult.

— Thank you, [Reader]-san.

— Let's go out to eat something, my treat. You can tell me more on the way...

Since Todoroki started living with the rest of class IA in the UA dormitory, my task turned into a different level of difficulty because our contact was very limited. I kept telling myself that I was dragging the matter out because I should still try to get something out of the boy but deep down I understood that he would not tell me anything more.

I knew perfectly well that he would be returning home from the dormitory for the summer break so after a careful analysis of the information I planned everything in advance.

I waited a week after the last meeting — it was the time when the boy managed to visit his mother and see his siblings, which made him visibly softer and he also listened to his father's tirades, which led him to pure aggression. Emotions went back and forth.

In the midst of all this, there was me, pretending to be his peaceful refuge. It worked perfectly.

I had a plan on how to approach him and get him interested in me a long time ago. It required a lot of energy and  reading  (my quirk) to work. I am able to predict events up to a few seconds in advance in my immediate vicinity and be at the center of them. Thanks to this, I could be sure of how my target would react to certain potential situations in which we would find ourselves.

In this way, I also present myself as a good opponent for Todoroki due to the close distance I maintain during the fight, which the boy should avoid.

He had no reason to believe that I had quirk because I introduced myself to him as a quirkless person and intended to leave him in that belief for as long as possible. I've been doing it quite well so far.

I knew I was good at what I was doing because I saw him slowly breaking. I just wasn't sure how far Endeavor's son fell into the web of lies. The end result, however, was usually satisfactory because people who suffered by fate always broke. It's just that the teenager had a different tolerance threshold than everyone I have met so far.

Thanks to the carefully woven cobwebs, I got to know the other side of his father that no one had heard about and the dark secrets of the family. With time, also the scars caused by the mother, now in a psychiatric facility, stopped being the mystery.

Somewhere deep inside, it really touched me, after all, I was human too. However, this was not the reason why I would like to suddenly abandon my whole worldview and try to change in any way. I was aware that changing the state of affairs would be useless. My family and its decisions will stay with me forever. Wanting to cut yourself off from such a business was not an option. Only death could have been more certain.

I do not deny that sometimes I did wonder what my life would be like if I was born into a normal family. Not habing an outlaw father and mother probably mean less moving out, running away and pretending. There is also a lack of murderous skill training every day and instilling knowledge that will never be useful to the average person.

When the neighbors' children ran around the yard, I was learning the art of sneaking.

When the boys were fighting in the school corridors, I was learning the real fight to death.

When the class was breaking into the school store, I broke locks in other people's apartments.

While my friends were putting on red lipstick after break up, I was wiping off the blood of my blade.

When they cried after a break up, I wiped away my tears in some shady corner remembering the first murder.

It started with a few simple thefts for practice at the young age and ended with paid homicides.

My family and friends were proud when I got the biggest job in my career. After all, it is not every day that you have the opportunity and the resources to kill the son of the famous Endeavor — in addition, aspiring to be the future number one hero. No one would miss such a chance because no one would even dare to think about it. The case was clear — you either take the job or you die. The risk of spilling  out the client's name was too great.

So I accepted the offer.

That's why I'm now on the roof of an abandoned building, in the suburbs, where we were supposed to be watching the stars, which was a stupid idea because I hate the night.

I am not surprised by the shock visible on the boy's face after I showed my quirk. It must have hurt more than when his mother had poured hot water over him.

I know that Todoroki Shōto is a dangerous man because I have already met him for the one hundred and thirty-ninth time.

However, now he's a dangerous man with a license.

License allowing him to kill me in self-defense and he is using it.

The ice will come from the right — I know it a few seconds before the chill touches my cheek.

— [Reader]-san, give up!

Standard formula — I thought he could do a little better.

There isn't even any: [Reader]-san, how could you?. However, given his cool-headed nature, I shouldn't be surprised.

The boy uses fire and ice, clearly trying to keep me away but after a few (almost successful) attempts to shorten the distance, he gets used to sudden shifts. I hope that he will start having problems with reflex.

I teleport in front of him and swing my knife but he hit my left hand with fire, making me dodge quickly.

Todoroki is doing too well, I shouldn't have delayed that job for that long.

I'm still trying to reach him with what I have in store but the situation is getting dangerous. The initial shock of betrayal and the element of surprise stop working on the boy and reading is a huge strain on my strength.

Until now, I have been able to avoid his attacks quite efficiently and cut him twice with small knives from a distance of several meters. But nothing can last forever.

The ice is appering a meter in front of me blocking my left calf and climbs up higher on my body. The overwhelming cold makes me scream with pain and rage.

Confusion flashes in the boy's eyes. Just for a while but it's enough for me.

I know that I will not have a second chance for a close contact in my state. I have one opportunity to aim my blade perfectly.

I manage to keep myself sane to do the most thorough and tiring reading of my life. I know where he will be standing in a moment and I'm sure he hasn't figured out what I'm doing yet. I am moving before I finish using the vision, which I have never done before.

I am close.

So close to the target.

My knife in his body and the broken red string — that's the image I see.

I already know that he is my destiny, my soulmate.

That's why I hesitate.

And it is a mistake.

The roles in the vision reverse and it is Todoroki who holds the murder weapon as he watches life draining away from me.

The vision becomes blurred.

The last thing I see is his distraught gaze fixed on the thin, bloody line that connects his finger to mine.

The string breaks.

This one time, I'm not the culprit.

[breitzbachbea]

Also sorry if this is awkward but where can I read your works??? I’ve become a bit invested solely based upon what you post about them and stuff and I wanna read them haha

Oh, this ain't awkward at all! I am super glad you are asking!

They're all on Ao3, where my account is also called "BreitzbachBea". But lemme give you the grand tour so that you aren't overwhelmed or confused on what to read!

Irish Problems - ... I can't in good conscience ask anyone to read this. Yes, it's the first book of the mainseries so it's basically the best place to start, but I wrote this from ages 14 to 16. It's OOC, it's pretty non-sensical, the pacing is atrocious and it's also cringe. If you can stomach that and keep in mind that a) a teenager wrote that and b) it DOES get better, I would say go for it. I'll rewrite Irish Problems some time in the next two years to make it a much better basis for what Like Father Like Son has morphed into. It's main characters are Team Ireland, Team Sicily and Team England, so if you want to catch an outdated glimpse at the kids, it is perfect for that.

Italian Affairs - Sequel to Irish Problems. If you were able to handle IP, then sure, give IA a go. It starts on pretty much the same level as IA but it does improve. There are genuinely gut wrenching moments early-ish on, like Charlie's love confession in Chapter 9 "Unfair Life" and Dolcetto's scene from Chapter 13 "Good Morning" is REALLY GOOD. I still love it. It only gets better from there on out and while it suffers from its plotholey foundation, I do think there are so many great moments and plotlines in there. The first scene of Chapter 21 "Tipping Point" is my favourite thing. It only works because of what came before it and it's thusly probably my favourite thing ever written so far. Plus, it's set in Rome and we get a bunch of Italians! Lovino! Feliciano! Their friends!

Drabble Collection - Probably the best way to start if you just want to get familiar-ish with the world this is set in. Plus, you can just ignore any ship that you don't like and just browse through your favourites - provided I ever wrote anything for them.

No Rest For The Wicked - Fun romp I wrote for rarepairweek. It has TurGre, it has SicIre, it has some references to OCs and it has Best Girl Sophie (my Northern Ireland OC). Enjoy their vacation in Turkey and rooftop dancing alongside them while you get to know them a little better.

'Tis but a scratch - A Spamano Fanfic that features Team South Italy and Team Spain! I yet have to finish it, but what's there is already really cute. Just some fluffy Spamano shenanigans while Lovi, Rella and Fabio visit Tonio.

I stayed with you - A Rochu Fanfic that's basically a series of drabbles/oneshots that details Yao and Ivan deepening their relationship. I've written it in 2017, but it still holds up damn well! If you like fluff with twinges of sadness or something deeper, it's perfect for you.

Don't Touch The Artwork - Look. If you want something OC-centric and are absolutely here for some hatefucking and toxic masculinity dick measuring contests, this is it. Alois and Hugo are a fucking trainwreck, but I cannot take my eyes of it. They're terrible, all they know is insult and banter. I love them. I hate them. Everyone should read that. Team Austria and Team Liechtenstein have excellent found family dynamics. The porn is pretty good. What else to say.

There are a few more I could talk about, but let me just also super reccommend Don't Let It Boil, Between Me and the Goddess (and You), 36°, Smudged Makeup & Cleaning Up (though you probably have to read A French Trio Of Bad Decisions, which is pretty meh, to get what Arielle's deal is), and Mistletoen't do this to me.

[mimisempai]

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you 3/3

Summary:

Loki would like to express his feelings to Mobius but doesn’t know how to do it, he finds a sympathetic ear in Miss Minutes, without knowing that Mobius is suffering from the same problem…

Chapitre 1/3 - Chapter 2/3 - Chapitre 3/3

A little story, of love, of friendship, of two idiots in love…

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32351812

3804 words - Rating G

The door closed on the two stunned men. Mobius automatically locked it behind them.

He was the one who decided to break the awkward silence. He pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Loki, who didn't know where to look.

He took his hand between his own and called softly, "Loki, look at me."

Loki obeyed and turned his eyes to him.

"Do you really believe that?" asked Mobius gently.He was still shocked by what he had just heard, by the realization that he and Loki had actually the same uncertainties about their relationship.

"What?"

"That I will one day ask you to leave?"

"That's what everyone does," Loki replied with a broken voice. "When I have nothing to offer or when I disappoint their expectations, people abandon me, because Loki alone is not enough. You're the only one who's stayed so far, so I always wonder when I'll do or say the thing that will make you leave."

"Oh Loki, come here." He drew Loki to him, so that he was straddling him. He put his arms around his waist and looked up at him.

"Sylvie is absolutely right to call us idiots, each of us fearing on our own that the other will leave."

Loki looked up a little surprised, "You? You're afraid I'll leave you?"

"What's so amazing about that? You're young, handsome, smart, sexy as fuck and look at me?"

Loki flicked him on the forehead and said, looking threatening, "Don't speak ill of the man I -" he stopped, aware of what he was about to say, his heart pounding.

Mobius took his chin and held it up to him, his gray eyes straight into Loki's, "The man you what?"

Loki decided to take the same step of trust he had taken the first day they met when he decided to grab Mobius' hand.

He closed his eyes and said, "The man I love. You Mobius, the man I love."

Mobius' hand still held his chin tightly, and when Loki opened his eyes, he was surprised to see an expression of vulnerability like he had never seen on the man's face.

He released his chin from Mobius's hand, leaned his face on Mobius's until their lips touched, and whispered against them, "You know what I told Mimi before you came in, before what you overheard? I was telling her the reasons why I love you, although in reality they are only some of the reasons why I love you."

He kissed him gently before moving closer to his ear and repeating everything he had said to Miss Minutes right down to the bit about the tight jeans. His words brought a slight blush to Mobius' cheeks.

"My jeans? Really?"

"Count on my lover to remember only that reason." chuckled Loki before continuing, "but those aren't the only reasons, they're the main ones of thousands of other reasons. You love me in the moments when I am not able to love myself. You understand me. And when you don't, you do everything and go all the way to clarify the things you don't understand. You accept my sadness and anger and live in harmony with them. You are smart and you learn quickly. You let me be myself and encourage me to discover more about myself. You know how to take me boldly, wildly and forcefully when we make love. Yes, yes, that's important too! But you are always gentle and caring. You don't hesitate to shut me up and lead us when necessary. You call me all the sweet nicknames and give me hugs when you leave and come home."

His voice tight with emotion, he stopped and for once it was he who needed to wipe a tear from the corner of Mobius' eye.

"So tell me if these are the words of someone who wants to leave you? No one can hold a candle to you because I don't need anyone else, I don't want anyone else. I only want you."

Loki leaned over and put a hand on Mobius' jaw and gently pressed his lips against Mobius' and then opened his mouth to deepen the kiss.He felt Mobius smile into the kiss and meet Loki with the same passion.

They broke the kiss a few moments later. Mobius gasped and resting his forehead against Loki's in turn, whispered, "I love you."

He kissed him lightly and then whispered again, "I love you Loki, god of mischief, and I have no intention of leaving you."

He kissed him again, this time more deeply, putting all the conviction of his feelings into the kiss. Loki put his arms around his neck and kissed him back with the same fiery passion. Both filled with the elation of being loved in return.

They parted panting. Mobius, tucking a lock of Loki's hair behind his ear, smiled and murmured, "As nice as this is..." He moaned because Loki had just delivered a particularly naughty and not at all subtle hip thrust. "I said as nice as it is, I'm too old to do this on an office chair, and I much prefer the privacy of our home."

Loki calmed down and repeated in a dreamy tone, a shy smile on his lips, "Our house."

"Yes, our home. Didn't you think of it that way?"

Loki nodded, "Yes, but hearing his words, right after what we just admitted to each other, sounds different. Like something real and really ours. It's a little confusing, sorry."

"No, no I know exactly what you mean, love. There's a human proverb that says Where your home is there your heart will be too, but actually I've always believed the opposite, where your heart is there your home will be. Wherever we are, if you are there it will be home."

Loki smiled tenderly, "Mobius, you're so sweet I'll probably get cavities."

Mobius pushed him and Loki almost fell on his butt laughing.

They were still laughing as they walked out of Loki's office, oblivious to two sets of eyes that followed them with fondness.

Sylvie and Miss Minutes sighed in chorus, "Finally..."

"Come on Miss Mimi, let's have a drink in honor of the two idiots."

Miss Minute planted herself in front of Sylivie and said, her little hands on her "hips", "Huh, me, an animated IA, does that ring a bell? Unless you want to blow my circuits..."

"Then you'll keep me company, I'll drink in their honor and you'll laugh at them."

The little watch giggled and they headed for the TVA cafeteria.

Suddenly, Sylvie slowed her pace slightly, Miss Minute looked at her puzzled and understood when they reached Hunter B-15's level.

"Hey HB!"

Hunter B-15, no, she was HB now, -Miss Minute still had to get used to all the name changes-, HB turned to them, and when her gaze landed on Sylvie, she had a smile that Miss Minute had never seen on her face.

"Sylvie! Miss Minute! Hi!"

"Are you done for the day?" asked Sylvie gently.

"Yes, and you?"

"Also, after playing matchmaker of sorts."

"Oh you have to tell me about that, there's a lack of gossip around here these days" laughed HB.

Miss Minute, who was observing the exchange, felt suddenly that she was intruding, the two friends continuing to discuss with their heads bent towards each other, one or the other touching the shoulder or the arm of the other in turn, while Sylvie was recounting the love life of Loki and Mobius.

She coughed for attention, "Sylvie, I think you have someone you can drink with to celebrate now!"  She said with a big smile to let Sylvie know that she wasn't sad at all.

"Are you sure?"

"Perfectly! Have fun girls!" she winked at them and then added, "sometimes a good matchmaker has to step aside to make room for love."

She walked away bouncing.Her little world was happy, and that was enough for her own happiness.

[oimoi-op]

I want more of my comps to start arguing with me again lmao

Like, easily one of my favorite parts of KOTEF/KOTET was Koth, who can abandon your DS V ass and steal your ship if he doesn’t like your moral choices. Having Koth around was great because he actively spoke out against the shadier shit that Lana and even Theron were totally cool with going along with, and so it 1.) made conflict! And conflict is interesting! and 2.) made that particular Outlander way more cautious and shrewd when making choices regarding Zakuulans.

Koth got significantly less screentime in KOTET (except for the mission where it was obvious that had you done The Thing that had gotten him to leave, he would’ve been back to either be killed or cause drama), and while I overall liked ET more the FE, it definitely felt weaker when it came to character interactions and different character development options (EXCEPT for Torian/Vette because. well. you know). Koth and Senya’s interactions were cool, for example, since it showed that they actually agreed on a lot of things and approaches when it came to helping Zakuul (which makes Senya’s “betrayal” and Koth’s reaction all the more tragic imo—Koth was so pissed off about her because he hadn’t wanted to be right about her choosing herself and her family over everyone else, he hadn’t wanted to go back to hating her). Koth was also practically nonexistent in the entirety of the Iokath/Nathema/Zildrog arc except for the final cutscene, which is ridiculous seeing as how the motherfucking Gravestone--yanno, the ship he basically claimed as his own, modified by himself, put his crew on, can possibly betray your ass and steal--blew up, with his narrative role instead being given to Hylo.

Some of the shit is fine, of course. Quinn can betray you (again because LS SWs will actually never fucking get a break and exist only to suffer) and so can Elara, Bey’wan can retire due to mixed feelings, all of your Imp/Pub recruits can send you letters about their misgivings if you side with their opposing faction, etc., but none of it has so far gone to the extent that it could. I get that this is partly due to the 180 the game went through from KOTFE/ET to the good ol’ Space Nazis vs. Shitty Space Politicians, but it also feels so...half-assed?

On one hand, I can see why it wouldn’t be a great idea for you to lose half of your comps due to them being aligned with the opposite faction, especially since your DS Imp loyalist IA has had T7 around for a few years now, and for certain characters, it actually makes sense for them to be okay with switching loyalties. Guys like Aric and Theron, for example, are obviously still loyal to the Republic, but they went through some pretty shitty experiences during the five years the Outlander was napping, and so they have more reasons to be loyal to the Outlander/Alliance as they were the ones that brought results and got rid of the Zakuulan royal brats problems. Likewise, comps such as Pierce and Quinn are going to be loyal to their original class PC (in this case, the SW) no matter what, which can be seen in how Quinn can still join the Alliance even after he betrays you if you side with the Republic. But this is where stuff gets gray and gray can still get a bit too black-and-white for some of these characters.

I fucking love T7, and even my more DS-inclined Outlanders are quite fond of him. At the same time, I’m just not sure how it makes sense for T7 to be working with an Imp loyalist who’s working with the guy who killed T7′s old master under any circumstances.

I actually liked the idea of gray/third options in KOTFE/ET, but the game just doesn’t seem to be structured in a way that makes that work. Neutral!Smuggler is still the Republic’s lackey come Ilum, Darth Imperius is on the Dark Council at the end of their class story, and you have to sit on the Eternal Throne no matter what at the end of ET. The game has never been interested in the gray area despite all of the little tidbits thrown in here and there (like WHO THE FUCK IS ISAACS WHAT THE FUCK BIOWARE), and so it just seems...well, jarring that the story is still acting as though that’s still (or ever was) an option.