#and have the gall to say they’re not attacking them

[slicksquid]

competitive splatoon player chooses to ignore the Swim or Sink tournament’s rules and use an alias, throws a tantrum when they get disqualified for it

[firecrackerhh]

I sometimes wonder if the reason (if not at least one of many reasons) why antis are so against Hazbin Hotel as a show (besides the obvious anti viv bullshit) is because the very concept of redemption is anathema to them.

They do not believe people can change, and thus the entire premise of hazbin, (and frankly helluva too) is something they literally cannot understand. Refuse to understand at the least.

They don’t care about other people, they do not care if their actions in the name of their own twisted form of justice causes undue suffering, they simply want to be seen as a “good person” without putting in any actual effort to be good.

Sure, it’s easy to find a shitty person online and rake them over the coals for things they’ve said or done years ago. Effortless. But it takes real patience, compassion, perhaps slight firmness but certainly no undue cruelty to convince people they need to change, and even then, that’s a personal journey that others can at most try to influence, but they can’t make people change.

And even if the person they’re bitching about does, it’ll never be good enough.

There’s nothing Viv can do to change these peoples minds, nothing we can do. No matter how many apologies she gives they will never accept it. No matter what we say they will never accept that Viv is not fucking Satan incarnate.

Engaging with these people is a waste of time. Always has been. If Viv is so irredeemable to them, they likely look at us the same way.

I wonder what skeletons people like this must hide, anyone who acts holier than thou about being a “better” person while engaging in reprehensible behavior themselves is a rather irritating form of hypocrisy that boggles my mind.

I am no saint, god knows I’m no fucking saint, but I know what’s right and wrong and antis are wrong every. Single. Time. Any evidence they claim to have of Viv’s awful behavior is either nearly a decade old and thus clearly irrelevant given the people who vouch for her in the present, doctored discord messages (which even if they were real, shows no dates, so we have no idea how old those are to begin with) or the ‘evidence’ is so flimsy that if a lawyer looked at it he would say you’re wasting his time.

I think these people don’t like Viv’s shows because they are morally incompatible with it. They do not believe in redemption. They believe once you’ve fucked up in life, that’s it, no second chances.

I fear what they must think of our current prison population. I fear what they might say.

These people have no moral high ground whatsoever.

They dare to talk shit about the fandom, Viv, anyone else associated with the show, pretending that they’re saying what they’re saying in the name of justice, as if attacking people with their past when they have clearly changed and made apologies is in any way a justifiable thing to do.

They don’t have to like Viv, they really don’t, but calling her irredeemable, calling us irredeemable, is fucking bullshit.

None of us are irredeemable.

The fucking conceit. The fucking gall. The fucking balls on these people.

Everyone has the capacity to make good and bad choices in this life. Yes, many people don’t make the best choices, but that doesn’t mean that they should be stoned to death for the most minor of offenses. For shit that’s long been in the past and apologized for.

I’m not going to say I think very highly of humanity as a whole, I’m a fucking misanthrope through-and-through, but I don’t think we’re incapable of being good, or doing good things, we just…choose not to, a lot of the time.

I also do not deny that there are some crimes so horrible that redemption isn’t even on the table, nowhere near it. But I feel like antis treat every perceived fault of Viv as some most grievous sin that must be met with full penance by…doing what exactly?

Apologize? Again, they won’t accept it.

Donate to charities or causes? She gets shit on for it, say she’s “flaunting her wealth.”

Get off the internet entirely? In an anti’s wet dreams maybe.

Her very existence makes them so mad. It would be funny if it wasn’t so fucking pathetic.

These people twist her words in every way imaginable to make her look like some horrible person undeserving of her success, without realizing they make themselves look far worse than her by several measures.

They claim she’s racist and queerphobic, but if anything acting as if BIPOC and queer people shouldn’t ever be shown doing awful things because “bad queer/ BIPOC rep” or whatever I think is just as racist and queerphobic. Minorities are human beings, and as such they are just as capable of being shitty. I already made a post about this before, so I’ll keep this paragraph short.

They claim she’s abusive to her coworkers when it seems the one person bitching about it has no problem putting other past co workers under the bus for their personal gain. Antis claim she’s abusive while engaging in downright emotionally abusive behavior (I know that sounds kinda dramatic but I’m making a point) themselves as they shit on us for the stupidest reason imaginable: liking a cartoon.

They cry about ableism while ignoring their own.

Not that I’m all that offended if I’m honest, it’s just more evidence that antis aren’t any better than the people they bitch about.

I could go on about this for a while but you get the point.

I repeat, these people have no moral high ground whatsoever.

Frankly, as much as it bothers me that they leak patreon shit and whatnot, many fans are actively warning against them, and I think the idea of someone actively choosing to give money to someone they hate just so they have more content to shit on is fucking pathetic and getting upset about it is exactly what they want.

They want you to be just as miserable as they are. They just want to suck all the fun out of this fandom, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, these people are tar pits, trying to drown us in their muck. It’s pathetic and sad. No use in having sympathy, they don’t deserve any.

It’s funny how antis scream and cry about how awful we are as they ignore their own sins and mistakes, hypocrites.

If anything, their behavior is far more irredeemable than Viv’s has ever been.

I wonder when they will realize that, if they ever do. I can only hope some of them grow the fuck up and realize what the fuck they’ve done. If the ensuing guilt eats them alive, I can’t say I have pity for them.

Wonder how many of us would accept their apologies, if they chose to make one.

Alright it’s almost 7 am I gotta get to bed. Peace.

🔥🧨~Firecracker out~🧨🔥

[houseofbrat]

Seeing as he’s benefitted so much from this flexible working opportunity, is he going to come out and champion this for the general public? Acknowledging his privilege would go a long way here I think. People can’t help what they’re born into but they can do a lot with the platform they’re given.

I wonder if he will do that as well. As it seems another PR fiasco waiting to happen. The Queen was dying of cancer but had all her children working full time.

Whenever articles like this come out I am reminded of what Wills was like when he actually had to work and had weeks off at a time to the dismay of his colleagues.

‘He’s hardly ever on shift. He was very enthusiastic to begin with but it tailed off. It’s supposed to be four on, four off but with the Duke it’s more off than on. He had at least four weeks off over Christmas, which has to be staffed the same as normal weeks. It’s fine that he gets a bit of special treatment but it’s beginning to really annoy some people. The rumour is that he’s just a bit bored of it.’ ”

And then the royal household shot back at claims we was lazy by saying he needed mandatory rest days for his job resulting in the Civil Aviation Authority having to shoot back and saying “When they are having rest days their time is their own, and they can do what they want, including carrying out royal duties.”

I can’t imagine this level of unprofessionalism.

The whole thing I’ve felt about this is what a stark contrast it is to the plebs they rule over - from preventative chemo when we have people waiting months on the NHS (from personal experience experience - I had a scam last year to see if I have a form of gynaecological cancer. I was told the scan was clear. Last month I was told that the scan was actually inconclusive and needs redoing as they couldn’t see the part the needed to but no one told me until nearly a year later) to partners who get punished for taking time off work to care for a loved one.

I understand that they are rich and powerful enough to do what they want. But it’s rather galling to see such a stark contrast between ruler and subject.

He really does seem like he’s not interested in the whole thing doesn’t he?

He's only interested in the income and power that comes with it, he'll never give it up he's spent his whole adult life trying to do as little as possible. The moment he got access to the Prince of Wales duchy $ he was no longer beholden to his father and can now redefine expectations. The bar has been set pretty low and he has the British Tabloid Media propping him up and running PR for him, there's also evidence that they spend a fair chunk of cash employing bots online propping them up and attacking anyone who says anything negative. Between the BTM and the royal sychophants he's been getting away with it and will continue to. Countdown 3,2,1 to one of those sycophants leaving me a comment .....

I think he should have to follow around people who have to keep working while also caregiving for sick or elderly family members while also juggling raising kids and keeping up on other obligations. I’m sure he would be shocked — most of us can’t step back to the extent he gets to do so. As the future king, he should understand the lives of the majority of the people. Read the room.

Considering their work is mostly just turning up and being “seen”. How exactly is work from home gonna help anyone?

He’s going to do some twitch streaming.

I just learned that 600 organizations sponsored by QE2 have not yet been taken over.  Some are very important but there are no signs of any restructuring, selection and elimination plans.  People criticize W for this instead of C because W is the one who shows no interest in continuing to show up and sponsor organizations.  William currently only works as Chairman, managing the principality and two projects Earthshot and Housing for the Homeless.  W does not take over King Charles' projects like he is PoW, so King is basically overloaded and cannot take over anymore. 

If he wants to work without being seen, then the real question is what type of "behind the scenes work" is he actually doing? Because every time he talks about a topic in public, he only seems to speak popular talking points that even someone without knowledge can say. He doesn't speak like someone who really knows the topic of discussion in depth.

That's why Earthshot being a "passion project" is laughable. His speeches are so shallow. It's the same with Kate and Early Years and those lame five questions that took some ten years to come up with. Everything they say is like a total no-brainer. So, what work are they really doing behind the scenes?

I think people whose spouses have cancer should be able to take health leave and its v sad for people who live in a country where they can't. But I would give him a lot more grace if he and Kate weren't famously Duchess Dolittle and Workshy William. This has been a habit for years. Its not like Anne got sick and disappeared from public life

Yep. He has been on Easter holiday since March 23 to April 17. Plus, January entirely off. It doesn't look good.

My friend has breast cancer (we’re in the UK). She’s having chemo and is the same age as Kate. She has to have fairy major surgery after the chemo and has had to go back to work because she has to save her sick leave for the recovery from the operation. This is during chemotherapy. This country is completely broken and lacks compassion for everyone (like most of the Western World) but then expects an exception to be made for the royal family who are loaded and don’t even use the NHS and have an enormous amount of monetary resources.

I have huge compassion for Kate. I think she’s been incredible over a long period of time in a job I would absolutely loathe personally (whether people say she wanted the gig or not) - but I don’t think William has had her back very much recently from what I can see objectively, particularly over the recent PR debacle. And, being honest, I wonder why that is. I think we’re fed total BS by the press over who these people really are.

I don’t think you can be raised like William or Harry and have any kind of perspective. It’s just logical that you can’t. They had a terrible childhood to be honest. And there are people who hold responsibility for that.

But yes, absolutely, if Kate wants him there, he should be allowed to support his family, no questions asked. I just wonder if she really does?

Can someone who knows actually share what his duties are and how he can work while not being seen?

Can someone who knows actually share what his duties are and how he can work while not being seen?

He looks at the country with somber frowns on his face and in return the country looks back at him with approving nods. That is what we call a symbiotic relationship.

How quickly William forgets the way he and Kate were ripped apart prior to the great Sussex Split.  He can do what he wants, but this is inevitably not going to go well and he is definitely no longer a young and handsome sympathetic figure.

Yeah that one reporter said it perfectly when they were speculating about why Will didn’t go to that funeral that William feels he can do what he likes because the press let’s him get away with everything.

"Working from home"? How stupid do they think people are? waits to see the defense(s) royalists come up with

Is she sicker than anticipated? Because Charles seems to have actual cancer versus "cancer was present" and "preventative chemo," and he is "working" more than William.

Also, don't forget that Camilla has also been out and about and "working," during his treatments.

Something is weird.

The press’s analysis of him is willfully ignorant as usual. It used to be the kids, now it’s Kate’s diagnosis. Will is telling us his approach to royal “work” is not and will not be the same as the King or Queen Elizabeth. This is his plan for the monarchy.

They've been doing it since he left Eaton. It's one invented excuse after another. Anything to excuse his refusal to do any royal "work" so they don't have to criticize him, and he can keep his "Golden Boy" image.

let him enjoy a normal college experience!

he's only in his 20s! He's got time!

He's an ambulance pilot, let him have fun with that for a bit!

He's not the heir! He's only the son of the heir!

he just got married!

He's only in his 30s! He's got time!

he has babies at home!

he has small children at home!

he's not the King, his father is!

His wife has cancer!

What's next?

Will is telling us his approach to royal “work” is not and will not be the same as the King or Queen Elizabeth.

Mmhmm well the press and royalists' response to Will telling them he' would rather be a lazy, hands off King is for him to reconsider his entitlement and privilege - reality check for this 40 something year old Prince

Bingo. Start as you mean to go on...which means doing nothing and collecting taxpayer money while you do it.

William’s work ethic is going to be a catalyst to reform the UK government :/ EII had to be seen to be believed - William believes in not being seen? The republicans will gain momentum with a King who does nothing.

To repeat what I said a month or so ago when they claimed William was focused on “his work, not social media:” what work?

[ezlebe]

Day 4 - Domestic

Tom furrows his brow down at his phone, absently shifting his grip on Mondale’s lead. He’s not quite sure what he’s doing, tap-tapping at this slime-dragon thing, but he’s a supportive guy – he’s going to humor Greg because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s not like it’s hurting him any to do it.

It could be hurting Greg, though, since his eyes are flicking from his own phone to Tom’s, while he’s making a face like he’s watching a car wreck. It’s a little offensive, since Tom is fucking trying here.

“Ju-ust give me your phone,” Greg says, reaching out with a grabby, clenching gesture for the phone. “Please.”

Tom loosens his grip and lets it be taken away from him. “Saying please does not make you less of a snippy ass, Gregory.”

“You’re doing it wrong,” Greg says, a flat frown crossing his mouth, as he turns the phone and starts abusing the screen in near tandem with his own in his other hand.

“How can I do it wrong?” Tom asks, watching Greg tap the screen. He sees no difference to what he had been doing, except that maybe Greg is more quick about it. “You’re molesting some cartoon animal’s ass the same way that I was doing.”

“You weren’t using the special attacks,” Greg says, as he tilts the phone to show he’s pressing at the icon icon at the bottom. “See?”

“Yes, yes, whatever,” Tom says, rolling his eyes up, then down, tugging at Mondale’s leash with a few tuts. “Can you believe that Mondale – gosh, the gall of me.”

It’s a little annoying that both Greg and Mondale ignore him.

“You gave me a super power, you know,” Tom says, wandering in a lopsided circle around both of his sluggish companions.

“Huh?” Greg says, peeking up from the phones with a furrowed brow.

“I can tell when other people are doing this,” Tom says, gesturing at Greg, then beyond him at a person out beside a lamppost, and a jogger, then toward a fellow dog walker a few yards further for the path. “Could they be texting? Sure. Oh, except, they’re doing the spinny thumb thing on the screen; or they’re all facing a statue, like it’s a big ol’ false idol, but no one is looking at it; or, most annoying, pausing every thirty seconds on the bike path.”

“Only for gyms,” Greg says, typically paying no acknowledgment to the insult.

“Or they’re holding two phones while another guy stands next to them,” Tom says, scrubbing the heel of his palm against his jaw; he made the choice not to shave today, and wonders if it makes him look older beside Greg, then yanks himself from the thought. “What if you just got another phone?”

“I guess then I’d have three? But like I don’t have enough hands for that really.”

“Haha,” Tom says, then his eyes drop, as Mondale slumps to lay down on the sidewalk. “Aw, are we bored? Yes, we are.”

“You didn’t have to come,” Greg says, voice lifting into a prim, indifferent tone that Tom has learned well enough could veer toward genuine hurt feelings.

“Oh, I did,” Tom disagrees, leaning forward on the balls of his feet, then falling back onto his heels. “I think I truly enjoy making fun of your little pocket monster cult, as much as you like being part of it.”

Greg furrows his brows, looking up as both phones in his hands flash a yellow-orange shield. “I’ve never called it that.”

“I know what it is, Greg,” Tom says, hearing his own voice pitch, mouth twisting with a flat sort of offense. “How old do you think I am?”

Greg shakes his head, offering the phone back with a shrug. “I-I mean did you play it?”

“No, I did not, but I did have a Gameboy,” Tom says, looking down at the phone and vaguely recalling the weight of the old handheld; it had been grey and weighty, a little difficult to take everywhere, despite the advertised practicality. “I was pretty into Dr Mario. And Super Mario Land.”

“Oh, cool,” Greg says, nodding his head a little, as he starts to move forward, resuming their walk through the park. “Cool… laying, uh – laying pipe, huh?”

Tom breaks into a laugh that probably disturbs half the park. He reaches out and shoves Greg by the shoulder, then shakes him by it. “You think you’re so funny.”

Greg glances up with a drag of his teeth against his lip, badly pretending not to grin.

[sunfiltersthroughwillowleaves]

might have accidentally written a sky:cotl short story hehe (EDEN SPOILERS!!!)

Styria’s wings pounded, their breathing hard, but they still had the gall to call out behind them, “What’s taking you so long?”

Sairo’s wings beat, taking their sweet time. “I’m not in a hurry.” 

Styria practically died laughing, almost falling out of the sky. “They’re showing off the crowning of Eden today! How can you not be excited?”

Sairo huffed, and another star on their cape depleted as they flew. “I am excited. It’s just… I miss the butterflies.

Styria suddenly stopped flying, closing their wings slightly. “I do too. But they say that the harvesting will make our lives better. That we’ll have more light.”

Sairo sighed, finally catching up to their sibling. “I know. But the rain’s never been so hard. I’m always cold, and I miss having the butterflies in my hands. I don’t like the jars, and it takes so long to convince the butterflies back into them like Eden mandates.”

Styria flew over and landed on the branch of a tree near the Wind Paths. “I know. I miss the whales. They used to come through the forest all the time, and now I hardly ever see them.

Sairo curled up a little bit on the tree. “And is it just me, or does the water hurt a little bit, too?”

Their dark blue cape enveloped their younger sibling, hugging them tightly. “The rain falls harder than it did before. But it’s okay. It’ll get better.”

They began crying. “Kirio hasn’t sent me a message boat in a long time.”

Styria pulled them closer, their warmth mixing softly. “How long is a long time?”

Sairo’s tears couldn’t just be stopped so easily. “It’s been two weeks. Kirio always sends me boats on Saturdays. Tomorrow, it’ll have been three weeks.”

They rocked back and forth atop the tree. “Don’t worry. How is Kirio?”

The younger child’s chest wracked harder with tears. “They hate it in Golden Land. The crabs have gotten really angry. They don’t like to be touched, and if we get near them, they attack. They also have started fearing really loud noises. Kirio’s parents have been doing testing, and they got really hurt when they got attacked. They say it’s because of the harvest.”

Styria’s eyes went wide. “What!? Aren’t Kirio’s parents creature specialists? And crabs are supposed to be friendly. None of the other animals have gotten affected.”

Sairo continued to cry. “I don’t know, Styria. The whales, whenever I see them in the clouds by Golden Land… They don’t greet me anymore. Not even Soraos.”

Styria began to weep with Sairo. “But Soraos is your closest friend! You’ve known it since you were little.”

Sairo pressed their mask into Styria’s shoulder. “I don’t know, Styria. I don’t know. I don’t know.” 

They looked at the sky, and stood. “We have to go. We need to get to the crowning.”

Sairo got up as well, and grasped Styria’s hand as they flew.

They arrived at the crowning, just in time for the eruption.

Ash fell from the sky, rocks pelting them, stronger than the rain at home. Styria’s cape wrapped around Sairo. They cried together, for the great Eye of Eden, named for the glory of its buildings, the things its ruler had achieved that no one had ever before. 

The ruler had discovered how to harvest the light from creatures, to use that light for themselves. 

As rubble collapsed from the sky, as the stars on their backs depleted, as tens of others collapsed, Sairo counted. There were more than fifty who had attended the crowning. More than fifty who would die. Dark creatures that could only be described as dragons patrolled the skies, and a constant rain of red rock fell from the skies. 

The ruler claimed all light in the world for themselves. For the Kingdom of those who resided in the Sky, or for short, the Kingdom of Sky.

“Styria, I’m scared.” Their arms surrounded them, and they hugged them back tightly, clinging on to them like a lifeline.

“Me, too.”

The ruler always celebrated the day of their crowning, because it had been the day that creatures were industrialized. The light gained was distributed everywhere, but the most was brought to Eden, for as grandiose as it was, it could not function without light. More light than could be produced by the children of Sky.

Sairo felt their last cape star depleting. They brought out their red candle, the candle they had had since before they could remember. And, oh light, for the first time in their memory, their candlelight wavered, then died out. They felt, deep in their core, a piece of themself shatter. Stars exploded from their back, their spine arching with pain.

“Sairo!” Their older sibling screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed. Sairo’s blood spilled, but crystalised the moment it spilt. It happened again, stars flying from their skin, slicing their skin as they flew, and their blood turned to blue crystal, hindering their movement, preventing their escape.

Styria was trapped inside Sairo’s blackened arms, and on their final star.

The ruler sat upon a hill, the entire mountain their throne. Light was fed throughout the mountain for the ruler to gather as they sat, to become more powerful even idly.

Styria’s core shattered. Their hair faded, their shape dissipating, who they were disappearing. The two siblings became two amongst sixty-three others, dying in the Eye of Eden, no face, no distinguishable features. Just two husks of what might have once been siblinghood.

No one, least of all the ruler, expected it when the mountain erupted. Too much light from the wrong places, for the wrong reasons resulted in its corruption. Light in its destructive form.

Light may warm, and light may kill.

On the day of the crowning, light killed.

Light killed sixty-three, to be exact.

Styria and Sairo’s last thoughts were of fear.

They now await you, in the midst of a foreign rain.

They await their reunion with the skies.

[shadedjasmine]

A Black Eye

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5

I spend the morning in the infirmary.

I’m told that I was spared the indignity of serious injury… but I’ll be damned if my body doesn’t hurt regardless. My ribs have an awful memory of a steel toe boot, meanwhile, my back knows the shape of a baton better than I’d like. It takes premeditation to move from the infirmary bed at Savannah’s insistence, and the action causes me constant pain.

Savannah’s been on the warpath since she saw the bruises, and keeping up with her breakneck pace is a struggle. I told her that I couldn’t ID my attacker, and Savannah sees through the lie like glass…but she has an empathy that keeps her from further pressing the issue. It didn’t stop Savannah from taking me to the Security Office before breakfast, though. I’ve been sitting on the stairs outside the office, cuffed to the stair railing for at least an hour now, trying to ignore the pain in my side.

Sitting amid Lux Hall, I can properly take it all in now. The building is tucked away inside a mountain, just beneath Pan Doi-Zhou’s estate, and exits through an opening on the other side, the mouth covered by the dense waterfall I saw yesterday. The morning light floods the space through the skylight, landing generously on the massive mountain rock from their blasting errors in the middle. They even stuck climbing holds onto the rock in the middle, rather than simply destroying it, and now, Shadows spend their mornings and days off climbing it for fun. I can see the bones of Delun’s original design, the space meant for Pan’s friends and staff. But I can also see the seams of expansion when Lux Hall ballooned and blossomed into the Shadows’ first headquarters. It's easy to see where Delun’s practicality ends and Pan’s love for culture, and artistic expression begins. But it’s all pure creation--the fact that there’s any order to at all luck and afterthought, the architectural equivalent of painting on an endless canvas just because it's fun and hoping to find a semblance of order behind it afterward. It’s possible Pan Doi-Zhou may have missed her calling as an architect for social spaces.

Whatever it was a year or so ago, it is now a sprawling campus at the heart of a sizable village sitting in the shadow of an artificial Santa Monica mountain. It is quickly turning a company of nomadic, lonesome assassins and manipulators into social creatures with a place where they could realistically lay roots. Such gatherings only happen in dreams.

I’m so lost in my study of Lux that I never see her walk up to me; the girl I saw yesterday. With a pair of sweatpants, a dirty tank top, thick ankle-high boots, and a few rings, she still has the edge she had yesterday, albeit more relaxed. She, like many others, begins her day with a morning climb.

“You’re the one they’re all talking about,” she pulls a hair tie, and her braids fall to her shoulders. “The one that threw a sledgehammer at the conditioning program. Jasmine, right?”

I’m unsure of how to respond. Was she asking me? Accusing me? Confusion must have registered plainly in my face, because she replies swiftly.

“Oh, I’m not here to give you hell about it. I one hundred percent approve. We do some fucked-up shit in this job, but there are lines we shouldn’t cross. Buying kids, taking them from their homes is a step too far, and I’m glad someone had the gall to actually do something about it.”

I shrug, and pain radiates through my body from my shoulder. “Don’t say it too loudly, I assume most people don’t agree.”

 “You’d be surprised at how many people are actually on your side about this. The problem is, was, that no one talked about it. It was just a thing that we accepted as protocol. Then you happened, and suddenly, we dare to disagree instead of doing as we’re told. Talk about ruffling feathers.” She sits next to me on the stairs and reaches for my cuffed hands. “I’m Brooklyn King. My friends call me BK.”

I can’t do much with my hands like this, but opening my palm is enough for her to offer a gentle shake. My bruised wrist protests, and I wince, but I do what I can to return the gesture anyway.

BK’s hand holds mine firmly, as she takes stock of the bruising on my forearm. But she lets it go and says nothing. I’m grateful. “They never should have pillboxed you for it,” her hands fall to the steps, and she leans back. “There’s plenty of Shadows walking the planet, shaping politics, killing bad guys, and all that jazz. We never needed to resort to bribing families for their kids. And we shouldn’t have been complicit in it. But no one questioned leadership about it until you. As far as many of us are concerned, you’re the only one brave enough to say out loud that it was wrong. Even better, you were the only one to act on your beliefs. A lot of us look up to you.  I know I do.” BK’s features soften and a smile forms on her lips. “I’m certain the new director will be open to discussing it.”

“That’s the hope,” I reply. “I’m pining for an audience with her. Trying my best to keep out of trouble, and work as hard as I can to earn a knock at the door..”

“Hmm.” BK tilts her chin up. “Hopefully that doesn’t include suffering more black and blue souvenirs from the job.”

I tense up.

“Stay safe out there,” BK reaches for the cut on my forehead. “I’ll talk to my friends, see if there’s anything we can get you that audience a little faster. I’m not sure what Pan is even doing right now, but I’m sure she’ll respond to growing moral support for an opponent of the company’s more…controversial programs. I’m even willing to wager that she’ll love to hear about…workplace safety concerns. We can’t have those…right?”

She continues brushing my forehead with my thumb. My heart skips a beat.

“Did you see them?” BK asks flatly.

The question hurts as much as my bruises. As much as the lying. “I… don’t follow.”

BK’s smile never fades. Eventually, her thumb falls from my face. For a while, she says nothing. Her eyes stay locked on mine. “You’re a terrible liar. If I know it, Savvy knows it. But no one can do anything if you don’t point the finger.”

Savannah storms through the security door, angrier than a storm cloud. But the cloud breaks when she sees BK sitting with me. “Out of all the first friends you could make, BK could actually be the worst.”

BK laughs, “C’mon Savvy, I’m not that bad!”

“Mmhmm,” Savannah reaches for the cuffs and unlocks them with the turn of a small key dangling from the same keychain she uses for her car. “Tell me that when you exit recondition.”

“Well maybe, when they give me a recondition mentor, I’ll actually move along in the program instead of waiting for nothing” BK stands and helps me to my feet.

“You’re in reconditioning?”  I ask.

“Yea, yea. I’ll tell you all about it next time you have some free time. Surely Warrick allows visits?”

“Supervised visits,” Savannah replies. “And since I’m her around-the-clock supervisor now, there’s plenty of opportunity to request a visit. But if I remember correctly, you have a meet in Santa Monica tonight, correct?”

“…I do. At sundown.” BK eyes me with intrigue. “You’re a car person?”

“She would say a little,” Savannah says, “But she diagnosed a cylinder misfire while I was driving.”

“The Elise has a misfire???”

“Apparently so.”

BK gawks at Savannah, shaking her head. “Fine. I’ll fix it. Again. But, yeah…if you can find a way to get her off Lux, I’d be happy to hang out with her.” BK’s eyes float to me. “Show you around the scene, and whatnot.”

“I’d love to,” I say. “If I’m even allowed to. How would that work…?”

“Handler authorization,” Savannah replies. “I would be on location with you and usually, you would be injected with a tracker…but you and I are past all that. I’ll give you a phone; just keep it on at all times.”

“I….ok!” I laugh nervously. The notion of leaving fills me with uncertainty…but also excitement. “I’m sorry, this morning has been a blur.”

“No, I get it,” BK brushes my arm. “I get it. Trust me, the meet will be a good place for you to unwind. You get out of that prison apartment, enjoy the Santa Monica air, meet some cool people, and see how cars have changed in the last eight years. It’ll be good for you. Tonight at 8. The earlier you both are, the better parking is,” BK heads back down the stairs. “It was good meeting you, Jazzy!”

Jazzy. It sounds nice.

BK returns to her friends at the base of the rock, leaving me on the stairs with Savannah and leaving my day fuller than I anticipated. “Will this affect my work today?”

Savannah gently turns me around. “You are battered and bruised. You are on paid leave while security investigates your attack. But they won't find anything because you didn’t see anything.” Her gaze turns to ice. “I really wish you’d help me here. “

The lie gets harder and harder to maintain. “I told you; I didn’t see them.”

Savannah sighs. “I understand that the Pillbox is the loneliest place in the world and that you were there for too long, for unfair reasons. But the period of your life where you have to suffer alone in silence is over. You have a friend now, going on two. Whether you make it as a Shadow or something, anything else, you must learn to lean on the people that care about you.” She braces my shoulder gently. “I won't force you to say his name. I’ll support you in any way you ask me to. But if you and BK hit it off and she figures it out on her own, she will do something stupid in the name of helping you. There’s a reason why she’s in reconditioning. She has a knack for retaliation.”

My eyes water up. My mouth opens to say something, anything. But instead, I hear my weary voice say “I swear, I didn’t see anything.” And my heart breaks.

Savannah sighs and forces a smile for my comfort. “C’mon. We’re late for breakfast.

[coconutcows]

To be clear:

Do NOT report gaza fundraisers to tumblr.

Definitely do NOT report them to go fund me.

If you are that worried about being scammed then don’t donate. That’s it. Gazans aren’t asking people for tons of money, they constantly say any little bit helps. You can set a minimum amount for yourself so it’s less risky. But do NOT report these ffs. These people are going through a genocide and doing the best they can. They are being extorted out of huge amounts of money they don’t have to reach safety. People are begging with the lives and state of their children and families. People are starving, and dying, and unable to access any food or water or hygiene products.

I would rather scams stay up with risks than to have Gazans and Palestinians who’ve been working their hardest to stay alive have everything they’ve worked for be taken away.

And why is this happening all of a sudden?? Where have you been the past nine months??? “Donate to humanitarian causes” people would, but the trucks and workers get attacked and killed too!!!! Israel won’t let them in!!!!! One truck was blocked by Israeli civilians!!!! “How are they posting to tumblr????” Have you not seen the numerous posts every month about esims??? How people are asking for donations of this to keep Palestinians connected to their loved ones and the rest of the world??? And the gall to call people who’ve been on here for years scammers. Just because they aren’t a big tumblr name you don’t see often doesn’t mean they’re new or an “imposter” for Christs sake.

This weird uprising of Gazan posts all being scams has rubbed me the wrong way. For months we’ve been seeing them with no issues like this. Are so many people really tired of seeing suffering??? Feeling guilty for scrolling past them?? And feeling glad someone else put forth the idea they’re just scams so they can rally behind it so they can stop feeling guilty??

Like I understand. I only get $1000 to last me the entire month, I’m in a very lucky situation where I can budget that money and make it work for the month. I’ve been worried about scams since that one woman raised a few thousand for someone then just disappeared and ghosted everyone.

But just think before you do anything. Because donating and even sharing those posts lets Palestinians know we care and that we’re listening, and that citizens around the world support them.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kyle Mantyla at RWW:

Ever since Joe Biden became president, few right-wing commentators have been as viciously unhinged as religious-right broadcaster Eric Metaxas. Now, in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Metaxas has the gall to place the blame for the attack entirely on the left, accusing liberals of comparing Trump to Hitler and, in doing so, being responsible for the death of Corey Comperatore, who was shot during the Trump rally. “Leftist Trump hatred murdered this godly man,” Metaxas tweeted on Sunday.

Metaxas repeated this accusation on Monday’s edition of his radio program. “I have absolutely known this was coming because when you can’t defeat Trump in the various ways that you’ve outlined, you’re going to find a way to get rid of him if you believe he’s Adolf Hitler 2.0, which they seem to,” Metaxas said. “They have no evidence. It’s insane. He’s never done anything to warrant those comparisons, but they’re thinking emotionally, which is to say they’re not thinking clearly, and I never saw this as anything but inevitable.” “Now they [have to] deal with the fact that they have been implicated and are implicated in the minds of any fair-minded American in bringing this about,” he continued. “There’s no doubt about that. They look horrible, and they’re trying to call for unity. One of the most despicable tweets I saw was from Condoleezza Rice. Condoleezza Rice said something about, ‘We need to do better [as] the American people, we need to do better.’ And I thought, ‘No, Condoleezza, you need to do better because you’re implying that [it was] nastiness on both sides that led to that bullet being fired.’ … It’s just despicable that she would not-to-obliquely but rather diplomatically try to implicate pro-Trump people in raising the temperature in this country.”

Of course, if anyone is to be implicated in “raising the temperature in this country” by making wild accusations and leveling outrageous attacks, it is Metaxas himself, who has repeatedly compared his political opponents to the Nazis and attacked them as demonic. [...] For Metaxas to claim that rancorous rhetoric from the left has been solely responsible for “raising the temperature in this country” while ignoring the fact that he has spent the last several years using his daily program to literally demonize his political opponents is the height of hypocrisy.

Far-right Christian nationalist bombthrower Eric Metaxas has a long history of “raising the temperature in this country” by using polemic rhetoric to attack his critics, and his latest example was to wrongly blame the rhetoric of anti-Trump folks for the assassination attempt against Donald Trump and the death of Corey Comperatore.

[flashdyke]

the gall of zionists to see the handcuffed doctors and patients in mass graves, little girls hanging from a wall shredded from the waist down, starving men run over with tanks, little girls forced to sit in a car with the corpses of their whole family until they’re shot dead too, babies hit by snipers while breastfeeding, mothers and fathers having to film their children starving and being torn apart and describe it in a newly-acquired language so that people might believe them, media outlets trying to introduce the idea of a, “legally killed child” before the bombing of a refugee camp that produces footage of a decapitated baby, palestinians in prison camps being handcuffed so tightly that their hands and feet have to be amputated, property development companies in israel mapping beach houses over the top of mass graves and burning hospitals, open assassinations of humanitarian aid workers and journalists and their families and terrorist attacks on the buildings of governments that don’t vote how israel wants, 60 bombs dropped on refugees in 48 hours after an ICJ ruling that israel doesn’t like, israeli officials saying from the beginning of this round of the genocide that palestinians are “human animals” and “the children of darkness”, iof soldiers raping women and children and proudly displaying stolen underwear, the israeli state refusing to take hostages back and saying they’d keep killing even if they did …. and say, “but i was uncomfortable 🥺”

[fanartandfanfiction]

From the diary of Phineas Nigellus Black

Entry one: The ministry contacted me about allowing a new student to join as a fifth year. Ha! A fifth year! Why on Earth would I do that? Do they have any idea how much more work it would be to deal with that student? I’m not doing it!

Addendum: Apparently the ministry doesn’t share my feelings. I’m being forced to accept them. They said someone has to spend the summer tutoring the new student. I’m debating on who I want to assign this dreadful task to. Dinah says she’s too busy this summer. Matilda said she’s traveling with her family. And Mirabel is…well, Mirabel. I’m torn between Aesop and Eleazar. Aesop has a bit too much attitude, so sticking him with the student would be a delightful little punishment. Then again, Eleazar is tenured and I have to find something for him to do to keep him busy. I suppose he has drawn the short straw, though really I drew it for him. 

Entry two: The audacity! Eleazar and the new fifth year came barging in during my wonderfully written speech for the beginning of the year. Technically Matilda wrote it, but let’s not split hairs. We had to get out the sorting hat once again for this student, since they missed the earlier ceremony. Eleazar tried to explain but I told him I didn’t care. This was the one and only exception I would make for the new student. 

Entry three: This is a disaster. An absolute disaster. My mustache paste is on backorder. What am I to do in the meantime? Just have an untamed mustache like some common street person? This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life. 

Entry four: Today I valiantly stepped in when I saw two pureblood students bullying a mudblood. I told them that the wise rabbit doesn’t seek to outrun the tortoise, because it’s not necessary. They don’t have to waste their time interacting with mudbloods. They should know they’re superior. 

Entry five: Matilda is infuriating. She keeps coming to me and asking my opinions on things. What’s the point of having a deputy headmistress if she has to come to me for everything? I told her that I will be very very busy with important work for the ministry and that I should not be disturbed. 

Entry six: I’m terribly embarrassed and furious with myself. Eleazar said that a contact from the ministry wanted to meet with me at the Three Broomsticks. Eleazar offered me a drink, and then another, and another…I ended up being completely intoxicated. I’ve no memory of what happened but I’ve pieced some things together. Apparently Aesop came to me about the potion for boils I’d asked him about and had the gall to speak about it within earshot of students. Now they’re all whispering and pointing. I also decorated the great hall in Gryffindor regalia. Gryffindor! Scropes asked me if I was feeling better. Apparently I asked him many strange things. I don’t think the damn ministry contact even showed. 

Entry seven: I have to get out of here. Apparently there’s some sort of rebellion, I don’t pay attention to the quarrels between those creatures and the commoners. Because of that ridiculous new student, they plan to attack the school. Matilda asked me what I planned to do to prepare the school. What am I supposed to do? It’s a magic school, it should be fine. Isn’t it guarded against this sort of thing? I told her I needed time to think and prepare. I’m packing my essential belongings and getting the hell out of here. If anyone should ask, I’ll tell them I went to the ministry for help.

[zoeysandin]

you alone are enough. ( @politestrange )

she gets in her head a lot about the state of things between them at times. zoey will have days where she allows it all to sink in of what kind of person he is. it’s not like she forgets but when he’s not the full scope of himself 364 days out of the year, a person can be lulled into a false sense of normalcy that she has to proactively work against.

she replays it over & over again in her head. the feeling of him walking around in the room while she hid under the bed.

the word EXQUISITE still makes her shudder.

but then why? why does she get split in two when she sees him mingle with other women. why does the insecurity spike within her? that he may not want her anymore? that he’ll want a fresh, new, unused girl. that he’d get bored & dispose of her & move onto the next one — why does she care? why does it break her heart?

they’ve just come back from a purge convention gala. RELEASE THE DANCING BEAST & DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY. purge priests were there, politicians, some of the most ELITE in insurance ( like her father once ), & weapon aficionados that were selling the top of the line machinery for maximum purging effects. they’re home now — & she wonders what people think when she’s introduced. of course, zoey doesn’t say much. & when she does she makes sure to simply play the part.

i’m lucky to be with him. he’s my entire life.

he SAVED me on purge night.

they don’t want to hear that you’re simply a SPOIL OF WAR that he was able to walk away with.

instead the crotchety old fucks will just aww and swoon like the FUCKING PSYCHOPATHS they are. and they say purging doesn’t bring about love! one of them will have the gall to coo that at her & christian will laugh along with them while she just smiles, screaming internally for some kind of salvation from this impossible hell she never fathomed would be her reality. to top it off, he’ll tug you flush into him & grip your ass as a job well done. THAT’S MY GOOD GIRL you can practically hear him say & you pray to God ( yes you still do sometimes ) that He forgives you for immediately getting soaked between your legs. you’re doing this simply to survive. just to survive.

right?

she’s taking her earrings off now as she frowns & tries not to let the tears well over. as soon as her job was done at establishing just how in love with the murderer of her family she was . . . ( the knife & torture of it all twisted in deeper by every person’s laugh throughout the night ) . . . he’d left her to her own devices so he could go schmooze & flirt with a gaggle of giggling young girls that didn’t know just who they were flirting with. that wanted their throats slit.

that rancorous jealousy & hatred followed them all the way home. quiet & distant from him — having the AUDACITY to swat his hand away from the possessive & comforting way he always always grips her thigh during car rides. it’s where his hand belongs, so it stalls him when she does that. as if she thinks she’s above being. . . trained in the basement again, now that she’s been promoted to being able to leave the premises at all. what an ungrateful little bitch.

she can see his jaw set & clench from the corner of her eyes. she’s surprised that he doesn’t hit her, attack her, something. the driver has already heard & seen enough. why would he shy away now? she just looks out the window of their fancy limo / away from him, silent the whole ride home.

the door will open behind her to the large marble flooring of the master bathroom, also ornate in gold & crystal chandeliers & fine tastes & he’ll walk through. she’ll see him in the mirror before her as she puts away her earrings. she doesn’t turn around to greet him though & the man will walk over behind her & she’ll feel more tears well. it’s one of those moments where she nearly buckles at his proximity, his hips lingering so close to her own that it makes her weak. you’re MINE, her entire figure screams.

and there’s no fight in her when he gently moves her hair out of the way to find the clasp of her necklace. if anything she R E V E L S in his touch, peering ever so slightly towards him over her shoulder.

“you alone are enough,” will come his soul quaking words & she’s his, she’s his, she’s his. he’ll take off the necklace & put it away without much care into the little jewelry box, his focus on finding her lips — & immediately she’s melting into him — into his hands — & she’s his, she’s his, she’s his. completely & utterly his.

@politestrange | inbox fun. | yes pls send!

[philosophicalparadox]

Yep. And in all their subsequent interactions they’re both quite polite and respectful of each other, really.

(This became a scene analysis for part one, I’m sorry)

Partly because they’re a decent-ish match for each other and the fight just isn’t worth it unless they’re either both on tiptoe trying to avoid the worst, which is what they actually do, or going all out, with nothing in between, which fortunately never becomes necessary.

But I also believe that Itachi’s suggestion to capture Kakashi alive when they came to the leaf to “make contact” with Naruto in part one was not entirely a professional move so to speak. Logically speaking it would in fact offer him a rare and unusual opportunity to pass on information to a direct and potentially more trusted source; whether it’d be wise to reveal his role as a planted spy to Kakashi I think would depend on how closely Kisame was watching; he might look the other way with a lot of Itachi’s subterfuge but anything too direct I think and he couldn’t convince himself to ignore it. Itachi would not be so cautious with his partner if this wasn’t true.

However Kakashi is also quite a valuable asset in terms of intelligence and so the Akatsuki would gladly jump at the opportunity to get him. It would have made the best possible cover and scenario for Itachi all around.

Sadly however luck has never been something Itachi had in abundance. :(

But even setting aside that element, which would be his justification, I do think he wanted to collect Kakashi for personal reasons as well. He still respects his Senpai and doesn’t want to have to fight him any more than necessary. If he collects Kakashi, he will be restrained, and there is no further need to fight him. No need to harm him. And assuming Itachi gets put on lead for interrogation, which he would by default, then Itachi precisely controls both the flow of information and the degree to which suffering is inflicted. So really it would have been a triple win in his book.

And before someone gets up in here and remarks about the Tsukiyomi torture scene — that was actually remarkably tame. Physical torture is by far the easiest to endure, empirically speaking. And we know that ANBU are given special torture resistance training. So what was actually happening was that Itachi was trusting that training, that they both went through (albeit a bit differently probably) to hold Kakashi aloft. If he’d really wanted to, he could have done so, so much more damage. And Kakashi on some level both knows and acknowledges this, precisely because he never does. The torture of the Tsukiyomi is unremarkable to him; he doesn’t so much as spare it another thought, in a series where backflashes of the most inanely tragic or frightening thing gets put on loop. Even when his clone gets nailed by Itachi’s body-puppet clone, there’s no traces of fear or real danger; yes it’s a clone being attacked, but if the whole matter had really been that traumatic we would certainly know it as an audience.

I think that rather says something about their relationship.

I do have to acknowledge though that in the right context I absolutely believe they’d kill each other or die trying. And that Itachi would be more likely to give up on or think twice about that endeavor between the two of them; Kakashi is really good at compartmentalization and the fact he has the gall to try killing Obito despite still quite ardently loving his friend tells me that his personal feelings wouldn’t matter at all in such a fight between these two. Itachi is also good at compartmentalization, but some little nagging thing in my head that might just be wishful thinking is telling me that Itachi might hesitate to kill Kakashi. Why, in detail, would definitely depend on the situation, but I think some of that nagging might be related to the fact that at full strength and holding back nothing, Itachi would probably wipe the floor with Kakashi, and they both know it. (Kakashi has no Susano-o as a trump card, is exhausted by his Sharingan much quicker, and is aware that Itachi does have one, though he doesn’t know anything about it) Itachi hates being a bully. He doesn’t like feeling powerful over other people contrary to his illusionary image he’s made of himself. So paradoxically I imagine he might hesitate to kill Kakashi specifically because he could if he wanted to. And in no scenario I could dream up where such an encounter was likely would Itachi want to kill his senpai.

It’s a scenario I’ve dreamed of writing fic about for years but haven’t been able to figure out an ending for to be honest

i love the fact that Itachi was the first uchiha who was openly a kakashi stan. you can see the clear admiration itachi has for him. they would be besties 100%.

[knife-at-a-knife-fight]

it bothers me how often in conversations people get the slightest bit upset and leave.  And I’m not talking over anything of note, they aren’t that upset much of the time. It’s people who aren’t used to having to sit with negative emotions and have zero skill in regulating them, so they run away at the first sign of discomfort.

“I need some space to calm down” or maybe you need to learn some emotional regulation. Being able to have difficult conversations is a very important skill if you want to maintain meaningful relationships. And that’s what these people keep telling me they want.

And it’s of note that a lot of the time the conversation in which they’re going “i can’t do this i’m leaving” are ones in which i’m saying “hey this thing you’re doing is hurting me.” And no one seems to understand that by walking away mid conversation they are hurting me more. They tell me that i should be honest and tell them if something is upsetting me, and that i should set boundaries, but when i do, they get self destructive, angry, wildly upset, and shut down.

How do any of them expect this behaviour to encourage me to set boundaries?

“Yeah but S, clearly you’re doing it wrong, they don’t have the same issue setting boundaries with you, so obviously you push issues way too far.” Yeah this isn’t a problem in the reverse direction a lot of the time. But why is that? Firstly, less issues come up in that direction because I am not just saying shit whenever however I feel like it, I am actively paying attention to their reception of things, and if they seem uncomfortable, unresponsive, or otherwise unengaged, i back off and don’t do it again. Or I ask for their permission first to directly see if they are okay to discuss such things - especially with possibly more difficult conversations. And if someone does say to me “hey i don’t like this thing you did” then I don’t get outwardly upset with them over it. What a truly asshole-ish thing to do to a person. Yes I might be disappointed in myself, that’s within reason, they are someone i care about and I don’t want to hurt them. But when someone says to me “i’m hurt” my response is not and never will be “comfort me through this, this is hard for me to hear.” And if they want to talk about it, that isn’t them trying to dig it in, it’s a friend who has been hurt and is bottling it up trying to let it out. As long as they are doing it in a moderately respectable way (ie, not going “you are a terrible person and i hate you and you make everything worse” etc etc), then this isn’t going to be an issue, and I’m going to sit there and listen to them, and maybe learn something. 

“Yeah but S, if you’re continuously pushing it, then aren’t you the one digging it in?” No. Because my trying-to-talk-about-it is “what are you trying to accomplish when you say these things?” “is something being poorly communicated that we can find a better way to communicate?” “what do you mean by this?” “you say this is a joke, how is it funny?” “why do you do this?” “i’ve said multiple times in more passive ways that i don’t like this, did you ever notice that?”  These aren’t personal attacks. I’m sick of people thinking they are. I’m trying to understand why this is happening. I’m trying to work through it both with them and myself so that we don’t have to have the same issue again. and again. and again. 

And these people have the gall to tell me that I’m doing it wrong, citing reasons that they don’t consider from my perspective.  “you don’t need to be so blunt” you don’t notice if i’m not direct.  “i get it, can we just drop it?” Do you get it? Or do you want me to stop talking? I don’t think you understand, i think you’re trying to run away from it again.  “you should bring it up at the time, not wait on it. Waiting on it makes it a lot harder for me.” how dare you. You can make me feel like shit and expect me to sit there and explain it to you in the moment, KNOWING you will take it poorly? KNOWING that you probably won’t listen? When you get the slightest bit upset you shut down and leave, but if i’m upset I’m supposed to address it directly in the moment, even if I’m extremely uncomfortable? Even if I know doing so will make me feel worse? Maybe stop and think for a minute, consider why i didn’t say anything sooner. did you create an environment in which I could feel safe, respected, and listened to if i voiced an issue? Or did you create an environment of hostility whereby I have no choice but to pick between levels of discomfort in which no option is that I get to be comfortable? It’s harder on you? Have you stopped to think past your own myopic experience whereby you are the only person in the world of any importance to consider that this isn’t easy for me? 

when i am begging and pleading for help because of an issue that you caused, leaving is only doing yourself a mercy, not me. you are actively making it worse for me by leaving in this moment. 

And I want to make this very clear; it is unequivocally your fault when i grow to resent you for it. 

[problemeule]

honestly between tunglr and twt neither is better than the other but at least my timeline/dash here is free of ‘leftie’ transphobes telling (predominantly) trans femme ppl to stop being so aggressive in criticizing them for equating trans femme ppl with predators.....

[inbabylontheywept]

I'm just going to pick at this because I'm miffed. If you'd rather not see me dissect something that frankly doesn't need dissecting, just skip past. Thanks. <3

Alright, well, you asked for it.

Yeah, I totally get that and I respect it,

Get what? Respect what? I have no idea what you're addressing. I wasn't trying to make an argument, I just wrote a short story. Summarize what you're responding to, that you mistook for an argument. That the human in the story was in some way powerful? That the alien was competent? What?

but look, if someone’s only good survival factor is that they’re durable enough but they’re not fast, against something sentient they’re going to end up dead most of the time. [...] There’s no debate, you’re just dead!

No debate? You know you can't just say "this is undebatable" and have it be true, right?

Really, fuck's sake, you seem to be judging fights off anime rules. I did wrestling and as the tall skinny fast guy, and I can assure you, it's not as overwhelming as you think it is. I wish it was. I spent a lot of time at the practices folded up into a pretzel. Only upside to that was that it was a hell of a way for a middle school Mormon boy to figure out he was bi.

You can’t even touch them, they’re too fast! It’s like Speerow in that one Webtoon. No one can touch him because he’s so fast and when you’re used to being fast you’re good at utilizing it. I had to look up the webtoon you were talking about, and it's a manga about a guy getting praised for being very good at video games. Speerow is the videogame character that the guy controls. I am going to emphasize that this is not merely comparing my attempt at a realistic feeling fight to an anime, it's comparing it to a video-game character within an anime. Come on dude. Be embarrassed.

In the wild, you’d be scared of them because you wouldn’t have the weapons or power to defeat them but at least you could outrun them, right? Well, in very decidedly not the wild you’ve got weapons that can kill this so called “space orc” and you’re very fast so you can dodge them easily. You’d be scared, but you’d be very able to dispatch them easily.

I'm sorry, I can't critique this very well except to say that I read everything after "so called 'space orc'" in my "well akshually" Redditor voice. What weapons are you thinking of using for attacking a person that has modified their muscle fibers to be comparable to kevlar? A katana? Please tell me it's a katana. That would be hilarious. I don't have the entire universe of this one little short fleshed out in tremendous detail, but the gall of assuming that you know more about it than me is insane. You don't know if they have lasers, or just kinetic arms, or knives, or lightsabers or what - and if it's anything that isn't lasers, it's going to have a bastard of a time cutting through fibers that tough. And sure, I don't either, but that's just a greater sin on your head. If I don't know, how the fuck do you know? Critique my story on its writing, or its characterization, or its craft, but don't fucking Blorbo vs Superman me on my own shit. Jesus.

Humans aren’t that durable anyways. I understand where you’re coming from about the alien thing though, in some of them the aliens didn’t even have a darn trauma response! Like, how are they alive if they don’t even know when something’s dangerous??

I mean we are, actually, very durable, but fine - we aren't now. Because you said so. The whole point of the story is that it's a modified human. Black market implants. Cyberpunk. These aren't niche references. The durability is from the mods. If I make a mod for a human in my scifi world and the mod makes them durable, they're durable now. You don't get to say "actually, no, I disagree with your plot device and have unwritten it." Go write your own story if you want to do that. Or in general. Just write. Please. Write until you get a sense of what makes it good, besides perfect adherence to tropes.

It’d be cool to have a super fast, like, Flash speed fast, alien though, as long as humans aren’t super slow compared to everyone else. I’m serious here, if something isn’t fast enough to catch their prey or not get caught in the first place, against someone sentient with a weapon as cruel sounding (Every single bone in their body was snapped, you can’t say that wasn’t cruel,) as that one they’ll die.

First with the anime, then with the superheroes. I know this is a bit overkill, but a lot of people have never even gotten close to a real fight, and this is how it shows. I'm going to skip through this stuff again and just focus on your last sentence because it shows that you missed the basic plot of my work. And maybe that's on me, maybe I wasn't clear. That would be a fair critique of the work.

I'll mark that down for next time. Make plot clear and easier to follow. Last one was insufficient.

I simply cannot enjoy most Humans Are Space Orcs stories cause the way they make us Space Orcs is bymaking every other alien so unbelievably fragile and incompetent that they prove the existence of a God, cause only divine intervention could possibly explain how they survived long enough to reach space

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin Assists the Jedi Council While On Medical Leave

AU brainstormed primarily by @atagotiak, @gelpenss, and myself.

Basically, a fix-it based in Anakin getting a peek into the daily life on the Council early, and accidentally Figuring Some Shit Out along the way, mostly because Palps Fucks Up.

So, Anakin gets injured in a way that limits him to Coruscant for a few weeks. He can still walk and talk, but he can't fight. The specific injury doesn't matter, just this:

Anakin runs errands on behalf of the council and sits in on meetings to take minutes as a "you're on medical leave but we need all hands on deck, congrats you get to be the secretary until we can send you on stabbing missions again" thing.

Also, there just aren't a whole lot of people with Anakin's clearance level. They had to send out Stass Allie to handle the mission that was originally next on Anakin's roster, and Anakin's the most convenient person to substitute into her position.

He's not super happy about this but he can more or less understand the point of it. Given that he gets antsy about needing to fight almost immediately, he can acknowledge the worth of having something useful to do, if only as the person who's writing down who says what and making sure everyone has the right file on hand.

(Besides, Obi-Wan jokes in a way that Anakin thinks might be encouraging, this is good practice if Anakin ever wants to be on the High Council himself!)

(This is a very helpful conversation.)

BASICALLY, Anakin is resigned to this but agrees because "Usually we have Master Allie handle this but we need her running that mission that was originally set for the 501st, so you get to fill in for her until you can switch back. Think of it as training for eventual mastery or admin or--listen, we're just really stretched thin."

Here's the key thing, though: Anakin isn't supposed to leave the Temple, for medical reasons, so Palpatine doesn't know Anakin is sitting in on Council meetings. They haven't met up since Anakin's last surgery, and because [muffled hand-wave reason] he didn't find out another way, like Anakin comming him or the Council giving him the heads-up about the change in attendance.

It's fine. He's just taking notes and doing preparatory research, he has the clearance, the Chancellor likes him anyway. Hell, they'd have had someone's Padawan doing this, before the war increased the necessary clearance levels. They'll toss in a quick message in the brief they send to Palps that he never reads anyway, and that's really all they need to do. Skywalker's getting some rounded experience and this way the medics won't be freaking out about him stressing his heart after getting electrocuted by trying to spar too early.

Palpatine doesn't talk directly to the Council, he just sends a recording the first time Anakin is there. It's a bit weird, but nothing goes wrong. Anakin's off-screen from whatever device they use to send a response, since he's not technically a member, just assisting for a bit on the part of Master Allie's duties that he's actually allowed to touch (and not the bits that are getting added to Mace, Plo, and Shaak's stuff).

The first four or so meetings are like that. Anakin starts having a bit of sympathy for the Council as he sees how many things they want to do that are hampered by the need for Senatorial approval, things that he would also want to do and didn't think required this much red tape.

About a week in, still mostly recordings with Anakin just sitting on the side playing paralegal, the wheel of fortune turns a few pegs.

Palpatine hands over a an order on the range of injury that a soldier should be treated for, "to ensure that republic resources aren't being wasted on clones that, while expensive, would actually be cheaper to replace than repair."

Oh, he dresses it up in prettier language than that. Anakin doesn't process it as such first.

The Chancellor manages to couch his phrasing in "prioritizing resources for taxpaying republic citizens and employees of the GAR," which... well.

The natborn commissioned officers pay taxes. The Jedi are employees. The clones are neither, because they're slaves.

Probably he frames it as the employees thing, very much the kinda language that sounds halfway ok unless you’re fluent in political bullshit.

And Anakin is really confused at first about why the council is upset by the order because, okay, he would PREFER to be able to use medical supplies on refugees when possible, but he understands prioritizing the soldiers?

He just looks up, totally lost, when someone groans and goes, "That's the third time this year, is he trying to get us all killed?"

And it vibes as such a genuine, aggrieved, sad reaction that Anakin is completely blindsided because it's not the sarcastic, petty resentment he kind of expected? It's just... desperate depression.

And someone gently has to explain that this is the third time they've had resources restricted to only GAR employees and that it's a polite way of saying "prioritize natborn officers, stop wasting resources on clones, we can replace them easier."

Or maybe he doesn't ask, because he's just there to take notes, not argue, and he can see the masters drawing up a response that amounts to "We would like to remind you that our soldiers do not fall into that classification, and to limit their access to our medical supplies is liable to cause a loss of life that we find unreasonably high. Please see the annotations attached to adjust wording so that the clones may receive the same level of care."

Anakin's internally just like "Yeah, that's phrased nice and addresses the main problem, Palpatine will obviously agree and change it!"

And then he comes in the next day and the response comes in and it's just dripping condescension about considering the clones actual people.

"This is why we can't use the bacta tanks on clones anymore, just the patches. We could use them at first, we had a few of the CCs get through fatal injuries with them, but they cut that off and said we could only use the tanks on Jedi and non-clone officers a few months ago. The Banking Clans keep tightening their belts on the army, and the Chancellor insists we put citizens first, and the clones aren't citizens. We've been arguing back as much as we can, but he keeps going on about the economy and we can't... we just can't, Skywalker. We're trying to save as many of our men as we can, but..."

Something like "Allocation of resources reiterated, the Kaminoans have assured the senate that the Jedi are far from exhausting the resources ordered."

And Anakin's like. He can't blame the council for lying about Palpatine's past or future actions. He just saw Palpatine's actions. Those actions were to order people under his control to throw away lives he saw as replaceable commodities.

These are his friends' lives.

His soldiers are being thrown away by a man in a tower that he trusted.

And then that man has the gall to suggest it's the council's fault.

Palpatine is good at what he does, especially in public, he dresses it up in flowery language and everything, but Anakin's just like "Those are my FRIENDS and also this is??? How slavers talked about their property on Tatooine???? FRIENDPATINE, WHAT THE FUCK."

Anakin can be passive aggressive sometimes as well as outright aggressive. So if he brings up the guidelines and why they make him upset in general terms, and Palpatine says something about how he’s sad the council doesn’t care about the clones...

Anakin, internally, having just watched the council scramble to save as many clones as possible within the guidelines that Palps handed down: Uh-huh.

(Anakin is just the gay horror teeth gif from queer eye.)

Just. “Yeah, funny you say that, Palpatine! Because as I remember, you told the council not to waste more resources than necessary while Mace Windu was arguing to expand the treatment range!”

Palps doesn't even have time to salvage the situation or attack Anakin because Anakin just bulldoze rants for fifteen minutes and then storms out.

Anakin... maybe does a little treason and gets a copy of the orders so he can ask Padme "Hey, can you explain the politics of this?" and doesn't tell her who wrote it so she isn't biased (he tells her that this is why he's not sharing the author's/speaker's name), and just lets Padme pick apart all the 'this is a nice way of saying they don't view the clones as people' details.

Alternately, someone on the Council sees Anakin dithering and manages to get him to admit that he's not great at political language and wants to ask someone to help him understand the full implications. The person--Mace? let's go with Mace--is aware that Anakin is on good terms with Senator Amidala, if not necessarily aware of the depth of said relationship. Mace points out that he's probably going to be seeing her soon just because he usually does and, as a Senator, she can get easy access to these sessions since they're not about specific missions, just allocation of resources, etc. It's not an optimal solution, but she's got a bit more free time than anyone else Anakin knows with the clearance levels, like Order members that are actively involved in the war effort.

Anakin dithers and panics and Mace, trying to be helpful, tells him that plenty of Jedi have made friends among the Senate over the years, didn't you know Qui-Gon Jinn was a personal friend of Former Chancellor Valorum?

At any rate, Anakin goes to Padme and asks her to explain it to him, because she knows how to phrase things so he gets it.

Anakin has to have her pause and he goes outside and destroys some things halfway through.

(Anakin maybe thinks back to the times Padmé or Obi-Wan were really obviously frustrated and when he asked, they said stuff like “I can’t stand Palpatine rn, sorry Anakin I know he’s important to you and you don’t want to talk about politics, let’s just talk about something else.”)

(Obi-Wan: I don’t trust Palpatine Anakin: you just don’t like politicians in general Obi-Wan: yes that is also true)

(Obi-Wan does like Bail and Padme but he does also talk a bit about how politicians generally aren’t to be trusted.)