#and it is probably presumptuous of me but the one with all the evidence as tails

[pippin-katz]

Jayden, George & Cameos

Alright, maybe this is me being presumptuous, but I feel like I need to say something. I’m going to offer my two cents about the cameo situation.

I did not buy a cameo when George did it, but upon asking someone who did, they costed £40. The price of the joint cameo is evidently £80.

Is that too high of a price?

If you thought £40 for George’s cameo was fine, then you have to say “no”.

George by himself was £40. If Jayden made his own by himself, it would probably also be £40. Therefore, if you add them together, you get £80.

People need to understand that while they might have fun with the cameos, they are still working. Recording videos like that is exhausting, and if you don’t think so, you’ve clearly never done it. I have recorded reaction videos and after thoughts and stories for years, and I still get exhausted if I have to do a multiple part story, or do it over and over until I’m satisfied.

Now, I know a lot of people are peeved more about the phrasing of these joint cameos as a “gift for the fans” when the price might be out of budget for a lot of people.

But if you are throwing a tantrum over it, you need to sit the fuck down, and check your damn privilege.

It is a gift.

They don’t have to do this. They literally don’t. They don’t have to interact with us. They don’t have to post anything. They owe you nothing.

Instead, they have taken the time out of their days, their schedules, whatever they might be busy with, or even if they’re relaxing, and they’ve decided to record video messages for you.

Not to mention, do you even understand what they are putting themselves in risk of emotionally or mentally?

The very first thing that came to a LOT of people’s minds when this was announced was: “I hope no one asks them to kiss because we’ll never get Payneland.”

If you didn’t think that, congratulations! You have apparently been fortunate enough not to encounter what real Internet behavior is like. Or maybe you’re new to a fandom space, and this is your first time! Great!

You might be thinking: “No one would actually do that; at least not in this fandom!”

But the truth of the matter is that there are many people who would and probably WILL do that.

The anonymous nature of the Internet has enable millions, and I mean millions, of people to act on and voice their most disgusting and disturbing thoughts. The content or person does not always reflect on the people who digest or interact with it. There are monsters everywhere; they are in every space whether you encounter them or not.

By being online all of us open ourselves up to the risk of people attacking us or exposing us to things we do not enjoy or want. For people of any level of fame, it’s multiplied tenfold.

George and Jayden can turn off direct messages, block people, mute tags, and whatnot, so they can avoid most attempts to reach them. By offering these cameos, they are giving a direct route for people to type whatever the hell they want into their message, and whether they like it or not, they’ll probably be reading it.

This is an open invitation for those awful people to request anything, to say anything, to ask anything, even if they report it and don’t respond, they’ll likely see it.

Invasive questions about their sexualities, their relationships, their personal lives. Disgusting thirst messages. Disturbing requests asking for specific things to act as a replacement or substitute for what we would’ve liked to see in the show.

Anything and everything you can think of is possibly something they will encounter, and they’re willing to take that risk to give you something special. To talk directly to you, even if it’s only for a minute.

It’s become increasingly clear, to me at least, that Jayden is a sensitive soul. Not in a “can’t take a joke” way, or in any condescending way. He’s just kind. He’s kind in a way that is taken advantage of in online spaces. He’s also young. A lot of this is still new to him.

He apologizes like it’s his fault if his stream chat gets some bad people in it. He was talking about how he wanted to continue playing Detroit: Become Human really badly, but felt like we would be upset if he didn’t stream his entire play-through. He asked for a list of names of people who support him on Twitch, their usernames and actual names, because he wanted to keep track of them.

Jayden was really excited about the joint cameos. He looked so thrilled to talk about it, and was looking forward to hanging out with George, and doing this for fans.

When fans turned around and yelled about prices, it probably crushed him! Instead of reciprocated excitement, he got bitterness and hate. And for something that he might not even have control over, mind you.

It feels like he can never do enough to make fans happy.

It’s not his fault the show was canceled, but he probably feels just as bad about it as we all do! It’s disappointing! It’s upsetting! And he wanted to do it! But he can’t, and that has to feel frustrating as someone passionate about what they do.

It’s not his fault some fans are toxic or judgmental of every interaction he has with his community. It’s not his fault that people spread hate.

But it probably feels like he can at least put a stop to it by not continuing to do any of it. If he just stops streaming, no toxic chats. If he stops talking to fans, no people complaining about favoritism.

I don’t blame him for wanting to walk away entirely.

To wrap this up, if you have anything disrespectful to say about the boys or this situation, do us all a favor and keep your damn mouth shut.

I expected better from this fandom than behaving like entitled children. We’ve gained thousands of signatures, rallied together to buy a billboard for this show, but we can’t maintain a supportive space for the actors? How do you expect us to succeed in saving this show if we can’t even do that?

To make a long story short (too late), fans, do fucking better.

[tails-is-cool]

it's not a burrito

[nomairuins]

i wish there was a way for me to likeee. semi change this one thingin this one mod. but 1 im not a modder 2 i feel like thats disrespectful. i just want sort of an inbetween between the game and this mod but that is not a thing that exist... sigh

[luveline]

Omg ok Jade my love can I request a princess soulmate au with Steve? Where reader is Prince Steve’s soulmate but maybe she’s not royal herself and is struggling a bit with being the future princess?

Almost like similar vibes to some of the loser gf with rockstar Sirius things you’ve done

thank you sm for your request! (sci-fi fairytale au) prince!steve

cw talk of losing weight to fit into a dress 

Prince Steven sits across from you with a bowl of grapes and a pair of embroidery scissors. He's going to stab me, you think morosely. I'm wretched and boring and he's going to stab me and then the stars will give him another soulmate and he'll forget this whole misfortune.

He seems lost for words as you are, or uninterested. You think he's going to talk and he eats another grape instead, hair fluttering in the breeze that filters in from the balcony, his eyes trained on the holoscreen. He's pretty —soft face, softer hair, almond shaped eyes that seem perpetually amused— but more alarmingly, he's fit. Physically fit from years of sports. Royals do all manner of olympiad competition, evident in his toned shoulders and his sun-kissed skin. 

"How's your embroidery?" he asks suddenly. 

You startle, pretending you'd been attending to that rather than staring at him uselessly. "It's going well, Prince Steven," you lie. You've never embroidered before —you have practical sewing skills for darning scuffed trousers and patching elbows, but embroidery is a labour of time. Time is a luxury you haven't had. 

"Steve," he corrects. 

"Do I… Is it really okay for me to call you that? Won't people think I'm presumptuous?" 

"Ten dollar word." He slides the bowl toward you, a beautifully glazed ceramic piece that likely cost more than your month's rent. "Well, they usually let me have whatever I want, and I want you to call me Steve. And to relax. And eat more." 

"I can't. They said I need to fit into my wedding dress." 

"The wedding dress needs to fit you," Steve says, the simple cut of his button down pulled snug to his chest as he leans back in his chair. "Not the other way around. Is that why you didn't eat much at breakfast? Or was it just gross?" 

"It wasn't gross," you say softly. 

"You don't have to do any of that stuff, either, if it's boring." 

You run your finger down the creamy linen stretched between your bamboo hoops. "I don't know if it's boring. I can barely do it." 

"You're too mean to yourself," he says. 

Steve stands and puts his arm behind his head, pushing his elbow until something clicks. Embarrassed by his dismissal, you stare at your hands and fume at yourself when they begin to tremble. 

It's too much. All of it. The cruel Palace attendants who know you're not good enough. Steve and his good nature. The wedding dress, the fine China, your wonky stitches. 

Steve steps to your side. He holds out his hand, and you pass him your embroidery without meeting his eyes. Your mood worsens at the sharp slink of snipping, sure that Steve will cut your pattern from the sketch and tell you to start again. 

"Sorry, your white knot at the back was bothering me. Pass me a slimmer needle? I'll tuck it behind your stitches." 

Astonished, you pass Steve a smaller needle from the pin cushion. His brows creases gently as he works, rewiring the white thread with patience and efficiency. 

"There. It looks really nice, honey. You're a fast learner." He passes you the hoop. You take it a beat too slow and he either doesn't notice or doesn't make a fuss, chucking you under the chin softly. "Don't worry so much. I'll talk to Cordelia about your wedding dress, the idea that you need to fit into it like it's one size fits all is dumb. It's made for you. Like, what are they expecting?" 

"They're probably hoping this is all a big mistake." 

"Did someone say that to you?" 

"Nobody had to say it to me, I can tell from the way they look at…" Steve takes your face into his hand, effectively killing anything you'd been trying to say.  

He seems royal, then. Used to getting his way, maybe, the disapproving lining of his otherwise sweet eyes. You get a flash of a memory, the morning you'd been presented, Steve in his finery with his platinum crown like a beacon in brown hair, you in your best dress, embarrassingly drab in comparison, your hand offered. He'd been meeting with eligible women all week. 

You were there as a formality. Never for a second did you think your soul mark would react to his, lines of light around your opposite wrists. 

To think you'd worried about touching him. You could never imagine how beautifully careful he is, how tender. You didn't know men were like this until Steve showed you, his niceness apparently bone deep and in everything he does. 

"If people are being jerks, you have to tell me." You never imagined how casual and vulgar he'd be either. "What's the point in being a princess if people don't respect you?" 

"I'm not a princess," you say. Your heart is a hummingbird as he turns his hand and strokes your cheeks with the backs of his fingers. 

"You will be. Nothing can change that. You're going to be a princess, and you can do as much or as little as you want, because those dorks left me in charge and I say so. I can decree it, if that makes you feel better," he says, dropping his hand, the phantom of it lingering like static shock. 

"What if I'm not meant for this?" you ask quietly, shy but terrified enough to ask. 

"I was meant for you," he says, tone matching yours in timidity. His sleeves rolled up as they are, you can see the soft light of his soul mark taking a pink hue. "Right?" 

Your soul mark glows a gentle pink to match his. Because you and Steve don't know one another well, not yet, but the feeling is there, thrumming under the skin like a pulse. Not love, not not love, a glowing desire. A want to know him.

There have been moments where you wished he wasn't a Prince, but then there's no guarantee you ever would have met. 

"Right," you mouth, offering him a small smile. 

"We were meant to be together…" Steve bends at the waist, meeting your eyes. He's yet to kiss you in the week since you met, but his touches come braver everyday, the unfamiliarity between you melding into butterflies. His smirk shakes them awake. "So let's be together the way we want to. Think of princess-ing as optional." 

"And you as mandatory?"

"I'm also optional," he says with a warm laugh. "But dinner is not. I need to know what you like, if we're going to get married."

You practically gulp. Right. You're going to be his soulmate, his princess, and his wife. 

"Don't be scared. I'm not cooking it, chef Joyce is." Steve brushes hair from his eyes like a model from the giant holo screens, unaware of his own attractiveness. "I'm a shitty cook. My talents lie in other things," he drawls grandly, "like lacrosse, and neck massages." 

He winks. You laugh genuinely for the first time since you met him, and his face splits with glee.  

—

if you want to request anything for this AU please do! steampunk princess soulmate and her smitten prince is my new fave thing

[nocturnalrat]

can you do tired stressed miles (earth42! Or regular 1610! Miles)

Miles had a stressful time at work(fighting or sumn) and reader is just being a hugeee brat so he puts her in her place 🥹💕

Hi! Thanks for the prompt!

I chose Prowler!Miles for this, as I think he’d be more assertive & possessive than our ball of sunshine aka Earth-1610 Miles. :p Enjoy!

---

Dating someone with a double life had certain advantages, without question. But the list of drawbacks was just as long.

Moments like these made you realize how frustrating and difficult dating him could be sometimes.

You had planned on meeting tonight. But while you were waiting outside the movie theater, the following messages appeared on your phone:

won't make it tnight

sry

will make it up 2 u

You stared at the three texts and were irritated to no end. It had been weeks since you had last spent time together, just the two of you, and now you were being stood up by him. Again.  

When you finally arrived home, you ordered some food, worked on an essay for one of your college classes, and kept looking at the clock hanging on the wall.

Hours passed. You finished the essay, prepared a presentation for your biochem class, and tried to keep yourself awake with the help of coffee and an energy drink.

It was half past two in the morning when the front door opened quietly. He probably thought you were asleep. Well, he was wrong.

"Do you know what the word priority means?" you asked, annoyance clearly evident in your voice.

He didn't flinch when he saw you, nor did he look particularly surprised. Of course he didn't. There wasn't much that could startle Miles Morales; he was far too composed, too stoic, too stern for that.

Wretched fatigue showed on his face; he had dark circles under his eyes. Others would have found his moody demeanor threatening, but you knew that he was not half as evil as he looked. 

His reply came quick. "And do you know what the word responsibility means?"

You knew that this particular part of his life, and the responsibilities that came with it, took up a lot of his time. But that didn't mean you were happy or okay with it.

 "You stood me up three times in a row," you said, arms crossed in front of your chest. You tried not to pout too much and sound like a petulant child. "You know, Morales, not many people would put up with the shit you pull sometimes."

He raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Yeah, but you’re still here. Do you know why?" He took a few steps toward you.

"Easy one,” you replied. “Because I’m too nice and too good for you.”

“Don’t be bratty.”

“It’s the truth, though.” You shrugged, seemingly unfazed. “You know how many options I have? You’re not the only good-looking guy in New York, Miles.”

You knew immediately that you had said something wrong. His gaze darkened and he clenched his jaw.

You felt a chill run down your spine.

"What I meant by that is -" you started, but he cut you off.

"Shut up. Do you know why you’re still with me, despite the circumstances?”  

He leaned his forehead against yours and took your face in his hands.

"I asked you a question." His grip tightened.

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat and attempted to shake your head, but you couldn't move; his grip was too strong. "No," you said quietly.

"Because you’re mine," he replied, and his voice was velvety and soft. "Mine alone. You belong to no one else. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Good.” He smiled as he stroked your hair. "I never want to hear you say something like that again.”

"Then stop being so tired and stressed all the time," you muttered, unable to keep the hurt and sadness from your voice.

"You wanna know what would make me feel less stressed and tired?" A smug grin appeared on his face.

You rolled your eyes. "Pretty presumptuous, don't you think?"

"I'd rather call it determined and self-assured."

"The answer’s no. You don't deserve it."

"Really?" He kissed the corner of your mouth. "Didn't you say you missed me?"

"Just because I missed you doesn't mean I'm going to throw my self-respect overboard -" But the firmness of your sentence faltered as his large hands began to caress your body.

"Mine," he whispered against your lips. "And what's mine, obeys."

You loved it when he called you his own, when he put you in your place. A tingling, warm feeling blossomed inside you.

The following day you woke up next to a handwritten note and a box of your favorite chocolate.

8 p.m. tonight, Lincoln Square 13.

It's a promise.

[itspikamefan]

Made a Doc that I THINK has all the necessary evidence needed cor the Upcoming Trial but anyways Ive fallen way too hard for Tetro Pink so here’s my theory on the killer!

Link to said Doc btw:

With that out of tbe way here’s my suspect list:

Watari, Tamba, Masa, and Hiroaki: Its probably rather presumptuous to say anyone isn’t the culprit, but IDRC because Im like 99% certain none of these fuckers are the culprit. (Okazaki is also part of this group but I have a theory on her for later). Watari and Tamba gave a rock solid Alibi for the night, Masa was one of the people to discover the body, and Hiroaki just doesn’t feel like it would. Between him taking charge of the group, being too much of an asshole, and just generally being scared of blood, I don’t think he did it. He also has an alibi it’s just not as solid…

Tsuno, Kamimura, and Wada: I don’t think any of these guys are the culprit, but unlike the former 4 (Or 5 Rather) I could potentially see them. However, I do think they all have solid defenses. Tsuno was taking care of Wada while he healed. Wada was… well… unconscious … And Kamimura claimed to have been in his room all night with Hasegawa (Not to mention helped a bunch with the case). And also just as the Ultimate Crime Scene Cleaner him leaving THAT much blood just doesn’t make sense.

Hanagi and Hayashi: The only Woman who I think would be most likely to do this + The man who is an obviously pretty decent suspect. They aren’t my personal top suspects but I can definitely say they have reason to kill or accidentally kill Chiba. Im not going to say for certain but either one of them does have that possibility.

Ojima and Hasegawa: Both are definitely suspicious as fuck. Ojima sleeping in Hiroaki’s room and SUDDENLY a bloodstain is on the Bottom of Hiroaki’s mattress?! Nuh uh, I don’t buy it. Not to mention him spacing out the whole investigation. Then again that sort of his disability so I can’t really call him sus for that but still… Suspicious.

And as for Hasegawa, Originally It hought he was safe due Kamimura’s Alibi, however late testimony unveiled that Harada saw him put in the hallway. Now is it possible Harada is lying? Definitely. Is it also possible Hasegawa accidentally murdered Chiba and Kamimura is just covering for him? Strong possibility.

And before we get to our Obvious Prime Suspect…

Okazaki: Y’all cannot tell me this masked bitch is not suspect as fuck. However, her alibi clearly means that she was not the killer. So what’s her deal then? Simple. She tampered with the crime scene. My guess is the Real Killer moved Chiba’s body to the Medbay to try and save her but failed and left her there, and the Okazaki, to make the murder more “Interesting”, pulled the Byakuya Togami ass move and hung her body from the ceiling, including putting her Pajamas on her to hide her injuries (With her assuming no one would be able to get her without the ladder, which she probably also disassembled). So yeah, Okazami villainous as fuck. I fucking know it.

And finally… That leads to our Prime Suspect and most likely Culprit…

Harada

Yeah I’m sorry y’all, but you can’t tell me it doesn’t make sense. His alibi is… rather lackluster, his only verifiable witness being Hasegawa (Which we can’t even confirm). Him being on the search for his motive item, his past, his connection to Chiba, and all the other potential unknowns, I can’t not suspect Harada. I will say that y’all can feel free to clown on me if he isn’t the culprit, but I’m like 90% sure we’re losing Animal Boy Next week. Sorry y’all :(

Anyways that’s just my piece but let me know your thoughts!!!

[marta-bee]

I've been fixating a bit on Good Omens, specifically on Neil Gaiman being accused of sexual assault and the petition to get Amazon to fire Neil as writer of Good Omens S3.

What I've read about Neil Gaiman assaulting those women seems credible to me. I mean, I try to believe women who say they're assaulted generally and give wide berth for the sometimes odd ways trauma can keep them from coming forward as soon as I'd like, or giving clean accounts of their assault. But I was busy, I hadn't read the reporting, and I also liked Gaiman's writing and felt like I knew him (of a sort) because of years of following his Tumblr feed. Now I've done the reading, and at least based on the evidence available... I believe them.

Which raises a very uncomfortable question. I like the Good Omens novel, and the show, and I do want to see what happens. I enjoy the fanworks even more, but the originals also has a special place in my heart.

A lot of discussion around the petition starts with the (strange to me) idea that no one owns art once it's shared publicly. I do think we all own our experience of the story, and if the creator meant us to experience it a certain way, it's their responsibility to lead us down that road. Probably it's impossible to create that experience in the same way for all readers or viewers, because humans are messy and we bring all sorts of glasses, rose-tinted or otherwise, to everything we read. (I'm thinking of that line from the Lord of the Rings introduction: "It is perhaps not possible in a long tale to please everybody at all points, nor to displease everybody at the same points; for I find from the letters that I have received that the passages or chapters that are to some a blemish are all by others specially approved.") So yes, people are going to experience fiction from their own vantage-point, and our own experience of a story is our own. I'm really not very interested in interviews or other secondary statements about what an author meant. I mean, if JKR wanted Dumbledore to be gay she should have written him that way, etc., etc.

Even so! The story as it is (not as it's experienced, which can be quite different) really is the work of the people doing the telling. We all have the right to our own perception, the story that lives rent-free in our head.

But to say the person who fashioned the story doesn't in some sense own it -- legally or ethically -- just feels odd to me. I suppose Amazon would be within their rights to fire Gaiman. Maybe they'd even legally be allowed to not film the third season. But to say he's just one writer among many, and that we're entitled to the show without the brain that (co-)birthed it? That doesn't feel accurate and I don't think I can get on board with it. It actually seems extremely presumptuous and entitled to me. I'm imagining if someone objected to something they found out about me and decided to just rewrite one of my fanfics. That would feel invasive af, and I can't imagine anything I could do that would give them that right.

What are the other options? Well, the obvious one is the JK Rowlings approach: she created the story, it's hers, and it's precisely because she's so hateful now we shouldn't engage with it. Applying this to Gaiman, maybe we say we can't watch or reread it, maybe we push Amazon not to release it or other companies not to develop his stories into shows. Morally that makes more sense, though it feels like a shame because Good Omens pokes fun at religion's foibles in a way I know a lot of people found very helpful. It also seems like good queer representation, and it's also just plain fun. I'd hate for us all to lose that.

Personally, I've gotten quite good over the years at enjoying good stories told by bad people. I still watch my DVD's of Oliver Twist and The Pianist, even knowing what Roman Polanski did. The Cosby Show still makes me laugh. Etc. It helps those are things I already own so I'm not giving those people I object to more money. Not sure what I'd do about Good Omens S3; probably I'd pirate it or wait for DVD's I could get through my library, because there's not another season we need to get greenlit and I'd rather avoid giving him more money if I can help it. But I don't feel some moral imperative to shun meaningful, enjoyable art because someone involved with it did something wrong. Certainly not the other art people have made around it, including fanworks.

I can respect people who come down on the other side and say, nope, Good Omens = Neil Gaiman so I'm no longer going to touch it. This idea that we can somehow cut Gaiman out of this story and somehow enjoy it without worry just doesn't sit right with me.

(I can 100% understand people who can't read the book or watch the show without thinking of him, to the point it's no longer enjoyable. I tend to get engrossed in what I watch to the point I'm not thinking of the RL people behind it, so that's less of a problem for me personally; but that's my personal quirk. And thank goodness for that- I studied philosophy, and there are lots of "interesting" biographies going on there...)

[darsynia]

Just Right | Ch 7

(Steve Rogers x F!Reader, post-Ultron Multichapter)

Summary:

You’ve been in love with Steve Rogers for at least a year, but he treats you the same way he treats every other member of the team– with respect, but nothing more. It takes an inter-dimensional mistake and a whole second, more assertive, actually interested Steve for you to realize that you don’t want just any version of Steve Rogers– you want the one you’ve been pining for all this time.

Length: 3,512

FIC MASTERLIST | LAST CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

Tags: @ronearoundblindly @munstysmind @tiny-anne @themaradaniels @starryeyes2000 @chickensarentcheap @isasalom @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @deepbatched @qvnthesia

Excerpt:

You catch up with Gold Steve right as he’s headed back into Bumble. You get it-- it’s the least-used of the sparring rooms. The unenhanced humans leave it for the enhanced ones, and the enhanced humans all have their own routines, most of which don’t feature the unique landscape.

It’s a perfect place for Gold Steve to isolate himself, basically. You wonder how many hours he’s spent in there.

Pushing the door open feels like an imposition, but if your plan doesn’t work, this man will never see his version of you again (the possibility that you might never know hasn’t hit till right now. There are a million alternate possibilities, and the three of you are basing your contingency plan on an offhand comment about a fall). Not only that, but his last few encounters with you will have been negative.

You’re standing in the entryway gathering up your courage when he speaks.

“He told you, didn’t he? You’d have just left me alone to cool off, otherwise.”

Wincing, you nod.

Chapter Seven

All right, it seems someone has decided to spoil our fun. It was bound to happen, but you all know I neither forgive nor do I forget. If you don’t want to be accused of breaking up the best 1v1 since Thor and I threw down in the forest that one time, get out of the hallways for the next thirty minutes! All surveillance will be OFF to hide the evidence of my righteous acts of anger.

“Tony, you magnificent genius!” you giggle. Both Steves look confused, so you explain your theory. “This has to be Stark-style cover. He’s clearing the hallway so no one figures out it was me, since if they do, I’ll be persona non grata here for weeks.” A thought occurs to you, and you frown. “Actually, for him to meddle like that probably means something’s up. I’d better…” You trail off.

The end of that sentence was meant to be ‘head over to Tony’s lab to figure it out,’ but even after kissing Steve, even after being some sort of focal point for both versions of him, that feels presumptuous.

“I’ll go with you,” Steve says, as if it’s natural for you to see yourself that way.

Gold Steve holds up a roll of athletic tape. “There are some things I still want to take care of. Keep me updated?” The two Steves go through an exchange of looks that you can’t decipher, before Gold Steve offers Steve a little smile. “If Tony wants to tell me something, he will. It’s fine, go on ahead.”

“All right.�� 

The two of you watch Gold Steve head for an alcove with punching bags, and he turns to you. “I can stay back for a few minutes if you don’t want to be seen in the halls with me.”

You know walking with Steve would be seen as an admission of culpability for your role in breaking up their sparring match, but you shake your head. “Steve, I’d go with you on a walk to certain death. I can handle a bit of disapproval from my coworkers.” It’s flippant, but you mean it. Most of the support staff does-- you’ve talked about it. That’s why you’d trained with Nat a couple of times, because sure, none of you are super powered, you don’t make the tech for yourselves, but you sure as hell would help when it counted, if you had to. If it would make a difference.

“If I let myself take you on a walk like that, I wouldn’t deserve you,” he says, holding the door open for you. The look on his face is serious, and you stop beside him and just… let how you feel show on your face. You remember how that felt from Gold Steve, and you want that for Steve.

He blinks a couple of times and looks down, possibly shy despite being everything you’ve ever wanted, and yep, there it is, you love him even more than you did a few minutes ago. It’s like clockwork.

You get to Tony’s lab without hallway incident, and his reaction tells you he’d been hoping you’d both drop by. Tony has clearly either gotten some sleep, or Pepper’s managed to haul him in for a shower, shave, and a change of clothes.

“Okay, who’s handing out dire expressions? You get a two-for-one deal?” he asks, leading you into his spacious adjoining office.

Steve says, “I had a conversation with Rogers--”

“I was hoping to ask you about that. Must have been some talk if it got you wanting to punch yourself in the face. Then again, I want to punch you in the face too, some days.”

“The sparring was unrelated,” Steve says, ignoring Tony’s attempt at riling him up. You notice that he settles into the plush leather couch only once you’ve chosen a seat. “He was already working out in there, doing some moves I didn’t recognize. We figured it was a good chance to talk technique.”

“Two identical heads are better than one? I get it. I think Pepper would appreciate that opportunity too.” The look Tony shoots at you after saying this makes your entire body catch fire.

“Tony!”

“He told me more about why he’s here,” Steve says, clearing his throat. “His timeline is years into our future, but Tony, things are bad over there. I understand his contingency plan, maybe even respect it, but it’s extreme. I don’t mind saying I’m conflicted.”

“I’m dead over there. He confirmed it,” you admit. Steve’s leg starts bouncing, and you wish you had the courage to reach over and rest a hand on it, but you two aren’t there yet. “He also said if we knew what the plan was, we wouldn’t let him go back.”

Steve stands, obviously too upset to sit still. “He’s right.”

“Hit us with it, Cap,” Tony says-- and that’s exactly what he does. Steve explains that his counterpart refused to detail exactly what happened, just stating that something powerful had been misused, and as a result, an unimaginable number of people died. To unravel it, Gold Steve and his version of the Avengers plan to use technology not unlike the device that brought him to your universe, but it isn’t that simple. At least one of the items they need carries a cost.

A cost that Gold Steve plans on paying with his life.

Even after seeing the way Gold Steve had acted in the surveillance video, the way he’d seemed to be mourning something, this news hits you very hard.

Tony’s already pages ahead. “Okay, so we figure out how to save him before we send his ass back. He’s you, so the idea of not going back at all won’t fly. Guy will commandeer this whole place single handedly if he thinks he has to.”

Steve’s tense body language relaxes on hearing that. “Thank you. I agree.”

“Did he… tell you anything about the how?” you ask.

Steve’s jaw clenches. “At one point he hinted at a fatal fall, but I don’t think he meant to. My guess is that it’s weighing on him.” He looks at Tony, lifting his eyebrows to emphasize his next words. “It was clear he thinks his death is some kind of catalyst. A necessity.”

“Score one for tortured nobility?” Tony sighs. “Geez, Steve, even your sacrificial moments are more poetic than mine. It’s enough to give a man a complex.”

A thought’s been forming in your mind, and you can tell that Tony’s about to devolve, so you go ahead and say it. “Steve, has anyone ever tested your healing factor? Like really pushed it?”

“You’ve jumped out of airplanes and stuff before, right?” Tony adds before Steve can respond. “Was it always into water?”

Steve’s brows furrow. “Not always.”

“Without your shield, how far do you think you’d have to fall to die?” Tony presses.

“Pretty far.”

Tony nods at you. “You get an idea?” 

“I wondered what counts as ‘dead,’” you say hesitantly. “Whatever we give Rogers would have to be something he’d be willing to use, even though he thinks he has to die to win, right? We’re… we’re probably going to have to trick him. So I was thinking about medical ways to cheat death, and what ‘rules’ your healing follows. I mean, it’s not magic, and dying isn’t a precise process.”

Both men are watching you intently, and you can’t tell by their expressions whether they’re following what you’re saying. If this wasn’t so important, you’d back off. You’d listen carefully to what Steve and Tony suggested and then go back to your desk so you could put it all together without all this pressure. But this-- this is heroism, to you. This is your way of fighting. With your mind, and your designs.

“Go on, ‘Dine. I can tell you have something,” Steve encourages.

You dig your hands together on your lap and try to take courage from the hidden pride you can see in his eyes. “Okay, so the question is, which thing do we think drives that healing factor? Is it brain waves? Is it tied to your heart beating? Because CPR can bring people back, if it’s done soon enough. Brain waves take a long time to fade, depending on the manner of death. If Gold Steve--” You break off, embarrassed. You hadn’t meant to reveal that you have a special nickname for him.

“Shelving that, keep going, I think I see what you’re getting at,” Tony says, which is empowering, because Tony Stark never passes up an opportunity to tease.

“Okay. Tony, your armor just has to come into contact with the arc reactor to work, right? FRIDAY monitors your vitals, though, I’ve heard her on the comms. So that means you’ve figured out how to set it up so that skin contact is enough for her to sense them, right?”

“Yes, sensors in certain places. Wrist, over my heart, at my neck.”

“Okay,” you say, getting up, excited. “I have that suit, the one with the rip. We could fit it with a defibrillator, a really subtle one, maybe? I mean, if he looked dead, if his heart stopped for a while, maybe that would be enough to trigger the healing again? How long could we wait before triggering the shock to restart his heart? After that, the healing takes over, and he’ll be alive.”

“He did say he wished his universe had someone to make them gear like ours,” Steve says. “That might be enough for him to accept the suit if you offered it to him.”

“You remember that?” you ask. You do, but the whole thing was memorable, given the location of that rip.

“I thought he was hitting on you.”

“Oh god. Do you have game in any universe?” Tony groans.

“Do I need to?”

“Please stop?” you ask plaintively.

When the three of you adjourn, it’s so you can retrieve the suit for Tony to fit with a subtle defibrillator. This time, you ask Steve to avoid walking over with you, certain that if Gold Steve sees the two of you spending time, he’ll worry that his secret is out and change something.

Sam is in the room when you get there, testing commands for Redwing.

“Hey, ‘Dine. I hate to admit it, but the swap you did with those buttons really helped. I haven’t hit the wrong one after ten launches.”

You grin. “Great! You know you don’t have to say that, though, right? If you don’t like it, I’ll swap it back.”

“No worries. Just because I haven’t bitched at you about anything yet doesn’t mean I wouldn’t,” he says, favoring you with that gorgeous smile of his.

Behind you, Steve's voice says, “You want to try one more time?”

You turn around, startled. You hadn’t seen him when you walked in, but Gold Steve is standing there in regular clothes. He’s got the shield. You must look disapproving, because Sam steps over right away.

“He said he was going to stop by before dinner, show me one of the moves he and his Sam use.”

Deep down you know that Steve would never have balked at letting another version of himself use the shield, but there’s something about it that feels too much like sharing. There’s no way in hell you want to examine that, though, so you nod your approval as best you can.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but is it something that needs both of you? Can I work whatever it is into the armor, somehow?”

“Nah, needs the shield, otherwise I wouldn’t have touched it. Watch--” Gold Steve says, and Sam’s already releasing Redwing. The drone flies in a wide arc up by the ceiling, then dive-bombs over to Gold Steve, who expertly hides it behind the vibranium shield. “Redwing got clipped during a mission, once, and we came up with this.”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re changing history?” you tease, but immediately regret it. Gold Steve’s expression hardens, and he can’t get the shield off fast enough. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”

“No, you’re right. I’m… I’m too comfortable here, I think,” he says, and without another word, Gold Steve is out the door, the shield still rocking on the floor from the vehemence he’d shed it with.

“Man can’t help himself, I think,” Sam says, but you feel completely awful. Awful enough that when Sam says, “Go on, I know you want to,” you don’t even argue with him.

Instead, you go straight over to the locker where you’d stashed the ripped uniform in its bag. “Sam, could you take this to Tony? He’s got a theory I’d like to test.”

It’s the truth, but your conscience pricks you a little.

“You’ve got it,” Sam says, and as soon as you hand it over, you run out the door.

Gold Steve is not in sight, so you do what you should have done the last time you were looking for someone, and ask FRIDAY.

You catch up with Gold Steve right as he’s headed back into Bumble. You get it-- it’s the least-used of the sparring rooms. The unenhanced humans leave it for the enhanced ones, and the enhanced humans all have their own routines, most of which don’t feature the unique landscape.

It’s a perfect place for Gold Steve to isolate himself, basically. You wonder how many hours he’s spent in there.

Pushing the door open feels like an imposition, but if your plan doesn’t work, this man will never see his version of you again (the possibility that you might never know hasn’t hit till right now. There are a million alternate possibilities, and the three of you are basing your contingency plan on an offhand comment about a fall). Not only that, but his last few encounters with you will have been negative.

You’re standing in the entryway gathering up your courage when he speaks.

“He told you, didn’t he? You’d have just left me alone to cool off, otherwise.”

Wincing, you nod.

“Don’t worry. It’s good that you struggle with lying. It’s part of what I--” Gold Steve stops, smiles wryly, and continues. “It’s a good thing.”

His innate sense of decency won’t even let him admit how he feels. Had he talked about that with your Steve? There’s a lump in your throat, but you push past it. You feel like you’re taking on the mantle of that other self, the one he’ll never see again if he does what he’s planning to do.

“I don’t want you to die.”

Gold Steve has the wrapping tape again. “I didn’t want you to die either,” he says. “I did everything I could to stop it, and now I’m going to do everything I can to take it back.”

He pulls out a long strip of the tape, and the sound it makes as it rips away from the rest of the roll is loud, even in that large space. You imagine it as the sound of a heart breaking, but you genuinely can’t tell which out of the two of you that heart belongs to. Maybe that’s why you can’t help but say what’s on your mind.

“Doesn’t that mean she’ll come back and you’ll be gone? It’s going to break her heart, Steve. It’s already breaking mine!”

Oddly, that seems to calm him. “You don’t have to worry about that,” he says confidently, starting the process of wrapping his hands. “It’s part of the plan. When I go back, it will be before I left. Another Steve will already be there. She won’t have to do without me, she’ll just have to do without this me.”

Horrified, all you can do is stand there and stare at him. It’s as though the love you have for Steve Rogers has solidified in the spaces he inhabits-- your heart feels like it’s stopped, your lungs are clogged with fear and dismay.

“‘Dine,” Gold Steve whispers, coming over. “I shouldn’t have-- that was wrong of me to say.”

“But it’s the truth," you manage. Inside, you’re screaming. You want to reassure him. You want to tell him your secret, that it doesn’t have to be this way. But deep down you know that if you tell this version of Steve Rogers what you and Tony plan to do for him, he’ll reject it, and that’s a path to certain death.

So you’ll stay silent.

Even if it destroys you.

Steve finds you desperately nursing a cup of coffee the next morning.

“That bad a night?” he asks, sitting across from you.

“Oh my god, Tony’s right,” you groan. “Steve. Steve. You can’t say that to a woman you like. You shouldn’t even say that to a woman you don’t like!”

He looks completely baffled, and more than a little chagrined. You take pity on him.

“Okay, look at it this way. When you said that, my first thought was, ‘he sees how ugly you are when you haven’t slept well, and it’s so bad he couldn’t help but say something.’”

Immediately, Steve reaches across the table toward you, palm up, insistent. You reluctantly pull one hand from its position cradling your precious, and as soon as you touch his hand, Steve’s thumb brushes across the back of yours in an obvious caress. 

He directs an intense look at you and says, “The first thing that went through my head was, ‘Wow, it looks like that cup of coffee is the most important thing in her life, this morning.’ You look as beautiful as ever, I promise.”

It’s the first time in your life that you doubt Steve Rogers is telling the whole truth, but given the motivators involved, you forgive him.

“I take back what I said about Tony,” you blurt out, wide-eyed. “Damn.”

The bashful look is back, and both of you realize you’re not alone in the room at roughly the same time. Steve gives your hand one last squeeze before grabbing his fork and starting on the scrambled eggs on offer this morning.

“Since you say you didn’t sleep well,” Steve says, enunciating with special care, “--did you want to talk about it?”

You look around to see if Gold Steve is in attendance, but he isn’t-- and it occurs to you that you haven’t seen him around the dining area for quite a while now. What you want to say is close enough to gossip that you lower your voice to just above a whisper.

“He’s deliberately isolating himself. I don’t know how much time he’ll have when he goes back, but-- we can’t let him do this. It feels wrong. No matter what happens, we should send him back feeling appreciated by this version of his family.”

“If we tell him we want to give him a sendoff, that might give Tony enough time to finish up,” Steve says, equally quietly. “We just can’t give the rest of the team the impression it’s a wake.”

“You’re right. I can’t imagine Natasha taking his plan lying down.”

A pair of support staff members sit at the other end of your six person table, and with a look, the two of you decide to change the subject.

At least, you thought that’s what that shared look was about.

“So, ‘Gold Steve?’”

You become laser-focused on your half-full coffee cup.

“Do you have a nickname for me, too?”

You do. You call him ‘your’ Steve-- but wild horses couldn’t drag that from you today, not after getting so little sleep. Your mind is… not sharp.

“I reserve the right to answer that on a day I get a full night’s sleep,” you tell Steve. “As for the ‘gold’ thing, he’s from an alternate universe, right? AU. The periodic symbol for gold.”

Steve looks intrigued and no small amount relieved. You decide you won’t tell him you spoke with Gold Steve about the other you unless he asks. There’s no need to worry him-- you’re completely invested in your Steve, despite how much you wish you could save his counterpart.

The subject shifts again, and after a persuasive argument on Steve’s part, you go grab a small plate of food. He’s glued to his phone when you get back, which is unusual enough that you assume it’s something pretty important. Two more people join the table, and soon you’re happily listening to a discussion about classic baseball and pushing the last bites of food around on your plate. Steve asks to borrow someone’s pen, and when he gets up to leave, he hands you a folded square of paper.

Everyone left at the table wants to know what it is, but you tuck it into your pocket and gather up your things to leave.

You don’t unfold it until you get to your desk, and when you figure out what it says, you can’t stop grinning.

Looks like you’re the Boron Radium Iodine Nitrogen Sulfur of this operation. Will you have Cobalt Fluorine Iron Einsteinium and dinner with me tomorrow night? 

I'd meant to write out what the 'translation' of the note was, in just periodic table symbols, so here it is:

Looks like you're the B Ra I N S of this operation. Will you have Co F Fe E and dinner with me tomorrow night?

Next chapter (the conclusion!)

[aniron48]

It's WIP Wednesday!

So, I have a few projects at the moment that I'm having so much fun with, but unfortunately the rest of my family now has COVID and I'm focusing on keeping everyone healthy and happy, so the odds of me posting any of the things I had originally planned for this week are....slim to none. 😩

But in the meantime, it's WIP Wednesday! Today's excerpt is from my WIP "An Ever-Fixed Mark," which is a little follow up to my Glass Onion fic, "A Good Man." Finished work to include Blanc and Phillip's first date, a Very Significant Painting, probably some croissants, and even a little mystery solving, as a treat. Excerpt is below the cut:

Caught up as he was in his maudlin thoughts, when his phone finally did ring, he nearly dropped it, fumbling to accept the call before it stopped ringing.

“Shit. Ah, sorry. Hello?”

“Good evening,” drawled the voice on the other end of the line. “Do I have the pleasure of speaking with Phillip?”

“Yes—ah, yes. Hi. Hi there.”

“Excellent. Phillip, this is Benoit Blanc. We met last weekend, at the dinner party.”

“Blanc, of course, I remember. How are you?”

“Well, I’m afraid I have to start by asking for your forgiveness. I’d hoped to call you quite a bit sooner, but I got pulled into a case the day after we met.”

“I’m sure you must be very busy.”

“I am, it’s true. Frankly, it’s better for me to stay busy, in the grand scheme of things, but I find it can be inconvenient at times, too.  Take right now, for example. I’d wanted to ask you to accompany me to dinner, but this case has been somewhat all-consuming, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.”

“I understand completely,” Phillip said, his heart sinking. And he did. It was gentle enough, as let downs went. Perhaps in time, the possibility of what might have been would stop smarting entirely, and he would be left with an amusing anecdote of the evening Benoit Blanc looked at him as if he were a mystery he’d never be tired of solving.

“All the same, I don’t want to wait any longer to see you. It’s extraordinarily presumptuous of me, I know, but how would you feel about killing two of the proverbial birds with one stone?”

Phillip shifted in his office chair, his errant heart beating fast again. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, Phillip,” Blanc said, the smile in his voice evident even over the phone, “if you’re amenable, I’d very much like it if you’d come with me to take a look at a painting.”

cc: @mi6-cafe

[pesterloglog]

Rose Lalonde, Kanaya Maryam, Swifer Eggmop

Candy, page 8

ROSE: Did you hear that Jane had been intending to run for president?

KANAYA: Yes She In Fact Asked Me To Serve A Position In Her Cabinet

KANAYA: On The “Board Of Responsible Troll Reproduction”

ROSE: Oh dear. What did you tell her?

KANAYA: Well Not In So Many Words

KANAYA: But I Told Her To Kindly Fuck Off

ROSE: That bad, huh?

KANAYA: She Was Already Talking About Regulating Troll Reproduction

KANAYA: With Great Confidence I Might Add As If She Had Already Been Elected

ROSE: Very presumptuous of her.

KANAYA: Well I Suppose Her Confidence Was Not Unearned

KANAYA: Who Was Going To Run Against Her

KANAYA: Karkat?

ROSE: I don’t think Karkat would be such a bad candidate actually. Depending on certain factors I mean.

ROSE: I’m assuming that in this theoretical scenario, Dave is handling the economy.

KANAYA: Oh Of Course

ROSE: Ok. In that case it might have all worked out in the end.

KANAYA: Doubtlessly

KANAYA: I Have Great Faith In Karkat And Always Have

KANAYA: However I Also Am Not Certain That He Could Step Out Of His Hive Without Catching On Fi–

KANAYA: Swifer Could You Not Swiff The Mother Grub So Vigorously

SWIFER: Oh, sorry ma’am!

SWIFER: Just tryin’ to get her nice and clean! I heard the New Prospit Hornographer’s coming by later to scope out some pics!

ROSE: What’s this about the Hornographer?

ROSE: Since when has the press taken in interest in our activities down here?

KANAYA: Oh Yes You Were Busy Dying When I Set All Of That Up

KANAYA: The Mother Grub Is Mature Enough This Year To Process Inseminated Slurry For The First Time In Our History

KANAYA: If The Government Gives Us The Go Ahead We Can Begin Breeding Trolls The Natural Way Next Month

KANAYA: I Arranged The Newspaper Story When...

ROSE: When Jane asked you to sit on the “Board for Responsible Troll Reproduction”?

KANAYA: Yes The First Thing I Did Immediately After Screaming Into A Pillow Was To Call My Acquaintance At The Paper

KANAYA: Now That She Isnt Running It Doesnt Seem Very Important However

KANAYA: Actually Im Not Terribly Interested In Politics At All

KANAYA: Without Anger Motivating Me I Began To Think About How Its Probably Very Irresponsible For Any Of Us To Use Our Influence In Such A Way

ROSE: I agree. In fact, I’d just assumed that most of us had arrived at such a conclusion.

KANAYA: Not Jane Apparently

ROSE: Or Dave, I’m sorry to say.

KANAYA: Well Whatever Inconvenient Party Ruining Opinions Dave and Jane Might Have About The Economic Future Of Our Planet Its All In The Past

KANAYA: I Have A Very Good Feeling About Where Things Are Going Now

ROSE: I see. So are you the Seer now?

KANAYA: No

KANAYA: But I Can Make Predictions Based On Existing Evidence

KANAYA: And If I Can Spend Every Day Like This Doing The Work That I Was Born To Do With The Person I Am Most Fond Of In The World By My Side

KANAYA: I Believe That I Can Handle Anything

ROSE: Hmm... Did you really use dialogue like that to win my heart, or are we getting complacent and incredibly uncool in our old age?

KANAYA: I Convinced You To Marry Me I Dont Think That I Am Obligated To Be Cool Anymore

ROSE: Kanaya, you’re the “coolest chick” I know.

KANAYA: What

KANAYA: Are You Doing With Your Hands

ROSE: Oh, you know. Just one of these...

KANAYA: Please Dont Tell Me Youre Attempting To Do The Strider Thing

KANAYA: That Thing He Does Where He Pretends To Operate An Invisible Record Player

ROSE: B)

KANAYA: God

ROSE: Who’s the cool one now?

KANAYA: Well

KANAYA: It Sure Isnt You

SWIFER: Ma’am and Ma’am’s wife! Bank’s closed, ladies!

SWIFER: The first egg is hatchin’ already!

SWIFER: Golly gee oh my. This part always makes me tear up.

KANAYA: Rose Look

ROSE: ...

ROSE: Vriska?

KANAYA: Pretty Close

KANAYA: A Reasonable Genetic Approximation

KANAYA: This Brood Has Been Utilizing A Slurry Consisting Of Genes From Our Original Group Of Twelve Trolls

KANAYA: Mostly This Results In Unique Individuals

KANAYA: But Sometimes Very Close Copies Occur

KANAYA: As With The case Of Ancestral Descendancy

ROSE: So... Vriska would be this troll’s ancestor?

KANAYA: Yes

ROSE: Wow.

KANAYA: Rose I Think This Is A Sign

ROSE: A sign of what?

KANAYA: Havent We Been Talking About Adopting A Grub

ROSE: Eventually, yes. But a natural-born grub. Don’t you think it will be somewhat... awkward, us raising a clone of your sort-of ex?

ROSE: What happens when Vriska comes back? What do we say to her?

KANAYA: Rose Vriska Is Dead So It Doesnt Really Matter

ROSE: Is she dead, though?

KANAYA: Absolutely

KANAYA: There Are Two Things Of Which I Have No Doubt

KANAYA: That You And I Are Going To Be Happy For The Rest Of Our Lives

KANAYA: And That We Are Never Ever Going To See Vriska Again

ROSE: Oh Kanaya, you’re right.

ROSE: We are going to be so astonishingly happy!

[destinyc1020]

Their a beautiful couple but maybe I just dnt get them cuz I fail to see the Kaia and Austin hype 😭 I see more conversation about their age gap rather than locals praising them as a couple. Im not sure what screams "were ready to be engaged!" when both seem pretty career minded rn. Austin is really in his "moment" now and seems to want to continue to do lead man projects and Kaia seems to want to transition from modeling to acting and prove herself to be a good actress. Besides that engagment rumor (which was debunked within a day or 2 lmao) i dnt see why they cant just b a couple who is serious in their relationship?

THIS ☝🏾

Yea, like esthetically-speaking, Austin and Kaia make a really nice-looking couple. They have some things in common, so I can see why they would probably click. But other than that, I don't see the hype either? 🤷🏾‍♀️

To me, it just seems like another actor dating a model type relationship. Not that deep, in other words. People in Hollywood date each other all the time.

I guess maybe some people are thinking they're headed for engagement because he's Kaia's longest relationship (two years), and Austin actually seems like a decent guy compared to some of her exes, Pete (drug abuse) and JE (shady reputation) 🤔

But even still....

Like you said, they both seem focused on their work/careers right now. Not that you can't do both, but I've never even heard any of them talk about future or marriage goals, or even settling down.... let alone, talk about each other. So, I'm not sure what people are going by exactly. 🤔 So far, there was actually WAY more evidence that he and Vanessa were gonna get engaged imo. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Kaia is only 22. She has YEARS to grow as a woman, and to date many more men (or women) imo. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I just doubt she'll be marrying the first guy she started dating longer than a year at age 20.

It's also kinda presumptuous cuz we don't even know if Austin himself even wants to get married. His parents divorced at a very young age. He might be traumatized. 🥴 He might not even know if that's smthg he wants. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Honestly, the only people I've seen who are so "hyped" for their relationship are mainly Kaustin shippers, or maybe some Kaia stans. Most of his fans on the other hand (esp OG Austin fans pre-Elvis), aren't really feeling this relationship like that... but NOT because they don't want him dating anyone, but because of many other reasons. 👀

Besides that engagment rumor (which was debunked within a day or 2 lmao) i dnt see why they cant just b a couple who is serious in their relationship?

Chiiiiilllle.... it was LESS than 4 hours. That engagement rumor didn't even last the DAY. 🤣

I mean, it's ONE thing if a couple has talked to the media about settling down, or wanting marriage, or has been making very obvious signs towards engagement. But when people keep making speculations about engagement when there's been no signs whatsoever, I'm just like.... 😵‍💫

[magsmapsmtl]

JAGUARA: Felines United - Reissue (2023)

A while back I seen a reel telling the story of 7 signs of beauty while OP drew portraits representing each, and I wanted in on that and I figured, instead of making whole new OCs, I'd finally do another redraw of my favorite OCs from middle school!

ICYMI:

This is Jaguara, my first major attempt at a series and OCs. When I was about 9 years old, one of my best friends at the time @malenacc11 was our grade’s resident cat girl, but had general fondness for animals. She was my kitty and I, her monkey (this is not the post where we unpack that 😬). One day she decided to arbitrarily assign our group of friends what some white girls on the internet today might refer to as their “spirit animal” when they probably mean “fursona”. Malena assigned me the jaguar, and when I say i RAN with that shit… Fast-forward to 6th or 7th grade when my Sailor Moon obsession has reach stasis and cat girl mangas were all the rage. I had a lot of side projects, such as my series “Superipets” with a “Recess-meets-Rugrats”-esque group of friends who all had talking pets. Or my more favoured one “Skunk Fu Rama”, an idea for a Hello Kitty:Super Mario/Street Fighter kind of game (it even had a theme song). But both paled in comparison to “JAGUARA: Felines United”. All the main characters were based off myself and my updated group of friends at this stage, and followed a pretty basic Chosen One/reincarnation/prophecy storyline. I remember once finding a site where I could email pitches to Cartoon Network, and in hindsight it seems very presumptuous since it’s now very evident to me that I didn’t have a single original thought 😂 Jaguara followed me all the way to high school. I had just started producing and I had a whole EP already that served as the soundtrack. I was very seriously writing arcs and characters, I had managed to complete a few tomes, designed covers for future chapters and already a Titans East-type team of characters that were set in the US (Jaguara of course being in Japan). Jaguara will always have a special place in my heart and my artist journey as it was one of the things that tethered me to our group of friends, and for a while the schoolyard bullying was paused to entertain the idea of other kids being put in the manga. Swipe to see a redraw from 2012. Thanks Male. 😽

[the-lady-writes-what]

The “opinion” in question was quite literally one of you going off on a post that had nothing to do with either of you or your interests. It was a post about an Indian book where the female main character likes to date literal monsters. That’s it. It was a book about a woman who dates monsters. Nothing wrong with that, right. The “opinion” stated by “realasslesbisan”, and I’m paraphrasing, “blah, blah, I hate all men. Blah, blah, I hate penis. Look at me, I hate penises and anything to do with men. I’m such a lesbian. Blah blah.” She commented that on a post completely unprompted. Had she been a normal person and scrolled away, nobody would bother her in the comment section. I will say, violence and death threats are never okay. I sincerely wish that those who typed those things grew up and hold themselves accountable for what they wrote. I am sorry that those were written.

That being said, let’s not pretend realasslesbian was not equally problematic. First, entering a space that was clearly not in your interests and inserting yourself into a conversation where it was not wanted, especially when the comment added nothing to the convo. The commentary was self-centered and detracted the attention away from the post innocent bystanders wanted to enjoy. Second, OP and her friend, realasslesbian, are under the impression that the only people who liked that post, commented on it, or replied to them, were all cis and straight. I’m lesbian and I can pretty much guarantee that this post reached a wide audience in the monster fucker comm, which is anything but straight. It’s rude, presumptuous, and hurtful to assume everyone who disagrees with you is straight. Third, realasslesbian partook In bullying too. Not only did she not take accountability for stepping where she clearly had no interest in holding any civil convo with the other commenters in the post, but she called trans women “men in dresses” and heterosexual people as “breeders”. I’m not one to say that heterosexual is a slur, but referring to straight people as breeders is pretty fucking disgusting, humiliating, and dehumanizing. If you’re really a feminist, you should know better. Fourth, this whole train wreck was merely a show. I think these two enjoy irritating and bullying people on purpose for fun. They then get to use the screen shots of people wishing them death as evidence that they’re the ones being bullied, even though they started it and probably anticipated the inevitable effect their “opinions” have on some people. Complaining that your “opinion” triggered people is really baffling. It’s 2023 and a great deal of people truly don’t care that you’re gay. Being a lesbian is a valid expression and no one is triggered by the fact that you don’t like dick. What people are nettled about is when a stranger enters the chat, says something unprompted and unrelated to the topic at hand, and purposely riles people up to get a reaction out of them. Saying you don’t like men and penises, call trans women men in dresses, and bully other people is not an “opinion.” It’s just being an unapologetic person who will not only take no accountability for their actions or words, but revel in it.

Of course, I don't think realasslesbian actually is brave enough to back up her words. Someone either reported her or she deleted her own comments. They no longer exist. Especially the comment she left to me which she called into question about my sexuality.

What you left out was the invalidating insinuation that i'm not actually a lesbian. She was not dog piled on, she was getting what she asked for, reactions. If I went to an ultra conservative post anywhere on social media and something to set off the right-wing extremists, i should expect people to get rude and reactionary comments.

How dare you make yourself out to be the victim when you stepped into the arena with the "i don't like penises. look at me, i hate penises. pay attention to me!" on a post about a monster-lover book just to get a rise out of people. Nobody lost their mind that you stated that you hate men, they reacted to how rude, transphobic, and how much of bully you were. It had nothing to do with you being a lesbian.

There's no such thing as a "heterosexual supporter." It's just a sexuality. Nobody should force you to be straight, but it's counterproductive and hypocritical of you to demonize heterosexual people. Criticize and rebel against, sure. But you're cannot force people to be gay just because you don't like men. Be the best fucking lesbian, but how you get some empathy and don't assume everyone in that comment section was straight and male. I checked, they were not. You don't get to partner with your friend to claim that everyone was "losing their minds" over your "opinion." nor were they dog piling on you. I am truly sorry about the threats of death and/or violence. Those were absolutely unnecessary. However, what we're NOT going to do is be the Mean Girls of lesbians and gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, and bully other people who just wanted to enjoy some monster-lover content, myself included. You don't often see this kind of content from different parts of the world, but now I have to look at this post with bitter sweetness because you ruined it with your cringey behavior. You don't get to bully, name call, invalidate other people's experience, and act like you discovered lesbianism and kissed goddamn Sappho on the mouth. This is absolutely disgusting behavior, and you're BRAGGING about it. Do you really get your rocks off to bullying people and riling people up who were just trying to have a good time minding their own goddamn business? Girlie, get new hobbies. This is not it

Your shitty blog reeks of whiteness,no doubt you're a white female.you stupid Karens always say the dumbest, whitest shit.you and realasslesbian are mayo queens lmao kill yourself

This will probably come as a shock to you, but many gold star lesbians aren't white. But from the oblivious self-congratulatory stupidity that you sauntered on in here with I'm guessing you're a male. So sorry about that bro, I'd say get better but I don't think they found a cure for the XY chromosome yet lmao

In conclusion why bother coming on anon for this @firealfia I know that XY chromosome makes it hard to string a coherent thought together but you were as clockable in this post as you likely are irl

[outrunningthedark]

You don't have to answer this if you think you'll get trouble, T.

What's even more annoying about the TayKay hate is that people continuously talk about how bad she is partly to praise Lucy in a scenario like "What Taykay said about a veteran female firefighter who's just doing her job is unnecessary, presumptuous, and way over the line!" and I was like... I thought we've gone past lifting up women by putting down another?

Thank you for sending this ask and giving me the opportunity to discuss the faux outrage over that particular scene, nonnie! ;) (And before I begin I will once again remind y'all that my feelings on how 5B was handled are based on decisions made by the showrunner!) Okay. So. My whole issue with TayKay getting confrontational at the hospital was that it wouldn't/didn't make sense to the casual viewer. BL moments were edited or cut from episodes. There was no clear evidence that Buck was pulling away from his gf even after they reconciled. Two episodes separated the decision to stay together and the dispatch fire. TayKay wasn't in one of them, and in the other? She had just under 60 seconds of screen time in which she didn't pick up on any tension when mentioning Lucy and Buck recovered quickly enough to be "sweet" with her. And, the most significant detail of all, TayKay didn't know LUCY was the woman Buck kissed. To the casual viewer, the viewer who doesn't look for the deeper meaning, the viewer who doesn't try to get inside the writers' heads, the hospital scene probably left them wondering what the hell TayKay's problem was because SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS LUCY. But to fandom? The people who create "explanations" for almost everything that gets criticized because there HAS to be a reason? They know why she got like that. They just wanted to have another excuse to post about what a terrible person she is. TayKay already knew her bf cheated, and watching him be "comforted" by a colleague instead of his gf, a colleague who is a hetero woman at that - her reaction wouldn't have mattered if Hen were in Lucy's place - brought out the jealousy. Was she being bitchy? Obviously. But since when is getting defensive/territorial NOT a natural response to (potential) life changes that you're not ready for? The reaction wasn't the problem. It was that it came from TayKay.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

btw, I just saw it and why do u think that ham was born in 1757? just curious

p.s.: love to see you rambling in ur posts lmao /gen

Okay- That is like one of the nicest things somebody has ever told me?? Thank you??

Also sorry this took some time to actually get around to posting, I have procrastination issues. But anyway, I personally believe Hamilton's birthday year to be in '57 because we have such little evidence to prove otherwise. And who's to say young Hamilton wouldn't have lied about his age before to look older? Especially since he was looking for employment, it would have not been a unlikely shot. Now really, I'm not to say there is any true right or wrong answer. It's all debatable because there is no solid source of evidence to proclaim either one true. So it's really just an opinion at most.

The evidence we do have regarding Hamilton's birthday year being in '57 is just his own claims of such. Any documents in America of his birth year were always signed as 1757. Now it is most popularly considered, especially by historians, that his birthday was in 1755 and that Hamilton had chipped off a few years to look younger so it would help him get into college easier. As it was most common kids at age fifteen or younger attended college in the 18th century, and Hamilton is believed to have been seventeen when he arrived in the colonies.

But what evidence do we have to support this claim is actually pretty small. All he have is a probate court case that was turned into a transcript. Which is not necessarily enough, because Lewine hadn't known the boys very well and could have made the error, or once again, Hamilton could have lied hoping to appear more mature and adequate for hiring. As the Alexander Hamilton Wikipedia has also said; Historians have pointed out that the probate document contained other proven inaccuracies, demonstrating it was not entirely reliable. Richard Brookhiser noted that "a man is more likely to know his own birthday than a probate court."

“—where on the 19th of this month Madam Rachael Lewine died, and whose effects were forthwith sealed up, in order now to take an inventory of them for subsequent distribution among the decedent’s surviving children, who are 3 sons, namely, Peter Lewine, born in the marriage of the decedent with John Michael Lewine who, later, is said for valid reasons to have obtained from the highest authorities a divorce from her (according to what the probate court has been able to ascertain), also 2 other sons, namely, James Hamilton and Alexander Hamilton, the one 15 and the other 13 years old, who are the same illegitimate children sc. born after the decedent’s separation from the aforesaid Lewine."

(source)

The Caribbean was by no means professional or wealthy, if Hamilton could not even have a surviving birth certificate, it's not doubtful to say their law system probably wasn't the most efficient either. (Also they settled Hamilton's "suicide" case horribly)

There only one other form of "evidence" we have is this letter that was posted on a poem given to the news in Saint Croix.

“Sir, I am a youth about seventeen, and consequently such an attempt as this must be presumptuous; but if, upon perusal, you think the following piece worthy of a place in your paper, by inserting it you’ll much oblige Your obedient servant.

-A.H"

(source)

We don't actually know if this poem was submitted by Hamilton or not, though historians have assumed such because of the initials. The poem was submitted in April 6, 1771, so it would not add up if Hamilton's birth was 1757. But this is again where I bring up, Hamilton could have changed the year to appear more suitable and employable. Especially to try and get his poem in the Gazette.

Basically, Hamilton could have fudged with the numbers either way, wether it was to appear older or younger, and I would not consider him above doing either honestly. The probate court case transcript is not enough solid evidence in my opinion though.

Not to mention, Hamilton was often described as scrawny and young looking when he made it to the colonies. As one had said Hamilton in his beginning years of military, "I noticed a youth, a mere stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame," Though it should also be noted Hamilton suffered with immunity and would often be sick while in war.

So it's really up to the interpretation, I find '57 to be overall more believable because I think it be a very "Hamilton thing" to lie about your age to appear older and help him get a job. Especially since he had been desperate and willing to do lots in order to just get out of the islands and make a name for himself. And we really have only two unreliable accounts to say otherwise. But it's really up to anyone on what to think! ^^

[bungirl-orchiectomy]

whenever garret talks about his motivation he always talks about "paying rent" and of course this seems like a reasonable thing to steal for but garret is a "master thief" (master my ass dude every guard knows what your face looks like) and should reasonably be making enough money to lay pretty low for a while if hes spending his money like is shown in game. it seems kind of presumptuous of me to assume that but looking at the economy of thief im pretty sure garret should be rich as hell especially after three games and probably something like a decade of freelance thieving and its not like he lives in a new york penthouse

my biggest two pieces of evidence towards garrets cost of living being far lower than his pay rate are in thief three.

firstly if you sneak into your landlords apartment you find like.... a total of 400 gold i think if you count the arrows you find in his chest. his landlord is also being blackmailed and says that his payments of 50 gold are really draining his pockets dry in a diary entry.

you need to keep in mind that there are two other tenants shown in game who arent garret so thats at least three people paying him per month (id also like to add that garret isnt afraid of stealing shit from his landlord so its not like hes actually losing money from rent)

secondly a lot of the the rare loot in the game usually costs somewhere around 150 gold. at one point you find a mans life savings (which is supposedly the sole factor in deciding if his widowing wife will be able to afford to live even though she lives in a mansion already filled with expensive shit) which only adds up to 500 gold.

for context if you are playing on hard like i do you are usually expected to make at least 2000 gold per level. i think throughout all the games my garret probably made about 50.000 gold so far

so the question remains where the hell is he spending all this money? he could easily be paying for all the basic costs of living given the evidence. whats he so ashamed of that hes not telling us about?