#and i made donovan specifically for him

[therealandian]

nah norway has a good chance of showing up since evan's in this. and if they do i'll probably make the same joke i did in stts about their name lol

so on one hand, i want to bring back binora and elaive into the space gays story, just for funsies. on the other hand, with the changes i've made to sturik anatomy, their names are not linguistically possible in their native tongues...

soooo guess i'm gonna have to rename them lol. zuru can at least stay the same

[hide-your-bugs-away]

Probably the wildest record haul I have ever been bestowed... after my dentist appointment, no less.

I FINALLY HAVE A VINTAGE COPY OF ANIMALIZATION aaAAAAAA MY COLLECTION OF U.S. ANIMALS VINYLS IS AT LAST COMPLETE ‼️🐾✨️ All from local record stores as well!

[yumeka-sxf]

Well, seems like something that was just a theory before has come very close to truth...

Because of this major revelation, I wanted to take a deep dive into what we know about Donovan so far and how hints throughout past chapters could indeed indicate that he can read minds. While we still don't have concrete proof for this other than Melinda's word, I don't believe there's anything that discredits this idea, either. In fact, many things throughout the series support it.

First we have Loid's encounter with Donovan way back in chapter 38. I always found it strange that we never got insight into Donovan's thoughts throughout that whole exchange. We always get to know what characters are thinking, even without Anya's mind-reading support. It's not an uncommon storytelling mechanic in general after all, especially for manga. Yet, Endo chose not to give us any insight into what Donovan was thinking. I figured this was simply to avoid spoiling anything about what his exact plans and motives are for future stories (also why Anya was absent for this). But now it seems like this could have also been to hide the fact that he can read minds. If he can read minds, certain things he said during that exchange take on a more ominous meaning. For example, what he said below about how people can never truly understand each other.

It's been a headcanon of mine that the reason why Anya, and perhaps Donovan, were given mind-reading powers, stemmed from the desire for world peace...the idea being that if people could read each other's minds - in other words, always know what others are thinking and feeling, sympathy and understanding would abound.

We learn later on that Donovan had ideas like this even as a kid when he made a similar comment during his debate competition speech. He said that it's impossible to know the true intentions of others so people will forever doubt each other, thus war is inevitable.

We also have the little detail in today's chapter that Donovan did not have the scars on his head during Melinda's flashback (of course, he didn't have them as a kid in chapter 99 either).

Now this is totally my theory, but if we take Melinda's words as the truth, without any misunderstanding, then sometime in Donovan's adult life after he married and had a child, he was experimented on and was given mind-reading powers, perhaps by force but most likely by choice. Now that he has these powers, his laments about people not being able to understand each other are no longer true, at least not for him. Perhaps the experiments done on Anya were preliminary tests that he put together to perfect the mind-reading implementation science before actually doing it to himself. Again, totally just speculation, but not out of the question.

Then we have Demetrius...we learned in chapter 93 that Anya has trouble reading his mind.

If we put that together with Melinda's comment in today's new chapter, that Demetris also took note of Donovan being able to read minds...

...then perhaps Demetrius conditioned himself to think in ways that would make it difficult for his mind to be read, specifically to thwart the "alien" that's impersonating his father. I mentioned last time that I don't think Donovan is actually an alien, and that this description is the only explanation Melinda could come up with to explain his mind-reading powers. If this is true though, it really does make the Desmond dinner scene all the more telling...that throughout all those panels without dialogue, Donovan was absorbing the deepest inner thoughts of his family members (and again, no insight into his own thoughts, just like in chapter 38).

But if the "Donovan can read minds" theory holds true, then the most disturbing idea of all is that Donovan knows that Twilight is a spy. He knows that he's the target of Twilight's mission, and that Twilight seeks to thwart him. Not only that, but depending on what he's read of Damian and Melinda's minds, he knows that they're fond of Anya and Yor, respectively - people who are close to Twilight. Mind-reading powers in the hands of a child are one thing, but in the hands of a shrewd and power political figure...I'm both excited and anxious to find out what Donovan's next move will be!

[beannoss]

Something I think about a lot and wonder if maybe gets overlooked in Twilight’s story and as vitally indicative of his character is actually in the very first chapter:

Anya isn’t needed for Strix. Twilight decides to adopt her anyway.

[Spoiler warning: Mostly this post deals with early chapters already in the anime but there is reference to chapter 62, which has not yet been animated and will be in season 3]

Twilight decides it — “I’m going to rework the mission so it doesn’t involve a child because that’s too dangerous” and he’s 100% right! Donovan Desmond is canonically a far right warmonger with fascistic authoritarian aims. His government made liberal use of the SSS — a group to mirror the Stasi — who continue to operate in morally dubious ways (much more likely they’re actively morally reprehensible, though we’ve mostly only had rumours of that so far). From what we can tell, Desmond is at best an absent father and likely actually worse than that: if that's how he treats his own children, imagine how he might treat others. And the timeline seems to indicate that the experimentation performed on Anya was done under Desmond's government — even if Twilight isn't aware of experimentation on children, he is aware of both human and animal experimentation under Desmond's government. Taking all that and also the complexity of Strix's aims, undoubtedly there were other things that could be done, more straightforward if not necessarily easier.

So. Why? Why entertain the change at all? And then, having entertained it, why go back when the reasoning is indisputable?

On the Doylist level, I think Endo wanted to ensure that Anya had some agency within the set up — Endo also does this with Yor. It would be much harder to be on Twilight’s side fully, or to trust him on an ethical level/take him as any sort of moral authority, if he were just straightforwardly using these two people. To have them be active and consenting participants (arguably to actually be affirming the arrangement: Twilight sets it up, but Anya and Yor actually make it happen) even if the audience only knows the depth of their knowledge/motivations/etc currently, shifts the power dynamic in important ways.

But it also the set up tells us important things about Twilight. He is largely impatient, cold, detached in chapter one. His overarching feelings towards Anya are, I think, real annoyance, real confusion, and real impatience. He just doesn’t understand this damn kid and it turns out she’s a person which is frankly unacceptable — he’d needed and anticipated an automaton, ideally of himself in miniature form. (Though I think one could ponder whether Twilight was, in many ways, an automaton himself at this point, but that's maybe for another meta 🙃)

He’s not entirely unmoved of course — we're given to understand he’s affected when Franky tells him how many times Anya’s been adopted and returned, and isn't amused by Franky's joke about names. Franky's comment — "Just don't get attached" — reinforces this. The prospect of “the future” perturbs Twilight when he’s reading the parenting books. His initial reaction to Anya’s kidnap is horror. All these are true too.

Then there’s also this, from earlier in the chapter:

It’s exposition, yeah, and it’s also exposing. "Hopes" and "joys" are very specific words to describe those events. It could simply have been "A marriage? An ordinary life?" but describing them as such — hope for marriage; joy in ordinary life — expose something of what Twilight feels about those two experiences and, on the flipside, they expose what he deems he's lacking. No hopes of intimacy; no joy in (an ordinary) life. There's an argument as well, of course, that he's being ironic but I don't think that actually invalidates the above analysis. Drawing attention to 'hope' and 'joy' at all are revealing, regardless of Twilight's tone in thinking of them. I think it's also interesting this panel, taken in conjunction with a pair of panels in chapter 62, Twilight's backstory. The above is almost a pulled out version of this below panel of Twilight's recollection of his childhood, and of course the returning image of not just a rubbish bin but a rubbish bin on fire when it comes to disposing of his identity:

Back to Strix. Both his final interaction with Karen and the whole everything of the framing of Strix is making Twilight think (and feel, ahem) things that he hasn't for some time. Twilight decides, I’m reworking this. It can’t proceed this way. Not because Anya is a pain in his ass, not because she’s not as (apparently) intellectually advanced as he’d originally thought, not even because he thinks he can find another child who would better be exactly what mission parameters called for. No:

And what changes his mind is Anya asking to come home.

One of the important parts of this to me is this:

He seeks consent.

This moment is a keystone, I think, to understanding Twilight. It’s also more telling than he maybe realises. Twilight is decisive — we all laugh because he spirals at the drop of a hat when his daughter or wife look even mildly upset but outside those (also very telling) scenarios, he makes decisions and he pursues them. Often he makes decisions quickly. He’s a dab hand at it; it’s a large part of why he’s as good a spy as he is.

He’d decided to change Strix.

Anya asks him, in essence, not to.

So, he doesn't.

But it's wild that he entertains keeping her request at all — why? Why even entertain it? It’s dangerous; it’s impractical; there are too many moving parts outside his direct control; Anya isn’t the sort of child he’d wanted for the mission if he’d spent any time thinking about what a child might actually be like; Strix is in many ways an extremely long shot anyway, Desmond could just stop attending for reasons unknown and unrelated; etc.

So, yeah, why? Maybe because of this —

In conjunction, I often think of this moment in the cruise arc:

Twilight first naming the feeling as lonesome, and secondly tacitly conceding that he perceives Yor as a companion and that that relationship is important to him, something to be missed. What makes this for me though is that Anya calls this out "Papa's you're so sappy" and Twilight's reaction is that of someone caught-out. He doesn’t say “nuh-uh!” but he may as well have. Essentially, something landed a bit close to home, hm? Maybe some of that hope for marriage? A soupçon of joy of an ordinary life?

Twilight’s loneliness underpins many of his decisions with his family — probably without him being fully conscious of it. I think he is at least somewhat conscious of it, but also if he looks too closely... Well, best not to. I could fill this post, I think, with images that demonstrate his loneliness throughout the series; that sorrowful/pensive close-up of his eye(s) is one of the abiding motifs for Twilight throughout. I'd probably start with this one from Twilight's backstory arc:

Anya's request plays directly off his loneliness. Still though, he doesn’t immediately capitulate — he emphasises Anya’s choice. Is she sure? The last day has been scary for a child (and for him, but he's ignoring that part) and Twilight, in his increasing recognition that Anya is a person, is probably aware in the back of his mind that he hasn’t exactly been warm or welcoming or at all patient with her. Things that people respond to — he's otherwise excellent at manipulating people, so of course he understands this. So. Given she'd just had this scary experience, given he hasn't exactly been great with her: Is she sure? She wants to come home — with him?

I think the moment may get a little lost because Anya says something riffing off his own earlier thoughts and self-revelation (featuring that shadowed, lonely eye motif again!)

Were this a post about Anya, I’d talk about how it’s an important character moment for her as well by way both of demonstrating her agency/choice and also that she isn’t nearly as dumb as Twilight thinks (and the audience, maybe, also thinks).

But in my view, she didn’t actually need to say anything about it making her cry. I think she could simply have said yes in that moment and Twilight would have agreed.

Twilight’s an unreliable narrator; he’s disconnected from his heart and that shrouds his own motivations from himself — something he actually also concedes in this chapter!

And it shrouds from us just how much he actually understands himself. He’s also a master of deflection. Easy to assume or say that bringing Anya home is just to align with Strix. Nothing more to see here; nothing else going on. But also that ripping off of the mask in the panel above — and the literal 'riiip' sound effects — also indicate to us that this is an unveiling to himself.

In my view, Twilight agreeing to Anya's request, deciding to go back to original mission parameters, actually shifts his motivations, subtly. Now he’s committed not only to the original mission goals, but also to Anya. He needs Anya to succeed at Strix, not only for Strix's sake, but also because otherwise the mission will end and she’ll have to go back to the orphanage, and he’s just agreed with her not to do that (not right away, in any case). I don’t think at this point he’s thinking it’s forever — his thoughts throughout the manga indicate he still expects the Forgers to be temporary. I don't think the shift in motivation is necessarily even conscious, but given the set up, I think something inside Twilight recognises that agreeing to bring Anya home is a compact, jointly engaged. Mostly all this has become subsumed into Strix: he makes decisions. He pursues them. He deflects, even from himself. Of course it's just for the mission; this saved him the trouble of reworking it, of figuring out something else. Nothing more to see; no need to think any more on it. And to be fair to him, Strix is very high stakes, resting pretty solely on his shoulders, so of course that is, objectively, motivation enough. Why even consider beyond that?

But I personally think that to the extent he's aware of it at all, there is something else going on, that he wants to have Anya for as long as it takes him to work something else out for her. If that's the case, then of course, we have Occam’s razor: the simplest solution may be the best one.

Maybe Twilight should just keep Anya himself, eh?

[Image description: gif from Spy x Family season 1, episode 1. Twilight and Anya have just found out Anya passed her entrance exam and are overjoyed. Celebratory, Twilight picks Anya up and swoops her into the air as they smile at one another. End image description]

[stellas-and-tonitruses]

⚠ SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 93 AHEAD! ⚠

now that we have finally met demetrius, it seems like a great time to dissect his first scene and proper conversation! :]

his wide, unfocused stare hides ✨unexpected complexity✨, as expected of a desmond

he's impatient (common desmond trait at this point)

he's nonchalantly exceptional, as we expected and have been repeatedly told thus far

...but most importantly, amidst a sea of accomplishments, he is burdened with a lack of people skills and visibly frustrated by it, as evidenced by his conversation with damian in this chapter.

the analysis and speculation continues under the cut!!

so, a breakdown of the main meat of his introduction

similarly to every single time there's an interaction between damian and another desmond, damian is the one who reaches out first by calling out to demetrius, who immediately asks him what he wants. damian tries to begin with small talk, congratulating him on his accomplishments of the day

demetrius is brief and to the point, but it doesn't feel to me like he is annoyed here. perhaps curious, perhaps indifferent, we don't know -- demetrius is a boy of few explanatory thoughts, after all

merely in the next page, demetrius is revealed to have a blank mind for most of this conversation.

i don't believe this is a sign that demetrius was experimented on or anything. obviously, this does not rule out that he has been experimented on, but i don't think his lack of thoughts are indicative of that, nor do i believe anya was too far away (in previous chapters, she has read the thoughts of people at greater distances than this with ease!). i think this has something to do with his upbringing, but also very importantly his state of mind at the moment

his eyes are wide open, but his stare is unfocused. i think this is an intentional choice to hammer in that he's not really here at this moment, listening to what is undoubtedly to him pointless praise. he has likely tuned all of it out completely.

(as a side note, if we wanna involve anya in this situation more, we could assume that he is intentionally cloaking his thoughts from anya or any other potential mind-readers, but while i do think donovan is very likely involved in project apple, i severely doubt the financial benefactors of project apple would spend likely a lot of money to figure out a way to shield the thoughts of a middle schooler, regardless of who his dad is, from potential telepaths. as far as we know, anya is the only one with this specific power and demetrius is unlikely to have any information that would incriminate the operation. if that was an issue, i don't see why they wouldn't spend their money to protect melinda's mind, since she likely has way more info than demetrius ever could.)

moving on from that side note though,

we do not see demetrius' face as he says this! this is important to me

we are left unaware to whether or not he is disappointed or just trying to abscond to take a nap (he really needs one)

but then, he says this:

this, to me, is a direct attempt at connecting!! he's trying to reciprocate the small talk, the praise, trying to continue the conversation. his thought, "i don't understand him," may feel contradictory but to me, it only underlines his frustration about this, because he knows what damian is going to say next:

even though it was expected, this is not what demetrius was hoping to get out of this. his downturned eyebrows give a feeling of discontent. he is not blank, he is visibly frustrated, visibly annoyed.

and we are thus made aware of a boundary demetrius and melinda both share:

never mention donovan.

for one reason or another, this is the boundary damian has overstepped with both his mother AND his brother now, without ever being informed that it IS a boundary in the first place

so demetrius, upset, turns around to leave and throws this at damian:

this is important, because damian has shared a very similar sentiment to anya before, albeit in a mournful tone.

demetrius likely feels similarly neglected by his parents, but is long past feeling sad about it. he has moved straight to anger, understandably!

but the bigger reason for his frustration, imo, relates to a problem damian once again ALSO has: people treating them as a gateway to their father and nothing more.

demetrius has more than likely also been treated like this, and probably still is unless his peers have learned not to engage because of his brief, snippy responses, so he is familiar with the feeling of being used.

...and damian unknowingly treated him the exact same way, even though he's also grown to hate it.

of course, he's 6 years old and he meant no harm by this -- he's just a lonely boy trying to be noticed by his neglectful parents, after all, what else could he possibly do?

but for demetrius, this is the end of the conversation. he is not his father's manager, he's not even that close to him, so why does his brother only ever talk to him when it relates to their father?

as he said before: he doesn't understand him, and why he keeps doing this. does he not know there is little info to be gained?

he doesn't understand their father either, with his impossibly high expectations, never pleased, never happy, never available

and lastly, as ewen and emile try to introduce themselves

demetrius has one final thought.

and he casts aside this entire conversation, leaving the scene as empty as he entered it.

of course, the chapter doesn't end here, but this is where demetrius' involvement in it does, leaving us with a newfound understanding that while to damian, demetrius represents everything he can only strive to become... to demetrius? his accomplishments ring hollow in the face of everything he wishes he could understand.

we do get an extra flashback that hearkens back to a better yesterday, but while donovan is lacking some very important details (those scars, that dead disinterest that follows his every move -- he seems mirthful somehow here), we don't know if this scene represents a time when they were closer or if it's simply evidence that as far back as everyone can remember, demetrius has been doing nothing but studying all the time

could this be evidence of something nefarious relating to project apple? eh, not particularly, not to me. the boy's just studying hard, any relation to project apple would have to be more recent in the timeline imo

TL;DR:

demetrius has been built up throughout the past 92 chapters as a figure larger-than-life, and this has been thanks to most of our knowledge of him being directly affected by damian's perception of him, as the younger brother living under his shadow

however, he has now been humanized by his flaws: a short temper and a lack of social skills that comes paired with a clear want to connect, to understand, to converse. he seems to be a very lonely kid, everyone around him either jealous, putting him on a pedestal or actively seeking to use him under the false impression that he has important connections, and although he doesn't mean to, damian has unknowingly been treating demetrius in the same way, only seeking him out when he wants to know something about donovan.

interestingly, him and melinda share the same trigger, that being donovan himself, though we do not yet know if their reason for this is also shared.

CLOSING THOUGHTSSS

it has been so exciting finally meeting this little goober-- i thought i might never see the day 😭😭😭

thank you to whoever read this far, i literally made this blog just now so! HOPE I DID WELL!

💖

[charliehoennam]

beyond the badge pt. 1

a/n: request made by @harmonity-vibes. had been thinking about this specific plot for a long time and this lovely angel gave me the inspiration i needed. this will divided into three parts because it's simply too big lmao that's what she said. s/o to @strangergraphics-archive for the cute divider <3

pairing: david loki x f!reader

summary: his fianceé is abducted and a distraught david realizes some rules must be broken in order to save the one he loves.

warnings: 18+, dark themes such as language, violence, eventual smut, suicide, death, physical injuries, threats, abuse of power and blood.

SHARING IS CARING, SO REBLOG IF YOU LIKE IT

two | three | four | five

What was once a home filled with love, laughter and passionate moans is now hollow and empty.

The haunting silence of the house only fuels his self-hatred. He can’t stop blaming himself because he knows, deep inside, that he could’ve avoided all this mess if he had only listened to you.

When a dead body showed up in the river by the old mill, David was quickly assigned the case. It might have taken him a couple of months, but he successfully found the man responsible for a such a horrendous crime.

The man was Frankie Donovan, a bus driver and self-made drug dealer. You would’ve never guessed by simply looking at the man, due to his scruffy appearance and uneducated demeanor, but he had successfully made around 500 thousand dollars from producing and selling meth.

It might not have been much to some people, but to a man who grew on the country skirts of Conyers, bouncing around from trailer park to trailer park and addict parents, that money was more precious to him than his own life.

No one would’ve believed that Donovan was capable of making so much money. Most people underestimated him either because of his job, his poor background or, what appeared to seem like, his friendly nature. He might have fooled many, but not David.

In the empty house that belongs to both of you, David stands in front of the foggy bathroom mirror with a towel wrapped his hip.

He stares at his stoic reflection and takes in the physical effects your absence has had on him. Dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. Hollowed cheeks from the loss of appetite. The prickly 5 o’clock shadow growing out that he refuses to waste time shaving.

The lingering heat from his hot shower constricts the air around him. He leans down to splash some cold water on his face, hoping that it will provide just a little bit of relief. Although the water soothes him on the surface, it fails to subdue him within.

He runs a trembling hand over his face to try and keep his composure, but he’s losing it. His breath shortens as the room spins around him. What feels like rocks settle in his throat. His chest tightens with rage until he finally explodes and punches the mirror before him repeatedly.

“It’s your fucking fault!” he repeatedly shouts at himself.

Dangerous shards shatter into the sink and onto the counter. David doesn’t feel it just yet, but blood drips from his knuckles over the shards. He takes a look at his hand. His fit of fury let out a bit of the steam that he had pent up inside him, but it’s not enough to make him better.

Nothing will make him feel better until you’re home, safe and sound. He promised he would always keep you safe and he feels like he failed you. There's nothing that can silence that thought in his mind.

Once he’s poorly rinsed and wrapped his knuckles with gauze to stop the bleeding, he drags himself into the bedroom that lingers with the scent of you and haphazardly chooses a few items of clothing. He doesn’t bother with the usual button-up shirt. A simple black thermal, a pair of pants and usual boxers. He tries to get dressed as fast as he can.

David hates being in the house for too long, but he tries to avoid the bedroom as much as he can. Not only does everything there remind him of you, but it’s all still the same as you left it before you went to work that day and he wants to keep it that way.

The uncertainty of the future fucking terrifies him. He doesn’t know if you’re alive, he doesn’t know if you’re hurt. His colleagues are doing their best to find you, but the fear he secretly has of you not coming home is ever present. So, he keeps the bedroom the way you left it to create a false sensation that you’re somehow still there almost like a ghost.  Like you're still coming home, even though he's not sure you will.

It’s been almost two days since you’ve been missing. The captain made it very clear to David that he could not, under any circumstances, take the case due to his close relationship to the victim. Being off your case drives him insane, but it’s not enough to make him stop looking for you.

He might not be able to professionally investigate, but it doesn't stop him from questioning the local thugs in the neighborhood about the recent kidnapping. After coming to a dead-end last night, he spent the rest of the night driving aimlessly, hoping he might find you somewhere.

He came home for a quick shower before resuming his illegal search for you. He’s tired beyond belief, but his mind can’t concentrate on anything else besides his missing fianceé.

Sat on the edge of the bed you used to share, he looks over at the engagement ring still sealed in a plastic baggie on your nightstand and reaches over to hold it in his hands. Letting his head hang low, he lifts his bloodied hand and holds his forehead in it. His head pounds as memories flood his thoughts.

When a call about an abduction came in from a co-worker of yours, David could feel his heart sink down to his stomach. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but the thought that you could’ve been the one kidnapped scared him to death.

He is in another town, a more populated, small and neighboring town who’s courthouse Conyers was appointed to. David hadn’t been aware of the newly opened case until he made it back to his car and saw 3 missed calls from his captain.

When he arrives at your workplace’s parking lot, he climbs out of his car so quickly that he doesn’t even remember to close the door to take the keys out of the ignition. It all feels like a dream, like nothing is real, everything around his is far from touch and he’s floating through the air

“Tell me it’s not her,” he begs already fearing the worst as he marches towards the blockade of police officers preserving the scene.

“Loki, I’m sorry, but you can’t be here right now. I can’t let you through.”

O’Malley has to hold him up as David’s knees give in and sits him on the curb. Kneeling in front of him, he instructs David to breathe as the air thickens in his throat.

“I-I gotta find her, captain. I gotta-“

“What you gotta do is let us do our job, Loki. You can’t work on this case and you know why. Tell me what you know.”

The truth, at the time where he can barely remember his own name, is that he doesn’t know who could have taken you. He’d put away so many bad guys already and, just like the Keller-Birch case, kidnapping were becoming more and more often in the small town of Conyers.

David is in no condition to answer most of the questions that his boss needed to ask. At least, not right there.

“David, let’s go back to the station. We can talk better there.”

“No. I’m not fucking leave. I need to be here. I need to find her!” he insists, wide eyes locked on the scene as the forensic investigators search the area.

His watchful eye notices one of the investigators lift something up from the ground after taking pictures of the object. As the woman places the small item into a plastic bad to preserve for DNA or prints, he quickly stands on his feet. Despite the dizziness that strikes him suddenly, he pushes his way through the uniformed cops, but there are too many of them to hold him back from the scene.

“Get the fuck of- Let me go! That’s her ring! That’s my fianceé’s fucking ring!” he shouts at the investigator while being restrained.

She looks at O’Malley who nods and allows her to show David the evidence. Walking towards David, he finally calms down enough and complies in order to make sure it is yours. And, just as he fears, it is indeed yours.

His hands tremble as he looks at the plastic evidence baggie containing your engagement ring. He closes his eyes as dread floods his chest.

The ring is technically evidence and is actually supposed with the forensics team to process, but David stole it from the scene to bring it home with him.

Tears drip against the plastic. He just wants you to come home.

The buzzing cellphone he'd left on your nightstand snaps him back to the present. Quickly wiping his tired blue eyes, he looks over at the phone placed beside his gun and badge. The thought of taking his weapon to his head to end the agonizing pain and guilty flashes in his mind.

Before he finds the courage to reach for the firearm, his gaze drifts and lands on a book you had been reading when you were home and he recalls one specific conversation you had had one night.

“You got a strange call today on the landline.”

You’re sat on the bed with your back against the headboard and a book in hand.

“Yeah? What’d they say?” he asks lying tiredly on the bed beside you.

Lifting your arm to make way for him, he nestles himself into your side with his strong arms locked around your hips while his face nuzzles into your waist with closed tired eyes.

“I dunno. I mean, I do, but it was just strange,” you lower your book, combing the fingers of your free hand into his luscious brown hair. “The guy just said told you to call him back or you’d regret it.”

“Probably just a prank call, sweetheart. Nothing to worry about.”

“But they asked for you. They said your full name and they know you’re a detective. Isn’t that a bit too personal?”

“I’m a cop, babe. That information is public. Anyone can find that out if you know where to look.”

You nod and stay silent as you try to continue reading, but it’s unsettling.

“I’m just saying,” you start as David groans tiredly. “Why would someone call and threaten you? Not to mention you just recently closed the Donovan case.”

Rolling over onto his back, he looks up at you from his side of the bed.

“Babe, Donovan is a small-town meth head. He doesn’t have the balls to come after a cop.”

“It’s just a strong coincidence, David.”

A lightbulb goes in his mind. Finally, a lead he could work on. How the hell didn’t he think about this before?

He shoots up onto his feet to get dressed and, just after he slides his boxer briefs on, his phone buzzes again with another incoming text.

Due to his close relationship with you, O’Malley didn’t allow him to take the lead on the case. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have thought twice, but he knows the close relationship could impair David’s judgment. David’s already known for his temper and the last thing he needs is him risking the case because he didn’t follow procedure.

Instead, Chemelinski’s been assigned as the lead detective on the case. And, influenced by their close friendship, he’s ignored the direct and important order O’Malley had given him of keeping any new information from David.

The way he sees it, David’s a smart detective. If it hadn’t been for the close relationship, the case would’ve been his because he’s the only one that has solved and closed difficult disappearance cases like this.

“Evidence found at Penn Aire Motel, 46th and western. No vics”

“Didn’t hear this from me”

He wastes no time replying to his co-worker’s texts. His heart pounds with hope and adrenaline as his mind races with a thousand thoughts, wondering what kind of evidence they found. Even without a body or blood, assumptions can still be made based on the scene which is why he needs to be there.

Speeding in his car, his stomach churns contemplating what he might find once he’s there. He knows the procedure in case of dead victims. If you were dead, he would’ve already heard about it, so he’s hopeful it’s not the case.

As his car pulls up, O’Malley sighs already feeling the heavy headache setting in of having to deal with a distraught David.

“Who the hell told him?”

Chemelinski shrugs avoiding his accusing eyes, but mutters it wasn’t him as David quickly marches over to the captain, ducking under the yellow ‘do not cross’ tape with curious eyes scanning the scene to understand what’s going on.

“Loki, I told you-“

“I know, I’m off it. I know, I just wanna know what you found.”

David keeps a strong facade with hands up in surrender as O’Malley approaches him.

“You know I can’t share that information with you. You’re involved with the victim and it ca-“

“Yeah, I fucking know it can cloud my judgement! I know!” he shouts back.

O’Malley watches him take a deep breath to compose himself. He understands how stressful this is, especially for a detective.

“Captain, I-I’m losing my fucking mind. Please, j-just tell me something. I-I need something.”

He can’t ignore David’s pleading blue eyes or the crack in his voice. David’s a strong man who’s endured some of the most awful things life could throw at anyone. It takes a lot to scare him to this point.

He informs David that they’d tracked down the car from the location of your kidnapping. After identifying the vehicle with the help of local security surveillance footage, a dispatcher had ID’d it after receiving a call about an abandoned car in a rundown motel parking lot, just off the freeway.

No one saw you at the motel; the clerk working the desk that night said a man checked in alone, but a maid who had been getting off her shift mentioned she saw the man – who was staying in the room in question – putting something in the trunk of a different car before driving away in it alone.

The forensic investigation is still processing the scene, but the unit was able to find a small earring in the truck of the car, which was now in a small plastic bag labeled evidence in O’Malley’s hands.

O’Malley would’ve asked him if the earring was familiar, but the way David froze and stared down at the small accessory with swelling tears in his eyes is enough to confirm his belief.

He’d given you the beautiful jewel on your first anniversary. He remembers how happy you got when you opened the gift and saw the sparking, delicate pair in the small velvet box. His heart broke a little when you mentioned no one had ever given you jewelry before. You loved them so much that you wore them proudly every day to work.

He never thought he’d be the one having to identify a personal item of a victim.

“Y-yeah,” he sniffles blinking away his tears. “That’s hers.”

“We’re gonna find her, Loki. Loki!”

David can’t stand it anymore. The ring found at the site of the kidnapping and the newly discovered earring leads him to believe they weren’t left there on accident. He knows these are items you treasure more than anything and you would never take them off unless you were at home to avoid the risk of losing your precious accessories due to their sentimental value.

They’re breadcrumbs. They’re clues you’re leaving behind, calling out for him to save you. He needs to take matters into his hands.

[spyxfamilyanalysis]

[SPY x FAMILY Chapter 107] Part 2 (Inner thoughts & Family matters)

-> Part 1 (Damianya)

As we all know, Loid always thinks about Operation Strix whenever and whereever he hangs out with his family

Actually, he was quite good at predicting! He thought that Melinda might be here in this festival, and he was right!

In the next chapter, she temporarily worked as a newbie fortune teller (because she is someone who believes in occult stuffs, mystical things..., or maybe as we believe, her husband is the main reason)

And Anya again, competing with Yor about Plan B & C 🤣 He won't abandon you, Anya.

Kinda smart for Anya to think that she can learn secrets from Damian's family through mind-reading... Damian is quite an innocent boy, and he hardly thinks too much about his family, it'll be hard to read him, though, when all he thinks of when he meets you, is you, Anya 🤭

If we actually going through many chapters about Damian, his parents or brother never even hanging out with him for fun stuffs. I understand that his parents are important people, barely made an appearance in public, his father is a Chairman, his mother is a Lady Patriot. They are busy and can't be with him... His brother as well, being busy with school works, barely talks with Damian about anything other than stay inside his room like a hikikomori (depressed man has social problems)

Aww, he was hoping to see his mom, too!!!

Do you even realise, Melinda and his servant Jeeves always there to support Damian, I mean, he is a kid as well. Even though we mostly saw Jeeves with Damian to escort him; after the Red Circus Hijack Arc, Melinda started to be more open to him! She started making food for Damian, worrying about her son at school...

I think Anya has limited vocabulary, it's funny that Anya called Damian's friends's servants as henchlings' henchlings :)))

Loid still thinks about Strix, get straight to work immediately! 😁

Like, why didn't he have any fun with his 'family', he had a "wild" childhood, after all. I just thought that, he should spend some time hanging out with his family to fill up the blank space of his childhood...

Finally, our sweetheart's BFF & super rich lady, Becky and our sumpreme bold friend with military dad, Bill!

Look at this huge bias of Twilight: Becky's family and Bill's family are so detailed analysed, and yet, George's family was completely ignored🙂‍↕️

Have to admire Endo's work so detailed in the characters' inner thoughts, especially Loid. He's a complicated man with thoughts about mission, surroundings, family... Anything comes to his mind, he will think like, a lot😇

Anya quickly sympathized George...

Anya was loved by his classmates' family~ Ever since the hijack, she was quickly well-known and loved by her classmates~ An ordinary girl with superpowers, being loved by families with high social standards! I suppose letting Anya studying this class was a great decision, Loid! He not only gets to know more about the Desmonds, but other families as well!!!

Loid seemed very suspicious about Jeeves... He's hiding something...

Loid just overcomplicated stuffs, again.

Look at the way Loid sees Anya, it's like he only sees her, nothing else surrounding her matters...

Loid must have cared Anya very much, if you remember episode 1, Loid wished for this world once ended this cold war live in peace, where no children will have to cry to beg to suffer. And he was actually emphasizing on Anya, even though the word 'children' was in general, but he actually specifically talking about Anya, ever since he met her 🥺

Loid's inner thoughts are pretty much complicated. Understanding that he is a spy, he can't just be simple-minded, he worries about other stuffs as well. Throughout the mission, he worries first about Anya's fun time, home, care, school, education, friends; even go to lengths 'forcing' her to say 'sorry' to Damian for hitting him on the first day at school; Stella and Tonitrus, social activities...🫨

He may seemed cold towards Donovan, suspicious about everything around him, his colleagues, spies, problems with the Operation; but he always manages to have the time to spend with Anya and his new family!🥰

Bonus: Yor seemed quite in this chapter, huh? She only started talking when she met Melinda for fortune telling.

[capesch-arts]

what do the other Joys think of Arthur Lester?

ps i love them <3

Individual opinions on the bottom. Hehe.

So, at first it was indifferent. Oh it's another target for Richard. Oh he got lucky that he shot Howard (everyone was cheering secretly). But, yeah, they thought Arthur was just another target Joy was going to kill and present harrowingly to The King.

And then the order changed and it became "capture Arthur alive". Word got out why. "He's a musician" "a pianist" "a composer" "a sacrifice". They got a tiny bit intrigued. They also got excited because this is the first time in a while The King in Yellow himself asked for a specific musician. Donovan was delighted the most. (Because this was how Cassandra got into their lives. The King loved her music and they got her into the cult). Sure, unlike Cassandra, Arthur wouldn't get into it, but the fact The King WANTS something, means something good.

And then Richard kept failing. Arthur kept slipping past his fingers. At first, it was fun and games. "Oh couldn't catch this one? Maybe you should date him! You get a lot of people caught like that". It was odd for them to see Richard fail, but maybe just a setback. This is after all someone who carried The King's fragment.

The other Joys offered they help him, but Richard insists that it needs his skills. Not really wrong. Ollie would absolutely kill Lester instead of capturing him, considering how he fights. And Vivienne was prioritised to protect the cult hideout while her brother mostly works inside. And again, everyone didn't think it was super serious yet.

And then The King started punishing Richard. They found him bleeding in the High Priest's private room. Richard just laughed it off and said, 'I deserved it. I need to do better'. Everyone took it as a sign that they need to help Richard however they can. Actively help him.

But Richard kept failing, and failing. And Arthur Lester became public enemy no.1

Everyone cheered when The King FINALLY gives the kill order. Everyone wanted to join in and absolutely wreck this man.

And when The King finally got Arthur's soul and his body, they threw a party 🎉.

As for how each of the Joys individual opinions:

Richard: absolutely hates him. Coping and seething when he got back from WWII and found out The King and Arthur became besties and he had to repress the urge to strangle this man's soul.

Ollie: at first, yippee a musician! And when Richard got punished a lot and he got the kill order, he was also angry. This is probably the only guy he doesn't feel bad for killing. In fact, he was jumping with Joy (ha!) when Richard and him hunted his ass down. After The King became besties with Arthur, he just didn't know what to say. He was more confused afterwards but he was more concerned what his cousin would think about it. (It will and has made Richie lose his mind).

Vivienne: kinda hate him, but only for causing so much grief for Richard. Afterwards she's mostly indifferent towards him. Can't say she hates or holds a grudge, but she's not gonna be his friend soon.

Mason: Ew. Human interaction. Glad he's dead.

Ollie's daughters: no opinions but would be glad to torture him if they ever got the chance amdmkskf.

[neoyi]

Started the new Shovel Knight Dig: Wicked Wishes DLC. I've made my peace with Dig, in that I'll likely never get the true ending because the randomness of this game and the, at times, unfair difficulties that I feel doesn't maintain the balance to give me a chance make this somewhat of an... okay game. It is passable, but that's really all I can say about it.

In any case, some of my thoughts. I'll put them under a Keep Reading" for anyone who does not wish to be spoiled.

So, the first requirement to get into the Guild Halls is to obtain three virtues. One of them requires following the instruction from the screencap above and, good lord, I dislike it when games require me to take specific steps because depending on the run/walk animation, it can get finicky.

I see YCG's commitment to making their horses the most cursed NPC is still holding fast.

…Tennis. You want me to play tennis for your virtue seal.

FINALLY!

I thought beetos were just Normal Bugs for the longest time, but then you get shit like Beefto and you're left wondering otherwise. Maybe all creatures, big and small, are capable of human-level intellect. Which probably adds a lot of existential crisis when you eat, say, a talking goat or something.

In a lot of the adventurer's line of work in the SKverse, on a scale of 1 to 10, how many of them were gravediggers? ...Just asking out of curiosity. No...No reason at all.

You know, that new land of the dead thing is prime territory to sneak in a Luan and Donovan cameo. Just… Just saying.

I appreciate these side quests. It definitely gives me something to look out for while I tediously dig down the pit.

The one thing I really enjoy about Dig is the little increments of what some of these characters were doing BEFORE SoH. Knowing Tinker and Mole were involved in different schemes and adventuring prior to the Enchantress is a treat. I like these pockets of stories.

It's also an amazing dump of lore that I hope potentially is explored. I'm still reeling over the possibility the Remnant of Fate might not even BE from their world. It basically Jenova'd its way here and that adds a lot to the eldritch nature of its existence.

I hope they never fully explain just WHAT the Remnant of Fate is. It takes away from the cosmic entity of alien origin. Keep it as a representative of darkness and twisted cruelty, I say. YCG seem keen to keep them as an ongoing evil.

And while I know the Enchantress has been emphasized as something of her own character, the next evil need not necessarily have to be her. The Remnant could very well possess others…

Some mild changes I noticed:

You no longer have to bop Altius for him to go down the pit. He will automatically do that.

Maybe it's me, but the winged treasure bags you lost seem easier to grab than before.

If you have the cog on a string at the start of the run (which you can keep if you start over after dying), you can use it repeatedly as a third cog incase you missed one. Presumably until it's required at the end of Stage 2. Oooh, that's a good use for it to mitigate some frustration.

Spore Knight's always been easy, but did she get easier? Feels like she falls faster in battle now.

[mariacallous]

Over the past decade, China has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its international media network. The Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, and the China Daily web portal produce material in multiple languages and use multiple social-media accounts to amplify it. This huge investment produces plenty of positive coverage of China and benign depictions of the authoritarian world more broadly. Nevertheless, Beijing is also aware that news marked “made in China” doesn’t have anything like the influence that local people, using local media, would have if they were uttering the same messages.

That, in the regime’s thinking, is the ultimate form of propaganda: Get the natives to say it for you. Train them, persuade them, pay them—it doesn’t matter; whatever their motives, they’ll be more convincing. Chinese leaders call this tactic “borrowing boats to reach the sea.”

When a handful of employees at RT, the Russian state television network formerly known as Russia Today, allegedly offered to provide lucrative payments to the talking heads of Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based far-right influencer team, borrowing boats to reach the sea was exactly what they had in mind. According to a federal indictment released last week, RT employees spent nearly $10 million over the course of a year—money “laundered through a network of foreign shell entities,” including companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, and Hungary—with the aim of supporting Tenet Media’s work and shaping the messages in its videos.

The indictment makes clear that the influencers—propagandists, in fact—must have had a pretty good idea where the money was coming from. They were told that their benefactor was “Eduard Grigoriann,” a vaguely Euro-Armenian “investor.” They tried to Google him and found nothing; they asked for information and were shown a résumé that included a photograph of a man gazing through the window of a private jet. Sometimes, the messages from Grigoriann’s team were time-stamped in a way that indicated they were written in Moscow. Sometimes the alleged employees of Grigoriann’s alleged company misspelled Grigoriann’s name. Unsurprisingly, in their private conversations, the Tenet Media team occasionally referred to its mysterious backers as “the Russians.”

But the real question is not whether the talking heads of Tenet Media—the founders, Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan, who were the main interlocutors with the Russians, but also Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson—had guessed the true identity of their “investor.” Nor does it matter whether they knew who was really paying them to make videos that backed up absurd pro-Moscow narratives (that a terrorist attack at a Moscow shopping mall, loudly claimed by the Islamic State, was really carried out by Ukrainians, for example). More important is whether the audience knew, and I think we can safely say that it did not. And now that Tenet Media fans do know who funds their favorite influencers, it’s entirely possible that they won’t care.

This is because the messages formed part of a larger stream of authoritarian ideas that are now ubiquitous on the far right, and that make coherent sense as a package. They denounce U.S. institutions as broken, irreparable: If Donald Trump doesn’t win, it’s because the election is rigged. They imply American society is degenerate: White people are discriminated against in America. They suggest immigrants are part of a coordinated invasion, designed to destroy what remains of the culture: Illegal immigrants are eating household pets, a trope featured during this week’s presidential debate. For the Russians, the amplification of this narrative matters more than specific arguments about Ukraine. As the indictment delicately explains, many of the Russian-sponsored videos produced by Tenet Media were more relevant to American politics than to the Ukraine war: “While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions.”

But these themes are also consistent with the Trump campaign’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions. People who have come to distrust the basic institutions of American democracy, who feel aggrieved and rejected, who believe that immigrants are invaders who have been deliberately sent to replace them—these are not people who will necessarily be bothered that their favorite YouTubers, according to prosecutors, were being sponsored by a violent, lawless foreign dictator who repeatedly threatens the U.S. and its allies with nuclear armageddon. On the contrary, many of them now despise their own country so much that they might be pleased to hear there are foreigners who, like the ex-president, want to burn it all down. If you truly hate modern America—its diversity, its immense energy, its raucous debate—then you won’t mind hearing it denounced by other people who hate it and wish it ill. On X earlier this year, Chen referred to the U.S. as a “tyranny,” for example, a phrase that could easily have been produced by one of the Russian propagandists who regularly decry the U.S. on the evening news.

These pundits and their audience are not manipulated by Russian, Chinese, and other autocrats who sometimes fill their social-media feeds. The relationship goes the other way around; Russian, Chinese, and other influence operations are designed to spread the views of Americans who actively and enthusiastically support the autocratic narrative. You may have laughed at Trump’s rant on Tuesday night: “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating—they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.” But that language is meant to reach an audience already primed to believe that Kamala Harris, as Trump himself said, is “destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn’t have a chance of success. Not only success. We’ll end up being Venezuela on steroids.”

Plenty of other people are trying to reach that audience too. Indeed, the Grigoriann scheme was not the only one revealed in the past few days. In a separate case that has received less attention, the FBI last week filed an affidavit in a Pennsylvania courthouse supporting the seizure of 32 internet domains. The document describes another team of Russian operatives who have engaged in typosquatting—setting up fake news websites whose URLs resemble real ones. The affidavit mentions, for example, washingtonpost.pm, washingtonpost.ltd, fox-news.in, fox-news.top, and forward.pw, but we know there are others. This same propaganda group, known to European investigators as Doppelganger, has also set up similar sites in multiple European languages. Typosquatters do not necessarily seek to drive people to the fake sites. Instead, the fake URLs they provide make posts on Facebook, X, and other social media appear credible. When someone is quickly scrolling, they might not check whether a sensational headline purporting to be from The Washington Post is in fact linked to washingtonpost.pm, the fake site, as opposed to washingtonpost.com, the real one.

But this deception, too, would not work without people who are prepared to believe it. Just as the Grigoriann scam assumed the existence of pundits and viewers who don’t really care who is paying for the videos that make them angry, typosquatting—like all information laundering—assumes the existence of a credulous audience that is already willing to accept outrageous headlines and not ask too many questions. Again, although Russian teams seek to cultivate, influence, and amplify this audience—especially in Pennsylvania, apparently, because in Moscow, they know which swing states matter too—the Russians didn’t create it. Rather, it was created by Trump and the pundits who support him, and merely amplified by foreigners who want our democracy to fail.

These influencers and audiences are cynical, even nihilistic. They have deep distrust in American institutions, especially those connected to elections. We talk a lot about how authoritarianism might arrive in America someday, but in this sense, it’s already here: The United States has a very large population of people who look for, absorb, and believe anti-American messages wherever they are found, whether on the real Fox News or the fake fox-news.in. Trump was speaking directly to them on Tuesday. What happens next is up to other Americans, the ones who don’t believe that their country is cratering into chaos and don’t want a leader who will burn it all down. In the meantime, there are plenty of boats available to borrow for Russians who want to reach the sea.

[charms-cat]

I just read Chapter 110 so spoiler warning!

But let's figure out what the reveal in this chapter means for Loid...

He is cooked. Y'all, he thinks about his mission so much that Anya has immediate updates when he comes home.

Anyway, I reread Chapter 38 (when Loid meets Donovan) so we can figure out what Donovan explicitly knows about "Loid Forger"

A: Loid is profiling him and is deliberately trying to stir Donovan's interest in "Loid" so he can get close enough to obtain information about "the war (Donovan's) plotting"

B: Loid's great acting - his thoughts being analytical of Donovan while simultaneously plastering a big smile on his own face (right panel)

I added the left panel for some context to why Loid made that face.

But I also wanted to talk about why Donovan said that.

Obviously, we could just chalk it up to the fact that all his mind-reading has revealed that Loid is far from the only two-faced person around him or trying to get close to him. Maybe it's even why he largely disappeared from the public eye. Not specifically bcs he's surrounded by such people (that's just politician life), but bcs he'd constantly have to filter the abundance of information from both the thoughts and spoken words by the many people who'd surely try to get an "in" with the former prime minister and current chairman of a powerful political party.

But the second reason might be bcs of what Loid thought earlier ("What would provoke his sympathy?") as well as the current circumstance (Loid apologising and attempting to visit Donovan's home)

"People will never truly be sympathetic with each other" = Loid isn't as sympathetic about what Anya did to Damian as he is worried that Damian disliking Anya would mean that his Plan B would fall part

C: Loid confirms that he is an actual spy

Loid never mentions WISE or Westalis, so idk if Donovan has deduced that part either or if he's still considering that Loid might be a spy from an Ostanian rebel group

D: Loid has inside access to the school(?)

This one isn't "explicit" but Loid's thoughts would make it a fair guess (Loid knowing about Damian's topic for his social studies project)

(It's also the second instance of Loid trying to foster a relationship by using Damian as a bridge.)

All in all, Donovan at least already knows what Loid's trying to do and what his end goal is. Esp since Loid has twice tried to prompt a reason for him to be close to Donovan (sending a gift to his home & attending his party's seminar)

And who else is thinking that some of Donovan's security team members are gonna be different the next time he meets Loid? Since Loid confirms that he's memorised the faces of everyone who was present with Donovan? It would be another reason for how Donovan watches him suspiciously after that

If you made it to the end of this post, here's a smiling Donovan as a thank you

Would you trust this man to not be reading your thoughts?

[therealandian]

can't remember if I've posted about my space gays much but I've added my new favorite character I think everyone will love simply for being the epitome of angy

there's also a familiar face in here!

“—don't need you to carry me arou—oh, look! Great! There's two more!” There were three figures standing in a circle, and their heads swiveled to watch Alessio and Jirard step into the room. The door hissed shut behind them with a deafening click! A smaller creature struggled in the arms of one of the individuals standing there, finally biting down on their arm in a rage. The person let out a yelp of pain and clutched the wound, dropping the creature that resembled a fluffy cat, but had four ears and a forked tail. Its eyes were silver and far too clever. Its fur was probably white, but it was presently covered in mud. “How come you two fuckers look the same?” Alessio cocked his head to one side, glancing at Jirard. “Am I crazy, or did that cat just talk?” “I'm pretty sure that was the cat, yeah,” Jirard affirmed. He crouched down closer to the creature's level. “Sorry, what?” “You two are the same goddamn species!” it snarled. “And I don't know what the fuck a ‘cat’ is, but call me that again and I'll rip out your throats!” The one who had been holding the thing and was now nursing a bite wound cleared their throat. “Sorry about Malo.” They scooped it back up and held it in two uninjured arms, gesturing with a fourth. “They have a nasty attitude and a nastier bite, and they're pretty much always pissed about something.” “Lady, if you don't put me the fuck down—!” She bopped Malo on the head, silencing them, then let them drop from her arms. Malo's tails twitched, but they just grumbled and stalked away in the same manner as a moody cat. “I'm Evan,” the woman said, clapping two of her four hands together and curtsying. Mud-soaked hair that may have once been a soft blue color dripped in front of her eyes, and she flipped it back with a sigh. “Malo and I have been stuck together for about five years now. Sometimes they even listen to me!” “Um…hi…,” Jirard said, getting back to his feet and not getting over the fact that there was an alien cat with a bad attitude and a purple woman with four arms talking to him. “I'm…Jirard?”

[beetheyapper]

MUSIC I THINK THE POETS WOULD ENJOY

this is not time period accurate but i do not care. i at least tried to keep it pre-2000s. also i’m 100% projecting my music taste onto them. deal with it? spotify playlists, each of which has around 30 songs, are linked below each description ! i spent forever on this 😭

Charlie Dalton

i’m not sure that i could pinpoint very many artists he’d particularly like, but this is a classic rock boy right here. he’d be into ac/dc, motley crue, led zeppelin, etc. perhaps a bit of duran duran (this is where i’m projecting the most.) songs about s3x and women, and songs that make him feel like the rebel he is. (this playlist has been gale hansen approved on twitter btw)

Neil Perry

oh i just know this kid would be into some funk and pop, especially 80s and perhaps even new wave (i’m again projecting). now THIS is a duran duran fan (specifically their early stuff), which is unsurprising since the lead singer has a drama degree. he’d also probably like fleetwood mac, and would be well-versed in the band’s drama. duran duran, wham!, fleetwood mac, abba, maybe even some hall & oates. songs with complex lyrics and also songs that make him wanna dance. lots of upbeat stuff because though he has things that bother him, he’d rather do anything but dwell on them.

Todd Anderson

honestly, considering they’re roommates, i feel like neil would’ve had a bit of an impact on todd’s music taste, so there’s some band influence there—but regardless, i think todd would be into more mellow and emotional songs. jeff buckley comes to mind, along with the eagles, the beatles and maybe a splash of the smiths also pls pretend now and then didn’t come out last year. he would also be letting it linger i fear

Knox Overstreet

knox would be similar to Charlie, as they probably bond over shared music taste just as much as everything else. very heavy on the classic rock, but a lean more towards songs about needing someone and love songs as he pines for Chris. Tom Petty, Robert Palmer, The Cars, and a bunch of songs introduced to him by Charlie. He sticks more to genre/theme than to a specific artist methinks

Richard Cameron

contrary to what some may think, i think Cameron would absolutely groove to some rock n roll. HOWEVER. he is a 60s-70s rock n roll elitist. he thinks Billy Idol’s cover of Mony Mony is a disgrace. he wholeheartedly believes the Beatles are the best band to have ever graced the planet. The Beatles, The Beach Boys. The Rolling Stones, etc. Maybe even some Simon & Garfunkel. Him and Charlie argue a lot about which decades were the best years of rock music

Gerard Pitts

free my boy. he just wants to dance he ain’t do nothing wrong. his music taste has definitely been influenced by some of the other poets, in the sense that if he hears a song with a funky beat that makes him want to dance, it’s added to his mixtape IMMEDIATELY. for this reason, i’m thinking lots of funk and groove. play that funky music white boy! Bee Gees, ABBA, Talking Heads, Pet Shop Boys, etc. as long as he can dance to it he could care less who it’s by

Steven Meeks

another old rock, but more on the calm side with some hints of folk and fun. Donovan, The Beatles (paul is his fav for sure), The Beach Boys, and he definitely loves every white person anthem, including Sweet Caroline. he likes to groove with Pitts but also like soothing music to study to !!! i had to consult my friend on this one i fear i was drawing a blank

AND THAT is my opinion on each of the poets’ music taste. did i squeeze Duran Duran into almost all of them? perhaps. they’re my fav band let me live… feel free to listen to the playlists (please listen to them. pls i don’t want to have made them in vain.) and maybe even become spotify moots with me :D

[221beloved]

Bet, Game, Contest

(Link to ao3)

The door to Greg’s office opened and Sally Donovan’s head appeared.

“Greg, we have a--”

She stopped, taking in the scene displaying itself in the office. Greg was sitting leaned back in his chair, arms crossed in front of his chest, watching his two visitors with an exasperated expression. Said two visitors were looking back at him blankly, or rather, petulantly, just occasionally glaring at each other form the side.

“What…” Donovan frowned at Greg, who sighed and got up.

“Come on, I’ll get myself a coffee. God knows I deserve one.”

Sally took a last look back at John and Sherlock, still just looking straight ahead, then followed him to the little kitchenette.

“Well?” Sally prompted, and Greg shook his head, pouring hot water over his instant coffee.

“Actually they came to give their statements on the last case, but somehow they got off topic. From a certain point I couldn’t follow what they were on about, something about who can or cannot resist to express their, err, sentiment, verbally. Or something like that. Doesn’t matter, anyway. Outcome is that they’re having some kind of bet, or contest, I don’t know, about who’s able to stay silent longer.”

“What?” Sally was giving him an unbelieving stare.

“Yes,” Greg sighed, running a hand over his face.

“I’ve tried talking them out of it, pointless. I think I just spent 10 minutes of my work day staring at them. Well, you never get anything done when Sherlock is involved. Should know this by now…”

He took a sip from his coffee, scowled in distaste of this… mud. He turned towards Sally.

“What did you want?”

She blinked at him. “I think you have a more difficult problem at the moment, it can wait… I’ll just come to you later again.”

She turned to leave. “Good luck with them!” she called over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” Greg muttered under his breath, emptied his cup and made his way back to his office.

Sherlock and John were still sitting motionlessly on their chairs, not looking at each other. At least not directly.

“Well,” Greg sat down on his own chair and propped his elbows up on the desk. Maybe he had just the solution to get them to talk again. Attack them at their weakest point. A little dirty, maybe, but appropriate, considering their current situation.

“You know,” Greg said to no one specifically, “In moments like these I have to wonder if you actually are a couple. I mean, you’re supposed to love each other, only I just can’t see--”

He didn’t come much further.

“You take that back!” John and Sherlock bellowed simultaneously, glaring daggers at him.

Greg leaned back in his chair, smiling, just barely suppressing a relieved sigh.

John was the first to realise what just happened and he pulled his head back in something like surprise, then turned to look at Sherlock. The detective was glaring at Greg for a bit longer, probably just for the sake of it, before his eyes went wide too and he turned to return John’s gaze.

“Well,” Greg shrugged, “What a pity your little contest ended like that.”

His voice was probably dripping with sarcasm.

“But since we’ve accomplished that you’re equal on this matter, can we return to the case now? Some of us have things to do that are actually important.”

John looked at him a little sheepishly and nodded, while Sherlock scowled at him.

“You manipulated the outcome, we’ve established nothing.”

Greg sighed. “You can establish as much and for as long as you want when we’re done here. Can we focus now?”

Sherlock grumbled something unintelligible but nodded eventually.

As Greg pulled over the abandoned file, he could just see John’s hand creeping to the side to take Sherlock’s. Greg rolled his eyes. Those ridiculous, lovesick nutters.

--

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[beannoss]

SxF RA 2025: volume 1! (pt 3)

My last post on volume 1, just some additional general observations I had in the re-read! Just a head's up that where the other two posts had no spoilers for future manga chapters, this post does have a few vague and also one or two more specific references to chapters not yet animated.

I was super curious if Twilight's motif of ash floating around him would be there from the start and it absolutely is! The motif is of course especially utilised in Twilight's backstory, but I'm thrilled by the tragedy ❤️‍🩹 that it's been in play since the very beginning.

Once again I look up what Strix means and once again it leaves my brain immediately because I don't understand how it's connected to the mission (from wiki: "a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood") Actually now having typed that and pasted in what it is, I'm like: ... okay so probably this is referencing war and the toll taken on all the Forgers and those they're working to protect in their respective country's pursuits thereof. And then the mission itself is to seek prevention of more. GOT THERE IN THE END maybe

I was intrigued that Twilight is directed to look out for "seditious" activity from Donovan, given WISE is a Westalian organisation... It makes me wonder if maybe WISE's goal/first choice is actually to try and bring in Ostanian authorities to deal with Donovan, assuming they can find the evidence they need for it (and something that Ostanian authorities would actually act on, seeing as they seem fairly inclined towards fascism themselves)

I've talked a fair bit about Twilight's first thoughts about a spouse and family (on the right) but now I'm hung up on the next reference (left) that eluded me when I did my first analysis. Liabilities, huh. Bounces off of Yor's strongly held belief that a happy home life and family to cherish make her better and strengthen her resolve...

Endo may change things of course, but I also snagged on the description of Anya's abilities as an "unintended consequence." To me that potentially implies telepathy wasn't the pursuit of experimentation, which also potentially means Donovan was not pursuing telepathy either, for himself or as a tool. (however, with chapter 111, I suppose it can't be ruled out entirely...)

Anya noting that if anyone found out about her powers, she would have to run away... I wonder... foreshadowing...? I very much hope not but... 😬

I already talked about chapter 2 a fair bit, but this made me laugh. Random dude in the back is so right 😂 they're both odd balls 😊

Loved that chapter 3 gave us a li'l taste test of what it would be like for the Forgers working together. Yor into immediate action; Twilight puzzling things through; Anya giving the missing piece. Moments of emotional sweetness. It's all there! We're only missing Bond!

To Hemlock's point in this most recent chapter, I wonder how accurate his read was... after all, this was only days after Yor had met Twilight and Anya... She definitely has grown and changed and is increasingly thriving as herself, but I find it hard to believe that Yor wouldn't have done this before... Maybe the difference is how much she's now looking at the world around her and engaging with it?

Of course they're all motivated by multiple things, but in line with thinking about Yor & normality & acceptance, I'm now also pondering this panel, and Twilight wanting more recognition than he gets...? (I wonder if this moment also informs how often he thanks Yor for things 👀)

Sharon at the Eden Academy interviews! I don't think I noticed her before!

Henderson's face here made me laugh out loud gjdasklgjksa

I wouldn't be me without a TwiYor note, and I am once again fixating on... well several things here but most especially the circled thing in the left-most panel and Twilight's phrasing specifically... "isn't even" is doing a lot of work there already... the mutual affinity between them really was strong right off the bat, eh? We see it most with Yor but yeah, this is a pretty loud admission!

Also on the above, whether intentional or not, Spy x Family has also 100% always been to a degree about gender and queerness (if only insofar as: "not normal" -> non-normative -> queer) for every member of the family. It is one area also where I wish I better knew Japanese cultural norms and societal philosophical underpinnings. It's a story clearly informed by collectivism, but there are blatant underpinnings, frequently made explicit, about liberation from societal expectation and pressures and... ahhh I'd love reading a Japanese feminist's take on the series.

and finally this gag, from Chapter 1 "hundred faces" chapter 4 "thousand faces" I, alas, don't think it continued onto million, billion, endless faces but I sort of wish it would XD

<- part 2

[plutoarttv]

Do you have more things to say about your prophet OC? I haven't thought of more questions, but I was thinking about some of my aspec OCs and remembering how much fun it is to have long conversations comparing yours and other people's OCs, and it made me think about your Catholic guy specifically, and now I wanna talk about him and tell you all about mine

I always have more to say about my Catholic guy lol 

I don’t think I’ve ever really properly introduced him, but his name is Donovan Flahertie. He was born near the end of the 1800’s, moved to America soon after, and died soon after that. He was dead for over a hundred years, living with the Angels, kinda adopted by his predecessor, Armoros (there’s a lot there). Once he became a prophet he got yoinked back to life, but he only made it to like thirty before being killed for good. 

I said before that he was asexual and homoromantic, but I didn’t understand aspec identities then as well as I do now, I think he’s aroace. His partner is just plain gay, but I don’t think that it causes too much conflict (not much about their relationship is conventional already, and sexuality is probably the least of their problems lol). I see them less as dating and more like… trauma bonded life partners who might kiss sometimes and might get married for tax benefits. Neither of them are legally alive anymore though. So maybe they don’t pay taxes. Anyway

What about your acespec ocs? Do they have partners? How do they feel about being acespec?