#and has done very well at never getting lost or misplaced

[melancholymetropolis]

Exchange pt. II

plot: In which Gojo makes a late night phone call to his wife.

pairings: Clan Leader!Gojo Saturo x Lawyer!Reader

genre(s): Second Chance; Hurt with Comfort

warnings: unedited (mostly). This is the fluffiest fluff I have written in the while. TEASING. Gojo is a comedian. SWEARING. use of AAVE (y/n is black as hell. wears a bonnet and everything). longing. Argument (no name calling). RAISED VOICES. sad boi gojo. guilty reader. get ready for the feels.

song association: Don't by Bryson Tiller

a/n: ya girl has some good news!

w.c: 3.0k

part(s): Part I

Upon shutting off the apartment’s showerhead, I could hear my phone buzzing in the distance. I wrapped my towel around my body and took swift strides back to the bedroom. Lifting my glasses off my nightstand, I placed them on my face before picking up the device. Instead of it being a friend from overseas, not understanding the time difference, it was an idiot who understood it very well. 

Gojo: pssss

Gojo: wifey. . .

Gojo: are you up??????

Y/N: It’s almost midnight. What could you possibly want?

Several moments after the message was sent, the phone started to ring. 

Gojo was calling.

I rolled my eyes at the sentiment. Ever since our lunch several days before, the taller gentleman was borderline clingy. He texted me at any free moment of the day, asking me what I was doing and when I was free for our next hangout session. I’d always blow him off. Telling him I had a prior engagement with someone else. I would say that the bride needed me to help her with Honeymoon stuff or the Maid of Honor misplaced her work and I needed to help her look for it. I would use any and every excuse in order to avoid speaking to him for longer than I needed to. It was clear that Gojo intended to make up for lost time while I was in Japan. He took his proposal to hang out very seriously and wanted me to fulfill my end of the bargain. Part of me almost felt bad from blowing him. Gojo was mostly harmless in his delivery and didn’t pose any real threat to my lifestyle. He seemed to be very forgiving with my excuses and never pressed me for blowing him off. The only thing he ever did was send almost a dozen crying emojis and claim I was abandoning our child. Apparently we were having a little girl, which he named her Naomi. 

Even though the white haired man was beyond ridiculous, he never failed to make me laugh.

I reached toward the nightstand for my wireless earbuds and connected them to the device. I placed one in my right ear and accepted the call. 

“Sweetheart!!!” Gojo whined on the other line. “What took you so long to answer the phone? I could’ve died on the other line!”

“But are you dead?” I replied, rising from my seat on the bed.

“That’s not the point!” He exclaimed. “And besides, what are you doing right now anyway?”

I walked over to the vanity mirror and lifted my leg on the low bench. I twisted the lid from the cocoa butter and scooped some in my hands. “Well, I just got out of the shower and have started my skincare routine. Why?” I warmed the cream between my palms and started to glide it down my leg.

“How do you feel about going on a food run?”

“Right now?” I scooped more product into my palm.

“Yup!”

I switched legs and massaged the butter into my skin. The guilt of blowing him off was eating away at my being. Gojo seemed to be making a genuine effort to get to know me and I was shutting him off. I was never usually the person to deny someone’s efforts and often cheered for a job done well. As much as I wanted to treat him like everyone else, I realized I couldn’t; because he wasn’t like anyone else. He was my husband, at least on paper. From what I could tell, he was pretty kind and patient with me, despite his idiotic tendencies. Those feelings from Vegas started to reappear once again. They always came back harder the longer I shoved them down. 

I started to rub the butter on my arms. “Let me guess, you’re having pregnancy cravings? Want me to buy you some pickles and ice cream?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of katsu sandos,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But ice cream sounds nice. Hold the pickles.”

I shook my head with a smile. “Okay, pregnant lady. If I do this, you better not expect anything from me to get dressed up for you. It’s too late for that.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“You are getting yoga pants and a goddamned sweatshirt. Better be lucky I am not wearing my bonnet outside.”

“Damn, you aren’t?” He pretended to sound shocked. “Now I gotta take mine off and fix my baby hairs.”

Explosive laughter erupted from my being and I felt myself hold onto the vanity to steady myself. “Gojo, what the hell do you know about baby hairs?”

“I know enough,” he conceded. “I am trying to do all my research now, so Naomi can have all the flyest hairstyles on the playground.”

“Gojo, get the hell off my phone with this mess,” I giggled. “You are too much.”

“I am just enough for you, baby. Don’t you forget it.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I’ll text you the address to my apartment. Hurry your ass up before I change my mind.”

“Okay. Love you, boo!”

“Imma beat your ass.”

My eyes flickered to Gojo’s right hand. It rested on the arm rest between us and started to flex repeatedly. The silence between us was comfortable. It cuddled against our awkward bodies and almost became a second skin. This was the first time we were truly alone together in the past six months. There were no waiters asking for our order or any wandering eyes gazing upon us from the wedding party. It was simply just him and I; in a car, driving to god knows where, in the middle of the night. There was so much that could be said in that moment. So much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I wasn’t ready and I had the feeling he felt the same way. It was easy to mask emotions in a crowd. It was easy to tell a joke to break tension and get a laugh out of company. Yet, it was extremely hard to be open with anyone you deemed dear. His eyes flickered over to me with such longing it made my heart ache. Those feelings from Vegas were flickering up once again and I tried to ignore them. 

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” he said with a smirk. “You look like a completely different person.”

I nervously readjusted the thick frames on my face. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“In a sexy way,” he answered, earning a scuff out of me. “I feel like this would be a bad time to mention I have a glasses kink.”

Laughter bubbled out of me and I found myself shaking my head. “You are unbelievable.”

“I am being so serious right now. Those glasses are doing things to me,” his eyes flickered over to me. “You are seducing with those thick frames and I am trying my best to behave.”

“Oh god, please stop,” I giggled. “How can I be seducing you in some leggings and a sweatshirt?”

“Baby, you could be wearing a plastic bag and I would rip that thing off with my teeth,” he replied with a wide smile. “You are gorgeous, sweetheart, and I will remind you of that every chance I get.”

My eyes flickered down to his lone right hand on the arm rest. The palm was soft pink and wide. There were callouses across pads of the fingers, almost like he played some sort of stringed instrument. Before I could stop myself, I felt my hand fall into his grasp. Electric sparks pulsed through my body as we touched. His grip on my hand tightened and his thumb rubbed against my knuckles. He pulled my hand gently to his lips and gave my fingers a kiss. A sweet smile fell on my lips at the embrace. My mind easing to a calm that wasn't there before. 

Unlike any other union I had prior, Gojo didn't give me butterflies or bring a blush to my cheeks. He gave me a sense of ease that no one else had presented. In all my other relationships before him, platonic or romantic, someone had always wanted something from me. I had to fit a mold to solidify our relationship. I had to be the perfect daughter for my parents. The unpaid therapist for my friends. The forgiving partner to my ex lover. The cut throat divorce lawyer. I always had to fulfill a label and my personhood was seen as a performance to them. I was never simply Y/N. I could never truly exist amongst them. 

That had been before I met Gojo.

He seemed to like me as I am. Actually, he encouraged me to authentically express myself. He didn't take it personally when I snapped at him. He was offended when I was coarse with him at the wedding, he simply adjusted his approach. Instead of being so direct, he became playful. Non-threatening. He was slowly making me feel comfortable around him. Easing the thick tension between us. The fear that I originally felt in the beginning had clouded my judgment. I couldn’t think clearly. 

Sure, being married to a stranger is scary. There is a lot that could go wrong. However, if all had gone right in Vegas, and if we didn't live in two completely different countries, we'd probably be dating already. Gojo would have most likely met my friends. Spent a night at my condo. Made me breakfast the night after our sleepover. He probably would have invited me to his place the next weekend. 

We'd already been 6 months in a sickly sweet relationship. 

Would I have loved him by now?

“What's that look?” His husky voice cut through my thoughts like a knife. “I don't like that look. What's wrong, sweetheart?”

“Nothing, I just…” I trailed off, turning away from his gaze. “Just thinking is all.”

He hummed, unamused, and squeezed my hand again. “You don’t have to hide your thoughts from me, Y/N. I am a big boy, I can handle the heat.” Gojo kissed my fingers again. “And besides, in order to get through it, we have to talk about it.”

A shaky sigh slipped from my lips and I wiggled my hand from his grasp. I wrapped both arms around myself and turned my body away from him. My eyes quirked at the twinkling street lights and billboards of Osaka. My skin was bathed in a crimson light that directly reflected the internal wound that bled into my foul mood. There was a war happening within my head and I could barely present him with the cause of it. At least, not the true cause. There were so many things that I wanted to say, secrets that I wanted to tell him. However, I knew it was too soon. He was still a stranger. A man that I met a little more than a few times in the last couple of months. A friend of a friend— an acquaintance. It would be too easy for him to leave me if he knew the truth. The whole truth. It was the thing that made me leave my hometown and start over. The thing that made me cut my parents off and change my name. The thing that I shoved so far down that I ripped me apart when it reopened. 

The car came to an eased halt and pulled into an empty space in front of the restaurant. The open sign was flickering on and off, a marketing ploy. It wanted to draw people in to observe its beautiful open concept kitchen and glorious display of fresh ingredients. The tactic must’ve been a successful one, since the place was nearly packed at half past midnight. By the smile on their faces, I know the passengers were more than happy with their purchase. It made me want to try it.

A warm hand gripped my knee and gave it a firm squeeze. I felt my body tense from the pressure. I slowly turned to face the car’s driver. There was a noticeable frown situated on his face and a terrible look of worry situated between his brows. My silence had not made him happy. Not one bit.

His hand slipped into mine and he brought his knuckles to mouth for a kiss. 

“Whatever you need to say or ask, I am right here,” he said quietly. “I will remain here for as long as you need me to be. You’ll always have my support.”

His bright blue eyes were poured into me; like hot water in a teacup. He was moments away from drinking me in. 

A releasing a trembling sigh, I finally asked the question that had been on my mind since our lunch date.

“Why do you want me to remain your wife if our marriage was a mistake?”

At that moment, I watched his eyes dim. Their bright, exhilarating, electric blue faded to a gloomy navy that shook me to my core. Pain contorted his features into an expression I didn’t recognize. He had never expected those words to come out of mouth. Not after all the time we spent together. Not after the pact we made to at least “hang out”. Not after I made the first step to ignite an embrace just moments before. Reaching out for his hand had broken the stalemate between us. We were no longer adults navigating unknown territory, who were scared of the word “marriage”. It symbolized the potential for something else. It made room for something new to blossom between us. The beginnings of a new love story were on the horizon, at least before I called our union a “mistake”. 

The painful look was still on his face when he spoke moments later. 

“Our marriage is not a mistake,” he said just above a whisper. “Accidental, yes. It is no mistake.”

I waited a moment for him to explain.

“Mistake insinuates regret for said action; whereas an accident is an unlikely outcome. It has far less of a negative connotation than a goddamn “mistake”.”

He spat out the word like it was poison. His voice gradually rose with each word until it reached its normal volume. The pain on his face had shifted to a soft look of anger. He looked insulted that I would even use that word to describe our union. Utterly appalled that I would think he’d regret our marriage. 

“I just. . .” He cut himself off, ripping his gaze from my face. “Do you really think I would want to hang out with you if I thought this marriage was a mistake?”

“Well. . . no”

“Do you think I'm some conservative wannabe that frowns upon divorce?” His eyes fell back on me, anger causing his brows to lower. “That I am trying to trap you and keep you hidden away from prying eyes?”

“Of course not!” I conceded. 

“Then, what is it?” He snapped. “Because I’m really trying here. I get that this situation is not ideal for you, but I am trying my best to make it work, Y/N. It just seems like you don’t even care about me or what we had during that weekend in Vegas. You are so ready to give it up and leave everything behind. Leave me behind. Like everyone else.”

The last three words were quieter than a whisper. Somber and true. It made my heart ache and my mind buzz with worry. The little pieces that Gojo Saturo fed me about his life started to all make sense. He was the only child and the first in his whole generation to achieve a very specific goal. Power. What that power was— I had no idea. He didn’t go into detail, but I knew it was something he wore with pride. However, I knew that he wore it with regret as well. There was a weight on his shoulders that only he could carry. It seemed as though he was carrying the responsibilities of his whole family with him everywhere he went. He never had a break with his duties; they consumed his every waking moment. It made it hard for him to mingle, to date, to llsimply exist without a group of people breathing down his neck. The relationships he had made outside of his family never lasted, from what I could gather from his last sentiment. They stole too much of his attention for him to create anything meaningful with them. Just like a flower lacking water, the relationships would wither and eventually die; which left Saturo back at square one. Alone. Miserable. Unhappy.

A deep sigh erupted from his being as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. That was not okay and completely unlcalled for. Please forgive me, sweetheart.”

Without much of second thought, I found myself unbuckling my seatbelt and leaning toward him in my seat. My long arms encased around his slumped form and held him tightly. I felt his body immediately tense underneath my embrace. His limbs were stiff and unmoving, while his breath remained caught in his throat. He was not breathing. I squeezed him even tighter, forcing him to take a deep breath from the constraint. His body melted in my arms moments later. He pivoted his body towards the passenger seat and wiggled his arms from his side. Gojo raised the muscular limbs and engulfed me in what I could only describe as a bear hung. He held me as though I were meant to disappear at any given moment. As if someone would steal me away from this. From him. At that moment, I felt like I meant everything to him. As if I were his entire world. It made my soul weep. 

A series of buzzing erupted from the glove compartment. A message flashed on the car's dashboard:

Order: 2333

Ready for pick up! Come to the takeout window with this text message.

"Your phone is buzzing," I said, lowering my head back to his shoulder.

He hummed in response.

"Our order is ready."

Gojo's arms wrapped around me tighter. "Can we. . . Can we stay like this? Just a little bit longer?"

I felt my body melt into his touch. "Of course."

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a/n: ya bitch got into grad school! which is why i haven't been posting!!! trying to figure out the financial aid situation, but it looks like we are going back to school in the fall! also, please please please tell me if you are feeling this series. i have another one in mind, but i am on the fence. also, let me know if you would like to be on the official taglist for this series!

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TAGLIST

@amajikisupremacy @sweetdreams-inumimi @reagan707 @wannabeotaku @hazzelle-kento @rav3nmuse

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

I found this blog through a reblog and decided I’d poll Tumblr whether I’m the asshole. And the reason I’m concerned is because my mother (53 f) doesn’t think I’m the asshole, and that’s a bit of a red flag.

My sister (22 f) was home from college for break. She was to be traveling out of state to visit her boyfriend (23 m). Meaning, she was going to be flying in the continental US. As such, she needed a 1 qt, clear, plastic bag for her travel liquids. My family has several durable and clear plastic bags (as opposed to ziplocks) for this very purpose.

But rather than use one of these empty bags, she emptied my care bag.

This bag is fairly small. It usually holds my acne medication, including topical creams, tablets, prescribed moisturizer, etc… in travel sizes for me to take with me to work. I also include my migraine meds and lactose pills in this bag, among other things. And it fits perfectly within my backpack’s side pocket (which is why I bought it).

I noticed immediately that she had taken it as she had just dumped the contents all over my bathroom counter. So, I called her and told her that she needed to return it to me (at the time, she was only an hour away and her flight wasn’t for another week). She tried to play it off at first. “What bag?” Then she tried to reason that it wasn’t a big deal. Then she told me she didn’t want to make her bf drive an hour to return the bag to me as it’d put them an hour back in their drive, so I should just let it go.

And the reasonable part of me thinks… maybe I should? Maybe I should just go out and buy a new bag? Like… it’s annoying that she took it without asking and dumped everything out of it. It’s annoying that the bag doesn’t even meet TSA requirements as she claimed (it’s black and not completely clear). It’s annoying that I had asked her if she needed me to get her anything up for her night before and that rather than ask for help, she took something. And it’s annoying that she didn’t use the clear bags provided to her by our mother.

But the thing is… it’s not just the bag. This happens with all my stuff. It got so bad when I was a teen that my father put locks on all my drawers and doors that only I had keys to (my parents did have a spare set in the event I lost mine that they— ironically— “lost”).

EX: I have a pair of Levi jeans that I bought with a gift card from my grandparents. Levi’s are— well— expensive. Earlier last year, before she went back to school after break, I noticed they were missing. I called her and told her I was angry about this. She insisted I was “insane” and that she would never take them and that I likely misplaced them or lost them (I do have memory problems, combo of ADHD and whatever causes my migraines). My father helped me look for them. He even looked through her stuff. They *were not* in the house. But 5 months later after she came home from college, I found them under my bed (they were not previously under my bed). “See, I told you that you lost them.”

So, I told her that she needed to find a way to return the bag to me and that under no circumstances was she allowed to leave the state with it (if she did, there wasn’t much I would’ve or could’ve done about it, so I was hoping this ultimatum would work). And I said that if she didn’t return it, I would tell our mom about all the unused, unopened pregnancy tests she was stocking and hiding in her room (found when I went looking for spoons as she hides my mother’s spoons after using them). She told me “You’re insane. It’s just a bag,” but she did mail it back to me and I got it in time for work that Monday.

My mother says I was justified in demanding it back (she doesn’t know about the unused tests), but she is often petty and demanding and blows up or snaps at the smallest things. So, I am concerned that I made a big deal of nothing or that I took it too far.

AITAH? ESH?

What are these acronyms?

[besobendito]

"Shepard?"

"Bzzt- Yes, Commander Moss?"

"Start a new log recording will you? I need to settle my thoughts."

Log Number #14 Cycle: 10 Planet: PNF-404

"Despite exhaustion creeping into my very bones, I find myself unable to rest for the night. I need to note what has been happening- to convince myself that I haven't completely lost it... There is something.... strange about this planet, and for each day that passes the feeling grows even stranger. Small mistakes like misplaced items, something that Oatchi and I are very careful not to do- We have been rescuing for how many years and all of a sudden we can't seem to find where the ropes has been placed? Whatever we lose ends up right back in its proper place hours after we've lost it. Shepard clears it with me each time this happens... Those items have never moved from their spot on the cameras. Our frantic search shows up, all the crew members searching high and low- and we just... don't see them...? ......Ah, I don't know exactly how to explain this one. Oatchi joked that I might be haunted by the glowmin("Some invisible variety we haven't discovered yet!" he said) but I can see it in his face. It's happened to him too. We are all walking around... Something. Stepping to the side in an empty hallway, looking down and over my shoulder as to not bump into...Nothing? I keep feeling like there's something missing on the ship, something I can't quite remember. I've tripled checked my things and asked Shepard to list everything out in our inventory just in case. I just can't shake this feeling that...

-that I feel like I'm mourning... and for the love of everything, I don't know what. It's maddening.

I was ready to push it all to the side and continue the mission. The list of castaways only seems to be getting longer and we can't have campfire ghost stories to distract us! That is until I found a log not written by myself in my tablet...... Hmph. See, this is what's stressing me out so. No one but me has access to this tablet, it should be impossible!

The log is... Well it's creepy! From what I can tell, it's taken phrases from one of our Procedure Manuals("Bzzt- It would be the Distress and Urgency Procedures") and the logs from an unknown writer and spliced them together. I've been trying to make sense of it but- yeah I need the others to see this first. My theories wont help now. I'll have Shepard add it to this log for now, might as well...(sigh) Just what is going on...

Mm, right. I already mentioned this in the End of Day report- but I'm not done rolling this over in my head.

The castaway we picked up today- the one who limped out of that dark tunnel towards us. His clothing- you don't see pilot gear that old anymore, and the- the liquid? that fell off of him... I sampled what I could so I wont know for sure untill tomorrow, It looked like gold. I hope he wont mind sharing where he found a pool of gold to roll around in. It would be nice to be able to cover the cost of all the repairs... (Yawn) Ah- right there we go, ok I'm done for now. Have to get ready for- 'Everything' tomorrow, hope I don't sound too crazy. This is Commander Moss, Sleeping snug like a bug on a rug... (Yawns again) - - - Log Number: +#3@##0?/ Cycleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Planet: PNF-404

(a) If distress [ ] If urgency [ ] Someone or something [ ] a loud BANG echoed throughout the cave. [ ] (b) Name of station addressed [ ] natural enemy [ ] (c) I got careless... [ ] (d) Nature of distress or urgency. and all the Pikmin perished as a result. [ ] (g) Present position [ ] Horrified, I made my [ ] ; or if lost, last known position, time, and heading since that position. Fuel remaining/Number of people/other useful information [ ] accidentally thrown to their demise [ ] crushed on hard surfaces of by some creatures' teeth [ ] I [ ] Me [ ] My [ ] Do not change frequency or change to another [ ] Fly a course toward the destination which the hijacker has announced. [ ] keeps leading me completely off track [ ] adorable leaf at the top of her [ ] (4) If unable to provide this information, [ ] trusty partner.trusty partner.trusty partner. PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN. [ ] I am so very tired... [ ]

[gildedmuse]

ZoLaw AUs Nobody Asked For Presents....

Fairy Tale Twist

Part One: Abduction!

[This was inspired by watching the first episode of the anime Heaven Official Blessing with @jhaernyl. However, for the purpose of this ficlette all you need to know is the whole thing is your typical fanfic set up: a bunch of young women are disappearing, so in order to solve the mystery our main male character is forced to go undercover as a shy, virginal bride-to-be in hopes that the sexy bad boy will notice him and carry him off to his liar.]

[You know. The only sensible solution to a rash of kidnappings.]

"Please," the old lady begs, tears running down her face as she falls to her knees in front of the trio. "Even if there is no hope for my Liula, this village can't bear to lose another one of our daughters!"

Zoro scratches behind his ear, apparently unmoved by the old ladies tears, as well as the wet faces of the town folks who have gathered all around. It isn't that he doesn't care - he's sure it's hard to misplace a daughter or whatever, though it does seem to him as if it's at least a little the villager's own fault. Why do they keep sending the girls through the forest is they keep disappearing?

"So they're always taken in the forest?" Saga - Zoro's second best friend and training partner - always knows exactly the right questions to ask. He's just good at that kind of detective thing, the way Marines pretend to be. As a crew of bounty hunters, they may not be the most well known or most feared (they certainly aren't their richest) but between him, Kuina, and Saga, Zoro figures they have all the right talents to work their way up to the top, wherever that might be.

For Saga, Zoro is sure that eventually means becoming a marine or, as his overly dramatic friend would put it, "becoming a sword for justice!" Or that's what he says it if you get enough sake in him, though honestly it doesn't even take one drink to notice the look he gets in his eyes whenever a bunch of men in their clean white uniforms go marching pass. Not even Kuina's mocking their stupid insignia ("why do you want a shirt with a pair of boobs drawn on. I've got the real thing and they're nothing but annoying!" / "For the last time, the insignia is the mighy gull! Not a pair of blue boobies!" / "As someone who has seen plenty of both, trust me, no seagull looks like that..not unless it's had some major work done.") or Zoro pointing out he's never seen a single marine carrying a shuangshou jian, which he thinks is the far better argument. After all, Saga wouldn't want to have to get rid of his beloved sword, would be? It's the one thing he has from his parents....

If there is one person who would understand how important a sword can be, it would be Kuina, but he thought Saga would be next.

"Sounds like instead of worrying about your bridal traditions, you should have worked to make sure these girls could protect themselves," Kuina says, her voice low and steady, but there is an undercurrent of anger there. One Zoro finds adults often miss, due to Kuina's former, almost old fashioned, language and proper samurai etiquette.

Her father always said there was more to being a Kenshi than just holding a sword. Unfortunately, one of the things he believes makes for a Kenshi is....

Kuina stands up, bowing politely to the very same adults she'd just been so angry at. "We will find this pirate who is taking your lost daughters and ensure this does not happen again," she promises, and Kuina promises something it's like you can see the threads binding her, holding her to her word. It makes Zoro sit up straighter, happy to be her rival. "If what these girls want is to be married, they deserve to make that choice without some creep ruining it for them."

Kuina's small, and because of that, most everyone underestimates her. Only to be surprised when the girl they had just been laughing at is suddenly behind them, the sharp white blade of Wado Ichimonji pressed against their kidney, with Tenno Megumi clashing against their own steel, stopping them from being able to make a move. She's a fast, technical fighter and a slow, methodical thinker. She probably knows more about Zoro and Saga then the two boys know about themselves and, honestly, Zoro is alright with that. He doesn't even know where he'd keep all that knowledge, but Kuina seems to do a good

They had only come to this island to pick up some Nobody, Kuro of 1000 Cats or something stupid like that, but they had barely dragged him and his crew of losers to the local Marine base when an older woman, face wrinkled and worn from sadness, had grabbed a hold of Zoro's arm.

These people were desperate, and the small four man marine outpost they have seemed unable ("or unwilling," Kuina had muttered only once Saga was distracted - they didn't need to have that fight again) to help against what seemed to be some knd of curse.

"Qell it's not a curse," Saga decided immediately, the three of them gathering just outside of the town hall were the citizen had plead their case. And as much as Zoro hates being distracted from his goal, his one true dream, he has to admit their pleas were.... heartfelt.

"Hmm," Kuina puts her hand to her chin, her foot digging into her dirt as she stares down, her brain trying to ferment a plan of some kind. At the very least a place to begin. "It seems he only comes out when there is a bridal procession. What should we do?"

There is silence as they all contemplate this impossible task.

"I know!" It's Saga who gets a these first, slapping his fist in his hand, and with his eyes burning so bright, Kuina and Zoro are immediately doubtful. This is going to be one of those ridiculous plans like in all his marine centered manga. As far as Zoro has seen, Marines never actually do any sort of undercover work or whatever. They just stupidly fire bullets at things and hope one hits. But that's not how Saga sees them, not at all.

Saga gives a sharp, proud smile, his support of his own plan entirely unwavering. Zoro assumed they would just stare at him until sanity sunk back in but suddenly, he notices Kuina going all stiff, as if a realization had just hit.

"Not it!"

Zoro stumbles some, not used to the usually calm depth that is his number one rival and best friend moving with such a reckless, her arm flying up as of theyre back at the dojo answering questions. "Hey!" He pushes his shoulder back against her. "What are you-"

"Good point!" Saga says, his intensity still bur ing as usual. "I am also not it."

Zoro looks between his two friends. His two companions. His twisted sworn brother and sister. And the evil grins that were creeping up along their faces.

"I am NOT-"

Kuina leans in so hard, Zoro ends up squashed up against Saga. "Your mouth says no," the older girl teases, sluttering her eyelashes in a way that Zoro didn't understan. Was that supposed to make him do something? "But your eyes - and my blades," she adds that bit with a pat at the swords at her side. "Say yes."

At his other side, Saga gives him an unnaturally bright smile despite the narrowed eyes glare Zoro is giving both kenshi. "You really should try and look happier. It's your wedding day after all!" He teased, nd Zoro can only grumble.

He did call not it last, damnit.

"We will just have to set up a convincing bridal procession then!" Saga pulls back, striking what Zoro feels is an all too excited pose considering the fate they've just sealed for him. "Kuina and I will act as guards, while Zoro gakes place of the bride to be. We'll put the whole thing together and make it look just like a real bridal procession! That's how we will draw this scoundrel out!"

The two npeople only seem mildly confused by the bounty hunter's plan. Zoro isn't sure what the confusion is aboit. He's hardly looking forward to this mess, but he does think Saga and Kuina did an excellent job at setting the trap and as for his part, well, he can only hide one of his three swords under the bridal gown, but with the other two concealed in the carriage in easy reach, he doesn't imagine he'll habe any difficulty grabbing for them in time. The whole plan is actually one of their better thought out schemes, so he isn't sure why the villagers take moment to get on board, but eventually they do. They even lend them materials to help make the ruse undetectable.

"I've got this!" Kuina declares in reference to the dress. She isn't much for fu-fu clothes herself - it's all so much fabric for so little practical coverage, and it always has at least one part that hangs in the weirdest way. However, she's had years of practice learning to make men's clothes for her properly so they aren't baggy and in her way and also wouldn't.... disrespect her father (Zoro knows she would never wish to voice this, but he has also seen her on holy days with his image. Holding it as tight as if he were a long honored ancestor. Looking to the stars as if they would grant her his approval.) Plus, she definitely knew what looked good on girls. Just because she doesn't wear fancy kimono and jewelry and other useless pretty things doesn't mean Kuina can't APPRECIATE what other women look like in such elaborate get ups.

It's the make up where they run into something of an issue.

"Katatsumuri," Saga asks, holding out their den den mushi. Him and the snail wince together as Kuina gets angry enough to break the brush shed be using to try and apply Zoro's lipstick, yelling that it was a subpar tool unworthy of its title and a shame to whoever forged its.... it's.... it's stupid hairs or whatever! Grr!

"Can you play a make up tutorial," Saga requests, sitting cross legged in front of Zoro. Luckily, he is very good at copying moves even from videos. Maybe this is why he appreciates marine uniforms so much, Zor thinks, cause they're all neat and orderly and it feels like you have to keep your make up neat and orderly as well.

So with Zoro looking appropriately alluring ("You're a vision," Saga promises, his breathing just a little too rushed considering they haven't even started on the hard part of the quest just yet. "You almost look decent," Kuina laughs, making sure Katatsumuri takes a picture for future reference) they gather everything else they will need for their little nightie deceit. The procession, the carriage, the spooky nighttime forest that the temple lies in the middle of for some reason no one could adequately explained.

"just sit tight," Kuina whispers from the side of her mouth as they walk deeper and deeper into the darkness. "I'm sure this willl-"

"Kuina!?" Zoro knows he is supposed to be sitting there straight and well behaved, just the way he's practiced with that overly nice girl - the one who kept getting a little bit touchy, like Zoro couldn't figure out how to hold his hands just by LOOKING at her; there is no reason to touch - but at his friend's sudden silence he couldn't help but peak out of the carriage window.

Nothing but wind and leaves and darkness.

"Zoro," Saga growls from the other wise..Zoro turns to try and ask him to go check on Kuina. That's what he should do, rather than break character. Good call. "Keep on guar-"

Silence.

Suddenly there is nothing.. No horses. No Marines pretending to be maid in waiting. No guards. No friends. Just darkness, and a low, soft whisper of the wind. Something dark, something.... stirring.

Zoro licks his lips, that awful taste of the lipstick coming off with it. He reaches for the trap door where his two other swords are stored when -

Click.

The door opens a light storm: the fall of rain, wind sweeping through the trees, dark hair, striking eyes, and such long and slender fingers reaching out for him, not grabbing, but making an offering. Holding his hand out for the supposedly young and virginal bride.

And suddenly Zoro can feel it in his chest. This lightness. This heat.

He fumbles, trying to find the damn torch. Where were his matches? Why is he going for the stupid candle and not his swords? What is wrong with him?

"I can't help but notice," the strange is silhouettes in the darkness, out the moonlight behind him offering any glimpse. But that voice. So dark, like a shadow. Like the way a smooth sake feels sliding down your throat. "You seemed to be in trouble, my little lamb. I hope those ruffians didn't cause you any harm."

As if you didn't send those ruffians, only Zoro's voice is entirely gone. The boy's golden eyes pierce through him like an arrow. Where is his voice? It seems the only part of him that can speak is his heart, and that is beating so loud it filled the entirety of the carriage

It only gets louder when the stranger's lips quirk upward, the water running down his hair, his pale skin, sliding around his lips. Making them shimmer and shine in the low candle light. "What a remarkable beauty. How could anyone wish to hurt such an angel?" His hand is still hanging there, half way between them. Zoro licks his lip subconsciously, the water clinging to the stranger's lower lip making him want....

No! He's meant to focus! He is here on a mission, not some silly game.

Yet the way the stranger smiles does leave his stomach feeling all sorts of silly. Are those his finger tips shaking as he reaches out, gently entrusting his hand to the stranger.

Immediately he is being pulled forward, so close it Zoro can't keep the gasp escaping his lips. He's not used to these shoes, there's far too much of them for starters, and the heels catches on the fabric of his dress and-

As he falls foward, the stranger moves in close and through the low light of the moon and a single candle, those gorgeous golden eyes stare right into Zoro's soul, soft and yet certain as he reaches out, easily pulling Zoro into his arms.

Pressed against the man's chest, Zoro understands why so many of those manga he finds Saga hiding away have girls pressed up to marines just like this. The way his heart beats in Zoro's ear, the protective warmth of his arms....

"Where did-"

"You men seem to have run off," The stranger says, holding him close. The hold is gentle and yet formal, as of purposefully being polite and careful with him. "I believe they were trying to lure the attackers away."

He knows that hadn't been the plan, but he can only stare up at the stranger, his cheeks so warm he thinks of lifting the veil, just to get some fresh air. But surely if he saw him that would give them game away.

"Your physical beauty must only be surpassed by that of your heart, to have such a loyal and fearless guard. I would hate to see their bravery go to waste. I don't have much, certainly not lodging worthy of such a precious gem, but there is a small temple nearby that will offer us shealter. I can keep you safe until your entourage regroups. That is, if you will allow it."

His golden eyes are staring down at our hero, soft and intense all at once, and they leave his tongue feeling equally confused: heavy and light at the same time.

"You have my permission to do with me as you please." Zoro hadn't practiced any sort of script, the plan had been to attack and words had seemed unnecessary. He still isn't sure where such a sentiment even came from! What a silly thing to say! He must look like a gu-

Wait, that isn't the what Zoro is supposed to be concerned about. Why does he even care if he looks like a fool!?

Even as he tries to hide himself against the stranger's chest, he catches a glimpse of that smirk. That horribly cocky, confident turn of his lips that leaves the poor kenshi melting, all the heat not coloring in his face pooling much, much lower.

"I shall take you with me then, beauty-ya, and act as your guide until we can reunite you with your proper assembly."

"Mmm," Zoro mutters, voice high and breathless. Perhaps to ensure the act is believable? "Take me with you, unite with me, yes..."

Just an act, that's all. Right, that's why he's doing this. To go along with the plan.

That's why he puts up no struggle as he suddenly finds himself lifted up into the strangers arms. The man's hat keeps his face mostly hidden, but Zoro is sure to memorize the edges of his cheeks, his lips and chin where rivlets of water drip from his dark skin. The beautiful dark ink that covers the strong arms that have Zoro safely held against his chest.

All for the sake of the mission, Zoro reminds himself, leaning his cheek against the stranger's wet shirt, tucking in closer to his warmth as a blue light suddenly involves the both of them.

"Shambles."

And then the forest is quiet, nothing but an abandoned carriage left behind.

[amyzaaiman-blog]

On Grief & The Hard Time That People Are Giving Jackie Howard:

I just have to say that I lost my mom 3 years ago & have no relationship with my father, so I'm essentially an orphan. I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but everyone grieves differently. You don't know how you're going to respond until you're in that situation, so don't judge so hastily. My mom was the closest person in the world to me (besides my husband, who has been an amazing support) & losing her turned me into a complete mess. I didn't leave the house for about a year (that's not an exaggeration), I picked up about 17kgs and then proceeded to vomit everyday for the next year and lost all of the weight again. My hair fell out in clumps. I couldn't sleep. My period stopped for about 1.5 years. I did things I would NEVER have done beforehand, such as seeking escapism like smoking weed everyday. I couldn't function properly or work. I had permanent brain fog. Other people have different ways of responding to this type of situation. I was in such a confused, repressed haze for so long that I only feel as if I'm properly processing her passing now. For the first time in 3 years, I'm finally experiencing anger (which is one of the key phases of bereavement). You just never know.

If you read the book, it's clear that Jackie initially does have a very intense, emotional response after her family dies - she falls apart. She doesn't get out of bed for like a month. Then, one day, as a way of distracting herself & making her family proud, she gets out of bed & focuses solely on getting into Princeton. While they don't show all of this backstory in the show, it's very obvious to me that she's bottling up all of her emotions. Her worst nightmare is to be pitied. And honestly, as she says in the show, no one knows what to say to you in such circumstances. Everything sounds awkward/disingenuous/well-meaning but misplaced/alienating.

I'm really not surprised that she shies away from the deep connection that she has with Cole (who, let's be honest, is a fuckboy at the beginning of the show but who she clearly has a unique & immediate attachment to). She's so vulnerable that she latches onto the "safe" brother who makes her feel relatively normal again. He offers comfort & stability, which is exactly what you need when you feel lost, alone & untethered. She can't afford to be hurt again & that's what Cole represents/threatens - especially because of the way he treats other girls. When Cole asks her why she's with Alex, she doesn't say it's because she likes Alex more, but rather cites Cole's behaviour towards other women.

These boys are also forms of distraction from her grief. And to add to the mix, she's only 15 years old. What hormonal teenager hasn't been confused or made stupid, rash decisions that they regret? I'm 33 years old and I'm still making mistakes and cringing from things I said & did a month ago, a day ago, an hour ago. It's really obvious that her attraction to Cole continues percolating throughout the show until he does something so meaningful/thoughtful that she can't ignore her feelings any longer. And what he does for her is especially touching because it's so inherently related to her loss & the absence of her family. Throughout the show, Cole is the only one she really opens up to about her family; how much she misses them & her home. He understands her in a way that others don't because she won't let them in in the same way. He truly sees her. They challenge each other. And while these are beautiful parts about falling in love, they can also be extremely frightening because there's nowhere to hide.

I don't even blame the parents for not noticing what is truly going on (although I think Katherine has an idea). Teenagers are renowned for being secretive (not to mention that the adults are also dealing with much of their own stress). I actually really like the scenes that she has with Katherine. I think that they have an understanding. Katherine is still getting to know Jackie & there's no way that she'll ever come close to replacing her mother. It just doesn't work like that. People aren't interchangeable.

It's also important to note that Jackie's whole shtick & manner of coping is to have a veneer of being "fine". I think that she's worried that if she shatters the illusion, she'll just fall apart again. She's barely holding it together. Particularly at the start of the show, she's just going through the motions & existing. The messy but loving (albeit not in the very, very beginning) environment of the Walter household is what's keeping her afloat. By the end (she even says this), she finally feels like she belongs. She has meaningful relationships with the whole Walter family & extended clan, & the reason that she leaves is because she knows how royally she's fucked up. She's overwhelmed & scared - fearful of her own roiling emotions & how she's exacerbated the rift between Alex & Cole.

Yes, you could call her hypocritical because Cole "stealing" Paige (She's not an object, so let's check that language. She is a person & has agency) is one of the main things that Jackie repeatedly holds against him (& uses as an excuse for keeping him at a distance). But she definitely realises this, which is why she runs away. She knows that she's acted against her own morals.

This is a very long post, but my ultimate point is that people should have a little more compassion. Grief is not a linear process & life is not simply black & white - there are vast shades of grey in between. People can make "bad" choices & redeem themselves. Are we meant to define people by one ill-thought-out/passion-based/heat-of-the-moment decision that they made as a teenager when they were severely traumatised? I think that forgiveness is a better option & that people should be allowed to grow, change & learn from their mistakes. Season 2 is still on its way, remember?

[pansy-placebo]

CFS + ADHD is so weird

Trigger warning for stimulants; ADHD medication is central in this story; and other stims are briefly alluded to

If you didn't know, there's been an ADHD medication shortage in the UK (and a lot of the world) which has meant I haven't been able to get my hands on my ADHD meds AT ALL. for OVER YEAR.

And a bit over two weeks ago- out of nowhere- I found like a month's worth of ADHD medication. I'd lost it in the early days of the shortage, back when I just had to wait longer between meds, instead of never getting any. Back then it didn't matter if I misplaced a bottle here and there- even if I didn't get a refill immediately, as long as I didn't have anything too important, all I had to do was wait out the month for a new prescription.

But these days? Thanks to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I couldn't even do the things I used to do to cope with the ADHD before I had medication, like going on runs, so it's been completely unregulated. After a year of being completely unable to fill out any sort of forms, make phone calls, or draft emails by myself (and lots of other crucial stuff) - finding a bottle was a miracle!

I decided to put it to good use and get done what I've needed done for so long.

After a couple of test doses to be sure if was safe, I took a regular daily dose for four days in a row. It was four blissful days of actually, really cleaning the room I've stayed in for over a year, and decorating it! And doing the dishes for my partner for once, and sorting out old clothes from my wardrobe, and finally building the courage to contact the private ADHD psychs so I could get more ADHD meds in the future.

And all the sudden I felt sick, sick enough to know taking the meds would be a waste. And all at once, I had to stop taking it for WEEKS,

because I had overworked myself to the point of becoming physically ill and contracting an ear infection. But it wasn't just an ear infection, oh no- the ear infection travelled to my sinuses, and then throat, and then lungs. During which time it travelled back to re-infect my ears after they healed twice, which gave me vertigo that prevented me from doing anything but being nauseous and sad in bed. I took multiple COVID tests because it was. just. The same as getting COVID.

Now, I'm still super phlegmy and cough a lot, but at least I can breathe without my lungs making all these... wheezy cracky bubbly noises, and the world isn't spinning which is a huge improvement.

The reason I got so sick in the first place was because pre-shortage was also pre-CFS relapse, and I've never had an overlap of both having CFS and taking adhd meds before. So of course when I took my medication and felt wayyy better for a few days, I stupidly started to think the past year of exhaustion was just me lacking my medication. and not. like. my whole ass Syndrome. And so of course going full-speed ahead as though I'm not still dealing with a chronic illness crashed my already fragile-ass immune system. My body can't handle walking for more than a few minutes some days and forces me to take naps after every activity, so naturally spending a whole day walking around cleaning was going to fuck everything up. Glass bones and paper skin ass motherfucker.

Today I got well enough to take the medication again, so I did, with the express purpose of contacting my psychs to acquire a new prescription. So I filled most of their forms, I put some laundry in the wash and did some drawing. All in all, I did about as much as I'd do on a Very Good Day with CFS

But I have learned my lesson. I won't do more than the CFS would usually let me do on a good day, and make sure to focus my attention on more sedentary tasks so I don't destroy myself by jumping in the deep end again. Even though while medicated I may feel like a Task Machine, that doesn't mean I am a Task Machine. I am a human being with a chronic disease that Feels ✨Gone✨ when I take stimulants, and if I don't start acting like it then the chronic disease will only get worse until I Totally Can Feel It even with the stimulants. I did the exact same thing with other drugs when I was a teenager, so it could happen again.

TL;DR: man with the Always Sleepy disease takes medicine that makes him feel Less Sleepy, so he stupidly thinks he was faking the Always Sleepy Disease the whole time and acts like a healthy person without the disease for a few days, which makes his Sleepy Disease into Even Sleepier Disease and he sleeps Even More for weeks after

[utilitycaster]

@gwendolynflight replied to your post “The Twins in the Feywild”:

This actually makes me feel better! I watched the stream this past year for the first time, and when I got to that episode I was expecting a massive mike drop smack down from Percy, but the way Matt was playing Syldor just didn't align with what I was expecting from fandom, so Percy’s stuff all ended up feeling ... I don't know, it just felt like Syldor had apologized, and maybe that didn't make up for everything, sure, but also didn't seem to merit Percy being so ... hm

​I mean, for what it's worth, I think Percy's response was still great. Both parts can be true: Syldor is genuinely apologetic and acknowledges that he truly fucked up this relationship and shouldn't have, and it will probably never recover, but also, Vex and Vax both have fairly serious damage from how he behaved towards them in their teens that's still affecting them well over a decade later. That title still is incredibly meaningful to Vex, who still lost the childhood home in which she felt loved and spent her late teens and early 20s in constant survival mode, and it's meaningful to Percy, who has just reclaimed Whitestone and wants to give her part of it. Percy is like...I like him, but I get that he's divisive, and why, but for all his arrogance, something I like about him is that he has a very strong sense of how one should treat people, and Syldor is tentatively making amends, but he really fucked up what Percy would see as his deathly serious obligations to Vex and Vax.

I still think the fandom tends to have a hatred for Syldor that is misplaced (especially when it comes to the far more abusive and far less repentant Howaardt, who people mostly forget, and Thoreau, who people weirdly excuse) but like, he was a shitty person during Vex and Vax's childhood, and Vex's relationship is implied to still be on the "chilly, but civll" side as of the time of Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn - even though Syldor is actively stated to be trying to make Syngorn less xenophobic and prejudiced. Like, he's ultimately a guy who fucked up badly and hurt his children, and who is trying to be better, but the damage was absolutely done. He 100% deserves Percy showing him up; he just doesn't deserve being drawn and quartered as some of the fandom seems to feel.

[renjibozo]

episode 7 thoughts dump (part 1/2)

(this will be referencing this post of mine and this one too)

(part 2 because this is getting too long)

ok so putting things under a cut again bc spoilers obviously <333

(edited a bit because damn i wrote this on a whim)

OK SO ! most of my predictions are. somewhat correct, if not just misplaced in the wrong areas of the episode

the episode IS centered around rei having to realize that kazuki's role in the house is difficult because he has to take care of so much (laundry, cooking, getting miri ready early and sent off to daycare) so i wasn't wrong about that

this conversation is very nice to listen to as well because the thing of kazuki taking care of almost everything if not everything in the house is finally addressed! and they talk about it! somewhat. to mixed results

and he is doing his best my god he is doing his best you're doing so great you cringefail of a man (/pos) but i'm glad that this episode pushed him to a point where he just realizes he has to help kazuki more

this minute pause spoke to me so much because he was about to yell at her but stopped himself before he could..... amazing little detail

OK. NOW. THE SCENE THAT SPAWNED THIS ENTIRE POST. there must've been some kind of falling out between rei + miri and kazuki because he was screaming "I'm... not your housekeeper!" during dinner i'm suspecting that they finally got on his nerves if they never pick up after themselves properly or just the small stuff piled up onto kazuki and he had enough despite usually not really minding the fact that he has to do most if not all of the house chores but another theory i have is that the scene with the photograph is connected and because of the stress, it leads up to him taking it out on rei and miri. i'm distraught i don't want to see this episode but i have to. mfs gonna have a sk8 episode 7 situation and i'm powerless to stop it

recalling this from the second linked post, they do have some kind of falling out!!! and it does refer to the fact that they don't pick up after themselves!!! (and that they don't try to make it easier for kazuki himself)

the other theory is wrong because the thing with his wife doesn't really come up until karin's in the picture ok no i worded that incorrectly, thank you person who replied under the post

the scene is connected! but it did start off from the start of the episode itself, and his the stress that leads up to him going on strike is just from rei and miri not appreciating what he does enough..... poor unappreciated malewife

but yeah they did end up having a sk8 episode 7 but without them actually arguing in person, kazuki just dipped and left early in the morning

he really said he's not going to be coming back home for a while and they can fend for themselves

and kazuki seems to be on a solo mission, which is probably something rei and miri knows about considering they dont look too panicked by kazuki’s absence (rei looks a little frazzled from the daunting housework chores he has to deal with)

(episode 7 trailer post) ok so the solo part is wrong, but now we do know that rei and miri know that kazuki's out of the house and rei is frazzled by the housework

the day of reckoning has arrived for one suwa rei frfr..... it only took one whole day without kazuki doing things for him to realize

kazuki was nice enough to leave notes around for him so he doesn't get TOO lost trying to prepare miri

this means that since they got miri, he hasn't been going out to fool around in the night life and is at home taking care of miri and rei..... interesting

onto the more meatier part of the episode, THE TRAUMA !!! ill go back to the fluff when we're done here <3333 let's start with rei's since it's the tamer part and since we're on the topic of rei having to experience what it's like to be the sole caretaker of the house for once

he cant cook and doesn't know which plate in the fridge is for eating

this reminds me of the very first episode where kazuki tells rei that he left food in the fridge for him that he didn't eat because it was cold

maybe because kazuki papa wants you two to have a balanced meal !!!! also the laundry left out on the couch.... did kazuki just never fold it?

he does not know her schedule At All (to be fair, so does she in some way but the point stands)

but he does have a calendar that he did not check before leaving probably out of panic

time to nitpick a little at rei's choices with good intentions (he's doing his best but these are Not It fr)

why is miri being exposed to the rain like this!!! should've taken the car i feel like because this right here

is what leads to this

poor miri got sick and rei doesn't know what to do so he immediately calls kazuki who doesn't pick up

so he thinks of an alternative,

but the medicine isn't allowed for anybody below 12 so he thinks of another alternative,

but he doesn't know where the hospital is!!! so he ends up in kyutaro's doorstep as a last resort....

[gothprentiss]

have severely cooled, really to the point of annoyance, on that post that’s like “you can see the seams and cogs in bad media more than good media and that’s why i love watching it!” first of all, skill issue, get your fun up; second of all, skill issue, good media has exactly as penetrable a facade as the bad stuff. (this unless you’re defining “good” as “works for me” and “bad” as “doesn’t work for me”, which i think is facile but certainly no more arbitrary than my own taste and judgment so hats off to ya.)

i feel like you see this a lot: “sound editing is really only noticeable when it’s bad” or things of this sort. largely it’s about technical or formal stuff, which we normie non-industry guys have no real reason to understand. this is of course observably whack, and i think borne of a certain style of interacting with film + tv (misplaced valorization of a sort of reality effect) as well as not really thinking about most genres, or works in general, as being crafted. like, seeing the wheels fall off is not your first sign that the car is carefully engineered to move! i cannot stop thinking about this. if you start with the premise that a movie is a thing that has been put together from the ground up, the idea that you can best see how it works if it is unsuccessful is super wild.

like, on one hand, it is recognizably how we work: it makes me think of the bill brown thing theory line about how we only notice the thingness of an object when it stops working for us— like how a window you can no longer properly gaze through (cloudy or something. cracked. someone’s painted over it or taped up a flyer for an uncompensated and sketchy psychological study) is more notable as an object when it’s lost its function. so presumably a bad movie becomes an object of scrutiny when it isn’t immersive and transportive.

on the other hand, though, you cannot tell me you haven’t been part of the way through a movie and cottoned onto something it was doing, and then never lost that awareness, even as the movie is entirely successful. i remember having cronenberg’s crash on and being agog at the sound design— like it sounds horrifying, even as it is remarkably attuned to quiet, soft sounds, and makes hushed moments feel like collisions. or the other day i saw crouching tiger, hidden dragon, which similarly has really turned up the silence, though without a resulting violence. instead you get these really beautiful moments, like when the twanging reverberation of the blade blends into the rising soundtrack.

the point being that as far as i am willing to look, these are way more interesting, notable, and real moments of pulling the curtain back than, say, a scene being done with poorly-synced ADR because you couldn’t hear the actors or something like that. and analogize that to all features of media which can be successful or unsuccessful. there is some kind of desire to praise things as seamless, natural, real, never arresting or disjointed or obvious in their artifice; or so immersive that they permit no critical thought. maybe there is also the desire to recuperate Bad Media as formally interesting in its failures, which is, i guess, fair, but speaks to a sort of embarrassment at the notion of failure which i think sucks on a different level. really i think so long as you have special rules for how good and bad media work and can be perceived to work, and these rules are very binaristic and rely on a weird opposition or polarity between Good Thing and Bad Thing, you are depriving yourself of a) some amount of dynamism or novelty in your ostensibly analytical viewing experience, and b) fun!!

[the-cocky-bitch]

I haven't seen this before, but I will be submitting an answer to the consultation opposing the destruction of historic wills and pointing out the fallibility of digital only preservation of those documents.

However, I can also see where some of this is coming from. Last I checked, the wills stored with the Probate Office, are

1) the wills upon which probate has been granted (available to public, unless sealed)

2) wills where the probate application has been started, whatever the status of the application (not available to the public, the will can be withdrawn from the Probate office, unless there was a dispute going on, in which case it would be released after the dispute is resolved, usually by court order)

3) wills which have been stored (usually by the writers of the will, or in some cases, after the death of the writer, in cases of dispute)

Now, the problem with wills stored by the Probate office, is that the probate office is not an archival facility. Documents would not be stored with a future preservation of historic documents of import in mind, but as admin files. Many wills would be lost or misplaced, due to lack of information about how they were lodged, due to change in storing procedures, due to change in storing locations, due to requirements for lodging, etc. And if you put a piece of paper from decades, let alone centuries ago, stored in a file box with no thought to paper degradation and environment damage, you'd get documents starting to crumble to dust.

However, if you say, had the will of someone famous and or influential, I imagine you would put in more effort to ensure it's stored properly, that it would never get lost or damaged, etc. That might be a reason for their decision to "preserve" those wills, that they are the ones actually preserved, whereas the condition of the rest would be dubious at best.

Since OP covered quite concisely the importance of those wills as historic documents and the value we could derive from them, to understand the lives of the people decades and centuries ago, I won't touch on that. However, the importance of retaining the original documents for preservation of data cannot be overstated enough. As mentioned above, you can order a copy of any will and codicil (if not sealed) where probate has been granted.nat least you can, in theory. However, there are many problems you could run into in practice.

1)A will is listed as available, however it's never been digitally scanned as it is quite old. If the will hasn't been lost and has been preserved well enough, with enough persistence, you can have people locate it and receive a copy of it.

2) A copy of a will is ordered, but it's: an unclear copy/pages are missing/codicils are missing/entire will is missing/wrong will has been scanned (I.e. earlier will or a revoked will has been scanned, etc.). After some investigation, the correct will & codicil can be rescanned, the digital copy updated. However, if the original is destroyed, there is literally nothing that can be done.

3) There is doubt about the validity of the will (and no, it doesn't only happen to wills lodged within the proposed 25 years retention period), in which case the original would need to be examined by experts. If the original is gone, again nothing can be done to resolve the issue.

And I am making the assumption that the proposed destruction of wills would only affect will upon which probate has been granted as wills not probated should not be available to the public and, if a will was lodged for safe keeping, should not even be unsealed.

There are many situations like these that can occur where having the original document is paramount. The destruction of those documents would a huge loss of information and accuracy.

One thing I do not agree with OP on is the question 11 of the consultation. As far as I am aware, currently the probate office requires very few original documents aside from wills and codicils. In most instances, a certified copy would be sufficient, and if the original is required, after probate has been granted, all original documents (aside from the will and any codicils) is *not* retained and is returned to the applicant. I would argue that an original document should be retained if, and only if, it is required to finalise probate. In which case, I agree with OP that it should be preserved. However, if the original is not required, it should not be retained and should be returned to the applicant (i.e. marriage certificates, death certificates, Lasting and Enduring power of attorney, foreign will and/or probate, etc.)

And if they do go ahead and decide to destroy all original wills, would they also go over every record of probate granted, check whether the will is scanned, whether it's legible, whether it's the right will etc., and rescan as necessary? Somehow I doubt that, and barring that, they have no way to guarantee the quality of the digital copies already available on their system.

You're a reasonably informed person on the internet. You've experienced things like no longer being able to get files off an old storage device, media you've downloaded suddenly going poof, sites and forums with troves full of people's thoughts and ideas vanishing forever. You've heard of cybercrime. You've read articles about lost media. You have at least a basic understanding that digital data is vulnerable, is what I'm saying. I'm guessing that you're also aware that history is, you know... important? And that it's an ongoing study, requiring ... data about how people live? And that it's not just about stanning celebrities that happen to be dead? Congratulations, you are significantly better-informed than the British government! So they're currently like "Oh hai can we destroy all these historical documents pls? To save money? Because we'll digitise them first so it's fine! That'll be easy, cheap and reliable -- right? These wills from the 1850s will totally be fine for another 170 years as a PNG or whatever, yeah? We didn't need to do an impact assesment about this because it's clearly win-win! We'd keep the physical wills of Famous People™ though because Famous People™ actually matter, unlike you plebs. We don't think there are any equalities implications about this, either! Also the only examples of Famous People™ we can think of are all white and rich, only one is a woman and she got famous because of the guy she married. Kisses!"

Yes, this is the same Government that's like "Oh no removing a statue of slave trader is erasing history :(" You have, however, until 23 February 2024 to politely inquire of them what the fuck they are smoking. And they will have to publish a summary of the responses they receive. And it will look kind of bad if the feedback is well-argued, informative and overwhelmingly negative and they go ahead and do it anyway. I currently edit documents including responses to consultations like (but significantly less insane) than this one. Responses do actually matter. I would particularly encourage British people/people based in the UK to do this, but as far as I can see it doesn't say you have to be either. If you are, say, a historian or an archivist, or someone who specialises in digital data do say so and draw on your expertise in your answers. This isn't a question of filling out a form. You have to manually compose an email answering the 12 questions in the consultation paper at the link above. I'll put my own answers under the fold. Note -- I never know if I'm being too rude in these sorts of things. You probably shouldn't be ruder than I have been.

Please do not copy and paste any of this: that would defeat the purpose. This isn't a petition, they need to see a range of individual responses. But it may give you a jumping-off point.

Question 1: Should the current law providing for the inspection of wills be preserved?

Yes. Our ability to understand our shared past is a fundamental aspect of our heritage. It is not possible for any authority to know in advance what future insights they are supporting or impeding by their treatment of material evidence. Safeguarding the historical record for future generations should be considered an extremely important duty.

Question 2: Are there any reforms you would suggest to the current law enabling wills to be inspected?

No.

Question 3: Are there any reasons why the High Court should store original paper will documents on a permanent basis, as opposed to just retaining a digitised copy of that material?

Yes. I am amazed that the recent cyber attack on the British Library, which has effectively paralysed it completely, not been sufficient to answer this question for you.  I also refer you to the fate of the Domesday Project. Digital storage is useful and can help more people access information; however, it is also inherently fragile. Malice, accident, or eventual inevitable obsolescence not merely might occur, but absolutely should be expected. It is ludicrously naive and reflects a truly unpardonable ignorance to assume that information preserved only in digital form is somehow inviolable and safe, or that a physical document once digitised, never need be digitised again..At absolute minimum, it should be understood as certain that at least some of any digital-only archive will eventually be permanently lost. It is not remotely implausible that all of it would be. Preserving the physical documents provides a crucial failsafe. It also allows any errors in reproduction -- also inevitable-- to be, eventually, seen and corrected. Note that maintaining, upgrading and replacing digital infrastructure is not free, easy or reliable. Over the long term, risks to the data concerned can only accumulate.

"Unlike the methods for preserving analog documents that have been honed over millennia, there is no deep precedence to look to regarding the management of digital records. As such, the processing, long-term storage, and distribution potential of archival digital data are highly unresolved issues. [..] the more digital data is migrated, translated, and re-compressed into new formats, the more room there is for information to be lost, be it at the microbit-level of preservation. Any failure to contend with the instability of digital storage mediums, hardware obsolescence, and software obsolescence thus meets a terminal end—the definitive loss of information. The common belief that digital data is safe so long as it is backed up according to the 3-2-1 rule (3 copies on 2 different formats with 1 copy saved off site) belies the fact that it is fundamentally unclear how long digital information can or will remain intact. What is certain is that its unique vulnerabilities do become more pertinent with age."  -- James Boyda, On Loss in the 21st Century: Digital Decay and the Archive, Introduction.

Question 4: Do you agree that after a certain time original paper documents (from 1858 onwards) may be destroyed (other than for famous individuals)? Are there any alternatives, involving the public or private sector, you can suggest to their being destroyed?

Absolutely not. And I would have hoped we were past the "great man" theory of history. Firstly, you do not know which figures will still be considered "famous" in the future and which currently obscure individuals may deserve and eventually receive greater attention. I note that of the three figures you mention here as notable enough to have their wills preserved, all are white, the majority are male (the one woman having achieved fame through marriage) and all were wealthy at the time of their death. Any such approach will certainly cull evidence of the lives of women, people of colour and the poor from the historical record, and send a clear message about whose lives you consider worth remembering.

Secondly, the famous and successsful are only a small part of our history. Understanding the realities that shaped our past and continue to mould our present requires evidence of the lives of so-called "ordinary people"!

Did you even speak to any historians before coming up with this idea?

Entrusting the documents to the private sector would be similarly disastrous. What happens when a private company goes bust or decides that preserving this material is no longer profitable? What reasonable person, confronted with our crumbling privatised water infrastructure, would willingly consign any part of our heritage to a similar fate?

Question 5: Do you agree that there is equivalence between paper and digital copies of wills so that the ECA 2000 can be used?

No. And it raises serious questions about the skill and knowledge base within HMCTS and the government that the very basic concepts of data loss and the digital dark age appear to be unknown to you. I also refer you to the Domesday Project.

Question 6: Are there any other matters directly related to the retention of digital or paper wills that are not covered by the proposed exercise of the powers in the ECA 2000 that you consider are necessary?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 7: If the Government pursues preserving permanently only a digital copy of a will document, should it seek to reform the primary legislation by introducing a Bill or do so under the ECA 2000?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 8: If the Government moves to digital only copies of original will documents, what do you think the retention period for the original paper wills should be? Please give reasons and state what you believe the minimum retention period should be and whether you consider the Government’s suggestion of 25 years to be reasonable.

There is no good version of this plan. The physical documents should be preserved.

Question 9: Do you agree with the principle that wills of famous people should be preserved in the original paper form for historic interest?

This question betrays deep ignorance of what "historic interest" actually is. The study of history is not simply glorified celebrity gossip. If anything, the physical wills of currently famous people could be considered more expendable as it is likely that their contents are so widely diffused as to be relatively "safe", whereas the wills of so-called "ordinary people" will, especially in aggregate, provide insights that have not yet been explored.

Question 10: Do you have any initial suggestions on the criteria which should be adopted for identifying famous/historic figures whose original paper will document should be preserved permanently?

Abandon this entire lamentable plan. As previously discussed, you do not and cannot know who will be considered "famous" in the future, and fame is a profoundly flawed criterion of historical significance.

Question 11: Do you agree that the Probate Registries should only permanently retain wills and codicils from the documents submitted in support of a probate application? Please explain, if setting out the case for retention of any other documents.

No, all the documents should be preserved indefinitely.

Question 12: Do you agree that we have correctly identified the range and extent of the equalities impacts under each of these proposals set out in this consultation? Please give reasons and supply evidence of further equalities impacts as appropriate.

No. You appear to have neglected equalities impacts entirely. As discussed, in your drive to prioritise "famous people", your plan will certainly prioritise the white, wealthy and mostly the male, as your "Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin and Princess Diana" examples amply indicate. This plan will create a two-tier system where evidence of the lives of the privileged is carefully preserved while information regarding people of colour, women, the working class and other disadvantaged groups is disproportionately abandoned to digital decay and eventual loss. Current and future historians from, or specialising in the history of minority groups will be especially impoverished by this.  

[shimmerfires]

18+ as themes on this blog will be heavy by nature of canon & will be tagged accordingly. (Mun is 21+ he/him)

-multiverse, multimuse, crossover, oc friendly -things will be tagged as asked/graphic,etc an couple themes in particular that will come up: child neglect, family image, kidnapping resulting in saving themself, shimmer, things done in the name of survival, bad coping methods, an fascination with fire -iconless, multi para -sideblog, cannot follow back (would if i could) also can be found over at Steb

------

Rules

-Hate isn't allowed, should go without saying but (transphobia, racism, ableism) and all that is not welcome -Don't godmod -Multiple memes, threads and interaction are highly encouraged (this is a coop hobby after all)

-It should go without saying but I'm not romantizing their mental illness/conditions+do not condone all their very iffy morals are just that *There is overlap with J.inx in some aspects but they are very much their own flavor of unmedicated/unhinged etc

-Only familiar with the show and bits of info from what people mention of the game lore

Bio

Name: Mercer Alias(s): Solaris- birth name, Rebel- go to alias before the firelights, Firecracker- one of a few with the firelights Age: 21 Species: Human Gender: genderfluid, usually defaults to they/them Orientation: hypersexual, pansexual Weapon of choice: Fire

An misplaced child of one, of Piltover's many notable families. To be handled with discretion; handled poorly because of the vastness of the undercity. Even when confronted with black mail- failure on both ends to make the deal. Up in literal flames from a bored child taking the unattended lighter. Getting lost running away from the fire; after maybe a few too many seconds spent admiring it. Never really getting looked out by anybody for too long, especially of good intentions because of their behavior. Odd jobs usually in the name of fiery distraction for whoever pays. Still a fairly new recruit to the firelights in s1, bit of a solo act still and trying to abide by the rules. Winding up with them when caught up in a disrupted shipment of shimmer; had been there to steal some. Not for standard use- no it was how it looked on fire.

Appearance:

5' 6' with a short hair cut, cut in such a way that it's black unless styled so that the neon colors underneath are visible (usually red/orange but sometimes a sparkly purple or neon green)

-Slender build, not to be mistaken for lack of strength has it+speed an agility plenty

-White, silver eyes (highlighted, to an can be painful to look at degree with bright makeup frequently) as well favors either black/dark mismatched clothing or reflective clothing meant to make it painful to look at them *can vary though but an constant is certainly shiny gray boots

[risu5waffles]

Wintering DisconTENt

One of these finally fell on a day off. i mean, that has happened in the past too; i just haven't always seized the opportunity? i am so tired.

One of the biggest disappointments if the servers stay shuttered is that i never archived chronos' Demo series. i've got an old review of Demo (LittleBite-sizedPlanet 07/21/19 episode 144b), and we've played the three levels comprising it on stream many, many times; but i don't have dedicated LBsA episodes for them. This eats at me more than i care to admit, and i care to admit probably more than i generally ought.

As for D???, it's a very solid look at what Demo would have looked like if all of chronos' plans had come to fruition. We see a number of enemy types that come up later, and the bullet spreads, as well, will be repurposed. i really liked the way this one hits some of the main platforming gameplay biomes of Chapter Zero; it's a really neat look, and lets us see a bit more of them than we otherwise might have. i do note that we don't see Episode 0.2. Maybe chronos felt as wibbly about that one's look as i did.

And wrapping up Chapter Zero we have some cut content. It was really neat getting hands-on look into chronos' thought process wiv these. They're both pretty neat, but i can see why they eventually got scrapped. Episode 0.1(5) is just so very busy, and winds up being a lot more aggravating than fun, and while the gameplay in 0.3 is solid, it's got a poppiness to it that doesn't mesh all that well wiv the tone of the other parts of the Adventure.

i will point out, once again, that chronos has a lot of behind the scenes footage up on his YouTube

and they really make for a fascinating look into the brainmeats of an amazing creator. Am i selling chronos a little hard? i dunno. Maybe? i'll stand by every word tho'.

Ahhh LBP2, when everyone had a whole-ass passel of OCs, and couldn't wait to show them off to everyone. So... i guess tumblr wiv platforming? That probably reads snarky, and i really don't intend it to; i love seeing folx's characters, and being able to interact wiv them in the limited way that LBP provided was always a hoot.

i knew picked-punk from around this time, tho' we've long since been out of touch. My vague memories were of his being a pretty decent chap, and that i had a good time interacting wiv him. Wonder what he's up to these days. Hopefully nice things.

Awesome Gingers' Cardboard Garden (that misplaced apostrophe honestly bugs the heck out of me, but it's in the original, so i have to assume it was intended) is a fun, and pretty expansive metaplatformer(?). Maybe not meta, exactly, but directly referencing that there are Creator Curators (us) who are making all these community levels. i really liked when levels could play wiv that membrane, and still manage to pull off being enjoyable from a mechanical "i am a player interacting wiv this through gameplay mechanics" sense. i've played a lot that were just up their nose in the pretense, and kinda forgot someone would be experiencing this.

i really, really enjoyed this one; even if sometimes it could be a little difficult to track just where it wanted me to go next. Continuing wiv the conceit that this is Ginger's creation means that the level doesn't need to be completely tethered to making a cohesive environment, so you wind up wiv "realistic" setpieces strung together wiv more abstracted pure platforming bit, and that's always been a style i've enjoyed.

Fun fact, but the Yellow Sign sticker you can just see in the upper-right of the title card here? i made that. pickled-punk and i had done a sticker trade, and i used one of his stickers (now sadly lost) for a trigger in my Bloomin' Oni-ons level. i still wonder what that was supposed to get you. Probably a bunch of scorebubbles.

i am so glad i went back and grabbed this one. We'd played it on stream, and i had such a blast wiv it. Straight-forward, and not super-challenging, but extremely high on the charm scale, and all around a smooth, fun experience. Cookietovar put together some extremely solid platforming-for-platforming's-sake-but-still-enjoyable-to-look-at platformers, and i really should have given them more archive space. At least we got Roasting Oranges 2; that one was also a delight.

All three of these use a Mr Beaver Says No sticker switch, and for the life of me i could not figure out where the hell the trigger was. i'll tell you it bugged the living hell out of me, tho'. If i had to guess, and that's really all i can do, it probably triggered some form of fast travel, maybe a tetherless jetpack, to let Qugz get to the different setpieces quickly in Play Mode and making sure they were running properly. Wiv levels as expansive as these, getting to a specific point in them would be a lot; and wiv resetting logic being as fiddly as it was, Create Mode testing could be a real chore.

All the Maxed out levels are chock-a-block wiv neat ideas and mechanical bits, and really push the envelope on what we could get done in LBP1. Wiv the downside being they are fragile as all get out, and there was a lot of b-roll footage left on the cutting room floor of "ope, this bit is irreparably broken from some unexpected physics interaction, guess i'll have to play the whole damned thing over." i know we give the changes in engine and physics moving into LBP3 a lot of shite (some of it deservedly, but let's face it, the move from LBP1 to 2 didn't do a tonne of favours to some of the old levels either), but levels like these are a good reminder that things could just as easily get breaky as fuck in native LBP1; you can see how Qugz has included workarounds in the vehicles sections, so those bits must have broken so consistently that even they recognized there was a problem, but not enough of a problem to scrap the concept entirely.

We just talked about this one a couple of days ago. Are you telling me you've already forgotten a couple of days ago? i mean, fair enough. i have too. Don't feel too bad about it. But, like, do me a favour and just scroll back to Friday so i don't have to repeat myself?

Honestly? i kind of thought this one would do slightly better numbers. i know it was, by design, up for only a short window, but, like, it was on the heels of A Totally Reasonable Response (sitting at around 750-ish plays when the servers went down, and still getting plays on a relatively consistent basis). The last check put this one at something like 12, and i don't know how the LBP algo worked, clearly. Maybe it was the totally pants level badge. i was a bit pressed for time getting it published.

The fortune teller was a lot of fun in concept. i actually wrote out those kanji myself using the Move lolipop, and either my hands have gotten shakier, or it's a lot harder to get a straight line, and i just forgot. The actual logic behind it was a super pain in the arse, tho'. Originally it was set up to be just a one shot, and whatever fortune you got, that was it. The problem was, it would only show "Worst Luck;" something fucky wiv how i had the randomizer set up, i guess. In the end i had to do it so you could get multiple fortunes, and just leave it to the players' good will that they would only try it once.

i really liked the little environmental pieces, and was keeping them around to use in an actual level-level, but who knows how likely that'll be given the state of things right now.

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

So. The penultimate(? maybe?) TENspot. Some really good levels in there. It'll be a shame if no one gets a chance to play them again.

i was doing the edits for b-roll on LittleBite-sizedPlanet 292 last night, and it really started to settle in that this might be one of the last times i do that, and it made me feel all kinds of ways. Yeah, not really that much more to say about it. Or at least not anything i really want to unpack right now. Just feeling pretty bummed out.

Gonna see a friend today, and we're going to a protest, which is one of those "good things to do, but i really wish we didn't have to do it" kind of deals.

[vaovalis]

The world I knew did not have a seafaring tradition.  The seas were too dangerous; the storms were too dangerous.  This world, this Primal Earth, it clearly has a rich tradition of naval travel dating much further back than the developments of their modern technologies. This song though. This song takes me back to a place I’m not sure I wish to be, and at the same time, that part of me has never left. The broken, the hopeless, the thieves and the beggars - they were the first of my people.  They who had lost too much; those that had little left but their lives - they were the first of them that joined me. I am quite certain that, in those early days before my war truly began, most that answered my call did so because they were hoping for something to eat, something to drink and maybe a bit of protection from the dramatically powerful young warlord I’m sure I looked like I was stirring myself up to be. This Primal Earth has not met that side of me.  Perhaps it never will.  Perhaps it never should. I hear her rage in this song though. I REMEMBER oh so very well what it felt like to share my rage with others, and spark in them a fire they never expected. You are a dangerous song.  You dare me to be her again - to throw caution, sensibility and all notions of decency to the wind and make my way through this world, seeing just how many of its broken, its lost, its thieves, its outcasts, its beggars and its unwanted would follow me for even just one chance to show the world that’s done so wrongly and unjustly by them that if they must die, they will die on their terms, not its.   Yo ho. All hands. Hoist the colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars; never shall we die. I feel here there, in my memory and in my soul.  She never died.  And she sees much work that she could do in this pretty world, where lavish titans dwell in splendor atop their gleaming towers while the meager toil at their feet, or starve in the shadows of their alleys and their overpasses. It seems to her that nobody’s ever told the lavish titans that they can die, and that all they have can burn. Will there come a time when she whispers ‘Let me out’ and I feel no more reason to urge her to patience? Yo ho. All together. Hoist the colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars; never shall we die. The barefoot woman with a tangled mane of filthy hair that I once was is not a patient creature.  I see her in my memory, looking at me with my own eyes. She is not demanding anything yet, but she sees through my eyes just like all of the rest of me does. She is patient for me because I am her and I know that I have not forgotten anything.  I trust me. I understand that other parts of me that are not her need to be heard and often heeded as well. But this song, and songs like it?  I’m going to need to be careful about letting myself get lost in a song like this, or I’m going to misplace my better senses and do something I will live to regret. I can’t say the same for anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of that unfortunate potentiality should it ever occur. 

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Kazzer - Pedal To The Metal" on YouTube

It's all these people that want to go up there and see what it looks like and what's going on with it and they don't want to go too close to the water so they go to this particular town most like a viewing Tower I'm taking turns viewing and they all want to look like hot babes for some reason and they come down and they're all excited and they mess around and they figured out something there's something we could do to feel better and to be healthy so instead of the schedule to go look at stuff the sun is laughing and says and this is different because you figured it out so you're always doing hairless doing it I don't even go see this and this I'm going to stop by over here so she says or saying we're going to look at stuff and we're going places and they said what about these places and the way and this other stuff and we end up going there and had more fun I tell you it's a lot of fun sightseeing and women are really good at it we got comments and all sorts of things it's a great pictures he says I'm very photogenic and I am I want to take more pictures of me and he wasn't and didn't have a camera and he's kind of a slob? A lot of pictures of us and I have a bunch and he wants to see them and he's upset because he didn't have and he lost his pictures too. Is Mom and Dad were impressed at the photo album you made and then they got sad and it got misplaced no but the other misplaced there's well they haven't but it's horrible they look at it and I can't believe what happened it's getting worse and they said this he would never fall if it work for this happening and no not the album it still is a good album it's a funny idea it's like a music album it's like Elvis's family and his photo book and people are starting to remember something you put an album together a songs with the album and BJ went right to work and he has it all together he says this is actually what's helped a lot. And times I see the Tommy f is in the way of it and doesn't like it wanted to destroy it the whole time now he's in trouble this forces against him everywhere and they're mounting. The bridge is a huge sign it's gigantic. And it means resistance to his reign until his forces and tons of people are getting it and put it together and they're offering help to build the highway and the bridges and everybody is accepting it they said we need office and clerical and we need support and we need people out there protecting it and surveyors and we need materials and trucks and they're sending tons of it it's a huge effort and we need news people we need people who are those who go into the battlefield and then see you and they know it's you asking and Hera they said we're going to send them out and get people support for helping us and they're sending them out to do the ads and commercials no it's a news story and our son says maybe they can start by trying at the museum and they said that's not a bad idea it's been several pieces that are done and then putting them up right now and others are going to film it and there are big names coming out okay Ted Koppel it's right out there. They're a big news crews moving out I mean big they do a spot like this they have news people all over it's a huge story they say it's a giant giant story it's about something really huge. . So Joe hukle doesn't screw it up. That's able to laughing a little it's a huge story about a huge subject this is a huge bridge. And yeah the guy is Tommy have from Kia and he doesn't know what big is... Now he's on the line saying people are small and small and he's yelling it and say that's good is issuing threats and they're moving out

Thor Freya

I'm having a great day you're not going to ruin it mister ruiner it's not really sure what I'm saying but set a lot of pressure and it comes by to try and ruin it and I agree it's using them it sucks so bad this sucks so bad too no wonder what's going on yeah she's having some problems with the straighted out. And he's had his day out and stuff. Something's going on and people should know about when is the rivers have dropped the bridge isn't going to go in huge stories and Australia is being developed and they're worried on the clones warring, on the clones globally everyone is and the bridges symbol and it's going to take hold and it means that East and West will be joined and if they're going after this guy and his forces and they're going to hault him in the golf and it will work and it's big. Massive massive numbers of troops are heading towards the pits especially the ones that are blocked there are three of them and they see what it is yeah it's a huge fight it's a giant fight at those holes and it is going to be a war in a few minutes and those holes are not known factors it's probably will be shortly what is in Russia and one is north of Norway they're both 500 miles across and the other is off of New Zealand and it's 500 miles across and it's going on now right now is a huge huge deal in the giant roots okay kid okay Justin says, your son says my breath is terrible they say what have been eating and it says it was not anything Lily was producing and all grossed out that was terrible I couldn't breathe.... Cuz she was embarrassed already and now it's horrible you should be embarrassed that was terrible I learned that behavior from Tommy f to ridiculel people... Now the seeking him a special warrant and there's a huge wall there it's just gigantic and Star wars is beginning as those walkers are up there your son actually my husband says that those walkers sound like the walkers that old people use here. And someone says especially when you drag them. It's going on now they said they're attacking us as his clones and see where you attacking us and say you too so we're going to lunch massive attacks on you then cuz your mouth and your threat this, we launch attacks on yours Tommy f beginning itshortly. He says he can't and we are. Huge ones and breaking it out and tons of you are dying Tommy f and in effigy

Hera

Zues

Probably shouldn't say stuff but it did and they're attacking soon good. I need them leaving the attack no that was dumb to say

Tommy f

He's being facetious but he'll regret it there's some things you don't want to do and that's piss us off and now we're going after you you need chips like yours they're big enough so how's our Kaiju

Hera Zues

True too

Olympus

Yes I'm working like madness this huge armies trying to get to the bridge and that is actually working and they're all clones people going after them

Thor Freya

We're working hard here but Holly does anything and our son keeps saying it we're not having an effects or even feel your presence here so we're going to send in a lot more I'm going to do those projects

Olympus

[dcwnthercbbithcle]

Doe SEEMS like she’s a shoe-in for the seductress sort of trope, it’s a role any stranger would look at her and go ‘Ah, I understand what’s going on here,’

And while there’s TRUTH that Doe is *very* attractive, any ‘seduction’ is purely incidental and not so much intended

Doe is, well, she’s mysterious in EVERY verse. Her motives and drive, while obvious to us as viewers, are a continual enigma for the poor people around her.

But in The Lost Boys, Doe’s mysteriousness, warmth without substance, beauty and quietness leads to this sort of effect and projection of people placing explanations onto her!

It’s just fascinating! And Doe doesn’t hate it, which is surprising in its own right! She’s a chameleon of a person, and she prefers her privacy! She feels safest being unknown, camouflaged in her surroundings and with all cards held to her chest. Having people build up this image of her in their head when she has no intentions or desire to interact with them, suits her well! When people ask about the rumors, ask about the truth of her character, Doe’s response is always a simple ‘What do YOU think?’

But no matter how much Doe benefits from this social phenomenon, I also gotta say, it’s ROUGH that people don’t get the full picture of who she is and WHY she is who she is in her vampire form!

She’s playing seductress! Using her looks and mysterious charm to lure people away from humanity to EAT THEM! Except… no, no she’s not. Doe’s never done this. Doe’s M.O is feeding from the sick and dying in their deathbeds, using a hand of glory and her mind control to fool the dying into seeing her as their loved ones, and not noticing as she drains what little life they have left.

Doe’s entire thing is she DOESN’T want to subject anyone she eats to the terror she went through when Mapplethorpe killed her. Grabbed from the side of her car while trying to hide her siblings inside, dragged into the night sky kicking and screaming and begging her boyfriend to put her down and saying she was hurt and scared. Doe doesn’t WANT to do that to ANYONE ELSE.

Her Femme Fatale reputation is misplaced

She can be a manipulative bastard but she’s not… well, she’s not mean, not sadistic or nasty!

AND ABOUT HER VOICE, god, a part of it is insecurity as I’ve mentioned before at length but the other part of it is GUILT that she’ll use some of her vampiric suggestion to correct all the flaws, faults and unnerving parts of her speech. She, unlike Mapplethorpe, or most vampires, doesn’t actually like invading people’s minds! She’s a private person! And even when she’s no where near their train of thought or memories, it plays at her, like she’s rummaging through someone’s room without permission! It’s why she chooses to only do it when it’s BENEFICIAL, cause then there’s a damn good reason for it!

Okay something that’s all the more fucked up about Doe and her vampire form, is how silent she is outside of purely bird and bat-like cries! She *can* speak in the Vampiric tongue, or try her hand at articulating English, even if it sounds like a velociraptor trying to mimic English to bait someone out. BUT often times she just won’t unless she has an incentive TO speak.

Like the thread I have going with a David, Doe speaks because she WANTS something (to poke him like a caged animal for study) but change things up, she wouldn’t be speaking!

Doe is sooooo ghostly, which is apt given how she was changed!

[enbysiriusblack]

The defence of one, Sirius Black

Albus Dumbledore's office door was abruptly opened and in came McGonagall in a fury.

Dumbledore slowly smiled, "Ah, Minerva. What can I do for you?"

"Why didn't they get a trial, Albus? You know as well as I do that Sirius is innocent."

"You know, holding love for those who have done wrong can blind you from the truth."

Minerva sat down opposite Dumbledore at his desk, "Everyone deserves a trial, at the very least. This has nothing to do with personal feelings, it is a matter of democracy."

"And I do agree with you, Minerva. However with the way things went, there is only one person that could have possibly led Voldemort to the Potter's hideout, and that is Sirius Black. The wizarding world is in a state of panic and the ministry needed to put Black behind bars as soon as possible."

"But a sentence without a trial?" Minerva questioned, "Albus, it's absurd."

Dumbledore nodded his head, "Alas, I'm afraid it's the way it must be."

"Surely we could do something? Plead to the minister for a court case? It wouldn't need to be a public occurence."

Dumbledore opened the desk of his drawer and unwrapped a butterscotch, "The ministry is still trying to weed out the death eaters hidden in seats of power, the minister would never agree to that risk at a precarious time like this."

McGonagall went to say something else, in defense of Sirius Black, when Dumbledore interrupted.

"And the point still stands that there is no conceivable way in which Black could possibly be innocent. He was the sole secret keeper to the Potter's, the only one that could lead Voldemort to them."

McGonagall nodded and stood up, "Are you in contact with Lupin, by chance?"

"Are you looking to reconnect with your former student, Minerva?"

McGonagall looked Albus in the eye, "Lupin was good friends with the Potter's, Pettigrew, and Sirius. I believe it must be extremely hard for him to lose them all in such a short period."

"Of course", Dumbledore nodded, "I am of the belief that he is in the process of moving back to his parent's home in Wales. But I would keep this doubt you have of Black's guilt to yourself while visiting, it would do more harm than good to derail Mr. Lupin's healing."

"I'm afraid, Albus, that Lupin was my student and under my guidance in Gryffindor house and as a prefect. I do have quite a lot of knowledge on Lupin and his time here as well as his close connections to his friends. No disrespect to you, Albus, but I know what Lupin would need far more than you. Hope has never hurt before."

"I warn you, Minerva, misplaced hope can make the best of people suffer."

McGonagall walked closer to the door before turning back around, "I will admit that I have looked up to you most of my life, I have seen you as a role model, as a pillar of goodness. But your reluctance to help what may be an innocent man, that is a situation you are responsible for, has opened my eyes. I am afraid you have lost a friend, and an ally today. And I will try whatever I can to help Sirius, at the very least, be given a trial, as is his right. You have my word on that, Albus."

"Minerva!" He called after her, just as the door slowly shut behind her.

She hurried down the steps and walked into Madame Pomfrey in the corridor.

"Poppy! I'm afraid we'll be having to spend our anniversary in Wales, I need to speak to your old favourite student."

Poppy linked their arms together as they headed down the empty corridor to McGonagall's office, "Remus?"